Beyond the Roundels

I started this on 27th Feb 2021 for 100fandomicons and have finally completed it, after taking longer than anybody else ever has, which I suppose is one claim to fame. (You can see the fandoms if you hover over the icons.)

( 100fandoms table under here )

john_amend_all reblogged this on tumblr and it made me smile. I thought a few of you might get a kick out of it too.

So, obviously Gilbert & Sullivan totally did a Dracula, right?



:-D

(There's a plain Dracula one here, but I thought this one with the BSD clips just made it all the funnier and fitted really well.)

Thanks for all your questions! My list of characters:

1. Uljabaan (WtOVPIC)
2. Katrina Lyons (WtoVPIC)
3. Servalan (B7)
4. Silver (S&S)
5. Twelfth Doctor (DW)
6. Ezekiel Jones (The Librarians)
7. Hercule Poirot
8. Robin (BBC Ghosts)
9. The Cat (Red Dwarf)
10. G'kar (B5)
11. Death (Discworld)
12. Lucy Greenwood (Craddock & Co)
13. Orac (B7)
14. John Seward (Drac 1968)
15. Zari (Legends of Tomorrow)

( Cut for fannish shenanigans )

* First off, no_true_pair is now open for sign-ups! \0/ (I'm still trying to decide who to put on my lists. Only 4 characters in a set!! *runs around in circles*)


* Secondly, Marie-Clare has just started watching sapphire and Steel over on her YouTube channel ("Is this going to be scary?" she asked about halfway through. XD) Anyway, if anyone else would like to see her reaction, there it is!

---

And now for a meme! I picked this up via lirazel - List 8 television shows that you would show someone to get to know you.

Which sounded like fun, although with the necessary caveat that I don't think anybody who isn't me should watch ALL of these, which probably tells you all you really need to know about me anyway. This list is 100% true and I would rec all of the things on it to at least somebody round here, but I don't think it'd make the best watchlist! XD


1. Doctor Who - tl;dr - just watch DW. Bits from all of it. Whatever you like. DW has been just about every kind of show in turn. It's been my first and foremost and sometimes only fannish love since I was 11 and I watched the last ten minutes of The Happiness Patrol and found out that sometimes one show can embrace at the same moment killing Bertie Bassett and reflecting that happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin. (You can't have true happiness without sadness, because you can have neither without love.) And that blue is a great colour.

I learned that the most extraordinary things begin in the most mundane places, that we're all bigger on the inside really. It's about true friendship (found in unlikely people) across space and time, about imagination and stories - all kinds - and facing your fears and the monsters they shape themselves into; the importance of free will (it's not an illusion after all, do i have the right?), that evil must and can be fought; that change is hard but everything must evolve in the end. There's always good in it, too (even if nobody likes it when you redecorate). No matter how serious you are about what you do, you don't necessarily have to be serious about how you do it. There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. It's better to travel hopefully than arrive. Take the long way round. All of time and space, where do you want to start?

And there's at least one episode or serial or audio or comic or book or Doctor or era to please everyone; and nobody is pleased by all of it.

My most formative bits are probably (inevitably) Seven & Ace, and the first season in 1963, and Robots of Death and Vengeance on Varos and the Fifth Doctor's era, but then there's season 7 (old who), and episodes like Hide and Listen and The Day of the Doctor, and The War Games (which I watched rented out from Aberystwyth Library - 3 day loan - in installments in two days, gripped), and honestly, the point is, you should watch whatever till you find your bits, because randomness and choice and freewill and sometimes being quite silly is the order of the day.


2. Enemy at the Door - it represents history like I studied it, it is TV that is shaped around characters, and it shows you what a librarian actually does, when Miss Brown risks her life for a professional code of conduct that I shared, too, and it was a series that gets how it feels to be trapped through circumstances outside your control. I felt like someone had made this specially for me, weirdly, given that I didn't even want to watch it because I didn't think it'd be my thing.


3. Spooks - my first grown up fannish love, with snarky pretty tragic spies and also RUTH EVERSHED. If you're going to understand me, you need to watch Ruth. Also I love tragedy and characters dying when I'm in the right mood. It helps if it's snarky and ironic tragedy because you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Plus, it's important to know how to kill people with forks and disarm a bomb in your microwave, and the key is in the things that are never said.


4. Shadow of the Tower - because wordy, theatrical historical old time drama that wants to be shakespeare is my thing. also it is the only way anyone can understand my James Maxwell thing. Not that you necessarily will. But SotT does at least make it more explicable than anything else if you can sit through it. Which, tbf, you might not be able to, but. I have. At least ten whole times and probably more. It's awesome really. ;-p


5. Sapphire and Steel. I'm weird, how weird am I? Also you will need to meet Silver and that I think the most perfect relationship is between three mysterious non-human beings who pretty certainly will be doing something that isn't sex when they're together, whatever it might be. I think that's wonderful.


6. Once Upon a Time - for fantasy, my absolute love of fandom crossovers - this whole show is a giant crossover - my ridiculous sense of humour (this show frequently shares it), for a female-led show that also has sword-fighting and dragons and pirates and curses and magic, and for Regina (covering my love of evil ladies who know how to dress + my evident love of grudgingly reformed evil ladies) and also, from s7, Alice, whose story I think resonates with quite a few people, but she's another rare character who genuinely knows what it is to be isolated and trapped.


7. Hinterland (Y Gwyll, but since I watched Hinterland, it has to be that version). Because of Aber. To understand me, Aberystwyth, where I went to uni is important. Hinterland does not necessarily reflect Aber properly because it never goes up Penglais Hill, but it does show a lot of the reasons why I'll always love it. Plus, Wales and Welsh and Mared, and I should have at least one detective show to be representative. (Even if my general taste is more Golden Age/Cosy than this.)


8. Dracula (1968). I couldn't decide at this point, so I went for this because it was the shortest of those vying for the last spot! This has a lot of my favourite old telly people in at once, it is very iddy for me and it taught me where the line lies between the creepy things I do like (often very much) and most horror (which I don't), which is basically that I like a bit of old fashioned (usually historically set) Gothic horror, and Dracula-esque vampires, too. Plus, fainting men, always a plus. You can also experience my sadness at tragic fake hair, which clearly is important.


It is very weird to me that I didn't include B7 and Press Gang in particular, but DW + Spooks = B7 (as I was told when someone who also liked both of those recced it to me) and DW also has Steven Moffat. Even if probably not quite as good as in PG and a list without Lynda Day is probably not quite right.) I did very nearly go for Survivors in the last spot, because even if it also made me wild at times, it was great, and I really really appreciate that it went full steam on asking all the hard questions. EatD doubled for Public Eye and Mr Palfrey. But mainly DW has everything, really. Nothing more is truly needed in this context.

I was already being overtired and blah blah blah summer, you all know the drill by now, and then as we also all know it was so hot things were on fire, and that was even less fun, but at least that has stopped for now and it is like normal outside even if inside is only more slowly winding itself down from the peak.

Anyway, in the meantime, here are some good things (for me, anyway):

* I woke up this morning to find someone I don't know at all (poweredbuttercup10) has made fanart of my story Red Skies, which I wrote ages ago for calliopes_pen, a little John/Jonathan/Mina Dracula 1968 fic, where the Harkers vamp one fainty doctor. Anyway, I did old-school squeeing, because look: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/post/690462693065474048/based-on-thisbluespirit-s-ao3-work-red-skies

Amazing. <3 (I am laughing at myself a bit though: such a cute little murder scene!!! omg, darlings. <3)


* also i made another element moodboard (about a week or two ago? idk, it now seems like a lifetime or something) for Manganese: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/post/689391684465967104/original-other-elements-28-manganese-he-opens

(I chose Manganese for theseatheseatheopensea's gift fic: The Sky Outside)


* Marie-Clare has now reacted to Blake's 7 ep2 now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fynx_-yEnCE (Go quickly, because the BBC will probably take it down soon. I won't link every week, sorry, but it was another great reaction, so XD.)


* also lurking_latinist happened to write Like Sunshine Through Rain, making Six/Charley fic just that tiny bit less rare (also it was excellent, yes). <3


Plus, bunn7cula is promising to send me a thing!

And I do at least have a draft of the Just Married fic, but also maybe defaulting would be easier than editing in summer? idk. It is a thing that will definitely be a thing now. Hopefully on time, but eventually, even if I have to wait for a better season, and I am totally being in love with this combination of characters all over again, but I can't talk about that for a month.

Sorry, it took me a little while to finish answering these! (There were loads! It was great! XD)

( The results under here )

So, chocolateboxcomm has now been and gone, and I can thank lurking_latinist and romanajo123 for my gifts, both for Five/Tegan - Doubt and Doubles and Just This One Time. (Again, lurking_latinist! ♥)

I was assigned to calliopes_pen, and wrote three stories for Dracula (TV 1968) - and thanks to Pers for beta-ing for me again! The first two were Canon Divergence AUs based on their prompts and the other a post-canon fic (I - sort of - had made this one earlier!)

I wrote a Lucy/Mina ficlet for their prompt about an AU where Mina interrupts Dracula's nighttime visits to Lucy...

Morning Prayer (902 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mina Harker/Lucy Weston
Characters: Mina Harker, Lucy Weston, Dracula
Additional Tags: Ficlet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Vampires, Fix-It, Implied harm to a bat, but it is not an actual bat anyway, it is a vampire having a bad night
Summary: Dracula's visit to Lucy is interrupted. It's not a good night for the Count.


And then for their Van Helsing & Dracula prompt, about Van Helsing's giving in to Dracula tempting him with all his knowledge at the end, which was too fascinating not to write. This version has a rather more severe Van Helsing than many of them, so it was a fun AU to explore.

To Catch A Spider... (2082 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968), Dracula & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Dracula & Abraham Van Helsing
Characters: Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, John Seward, Mrs Hoskins (Dracula TV 1968)
Additional Tags: Dark, Evil Wins, Major Character Undeath, Character Death, Vampires, Alternate Universe
Summary: Van Helsing gives into temptation. The Count will learn to be sorry for it - and so will everyone else.

And, finally, for their Jon/Mina/John request, I actually had almost all of this piece written out in rough from a previous Yuletide, but wasn't able to do what I'd planned with it at the time due to illness. I wasn't quite sure if I'd be able to get it into shape and typed up for Chocolate Box, but I did, so here it is:

Inner Demons (3867 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker/John Seward
Characters: John Seward, Mina Harker, Jonathan Harker, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Demonic Possession, Victorian, Blood and Injury, The forces of darkness do not take holidays
Summary: If there's one thing this supernatural business has taught Dr Seward, it's that wherever the Harkers go, there'll be trouble. Unfortunately, it seems that wherever the Harkers go now, so does he...

I had meant to write some other treats because there were so many fun requests, especially in the Doctor Who fandom (there were even other Five/Tegan requesters! Unheard of!) But I got a tad carried away with my assignment mostly because I just had to dust off the would-be hellfire club in the Hotel in Bridlington (although I still did not even get to use the whole Wold Newton Triangle thing).

So someone tagged me in this meme on tumblr and I'm reposting it here, because it seemed like the sort of meme people round these parts would also enjoy!

Go to the following website https://www.random.org/lists/ and type in 15 different characters from any Fandom (they can be in the same fandom). Then it will give you an order, after shuffling the characters. You must answer the following in the order they give you!

Fandoms: Dracula (1968), OUaT, Sapphire & Steel, Blake’s 7, Doctor Who, Press Gang, Adam Adamant Lives!, Spooks, The Shadow of the Tower.

( The answers/categories under here )

3. You've got your OTP, you have to throw a third into the mix (from the same fandom), creating an OT3. Who is the OTP, and in your opinion, why would they make a perfect third for them?

I don't really have an OTP as such, just a range of pairings, some of which are more OTP-ish than others, and some OT3s. Given that I have a lot of fandoms, I'm not sure where I'd start or stop with the list.

My OT3s probably already fit this in some ways, because clearly Sapphire/Steel is a perfect pairing, a true OTP. Whoever else could come into the mix? I thought, watching the start of Assignment Three. And then Silver appeared and I OT3-ed them forever in less than 2 more episodes, but obv Sapphire and Steel are the two who are the two. They would ditch Silver like a shot if they had to, although they would miss him badly if it came to it. The OT3 is shiny and perfect though, and that is always what I prefer to play with. Mind you, I do think - given how strange they are, and how they interact - that there is a degree to which I kind of ship Elements/Elements generally, and that that might in some ways be nearer to the truth than any human arrangement.

And in Department S, Annabelle/Stewart are obviously or have been some kind of item, because they reference this a few times, but equally the OT3 is just so much better, although it is a V-shaped OT3 with Annabelle/Stewart and Jason/Stewart but Jason & Annabelle in the other corner. Their love is true also, but probably not sexual. (Jason's sexuality is everybody-but-Annabelle pretty much, although also this is Jason. They probably would some time, because Jason, and Annabelle does own to some curiosity over what all the fuss is about re. Jason.)

(I feel bad about excluding Sir Curtis, but I don't think he could maintain the kind of diplomatic dignity, authority and denial about caring for his operatives (he DOES NOT, it is all PROFESSIONAL, thank you) if he was in an OT4 with them. He just has an occasional affair with Stewart in far-flung railway carriages and boat cabins instead, obviously. If not, I don't know why he keeps wasting the department's budget by summoning him to all these inconvenient locations just to hand over a file.)

My other real OT3 is the Dracula (1868) lot, which is more of a pick and mix affair, because honestly everyone is a potential ship in that anyway and I love that about it so much, but basically, the true OTP here is Mina/Lucy, my personal OTP is more Mina/John, (for actual reasons, but also they're Suzanne Neve and James Maxwell so I can't not), and John/Lucy are engaged anyway, so why not have an OT3 of hapless Victorian vampire fodder? I love them a lot, anyway.

I have grown into also shipping Mina/John/Jonathan as a post-canon solution, because otherwise I don't know what to do with Jonathan. (This is the fault of random generators and calliopes_pen, mainly, though. But it is a fun option!)

But as someone who likes new options and tends to write invisible shippiness, I'm happy to consider it unless the third is part of a NOTP with one of the original pairing.

I was thinking some pairings don't lend themselves to this so much, like Ruth/Harry, but then of course, I thought, well, Tom? And I could definitely go with that. And then there's the dark side with Juliet, or the deeply disturbed Mace/Harry/Ruth kind of options. So, then, I was, yes, but Zaf/Jo, and then thought: wait, no, Zaf/Jo/Ros, and basically I am a what if kind of person when it comes to fanfic, because isn't that the point, really? At least every once in a while, if not as a true OT-anything. Isn't never say never the motto of fandom once you've been in it more than a month or two? ;-p

(But also Zaf/Jo/Ros should be a thing now, okay.)

As I said, my assignment this year was calliopes_pen. I planned to write the further supernatural adventures of Mina, Jonathan and Dr Seward and spent some time researching Yorkshire ghost stories and legends, which got me an unexpected £5 and knowledge of the existence of the Wold Newton Triangle and drafted up several pages of an accidental demon summoning in a hotel in Bridlington. (The Local Hellfire Club had been meeting there for years and nothing like this had ever happened before the Harkers checked in for the weekend!) And then I was ill and ill and ill. But I had thought of several ideas (with a vague idea of a possible 5 + 1 type thing of supernatural encounters), and one that stood out as possible, simpler but nicely emotive alternative, was this idea around a seance and other-worldly influences lingering.

Broken Vessels (4083 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968), Dracula & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker, Jonathan Harker & Mina Harker & John Seward, Mina Harker/Lucy Weston, John Seward/Lucy Weston
Characters: Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, John Seward
Additional Tags: Victorian, seances, Ghosts, Aftermath, Possession, Dr Seward somehow does not faint, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, this was quite hard to tag for relationships, i could as easily have also tagged Jonathan/John as well
Summary: Jonathan keeps letting things in while Mina and John are having trouble letting go.


I think, in the end, this probably turned out the better Yuletide gift, but I think I'd still like to use the other. Since I actually swiped a couple of things from it for Broken Vessels, I probably can't make it another gift, but I probably could do a different version entirely for me. The world needs the Wold Newton Triangle...

Anyway, it was a good Yuletide! I even got some comments that weren't from my recips & a couple of recs on top, which I really didn't think I would this time, because of the obscurity of all three fandoms. I'm glad I made it - and then there's the whole rest of the collection still. I've barely scratched the surface.

So, I was absolutely, definitely going to get on with doing the serious editing needed on the Yule-fic tonight.

And, um, somehow I felt the need to do the Onion Headline meme with Dracula instead. Someone had better appreciate my obscure fannish procrastination, so here, have a meme:

( I'm still not sure how Jonathan avoided being in this, so clearly I need to try again harder next time )

Thank you, and good night. (Yes, I may still be rather tired. *hand waves* *strange things fall out of my photo editor*

I scraped in with one last Whumptober effort with this. (3/31, not bad? Heh.) calliopes_pen suggested Dracula (TV 1968) for Day 27 "Extreme Weather" and how can I resist a 1960s Dracula prompt? (It's not quite as suggested, because I started it that way, realised it was clearly going to take me 5-10k again, so I switched direction and came up with this instead. It's still not a ficlet, though, dammit! It was totally going to be a ficlet. Two ficlets!! It is not.)

Oh, and I am amused because if you live in the UK and wanted to celebrate Halloween by staying up till 1.30am and watching James Maxwell faint on actual telly tonight in Mystery & Imagination's version, you totally can thanks to Talking Pictures. I'm going to bed, but I do think that's pretty wonderful. XD

This also fits the square "Trapped Together" on my current hc_bingo table.

Red Skies (2030 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker/John Seward
Characters: John Seward, Mina Harker, Jonathan Harker
Additional Tags: Whumptober 2020, Community: hc_bingo, Bad Weather, Rain, Dark, Post-Canon, Trapped
Summary: A storm breaks without warning.

I am still not really coping, so am not keeping up. I will just continue to pop up with gifs, or in this case, fic, since I have also been managing some little bits of writing recently. Anyway, I have finished the birthday Unconventional Courtship fic(lets) for john_amend_all, plus the summaries I couldn't write but needed to share:

( Leela/Ten )

( Charley Pollard/Lucy Weston )

( Holly/Fifth Doctor )

( Bonus summaries )