bakerstreet | (no subject)

the alternate universe meme

how to play
1. post with your character, name and canon in the subject line.
2. feel free to mention which aus you’re willing or not willing to play in the body of the comment.
3. tag by rolling for an alternate universe setting using rng.
4. or tag by picking whatever au you’d like to play in most.
5. have fun!

alternate universes
i - all human: in an all human au, characters who are canonically vampires, werewolves or superheroes, are now humans, with corresponding changes to their backstories.

ii - apocalypse: a portmanteau of "apocalypse fic", apocafic is fiction set during or after some sort of apocalypse, or end of the world. some canons carry a built-in apocalypse against which the protagonists are fighting: in apocafic, they lose. for example, apocafic in stargate and x-files is usually set after the alien occupation; supernatural apocafic is set on a demon-controlled earth.

iii - band: an alternate universe in which the characters are members in, or form a band. often, the instruments they plan and their roles in the band are analogous to their canon identities. for example, tony stark might be cast as the fame-hungry lead singer who is also a musical genius, or river tam might be a classically trained pianist who, after a terrible experience at julliard, writes songs for mal reynold's grunge rock band, serenity.

iv - circus: circus aus are a popular trope in fanfic and sometimes fanart. using a circus as a setting means introducing the characters to each other in a close-knit community. that can help break down barriers between them and make them bond together against the outside world which may not understand them as well as the other characters do. it also brings a sense of adventure and the idea that this world may have different rules and everything is possible. a circus can also be a good place for characters to go undercover and meet the love of their lives.

v - coffee shop: the barista au (or coffeeshop au, or the closely related bakery au) is a popular fanfiction trope in livejournal fandoms. in most cases, one half of the main pairing is the barista and the other is or becomes their favorite customer; in some stories the whole cast works at a coffee shop. this trope is especially popular in fandoms where one character is very attached to coffee, either in canon or in fanon, or is frequently stressed.

vi - college/high school: college fic is a popular genre of fanfic (less often a genre of fanart) that places characters together in college or another secondary institution such as the starfleet academy in star trek fic (then called "academy fic"). this can be canon stories, for example backstory if characters have or could have met during college, or college aus, similar to high school aus. in science fiction, historical or fantasy fandoms the present day college au is a popular subgenre of the modern au that puts fantastic or historical characters in more mundane everyday settings.

vii - cop/detective: an alternate universe in which the characters are cast as cops or investigators of some kind. often, the canon villain is also cast as the villain in the story. this might be set in modern times, or in a noir-like environment, complete with gangsters and femme fatales.

viii - daemons: his dark materials is a fantasy trilogy by philip pullman. the trilogy consists of the golden compass (1995; published in the uk as northern lights), the subtle knife (1997), and the amber spyglass (2000). there are currently two companion novellas: lyra's oxford (2003) and once upon a time in the north (2008). a movie adaptation of the first book was released in theatres in late 2007. humans have their souls living outside their body in the form of an animal companion. males have female souls and females have male souls. the animals often correspond to the character’s personality.

ix - fantasy: an alternate universe populated with fantastical characters like elves, dwarves, unicorns, sorcerers, and dragons. canon characters might be cast as analogous races (e.g. clint barton or katniss everdeen as elf archers) or they might be humans in a fantastical setting. characters also might be able to secretly shape-shift into another form, like a dragon, and therefore is related closely to were/vampire/supernatural aus.

x - historical: a historical au is a fanwork which moves characters into a different historical period than their canon setting. typically this involves taking "contemporary" characters (from the late 20th century or 21st century) and putting them in an earlier historical period (such as the 19th century or before). popular settings for historical aus include: pirates, america's old west, britain's regency period, ancient rome, a vague facsimile of medieval england such as robin hood, and many others.

xi - hooker/porn/stripper: hookerfic is a type of fanfic where one or more of the characters is a sex worker. there are many different types of hookerfic, ranging from more realistic depictions to the more common pretty woman-type fantasy of a hooker with a heart of gold, rescued from life on the streets by a client. sex work of all kinds is portrayed—brothels, escorts, street prostitution, "call-girls" as well as strippers and go-go boys.

xii - magic: magic aus are alternate universe fanworks that incorporate magic in fandoms where there is no magic present in canon. (or in some cases, fanworks that make a canon with magic more magical.) they differ from elf aus in that there may be magic without any elves showing up, and are opposites of all human and mundane aus.

xiii - neighbors/roomates: an alternate universe where the canon characters live next-door to one another, or in the same apartment building or complex, or in the same apartment. often, this is also an all-human au, if the canon characters are powered in some way. the forced proximity is usually used to create romantic tension between characters.

xiv - space/sci-fi: a space au is an alternate universe where a source set on earth is transported into space; works are often referred to as "[fandom] in spaaaaaaaaace!" the trope can be a form of crackfic, but often includes surprisingly serious reinterpretations of the most earthbound of sources, particularly historical fiction written or set before space exploration. cyberpunk trappings such as robots, cyborgs and ais are often included.

xv - steampunk: steampunk was originally a term for a sub-genre of speculative fiction that imitated 19th century "scientific romances" like the work of jules verne and h.g. wells. later, the term was applied to a general aesthetic involving styles that would be "futuristic" from the perspective of the 19th century. steampunk appears in fanworks as both a genre and an aesthetic. there are some fandoms for which the canon is steampunk(-ish), e.g. the secret adventures of jules verne, but more often it is found as steampunk alternate universe.

xvi - western: the western is a genre of fiction set in the later half of the 19th century in the western part of north america, especially the united states, but also canada and mexico. sometimes also included in the genre are stories about western-type characters and plots in other settings, e.g. "space westerns" (in science fiction settings) and contemporary westerns (set in the western part of contemporary north america).

xvii - were/vamp/supernatural: a reversal of the all-human, in these fics characters who are normally human are now supernatural creatures of some kind the most common being werewolves or vampires.

xviii - choose your own: self-explanatory! choose your own option.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((Look I'm just doing this because I don't want my massive post to show up on the page.))

It'll be fine, Martha he'd said. Don't worry, they don't even know he's a wolf, Martha he'd told her. We'll be out before the full moon, Martha he'd promised. This has nothing to do with wanting a pack, I don't want a pack, I don't need a pack, I've been alone for hundreds of years before you came along and--

Oh wait, that one he kept telling himself.

(He doesn't want nor need a pack.)

He taps at his watch, nerves finding him. This is why he never uses a watch. His own sense of time is perfectly sound (no it isn't), Martha was just doubting him for no good reason (it was a very good reason). He's supposed to meet up with her in less than ten minutes, and he has nothing of use. He continues to dig through the filing cabinet. How hard was it to find one lousy file?

Months of jumping planet to planet, timeline to timeline, and--what, did he really think tracking down the source of the wolf was actually going to be easy once he put his mind to it? Who was he kidding? But nothing, only more dead ends than he's cared to count, though it wouldn't surprise him if Martha's kept track.

They weren't even looking for clues this time, but they met a kid. Well. Teenager. Well. Early twenties. Probably?

Anyway, they met a kid. And he was a werewolf. And not fake, weird moon-lusting alien thing, but the same kind of wolf they were. Except then the kid gets kidnapped by the lovely megalomaniac medical corporation that ran the country/planet (the real reason that the TARDIS had brought them there, because something was Definitely Not Right with that corporation).

So, two birds. Save the kid--Reggie, Ruddy, Rufus? It started with an 'R', the Doctor remembers that much--take down evil medical people. All before the full moon!

How many medical facilities have you broken into, eh, Martha?

Not one of his best plans, but they really didn't have much choice, right? They couldn't just leave the kid. Robitussin? No, that's a drug. Also too long of a name.

"Come on," he mumbles, licking his lips, closing the drawer and going onto the next one, unlocking it with his screwdriver. He really hopes Martha is having better luck than him. He gives up on the whole leave-no-trace idea, grabbing a handful of files and dumping them on the ground, leafing through twenty at once and--"Oh."

He doesn't find Ronald's file. In fact, most of the files seem fine. Most. But there's this funny little notation on some of them that reads Subspecies: C. lupus.

His watch vibrates with an alarm. Time to meet up with Martha. He grabs at the files, shoves them haphazardly back into the drawer, and bolts out of the office and into the hall to their rendezvous point.

He's really not looking forward to Martha's "I told you so."

Edited (because it's the real tag) 2016-12-07 13:48 (UTC)

The boy's name is Romulus ("Isn't that an alien on Star Trek?" "One of the twin founders of Rome, suckled by a wolf on the banks of the Tiber," and then the Doctor had promptly forgot his name, because of course he had), and he's less a boy and closer to Martha's age.

Not that she's noticed or anything.

...okay, she's noticed, and it's apparently bloody distracting because the wolf in her has realised that there's a male close to her age, and it's actually far too close to the full moon-

There's a reason why Martha is slightly late to their rendezvous. There's also probably a perfectly good reason why her makeup is smudged. Probably. But she's got Romulus, and the Doctor has - doesn't have the file, thank you Doctor.

"You had one job!" she hisses. "One! The files were probably in alphabetical order with nice neat labels on them!" She's seen the Doctor's idea of a filing system, and she's pretty sure it would make someone like Ianto Jones faint from shock. The onset of the full moon is making her touchy, and there's a distinct undercurrent of growling to her words. "I did my job, why couldn't you manage yours?"

"It isn't why you think!"

Honestly, it's probably worse.

He doesn't notice her makeup. Why would he, really? But the wolf in him smells the boy on Martha and rears up within him in, what? Possessiveness? That's... that's a new feeling, and entirely unwarranted and please, he doesn't need this kind of feeling in his life.

He's supposed to be explaining something, isn't he. Not just staring at the two of them.

He mentally shakes himself--or throttles his wolf--and gets back on track.

"Look..." His face takes on an anxious expression and his eyes slide away from them. "You know how I said they don't know he's a wolf?" He doesn't really want to keep talking now. "Well they've... actually had... quite a lot of wolves here." Eheh. "And they've known what they are."

There's a moment when Martha seriously considers strangling the Doctor. She tells herself that it's just the tug of the full moon in her bones making her irritable, her wolf snapping impatiently inside her, and takes a deep breath. Counts to ten. When she opens her eyes again, she only wants to strangle the Doctor a little bit, so she considers it a success.

Honestly? The revelation scares her more than anything else. While there's a good chance that there's information that they need here, information that could help them figure things out, she's terrified of getting caught. She doesn't want to be an experiment - remembers the feeling of being strapped to a table as something grew inside her all too well - and she knows that's what would happen if they catch her. If they catch any of them.

But she also knows that the Doctor's going to want to try to get that information and shut down the research facility, and she doesn't blame him for that, either.

"We don't have time for anything," she says quietly, her voice pitched low. "We need to get out of here, Doctor."

(no subject)

The Adventures of Space Wolves continue! (I'm not sorry.)

I am a little sorry though.

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