~Angel(us)/Cordelia~
Challenge #1
How does Angel(us) REALLY feels about Cordelia's new short blonde hairstyle in Season Three?
Must include:
a) a reference to Doyle
b) Angel's claddaugh ring
c) A phone call from Faith
d) Threat of corporal punishment

Challenge #2
Alternate Ending for "Soulless"
Cordelia struck a bargain with Angelus.  "Tell us about the demon and I'll give you something you want...Me."  Angelus kissed and told, and Cordelia gleefully reneged.  What if she hadn't?
REQUIREMENTS:
--MUST be a POV (Cordelia, Angelus, OR Angel's subconscious within Angelus. Kudos if you can manage to write all three!)
--This is obviously a PWP challenge (R or NC-17 only, please.)
--NO SNUFF!!!
--Angelus has an ulterior motive (doesn't he always?) for not killing Cordelia.
--Somewhere in the fic, Angelus must force Cordelia to admit that she still loves Angel.
--Writer must also provide a credible explanation for WHY none of the others interfere (They have a full view of Angelus's cage on camera, remember?)


Challenge #3
(by Marleena)
What would happen if Cordelia was the vampire with a soul and Angel was her seer? Here are two ideas that would make this role reversal possible:

1) An Alternate Universe were Cordelia was the Scourge of Europe until she was cursed with a soul. Angel was the popular guy in high school until his family had everything taken from them. He is an aspiring actor working with Cordelia as she tries for redemption. He is also her seer.

2.) A spell causes Cordelia and Angel to switch places for forty-eight hours.  They learn what it's like to be in the other's shoes.

~Angelus/Drusilla~
Challenge #1
I'd love to see a fic in the early part of Angelus/Dru where Angelus is being good to Dru. Maybe he takes  her to a circus or gives her a doll's tea-party. Of course, it can be whacky and funny too. I know that pairing is most famous for  torturing each other but I'd love to see a tender moment or even a semi-tender moment between them.


Challenge #2 (by Marleena)
This is an Alternate Universe idea. Drusilla is the Slayer instead of Buffy. Buffy is a vampire and with Spike(this is could also be a challege for the Buffy/Spikers out there. :-) ) It can be any length or rating. Have fun!


~Angel(us)/Faith~
A lot of folks seem to think this pairing would only be good for a smut festival.  If you feel there is ANY romantic potential between these two WRITE IT DOWN!

Challenge #1 (by Marleena)  Angel(us)/Faith
1)Angel turns Faith(the reasons are up to you). Faith has a soul.  No one knows about it until Buffy shows up and her senses kick in when she's near Faith.  Angst ensures between Angel, Buffy and Faith.  Drusilla makes an appearance. Angel falls for Faith.  Must have a happy ending. :-)


~Angel(us)/Willow~
This is a really popular pairing!  Sometimes I think the fans liked Angel/Willow more than Angel/Buffy.  Whether you choose the vampire badass and the shy schoolgirl or the soulful vamp and the dark witch,  send it in.


Challenge #1 (by Marleena)
What if Willow wasn't a witch and Angel wasn't a vampire? The catch is Angel is still a supernatural creature. This line must be used somewhere in the story: "She looked up to see him standing there. He blended into the darkness as easily as a shadow." It can be any length or rating.

Challenge #2
Angel(us)/Dark Magick Willow Challenge
I'm not even specifying particulars.  If you've got a good love story between these two, send it in.  (NO WORLD DESTRUCTION PLEASE!)
                            


~Angel(us)/Tara~
I actually see this pairing as a really pretty couple!  Angel and Tara could be a really charming and creative pairing in the hands of the right writer.  The gentle vampire with a soul and a beautiful enchantress is a faerie tale come to life.

Challenge #1
  (BtVS post "Seeing Red")  Tara is mortally wounded by Warren's ricochet bullet BUT she does not die immediately.  Dark Magick Willow, desperate to save her life, calls upon Angel to turn Tara, casting a spell that retains Tara's soul.  Not easily able to cope with her new existence, Tara moves to Los Angeles with her sire and quickly becomes an important part of his life.

Challenge #2
:  Somehow Angelus has been released!  Determined to punish Willow for restoring Angel's soul (BtVS "Becoming" II) he takes Tara as a hostage.  His intention is to terrorise the shy quiet young witch but he discovers Tara does not easily break and has a few surprises of her own...This could be a good "dark comedy" fic.



~Angel(us)/Veruca~
A passionate master vampire and a wild rogue werewolf...I would just love to read a good fic about these two!  I think both characters make for a really complex and passionate pairing!  For some reason, I see better chemistry for Angelus/Veruca than Angel/Veruca but you might see things differently!  So go ahead and share it with the rest of us!

Some suggestions: How they fall in love is up to you. 
How to put them together?

Challenge  #1
   BtVS (Mid Season 2) Angelus is bored with tormenting the Slayer.  Or maybe he’s just looking for some new action.  What happens if Angelus puts the bite on the wrong girl?

Challenge #2
Angel (Post-Season 3) Cordelia has ascended above humanity.  Now Angel needs a new Seer.  Why the PTB’s choose Veruca and how she meets Angel is up to you.  But it would be interesting to know how he restrains Veruca from her hunting sprees during the full moon.  (Does he haul her bodily into a cage?  Or does he use gentler forms of persuasion?)


~Anya/Dracula~
Challenge #1
D'Hoffryn sends Anya to visit Dracula in Transylvania. (She needs a "change of scene" after Xander's rejection.) Ever the gentleman, Dracula does his best to console Anya and show her a good time. I see the potential for this to be really funny!


~Buffy/Angel(us)~
Gone but definitely not forgotten. B/A 'shippers mull these ideas over and write if you feel inspired...To Angelus fans: if you choose to write Buffy/Angelus, your fic MUST provide a credible background as to why and how Angelus overcame his psychopathic tendencies to hurt people and chose to love the Slayer instead of killing her.

Challenge #1
  (BtVS late Season 3 post "Graduation Day")  What if Buffy had not discovered that Angel was resurrected by the Powers That Be UNTIL just before her big showdown with the Mayor?  Would she be able to trust him and work with him to stop the threat of Mayor W's accension?  And what about their past history of first love and betrayal?

Challenge #1 ALTERNATIVE:
  What if Buffy met Angel(us) FOR THE FIRST TIME in mid-season Three?  None of the past history between them existed, Buffy's a little older than when they first met in the show.  Would she accept his offer for an alliance to stop the Accension?  Would they still fall in love?

Challenge #2
  Buffy and Angel(us) have married and are on their honeymoon.  Where do they go and what do they do?  This is definitely an anything goes challenge.  If you want to make Angel(us) human OR if you want him to bring Buffy over as a vampire, that's fine.  It can be AU/AR.
RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO TURN THIS CHALLENGE INTO AN NC-17 EROTICA FEST!  Erotica is fine BUT it should not take over the story about the loving couple and where they choose to go to be alone with one another away from the rest of the world.

Challenge #3
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" Challenge
Angelus has HAD IT with the Slayer's insolence and is determined to "bring her to heel" no matter what it takes.  Drusilla provides him with a simple potion, "Love-in-idleness," that, when dropped over a sleeping person's eyes, causes the person to fall madly, dotingly in love with the first being s/he sees upon waking.  Angelus steels into the Slayer's room and applies the potion, intending that she should wake up and fall in love with whoever she first lays eyes on the next morning.  Unfortunately he is careless and spills some of the potion on his fingers and inadvertantly rubs his own eyes with it before leaving her room.  Angelus is now madly, adoringly in love with Buffy.
REQUIREMENTS:  The writer may choose who is the first person Buffy sees when she wakes up in the morning, but try and be creative about this!  Maybe Giles is picking her up for a training session or Xander is giving her a ride to school.  This could also be a good opportunity to introduce an original character if you like (maybe somebody who doesn't really like Buffy?)
--Buffy has no clue she is bespelled. 
--Angelus must set about "proving his love" to "win" Buffy over.  DON'T automatically turn Angelus into Angel just because he's in love.  Try and create some inventive "courtship/mating rituals" a la Angelus.
--Drusilla realises Angelus is bespelled but can't remember the antidote to "Love-in-idleness."  The minions and vampire cronies watch, agog, as Angelus's plots for evil and mayhem are thrown by the wayside as he seeks to win over the Slayer.
--This can be AU/AR or canon fic, any time frame the writer cares to use.
--One of the characters must be reading Shakespear somewhere in the story.
--Happy ending or Hellish?  UP TO YOU!!!



~Buffy/Spike~
I almost feel bad introducing a B/S challenge because there’s already so much great fic about this pairing out there.  Here’s something that might be a little bit different:

  Challenge #1
Somehow, Buffy and Spike are magically transported to an alternate reality where vampires are the dominant force and rule the planet.  Humans are recognised as a sub-race who exist to provide their vampire masters with food and slave labor.
Some interesting possibilities:
–Buffy is forced to act in a subservient role to Spike.  How would Spike treat Buffy now that she was “in his power?”
–Buffy and Spike discover their alternative selves in the new world.  Spike is a gentleman poet/novelist, related to the local political authorities and Buffy is his cherished human consort, spoiled and beloved.  If they actually meet, AU Buffy cannot understand why Buffy fights her attraction to Spike.


~Lilah/Jonathon~
(suggested by Willowluv)

The writer must explain how Lilah and Jonathon met and fell in love.
Lilah must particpate in a pie eating contest.
Jonathon must appear in a pirate costume and it cannot be for anything related to Halloween.
The word "bootylicious"  must appear twice in the story and cannot have anything to do with either Lilah's or Jonathon's rear end.


~Spike/Drusilla~
Challenge #1
  An alternate reality fic (sort of.)  Originally, in early BtVS Angelus NOT Drusilla was supposed to be Spike's sire (that little detail got mixed up and discarded in the writing as the shows progressed though.)  What if Spike (instead of Angelus) had courted and turned Drusilla?  Write a fic (fluff is fine) of Spike finding time to pay gentlemanly calls on Drusilla in between his feeding, rivalry with Angelus, and Slayer-killing schedules.  Drusilla's insanity is optional.

Challenge #2
  What happened to Spike and Drusilla in Prague?  How was Drusilla nearly killed and how did Spike rescue her?

Challenge #3
  Spike and Dru as the good guys (sort of.)  Write a fic taking place in World War II occupied France.  Drusilla is unhappy with the Nazi soldiers.  They make too much noise and cart away people Dru would have liked to feed upon to concentration camps.  How do she and Spike resolve Drusilla's issues with the "naughty Nazis?"


~Spike/Willow~
I admit, I adore this pairing.  Don’t hate me Spuffy fans but I could easily see Spike and Willow having a lot of intellectual interests in common and doing quite well as a couple.  Spike could probably bring out a little more wildness in Willow and Willow could help keep him on the straight and narrow.

Challenge #1
(mid-season 4 post-Oz, pre-Tara) Willow approaches Spike for help with her poetry paper.  Together they research, study, and discuss various genres and types of poetry.
Some interesting possibilities:
–Spike could introduce Willow to the more “bohemian” side of the Romantic/Gothic poets (i.e., he could take her out to drink absinthe, the LSD of the 1880's, OR perhaps accompany her to get a body piercing or a tattoo.)

Challenge #2
(Spike/Willow romantic friendship) (pre-season 6) To thank Spike for all his help with the Scoobies and for protecting Dawn, Willow casts a special spell.  The spell allows Spike to enjoy an entire day out in the sunlight.  Write a fic about where they would go and what they would do.  This could be a sweet wistful “what if” sort of story.  Perhaps Willow had to sacrifice something very serious (a year of her own life, for example) to win this favor for Spike.


~Willow/Tara~
Challenge #1
(Pre-Season Six or an AU/AR where magical addiction doesn't exist)  Willow and Tara go on a nature hike somewhere to find some particular rare herbs or roots for spellcasting components.  Being seperated from the Scoobies allows them to bond more closely with nature, Wicca, and each other.
Interesting Possibility:
Oz is living as a werewolf in the area the girls are hiking in.  Perhaps he helps protect them from a dangerous predator like a bear or a pack of wolves.


Challenge #2
Willow and Tara visit a "Magick Spa."  The spa is specifically for Wiccans and/or other magic-using people/creatures.  (This could be a fun fantasy fic if you wanted to introduce mythical creatures like unicorns, for example.)  For fun, the spa should have "traditional" spa services (massage, facials, mud baths, etc.) interspersed with "magical" services ("Crystal reflections treatment to re-align one's aura after heavy spellcasting" or "Third Eye Cleansing and Conditioning for better precognition.")
Interesting possibility: 
They bump into Cordelia and discover she is partially demonic.


Challenge #3
(post--BtVS "Seeing Red" and "Grave")  The Powers That Be give Willow a single opportunity to visit Tara "on the other side."  How will Tara respond to her lover?  Would she be offended by the path of dark magic Willow chose?  Or would she be loving and understanding?  Will she help give Willow the courage to go on without her?


~Xander/Anya~
Future Fic:  Anya was pregnant when Xander jilted her at their wedding.  Anya hides her pregnancy from Xander and raises their child alone.  What happens when Xander finally finds out?  (Note:  It's the writer's choice when and how Xander discovers Anya's secret.  Their child can be an infant or a bratty teenager or an adult.)  Ideally, this should be a romantic comedy fic since Xander/Anya did have that wonderful "I Love Lucy" vibe to their 'ship.  No angst/drama please!


All right now...Hopefully at least one of these challenges has "touched" you.  You've read it and it "clicked" in your mind and you realised, "Wow!  I can really see that happening!"  You're completely inspired.  Wonderful.  Prepare your fic and send it to my archive!  I  look forward to hearing from you.

If you would like to suggest a challenge, e-mail me.  I will accept any pairing and possibility as long as it is a romance fic challenge.

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