Mali (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
malachiical) wrote2024-09-02 12:16 pm
malachiical) wrote2024-09-02 12:16 pm
...And Your Blorbos Closer! 2024
Hello, potential AYBC Flash creators! Thank you and welcome to my letter post! :P I'm Mal or Mali (malachiical @ AO3 as well); I'll try to keep each individual section of this letter brief, and you should be able to skip to wherever you like with anchor links and/or just expand the parts relevant to you via cut. I hope our ids align and you have a blast writing, because I'm definitely looking forward to whatever you come up with!
General DNWs
General Likes
Porn Likes
The Last Halloween (Webcomic) - Doctor Fugue/Robert
Slay the Princess (Visual Novel) - Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid
General DNWs
General Likes
Porn Likes
The Last Halloween (Webcomic)
Doctor Fugue/Robert
[Where you can find the comic: Here!
Book 1 is by far the most pertinent; that's 7 chapters/about 114 pages.]
For Doctor Fugue/Robert, this takes a little bit of explaining, since their interactions are minor and not particularly significant. But the more I thought about them individually, I liked what their slight interplay does say about them and how the shapes of their arcs kinda work together.
Doctor Fugue is undead, a doctor and supernatural (mad) scientist, a Victorian-ish ghost. One who haunts the church and can't leave. He employs what he thinks of as a little group of undead children to help him graverob bodies for his raising-the-dead experiments (as well as upgrading/replacing Jangles's various bits). He's a big faker; Robert flat-out says he's not a good doctor, which is proven very correct when Mona comes back. He not only hands a ten year old a magic weapon he knows nothing about and sends her and the other "kids" out with completely incorrect information, he's apparently sent multiple "group[s] of untrained misfits to their deaths without actually nowing what was going on," to the point that Charon's chewed him out about it at least once before. Fugue shoves a magic sickle into Mona's hands and pushes her out the door with a few undead "child" chaperones during the Apocalypse so that she can go take care of it; this is a whole bunch of terrible decisions all in a clump, made worse by him not understanding the situation and actually sending them on a wild goose chase in the end. Mona has to chop up and even kill multiple monsters, nearly dying more than once and actually losing an arm to the ordeal, something she makes clear to Fugue that she'll never forgive him for (which he finds fair). His whole arc seems to involve him getting a huge dose of guilt for once in his unlife, realizing just how badly he fucked this little group up, seeming to have a change of heart about the "playing Dr. Frankenstein" thing and trying in some small ways to start to make amends.
Robert, on the other hand, is posing as an undead, a doll cursed to life by voodoo. Until he tells Mona and Shirley, literally no one in the group including Fugue knows that he's a monster, not undead at all, and is also immortal (or what they call immortal) due to killing his human several decades prior; he claims to be an undead to avoid the attention of the Phagocyte. He's around 117 years old, if not a bit older, and he's often the closest thing the group has to a straight-man; he keeps his own secrets, even when it would be really helpful to share, because he rarely feels invested in others, and he doesn't tend to personally lend much of a hand, especially not to save people. He's calm and soft-spoken, good with normal human adults, and very calmly makes threats when called for as well (and sometimes even commits violence against his undead "friends," such as sewing Ringley's mouth shut, though they don't seem to mind). He, and let me state this again, killed his own human, Gene, decades before the canon starts, and tells the story at one point about how they had been one another's dearest friends and Robert had ruined Gene's entire life thoroughly until Gene had asked Robert to kill him. He says that it was and is his nature. He shows that this may not be as true as he thought.
Robert goes along on the save-the-world quest to keep everyone on track and give them even a tiny chance, but he saves Mona's life once and then tells her he'll never do it again so she'd better learn to save herself. Mona does learn, however, despite him keeping a lot of information back and outright lying at times, and he becomes more attached and invested in the outcome of their mission. It even gets to the point that he eventually fully opens up, becomes somewhat more reassuring (and even open to affectionate touch, which was Not a thing for him at first), sort of steps into a mentor role to Mona, and promptly sacrifices his own life to give her a fighting chance. His own arc involves him actually becoming attached to the situation and its people for once, to the point of purposefully sacrificing his life to give Mona a chance to survive and succeed (on what is, unbeknownst to them, a fool's errand), even admitting his own origins and past and coming face-to-face with the fact, for the first time, that maybe his nature as a monster is something he can choose to act counter to.
...So Fugue sends Mona, Robert, and the others off on a pointless quest that gets one of them killed and nearly kills two more of them, and is having to live with that fuck-up (figuratively speaking). He's obviously hit pretty hard by Robert's death and Mona's hatred of him, and comes to regret his choices and the results they had on the others, actually swearing off using corpses to make more undead for a while as he decides to use one of the fresh corpses to save Shirley's life instead. And by the end of Book One Fugue still hasn't even been made aware that Robert was a monster the whole time and has sort of... fused with the magic sickle that's supernaturally bonded to Mona. Overall, the canon, or at least Book 1, is a very interesting set of characters and relationships who are all affected and shaken badly by the general situation but also by the lies told and secrets kept, primarily by Fugue but also arguably by Robert, and the idea of two of them together really intrigues me.
My Chosen Tags:
• A must carry B due to B's injury
• Hurt/Sick Person too weak to walk - needs to be held up or carried
Due to their size differences, it makes the most sense for Fugue to be carrying Robert, I think! Though if you can make it make sense the other way around, I am also into Robert being Weirdly Strong so I am here for it. :D
• Accidental soulbond forces physical proximity
How might these two get accidentally soulbonded? My first thought is due to, potentially, Fugue resurrecting Robert (see next tag options below) but it could also have something to do with possession, "ghost walks through you" moments, Robert's ability to feel others' emotions, any other weird thing (magic or not) Fugue or Robert might be doing or another character entirely might do, or any combination of the above. Or anything else you can think of! Just handwaving that soulbonds are thing that can apparently happen in the canon universe is fine for this.
• bringing someone back from the dead means they have to stay around their reanimator
• Re-animated character A is only normal when close to character B
I do love the idea of Fugue bringing Robert back from the dead somehow. Maybe Robert's still "alive" to some degree fused with Mona's sickle? Or you can handwave how exactly Fugue does it/how exactly it's possible! But Robert needing to stick close to Fugue for some reason afterwards could be really fun, whether it's totally unexpected and unintentional or if it's a known side effect of the resurrection but Fugue decides it's better than just leaving him dead.
• From this close up A is suddenly noticing far more details about B's body
I just love people noticing new things about each other! I would be happy with either of them being A or B, but I also want to note that if Fugue is A, there's potentially the added element of Fugue knowing now that Robert is a monster and looking at him in a new light thanks to that as well. Feel free to go wild (and xeno) with ideas for how Fugue and/or Robert's body might work!
• Haunting The Same Location/Item
This could work well with the possible resurrection tags, especially bringing someone back from the dead means they have to stay around their reanimator, but it also doesn't have to! Maybe Robert comes back as a ghost, whether due to something Fugue does or not. It could be very interesting to have him also haunting the church and stuck there...
• Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery
Really, Robert is just so small that so long as Fugue can stuff himself into the space, I'm sure they could both fit! Whether they're in the church or (somehow) not (what if Fugue can leave if a piece of the church is taken with somebody?), it could be fun for them to need to hide from monsters or from hostile humans, even if temporarily.
• No place to sit except on your lap
This by far makes the most sense for Robert to be in Fugue's lap and that's how I prefer it! He's a doll, he's literally made for this. :] I'd love any take on this tbh.
• Refusing to leave the other person to die/suffer alone (no-one actually dies)
One thing I love about these two, as I said above, is how they both have their issues in canon that they begin to grow past. Reaching a point where they're actually attached and one of them just can't bring himself to leave the other (maybe Fugue still blames himself for Robert dying once before; maybe Robert's "I will kill you/die for you" fixation that was first for Gene and Mona has shifted onto Fugue in a slightly different, healthier[?] way; maybe something else entirely!) could be amazing. Also, does staying put them both in danger, or is it just the one in danger? Does the one who stays manage to save the other or is it something else that spares them? There are a lot of things you could do with this that I'd love!
• Saving Someone's Life requires Mouth-to-Mouth or other Intimate Procedure
Given what these two are, probably not mouth-to-mouth (though if you can make that work I would love it!), but saving one of their lives -- or resurrecting Robert if you go that route with this one -- necessitating an Intimate Procedure of some kind would be amazing. What sort of intimacy it might be is up to you. Opening Robert up and doing something with his insides? Reaching through Fugue's body? Possession???
• Temporarily blinded and reliant on someone
I just really love this and it feels like the temporary blinding could come from a lot of potential sources. Medical procedures? Magic? Monsters? Bright lights or flashbangs? Is it a dangerous situation they're in where one needs to rely on the other, or is it just everyday things they need help with for a while? I don't mind which of them is blinded, and I don't mind if either of them (blinded or not) is injured outside of that too! Either of them helping the other out for a bit would be loved!
• Trapped together in alternate dimension
I could love whatever take on alternate dimensions you come up with! Maybe they go to a dimension where the monster apocalypse never happened, or one where Robert never died? (Resurrection going sorta-wrong and just dropping them both into another universe somehow?) Maybe they're FROM a universe where Robert never died and get dropped into the canon one? Maybe Fugue from the universe where Robert died and Robert from a universe where he didn't end up in a third universe together somehow? Any of those or any other option you can think of would be a blast!
• Trying To Hide an Injury While Stuck in a Confined Space With Someone Else
Whether it's because the one who's hurt doesn't want to be a burden, doesn't trust that the other can help them, doesn't trust that the other would help them, doesn't know how they fuck they even were able to be injured, or whatever other reason... I am happy with either of them being injured. Hell, I am happy with both of them being injured! I would love some H/C with this one if and when one finds out the other is injured...
• What's more proximate than sharing a body!
I LOVE BODYSHARING and I can imagine multiple ways it might happen with them! Magic gone wrong? Resurrection gone wrong? Possession? I have a slight preference for temporary bodysharing but if it's just the status quo from now on or it's unclear in the fic whether it's temporary or not, I'd still be super happy! Love bodysharing stuff, A+. I also do not mind if Robert is sharing Fugue's ghost "body" or if Fugue is sharing Robert's body!
Canon-Specific DNWs
Slay the Princess (Visual Novel)
Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid
[If you don't actually own the game, you can find the following videos on YouTube:
BAI GAMING Video #1 - Pertinent parts are at 50:50-58:35 (The Razor, starting at the point where all the voices start coming in) and 2:12:52-2:56:12 (The Nightmare, with Voice of the Paranoid, and The Moment of Clarity with everyone)
BAI GAMING Video #2 - Pertinent parts are at 57:46-1:06:59 (The Apotheosis, with Voice of the Paranoid) and 1:39:37-2:53:04 (The Spectre and The Wraith, with Voice of the Cold)
Slay the Princess - The Spectre & The Wraith - Pertinent part is at 31:00-48:28 (The Wraith variation, with Voice of the Cold and Voice of the Paranoid)
BAI GAMING Video #3 - Pertinent part is at 2:53:14-3:09:25 (The Wild, with Voice of the Paranoid)
BAI GAMING Video #4 - Pertinent parts are at 26:22-46:40 (The Burned Grey, with Voice of the Cold), 1:30:29-1:49:54 (The Drowned Grey, with Voice of the Cold), and 1:53:08-2:41:07 (The Nightmare variations, with way more from Voice of the Paranoid)
Slay the Princess - All Endings - Pertinent part is at 26:15-28:09 (A New Dawn ending)
Watching all of the above pertinent parts would take about 4 hours and 7 minutes, but you can easily knock it down to about 1 hour and 14 minutes by just watching their main routes: The Nightmare in the first video (2:12:52-2:40:21), The Spectre in the second video (1:39:37-2:28:30), and The Wraith variation with both of them (31:00-48:28). Or watch whatever bits of whatever playthroughs you like...
Or, of course, play it yourself; I have a guide for getting the most pertinent routes for this ship here. Just go with whatever works for you! :D]
These two really, really intrigue me. They don't get to interact that much, but they're quite interesting in The Wraith route, and also have moments in some of the other routes -- and some similarities and general qualities -- that make me think that they could really catch the other's attention if given more opportunity.
For one thing, they are both very aware of and surprisingly in control of their bodies. (Well, their shared body. The protagonist's body. Let's just say "their bodies" for simplicity.) Voice of the Cold constantly talks about choosing to just stop feeling things, both emotions and any negative physical sensations; their back-and-forth of "Do we have to explain to you why pain is bad?" "You have to explain to yourself why it isn't," is VERY cool. But despite Voice of the Paranoid being obviously high-strung, he also has an immense amount of steel to him, not only manually running the body's autonomic nervous system during The Nightmare route, but also showing up specifically to keep Voice of the Broken in check during The Apotheosis route after Broken let The Tower into their mind which led to their death.
There are also little details, such as the fact that Cold usually shows up after you kill the Princess in cold blood and then yourself, and Paranoid also encourages killing yourself if you become trapped in The Nightmare route due to killing her. This actually leads to Cold showing up... And interestingly, before that, if the protagonist says to the Hero and the Paranoid that it'd be fine to be stuck in the void forever because they're the best company, Paranoid says, "Oh, you could do better than us," and that's right before Cold comes into the picture. In The Wraith route, he and Cold and Hero and the protagonist have to all work together to toss their body into the void with The Wraith in it, if they choose that route, and the "everyone on the count of three" moment Paranoid takes charge of is just neat.
And in a general sense, I really think they could... see something interesting in each other. Paranoid is nervy and definitely hasn't shut off his emotions at all, but he also has that aforementioned steel and sharp control over himself/his body/The Body, that might be even more intriguing and impressive based on how unexpected it is. And Cold is a dangerous person, yes, but is actually less dangerous to the other voices than someone like the Broken or even the Smitten, and might also be easier to predict than someone like the Opportunist or even the Hunted -- you know exactly what his danger is, if he's going to be dangerous. And at the same time, Paranoid seems to trust the other voices in a way he doesn't trust anyone "other," and Cold seems to want to help the other voices, often trying to give them advice on how to get through situations without breaking down. There's an automatic sort of rapport there that makes it more likely they'd get close to each other than if they were just ordinary people with their same personalities.
Also, speaking of that, I do love the bodysharing and would be super into that if you want to roll with it, but I also love a theoretical post-canon situation where maybe the voices are all getting their own bodies. You don't even have to get into how and why they have different bodies if you want to do that; just handwaving it would be fine!
(Finally, I didn't request any other ships involving these two specifically because I really want fic where their relationship is the focus. That said, I am open to several other ships including them with that caveat: If you feel like writing Contrarian, Hero, Contrarian AND Hero, Hunted, Opportunist, or Skeptic with them; Nightmare, Spectre, or Wraith with them, whether or not Hero and/or the Long Quiet are also involved; or a fic where the voices are in general a polycule, go nuts!)
My Chosen Tags:
• A must carry B due to B's injury
I don't mind which of them is A and which of them is B! Either of them being strong enough to carry the other is hot. Either of them being stronger than you might think is hot. Either of them being able to carry the other temporarily mostly due to sheer adrenaline is hot! I am here for any/all of it.
• Character A can't sleep without Character B next to them
• Sharing sleeping space with others leads to reveal of nightmares
• There Was Only One Bed
The bedsharing tags! For the first, I don't mind which of them is A and which is B, though it does seem like Paranoid lends himself more to being A. I'd be completely happy either way, though! For the second tag, "with others" means it could be the whole group, or parts of it, sharing a sleeping space, but I don't mind if it's that or if it's just the two of them. Paranoid does seem like he'd have nightmares (I mean...), but you could also go with it being revealed that Cold has nightmares... or maybe both of them. And for "There Was Only One Bed," I just always love that trope! Do they cuddle, intentionally or unintentionally? Do they kiss or have sex?! :D
• Close enough to hear other person's breath or heartbeat
I don't mind which of them is listening to the other's breath and/or heartbeat! Or if it's both. Is it something soothing for Paranoid, who maybe is relieved to have a reminder that Cold is alive and he's not alone? It is something interesting for Cold, who might notice that Paranoid's heartbeat is quick or notice when his breathing changes if he gets nervous or anticipatory about Cold being so close? You could take this in a bunch of different directions and I'd be happy with any of them!
• Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery
I just always love this sort of thing. These two approach stressful situations SO differently but are both very competent, and I looove small spaces leading to people being pressed super close together... I don't mind if this leads into anything (ahem) further or not! This could also work well with the later "Sexually Inexperienced Characters Who Are Hiding Watch Others Having Sex" tag too, of course, though it doesn't need to...
• Huddling For Warmth
• Keeping hurt person warm/alive with body heat
If they're birds I especially love this. Huddling for warmth is just a very birdy thing to do, and maybe they're even very susceptible to the cold! Do they fluff their feathers up in order to try to keep warmer too? ♥ I am all for any variation of this, whether it's super high stakes (the second tag), just dealing with discomfort, or anything in the middle!
• matchmaker gets creative
Look, the voices and even the vessels are fuckin ridiculous and could fit this. One or more of them gets it in their head to set these two up, these two get put in a ridiculous (and/or stuck close together) situation, profit. This could involve other tropes I really love (try to get them to huddle for warmth, make them share a bed, stick them in a closet together -- anything that doesn't involve the other voices purposefully injuring or endangering them is fair game!) but feel free to just go with stuff that isn't anywhere in this letter too. Maybe they are put in the same small train car or set up to go to a fancy dinner or made to dance together! (I do love my ships dancing together... a lot...) Have fun with this one and I'll love it!
• Refusing to leave the other person to die/suffer alone (no-one actually dies)
I love this so much, it could be so good. They do both care about all the other voices including each other. I can definitely see neither of them being willing to abandon the other no matter the situation. Are they both in danger, or is it just the one? Does Paranoid try to talk Cold through something that might save his life (does it work?) or try to help him himself? Does Cold try to convince Paranoid to stop feeling the pain? Does either of them expect the other to stay with them or is it a surprise? There are a lot of ways you could take this that I'd love!
• Sexually Inexperienced Characters Who Are Hiding Watch Others Having Sex
Look, even if they all know random things there is absolutely no reason for them to know about in the game (The Look, anybody?), none of these characters have ever fucked. I don't mind if these two are sharing a body or in separate bodies by the time this happens, but I would love for these two to be hiding for some other reason and suddenly get a show, and I would love however they react or decide to deal with that. >:3 (This could work very well with the "Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery" tag, too!)
• Shared dreamscape or nightmare
• Shows up in every dream every night
Due to Paranoid's connection to Nightmare, anything to do with dreams and especially nightmares really makes me think of him! The idea of these two sharing dreams (and/or nightmares) is really interesting to me. Is it a magic thing? A soulbond thing? A soulmate thing? A curse or something done because they both got possessed or haunted recently or something? (Hell, if you just canonize the Spectre->Wraith or Nightmare->Wraith route with these two, is Wraith haunting them?) I am happy with this either being while they're sharing a body (are these two the only ones sharing dreams/nightmares despite ALL the voices sharing a body?) or while they're in separate bodies. This is just such an interesting intimacy that can be played as even more revealing than physical intimacy, and I am so curious about where you might take it.
• Snowed In To a Small Cabin Together
Look, I saw "small cabin" and thought of the cabin in the Construct. Maybe it is the cabin in the Construct; do they maybe find each other again post-canon while still in the Construct, and the Construct is slowly growing/changing or breaking down and snow has resulted? Or is it post-Construct? If it is post-Construct, does this cabin remind either of them of the cabin? (That could be played for horror or discomfort, potentially!) I'd prefer for them to have separate bodies for this one, and the sharing body heat tags could go well with this but they aren't necessary!
• Staying close to someone for their protection despite own injury/illness
I think either of them could work for either of these! If Paranoid is injured/ill but staying close to Cold anyway, I can see it being due to his high-stress and "self"-protectiveness becoming protectiveness of the other voices even if they're in separate bodies now; if it's Cold who's injured/ill instead and staying close to Paranoid, I can see him doing that thing where he's just ignoring his own state and can imagine him basically considering his "use" being protecting the others who just can't shut things off like he can. It could also be, on either of their parts, very personal and specific about the other person if they already have or are starting to develop feelings! You could do a lot with this and I'd love whatever you do, though!
• Temporarily blinded and reliant on someone
I just really love this and it feels like temporary blindness could come from a lot of potential sources and in a lot of different possible situations! Is it a dangerous situation they're in where one needs to rely on the other, or is it just everyday things they need help with for a while? Is it something realistic-feeling and "normal" that causes it (bright light, temporary injury, etc.) or something strange (maybe to do with the Princess, or to do with coming out of the Construct into the real world, or the end of a possession by a non-Princess ghost, or something magical or a curse if the world outside the Construct has those, or if they're immortal and can slowly heal maybe it's due to a MAJOR injury that the temporarily blinded person is recovering from... I don't mind which of them is blinded, and I don't mind if either of them (blinded or not) is injured outside of that too!
• Touch-starved character in close proximity to someone they find attractive
I could love either or both of them being touch-starved, tbh. Obviously this would work best with them having their own bodies, and that could be a really new experience for both of them by itself. There's also the fact that, in the Construct, they're more used to physical contact being violent and/or painful than not, so affectionate, pleasurable, or even casual touch could be really enjoyable! I'd love whatever you did with this one!
• Trapped with someone experiencing one of their greatest fears
Fear is something I do associate with Paranoid, but I would be just as happy if you had it be Cold, tbh! And I'd be interested in seeing what you choose for either of their greatest fears. Is one of Paranoid's greatest fears eyes or being stared at after the Construct? The sound of static? Meeting the Princess/the Nightmare again? Possession or mind-control? Stairs or basements? Or, if you go with Cold, I could imagine him denying that it's a fear but still being terrified on some level of being trapped in an unchanging, boring nothing, or even carrying some trauma that he's very much trying to ignore about violent possession or drowning or burning to death again. But whatever you end up choosing for either of them, I'd love the other trying to help them through it somehow!
• Trying To Hide an Injury While Stuck in a Confined Space With Someone Else
Whether it's because the one who's hurt doesn't want to be a burden, doesn't want to be fussed over, doesn't think the other could help them anyway, doesn't think the other would help them, doesn't want to talk about how they were injured, or whatever other reason (Cold just not bringing it up because obviously it isn't important?)... I am happy with either of them being injured. Hell, I am happy with both of them being injured! I would love some H/C with this one if and when one finds out the other is injured...
• What's more proximate than sharing a body!
I LOVE BODYSHARING STUFF, A+ -- and of course Slay the Princess is perfect for it, especially with the voices involved! Are all the voices still sharing a body (the Long Quiet's or their own), or are some of them, or just these two? Are they still sharing a body or have they decided to do so again for a while? I think I'd enjoy anything you did with this so long as the focus is on Cold/Paranoid!
Canon-Specific DNWs
General DNWs
General Likes
Porn Likes
The Last Halloween (Webcomic) - Doctor Fugue/Robert
Slay the Princess (Visual Novel) - Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid
General DNWs
- noncon/dubcon (unless otherwise stated)
- smut with characters under 16
- gore or permanent injury (unless otherwise stated)
- permanent character death (unless otherwise stated)
- infidelity (will be specified in the Crossover Fandom section specifically how to deal with this)
- halves of a ship feeling like they really just don't like or care about each other at all (even with more complicated stuff I am a BIG SOPPY ROMANTIC)
- a ship having sexualities that mean they aren't attracted to one another
- being ashamed of or hating one's body (even for trans stuff, if you write it; just no focus on dysphoria please)
- requested characters being permanently separated in any way, or at risk of it, by the end of the story (unless otherwise stated)
- unhappy endings
- unrequested AUs (canon divergence is fine)
- unrequested identity headcanons (mentions for OCs are fine)
- unrequested noncanon ships (background canon ships that don't break up the requested pairing are fine; mentions of OCs being in relationships with one another is fine)
- unrequested poly (mentions of OCs being in poly relationships with one another is fine)
- unnecessary use of safewords or stoplight symbols (if the characters are kinking on it that's a fine reason)
- feederism, weight gain, inflation, pregnancy (mentions of OCs being pregnant are fine; breeding kink without any possibility of pregnancy is great!)
- scat, watersports (unless otherwise requested), vomit kink (someone throwing up not in a kink context is fine)
- vore, bestiality, mommy- or daddykink, 24/7 D/S
- canon-specific DNWs and exceptions in the fandom sections!
General Likes
- hurt/comfort! fics with a balance on both or ones that lean towards more comfort than hurt; feel free to get deep in the hurt but I love a sizeable focus on the comfort!
- pining and culmination of pining: getting together, kissing, romantic tension/UST being resolved, mutual pining or initially one-sided pining, pining that lasts for weeks or even years
- fluff, snapshot moments of what's going on in their lives
- romantic tension, UST that eventually becomes resolved
- flirting, confident or awkward or just fuckin disastrous
- extreme loyalty
- intense relationships and general intensity
- redemption arcs, gray morality, general complexity, lighter takes on villains & villain redemption both
- happy or at least hopeful/somewhat upbeat endings
- first times and milestones (sexual or non, doesn’t even have to be overly romantic, stuff like taking a photo for the first time together or and the like is also good!)
- descriptions of making out tbh
- trans headcanons where it’s not A Thing in the fic, no coming out or explanations necessary, or it's just accepted and not super dwelled on unless the prompt is about self-exploration. no Having To Deal With Bigotry or issuefic or anything, just character(s) happen(s) to be trans (both same gender/pronouns as in canon and different gender/pronouns are fine)
- canon divergent AUs, change one thing about a canon and maybe other things happen differently
- I like longfic if you want to write it!
- more canon-specific likes in the fandom sections!
- fic and art treats are both more than welcome!
Porn Likes
- first times and milestones
- frot, scissoring, intercrural, grinding against ass, basically all that stuff
- handjobs, fingering, oral
- romantic smut, lots of touching, focus on touching/wanting to touch and sensations and body parts, loving descriptions of partner's body (description of both stereotypically attractive and not stereotypically attractive features welcome so long as they're INTO it!), kissing during sex, hand-holding during sex, eye contact during sex, all that stuff!
- clothed sex, partially clothed sex, and clothing kink!
- inexperience, awkward, clumsy but eager and enjoyable sex
- XENO. xeno xeno xeno I am so into xeno, play around with alien genitalia and I am here for it, tentacles, cloacas, characters having both sets of genitalia, ovipositors, genitals resembling flowers or wet pinecone dick, Mouths Down There, legit whatever you can think of just g o f o r i t
- BDSM tones, mild or more formal
- praise kink and instructions/requests/begging flavors of dirty talk
- breeding kink is welcome when pregnancy is outright impossible, even if it's handwaved impossible (PIV but they know it can't happen is fine; neither has a womb and obviously it can't happen is fine; this type of sex can't even result in pregnancy but we'll talk about it anyway is fine; species are incompatible is fine)
- even without breeding kink, kinking on coming inside is also hot, but so is kinking on come/cum-play and messier sex like that
- mutually enjoyed/kinked-on breeding kink dirty talk when actual pregnancy is outright impossible and does not happen
- manhandling, hair pulling, love bites and scratches, rough but not outright painful (or only pleasantly painful) sex
- orgasm delay (though not total denial), edging
- alternately, multiple orgasms, "forced" orgasms that are still enjoyable
- e n t h u s i a s m and detailed descriptions of sex, just go for it
- in general, prefer the terms: penis, cock, dick, length; nipples, ass, and testicles/balls can just be called those things; vagina, vulva, cunt, or pussy if that comes up; come or cum are both fine spellings (just no "cumming")
- piv in trans smut is fine; oral and pia sex super welcome; alternatives are also loved; prefer for vagina to be called vagina, cunt, or pussy, or to be referred to vaguely, not "hole"; prefer for ass NOT to be called a vagina/cunt/pussy, but referred to vaguely & implied to be one is fine, or just called ass; fine with clit being called clit or penis/cock/dick, fine with penis being called penis/cock/dick or hen or clit
- trans characters having gender realizations, and/or getting gender euphoria, during sex
The Last Halloween (Webcomic)
Doctor Fugue/Robert
[Where you can find the comic: Here!
Book 1 is by far the most pertinent; that's 7 chapters/about 114 pages.]
For Doctor Fugue/Robert, this takes a little bit of explaining, since their interactions are minor and not particularly significant. But the more I thought about them individually, I liked what their slight interplay does say about them and how the shapes of their arcs kinda work together.
Doctor Fugue is undead, a doctor and supernatural (mad) scientist, a Victorian-ish ghost. One who haunts the church and can't leave. He employs what he thinks of as a little group of undead children to help him graverob bodies for his raising-the-dead experiments (as well as upgrading/replacing Jangles's various bits). He's a big faker; Robert flat-out says he's not a good doctor, which is proven very correct when Mona comes back. He not only hands a ten year old a magic weapon he knows nothing about and sends her and the other "kids" out with completely incorrect information, he's apparently sent multiple "group[s] of untrained misfits to their deaths without actually nowing what was going on," to the point that Charon's chewed him out about it at least once before. Fugue shoves a magic sickle into Mona's hands and pushes her out the door with a few undead "child" chaperones during the Apocalypse so that she can go take care of it; this is a whole bunch of terrible decisions all in a clump, made worse by him not understanding the situation and actually sending them on a wild goose chase in the end. Mona has to chop up and even kill multiple monsters, nearly dying more than once and actually losing an arm to the ordeal, something she makes clear to Fugue that she'll never forgive him for (which he finds fair). His whole arc seems to involve him getting a huge dose of guilt for once in his unlife, realizing just how badly he fucked this little group up, seeming to have a change of heart about the "playing Dr. Frankenstein" thing and trying in some small ways to start to make amends.
Robert, on the other hand, is posing as an undead, a doll cursed to life by voodoo. Until he tells Mona and Shirley, literally no one in the group including Fugue knows that he's a monster, not undead at all, and is also immortal (or what they call immortal) due to killing his human several decades prior; he claims to be an undead to avoid the attention of the Phagocyte. He's around 117 years old, if not a bit older, and he's often the closest thing the group has to a straight-man; he keeps his own secrets, even when it would be really helpful to share, because he rarely feels invested in others, and he doesn't tend to personally lend much of a hand, especially not to save people. He's calm and soft-spoken, good with normal human adults, and very calmly makes threats when called for as well (and sometimes even commits violence against his undead "friends," such as sewing Ringley's mouth shut, though they don't seem to mind). He, and let me state this again, killed his own human, Gene, decades before the canon starts, and tells the story at one point about how they had been one another's dearest friends and Robert had ruined Gene's entire life thoroughly until Gene had asked Robert to kill him. He says that it was and is his nature. He shows that this may not be as true as he thought.
Robert goes along on the save-the-world quest to keep everyone on track and give them even a tiny chance, but he saves Mona's life once and then tells her he'll never do it again so she'd better learn to save herself. Mona does learn, however, despite him keeping a lot of information back and outright lying at times, and he becomes more attached and invested in the outcome of their mission. It even gets to the point that he eventually fully opens up, becomes somewhat more reassuring (and even open to affectionate touch, which was Not a thing for him at first), sort of steps into a mentor role to Mona, and promptly sacrifices his own life to give her a fighting chance. His own arc involves him actually becoming attached to the situation and its people for once, to the point of purposefully sacrificing his life to give Mona a chance to survive and succeed (on what is, unbeknownst to them, a fool's errand), even admitting his own origins and past and coming face-to-face with the fact, for the first time, that maybe his nature as a monster is something he can choose to act counter to.
...So Fugue sends Mona, Robert, and the others off on a pointless quest that gets one of them killed and nearly kills two more of them, and is having to live with that fuck-up (figuratively speaking). He's obviously hit pretty hard by Robert's death and Mona's hatred of him, and comes to regret his choices and the results they had on the others, actually swearing off using corpses to make more undead for a while as he decides to use one of the fresh corpses to save Shirley's life instead. And by the end of Book One Fugue still hasn't even been made aware that Robert was a monster the whole time and has sort of... fused with the magic sickle that's supernaturally bonded to Mona. Overall, the canon, or at least Book 1, is a very interesting set of characters and relationships who are all affected and shaken badly by the general situation but also by the lies told and secrets kept, primarily by Fugue but also arguably by Robert, and the idea of two of them together really intrigues me.
My Chosen Tags:
• A must carry B due to B's injury
• Hurt/Sick Person too weak to walk - needs to be held up or carried
Due to their size differences, it makes the most sense for Fugue to be carrying Robert, I think! Though if you can make it make sense the other way around, I am also into Robert being Weirdly Strong so I am here for it. :D
• Accidental soulbond forces physical proximity
How might these two get accidentally soulbonded? My first thought is due to, potentially, Fugue resurrecting Robert (see next tag options below) but it could also have something to do with possession, "ghost walks through you" moments, Robert's ability to feel others' emotions, any other weird thing (magic or not) Fugue or Robert might be doing or another character entirely might do, or any combination of the above. Or anything else you can think of! Just handwaving that soulbonds are thing that can apparently happen in the canon universe is fine for this.
• bringing someone back from the dead means they have to stay around their reanimator
• Re-animated character A is only normal when close to character B
I do love the idea of Fugue bringing Robert back from the dead somehow. Maybe Robert's still "alive" to some degree fused with Mona's sickle? Or you can handwave how exactly Fugue does it/how exactly it's possible! But Robert needing to stick close to Fugue for some reason afterwards could be really fun, whether it's totally unexpected and unintentional or if it's a known side effect of the resurrection but Fugue decides it's better than just leaving him dead.
• From this close up A is suddenly noticing far more details about B's body
I just love people noticing new things about each other! I would be happy with either of them being A or B, but I also want to note that if Fugue is A, there's potentially the added element of Fugue knowing now that Robert is a monster and looking at him in a new light thanks to that as well. Feel free to go wild (and xeno) with ideas for how Fugue and/or Robert's body might work!
• Haunting The Same Location/Item
This could work well with the possible resurrection tags, especially bringing someone back from the dead means they have to stay around their reanimator, but it also doesn't have to! Maybe Robert comes back as a ghost, whether due to something Fugue does or not. It could be very interesting to have him also haunting the church and stuck there...
• Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery
Really, Robert is just so small that so long as Fugue can stuff himself into the space, I'm sure they could both fit! Whether they're in the church or (somehow) not (what if Fugue can leave if a piece of the church is taken with somebody?), it could be fun for them to need to hide from monsters or from hostile humans, even if temporarily.
• No place to sit except on your lap
This by far makes the most sense for Robert to be in Fugue's lap and that's how I prefer it! He's a doll, he's literally made for this. :] I'd love any take on this tbh.
• Refusing to leave the other person to die/suffer alone (no-one actually dies)
One thing I love about these two, as I said above, is how they both have their issues in canon that they begin to grow past. Reaching a point where they're actually attached and one of them just can't bring himself to leave the other (maybe Fugue still blames himself for Robert dying once before; maybe Robert's "I will kill you/die for you" fixation that was first for Gene and Mona has shifted onto Fugue in a slightly different, healthier[?] way; maybe something else entirely!) could be amazing. Also, does staying put them both in danger, or is it just the one in danger? Does the one who stays manage to save the other or is it something else that spares them? There are a lot of things you could do with this that I'd love!
• Saving Someone's Life requires Mouth-to-Mouth or other Intimate Procedure
Given what these two are, probably not mouth-to-mouth (though if you can make that work I would love it!), but saving one of their lives -- or resurrecting Robert if you go that route with this one -- necessitating an Intimate Procedure of some kind would be amazing. What sort of intimacy it might be is up to you. Opening Robert up and doing something with his insides? Reaching through Fugue's body? Possession???
• Temporarily blinded and reliant on someone
I just really love this and it feels like the temporary blinding could come from a lot of potential sources. Medical procedures? Magic? Monsters? Bright lights or flashbangs? Is it a dangerous situation they're in where one needs to rely on the other, or is it just everyday things they need help with for a while? I don't mind which of them is blinded, and I don't mind if either of them (blinded or not) is injured outside of that too! Either of them helping the other out for a bit would be loved!
• Trapped together in alternate dimension
I could love whatever take on alternate dimensions you come up with! Maybe they go to a dimension where the monster apocalypse never happened, or one where Robert never died? (Resurrection going sorta-wrong and just dropping them both into another universe somehow?) Maybe they're FROM a universe where Robert never died and get dropped into the canon one? Maybe Fugue from the universe where Robert died and Robert from a universe where he didn't end up in a third universe together somehow? Any of those or any other option you can think of would be a blast!
• Trying To Hide an Injury While Stuck in a Confined Space With Someone Else
Whether it's because the one who's hurt doesn't want to be a burden, doesn't trust that the other can help them, doesn't trust that the other would help them, doesn't know how they fuck they even were able to be injured, or whatever other reason... I am happy with either of them being injured. Hell, I am happy with both of them being injured! I would love some H/C with this one if and when one finds out the other is injured...
• What's more proximate than sharing a body!
I LOVE BODYSHARING and I can imagine multiple ways it might happen with them! Magic gone wrong? Resurrection gone wrong? Possession? I have a slight preference for temporary bodysharing but if it's just the status quo from now on or it's unclear in the fic whether it's temporary or not, I'd still be super happy! Love bodysharing stuff, A+. I also do not mind if Robert is sharing Fugue's ghost "body" or if Fugue is sharing Robert's body!
Canon-Specific DNWs
- a strong focus on Fugue's sexism (I'd prefer for him to be capable of at least a bit of growth there; bringing it up somewhat in the context of internalized homophobia is fine)
- Fugue being entirely unrepentant post Book 1, actually
- Mona easily and completely forgiving Fugue unless otherwise requested
- implications that Robert and Gene never loved each other, especially that Robert never loved Gene, if that character comes up
- Halloween, spooky, and outright horror stuff works especially well for this canon!
- Ringley's dad/Mona's parent as a background ship is super cool; feel free to give them names (and/or surnames) or not
- Fugue helping Mona resurrect Robert (probably partly out of guilt)
- forgiveness, second chances, trying again somehow
- post-canon (or post-Book 1) fic in general
- Robert still being alive in Mona's sickle and being able to be brought back and/or show up as a ghost that way
- the sickle thing, if that idea is used, meaning that Mona is now immortal and also not aging (oops)
- Fugue finding out super belatedly that Robert is a monster, like possibly even 1-3 years after Book 1 (but less time than that is also good)
- protectiveness of any of the requested characters towards any of the others
- Fugue eventually being forgiven, at least mostly, at least by most of the characters
- Mona softening a bit on Fugue but still not forgiving him (like, noticing he's trying hard and maybe feeling sorry for him, maybe he makes her feel more tired than angry now)
- nonhuman characters, particularly monsters, being ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about gender
- trans headcanons in general! like I said, I like to imagine especially monster (rather than undead) characters being ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about gender, so an interpretation of Robert not actually having anything like human gender would be cool; I can imagine him having absolutely no preferred pronouns and just going with whatever anybody calls him, but feel free to go with whatever! Fugue figuring out some odd gender stuff himself could also be interesting (nonbinary?), but maybe he was also a trans man all the way back when he was alive and mad scienced himself a transition, or his ghost shows up as the way he sees himself? (just not a trans woman for him, please!) other characters being trans if they're included could also be fun and I encourage it. and of course trans headcanons aren't obligatory!
- nicknames! pet names! names in general! Fugue just calls Robert by name, and I don't think he would accept a nickname (from anyone but Gene) frankly, and he calls Fugue "Doctor Fugue" pretty constantly. what might make him shorten that to Fugue? or does Fugue have a first name (or can he not recall)? and of course Mona and Shirley are just called Mona and Shirley; under what circumstances might a nickname be used on them? (or come from them? would Robert be fine with Mona calling him a nickname?) and if you could sell me on an endearment being used by either Fugue or Robert I would LOVE it!
- AUs I'm into: AUs where time travel and/or soulbonding are a thing; AU where Robert didn't die against Ba'al; canon divergence AUs branching off from the end of Book 1
- for horror stuff specifically, if you go that route, feel free to kill off OCs but not any canon characters that didn't die in canon; psychological and cosmic horror, but body horror can be great, as can ghosts and other monsters, isolated horror, and characters just telling scary stories, and I'm fine for gore and injury for this particular canon, though not exactly perma-death (obviously Dr. Fugue is perma-dead, but like, also a ghost about it, and ghosts don't count for me)
- ...I am also open to unusual takes on smut, since Robert is a living doll and Fugue is a ghost; how might either of them sexually interact with a human or with each other? can Fugue still get aroused and/or orgasm? how/why? does Robert not have genitalia but have some other erogenous places, and/or not get aroused or orgasm like humans but still have something sort of analagous, or does he pick up on others' feelings and emotions in a sort of psychic-ish stimulation? or feel free to go full unusual xeno; I do not mind and would be into it!
- ...finally I also just want to note that I love invisible people (or, well... ghosts, as Robert points out, but Fugue's still invisible besides his clothes and bandages!). and also Fugue's all leg. legs for days. I like these things.
Slay the Princess (Visual Novel)
Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid
[If you don't actually own the game, you can find the following videos on YouTube:
BAI GAMING Video #1 - Pertinent parts are at 50:50-58:35 (The Razor, starting at the point where all the voices start coming in) and 2:12:52-2:56:12 (The Nightmare, with Voice of the Paranoid, and The Moment of Clarity with everyone)
BAI GAMING Video #2 - Pertinent parts are at 57:46-1:06:59 (The Apotheosis, with Voice of the Paranoid) and 1:39:37-2:53:04 (The Spectre and The Wraith, with Voice of the Cold)
Slay the Princess - The Spectre & The Wraith - Pertinent part is at 31:00-48:28 (The Wraith variation, with Voice of the Cold and Voice of the Paranoid)
BAI GAMING Video #3 - Pertinent part is at 2:53:14-3:09:25 (The Wild, with Voice of the Paranoid)
BAI GAMING Video #4 - Pertinent parts are at 26:22-46:40 (The Burned Grey, with Voice of the Cold), 1:30:29-1:49:54 (The Drowned Grey, with Voice of the Cold), and 1:53:08-2:41:07 (The Nightmare variations, with way more from Voice of the Paranoid)
Slay the Princess - All Endings - Pertinent part is at 26:15-28:09 (A New Dawn ending)
Watching all of the above pertinent parts would take about 4 hours and 7 minutes, but you can easily knock it down to about 1 hour and 14 minutes by just watching their main routes: The Nightmare in the first video (2:12:52-2:40:21), The Spectre in the second video (1:39:37-2:28:30), and The Wraith variation with both of them (31:00-48:28). Or watch whatever bits of whatever playthroughs you like...
Or, of course, play it yourself; I have a guide for getting the most pertinent routes for this ship here. Just go with whatever works for you! :D]
These two really, really intrigue me. They don't get to interact that much, but they're quite interesting in The Wraith route, and also have moments in some of the other routes -- and some similarities and general qualities -- that make me think that they could really catch the other's attention if given more opportunity.
For one thing, they are both very aware of and surprisingly in control of their bodies. (Well, their shared body. The protagonist's body. Let's just say "their bodies" for simplicity.) Voice of the Cold constantly talks about choosing to just stop feeling things, both emotions and any negative physical sensations; their back-and-forth of "Do we have to explain to you why pain is bad?" "You have to explain to yourself why it isn't," is VERY cool. But despite Voice of the Paranoid being obviously high-strung, he also has an immense amount of steel to him, not only manually running the body's autonomic nervous system during The Nightmare route, but also showing up specifically to keep Voice of the Broken in check during The Apotheosis route after Broken let The Tower into their mind which led to their death.
There are also little details, such as the fact that Cold usually shows up after you kill the Princess in cold blood and then yourself, and Paranoid also encourages killing yourself if you become trapped in The Nightmare route due to killing her. This actually leads to Cold showing up... And interestingly, before that, if the protagonist says to the Hero and the Paranoid that it'd be fine to be stuck in the void forever because they're the best company, Paranoid says, "Oh, you could do better than us," and that's right before Cold comes into the picture. In The Wraith route, he and Cold and Hero and the protagonist have to all work together to toss their body into the void with The Wraith in it, if they choose that route, and the "everyone on the count of three" moment Paranoid takes charge of is just neat.
And in a general sense, I really think they could... see something interesting in each other. Paranoid is nervy and definitely hasn't shut off his emotions at all, but he also has that aforementioned steel and sharp control over himself/his body/The Body, that might be even more intriguing and impressive based on how unexpected it is. And Cold is a dangerous person, yes, but is actually less dangerous to the other voices than someone like the Broken or even the Smitten, and might also be easier to predict than someone like the Opportunist or even the Hunted -- you know exactly what his danger is, if he's going to be dangerous. And at the same time, Paranoid seems to trust the other voices in a way he doesn't trust anyone "other," and Cold seems to want to help the other voices, often trying to give them advice on how to get through situations without breaking down. There's an automatic sort of rapport there that makes it more likely they'd get close to each other than if they were just ordinary people with their same personalities.
Also, speaking of that, I do love the bodysharing and would be super into that if you want to roll with it, but I also love a theoretical post-canon situation where maybe the voices are all getting their own bodies. You don't even have to get into how and why they have different bodies if you want to do that; just handwaving it would be fine!
(Finally, I didn't request any other ships involving these two specifically because I really want fic where their relationship is the focus. That said, I am open to several other ships including them with that caveat: If you feel like writing Contrarian, Hero, Contrarian AND Hero, Hunted, Opportunist, or Skeptic with them; Nightmare, Spectre, or Wraith with them, whether or not Hero and/or the Long Quiet are also involved; or a fic where the voices are in general a polycule, go nuts!)
My Chosen Tags:
• A must carry B due to B's injury
I don't mind which of them is A and which of them is B! Either of them being strong enough to carry the other is hot. Either of them being stronger than you might think is hot. Either of them being able to carry the other temporarily mostly due to sheer adrenaline is hot! I am here for any/all of it.
• Character A can't sleep without Character B next to them
• Sharing sleeping space with others leads to reveal of nightmares
• There Was Only One Bed
The bedsharing tags! For the first, I don't mind which of them is A and which is B, though it does seem like Paranoid lends himself more to being A. I'd be completely happy either way, though! For the second tag, "with others" means it could be the whole group, or parts of it, sharing a sleeping space, but I don't mind if it's that or if it's just the two of them. Paranoid does seem like he'd have nightmares (I mean...), but you could also go with it being revealed that Cold has nightmares... or maybe both of them. And for "There Was Only One Bed," I just always love that trope! Do they cuddle, intentionally or unintentionally? Do they kiss or have sex?! :D
• Close enough to hear other person's breath or heartbeat
I don't mind which of them is listening to the other's breath and/or heartbeat! Or if it's both. Is it something soothing for Paranoid, who maybe is relieved to have a reminder that Cold is alive and he's not alone? It is something interesting for Cold, who might notice that Paranoid's heartbeat is quick or notice when his breathing changes if he gets nervous or anticipatory about Cold being so close? You could take this in a bunch of different directions and I'd be happy with any of them!
• Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery
I just always love this sort of thing. These two approach stressful situations SO differently but are both very competent, and I looove small spaces leading to people being pressed super close together... I don't mind if this leads into anything (ahem) further or not! This could also work well with the later "Sexually Inexperienced Characters Who Are Hiding Watch Others Having Sex" tag too, of course, though it doesn't need to...
• Huddling For Warmth
• Keeping hurt person warm/alive with body heat
If they're birds I especially love this. Huddling for warmth is just a very birdy thing to do, and maybe they're even very susceptible to the cold! Do they fluff their feathers up in order to try to keep warmer too? ♥ I am all for any variation of this, whether it's super high stakes (the second tag), just dealing with discomfort, or anything in the middle!
• matchmaker gets creative
Look, the voices and even the vessels are fuckin ridiculous and could fit this. One or more of them gets it in their head to set these two up, these two get put in a ridiculous (and/or stuck close together) situation, profit. This could involve other tropes I really love (try to get them to huddle for warmth, make them share a bed, stick them in a closet together -- anything that doesn't involve the other voices purposefully injuring or endangering them is fair game!) but feel free to just go with stuff that isn't anywhere in this letter too. Maybe they are put in the same small train car or set up to go to a fancy dinner or made to dance together! (I do love my ships dancing together... a lot...) Have fun with this one and I'll love it!
• Refusing to leave the other person to die/suffer alone (no-one actually dies)
I love this so much, it could be so good. They do both care about all the other voices including each other. I can definitely see neither of them being willing to abandon the other no matter the situation. Are they both in danger, or is it just the one? Does Paranoid try to talk Cold through something that might save his life (does it work?) or try to help him himself? Does Cold try to convince Paranoid to stop feeling the pain? Does either of them expect the other to stay with them or is it a surprise? There are a lot of ways you could take this that I'd love!
• Sexually Inexperienced Characters Who Are Hiding Watch Others Having Sex
Look, even if they all know random things there is absolutely no reason for them to know about in the game (The Look, anybody?), none of these characters have ever fucked. I don't mind if these two are sharing a body or in separate bodies by the time this happens, but I would love for these two to be hiding for some other reason and suddenly get a show, and I would love however they react or decide to deal with that. >:3 (This could work very well with the "Have to keep hidden and quiet in small Space to avoid Discovery" tag, too!)
• Shared dreamscape or nightmare
• Shows up in every dream every night
Due to Paranoid's connection to Nightmare, anything to do with dreams and especially nightmares really makes me think of him! The idea of these two sharing dreams (and/or nightmares) is really interesting to me. Is it a magic thing? A soulbond thing? A soulmate thing? A curse or something done because they both got possessed or haunted recently or something? (Hell, if you just canonize the Spectre->Wraith or Nightmare->Wraith route with these two, is Wraith haunting them?) I am happy with this either being while they're sharing a body (are these two the only ones sharing dreams/nightmares despite ALL the voices sharing a body?) or while they're in separate bodies. This is just such an interesting intimacy that can be played as even more revealing than physical intimacy, and I am so curious about where you might take it.
• Snowed In To a Small Cabin Together
Look, I saw "small cabin" and thought of the cabin in the Construct. Maybe it is the cabin in the Construct; do they maybe find each other again post-canon while still in the Construct, and the Construct is slowly growing/changing or breaking down and snow has resulted? Or is it post-Construct? If it is post-Construct, does this cabin remind either of them of the cabin? (That could be played for horror or discomfort, potentially!) I'd prefer for them to have separate bodies for this one, and the sharing body heat tags could go well with this but they aren't necessary!
• Staying close to someone for their protection despite own injury/illness
I think either of them could work for either of these! If Paranoid is injured/ill but staying close to Cold anyway, I can see it being due to his high-stress and "self"-protectiveness becoming protectiveness of the other voices even if they're in separate bodies now; if it's Cold who's injured/ill instead and staying close to Paranoid, I can see him doing that thing where he's just ignoring his own state and can imagine him basically considering his "use" being protecting the others who just can't shut things off like he can. It could also be, on either of their parts, very personal and specific about the other person if they already have or are starting to develop feelings! You could do a lot with this and I'd love whatever you do, though!
• Temporarily blinded and reliant on someone
I just really love this and it feels like temporary blindness could come from a lot of potential sources and in a lot of different possible situations! Is it a dangerous situation they're in where one needs to rely on the other, or is it just everyday things they need help with for a while? Is it something realistic-feeling and "normal" that causes it (bright light, temporary injury, etc.) or something strange (maybe to do with the Princess, or to do with coming out of the Construct into the real world, or the end of a possession by a non-Princess ghost, or something magical or a curse if the world outside the Construct has those, or if they're immortal and can slowly heal maybe it's due to a MAJOR injury that the temporarily blinded person is recovering from... I don't mind which of them is blinded, and I don't mind if either of them (blinded or not) is injured outside of that too!
• Touch-starved character in close proximity to someone they find attractive
I could love either or both of them being touch-starved, tbh. Obviously this would work best with them having their own bodies, and that could be a really new experience for both of them by itself. There's also the fact that, in the Construct, they're more used to physical contact being violent and/or painful than not, so affectionate, pleasurable, or even casual touch could be really enjoyable! I'd love whatever you did with this one!
• Trapped with someone experiencing one of their greatest fears
Fear is something I do associate with Paranoid, but I would be just as happy if you had it be Cold, tbh! And I'd be interested in seeing what you choose for either of their greatest fears. Is one of Paranoid's greatest fears eyes or being stared at after the Construct? The sound of static? Meeting the Princess/the Nightmare again? Possession or mind-control? Stairs or basements? Or, if you go with Cold, I could imagine him denying that it's a fear but still being terrified on some level of being trapped in an unchanging, boring nothing, or even carrying some trauma that he's very much trying to ignore about violent possession or drowning or burning to death again. But whatever you end up choosing for either of them, I'd love the other trying to help them through it somehow!
• Trying To Hide an Injury While Stuck in a Confined Space With Someone Else
Whether it's because the one who's hurt doesn't want to be a burden, doesn't want to be fussed over, doesn't think the other could help them anyway, doesn't think the other would help them, doesn't want to talk about how they were injured, or whatever other reason (Cold just not bringing it up because obviously it isn't important?)... I am happy with either of them being injured. Hell, I am happy with both of them being injured! I would love some H/C with this one if and when one finds out the other is injured...
• What's more proximate than sharing a body!
I LOVE BODYSHARING STUFF, A+ -- and of course Slay the Princess is perfect for it, especially with the voices involved! Are all the voices still sharing a body (the Long Quiet's or their own), or are some of them, or just these two? Are they still sharing a body or have they decided to do so again for a while? I think I'd enjoy anything you did with this so long as the focus is on Cold/Paranoid!
Canon-Specific DNWs
- any implication that the characters will cease existing after the end of the game/any time soon
- either character bodysharing with the protagonist or any of the other voices (except each other!) by the time porn is happening, if it happens, unless it's in the context of a poly situation where everyone involved is into it
- poly fic where there isn't a lot of focus on these two
- non-canon background pairings I'm good with if any of these characters show up are: any other voice/voice shipping (including poly); literally any vessel/vessel shipping; Adversary/Stubborn, Broken/Stranger, Broken/Wild, Cheated/Thorn, Damsel/Smitten, Hunted/Wild, Prisoner/Skeptic, Razor/Stubborn; Contrarian/Echo/Hero
- if you'd like to write threesomes or moresomes, I am also into smut that includes these two with Stubborn, Skeptic, Hunted, Hero, or both Hero and Contrarian, or a voices orgy in general, so long as the bulk of the focus is on these two together!
- I am also open to a threesome with these two and Spectre, these two and Nightmare, or these two and Wraith... with or without Hero and/or the Protagonist involved, if it's an in-game/bodysharing situation. again, I'd want the bulk of the focus to be on these two's dynamic/relationship.
- as an add-on to the above, I am happy with noncon/dubcon specifically in the context of it coming from Nightmare or Wraith, either with her noncon/dubconning either or both of them, or with her making them fuck each other (so long as they're both into it in some ways and the ending isn't unhappy/hopeless)
- I'm happy with the voices being varying degrees of bird-person, with or without beaks, straightforwardly bird-y or more like Mothman given the Protagonist's reflection
- I'm also equally happy with every single voice having their own separate body, or with some of them still bodysharing while they sort out the whole "getting their own bodies" thing, just so long as Cold and Paranoid aren't sharing bodies with any characters other than each other when any smut starts if applicable
- I am also cool with more human (or human-looking) forms and even some human AUs!
- the sheer amount of control these two both seem to have over themselves...
- and, alternately, the idea that each might actually be able to make the other come apart. maybe more than anyone else could manage. maybe in part because they might just let it happen.
- the "And? What happens next?" ending and the strong hints that the voices will continue to exist and find one another again even after the protagonist and the Princess leave
- fic set while in the Construct, maybe even during the events of the game, somehow!
- the "A New and Unending Dawn" ending (whether everyone hates you or not) and the idea of the voices figuring out existence after that
- come to that, the strong hints that the voices are actually developing beyond their named traits and becoming their own more rounded individual people: Contrarian in The Stranger version of the "And? What happens next?" ending, Hero protesting being just "a shard of broken glass," all of them wanting to avoid individual death and continue existing
- "AUs" I'm into: soulmates; soulbonding being a thing; post-apocalyptic or apocalypse; D&D, Silent Hill, NaissanceE, BLAME!, or Annihilation as worldbuilding; all of these "AUs" only they get dropped into a universe where that's just what things are like post-canon, so they're not written as an AU!
- genderswap AU just straight up though
- NAME STUFF. names in general! nicknames and pet names if you can make it work for them! none of the voices really refer to one another by name or even by description in canon; do they still think of each other as "Voice of the Cold," or just "the Paranoid," or just "Cold," or something like "the paranoid one"? how might they come to refer to one another, think about one another?
- if you're interested, I could like trans headcanons for either/both of these characters! I have a preference for trans woman Paranoid, and can easily imagine "any pronouns" nonbinary Cold, but anything works for either of them! trans headcanons for any other characters that show up are also 100% good. and of course trans headcanons aren't obligatory!