Assignments out and initial pinch hits!
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press_start_commWe are now out of character creation and into the prologue of the game itself ... aka assignments are out! This year, we have 65 (!!) signups, which is the most ever. Congratulations! If there are any mistakes or issues with your assighment, please let me know at press.start.mod[at]gmail.com as soon as possible so that I can fix this up for you.
There will be a post with a spreadsheet of all requests and also beta offers in the near future, so watch this space!
Finally, we have four initial pinch hits. If you are interested in picking these up, please comment with your AO3 name. All comments are screened!
Pinch Hit 1
Request 1 by faceofstone
Obduction (Video Game)
Fanart, Fanfiction, Any Character
What’s your favorite spot on Hunrath? What’s your favorite odd item (is it RIUM+’s Myst book? Is it the Unwritten manual? The dog photo?)? Tell me a story about it, through any combination of the main trio. Or tell me about how it’s like to live in that new world at the end, humans, villein, arai and so very few mofang, and Farley’s plan was what got them there for better and for worse. Or a night at that cute little pub they added with the patch. Tell me about the differences between Farley’s worldview, since Hunrath is all she knows, and CW who misses his life on Earth so much. What’s Josef’s story in this regard? Or focus on any aspect of Earth culture that got lost on Hunrath, or one that got preserved, or how the 19th century habits of some obductees clash with their neighbors who come from a few centuries later, and how it all eventually becomes Hunrath’s unique culture. Or what are your favorite character’s feelings on the Sorian sky hanging on their head?
As for Karl Hunrath, I found out that he's a real-life footnote in UFO history and disappeared during a flight on his plane - likely the same plane we see in the pub. What did he feel when he walked out of that little cavern and found an alien sky above? Was his life-ruining interest in aliens the driving force that led him to reorganize that settlement, to the point that it was renamed after him?
Request 2 by faceofstone
Sword & Sworcery EP
Fanart, Fanfiction, Any Character
For any of these combinations (Girl & Gogolithic Mass, Logfella & Dogfella, Scythian & Dogfella, Scythian & Girl), I'm looking for surreal encounters in the deep dreams of the Caucasus. What they mean to each other, symbolically or sometimes just matter-of-factly, like owls are sometimes just plain old owls. Whether they enjoy sitting by Jim Guthrie's dream performances. What the Archetype has to say about them. If you could expand the dream geography a little it'd be great - maybe not a little, maybe as far as the Scythian steppes somehow, maybe turn it cosmic, even just for a glimpse. Maybe work in some more symbolism from other surrealist works you like?
Feel free to follow canon's Twitteresque extravaganza completely, a little or not at all.
Request 3 by faceofstone
Kentucky Route Zero (Video Game)
group: Conway & Junebug & Johnny (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Cate & Will (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Emily & Ben & Bob (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Lula Chamberlain & Joseph Wheatree & Donald (Kentucky Route Zero), Fanart, Fanfiction
(in the unlikely chance Act V comes out between now and the deadline: I'm gonna inhale it as soon as it gets released, don't worry about spoilers. Blanket permission to diverge from canon and give a somewhat happier ending to whatever characters you're focusing on. I am not looking for a wholesale Disney ending but I'll appreciate some small improvements, or finding the silver lining in whatever's gonna happen)
Cate & Will: Cate through Will's eyes, or Will through Cate's eyes, or some cool mysterious place around the Echo they visited together? What lies at the intersection of mushroom hunting and secret tourism? What did they play one evening when it was just them on the Mucky Mammoth?
Conway & Junebug & Johnny: ways in which J&J just get Conway in ways the others do not, please? They make an unlikely trio, what's the dynamic there? How do they relate to the road? J&J were build and reclaimed bodies that were not their own; Conway seems to be going in the opposite direction...
Emily & Ben & Bob: I'm interested in them as the ghostly Greek chorus they function as in the main acts but also as friends doing artsy friend stuff together. Creating a narrative through a made-up game they're playing could be fun. Making them realize they're out of step with the rest of the world could also be fun (what does it mean to be ghosts in this kind of tale? What does it mean to them?)
Lula Chamberlain & Joseph Wheattree & Donald Kentuckyroutezero: I'm a sucker for bittersweet reunions after years spent growing apart; I'm not sure even aiming for bittersweet is allowed here, but a girl can dream. Or maybe they just think about each other, when they were three, before they all settled in different worlds, far up, deep down, and in the middle realm that is the Zero. Xanadu is an in-built what-ifs generator, can this simulation be played without splitting them, is there a singular path that works, and if so, where does it end, and what does Donald think about it as he plays it? Or does someone else play it? What does a high-score game look like?
Pinch Hit 2
Request 1 by kay_obsessive
Banjo-Kazooie Series
Group: Banjo & Kazooie, Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie Series), Fanart, Fanfiction
Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie were some of my favorite games as a kid, and I still go back and replay them every couple of years. They’re bright and colorful and silly and have such a fun, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that just doesn’t get old for me. I’ve always especially loved Kazooie – she’s loud and rude and a smart-ass, and she likes to pick fights with big monsters and go on grand adventures. And yet she’s best friends with Banjo, who is just super mellow and lazy and nice, and they get along really well and work great together.
This is not a serious game series by any definition, so I’m not expecting any kind of deep lore, but I would enjoy some bits of backstory for these characters. Where did they come from? How did they meet? How did they become such close friends that Kazooie literally lives in Banjo’s backpack? Or maybe them having some other adventures, or Kazooie having some solo adventures. Or just visiting old worlds and hanging out with old NPC pals. Or old enemies.
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Request 2 by kay_obsessive
Dishonored (Video Games)
Group: Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster/Daud (Dishonored), Group: Jessamine Kaldwin/Daud (Dishonored), Group: Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster & Daud (Dishonored)'s Mother, Fanart, Fanfiction
Daud/Billie Lurk
This is one of those relationships that was basically tailor-made for me. Mentor/student, leader and their close subordinate who can get away things others can’t, age gap, complicated issues of trust and loyalty and betrayal and forgiveness – these are a few of my favorite things. I love everything about these two and their messy, complex history with each other. I was doomed basically from Billie’s first line, and it only got better from there.
I would love pretty much anything for these two – something from their Whaler days fighting and training and blowing off steam together, AUs where they meet up again earlier than in canon and have to sort their shit out without that time pressure helping them along, spending their last little bit of time together on the Dreadful Wale, AU endings to Death of the Outsider and its aftermath, fun with Fugue Feast, anything.
Daud/Jessamine Kaldwin
So, this one is a little bit complicated, given that Daud’s hired killing of Jessamine is the inciting incident for the whole series, but I think there’s some interesting potential here. Daud has a clear respect for Jessamine, and her death affects him in a way none of his other victims has. And Jessamine gets the rare opportunity to assess her murderer after her death, and she finds herself a little conflicted about what he deserves, despite her justified anger. And before all of that, they were both prominent, powerful figures running different parts of the same city – who’s to say they never had any dealings with each other in all those years before the murder?
I’d just be interested in any kind of possible interaction between these two. Maybe pre-canon Jessamine had reason to hire an assassin, or she tried to get rid of the Whaler presence in her city, or they crossed paths in some other way while doing their jobs. Or maybe an AU where Daud decides not to go through with the assassination for whatever reason and they develop some kind of relationship in the aftermath. Fun with Fugue Feast is also welcome here.
Billie Lurk & Daud’s Mother
I don’t know, I just think it’d be neat if they met. Billie is one of my favorite characters in the series, and Daud’s mother is so interesting even though we only hear about her second or third hand through books and journals. They’re both capable, ruthless survivors who are no strangers to starting a new life from nothing, and of course they have that commonality in their different connections to Daud. I think they would definitely have some interesting things to talk about.
We don’t know anything about what happened to Daud’s mother after he was taken from her as a child, and we know very little about what Billie did between games. Could Billie have met her in Serkonos after she had to leave Dunwall? Or somewhere else in the Isles? Maybe Daud’s mother outlives her son, and they meet sometime after Death of the Outsider. Was it coincidence, or did one look for the other for some reason? Do they ever figure out who the other is and who they know, or do they pass out of each other’s lives unaware of that connection they share?
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Request 3 by kay_obsessive
Psychonauts (Video Games)
group: Sasha Nein/Milla Vodello, Fanart, Fanfiction
Superstar Psychonauts Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello! They don’t actually have a ton of direct interaction in the game itself, but I love the implied relationship between the two. They are psychic secret agents! They go on ridiculous missions together and fight crime - psychic crime! One of these missions involved being undercover in elaborate costumes at a fancy party! They have had at least one clichéd instance of falling down and landing on top of each other in a ~romantic~ pose! I eat this stuff up with a spoon.
Would just love to see more for these two – early days in the Psychonauts, training, first missions, first summer teaching at Whispering Rock. Time spent at the office between missions, attending office parties, interactions with co-workers, time spent off the clock together. Exploring each other’s mental worlds, learning each other’s darker histories. Or just more silly psychic spy adventures like we see in Milla’s memory vault.
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Pinch Hit 3
Request 1 by NightsMistress
Death end re;Quest (Video Game)
Group: Mizunashi Arata & Tokiwa Sumika, Mizunashi Arata (Death end re;Quest), Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse; 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Request 2 by NightsMistress
Final Fantasy XIII Series
group: Oerba dia Vanille & Hope Estheim, group: Snow Villiers & Noel Kreiss & Hope Estheim, Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse; 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Request 3 by NightsMistress
Wild ARMs 2
Ashley Winchester, Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse (though I'm fine with mentions of pregnancy given canon developments); 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Pinch Hit 4
Request 1 by Sumi
Dragon Age (Video Games)
Group: Solas/Female Trevelyan, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
Request 2 by Sumi
Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Group: Kassandra/Alkibiades, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
Request 3 by Sumi
Pillars of Eternity
group: Edér Teylecg/Female Watcher, group: Female Watcher/Aloth Corfiser, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
There will be a post with a spreadsheet of all requests and also beta offers in the near future, so watch this space!
Finally, we have four initial pinch hits. If you are interested in picking these up, please comment with your AO3 name. All comments are screened!
Request 1 by faceofstone
Obduction (Video Game)
Fanart, Fanfiction, Any Character
What’s your favorite spot on Hunrath? What’s your favorite odd item (is it RIUM+’s Myst book? Is it the Unwritten manual? The dog photo?)? Tell me a story about it, through any combination of the main trio. Or tell me about how it’s like to live in that new world at the end, humans, villein, arai and so very few mofang, and Farley’s plan was what got them there for better and for worse. Or a night at that cute little pub they added with the patch. Tell me about the differences between Farley’s worldview, since Hunrath is all she knows, and CW who misses his life on Earth so much. What’s Josef’s story in this regard? Or focus on any aspect of Earth culture that got lost on Hunrath, or one that got preserved, or how the 19th century habits of some obductees clash with their neighbors who come from a few centuries later, and how it all eventually becomes Hunrath’s unique culture. Or what are your favorite character’s feelings on the Sorian sky hanging on their head?
As for Karl Hunrath, I found out that he's a real-life footnote in UFO history and disappeared during a flight on his plane - likely the same plane we see in the pub. What did he feel when he walked out of that little cavern and found an alien sky above? Was his life-ruining interest in aliens the driving force that led him to reorganize that settlement, to the point that it was renamed after him?
Request 2 by faceofstone
Sword & Sworcery EP
Fanart, Fanfiction, Any Character
For any of these combinations (Girl & Gogolithic Mass, Logfella & Dogfella, Scythian & Dogfella, Scythian & Girl), I'm looking for surreal encounters in the deep dreams of the Caucasus. What they mean to each other, symbolically or sometimes just matter-of-factly, like owls are sometimes just plain old owls. Whether they enjoy sitting by Jim Guthrie's dream performances. What the Archetype has to say about them. If you could expand the dream geography a little it'd be great - maybe not a little, maybe as far as the Scythian steppes somehow, maybe turn it cosmic, even just for a glimpse. Maybe work in some more symbolism from other surrealist works you like?
Feel free to follow canon's Twitteresque extravaganza completely, a little or not at all.
Request 3 by faceofstone
Kentucky Route Zero (Video Game)
group: Conway & Junebug & Johnny (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Cate & Will (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Emily & Ben & Bob (Kentucky Route Zero), group: Lula Chamberlain & Joseph Wheatree & Donald (Kentucky Route Zero), Fanart, Fanfiction
(in the unlikely chance Act V comes out between now and the deadline: I'm gonna inhale it as soon as it gets released, don't worry about spoilers. Blanket permission to diverge from canon and give a somewhat happier ending to whatever characters you're focusing on. I am not looking for a wholesale Disney ending but I'll appreciate some small improvements, or finding the silver lining in whatever's gonna happen)
Cate & Will: Cate through Will's eyes, or Will through Cate's eyes, or some cool mysterious place around the Echo they visited together? What lies at the intersection of mushroom hunting and secret tourism? What did they play one evening when it was just them on the Mucky Mammoth?
Conway & Junebug & Johnny: ways in which J&J just get Conway in ways the others do not, please? They make an unlikely trio, what's the dynamic there? How do they relate to the road? J&J were build and reclaimed bodies that were not their own; Conway seems to be going in the opposite direction...
Emily & Ben & Bob: I'm interested in them as the ghostly Greek chorus they function as in the main acts but also as friends doing artsy friend stuff together. Creating a narrative through a made-up game they're playing could be fun. Making them realize they're out of step with the rest of the world could also be fun (what does it mean to be ghosts in this kind of tale? What does it mean to them?)
Lula Chamberlain & Joseph Wheattree & Donald Kentuckyroutezero: I'm a sucker for bittersweet reunions after years spent growing apart; I'm not sure even aiming for bittersweet is allowed here, but a girl can dream. Or maybe they just think about each other, when they were three, before they all settled in different worlds, far up, deep down, and in the middle realm that is the Zero. Xanadu is an in-built what-ifs generator, can this simulation be played without splitting them, is there a singular path that works, and if so, where does it end, and what does Donald think about it as he plays it? Or does someone else play it? What does a high-score game look like?
Request 1 by kay_obsessive
Banjo-Kazooie Series
Group: Banjo & Kazooie, Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie Series), Fanart, Fanfiction
Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie were some of my favorite games as a kid, and I still go back and replay them every couple of years. They’re bright and colorful and silly and have such a fun, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that just doesn’t get old for me. I’ve always especially loved Kazooie – she’s loud and rude and a smart-ass, and she likes to pick fights with big monsters and go on grand adventures. And yet she’s best friends with Banjo, who is just super mellow and lazy and nice, and they get along really well and work great together.
This is not a serious game series by any definition, so I’m not expecting any kind of deep lore, but I would enjoy some bits of backstory for these characters. Where did they come from? How did they meet? How did they become such close friends that Kazooie literally lives in Banjo’s backpack? Or maybe them having some other adventures, or Kazooie having some solo adventures. Or just visiting old worlds and hanging out with old NPC pals. Or old enemies.
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Request 2 by kay_obsessive
Dishonored (Video Games)
Group: Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster/Daud (Dishonored), Group: Jessamine Kaldwin/Daud (Dishonored), Group: Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster & Daud (Dishonored)'s Mother, Fanart, Fanfiction
Daud/Billie Lurk
This is one of those relationships that was basically tailor-made for me. Mentor/student, leader and their close subordinate who can get away things others can’t, age gap, complicated issues of trust and loyalty and betrayal and forgiveness – these are a few of my favorite things. I love everything about these two and their messy, complex history with each other. I was doomed basically from Billie’s first line, and it only got better from there.
I would love pretty much anything for these two – something from their Whaler days fighting and training and blowing off steam together, AUs where they meet up again earlier than in canon and have to sort their shit out without that time pressure helping them along, spending their last little bit of time together on the Dreadful Wale, AU endings to Death of the Outsider and its aftermath, fun with Fugue Feast, anything.
Daud/Jessamine Kaldwin
So, this one is a little bit complicated, given that Daud’s hired killing of Jessamine is the inciting incident for the whole series, but I think there’s some interesting potential here. Daud has a clear respect for Jessamine, and her death affects him in a way none of his other victims has. And Jessamine gets the rare opportunity to assess her murderer after her death, and she finds herself a little conflicted about what he deserves, despite her justified anger. And before all of that, they were both prominent, powerful figures running different parts of the same city – who’s to say they never had any dealings with each other in all those years before the murder?
I’d just be interested in any kind of possible interaction between these two. Maybe pre-canon Jessamine had reason to hire an assassin, or she tried to get rid of the Whaler presence in her city, or they crossed paths in some other way while doing their jobs. Or maybe an AU where Daud decides not to go through with the assassination for whatever reason and they develop some kind of relationship in the aftermath. Fun with Fugue Feast is also welcome here.
Billie Lurk & Daud’s Mother
I don’t know, I just think it’d be neat if they met. Billie is one of my favorite characters in the series, and Daud’s mother is so interesting even though we only hear about her second or third hand through books and journals. They’re both capable, ruthless survivors who are no strangers to starting a new life from nothing, and of course they have that commonality in their different connections to Daud. I think they would definitely have some interesting things to talk about.
We don’t know anything about what happened to Daud’s mother after he was taken from her as a child, and we know very little about what Billie did between games. Could Billie have met her in Serkonos after she had to leave Dunwall? Or somewhere else in the Isles? Maybe Daud’s mother outlives her son, and they meet sometime after Death of the Outsider. Was it coincidence, or did one look for the other for some reason? Do they ever figure out who the other is and who they know, or do they pass out of each other’s lives unaware of that connection they share?
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Request 3 by kay_obsessive
Psychonauts (Video Games)
group: Sasha Nein/Milla Vodello, Fanart, Fanfiction
Superstar Psychonauts Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello! They don’t actually have a ton of direct interaction in the game itself, but I love the implied relationship between the two. They are psychic secret agents! They go on ridiculous missions together and fight crime - psychic crime! One of these missions involved being undercover in elaborate costumes at a fancy party! They have had at least one clichéd instance of falling down and landing on top of each other in a ~romantic~ pose! I eat this stuff up with a spoon.
Would just love to see more for these two – early days in the Psychonauts, training, first missions, first summer teaching at Whispering Rock. Time spent at the office between missions, attending office parties, interactions with co-workers, time spent off the clock together. Exploring each other’s mental worlds, learning each other’s darker histories. Or just more silly psychic spy adventures like we see in Milla’s memory vault.
Letter: http://kay-obsessive.dreamwidth.org/3745.html
Pinch Hit 3
Request 1 by NightsMistress
Death end re;Quest (Video Game)
Group: Mizunashi Arata & Tokiwa Sumika, Mizunashi Arata (Death end re;Quest), Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse; 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Request 2 by NightsMistress
Final Fantasy XIII Series
group: Oerba dia Vanille & Hope Estheim, group: Snow Villiers & Noel Kreiss & Hope Estheim, Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse; 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Request 3 by NightsMistress
Wild ARMs 2
Ashley Winchester, Fanfiction
General likes: explorations of identity, memories, and complicated emotional relationships; adventures; slice of life; changes in perspective for characters; trust and respect and bantering; hurt/comfort.
General dislikes: Porn; AUs (except for canon divergence); Pregnancy fics and omegaverse (though I'm fine with mentions of pregnancy given canon developments); 2nd person fic; Retelling of canon scenes from a different perspective (unless part of a much larger story); introspective character studies that take place solely inside a character's head with no interactions with other characters.
More specific prompts can be found at my letter!
Letter: http://batman.dreamwidth.org/78523.html
Request 1 by Sumi
Dragon Age (Video Games)
Group: Solas/Female Trevelyan, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
Request 2 by Sumi
Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Group: Kassandra/Alkibiades, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
Request 3 by Sumi
Pillars of Eternity
group: Edér Teylecg/Female Watcher, group: Female Watcher/Aloth Corfiser, Fanfiction
Letter: http://x-disturbed-x.dreamwidth.org/22618.html
