balsamandash | Stolen from thebonesofferalletters

I am gonna go back and do headcanons too but what the hell. So, I have a list of fifteen universes, I want you to give me a number and one of the following:
* A place name (in which case you will get at least two fun facts about the universe/story/whatever I feel like)
* A song (in which you will get two songs that I feel like go with the universe)
* A kink (in which you will get two relationships in the universe and I will babble a bit about them)
* A quote (in which you will get a ficlet or babble on a thing I'd like to write within the universe)

Feel free to ask for multiple things, repeat numbers someone else has asked or anything else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

teaotter

14 and Athens.

From:

balsamandash

14. We Do Not Sleep: In which an investigator looking into a rash of sudden, unexplained deaths finds herself suddenly, inexplicably dead. And if anything, this only makes her more determined to find the killer.

1. This is, unusually for my universes/writing, pretty plot-driven -- I can't stop imagining it as a series of (possibly-YA) paranormal/supernatural investigation novels, and while I'd probably never get around to writing a series, that gives some idea what kind of feel I'd be going for when I sat down to write it, I think. And second, it has a very clear and definite main character, when I usually have at least two or three, if not just a whole ensemble.

2. Being MC-focused does not mean the MC is alone, of course. Also every character in this still needs names, whoops. But alongside Our Awesome Detective Protaganist is the Not-A-Protege, a girl with some serious issues in life who's been dead for a while and half-adopts, half-is-adopted-by the MC, and basically ends up her devoted follower, guardian angel, and investigative trainee all rolled into one; and The Ex-Coworker, who was not actually aware he was a medium instead of just really imaginative until the MC starts talking to him after death, and whose mental stability starts slowly deteriorating under that revelation as he tries to help her solve the case and also, you know, her own murder.

Bonus fact 3. Also there are deaths. ~~Because I like deaths.~~ The deaths aren't super helpful or anything, but they're generally friendly, some more than others. They are their own tight-knit community, something not-quite-human, and they're more interested in trying to help the ghosts to move on to a proper afterlife than trying to help the MC figure out why people are dying this way. Occasionally that is a big obstacle. Usually it's just a mild annoyance, because she is not ready to be dead yet, they're just going to have to wait.

From:

rootsofthestories

1. Fairyland
5. Neverland
10. The Underworld
15. Elysium

2. Washing/cleaning
4. Humiliation
6. Praise
8. Roleplay

From:

balsamandash

And I might be taking "relationships" in a more general manner than intended, but whatever. >> (Anyway, one of these has no romance, and one you already know most of the relationships involved, so. XD)

2: With Only Strangers Watching
The one with the Sundrop Center, the superpowered people finding a family and a home in each other, and the real world coming in to destroy it.

1. At the time when everything goes to hell, the oldest living resident of the Sundrop Center is also the one who's been there and had his abilities the longest; this hasn't always been true in their history, but Frankie's outlived everyone else who was there before him. Having just broken him 40s while most of the cast is barely half of that, he's a bit of a father figure to everyone, but especially to Alice, the next-oldest at 28. He's been there 20 years; she's been there almost 12, and they're pretty much the best friend each other has. While they're not technically the only ones old enough to be on their own when Sundrop goes down, they are the only ones who don't get folded back into their families when they go, and they end up setting out together to figure things out.

2. Joey is sixteen when Sundrop goes down, and she is a trans pyrokinetic who wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions all over her face, and none of this goes over very well when she goes back to her parents, who are some of the crusaders in the whole "you stole our children!" campaign that brings the center down. Despite the fact that they were the ones who chose to send her off in the first place.
She tries very hard to make them happy when she goes back. It does not work, and I'm pretty sure she ends up running away in the end.

4. What You Are in the Dark
The one where the sun doesn't come up, and the world has to react to that.

1. The story, if I ever write it, will bookend with a lesbian couple in their early 20s, one of which is closeted and still living with her homophobic family, the other of which desperately wants her girlfriend to get out of that place. They've been together for two years, and are very much in love despite not always seeing eye-to-eye on important things. There's definitely a feeling they may not last forever, but god, they're enjoying it while it lasts, or at least they would be, if they could just stop fucking hiding it.

2. She's been through years and years of abuse and has some pretty serious PTSD. He's been in love with her for ten years. She knows, and is sure that once he realizes he can't fix her he'll fall out of love, and neither of them have ever talked about it beyond that. Neither of them are good with the dark, so they sit in their apartment with all the lights on, avoiding the windows and not saying anything like a million nights before. There is no happy ending here. If there is any resolution, it's going to be him finally letting her push him away, and her deciding she was right along.

6. Spy Covens
The one where the witches are into politics, and then they blow up.

1. (I need to figure out if I'm renaming my characters.) Mattie is definitely a little bit in love with both of his traveling companions, if not from the start, then by the time the older spy dies. It's not a thing he ever feels the need to mention, or one that makes a big impact on the story; it's just how things are.

2. One of the survivors they're searching for was widowed when they took out all the witches, and she is still very much not fucking okay by the time they find her. The two of them were together for decades; they rose pretty far into the ranks, pretty much together. They were very much in love, and very much dedicated to the cause, and now that he's gone and she's had to go to ground, she's pretty much completely unraveled, trying to figure out what's left for her to do.

8. Despite the Abundance
You know this one.

1. ~~This is sorta tangential and I don't care.~~ I'm pretty sure the physical therapist was already one before she met the nurse, and that's how they met. And if there is one single thing that she values above all in a relationship, it is being straight-forward and honest. There have been a couple of bad relationships in the past and she is over all the bullshit, everybody should be a goddamn adult, thank you.

2. ~~This is definitely tangential and I still don't care. LOOK YOU HAVE HALF OF ALL THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THIS VERSE, I'VE GOT NOTHING NEW TO OFFER.~~ So the bartender has had a grand total of one serious relationship, with someone who was, at least at the time, a regular, and yes, one of the criminal regulars. It was a few years ago; it was fun and all, but he's got very little regret about it ending (or happening, to be fair). I honestly think he might be somewhere on the ace and/or aro spectrum; maybe not completely on either, but he just kind of... is apathetic towards it all. He prefers hanging out with his regulars, being entertained by their work, and occasionally adopting them a little bit.