echoslam | Press Start 2019 Letter

Thanks for checking out my letter! I'm

echoslam, and I'm so excited to be participating in Press Start again this year. YAY VIDEO GAMES \o/

General likes: Character studies, humor (absolutely anything from mild banter to ridiculous crack), friendly and romantic interactions/dates/outings, adrenaline rushes of any kind, worldbuilding, smut/PWP (I have a Smut Swap Letter if you'd like more details for this)

Dark likes: Character death, Bad endings, comedic sociopathy (this especially applies to Borderlands and Portal), dark versions of characters, grief/mourning themes, graphic gore and violence, noncon/dubcon

Art likes: All art styles welcome, portraits, action scenes (combat, spell casting, running etc.), alternate skins or palette swaps, any kind of silly meme pose

Vid likes: Combat/action scenes, shipping montage, parody/humor - fake trailer, meme vid etc.

DNWs: Body waste kinks, bestiality, non-canon incest, and poly involving requested characters

Additional Information:

I'm open to receiving fanworks of any genre or rating!

Unconventional formats are more than welcome - epistolary, IF, comics, chat logs, fieldnotes, metafiction...please feel free to experiment!

For single character requests (Heroine, Maya, Zoë, Lotus), I'm happy with a solo focus or seeing them shipped with anyone in the cast, unless otherwise specified.

All of my prompts are just suggestions, so please feel free to ignore them if you have other ideas.

Links by Fandom:

Amnesia
Borderlands
Dreamfall Chapters
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity
Liar! Uncover the Truth
Mirror's Edge
Portal
Zero Escape

Amnesia

I love the aesthetic of Amnesia, with its soft colors and dreamy atmosphere, and I enjoyed the progression of the protagonist's journey to recover her memories. Kent's was my very favorite route (I loved how the two of them gradually warmed up to each other and all the sweetness that followed), but I'd be down for seeing Heroine alone or with any one else in the main or supporting cast, with the exception of Shin.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Heroine in a romantic relationship with Shin

Heroine
For Heroine's name, feel free to keep her nameless, but as an alternative, I do remember reading an article (I forget where) that mentioned a common default name for her is "Rin" so I'd be fine with it if you called her that.

Any kind of post-ending, whether Heroine does remember everything or if she doesn't and there are lingering feelings of doubt or regret, maybe with Orion providing commentary. Love interest POV of Heroine would be great, too.

Slice of life about Heroine's daily life/her job at the café/post-game with Heroine having become a teacher.

Anything to do with a card suit theme or shades of the love interests' signature colors.

Borderlands

This series is one of my old favorites, and I just really love the absurd craziness of the setting, so anything that brings that in will make me very happy.

Fandom-specific DNWs: Angst over what happened to Brother Sophis or Handsome Jack

Maya
I love both calm, introspective Maya and ferocious, combat-focused Maya. Something about her acquiring those books she was after or adjusting to life on Pandora would be fascinating. Speculation about her role in BL3 is also welcome.

Lilith/Roland
These two were my faves from BL1, so I was pleasantly surprised when they got together in the second game. Please give me anything about them: dating scenarios, fix-its, mourning themes, total AUs, anything!

The Borderlands DLCs were pretty much my favorite of any game series that had them, so something set during one of those would be awesome. Ones I found particularly memorable were: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, and Claptastic Voyage, but really, I loved them all.

I was going to include a prompt for a Borderlands coffeeshop AU, but then I saw the teasers for the Rise and Grind Coffehouse side mission in BL3 XD. Honestly though, I would love anything about these characters seeking out the joys of caffeine (what does Pandoran coffee even taste like?) or trying to find a quiet moment for drinks amid all the general insanity.

AUs based on skins are also great!

I am also a million percent here for anything about the Siren powers!! Maya and/or Lilith discovering more about their abilities or utilizing them in any way, whether for combat, fun, or some unusual purpose is something I would love to see.

Dreamfall Chapters

I've been a huge fan of The Longest Journey saga for ages, and Zoë's arc is what always kept me coming back to it. Anything more about her would be amazing.

Zoë Castillo

I really loved the beginning of Chapters and would have been happy to play an entire game set in Europolis. I'd appreciate any kind of slice of life in Propast with Zoë going about her day and interacting with her friends (maybe talking food stuff with Nela or getting advice from Ada or Baruti). The ending of Book Two was emotionally devastating, so if you'd like to do some kind of fix-it regarding what happened to the city, that would be great as well.

I would love any kind of Zoë-centric shippiness! A couple of possibilities that caught my attention were Dr. Zelenka and Enu, on account of the flirting possibilities at the beginning of the game as well as the hint that Enu finds Zoë attractive. Dates, romantic developments (maybe invent a decision branch that didn't make it into the game?), or anything like that would be wonderful.

Speculation about her life post-game. I'd love to know what you think became of her and how she chose to live after everything that happened in Chapters.

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity

The Infinity Series is so iconic, and I find it fascinating how you can trace the origins of the Zero Escape series and Uchikoshi's other works back to them. Feel free to reference Never7 and Remember11 as well!

Any Character
I really love the mindscrew of this game and just want to see anything more about these characters! The encroaching sense of dread contrasting with fluff/silliness was another aspect I enjoyed, so please go with whatever mood works best for you.

Missing or alternate scenes/endings - I really love the setting (creepy amusement parks are a favorite theme of mine) and it would be great to see more about the creation of LeMU or how the characters would live in the world beyond.

I love all the main characters of Ever 17, including the people we're supposed to think of as them (you know what I mean). Introspective character or relationship-focused works are always A+, and I'd love to know what would be going on in the heads of the characters besides Takeshi and the Kid.

The True Ending of this game is such a trip, and I'd love anything that explores or plays with that. Divergent AUs as well as ruminations on time and space bending or fourth wall breaking are all welcome.

Liar! Uncover the Truth

Voltage, Inc. can pry this game from my cold, dead hands! I've received really wonderful gifts for this fandom before, but I admit I'm super greedy! Also, I'm genuinely scared that Voltage is going to pull the plug on the app any day now, so I just want to request it while I can :') If you're at all curious about it, I made a promo post in the Yuletide comm recently. I also have Tumblr sideblog dedicated to it as well as a Twitter account for archiving fanart. (Warning for potential spoilers however). Also, I still can't believe there's going to be a live-action movie!

I'm fine with any name for the Main Character(s) as well as leaving her nameless. There's a list of pre-generated names from the JP Version of the game if you'd like some choices.

MC/Ayumi
I love how supportive Ayumi is of her senpai despite the cold treatment MC often throws her way. Something from her POV or interactions with MC's friends would be nice. Maybe one of the Liars/Mr. Right is the one who picks up on the fact that MC might be happier with her coworker and something happens from there?

MC/Haruichi
So much potential for both fluff and angst! How do they navigate a relationship together post-game or how do they say goodbye if they decide to go their separate ways? (I'm okay with infidelity if it's a situation where MC ends up with one of the other guys). I also really like the office romance aspect, and something lighthearted about how Haruichi falling for MC while desperately trying to maintain his cover would be great. (Honestly, his True Ending is my very favorite, what with MC grilling him at their business meeting as the accusation music starts playing in the background, lol).

MC/Kazumi
Ngl, Kazumi is pretty much the person I want to be when I'm 40. I enjoy his attempts to brush anything approaching seriousness off with humor and how that parallels MC trying to hide her own insecurities. And his Lover's Route gets me Every. Time. I'd love to see these two letting go of their pretenses and taking a chance on love despite the risk.

MC/Itaru
I'm pretty sympathetic towards Itaru, but there's definitely an argument to be made that he took things too far. I'd love to see your own take on him, whether romantic and sentimental or super dark.

MC/Sotaro
Sotaro's backstory really won me over, and I can't totally get behind the whole "opposite attract" thing. I also enjoyed how the "marriage-obsession" thing got turned around, and would also be happy to see some kind of "marriage of convenience turns to true love" scenario.

MC/Rumi
Alternate Lover's Route! Rumi was such a scene-stealer and I always wanted to see more of her. For a minor character, I feel like they gave us a lot to appreciate: she wants more out of a relationship than comfort/hotness, is hella chill, and she likes MC's style. :D Anywhere you want to take this is fine by me!

Additionally, my Yuletide letter contains more of my ramblings about all three of the games.

Mirror's Edge

The aesthetic of this game is one of my very favorites of all time, and to me, listening to the theme song "Still Alive" feels like taking a breath of fresh air. If you'd like to do something about exploring the City of Glass or freerunning, I'd love anything that taps into that feeling of exhilaration.

Any Character
(I prefer Faith's characterization from the first game, but feel free to include other elements from Catalyst if you want).

I love the setting of Mirror's Edge, so anything about the characters that emphasize how they interact with the environment would be great. I'd be happy to see anyone/any ship so please go with what interests you: something about Runners getting in some practice or maybe freerunning for fun or as part of a date. Runner styles as a character study?

Anything more about the runner tattoos.

Freerunning through some other setting, whether an urban space from reality or another video game world. Some possibilities might be any of the Assassin's Creed settings, Monster Hunter: World, or heck, a Super Mario or Smash Bros. stage. Feel free to go crazy!

Portal

The Portal series pretty much exemplifies my favorite flavor of dark humor. I would adore anything that captures the tone of the game and references Aperture Science and their blithe disregard for safety protocol.

Any Character
I'm fine with any reading of Chell and GLaDOS' relationship, whether antagonistic, romantic, or otherwise. Pure worldbuilding with no characters is also fine for this request.

What would a bad ending look like? Maybe Chell finds and reads through a postmortem on more of Aperture's failed experiments? I always wondered what they did with the bodies...

If you're at all familiar with Half Life, I would absolutely love something that references the Aperture Science/Black Mesa corporate rivalry. Did Black Mesa really steal Aperture's ideas? What was the deal with the Borealis? A walk through their history starting from when the companies were founded up to the time of the Resonance Cascade would be amazing.

I would also love a focus on the Old Aperture days, maybe something about Caroline/GLaDOS and how she approached her job. Please expand on that line where Cave Johnson says, "Sorry fellas, she's married...to SCIENCE!" If you could make it a period piece with a strong 50s/60s vibe, that would be fantastic. And it would also be nice to see more of Cave doing his shtick.

Zero Escape

I love everything about this series - the characters, the mindscrew, the Vonnegut references, and also how everything ties together at the end. The onimous tension had me hooked the whole way though, but I really appreciated the humor interspersed throughout.

Kashiwabara Hazuki | Lotus
Lotus is my fave and I just want to see more of her attitude! I am okay with both Japanese and English names so feel free to call the characters whatever you like. (Lotus, Yashiro, Hazuki, etc.)

I'd be delighted to see any kind of fun or introspective Lotus character focus: what her life was like pre-game, what she's up to at any point up to VLR, family-centric slice of life about raising her daughters - how does she react to them working for SOIS? Or even something completely silly like teaching the rest of the 999 crew how to belly dance. Programming jokes are also welcome!

Lotus/Seven: I love how competent and evenly-matched they are, even when they're openly antagonizing each other. Developing feelings during or post-game would be great. Other characters or Nona and Ennea playing matchmaker would also be adorable.

Lotus/Ace: I shipped this for a good fifteen minutes...and then I got the Knife ending :'D (Prior to that I just really liked that scene where Lotus flirts a bit when Ace asks her to step out with him, haha). I like the potential for the dark places you could take this, whether going with the idea that they were involved with each other before the Nonary Game or that Lotus knew exactly what was going on and was planning for revenge. Or feel free to make it completely fluffy, even!

Thank you for your time! If any clarification is needed, please feel free to leave an anon comment here or contact me through the mods.