Happy Halloween!
General note: I give fic and art prompts separately, but the division is not that serious. If you want to draw a writing prompt or write a scene that could have been an image, by all means do.
The Summer Hikaru Died
(Tsujinaka Yoshiki, Fake Indou Hikaru, Real Indou Hikaru)
I came for the body horror and stayed for the weirdly wholesome (but still incredibly unsettling) vibes. I'm caught up with the current chapter releases (endless thanks to both official translators and fans for being so quick!) and down for whatever canon plot points you want to throw into the mix.
Fiction
- • This is a series where I just really want to get into the character's heads! 光が死んだ夏 is so long on atmosphere and so slow-paced that it doubles back around to feeling tense - I love that vibe and I think it's perfect for introspection
- • I also really enjoy how pragmatic our leads are about the body horror ("feels like chicken," what) and am here for just the weirdest teenage fumblings, and the most inhuman narration
- • Real Hikaru, what was his deal? Give me a slice of his past, or have him
still be around after all as a watcher and commentator in his own right... could be ghost shenanigans, but it does not have to be literal. He haunts the narrative we all know it. Yoshiki imagining what OG!Hikaru would think of them now is just as much fun
- • Canon is flirting with the idea of Yoshiki becoming something not human and I am here for that, especially as a visceral and physical feeling that effects either of our boys.
- • I am also very invested in the fact that Yoshiki has just been carrying a part f "Hikaru" around with him at all times, and what that might feel like for "Hikaru," emotionally or otherwise
Art- • I love the look of this manga. The shading is incredible. The use of text? The way "Hikaru" and other supernatural elements become distinct graphic styles? Please play around with this if you've a mind
- • We are getting lore drops about "Hikaru"'s history, plus the implication that things have just always been this weird and I would love to see any of that illustrated in historical style
- • Also always down for the fun of seeing doodles and notes that are being passed in classes
DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm, Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum, AU settings
Note: I don't consider body horror to be the same as real-world ideations of self harm. If there's an outside force or a supernatural element, that's fine and wouldn't hit my DNW.
I'm also all right with a low-key background level of homophobia and comphet driving character actions. Like, that's just this canon, man. I do not want it to be the main focus of the characters' thoughts or a driving plot point. (IE: Yoshiki thinking there's something twisted about his attachment to Hikaru - fine. Yoshiki spiraling because a schoolmate called him gay - not ok, even if it ends in Hikaru/Yoshiki.)
Sleep No More
(Catherine Campbell, Malcolm, Fulton)
Okay. All right. I think I'm ready. My usual opening spiel: The McKittrick Hotel was a dreamspace in real life, fluid in the way that only often-retold stories can manage. And it still is, even if I can't go back. So I'm ready to see another loop through somebody else's eyes.
Fiction
- • Just for fun, I've chosen the three characters I think would be most impacted by the death of their King, even though one of them is not canonically aware of it (or is he? is this one of the wrongs Fulton is fighting against? Had the night continued, would he have come in as coroner? Mostly I just think our resident everyman would have opinions on his god-given ruler's life - or lack thereof.)
- • But admittedly, not like Campbell or Malcolm, who are outright haunted by Duncan each in their own ways. I feel that there are stories there, as supernatural or as mundane as you wish to make them.
- • For Malcolm especially, I feel like the surreal end point of that last supper banquet is a moment that could be fascinating
- • For Campbell, I would love some worldbulding around all of the little curses she leaves in Lady Macduff's rooms. What manner of witch is she? Or is she that rarest of things in this canon; just a woman, fueled by spite in a magic-ridden world?
- • There are also a million more SNM prompts in the backlogs of this blog, if you
would care for more.
Art- • The experience of SNM is so liminal that just capturing a moment out of the show would be enough
- • Or -- let me be wildly self indulgent for a second -- a moment that never did. Show me any of these characters at rest.
- • But I do always love ephemera and letters! Creating props or imagined new rooms for any of these characters to haunt, the charms they carry or the potions they mix would be such a cool send up
- • I also miss the in-world advertisements and seeing a new one would be fun
DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harm, Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum, AU settings
Alien Stage
(Mizi, Sua, Till, Ivan, Mizi/Sua, Ivan/Till, Ivan & Mizi, Ivan & Mizi & Sua & Till)
Any well-paced, crazy-graphic music video is going to earn my love regardless of the story being told.... But then I found the comics, and read Mizi's backstory, and started to comprehend the tangle of real relationships between everyone in the garden. And suddenly all those Utena homages felt so damn earned. And now here I am! Hello new fandom.
Fiction
- • Oh my goodness this is the ultimate series for a haunting isn't it? We've got not one but two characters coping with survivor's guilt by hallucinating the people who died for them, and I am here for that. The horror, yes, if you write me a ghost story for halloween I will certainly accept it. (I don't think Sua would put Mizi through it in exactly the ways Ivan does to Till, but I can absolutely see them being their own kind of toxic system of enabling, guilt, and (self)-loathing if that's where you want to go. Especially if you think she's more a product of Mizi's mind than an actual entity.)
- • ... but there could be healing, too. Half a decade is a long time to spend with a ghost (or "ghost," again, your call.) I was really struck by the way that Ivan's ghost doesn't disappear when Till does good things for himself, even if Till only equates the bad things with "appeasing" Ivan. There could be softness here too. Even more so with Sua and Mizi.
- • The interviews mention all (most?) of these kids were brought up to think that dying on stage would be the greatest possible honor, but that’s not something we really see openly expressed? But does anyone still think it? Do they struggle with it? Sua feels like the most likely candidate to me but really it could be anyone. (Side note: I don’t think having this concept hammered into you is the same as active suicidal tendencies, re: my DNW notes.)
- • I am also not above asking for more fix-it. We have alien technology - anything is possible.Nobody HAS to be a ghost, or they could start as a ghost and end in another body? We can have came back wrong! Came back right! Confusingly: came back both! Go wild.
- • Or, if none of this is appealing to you, I am here for Anakt Garden fic. I love Mizi and Ivan's friendship so much. Especially now that we know Mizi was fully aware of Till's feelings, I have to wonder... did she see how serious Ivan's were too? Was she the worst enabler? (Was it to get Till off her back, or because she actually cared about him?)
- • If you matched on anyone solo, I am very down for backstory expansions, and especially for complex relationships with music.
- • Or if relationship drama is not your speed, just let the kids be dumb. Take care of each other. Or both. They need it-- my girls especially. Give them a happy moment.
Art- • SO much opportunity for in-world art. Photoshoots, promos, a universe worth of fanart posted on alien servers, blurry security-flower-camera footage....
- • I also love the alternate covers of songs, and it would be fun to see those illustrated. Costume swaps, recording sessions, that kind of thing!
- • Or, again. Just make them happy for a moment.
DNW: Rape, Non-Canonical Character Death, Focus on homophobia or other intolerance of the sexual or gender spectrum, AU settings
Note: Based on the canonical materials I am lifting my usual DNW re: Focus on Suicidal Ideation and Self-Harm, but I'd still ask that these two topics not be combined (IE: Till crashing out and self-harming as punishment -- OK. Till them hoping it kills him -- not ok. Sua planning how to die on stage -- OK. Sua enjoying those thoughts because this is what she deserves -- not ok.)