cheriemorte

[cheriemorte]

i will shield you from the waves if they find you, i will protect you

inspired by these tags x x

[cheriemorte]

Patrick and Pete throughout the years

"I remember looking at Pete and Patrick and telling Pete, “You're the luckiest guy in the world because you found this guy." Patrick laughed. Then I turned to Patrick and said the same thing to him. They fit together so perfectly. Pete listens to electronic music and pop. He DJs. Patrick likes old soul and classic R&B. The fact that Patrick found this guy with this vision; Pete had everything for the band laid out in his mind. And the fact that Pete found a guy who can sing like that and take his lyrics and work with them - which is an art unto itself. It's really the combination of those two that really creates the sound and the songs. They're just really lucky they found each other."

- Bob McLynn

[cheriemorte]

And to think last year Quincey Morris trying to shoot Dracula seemed silly.

Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me.

Ahab, pictured:

[cheriemorte]

NEW FIC: The Flood Changes Direction

Title: The Flood Changes Direction Fandom: Our Flag Means Death Characters/Pairings: Stede/Ed Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 10,729

Summary: Why dead? he wants to ask, as if Izzy would have an answer. Why not just maimed or sorry or here? Did it have to be fucking dead?

He needs something else to be angry at, Ed decides. Something bigger than Izzy. A target that deserves the blame more than any of them.

“Turn the boat around,” he orders. “Back towards Barbados.”

“He’ll be buried by now,” Izzy points out. “What are you going to do?”

Blackbeard replies, “I’m gonna burn the whole island to the ground.”

-

Sorry it's not Supernatural, but I figured I should mention here that I wrote a thing!

[cheriemorte]

Cannot believe it took until October for somebody to think to invite Sam and Dean to hunt Dracula. Tumblr blorbo crossover event of the century.

[cheriemorte]

Dracula heard the hit song “Werewolves of London” one time on his Transylvanian future radio and thought it was a news report. This is the true reason he decided to move there.

Anyway yeah I wonder if Dracula knew wolves were extinct in England or if this is one of those cases in which all of his research failed him. Like he spent the last couple evenings in some forest in the outskirts of London going "AWWWWOOOOO!!! AWOOOOOO!!! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS!!! AWOOOO!!!"

[cheriemorte]

So excited for the characters of Dracula to finally learn they are in Dracula by reading the novel Dracula

[cheriemorte]

He began by saying that he hoped we would all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?"

*squints at Van Helsing* just couldn’t resist the pun, could you, my man?

[cheriemorte]

These are really great explanations from a practical standpoint and psychological standpoint, and I would add that as much as it seems counterintuitive to continue to return to the same person when it would be easier to pick a new one, especially in such a crowded country, there is also an explanation that is about survival. In his home country, the Count has become enshrouded in a sense of inevitability because he was already an estabilshed threat for centuries before any of the people who now live there were even born. They know not to go to his castle, but they also know that from time to time he will come and he will take someone and there is acceptance of the fact, because it has always been so. Nevertheless, they have his number. They have him in a very frustrated situation. The Count is old from lack of feeding when Jonathan meets him. He can prey only on the ignorant (like our collective bestie) or on those utterly incapable of defending themselves (he goes grocery shopping for babies when his three potsmoking roommates/wives clearly have an appetite for something bigger, which is why Jonathan was such an irresistible snacc) because the people there know how to protect themselves from him. No one is going to his home to try to kill him--for all of recallable history, he has just been an evil that exists and cannot be fully stopped, a force of nature, you don't try to fight a hurricane--but they keep him out of theirs. He obviously operated brazenly for some amount of time and it backfired big time.

Dracula II: This Time I'm British Tho is trying to learn from his mistakes. He had to go to considerable trouble just to orchaestrate the move to England and he doesn't want the people to catch on to him. Obviously, he doesn't want to attract the attention of vampire hunters, but he also doesn't want to live contained and unable to feed except when lucky and constantly outsmarted by locals who know what you are and don't think it's cute anymore. If you feed on one person at a time and just keep coming back to them, it's nigh undetectable, especially in a land that doesn't know your legend and how to identify the signs of what's happening. Lucy is just one sad story. How many people waste away from illnesses and eventually die in England every day? He isn't dropping bodies he doesn't need to (he's still got all the vitality from drinking our friends on the Demeter, RIP y'all were real ones), he's feeding just enough to keep one victim for as long as possible. It's a good strategy and it should have given him a hot new hunting ground for a long, long time. He just so happens to have had the bad luck to have stumbled upon a victim who knows a guy who knows a guy who has 75 PhDs and one of them is in Vampires.

Granted, he should probably have taken the hint the first time he got to her window and it was Garlic O'Clock that someone had his number, but I think the stubbornness with which he persues Lucy despite that just returns to the OPs original point. By now, Lucy is his all-you-can-eat buffet of renewable blood and his ego and stubbornness have blinded him to the fact that he should move on rather than try to claim her. Let's see how that turns out for him. >:)

Forgive me if this was explained already and I missed it, but why is Dracula obsessed with nomming Lucy in particular? Aren't there at least a hundred other young ladies who can be eaten without throwing a wolf through the window? Are we supposed to understand this as "By chance, Dracula started feeding on a woman who is connected to Jo Harker, and is obsessed with / determined to get his way" or is there something more going on?

It isn't explained in the text, so you aren't missing anything.

So, as with most things in the book, there is a Doylist and Watsonian reading. The Doylist one is rather boring, so I'll start with that. If the Count moved on and preyed on someone else, we would have to shift to some other set of characters somewhere else in London. Which would understandably make the narrative bigger. So Stoker chooses to keep it limited.

But I really do think the Watsonian explanation is way better in this case. He won't give up because he has laid claim to someone and he refuses to be defeated or told no. She isn't particularly special to him- she's just the person who sleepwalked into the graveyard. But like with his claim on Jonathan ("this man is mine"), once he has decided to sink his teeth into someone, they become his. He'll come back to Lucy over and over because he's claimed her.

The fact that someone is clearly giving her blood and guarding her room against him means that there is a battle being fought for her soul. He knows he has adversaries. So no matter how much easier it would be to find someone else, he will not let anyone keep him from what he thinks is his. He will do whatever he has to in order to get past those guards, because that's how he proves that no one can stop his claim.

And he'll also leave her with just enough life that the people trying to thwart him have to watch her fade away, because that's how he shows that he's more powerful than them. It isn't about Lucy, it's about winning.

[cheriemorte]

Van Helsing be like, “haha if the transfusion made Lucy already his wife then we are all married to her and therefore each other!”

And Seward be like, “yeah duh but what was the joke”

[cheriemorte]

God, finally! Hi Cherie, I've recently found your wincest fics and I'M IN LOVE. Read every one of them and loved them all. My favs are 'Behold a pale horse', 'Kicks like a sleep twitch', and 'List of typos made by god'. All ur fics are awesome and I especially love all the AUs of the seasons you wrote. I tried finding any of ur social media handles and found ur tumblr atleast, finally. You write angst soooooooo good and I'm a sucker for it. I cried reading all ur AU fics. Especially the 3 mentioned above. You captured the devastation and codependency of the brothers so perfectly. I can't thank you enough for writing all those fics and I really really hope you write more wincest. I've read a lot of wincest fics in the past 6-8 months since I finished the show and I have to say, that you're my most favourite wincest author. Sorry for blabbering too much, I'm one step away from asking u to marry me😂. Again, thanks so much for writing everything u wrote. I'm so glad I found ur fics. Have a good day! All the love❤️.

Hellllooooooo beautiful anon! *wraps myself around you and rubs my face on you and purrs*

Thank you so much for this incredibly sweet message. The fandom is so flush with unfairly talented authors and it is so lovely to hear that I stand out to you! Your FAVORITE Wincest writer??? *blushes furiously* I haven’t finished a story since February 2021, so it’s honestly just reassuring that anyone remembers my stories at all, let alone loves them this much. ;____; Please never apologize for “blabbering too much” when sending nice words to a fic author--feedback is literally the whole payoff of writing and sharing stories for free and if anyone ever doesn’t want to hear that their writing resonated with you, that’s their damage, not yours. XD

Like you, I am a big fan of angst (hee hee, as you can probably tell) and that devastation is a huge part of what draws me to the pairing. Also, my biggest points of inspiration came from spinning off moments in canon and exploring what might have happened if it played out another way. So to have you pick out those two things as your favorite aspects of my writing really just makes me feel so good. And, honestly, with how trash I’ve been at writing, let alone finishing, anything at all recently, feeling a little better about my writing was much needed!!

I really hope I write more Wincest, too! I mean, they are my main ship for *mumble mumble* years, so if I ever manage to write anything again, I will certainly write more Wincest, but lol, that’s starting to feel more doubtful. Though I signed up for salt_burn_porn to hopefully force myself to just write something without overthinking it, so maybe there will be new Wincest soon, even! At any rate, it’s always a comfort to know anyone at all will still care if I do manage to finish something.

I use the same handle, cheriemorte or cherie_morte, on pretty much every social media site, but I’m most active on Twitter. Though, frankly, I lurk on Tumblr all the time these days to check out the Dracula Daily memes, so you can find me here as well. :D

Thanks again for reaching out and making my day (sorry I took a few days to respond, I was a mix of busy and lazy XD). 

[cheriemorte]

What fics make you viscerally upset 👀

i believe i've recced most of these before, but here's a list of fics that are absolutely amazing and just as heart-wrenching, bittersweet, or disturbing. a lot of them are in line with the more creepy things that happen in canon, just taken to a more emotionally devastating place than the show ever brings us. mind the tags, take care of yourself, don’t use any of these to harm yourself if any of them make you uncomfortable (in a way you aren’t looking to feel uncomfortable, in any case)

behold, a pale horse by cherie_morte, 19k+:

AU after 8x23: When Sam fails to complete the third trial, a tear in the barrier between Earth and Hell is created and hellspawn called shadon are unleashed. The only way to bind these creatures and close the gates of Hell is for a sacrifice to be made by the man who chose his own life over completing the trials, and this time, the price is even greater. In order to correct the apocalypse he's released, Sam must kill his soulmate and live with the consequences.

After years without Dean, Sam dies on a hunt and thinks he will finally be reunited with his brother in Heaven. But when his reaper appears, it's Dean himself, and he's not as willing to reap Sam as Sam is to be reaped.

i sobbed for days after i finished this fic and i woke up from nightmares about it for a few *months* after i read it. i truly think this is the worst possible ending for sam and dean, but it’s not necessarily unhappy-- it hits a lot of my worst fears, which is why it affects me so badly. i can’t say anything else without spoiling it, but i truly think this is one of the best fics in this fandom. devastating. (would love to talk about this after you read it!!!! it drives me crazy!!!!!!!! but seriously, go in without spoiling yourself, you’ll thank me later. through tears.)

a list of typos made by god by cherie_morte, 44k+:

The summer before Sam leaves for Stanford, Dean begins to forget his relationship with Sam. Every morning he remembers less, and Sam is just waiting for the day Dean forgets him completely.

iirc this one isn’t as emotionally devastating as the last one, because it’s partially dealing with sam coming of age. it’s a really interesting look at who a teenage sam could be in a world where dean doesn’t remember the things they’ve done together, doesn’t remember their relationship. what do you do when the only person who really knows you begins to forget about you? it’s very well-written and a unique perspective on their dynamic.

fly by askance, 5k:

Sam wakes up in an unfamiliar room with Dean and finds that he can't remember anything past the moment when those angels began to fall from Heaven. He has a sneaking suspicion that something is not quite right.

a what-if variation on how dean could have saved sam at the end of season eight if the angels hadn’t been an option. this is a real horror fic, so be VERY CAREFUL of the tags!! this is such a delicious character piece. ahhh, i don’t want to spoil it for anybody, but askance does a great job bringing sam’s creeping horror to life. just read it, if you’re okay with insects-- it’s that good. (and i love the double meaning in the title, haha)

the hollow summer by deadlybride, 17k+:

Sam rescued Dean from hell, but when it was over only Dean came back to earth. Every summer they steal a few months together, but Sam can never stay. Dean's figuring out how to live with that.

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ;~; holy shit, i don’t even know what to say-- just read this!! it’s uniquely miserable, yet there’s a strange kind of hopefulness underneath that keeps me from wanting to throw myself off a building like the first fic on this list did. (cherie_morte, if you ever see this, this is a positive review, i swear, jgfjgf) i LOVE any fic that confronts the way that sam and dean are always paying the price for whatever slice of happiness they carve out. they’re cursed. this fic is a gut-punch, and in that way it’s the most interesting version of the sam-saves-dean-from-hell trope. i loved the way different mythologies are woven in-- there’s the persephone parallels from the prompt, but there’s also some orpheus parallels later on, and it’s written in the way that liz always writes like she’s dipping cloth into dye full of atmosphere and emotions and posting the result. we’re so deep into dean’s headspace that it’s a shock when we find out what happened, so long ago, to bring them here, and there’s no way around feeling the same things that dean does, with how rich the descriptions are. 

all the long years by nigeltde, 900+:

Nothing changes

unrequited love makes me want to cry. when it’s between sam and dean, that multiples itself tenfold. this is a beautiful ficlet that makes my heart turn over and ache whenever i return to it.

willing by interstitial, 13k+:

After expelling Gadreel, Sam kills himself to close the Gates of Hell. Dean copes poorly alone, and then they cope poorly together.

this one has what i’d consider a happy ending, but it fits here because it has a very sad premise. ...also i’ll plug it anywhere i can because it’s in my top five fics for this fandom. i looooove this fic, i’ve read it five times (and after posting this i’m going for a sixth!!!) i think the characterization of sam and dean is really compelling and it has a great take on hell politics and the shifting landscape with different rulers. love dean’s trauma-related mutism and the echo of sam post-season four running himself ragged to get dean back juxtaposed with dean, in this fic, doing his best to get sam back or die trying. if you love the codependency you’ll love this.

at least he died human by pinbitch, 2k+:

Dean doesn’t believe for a second that the detox can really kill Sam. That’s not the only thing Dean’s wrong about.

i’ll admit i don’t usually enjoy the dean-accidentally-kills-sam fics out there, but the fact that this one is written from dean’s pov made it interesting. i like the bits of what-if horror here, like the idea that they easily could have burned sam alive without realizing he had been resurrected by lucifer, and i loved this line from castiel’s section:  The only power he’s been able to muster is just enough to preserve Sam’s body, and he’s starting to think that was a mistake. Maybe if his brother started to smell Dean would be more inclined to burn his remains. i also loved the way that cas isn’t able to identify dean’s very obvious intention to commit suicide as soon as he’s put sam to rest. because i love pain and suffereing i’d be even happier with this fic if they accidentally killed sam again without realizing he had come back to life but that’s a fic i need to write myself i guess

thinking of you by deadlybride, 1k+:

February 17, 2010. Sam struggles with his addiction.

and for a different take on sam’s detox, this is a spectacular “missing scene” from the episode where dean comes to check on sam. cw for addiction, because it felt like a very accurate take on the come down/detox. phew. loved the language around vessels, the repetitive theme of sam being unable to be filled up, and the way that the abruptness every few paragraphs feels like sam suddenly comes to awareness after blacking out. 

like it was yesterday by nomelon, 4k+:

Sam can't remember a time when Dean wasn't there. Dean is always with him. Sam's whole life, there's never been anyone else.

there’s literally nothing i can say about this one without spoiling it, but god damn. the best summary for this fic is that Something Terrible Has Happened and you just need to read it, because the slow creeping realization of exactly what has happened is an experience.

[cheriemorte]

remember that time dean decided to stay at the motel with sam on valentine’s day even though it used to be his favourite holiday and later he asked sam, quote, “be my valentine?” and that was also the day famine was in town and made everyone crave what they wanted most and dean didn’t seem to be affected otherwise so idk make of that what you will

[cheriemorte]

-You’re my present this year. -Sammy. Sammy, no.

[cheriemorte]

c’mon sammy, it’s fucking funny and you know it

[cheriemorte]

“Ship means something you want to see happen.” Bitch, no it don’t. This weird-ass modern culture of lobbying show-runners to make your ship canon didn’t emerge until the advent of social media. (And recent social media like twitter, not shit-you-forgot-existed like MySpace.) Shipping and fandom in general have been around much longer, so you can stop acting like “this is the way it has always been uwu” right the fuck now.

Until relatively recently, most fans I’ve known have been perfectly okay with their ships never being canon. I, personally, would be actively offended if certain ships of mine became canon. That is not why I ship them. What I want from canon and what I want from fandom are often entirely different things that only intersect on the margins.That is why fanworks are called “transformative” ffs.

[cheriemorte]

Title: Highway to Heaven Fandom: Supernatural Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 24,771

Summary: Paradise lasts for all of fifteen minutes. Well, maybe longer. Dean’s not sure yet how time works here, but it sure doesn’t feel like forever before things start going sideways.