Titian and Vampires

Witches' Sabbath is the second story in the Crossed Lines series—a fusion of Supernatural with Caffrey Conversation. The premise is about crossing lines or, as Egon in Ghostbusters would say, blending the streams. The process was started in the first story, Whispers of the Night, when I mashed the FBI world of Peter and Neal with the rogue warrior domain of the demon-hunting brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. In Witches Sabbath, Neal's home turf of art is added to the cauldron.

Caffrey Conversation Halloween Trivia Challenge

Welcome to the first Caffrey Conversation trivia challenge! Can you guess when these spooky events occurred and to whom? Click on the question to find out the answer. I've listed the stories in chronological order below to help refresh your memory. Good luck—let us know how you did!

Swordplay in Caffrey Conversation

The image of a swashbuckling Scarlet Pimpernel is very appealing to Neal Caffrey. The canon writers took advantage of the concept during the Season 2 episode "Point Blank" when Neal slashed a banner with a sword to swing off a balcony in an Errol Flynn maneuver. For someone who dreams of being a swashbuckler, fencing is the ideal sport, and the writers knew it. In the Season 3 episode "On Guard," Neal showed off his expertise with a foil when he fenced under his alias of Gary Rydell. We've maintained his skill in our series.

Unraveling Kate

The character Kate Moreau heavily influences Neal’s actions in the first two seasons of White Collar, and yet we see very little of her. She appears mostly in brief, cryptic moments and in Neal’s memories. While Neal is certain she’s on his side, Peter is equally certain that she’s using Neal. Neal’s memories of her raised as many questions for me as they provided answers. How was I to untangle the strings from the series for Caffrey Conversation?

Warning: spoilers for Caffrey Conversation stories and the first two seasons of White Collar. 

Neal and the Columbia University Tunnels

Columbia University has been much on my mind recently. In my current story Raphael's Dragon, Neal is about to finish his first year of grad school. Two years ago, on October 23, 2014, I posted Complications, the story that started Neal's adventure at Columbia. Complications was a first in a couple of respects. It was my first fanfic and it was Neal's first opportunity to correct a deficit in his resume, namely a lack of a degree. In canon, Neal ran away before graduating from high school. The only degrees he had were fake. That someone as brilliant as Neal didn't have any legitimate degrees was emblematic of the bittersweet nature of the series.

Building Blocks of Choirboy Caffrey

After I posted Caffrey Conversation, I still wasn’t thinking of it as the start of a series. However, I had one tiny idea I thought could follow that story, almost as an epilogue. Initially, Choirboy Caffrey consisted of only one or two scenes in my mind, simply showing Neal meeting with Ellen Parker at a concert in St. Louis to get the pager they discussed in the first story.

Game Theory, Caffrey Conversation Style

Board games are one of the many delightful White Collar canon themes we love to keep alive in our series. Mozzie continues to play Candy Land with June. He plans a con by using Monopoly. In the Caffrey Conversation AU, we've expanded the gaming concept to include not only board games but other types as well.