Cornerstone Characterisation
A collection of fics that get a character so right that I would recommend them to somebody who has never encountered the source material as a guide to understanding that character. Frequently these works have given me new headcanons simply because their characterisation is good enough that it not only follows canon, but enhances it.
(Open, Moderated)
Random works
-
A Little Less Poison by LeftHandOfSnarkness
Fandoms: The Umbrella Academy (TV), The Umbrella Academy (Comics)
01 Apr 2019
Tags
Summary
Anger was his superpower.
Just a little character sketch of Diego pre-episode 1. Mostly from the show, but includes some elements of the comics as well.
Series
-
a girl is a house of mirrors by This_world_of_beautiful_monsters
Fandoms: Avatar (Cameron Movies)
19 Mar 2023
Tags
Summary
Every child struggles to figure out who they are. Kiri would settle for being sure of who she's not.
-
You Taste Like Suburbia by CannibalGender
Fandoms: Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022), Anne Rice's Talamasca: The Secret Order (TV 2025)
31 Dec 2025
Tags
Summary
“We aren’t together anymore,” he says. He does not ask if she overheard, simply arches his brows, waits for her to speak. “I only wanted to observe.”
“Mhmm. Fuck you,” she says, halfheartedly. “Observe what, us?”
“I wanted to see him where he belongs. Among his…peers, you could say.”
“With me? With the girls? He doesn’t belong to me. I wouldn’t want him to. He doesn’t even belong with me. As far as I’m concerned, you can have him.”
Armand, looking less the boy than ever now, narrows his eyes just slightly. He studies her like a stray animal trying to figure out how to open a garbage can: if he can just understand, he can feast. “Why? You love him.”OR:
Armand, famously normal about his partners' families, haunts the Molloys. -
come down off your throne and leave your body alone by blacksneakers
Fandoms: House of the Dragon (TV)
06 Feb 2023
Tags
Summary
“Did Viserys ever tell you that her first word was—”
“Uncle, yes. He was very unhappy about that, I can assure you.”
“He still is, he was complaining about it when Aegon learned how to talk.”
“Ridiculous. Everything he’s had, and it’s never been enough for him.”
“Sometimes I think he’d be happiest if he could have both of you in your own separate boxes. And he’d keep you in different rooms, and he’d never take you out at the same time.”
“And what about your box?”
“I would never be important enough for a box of my own. If he could control both of you, exactly as he liked, he wouldn’t even know that I existed. I’m nothing, in the end. Or I am a box that children can come out of, and that’s all. That’s all I’ve ever been to anyone, my whole life.”
“I’m sure Rhaenyra wouldn’t agree with that.”
Alicent rolls her eyes. “Rhaenyra hates me.”
Series
- Part 1 of the dragon must have three heads
-
Tags
Summary
Paul de Pointe du Lac was dead, to begin with. This was to be distinctly understood.
Random bookmarks
-
Tags
Summary
Artificial Intelligence can not factor for Human Spontaneity.
Machines cannot hold places of power.
Yassen Gregorovich must be human after all.Or
A study in the slow re-humanization of Yassen Gregorovich- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 12,898
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 3
- Comments:
- 23
- Kudos:
- 364
- Bookmarks:
- 91
- Hits:
- 6,258
Bookmarked by mayfriend
06 Jan 2024
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
“He shot the mirror.” Alex said. “The middle of the night.”
“So interesting, mirrors.” Crina mused, tapping on her cup. They were sitting outside, watching the newer recruits run through the obstacle course. They were all slow, improving but at a rate Yassen would never approve of. One new operative missed a jump, slamming his midsection into a log. Crina ducked her head to take a sip of tea and avoid laughing. “Mirrors were often believed to be bad luck. Broken, fractured images reflecting our faces.”
Crina set her cup down, crossing one leg over her knee. “Mirrors reflect our images—we tend to view the worst of ourselves and poke flaws in our appearance. For a man like Yassen, who cares not at all for visual appearance, one can’t help but ponder if he reflects the workings of his subconscious.”
“He shot the mirror.” Alex said, his mouth feeling dry despite his drink. “He wouldn’t shoot himself.”
Crina looked at him from the corner of her eye. “Mirrors reflect many things. It’s curious why he decided to shoot it.”
-
Tags
Summary
There's a grave, Cecil had said. Not that any of you would want to visit, he’d added. What he didn’t say is that he knew it was there because he’d stood in front of it, crouched down, his fingers ghosting against the name ensconced in history.
You can’t do a job like Cecil’s and not hate yourself to some degree.
Bookmarked by mayfriend
28 Nov 2023
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
The world doesn’t know that Cecil exists, and they won’t know when he’s gone—and they won’t know how his body is littered with everything he didn’t manage to save.
-
Tags
Summary
Emboldened by the television program, The Sopranos, Lestat spends thirty years in therapy becoming a vampire worthy of Louis’ love. Louis spends his second marriage refusing to address his eating disorder so as to better mourn his alive husband and dead daughter. One century later, they give New Orleans another try.
Series
- Part 1 of Renaissance Verse
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 61,204
- Chapters:
- 9/9
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 273
- Kudos:
- 445
- Bookmarks:
- 153
- Hits:
- 15,289
Bookmarked by mayfriend
25 Aug 2024
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
“You asked for it, so here it is, Lestat: I want there to be as little of me as possible; I want as little to atone for as possible. I wish that there were less of me existing in the world.”
Lestat’s heart sinks, and despite the steam and scald of the water, he suddenly feels freezing cold. He shivers, which he’s only done a handful of times as a vampire, most recently during his own murder. Louis steps aside to allow Lestat under the spray of water, with an after you sort of gesture. For a moment there is no sound; just the unyielding pound of the water as Lestat considers the darkness within his love.
Finally, Lestat can speak again. “Well, I’m glad you exist. As much of you as I can get my hands on. And that includes this part,” Lestat scrubs insistently until Louis relaxes his abdominal muscles, “Which I’ve witnessed and enjoyed in every possible iteration of.” And it is true. Full of warm murder or sunken with deprivation, Louis and his stomach were it for Lestat, the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen and ever will see.
-
Tags
Summary
The four relationships of Nathan's life.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 1,048
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 8
- Kudos:
- 184
- Bookmarks:
- 22
- Hits:
- 1,741
Bookmarked by mayfriend
31 Mar 2019
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
He stays out longer than he should, shivering in an alley. The sky gets darker and darker, and Nathan’s childlike stubbornness is outweighed by the sheer terror that creeps into his chest. He feels like a failure as he takes the path back home. He’s only been gone twelve hours, if that. Not enough.
When he gets home, his mom is still out. There's a note tacked up to the fridge with a few quid. She's going on a date, loves him very much, and here's some cash for a pizza. Nathan stares at it, his little boy hands smarting as they warm up, and fights the strong urge to cry. She hadn't even noticed he'd been gone.
This is Nathan's relationship with his mother. He never expects better.
-
if you're the prosecution I get away with murder by firstaudrina
Fandoms: Daredevil (TV)
02 Aug 2016
Tags
Summary
Elektra's his girl, the worst one he knows.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 1,005
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 34
- Kudos:
- 331
- Bookmarks:
- 70
- Hits:
- 2,583
Bookmarked by mayfriend
26 Oct 2018
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
"I think you know me better than anyone ever has," Matt tells her, inelegantly sprawled on a crappy futon with Elektra in his arms. Ten years later it will become an ironic statement, but when he says it it's just true. Simple and honest. Elektra will always be able to access a part of him that no one else is allowed to know about, even Foggy.
He knows Elektra smiles in response because he can feel it where her face is pressed against his chest. "I hear you, Matthew," she says, slow and witchy. He knows what she means. She hears the subtext, she hears the words he means behind the words he says. She hears his heart. That's a dangerous thing.
So is Elektra.