Work Text:
Hello, and welcome to my commentary on Forty! This was a fix-it fic, so first I need to do some complaining.
I think I was probably the first person to make a Tumblr post about this specific issue I had with the City Council of Darkness finale, but I have also seen other people talking about having the same gripe since I first saw the episode (and some who actually liked what happened which hey, more power to you). I wanted to make a fic of it right at that moment, but I sort of just didn’t.
To get into what my actual complaint was, I just found the promise that Vesper made to the coterie after being turned human – that she would come back and have Darkness Man turn her again in her forties after getting ‘hot’ – so cute, and so perfect for where her character was at that point in the series.
Personally I was really sad first when she got shot by Boyd Douglas (because they really should’ve killed him by that point), but I could still see it being a powerful emotional beat. This was killed quite quickly when, instead of having a more tragic version of the same promise happen – Mitch being forced to turn her back instantly instead of letting her have her freedom – what I can only describe as some of the most simultaneously hilarious and narratively dreadful D&D takes place with the introduction and existence of Vesper’s Dad.
He’s so hot, and also so unnecessary.
The original prompt instantly transported me to this complaint, and I just knew I had to write this fic ASAP. I was especially motivated by the note about the canon divergence being ‘something you grew attached to that didn’t end up happening’ – I think this is probably the greatest example of that I’ve ever felt.
Anyway, that’s the complaining bit over, onto how I think a sort of epilogue for Vesper should have gone, and why I chose to write it like that.
Firstly, I briefly considered having Vesper be feeling anxious and having doubts about holding up the promise to rejoin the coterie, but then I realised it would actually be more likely that Mitch would be feeling that instead, continuously checking in with her and confirming she still wanted to be Turned again. Because he’s sweet like that, but also I think not having Vesper there with him would be somewhat detrimental to his self-assuredness in the inter-personal relationship department.
Vesper and the zoo my beloved. I personally believe that it gets opened quite quickly (for a zoo, at least) after the whole Douglas family fight, and Wingstreet & Worthy absolutely has enough money and shady connections to fill it out with the most incredible animals – Vesper makes sure they are actually able to live in Purpee, but again the disgusting amounts of money involved can probably assist with any required habitat procurement. It’s a sanctuary, after all.
I had to give her a (human) family, just because 1. I think Vesper would be a really great mum generally, and 2. She was searching for a ‘bad boy herpetologist’ to a nearly-masquerade-breaching extent, so I thought it would probably be high on her priority list to track another down – even if she can’t actually love him entirely due to her soon-to-be-infinite life, so eventually he’ll just be a speck to her, and… wait this feels familiar... Oh god I accidentally turned Vesper into The Doctor. Whoops.
Also, Vesper’s husband’s name being Evan is fully an Evan Kelmp reference and I think they’d get on really well and trade animal facts (maybe romantically maybe not, who knows).
The kids… I think I struggled with this bit the most because like Evan they are practically dead to Vesper the moment she is Embraced again, and yet I think she would have a much stronger attachment to them, and not be able to compartmentalise it as effectively.
She loves them so much – I like to think that’s still her only ‘con’ with vampirism, that she’d have to give them up, decently early into their lives as well and without the ability to explain the situation to them because of the Masquerade (who knows, maybe they could end up turned or otherwise supernatural in the future!).
Also the names are yet again references, ‘Nancy’ is obvious, but ‘Cooper’ is at least slightly more subtle – it’s just Willie ‘Coop’ made into more of a normal young person name. ‘Herbert’ or ‘Melvin’ (which I think would be names Vesper would’ve wanted to pay homage to) didn’t really work for me but maybe I’m just unimaginative. I also thought of trying to squeeze a Bigfoot reference in there, even looking up regional names given to him, but unfortunately nothing took.
This final section, particularly the last 7 lines is honestly some of my favourite fic I’ve ever written – I almost teared up near the end which was very unexpected but I guess that shows just how much I love this concept.
I instantly knew I needed to intertwine Vesper being Embraced with the fallout of her death – I really wanted the reader to feel the bittersweet effect of her leaving her mortal life behind without any real warning. That she left all those people’s lives changed forever (positively with her life and negatively with her disappearance) was quite important to me to show.
It sort of played out in my mind like the ending of a TV series where there’s a montage of a tragic event happening, interspliced with a more hopeful, or in this case honestly somewhat selfish, event occurring likewise for the main character.
I was considering actually classifying what Vesper would’ve faked her death to look like, but I figured it would probably be even more tragic if she was genuinely just disappeared without explanation by the coterie after her birthday.
Bigfoot is at the funeral in secret, but he knows that Vesper isn’t actually dead. I kind of feel like that’s the only bit I didn’t really get across very well.
Into the bit where Vesper is Embraced again. This is an SFW BoBo fic but I mean… you just have to make vampiric Embrace a bit sexy, even if Mitch – as a Nosferatu – is all gnarled and green. Vesper’s just kind of into that I think. I really wanted her to fit in that kind of ‘fair maiden being taken and seduced by the night’ vibe, even though she’s obviously more than capable of telling Mitch no and him respecting that.
‘[her body parts] silently and deafeningly shriek’ was a fun (and gross) concept to add in, the hypothetical sensation of being Turned, especially by a Nosferatu, being incredibly painful but in a way the human body can’t really even process is super interesting to me.
Mitch instinctively almost calling Vesper ‘Bat Child’ in a tense moment before snapping out of it and using her name is something so dear to me in Darkbat fics so I had to do it here.
’21 and 40 and Infinite.’ What if I cried. The identity of Bat Child from her first unlife, her second entrance into vampirism, and her now-eternal life that are all present in her mind and attitude, all feel more willing and comfortable this time around.
I also think Vesper actually having a ‘Sire’ now, even though Mitch basically was anyway, would help her feel way more comfortable in her vampirism. A lot of this last section goes off a headcanon I have of Vesper being a bit of a dark romance novel girlie, the imagery of her in ‘the arms of her Sire’ is so cheesy but cute here.
And that’s it! I’m very happy with how much I was able to pack into such a small wordcount (I wanted it to be 360 actually, but Ao3 made it 361 and I was in too much of a rush to actually check), I’m so proud of this one and a big thank you to anyone who has read/kudosed/commented on it! I love these characters so much and I’m rather sad that CCOD was only 14 episodes – maybe we get a season two?