we were just as smart then as we are now

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From a person who passes out almost daily from dehydration and POTS

Fainting can be dramatic (eyes rolling back, falling to the floor, etc), but it can also be subtle sometimes. Even standing up, your whumpee could just sway in place a bit, eyes going unfocused and dilated. Maybe those around them grow concerned as they realize whumpee is unresponsive, before moving to touch them, shake their shoulder, and watching with horror as whumpee tips over and slumps to the floor.

When your whumpee is coming to, there’s often a few seconds where they are aware of and can understand everything around them, but are unable to move or talk. Just laying there, maybe mumbling something quietly or waving a hand at most, body still coming back online.

Whumpee catching themself passing out, deliberately breathing slow and deep in an attempt to not faint, even as they slowly feel their thoughts leaving them. The darkness fuzzing in on the corners of their vision and masking their surroundings, and the last, frustrated thought of “well, shit” as they sink to the ground, breathing exercises having failed them.

Alternatively, there can also be a few seconds after (before??) coming to when your whumpee isn’t cognizant of what is happening, but it appears like they are. They may sit up, even respond to a basic question, and then blink awake, completely disoriented at already being upright and moving.

What is AU Roulette? A casual fic-writing challenge encouraging authors to play around with different types of alternate universe stories, which will be randomly assigned to each participant regardless of the fandom they sign up with. The goal of the challenge is to encourage creativity and get authors to write fics with premises they might not otherwise have considered, with varying difficulty levels of participation for writers of all experience levels.

How does it work? Writers will be able to sign up from now through June with a fandom of their choice. At the start of July, each participant will be assigned three AUs from a masterlist using a random number generator. Each author will then have the choice of completing the challenge one, two, or all three of the AUs. Any fic exceeding a 500-word minimum will be considered a completion, so long as it employs the AU premise. The fic-writing period of the challenge will run for a month. Fics can be posted at any point during this time, and authors will have the option of having them added to an Ao3 collection for the challenge if they desire. They can also be posted to tumblr using the tag #AU Roulette 2024

What kind of AUs will be included in the challenge? The AU Roulette challenge will focus largely on popular, staple AU types with broad applicability to any fandom or relationship type. For example, a possible result might be something like a Time Travel AU (encompassing all the possible subsets, such as fix-it time travel, time loops, or other tropes under the same umbrella), but more restrictive AU types like a Soulmate AU that make assumptions about the author’s interpretation of character relationships in canon have been intentionally kept off the AU masterlist. The official list of AUs will be kept under wraps until assignments are given, but will have over 30 different prompts to ensure authors receive a good variety of options, and if you have suggestions or concerns about what AUs are being included, feel free to reach out.

What if I get an AU type that doesn’t work for the canon I chose? Limited re-rolls will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. You are also encouraged to be as creative as you want with your interpretation of your assigned AUs, which may help with making them fit. The goal of this challenge is to encourage weird, creative fanfic, not to have every author who rolls the same result write cookie-cutter versions of the same types of stories. If you were to get a Coffee Shop AU, for example, there is no requirement that the coffee shop in question be a real-world 21st-century Earth Starbucks. In fact, deviating from the mold is highly encouraged. So long as you can make a case that you filled the loose premise of your AU type, you will get credit for having completed it.

Can I participate if I am not a writer? AU Roulette is a fanfic writing challenge, so official sign-ups are for those interested in writing (regardless of skill level or experience writing AUs). However, if you are interested in the challenge but not in writing fic for it, consider having a look at the #AU Roulette 2024 tag or the official AU Roulette 2024 collection on Ao3 once authors have begun posting their stories. If one of them really speaks to you, it might be a nice gesture to draw a piece of art, make a playlist, or create some other fanwork inspired by the fic and share it – in which case you would also be more than welcome to use the official tag!

(Authors are of course also welcome to do this for their or other participants’ stories, too.)

How do I sign up? Fill out this form with your email and fandom of choice.

Source

If we assume they’re breathing, have a pulse and don’t require CPR, then they may need to deal with things like:

Hypothermia [x] [x]

Pneumonia [x]

Salt water aspiration syndrome [x]

Delayed drowning [x]