Fic in a Box 2025 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

This letter is still under construction.

Table of Contents

• General Preferences
  
  • General Likes
  • Smut Likes
  • DNWs
• Blake’s 7
• Fallout (TV)
• Fallout Games
• Re-Animator (Movies)
• Sonic Live Action Universe
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror of all kinds, understated ghost stories, body horror, cosmic horror, claustophibic horror where the characters are trapped underground, potentially with monsters (think The Descent), etc.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) fire-forged relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and being able to rely on no one but each other.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• Omegaverse
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (more casual power play, bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

It’s rare that I fall so completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with a show, but it’s happened with Blake’s 7, to the point where frankly I’m a little taken aback. I loved it right from the very first episode, which was so grimly dystopian (the bureaucracy, the people in charge running ‘feasibility studies’ when the possibility being examined is the act of planting false memories of abuse in the minds of children, I mean… fuck. Fuck.) It’s so utterly bleak and awful, but then it’s balanced out by the sheer fun of the sets and the storylines.

I’ll be up for anything that examines the dystopian elements of the world and the Federation, angst, backstory, canon divergent AUs set during, pre- and post-canon, hurt/comfort, whump and torture, trust issues, case fic of the planet-of-the-week sort or the murder mystery sort, clothes porn, and… look, I’ll take basically anything for this show.

Roj Blake/Travis

I always love a good enemy ship, and Blake/Travis is a particularly delightful example. Their background, Travis’s overwhelming hatred of Blake, Blake’s repeated failure to kill him… Why does he keep sparing Travis? In Duel he justifies it because the Federation would just send someone else in Travis’s place and at least Blake knows he’s capable of defeating Travis, but it doesn’t ring entirely true. It could just be him being merciful, but personally I have a soft spot for the idea that Blake’s fucked over about his brainwashing (speaking of which, how does Blake’s period of compliance on Earth fit into Travis’s vendetta against him?) and is aware that Travis is probably the person who knows him best and so subconsciously unwilling to kill Travis because of that. Again, go with either Travis here, whenever you choose to set it.

I want so many different things for this pairing, from smut: Travis dubconning Blake (all the way up to extremely dubious consent), or sex pollen, to something more plotty, such as the two of them being stuck in a situation where they’re forced to work together. Smut would be fantastic, but they’ve both been fucked over by the Federation and are both ruthless men willing to do terrible things for their beliefs (and I freaking adored the way the last episode drew deliberate parallels between them), so I’d love to see something where they’re forced to warily interact on a level beyond simply trying to kill each other.

As well as redemption arcs for Travis (which I can never ever get enough of), I’d also love to see the opposite for Blake, whether temporary or permanent, down to brainwashing or a slow insidious downfall.

I’d also be open to Blake’s clone acting as a stand-in for Blake himself. They had to travel together, so what would that have looked like, considering what happened to the first clone? (And for the record, I completely headcanon that Travis fucked the clone. Carnell would absolutely have taken catharsis through sex into account, and even if it hadn’t been part of the official strategy, Servalan would probably have had Travis do it just for the lolz.) There’s no need for the real Blake to appear in the fic if you go this route.

Optional Prompts

• We’ve heard the story of what happened between Blake and Travis, but we only hear the latter half of it through Blake’s somewhat compromised memories. What if it didn’t happen quite the way Blake described?
• Travis survives Star One and runs into Blake. Does Travis regret what he did or is he completely unrepentant? And considering the consequences of destroying Star One, it’s not like Blake is entirely comfortable on the moral high ground. Perhaps there’s an external conflict that forces them to work together and not just kill each other there and then, but I’d also be willing to just seen them both too tired and broken to fight and so calling a truce of a kind just for one night.
• Blake ends up brainwashed again and an extremely resentful Travis is set as his guard dog with explicit instructions not to harm him and the ability to erase Blake’s memories if he thinks Blake is starting to suspect something is wrong. It’s not like he was planning on taking advantage of the situation, but it just sort of happened that way. Does Blake start growing on him despite Travis’s best efforts? Or show it through Blake’s eyes, and the gradual realisation that something is very very wrong.
• They get stuck in a time loop, (some kind of simulation, perhaps?) and the only way out of the time loop is for them to work together to get them both out of the situation in one piece or, uh, possibly for them to fuck.
• Show me the Blake/Travis relationship through the lens of Travis/The Clone (and it’s fine for Blake himself not to appear in the fic). There’s a lot of places you could go with this, from pure unadulterated smut to character development. It occurs to Travis, possibly at Servalan’s urging, that he might be able to use the clone to work out his issues with Blake. Maybe Servalan acts as a third party directing the two of them, and rather enjoying Travis’s shame at enjoying it so much (he was so broken in that episode), or else a hundred petty little moments of cruelty escalate into extremely dubconny sex. Or maybe a post-Star One AU in which Travis runs into the clone again.
• Interrogations – Travis has captured Blake and is interrogating him. Maybe there’s information he needs to get which is time-critical, maybe the Federation forces are pinned down, so he’s desperate. Maybe he just gets to the point where he decides he has nothing to lose, and the interrogation takes a darker, more sexual turn.
• It’ll be a cold day in hell before I get bored of Sex Pollen. :D Make. Them. Fuck. I love it in all its forms, whether both are affected, or just one of them. An unaffected Travis taking advantage of an affected Blake (and hating himself just a little for not being able to resist)? Or maybe neither one of them is affected and they’re both just pretending they are because it’s the perfect excuse to finally fuck. I love it both as a one-off and as a potential catalyst for a potential redemption arc, and in both fluffy and darker forms.
• In general, I’m just fascinated by the idea of redemption, and particularly when it comes to Travis. He’s undoubtedly done some terrible things, so I’m really drawn to the question of whether he can be redeemed.

Note on my DNWs: Regarding the fact that Norm and Chet cousins, I’d prefer no heavy angst or focus on it, or it being treated by any of the characters as a major obstacle. If you want to touch on it, I really like the matter-of-fact way canon handled it, acknowledging it as less than ideal, but not something to make a huge deal about.

I absolutely loved the post-apocalyptic setting, the retrofuturism vibes, and the way the show mixed the darkness with moments of humour. And also tongue-in-cheek meta nods to video game mechanics, like Cooper's line about getting distracted by bullshit in the Wasteland, and Lucy's skill building speech in the first episode, are always fun to see.

Norm/Chet

Oh, god, these two. I'd love to see them explored more, And Norm especially: this prickly, apathetic, little weirdo, forever stuck in the shadow of his prettier, perkier, overachieving sister! And the way his inability to give a shit about any kind of work is ultimately vindicated by the show, and that it actually turns out he's pretty damn brave after all. I am also an absolute SUCKER for vulnerable men, and there is SO much opportunity for that with him, not just from external threats, but everything involving Chet having previously been in love with Lucy and Norm's potential anxiety about being a stand-in for his sister, not to mention everything that happens with Steph, and I just... oof, it's so horribly messy with so much potential for pain and self-doubt. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that size difference.

Explore their history, or how things might pan out post-canon, or alternatively get them up on the surface and exploring the world beyond the vaults. Does Lucy try to contact him via another vault to tell him what she's learned about their mother and their past? What if for whatever reason she wasn't in a position to leave the vault, and so he went in her stead, and unlike her didn't stop Chet when he offered to come? How would that difference affect canon? How would Norm, who has a very different set of skills to Lucy (and again, I love the meta concept of him as a different character 'class'), respond differently to the same threats? And Chet is quite passive in canon and easily manipulated: how would he react to leaving the vault? I am completely here for the character study of it all, but also for survial, the threats of the Wasteland, whether human or monstrous, hurt/comfort, resentment, and loyalty kink. And also the gradually unfolding realisation of how utterly fucked up Valut-Tec is.

I'd also love to see Norm's relationship with his sister explored, and how he'd react to her with Cooper if they end up reuniting. As for Chet, he's so passive in the show, and I'd love to see that developed.

Optional Prompts

• Instead of Lucy, it's Norm and Chet who leave the Vault in search of Norm's father. How would that affect canon? Would they still get involved in the hunt for the head? Or would they find their way to Moldaver by another route? Would they meet Max or the Ghoul? Something plotty is very welcome, but I'd also be here for scenery porn, the struggle for survival, and the two of them huddling for warmth by campfires.
• Pining while having sex - Norm thinking that the only reason Chet is sleeping with him is as a stand-in for Lucy, and maybe that is how it started (or not: it's up to you), but things change pretty quickly.
• Sparring. Norm has to learn to fight so that he can protect himself.
• So far on my rewatch something that stood out to me was Chet saying that he doesn’t know who he is any more after he’s demoted and is no longer the gatekeeper, which chimes with Norm’s whole ‘lacks enthusiasm’ thing, because maybe he doesn’t know who he is either, and it takes them leaving the vault and finding a place in the world to figure out who they are and where they belong.
• Manhandling with Norm/Chet in mind. That height difference, man. It doesn't feel like something Chet would do naturally, but maybe something happens which leads Norm to realise how easily Chet can handle it, and how hot he finds it.
• Clothing porn
- realising their jumpsuits make them stand out now that they're no longer in the vaults, Norm and Chet find some new clothes, which leads to weird feelings seeing each other in a different light.
• A desperate fight for survival -- for either pairing, but particularly Norm/Chet, partly because they're not quite as competent or good at surviving, so it makes the fight all the more desperate. Maybe they're attacked by raiders or ghouls, or stuck somewhere freezing and have to huddle for warmth. Anything where they get the chance to show off their own skills and knowledge especially.
• Something where Norm is convinced that the only reason Chet wants to sleep with him is as a stand-in for Lucy, and turns him down as a result. Chet decides to stop being so passive and decides to go after what he wants for a chance.
• Bad Guys Make Them Do It – always and forever. I love this trope so much, the potential for guilt and self-blame, the way it can act as a catalyst for revelation of feelings and abs an obstacle to them (that delicious guilt), the hotness of being forced to go through public or semi-public sex, mutual protectiveness and bonding, and the potential threat from the onlookers. I like it both as something fun and tropey, where it’s more Bad Guys Enabled them, and as something darker where there is a genuine threat from the bad guys and it’s traumatic (but they still find it sexually arousing).
• Lucy and Norm are reunited in the Wasteland post season one.
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – delightful for either pairing, honestly. If they’re out in the Wasteland, I love all the complications of having to feed it and keep it alive, and the potential for characters to behave in unexpected ways. Norm and Chet are stuck looking after Steph’s baby?

Lucy/Cooper

Ohhhh, be still my enemy-shipping heart. God, this ship is a *delight*, and I hold my hands up to finding the whole thing scorching hot, aside from all the fucked up complications of their relationship -- the way he treated her when they first met, the finger, her ultimately saving his life and telling him she's not like him (even though she potentially kinda is, or vice versa). I'd love to see something exploring how the two of them might change each other while they’re travelling together whether they’re still in the antagonistic phase of their relationship or if it happens once they’re allies. What's going to happen when she learns who he used to be (and probably still is) and that she grew up watching his films? Western themes and references are very welcome, as are canon divergent fics where they stay together for longer while they're still enemies. How would the slow burn enemies-to-lovers shift come about in that case? What would have happened if they were still travelling together when they find themselves in Vault 4? I’d also like to draw your attention to my hand kink like, and my like for cunnilingus with fingering.

I’d also love to see anything exploring the way he’s changed, and the almost certainly hopeless futility of his quest, and if he ever finds his family, he almost certainly isn’t going to like what he’s going to find. And how the hell he thinks a reunion with his daughter is going to go, given what he’s become. Given he’s an actor, I also have a lot of thoughts about the act of putting on a costume in order to able to pretend to be something you’re not (and if you’re familiar with Fallout 4, I have Hancock pretty solidly in mind here), and to what extent he’s become that character.

And speaking of Hancock, if you’re familiar with F4 and up for doing a crossover, then I would absolutely love a crossover where they meet, whether it’s Hancock and the Sole Survivor (ftr, I ship Hancock/Female Sole Survivor) or just Hancock on his own. Mainly because it amuses me how much Hancock would absolutely HATE him.

So long as Lucy/Cooper is endgame, I'm fine with Cooper/Barb and references to their relationship (particularly thinking about the memory , and especially with explorations of all the messy fallout (ha) of the way it ended, plus some residual feelings for her on his part.

Art Prompts

I love the visuals of the show so much, the bleak post-apocalyptic imagery, the retrofuturism, the body horror elements of the ghouls and THIS ghoul in particular. Also feel free to pack in as many Western tropes and references as you can, tumbleweed, cinematic Western visuals, smut, the contrast between the cleanliness of the Vaults and the decay of the Wasteland.

Optional Prompts

• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other – And body swaps in general. Maybe it can only be reversed with sex.
• Something that focuses on Shady Sands and the things that have happened there over the years. A 5+1 piece, maybe, about past, present, and future. Or something written from the point of view of Shady Sands itself.
• The episode where Lucy and Maximus find themselves in Vault 4 was one of my favourites, and I’d love to see that Vault explored more, whether it’s an expanded version of that episode which takes more time over what’s going on, (maybe an AU version where it’s Lucy and Cooper) or an entirely different visit to the Vault. In particular, I’d really love to find out more about what the hell was going on with the Mother of Flames culty stuff, because canon skipped waaaay too quickly over that for my liking, but also I’d just really love to spend more time with that overly polite helpful bunch of adorable weirdos. (OH GOD THE CYCLOPS GUY <3<3<3)
• Tentacles - RoboTentacles as a Sex Toy - For either pairing. Up to you whether this is entirely consensual and the characters choose to incorporate them into their sex, or if the robotentacles are malfunctioning and there's a dubcon element at play. Either way, NICE.
• Time loop - Either pairing, and the details are up to you. Is one character stuck, or are they both trapped? Is one character repeatedly dying, or having to watch the other one die? And feel free to incorporate meta elements of gameplay.
• "I can make them worse" with Lucy/The Ghoul in mind, because the process of redemption fascinates me, and I can’t help envisaging a situation where he’s starting to go back to being a better person, but for plot reasons, Lucy has to stop or slow down the redemption process and force him to be temporarily worse again.
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – delightful for either pairing, honestly. If they’re out in the Wasteland, I love all the complications of having to feed it and keep it alive, and the potential for characters to behave in unexpected ways. For Lucy/Cooper, her being taken aback that he’s unexpectedly good with kids, even if he’s making noises about it being better to abandon it.
• Sex Pollen – Always and forever one of my favourite tropes, whether it focuses on the event or the aftermath or both. Either pairing, one character affected, or both? If it’s just Cooper affected, then I’d especially love to see his reaction to Lucy’s matter-of-fact attitude to sex and her willingness to get on with it.
• Alternate Univerve - Zombie Apocalypse – I just love zombie apocalypses so much, and I’d love to see the characters reimagined in this universe. Did the turn happen a long time ago, or is it more recent (and how would that affect the characters?) Is Cooper a zombie hybrid of some kind? Or alternatively, the ghouls hit some very similar tropes, so go with a survival horror in which the characters have to defend themselves from a bunch of feral ghouls.
• Lucy and Norm are reunited in the Wasteland post season one.
• Bad Guys Make Them Do It – always and forever. I love this trope so much, the potential for guilt and self-blame, the way it can act as a catalyst for revelation of feelings and abs an obstacle to them (that delicious guilt), the hotness of being forced to go through public or semi-public sex, mutual protectiveness and bonding, and the potential threat from the onlookers. I like it both as something fun and tropey, where it’s more Bad Guys Enabled them, and as something darker where there is a genuine threat from the bad guys and it’s traumatic (but they still find it sexually arousing).
• Due to some handwavy technological simulation, Cooper becomes stuck in his memories of the past and thinks he’s his old self again with the end of the world nothing but a bad dream. Lucy has to travel into his mind and memories to remind him of who he really is and get him to snap out of it before he dies. Only trouble is he’s happier there, and meanwhile Lucy gets to meet some familiar faces. (I wrote this prompt before I realised there was precedent in Fallout 4 XD. Up to you if it operates along the same principles or if it’s something wholly new)
• So what does Cooper plan to do when he finds his family?
• All the Body Horror and/or hurt/comfort/whump that comes from turning into a ghoul, whether Cooper's condition is worsening, or one of the other characters is also turning into a ghoul, with their respective partner stuck in the position of being unable to do anything other than help them through it.
• character reveals feelings while out of it from illness/injury/alcohol - I particularly have Cooper in mind here, mainly because of the sheer depth of secrets/feelings he could spill, but this would absolutely apply to any of the other characters too.
• UH OH, Lucy's pregnant, and the baby is Cooper's. CAN ghouls father children? That's up to you, but perhaps some kind of Vault-Tec fuckery where his sperm was somehow kept on ice, and a malfunctioning AI 'misreads' their relationship, which is entirely platonic they *swear,* and knocks her up. Cue all the complicated feelings for Cooper of a baby on its way, and a half-sister for Janey, and for Lucy of finally getting the chance to reproduce, but it's with this guy.
• Character that acts tough and stoic is secretly vulnerable and needs to be tenderly fucked - I specifically have Cooper in mind here, and OK OK, I will admit there are limits to how vulnerable he's capable of being, but at the same time, I’m really drawn to redemption arcs and to all those tough layers being torn away to reveal the traumatised gooey centre.
• Manhandling, specifically with Lucy/Cooper in mind. I mean, goddamn, thouse scenes from early canon with him dragging her around were so fucking hot. I'd love something along those lines with her giving as good as she gets. Maybe something where they're working together now and they have to pretend to be antagonistic and that she's his prisoner, with all the rough handling necessary for show and infused with sexual tension, and afterwards they spar which leads to angry angry sex. (and for something set when they're more antagonistic, Lucy fighting back also leads to angry sex.).
• Emotionally repressed but deeply in love character finally breaks and gives into feelings - Specifically thinking about Lucy/Cooper here, because OH GOD YEP. What would this moment look like? How long would it build until it gets to this point? Would there be a catalyst?
• Cooper goes feral; Lucy has to bring him back. I don’t know if it’s reversible in canon, but handwave that if you need to. Maybe there’s an external plot reason why she has to bring him back, while other characters are telling her to abandon him or kill him outright, or maybe there isn’t and she knows they’re probably right but still can’t bring herself to do it. All the hurt/comfort here, her chaining him to a bed and trying to nurse him through it, while he gets flashes of lucidity and maybe even he’s telling her she should just kill him, idk.
• Hurt/Comfort - Buried Alive & Rescue and Locked in a coffin together –Grade A whump. Maybe Lucy is captured and buried because hey, she’s a vaultie, so surely she’ll be happier underground, and Cooper has to rescue her. Feel free to dive into the trauma, horror and claustrophobia of this set-up, or her trauma in the aftermath, and Cooper’s complicated feelings. Also, if they’re buried together, Lucy’s realisation that this is something that’s happened to him before, and the UST that arises from the forced proximity.
• A Fallout 4 crossover. Lucy and the Ghoul meet up with the Sole Survivor and Hancock. (preferably female Sole Survivor, since that’s the only version I’ve played, and I ship them HARD). Maybe they’ve come south chasing one of Mama Murphy’s prophecies; maybe there’s a case of mistaken identities because Dom Pedro’s men are looking for a ghoul and a woman travelling together. The potential similarities between the Sole Survivor’s story and the Ghoul’s intrigue me too, and if anyone’s in a position to tell him to be careful what he wishes for...

Canon-Specific DNW: For the Edward Deegan ships, I would prefer it if they weren't combined, e.g. please just go with one or the other, and not both.

I love the look of the game, the decayed retrofuturistic Americana, the flavour of the Boston setting, and the scrappy against the odds determination to make the Commonwealth a better place. There's so much I'd love to see explored here. I'm afraid some of the ships I've requested here have more prompts than others, but please don't take that as a sign of me wanting them more.

General Prompts

• Bad Weather – I love the atmosphere when there’s a radiation storm, how bleak and moody it gets, and those lightning flashes. Anything from something quiet and contemplative while they’re waiting for the storm to pass (or the ship of them trying to find something to do and playing Blast Radius ain’t quite cutting it), or hurt/comfort or survival with the two of them trying to find somewhere to take shelter. Or for the Hancock ships, him trying to shield her from the radiation.
• Bathing/Washing – indulgent descriptions of luxuriating in the process of getting clean. A bathhouse in the game world could probably make a killing. Possibly literally? So maybe they stumble across a bathhouse which is really a front for stealing from and murdering its guests.
• Comparing Scars – and scars in general. Just mmph, yes please.
• Time loops, and watching the person you love die over and over again.
• First time together naked – because out in the wilderness, you’re not going to risk making yourself vulnerable by undressing, which makes the first time they fuck in safety and are able to get undressed all that much more significant.
• Survival Horror, and surviving in the Commonwealth in general. Injured and stranded and out of ammo, they have to fight to survive something hunting them.

John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor

Oh hot fucking damn. <3 Hancock absolutely had my heart from the moment he shivved that other ghoul for me, but having now romanced him, I cannot get over how much I ADORE him. His outfit, his backstory, those scars. And yeah, okay, the ghoul thing, which I just find so fascinating (and not just because it's hot as fuck): the ever-present fear of the slide into becoming feral, which is something the world never lets you forget.

He's such a fascinating character, the weird mingling of genuine kindness and altruism with the way he maintains control over Goodneighbour through a mixture of ultraviolence and fairness. Add in the vulnerability over being a ghoul and the way he thinks he isn’t good enough for the Sole Survivor (CATNIP), and how utterly heartfelt and sincere his lines are when he’s romanced (MY HEART), that I’m kind of at a loss for words. His first romance line where he admits to having impure thoughts (me too, Hancock, me too) did not in any way prepare me for the way romancing him was going to pan out. I was not expecting him to be so lovely, and while I shipped it early on, I have gone on to absolutely, overwhelmingly ship it like burning.

I am completely here for him and the Sole Survivor as a battle couple, the way the Sole Survivor’s arrival in Goodneighbour acts as a catalyst for him deciding to leave. I’d love to see his reasons for leaving Goodneighbour explored a little more too, as well as his relationship with the town in general: it feels like there’s some really interesting character stuff to get into there: like him being relatively young in comparison to most of the other ghouls, and the way he had to adopt a whole new persona in order to have the courage to fight back, complete with a changed name and stolen clothes. And the way he talks about himself before he became a ghoul: this hot-headed, passionate, self-destructive idealist, and the way everything he’s been through has changed him. I would love to see a younger version of Hancock explored, particularly early on in his transformation into a ghoul, and when he’s going up against Vic.

Optional Prompts

• Clothing porn – HANCOCK’S FUCKING COAT THOUGH. I’m not even sure what I want from this, beyond descriptions of his coat, but I just love the backstory behind why he’s wearing it (and I note that a disproportionate number of my prompts seem to be coat-related), and the way it provided the inspiration to finally stand up and fight.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – I mean… *gestures at Hancock* Maybe they get time for that chem break, and get a little carried away.
• Role play as a feral – ahaha, oh GOD. Maybe it comes about accidentally, they’re goofing around, possibly while under the influence of something, (recreational or some sort of sex pollen situation), and it leads to something more. I do really love the idea of a playful dynamic for these too, particularly combined with filthy, filthy sex.
• Bad Guys Make Them Do It – Always and forever. I love this trope in all its forms, from lighter treatments where it’s more ‘Bad Guys Enable Them’ to something darker. For this, I especially love focus on mutual emotional support, and the two of them bonding over a traumatic experience. Also vengeance.
• Character A drapes their coat over B's shoulders – And we’re back to the clothing porn again. :D
• Distracting an addict from addiction with sex – Tricky to imagine a world where Hancock runs out of drugs, admittedly, but what if. Maybe they’re in captivity or stranded in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe it’s the Sole Survivor who’s trying to break the habit. Here for hurt/comfort and/or smut.
• Identity Porn - Masked Ball As An Excuse for Inadvisable Sex – masked, perhaps, because wherever the hell they are doesn’t let in ghouls. Maybe there’s a plotty reason for them investigating the ball (and indulgent descriptions of the crumbling but grand old building where the ball is being held are particularly welcome), or maybe it’s just an excuse for smut.
• A canon divergent fic where the Sole Survivor thaws out a few years earlier than in-game and comes out of the vault early. Possibly around the time Hancock is gearing up to confront Vic, or perhaps when Danse is living in the Commonwealth fully aware that he’s a synth. Or both.
• Any of the missing moments that feel like they should be in game, but aren’t, like The Talk after a romanced Hancock sees the Sole Survivor’s body in the Vault, a companion quest that digs into the relationship between him and his brother, or the conversation that should have taken place with a romanced Hancock after the Sole Survivor leaves the Institute having learned the truth about his brother. Or for Danse, investigating his pre-mindwipe past.
• The Silver Shroud questline was a fucking delight from start to finish, one of the highlights being the Sole Survivor's Wes Johnson impression. Plus more Hancock content. I loved the way it started as the two of them goofing around a little, before becoming more serious. Just pure fun. I'd love to see something exploring the questline, whether the Sole Survivor and Hancock are travelling together yet or not. Identity porn and more ridiculous impressions welcome, as is pure unadulterated smut with the Sole Survivor roleplaying as the Silver Shroud.

Billy Peabody & Synth Shaun

Because it kills me that when Billy’s dad comments that they don’t have anywhere else to go. that there’s no option to say HEY, I KNOW A PLACE. There’s a very very good chance that Billy’s parents know the Quincy survivors, which just makes it all the more frustrating that you have no choice but to abandon them to a place crawling with Gunners. I love this game, man, but come on. So I headcanon the very obvious choice of the Sole Survivor telling them about Sanctuary, which leads to them moving there, and Billy and Shaun meeting and becoming friends.

They mirror each other in some pretty fascinating ways. They’re both unfamiliar with the way the world is now, having led extremely sheltered lives up until this point. Billy only knows the pre-bomb world; Shaun only knows the Institute. I’m not sure what the lore is on ghoul kids (or even if there are any ghoul children at all – I’m guessing the process of changing into a ghoul would usually kill them outright), but possibly neither of them will age normally – Shaun won’t age at all (unless they can find another braindead synth body a la Curie), and Billy, if he does age, could potentially do so very slowly, and I’m also curious about the way he’d fit in with other ghouls, particularly the pre-war ones who might have seen their own kids die when the bombs hit, and what a hand grenade he’d be – this all-but-miracle kid suddenly walking among them. I’d love to see the world explored from their perspective, these two kids who are complete misfits figuring out where they fit in the world, maybe doing weird science or exploring the ruins of the Institute to see what they can salvage (because the two of them could potentially be completely immune to radiation). Or maybe the Hancock/Sole Survivor/Danse relationship from their point of view.

(I also ship age-appropriate Shaun/Billy a little bit -- although god knows what 'age-appropriate' means when it comes to these two. XD)

Optional Prompts

• A kid's eye view of the Commonwealth.
• They set out to write a magazine in the same vein as the Wasteland Survival Guide.
• It's vacation-time. Trip to a raider-free Nuka World? (Or maybe it's not raider-free yet) Or the seaside? Or maybe Hancock takes them fishing, the same way his dad used to take him.
• They explore the CIT ruins, looking for a way into the Institute to see what can be salvaged.
• Shaun coming to terms with his being a synth, and what happened to the real Shaun, and his complicated relationship with the Sole Survivor
• They get hold of some memory loungers and try to recreate the pre-bomb world.
• Future-fic -- what happens to them both twenty years down the line? How different does the world look? Have they aged at all, or are they still stuck in kid bodies?
• Or an AU set years down the line where it's Shaun who rescues Billy from the fridge rather than the Sole Survivor, and things have gone... differently (interpret this however you wish). Maybe Shaun's been out of the Institute for a while and has been surviving in the Commonwealth? Maybe Billy's parents have moved on again and so aren't at home when Shaun takes him there? Maybe the two of them have to outwit Bullet and his gang on their own.

Phyllis Daily/Ronnie Shaw

Old broads unite! This request isn’t particularly extensive because it basically boils down to me thinking it’d be neat if these two side characters met and got together. Ronnie is really fun though, and I’d love to see a bit more of her. Same with Phyllis, who’s kind of cracked (but hey, who isn’t these days?). They’re a great opportunity to explore a bit more about the Minutemen and how they operate without the Sole Survivor around, and maybe expand on their growing role in the world. Maybe they wind up in Salem and meet Barney; maybe there’s a murder in the Castle and Phyllis thinks she’s responsible, but obviously she wasn’t; maybe they fistfight! Anything.

Optional Prompts

• How do they meet? Does Phyllis ever make it to the Castle, or does Ronnie stop by Egret Marina on a Minuteman mission? How do they get together?
• A case fic. There's a murder in the castle. Possibly playing on Phyllis's belief that she's a synth?
• The two of them try to resurrect Sarge.
• They pay a visit to Salem.
• Explore the uncomfortable relationship between the Minutemen and the Brotherhood of Steel (assuming they're not hostile to each other, although if you want to go with that, then please do). Because even if they're not hostile to each other at the end of the game, there's still an air of threat about the Brotherhood's presence in the Commonwealth and whether they can really coexist with the Minutemen long-term. (Also Ronnie meeting Maxson, who is, what, all of 20, would be pretty damn hilarious)

Jack Cabot/Edward Deegan and Emogene Cabot/Edward Deegan

One thing I really love about the Fallout games are the little nods to the supernatural and to Lovecraft, and all those little hints of something weirder and darker under the surface, like the Dunwich Quarry, and yep, everything that's going on with the Cabots, and Edward's relationship with them. I'd love to see them explored more, whether before the events of the game, during, or afterwards.

I love the dynamic between Jack and Edward, the mixture of exasperation and respect with which Edward treats Jack. I wish we saw more of Emogene as well, particularly after reading the entries on her terminal: she's so much more competent than it might first appear.

What happens in the aftermath of the Cabot House questline? How long does it take them to realise that becoming ghouls provides another path to immortality? And while I'd prefer the ships not get combined, exploring Emogene's relationship with her brother and the family dynamics in general is very welcome indeed.

Optional Prompts

Female Sole Survivor/John Hancock/Paladin Danse, Paladin Danse & Deacon, and Paladin Danse/Deacon

The Danse-centred requests. Hancock will always be my first love, but Danse has really grown on me, and not just because he’s so very, very pretty to look at. Yes, he can be a bigoted arsehole, but at the same time it’s impossible to say how much of that is him and how much stems from his past with the Institute. Like his hatred and mistrust of technology, which could potentially stem from trauma, and his dislike of ghouls which could almost literally have been programmed into him, or have been influenced by his time in the Institute. How is he going to react when that possibility occurs to him?

I wish his past could have been explored more in-game. One of his random lines mentions how strange it is that coming to the Commonwealth almost feels like coming home, and I feel pretty strongly that that line only makes sense if he spent some time living aboveground as a non-mindwiped escaped synth. Which opens up so many questions: if he originally chose not to be mind-wiped, why did he change his mind and end up in the Capital Wasteland? He’s not exactly subtle: did he end up being recaptured by the Institute before escaping again, resulting in mind-wiping seeming like the only option? And how does his story dovetail with the Railroad’s? Do any of them remember him? Was Amari the one who performed the mindwipe? Does Glory know him? Deacon? And what the hell was Deacon doing in the Capital Wasteland anyway? (interestingly he mentions the Brotherhood in connection with the Capital Wasteland). Did it have something to do with Danse?

For the Danse and Deacon requests, I’d love to see something where Danse explores and (maybe) comes to terms with his past, and the ongoing trauma of the Institute, but Deacon fascinates me too, and I think the two could mesh in a really interesting way: Deacon, the pathological liar and Danse, whose whole life is a lie.

As for the Hancock/Sole Survivor/Danse request, yeah, I’m not going to lie, I just think this is hot. :D I talk a lot about Hancock in my other request, so I won’t reiterate that here, but I think their relationship has an incredibly amount of potential: even if it wasn't for how bigoted Danse can be (and I do headcanon that there are mitigating circumstances), they're so completely different, but at the same time there's got to be room for common ground.

Optional Prompts

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with Dan or Herbert being nonconned (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body (from the autopsy presumably, but WHAT IF...), and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Art Prompts

I am completely here for smut and shippy moments, as well as schlocky gore, the rampaging dead, and body-horror. Also the two of them in middleage, whether they’re reuniting after an estrangement or solidly established as partners (however you want to interpret that XD). Crossovers with other canons featuring Jeffrey Combs, or Herbert meeting the version of himself from Lovecraft’s original story, Herbert as a ghost! Eldritch Lovecraftian horrors, or historical AUs (Herbert in Regency clothing!!!!! *eyes*)

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of zombie apocalypses, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I want it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost. Or alternatively, Dan and Herbert are estranged, and Dan inherits the house from a mysterious relative, only realising who his benefactor is when he stumbles across the lab.
• A rewatch of Bride of Re-Animator left me wondering what a M*A*S*H cross over would look like. So that, basically, whether it's Re-Animator reimagined as a half-hour sitcom set during their time in Peru, with slashy vibes between Herbert in the Frank role and Dan as Hawkeye. Or a more traditional crossover with MASH if you'd prefer to go with that.

What a giddy delight these films are. I never really played the Sonic games very much, so I can't really judge how good they are as adaptations, but as standalone films, it feels like they did everything right. I just had a blast watching them, they're fun, they're funny, the visuals (in Sonic 3 especially) are absolutely stunning, and oh hey, I really was not prepared to come out of them shipping Robotnik/Stone like burning, but here we are, I guess.

I'm both delighted and perplexed by the decisions that went into the writing for these two. Like, I can understand why Robotnik needs a minion, but I'm not quite so sure why they decided to make him hot and utterly devoted to Robotnik, while saying things like 'I can't lose you again' and doodling portraits of his boss surrounded by lovehearts in the foam of his goatmilk lattes. \Those sure were some choices they made, and I am fully behind every one.

I just don't know where to start with these two. Their dynamic is absurdly shippy. Stone canonically adores Robotnik -- even without shipping goggles on there's no other word for it, and they're both so mutually devoted to each other. Robotnik (who has entered my rogues' gallery of favourite assholes alongside Herbert West) is just as seemingly unable to let go of Stone as Stone is of him. The rock version of Agent Stone on the mushroom planet, Robotnik ordering Stone to slam himself up against the wall (*goddamn*), Stone proving himself to be pretty damn competent actually in his motorbike chase in Sonic 3, and just basically everything. I cannot get over the ending of Sonic 3, and the way the emotional climax of the film, which you'd expect to belong to Shadow, Maria and Sonic, was almost completely hijacked by Robotnik confessing to a tearful Stone that he really really loved... his lattes.

Their whole dynamic was maaaaade for me. I love complicated villains, and there are some really interesting wrinkles about the way Robotnik's arc plays out over the course of the trilogy, and the way the worst of his world-domination ambitions could potentially have been the influence of the Chaos Emerald. I also thoroughly appreciated that we saw him go from hyper-competent and slick in the first film to the absolute wreck of a man that he is at the start of the third, and ultimately to his redemption. I just really freaking loved these films, and I think there's a lot to dig into here in terms of their relationship and the world building.

Optional Prompts

• The Mushroom Planet. I am a huge fan of survival horror, and there’s a lot of potential in Robotnik being stranded on the mushroom planet (and that delightful little detail of him fashioning a rock version of Stone for himself because he can't do without his devoted minion). I also really love two people being stranded alone together for long periods of time, and the way that relying on each other results in relationships that are desperately loyal and all-encompassing to the point where that’s actually pretty damn unhealthy :D (which would probably really fit for these too. Maybe Stone manages to track down a ring and follows Robotnik there, leading to the two of them trying to survive (In which case how the hell is he going to react to stone!Stone?). Or alternatively, make it about the aftermath and Robotnik’s recovery, whether it’s kinda fun and light (Stone trying to get the mushroom-flavoured coffee just right?) or more serious hurt/comfort.
• Crossover: I'm not sure what it is, but I get such strong Special Agent Milton Dammers (from The Frighteners) vibes from Robotnik in the first film, and it freaking delights me. So what gives? A haunting? Some kind of top-secret government experiment when Robotnik first started working for the government? Robotic supersoldiers operated by ghosts? And at some point, Robotnik modelled himself on Dammers, but like, a hotter, slicker, more competent version with a sense of humour?
• Cosmic Horror: with all the implications of the Chaos Emerald and the potential it has for turning him into an all-powerful eldritch horror (and it kills me firstly that Stone begs Robotnik to take him with him, and that Robotnik does.) (Tentacles rather than lightning, perhaps?)
• Or rather than a full-blown cosmic monstrosity, maybe Robotnik is experienng some lingering after-effects of the Emerald.
• Came Back Wrong - for either character, really, but maybe Stone is badly injured so Robotnik is trying to create a new body to transfer his mind into
• They're amnesiacs stuck in what is apparently a coffeeshop AU, but actually something is very, very badly wrong.
• "There's no such thing as a friendly ghost."
• A is a ghost only B can see. After the events of the third film, Stone starts to see Robotnik everywhere.
• A Bad Guys Win AU for the second film, where Robotnik succeeds and now rules the planet, except that it turns out Robotnik’s ambitions were almost entirely the influence of the Emerald, and it turns out that ruling a planet isn’t all it was cracked up to be. Maybe it’s taking him over or harming him somehow and it’s up to Stone to pull him back from the brink.
• Bodyswap! Where for some reason the two of them succeeding in being mistaken for the other is crucial, and maybe Stone proves better at pretending to be Robotnik than Robotnik anticipated.
• Whump in the line of duty 
• A time travels to fix B's death; A gets stuck and now there are two of A. Because surely, out of all the experiments Robotnik was running, he could have been playing around with time travel, which Stone discovers after going through Robotnik’s things.

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Art Prompts (for all pairings)

Again, whatever I’d like in a fic, I’d also love to see explored in a piece of art. Action, hurt/comfort, romance, adventure, horror, smut. Explorations of alien worlds (especially Ferenginar!), the grimdark bleakness of the Mirror Universe, sexual tension between Brunt and Quark, or Weyoun’s slavish devotion to Odo and Odo’s grudging discomfort, Weyoun’s facial expressions alone... The visuals of changeling transformations, Ferengi clothing porn! Rain and other forms of inclement weather.

Odo/Weyoun

Go with any Weyoun you want, whether past, present, or future. In the relaunch novels, Odo creates a ninth clone to act as his aide, and while I’m not otherwise tied to the canon of the relaunch novels, as far as I’m concerned, Odo bringing Weyoun back absolutely happened, and that is a hill I will die on. :D

I’d love to see their relationship explored in all its forms (and the unhealthier the better as far as I'm concerned. XD). There’s so much to explore in their relationship, and just what each character says about the other. I've shipped Odo/Weyoun pretty damn hard right from Weyoun's first episode, and Weyoun 6 sacrificing himself and then dying in Odo’s arms certainly didn’t make me ship them any less. There's so much to dig into: the complexities of the Vorta and their inbuilt loyalty to Changelings, the potential for changes to the way the Vorta are created and how that might affect the Dominion, Odo's blind spot for his people, and the fact that they're both capable of leading very long lives. Even when almost every other solid Odo’s known in his life has passed on, Weyoun could potentially still be around, and there are a lot of possibilities there.

There’s also a moment in A Time to Stand when Weyoun 5, gloriously insincere arsehole that he is, talks about the habitat ring echoing with the sound of happy children, but this is a man who’d knowing preside over wiping out the population of entire planets, and of course the Vorta don’t have children or childhoods in the usual way, and that’s probably something else the Dominion have taken away from them. It’s pure nightmare fuel.

I have a lot of feelings about everything that happens between them both in Faith, Treachery and the Great River, and what it says about both their characters. That story Weyoun 6 tells Odo about the origins of his people, and the way Odo seems to take it as kindness when actually what the Founders did was at the very least mass enslavement, and possibly even something akin to genocide? The suggestion that the Vorta are powerful is laughable, given that their entire purpose, over and above their own wellbeing, is to serve the Founders, and Odo of all people should know that. Would he have thought of himself as powerful when he was facilitating the Cardassians on Terok Nor? (Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about having a lot of feelings about that episode. XD) There are a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn.

Optional Prompts

• DS9: Post-canon attempt to return the Vorta to sexual reproduction; first non-clone baby born - With Weyoun and Odo being at the heart of the attempt.
• A canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives to defect to the Federation, exploring how their relationship goes after the war is over.
• A canon-divergent AU where the canonical baby Changeling turns up while the station is in the hands of the Dominion and Weyoun is involved with Odo's attempts to look after it.
• Complicated emotions at being pregnant with a baby character believes is a god - somehow Weyoun ends up knocked up, whether it's some kind of handwavy transporter accident type accident, or the result of a sex pollen incident necessary to save Odo's life and neither of them realised Weyoun could get pregnant that way. Is there some kind of side effect from the pregnancy which leaves Weyoun with some degree of shapeshifting powers, or the ability to link with the baby, which is amazing but also very uncomfortable because he's just a Vorta.
• Cloning Accident result in creating a baby - The real reason Weyoun 6 tried to defect. :D Is it a wholly new person or just a baby version of Weyoun, and what are the implications of it not being going through the full cloning process?
• character that thought they had zero parenting instincts goes into hardcore protective mode - I love Weyoun as a villain at least partly because of how very... unintimidating he is in a lot of ways. He's small and slight and vulnerable and he keeps dying, and I'm really drawn to this prompt both for him embracing his violent side in the interests of protecting a baby and for the potential to explore his character because I’ll always love a character study.
• a 5+1 fic exploring the way Odo's relationship with the various different Weyouns changes over the years.
• Sex Pollen – Whether it’s Odo affected and Weyoun willingly sacrifices himself to save the Founder, or Weyoun is affected and is horrified/pathetically grateful at Odo being willing to help. Or the aftermath of the sex pollen situation with all the fallout.
• A canon-divergent AU where Odo remains human for longer, and he’s still a solid when he meets Weyoun 5 for the first time. What effect would Odo's becoming a solid have on their dynamic? How would the Vorta conceptualise the concept of a god becoming a solid, and what does that mean for the way Weyoun’s worldview? I’d be delighted with anything from a character/relationship study that follows their time on the station together, or perhaps something plottier where they're stranded on a planet together and have to work together to survive, but now Odo's just as vulnerable as Weyoun is. (Sex pollen always welcome)
• Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries – Weyoun is injured and Odo has to treat his injuries, whether it’s Weyoun 6 or one of the other ones. I’m just fascinated by all the messy feelings of faith and awe, and Odo’s discomfort at being thought of as a god.
• Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing – Whether it happens over the course of one Weyoun or several. I really love all the tangled complexities of the way the Vorta see the world. Maybe this is a canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives and Odo tries to deprogram him? Or maybe a future Weyoun where the process has begun but isn't quite there yet.
• Whump - A sacrifices themself to protect B; B is forced to watch A being tortured – The obvious candidate for self-sacrifice is Weyoun, but Odo sacrificing himself and Weyoun's struggles watching him being tortured (perhaps that Romulan device that stops him from changing shape) would be delicious too.

Quark/Brunt

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?

Mirror Brunt/Weyoun 6

Because a passing stray thought that Mirror Brunt and Weyoun 6 should hook up got into my head and then refused to go away. Which I can understand, because fucking hell, yes. I have absolutely no idea how it would work or how it would come about, but goddamn do I want it to happen.

As ships go, this is absurdly self-indulgent, but at the same time there are some potentially really interesting dynamics and parallels to be drawn between them. They're both more sympathetic versions of more or less antagonistic characters, both desperately loyal to another person with whom they have a somewhat one-sided relationship, (and they're both adorable tragically doomed cinnamon rolls. D:) Maybe Weyoun finds himself stranded in the Mirror universe – does the fact that it isn’t his universe provide a loophole that allows him to override his inbuild loyalty to the Dominion? (Keevan shows that not all Vorta are unquestionably loyal, which suggests that Weyoun is just like that, unswervingly terrifyingly loyal, whether to the Dominion or to Odo, and I love him all the more for that) Does he immediately set out to try to find a way back to his universe, or to find the wormhole in the Mirror universe? How does Mirror Odo complicate matters? Does he shift his loyalties to Mirror Brunt?

There are countless things I’d love to see here, and explore it however you want, but I do really love the idea of him gradually coming to terms with being stranded in the Mirror universe, and even though it’s a grimdark hellhole, realising he’s better off there, even though he’s conflicted about staying. And as for Mirror Brunt, mmph, these two sweethearts would be absolutely perfect for each other. Just get them together and make them kiss, however you have to do it. And maybe they’re both pining for other people at first, but gradually they catch feelings for each other. They’re both so lovely: they deserve some happiness.

Optional Prompts

• Look, if in doubt, please just make them kiss and I will be happy. :D
• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
• Conflicting loyalties – Explore the issue of loyalty and how it manifests in each of them. Especially Weyoun, whose loyalties are at least somewhat artificial. How does the Mirror universe affect his loyalties to the Founders? Is he able to override it? Perhaps because he’s stuck there he gradually becomes used to feeling free of his obligations to the Dominion, and transfers his loyalties to Mirror Brunt instead, but then an opportunity to return to the prime universe arises and he has to deal with his conflicting loyalties.
• Weyoun has fallen in with M!Ezri and M!Brunt and has been working with them for a while without issue until they capture Mirror!Odo. And maybe he can override his instinctive loyalties because this is the Mirror!Universe version and so not a true Founder, but it doesn’t come easily.
• Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle it - They're both just so damn sweet, and while everything else might be going to hell, the two of them still manage to carve out some moments of sweetness in the middle of the nightmarish dystopia that is the Mirror Universe.
• Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection – Because loving relationships aren’t normally part of a Vorta’s life experience, and Weyoun isn’t quite sure how to handle it.
• Food as part of the language of love – They both have interesting relationships with food. Given Mirror Brunt’s tendency to make sure everyone’s fed (with tube grubs, but still...), and the way Weyoun works his way through everything on the replicator’s menu, it seems like this would be the perfect way for them to bond. And okay, maybe Brunt can’t get his hands on kava nuts or rippleberries but there must be something.
• Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded – So let’s say Weyoun is stranded, temporarily or otherwise, in the Mirror universe. He’s finally free of his obligations to the Dominion, because there is no Dominion there, and so has to figure out a few things and relearn the sort of person he wants to be.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – Because again this is one of the contrasts between them, Mirror Brunt being scarred (because picking up scars in the Mirror Universe is inevitable, let’s face it) while Weyoun is almost entirely scar-free due to being a recent clone. I’m particularly here for scar kink, and all the associated fascination and sympathy and tenderness, but you could also play with the issues over cloning: Weyoun’s memories of injuries sustained by other Weyouns, which aren’t reflected on his body, but which maybe he feels as phantom scars of some kind?
• Emotional hurt/comfort – Ordinarily Vortas’ memories of their previous deaths and injuries are suppressed as part of the cloning process to ensure they remain motivated and willing to sacrifice themselves, but every now and then those suppressed memories return in full force.
• Identity Porn - A scam/heist requires that they both have to pose as their other selves.
• Smut - experimenting with and exploring interspecies biology.
• on the run together – Whether from the Alliance or from some kind of crime syndicate (potentially run by Mirror Ishka XD), and bonding in the process.
• Two tired people taking quiet comfort in each other – Exhausted sex, moments of respite in the middle of the world going to hell, the two of them finding moments of common ground, etc.
• Competence Kink - And the two of them being quietly impressed and turned on by the other’s competence: Brunt’s toughness and fighting skills and Weyoun's innate diplomacy and negotiating skills.

Thanks for reading!

FiaB 2024 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Table of Contents

• General Preferences
  
  • General Likes
  • Smut Likes
  • DNWs
• Blake’s 7
• Fallout 4
• Fallout (TV)
• From Beyond
• House on Haunted Hill (1999)
• Re-Animator (Movies)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Would You Rather

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror of all kinds, understated ghost stories, body horror, cosmic horror, claustophibic horror where the characters are trapped underground, potentially with monsters (think The Descent), etc.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) fire-forged relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and being able to rely on no one but each other.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• Omegaverse
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (more casual power play, bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

It’s rare that I fall so completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with a show, but it’s happened with Blake’s 7, to the point where frankly I’m a little taken aback. I loved it right from the very first episode, which was so grimly dystopian (the bureaucracy, the people in charge running ‘feasibility studies’ when the possibility being examined is the act of planting false memories of abuse in the minds of children, I mean… fuck. Fuck.) It’s so utterly bleak and awful, but then it’s balanced out by the sheer fun of the sets and the storylines.

I’ll be up for anything that examines the dystopian elements of the world and the Federation, angst, backstory, canon divergent AUs set during, pre- and post-canon, hurt/comfort, whump and torture, trust issues, case fic of the planet-of-the-week sort or the murder mystery sort, clothes porn, and… look, I’ll take basically anything for this show.

Roj Blake/Travis

I always love a good enemy ship, and Blake/Travis is a particularly delightful example. Their background, Travis’s overwhelming hatred of Blake, Blake’s repeated failure to kill him… Why does he keep sparing Travis? In Duel he justifies it because the Federation would just send someone else in Travis’s place and at least Blake knows he’s capable of defeating Travis, but it doesn’t ring entirely true. It could just be him being merciful, but personally I have a soft spot for the idea that Blake’s fucked over about his brainwashing (speaking of which, how does Blake’s period of compliance on Earth fit into Travis’s vendetta against him?) and is aware that Travis is probably the person who knows him best and so subconsciously unwilling to kill Travis because of that. Again, go with either Travis here, whenever you choose to set it.

I want so many different things for this pairing, from smut: Travis dubconning Blake (all the way up to extremely dubious consent), or sex pollen, to something more plotty, such as the two of them being stuck in a situation where they’re forced to work together. Smut would be fantastic, but they’ve both been fucked over by the Federation and are both ruthless men willing to do terrible things for their beliefs (and I freaking adored the way the last episode drew deliberate parallels between them), so I’d love to see something where they’re forced to warily interact on a level beyond simply trying to kill each other.

As well as redemption arcs for Travis (which I can never ever get enough of), I’d also love to see the opposite for Blake, whether temporary or permanent, down to brainwashing or a slow insidious downfall.

I’d also be open to Blake’s clone acting as a stand-in for Blake himself. They had to travel together, so what would that have looked like, considering what happened to the first clone? (And for the record, I completely headcanon that Travis fucked the clone. Carnell would absolutely have taken catharsis through sex into account, and even if it hadn’t been part of the official strategy, Servalan would probably have had Travis do it just for the lolz.) There’s no need for the real Blake to appear in the fic if you go this route.

Optional Prompts

• We’ve heard the story of what happened between Blake and Travis, but we only hear the latter half of it through Blake’s somewhat compromised memories. What if it didn’t happen quite the way Blake described?
• Travis survives Star One and runs into Blake. Does Travis regret what he did or is he completely unrepentant? And considering the consequences of destroying Star One, it’s not like Blake is entirely comfortable on the moral high ground. Perhaps there’s an external conflict that forces them to work together and not just kill each other there and then, but I’d also be willing to just seen them both too tired and broken to fight and so calling a truce of a kind just for one night.
• Blake ends up brainwashed again and an extremely resentful Travis is set as his guard dog with explicit instructions not to harm him and the ability to erase Blake’s memories if he thinks Blake is starting to suspect something is wrong. It’s not like he was planning on taking advantage of the situation, but it just sort of happened that way. Does Blake start growing on him despite Travis’s best efforts? Or show it through Blake’s eyes, and the gradual realisation that something is very very wrong.
• They get stuck in a time loop, (some kind of simulation, perhaps?) and the only way out of the time loop is for them to work together to get them both out of the situation in one piece or, uh, possibly for them to fuck.
• Show me the Blake/Travis relationship through the lens of Travis/The Clone (and it’s fine for Blake himself not to appear in the fic). There’s a lot of places you could go with this, from pure unadulterated smut to character development. It occurs to Travis, possibly at Servalan’s urging, that he might be able to use the clone to work out his issues with Blake. Maybe Servalan acts as a third party directing the two of them, and rather enjoying Travis’s shame at enjoying it so much (he was so broken in that episode), or else a hundred petty little moments of cruelty escalate into extremely dubconny sex. Or maybe a post-Star One AU in which Travis runs into the clone again.
• Interrogations – Travis has captured Blake and is interrogating him. Maybe there’s information he needs to get which is time-critical, maybe the Federation forces are pinned down, so he’s desperate. Maybe he just gets to the point where he decides he has nothing to lose, and the interrogation takes a darker, more sexual turn.
• It’ll be a cold day in hell before I get bored of Sex Pollen. :D Make. Them. Fuck. I love it in all its forms, whether both are affected, or just one of them. An unaffected Travis taking advantage of an affected Blake (and hating himself just a little for not being able to resist)? Or maybe neither one of them is affected and they’re both just pretending they are because it’s the perfect excuse to finally fuck. I love it both as a one-off and as a potential catalyst for a potential redemption arc, and in both fluffy and darker forms.
• In general, I’m just fascinated by the idea of redemption, and particularly when it comes to Travis. He’s undoubtedly done some terrible things, so I’m really drawn to the question of whether he can be redeemed.

Travis/Servalan

These two. Oh god, where do I even start. I was going to say they were the two most evil people in the Federation, but this is the Federation that plants false memories of abuse in the minds of children, so… idek. I loved the brief flash of a conscience Travis shows in Deliverance and the way she tramples on it and you can see him reassessing his opinion of her right there and then. Then there's the dynamic between them in the caves on Aristo -- the "No, Travis. *You* will follow me" line, and the way he looks at her. That's one thing I love about Servalan's character, terrible though she might be in many ways: she's not necessarily a skilled soldier and she's very often completely out of her depth, but she always recovers both her poise and the upper hand, and in a way that only makes her relationship with Travis all the more interesting.

The way the whole of his arc in the second series is a constant push and pull between them, going from working together to antagonistic to whatever the hell that was in Gambit… I mean, she had him at her mercy on a sex swing. A literal sex swing. And all the time they were low-key threatening each other they were holding hands. I was already shipping them pretty damn hard, and watching that felt like a fever dream. I’m still not entirely convinced I didn’t hallucinate it. :D

Go with either Travis, or bridge the gap between the two. I loved Travis I, but Travis II won me round very quickly indeed. I liked his quieter, more sinister manner (and his scruffier appearance towards the latter half of the season was scorching hot, so, uh, any description of that wouldn’t go amiss. Look, the slipping of his military standards of appearance is thematically relevant character development, okay?). I’d be especially here for anything that explores reasons for the changes in his behaviour (such as the moment in Weapon where he goes all broken and mentions his visits to the retraining therapists) and his gradual deterioration over the course of season 2. An AU with Travis II in the first season or Travis I in the second would be interesting too – their speech patterns, manner and appearance are very different, and it’d be interesting seeing how his story arc in the second season would work with Travis I.

And Servalan, how utterly ruthless and amoral she is, the way she tries to manipulate everybody, her poise, her clothes, the way she toys with him, and finds a way, despite his break from the Federation as a result of her scheming, to get him working for her again. She’s so utterly ruthless and evil and fantastic to watch. I especially love seeing her when she’s out of her comfort zone, but managing to regain her composure. I’m also open to post season 2 set fics where it’s not Travis himself but a clone she’s had made for reasons of her own.

I’m always here for character studies and I’d love to see something that dives deep into their characters and motivations (and maybe continues what the show started and humanises them a little, while not letting them off the hook for the atrocities they’ve committed), but I’m also up for pure smut too. Man, I am so, so here for fucked-up loyalty kink between them. And I don’t know if loyalty kink is the right word for their relationship, considering everything that happens in canon, but I still can’t help but see him as desperately wanting to be ride-or-die for her, even after everything she’s done to him and knowing she’ll fuck him over at the first opportunity, but if he can just prove himself one more time maybe she’ll give him the chance...

Optional Prompts

• Fill in some of the missing moments from his arc, either from the first or second season. In the first season, he’s in disgrace after the events of Duel. His arc in the second season is a rollercoaster ride. After Hostage it’s pretty clear he’s in regularish contact with Servalan, so there are some opportunities for missing scenes there. Maybe he comes close to getting captured by the Federation and she manipulates things to get him free and hunting for Blake again.
• What the hell would pillow talk between the two of them look like?
• More background to The Keeper, please. I have some headcanons about what was going on with him (he just wanted to rule the universe by her side, another moment between them that makes my shippy heart explode in delight, as does the idea that this ship might have been the pivotal moment that would massively change the course of events of the series going forwards), but I’m curious to see your take on it. If she’d let him, would he have been genuinely loyal to her, or might he still have betrayed her down the line? I think it probably goes without saying that she would have betrayed him.
• And along those lines the concept of Travis and Servalan ruling the universe side by side is a TERRIFYING one. Give me that AU, please, or else the set-up for it where he delivers Star One to her.
• An AU where Travis survives Star One. “There's no one as free as a dead man,” Servalan tells him in Hostage. Well, now everyone thinks he’s dead, so he’s got his freedom. What’s he going to do with it? How does he get off Star One? Does he end up working with Servalan again, or watch her from afar, trying to keep his head down?

Right, so after watching the series, I finally gave Fallout a shot without scurrying off back to Skyrim after about an hour of gameplay and I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE. I love this game so much, (and have a whole bunch of thoughts about how it compares to Skyrim and TES in general, which I will spare you here, but for the record, if you want to do a crossover or some kind of fusion, then please do). I was hesitant to request it as I haven't been playing long (although I seem to be burning through it), but since I'm not sure when I'll get another chance, fuck it, it's in. XD Please don't worry about spoilers (I will do my damndest to have finished the main quest by reveals) and I apologise in advance for any shortcomings in my request, and my prompts in particular. Please just know I love this setting and the characters I have met so far (Preston! Piper! Nick! Hancock!) to absolute bits and I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with.

I love the look of the game, the decayed retrofuturistic Americana, the flavour of the Boston setting, and the scrappy against the odds determination to make the Commonwealth a better place.

John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor

Oh hot fucking damn. <3 Hancock absolutely had my heart from the moment he shivved that other ghoul for me, but having now romanced him, I cannot get over how much I ADORE him. His outfit, his backstory, those scars. And yeah, okay, the ghoul thing, which I just find so fascinating (and not just because it's hot as fuck): the ever-present fear of the slide into becoming feral, which is something the world never lets you forget.

He's such a fascinating character, the weird mingling of genuine kindness and altruism with the way he maintains control over Goodneighbour through a mixture of ultraviolence and fairness. Add in the vulnerability over being a ghoul and the way he thinks he isn’t good enough for the Sole Survivor (CATNIP), and how utterly heartfelt and sincere his lines are when he’s romanced (MY HEART), that I’m kind of at a loss for words. His first romance line where he admits to having impure thoughts (me too, Hancock, me too) did not in any way prepare me for the way romancing him was going to pan out. I was not expecting him to be so lovely, and while I shipped it early on, I have gone on to absolutely, overwhelmingly ship it like burning.

It’s been a while since I fell for a ship and a character quite this hard. Plus their dynamic is delightful: he’s just all-in and utterly loyal and delighted to be fighting by the Sole Survivor’s side, and their dynamic just makes me want to cackle with glee. One little detail I really love is the playful teasing way she tells him to ‘hold’ when she wants him to temporarily stay put, like she’s going to pat him on the head and call him a good boy. Okay, it’s probably the same line she uses with other companions, but with him it plays exactly into what I like about their dynamic and the desperately loyal golden retriever boyfriend vibes he gives off if you romance him. More of that playfulness and potentially the Sole Survivor getting to have fun for the first time since she escaped the Vault (maybe feeling a little conflicted about it) would be very welcome.

There are so many things I love about this pairing, and so much that I wish had been incorporated into the game, all of which I would be delighted to see explored (and this is a little tricky as I’m still on my first playthrough, so bear with me). I wish we’d got something when he accompanies the Sole Survivor to Diamond City and goes up to the Mayor’s Office (and I have been vaguely spoiled that there’s more going on there that I haven’t got to yet, but still, there should be something if you take him up to the office before that plot point…).

And the aftermath of the Sole Survivor taking him back to Vault 111, and his line when he sees your spouse in the Vault and that horrible moment of realisation, combined with his self-doubt about whether he really deserves her alongside the potential for emotional hurt/comfort in the renewal of the Sole Survivor’s grief... Again: catnip. I’m afraid I’m a sucker for the fridged spouse trope (and there are few spouses quite so comprehensively fridged as the Sole Survivor’s), and all the painful ins and outs of falling for someone while still grieving for a significant other.

I am completely here for him and the Sole Survivor as a battle couple, the way the Sole Survivor’s arrival in Goodneighbour acts as a catalyst for him deciding to leave. I’d love to see his reasons for leaving Goodneighbour explored a little more too, as well as his relationship with the town in general: it feels like there’s some really interesting character stuff to get into there: like him being relatively young in comparison to most of the other ghouls, and the way he had to adopt a whole new persona in order to have the courage to fight back, complete with a changed name and stolen clothes. And the way he talks about himself before he became a ghoul: this hot-headed, passionate, self-destructive idealist, and the way everything he’s been through has changed him. I would love to see a younger version of Hancock explored, particularly early on in his transformation into a ghoul, and when he’s going up against Vic.

Optional Prompts

• Survival Horror, and surviving in the Commonwealth in general. Injured and stranded and out of ammo, they have to fight to survive something hunting them.
• Clothing porn – THAT FUCKING COAT THOUGH. I’m not even sure what I want from this, beyond descriptions of his coat, but I just love the backstory behind why he’s wearing it (and I note that a disproportionate number of my prompts seem to be coat-related), and the way it provided the inspiration to finally stand up and fight.
• First time together naked – because out in the wilderness, you’re not going to risk making yourself vulnerable by undressing, which makes the first time they fuck in safety and are able to get undressed all that much more significant.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – I mean… *gestures at Hancock* Maybe they get time for that chem break, and get a little carried away.
• Role play as a feral – ahaha, oh god. Maybe it comes about accidentally, they’re goofing around, possibly while under the influence of something, (recreational or some sort of sex pollen situation), and it leads to something more. I do really love the idea of a playful dynamic for these too, particularly combined with filthy, filthy sex.
• Bad Guys Make Them Do It – Always and forever. I love this trope in all its forms, from lighter treatments where it’s more ‘Bad Guys Enable Them’ to something darker. For this, I especially love focus on mutual emotional support, and the two of them bonding over a traumatic experience. Also vengeance.
• Bad Weather – I love the atmosphere when there’s a radiation storm, how bleak and moody it gets, and those lightning flashes. Anything from something quiet and contemplative while they’re waiting for the storm to pass (or the two of them trying to find something to do and playing Blast Radius ain’t quite cutting it), or hurt/comfort or survival with the two of them trying to find somewhere to take shelter. Or Hancock trying to shield her from the radiation.
• Bathing/Washing – indulgent descriptions of luxuriating in the process of getting clean. A bathhouse in the game world could probably make a killing. Possibly literally? So maybe they stumble across a bathhouse which is really a front for stealing from and murdering its guests.
• Character A drapes their coat over B's shoulders – And we’re back to the clothing porn again. :D
• Distracting an addict from addiction with sex – Tricky to imagine a world where Hancock runs out of drugs, admittedly, but what if. Maybe they’re in captivity or stranded in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe it’s the Sole Survivor who’s trying to break the habit. Here for hurt/comfort and/or smut.
• Identity Porn - Masked Ball As An Excuse for Inadvisable Sex – masked, perhaps, because wherever the hell they are doesn’t let in ghouls. Maybe there’s a plotty reason for them investigating the ball (and indulgent descriptions of the crumbling but grand old building where the ball is being held are particularly welcome), or maybe it’s just an excuse for smut.
• Comparing Scars – and scars in general. Just mmph, yes please.
• A canon divergent fic where the Sole Survivor thaws out a few years earlier than in-game and comes out of the vault early, say round about the time when Hancock is gearing up to overthrow Vic.
• Any of the missing moments or conversations that feel like they should be in game, but aren’t, like the Talk after a romanced Hancock sees the Sole Survivor’s spouse's in the Vault, or a companion quest that digs into the relationship between him and his brother, or the conversation that should take place with a romanced Hancock after leaving the Institute having learned the truth about his brother.
• Time loops, and watching the person you love die over and over again.
• So that line of his about how if they can figure out how to turn her into a ghoul then they can do this long-term? I figure he's joking and that if it actually came to it he would be very conflicted (and guilty, which is yet more catnip.). So let's say they come across more of the experimental drug that turned Hancock ghoulish, and the Sole Survivor is considering taking it. Or alternatively maybe they don't know how it happened but she starts to turn. Hurt/comfort, guilt, and all messy feelings are very welcome here.
• One of my favourite things to do in the game right now is stealth-clearing out of nests of ferals with Hancock, headcanoning it as an act of kindness putting them out of their misery. The poignancy of the remnants of their past lives hits me in a tender spot, and I'd love something exploring anxieties over turning feral, Hancock getting her to promise that if it ever happens to him she'll put him down, and then it does and instead she chains him up and tries to find a way to bring him back. Handwave this however you need to. I believe it's not supposed to be reversible in canon, but maybe he hasn't fully turned or there's an experimental drug that can bring him back, or maybe he's just different to the other ghouls because he's so much younger. Maybe he has flashes of lucidity; maybe she figures out a way to turn herself because he won't attack her if she's a ghoul and it buys them more time (and feel free to explore all the emotional fallout that ensues when she manages to bring him back and he realises she turned ghoul for his sake).
• Pregnancy! Maybe the experiments conducted in Vault 111 involved studying the effects of long-term cryofreezing on foetuses, and impregnated her while she was frozen, and since she puts any symptoms she feels down to the effects of radiation, she doesn't realise for a while.
• If all else fails, I just want them to dance and smooch to Magnolia's Good Neighbour song.

Note on my DNWs: Regarding the fact that Norm and Chet are cousins, I’d prefer no heavy angst or focus on it, or it being treated by any of the characters as a major obstacle. If you want to touch on it, I really like the matter-of-fact way canon handled it, acknowledging it as less than ideal, but not something to make a huge deal about.

Firstly, I just want to apologise if this request doesn't seem as extensive as some of the others: I loved this show so damn much, but I feel like I really need to give it a rewatch to be able to put my thoughts into order, and while I will absolutely be rewatching it, and probably soon, I haven't had the chance to do it yet. If you choose to write or do art for this request, then please know that I'm excited to see whatever you come up with. And while I'm also not really familiar with the games, I'm also hoping to be able to play Fallout 4 at least before reveals. Including canon from the wider universe is absolutely fine and I don't mind spoilers: just please bear in mind that I might not get the references. (Since writing this, I have both started a rewatch AND started playing (and accidentally fell in love with) Fallout 4).

I absolutely loved the post-apocalyptic setting, the retrofuturism vibes, and the way the show mixed the darkness with moments of humour. And also tongue-in-cheek meta nods to video game mechanics, like Cooper's line about getting distracted by bullshit in the Wasteland, and Lucy's skill building speech in the first episode, are always fun to see.

Norm/Chet

Oh, god, these two. I'd love to see them explored more, And Norm especially: this prickly, apathetic, little weirdo, forever stuck in the shadow of his prettier, perkier, overachieving sister! And the way his inability to give a shit about any kind of work is ultimately vindicated by the show, and that it actually turns out he's pretty damn brave after all. I am also an absolute SUCKER for vulnerable men, and there is SO much opportunity for that with him, not just from external threats, but everything involving Chet having previously been in love with Lucy and Norm's potential anxiety about being a stand-in for his sister, not to mention everything that happens with Steph, and I just... oof, it's so horribly messy with so much potential for pain and self-doubt. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that size difference.

Explore their history, or how things might pan out post-canon, or alternatively get them up on the surface and exploring the world beyond the vaults. Does Lucy try to contact him via another vault to tell him what she's learned about their mother and their past? What if for whatever reason she wasn't in a position to leave the vault, and so he went in her stead, and unlike her didn't stop Chet when he offered to come? How would that difference affect canon? How would Norm, who has a very different set of skills to Lucy (and again, I love the meta concept of him as a different character 'class'), respond differently to the same threats? And Chet is quite passive in canon and easily manipulated: how would he react to leaving the vault? I am completely here for the character study of it all, but also for survial, the threats of the Wasteland, whether human or monstrous, hurt/comfort, resentment, and loyalty kink.

I'd also love to see Norm's relationship with his sister explored, and how he'd react to her with Cooper if they end up reuniting. As for Chet, he's so passive in the show, and I'd love to see that developed.

Lucy/Cooper

Ohhhh, be still my enemy-shipping heart. God, this ship is a *delight*, and I hold my hands up to finding the whole thing scorching hot, aside from all the fucked up complications of their relationship -- the way he treated her when they first met, the finger, her ultimately saving his life and telling him she's not like him (even though she potentially kinda is, or vice versa). I'd love to see something exploring how the two of them might change each other while they’re travelling together whether they’re still in the antagonistic phase of their relationship or if it happens once they’re allies. What's going to happen when she learns who he used to be (and probably still is) and that she grew up watching his films? Western themes and references are very welcome, as are canon divergent fics where they stay together for longer while they're still enemies. How would the slow burn enemies-to-lovers shift come about in that case? What would have happened if they were still travelling together when they find themselves in Vault 4? I’d also like to draw your attention to my hand kink like, and my like for cunnilingus with fingering.

So long as Lucy/Cooper is endgame, I'm fine with Cooper/Barb and references to their relationship, and escpecially with explorations of all the messy fallout (ha) of the way it ended, plus some residual feelings for her on his part.

Art Prompts

I love the visuals of the show so much, the bleak post-apocalyptic imagery, the retrofuturism, the body horror elements of the ghouls and THIS ghoul in particular. Also feel free to pack in as many Western tropes and references as you can, tumbleweed, cinematic Western visuals, smut, the contrast between the cleanliness of the Vaults and the decay of the Wasteland.

Optional Prompts

• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other – And body swaps in general. Maybe it can only be reversed with sex.
• Something that focuses on Shady Sands and the things that have happened there over the years. A 5+1 piece, maybe, about past, present, and future. Or something written from the point of view of Shady Sands itself.
• The episode where Lucy and Maximus find themselves in Vault 4 was one of my favourites, and I’d love to see that Vault explored more, whether it’s an expanded version of that episode which takes more time over what’s going on, (maybe an AU version where it’s Lucy and Cooper) or an entirely different visit to the Vault. In particular, I’d really love to find out more about what the hell was going on with the Mother of Flames culty stuff, because canon skipped waaaay too quickly over that for my liking, but also I’d just really love to spend more time with that overly polite helpful bunch of adorable weirdos. (OH GOD THE CYCLOPS GUY <3<3<3)
• Tentacles - RoboTentacles as a Sex Toy - For either pairing. Up to you whether this is entirely consensual and the characters choose to incorporate them into their sex, or if the robotentacles are malfunctioning and there's a dubcon element at play. Either way, NICE.
• Time loop - Either pairing, and the details are up to you. Is one character stuck, or are they both trapped? Is one character repeatedly dying, or having to watch the other one die? And feel free to incorporate meta elements of gameplay.
• "I can make them worse" with Lucy/The Ghoul in mind, because the process of redemption fascinates me, and I can’t help envisaging a situation where he’s starting to go back to being a better person, but for plot reasons, Lucy has to stop or slow down the redemption process and force him to be temporarily worse again.
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – delightful for either pairing, honestly. If they’re out in the Wasteland, I love all the complications of having to feed it and keep it alive, and the potential for characters to behave in unexpected ways. For Lucy/Cooper, her being taken aback that he’s unexpectedly good with kids, even if he’s making noises about it being better to abandon it. For Norm/Chet, is it Steph’s baby?
• Sex Pollen – Always and forever one of my favourite tropes, whether it focuses on the event or the aftermath or both. Either pairing, one character affected, or both? If it’s just Cooper affected, then I’d especially love to see his reaction to Lucy’s matter-of-fact attitude to sex and her willingness to get on with it.
• Alternate Univerve - Zombie Apocalypse – I just love zombie apocalypses so much, and I’d love to see the characters reimagined in this universe. Did the turn happen a long time ago, or is it more recent (and how would that affect the characters?) Is Cooper a zombie hybrid of some kind? Or alternatively, the ghouls hit some very similar tropes, so go with a survival horror in which the characters have to defend themselves from a bunch of feral ghouls.
• Lucy and Norm are reunited in the Wasteland post season one.
• Something where Norm is convinced that the only reason Chet wants to sleep with him is as a stand-in for Lucy, and turns him down as a result. Chet decides to stop being so passive and decides to go after what he wants for a chance.
• Bad Guys Make Them Do It – always and forever. I love this trope so much, the potential for guilt and self-blame, the way it can act as a catalyst for revelation of feelings and abs an obstacle to them (that delicious guilt), the hotness of being forced to go through public or semi-public sex, mutual protectiveness and bonding, and the potential threat from the onlookers. I like it both as something fun and tropey, where it’s more Bad Guys Enabled them, and as something darker where there is a genuine threat from the bad guys and it’s traumatic (but they still find it sexually arousing).
• Due to some handwavy technological simulation, Cooper becomes stuck in his memories of the past and thinks he’s his old self again with the end of the world nothing but a bad dream. Lucy has to travel into his mind and memories to remind him of who he really is and get him to snap out of it before he dies. Only trouble is he’s happier there, and meanwhile Lucy gets to meet some familiar faces. (I wrote this prompt before I realised there was precedent in Fallout 4 XD. Up to you if it operates along the same principles or if it’s something wholly new)
• So what does Cooper plan to do when he finds his family?
• All the Body Horror and/or hurt/comfort/whump that comes from turning into a ghoul, whether Cooper's condition is worsening, or one of the other characters is also turning into a ghoul, with their respective partner stuck in the position of being unable to do anything other than help them through it.
• character reveals feelings while out of it from illness/injury/alcohol - I particularly have Cooper in mind here, mainly because of the sheer depth of secrets/feelings he could spill, but this would absolutely apply to any of the other characters too.
• UH OH, Lucy's pregnant, and the baby is Cooper's. CAN ghouls father children? That's up to you, but perhaps some kind of VaultTec fuckery where his sperm was somehow kept on ice, and a malfunctioning AI 'misreads' their relationship, which is entirely platonic they *swear,* and knocks her up. Cue all the complicated feelings for Cooper of a baby on its way, and a half-sister for Janey, and for Lucy of finally getting the chance to reproduce, but it's with this guy.
• Character that acts tough and stoic is secretly vulnerable and needs to be tenderly fucked - I specifically have Cooper in mind here, and OK OK, I will admit there are limits to how vulnerable he's capable of being, but at the same time, I’m really drawn to redemption arcs and to all those tough layers being torn away to reveal the traumatised gooey centre.
• Manhandling, specifically with Lucy/Cooper in mind. I mean, goddamn, thouse scenes from early canon with him dragging her around were so fucking hot. I'd love something along those lines with her giving as good as she gets. Maybe something where they're working together now and they have to pretend to be antagonistic and that she's his prisoner, with all the rough handling necessary for show and infused with sexual tension, and afterwards they spar which leads to angry angry sex. (and for something set when they're more antagonistic, Lucy fighting back also leads to angry sex.).
• Manhandling with Norm/Chet in mind. That height difference, man. It doesn't feel like something Chet would do naturally, but maybe something happens which leads Norm to realise how easily Chet can handle it, and how hot he finds it.
• Clothing porn
- realising their jumpsuits make them stand out now that they're no longer in the vaults, Norm and Chet find some new clothes, which leads to weird feelings seeing each other in a different light.
• A desperate fight for survival -- for either pairing, but particularly Norm/Chet, partly because they're not quite as competent or good at surviving, so it makes the fight all the more desperate. Maybe they're attacked by raiders or ghouls, or stuck somewhere freezing and have to huddle for warmth. Anything where they get the chance to show off their own skills and knowledge especially.
• Emotionally repressed but deeply in love character finally breaks and gives into feelings - Specifically thinking about Lucy/Cooper here, because OH GOD YEP. What would this moment look like? How long would it build until it gets to this point? Would there be a catalyst?
• Cooper goes feral; Lucy has to bring him back. I don’t know if it’s reversible in canon, but handwave that if you need to. Maybe there’s an external plot reason why she has to bring him back, while other characters are telling her to abandon him or kill him outright, or maybe there isn’t and she knows they’re probably right but still can’t bring herself to do it. All the hurt/comfort here, her chaining him to a bed and trying to nurse him through it, while he gets flashes of lucidity and maybe even he’s telling her she should just kill him, idk.
• Hurt/Comfort - Buried Alive & Rescue and Locked in a coffin together – no surprises which pairing I have in mind for obvious reasons, but if you want to do this for Norm/Chet instead then PLEASE DO, because this is a grade A whump trope. Maybe Lucy is captured and buried because hey, she’s a vaultie, so surely she’ll be happier underground, and Cooper has to rescue her. Feel free to dive into the trauma, horror and claustrophobia of this set-up, or her trauma in the aftermath, and Cooper’s complicated feelings. Also, if they’re buried together, Lucy’s realisation that this is something that’s happened to him before, and the UST that arises from the forced proximity.
• Instead of Lucy, it's Norm and Chet who leave the Vault in search of Norm's father. How would that affect canon? Would they still get involved in the hunt for the head? Or would they find their way to Moldaver by another route? Would they meet Max or the Ghoul? Something plotty is very welcome, but I'd also be here for scenery porn, the struggle for survival, and the two of them huddling for warmth by campfires.
• Pining while having sex - welcome for either pairing, but I love this especially for Norm/Chet, with Norm thinking that the only reason Chet is sleeping with him is as a stand-in for Lucy, and maybe that is how it started (or not: it's up to you), but things change pretty quickly.
• Sparring leads to sex. For either pairing. For Norm/Chet, Norm has to learn to fight so that he can protect himself, and Lucy has to keep up her skills somehow.
• So far on my rewatch something that stood out to me was Chet saying that he doesn’t know who he is any more after he’s demoted and is no longer the gatekeeper, which chimes with Norm’s whole ‘lacks enthusiasm’ thing, because maybe he doesn’t know who he is either, and it takes them leaving the vault and finding a place in the world to figure out who they are and where they belong.

Note on my DNWs: My BDSM DNW is waived when it comes to Dr Pretorius.

Well, I wasn’t expecting this to turn out to be one of the single-most hottest things I've ever seen in my life, but the whole thing is laser-targeted to my id from start to finish. It's so sexually charged, from Crawford and Katherine eye-fucking each other when they turn the machine back on for the first time, to him watching her sleep while bleakly confessing to Bubba about how he used to lie awake listening to the sounds coming from (*checks notes*) Dr Pretorius's kinky sex dungeon, to the deeply creepy and uncomfortable implications about what was going on between Crawford and Dr Pretorius pre-canon and what will be going on post-canon. Canon never quite clarifies, but it’s implied that their relationship was abusive, domineering, and dubiously consensual in *all the fucking ways.*

Crawford is exactly the kind of woobie I like, meek, damaged, and deeply traumatised, and I can’t decide if I want him to continue to suffer horribly or to actually get the chance to be happy for once. Both, ideally. I love Katherine too: she’s so single-minded and determined, and after all the shit Meg goes through in Re-Animator I very much appreciate seeing Katherine get the chance to be the scientist with dubious ethics who inadvertently fucks everyone over for once.

My OTP of OTPs for this film is Crawford/Katherine, but I also ship Crawford/Katherine/Bubba, and all the permutations of fucked-up Crawford/Pretorius/Katherine. There are so many character notes that I really, really love: like Crawford taking the bed in Dr Pretorius's room, having presumably given Katherine his own bedroom because it's the gentlemanly thing to do even though it's possible to infer that some very, very unpleasant things have happened to him in Pretorius’s room. Or that moment early on where she strokes his hair tenderly and then sends him off to get an CAT scan while he desperately begs her not to. Their relationship is such a mix of genuinely sweet and deeply uncomfortable, and it leaves me wondering if perhaps she reminds Crawford subconsciously of Pretorius, and that's part of why he's attracted to her (and oh god that's the creepiest fucking thing). Also, hot fucking damn, that *kiss*.

I love that whole early stretch of the film when it's just Crawford, Katherine and Bubba in the house, investigating the murder of Dr Pretorius while also poking about the machine. It's so claustrophobic and intimate and sexually charged, and I'd love to see that section of canon stretched out a little bit. This isn’t a haunted house story in the traditional sense, but it gives me the same vibes as something like the Haunting of Hill House (book or film) or Hell House, another can't-fail trope with me. Perhaps Crawford takes longer repairing the machine and in the meantime they're all settling in and getting to know one another while Crawford is trying to repress his trauma about the house, and all the while the atmosphere is getting more intense. I love watching the three of them get to know each other, the dynamic between the three of them, and the way it shifts after they’ve turned the machine on for the first time and ratcheted up that febrile atmosphere of horniness. Maybe Dr Pretorius doesn’t make his presence known so obviously at first, so they turn the machine on more times before the shit really hits the fan, while Crawford gradually starts to suspect something is wrong.

And oh man, *Bubba.* I grew up watching Dawn of the Dead a lot, and it remains one of my favourite films of all time, so yep, I am extremely fond of Bubba. I’m delighted by the way he towers over the pair of them, the way he watches over and the caretaking role he takes on, and the way, when the sexual tension starts to ramp up, he admits to getting an erection. Which is to say I am very much here for a Crawford/Katherine/Bubba threesome, or even poly of a kind where it somehow reflects the dynamics of canon, because Crawford/Katherine is so intensely charged in the film and I’d prefer for it to remain the central relationship. Maybe because he's older and not as damaged as Crawford (or as horny as Katherine) he sort of acts like an anchor for the two of them?

Optional Prompts

• Post-canon fic – The more I think about that ending the more it sticks with me, how it’s a circular narrative, with Crawford beginning the film under Pretorius’s control and ending it that way too. And I’m guessing Pretorius isn’t impotent any more. It’s so bleak, the idea of him being tormented, tortured and eaten (ideally with the focus on body horror rather than vore), only to be reborn over and over again.
• It sure would be a shame if those manacles went to waste.
• Post-canon fic where Crawford and Katherine explore the world beyond, like the mysterious temple mentioned in the original story, and all the creatures who inhabit it. Maybe they’re more or less normal, maybe they’re changing into something monstrous (but that doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing). Anything is welcome for this prompt, from horror, worldbuilding, smut, or something much gentler and fluffier.
• Femdom – I just want Katherine to gently dom Crawford. Maybe they stumble across an overly friendly tentacle monster and after escaping from its clutches it occurs to her it could have its uses.
• A fix-it where Katherine sets out to rescue Crawford.
• Or a canon divergent fic where Crawford appears to have escaped the effects of the Resonator at the end, but it gradually becomes clear that although he looked normal at first, he came back wrong.
• I cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Crawford having his boundaries trampled on and getting bad-touched, either by Katherine while she’s being affected by the resonator or by Dr Pretorius. I would very much like to see the relationship between Crawford and Pretorius explored, and I think there's a lot to dig into. Like the bit where he yells that Pretorius doesn't know how to give pleasure, only pain, and the question of how he'd know Pretorius was impotent because there's really no good answer to that question. Give me something where Pretorius feels up Crawford instead of (or as well as) Katherine, or where Pretorius encourages her to join in. Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios are especially welcome here.
• So how did Dr Pretorius manage to turn the Resonator back on? Does he (and Crawford after the end of the film) retain an awareness of the normal plane of existence, and some ability to manipulate it?
• Obvious third wheel in spontaneous threesome still highly enjoys themselves – During the early part of the film, a spontaneous threesome develops between Katherine, Crawford and Bubba, possibly induced by sex pollen or just the lingering effects of the Resonator. (With Bubba, naturally, being the third wheel, but he’s fine with that tbh.

Note on my DNWs: For Pritchett, please have him be 16 or older for direct sexual contact, but sexually arousing dreams/visions/hallucinations are fine from 13+).

Canon-specific DNW: This request is specifically for the first film, and it’s fine for Return to House on Haunted Hill to be ignored. If you do include it, please avoid having the evil in the house being purely due to the Baphomet Idol.

I have a very particular fondness for 90s cheese, architectural horror, and the disparate bunch of people trapped somewhere for *reasons* trope, which is one of my favourite tropes of all time. Add in ghosts, and ohhhh baby, I am there. (As an aside, I'm also a big fan of the original trilogy of Thief games, and the ghost visuals in this were the direct inspiration for the Shalebridge Cradle mission in Thief 3 (possibly one of the best, creepiest missions in anything EVER), so I'm inclined to be kindly predisposed towards this film purely because of that.)

It’s a curious one, because the things that mean it doesn’t work that well as a horror film for me (the CGI smoke-monster climax! The criminal underuse of Dr Vannacutt!) are the exact same things that make the question of what the hell is going on significantly more interesting. The more you dig into the first film, the more it becomes clear that there’s something more going on that just a haunting as a result of what happened at the asylum.

I also find it fascinating that despite the male Dr Vannacutt being the most prominent ghost, Pritchett refers to the house as female, and specifically as ‘a stupid vengeful whore’ iirc. The Shadow primarily speaks with female voices (and according to one of the extras they used imagery of naked women to create the Rorschach effect). Then there’s the women Price sees while he’s in the Saturation Chamber. It all adds together to create this feeling of the house being a separate entity in its own right.

I'd love to see the mythology of the house dug into, because I have a lot of unanswered questions. Like the walled off room we finally see towards the end where Vannacutt used to dump his corpses, and in the middle of the room there’s a chair, just sitting right in front of the rubble, which is the creepiest fucking thing. Why is that chair there? Did Vannacutt sit on it, staring into the rubble, listening to the Shadow talk to him? (And while I’m not hugely keen on the canon introduced by the second film, and I especially dislike the suggestion that the evil in the house is all down to the Baphomet idol, I do quite like the way it expands on the way the house seduces people, the idea of good if flawed people being corrupted, and the suggestion that Vannacutt wasn’t always evil).

And then there’s one of my favourite things about this film: Pritchett, a fucked-up traumatised asshole woobie packed with neuroses, who clearly has a boat-load of issues with the house. It’s not immediately clear whether he actually used to live in the house or not, but he’s clearly spent a lot of time there and he’s familiar with it enough to know the history of the house, his way around the basement, and quite a lot about how it’s haunted, including the existence of the Darkness/Shadow and Dr Vannacutt. I’d love to see something about his previous experiences with it, what happened with his grandfather and father, and what it was like growing up in the vicinity of that house, whether he lived there or not. And I am completely here for the house’s attempts to seduce him.

Other random things I love about this canon: the Saturation Chamber! I’m really drawn to the concept of machines that can drive you insane through sensory experiences, and it’s just the icing on the cake that it takes the form of this extraordinary period-appropriate zoetrope. The relationship between Price and Evelyn! This complicated tangle of love and hatred and contempt, spitting daggers at each other, and him clearly being so desperately in love with her still, while she's so completely batshit. I love her. And the whole thing of there being multiple conflicting agendas, with the three competing guest lists, and even then the house doesn’t get what it wants because of Sara being an imposter.

Watson Pritchett/Dr Richard B Vannacutt

Not a pairing that I’d originally considered, but then a seed took root and now I can’t stop thinking about these two and what sort of dynamic they’d have.

We see so little of Vannacutt, but Pritchett absolutely freaks the fuck out when he realises he’s around, so they clearly have a history, but exactly what that history is, and what Vannacutt’s role is as a ghost in the house, is left decidedly unclear. It’s gradually become one of my favourite things about this film: the way the focus shifts from the villain being Vannacutt to the house itself, and the way that upends the way his character could potentially be seen – is he a villain, or potentially another victim of the house, or both?

There are just so many unanswered questions about what it means to be a ghost in that house, how much of it is reenacting the terrible things that happened there, and how much free will they have, and to what extent they’re being controlled by the house, and just… damn, I don’t know, but dig into it as much as you want.

The sequel flattens out most of the unexpected wrinkles in the worldbuilding, and is mostly forgettable, so I don’t really recommend watching it (although I will admit to being delighted by Steven Pacey and Andrew Lee Potts’ inclusion in the cast), but what it does do is develop the idea of people being corrupted and seduced by the house, with one line being: ‘Vannacutt was known for being a brilliant physician and great humanitarian. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in the '20s. But somehow, this great man went from saving people to butchering them’ and oof.

The whole trope of otherwise good-but-flawed people getting corrupted to evil and doing terrible things (and there’s no doubt that he’s done terrible things) gets me right in the id. Corruption and redemption arcs are welcome in all their forms for either character, as is the all-encompassing guilt that comes from realising what you’ve done. I’m also just generally interested in the idea of them finding common ground as fellow victims of the house, even if Vannacutt remains wholly evil, and that would affect how they might relate to each other, before and after Pritchett’s death. And pre-canon too – why does Pritchett react like that to finding out Vannacutt’s around?

Explore the ship in whatever way you choose. The gen dynamics fascinate me just as much, but shipwise, anything is welcome, from fucked up extremely dubious consent, where the sex is part of the house’s way of torturing Pritchett (potentially with some medical kink mixed in, but anything where Pritchett gets strapped down?), to anything on the enemy-fucking scale, to something a little more sympathetic where we do actually get a glimpse of a glimmer of goodness in Vannacutt. Or maybe the house is fucking with them both by making them fuck each other?

Art Prompts

As you might have guessed I love the visuals of this film so much: the stained glass window, the steampunky aspects of the Saturation Chamber, the Shadow’s nightmarish appearance at the end and the way they used naked women as part of its imagery, the architecture of the house, the sculptures in the basement, and all the visions of horror the various characters see. Something precanon in which Pritchett visits the house and while nothing quite happens on the surface it’s all going on in the background? Or alternatively all-out schlocky horror is good with me too. Vannacutt having a conversation with the house in the room where he dumped the bodies? Historical detail is particularly welcome.

Optional Prompts

• This House has a Personality and that Personality is Fucked Up – And adolescence is tough enough as it is, without having to go through it while you're living in a haunted house that can't seem to decide whether it wants to fuck you or kill you.
• Explore the deaths of Pritchett's father and grandfather, because it feels like there are a lot of unanswered questions there. Did the house exert any influence over them? Could Pritchett’s father have murdered his grandfather? How did his father really die?
• A both hates and loves how good the sex with B is – Vannacutt/Pritchett (because the more I think about shipping them, the harder I ship them.)
• Character is forced to work with someone who scares them – I’m intrigued by what it means to be a ghost and how much free will they have. Pritchett has to work with Vannacutt for reasons (especially delighted by the idea of this considering how Pritchett crapped himself when he recognised Vannacutt’s description).
• So how does Pritchett manage to resist the Shadow at the end in order to free Sara and Eddie, when seemingly no one else was able to resist?
• Something revolving around the stained glass ceiling, because creepy though it is is just suggest a marginally less evil side to Vannacutt and the idea of good people being corrupted by evil will always fascinate me.
• Character with trauma is freaked out and turned on by getting tied up – Specifically thinking of Pritchett here, the poor little bastard. XD
• Conversations In Liminal Spaces On The Border Of One World And Another – Ghost!Pritchett and ghost!Vannacutt have a conversation.
• Evil!Pritchett – A canon-divergent fic where Pritchett isn’t so resistant to the house. How would that affect canon?
• Entering someone's dreams/nightmares – Vannacutt and/or the Shadow enter Pritchett’s dreams, where pre-, during, or post-canon.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Pritchett travels back in time to the 20s-30s, and finds himself caught up in events at the asylum. Could he potentially change the way events pan out? (The actual fix-it is optional here)
• Time Travel - Character meets their child self – Ghost!Pritchett realises it’s possible to travel through time and interact with his younger self.
• Vannacutt manages to escape the house. There’s a deleted scene (after the credits roll in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdo8voI87LI) in which Vannacutt brings the real Jennifer Jenzen to the house, and another scene where his spot being tortured is taken by Price. Which leads me to wonder if it’s possible for him to buy his freedom, or if he’s figured out a way to outwit the house.
• Explore what the hell was going on with that chair. Was Vannacutt listening to the Darkness, or was it potentially a seduction/sex thing?
• Corruption Arc – Either for Vannacutt or for Pritchett. Or, conversely, a redemption arc for Vannacutt, or Vannacutt getting a redemption arc while Pritchett goes the other way. I really love the idea of the house seducing people into evil (the second film goes harder on that, and iirc explicitly states that Vannacutt wasn’t always a monster), and the question of whether someone who’s done terrible things can really be redeemed.
• Eldritch Architecture – I’d love to see something that goes hard on the Lovecraftian elements in the plot, the idea of this ancient nameless evil existing even before the house was built, and of what the Darkness at the heart of the house really is.
• Tentacles made them do it – Probably no surprises that I have Pritchett/Vannacutt in mind here.

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with Dan or Herbert being nonconned (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body (from the autopsy presumably, but WHAT IF...), and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Art Prompts

I am completely here for smut and shippy moments, as well as schlocky gore, the rampaging dead, and body-horror. Also the two of them in middleage, whether they’re reuniting after an estrangement or solidly established as partners (however you want to interpret that XD). Crossovers with other canons featuring Jeffrey Combs, or Herbert meeting the version of himself from Lovecraft’s original story, Herbert as a ghost! Eldritch Lovecraftian horrors, or historical AUs (Herbert in Regency clothing!!!!! *eyes*)

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of zombie apocalypses, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I want it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost. Or alternatively, Dan and Herbert are estranged, and Dan inherits the house from a mysterious relative, only realising who his benefactor is when he stumbles across the lab.
• A rewatch of Bride of Re-Animator left me wondering what a M*A*S*H cross over would look like. So that, basically, whether it's Re-Animator reimagined as a half-hour sitcom set during their time in Peru, with slashy vibes between Herbert in the Frank role and Dan as Hawkeye. Or a more traditional crossover with MASH if you'd prefer to go with that.

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Art Prompts (for all pairings)

Again, whatever I’d like in a fic, I’d also love to see explored in art. Action, hurt/comfort, romance, adventure, horror, smut. Explorations of alien worlds (especially Ferenginar!), the grimdark bleakness of the Mirror Universe, sexual tension between Brunt and Quark, or Weyoun’s slavish devotion to Odo and Odo’s grudging discomfort, Weyoun’s facial expressions alone... The visuals of changeling transformations, Ferengi clothing porn! Rain and other forms of inclement weather.

Odo/Weyoun

Go with any Weyoun you want, whether past, present, or future. In the relaunch novels, Odo creates a ninth clone to act as his aide, and while I’m not otherwise tied to the canon of the relaunch novels, as far as I’m concerned, Odo bringing Weyoun back absolutely happened, and that is a hill I will die on. :D

I’d love to see their relationship explored in all its forms, whether gen or shippy. There’s so much to explore in their relationship, and just what each character says about the other. I've shipped Odo/Weyoun pretty damn hard right from Weyoun's first episode, and Weyoun 6 sacrificing himself and then dying in Odo’s arms certainly didn’t make me ship them any less, but their gen relationship is fascinating too. There's so much to dig into: the complexities of the Vorta and their inbuilt loyalty to Changelings, the potential for changes to the way the Vorta are created and how that might affect the Dominion, Odo's blind spot for his people, and the fact that they're both capable of leading very long lives. Even when almost every other solid Odo’s known in his life has passed on, Weyoun could potentially still be around, and there are a lot of possibilities there.

There’s also a moment in A Time to Stand when Weyoun 5, gloriously insincere arsehole that he is, talks about the habitat ring echoing with the sound of happy children, but this is a man who’d knowing preside over wiping out the population of entire planets, and of course the Vorta don’t have children or childhoods in the usual way, and that’s probably something else the Dominion have taken away from them. It’s pure nightmare fuel.

I have a lot of feelings about everything that happens between them both in Faith, Treachery and the Great River, and what it says about both their characters. That story Weyoun 6 tells Odo about the origins of his people, and the way Odo seems to take it as kindness when actually what the Founders did was at the very least mass enslavement, and possibly even something akin to genocide? The suggestion that the Vorta are powerful is laughable, given that their entire purpose, over and above their own wellbeing, is to serve the Founders, and Odo of all people should know that. Would he have thought of himself as powerful when he was facilitating the Cardassians on Terok Nor? (Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about having a lot of feelings about that episode. XD) There are a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn.

Optional Prompts

• DS9: Post-canon attempt to return the Vorta to sexual reproduction; first non-clone baby born - With Weyoun and Odo being at the heart of the attempt.
• A canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives to defect to the Federation, exploring how their relationship goes after the war is over.
• A canon-divergent AU where the canonical baby Changeling turns up while the station is in the hands of the Dominion and Weyoun is involved with Odo's attempts to look after it.
• Complicated emotions at being pregnant with a baby character believes is a god - somehow Weyoun ends up knocked up, whether it's some kind of handwavy transporter accident type accident, or the result of a sex pollen incident necessary to save Odo's life and neither of them realised Weyoun could get pregnant that way. Is there some kind of side effect from the pregnancy which leaves Weyoun with some degree of shapeshifting powers, or the ability to link with the baby, which is amazing but also very uncomfortable because he's just a Vorta.
• Cloning Accident result in creating a baby - The real reason Weyoun 6 tried to defect. :D Is it a wholly new person or just a baby version of Weyoun, and what are the implications of it not being going through the full cloning process?
• character that thought they had zero parenting instincts goes into hardcore protective mode - I love Weyoun as a villain at least partly because of how very... unintimidating he is in a lot of ways. He's small and slight and vulnerable and he keeps dying, and I'm really drawn to this prompt both for him embracing his violent side in the interests of protecting a baby and for the potential to explore his character because I’ll always love a character study.
• a 5+1 fic exploring the way Odo's relationship with the various different Weyouns changes over the years.
• Sex Pollen – Whether it’s Odo affected and Weyoun willingly sacrifices himself to save the Founder, or Weyoun is affected and is horrified/pathetically grateful at Odo being willing to help. Or the aftermath of the sex pollen situation with all the fallout.
• A canon-divergent AU where Odo remains human for longer, and he’s still a solid when he meets Weyoun 5 for the first time. What effect would Odo's becoming a solid have on their dynamic? How would the Vorta conceptualise the concept of a god becoming a solid, and what does that mean for the way Weyoun’s worldview? I’d be delighted with anything from a character/relationship study that follows their time on the station together, or perhaps something plottier where they're stranded on a planet together and have to work together to survive, but now Odo's just as vulnerable as Weyoun is. (Sex pollen always welcome)
• Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries – Weyoun is injured and Odo has to treat his injuries, whether it’s Weyoun 6 or one of the other ones. I’m just fascinated by all the messy feelings of faith and awe, and Odo’s discomfort at being thought of as a god.
• Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing – Whether it happens over the course of one Weyoun or several. I really love all the tangled complexities of the way the Vorta see the world. Maybe this is a canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives and Odo tries to deprogram him? Or maybe a future Weyoun where the process has begun but isn't quite there yet.
• Whump - A sacrifices themself to protect B; B is forced to watch A being tortured – The obvious candidate for self-sacrifice is Weyoun, but Odo sacrificing himself and Weyoun's struggles watching him being tortured (perhaps that Romulan device that stops him from changing shape) would be delicious too.

Quark/Brunt

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?

Mirror Brunt/Weyoun 6

Because a passing stray thought that Mirror Brunt and Weyoun 6 should hook up got into my head and then refused to go away. Which I can understand, because fucking hell, yes. I have absolutely no idea how it would work or how it would come about, but goddamn do I want it to happen.

As ships go, this is absurdly self-indulgent, but at the same time there are some potentially really interesting dynamics and parallels to be drawn between them. They're both more sympathetic versions of more or less antagonistic characters, both desperately loyal to another person with whom they have a somewhat one-sided relationship, (and they're both adorable tragically doomed cinnamon rolls. D:) Maybe Weyoun finds himself stranded in the Mirror universe – does the fact that it isn’t his universe provide a loophole that allows him to override his inbuild loyalty to the Dominion? (Keevan shows that not all Vorta are unquestionably loyal, which suggests that Weyoun is just like that, unswervingly terrifyingly loyal, whether to the Dominion or to Odo, and I love him all the more for that) Does he immediately set out to try to find a way back to his universe, or to find the wormhole in the Mirror universe? How does Mirror Odo complicate matters? Does he shift his loyalties to Mirror Brunt?

There are countless things I’d love to see here, and explore it however you want, but I do really love the idea of him gradually coming to terms with being stranded in the Mirror universe, and even though it’s a grimdark hellhole, realising he’s better off there, even though he’s conflicted about staying. And as for Mirror Brunt, mmph, these two sweethearts would be absolutely perfect for each other. Just get them together and make them kiss, however you have to do it. And maybe they’re both pining for other people at first, but gradually they catch feelings for each other. They’re both so lovely: they deserve some happiness.

Optional Prompts

• Look, if in doubt, please just make them kiss and I will be happy. :D
• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
• Conflicting loyalties – Explore the issue of loyalty and how it manifests in each of them. Especially Weyoun, whose loyalties are at least somewhat artificial. How does the Mirror universe affect his loyalties to the Founders? Is he able to override it? Perhaps because he’s stuck there he gradually becomes used to feeling free of his obligations to the Dominion, and transfers his loyalties to Mirror Brunt instead, but then an opportunity to return to the prime universe arises and he has to deal with his conflicting loyalties.
• Weyoun has fallen in with M!Ezri and M!Brunt and has been working with them for a while without issue until they capture Mirror!Odo. And maybe he can override his instinctive loyalties because this is the Mirror!Universe version and so not a true Founder, but it doesn’t come easily.
• Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle it - They're both just so damn sweet, and while everything else might be going to hell, the two of them still manage to carve out some moments of sweetness in the middle of the nightmarish dystopia that is the Mirror Universe.
• Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection – Because loving relationships aren’t normally part of a Vorta’s life experience, and Weyoun isn’t quite sure how to handle it.
• Food as part of the language of love – They both have interesting relationships with food. Given Mirror Brunt’s tendency to make sure everyone’s fed (with tube grubs, but still...), and the way Weyoun works his way through everything on the replicator’s menu, it seems like this would be the perfect way for them to bond. And okay, maybe Brunt can’t get his hands on kava nuts or rippleberries but there must be something.
• Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded – So let’s say Weyoun is stranded, temporarily or otherwise, in the Mirror universe. He’s finally free of his obligations to the Dominion, because there is no Dominion there, and so has to figure out a few things and relearn the sort of person he wants to be.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – Because again this is one of the contrasts between them, Mirror Brunt being scarred (because picking up scars in the Mirror Universe is inevitable, let’s face it) while Weyoun is almost entirely scar-free due to being a recent clone. I’m particularly here for scar kink, and all the associated fascination and sympathy and tenderness, but you could also play with the issues over cloning: Weyoun’s memories of injuries sustained by other Weyouns, which aren’t reflected on his body, but which maybe he feels as phantom scars of some kind?
• Emotional hurt/comfort – Ordinarily Vortas’ memories of their previous deaths and injuries are suppressed as part of the cloning process to ensure they remain motivated and willing to sacrifice themselves, but every now and then those suppressed memories return in full force.
• Identity Porn - A scam/heist requires that they both have to pose as their other selves.
• Smut - experimenting with and exploring interspecies biology.
• on the run together – Whether from the Alliance or from some kind of crime syndicate (potentially run by Mirror Ishka XD), and bonding in the process.
• Two tired people taking quiet comfort in each other – Exhausted sex, moments of respite in the middle of the world going to hell, the two of them finding moments of common ground, etc.
• Competence Kink - And the two of them being quietly impressed and turned on by the other’s competence: Brunt’s toughness and fighting skills and Weyoun's innate diplomacy and negotiating skills.

Note on my DNWs: It’s fine to include references to the attempted rape in canon. Anything up to and including extremely dubious consent is fine for this canon.

Shepard Lambrick & Julian Lambrick

Fucked-up Lambrick family dynamics please! :D While the film itself doesn’t do too much digging into the Lambrick family, it sets up a lot of hints that seem like they’d be very fun to dig into. Like, what the deal is with the Lambrick Foundation, and everything to do with the games, past, present and future. And especially the relationship between Julian and his father, which I find deeply uncomfortable to watch but in an extremely satisfying way (much like the film itself XD). Julian is a terrible excuse for a human being, but it’s pretty clear at least part of the reason he’s so sadistic and screwed up and ultimately a cringing little worm (that bit where he’s cowering under the table much to Shepard’s contempt? Oof) is because of having Shepard as a father. And god, Shepard: from his first appearance where he’s putting on the thinnest veneer of philanthropy possible to the way he manipulates the proceedings of the game, terrorising basically everyone except Bevans? Even when things are going wrong, he’s never less than in control. He’s a genuinely terrifying villain and an absolute blast to watch.

Every moment Shepard and Julian interact is gold, and I would very much like to know more about their relationship. There are some interesting wrinkles there: the whole thing about Shepard being glad that Julian’s finally taking an interest in the Foundation, the question of what happened with Julian’s mother, the way Shepard reacts when he finds out about Julian’s attempt to sexually assault Iris, and whatever happens between them off-screen when Shepard excuses himself to talk to Julian… It shouldn’t be that hard for Julian to live up to his father, right, and yet he keeps failing and disappointing his father again and again, and yeeeeah, I’m not sure Shepard Lambrick is a man you really want to disappoint.

I’d love to see exploration of other games, whether in the past or the future, alternative ways the game in the film could have gone, what Julian’s childhood was like, what happened to his mother, how the whole thing came about in the first place. Even just a fic exploring the day-to-day running of the Foundation, which might seem entirely normal on the surface, but with occasional glimpses behind the curtain to suggest that something is very, very badly wrong, like glimpses of ex-players who are now working for the Lambricks. How many of them are morally compromised in the way that Dr Barden was, and how many have willingly, even eagerly, embraced everything Shepard had to offer?

I’m fascinated by the way Shepard manipulates everyone around him (including his family?), and the way he seems to be building up this network of people who are complicit in murder, and what his motivations for doing that might be. Or the consequences of the game we see in canon: what will Iris do next given her reason for playing is now gone? Will she make use of Shepard’s patronage any way or turn against him?

And then there’s Lucas. Watching the film for the first time, I was convinced he was going to turn out to be the other Lambrick brother, and to have been a ringer in on it all along. It would probably have been too obvious a twist, but story-wise and character-wise the possibilities are delicious, and I am so so here for Lucas and Julian as siblings with a fucked-up codependent relationship: Lucas as the golden child, the one who has the guts to actually take part in the games himself, risking genuine physical pain and potential harm (short of death because they've been rigged just enough) because that’s what his father’s ‘rules’ call for, with Julian as the weaker son who can never live up to his father’s legacy. (The film ultimately doesn’t really bear this out, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the eye injury could have been faked, and maaaaybe the death too if you squint. And hey, that's what AUs are for.)

It throws an interesting spin on Julian’s bitterness, and on some of Lucas’s behaviour in the game, and the possibility that he too is pushing back against his father. Or maybe the reason he gives the others a chance to run is to give Julian the chance to go after her, because because he’s doing it for his brother or because he knows how his father will react. I particularly love the idea of Shepard taking a hands-off approach to discipline, but manipulating them into punishing each other instead.

If you do go this route, I am absolutely here for Lucas and Julian having an incestuous relationship. Perhaps one which they think their father doesn’t know about, although actually not only does he know about it, he’s quietly done everything in his power to encourage it. (Or for extra fucked-up vibes, Lucas knows their father knows, but Julian doesn’t.)

Art Prompts

Again, anything I’d like in a fic, I’d love in a piece of art. And while I’d love something that goes hard on the violence of a game, I’d also love something quieter and atmospheric, which maybe only hints at the horrors going on in the name of the Lambrick Foundation. Maybe that ‘date’ between Iris and Shepard, where there’s a hell of a lot going on under the surface, or Julian and Shepard at a similar public event. But outright horror and violence is very welcome too.

Optional Prompts

• Something Lovecraftian – Because apparently I’m almost incapable of requesting an entirely non-Lovecraftian film with Jeffrey Combs in it without going ‘Yeah, but what if Lovecraft though?’ On the one hand, you could just take this film at face value, but on the other there does seem to be an odd sense of duty about the way Shepard treats the games, with his attention to the rules and tradition, so what if the Foundation and the games have some kind of supernatural reason for existing?
• Antagonism - characters don't like each other but nobody else understands them this well Characters who can't stand each other would also die for each other
• Daddy Issues – Because if there was ever a character with hang-ups over his father, it’s Julian Lambrick.
• Fantasies about murdering your father – Whether a 5+1 fic about the times Julian has thought about killing his father throughout his life, or something a bit more involved, where he’s actually seriously thinking about going through with it. Or dreaming about doing it. Will he ever have the guts? Does Shepard know? (And if Lucas is involved, maybe the two of them plotting together as part of some fucked-up sexual fantasy, but actually Lucas is telling Shepard about it)
• Shepard is beginning to have doubts about whether Julian really has the necessary qualities to follow in his footsteps. Maybe he decides to give Julian one last chance.
• A fucked-up slice of life fic following the everyday operations of the Lambrick Foundation.
• Something investigating Shepard’s relationship with his son in contrast to Shepard’s relationship with his own father.
• What was the first game like? Did it happen under Shepard, or was it something that he inherited? If the latter, then what was his experience of his first game like?

Shepard Lambrick & Iris, Shepard Lambrick/Iris

And then there’s my Iris &/ Shepard requests. Whether entirely platonic or shippy (in whatever form that takes) or something in between, these have so much potential to be utterly fucked up and uncomfortable in a way that very much appeals to me. Given Shepard’s ongoing relationship with Dr Barden at the start of the film, it can be assumed that he makes a habit of taking a continuing interest in the winners of his games, and his ‘Call me Shep’ at the end of the film (*shiver*) suggests that it’s going to be the same sort of situation with Iris, and that he’s going to follow her career through college with an eye to manipulating into a position where she can be of some use to him. And oh dear fucking god, that’s creepy.

The situation at the end of the film throws that completely out of joint though, and I go back and forth on which way she might go. Her primary reason for taking part in the game has gone, but it’s also one of the few things that Shepard isn’t responsible for, and I could go either way on whether she chooses to take advantage of Shepard’s patronage or not.

And Shepard himself is such a bundle of conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he’s a fucked-up, sadistic, manipulative arsehole who gets a kick out of psychological and physical torture (he’s just enjoying himself so much), but on the other hand he really does seem to run the games by a certain set of rules and maybe a sick sort of honour, which almost makes him more terrifying in a way. I’m thinking of the moment when he apologises to Iris for Julian’s behaviour – in a way that touch on her shoulder makes my skin crawl more than the attempted rape. It’s all very messy and uncomfortable, and one of the reasons why I love this fucked up little film so much, aside from how tense and claustrophobic it is.

What if the situation leads him to take even more of an interest in her than he usually would? Or perhaps his additional interest is in reaction to something she does? Maybe every now and then one of the players of the game does something to genuinely surprise him, and something about her draws him to her, to the point, perhaps, where he starts to shape her into a potential protoge. (Which Julian isn’t exactly happy about naturally).

As for the shippy version a lot of the appeal of this is how deeply fucked up it would be, and the deal with the devil vibes it would have, and Iris telling herself that she’s going into it with her eyes open because she knows what a monster he is, and finding herself in way over her head anyway. What does it take for this to come about?

Optional Prompts

• Enemies to Lovers - Enemy tenderly treats character's injuries that the enemy inflicted – Whether this follows on directly from the end of the film, or relates to a whole new injury that Iris has sustained, I am so completely here for this. Or alternatively, what if Shepard is the one who’s been injured at Iris’s hands. It’s a couple of years down the line and, trying to get her revenge on him, she’s taken him to an isolated cabin while his people hunt for them. Only she isn’t sure whether she can really bring herself to kill someone again. Manipulation ensues.
• Antagonist Surprises With Honourable Behavior – ‘honourable’ according to Shepard’s judgement, anyway. Because he really does seem to have a fucked-up code of his own when it comes to the games, even if that is just one of his manipulation techniques. But he honours his promises, and Iris finds herself conflicted.
• Breathplay - top/dom likes getting choked – Consider this an exception to my Breathplay DNW. Shepard has a thing about being choked. Iris obliges because she just hates him so much. They’re both drawn to the element of risk: him because he knows she might well kill him if she was capable of it, she’s not sure if she is capable of it, but knows that if she takes it too far it could end very badly for her.
• Captivity – For one reason or another, Shepard decides it’s necessary to have Iris quietly disposed of, but he’s unwilling to have her killed so imprisons her instead.
• Character has their face shaved with a straight razor (by someone they have reason to distrust) – Having established a sexual relationship, although still aware that there’s good chance she’d like to kill him, Shepard lets Iris shave him. What appeals to me here is the sexual tension and Iris’s ever-present temptation to just cut his throat and have done with it.
• Character Trains a Protege – Ohhh baby. Explore this however you want to, whether the focus is on the beginning of the process or if you start with her taking her place as a witness to a game. Is Iris all in (for whatever reason), or does she still have her doubts, or is she working against him somehow? And what exactly is Julian doing in all of this?
• Slow Seduction/Corruption Arc – So uncomfortably hot, whatever form the seduction takes, whether it’s about sex or a moral corruption. I am absolutely here for a sexual relationship developing between them, but also her originally resisting him trying to use her for his own ends once she’s gone through college, and his attempts to bring her around, finding her a job, etc.
• Outsider POV of a 'date' between Shepard and Iris. Especially if its clearly deeply uncomfortable, but to the outsider it just looks like a normal date between a solicitous older man and a younger woman (aside from maybe a couple of out-of-place moments).
• Possessiveness - No One Is Allowed to Hurt You Except Me – Times when Shepard went out of his way to protect Iris.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – After the game, Iris is struggling to recover from the experience.
• Scar Worship – Specifically that stab-wound. But also, maybe Shepard has one or two scars of his own.

Thanks for reading!

Id Pro Quo 2024 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Please note this letter is still under construction. In particular, the prompts probably need updating, but my id is pretty consistent.

Table of Contents

• General Preferences
  
  • General Likes
  • Smut Likes
  • DNWs
• The 4400 (2004)
• Love and a .45
• Re-Animator (Movies)
• Lurking Fear (1994)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Request One (Odo&/Weyoun))
  • Request Two (Brunt/Quark)
  • Request Three (Mirror Ezri/Brunt, Mirror Ezri/Brunt/Mirror Brunt)
  • Request Four (Mirror Brunt/Weyoun 6)

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror of all kinds, understated ghost stories, body horror, cosmic horror, claustophibic horror where the characters are trapped underground, potentially with monsters (think The Descent), etc.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) fire-forged relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and being able to rely on no one but each other.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• Omegaverse
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (more casual power play, bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

(I understand there are post-canon novels available, but I haven’t read them yet. It’s fine to disregard them and purely go off the series.)

The canon Kevin/Tess relationship still makes me a little giddy that it actually happened. It hits me in so many iddy spots: the age gap, the mutual protectiveness, unwavering devotion, and caretaking, all the potential for guilt and grief, how very uncomfortable with it Kevin is at times, and just in general all the complexities of their relationship. It was made for me, and I feel beyond spoiled that it happened at all, let along how it almost perfectly fulfilled every one of my hopes for how it might happen. :D I am very much here for younger characters pursuing older ones and for the older characters feeling weird and guilty as hell about it, but they just adore each other so much, and again SPOILED. I also love the weirdness of her being so much younger than him despite having been born in the thirties.

Okay, I do kinda wish their chemistry came across as a little more explicitly sexual on-screen, but I can headcanon that as Kevin feeling guilty about the age gap, and they are so affectionate with each other (I’ll settle for hugs, kisses and forehead pressing *sobs*). They run away together. Twice!

Given the weird not-quite-superheroes vibe of this show, it absolutely cracks me up how ridiculously incongruously badass they both are. He can heal himself from any wound! She has insanely powerful mind control and can essentially create her own army! And what do they mainly use those abilities for? SCIENCE. Tess in particular is fucking terrifying. The scene where she rescues Kevin from Promisetown? Just gathering up a bunch of 4400s and using their powers for herself? They never quite explored the full ramifications of her powers or how far they spread, but yeeeeah.

There’s an argument to be made that she’s the most powerful 4400 after Isabelle (and it cracks me up the way they kept having to dose her with kryptonite pack her off to visit her grandniece to get around the problem of why the characters wouldn’t just send Tess in every time there’s a problem that needs fixing. It’s not a perfect show, but it’s imperfections are part of what I find so delightful XD).

And that leads me to another thing about their relationship: the sheer casual indifferent cruelty of how they came together in the first place, with Tess being sent back purely to cure his paranoid personality disorder (but only just enough so that he’s able to develop promicin; not to the point where he necessarily has good judgement or is fully capable of making ethical judgements or anything). Just, oof, how guilty would Kevin feel learning the circumstances of how he came to be healed? While the show never really touches on it, it colours so much of their relationship going forwards, and I would love to see that explored.

I mentioned the incongruousness of Kevin and Tess's abilities, and there’s a weird fucked-up sort of synergy about how they seem designed to protect each other. Like, yes, okay, maybe Kevin’s invulnerability is to protect his promicin-research, but it also means that when Tess has a schizophrenic break he’s able to survive anything she does to him, and he’s devoted enough to hang on in there. The more you start to tease out the implications, the more the cruelty starts to show itself, so dig into that all you want.

Go with something plotty if you want, but for these two I would just love to wallow in something indulgent smut or hurt/comfort. Or just explore missing scenes – so much of their relationship development happens off-screen. And I am so, so here for tender, gentle (and maybe just slightly guilty) smut I cannot even say.

Regarding the show itself, although the wheels started to come off by the end, on the whole I loved this weird convoluted little puzzle box of a show in its entirety. I wish we’d got more closure about the future and the catastrophe and everything that was going to happen. Right up to the end I genuinely couldn’t predict where it was going to go and how things were going to shake out, and I just had so much fun watching it and trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the implications were. It’s kind of superheroes-by-stealth, and I really love how it’s an upside down version of the X-Men while not being anything of the kind, and the way it focuses on the day-to-day realities of a situation like this by mostly following NTAC (and god, I ADORE Tom and Diana’s rock-solid, loving, affectionate, I-would-die-for-this-person friendship <3<3<3)

And then there's all the fucked up time weirdness and the way it’s cosmic horror adjacent. The show even gives a nod to Lovecraft at one point and specifically to A Shadow out of Time, in which people swap minds with impossibly alien creatures from the far future, which is so fascinating giving everything revealed in the later episodes. Plus, even the supposed good guys of the future are capable of being incredibly spectacularly cruel: witness their kidnapping and erasure of Maia from the timeline, plus virtually everything about Kevin and Tess. We never really learn that much about the people from the future – on the one hand, I’d like answers, but on the other, I’m actually really glad the show ultimately left that sort of ambiguous. What I keep coming back to is that all we know about the future is what the future tells us, which has the potential to be spectacularly creepy. If you want to play with even the good guys of the future turning out to be neither as good or as human as they claim, then please do.

And time stuff: how does the butterfly affect change the original plan of the people from the future? If Isabelle was meant to destroy the 4400s and she is actively working against the plan, then what does that mean for the promicin developed later in the series? I think Kevin even says at one point that it’s different from his. So how might things have played out if Isabelle had never been sent back and the original plan had played out with Kevin’s promicin becoming more slowly available, perhaps with fewer deaths because he’s able to figure out the compatibility test earlier?

And then I have a bunch of other questions. Like what the hell was going on with Cassie? What parts of the plot were down to the good future people and which the bad future people? How will things play out post-series? Does Jordan actually manage to clear the interloper and what happens if he doesn’t? Play with the butterfly effect: give me a Sliding Doors style thing which explores different timelines, or a canon-divergent fic, or character studies of any of the characters. Or a future-fic which looks at what happens a significant length of time post-canon.

(And yet another goofy crossover possibility, but the nod to Re-Animator in this series delights me. If you want to do a crossover where Herbert is one of the 4400 and maybe possibly meets up with Kevin, then PLEASE DO.)

Optional Prompts

• A bad guys win!AU in which Marked!Jordan Collier is removing the abilities of the p-positives, while the original 4400s are being hunted down one by one. Tess and Kevin go on the run.
• Their reunion after Tess gets out of hospital happens off-screen. I would love to see how that went, and how they came to be working together. There’s so much potential for everything I love here: his guilt over how he came to be cured, and the hurt/comfort as the promicin side effects get worse.
• Yet another thing that happens off-screen: how they got together as a couple in the first place. Given that they kiss just after he’s sloughed off his skin, clearly something was happening while he was still scarred, and oh god that DELIGHTS me. Him being so ashamed of it and not wanting her to see her like that, her being so into him anyway? Mmph.
• The first time they sleep together.
• Oof, that scene where he says goodbye in the hospital (the book, the kiss on the cheek, the hairtouching). It isn’t clear how much Kevin has realised at that point and whether he understands that it was Tess who cured him, but he’s a smart man: he’ll figure it out quickly. I’d love something exploring his grief and survivor’s guilt over the way things panned out (and I adore early Kevin where he’s still adjusting to being cured, spitting sunflower seeds in the general direction of the bin and not quite having shaken off his mental illness yet).
• Thanks to a 4400’s ability akin to the one in No Exit, Kevin and Tess and a bunch of other people find themselves trapped in an alternate universe. Except that this one is a superhero AU, and they specifically have to use their abilities as superheroes. Mainly because I find it so amusing that the least badass people get the most badass abilities. (and it also cracks me up how the various abilities were basically magic by the end.)
• They reunite after the end of the series.
• Something fluffy and sweet and indulgent where another handwavey 4400 ability allows Kevin and Tess the opportunity to go back in time and give her the Sweet 16 birthday party she never got to experience. Maybe something that works along similar lines to Alana’s, so they don’t lose any time in the real world, and this is set during the penultimate episode, right before he sends her away, and it’s a little respite for them, and perhaps the other people at the party can’t see them? And it’s sweet and romantic and a little bit hot, but also sort of uncomfortable for Kevin given everything that happened in the diner. And play with the age thing: on the one hand it reminds him how young she is, but at the same time he hasn’t actually been born yet, so...
• MIND CONTROL KINK. Because I can see the sex being a little bit uncertain and awkward at first, and I find the idea of them stumbling into a consensual set-up where Tess orders Kevin around in bed (or makes him tell her what he wants to do) hot as fuck.
• And also mind control, but slightly less consensual: I am so, so into all the chewy complexities of these two and the way the mind control plays into that, with Tess potentially using her ability to make Kevin ignore his qualms about the age gap? Because what’s a little gentle mind control between people who love each other? :D On the one hand it’s such a violation of trust, but on the other hand he really does love her and is happier with her, so it’s kind of understandable, but still… So explore that, or even just his underlying unease that it might be a possibility.

Terrible people doing terrible things! :D

I don’t know what it says about me that I find the tattoo-parlour scene in particular distractingly hot (probably nothing good XD), but the reason why I ship these two can almost certainly be traced to that scene.

The bit in the scene where Bob and Creepy go after Billy, and having terrorised him, Bob dances around him and then just straight up throws himself into his lap? And then, THEN, still sitting in said lap, he goes on to nestle his head against Billy’s chest while still menacing him and waving a gun around? Mmmph. The gun kink, the dancing, the casual touching and violation of personal space, the apparent total confidence in whatever the fucking hell his sexuality is, the gun kink... Oh GOD did I mention the gun kink? MORE OF THAT SORT OF THING PLEASE.

I am here for anything that explores their relationship, with Dinosaur Bob as the semi-smart, marginally more pulled-together one, and Creepy as the subservient tagalong one who looks to Bob and defers to him in just about everything. They’re simultaneously menacing but ultimately so tragically pathetic, and I just want to see more of their dynamic. I ship them so hard too: Creepy has a bad case of hero-worship when it comes to Bob, and Bob is, uh, clearly pretty comfortable getting up close and personal with other men.

Tropewise, for these two, I especially like anything where they’re in some way in denial about their sexuality, whether it’s a case of situational homosexuality, ‘no homo’ bro-sex, gay chicken, pining while having sex that definitely isn’t gay, or sex under the influence (look, they’re basically off their tits on meth for the entirety of the film, so if they’re having sex that’s probably inevitable), but there is almost no fic for this fandom, and nothing for these two, so anything goes. Is there a degree of internalised homophobia or have they just never really thought that hard about it? Or alternatively, maybe they’re both just fine with their sexualities actually, even if they’re keeping it on the downlow because their boss would very definitely not approve. (For the record their boss only appears in cut-scenes and the only cut scene I’ve been able to watch is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-tTmLLxIU&t=1s)

Maybe a canon-divergent fic where Bob gets shot but not killed outright, so Creepy has to look after him. I have no idea what hurt/comfort would look like for these two, but damn do I want to see it. :D Or maybe a pre-canon scene that investigates whatever the fuck they were up to before they showed up at Watty’s place. Also gun kink. Aaaaall the gun kink. I like how vaguely submissive Creepy is towards Bob, and the more you can capture Dinosaur Bob’s physicality the better as far as I’m concerned.

Finally I get such Sketchy and Skeezy from Z Nation vibes from them, (the one smartish one, one goofy one dynamic, the criminal behaviour, the homoerotic undertones, the meth) to the point where I’m semi-wondering if they were the inspiration for Sketchy and Skeezy. so if you want to do a Z Nation crossover, then PLEASE DO, whether they run into anyone in the main cast, or Sketchy and Skeezy, or a fusion where they take over the Sketchy and Skeezy roles. Or just a zombie apocalypse wholly unaffiliated with Z Nation.

Optional Prompts

• Gun Kink – Yeeeep. This is a pretty good canon for gun kink. I’m here for anything from caressing the other party with a gun, whether tenderly or with an air of menace, to actual insertion or fellating of a gun.
• 'Platonic' porn-watching and mutual masturbation session leads to sex – Because they’re horny and bored and there’s definitely nothing gay about this.
• "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse – All the ‘sex while pining and in denial’ energy please.
• A/B Seduce C into a Threesome; Then A/B Realize They Only Want Each Other – I’m specifically thinking of Billy for C here, because his entire dynamic with them, and it way it flips their roles delights me, but alternatively go with an OC, possibly a woman because I like the opportunities for ‘pining while in denial’.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – Bonding over substance misuse and/or sex under the influence.
• First Meeting – Explore their backstory. How did they meet? In prison or elsewhere? How did they get on the first time they met
• Alternate Universe - John Wick (Movies) Setting – In which they are (terrible) international assassins. Either that or they’re just tagging along with an old acquaintance who is an assassin, and maybe they’re just knocking about the Continental while plot happens all around them.
• The awkward situation that results when you’re inadvertently on the periphery of a Bad Guys Made Them Do It situation between two men and it leads to the awakening of feelings.
• Forced proximity – they have to hole up for a while for reasons, and have to share a hotel room, which potentially leads to sharing a bed, watching pay per view porn, and whatever other forced proximity tropes you can come up with.
• Handcuffed together – Whether for the purposes of plot, or purely as an excuse for filthy PWP porn.
• Bob injures his hands, which leads to him getting a caretaking handjob or oral sex from Creepy.
• They meet up with Watty and Star under different circumstances a couple of years down the line.
• AU where they are the wanted fugitives on a road trip as they try to escape to Mexico.
• A From Dusk Till Dawn (the film version) fusion. Bob and Creepy follow Watty and Star to Mexico, but their stand-off is interrupted by vampires and they need to work together to survive.
• Platonic bed sharing and the accompanying unfortunately timed boners.
• Morning after (amazing sex the night before) – All the awkward aftermath please, possibly with optional ‘did that really happen?’ binge-related amnesia.

As far as I can remember, I don’t think Dr Haggis’s first name is mentioned at any point, but by the looks of that sign outside his surgery, it starts with an I. :D

God, I had so much fun watching this. It’s very short and kiiinda trashy, inexplicably mashing up Lovecraft with a London gangster subplot, but 1.) I appreciate how firmly it commits to in media res (even the prologue flashback opens with the people of Leffert’s Corners fully aware that the creatures exist), and, 2.) oh GOD do I adore Cathryn and Dr Haggis, both the individual characters and their ‘us against the world’ dynamic, whatever the hell their relationship is, or was, or might have been. <3<3<3 Oh, and the basic horror concept of monsters living in a cave trope (along the lines of The Descent, if you've seen it) is a bulletproof trope for me, and I love this particular film's take on it with the creatures burrowing up into people's houses and nowhere in town being safe.

For Cathryn, I love that whole thing of her having to take over the commando role from her sister, even though it’s not really a role that fits her naturally. She’s so tough, but vulnerable at the same time. And Dr Haggis, ohhhh baby: he’s a damaged, chain-smoking (even around sweating dynamite. DUDE. XD), bitter as fuck, alcoholic broken man, but at the same time he absolutely steps the fuck up when it comes to people needing medical attention and he’s so protective towards Beth and Cathryn... Uhm, not to mention the adoring stoic hearteyes he makes at Cathryn throughout. I love him so much and I just want him to have nice things. Or at least to survive so he can suffer some more.

They’re both so bruised by whatever’s gone on before the film starts. We never really see anything of what they were before or what their lives were really like: we’re just plunged into this semi post-apocalyptic warzone with no real explanation. He’s pretty clearly pining for her, but their conversation at the church door suggests the feeling is mutual, and I am just so here to see their relationship explored, whether it be a look at what might have happened between them pre-canon, or possibly a post-canon fix-it (or a fix-it to make it worse) where he survives. I love the way they work together, and the dynamic they’ve fallen into, and their shared grim resignation and determination to fight. They’re just together, this mismatched quietly pining little battle-couple, while their town falling to hell around them, and I ship them so hard.

I’d love to see something that explores pre-canon, because the film really does does drop us right smack in the middle of things, with virtually no explanation of what happened before. How did the townspeople finally figure out the creatures existed, and how long has it been common knowledge? Why haven’t they left? Or a canon-divergent fic where things shake out differently: maybe his injuries weren’t quite that serious which means he survives and she has to patch him up? Or the Martenses haven’t quite all been killed and come after them looking for revenge? Or give me a moment between them: have they ever hooked up while drunk or had inadvisable ‘thank god we’re alive’ sex? Oh, and pining is extremely welcome, especially mutual pining.

The film and pairing also hits a very specific trope which is like CATNIP to me: a physically unprepossessing man uncomfortably aware of how powerless he is to protect the woman he’s with from men who are stronger than he is, whether or not the woman can take care of herself (and in this case Cathryn very much can take care of herself). It gets me every damn time. *eyes*

Optional General Prompts

• Battle-couple – They just work so well together. I’d love to see some moments of them working together, because I’m so drawn to their dynamic, especially since fighting doesn’t necessarily come easily to her. Are they fighting by each other’s side, or it it a case of her fighting and him patching her up afterwards? Or him talking her through patching him up because he’s the one who got injured?
• Love in the time of horror and misery – Something else I love is the whole bleak atmosphere of the virtually deserted town. Everything’s crumbling and worn down, there are holes everywhere where the creatures have burrowed through, and everything is falling apart. It’s almost post-apocalyptic, except the world is still going on around them. Show me them them falling in love, or quiet moments of tenderness, affection and loyalty in the middle of the world going to hell around them.
• Alternate Universe - the big bad wins – They’ve lost and been captured by the creatures, and have nothing to do but try to escape, or trying to support and comfort each other through it, or have ‘fuck it we’re going to die’ despair sex.
• Bathing/Washing - After a fight, the two of them hole up together to wash off the gore.
• A 5 Times fic showing the gradual change in Leffert's Corner over time as the townsfolk gradually begin to realise something is wrong.
• Character A falls asleep on B's shoulder – Their relationship has so many opportunities for moments of quiet intimacy and emotional hurt/comfort. And pining. Lots and lots of pining.
• Character A has been crying and tries to hide it but B still notices it – I’m good with either one of them being the crying character here. Maybe he’s exhausted patching people up, or someone’s died despite all his best efforts, or she’s been coasting on adrenaline for too long and is finally starting to crumble. I adore their dynamic so much, and the idea of him being the only person she lets see her in a moment of weakness is the most delicious thing.
• Scars – Maybe a Five Times fic cataloguing their scars (or just hers), whether they’re caused by the creatures or not.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – As an excuse for hurt/comfort or tender emotional sex? I’m good with either. Or both.
• A canon-divergent fix-it where Dr Haggis survives his injuries, which means Cathryn has to patch him up post-canon.
• Cigarettes – You can probably count the number of minutes he’s without a cigarette on one hand. XD Give me all the descriptions of smoking, maybe a traumatised moment when his hand is shaking so hard he can’t light his cigarette so she has to do it for him.
• Functional Alcoholic Not So Functional At The Moment – Here for the hurt/comfort of this, whether the emotional hurt/comfort of them being there for each other when they’re scared or grieving, or the physical hurt/comfort of her helping him to bed, and then maybe sticking around afterwards, and the two of them bedsharing, whether entirely platonic or otherwise. Also here for drunken confessions, or maybe him just being less able to hide the way he feels about her while he’s drunk. I love how important they clearly are to each other, but also how frustrated she is with his drinking, even while she obviously gets why he does it.
• Childbirth - Because you can't have the Chekhov's Gun of a heavily pregnant woman and not have her give birth in a highly stressful set-piece, come on. So how about a canon-divergent scene where Beth, Cathryn and Haggis are beseiged down by the monsters, and at the worst possible moment, Beth goes into labour.
• That line of Cathryn's: "This is what I thought the end of the world was going to look like."? What if it really was the end of the world? Give me a post-apocalyptic AU. Maybe they're dealing with a zombie apocalypse, or creatures much like the canon ones but more widespread, or they're carriers for a disease.
• In that first scene with them, while they're outside his surgery, he makes a reference to them making some kind of bargain, presumably an agreement to stick around in town to kill the creatures. How did that bargain come about?
• There’s a lot about this film that doesn’t entirely make sense, the most notable thing being that they’re not actually trapped in the town, and can leave any time they like. I can buy them wanting to stay to finish things once and for all, but at the same time that doesn’t mean they can’t have the occasional holiday. So maybe they get out of town for a night or two when there’s no rain forecast for a while. Are they able to relax or are they constantly thinking about going back? Book separate rooms but end up sharing a room/bed anyway because it’s the only way they can get any sleep? Both get drunk and end up sleeping together?

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with Dan or Herbert being nonconned (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body (from the autopsy presumably, but WHAT IF...), and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of zombie apocalypses, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I want it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost. Or alternatively, Dan and Herbert are estranged, and Dan inherits the house from a mysterious relative, only realising who his benefactor is when he stumbles across the lab.

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Request One: Odo/Weyoun and Odo & Weyoun
Requested Tags:
Accidental Baby Acquisition,Accidental Soulbond - Both are resistant to the idea but fall in love over time,Aftermath of possession leaves characters with inconvenient mental connection,A and B got badly hurt and are recovering together,Bad Guys Make Them Do It,Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other,Body Worship,Captive character surprised to learn their rescuer is motivated by genuine affection,Character A attempts to sacrifice themself for B; B gets very upset,Character falls from grace and finds out that he is far happier there,Character has to fake being evil for reasons,Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection,Character Offers Themselves in Trade for Someone Else's Release/Safety,Complicated relationships of love and loyalty and hurt and resentment,My Moral Compass Is "What Do I Need To Do To Protect You?",Slow Burn - Soulbonding is the only way for A to save seriously injured B's life,Stranded somewhere together and have to rely on each other to survive

Go with any Weyoun you want, whether past, present, or future. In the relaunch novels, Odo creates a ninth clone to act as his aide, and while I’m not otherwise tied to the canon of the relaunch novels, as far as I’m concerned, Odo bringing Weyoun back absolutely happened, and that is a hill I will die on. :D

I’d love to see their relationship explored in all its forms, whether gen or shippy. There’s so much to explore in their relationship, and just what each character says about the other. I've shipped Odo/Weyoun pretty damn hard right from Weyoun's first episode, and Weyoun 6 sacrificing himself and then dying in Odo’s arms certainly didn’t make me ship them any less, but their gen relationship is fascinating too. There's so much to dig into: the complexities of the Vorta and their inbuilt loyalty to Changelings, the potential for changes to the way the Vorta are created and how that might affect the Dominion, Odo's blind spot for his people, and the fact that they're both capable of leading very long lives. Even when almost every other solid Odo’s known in his life has passed on, Weyoun could potentially still be around, and there are a lot of possibilities there.

There’s also a moment in A Time to Stand when Weyoun 5, gloriously insincere arsehole that he is, talks about the habitat ring echoing with the sound of happy children, but this is a man who’d knowing preside over wiping out the population of entire planets, and of course the Vorta don’t have children or childhoods in the usual way, and that’s probably something else the Dominion have taken away from them. It’s pure nightmare fuel.

I have a lot of feelings about everything that happens between them both in Faith, Treachery and the Great River, and what it says about both their characters. That story Weyoun 6 tells Odo about the origins of his people, and the way Odo seems to take it as kindness when actually what the Founders did was at the very least mass enslavement, and possibly even something akin to genocide? The suggestion that the Vorta are powerful is laughable, given that their entire purpose, over and above their own wellbeing, is to serve the Founders, and Odo of all people should know that. Would he have thought of himself as powerful when he was facilitating the Cardassians on Terok Nor? (Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about having a lot of feelings about that episode. XD) There are a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn.

Optional Prompts

• DS9: Post-canon attempt to return the Vorta to sexual reproduction; first non-clone baby born - With Weyoun and Odo being at the heart of the attempt.
• A canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives to defect to the Federation, exploring how their relationship goes after the war is over.
• A canon-divergent AU where the canonical baby Changeling turns up while the station is in the hands of the Dominion and Weyoun is involved with Odo's attempts to look after it.
• Complicated emotions at being pregnant with a baby character believes is a god - somehow Weyoun ends up knocked up, whether it's some kind of handwavy transporter accident type accident, or the result of a sex pollen incident necessary to save Odo's life and neither of them realised Weyoun could get pregnant that way. Is there some kind of side effect from the pregnancy which leaves Weyoun with some degree of shapeshifting powers, or the ability to link with the baby, which is amazing but also very uncomfortable because he's just a Vorta.
• Cloning Accident result in creating a baby - The real reason Weyoun 6 tried to defect. :D Is it a wholly new person or just a baby version of Weyoun, and what are the implications of it not being going through the full cloning process?
• character that thought they had zero parenting instincts goes into hardcore protective mode - I love Weyoun as a villain at least partly because of how very... unintimidating he is in a lot of ways. He's small and slight and vulnerable and he keeps dying, and I'm really drawn to this prompt both for him embracing his violent side in the interests of protecting a baby and for the potential to explore his character because I’ll always love a character study.
• a 5+1 fic exploring the way Odo's relationship with the various different Weyouns changes over the years.
• Sex Pollen – Whether it’s Odo affected and Weyoun willingly sacrifices himself to save the Founder, or Weyoun is affected and is horrified/pathetically grateful at Odo being willing to help. Or the aftermath of the sex pollen situation with all the fallout.
• A canon-divergent AU where Odo remains human for longer, and he’s still a solid when he meets Weyoun 5 for the first time. What effect would Odo's becoming a solid have on their dynamic? How would the Vorta conceptualise the concept of a god becoming a solid, and what does that mean for the way Weyoun’s worldview? I’d be delighted with anything from a character/relationship study that follows their time on the station together, or perhaps something plottier where they're stranded on a planet together and have to work together to survive, but now Odo's just as vulnerable as Weyoun is. (Sex pollen always welcome)
• Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries – Weyoun is injured and Odo has to treat his injuries, whether it’s Weyoun 6 or one of the other ones. I’m just fascinated by all the messy feelings of faith and awe, and Odo’s discomfort at being thought of as a god.
• Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing – Whether it happens over the course of one Weyoun or several. I really love all the tangled complexities of the way the Vorta see the world. Maybe this is a canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives and Odo tries to deprogram him? Or maybe a future Weyoun where the process has begun but isn't quite there yet.
• Whump - A sacrifices themself to protect B; B is forced to watch A being tortured – The obvious candidate for self-sacrifice is Weyoun, but Odo sacrificing himself and Weyoun's struggles watching him being tortured (perhaps that Romulan device that stops him from changing shape) would be delicious too.

Request Two: Quark/Brunt
Requested Tags:
"Oh No They're Hot" moment leads to feelings realization, "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Accidental Soulbond - Both are resistant to the idea but fall in love over time, Aftermath of possession leaves characters with inconvenient mental connection, Bad Guys Make Them Do It, Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other, Character in hatesex arrangement realizes they don't consider themself single, Character Surprised By Their Own Deep Loyalty Feels; Object Of Loyalty Even More Surprise, Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it, Characters Finally Commit to Each Other After Years of Casual Non-Exclusive Sex, Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions, Different First Meeting - one night stand before their first canon meeting, Pining - Mutual pining that both characters figure out is requited but that's terrifying, Reluctant sexual attraction to someone they (should) dislike, Slow Burn - Soulbonding is the only way for A to save seriously injured B's life, Soulbond - Accidental soulbond between enemies/rivals leads to feelings, Stranded somewhere together and have to rely on each other to survive, we're gonna regret having sex as soon as it's over

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?

Request Three: Mirror Ezri Dax/Brunt, & Mirror Ezri Dax/Mirror Brunt
Requested Tags:
Accidental Baby Acquisition,A/B edge C until they're a sobbing desperate mess,Character has to fake being evil for reasons,Clothing - Naked Male Clothed Female,Identity Porn,we're gonna regret having sex as soon as it's over

Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart. Pottering around the ship preparing tube grubs for everyone! Honourable and decent and loyal! Quietly and respectfully pining for Mirror!Ezri, knowing that his feelings will probably never be reciprocated, and being a little bit sad about that, but it doesn’t matter because he values her friendship and their partnership above everything else!

And then there’s Brunt. XD

Brunt is genuinely terrible in so many ways. He’s the worst, and I have loved him right from the first moment he was twitchy about Ishka wearing clothes. <3<3<3 I’m so charmed by the difference between him and his mirror counterpart, and I just want him and Mirror!Ezri to hook up however it comes about, and whether it’s just a one-off or something more long-lasting. Maybe she needs him to pretend to be Mirror!Brunt to pull something off. Or maybe she finds herself in the non-mirror universe and runs into him in Quark’s, and is, uh... taken aback? Fascinated? Weirdly charmed?... by this absolute dick with the face of the dead partner she really was very fond of. He’s sexist and greedy and treacherous, and she can’t trust him as far as she can throw him, but maybe she finds herself drawn to him. And while Mirror!Brunt was far too self-effacing to proposition her, the same is very definitely not true of regular Brunt. Maybe it’s just because she really misses her Brunt, or maybe it’s because regular Brunt reminds her more of herself, or maybe it’s just because she’s horny and he’s there, idk.

As for the OT3, I cannot say how delighted I am by the idea of the two Brunts meeting. I can’t tell which of them would be the more horrified at meeting the other one. I’m not quite sure how the threesome would come about, but man, do I want to see it. Is it a one-off, or is the OT3 threesome the catalyst that actually gets Mirror Brunt/Mirror Ezri together?

And while this should go without saying, canon divergent fics are very welcome here. The poor Ferengi never seem to get much of a chance in the Mirror universe. (I’m also curious what Ferenginar is actually like there).

I headcanon Mirror Ezri as bisexual and read Mirror Brunt's comment about her being picky when it comes to men as relating to Quark and Brunt being Ferengi. References to her relationships with Mirror Leeta and the Intendant are welcome, and the requested ships absolutely do NOT have to be end-game (although I would prefer the fic to focus on them.) Look, I just find the idea of these two treacherous bastards hooking up hot as fuck, even if it's just temporary, and I'm both amused and heartbroken at how Mirror Brunt might react to finding out that actually she will make an exception for at least one Ferengi male and it's the terrible evil mirror universe version of himself who is the literal worst.

Optional Prompts

• Femdom – Because if there’s ever been a character who very definitely needs to get dommed by a female, it is Brunt.
• Clothing - Naked Male Clothed Female – Niiice. I just love this freeform so, so much when it comes to Brunt (especially if combined with femdom). He would just hate it so fucking much. It’s disgusting. It’s depraved. So why the hell does he find it so fucking hot? *hearteyes*
• Identity Porn – Brunt has to pose as his Mirror counterpart and work with Mirror!Ezri, leading to a sex scene in which for kink reasons he ends up having sex with her while still in the Mirror!Brunt persona.
• A threesome in which Ezri and Brunt edge Mirror!Brunt until he’s a sobbing desperate mess. Look, I just want him to have nice things okay?
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I am a sucker for certain tropes and one of those tropes that will forever get me is when people who under normal circumstances have no business looking after babies get stuck looking after a baby. If Mirror!Brunt is around, maybe the plan was that he’d be the one looking after the kid, but due to something going wrong, he and Brunt have to trade places and pretend to be each other.
• Competence Kink - Whether they’re rivals or allies, I just love the idea of Brunt and Mirror!Ezri being secretly impressed and turned on by how good the other one is at lying, cheating and stealing. Lets just say Brunt probably has more in common with Mirror!Ezri than his counterpart does.
• Since his death, Ezri has been seeing Mirror!Brunt's ghost. Maybe it’s some kind of hallucination from a space anomaly, or maybe she’s just imagining him, or maybe he really is a ghost, or maybe he’s the result of a malfunctioning portable holoprojector (which she hasn’t fixed because she kind of misses him and it’s nice having him around). but either way she’s gradually beginning to accept she might have had feelings for him after all. Then she meets Brunt.
• proxy-fucking – Mirror!Ezri fucking Brunt as a way of processing the grief she feels about Mirror!Brunt’s death.

Request Four: Mirror Brunt/Weyoun 6
Requested Tags:
Accidental Baby Acquisition, Amnesia - character reverts to a dramatically different previous version of themselves, A and B got badly hurt and are recovering together, Character A asks about Character B's scars/injuries from abuse/torture, Character A attempts to sacrifice themself for B; B gets very upset, Character falls from grace and finds out that he is far happier there, Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle, Character has to fake being evil for reasons, Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection, Character Offers Themselves in Trade for Someone Else's Release/Safety, Characters show affection through food/cooking, Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded, Slow Burn - Soulbonding is the only way for A to save seriously injured B's life, Stranded somewhere together and have to rely on each other to survive, Two tired people taking quiet comfort in each other

Because a passing stray thought that Mirror Brunt and Weyoun 6 should hook up got into my head and then refused to go away. Which I can understand, because fucking hell, yes. I have absolutely no idea how it would work or how it would come about, but goddamn do I want it to happen.

As ships go, this is absurdly self-indulgent, but at the same time there are some potentially really interesting dynamics and parallels to be drawn between them. They're both more sympathetic versions of more or less antagonistic characters, both desperately loyal to another person with whom they have a somewhat one-sided relationship, (and they're both adorable tragically doomed cinnamon rolls. D:) Maybe Weyoun finds himself stranded in the Mirror universe – does the fact that it isn’t his universe provide a loophole that allows him to override his inbuild loyalty to the Dominion? (Keevan shows that not all Vorta are unquestionably loyal, which suggests that Weyoun is just like that, unswervingly terrifyingly loyal, whether to the Dominion or to Odo, and I love him all the more for that) Does he immediately set out to try to find a way back to his universe, or to find the wormhole in the Mirror universe? How does Mirror Odo complicate matters? Does he shift his loyalties to Mirror Brunt?

There are countless things I’d love to see here, and explore it however you want, but I do really love the idea of him gradually coming to terms with being stranded in the Mirror universe, and even though it’s a grimdark hellhole, realising he’s better off there, even though he’s conflicted about staying. And as for Mirror Brunt, mmph, these two sweethearts would be absolutely perfect for each other. Just get them together and make them kiss, however you have to do it. And maybe they’re both pining for other people at first, but gradually they catch feelings for each other. They’re both so lovely: they deserve some happiness.

Optional Prompts

• Look, if in doubt, please just make them kiss and I will be happy. :D
• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
• Conflicting loyalties – Explore the issue of loyalty and how it manifests in each of them. Especially Weyoun, whose loyalties are at least somewhat artificial. How does the Mirror universe affect his loyalties to the Founders? Is he able to override it? Perhaps because he’s stuck there he gradually becomes used to feeling free of his obligations to the Dominion, and transfers his loyalties to Mirror Brunt instead, but then an opportunity to return to the prime universe arises and he has to deal with his conflicting loyalties.
• Weyoun has fallen in with M!Ezri and M!Brunt and has been working with them for a while without issue until they capture Mirror!Odo. And maybe he can override his instinctive loyalties because this is the Mirror!Universe version and so not a true Founder, but it doesn’t come easily.
• Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle it - They're both just so damn sweet, and while everything else might be going to hell, the two of them still manage to carve out some moments of sweetness in the middle of the nightmarish dystopia that is the Mirror Universe.
• Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection – Because loving relationships aren’t normally part of a Vorta’s life experience, and Weyoun isn’t quite sure how to handle it.
• Food as part of the language of love – They both have interesting relationships with food. Given Mirror Brunt’s tendency to make sure everyone’s fed (with tube grubs, but still...), and the way Weyoun works his way through everything on the replicator’s menu, it seems like this would be the perfect way for them to bond. And okay, maybe Brunt can’t get his hands on kava nuts or rippleberries but there must be something.
• Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded – So let’s say Weyoun is stranded, temporarily or otherwise, in the Mirror universe. He’s finally free of his obligations to the Dominion, because there is no Dominion there, and so has to figure out a few things and relearn the sort of person he wants to be.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – Because again this is one of the contrasts between them, Mirror Brunt being scarred (because picking up scars in the Mirror Universe is inevitable, let’s face it) while Weyoun is almost entirely scar-free due to being a recent clone. I’m particularly here for scar kink, and all the associated fascination and sympathy and tenderness, but you could also play with the issues over cloning: Weyoun’s memories of injuries sustained by other Weyouns, which aren’t reflected on his body, but which maybe he feels as phantom scars of some kind?
• Emotional hurt/comfort – Ordinarily Vortas’ memories of their previous deaths and injuries are suppressed as part of the cloning process to ensure they remain motivated and willing to sacrifice themselves, but every now and then those suppressed memories return in full force.
• Identity Porn - A scam/heist requires that they both have to pose as their other selves.
• Smut - experimenting with and exploring interspecies biology.
• on the run together – Whether from the Alliance or from some kind of crime syndicate (potentially run by Mirror Ishka XD), and bonding in the process.
• Two tired people taking quiet comfort in each other – Exhausted sex, moments of respite in the middle of the world going to hell, the two of them finding moments of common ground, etc.
• Competence Kink - And the two of them being quietly impressed and turned on by the other’s competence: Brunt’s toughness and fighting skills and Weyoun's innate diplomacy and negotiating skills.

Thanks for reading!

Yuletide 2023 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. I tend to use freeforms to trigger ideas and suggestions, but they are purely to give you ideas of the sort of thing I like. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• The 4400 (2004)
• Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch (2023 Movie Duology)
• House on Haunted Hill (1999)
• Love and a .45 (1994)
• Re-Animator (Movies)
• Would You Rather? (2012)

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror of all kinds, understated ghost stories, body horror, cosmic horror, claustophibic horror where the characters are trapped underground, potentially with monsters (think The Descent), etc.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) fire-forged relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and being able to rely on no one but each other.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• Omegaverse
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)
• Focus on AIDS/HIV

(I understand there are post-canon novels available, but I haven’t read them yet. It’s fine to disregard them and purely go off the series.)

Although the wheels started to come off by the end, on the whole I loved this weird convoluted little puzzle box of a show in its entirety. I wish we’d got more closure about the future and the catastrophe and everything that was going to happen. Right up to the end I genuinely couldn’t predict where it was going to go and how things were going to shake out, and I just had so much fun watching it and trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the implications were. It’s kind of superheroes-by-stealth, and I really love how it’s an upside down version of the X-Men while not being anything of the kind, and the way it focuses on the day-to-day realities of a situation like this by mostly following NTAC (and god, I ADORE Tom and Diana’s rock-solid, loving, affectionate, I-would-die-for-this-person friendship <3<3<3)

And then there's all the fucked up time weirdness and the way it’s cosmic horror adjacent. The show even gives a nod to Lovecraft at one point and specifically to A Shadow out of Time, in which people swap minds with impossibly alien creatures from the far future, which is so fascinating giving everything revealed in the later episodes. Plus, even the supposed good guys of the future are capable of being incredibly spectacularly cruel: witness their kidnapping and erasure of Maia from the timeline, plus virtually everything about Kevin and Tess. We never really learn that much about the people from the future – on the one hand, I’d like answers, but on the other, I’m actually really glad the show ultimately left that sort of ambiguous. What I keep coming back to is that all we know about the future is what the future tells us, which has the potential to be spectacularly creepy. If you want to play with even the good guys of the future turning out to be neither as good or as human as they claim, then please do.

And time stuff: how does the butterfly affect change the original plan of the people from the future? If Isabelle was meant to destroy the 4400s and she is actively working against the plan, then what does that mean for the promicin developed later in the series? I think Kevin even says at one point that it’s different from his. So how might things have played out if Isabelle had never been sent back and the original plan had played out with Kevin’s promicin becoming more slowly available, perhaps with fewer deaths because he’s able to figure out the compatibility test earlier?

And then I have a bunch of other questions. Like what the hell was going on with Cassie? What parts of the plot were down to the good future people and which the bad future people? How will things play out post-series? Does Jordan actually manage to clear the interloper and what happens if he doesn’t? Play with the butterfly effect: give me a Sliding Doors style thing which explores different timelines, or a canon-divergent fic, or character studies of any of the characters. Or a future-fic which looks at what happens a significant length of time post-canon.

(And yet another goofy crossover possibility, but the nod to Re-Animator in this series delights me. If you want to do a crossover where Herbert is one of the 4400 and maybe possibly meets up with Kevin, then PLEASE DO.)

The canon Kevin/Tess relationship still makes me a little giddy that it actually happened. It hits me in so many iddy spots: the age gap, the mutual protectiveness, unwavering devotion, and caretaking, all the potential for guilt and grief, how very uncomfortable with it Kevin is at times, and just in general all the complexities of their relationship. It was made for me, and I feel beyond spoiled that it happened at all, let along how it almost perfectly fulfilled every one of my hopes for how it might happen. :D I am very much here for younger characters pursuing older ones and for the older characters feeling weird and guilty as hell about it, but they just adore each other so much, and again SPOILED. I also love the weirdness of her being so much younger than him despite having been born in the thirties.

Okay, I do kinda wish their chemistry came across as a little more explicitly sexual on-screen, but I can headcanon that as Kevin feeling guilty about the age gap, and they are so affectionate with each other (I’ll settle for hugs, kisses and forehead pressing *sobs*). They run away together. Twice!

Given the weird not-quite-superheroes vibe of this show, it absolutely cracks me up how ridiculously incongruously badass they both are. He can heal himself from any wound! She has insanely powerful mind control and can essentially create her own army! And what do they mainly use those abilities for? SCIENCE. Tess in particular is fucking terrifying. The scene where she rescues Kevin from Promisetown? Just gathering up a bunch of 4400s and using their powers for herself? They never quite explored the full ramifications of her powers or how far they spread, but yeeeeah.

There’s an argument to be made that she’s the most powerful 4400 after Isabelle (and it cracks me up the way they kept having to dose her with kryptonite pack her off to visit her grandniece to get around the problem of why the characters wouldn’t just send Tess in every time there’s a problem that needs fixing. It’s not a perfect show, but it’s imperfections are part of what I find so delightful XD).

And that leads me to another thing about their relationship: the sheer casual indifferent cruelty of how they came together in the first place, with Tess being sent back purely to cure his paranoid personality disorder (but only just enough so that he’s able to develop promicin; not to the point where he necessarily has good judgement or is fully capable of making ethical judgements or anything). Just, oof, how guilty would Kevin feel learning the circumstances of how he came to be healed? While the show never really touches on it, it colours so much of their relationship going forwards, and I would love to see that explored.

I mentioned the incongruousness of Kevin and Tess's abilities, and there’s a weird fucked-up sort of synergy about how they seem designed to protect each other. Like, yes, okay, maybe Kevin’s invulnerability is to protect his promicin-research, but it also means that when Tess has a schizophrenic break he’s able to survive anything she does to him, and he’s devoted enough to hang on in there. The more you start to tease out the implications, the more the cruelty starts to show itself, so dig into that all you want.

Go with something plotty if you want, but for these two I would just love to wallow in something indulgent smut or hurt/comfort. Or just explore missing scenes – so much of their relationship development happens off-screen. And I am so, so here for tender, gentle (and maaaaaybe just slightly guilty) smut I cannot even say.

Optional Prompts

• A bad guys win!AU in which Marked!Jordan Collier is removing the abilities of the p-positives, while the original 4400s are being hunted down one by one. Tess and Kevin go on the run.
• Their reunion after Tess gets out of hospital happens off-screen. I would love to see how that went, and how they came to be working together. There’s so much potential for everything I love here: his guilt over how he came to be cured, and the hurt/comfort as the promicin side effects get worse.
• Yet another thing that happens off-screen: how they got together as a couple in the first place. Given that they kiss just after he’s sloughed off his skin, clearly something was happening while he was still scarred, and oh god that DELIGHTS me. Him being so ashamed of it and not wanting her to see her like that, her being so into him anyway? Mmph.
• The first time they sleep together.
• Oof, that scene where he says goodbye in the hospital (the book, the kiss on the cheek, the hairtouching). It isn’t clear how much Kevin has realised at that point and whether he understands that it was Tess who cured him, but he’s a smart man: he’ll figure it out quickly. I’d love something exploring his grief and survivor’s guilt over the way things panned out (and I adore early Kevin where he’s still adjusting to being cured, spitting sunflower seeds in the general direction of the bin and not quite having shaken off his mental illness yet).
• Thanks to a 4400’s ability akin to the one in No Exit, Kevin and Tess and a bunch of other people find themselves trapped in an alternate universe. Except that this one is a superhero AU, and they specifically have to use their abilities as superheroes. Mainly because I find it so amusing that the least badass people get the most badass abilities. (and it also cracks me up how the various abilities were basically magic by the end.)
• They reunite after the end of the series.
• Something fluffy and sweet and indulgent where another handwavey 4400 ability allows Kevin and Tess the opportunity to go back in time and give her the Sweet 16 birthday party she never got to experience. Maybe something that works along similar lines to Alana’s, so they don’t lose any time in the real world, and this is set during the penultimate episode, right before he sends her away, and it’s a little respite for them, and perhaps the other people at the party can’t see them? And it’s sweet and romantic and a little bit hot, but also sort of uncomfortable for Kevin given everything that happened in the diner. And play with the age thing: on the one hand it reminds him how young she is, but at the same time he hasn’t actually been born yet, so...

These films, starting with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch (the 2023 version), which is followed up by the sequel Butch vs Sundance, aren’t perfect by any means, but I found them a lot of fun to watch, the first one especially. They’re free on Tubi, but I’m not sure if they’re available elsewhere yet – I had to use a VPN to access them. I enjoyed the first film more, although I did appreciate a lot of what the second film tried to do, (and ftr I ship the Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid/Etta Place OT3 too).

Horn is only in the first film and I was a little disappointed with how the sequel defanged Siringo a little – he wasn’t nearly as much as a bastard as he was in the first film. OTOH that bit where he slams Sundance into the bars of the cell? HOT. (Also the whole section where Siringo and Sundance are travelling together and all the testing his loyalty stuff? I’m not quite sure it pulled off what it was trying to do, but I would have been very very into what it was trying to do had it managed to do it, so I think of it fondly for that reason alone. Kiiiiinda shipping Siringo/Sundance a little bit too, ngl. XD)

As for Siringo and Horn, I ship them so damn hard. Turns out I am extremely into a violent dangerous man making a surprised pikachu face when the even more violent dangerous man he employs turns out to be harder to control than expected, whilst still remaining completely loyal. Add in the height difference, and daaaamn. *hearteyes*

I adore their dynamic so much: in their first scene together, Siringo approvingly watching Horn beat the shit out of someone for the crime of stealing a chicken; giving him a badge and turning Horn into his monster on a leash – all of that is golden. The potential for loyalty kink is delicious, and it’s all the better for how Siringo’s control over Horn isn’t always total. I would love to see that dynamic of having tried to leash a hurricane captured, particularly in the context of them having a sexual relationship: Siringo having maaaaybe bitten off more than he can chew, and not quite being in control, but at the same time doing his damndest to maintain the appearance of being in control.

Siringo fascinates me – why is he so intent on bringing Cassidy in? Does it just come down to him being obsessed with the law? I’m also really drawn to the question of morality, and the way his association with Horn leads to him compromising his moral values. (Or not. Maybe he really was always just that much of a bastard, and Horn gave him the excuse). In other words, if you want to go to town on a character study, or more along the lines of canon, then please, please do, but ftr I would also be happy with pure indulgent smut.

The theme of apparently dead people turning out not to be dead at all comes up repeatedly, so what about an AU where Horn survives, and is only thought to be dead, whether for handwavy reasons or because Siringo thought that if he was thought to be dead, he might be able to use him to outwit Butch.

Optional Prompts

• Pure indulgent smutfic. I’d especially love to see something exploring Siringo’s potential feelings of being out of control, and having unleashed something he’s maybe not quite ready to deal with. Also for this pairing I’m especially here for sex under the stars, rough sex, oral sex, campfire sex, scar worship/comparison, and a potentially repressed man getting borderline dubconned while at the same time being very into it.
• Something set during the second film which digs into how Horn’s canonical death provides Siringo with a further motive to bring Cassidy in, particularly if they were lovers. (It’s fine for Horn not to appear in the fic.)
• One thing I really did like about the second film was Siringo and Sundance travelling together, and Siringo’s attempts to win Sundance over to his side. Assuming Horn’s still dead, maybe they recognise that the other is attracted to men, and Sundance figures out what Siringo’s relationship with Horn really was, adding a whole interesting layer to the relationship Siringo’s trying to build between them, especially if Sundance is playing up the UST, whether or not they actually sleep together.
• Alternatively, how would the second film have played out if Horn had survived? Perhaps if he’s there while Siringo is travelling with Sundance?
• Prison break! Horn did survive the first film after all, and breaks Siringo out of jail after the end of the second. What happens? Do they go after Cassidy? How does the whole having the law turned against him affect Siringo’s moral worldview?
• Hurt/comfort -- they both survive the end of the first film, but are both wounded and have to patch each other up.
• A's Love Language Is Killing B's Enemies And Dropping Them At B's Feet Like A Cat Gifting Dead Mice – With A being Horn. :D Go hard on the loyalty kink, and it’s fine to handwave whatever canon events you need to or ignore them completely.
• Zombie AU – I always love zombies, and there isn’t nearly enough zombie apocalypse stuff set in alternative time periods. Potentially as an excuse to force Siringo to work with Butch and the rest of his gang.
• Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting – I’d love to see the version of Siringo recruiting Horn where they met before, potentially as an anonymous one night stand (although it doesn’t have to be) – maybe he isn’t sure if Horn recognises him, but turns out he does, which leads to complicated feelings. (or just sex. That’s good too.)
• Give me Siringo’s version of the story, in which he very much sees himself as the hero. Is it a case of unreliable narrator, or is he well aware of all the terrible things he’s done, but sees them as a necessary price to pay? (First person and epistolary works, maybe a memoir written in prison are particularly welcome here.)
• I’d love something digging into their onscreen dynamic, exploring how Siringo really feels about Horn's propensity for violence and the way his own moral code is compromised, or if he was just secretly always that much of a bastard and Horn just gave him the excuse. Also here for him being taken aback by how drawn he is to Horn because of how good he is at killing.
• Character Surprised By Their Own Deep Loyalty Feels; Object Of Loyalty Even More Surprised – The tag speaks for itself. :D Here for all the loyalty kink. and for Horn unexpectedly being genuinely loyal to Siringo, even though he might not always obey him
• One character shaves another's face with a straight razor – Ideally Horn shaving Siringo, but the alternative is good too. Bring this about however you can, whether Siringo’s hands have been injured, or maybe they’ve already slept together and this is just an extension of that intimacy. If there’s an undercurrent of mild threat to the shaving and Siringo isn’t entirely comfortable with it, then all the better.
• Only One Bed – Or maybe there is another room and it’s in the brothel next door, so everyone’s expecting Horn to take it, including Siringo (and maybe Horn himself), but actually he ends up sharing Siringo’s room and bed instead and trying to pass it off as being because of his moral uprightedness which literally no one believes for a minute.

Canon-specific DNW: This request is specifically for the first film, and it’s fine for Return to House on Haunted Hill to be ignored. If you do include it, please avoid having the evil in the house being purely due to the Baphomet Idol.

I have a very particular fondness for 90s cheese, architectural horror, and the disparate bunch of people trapped somewhere for *reasons* trope, which is one of my favourite tropes of all time. Add in ghosts, and ohhhh baby, I am there. (As an aside, I'm also a big fan of the original trilogy of Thief games, and the ghost visuals in this were the direct inspiration for the Shalebridge Cradle mission in Thief 3 (possibly one of the best, creepiest missions in anything EVER), so I'm inclined to be kindly predisposed towards this film purely because of that.)

It’s a curious one, because the things that mean it doesn’t work that well as a horror film for me (the CGI smoke-monster climax! The criminal underuse of Dr Vannacutt!) are the exact same things that make the question of what the hell is going on significantly more interesting. The more you dig into the first film, the more it becomes clear that there’s something more going on that just a haunting as a result of what happened at the asylum.

I also find it fascinating that despite Dr Vannacutt being the most prominent ghost (and male), Pritchett refers to the house as female, and specifically as ‘a stupid vengeful whore’ iirc. The Shadow primarily speaks with female voices (and according to one of the extras they used imagery of naked women to create the Rorschach effect). Then there’s the women Price sees while he’s in the Saturation Chamber.

I'd love to see the mythology of the house dug into, because I have a lot of unanswered questions. Like the walled off room we finally see towards the end where Vannacutt used to dump his corpses, and in the middle of the room there’s a chair, just sitting right in front of the rubble, which is the creepiest fucking thing. Why is that chair there? Did Vannacutt sit on it, staring into the rubble, listening to the Shadow talk to him? (And while I’m not hugely keen on the canon introduced by the second film, and I especially dislike the suggestion that the evil in the house is all down to the Baphomet idol, I do quite like the way it expands on the way the house seduces people, the idea of good if flawed people being corrupted, and the suggestion that Vannacutt wasn’t always evil).

And then there’s one of my favourite things about this film: Pritchett, a fucked-up traumatised asshole woobie packed with neuroses, who clearly has a boat-load of issues with the house. It’s not immediately clear whether he actually used to live in the house or not, but he’s clearly spent a lot of time there and he’s familiar with it enough to know the history of the house, his way around the basement, and quite a lot about how it’s haunted, including the existence of the Darkness/Shadow and Dr Vannacutt. I’d love to see something about his previous experiences with it, what happened with his grandfather and father, and what it was like growing up in the vicinity of that house, whether he lived there or not. And I am completely here for the house’s attempts to seduce him.

Other random things I love about this canon: the Saturation Chamber! I’m really drawn to the concept of machines that can drive you insane through sensory experiences, and it’s just the icing on the cake that it takes the form of this extraordinary period-appropriate zoetrope. The relationship between Price and Evelyn! This complicated tangle of love and hatred and contempt, spitting daggers at each other, and him clearly being so desperately in love with her still, while she's so completely batshit. I love her. And the whole thing of there being multiple conflicting agendas, with the three competing guest lists, and even then the house doesn’t get what it wants because of Sara being an imposter.

There are just so many unanswered questions about what it means to be a ghost in that house, how much of it is reenacting the terrible things that happened there, and how much free will they have, and to what extent they’re being controlled by the house, and just… damn, I don’t know, but dig into it as much as you want.

The sequel flattens out most of the unexpected wrinkles in the worldbuilding, and is mostly forgettable, so I don’t really recommend watching it (although I will admit to being delighted by Steven Pacey and Andrew Lee Potts’ inclusion in the cast), but what it does do is develop the idea of people being corrupted and seduced by the house, with one line being: ‘Vannacutt was known for being a brilliant physician and great humanitarian. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in the '20s. But somehow, this great man went from saving people to butchering them’ and oof.

The whole trope of otherwise good-but-flawed people getting corrupted to evil and doing terrible things (and there’s no doubt that he’s done terrible things) gets me right in the id. Corruption and redemption arcs are welcome in all their forms for either character, as is the all-encompassing guilt that comes from realising what you’ve done. I’m also just generally interested in the idea of them finding common ground as fellow victims of the house, even if Vannacutt remains wholly evil, and that would affect how they might relate to each other, before and after Pritchett’s death. And pre-canon too – why does Pritchett react like that to finding out Vannacutt’s around?

The gen dynamics of this pairing and all the opportunities for horror fascinate me just as much, but shipwise, anything is welcome, from fucked up extremely dubious consent, where the sex is part of the house’s way of torturing Pritchett (potentially with some medical kink mixed in, but anything where Pritchett gets strapped down?), to anything on the enemy-fucking scale, to something a little more sympathetic where we do actually get a glimpse of a glimmer of goodness in Vannacutt. Or maybe the house is fucking with them both by making them fuck each other?

Optional Prompts

• This House has a Personality and that Personality is Fucked Up – And adolescence is tough enough as it is, without having to go through it while you're living in a haunted house that can't seem to decide whether it wants to fuck you or kill you.
• Explore the deaths of Pritchett's father and grandfather, because it feels like there are a lot of unanswered questions there. Did the house exert any influence over them? Could Pritchett’s father have murdered his grandfather? How did his father really die?
• A both hates and loves how good the sex with B is – Vannacutt/Pritchett (because the more I think about shipping them, the harder I ship them.)
• Character is forced to work with someone who scares them – I’m intrigued by what it means to be a ghost and how much free will they have. Pritchett has to work with Vannacutt for reasons (especially delighted by the idea of this considering how Pritchett crapped himself when he recognised Vannacutt’s description).
• So how does Pritchett manage to resist the Shadow at the end in order to free Sara and Eddie, when seemingly no one else was able to resist?
• Something revolving around the stained glass ceiling, because creepy though it is is just suggest a marginally less evil side to Vannacutt and the idea of good people being corrupted by evil will always fascinate me.
• Character with trauma is freaked out and turned on by getting tied up – Specifically thinking of Pritchett here, the poor little bastard. XD
• Conversations In Liminal Spaces On The Border Of One World And Another – Ghost!Pritchett and ghost!Vannacutt have a conversation.
• Evil!Pritchett – A canon-divergent fic where Pritchett isn’t so resistant to the house. How would that affect canon?
• Entering someone's dreams/nightmares – Vannacutt and/or the Shadow enter Pritchett’s dreams, where pre-, during, or post-canon.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Pritchett travels back in time to the 20s-30s, and finds himself caught up in events at the asylum. Could he potentially change the way events pan out? (The actual fix-it is optional here)
• Time Travel - Character meets their child self – Ghost!Pritchett realises it’s possible to travel through time and interact with his younger self.
• Vannacutt manages to escape the house. There’s a deleted scene (after the credits roll in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdo8voI87LI) in which Vannacutt brings the real Jennifer Jenzen to the house, and another scene where his spot being tortured is taken by Price. Which leads me to wonder if it’s possible for him to buy his freedom, or if he’s figured out a way to outwit the house.
• Explore what the hell was going on with that chair. Was Vannacutt listening to the Darkness, or was it potentially a seduction/sex thing?
• Corruption Arc – Either for Vannacutt or for Pritchett. Or, conversely, a redemption arc for Vannacutt, or Vannacutt getting a redemption arc while Pritchett goes the other way. I really love the idea of the house seducing people into evil (the second film goes harder on that, and iirc explicitly states that Vannacutt wasn’t always a monster), and the question of whether someone who’s done terrible things can really be redeemed.
• Eldritch Architecture – I’d love to see something that goes hard on the Lovecraftian elements in the plot, the idea of this ancient nameless evil existing even before the house was built, and of what the Darkness at the heart of the house really is.
• Tentacles made them do it – Probably no surprises that I have Pritchett/Vannacutt in mind here.

Terrible people doing terrible things! :D

I don’t know what it says about me that I find the tattoo-parlour scene in particular distractingly hot (probably nothing good XD), but the reason why I ship these two can almost certainly be traced to that scene.

The bit in the scene where Bob and Creepy go after Billy, and having terrorised him, Bob dances around him and then just straight up throws himself into his lap? And then, THEN, still sitting in said lap, he goes on to nestle his head against Billy’s chest while still menacing him and waving a gun around? Mmmph. The gun kink, the dancing, the casual touching and violation of personal space, the apparent total confidence in whatever the fucking hell his sexuality is, the gun kink... Oh GOD did I mention the gun kink? MORE OF THAT SORT OF THING PLEASE.

I am here for anything that explores their relationship, with Dinosaur Bob as the semi-smart, marginally more pulled-together one, and Creepy as the subservient tagalong one who looks to Bob and defers to him in just about everything. They’re simultaneously menacing but ultimately so tragically pathetic, and I just want to see more of their dynamic. I ship them so hard too: Creepy has a bad case of hero-worship when it comes to Bob, and Bob is, uh, clearly pretty comfortable getting up close and personal with other men.

Tropewise, for these two, I especially like anything where they’re in some way in denial about their sexuality, whether it’s a case of situational homosexuality, ‘no homo’ bro-sex, gay chicken, pining while having sex that definitely isn’t gay, or sex under the influence (look, they’re basically off their tits on meth for the entirety of the film, so if they’re having sex that’s probably inevitable), but there is almost no fic for this fandom, and nothing for these two, so anything goes. Is there a degree of internalised homophobia or have they just never really thought that hard about it? Or alternatively, maybe they’re both just fine with their sexualities actually, even if they’re keeping it on the downlow because their boss would very definitely not approve. (For the record their boss only appears in cut-scenes and the only cut scene I’ve been able to watch is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-tTmLLxIU&t=1s)

Maybe a canon-divergent fic where Bob gets shot but not killed outright, so Creepy has to look after him. I have no idea what hurt/comfort would look like for these two, but damn do I want to see it. :D Or maybe a pre-canon scene that investigates whatever the fuck they were up to before they showed up at Watty’s place. Also gun kink. Aaaaall the gun kink. I like how vaguely submissive Creepy is towards Bob, and the more you can capture Dinosaur Bob’s physicality the better as far as I’m concerned.

Finally I get such Sketchy and Skeezy from Z Nation vibes from them, (the one smartish one, one goofy one dynamic, the criminal behaviour, the homoerotic undertones, the meth) to the point where I’m semi-wondering if they were the inspiration for Sketchy and Skeezy. so if you want to do a Z Nation crossover, then PLEASE DO, whether they run into anyone in the main cast, or Sketchy and Skeezy, or a fusion where they take over the Sketchy and Skeezy roles. Or just a zombie apocalypse wholly unaffiliated with Z Nation.

Optional Prompts

• Gun Kink – Yeeeep. This is a pretty good canon for gun kink. I’m here for anything from caressing the other party with a gun, whether tenderly or with an air of menace, to actual insertion or fellating of a gun.
• 'Platonic' porn-watching and mutual masturbation session leads to sex – Because they’re horny and bored and there’s definitely nothing gay about this.
• "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse – All the ‘sex while pining and in denial’ energy please.
• A/B Seduce C into a Threesome; Then A/B Realize They Only Want Each Other – I’m specifically thinking of Billy for C here, because his entire dynamic with them, and it way it flips their roles delights me, but alternatively go with an OC, possibly a woman because I like the opportunities for ‘pining while in denial’.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – Bonding over substance misuse and/or sex under the influence.
• First Meeting – Explore their backstory. How did they meet? In prison or elsewhere? How did they get on the first time they met
• Alternate Universe - John Wick (Movies) Setting – In which they are (terrible) international assassins. Either that or they’re just tagging along with an old acquaintance who is an assassin, and maybe they’re just knocking about the Continental while plot happens all around them.
• The awkward situation that results when you’re inadvertently on the periphery of a Bad Guys Made Them Do It situation between two men and it leads to the awakening of feelings.
• Forced proximity – they have to hole up for a while for reasons, and have to share a hotel room, which potentially leads to sharing a bed, watching pay per view porn, and whatever other forced proximity tropes you can come up with.
• Handcuffed together – Whether for the purposes of plot, or purely as an excuse for filthy PWP porn.
• Bob injures his hands, which leads to him getting a caretaking handjob or oral sex from Creepy.
• They meet up with Watty and Star under different circumstances a couple of years down the line.
• AU where they are the wanted fugitives on a road trip as they try to escape to Mexico.
• A From Dusk Till Dawn (the film version) fusion. Bob and Creepy follow Watty and Star to Mexico, but their stand-off is interrupted by vampires and they need to work together to survive.
• Platonic bed sharing and the accompanying unfortunately timed boners.
• Morning after (amazing sex the night before) – All the awkward aftermath please, possibly with optional ‘did that really happen?’ binge-related amnesia.

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with Dan or Herbert being nonconned (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body (from the autopsy presumably, but WHAT IF...), and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of zombie apocalypses, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I waaaant it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost.

Note on my DNWs: It’s fine to include references to the attempted rape in canon. Anything up to and including extremely dubious consent is fine for this canon.

For this canon, I’m open to receiving either Shepard and Julian, or Shephard and Iris, so you don’t have to include all three characters.

Shepard Lambrick & Julian Lambrick

Fucked-up Lambrick family dynamics please! :D While the film itself doesn’t do too much digging into the Lambrick family, it sets up a lot of hints that seem like they’d be very fun to dig into. Like, what the deal is with the Lambrick Foundation, and everything to do with the games, past, present and future. And especially the relationship between Julian and his father, which I find deeply uncomfortable to watch but in an extremely satisfying way (much like the film itself XD). Julian is a terrible excuse for a human being, but it’s pretty clear at least part of the reason he’s so sadistic and screwed up and ultimately a cringing little worm (that bit where he’s cowering under the table much to Shepard’s contempt? Oof) is because of having Shepard as a father. And god, Shepard: from his first appearance where he’s putting on the thinnest veneer of philanthropy possible to the way he manipulates the proceedings of the game, terrorising basically everyone except Bevans? Even when things are going wrong, he’s never less than in control. He’s a genuinely terrifying villain and an absolute blast to watch.

Every moment Shepard and Julian interact is gold, and I would very much like to know more about their relationship. There are some interesting wrinkles there: the whole thing about Shepard being glad that Julian’s finally taking an interest in the Foundation, the question of what happened with Julian’s mother, the way Shepard reacts when he finds out about Julian’s attempt to sexually assault Iris, and whatever happens between them off-screen when Shepard excuses himself to talk to Julian… It shouldn’t be that hard for Julian to live up to his father, right, and yet he keeps failing and disappointing his father again and again, and yeeeeah, I’m not sure Shepard Lambrick is a man you really want to disappoint.

I’d love to see exploration of other games, whether in the past or the future, alternative ways the game in the film could have gone, what Julian’s childhood was like, what happened to his mother, how the whole thing came about in the first place. Even just a fic exploring the day-to-day running of the Foundation, which might seem entirely normal on the surface, but with occasional glimpses behind the curtain to suggest that something is very, very badly wrong, like glimpses of ex-players who are now working for the Lambricks. How many of them are morally compromised in the way that Dr Barden was, and how many have willingly, even eagerly, embraced everything Shepard had to offer?

I’m fascinated by the way Shepard manipulates everyone around him (including his family?), and the way he seems to be building up this network of people who are complicit in murder, and what his motivations for doing that might be. Or the consequences of the game we see in canon: what will Iris do next given her reason for playing is now gone? Will she make use of Shepard’s patronage any way or turn against him?

And then there’s Lucas. Watching the film for the first time, I was convinced he was going to turn out to be the other Lambrick brother, and to have been a ringer in on it all along. It would probably have been too obvious a twist, but story-wise and character-wise the possibilities are delicious, and I am so so here for Lucas and Julian as siblings with a fucked-up codependent relationship: Lucas as the golden child, the one who has the guts to actually take part in the games himself, risking genuine physical pain and potential harm (short of death because they've been rigged just enough) because that’s what his father’s ‘rules’ call for, with Julian as the weaker son who can never live up to his father’s legacy. (The film ultimately doesn’t really bear this out, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the eye injury could have been faked, and maaaaybe the death too if you squint. And hey, that's what AUs are for.)

It throws an interesting spin on Julian’s bitterness, and on some of Lucas’s behaviour in the game, and the possibility that he too is pushing back against his father. Or maybe the reason he gives the others a chance to run is to give Julian the chance to go after her, because because he’s doing it for his brother or because he knows how his father will react. I particularly love the idea of Shepard taking a hands-off approach to discipline, but manipulating them into punishing each other instead.

If you do go this route, I am absolutely here for Lucas and Julian having an incestuous relationship. Perhaps one which they think their father doesn’t know about, although actually not only does he know about it, he’s quietly done everything in his power to encourage it. (Or for extra fucked-up vibes, Lucas knows their father knows, but Julian doesn’t.)

Optional Prompts

• Something Lovecraftian – Because apparently I’m almost incapable of requesting an entirely non-Lovecraftian film with Jeffrey Combs in it without going ‘Yeah, but what if Lovecraft though?’ On the one hand, you could just take this film at face value, but on the other there does seem to be an odd sense of duty about the way Shepard treats the games, with his attention to the rules and tradition, so what if the Foundation and the games have some kind of supernatural reason for existing?
• Antagonism - characters don't like each other but nobody else understands them this well Characters who can't stand each other would also die for each other
• Daddy Issues – Because if there was ever a character with hang-ups over his father, it’s Julian Lambrick.
• Fantasies about murdering your father – Whether a 5+1 fic about the times Julian has thought about killing his father throughout his life, or something a bit more involved, where he’s actually seriously thinking about going through with it. Or dreaming about doing it. Will he ever have the guts? Does Shepard know? (And if Lucas is involved, maybe the two of them plotting together as part of some fucked-up sexual fantasy, but actually Lucas is telling Shepard about it)
• Shepard is beginning to have doubts about whether Julian really has the necessary qualities to follow in his footsteps. Maybe he decides to give Julian one last chance.
• A fucked-up slice of life fic following the everyday operations of the Lambrick Foundation.
• Something investigating Shepard’s relationship with his son in contrast to Shepard’s relationship with his own father.
• What was the first game like? Did it happen under Shepard, or was it something that he inherited? If the latter, then what was his experience of his first game like?

Shepard Lambrick & Iris, Shepard Lambrick/Iris

And then there’s my Iris &/ Shepard requests. Whether entirely platonic or shippy (in whatever form that takes) or something in between, these have so much potential to be utterly fucked up and uncomfortable in a way that very much appeals to me. Given Shepard’s ongoing relationship with Dr Barden at the start of the film, it can be assumed that he makes a habit of taking a continuing interest in the winners of his games, and his ‘Call me Shep’ at the end of the film (*shiver*) suggests that it’s going to be the same sort of situation with Iris, and that he’s going to follow her career through college with an eye to manipulating into a position where she can be of some use to him. And oh dear fucking god, that’s creepy.

The situation at the end of the film throws that completely out of joint though, and I go back and forth on which way she might go. Her primary reason for taking part in the game has gone, but it’s also one of the few things that Shepard isn’t responsible for, and I could go either way on whether she chooses to take advantage of Shepard’s patronage or not.

And Shepard himself is such a bundle of conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he’s a fucked-up, sadistic, manipulative arsehole who gets a kick out of psychological and physical torture (he’s just enjoying himself so much), but on the other hand he really does seem to run the games by a certain set of rules and maybe a sick sort of honour, which almost makes him more terrifying in a way. I’m thinking of the moment when he apologises to Iris for Julian’s behaviour – in a way that touch on her shoulder makes my skin crawl more than the attempted rape. It’s all very messy and uncomfortable, and one of the reasons why I love this fucked up little film so much, aside from how tense and claustrophobic it is.

What if the situation leads him to take even more of an interest in her than he usually would? Or perhaps his additional interest is in reaction to something she does? Maybe every now and then one of the players of the game does something to genuinely surprise him, and something about her draws him to her, to the point, perhaps, where he starts to shape her into a potential protoge. (Which Julian isn’t exactly happy about naturally).

As for the shippy version a lot of the appeal of this is how deeply fucked up it would be, and the deal with the devil vibes it would have, and Iris telling herself that she’s going into it with her eyes open because she knows what a monster he is, and finding herself in way over her head anyway. What does it take for this to come about?

Optional Prompts

• Enemies to Lovers - Enemy tenderly treats character's injuries that the enemy inflicted – Whether this follows on directly from the end of the film, or relates to a whole new injury that Iris has sustained, I am so completely here for this. Or alternatively, what if Shepard is the one who’s been injured at Iris’s hands. It’s a couple of years down the line and, trying to get her revenge on him, she’s taken him to an isolated cabin while his people hunt for them. Only she isn’t sure whether she can really bring herself to kill someone again. Manipulation ensues.
• Antagonist Surprises With Honourable Behavior – ‘honourable’ according to Shepard’s judgement, anyway. Because he really does seem to have a fucked-up code of his own when it comes to the games, even if that is just one of his manipulation techniques. But he honours his promises, and Iris finds herself conflicted.
• Breathplay - top/dom likes getting choked – Consider this an exception to my Breathplay DNW. Shepard has a thing about being choked. Iris obliges because she just hates him so much. They’re both drawn to the element of risk: him because he knows she might well kill him if she was capable of it, she’s not sure if she is capable of it, but knows that if she takes it too far it could end very badly for her.
• Captivity – For one reason or another, Shepard decides it’s necessary to have Iris quietly disposed of, but he’s unwilling to have her killed so imprisons her instead.
• Character has their face shaved with a straight razor (by someone they have reason to distrust) – Having established a sexual relationship, although still aware that there’s good chance she’d like to kill him, Shepard lets Iris shave him. What appeals to me here is the sexual tension and Iris’s ever-present temptation to just cut his throat and have done with it.
• Character Trains a Protege – Ohhh baby. Explore this however you want to, whether the focus is on the beginning of the process or if you start with her taking her place as a witness to a game. Is Iris all in (for whatever reason), or does she still have her doubts, or is she working against him somehow? And what exactly is Julian doing in all of this?
• Slow Seduction/Corruption Arc – So uncomfortably hot, whatever form the seduction takes, whether it’s about sex or a moral corruption. I am absolutely here for a sexual relationship developing between them, but also her originally resisting him trying to use her for his own ends once she’s gone through college, and his attempts to bring her around, finding her a job, etc.
• Outsider POV of a 'date' between Shepard and Iris. Especially if its clearly deeply uncomfortable, but to the outsider it just looks like a normal date between a solicitous older man and a younger woman (aside from maybe a couple of out-of-place moments).
• Possessiveness - No One Is Allowed to Hurt You Except Me – Times when Shepard went out of his way to protect Iris.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – After the game, Iris is struggling to recover from the experience.
• Scar Worship – Specifically that stab-wound. But also, maybe Shepard has one or two scars of his own.

Thanks for reading!

FiaB 2023 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. I tend to use freeforms to trigger ideas and suggestions, but they are purely to give you ideas of the sort of thing I like. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• The 4400 (2004)
• Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch (2023 Movie Duology)
• Dr Mordrid (1992)
• Evil Dead (Movies and TV)
• House on Haunted Hill (1999)
• Interzone (1987)
• The Lurking Fear (1994)
• Re-Animator (Movies)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Would You Rather? (2012)

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror of all kinds, understated ghost stories, body horror, cosmic horror, claustophibic horror where the characters are trapped underground, potentially with monsters (think The Descent), etc.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) fire-forged relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and being able to rely on no one but each other.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• Omegaverse
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)
• Focus on AIDS/HIV

(I understand there are post-canon novels available, but I haven’t read them yet. It’s fine to disregard them and purely go off the series.)

Although the wheels started to come off by the end, on the whole I loved this weird convoluted little puzzle box of a show in its entirety. I wish we’d got more closure about the future and the catastrophe and everything that was going to happen. Right up to the end I genuinely couldn’t predict where it was going to go and how things were going to shake out, and I just had so much fun watching it and trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the implications were.

This is one of those I love everyone in this bar kind of shows. I love all the different characters and their various relationships, Maia and Diana, Tom and Diana, Marco, and Lily and Richard, and Shawn, god, Shawn.

Shawn and Maia are probably the two characters I came away loving the most: they’re both so young and complicated, and I’d be really fascinated to see how they both deal with everything post-canon. I had my doubts about Isabelle (the whole super-fast-aging eldritch baby turns out hot thing), but actually I really loved her too by the end, especially after she lost her abilities.

And then there’s all the time stuff. It’s kind of superheroes-by-stealth, and I really love how it’s an upside down version of the X-Men while not being anything of the kind, and the way it focuses on the day-to-day realities of a situation like this by mostly following NTAC (and god, I ADORE Tom and Diana’s rock-solid, loving, affectionate, I-would-die-for-this-person friendship <3<3<3)

And then there's all the fucked up time weirdness and the way it’s cosmic horror adjacent. The show even gives a nod to Lovecraft at one point and specifically to A Shadow out of Time, in which people swap minds with impossibly alien creatures from the far future, which is so fascinating giving everything revealed in the later episodes. Plus, even the supposed good guys of the future are capable of being incredibly spectacularly cruel: witness their kidnapping and erasure of Maia from the timeline, plus virtually everything about Kevin and Tess. We never really learn that much about the people from the future – on the one hand, I’d like answers, but on the other, I’m actually really glad the show ultimately left that sort of ambiguous. What I keep coming back to is that all we know about the future is what the future tells us, which has the potential to be spectacularly creepy. If you want to play with even the good guys of the future turning out to be neither as good or as human as they claim, then please do.

And time stuff: how does the butterfly affect change the original plan of the people from the future? If Isabelle was meant to destroy the 4400s and she is actively working against the plan, then what does that mean for the promicin developed later in the series? I think Kevin even says at one point that it’s different from his. So how might things have played out if Isabelle had never been sent back and the original plan had played out with Kevin’s promicin becoming more slowly available, perhaps with fewer deaths because he’s able to figure out the compatibility test earlier?

And then I have a bunch of other questions. Like what the hell was going on with Cassie? What parts of the plot were down to the good future people and which the bad future people? How will things play out post-series? Does Jordan actually manage to clear the interloper and what happens if he doesn’t? Play with the butterfly effect: give me a Sliding Doors style thing which explores different timelines, or a canon-divergent fic, or character studies of any of the characters. Or a future-fic which looks at what happens a significant length of time post-canon.

(And yet another goofy crossover possibility, but the nod to Re-Animator in this series delights me. If you want to do a crossover where Herbert is one of the 4400 and maybe possibly meets up with Kevin, then PLEASE DO.)

Jordan Collier/Shawn Farrell

As much as I love all the other relationships that appear in the show, the one between Jordan and Shawn is ultimately the central relationship of the show: these two as diametrically-opposed messiahs, each of them wanting to do what’s best for everyone, but ultimately ending up on opposite sides.

And they’re still like that at the end – the issue with promicin still hasn’t gone away. Jordan still wants everyone in the world to take the shot, Shawn wants to save as many lives as possible, and still has Kevin potentially developing a test to determine whether anyone taking it will be able to survive, so that conflict between them is still there. At one point it felt like the show was setting up Jordan vs Isabelle, and it kiiiinda was, but more than that, what it was actually setting up was this weird, complicated push-pull relationship between Shawn and Jordan, and goddamn, am I here for seeing that explored.

And Shawn, god I love him so much. Everything he’s been through, everything he’s lost: his fucked-up relationship with Isabelle, and his brother, and the pressure on his shoulders. I forget, sometimes, watching it, just how painfully young he is, given he was still in high school at the start of the series, and the series only really unfolds over a couple of years. He’s really just a kid, but he’s had to shoulder this massive burden and responsibility while getting his heart ripped out and stamped on at every turn. Taking over the 4400 centre after Jordan’s death (and his GRIEF when that happens), and trying to steer a middle path and shift the centre away from Jordan’s extremely cult-like trappings to something more genuine, and then Jordan comes back as a kind of smug Jesus (not a complaint: what other kind of Jesus would Jordan Collier be?) and starts a whole new cult, and just… oof.

Can that middle path be steered? Which of them is right? To what extent does Jordan believe his new world heaven on earth bullshit, or is it just more of him being a businessman and creating the image he knows what everyone wants to see? I do believe he is, at least to some extent, sincere, but at the same time some part of his nature remains, and he was always manipulative and stubborn.

What exactly is this vision of the face of god he’s talking about or heaven on earth? Right up until the end I didn’t know if Jordan was going to prove to be a force for good or bad, and I still can’t tell, but then I think about his for the world being 100% promicin positive, and I think about how many deaths that means, and yeeeeeah, that probably ain’t great.

Explore any point of their relationship, from the manipulative early days when Shawn was starting to find his feet, to the later seasons where Shawn has taken over the centre and has grown more used to power and leadership.

Optional Prompts

• I seem to remember Matthew suggesting he knew Jordan was back before Jordan made his appearance at the wedding. What if the Marked got hold of him earlier and turned him into one of them then, so that he’s marked right from the moment he turns up. How would that change things? How does Shawn figure out that there might be a way to save him.
• A fic revolving around Shawn removing the Mark from Jordan after they escape in the final episode. Does he get tempted at any point simply to let Jordan die?
• I do love a nightmare post-apocalyptic hellscape so explore that all you want. Perhaps Shawn and Jordan find themselves trapped together in one of Jordan’s nightmarish visions of the future and have to work together to survive. Maybe they really are trapped, or maybe they’re shared dreams. If the latter, is Jordan behind them?
• Jordan and Shawn are the subject of one of Curtis Peck’s terrible, terrible films, which predicts Jordan’s death and the identity of his murderer before Jordan is killed. Oh, and also, Jordan and Shawn are an item in the film.
• A 5+1 fic exploring the way their relationship changes over the course of the show.
• A Sliding Doors fic that looks at different ways the timeline could have gone. What if Jordan hadn’t been killed, or if Shawn had been able to save him?
• Maia makes a prediction that not only are Shawn and Jordan going to end up on the same side, they’re also going to end up lovers.
• So what if things happen differently with Danny and the promicin virus spreads beyond Seattle, so Shawn isn’t able to take him out of the picture until it’s too late? Maybe he gets kidnapped by a splinter-group who don’t agree with Jordan’s insistence that everyone has to choose to get the shot, who want to deliberately use him to infect the world. And Shawn and Jordan have to team up to rescue him (although exactly how sincere is Jordan about that? Ultimately there are always going to be some people who refuse to get the shot).
• Shawn is injured and Jordan has to tend to his wounds.
• What the hell was going on with Cassie and all the White Light cult stuff? Was it the result of inconvenient 4400s being sent back in the time line and still retaining some memory of what was going on?

Kevin Burkhoff/Tess Doerner

The relationship between these two hits me so hard in the id, it makes me a little bit giddy. The age gap, the protectiveness, the complete unwavering mutual devotion, the (also mutual) caretaking, all the potential for guilt and grief, and just in general all the complexities of their relationship. It was made for me, and I feel so spoiled that it happened. :D

They are so, so affectionate with each other. I do kinda wish their relationship came across as a little more explicitly sexual on-screen, but I can headcanon that as Kevin feeling guilty about the age gap, which actually is canon given the moment in the penultimate episode where he tries to break up with her (I’ll settle for hugs, kisses and forehead pressing *sobs*). I am very much here for younger characters pursuing older ones and for the older characters feeling weird and guilty as hell about it, but they just adore each other so much, and again SPOILED. I also love the weirdness of her being so much younger than him despite having been born in the thirties.

Given the weird not-quite-superheroes vibe of this show, it absolutely cracks me up how ridiculously incongruously badass they both are. He can heal himself from any wound! She has insanely powerful mind control and can essentially create her own army! And what do they mainly use those abilities for? SCIENCE. Tess in particular is fucking terrifying. The scene where she rescues Kevin from Promisetown? Just gathering up a bunch of 4400s and using their powers for herself? They never quite explored the full ramifications of her powers or how far they spread, but yeeeeah.

There’s an argument to be made that she’s the most powerful 4400 after Isabelle (and it cracks me up the way they kept having to dose her with kryptonite pack her off to visit her grandniece to get her out of the way. It’s not a perfect show, but it’s imperfections are part of what I find so delightful XD).

And that leads me to another thing about their relationship: the sheer casual indifferent cruelty of how they came together in the first place, with Tess being sent back purely to cure his paranoid personality disorder (but only just enough so that he’s able to develop promicin; not to the point where he necessarily has good judgement or is fully capable of making ethical judgements or anything). Just, oof, how guilty would Kevin feel learning the circumstances of how he came to be healed? While the show never really touches on it, it colours so much of their relationship going forwards, and I would love to see that explored.

They also sort of act as a mirror to Lily and Richard, another couple who have been semi-destined to be together. I mentioned the incongruousness of Kevin and Tess's abilities, and there’s a weird fucked-up sort of synergy about how they seem designed to protect each other. Like, yes, okay, maybe Kevin’s invulnerability is to protect his promicin-research, but it also means that when Tess has a schizophrenic break he’s able to survive anything she does to him, and he’s devoted enough to hang on in there. The more you start to tease out the implications, the more the cruelty starts to show itself, so dig into that all you want.

Go with something plotty if you want, but for these two I would just love to wallow in something indulgent smut or hurt/comfort. Or just explore missing scenes – so much of their relationship development happens off-screen. And I am so, so here for tender, gentle (and maaaaaybe just slightly guilty) smut I cannot even say.

Optional Prompts

• A bad guys win!AU in which Marked!Jordan Collier is removing the abilities of the p-positives, while the original 4400s are being hunted down one by one. Tess and Kevin go on the run.
• Their reunion after Tess gets out of hospital happens off-screen. I would love to see how that went, and how they came to be working together. There’s so much potential for everything I love here: his guilt over how he came to be cured, and the hurt/comfort as the promicin side effects get worse.
• Yet another thing that happens off-screen: how they got together as a couple in the first place. Given that they kiss just after he’s sloughed off his skin, clearly something was happening while he was still scarred, and oh god that DELIGHTS me. Him being so ashamed of it and not wanting her to see her like that, her being so into him anyway? Mmph.
• The first time they sleep together.
• Oof, that scene where he says goodbye in the hospital (the book, the kiss on the cheek, the hairtouching). It isn’t clear how much Kevin has realised at that point and whether he understands that it was Tess who cured him, but he’s a smart man: he’ll figure it out quickly. I’d love something exploring his grief and survivor’s guilt over the way things panned out (and I adore early Kevin where he’s still adjusting to being cured, spitting sunflower seeds in the general direction of the bin and not quite having shaken off his mental illness yet).
• Thanks to a 4400’s ability akin to the one in No Exit, Kevin and Tess and a bunch of other people find themselves trapped in an alternate universe. Except that this one is a superhero AU, and they specifically have to use their abilities as superheroes. Mainly because I find it so amusing that the least badass people get the most badass abilities. (and it also cracks me up how the various abilities were basically magic by the end.)
• They reunite after the end of the series.
• Something fluffy and sweet and indulgent where another handwavey 4400 ability allows Kevin and Tess the opportunity to go back in time and give her the Sweet 16 birthday party she never got to experience. Maybe something that works along similar lines to Alana’s, so they don’t lose any time in the real world, and this is set during the penultimate episode, right before he sends her away, and it’s a little respite for them, and perhaps the other people at the party can’t see them? And it’s sweet and romantic and a little bit hot, but also sort of uncomfortable for Kevin given everything that happened in the diner. And play with the age thing: on the one hand it reminds him how young she is, but at the same time he hadn’t actually been born yet.

This is going to be a bit of a shorter request, mainly because I’m throwing it in last minute, but please don’t think that means I want this any less. These films, starting with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (the 2023 version), which is followed up by the sequel Butch vs Sundance, aren’t perfect by any means, but I found them a lot of fun to watch, the first one especially. They’re free on Tubi, but I’m not sure if they’re available elsewhere – I had to use a VPN to access them. I enjoyed the first film more, although I did appreciate a lot of what the second film tried to do, (and ftr I ship the Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid/Etta Place OT3 too, and the only reason I’m not requesting it here is because wording the request is completely beyond me right now).

Horn is only in the first film and I was a little disappointed with how the sequel defanged Siringo a little – he wasn’t nearly as much as a bastard as he was in the first film. OTOH that bit where he slams Sundance into the bars of the cell? HOT. (Also the whole section where Siringo and Sundance are travelling together and all the testing his loyalty stuff? I’m not quite sure it pulled off what it was trying to do, but I would have been very very into what it was trying to do had it managed to do it, so I think of it fondly for that reason alone. Kiiiiinda shipping Siringo/Sundance a little bit too, ngl. XD)

Charles Siringo/Tom Horn

Oof, the height difference alone. *hearteyes* But I also adore their dynamic so much: in their first scene together, Siringo approvingly watching Horn beat the shit out of someone for the crime of stealing a chicken. Giving him a badge and turning Horn into his monster on a leash, standing back and watching him work: all of that is golden. The potential for loyalty kink is delicious, and it’s all the better for how Siringo is actually barely in control of Horn a lot of the time, with innocent people getting hurt as a result, but even so Horn remains completely loyal to Siringo throughout.

I would love to see that whole dynamic dug into, and I am so fucking here to see them having a sexual relationship, possibly one that reflects their dynamic onscreen – Siringo having maaaaybe bitten off more than he can chew, and not quite being in control, but at the same time doing his damndest to maintain the appearance of being in control.

Siringo fascinates me – why is he so intent on bringing Cassidy in? Does it just come down to him being obsessed with the law? I’m also really drawn to the question of morality, and the way his association with Horn leads to him compromising his moral values. (Or not. Maybe he was always that much of a bastard, and Horn just gives him the excuse). In other words, if you want to go to town on a character study, then please, please do, but ftr I would also be happy with pure indulgent smut.

The theme of apparently dead people turning out not to be dead at all comes up repeatedly, so what about an AU where Horn survives, and is only thought to be dead, whether for handwavy reasons or because Siringo thought that if he was thought to be dead, he might be able to use him to outwit Butch.

Optional Prompts

• Pure indulgent smutfic. I’d especially love to see something exploring Siringo’s potential feelings of being out of control, and having unleashed something he’s maybe not quite ready to deal with. Also for this pairing I’m especially here for sex under the stars, rough sex, oral sex, campfire sex, scar worship/comparison, and a potentially repressed man getting borderline dubconned while at the same time being very into it.
• Something set during the second film which digs into how Horn’s canonical death provides Siringo with a further motive to bring Cassidy in, particularly if they were lovers. (It’s fine for Horn not to appear in the fic.)
• One thing I really did like about the second film was Siringo and Sundance travelling together, and Siringo’s attempts to win Sundance over to his side. Assuming Horn’s still dead, maybe they recognise that the other is attracted to men, and Sundance figures out what Siringo’s relationship with Horn really was, adding a whole interesting layer to the relationship Siringo’s trying to build between them, especially if Sundance is playing up the UST, whether or not they actually sleep together.
• Alternatively, how would the second film have played out if Horn had survived? Perhaps if he’s there while Siringo is travelling with Sundance?
• Prison break! Horn did survive the first film after all, and breaks Siringo out of jail after the end of the second. What happens? Do they go after Cassidy? How does the whole having the law turned against him affect Siringo’s moral worldview?
• Hurt/comfort -- they both survive the end of the first film, but are both wounded and have to patch each other up.
• A's Love Language Is Killing B's Enemies And Dropping Them At B's Feet Like A Cat Gifting Dead Mice – With A being Horn. :D Go hard on the loyalty kink, and it’s fine to handwave whatever canon events you need to or ignore them completely.
• Zombie AU – I always love zombies, and there isn’t nearly enough zombie apocalypse stuff set in alternative time periods. Potentially as an excuse to force Siringo to work with Butch and the rest of his gang.
• Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting – I’d love to see the version of Siringo recruiting Horn where they met before, potentially as an anonymous one night stand (although it doesn’t have to be) – maybe he isn’t sure if Horn recognises him, but turns out he does, which leads to complicated feelings. (or just sex. That’s good too.)
• Give me Siringo’s version of the story, in which he very much sees himself as the hero. Is it a case of unreliable narrator, or is he well aware of all the terrible things he’s done, but sees them as a necessary price to pay? (First person and epistolary works, maybe a memoir written in prison are particularly welcome here.)
• I’d love something digging into their onscreen dynamic, exploring how Siringo really feels about Horn's propensity for violence and the way his own moral code is compromised, or if he was just secretly always that much of a bastard and Horn just gave him the excuse. Also here for him being taken aback by how drawn he is to Horn because of how good he is at killing.
• Character Surprised By Their Own Deep Loyalty Feels; Object Of Loyalty Even More Surprised – The tag speaks for itself. :D Here for all the loyalty kink. and for Horn unexpectedly being genuinely loyal to Siringo, even though he might not always obey him
• One character shaves another's face with a straight razor – Ideally Horn shaving Siringo, but the alternative is good too. Bring this about however you can, whether Siringo’s hands have been injured, or maybe they’ve already slept together and this is just an extension of that intimacy. If there’s an undercurrent of mild threat to the shaving and Siringo isn’t entirely comfortable with it, then all the better.
• Only One Bed – Or maybe there is another room and it’s in the brothel next door, so everyone’s expecting Horn to take it, including Siringo (and maybe Horn himself), but actually he ends up sharing Siringo’s room and bed instead and trying to pass it off as being because of his moral uprightedness which literally no one believes for a minute.

Such a weird little gem of a film, even though it’s so short, (and not in a ‘told all the story they want to tell’ way, but in a ‘straight-up forgot to include the third act’ way). While I wish it was longer, I still found it very fun to watch, and I ship Sam and Anton so hard. There’s so much space to expand on the worldbuilding, and the storyline, and the relationship between Anton and Kabal. I wish that it had got all that, and that it had got the sequels it was meant to, but mainly, if I had one Dr Mordrid-related wish…?

One of the reviews I read of this film somewhere said that it felt like the pilot for a TV show, and YES, that is exactly what it feels like. Somewhere there is a parallel universe in which this was a pilot, and went on to spawn several seasons worth of a mid-range budget supernatural police procedural show in which Jeffrey Combs plays a hot, sad, lonely wizard who lives in an insanely gorgeous apartment and uses his background in criminal psychology (and, y’know, being an actual literal wizard) to help his cop neighbour Sam solve a series of cult-related weird-as-shit crimes. There is plenty of UST, a will-they-won’t-they relationship, Kabal is an ongoing antagonist, and occasionally Anton wears a cape. I want to live in that universe. Failing that, I would like fics from that multiverse.

There’s so much I love about it, like the worldbuilding and how much there is to explore, and the sheer lack of human contact of Anton’s life before he really starts getting to know Sam hits me in a very tender spot: he’s so quiet and sad and lonely, and it gets me right in the heart. D:

I just want to see something that follows on from the end of the movie. What happens after he returns and is he sticking around? And while I was semi-joking about wanting fics from the alternative universe, I really, really do love the idea of them working together from now on, with the problems with the police smoothed over and him being brought on in an advisory capacity.

Alternatively, expand on the events in the film, because there’s no way what happened was enough to kill Kabal. Or maybe give me a scene from a version of the film where events are much more epic. I'd especially love something tender and sweet for these two, or, if you go with something darker like a Bad Guys Made Them Do It fic (which: YES PLEASE. I always love Something Made Them Do It scenarios with their potential for angst and guilt, as well as them providing a catalyst for a get-together), something with lots of mutual support and hurt/comfort.

Optional Prompts

• Morning After (Incredible Sex the night before) - So it's finally happened after however many weeks or months of pining, they've finally fallen into bed together. I'd love to see the aftermath, the satisfaction that comes from finally getting together with the person you're in love with.
• Hand and Finger Kink - Because I find the bit where he casually breaks out of the handcuffs while they're in the police interview room hot as fuck.
• Undercover Work Used As Excuse To Have Sex They've Always Wanted -- While investigating a cult, they have to go undercover as a couple.
• Anton teaches Sam how to use magic. Take this whatever way you want. Maybe something goes wrong (a tentacle monster with designs on making them do it?) or maybe it’s just an opportunity for lots of flirting, casual touching, and sexual tension.
• Time Travel - Sam travels back to another time period and needs to work with Anton's younger self. Is she already together with present day Anton, or is this somehow the catalyst for getting them together? Or, potentially, the opportunity for a selfcest threesome?
• For plot reasons, Anton has to fake being evil. Or perhaps he’s been mind-controlled by Kabal into being evil, but somehow Sam manages to get him to break the mind control, but he has to maintain it for a little while longer.
• Loneliness is such a can’t fail trope for me. Having resigned himself to a lonely existence, Anton has to adapt to finding intimacy with Sam.
• Experience - Experienced Partner Lets Inexperienced One Explore Them – I mean, he’s spent the past century and a half avoiding so much as talking to his neighbours, let alone dating.
• Feeling your feelings in a quiet moment with a much older/immortal being – something quiet and sweet and tender, exploring the strangeness of being in a relationship with someone so much older.
• A casefic where Sam and Anton investigate a Lovecraftian Cult.
• Villain tries to draw out hero's dark side (that they say they know is there) – Because I can’t help thinking that when Anton was telling Sam about his backstory that he wasn’t being entirely candid. Especially when he was positioning himself as kind and good in comparison to Kabal being evil. I can’t help but think that there’s an undercurrent of bitterness there. So what if he had once been tempted to work with Kabal, perhaps before he realised how thoroughly evil Kabal was? (And for the record I’m completely here for past Anton/Kabal).

For the record, I’ve just started season 2 of the TV series, but I’m burning through it pretty quickly, so should certainly have finished it by reveals (and possibly even by the end of sign-ups). Please don’t worry about spoilers, and I apologise in advance if I miss anything in my request). I also haven’t consumed the games, comics or the more recent films (although I may well be seeking out the comics and the recent films), so while I don’t mind spoilers, feel free to disregard them.

I am such a sucker for a reluctant heroes who are much more noble than they want or pretend to be, and for characters who pretend to be more assholish than they are. Not to mention undergoing whump and bucketloads of trauma, and Ash hits all of this spot-on. I very much appreciate that we repeatedly get to see him dragged to the end of his tether and a little bit beyond, and then get the chance to watch him snap. His moment of pure despair at the end of Evil Dead 2 when he realises it isn’t over and it’s probably never going to be over, and *cough*, the final scenes of ED1 (and every other time for that matter) when he’s sweating and terrified and repeatedly getting drenched in blood. I cannot emphasise enough how here I am for moments like that.

I am fascinated by the way his character evolves over the course of the films and the TV series, and while I don’t love everything about the show what I do love is how damaged he is by everything he’s gone through and everything he’s lost, and the way he’s trying to be a selfish asshole and never quite 100% succeeding because he cares more than he wants to.

There are so many contradictions in his character: the womanising vs how he’s actually pretty damn romantic whenever he gets the chance, and the whole thing about him being dumb, when he is demonstratively NOT stupid AT ALL – he converted his trashed car so that it could be steam-powered ffs! My personal headcanon is that he was an engineering student working at S-Mart to put himself through college, which may or may not be supported by canon, but either way I love the insights those apparent contradictions give us – his almost supernatural competence when it comes to fighting Deadites vs the whole accidentally reading from the Necronomicon while high to impress a girl thing, the way his mistakes seem to come from spiralling despair and depression, the womanising coming from not wanting to get close to anyone because they almost inevitably die horribly, and the prospect of a career just being yet another thing he’s lost because of everything that happened. It’s all a mix of whump and grief and regret that will never fail to hit me in a very tender spot, and I would love to see any of that explored.

I ship him with basically everyone, Sheila, Ruby, Amanda (*sobs*), and just about every permutation of Ash/Pablo/Kelly, so if you want to write smut or ship-fic, then you have just about an open book there. I also ship Amanda/Ruby and Amanda/Kelly. And just in general, I really, really love the dynamics of the relationship between Ash, Pablo and Kelly, him making the deal with Ruby purely to save them, and all the day to day mundanities of life on the road living in his trailer, and the way Kelly and Pablo feel a little like facets of Ash’s character – with Pablo being the way he used to be, mostly a normal young man, maybe a little more sensitive and quiet than most (okay, YMMV hugely on that, but that’s my take), while Kelly is the way he is now, a traumatised badass who is pissed as hell. I love her so freaking much, and find myself adoring her and her dynamic with Ash more with every episode I watch.

Optional Prompts

• That time the evil clone goes back in time to have questionably consensual sex with a younger version of Ash, who never realises it’s a clone and so just assumes he’s inevitably going to turn into a bit of an asshole. Which… might explain a lot.
• A 5+1 Things fic looking at anything you want it to. Five people Ash has slept with, five encounters with a Deadite, five times he tried to destroy the Necronomicon, Five times Ash got drenched in blood, etc.
• Aftermath of possession – The ongoing trauma and after-effects of the possession in ED2.
• Bathing/Washing – Because he sure does get grimy a lot in canon. Here for hurt/comfort, or just moments of respite when he gets the chance, however briefly, to get clean.
• - Taking the original trilogy and the TV show in mind, I'm amused by the way each instalment contradicts the canon in one that went before. Like it only being Ash and Linda who went to the cabin in ED2, and the TV series (so far anyway) ignoring that whole sleeping too long element at the end of Army of Darkness. But what if they're all true, and each discrepancy can be put down to an alternate universe? What happens if the barriers between those universes start to break down?
• Fill in the missing scenes, particularly between AoD and the TV series (or between ED2 and the TV series if you choose to pretend AoD didn’t happen). How did he get back from the future? I’d love a character study that explores what happened over the last thirty years, and how his character changed and developed.
• Character expected to die but didn't and now has no idea how to live any more – I’d love to see the aftermath of trauma explored, what happened in Elk Grove after his return, the death of his girlfriend and sister, and his doomed attempts at trying to rebuild his life. Just rip my heart out please.
• Ash has to fake being evil for reasons.
• Character resigned to loneliness finds unexpected intimacy with other(s) – I love his relationship with Pablo and Kelly so much, how tightly knitted they’ve become in so short a time, the whole travelling together, the way they’ve all lost something. I ship it, but I’m here for the gen relationship too – the protectiveness and the loyalty and the way that it kind of feels like he has a family again, and ow my heart ow.
• Competence Kink - Character A Annoyed By How Hot They Find Character B’s Competence – Ahha, :D. I’ll admit I have Ruby in mind for this, but competence kink in general is a good fit for him, and especially the disconnect between people’s first impressions of him and the way he is in action. That speech he gives Kelly in the first episode about how ‘sure, he doesn’t look like much now, but wait a while...’ and her ‘oh. Oh no’ moment. XD
• Going undercover in a cult that worships the Deadites.
• Ash’s relationship with Sheila leaves her pregnant, resulting in the establishment of a secret society dedicated to hunting demons. Although their priorities may have got a little mixed up over the centuries.
• A Burn Notice crossover! (Note that so far I've only watched season 1 of Burn Notice, and I'm not sure how far I'll get in it by reveals, so I'd prefer no major spoilers, please. ETA: This doesn't apply to Sam's backstory or to the Fall of Sam Axe) Mistaken identities. The trio jumping to the conclusion that the evil hand has regrown Ash again and trying to kidnap/kill Sam necessitating another rescue by Michael and Fi until deadites complicate matters. Sam and Ash having to pose as each other for plot reasons. Or alternatively, maybe Sam just wakes up hungover in Ash's body one day and has to pretend to be him while he figures out what the hell's going on, who these people are, and what the fuck happened to his hand. Fudge the timelines however you need to to make this happen. :D Oh, and I should add that I am very, very here for Ash/Sam, with an Ash from any point in the timeline from the first film onwards.

Canon-specific DNW: This request is specifically for the first film, and it’s fine for Return to House on Haunted Hill to be ignored. If you do include it, please avoid having the evil in the house being purely due to the Baphomet Idol.

I have a very particular fondness for 90s cheese, architectural horror, and the disparate bunch of people trapped somewhere for *reasons* trope, which is one of my favourite tropes of all time. Add in ghosts, and ohhhh baby, I am there. (As an aside, I'm also a big fan of the original trilogy of Thief games, and the ghost visuals in this were the direct inspiration for the Shalebridge Cradle mission in Thief 3 (possibly one of the best, creepiest missions in anything EVER), so I'm inclined to be kindly predisposed towards this film purely because of that.)

It’s a curious one, because the things that mean it doesn’t work that well as a horror film for me (the CGI smoke-monster climax! The criminal underuse of Dr Vannacutt!) are the exact same things that make the question of what the hell is going on significantly more interesting. The more you dig into the first film, the more it becomes clear that there’s something more going on that just a haunting as a result of what happened at the asylum.

I also find it fascinating that despite Dr Vannacutt being the most prominent ghost (and male), Pritchett refers to the house as female, and specifically as ‘a stupid vengeful whore’ iirc. The Shadow primarily speaks with female voices (and according to one of the extras they used imagery of naked women to create the Rorschach effect). Then there’s the women Price sees while he’s in the Saturation Chamber.

I'd love to see the mythology of the house dug into, because I have a lot of unanswered questions. Like the walled off room we finally see towards the end where Vannacutt used to dump his corpses, and in the middle of the room there’s a chair, just sitting right in front of the rubble, which is the creepiest fucking thing. Why is that chair there? Did Vannacutt sit on it, staring into the rubble, listening to the Shadow talk to him? (And while I’m not hugely keen on the canon introduced by the second film, and I especially dislike the suggestion that the evil in the house is all down to the Baphomet idol, I do quite like the way it expands on the way the house seduces people, the idea of good if flawed people being corrupted, and the suggestion that Vannacutt wasn’t always evil).

And then there’s one of my favourite things about this film: Pritchett, a fucked-up traumatised asshole woobie packed with neuroses, who clearly has a boat-load of issues with the house. It’s not immediately clear whether he actually used to live in the house or not, but he’s clearly spent a lot of time there and he’s familiar with it enough to know the history of the house, his way around the basement, and quite a lot about how it’s haunted, including the existence of the Darkness/Shadow and Dr Vannacutt. I’d love to see something about his previous experiences with it, what happened with his grandfather and father, and what it was like growing up in the vicinity of that house, whether he lived there or not. And I am completely here for the house’s attempts to seduce him.

Other random things I love about this canon: the Saturation Chamber! I’m really drawn to the concept of machines that can drive you insane through sensory experiences, and it’s just the icing on the cake that it takes the form of this extraordinary period-appropriate zoetrope. The relationship between Price and Evelyn! This complicated tangle of love and hatred and contempt, spitting daggers at each other, and him clearly being so desperately in love with her still, while she's so completely batshit. I love her. And the whole thing of there being multiple conflicting agendas, with the three competing guest lists, and even then the house doesn’t get what it wants because of Sara being an imposter.

Watson Pritchett/Dr Richard B Vannacutt

Not a pairing that I’d originally considered, but then a seed took root and now I can’t stop thinking about these two and what sort of dynamic they’d have.

We see so little of Vannacutt, but Pritchett absolutely freaks the fuck out when he realises he’s around, so they clearly have a history, but exactly what that history is, and what Vannacutt’s role is as a ghost in the house, is left decidedly unclear. It’s gradually become one of my favourite things about this film: the way the focus shifts from the villain being Vannacutt to the house itself, and the way that upends the way his character could potentially be seen – is he a villain, or potentially another victim of the house, or both?

There are just so many unanswered questions about what it means to be a ghost in that house, how much of it is reenacting the terrible things that happened there, and how much free will they have, and to what extent they’re being controlled by the house, and just… damn, I don’t know, but dig into it as much as you want.

The sequel flattens out most of the unexpected wrinkles in the worldbuilding, and is mostly forgettable, so I don’t really recommend watching it (although I will admit to being delighted by Steven Pacey and Andrew Lee Potts’ inclusion in the cast), but what it does do is develop the idea of people being corrupted and seduced by the house, with one line being: ‘Vannacutt was known for being a brilliant physician and great humanitarian. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in the '20s. But somehow, this great man went from saving people to butchering them’ and oof.

The whole trope of otherwise good-but-flawed people getting corrupted to evil and doing terrible things (and there’s no doubt that he’s done terrible things) gets me right in the id. Corruption and redemption arcs are welcome in all their forms for either character, as is the all-encompassing guilt that comes from realising what you’ve done. I’m also just generally interested in the idea of them finding common ground as fellow victims of the house, even if Vannacutt remains wholly evil, and that would affect how they might relate to each other, before and after Pritchett’s death. And pre-canon too – why does Pritchett react like that to finding out Vannacutt’s around?

Explore the ship in whatever way you choose. The gen dynamics fascinate me just as much, but shipwise, anything is welcome, from fucked up extremely dubious consent, where the sex is part of the house’s way of torturing Pritchett (potentially with some medical kink mixed in, but anything where Pritchett gets strapped down?), to anything on the enemy-fucking scale, to something a little more sympathetic where we do actually get a glimpse of a glimmer of goodness in Vannacutt. Or maybe the house is fucking with them both by making them fuck each other?

Optional Prompts

• This House has a Personality and that Personality is Fucked Up – And adolescence is tough enough as it is, without having to go through it while you're living in a haunted house that can't seem to decide whether it wants to fuck you or kill you.
• Explore the deaths of Pritchett's father and grandfather, because it feels like there are a lot of unanswered questions there. Did the house exert any influence over them? Could Pritchett’s father have murdered his grandfather? How did his father really die?
• A both hates and loves how good the sex with B is – Vannacutt/Pritchett (because the more I think about shipping them, the harder I ship them.)
• Character is forced to work with someone who scares them – I’m intrigued by what it means to be a ghost and how much free will they have. Pritchett has to work with Vannacutt for reasons (especially delighted by the idea of this considering how Pritchett crapped himself when he recognised Vannacutt’s description).

Note that while this is tricky to get hold of, there are a couple of versions up on Youtube. One of them (the slightly longer one with VHS in the title, I think) I found unwatchable, but the quality of the shorter one was more or less okay.

Okay, first off, I am not going to claim that this is a good film (hahaha NOPE), and yet it is so unabashedly joyously trashy that I can’t help but be charmed by (almost) everything about it. The plot is extremely thin, and the sound mixing is so bad I struggle to make out some of the dialogue (which some might argue is a plus XD), but objectively terrible though it undoubtedly is I love it so fucking much, mainly because I get the feeling everyone involved is having a shitload of fun.

One factor that can sometimes get me loving a completely trashy, objectively rubbish canon is a feeling of delighted incomprehension at what the hell I’m watching, and this hits that in spades. The ‘sex’ scene, the two guys it cuts to during the sex scene, the ridiculous bar fight scene at the beginning, Panasonic’s terrible acting in his psychic voiceovers (so bad it’s got to be deliberate, surely? Surely?)… Also, yes, there’s a character called Panasonic. He’s a cock-blocking psychic monk, (a phrase that feels like it ought to be sung to a Chemical Brothers song) and yes, it makes sense in canon... as much as anything makes sense in canon.

Buuuut then at the same time, there’s some stuff about it that I do really like, like some of the locations it uses are genuinely cool (and the sense of a post-apocalyptic society it has going on at times, particularly in the brief bar scene at the beginning. And, *cough*, the scene where a shirtless Bruce Abbott dangles from chains while the bad guy whips him stood out, and frankly even at the best of times he’s barely wearing a shirt tbh. And the noise he makes when Tera kisses his collar bone is... mmph.

Swan hits just the right balance between rogueish and honourable, & cynical and earnest. I will forever be a sucker for a reluctant hero who’s much more noble than he really wants to be, and while Tera doesn’t get nearly enough to do, I do really like their dynamic and chemistry, and I just want more of this stupid, trashy, iddy film.

Stick with the goofy ridiculous tone of canon or go more serious/realistic, or expand and explore the worldbuilding, although I’m not sure how much sense the worldbuilding makes: like… how long has it actually been since the end of the world? If the Interzone is the only habitable area, how come Balzakan calls Swan a foreigner (and specifically a ‘fuzzy faced foreigner’, an example of the kind of the top drawer dialogue which makes me love this terrible film so much <3)? Was the end of the world much more recent than I’d assumed and it happened within living memory, or did he come from outside the Interzone somehow? Where the fuck did Mantis get that banana? Why is Panasonic so determined to stop Tera and Swan from having sex to the point of literally opening fire on them, wtf? What’s Swan’s deal with dogs? What happens post-canon with the treasure?

Or alternatively just go full-on iddy with smut and/or whump, particularly along the lines of that whipping scene because hot fucking damn. There are also some really delicious opportunities for pining and dubcon of the Bad Guys Made Them Do It variety while they’re in Mantis and Balzakan’s camp, and for angsty, tender and/or possessive sex in the aftermath.

Optional Prompts

• There are a couple of hints in canon that Swan is in mourning for a dog, which made me hanker for a fic where they stumble across, and try to befriend what might actually be the last dog left alive in the Interzone.
• Femdom – Explore the aftermath of everything that happens with Mantis and Balzakan. After some jealousy on Tera’s part, he tries to reassure her that it meant nothing and wasn’t even fun: Mantis just blindfolded him and made him do everything she said, at which Tera is like, actually that does sound like fun.
• Accidental Baby Acquisition –
• Expand on the situation in Mantis and Blazakan's camp. Watching it, I wasn’t really sure how much of their ‘plan’ is actually a plan and how much is improvised, but I’d love to see it expanded on in a fic. Identity kink, the pining coming from Swan sleeping with Mantis and Tera with Balzakan. And of course, the potential for Bad Guys Made Them Do It, whether it’s a case of having to keep up the pretence, or if they’ve both been found out.
• An AU involving a different kind of apocalypse, whether zombies or triffids or something that takes a slightly more realistic take on the apocalypse than this.
• Relationship study. This is not the sort of canon that really goes all that deep into character development, but from what we get, I find their dynamics really appealing, and I’d love to see their relationship explored.
• AU - Villains win – The ‘treasure’ makes about as much sense as just about anything else in this film, but let’s say Mantis and Balzakan managed to break into the vault. Even despite everything that happened, Mantis is still pretty fond of Swan, so can be persuaded to spare him, especially if Balzakan is killed. Tera still gets brought back, so together they have to negotiate a potentially uneasy truce and deal with the potential destruction of the Interzone.
• building a civilization from the ground up – Swan and Tera return to the Veterans to start the process of cataloguing the treasure.
• Characters Have Trouble Sleeping Apart After Shared Traumatic Captivity – All the angst, emotional hurt/comfort and mutual support please. Especially if nightmares are involved. Or just go all out on the emotional fallout of canon.
• Came Back Wrong – Just because Tera came back doesn’t mean her resurrection is going to be entirely smooth sailing (or Swan’s miraculous healing for that matter). Maybe it’s flawed in some way, or maybe it’s only temporary and they have to set out to find a way to make it permanent. And if you want to delve into Swan's guilt over the circumstances of her death, then please do.
• Ghosts - A is a ghost only B can see and interact with – And similarly, while the assumption is that she really has been brought back, what if that isn’t true?
• Undercover as Master and Slave – Which, actually, canon does, without ever really getting too into the details. That moment where they first get to the Bad Guy camp and Tera hands him the leash because he’s forgotten, and Mantis casually saying ‘Maybe I’ll have her later’ just, um, stood out to me a bit. Or maybe the roles are reversed, and it’s Tera who has to play the role of Master.

As far as I can remember, I don’t think Dr Haggis’s first name is mentioned at any point, but by the looks of that sign outside his surgery, it starts with an I. :D

God, I had so much fun watching this. It’s very short and kiiinda trashy, inexplicably mashing up Lovecraft with a London gangster subplot, but 1.) I appreciate how firmly it commits to in media res (even the prologue flashback opens with the people of Leffert’s Corners fully aware that the creatures exist), and, 2.) oh GOD do I adore Cathryn and Dr Haggis, both the individual characters and their ‘us against the world’ dynamic, whatever the hell their relationship is, or was, or might have been. <3<3<3 Oh, and the basic horror concept of monsters living in a cave trope (along the lines of The Descent, if you've seen it) is a bulletproof trope for me, and I love this particular film's take on it with the creatures burrowing up into people's houses and nowhere in town being safe.

For Cathryn, I love that whole thing of her having to take over the commando role from her sister, even though it’s not really a role that fits her naturally. She’s so tough, but vulnerable at the same time. And Dr Haggis, ohhhh baby: he’s a damaged, chain-smoking (even around sweating dynamite. DUDE. XD), bitter as fuck, alcoholic broken man, but at the same time he absolutely steps the fuck up when it comes to people needing medical attention and he’s so protective towards Beth and Cathryn... Uhm, not to mention the adoring stoic hearteyes he makes at Cathryn throughout. I love him so much and I just want him to have nice things. Or at least to survive so he can suffer some more.

They’re both so bruised by whatever’s gone on before the film starts. We never really see anything of what they were before or what their lives were really like: we’re just plunged into this semi post-apocalyptic warzone with no real explanation. He’s pretty clearly pining for her, but their conversation at the church door suggests the feeling is mutual, and I am just so here to see their relationship explored, whether it be a look at what might have happened between them pre-canon, or possibly a post-canon fix-it (or a fix-it to make it worse) where he survives. I love the way they work together, and the dynamic they’ve fallen into, and their shared grim resignation and determination to fight. They’re just together, this mismatched quietly pining little battle-couple, while their town falling to hell around them, and I ship them so hard.

I’d love to see something that explores pre-canon, because the film really does does drop us right smack in the middle of things, with virtually no explanation of what happened before. How did the townspeople finally figure out the creatures existed, and how long has it been common knowledge? Why haven’t they left? Or a canon-divergent fic where things shake out differently: maybe his injuries weren’t quite that serious which means he survives and she has to patch him up? Or the Martenses haven’t quite all been killed and come after them looking for revenge? Or give me a moment between them: have they ever hooked up while drunk or had inadvisable ‘thank god we’re alive’ sex? Oh, and pining is extremely welcome, especially mutual pining.

The film and pairing also hits a very specific trope which is like CATNIP to me: a physically unprepossessing man uncomfortably aware of how powerless he is to protect the woman he’s with from men who are stronger than he is, whether or not the woman can take care of herself (and in this case Cathryn very much can take care of herself). It gets me every damn time. *eyes*

Optional General Prompts

• Battle-couple – They just work so well together. I’d love to see some moments of them working together, because I’m so drawn to their dynamic, especially since fighting doesn’t necessarily come easily to her. Are they fighting by each other’s side, or it it a case of her fighting and him patching her up afterwards? Or him talking her through patching him up because he’s the one who got injured?
• Love in the time of horror and misery – Something else I love is the whole bleak atmosphere of the virtually deserted town. Everything’s crumbling and worn down, there are holes everywhere where the creatures have burrowed through, and everything is falling apart. It’s almost post-apocalyptic, except the world is still going on around them. Show me them them falling in love, or quiet moments of tenderness, affection and loyalty in the middle of the world going to hell around them.
• Alternate Universe - the big bad wins – They’ve lost and been captured by the creatures, and have nothing to do but try to escape, or trying to support and comfort each other through it, or have ‘fuck it we’re going to die’ despair sex.
• Bathing/Washing - After a fight, the two of them hole up together to wash off the gore.
• A 5 Times fic showing the gradual change in Leffert's Corner over time as the townsfolk gradually begin to realise something is wrong.
• Character A falls asleep on B's shoulder – Their relationship has so many opportunities for moments of quiet intimacy and emotional hurt/comfort. And pining. Lots and lots of pining.
• Character A has been crying and tries to hide it but B still notices it – I’m good with either one of them being the crying character here. Maybe he’s exhausted patching people up, or someone’s died despite all his best efforts, or she’s been coasting on adrenaline for too long and is finally starting to crumble. I adore their dynamic so much, and the idea of him being the only person she lets see her in a moment of weakness is the most delicious thing.
• Scars – Maybe a Five Times fic cataloguing their scars (or just hers), whether they’re caused by the creatures or not.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – As an excuse for hurt/comfort or tender emotional sex? I’m good with either. Or both.
• A canon-divergent fix-it where Dr Haggis survives his injuries, which means Cathryn has to patch him up post-canon.
• Cigarettes – You can probably count the number of minutes he’s without a cigarette on one hand. XD Give me all the descriptions of smoking, maybe a traumatised moment when his hand is shaking so hard he can’t light his cigarette so she has to do it for him.
• Functional Alcoholic Not So Functional At The Moment – Here for the hurt/comfort of this, whether the emotional hurt/comfort of them being there for each other when they’re scared or grieving, or the physical hurt/comfort of her helping him to bed, and then maybe sticking around afterwards, and the two of them bedsharing, whether entirely platonic or otherwise. Also here for drunken confessions, or maybe him just being less able to hide the way he feels about her while he’s drunk. I love how important they clearly are to each other, but also how frustrated she is with his drinking, even while she obviously gets why he does it.
• Childbirth - Because you can't have the Chekhov's Gun of a heavily pregnant woman and not have her give birth in a highly stressful set-piece, come on. So how about a canon-divergent scene where Beth, Cathryn and Haggis are beseiged down by the monsters, and at the worst possible moment, Beth goes into labour.
• That line of Cathryn's: "This is what I thought the end of the world was going to look like."? What if it really was the end of the world? Give me a post-apocalyptic AU. Maybe they're dealing with a zombie apocalypse, or creatures much like the canon ones but more widespread, or they're carriers for a disease.
• In that first scene with them, while they're outside his surgery, he makes a reference to them making some kind of bargain, presumably an agreement to stick around in town to kill the creatures. How did that bargain come about?
• There’s a lot about this film that doesn’t entirely make sense, the most notable thing being that they’re not actually trapped in the town, and can leave any time they like. I can buy them wanting to stay to finish things once and for all, but at the same time that doesn’t mean they can’t have the occasional holiday. So maybe they get out of town for a night or two when there’s no rain forecast for a while. Are they able to relax or are they constantly thinking about going back? Book separate rooms but end up sharing a room/bed anyway because it’s the only way they can get any sleep? Both get drunk and end up sleeping together?

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with Dan or Herbert being nonconned (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body, and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of a zombie apocalypse, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I waaaant it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost.

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Quark/Brunt

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?

Mirror Ezri Dax/Brunt & Mirror Ezri Dax/Mirror Brunt/Brunt

Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart. Pottering around the ship preparing tube grubs for everyone! Honourable and decent and loyal! Quietly and respectfully pining for Mirror!Ezri, knowing that his feelings will probably never be reciprocated, and being a little bit sad about that, but it doesn’t matter because he values her friendship and their partnership above everything else!

And then there’s Brunt. XD

Brunt is genuinely terrible in so many ways. He’s the worst, and I have loved him right from the first moment he was twitchy about Ishka wearing clothes. <3<3<3 I’m so charmed by the difference between him and his mirror counterpart, and I just want him and Mirror!Ezri to hook up however it comes about, and whether it’s just a one-off or something more long-lasting. Maybe she needs him to pretend to be Mirror!Brunt to pull something off. Or maybe she finds herself in the non-mirror universe and runs into him in Quark’s, and is, uh... taken aback? Fascinated? Weirdly charmed?... by this absolute dick with the face of the dead partner she really was very fond of. He’s sexist and greedy and treacherous, and she can’t trust him as far as she can throw him, but maybe she finds herself drawn to him. And while Mirror!Brunt was far too self-effacing to proposition her, the same is very definitely not true of regular Brunt. Maybe it’s just because she really misses her Brunt, or maybe it’s because regular Brunt reminds her more of herself, or maybe it’s just because she’s horny and he’s there, idk.

As for the OT3, I cannot say how delighted I am by the idea of the two Brunts meeting. I can’t tell which of them would be the more horrified at meeting the other one. I’m not quite sure how the threesome would come about, but man, do I want to see it. Is it a one-off, or is the OT3 threesome the catalyst that actually gets Mirror Brunt/Mirror Ezri together?

And while this should go without saying, canon divergent fics are very welcome here. The poor Ferengi never seem to get much of a chance in the Mirror universe. (I’m also curious what Ferenginar is actually like there).

I headcanon Mirror Ezri as bisexual and read Mirror Brunt's comment about her being picky when it comes to men as relating to Quark and Brunt being Ferengi. References to her relationships with Mirror Leeta and the Intendant are welcome, and the requested ships absolutely do NOT have to be end-game (although I would prefer the fic to focus on them.) Look, I just find the idea of these two treacherous bastards hooking up hot as fuck, even if it's just temporary, and I'm both amused and heartbroken at how Mirror Brunt might react to finding out that actually she will make an exception for at least one Ferengi male and it's the terrible evil mirror universe version of himself who is the literal worst.

Optional Prompts

• Femdom – Because if there’s ever been a character who very definitely needs to get dommed by a female, it is Brunt.
• Clothing - Naked Male Clothed Female – Niiice. I just love this freeform so, so much when it comes to Brunt (especially if combined with femdom). He would just hate it so fucking much. It’s disgusting. It’s depraved. So why the hell does he find it so fucking hot? *hearteyes*
• Identity Porn – Brunt has to pose as his Mirror counterpart and work with Mirror!Ezri, leading to a sex scene in which for kink reasons he ends up having sex with her while still in the Mirror!Brunt persona.
• A threesome in which Ezri and Brunt edge Mirror!Brunt until he’s a sobbing desperate mess. Look, I just want him to have nice things okay?
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I am a sucker for certain tropes and one of those tropes that will forever get me is when people who under normal circumstances have no business looking after babies get stuck looking after a baby. If Mirror!Brunt is around, maybe the plan was that he’d be the one looking after the kid, but due to something going wrong, he and Brunt have to trade places and pretend to be each other.
• Competence Kink - Whether they’re rivals or allies, I just love the idea of Brunt and Mirror!Ezri being secretly impressed and turned on by how good the other one is at lying, cheating and stealing. Lets just say Brunt probably has more in common with Mirror!Ezri than his counterpart does.
• Since his death, Ezri has been seeing Mirror!Brunt's ghost. Maybe it’s some kind of hallucination from a space anomaly, or maybe she’s just imagining him, or maybe he really is a ghost, or maybe he’s the result of a malfunctioning portable holoprojector (which she hasn’t fixed because she kind of misses him and it’s nice having him around). but either way she’s gradually beginning to accept she might have had feelings for him after all. Then she meets Brunt.
• proxy-fucking – Mirror!Ezri fucking Brunt as a way of processing the grief she feels about Mirror!Brunt’s death.

Odo/Weyoun

Go with any Weyoun you want, whether past, present, or future. In the relaunch novels, Odo creates a ninth clone to act as his aide, and while I’m not otherwise tied to the canon of the relaunch novels, as far as I’m concerned, Odo bringing Weyoun back absolutely happened, and that is a hill I will die on. :D

I've shipped Odo/Weyoun pretty damn hard right from Weyoun's first episode, and Weyoun 6 sacrificing himself and then dying in Odo’s arms certainly didn’t make me ship them any less. There's a lot to dig into with this relationship: the complexities of the Vorta and their inbuilt loyalty to Changelings, the potential for changes to the way the Vorta are created and how that might affect the Dominion, Odo's blind spot for his people, and the fact that they're both capable of leading very long lives. Even when almost every other solid Odo’s known in his life has passed on, Weyoun could potentially still be around, and there are a lot of possibilities there.

There’s also a moment in A Time to Stand when Weyoun 5, gloriously insincere arsehole that he is, talks about the habitat ring echoing with the sound of happy children, but this is a man who’d knowing preside over wiping out the population of entire planets, and of course the Vorta don’t have children or childhoods in the usual way, and that’s probably something else the Dominion have taken away from them. It’s pure nightmare fuel.

I have a lot of feelings about everything that happens between them both in Faith, Treachery and the Great River, and what it says about both their characters. That story Weyoun 6 tells Odo about the origins of his people, and the way Odo seems to take it as kindness when actually what the Founders did was at the very least mass enslavement, and possibly even something akin to genocide? The suggestion that the Vorta are powerful is laughable, given that their entire purpose, over and above their own wellbeing, is to serve the Founders, and Odo of all people should know that. Would he have thought of himself as powerful when he was facilitating the Cardassians on Terok Nor? (Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about having a lot of feelings about that episode. XD) There are a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn, and I do very much appreciate Odo’s blind spot when it comes to his people though.

Optional Prompts

• DS9: Post-canon attempt to return the Vorta to sexual reproduction; first non-clone baby born - With Weyoun and Odo being at the heart of the attempt.
• A canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives to defect to the Federation, exploring how their relationship goes after the war is over.
• A canon-divergent AU where the canonical baby Changeling turns up while the station is in the hands of the Dominion and Weyoun is involved with Odo's attempts to look after it.
• Complicated emotions at being pregnant with a baby character believes is a god - somehow Weyoun ends up knocked up, whether it's some kind of handwavy transporter accident type accident, or the result of a sex pollen incident necessary to save Odo's life and neither of them realised Weyoun could get pregnant that way. Is there some kind of side effect from the pregnancy which leaves Weyoun with some degree of shapeshifting powers, or the ability to link with the baby, which is amazing but also very uncomfortable because he's just a Vorta.
• Cloning Accident result in creating a baby - The real reason Weyoun 6 tried to defect. :D Is it a wholly new person or just a baby version of Weyoun, and what are the implications of it not being going through the full cloning process?
• character that thought they had zero parenting instincts goes into hardcore protective mode - I love Weyoun as a villain at least partly because of how very... unintimidating he is in a lot of ways. He's small and slight and vulnerable and he keeps dying, and I'm really drawn to this prompt both for him embracing his violent side in the interests of protecting a baby and for the potential to explore his character because I’ll always love a character study.
• a 5+1 fic exploring the way Odo's relationship with the various different Weyouns changes over the years.
• Sex Pollen – Whether it’s Odo affected and Weyoun willingly sacrifices himself to save the Founder, or Weyoun is affected and is horrified/pathetically grateful at Odo being willing to help. Or the aftermath of the sex pollen situation with all the fallout.
• A canon-divergent AU where Odo remains human for longer, and he’s still a solid when he meets Weyoun 5 for the first time. What effect would Odo's becoming a solid have on their dynamic? How would the Vorta conceptualise the concept of a god becoming a solid, and what does that mean for the way Weyoun’s worldview? I’d be delighted with anything from a character/relationship study that follows their time on the station together, or perhaps something plottier where they're stranded on a planet together and have to work together to survive, but now Odo's just as vulnerable as Weyoun is. (Sex pollen always welcome)
• Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries – Weyoun is injured and Odo has to treat his injuries, whether it’s Weyoun 6 or one of the other ones. I’m just fascinated by all the messy feelings of faith and awe, and Odo’s discomfort at being thought of as a god.
• Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing – Whether it happens over the course of one Weyoun or several. I really love all the tangled complexities of the way the Vorta see the world. Maybe this is a canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives and Odo tries to deprogram him? Or maybe a future Weyoun where the process has begun but isn't quite there yet.
• Whump - A sacrifices themself to protect B; B is forced to watch A being tortured – The obvious candidate for self-sacrifice is Weyoun, but Odo sacrificing himself and Weyoun's struggles watching him being tortured (perhaps that Romulan device that stops him from changing shape) would be delicious too.

Mirror Brunt/Weyoun 6

Because a passing stray thought that Mirror Brunt and Weyoun 6 should hook up got into my head and then refused to go away. Which I can understand, because because fucking hell, yes. I have absolutely no idea how it would work or how it would come about, but goddamn do I want it to happen.

As ships go, this is absurdly self-indulgent, but at the same time there are some potentially really interesting dynamics and parallels to be drawn between them. They're both more sympathetic versions of more or less antagonistic characters, both desperately loyal to another person with whom they have a somewhat one-sided relationship, (and they're both adorable tragically doomed cinnamon rolls. D:) Maybe Weyoun finds himself stranded in the Mirror universe – is the fact that it isn’t his universe provide a loophole that allows him to override his inbuild loyalty to the Dominion? (Keevan shows that not all Vorta are unquestionably loyal, which suggests that Weyoun is just like that, unswervingly terrifyingly loyal, whether it’s to the Dominion or to Odo, and I love him all the more for that) Does he immediately set out to try to find a way back to his universe, or to find the wormhole in the Mirror universe? How does Mirror Odo complicate matters?

There are countless things I’d love to see here, and explore it however you want, but I do really love the idea of him gradually coming to terms with being stranded in the Mirror universe, and even though it’s a grimdark hellhole, realising he’s better off there, even though he’s conflicted about staying. And as for Mirror Brunt, mmph, these two sweethearts would be absolutely perfect for each other. Just get them together and make them kiss, however you have to do it. And maybe they’re both pining for other people at first, but gradually they catch feelings for each other. They’re both so lovely: they deserve some happiness.

Optional Prompts

• Look, if in doubt, please just make them kiss and I will be happy. :D
• Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
• Conflicting loyalties – Explore the issue of loyalty and how it manifests in each of them. Especially Weyoun, whose loyalties are at least somewhat artificial. How does the Mirror universe affect his loyalties to the Founders? Is he able to override it? Perhaps because he’s stuck there he gradually becomes used to feeling free of his obligations to the Dominion, and transfers his loyalties to Mirror Brunt instead, but then an opportunity to return to the prime universe arises and he has to deal with his conflicting loyalties.
• Weyoun has fallen in with M!Ezri and M!Brunt and has been working with them for a while without issue until they capture Mirror!Odo. And maybe he can override his instinctive loyalties because this is the Mirror!Universe version and so not a true Founder, but it doesn’t come easily.
• Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle it - They're both just so damn sweet, and while everything else might be going to hell, the two of them still manage to carve out some moments of sweetness in the middle of the nightmarish dystopia that is the Mirror Universe.
• Character isn't used to being loved and shown tenderness/affection – Because loving relationships aren’t normally part of a Vorta’s life experience, and Weyoun isn’t quite sure how to handle it.
• Food as part of the language of love – They both have interesting relationships with food. Given Mirror Brunt’s tendency to make sure everyone’s fed (with tube grubs, but still...), and the way Weyoun works his way through everything on the replicator’s menu, it seems like this would be the perfect way for them to bond. And okay, maybe Brunt can’t get his hands on kava nuts or rippleberries but there must be something.
• Creating your moral code from scratch after the last one imploded – So let’s say Weyoun is stranded, temporarily or otherwise, in the Mirror universe. He’s finally free of his obligations to the Dominion, because there is no Dominion there, and so has to figure out a few things and relearn the sort of person he wants to be.
• Gently touching a character's scar(s) – Because again this is one of the contrasts between them, Mirror Brunt being scarred (because picking up scars in the Mirror Universe is inevitable, let’s face it) while Weyoun is almost entirely scar-free due to being a recent clone. I’m particularly here for scar kink, and all the associated fascination and sympathy and tenderness, but you could also play with the issues over cloning: Weyoun’s memories of injuries sustained by other Weyouns, which aren’t reflected on his body, but which maybe he feels as phantom scars of some kind?
• Emotional hurt/comfort – Ordinarily Vortas’ memories of their previous deaths and injuries are suppressed as part of the cloning process to ensure they remain motivated and willing to sacrifice themselves, but every now and then those suppressed memories return in full force.
• Identity Porn - A scam/heist requires that they both have to pose as their other selves.
• Smut - experimenting with and exploring interspecies biology.
• on the run together – Whether from the Alliance or from some kind of crime syndicate (potentially run by Mirror Ishka XD), and bonding in the process.
• Two tired people taking quiet comfort in each other – Exhausted sex, moments of respite in the middle of the world going to hell, the two of them finding moments of common ground, etc.
• Competence Kink - And the two of them being quietly impressed and turned on by the other’s competence: Brunt’s toughness and fighting skills and Weyoun's innate diplomacy and negotiating skills.

Shepard Lambrick & Julian Lambrick

Fucked-up Lambrick family dynamics please! :D While the film itself doesn’t do too much digging into the Lambrick family, it sets up a lot of hints that seem like they’d be very fun to dig into. Like, what the deal is with the Lambrick Foundation, and everything to do with the games, past, present and future. And especially the relationship between Julian and his father, which I find deeply uncomfortable to watch but in an extremely satisfying way (much like the film itself XD). Julian is a terrible excuse for a human being, but it’s pretty clear at least part of the reason he’s so sadistic and screwed up and ultimately a cringing little worm (that bit where he’s cowering under the table much to Shepard’s contempt? Oof) is because of having Shepard as a father. And god, Shepard: from his first appearance where he’s putting on the thinnest veneer of philanthropy possible to the way he manipulates the proceedings of the game, terrorising basically everyone except Bevans? Even when things are going wrong, he’s never less than in control. He’s a genuinely terrifying villain and an absolute blast to watch.

Every moment Shepard and Julian interact is gold, and I would very much like to know more about their relationship. There are some interesting wrinkles there: the whole thing about Shepard being glad that Julian’s finally taking an interest in the Foundation, the question of what happened with Julian’s mother, the way Shepard reacts when he finds out about Julian’s attempt to sexually assault Iris, and whatever happens between them off-screen when Shepard excuses himself to talk to Julian… It shouldn’t be that hard for Julian to live up to his father, right, and yet he keeps failing and disappointing his father again and again, and yeeeeah, I’m not sure Shepard Lambrick is a man you really want to disappoint.

I’d love to see exploration of other games, whether in the past or the future, alternative ways the game in the film could have gone, what Julian’s childhood was like, what happened to his mother, how the whole thing came about in the first place. Even just a fic exploring the day-to-day running of the Foundation, which might seem entirely normal on the surface, but with occasional glimpses behind the curtain to suggest that something is very, very badly wrong, like glimpses of ex-players who are now working for the Lambricks. How many of them are morally compromised in the way that Dr Barden was, and how many have willingly, even eagerly, embraced everything Shepard had to offer?

I’m fascinated by the way Shepard manipulates everyone around him (including his family?), and the way he seems to be building up this network of people who are complicit in murder, and what his motivations for doing that might be. Or the consequences of the game we see in canon: what will Iris do next given her reason for playing is now gone? Will she make use of Shepard’s patronage any way or turn against him?

And then there’s Lucas. Watching the film for the first time, I was convinced he was going to turn out to be the other Lambrick brother, and to have been a ringer in on it all along. It would probably have been too obvious a twist, but story-wise and character-wise the possibilities are delicious, and I am so so here for Lucas and Julian as siblings with a fucked-up codependent relationship: Lucas as the golden child, the one who has the guts to actually take part in the games himself, risking genuine physical pain and potential harm (short of death because they've been rigged just enough) because that’s what his father’s ‘rules’ call for, with Julian as the weaker son who can never live up to his father’s legacy. (The film ultimately doesn’t really bear this out, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the eye injury could have been faked, and maaaaybe the death too if you squint. And hey, that's what AUs are for.)

It throws an interesting spin on Julian’s bitterness, and on some of Lucas’s behaviour in the game, and the possibility that he too is pushing back against his father. Or maybe the reason he gives the others a chance to run is to give Julian the chance to go after her, because because he’s doing it for his brother or because he knows how his father will react. I particularly love the idea of Shepard taking a hands-off approach to discipline, but manipulating them into punishing each other instead.

If you do go this route, I am absolutely here for Lucas and Julian having an incestuous relationship. Perhaps one which they think their father doesn’t know about, although actually not only does he know about it, he’s quietly done everything in his power to encourage it. (Or for extra fucked-up vibes, Lucas knows their father knows, but Julian doesn’t.)

Optional Prompts

• Something Lovecraftian – Because apparently I’m almost incapable of requesting an entirely non-Lovecraftian film with Jeffrey Combs in it without going ‘Yeah, but what if Lovecraft though?’ On the one hand, you could just take this film at face value, but on the other there does seem to be an odd sense of duty about the way Shepard treats the games, with his attention to the rules and tradition, so what if the Foundation and the games have some kind of supernatural reason for existing?
• Antagonism - characters don't like each other but nobody else understands them this well Characters who can't stand each other would also die for each other
• Daddy Issues – Because if there was ever a character with hang-ups over his father, it’s Julian Lambrick.
• Fantasies about murdering your father – Whether a 5+1 fic about the times Julian has thought about killing his father throughout his life, or something a bit more involved, where he’s actually seriously thinking about going through with it. Or dreaming about doing it. Will he ever have the guts? Does Shepard know? (And if Lucas is involved, maybe the two of them plotting together as part of some fucked-up sexual fantasy, but actually Lucas is telling Shepard about it)
• Shepard is beginning to have doubts about whether Julian really has the necessary qualities to follow in his footsteps. Maybe he decides to give Julian one last chance.
• A fucked-up slice of life fic following the everyday operations of the Lambrick Foundation.
• Something investigating Shepard’s relationship with his son in contrast to Shepard’s relationship with his own father.
• What was the first game like? Did it happen under Shepard, or was it something that he inherited? If the latter, then what was his experience of his first game like?

Shepard Lambrick & Iris, Shepard Lambrick/Iris

And then there’s my Iris &/ Shepard requests. Whether entirely platonic or shippy (in whatever form that takes) or something in between, these have so much potential to be utterly fucked up and uncomfortable in a way that very much appeals to me. Given Shepard’s ongoing relationship with Dr Barden at the start of the film, it can be assumed that he makes a habit of taking a continuing interest in the winners of his games, and his ‘Call me Shep’ at the end of the film (*shiver*) suggests that it’s going to be the same sort of situation with Iris, and that he’s going to follow her career through college with an eye to manipulating into a position where she can be of some use to him. And oh dear fucking god, that’s creepy.

The situation at the end of the film throws that completely out of joint though, and I go back and forth on which way she might go. Her primary reason for taking part in the game has gone, but it’s also one of the few things that Shepard isn’t responsible for, and I could go either way on whether she chooses to take advantage of Shepard’s patronage or not.

And Shepard himself is such a bundle of conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he’s a fucked-up, sadistic, manipulative arsehole who gets a kick out of psychological and physical torture (he’s just enjoying himself so much), but on the other hand he really does seem to run the games by a certain set of rules and maybe a sick sort of honour, which almost makes him more terrifying in a way. I’m thinking of the moment when he apologises to Iris for Julian’s behaviour – in a way that touch on her shoulder makes my skin crawl more than the attempted rape. It’s all very messy and uncomfortable, and one of the reasons why I love this fucked up little film so much, aside from how tense and claustrophobic it is.

What if the situation leads him to take even more of an interest in her than he usually would? Or perhaps his additional interest is in reaction to something she does? Maybe every now and then one of the players of the game does something to genuinely surprise him, and something about her draws him to her, to the point, perhaps, where he starts to shape her into a potential protoge. (Which Julian isn’t exactly happy about naturally).

As for the shippy version a lot of the appeal of this is how deeply fucked up it would be, and the deal with the devil vibes it would have, and Iris telling herself that she’s going into it with her eyes open because she knows what a monster he is, and finding herself in way over her head anyway. What does it take for this to come about?

Optional Prompts

• Enemies to Lovers - Enemy tenderly treats character's injuries that the enemy inflicted – Whether this follows on directly from the end of the film, or relates to a whole new injury that Iris has sustained, I am so completely here for this. Or alternatively, what if Shepard is the one who’s been injured at Iris’s hands. It’s a couple of years down the line and, trying to get her revenge on him, she’s taken him to an isolated cabin while his people hunt for them. Only she isn’t sure whether she can really bring herself to kill someone again. Manipulation ensues.
• Antagonist Surprises With Honourable Behavior – ‘honourable’ according to Shepard’s judgement, anyway. Because he really does seem to have a fucked-up code of his own when it comes to the games, even if that is just one of his manipulation techniques. But he honours his promises, and Iris finds herself conflicted.
• Breathplay - top/dom likes getting choked – Consider this an exception to my Breathplay DNW. Shepard has a thing about being choked. Iris obliges because she just hates him so much. They’re both drawn to the element of risk: him because he knows she might well kill him if she was capable of it, she’s not sure if she is capable of it, but knows that if she takes it too far it could end very badly for her.
• Captivity – For one reason or another, Shepard decides it’s necessary to have Iris quietly disposed of, but he’s unwilling to have her killed so imprisons her instead.
• Character has their face shaved with a straight razor (by someone they have reason to distrust) – Having established a sexual relationship, although still aware that there’s good chance she’d like to kill him, Shepard lets Iris shave him. What appeals to me here is the sexual tension and Iris’s ever-present temptation to just cut his throat and have done with it.
• Character Trains a Protege – Ohhh baby. Explore this however you want to, whether the focus is on the beginning of the process or if you start with her taking her place as a witness to a game. Is Iris all in (for whatever reason), or does she still have her doubts, or is she working against him somehow? And what exactly is Julian doing in all of this?
• Slow Seduction/Corruption Arc – So uncomfortably hot, whatever form the seduction takes, whether it’s about sex or a moral corruption. I am absolutely here for a sexual relationship developing between them, but also her originally resisting him trying to use her for his own ends once she’s gone through college, and his attempts to bring her around, finding her a job, etc.
• Outsider POV of a 'date' between Shepard and Iris. Especially if its clearly deeply uncomfortable, but to the outsider it just looks like a normal date between a solicitous older man and a younger woman (aside from maybe a couple of out-of-place moments).
• Possessiveness - No One Is Allowed to Hurt You Except Me – Times when Shepard went out of his way to protect Iris.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – After the game, Iris is struggling to recover from the experience.
• Scar Worship – Specifically that stab-wound. But also, maybe Shepard has one or two scars of his own.

Thanks for reading!

Rare Pairs Exchange 2023 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. I tend to use freeforms to trigger ideas and suggestions, but they are purely to give you ideas of the sort of thing I like. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• The 4400 (2004)
• Escape Plan (Movies)
• From Beyond (1986)
• Hap and Leonard (TV)
• Love and a .45 (1994)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and trauma bonding.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• A/B/O
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)
• Focus on AIDS/HIV

(I understand there are post-canon novels available, but I haven’t read them yet. It’s fine to disregard them and purely go off the series.)

As I write this, I literally finished binge-watching the fourth series last night, so I’m mired in the middle of it and still trying to get my thoughts together. The wheels started to come off by the end, but on the whole I loved this weird convoluted little puzzle box of a show in its entirety, and I wish we’d got more closure about the future and the catastrophe and everything that was going to happen. Right up to the end I genuinely couldn’t predict where it was going to go and how things were going to shake out, and I just had so much fun watching it and trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the implications were.

This is one of those I love everyone in this bar kind of shows. I love all the different characters and their various relationships, Maia and Diana, Tom and Diana, Marco, and Lily and Richard, and Shawn, god, Shawn. Shawn and Maia are probably the two characters I came away loving the most: they’re both so young and complicated, and I’d be really fascinated to see how they both deal with everything post-canon. I had my doubts about Isabelle (the whole super-fast-aging eldritch baby turns out hot thing), but actually I really loved her too by the end, especially after she lost her powers.

And then there’s all the time stuff. It’s kind of superheroes-by-stealth, and I really love how it’s an upside down version of the X-Men while not being anything of the kind, and the way it focuses on the day-to-day realities of a situation like this by mostly following NTAC (and god, I ADORE Tom and Diana’s rock-solid, loving, affectionate, I-would-die-for-this-person friendship <3<3<3)

And all the fucked up time weirdness and the way it’s cosmic horror adjacent. The show even gives a nod to Lovecraft at one point and specifically to A Shadow out of Time, in which people swap minds with impossibly alien creatures from the far future, which is so fascinating giving everything revealed in the later episodes. Plus, even the supposed good guys of the future are capable of being incredibly spectacularly cruel: witness their kidnapping and erasure of Maia from the timeline, plus virtually everything about Kevin and Tess. We never really learn that much about the people from the future – on the one hand, I’d like answers, but on the other, I’m actually really glad the show ultimately left that sort of ambiguous. What I keep coming back to is that all we know about the future is what the future tells us, which has the potential to be spectacularly creepy. If you want to play with even the good guys of the future turning out to be neither as good or as human as they claim, then please do.

And time stuff: how does the butterfly affect change the original plan of the people from the future? If Isabelle was meant to destroy the 4400s and she is actively working against the plan, then what does that mean for the promicin that originated from her? Kevin even says at one point that it’s different from his. So how might things have played out if Isabelle had never been sent back and the original plan had played out with Kevin’s promicin becoming more slowly available, perhaps with fewer deaths because he’s able to figure out the compatibility test earlier?

What the hell was going on with Cassie? What parts of the plot were down to the good future people and which the bad future people? How will things play out post-series? Does Jordan actually manage to clear the interloper and what happens if he doesn’t? Play with the butterfly effect: give me a Sliding Doors style thing which explores different timelines, or a canon-divergent fic, or character studies of any of the characters. Or a future-fic which looks at what happens a significant length of time post-canon.

(And yet another goofy crossover possibility, but the nod to Re-Animator in this series delights me. If you want to do a crossover where Herbert is one of the 4400 and maybe possibly meets up with Kevin, then PLEASE DO.)

Jordan Collier/Shawn Farrell

As much as I love all the other relationships that appear in the show, the one between Jordan and Shawn is ultimately the central relationship of the show: these two as diametrically-opposed messiahs, each of them wanting to do what’s best for everyone, but ultimately ending up on opposite sides.

And they’re still like that at the end – the issue with promicin still hasn’t gone away. Jordan still wants everyone in the world to take the shot, Shawn wants to save as many lives as possible, and still has Kevin potentially developing a test to determine whether anyone taking it will be able to survive, so that conflict between them is still there. At one point it felt like the show was setting up Jordan vs Isabelle, and it kiiiinda was, but more than that what it was actually setting up was this weird, complicated push-pull relationship between Shawn and Jordan, and goddamn, am I here for seeing that explored.

And Shawn, god I love him so much. Everything he’s been through, everything he’s lost: his fucked-up relationship with Isabelle, and his brother, and the pressure on his shoulders. I forget, sometimes, watching it, just how painfully young he is, given he was still in high school at the start of the series, and the series only really unfolds over a couple of years. He’s really just a kid, but he’s had to shoulder this massive burden and responsibility while getting his heart ripped out and stamped on at every turn. Taking over the 4400 centre after Jordan’s death (and his GRIEF when that happens), and trying to steer a middle path and shift the centre away from Jordan’s extremely cult-like trappings to something more genuine, and then Jordan comes back as a kind of smug Jesus (not a complaint: what other kind of Jesus would Jordan Collier be?) and starts a whole new cult, and just… oof.

Can that middle path be steered? Which of them is right? To what extent does Jordan believe his new world heaven on earth bullshit, or is it just more of him being a businessman and creating the image he knows what everyone wants to see? I do believe he is, at least to some extent, sincere, but at the same time some part of his nature remains, and he was always manipulative and stubborn.

What exactly is this vision of the face of god he’s talking about or heaven on earth? Right up until the end I didn’t know if Jordan was going to prove to be a force for good or bad, and I still can’t tell, but then I think about his for the world being 100% promicin positive, and I think about how many deaths that means, and yeeeeeah, that probably ain’t great.

Explore any point of their relationship, from the manipulative early days when Shawn was starting to find his feet, to the later seasons where Shawn has taken over the centre and has grown more used to power and leadership.

Optional Prompts

• I seem to remember Matthew suggesting he knew Jordan was back before Jordan made his appearance at the wedding. What if the Marked got hold of him earlier and turned him into one of them then, so that he’s marked right from the moment he turns up. How would that change things? How does Shawn figure out that there might be a way to save him.
• A fic revolving around Shawn removing the Mark from Jordan after they escape in the final episode. Does he get tempted at any point simply to let Jordan die?
• I do love a nightmare post-apocalyptic hellscape so explore that all you want. Perhaps Shawn and Jordan find themselves trapped together in one of Jordan’s nightmarish visions of the future and have to work together to survive. Maybe they really are trapped, or maybe they’re shared dreams. If the latter, is Jordan behind them?
• Jordan and Shawn are the subject of one of Curtis Peck’s terrible, terrible films, which predicts Jordan’s death and the identity of his murderer before Jordan is killed. Oh, and also, Jordan and Shawn are an item in the film.
• A 5+1 fic exploring the way their relationship changes over the course of the show.
• A Sliding Doors fic that looks at different ways the timeline could have gone. What if Jordan hadn’t been killed, or if Shawn had been able to save him?
• Maia makes a prediction that not only are Shawn and Jordan going to end up on the same side, they’re also going to end up lovers.
• So what if things happen differently with Danny and the promicin virus spreads beyond Seattle, so Shawn isn’t able to take him out of the picture until it’s too late? Maybe he gets kidnapped by a splinter-group who don’t agree with Jordan’s insistence that everyone has to choose to get the shot, who want to deliberately use him to infect the world. And Shawn and Jordan have to team up to rescue him (although exactly how sincere is Jordan about that? Ultimately there are always going to be some people who refuse to get the shot).
• Shawn is injured and Jordan has to tend to his wounds.
• What the hell was going on with Cassie and all the White Light cult stuff? Was it the result of inconvenient 4400s being sent back in the time line and still retaining some memory of what was going on?

Kevin Burkhoff/Tess Doerner

The relationship between these two hits me so hard in the id, it makes me a little bit giddy. The age gap, the protectiveness, the complete unwavering mutual devotion, the (also mutual) caretaking, the potential for guilt and grief, and just in general all the complexities of their relationship. It was made for me, and I feel so spoiled that it happened. :D

They are so, so affectionate with each other. I do kinda wish their relationship came across as a little more explicitly sexual on-screen, but I can headcanon that as Kevin feeling guilty about the age gap, which actually is canon given the moment in the penultimate episode where he tries to break up with her (I’ll settle for hugs, kisses and forehead pressing *sobs*). I am very much here for younger characters pursuing older ones and for the older characters feeling weird and guilty as hell about it, but they just adore each other so much, and again SPOILED. I also love the weirdness of her being so much younger than him despite having been born in the thirties.

Given the weird not-quite-superheroes vibe of this show, it absolutely cracks me up how ridiculously incongruously badass they both are. He can heal himself from any wound! She has insanely powerful mind control and can turn herself into a one-woman-army! And what do they mainly use those powers for? SCIENCE. And also (unfortunate schizophrenia-related incidents aside) protecting each other. Tess in particular is fucking terrifying. The scene where she rescues Kevin from Promisetown? Just gathering up a bunch of 4400s and using their powers for herself? They never quite explored the full ramifications of her powers or how far they spread, but yeeeeah. There’s an argument to be made that she’s the most powerful 4400 after Isabelle (and it cracks me up the way they kept having to dose her with kryptonite pack her off to visit her grandniece to get her out of the way. It’s not a perfect show, but it’s imperfections are part of what I find so delightful XD).

And that leads me to another thing about their relationship: the sheer casual indifferent cruelty of how they came together in the first place, with Tess being sent back purely to cure his paranoid personality disorder (but only just enough so that he’s able to develop promicin; not to the point where he necessarily has good judgement or is fully capable of making ethical judgements or anything). Just, oof, how guilty would Kevin feel learning the circumstances of how he came to be healed? While the show never really touches on it, it colours so much of their relationship going forwards, and I would love to see that explored.

They also sort of act as a mirror to Lily and Richard, another couple who have been destined to be together. I mentioned the incongruousness of their powers, and there’s a weird fucked-up sort of synergy about how they seem designed to protect each other. Like, yes, okay, maybe Kevin’s invulnerability is to protect his promicin-research, but it also means that when Tess has a schizophrenic break he’s able to survive anything she does to him, and he’s devoted enough to hang on in there. The more you start to tease out the implications, the more the cruelty starts to show itself, so dig into that all you want.

Go with something plotty if you want, but for these two I would just love to wallow in something indulgent smut or hurt/comfort. Or just explore missing scenes – so much of their relationship development happens off-screen. And I am so, so here for tender, gentle (and maaaaaybe just slightly guilty) smut I cannot even say.

Optional Prompts

• A bad guys win!AU in which Marked!Jordan Collier is removing the powers of the p-positives, while the original 4400s are being hunted down one by one. Tess and Kevin go on the run.
• Their reunion after Tess gets out of hospital happens off-screen. I would love to see how that went, and how they came to be working together. There’s so much potential for everything I love here: his guilt over how he came to be cured, and the hurt/comfort as the promicin side effects get worse.
• Yet another thing that happens off-screen: how they got together as a couple in the first place. Given that they kiss just after he’s sloughed off his skin, clearly something happened while he was still scarred, and oh god that DELIGHTS me. Him being so ashamed of it and not wanting her to see her like that, her being so into him anyway? Mmph.
• The first time they sleep together.
• Oof, that scene where he says goodbye in the hospital (the book, the kiss on the cheek, the hairtouching). It isn’t clear how much Kevin has realised at that point and whether he understands that it was Tess who cured him, but he’s a smart man: he’ll figure it out quickly. I’d love something exploring his grief and survivor’s guilt over the way things panned out (and I adore early Kevin where he’s still adjusting to being cured, spitting sunflower seeds in the general direction of the bin and not quite having shaken off his mental illness yet).
• Thanks to a 4400’s ability akin to the one in No Exit, Kevin and Tess and a bunch of other people find themselves trapped in an alternate universe. Except that this one is a superhero AU, and they specifically have to use their abilities as superheroes. Mainly because I find it so amusing that the least badass people get the most badass abilities. (and it also cracks me up how the various abilities were basically magic by the end.)
• They reunite after the end of the series.
• Something fluffy and sweet and indulgent where another handwavey 4400 ability allows Kevin and Tess the opportunity to go back in time and give her the Sweet 16 birthday party she never got to experience. Maybe something that works along similar lines to Alana’s, so they don’t lose any time in the real world, and this is set during the penultimate episode, right before he sends her away, and it’s a little respite for them, and perhaps the other people at the party can’t see them? And it’s sweet and romantic and a little bit hot, but also sort of uncomfortable for Kevin given everything that happened in the diner. And play with the age thing: on the one hand it reminds him how young she is, but at the same time he hadn’t actually been born yet.

This request is mainly for the first film. I have seen the others, and you want to incorporate the other elements and characters introduced, then please do, but Emil only appears in EP1, so it’s fine to focus on that one and disregard the others if you wish. Having said that though, I do really love the overarching bad guy plotline EP2 introduces, and the hi-tech prison setting in general, so it might be worth watching that if you want to focus on either of those elements. The third film, however, drops the elaborate hi-tech prison theme and doesn’t really follow up on the mastermind behind the prisons either, so disregard it if you want to.

I loved the first Escape Plan so much. So, so much, and I came out of it shipping Ray and Emil hard. The prison break plotline (which I will forever be a sucker for), the way these two guys meet and almost immediately develop this rock-solid bond, and the way not even the twist ending is going to change that… And, honestly, just the sheer fucking joy of watching the fight scene between them, and the sense that they’re both having more fun than they should be given the circumstances.

One of my favourite things about this film is how, while they can both fight, first and foremost the film’s focus is on them both being extremely intelligent men. It’s how they get out of the prison, and it’s how they both make their livings. Them being absolute fucking badasses is almost secondary. And Arnie? Well, hmm, how do I put this... That bit towards the end when he picked up the machine gun? Something about the mixture of the greying hair and how his character isn’t really the typical action movie hero in this and the slight softness that comes with age and just, daaaaamn, when did he get so hot? *eyes*

I love so many elements of this. The setting for a start, all the opportunities for hurt/comfort, the question of what might happen if they met again after the events of the first film, or just missing scenes and quiet bonding moments set during the film itself. Or something set immediately post-canon, where Ray does accept that lift from Emil at the end? Something where they find themselves needing to escape from another futuristic prison, whether it’s the one from EP2 or somewhere else, or in some other kind of captivity and have to work together to escape again? Bad Guys Made Them Do It? Trauma-bonding? More torture, brutality and whump is also welcome too: the warden’s quiet sadistic brutality was one of my favourite things. More from Abigail and Hush would be very much appreciated too. Ray and Emil just had such a fun dynamic, and I’d really love to see it explored a lot more.

And, if you’re at all up for writing a crossover/fusion, back in 1992 there was a Stuart Gordon film called Fortress which apparently was supposed to have Arnold Schwarzenegger attached. For one reason or another that fell through, meaning a potential budget of $50 million and Arnold Schwarzenegger became $15 million and Christopher Lambert. XD I absolutely fucking love it anyway, and they did a fantastic job with the shoestring budget, but daaaamn, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. It would have fit in really well with Total Recall and The Running Man, and the first Escape Plan film feels like it’s referencing Fortress a lot in some of the details, and I think plot and setting wise they’d mesh really well. If you do go with this, then go with whatever you want, but frankly if you just give me the Intestinator-removal scene, maybe with a bit of tough-love hurt/comfort woven in, then I will be delighted.

Optional Prompts

• I liked Abigail and Ray’s casual friends-with-benefits relationship a lot (at least I’m assuming that’s what it was), and I am very much here for them occasionally sleeping together when they’re between relationships without either of them getting too serious about it. So how would Ray developing feelings for Emil fit into that? Maybe he turns down sex one night and she gets wind of it, or they do sleep together and she figures out he’s pining. Or a threesome! (Ideally with Abigail/Ray remaining very casual and not at all serious)
• Hurt/comfort – Suffering from PTSD after everything he went through, Ray runs into Emil again post-canon, whether the meeting is accidental, or one of them brings it about, or maybe they arrange to meet up for whatever reason. (New Orleans might be a nice choice given it was where Ray was abducted from.)
• Rescue - I Know You Must Hate Me But I'm Here To Save You – Turn the tables. This time Ray is the one who’s been imprisoned or made captive somehow and Emil has to save him.
• An AU where the revelation that Emil is Manheim comes much earlier than it does in canon. I Ray’s reaction at the end of the film is interesting: I can see why they went with what they did, and hey, they’re free, so fuck it, but it does kinda feel like he should be much angrier about it. It is essentially a betrayal. SO what if it came in the final act, jeopardising their partnership, and maybe the growing feelings they’re starting to have for each other. Emil’s guilt would be interesting to explore too.
• Hurt/comfort – The Warden setting out to break Ray has much more severe consequences than in canon, resulting in Ray being nonconned by Drake. Possibly while Emil is made to watch?
• I’m really fascinated by the implications of the Warden’s butterfly collecting given the nature of the glass cells the prisoners are kept in, so if you want to explore that theme then please do.
• And those glass cells in general: the almost total lack of privacy, and just the day-to-day experience of trying to get by in a place like that, trying to find moments of privacy, and how a tentative relationship might start to develop between them even if nothing really happens until they escape.
• I really loved the story progression between EP1 and EP2, and the whole concept of the super hi-tech prisons getting more and more refined, and the uncomfortable realisation that these ultra-illegal human-rights abuses are being developed and refined through Ray’s work. Which, y’know, he’s going to be pretty damn pissed about, right? Follow through on the ending of EP2. Maybe Ray teams up with Emil in order to disrupt the financial affairs of the people responsible for building the black-site prisons.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It. Always and forever. <3
• Fake relationship. Part of the plan to convince the Warden Emil trusts him enough to give up the location of Manheim involves convincing him they’re in a relationship.
• Forced Addiction and Withdrawal To Break Prisoner's Will – More hurt/comfort basically. :D
• If in doubt, I am completely here for smut for these two, whether stolen moments in the prison, or something more relaxed (or not) set post-canon.

Note on my DNWs: My BDSM DNW is waived when it comes to Dr Pretorius.

Well, I wasn’t expecting this to turn out to be one of the single-most hottest things I've ever seen in my life, but the whole thing is laser-targeted to my id from start to finish. It's so sexually charged, from Crawford and Katherine eye-fucking each other when they turn the machine back on for the first time, to him watching her sleep while bleakly confessing to Bubba about how he used to lie awake listening to the sounds coming from (*checks notes*) Dr Pretorius's kinky sex dungeon, to the deeply creepy and uncomfortable implications about what was going on between Crawford and Dr Pretorius pre-canon and what will be going on post-canon. Canon never quite clarifies, but it’s implied that their relationship was abusive, domineering, and dubiously consensual in *all the fucking ways.*

Crawford is exactly the kind of woobie I like, meek, damaged, and deeply traumatised, and I can’t decide if I want him to continue to suffer horribly or to actually get the chance to be happy for once. Both, ideally. I love Katherine too: she’s so single-minded and determined, and after all the shit Meg goes through in Re-Animator I very much appreciate seeing Katherine get the chance to be the scientist with dubious ethics who inadvertently fucks everyone over for once.

My OTP of OTPs for this film is Crawford/Katherine, but I also ship Crawford/Katherine/Bubba, and all the permutations of fucked-up Crawford/Pretorius/Katherine. There are so many character notes that I really, really love: like Crawford taking the bed in Dr Pretorius's room, having presumably given Katherine his own bedroom because it's the gentlemanly thing to do even though it's possible to infer that some very, very unpleasant things have happened to him in Pretorius’s room. Or that moment early on where she strokes his hair tenderly and then sends him off to get an CAT scan while he desperately begs her not to. Their relationship is such a mix of genuinely sweet and deeply uncomfortable, and it leaves me wondering if perhaps she reminds Crawford subconsciously of Pretorius, and that's part of why he's attracted to her (and oh god that's the creepiest fucking thing). Also, hot fucking damn, that *kiss*.

I love that whole early stretch of the film when it's just Crawford, Katherine and Bubba in the house, investigating the murder of Dr Pretorius while also poking about the machine. It's so claustrophobic and intimate and sexually charged, and I'd love to see that section of canon stretched out a little bit. This isn’t a haunted house story in the traditional sense, but it gives me the same vibes as something like the Haunting of Hill House (book or film) or Hell House, another can't-fail trope with me. Perhaps Crawford takes longer repairing the machine and in the meantime they're all settling in and getting to know one another while Crawford is trying to repress his trauma about the house, and all the while the atmosphere is getting more intense. I love watching the three of them get to know each other, the dynamic between the three of them, and the way it shifts after they’ve turned the machine on for the first time and ratcheted up that febrile atmosphere of horniness. Maybe Dr Pretorius doesn’t make his presence known so obviously at first, so they turn the machine on more times before the shit really hits the fan, while Crawford gradually starts to suspect something is wrong.

And oh man, *Bubba.* I grew up watching Dawn of the Dead a lot, and it remains one of my favourite films of all time, so yep, I am extremely fond of Bubba. I’m delighted by the way he towers over the pair of them, the way he watches over and the caretaking role he takes on, and the way, when the sexual tension starts to ramp up, he admits to getting an erection. Which is to say I am very much here for a Crawford/Katherine/Bubba threesome, or even poly of a kind where it somehow reflects the dynamics of canon, because Crawford/Katherine is so intensely charged in the film. Maybe because he's older and not as damaged as Crawford (or as horny as Katherine) he sort of acts like an anchor for the two of them?

Optional Prompts

• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – The more I think about that ending the more it sticks with me, how it’s a circular narrative, with Crawford beginning the film under Pretorius’s control and ending it that way too. And I’m guessing Pretorius isn’t impotent any more. It’s so bleak, the idea of him being tormented, tortured and eaten (ideally with the focus on body horror rather than vore), only to be reborn over and over again.
• Bondage – It sure would be a shame if those manacles went to waste.
• Exploring Ancient Ruins in a Lovecraftian Alternate Dimension (Monsters Optional) – Post-canon fic where Crawford and Katherine explore the world beyond, like the mysterious temple mentioned in the original story, and all the creatures who inhabit it. Maybe they’re more or less normal, maybe they’re changing into something monstrous (but that doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing). Anything is welcome for this prompt, from horror, worldbuilding, smut, or something much gentler and fluffier.
• Femdom – I just want Katherine to gently dom Crawford. Maybe they stumble across an overly friendly tentacle monster and after escaping from its clutches it occurs to her it could have its uses.
• A fix-it where Katherine sets out to rescue Crawford.
• Or a canon divergent fic where Crawford appears to have escaped the effects of the Resonator at the end, but it gradually becomes clear that although he looked normal at first, he came back wrong.
• I cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Crawford having his boundaries trampled on and getting bad-touched, either by Katherine while she’s being affected by the resonator or by Dr Pretorius. I would very much like to see the relationship between Crawford and Pretorius explored, and I think there's a lot to dig into. Like the bit where he yells that Pretorius doesn't know how to give pleasure, only pain, and the question of how he'd know Pretorius was impotent because there's really no good answer to that question. Give me something where Pretorius feels up Crawford instead of (or as well as) Katherine, or where Pretorius encourages her to join in. Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios are especially welcome here.
• So how did Dr Pretorius manage to turn the Resonator back on? Does he (and Crawford after the end of the film) retain an awareness of the normal plane of existence, and some ability to manipulate it?
• Obvious third wheel in spontaneous threesome still highly enjoys themselves – During the early part of the film, a spontaneous threesome develops between Katherine, Crawford and Bubba, possibly induced by sex pollen or just the lingering effects of the Resonator. (With Bubba, naturally, being the third wheel, but he’s fine with that tbh.

Terrible people doing terrible things! :D

I don’t know what it says about me that I find the tattoo-parlour scene in particular distractingly hot (probably nothing good XD), but the reason why I ship these two can almost certainly be traced to that scene.

The bit where having terrorised Billy, Bob dances around him and then just straight up throws himself into his lap? And then, THEN, still sitting in said lap, he goes on to nestle his head against Billy’s chest while still menacing him and waving a gun around? Mmmph. The gun kink, the dancing, the casual touching and violation of personal space, the apparent total confidence in whatever the fucking hell his sexuality is, the gun kink... Oh GOD did I mention the gun kink? MORE OF THAT SORT OF THING PLEASE.

I am here for anything that explores their relationship, with Dinosaur Bob as the semi-smart, marginally more pulled-together one, and Creepy as the subservient tagalong one who looks to Bob and defers to him in just about everything. They’re simultaneously menacing but ultimately so tragically pathetic, and I just want to see more of their dynamic. I ship them so hard too: Creepy has a bad case of hero-worship when it comes to Bob, and Bob is, uh, clearly pretty comfortable getting up close and personal with other men.

Tropewise, for these two, I especially like anything where they’re in some way in denial about their sexuality, whether it’s a case of situational homosexuality, ‘no homo’ bro-sex, gay chicken, pining while having sex that definitely isn’t gay, or sex under the influence (look, they’re basically off their tits on meth for the entirety of the film, so if they’re having sex that’s probably inevitable), but there is almost no fic for this fandom, and nothing for these two, so anything goes. Is there a degree of internalised homophobia or have they just never really thought that hard about it? Or alternatively, maybe they’re both just fine with their sexualities actually, even if they’re keeping it on the downlow because their boss would very definitely not approve. (For the record their boss only appears in cut-scenes and the only cut scene I’ve been able to watch is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-tTmLLxIU&t=1s)

Maybe a canon-divergent fic where Bob gets shot but not killed outright, so Creepy has to look after him. I have no idea what hurt/comfort would look like for these two, but damn do I want to see it. :D Or maybe a pre-canon scene that investigates whatever the fuck they were up to before they showed up at Watty’s place. Also gun kink. Aaaaall the gun kink. I like how vaguely submissive Creepy is towards Bob, and the more you can capture Dinosaur Bob’s physicality the better as far as I’m concerned.

Finally I get such Sketchy and Skeezy from Z Nation vibes from them, (the one smartish one, one goofy one dynamic, the criminal behaviour, the homoerotic undertones, the meth) to the point where I’m semi-wondering if they were the inspiration for Sketchy and Skeezy. so if you want to do a Z Nation crossover, then PLEASE DO, whether they run into anyone in the main cast, or Sketchy and Skeezy, or a fusion where they take over the Sketchy and Skeezy roles. Or just a zombie apocalypse wholly unaffiliated with Z Nation.

Optional Prompts

• Gun Kink – Yeeeep. This is a pretty good canon for gun kink. I’m here for anything from caressing the other party with a gun, whether tenderly or with an air of menace, to actual insertion or fellating of a gun.
• 'Platonic' porn-watching and mutual masturbation session leads to sex – Because they’re horny and bored and there’s definitely nothing gay about this.
• "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse – All the ‘sex while pining and in denial’ energy please.
• A/B Seduce C into a Threesome; Then A/B Realize They Only Want Each Other – I’m specifically thinking of Billy for C here, because his entire dynamic with them, and it way it flips their roles delights me, but alternatively go with an OC, possibly a woman because I like the opportunities for ‘pining while in denial’.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – Bonding over substance misuse and/or sex under the influence.
• First Meeting – Explore their backstory. How did they meet? In prison or elsewhere? How did they get on the first time they met
• Alternate Universe - John Wick (Movies) Setting – In which they are (terrible) international assassins. Either that or they’re just tagging along with an old acquaintance who is an assassin, and maybe they’re just knocking about the Continental while plot happens all around them.
• The awkward situation that results when you’re inadvertently on the periphery of a Bad Guys Made Them Do It situation between two men and it leads to the awakening of feelings.
• Forced proximity – they have to hole up for a while for reasons, and have to share a hotel room, which potentially leads to sharing a bed, watching pay per view porn, and whatever other forced proximity tropes you can come up with.
• Handcuffed together – Whether for the purposes of plot, or purely as an excuse for filthy PWP porn.
• Bob injures his hands, which leads to him getting a caretaking handjob or oral sex from Creepy.
• They meet up with Watty and Star under different circumstances a couple of years down the line.
• AU where they are the wanted fugitives on a road trip as they try to escape to Mexico.
• A From Dusk Till Dawn (the film version) fusion. Bob and Creepy follow Watty and Star to Mexico, but their stand-off is interrupted by vampires and they need to work together to survive.
• Platonic bed sharing and the accompanying unfortunately timed boners.
• Morning after (amazing sex the night before) – All the awkward aftermath please, possibly with optional ‘did that really happen?’ binge-related amnesia.

I discovered this recently and have absolutely fallen for it hard. I burned through the series, and am now planning on reading the books because I need more. It just gets better and better, and I am so, so gutted it didn’t get a fourth season.

The relationship between the two mains is just the most extraordinary thing to watch, this tangle of utter devotion and conflict and loyalty, and I could just watch the two of them interact for hours. The way their relationship stretches back to when they were boys, and the little complexities that come from Leonard being gay and Hap being straight, and the never quite clarified question of whether there’s any attraction there… The level of devotion between them is off the fucking scale, to the point where it almost hurts. The way they look out for each other! Every time one of them tells the other he loves him! All the opportunities for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, but also, also, all the times one of them gets the other one into trouble and it doesn’t matter because they’re both ride-or-die for each other anyway.

I would love something that explores their relationship, whether entirely one-sided pining on Leonard’s part or where something happens between them, whether a (drunken?) one-off encounter or a more sustained relationship. Maybe Hap experiments sexually – in which case, does he decide reluctantly that as much as he loves Leonard he’s never going to feel sexually attracted towards him, or maybe he realises he’s bisexual late in life? Or maybe they experimented once when they were younger, and while Hap’s put it behind him, Leonard hasn’t? Or something absurdly tropey – there was only one bed! Or they have to investigate a crime in the gay community necessitating Undercover as a Couple! Or Bad Guys Made Them Do It, and/or its angsty aftermath.

And then there’s Raoul. I liked him and his relationship with Leonard a lot anyway, and then I got to the last episode of S2, and the scene where he walks out on Leonard and that line where he’s looking back and they’re both kind of teary, and the ship hit me right in the heart. Their relationship in canon is so painful and messy, and I really wish we’d seen a bit more of Raoul as a character. The way they get back together in S1 seems linked to Hap getting together with Trudy, but at the same time Raoul and Leonard do genuinely seem to love each other. It’s just Leonard’s relationship with Hap is so all-consuming. No matter whether it’s entirely platonic or not, Hap will always be the most important person in Leonard’s life, and the question is whether there’s ever really going to be room for anyone else.

Hap and Leonard have been devoted to each other since they were boys, and I’d love to see something exploring how Raoul might be able to find a way to fit into that, or not as the case may be. Anything is welcome, it revolves around they’re break-up and how they’re never going to make it work, OR (because I do genuinely ship them) the two of them figuring out how to make it work despite the massive Hap-sized elephant in the room. I’d also really love to see him getting more involved in a case and working together with them.

Optional Prompts

• Oh No They're Hot – Always a sucker for Oh No They’re Hot moments, whichever one of them it happens to. Maybe Leonard’s been coasting along complacently because he knows he isn’t really attracted to Hap so it’s fine, and then something happens and how hot Hap is is all he can think about. Or maybe Hap starts to suspect he might not be as straight as he’s always assumed, but he doesn’t want to risk letting it slip to Leonard because he doesn’t want to screw up their friendship.

  "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse – Whether for Hap/Leonard or Leonard/Raoul, either way I just love this dynamic so much. The bad idea sex, the pining, the inability to control themselves. Maybe the tension is getting too intense so Hap and Leonard decide to get it out of the way, but turns out it’s much much better than they expected, or conversely terrible and they can’t have that be their only sexual encounter. For Leonard/Raoul, maybe they meet up again after season 2, and there’s still something there between them.

• Captured and tortured together & doing their best to help each other through it – All the angst and whump and mutual support, please. Also the two of them having to figure out a way to escape.
• Character Confesses Unrequited Feelings; Other Character Begins to See Them in a New Light – If it’s Leonard, presumably he’s slightly delirious because otherwise it’d have to be dragged out of him by wild horses. But maybe it’s the other way around, and in a drunken moment Hap admits that he did go through a brief stage of thinking he might have had feelings for Leonard. Maybe sometime after Trudy turned up and dumped him again, and Leonard was just there?
• Character is in love with best friend (and the friend will never know) – I have to admit I head-canon Leonard as having feelings of some kind for Hap. Watching it, it just feels like there’s something there. Either he’s in love with him, or he used to be in love with him and as time went on those feelings got blunted without ever really going away. (I lean towards the latter, but let me stress that if you have a different head canon you want to write then you should do it. Something where it’s Hap is the one pining would be extremely welcome too). Just all the pining and self-denial and refusal to say anything for fear of screwing up their friendship. Delicious.
• Pining. I want allll the pining for this, from: Pining - Character A incorrectly assumes that Character B knows that A is pining for them, to Pining - Mutual pining that both characters figure out is requited but that's terrifying, to basically everything in between.
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – For either pairing. Canon already went with Accidental Child Acquisition with Ivan, but a baby would be fun too. How does it happen? Some ex-girlfriend of Hap’s, perhaps, or maybe they’re being chased by bad guys and end up stranded with a baby they need to return to its family.
• Ghosts – Season 2 in particular had some hints of the supernatural going on, although it never quite clarified if they were really ghosts or not. But what if they were?
• Whichever is the endgame ship, give me Raoul's point of view on whatever Hap and Leonard's relationship is. If Raoul/Leonard, then all the quiet resentment at not being the most important person in your boyfriend’s life, even if you’re trying to be understanding. If Hap/Leonard is the end-ship, then that last scene when Raoul walks out seems pretty central. Maybe he comes back into Leonard’s life the next time one of them is hospitalised and he realises at some point they’ve got together and he knew it was inevitable. (or maybe there is no endgame ship, and it's all a mess of pining and hurt).
• Relationship Study – Either relationship. I’d love something exploring whatever the hell is going on with them and how they fit together. How Raoul and Leonard met, for example, or what happened the last time they broke up. What it’s like being gay in 80s Texas and whether they ever thought about moving somewhere else. And for Hap and Leonard, is this a pining situation (one-sided or otherwise?), or if they did get together, how would it happen, how would it work?
• First time – First time having sex with each other. For Hap/Leonard, maybe Hap’s first time having sex with another man. Or first time having sex sober. I’m here for anything from pure unadulterated PWP smut to something which focuses on the emotion or which takes a look at the aftermath.
• Raoul and Leonard are reunited shortly after the events of season 3. Leonard still hasn’t got over the trauma he went through, but given what happened, he doesn’t want go to Hap. Not that he particularly wants to go to Raoul either, mind you, but Raoul is used to Leonard’s bullshit by now.
• Case fic! For either pairing. After their break-up in season 2, Raoul comes to Leonard because he needs help with something. Something which potentially means Hap and Leonard going undercover as a couple to investigate a crime in the gay community. Hap/Leonard seems like the obvious pairing for this (and YES PLEASE), but also Raoul/Leonard could be interesting as well. Pretending to be in a relationship with Hap could be the catalyst to finally get Leonard over whatever the fuck his deal is with Hap and leave the way clear for him to properly get together with Raoul. Not to mention all the opportunities for jealousy and pining. (And also some interaction between Hap and Raoul would be very welcome too – they both love Leonard so they already have something in common.)
• Speaking of Hap and Raoul, while I don’t ship them, and I’m not particularly interested in poly combining these two pairings, I would really love to see them have a one-off threesome.
• Hurt/Comfort - A Blames Themself for Love Interest Getting Hurt to Protect A - Leads to Feelings – Either pairing, although I’m particularly drawn to Raoul/Leonard for this, with Raoul being the one getting injured. Mainly because Hap and Leonard are both getting injured on the reg: they’re used to it. But Raoul isn’t anywhere near as tough as they are, and maybe that’s the catalyst to get them together properly.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – As ever, one of my favourite pairings. :D

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Quark/Brunt

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?

Mirror Ezri Dax/Brunt & Mirror Ezri Dax/Mirror Brunt/Brunt

Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart. Pottering around the ship preparing tube grubs for everyone! Honourable and decent and loyal! Quietly and respectfully pining for Mirror!Ezri, knowing that his feelings will probably never be reciprocated, and being a little bit sad about that, but it doesn’t matter because he values her friendship and their partnership above everything else!

And then there’s Brunt. XD

Brunt is genuinely terrible in so many ways. He’s the worst, and I have loved him right from the first moment he was twitchy about Ishka wearing clothes. <3<3<3 I’m so charmed by the difference between him and his mirror counterpart, and I just want him and Mirror!Ezri to hook up however it comes about, and whether it’s just a one-off or something more long-lasting. Maybe she needs him to pretend to be Mirror!Brunt to pull something off. Or maybe she finds herself in the non-mirror universe and runs into him in Quark’s, and is, uh... taken aback? Fascinated? Weirdly charmed?... by this absolute dick with the face of the dead partner she really was very fond of. He’s sexist and greedy and treacherous, and she can’t trust him as far as she can throw him, but maybe she finds herself drawn to him. And while Mirror!Brunt was far too self-effacing to proposition her, the same is very definitely not true of regular Brunt. Maybe it’s just because she really misses her Brunt, or maybe it’s because regular Brunt reminds her more of herself, or maybe it’s just because she’s horny and he’s there, idk.

As for the OT3, I cannot say how delighted I am by the idea of the two Brunts meeting. I can’t tell which of them would be the more horrified at meeting the other one. I’m not quite sure how the threesome would come about, but man, do I want to see it. Is it a one-off, or is the OT3 threesome the catalyst that actually gets Mirror Brunt/Mirror Ezri together?

And while this should go without saying, canon divergent fics are very welcome here. The poor Ferengi never seem to get much of a chance in the Mirror universe. (I’m also curious what Ferenginar is actually like there).

I headcanon Mirror Ezri as bisexual and read Mirror Brunt's comment about her being picky when it comes to men as relating to Quark and Brunt being Ferengi. References to her relationships with Mirror Leeta and the Intendant are welcome, and the requested ships absolutely do NOT have to be end-game (although I would prefer the fic to focus on them.) Look, I just find the idea of these two treacherous bastards hooking up hot as fuck, even if it's just temporary, and I'm both amused and heartbroken at how Mirror Brunt's might react to finding out that actually she will make an exception for at least one Ferengi male and it's the terrible evil mirror universe version of himself who is the literal worst.

Optional Prompts

• Femdom – Because if there’s ever been a character who very definitely needs to get dommed by a female, it is Brunt.
• Clothing - Naked Male Clothed Female – Niiice. I just love this freeform so, so much when it comes to Brunt (especially if combined with femdom). He would just hate it so fucking much. It’s disgusting. It’s depraved. So why the hell does he find it so fucking hot? *hearteyes*
• Identity Porn – Brunt has to pose as his Mirror counterpart and work with Mirror!Ezri, leading to a sex scene in which for kink reasons he ends up having sex with her while still in the Mirror!Brunt persona.
• A threesome in which Ezri and Brunt edge Mirror!Brunt until he’s a sobbing desperate mess. Look, I just want him to have nice things okay?
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I am a sucker for certain tropes and one of those tropes that will forever get me is when people who under normal circumstances have no business looking after babies get stuck looking after a baby. If Mirror!Brunt is around, maybe the plan was that he’d be the one looking after the kid, but due to something going wrong, he and Brunt have to trade places and pretend to be each other.
• Competence Kink - Whether they’re rivals or allies, I just love the idea of Brunt and Mirror!Ezri being secretly impressed and turned on by how good the other one is at lying, cheating and stealing. Lets just say Brunt probably has more in common with Mirror!Ezri than his counterpart does.
• Since his death, Ezri has been seeing Mirror!Brunt's ghost. Maybe it’s some kind of hallucination from a space anomaly, or maybe she’s just imagining him, or maybe he really is a ghost, or maybe he’s the result of a malfunctioning portable holoprojector (which she hasn’t fixed because she kind of misses him and it’s nice having him around). but either way she’s gradually beginning to accept she might have had feelings for him after all. Then she meets Brunt.
• proxy-fucking – Mirror!Ezri fucking Brunt as a way of processing the grief she feels about Mirror!Brunt’s death.

Odo/Weyoun

Go with any Weyoun you want, whether past, present, or future. In the relaunch novels, Odo creates a ninth clone to act as his aide, and while I’m not otherwise tied to the canon of the relaunch novels, as far as I’m concerned, Odo bringing Weyoun back absolutely happened, and that is a hill I will die on. :D

I've shipped Odo/Weyoun pretty damn hard right from Weyoun's first episode, and Weyoun 6 sacrificing himself and then dying in Odo’s arms certainly didn’t make me ship them any less. There's a lot to dig into with this relationship: the complexities of the Vorta and their inbuilt loyalty to Changelings, the potential for changes to the way the Vorta are created and how that might affect the Dominion, Odo's blind spot for his people, and the fact that they're both capable of leading very long lives. Even when almost every other solid Odo’s known in his life has passed on, Weyoun could potentially still be around, and there are a lot of possibilities there.

There’s also a moment in A Time to Stand when Weyoun 5, gloriously insincere arsehole that he is, talks about the habitat ring echoing with the sound of happy children, but this is a man who’d knowing preside over wiping out the population of entire planets, and of course presumably the Vorta don’t have children in the usual way or childhoods, and that’s probably something else the Dominion have taken away from them. It’s pure nightmare fuel.

I have a lot of feelings about everything that happens between them both in Faith, Treachery and the Great River, and what it says about both their characters. That story Weyoun 6 tells Odo about the origins of his people, and the way Odo seems to take it as kindness when actually what the Founders did was at the very least mass enslavement, and possibly even something akin to genocide? The suggestion that the Vorta are powerful is laughable, given that their entire purpose, over and above their own wellbeing, is to serve the Founders, and Odo of all people should know that. Would he have thought of himself as powerful when he was facilitating the Cardassians on Terok Nor? (Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about having a lot of feelings about that episode. XD) There are a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn, and I do very much appreciate Odo’s blind spot when it comes to his people.

Optional Prompts

• DS9: Post-canon attempt to return the Vorta to sexual reproduction; first non-clone baby born - With Weyoun and Odo being at the heart of the attempt.
• A canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives to defect to the Federation, exploring how their relationship goes after the war is over.
• A canon-divergent AU where the canonical baby Changeling turns up while the station is in the hands of the Dominion and Weyoun is involved with Odo's attempts to look after it.
• Complicated emotions at being pregnant with a baby character believes is a god - somehow Weyoun ends up knocked up, whether it's some kind of handwavy transporter accident type accident, or the result of a sex pollen incident necessary to save Odo's life and neither of them realised Weyoun could get pregnant that way. Is there some kind of side effect from the pregnancy which leaves Weyoun with some degree of shapeshifting powers, or the ability to link with the baby, which is amazing but also very uncomfortable because he's just a Vorta.
• Cloning Accident result in creating a baby - The real reason Weyoun 6 tried to defect. :D Is it a wholly new person or just a baby version of Weyoun, and what are the implications of it not being going through the full cloning process?
• character that thought they had zero parenting instincts goes into hardcore protective mode - I love Weyoun as a villain at least partly because of how very... unintimidating he is in a lot of ways. He's small and slight and vulnerable and he keeps dying, and I'm really drawn to this prompt both for him embracing his violent side in the interests of protecting a baby and for the potential to explore his character because I’ll always love a character study.
• a 5+1 fic exploring the way Odo's relationship with the various different Weyouns changes over the years.
• Sex Pollen – Whether it’s Odo affected and Weyoun willingly sacrifices himself to save the Founder, or Weyoun is affected and is horrified/pathetically grateful at Odo being willing to help. Or the aftermath of the sex pollen situation with all the fallout.
• A canon-divergent AU where Odo remains human for longer, and he’s still a solid when he meets Weyoun 5 for the first time. What effect would Odo's becoming a solid have on their dynamic? How would the Vorta conceptualise the concept of a god becoming a solid, and what does that mean for the way Weyoun’s worldview? I’d be delighted with anything from a character/relationship study that follows their time on the station together, or perhaps something plottier where they're stranded on a planet together and have to work together to survive, but now Odo's just as vulnerable as Weyoun is. (Sex pollen always welcome)
• Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries – Weyoun is injured and Odo has to treat his injuries, whether it’s Weyoun 6 or one of the other ones. I’m just fascinated by all the messy feelings of faith and awe, and Odo’s discomfort at being thought of as a god.
• Slow and painful process of recovering from lifetime of cultural brainwashing – Whether it happens over the course of one Weyoun or several. I really love all the tangled complexities of the way the Vorta see the world. Maybe this is a canon-divergent fic where Weyoun 6 survives and Odo tries to deprogram him? Or maybe a future Weyoun where the process has begun but isn't quite there yet.
• Whump - A sacrifices themself to protect B; B is forced to watch A being tortured – The obvious candidate for self-sacrifice is Weyoun, but Odo sacrificing himself and Weyoun's struggles watching him being tortured (perhaps that Romulan device that stops him from changing shape) would be delicious too.

Thanks for reading!

Fandom 5K 2023 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Mystery Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, including unrequested crossovers with other fandoms that I’m into. If I’ve ever written it or requested it or otherwise given you reason to think I’m a fan then go ahead.. And while my general likes might lean towards the bleak and angsty, believe it or not, I do also really love more light-hearted styles of fic as well as pure unadulterated smut. Do whatever you want with my prompts. I tend to use freeforms to trigger ideas and suggestions, but they are purely to give you ideas of the sort of thing I like. Use them, subvert them, or ignore them completely and go off my general likes if you’d prefer. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them. I’m excited to see what you come up with! :D

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• The 4400 (2004)
• Death Goes to School
• From Beyond (1986)
• House on Haunted Hill (1999)
• Last Days of Pompeii
• Love and a .45 (1994)
• The Professionals
• Re-Animator
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Would You Rather? (2012)

General Likes and DNWs

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mystery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining, whether mutual or one-sided
• Repression and stoicism
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief; characters getting together while still grieving for previous partners, taking solace in each other, the dead character still seeming like a presence in the relationship, etc.
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, including zombies (probably my favourite AU scenario of all time), with focus on angst and the struggle for survival.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, intense (and probably pretty damn unhealthy) relationships that come about as a result of being isolated together and trauma bonding.
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• I really love historical detail and extensive research notes, so if that’s what you’re into then feel free to go wild. (If that’s not your thing, then please don’t worry: I am in no way an expert, and I love tropey indulgent stuff and cheerfully anachronistic fics just as much).
• Hair kink. Hands pushed into hair, coiling it around fingers, routinely cutting another character's hair if appropriate in context (e.g. in post-apocalyptic scenarios), hairwashing as part of hurt/comfort, yanking head back by the hair, etc
• Textiles, especially knitwear and embroidery; men in jumpers; historical and cultural details and craft in general
• Unusual structures and ways of telling a story, such as Rashomon plots, non-linear narratives, outsider POVs, epistolary works, etc.
• Cigarette kink: descriptions of smoking, sharing cigarettes, lighting cigarettes for each other, etc.
• Finally, and I cannot emphasise this enough, men in sleepwear, particularly pyjamas and dressing gowns.

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes
• Situations where one character is too tired, injured etc to orgasm themselves, but takes great pleasure in making the other person come, so long as it's part of a wider give-take relationship when it comes to sex.

• A/B/O
• Noncon between requested ships (Something Made Them Do It scenarios are always okay though, including Bad Guys Made Them Do It)
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Unrequested Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Lactation kink
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

(I understand there are post-canon novels available, but I haven’t read them yet. It’s fine to disregard them and purely go off the series.)

As I write this, I literally finished binge-watching the fourth series last night, so I’m mired in the middle of it and still trying to get my thoughts together. The wheels started to come off by the end, but on the whole I loved this weird convoluted little puzzle box of a show in its entirety, and I wish we’d got more closure about the future and the catastrophe and everything that was going to happen. Right up to the end I genuinely couldn’t predict where it was going to go and how things were going to shake out, and I just had so much fun watching it and trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the implications were.

This is one of those I love everyone in this bar kind of shows. I love all the different characters and their various relationships, Maia and Diana, Tom and Diana, Marco, and Lily and Richard, and Shawn, god, Shawn. Shawn and Maia are probably the two characters I came away loving the most: they’re both so young and complicated, and I’d be really fascinated to see how they both deal with everything post-canon. I had my doubts about Isabelle (the whole super-fast-aging eldritch baby turns out hot thing), but actually I really loved her too by the end, especially after she lost her powers.

And then there’s all the time stuff. It’s kind of superheroes-by-stealth, and I really love how it’s an upside down version of the X-Men while not being anything of the kind, and the way it focuses on the day-to-day realities of a situation like this by mostly following NTAC (and god, I ADORE Tom and Diana’s rock-solid, loving, affectionate, I-would-die-for-this-person friendship <3<3<3)

And all the fucked up time weirdness and the way it’s cosmic horror adjacent. The show even gives a nod to Lovecraft at one point and specifically to A Shadow out of Time, in which people swap minds with impossibly alien creatures from the far future, which is so fascinating giving everything revealed in the later episodes. Plus, even the supposed good guys of the future are capable of being incredibly spectacularly cruel: witness their kidnapping and erasure of Maia from the timeline, plus virtually everything about Kevin and Tess. We never really learn that much about the people from the future – on the one hand, I’d like answers, but on the other, I’m actually really glad the show ultimately left that sort of ambiguous. What I keep coming back to is that all we know about the future is what the future tells us, which has the potential to be spectacularly creepy. If you want to play with even the good guys of the future turning out to be neither as good or as human as they claim, then please do.

And time stuff: how does the butterfly affect change the original plan of the people from the future? If Isabelle was meant to destroy the 4400s and she is actively working against the plan, then what does that mean for the promicin that originated from her? Kevin even says at one point that it’s different from his. So how might things have played out if Isabelle had never been sent back and the original plan had played out with Kevin’s promicin becoming more slowly available, perhaps with fewer deaths because he’s able to figure out the compatibility test earlier?

What the hell was going on with Cassie? What parts of the plot were down to the good future people and which the bad future people? How will things play out post-series? Does Jordan actually manage to clear the interloper and what happens if he doesn’t? Play with the butterfly effect: give me a Sliding Doors style thing which explores different timelines, or a canon-divergent fic, or character studies of any of the characters. Or a future-fic which looks at what happens a significant length of time post-canon.

(And yet another goofy crossover possibility, but the nod to Re-Animator in this series delights me. If you want to do a crossover where Herbert is one of the 4400 and maybe possibly meets up with Kevin, then PLEASE DO.)

Jordan Collier/Shawn Farrell

As much as I love all the other relationships that appear in the show, the one between Jordan and Shawn is ultimately the central relationship of the show: these two as diametrically-opposed messiahs, each of them wanting to do what’s best for everyone, but ultimately ending up on opposite sides.

And they’re still like that at the end – the issue with promicin still hasn’t gone away. Jordan still wants everyone in the world to take the shot, Shawn wants to save as many lives as possible, and still has Kevin potentially developing a test to determine whether anyone taking it will be able to survive, so that conflict between them is still there. At one point it felt like the show was setting up Jordan vs Isabelle, and it kiiiinda was, but more than that what it was actually setting up was this weird, complicated push-pull relationship between Shawn and Jordan, and goddamn, am I here for seeing that explored.

And Shawn, god I love him so much. Everything he’s been through, everything he’s lost: his fucked-up relationship with Isabelle, and his brother, and the pressure on his shoulders. I forget, sometimes, watching it, just how painfully young he is, given he was still in high school at the start of the series, and the series only really unfolds over a couple of years. He’s really just a kid, but he’s had to shoulder this massive burden and responsibility while getting his heart ripped out and stamped on at every turn. Taking over the 4400 centre after Jordan’s death (and his GRIEF when that happens), and trying to steer a middle path and shift the centre away from Jordan’s extremely cult-like trappings to something more genuine, and then Jordan comes back as a kind of smug Jesus (not a complaint: what other kind of Jesus would Jordan Collier be?) and starts a whole new cult, and just… oof.

Can that middle path be steered? Which of them is right? To what extent does Jordan believe his new world heaven on earth bullshit, or is it just more of him being a businessman and creating the image he knows what everyone wants to see? I do believe he is, at least to some extent, sincere, but at the same time some part of his nature remains, and he was always manipulative and stubborn.

What exactly is this vision of the face of god he’s talking about or heaven on earth? Right up until the end I didn’t know if Jordan was going to prove to be a force for good or bad, and I still can’t tell, but then I think about his for the world being 100% promicin positive, and I think about how many deaths that means, and yeeeeeah, that probably ain’t great.

Explore any point of their relationship, from the manipulative early days when Shawn was starting to find his feet, to the later seasons where Shawn has taken over the centre and has grown more used to power and leadership. I do ship them, but also I’d be open to seeing their gen relationship explored if that’s what you’d rather too. Everything about their relationship fascinates me.

Optional Prompts

• I seem to remember Matthew suggesting he knew Jordan was back before Jordan made his appearance at the wedding. What if the Marked got hold of him earlier and turned him into one of them then, so that he’s marked right from the moment he turns up. How would that change things? How does Shawn figure out that there might be a way to save him.
• A fic revolving around Shawn removing the Mark from Jordan after they escape in the final episode. Does he get tempted at any point simply to let Jordan die?
• I do love a nightmare post-apocalyptic hellscape so explore that all you want. Perhaps Shawn and Jordan find themselves trapped together in one of Jordan’s nightmarish visions of the future and have to work together to survive. Maybe they really are trapped, or maybe they’re shared dreams. If the latter, is Jordan behind them?
• Jordan and Shawn are the subject of one of Curtis Peck’s terrible, terrible films, which predicts Jordan’s death and the identity of his murderer before Jordan is killed. Oh, and also, Jordan and Shawn are an item in the film.
• A 5+1 fic exploring the way their relationship changes over the course of the show.
• A Sliding Doors fic that looks at different ways the timeline could have gone. What if Jordan hadn’t been killed, or if Shawn had been able to save him?
• Maia makes a prediction that not only are Shawn and Jordan going to end up on the same side, they’re also going to end up lovers.
• So what if things happen differently with Danny and the promicin virus spreads beyond Seattle, so Shawn isn’t able to take him out of the picture until it’s too late? Maybe he gets kidnapped by a splinter-group who don’t agree with Jordan’s insistence that everyone has to choose to get the shot, who want to deliberately use him to infect the world. And Shawn and Jordan have to team up to rescue him (although exactly how sincere is Jordan about that? Ultimately there are always going to be some people who refuse to get the shot).
• Shawn is injured and Jordan has to tend to his wounds.
• What the hell was going on with Cassie and all the White Light cult stuff? Was it the result of inconvenient 4400s being sent back in the time line and still retaining some memory of what was going on?

Kevin Burkhoff/Tess Doerner

The potential for hurt/comfort is off-the-scale with these two. So much about this relationship hits me right in the id: the age gap, the protectiveness, the complete unwavering mutual devotion, the (also mutual) caretaking, the potential for guilt and grief, and just in general all the complexities of their relationship. It was made for me, and I feel so spoiled that it happened. :D

They are so, so affectionate with each other. I do kinda wish their relationship came across as a little more explicitly sexual on-screen, but I can headcanon that as Kevin feeling guilty about the age gap, which actually is canon given the moment in the penultimate episode where he tries to break up with her (I’ll settle for hugs, kisses and forehead pressing *sobs*). I am very much here for younger characters pursuing older ones and for the older characters feeling weird and guilty as hell, but they just adore each other so much, and again SPOILED. I also love the weirdness of her being so much younger than him despite having been born in the thirties.

Given the weird not-quite-superheroes vibe of this show, it absolutely cracks me up how ridiculously incongruously badass they both are. He can heal himself from any wound! She has insanely powerful mind control and can turn herself into a one-woman-army! And what do they mainly use those powers for? SCIENCE. And also (unfortunate schizophrenia-related incidents aside) protecting each other. Tess in particular is fucking terrifying. The scene where she rescues Kevin from Promisetown? Just gathering up a bunch of 4400s and using their powers for herself? They never quite explored the full ramifications of her powers or how far they spread, but yeeeeah.

And that leads me to another thing about their relationship: the sheer casual indifferent cruelty of how they came together in the first place, with Tess being sent back purely to cure his paranoid personality disorder (but only just enough so that he’s able to develop promicin; not to the point where he necessarily has good judgement or is fully capable of making ethical judgements or anything). Just, oof, how guilty would Kevin feel learning the circumstances of how he came to be healed? While the show never really touches on it, it colours so much of their relationship going forwards, and I would love to see that explored.

They also sort of act as a mirror to Lily and Richard, another couple who have been destined to be together. I mentioned the incongruousness of their powers, and there’s a weird fucked-up sort of synergy about how they seem designed to protect each other. Like, yes, okay, maybe Kevin’s invulnerability is to protect his promicin-research, but it also means that when Tess has a schizophrenic break he’s able to survive anything she does to him and he’s devoted enough to hang on in there. The more you start to tease out the implications, the more the cruelty starts to show itself.

Go with something plotty if you want, but for these two I would just love to wallow in something indulgent smut or hurt/comfort. Or just explore missing scenes – so much of their relationship development happens off-screen. And I am so, so here for tender, gentle (and maaaaaybe just slightly guilty) smut I cannot even say.

Optional Prompts

• A bad guys win!AU in which Marked!Jordan Collier is removing the powers of the p-positives, while the original 4400s are being hunted down one by one. Tess and Kevin go on the run.
• Their reunion after Tess gets out of hospital happens off-screen. I would love to see how that went, and how they came to be working together. There’s so much potential for everything I love here: his guilt over how he came to be cured, and the hurt/comfort as the promicin side effects get worse.
• Yet another thing that happens off-screen: how they got together as a couple in the first place. Given that they kiss just after he’s sloughed off his skin, clearly something happened while he was still scarred, and oh god that DELIGHTS me. Him being so ashamed of it and not wanting her to see her like that, her being so into him anyway? Mmph.
• The first time they sleep together.
• Oof, that scene where he says goodbye in the hospital (the book, the kiss on the cheek, the hairtouching). It isn’t clear how much Kevin has realised at that point and whether he understands that it was Tess who cured him, but he’s a smart man: he’ll figure it out quickly. I’d love something exploring his grief and survivor’s guilt over the way things panned out (and I adore early Kevin where he’s still adjusting to being cured, spitting sunflower seeds in the general direction of the bin and not quite having shaken off his mental illness yet).
• Thanks to a 4400’s ability akin to the one in No Exit, Kevin and Tess and a bunch of other people find themselves trapped in an alternate universe. Except that this one is a superhero AU, and they specifically have to use their abilities as superheroes. Mainly because I find it so amusing that the least badass people get the most badass abilities. (and it also cracks me up how the various abilities were basically magic by the end.)
• They reunite after the end of the series.
• Something fluffy and sweet and indulgent where another handwavey 4400 ability allows Kevin and Tess the opportunity to go back in time and give her the Sweet 16 birthday party she never got to experience. Maybe something that works along similar lines to Alana’s, so they don’t lose any time in the real world, and this is set during the penultimate episode, right before he sends her away, and it’s a little respite for them, and perhaps the other people at the party can’t see them? And it’s sweet and romantic and a little bit hot, but also sort of uncomfortable for Kevin given everything that happened in the diner.

Note: I don’t think either of them actually gets a first name at any point in canon. It’s based on a novel but I haven’t been able to get hold of a copy or find out much about it. I do semi-headcanon hers as Anne, probably because I read Cat Among the Pigeons at about the same tame and associated her with Ann Shapland (and his as Alec because of Survivors), but go with whatever you want.

~~

This. Is. Delightful. I’m a sucker for murder mysteries with schools as the setting, so this appeals so damn hard with its closed circle-esque setting and everyone into each other’s business, and the two leads are so, so shippy and charming together, even with Campbell’s occasional sexist dickishness – he’s otherwise so sweet (the scarf he gives her at the end, and the way that whole business pans out – I’m sure he knows exactly where those pills came from.), that I can’t take his comments seriously, and they just make his dynamic with Miss Shepherd more appealing. YMMV, of course, but I can’t help thinking his pronouncements are mostly bullshit and he doesn’t mean half of it, and it’s at least partly to tease her, but then I’m wearing shipper goggles, so who the fuck knows. I love what a period piece it is too, with the way the plot depends on rationing and his precious hoarded bars of chocolate, and the way his manner towards her shifts from disinterest to respect/admiration, winding up on him asking for her help in the case. And especially the way the help she gives him is part cooperation, part competition, with her staying one step ahead of him until the end.

I’d love to see a post-canon fic, where their paths cross again, possibly involving another murder, although I should stress that I am absolutely fine with the case not being fully realised, with maybe just snippets from a case as background to the ship. I’d love to see more of their semi-competitive dynamic, with her trying to prove his chauvinistic nonsense wrong. Or skip ahead to a future where they’re in an established relationship of any kind – married, engaged, or right at the point of becoming engaged. I’d particularly love something tropey and romantic and smuttily indulgent for these two, and despite what I said about case fic a minute ago, PWPs are absolutely welcome.

Optional Prompts

• cigarette kink – Ah, the 50s. When everyone and their mother was lighting up, and that includes the schoolkids. When it comes to cigarette kink, canon alone is pretty damn good to me. I love all the sexual tension descriptions and focus on smoking can provide, and the intimacy that comes from offering each other cigarettes, lighting up for each other, sharing their last cigarette, etc…
• A first time, whether it be their first time together, first time as a married couple, first time as an engaged couple, first time for full sex…
• Competence Kink - Rivals Are Incredibly Turned On By Each Other's Talent – I LOVE this for these two. I’d just love more of them competing with each other to solve a case, and that whole thing bringing them closer together.
• "Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex – A slightly more hazardous case leads to frantic sex, with optional get together and feelings confession.
• trapped together – yep, I will never get sick of this trope as a catalyst for shipfic. Interpret this however you want, whether a very small cramped space like a wardrobe or the two of them being stranded in an isolated building. Either way, I love the awkwardness of forced proximity, especially when the sexual tension is laid on with a trowel.
• In a weirdly meta-twist, the film is based on the novel Death in Seven Hours, which Miss Shepherd is pictured reading at one point (and which to my great frustration I haven’t been able to get hold of so I know nothing whatsoever about it, meaning you should feel entirely at your liberty to make shit up). Is the novel the same plot as the film? Eerily similar? Does this keep happening, with life and murder repeatedly echoing the books she reads? Maybe a romance starts developing between the characters in the books. Does this act as a catalyst or does she try to resist the inevitable?

Note on my DNWs: My BDSM DNW is waived when it comes to Dr Pretorius.

Well, I wasn’t expecting this to turn out to be one of the single-most hottest things I've ever seen in my life, but the whole thing is laser-targeted to my id from start to finish. It's so sexually charged, from Crawford and Katherine eye-fucking each other when they turn the machine back on for the first time, to him watching her sleep while bleakly confessing to Bubba about how he used to lie awake listening to the sounds coming from (*checks notes*) Dr Pretorius's kinky sex dungeon, to the deeply creepy and uncomfortable implications about what was going on between Crawford and Dr Pretorius pre-canon and what will be going on post-canon. Canon never quite clarifies, but it’s implied that their relationship was abusive, domineering, and dubiously consensual in *all the fucking ways.*

Crawford is exactly the kind of woobie I like, meek, damaged, and deeply traumatised, and I can’t decide if I want him to continue to suffer horribly or to actually get the chance to be happy for once. Both, ideally. I love Katherine too: she’s so single-minded and determined, and after all the shit Meg goes through in Re-Animator I very much appreciate seeing Katherine get the chance to be the scientist with dubious ethics who inadvertently fucks everyone over for once.

My OTP of OTPs for this film is Crawford/Katherine, but I also ship Crawford/Katherine/Bubba, and all the permutations of fucked-up Crawford/Pretorius/Katherine. There are so many character notes that I really, really love: like Crawford taking the bed in Dr Pretorius's room, having presumably given Katherine his own bedroom because it's the gentlemanly thing to do even though it's possible to infer that some very, very unpleasant things have happened to him in Pretorius’s room. Or that moment early on where she strokes his hair tenderly and then sends him off to get an CAT scan while he desperately begs her not to. Their relationship is such a mix of genuinely sweet and deeply uncomfortable, and it leaves me wondering if perhaps she reminds Crawford subconsciously of Pretorius, and that's part of why he's attracted to her (and oh god that's the creepiest fucking thing). Also, hot fucking damn, that *kiss*.

My headcanon is that Pretorius was blindfolding the women he brought back, and forcing Crawford to become complicit in rape-by-deception (whether the women were secretly in it or not). It explains how Crawford would know about Pretorius being impotent, leads to some uncomfortable conclusions about what Pretorius was doing with those recordings (blackmail being yet another hold over Crawford), and is horribly uncomfortable and messy in a way that very much appeals to me, especially if Pretorius isn't above dubconning the fuck out of Crawford and punishing him for knowing about his impotence. And I’m assuming he isn’t.

I love that whole early stretch of the film when it's just Crawford, Katherine and Bubba in the house, investigating the murder of Dr Pretorius while also poking about the machine. It's so claustrophobic and intimate and sexually charged, and I'd love to see that section of canon stretched out a little bit. This isn’t a haunted house story in the traditional sense, but it gives me the same vibes as something like the Haunting of Hill House (book or film) or Hell House, another can't-fail trope with me. Perhaps Crawford takes longer repairing the machine and in the meantime they're all settling in and getting to know one another while Crawford is trying to repress his trauma about the house, and all the while the atmosphere is getting more intense. I love watching the three of them get to know each other, the dynamic between the three of them, and the way it shifts after they’ve turned the machine on for the first time and ratcheted up that febrile atmosphere of horniness. Maybe Dr Pretorius doesn’t make his presence known so obviously at first, so they turn the machine on more times before the shit really hits the fan, while Crawford gradually starts to suspect something is wrong.

And oh man, *Bubba.* I grew up watching Dawn of the Dead a lot, and it remains one of my favourite films of all time, so yep, I am extremely fond of Bubba. I’m delighted by the way he towers over the pair of them, the way he watches over and the caretaking role he takes on, and the way, when the sexual tension starts to ramp up, he admits to getting an erection. Which is to say I am very much here for Crawford/Katherine/Bubba, and I’m fascinated by how the dynamic would shake out given how intense the Crawford/Katherine relationship is. Maybe because he's older and not as damaged as Crawford (or as horny as Katherine) he sort of acts like an anchor for the two of them? I’d also love to see just about every permutation of Crawford/Pretorius/Katherine explored too, including monster-fucking.

Optional Prompts

• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – The more I think about that ending the more it sticks with me, how it’s a circular narrative, with Crawford beginning the film under Pretorius’s control and ending it that way too. And I’m guessing Pretorius isn’t impotent any more. It’s so bleak, the idea of him being tormented, tortured and eaten (ideally with the focus on body horror rather than vore), only to be reborn over and over again, and I would be very much here for some extremely dubiously consensual, abusive, domineering tentacle sex, and body horror.
• Bondage – It sure would be a shame if those manacles went to waste.
• Exploring Ancient Ruins in a Lovecraftian Alternate Dimension (Monsters Optional) – Post-canon fic where Crawford and Katherine explore the world beyond, like the mysterious temple mentioned in the original story, and all the creatures who inhabit it. Maybe they’re more or less normal, maybe they’re changing into something monstrous (but that doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing). Anything is welcome for this prompt, from horror, worldbuilding, smut, or something much gentler and fluffier.
• Femdom – I just want Katherine to gently dom Crawford. Maybe they stumble across an overly friendly tentacle monster and after escaping from its clutches it occurs to her it could have its uses.
• A fix-it where Katherine sets out to rescue Crawford.
• Or a canon divergent fic where Crawford appears to have escaped the effects of the Resonator at the end, but it gradually becomes clear that although he looked normal at first, he came back wrong.
• I cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Crawford having his boundaries trampled on and getting bad-touched, either by Katherine while she’s being affected by the resonator or by Dr Pretorius. I would very much like to see the relationship between Crawford and Pretorius explored, and I think there's a lot to dig into. Like the bit where he yells that Pretorius doesn't know how to give pleasure, only pain, and the question of how he'd know Pretorius was impotent because there's really no good answer to that question. Give me something where Pretorius feels up Crawford instead of (or as well as) Katherine, or where Pretorius encourages her to join in. Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios are especially welcome here.
• So how did Dr Pretorius manage to turn the Resonator back on? Does he (and Crawford after the end of the film) retain an awareness of the normal plane of existence, and some ability to manipulate it?
• Obvious third wheel in spontaneous threesome still highly enjoys themselves – During the early part of the film, a spontaneous threesome develops between Katherine, Crawford and Bubba, possibly induced by sex pollen or just the lingering effects of the Resonator. (With Bubba, naturally, being the third wheel, but he’s fine with that tbh.

Note on my DNWs: For Pritchett, please have him be 16 or older for direct sexual contact, but sexually arousing dreams/visions/hallucinations are fine from 13+).

Canon-specific DNW: This request is specifically for the first film, and it’s fine for Return to House on Haunted Hill to be ignored. If you do include it, please avoid having the evil in the house being purely due to the Baphomet Idol.

I have a very particular fondness for 90s cheese, architectural horror, and the disparate bunch of people trapped somewhere for *reasons* trope, which is one of my favourite tropes of all time. Add in ghosts, and ohhhh baby, I am there. (As an aside, I'm also a big fan of the original trilogy of Thief games, and the ghost visuals in this were the direct inspiration for the Shalebridge Cradle mission in Thief 3 (possibly one of the best, creepiest missions in anything EVER), so I'm inclined to be kindly predisposed towards this film purely because of that.)

It’s a curious one, because the things that mean it doesn’t work that well as a horror film for me (the CGI smoke-monster climax! The criminal underuse of Dr Vannacutt!) are the exact same things that make the question of what the hell is going on significantly more interesting. The more you dig into the first film, the more it becomes clear that there’s something more going on that just a haunting as a result of what happened at the asylum.

I also find it fascinating that despite Dr Vannacutt being the most prominent ghost (and male), Pritchett refers to the house as female, and specifically as ‘a stupid vengeful whore’ iirc. The Shadow primarily speaks with female voices (and according to one of the extras they used imagery of naked women to create the Rorschach effect). Then there’s the women Price sees while he’s in the Saturation Chamber.

I'd love to see the mythology of the house dug into, because I have a lot of unanswered questions. Like the walled off room we finally see towards the end where Vannacutt used to dump his corpses, and in the middle of the room there’s a chair, just sitting right in front of the rubble, which is the creepiest fucking thing. Why is that chair there? Did Vannacutt sit on it, staring into the rubble, listening to the Shadow talk to him? (And while I’m not hugely keen on the canon introduced by the second film, and I especially dislike the suggestion that the evil in the house is all down to the Baphomet idol, I do quite like the way it expands on the way the house seduces people, the idea of good if flawed people being corrupted, and the suggestion that Vannacutt wasn’t always evil).

And then there’s one of my favourite things about this film: Pritchett, a fucked-up traumatised asshole woobie packed with neuroses, who clearly has a boat-load of issues with the house. It’s not immediately clear whether he actually used to live in the house or not, but he’s clearly spent a lot of time there and he’s familiar with it enough to know the history of the house, his way around the basement, and quite a lot about how it’s haunted, including the existence of the Darkness/Shadow and Dr Vannacutt. I’d love to see something about his previous experiences with it, what happened with his grandfather and father, and what it was like growing up in the vicinity of that house, whether he lived there or not. And I am completely here for the house’s attempts to seduce him.

Other random things I love about this canon: the Saturation Chamber! I’m really drawn to the concept of machines that can drive you insane through sensory experiences, and it’s just the icing on the cake that it takes the form of this extraordinary period-appropriate zoetrope. The relationship between Price and Evelyn! This complicated tangle of love and hatred and contempt, spitting daggers at each other, and him clearly being so desperately in love with her still, while she's so completely batshit. I love her. And the whole thing of there being multiple conflicting agendas, with the three competing guest lists, and even then the house doesn’t get what it wants because of Sara being an imposter.

Watson Pritchett/Dr Richard B Vannacutt

Not a pairing that I’d originally considered, but then a seed took root and now I can’t stop thinking about these two and what sort of dynamic they’d have.

We see so little of Vannacutt, but Pritchett absolutely freaks the fuck out when he realises he’s around, so they clearly have a history, but exactly what that history is, and what Vannacutt’s role is as a ghost in the house, is left decidedly unclear. It’s gradually become one of my favourite things about this film: the way the focus shifts from the villain being Vannacutt to the house itself, and the way that upends the way his character could potentially be seen – is he a villain, or potentially another victim of the house, or both?

There are just so many unanswered questions about what it means to be a ghost in that house, how much of it is reenacting the terrible things that happened there, and how much free will they have, and to what extent they’re being controlled by the house, and just… damn, I don’t know, but dig into it as much as you want.

The sequel flattens out most of the unexpected wrinkles in the worldbuilding, and is mostly forgettable, so I don’t really recommend watching it (although I will admit to being delighted by Steven Pacey and Andrew Lee Potts’ inclusion in the cast), but what it does do is develop the idea of people being corrupted and seduced by the house, with one line being: ‘Vannacutt was known for being a brilliant physician and great humanitarian. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in the '20s. But somehow, this great man went from saving people to butchering them’ and oof.

The whole trope of otherwise good-but-flawed people getting corrupted to evil and doing terrible things (and there’s no doubt that he’s done terrible things) gets me right in the id. Corruption and redemption arcs are welcome in all their forms for either character, as is the all-encompassing guilt that comes from realising what you’ve done. I’m also just generally interested in the idea of them finding common ground as fellow victims of the house, even if Vannacutt remains wholly evil, and that would affect how they might relate to each other, before and after Pritchett’s death. And pre-canon too – why does Pritchett react like that to finding out Vannacutt’s around?

Explore the ship in whatever way you choose. The gen dynamics fascinate me just as much, but shipwise, anything is welcome, from fucked up extremely dubious consent, where the sex is part of the house’s way of torturing Pritchett (potentially with some medical kink mixed in, but anything where Pritchett gets strapped down?), to anything on the enemy-fucking scale, to something a little more sympathetic where we do actually get a glimpse of a glimmer of goodness in Vannacutt. Or maybe the house is fucking with them both by making them fuck each other?

Optional Prompts

• This House has a Personality and that Personality is Fucked Up – And adolescence is tough enough as it is, without having to go through it while you're living in a haunted house that can't seem to decide whether it wants to fuck you or kill you.
• Explore the deaths of Pritchett's father and grandfather, because it feels like there are a lot of unanswered questions there. Did the house exert any influence over them? Could Pritchett’s father have murdered his grandfather? How did his father really die?
• A both hates and loves how good the sex with B is – Vannacutt/Pritchett (because the more I think about shipping them, the harder I ship them.)
• Character is forced to work with someone who scares them – I’m intrigued by what it means to be a ghost and how much free will they have. Pritchett has to work with Vannacutt for reasons (especially delighted by the idea of this considering how Pritchett crapped himself when he recognised Vannacutt’s description).
• So how does Pritchett manage to resist the Shadow at the end in order to free Sara and Eddie, when seemingly no one else was able to resist?
• Something revolving around the stained glass ceiling, because creepy though it is is just suggest a marginally less evil side to Vannacutt and the idea of good people being corrupted by evil will always fascinate me.
• Character with trauma is freaked out and turned on by getting tied up – Specifically thinking of Pritchett here, the poor little bastard. XD
• Conversations In Liminal Spaces On The Border Of One World And Another – Ghost!Pritchett and ghost!Vannacutt have a conversation.
• Evil!Pritchett – A canon-divergent fic where Pritchett isn’t so resistant to the house. How would that affect canon?
• Entering someone's dreams/nightmares – Vannacutt and/or the Shadow enter Pritchett’s dreams, where pre-, during, or post-canon.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Pritchett travels back in time to the 20s-30s, and finds himself caught up in events at the asylum. Could he potentially change the way events pan out? (The actual fix-it is optional here)
• Time Travel - Character meets their child self – Ghost!Pritchett realises it’s possible to travel through time and interact with his younger self.
• Vannacutt manages to escape the house. There’s a deleted scene (after the credits roll in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdo8voI87LI) in which Vannacutt brings the real Jennifer Jenzen to the house, and another scene where his spot being tortured is taken by Price. Which leads me to wonder if it’s possible for him to buy his freedom, or if he’s figured out a way to outwit the house.
• Explore what the hell was going on with that chair. Was Vannacutt listening to the Darkness, or was it potentially a seduction/sex thing?
• Corruption Arc – Either for Vannacutt or for Pritchett. Or, conversely, a redemption arc for Vannacutt, or Vannacutt getting a redemption arc while Pritchett goes the other way. I really love the idea of the house seducing people into evil (the second film goes harder on that, and iirc explicitly states that Vannacutt wasn’t always a monster), and the question of whether someone who’s done terrible things can really be redeemed.
• Eldritch Architecture – I’d love to see something that goes hard on the Lovecraftian elements in the plot, the idea of this ancient nameless evil existing even before the house was built, and of what the Darkness at the heart of the house really is.
• Tentacles made them do it – Probably no surprises that I have Pritchett/Vannacutt in mind here.

Basically my distilled pure id from start to finish. Hallucinatory dubcon threesome sex, rival gladiators, doomed lovers, and so many satisfying death scenes I’m shivering in delight at the thought of them. I enjoyed the book too, but found myself preferring a lot of the changes the miniseries made – many of the characters are significantly more likeable, and I was low-key invested in a *lot* of the canon ships and friendships. I also thoroughly appreciated that they decided to give the gladiators more of a role in the story, that they eased back on the ‘Ancient Greece is massively superior to Ancient Rome’ theme in the book, and added a couple of the characters who came to be favourites of mine (especially Chloe <3).

Go with a fix-it or take full advantage of my being fine with Major Character Death and wallow in the tragedy and grief. I’d particularly love to see the gladiatorial life explored a little, especially the various relationships between them all, and canon-divergent AUs are welcome, as are fix-its, whether they’re genuinely fixing things or otherwise. One of the things that appeals about canon is the web of interconnecting friendships (Lydon and Glaucus comparing wrestling styles XD) so I’d love to see that reflected too if you have a chance.

Sporus is a fantastic character, a tightly knit bundle of resentment, envy, jealousy, and bitterness (I love how pissy he is at not being appreciated when Marcus snipes at him for killing his opponent in the arena). And the early scene after the first gladiator fight when he helps Lydon with his armour and tells him, utterly sincerely, to be careful. <3<3<3 And then later the scene where Lydon is training with Gar, and Sporus doesn’t know whether to be jealous of Gar or Nydia or of Lydon being champion. And his lines in his final scene, which led to a massive record scratch on my part: Lydon, I did love you. Not ‘Lydon, I loved you’ but ‘I DID love you.’ Implying… what? That the question of his feelings for Lydon had come up at some point in the past? Did they have a fling? Was Lydon in love with Sporus before Nydia? Did Sporus deny him? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? And Lydon holding his hand while he dies… goddamnit, my heart.

I would love backstory for this, or something set during canon. Canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, and I’d also be happy for any level of ship: from fully realised, to pining, whether mutual or one-sided. I particularly like Nydia/Sporus/Lydon as as a triad although a v-shaped set-up where everyone is fine with the situation is okay (or a v-shaped set-up which gradually turns into a triad). If they all manage to make it out of Pompeii it would be a pretty fascinating dynamic, especially if Sporus feels himself dependent on Lydon due to his injuries. I'd be especially interested in seeing Sporus's relationship with Nydia developed.

Optional Prompts

• We know how and why Lydon came to be a gladiator and why he continues in that life despite having earned his freedom, but what about Sporus? Was he already there when Lydon turned up as a slave whom no one expected to last more than a couple of matches?
• Always here for descriptions of gladiator matches or sparring, the blood, the sweat, the sexual tension… Also helping each other with their armour, and tending to wounds afterwards. And, uh, bathhouses.
• And hey, if you just want to write PWP, sex in the wake of a match or sparring session wouldn’t go amiss.
• What happened when they all left Pompeii for Campania?
• A post-canon fix-it. Lydon escapes Pompeii with an injured Sporus. What does the aftermath look like? Bitter angst and hurt/comfort welcome here. Given what a massive jealous shit Sporus is in canon, I’d love to see that explored.
• Nydia understands something about being in love with someone you feel dependent on and the heartbreak of watching them love another. An understanding develops between her and Sporus.

Terrible people doing terrible things! :D

I don’t know what it says about me that I find the tattoo-parlour scene in particular distractingly hot (probably nothing good XD), but the reason why I ship these two can almost certainly be traced to that scene.

The bit where having terrorised Billy, Bob dances around him and then just straight up throws himself into his lap? And then, THEN, still sitting in said lap, he goes on to nestle his head against Billy’s chest while still menacing him and waving a gun around? Mmmph. The gun kink, the dancing, the casual touching and violation of personal space, the apparent total confidence in whatever the fucking hell his sexuality is, the gun kink... Oh GOD did I mention the gun kink? MORE OF THAT SORT OF THING PLEASE.

I am here for anything that explores their relationship, with Dinosaur Bob as the semi-smart, marginally more pulled-together one, and Creepy as the subservient tagalong one who looks to Bob and defers to him in just about everything. They’re simultaneously menacing but ultimately so tragically pathetic, and I just want to see more of their dynamic. I ship them so hard too: Creepy has a bad case of hero-worship when it comes to Bob, and Bob is, uh, clearly pretty comfortable getting up close and personal with other men.

Tropewise, for these two, I especially like anything where they’re in some way in denial about their sexuality, whether it’s a case of situational homosexuality, ‘no homo’ bro-sex, gay chicken, pining while having sex that definitely isn’t gay, or sex under the influence (look, they’re basically off their tits on meth for the entirety of the film, so if they’re having sex that’s probably inevitable), but there is almost no fic for this fandom, and nothing for these two, so anything goes. Is there a degree of internalised homophobia or have they just never really thought that hard about it? Or alternatively, maybe they’re both just fine with their sexualities actually, even if they’re keeping it on the downlow because their boss would very definitely not approve. (For the record their boss only appears in cut-scenes and the only cut scene I’ve been able to watch is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-tTmLLxIU&t=1s)

Maybe a canon-divergent fic where Bob gets shot but not killed outright, so Creepy has to look after him. I have no idea what hurt/comfort would look like for these two, but damn do I want to see it. :D Or maybe a pre-canon scene that investigates whatever the fuck they were up to before they showed up at Watty’s place. Also gun kink. Aaaaall the gun kink. I like how vaguely submissive Creepy is towards Bob, and the more you can capture Dinosaur Bob’s physicality the better as far as I’m concerned.

Finally I get such Sketchy and Skeezy from Z Nation vibes from them, (the one smartish one, one goofy one dynamic, the criminal behaviour, the homoerotic undertones, the meth) to the point where I’m semi-wondering if they were the inspiration for Sketchy and Skeezy. so if you want to do a Z Nation crossover, then PLEASE DO, whether they run into anyone in the main cast, or Sketchy and Skeezy, or a fusion where they take over the Sketchy and Skeezy roles. Or just a zombie apocalypse wholly unaffiliated with Z Nation.

Optional Prompts

• Gun Kink – Yeeeep. This is a pretty good canon for gun kink. I’m here for anything from caressing the other party with a gun, whether tenderly or with an air of menace, to actual insertion or fellating of a gun.
• 'Platonic' porn-watching and mutual masturbation session leads to sex – Because they’re horny and bored and there’s definitely nothing gay about this.
• "We'll just have sex one time to get it out of our systems" ... but it makes the longing worse – All the ‘sex while pining and in denial’ energy please.
• A/B Seduce C into a Threesome; Then A/B Realize They Only Want Each Other – I’m specifically thinking of Billy for C here, because his entire dynamic with them, and it way it flips their roles delights me, but alternatively go with an OC, possibly a woman because I like the opportunities for ‘pining while in denial’.
• Altered States – Drugs (Recreational) – Bonding over substance misuse and/or sex under the influence.
• First Meeting – Explore their backstory. How did they meet? In prison or elsewhere? How did they get on the first time they met
• Alternate Universe - John Wick (Movies) Setting – In which they are (terrible) international assassins. Either that or they’re just tagging along with an old acquaintance who is an assassin, and maybe they’re just knocking about the Continental while plot happens all around them.
• The awkward situation that results when you’re inadvertently on the periphery of a Bad Guys Made Them Do It situation between two men and it leads to the awakening of feelings.
• Forced proximity – they have to hole up for a while for reasons, and have to share a hotel room, which potentially leads to sharing a bed, watching pay per view porn, and whatever other forced proximity tropes you can come up with.
• Handcuffed together – Whether for the purposes of plot, or purely as an excuse for filthy PWP porn.
• Bob injures his hands, which leads to him getting a caretaking handjob or oral sex from Creepy.
• They meet up with Watty and Star under different circumstances a couple of years down the line.
• AU where they are the wanted fugitives on a road trip as they try to escape to Mexico.
• A From Dusk Till Dawn (the film version) fusion. Bob and Creepy follow Watty and Star to Mexico, but their stand-off is interrupted by vampires and they need to work together to survive.
• Platonic bed sharing and the accompanying unfortunately timed boners.
• Morning after (amazing sex the night before) – All the awkward aftermath please, possibly with optional ‘did that really happen?’ binge-related amnesia.

God, I love this show so much. I could spend forever watching the dynamic between Cowley, Bodie, and Doyle, the banter, the jokes, the friendly rivalry, the way their different backgrounds give them different insights and skills, and the vibe I get that Cowley, who I adore beyond all reason (*gestures sheepishly to most of the rest of my sign-up*) is actually harder than Bodie and Doyle put together. Cowley chewing them out because they've disobeyed his orders and then immediately doing a U-turn and supporting them to the hilt, the way their characters shift and adapt over time, the uncomfortable questions it raises about their methods… Oh, and the whump. Getting shot and beaten up and captured and generally getting the shit kicked out of them. So damn here for all of that. XD I love the way it subverts expectations too, with all the literary references and the acknowledgement of CI5’s often deeply questionable tactics.

I’d also like to make it clear that I am extremely here for Bad Guys Made Them Do It for all the ships I’ve requested. Handle that however you want with Bodie/Doyle, but for Cowley/Bodie I’d prefer Cowley topping if it comes to penetrative sex. Beyond that I have no topping preferences. I’m also open to noncon scenarios involving noncon by a third party, whether on or off-screen, for the purposes of hurt/comfort or whumpy hurt/no comfort scenarios because they’re too damn stoic to talk about it and must suffer in silence like the emotionally constipated blokes they are (and my Dubcon with Unaroused Victims DNW doesn’t apply here).

I also really, really love Apocalypse AUs (including zombies), and this is one of those series that I would absolutely LOVE that trope for, whatever style of apocalypse it is. Oh, and while I know my chances of getting it are extremely slim, I’ll mention it on the off-chance: I particularly adore the 70s version of Survivors, and I cannot emphasise enough how much I would love a crossover set in that world, even if just in the very beginnings of the series. I’ve requested it before, including some suggestions for crossovers, so take a look at my other letters if you’re interested, but even if you just give me one of them nursing the other through the illness and the tiniest glimpse of society falling apart, OH MY GOD I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER OH MY GOD. (Fair warning that Survivors is grim though. Really, really grim. XD)

William Bodie/Ray Doyle

For Bodie/Doyle, explore the mutual codependence that comes as a result of working in close confines in a way that may not be entirely healthy, the tedium of surveillance, working and training together, working late and falling asleep at your desk, actively threatening to murder a suspect if anything happens to your partner… Anything goes here from explicit smut to pining (mutual or otherwise), and including canon-style relationships with women is fine too. Maybe they come to the realisation that while women come and go, their relationship remains immutable. They also sure do seem to get shot/beaten up on the reg, and look very pretty doing it, *especially* Doyle, so if you wanted to go hard on the whump… I absolutely love all the moments of character interaction, the bonding moments in Mixed Doubles and that bit where Bodie interrupts Doyle’s brooding session by just sitting there and looking at him? Yeah…

I am so, so here for the contrast between them. And Bodie, Bodie. <3<3<3 The way his character shifts and changes over the course of the series, and those bleak little glimpses of darkness, and that sense that he hasn’t really believed in anything until he came to CI5… The way the show alludes to his time in Northern Ireland, and how intensely private he is and prickly when Doyle asks, and just… *sigh*, I’m struggling to put into words why I love them so much.

Give me canon style casefic or something that takes them out of their comfort zones, backstory for either one of them, or post-canon fic. Also here for character studies, and anything that digs into any moral qualms they might have about CI5 and its methods, especially Doyle.

Optional Prompts

• Casefic, or elements from a partially realised casefic, whether canon-typical or something which takes them out of their comfort zones.
• 5 + 1 ways of livening up surveillance detail.
• Bonding in captivity – whether as a result of trauma and torture, or being imprisoned together somewhere dark and claustrophobic.
• Ever seen Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)? Well, that AU, where one half of the pairing is a ghost the other can’t see, whether the ghost is potentially a sign that the other one is cracking up, or an actual literal ghost, and the first case they have to solve together is who murdered him. I was thinking either Bodie or Doyle as the ghost, but Cowley as the ghost haunting the two of them (and absolutely livid about it) would be great too.
• If they do get together, how does it happen? How do they come to realise they have feelings for the other? When it starts is it just about sex, or is the sexual attraction develop out of a result of their bond?
• The bit in Stake Out where Bodie flung himself across a bowling alley to manhandle Doyle to the floor to stop him from kicking off at an aggressive member of the public, including hooking his leg over Doyle's in the process, did things to me. More undercover stuff please, with them both trying to keep a low profile, and having to rely on the other one to rein them in. Additional manhandling is optional, but very much appreciated.
• ”Casual” sex turning tender -Neither character thinks the other has any genuine feelings, or maybe the sex is just something that keeps happening without either of them ever intending it to. What happens when tenderness starts creeping in? Is it mutual? Is the other party unnerved by it? Into it? Or both?
• Aftermath of Torture – Character trying to hold it together is clearly low-key fraying at the edges - All the whump, stoicism and hurt/comfort here please.
• Agonisingly slow build-up of sexual tension - Along with copious amounts of mutual self-denial and pining, while trying to hide the mutual attraction from each other/other people/themselves.
• A zombie apocalypse AU, or some other apocalyptic scenario. Always and forever one of my favourite tropes. Or alternatively, if you’re familiar with it, a crossover with Survivors, even if it only uses the other series as a backdrop for desperate ‘us against the crumbling world’ sex.
• Character A confesses feelings because they think Character B is unconscious - Man, the awkwardness and painful aftermath, the self-doubt and the questioning – did they mishear? Should they say anything, or would it be better to pretend they didn’t hear?
• While working undercover, one half of the couple is forced to torture the other to maintain their cover
• Estranged Characters – Injured A shows up on B’s doorstep saying ‘I didn’t know where else to go’. – future fic or canon-divergent where the injured character has gone AWOL or otherwise rogue.
• Country House Party – Weird time-slip where they find themselves in an interwar house party that ended in murder. Ghosts? Inexplicable events that are never explained beyond handwavy nonsense? A Sapphire & Steel crossover? Or is this just an excuse to get them into period dress?
• Character A and Character B Mutually Pine For Each Other While They Fuck Other People Together -- The drunken aftermath of a double date turns orgiastic, or else one of the lads has been stood up or had an argument with his girlfriend, and the other's girlfriend insists he join them to cheer him up.
• sex under the stars – Ohhh, I love this tag: the romanticism of sex outdoors, the setting and potential for scenery porn, the low-level risk of semi-public sex, and the suggestion that they’re so turned on they can’t keep their hands off each other. How does it come about? Are they camping for plot reasons, on a stake-out, stranded in nature for some reason?
• A Doomsday fusion (the 2008 Neil Marshall film). I'm assuming Cowley's in the Bob Hoskins role, as much as I'd secretly love to see him facing off against a bunch of Mad Max style Scottish cannibals. (And it's not like he's explicitly sending them north of the wall to get him some Scotch, but have you seen what the price of single malt is on the black market these days?)

George Cowley/Elizabeth Walsh and George Cowley/Annie Irvine

Cowley has very fast become one of my favourite characters in anything ever: it’s that combination of implied loneliness and stoicism, dedication to the life he’s chosen even if he might have been happier on another path, repression and self-sacrifice and sarcasm, the clash of his staunch code of ethics combined with some very questionable tactics, and the conflict of him wanting to look after the woman he’s fallen in love with, but of course it’s his fate to only ever fall in love with tough-as-nails women who wouldn’t want to be looked after in a million fucking years. <3<3<3 Look, there are very few characters I love quite as much as Cowley, and I just want him to be happy, dammit. I’m open to any kind of relationship here, from stoic one-sided pining, to indulgent smut, to a happy ending.

The episode in which Annie appears was an absolute delight. From Bodie and Doyle’s reaction to the idea of Cowley in a relationship with a woman (that conversation in the car! Doyle slightly dubiously describing him as attractive :D) to the way Cowley actually behaves when he meets her and then quietly having his heart broken all over again (and oh god, my heart).

And the backstory we get for him, picking his education back up after the war, as a student going to political meetings, and falling in love with a woman who he keeps loving even after she breaks his heart. Just that line about him watching her. And that line about how she never knew him at all? Damn. It’s so up my street I can’t even say: quiet loneliness and a lingering feeling of regret even while you’re getting on with all the shit that needs to get done will get me every time. Him wanting to look after her when she’s not the sort of woman who wants to be looked after, and if she had been, then he probably wouldn’t have fallen in love with her as hard as he did.

And then there’s Elizabeth Walsh. I, uh, ship Cowley with quite a few people, but out of everyone that I ship him with this the relationship I can actually see working long-term. Spy Probe worked out as the last episode I watched, so there’s nothing to contradict my head-canon that the two of them get together post-canon, or that one of his primary motivations for getting her involved in the case (other than keeping her safe and the possibility of her being behind the killings) is to buy him a little time while he dithers about asking her out for dinner, and after the case has been solved he’s got the perfect excuse – how else is he going to thank her for all her help?

He spends a significant part of the episode making impressed hearteyes at her, and they clearly have a history, and since he’s not pining for Annie any more… Well, let’s just say that the idea of them finally getting together in middle age really appeals.

And she’s perfect for him: she’s a retired spy so she knows and understands the demands of the work, she’s intelligent and trustworthy enough that he can pick her brains, and she’s independent enough not to mind doing her own thing while he turns up every now and then like an outdoor cat looking for food and affection, and in fact she’d probably hate having him under her feet all the time so the situation works perfectly for both of them.

Optional Prompts

• Okay, so what the hell did happen with Annie Irvine? Explore their backstory. When they meet Annie says it’s been about ten years since they last met, so depending on how you figure the timeline that must have been significantly after their university days. Was he at her wedding? I have so many questions.
• What did Annie actually say to Bodie and Doyle which made them so reluctant to share with Cowley?
• Give me something that follows on from the ending of Look After Annie. Do their paths cross again? Where do they go from there?
• Give me an AU of that episode where events go differently.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It. Always. <3<3<3 (and oh god, the guilt! The terrible all-consuming guilt!).
• A zombie apocalypse AU, or some other apocalyptic scenario. Always and forever one of my favourite tropes. Or alternatively, if you’re familiar with it, a crossover with Survivors, even if it only uses the other series as a backdrop for desperate ‘us against the crumbling world’ sex.
• Hurt/Comfort - Cowley is injured during a case, and the other character reluctantly starts looking in on him despite his protests.
• Experience – Experienced/Inexperienced – Look, he’s been pining after Annie for, what, twenty years or so, so chances are he hasn’t had that much experience with women.
• They’re stranded at some isolated out-of the way place, which is potentially derelict, where the forced proximity puts them in a position where they have to work together and get over any potential awkwardness.
• The aftermath of Spy Probe. Cowley takes Elizabeth out to dinner as a way of saying thank you (well, he claims that’s his primary motivation), and walks her back to her hotel room afterwards. (and while I haven’t requested it for this particular exchange I do love the freeform: Late-Night Discussions Outside in the Gently Falling Rain.) Luckily she’s not quite as reticent as he is, and since someone did just try to have her murdered, the least he could do is double-check her hotel room to make sure it’s safe.
• Or Cowley/Elizabeth but a slower courtship, where he starts picking her brains on a regular basis and they start to see more and more of each other, until they’ve get as familiar with each other as an old married couple, only without the sex. And then they have sex.
• Back in their MI5 days Cowley and Elizabeth narrowly avoided having to have sex to maintain their cover. They both pretended to be relieved about it at the time, but secretly they’ve both regretted it since then.
• The AU where my completely off-base assumption that Elizabeth was behind the killings wasn’t quite so off-base, and her arranging her own attempted murder was a set-up to get her inside CI5 because she knew Cowley wouldn’t be able to resist. Except he suspects, and the whole thing is the two of them trying to out-think each other, combined with genuine professional mutual admiration and sexual attraction.
• An epistolary fic where they kept in touch by exchanging letters over the years.
• Get Together – Character recovering from torture gets taken care of by the person they’re pining for – When Cowley and the other character's paths meet again after a case has gone wrong, she reluctantly starts looking in on him despite his protests.
• Smut – guiding an inexperienced partner in how to perform cunnilingus – Look, he’s been pining after Annie for, what, twenty years or so, so chances are he hasn’t had that much experience with women.
• Undercover as a couple leads to mutual feelings – When their paths cross again, Cowley poses as Annie’s lover to protect her.
• 5 Times Cowley had his heart broken.

Canon-specific DNW: Please pretend that the scenes of sexual violence against women in Beyond Re-Animator never happened. References to the Meg/Hill scene in the first film are fine though, and I’m also fine with noncon (onscreen or otherwise) by a third party for the purposes of whump or hurt/comfort.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with the first Re-Animator film from the first moment I saw it – it’s so much damn fun to watch, funny, gory, obscene, and I think Herbert West might actually be one of my favourite characters in anything ever (and while I have some reservations about the sequels I do really like them both). As for Dan/Herbert, I shipped it right from the scene where they bring the cat back, and specifically from the moment where they’re side by side with weapons in hand, although with Herbert hanging back a little bit and clinging onto Dan’s shirt, because obviously.

The way from that moment they’re just… together, and there’s no way Dan is going to do anything other than help Herbert. I love that, and I love the way Dan sticks with Herbert through thick or thin (right up until the moment that he doesn’t, but more of that in a minute). So many things about this ship are tailor-made to my id: the combination of earnest/obsessive and likeable/abrasive, the constant touching with Herbert grabbing Dan at every single opportunity (this in particular just freaking delights me XD), the potential for hurt/comfort and protectiveness, and a complicated mixture of loyalty, manipulation, and betrayal that will get me every damn time.

I’d love anything that goes hard on the hurt/comfort and mutual protectiveness between Herbert and Dan, or anything that captures the tone and bonkers exuberance, gore, humour and horror of the films. Maybe something that explores what happens in between the films, especially between the first and second films, because damn, are there some unanswered questions there – like how did Meg’s heart come to be outside of her body, and how the hell did Herbert manage to persuade Dan to go to Peru with him? And any of the reunions where an apparently dead Herbert pops up again. I also cannot emphasise enough how here I am for Herbert getting menaced and/or whumped.

I know it’s a deleted scene, but I find it really interesting that it doesn’t seem to be the prospect of having to give Dr Hill the credit for his work that gets Herbert to break the hypnosis, but Hill threatening Dan’s life. And the way he immediately abandons their current work to switch focus onto making the Bride to stop Dan from moving out. On the one hand, it’s a terrible manipulative thing to do, but on the other hand… *eyes* And also, what the hell was Herbert’s ultimate plan with the Bride anyway? How did he see that whole thing panning out long-term, beyond a short-term fix to keep Dan from leaving?

And then there’s the third film. While I have reservations about it, Dan turning state’s evidence on Herbert actually isn’t one of them. I am a complete sucker for complicated relationships, and I actually really love the way it shifts the balance of their relationship, especially considering the unfortunate consequences and the hellhole of a prison Herbert ends up getting thrown into. The way it hints at the way he’s suffered without ever quite going into details (the years in solitary), along with that moment when the warden hits him… and Herbert’s very deliberate act of revenge on the warden, which I firmly believe is something the Herbert of thirteen years previously would not have contemplated in a million fucking years, just shows how much the experience has changed him. That, and the way he reacts when Howard calls him doctor when they first meet. Mmph. It’s all very painful in a way that hits me right in the id.

I’m also delighted by how differently Herbert acts towards Howard, particularly at the end of the third film, where he comes across Howard cradling Laura’s head, looks at him for a moment, and then just effectively shrugs and yoinks his ID card. It’s a detail that brings home just how important Dan is to him. As far as I’m concerned, at the end of the 3rd film he is 100% going off to find Dan, and I would love something that explores them meeting again post-canon, and how the dynamics between them might shift with a Herbert who’s hurt at the betrayal and bruised by everything he’s been through and a Dan who’s not quite so naive and trusting.

Optional Prompts

• 5 Times Dan Assumed Herbert was Dead – Because in various places, namely the screenplay and the novelisation, he is explicitly stated to have died at the end of the first film and I like the idea of him repeatedly appearing to die and popping up again mostly unscathed (and I’m amused that the one film where he doesn’t appear to die at the end is the one in which Dan does not appear. XD).
• Accidental Baby Acquisition – I mean, they’re doctors. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to deliver a baby in a crisis (possibly involving zombies), and end up separated from the mother and stuck having to look after the baby.
• Addiction - Character tries to distract Addict from addiction with sex – Dan tries to break Herbert’s reliance on the serum.
• Alternate Universe - Russian Doll Fusion – I love time loops in all their forms anyway, but this one in particular, with its focus on constant, unrelenting death, and the way the discovery that the loop is being shared with another person would play out with these two is perfect. (and for time loops in general, I’m amused by the way Herbert would probably adapt his work to take full advantage of the loop (er, an endless supply of fresh corpses with no consequences – hey, how is it murder if they don’t stay dead? – having to memorise the results because he can’t write them down, etc.)
• Hurt/Comfort – Hurt/Comfort is always welcome, but one thing I’d love to see is Dan helping Herbert through withdrawal from the serum. Mainly because I really wish that deleted scene had been included in the film. I have some quiet headcanons about Herbert’s addiction to reagent, and amongst them is the fact that avoiding sleep is really, really not a good idea, and that maybe the times when he’s at his most batshit are the times when he’s suffering from chronic sleep-deprivation. All of which convinces Dan to help him to break the habit.
• Bad Guys Made Them Do It – and every other iteration of Something Made Them Do It.
• Betray them to save them – Dan’s presence looms so large in Beyond Reanimator even though he doesn’t appear. I can definitely see a situation where Dan got to a point where he couldn’t see any other choice, and he genuinely believed if things carried on the way they were that Herbert was going to get himself killed. I’d love to see that decision explored and the fallout when/if they’re reunited and he realises what Herbert’s been through.
• Hurt/Comfort - Character with injured hands requires assistance (which turns sexual) – Here for the hurt/comfort and smut potential of this (and also very fond of one character shaving another.)
• Inspired by the novelisation, Dan is completely taken by surprise when Herbert unexpectedly turns out to be massively into ice hockey. Maybe it’s a hobby he only occasionally spares the time for, but either way Dan is extremely weirded out by the prospect of Herbert going to bars and talking to fans.
• You Hurt Me More Than Anything; But Being Without You Hurts More – Herbert goes in search of Dan after the end of Beyond Reanimator. Is he planning on revenge (even if he ultimately can’t face going through with it?) Does something else happen as a catalyst that forces them to work together again? I’d love to see all the messy hurt/comfort and emotional fallout of everything that happened.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – How might things have played out if Meg hadn’t been so hostile to Herbert from the get-go? Maybe if she hadn’t been there when he came about the room, allowing Dan to prime her for his oddball roommate beforehand? And if she hadn’t walked in on them bringing Rufus back, which meant that Dan wouldn’t have fallen out with Dean Halsey, who then wouldn’t have died, etc etc. It’s interesting how differently Herbert treats Francesca. While he’s not exactly polite to her (XD) he tolerates her presence in a way he doesn’t really tolerate Meg’s, and I can’t help but read that as at least partially being the result of Meg’s attitude towards him.
• Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence – A canon-divergent AU where Francesca isn’t on the scene and the creation of the Bride is much more successful, and she isn’t quite so much of a monster. Mainly because I’m really curious what the hell Herbert actually had in mind beyond keeping Dan with him at all costs. (And for the record, I’m completely open to Herbert/Dan/The Bride in whatever form that takes.)
• Hurt/Comfort - Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting – Okay, so Herbert is pretty terrible at doing the whole comfort thing, but the fact that he even tries is pretty damn significant.
• Road trip after the end of the world – Any post-apocalypse scenario will do, but I am particularly fond of a zombie apocalypse, which seems particularly apt for this canon. Was it Herbert’s fault, or was he entirely innocent for once? Where are they going? What’s the plan? And how does reagent factor into things?
• Estranged Characters - Injured A shows Up on B's doorstep Saying "I didn't know where else to go" – My first thought with this was Herbert turning up out of the blue, but what if it’s the other way around? What if, potentially after Herbert’s prison break, he considered hunting Dan down, but reluctantly decided not to follow through, only for Dan to suddenly turn up unexpectedly, and turns out he’s been keeping track of Herbert all these years and somehow or other the shit’s about to hit the fan?
• Herbert and Dan take the places of the narrator and the version of Herbert in the original story by Lovecraft. – I read the story after watching the films, and I was really not expecting to find that so much of what happens in the first two films came more or less directly from the story (with a fair few changes along the way). I’m fascinated by the way the films work as adaptations, but especially by the similarities and differences between the two Herberts (running away screaming the first time they reanimate a corpse? Film!Herbert would never. On the other hand the stuff with the revolver? Yeeeeah, he totally would). So perhaps a historical AU where Herbert and Dan are from that period, or where they’re still their 80s selves but have switched places with the versions of themselves from the story. Or maybe it’s just Dan who’s switched places, and he has to content with a different version of Herbert, who is BLOND (and, y'know, also slightly more actively murderous than Dan's Herbert, and has a disconcerting habit of eyeing his healthy physique with a covetous eye). (If you haven’t already read it, be warned it has some racist elements. I’d prefer for those to be avoided if you go with this prompt, please)
• A Re-Animator/Ghosts (UK) crossover. Why, yes, this is goofy as hell but I waaaant it. :D In the eighties or nineties Dan and Herbert rent out Button House. Unfortunately something goes wrong and Herbert ends up dying on the property and coming back as a ghost.

DS9 is easily my favourite Star Trek series. I love all the shades of grey, the complicated questions of morality it raises, everything to do with the Dominion War and the Cardassians and the damn Ferengi. One of my favourite things about it is how it deals with the overturn of the status quo on a planetary scale, whether on Bajor, Cardassia, in the Dominion, and even on Ferenginar. I love what this series did with the Ferengi so, so much. They could just have been comic relief, but instead they’re so much more complicated than that. Partly it’s because the whole Ferenginar plotline ties in with the themes of the rest of the series, but it’s also because Quark is actually one of the most complicated characters in the whole show. I particularly love the way he’s used to comment on the Federation, and on humans in particular. His speech to Nog about how humans are only wonderful and friendly so long as their bellies are full in the Siege of AR-558 gives me the shivers.

Quark/Brunt

These two had my enemy-shipping heart right from the moment Brunt got his Nausicaan goons to beat Quark half to death. *hearteyes* They are so, so shippy I can’t even: from how ridiculously unsubtle the show was about the subtext at the end of Ferengi Love Songs, to the air-kiss Quark blows him in Profit and Lace, to basically everything that happens between them in Body Parts. Brunt spending a small fortune purely to fuck Quark over, turning up in his quarters and reclining on Quark’s couch as he talks gleefully about his plans planning on defiling Quark’s remains (and that moment of ‘what do I do with my hands?!’ panic when Quark suddenly moves closer to him?)… yeah, um, that… that right there is a Ferengi who might just be up for some contract renegotiation.

It’s fascinating how much their relationship shifts throughout the series, going from entirely antagonistic to some degree of them being willing to work together even though Brunt’s ultimately always out for himself. There’s actually a lot of common ground between them – compared to just about everyone else in his family Quark’s a traditional Ferengi (or at least he wishes he was a traditional Ferengi), and it’s probably only because of his very non-traditional mother (Ishka, you glorious creature, you <3<3<3) that they end up at odds. I’m fascinated by the question of what makes a good Ferengi, and by Quark, who despite his first appearances as an amoral little schemer actually has a pretty strong moral code, and I found their reactions to the changes on Ferenginar in The Dogs of War, with Quark being outraged and Brunt much more pragmatic, pretty damn interesting, given how very, very bound to tradition Brunt’s been throughout the series. Granted he’s seen the changes first hand, and is trying to suck up to and manipulate Quark, but still… (and as an aside, that bit when he drops to his knees and kisses Quark’s hand? *eyes*)

I’d love to see anything from any moment of their relationship, from the early days when Brunt is so obsessed by (and horny for) Quark that he’s willing to do virtually anything to destroy him, to later when Brunt is more focused on his own gain and becoming Grand Nagus himself, to a post-canon fic which focuses on how their relationship might develop after the end of the series and the massive sweeping changes on Ferenginar. Similarly, tone-wise I’d be delighted with anything from UST and pining (one-sided or mutual), to hate-fucking, to something more genuine, and anything on the enemies-to-lovers to enemies-to-enemies-who-fuck scale.

Explore the worldbuilding – how progressive is Ferenginar when it comes to gay relationships? (and repression, denial, and internalised homophobia on one or both their parts is always welcome.) Alternatively, maybe Ferengi are actually pretty relaxed about it when it comes to casual relationships, or in the context of an M/M/F poly relationship because at least that solves the question of who pre-chews the tube grubs? In theory at least...

It’s also fine to write about their mirror universe counterparts instead, whether the story is focused on the actual mirror universe versions (and canon-divergent AUs are always welcome, btw), or something that involves pining while fucking the mirror-universe counterpart of the object of your affections, or a selfcest threesome (We barely saw Mirror!Quark, but Mirror!Brunt is such a sweetheart and I just want him to have nice things. D:). I also really, really love the look of (male) Ferengi clothing, so if you want to go all-out on clothing porn, then please do, as well as exploring any avenues of clothed or clothed/unclothed sex you might want to go down.

Optional Prompts

• 'Dirty little secret' relationship leads to Too Many Feelings leads to unexpected marriage proposal – Because I am so here for the two of them having a secret relationship on the downlow, and maybe they keep telling themselves it’s just about sex and it doesn’t mean anything, but actually...
• Accidental Marriage – When they’re on an alien planet negotiating a contract, they accidentally wind up married (maybe because in that planet’s laws rivalry is considered a sign of great regard), and this cannot stand. Turns out getting it annulled is a little trickier than first envisioned, and in the meantime pining, forced proximity, and sex-of-convenience ensues.
• Hate Sex – I am so, so here for the two of them hatefucking, and for moments of unexpected tenderness in the middle of the hatefucking, and for hate sex where they gradually start to develop feelings.
• Exploration of Aftermath of Canon Events – A relationship study that looks at how things might develop between the two of them after the end of the series, with neither of them entirely happy about the changes on Ferenginar.
• Characters don't realise they're in a relationship but everyone else can see it – Maybe Brunt keeps finding reasons to return to Deep Space Nice to make Quark’s life a misery, and Quark does everything he can to irritate Brunt, and neither of the two of them wants to admit that actually they’re sort of starting to enjoy each other’s company, while as far as everyone else is concerned they’re already basically together.
• A post-canon fic with an established relationship between Quark and Brunt. They’re… sort of settled. Almost happy. And then, like a hand grenade tossed into the middle of their relationship, Quark’s old lover Natima Lang comes back. Somehow Brunt finds out what happened between them and is torn between horrified disgust at Quark being willing to abandon everything to run off with her and seething jealousy because he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that Quark wouldn't do that for HIM in a million years. Maybe Quark and Natima have both moved on with no lingering feelings other than a faint poignant ‘what might have been’, or maybe they’re still as in love with each other as ever and the only way to resolve this is with Quark/Natima/Brunt.
• 5+1 Things – A post-canon 5+1 fic exploring the ways every single member of Quark’s family undermines their attempts at (semi-)tradition Ferengi parenting (preferably of a boy, please, unless the focus is on them both overcoming their terrible ingrained sexism to the point where it’s probably going to be a bit ooc, let’s face it).
• Having met by chance with an oddly familiar stranger in a bar who shares his animosity for Quark, Brunt obtains a copy of a unique holosuite program involving Major Kira with Quark’s head in return for a discounted price and the promise to use it to destroy Quark. Which would be easier to do if he could just stop thinking about how it would be better with Quark’s head on Quark’s body. To facilitate Getting Revenge, obviously. (And just as soon as he figures out why the hell Quark would make the program so damn good at oo-mox if it was written for a non-Ferengi).
• So, um, those scenes in The Dogs of War when Brunt is sucking up to Quark because they both think Zek is going to appoint him the next Grand Nagus? He’d be remiss if he forgot Rule 113 of the Rules of Acquisition: Always have sex with the boss.
• Ishka figures out why Brunt is so fixated on bringing Quark down. And, well, okay, yes, Brunt is terrible, but also he’s a good Ferengi, and frankly, Quark could probably do worse.
• Time Travel Fix-It – Brunt and Quark travel back to a point where they’re in a position to alter the course of Ferengi history and prevent the sweeping changes brought about by Quark’s mother, but potentially ruining their fortunes in their present, since with the franchisement of Quark’s they’re actually doing pretty damn well for themselves. Do they go through with it, or disagree about whether they should go through with it?