Tagged by @strangefable @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @josephseedismyfather and @poisonedtruth for the D&D Quiz here.
Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @shallow-gravy @adelaidedrubman @wrathfulrook @jillvalentinesday @josephslittledeputy @cassietrn @chazz-anova @direwombat @g0dspeeed and @derelictheretic + anyone else who wishes to join in.
One song but three D&D results lets go!
Admittedly, I've never been the biggest fan of soulmate AUs. I suppose it's never been something that fits the whole schtick I'm going with in the fanfics I'm writing (the whole theme of "screw destiny" and the subversions or alternate perspectives of things such as fate, destiny, the chosen one, etc).
That doesn't mean I hate the AU, or the stories I've read (no matter if they were either incredible or cliched, dark or wholesome). But besides the worldbuilding and the dynamics and the slowburns, there really wasn't much to offer for me. Not that there wasn't any unoriginality, but it was lacking some kind of specific conflict (whether it be in the story itself or between characters).
I have read plenty of ways the AU is handled. And the general consensus I've found is mostly along the lines of "slowburn of Character A & Character B, dislike/enemies-to-fated-lovers" (whether the enemy part is justified or not depends on the themes) and rarely found any subversions like "Character A rejects Character B for, let's face it, justifiable reasons and ends up with Character C outside the universe's laws and society expectations" and even rarer "Character A doesn't like Character B very much and the universe acknowledges this so allows A to fate themselves to the better suitor, Character C". And these stories ARE enduring to read, but it just wasn't enough for the itch I was trying to scratch (It's really hard to explain, and a strange feeling overall).
Like, mostly it's heavily focused on the romance aspect (understandable, soulmate is in the name) instead of the implications that come with the fact people have soulmates and have initials/marks/symbols/names/countdowns/etc, etc to prove it. Most of the time, those implications are brushed over briefly (again, understandable), and rarely touched upon. Not only that, but the AU itself doesn't leave much argument on the pros and cons of being fated (besides the obvious "mutually disliked persons/enemies are fated" to each other) or the morality and potential existential conflicts that are there in the AU, if that's easy to understand (which I've rarely seen anyone touch upon, which is again, understandable, as that's not the whole point of the AU, and it is nobodies responsibility to write those specific premise out).
Don't get me wrong, overall the AU is an incredibly interesting premise to write out in beloved fandoms, especially with your favourite characters involved, but it just wasn't something for me...
...until today.
Given the implications of the soulmate AU (specifically, that you have a soul that is bound to another person, therefore implying a level of spiritual mythos (destiny, magic, red string of fate, etc), and even more religious ones (like God, angels, heaven and hell) exists in the AU), I think I can write a fulfilling fanfic with it. Both with original (well, I say original for some of these characters, but also somewhat alternate take on) characters and even an intriguing conflict.
The conflict and arguments of the story centres around two pairs of character. First pair are the protagonists; the (re: God's) Angel of Life, Archangel Metatron, and one of Death's aspiring newest recruits, an Angel of Death by the name of Azriel (and no, this is not Azrael, the (re: God's) Angel of Death, Azriel is the growing human soul of a girl at 11-years-old now who literal-Death-itself took in because she died an infant and couldn't be taken in to either Heaven nor Hell due to not being able to live for long). The second pair are antagonists; a hellborne-demon from the Sloth Ring by the name of Xiang Ba'al, and his adopted daughter, the wrongfully damned soul of a young girl (around 10-years-old) by the name of Jezebel Ba'al (Jazzy for short). Now despite being protagonists and antagonists, these two pairs of characters fall in a (light and dark, respectively) grey morality with mixes of blue/orange morality (which is a given; these are beings with a limited and/or flawed understanding of human beings and who live in two very flawed and different systems (both Heaven and Hell have issues)). This light/dark grey morality eventually evens out and gets greyer and greyer as the story goes on.
Essentially, both pairs fight for and against the soulmate system... both understand that the system is both a great idea but severely flawed and go about to preserve yet change it... however, how they both go about it is the difference. The angels' method, while manipulative on emotional levels, is less likely to cause physical harm, but is also slow and time consuming which may not even work sometimes leading to unexpected confrontations between humans. Meanwhile, the demons' method, while physically forceful to horrific degrees, gets effective results fast, but is a violation on the humans' right of choice.
Additional Notes: Metatron and Azriel have a flawed yet growing mentor/student and brother/sister dynamic while Xiang and Jazzy have a pretty caring yet horrifyingly psychotic father/daughter and master/underling dynamic. They both travel and pop up in any universe with a Soulmate AU.
Anyway that's just me talking about things on my mind and my ideas of a fic series I'm going to write.
Chow!
