This installment is simply breathtaking, its imaginary is amazing. It’s it exudes creativity. There were some really interesting and unexpected twists; right up to the end I wasn’t sure if Castiel’s journey was real or a hallucination.
Hey bb! Yeah, I think we outdid ourselves with the surrealness of this section! It's a real challenge to do something new with so much other fic out there, but we hope this does read unlike anything else people have seen... <33333
Thank you for reading! We'd discussed that sense of ambiguity, about whether it was real or not and really wanted to have the sense of mystery within it . . .
I also consider the season 8 premiere to be an early gift to me. So, it's like I had this really awesome birthday that I got to share with a lot of people! :D
Yep, it nearly is! I'm just tweaking the final installment now but thought I'd drive by to answer comments. This VS has consumed all my (limited) free time for a year so it is odd to think that next weekend there will be no RR to work on...!
I like to think that from #22 onwards, every part of this epic finale has exceeded the last, and I hope we can keep it up with the last part...
Ah ha ha, I like that people pick up on the broom closet joke. It just seems funnier on top of the fact that it's just so practical. Like angels using brooms and shamwows . . . I dunno, it just cracks me up. Thank you for reading and liking!
I'm so glad you didn't leave us at an earlier point in this part! That would have been TORTURE.
I loved the rather quiet, trippy nature of the first section of this. It must have been tempting to go in and write Hell with all guns blazing, but this was so much more effective with the eerie silences and sheer lack making for such an intense backdrop against what was happening. Gabriel and Balthazar were written pitch perfectly, I would hope that their support during the biggest battle of Castiel's life was enough for him to maybe let go of the guilt a little bit. I loved the little peppering of levity now and again as well with some of the one liners (Of course Zachariah has found his calling here!), which of course made the juxtaposition against the horror of the gateway and the violence of the battle even more delicious
( ... )
There are so many renditions of Hell out there (and of Purgatory, written during the hiatus) and it can be hard to find a new way of doing something. And for me that has always been a factor when I write: trying to find a new approach that might set the bar until someone else exceeds it. I think/hope we have with this. We wanted to write something that would almost be a hallucinogenic-inspired Tim Burton/Terry Gilliam rendition of Hell as opposed to the cliche torture chamber portrayal. I kinda wish we had included a scene of them playing ice-hockey on the frozen lake of Cocytus, but you can't have everything! So upshot is this very surreal Hell in which the inhabitants live a mundane existence... and like you say, it is a real contrast to the rough side of town!
We're thrilled it worked for you. Heh, that end scene is sort of an accident because we originally had left the cliffhanger with Cas apparently having dreamed it all. But we decided it'd be too cruel to leave you waiting to know Dean was back...
Thank you for reading! I'm good for a wise-crack and pop-culture reference here and there, but I must defer to Zatnikatel for all the levity -- she's got this great way of creating banter between characters, and the humor gives the dramatic aspect an extra punch! But yes, guns blazing is fun but I know we've read quite a lot of really great fics out there with battle scenes and something with more of a build and suspense seemed like the best way to go, for maximum effect . . .
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This installment is simply breathtaking, its imaginary is amazing. It’s it exudes creativity. There were some really interesting and unexpected twists; right up to the end I wasn’t sure if Castiel’s journey was real or a hallucination.
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Seriously, though, I love this fic - this series - SO MUCH! I can't believe it's almost over!
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I like to think that from #22 onwards, every part of this epic finale has exceeded the last, and I hope we can keep it up with the last part...
;-)
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Thank you all so much for your hard work.
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That is exactly the effect we were aiming for! We wanted y'all to get to the end of this and think you had just taken LSD and gone on a weird trip!
\o/
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I loved the rather quiet, trippy nature of the first section of this. It must have been tempting to go in and write Hell with all guns blazing, but this was so much more effective with the eerie silences and sheer lack making for such an intense backdrop against what was happening. Gabriel and Balthazar were written pitch perfectly, I would hope that their support during the biggest battle of Castiel's life was enough for him to maybe let go of the guilt a little bit. I loved the little peppering of levity now and again as well with some of the one liners (Of course Zachariah has found his calling here!), which of course made the juxtaposition against the horror of the gateway and the violence of the battle even more delicious ( ... )
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We're thrilled it worked for you. Heh, that end scene is sort of an accident because we originally had left the cliffhanger with Cas apparently having dreamed it all. But we decided it'd be too cruel to leave you waiting to know Dean was back...
;-)
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>_> *whispers* DVD Extra. Just sayin'.... Gabe and Balthazaar could go to town post-battle while waiting for salvation. It could happen.
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