polyaMorous

Dilemma: Let Him Live or Kill Him Off?

Fri, 09 May 2008 21:30:27 GMT

I'm dabbling in a crossover thingy involving Firefly, set after Serenity (the movie). My problem is this: I know I should leave canon alone and let Wash be dead. Does it cheapen the integrity of a crossover to make one of the crossed over fandoms AU? I don't know - in any case, the story will work with canon. But... I'm not sure I want it to :O I miss Wash! What do you think I should do? Keep it all canon and deal with the angst. Or let it go AU and bring our Wash back? Give me your vote.

View Poll: Dilemma: Kill Him Off or Let Him Live?

Userpic Meme

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:12:21 GMT

From winterlive's journal:

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick four/five of your userpics.
2. Make a post and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1. ...and I did it well.

I'm glad she picked a Wes icon off of my list because there'd be something wrong if a summation of my appreciation of fandom didn't include him in some way :p I absolutely love this icon for all sorts of visual reasons, but the message appeals to me most of all. Wes was a fine product of the Watcher's Academy. Pity they didn't see that and, in fact, fired his lovely ass - even tried to kill him. The keyword is a quote from Lineage, spoken by Wesley to his father: "I did everything you ever asked of me and I did it well." He did and he so did.

2. no squashing

Heh :p This is one of my favorite icons. I think it's the perfect friending icon because - whether you're the kitty or the bug - making new friends makes you feel a little open and vulnerable. You never know, when you start pawing at the idea of friendship, what you're going to get back. Plus, kittens rule. And my son has a thing for squashing ladybugs :( On every other page of his picture journal his illustration of himself is squashing a ladybug (sometimes two). I don't know what this says about him and/or my parenting ability. Counseling may be needed.

3. my (anti)hero

Oh, I love Lex so much more than Clark :p No offense to the big lunk, but Michael Rosenbaum was never going to be my second choice - he's just too awesome. Plus, he actually makes the bald thing hot and who would have guessed, huh? I haven't watched much of the show, but whenever I do, I get the same impression: Lex as the Heathcliffe to Clark's Catherine, gone bad with longing and jealousy and Clark as the George to Lex's Lenny. That's a grab bag of allusions there, but it works for me :p

4. talking smack

I loved Ruby's "blood in my ear" quote in Jus In Belo. She's so incredibly blase about the demonic/killing/gore thing. Makes me shake my head at Sam in Long Distance because - honestly - how can he be surprised that she turned out to be less than honest with him? Swallowing a bit of splattering entrails is like swallowing a bug to her - an unpleasant but entirely reasonable happenstance.

5. demon jesus

I love Sam. I believe in the goodness of Sam. I am wary of Sam's campaign to become "more like Dean" because Dean became who he is for the very purpose of allowing Sam to be Sam.

But that having been said... Sam is one increasingly scary son-of-a-bitch. I'm sorry - he is. Dean lets it show more often and both boys are capable of being ruthless (even cruel). But Dean- If Dean hadn't been able to bring Sam back at the end of All Hell Breaks Loose, that would have been the end of Dean. I believe that completely. Dean would have been a frightening force to be reckoned with... for the incredibly brief period of time it took him to attract Azazel's attention and kill the demon and/or die trying. But it would have ended with that. Dean can't live without Sam. We know from Mystery Spot that Sam can live without Dean. But only as the creepiest possible shadow of himself. It's a testament to how creepy I found Sam to be in that episode that even the otherwise unbearably hot shots of him half-naked in that episode did nothing but ring my little Warning-Danger-Back-Away bells.

Well. Maybe not nothing. Creepy/ambiguously-evil!Sam is still kinda hot. But full-blown DemonJesus!Sam? (Especially if he took over the evil-minion leading as part of a bargain to save Dean's soul?) Nice. Hence my use of the icon.

One More For the Day That Would Not Die

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:19:19 GMT

Interviews. I don't care if I'm giving them or receiving, I always feel like a total ass right after.

But luckily there are memes :p Which are fun and think-y without straining the brain.

Snagged from spastic_visions:

Name a character in one of my fandoms and I'll tell you three (or more) things about them from my personal canon.

Fandoms:

Star Trek: Voyager
Dark Angel
NCIS
Supernatural
Angel
Firefly
Torchwood
SeaQuest
The Faculty

Crossover Meme

Tue, 06 May 2008 20:29:50 GMT

Stolen from rionaleonhart:

So, zombies attack Mr Darcy's estate? Torchwood get stuck inside the Crystal Maze? Holmes and Watson investigate the mysterious singing epidemic at East High? Write me a few sentences of a properly nonsensical crossover in the comments.

'Cause I love stuff like this :) And because the only thing that is as fun as Winnie the Pooh/Silent Hill is creepy is Silent Hill/Jeeves & Wooster :p

(Link to what I wrote at her journal.)

objects are less random than they may appear

Mon, 05 May 2008 02:25:15 GMT

This is sort of a crazy, catch-up post as I haven't posted in some days and a lot has happened in the meantime.

First, the fannish things, because they are more easily discussed:

WARNING: Spoilers behind every cut, including those for the movie Deception, Supernatural episodes 3x13 and 3x14, NCIS Season 5, and all of Torchwood.

1) My dearest Ewan.

Ewan McGregor. One of my truest loves. I maintain that I would listen to the man reading a grocery list - even pay to do so if the opportunity arose - and I have watched him portray everything from a trombone-playing plant worker to an indecently exposed rock star with a cocaine habit and too much eyeliner.

All that being said, I saw his latest film this weeked - Deception - and I enjoyed it as much as I'd expect, seeing as he's in it :) At least, I enjoyed it for the EtE factor (Exposure to Ewan). But as for the storyline... While it had its moment, its twists and turns... I was somewhat disappointed by the ending. There were plotholes preceding. And so much potential for a truly stunning reveal (what was the tennis trophy meant to do, if not set us up for the revealation that there was more to Jonathan than met the eye?) My date thoroughly enjoyed the ending, so perhaps I am being difficult to please. But I would have loved it if Jonathan had smiled cunningly at the end and told Jaimie/Wyatt he'd had his own plan running all along. Also, I like Michelle Williams in this, but I didn't buy the strength of her connection to Jonathon. And Ewan has recently filmed another film with her, which unsettles me for unknown reasons.

2) And how about those Winchester boys?

Speaking of unsettling, I've heard many criticisms of Dean's about-face on the I'm-A-Big-Boy-Who-Has-Moved-On-From-Hero-Worshipping-His-Daddy issue in Long Distance. I agree that it was not fun watching him totally miss the point of Sam's caution - which is that the last guy who'd gotten a ring had ended up as so much blood splatter. But I didn't think Dean's reaction was as over-the-top as some have made it out to be. He was bound to want it to really be John on the other end of the line. So I don't object to his going with that thought. I just wish he wouldn't have leapt on it like a mother bear to the defense of her dead baby cub. Also, Sam was awesome in this episode and as much as I'm a Dean-girl, I didn't like to see anyone - even Dean - giving him shit :p

But on a happier note, I really enjoyed GhostFacers :D It was so much fun, and we need that every now and then. I loved the format and everything. And as cliche as it would be, if they went the Lone Rangers direction with the Ghost Facers and did a spin-off... I would so watch it avidly :D

3) Meanwhile, my NCIS squee...

Meanwhile, I have this to say about NCIS: It is both cruel and kind. I didn't feel that Tony's decision on Jeanne was necessary. Maybe convenient, but not necessary. 'Tell her what she needs to hear,' Ziva said in the last (forever?) Jeanne episode. And is it just me, or wouldn't a woman rather hear that her man loved her but can't be with her than that he'd just been using her all along? I'd pick the loving and not being together any day.

Still, there is Tony totally blowing the chances of McGee being sent to Baghdad out of the water. My head is writing Tony's entirely slashy reasons for doing so as we speak.

4) And then there's Torchwood.

I love it. I love it and I sorta hate myself for letting myself love it because I broke down and read Season 2 spoilers and now I know that my love is star-crossed and futile :( I suppose I could have let myself love it and jumped on the Ianto!Fangirl bandwagon and lived a happy life in Torchwood fandom but no. That was never going to happen. I was always going to pick the favorite who dies just as he gets to being my favorite. Now I'm going to watch the rest of Seasons 1 and 2 just waiting to watch Owen die and vent about it to a lot of Torchwood fans who will be, like, over it already.

I also can't decide if I love the Owen/Gwen... Would love the Owen/Gwen if it hadn't been introduced so early... Would love Owen/Tosh if she'd had a bit more backbone from the start. Or if I would have been dreaming up various slashy crossovers regardless. If I don't write some Owen/Dean soon I'm going to sprain something.

Last, Real Life.

So the biggest event of the past... whenever... has been my grandmother's death. I haven't posted about this before because - you may have realized - I don't do well with the talking about personal stuff. I may vent in detail in one post and not announce another important thing that happens to me in a year :* And my grandmother was very close to me so I haven't quite grasped the reality of the situation. I've decided that losing a major life figure like that - a grandparent, a parent, a spouse - is like losing a limb. Those phantom limb pains you hear about sound suspiciously like knowing that if I were to pick up the phone right now and call my grandmother's number there isn't a thing I could say that she would hear.

Well, the religious will argue that she would (and I will agree)but you see what I'm saying. Throughout the funeral I felt that inability to speak to her like this large, dark wall that had suddenly been erected just outside the field of my vision. And even now I don't like discussing it, but I thought I would - even if only briefly.

Perhaps I'll just stay true to form and icon a whole lot :/ At some point I may even mention "The Dream", which is relevant and probably ridiculous but felt significant to me. So. Yes.

That's it.

invites the COMMENT TO ENTRY of doom

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:09:19 GMT

So. I've just heard Kripke's spoilers for the character casting in Season 4. And unlike some others, I am not altogether pleased.

While I love that Kripke and co. have a finger on the pulse of fandom, so to speak, I fear the power fan reaction seems to have gotten when it comes to axing or embracing a character. It's a dangerous power to have and can lead to messy ends. Because fandom is a beautiful, beautiful thing and fanfiction is the nectar of the gods - but let's face it... If we fans were an utterly objective, rational and level-headed lot there would probably be no mpreg. No crack fic. None of the wonderful creations that come from flights of fancy and pure emotional reaction to canon which most often inspire fan fiction and fan art. We fanfiction writers and icon makers don't sit down and ask ourselves what we can create for the good of the show or (often) the most accurate development of the characters. We write what we want to see play out in front of our own eyes. We create what we imagine in our own heads. And in fandom that's fine - there are countless authors and icon makers and communities out there where we can explore our own ideas and share them. But there's only one show. And to keep fandom going strong, while continuing to expand its fan base, that show has to inspire everyone. It has to make some objective, level-headed decisions. And I've said this before - the policy of killing off all your secondary characters until it's kind of a joke, wondering who's gonna bite it this week, is not a wise decision. Read the transcript of Jared Padalecki's CTV interview. He more or less says that filming is hard because there aren't any secondary characters who interest the viewers enough to carry their own episode. Sam or Dean has to be with them. That kind of interest only comes with full development and some screen-time.

Our secondary characters do not get enough screen-time. They aren't allowed to develop. This bothered me about Ash. It really bothered me about Andy - even Sarge (Croatoan). It bothered me about Ronald (Nightshifter) and Gordon and I was so angry about Hendrickson that I almost welcomed the hiatus that came after Jus In Belo because of the writer's strike. It's going to bother me about Bela. Whether I liked her as a "person" or not - I thought her character was an interesting concept. I don't agree with fans who dislike her only because they fear she could become a love interest for Sam or Dean. Or because she's caused Sam & Dean trouble. She's an antagonist - her entire reason for being is to cause them trouble. If there was no one on the show to cause Sam & Dean trouble, every episode would just be them driving around and pranking each other. Now, I'm not saying that I wouldn't still watch if that were to happen :p But tv producers and new viewers aren't so easy to please.

And - yeah - Kripke says Bela just isn't "working out" like they'd hoped. But I believe fan reaction has more to do with this decision than that. The fans didn't like her so the writer's stopped putting as much effort into her scenes and now her development has just sort of fallen flat. That has nothing to do with her being a "bad character" or Lauren not portraying her well or the character not contributing enough to the overall effect of the show. That has to do with trying to develop her character fully through one scene here, one ep there - no little subplots or backstory in the meantime.

I know this is not a popular opinion. Respond to it anyway :p Give me your (well reasoned and intelligent) thoughts. Give me your opposition or your support - even if only in a tastefully concise >:( or :D I'd like to see how the numbers add up on either side of the fan reaction to this decision.

Recs

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:21:43 GMT

God, as if I have any time for reading (*the Muse screams: WRITE!WRITE!WRITE!*) But these fics demanded it of me and I thought I'd share the joy/pain:

Under a Haystack

There's something primitively satisfying about seeing your favorite boys from fandom play daddy - this we know. So it should be no surprise that watching Sam protect an age-regressed Dean is just too awesome for words. And yet, I usually shy away from age-regression fics. I don't know if I've ever seen it done right before now - usually, when an authore de-ages a character... they lose the character. At least that's been my experience, but janissa11 totally captures Dean as I can imagine him being at 7. This is a wonderful, fun and touching read. I'd rec it to anyone.

Not Her Type

What a fun little ficlet :p Dean/Abby done just right. I'd love it if there was more of this!

Just Another Kid

And it makes perfect sense to me to follow up a crossover rec with this fic right here. Because crossovers are all about seeing things from different perspectives to me, and this fic - written from an outsider's POV - gives me the Winchesters from that perspective. Love it.

Horses, Freedom and Cheap Perfume

And while we're on the subject of different... An NCIS crossover with Chris Kane :p Gibbs hauls him as a murder suspect. Good things he's a close friend of Tony's. How can I even express my love of this idea without inappropriate gestures?

ETA: And I can't forget this...

A Fashionable Profit

Dean as a Calvin Klein model :D This would be fun on its own, but the interaction between John and Dean - and between John, Dean and Sam - and between the family and the outside world... That's what left me with a huge ass grin when I finished reading this fic.

"Look out the window to your right if you want to be scarred for life," Sam said.

"Please don't," Dean said, but of course, John did.

"Christ," John said. "What the hell are they doing putting that across from an elementary school?" Then he leaned down a little further, and saw the rest of the poster. "What the--Dean, that's you."

"Tell him what he wins," Sam said.

John glared at his younger son in the rearview mirror, but put the car in drive. "I'm not happy about this. I think me and Calvin Klein are gonna have to have a talk."

"You can't kill Calvin Klein," Dean said.

"I said talk," John said.

"When you say talk you mean kill," Dean said.

:D

Meme

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:19:02 GMT

Having been tagged by theferretgirl:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to

1.Bohemian Like You by Dandy Warhols

2.Stolen by Dashboard Confessional

3.Coming Undone by Korn

4.Hands Clean by Alanis Morisette

5.Letter to Me by Brad Paisley

6.Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace

7.The Scientist by Coldplay

These are very varied choices, I know! Also, I'm a little embarassed that my music tastes aren't particularly deep or trendy :p I just wrote down the last seven songs I listened to because I think they reflect the split personality-ness of my preferences :P I've got by Deathcab for Cutie and Coldplay cds right next to Johnette Napolitano and Jesus & the Mary Chain in my case - and right after that comes Linkin Park and Korn (with that one Marilyn Manson mix I don't tell anybody I have ;)

So, Yeah. There is me in music. And here are my seven tags to do this meme:

1001cranes dawnie1970 emeraldteal bitchygrrl shealynn88 spannertastic just_jimbo

Mostly because I'm a bad friend and haven't talked to some of you guys in way too long!

Recs

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:35:17 GMT

How much do I love crimsonquills' NCIS stuff? :p Oh so much. But her AUs are particularly fun. Here are my favs:

[ Crash Space ] [ Change of Pace ] [ Put Out to Pasture ] [ The Thrill of the Chase ] [ Yin and Yang ] [ Elements of Truth ] [ Skin Deep ]

And if that gets you into an NCIS-reading mood (like it did me) you ought to check out this list of recs.

In other news, I know I found a really cool Torchwood icon and saved it for if I saw the show and liked it. Now I don't know what I did with it and that is not good. Because Owen is the pretty, Jack and Gwen are fun (if a bit demented) and I want an icon to use when I discuss these things :p Also, I need to ask if I would be weird and uncultured in saying that British tv characters laugh an awful lot. Like, a creepy lot compared to the US programs I'm used to :p First episode of Dr. Who? Lots of laughing. The Doc and Rose laugh running from manequins. They laugh about ditching Rose's home time just a little while after she realizes her boyfriend didn't die a plastic-y death. Gwen is laughing with Jack just shortly after finding the Torchwood base. We Americans generally like to be all surly and suspicious when we meet one another - or at the very least, we like to be smart-asses and if we laugh there's a 50% chance we are a) lying, b) about to shoot you or c) all of the above.

Actually... maybe that just holds true for the American programs that I watch.

Also, British actresses get to look normal and still star in shows :) Gwen is so girl-next-door. She even has a little gap in her teeth :D British television rocks, I suppose is the conclusion I'm working up to. And I haven't even seen the Jeeves & Wooster dvds I've got in my Netflix queu.

Alex/Olivia

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:14:57 GMT

This is not a good time to discover reasons to ship this particular femslash pairing - my fandom plate is more than full, it's practically glutinous.

But A/O is so pretty :) And it's the perfect answer to slashing up an otherwise subtext-less show, which is just awesome without it - don't get me wrong... But what show couldn't get more shiny with a little subtext? ;p

Also, I can't ship Benson/Stabler. It would be cute if not for Kathy, but I love the down-to-Earth-ness about Elliot and Kathy and ached while they went through their rift. I can't really see Elliot and Olivia together as a result of that.

Hot vs. Hot

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:37:32 GMT

There is a poll here pitting Jensen Ackles against David Boreanaz :P

I say we call in Alexis Denisof to do the judging. Who's with me?

*looks for hands*

One Quick Rec

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:39:56 GMT

I've got to give you this one gen rec today:

i thought the world was fragile by annabeth_fics

Dean dies on a Tuesday. And Sam's not so good with promises. And demons learn the downside to giving a Winchester one of those neat little mental switches Ava thought were so great.

Wow.

The Flavor of Love - Wes/Gunn, NC17, Slash Drabble

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:48:06 GMT

Here is one of two Wes/Gunn drabbles I promised 1000cranes.

Sorry for the wait, dear :)

Title: The Flavor of Love
(I don't know if I've just lost my ability to title things appropriately, or if I've been watching too much VH1 :p)
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: around 500
Author's Note: Set sometime during mid-season 2.

If Gunn had ever tried picturing what Wes was like in bed… (okay – yeah – that should be when he’d tried picturing it…)

He’d probably thought that Wes’s game would be as vanilla as Wes was British. Not in a bad way – ‘cause if Gunn didn’t dig vanilla, he’d hardly be bumping booties with a guy like Wesley, much less falling for him. But Gunn kinda liked the idea of Wes being all ‘blushing virgin’ with him. Even if Wesley said that he’d “gotten a fair bit of action in my day”, which Gunn took to mean a couple of British dudes from back when Wes was in training and the occasional nice chick.

Gunn didn’t know whether to be disappointed… or really, really pleasantly surprised when he found out he’d been wrong.

He settled on pleasantly surprised and stretched again, smiling at the burn and pull of muscles he hadn’t even known could ache after sex.

“Damn, English. You oughtta warn a dude before you do shit like that. What if I had, like, some sort of freak heart condition and you killed me?”

Gunn heard a chuckle from beneath the bed covers and decided he liked the sound of Wesley’s laughter muffled by the press of Wes’s lips to his skin. Wes nipped at the flesh just below his ribcage and Gunn jerked, ticklish, laughing too.

Wesley pulled back the covers and grinned at him. Without his glasses, straight from sleep, Wes’s eyes were bluer than usual and his chin was sharper, rough with early morning stubble.

Gunn swallowed and told himself that he was too tired to get it up again so quickly. Even if the rest of his body wouldn’t listen.

“Then Cordelia would be quite cross,” Wesley said calmly. “But I don’t believe we’ve anything to worry about…” Wesley’s hands starting wandering – and this time when Gunn jerked, it wasn’t ‘cause he was ticklish.

Wesley’s grin widened. “You seem perfectly healthy to me.” Gunn groaned, slipping a hand around the back of Wesley’s neck and rolling them so that he was on top. “Yeah, for now,” he said, but he was still smiling. He pressed a careful kiss to Wesley’s lips and felt surprised all over again. He hadn’t thought he could be… like this with a guy and not feel lame.

He guessed that made him the inexperienced one. And Gunn laughed out loud thinking that.

Wesley raised a brow.

“Something funny?” he asked, in a prim voice that totally lost its primness with he rubbed a circle in the small of Gunn’s back with the heel of his foot.

“Yeah. Payback,” Gunn told him, playfully shifting his hips.

“I like the sound of that,” Wes oohed at him and Gunn buried his face in the curve of Wes’s shoulder, licking a drop of sweat from Wes’s skin.

[end.]

Arts (or something)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:10:48 GMT

[01] Boondock Saints Icons
[05] Scoobie Doo Icons
[59] Supernatural Icons 0_0 (includes several of Sebastian Spence)

Preview:

[01] Supernatural Wallpaper

Preview:

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(Click this image to go to the actual size.)

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Created with angelamaria's Icon Table Generator @ Bauble

Note: Many of these icons use the fabulous caps made by justfreefallin.
Note the 2nd: Wallpaper created with a tutorial by the the wonderful mata090680.

Listening In

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:43:32 GMT

I just got an iMusic gift card... What songs should I look for? Give me your recommendations, peoples :) I haven't listened to any new music in... a while. Not outside of Disney tunes and nursery songs ;p

Also - on an unrelated note (I am such a geek for italicizing that)...

What are all the symbols you can insert into a livejournal post like the ♥ ?

Anybody know?

Movies VS Books

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:29:21 GMT

Strachey fans, help me out:

How unlike the novels are the Strachey movies? Initially, I'd heard good things about the books - but now I'm hearing disparaging comments as well. Before I go about buying all (what, seven?) of them... Has anyone else here read them? What did you think of the characterizations? I love our onscreen Don and Timmy so much :p I don't want my reading experience to color my appreciation of them in a negative way.

o_0

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:36:15 GMT

O. M. G. Ha!

I am a total geek for even getting excited about this... and it doesn't matter at all to anyone who isn't into both fandoms...

But I was looking through Sebastian Spence's IMDB profile (for nefarious, naughty-RPS-writing purposes) and realized why he looked so familiar to me! He was on Supernatural! Minus the suit and glasses, in jeans and a leather jacket...

Azazel's son is Donald Strachey's husband :D That is just hilarious to me.

ETA: Apparently, he was also in an episode of Dawson's Creek that Jensen Ackles guest-starred in... And he was on Dark Angel! Charlie! I can't believe I didn't catch that.

timmy/don on the brain

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:28:45 GMT

I have five drabbles, a DA ficathon fic, and a crossover missing a paragraph here - some tweaking there.

And after every line I write, I'm clicking on my ImageReady icon and playing with another icon for my tim_don_a_thon entry. Or writing another line in the Strachey!fic I've got going.

That's when I'm not giving up completely and popping Third Man Out back into the dvd. (Oh where, oh where, is my Shock to the System, nice postal man? WHERE?!)

I've joked about fandoms eating my brain, but - dear God - I had no idea what I was talking about! I love those pretty, married boys - oh, I do, I do!

And I love the pretty boys who play them. Why is it that hearing Sebastian Spence is straight makes me want to write Chad/Sebastian RPS so bad? And would I be completely twisted if I did? :p

30 Days After the Dawn - PG13, Crossover with 30 Days of Night

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:34:57 GMT

So I saw 30 Days of Night. Josh Hartnett was hot, the movie was nicely disturbing and the gore was not without its purpose. All in all, I was quite pleased :) Enough to want to write a little something for it, but I've got so much else on my plate - I told myself I would restrain myself to the 20-minute-fic format so I don't eat into any valuable WIP time :p

And here is the result - judge gently but honestly! And hopefully enjoy ;)

Title: 30 Days After the Dawn (Two Alternate Endings to 30 Days of Night: A Set of Crossovers With Supernatural)
Author: nevcolleil
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.

1.

They find her about thirty miles north of the slaughter. That’s as far as the bastards made it after dawn swept the remains of the town. She is sitting in the snow outside the lean-to the vamps erected trying to escape the sun.

She’s covered in blood and grinning – skin torn on one cheek; blonde hair streaked red and black with flesh and ash.

Someday they will take stock of all the hunters they have known, and Dean will say that she would have made a good one. A damned good one filled with all that rage – if only she’d had just a little experience. She took the whole damned nest by herself, but she did it careless and let the sickness take her too.

Right now Dean says it’s a damned shame. Says he wished they could have gotten here sooner – told her sooner. They promise to leave but they don’t. They just hole up near enough to keep watch and know when the change starts to take hold.

She marches herself out to the nearest, highest hilltop at sunrise – with her head held high and her shoulders straight. She just sits there and waits to burn. Doesn’t even scream when it happens, and she’s already dust by the time they head out.

“If we got to her one day sooner…” Dean will say someday. But Sam won’t believe that they could have made a difference. He saw it in the way she’d said, “It’s not for you to do” when they’d offered to wait with her. He saw it in the way she’d fiddled with a ring hanging from the chain around her neck.

He saw it in the way she’d cut those vamps when she could have destroyed the lean-to and let the daylight do them in.

Stella had known what she was doing. And she hadn’t been sorry that they’d arrived late. She’d had the ghosts in her head to keep her company through the killing and beyond – through the last days of her life and her death.

2.

He doesn’t look like any vampire they’ve ever seen. The change hasn’t altered the bone structure in his face or his posture, and he’s been around a while as far as they can tell.

He has the same black eyes, though; the same wicked-sharp teeth. He doesn’t flaunt them – which is different – but they’re there. Whenever he forgets himself and his smile is more than just the tilt of one corner of his lips.

He doesn’t act like any vampire they’ve ever met, either. Some are downright feral. They speak the ancient language (when they speak) and they react to fast movements like a shark to blood in the water. Others will do almost anything to blend in with humans, but Evan does none of this. He can sit and hold a conversation with them and almost seem to forget that there are beating hearts nearby. He laughs, and he’s even cool to talk to – intelligent and funny.

On the other hand, he doesn’t try to hide the times he’s remembered that he’s hungry. He goes automatically quiet and cocks his head to one side, listening to blood rushing through the veins all around him – pure vamp. He stares without blinking, unnaturally still. It freaks the other humans out and it’s another reason for Dean to begin on his ‘We ought to just frickin’ waste him’ campaign.

But it’s not like they have that choice. One hungry vamp in an enclosed space with a bunch of humans is never a fun mix, but it’s better than no vamp on their side. And all those hungry vamps out there, waiting to bust in and eat them.

To be honest, Evan is probably their only hope of making it out of this without any more casualties. Perhaps of making it out of this at all. Dean and Sam have killed vamps – whole nests of them. But never a nest this big, with the disadvantage of an arctic snowstorm and two dozen frightened civilians under their protection.

Sam just keeps talking Dean down. Keeps an eye on Evan. Hopes he won’t regret taking the vamp at his word that he doesn’t kill innocent people (they’ve heard this story before, but it’s only been true a few times).

When it’s all over he’s glad they took the risk. The vamps are done for – bloody, decapitated corpses or heaps of bone and ash. Most of the kills are Evan’s, to be honest, and the other humans are still alive, though they are a little worse for the wear.

Sam thinks he might have to say something when Evan tells them he’s going to be on his way and Dean’s hand tightens on the machete in his grip.

But the tenseness of the moment lasts only a second. Dean swallows, deciding, and Evan doesn’t blink.

“Yeah. You be good, huh?” Dean asks casually, but he is anything but.

Evan smirks as if amused by the implications. “You too,” he says simply.

He nods at Sam and Sam nods back, holding his tongue as the vampire walks out into the blizzard and disappears through the snow.

3.

“Nobody touches him,” he says. He doesn’t care how it sounds. There might be a monster’s blood in that needle – slowly seeping into his brother’s veins. But that’s his brother letting it – that’s his brother taking this thing onto his shoulders, the way he’s always done. Playing the hero like he always has, only it’s never been a game. That’s more than obvious now that there’s no way for him to win it at the end.

“He’s one of them now,” Denise says.

“Shut up,” he hisses at her, crawling closer to his brother’s huddled form than he knows he should. Lucy grabs at him but he pushes her hand away.

“I can smell your blood.” Everyone goes still.

Then Lucy and Denise slowly start to back away. One part of his mind knows that he should follow – hears the tonelessness of his brother’s voice and understands what it means.

The other insists that there was a quiver at the end, some sign of lingering humanity.

He sees it in the black eyes that open on him – real or imagined. “Time to go, little brother,” says the lips that have read him bedtime stories, taught him the alphabet; told him the facts of life and given him pointers during driving lessons…

And more than he ever has before, he wishes he were a normal fifteen-year-old boy - like every other fifteen-year-old boy in the world. One who didn’t have to deal with shit like this in his abnormal life.

He barely feels Denise and Lucy at his elbows, uttering soothing words into his ear and patting his back through the battle. He watches what must be the lead vampire toss his brother around like a toy. For a moment, he doesn’t care about the vampires – doesn’t care about Stella and the little girl under the pickup. He wants to run out there and grab his family by the hand and run with it, and that’s when Lucy’s hands hold him the tightest.

Then his brother starts to fight back. And the battle is over so quickly he can’t believe it. He just watches his brother’s fist rip through that ~~man~~ - that vamp’s head like paper, over and over again in his mind.

“They’re leaving!” Denise cries out suddenly, grabbing onto him, voice rising in joy. Stella is crawling out from beneath the truck.

He sprints for the stairs before anyone can stop him – doesn’t slow down when he hears the yells. He stumbles through the carnage and the snow until he is tumbling at his brother’s feet and blood-stained hands are helping him up, gripping him tight. The face that buries itself in his shoulder – in the curve of his neck - is blood-stained too, but he can’t pull back from the embrace. He leans into it, needing to remind himself that his brother is alive. In whatever way, Dean’s alive. He beat them and it worked and they’re gone and nothing else can ever take him away…

Except for the sun, starting to rise on the horizon. Sam fists his hands in the back of his big brother’s jacket and catches a sob in his throat.

“Sammy…” his brother breathes. And if he hadn’t already made his decision, Sam would have made it right there. With the sound of apology and terror ringing in the single utterance of his name.

“We’ve got to go,” Sam says, making himself look up into Dean’s dark eyes. “We- We’ve got to get you in out of the sun. Dean, we’ve got to go!”

“Sam…”

“You’ve got to go, Dean,” Sam begs, desperate. “You can’t leave me alone!”

Even if it’s in Dean’s nature as a hunter to wait for the sunlight to burn. Even if Sam may be damned if he doesn’t. They don’t know if or when Dean will become like all the others. They don’t know a goddamned thing.

“Dean, please,” Sam cries, trying to drag Dean towards shelter.

Dean hesitates and swallows. Sam can see the questions in his expression.

He follows Sam to safety.

Thirty days later they have answers.

[ end. ]

Happy St. Pat's, Guys!

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:16:50 GMT

I wish you all the luck of the Irish today (they've got enough to spread around). I could use a little myself... Was planning to make that Boondock Saints showing in San Antonio with my sister, but now we'll have to see. Car trouble may spell doom for our St. Patty's plans :p Darn you, my crappy busted timing belt! Darn you to heck!

Boys Like Girls: J2, PG13

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:11:09 GMT

For bonbonschnecke, for the Movie Meme. Damn. I always take too long with these. It doesn't help that instead of drabbles, like I promised, all of the ideas I've come up with for responses have gone long :p Hopefully they're worth the wait.

Title: Boys Like Girls
Author: nevcolleil
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Summary: Jared's used to playing the hero. He thinks Jensen may be his heroine.

It doesn’t start the way Jared’s relationships usually do. When Jared meets someone he wants to get to know better, he’s usually very careful not to do or say any of the wrong things. He’s gotta have the perfect one-liner for breaking the ice with her. He’s got to have the perfect first date lined up before he even asks the girl out. He’s gotta have the perfect outfit in mind to wear on the perfect date.

Yeah, he’s usually sort of anal and uptight like that, but with Jensen he never has the chance to be. He’s not expecting to want to get to know Jensen better when they meet. Jared’s always been about the girls and with a heavy-duty shooting schedule ahead of them, tucked away together in Vancouver, Jared figures he and Jensen will get sick of knowing one another – at all - before too long.

They don’t. They don’t say more than a few, nonessential words to one another within the first fifteen minutes of meeting, but by the end of the hour they’re laughing together like old friends. By the end of the week they’ve been in one another’s trailers at all hours of the day and evening; one another’s houses at least twice. By the end of the month they might as well live there. Jared keeps waiting for the shiny to wear off of the friendship. For Jensen to become a buddy like any of Jared’s other guy buddies – who, yeah, Jared still loves sincerely. But who he’s never gotten nervous over sharing a hotel room with, on a trip back to LA and the beach. Jared’s never lost a night’s sleep over what to buy a “buddy” for Christmas or his birthday. He’s certainly never stayed up til three o’clock in the morning, just talking over the phone with a guy friend – even catching himself giggling now and then, without even having gotten drunk.

They’re catching dinner at their favorite pizza joint one night and Jensen’s in the restroom when their server finally shows. It’s not that he knows what kind of pizza Jensen likes – Hawaiian with extra olives and Canadian bacon – that makes Jared realize how date-like his evenings out with Jensen have become. It’s not that Jensen comes back with a container of sunflower seeds because Jared loves them and Jensen knew that Jared would forget to ask for them when he ordered.

It’s the way Jensen grins at him around his slice of pizza when it arrives. It’s the way Jared’s stomach sort of dips when he sees Jensen’s tongue dart out to lick the pizza sauce from the corner of his lips.

And, okay, maybe it’s the hard-on that Jared sports perpetually in Jensen’s presence, as well. Although Jared figures he could explain even that in some non-threatening-to-his-heterosexuality way – too much time since he’s last been with a woman, transference, something. But he doubts any entirely straight man could claim that they’ve watched their best friend bite into a piece of pizza, little bits of olive and sauce spilling out the sides of his mouth, and wanted a camera. Not to collect blackmail material but because the sight is so damned cute Jared would like to take the snapshot home and show it to his mama.

It’s a sort of realization for Jared.

And it totally screws things up.

“Holy shit,” Jared mumbles to himself, right there in the middle of the pizzeria. And Jensen drops Jared off at home, looking pissed, because Jared won’t say what made him curse and then clam up.

Things are awkward on the set the following week. Jared slips in and out of long silences. When he and Jensen do talk, Jared ends up wishing he had kept his mouth shut. Jared’s voice sounds too loud in his own ears – like every word is a confession that ought to be whispered in secret. He knows he’s become more expressive (to distract from the goofy shit he says) than usual, which should have been impossible. And everything sounds like innuendo to Jared now, so half the time he ends their conversations with some lame excuse to run away, hoping Jensen didn’t see him blushing first.

One day Jensen has apparently had enough. Jared foregoes teasing Jensen about a blown shot like he usually would – wondering if he’s supposed to do that now. Is he supposed to annoy the shit out of Jensen if he wants to take this thing he now feels between them to the next level? Because he does, he really does – it would all be so much easier if he didn’t.

Only Jensen might not feel the same. Oddly enough, the thought hasn’t occurred to Jared until he is trailing after Jensen on their way back to the trailers. Jensen’s shoulders are hunched tight in anger, and his face was a careful blank when he’d hurried past Jared off the soundstage.

It’s like a physical slap in the face, thinking that he may have ruined things with Jen before they’ve even gotten started. It causes Jared to stumble for a few steps, but then he’s hurrying too. Catching Jensen at the steps to his trailer and grabbing his elbow.

“Jen! Jen, wait…”

A few, fat drops of wetness land on Jared’s cheek, and he is so distraught, for a moment he thinks he’s actually started crying and didn’t realize it. However, he looks up as Jensen turns towards him and another drop gets him right in the eye. It’s raining.

“Son of a bitch,” Jensen mutters, immediately reaching for his jeans pocket and his car keys. Jared remembers that they left the windows completely rolled down that morning and reacts without thinking about it.

“I’ll get it!” he says and starts running in the direction of the parking lot.

“Jare-” he hears Jensen saying, but doesn’t slow down, knowing that – in part – this is that running-away thing he does yet again.

By the time he reaches the lot it’s beginning to rain in earnest and soon his hair has become plastered to his head.

Jared is standing beside Jensen’s car, feeling like an absolute ass of an idiot, remembering that – without a set of keys – running out to roll up the windows was completely useless… Then Jensen walks up behind him. Jensen is perfectly dry beneath his umbrella. The tense set of Jensen’s jaw has softened and there’s a glint of humor in his eyes. His lips are even twitching, losing the battle not to curl up into a wide smile completely when Jared shakes the wet hair out of his face and sighs.

“I? Am a dumbass,” Jared says, reaching an all time low in pathetic-ness from his own point of view. And after this week, Jared thinks that says something.

“Yes,” Jensen agrees happily, stepping past him and climbing into the car. He holds the umbrella out while he sticks the key in the ignition and hits the switch to roll up the windows. “You are,” he continues when he steps back out. And – inexplicably – he kisses Jared.

He kisses Jared. And it’s… To be honest, it’s absolutely ridiculous. Jared is soggy and dejected. His arms hang limply at his side and he doesn’t so much lean over into the kiss as allow Jensen to drag the upper part of his body down near enough for it.

Meanwhile, Jensen is trying to hold onto the umbrella and grab Jared’s face with both hands at the same time. So the umbrella handle is pressed into Jared’s cheek – when Jensen’s grip starts to slip, the edge of the umbrella ends up poking into Jared’s shoulder. They apparently should have done this a lot sooner, because there’s so much pent up ‘More, please’ in both of them that their teeth clash and Jared’s lips ache after only a moment.

It’s undoubtedly the hottest kiss of Jared’s life – bruised lips, soggy shirts and all.

When Jensen pulls back his grin has broken free in full force and Jared’s arms come to life, wrapping around him.

He means to say, ‘What was that?’ but somehow “What took you so long?” crosses his lips.

Jensen’s eyes sparkle. “I wanted to be sure you wanted it first. I mean, I wanted you to be sure that you wanted it.” His grin dims just a little. “I didn’t want you to freak out and run. And… you’ve been freaking out lately.”

It’s thundering in the background, and someone’s gonna see them standing out here waiting to catch the flu like a couple of fools. But Jared smiles more sincerely than he can remember doing since… Since he’d realized Jensen was the one person in the world who makes him smile the most.

“Yeah. But I’m not running now.” He squeezes Jensen, fingers fisting in Jensen’s shirt like anchor’s finding purchase underwater. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he admits.

“You were thinking too much,” Jensen tells him. “You wanna make this something you’ve done before but it isn’t.” Jensen smirks. “Look at me, dude. There’s no way I’m gonna be the girl in a relationship.”

Jared frowns. He wasn’t trying to- Well. Then again, maybe he was. “Well. I’m not the girl,” he says without meaning to.

Jensen rolls his eyes. “No shit,” he says. “No girl sorta goes with the I’m gay scenario.”

And Jared’s put two and two together. It’s not that he hasn’t figured out how wanting to jump Jensen like crazy effects his claim on heterosexuality. It’s not that he isn’t cool with it. It’s just the first time the words have been spoken in relation to Jared outside of Jared’s own head.

He thought they might be hard to hear, but all Jared cares about is that Jensen is saying the same thing about himself. About them.

Jensen is watching him carefully. “That alright with you?” he asks like he’s waiting for Jared to make another get away.

Jared leans their foreheads together and nearly gets an umbrella spoke in his eye. His wet clothes are starting to get a little chilly and water squishes in his shoes beneath his feet when he shifts his stance.

“It’s perfect,” he says and means it.

[ end. ]

It's All About the Smackers

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:52:07 GMT

I accidentally left these out of the last icon post.

[09] Stock Icons

Preview:

001	002	003


004	005	006


007	008	009

Created with angelamaria's Icon Table Generator @ Bauble

Note: I'm really proud of # 4-6 because that pic started off black & white. It's the first time I've colorized a black and white image. And it was a pretty simple job, I guess, but never underestimate my ability to futz up simple ;p

I Got Words

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:21:50 GMT

From Mister Magorium's Wonder Emporium:

"When King Lear dies in Act Five do you know what William Shakespeare has written? He’s written, He Dies.
That's all, nothing more. No fan fare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words.
The culmination of the most influential work of the dramatic literature is, He Dies. It takes Shakespeare’s genius to come up with, He dies.
And yet every time I read those two words I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria.
And I know its only natural to be sad, but not because of the words he dies, but because of the life we saw prior to the words.
I’ve lived all five of my acts Mahoney and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go.
I’m only asking that you turn the page. Continue reading. And let the next story begin.
And if anyone ever asks what became of me you relay my life in all its wander, and it with a simple, and modest, he died."

That is beautiful.

This is not. Good God - I may never eat at McDonald's again! I have funny thoughts about Sam stumbling upon this pic during research and not being able to sleep for days :p

polyaMorous

Dilemma: Let Him Live or Kill Him Off?

Userpic Meme

One More For the Day That Would Not Die

Crossover Meme

objects are less random than they may appear

*invites the COMMENT TO ENTRY of doom*

*Recs*

Meme

Recs

Alex/Olivia

Hot vs. Hot

One Quick Rec

The Flavor of Love - Wes/Gunn, NC17, Slash Drabble

Arts (or something)

Listening In

Movies VS Books

o_0

timmy/don on the brain

30 Days After the Dawn - PG13, Crossover with 30 Days of Night

Happy St. Pat's, Guys!

Boys Like Girls: J2, PG13

It's All About the Smackers

I Got Words

invites the COMMENT TO ENTRY of doom

Recs