HL Shortcuts Prompts

[argentum_ls]

In case you need a scenario prompt to get you started...

This doesn't include all my requested characters. Please do not take that as a hint. Just because I don't have any upfront ideas for a character, that doesn't mean I'm not interested in stories about him/her. It also includes unrequested characters. Hey, they're cool too! As long as my requested characters are the focus of the story, anyone else is welcome to join the party.

Highlander: the Series

Tessa survives the shooting, which puts her front and center on Richie's training. It's one thing for her to know that Duncan sometimes has to go kill people; it's another for her to see Richie have to learn to do the same thing.

Five times Cory was sentenced to be transported, and one time the ship made it to its new location with him on it.

According to the Watcher Chronicles, Matthew is the one responsible for Cory's first death, and is his first teacher. How did it all go down?

Cory's always had a Robin Hood streak (you know, what with having been Robin Hood), so when the railroads start to cut their way across North America, Cory goes into action against the Railway Robber Barons. Matthew, meanwhile, has taken up with the Pinkertons. Somehow, they both manage to keep their heads.

Gregor starts a new medical career at Seacouver General, where Anne is now his boss.

The Highlander Wiki lists Gregor as Alec Hill's teacher. So, Gregor goes Hunting for his student's killer, finds him (much to his surprise at who it is), and decides that neither a Challenge nor revenge is what he owes him.

Richie and Methos deliberately re-enact the Fake!Methos scam, only this time Richie is playing the role of Methos and Methos is playing the role of the wide-eyed innocent who's been seduced into the Cult of Methos.

Methos and Richie together. There's so much potential in the something old-something new scenario that the canon rather skipped merrily over. The obvious way is for Methos to come in to train Richie. But what about some scenario where Richie either knows or understands something that Methos doesn't? Yeah, Methos has been around forever and had time to learn everything, but there are still experiences he is not capable of having, such as being a child. Methos doesn't remember youth--he's only been able to observe it from the outside--so maybe he and Richie could take some perspective lessons from each other. Using this to address their respective issues with the Game could be interesting.

Before her stepfather adopted her, Richie's new girlfriend was named Mary Lindsey – which he learns when she brings him home for the holidays to meet the parents.

Richie and Doctor Anne had some time together while Duncan was dealing with the events of "Finale." Anne had just learned about Immortals and really had little idea what the whole thing was about. Having learned that Duncan was 400, she might assume that all Immortals are equally old. Richie, meanwhile, is dealing with his first public death, which was probably also his first real hint of what the long term consequences of Immortality are. There's room here for a scenario where they share their fears with each other, or where Anne tries to lean on Richie as an expert and Richie realizes how much of life is "fake it til you make it," or where word of the threatened public Immortal reveal gets back to them and Anne tries to help Richie prepare for being outed, or where Anne and Richie work together to prepare Richie for the next time he ends up in the morgue.

Something happens that throws Methos & Richie at least 500 years back in time together and they either have to rely on each other to get back or they have to rely on each other to live through the centuries (again, in Methos' case) without killing anyone who didn't die the first time.

The expression Methos makes in "Indiscretions" right before the Quickening suggested to me that he doesn't like Quickenings. I'd love to know more about this.

Ceirdwyn and Methos are old friends who happen to cross paths every now and then, spend a night or weekend together, and then go their merry ways. Usually this isn't noteworthy. Sometimes it has the worst possible timing, such as when Ceirdwyn shows up suffering from a bad Quickening while Methos is embedded with the Watchers.

Methos going through the Watcher's Academy and having his patience tried by the Watchers being earnestly wrong about things related to Immortals and Immortality that he can't correct.

In "Indiscretions," Joe showed up to save Amy with an Immortal in tow. Amy didn't give any indication of recognizing Adam Pierson, nor did she react when Joe referred to Methos as "The Doctor." How much did Amy know prior to this about Joe's violation of the Watcher oath? Did she realize how casually he hangs around with Immortals-who-aren't-Duncan? What does she think about what happened? What does she do about what happened? After all, Methos was hanging out in the bar while she was having her talk with Joe at the end of the episode. Could she really ignore the Immortal sitting right there, casually drinking a beer after killing her first field assignment?

As Richie prepares to abandon his life in Seacouver, he decides to visit his old friends one last time. The visit brings home how much Immortality has changed him, but also how much he is--and always will be--the kid from the old neighborhood. He's also surprised to learn that at least one of his friends isn't going to accept his goodbye. (Because when am I ever not seeking a Secret Identity Reveal story?)

When it comes time to leave Seacouver for real, Richie wants to say goodbye to his mortal friends one last time. To his surprise, Cory is the one who steps up to help.

Quickenings cause tropes, including time travel, body swap, accidental telepathy, etc.

Charlie also didn't die (but please don't make him Immortal) and he and Richie have to team up for something. (Maybe this is how Charlie finds out about Duncan and Immortals.)

As Charlie continues to try to train Richie, Richie's explanations for why he's not getting hurt/staying hurt become increasingly implausible.

Joe helps Richie make peace with the concept of the Watchers and being Watched.

For some reason, Joe gets pressed into playing the part of Richie’s dad/uncle, or Richie has to play the part of son. (Family dinner with Richie’s new SO? Cover story for someone who overhears them talking at the bar? Joe’s in the hospital and needs a designated next of kin?)

We never see Joe learning about Richie's first death. Perhaps he was Watching that night, but I doubt it. He and Duncan were acquainted enough at that point that if Joe had been at the house, I think he'd have broken cover, all things considered. (On a picayune point, Richie was 19 when he died, yet we see him drinking at Joe's bar before he's legally 21. Does Joe not care about legal age when the customer is Immortal? Does he just shrug his shoulders at Richie's fake ID because it's only going to be the first of many? I could actually see Richie being the one to tell Joe what happened because he wants a drink and he figures age doesn't matter anymore.)

Four people MortalCharacter (e.g. Anne, Amy, or Alive!Charlie) thought were Immortal and weren't, and the one Immortal they somehow completely failed to identify (until shit hit the fan).

A Watcher-based story. Not a Watcher-who-becomes-Immortal or a Watcher-gets involved-with-the-Game story, but something that focuses on the day-to-day issues of being a Watcher. How does someone structure their own life when their job is to clandestinely observe and record someone else's? How does someone deal with the traumas of what they have to observe (watching people fight and decapitate others can't be emotionally easy.)? How does someone have their own relationships when they have to keep so much secret? And how does someone live when their assignment dies?

Something like "Bad Day in Building A," where it's a human crisis with an Immortal solution, only the hero is anyone other than Duncan. The different characters' ways of solving problems are always fun to see.

Amy knows better than to get involved with her assignment. Now, if only she could figure out who her assignment really is.

Methos fills Amy in on some of the things the Academy didn't quite have right about Immortals.

Any of the old Immortals stuck on the camping trip from Hell with a group of school kids or, worse, their parents-who-think-they-know-everything. What a clash there'd be amongst people who think they know something about how to survive in the wild and the person(s) who actually does.


Highlander: The Watcher

SPOILERS AHOY

This is an authorized fan-movie set in the Highlander: the Series universe. While the storyline it explores isn't all that unique for anyone who's spent any time in HL fandom, I still found the movie to be fun and the main characters interesting.

I've always been a sucker for the new Immortal character, the modern person who is thrust into a world where melee combat is the order of the day and the other people around you have all lived through swaths of history that are now completely alien to the modern sensibility. As such, that makes David a character I'd love to see more of. Additionally, how does David's Watcher knowledge impact or influence his understanding of what Immortality, The Game, or Quickenings actually mean?

David tries (or seriously considers trying) to get back together with his ex-wife now that his circumstances have changed. How does this go?

What kinds of adventures does he encounter as he hitchhikes across the country? Maybe he gets caught up in a Search & Rescue mission, or joins some volunteer firefighters, or some other such dangerous activity that he feels his Immortality would be an asset in, only to also get his eyes opened as to the limitations.

Does he ever find Campbell, and what happens if he does?

How might David's Watcher knowledge help him in ways that aren't strictly related to Immortals or Watchers?

I'd also be interested in seeing David team up with, or otherwise, having to negotiate being in the same space as, either (or both) of Cory or Richie, Immortals who aren't bad guys, but who certainly understand criminal pasts.


CROSSOVERS

This is a fairly random assortment of prompts, mostly culled from past Crossovering letters.

Arrow

One of the bad guys on Oliver's list is Immortal and Oliver needs the help of his new bartender/bodyguard/friend to help take him down. How does he find out what went wrong and what this new person is? And how does Oliver convince him/her to help?

When he's looking to expand the team, Oliver recruits an Immortal thinking s/he's a meta. Shenanigans ensue.

Immortal, meet Lazarus Pit.

Daredevil (TV)

Matt becomes the lawyer for an Immortal in a case where their Immortality makes things really complicated. (e.g. Cory is arrested for a string of bank robberies that goes back to before he was "born"; Richie's alibi in a case is that he was dead somewhere; the person the Immortal took their latest identity from died with a lot of warrants out on him.)

Daredevil accidentally breaks up a swordfight between two Immortals, then draws a logical (but wrong) conclusion about what's happening and complicates things for everyone involved.

Leverage

For a con, the Leverage team needs someone who can die—a lot. Fortunately, one of the team members knows (or knows of) someone with this ability. (I received this one and it's awesome!)

Hardison hacks the files for the Watchers and learns something that ... explains a lot, actually.

The Listener (or, realistically, almost any police procedural)

The IIB is charged with solving a cold case from at least 40 years ago. The problem is, the top suspect hadn't been born then. Or had s/he?

Psych

When a body goes missing from the morgue, Shawn assigns himself the task of finding it before Woody gets fired.

An Immortal who has lost his/her memory hires Psych to help him/her recover it.

Cory Raines vs. Shawn Spencer

Spider-Man

JJJ gives Peter the assignment to photo a Quickening.

Two Immortals who really do want to (or have to) play the Game keep getting "saved" by Spider-Man. It's almost like he can sense them.

Travelers

It's well-established in Travelers that the future's info about our time is full of holes. What if Grant MacLaren is merely Matthew of Salisbury's current identity; the guy does like his law enforcement identities. When Grant was meant to die, it was only the death of the persona and not the person. That, of course, did not get recorded, so Traveler 3465 ended up in the body of an Immortal, either as two minds in one body or as 3465 ending up in a very different situation than he planned. How would this affect their mission?

Tomorrow People (1973)

In the TP serial "The Blue and the Green," we're introduced to a species of alien that farms its children out to be raised by other intelligent species, in much the same way that cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. When the cuckoo children reach adolescence, they must accumulate violent energy by way of inciting the host species around them to war so they can finish maturing and leave the planet. Imagine the HL Immortals as a type of this species. However, instead of inciting the host species to violence, they accumulate their violent energy from killing each other. Eventually, the "one" will have enough energy to finish maturing and leave, to begin the cycle all over again--which would work much better if only one parent at a time seeded a planet.

Tomorrow People (2013)

Richie and Stephen become friends at school and do a really bad job keeping their mutual worlds secret from the other. Stephen gets targeted by a K'Immie who doesn't realize that it's hard to keep a teleporter hostage.

To an Immortal, a strong telepath "reads" like they have a buzz. Because of this, Cara accidentally finds herself the target of people who really want to cut her head off. It takes another Immortal who understands what's happening to teach Cara how to protect herself properly.

Danny Cimoli and Monty the Magnificent teaming up for an act. I think "Now You See Me" has created some kind of love for stage magicians who aren't exactly above-board for how (or why) they do their acts. ("The Immortal Cimoli" has a nicely ambiguous ending, which I'm going to insist comes out in favor of Danny.) (Also, also, would it be possible for a TP to kill an Immortal?)