i have such a clear picture in my head of a katesayid college au because they'd for SURE meet in an engineering program and become friends by being on a team together for some absurdly difficult semester-long project where no one else on the team contributes but them :') and it's hellllllll on earth but they bond over it. and then they purposely schedule all their classes together from there on out so they could keep being team members <33
✨ooooo you wanna claim my katesayid restaurant au lost summer prompt so badly oooooo you wanna make their relationship confusing and ambiguous but steeped in a constant and unyielding professional reverence ooooo✨
ok i’m ruminating on the lost collage au and i’m accepting bids for which characters would conceivably major in engineering but ALSO would be REALLY shitty to do a group project with.
i think boone takes the cake on this one personally but i need 2-3 more to round out katesayid’s group project from hell!!
God, please gimme info on i just know, college au and bad boy summer please cuz I'm curious af
thank youuuu!!! <33 :D
talked about bad boy summer here!
college au is still in pre-outline stages, but this is another one where i read my ramblings/notes back and get very excited about it haha. it's gonna be centered on kate/sayid, who are classmates in the same engineering program. and the exact nature of their relationship is still tbd (and maybe it stays undefined/ambiguous), but the core of it is the kindred-spirit vibe and really deep respect/reverance that defines katesayid for me <33 and we follow them over the trials and tribulations of a semester-long, maybe-competitive group project (like building/programming a robot which has to complete xyz tasks in a certain amount of time), where the two of them are the only ones doing any work. so that causes problems of course, especially early on before they say screw the rest of the group and decide that they're just gonna take charge lol. and then they also have an ongoing, mostly-one-sided rivalry/grudge against jack and juliet, who they've both had some classes with since they're pre-med. the rivalry isn't over the robot course itself (since that wouldn't be part of a pre-med program) but more about silly things. like jack and juliet booking their favorite study room in the library or getting the last pieces of cake at the dining hall. and really, kate and sayid just LOVE to hate them. and jack and juliet are gonna be very stereotypical, privileged, uptight frat/sorority personalities, so they are detestable in the best kind of way lolol. like jack's paper doll outfit would be chubbies shorts with a neon polo and wayfarers. and juliet is rocking a lot of lily pulitzer and doing a full face of makeup for her 8 am classes lmao. and then possibly the part i'm most excited for is making shannon be a troublemaker freshman in juliet's sorority, who's constantly marring the sanctity of the sorority's name (to juliet's great chagrin). so naturally, kate and sayid end up befriending her <33
and last but not least, i just know! this is the katiet rose/bernard au for a lost summer prompt!! :) so kate and juliet are traveling together/already in a relationship at the time of the crash, and they get separated like rose and bernard do. but they're determined to find their way back to each other <33 this one has been soooo so fun--i think i'm about halfway done with the draft? hopefully? and ahhhh wow i can't wait to share it :) the bulk of the story is gonna focus on them meeting in miami in the early 00s, with flashes to their time on the island and how they ended up on the plane in the first place. OH!! and we were talking about this bit earlier, but just to share with the class: i totally lost my mind over learning that the first state in the us legalized gay marriage in **may 2004?!?!?!** as in, not even 6 months before the date of the oceanic 815 crash??!! so yeah, let's just say that their intention AFTER landing in los angeles was to continue traveling onto massachusetts so they could get married 😭😭😭 (but hey, the best laid plans!)
here's a snippet from that one too!! :)
Juliet should’ve been bothered by the brashness with which the next client burst in the office suite. Especially with all those other bothers having added up to prime her, like a wall ready to be painted red.
It should’ve bothered her how the receptionist perked up the second the door opened. Mouth beaming and wide, greeting a customer like an old friend.
The most Juliet had gotten out of that receptionist was a curt nod. Maybe a polite, somewhat-less-than-friendly hello. This woman strode right up to the counter desk, leaning on it with her arms crossed. Then, she whispered something that made the receptionist laugh heartily. Then, she plunged a hand into the bowl of communal candy on the counter, pulling out a huge fistful.
Instead of feeling bothered by any of those things, Juliet’s eyes simply shot to her, and hung on for dear life. She was gorgeous, sure. Anyone could see that. But it was more than that. She seemed so robust, so vital. All her muscles halfway to coiled, like she was ready to spring into any action required of her.
She wore a pair of dark slacks low on her hips, and a silky, professional-looking blouse. It rode up a few inches as she bowed further over the counter, revealing the edges of what looked like a butterfly tattoo at the base of her spine.
Rachel would have a field day with that one, Juliet thought to herself.
And then there was just one instant, before she remembered she was gone. Then she did, and the memory was a hand around her throat.
She was forgetting like that more and more these days, it seemed. Getting bludgeoned by it in a way she didn’t recall being even in the immediate aftermath, when she’d stumbled through her hollowed-out life like a zombie.
Maybe it was that it wasn’t just Rachel she forgot about now. Twice the impact, from every missed instant.
Tears stung in her eyes, and the woman at the counter finally tore herself from the receptionist’s desk to find her seat—though, not before flashing her a grin that made Juliet’s stomach curdle. She made her way to a seat right across from Juliet’s, who bent her head and hurried to wipe her tears away.
She looked up, and the woman was watching her. Small, sympathetic smile on her face.
It was no grin like the receptionist had gotten, but still it had quite the effect on Juliet’s stomach. A different effect, that brought to mind that tattoo that’d led to her tears in the first place. She tried to smile back.
“Want one?” the woman asked, extending her hand full of candy. From the diagonal, slightly garbled sound of her voice, she must have stuffed several into her mouth already.
Juliet sniffed. “That’s alright.”
“I always hate coming here, too.” She scrunched up her nose. Freckles dotted across it. “Luckily mine’s finalized already—I've just gotta sign off on some error in the paperwork.”
“Oh, no,” said Juliet. “No, um—well, yes. I do hate it. But usually this place doesn’t make me cry until we’ve been arguing for an hour or two.”
The woman laughed. “They should make Hallmark cards for divorce, shouldn’t they? I’ve never needed ‘best wishes’ like I have through all this bullshit. God.” She scoffed, and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how jaded you are with the whole marriage thing—personally, I’m at like, a seven out of ten—but in case you ever decide to do it again, here’s some advice: do not marry a cop.”
Juliet nodded, hummed. “Here’s some from me: don’t marry your boss.”
Another laugh. “Yeah, I think I knew that one.”
“Well, good for you. Guess I’m a slow learner.”
Eyes narrowed at her with a smirk—and god, they were such a lovely, earthy shade of green—peering closely enough that she felt like all her deepest secrets were at risk of being exposed.
“Hm. I doubt that.”
There was a beat of silence, after which the woman’s mouth fell open like she was about to say something.
Then, Juliet’s attorney finally showed her face. Eyebrows up, all her other features pinched together like always.
“Hey—Ed’s just going to conference in. So we can get started.”
“Great,” Juliet said flatly, gathering her purse and setting aside the magazine she hadn’t really read. She turned to the woman, who was still looking at her. Mouth closed again, but her gaze was expectant.
And for one reason or another, all Juliet wanted was to meet her expectations.
“I’m Juliet, by the way.”
“Kate,” said the woman, reaching out her candy-free hand.
Juliet took it, and held on a moment longer than she needed to. Once she’d dropped it she kept standing there, looking down at Kate. And Kate kept sitting there, looking up at her.
Pointed clear of the throat from her attorney, and it snapped Kate out of the trance, at least.
“Here,” she said, digging in her purse for a moment. Then she pulled out a business card, and handed it over. “In case you want any more advice.”
Juliet peered at the card. Kate Austen, photographer for the Herald. She let her own eyes skirt over Kate Austen, taking her all in. Imagining her springing into action with a camera in hand, and what a beautiful sight that must be.
“Thanks—I’m sure I’ll need it.”
The last thing she wanted to do was walk away, but she decided she’d rather not learn what came from her attorney after the pointed throat clearing. She’d probably have to pay dearly for whatever it was.
Instead, Juliet got paid herself. With a huge grin of her own, thrown her way by Kate when she looked back one last time. Far it stretched across her face, enclosed by dimples that mirrored across her face like two parentheses.
She drank it like medicine, and the conference call with Ed flew by. Then later, she bit her lip while she dialed the number on Kate’s card, and the line picked up after one ring.
“Hello?” she chirped.
“Hey, it’s me.”
Before she could even apologize for forgetting to say her name—let alone say it—Kate kept going. Breathing out her words like a sigh of relief.
“Oh, thank god.”
And Juliet threw her head back, laughing like she never had before.