#vika your crossovers

[vikasgarden]

❝ Open the bloom of your heart and become a gift of beauty to the world.❞

Vika Rae ⸻ Die Beschützerin aus dem Bach.

Es war einmal, vor gar nicht allzu langer Zeit, da erbte eine junge Frau einen verwunschenen Garten. Die Pflanzen in diesem Garten hatten allerlei Kräfte und sahen dazu auch noch unfassbar gut aus. Jeder, der die Schwelle des Tores überwand, wurde eingehüllt von dem süßen, unwiderstehlichen Duft der Blüten. Besucher ließen sich gern dazu hinreißen, auf der Terrasse neben dem Haus Platz zu nehmen, ein Glas Wasser aufgehübscht mit Zitronen- und Limettenscheiben, sowie etwas Minze zu trinken und den Ausblick zu genießen. 

Wer will, der konnte während der sonnigen Tage im sonst so verregneten Schottland ein Bad im Weiher am Rande des Grundstücks nehmen. Oder einen Spaziergang durch die Blumen, vorbei an ein paar Nutzpflanzen und Obstbäumen machen. Vielleicht ließ sich ja auch eine der streunenden Katzen auf dem Schoß des Besuches nieder und brachte ihn dazu die Zeit zu vergessen, während die liebste Stelle hinterm Ohr der Katze gekrault wurde. Manch anderer packte sogar mit an. Immerhin mussten die Gänse gefüttert, die ältere Golden Retriever Dame gebürstet, Unkraut gezupft und Blumen zum Verkauf vorbereitet werden. 

Doch Gartenarbeit konnte so erholsam für die Seele sein! Manch einer der Besucher sprach davon, dass man sein altes Leben beinahe vergaß. Alle Probleme, all der Unmut und der Stress, waren wie weggeblasen. Es war heilsam den Bienen bei ihrer Arbeit zuzusehen und der Stimme der Besitzerin des Gartens zu lauschen. 

Doch hin und wieder geschah es, dass ein Besucher selbst herausfand, dass mit seinen Gedanken und Gefühlen gespielt wurde. Nicht immer war dieser Umstand willkommen. Nicht immer wollten die Besucher vergessen. Denn wer sind wir denn schon ohne unsere Erinnerungen? 

Dafür gab es aber auch andere, die gern zurückkommen würden. Die sich erneut und in vollstem Bewusstsein dem Vergessen hingeben und das Leben in vollen Zügen genießen wollten. 

Leider ist das kaum möglich. 

Ein Besuch im Garten ist meist nur temporär. Man tritt über die Schwelle, man vergisst und genießt und dann verlässt man den Garten wieder. Erinnert sich, fragt sich, wo die Zeit geblieben ist und eilt dem Terminkalender nach. Der Garten ist eine eigene Welt. Der Garten lässt Raum und Zeit verschwinden. 

Doch nichts wäre der Garten ohne die Besitzerin, die ihn mit diesen Fähigkeiten tränkt.

|| carrd ˟ currently open for plotting ☽ ✶ ⸻ ˟

OOC: Writing in german is highly preffered. I'm crossover and multiverse-friendly. I'd love to visit your world! Please read my #Rules on my carrd for more informations and trigger warnings. 21+ - MDNI! Let me know if you'd like me to write first!

Mostly inspired by The Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen.

[holly-poly]

Nomination Clarifications #2 + Update on Sign-ups Opening

Apologies for the fact sign-ups haven't opened on schedule. We've had some real life issues come up which delayed the nominations processing this week. All nominations have been processed now, except for those we have clarification questions for. Currently, the tagset stands at 670 fandoms and 4334 ships - just 41 ships left from 12 fandoms to process once we have some clarifications.

We will be giving people until 9pm UTC on October 31st to respond to the clarification questions - sign-ups will be open a short while after that deadline, or before then potentially if people gets back to us about all the clarifications earlier. If you want to see the exact time for that, you can take a look at this link: Countdown to nomination clarification deadline.

So far no nominations have been rejected, though there are a couple we will be rejecting that are mentioned below. If anyone is seeing any issues with their nominations, or errors in the tagset, please let us know.

For clarification questions see the keep reading below.

For anyone who nominated ships with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds characters in, please can you check we have processed them as expected. Us changing the format midway through nominations meant we had to interpret some of the nominations best we could - we hope we got those correct but we'd appreciate people double-checking them.

If you nominated Jack (Legend)/Madmartigan (Willow)/Sarah Williams (Labyrinth) under crossover - Fandom, we assume based on context that you meant Jack from the 1985 movie "Legend". If not, please let us know but otherwise we'll process it as that if we don't hear back.

If you nominated Raffi Musiker (Star Trek: Picard)/Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Picard)/B'Elanna Torres(ST: VOY) under crossover - Fandom, we will be rejecting this nomination since it already exists in the appropriate category of Star Trek: Classic Timeline as "Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine/B'Elanna Torres (Classic Trek)"

If you nominated Trisana Chandler/Daja Kisubo/Briar Moss/Sandrilene fa Toren (Emelan) in Baldur's Gate 3 under crossover - Fandom, we will be rejecting this on the assumption you mean that Emelan ship but in a Baldur's Gate AU/Fusion, because the ship is already nominated under the Emelan fandom. You can request it with the prompt of Baldur's Gate AU/Fusion in optional details but we can't guarantee anyone would create that AU rather than simply the ship in the Emelan canon setting.

If you nominated Jack Harper/Vika Olsen/Vika Olsen under Oblivion (2013), please can you confirm which versions of the characters you mean since there are multiple possible. If we don't hear back from you we will process this as "Jack Harper/Victoria "Vika" Olsen/Clone Victoria "Vika" Olsen" with which meant left up to interpretation.

If you nominated Sheltered Young Prince/Prince's Loyal Knight/Prince's Arranged Marriage Husband under Original Work, do you have an expectation for the gender of the knight or will any gender interpretation be okay with you? If we don't heard back from you we will process as it and it will be left up to interpretation.

If you nominated Dr. Gurathin & Pin-Lee & Dr. Ratthi under The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Well, we will be rejecting this nomination because we don't allow &'s for relationships in this exchange, however, the version using all /'s - Dr. Gurathin/Pin-Lee/Dr. Ratthi - is already in the tagset. If the &'s meant you want to request the relationship be asexual/queerplatonic/etc., then that's something to include in your optional details when signing up.

If you nominated Liu Qianqiao/Yu Qiufeng/Yu Qiufeng's Wife under 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021), please can you confirm whether you meant Madame Yu or the general concept of Yu Qiufeng having a wife. If we don't hear back from you we will process it as it is.

If you nominated 999th Lee Jihye/999th/Lee Hyunsung/999th Kim Namwoon/999th Uriel under 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, we assume you meant to write "999th Lee Hyunsung" without the / in the middle, but if not let us know. If we don't hear back from you we will process it as "999th Regression Kim Namwoon/999th Regression Lee Hyunsung/999th Regression Lee Jihye/999th Regression Uriel".

If you nominated any ships under the fandom DCU, please can you tell us which canon you meant for each ship since that AO3 fandom tag covers multiple DC canons - did you mean DCU Comics, DC Extended Universe, DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DC's Arrowerse, or another DCU canon? If we don't heard back about them we will assume you meant DC Comics and process them as that.

If you nominated Catman/Deadshot/Ghostmaker under DCU, we also need to know if you meant "Minhkhoa Khan/Floyd Lawton/Thomas Reese Blake" or not. We think those are the right character names based on what we can tell, but we're not familiar with whether those codenames have more than one person possible. If we don't hear back we'll process as "Minhkhoa Khan/Floyd Lawton/Thomas Reese Blake".

If you nominated any ships under the fandom Dune - All Media Types, can you confirm you are fine with the fact you may get any canon interpretation for the characters, from books, TV miniseries, either movie, or games. If you want to change any of the ships to a specific canon source, let us know, otherwise we will process as All Media Types if we don't hear back.

If you nominated Princess Badoura/Her Husband/Her WIfe under Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, please can you confirm whether you meant specific characters (such as the unnamed husband character or possibly Prince Camaralzaman) or the general concept of Princess Badoura having any husband and wife. If we don't hear back from you we will process it as "Princess Badoura/Princess Badoura's Husband/Princess Badoura's Wife" leaving it up to interpretation.

If you nominated the fandom Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry, can you confirm which canon source you meant since there are several. If we don't hear back we'll assume the video game.

If you nominated the fandom Spyro the Dragon (Video Games 1998-2005), could you explain why it's nominated for the 1998-2005 games specifically. Some of the ships for it seem to be include characters from the later reboot game series and since we're not familiar with the fandom we don't know if the reboot games are another canon entirely or whether changing the fandom to a more general Spyro the Dragon (Video Games) would be okay. If we don't hear back we'll assume it's okay to do the more general fandom title.

If you nominated the fandom Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry, can you confirm which canon source you meant since there are several. If we don't hear back we'll assume the video game.

If you nominated any ships under the fandom The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, please can you tell us which canon source you meant for each ship since that AO3 fandom tag covers multiple sources. We did accidentally approve this fandom, so it's in the tagset already. If we don't hear back from people about changing their nominated ships to a more specific canon source we will treat this fandom similar to an All Media Types fandom, meaning you may get any canon interpretation for the characters, from the books, TV show, or video game.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can also send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com.

Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2023 Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/17485 Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits

[zawazawanightmares]

Wonder-Wonderland & Vika

You, Wonder-Wonderland, are connected to Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ] Your partner selected the 18+ server. Your partner has a starter. Type /starter or tap here to see it.

Wonder-Wonderland: /starter

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: https://imgchest.com/p/a846xzzro4x You choose whether she's fem or futa. In case you're curious, this character is from the games 20XX & 30XX, roguelikes heavily inspired by Mega Man X. They're fantastic games and you should play them. That said, I'm not here to talk about them or Mega Man games, I'm just here to roleplay! I promise I'm much more adaptable than you think; and much kinkier than you'd expect, too. Some taboo is fine as well. I like casual roleplays and casually chatting in-character, so in-character approaches are more than welcome if you'd like. Crossovers welcome!

Wonder-Wonderland: (Hey.)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (Oh, hello.)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (...What's your character?)

Wonder-Wonderland: (Wonder-Wonderland from the Wonderful 101. She's a henshin hero. Do you want a ref?)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (Ohhhh...oh, wow, w101...sure!)

Wonder-Wonderland: https://the-wonderful-101.fandom.com/wiki/Wonder-Wonderland

Wonder-Wonderland: (Sorry I couldn't get a bigger picture for you.)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (Ohhhh. Cute! It's fine, I'm a fan!)

Wonder-Wonderland: (Gotcha. How about Wonder sees Vika and accuses her of trying to assault her, all while trying to seduce her?)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (Sure!)

Wonder-Wonderland: (Do you want me to start?)

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: (If you can!)

Wonder-Wonderland: Zounds! A villain! No doubt a part of the paparazzi who wishes to take pictures of my treasured privates!

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: "A--villain?" She stutters out, baffled. "What...? No, no, I didn't...that wasn't even close to any thought I had...!"

Wonder-Wonderland: "Don't play coy! You think that with your cute face, your big chest and enticing bulge that I was just going to let you do as you please?!" Wonderland turned around and bent over, lifting her dress to show off her pink thong. "This sacred chalice will never be yours!"

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: Vika blinks, taken aback. She doesn't understand societal cues to begin with, let alone whatever this is. She does grow flushed, however, her cheeks turning a slight yellowish-green. "I-I...what are you talking about? I don't want this...sacred chalice, or anything...!" She insists. Yet she can't help but stare...

Wonder-Wonderland: "You really are trying my patience...to think that you would play innocent for this long! This will not stand!" She took out a whip and advanced on her...and deliberately dropped it, falling to her knees and slowly "dropping" her face against Vika's crotch. "You fiend! To disarm me so easily! Must your lust be so violent?!"

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: She couldn't tell if this girl was serious, or this was some elaborate ruse to get in her panties. Vika steps back and stances up, prepared for a fight...only for the strange masked girl to randomly drop her weapon, very blatantly shoving her face right into Vika's crotch. "G-ghuah...!" Her eyes widened, unable to move as Wonderland's face smushed right up against her bulge. It isn't long before it starts growing against her cheek, too... "I-I didn't even do anything! I'm...y-you clearly tripped on purpose!"

Wonder-Wonderland: "You ruthless brute...vile villain...horrible monster of an otaku!" Wonderland kissed Vika's tip through her clothing, dragging her tongue up along the shaft. "Fine then! Have your way with me...but you will never possess my heart! Or know that my name is Alice!"

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: "G-guhhh..." Vika slurred as the girl gave her tip a kiss, her tongue dragging up the shaft, further coaxing the bot and making her harder and hornier than she ever intended to be. She looks down at Wonderland, staring with confusion for just a second, furrowing a brow. "...Eh...???" Was the only sound she could make, attempting (and failing) to not seem as overly aroused as she truly was.

Wonder-Wonderland: "You will pay for your insolence, you perverted paparazzi assaulter..." Alice yanked down Vika's bottoms, the cock hitting her right on the face. Undeterred, she took the tip in her mouth and started sucking, taking in more of the shaft while reaching down to rub herself.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: "Wh--ah! Stop that!" Vika objected as the girl tugged down her conveniently tiny panties, revealing her now-throbbing futanari length, thwapping Alice right in the face. She's given no time to react, and the poor totally-not-a-reploid is soon assaulted with pleasure as the girl started sucking her off. "F-ffhhngh..." Vika stuttered and froze up; her mind told her to push the girl away...but her body so badly wanted this to continue. Her body easily wins out.

Wonder-Wonderland: Alice deepthroated her with suspicious ease, moaning on the length of her cock. She kept sucking her for a few minutes, hooking a finger inside herself...only to pull away and stand up. "I will now show you no mercy, you disgusting degenerate..." Alice lifted up her dress, sliding Vika's cock in between her ass-cheeks while grinding against her.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: "Ah...haahhh...~" Vika uncontrollably moaned, her eyes crossing and rolling up as the girl deepthroats her without breaking a sweat. If she weren't into this before, she's certainly into it now. Vika's briefly brought back into reality as Wonderland pulls away, only to slot that slab of meat right between her rear cheeks, grinding up against it. "Kuhhh...~" Vika let out another moan, quickly losing control. Eventually, she brings her hands up to hold onto Alice's hips; finally fully giving in and beginning to thrust, fucking the girl's bubbly asscheeks. "Nnnf~ Hahh~ Unf~"

Wonder-Wonderland: "I knew you were just a slimy brutish vixen..." Alice smirked, grabbing one of Vika's hands and putting it on her breast. "Do you wish to stain my flawless skin with your putrid cum?"

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: One of her hands is grabbed and pulled to forcibly grope Alice's breast; after which, Vika takes full control and begins groping, fondling and squeezing the girl's chest. "Huaahhn~...yes, I...I want to cum...I want to cover you in my seed...!~" Vika confesses, having fully given in to her lust and pleasure as she fucks the masked girl's cheeks.

Wonder-Wonderland: "Well...I will never let a temptress slut like you get what she wants." Alice reached back, grabbed Vika's cock, shoved it inside her pussy and slammed herself back, pretty much taking her whole length inside with no effort.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: In a strange turn of events, the girl seems to initially deny her of her pleasure...and then follows by forcing Vika's length into her pussy, prompting her to groan and gasp. "G-ghuaahhh...~" Vika exhales, her jaw slacked for a solid few seconds. Then, she leans forward, massive breasts squished against Wonderland's back as she continues obsessively groping and squeezing the girl's breast, while her other hand explores down between her thighs, finding Alice's clit, rubbing it in circles, all while she humps her cock in and out of the girl's wet entrance. "Hahhn!~ HAh!~ Unf!~ Nnmf!~ F-fuck...!~"

Wonder-Wonderland: "THAT'S RIGHT! VIOLATE ME, YOU HORRID EXCUSE FOR A MAVERICK!" Alice shouted, reaching back to sling her arm around the front of Vika's neck before smashing her lips against hers, already cumming on Vika's dick.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: She was so overwhelmed with pleasure, she couldn't help but touch and grope every party of Alice's body she could, kneading her breasts in circles, squeezing her hips, playing with her clit as it was dragged along Vika's length, sliding so deep in and out of the girl. "Nnmf!~ nngh!~ Guohh!~" Loud, lewd, feral moans escaped her lips as she ruthlessly plapped her thick thighs off of the girl, soon pulled into a deep, sloppy kiss that she was all too happy to reciprocate.~ "Mmmhmf~!" She moaned, sending vibrations through the other's lips, fully accepting her lust for the girl.

Wonder-Wonderland: Alice sucked on her tongue, intoxicated by Vika's entire essence. Her nipples were hard, her clit was swollen, her pussy was taking all of her...she was ready to be filled by her, to bear whatever she could give her.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: "Mhhnn, hnnmff...!~<3" Vika's tongue was quick to invade Alice's mouth, trading saliva as their tongues danced in circles around one another, Vika's hips only pounding faster and harder against the girl. Plap~ plap~ plap~ plap~ plap~ thwap!~ Vika goes balls-deep in the masked girl, before spewing so many long, thick ropes of semen directly through her cervix and into her womb. "Mnnnnnf!~<3" She softly bites down on Alice's tongue, holding her position as she pumps her hot, virile baby batter into the girl.

Wonder-Wonderland: Alice gave a long over-due groan into Vika's mouth, her eyes rolling back as she felt the piping-hot cum spill from her pussy. Yes, this was her perfect wonderland...this moment, with this pervert she had ensnared for herself.

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: Just minutes ago, these two were complete strangers. Vika wasn't even necessarily willing to Alice's advances...yet here she was, balls-deep in the teen, no doubt knocking her up with her incredibly virile reploid nut sludge. There was zero chance she wasn't pregnant. "Mmmmnnnn...~" Vika let out an elongated moan into Alice's lips as her orgasm comes to an end.

Wonder-Wonderland: Alice smiled right at her. "Since you forced yourself on a slice of perfection, you do realize that you belong to me, correct?"

Vika [ F/Futa | 30XX ]: Pulling back, strings of saliva were left connecting their lips together. "...Hah...y...yes, mistress..." Vika answered with a nod, as though the girl had drained not only her seed, but her soul as well.

Wonder-Wonderland: (Thanks!)

You left the chat

[academicgangster]

2020 (Fanfiction) in Review

tagged by @boasamishipper and @vegetarianvampireduck ! Thank you 💛

Fics written this year:

voice and echo (Ocean's trilogy, Danny/Rusty)

cradled (MCU, Natasha)

like a thursday (Top Gun, Mav/Ice -> Mav/Unnamed Love Interest, heed the warnings)

mark this bearing (The Hunt for Red October, pre-Jack/Ramius/Mancuso, written for @vegetarianvampireduck)

Heated (MCU, Carol/Natasha, explicit)

rubber, meet road (Top Gun, Maverick/Iceman/Slider, mature, written for @m-madeleine)

Taking Apart (MCU, Tony/Pepper, rule 63)

Coming Awake (Oblivion, Jack/Vika, explicit, written for @vegetarianvampireduck as part of our Aurora 'verse)

baby, baby, i'd get down on my knees for you (Top Gun, Maverick/Iceman, the finally finished fandom magnum opus of myself and @boasamishipper)

Dress Blues (The Hunt for Red October, established Jack/Ramius/Mancuso, mature, written for @vegetarianvampireduck)

Playing with Matches (Collateral, Vincent/Daniel, written for @vegetarianvampireduck kind of on a whim because we'd been discussing this tiny, tiny pairing)

throwing down the gauntlet (MCU, Tony/Natasha, mature)

in a hurricane (Oblivion, Jack/Vika -> Technician 85/Technician 36, heed the warnings. Written for @vegetarianvampireduck as part of our Aurora 'verse)

Those Who Run (seem to have all the fun) (MCU, Natasha & Nick Fury, heed the tags, yes the title is extremely, bitterly, ironically from Hung Up by Madonna)

Encore (Hustlers, Destiny/Ramona, explicit)

And finally, Stoli on the Rocks (Random Hearts, Dutch/Kay, written for @jobey-wan-kenobi as part of our mutual Hurt/Comfort Throwdown sparked by this post)

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other:

I think I'm learning to strike a balance between my habitual perfectionism and actually getting things done - when to push for the exact correct vibe I want, and when a filler word or two really will do.

Also learning more about how to get my brain to work the way I want it to, without trying to fight it (for instance, the solution to 'brain is more productive at night, actually' is, guess what, to fucking write at night, actually, instead of forcing myself to do things in the morning).

I've never done a collaborative piece of writing before, and now I have one finished collab (with @boasamishipper) and one in progress (with @vegetarianvampireduck). Both are very different styles of working and both are challenging as well as tons of fun.

This was my second full year of doing fic exchanges, and I now have a clear idea of which ones I consistently enjoy, which ones aren't for me, and therefore which ones I want to do again.

...I admit I used at least one exchange as an excuse to finish a gift I was already writing for @vegetarianvampireduck, but I also ended up starting two (2) more gifts for her than I already had in progress, so I basically played myself. It was still all kinds of great. 💛

Most surprising fic you wrote this year:

Playing with Matches for sure. I didn't think I'd write anything for Collateral (except my absolute batshit crossover WIP), but then Vincent/Daniel took over my brain and the fic just magically came together.

How you’ve grown as a writer this year:

ACTUALLY FINISHED SOME THINGS. /okay, self-deprecating joke over

I finally finished and published some E-rated things; I've been leaning into the sensuality this year, and I'm really enjoying it. (Some of those fics were for recips, who've by and large seemed to enjoy it as well!)

Also, I broke 8k words on a fic (Coming Awake), which is now my second longest solo work after 2017's Protocol Kappa that broke 9k. (baby, baby, my collab with Boa that we finished and published this year, is 18k solid, which is all in a day's work for Boa, lol, but since I tend toward the laconic, it's one heck of a word count for me!)

What’s coming in 2021:

I have a wall full of post-its and a spreadsheet and I'm gonna finish some of these if it kills me.

Mission: Impossible

• Ethan/Hunley: at least four, possibly five; three of these are longish, the others shorter.

• Ethan/Luther: three. One first time, one h/c, one strange experimental shortfic.

• Other pairing or gen: four oneshots.

Top Gun (Maverick/Iceman)

• Trailer fic 2.0

• The Asshole Boyfriend Fic

Oblivion (various pairings. there are two genders, Technician and Comms Officer)

• Aurora 'verse main fic with @vegetarianvampireduck, mainly Technician 49/Technician 21

• Julia/Technician 52 post-canon healing fic

The Fugitive

• Then Again (Sam/Richard main fic)

• Post-US Marshals fixit (also Sam/Richard)

Crossover ships

One that's in progress (Strannix/Vincent), and two more in the concept stage.

Miscellaneous

I have concepts for The Hunt for Red October, The Shadow, Edge of Tomorrow, and Men in Black that I will write if inspiration strikes.

Tagging @tsilvy @actiaslunaris @rixareth @m-madeleine @scioscribe @jobey-wan-kenobi (no pressure! 💛)

[cat-sophia]

Happy 56th Captain Swan Day!

Hello My Friends!

@viconbekon is very talented, brilliant art creator and I’m very happy that she created wonderful CS art and shared it with us! I love her CS - fairy tale crossovers and i hope that she will be inspired some day to create more of them.

Vika, thank you so much for your CS art, you added beauty to our Fandom! <3

All Sunday I’ll be rebloging her CS art, tagging everything as viconbekon cs fanart

 Her amazing CS art:

[dissertation-delhimetal]

Chapter 5: A Role for Venues and Events

Like any other art form that is focused around the performance of the creative, the most important and powerful tool for the genre to satisfy existing fans and capture new audiences is the concert. A concert brings together people in a “common context of space and time, producing the closest approximation there is to heavy metal” (Weinstein, 2000). The concert stage in heavy metal subculture is quite often valued even more than the studio because it is on this stage where bands have to not only recreate the studio sound but also showcase their musical virtuosity and adeptness at their respective role in the band, and in turn prove their worth as a metal artist.

It goes without saying that a concert venue plays as important a role as the concert itself. The ease of organization of concerts and a desire from venues to seek metal bands to perform at their premises is quite often extremely crucial to the construction of a metal scene. An ongoing narrative, or string of complaint that most metal musicians and fans in India often make is in regards to the lack of venues for metal concerts. Here, in this chapter I will try to cover two major aspects of how the metal scene in Delhi navigates around this question of space and location by focusing on the presence of metal bands at college cultural festivals (home to competitions like Battle of the Bands) and how cafes and clubs/pubs figure in this scene when it comes to organizing metal concerts.

 College Cultural Festivals:

Delhi is a university city and is home to numerous institutions of higher education and as is quite common to metal scenes throughout the world, a number of Indian metal bands are usually formed during high school or college years. And in what might be peculiar to the Indian metal scene, annual college cultural festivals are major opportunities for metal bands to prove their mettle, win crowds and earn an income for the band. Numerous bigshots of the Indian metal scene have been observed to have either started or made a name for themselves on the college festival circuit by competing in Battle of the Bands competitions, sometimes even all over India. It should be noted that the same could be said for countless other independent musicians from India who have used the college festival circuit as the platform to showcase their talents and win new audiences.

Fig. 5.1. The crowd at Lamb of God’s (USA) second concert performance in Bengaluru, India. May 26th, 2012.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, most metal bands in the beginning of the scene in Delhi viewed IIT Delhi’s cultural festival, ‘Rendezvous’ as the event to make a mark on the scene. This association of a particular cultural event as a major stage could also have a lot to do with public’s association of the space in which a particular event is taking place with other notions about the space, in this case IITs having always been held as the keynote institution of higher technical education in India. Battle of the Bands are a regular event at various cultural festivals throughout India, and given that it is not only metal bands that often compete for the top prize, plenty of colleges pair up their Battle of the Bands winners to perform with a major musical act, usually the next day, which has quite often led to crossover events between international and national metal acts and even non-metal acts.

As Vikas [ex-Prestorika; Acrid Semblance; Drohkaal] pointed out, back in the early 2000s, and even now, college cultural festivals are “very very important. Back then, IIT used to be the ‘Mecca’… like if you got to play there, you got lots of exposure.” And so with the association of certain connotations with the space within which the event would take place, its organization, management, level of engagement in terms of crowd participation, and it reception would vary significantly.

Maybe the best way to summarise all that I’ve stated so far in this section is through Moses’ [Kraken.] opinion on the issue:

“… if you’re a band that’s in college, play as many festivals and competitions as you can. That’s where you can, sort of, learn to be tight, learn to play fast, earn good money if you win a competition. That’s also where you can earn fans because no one’s gonna give you a venue to play if you’re a newbie, if there’s no music out, if there’s nothing you can back it up with. These are also places where, metal bands who won’t necessarily get gigs to play otherwise can earn a bulk of their income from, and you can put that into your album, which is what we did.”

Koul, M. [Kraken.]. (2018, March 4). Personal Interview.

But then again, there have been instances where college bands don’t specifically seek out metal bands, owing to the fact that due to the presence of a “mixed bag” of people, the diversity in audience present at a college cultural festival; colleges generally “want to get a band that’ll please everybody.”

Fig. 5.2. Pentagram’s (India) closing concert performance on the last day of the NH7 Weekender music festival in Pune, India. December 10th, 2017.

 Pubs, Cafes and Organizers:

Echoing on the same ideas as the earlier section, concert venues, more often than not throughout the world are best actualized in various pubs and cafes. And as important concert venues are for the survival of the scene, an equally important role is also played by the organizers of such events. Through the interviews and research questionnaire it was easy to conclude, just by the sheer presence of the opinion, that at the moment, Delhi doesn’t have any venues specifically dedicated to metal music. The lack of venues is disheartening because as pointed out in the interviews, for an independent musician in India concert performances are logistically easier than in other parts of the world, as venues in India often cover the backline, drums, PA sound system, and catering.

Vikas’ [ex-Prestorika; Acrid Semblance; Dohkaal] interview outlined how organizing a concert currently mostly DIY if it’s a small bill of artists, where the artists usually club resources and and approach a venue with the idea for a concert. This then gets approved, unfortunately, sometimes when the concert is promoted as a tribute show, because to most organizers, who often aren’t necessarily fans of the music, have economic issues at hand to deal with first and it is easier to promote a tribute concert.

But he also pointed out at the difference between performing at college cultural festivals and in cafes/pubs or clubs:

“… college festivals give you a huge platform where you get in front of a very big audience, whereas clubs are very important because they give you a platform every weekend. The number of people isn’t that much but still, a band gets to play music every weekend. So the presence of a good club that provides this platform in a particular area is very important. But then again, even clubs need to attract crowds, right? So they can’t really do it promoting a metal gig.”

Dharmsattu, V. [ex- Prestorika; Acrid Semblance; Dhrokaal]. (2018, March 3). Personal Interview.

Now that we’ve mentioned promotion and marketing in this section, it’s fair to include that Noble [Artillerie] mentioned how important it was back then and still is to market a concert or the happenings of the heavy metal subculture in a way that does justice to the fans and the artists. Speaking about the lackluster turn of events over the last decade with respect to audience turnout, fall in number of concerts, and a general inactivity in the scene, he had the following to say:

“Delhi has a very spirited crowd; most of them don’t turn up to gigs anymore. I don’t blame them necessarily. I think somewhere organizers, artists, people just dropped the ball in terms of just presenting… Outrage (festival) was very successful. Can you remember what worked for them? Do you remember seeing the Outrage logo for the first time? It was a fantastic logo, man… like a beast. These are tropes of the show business. Like, if you slack in these regards, if you slack in these matters, you will lose the ball. I remember seeing the Outrage logo and saying ‘Oh, fuck we’re getting professional again!’ I was very interested in what was happening here, and bands were interested in playing, because it’s just an exciting proposition.”

Luke, N. [Artillerie]. (2018, February 26). Personal Interview.

And as I write this, I do remember attending Outrage 2015 (a tribute and fundraiser for the Nepal earthquake relief) and Outrage 2016; both editions of the festival featured some of the best and edgiest metal bands from not only Delhi but all over India and Nepal. I also just happen to recall at this moment that somewhere near my collection of books and music CDs, I have a set of posters and artwork that the organizers of Outrage festival had handed out to every single person in attendance the night of the concert, which at that time I’d viewed as a novel gesture because, and even though I haven’t after all these years, I do recall wanting to get those posters framed and hung up on a wall in my room. Noble [Artillerie], also a performer at Outrage 2015, finally went to mention just how even though in hindsight all these things he’d mentioned would be viewed as secondary, their importance could’ve been realized sooner.

[holly-poly]

Nomination Clarifications #1 + 10-Hour Warning

We're now at about 613 fandoms and 3734 ships nominated. And we've currently got another 52 fandoms to look at, plus some more ships to review for already approved fandoms.

Friendly reminder that nominations will be closing in about 10 hours! If you want to see the exact time, you can take a look at this link: Countdown to nomination closing time.

If you nominated Apollo (PJO)/Percy Jackson (PJO)/Harry Potter (Harry Potter) under crossover - Fandom, please let us know which PJO source you mean - books, movie or TV show.

If you nominated Dick Grayson (DCU)/Harry Potter (Harry Potter)/Jason Todd (Harry Potter) under crossover - Fandom, we assume you meant to type Jason Todd (DCU) there since we're not aware of a Jason Todd in Harry Potter fandom, but please can you confirm in case you meant something else or another DC canon.

If you nominated Jane Banner (Wind River)/Ardelia Mapp/Clarice Starling (Clarice) under crossover - Fandom, please let us know which canon source you mean for Ardelia Mapp, did you mean the Clarice TV show for her character as well or another source like the films or books?

If you nominated Trisana Chandler/Daja Kisubo/Briar Moss/Sandrilene fa Toren (Emelan) in Baldur's Gate 3 under crossover - Fandom, did you mean that you want that Emelan ship but in a Baldur's Gate AU/Fusion or do you mean something else? If the former, that ship is already nominated under the Emelan fandom, so you could request it with the prompt of Baldur's Gate AU/Fusion in optional details but we can't guarantee anyone would create that AU rather than simply the ship in the Emelan canon setting.

If you nominated Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter/Harry Potter under crossover - Fandom, please let us know which canon source you mean for the Hannibal characters - books, movies, TV show.

If you nominated Ray Palmer/Mick Rory/Time Remnant!Mick Rory (Arrowverse) or Ray Palmer/Mick Rory/time remnant!Ray Palmer (Arrowverse) under DC's Arrowverse, did you mean a specific time remnant character who appears in a canon episode (if so, which episode) or the general concept of a time remnant for the character?

If you nominated Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto under Naruto, did you mean for this to be a crossover - Fandom ship instead as we couldn't find Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín listed as a Naruto character, only for other fandoms like The Untamed and 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Cartoon).

If you nominated Jack Harper/Vika Olsen/Vika Olsen under Oblivion (2013), we're assuming one of the Victoria "Vika" Olsen's is the clone version of her mentioned on wikipedia for the film, but please can you confirm in case there's more versions of her character we're not aware of. But also which Jack Harper is this - Tech 49 or Tech 52 version?

If you nominated Sheltered Young Prince/Prince's Loyal Knight/Prince's Arranged Marriage Husband under Original Work, do you have an expectation for the gender of the knight or will any gender interpretation be okay with you?

If you nominated any ships under the fandom DCU, please can you tell us which canon you meant for each ship since that AO3 fandom tag covers multiple DC canons - did you mean DCU Comics, DC Extended Universe, DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DC's Arrowerse, or another DCU canon?

If you nominated any ships under the fandom The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, can you let us know which ships are yours and why you nominated them under All Media Types, since usually we ask people to specify whether they mean Middle Earth – J.R.R. Tolkien or Middle Earth (Movies) or The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022). If you do want to nominate under all media types you will need to accept you may get any canon interpretation for the characters. If you want a ship with a mix of characters from different LOTR canons, then crossover - Fandom would allow you to specify what LOTR canon source for each character.

If you nominated any ships under the fandom Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, can you let us know which ships are yours and why you nominated them under All Media Types, since usually we ask people to specify whether they mean The Witcher TV, books, or games. If you do want to nominate under all media types you will need to accept you may get any canon interpretation for the characters. If you want a ship with a mix of characters from different Witcher canons, then crossover - Fandom would allow you to specify what Witcher canon source for each character.

If you nominated any ships under the fandom The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, please can you tell us which canon source you meant for each ship since that AO3 fandom tag covers both TV and the books. We already have The Vampire Diaries (TV) in the tagset but we don't want to fold these ships into that fandom without checking which are actually for the TV show as well.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can also send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com.

Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2023 Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/17485 Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits