Dear Creator - Darkest Night 2021

[simplecoffee]

[Aug 29 - this letter is complete!]

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Hi there! Thank you for creating for me. 💛 I am academicgangster on Tumblr, and simplecoffee on ao3.

So, the thing I love most in fanwork is taking canon character dynamics and just...making them More. Taking them further, exploring their natural progression, usually in a hurt/comfort-y way. I've mentioned the character dynamics and ships I love under each fandom, along with some rambly thoughts and prompts - speaking of which, please feel free to pick, choose, mix, match, play with any, all or even none of said prompts, if that's where the muse takes you. 💛

I love hurt/comfort with all my heart and soul, so most of the prompts here will probably contain it to some degree.

I am a-okay with any kind of exploration of character dynamics - h/c, casefic, fluff fic, angst, missing scenes, outsider POV, outsider POV contrasted with canon characters' POV, getting together fic, established relationship, you name it I love it. I'm also very much okay with or without smut - I enjoy it, but please don't feel pressured either to include it or not to include it.

I am super open to unconventional medium/narrative styles if you feel inspired to use them - outsider POV, outsider POV contrasted with canon characters' POV, epistolary fic, framing devices such as mission reports, medical reports, audio transcripts/debrief transcripts, text messages or post-its between characters, news articles, official documentation, even drone!POVs for Oblivion, are all amazing.

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Navigation

> Likes & DNWs

> Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Ethan/Hunley
Ethan/Luther
Ethan/Luther/Hunley
Ethan/Sidorov
Ethan/Max Mitsopolis
Ethan & IMF Team
Ethan/Hunley & Jane/Zhen

> Oblivion (2013)
Jack Harper, Jack/Jack, Jack/Vika, any Jack/Vika/(Jack or Vika) triad
Jack/Vika, Jack/Julia (dub/noncon and unhealthy/abusive relationship tags)

> Collateral (2004)
Vincent/Max
Vincent/Daniel

> The Shadow (1994)
Lamont/Margo

> War of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier

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Likes & DNWs

General likes:

• Character studies
• Hurt/comfort of all stripes
• Exploring the fallout of canon trauma
• Missing scenes, slice-of-life, etc - exploring canon character dynamics/canon traits of known characters
• Touch starvation
• Deep friendships
• Earned trust and casual intimacy (carrying, clothes sharing, characters only allowing touch from people they trust, etc)
• Bonding over shared trauma
• PTSD, illness messing with a character's grip on reality, combat/mission injuries, scars, and injuries acting up, touch starvation, sensory deprivation / sensory overload, characters not believing they deserve comfort or being surprised to receive comfort
• Eventually requited pining
• Worldbuilding
• Outsider POV, especially when contrasted with our characters' POV
• Mission aftermaths
• Smut with Feelings (I don't really need to know what body parts are going where, I just love to know how it feels, in the sensory way especially but also the emotional way)
• Pain, bittersweetness, sadness, exploring the darker side and implications of canon is great, but I really need some happiness/comfort and hope along with it!

Sexual likes:
D/s overtones. Femdom. Service subs. Subs With Issues. Praise kink. Hands, fingers, touch; touch starvation. Hands in hair. Sexual touches/kisses/closeness through fabric. Finger-sucking. Aftercare. Tenderness, especially if the person receiving it isn't expecting it, isn't used to it, and it breaks them just a little.
Marking, intentional or no - bruising with lips or teeth; hiding the bruises under clothing. Suit kink. Wrists bound or held down. Honour bondage. Shibari and intricate knotwork. Careful sex / making out when one partner is hurt or ill and feverish (fever sex is, uh, very much a Thing of mine). Or rough, desperate, life-affirming sex / making out.
There are some fandoms where I love the sex a lot rougher; see the sections under Collateral and War of the Worlds. There are also prompts for dubcon and generally messed up sexual situations under these two, as well as one section of Oblivion.

General DNWs:
• Mundane/depowered/setting change AUs
• Bleak, hopeless endings (as long as there's hope, bittersweet endings are fine!) The exception: Vincent/Max for Collateral, which is a bitter and jagged canon and dark endings there are definitely cool.
• Unrequested crossovers and fusions
• Any mention of coronavirus or quarantine/lockdown situations (other 'trapped together' situations a-okay)
• Death of requested characters (even if they died in canon)
• Non-canonical death of non-requested characters
• Terminal illness
• Permanent injury, only for Mission: Impossible (it is a-okay for Oblivion, Collateral, fallout of canon eye trauma in Minority Report, and there is a prompt or two for it under War of the Worlds)
• Gastrointestinal illness (nausea/vomiting is okay but not as a focus of the work, and not as a result of GI discomfort - so character getting nauseous or throwing up from a migraine or just severe pain in general, yes; character getting nauseous or throwing up as a result of a severe anxiety attack or PTSD episode, yes; character suffering anything related to food poisoning or GI bugs or overeating and similar, no)
• Pregnancy, menstruation
• Marijuana use or mention of it in any capacity (other intoxicants a-okay)
• Infidelity, including implied infidelity such as characters in a relationship getting 'sexually tempted' by someone outside the relationship. (For Red October, I'd prefer that Jack and Cathy were never married, and amiably co-parent Sally but are not together any more)
• Pulp or radio show canon for The Shadow
• Any engagement with Asian cultures in The Shadow universe, including any focus on the Shiwan Khan plotline (passing mentions of this plotline are okay, but no focus on it please)

Sexual DNWs:
• Noncon or dubcon, except where noted (see Oblivion, Collateral and War of the Worlds sections)
• humiliation as a kink, except where noted (see Oblivion and Vincent/Max in Collateral)
• gags of any kind (hand over mouth is okay for canons with prompts for dubcon and/or rougher sex like War of the Worlds, Collateral and Vika/Jack in Oblivion, but I would like it to trigger the character on the receiving end and for there to be some emotional fallout of it)
• anal, dirty talk, spanking, ageplay, scat, watersports, rimming, emeto, A/B/O, d/s-verse, mommy/daddy kink, maledom/femsub dynamic

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Mission: Impossible (Movies)

Requested tags:

Altered States • Altered States - Character forgets they are undercover • Altered States - Character is out of it due to pain • Altered States - Fever • Altered States - Fever sex • Altered States - Hallucinations • Plot - Badass in Distress • Injuries - Hiding Injury • Torture - Aftermath of Torture • Torture - Victim comforts distressed person who was forced to watch • Torture Aftermath - Debrief with higher authorities while still suffering effects of torture • Torture Aftermath - Delirium • Kissing Pain Lines From Around A Character's Eyes • Sensory Deprivation • PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • PTSD - PTSD Episode/Flashback • Trauma - Forced To Relive Trauma for Mission Report/Debrief • Trauma - Handler comforts honeypot after traumatic mission • Trauma - Holding a loved one while they're in severe pain • Trauma - Character's Past Trauma Is Revealed Against Their Will •
BDSM - Aftercare • BDSM- Safeword Use • BDSM- Subdrop • BDSM- Unable to Safeword • Bondage - Honour Bondage • Bondage - Shibari on a sick character • Carrying - One Character Carrying Another • Scars • Scars - Scar Kink • Sick - Hiding Illness • Sick - Sick while undercover • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Touch-Starved • Weather - Storms • Trapped - Trapped With Someone in Need of Medical Care • Undercover - Handler comforts sick/injured agent after mission • Trauma - Character Is Hiding Aftereffects of Trauma • Touch-Starved - Stoic Character Falls Apart When Someone Touches Them • Torture Aftermath - Handler comforts tortured agent • Torture Aftermath - Illness • Torture Aftermath - Stoic character shows vulnerability • Sick - Hypothermia • Sick - Sick and Lonely • Plot - Badass in Distress • Plot - Faking Recovery So Others Will Stop Worrying About You • migraines • Kissing Pain Lines From Around A Character's Eyes • Injuries - Reinjured on top of an old injury • Hurt/Comfort - Sensory Overload • Hurt/Comfort - Wound Care


MI, being an action/espionage canon, is full of dark themes, implications and tangents that are never really explored. That's partly because Ethan's a cinnamon roll who always, always looks on the bright side, and partly because he's a stoic dumbass who never complains no matter what he suffers through. Which, as you might imagine, leaves a lot of potential for other characters to discover what he suffers through.

So, there are some 'altered states' tags, and some general sickness tags that could cause altered states or just cause Ethan's walls to fall, such as "altered mental states", "fever", "hallucinations", and "character forgets they are undercover". Some tags are about Ethan's desperate protectiveness and tendency to be a self-sacrificing idiot, such as "enduring pain to protect another", "aftermath of torture", "torture victim comforts distressed person who was forced to watch", and "faking recovery so others will stop worrying about you". The rest are general hurt/comfort/vulnerability tags with a dark bent, such as "characters bond in traumatic circumstances", "gunshot wounds", "scars", "too sick to sleep", and "post-traumatic stress disorder".

If you're going the romantic route, I love submissive Ethan, with doms who treat him gently and prove worthy of his trust.


Some more thoughts and prompts:


Altered states in general; Ethan's walls are forced to fall and the team sees him vulnerable while on or immediately after a mission.

Ethan's the leader of the team, generally the stoic one who's most Together, not only as point man executing the mission directive but as rallying point and foundation of strength for the younger team members. He's also, very markedly, a sweet sunshine bean who has suffered a whole lot over the years. So, what happens on-mission when Ethan's sick or hurt or even triggered badly enough for his grip on reality to fade - enough for his emotional walls to crumble without his consent, perhaps even without his knowledge? Does he flash back to an earlier trauma, or start seeing lost loved ones, or remembering missions that failed? Does he apologize for things that aren't/weren't his fault? Does he try to comfort the other people in the room instead of seeking comfort? (And is there a moment when he suddenly feels so bad he switches to seeking comfort instead?) Is it Luther, canonically the only team member he trusts to hold him when he's vulnerable, who tries to help him keep it together, or holds him when he no longer can? Is Hunley his handler, and does he get to witness or hear Ethan try to hold himself together when he barely knows what he's saying? Does he talk him through it, or send someone or go himself to fetch him home? Or is it Sidorov who sees the American so unexpectedly vulnerable and tries to help? Is it the entire team, so used to Ethan being their fearless, compassionate leader, that has to take care of him for a change? Is Ethan undercover or trapped with someone (Hunley, Sidorov, Luther) who has to watch him go through hell, and help as best they can? Is he in a relationship with this person, or are they hoping for one? How does living through that experience affect them?

Ethan's walls are forced to fall, but in a quieter, more intimate situation.

This is about basically the same circumstance - Ethan being sick or hurt or triggered badly enough to not be quite there - but off-mission, when there's no pressing world-ending crisis on the cards. I'd love an established relationship situation for this, with Ethan's partner either already used to the ways in which he can be painfully vulnerable, or not yet acquainted with them and getting used to helping him through it, getting used to being the person he turns to when everything hurts. I'd also love a mutual pining scenario here, with the person looking after Ethan realizing how much he trusts them, and that maybe he might reciprocate their feelings after all, and Ethan either answering them positively when they ask afterwards, or letting something slip to them in the affirmative while he's not quite conscious. (Or them confessing their fondness for him while they think he's unconscious or asleep, and him absolutely hearing them and lighting up in reply - as much as he can while suffering so - and then reaffirming it when he's better.)


Ethan's hurt or sick and really going through it when he's alone.

Does he call someone? Are they his partner, or are they mutually pining and will soon be partners? What does he say? Does he tell them he's not feeling okay, or try to hide it but they suspect anyway? Do they come get him or set the IMF network in motion to bring him home so they can hold him? Do they just stay in his ear comforting him and talking him through accomplishing the mission? Or does he not call in, just suffer through the illness or pain or flashbacks, get the mission completed anyway, and then stumble home and pass out on them?


Ethan being a little bit of a stoic dumbass, sometimes.

This one builds on the fact that Ethan doesn't like to let the kids (Brandt, Benji, Declan, and to a slightly lesser extent Zhen and Jane) know when he's hurting. Luther is the one who can always tell without him saying a word, Sidorov can tell if it's really bad, and Hunley probably learns to read him pretty well over the years. So, Ethan trying to hide or downplay an injury or illness, and one of Luther, Hunley or Sidorov seeing right through him and helping him deal - maybe even helping him hide it from the younger ones - or calling it when it gets ridiculous and they need to get him to a hospital now. Or old habits dying hard and Ethan trying to pretend he's okay even off-mission, and Luther, Hunley or Sidorov looking after him and convincing him he doesn't have to Be Such An Idiot. I'd also love to see a mission where Jane and/or Zhen realize Ethan's not doing okay, and call to tell Luther or Hunley on him so they can look after him - maybe Luther or Hunley giving Jane or Zhen gentle pointers on looking after him, or even Luther or Hunley calling him out on it during a check-in call and making sure he knows they love him and are worried about him long-distance, while Jane and Zhen make sure to keep him warm and looked after in the immediate.

Dark plot elements on-mission.

This is what the tags for torture, sensory deprivation, solitary confinement, and field trauma as such are getting at: Ethan bears the brunt of whatever particularly awful thing is happening on a mission, as point man or as team leader or as desperately protective self-sacrificing idiot who'd rather come to harm a million times over than let anyone else be hurt on his watch. Someone else - Hunley, Luther, Sidorov, maybe Jane or Zhen - helps him deal. I'm particularly interested in the different character dynamics that would arise in this situation - Luther, for instance, is probably very used to Ethan suffering in this way, though it never gets any less painful, and knows how to look after him and how to keep the kids busy so they don't worry as much while they all work to accomplish the mission at hand; Hunley is strong and kind and probably has some serious field skills as well as his intelligence community skills, but hasn't been in the field in years and is probably deeply traumatized by all of this himself in addition to having to help Ethan deal with the pain. (I'm particularly fond of 'torture victim comforts distressed person who was forced to watch' for Ethan and Hunley.) Jane is probably partly annoyed that she didn't get to make the self-sacrifice play herself, but is gentle and patches Ethan up and takes point at his side for the rest of the mission, doing her best to draw as much fire and take as much strain off him (both physical and mental) as she can - probably while gently teasing him the whole time.


Ethan having to relive the trauma of a mission while recounting the events during debrief.

Mission reports are unavoidable, almost the same way the missions themselves are. I imagine Ethan's had some awful experiences recounting some of the awful things that have happened to him. I would love to see this explored in either possible way - with a superior who doesn't care to be gentle, only to get the information Ethan has to give (like Kittridge in MI:1 who basically just sees one of the many junior agents, not how shaken and distraught said junior agent is), or with a superior who understands what field agents go through or hell, just understands kindness and offers some (like Hunley, who's perhaps not been the best boss at the CIA, but basically changed his entire life because Ethan made him feel an emotion so it's not a stretch to believe he cares a lot about the wellbeing of his agents now - and if that's the pairing of your choice, might be a little in love with this specific one, even). I'd definitely be down to see the contrast from Luther's POV as well, especially if Ethan and Luther are together.


Ethan's put in a honeypot situation that turns uncomfortable and traumatic; Hunley comforts him.

This one's specifically an Ethan/Hunley pre-getting-together prompt. My reading of canon is that while the IMF isn't afraid to use a little seduction, it always intends it to stop at flirting to distract/get access/achieve a goal, and might even have exfil protocols if things nonconsensually get any further than that. I'd like the situation Ethan's been in not to have gone as far as sex - maybe he found another way to get where they needed to go, or maybe he used the distress call, or maybe he just kept the person distracted long enough for another member of the team to get something they needed to accomplish the mission - but to have gone far enough to make him deeply uncomfortable, and for Hunley, as his handler, to be the one who sees how shaken he is afterwards. I'm a big fan of Hunley getting to see Ethan vulnerable after missions in general; maybe he's done that quite a few times, maybe even offered comfort before, and maybe it's all been kind of routine injuries and exhaustion and deep-cover recovery before, but this one shakes them both up more than usual. Maybe this is the one that finally makes Ethan lean into Hunley's side, seeking touch from someone who loves him and won't pressure him into anything. Maybe Hunley's the one to offer a hug and Ethan just clings. Maybe Ethan feels like he can't keep quiet any more about how much he likes Hunley, and kisses him. Or maybe they just sit quietly together and eventually one of them rubs the other's back or takes the other's hand. Maybe they even fall asleep together, neither wanting the other to be alone.

(I have more MI thoughts at my Hurt/Comfort Ex letter here, and my worldbuilding ex letter here, if you'd like to look!)

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Oblivion (2013)

Requested Tags (Jack/Jack, Jack/Vika, Jack/Vika/(Jack or Vika) triad):

Abusive Relationships - Recovery from past abusive relationship • Altered States - Character is out of it due to pain • Altered States - Hallucinations • Altered States - Fever • Crying - Hiding It • Crying • Chronic Pain • Chronic Illness • PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Trauma - Downplaying Trauma • Trauma - Holding a loved one while they're in severe pain • Touch-Starved - Stoic Character Falls Apart When Someone Touches Them • Sick - Hiding Illness • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Scars - Scar Kink • Body worship focusing on the scars and aftermath of trauma • Sacrifice - Enduring Pain to Protect Another • PTSD - PTSD Episode/Flashback • Plot - Faking Recovery So Others Will Stop Worrying About You • Muteness - Selective Mutism •
Belief - Believing Others Consider Them An Inferior Substitute for Someone Else • Belief - Character A believes they're more expendable than Character B • Belief - Reserved Character Shows Physical Affection Thinking They're Going to Die • Effect - Character Survived Their Adventures/Ordeal But Will Never Be The Same Again • Hurt/Comfort • Hurt/Comfort - Prolonged Recovery Time • Hurt/Comfort - Sensory Overload • Hurt/Comfort - Wound Care • Injuries - Concussions and Head Injuries • Injuries - Long-term recovery from near-fatal injury • Injuries - Permanently Injured • Injuries - Reinjured on top of an old injury • Long-term recovery • Mental - Dreams bleeding into reality • Carrying - One Character Carrying Another • Unreliable Narrator

Requested Tags (Jack/Vika, Jack/Julia):
Abusive Relationships - Recovery from past abusive relationship • Abuse - Condescending Praise • Abuse - Physical Abuse • Abusive Relationships - Partner Minimizes Character's Pain • Abusive Relationships - Partner refuses comfort when character needs it • Abusive Relationships - Repeated Violation By Intimate Partner • BDSM - Breathplay • BDSM- Character should safeword but doesn't • BDSM- Safeword Use • BDSM- Subdrop • Belief - Believing Others Consider Them An Inferior Substitute for Someone Else • Abuse - Gaslighting • Dub/noncon - A sexually taking advantage of B using the excuse of massaging things better • Dub/Noncon - Aggressor promises victim kink they want in exchange for kink that triggers them • Dub/Noncon - Aggressor uses knowledge of victim's kinks against them • Dub/Noncon - Agreed upon kink limits disregarded • Dub/noncon - Character Only Agrees to Try a Kink Because They Think Lover is Bored • Dub/Noncon - Character unsure of own consent • Dub/Noncon - Coerced or forced into sex while too unwell to participate • Dub/Noncon - Consensual aftercare after nonconsensual sex •
Dub/Noncon - Dubcon due to eagerness to please • Dub/Noncon - Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues • Dub/noncon - Forced Kissing • Dub/Noncon - Ignored Safeword • Dub/Noncon - Ignored withdrawal of consent • Dub/noncon - victim falls ill in the aftermath • Effect - no good deed goes unpunished • Hurt/Comfort - character A uses things which bring comfort to character B to hurt B • Manipulation - Emotional Manipulation • Mental - Character doesn't care about own well-being • Mental - Dreams bleeding into reality • Muteness - Selective Mutism • Overstimulation • Painful Hair Pulling • Plot - Routine Mission Gone Wrong • Power Imbalance • PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • PTSD - PTSD Episode/Flashback • PTSD - Trauma triggered during sex • Recovery from Canon Illness/Injury • Scars • Scars - From Self-Inflicted Wounds • Sensory Deprivation • Sick - Hiding Illness • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Touch-Starved - Stoic Character Falls Apart When Someone Touches Them • Trauma - Downplaying Trauma • Unhealthy relationships - character is afraid of partner • Unhealthy relationships - character is desperate to please partner • Unreliable Narrator


Thoughts/prompts:

Jack 49 survives, finds a better and happier life.

Jack 49 is a beautiful man who's had a lot of awful things happen to him. I imagine many other Jacks are equally lovely, and may have suffered just as much.

49's story is filled with people expecting him to be someone he's not - Vika expects him to be her perfect partner, Julia expects him to be her dead husband, the Scavs expect him to be a mindless killing machine (and Beech expects him to be the dead hero he remembers, too). With that in mind, I'm deeply interested in 49 surviving and learning to live as himself - learning who he really is as Jack 49, and that he deserves to be loved as Jack 49. I'm very here for him realizing what he went through with Vika 49 was abuse and he didn't deserve it, and I'm also very here for him falling in love with another Jack who is protective of him and never lets him go through anything like that again.

I'm here for 49 surviving that final scene somehow, perhaps with permanent injuries (maybe he ends up with a limp, having to walk with a cane), and slowly healing both physically and emotionally.


Vika/Jack as abusive relationship that leaves Jack traumatized.

I love OG Vika, but the two Vikas we meet in 2077...aren't good to their partners at all. We see Vika 49, who refuses to listen to Jack when he rambles, guilt-trips him, and trips him into the pool to forcibly make out with him to shut him up, and we see Vika 52, who isn't bothered when Jack is visibly injured and acting off as long as he does his job, and also guilts him into a kiss. It's not unreasonable to assume some (or most) Vikas' relationships with their Jacks might have been as bad or worse. I'm here for anything and everything exploring that. From 49 and 52 themselves and exploring the implications of canon, to any potential original Jack and Vika characters you might think of. The dub/noncon tags are with this in mind, for any Jack and Vika pair including the canon ones. For the physical abuse tag, Vika 49 and Vika 52 didn't seem to be physically abusive (rather tending towards coercion and insidious emotional and sexual abuse), but I could definitely see other Vikas going that far. I'd love to see a Jack who's gone through absolute hell at Vika's hands manage to finally leave her, and begin the slow, painful healing process after years of abuse.

I'm also really interested in Jack/Vika as a healthy relationship, but as the exception, not the rule - I'd love to see a healthy Jack/Vika pair who love each other deeply and support and look after each other even through hardship, but I'd especially like to see them in stark contrast to one or more Jacks who were deeply unhappy or left traumatized by their relationships with their Vikas.


Multiple Jacks and Vikas with different traumas, different special interests, different lives, so many differences even though they're clones of the same person.

I'd love some worldbuilding and exploration of the differences between the various Jacks as individual people. Please feel free to invent all the original Jacks and Vikas you desire, and show me how they're all distinct people despite their shared traits; show me how their life circumstances, the geography of their territories, the different books they found in ruins, shaped who they are. Show me how their special interests differ! Show me how some Jack/Vika relationships were better than others, and some worse. Show me how some of those relationships last through the Tet falling, and how some don't - and, indeed, how the Tet falling affects them all differently. Maybe some Jacks are permanently injured, and have (or have had) to learn to live with and make accommodations for their levels of ability. Maybe some Jacks and Vikas find each other and try to rebuild when the Tet comes down, and form a close-knit community that looks after its own when they need it.

As mentioned above, I'm very open to exploring healthy, loving Vika/Jack relationships (and how they remain strong through hardship!), but I'm especially here for exploration of those in contrast to the deeply unhealthy ones that leave so many Jacks scarred.


(I have more Oblivion thoughts at my worldbuilding ex letter here, if you'd like to look!)


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Collateral (2004)

For Vincent/Max, I'm super into rough, kinky hatesex, possibly involving cars; for Vincent/Daniel, I'm super into something softer, with caretaking and lots of reluctant mutual understanding. (I'm also generally very into Vincent's motivations and his cynical worldview, especially considering a lot of it stems from an abusive childhood and being passed around foster homes, and probably a great deal of financial insecurity. It's possible the alienation of being queer compounded that, too.)

Requested tags (Vincent/Max):

Abuse - Past Child Abuse • Abuse - Forced to admit to past abuse • Altered States - Alcohol • Altered States - Character is out of it due to pain • Altered States - Delirium • Altered States - Drugs (Recreational) • Altered States - Drugs (Nonconsensual) • Altered States - Fever • Altered States - Fever sex • Altered States - Hallucinations • BDSM -Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane • BDSM- Subdrop • Scars • Scars - Scar Kink • Bondage - Bound and Blindfolded • Bondage - Shibari on a sick character • Dynamic - Dependent on Enemy for Survival • Dynamic - Mistaken for Being in a Relationship • Humiliation - Verbal Humiliation • Dub/Noncon - Dubious Consent Due To Mutual Intoxication •
Effect - Character Survived Their Adventures/Ordeal But Will Never Be The Same Again • Injuries - Career Ending Injuries • Injuries - Hiding Injury • Injuries - Permanently Injured • Kink - edgeplay due to thin line between kink and trigger • Mental - Character doesn't care about own well-being • Mental - Munchausen Syndrome • Mental - Suicidal Thoughts • Overstimulation • PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Religion - Blasphemy • Religion - Lapsed Catholicism • Religion - Religious Imagery & Symbolism • Religion - Sex in a place of worship • Self-Harm - Asking For Rough Sex As Unhealthy Coping Mechanism • Sensory Deprivation • Trauma - Childhood Trauma • Unreliable Narrator • Violence - Crucifixion • Violence - Pinned/Stabbed to Surface as a Form of Restraint • Hate - Hate Sex • Forced - Eye Contact • Injuries - Bloody and Bruised • Painful Hair Pulling • Plot - Character Enthusiastically Consents To Dark/Dangerous Activity

Requested tags (Vincent/Daniel):

Abuse - Past Child Abuse • Abuse - Forced to admit to past abuse • Altered States - Alcohol • Altered States - Character is out of it due to pain • Altered States - Delirium • Altered States - Drugs (Recreational) • Altered States - Drugs (Nonconsensual) • Altered States - Fever • Trauma - Child Abuse • Altered States - Fever sex • Altered States - Hallucinations • BDSM - Aftercare • BDSM - Breathplay • BDSM - Pain Play & Aftermath • BDSM- Safeword Use • BDSM- Unable to Safeword • Bondage - Shibari on a sick character • Carrying - One Character Carrying Another •
Illness - Major Illness • Injuries - Broken Bones • Injuries - Career Ending Injuries • Injuries - Hiding Injury • Injuries - Permanently Injured • Kink - edgeplay due to thin line between kink and trigger • Mental - Character doesn't care about own well-being • Mental - Munchausen Syndrome • Overstimulation • Plot - Help from strangers • PTSD - PTSD Episode/Flashback • PTSD - Trauma triggered during sex • Religion - Blasphemy • Religion - Lapsed Catholicism • Religion - Sex in a place of worship • Self-Harm • Self-Harm - Asking For Rough Sex As Unhealthy Coping Mechanism • Sensory Deprivation • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Touch-Starved • Trauma - Character Is Hiding Aftereffects of Trauma • Hurt/Comfort - Prolonged Recovery Time • Hurt/Comfort - Sensory Overload • Hurt/Comfort - Wound Care • Injuries - Bloody and Bruised • Injuries - Gunshot Wounds • Long-term recovery • Chronic Pain • Chronic Illness • Dreams - Nightmares


Thoughts/prompts:

Vincent finding himself torn down and vulnerable.

For Vincent/Max, I see this as dark and bitter and confusingly sexual (with the confusion mainly on Max's side). Vincent is a terrible person, and yet you kind of feel for him; Max is a sad bean who never asked to be caught up in any of this, and yet somehow finds it in himself to be an absolute hero and kick ass. Please tell me more about these messed up people and the rough, kinky hatesex they get up to. I'm a-okay with fic set before the film, during the film, or after the film in a universe where Vincent doesn't die.

Until Max got the better of him, Vincent spent most of the film reading Max like a book, and constantly, mercilessly unmasking him to himself. What I'm after with these prompts is a just reversal of that, a re-balancing of the power dynamic between them by means of Vincent being hurt. I'm here for Max getting to see Vincent torn down and vulnerable, to see what an utter mess he is, how held together with trash and duct tape he is under all the posturing. (He's a dick, to put it mildly, but there's an angle or two from which he's...really fucking tragic? When you start to see him coming undone, you really see him coming undone. We know a few things about him that are established as sore spots - that he's been passed around between foster homes and an abusive dad, and that he was military or a military contractor before he became a hitman.)

Maybe this is the same night as the film, and Daniel at the jazz club convinces Vincent not to kill him, or something happens to convince him to let Annie go, or there's just a skirmish with police or a rival assassin group, and Vincent ends up badly wounded - and Max can neither let him die, nor resist the urge to torment him by providing comfort with no explanation, no reason for it that would conceivably make sense to Vincent (a perfect h/c ex tag for this pairing: "comfort as cruelty"). Maybe Vincent gets hurt and tries to fix himself up in the back of the cab, and Max catches sight of all his scars in the rearview mirror, and one thing leads to another and they end up making out roughly, Max noticing every old injury, every stiffness of a limb, everything that points to Vincent having had a hell of a past; noticing every gasp of pain he can't manage to hide. Maybe, for something completely different, Vincent survives the MTA with permanent injuries from the incident that end his career as a hitman, turns state's evidence or just disappears and possibly grows, like, half a conscience (which he hates but now it's there), and gets a card from the Island Limo Company while he's healing up.

For Vincent/Daniel, I see this as softer. Here's a more detailed rundown of my reading of their dynamic, but broadly speaking: there could be a universe where their connection over jazz got strong enough to sway Vincent from killing Daniel, and in that universe, there could be another where Vincent survives the MTA and crawls back to Daniel's club gravely injured, hoping for some music or some conversation, or just hoping to die in the one place that's ever given him something like happiness. Maybe in that universe, Daniel saves his life instead.

I'm fascinated by Daniel, and I think (despite, or because of, his criminal past) that he's a compassionate man. Vincent's not expecting compassion, and doesn't know what to do with it, but he's badly injured to the extent that recovery will probably be somewhat long-term, and he's pretty much at Daniel's mercy, and what Daniel decides to give him is gentleness. I am all about Daniel caring for Vincent with attention and affection, and Vincent suffering in silent powerless fury for every second of it because he knows he doesn't deserve anything like this, no matter how much he's always wanted it - things like changing dressings, carrying him, bringing extra blankets when he's cold, sitting beside him when he can't sleep. I am all about Vincent getting to see Daniel go about his daily life, running the club and practicing the saxophone and being nice to people like a normal, very nice man, while Vincent's essentially an invalid and therefore forced to stay there and witness what a happy, normal life can be. I am all about recovery not being linear and Vincent getting suddenly sicker to the point where he's delirious and miserable and ends up spilling his soul to Daniel, talking about the miserable life he's had without all the propriety filters he had with Max, and for Daniel to share some of his own previous hardships in return, and for them to start to bond over that. Maybe they proceed to build a real acquaintanceship over music and Mysterious Criminal Pasts while Vincent is recovering, too sick to pick up targets; maybe eventually it turns out Vincent's permanently injured to the point where he can't be an assassin any more, and has to figure out how to be a person living a normal civilian life instead, and Daniel has experience in that area and can help him out.


Vincent finding himself torn down and vulnerable: BDSM edition.

For Vincent/Max, again, my take on this is dark and bitter and hopeless (this pairing is the exception to my hopeless endings DNW). I'm here for Vincent And Max Getting It On In All The Rough, Fucked Up Ways, during or after the film. Maybe one or both of them are drugged or drunk or high, maybe Vincent's sick or injured so badly he's hallucinating and isn't sure Max is real (and Max isn't sure Vincent's really consenting). Maybe they use banging each other as an excuse to talk out or fuck out their various issues, like Max's with his limo company and Vincent's with his father. Vincent is definitely a masochist; maybe he's surprisingly eager to please, and Max uses that to get revenge for everything Vincent put him through in the film. Maybe he does that by hurting him, or maybe he does it by getting him to confess to (or just talk about) all the times he's been vulnerable in the past. Maybe Vincent's time in the military comes up, in a kinky context or an angsty, bitter context, or both. Maybe they walk away weirdly healed...or maybe just bleeding and ripped apart.

I'd like whatever they do sexually to be more or less consensual, if not necessarily safe or sane - I could get behind mutual dubcon scenarios, where they could be drunk, both under the influence of a ~substance (really fond of acid for this, but also like, nebulous fictional drug that has whatever effects you want it to is also a pretty good choice), or (as mentioned above) Vincent may be hallucinating and not entirely conscious, but I don't want either of them to use physical force to get the other to sexually comply. I don't want either of them to hold disproportionate power over the other - as Max established in the second half of the film, the leash very much goes both ways. (Also Vincent is weirdly fucking principled for a hitman and I could see him as being laughably obsessed with consent, so make of that what you will.)
There are some dubcon-flavoured thoughts/prompts in my Chocobox/Consent Issues writeup on them, here.

For Vincent/Daniel, again, my reading is softer. I love the two of them discovering each other's scars, I love Daniel being the gentlest dom and Vincent just not knowing anything about how to handle that, never really having received gentleness in life before. Vincent asking for pain because he gets off on it, but also because it's all he knows, and Daniel agreeing (for instance) to tie him down but then doing it so gently instead. Vincent, still recovering, insisting he can take more pain or just more activity in general than he really can, and hurting himself more and being furious at himself for having physical limits, and Daniel being like 'I told you so' but also just treating him kindly, like he's a small angry cat who just needs to be humoured a bit. I'm very into surprisingly soft, gentle fever!sex with the two of them, but I'm also into Daniel using Vincent's extra pliability from the fever to order him into things like (angsty version) talking about something terrible that happened to him when he was a kid, or (slightly fluffy but also still kind of angsty version) talking to him about what he thinks about jazz. Very here for Vincent being deathly terrified of being seen, having spent his whole life making sure he's invisible, and not dealing with it well at all. (He might even have an instinct to lash out at some point, and Daniel being six foot two and built could easily just hold him down till he calms.)


Vincent as lapsed Catholic.

This is out of absolutely nowhere, but we know Vincent spent a lot of his childhood being passed around between institutions and foster homes. I'm fascinated with the idea of his having been...kinda generally shoved into Catholicism, like institutions and some foster homes tend to do. I don't think he ever believed or cared about actively practicing, but I do think he might have been fairly often and fairly consistently exposed to the practices and beliefs. Which, as anyone who's experienced close proximity to religion while growing up will tell you, results in some interesting feelings later on in life. Only some of those feelings are Varying Degrees Of Internalized Bullshit. Some of them are that instinctive flinch of fear if you do something Not Allowed, like have a sexual thought in a place of worship, even if you know intellectually that such things aren't wrong; others are that fear fading into delight at flagrantly disobeying every nonsense rule that was drilled into you.

I'm fascinated by the general imagery of the warmth and safety a church can provide, and specifically the deep sense of alienation that comes from participating in church activities while knowing you, for whatever reason, you are not included in that warmth. Whether it's because you're secretly queer (whether or not you've realized it yet), or because you don't fit what you 'should' be in some other way, or just because you're a sullen, angry child who's been through shit they can't process and is probably still actively going through shit they can't process - just standing there knowing all this supposed warmth and solace can't touch you. Hell, there are lots of ways to be wrong in the eyes of the church, most of them extremely innocuous, and no matter how much you grow up and realize you weren't wrong, the guilt of it all leaves a mark on you. I'm really intrigued by the thought of Vincent having had this experience in childhood, and how it might have shaped him, as the angry kid he no doubt was. Maybe he was messed up, but not quite so messed up yet, not particularly a problem child, just...invisible. Maybe he was a problem child, but like...intermittently, the way abused kids are, trying to melt into the walls one day and acting out the moment he's noticed. Either way, I'd like to see how the church just...kind of doesn't help at all, how he fell through the cracks of that system just as much as he did though those of society at large. Maybe he got to see other kids and other people actually find community and healing, while he was just there, on the fringes, knowing neither how to perform adequate faith and be seen as part of the fold, nor how to be a good enough kid in general to merit, say, counseling or academic help. I could see him developing a deep and bitter resentment of this system, just as he has for every other system, and a deep and bitter resentment of the people there who really managed to belong, whether it was parishioners who seemed to have normal lives, or maybe the other foster kids or institution kids he knew. I could see that going double if he were realizing he was gay or bi. I could see that resentment fading from his immediate consciousness as he grew older and didn't have to depend on these systems any more, but I could just as easily see it welling up again as strongly as before if, for instance, circumstances forced him and (Max or Daniel) to take shelter in a church.

I don't think Vincent would ever regret his life as a contract killer. I think he considers it something he was forced into in order to survive, a fault of the system rather than one of his own, and even if he hypothetically grew a conscience about it I think he'd just shrug it off and stop rather than let it tear him up much. That said, I am delighted by the thought that Vincent might have some kind of uncomfortable feeling that he's a sinner, might consider the thought that forgiveness might be offered but ultimately decide he doesn't believe/trust any potential higher power enough to care to want it. (Also that he might be disgusted at the thought of being 'forgiven' for being gay, when perhaps that's one of the only things that's ever given him something like happiness.) I'm also delighted by the general idea of Making Out and/or Fucking In A Church. Like, you can go all out on the blasphemy kink and I'll eat it up with a spoon. All the conflicted feelings mixed with delight on the part of the characters is excellent. Rough dubcon (with Max as aggressor) is excellent if Max is the partner involved, roughness mixed with gentleness is excellent if it's Daniel, as is just a general feeling of surrealness (fever? injury or pain? alcohol or drugs? exhaustion?) and how that interplays with ingrained Catholic Guilt as well as just religious imagery in general. Maybe Max ends up stabbing Vincent to a surface through the arm to pin him down. Maybe Vincent and Daniel arrive with Vincent already injured, bleeding from his hands or wrists. Maybe there's patching up before, or after, there's making out. Please draw all the sacrilegious parallels you like between this garbage sociopathic contract killer and any saint you want.

I am also very, very down for parallels between Max and any saint you want, or especially between Daniel and any saint you want.

Like...if you happen to be considering this, and wondering how much is too much, the answer is 'please feel free to take this prompt and go full Like A Prayer with it'.

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The Shadow (1994)

Requested tags:

Altered States - Delirium • Altered States - Drugs (Nonconsensual) • Altered States - Fever • Altered States - Fever sex • BDSM - Aftercare • BDSM - Masochistic sub thinks they deserve genuine punishment • BDSM - Pain Play & Aftermath • BDSM- Character should safeword but doesn't • BDSM- Masochistic sub asks for more pain than they really want • BDSM- Safeword Use • BDSM- Subdrop • Loss of Control of Superpower/Magic - Due to Illness • Loss of Control of Superpower/Magic - Due to Emotional Distress • Forced Suppression of Superpower/Magic • Medical Consequences of Suppressing Powers • Medical Consequences of Overusing Powers • Bondage - Honour Bondage • Bondage - Shibari on a sick character • Bondage - Bound and Blindfolded • Bondage - Gags •
Crying • Crying - Hiding It • Dreams - Dreams bleeding into reality • Dreams - Nightmares • migraines • Recovery from Canon Illness/Injury • Rescue - Love Interest Comforts Character through Aftermath • Scars • Scars - Scar Kink • Sensory Deprivation • Torture - Aftermath of Torture • Torture - Hallucinogenic Drugs • Torture - Pain Enhancing Drugs • Torture - Sensory Deprivation • Torture - Sensory Overload • Torture Aftermath - Character is further traumatized by necessary medical treatment • Torture Aftermath - Delirium • Torture Aftermath - Illness • Torture Aftermath - Stoic character shows vulnerability • Torture Aftermath - Wound Care • Touch-Starved - Stoic Character Falls Apart When Someone Touches Them


Thoughts / prompts:

Hurt/Comfort, Vigilante/Noir Edition

I'd love some h/c focused on Lamont, with Margo being able to read his thoughts and taking none of his self-loathing/self-sacrificial bullshit. I'd also love Margo and Mo, the cab driver, joining forces to look after Lamont when he's been an idiot things have got too much for him to deal with, and perhaps bonding over looking after their idiot. I'd love to know more about the dynamic between Mo and Lamont, too - how did Mo become, for so many years, the only person who knew Lamont's secret? Did the Shadow save Mo from harm - and was he too hurt afterward to hide his identity from him? Or did Mo find out by accident, and/or in other hazardous circumstances? There must be a ton of stories he can tell Margo from the past seven years.

I'd also love to see something that picks up after the film, with established Lamont/Margo dealing with the hazards of the vigilante business - perhaps Margo finding an injured Lamont collapsed on her doorstep and having to look after him, perhaps her hearing his mind call out from miles away when he's hurting or miserable, perhaps them having to find ways to keep up their Socialite Personas for the public, such as Margo sneaking Lamont out of a party with clear We're Going To Make Out signals while he's really staggering from a gunshot wound. All the Noir Detective and Noir Vigilante and Noir Caretaking tropes! I will eat all the tropes up with a spoon!


Hurt/Comfort, Superpowers Edition

I'd also love some exploration of the Shadow superpowers and how they work (and how they can go wrong) - perhaps with Lamont losing control of them when he's unconscious while hurt or ill, resulting in things breaking, flying around the room, people accidentally getting mind-controlled into doing odd things, maybe someone getting mildly injured, and Lamont being overwhelmed with guilt and hiding himself away when he's losing control for years until Margo realizes she's the only one who can help. I'd also love to see the effects of Lamont sometimes overusing his powers and working himself to exhaustion - perhaps it gives him migraines or gets him sick, leaving him shaky for a few days afterward, or exhausts him to the point of burnout, and this too has been going on for years before Margo walks into his life and realizes he's a whole idiot who can't sustain this way of working forever. Perhaps his occasional bouts of overusing-powers-sickness have been mistaken as hangovers or other debauchery by his uncle/butler/etc, and he's done nothing to disabuse them of the notion because it suits him for them to assume he's an empty-headed layabout. (Perhaps someone finds him in a gutter one morning too deeply unconscious to make it home, and it makes the tabloids and his uncle gives him a Stern Talking-To that he has to pretend he's taking to heart, while Margo knows the real reason and worries and shows up to domme him into letting her look after him.)


Hurt/Comfort, Sexy + Feelings Edition

Speaking of Margo domming Lamont into letting her look after him, that's the exact dynamic for them that I love. Margo is super assertive, knows exactly what she wants at all times, is very very sexual and horny on main, and she's also very generous with comfort when Lamont needs it. Lamont, meanwhile, is all haunted and racked with guilt for his past, and afraid he'll hurt her, and also kind of awkward and embarrassed by her boldness; embarrassed to be wanted as much as she wants him. I'd love to see her taking him in hand and showing him how to let go of his guilt and nervousness and place his trust in her - him all reverent and worshipful, her patiently finding out what he needs (even if it's a long-term project, and even if what he needs is pain or bondage - perhaps especially if it is!), and maybe her giving him lots of praise and aftercare as a reward for being good for her. I also think Lamont might, in his self-flagellating way, sometimes go too far in asking for pain, and Margo might have to figure out when those times are, take care of him and reassure him, and figure out how to help him stop doing that.

D/s or no, I love the idea of Margo putting Lamont in shibari while he's sick, perhaps because they've found it helps keep his powers or power-induced sickness/headaches/burnout in check, perhaps as a simple exercise in comforting touch. I love the idea of Lamont just...not being able to deal with tenderness and being loved, especially so when he's ill or hurt, and Margo having to kiss away tears of sensory overstimulation/general overwhelmedness. Lamont just being very used to curling up and riding out illness/injury alone, and Margo refusing to let him do that and giving him lots of gentle touch and kisses, is such a soft spot for me, as is the fact that she can read his mind and hear his distress from miles away, so he literally cannot hide any kind of suffering from her.

Hurt/Comfort, Supernatural Injuries + Potentially All Of The Above Edition

This tag is a license to go full-on with the hurt/comfort casefic. Lamont is used to using his superpowers to deal with very non-supernatural things - normal people committing crimes and getting up to awful things - but clearly there are strange forces in this universe, as demonstrated by Shiwan Khan showing up. What kind of supernatural injuries are there in this universe that could instantly throw Lamont out of his element, and pose a real threat to his crime-stopping ability and perhaps his life? Does he fall ill or end up in pain after touching a cursed object? Does he get cursed by someone who clocks who he is? Does he get stabbed with a supernaturally-powered blade that halts his powers, or slowly spreads venom through him, or just prevents him from healing? Does he get injured telepathically, someone targeting him by sending crippling pain over telepath radio? A new powerful telepath on the block injuring someone else (or themselves) in order to harm Lamont - or in order to lure him into a trap? How does the situation resolve? I'd love to see Margo, Mo and the butler help solve the case, slowly taking over more and more while Lamont gets worse, looking after him as best they can and also taking out the enemy with whatever little help he can manage, and then helping him recover afterwards.


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War of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier

Generally after a character study/Ray's headspace after the film, and for him to get some serious comfort after all the horrors he went through.

Requested tags:

Altered States - Fever • Altered States - Alcohol • PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • PTSD - PTSD Episode/Flashback • Altered States - Delirium • Altered States - Character is out of it due to pain • Altered States - Hallucinations • Altered States - Drugs (Recreational) • Altered States - Drugs (Nonconsensual) • Dreams - Nightmares • Injuries - Hiding Injury • Injuries - Concussions and Head Injuries • Effect - Character Survived Their Adventures/Ordeal But Will Never Be The Same Again • Illness - Major Illness • Sick - Hiding Illness • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Plot - Help from strangers • Touch-Starved • Violence - Impaled through the Hand/Arm • Injuries - Hand Injuries •
Violence - Pinned/Stabbed to Surface as a Form of Restraint • Trauma - Witnessing Violence and Death • Trauma - Repressed/Suppressed Memories of Trauma Come Back to Haunt Character • Trauma - Characters bond in traumatic circumstances • Trauma - Character Is Hiding Aftereffects of Trauma • Altered States - Fever sex • BDSM - Aftercare • BDSM - Masochistic sub thinks they deserve genuine punishment • Bondage - Bound and Blindfolded • Bondage - Shibari on a sick character • Carrying - One Character Carrying Another • Chronic Pain • Crying • Loneliness • Mental - Character doesn't care about own well-being • PTSD - Trauma triggered during sex • Self-Harm • Self-Harm - Asking For Rough Sex As Unhealthy Coping Mechanism • Sensory Deprivation • Trapped - Solitary Confinement • Trapped - Trapped With Someone in Need of Medical Care • Trauma - Character's Past Trauma Is Revealed Against Their Will • Vehicles - Broken down car in the middle of nowhere • Violence - Crucifixion • Weather - Storms • Illness - Major Illness • Sick - Hiding Illness • Sick - Sick and Lonely • Sick - Too Sick To Sleep • Injuries - Permanently Injured • Injuries - Reinjured on top of an old injury • Hurt/Comfort - Prolonged Recovery Time • Hurt/Comfort - Sensory Overload • Hurt/Comfort - Wound Care • BDSM- Safeword Use • BDSM- Subdrop • BDSM- Unable to Safeword • BDSM -Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane • Abandonment Issues

Thoughts/prompts:

Ray falls apart.

Whether at Mary Ann's house, or otherwise. I'm eternally frustrated by the fact that no one even invited him in for a glass of water after the absolute hell he's just been through. I'm here for Ray doing his best to keep going, possibly not even realizing how exhausted or hurt or sick he is until the kids are safe, at which point his body completely gives out on him.

Maybe Mary Ann doesn't want him around and he doesn't particularly want to impose on her family, but he blacks out literally right there on their doorstep and has to be hauled inside, and there's immensely awkward caretaking while he's very out of it, embarrassed that they're the ones who have to look after him but too messed up to try and leave. (Maybe he does try to leave and not bother them any more, and promptly passes out another time and has to be hauled back in again. Maybe he succeeds in leaving and gets caught in the rain or cold and gets even sicker. Maybe he finds himself crying in secret, or has to explain away the tears to Mary Ann's husband or a stranger.)

Speaking of strangers, I'm also here for Ray getting comfort from someone else - in fact, comfort from a stranger is more likely to be genuine comfort that really helps him. Maybe he passes out in a train on the way home and wakes up in hospital. Maybe, in the longer term, he starts to process all the awful things he's been through and bond with other survivors - does he even have a home to go back to, after Brooklyn was pretty much destroyed? Does the government put survivors and displaced folk up while deciding how to compensate them for the losses they've faced, so does Ray hole up with other people who've suffered, generally try to help out as much as he can with volunteering and relief work, and the people he finds along the way look after him when he crashes? Does he try to help with the rebuilding efforts, possibly while in no shape to do so, and crash on the job? Is he surprised that people care enough about him to make sure he's okay? I'm not opposed to him finding a cute romantic partner (of whatever gender!) who's also been through terrible things and can help him feel less alone, but I'm also very taken with the thought of this small community of traumatized people coming together to help one of their own when he needs it, and him kind of wondering why they'd even notice him or care about him. That's generally what I'm getting at with the injury, nightmare and PTSD-related tags - something happening to Ray, and a stranger, or the community of strangers he ended up a part of, helping him even when he doesn't want to be a bother and doesn't know why they'd care.

My reading of Ray is that he generally didn't see many people outside of work, and that he's the kind of person who does his utmost to help in any situation that needs it but keeps to himself a lot outside of that, so I'm very here for even the slightest bit of comfort, offered hand or kind word sort of breaking him into several pieces.

I've also added the 'child abuse' tag here, as something Ray might find himself having to process. This tag is specifically because of a throwaway line Ray says to Robbie when he's mouthing off and calling him 'Ray': "it's Dad, sir, or if you want Mr Ferrier - that sounds a little weird to me, but you decide." Which sounds to me a lot like he parroted those last two from his own childhood, and I know it's a bit of a reach from there to straight-up abuse but it's a reading I'm really not opposed to. At best there's a lot of emotional distance there between Ray and his own dad, and at worst physical abuse, and I'd read Ray having to confront and/or confess to it having been either, or even verbal or emotional abuse, and that he's tried his best not to replicate it with his kids but still feels like he's failed them in other ways.


Ray falls apart, tries to cope through substances.

Ray has...a lot to deal with, and no one to even listen let alone help. A lot of the altered states tags could be fever or illness related or PTSD related, and I'm super here for that, for someone getting to see how messed up Ray really is, and choosing to stay and look after him instead of leaving him to fend for himself. I'm also here for him trying to deal with the pain by getting as drunk as he can, or accepting a pill that someone gives him, possibly not knowing what he's getting into. (To clarify, I'm not looking for an addiction plotline here, more like a 'very tired, slightly clueless, trying anything once' situation. Though I can see Ray drinking every day, I would rather not see him binge drinking every day.) Also kind of here for someone slipping him something in a drink, either with malicious intent or with benevolent intent (getting him to lighten up or have some fun for once, hoping to stop the nightmares, etc) and that not ending well whatsoever.

Here for someone - as above, a stranger or partner or someone from a community Ray's ended up in - being with him while he's in that messed up altered state, perhaps talking him down from a bad trip or flashback or some kind of delirium, or holding him while he spills sad confessions and talks without a filter, without being able to stop himself talking, about everything that hurts. Very here for all the comfort.


Ray falls apart, tries to cope through ill-advised sex with strangers.

The Above, But More. This is what the sex/BDSM tags are getting at. I'm here for Ray kind of both trying to seek out physical contact, and trying to seek out physical pain to drown out all the mental and emotional pain, and getting those wires so crossed and knotted that he ends up not really knowing which is which. Maybe, because so many people are hurting and everyone deals in different ways, he finds an abundance of people willing to hurt him, and finds that it kind of gets him off, or finds that it's easier to get off to pain than to gentleness he feels he doesn't deserve. Maybe some of these partners aren't in the best of mental places either, and end up hurting him more than he wanted, or he and said partners both kinda forget what safe and sane mean because they have no barometer for it any more, and maybe aftercare kind of isn't a thing and Ray drops hard more than once. Maybe the drop and the pain are the only way he can manage to let himself cry. (Maybe he finally happens to find someone who is really into the aftercare, and it changes his life. Very here for gentleness breaking Ray into pieces here, too.)


Ray tries his best to hold it together, even if he doesn't always succeed, but then additional terrible things happen post-apocalypse to set him back/make him crumble.

These are plot tags for Additional Angst And Pain that could add on to any of the above thoughts to make the darkness even darker, or make for a dark fic on their own. Thunderstorms, for instance, are probably going to be a major trauma trigger not just for Ray but for everyone else who survived the tripods moving through their area; I could see Ray huddling with a fellow traumatized survivor or a bunch of them, one or several of them shaking or crying, just trying to comfort one another as best they can while they weather the storm. Similarly, a broken down car in the middle of nowhere would be an eerie parallel to what Ray experienced in the film - maybe he's alone this time and doesn't deal with it well, or maybe he's with a few other people who are compassionate and help him deal. Perhaps either of these is even a trapped with someone in need of medical care situation, with Ray hurt or sick and unable to hide it when in close quarters to others, and the storm being too intense for anyone to try and get him help until it passes.

Violence is also not unlikely in a survivor camp or just in general in a post-apocalypse scenario, and I could see Ray either stepping in to try and defuse things and getting hurt because of it, or just happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be the kind of quiet, awkward, perceived-as-weird person that those looking for violence like to target. Both the tags for this situation involve impalement or near-impalement - pinned/stabbed to surface as a form of restraint, possibly through a sleeve or through the arm or leg, possibly because Ray was being inconvenient for someone who wanted to steal something or hurt someone else and had to be got out of the way, and crucifixion, for which I'm mostly seeing him being pinned to a surface through the wrist or hand. For both of these I'm interested both in the trauma of the situation itself and in the (probably long-term) healing afterwards - whether Ray ends up just weaker in that arm, or whether he ends up with a limp, or ends up losing the use of a hand entirely, I want to see the healing process and someone, or multiple someones, looking after Ray while he's badly hurt and in shock on top of everything else they've all been through.

There's also a Solitary Confinement tag, for the possibility that Ray is held as responsible by law enforcement for the violent incident as the actual instigators, and is put in a cell while he's hurt, and possibly someone who witnessed the incident or just someone from the survivor camp makes it their mission to get him freed and then help him heal up afterwards.

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Once again, thank you for creating for me! I hope you have fun with it - that's what it's all about, after all. 💛