Looking for anything in particular? Like any time period, any mood?

Birth - Well there are plenty of births that come to mind. Michael's birth, Lincoln's birth, LJ's birth. The other thing that came to mind was something like "birth of a serial killer". The moment something happened to set somebody on a certain path. Naturally T-Bag was the first one that came to mind but it could really work for a wide variety of characters, Mahone, Kellerman, LJ, Michael, Lincoln. Something drastic happens in their life and they are "reborn" as a new person. Could be Surce being there or wanting to be there for the birth of Maricruz' baby.

Faith - You have the obvious have a little faith. You have the Fox River priest. You could write about a certain character (Michael? Lincoln? Sarah? LJ?) lost their faith. Or you could write about a character finding their faith when they find themselves praying for the life of a loved one in a dire situation when there is nothing they themselves can do.

Theory - The two basic things that come to mind is somebody having had a particular theory about human interaction and then being proven wrong (for example: The best way to impress girls is to do X/You can never get a girl by doing Y and then the girl comes and does something unexpected; or nobody ever does anything for any reason other than greed and other selfish desires and then somebody does something unselfish), while the other is a character trying to roll out their life philosophy, their theory on life of what makes people tick (a bit like the C-Note fic about people being different types of animals). For the latter one particularly evil characters spring to mind like Mahone, Kellerman, Lady President, T-Bag, even Lechero if anybody still remembers him. But I guess one could also try to write a sweeter, more life affirming story about it. Another thing could maybe be a parent telling a child (for example Michael or Lincoln) something wise about life (like if you do something nice it pays off in the end). The child is dubious at first, but then tries it and it does work.

Time - My firt mental image was definitely Lincoln in his cell. Or maybe something about the flow of time. How it is faster sometimes and slower at other times (I know, clichee). Same for time healing all wounds. How about one character being gifted a watch? Maybe Sarah as a little girl staring at some grandfather clock waiting for her dad to have time for her?

Infinity - My first thought was a character looking at the ocean. For some reason I saw a minor character for this, like T-Bag, C-Note... Could also be a vicious circle that goes on to infinity. Could be the sign for infinity, the sideways (mostly because I remember a childrens book where the central characters left each other that sign as a message).

Ooh, I like your suggestions about theory and it being proven wrong. It's a very Michael prompt, but I'd hate for the story to be too dry.

I like the Lincoln idea for Time (see wenchpixie's comment below). I want to not repeat the same characters too often (e.g., Sara has 2 stories, Lincoln has at least 3 already. Michael has 2, but they're in combination (and "Orientation" will be too), so he's ripe for one of these prompts!

Could also be a vicious circle that goes on to infinity.
Hmmmm!

When I first signed up for the challenge, I thought I was going to do Quinn trapped in the bottom of that well for "Infinity." How was I to know he'd wind up being very minor in the larger scheme of things? So I kind of stalled out on the prompt after that. Probably in resentment. ;)

I'm trying to keep the options open, actually! I've written a lot of the more interesting characters, and mostly it's been S1 and S2, with some pre-S1 here and there.

I do hate the "birth" prompt-- I think it's in all 3 of my tables, so I'm sick of it! The "birth of a serial killer" was actually handled (almost exactly that way!) for the "Lack of God" prompt, which was T-Bag. My epic that hardly anyone read. *sniff*

I do like the "reborn" idea-- that's been the most likely choice all along, but nothing has hit me as "Yes! This character, this event!"

Hmmm, like the "Faith" ideas. I handled this one so strongly in the "God" prompt, which I used the "Dialogues in Faith" Lincoln&Maillor story for. So perhaps a less literal notion of faith would help.

I haven't addressed LJ for this challenge (though I already wrote my seminal LJ piece, LOL). Maybe S3 LJ.

I've written Sara (twice), Michael (many times), Lincoln (ditto), Michael&LJ, Lincoln/Nika (!), Kellerman, Kellerman/Reynolds (!), Mahone, Westmoreland, Abruzzi, T-Bag, and Haywire.

There's room for Sucre (if only I found him more interesting), Pope (if I could do him justice), LJ (*cries*), and Veronica (except I'm much more interested in forcing that last really good Veronica story into an existing prompt! Damnit!)

I SO appreciate you banging ideas around. ♥

Damn you and you many writing ways ;D And yes, I can see why birth might get annoying if you have to write it so many times.

I'm pretty sure most of my good ideas are really just stories I remember from you.

How was I to know he'd wind up being very minor in the larger scheme of things? So I kind of stalled out on the prompt after that. Probably in resentment. ;)

Damn you stupid canon! ;p Have you seen Galaxy Quest by any chance? "To infinity and beyond!". Maybe one of the characters is an unsuspected Star Trek fan, crackfic style ;D

As for these prompts combined with lesser used characters:
Veronica: Faith in the law? Faith that she is right and that it can be done her way? Faith that if you are stubborn you can do anything? Faith that things will turn out alright and then of course she is wrong?

Infinity - How about a character turning in sane. Infinity = a sort of loop in the mind? Maybe Haywire or Mahone. How about Mahone or Kellerman feeling haunted by the ones they killed? How about Infinity being the company, who always sends a new assassin? Or even if you destroy the company, there will always be people who want power and a new company will spring up (could be the thoughts of Susan B). Or how about infinity on both sides? There will always be people who want power, so there will always be a new company. But there will also always be people who want justice and will want to stand up to the company? People vs. the company as a fight of good vs. evil to infinity? Could be the thought of a character as he or she lies dying. Could be the thought of an more or less impassioned outsider.

Pope: How about Time for him? Maybe a story about his youth, maybe he used to be more of an idealist and sometimes he worried that being in the system for so long has eroded some of that idealism? Could be about him and his wife, how their relationship has changed over time. The things that have changed and the ones that haven't. Could be a "passionate youth vs. the higher calmness of age" comparison between either Pope or Westmoreland and Michael. Westmoreland might also be a good character for the passing of time in jail, how much time was stolen from his life.

Time could also be running out of time. Maybe around the time of a character dying. That either they or their loved ones don't have the time anymore to all the things they wanted to do (for example Lisa thinking about all the things she wanted teach LJ and show him before she dies; Veronica thinking the same)

As for birth, since I didn't watch season 2, is there anything about T-Bag's girlfriend Susan that could be interpreted as her finding her strenght and confidence again, finding the confidence to stand up to T-Bag? I guess Susan/Gretchen's experience being a prisoner of war could be the birth hour of her darkness, except it might be too similar of T-Bag's genesis for your liking.

I know Sucre and Maricruz are boring but maybe a really quick fic? Maybe Maricruz holding her baby and becoming a more mature person? How about more Kellerman/Reynolds and the moment and birthed his resentment against her? How about Hale and the moment that birthed his rebellion against Kellerman and the company?

Faith, I'm not sure how you can get less literal about that. I mean there is faith in God, faith in people, faith in things (how about a character who believes only in their gun? Susan B., Mahone, Kellerman? Or Reynolds having faith in her ability to dazzle people.).

Infinity - How about a character turning in sane.
Michael! I like this interpretation of "infinity" a lot.

how about a character who believes only in their gun?
Mwah-ha-ha! Now that's an interesting take on the prompt-- faith in entirely the wrong things, or in lesser things! *gets all pondery*

It's a 3-day weekend for us, and I'd like to get at least ONE of these written (and hope to line up a few others before the show gets too weird for me).

Planning to watch S4 at all? Or not?

*koff* Did it again^^. Still me. :0

Nope :) No plans to watch. I've have always taken the position that I would rather not watch something than have it ruin it for me. Though I do admire people like you who stick it out till the end :)

And in the unlikely case that it proves awesome and kickass I can still get the DVD or something ;D

Faith in lesser things can be fun. Susan B. might be a good character for this. You know, she screamed for help, she begged God, she appealed to her captor's better nature, she prayed that her army would save her, etc. Now she doesn't believe in anything, not in God, not in her country, not even in the company, she only believes in herself and in her gun. Stuff like that. But there could be a whole range of characters who have faith in their abilities or faith in their luck (Mahone, T-Bag, Reynolds).

Wait, that's the obvious use of "yellow" again. ;)

The color site mentioned that in Christianity yellow is considered the color of greed, so that's probably where I got it from. Actually I think I got it from a soap opera where a character contemplated using yellow flowers in her wedding and the vendor told her not to do it because they symbolized greed and envy and she dropped them like they were poisonous because she had a history of being envious of her sister which had gotten her in a lot of trouble before.

Hahaha to the "Michael's Resolutions" list! Cracktastic!

Stop noticing the way Lincoln smells. Stop your heart from lurching every time you think he is coming home. Stop hoping that he'll become a more considerate person. Stop wishing that he would start to notice things too.

*sings* They call me mellow yellow! *sings*

Anyway, good look with your writing. :)

BTW, how about using the yellow brick road/wizard of Oz association? Though that sounds more like a cool Gen prompt rather than a slash one.

I quite like the idea of using faith in people - Sucre's in Michael, LJ's in Linc, that kind of thing (or, for early LJ, lack of faith maybe?)

This seems like a good tactic to me, because I hit the religious use of it so hard for the "God" prompt (well, how can you not?) And I like your suggestions of which characters as well!

sixth-sense strikes me as a T-bag prompt
Unfortunately, that one's for the Michael/Lincoln table (I did Haywire as "6th-Sense" for the other, because he always knew Michael was up to something and he was always right about it too). :0

Maybe some T-Bag thing with Michael/Lincoln as a side? I feel like I might have just done that with the Abruzzi and M/L fic I wrote recently, but still.

It's hard to think of that prompt in a romantic/sexy sense, even if it's about romance/sex NOT going well. Cursed prompt!

The new season begins THIS MONDAY over here (and I thought it was a week later, even). Must write faster!

Purple, Yellow, Parents, Lunch, Dinner, Food, Sixth-Sense, Life, New Year

Wow, these really do suck :)

Parents - MPREG! Baby AU! Cheestastic Michael and Lincoln have to take care of a baby! Kid!fic where they have a doll and play mummy and daddy for the doll. Michael and Lincoln taking baby LJ for a stroll and being mistaken for a couple. Michael seeing Lincoln and Lisa and LJ and it being all sad and envious and yearny. Daddy Aldo figuring out that there is something between them. Michael and Lincoln introspective piece after Aldo's death. Michael as a pseudo-parent figure in Michael's life. Or the idea that they sort of parent each other, just in different areas or during different periods in their life.

Lunch - First random image, Ladies Who Lunch ;D For some reason I tend to picture architecture time Michael. Either him taking Lincoln to lunch, the contrast between posh Michael and rundown Lincoln. Or Michael being to lunch with his co-workers maybe and Lincoln is there. Michael either pretends not to know him or can't bring himself to pretend not to know him and goes over to see him/talk to him and the co-workers gossip. Or a Lincoln POV, that he visits Michael and lets Michael buy him lunch and then "repays" him in restroom stall. And pretends he hates it and in reality he is looking for a reason, an excuse so he can do just that. Or something kid aged, social services time, where something really minor or something rather gross serves as "lunch" because they are too poor or maltreated to get anything else.

Dinner - Paradise universe. Taking the time to cook and do a romantic candle light dinner.

Yellow - Wait, if purple is bruise does that mean that yellow is puss? Something about "Yellow is the color of envy". Maybe like Lincoln bought Veronica or Lisa yellow flowers and Michael sees them and thinks about how he envies them. Or Michael has a yellow scarf or shirt and Lincoln ponders who he envies Michael's lifestyle. Or something like, "Michael has many different shirts. Blue ones, white ones, red ones. Today's is yellow. Lincoln wants to take it off, wants to peel the buttons open one by one".

Purple - What a sucky prompt. I mean really what other than bruises and plums is purple. I keep coming back to clothing and shirts that need to be taken off ;D Maybe squabbling where Lincoln insists that no man can ever pull off the color purple and Michael is like "Oh yeah? Watch me!". Or wait, how about the band Deep Purple? One of their songs could be playing as a soundtrack to a scene. Or you could just find a line from one of their songs that you like and use it as a quotation at the beginning of the fic. Maybe with a real stretch it could be used as eye color. Or something about purple being the last color in the rainbow? Of course my main association is from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels where many characters wear lavendar colored flowers on their hads or lapels to remember a specific revolution. Maybe some interesting meanings of purple could be used. "Purple is the color of the ball in Snooker Plus with a 10-point value." or "One of the stars in the Pleiades, called Pleione, is sometimes called Purple Pleione because, being a fast spinning star, it has a purple hue caused by its blue-white color being obscured by a spinning ring of electrically excited red hydrogen gas." or "In Thailand, purple is worn by a widow mourning her husband's death."

Food - My thoughts immediately went to food for thought, soul food, nourishment for the soul. Except that probably sorta isn't the same as "food". Blegh. Food. What an unsexy word. Particularly if you aren't necessarily a fan of characters eating food off each others bodies. Maybe one doesn't want to eat and the other tries them to eat something. And then there is sex/something sexy and in the end as the happy end the character is finally willing to eat again?

Life - For some reason the first thing that came to my mind was "life sentence". Maybe like "X might have escaped from prison, but caring for Y is his life sentence". Or "The courts might have released him, but the guilt he carries with him will be his life sentence". Or "A might have forgiven him, but the guilt will be his life sentence", "A might have done the right thing, but lonliness would be his life sentence".

New Year - No love for a New Year's kiss at the stroke of Midnight? Though somehow I could swear I have read that one already. I think it might actually be an interesting prompt to do post prison. Sort of, it's a new year, it's a new life. Heck, maybe even in Paradie universe. Or how about them being on the run in somewhere and stumbling into unusual, different New Year ceremonies that you might have in a different country? How about Michael (any time period) getting his fortune read on New Year's Eve and it says something that can naturally be seen as referring to Lincoln? Or how about Lincoln's New Year's resolutions, either all the resolutions of one year or how his resolutions change over the years? (like first his resolution is to stay away from Michael, then to leave Michael, then to not leave Michael, etc...)

Sixth-Sense - Maybe A's sixth sense is that he can feel when B is in trouble? Or do the whole fortune teller thing here? Maybe Michael has trouble dating because women seem to have a sixth sense intuition that he'll be trouble. Or maybe somebody has a surprisingly keen insight (the mom maybe) and can sense that there is something going on or can predict that something will be going on?

Particularly if you aren't necessarily a fan of characters eating food off each others bodies.
I went on a whole mutual rant on that topic with particlesofgale, because both of us find that idea anti-sexy and there are 3 food/eating prompts left in that table!

Lots of great ideas here for "New Year"-- lots to choose from, even. \o/

Maybe Michael has trouble dating because women seem to have a sixth sense intuition that he'll be trouble.
This is where it gets harder as a slash prompt. It has possibility in a general sense, but for romance/sex (with this pairing) it's tough to work with.

I see you still have that wonderful "evil plot-bunnies" icon. I love the fangs on those bunnies. :D

Now that I think about, Michael's New Year's resolutions could be interesting as well. Either introspective and interesting look into his mind or even played for humor:

1992 - Stop oogling Lincoln
1993 - Get a girlfriend. Stop oogling Lincoln.
1998 - Try to stay away from Lincoln.
1999 - Cut Lincoln out of your life
2000 - Stop lending Lincoln money
2001 - Forget about Lincoln
2002 - Forget about Lincoln
2003 - Forget about Lincoln
2004 - Forget about Lincoln
2005 - Oh fuck it

;p

As for Sixth Sense, well, this is where it's borderline. I mean it would work in a Gen way, but in the slash universe we'd know what the real reason is. I do kinda like the thought somebody like maybe their mother saying something that ends up proving oddly prophetic. Michael could have a sixth sense to, like being able to predict when Lincoln will meet a new girl and when a new girl is going to be trouble. And the slash aspect could seep in through the jealousy. Michael having a sense for when Lincoln is getting in trouble or for when Lincoln will want him again and stop by, maybe there are ways it could work even without seeming cheesy.

Or maybe Lincoln thinks he has a sixth sense for when somebody wants him or for telling how far he can go with a girl he romances. And then there either comes the shock when he suddenly starts seeing it in his own brother (that Michael wants him/that there are no limits to how far he can go). Or the irony where Lincoln brags how he can always tell and there is Michael thinking that the person who wants him the most is right in front of them and Lincoln doesn't see/notice.

Oooh, now this is creative! And the last two as well. I think I can work with one of those, and thank you! Purple is an awful prompt, and ideally I like prompts to inspire stories not to be hard-to-beat challenges. :0

Now I have nightmare visions of Michael and Lincoln belting out "Purple rain, purple raaaaaaaaain!" during karaoke night :)

That site on the meaning of color is actually quite fun. Maybe something could be done with this:

Yellow:

* Stimulates mental processes

* Stimulates the nervous system

* Activates memory

Maybe Michael's psychiatrist puts him through a bunch of experimental tests where he shows him certain pictures and the pictures trigger memories?

Also "yellow's complimentary color in the garden is purple.". Bwahahhahahha. They are ganging up on you!

Hahaha to the "Michael's Resolutions" list! Cracktastic!

The 6th sense ideas have possibilities now. I'm going to save all these off (lots of comments here) and see what comes of them.

I like the idea of the alternate associations of "yellow" too. I could always put one of those in the author's notes.

* Stimulates the nervous system
To run away, like a big fat coward! \o/

Wait, that's the obvious use of "yellow" again. ;)

One last food thought. How about a hardcore hurt comfort fic? One of them gets really injured. Either their hands get burnt or paralysis or stuff like that and the other has to sit at their bedside and feed them? You know, with some of the hardcore hurt/comfort clichees, character feels worthless and humiliated that he can't do it himself, doesn't want to be a burden. Or from the POV of the other character that his heart is breaking to see a loved one like this? Or a character wasting away and refusing to eat out of guilt?

Anyway, shutting up now.

Now this is promising! I haven't written a lot of h/c for PB in general, so this could be worthwhile. :D

This has all been very helpful, truly. I remember the days when these stories practically wrote themselves, but it gets harder as you go. ;)

Wow, these really do suck :)
You see why they're evil? "Purple" has been on the hate list since Day One. "Brown" used to be on there too, but I took care of that one. ;)

The Parent one is hard because it really works better in a Gen setting (I already wrote its story for prisonbreak100.

Hmm, so many good "Lunch" ideas. I hate that prompt! And I'd thought of the Paradise Universe for the Dinner setting. Too many food prompts!

"Yellow" isn't our envy color here (Green is). Yellow is usually associated with cowardice, but it's such an obvious thing to write. There are SO many color prompts in that table. Bleh.

Or wait, how about the band Deep Purple?
Oooh, now this is creative! And the last two as well. I think I can work with one of those, and thank you! Purple is an awful prompt, and ideally I like prompts to inspire stories not to be hard-to-beat challenges. :0

For "Theory," I think it might be interesting for Lincoln to have a theory about Michael for once. Slash, hate!sex (teehee), established relationship, gen, pretty much anything could work with that.

And for dinner, though this seems obvious so I'm sure you've already dismissed it, I think it might be particularly interesting to have one of the boys trying to prepare a nice dinner for the other and obviously failing. (whichever seems to you the most incapable of doing so. I honestly can't figure out which. Probably Linc tho) Doesn't even have to have sex, if the established relationship part is in there I think it would count for the pairing.

Of course, I suggest these all selfishly because you KNOW how much I love your work =)
~EF

For "Theory," I think it might be interesting for Lincoln to have a theory about Michael for once.

Oh that's a very neat idea. And it could really work in a lot of ways, for a lot of characters. Characters specualting about a character's sexuatity or having a theory of why they are doing the things they are doing (I sure as hell would like a theory about why rather unexplored characters like Sofia or Sucre do the things they do; maybe Sucre could try to form a theory on HIMSELF and on why he is doing the things he is doing).

For "Theory," I think it might be interesting for Lincoln to have a theory about Michael for once.
That was a great suggestion, though I must admit that I wound up writing Pope for that one! (that was the Gen all-characters prompt table).

I think it might be particularly interesting to have one of the boys trying to prepare a nice dinner for the other and obviously failing.
I had thought about the dinner thing, it's true. There are SO many food prompts (even a few in the prisonbreak100 table I created), so I feel kind of like I've already done the idea to death! I have 2 kid-fics on that topic, and even a Gen one where it's Lincoln's turn to cook, and Michael protests that making things out of cans is not cooking. :D

Must re-address that table though-- Season Four is not helping, and I can only keep the characters alive in my head for so long. *cries*