#so writing an au allows me to be more flexible with the characterization (while still incorporating the integral aspects of the characters)

[becauseplot]

thinking about archivists again. below the cut: obscene amounts of brainrot in the form of a long-winded relationship study and oddly specific references to canon that may or may not be accurate

im trying to come up with some sort of au for them (writer's block and creative burnout is a BITCH it's okay though we stay silly) and there's just something about how qphil and qcellbit don't (or didn't) really wind up in each other's circles often. sure they were friendly with each other in passing, and they definitely had some nice little interactions earlier on: cellbit briefly interviewing phil on one of his first days on the island over a cup of coffee and solidifying phil's view of cellbit as the Dedicated Investigator; phil asking cellbit to babysit chayanne and tallulah while he's away on a trip and cellbit being more than happy to; phil briefly checking in with cellbit --- who was in the process of tumbling into his regret arc, cutting off ties with loved ones and making himself a martyr --- and asking if he was okay when phil spotted him hanging alone in the back of the group; chatting about the upcoming wedding and phil advising cellbit that he and roier should probably introduce some sort of dress code (lmao); cellbit watching phil and missa meet up for the first time in months on the way to the federation's people-freezers and all of the pieces rapidly falling into place (the name of phil's waystone, phil's skull backpack, phil's elusive "husband," ohhhhhhh...). they've always been in each other's peripheral, but never directly involved in each other's personal lives.

until the happy pills.

see the thing about archivists is that they're not drawn together by a pre-existing friendship; they're more friendly acquaintances at this point, perhaps almost-friends, though they're certainly not close. but then forever's life is under threat, and god, they both love forever immensely. with direct help from bad and indirect help from others (qpac you LEGEND), they're eventually able to formulate a plan that successfully drag forever out from under the haze of drugs, pull him to the surface. they sit next to each other as they sit at the bedside of their mutual friend, watch him breathing, and try to breathe themselves.

and from that moment on it's solidified: they know they can depend on each other, when shit hits the fan. they have their respective strengths, and they balance out each other nicely. i wish i had gotten more of a chance to watch their dynamic during purgatory 1 (unfortunately i have a life sadge) but from what i saw, they turned out to be some pretty good co-leaders, and an interesting dynamic at that: phil acting more as a support role (moral support, resource support, combat support, ALL the support) and stepping up into a leader-like role when needed, but ultimately letting cellbit take the helm a lot of the time since he's a strategist with more practice managing large groups of people (i wont get into it here, and i want to watch more vods so i can more properly analyze them but HOUGHH i have THOUGHTS!! SO MANY!!!)

what im trying to get at is that they were initially in the peripheral in each others lives but were eventually drawn together out of necessity, due to circumstances. the mutual respect followed, which was then followed by trust, and then collaboration, and then friendship. i've also made this post talking about their dynamic, how they both understand each other's need to focus on the here and now and understand that they don't need to know every little thing about each other to still trust each other. and this is so integral to their relationship. it's what makes archivists archivists.

so now all that's left for me to do is try to come up with some sort of au i can chuck them in, incorporating this idea of "friendship of necessity" as a core feature of the plot. i have scattered ideas but none are particularly appealing or solid enough. i will try though!! if u have any suggestions/thoughts/ideas feel free to leave a comment or say in tags (pspsppsps come brainrot with meeee)

[january3693]

002: Narcissa, and also Lily; 001: dorcas/Marlene, and lucissa

That’s a lot, but here you go!

002 Narcissa

How I feel about this character: She’ll never be my favorite, but I do love sticking her in as a snarky, snobby side character.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I don’t actively ship her, but I think she and Lucius are probably well-suited for each other, and since I don’t have super strong ship opinions on her, I’m open to reading and embracing anything presented to me.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I like the idea of her and Regulus being close. She’s the baby in her family, but Regulus is the baby in the family overall, so I think she would have felt very protective of him and tried to shelter him but also steer him toward more traditional pureblood values if she ever thought he was wavering or acting a bit too much like Sirius. She was devastated when she heard about his death, even more so when she learned it was (supposedly) caused when he tried to defect from the Death Eaters. Narcissa sees a lot of Regulus in Draco and it scares her.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Lucius probably didn’t care much about all of the stuff Draco complained to him about, but Narcissa did. She was the one who always pushed Lucius to take care of anything that hurt or inconvenienced their son.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish she had some on the page interactions with more characters. There’s so many she’s related to or would have known that it’s a shame we never go to see her show a bit more complexity when directly confronted with Sirius, Andromeda, or Tonks.

my OTP: Probably Lucius just because it’s canon and Narcissa isn’t a character I spend much time shipping. I like her potential, just

my cross over ship: I don’t read cross overs

a headcanon fact: After Regulus’s death, it was Narcissa who sent a letter to Sirius (care of Andromeda) telling Sirius the facts (such as she believed them to be) about his brother’s death.

002 Lily

How I feel about this character: She’s fantastic! I love her, and I love writing her!

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Generally just James. I do enjoy some Jegulily too, but that’s about it. I see Lily as a character who could be very happy and lead a fulfilling life without a romantic partner, so if I’m not shipping her with James I generally just picture her having casual flings and otherwise enjoying life as a happy, confident single woman.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Sirius and Lily! I mean, I wrote a 100,000 word fic about them becoming friends (also some other stuff happened, but mostly friendship). I think they would have really challenged each other (which would have made them struggle to get along for a while, but once they connected it would have been very good for both of them). They called each other on their bullshit, weren’t afraid to yell at each other, but genuinely listened to each other and always apologized the next morning when they fought.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t know if it’s an unpopular opinion, but I think she struggled with self-confidence and self-worth a lot more than most people ever knew. She was probably very good at hiding it behind perfectionism and some rather exhausting facades. The reason she fell in love with James was because he had this perfect mix of pushing and supporting her in a way that finally allowed her to relax and be fully her imperfect self with someone, and that was priceless.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Honestly, the thing I want most is for her to have had some ghostly/afterlife/other moment where she absolutely rips into Snape and all the terrible things he did in his “love” for her.

my OTP: Jily. We don’t know from canon how exactly these two went from antagonistic to deeply in love, but what little we do know implies a story of personal growth, second chances, adventure, and deep, deep love, and that’s gorgeous.

a headcanon fact: Her favorite band is ABBA.

001 Dorcas Meadowes/Marlene McKinnon

when I started shipping it if I did: I probably started shipping it while reading We Were Infinite by @wewereinfinitelywolfstar​. That might not have been the first time I encountered it, but it was the first time it made a mark and made the characters feel real and shippable.

my thoughts: I like this ship a lot! It’s definitely drenched in that First War tragedy, but still gotta love more wlw ships, and that’s what AUs and canon-divergent fics are for.

What makes me happy about them: We no almost next to nothing about these two, so they’re basically blank slates to build upon. I personally head canon them as a Slytherin/Gryffindor couple and love playing with that dynamic. I also love the opportunity to build heroic Slytherin characters.

What makes me sad about them: Canon, obviously. Making them a couple does also add to the “dead lesbians” and “bury your gays” tropes, which sucks.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: It’s pretty common for Marlene to have a tomboy-ish or more wild personality in fics, which is cool, but Dorcas doesn’t seem to get as much personality in a lot of fics where these two appear.

things I look for in fanfic: Well-developed characterizations, often AUs or canon divergent fics that don’t leave them dead.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I’m down for Marlene and Sirius as a ship (Blackinnon). As for Dorcas, I have such strong headcanons about her, but I haven’t really thought about other ships for her. I’d be open to suggestions or whatever I encounter in fics, but honestly in my head canons, Dorcas is very ambitious and career-oriented (falling for Marlene was unexpected and not part of the plan), so I could see her too busy to have a romantic relationship or finding a spouse who could aid or complement her career ambitions.

My happily ever after for them: They live through the war, adopt a couple of orphans. Marlene coaches youth Quidditch teams for their kids and has some sort of freelance job she can do while being flexible schedule-wise. Dorcas rises through the ranks at the Ministry and is elected Minister for Magic instead of Cornelius Fudge. She fucking crushes it. When she’s served a few terms and the kids are out of school, Dorcas takes a job as ambassador to some other country and she and Marlene see more of the world and attend lots of fancy embassy dinner parties.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: They don’t really spoon. Marlene flops like a starfish in bed and Dorcas tends to sleep on her stomach or side. They do cuddle on the couch though, and Marlene likes to lay her head in Dorcas’s lap and have Dorcas scratch at her scalp and finger comb her hair.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Dancing. One of their first dates was a disastrous Muggle dance class where neither of them realized the Muggle instructor wouldn’t understand that they were there as a couple and paired them up with various male partners. They both managed to laugh through it and went home and practiced with each other. After that, they learned a lot of different dances and one of them will often spontaneously pull the other into a dance across the kitchen or living room, even if there’s no music on. They take turns leading.

001 Lucissa

(sorry if this one’s a little disappointing)

when I started shipping it if I did: I don’t really ship it, but I don’t not ship it either, if that makes sense.

my thoughts: I don’t actively ship it. It’s there, it’s canon. I’m fine with it. I just don’t put much thought into the relationship.

What makes me happy about them: They both seem to care for their son very deeply.

What makes me sad about them: I’m sad that we didn’t get to see more of Narcissa sooner, otherwise no real sad feelings toward them.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: When the criminal acts they (particularly Lucius) commit are excused way too easily, or they change their politics way too swiftly and seamlessly.

things I look for in fanfic: I don’t really look for this ship in fics. If it’s there I’m usually fine with it, if not, that’s fine too. I do like fics that give me more of Narcissa’s complexity and inner conflict though. She’s clearly got layers.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I really don’t put enough thought into these characters and their love lives to ship them with other characters. I’m open to it though. No strong preexisting feelings mean I’m pretty open-minded to new ships for these two.

My happily ever after for them: Actually having to make some restitution for their crimes/wrongdoings, then probably moving away from Britain to live quietly in like Monaco or somewhere.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Honestly, they probably have separate bedrooms.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Plotting political coups while drinking very expensive wine.

Send me some HP Character asks!