Fic In A Box Letter
Aug. 25th, 2020 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
person4I hadn't planned on writing a letter, since these days I try to just put all my prompts right in the sign-up form, but then I hit the character limit for one of my fandoms so here were are!
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Video Game)
Michael Kaufmann (whose name I only realized while signing up I misspelled in my nomination, oops)/Cheryl Heather Mason (SH:SM)
Every time I replay this game I'm hit by the desire for this pairing. She has all types of daddy issues that he dug at so hard they just physically manifested in the middle of her therapy session, he's rumored to have slept with his patients before and gets intense over much she needs to get laid, and I want them in a horrible trainwreck together. If you go for 10000 words of just them I'd also be super into a trainwreck that morphs into a surprisingly stable relationship! I just can't imagine that it wouldn't at least start out messy as hell, lol.
Dynamics-wise I'm more into her pushing things with him (angry "You made me give up my father, you're going to give me something back to fill that void" feelings, or challenging "You say I need to get laid to badly, why don't you show me what I need"?) while he's had to change practices once because of rumors he was sleeping with a patient and would probably be hesitant even after she stops seeing him professionally to do anything. Both of them clashing against each other a lot would be fun too. Or something where their sessions go on and she gets increasingly flirty and he gets more and more drawn in inspite of himself. I'd be very into it if he made a series of rules for dealing with it that he keeps finding himself breaking (like, at first he tells himself he'll shut her down immediately whenever she starts it up, then that he can let her go on but won't respond, then that if he does respond it will only be jokingly and clearly not serious, and so on.)
I'd be equally happy with something where she's rebuilding her life free of her daddy obsession, something branching from the Hero Forever ending where he's still trying to wrench her free of her past (maybe her delusions start to crumble as her attention starts shifting to him and Harry no longer feels as much like he needs to be the focal point of her life?) or something where the twist was different and she really is haunted by seeing the ghost of her dad in an icy hellworld and Kaufmann's whole worldview was upended when he burst into the office.
Or something a bit closer to the main universe version of Silent Hill, where it's both all in her head and on some level real at the same time and as Kaufmann starts successfully separating her from it it lashes out and drags them both in? It could be very fun to see feelings springing up from them attempting to survive and escape together.
I would very strongly prefer that you go off from the endings being Lost Love and either Broken or Hero Forever- pile on as much horror or mind screws or mental issues as you want but Harry Mason being a good father around it all is important to me. Since we don't see much of this version of Cheryl's personality outside of hearsay I'm totally fine with you pulling from SH3, but would rather not have much of Kaufmann's SH1 counterpart mixed in.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Jean-Luc Picard/Professor James Moriarty
Jean-Luc Picard/Q
Sooo while I was filling out my nominations the episode "Elementary, My Dear Data" started playing, which then compelled me to rewatch "Ship in a Bottle" for the other side of Moriarty's story again, and then I realized that I would be totally into Picard/Holodeck!Moriarty. So here we are!
Anything where Picard does continue searching for a way to bring Moriarty into the real world would obviously be great. Maybe a test of replacing the ships EMH with his program? I imagine that he wouldn't be content with that for long, since he wants to see the universe and not just the medbay.
Something where Picard does regularly loads up his programming (after carefully locking down the computer to keep him from taking over again) in the period between the two episodes, letting him have company instead of being conscious in a black void endlessly? Or where he occasionally enters the program that Moriarty ends up trapped in, playing it off as their paths just happening to cross now and again during both of their travels through space.
Or maybe something where Picard more-or-less puts Moriarty out of his mind after "Ship in a Bottle" until the Voyager makes it home and Picard learns about The Doctor's mobile emitter and feels duty-bound to see if The Doctor will allow Geordi or someone to attempt to reverse-engineer it. Perhaps with some focus on the split between wanting to honor his promise to the holoperson he personally knows, but who is currently happily fooled into thinking he's already gotten his wish, and being aware that if they aren't very careful and damaged the emitter they could be responsible for leaving The Doctor once more trapped in place on his ship.
Or something where Q shows up and the latest string he had to dangle is that he could create a body for Picard's little holoprisoner, he could do it easily, if Picard would just go along with whatever he currently wants. Digging in about whether Picard could really live with himself for leaving a sapient being trapped just out of petty stubbornness.
And speaking of him, onto Picard/Q!
There's this plot I've been prompting here and there for awhile while never really expecting to get it since it's not really good for a short fic, but maybe with 10K words to work with it's day will finally come! Something where during the episode "The Inner Light" Q periodically barges in on "Kamin"s life, because while he's willing to let this little fling a light to the future plot proceed he is absolutely unwilling to risk Picard losing himself in this other man's memories and so becomes his one (incredibly annoying) link to who he really is over those forty years to make sure it doesn't happen (while he keeps insisting it's fine, and no he does not need to return him to his ship, and no he's not the one who's doing this, and figure it out yourself, Picard, does he really need to help you work your brain as well as your memory?).
Or something where Q's method of flirting is to keep flinging the Enterprise to places he thinks are interesting. Picard wants to explore strange new worlds, he can show him ones that are so much more entertaining than the Enterprise could reach on its own! He really doesn't know why Picard keeps making sure a fuss every time he does it, all the places he sends them are perfectly harmlessas long as they use their brains, is he really going to keep holding that little thing with the Borg over Q's head every time he sends him hopping across space forever?
Something where Picard gets caught in a situation on the more horrific end of the Star Trek scale of encounters (or even worse than something you'd see on TV) to the point that Q feels compelled to step in with a rescue, whether Picard wants to accept his help or not.
Speaking of horrific events, something where we get to see Q react to Locutus of Borg, and the fact that he was the one who put Picard in their scopes to begin with.
Or a holodeck goes wrong style plot where it turns out that the "going wrong" is Q making things more real/immersive to show how much better that is because he's in a bit of a snit over how Picard has an all-powerful being who is happy to play with him and keeps using this primitive technology instead.
Ready or Not
Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Obviously, I'd love any type of fix-it where Daniel survives the night. I'd rather Grace not end up in her own deal with a devil for it though, I'd rather they fight like hell and come away hell-free. I think I could get behind the opposite though, her getting approached by an angelic being (especially if it's one with a creepy inhuman vibe) who'd consider managing to extract even one soul from Le Bail's deal to be a win and will help her out to get it.
While time loop fic set the night of the game has already become a big standard trope for the pairing, I'd also be interested in seeing something where one of them travels back even further than that to try to fix things. Like, she's meeting him for the first time pre-movie and she suddenly goes from being mildly perturbed at her lover's married brother hitting on her to scrambling to grab him and get the hell away from Alex. Or he tries to figure out where she is before she and Alex first meet, so he can be the brother she encounters first.
Or something where the win condition of the wedding night loop isn't Daniel and Grace both making it through, but a pass where most everyone survives (maybe because they arrange a sacrifice or someone else, maybe because the win condition is successfully summoning LeBail up and renegotiating the contract, maybe because the win condition is Grace just going 'You know what, you're right, we don't need to get married' and getting on the phone without a lawyer before she can draw a card) and she needs to deal with the fallout of Alex still being alive and thinking they still have a loving relationship when her affections have shifted fully over to his brother.
I'd also be interested in a story that just glosses over how the fix-it happens, and instead focuses on the two of them connecting after the stress of that night wears off and they face each other again with clear heads, her knowing everything, and him knowing that his entire family is dead because of them.
Or an AU where when she was little Grace was adopted by Helene (or by Tony for Helene whether she wants a child or not) to try to give her something else to focus her affection on after her own game of Hide and Seek, and as she grows up she starts to fall for her trashfire cousin that almost nobody else seems to care about. Is she in on the family secrets in this world, or does Helene lock her out since she doesn't view her as really being a LeDomas? If she was locked out of the loop does Daniel realize that, or does he go on with the relationship thinking that she's fully aware what she's potentially facing if they get married and realizes too late that she doesn't have a clue?
IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Eddie Kaspbrak/Beverly Marsh
Mike Hanlon/Beverly Marsh
Pennywise & Richie Tozier
Eddie/Bev: I've had this idea that I've wanted to see for awhile of and Eddie-lives AU where he and Beverly are both getting divorced post-movie and Beverly can't actually live with or see Ben at this point, because she knows that Tom would 100% use Ben against her horribly in the divorce proceedings if she showed the world even the tiniest hint that she might have had an affair, but she can get a place with Eddie as a roommate because she also knows that Tom would look down on someone like Eddie too much to ever believe his wife would be cheating on him with someone like that. But then feelings start sparking that they both try to ignore, feeling horribly guilty over Ben (and would feel horribly guilty over Richie if they realized there was reason to). Maybe Ben himself is the one who visits, recognizes what's happening because he's very used to what Beverly looks like when she's pining over someone who's not him, and sadly gives his blessing? Or they both keep steadfastly denying (maybe slipping once or twices?) until the divorce has gone through and Bev is free to go to Ben, only to realize she left her heart back in New York?
Or something where they were both in New York right from when Eddie moved away from Derry as a kid andThe Turtle shifted a flipper he's lucky enough to just happen to run into her immediately after moving, before his memories can vanish. And as long as he sticks close to her he can remember the version of himself that he found that summer, even if the exact details grow hazy, and while it's too late for her to get the same benefit from him it still does her a world of good to have someone close that is incredibly, angrily, vocal about how she deserves so much better than shitheads who remind her of her dad. (Meanwhile Mrs. Kaspbrak fumes over how she moved them all this way to get away from the negative influence of those other children Eddie spends time with, only for him to run straight into that little Marsh hussy again.)
Or standard 'Two Losers meet as adults before IT returns, and become seriously codependent because of a deep-down feeling they don't understand saying they need to be near this person' is always good!
Or less co-dependent, but a slight AU where he still has his driver to celebrities job from the novel (or not an AU where he did that to put himself through college, and even after he moves onto his real work he never actually tells her that when she calls looking for a ride?) and meets her through that, and instantly becomes the one she always calls from that? A five-times fic of different drives and how their relationship deepens across them?
Mike/Bev
Another one where there's a plotbunny I've tossed out once or twice but would rather read than write myself! I love the idea that as the loser who still has all his memories Mike is able to recognize the signs of abuse on Bev when he sees her on TV, and over the years can't resist making a series of fake "IT's back" calls to her in order to get her someplace safe for as long as he can. And it always ends in her leaving to collect her things, swearing she'll be back as soon as she's started the divorce rolling and gotten everything together for a move, and after the first time he always knows she's not going to remember long enough to keep that promise but it's not like he can lock her in a basement and force her to stay. Meanwhile Mike doesn't realize that he's just feeding Tom's paranoia and making him worse every time she slips away.
Or, something post-movie where Bev joins Mike on his trip seeing everything he's missed all these years stuck in Derry, because there's a whole lot of living she hasn't been able to do herself while tethered to Tom. Bev feeling safer with him than with one of the other Losers because he's travelling, and they won't ever be in one place long enough for Tom to track her down before he's cleanly cut from her life? Falling in love across tacky tourist traps and forcing each other to try on the cheesiest giftshop merchandise they can find.
Or something where Beverly comes back home when her father dies, and it's a complete surprise for Mike to run into her while she's taking care of whatever estate he had left. Maybe him awkwardly not knowing how much he should reach out to her, how close he should let himself get when she barely remembers him and is going to forget again. Is her amnesia a relief, showing him once and for all for sure why nobody stays in touch after moving and that he was right to think someone had to stay?
Pennywise & Richie Tozier
Submitted for your perusal and plot-bunnying, this thread right here: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/397319.html?thread=2342023943#cmt2342023943
Any idea at all that you want to spin from the things in that thread would be fabulous. I just absolutely fucking love Richie being Pennywise's least favorite, to the point that he doesn't even really want to deal with this little asshole enough to scare him if he weren't part of the group. I love the thought of him trying to drive a wedge between Richie and the others so that he no longer needs to him. The idea of an AU where Richie is the one who stays behind and accidentally weakens Pennywise just by spending 27-years making nonstop fun of him is fabulous, as is the thought of him having a comedy act that gives the kids in Derry defense against IT!
Just anything playing with the idea of Pennywise personally loathing Richie on a level he doesn't feel for any other child would delight me. (If you go with this one and also want to have Richie paired up with someone, I'm fine with you disregarding my no outside pairings DNW if it's for Richie/Eddie, Richie/Stan, or Richie/Ben/Bev)
Far Cry 4
Pagan Min/Ajay Ghale
Anything with the two of them, really. Pagan calling while exceptionally coked out of his mind and Ajay grumpily sneaking north to check on him, or Ajay getting badly injured and Pagan being ridiculous about it? Or, switching those two around a little, Pagan appears when Ajay is in the middle of a Yogi & Reggie mission or delving into one of the caves where the fun fungi grows after a thangka because that is not one of the ways he'd like to see Ajay following in his footsteps and he hasn't realized when he's spied him trapsing across the country high as a kite that that was never actually his goal going in. (If it happens with a thangka shrine, Pagan could be pulled into a shared Shangri-La hallucination with Ajay?)
Something mostly over the radios with Ajay actually chatting back sometimes?
Something post-game with Ajay just going the hell home when he's finally able to make it there and Pagan in exile bursting in on his life again because he left Ajay a COUNTRY, what is this nonsense with him just going back to live quietly in the US?
Or Ajay hunting down Pagan himself to throw him back on his throne, because, fuck it all, he might be a murderous dictator but somehow less terrible for the average Kyrati citizen than Amita or Sabal has ended up being and Ajay still doesn't want the throne himself?
Or, of course, anything spinning off from the crab rangoon ending.
One Piece
Sanji/Vivi
Ever since we've learned the truth about Sanji's heritage I've really wanted something where Vivi finds out about it and immediately starts trying to get in touch to arrange a marriage with him, because she knows that as heir to Alabasta she needs to get married to someone eventually and all of a sudden she discovers that there's a politically appropriate prospect that she already loves and who loves her in return even if they aren't in love with each other. Whether romance comes over time or they just remain platonically affectionate while occasionally banging for heirs and having their own romances on the side, either way is fine.
Or, branching off that, instead of ever actually reaching a marriage Vivi starts using the possibility of one as an excuse to rejoin up with the Strawhats and travel with them in secret once more- she needs a chance to bond further with her potential fiance now that her land is stable enough that she can feel safe leaving it, after all!
Or an epistolary fic where Vivi and Sanji have actually been keeping in touch (with as many other members of the crew cutting into Sanji's letters as you want) ever since the crew left Alabasta, since with the marines' inability to get a decent photo for his wanted poster he's the only one who can easily send out or (as long as they use a fake name) pick up mail without any risk of it getting out that the princess of Alabasta keeps up regular correspondence with one of the Strawhat Pirates. Their relationship slowly shifting over the years over the course of their letters.
Or an AU where, for whatever reason, Kuma's strike either sends Sanji back to Alabasta or sends him somewhere else that Vivi happens to be visiting at the same time (or still Momoiro Island, if you can think of a reason she'd head there) and after they receive Luffy's message she helps him find somewhere to train and joins him at it as much as she's able around her duties- if Vivi had the context to realize Luffy wanted his crew to get stronger I imagine that she'd want to do her best to make sure she'd also be capable of helping still if she ever ended up in a position where she could.
An AU where Vivi does go off with the crew at the end of the Alabasta Arc and their relationship continues to grow through the arcs afterwards- maybe the timeline of Crocodile's plan was shifted so the country's state isn't as terrible when the Strawhats reach it and she doesn't feel so compelled to stay and help restore it?
Or, flipflopped around, they get there so late that the country is already destroyed and all the Strawhats can do is gather her back up on Merry and try to help heal her devastated heart, with Sanji the one best able to empathize (even with how distant that part of his life is) about what it must be like for a ruler to see their kingdom destroyed?
Kumo desu ga Nani ka | So I'm a Spider So What?
Kumoko
Kumoko & D
Kumoko & Ariel
Kumoko & Araba
I wibbled a lot over adding this because I don't have much in the way of prompts to offer (I still ended up rambling a lot for all that), I just love it a lot and would love to see anything. While I'm using the name Kumoko throughout, feel free to go from any point in the timeline.
Something where Kumoko is able to break free to the surface sooner (maybe D nudging her to a short-cut because she thought it'd be funny?)? How well would she be able to live without at the very least all the skills she earned in the labyrinth that made her sturdier, let alone the ones that made her deadly? How would the lead-up to her confrontation with Mother, or her first meeting Ariel have gone if she'd somehow snuck away when she was still beneath notice?
Something where one of the other reincarnators of your choice also ended up reborn in the labyrinth (or she never loses her egg, though that would still have been a looong wait), so she runs into one of them sooner? If you're on the side that believes that part of her social anxiety stems from the massive level of PTSD she developed there would having someone else available that she could talk to through the worst of times help with that at all? Or at least leave her with someone beyond Ariel that she's able to talk with normally?
Or, if not a reincarnator, then something where her first meeting with Ronant and his group doesn't go so completely pear-shaped, and she's able to make peaceful contact with them and start forging links in the human lands sooner? (And as a bonus poor Wrath would be spared from Buirims heading his way, lol)
With Kumoko and Araba I'd really love anything where they're able to forge peace between them instead of him becoming her Great White Whale that she's compelled to defeat- his graceful acceptance of defeat is definitely one of the moments that sticks with me and I wish she could have spared him from there. Or, if she learned sooner that appraise can be sensed, realized that Araba knew she was there and deliberately spared her the first time she encountered him, and decided that lurking around the giant terrifying dragon that apparently doesn't want her dead and can slaughter all the other giant terrifying monsters that do would be her safest bet on the lower level? Araba bemusedly accepting this weird little low-level teratect that's decided he's her safe space? Maybe actually deigning to talk at some point, like he never chooses to in canon? Or something well in the future where she meets his reincarnated self- does the respect she held for him in his last moments continue across lives?
Anything with Kumoko trying to make her "grandmother" happy- I love the way their relationship evolves as she grows into a grandma's girl. AU where the personality shift wasn't quite as strong and how it effects the way they get along? Something where someone Ariel's brushed against in the past outside of those that we know appears and reacts to the changes in her, and her relationship with Kumoko? Or one with a grudge that Kumoko helps defend her against, even though she really doesn't need it?
And with D, just anything about how amusing she finds watching this spider rampage across the world. Something where she throws more weird gamey hurdles at Kumoko just to see what she does with them? Poking at her just to see the limits of how crazy over-prepared she can get when she feels the need to? Something in the future where Kumoko's continued her growth to the point that they're actually equals to each other, and how they interact when D no longer has any power over her? Or something where D somehow tosses Kumoko back in time, just to see what would happen if right after her birth she was already obscenely overpowered and could go trampling through the world without even the minor amount of "there's something terrible gaining power in the labyrinth" warning they got. How would she change the lives of the other reincarnators if she went back through that period- would she save the ones that dies early? Would she stop Hugo from getting so twisted because she knows Oka would like that, or kill him young for what he hasn't had a chance to do yet?
Michael Kaufmann (whose name I only realized while signing up I misspelled in my nomination, oops)/Cheryl Heather Mason (SH:SM)
Every time I replay this game I'm hit by the desire for this pairing. She has all types of daddy issues that he dug at so hard they just physically manifested in the middle of her therapy session, he's rumored to have slept with his patients before and gets intense over much she needs to get laid, and I want them in a horrible trainwreck together. If you go for 10000 words of just them I'd also be super into a trainwreck that morphs into a surprisingly stable relationship! I just can't imagine that it wouldn't at least start out messy as hell, lol.
Dynamics-wise I'm more into her pushing things with him (angry "You made me give up my father, you're going to give me something back to fill that void" feelings, or challenging "You say I need to get laid to badly, why don't you show me what I need"?) while he's had to change practices once because of rumors he was sleeping with a patient and would probably be hesitant even after she stops seeing him professionally to do anything. Both of them clashing against each other a lot would be fun too. Or something where their sessions go on and she gets increasingly flirty and he gets more and more drawn in inspite of himself. I'd be very into it if he made a series of rules for dealing with it that he keeps finding himself breaking (like, at first he tells himself he'll shut her down immediately whenever she starts it up, then that he can let her go on but won't respond, then that if he does respond it will only be jokingly and clearly not serious, and so on.)
I'd be equally happy with something where she's rebuilding her life free of her daddy obsession, something branching from the Hero Forever ending where he's still trying to wrench her free of her past (maybe her delusions start to crumble as her attention starts shifting to him and Harry no longer feels as much like he needs to be the focal point of her life?) or something where the twist was different and she really is haunted by seeing the ghost of her dad in an icy hellworld and Kaufmann's whole worldview was upended when he burst into the office.
Or something a bit closer to the main universe version of Silent Hill, where it's both all in her head and on some level real at the same time and as Kaufmann starts successfully separating her from it it lashes out and drags them both in? It could be very fun to see feelings springing up from them attempting to survive and escape together.
I would very strongly prefer that you go off from the endings being Lost Love and either Broken or Hero Forever- pile on as much horror or mind screws or mental issues as you want but Harry Mason being a good father around it all is important to me. Since we don't see much of this version of Cheryl's personality outside of hearsay I'm totally fine with you pulling from SH3, but would rather not have much of Kaufmann's SH1 counterpart mixed in.
Jean-Luc Picard/Professor James Moriarty
Jean-Luc Picard/Q
Sooo while I was filling out my nominations the episode "Elementary, My Dear Data" started playing, which then compelled me to rewatch "Ship in a Bottle" for the other side of Moriarty's story again, and then I realized that I would be totally into Picard/Holodeck!Moriarty. So here we are!
Anything where Picard does continue searching for a way to bring Moriarty into the real world would obviously be great. Maybe a test of replacing the ships EMH with his program? I imagine that he wouldn't be content with that for long, since he wants to see the universe and not just the medbay.
Something where Picard does regularly loads up his programming (after carefully locking down the computer to keep him from taking over again) in the period between the two episodes, letting him have company instead of being conscious in a black void endlessly? Or where he occasionally enters the program that Moriarty ends up trapped in, playing it off as their paths just happening to cross now and again during both of their travels through space.
Or maybe something where Picard more-or-less puts Moriarty out of his mind after "Ship in a Bottle" until the Voyager makes it home and Picard learns about The Doctor's mobile emitter and feels duty-bound to see if The Doctor will allow Geordi or someone to attempt to reverse-engineer it. Perhaps with some focus on the split between wanting to honor his promise to the holoperson he personally knows, but who is currently happily fooled into thinking he's already gotten his wish, and being aware that if they aren't very careful and damaged the emitter they could be responsible for leaving The Doctor once more trapped in place on his ship.
Or something where Q shows up and the latest string he had to dangle is that he could create a body for Picard's little holoprisoner, he could do it easily, if Picard would just go along with whatever he currently wants. Digging in about whether Picard could really live with himself for leaving a sapient being trapped just out of petty stubbornness.
And speaking of him, onto Picard/Q!
There's this plot I've been prompting here and there for awhile while never really expecting to get it since it's not really good for a short fic, but maybe with 10K words to work with it's day will finally come! Something where during the episode "The Inner Light" Q periodically barges in on "Kamin"s life, because while he's willing to let this little fling a light to the future plot proceed he is absolutely unwilling to risk Picard losing himself in this other man's memories and so becomes his one (incredibly annoying) link to who he really is over those forty years to make sure it doesn't happen (while he keeps insisting it's fine, and no he does not need to return him to his ship, and no he's not the one who's doing this, and figure it out yourself, Picard, does he really need to help you work your brain as well as your memory?).
Or something where Q's method of flirting is to keep flinging the Enterprise to places he thinks are interesting. Picard wants to explore strange new worlds, he can show him ones that are so much more entertaining than the Enterprise could reach on its own! He really doesn't know why Picard keeps making sure a fuss every time he does it, all the places he sends them are perfectly harmless
Something where Picard gets caught in a situation on the more horrific end of the Star Trek scale of encounters (or even worse than something you'd see on TV) to the point that Q feels compelled to step in with a rescue, whether Picard wants to accept his help or not.
Speaking of horrific events, something where we get to see Q react to Locutus of Borg, and the fact that he was the one who put Picard in their scopes to begin with.
Or a holodeck goes wrong style plot where it turns out that the "going wrong" is Q making things more real/immersive to show how much better that is because he's in a bit of a snit over how Picard has an all-powerful being who is happy to play with him and keeps using this primitive technology instead.
Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Obviously, I'd love any type of fix-it where Daniel survives the night. I'd rather Grace not end up in her own deal with a devil for it though, I'd rather they fight like hell and come away hell-free. I think I could get behind the opposite though, her getting approached by an angelic being (especially if it's one with a creepy inhuman vibe) who'd consider managing to extract even one soul from Le Bail's deal to be a win and will help her out to get it.
While time loop fic set the night of the game has already become a big standard trope for the pairing, I'd also be interested in seeing something where one of them travels back even further than that to try to fix things. Like, she's meeting him for the first time pre-movie and she suddenly goes from being mildly perturbed at her lover's married brother hitting on her to scrambling to grab him and get the hell away from Alex. Or he tries to figure out where she is before she and Alex first meet, so he can be the brother she encounters first.
Or something where the win condition of the wedding night loop isn't Daniel and Grace both making it through, but a pass where most everyone survives (maybe because they arrange a sacrifice or someone else, maybe because the win condition is successfully summoning LeBail up and renegotiating the contract, maybe because the win condition is Grace just going 'You know what, you're right, we don't need to get married' and getting on the phone without a lawyer before she can draw a card) and she needs to deal with the fallout of Alex still being alive and thinking they still have a loving relationship when her affections have shifted fully over to his brother.
I'd also be interested in a story that just glosses over how the fix-it happens, and instead focuses on the two of them connecting after the stress of that night wears off and they face each other again with clear heads, her knowing everything, and him knowing that his entire family is dead because of them.
Or an AU where when she was little Grace was adopted by Helene (or by Tony for Helene whether she wants a child or not) to try to give her something else to focus her affection on after her own game of Hide and Seek, and as she grows up she starts to fall for her trashfire cousin that almost nobody else seems to care about. Is she in on the family secrets in this world, or does Helene lock her out since she doesn't view her as really being a LeDomas? If she was locked out of the loop does Daniel realize that, or does he go on with the relationship thinking that she's fully aware what she's potentially facing if they get married and realizes too late that she doesn't have a clue?
Eddie Kaspbrak/Beverly Marsh
Mike Hanlon/Beverly Marsh
Pennywise & Richie Tozier
Eddie/Bev: I've had this idea that I've wanted to see for awhile of and Eddie-lives AU where he and Beverly are both getting divorced post-movie and Beverly can't actually live with or see Ben at this point, because she knows that Tom would 100% use Ben against her horribly in the divorce proceedings if she showed the world even the tiniest hint that she might have had an affair, but she can get a place with Eddie as a roommate because she also knows that Tom would look down on someone like Eddie too much to ever believe his wife would be cheating on him with someone like that. But then feelings start sparking that they both try to ignore, feeling horribly guilty over Ben (and would feel horribly guilty over Richie if they realized there was reason to). Maybe Ben himself is the one who visits, recognizes what's happening because he's very used to what Beverly looks like when she's pining over someone who's not him, and sadly gives his blessing? Or they both keep steadfastly denying (maybe slipping once or twices?) until the divorce has gone through and Bev is free to go to Ben, only to realize she left her heart back in New York?
Or something where they were both in New York right from when Eddie moved away from Derry as a kid and
Or standard 'Two Losers meet as adults before IT returns, and become seriously codependent because of a deep-down feeling they don't understand saying they need to be near this person' is always good!
Or less co-dependent, but a slight AU where he still has his driver to celebrities job from the novel (or not an AU where he did that to put himself through college, and even after he moves onto his real work he never actually tells her that when she calls looking for a ride?) and meets her through that, and instantly becomes the one she always calls from that? A five-times fic of different drives and how their relationship deepens across them?
Mike/Bev
Another one where there's a plotbunny I've tossed out once or twice but would rather read than write myself! I love the idea that as the loser who still has all his memories Mike is able to recognize the signs of abuse on Bev when he sees her on TV, and over the years can't resist making a series of fake "IT's back" calls to her in order to get her someplace safe for as long as he can. And it always ends in her leaving to collect her things, swearing she'll be back as soon as she's started the divorce rolling and gotten everything together for a move, and after the first time he always knows she's not going to remember long enough to keep that promise but it's not like he can lock her in a basement and force her to stay. Meanwhile Mike doesn't realize that he's just feeding Tom's paranoia and making him worse every time she slips away.
Or, something post-movie where Bev joins Mike on his trip seeing everything he's missed all these years stuck in Derry, because there's a whole lot of living she hasn't been able to do herself while tethered to Tom. Bev feeling safer with him than with one of the other Losers because he's travelling, and they won't ever be in one place long enough for Tom to track her down before he's cleanly cut from her life? Falling in love across tacky tourist traps and forcing each other to try on the cheesiest giftshop merchandise they can find.
Or something where Beverly comes back home when her father dies, and it's a complete surprise for Mike to run into her while she's taking care of whatever estate he had left. Maybe him awkwardly not knowing how much he should reach out to her, how close he should let himself get when she barely remembers him and is going to forget again. Is her amnesia a relief, showing him once and for all for sure why nobody stays in touch after moving and that he was right to think someone had to stay?
Pennywise & Richie Tozier
Submitted for your perusal and plot-bunnying, this thread right here: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/397319.html?thread=2342023943#cmt2342023943
Any idea at all that you want to spin from the things in that thread would be fabulous. I just absolutely fucking love Richie being Pennywise's least favorite, to the point that he doesn't even really want to deal with this little asshole enough to scare him if he weren't part of the group. I love the thought of him trying to drive a wedge between Richie and the others so that he no longer needs to him. The idea of an AU where Richie is the one who stays behind and accidentally weakens Pennywise just by spending 27-years making nonstop fun of him is fabulous, as is the thought of him having a comedy act that gives the kids in Derry defense against IT!
Just anything playing with the idea of Pennywise personally loathing Richie on a level he doesn't feel for any other child would delight me. (If you go with this one and also want to have Richie paired up with someone, I'm fine with you disregarding my no outside pairings DNW if it's for Richie/Eddie, Richie/Stan, or Richie/Ben/Bev)
Pagan Min/Ajay Ghale
Anything with the two of them, really. Pagan calling while exceptionally coked out of his mind and Ajay grumpily sneaking north to check on him, or Ajay getting badly injured and Pagan being ridiculous about it? Or, switching those two around a little, Pagan appears when Ajay is in the middle of a Yogi & Reggie mission or delving into one of the caves where the fun fungi grows after a thangka because that is not one of the ways he'd like to see Ajay following in his footsteps and he hasn't realized when he's spied him trapsing across the country high as a kite that that was never actually his goal going in. (If it happens with a thangka shrine, Pagan could be pulled into a shared Shangri-La hallucination with Ajay?)
Something mostly over the radios with Ajay actually chatting back sometimes?
Something post-game with Ajay just going the hell home when he's finally able to make it there and Pagan in exile bursting in on his life again because he left Ajay a COUNTRY, what is this nonsense with him just going back to live quietly in the US?
Or Ajay hunting down Pagan himself to throw him back on his throne, because, fuck it all, he might be a murderous dictator but somehow less terrible for the average Kyrati citizen than Amita or Sabal has ended up being and Ajay still doesn't want the throne himself?
Or, of course, anything spinning off from the crab rangoon ending.
Sanji/Vivi
Ever since we've learned the truth about Sanji's heritage I've really wanted something where Vivi finds out about it and immediately starts trying to get in touch to arrange a marriage with him, because she knows that as heir to Alabasta she needs to get married to someone eventually and all of a sudden she discovers that there's a politically appropriate prospect that she already loves and who loves her in return even if they aren't in love with each other. Whether romance comes over time or they just remain platonically affectionate while occasionally banging for heirs and having their own romances on the side, either way is fine.
Or, branching off that, instead of ever actually reaching a marriage Vivi starts using the possibility of one as an excuse to rejoin up with the Strawhats and travel with them in secret once more- she needs a chance to bond further with her potential fiance now that her land is stable enough that she can feel safe leaving it, after all!
Or an epistolary fic where Vivi and Sanji have actually been keeping in touch (with as many other members of the crew cutting into Sanji's letters as you want) ever since the crew left Alabasta, since with the marines' inability to get a decent photo for his wanted poster he's the only one who can easily send out or (as long as they use a fake name) pick up mail without any risk of it getting out that the princess of Alabasta keeps up regular correspondence with one of the Strawhat Pirates. Their relationship slowly shifting over the years over the course of their letters.
Or an AU where, for whatever reason, Kuma's strike either sends Sanji back to Alabasta or sends him somewhere else that Vivi happens to be visiting at the same time (or still Momoiro Island, if you can think of a reason she'd head there) and after they receive Luffy's message she helps him find somewhere to train and joins him at it as much as she's able around her duties- if Vivi had the context to realize Luffy wanted his crew to get stronger I imagine that she'd want to do her best to make sure she'd also be capable of helping still if she ever ended up in a position where she could.
An AU where Vivi does go off with the crew at the end of the Alabasta Arc and their relationship continues to grow through the arcs afterwards- maybe the timeline of Crocodile's plan was shifted so the country's state isn't as terrible when the Strawhats reach it and she doesn't feel so compelled to stay and help restore it?
Or, flipflopped around, they get there so late that the country is already destroyed and all the Strawhats can do is gather her back up on Merry and try to help heal her devastated heart, with Sanji the one best able to empathize (even with how distant that part of his life is) about what it must be like for a ruler to see their kingdom destroyed?
Kumoko
Kumoko & D
Kumoko & Ariel
Kumoko & Araba
I wibbled a lot over adding this because I don't have much in the way of prompts to offer (I still ended up rambling a lot for all that), I just love it a lot and would love to see anything. While I'm using the name Kumoko throughout, feel free to go from any point in the timeline.
Something where Kumoko is able to break free to the surface sooner (maybe D nudging her to a short-cut because she thought it'd be funny?)? How well would she be able to live without at the very least all the skills she earned in the labyrinth that made her sturdier, let alone the ones that made her deadly? How would the lead-up to her confrontation with Mother, or her first meeting Ariel have gone if she'd somehow snuck away when she was still beneath notice?
Something where one of the other reincarnators of your choice also ended up reborn in the labyrinth (or she never loses her egg, though that would still have been a looong wait), so she runs into one of them sooner? If you're on the side that believes that part of her social anxiety stems from the massive level of PTSD she developed there would having someone else available that she could talk to through the worst of times help with that at all? Or at least leave her with someone beyond Ariel that she's able to talk with normally?
Or, if not a reincarnator, then something where her first meeting with Ronant and his group doesn't go so completely pear-shaped, and she's able to make peaceful contact with them and start forging links in the human lands sooner? (And as a bonus poor Wrath would be spared from Buirims heading his way, lol)
With Kumoko and Araba I'd really love anything where they're able to forge peace between them instead of him becoming her Great White Whale that she's compelled to defeat- his graceful acceptance of defeat is definitely one of the moments that sticks with me and I wish she could have spared him from there. Or, if she learned sooner that appraise can be sensed, realized that Araba knew she was there and deliberately spared her the first time she encountered him, and decided that lurking around the giant terrifying dragon that apparently doesn't want her dead and can slaughter all the other giant terrifying monsters that do would be her safest bet on the lower level? Araba bemusedly accepting this weird little low-level teratect that's decided he's her safe space? Maybe actually deigning to talk at some point, like he never chooses to in canon? Or something well in the future where she meets his reincarnated self- does the respect she held for him in his last moments continue across lives?
Anything with Kumoko trying to make her "grandmother" happy- I love the way their relationship evolves as she grows into a grandma's girl. AU where the personality shift wasn't quite as strong and how it effects the way they get along? Something where someone Ariel's brushed against in the past outside of those that we know appears and reacts to the changes in her, and her relationship with Kumoko? Or one with a grudge that Kumoko helps defend her against, even though she really doesn't need it?
And with D, just anything about how amusing she finds watching this spider rampage across the world. Something where she throws more weird gamey hurdles at Kumoko just to see what she does with them? Poking at her just to see the limits of how crazy over-prepared she can get when she feels the need to? Something in the future where Kumoko's continued her growth to the point that they're actually equals to each other, and how they interact when D no longer has any power over her? Or something where D somehow tosses Kumoko back in time, just to see what would happen if right after her birth she was already obscenely overpowered and could go trampling through the world without even the minor amount of "there's something terrible gaining power in the labyrinth" warning they got. How would she change the lives of the other reincarnators if she went back through that period- would she save the ones that dies early? Would she stop Hugo from getting so twisted because she knows Oka would like that, or kill him young for what he hasn't had a chance to do yet?