Chapter Text
Read the fics!
Nicole's favorite thing to eat by whenihavetime
3 Weddings and a Funeral by brunetteandblond
The Black Turtleneck by CapturetheFinnick
Episode Artwork by Chantal Zeegers!
This Week's Reverse Sponsor is Transcribing Earpers!
Episode Transcript for the Deaf/HOH/APD by ApproxTenCats
Ep 320: Jetri Dish
[ph] – Indicates preceding word has been spelled phonetically
[sic] – Indicates preceding word has been transcribed verbatim
MUSIC : Write My Story by Olly Anna
ANNOUNCER GUY : You've tuned in to the Earp Fiction Addiction , a fan podcast all about Wynonna Earp fanfiction. Join our intrepid host DarkWiccan and Delayne as they dive deep into the sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, and always varied world of fanfiction for the Wynonna Earp fandom.
MUSIC : A Proper Story by Darren Korb
DARKWICCAN: Thanks Announcer Guy and welcome everybody to the season three finale episode of the Earp Fiction Addiction , the podcast dedicated entirely to Wynonna Earp fanfiction. I am your host DarkWiccan and with me are my delightful co-hosts...
DELAYNE: Hi, it’s Delayne.
LARAGH: Hey, it’s Laragh.
DARKWICCAN: And we are super excited you guys because, boy oh boy oh boy, we’ve got the coolest most awesome way to bookend a truncated season.
DELAYNE: [laughs] Yeah.
LARAGH: It’s going to be a great episode.
DARKWICCAN: You know, I felt kind of bad having to cut the season ten episodes short, although reasonable reasons.
[laughs]
DELAYNE: Exactly, yeah.
DARKWICCAN: But I’m thinking we’re gonna make up for it, because as everybody knows we had just a slam bang opener with Dominique and I am so, so super psyched to have with us today as our special, special guest, on the second half of the show, that’s right I’m spoiling it now folks, I’m spoiling it now. Because if you didn’t figure it out from the title of the episode I can’t help you.
ALL: [laugh]
DARKWICCAN: We’re going to be chatting with Varun Saranga in the second half of the show, so I’m just… guys. Two cast members in one season. I mean… that’s, you know… I’m impressed with us.
DELAYNE: I’m impressed with you and your gumption to go out there and get this done for us, thank you DW.
DARKWICCAN: My annoying tenacity to go up to cast members at conventions and be like, “hey, I got a podcast, do you wanna be on my show?”
LARAGH: Makes me have just mild panic attacks.
DELAYNE: Some people, a lot of the introverts that possibly listen to our show here, would call that bravery, so… good for you.
LARAGH: Yeah, good for you.
DARKWICCAN: [laughs] I’m just audacious I guess, I don’t know. It’s weird, there are some things that most people are not afraid of that I’m like, “I can’t do that,” and then there are other things that many people are nervous about and I’m like, “what’s the problem? [humming without a care in the world] do de do de dum.” You know, so.
DELAYNE: That’s the beauty of humans.
DARKWICCAN: Yes, come in all shapes and sizes and mental states.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: But here we are, we’ve made it to the end of another season. Right now the plan, you guys, is to be back for a season four. I do not know at this point how long the hiatus will be. I can say it will not be as long as the hiatus between seasons three and four of Wynonna Earp .
LARAGH: It might show up in 2021.
DELAYNE: Oh no, no! That sounds terrible.
DARKWICCAN: No. But this will be a slightly longer hiatus than in the past. I think in the past we’ve taken a ninety day break between the seasons and in this instance it’s probably gonna be a bit longer than that. But hopefully not so long that you forget we exist, guys don’t forget about us, don’t forget that we’re here. My goal.
DELAYNE: Well we’ll still be active on socials right?
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, and I will do my best to continue to recommend fics every week day on the Twitter feed as much as I can. Because let’s be honest, yes babies take a lot of work, they’re exhausting, they don’t have a clear set schedule, but they do eventually sleep. And while I also do intend to sleep as well there will be times when it’s not convenient for me to sleep and I will be reading fic instead and I will be recommending fic. So it might not be my standard up to six recommendations on the daily but you’ll get your recommendations you guys, I promise.
DELAYNE: And I’ll try to do better about being active on Facebook and be summarising those for everyone like I was terrible at last hiatus, but… I really shouldn’t make promises. I’m terrible at keeping them.
DARKWICCAN: Well, and I say this with all the love in the world Delayne, we know how great you are at summaries so…
ALL: [laughs]
LARAGH: Ooh.
DELAYNE: Hashtag great at summaries.
DARKWICCAN: I say this with love...
DARKWICCAN: But you know we accomplished a lot this season, we really, really did. We’ll get to numbers in a second, Delayne I know you crunched the numbers for us again.
DELAYNE: I summarised the numbers thank you very much. [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: You did.
DELAYNE: Sorry, continue.
DARKWICCAN: But I mean, we accomplished a lot, we did two conventions this season. We did Expo and EhCon and we had Dominique on at the beginning of the season which was great, she gave us her incredibly iconic line, “Fuck Labels” which we then turned into a fundraiser for Gender Justice League Washington. I don’t have numbers for that right now, I will tell you that they’re very low, but my hope is that thanks to Dominique wearing the “Fuck Labels” shirt that we happened to get to her courtesy of Dread Pirate Brown, we got the shirt to her at ‘Palooza, she then turned around and wore it at Next Stop Purgatory AKA For the Love of Fandoms convention. So people have seen her wear the shirt, my hope is now that more folks will go to our Redbubble store, and this time guys I’m going to give you the link, Redbubble.com/people/efapodcast/shop. Anything you purchase with a “Fuck Labels” logo on it, it doesn’t have to be a shirt, it can be a sticker, a magnet, a mug, a travel bottle, whatever. Anything you purchase with “Fuck Labels” we’ll then take the proceeds and donate directly to Gender Justice League Washington. It’s been very slow going, but it is something I feel very strongly about, I know it is something Dominique feels very supportive of us in doing, so yeah, I’m very, very proud of that, I’m very proud of that for this season.
DELAYNE: So yes, please go to Redbubble and help us support a great cause.
DARKWICCAN: Please, please, it’s not for us, it’s for them. So, I’d like to give Gender Justice League Washington a really nice Christmas gift. So we’ve done that, and I personally had some great stuff happen, I got to host the Newlywed panel at EhCon and that was incredible, I’ll talk about that a little later. But it’s been a really great season, I’m chuffed y’all.
DELAYNE: [laughs] It’s been a season of twenty episodes and we have talked about fifty eight total fics.
DARKWICCAN: That’s impressive, again considering we truncated the season by ten eps. That’s impressive. Truncated the season by ten eps, didn’t run the fic challenge.
DELAYNE: Which could add up to fifty more.
DARKWICCAN: I mean that’s impressive. You didn’t happen to keep a tally of how many fics I recommended did you?
ALL: [laughs]
DELAYNE: Goodness, no. Wow, even if we averaged four a day, and up to six.
DARKWICCAN: We’ll low ball it, because four a day is pretty low, I was averaging closer to six, so that’s twenty fics a week, times twenty weeks, because that’s the period of time we’ve been recording, so that’s four hundred fics give or take. And that’s a low number. I really feel like that’s a low number.
DELAYNE: Yeah, I think so. Hey, hold up I’m gonna pull up something here real quick that I wanted to check and I did not check before recording, but I’m checking it now. Wynonna Earp TV has 4,655 fics. So in the three seasons, DW you have read almost all of those 4,655 works.
DARKWICCAN: That is correct, that is correct yes.
LARAGH: That’s a lot of fic.
DELAYNE: Wow.
DARKWICCAN: Yep. That’s a lot of fic and it’s quite honestly no surprise that I haven’t been able to write anything. [laughs]
LARAGH: I remember when we first were introduced to Wynonna Earp fanfic, the number was about 1,500, that was two years ago. That means in two years there’s been like 3,000 fics.
DARKWICCAN: Which is awesome. And here’s the thing, we’re still one of the smallest fic fandoms on AO3. There are fandoms that have 20,000 - 30,000 fics. And we’re here with our little 4,500 - 4,600 fics. But you know what, it’s quality over quantity.
DELAYNE: I was going to say, if you probably check some of those other fandoms and the quality of those however many thousands of fics we’re, I’m guessing, we’re at the top.
DARKWICCAN: We’re ahead of the game, for sure, for sure. Super proud of the authors in our fandom, our authors are the best, and I say that both with love and bias. But they are absolutely...
DELAYNE: They’re top shelf.
DARKWICCAN: Top shelf. They’re top shelf man, top shelf. So before we dive into the few fics we’re discussing today, because yes we’re still going to be discussing fics before we get to our second segment, my goal y’all, so today is the last day that we’re recording for the season so my goal is to be like Melanie Scrofano and four days from now…
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: ...pop this kid out. Is that what’s going to happen? Most likely not but wouldn’t that be hilarious.
DELAYNE: That would be.
LARAGH: That would be excellent.
DELAYNE: But we didn’t have an episode where you magically disappeared. I don’t know if Laragh and I could pull that off.
DARKWICCAN: That’s why we’re wrapping up with twenty episodes. Just fair warning though for our listeners, so yes, today is the last day of our recording, I am still in the process of editing the last few episodes of the season. So, you know, my goal is to have everything edited and ready to go and uploaded to our website and programmed to post on time over the next few weeks, but there is always a possibility that I won’t be successful and we might miss a posting day because I will be unavailable.
ALL: [laughs]
DELAYNE: You’ll be busy. With a baby.
DARKWICCAN: If that happens we’ll let you know. So, if that happens we’ll do our best to let everyone know what’s going on, but for now the plan is to post on time as scheduled. But you know, I know that Earpers are the best, and very understanding people. If such a situation happens, we’ll see, I don’t know what’s going to happen, it’ll be exciting. So let’s start talking about these fics. I mentioned earlier that we’re going to be talking with Mr Varun Saranga in our second segment today so of course we’re focussing on Jetri fics. Now here’s the funny thing y’all, Jetri fics are not easy to come by. While the fandom thinks that Jetri is adorable and sweet the main focus is of course Wayhaught. So the rules that we had in selecting our fics in this episode is that Jetri at least had to have a major role in some capacity. In some capacity. They didn’t have to be the centre of attention, that could still be Wayhaught or it could be Wyndolls or Wyndoc or any other, Wynsita whatever. They didn’t have to be the central pairing, but they did have to be a featured pairing so them’s the rules. So we were able to put our heads together and come up with three fics to discuss today. Are there other fics with Jetri featured? Yes. But these are the ones we picked. So the first one, I’m going to go first, the first one was picked because I have an ego and once and a while it’s nice to have that ego massaged a little bit, and as I mentioned earlier I had a great time at EhCon hosting the Newlywed panel, I had a lot of fun writing the script for that and playing with the cast members on stage, that was just an absolute joy and something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life and I’m so grateful to EhCon for giving me that opportunity and I’m hopeful of returning with yet another game show this next year, but we’ll see what happens. But apparently the Newlywed game was a pretty big hit.
DELAYNE: There were very many gifs created, or at least the screen shots, all over the place.
DARKWICCAN: Yes, and it inspired a couple of fics actually, but this is the one that is the most blatant homage. It’s called Nicole’s Favorite Thing to Eat , it’s by whenIhavetime. Now let’s just say when I wrote that question I did not in a million years think that Kat was going to take the bait, I should have known better based on Expo that she would, but honestly guys, it was a total delightful shock when she came back with her answer immortalised forever now in gifs and everything. But so essentially the author, whenihavetime, took the premise of the Newlywed Game and shifted it into a date night game and in this story has had Jeremy act as host, and also player, which is how does that work? But okay. It works great. And so basically they took a series of the more popular questions from the actual game that we played at EhCon and put them into this Big Gay Dinner date party game and it’s really cute. There’s really nothing to extrapolate on here, it’s just a cute little interlude of these friends who are in relationships having a go at each other playing this game. And then we have some fun drunk Wynonna at the end. But really it is what it is. It’s a fictionalised version of the game we played at EhCon. It’s cute, it’s really cute. Again it’s Nicole’s Favorite Thing to Eat by whenihavetime.
DELAYNE: I just googled to see if there was a Newlywed Game home edition, and there is, you can find it on Amazon. If you too want to play the Newlywed Game, at home with your friends and family. So there’s probably a way that you can do it without a host, probably just reading each other the questions.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, you just draw the questions.
DELAYNE: I have research Waverly in my brain, I had to go check that out. See I can’t summarise worth shit but I can look up random stuff.
DARKWICCAN: You’re great with the research.
DELAYNE: Which is funny because that’s what you do when you research is summarise all the stuff that you find. Maybe that’s where my brain power went. Anyway, I would like to talk about The Black Turtleneck by CapturetheFinnick.
DARKWICCAN: Now before you do, sorry to derail you as usual, I just have to say that when I first saw the title for this my mind went to a completely inappropriate place, so let me just say I’m so glad that in this story the black turtleneck refers to an actual article of clothing. Okay, please do continue, carry on.
LARAGH: Oh, thanks for that.
DELAYNE: Wow, that definitely derailed me because I did… that just took me by surprise.
LARAGH: You need to drink some water after that one.
DELAYNE: Um, this fic is essentially what happens if Waverly and Jeremy were roommates at Uni and I say Uni because CapturetheFinnick says in their notes that they were too lazy to change the British slang to American so let’s say it takes place in England.
DARKWICCAN: Okay.
DELAYNE: And this actually is a sequel to the one before it, which I think is relevant to mention which is The Grey Coat that came from a Tumblr prompt. And that’s where Jeremy suspects his roommate Waverly is lying about her whereabouts and who she’s with, and also there’s this grey coat hanging on the rack, like who does it belong to? So that’s how we introduce Nicole and Waverly. So the sequel, Black Turtleneck , when we get there Nicole is finally a proper cop and she’s bored with being a flatfoot and paperwork so she tries to solve the mystery of why Jeremy is acting so strange, and exercising, and eating right. [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: Self-improvement Jeremy is on the scene.
DELAYNE: So the final straw is when he skips the Bake-Off final, how dare he?
DARKWICCAN: Gasp!
DELAYNE: And ends up wearing his “date turtleneck.”
LARAGH: Oh my god.
DELAYNE: I know. [laughs] We know Jeremy is off on a date. And so Nicole has to solve the mystery of who is this gentleman that Jeremy brings home by the time everyone else has left after the Bake Off final. And it’s a cute little story, and we learn about Jeremy and Robin and what they’re doing. Okay, their dynamic of trying to impress each other is hilarious, I’ll leave it at that.
DARKWICCAN: So, I just had to chuckle because Delayne you’re like, “this story is a sequel to the previous story,” I mean, well that’s true. [laughs]
DELAYNE: I am Captain Redundancy.
DARKWICCAN: You just work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
DELAYNE: That is for sure. You would not believe the paperwork.
DARKWICCAN: [laughs] Everything’s in triplicate. Anyway, so your story is The Black Turtleneck by CapturetheFinnick. Okay, before we move on I just want to add one little thing in it that I found really funny and that is Waverly was keeping a little bit of a secret from Nicole in this story as well. It’s an adorable secret but the reveal is really cute but yeah, I just love Nicole’s reaction. Like, “whuu?”
DELAYNE: “Wait a minute.”
DARKWICCAN: “Hang on just a cotton pickin’...” yeah, it’s a cute, again Jetri’s just cute, they’re just cute you guys. I would be interested to see an author take on a serious Jetri fic. I think we need to get to know Robin more from the show, I think we need to get more canonical information before we kind of get to that point.
DELAYNE: I actually have considered it because I think I could get into Robin’s head fairly well, the jazz musician working in science. Because when I was younger everyone was like, “what? You’re not going to become a music teacher?”
DARKWICCAN: And you’re like, “plants man, plants.”
DELAYNE: Turns out I’m actually good with plants, not so great with music. But I know Robin’s a bit of the reverse, but I think I could connect with that.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah. Robin is also, and this is according to both Varun and Justin, Robin is a stoner.
LARAGH: I can believe that. I totally believe that.
DELAYNE: [laughs] Um, there’s a reason, at least in America, the Forest Service doesn’t usually drug test unless they have to. Because they know a significant amount of the Forest Service employees would not be employed.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: That is hilarious, oh my god.
DELAYNE: Don’t ask how I know that.
DARKWICCAN: Okay, so Laragh.
LARAGH: Oh boy, oh now I have to focus. Okay so my fic is called Three Weddings and a Funeral by brunetteandblond. Can you guys guess what it’s about?
DARKWICCAN: I’m gonna go with three weddings… and a funeral. That’s my wild swing in the dark.
LARAGH: This is a four part fic and it’s also part of a much larger universe that follows Wynonna and Nicole and the rest of Purgatory coping with Waverly and Doc being lost in the Garden and how they move forward with their lives from that. So each part has a wedding or a funeral, hence the name, and so for the purposes of this discussion I’m going to look at part two which is [inaudible] wedding. So part two of Three Weddings and a Funeral , let me say I was excited when I saw this because I didn’t think I would find one that had a Jetri wedding.
DELAYNE: I just want to say you choosing this is just like Laragh you’re coming in strong and on brand.
LARAGH: Of course. I try. [laughs] Okay, yes, I was excited because I hadn’t anticipated that I would be able to find a fic that had a Jeremy and Robin wedding and I hadn’t seen any other fics that did this, maybe there are more fics out there but I hadn’t seen them. So I was excited. So the chapter is titled Finding Home which sets such a sweet tone and it’s also really apt because the fic really focuses on how Robin finds his home, not just with Jeremy but with the wider Earp clan and what that means as a couple, especially a couple who are now engaged and getting married. And actually one of the most adorable moments in this fic is a reference to them buying their rings and planning a proposal to each other for the same night. Have you guys seen Youtube videos where it’s usually two women? it’s just the best.
DARKWICCAN: Yes, it’s usually two women yes.
LARAGH: I was so pleased to see that feature. Their wedding is kind of unique to others featured in the fic because in it Doc and Waverly are still in the Garden, they haven’t been rescued yet, so they’re planning this magical thing for them amongst all the sorrow and I think it really shows their strength as a couple, and it gives them a chance to be the backbone romance of a fic. Because normally in the show, and in most fics Wayhaught are the backbone romance. So I thought it was really cool to get to see them have to take that over and how they cope with that And I think they do cope with that really well, and they give, particularly Wynonna and Nicole, a point in their lives that they can start to look forward after being in such dire straits for so long with Waverly and Doc gone. So I just think it’s so sweet they find home with each other and they also give everyone else a home to build upon and I was just really pleased to see such a sweet lovely depiction of them.
DARKWICCAN: Yes, absolutely, it took me a second when I was first reading the story because the chapters aren’t necessarily in chronological order.
DELAYNE: Yeah, that took me a moment too.
DARKWICCAN: And so when I first started reading, because chapter one is Wayhaught getting married, and chapter two is Jetri and I was like, “wait a minute, I’m so confused, what’s going on right now because didn’t we just… why are we… what are??” and then finally my little brain caught up and I was like, “oh I get it, this is the before times.” [laughs] But yeah, like you say Laragh, I’m just going to be echoing what you just said, so maybe I should not because you already said it.
DELAYNE: I would like to say that yes it is lovely and sweet, but it’s not light hearted. This is heavy but still just beautifully written.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, brunetteandblond is just a fantastic author, I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve written so far. They aren’t afraid to deal in the heavy feelings.
[long pause]
DARKWICCAN: Okay, good talk.
ALL: [laughs]
DELAYNE: There’s always a pause when we talk about heavier stuff.
LARAGH: Three Weddings and a Funeral by brunetteandblond..
DARKWICCAN: And yeah, obviously there are three other chapters in that story that we’re skipping over today because again our focus is on Jetri specific stories, because of our extra special amazing guest, and you guys I’m just so super psyched to chat with him because… Delayne have you met Varun in person?
DELAYNE: I have not.
DARKWICCAN: Okay, Laragh I know you haven’t because we haven’t got you over for an Earp specific con yet or hey, maybe you’ll hop over the… I don’t know what the body of water is called between Ireland and Scotland…
LARAGH: Oh, the Irish Channel.
DARKWICCAN: The Irish Channel. It’s not the English Channel, that’s the other one.
LARAGH: Oh, no, the Irish Sea, it’s just the Irish Sea.
DARKWICCAN: Maybe you’ll hop over to Earp Fest.
DELAYNE: I really want to go to that one.
DARKWICCAN: But Varun is just, he is the sweetest, you just want to hug him and pinch his cheeks. He’s just the sweetest guy, everybody, goddamnit, everyone on this goddamn show is just annoyingly wonderful.
ALL: [laughs]
DELAYNE: Can you guys just get any more adorable? It’s ridiculous.
DARKWICCAN: It’s just ridiculous. But please don’t change.
DELAYNE: Yes, don’t ever change.
DARKWICCAN: So yes, so in the story Three Weddings and a Funeral there are a total of four chapters, we only talked about the one, so do take the time to check out the story by brunetteandblond, it is really really good you guys. And right on brand with our buddy Laragh.
DELAYNE: Yep.
DARKWICCAN: So yeah, definitely check it out. But okay, I think that we’ve killed enough time, what do you guys think?
DELAYNE: I could probably kill more if you need me to.
DARKWICCAN: You got more numbers? You have more numbers for us?
DELAYNE: I could pretend to attempt to summarise things.
DARKWICCAN: [laughs] Suddenly hear a bunch of clacking in the background, working an adding machine. No, no, no, let’s get to Mr Saranga so he’s not left waiting in the wings any longer. So yes, we’re about to chat with our buddy Varun AKA Jeremy Chetri from Wynonna Earp but before we do that we of course must introduce the final reverse sponsor of the season, I don’t know who to toss this to?
DELAYNE: Rock, paper, scissors?
DARKWICCAN: I think Laragh did it last week.
DELAYNE: So I guess it’s me?
DARKWICCAN: Okay Delayne, who is it? Who is our final reverse sponsor for season three of the Earp Fiction Addiction?
DELAYNE: Our final reverse sponsor is Transcribing Earpers.
MUSIC: Heart of the Forest by Alec Holowka
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Transcribing Earpers, because it's everybody's shit show.
MUSIC: The Airship by Kristoffer Maddigan
DARKWICCAN: And welcome back everybody to the Earp Fiction Addiction , the podcast dedicated entirely to Wynonna Earp fanfiction. I am your host DarkWiccan and with me remain my bonny co-hosts from across the country and the pond. My dear Delayne...
DELAYNE: Hello.
DARKWICCAN: And my lovely Laragh…
LARAGH: Hi
DARKWICCAN: And we are supremely excited to have with us today, to chat with us about some awesome and important topics, the most delightful, friendly, wonderful guy you could ever hope to meet, our wonderful Jeremy Chetri, Varun Saranga. Varun, welcome to the show.
VARUN: Aha, thank you for having me, that’s very kind of you to say all that, wow, I’m smiling so much.
DARKWICCAN: Well, I have this problem where I can only speak the truth.
ALL: [laughs]
VARUN: I have that problem too, yeah for sure.
DARKWICCAN: It’s amazing how often it gets me in trouble but you know most of the time it’s a pretty good deal.
VARUN: That’s Earp, everyone’s so gosh darn nice, it’s crazy. Sometimes I’m almost not used to it because you know, when you exist in western society, you walk around, no one’s really that happy all the time. No one’s really that outwardly kind and then you go to a convention and yeah, everyone here is so loving, this is overwhelming right now.
DARKWICCAN: I don’t know what to do with all this positivity.
LARAGH: Soak it up, I want it always.
DELAYNE: It does make it hard to go back to real life after a con, that’s for sure.
VARUN: Oh my god. I just went to Burning Man, it was like a similar principle of just outward love and unconditional love was the societal make up of that place and you come back here and you’re like, “Wow, that’s what it could be,” and then you come here and you’re like, “oh, this is what it actually is,” like someone’s miserable walking in the rain and they throw coffee on you, I don’t know.
DARKWICCAN: Well, what I think is really unique about us human beings is how we are able to create pockets of utopia but they can only exist in short periods of time. We have our Earp conventions which are these incredible, as you say, loving, wholly immersive in the good juice kind of scenarios. Burning Man as well a kind of utopia but they can only exist for a short period, for whatever reason. Whether it’s well, you gotta go back to “quote” real life, or this type of existence isn’t truly sustainable over the long term because people ultimately are flawed. But it is really nice to be able to dip your toe into that kind of perfection for a little while. It’s very rejuvenating.
VARUN: Yeah, this is like, what I realise, in Burning Man I like how they referred to it as, “This place is the default world, we’re running on the default operating system.” Because you exist on the same globe, it still exists on the same continuity of being, this is possible, this utopic vision. But because it exists in contrast to what actually is, it’s almost like it’s the part of the same stew, and I’m just hoping there is a happy medium that comes someday where love isn’t this transactional thing, it’s closer and closer to this unconditional framework that we have. And I don’t know, I feel like things like Wynonna, and things generally contribute to positive thinking are the necessary recipe.
DARKWICCAN: Absolutely, yes, I completely agree with you.
DELAYNE: Beautifully said.
VARUN: Burning Man changed my life guys.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: That’s fantastic, that’s so cool, that is so cool. Do you have a favourite memory from Burning Man?
VARUN: Oh my god, I just have so many, like I don’t want this podcast to be all Burning Man. It’s just… it’s so hard to sum up… I mean… No, if I started it’s like an hour long story, it’s life changing, we’ll talk about it over beers.
DARKWICCAN: Okay, that sounds great, that sounds great, okay. Holding you to that, holding you to that. I’ll see you at EhCon next year for sure, we’ll sit down with beer and talk Burning Man.
VARUN: Okay.
DARKWICCAN: But I completely, completely agree with you, I’m sure Laragh and Delayne do too, that influences like Wynonna Earp on the social consciousness are only positive and only a good way to start bringing people to a higher, better, more welcoming and loving way of thinking. And I think that’s why the Wynonna Earp fandom is famously unique, it’s one of the many reasons, but in your opinion what do you think makes Earpers different to other fandoms.
VARUN: You know, I think it’s just kind of what we touched on before, but it is this notion of unconditional love, like to love without expectation, and to love with kindness, and non-judgement, and inclusivity. And it’s just crazy, stop me if I’m wrong, but these are literally all the requirements of being an Earper, it’s synonymous with being an Earper. I mean Tim would always talk about this with me and we’re just astounded by how kind people are, how accepting people are, and how non-judgemental people are. This is not the standard and that is the makeup of an Earper, that’s the requirement, like you have to fill out your resume, your application better have these things to be an Earper. It blows my mind continuously, I’m so happy and grateful I get to meet the fans because for me it’s just as profound and touching for me because it’s something I always want to strive to be more, I feel like as Earpers we push each other to be more, we push each other to be more charitable, we push each other to care more about a stranger. And I don’t know, I love that it does that, it’s crazy that a television show does that, it blows my mind on a daily basis.
DARKWICCAN: And a TV show about demons.
ALL: [laughs]
VARUN: When I pitch the show to people it’s always like a glaze over, they’re very confused why it has this insane cult following. The premise isn’t what people are coming for, it’s the characters, it’s their relationships, and I guess it’s the themes. I don’t know, it’s so crazy.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, absolutely.
LARAGH: So touching on your experience you were talking about there with Wynonna Earp and fans, have you ever had an experience of being part of a fandom from either side before?
VARUN: I mean, not on this scale necessarily. I guess I have to ask you guys? Is this the standard of fandom, is this like a normal thing?
DARKWICCAN: No.
LARAGH: No.
VARUN: Because I always got the impression that fandoms are a lot more aggressive and critical?
DELAYNE: They can be, that’s what I’ve heard.
VARUN: Like Star Wars or Star Trek , those are always kind of what I flirted with in terms of fandom, or like Lord of the Rings , there’s a lot of encyclopedic debate about things, so that’s what I always associate fandom with. And then Wynonna just seemed to fly in the face of all of that? It’s not even about the show, that’s what I keep having to turn to, really you guys have made it something not about the show, but other fandoms always feel like it’s about the show always.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, I’d say that’s fair, I’d say that’s an absolutely fair assessment. Typically fandoms are tied in with the mythos of the source material so much, that’s why you get your stereotypical glasses-pushing-up “well actually” debates...
DELAYNE: Hard core, follow every single opinion blog, yeah.
VARUN: I kind of like that, I’m super into that, I’m super into world building, I remember growing up and reading every Harry Potter extraneous information in those wiki sites and I remember doing it for Lord of the Rings , I remember doing it for Game of Thrones , maybe is my most recent one, like I want to know everything about this world, so I know that it’s exactly correct. It’s almost like I’m studying it. That’s my introduction into fandom, is almost this enjoyment of the mythos of the encyclopedic knowledge of it. But I don’t care to make people feel wrong about it, or make people feel bad.
DARKWICCAN: And see, that would actually make you an excellent fic author…
VARUN: Is this why you invited me on the show?
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: I gotta tie it in somehow right? I mean seriously, the one faction of any fandom, whether it’s Wynonna Earp fandom, or Star Wars , or Buffy the Vampire Slayer , or Lord of the Rings , is when you get to the fic authors there is a huge emphasis and focus on getting it right and understanding all of the facts from the show that have been laid out. So we do exist.
DELAYNE: Researching the mythos.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, exactly researching the mythos. Those fans do exist within Wynonna Earp , but here’s the thing, those conversations of the “well actually, in episode three of season two da da da” those conversations happen amongst the fic authors but you don’t see them happening out amongst the larger… once we get into the larger Earp space it’s just a love-fest free for all. You don’t really… yes, we’re all about the love.
DELAYNE: Earper debates seem generally friendly, not these debates you hear about people screaming and yelling at each other that they’re wrong. Earpers tend to be more, “well, I disagree with you, here’s how I see it.” Definitely a kinder, nicer debate.
DARKWICCAN: “I can see where you’re coming from there, but this is where I’m coming from, maybe we can just agree to disagree on this one.” Yeah, it’s a lot more chill comparatively. Because the three of us have come from other fandoms as fic authors and it can get pretty intense man.
VARUN: I can imagine. I can also imagine it must be so exciting to be a fic author because now you’re creating your own timeline and you get to add on this story. I don’t know, you’re essentially splintering off the timeline and creating this whole new narrative and you get to continue for years to come, like far past the shelf life of a show. That’s so interesting to me, I love that aspect.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, it’s really cool. And what’s really awesome is watching authors come up with completely alternative universe scenarios. Like right now, speaking of multi-fandom, right now there is a Star Wars Wynonna Earp mashup fic playing out, and it’s really cleverly put together, so we get Star Wars mashups, we get Harry Potter mashups, lots of video games like Dragon Age mashup type storytelling, Fallout mash ups. It’s really really cool. And I will say this, as much as I have been, there was that period of concern of, “oh god, are we gonna get a season four, what’s going to happen?” and the fight and all of that, I mean all three of us here rolled up our sleeves and did our bit, bought billboards and were tweeting constantly and trying to keep everything in the forefront of the media to make sure that promises that were made were kept but it also was great for fanfiction because it sort of gave us this free period where we don’t have any new canon content coming out so let’s just go buckwild, let’s just see what we can do. Let’s put these characters in the old West, let’s put them in outer space, let’s put them you know…
VARUN: So I guess the fanfic community was keeping it alive too which is beautiful.
DELAYNE: Oh yeah.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah absolutely, in fact our following with the show bumped up quite a bit because there was no new content, we were the suppliers of the content, and what was great about it was that we got a further appreciation for just how high quality the writing in this fandom was so that was pretty cool to see.
VARUN: Do a lot of fanfic authors, do you guys write novels or do you write short stories? Do you normally write other things or is fanfiction kind of usually what people focus on?
DARKWICCAN: It all depends on the author. We do have a very prominent writer within our fanfic community who goes by the pseudonym Bootsncatz who recently sold an original…
VARUN: Boots and cats? Oh, I like that, it’s great.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, that’s their pseud. They did actually recently have an original work accepted for publishing.
VARUN: Wow, cool.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, and we have another whose pseudonym is SensitivePigeon who is also working on a piece for publication. Yeah, so it just depends...
DELAYNE: We’ve had some who decided to go back to school for screenwriting.
VARUN: Oh my god, that’s incredible.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, Tacosaretasty, that’s their pseud, again.
VARUN: They got the best one.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, who has decided to go to school for screenwriting, so it’s a very supportive encouraging community, we’re all trying to push each other to do the best we can in the direction we want to take it. So there are authors who are like, “no fanfic’s my only thing, I don’t need to pursue anything beyond it” and there are authors who are going, “you know what? I’ve been bitten by the writing bug and I want to see where this goes.” So yeah, it’s really cool.
VARUN: Wow, that’s so… that’s beautiful. I’m so appreciative of something like that.
DARKWICCAN: So are we!
VARUN: Art in any kind of capacity, but especially splintered off from our show, that’s just like wow. I’ve met so many artists at the conventions too, like visual artists, and it’s insane to see the fanart and just like, “oh, this is happening in so many mediums,” it’s like writing, it’s probably happening in music, it’s happening in so many different aspects.
DELAYNE: Yep.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, it absolutely is happening in music too. It’s so weird that in fic, we’ve talked to Dom and Kat about this, how fic is like the one expression of fandom that you guys don’t get to see really.
VARUN: Yes. Because [inaudible] fans coming up to me, with their fanfic, and telling me to read it in front of them. I’ve never got to see any.
DELAYNE: Please listeners, don’t do that.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, please listeners, don’t do that. They can’t read it. They can’t. Again, it’s not personal.
VARUN: Yeah, it definitely would affect how I play the character in some capacity.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, so warning gentle listeners, please, please, please, don’t.
VARUN: Once the show is done in ten years I’ll read all of it, I’m down for that.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, a decade down the line. Absolutely, and we are more than happy to provide you with a safe list of excellent titles to read. We don’t want you to jump in without a safety net into the world of fanfiction.
VARUN: If Jeremy’s in this I’m just picturing some dark places that you’re protecting me from.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: Actually, I’ll be honest with you, Jeremy is almost always just the cutest sweetest puppy dog of a character when written into fanfic.
VARUN: Oh, that’s lovely, that’s lovely. I love it.
DARKWICCAN: But speaking of Jeremy, let’s bring this back around. So Jeremy is a queer character and queer characters in media tend to attract a fiercely loyal following, because there are so few of you guys so we need it. As Jeremy’s custodian, which is a term that Carrie Fisher used talking about her relationship to playing Princess Leia, do you feel any pressure from the fans, or from yourself, when you’re bringing Jeremy to the screen.
VARUN: I like this term, custodian, yes because you’re always in service of the character. And you never are the character, you never are, it always represents something beyond you. Pressure? I don’t want to say pressure because it frames it in an aggressive way. I feel responsibility, constantly, yeah. I feel such an attachment to Jeremy at this point, also through meeting all the fans and acting in it as long as I have. I have a relationship to Jeremy, and I have Jeremy’s back. So I do feel, I feel like the fans influence how much I love Jeremy and how important it is to the fans. It’s so hard for me to phrase this because I don’t want to say I over think playing Jeremy, because it’s already intrinsically in me, I realise the responsibility and I’m always looking out for it, at any moment. Like if there’s something in the script that I don’t vibe with or is going to leave a bad impression representationally I always email and I always talk about it with Emily. And she’s super open to it, and it’s so rare. But I’m just so conscious of how it’s affecting people. And I guess I’m conscious of it, I mean I’ve talked about this story so many times but maybe it bears repeating. I was so unaware of representation and what it actually meant, especially being Indian and growing up in western society and always wanting to fit in. It’s funny, like I grew up with a lot of minorities, I think there were ten white people in my high school growing up...
DARKWICCAN: Oh wow.
VARUN: Yeah, but yet, yet I always wanted to fit in with them. I always wanted to be seen like them, because I always had this dream of television or film or just being accepted ultimately. And I never really knew that as the years went by I just kept suppressing and suppressing this urge to actually embrace being Indian, and was moving more towards being accepted by general society. And so I ended up travelling to India with Dom and I went to this Earper event that was this beautiful LGBT event in Mumbai, and if you think that we are struggling to take our rights here for equal rights here it’s on a different scale there, and I can assure you of that because a lot of the aspects of their society is regressive. So it was beautiful to see this oasis of creativity and love in the middle of the city, so we went in there and watched all these people doing their talents or whatever, like some were doing poetry, some were doing music, some were just doing comedy, and during the interrum one of the fans recognised Dom and I and it was an Earper, so the Earper came up to us and we just started chatting and seven more Earpers came, and they bought us beers and we were just hanging out chilling and talking, and I remember it distinctly, one of the Earpers, she had said how important it was that Jeremy was Indian and queer, and how much it empowered her. And it was the first time I ever actually heard that, and it was the first time I actually resonated that that’s my people, that’s where I’m from, and this actually matters, and it just hit me, I started crying and I started to realise how much I was punishing myself for my own race, like my own heritage, and from that moment on it has changed the way I approach everything in acting. I completely understand now that when you’re absorbing this information, if what you’re absorbing is inherently negative and inherently putting you down… like the LGBT community for years was always made to be a joke, the butt of a joke, in a lot of sitcoms and a lot of shows, and so you start to treat it that way because that’s what the programming is telling you to do and it was when I had the clarity of the moment that it actually matters what you’re doing when you’re acting on there, that Jeremy is beyond you and you have to serve Jeremy. It just changed. So I feel super responsible for everything I’m doing on-screen and I’m so cognizant of it. In fact I try to learn from everybody in the community every single time. I don’t know, I feel like I’m doing a good job now, because I’m aware of it now. Previously I really wasn’t, and now it’s kind of all I think about when I do the character.
DARKWICCAN: Wow, that’s amazing. Let me catch my breath here, oh my gosh. That’s incredible.
DELAYNE: I knew this was going to be a good interview.
DARKWICCAN: Yes, we have heard that story before but it’s so impactful, and every time you tell it it gets even more… [laughs] that’s just so amazing and wonderful and I’m so thrilled that you were able to have that experience and for it to be so profound and life changing for you. You’re absolutely right, everything that you’ve said is absolutely right about what the media is telling us the story of our lives, and if all we’re getting is negativity that’s how we start to view ourselves. So thank you so much for a) recognising that, and b) kind of raging against the machine in your own way.
VARUN: You know, this is kind of it. I think we’re all in this beautiful age now where a lot of us are realising that you have to self-actualise. Following society, even following gender norms, following anything that they’ve told you to follow is kind of bullshit. And you have to discover what your own truth is. And a lot of it has to do… it’s uncomfortable because you’re always rubbing against what other people believe to be true and saying the opposite and finally I think I excited because I’m really at the stage of my life where I’m constantly doing that. And a lot of it has to do with the show to be honest with you. It’s what the show gave me, it opened me up to a community and a way of thinking I never really knew before. And then travelling doubled that, and you know, like, it’s all… for sure.
DELAYNE: Profound experiences, for sure. Wynonna Earp has been profound to many people, and once Jeremy appeared on the show I think a lot of people connected with Jeremy, so kind of like he’s a proxy for the audience. Does this inform your performance at all? Do you feel the way Jeremy presents the nerdiness and kind of the fans themselves?
VARUN: Yeah, I get that a lot too, a lot of the fans will always be like, “I relate to Jeremy” and I’m like, “oh it’s the awkward thing?” and they’re like, “yes.” I think the way that Emily writes Jeremy it’s very endearing. It is an endearing quality to be socially awkward and still try. You admire him more for trying, and I think a lot of people who watch Wynonna Earp , we’re all trying to break out of our shell, we’re all trying to embrace the scary aspects of life. And Jeremy is constantly trying and he fails at it, he’s constantly putting his foot in his mouth, but they still love him despite that. Because he means well. So yeah it has informed my performance, there’s always these jokes that they’ll throw in that is like an awareness of the show, I mean Wynonna has that on the next level, but because Wynonna’s the main character she can’t really, really be removed. But Jeremy is always a bit like, “who are these crazy people? What are they doing?”
ALL: [laughs]
DELAYNE: Yup.
DARKWICCAN: And I think also Jeremy just loves everyone. [Inaudible] even when characters are behaving in a problematic way there’s still this, “oh man, I just love you anyway,” and I think that’s true of the Earpers as well.
VARUN: For sure, for sure. I mean, it’s great, like when you’re awkward together. Like I remember every Earper that comes to me at a con like, “I’m so awkward too,” I’m like, “yeah, me too, but isn’t it great, we can be awkward together.” And you just feel like less like that’s a bad thing. I don’t know. Maybe we’re all awkward.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, I think we just have to admit that we’re all awkward and if we can all be calm about it.
VARUN: One hundred percent.
LARAGH: So you mentioned not really being aware of the lack of representation growing up, so if not that then what inspired you to pursue a career in acting?
VARUN: You know, I always had an affinity for film, or just a general interest but I mean, I never studied it, I never honed my craft, I was perfectly content to just meander between doing nothing and just enjoying life. Like I never, I was the youngest child in my family and anything I did was always approved of so I just never really struggled for what my life was going to be. My sister and my brother on the other hand they got a lot of pressure thrown at them, my parents were tired by that point, they were just, “just do…” [inaudible] And so it was funny, when I was eighteen my brother had been studying engineering for a bit at the behest of my parents and they told him that he had to finish engineering before he could pursue anything else, but my brother had a secret passion for acting, so he was secretly acting and he didn’t tell my parents while doing his degree. And then he was not doing well in school so my parents had no idea, and then one day an aunty called my mom and was like, “uh, your son is on TV,” and my mom’s like, “what?” “Your son is in a porno,” and my mom’s like, “WHAT” and it turned out it was American Pie, one of those straight to DVD American Pie movies is on TV, obviously it was so hedonistic and sexual and my mom’s like, “what the hell is happening.” And then she googles my brother and she sees his IMDB and he’s secretly acting and it’s like, it was crazy, my parents and my brother had a little bit of a falling out. So my parents were just like, “you’re never going to act.” And I’m like, “I didn’t intend to act, but now I kind of want to.”
ALL: [laughs]
VARUN: And so my brother had sent me this open call and I was like, “alright, why not, let me give acting a chance.” And I’d made short films in high school and I acted in them because no one else wanted to, but I never thought I was going to be an actor, never. So I went to this audition, it was a bunch of fourteen year olds and then there’s eighteen year old me who looks fourteen and I’m like, “alright let me go audition for this.” So I’m reading the script and looking up to react, and looking down, and like, “this is… I don’t know, this might not be for me.” So I was happy I did the experience and I went to university. And then four months later they called me back and said, “hey we liked your audition and we’d like you to audition again.” And I’m like, “oh crap, okay.” Meanwhile I’m starting this political science degree, I’m forbidden from acting, I’ve told my parents I’m going to be a lawyer, I still don’t know what I want to be, I’m like, “I’ll do law I guess.” So I just chose to do political science and philosophy. And I went to this audition and they liked me again and my brother really coached me well and then they did the chemistry test and they cast me in a show. Like my first audition I just got cast as a series regular in this kid’s show, called How to Be Indie . So now I’m in university, secretly doing a full time job, trying to do a degree, and lying to my parents the whole time.
DARKWICCAN: Oh no.
VARUN: So I didn’t want to disappoint them, but I also really wanted to act, I was like, “wow, look at all this money,” I don’t even know if I want to act, this is fun, and so I just enjoyed the act of doing it. I never really knew much about the art of it. And so my university had a strike at one point, my parents were like, “why aren’t you coming home from residence? What are you doing? You’re not doing school so why aren’t you coming home?” I’d be like, “I’m studying, leave me alone,” meanwhile I’d be acting the whole time. And then my parents and my brother finally reconciled, there was a death in the family and that always brings people together, they were like, “okay, maybe we’ll approve of what you’re doing, it’s not worth it.” So in the face of death you better embrace your family because what else is there in life. So they started to embrace each other so then I come out of the woodwork and am like, “also I want to be an actor.” And they’re like, “okay.” So I pretended I acted in the show in the summer, to ease the pain, so they accepted it and they thought this was my summer job and little did they know I was secretly acting. So I lucked into acting and trust me I’ve grown to love acting as an artistic medium but the whole time I was just doing it because it was fun and I had nothing else to do.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: That’s incredible. You tripped and fell into this career, that’s fantastic.
VARUN: One hundred percent. I feel like I trip and fall into everything in life. I go with the flow, I don’t have a plan most of the time, when I’m travelling too, I was travelling on my motorbike, I was like, “oh, I’ll rent a motorbike, I’ve never ridden one before,” and then I was travelling Vietnam and then I was like, “okay, I’ll buy a hammock from this person,” and I bought a hammock, and then I’ll sleep in strangers backyards. I just paid strangers to sleep in their backyards, and sometimes I’d have to sleep in the jungle, like, “alright.” I just don’t know any different how to live, I’ll just do whatever’s immediate, I’ll do it. So acting was in front of me so I was going to just do it.
DARKWICCAN: Wow, that’s awesome.
DELAYNE: I feel like I’ve [inaudible]
LARAGH: Yeah
DARKWICCAN: Man, I love what a free spirit you are, it’s just fantastic. Phew.
LARAGH: Yeah, me too.
DELAYNE: It’s beautiful and I’m kinda jealous, just want to put that out there.
DARKWICCAN: Wow, so you mentioned during the People of Color panel at EhCon that you were happy that Jeremy’s character isn’t deeply tied to his being South Asian, but that being said, religion and culture are rarely part of the plotline of Wynonna Earp . I mean there are some elements to overarching elements, you’ve got angels and demons and the Garden of Eden, but it’s not heavy. Would you eventually like to see some part of Jeremy’s heritage explored? I did a little bit of research and I guess Chetri is actually traditionally a Hindu name so I’m curious, you know, with Hinduism being rich with stories of monsters and supernatural beings would it be cool do you think to include some of that in Wynonna Earp ?
VARUN: I think… you know, I remember saying that I like that it isn’t about him being South Asian, it’s so funny, I do like it because he’s so much more than being South Asian. The problem with characters initially is when their cultural background is the only interesting thing about them, and so because it’s been two seasons I would love to see his South Asian background now. But I do feel like early on, I don’t always want it to be what their race is, or what their background is, to be the most interesting thing about a character. So I loved so much about Jeremy that they never really addressed that, but yeah now I think I would really appreciate it. I think we know enough about Jeremy to want to know about his background, to want to know where he’s from, in that respect. And Hinduism, yeah it’s rich with stories, it’s crazy, the mythos, there’s something like the most epic tales are from Hindu origin and it’s bled into a lot of our own kind of storytelling. I’m shocked that there isn’t a movie based on this stuff, there is that little Pixar short about the Hindu gods that was before one of their movies, and I thought that that was so clever, yeah, Hindu gods are like superheroes, they’re monsters and they’re supernatural beings and they have all these endowed powers, they have eight arms. I don’t know , they would fit right in, I would think.
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, I think it would be pretty cool. And like you say I love the fact that when we meet Jeremy, when we met Jeremy, he’s just this guy. He just got roped into this situation. And where he came from wasn’t really important, it was just like who he is in this moment right now. So I’m… yeah.
VARUN: Because so often I think stereotypes come about when the only interesting thing about his character is his accent. No, I don’t want it to be that way.
DELAYNE: Yeah, and when it does come to representation it seems like South Asian characters are ridiculous stereotypes, either a terrorist, or Apu. Or they’re completely whitewashed, there’s no middle ground. Where do you think Jeremy fits in this dichotomy, and are there any changes that you would like to see for him to better represent the middle ground.
VARUN: I think you guys have actually made me really think about it. I never really reflected on all those years ago saying that South Asian thing because I’m figuring it out for myself right now. And yeah the middle ground would be to slowly incorporate aspects of his culture in order to understand more about the character. Because it necessitates learning about the character, like I feel learning about his mom entails learning about where Jeremy is from, you know, inherently. I would love to know that, it goes along with the story, and I think that would help build some sort of middle ground for this stuff.
DARKWICCAN: Oh yeah, totally. I want to know so much about Jeremy’s mom, she is… I’m so curious about Jeremy’s mom because the fact Jeremy now has these abilities…
VARUN: I don’t think Emily fully knew until the end. Because I don’t think she would have wrote this crotch thing, or maybe she would. I don’t think it would be this big of a deal this crotch thing, but I guess it just happened, alright let’s do it. Like this one-off joke is now, his entire ability stems from his crotch, it’s crazy, it’s crazy.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: But what about his… you know because he was stuck in the car with his mom for three days so did his mom have some sort of ability that passed to him, and where did her…? You know it’s like this whole thing that could be explored. Who knows? Who knows? Nobody knows. The writers are so creative, it could be anything, it could be nothing.
VARUN: Well, you know I think it’s like… all the characters, they’re shaped by their trauma and trauma imparts some bizarre superpower with setbacks in them. Like Wynonna’s trauma with her family lineage gives her the ability to put down the demons but then also haunts her with demons too. And like Waverly being the angel and it feeds so much into her kindness but the dichotomy of not knowing her parentage really messes with her. It’s just like yeah, I love Wynonna Earp for that, the trauma shapes the characters and somehow gives them this superpower, this interesting thing, yeah, it’s really cool.
DARKWICCAN: And really what an empowering stance to take, that your trauma is your superpower, because usually it’s considered a weakness. But in the case of the story telling here… and I think more true to life as well, trauma can be the source of empowerment for you, you just have to find that path to it.
VARUN: Yeah. Yeah, like I’ve been thinking a lot about trauma in terms of just that thought in your head that tells you you’re not good enough, or the doubt, and like I had this moment of clarity like okay what if this shit is true? What if I am not good enough and then you literally face that thought and you overcome it. By entertaining, instead of pushing away the thought that you’re not good enough, become good enough and shut that voice up. Like if you are not going to eat healthy for a moment, no shut it up and go eat healthy. Just do the thing to face the trauma instead of beating yourself up for having trauma, do you know what I mean?
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, absolutely.
VARUN: And that’s what I like in Wynonna. Wynonna’s literally facing her trauma, and it’s not clean to face what you don’t like about yourself, ever, but it’s so healthy.
DARKWICCAN: Mhmm, absolutely. There is always that element of you do have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. But the reward is so rewarding. What a brilliant thing to say.
DELAYNE: You have a way with words DW.
DARKWICCAN: Why thank you very much I do try. Kind of wrapping up this representation conversation a little bit, with the exception of a few characters, Jeremy included, Purgatory is still dominantly a white space, again kind of referring back to the EhCon panel this also says something about Canadian entertainment but also North American entertainment just kind of in general as far as it being a very white place. Have you started seeing positive change from your perspective, are you hopeful things are going to get better, or continue to get better.
VARUN: Yeah, I guess in contrast to my fellow panel mates I guess I think it’s only getting more positive. Even to have the conversation is more positive. And so much of our media has become more representational. I really believe it’s getting better at every moment. I mean we still have to fight, we still have to make our voices heard that we want to see this. But people are listening now. I’ve been watching a show recently called High Maintenance on HBO and it’s little vignettes into New Yorkers lives and the thread is they all have the same weed dealer and it’s a different character every episode. But it covers the breadth of humanity, like it covers every community, it covers every religion, it covers every kind of person, the person you deem crazy on the street has this rich interior life. We’re starting to see that human beings are so complex and there’s such a beauty in their complexity. Instead of just, I don’t want to… this kind of white saviour, male saviour mentality that’s been ingrained in us, we’re now starting to break that down, “no that person’s probably messed up too, like all of us are.”
DARKWICCAN: Well, I mean it’s more representative of reality. Our world is very diverse and colourful place. And to only have one group representing this incredibly unique and again to use the same word again diverse kind of world it’s frikkin’ boring man.
VARUN: Yeah, totally.
DELAYNE: And even if you’re looking at a group, a defined group, the diversity within that group, people tend to lump all the gays together. We’re all very different.
DARKWICCAN: Very, very different.
VARUN: I think that’s my favourite thing of existing is humanity. Like, I love humans. We’re so endlessly fascinating and there’s so much to learn from a simple conversation with someone that I just, why don’t you want to see every kind of human on screen, there’s so much to learn from every kind of person. I think we’re finally waking up to that.
DARKWICCAN: And it’s about gosh darn time I tell you what.
VARUN: It’s about time. You know what, it’s something I didn’t know I wanted. Like I said, you repressed it because you just follow the norm, until you get it and you’re like, “oh, I like the way this tastes, like this is pretty good.” And then you want more and more of that.
DARKWICCAN: Absolutely, it’s like trying a new delicious pie flavour you never knew existed.
VARUN: Yes, this rainbow coloured pie. Delicious.
DARKWICCAN: Rainbow coloured pie, awesome. Varun this has been such a fantastic conversation, thank you so much for chatting with us today.
VARUN: No problem, thanks for having me.
DARKWICCAN: Now, before we let you go, we do have one more question that we have to ask, that we hope you’ll find kind of fun. This is of course a fic show, we spend a bit of time every episode promoting some awesome fanfiction, and we also want to encourage our authors out there to write more so we can read more. So Laragh would you do the honours of asking Varun our final question for today.
LARAGH: Would you like to provide a Jetri fic prompt for our listening readers?
VARUN: What does a prompt mean? Like a plot?
DARKWICCAN: Yeah, basically an idea for a story, it can be as simple as one word…
VARUN: Oh, a writing prompt.
DARKWICCAN: A writing prompt yeah.
VARUN: Of course, this is a fanfic podcast. Oh man, I should have gotten to think about this. I guess now I can say anything, there’s too much choice.
DELAYNE: Literally all of the choices.
VARUN: A complete open world. I would love to see Jeremy with aliens. Something about aliens.
DARKWICCAN: Okay, Jetri in space, you got it.
VARUN: Maybe abducted, Jeremy gets abducted by aliens, and the gang has to save him. Okay, that’s what happens.
DARKWICCAN: Okay authors, you have your prompt, get to it.
VARUN: Yes.
ALL: [laughs]
DARKWICCAN: I’m excited to see what’s going to come out of that.
DELAYNE: Right? I already have a couple of ideas like
VARUN: Alright, let’s do it.
DARKWICCAN: I’m sorry, that’s awesome because that’s our first sort of aliens prompt, it’s going to be great. Well Varun, again, this has been a delight, thank you so much and I can’t wait to see what happens with Jeremy in season four and I’m looking forward to seeing you at conventions next year.
VARUN: Yeah, looking forward to that too. Talk to you guys later.
And that's all for this episode of the Earp Fiction Addiction. Thanks for joining us.
Huge thanks to Varun Saranga for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us today!
Thanks also to our announcer Byron Tidwell for our intro
Background music for the episode was:
A Proper Story by Darren Korb
Heart of the Forest by Alec Holowka
and The Airship and the outro music Don't Deal with the Devil are by Kristoffer Madigan
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Thanks for tuning in, and we hope you'll join us again next time for another episode of the Earp Fiction Addiction. Until then, READ MORE FIC!