I said I was going to talk about my personal crackship in October but that didn't happen. WHOOPS. But now feels like a good time & place to scream endlessly about stuff that's been in my head for years at this point. 🥹
So: a lot of Varuna/Casra (and ancillary Luther/Casra and Luther/Casra/Varuna) ideas under the cut! There's nothing explicit, but a "mature themes" warning applies.
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the "mostly the canon storyline with a new subplot added" AU: Casra forces his way into the Omega party because he can't stand the idea of not knowing what's going on there. This forces him confront 1) The entire idea of a Good Luther and 2) this very cute newman boy who seems to be hiding a lot??? Due to his distaste for direct combat
and Xiera's distaste for HIM lol, Casra ends up staying Cuento during times Varuna is running the kingdom, and as they try to extract information from each other they develop an odd friendship based on a mutual admiration for Keeping Secrets. Story proceeds in much the same way as canon except there's a lot more angst for both Varuna and Casra (and sometimes Luther since why not throw the bomb of "he's had relationships with both of them and also he's doomed"). -
the "bleak and miserable" AU: Casra discovers that Luther is not only living in the Guardian's head, but has such a special bond with them it makes his own connection with the Guardian feel trivial in comparison. Unable to reconcile the person he hates the most is literally a part of the person he admires and cares for so much, he becomes a Falz, after which the Photoner Trio kind of adopt him because Shiva thinks getting Luther's would-be vessel and a legendary ARKS hero on her side is hilarious, while Varuna is so lonely he's just happy to have someone else around who's capable of expressing feelings and they start having the universe's worst and most codependent relationship. (I waffle on whether or not this happens after Mitra's death, but when she's alive she is very miffed that Varuna has a hot boyfriend and she is still friendless sad trombone)
i've kind of abandoned this idea b/c i don't really know where to go with it after it--I've thought of a "Photoners slowly convert other notable ARKS to their side, win the Space War and the universe ends" but that's pretty anticlimatic. still, the idea of good people despairing, turning to darkness and getting into fucked-up-but-addictive relationships is compelling so i still think of it from time to time. -
The "Varuna on Oracle" AU: Varuna is the only member of the Photoner trio to escape being sealed with the Profound Darkness; he becomes Luther's lover and secret assassin who disposes of Void members who have outlived their usefulness. Their relationship degrades over time as Luther turns his efforts to achieving omniscience by absorbing Xion, which Varuna sees as abandoning any intent of rescuing Shiva from the Profound Darkness. When Casra begins undermining Luther, Varuna takes note and they start working together and...
look. i started this in response to a kinktober 2021 prompt, overwhelmingly b/c i thought "wouldn't Luther/Varuna/Casra be hot especially if they didn't fully trust one another" but man. there's Too Much Plot now. i'm never going to finish something like this in the way i'd like but i do want to share parts of it b/c the idea never goes away. -
i have multiple "Varuna on Halpha" scenarios but the one relevant to this post is...hmm. i actually don't want to give that much away b/c i do have a lot more scenes worked out for this one than any other, but the short of it is Varuna and Hariette end up on Halpha, though separated, and in the same amnesiac state as other Meteorns. They remember each other in a vague way, and figure out early on they're not from the same place as Oracle meteorns. While they try to find each other, they end up developing relationships with other people which does complicate their eventual reunion...but not much because i'm not big on romantic conflict. (just a little bit is fine) Also Hariette gets a girlfriend, possibly multiple girlfriends in this timeline.....she deserves them ;)
PHEW. so yeah those are a bunch of things that have been rattling in my head for a long time. i would love to someday write great epic fic(s) but also i should be honest with myself; i'll probably never have the personal discipline to write something of that magnitude. still, i have lots of scenes outlined, conversations written out, etc. which i want to share in some way, and i guess this is my way of giving context to some ~Posts i am planning for later.
congratulations for making it this far btw ;)