seal_nonnie

Hello Gift-In-A-Boxer!

I go by Brachylagus_fandom over on AO3, and I'm delighted to see what you have in store for me! I've listed some general likes for the medium opt-ins I've requested across fandoms as well as prompts for the fandoms I've requested, but if inspiration takes you in another direction, go for it; I love all of these canons, and I'm sure I'll love what you create for them.

DNWs

porn (fade-to-black is fine)

gore (canon-typical violence is fine, but keep injury descriptions minimally graphic)

animal cruelty

change of setting AUs (e.g., coffee shop/pirate/high school AU - canon divergence AUs fine)

Likes

Worldbuilding - how did canon get to be the way it is? how do the nitty gritty parts of it work?

Crack, especially crack treated seriously

Characters being competent in their area of expertise

Mystery/intrigue

Missing scenes

Hurt/comfort

Fluff

Hijinks

Little details of canon

Outsider POV

Slice of life

Likes for Medium Opt-Ins

In-Universe Documents (what in WorldbuildingEx would be termed "In-Universe Meta") - a great medium for worldbuilding-focused works! I love all forms of these, especially documents that peer into areas of canon that are more in the background. For this (and Art and Poetry), Any truly does mean any; I love all varieties of this I run across, and so the easiest way to trim down the number of opt-ins I was requesting was just to request the top of the umbrella.

Conspiracy Board - I'm looking for outsider perspective with this. Characters not in the know can make Very Reasonable Assumptions about what's going on with the main characters, but that doesn't mean those assumptions are anywhere close to right. Maybe a mix of accuracy and wild misses?

List of things (character) is not allowed to do - a perfect excuse for comedy! Many of these characters are teenagers, a population well known for making bad decisions, and I'd love to see their (canonical or not) poor choices dragged out in listicle format.

Poetry - I love poetry because it can establish very specific moods with very few words. No preference for metered vs free verse; I really like when very structured styles (e.g., villanelle) use that rigidity to full effect but also appreciate how less structured formats allow ideas and language to flow more freely. I tend to prefer people over nature in terms of subjects. I'm particularly interested in in-universe poems (e.g., something a character wrote or a song they grew up singing).

Art - I love seeing different styles of art and how other people visualize things! In terms of specific likes, I tend to prefer stylized (e.g., art deco, medieval-style paintings) over realistic art styles and pieces with a clear sense of ~aesthetic.

A Softer World-style panels - I think that the a softer world format is great for a gut punch, and have no preference of pre-existing comics with selected panels versus words of your own or art drawn by you versus official art/public domain images.

Rashomon-Style Conflicting Narratives - I love these because you can see how each person's personal POV/insights/biases affects their view of the event, and I love the moment when all the disparate versions of a story gel together.

Non-Linear Narrative - Fun experimental style! I love the opportunities for foreshadowing/dramatic irony this grants, and I think it's a great choice for stuff where a character's perception of time is busted (e.g., time loops, time travel) in particular.

Recursive Fic/Remix/Fanart/Fancomic/Cover of My Fic - Honestly, I'm just curious to see how other people interact with/interpret things I've created. Any works under my name on AO3 are fair game; any art or fic opt ins that apply to your idea are fine. I have 4 works for 39 Clues under the pseud Merry Madrigal and 7 works for H.I.V.E., I work for Mysterious Benedict Society (books), and 3 works for Winterblumensaat under Brachylagus_fandom. I'm also open to remixes/recursives/et cetera in fandoms I didn't request!

Logic Puzzle/Murdle - I love these! The logic needed to solve them, the way you get little bits and pieces before everything becomes clear all at once. I think this can be a fun way to do slice of life; A does these things with these parameters, but must remember which is which. For murdle, I love the backstory behind it, and the reaction of the suspect at the end! (I also really love the snarky weapons/locations/suspects cards).

39 Clues

Length Opt-In: Any Nominated Opt-In, Medium Opt In: Any - Any In-Universe Documents, Medium Opt In: Art - Any Nominated Art Medium, Medium Opt In: Poetry - Any Nominated Style of Poetry, Medium Opt In: Unique Rules - A Softer World style panels, Medium Opt In: Unique Rules - Logic Grid Puzzle, Medium Opt In: Unique Rules - Murdle, Medium Opt In: Art - Fanart Cover/Illustration of Recipient's Fic, Medium Opt In: Art - Fancomic of Recipient's Fic, Medium Opt In: Art - Remix - Art Remix of my Fic, Medium Opt In: Writing - Remix - Fic Remix of my Fic, Medium Opt In: Writing - Recursive Fic of Any of the Recip's Works In This Fandom, Medium Opt In: Art - Conspiracy Board, Medium Opt In: Writing - List of things (character) is not allowed to do, Medium Opt In: Writing - Non-Linear Narrative, Medium Opt In: Writing - Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives, Medium Opt In: Art - In-Universe Social Media, Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - In-Universe Social Media, Medium Opt In: Writing - Reddit: In-Universe Reddit Post On Any Subreddit (Post + Replies)

Notes on the In-Universe Social Media/Reddit tags

I think this series is a great place for some outsider perspective, just because Cahill "normal" is so far removed from the rest of the world, and the In-Universe Social Media/Reddit tags would be a great way to do that. (It kinda reminds me of the now-defunct Cahill Web, which, in addition to a bunch of In-Universe documents and edit wars on not!Wikipedia, had fake social media pages for the characters. The pages had a lot of pretty normal stuff and comments from non-Cahill friends, but there was also a bunch of references to Cahill activity.)

I'd also love to see how the characters use social media in different ways that reflect their different personalities. I imagine Jonah's stuff would be very curated, since he's a public figure, but maybe he's got a side account or three that are much less so. (And there's always the potential for the "this reminds me of that time I threatened to kill you… looking great!" comments, with this group.)

In terms of Reddit stuff, these characters have enough interpersonal tirefires to burn r/relationships to the ground. I also think a deeply bizarre AITA post with names removed but not any of the weird shit (and/or literal crimes) the characters get up to would be top-notch. ("I spied on and tried to shoot my best friend. AITA?") And the number of weird things someone could describe themself in a r/IAmA thread would be hilarious.

It would also be great to see a seemingly unrelated thread, maybe on r/History, getting derailed via people trying to cover up and/or expose Cahill secrets.

Fiske Cahill & Grace Cahill

These two have such an interesting relationship, in part because we don't really get to see it (since the series started with Grace's death). I'd love to see them as children (or well, I guess child + late teenager/early adult who's probably closer to parent than sister). In Storm Warning, Fiske partially convinces Amy of his identity based on how similar his reaction to Beatrice is to Dan's; what was the relationship between Grace, Beatrice, and Fiske like when they were young? Fiske was an artist, and some of his angsty teen poetry or art would be great.

Fiske's decision to fake his death/become the Man in Black would also be a really interesting thing to explore. How involved was Fiske in Cahill business before he faked his death, and how much of the pressure on him was specifically a result of Grace's involvement? What was Fiske and Grace's relationship like immediately before that choice and afterwards? Did they keep in touch as family members or solely as Madrigals? I also think that Fiske's "death" would be a focal point for at least one conspiracy theory, between general true crime fervor (teenage white boy goes missing and has his death reported in one of the most sus ways possible) and Grace's prominence.

Related to the above, it could be great to see Fiske reckoning with Grace's reputation/prominence/legacy before he left, during his time as the Man in Black, or after Grace's death.

Hamilton Holt & Madison Holt & Reagan Holt

Sports siblings! The Holt family dynamic manages to simultaneously be pretty supportive and deeply fucked up, and I'd love to see something exploring that. Some of their exploits pre-canon could be fun, as would their efforts to restructure the branch after Into the Gauntlet. How did the Clue Hunt (and subsequent misadventures) alter their relationship?

I really like how Hamilton and Regan both buck family expectations at different points and different ways. I'd really enjoy fic of the Holts being supportive of Regan's dancing or Hamilton's process of coming out/getting a boyfriend. (The existence of his off-page boyfriend is literally the only part of Doublecross I have osmosed.) Does Madison also end up doing something not Holt-like?

Olivia Cahill & Madeleine Cahill

Their relationship has always intrigued me. I'd love to see some of Madeleine's training or other things Olivia taught her, and both of them grappling with Gideon's legacy (and those of Katherine/Thomas/Luke/Jane). It would also be great to see Olivia's adventures in creating the serum antidote (with young Madeleine tagging on). How did she know what she needed to collect for it? How did she test it?

Solo: Amy Cahill

I have an immense amount of affection for bookworms thrust into high-stakes situations, and Amy definitely qualifies. I'd love to see her pre-Clue Hunt, either on a trip to Grace's or just trying to muddle through. How did Grace prepare her for the Hunt (like how she trained Dan's memory)? What happened when Cahill stuff came up?

It would also be great to see Amy growing into her responsibilities post-Clue Hunt. What was the adjustment from "Cahill is my surname and has no other meaning" to leader of the Madrigals like?

What are some of her favorite books, either before or after the Hunt? What are some times things she read about came in handy?

Solo: Jonah Wizard

I'd love to see more of Jonah's relationship to his celebrity status (which he seems to feel at least somewhat restrained by in Into the Gauntlet) - how has that changed over the years, as he's gotten older or more famous? How does it shift after what's got to be a pretty traumatic experience during the hunt? How does his role as the son of the Janus branch's head mesh with his career; beyond any networking opportunities the branch would provide, how does that benefit him? What is he expected to do in return?

I'd also love Jonah's relationship with music in general, either stuff he writes (and its development over the years) or music written by others. Are there any songs he's too embarrassed to sing? Particular favorites (or tracks he has surprising fondness for)? What instruments does he play?

I'd also be interested in Jonah's complicated relationship with various members of his family (both parents, Phoenix, etc.). How have those shifted over the years? Is there anything there that he's only coming to terms with as an adult?

Solo: Sinead Starling

I think Sinead is a super interesting character; she's a very different person at the start of the hunt vs. in Into the Gauntlet vs. in CVV, but you can draw a decent through line between them. A look at her POV on those shifts would be excellent, particularly her decision to become a Vesper (and the resultant fallout).

Pre-canon, how did she and her brothers get involved in Cahill business? What was her relationship like with them and Alistair, who seems to be an uncle figure to many of the younger Cahills? (Somewhat relatedly, where are her parents? 39 Clues definitely follows the kids' series trope of adults being evil/unwilling to help, incompetent/unable to help, or dead, but I think hers are the only ones not mentioned at all.) What were their normal lives like?

The time between the explosion and the Starlings' re-entry into the Clue Hunt would be another excellent place to explore. It's a major shift in their lives however you look at it, and I'd love to see how it shook up the triplets' group dynamics and affected Sinead in particular. Did she have guilt over having fewer complications from the explosion? What kind of support did she get, from inside or outside the branch?

WB: changes to history

As a kid, some of my favorite parts of the series were attempts to incorporate historical figures into the Cahill mythos, and I'd love to see more of that with the historical figure/event of your choice. I'm equally fine with connections mostly used to segue into your fave historical topics (as many of the books did) and serious examinations of how the Cahills being real would have impacted this event.

I'd also really like to see how this would affect non-Cahill (or non-branch-affiliated) people! That could be a fun way to use some outsider POV (as the motivations of the hunt to people outside it are utterly obtuse) and feature historical figures who cannot be easily retconned as Cahills.

It might also be fun as a "truth is stranger than fiction" take on conspiracy theories. (Who shot JFK? Well, an Ekat was trying to kill him from the grassy knoll, but a Lucian gave the Ekat agent lunch poisoning only to have their papers switched to obvious forgeries by a Janus, who was beaten to the site by a Tomas… and then some rando shot him from the book depository.) I could see this being played as the accepted version of events being true and branch actions acting parallel to real-life conspiracy theories, the actions of branch agents inadvertently planting the evidence used by conspiracy theorists, or it really being a Cahill conspiracy (covered up with varying degrees of accuracy). (Also, as a random aside, would some anti-Stratfordianism in a Cahill universe be a result of Shakespeare not being Janus? Especially if Marlowe et. al. were, given Jonah's mention of attempts to marry Caravaggio in.)

For alternate media, art in a period-type style would be very cool. I also remember the "edit wars" on ILikeUselessFacts (CahillWeb's Wikipedia dupe), where members of various branches and people not in the know debated what should and shouldn't be in articles, and that could be nice to replicate.

WB: Branch Social Structure/Politics/Culture/Recruitment

I was a huge fan of all the spy tropes as a kid, and the branches were a huge source of that. If you wanted to use a not-quite-OC, I'd love to see one of the card-only characters used to explore branch structures/culture/recruitment/politics; they have such interesting concepts I'd love to see explored.

Besides "cutthroat and sporadically deadly", what do branch politics look like? How do they differ between the different branches? How do they differ between different bases within a branch?

How do the politics/values of a branch affect its social structure; for example, would Ekats praise researchers unusually highly since they're "the smart branch", whereas social standing in the Tomas heavily hinges upon experience in the field (replete with "and the Madrigals were thiiiiiis close" aggrandizements)? How cohesive is branch culture, given that members are scattered across the world? (Again, is that something that's more on a major-base-by-major-base level?)

How do agents get recruited, in addition to "my parents are agents, so I'll be an agent"? Do branches have people with an eye on local news/police scanners who have a talk with anyone who comes up with something interesting? Do people discover whispers of this organization that can take you anywhere, get you anything, and seek it out? (How do the branches determine if the person is actually a Cahill of the appropriate branch? Cora mentions a test in Emperor's Code, though in context she's lying about the results; there's a test panel in Into the Gauntlet, but I could see that fabricating results. If there is a test, how has it evolved over time?)

I'd also love to see how the branches are run on a day-to-day basis, and how agents coordinate across bases. Obviously, the rise of the internet (and before that, telegraphs and other forms of quick communication) have allowed for a greater degree of contact and cohesion, but what gets left to an individual base to do and what gets kicked up the chain? (This would go back to politics as well - maybe you generally forward info on that weird guy dressed in black lurking around to your superior, but he's a dick and so you don't particularly care if the Madrigals get him.) Who pays for the electricity/food/water/supplies on a base? (Member dues, insider trading, the branch owns the local utilities? All sorts of possibilities.) Do agents stay on/near bases adjacent to their work, or seek jobs closer to major bases? (Do agents have outside jobs? Canon skirts this a bit because a lot of them are, like, twelve, but I'd be curious of the answer. Also, relatedly, do agents get paid, and if not, is that why a lot of them are rich and/or teenagers? Do you get college credit for being kidnapped and poisoned by your local Lucians?)

WB: Guardian Organization/Social Structure/Culture/Recruitment/History

Honestly, I wish this had gotten explored more in CvV because the idea of a parallel (and predating!) organization dedicated to preserving the world is fascinating. How, when, and why were Guardians formed? How did they get tangled up in Cahill business? (If the Vespers originate from Damien Vesper, what were the Guardians initially formed to protect the world from?)

How was the organization structured? Was it similar to the branches, where there's one leader (or leading council) in charge, or does the title refer more to a loose group of people with similar interests who could rely on each other for help? How were Guardians recruited?

What skills did the Guardians value as a group? What methods did they use to preserve their knowledge/pass it on? How did they encode messages?

What happened to the Guardians, other than Atticus and his immediate ancestors? (Are the Guardians otherwise wiped out, or merely in hiding/disconnected from Atticus' lineage due to a schism or presumed death? If it's the latter, I could maybe see that connecting with the Gomez family stuff in Storm Warning, but I'd love to see Atticus learning about his heritage either way.)

WB: Vesper Organization/Social Structure/Culture/Recruitment/History

Again, an organization I'd love to see some explanation for. We've got some hints at their organizational structure - it's ruled by a council of six (albeit one that has someone who's been a member for about 3 years tops) - but I'd love to see an org chart for this mess, or how the council enacts policy. What is the goal of the Vespers as a whole? What do their missions typically look like?

What is the social structure of the Vespers like? It's suggested (I think in one of the missions) that there are agents after the top six with V# titles, and that these carry some sort of prestige; are Vespers 7-39 (or 50, 100, 666, etc.) also in designated roles, or is it determined in some other way? What is the culture of the Vespers like? IIRC, Dave Speminer's burns were implied to be a deliberate coming of age ritual; is that just for descendants of the man himself or a more widespread thing?

How are Vespers recruited? Sinead's recruitment suggests some seeking out of Cahills at their lowest moment, but between V1 and Arthur Trent, there does seem to be some family recruitment. (What is up with the Trents specifically? Are they a branch of the Speminers, some other long-allied family, or two agents who decided to start a family and raise their kids in it? How involved is Shep?)

How did Damien form the Vespers? What were his inital goals? Is their enmeshment with Cahills a deliberate tactic, a means to get the serum, or largely a result of the scope of Cahill influence? (Did any Cahills know about them ahead of time or clock that there was a split between two groups of Madrigals/agents of enemy branches?)

WB: Any

I love the tech in this series, and would love to see more of it (or similar ideas of your own). How does it work (schematics/explanatory documents welcome)? How were they invented/developed? How have they trickled out into the normal world over time? How do you reserve rights/patent something to secret for anyone outside the branch to know about?

I'd also love to see more of the serum's development process (in particular sourcing the ingredients) or the antidote's development. It would also be great to see some of the previous attempts at recreation/uniting the family.

It would also be great to see some different takes on the Cahill origin story - mythologizing the fire/using it as a motif, alternate versions of how it (or other major events) went down as told by different branches or at different times

H.I.V.E. Series

Laura Brand & Wing Fanchu & Otto Malpense & Shelby Trinity

The Core Four! Mostly looking for shenanigans, but I'd also love to see how their friendship has changed as they have. What are some things they've gotten away with over the years, and how have their methods/motives shifted over time? What is their relationship like post-series? Do they still occasionally get together for big schemes (or even go back to the school as guests/teachers)?

Solo: Laura Brand

I'd love to see more of Laura's life pre-H.I.V.E. - her decision to hack the nuclear warning system (and government documents freaking out about that), but also her learning the skills required to do so and the acts of her classmates that made this a rational choice. It would also be great to see her relationship with her parents then, especially contrasted with her relationship with them (and Douglas) post-series.

Laura's post-graduation exploits would also be great! I'd love to see her spread her wings a bit and try new things as an adult, and reconnect with a world she's been out of. Which of her old tricks have been largely patched over?

For angst or hurt/comfort, Laura's time in the Glasshouse would be great to explore. Betraying her friends, thinking that wasn't enough to save her parents, dealing with Furan, trauma from her experience with Zero… the list goes on.

Solo: Nigel Darkdoom

Nigel is one of my favorite secondary characters! I love how he grows prominence and confidence as the series progresses. It could be really fun to see how his skill with botany has progressed, too, from pre-H.I.V.E. hijinks (maybe it started with gardening, branched out into selective breeding or genetic modification, and from there to whoops, Little Lab of Horrors?) to post-Violet plant monsters (or very good friends!).

I would also love to see his relationship with his parents explored - what we see of him and Diabolus is very adorable, and I'd love to see more of that, either post-canoon or before Diabolus faked his death. I'm also curious what his relationship with his mother is like; they seem close, but Mrs. Darkdoom never appears on page. Is she secretly a spy/Interpol agent who fell for her target? Another supervillain, either current or retired? Someone completely out of the know? How much does she know about Nigel's present state?

Solo: Theodore Pike

I have a soft spot for mad scientists and their mad ~science~, and Dr. Pike is the prime one in this canon. How did he become a supervillain? What were some of his exploits pre-faculty position (or executed from the island)? Other than Mrs. Leon (which I would love to see explored, too), what are some experiments of his that went very wrong/right?

I'd love to see more of his relationships with the adult characters - he seems close to Colonel Francisco in Zero Hour, and of course there's the whole "turned Mrs. Leon into a cat" thing. His relationship with Nathaniel (aka: chess friends with his boss' extremely estranged dad) is also interesting. For the younger cast, I really liked the bit in Deadlock where he put on the absentminded professor bit to give Shelby, Franz, and Wing info about their friends; has he pulled similar stunts in the past?

WB: Formation of H.I.V.E.

I'd love to see the development of the school over time, from the classes taught (and how they vary by stream) to the stream system to the isolation policy (and the increased strain it must be under as the school transitions into the age of the internet).

It would also be fun to see the previous campuses? Where were they? What were they like? Why did the school move?

How were various staff members recruited? How do they differ from their predecessors?

WB: Technology

Again, love for ~science~. I'd love to see a practical take/schematic on any of the tech in the series (my faves probably being Raven's swords - they're cool as hell) or a jokey take on the quality of the engineering ("and why did you turn your coworker into a cat") or manufacturing process. I have done a silly discussion of H.I.V.E. safety, Not a Gadget (But a State of Mind), if you want to riff on that.

Neuroscience in the H.I.V.E. world is quite interesting, between the organic computers in the clone's brains and Mrs. Leon's bodyswap to the "dog whistle" in Zero Hour to Otto's hypnosis in book 1. I'd also love a more in-depth look at the clones in general, from the design process (and how it affected their development) to how their brain computers were implanted (and any vulnerabilities thereof, or extra powers no one yet knows about).

The AI in the series are also great characters, and I'd love to see more about them. How are they made/designed? It would be great to see Pike's proposals for H.I.V.E.mind, particularly since Nero, who would be accepting said proposal, knows Very Well what happened the last time they tried that. How much freedom and free agency do they have (versus what their humans think they have)? H.I.V.E.mind and Overlord are both male, and H.I.V.E.mind mentions a female AI; how do AI develop gender? Is it something programmed into them or does it arise naturally from their development of sentience?

Even beyond the clones, medical tech seems a bit more advanced than that in our world; Colonel Francisco has a very advanced prosthetic hand, and it's at least a few years old. There's also the ability of several characters to come back from near-or-presumed-death without a scratch (and get knocked unconscious without any following signs of concussion). How much of this is generalized to the surrounding world, or do villains get severely injured at a higher rate that incentivizes them to be on the cutting edge of med tech?

It would be great to see discussion of engineering/design/scientific ethics, however warped they are by villainy, particularly an "even evil has standards" take!

WB: Any

H.I.V.E. is a world with supervillains, but no superheroes. How did this come to pass? How does the outside world (either civilians or Project Artemis, who have got to have a conspiracy board or six by now) view H.I.V.E./G.L.O.V.E.?

I'd also love to see more of the Voice - where did it come from? What are its limits? What are some particularly clever exploits using it that various Sinestres have used over the years?

Leverage

Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer

This OT3 is so shippy, and I'd love to see more from them! I love how well they work as a team for the cons and how dedicated they are to each other.

I'd love to see the work they did in the interim between the original show and Leverage: Redemption, learning to function as a crew without Nate and Sophie to help. Did they end up calling anyone else in, like in The Last Dam Job, or calling Tara for help, like when Sophie was on leave? How did their romantic relationship affect how they worked as a con team?

I'd also love to see them working together in the original show (dealing with the season 3 finale could be a fun source of angst), or acting outside of a con altogether. I really loved Hardison and Eliot's dynamic wrt the brewpup, and that could be fun to see more of.

Solo: Jim Sterling

He's a magnificent bastard, and I'd love to see more of him. I would love a perspective flip on one of Leverage's jobs (either one he appears in or another he's investigating), but it would also be great to see his other cases. I'd also really love to see him and Nate working for IYS pre-series, maybe running into the eventual crew or maybe totally disconnected from it.

His relationship with his daughter is really sweet, and I'd also love to see that explored. How does the process of going back to parent and child (versus informant and handler) shake out?

Solo: Parker

Parker is a super fun character! I love how her brain works ("you'll get paid, and also get revenge") and the way everyone just rolls with Parker being Parker. I also love how she treats her acrobatic prowess as extremely normal. (Also, for shippiness with Hardison, I love the "oh! Time for my quick change of the episode! I'd better start stripping down in front of you" thing she has with Hardison.)

I love her tidbits of backstory, from the bunny hug & explosion to the implication her first solo job was Imelda Marcos. What's the most outlandish heist she's ever performed?

I also really liked Parker as Alice White, and how she's developing a social network outside the team. It would be fun to see her pretending to be normal.

Solo: Todd McSweeten

He's a McSweetheart. I'd love to see how he got to his position in the FBI, and what he does after the show. How long did it take him to realize Hardison and Parker weren't actually fellow agents, and how did his perspective on them shift over time? (Do they still show up on occasion once they and Eliot are a three-man crew?)

The D.B. Cooper Job obviously had a lot of revelations drop on him, and I'd love to see that explored as well.

WB: Any

I'd love to see how prospective clients get in contact/learn of Leverage. Does the crew just email people connected to shady corporations? Put out discreet ads? It would also be great to see those same clients down the line, maybe providing aid to the crew on an unrelated job as a way of paying them back.

I'd also love to see documentation of Leverage, Inc., actual, filed with the government, or speculated. How does the crew's finances work?

A detailed look at the tech employed on the show (or Hardison's exploits of it) would be great, either from the crew's perspective or people trying to track them.

Murdle

Deductive Logico/Inspector Irratino (Murdle)

These two are so great. Always firm in the belief that their method of crime-solving is superior (and smug to one-up the other) but also respecting the other as a rival, antagonist, and friend (with benefits).

I'd love an exploration of how their relationship has evolved over the years and how they've influenced each other. (E.g., the marot cards - Irratino uses them to divine info, but they're also Logico's suspect/weapon/place cards, but they've got star sign info on them, which seems very much against Logico's nature and thus a result of Irratino's influence.)

And the dates! I love their various dates, and would love to see a new one (or one of those we already know). Do they ever talk about Irratino's tendency to play possum? Do they ever pull a cozy plot and have a body mysteriously appear on stage when they are at that experimental one act?

Solo: Deductive Logico (Murdle)

The bushy-eyebrowed catcher of murdlers! I love his dedication to the art of logic puzzles, and it could be fun to see how that's developed over the years. Is the technique a Logico family tradition or something he picked up elsewhere along the way? How has his system been refined over the years? How does he solve cases that don't easily reduce to a grid format?

Given the efficacy of Irratino's method, what drew Logico to rationality in a world where the occult is presumably real? Have there been any cases he solved that other means couldn't have?

Logico is in a secret society, which sporadically passes him messages. How did he join such an organization? Who else is a member?

Solo: Inspector Irratino (Murdle)

The man, the mystery, the dramatic himself! I love his sense of the occult, and I'd love to see how he came to it. Is it a genuine gift or merely a shortcut for intuition? Does the Marot work at a crime scene scene?

Of course, there is no way to discuss Irratino without his weekly tendency to drop dead. How did that start? What does he get out of it? How does he fake his death; does he connive with the M.E., is it a very convoluted coincidence, or does only Logico get the message that he's currently dead? Why is Irratino at the rich people's prison in the first place; is he interviewing a prisoner, does he have a deal with someone, or is it something else?

I would also be more than open to a take where Irratino's not faking his death but is getting magically resurrected or is in a time loop (possibly one that can only be broken by confessing to Logico). I think it could be fun to contrast his powerlessness over whatever's keeping him alive and his power over other aspects of the occult. (It could also be fun to see Logico in a loop, as he tries to rationalize this clearly irrational thing.) Was it something he invoked? Does he figure out how to break it, and if so, how does he do so? If he tells Logico, I'd love for Logico to just go "...right" - not necessarily believing him, but believing that it is something Irratino believes in as strongly as anything else, which is good enough for the moment.

Solo: Murdlers (Murdle)

I love the game's many merry murdlers (and am including the rest of the submissions for the create a character contest in that)! I'd love to see their backgrounds explored; how did they come into their life of crime? When did they first meet our detective duo?

I'd also really love to see some exploration of the love/hate/childhood friends icosahedron of the murdlers. They must have so much interpersonal drama going on at any one time, lol, and I'd love to see it.

WB: Forensics (Murdle)

"Treat the fun jokey murder game's mechanics very seriously", basically. Many of the clues in this game (even aside from the secret society hints) are difficult/implausible in the real world. How do you get a fingerprint off the waters of the Nile? What kind of forensics tech does this world have? I would love to see the investigatory portion of any given Murdle puzzle; how does Logico come up with the items on his list?

How do some of the weapons work? (For example, the lawyer would logically be a murdler, not the murdle weapon.) What happens when the weapon leaves nothing behind, or leaves behind something other than standard residue?

The usage of star signs particularly interests me. How can you tell the star sign of a suspect from a crime scene? Do moon/rising signs matter, or is this purely based on sun sign? How do non-Western astrologies factor into this? (I would love to see academic-discourse-barely-concealing-bloody-fights on this, ngl.)

WB: Any

Similar to the above tag, I would love to see the complicated boondoggle that arises when the assumptions of a Murdle grid (one weapon and motive per suspect, one suspect per location, and no weapons/motives/locations unoccupied) stop holding true. What happens when the guilty tell the truth and the innocent lie in a two-truths-and-a-lie game?

I'd also love a look at the prison for rich people. How was it established? How does its status as an eternal revolving door work? Why are they not concerned about weekly murders there? (How does Irratino's not-technically dead status affect the legalities of the Sunday arrests? How does the legal system in this world work anyways?)

Is the occult real/respected in this world, or is Irratino simply Logico's equal and opposite weirdo? What kinds of questions can ghosts answer? Is the spirit writing really from the other side, and if not, what is Irratino's alternate source?

The Mysterious Benedict Society (books)

Constance & Reynie & Sticky & Kate

The titular society! I love how they balance out each other, both in terms of strengths & weaknesses and in terms of personality. I would love to see them meeting under different circumstances (maybe in an Emergency-less world, or maybe all on the island) and still becoming friends, as well as the evolution of their friendship over time. Do their adventures continue between Prisoner's Dilemma and Riddle of Ages?

For alternate media, I'd love to see the letters they send to each other between the books - Kate's breezy notes, Sticky's twelve-page theses, the dust bunnies Constance stuffs in…

Milligan & Kate Wetherall

I love these two. Kate's determination to be independent hiding her secret fear of abandonment, Milligan's complete lack of a personal history, the way his new name is a last, unforgotten promise to his daughter… and they do go to the mill again, because they reunite! I'd love to see baby Kate and the mill pond, or Milligan and Kate (and Moocho, should you wish) living together after the first book.

It would also be great to see the skills they learn from each other! Milligan's got a lot of spy experience, but the way you fit yourself into a spy role is very different to how you fit yourself into a circus performer role, and the latter could be as useful as the former at times. I'd also really love to see Kate learning some spy skills. What are some "this is the proper way" debates, like the bucket vs. utility best?

Solo: Kate Wetherall

I related to Kate a lot as a kid, and I love her as an adult! I'm cool with any era of stuff - pre-book 1 where she's at the circus, in the midst of the series, between the original trilogy and Riddle of Ages, or even beyond that. I think a really fun place to do slice of life for her would be between the first two books, when she goes to a normal school… which even written out as a summarizing sentence feels like a recipe for disaster.

The bucket is of course her signature item, and I'd love to see how that evolves over the years - either switching out the bucket itself or its contents. What other uses does she develop for it? Does she ever try a utility belt like Milligan's?

WB: Any

I'd love to see backstory for any of the adult characters - How did Number Two and Rhonda pass Mr. Benedict's tests? (What other exceptional children has he found over the years?) What was Milligan, Kate, and Kate's unnamed mother's life like pre-Brainsweeping? What motivates the Recruiters to work for Curtain?

I'd especially love to see stuff about a brainsweeping victim, thinking they've come to terms with their amnesia only to hit the big trauma tripline of "this was something done to me, not an accident". How do the Helpers recover, and why were they brainswept in the first place? What's it like to be a successful graduate at L.I.V.E., an orphan they so generously took in, only to realize the latter part's a lie? (Especially with the implication that a lot of executives/messengers were brainswept.)

I also really love the tech in this series. A good look at Whisperer schematics would be fun (or, even better, an iterative design process), and I'd love to see the development of the Ten Mens' briefcases.

Mysterious Benedict Society (TV)

Martina Crowe/Kate Wetherall

These two! I love the intensity of their feelings, how they go from "ew, her" to "you're the only person I can ask to help me evade capture"/"I'm going to drag you around the woods and plant your bows so you evade capture" in like, three days. Martina calling Kate her only real friend! Her betrayal when she finds the tetherball charm! The reconciliation/role reversal when Martina rescues Kate at the tower! All very good.

I'd love to see more of their relationship on the island - maybe a tetherball strategy session turns into something more - but I'd also love to see what happens when the Institute closes. How do they remain in touch? What's Martina's situation off the island like; does she come live with them at the farm? Do they continue to play tetherball together? How do they adjust to a normal school environment, and what chaos do they wreak there?

I'd love to see Martina come along on a Society adventure, but her and Kate having hijinks of their own separate from everyone else would be great. Maybe they visit Kate's carnival, or go to a tetherball match together, or Kate surprises her after a debate tournament. (One of my fave small details in canon is a debate certificate on Martina's wall o' trophies, because she is such a debate kid.) Maybe their date gets interrupted by Ten Men, and they have to work together to escape.

Number Two & Rhonda Kazembe

I love the graffiti scene and the follow-up where Number Two gives Rhonda the paint; they have very clashing personalities and understandings of how to accomplish their shared goal, but they respect each other nonetheless.

It's interesting to see the differences between their dynamic in the books and show; how did that come to be? How long have they known each other? How did they meet each other and Mr. Benedict? Is the fight over graffiti the first argument of its kind they've had or is it the latest in a long series of fights?

I'd love to see backstory for them, obviously, but I'm equally interested in how their relationship works after the end of season one. Do they go hunting the Ten Men together? Does some of the strain on the adults lift once the Emergency does? How does Rhonda deal with losing both Mr. Benedict and Number Two in The Perilous Journey?

WB: General Life at the Institute

This feels like a great place for outsider POV. You're a normal student at a school that's kinda weird but you really enjoy, with some extracurricular activities and an established friendgroup, and then overnight your headmaster gets arrested for brainwashing the country/world and also kidnapping. (I know Recruitment is not really a thing in the show, but I do love the additional possibility that you are also a victim of aforementioned kidnapping and don't even know it.) How do you react? I'd love to see the "nothing suspicious ever happened there, except for that one time…" justification treadmill after the fact.

What is the curriculum like? (I'd love to see an outline of objectives addressed, or the report that got the educational monitor brainswept.) How are the weekly ranking tests conducted, and how do they relate to the material? (In the show, it often feels like we've got a "teach beyond the test" veneer over what is functionally a weekly, high-stakes standardized testing situation.)

How does the life of Messengers differ from normal students? What additional privileges do they have? Do they get their own dorms/room with other Messengers? What happens when a Messenger loses their sash?

What is life like for the Helpers? Daily routine, propaganda given to them by Curtain, understanding of the plot of the show from an outsider's perspective, etc. How does he keep them on the island, away from people who might recognize them?

WB: Any

I'd love to see more insight into the lives of the other exceptional children, either Krista and Dewey or OCs. How much did they suspect something was weird with the tests? How much do they link up reports of Curtain's arrest/Mr. Benedict with that weird test after the fact? (See my fffx letter for more details on this.)

I'd love to see something exploring the Whisperer's long-term effects. How does it warp the messengers over time (changes in memory/cognition, maybe Jackson and Jillson's synced speech)? How does it warp Curtain?

I'd also love to see how water polo and tetherball became such popular sports in this universe (and more about women's tetherball in particular).

What are Jackson and Jillson's roles, precisely (other than "RA from hell")? They're considerably older than the students (but younger than the teachers), and the in-between category of Executive seems to be done away with entirely. (They've got special uniforms distinct from the Messengers - except Martina - but no mention of the Executive role is made in the show.)

Winterblumensaat

I was first introduced to the movie (the OG one, not the new one with the terrible CGI that somehow manages even more… creative adaptational choices), then the first English translation before picking up a copy of the original text, and I love Flory and the gang in all of them. If you first found this fandom through one of the other versions, I'm sure I'l love that version of them, too!

Florentina/Mailia

She was a girl, she was a monstrous girl, can I make it any more obvious? I love the sheer inevitability of them, the way they are drawn to each other even though they both know this cannot end well. It's a fine, fine line between love and obsession, and there's no way of telling which side of it either of them are on on a given day.

In terms of Mailia's characterization, I need her to be at least a little bit… off from human. Not necessarily cruel (though cruelty can definitely work for her), but detached from the human understanding of morality, with her understanding of what is right based long ago, far away, or always pointing inwards. The exact source of her monstrousness isn't super important to me; I love vengeful ghost!Mailia, and revenant!Mailia, and something's shifting under her skin!Mailia.

I love consumed by the monster!Flory just as much as I love her role in the film, where she's actively pursuing Mailia. The main thing I like about her in this ship is her strong moral compass, and how she finds its alignment during the story.

Mailia & Schnail

The two new ones! I love them both, and I would love to see how they met and came to travel together. (Especially in light of Schnail's convo with Markus in the book, and how that ties the core four together in the messiest possible knot!)

I really like the way fandom has explored Schnail's gender in recent years (and how that's affected and reflected by their place in the book's society); something dealing with that could be great.

Markus & Florentina

Oof, these two. The deep current of trust that runs between them, and how Markus manages to make it as shallow as a kiddy pool. (I love Florenailia, but Flory was right about not trusting the new ones, dammit!) I'd love to see their relationship pre-canon, or them trying to pick up the pieces afterwards.

WB: Any

I would love a deeper look into the worldbuilding in this series; it's so rich and unexplored! I would also love to see more backstory for any of the minor characters: Flory's grandparents, Adelheid's great-aunt, Adelheid herself (the parallelism with Florentina!), or anyone else you care to talk about.