Fic In A Box 2025

[blurhawaii]

dear writer,

thanks for creating for me! 10k is a real undertaking even when chopped up into smaller chunks but i promise i'll love anything that you spend your time and effort making. i find it very helpful when my recipient has a letter that goes a little deeper into why they like something and so i always try to write the same. feel free to ignore the prompts if you've got an idea you want to write, everything here is just a helpful suggestion. good luck!


requests:

the departed (2006)
inception (2010)
sas: rogue heroes (tv)
from (tv 2022)
24 (tv)
jurassic world: chaos theory (cartoon)
the last boy scout (1991)
uncharted (movie 2022)
dark (tv 2017)







general likes:

dysfunctional relationships, codependency, fucked up family dynamics, enemies to lovers, power imbalances, age gaps

unexpected team ups between unlikely characters OR bottle episodes as fic where characters are stuck together in a place/room, unable to leave, forced to work together

vulnerability in men, uncertain and awkward intimacy, UST, slow burns, first times, forehead kisses, emphasis on hands and touch, touch starved characters, tough love as a means of showing affection

canon divergence and what-if fics (as in what if this one thing in canon was different), missing scenes, post-canon, fix-it fics, outsider POV, character studies over plot driven fics, go as weird as you like with the divergence just as long as it still feels in universe

bonding through shared trauma (bonus if that leads to messy codependency), PTSD, redemption arcs, found family tropes, characters that can’t seem to stay away from each other even when they know it's toxic

supernatural horror, magical realism, cosmic horror, body horror, gothic horror, noir tropes, dark humour, monsters of any kind, ghosts, time travel, time loops, doomed characters

size difference, age difference, rough manhandling, competence kink, incompetence kink, loyalty kink, praise kink, pilot kink, clothes sharing, cigarette sharing, character studies disguised as porn, breathplay, clothed sex, rough sex, biting, hair pulling, awkward sex, crying (especially during sex), blunt communication between sexual partners

angst (with or without a happy ending) and hurt/comfort fics (heavy on the hurt)

polyamory (especially when an established couple brings in a third and the journey towards getting it to work. 2/3 of a poly relationship openly and honestly dicussing the 1/3, bonus if it's in a teasing way during sex)

consent issues in terms of characters having sex for reasons that aren’t just straight up attraction, such as for comfort, loneliness, thinking it’s what the other person wants, hero worship, being undercover, previous emotional and personal baggage, a difficult family history leading to messed up dynamics with other parental figures, avoidance of problems or a belief it can fix bigger problems

soulmate, soulmark, and daemon fics

any rating from gen to porn is welcome, as long as character interactions are the focus



DNWs:

AUs that are completely disconnected from canon e.g. high school and coffee shop AUs

crossovers with other fandoms

genderbending, trans headcanons, and asexual headcanons

extreme feminisation of male characters

fics that are entirely tooth rotting fluff, to the point of being OOC

terminal illness

animal/pet death

A/B/O fics

scat/watersports

mpreg

first person fics (exception made for medium opt-ins that are typically written in first person), crackfic, chatfic, songfic, and reader inserts




the departed (2006)

*billy costigan/sean dignam

one of my favourite films ever. i request it in every exchange so you can't really go wrong with this. trust me, i will devour anything you write for these two.

my number one love is dignam. i love his filthy mouthed defense of his undercovers (which includes billy) and his obvious loyalty towards the job and his partnership with queenan. i get a lot of enjoyment from how much he seems to hate sullivan on vibes alone. he’s basically got legend status in both the cop world and the criminal world, and i would be very interested in seeing how and why that came to be.

i have a vague headcanon that dignam was once a younger undercover who got out somehow, and since that rarely happens cleanly i can see a lot of potential for a fic that delves into the trauma of that, and how it relates to billy’s time undercover—which definitely DOES NOT end cleanly either.

billy spends the entire film struggling with repressed violent tendencies, crippling isolation, constantly being reminded of and compared to his well-liked father (his uncle and cousin too, but less favourably), and having to juggle various different identities to the point where he doesn’t know which one is real anymore. all of which are themes i would also love to see be explored further.

and obviously i am fascinated by every interaction between these two. from dignam’s attack dog interview tactics, which are fully designed to verbally tenderise billy. dignam expertly reading and needling every one of billy’s weak spots, tearing him down to nothing, ready for queenan’s slightly softer good cop approach meant to reshape him to fit their purpose. to the very rare moments where dignam actually softens too (we need you, pal and my personal favourite why don’t we meet up, sweetheart. let me buy you an ice cream), all leading up to the ultimate loyalty moment of dignam killing sullivan at the end as revenge for billy’s death (and probably queenan's too.)

i have written a couple of departed fics myself, centred around shipping costigan/dignam. but in all honesty, i would be happy with anything involving them both. outright shipping is preferred but whatever you are comfortable with writing is fine. due to the nature of the film, i am perfectly comfortable with physical violence and the screwed up relationship they are bound to have. the friction born of the situation they are in vs the fact that they need each other to get through this very isolating experience is what i am all about.

prompts:

i have already promised my eternal gratitude to a previous gifter during yuletide who wrote me a wonderfully odd fic for this prompt. so i can only offer something lesser like an arm or a leg or my soul if you write me a fic that incorporates the why don’t we meet up, sweetheart. let me buy you an ice cream line. if you can make that happen in-universe, during the time billy is still undercover, my arm and/or leg and/or soul is yours to do with what you wish.

any fic where billy survives is always a winner. whether it centres around the very real consequences of taking a bullet to the head, the recovery period that follows, and the long term future billy is looking down barrel of. OR billy never takes the bullet. maybe dignam shows up in time and the standoff in the elevator goes very differently. OR dignam takes his two week suspension with pay and does something reckless to help his undercover because no one else will.

maybe some kind of role reversal where instead of madolyn being billy’s therapist point of contact outside of both the cop world and the criminal world, billy could show up on dignam’s doorstep looking for some of the world’s worst therapy. if dignam was a previous undercover, it could be a perfect situation for some trauma bonding.

i’ve always been of the opinion that a time loop fic could work well with this. whether it’s billy having the knowledge to avoid his ending (only for an actual good ending still being hard to get), dignam feeling guilty for not answering billy’s calls at the end and wanting to fix both billy’s outcome and queenan’s. OR maybe go really wild and have an outsider POV stuck in a loop, someone striving for their own personal outcome that somehow also benefits billy’s and/or dignam’s fate, like sullivan or queenan.

as i said in my general likes i think some kind of soulmate or daemon fic could be very interesting in a world where undercover work is the setting. billy and dignam having each other’s names on their body could lend itself to some interesting scenarios. just imagine the interview scene with that fact in dignam’s back pocket, or the scene where costello is smashing up billy's cast while looking for a wire. and something about daemons being a true reflection of someone's soul really appeals to me when dropped into these identity issue riddled circumstances. bonus points here if you twist or subvert these tropes into some unusual take on them.

medium opt-ins:

art - fanart cover/illustration of recipient's fic
art - fancomic of recipient's fic

obviously receiving fanart for something you've created is a honour of the highest degree, and i would be over the moon if someone wanted to draw something for one of my departed fics. specifically posthumously, as i'm very proud of that one.

writing - in-universe newspaper article
writing - in-universe interview
writing - in-universe true crime podcast transcript

i think all these options could be very interesting to explore if they happen post-movie. both if billy survives and if he dies, honestly. there's so much secrecy involved in undercover work but, between the very public gunfights that take out costello, the violent deaths of corrupted officers, and even sullivan's shooting at the end, public interest in what the hell is going on must be pretty high. i also find the concept of a podcast coming up with theories about billy's life to be very funny, especially if billy survives and learns of its existence. what if it's 2025 and billy's finally willing to talk about it ~20 years after the fact, but only if his asshole boyfriend can tag along to the interview as well?




inception (2010)

*dom cobb/saito
*dom cobb/mal cobb/saito
*mal cobb/saito

i've been riding the cobb/saito train for many years now and it just seems so wild to me that this pairing wasn't more popular. yes, the main goal is to achieve inception but that's just the framework. to me, the very heart of the film is cobb's relationship with mal bleeding into everything else. cobb and saito's relationship is then important because it shares numerous parallels with the cobb/mal relationship, saito is referenced a lot as being an in-universe help to cobb and his struggles, and ultimately saito provides cobb with the means to move on, to let go of mal once and for all, to get back to his kids, and to finally go home.

certain phrases are often repeated by both cobb/mal and cobb/saito, creating thematic parallels between them. the theme of waiting a lifetime for someone, waiting for a train, growing old together, being an old man filled with regret waiting to die alone, taking a leap of faith, we'll be young men together. all of this further cements the idea in cobb's mind that mal and saito are linked since they invoke similar feelings and reactions in him. UNTIL it reaches the scene where cobb finally accepts that mal is dead and gone but that saito isn't. i've always enjoyed the orpheus and eurydice vibes of cobb having to leave mal behind in order to rescue saito who is trapped in limbo.

taking a step back, i do specifically love that saito is a morally grey character. the whole idea of targeting a rival business to his own company's gain by utilizing this very illegal sabotage is honestly wild and not talked about enough. he strong arms cobb into this job and although it results in some positive things, such as robert fischer revaluating his estranged relationship with his father, it's still achieved through involuntary manipulation. in a different film, saito having the money and means to make all this happen would be a villainous trait, but the difference is we're made to like him. saito has loyalty in his own way by honouring his agreement with cobb.

prompts:

cobb/saito:

i really love fics where saito keeps in touch with cobb even after the inception job has finished. he strikes me as a man that likes to check up on his investments, something which i think cobb and his team definitely still are. and saito clearly has an interest in dreamsharing - there's actually an unpublished prequel comic (here,) that has saito frequenting dream arcades and participating in motorbike races for money and thrills which absolutely fascinates me. would almost dying to the concept dial down saito's interest in it or would it just make him more curious? i love the idea of them both dipping their toes back into dreamsharing together.

maybe go really dark with it. just as mal was infected by a question about her reality, maybe the many years trapped in limbo infected saito with a question of his own, one which doesn't become apparent until months after returning to reality. it's cobb's worst fear that he might have caused it to happen again and, in desperately trying to fix it, he and saito end up growing a lot closer.

cobb/mal/saito:

mal's spinning top totem is such an important item for all three of them, which is strange because we're told in the film that totems should be deeply personal and individually singular. for mal, it's an object that seeds doubt. but for cobb and saito it's pretty much exclusively used to reassert reality. i'd love a fic that focuses on the spinning top passing through each of their hands and the significance it plays.

what if mal’s projection went with cobb to rescue saito from limbo. all three of them ending up back in that room from the opening. this fragmented and doomed husband and dead wife couple of cobb and mal tag-teaming old man saito and convincing him he wants to leave limbo and live.

mal/saito:

i love the in media res opening of this film. i'm always super interested in mal's projection here and how quickly and fully saito seems to trust what is essentially a construct of cobb's subconscious. i'd love to see how that meeting went.

medium opt-ins:

unique rules - interactive fiction - AO3-style choose your own adventure

dreamsharing has infinite possibilies for style, situation and setting. throwing these characters back into it could be infinitely fun too.

writing - in-universe rpf
writing - in-universe tabloid article

look, saito is a very successful businessman who can buy out entire airlines on a whim, he's undoubtably graced the covers of magazines, been interviewed, and had unflattering articles written about the fact that he has a known mistress. cobb, on the other hand, was the no.1 suspect in his wife's murder and was informally on the run from the country. surely, if they were suddenly frequently seen together going to dinner, people would be interested. tbh, i chose tabloid article instead of newspaper article because trashier seemed funnier, but either would be cool.




sas: rogue heroes (tv)

*augustin jordan/paddy mayne

so paddy as a character is endlessly fascinating to me. he is every possible contradiction housed inside one man. he's foul mouthed and violent yet he treasures books and quotes poetry from memory. he's boyish and oddly sweet faced but hides it behind a sweaty toothed madman beard. he's suicidal and drowning in his own unspeakable grief yet continues to live on and struggle through life anyway. he has entire conversations with his ghosts despite being aggressively practical in all other things. he's a savage mean bitch and yet i love him.

augustin, though, appears to be crazier still because within hours of meeting this clearly insane man he decides to wrestle him half naked in the sand. AND THEN, after having a knife held to his throat and a loaded gun pointed at him, he continues again and again to rise to paddy's bait. augustin talks back, pushes back, bites back. he even seems to enjoy it. and THAT'S what i find so compelling with these two. stirling proposes they might get along since they share a love for books and bloody rhetoric and, low and behold, they actually do (if getting along means butting heads with bared teeth and always coming back for more, which it absolutey does.)

as for the world of the show and how much it differs from true reality, i readily forget these characters are supposedly based on real people, and i think the show pretty much disregards this too. feel free to lean into its more absurd and modern take on the war and its people, i would actually prefer it. i'm mostly here for the homoerotic wrestling, not so much the political commentary.

prompts:

there's so much delicious angst ready to be explored between them. there's eion's ghost, for one. it can't be ignored that augustin is another tall, skinny, dark haired presence at paddy's side, one we've been shown is not so easily scared away and maybe has the potential to soothe the barking beast inside paddy's head just as eion once did. but the more augustin learns about paddy's grief, the more he may wonder why paddy sometimes looks at him strangely, or lets his hand linger on him a fraction too long.

i adore any and all references to paddy being a mad dog on a leash, only there's no one left around him who is stupid enough to try and pick up the other end. eion dropped it in death and its loose tail has since been whipping dangerously around and getting snagged on every minor inconvenience. i kind of see paddy as one of those dogs that walks around with its own leash in its mouth. they often choose if and when to put it back in their owner's hand. i'd love something about augustin's many attempts to get close enough to try and tame paddy and all the times he's inevitably gotten bitten for it. (literally, if you wanna go that route!)

their relationship being developed through their lending library of books. would love something where they grow closer by begrudgingly exchanging books, maybe going out of their way to get something they think the other would like, or forcing them to read something they know the other would hate. being able to say what they can’t outloud through book titles, authors and dog-eared passages instead. how that mute and cowardly way of holding a conversation is juxtaposed against two people supposedly so heavily invested in words.

go wild. go supernatural. they both have so many people that haunt them in death and a vast and lonely desert surrounding them. maybe the pressure gets to paddy and he goes off to find eoin’s body again. maybe augustin goes with him, knowing paddy’s willingness to let himself die. maybe they encounter each other’s painful ghosts along their journey.

something set during S2, maybe they still keep in touch via letters. what better way to keep sparring with each other than by sparring with the written word. OR, considering the war takes paddy back to europe and more specifically to france, maybe there's a chance they randomly meet again, now that paddy is this new breed of fucked in the head animal. OR augustin doesn't just vanish between series (or get captured as real life would lead us to believe.) maybe he sticks with the SAS on their return to europe and is around to witness paddy's entire transformation first hand. idk, i'm just so inexplicably obsessed with the idea of augustin getting to see paddy clean shaven and realising oh no, he's actually cute.

medium opt-ins:

writing - in-universe complaint form
writing - list of things (character) is not allowed to do

i could see this being something a little less serious and fun. it could be complaints and restrictions against the other. OR some of the higher ups finding reasons to complain about the historical menace their teaming up would be.

writing - in-universe diary entry
writing - in-universe excerpts from a character's journal/notebook

i'm thinking this could be personal thoughts and letters written but never sent. OR it could be something as simple as a list of book/poem recommendations along with scribbled reasons why they think certain lines and passages would resonate.

writing - in-universe memoir

maybe in time, after some personal growth and changes in the landscape of the world, these characters could mention each other in their memoirs. maybe they could express deeper feelings OR drown the text in further implications and subtext, as is the usual way.




from (tv)

*jade herrera/kenny liu
*jade herrera/rudra khatri
*rudra khatri/boyd stevens
*jade herrera & ethan matthews & julie matthews
*wb: flight of the cromenockle by kay dillon
*wb: history of flight of the cromenockle by kay dillon

so jade is my no.1 guy by a mile. he has chemistry with everyone because he rubs everyone the wrong way, and it's this friction that wholeheartedly translates into interesting character dynamics in my eyes. he's gone on such a wild journey in a relatively short span of time in show and i'm equally as enamoured by each stage of his development. spoilt rich guy who thinks he can buy his way out of a VR simulation, check. manic science man who tries to engineer his way out of schrodinger's box, absolutely. depressed and unshaven old man cardigan wearing hobo plagued by visions, i am into it. even the reveal he's some kind of reincarnated town resident who lost his daughter to child sacrifice, he is endlessly fascinating to me because, despite apparently living many lifetimes, he is somehow still the WORST at making a good impression. which, just chef's kiss, my guy. you beautiful loser, you.

more generally, i love the horror tropes of this show. the constant looming threat of the monsters, the confusing mess of shit they keep finding in the woods, being confined inside with relative strangers during the night, the body horror, the teleporting trees, the kimono lady, the looping nature of the roads in and out of town, the forced comradery of having to get along or die, the vague threat of some kind of greater spider god that feeds off dead children which we still haven't seen, lost loved ones coming back as ghosts, hearing voices speaking through electronics, the way coincidences are so frequently occurring and bad, whatever the hell the cromenockle actually is, time travel being very real and possible, generations of child sacrifice, and so on and so on. feel free to make up your own weird shit and throw it into the pot, as nothing seems to be too weird for this show.

as for the pairings, i'm a big believer in the jade/tabitha/jim disaster of a trio from every possible angle and have received many wonderful gifts in the past. but, like i said, i'd love to see some of these other relationships be explored.

prompts:

jade/kenny:

kenny is easily the sweetest and kindest guy in town and all he ever gets in return is misery on top of more misery. to not only lose both of his parents to this town but also have his crush's fiancee miraculously stumble back into the picture...that's rough, buddy. i'd love for kenny to experience some kind of happiness in whatever form it might come.

and honestly i saw so much potential in the beginning for these two to have a more significant relationship. kenny seems to take responsibility of jade in those early days, being the one to push the reality of the situation, showing him tobey's body, giving jade a literal home and sharing his family life with him. they really should have capitalised on this more. with jade's wilder theories being put into practice, i think it would have been balanced well by kenny's more practical voiced protection as the town's deputy. they could have gotten so much shit done as a team. so anything set during that early time would be amazing. plus, i adore jade's relationship with tian-chen and was distraught when she died, so having her still be around to comment on whatever relationship develops really tickles me as an idea.

jade/khatri:

a real missed opportunity here, i think. jade calls him beautiful while high out of his mind, but i can't imagine his opinion would change that much by the time he's sober because he's right, khatri is indeed very hot. khatri also carries an unconscious jade all the way up to colony house, saving his life, and it makes me sad we never got another scene between them where jade learns this and has to be reluctantly greatful. just imagine if khatri gave jade the same kind of welcome speech that donna gives to tabitha, all while jade is still tied to the bed, of course.

khatri's such a wonderful, morally grey character overall, the fact that he's a guilt ridden priest on top of that just makes him that much hotter. he's mysterious, he's funny, he still manages to be creepily preachy while also fully subscribing to the weird twisted logic this town creates. he condones the death penalty for drunken mistakes (a little hypocritical, my guy, but okay), while also tying sara up in his church basement because he believes it will benefit everyone in the long run. (he absolutely would have been okay with sara plucking elgin's eye out because it was for the greater good, and i fully stand by my opinion on this.) khatri is a refreshing voice of reason in a confusing, mind-fuck of a town. or, at least he was, anyway.

when i think about it, the sheer raw power these two characters could have had being snarky bitches at the back of every room, at the sidelines of every important conversation, at the making of every difficult decision, it actually makes me mad not sad that we never got to experience it. and look, they might not have gotten as much shit done as i suspect a jade and kenny team up might have, but damn i bet it would have been deliciously fun just to see it. picturing boyd's reactions alone to this united front fills me with pure joy.

there's some kind of fic percolating in the back of my mind that has to do with tobey and his very quickly forgotten presense in the show. jade lost his best friend of many years when he arrived in town and khatri's a priest whose literal job it is to deal with grief and the passing on of souls. these two facts connect, right? jade DOES NOT strike me as religious or even spiritual, but maybe he still visits tobey's grave at the church where khatri lives, and maybe they cross paths at some point? (i still think about the fact that we never got any kind of revelation or confrontation between jade and sara. he has to know sara killed tobey, right? and well, khatri does have her tied to a chair in his basement at one point...

there’s also the fact that jade is one of the few people who regularly sees ghosts of dead residents in town, so what if he started seeing dead khatri too? dead tom is jade's usual voice of reason, but how would khatri's advice differ?

khatri/boyd:

old man yaoi at it's finest. i've described them in the past as an old man unstoppable force meeting an old man immovable object. i do believe they take turns inhabiting each side of this dichotomy depending on the argument they are having, and is that not just the MOST married behaviour you've ever heard of.

jokes aside, i do find their reluctant leader/morally grey advisor dynamic very compelling. while alive, khatri's firm belief in boyd borders on being sacreligious. right from the very moment boyd arrives in town, khatri is already pushing him to take charge. it's almost as if his shaky faith in god at this time, further compounded by the horrors he's already experienced, has transposed that faith into boyd instead. highly suspicious actions from a priest, i'd say. not beautifully yaoi-like at all. i'd love anything that delves into this weird kind of worship they have going on. why exactly is khatri so certain boyd can succeed in getting them home?

dead khatri is something altogether different simply because we can't be sure what he even is, who he is, and what his motivations might be if it does turn out he's actually a construct created by the town. he still acts like boyd's conscience from what we see, but is that just boyd's hopeful wishing? i tend to lean towards it being some form of the real khatri with his soul/energy being trapped in the ether, unable to move on. but what if it's really more sinister than that? i'd love to see a darker take on it, honestly.

jade & ethan & julie:

i think daily about jade getting involved in the time travel plot line. i desperately need to see his mind get shattered once again by something that should be scientifically impossible. post jim's death i can only imagine ethan and julie's desperation to change the past is going to delve into dangerous territory, and i think it would be fun to throw jade into the mix. there's also the fact that he had a daughter with their mother in a past life, and so having him hang out with his not!kids is very strange and funny to me.

(history of) flight of the cromenockle by kay dillon:

i've had a fascination with the cromenockle ever since she was first mentioned. i'd love to know more about the history of the book, the author, and possibly even the text of the book itself. i did read a theory that tabitha or jade could be the author from a past life...which is definitely interesting. failing that, i also really love it when unsettling coincidences are made apparant, and so maybe someone other than ethan could read the book and notice some creepy parallels between the story and something horrific happening in town.

medium opt-ins:

art - in-universe art

like i said, i'd love to see more of flight of the cromenockle. and if the some of the illustrations in the book just so happen to be eerily similiar to something in town, that would be even cooler.

art - conspiracy board
unique rules - map: drawn or cc-licensed map + annotations or map related notes

never has a universe been more suited to having an insane conspiracy board about it. OR a confusing, often edited and heavily redacted, map of the ever changing town. i imagine once the time traveling starts for real, something like this is going to be needed to keep track of events, people, and the things to avoid. feel free to go completely wild with this.




24 (tv)

*tony almeida/jack bauer
*tony almeida/george mason
*tony almeida & george mason

i was a huge fan of this show back when dvd boxsets were still a thing, and i pretty much wore my sets out watching them on repeat. more recently, it showed up on disney+ and i’ve been reliving my obsession off and on again ever since.

seasons 1-4 were the golden years for me. i continued to watch past that and enjoyed it, but certain events of season 5 (namely: the deaths of tony, michelle and david palmer) were hard for me to get over. i give special dispensation to season 7 because they brought my very special boy tony almeida back as a villain (which i admittedly hated at the time, but have since come to love and really appreciate as a legitimate path for his character to take. more on that below in my prompts.)

it’s so amusing for me to go back to the first season and see tony as this smug, soul patch having loser. a minor character that i’m pretty sure we’re meant to dislike just for the crime of being opposed to jack and nina, all while knowing in the back of my mind the amazing journey his character goes on. just know that i appreciate every era he goes through, even his loser one.

tony manages to stay very dry and sardonic throughout his span on the show, which i adore in a character (to this day, i still mimic his flat yah every time he answers a phone.) he shows that he can hold his own in the field too (heart eyes for all the times tony shows up with a gun at the last second to save the day, like with terri in season 1 and jack and audrey in season 4.) but he’s also savvy enough at the bureaucracy side of things to rise up the ranks to head of CTU. (RIP to george mason, my absolute favourite side character, despite lasting only two seasons. xander berkeley the GOAT.)

i do love tony’s relationship with michelle because i find it fascinating how similar she is to jack at times. the thing with jack and michelle is that they are very much believers of the adage the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and the one, which is obviously very important for the job they do. whereas tony is always more interested in saving the singular people he cares about, and ultimately his wife, meaning the few and the one. it’s what leads to his arrest later, tony putting michelle above his country, and that kind of loyalty, him damning of all the consequences, is numero uno in my book.

as for jack, i definitely grew up thinking he was the coolest person alive (i find ways to casually bring up in conversations the moment at the la coliseum when he runs up the wall and snaps that guy’s neck an embarrassing amount.) he’s a one man army, a terminator, endlessly persistent, and yet he still has that much needed empathy left in him to sit in his car at the end of a long day and cry about about having to chop off his partner's hand with a fire axe. he really can do it all. he's an unrelenting force of good is jack bauer, even if that sometimes means doing bad. it's always justfied in his eyes, because it's him. he is a hypocrite a lot of the time but that only serves to make him more flawed and interesting.

there’s an underlying loyalty between these two that starts, i think, from the moment they learn about nina’s status as a mole. the fact that they both slept with her at different times (possibly even overlapping) lends itself to a certain bond going forward. a mutual betrayal building a weird commiserating trust. from there, i love seeing tony become one of the few people at CTU jack trusts pretty implicitly. he entrusts kim’s safety (*sighs* oh, kim) to tony on numerous occasions, to the point where tony and michelle even help jack fake his death. can’t get much more trusting than that.

the 24h clock format for the show really was groundbreaking at the time, and i think it still continues to be a major positive that the show has going for it. i love all the subterfuge and having spies working both sides right under your nose. the quick and sudden violence underscored by the ticking clock. the technology is also hilariously dated at this point too that payphones were a legitimate defense against terrorism and secret agendas. and i love all of that naughties tv drama nonsense.

i do like a lot of their canon relationships as well. depending on the season setting you choose to write in, i’m fine with references to past relationships like tony/michelle, tony/nina, jack/nina, jack/kate, jack/audrey. and despite my requests i'm still very interested in anything exploring tony/jack/michelle and tony/jack/nina, just so long as tony/jack remains the focus.

prompts:

tony/jack:

straight out of prison, depressed and alcoholic tony is a personal favourite of mine. the way jack relays all the sad facts of tony's life to audrey so casually has always blown my mind because it means jack was there at the sidelines to see it all. he even mentions michelle’s side of things, showing that he’s familiar with her post-separation too, like he's been checking up on them both. i once read a post where someone asked: do you think jack was the best man at tony’s wedding? and that question has haunted me ever since. it's also pretty obvious to me that jack cashed in a favour with the president to get tony that pardon from prison and it must bother him to see tony squandering his second chance like that. so anything set around that period would be amazing.

there’s so much potential in a fic set pre-season 3. the whole secret OP that jack, tony and gael organise off the record, which involves getting jack addicted to heroin and in with the salazars. it’s rife for further exploring, maybe something messy and uncomfortably intimate with tony being jack’s only point of contact during this period, and having to deal with his addiction and the realities of him involving himself in that criminal world all behind michelle’s back.

season 7 villain tony. i love the angst jack experiences when learning that tony is still alive. i think the show fumbles tony’s true motivations a little by having him flip flop between real villain, undercover good guy, back to actual villain getting revenge for michelle. if they had picked one and stuck with it all the way, i think it might have worked better. having said that, i can get behind both versions, and would love a fic detailing either paths. especially something post-season 7 that explores jack reaching out to tony while he’s back in custody. OR what if tony succeeded in evading capture? what if he made a strange habit of popping back up in jack's life while on the run?

tony/(&)george:

i'm well aware that this pairing is rare even by rare pair standards, but i recently watched season 2 again and found myself loving every interaction between tony and george. they're the exact same kind of bitchy co-worker who rolls his eyes at you behind your back, and i just know they'd be so fun together. and, god, the tragedy of what george mason goes through during day 2. yes, we were robbed of more time with george but, at the same time, it's THE perfect arc. it's karma. the cowardly asshole gets subjected to the exact same treatment he was trying to run from. it's like poetry, it rhymes. BUT, what blows my mind is how kind tony is with him after he learns about george's radiation poisoning. tony just casually saying i'll keep an eye on him to michelle and then spending half the day propping george up so that he can keep doing his job, for as long as he's able...i'll never get over it. george handing the rank of CTU head guy over the tony before he leaves on his suicide mission come with real respect, i think. i really believe they liked each other but, man, just where did that beautiful loyalty even come from? i'd love to see more of it.

having said that, i’m also weirdly fascinated by the reality of working at CTU during the non-disaster days. the boring, day to day stuff we don’t ever get to see. anything set during one of those days could be really fun. let george and tony bitch about their work and lack of personal lives while standing at the water cooler together. let them get beers after work. let them fall into bed one evening and then never speak of it again. OR, better yet, have george snidely point out how tony has almost filled out his bingo card when it comes to sleeping with his co-workers.

medium opt-ins:

writing - in-universe bureaucratic paperwork
writing - in-universe classified documents
writing - in-universe mission report
writing - in-universe official workplace documentation

i'll be honest, i'm not sure how to impliment these ideas while keeping it believably in-universe and in character, as well as implying any kind of relationship between them. BUT, i'd love to be proven wrong.

writing - in-universe true crime podcast transcript

this is incredibly stupid, but i'm now picturing a podcast episode speculating about the man who sacrificed himself by flying a nuclear bomb into the las vegas desert. george mason should have a government sanctioned offical celebration day in my eyes but what if less is known by the public about who he was?




jurassic world: chaos theory

*darius bowman/kenji kon
*brooklyn/darius bowman/kenji kon

right off the bat, i think it's pretty believeable that romance could develop between any one of the nublar 6. going through such a traumatic experience together at such a young age has created a bond and a shared experience that i imagine would be hard to find with another person. so, although kenji specifically finds a place in darius' family after camp cretaceous, i don't think this closeness necessarily rules out the chance of feelings ever developing. best friends are always just a coin flip away from falling love in fiction.

that said, this closeness does allow for more reasons for them to fall out, to create friction, to understand each other on a far deeper level, and to tap into the widely varied father issues that both darius and kenji have in common. i love the found family aspect of this show in general, but a little pinch of anger, jealousy, betrayal, and distrust just sweetens the pot for me.

i really love where they've taken kenji's character so far. i liked him fine as the goofy rich kid who was somewhat naive about the horrible way his dad treated him. he was very obviously bravadoing his way through his trauma, trying to ignore it for what it really was. BUT i love him even more now that he's finally acknowledging the truth and choosing to cut ties with his father, instead attempting to build his own life and independence. he's still goofy, but now it's masking a deep depression and near obsession with keeping his friends safe, to point that he's willing to die for it, and that's definitely more my jam. the arrival of smoothie has definitely helped him to reach a more positive place, but i still like that brooklyn's betrayal has permenantly changed him.

darius is still the firm backbone of the group despite being the youngest. he's brave, kind, rightous to a fault, and even after experiencing what they all did on the island is still somehow a true patron to all dinosaurs. but i really like that he was able to have his own emotional response to brooklyn, with his own very specific feelings. he was forced to experience real doubt in his friends for the first time during the first part of this series and i find that reaction so incredibly interesting and ripe for exploring.

as for brooklyn, i honestly really like that she keeps persevering with her work. i find her actions and her choices to be perfectly in character, especially after it's already cost her so much. i'll admit i was a little disappointed when they revealed she was still alive, not because i don't like her, but because i was impressed this kids show was willing to touch on such a dark idea. that said, losing her arm and having to deal with this new disability as well as her ptsd is still very extreme, and i appreciate the inclusion of it.

while i don't particularly like the jurassic world trilogy of films, i do enjoy the concept they set up of having dinosaurs free roaming around the world. i enjoy the whole conspiracy theory side of the underground dinosaur black market, the scientific side that deals with the genetic manipulation of dinosaurs (the hints we see of really messed up dinosaurs in jurassic world: rebirth was super interesing. just a shame they did nothing with it) and i love the juxtaposed way we're shown dinosaurs have been tamed, with the raptor handler lady controlling killing machines compared to bumpy and smoothie being raised with love.

as a bonus, yaz is my favourite other camper. i love her arc in camp cretaceous of finally letting people get close to her. i love how its continued and transformed into a fierce loyalty towards her friends. i particularly enjoy her relationship with kenji in chaos theory as she clearly recognises kenji's self-destructive habits getting worse and is constantly show to be looking out for him.

prompts:

darius/kenji:

it wasn't until chaos theory aired that i started to see the potential in this pairing. that first season did so much for everyone's characters. it really felt like time had passed, something which doesn't always happen when shows introduce a time skip.

there's potential for feelings during the time between shows, sure, but i really only see that happening if kenji and brooklyn aren't together (maybe she realises how much she loves her work a little sooner.) BUT, more compelling to me, i find something happening as a result of brooklyn's "death" way more likely. maybe one of them tries reaching out earlier to deal with their grief and things go differently. OR, what if brooklyn really did die and sometime in future kenji realises he misses darius more than he's mad at him?

the episodes surrounding daniel kon's death and kenji's subsequent breakdown are my absolute favourite. i love that the show didn't shy away from the messy fallout and kenji's conflicted feelings over losing his dad who treated him so poorly. the scene where darius comforts him remains the highlight of the entire show so far, and so i'd love something that delves into that, be it in that moment, some time later, or the future. connecting it to darius' loss and having him being open about that in return would be a huge bonus.

alternatively, and most likely of all, i find anytime after the reveal that brooklyn is still alive to be wide open with possibilities. brooklyn chooses her work over both of them on multiple occasions (please no bashing brooklyn for this choice!), and they both might have to accept she wants neither of them.

brooklyn/darius/kenji:

my answer to every love triangle is always jigsawing the three characters together in a way that fits. in camp cretaceous, i saw the brooklyn/darius potential way more than i ever saw the brooklyn/kenji potential, so i was already predisposed to liking them, but chaos theory did a good job setting up reasons to feel kenji's loss of their relationship as well as brooklyn's guilt. i think each character could feasibly do a good job bridging the other two together in a relationship, depending on the circumstances, and i'd love see any configuration of them. i'd end this by saying they all have two hands, but...you know.

medium opt-ins:

writing - in-universe interview
writing - in-universe tabloid article
writing - in-universe transcript of podcast or radio show

the nublar 6 are famous when they finally are rescued from the island. i'm sure they were subjected to many interviews, had articles written about them, or were even invited onto podcast/radio shows to talk about their experiences. so maybe an outsider perspective would be used here. OR, maybe darker than that, brooklyn's "death" being very public must have caused problems with people trying to get a quote or an interview, to the point of getting too invasive. so what about a 5+1 fic with darius or kenji having the other's back during this difficult time, even while they were still having issues with each other?

writing - any in-universe documents that fit the canon setting

i'm picturing a scenerio where brooklyn continues jetting around the world, sniffing out corruption. but maybe she finds different ways to still communicate with the rest of the nublar 6. texts, voice mails, emails, dark web forum posts, encryption flash drives she sends to darius for safe keeping. what if apologies and forgiven are slowly metered out to them all in this way, with special messages for darius and kenji? and what if a tentative relationship starts to develop through these messages?




the last boy scout

*joe hallenbeck/jimmy dix
*joe hallenbeck/jimmy dix & darian hallenbeck
*joe hallenbeck & jimmy dix & darian hallenbeck
*joe hallenbeck/sarah hallenbeck/jimmy dix

i've always slotted this film into a trilogy which includes kiss kiss bang bang and the nice guys, which are all written by shane black, and i dearly wish this one was as well known and as beloved as the others because it's honestly just as good. buddy movies with a dark, comic tone are my absolute favourite genre and shane black has practically perfected the formula, to the point that he admittedly reuses a lot of tropes and character beats. that's more than okay with me because if it ain't broke, why fix it?

i love noir detective tropes and frankly absurd violence, both of which this has in spades. i love stories about underdogs trying to fight things much bigger than themselves, be that a corrupt politician, an entire sports betting league, or even the president himself. it's all about unusual team-ups discovering they work well together.

there's a theme of redemption, or more specifically a theme of characters clawing their way back up from rock bottom. i love stories about characters exploring second chances, especially when their downfall can seen as their fault. guilt, addiction, depression, self-sabotage and grief are all briefly touched on and i have no problem with these themes possibly being further explored.

it's revealed at one point that joe was a fan of jimmy's back when he was still playing football. he even has one of those collectable cards that jimmy later signs (love this origin for the film's title.) that said, i really like that the friction in their partnership doesn't come from the fact that joe and jimmy are very different people, but from the fact that joe was so personally disappointed jimmy fucked up his life the way he did that he ended up swearing off the entire sport. it really makes you revaluate how quickly joe accepts jimmy's company in the first place, like there's this faint layer of respect, or maybe even hero worship between them that ultimately gets shattered twice.

darian is another shane black staple; a foul mouthed precocious young girl who is a daughter to the main character. i love that she's able to still be a kid who backtalks her dad and carries around a hand puppet for comfort (very plot important!), yet is still treated as a serious character and also gets to help solve the case. the progression of the father-daughter relationship is oddly sweet as well for how real it feels.

prompts:

joe/jimmy:

there isn't a single fic that i've been able to find for this film so virtually anything would delight me. it does end with joe suggesting jimmy stick around as his partner and so a future case fic makes a lot of sense. maybe something that highlights how different it will be when they're working on a case that isn't so heavily invested in their lives. soemthing exploring their adjustment period, maybe.

the football card thing rotates in my mind constantly. so maybe jimmy pushes it too, wanting to know more. just how much of a fan was joe?

i'm also curious about the fallout from the climax. jimmy is a known public figure, he's recognised multiple times during the film, and then he's falling off of freeways, riding horses through crowds, throwing passes at corrupt governers' noses, and hanging out with disgraced secret sevice agents turned private investigators. lets say he does continue on as joe's partner, my question is: what the hell does the public think about that?

joe(/&)jimmy & darian:

i love darian getting involved in cases and i love how well she seems to get along with jimmy. so more of that, in any form, would be great.

joe/sarah/jimmy:

okay. so, a long shot on top of a long shot here, but what if the hallenbecks did adopt jimmy into their lives? or even their bed?





uncharted (movie 2022)

*nathan drake/victor sullivan
*nathan drake/victor sullivan & samuel drake
*victor sullivan/samuel drake

i'm big fan of the games and, while i don't think this film is a great representation of the series, i do still have a soft spot for it. uncharted 3 is my personal favourite game because it focuses on the relationship between nate and sully, while delving into their backstory. and that's where my interest mostly lies in the film too: the rocky beginnings of their partnership. it does go on a slightly more antagonistic route here but i do think it ends in a positive enough place, setting up for a better oiled machine in the future. that said, there's still plenty of potential for their globe trotting adventures to go wrong, which means hurt/comfort fics, character's getting injured in life threatening situations, and forced instances where nate and sully only have each other to rely on, and i would love to see any of these scenarios in a fic.

i love action/adventure films, hunts for mysterious macguffins, and stories about character loyalties being tested in the pursuit of fame and fortune. my love for these themes really can be boiled down to the meme phrase it's not about the treasure, it's about the friends we made along the way.

i'm totally into the older/younger man dynamic both platonically and romantically, with the mentor teaching his protege, though i do love to see the roles be reversed at times depending on the circumstances. sully's skills as a pilot should absolutely be more utilised for my specific enjoyment, as well as nate's history buff side which i think gets a little buried beneath his criminal, pick-pocketing side in the film. i like that nate eventually softens sully’s edges. not all the way, as i also like that they are still kind of dicks to each other, but now it's done with fondness and familiarity.

one of the most interesting aspects, and something that's different from the games, is the shift in guilt over sully leaving sam behind believing him to be dead. making sully be the one to carry this guilt instead of nate adds a fascinating layer to their relationship, as well as sully and sam's relationship. i think tapping into nate's fear of abandonment, the potential for him to believe he's just a poorer replacement for his brother, and sully having to pay for his lying and his betrayal all make for great fic fodder.

prompts:

nate/sully:

i'd love a fic where they just get to know each other a little better, like learning surprising things, skills, preferences, wells of knowledge, object they've stolen before, and ect. could be a good 5+1 fic.

one of them gets injured at the worst possible time. during an escaping gunfight, while trying to pilot a helicopter, while the ancient puzzle room they're in is slowly filling with water. idk, could be anything as long as it's a kind of peril, with teeth gritting pain and lots of denial that there's anything wrong.

i know it's easy pickings, but i never tire of the trope...so being trapped in the trunk of that car together for 10 hours, during a time when nate is still so raw after learning the truth about his brother, that's a lot time for whispered conversations, getting uncomfortable and knocking elbows and knees and worse, coming to the realisation how little room there is, and generally getting on each other's nerves. i love characters getting trapped together and having conversations that are akin to pulling teeth.

one thing that i love from the games and wish would carry over into this universe are the supernatural elements, like when the artifacts they find actually contain religous power, or the legends of ancient creatures turn out to be real. the more obscurer the object, legend or creature, the better. i love the sudden shift of the otherworldly crossing over into reality.

nate/sully & sam:

sully mentions that sam used to talk about his younger brother all the time. i can imagine sully learns a lot about nate before ever meeting him. so, what does the real thing compare to the stories?

there's also the predictable reveal at the end that sam is still alive and continuing to write nate postcards from, presumably, some unknown spanish prison. if sam did somehow break out and find his way back to america, just what the hell would he think if he found out sully had recruited his little brother, effectively replacing him? OR, futher than that, was in a relationship with him too? is nate also a replacement in that sense too?

sully/sam:

sully speaks so highly of sam when explaining how they use to be partners. hell, they were friends, even. i'd love to read about some of their adventures, especially something that highlights the differences between nate's kind of fumbling competence and sam's more hardened experience.

sully clearly feels guilty about abandoning sam. so i'd love to read something about sam confronting sully about this after finding his way back to the united states.

medium opt-ins:

unique rules - map: drawn or cc-licensed map + annotations or map related notes

i'm imagining an indiana jones style red line zigzaging across a map, with a bunch of handwritten notes and asides by nate and sully. could be very cute :3

illustrated text (art & writing) - in-universe journal/notebook/sketchbook page

i love the glimpses we get of nate's journal in the games, the notes detailing places he's been, the artifacts he's found, and all the technicals drawings and silly sketches. i'd love to see some excerpts from this Nate's version of his journal. comedy sketches of sully with a moustache will be awarded massive bonus points!




dark (tv 2017)

*helge doppler/noah | hanno tauber
*helge doppler & noah | hanno tauber
*helge doppler & ulrich nielsen

i'm currently working my way through my second viewing of this show so i won't claim to have a thorough and concrete understanding of everything that happens. i do know i love the messy and convoluted journey it takes, while never shying away from the weird and fucked up consequences of living a life in and out of time.

BUT, just like the first time i watched it, i do keep finding myself getting stuck on helge doppler as a character. there's just something about the cyclical tragedy of his life and the seemingly doomed manner of his existence that gets under my skin.

i have so much sympathy for him as a bullied kid who goes through a traumatic attack, only to then be sucked into an even more bizarre time travelling mystery. equally, i still feel for the older version of him who is constantly being manipulated by noah into doing evil things while being told it's all for the greater good. sure, he's able to grasp onto some much needed autonomy as an old man, but by that time it's already too late and he uses it to try and kill his younger self, ultimately commiting suicide in a very different way. i mean, there's having immeasurable guilt fueled by your own self-loathing, and then there's whatever this is. everything about his character makes me sad, but in a way like a toothache where i can't stop poking at it.

AND, depending on which POV you narrow down to on this show, you end up with an entirely different understanding of the same events. because then there's noah.

we spend so much time with noah believing him to be this mysterious source of evil, that when we finally do learn the truth about why he's doing these things, the sympathy for his character hits you like a rock to the face. because he's also being lied to and manipulated by someone he trusted. and it's this trickle down of hidden motivations twisting up what could have been potentially good people, maybe even the nicest people with so much love to give...that's what i find really compelling.

as for these characters together, i do believe the more uneven the relationship is, the more i get a kick out of it. BUT, i will say this for clarification, i'm not looking for any kind of explicit sexual interactions between them while helge is still a child. noah can be his creepy, comforting self, but should you want to write me anything that goes further than that, i would like for it to be when helge meets him again as an adult. other than that, anything that could happen between them is basically a free space on a bingo card, as the uncomfortable and sometimes inappropriate realities of these characters overlapping each other at different times in their lives is just to be expected when being a fan of dark (tv 2017).

specifically, i'm all about noah's tactics of manipulating helge through gentle touches and hugs when he's most vulnerable, which is exactly the kind of physical love he never got from his strict, religious mother. (in fact, the whole religious angle of noah disguising himself as a priest in order to worm his way in helge's home sure is something, because it's also barely a disguise. the concept of good and evil being tangled up like that, with both his mother and his apparant saviour...that poor kid never did stand a chance at growing up normal.) i love noah putting his hands on helge's face both old and young, unafraid to touch his scars. and i love noah quoting things that aren't really scripture but still invoke the same kind of expected devotion usually reserved for god.

feel free to delve into the horrible child kidnapping and murdering side of their interactions. i know what i'm getting myself into by asking for more of these characters.

prompts:

helge(/&)noah:

so i get a bit confused about the timeline surrounding their work on the chair. as far as i can tell noah works with the older helge in early 1986, kidnapping children to help develop the time travel chair. THEN kid helge gets pulled through the wormhole to late 1986 where noah cares for him for 6 six months while he (they? do the helges overlap?? do they meet???) put the finishing touches on the chair, before finally sending kid helge back to 1954 as the first successful trip? if that's true then that's a long time to be in the care of a stranger, dealing with impossible concepts like time travel and god's supposed plan for him, all while also healing from such a harrowing attack that left him disfigured. you have to imagine it would take a lot to gain the trust of child who has just been through all that. hell, just being willing to sit in that electric chair lookalike says so much about the trust that's obviously grown between them. PLUS, i guess during all that noah is also putting down the groundwork acting as a priest in 1954, gaining greta's trust, in order to be ready to meet helge again after he has travelled back. idk, that's a lot of time and effort to invest in a man, just to then completely forget about him. anyway, what i'm getting at is this: i'd love to know more about the 6 months kid helge spends in noah's care. seriously, i would be ecstatic to read anything.

even before his naivety is literally bashed out of his head with a rock, we get hints of what could be helge's darker side. his box full of dead birds, which can be explained away by childish curiosity, and him purposefully leading claudia's dog into the cave to become lost, which can be put down to just childish jealousy. BUT, what if this dark side is then further nutured by say a random attack by a stranger, an impossible jump through time, and being told that to save the world he will have to kill a few kids? idk, maybe noah recognises some of these darker signs taking root. does he encourage it for his own gain, or try to steer him right out of a sense of guilt?

i'd kind of love to read something that's just about the daily nitty-gritty of building such a machine together. how the fallout of their failures make the next days even more tense. how does noah keep convincing helge to continue?

did noah ever get the urge to visit elderly helge in 2019? and would helge's dementia at its worst stop him from being able to recognise noah, or would helge always know the man he's known for his entire life?

helge & ulrich:

the scene where ulrich tries to kill helge is very tough to watch, not just because we are seeing the lengths ulrich is willing to go to save his son but because, in a way, he is right: helge did kidnap his brother, it's just not THIS helge that does it. but, idk, what if ulrich had faltered at the last second? what if he'd tried a different tactic to scare him? OR, what if ulrich, while stuck in 1954, just continued to talk to the boy?

i know events in this world are often inevitable in order to close the loop, but now i'm picturing ulrich travelling to 1986 from the get go. not knowing his son is here, how would his plan change if he ran into 1986 helge instead?

elderly helge suffers from dementia but he still reacts in fear when seeing ulrich again. i can't imagine this is the first time they've crossed paths during all these years. and so i wonder just at what point in his life does helge realise who ulrich is?