Me, for months: Man, I wish I had some inspiration to write any characters other than Ariadne. I mean, I love her, but I’d like to write more variety…
My brain, waking me up this morning: HEY HEY HEY I HAD AN IDEA IT’S YET ANOTHER AU/STORY FOR ARIADNE
Me: 😐
So.
BBU Ariadne.
Federal investigator Ariadne sent to look into allegations of wrongdoing at WRU. Kidnapping, targetting minors, coercing people to sign contracts -- the really shady stuff.
Ariadne who kind of thinks the whole human pets thing is messed up and distasteful but who also gets an undeniable, unwelcome power rush from trainees doing the whole on-their-knees fear-and-respect thing.
Ariadne who is forced to ignore her distaste at most of the fucked up stuff because that is all legal and “above-board”, she’s only here to look into very specific allegations. So much cognitive dissonace. They signed up for it, right?
Ariadne who is so smug and confident that she is untouchable because of the weight of the department behind her. Because she knows that if she disappears, if anything happens to her, that will not go unanswered.
Ariadne who, despite kind of liking to think she’s better than that, would take so well to handler culture. All the swagger and sadism and self-confidence. She has a lot more in common with these people than she’d like to admit. Inexorably sucked into one-upmanship and callous humour and power games.
Ariadne who’d probably end up in bed with someone inadvisable. Who would probably end up in fist fights. Possibly with the same someones.
Ariadne who, once she started digging up evidence, would probably be facing bribes and threats and manipulations and all kinds of reasoning for why she should look the other way.
And at the end of the day, she would still risk anything and everything to pursue her investigation, and pursue justice. Because she might draw her moral lines in the wrong fucking places, but once she’s drawn them, she does care passionately about upholding them.