bakerstreet | A Taste of What You Could Never Have

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A Taste of What You Could Never Have

A Taste of What You Could Never Have

The grass is always greener on the other side, it seems, not matter who you are. Still, there are some who've never even dreamed of seeing that lively shade because it's not even in the realm of possibility.

Maybe you've not once considered what it would be like to live what most would consider a normal, peaceful life. You're too plagued by danger or ostracized, and if you did think about how things could be different, you'll only bring pain over what can't be.

Except it can be.

You've woken up where. If you live in constant violence, you now have peace. If you're an outcast, you're now accepted by others. And more than that, you also have a happy home with a lover - something you may have thought you'd never have - and a perhaps even a family. You may or may not have desired that. Everyone else here thinks it's always been like this, but you know the truth.

...don't you? Or are you the confused one, and this the reality?

At any rate, how do you take this new "life?" Are you suspicious? It's understandable to be; you know who you are and where you stand, and you don't remember any of this. Could it be a trap all along? Is this a world where you wish you could stay or might actually try to do so? If that's the case, you may want to pull away and remind yourself that there must be an illusion here. Do you find the whole affair bittersweet? There's also the possibility that you'll learn from this. All things considered, what made your life so hard may also be what made you.

How to Play

Comment with your character, preferences, and any information you'd like to include. If you'd like to tell others what your character's idea of a normal or idealized like would be, do so. Blank comments are fine, too. Remember, all characters will have different concepts about what normal, peaceful, or ideal are.
Those who reply to you will be part of your character's "new" life - very close parts. The picture that inspired this meme is shippy, but you don't have to use the meme in that way. Just indicate if you're open to shipping, gen, or both!
Thread! Feel free to take interaction and the setting itself in any direction you'd like.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[prefer gen, but f/f for any shipping!]

( violence is bred into her and she was raised in a less than stellar environment, so old habits die hard. )

[Gen or m/f for shipping.

Thinking Saft's AU is a world where humans and dragons generally live in peace with everyone, which includes other magical creatures in Saft's world. Think this would work really well as some mindfuckery where Saft is lead to believe that this is how she's always lived and she's all roses and flowers and perfection and everything is fine - however there would be the horrid notion she feel's that something is still horribly wrong and something is missing.]

( he's probably not going to know how to take a world where demons aren't essentially at war with humanity and where half-demons would be readily accepted. )

[ooc; hello there! I love seeing fellow Rumicworld characters! :) Would you like Inuyasha to find himself in Nerima?]

[Rambly OOCness ahead]

He's kinduva funny case. For him, the "ideal life" would be closer to that second caveat - If you're an outcast, you're now accepted by others. The thing is that "closer" doesn't mean "identical" - he was never technically outcast in the widespread sense, but there was a time in Saul's existence when interactions with others could not really happen, and it colored his identity at the time. (Backstory stuff I've not gotten around to typing in his journal, alas - putting aside the incomplete purple-prosey snippet currently there.)

These days, he has more of a balance. There's friends, there's a love interest, there's the feeling of a relatively steady life - and yet, at times, the feeling that he doesn't truly belong to any of it. There's contentment, sure, but that feeling strikes on some days, and it's occasionally coupled with inexplicable and illogical feelings of loneliness.

He's got fierce wanderlust, too, and that means even when he is at home (whatever passes for one at the time), he doesn't often feel the urge to stay at it. The universe, to his thinking, must be known, explored, and tasted. It's almost a compulsion. And yet, even he silently admonishes himself sometimes, wishing he could be more content with sitting at home and domesticizing.

So, even though he has a balance, he wishes he could be happier with it and have peace with it - and on certain days, wishes he could be "normal" and have the picturesque Terran life of love, marriage, gods forbid even baby carriage. An ideal life, then, would be the removal of anxiety, of the instinct to question. (In spite of this, a scenario like that outlined by this meme could still arouse temporary suspicion of his new circumstances - but he's used enough to random encounters in the universe [other meme scenarios of SUDDENLY YOU'RE HERE, WHAT DO, in other words] that he would be willing to toss this away and drink up the new life while he can, even - especially - though he may understand it to be temporary.)

For this meme, he's open to shippy responses and not so much for gen - but that's because the latter is (thankfully) not in particularly short supply; just hit up any random non-shippy meme and bam, there you go, instant gen. And on that note, this seems a good time to mention: the ideal life would also feature that romantic angle too, because of course. To elaborate below...

Saul generally has a "live and let love" policy when it comes to romantic encounters; he's not exclusive, and neither does he expect the same of his partners. As with the wanderlust, though, he occasionally does look upon the other side of the fence with longing; wouldn't it be nice, after all, to simply belong to someone and be done with it? No questioning, no need to explore other fields - she's for him, he's for her, and there's no need to worry. That, too, would be ideal.

So, in that light: for him, an "ideal life" would be complete peace, in both romantic and general angles. He's fine with life, it's fine with him; he's fine with wife, she's fine with him; all is well and nothing is lacking. An ideal life is one with no want, with no *need* to want. Every yearning fulfilled before it reaches him. The fairy tale.

If I've left out anything critical, feel free to ask. This turned out more wordy than I expected and I've yet to be sure if I fudged anything in my own essaying. :'D

[Now, this one here... a much less complicated case. The world is fighting, and this particular Shooter is something of a violent persona - she's got that Evil alignment trait of "if it annoys me, kill it." A world in which she's suddenly calm and peaceable, with a life to match (that is, an "ideal" scenario kinda like Livingston's up there), would be very much at odds with who and what she is. To an extent, she's chosen the way she is, and only in very particular circumstances could I see her longing for the contrary.]

[So unlike Saul, who'd probably be 95% acceptance...I wanna say there's a good chance she'd rebel, resist, and maybe even come apart. It's not guaranteed to happen, but I also can't guarantee it won't. In a paradox that might place her at odds with the meme, she might decide she doesn't want that fantasy life and may even see fit to terminate it.]

[If you are looking for termination, he's the good example. What are you going to do with him? This monochrome man does nothing but walking around the path in the world of war.

It's empty. It's quiet.]

( hey look he's in the picture up there, god bless. he'll be confused and suspicious at first, but it'd probably be a lie to say he's never wondered what a sense of normalcy would be like.

also there will most likely be angst of some stripe. )

( how about a world where there are no enemies threatening the earth?

of course, sailor moon is such a huge part of her, there'd be some relatively deep existential pondering for Usagi here. please note relatively deep. )

( less likely to have the ideal life herself and more likely to be part of someone else's. )

Edited 2015-01-22 16:40 (UTC)

( how about a world where she's human...

...but obsessed with the sea? because i'm in the mood for some alanis morissette-style irony. )

[ ooc: A world where he is just a man, not a fairy tale character from another world. He actually has his heart and his complete free will. ]

( less likely to have the ideal life herself and more likely to be part of someone else's. )

[ A world in which everything horrible never happened and he grew up to be a relatively well-adjusted person. So he's basically this asshole. ]

After watching the latest pretty face walk away from their house, Mikoto decided to stop her son in his tracks.

This wasn't one of those little chats about Academy grades, mission assignments or the missing roses out of her garden. No. This time, they needed to have a real, honest, heart-to-heart talk.

"Sasuke, that's the third girl you've courted this week." She began. "Remember, you're an Uchiha. Second in line to become head of the clan. Your behavior is representing the entire clan. We must know..."

There was a long pause.

"You are using adequate protection, aren't you?"

( a life outside the tower? oh my gosh, best alternate universe ever!

but what about her world? she'll be terrible if she wants to stay here. )

Edited 2015-01-22 17:04 (UTC)

((A what if Hermione had gone into Ravenclaw, like the Sorting Hat originally considered??

[A life where her parents hadn't divorced, or where she lived with her mom instead.]

[For Wanda, it would probably be a life free of everything -- a domestic faerie story she had made for herself. Where she and Pietro were able to raise Billy and Tommy and just have a nice, normal family life. Occasionally going to their Dad's for holidays.]

( ooc: having her live her life as a "normal human" would be nice to play out, and I'm willing to go down any route that allows for amnesia/brainwashing/etc, but it's definitely not necessary. rebelling might occur if she's trying to live some weird normal, happy life. any AUs are totally game with me as well.

if you want your characters down in fuyuki, feel free to! i'm totally down for a happy, peaceful time post-hgw, any route, just ask! default route as usual is post unlimited blade works. )

[It was over.

No more wars. No more fighting (save for a possible demon or rogue mage at some point). And no conflict that involved Naoki having to fight someone. Things were finally over at last. Somehow, against all the odds, he and Rin managed to drive away the darkness from Sakura, and she could live happily with Rider. Only Naoki and Rider seemed to be the only Servants left and allowed to stay in this world. Lord knows Naoki was able to survive on his own now without the need of mana, his body finally used to the rules of this world.

Yet to have peace at last, after dealing with nothing but conflicts, he was happy. Finally able to discard his demon form temporarily to blend into places more, he held Rin close to him, both of them sleeping together soundly. This was what he wanted ever since he first stepped into the Conception.

He was finally happy.]

tell me if this isn't okay and i'll tweak it

harshwords - 2015-01-24 04:00 (UTC) - Expand

its good no worries

heavensmostwanted - 2015-01-24 12:01 (UTC) - Expand

sera / dragon age: inquisition

karai ( tmnt 2007 ) ota

Saft | Original Character | OTA

inuyasha ( inuyasha ) m/f for shipping

no subject

Saul Livingston || OC || In what might be an odd twist - shippiness only, het only

Black★Rock Shooter || [B★RS (possible slight AUness) || pretty much OTA in both gen and ship sen

l

leonardo ( tmnt 2007 ) m/f for shipping

usagi tsukino ( sailor moon ) f/m for shipping

chi-chi ( dragon ball ) f/m for shipping

ariel ( the little mermaid ) f/m for shipping

graham humbert || OUaT || ota

yukina ( yu yu hakusho ) ota

sasuke uchiha | naruto

Hi son.

rapunzel ( tangled ) f/m for shipping

Hermione Granger | Harry Potter

Rebekkah Wellerstein | The Last Five Years

Wanda Maximoff | Marvel

rin tohsaka | fate/ ( ota )

Re: rin tohsaka | fate/ ( ota )

himeko inaba | kokoro connect ( ota )

tauriel ~ the hobbit

Harry Potter | Harry Potter series | OTA

Re: Harry Potter | Harry Potter series | OTA

Kyo Sohma | Fruits Basket | OTA

Kaneki Ken || Tokyo Ghoul

Verity Willis | Marvel 616

Mortimer Toynbee/Toad | Wolverine and the X-men | OTA