[DCBB 2014] Hart of the Storm - Story masterpost
Title: Hart of the Storm
Author: almaasi | tumblr
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU // historical fantasy, hurt/comfort, romance, adventure, case fic
Pairings: Dean Winchester/Castiel, Charlie Bradbury/OFC, background Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore, Gabriel/OFC
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 119,200
Summary: Historical AU. One by one, people disappear into the forest. A hunter named Dean is employed to bring them back, and eliminate the danger while he’s at it. His search leads him to Castiel, the forest’s resident deity: a shapeshifting stag, glowing with all the power of a thunderstorm. Thinking Castiel is the monster he’s been sent to kill, Dean falls prey to the forest’s magical defence and is transformed into a deer. Castiel commits to caring for him while he recovers - and Dean lets it happen, holding onto hope that Cas can make him human again. Meanwhile, other people embark on their own quests to save friends and family: Missouri, Dean’s surrogate mother; the young Native American schoolteacher, Elsie; Dean’s own brother, Sam, alongside Charlie, Elsie’s lady love. Like the others, they vanish without a trace amongst the trees. What is taking them? And will they ever come back out?
Warnings: This story is set in 1890, and includes period-typical racism, but I have tried my utmost to make the narrative POC-positive. Beware scenes depicting fire, violence, abduction and unlawful imprisonment, panic attacks, and the killing of animals for food. Past child abuse (John Winchester with Dean), internalised homo/biphobia (Sam, about Dean). Body horror (transforming between species). Also includes swearing, blasphemy, tobacco-smoking, a lot of food-eating (perhaps bordering on light fetishism), and one very minor character death. Possibly some second-hand embarrassment, as well as historical inaccuracies. Ambiguous switch/bottom!Dean (non-penetrative). Contains spoilers for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), a quote from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813), and British spelling. Any views or opinions expressed in this story are not necessarily the views or opinions of the author.
ILLUSTRATION BY STEVIECASS
ART MASTERPOST
READ ON AO3
CHAPTER INDEX
SOUNDTRACK COMING SOON!
Acknowledgements
Including myself, at least half of the lovely people who worked on this fic are self-declared Slytherpuffs (Slytherin + Hufflepuff). I don't know what that really implies about the story, but personally I find the coincidence amazing. Butterbeers for everybody!
Praise be to Millie, who helped me with research before I started writing, and gave me the kick-start I needed to make my fingers translate the mess in my brain into a proper plan.
My heartfelt thanks to Ali, who has been steadfast in her support for a whole year now, picking fights with typos, battling missed words, and being outrageously delightful while interpreting the subtext precisely the way I intended.
All hail Steve, who not only created amazing art for this fic (go take a look at the art masterpost!), but also gave me some very useful writer-to-writer feedback (I mean, how do deer legs work anyway?). He was totally awesome about the whole thing, and I hereby express my gratitude for that.
May blessings be showered upon Libby, Laura, Nadine, Kayla, and Andrea, all of whom devoted approximately two weeks of their personal time to reading over my story, editing and fixing and mending and offering suggestions. Kinda like little elven unicorns. They helped me turn my fic from a bunch of words into a far better-researched, better-arranged, more consistent and more historically accurate bunch of words, so the declaration "I am very, very grateful" is probably only half as intense as I need it to be. I AM VERY, V E R Y GRATEFUL. In CAPITAL LETTERS.
I am grateful to Libby, who made excellent suggestions in a way that made me laugh practically every time. Hell yeah, Libby.
To Laura, who put herself in charge of correct comma placement, among other important jobs (such as fun comments), and went above and beyond with everything.
To Scarlet, who acted as the essential microphone for my inner voice without even realising it.
To Kayla... with whom I probably talked more about glitter and Cockles than I did about the fic. (Definitely grateful.)
And I am grateful to Andrea, who spared her time and effort to make sure I didn't screw up - and did a good job of it, I think.
Not forgetting Darklands, who continues to use her powers of sarcasm to make my world a more straightforward place.
May good fortune befall those who offered to beta for me but I had to turn down. If I didn't already have so many people helping me out (look at this list, whoa), I'd have said yes. I hope we cross paths some other time, you wonderful people.
And to everyone on tumblr who sends me friendly messages about my writing, you have my thanks. I wouldn't be producing stories with anywhere near as much passion if it weren't for you. Writing this story was enjoyable for me because I know reading it will make some of you happy, and I live for that. ♥
(Amen?)
Author: almaasi | tumblr
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU // historical fantasy, hurt/comfort, romance, adventure, case fic
Pairings: Dean Winchester/Castiel, Charlie Bradbury/OFC, background Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore, Gabriel/OFC
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 119,200
Summary: Historical AU. One by one, people disappear into the forest. A hunter named Dean is employed to bring them back, and eliminate the danger while he’s at it. His search leads him to Castiel, the forest’s resident deity: a shapeshifting stag, glowing with all the power of a thunderstorm. Thinking Castiel is the monster he’s been sent to kill, Dean falls prey to the forest’s magical defence and is transformed into a deer. Castiel commits to caring for him while he recovers - and Dean lets it happen, holding onto hope that Cas can make him human again. Meanwhile, other people embark on their own quests to save friends and family: Missouri, Dean’s surrogate mother; the young Native American schoolteacher, Elsie; Dean’s own brother, Sam, alongside Charlie, Elsie’s lady love. Like the others, they vanish without a trace amongst the trees. What is taking them? And will they ever come back out?
Warnings: This story is set in 1890, and includes period-typical racism, but I have tried my utmost to make the narrative POC-positive. Beware scenes depicting fire, violence, abduction and unlawful imprisonment, panic attacks, and the killing of animals for food. Past child abuse (John Winchester with Dean), internalised homo/biphobia (Sam, about Dean). Body horror (transforming between species). Also includes swearing, blasphemy, tobacco-smoking, a lot of food-eating (perhaps bordering on light fetishism), and one very minor character death. Possibly some second-hand embarrassment, as well as historical inaccuracies. Ambiguous switch/bottom!Dean (non-penetrative). Contains spoilers for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), a quote from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813), and British spelling. Any views or opinions expressed in this story are not necessarily the views or opinions of the author.
ILLUSTRATION BY STEVIECASS
ART MASTERPOST
READ ON AO3
CHAPTER INDEX
SOUNDTRACK COMING SOON!
Acknowledgements
Including myself, at least half of the lovely people who worked on this fic are self-declared Slytherpuffs (Slytherin + Hufflepuff). I don't know what that really implies about the story, but personally I find the coincidence amazing. Butterbeers for everybody!
Praise be to Millie, who helped me with research before I started writing, and gave me the kick-start I needed to make my fingers translate the mess in my brain into a proper plan.
My heartfelt thanks to Ali, who has been steadfast in her support for a whole year now, picking fights with typos, battling missed words, and being outrageously delightful while interpreting the subtext precisely the way I intended.
All hail Steve, who not only created amazing art for this fic (go take a look at the art masterpost!), but also gave me some very useful writer-to-writer feedback (I mean, how do deer legs work anyway?). He was totally awesome about the whole thing, and I hereby express my gratitude for that.
May blessings be showered upon Libby, Laura, Nadine, Kayla, and Andrea, all of whom devoted approximately two weeks of their personal time to reading over my story, editing and fixing and mending and offering suggestions. Kinda like little elven unicorns. They helped me turn my fic from a bunch of words into a far better-researched, better-arranged, more consistent and more historically accurate bunch of words, so the declaration "I am very, very grateful" is probably only half as intense as I need it to be. I AM VERY, V E R Y GRATEFUL. In CAPITAL LETTERS.
I am grateful to Libby, who made excellent suggestions in a way that made me laugh practically every time. Hell yeah, Libby.
To Laura, who put herself in charge of correct comma placement, among other important jobs (such as fun comments), and went above and beyond with everything.
To Scarlet, who acted as the essential microphone for my inner voice without even realising it.
To Kayla... with whom I probably talked more about glitter and Cockles than I did about the fic. (Definitely grateful.)
And I am grateful to Andrea, who spared her time and effort to make sure I didn't screw up - and did a good job of it, I think.
Not forgetting Darklands, who continues to use her powers of sarcasm to make my world a more straightforward place.
May good fortune befall those who offered to beta for me but I had to turn down. If I didn't already have so many people helping me out (look at this list, whoa), I'd have said yes. I hope we cross paths some other time, you wonderful people.
And to everyone on tumblr who sends me friendly messages about my writing, you have my thanks. I wouldn't be producing stories with anywhere near as much passion if it weren't for you. Writing this story was enjoyable for me because I know reading it will make some of you happy, and I live for that. ♥
(Amen?)