devilsavocado | au/psls;

Vampire AU because fuck yeah who doesn't love vampires

Matt Murdock is a vampire. He still gets powers through chemicals, he is still blind. Stick's training-- that's where it starts. Instead of fighting an unknown enemy, Stick teaches Matt how to defend himself, but mostly how to fight monsters. And kill them. He studies them, learns how they live and what their weaknesses are. Matt's enhanced senses make them easy to spot, but at 11 years old, Matt is unable to complete his first kill. Having failed his training, Matt is left alone with all this knowledge he knows he has to keep secret. So he does. He buries his head and goes to church and follows his dreams like his dad always wanted him to. There's rules in place, things that keep monsters from operating out in the open.

But monsters don't all play by the rules. On top of hearing the sound of every crime in New York City, Matt knows the signs of werewolf attacks, vampire feedings gone wrong. He tells himself it's none of his business, and it isn't-- until it happens close enough that he can no longer ignore it. Until he calls the police on one and nothing is found. Monsters have good hearing too, see. So when Matt goes to confront the man who'd been hypnotizing and draining his own daughter, things go a little differently from the show. Matt loses.

He's rusty, it'd been too long since he put his skills to practice, even more since he's heard the hiss of air vampires leave when they move, or how a single sharp tang of blood can have one turn the tables on you in an instant. In Matt's case, that's what happens. His bloody knuckles work against him. The vampire overpowers him and attacks Matt for his trouble, draining him half to death. But instead of killing Matt, it turns him instead.

Matt has no choice but to kill the man. Maybe he let instinct take over, maybe his rage fueled the act. The fact remains-- this Matt Murdock is a killer, though he tries to live for the same values he always does, and hates hunger-driven murder more than anything else. He runs straight to church but can no longer enter it. Father Lantom is accommodating. His faith remains strong. (Gold crosses instead of silver, night classes when he can help it. Foggy says he's become a night owl, Matt pretends not to realize he feels more at home in the dark.) When he feeds, it's the occasional criminal; he strikes a deal with a butcher down the block (Foggy always said he wanted to be a butcher, sometimes Matt wonders if, in another life, that could have been him.)

Fast forward a few years and we have the events of the series. Not a lot changes. Matt meets Claire sooner. She knows some of the hospitals sell blood to people with Matt's... condition, so she doesn't bat an eye when he's brought into her apartment from a dumpster, in which he apparently collapsed after trying to bite and feed off rats. It's not nearly as glamorous as the books and TV shows make it out to be. Matt continues to fight crime using his powers, all unbeknownst to Karen and Foggy. Well, that changes just like it does in the show. Nelson v Murdock style.

There are rumors that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen might be a monster. Foggy dismisses these rumors as ludicrous gossip, but he's a bit more inclined to believe them when he steps into Matt's apartment and stumbles across the body of his friend, Matt Murdock, who nearly rips his throat out the moment he gets too close. It's terrifying, but Foggy can hardly claim to be scared with the way Matt's face crumples once recognition hits him. Instantly, Matt is the one who's terrified, of himself, of hurting Foggy-- he's weak and injured but he curls himself into a ball to stay away from him. To keep Foggy safe.

Foggy freaks the hell out, but luckily for him, Matt's unconscious by the time Claire answers the phone. They work it out, or they don't, and Foggy's pissed because not only does Matt have crazy powers that let him "see," he's also a friggin' VAMPIRE. Foggy is truly a saint for sticking with him after all that. And it takes time, but they work their way past it. They catch Fisk. Foggy makes as many "you suck" puns as surely any man can ever think of.

Things are okay. Hopefully.

Dragon Age AU (Yes, Matt gets to be French!)

Matthieu "Matt" Murdock never knew his mother, and was raised by his father in what would essentially be the slums of Val Royeaux. Jacques Murdock, Matthieu's father, was a servant indebted to a lesser noble in the same city. While in his service, Jacques fought on his lord's behalf and became a rather well-known prize fighter of the Orlesian circuit-- well known for losing, but his fights always drew crowds nonetheless. Rigging fights is no all part of the The Grand Game, after all. As long as Jacques served as he was told, Matthieu and his father were allowed to live in relative peace serving their master. While Matthieu was not allowed tutors or private lessons with his master's children, he was able to attend Chantry lessons for schooling and was an avid fan of books and stories that focused on justice, Andraste and the Maker.

(Because he spent much of his life among other servants, but saw that elves could not take Chantry lessons the way he could, Matt is an ardent abolitionist and disapproves of the unjust treatment of elves in Thedosian society. It does not make him very popular at dinner parties.)

Things are pretty good for young Matthieu, even as a child he is exceptional in his schooling and attends homilies and lessons far beyond his age, all the while making his father proud. He speaks eloquently and memorizes the Chant with great vigor: the lay sisters of the White Spire adore him. There is even talks of finding him a sponsor when he comes of age to get him into the University of Orlais. For surely, such a brilliant mind is a gift from the Maker and must be fostered with great care.

His faith and devotion to the Maker does not save him, however, when he loses his sight at age nine. Although noble in intent, saving an old man from being trampled by a lyrium cart blinds Matt for life. The contact with raw lyrium also enhanced his senses greatly, giving him a kind of fade-sensitivity without actually being a mage. Fearing his heightened senses would be mistaken for magic, Matthieu kept his talents secret, lest he end up in the Circle and away from his only family.

Without his sight however, Matthieu's lessons come to an end. He tries at first to continue his studies, but many in the Chantry take pity on him or fear his limitations would hold the other students back. Without the support of the lay sisters who had once been so enamored with him, Matthieu has no choice but to return his father's side as a servant, doing menial tasks and minor work fitting of someone with his "condition." While Jacques remains supportive and tries his hardest to get Matthieu to be taken seriously, the Orlesian nobles are unable to see past Matt being a "blind servant" to waste their time on tutoring such a child.

Two years later, Jacques Murdock disobeys his master and wins a fight he shouldn't have won. But this is Val Royeaux. The victory gets not only Jacques, but his proprietor killed as well. (The manor and holdings fall to a distant cousin of Jacques' master. An internal squabble within the family, perhaps?) The night of the deed, the manor is beset by assassins-- one of which, a bard known only as Stick, takes special interest in Matthieu after discovering his abilities. (Bit hard to hide your abilities when you're fighting for your life.)

Shortly after, Matthieu begins his training in the bardic arts. While resentful towards the Stick and his the Grand Game part in his father's death, the tutelage allows Matthieu to complete his studies like his father wished and gives him the chance to put his Maker-given abilities to good use. And while Stick goes AWOL several years into his tutelage, Matthieu completes his training in hopes of finding the man and settling their debt. But he's not too worried about that, he's a fairly busy man and masters the Grand Game as well as he did the Chant.

Where most bards are open with their less-than-savory dealings, Matthieu manages something of a secret identity thanks in no small part to his blindness. There are rumors of a rogue bard attacking slavers and the like in the Orlesian capital, but none could ever believe the Devil of Val Royeaux to be a blind man. Known largely for his efficiency and somehow, miraculously, leaving most his targets alive (though no less ruined,) Matthieu is an open mystery to those who know him and a fallacy to those who don't. But those who don't aren't usually his targets, so he likes it better that way.

Hot Yaoi PSL because haha oops

Everything is the same except more time has passed. Matt is alone in Ryslig (Foggy has been home for some time) and he helms the firm alone. He's at home in his skin, his ears, tail and hooves. He bangs Connor furiously and has psychological dilemmas about being bisexual and wanting teh hot yaois. I could quote the anon rpa thread, but that would require effort. Just know that minotaur!Matt and nymph!Connor are banging. Consistently. Because Matt is a supreme playboy and paragon of heterosexuality without whom other MCU characters would turn gay.