Overthinking For Fun

As previously discussed, vamp4vamp kantbison makes a lot of sense to me in terms of who the characters are, but if the vampiric nature isn't what one is hiding from the other (and presumably it wouldn't be) I feel like we're kind of missing out. Of course they could be from rival clans - both Lilly and Christ would make great sires - but then their relationship wouldn't be that different than if they were both humans so... idk. If someone sees a way to work with that I'd love to hear it.

Werewolf!Kant works for me on paper (big dog of a man wishing for a quiet normal life), but where the idea loses me is that violent loss of control really isn't Kant's problem. Bison's, however... but I've already made my case for werewolf!Bison and tbh, I still like vampire!Bison better (and shoot out to he is my blood! thank you Liz for he is my blood!).

Fortunately, we have a third character who yearns for normalcy! A guy we often see being *this* close to unleashing incredible violence, and who's a lot better at it than Kant when he does. A guy who's even filmed right in front of a full moon at one point! In short, I think you were right, and that werewolf!Fadel is simply the best choice.

Now, I have already said that in a human/monster AU I would make Kant the monster (fun for me! though I'm still very into a potential continuation of Rob's selkie!Fadel fic where Bison's a siren), but just because I don't know how to make them vamp4vamp doesn't mean it has to be a human/monster AU, and that's where fae!Kant enters stage.

"con artist in a noir-ish setting whose fae ancestry results in like. great persuasion skills but a mild-to-severe allergy to iron and difficulties around lying" is actually one of those little concepts i play around when i'm stuck somewhere with nothing to do, but it took Liz pointing out that the more truth Kant puts in his lies, the more seamless they are for me to go WAIT A MINUTE. So yeah. Fae!Kant.

And while fae!Kant works in an AU where everyone else is human (or everyone else but the captain is human, there's fun stuff there too), I think making monsters out of all the characters with ties to the criminal world fits THK particularly well, and vampire!Bison, werewolf!Fadel and fae!Kant especially so, because we get two creatures that are most known for killing and one that is most known for tricking people (and human Style taking most of it in stride, as Style does). It works!

From there I can see three options:

changeling Kant. He might have started out as a cuckoo in the nest but damn if he's not his parents' son and Babe's older brother. I like this one thematically but it's a bit too close to the changeling!twin Not Me AU I will not write but still love, so I have to discard it.

Fae!Kant who's raising Babe because he made a deal with Babe parents's before their death and he will keep his word no matter what. I like the fae part of this one but I don't like how it minimizes Kant's relationship with his own parents, so :/

Kant is from a fae or human-fae family and pretty much everything else is the same (but that means Babe has fae blood too which I think can be interesting). In this one supernatural creatures are more or less well-integrated in society (depending on how dangerous they suposedly are) but not being human still carries some stigma. I know this type of setting often comes under fire for offering clunky metaphors but I think it works within a pulp framework where the metaphor is taken about as seriously as "we turned misogyny into assassinphobia."

Regardless of fae!Kant's origin story though, he always become an informant the same way: getting caught thieving and offering his true name to the police captain who arrested him, in exchange for his (technical) freedom and his brother's future. I just like the idea of Kant constantly looking for loopholes, experimenting with how much disobedience he can get away with (and the idea of him having to face all the things he can't get away with, over and over again - obviously). I also like the idea of him trying to find a way to give Bison his true name, ostensibly so Bison can counter the captain's orders, effectively for. far less practical reasons. ("this house needs an owner")

The fae!Kant AU is great for many reasons: allows me to have vampire!Bison, allows me to have Kant and Bison meeting as two seductors, allows me to find new and interesting ways to force Kant's back to a wall, allows me to explore the show's motif of reframing - it's not lying if you're telling *a* truth - and theme of coercion, allows me to lean into the concept of Kant as a boxed-crook selling out people like him to survive, allows me to put Kant in irons (allows me to have Bison put Kant in irons) (allows me to have Bison put Kant in irons and see him stripped of all his fae glamour) (allows me to have Bison put Kant in irons and see him stripped of all his fae glamour and realize he loves him anyway.)