So, I'm trying my hand at another fest.

[estirose]

unconventionalcourtship, to be exact. Which is romance novel stuff. Kind of. I plugged various Kamen Rider (mostly Kiva and Gaim) characters into a random generator. I ended up with Taiga/Mio with a possible bonus of Kouta/Mitsuzane. I've written Taiga/Mio before, at least.


Her Unforgettable Royal Lover by Merline Lovelace

Undercover agent Nobori Taiga never expected to be dubbed a duke. The resulting media frenzy puts his name in the headlines and his undercover career on hold. And it's all the fault of his cousin's dowdy research assistant Suzuki Mio, who dug up the information… then showed up on Taiga's doorstep with a case of amnesia!

So why is Taiga suddenly finding her so unforgettable? Could it be that Mio isn't what she seems? One thing's certain: their undeniable magnetism is about to take them on a royally wild ride!



The Corporate Wife – Leigh Michaels
His boss had asked him to marry him! Gorgeous, wealthy Kureshima Mitsuzane had proposed, and he, plain Kazuraba Kouta, had said no! As Mitsuzane’s PA he already organised his life… So why did Kouta wish he’d said yes?

Comments

[reka]

Those both sound like a lot of fun! In middle school, a friend and I spent our lunch periods in the library reading the backs of these ridiculous teen romance novels.

[estirose]

I think they'll be fun! I'm already working on Taiga and Mio, and I wrote a bit of Micchy/Kouta.

[reka]

The Taiga/Mio prompt amuses me terribly. The Micchy/Kouta bit was fun to read! Even though Kouta is a protagonist, he would make a great assistant. Micchy is probably not the best boss, though.

[estirose]

Micchy is actually a terrible boss, but Kouta is incredibly forgiving. Which may be one of the reasons that Micchy wants to marry him. That one's a bit trickier than Taiga/Mio, which just basically requires me to change out their canon situations (and a bit of Taiga's canon relationship with Mio).

[reka]

Yeah. I think it could work with the amnesia-- Mio would seem very vulnerable and Taiga would enjoy protecting her.

Micchy could also want to marry Kouta to stick a wedge in between Micchy and his family, like in Smoothing Skirts and related AUs. Hmmmm.

[estirose]

Yes, once Taiga stops being upset at her. Which he is right now. Because she blew his cover. Of course, that won't be forever.

(I'm probably going to start with Mio being low on LE, which would make sense, but Taiga would have to find a human. Or feed her himself. Or something.)

Micchy marrying Kouta to stick in a wedge make sense, but Kouta's thrown a wrench in his plan. And wouldn't Micchy be disinherited or something like that? Of course, if he has money he could start a business and get a visa, but still.

[reka]

I'd say he could avoid talking about it, but then the wedge thing wouldn't work. Hmm. Not being the firstborn would probably help, and if Takatora has any influence I think he'd try to keep Micchy from that. I could also see Micchy deciding that he doesn't care about what his family thinks or does.

I think Taiga would warm up very quickly once he realized she wasn't faking.

[estirose]

Taiga will warm up eventually. Right now in this fic he's still annoyed at her. *sigh* Muses.

Of course, Micchy has to now force Kouta into saying yes, because it's all moot if he doesn't. Takatora would defend Micchy, of course, and his choice of spouses, even if h doesn't agree. (And cue stereotypical warnings from Takatora to Kouta about breaking his brother's heart.)

[reka]

Takatora would be both really stereotypical and really awkward about it. The warning also would probably seem really weird to Kouta, since his relationship with Micchy and the context he knows him in is pretty different from canon.

Micchy could probably get Kouta to at least agree to try. Or something. It sounds like everything about this would make Kouta very uncomfortable.

[estirose]

Which is why I have Taiga and Mio as my main fic, because I can write them with my eyes closed. Micchy/Kouta is just a bit trickier, given that there's a power imbalance here, and Kouta isn't interested in Micchy, at least not at first.

(On the other hand, at least I have enough of a grasp on Kouta and Micchy that I could probably pull it off.)

[reka]

I think Taiga and Mio also have a power imbalance in this AU, but since they have an imbalanced relationship in canon, it's not too much of a stretch.

Micchy/Kouta is weird because their relationship in canon, at least from Kouta's perspective, is very much of equals. Micchy doesn't exactly see it that way, but he lets Kouta believe whatever he wants about their friendship/association/whatever. An AU where Micchy is always the boss would change the dynamic a lot.

[estirose]

Yes. Taiga and Mio make it easy, to some extent. If I ever get Taiga to stop being furious at Mio, that is.

I'd rather be wriing a more power-balanced Micchy/Kouta in this AU. Right now, it is far too easy for Boss!Micchy to force Kouta into marriage.

(On the other hand, both sets are easier than writing poor Shinnosuke.)

[reka]

Yeah. I think Mai would yell at him for hours in this AU.

Your Drive fic in that recent entry? Poor Shinnosuke indeed-- it's not a concept that ever occurred to him.

[estirose]

Yes. She wouldn't be too happy.

Yeah, the Drive fic. Brain thinks Shinnosuke is a Roidmude, so Heart believes him (because 065 is missing, and whatever Brain was measuring seemed to come from him). Shinnosuke of course is trying to convince all of them that he cannot possibly be what they think he is. Unfortunately, I don't think Chase is listening to him.

[reka]

Chase is not very good at listening to Shinnosuke in general.

I would assume they have a way to identify Roidmude who don't identify themselves as such, but they probably don't get much practice. We haven't seen a Roidmude trying to hide from Roidmude (bar Chase in his previous role). Unless Proto-Drive hid it or something, maybe.

[estirose]

I'm presuming they have a way of identifying their own kind somehow. Shinnosuke's now looking for 065 to, just so that he can toss them at the nearest executive.

Chase is working hard to bring Shinnosuke in/to safety because of his past experiences.

[reka]

Which I assume might be hard while 3-4 powerful Roidmude who can't find 065 either are working against him.

Yeah. Not that Chase wouldn't work hard anyway because programming, but.

[estirose]

Yes. Chase would work hard to bring him in because he's Chase, after all, and he wouldn't want Shinnosuke to be in the same position he was once in. He'd want Shinnosuke fixed soon, even if subduing him to protect him becomes necessary.

Shinnosuke is trying to look for clues at the scene where he encountered Brain, but between Chase and the others, he's not having much luck. Since they're convinced that he is 065, they're not interested in hearing evidence to the contrary.

[reka]

Chase is tough. Even though we've seen a lot of him, we haven't gotten a lot of character because of how he's been used. The programming thing brings up some interesting ethical and plot points, since none of the other Roidmude seem to have that. If the Roidmude were supposed to have free will/freedom of thought, that makes sense, but that seems to imply that 000 was an unsuccessful prototype or something. That could be a reason Chase needs external tech while the others don't— maybe he wasn't actually made with the Driviar system. I am way off point, sorry.

Could Shinnosuke use the Shift Cars for help as in canon? Mr. Belt would have difficulty because Heart and understandable stress reaction, but the Shift Cars. Deploying all of them might be risky at the moment, but some would help.

(I'm terribly fond of the Shift Cars.)

[estirose]

Chase is a bit tricky (which is why I didn't have any dialogue for him) because of the points you mentioned. But I'm assuming his programming would cause him to try to protect Shinnosuke from himself.

Shinnosuke is transforming when he faces Chase, but using the Shift Cars with Heart (who is not leaving it to Chase completely). Meanwhile, Mr. Belt is reassuring Shinnosuke that he wouldn't let an imposter use him or the Shift Cars. And at some point Kiriko and Gou might have to be told what is going on.

I need a Drive icon. :(

[reka]

Yeah, I agree re: Chase.

Heart has shown that he's not above getting involved when he thinks Chase needs help, and if Gou gets involved he might. (I could see Gou stumbling into the information or something and casually remarking to Shinnosuke that he heard that he has a problem, possibly with an obnoxious raised eyebrow. I love how bratty Gou can be sometimes.) Mr. Belt is probably doing a lot to reassure Shinnosuke.

I want to make another one. I love Kiriko, but I do have a lot of smiling icons. A Shift Car would be fun.

[estirose]

Yeah, I can see Gou doing that. And Mr. Belt is trying to be moral support. Shinnosuke just wants to find 065 so that Heart and Chase stop showing up and trying to abduct him. (He sometimes worries that they are right and his is their missing number.)

[reka]

From my understanding of canon, it would be difficult logistically. I think it would take a bit for Shinnosuke to doubt his identity, but Heart and Chase are pretty convincing. Kiriko needs to help Shinnosuke keep his head screwed on right sometimes.

[estirose]

If Chase and especially Heart keep pounding at him, he might have issues. Even though he knows he can't possibly be Roidmude, because of the neurotoxin. He's so far managed to keep Chase and Heart from capturing him, and he's still trying to convince them that their missing Roidmude is someplace else.

Hopefully, Shinnosuke involved Kiriko pretty fast so that she can keep him on track.