irisbleufic

[irisbleufic]

So, I shortened the social media/message thread story right before this one in Caldera with intent to come back with another of those interludes at a later time; this new story is in answer to the anon who wants the backstory on how Rashid and Sam met and became a couple (since I only show them as an established couple so far in this series). This story can also be read as a stand-alone. I don’t know how many chapters there will be, for once, so I’m afraid it’s currently 2 out of ? chapters posted. It will cover a number of scattered instances from ca. 2007 (Rashid is a teenager in the prologue) up until the two weeks in Dubai, and it’ll end right where “Not the Good Guys” begins. I’m at the point where I start to break form and introduce other points of view; thanks for engaging with this series!

Never a Mercy (2024-12-21)

Hand-Picked (NEW, 2024-12-22)

TEASER:

“You will be partnered with a seasoned, trusted vampire agent while you’re in the field,” Raglan corrects. “They will operate less visibly.”

“How many of those work for the Order?”

“Fewer you’d think. Less than twenty.”

“Sam said that he was going on sabbatical. How can you afford that?”

“He’s one of our most reliable. We keep him happy at whatever cost.”

“He’s performing right now? Some kind of tour?”

“He’ll do that intermittently even once he’s back.”

Rashid slides his sake cup toward Raglan. “May I make a request?”

“Given you’re a rare asset yourself, I don’t see why not,” Raglan says.

“Even though it’s some years off,” Rashid says, watching Raglan refill his cup, “whatever my first assignment is, I’d like to request Sam.”

“Your request is redundant,” Raglan says, amused, refilling his own cup, “because you’ve already been assigned to him for training as it is.”

[irisbleufic]

So, I shortened the social media/message thread story right before this one in Caldera with intent to come back with another of those interludes at a later time; this new story is in answer to the anon who wants the full backstory on how Rashid and Sam met and became a couple (since I only show them as an established couple so far in this series). This story can also be read as a stand-alone. I don't know how many chapters there will be, for once, so I'm afraid it's currently 1 out of ? chapters posted. It will cover a number of scattered instances from ca. 2007 (Rashid is a teenager in the prologue) up until the two weeks in Dubai, and it'll end right where "Not the Good Guys" begins. I'm at the point where I start to break form and introduce other points of view; thanks for engaging with this!

Never a Mercy (NEW, 2024-12-21)

TEASER:

Rashid’s rescuer steps close to him, and for the first time, Rashid notices his eyes. They’re a color Rashid is fairly sure doesn’t occur in nature, a piercing grayish yellow. Now that he thinks back on the stranger who’d attacked him, that shade of blue isn’t natural, either.

“Let’s get this out of the way,” Rashid’s rescuer says. “I’m a vampire, and so was that bastard.” He makes a show of retracting his fangs, and then licks his teeth, which are human-looking again. “He tried to fuck with your head. Didn’t work. That interests my employer.”

Rashid tries to move, but he still can’t. “Are you fucking with my arms and legs?”

Rashid’s rescuer smiles at him, tilted and oddly charming. “Quick one, aren’t you.”

[irisbleufic]

Do you have an idea of how Sam and Rashid met and got together in your Caldera series and would you consider writing that background story as a fic request? <3

Anon, I definitely do know how they met in the course of their Talamasca work, and I also know how they got together. I realize that so far I’ve just shown them as an established relationship. Given that I’ve begun breaking up the form of the series a bit now at the midpoint with social media and text message exchange formats, it might actually be a convenient time to start telling side stories from other characters’ points of view.

Know what? I’ll take you up on that. I think it’ll be a fun first crack at introducing perspectives other than Daniel’s to the narrative, because I need to open it up to rotating points of view moving forward (getting into QotD territory, that feels apt).

[irisbleufic]

Third story in my 1973 AU series Fables to Explain Time’s Passing; follows “Trade the Game You Know for Shelter” and “Better Suited to Traditional Media”; 6 out of 6 chapters are now posted. Daniel and Armand are just trying to have a nice first holiday season together, but the document Louis left in the letterbox at the end of the previous story is going to cause a sliver of chaos. @treebeards1701, your prompt is now fully incorporated.

You’re Here (2024-12-06)

Big Spender (2024-12-09)

Scold Me (2024-12-11)

Custom Work (2024-12-15)

How Lucky (2024-12-17)

Beyond Compare (NEW, 2024-12-21)

TEASER:

Objectively, Daniel understands that he’s a lightweight because he hasn’t had anything, not even weed, since early October.  But objectivity isn’t forthcoming, not with these lyrics.  His head is spinning, and the only two-syllable name ringing in his ears right now is Louis.

There’s a ruckus of complaints outside, cut short when the lock clicks and the doorknob turns.

“Oh, Daniel,” Armand sighs, stepping inside with a look of weary comprehension on his face.   “Come here,” he murmurs, taking Daniel’s hand.

Daniel keeps his head down as Armand leads him up the shadowed staircase at the end of the hall.  Armand likely hasn’t asked Harvey if they can take a timeout in his apartment, but he’s grateful for the quiet as Armand bundles him inside and shuts the door behind them.

“What did you take?” Armand asks.  There’s no judgment in his tone.  He grazes Daniel’s neck with one fang when Daniel can’t bring himself to answer, taking a taste before healing the scratch.  “It’s a strong strain, but not contaminated.  Hit you hard, didn’t it, my darling?”

[irisbleufic]

that's enrichment to my mind, the puzzle of trying to figure out exactly why this thing is the way it is and why it hits so wrong. if it were genuinely upsetting then yes, of course I'd stop dwelling on it; you'd probably never even hear me talk about it in the first place. but just rattling around on why certain trends or creative choices or what have you are objectionable and dissatisfying, that's just interesting to think about it.

You put this so, so well. I’m fascinated when things hit me as, like—not devastatingly wrong, but just annoyingly off. I enjoy talking it out with myself and others, because it often gives me insight into my own thought processes and reactions to the annoyingly off thing in question (especially related to media, storytelling, writing, and so forth). I tell my students that it’s worth examining these impulses behind perception and taste even if it leads to moments of disagreement during discussions. If you can’t discuss the low-grade, annoyingly off stuff, then your chances of learning to discuss the actual, devastatingly wrong stuff without discomfort aren’t very high. Complaining about small-stakes irritants can be fun and enriching, but we also use it as preparation for facing much more threatening conversations head-on.

because I'm a world class kvetcher and I frequently use this blog as a space to think about things I find irksome, I catch a decent number of replies to the tune of "why are you dedicating so much time to something you don't like, go touch grass." this tends to happens once the posts have breached containment, past the initial protective layer of my followers and their followers and into folks who don't know me or my whole deal and can't seem to imagine anyone expressing frustration without imagining that person shaking and sobbing as they crytype, working themselves into a state of upset that will ruin their whole day.

which is so interesting to me! what do you mean, you don't get a kick out of gnawing on things that irk you like a dog with a bone? that's enrichment to my mind, the puzzle of trying to figure out exactly why this thing is the way it is and why it hits so wrong. if it were genuinely upsetting then yes, of course I'd stop dwelling on it; you'd probably never even hear me talk about it in the first place. but just rattling around on why certain trends or creative choices or what have you are objectionable and dissatisfying, that's just interesting to think about it. it's a bummer that so many people seem unfamiliar with complaining as a recreational activity rather than a sign of distress, because it's so much fun!

[irisbleufic]

would you consider yourself an intelligent and sensitive pervert?

i've been saving this in my inbox for months because i don't feel like i have the words to match this. it's a shameful breach of my humility to answer yes, yes i do consider myself an intelligent and sensitive pervert. i love how you worded that. this is like a therapist's screening question.

[irisbleufic]

Third story in my 1973 AU series Fables to Explain Time’s Passing; follows “Trade the Game You Know for Shelter” and “Better Suited to Traditional Media”; 5 out of 6 chapters are now posted as of today. Daniel and Armand are just trying to have a nice first holiday season together, but the document Louis left in the letterbox at the end of the previous story is going to cause a sliver of chaos.

You’re Here (2024-12-06)

Big Spender (2024-12-09)

Scold Me (2024-12-11)

Custom Work (2024-12-15)

How Lucky (NEW, 2024-12-17)

TEASER:

When they kiss this time, Daniel feels the catch of Armand’s fangs on his lips and tongue. He relishes the reverberation of Armand’s moan through his own teeth. Tastes Armand’s blood as it sluices across his tongue and down his throat.

Armand licks Daniel’s lips as someone approaches, turning at the same moment Daniel does. Armand is ready to erase memories, Daniel sees it in the feral gleam of Armand’s eyes. There’s also a spark in his own reflected back at him before they face the intruder.

Harvey freezes beneath the street lamp. He looks as if he’s the one who’s been hunted down in this deserted place after dark, his path crossed by not one, but two eldritch creatures. Sobering, to realize that it isn’t Armand alone who’s made their friend afraid.

“Gave me a scare there for a second,” Harvey says derisively, waving off his own unease. “You know it’s not safe to be doing this shit out here.”

(Thank you, @kuviraissues, for so kindly letting me freeze-frame and capture this piece of artwork in a scene near the end of this chapter; it's the pull-quoted teaser segment above. It's one of my favorite DM pieces featuring young Daniel out there in the fandom, full stop!)

[irisbleufic]

Doug Jones as the Baron was and always will be the best thing this show gave us.

These are the actual Polaroids taken in the foyer of the vampire house during the opening scene of last night’s episode 9 of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS’ on FX (and today on the Hulu). ‘Nandor��� shot these of me as the fabulous ‘Baron Afanas’ before another big night for me!

[irisbleufic]

by Shiryn Ghermezian

US President Joe Biden signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would make it possible for the nation’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the American Jewish experience to join the Smithsonian Institution, which would help support its existence for years to come.

Bill H.R. 7764 establishes a commission that will examine if the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia can join the Smithsonian Institution. The commission of eight people must submit a report with its findings to Congress and the president within two years of its first meeting. The bill was sponsored by Jewish US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and introduced in March. It was passed by the House of Representatives in September and the Senate did the same earlier this month. Both votes were unanimous.

Before the bill was passed to Biden’s desk, Wasserman Schultz said in a Facebook post that signing it into law “would help reject harmful prejudices by educating people about the many contributions of Jewish Americans.”

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, which includes 21 museums, 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo. If the Weitzman museum, located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, was to join the Smithsonian Institution, it would become one of the Smithsonian museums in the US dedicated to minority groups such as the African American History and Culture Museum, the American Indian Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art. Museums under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution also receive federal government support.

Established in 1976, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History houses one of the largest collections of Jewish American artifacts in the nation, with more than 30,000 objects.

[irisbleufic]

what the whole "please comment on fic you like, it will encourage more writing" vs. "fic writers shouldn't be writing for engagement and validation" debate fails to really grasp, for me, is that comments shouldn't be boiled down to "engagement and validation" in the first place. by which i mean: comments aren't payment for a service, they are communication and connection. they represent the audience reaching back.

i don't write just for myself. are you kidding me? the point of storytelling, to me, is to present certain narrative arguments and produce or encourage an emotional response to them. That communication is essentially useless if there's no endpoint, no listener. To me, there is no point if I'm not communicating with someone. When I write, I am talking to a reader. If you've read anything I've written, then I was talking TO YOU.

you are well within your right to consume fic as ~content~ and withhold your "payment" out of a sense that the writer should be satisfied at having created anything at all in an unresponsive void. but please be aware that it feels really good when you talk back.

[irisbleufic]

Adding more stories and making your 1973 Devil’s Minion AU into a series is the best fucking thing you’ve ever done as a writer, and I’ve read your work in several fandoms for a handful of years now. I couldn’t even tell you what makes it stand apart, because your work has always been distinctive. You put your whole heart behind each word to begin with, but this feels like fever pitch I’ve only seen in your legendary GO series. You touch history in ways so uncanny I’d believe you were there.

This is such a generous thing to say, anon—or, as the case may be, old lurker 💙 That makes you a sort of friend. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve answered your own question; in the very least, you’ve given me an idea of why you think Fables to Explain Time’s Passing is succeeding as a series. I really haven’t spent this much time reaching into the past and giving real people cameos, and even enough page-time to call them secondary cast, since my Good Omens series (Crown of Thorns ’Verse). The thread in there that’s comparable might just be the interactions I gave Crowley with Leonardo da Vinci, although heaven knows I’ve depicted a handful of other historical figures in there ranging from fossil hunter Mary Anning to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel. I might even have hidden a San Francisco snippet somewhere in there set right in the wake of Harvey Milk’s death, so to be working with him alive in this IWTV fic series is a pleasure I can’t begin to describe.

Time and place, the vividness of setting, are everything to me. They can make or break a story without question. When the intensity of a place at a point in history match the intensity of my protagonists, I count myself fortunate to have such a backdrop. More than backdrop, even. Story settings become environments, and we grow attached to spending time in them. Thank you for reminding me not to take that for granted!

[irisbleufic]

Third story in my 1973 AU series Fables to Explain Time’s Passing; follows “Trade the Game You Know for Shelter” and “Better Suited to Traditional Media”; 4 out of 6 chapters posted. Daniel and Armand are just trying to have a nice first holiday season together, but the document Louis left in the letterbox at the end of the previous story is going to cause a sliver of chaos. @treebeards1701, your prompt has been in play for a few chapters now and will be till the end.

1. You’re Here (2024-12-06)

2. Big Spender (2024-12-09)

3. Scold Me (2024-12-11)

4. Custom Work (NEW, 2024-12-15)

TEASER:

“[Harvey] understands well enough that when he looks at me, he can’t easily quantify what he sees.”

“I could burn down the whole fuckin’ world some days for never wanting to let you just be.

“Things like me were never supposed to be here, Daniel. And, sensibly, the world knows it.”

Daniel shakes his head, catching Armand around the neck. “Don’t want a world without you.”

[irisbleufic]

"READ MY DNI" no. use your block button like an adult. i'm not scrolling through the many-paragraphs-long pinned posts of every blog i reblog something from. if you insist certain types of people aren't welcome in the notes of your posts then it's your responsibility to curate that. or choose a closed social media platform like facebook or instagram. or go and live in a barn away from humanity if you really don't like sharing the world with people who are different from you

[irisbleufic]

"Uhh AFAB transfem people could be intersex-"

Without looking it up, tell me what types of intersex people would be assigned female at birth and simultaneously need to transition to being female. I don't think you know, because most of you were just using intersex people as a rhetorical shield for your real audience - cis women who aestheticize and objectify trans women.

[irisbleufic]

I wear the Magen David for many reasons, but do you know what my proudest reason is? The reason I display it proudly for all to see rather than hide it when antisemitism is skyrocketing across the globe? I wear it because it makes other Jews feel safe. I work in a very popular tourist location, and thus I see people from all over the country (USA) and the world. I wear my Magen David proudly for that older Jewish woman who feels insecure next to my goyish coworkers, so that when she sees me she smiles and shows me her necklace too and says how nice it is to find another member of the tribe way out here. I wear it so that the Jewish couple from out of town can see it and find another Jew in the crowd, someone they know they can trust, someone they can wish a "Good Shabbos" to. I wear it so that the Jewish woman my age can see it and then excitedly show me her Judaica tattoos, thrilled to find another Jew her age who isn't afraid to be openly Jewish.

I am not a Jew with trembling knees. And I want every member of my community to see me and know that they are safe with me, that here is a proud Jew to whom they can go. That is why I wear the Magen David, above all other reasons, so that my fellow Jews feel safe.

[irisbleufic]

Part 21 of Caldera; an interlude fic in experimental (group texts) format; 2 of 2 chapters posted. First up: Paige has a concern, and has called a virtual house meeting with Jesse and Ricky in their group text thread; second up, Petronia, Arion, Sam, and Rashid are meanwhile very, very tired in theirs.

Thoughts? Impressions? Prayers? (2024-12-12)

Keep the Coffin Lid Open (NEW, 2024-12-12)

OLD FUCKS CLUB Message Sat 01 Apr 00:01 SB: Well, happy fuckin Fools Day to us. SB: Four and a half hours they’ve been out painting Westminster red, lads. SB: My old boss’ll have our hands or worse if the kids don’t make it home. Petronia: Come in out of the wind, Sam. One of us out on patrol tonight is enough. Petronia: Jesse’s been checking in with me every hour. All three of them are fine. Arion: cold as balls out here tonight indeed, dear. cheers for asking. Arion: fucksake, sam. get back to your man. i can hear him pacing.

[irisbleufic]

Don't you worry about my pronouns. My pronouns are pretty standard. Worry about my adverbs. My most frequent ones are "omniously", "haphazardly" and "obliviously".