#i have some loose ideas for the AU ‘character quests’

[silvertonguedcharlatan]

random OC ask (for siobhan): if your OC was in a modern!AU, what would their job be? what would their day-to-day life look like? would they be very similar to their canon conception, or different?

(the modern!AU can be in the fashion of your favored iteration, whether that is a 1:1 version of our universe, modern-with-magic, etc.)

I think my Modern AU would be modern with magic but adventuring is a rarer occupation that it was in the past. Most people still have a class and such but it’s used mostly for the mundane not high adventure. The desire for adventure still exists but most people are able to sate it by going out of town for a weekend and killing a gnoll in a ditch next to the interstate. The world is still fantasy dangerous but most people stay in the cities since it’s safer. Baldur’s Gate exists pretty much as is on the sword coast with the addition of most modern tech and maybe some governmental changes.

With that out of the way, assuming nothing that would cause her to become the main character of a video game happens, Siobhan would live relatively simply. Since she’s a spores druid I think she would work for the fantasy forest service cataloguing the health of wilderness areas outside the city walls. Looking for serious health risks in animal populations and new diseases and parasites in plants. Professionally she’d be dealing with all the dead things and would be very capable defending herself from living things. Personally, she would care a lot about colony collapse disorder and the hemlock woolly adelgid. She would yell at you for transporting firewood across state lines.

Personality wise she’d be pretty much the same, her canon was my first playthrough so she was the logical avatar, moving through the story with curiosity and trying to do the right thing and make friends. Given that there’s no video game plot I think she’d wonder if there was anything else out there for her. Everyone hears the stories of heroes but is the age of the hero gone? She’d like to know.

I like to think she’d still meet all her friends somehow, like they all get lost in her forest and she finds them and invites them over for dinner. After meeting the gang her day to day would get more exciting than working and going home to read a book and watch tv. For example laezel bullies her into joining her kickboxing class and gale always invites the entire group to go to museums. She romances astarion (who is still a vampire) so I think helping him get out of his shitty vampire coven would be what inspires the group to adventure together and kill a vampire lord (because obviously they would, it’s fate that all these people who long for more meet each other) (would also allow for astarions story to play out more similarly to in game).

I think the whole vibe of the modern AU here is everything is much calmer, the cults are not around, fantasy violence is in full force, and everybody still has problems to solve via adventuring but not enough problems that they can’t get lost in the woods on their own.

[alitheakorogane]

My Genshin Impact SAGAU Masterlist

Made a master list for my SAGAU content so you won't get lost. Will be updated with new content.

Will always be updated as soon as a new SAGAU content comes by!

Reader's Protection Squad Series (SAGAU Imposter AU)

Freedom's Protection (Mondstadt)

STATUS: Still in the works!

The Two Imposters - Our beloved protagonist had finally met the Anemo Archon himself. Is he really one of your allies in surviving in this world where people wanted to kill you for 'stealing' the face of the Divine Creator or is he one of them?

May the Anemo Archon Protect You - You were chased out by your beloved characters from Mondstadt who thought that you were the imposter that 'stole' the face of the person you remembered who never even exist in the game files. Meanwhile, their own disguised Archon had done something stupid that could change everything forever.

A Blasphemy or The Truth? - Venti's outburst shocks everyone, making the people of Mondstadt question everything they knew about their Archon.

Stirring Up a Hurricane - The bomb was finally dropped, leaving nothing but a series of chain reactions spreading around the area... Literally. Venti revealed himself as the Anemo Archon Barbatos to his people as a last resort for defending you, causing the entire nation of Mondstadt to go into chaos.

The Eye of the Anemo Archon's Anguish - Venti had accidentally raised a wind barrier to defend you, your friends, and himself... but it caused some people to suffer the brunt of the Swirl reaction and activated his underlying trauma, causing him to lose control of his emotions and his power. As he was getting close to a nervous breakdown, the people noticed that the skies above the city of Mondstadt are starting to change.

Please Forgive Me - Venti tries to visit you while you're still recovering from your injuries and tries to apologize. At the same time, you found out the truth about the Divine Creator from Venti.

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Glitching Impact (Corrupted Game SAGAU)

STATUS: Title is STC, while still plotting ideas for this concept...

The Original Corrupted Game!SAGAU Concept of

Corrupted Game!SAGAU, but loosely based on Wreck-It Ralph...

Plot twist Idea Based on Corrupted Game!SAGAU

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Random SAGAU Oneshot Stories

"Who's your favorite Genshin Impact character?"

Just A Normal Genshin Impact Game Time...Is It?

SAGAU featuring the Unusual Hilichurl (Wei)

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SAGAU Fanarts

Corrupted Game AU - Venti (Based on Faceless Ayato concept)

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Random SAGAU Ideas and Thoughts

What if the Seven Gnoses are actually fragments of the Divine Creator's Soul?

What would happen if Venti got the same treatment as the Reader in those angsty SAGAU fics?

SAGAU and Regarding the Artifacts!

Short Villain!SAGAU Dialogue (1)

Short Villain!SAGAU Dialogue (2)

SAGAU (Imposter AU), but you have a snarky personality and a fiery tongue.

My SAGAU Playlist (Imposter AU) - PART ONE

Heights in SAGAU

Wishing for Characters Despite You Haven't Met Them Yet In-Lore

Kaveh: From a Humble Architect to a Man of Destruction? (Based on the now-confirmed recent hack using Kaveh)

Imagine Playable Characters Saying This (Screenshot came from a quest in Genshin Impact 4.8)

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Reply to SAGAU-related Asks from Anon

How I Will Portray the Archons In My Twist of the Imposter AU

Venti's Characterization In Reader's Protection Squad

U alive???

A Teaser for The Eye of the Anemo Archon's Anguish

We will give him the best treatment that our beloved Venti deserves.

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Random Incorrect Quotes for SAGAU

Among Us

Arrows With Love

Does Barbatos even know the existence of dental hygiene?

Chased Out By Obsessed People

Venti reacting on his SAGAU!Imposter/Cult AU self and his insane actions

Making Fun of Venti's Terrible Aim

Zhongli's Meteors Probably the Cause of the Dinosaurs' Extinction

Memory of Dust

Peace Was Never An Option

A Suggestion: Drinking Contest

[faelune-home]

FFXIVWrite 2024 #4: Reticent

(A/n: Originally when this prompt came up, I wanted to write about the twins father and how stuffy he is, but on the day, I didn't have the time or the proper idea to see it through. And now, this deep into the month, I'm so set on adding to the role quest rewrites (and occasionally breaking up with FoM AU to relax) I felt I had to use this prompt for one of those instead.

And I suppose that is a bonus of featuring the Scions, it's also finding ways they relate to some of the role quest cast in ways maybe msq can't dive into. The fact that even deep into EndW, Alphi still kinda blames himself and is haunted by being the cause of the Bloody Banquet could be grounds for a connection with Fordola (While not downplaying that her actions were also much bigger in scale and impact cos actual warzone etc yknow, its mainly about the guilt).

Word count: 790)

Their last meeting hadn’t been on the best terms. She had every right to call him out of course, and he knew that he could try and approach with an open mind to try and bridge the gap. But a stubborn part of him kept putting a damn mental wall on him, thinking it’d be best to keep his distance.

“You’re both a lot more similar than you realise,” Arenvald said, giving Alphinaud a nudge. He finally tore his eyes away from Fordola, sitting off in the darkest spot away from their campfire, just outside Ala Gannha’s boundary.

“Always beating yourselves up for things you did, even if you’re working to do better now,” he continued, trying to offer some comfort with a smile.

“Perhaps,” was all Alphinaud responded, knowing Arenvald had a point. Maybe on some level Fordola’s deeds may have had wider reaching consequences than his own, but letting loose a militia into the world hijacked by a mad man desperate for revolution at any cost was still something that left a severe impact on Ul’dah and the Ala Mhigan revolutionaries that join the group.

“C’mon, I’m sure if you both sat down and tried to talk about it, you’d have plenty to say.”

“Not to be rude Arenvald, but I am here on business,” Alphinaud huffed, not trying to dampen his friend’s enthusiasm, but still well aware of where he stood with Fordola, even if he were to get over the hump of interacting with her in the first place, “Even if we did have common ground to communicate on, I doubt we’d be branching out into stalwart companions afterwards. We’re allies in this fight and that’s it.”

Unperturbed, Arenvald just shrugged.

“We’ve managed to be mates just fine and we’re pretty different,” he said. Alphinaud sighed, but offered a placate smile in return all the same.

“I’d say that’s your own character that makes you so approachable, my friend,” he responded, “And it clearly works on Fordola as well, since you’re the only one that she seems to talk to on a casual basis.”

“To be fair, we were often assigned together on primal slaying duties as part of her rehabilitation before the Silver Griffins. She didn’t really have a choice to get away from me.”

“And yet even with more freedom now,” Alphinaud countered, well aware that ‘freedom’ still didn’t mean much for the woman, “she’ll still turn to you for companionship.”

“I’ve rubbed off on her then,” Arenvald simply smiled, earning an amused huff in reply.

“And hey,” he then continued, giving Alphinaud’s arm another nudge, “even if you’re not exactly going to be mates, I think it’d be good for her to have someone else to lean on. It’s hard enough for her. And maybe it’ll be good for you too, if you’re still giving yourself grief for all of that.”

“I’m mostly past it now, thank you,” Alphinaud said sharply, trying to stop the conversation even as he knew the whole conversation had already dug up memories of that night at the Bloody Banquet and the impact it had on the Scions, even if only indirectly.

Because of his foolish pride, his idea to form the group, a group that pursued them into the night and held a sword to his neck, and led Hydaelyn to summon forth Minfilia into the aetheric sea, and now she’s dead and beyond them–

“I mean it though,” Arenvald insisted, shaking Alphinaud again from his thoughts, “These things always come back to you. I’ve seen it in the other soldiers. Even when you move past it, it comes back like a thief in the night to haunt you sometimes.” Alphinaud just pointedly looked away.

And ended up staring right back at Fordola, still minding her own business.

“She’ll take some time to warm to you, but she’s not as much of a hard-arse as she may seem,” Arenvald finished, finally deciding to wheel away and leaving a quick word over his shoulder that he was off to bed.

As though finally sensing she was being watched, Fordola looked around, on high alert with her hand near her weapon. Until she chanced to see it was only Alphinaud. He tried to offer a friendly wave in return, just to be polite.

And she pointedly looked away, grabbing a blanket from her backpack and curling up into it.

Despite the brief disappointment and resignation he felt, he had to concede it wasn’t the best time to be trying to extend the olive branch. In fact, it was rather late, so maybe he’d be better served trying the next day, after a good sleep. And hoping that the old memories resurfaced during their chat didn’t linger in his dreams.

[ashyswoyaus]

About the Lord Wander AU, are there any episodes that would not exist? The characters being shuffled around change the dynamics so drastically, there's no way a canon episode would take place?

Or, are there episodes that do happen, but occur with such different context or with very different events, to the point of being borderline unrecognizable?

Much love!

ooooo yes!!! this is something i've thought quite a bit about—there'd have to be loads of changes like that. most episodes i think, even, would have to be changed significantly. for episodes not existing, there's a Lot that definitely seem like it at first, and i even made a list, but after thinking on it a little more...they might fit more into the second category, where they're pretty majorly reworked. for episodes i haven't really been able to come up with anything for, there's the box, the lonely planet, the tourist, the helper, the boy wander, the heebie jeebies, and the sick day. the good deed, maybe? (but i think it might work, if you replace wander's stubbornness in his beliefs with dee's struggle to be a good person. you could perhaps even insert wander in there, since he's meant to be a bit of a recurring character in s1) perhaps the epic quest of unfathomable difficulty. those episodes are really wander-specific, and putting dominator in those positions renders them kinda pointless (like with the nice guy, how she just buys the thunder blazz without any trouble). and i can't think of any work-arounds to keep the basic premise of each, unlike with some other wander-specific episodes.

oh, but also, you'd have to get rid of like. the Entire hater crush arc in s2. so that would get rid of the matchmaker & the rival...but that arc would likely be replaced with something else. i don't know what that would be yet, but maybe something where you could keep the new toy, the show stopper, the cartoon, and my fair hatey, while getting rid of the "impressing dominator" part. have to brainstorm a few ideas for that but i'd like to believe it's possible

and onto some episodes that would instead be majorly reworked: the hat, of course, and by extension the bad hatter. and together with them i'd put the bot. since i feel like the position of the dombots and wander's hat would be switched in these cases! sylvia has to learn to work with the bots, bot 13 accidentally gets onto the skullship (and gets his name), wander's hat somehow falls onto the beach...real question is whether beep boop or the hat dies...i don't know if the hat can die. maybe it gets stranded in space. that'd be a pretty major change for wander, though, so i'm not really sure. then again it is supposed to be a bit of a darker tone than the show so...it might work. i think i'll probably do more on this topic at a later time!

there's also stuff like the bad guy, the big job, and the rider, revolving around wander's lack of toughness compared to sylvia—dee's pretty tough, moreso than sylvia even, so she wouldn't have these issues, but you could probably keep the settings of these episodes and just change the main conflict. for the bad guy, dee and syl use a ship to get around rather than orbble juice, but you could easily have them needing fuel instead. and dee would fit in pretty well with ryder's attitude, so separating her and syl would be difficult...i'll keep trying to figure those ones out though!

this is getting long so i'll skip over most of them for now since i feel like i'd be repeating myself...i think the big day would be one of them, but dee wouldn't suggest a wedding-like ceremony. some other big event, like a funeral. and for the night out i actually have something Very specific for it: it moves placement in the season to the first arc, before lord wander is revealed as the wandering weirdo, and is titled The Day Off. while the night out was about letting loose and wild, it's a girls' night, brawling being something syl doesn't get to do so often—she gets plenty of that in the AU, and instead, the day off is all about relaxing, taking it easy and getting some rest, which is what this syl doesn't get as much of. oh! and something to do with wander's doing good deeds to stave off bad karma—while dom started the episode bored, and decided to go out to have fun, wander i think would start off somewhat Stressed and anxious because of how much Evilling he's been doing lately and take this day off to go help people, to keep in the universe's good graces. this is another one i'd like to do more on later when i get the chance!!!

there's tons of episodes i think would change (like...all of them) so if you (or anyone else) ever want to hear about a specific one or more about one i mentioned here just ask :)

[il-predestinato]

Elle, you are actually writing a Hogwarts AU???? 🙈🙈🙈 When is it set timeline wise? What year are they in? Houses I think I know, but the rest???

Hi Pi! Oooh, I mostly have notes on this one and not much written! Except for this little snippet (probably a cut scene rather than part of the fic). I'll share another super short snippet and then some rambling answers to your questions: 😁

Before Max could blink the sleepiness out of his eyes, he was already soberly aware that he was - most unfortunately - alone in bed. After a disgruntled rub across his eyelids, he was able to crack open enough of a slit to glare at the empty pillow beside his own. A head-shaped indent stared back at him mockingly. A torn piece of parchment sat neatly at the centre of the indent.

He snatched it up and frowned at Charles’ offending penmanship:

‘Had to take care of a secret Slytherin thing something’ followed by a creepy scribble of a smiling niffler (or perhaps a Dementor - Max couldn’t be certain, no matter how long he squinted at the poorly drawn lines; no one would ever accuse Charles of possessing artistic talent).

‘Meet in the Prefect's bathroom at 0800!’

“Maybe I won’t,” grumbled Max as he crumpled up the piece of paper. Of course you will, he can almost hear Charles’ self-assured, scoffing rebuttal.

He grabbed his wand from under his pillow and casted a silent “Incendio.” The Silencing Charm that Charles cast around Max’s four poster bed from the previous evening had likely worn off by now. He couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he watched as small embers transformed the parchment into ash. While Charles may be uniquely gifted at wandless magic, Max still had him beat in nonverbal spells - much to the chagrin of his Slytherin rival (sometimes friend always thorn in the side occasional bedmate).

-

Some notes:

Timeline wise: 2013-ish because they are 15 (fifth years)

Both are still born in 1997 (kind of cool that canonically both would be born at the height of the second wizarding war)

Max is a Gryffindor and Charles is a Slytherin

Story is a long-ish one shot. Title is "Unforgivable"

My base storyline is borrowed from a quest in the Hogwarts Legacy game (minor spoiler alert):

Charles has a sick family member at St. Mungo's who is suffering from a blood curse and is basically beyond all magical help. There is a secret Slytherin spell book hidden in the Scriptorium (think Chamber of Secrets, but a different room) rumoured to lead to a spell/artifact that cures dark curses, so Charles wants to retrieve it. Max is ... not a fan of this idea, because Slytherin was a pretty dark wizard and all around bad guy, so nothing good can possibly come out of this. But it's Charles so of course he chooses to help and goes down to the Scriptorium with him. There are a few tests (e.g. puzzles, speaking Parseltongue, etc.), each unlocking a set of gates, but you can't turn back because the gates lock behind you as well. At the last gate, there are a bunch of creepy skeletons (because people died here after getting stuck) and tortured faces on the gate/the world "Crucio" engraved on the floor. Max and Charles figure out that in order to pass the final test and not starve/die down there, they must successfully cast Crucio. And that's really the climax of the story. Who is going to cast it on who? Also, as Bellatrix explained in the books, you must have intent and truly want to cause pain and suffering to succeed in casting it... In the Hogwarts Legacy game, three characters are involved in the story: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, and Y/N [aka. player character] (yes, don't worry, I'm laughing at myself for using this term given my well known 'love' for uh... imagines 🤢). Ominis refuses to cast Crucio. It comes down between Y/N vs. Sebastian. In my fic, Charles would be loosely based on Sebastian, and Max is a combo of Ominis and Y/N (sorry, I can't keep a straight face whenever I type this.) Let's just say I have an entirely DIFFERENT idea as to how this plays out between Max and Charles (can anyone guess?) compared to the game.

Other super random details from my notes:

Charles and Max have a fierce quidditch rivalry (yes, there was an inchident with a puddle, because the puddle is a universal constant, a fixed point in time and space if you will).

Both are Chasers (but they do like challenging each other to one-on-one seeker games).

Max made the Gryffindor team in his first year (just like the Boy Who Lived) which irks Charles (who made the Slytherin team in his second year).

Charles' Slytherin teammates include George (beater), Lando (chaser), and their new seeker (Oscar).

Max's teammates include Carlos (chaser, Head Boy) and used to include Lewis (chaser, graduated).

Max really likes the grass flavour of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and one time, Charles bought like - 200 boxes of every flavour beans and spent all night picking out all the grass flavoured ones to put into one box to gift to Max.

Charles is better at wandless magic - raw and uncontrolled power - but Max is better at nonverbal magic - precision and controlled power.

Charles is great at Charms and [hilariously] Divination (umm... he IS called 'il predestinato'), Max is great at Transfiguration and Potions. Both are excellent at Arithmancy (math nerds) and DADA.

Max's wand is vine, 12 ¾ inches, phoenix feather, reasonably supple. Charles's wand is yew, 12 ½ inches, dragon heartstring, fairly stiff. And yes, I spent like 30 minutes reading up on wandlore until I was happy with the choices. 🤣

[xikyuu]

ok so im listening to the heathers musical (highly recommend btw) and i get to dead girl walking reprise right

and the lyrics have given me some ideas for a dallas au

ok so. im thinking right. about a dallas villain au. hear me out

not necessarily that hes working for his father or something, but more like what if in a quest for regenge he becomes so enamored with the idea of making his father and everyone in charge pay for what they’ve done, that he disregards the lives of innocent people in the way?

obv thats very out of character for canon dallas, he would never go through with something if he knew innocent ppl were gonna get hurt (at least in my opinion. could be wrong)

but, in this hypothetical au, what if he was a lot like jd? only cares about the people close to him (jd with veronica, dallas with the other revolutionaries), and is willing to hurt anyone who hurt them?

i think in this song veronica would be. aw hell i forgot their name and i cant go to the tag or ill lose the ask but. the green haired person that dallas had a thing with. yk the one

im just spitballing here and im kind of in a rush, i just had this idea and i thought it would be interesting lol. lmk if it sucks

also go listen to yo girl, meant to be yours, and dead girl walking reprise in that order asap!! (those r my songs of the day!!)

stares at you neurodivergently. i wake up to this in my inbox, im eating good today MOTHERFUCKERRSSS!!

no youre so right its not canon dallas but thats what makes villain dallas interesting like oughh

amd yeah depending on the arc and time in the story veroncia would most likely be alibi if its before alibi dies at the beginning of the wilds arc or asmo/juno during the rebellion arc (when the copperheads and old members of solanace come back to the walled kingdom). i would say it fits w juno and asmo bc he already had to loose alibi and skip and is now holding on very VERY tightly but instead of dallas running until he basically kills himself, he has the “sacrifices are needed for the common good” mentality or whatever.

and im making my lunch and eating breakfast os i will listen to those somgs!! rn!!

[kingtrash-fox]

Funni Cassidy FNAF Mascot Horror Au Idea

After the events of UCN, PQ 1-3, SB and SB:R. Cassidy still hasn’t rested but Afton has been taken care of to the point she looked up 80 fangames to give him animatronics out the wazoo.

While that’s running she looks around the world (Cause Ghost logic) and sees locations with history just as dark or even Darker than Fazbear industries. Upon this she looks for the main culprit in those locations. When it turns out most of them have solved themselves or have someone in process of dealing with it (I.e: Sjsm Protag setting all the souls free including Spooky, The Prototype taking everyone out during the hour of Joy with the other toys, Audrey now in control of Joey’s Cycle, etc) She starts offering her services to tie up Loose ends.

This is essentially the “Cassidy become a loose end Solver door to door Salesgirl” or the “Cassidy Finishing Business Au”

Some ideas include Her going to the Smiling Critters cartoon to expel Theodores leftover spirit from it cause apparently the animation studio is still up and running but kids are getting scared and traumatized from the show like the “episode” from Mob entertainments YouTube. So she inserts herself into the show and Keeping the Princess quest theme going she makes a bear form called I dunno Princess Goldiebear or something and when she fixes the show the animation studio makes merchandise off this new character.

If you can’t tell I have thought about this for far too long. And yes I’m using She/her for Cassidy cause it feels like it fits more. Also I have a small theory the “He is the one you should not of killed.” Is her talking about Evan/CC and she’s doing this mainly for revenge but also for his retribution ok byyyeeee

[quaranmine]

May I ask what is the Hgttg au? I can't seem to find it and/or I don't remember what it is

Absolutely! I don't have an official tag for it yet (or at least I don't remember it) but it's been an idea rattling around my head since at least 2022. It's a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy AU with Boatem. In the book, earth gets destroyed in the very beginning. Main character Arthur Dent learns that his friend Ford is an alien who's actually been stranded on earth this whole time, and they hitchhike off the planet just in time.

In this AU, the inciting event for everything is obviously moon big. Grian and Pearl are both siblings, and loosely full Ford's role as the resident aliens. They manage to figure out a way off the server and save Mumbo, Scar, and Impulse before the moon crashes. Mumbo is the main pov character, loosely filling Arthur's role as "confused man who is just along for the ride." (Though honestly every non-alien member of Boatem fills this role.)

This is where the concept...kind of diverges? And where it starts becoming clear that I am also a long-time Doctor Who fan, because this AU also has time travel! It's very wibbly-wobbly timey wimey in a way that has occasionally forced me to scrap ideas because, oh wait, I messed up the timeline again. So. Boatem survived moon big, but did anyone else? They get to see their entire planet horribly destroyed. It's incredibly apparent that everyone else on the planet has to be dead. But Grian is convinced he can fix this--with time travel. If they can go back in time and either prevent the moon from crashing, or evacuate everyone else in time, then all of this will be fixed. Don't panic! It'll all be fine!

They just...need to get a time machine, first. Also, avoid dying. Also, avoid getting arrested.

Grian and Pearl both have experience with time travel. They're actually from the future and got "stranded" on Hermitcraft some time ago (this is relevant), so they are not in possession of any form of time travel or space travel. I put stranded in quotes because they're quite frankly pretty happy to be there and not to keen on going home.

Anyway, it's like a space comedy story in a sort of mission/quest format. It should be...crack treated seriously? It will occasionally lean into a spot of angst (i.e. with all the hermits being dead) but should bounce back pretty fast. It is not a MCD story. The working title has been "the moon, and other misbehaving celestial bodies" and I first wrote it in 2022, and the rewrote that part at Thanksgiving last year. It's about 6700 words so far, two chapters. The premise is pretty much that they need to run around space in order to find what they need in order to time/space travel back to HC-8 and prevent moon big. Of course, it can't be that easy though...

[bluegekk0]

how do approach basically rewriting a canon-

Hm I'm not sure if rewriting canon is what I do. Maybe in some areas, mostly when it comes to character deaths, but I try to keep the known and confirmed details from the original story mostly unchanged, and just write around them, if that makes sense.

Most of my AU is just filling blanks, really. Sometimes it means that I have to change some details about the canon elements to make things coherent, but I try to make the general idea still similar. For example, Grimm and his Troupe are probably the biggest departures from how they're implied to work in canon, but the death and rebirth cycle is so crucial to those characters that I kept it, albeit in a loose adaptation form.

FPK is a very self indulgent adaptation of PK, but we don't know a lot about canon PK, so 99% of that is stuff I came up with. I suppose him being gay and divorcing WL could be seen as rewriting canon? But then again, they're not together in the game (sure, it's because PK is dead, but still), we don't know when exactly WL left the palace, and we don't have a confirmation of PK's sexuality, so my AU isn't exactly rewriting that. His relationship with Grimm is also in that "they could've known each other, we're never told one way or another" territory, just pushed to the extreme. Really, the game has a lot of lore, but there are twice as many blanks to fill. What was PK like before the infection? What was his relationship with WL like? What does Grimm do between rituals, if anything? What occured to separate the nightmare and dream realms, as it was mentioned in the game? What were wyrms like, are they gone? If so, why?

You see what I mean? If you want to explore the characters, there is still a lot to come up with. You don't necessarily have to rewrite things to explore these characters however you want.

For example, FPK and WL were married, just like in the game. But I decided to write their relationship as pretty toxic and to eventually separate them. It doesn't change much about WL that we meet in the game, aside from maybe tiny bits of dialogue (but her loving her husband doesn't have to contradict her treating him poorly, if she did it without realizing like she did in my AU).

Sometimes I end up omitting some things, if they overcomplicate or contradict the story I came up with. Mostly those minor things, like Brumm banishing the Troupe (since this is one of two endings for the quest, I just pretend that one didn't happen).

I go by the idea that canon is just suggestions and rough guidelines, not rules. If one was to just focus on what we know, there would be a lot of blanks that still need to be filled in with original ideas if you want a consistent narrative. Sometimes you end up focusing more on those filled blanks than the canon elements, which is what I did, to the point where, in some ways, I see the AU as its own spin-off of sorts, something not exactly connected to the game's canon, just kind of its own thing, but one that keeps crucial canon elements as foundation. Basically just fully using the term "alternate universe" to my advantage.

And sometimes you just make stuff up and ignore the canon. That's also an option, if you prefer that. In those cases, just have fun, really. That's all the advice I can give. Remember. Guidelines, not rules. The toys are there for us to play with, restricting yourself to canon can be fun to some, but not everyone.

[emmalostinwonderland]

WIP update

Hey, friends. I know literally no one is asking for this, but I started going through my google drive folders recently to see if I really do have as many WIP fics stacking up as I think I do... and apparently I have MORE than I thought.

I'm gonna go through all of them here mostly for my own peace of mind. However, if you read this and think one of the concepts sounds great and you want to shoot me some encouragement, my DMs and asks are open. Vague threats are also accepted, just to mix things up.

Anyway, synopses below the cut. Fandoms are tagged.

MCU

Steve/Bucky/Tony - Medieval Knights AU - est <20k words

Tony is the ruler of a small kingdom, and Steve is the lead knight. He and Bucky are together, and they open their hearts to Tony as time goes on. This is actually my fill for Fandom Trumps Hate 2023, so it's my top priority right now. I've got a full synopsis, most of the chapter outline, and literally none of the draft itself done.

Steve/Tony (with some Steve/Bucky in the beginning) - Conversion Camp AU - est >50k words

Steve meets Tony at a Pray-The-Gay-Away camp in 1995, they lose contact when Steve ages out of the program, canon events (super soldier serum and Iron Man) come into play, and they are reunited due to mutual connections with SHIELD or the US Military. So far with this, I have a very detailed synopsis, a full timeline for both Steve and Tony, a spotify playlist, character analyses, thorough research, and only like 800 words of a draft. This one WILL be finished, even if it takes me literal years.

Steve/Tony - Ireland AU - est <10k words

Tony meets Steve on the ferry from Liverpool to Belfast, and they have a whirlwind summer romance in Ireland. It's literally just a romcom. I wanted an excuse to fuck with their accents, so in this idea, Steve moved back to Ireland with his mom when he was super young, and Tony went to live with the Jarvis' (his godparents) in London after his parents died in his mid to late teens. I've got about 800 words in the draft, some loose research, and half a chapter outline. Maybe it'll get written, maybe not. Who's to say.

Steve/Tony - High School AU - est ~1k words

Steve and Tony are established high school sweethearts. They have Tony's parents house to themselves for the weekend. I wrote about 700ish words of this in January as a challenge to myself to write a whole oneshot in one night, but I chickened out when I got to the smut part, so it just sits in my google drive haunting me.

Steve/Tony - High Fantasy Soulmates AU - est ?? words

Steve is on a quest with a small party of his closest friends to take out the evil king in a neighboring kingdom. He meets his soulmate, Tony, in dreams every night. We all know what the plot twist is on this, so I'm not gonna bother spelling it out. I have about 4 sentences worth of an outline, but that's it.

Steve/Bucky - Friends with Benefits AU - est >20k words

Steve's wife, Peggy, finds that their relationship is getting stale and suggests inviting a third person to join them in bed from time to time. When Peggy ultimately leaves Steve anyway, he and Bucky discover something new just between the two of them. This is my latest collab with LouiKazooie! We have 2 others up on Ao3, and this one will likely be done before the end of the year.

Steve/Bucky - 1940's Canon Divergence - est ?? words

Dr Erskine sees Steve and Bucky's farewell moment before Steve attempts to enlist again, but he selects Bucky for the program instead in order to give him a higher likelihood of making it back home to Steve in one piece. I've got a synopsis, and I've got a one-liner for Howard written. That's it. Keep your expectations low.

Red, White, and Royal Blue

FirstPrince - Missionary AU - est <20k words

Alex moves to London for a study abroad program for international law, and Henry attempts to evangelize to him in a coffeeshop. Alex takes pity on him, and strikes up a tentative friendship with him. As they grow closer, Henry starts to realize that maybe he doesn't believe or connect with his religion the way he used to. I've got a detailed synopsis, and some of the scenes are clear as day in my head, but if I'm honest, there's no substantial outline or draft written down for this one yet.

FirstPrince - Din/Luke Oneshot Series - est ?? words

Alex and Henry roleplay as the Mandalorian and Luke Skywalker sometimes and the level of involvement gets more high stakes with every oneshot (like including cosplays or speaking Mando'a). This might be the dumbest idea I've ever had, but it's in my google drive so I had to include it here.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Percabeth - Revolutionary War AU - est ~10k words

Percy is a spy for the militia. Annabeth is a plantation owner's daughter. She joins the cause, providing secrets, maps, and the occasional distraction all while unlearning things she's believed her whole life. This was an idea I had on a flight somewhere, and I wrote a scene in the notes app of my phone until I could get to wifi again. Apparently I have 1500 words of the draft done? I've also got a character breakdown and a vague idea of the flow of the story. I'm excited about this one.

Idk I think 10 WIP fics is enough for now. This was painful to look at. Thanks for the support, guys.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

If layline MC has a creation starter then maybe she shows up with an egg that they know its theirs to care for by its parent. and out come the most gangly little horse thing wobbling everwhere. its arcs are not there yet it looks cute in an almost ugly way. It comes up to their Thighs and only starst growing when the Plottm starts happening.It still only grows to be around a head taller than them and is like an affection cat. Its a scardy cat and hides behind is parent half the time. No one knows how it Eats. They blink and food has bite out of it. I think this still puts little MC as the one who is doing the Plottm and not have something do it for them. ( I assuming they themselves are throwing down with the corrupted Lords and Ladies (maybe I dont know the plot yet) and Still have that nice companionship. and baby arceus is cute in my mind)

No one knows its a god. Laventon is excited only bc He got to witness a brith of a magical creature that probably has only been hearsay before.

[ Anonymous: I thought I saw a tag about creation starts on ley lines but now I cant find it so maybe I made it up so apologies if I randomly threw that into the au think tank out of nowhere ]

no you saw correctly! it wasn't a tag, it was the first paragraph of this other reply lol. i do think babi arceus is always a very cute idea whenever it comes up

...but man. plot. plot plot plot. you've asked a question about The Plot now i have to think about it. i feel like it isn't just the nobles being frenzied again, since that feels like just doing canon again and i kind of want to get further away with it? i don't know, this is all very loosey goosey thoughts and i'm bad at putting my vibes ideas down on paper, but i feel like if the nobles and wardens and pearl/diamond as a whole are still a structure in this world, they're like, much more of a background thing? like, they have this noble soulbond so i guess they do exist, but the actual plot is some other much different Fantasy Quest and they're really just other characters on the adventure. if that... makes any sense at all.

like, is hisui even a thing? i feel like the clans might be much more spread out as a whole... if they're even clans, and it isn't just the wardens and leaders forming a structure with no other regular people involved. like every individual warden looks after a certain area, and they all report to adaman and irida, but those are the only people in diamond and pearl. and they just sort of... orbit loosely related towns and villages etc. and then they all get dragged into akari's situation, maybe because akari&co went to adaman and/or irida as a user of a primal magical force who could maybe shed some light on the situation (they couldn't, but they got caught up in the adventure for their own reasons anyway.) i guess since they're all picking up and leaving, their jobs are also much less important than they are in canon? like it's not such a huge deal for them to just wander off for a while.

this might all sound like complete nonsense, i don't know. like i said it's just vibes in here.

[upsideoutinsidedown]

10, 17, 34 for the writing ask!!! :DDD

Hi lark :D

Thank you so much for the ask! I just wanna talk writing with people sometimes ;-;

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Even worse, Katsuki was slowly getting used to waking up in the middle of the night, panting, pulse drumming as if sleep itself had been chasing him to consciousness; then tentatively feeling for his eyes, nose, mouth in the dark and discovering that he had none.

This right here continues to haunt me. It’s from a bnha fanfic called “exit, pursued by a bear (Katsuki and Izuku are dead)”. I read it, uh, four years ago? The whole fic is good, but it’s this specific line that haunts me. The beautiful existential crises a medium-aware character would have to deal with when out of focus.

Of my own writing, um, I guess I have an idea I’ve been dragging around with me from fandom to fandom because I never end up writing it, so that kinda haunts me, I guess. It’s a soulmate au where the first words your soulmate says to you get printed on your arm as they say them. The caveat being character a is a “glitch in the system”, so if they ever talk to someone before they got their soulmate’s words, they’re words instead get imprinted, and of course, character b trying to convince character a to accept that they don’t care if they have a “real” soulmate out there that they ruined because they love them now and they couldn’t be happier to have them as a significant other even if it was just an “accident”. Oh, and explore some less savoury sides of that potential <3

EDIT: I just remembered one other that haunts me, a line and a prospect.

Encountering [him] represented the acme of his existence and, like everything at its peak. the beginning of his downfall.

It's from what I call "fateweaver au". Wherein people are born with fates that are impossible to escape, and "fateweavers" are characters who are able to read a person's fate. The narrator is a fateweaver who's fate it is to die saving someone who has no fate of their own, but is present in others, so the narrator knows this character intimately from reading about them in the fates of the world around them. The Fateless, however, is like a loose thread on a tapestry, and by interacting with the world around them he pulls on that thread until eventually it all comes undone. Fateweavers are a concept I really enjoy and will often use them in my more fantastical stories.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

I have a few WIPs, but the one I’m most focused on (and coincidentally the one with the most worldbuilding to it) would be Breaking Bounds (the dnd inspired/cleradin au), so I’ll do that one. There’s so much, in fact, I think I’ll just elaborate on a few things relevant to the story: namely the pantheon and some world views.

The main faith is a pantheon of seven gods. Phedes, the Sower, god of fertility; Ithamus, the Riddler, god of time; Æyzar, the Warden, god of the heavens; Usaris, the Conqueror, goddess of war; Amaryllis, the Lover, goddess of pleasure; Enlisen, the Wanderer, god of gales; and Amayadair, the Stranger, goddess of the seas. I could go into more detail about them, but I’ll be here all day because I did, in fact, create a mythos for them, so forgive me. What you need to know is Æyzar is the god Mike serves (and Will used to), and Amaryllis is the goddess Robin is invoking on her quest. Most temples are dedicated to the entire pantheon, but there are some monasteries dedicated to specific members of the pantheon, though these are more for training paladins and clerics. Mike and Will are from one such monastery.

A few world views that won’t really be talked about in detail because it’s in Mike’s POV and these are all just expected and I’m not going to be actively challenging some of them include:

Same-sex attraction is no more or less discouraged than opposite-sex attraction. Homophobia just isn’t a thing in this world (I like exploring Mike’s internal homophobia, but this is a fantasy world, and why add homophobia when I can just not? Also, somehow it felt out of place even if I wanted to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) Same with misogyny. It just doesn’t exist. Their warrior god is a woman. To say a woman can’t do things as well as men might just get them smited after all lol.

Humans are the only speaking race on this plane, but there is a belief that the other dnd races (elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, etc) are on other planes. They believe that once, before the gods, they all walked amongst humanity, and so some people, even centuries later, would make claim to an ancestry of these other races. The Wheelers, for example, are believed to have “elven ancestry”. Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter; they get no benefits from it because they’ve been just human for so long ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorcerers, for the most part, don’t exist. The only known sorcerer (and by known, I mean known by Mike, not by the general public) is El. El has a similar backstory, having escaped Dr. Brenner and his experimentations.

Warlocks exist and aren’t objectively seen as evil. The thing with warlocks is they typically come in two flavours: those who could not form a connection with the divine (not enough magic potential on their own), so they make a pact with a lesser being and are therefore much weaker, or they’re those who reject a connection with the divine for a patron instead. The first is seen as harmless because even if three agreed to do horrific things in return, they just aren’t much of a threat, and most are just people who want to be able to use magic in their day-to-day life and, therefore, won’t agree to those terms. The second is sketchier because if you can receive your magic from the gods, why wouldn’t you? What could you want so desperately you would shun the gods who refused to give it to you or were incapable to give it to you therefore, what did you have to agree to in order to enter your pact? Will, having grown up as a cleric in training who could and did hear Æyzar’s voice and was able to channel his divinity, makes him one of the second kind. Hence why Mike is harsher towards Will than he would be a random warlock, he comes across in his travels.

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

Don't know her.

[sky-squido]

Linking Adventure!!!

OKAY SO I FINALLY CAVED

i’ve been daydreaming about link redesigns for years but always figured it was too big a project or nobody would want Yet Another Link Redesign but i actually love every link redesign i’ve seen and there have been more and more lately (props you guys they’re all awesome) so here are mine! i have no intentions to turn this into a full AU even if i do have the plot for it kicking around my brain, i just wanted to share my fun character ideas :3 obligatory disclaimer that this is not LinkedUniverse (or linkedmaze, or linkverse, or bonus links, or—) so don’t tag it as such!

it’s called “Linking Adventure” because *cough* maybe it was an adventure but also because the Point of the adventure is to link the three timelines together before the universe disintegrates. fun! this selection of links, then, is all the ones who get recruited for the quest.

here’s how that went down btw:

Hylia/Zelda (“Vega” in this AU): UGGGGH SkSw Link (“Altair” in this AU): what’s wrong? Vega: I JUST COMMUNED WITH THE GOLDEN GODDESSES Altair: oh no Vega: THEY LET THIS NINE YEAR OLD BREAK THE FABRIC OF REALITY. TWICE Altair: oh no Vega: AND NOW THEY’RE TRYING TO FIX IT Altair: yay? Vega: BY SMASHING ALL THE REALITIES TOGETHER Altair: oh dear. where is this? Vega: in like a buncha millennia Altair: oH. so wait where will you be you at the time? Vega: I doN’t KnOW! Altair: can i help? Vega: yes please Altair: cool. how do i do that. Vega: I’m gonna yell at Nayru and get her to yeet you into the future. there’s three heroes, one in each timeline, whose help you’re gonna need Altair: nice Vega: Oh also go grab the Hero of Legend, too. He’s pals with her oracle and will definitely come in handy Altair: sick Vega: cool okay so to stabilize the Convergence you’re going to need to find the full Triforce in each era and merge them together—that should hold most of reality together pretty solidly. you’ll need each timeline’s master sword to do that, though, since it’s the only artifact strong enough to withstand that kind of power. Also you can’t bring your own Master Sword because that might break reality. i’m sorry. is that too much? you’ve done so much already, you don’t have to— Altair: this isn’t like last time, though. i’ve got more experience, there’s no demon king to fight, and you’ll be safe. that’s all that matters. Vega: thank you. so much. Altair: just don’t erect any statues in my honor while i’m gone Vega: no promises!

and then he went and found everyone and they had a little adventure. here’s the gang! (transcriptions and clarifications of the handwritten text under the cut)

And here’s just some concept sketches about how they’d all fit together as a team

transcription: Favored battle positions (this is really loose) Wind— ranged support Altair— taking out main enemy’s weak point Fire— high damage output Traveler— distract enemy Night— misc.

Anyway! don’t expect more content of this! i just don’t have the patience for comics and i wouldn’t want to tell the story any other way. 

cool! transcriptions below the cut:

FIRE: “The Big Guns” [LoZ 1 & 2] 19 yo (she/her) Nicknamed herself for her favorite spell - uses she/her, don’t question it - has Down Syndrome & ASD - is mostly nonverbal - can speak with a stutter but prefers to sign - if she gets emotional while signing, her hands Will catch fire - abandoned as a baby and raised by fairies - insane magical potential - near-constantly casting life to counteract various health complications - her favorite spell is fire. - she did not hide from Ganon’s cult - fiercely protective & loyal - is very no-nonsense; to the point - when she casts fire, the ends of her scarf flare out like fairy wings - her hands always glow faintly so she can be “heard” in the dark - solves problems with fire - prefers to speak with actions over voice or sign

TRAVELER: [aLttP, OoA, OoS, LA, ALBW] 17 yo (he/him) Nicknamed himself for his passion in life - LOVES adventuring & traveling - hates fighting—prefers to avoid/distract enemies - incredibly fast & agile—attacks by surprise - the lightning strike just before Koholint made him almost completely deaf - and gave him arrhythmia (tachycardia) - gets chest pains/short of breath sometimes - when he’s backed into a corner, he’ll go feral with his magic rods - kid’s a walking encyclopedia - super kindhearted—cannot refuse someone who needs help - incredibly curious & nosy (if someone needs help, he will find out about it) - prefers to sign, but can still talk, since he could hear for most his life, but sometimes he’s hard to understand b/c he’s been deaf for a year. - his eyes are really, REALLY vibrant blue ever since he used the Triforce the second time—they glow faintly in the dark - somehow more level-headed when in danger than when he’s safe - he’s like a freaking cockroach he WILL NOT die - damage reduction items have no effect on pain <3 - pretends Koholint never happened (claims to have only been on 4 adventures) - ✨avoidance coping✨ (Dialogue Sample): “hey, is this place upsetting you? If it helps, I’ve catalogued 4 separate exit routes and have strategies set up for handling all the monsters we’re likely to encounter here!” (Outfit Description): he has pegasus boots, the magic cape from aLttP (which turns him invisible and invincible), the Protection Ring from OoA/OoS (which makes him take 1 heart of damage from every attack), the red tunic from ALBW (which reduces damage taken by 75%), and the Heart Ring L-2 from OoA/OoS (which heals him over time)

WIND [WW+PH] 14 yo (he/him) Nicknamed himself for his position as Wind Waker and his love for the ocean’s breezes - ADHD (hyperactive) and misophonia - he will flip out if a noise bothers him too much - somehow, he always seems upbeat—master of mind over matter - never loses sight of the big picture - can be curled up in a ball, crying, hands over his ears, and still say with full certainty that he loves life - “I’m not okay, but I will be, and that’s enough for me.” - If he loses hope, the world is literally ending - Really Freaking Good with a bow and arrow - his ice, fire, and light arrows are so OP - uses one of Tetra’s cutlasses ever since he jammed the Master Sword into Ganondorf’s skull - he’s had a no-killing-humanoids policy since then, too (clarification: he’ll only kill things that burst into purple smoke upon death) - even though Phantom Hourglass took 10 irl minutes, he counts those months towards his age - has no items from PH except for the empty hourglass - the Pirate’s Charm around his neck glows faintly in the dark. members of the Royal Family can speak through it—everyone else can only play the messages he’s recorded on it - oh yeah, he can record and play audio messages on it (Dialogue Sample): “how dare you! that’s the same as just giving up!“ (Outfit Description): friendship bracelet Aryll made (a set of 4 for her, Tetra, Wind, and Grandma); bracelet of grass he learned how to weave in the Ocean King’s world; custom made coat a 13th b-day present from Tetra (he’ll grow into it); socks were a gift from Aryll

ALTAIR [SkSw] 22 yo (he/him) Nicknamed himself for his Loftwing, who he named after the brightest start in Aquila, the eagle constellation - ADHD (inattentive) - has prophetic dreams - Team mom energy - usually tries to avoid combat—focus on support/defense (clarification: unless he deems it appropriate to draw his sword, in which case, Oh No) - may or may not be the King of Hyrule - he is trying to be very diplomatic—likes to talk things out - loves talking about everyone’s feelings but his own - he’s the kind of person you grow really close to really fast and tell everything to and then realize several months in that you know NOTHING about him - kind of under a lot of pressure—acts like it doesn’t affect him so people still feel comfortable coming to him for help - he’s nominally in charge cuz Hylia sent him to grab the others but he honestly doesn’t care—it’s all Laissez-faire - unless you make him angry - it’s very hard to make him angry - but when he is, he’s like a completely different person—grows completely silent and becomes brutally efficient - his left eye’s been purple ever since Demise—don’t worry, it’s totally fine and normal for it to be doing that.

NIGHT [TP] 23 yo (she/her) Nicknamed herself night because night is what comes after the twilight and she felt really lost after the events of TP - just kind of a girl dw about it - what happened to her leg? well she HAD it when she fought Ganondorf... idk where it went~ she’s got her knee but nothing below that - she got that canon repair guy to make her a new leg - it has a gun in it. it shoots explosive rounds & has 10 shots - she’s ambidextrous and decided to take full advantage of that by dual wielding blades - ever since she lost her leg, she had this awesome fighting style where she switches frequently between hylian and wolf, darting around the battlefield on 3 legs before shifting into a hylian in midair, lashing out with both blades, and landing as a wolf. she’s very good at it but after a long battle she’ll be sick for a little while from the magic. - takes on the leader role determinedly. fiercely protective - she cares so, so deeply and honestly all the time. it hurts so much but she can’t help it and doesn’t want to. she’ll keep caring even if it kills her. - has, on some level, lost hope that she’ll ever be happy. Ordon feels intensely wrong, somehow, and she doesn’t know where else to go. everywhere she goes, she feels trapped. - Midna said “see you later” and then destroyed the portal. Night doesn’t take people at their word. She won’t be vocal about it, but she won’t believe them, either. - harbors distrust towards Altair but still cares so deeply for him. fully expecting to get backstabbed and that the pain of it will kill her (clarification: this killing is metaphorical)

more art of them here!

[dearwriters]

Hi, Can I ask for some advice? Ok. I am a fanfic writer, but I want to start writing original fiction however I have three problems when it comes to that

1. I really like the tropes the author plays and I have ideas they could play differently But I always am afraid Of being accused of copyright because the overall idea the author has I love. But I would tweak a few things or many things but not the overall concept like for example this series the folk of the air I love the idea of a power struggle between fae and a mortal girl raised in the faerie world and Eventually becoming their queen and being enemies to lovers with a happy ending to their king. I’m afraid of being copyrighted with that

2. I really can’t see the characters with anything but similar names There could be changes like Jude Duarte could be Judith Durante a Filipina variant and she’s Filipina but I always like the name similarities. I do however would change a few family dynamics

3. It’s the characters personality I may change a few things But I always write it to how I see them

4. Basically I have ideas of scenarios and interpretation of AUs or canon divergence that could have been different in the novels but I feel if No one else writes it in the fanfic world the idea will disappear forever.

5. I’m afraid of not getting anyone to read it

Do you have any suggestions to over come them?

Turning Fanfic into Original Fiction? Inspiration vs. Plagiarism

So here's the thing: I tend to say "nothing is original". We as humans have been telling stories since our inception and when it comes down to it there are only a handfull of stories always told and retold in many different ways. In our quest to be original we often loose what was once special to our stories. For example: the Romance. "People falling in love" is like the number one plot ever. But we still write and read these stories. Because it's about the specific way these specific people fall in love.

Of course when it comes to inspiration, there is a point at which it can turn into plagiarism. Which of course we always want to avoid. And there's more to it that the blatant type of plagiarism that just copys the written words. Idea plagiarism is a thing but it can become quite tricky in art and depends on things like established genre conventions (like tropes that can be seen time and time again) and amount of overlap.

Another example: "Chosen one discovers new magical world they now have to protect from evil forces". A tale quite literally as old as time. Could apply to basically any YA story published in the 2010s. Are they all plagiarized? No. They just follow the same genre convention.

Now to your specific example.

1. Let's say the base concept of this story is: "an outsider living in a world that oppresses them, just to rise to the occasion and come out on top". That's a very basic concept and a story often seen. Making the outsider a human and the setting the fae world is the flavour given to it. The setting of a fae world, dangerous to humans is nothing new either. "Enemies to lovers" is a very common romantic trope, that can also be read in many stories. What you are describing here are merely the bones of the story. The question is how you will flesh them out. And as a writer of original fiction, it will be your responsibility to find your own style and voice, your unique point of view and special ideas, to make a base concept your own. Every idea always starts out with the basics and then evolves as you work on it. Ask yourself: What in this base concept is specifically interesting to you?

2. Now with the names is where things get dicey. I'm sorry to tell you this, but turning "Duarte" into "Durante" will raise at least some eyebrows. Combining barely changed names with a similar base concept will invite scrutiny. I'd advise you to think a bit about why you would like to keep the names this similar. It also doesn't really sound like you want to change up the cast of characters that much, besides some family dynamics. Wouldn't it be a disservice to your own characters? You have your own ideas and I am sure they would be just as great as your inspiration. You just have to allow yourself to work with your own creativity. I'm sure it would turn out even better!

3. Having different characters is great! I would just like to invite you to stop thinking about it as "changing" things. If this is supposed to be your original work, it's not enough to take an already existing work and "change" it. You have to build your characters, your world and your story from the ground up. This may just be a question of mindset! Yes, take inspiration wherever you want, but then let it go and do your own thing.

4. If it's specifically AUs and canon divergence of this work is fun to you, why not just write fanfic? Approaching it as an original work may do a disservice to what you are actually trying to do here.

5. Readership will find you, depending on what you intend to do with your work.

I hope this helped a bit. Have fun writing!

[irldoomerboy]

Fun-facts about the Stardew Valley Adventure Au

Made by yours truly

CW!!: MAJOR Character death

Its based off of rpg fantasy adventure games (obviously)

Rasmodius has contact with Sebastian and has actually taught him a little bit of magic

More on that last one, Sebastian has a magic mirror which can call Rasmodius whenever he needs to

Before the main events and story Abigail, Sam and Sebastian were on a 3 year trip around some magical yet dangerous lands before coming back and going on more quests where the main story happens

Sebastian Sam and Abigail live together because why not

Elliott has a huge scar down his back (as seen in some of my last posts) caused by a rather big griffin scratching him while he was unaware, this happened 14 years ago and we call it the griffin incident

Due to said huge traumatic incident, its rare Elliott goes on quests

Harvey is extremely busy 24/7 because injured travellers stop by Pelican Town after long quests before heading off again

Penny isnt very big on quests nor the idea of using her magic for fighting, in the canon story line she only does this once during a huge fight with everyone else

Theres a huge dragon named the Iridium dragon who casts misfortune upon the entirety of the gem sea, said dragon is defeated as a “final” boss of sorts

Kent fucking died (sorta)

More on the last one, Kent and Sam went out on a quest a long time ago but a wild mage attacked Kent leaving him in a coma like state, Sam ran away like his dad told him to and now he basically sacrifices himself for other peoples safety

Necromancy is illegal

Sebastian and his dad are both necromancers, the only difference being Sebastian doesn’t use necromancy for evil (thats right Sebs dad is another main villain)

Seb got magic use banned in the tavern because he attacked his dads ex-henchman (Kelbie) because Kelbie is just a dick

Sam fucking died

Sam was resurrected :D but got cursed in the process D:

Sams curse was caused by him not dying by fate, he tried to save Sebastian from his dad about to kill him and died trying, this caused his death to be earlier then expected but he escaped the death realm (ill get to that later) and now he needs to take elixir when the white in his eyes go black

If Sams curse takes over himself completely he literally looses control of everything and just becomes completely unhinged, meanwhile hes inside his own head and eventually has to fight the void version of himself

The death realm is a place where everything is black and you cant see anything but a coloured orb, 2 grim reapers, and a pool of dark liquid, if you get thrown into the liquid your dead in the living realm, you cant swim up or escape unless you have the early fate curse. If you are nearly thrown in but escape that is counted as a near death experience. If you go past the coloured orb then the colour in the orb will take a more vine like form and try to pull you back in if your death is fate, if you get past that you’ll see a floating hand along with a bright light, if you grab the hand you’ve escaped death successfully, the only characters to have done this are Elliott and Sam

When you go near the death pool (the liquid in the death realm) then your hair starts to turn white and your eyes turn red, resurrected people often have after effects of this such as a singular red eye or white streaks in their hair

Necromancers souls can enter the death realm, when they do their soul is a specific colour based off of them as a person along with a bright white light emitting off them, this is inverted if the necromancer in question has been resurrected before, this is also inverted if you are dead

Spirit orbs float around the death realm frequently

Sebastian has packs of cards that have spells attached to them that cast on impact, they dont cast the spell if they are being shuffled or if they are being cast wrong, Rasmodius sells the cards to trained mages but Sebastian gives them to Conk (oc) and sees what happens

Small versions of normal animals exist and you can keep them as pets

I could be missing a LOT but this is all i can remember so far !!

Please tell me if any other trigger warnings are needed for stuff like this

[athenaholmesartistsguild]

Just finished OMORI and I’ve had Yakuza on the brain so I decided to smash the two together and draw some character portraits!

I’ll explain why I drew certain characters certain ways under the “Read More” section, but do be warned that there will be MAJOR spoilers for all of OMORI and Yakuza 4. Basically, if you haven’t finished either game and don’t know the major twists, don’t read on!

Also, I have a lot of thoughts so if you don’t want to read a mini essay, you should probably skip it.

Now for some analysis!

While going through the story of OMORI, I recognized a few thematic similarities between Sunny and Mari and Majima and Saejima. It wasn’t completely perfect (since OMORI is a much heavier, emotion-focused game), but it still interested me a bit.

Mostly, the ways in which Sunny and Basil experience so much guilt for covering up the circumstances of Mari’s death (as well as Sunny killing her in the first place) reminded me of Majima’s reaction to the ’85 massacre. While Yakuza 4 (as well as 0) don’t really dwell on it much, it was pretty obvious that Majima felt a lot of guilt for not being there with Saejima during the assassination. These feelings he had were clearest when he expressed the belief that Saejima would eventually come back to kill him.

Seeing Saejima’s reaction to Majima’s ‘betrayal’, it’s clear that he doesn’t automatically resort to murder when faced with a potential backstabber.

On an intellectual level, I think Majima knows this as well, but the guilt he feels for abandoning his brother (however unintentional it was), seems to manifest in a belief that Saejima killing him would allow Majima to ‘atone’ for the betrayal.

So that’s why Majima plays the role of Sunny/Omori and Saejima is Mari. I chose to call Majima’s headspace persona ‘Kyodai’ since it carried similar thematic significance to Omori being the name of Sunny’s persona.

Sunny pushes Mari down the stairs because they get into an argument over him destroying his violin. He chooses the name Omori because it’s the brand of Mari’s piano. Music is the common theme connecting himself and his sister as well as her death and his headspace.

Saejima and Majima were planning an assassination of a rival yakuza family’s patriarch and because of that, Saejima ends up going to jail without Majima. I decided to name Majima’s headspace persona Kyodai since the yakuza connect both him and Saejima in the real world as well as the headspace.

Majima’s pre-assassination self (who I decided to just call Goro) plays the role of Basil. At first, I was going to have his Y0 self in this position since working at the Grand and living in Sotenbori (as well as going through the events of Y0) were 1) very closely tied to the ’85 massacre and 2) a period of his life Majima very clearly wants to forget; however, I realized why, exactly, headspace Basil is so repressed in Sunny’s mind.

Essentially, Basil is a walking trigger. He gave Sunny the idea to make Mari’s death look like a suicide so any time Sunny so much as looks at his former best friend, he’s reminded of what they did to his sister.

Goro functions in a similar way. He was the one that got the weapons for the hit; he helped plan it; and yet he didn’t show up. In Majima’s mind, Goro is responsible for how the hit ended up happening.

Once I made this realization, things started to click into place a little more with Kyodai. Having Majima’s Y0 play this role made much more sense than choosing his pre-assassination self. In a way, Majima’s time as manager of The Grand was easier than his time as yakuza.

He got up. He went to work. He went home. Rinse. Repeat.

He was imprisoned, but in some ways, prison is easier than real life. You have to be at certain places at certain times and you have little to no agency in how you spend any time to yourself. In short, you don’t have to think much.

Part of the point of Sunny’s headspace is that he doesn’t have to feel anything. As long as he’s going on adventures with his friends and staying busy, he isn’t reminded of the ways in which he tore apart his family and the lives of his friends.

While the Grand definitely isn’t a safe space for Majima, it was pretty clear he was just functioning on autopilot while there. He clocked in, tended to the customers, and made sure the employees kept everything running smoothly. Majima was working towards the goal of becoming yakuza again so his brother would have a place to come back to once he was released. Everything else was pushed away and likely regarded as little more than a distraction from his main goal. In this sense, he is a lot like Omori.

So now we’ve explained the main characters so let’s move onto party members!

I don’t have nearly as much to say about each individual character (which is probably a good thing), but I did try to choose people who are/were significant figures in Majima’s life. Because I used this method to choose the party members instead of sticking to only significant figures in the ’85 massacre, I’m playing a bit fast and loose with time.

The headspace version of Kiryu is his Y0 self meaning he’s from 1988 while Yasuko is her ’85 self. Nishida’s headspace self is also from a different point in time, most likely shortly after Majima gets his own family.

This is where the similarities to OMORI dry up. I drew Yasuko as angry in her real-world portrait (which is a bit similar to Aubrey), but rather than being angry at Majima for Saejima’s arrest, she’s angry at the world at large for taking her brother away.

Kiryu and Nishida weren’t around for the ’85 massacre so they have no idea Majima was involved. If I were to further develop this AU (which I might, but ya never know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), Kiryu and Nishida would serve as characters who are concerned with Majima’s declining mental health, but unsure why it’s happening or how to fix it.

Kiryu also will have adopted Haruka, but instead of having the really sad backstory she has in the Yakuza games, she’s just a normal little girl (because Haruka deserves to be happy god dammit). Because Majima’s being a bit of a recluse and also not very socially adept, she’s scared of him at first, but would start to trust him after he did some side quests for her (and builds up that trust meter).

In regards to Majima's mental state in the real world, he would be spiraling downwards because the 25th anniversary of Saejima’s arrest is coming up. Majima's beginning to think he’s never going to see his brother again and has essentially started grieving all over again since that hope of being reunited is beginning to dwindle. Because Majima’s pushed away a lot of the people in his life, he has no one to confide in and just ends up isolating himself with all of his self-loathing, grief, and guilt.

I would probably throw some Kazumaji stuff in there, too because I have no shame.

So HOO! That’s all I have to say about that! I want to do a few more drawings in this style so keep an eye out for that.

Knowing me, I’ll probably start writing some stuff and make some mini comics fleshing out the world/ the AU as a whole. My work won’t be nearly as detailed as OMORI is in regards to the little story elements and connections between the real world and headspace, but I’ll still try!