Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2022-07-04 10:06 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2022-07-04 10:06 pm
Fic Concept Roundup 2022.
At the end of 2021, I wrote up all the fic ideas I’d been scribbling down in my diaries over the years. I’m about to switch diaries again, so I found myself thinking about how to continue to archive these concepts in the future.
Therefore, here’s the start of a potential annual tradition! When I finish a diary, I’m going to write up the fic ideas at the back. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet (or everything I’ve written, if I’ve barely started). If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.
Let’s see how this goes!
I’ll start with the ones I’ve written in full. Fandoms: Life Is Strange: True Colors, Deltarune, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, Doctor Who, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Ryan, after Gabe’s fall, when they’re away from the danger and what he did really starts to hit him, his hands start to shake, he just killed his friend, he killed his friend.
This initial concept is in Ryan’s perspective, but the final fic ended up being from Alex’s point of view: blood upon our hands.
Deltarune: Kris pulls out their soul to spare Noelle during the Berdly fight on a Snowgrave run, and then they have to deal with what’s happened. Noelle is understandably terrified of Kris afterwards, having received those orders from them and then seen them rip out their soul, but she has to stick with them; she doesn’t know how else to get out of here.
Kris considers asking her to freeze their soul, can’t risk being controlled like that again. But the thought of asking her to use her ice magic doesn’t feel good.
The fic that resulted from this, Vessels, ended up being one of the most popular things I’ve ever written. It didn’t include the ‘Kris considers asking her to freeze their soul’ part, perhaps because it’s written from Noelle’s perspective.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex and Ryan: secrets and terrible shared experiences bonding them together so closely it feels claustrophobic.
I hadn’t ticked this off as written, but I’m pretty sure Breaking Through fulfils it!
Uncharted: Young Nate and Sully: reaching the point where they realise that, oh no, this isn’t just mutually beneficial, they actually care about each other?
This became Transactions. It didn’t get much of an audience at first, but it picked up later on, perhaps because of the Uncharted film.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Aloy bangs her way through everyone for stress relief. They’ll take what they can get and quietly have emotions about this later.
I never wrote a fic where this was the focus, but I worked the concept into Forged Chains.
Doctor Who: Jack finding his place in the TARDIS.
I think Three Sides sort of counts? I’m going to say Three Sides counts.
Persona 5: Akechi, after Joker accepts the new reality, struggling ineffectually against his memories being overwritten. Writing things down to hold on to them, coming across his notes later and not understanding their significance.
This became Rewrite. I enjoyed writing this much more than Akechi enjoyed being in it.
Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Bravely Default II, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Exit/Corners, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Bravely Default II: Gladys joins the group.
I did technically start this? I technically write two sentences? According to the rules of the game, I can share those and I’m meeting requirements, so here we go!
“You forced how many people off that drop because they might have been fairies?” Adelle asks. “Sorry if that doesn’t really make this fairy want to spend time with you.”
Bravely Default II: OT4? Adelle surprises everyone by being the one who's most weirded out by the prospect.
I’ve got six hundred words of a Bravely Default II bedsharing fic, and I can’t be sure it’s going in an OT4 direction, but I’m going to count it for this to make life easier for myself.
The air in Savalon is hot and close, and they’re all knackered from the journey. It’s no place to negotiate bed allocations. But the inn only had the one room to spare, two beds. Tempting to jump into one of them and leave the rest to fight over the other, but Elvis resists.
“Me an’ Adelle’ve been travelling together a while now,” Elvis says, with a shrug. “Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve slept in close quarters.”
“Don’t say it like that!” Adelle protests. “You’ll give them the wrong idea!”
“S’pose that leaves Seth and the princess to share,” Elvis says.
“Wait!” Seth and Adelle say, simultaneously. It’s considerably more forceful in Adelle’s voice.
“You can’t just assume I’m sharing with you,” Adelle says. “We’ve got options now. You think I’d put up with you farting all night if I didn’t have to?”
“Thought you might nobly fall on that sword to spare poor Gloria,” Elvis says.
“You are not sharing with Gloria,” Adelle says. “Dream on.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Ryan thinks Alex is into Steph, Steph thinks Alex is into Ryan, they both try to support/matchmake, they both pick up on what the other is trying to do and go 'what the fuck are you doing', turns out Alex is into both of them.
I only wrote 266 words for this, so I might as well share the entire thing.
“Ryan!” Steph snaps. “What the hell are you doing?”
Ryan blinks. “I, uh—”
“You keep pushing Alex away!” Steph exclaims, throwing up her hands. “After everything I’ve done! She’s gonna start thinking you don’t want her around, you know that?”
“I—” It takes Ryan a moment to make sense of the accusation. What’s happening here? “I’m not pushing her away from me. I’m just pushing her toward you.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Steph says. “Why?”
“I mean, Alex – I’m pretty sure Alex is into you,” Ryan says. “And you’re definitely into her. So I was just – I thought you’d appreciate it.”
Steph stares at him.
“I’m getting the impression I’ve misread something,” Ryan says.
Steph’s stare intensifies. “Alex is into you, you idiot.”
“What?” Ryan asks. “No. No, she isn’t. What?”
“You seriously can’t tell?”
“I’m almost certain you’re the one she’s interested in,” Ryan says. He resigned himself to that a while back. “I was just trying to help.”
“I can’t believe you’re this dense,” Steph says. “I mean, I kind of can believe it, but it’s still impressive. She chose you as the hotter distraction, right?”
“For Diane,” Ryan says. “She just thought I’d work better because I’m a guy.”
“Please. We all know I could get Diane asking some questions.”
“Well, she probably just didn’t want you seducing her,” Ryan says. “Would you send someone you’re interested in after Diane?”
Steph folds her arms. “Depends. Would I get to watch?”
[...]
“Well, there’s one way to settle this,” Steph says. “We ask Alex.”
“N-no, we don’t,” Ryan says. “We absolutely don’t.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex loses her power (maybe the intense emotions at the end of episode one somehow short it out?) and has to deal with the uncertainty and paranoia of not knowing what people are thinking or feeling.
Again, I’ve written very little for this! I barely touch a fic concept or I finish the entire thing; there’s not much in between. Here’s everything I have:
“I’m so sorry,” Steph says, her voice breaking. “I loved Gabe.”
The words sound right, the tears look right. Anyone else would believe her.
But she doesn’t have an aura. She’s standing there, talking about how sorry she is, and she’s feeling nothing at all.
[...]
“How are you meant to know who you can trust?”
“I mean, I guess you don’t, really,” Ryan says. “You just... trust them.”
Exit/Corners: Rae/Aether? Rae and Aether's relationship is more interesting than I remembered; Rae seems to tolerate her better than he does most of the others, although he's still Rae about it. Half-tempted to attempt a fic where Rae/Aether happens and throws all of the plans for Exit/Corners off track.
All I managed here was a Gemini conversation between Ink and Sean:
You’re making it sound a lot more fun than it is.
Fine?
She’s fine, I think.
There is no ‘seduction’.
Ink hesitates. Glances over at Aether and Rae.
I don’t think I’m her type, anyway.
I think she might be interested in one of the other Contestants.
This guy called Rae.
That’s him.
Did I already tell you about him?
She’s a person, you know? She can make her own decisions.
You’re being extremely weird about this.
Persona 5: Joker ‘revives’ Akechi in his own mind. Akechi is not impressed.
Once again, here’s everything I have. It’s a shame I’ve made so little progress with all these concepts!
“I’m creating my own reality,” Ren says.
Akechi gives him a look of great disdain. “Without the Metaverse to back it up, that’s called ‘deluding yourself’.”
[...]
“And what about my wishes?” Akechi asks. “I’m not Maruki’s puppet any more; do you expect me to put up with being yours?”
“You keep saying you aren’t real,” Ren says. “I’m not sure it’s possible for you to have wishes.”
Akechi bares his teeth in a near-snarl.
And now we reach the scariest category: the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Fandoms: Undertale, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Until Dawn, Danganronpa 2, Doctor Who, The Great Ace Attorney, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Undertale: something to do with mistakes that can't be undone, efforts to atone when you've gone too far and the value in that? You can't save the others after you've sold your soul; does that mean you can't do anything? You could at least start the game, help everyone and never finish, if you earnestly regretted causing that harm. Might be hard to write as a fic.
This does indeed sound hard to write as a fic. I’m already regretting this challenge. All right, I’ll try to write a hundred words.
“See, my brother thinks you’re the best,” Sans says. “And, hey, I’d like to believe him.”
He leans against the wall, watching you. Or you think he’s watching you, at least. His eye sockets are blank; it’s hard to tell.
“I think you’re dangerous,” he says.
You don’t respond, of course. But he’s right.
“I’d fight you,” he says. “But I’m pretty sure every timeline’s already screwed. Why make the effort, right?”
Because Papyrus is still alive.
It would sound like a threat if you said it. You keep it to yourself. But Papyrus is still alive; there’s something worth protecting, however this ends. That still means something, right?
It has to mean something. Maybe you’ve screwed everything up; maybe this timeline is doomed to end badly for everyone. But right now, while it’s still playing out, the things that happen matter.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex starts broadcasting her own emotions instead of absorbing other people’s.
This sounds like a fun concept, but I’m not sure where to start with it! Let’s give it a go.
There’s a knock on the door, and Alex backs away from it. She’s always been able to feel emotions through doors and walls. If it works the same way in reverse, whoever’s outside will be able to hear her.
“Alex?”
It’s Ryan’s voice. Alex winces. He knows what’s going on with her; she won’t be able to send him away with an excuse.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she calls. “Can you leave me alone?”
“What?” Ryan asks.
Right. Of course he can’t hear her, the distance she’s keeping from the door. She can barely make out what he’s saying herself.
It’s tempting to go up to the roof where she can’t hear him, try to forget that he’s outside. But she forces herself over to the door. Half-opens it.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I can’t really talk right now. I just – I’m really freaking out.”
“I – I know,” Ryan says. “I can—” He hesitates. “Wow. I can really feel that.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: after Alex gives Ryan a rose, he discloses it to Steph, wanting to make sure she’s okay with this before pursuing anything, as he knows she’s interested in Alex as well. Possibly this leads to polyamory?
It’s outrageous that there was no polyamory option in this game, frankly.
“Wow,” Steph says. “I really thought Alex had better taste.”
Ryan raises his eyebrows. “Ouch.”
Steph shrugs, pushing herself up to sit on the counter. “I’m not saying you’re a bad choice. I’m just saying there’s an obvious better one.”
“I really didn’t see it coming,” Ryan admits. “I keep expecting her to show up and... I don’t know, ask for her rose back.”
“Well, obviously,” Steph says. “I’ll try to act surprised when she gives it to me instead.”
Silence. Steph kicks her heels against the counter for a moment.
“In the unlikely event Alex doesn’t come to her senses,” she says at last, “what are you gonna do?”
Until Dawn: something where end-of-game Mike gets to interact with Hannah somehow?
This is pretty vague! I’m not sure what I was really envisioning.
“Are you real?” he asks.
“Um.” Hannah swallows. “I don’t – I don’t think so?”
Of course she isn’t real. She died. Died twice, once a year ago and once tonight, and both times it was Mike who killed her. There’s no way she’s here now.
He thinks about asking if he’s dead. But, faced with Hannah and everything he put her through, he can’t bring himself to talk about his own problems.
“I’m sorry,” he says instead. His voice cracks in the middle like he’s fourteen years old again, and what’s the fucking point of apologising when she’s not even real?
But it’s not like he’s getting any other chance.
Danganronpa 2: AU Koizumi and Kuzuryuu confrontation where nobody gets murdered?
Hmm, this is a tricky one. I don’t remember what inspired this, but Koizumi and Kuzuryuu are two of my favourite Danganronpa characters; maybe I just wanted to see them interact?
“You brought a baseball bat,” Koizumi says.
Kuzuryuu says nothing. But his jaw tightens, visibly.
She’s afraid, but she has to stand her ground. She knows guys like Kuzuryuu; they’re all talk. So long as she doesn’t back down—
Is he all talk, though? That girl in the game, the one who was killed with a baseball bat: that really happened, didn’t it? If that was Kuzuryuu...
“Did you really just want to talk?” she asks.
There’s silence between them for a long moment.
“I just need answers,” Kuzuryuu says at last, his voice rough.
“I get it,” Koizumi says. “I do too. But I don’t remember any more than you do.”
Doctor Who: weird claustrophobic Doctor/Rose?
STOP BEING SO VAGUE, PAST SELF.
“If you don’t wanna take me back—”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” the Doctor says.
“I get it,” Rose says. “I don’t want to leave, either. But you can’t keep – sacrificing places to keep me safe. It’s not right.”
“I’m not trying to keep you here,” the Doctor says. “The TARDIS just keeps missing your home time.”
He’s lying. It’s not like she doesn’t know it. But, if she accepts it, it means she doesn’t have to leave this behind.
“Okay,” she says. “I guess I’m hanging around, then.”
His grin is as intense, as magnetic as ever. Bright enough to rival the burning planets they’ve left behind them. “Guess so.”
Ace Attorney: Ryunosuke and Kazuma share the bed on the ship until Ryunosuke has Too Many Feelings, possibly because of a kiss, and insists on sleeping in the wardrobe. But what if he hadn’t? Would Kazumi still be alive? (Would they be making out right now?)
If they do kiss, Ryunosuke freaks himself out wondering about the kiss’s significance. And, after Kazuma’s death, he’ll never know!
I still can’t believe how badly this game wasted a perfectly good ‘only one bed’ scenario.
Ryunosuke hadn’t really thought this through, evidently. If he’s not a legitimate passenger on this ship, of course there isn’t going to be a bed for him.
“Should I... get back in the suitcase?” he asks, reluctantly.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Kazuma says. “It’ll be at least a couple of months before we reach England. You’ll be waiting in there a long time.”
“I mean – I mean, to sleep,” Ryunosuke says.
“You’re planning to sleep in the suitcase?” Kazuma asks. “There’s a bed here.”
“Yes, but – I can’t just take your bed, can I? Where are you going to sleep?”
Kazuma gives him an odd look. “There’s a bed here,” he repeats.
Ryunosuke lies awake the entire night. Staring up at the ceiling, Kazuma breathing next to him. Telling himself he must be seasick; there’s no other explanation for the unsteady feeling in his gut.
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning: dealing with suspicions of Haruto being the murderer after the OT7 forms?
I thought of this concept partway through writing this entry, and I was slightly reluctant to note it down in my diary, because that would create more work for me! But this exercise is supposed to encourage creativity; I shouldn’t let it deter me from recording my fic ideas.
“Hey, Haruto?” Ryo raps on the door to the hotel room: the one Haruto usually takes when he’s sleeping alone. “You in there?”
There’s a pause, and then Haruto cracks the door open. “Ryo?”
“You want company tonight?”
A longer pause. Haruto opens the door more fully, slowly. “Do you still think I’m a killer?”
Yeah, it kind of scares Ryo to ask. But the others have paired off for the night. Rinko hasn’t left Sachika’s side since they started to get these weird memories of Haruto back, Yuma’s with Mamoru, Minami’s with Zen. The beds aren’t big enough to sleep three. And, if Ryo’s on his own, he’ll just spend the whole night obsessing over this whole maybe-Haruto’s-a-murderer question.
It’s not like he won’t be obsessing over it when he’s in a room with the possibly-murderer. But at least it seems like he might get some answers here.
“I don’t know,” Ryo says. “But, like... you’ve Extended us when we’ve died, right? So I don’t think you’re gonna kill me.”
If he does... well, it’s not like Ryo hasn’t died twenty times already, right? He’ll handle it.
“I wouldn’t,” Haruto says. “I wouldn’t hurt any of you. I promise I—” He hesitates. Steps back from the door to let Ryo in. “I’m glad you’re here.”
And that’s everything! I hope I keep this up in future years; it’s a nice little exercise. Maybe some of these fics will actually get finished? Time will tell.
Therefore, here’s the start of a potential annual tradition! When I finish a diary, I’m going to write up the fic ideas at the back. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet (or everything I’ve written, if I’ve barely started). If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.
Let’s see how this goes!
I’ll start with the ones I’ve written in full. Fandoms: Life Is Strange: True Colors, Deltarune, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, Doctor Who, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Ryan, after Gabe’s fall, when they’re away from the danger and what he did really starts to hit him, his hands start to shake, he just killed his friend, he killed his friend.
This initial concept is in Ryan’s perspective, but the final fic ended up being from Alex’s point of view: blood upon our hands.
Deltarune: Kris pulls out their soul to spare Noelle during the Berdly fight on a Snowgrave run, and then they have to deal with what’s happened. Noelle is understandably terrified of Kris afterwards, having received those orders from them and then seen them rip out their soul, but she has to stick with them; she doesn’t know how else to get out of here.
Kris considers asking her to freeze their soul, can’t risk being controlled like that again. But the thought of asking her to use her ice magic doesn’t feel good.
The fic that resulted from this, Vessels, ended up being one of the most popular things I’ve ever written. It didn’t include the ‘Kris considers asking her to freeze their soul’ part, perhaps because it’s written from Noelle’s perspective.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex and Ryan: secrets and terrible shared experiences bonding them together so closely it feels claustrophobic.
I hadn’t ticked this off as written, but I’m pretty sure Breaking Through fulfils it!
Uncharted: Young Nate and Sully: reaching the point where they realise that, oh no, this isn’t just mutually beneficial, they actually care about each other?
This became Transactions. It didn’t get much of an audience at first, but it picked up later on, perhaps because of the Uncharted film.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Aloy bangs her way through everyone for stress relief. They’ll take what they can get and quietly have emotions about this later.
I never wrote a fic where this was the focus, but I worked the concept into Forged Chains.
Doctor Who: Jack finding his place in the TARDIS.
I think Three Sides sort of counts? I’m going to say Three Sides counts.
Persona 5: Akechi, after Joker accepts the new reality, struggling ineffectually against his memories being overwritten. Writing things down to hold on to them, coming across his notes later and not understanding their significance.
This became Rewrite. I enjoyed writing this much more than Akechi enjoyed being in it.
Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Bravely Default II, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Exit/Corners, Persona 5. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Bravely Default II: Gladys joins the group.
I did technically start this? I technically write two sentences? According to the rules of the game, I can share those and I’m meeting requirements, so here we go!
“You forced how many people off that drop because they might have been fairies?” Adelle asks. “Sorry if that doesn’t really make this fairy want to spend time with you.”
Bravely Default II: OT4? Adelle surprises everyone by being the one who's most weirded out by the prospect.
I’ve got six hundred words of a Bravely Default II bedsharing fic, and I can’t be sure it’s going in an OT4 direction, but I’m going to count it for this to make life easier for myself.
The air in Savalon is hot and close, and they’re all knackered from the journey. It’s no place to negotiate bed allocations. But the inn only had the one room to spare, two beds. Tempting to jump into one of them and leave the rest to fight over the other, but Elvis resists.
“Me an’ Adelle’ve been travelling together a while now,” Elvis says, with a shrug. “Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve slept in close quarters.”
“Don’t say it like that!” Adelle protests. “You’ll give them the wrong idea!”
“S’pose that leaves Seth and the princess to share,” Elvis says.
“Wait!” Seth and Adelle say, simultaneously. It’s considerably more forceful in Adelle’s voice.
“You can’t just assume I’m sharing with you,” Adelle says. “We’ve got options now. You think I’d put up with you farting all night if I didn’t have to?”
“Thought you might nobly fall on that sword to spare poor Gloria,” Elvis says.
“You are not sharing with Gloria,” Adelle says. “Dream on.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Ryan thinks Alex is into Steph, Steph thinks Alex is into Ryan, they both try to support/matchmake, they both pick up on what the other is trying to do and go 'what the fuck are you doing', turns out Alex is into both of them.
I only wrote 266 words for this, so I might as well share the entire thing.
“Ryan!” Steph snaps. “What the hell are you doing?”
Ryan blinks. “I, uh—”
“You keep pushing Alex away!” Steph exclaims, throwing up her hands. “After everything I’ve done! She’s gonna start thinking you don’t want her around, you know that?”
“I—” It takes Ryan a moment to make sense of the accusation. What’s happening here? “I’m not pushing her away from me. I’m just pushing her toward you.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Steph says. “Why?”
“I mean, Alex – I’m pretty sure Alex is into you,” Ryan says. “And you’re definitely into her. So I was just – I thought you’d appreciate it.”
Steph stares at him.
“I’m getting the impression I’ve misread something,” Ryan says.
Steph’s stare intensifies. “Alex is into you, you idiot.”
“What?” Ryan asks. “No. No, she isn’t. What?”
“You seriously can’t tell?”
“I’m almost certain you’re the one she’s interested in,” Ryan says. He resigned himself to that a while back. “I was just trying to help.”
“I can’t believe you’re this dense,” Steph says. “I mean, I kind of can believe it, but it’s still impressive. She chose you as the hotter distraction, right?”
“For Diane,” Ryan says. “She just thought I’d work better because I’m a guy.”
“Please. We all know I could get Diane asking some questions.”
“Well, she probably just didn’t want you seducing her,” Ryan says. “Would you send someone you’re interested in after Diane?”
Steph folds her arms. “Depends. Would I get to watch?”
[...]
“Well, there’s one way to settle this,” Steph says. “We ask Alex.”
“N-no, we don’t,” Ryan says. “We absolutely don’t.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex loses her power (maybe the intense emotions at the end of episode one somehow short it out?) and has to deal with the uncertainty and paranoia of not knowing what people are thinking or feeling.
Again, I’ve written very little for this! I barely touch a fic concept or I finish the entire thing; there’s not much in between. Here’s everything I have:
“I’m so sorry,” Steph says, her voice breaking. “I loved Gabe.”
The words sound right, the tears look right. Anyone else would believe her.
But she doesn’t have an aura. She’s standing there, talking about how sorry she is, and she’s feeling nothing at all.
[...]
“How are you meant to know who you can trust?”
“I mean, I guess you don’t, really,” Ryan says. “You just... trust them.”
Exit/Corners: Rae/Aether? Rae and Aether's relationship is more interesting than I remembered; Rae seems to tolerate her better than he does most of the others, although he's still Rae about it. Half-tempted to attempt a fic where Rae/Aether happens and throws all of the plans for Exit/Corners off track.
All I managed here was a Gemini conversation between Ink and Sean:
Yo! How are things going in Hotel Semtex?
You’re making it sound a lot more fun than it is.
How’s Aether? ;)
Fine?
She’s fine, I think.
Doesn’t sound like the seduction’s going great.
There is no ‘seduction’.
Ink hesitates. Glances over at Aether and Rae.
I don’t think I’m her type, anyway.
I can guarantee that you are.
I think she might be interested in one of the other Contestants.
What?
No, she isn’t.
Who?
No, she isn’t.
Who?
This guy called Rae.
Angry computer programmer guy?
That’s him.
Did I already tell you about him?
Ink. No.
This is definitely not supposed to happen.
Aether and Rae? No.
Get out there and win her over.
This is definitely not supposed to happen.
Aether and Rae? No.
Get out there and win her over.
She’s a person, you know? She can make her own decisions.
Not this one.
Aether is yours. Make it so.
Aether is yours. Make it so.
You’re being extremely weird about this.
Go talk to her. This cannot be allowed to stand.
Persona 5: Joker ‘revives’ Akechi in his own mind. Akechi is not impressed.
Once again, here’s everything I have. It’s a shame I’ve made so little progress with all these concepts!
“I’m creating my own reality,” Ren says.
Akechi gives him a look of great disdain. “Without the Metaverse to back it up, that’s called ‘deluding yourself’.”
[...]
“And what about my wishes?” Akechi asks. “I’m not Maruki’s puppet any more; do you expect me to put up with being yours?”
“You keep saying you aren’t real,” Ren says. “I’m not sure it’s possible for you to have wishes.”
Akechi bares his teeth in a near-snarl.
And now we reach the scariest category: the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Fandoms: Undertale, Life Is Strange: True Colors, Until Dawn, Danganronpa 2, Doctor Who, The Great Ace Attorney, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.
Undertale: something to do with mistakes that can't be undone, efforts to atone when you've gone too far and the value in that? You can't save the others after you've sold your soul; does that mean you can't do anything? You could at least start the game, help everyone and never finish, if you earnestly regretted causing that harm. Might be hard to write as a fic.
This does indeed sound hard to write as a fic. I’m already regretting this challenge. All right, I’ll try to write a hundred words.
“See, my brother thinks you’re the best,” Sans says. “And, hey, I’d like to believe him.”
He leans against the wall, watching you. Or you think he’s watching you, at least. His eye sockets are blank; it’s hard to tell.
“I think you’re dangerous,” he says.
You don’t respond, of course. But he’s right.
“I’d fight you,” he says. “But I’m pretty sure every timeline’s already screwed. Why make the effort, right?”
Because Papyrus is still alive.
It would sound like a threat if you said it. You keep it to yourself. But Papyrus is still alive; there’s something worth protecting, however this ends. That still means something, right?
It has to mean something. Maybe you’ve screwed everything up; maybe this timeline is doomed to end badly for everyone. But right now, while it’s still playing out, the things that happen matter.
Life Is Strange: True Colors: Alex starts broadcasting her own emotions instead of absorbing other people’s.
This sounds like a fun concept, but I’m not sure where to start with it! Let’s give it a go.
There’s a knock on the door, and Alex backs away from it. She’s always been able to feel emotions through doors and walls. If it works the same way in reverse, whoever’s outside will be able to hear her.
“Alex?”
It’s Ryan’s voice. Alex winces. He knows what’s going on with her; she won’t be able to send him away with an excuse.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she calls. “Can you leave me alone?”
“What?” Ryan asks.
Right. Of course he can’t hear her, the distance she’s keeping from the door. She can barely make out what he’s saying herself.
It’s tempting to go up to the roof where she can’t hear him, try to forget that he’s outside. But she forces herself over to the door. Half-opens it.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I can’t really talk right now. I just – I’m really freaking out.”
“I – I know,” Ryan says. “I can—” He hesitates. “Wow. I can really feel that.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors: after Alex gives Ryan a rose, he discloses it to Steph, wanting to make sure she’s okay with this before pursuing anything, as he knows she’s interested in Alex as well. Possibly this leads to polyamory?
It’s outrageous that there was no polyamory option in this game, frankly.
“Wow,” Steph says. “I really thought Alex had better taste.”
Ryan raises his eyebrows. “Ouch.”
Steph shrugs, pushing herself up to sit on the counter. “I’m not saying you’re a bad choice. I’m just saying there’s an obvious better one.”
“I really didn’t see it coming,” Ryan admits. “I keep expecting her to show up and... I don’t know, ask for her rose back.”
“Well, obviously,” Steph says. “I’ll try to act surprised when she gives it to me instead.”
Silence. Steph kicks her heels against the counter for a moment.
“In the unlikely event Alex doesn’t come to her senses,” she says at last, “what are you gonna do?”
Until Dawn: something where end-of-game Mike gets to interact with Hannah somehow?
This is pretty vague! I’m not sure what I was really envisioning.
“Are you real?” he asks.
“Um.” Hannah swallows. “I don’t – I don’t think so?”
Of course she isn’t real. She died. Died twice, once a year ago and once tonight, and both times it was Mike who killed her. There’s no way she’s here now.
He thinks about asking if he’s dead. But, faced with Hannah and everything he put her through, he can’t bring himself to talk about his own problems.
“I’m sorry,” he says instead. His voice cracks in the middle like he’s fourteen years old again, and what’s the fucking point of apologising when she’s not even real?
But it’s not like he’s getting any other chance.
Danganronpa 2: AU Koizumi and Kuzuryuu confrontation where nobody gets murdered?
Hmm, this is a tricky one. I don’t remember what inspired this, but Koizumi and Kuzuryuu are two of my favourite Danganronpa characters; maybe I just wanted to see them interact?
“You brought a baseball bat,” Koizumi says.
Kuzuryuu says nothing. But his jaw tightens, visibly.
She’s afraid, but she has to stand her ground. She knows guys like Kuzuryuu; they’re all talk. So long as she doesn’t back down—
Is he all talk, though? That girl in the game, the one who was killed with a baseball bat: that really happened, didn’t it? If that was Kuzuryuu...
“Did you really just want to talk?” she asks.
There’s silence between them for a long moment.
“I just need answers,” Kuzuryuu says at last, his voice rough.
“I get it,” Koizumi says. “I do too. But I don’t remember any more than you do.”
Doctor Who: weird claustrophobic Doctor/Rose?
STOP BEING SO VAGUE, PAST SELF.
“If you don’t wanna take me back—”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” the Doctor says.
“I get it,” Rose says. “I don’t want to leave, either. But you can’t keep – sacrificing places to keep me safe. It’s not right.”
“I’m not trying to keep you here,” the Doctor says. “The TARDIS just keeps missing your home time.”
He’s lying. It’s not like she doesn’t know it. But, if she accepts it, it means she doesn’t have to leave this behind.
“Okay,” she says. “I guess I’m hanging around, then.”
His grin is as intense, as magnetic as ever. Bright enough to rival the burning planets they’ve left behind them. “Guess so.”
Ace Attorney: Ryunosuke and Kazuma share the bed on the ship until Ryunosuke has Too Many Feelings, possibly because of a kiss, and insists on sleeping in the wardrobe. But what if he hadn’t? Would Kazumi still be alive? (Would they be making out right now?)
If they do kiss, Ryunosuke freaks himself out wondering about the kiss’s significance. And, after Kazuma’s death, he’ll never know!
I still can’t believe how badly this game wasted a perfectly good ‘only one bed’ scenario.
Ryunosuke hadn’t really thought this through, evidently. If he’s not a legitimate passenger on this ship, of course there isn’t going to be a bed for him.
“Should I... get back in the suitcase?” he asks, reluctantly.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Kazuma says. “It’ll be at least a couple of months before we reach England. You’ll be waiting in there a long time.”
“I mean – I mean, to sleep,” Ryunosuke says.
“You’re planning to sleep in the suitcase?” Kazuma asks. “There’s a bed here.”
“Yes, but – I can’t just take your bed, can I? Where are you going to sleep?”
Kazuma gives him an odd look. “There’s a bed here,” he repeats.
Ryunosuke lies awake the entire night. Staring up at the ceiling, Kazuma breathing next to him. Telling himself he must be seasick; there’s no other explanation for the unsteady feeling in his gut.
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning: dealing with suspicions of Haruto being the murderer after the OT7 forms?
I thought of this concept partway through writing this entry, and I was slightly reluctant to note it down in my diary, because that would create more work for me! But this exercise is supposed to encourage creativity; I shouldn’t let it deter me from recording my fic ideas.
“Hey, Haruto?” Ryo raps on the door to the hotel room: the one Haruto usually takes when he’s sleeping alone. “You in there?”
There’s a pause, and then Haruto cracks the door open. “Ryo?”
“You want company tonight?”
A longer pause. Haruto opens the door more fully, slowly. “Do you still think I’m a killer?”
Yeah, it kind of scares Ryo to ask. But the others have paired off for the night. Rinko hasn’t left Sachika’s side since they started to get these weird memories of Haruto back, Yuma’s with Mamoru, Minami’s with Zen. The beds aren’t big enough to sleep three. And, if Ryo’s on his own, he’ll just spend the whole night obsessing over this whole maybe-Haruto’s-a-murderer question.
It’s not like he won’t be obsessing over it when he’s in a room with the possibly-murderer. But at least it seems like he might get some answers here.
“I don’t know,” Ryo says. “But, like... you’ve Extended us when we’ve died, right? So I don’t think you’re gonna kill me.”
If he does... well, it’s not like Ryo hasn’t died twenty times already, right? He’ll handle it.
“I wouldn’t,” Haruto says. “I wouldn’t hurt any of you. I promise I—” He hesitates. Steps back from the door to let Ryo in. “I’m glad you’re here.”
And that’s everything! I hope I keep this up in future years; it’s a nice little exercise. Maybe some of these fics will actually get finished? Time will tell.
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(Anonymous) 2022-07-04 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)-
Ooh, an entry I can play. I always enjoy these.
I don’t have many fic snippets hidden away, and of those that I have you’ve seen many of them, but I did find some in my notebook. I tend to either have FFN style fic summary style summaries of what would be in a fic with nothing written, some writing with no real sum up, or occasionally some uber vague notes.
Your Turn to Die
The year I defaulted from Yuletide, I was assigned Your Turn To Die. I was having a bit of a tough time at work and just getting a huge list of Do Not Wants with nothing about what they liked combined to make me default as I just wasn’t feeling it. I actually wrote more than I remember, though: here’s what I had. Note what topics I default too when I don’t have guidance!!
(Notes: Nightmares? Sou has put the fake Joe on the monitor, then she faints and forgets who Joe is.)
In the corner of her eye, there’s a shadow. It creeps around corners and snakes itself away when she turns her head, hiding, always hiding. Sometimes, she tries to focus on it in her peripheral vision, until her eyes water and the pressure in her head rises. Her vision swims, and when she blinks, it’s gone. It feels like somebody is mocking her.
-
“You look… better,” says Reiko. The hesitation in her voice undermines the compliment somewhat. Still, Sara does feel fine. The occasional headache aside, she’s doing fairly well for herself given the situation they’ve found themselves in. “Maybe Sou did you a favour.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” It’s Keiji. He’s taken to frowning at her from across the room recently, and to be honest it’s starting to get on her nerves. The absence of his self-confident smirk is almost concerning; the serious expression makes him look like another person just masquerading as him. Dimly, she wonders if he’s been replaced by a doll, but surely they wouldn’t try that trick twice. And, deep down, she knows it’s really him.
“She looked half-dead before.” Reiko defends herself.
“Would you want to forget what Alice did for you? You might breathe easier, but would you lose nothing?”
“That’s ridiculous and unfair!” she says, but her cheeks are spotted with pink. Clearly something had hit home.
-
The day after Joe dies, she lies awake and stares at the ceiling. The morning has solemnly marched on, but she hasn’t slept. Her eyes itch with fatigue and unshed tears. The voice of damnation says, “This is your fault, Sara.” And maybe he’s right. She saw that sacrifice card and left it there, ready for Joe to pick up. She could have voted to save him (but he wouldn’t have scored enough, he’d still be dead). But reason doesn’t matter, does it? You’re still a killer. But Kai’s ghost leaves her alone, like he feels he died with her blessing. Meanwhile, Joe, with blood-red eyes, judges with the weight of an authority that Sara respects.
“Murderer,” that familiar voice whispers, and it echoes around the room like an ominous promise. The Main Game makes murderers of everyone, and it takes no prisoners. (For none of them will be remembered in history as prisoners, simply as the dead, victims of a grotesque game of logic versus emotion. Or maybe perpetrators, since their votes are like the echoing clank of a gavel of execution.)
“I’ll murder you too.” It’s a vow in the gloom, and she wonders if the voice echoes in her head or out of her mouth. Surely that broken hiss can’t be either of them, but Joe’s mouth moves with the words. Even when blood blooms from his body like a trampled flower, his mouth moves and spews poison into her ear.
Then Keiji is there, anchoring her to reality with clarity and a practical regime of giving her no time for her own thoughts. Bags take up residence permanently under her eyes, and she sleepwalks through the rest of the day, the sense of unreality descending whenever she sees something and thinks, “Joe would love this,” and a forbidding tone utters, “he WOULD – if he were here.” It doesn’t need to say more – she can feel the hands of guilty weighing her down entirely by implication. Distantly, she thinks that must be pretty impressive.
In those moments caught between fact and fiction, she feels a hand firmly on her arm, anchoring her to reality. “Hey,” he says, like a mantra, “don’t end up like Mr. Policeman.”
Warchild
((No context for this one but I seem to have been writing from Finch’s POV.))
Your eyes snap open. Confusion. When did you fall asleep? Momentary panic envelopes you; feral faces fill your memory, eyes tracking you like a missile. Danger – don’t let your guard down.
There’s movement below you, snatching your awareness. Someone’s broken in. Your room mate’s going to shank you – his face, so young and cherubic, almost fooled you, but you recognise those dead, dead eyes.
Those dead, dead eyes that should be glinting in the paltry light offered by the wink of moonlight, but you see nothing.
“Babushka,” your roommate says, small and lost in a hollow cell.
I might have more on memory sticks as opposed to notebooks and I’ll bob in annoyingly at another time if I have any to share.
-timydamonkey
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In the corner of her eye, there’s a shadow. It creeps around corners and snakes itself away when she turns her head, hiding, always hiding. Sometimes, she tries to focus on it in her peripheral vision, until her eyes water and the pressure in her head rises. Her vision swims, and when she blinks, it’s gone. It feels like somebody is mocking her.
I love all this Your Turn to Die material, particularly this paragraph! And Keiji's concern, and Sara finding him both grounding and frustrating.
And I don't know much about Warchild, but 'eyes tracking you like a missile' is a great phrase.
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(Anonymous) 2022-07-05 06:32 am (UTC)(link)Yeah, you and I have pretty similar tastes, haha. It turns out if you don't tell me which characters or plotpoints you like, I default to writing "wtf is even real" confusion and lots of interior narration. I do not regret this either.
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I'd also guess there's a hard limit to how much not like Scriabin any snarky asshole who lives in another guys head can sound. Especially if you're already familiar with Scriabin.
I think I probably made the connect because I found your blog through Vargas so I associate it with that fic somewhat.
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Ha, very true! They're both furiously resentful characters already, and I suppose it's inevitable that their similarities would become more pronounced when I put Akechi in a Scriabin-esque position.
I think I probably made the connect because I found your blog through Vargas so I associate it with that fic somewhat.
I'm very happy to be associated with Vargas; I love that fic so much. I also associate your journal with Zarla, as I remember seeing your icon in her comments long before I actually met you.
The Akechi fic is here on AO3 (or here on Dreamwidth) if you do decide to check it out, but of course there's no obligation at all! If you do decide to read it, I hope you enjoy it.
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Incidentally, seeing you has just reminded me that I dreamt about your boy two nights ago! I dreamt I was at a James Acaster standup show, and he was interacting with the audience. He held his hand out for me to shake it, but for some reason I thought he wanted me to press my face against his hand instead. I did so and immediately went 'what the fuck, why did I do that?' At least I probably gave Dream James Acaster some material for his next gig.
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