AU Challenge Bingo Card

[chacusha]

I promised myself I would allow myself to request an au_challenge bingo card once I cleared some exchange fic off my plate. I have FINALLY done this, so here we go! I am not actually going to make any fanworks for this, but I just want to use it as a meme/activity to allow people to give me AU prompts and I can share my thoughts on how I think an X AU for Y canon would look like.

So, help me fill out this bingo: Pick a square + a fandom you'd like me to apply that AU to (+ optionally, a set of character(s) or ship(s) you'd like me to focus on for that AU), and I will write up some thoughts on how I think it would work. Here's a list of my fandoms if that helps. (If you happen to know I'm familiar with some fandom not listed there, feel free to request that.)

Porn Star AU	Single Parent AU	Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies ‎AU	Bar/Pub ‎AU	Medical ‎AU
Superhero AU: Star Trek: DS9, Quodo	Sci-Fi AU	Vacation AU	Renaissance AU	Canon Fusion (Movie) AU
Ghost AU	Non-Famous ‎AU	Free Space	Circus AU	Firefighter AU
Fae AU	Spies & Secret Agents ‎AU	20th Century AU: Final Fantasy IX	Royalty AU: Star Trek: DS9	Monster Hunter AU: Final Fantasy Tactics
Online Dating AU	Idols ‎AU	Crime AU	Racing AU	What If...? AU

Please help me fill up this bingo card with some fun AU ideas? 🥺 Feel free to specify an AU of your choice (not appearing elsewhere on the card) for the free space. Or just leave it to me to pick.

Comments

[suzume]

FFIX main cast in a 20th Century AU?

[chacusha]

Ooh this is a fascinating prompt. I had a bit of trouble thinking of what to do here because FFIX feels so strongly embedded in its medieval setting, and also it's hard to pick which part of the 20th century to set this in -- so many possibilities!

I'm tempted to say World War II, or maybe WWI, setting here, though? War is a big part of FFIX's storyline, at least the beginning, and part of that involves airships and black mages/air superiority in the game, which I think translates pretty well to fighter planes and bombs. In this case, I'd probably make it a bit alt-history/historical fantasy, though, to keep the vibe a bit fantastical and not get too bogged down by real-world politics.

I feel like a war orphan or "evacuated to the countryside to avoid bombs" storyline could work for Eiko and/or Vivi, and I think Zidane would be part of a traveling entertainment group that puts on shows for soldiers, and I'd probably throw Freya and Quina in there as part of that crew. Garnet is a defector/spy who needs to be extracted from behind enemy lines, and Amarant is part of a mercenary group. Kuja is looking for a super weapon.

This is a bit half-baked, but that's all I've got so far. I was also trying to come up with a 20th century AU where Garnet is some famous actress? dignitary? who runs away and hides in a quirky little theater group, but I didn't really have many more thoughts than that, and also that could be set in basically any decade of the 20th century, so it didn't really narrow things down... But yeah, trying to imagine what the cast of FFIX would look like in different decades was an amusing exercise! I'm curious to hear if you have any thoughts about this one.

[suzume]

Yeah, I get that impression too (FFIX embedded in its medieval setting).

Honestly, I was hoping you'd have some interesting thoughts! (and it turns out you did!)