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Round 2: Alternate Universes
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Status: Closed
Seventeen Holidays
About
Sometimes its the characters that move us, but sometimes we fall in love with the the world behind the story. Something transformative occurs when we place the characters we love in an unfamiliar world, like the light has shone on a new side and we're seeing them anew. Run to the classics; revisit the magic of Harry Potter, the heart-punch of a Pacific Rim drift, the warmth of a Coffee Shop AU. Or maybe dig your fingers into a story that blew your mind - Battle Royale, The Raven Cycle, Interstellar - or demand better from a book that let you down (The Poppy War fin- mmph). Perhaps! You might combine two of your fandoms for maximum joy (Haikyuu and Tennis adjacent mutuals, I'm looking at you.) The possibilities are literally endless. Do it for the aesthetic, do it for the drama. Examples
Wonhui x MDZS/Untamed
Wonwoo as Lan Wanji, Jun as Wei Wuxian (Minghao as Jiang Cheng?). I want a cast that feels betrayed and shocked at Junhui's demise but then gradually learning his reasons behind it.
Mingyu/Seungkwan Debating AU
Imagine them as third speakers in the high school circuit. Rivals! Mortal Enemies! Prepared case summaries derailing into personal attacks, and then when their coach calls them out on it they become passive aggressive e.g. "there are major flaws in the opposition's arguments..."
Jeonghan as Mal from Inception
Any Jeonghan ship will do. I just want him to chaotically haunt a person while being sexy about it.
Rules
How it works
Prompting
Filling
Filling with art/media
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 ABOUT  DATES  FAQ  BAIT LIST |
blade runner
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: N/A
Do Not Wants: None
Prompt: Anything with hardboiled sci-fi vibes, androids, neo-noir, etc.
[FILL] went looking for a creation myth
Major Tags: Major Character Death
Additional Tags: Science Fiction, Androids, more of a do androids dream of electric sheep au than a blade runner au, just me shamelessly ripping scenes from do androids dream of electric sheep
Permission to remix: Yes
***
Xu Minghao doesn’t act much like an android. Sitting at his dressing table, he watches Mingyu fumble with a briefcase. Minghao’s still in costume, his pale face and red makeup making him look identical to the red-crowned crane listing in the Sidney’s catalogue. Unlike red-crowned cranes though, Minghao is not yet extinct.
If Mingyu were not given the information sheets detailing the escaped Nexus-6 androids from Mars, then he would have assumed that Xu Minghao was human. He’s a dan performer, good enough to join and tour with a Beijing opera company. Evidently the Nexus-6 brain units had improved from their predecessors, as androids were now seeking the limelight instead of simply surviving.
Mingyu manages to unzip his briefcase and pull out the Voigt-Kampff instruments. Minghao eyes the apparatus, distrustful.
“I’m afraid my Korean is not that good,” he says in flawless Korean, “so I don’t know how helpful the results will be.”
Mingyu looks up from angling the pencil light to stare at Minghao.
“I’m a performer, Mr. Kim, of course my accent needs to be good,” Minghao explains. “That doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to understand what you ask me.” Mingyu gets up to press the adhesive disk with wires against Minghao’s cheek, but Minghao turns his head, his lips brushing over Mingyu’s hand. He almost drops the disk.
“Thank you, Mr. Kim,” Minghao says, taking the disk out of Mingyu’s hand to attach to his own cheek. “Shall we start then?” Despite his air of nonchalance, he radiates a type of coldness. The android that Mingyu retired this morning had given off the same coldness. And, Mingyu reminds himself, the same coldness had eventually surrounded Wonwoo too.
△△△
The first thing Mingyu notices when he lands his hovercar on the rooftop of the Jeon Corporation building in Seoul is the young man waiting for him. The second thing Mingyu notices is the animals. A section of the roof is dedicated to spacious enclosures adorned with flora, designed to mimic the animals’ natural habitats. He elects to ignore the man, instead walking toward the enclosures.
Mingyu peers at one of the displays, a fox lazily basking in the early morning light.
“We acquired him last year,” the man says from behind him. Mingyu turns around and notices him. He has black hair and a sharp face, wearing a long coat and turtleneck. He holds out his hand for Mingyu to shake.
“Jeon Wonwoo,” he introduces himself. “I guess you’re with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.”
“That would be me,” Mingyu says. “Whoever makes your artificial animals does a great job. I can hardly tell that it’s electric.”
Wonwoo smiles, showing neat, even teeth. “You misunderstand me, Mr. Kim. He’s a real fox.”
“How’s that possible? Foxes were one of the first animals to go extinct.” Mingyu pulls out his Sidney’s catalogue, ready to flip to the listing.
“We don’t buy from Sidney’s,” Wonwoo says, “and the price that we paid for him is more than you could afford, even with the bounty from six androids.” He raises an eyebrow. “Does it help your empathy? Trading in androids for funds toward your next animal purchase?”
Mingyu bristles. “And what about it? Androids who escape to Earth have clearly malfunctioned. They’re a danger to everyone. In fact, you could argue that it’s the Jeon Corporation’s fault for manufacturing brain units that are more and more humanlike.”
“We’re simply meeting the colonists’ demands. They want more intelligent androids, so we’re happy to do everything we can to fulfill their request,” Wonwoo says calmly. “And what are you working for? The dream of owning a real animal? Obtaining enough funds so that you can leave Earth? Forgive me, but I don’t think you have any moral high ground here.” A buzz from Wonwoo’s watch interrupts any possible response. “Well, the selection of androids is ready now. Follow me, please.”
Without looking back, Wonwoo turns and walks toward the elevator, Mingyu left behind to catch up. And what about my dream is so ludicrous, Mingyu wants to ask. It’s the worst feeling in the world, coming home from a day of retiring androids and then having to pretend to love an electric animal.
Mingyu chances a look back at the fox, pretending for a moment that he owns it. And then he looks forward and follows Wonwoo.
△△△
Minghao’s test is inconclusive. Although he had warned Mingyu that his Korean was poor, Mingyu failed to realize just how many questions Minghao would ask. From making Mingyu clarify vocabulary to latching onto one part of the question and going on tangents, Minghao renders every question useless.
Mingyu frustratedly packs up his briefcase after the last question. Minghao is still sitting at his dressing table, head tilted in curiosity.
“So, Mr. Kim,” he asks, “am I an android?” His eyes shine with amusement.
Mingyu grits his teeth and says nothing. He imagines what an unpoised Minghao would look like.
Minghao smiles, like they’re conspirators and he’s sharing a secret. “Mr. Kim, I do wonder if perhaps you are an android.”
The possibility of Mingyu being an android is so absurd that he sputters out, “What?”
“You are a bounty hunter, after all. And androids don’t care about other androids.” Minghao turns back to the mirror, picking up his headpiece from the table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, rehearsal will be starting again soon.”
△△△
“You’re an android,” Mingyu says, done with the test. He hasn’t even seen any of the Jeon Corporation’s android selection yet; Wonwoo had taken one look at his briefcase and declared that he would like to be tested.
Wonwoo blinks. “Impossible,” he says. He glances at the handler, who’s supposed to show Mingyu the selection of androids. “That’s impossible, right?”
“He’s not an android,” the handler affirms.
“According to Voigt-Kampff test, you’re an android,” Mingyu says.
“The Voigt-Kampff test is based on emphatic responses toward animals,” Wonwoo says. “Of course I was going to fail that, I didn’t grow up learning how to care about animals.”
“How’s that possible?” Mingyu asks. After World War Terminus and the mass extinctions, people had started caring for the remaining animals and it was a crime for a family not to own an animal. Even now, when it was no longer a crime, people still stigmatized those without animals.
“Mr. Jeon grew up on the Salander 3 ship,” the handler explains. “His knowledge of Earth is mostly from books and the other passengers’ experiences. And of course, you can’t expect a ship headed for the off-world colonies to house live animals.”
Wonwoo’s bewilderment morphs into indignation. “You were going to retire me,” he accuses Mingyu. “Your fear was that the Nexus-6 androids were too humanlike and would pass as human under your test. Instead, I passed as an android.” He glares at Mingyu. “How many humans have you killed because you thought they were androids?”
△△△
Mingyu scowls at the information sheet. Xu Minghao, Beijing opera performer, allegedly from Anshan. The words “Model: Nexus-6” taunt him. He glances at the vidscreen in his hovercar before deciding to read over his next target’s information sheet.
△△△
“Very well then,” Mingyu says, beginning to pack up his briefcase. The adhesive disk is still on Wonwoo’s cheek. He sighs. “And I was looking forward to buying beondegi with the bounty money too.”
The dial indicators don’t react fast enough.
△△△
Mingyu stands next to Minghao, who’s admiring a painting depicting dead soldiers in a long ago Earthen war.
“Does this remind you of the humans that you killed to escape the colonies?” Mingyu asks.
“Not particularly,” Minghao responds, and then glances over, unable to mask the surprise on his face when he sees Mingyu.
Mingyu smiles grimly. “If you would come with me, please.” He doubts that Minghao would want to be retired inside the museum, his body the newest art display.
Minghao appears resigned to his fate, his face no longer painted but still pale. He reminds Mingyu of the second android that he had retired today, the way it had shut down when he had cornered it. “I will if you buy me a print of this painting.”
△△△
Mingyu sits in his hovercar and dials the number that he had been given earlier today. A few moments later, Wonwoo’s face appears on the vidscreen.
“Mr. Kim,” he says. “How is the bounty hunting treating you?”
“I need to retire three more androids tonight,” Mingyu says.
Wonwoo’s eyes widen. “You already retired three of the Nexus-6s.”
“The last three are near the edge of my jurisdiction. Tomorrow, they’ll be gone.”
“And what do you want me to do about that?” Wonwoo asks. “No one’s taken out six Nexus-6s in one day.”
“You’re also a Nexus-6, aren’t you? You know how they operate.”
Wonwoo shakes his head. “You’re not thinking clearly. Give it a rest and continue the assignment tomorrow.”
“The assignment will be gone tomorrow.” Mingyu doesn’t know why he bothered trying to reason with an android. “I’m going after them tonight with or without your help.”
“Listen, Mingyu,” Wonwoo says rapidly. “Send me your location. We can rent a hotel room and discuss the logistics from there, alright?” It almost sounds like he cares.
Mingyu half-expects Wonwoo to break his promise, which is why it’s all the more surprising when there’s a knock on his hotel room. He opens the door to find Wonwoo on the other side, his coat buttoned up wrong, a lone button resting on the hollow of his neck.
“I still think you’re mad,” Wonwoo says, barging into the room. “Where are the information sheets?”
Wordlessly, Mingyu hands him the sheets on the three remaining androids. Wonwoo sits on the bed and reads through them, laughing when he reaches the last sheet.
“What?” Mingyu asks.
“One of them’s the same model as me,” Wonwoo says, pointing to the last android’s model number. “I wonder if you’ll be able to pull the trigger on him.” His lips curl up. “Or maybe you’ll be too busy wondering if you should kiss or kill him that he kills you first.”
“Thanks for your concern, but maybe I won’t even find him.”
Wonwoo doesn’t look up. “Stop pouting,” he says. “They’ll all be hiding together, it’s how we’re programmed.” He sticks a hand in one of his coat pockets, fishing around for something.
After a few seconds, Wonwoo smiles triumphantly, evidently having found what he was looking for, and holds up a metal contraption. “All you have to do,” he says, “is target the back of his neck. This disrupts his vagus nerve and he’ll stop breathing for long enough that you can cut him open with your laser tube.” He hands the contraption over. “What do you say, Mingyu,” he says pleasantly, “want to test it on me? Or would you rather kiss me?” Wonwoo peers up at Mingyu, his eyes guileless.
In response, Mingyu kneels between Wonwoo’s legs, gently placing a hand behind Wonwoo’s neck so that he can tilt Wonwoo’s head down to bring their lips together. When they break apart, Wonwoo’s cheeks are red, like a real human, Mingyu notes.
“Have you ever slept with an android before?” Wonwoo asks, starting to unbutton his coat.
“No,” Mingyu says.
“Have you ever wanted to?”
Mingyu ignores the image of Minghao that pops up in his mind, choosing instead to loosen his tie. “Why?” he asks. “Are you offering?”
Wonwoo laughs, his nose scrunching. “Well, aren’t you bright.”
△△△
Mingyu retires Minghao on the museum rooftop, Mars somewhere up above them beyond the dust and ruin.
One shot to the base of his skull, and Xu Minghao is no more than a pile of spare android parts.
Mingyu grabs a blanket from his hovercar to drape over the body, hesitating when he notices that Minghao is still hugging the print that Mingyu had bought him. A corner is singed. He gently pries the print from Minghao’s hands and places the blanket over Minghao, a makeshift burial shroud.
He then sits in his hovercar, pulling up one of Minghao’s performances on his vidscreen, watching in silence while he waits for the police to retrieve the body.
△△△
Afterwards, Mingyu dresses himself while Wonwoo sits in bed, the sheets pooling around his waist.
“Here,” Mingyu says, handing over the print of The Capture of Carthage to Wonwoo. It’s singed in the corner from a laser tube.
“I’ve never received a gift before,” Wonwoo says, gently cradling the print. “But then again, I’ve only existed for two years.”
“Two years?”
Wonwoo smiles thinly. “Nexus-6 androids have a four-year lifespan. So don’t worry, those three Nexus-6 androids won’t terrorize Earth for that much longer.”
Mingyu stares at him. “What do you mean?”
“You won’t be able to hunt androids anymore,” Wonwoo states. “No bounty hunter has gone on after being with me. Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he says, noticing Mingyu’s anguish, “did you really think that anything was going to happen? Did you want me to beg and plead that I was human? Somehow prove my humanity with a family photo?” He reaches for his coat, now a puddle on the floor, and grabs a cigarette and lighter from a coat pocket. He stares at the cigarette, pausing before flicking the lighter on and igniting the end.
“Do you know all of them?”
“The androids? I suppose so. I only know three now, since you killed the rest.” Wonwoo breathes out cigarette smoke. “What did you think of Xu Minghao? We were close friends.”
“I liked him.” Liked him enough to buy the print that he asked for, even though Mingyu was saving up his bounty money. Liked him enough to wonder about what he had done with his borrowed time.
“You still killed him.”
“It had to be done.”
Wonwoo closes his eyes and laughs. “It had to be done,” he says, repeating Mingyu. “Well, will you kill me next? Although I’m not worth any bounty money.” He takes another drag of his cigarette. “All this for a real animal? And you call androids heartless.”
Mingyu shrugs on his jacket. He doesn’t respond.
“Come on,” Wonwoo says. “You can’t even kill me. You know you’re going to die if you try killing the other three androids.”
“Well then, that’s the difference between you and me, isn’t it,” Mingyu says, stepping into his shoes. “Goodbye, Wonwoo.”
He leaves the hotel room.
Re: [FILL] went looking for a creation myth
- This feels like it is for me my god all of my freshman yr of hs was haunted by this book in the best way and 2 see u do this with it…..oh man I need 2 thank u til the ends of the earth
- Mingyu as deckard is just amazing. I love the structure, too, and how you portrayed him starting to question himself and the parallels between his relationships w minghao and wonwoo….his struggles with those questions central to his dilemma are so clear and heartrending and the whole arc w minghao made me want to rip my hair out bc that would likely be less painful
- I love minghao as the opera performer….the description of his makeup was incredible. Goddd the motif of art and how he interacts with it and his retirement scene… I can visualize mingyu sitting in the car watching a video of minghao and that image Fucking hurts so much hahahsfhdsfjds
- Wonwoo as Rachael!!! Oh my god it’s perfect! The fox!! The ~5 sentences where mingyu realizes wonwoo is a nexus-6...The hotel room scene! Ahhhhh also the art print being passed to him. His whole turmoil-- Rachael always struck me as the most tragic character and it’s the same for this wonwoo. For some reason “his coat buttoned up wrong, a lone button resting on the hollow of his neck” made me so sad. That whole scene... I’m meanie revivalist 2k21
- Also the way you connected each disparate scene is so masterful, I love how the whole piece flows emotionally rather than logically…..ahgjhgjsdg dsj this is just so good like really really I’m gonna dream about this this is wish fulfillment to the max
- Some lines that really hurt in a solidly good way like my breath got knocked out of me a little bit: “And what about my dream is so ludicrous, Mingyu wants to ask.” “Mingyu retires Minghao on the museum rooftop, Mars somewhere up above them beyond the dust and ruin.”
Britney Spears yeah.gif thank you thank you…..ill think about this forever
Re: [FILL] went looking for a creation myth
Re: [FILL] went looking for a creation myth
my favorite line is And what about my dream is so ludicrous, Mingyu wants to ask. It’s the worst feeling in the world, coming home from a day of retiring androids and then having to pretend to love an electric animal. i love stories about what it means to be human... thank you for writing!!
Re: [FILL] went looking for a creation myth
Re: [FILL] went looking for a creation myth