a_sporking_rat | Entries tagged with sue vs sue

- More focus on characters. The sheer abundance of them combined with the fast-paced plot made it difficult just to keep up with them, let alone have the individual little sub-plots for each like I originally wanted. Much like LKH, I was forced to just dump everything I'd wanted to happen, especially the romantic pairings, into the epilogue without ever having really developed it whatsoever in the actual story itself. (Of course, that makes it more authentically-AB, but that's obviously not really a good thing)

- More focus on Lucretia being really creepy and unnerving to others just by existing, her Uncanny Valleyness, as well as more ambiguity/suggestion as to just what she really is. Rowan sees her as a fellow fey, albeit one made a vampire, but that's meant to be only one of a few options, the others being that she's something else entirely or just a very weird/old human vampire. There's meant to be an almost Lovecraftian feel about her, and, in the context of SvS specifically, there's also meant to be the implication that she either is a breed of SUE herself or something that hunts/kills them.

- She's also the creator of a vampire called Ruthven, and though it doesn't come up in this fic, Ruthven can call swans and enslaved all the swanmanes of England. Several member's of Sig's flock are refugees/rebels who escaped from this, and I wish there could have been a moment of them realizing this. Ended up being undoable since most of the Flock stayed in NYC till the very end, plus there was so much other shit going on.

- More emphasis in general on why swanmanes in particular have a reason to fight Anita. The issue of the mass rape was brought up, but their history with Ruthven also gives them reason to not want a tyrant ruling over all the therians. Which also would give them reason to not like Maureen and Lucille taking over, and on that note, originally the rebels were supposed to turn against the SUEs once they saw they'd only exchanged one monster for two, but the nature of SUEs enforces complacently and adoration, so that didn't happen.

- I wanted Asher to be able to confront Jean-Claude, and make it clear he was through with his shit and why, possibly attempt to offer him away out of this even so, and Jean-Claude's ultimate decision that he values power more, and examination into why that is.

- More on Lucille's past, since the fact it's Tragic Cliche Dead Mother Abusive Father Sue Angst past that she...doesn't angst about, or at least not for the seasons one might first expect, and how it influenced how she turned out but with the emphasis that her being awful is still her own choice (as well as establishing that being a terrible person is not part of being a SUE, but that it's easier for them to be one, as with Anita and Lucille, because they never face any consequences for it)

- I wanted Cornelius to get a chance to use his faith in Voodoo against other vampires, namely in breaking a bottle of white rum over JC's head (white rum with goat peppers in it is the favorite drink of Ghede loa and a common offering to them, so in the hands of Cornelius it's a holy item) as well as getting to show off his acrobatic AND hacking abilities more (AND TAUNT JC DIRECTLY WITH HIS STOLEN OUTFIT). I also really wanted a scene where he, Max, and maybe some others hijack the stage at Guilty Pleasures and do an absolutely ridiculous strip routine to something by The Village People, probably Macho Man

- Having it pointed out to Richard by Sylvie, Jamil or Shang-Da that Marcus was like him, that he thought of werewolves as humans first, and, like him, was corrupted by his rapist girlfriend--"You know why Raina hasn't shown up in Anita lately, Richard? Because she doesn't have to anymore! Anita does everything she would do anyway, just she isn't honest about it like Raina at least was!" If Richard hadn't have died, I'd have had him step down to make way for Sylvie, at which point it would be pointed out that it doesn't work like that and the previous leader has to be eaten by the new one, at which point Sylvie would just go "Who says?"

- Narci also confronting Anita, and having it revealed that Anita hates him because he's really just like she is. Anita would accuse him of raping JC in the past, and Narci would be like yes I did what of it, then point out that Anita's entire empire built is on rape, rattle off names of her victims, and point out that it was like that before she even got here, what with Raina and Gabriel, Nikolaos pimping Jean-Claude out to him, and that JC uses rape alongside Anita because he knows this too. "This is how it works. This is how power is gained and how power is held, and I learned that long ago, just like Jean-Claude did." (Basically, hinting he's been subject to similar like JC has; not to excuse him but as a criticism of the system LKH has created and how it relies on this shit, as well as pointing out how some rapists like Narcissus are reviled, as they should be, while some are adored like JC, and how that's basically based around who Anita thinks is sexy and the gross hypocrisy of that)

- So much more Melanie/Narcissus joyousness with Edgar, Rowan, Lucille and Maureen all joining in as well. SHOES!

As you know, many of the characters in SvS were donated by writtenelision, who is a fabulous writer and great fun to roleplay with. She wrote these two shorts concerning her characters in scenes that happened during SvS, but were not written by me in the larger story. Imagine this basically as the bonus scenes on a DVD. The first is Pryderi "Fidget" Smith confronting Rowan about secretly being a fey rather than a werefox like they pretend, and the second is Sig (who belongs to Cygnusrex) and Odette discussing her role as Herald (and just what that entails) before the final battle.

Enjoy! I did!
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This is it, folks! The last segment of SUE VS SUE! I would like to thank everyone for reading and commenting and following it thus far, as well as the creation of so many donated characters for its used. For this section in particular, credit must be given to writtenelision; without going into spoilers, everything that Lucretia reveals to Lucille and Maureen was writtenelision's idea.

Odile (" the tiny brunette holding the battle-axe...screaming a Norse battle-cry"), Odette, Hank, Fidget, Victoria, Emily, Maureen, Simon, and Rowan also belong to writtenelision
Edgar/Aggie, Sig, Tom Sallow, and Astrid belong to cygnusrex
Cefyn belongs to wickedgrayson
Sadhya belongs to Phoenixofborg
Wander and Ghislaine belong to wandering worlds
Tung belongs to Tungsten monk
Mitria belongs to mitrian
Ufa belongs to uf_addict
Nan belongs to nanoquill
Anyone else who isn't AB canon belongs to me

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This installment uses some terminology in regards to the weretigers that was made up during RP. It's not canon, but it makes sense and makes things less confusing, so I'm including it.

In the books, a tiger "clan" can refer either to a group of tigers in the same way pack does for the wolves or rodere from the rats, but can also mean what color they come from--Cynric, for example is from the blue clan in the sense of his lineage but is a member of Anita's clan in terms of group affiliation. Changs rule the clans in terms of color lineage, so Bibiana rules the entire white clan aka all the white weretigers in the USA, but may not rule the smaller clan that a particular tiger of their color belongs to in terms of group affiliation.

Obviously, that's confusing as fuck, so this is the system we use:

Clan - The color they originate from. White Clan, Red Clan, and so on. As seen in the books, most members of a clan will live in a mass commune in one place made up only or almost exclusively of members of that clan color (the White Clan in Vegas, Red clan in Seattle, etc.) where they are ruled by the Chang, who is the ruler of that Clan.

Streak - Some, however, will live elsewhere in the country rather than the HQ of their clan, and, if they are not the only solitary tigers in the area (as is probably usually the case) will group together in a Streak. Unlike the Clans, these Streaks are much smaller, not huge communes, and much more like other minority-therian societies in terms of size and structure. They are usually of mixed-colors rather than all one, and while each tiger owes their ultimate loyalty to his Clan Chang, they are more immediately ruled over by the Sahiba of the Streak. Basically, the Chang is President, the Sahiba is the mayor. Streaks may also be called Little Clans, since the Sahiba is usually a Little Queen.

Little Queen - A female with enough power to leave her own clan and establish a Streak of her own.

Sahiba - A Little Queen or other female tiger who has actually done so. She may have founded the Streak, or taken or inherited it from another Sahiba, or the Streak formed itself and she came to them later. Who gets to be Sahiba depends a lot on what kind of weretigers make up the Streak; a Streak of mostly Clan tigers will probably never accept an orange survivor as their Sahiba no matter how powerful she is, whereas a Streak of mostly orange tigers probably isn't going to care about whether their Sahiba has 'pure' breeding, and a Streak made up of mostly white clan tigers might demand that their Sahiba only be a white clan tiger as well. It all varies.

So, Klaus belongs to the White Clan and thus owes his loyalty to them and Bibi first, but he's a member of a Streak headed by a Sahiba called Sandhya, whom he is loyal to second, and Sandhya is of the Red Clan and thus answers to Cho rather than Bibi, hence the conflict of interest Klaus will be having in this installment that is 'addressed' by Lucille.

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Hey guys, did you see the previous SvS update? Because you won't understand this one if you didn't
http://a-sporking-rat.livejournal.com/53873.html
I ask because, well, comments are the only way I can tell people have read it, so when there are none I'm not sure...and I feel like a shit for saying this because it sounds like a passive-aggressive demand for comments and I SWEAR THAT'S NOT IT I just want to be sure people don't miss it so this one makes sense...although it might not make sense anyway. IT BARELY MAKES SENSE TO ME AT THIS POINT.

I've got to say, this has been an incredible experience so far in what I think LKH's writing process is. Because firstly, this is a first draft. I am posting this as I write it. And I have no idea where the shit I'm going. I know who is going to win and have some notes about things I want to happen, but I have no plans on when or how to pull it all together. Which is usually how my first drafts are, but then I straighten them out and clean them up in the following drafts. This? This has become such a clusterfuck. There will doubtless be dangling plot threads galore when I finish this (and so instead of actually wrapping them up in the story itself I'll just do one of LKH's un-satisfying sum-up epilogues!) But there's also the constant introduction of new stuff, forgetting old stuff, and having ALL THESE CHARACTERS to not only keep track of but also try to give attention to in general. But it's impossible to focus on them all and not bog down the action and pace, so I wind up with these great characters in my head not really getting any screen-time at all and me just TELLING you what they're like with no showing---case in point, the bit about Cleo in this update.

This is how LKH does it, guys. My fic is the most meta-authentic imitation of hers and that is why it is a MESS.

Of course, I wanted it that way on purpose for said LKH-experience and meta-level imitation, what's her excuse?

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Yet another update in which few of the donated characters feature D: Sorry everyone, I really want to get back to them too! Since I have LITERALLY NO IDEA what is gonna happen next though, that means the range is wide open for me to work them in!

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This one focuses almost entirely on Lucille and Anita, and there's little to nothing of all the lovely donated characters save for Maureen, but I hope you'll still enjoy it! It's also a bit shorter than previous updates, I think, but hopefully packs no less punch for it!

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ATTENTION: This is the LATTER half of the latest SvS installment. It was too large for one LJ post, so I posted it in halves. Please see the post BELOW this one for the FIRST half of this installment, then read this one!

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At long last, it is here! And, as promised, sporkings of Kiss the Dead will begin on Friday!

This update is too large for a single LJ update, so I'll be posting it in halves, so look to the post above this one for the next half of this installemtn!

I wanted Thea and the others to all be on Anita's side so she'd have some aid against Lucille, as things are so stacked against her right now, but logically it just seemed like most of their motivations should be to wash their hands of her. And unfortunately that also means most of them, save Bibi and Reba, won't be included in the fic beyond this like I'd wanted. I was hoping for all these different factions siding with Anita for reasons of their own, etc., but oh well, things are enough of a clusterfuck as it is...and besides, there will start being other divisions of factions reeeeal soon in the next few updates of...

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Before I start this story installment, let my relay another story: As I have mentioned, I volunteer at the animal shelter. This is part of Animal Control, which is a division of the police department, so technically I am a volunteer with the police department, and today there was a meeting for all volunteers regardless of what division they volunteered with, including shelter volunteers. Said meeting was overseen by a police officer who is the supervisor for us all.

Now, here's the odd thing: She was a woman! I thought those barely existed in the police department! What's more, she wasn't always just watching us volunteers, she's been a crime-stopping sort too, out in the field, in on action, all that stuff! And yet, she didn't look down on "desk jobs" at all, or prize shooting people/violence above everything else. In fact, she said that her real passion was teaching, and she loves doing stuff like "crime prevention" where she goes and talks to people about how to burglar-proof their house, etc. She did have a visible gun, but she wasn't constantly flaunting it, touching it, or talking about it, even though she mentioned she was also a firearms instructor. Isn't that weird? And she was neither overtly feminine (save a short ponytail and a touch of eye-liner) nor masculine! Bizarre! And get this, when the chief came in, he wasn't randomly hostile and misogynistic to her either! Do you think maybe she's "one of the guys" and thus worthy of respect despite her daring to have on a wee bit of makeup?

Okay, in all seriousness...one of the things that I got from the meeting was CD containing pretty much all the procedures and rules for actual officers, not just volunteers, on everything from how to handle a possible mentally ill person to family violence to how many earrings they're allowed. I got it for free as a volunteer, but according to her they sell them as well. She didn't mention how much, admittedly, but I doubt it's an exorbitant sum. I always figured that LKH getting some things wrong about law enforcement (not the more super outrageous stuff, but, say, stuff I sure wouldn't know without looking int it) was possibly forgivable, since I assumed that the specific information about every specific situation was not immediately accessible for civilians...so much for that. Granted, for all I know it's just my county that does this and everywhere near where she lives keeps their "blue books" under lock and key, but I doubt it. With all the research she claims to do, all the "real cops" she claims to talk to and be close friends with, all the stuff she claims to get right that eeeveryone else gets wrong, it is now that much more extra-grating to me that she clearly can't even be arsed to look at an actual book of police rules when it's not hard to get your hands on one at all and which could be kept very easily on her computer.

And now, two comments about this installment of Sue versus Sue:

1) Delilah's lines are from Tori Amos lyrics, because if you want to write a weird girl speaking cryptic word salad, there's no better source!

2) You will find out what Lucy did to Micah and Nathaniel, but I decided that putting the actual deed on-screen would detract from the overall humorous tone of the story. I don't want to brush her sadism under the rug by covering up the actual torture scenes, but this is ultimately supposed to be a funny story at heart, and while there is humor in what she ended up doing them, the painful process of how she did it is definitely Not Funny. I'm sure it could be if executed right, but my skill at pulling off black humor is not there yet.

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Tung belongs to tungstenmunk
Fell belongs to ladyfellshot
Mitria belongs to mitrian
Ufa belongs to ufa_addict
Wander belongs to wandering worlds
Odette belongs to writtenlision
Edgar and Astrid belong to cygnusrex
Cefyn belongs to evilgrayson
Nan belongs to nanoquill
Anyone else mentioned in this installment who is not an AB canon character belongs to me!

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Firstly, I would like to deeply apologize for my terrible portrayal of Cockney with Wander that you're about to endure. I'm so, so crappy with accents and regional slang.

Secondly, someone once suggested that back in the day, Dragon looked like Xena, and that today she looks more like Joan Jett. That has forever been my headcanon since, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Thirdly, credits:
Wander and Ghislaine belong to wanderingworlds
Nan belongs to nanoquill
Cefyn belongs to evilgrayson
Astrid, Edgar, and Sig all belong to cygnusrex
Tung belongs to tungsten monk
Fell belongs to ladyfellshot
Mitria belongs to mitrian
Hank belongs to writtenelision
All other non-canon characters mentioned in this segment belong to me

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If you're reading this, you obviously have an appreciation for AB spitefics. On that basis, please allow me to point you in the direction of this delicious little gem:
http://eternaleve.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/the-other-blake/

Besides that, the only thing I can think to mention before we get rolling is that there is a "Dev" referred to as being in Anita's harem. We learn in Bullet after Anita screws Mephistopheles (sorry, but you knew that was coming, right?) that his nickname is Devil. I guess 'Dev' at least sounds more normal than 'Meph'? Because I'd totally think the guy was being called 'Meth' and wonder what the story was there...

Anyway. Without further ado...
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For those wondering who Envy is, she is one of the golden weretigers who appears in Bullet. She got zero characterization, so I hope to find room in the fic somewhere for expanding on her...unfortunately she barely gets to speak in this installment of....

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First, some vampire author drama
http://sf-drama.livejournal.com/3418742.html
And some very bizarre past drama from the same author that I was not aware of but is definitely worth a read even if it's not recent
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1132356.html

And now...SUE VS SUE!
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Welcome, my friends, to the first installment of Sue vs Sue! I had a pretty good time writing it; it's fun to get to shamelessly use phrases like "alabaster brow" and wax on about ridiculous things over how Lucille stands, etc. It's also fun because I won't need to worry about keeping track of continuity errors, canon-fucking, and the lot, because that just makes it all the more like the canon novels! I hope you enjoy...
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