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Heretics and Lawbreakers

Finally completed stand-alone; 23 out of 23 chapters posted; 80,000 words. Late 1947 through early 1948 Paris AU + 1973 epilogue where Rashid exists in the Talamasca in that time and place (an “everything’s the same except Rashid was born back then instead of now” scenario) and things get complicated for Sam with respect to the coven. This plays out through to the fire at the theater, but even that doesn’t happen the way it does in canon. This contains the entire Paris coven as characters in addition to the change with Rashid; it’s an ensemble piece. Deliberate Devil’s Minion foreshadowing throughout; literal Devil’s Minion at the end in the epilogue.

TEASER:

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t feed you to the rats and then inter your bones without ceremony,” Armand demands, his eyes blazing.

“Because, deep down,” Sam says, meeting Armand’s gaze with last-ditch defiance, “you know I’m the reason our audiences keep coming back.”

At first, Armand looks furious. He opens his mouth a fraction, his eyes flickering, raising one hand in a graceful arc. There’s already a flame in his palm, and Sam’s instinctive response is to meet Armand’s gesture with the same, to show him that he’s not the only one who wields the Fire Gift. Armand glances at the flame in Sam’s hand and then at Sam’s face, tilting his head. He closes his hand, extinguishing the fire.

Sam closes his own hand, shaking from head to foot. “We’ve both broken curfew.”

Armand bites his lip, giving a slow, reluctant nod. “Yes, it would seem we have.”

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Heretics and Lawbreakers

Finally completed stand-alone; 23 out of 23 chapters posted; 80,000 words. Late 1947 through early 1948 Paris AU + 1973 epilogue where Rashid exists in the Talamasca in that time and place (an “everything’s the same except Rashid was born back then instead of now” scenario) and things get complicated for Sam with respect to the coven. This plays out through to the fire at the theater, but even that doesn’t happen the way it does in canon. This contains the entire Paris coven as characters in addition to the change with Rashid; it’s an ensemble piece. Deliberate Devil’s Minion foreshadowing throughout; literal Devil’s Minion at the end in the epilogue.

TEASER:

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t feed you to the rats and then inter your bones without ceremony,” Armand demands, his eyes blazing.

“Because, deep down,” Sam says, meeting Armand’s gaze with last-ditch defiance, “you know I’m the reason our audiences keep coming back.”

At first, Armand looks furious. He opens his mouth a fraction, his eyes flickering, raising one hand in a graceful arc. There’s already a flame in his palm, and Sam’s instinctive response is to meet Armand’s gesture with the same, to show him that he’s not the only one who wields the Fire Gift. Armand glances at the flame in Sam’s hand and then at Sam’s face, tilting his head. He closes his hand, extinguishing the fire.

Sam closes his own hand, shaking from head to foot. “We’ve both broken curfew.”

Armand bites his lip, giving a slow, reluctant nod. “Yes, it would seem we have.”

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Winter has arrived on Poob.

Start your 7 day free trial of Poob today, and watch smash hit Martin Scorcese's Goncharov.

[irisbleufic]

Heretics and Lawbreakers

Stand-alone; 20 out of 23 posted; 73,000 words so far. Late 1947 through early 1948 Paris AU where Rashid exists in the Talamasca in that time and place (an “everything’s the same except Rashid was born back then instead of now” scenario) and things get complicated for Sam with respect to the coven. This is an experiment that’ll have some other pay-offs, as it plays out through to the fire at the theater. But even that won’t happen the way it does in canon. This contains the entire Paris ensemble cast in addition to the change with Rashid; it’s an ensemble piece with Armand, Sam, Eglée, Claudia, Madeleine, Santiago, and Romaine strongly featured, but the entire coven is in it.

CHAPTERS:

Make the Indiscretions Count (2025-02-22)

Gossip’s What We’ve Got (2025-02-24)

Unraveling Faster Than Before (2025-02-24)

This Has Been Awkward (2025-02-26)

Never Mind Hearing It (2025-02-28)

All Vampires, All the Time (2025-03-01)

This Milestone Is On Schedule (2025-03-05)

Plus Qu’Hier, Moins Que Demain (2025-03-06)

Frighted With False Fire (2025-03-07)

The Devil’s a Gentleman (2025-03-11)

Seeing the Proof Is Hard (2025-03-14)

Mix Vocation and Pleasure (2025-03-15)

Dead Vampires Don’t Write Letters (2025-03-18)

Fragments Out of Context (2025-03-19)

Buy the Lie for a While (2025-03-21)

The Least Fun You Can Have (2025-03-26)

Proposed Trial Run (2025-03-28)

Deal-Breaker After Recent Experiences (2025-04-02)

Non-Interference Policy (2025-04-03)

Kill to Keep You Now (NEW, 2025-04-07)

TEASER:

Outside, there’s a metallic clamor less than a block away. Sam can hear Santiago’s furious stride; he almost can’t believe Santiago has come to him without even having been given an explicitly worded invitation. Sam backpedals from the door, further into the darkened shop, as Santiago strides into view through the window and then barges through the door with his eyes ablaze and his features twisted in grief and rage.

“You,” Santiago hisses, suitably dramatic as he advances on Sam, “will pay for what you’ve done.”

Sam tilts his head, continuing to backpedal. “If we’re going to duel, we’ll need more room. But don’t you want to see the scene of the crime?”

Santiago snarls, but there’s a flicker of weakness in his glare. “Which? So many have been committed on these premises that it’s staggering.”

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say it with me now

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PSA: It’s April Fools’ Day now, fellow Autistics, so watch out for knavery.

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Look at our children! They wish you another happy TDOV 💙🏳️‍⚧️⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Ember, Nicky, and Zel wish you all a happy Trans Day of Visibility!

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Happy Trans (and any kind of gender non-conforming, as far as I’m concerned) Day of Visibility! I’ve always liked the contrast between that casual post-high school graduation day photo of me with long hair (June 2000) and the photo of me with short hair in the constellation sweater (June 2018), because I can see myself, a biologically intersex person (short version of this story: thanks to a couple of abdominal surgeries in my late 20s/right at 30, I learned of some internal anomalies classed as an intersex variant that explained a lot about some weirdness I experienced growing up, looking back) whose gender identity has comfortably settled as gender-neutral nonbinary, even if I look back to the time when I was definitely a tomboy who was expected to conform to traditionally feminine presentation. I still love that face and that hair; I still love that photo. The two photos below the 2000 and 2018 photos were taken in February of this year (2025). In my early 40s, I’m aging better than I expected I would as a relatively recent cancer survivor. In a country that’s working hard to legislate me and my community out of existence by the day (I have an X passport and an X state ID; no piece of documentation I have says anything other than X), I refuse to be invisible or stay silent.

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Good news that we deserve 😌

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Today in niche genres of joke that I can never get enough of and will probably still be secretly thinking about four years later

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GET GRUFFALO'D, BITCH

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I CANT BREATHE

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KE HUY QUAN Empire Magazine (January 2025)

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…whoa, I had never thought to connect this song with it. But I can see it! 💙

i want to take you far🙁 from the cynics in this town🙁 and kiss you on the mouth🙁 we'll cut our bodies free🙁 from the tethers of this scene🙁 start a brand new colony🙁 where everything will change🙁 we'll give ourselves new names🙁 identities erased🙁

great gatsby alternate ending i say as i fall to the floor sobbing

nick and jay i say as i punch the ground repeatedly

what could have been i say as i rip out my heart with my bare hands

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Fucking Professionals

This story is now complete.

I’ve started the second volume of CALDERA slightly earlier than I’d planned, but that’s fine given I’ll have a busy semester. The first volume, complete at 22 stories, is here. “Fucking Professionals,” the new story linked above, is now the 4th story in the second volume. 8 out of 8 chapters have been posted, at a total of 18,000 words

CHAPTERS:

Flowers in the Green Room (2025-02-16)

Lay a Few Things to Rest (2025-02-17)

Particularly Picturesque (2025-02-20)

Willing to Look the Part (2025-03-13)

What’s Taken Is Returned (2025-03-17)

Always Want Too Much (2025-03-21)

It’s Not Just a Coven (NEW, 2025-03-24)

Resolve to See It Through (NEW, 2025-03-25)

TEASER:

“If you’re having second thoughts,” Rashid says patiently, squeezing Sam’s hand as he keeps pace, “we don’t have to go there tonight.”

“I promised,” Sam replies, determined. “No sense in running any longer. I’m here, and it’ll be easier to face it with you than without.”

“You haven’t been anywhere near the site since the fire,” Rashid realizes abruptly.

“I’ve been nowhere near it in decades,” Sam confirms, nodding his head in defeat.

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Holy shit? Last night you dropped the single best explanation of what the Great Conversion is and why it's happening, and you did it in a Caldera fic chapter when imho it deserves a post with thousands of notes? Your mind is the best we've got outside the writers' room. It's a tragedy you're not in there </3

Hey, thank you for letting me know it works! I posted at a freakish hour again, but the initial few comments that have come in are reactions like yours, so I'm stunned and relieved that the maneuver worked. I was hoping it came from the right character at the right time, under the right circumstances. I don't see many theories about what the Great Conversion is (understandable; even canon isn't being too forthcoming about root causes, i.e. Louis's explanation based on some of what he's heard floating around out there is unsatisfying and Raglan doesn't know shit aside from the numbers he's tracking), but for my narrative purposes, I need an explanation. Most phenomena start as one thing and end up another; I had to figure out what was going on at first and how it's been warped into something that merits a name. As with other plot breakthroughs, Daniel and Armand weren't going to give me an effective angle on everything. I needed Sam and Rashid for that, and they fucking paid off (in addition to just needing them for who they are, for who they've become as I've built them; they're a treasure, as dear as or dearer to me than DM now).

I don't tend to write meta posts when I have headcanon breakthroughs because I use them as I write. I write so constantly that I just actively deploy them where I need them: in stories. I know that meta posts get theories out there faster, but if folks want mine, my fic is where they are. I don't make a habit of announcing them ahead of time; what good would those epiphanies be if I didn't use them to narrative effect? If someone wants to know what's going on here, then I hope they'll get curious enough to read "Fucking Professionals" (Caldera Vol. 2, 4th story along). Granted, reading the rest of the series first will give it more impact, finished Vol. 1 and what exists of Vol. 2 so far combined. This post has a full list of the stories in order across both volumes so far; it may be easier to follow than just looking at AO3 without familiarity with the fact that each volume is organized as a separate series, and then all stories of those two volumes are in a collection. I'm a long game storyteller at heart, and this is where the long game pays off. Thanks again.