Beneath the Surface by skieswideopen (PG-13, Gen)

[skieswideopen]

Title: Beneath the Surface
Author: skieswideopen
Beta-Reader: gnosticdiva
Recipient: natmerc
Prompt: Things happen in the background and Schanke never notices...maybe.
Characters: Schanke and Nick, with appearances by Natalie and Janette
Length: ~7800
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Highlight to view: * There are a couple of OC deaths, violent but not explicit. There are also

Comments

[skieswideopen]

I'm glad you liked it!

I thought about taking the more obvious approach to your prompt, and having Schanke go around cleaning up after Nick without Nick ever realizing it, but then I decided mutual obliviousness might be more fun. :D

(And of course, if all vampires are monsters, than Schanke's good-guy partner couldn't possibly be one.)

I did, I must admit, find it a bit of a challenge to write from Schanke's POV, so I hope it worked.

[madripoor_rose]

Oh, this was wonderful! Great characterization, really sounded like Schanke.

[skieswideopen]

Thank you!

Schanke was a real challenge to write, so I'm glad his voice worked for you.

[sholio]

Don Schanke, vampire hunter, omg. *laughs in delight*

This was really wonderful -- good casefic with excellent character voices is always a treat, and I really enjoyed the authenticity of the Toronto setting. I like your Schanke and his friendship with Nick. I really hope the two of them have a chance to sit down and have a good long talk one of these days!

(As an SGA fan, I was delighted that you slipped Norma in there, too!)

[skieswideopen]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

As an SGA fan, I was delighted that you slipped Norma in there, too!

I totally didn't make the connection until I was rewatching "Hunters" in preparation for writing this. She seemed so young!

"Don Schanke, vampire slayer"

[brightknightie]

The beginning of your story wound me up quickly into many smiles, and the ending left me applauding. This is a satisfying casefile with excellent voices, strong characterization and canon-awareness. It is a treat to have Schanke's voice and perspective spotlit skillfully like this. It is fun to view the collision between the vampire and human worlds from another angle; Schanke becomes very aware, and yet remains essentially oblivious to that one key "Close Call" realization. And the twist at the end -- when increased awareness blossoms into action -- is funny only in retrospect, because it is successfully suspenseful and worrisome on first reading. Great work

Re: "Don Schanke, vampire slayer"

[havocthecat]

"Some sort of two-pronged weapon?"

A barbecue fork! Er, sorry, my BtVS obsession got me for a second there.

Re: "Don Schanke, vampire slayer"

[skieswideopen]

Thank you so much for the feedback! You've been such a good mod, putting so much time into that.

Does the reference to Schanke's heritage deliberately recall the actor in the "Hunters" flashback who was observed to resemble John Kapelos? Or is that just a happy coincidence?

That, I have to confess, was complete coincidence.

"You see, the thing is, Nick's a modern guy. He doesn't know anything about monsters like you." -> This was one of the first lines that came into my head when I thought of this idea, so I'm glad it worked for you. The irony of it appealed to me.

[skieswideopen]

Thank you so much!

Schanke's a lot of fun, and I love the idea of him having a secret of his own.

I'd love to see more about Stonetree's knowing and hiding that knowledge, so if you ever felt compelled to write that...