Trabia Garden

Apparently I've spent most of my weekend frantically writing a Super Dangan Ronpa 2 fic set in the apocalypse from The Last of Us. Time well spent?


Title: Humanity's Hope
Fandom: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 5,500
Summary: Canon-divergent AU, inspired by The Last of Us. Shortly after the first trial, the Hope's Peak kids are rescued. A few months later, a strange fungus starts turning people into mindless monsters. Maybe there's a chance for a cure; unfortunately, that chance means that Hinata is going to have to spend a lot of time with a certain Super High-school Level Good Luck.
Warnings: I'm afraid I'm not giving specific warnings for this, but it's essentially a zombie apocalypse fic, so be aware that it's probably going to get a bit dark. Full spoilers for the first chapter of Super Dangan Ronpa 2; mild spoilers for the (Ab)normal Days arc of the second chapter. No knowledge of The Last of Us required.
Notes: I'm reading along with the SA Let's Play and trying to avoid spoilers, so this was written without knowledge of anything beyond the second chapter's Abnormal Days arc. It is an AU, though, so I suppose that gives me a bit of freedom!


( Humanity's Hope )

I'd forgotten what a terrible craving I get for the Red Dead Redemption world after playing in it for a while. Apparently this craving is not much reduced when that world is full of zombies. IT'S SO PRETTY. (The final treasure map location on Undead Nightmare, in particular, is breathtakingly beautiful. I was becoming quite frustrated, endlessly sliding down the mountainside in my efforts to reach it, and then I managed and got that fantastic view of the whole area and forgave the game designers everything.)

New favourite John Marston quote: I was trying to lasso Famine, one of the horses of the apocalypse, and failing miserably. Marston, evidently as frustrated as I was, shouted, 'Stupid nature!'

I have now completed Undead Nightmare! It is a cracking expansion pack. Frustrating at times (perhaps there are people who can comfortably pull off a headshot without the use of Dead Eye; I am not one of those people), and not as varied as Red Dead Redemption itself, but great fun. I love that it never quite takes itself seriously. I love being able to hear John Marston's fantastically sexy voice again. I love that I was able to ride a unicorn across the Mexican wilderness, leaving a rainbow trail behind me and singing 'Always' by Erasure.

I think Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare is ripe for a respectawoman crossover, actually. The ladies originated from a zombie game; zarla already came up with a Western AU for them; what could be more logical than throwing them into a Western zombie apocalypse game? Most of their infected forms have Undead Nightmare counterparts, too: Smoker would be a Retcher, Hunter a Bolter, Charger a Bruiser. SOMEBODY WRITE THIS.

(I've been wondering which horses they would ride. Smoker rides Pestilence; that's easy enough. Hunter, who has a bit of an aggressive streak, could ride War. Bit torn on Jockey: my first thought was Death, because she has such a strange relationship with the concept of death, but then it occurred to me that if there's a butterfly-surrounded rainbow-trailing unicorn to be had, you can bet that Jockey will ride it cheerfully through a horde of zombies. No idea about Charger, though.)


In other news, it's time for Strange Things I Have Discovered In My Notebook Theatre:


CHORUS
We are but students, with empty bellies
And so we call upon the God of Cakes,
Dionysus, probably, as he is god
of many interesting things.
Surely the gods will not abandon us in our hour of need
(for cakes).

MESSENGER
I have such a wonder to relate!
An eagle swept down from the sky,
right in front of my eyes, swift as a ship
(a swift ship, obviously), and at my feet
it dropped some Jaffa Cakes - not one packet,
but two, enough for every student here
unless I have miscounted.

CREON
Pah! Jaffa Cakes are not real cakes!

MESSENGER:
And who are we to question cakes from heaven?

CREON
The cake is a lie, my city!
You must eat only the cakes of Thebes!

(And so on.)


I miss studying Greek tragedy. Also, I'm really confused. (I think - I think - that my plan was to sneakily leave this work of art and a couple of packets of Jaffa Cakes on a desk before a Tragedy seminar, but sadly (tragically, in fact) I never carried it out.)

Okay. Here's what happened.

- The Left 4 Dead zombie apocalypse games were released.
- zarla and jazaaboo created some AU female versions of Left 4 Dead zombies.
- zarla and jazaaboo created an AU of the above AU in which the ladies did not in fact become zombies and instead had to fight their way through the zombie apocalypse.
- I wrote the below AU of the above AU of the above AU, in which all of the above and also they have superpowers.

So, yes, this is an AU of an AU of an AU of a game I've never played. This is, I'll confess, a bit ridiculous. But I really love these OCs and wanted to do something with them (well, all right, I did write the Hogwarts AU, but I wanted to involve all four of them this time). I hope I've done them justice.

The government's actions are incredibly implausible here. I don't know how they thought they were going to get away with that.



Title: You Missed 'Superpowers', Pandora (or, alternatively, 'yo dawg I heard you like AUs...')
Fandom: erm, the Left 4 Dead OCs over at respectawoman. Hunter and Smoker belong to zarla, Charger and Jockey to jazaaboo. You can find out more about them on this page.
Rating: R
Wordcount: 6,800
Summary: AU of the survivorverse AU. Shortly before the infection strikes, Hunter, Smoker, Charger and Jockey are caught in a storm with very strange effects. Loosely inspired by Misfits.
Warnings: violence, swearing, the sort of unpleasantness you'd associate with a zombie apocalypse.


( You Missed 'Superpowers', Pandora )

I'm a young woman on Livejournal. I see my friend's posted a series of adverts, so I check them out, and I'm laughing so hard I wreck your car.

Somehow.

Despite being in my room.

Why is your car in my room, anyway? That's just asking for trouble.


Here's a meme I haven't done in a while!

- Write a list of characters and number them.
- Input the number of characters into this random number generator as the maximum and generate two numbers.
- Ramble about how the corresponding pairing/partnership/general interaction would (or, indeed, wouldn't) work. Perhaps write a snippet/one-sentence fic for it if you're feeling brave.
- Repeat to your heart's content.

(Although I haven't actually done this meme in over a year, I've kept my numbered list and continued to add characters to it as new ones enter my awareness and my affection, hence frankly ridiculous numbers like 143 cropping up in here.)


( Represented below the cut: Peep Show, Pokémon, Just William, Glee, Silent Hill, Sherlock Holmes, Disney's Mulan, Supernatural, Kingdom Hearts, High School Musical, Waterloo Road, Fullmetal Alchemist and, erm, Arnold Schwarzenegger. )


Finally: have you always wanted to see strangely adorable zombie ultraviolence set to an upbeat Japanese pop song? zarla knows you have, and she has provided. (She's made an entry about it here, if you'd like to learn about some of the detail that went into it or leave her a comment.)

Having watched last night's episode (6.08) of Waterloo Road, I... might sort of 'ship Vicki/Chris. I shouldn't, but I do. (AT LEAST IT'S BETTER THAN JOSH/TOM.)

My housemate, who is unfond of Waterloo Road, came home after the episode finished. The subsequent exchange is blacked out due to not-very-specific spoilers for the episode; highlight to read.



DREAMS OF LATE SUMMARISED IN THREE SENTENCES OR FEWER:

- Dreamt that I was Ginny Weasley, and Francesca Montoya of Waterloo Road was blackmailing me, Ron and Hermione into smuggling drugs. I would not have expected this of you, Cesca. Inexplicably, I thought several times throughout the dream 'this really reminds me of primary school'. ( And more condensed dreams under the cut. )


I'm still working my way through Waterloo Road's back catalogue, and episode 2.10 made me so sad. Lorna.


The Best Waterloo Road Fic Ever
Once upon a time, Lorna was sad, which was understandable because everything constantly went wrong in her life. She tried to hide the fact that she was sad, because that's what she does, but someone noticed, possibly Izzie, and everyone gave her a hug. Even Mika, who somehow magically got over her resentment of her. Even Josh, whom she hadn't even met because he doesn't appear for another three series. Everyone. Also Tom punched himself in the balls, precipitating his development into a better person, and then he, Izzie and Lorna all settled down into a three-way relationship and finally stopped ruining each other's lives.

The End

(Seriously, somebody write some Tom/Izzie/Lorna. It's not even that Waterloo Road is a fandom in which nobody's writing fanfiction; there's a section on fanfiction.net with 350 fics in it. It's just that nobody is writing the things I want to read. 'I wonder whether there's any Josh/Finn? All right, no... Chris/Vicki? Tom/Izzie/Lorna? Someone must have written Brett/Davina, surely.' NO. THEY NEVER HAVE. With its rapidly changing cast, Waterloo Road has more than sixty significant characters, so I suppose many more than 350 fics would be required to cover all the possibilities, but still.)

Thank you very much for the virtual lemur, kind anonymous person!


I've never really watched Big Brother, but I thought I'd check out the 'first twenty-four hours in the house' episode last night, as this is apparently to be the final series, and I was bored, and, all right, I have no self-respect. (I'm not a football fan, and apparently at this time of year one's televisual options are limited to the World Cup and Big Bloody Brother. Sigh.)

On the whole, though, the housemates seem to be decent, likeable people! Is that supposed to happen? Has cultural osmosis been lying to me all these years? I'm not planning to watch the entire thing (someone please intervene if I don't stop), but it exceeded my expectations, faith-in-humanity-wise.

(Although Ben Poshvoice and John James Australiadude unsettlingly resemble both each other and slimy Conservative MP for Richmond Park Zac Goldsmith. They kept sitting next to each other. I ended up thinking of them as the 'Goldsmith Twins'.)

Is there a Big Brother fandom with fic? I DON'T WANT TO JOIN IT; I'M JUST WONDERING. Because it's just occurred to me that Dead Set is a concept that could be applied to every series of Big Brother: 'how do this year's housemates cope when there's a zombie outbreak in the outside world?'

I'm not going to write it. I'm just saying.

Oh, my goodness, why am I making an entry about Big Brother? This is appalling.


Speaking of disreputable media: I have stumbled across a dramatic reading of a notorious work of Legend of Zelda fanfiction. To be more accurate: I have stumbled across a DRAMATIC reading of a notorious work of Legend of Zelda fanfiction.

Now, I feel a bit bad about linking to this. There are two types of really bad fanfiction: there's the fanfiction that's obviously been deliberately written to be as bad as possible, which is fine to poke fun at because then everyone's having a laugh, author included. But then there's the bad fanfiction that's obviously heartfelt: in this case, a lengthy, poorly-written but completely earnest work of Mary Sue fantasy. I often find these weirdly endearing, and, whilst I might laugh at them in private, I try not to mock them too publicly, because it could be very embarrassing for the author if she ever found my comments. Also, they're often by fairly new or young fanfiction writers, and it would be a shame to discourage them; I imagine most of us cringe slightly when we look back at our early writing.

This was written about eight years ago, though, I believe, so perhaps the author will have some distance from it now, and in any case once your fic has reached such a level of notoriety that people are doing DRAMATIC readings of it I suppose a link to the reading can't make things much worse.

Also, the reading is hilarious. Navi in particular makes me crack up every time she speaks.

Here is the playlist! You don't need to be especially familiar with the Legend of Zelda to enjoy it; I've never owned a Zelda game. I want this reader and BRIAN BLESSED to work on a joint project.

Guys, I would like to introduce you to two characters I adore. I have never played Left 4 Dead, but zarla (whose work, incidentally, was the reason I first started writing fanfiction a decade ago) has created a couple of OCs for it, and I love them. I love them. I want them to have a huge fandom.

All you really need to know: Left 4 Dead is a zombie apocalypse videogame. The zombification spreads via infection; some are immune. Two types of zombie are the Hunter and the Smoker, both male in the game. zarla has created hypothetical female versions of them.

They are wonderful. They (pre-infection, obviously) have one of those lovely 'we mock each other all the time but deep down we love each other fiercely' friendships, which exist between female characters in fiction far too rarely; it reminds me a bit of the relationship I have with my housemate, actually. I find their well-concealed affection and loyalty very touching. Smoker is reserved and sardonic and a bit old-fashioned and Hunter is energetic and adorable, and there is a constant heartbreaking thread running through their interactions, because you as the reader know what their eventual fates will be.

Here are some of zarla's entries filled with sketches and comics of them:

one - including their first meeting, how they became infected, Hunter gatecrashing Smoker's dinner.
two - ADORABILITY IN ALL ITS FORMS. Refusal to acknowledge affection! Embarrassing taste in music! A bit of Hunter/Smoker! Also, the beginnings of a comic about the day Hunter is bitten; Smoker's worry and the way it expresses itself in disjointed rambling break my heart.
three - in colour, in different outfits, in an AU in which they survive, playing backseat Tetris, defending each other.

I don't typically seek original characters out in fandom, but of course every fictional character we love is someone's OC, and I've always found zarla's creations incredibly compelling. The fact that these two are not from a published work and therefore unlikely to develop a massive fandom genuinely makes me quite sad, because I love them no less than I do many characters I adore from videogames or television. Do check them out.

I think I am going to be answering the character-number questions in instalments, and here is the first! You may still ask questions, if you wish, but try to ask them before reading this entry; it's cheating if you know which numbers all the characters are.

I'm not answering the questions in order, by the way; these are just the ones I've answered so far, which are scattered all over the place.

Fandoms represented are Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, Peep Show, Supernatural, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Merlin, Final Fantasy XII, Pokémon and Revolutionary Girl Utena, and, naturally, Derren Brown, David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker are in here as well.


( I didn't include Pyramid Head this time, which may be for the best. )


This meme is always far too much fun. More to come!

causethesounds has somehow managed to locate pictures of a younger David Mitchell looking absolutely stunning in drag! Here is my favourite:




Oh, my goodness, he is actually beautiful. (THE INEVITABLE BAD FANFICTION IDEA: Charlie Brooker meets an intriguing woman and somehow manages to entirely miss the fact that she has David Mitchell's distinctive dark eyes and David Mitchell's distinctive nasal voice and, no, perhaps this isn't going to work. Someone should totally write David Mitchell genderswap, though. Yes.)


...every so often, a thought crosses my mind and makes absolutely no attempt to justify itself. I just thought 'I want David Mitchell in drag to play the next Doctor', and I do not know why.

Actually, a better(?) idea: David Mitchell plays the next Doctor. David Mitchell in drag plays his companion. Everyone is tremendously confused.

I'm trying to work Brooker into this scenario, but it's not easy. Perhaps he could be the Master? Ooh, or perhaps Robert Webb is the Master. That could work rather well.

Upon further consideration, I must conclude that Brooker appears in only one episode, sadly, helping out when he, the Doctor and the Doctor's companion (who, I have decided, for the Dead Set and 'David' parallels, is called Davina) are besieged by zombies. A threesome is heavily implied, because Mitchell/Brooker/female!Mitchell is hot.

This is an incredibly stupid idea on nearly every level.

Why can't I stop thinking about this ridiculous pairing? Here is some thoroughly excessive rambling about bad Charlie Brooker/David Mitchell fic ideas. Perhaps at some point I should actually attempt to write a couple of these, rather than simply inflicting the concepts upon my long-suffering flist.


The Fic In Which Charlie Brooker and David Mitchell Fight Zombies.

Mr Mitchell is to begin hosting a panel show called The Bubble quite soon, I believe. The idea is that the panellists are locked away from the outside world for three days, then presented with news items and asked to determine whether they actually occurred during their incarceration or whether they were simply made up.

This is obviously the ideal setting for maximum Dead Set similarity. Brooker is in the bubble (I assume that the title of the programme refers to the panellists' prison); Mitchell is visiting the bubble for some reason; ZOMBIE OUTBREAK.

I... haven't actually watched Dead Set, I have to confess, on account of being a wimp and a coward (zombies are scary!), and watching Dead Set would definitely be a prerequisite for this fic. But I do think it should exist. (To those of you who've seen Dead Set: should I watch it? Do you think I'd enjoy it? Will it make me freak out and cry?)


The Fic In Which Charlie Brooker Is A Panellist On The Bubble And David Mitchell Visits Him In His Incarceration Slightly More Than Necessary, Or Maybe The Door Lock Malfunctions Or Something And Both Mitchell And Brooker Are Trapped Together, I Don't Know Enough About The Bubble To Know Whether That Would Be Feasible, But In Any Case They Fall In Love And It's Brilliant.

Because I realised whilst writing about The Bubble up there that I really wanted this. This is frustrating, because it is a fic idea requiring research that at present cannot be done. I hope we get some information about the conditions in which the panellists are held when The Bubble begins.


The Inevitable Charlie Brooker/David Mitchell Pokémon Crossover.

The mental conversation I just had with myself:

Riona: Where would David Mitchell live, if he lived in the Pokémon world?
Riona's Mind: Pewter City.
Riona: And which Gym would Charlie Brook—
Riona's Mind: Pewter City.

APPARENTLY IT IS THE MOST OBVIOUS THING IN THE WORLD THAT BOTH MITCHELL AND BROOKER LIVE IN PEWTER CITY. I was originally planning to have Mitchell come to a strange town and make his way to its Gym, there to meet Brooker, but this is evidently impossible because it is solid fact that they are both residents of Pewter City. GUYS, YOU ARE BEING TROUBLESOME.

Actually, my original plan wasn't terribly well thought-out, because why would Mitchell go to a Gym? He's not a Pokémon trainer. He's never owned a Pokémon, in fact, and he is frustrated by the fact that the world around him seems to be increasingly designed only for people with Pokémon. It is perfectly possible to exist without a Pokémon! Or it should be, at least. He barely trusts himself to look after himself; he can hardly accept the charge of another living creature.

ONE DAY THERE IS A ROCKSLIDE ON THE BORDERS OF PEWTER CITY, OH NO. Mitchell, out for a pleasant walk, finds himself about to be rockslided! But the leader of Pewter City Gym happens to be training on the cliff and sends his Onix to save the man in peril.

Possibly the Onix may have been responsible for the rockslide in the first place. The leader of Pewter City Gym isn't going to talk about that.

Although he is not actually injured, Mitchell, rather embarrassingly, faints in the Onix's coils. The Gym Leader (spoiler: it's Brooker), having established that the man is unhurt, rolls his eyes and orders his Onix to carry his insensible form back to the Gym. Tending to unconscious strangers is neither Brooker's area of expertise nor his idea of a good time, but he supposes he might have a tiny bit of responsibility for this man, given that he maybe possibly caused that rockslide.

He supposes.

(Should I write this fic, I may not be able to resist the urge to illustrate it with bad manips throughout.)


The Fic In Which Charlie Brooker and David Mitchell Totally Live Happily Ever After, Just Because.

...I'd like it, but I cannot begin to imagine how it would work. Oh, dear.