#but dw this is actually an spn only blog for real

[thewhitehotspotlight]

Incredibly funny seeing the unhinged sides of two opposing ships (all about characters you cannot care less about) from the same show on the dash.

[yourfandomfriend]

SPN Fic Inspo

Maybe this is just me liking the sound of my own voice, but I’ve been writing my infrequently updated SPN fic, Concordat, for over five years now and outside of my bestie, I’ve never got to talk about the inspiration behind it or anything like that. So here I go a-doing that.

Why not? It’s my blog and I love extras. Maybe it’s an insight into my process? Maybe we can all talk to each other about inspiration? Or maybe I’ve just been dying to scream my secrets into the wind? YOU CAN BE THAT WIND.

What If?

The sane part is, I wrote a shorter fic preceding it, set during “Swan Song” where Bobby prepares for the possible eventuality of Sam and Dean dying at Stull and Cas faces the possibility of having to live as a mortal. I had Crowley stop by for just one chapter to mwah-ha-ha at them (the first time I’d ever written for him, an experience that actually made him my favorite character).

And I had to wonder: if Cas didn’t get his powers back, who would Crowley have gone to with his Purgatory plan? And what would become of Cas and Bobby? The whole thing took off from there.

Inferno

But that’s not the fun part. To me, the fun part is where I totally ripped off Darkwing Duck. 

See, there’s this grim, hilarious episode I saw as a kid called “Dead Duck” where DW chases a villain on his motorcycle without putting on a helmet and crashes head-first into a brick wall. Spoiler alert, he lives through it, but he dreams he died. And in the world where he’s dead, the villain everyone thinks killed him, Megavolt, became super-famous and a popular talk show host.

Pretty dark for a children’s cartoon, right? 

But what got me was that dying, watching his loved ones grieve him, getting chased by the literal Grim Reaper, and leaving his world to the mercy of a homicidal maniac didn’t upset him nearly as much as finding out that the bad guy became more famous than him.

For real, his headstone is a polaroid taped to a road pylon.

In case you're wondering, this is where I got my sense of humor from. So, yeah, I thought it would be hilarious to put Sam and Dean through the same thing and see which one of them got more pissed off. To my surprise, it was Sam.

Greek Chorus

In a few chapters, I showcase a turd gallery of minions, all of them originals... but two of them were not quite whole cloth. PA demons, Shipley & Lydecker. 

The latter, Thomas Lydecker, died of heart attack in London in the swinging 60s and went straight to Hell. As a demon, he's a jaded, cowardly, hedonist (with hidden depths) who’s worked for Balthazar since Inferno started.

The former, Fred Shipley, is a remarkably heroic demon. Once a Manhatten cop with a conscience, he sold his soul to help a lady who tricked the shit out of him and his contract came up in the 1970s. Sent fresh from The Pit to be Crowley’s latest assistant (he goes through them like tissues). 

Together, they provide exposition and comedy relief for the reader, since Shipley is a rooky who needs everything explained to him and Lydecker can’t take anything seriously. And they were inspired by these two cuties.

Monty Pippin and Eddie Arlette, two police detectives in a one-season-wonder TV show from the noughties called Keen Eddie. The show started as a knock-off of blingy Guy Richie crap but was really ramping up to be a show about saving souls. I missed Eddie and Monty, so I sent them to Hell. Is that weird?

Samandriel

This one’s a little controversial. There’s a point in my fic where I think a lot of fans stop reading -- the death of Heaven’s cutest angel, Samandriel. The thing is never intended to kill him, but when I was doing research on him to get the voice, my hindsight kicked in and I finally realized who S’mandy really was, underneath the cute vessel. If Balthazar read Samandriel’s mind, then what he saw would make him want to kill him.

Brother Stuff

Can’t tell a story with the Winchesters without angst. The fic is set in the middle of season 8 because that’s when I started writing the outline, and while I don’t specifically have the boys fight about their season’s issues, it went a long way to coloring how they took the other timeline. 

Sam loves it, and goes from being a mopey boy to a fluffy, sunny boy so fast, you know it’s not normal. The thing is, Sam was feeling mighty guitly about everything that happened with him quitting after season 7, and this new timeline was one where he died a hero. His friends are alive, Cas never went crazy, Michael and Lucifer are dead, and no Dick Roman. It’s awesome! But in order to save that timeline, Sam and Dean would have to destroy their own, with them in it. And part of Sam is actually considering it, such is his guilt...

Meanwhile, Dean hates the place because, well, it’s doing so well without the Winchesters. Friends are alive and happy, there’s a Keurig, etc. His instinct is to defend the timeline that he and his brother are from, to favor it, not only because he wants them to survive but because he wants to believe they’ve changed the world for the better. But if everything is better in that other world? He feels like it’s their fault things got so screwed up in his world. Angst!

Crowlthazar

While most shippy fics start with the pairing and work backward, this was another thing I didn’t see coming. I knew Crowley would team up with Balthazar -- he needed an angel if he was gonna go up against Raphael. But while Crowley stuck to the plot outline, Balthazar wouldn’t. He kept derailing things by palling around with Crowley, in ways that weren’t super platonic, and he wouldn’t let me finish a chapter until I let him do it.

The problem with that is, if anyone gives Crowley sympathy and helps him work through his issues, he loses his motivation to king things. “Blade Runners” is an entire episode dedicated to the theory that if Crowley is allowed to feel his feels, he’ll get super horny and abandon his plans.

I tried all sorts of things to keep Crowley and Balthazar apart, to no avail. Finally, I gave in and, surprise surprise, it turned into love, or as close as those two weasels could get. Their motive to follow the plan was reinvigorated -- they wanted to defend what they’d found, Crowley especially.

If you post an spn fic inspo of your own, tag me in that biz!

[pinknerdpanda]

Get to know your panda

I was tagged by the lovely @melissaj616 @captainradicalpassion and @emilywritesaboutdean Thank you ladies!!

Rules: Tag up to 20 blogs you’d like to get to know better

Nickname: Manda or Panda - or sometimes both

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Height: 5′5.5" (and yes I am damn proud of that half inch!)

Last thing you Googled: “Sam Winchester Flirt Gif”

Favorite music artist: So many...Nickel Creek, Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran, Aerosmith, Boston, Chris Stapleton, Thrice, Coldplay, Billie Holliday, Jack White, The Killers, The Lumineers, Punch Brothers...for real I could go on and on and on

Song stuck in my head: "Sparks” by Coldplay

Last movie you watched: Moana

What are you wearing right now: Shorts and a tank top

Why did you choose your url: because I am a nerd who loves the color pink and also pandas

Do you have any other blogs: yes, @random-fandom-panda - it is my sideblog for all of my non-spn related nonsense (esp DW, RHPS, Sherlock etc)

What did your last relationship teach you: I have been married almost 10 years - I barely remember what I had for lunch. I have no idea...sometimes who someone is and who you think they are are not the same thing

Religious or Spiritual: I hate both words actually - they each have their own set of negative connotations...but i guess i prefer spiritual over religious. 

Favorite color: Pink

Average hours of sleep: Ha! 4-5? Maaaayyyybee 6?

Lucky Number: 4 or 44

Favorite Characters: Sam and Dean Winchester, The Doctor, Sherlock Holmes, Miranda, Andy Dwyer, Nick Miller

How many blankets do you sleep with: 1 or 2

Dream job: something creative or a trophy wife

Tagging: @wheresthekillswitch @arryn-nyxx @trexrambling @hannahindie @impandagrl @a--fangirls--simple--addiction @frickfracklesackles @deanssweetheart23 @rosie-winchester @notnaturalanahi 

(I only tagged 10 - sue me. ;) feel free to jump in and play along if you are so inclined)

[anactorya]

@holyfant tagged me in this, uh, approximately a billion years* ago. Thank you! :)

*adjusted for Tumblr Time

Rules: Answer the 20 questions, and tag 20 amazing followers that you’d like to get to know better.

Name: Does not get shared in public, because I am Fandom Old like that.

Nicknames: I don’t think I’ve ever really had one that took? There are some people IRL who know me by an old stage/pen-name, but I don’t think it counts if you give it to yourself. 

Zodiac sign: Virgo or Leo, depending how you’re counting.

Height: 5′3 1/2″ (That half an inch is very important!)

Orientation: Bi, though I find myself using queer more since Purity Tumblr decided it was verboten.

Ethnicity: White.

Favourite Fruit: Mango.

Favourite Season: Summer! I feel like an actually functioning human when the sun is out.

Favourite Book Series: Does it count as a series if there are only two books in it? N.K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood dualogy, if so.

Favourite Flower: I’m quite fond of lavender.

Book Recommendation: Well, that depends what you’re looking for! Generally, though, I think you can always do worse than The Haunting of Hill House.

Favourite Scent: Lemon.

Favourite Colour: Green or purple, depends what mood I’m in.

Favourite Animal: Judgemental Cat, even if she does have a sixth sense for climbing on my laptop while I’m trying to write porn.

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Cocoa: Why not all?

Average Sleep Hours: Not enough.

Favourite Fictional Characters: I’ll limit myself to one per fandom, or else I’ll be here all day. Dean Winchester (SPN), Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (Watchmen), Cordelia Chase (Buffyverse), Donna Noble (DW), Kara Thrace/Starbuck (BSG), Count D (Petshop of Horrors), Jessica Jones (Marvel TV), Ahsoka Tano (Star Wars). Cordelia and Donna are exceptions to my general favourite character rule, in that they’re people you might actually want to hang out with if they were real. ;)

Number of Blankets You Sleep With: Usually 3.

Dream Trip(s): I’d like to go back and spend some more time travelling round Japan, not as part of a tour group being hustled everywhere at 100mph. The California road trip idea also appeals to me, but maybe not anytime in the next five years...

Blog Created: Around 2012, I think? Shortly after I got into Sherlock, anyway.

Number of Followers: 172

Tagging: Anybody who fancies a go!