paleomnesis

Casablanca (1942)

Rick Blaine/Victor Laszlo (Casablanca)

One's a gruff, secretly noble guy who pretends not to give a damn, but has a history of very much giving a damn about doing the right thing,. The other's the embodiment of hope and truth, beloved by all to the point that even the villains respect him. Together they fight Nazis, most likely get turned on by each other's past heroism, and probably have their biggest quarrels over who gets to sacrifice themselves this time! I do really love the two of them together, so I'd love to see something where they get their own happy ending. Maybe it's set after the war is over with them still fighting the remnants of the Nazi regime by tracking down the ones that fled and bringing them to justice? Or maybe it's a divergence where Victor and Rick met from the beginning or neither hooked up with Elsa and now all the emotional baggage is shared between the two of them and their differing philosophies on the Resistance?

DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, scat/watersports, no focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), no permanent nominated character death (transformations are fine). If you do include Ilsa in the story, please have her either never having hooked up with them, or having had an amicable break-up (please don't kill her off or make her into a villain.)

Prompts:

Bodyguard, Different First Meeting - Characters Meet at a Different Point in Their Canon, Knight/Royal, Doctor/Patient AU, Prince/Royal Body Guard AU

Maybe they met prior to the war when Rick was off doing his thing in the Spanish Civil War and Victor actually got to see Rick in action? Or Victor shows up in Casablanca on his own, trying to get out, and stumbles into Rick, who has no idea why the hero of the Resistance is in his club, but it's definitely going to get him into all sorts of trouble. Maybe Rick's hired to protect Victor at some point, in canon or maybe in a fantasy/medieval setting, and boy does he have his work cut out for him. Or Victor takes another route and gets the world's worst patient to look after during an already very difficult time.

Cyberpunk AU, Dark City AU Pacific Rim AU — Drift Compatible

The Resistance always exists as does people getting roped into things reluctantly and then becoming what the scrappy underdogs need most. Rick getting his hands on anything you need, even a way out of a corporate city? Victor and Ilsa recruiting to help stop the apocalypse? A shadowy nightclub in a city where memories are fallible, but feelings are not?

Detective Noir AU, Golden Age of Cruise Ships AU, Pulp Novel AU, Regency setting, Western/Wild West/Old West AU

How would this work in a different setting? Noir seems the most obvious – Bogart lives and breathes in a foggy darkness, but others would be fun as well. Something lighthearted on a cruise ship with Rick as a Captain and Victor as a passenger that everyone is trying to get into bed (but he only has eyes for one grumpy man)? Out west where the new sheriff in townseems particularly interested in roping the saloon owner into taking down some corrupt ranchers? A regency affair where everyone refuses to actually come out and talk to each other because that would mean the plot would be over in two seconds?

Hearts can be nonfatally removed and given to others to keep safe/injure/hide/etc, Magical Realism, Soulmate AU - Timer on skin counting down to first meeting

Just a lot of fun to play with here – Victor's heart being a hot commodity on the black market that Rick gets a hold of accidentally? Rick realizing much to his dismay that the clock on his wrist just hit zero as Victor walked into the room? Or anything else that might be fun to work with – I love magical realism so curses, spells, anything where magic's used in the canonical setting would be great!

Hunger Games AU,

Rick runs a bar in one of the Districts and occasionally sends Haymitch booze to keep him off from actually coming there and drinking him dry, while Victor runs missions out from District 13 and is easily one of the most wanted people in the Capitol. One day, Haymitch is like, hey, sending you a package, please take care of it for me for a few days, and fuck Rick's life, he guesses, because Victor's there and Rick's been dragged into the rebellion.

Star Wars AU

Yeah, no, this one just slots in way too well if you think of Rick as some sort of cross between Han and Lando, and Victor as Leia (that totally makes Ilsa Luke and she enjoys every minute of it).

Far Cry 4

Ajay Ghale/Pagan Min (Far Cry 4)

Look, one of my things in video games is that I have a horrible tendency to fall in love with the charismatic villain and want to defect to his side, no matter how shitty a person he is, because he often has pretty compelling arguments (it doesn't help that the villains generally have some of the best voice actors). And in Far Cry 4, they made it even worse by being like “oh, everyone's morally gray and any choice you make will be terrible for someone,” so I think, can I stay with the guy who gives me free crab Rangoon, a helicopter ride, and basically cuts through all the bullshit to tell me how much of a dick my dad was? No? Damn it.

DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine), permanent nominated character death (transformations are fine).

Prompts:

Canon's Plot Is Interrupted By An Alien Invasion, Evil Dead AU - Someone Read From The Necronomicon; Now Everyone Must Fight Deadites, Setting Change - In Space

I don't know, it's just how much worse could things be in Kyrat if you had to deal with Deadites, aliens, and/or intergalactic war. I mean, everyone would cope really well and humanity would be saved, but only if you like living in a world where everything is either on fire or about to be.

Canonical Non-Relatives Are Blood Relatives and Incestuous, Character comes into inheritance with strange conditions, Different First Meeting - Characters Meet at a Different Point in Their Canon,

Alternate meetings! I'd love an Ajay who's more aware from the beginning of all the shit going down in Kyrat – maybe Ishwari succeeds in killing Mohan at the cost of her life and the Golden Path take Ajay in to mold him to be their perfect successor (sadly for them, he takes more after his mother than his asshole dad). Or maybe everyone thinks Pagan is dead at the beginning of canon and Ajay's the only heir to the his vast and strange fortune. Also, if you want to go the incest route, I wouldn't say no.

Cyberpunk AU, Detective Noir AU, Mecha AU, Pacific Rim AU — Drift Compatible

Setting AUs! Anything science fiction would be fun – imagining Pagan and Ajay in giant robots is a treat, especially because you know Pagan would insist on pimping his out. But a more noir sensibility could be just as fun – future or past, the idea of Ajay as some guy forced into the underworld due to his dying mother's wish who runs across more than he bargained is a very alluring one.

Dragons - Characters are dragons (with humanoid forms), Hearts can be nonfatally removed and given to others to keep safe/injure/hide/etc, Knight!Char A is tasked with hunting Witch!Char B

None of this seems remotely implausible to me – did Ishwari literally leave with Pagan's heart and Ajay's tasked to return it back to him? Is one of the prerequisites for running Kyrat being a dragon, which honestly, does explain a lot? Did the Golden Path train Ajay to go hunt witches and neglect to mention how fabulous they look in pink?

It is a wonderful canon episode/story but now there's also a horrible goose, Like Canon But One Character Has A Disney Princess-like Effect On Animals, Soulmate AU - Soulmate Goose of Enforcement

You know how horrible it would be to be stalked by a terrible goose? Imagine a Kyrati goose. Also, Ajay as a Disney princess wooing honey badgers and eagles is just something glorious to imagine.

Magical Marriage Required to Bring Prosperity and Growth to Ruined Land, Mail Order Spouse AU in Canon 'Verse, Marriage Arranged Because of Matching Soulmarks, Marriage by Winning Ritual Combat To Gain Partner's Hand,

I'm a sucker for “well, we weren't planning on getting married, but it looks like we have to.” Maybe Ajay accidentally proposes to Pagan by beating a bunch of people up (he probably should have guessed something was up when Pagan looked both happy and deeply concerned). Or maybe it's the only way to restore Kyrat, or it turns out soulmarks are kind of a big deal after all, or you know, you need to get into Kyrat to fulfill your mother's dying wish and it turns out the only way to do that is a wee bit complicated.

John Wick (Movies)

John Wick/Winston (John Wick)

Just when I think the series can't possibly give me any more of what I love – namely, badass fights, fine tailoring, and loyalty kink like you wouldn't believe, John Wick turns around and goes, oh, I'm sorry, did you think you were finished with me? Like seriously, these movies are just filled with all the kinds of things I adore, especially the bond between John and Winston. I just have always had a thing for mentor/protégé ships, especially when it involves classy suits, fine dining, and murder. There's just something about the way Winston and John interact that always made me want more - more tailoring, more teaching, more of the two of them just sitting and talking and ending up in a far too intimate relationship that everyone realizes is a terrible idea, but hey, that's what this series is made of.

DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, scat/watersports, no focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine, especially John/Helen, and if you want to refer to past Winston/Charon, I wouldn't say no), no permanent nominated character death (transformations are fine). Also, I'd prefer nothing specifically related to The Continental TV show - I'm not really into what they did with Winston.

Prompts:

1920s Prohibition Era AU, Detective Noir AU, Medieval AU, Pulp Novel AU, Renaissance Era, Roman Gladiator AU, Western/Wild West/Old West AU

Okay, so maybe for some of these, we'd be seriously losing out on the “guns... lots of guns” thing, but hey, there's always revenge, people wearing nice clothes, and copious amounts of religion. Just imagine how much fun could be had with a John Wick who went around crossbowing people or having duels that didn't come as a complete surprise. Plus, you know with things like Noir and Pulp Novels, John is going to absolutely nail the brooding man reluctantly called back into a world he never wanted to return to because of betrayal and loss. Finally, John Wick in a cowboy hat. I'm there for that!

Age Swap, Roleswap AU

Feel free to swap around as much as you want here. Is John an aging assassin having to deal with the younger new manager of The Continental, who's always been a bit precocious? Did Winston get out of the game a while back and comes back in when his spouse dies (if you want to make Charon/Winston the equivalent of John/Helen, that might be fun, but OCs are acceptable here too)? It would just be fascinating to see what they would be either in each other's positions or with different age dynamics, or both!

Hearts can be nonfatally removed and given to others to keep safe/injure/hide/etc, Marriage by Winning Ritual Combat To Gain Partner's Hand. Same-Gender Arranged Marriage to Punish Political Rivals

Hearts – does Winston have a whole vault of them? Did John have to leave his in order to start a new life? What happens when the High Table gets their hands on yours? Or what if they think, you know what would be a really great (read: incredibly stupid) idea? Let's punish two people by marrying them together and hope that it makes them both miserable. What do you mean it's backfired on us like everything else?

Cyberpunk AU, Dark City AU, Setting Change - In Space

John Wick in space! John Wick in things that may or not resemble certain properties his actor has been in! Winston as the mysterious manager of a hotel that changes its appearance every day!

Fae AU, Urban Fantasy AU, Vampires AU

Fantasy/supernatural stuff, part one – the one where people aren't explicitly getting their Catholicism on! Does John survive his “death” through the time-honored tradition of becoming a vampire, thus making that religious stuff really fun to deal with now? Or, you know, the High Table has a lot in common with the Fae courts in that they're both full of pompous assholes with intricate rituals to fuck you over.

Hellraiser AU, Pact/Contract With A Demon

Supernatural shit, part two – now with veiled references to The Devil's Advocate! You know, if the High Table's not willing to help you out, there's always The Man and his prices are quite reasonable. Also, it strikes me that the High Table are the sort to totally have puzzle boxes and be dumb enough to try to use them.

The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023)

Arthur Pym/Verna (Fall of the House of Usher 2023)

So I binged through this entire series about a family that really should have made some different choices in life and there was so much to enjoy, but without getting into spoilers, the thing that made me really love this show was the scene between Arthur Pym and Verna. Just the way they connected, the quiet nature of it after so much Grand Guignol and gore. I'd really love more of their relationship and their mutual recognition of each other as worthy opponents that understand far more than the ones making the deal. There's so much hinted at – the first meeting they had on the expedition has always fascinated me because what did they see in each other (cosmic horror in the ice is a terrific trope), but how it would have gone in different worlds? There's so much we don't really know about Pym or Verna, and I'd love to explore more possible meetings they may have had.

DNWs: No animal harm, extreme underage, body fluids (blood is fine), focus on unrequested pairings involving nominated characters (mentions of past canon relationships are fine)). Also no graphic depictions of sexual assault during the Transglobe Expedition (you don't need to gloss over it, just please don't dwell on it either).

Prompts:

1920s Prohibition Era AU, Detective Noir AU, Pulp Novel AU

What if it went full on noir – Verna as a mysterious femme fatale and Pym as the shady fixer sent to deal with her is already canon and I'd love to see this in a foggier setting. It's a cat and mouse game where everyone ends up dead at the end, so again, definitely noir .

And Then There Were None fusion

I mean, yeah, pretty much that's this show right here. Everyone getting picked off because they're committing crimes (perhaps Lenore luckily sits them one out with her mom). Maybe Pym's the one that investigates it at the end, only to realize there was last twist up the killer's sleeve...

Arctic (or Antarctic) Research Station AU, Brainship AU, Cyberpunk AU, Everyone wakes up amnesiac on a spaceship, Sci-Fi Horror, Setting Change - In Space, The Thing (1982) Fusion

Here's where you could really lean in on the sci-fi horror of it all. Futuristic setting, creepy abandoned space stations or remote outposts with people going missing, a ship run by a mysterious AI that knows far more than it lets on – Usher would slot in so neatly into any of these settings.

Gothic Fiction Genre AU, Hearts can be nonfatally removed and given to others to keep safe/injure/hide/etc, Hellraiser AU, Lighthouse Keeper/Merperson AU, Pact/Contract With A Demon

Supernatural horror this time – you could go religious and have some fun with demons and strange puzzle boxes that the Ushers really shouldn't be keeping as family heirlooms, or perhaps it's something more fantastical, such as hearts being kept as collateral for loyalty, a man running from his past that can't escape the song of the sea, or Usher finds its natural home and canon eats itself in the Gothic setting.

Knight!Char A is tasked with hunting Witch!Char B, Medieval AU, Renaissance Era

For the purposes of adaptation, Flanagan went forwards, but what if we went back even earlier. Verna as some sinister figure right out of a tapestry or an illuminated manuscript, Pym as an enforcer with some nebulous ties to the Church, and all around them, the Plague is coming (so it's another Poe story instead, I guess).

Timeloop - Until Looping Character Makes A Necessary but Deeply Regretted Choice

So many terrible choices and so little time!