#icebluecyanide

[ar-chives007]

1, 10, and 18 for the Alex Rider book asks please!

Thank you for the ask @icebluecyanide! Tagging my other account in this (I realize I have messed up my Tumblr blogs; oops) as well: @catakysma

1: Do you have a favorite book? And if so, which is it?

I feel like this is such a controversial opinion because no one I've met seems to agree with me, but Snakehead is by far the best AR book, followed by SCORPIA and Russian Roulette, and it's not even close. For awhile, I was flip flopping between SCORPIA and Eagle Strike, but imo, the strongest part of Eagle Strike is obvs the Yassen content we get to see. Beyond that, however, Eagle Strike on its own just doesn't hold up that well. Snakehead, on the other hand, is such a rich, dark book and it truly is the one AR book where I genuinely felt afraid for Alex's life. Like yeah, when Alex's life is getting threatened in every other book, it's scary but it's also kind of...outlandish? It's hard at the very least to conceptualize the danger he's in, because most of us will not ever encounter the specific scenarios he's in (for example, I'm not particularly concerned about getting put into a tank with a Portuguese Man O' War). But the organ harvesting/trafficking angle in Snakehead is depressingly realistic and absolutely something that happens to people on a daily basis. Furthermore, it's also very tied into how so many desperate people who are refugees are trying to immigrate for a better life for themselves and their families but fall prey to opportunistic predators looking to exploit them. One of the bleakest Snakehead moments is when that one old man sneaks out to look for Alex and gets caught and executed. And then of course, Alex at the organ farm. When they just talk frankly about removing his eyes...urgh. Idk, I think Snakehead really touched into a very realistic aspect of that world (espionage) which felt a little too uncomfortable/close to home. I actually wanted to be a spy for the longest time but reading Snakehead firmly dissuaded me from that particular line of work.

10. What is your favorite Alex Rider quote/pun?

Ha! Hard to pick one. If you're talking about specifically something which Alex says, it would be the bit in Skeleton Key where the CIA agents are being dicks to him and he gets fed up and says, "Forget it! I'm going back to London. And if your Mr. Byrne asks why, you can tell him I didn’t like the jelly, so I went home to get some jam." If we're talking about the best series quote overall, it would have to come from Yassen when he says, "Killing is for grown-ups and you're still a child."

18. Which two characters that never shared scenes in the books would you most like to see interacting?

Oh, for me, it would be Helen Rider and Ms. Jones. I'm not sure we ever got a direct scene between the two (Ms. Jones mentions her in passing at one point I'm pretty sure, but we're never given any indication the two actually spoke or interacted one-on-one directly). Specifically, I'm very very curious how Helen would react to Ms. Jones' exploiting Alex. You could argue that Helen's original grievance should be with Blunt, yes, but Blunt just truly does not give a fuck whereas with Ms. Jones, who's a mother herself and who has this complicated, maternal at times, relationship with Alex, continues to exploit him regardless. I think there's some real potential there. I feel like Helen would be even more heartbroken than John over this. It's really interesting/sad for me to think about.

[polarnacht1]

3, 8, and 17 for the Alex Rider TV asks please!

Thanks for the ask!!

3. When did you first hear about the TV series? What was your initial impression when you watched it?

I don't remember exactly, but it was when season one was completely aired already. We watched Hanna before and then it got recommend by the alogrythm, and I was immediately sucked in. Learned only later about the books.

8. Which actors do you think best embodied their role? Does anyone stand out in particular?

Definitely Thomas Levin as Yassen. He's perfect in the role. Deadly, mysterious and hot. Also love his nuanced and quiet acting. Alex was really a great choice too - I especially liked that he matured on screen. Though in general he looked too old for Alex, he looked his true age of early 20.

17. If you could commission a hypothetical fourth season, what story would you want it to cover?

As I haven't read the books I don't know if there's anything interesting there, but I absolutely would love a grown up Alex to meet Yassen again. I'd like to see a fucked up Alex still involved in this world & then has to make a choice when he stumbles across Yassen again. Return the favour of saving him or not

[therealvinelle]

You seem too know the bare bones of tvd and the originals (from a old ask I read that mentioned you watched tvd 1-3 and about half of the originals)

Would you ever consider writing for that fandom or just the mikaelson’s ?

... did you know I got on tumblr because of The Vampire Diaries? And learned to pirate so I could watch The Vampire Diaries?

Alas, while I wanted to for the longest time I never wound up writing fic for it as I simply never had an idea that could sustain a fic. Somehow, it's a primarily oneshot-friendly fandom.

That being said, if you want a fic rec from the fandom then the all-timer, the greatest of them all, the once-and-forever rec, is Taken by Wheatear / Pied Flycatcher. Anything by Wheatear goes, but Taken is the longfic and capolavoro. I followed it as it was coming out, and it holds a very special place in my heart.

For other recs, I'm afraid it's been more than ten years since I was heavily into TVD, and much of my digging was on Livejournal, so the best I can do is point to @icebluecyanide's well tagged blog and tell you to go nuts, with both their fic and their recs.

[anghraine]

☔ for the WIP teasing asks!

This is:

Is there a fic concept you have that you’d like to just explain and share because you’re not sure you’ll ever write it? If so, what is it?

Okay, thinking about it, there's one that I've turned around in my head a LOT over the years, but not written a word of. I've often thought about what might have happened if Darcy had done ... something ... that made his basic good character clear much earlier in the story, in Hertfordshire, but which either directly or indirectly also challenged his and Elizabeth's assumptions.

For me, the simplest path for this is to move the timing of the Gardiners' visit. I have a post about how I would write this in general. But the scenario I run through my head now and again has him doing something heroic wrt one of them—pulling someone out of the way of traffic a carriage or something, idk. I think the Gardiners are smart enough to realize that [heroic action] is pretty incompatible with the Wickham account, while Elizabeth struggles with it, and I also think Darcy would find it pretty refreshing to be liked for something he did rather than his position despite his initial reservations about Mrs Bennet's relatives.

I think he'd initially categorize the Gardiners as special exceptions like Bingley, Elizabeth, Jane, but it'd still sit uncomfortably with his earlier assumptions about them, and Elizabeth meanwhile has to face her trusted aunt's judgment differing from her own even more profoundly than in canon, which is also deeply uncomfortable, and it's messy all around but turns out well. Eventually.

[ywhiterain]

3x05 coda

Klaus and Elijah’s fight dissolves into kissing. https://archiveofourown.org/works/42498918

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[ladyculebras]

5 & 11 for the new year fanfic asks!

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

A fic I cannot talk about because it’s for Five Figure Exchange. For SPN, there’s a Sam/Dean PWP I want to finish and a Sam/Dean/John sex pollen noncon fic I’ve been low key working on since last summer. I don't tend to post snippets because I get very anxious about people looking at my rough drafts, sorry!

11 answered here!

[highgaarden]

hannah are you writing tom/hermione fic now???? I MUST READ THIS

*CHOKES*

yes this fandom and its talent terrifies me but indeed, i am writing hp fic now, specifically... tomione fic

[livlepretre]

If you are still doing the top 5 thing: top five tvd/TO characters most likely to commit tax fraud

oh my God I’m laughing so much thank you for this 

1. Tyler Lockwood-- I think the Lockwoods might commit tax fraud regularly anyway; also, being an orphan and really young, no way he knows enough about the tax system to notice how sketchy his parents’ returns are, and I bet he tries to wing it himself at the last minute instead of going to a CPA, so he probably fills them out continuing the pattern of massive tax fraud without realizing what’s going on until the IRS comes knocking on his door  

2. Bill Forbes-- don’t tell me you don’t think he would because he definitely did

3. Hayley-- does she even have a social security number 

4&5. Elijah and Klaus-- I’m including them together because I bet they actually jointly own a lot of their property, even though they run hot and cold with each other, and I bet they must consider this an art form, right? how to evade taxes in all 40 countries where they have holdings? I’m sure that tax evasion is part of the explicit instructions they give their estate managers 

Meanwhile I think Marcel might actually pay taxes. He loves the city and he wants to contribute to the public works projects. And the roads in Nola need repaving BADLY.