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#I've been looking for this fic for months now
aklaustaleteller · 2 days
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We'll Meet Again, Beloved
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Klaus is in trouble again and his lover, who is soon to become the goddess that the wolves would get to worship, comes to his rescue, again. And it's painful to come with the knowledge that she's always leaving in the end. But at last, this'd be the last time she'd ever have to leave.
Warnings - mentions of blood and inflicted pain. Word Count - 1.8k
This is actually a rewritten version of this fic that I'd posted in 2021! I'm quite proud to say that I think it's much better than it had originally been, so I hope you like it as well! I'd be rewriting a couple more fics before I post the new work I've written, so yay! Enjoy <3
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Fury burned Klaus’ eyes with such extreme rage that they began to shine a golden ring inside, the one that made it look like there was a solar eclipse inside his once beautifully green orbs. Aguish encapsulated all of his bones as if he were turning into his wolf form, his blood beginning to boil inside him and pour out of the corners of his mouth that had twisted into a dangerous snarl.
“You’re a monster!” The witch shouted at him, blood slipping out her own nose as she threw hateful insults at him, her voice growing louder in order to maintain the effect of the spell as she herself grew weaker by spending her magic such carelessly. 
Her hands shook and yet she kept them faced towards Klaus, who kneeled due to the force, writhing in pain in front of her, screaming at her the death threats that she knew weren’t empty. Her eyes clenched shut as she yelled, her voice shaking similarly to Klaus’ hands that he held his head with. 
“Stop it!” Klaus shouted at her, denying himself from crouching in the agonising pain that she’d been inflicting on him for so long that she’d fallen to her knees as well. Klaus knew that she knew were she to fail this attempt of ending him, she won’t live to even see him get off his knees – seeing as she refused to back down despite the fact that she might end herself with him. 
His body shook as if he’d been given wolfsbane and his forearms dug further deep into the ground. 
Looking up at her with her death flashing in his eyes, Klaus screamed at her once again. “Stop this or I will make sure your death is as painful as I can make it!” 
He raised his arm in order to reach her, noticing the indent he had caused in the soil as he struggled to raise his head. And in that moment he decided that this would be the very place he would leave her dead for the animals to feast upon. 
“Stop,” Klaus growled as her magic finally began to weaken, losing its grip on him as the witch lay on the ground, chanting the spell with as much power as her wilting body could muster up.
“Burn in hell,” the witch dared to stop herself and grit her teeth at him, now muttering the spell under her breath. She shut her eyes to stop herself from witnessing the smirk on Klaus’ mouth that was curling to show his sharp canines that would be tearing her apart into shreds. 
“And where, little witch, do you think he’s come from, then?” A soft voice mumbled tauntingly, causing Klaus to lift his gaze up from the witch’s trembling body to look at the woman leaning over her, whispering something under her breath that stopped the witch’s heart and tore it to pieces inside her chest – Klaus could hear that, or perhaps, he was persuaded to hear that.
The pain coursing through his body stopped and he felt his insides healing within a matter of seconds as he stood up from the ground, covered in blood and dirt. Still, he managed to smile graciously at the woman.
She wasn’t just any woman, no. She was a child to the gods, soon to become one herself as her turning year turned into the turning month, creeping up on her faster than she’d anticipated becoming Y/n, a goddess for all the wolves to worship. 
“My one and only,” she smiled back at him, a smile that could kill and bring one back from death’s hand itself. Her head lulled to the side as she looked at him adoringly, her soft plush lips calling out to him to come to her. Her hair flying behind her, making her seem all the more mystical and alluring than she already was. 
From where her hands had been hanging beside her, she offered them for Klaus to hold. Following his gaze to her right hand, she noticed some blood smeared on it and a corner of her mouth lifted. She shifted her weight on her right leg, freeing her left leg to relax a little. 
Which then made Klaus’ attention to catch on the bottom of her dress. It seemed as if it had been scraped and torn, the tearing marks seeming sharp, almost ready to dagger whatever lay beneath. The skirt flowed with the wind, allowing Klaus to see dirt crawling up her legs, telling him that there’d again been a struggle when she’d tried to come to him. 
“It was the god that the Vampires worship. He put up a rather annoying tantrum and tried to stop me from coming to you, my love,” she shrugged, complaining innocently and answering his question before he’d even asked it, all at once.  “You know I had to,” she grinned, a little cunningly. 
And then, her ears caught up with his ragged breathing. “Go,” she whispered, watching Klaus turn in front of her as she rid him of the pain he would’ve felt had she not been here.  
And as Klaus ran off into the woods, hunting down all that came in his way from camping humans to newly turned vampires looking to feed themselves, Y/n stood near the witch’s body and shut her eyes, trying to catch a word with the Witch’s god. He, who was already rather annoyed that another one of his had died because of defying the one rule he’d set. 
“I told you, anyone who’d hurt him would die,” Y/n muttered under her breath.
“I apologise, dear Y/n. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again” he sighed, and he must’ve opened his eyes because the connection had seemingly broken. 
So she opened her eyes, looking at the neverending sky, full of stars that witnessed such evil too frequently for her comfort.
This hadn’t been the first time she’d helped Klaus, nor was it the first time a tear had slipped out of her eyes because of the restrictions that prevented her from confessing to him until she’d turned herself into a goddess, a trap that had been set by the gods themselves – they’d known her yearn to be a human and walk the Earth and yet, they’d put up the condition over her so she’d turn, a trap. And she was willing to step into it just so that she’d never have to leave Klaus again. And she was going to, soon. 
She’d coffessed such to him before, which was the reason that he mostly tried to stay away from her – to prevent inflicting pain on her already beaten heart. To wait until she could safely be his, without her heart breaking into a million pieces over the reminder that it was going to take a long time before she could let herself fold in his arms. 
Wiping the lone tear, she sat up focusing her attention on his movement to see if he was going to come back anytime soon. She waited for him, for her favourite wolf, to come and ask her to turn him back so that he could touch her with just as much vulnerability as she did him.
Her mind lulled her to think about his state when he’d return. His soft shiny fur would be wet with blood and sweat, paws as soft as feathers after running at the speed of light, ears flopped down in search of comfort and searching for her heartbeat. She jerked a little when she heard twigs breaking and leaving rustling, crunching and crushing under his paws as he neared her. His nose sniffing and his fur brushing against trees. 
She moves to catch sight of him, instead feeling his paw on her back. She turned to take him in her arms, to lay back with him on top of her, so that his heart would calm down listening to hers. But when she did do that, instead of putting his head in the crook of her neck, Klaus looked into her eyes – searching them for something while the one thing Y/n saw in his eyes was a raw seek for comfort.
Showing him all the love that he needed to be reassured, she felt as he melted in her arms right then and there. His snout reached her exposed neck while he remained lying on top of her with his head on her chest, looking up at her with the truest loving eyes. 
But then she felt a tear slip down her skin and she brought her hands to scratch his fur, holding him a little closer. “It’s alright, little wolf. You’ll be alright,” she whispered. “You’re in safe hands, lay to rest for a little,” she assured him, knowing that all his senses must be heightened right now. 
Tears collected on the rim of her eyes as she thought of the times she almost lost him, lost her grasp on him because of the very consequences of his own actions, had witnessed him crying to himself because of the number of times he had been betrayed. But she blinked them away when she heard him purr lightly, coming to the realisation that he was safe and in her arms, and that was all that mattered in the moment. 
He got off of her when the moon began to hide away behind drifting clouds, making her sit up as well. 
“Let’s get you back to your disguise, shall we, little wolf?” She asked him, a whisper of her soft giggle following behind. 
Klaus wagged his tail twice, indicating that he was indeed ready. He felt his heart swell with love when she ruffled his fur while moving to stand up, scratching behind his ear a couple times before asking him to follow her. 
Coming to halt under direct moonlight, she closed her eyes before mumbling a spell, so softly that even Klaus would have taken that as the mere sound of wind during nightfall. He kept looking at her until a tear slipped past her shut eyes, which made him look down and brush up against her feet for the last time, for a long while. 
When he looked up again, she’d already been gazing at him. Leaning down, she pressed a kiss between his eyes and walked back a couple steps. 
“We’ll meet again soon, beloved,” Y/n whispered, another tear escaping her eyes as a gust of wind carried her away with it, leaving no trace of her other than the tingling beneath Klaus’ skin. 
Klaus looked up at the sky then and swore to her that he’d be waiting for her right here the next time she’d come down to meet him, to finally let herself go in his arms. And his eyes glossed over as he felt another gush of wind, this time changing him from his wolf form, and back to his hybrid physique. 
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peachybella444 · 10 hours
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Promise
inspired by this vid
“Ony” you called out as you walked into your shared home.
“In here” he called from the kitchen.
“Hi baby” you cheesed as you walked up behind him, your arms wrapping around his bare torso.
“Hi, mama” he lifted an arm, shifting his body so he leaned against the counter. Enveloping you into his arms so he stared down at you. “How was your day, baby?” he scanned your face.
“It was good” you sang. “It was a lil busy at the salon today, but I had a cancellation so I jus did my nails instead. look.'' you put your hand in front of his face. your long square shaped nails filled with gold sparkles and gold charms.
“They look pretty, baby. You’re so talented” he grabbed your hand admiring your work.
“Yeah? Plus, they go super well with the promise ring you got me” you smiled, your eyes looking up at him with pure adoration.
“They do” he chuckled, as he adjusted the ring he got for you last year when you started dating.
“Can’t believe i’ve had this for a year” you looked at your hand.
“You hinting you ready for me to get down on one knee? Cause if that’s the case just give me a month to have everything ready nd I got you mama” he smirked, pulling you closer so your bodies were touching.
“No that’s not what i’m hinting. m’just saying it’s probably time for me to get you one.”
“You should, I think I should get one. Whatchu think?” he held up his bare hand with a smirk.
“Yeah? Want me to get you one?” you smiled.
“Nah youn gotta get me one ma, I mean you can if you want to, but you don’t need to spend any money on one. we can wait til our wedding” he shrugged.
“Or I can just give it to you now” you said just above a whisper. pulling out a black velvet box, you gently place it into his hand. taking a step back to gauge his reaction. “Open it, baby” you whispered when he just stared at the box.
“What is this ma?” he looked up, his voice brittle.
“Just open it baby” you said softly.
With a shaky breath and even shakier hands, he opened the box. Inside a gold band with a rose engraved into it
“I wanted it to match mine, but if you want, we can make some alterations” you tried to see his face, your nerves rising as you watched him put the ring on. heart hammering as you watched him clench his hand into a fist.
“No this is perfect” his voice was raspy as he stared down at his hand.
“Baby?” you cautiously walked up to him. your hands gently caressing his face as he finally raised his head to meet your eyes. “Oh papa” you whispered as you pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. wiping away the tears that fell from his eyes. “It’s okay, baby” you soothed him, as you looked at the tight grip his teeth had on his bottom lip. “It's okay to cry” you hugged him tightly.
“This is…I don’t even know what to say princess. thank you” he sniffled bringing you into a hug once again.
“Of course, baby.” you sighed. “Look now we’re matching” you held up your conjoined hands. “Ain’t gon be able to tell us shit” you giggled.
“Nah they definitely not” he laughed along with you. “Ion know how im ever gonna be able to repay you mama” he shook his head, admiring the ring you got him.
“You don’t have to repay me Ony. I just wanted to visibly express my love to you pa.”
“I know, I know, it’s just…no one’s ever done this before. loved me the way you do.”
“Aww, well im glad to be the first” you pouted.
“First and last” he smirked. “Now I know you said I didn't have to repay you” his hands traveled down to her thighs.
“But i'd love to show you another way of how much I appreciate you.”
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okayyy first fic everrrrr nd if anyone reads this please please pleaseeee give feedback, i am open to constructive criticism. also isnt that video just so cute<333 I've been thinking about it for so long
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Syzygy: Some Closing Thoughts
I'm writing this at 8pm on my backyard porch, under the wavering light of a distant full moon.  Hello, moon! Please don't kidnap me. I just wanted to hang out with you for a while as I collect my final thoughts. It's a pretty cloudy night tonight, so it's not properly visible, which I suppose is the cloud cover shielding me from a terrible lunar fate. It gives a deliciously hazy atmosphere for the absolute essay I'm about to write.
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Apparently, the Farmer's Almanac says that tonight's full moon is a 'Pink Moon', which sounds like it'd be a very pleasant viewing experience. I imagine pastel frangipanis spontaneously sprouting all over the moon's surface, covering every inch of its rocks and crags until the soft pink glow is visible from all the way down here on Earth. Unfortunately it's not named 'Pink Moon' because of that; there's some American environmental factors, etc.
I think it's kind of charming that there's a list of names for every possible full moon, as if the moon's putting on different masks or incarnations every time it tilts just enough that we can see its full face. I'm looking at a list of them now instead of writing these final notes like I probably should. The names are so delightful. Strawberry Moon. Sturgeon Moon. Apparently last month's full moon was Worm Moon. WORM MOON. I could go on. I won't. Let's talk about Syzygy instead.
Syzygy is... Man, where do I even start with this? Let's try the beginning. I started writing Syzygy in February of 2021, after ruminating on it for probably a few months before that, as I often do. That's three years ago, so my memories of the reasons why are a bit fuzzy, but I think I did it for two reasons: one, a desire to have a long-form meaty slowburn fic for a beloved rarepair in the tag so other people could enjoy it, and two, a fascination with the idea of fractured identity, what it means to be a Side without a Centre. The whole thing with the alternate-history steampunk swapped-around Earth came about naturally from that.
Except that's actually kind of a lie, because that's not the beginning, this began in 2020, when I wrote a pitch for a local station that was accepting radio play submissions (rejected, of course) featuring a hardboiled noir detective in a starlit city whose latest client was a tiny shiny girl asking him to solve her father's murder. And that's also a lie, because I think it really began when I tried to write an original novel in high school where the protagonist's name was Avery Allen, because I liked the way the name tripped off my lips.
My stories are always built on each other, especially stories I never get to write. They all recycle into each other in a weird blend of concepts and characters. 2021 was when I sat down and told myself I was going to write the Thomceit time loop fic, and I dove into it with aplomb. I can't recall the exact timeline of events, but at some point I underwent some truly gnarly health problems that left me unable to use my hands for extended periods of time, and so the fic that was meant to be for a Big Bang ended up... Just sitting in a folder for a while. But me and my beta managed to pull it the fuck together, and after adding some extra bits and pieces (the cutaways were a LAST MINUTE ADDITION even though I think they're some of my favorite bits in the whole thing) I started putting it all up.
Okay, there we go, that's enough of an abridged history of this thing. Let's just say: I never expected as many people to like it as it turned out, I thought that it would be a niche little fic for a rarepair, and I was honestly pretty content with that. So it was delightful to see so many people getting so into it, I have enjoyed the FUCK out of all of your comments and theories and predictions. It's been delightful when people predicted a plot point correctly, and honestly even more delightful when they predicted incorrectly. I've had such a blast.
As for the writing... Suffice to say I have many notebooks full of notes and thoughts, more than one spreadsheet to keep track of time loops and lore, and a semi-complete list of all of Virgil's tarot cards, which one day I'll probably polish and share properly, because I think the concept is neat. But that's kind of how it always goes with my writing.
Naming every inspiration for this would take forever and I'd still miss a few, but I'll just throw out a key few ones, because I gotta:
17776: What Will Football Look Like In The Future, because when I first read it I got the wrong idea and thought that Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) was short for Betelgeuse (the star), and that sparked a whole thing about living stars in my brain. Also, just the general way that the worldbuilding and absurdity is handled in that world, it scratches my brain just right.
Welcome To Night Vale. I don't think I need to explain this one.
Madeleine L'Engle's writing, particularly A Wind In The Door, particularly-particularly the bit of it where Proginoskes explains why, precisely, he has to remember and Name every star in the universe. Fucking beautiful book.
A particular Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi fic I read years ago and haven't been able to track down again, which also features two people stuck in a time loop who are initially unaware that they're in it together AND dying at the same time. I believe they also meet on a bus? The details are fuzzy. The worldbuilding and descriptions of that fic were so stunning to me, it had me unable to read anything for a solid few weeks, it is definitely a superior work to mine in every respect. If anyone finds it, let me know, I don't think I finished reading it and want to know how it ends.
An unpublished fic that I had the privilege to read while it was being written, that changed my brain chemistry re: the Sides unknowingly existing without Thomas. The Flowerwall Cafe originally hails from this one, too, graciously borrowed and greatly beloved.
Both Ghibli films in general AND Dianna Wynne Jones books in general, and obviously the intersection between the two, Howl's Moving Castle, which is fascinating in how both mediums handle the setting.
The Doctor Who audio drama Scherzo, which is a wild ride, and there's a major plot point revolving around the two main characters holding hands and fusing gruesomely into each other - and another involving an in-story fairy tale.
There was no huge inspiration for the clockwork city and weird steampunk carriages, apart from (perhaps) Fallen London. Certainly, the idea of a background organization that wants to kill the sun, who also happens to be a sentient being, is cribbed from the Liberation of Night.
Syzygy also happens to be packed full of many obscure references to... like... personal projects of mine, some published and some unpublished, as well as a lot of my friends and co-writers, and some really REALLY niche stuff that only I will ever properly understand. I buried a lot of myself into this story, is what I'm saying. Juice hails from a completely different project (a TTRPG with my friends, of which she is a beloved and cherished NPC), the in-universe author for Avery Allen (and Mallory Wynn too) are named for a fictional TV author I created when the writing discord was making a nonexistent fandom, Logan's dumpling recipe is my favorite recipe of all time.
I have an apartment ghost, too. I talk to it regularly.
Final thank-yous, because I want to post this very very soon, I've been typing for too long and the mosquitoes are starting to get to me. Thank you to:
Everyone on the TSS writing server who listened to me complain while I was writing it the first time round, and has subsequently listened to me complain while editing it these past two years. So many people in there are responsible for little bits and pieces - phrasings, words, nicknames, jokes - and I couldn't begin to name everyone who helped.
Saphira and the rest of the people who are currently working on making a full-cast audio drama out of this fic (???) (???!!!!??) (!!!!). It is SO baffling to me that it's happening, I'm in complete disbelief whenever we talk about it or I see the script or I get asked logistics questions, I'm terrified and thrilled to see how it turns out, what the fuck! The very existence of that project has ended up influencing a few things about this fic's endgame, too.
Everyone who's commented extensively, commented entire academic analyses, commented numbered lists, commented laconically, left a single emoji in the comments, left kudos, bookmarked it, sent me asks on Tumblr, given me thumbs-ups on Discord, or even just silently read the fic without interacting at all. Your witness brings my words to existence. Love you love you love you.
And Len, who lives in my brain and my body and my heart and my throat, and who is honestly singlehandedly responsible for dragging this fic out of the depths of Google Docs and into the arms of AO3. They've already said I don't need to thank them, but come on, I totally do. Len is the best beta, and puts up with all sorts of deranged nonsense from me, because I have an unhinged writing process where I don't think about anything before I put it down on the page, and I use way too many connecting-dashes and not enough semicolons. Kisses kisses kisses. Thanks for doing this with me, and I can't wait to do it again.
Myself. I managed to write this and I managed to finish it. That makes me a pretty cool person, all things considered. I'm glad I did this.
What next? I've got to rest. Well, I need to get some things done... and then rest. I've been juggling a hellish amount of projects for a while now, and now Syzygy's finally cleared from my plate, I'm going to try to let the others get cleared too so I can take some time and be less stressed. The Locked Tomb AU will be ongoing, as I get through final edits of chapters, so keep an eye out for that - if you're interested in a fic that's rather less starry and shiny, but very much Thomceit and death themes, check it out  - and then....... Well, whatever comes next, whenever I have the energy to do it. I adore writing in this fandom. I'll be back with something weird soon enough.
Ad astra, baby! It's been a blast.
- Min (2024)
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gliyerabaa · 2 days
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Oooo how about prompt 4 of the fluff list for gelphie??? 🙏😌
4. “What are you doing up?” “My personal heater went away.” 
okay i tried writing this like. five times. and no idea i had stuck with me. but then this idea came out of left fucking field.
just bear with me. this au I've crafted for this prompt is not everyone.
imagine, if you will, some world where gelphie can have biological kids. whether it be through traditional means (amab enby elphaba) or IVF or maybe strange magical pregnancy. this fic explores that premise.
lots of people have Very Strong Opinions on the idea of gelphie as parents but like. just indulge me on this. i dont know what canon this is supposed to take place in so please dont ask!!
--
Glinda stirred awake, she'd been sleeping so restlessly all night. Pregnancy hadn't been nearly as bad as she'd expected in most aspects. Her bouts of morning sickness had been brief and relatively bearable, her cravings had been all within the realm of Elphie's culinary capabilities, and oh, her sweet dear Elphaba had been so incredibly supportive every step of the way. Maybe that's what had made the experience so pleasant thus far, having such an attentive and loving partner...
Still, no amount of doting could fix her sleeplessness, and she wriggled free from her sleeping partner's embrace to take a quick stroll to the bathroom. She stood up and stretched, realizing she'd need to hurry to the toilet-- the damn baby had situated herself (Glinda was dead certain that it was a girl) right atop her bladder in a manner that was most uncomfortable.
After relieving herself, Glinda took a moment to simply marvel at herself in the mirror. She was six months along now, and had the belly to prove it, complete with stretch marks that her younger self would have despised. But now, she found them almost endearing, a telltale sign of the love and commitment between her and Elphie, manifesting itself in the form of a new human life.
With a hand on her stomach, she spoke quietly.
"You're gonna have such an amazing life, little one. Your auntie Nessarose can't wait to meet you. She'll be your only real aunt, but Elphie and I have agreed to give the boys honorary uncle-hood. You'll have a blast with your Uncle Fiyero's kids, they're all so sweet. And Crope and Tibbs are thinking of adopting once you're born, it'll be like you have a sibling of your own, someone to grow up alongside."
Glinda gasped as the baby kicked. She looked up to see Elphaba standing in the doorway, smiling sleepily.
"And have I mentioned," Glinda said to her stomach again, "That you have the most beautiful, amazing parent in the world?"
Elphaba grinned, then knelt to the ground, pressing a kiss to Glinda's belly. "Hello, my son." (Elphaba was insistent that they'd be having a boy, a rather bold claim for someone who defied conventional gender standards.) They stood up and pecked a kiss to Glinda's lips, "And hello, my sweet."
"What're you doing up?" Glinda asked with a yawn.
"My personal heater went away." Elphaba said, pressing a kiss to Glinda's forehead, "I swear, carrying our son has made you so much warmer, literally."
"What can I say?" Glinda smiled, brushing off Elphaba's insistance that they were to have a boy, "Making an entire human is a lot of work, generates a lot of heat. Feel her, she's kicking!"
Elphaba placed a gentle hand on Glinda's abdomen, smiling as they felt the baby move slightly.
"I didn't just come here to find my beautiful space heater of a wife, you know." Elphaba said, "I came to make sure you were alright."
"I'm doing fine." Glinda answered, taking Elphaba's hand, running a thumb over their wedding band, "Baby hasn't been letting me sleep much as of late. So I've been passing time, telling them stories about just how loved they are going to be. By Nessa and my parents and the boys..."
"But by no one more than us." Elphaba said, kissing Glinda sweetly, "I can't imagine the toll this is taking on your body, but you're doing an amazing job and I'm so, so proud of you."
Glinda, who had never taken praise well, blushed. "Please, this is just a natural bodily process. I wouldn't be doing nearly as well as I am without your support and attention, and most of all, your love."
Elphaba grinned, picking up Glinda in a sweet embrace and lifting her to sit on the bathroom counter, kissing her soundly.
"I love you," Glinda whispered as they parted. Elphaba knelt down, placing a kiss on her stomach before getting to work massaging her aching feet, "You are too good to me, my dear."
--
Two and a half months later, the baby arrived. A healthy girl, who did not have Elphaba's green skin, but did have their raven hair. The midwife had insisted that she'd never seen a baby born with as much hair as her.
There was the matter of a name, then. Elphaba had been taken aback when Glinda had suggested her middle name be that of their mother, but they warmed up to the idea, and so, surrounded by joyous family and friends, they settled on what they'd agreed to be the perfect name: Indigo Melena Thropp-Upland.
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moonstruckme · 29 minutes
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He would never take those bracelets off 😭 now I kinda want a fic of counselor James and counselor reader how cute
Hi, I've lowkey been hoarding this for months because I wanted to wait until I felt summery enough, thank you for requesting!!
camp counselor!James x fem!reader ♡ 693 words
“Land ho, boys!” A familiar voice reaches you over the water. Your eyes are closed towards the sun, but you feel your lips twitch upward. “Thomas, if you don’t help Callum paddle you’ll fall behind, and the last one to shore has to buy me a popsicle after dinner. Hey, look, we’ve got a mermaid on our beach!” 
You turn your head to the side, squinting your eyes to see James and his cabin of boys paddling toward you in kayaks over the lake. You lift your hand in a lazy wave. 
“Oh, false alarm, it’s just y/n. Hi, y/n!” He raises an arm to wave back at you, wrist stacked with string bracelets made with care by small hands. You swear he’s got more from your own cabin than you have, but you don’t mind; James is a hero to most of the kids at camp, the goofy gentle giant who lets them ride on his shoulders when your manager isn’t looking and deals temporary tattoos out of his cabin during mealtimes. “Careful, Archie, mate, if she catches you rocking your kayak like that she’s going to hang you from the lifeguard stand by your toes.” The boys laugh, and James protests, “No, really! I’ve seen her do it, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
You roll your eyes and close them again, turning your face back towards the sky. It’s not until you hear the shushing of kayaks against the coarse sand and a shadow falls over you that you say, without opening your eyes, “Spreading rumors about me again?” 
“They know better than to take me seriously.” James’ shadow moves as he sits beside you on the sand, and you turn your head again to see him. He’s looking over his shoulder at the boys, the lean muscles of his abdomen stretching and dusky skin shining with sweat in the afternoon sun. “Hey, whoever puts my kayak and paddle up, I’ll buy them a popsicle after dinner.” Shouts and bickering ensue, and James turns back around with a smile. “Where are your kids?” he asks you. 
“In arts and crafts,” you say. “Figured I’d catch a nap while they were busy.” 
He hums, setting his hands on the warm sand behind him and leaning back. “So, you didn’t just come here to see how fit I looked dragging a paddle through the water?” 
You know James is only playing, but embarrassment tingles down to your toes anyway. “Not this time, sorry.” 
“Mm, don’t believe you.” He shoots you a grin, and you look away under the guide of rolling your eyes. That thing is more glaring than the sun. “You coming to the bonfire tonight?” 
“Don’t we have to?” you ask. It’s the last night of this session, and camp always closes out with a bonfire and s’mores for the kids. 
“I mean the other bonfire.” At your blank look, James continues, looking rather too pleased to know something you don’t, “After the kid’s bonfire, when they’re all watching a movie in the cafeteria, some of the counselors are planning to go out into the woods and have a grown-up’s bonfire.” 
You giggle. “Grown-ups? What are we, twelve?”
James bobs his head. “And we’re gonna have s’mores, and tell ghost stories, and maybe play truth or dare,” he says in an exaggeratedly animated tone. “It’s gonna be super cool.” 
“It sounds super cool,” you agree, laughing. “I’ll be there.” 
“Excellent.” James casts a look over his shoulder and starts standing up. “I should get back to my kids before they injure each other.” 
You check the time and sigh. “Yeah, me too.” 
“Want a hand?” 
You reach up and James takes your hands in his, hauling you upright. Your head lightens once you’re vertical, a combination of your sun-warmed skin and James’ touch making you woozy. 
“See you later?” he asks, releasing your hands and starting to back away as the shouting behind him grows more boisterous. “I’ll come find you in the cafeteria, we can walk together.” 
“That’d be great, thanks.” You start walking away, too, ignoring the pleasant buzzing in your chest. “I wouldn’t miss it.” 
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silenzahra · 5 hours
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Dear friends: I LOVE YOU 💖💖💖
I don't even know where to start... I feel so HONORED that you've enjoyed my latest post so much 🥹😭💖
Thank you so much for all the comments, and likes, and reblogs, and for recommending it to your followers and friends. I swear I still feel like dreaming and you guys make this feel even better 🥹🥹🥹
@nuctoria @peaches2217 @itsavee4117 @keakruiser @bberetd
@alex-procrastinates @vulpixfairy1985 @hyperfixatingonbowuigisohard @cool-taya @charlie-the-ghost64
@mrs-luigi-vargas @luigitime83 @fandomphantom1 @thedragicloudluigi @canela2001
@wogwoman @imaginativefanatic @nunchukaninja-archive @pepperycar @brave-little-pauper
@thesavagekitten This goes for all of you 👇
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I really hope I didn't forget about anyone! 💖💖💖
In all honesty, I never thought this would get this far... It all started with some silly ideas from an avid bookworm who began to see herself reflected in her favorite character and got extremely excited every time she saw him with a book. And, from then... it all came alone, more or less. I've totally poured into Luigi (and the whole post) my own feelings when reading and fangirling over books, for you BET I'm also extremely intense when I'm enjoying a good novel. I simply thought that Luigi would act the same, since I have in common with him that I also get emotional very easily and experiment my own feelings in a very intense way. And it only makes me feel all the way more connected to my beloved boy in green 💚💚💚
So thank you. Thank you for your enthusiasm (I didn't expect that there would be so much anticipation when I shared my teaser post a few days ago!), and for welcoming all my ideas with open arms. I totally enjoyed writing them, and it was definitely something I needed after everything I went through last month. These headcanons have helped me connect with Luigi (and the whole gang) again, which means I totally feel like writing fics again and I just couldn't be happier because I've missed it so much! 🥹🥹🥹 I really hope you're ready, because some of the HCs I've shared today will definitely become written works in the future! And I'll obviously be bringing at last my pending fics! ✨
Of course, I can't leave without giving special thanks to the amazing @itsavee4117 for his lovely post (please go check it! 💖💖💖). Dear friend, it's been such a pleasure to work with you and to see some of my ideas come to life in your gorgeous art style! 🥹 I just LOVE how you've illustrated them, the many details here and there, how expressive and CUTE all the characters look... And of course, seeing our beloved Luigi in a beautiful dress is always such a treat! 💚 I seriously LOVE all of your drawings, but if I had to choose, I'd go with the babies (MY HEART 😭), the Cycle of the Common Reader (Peach and Luigi are so ME in that one!), and of course...
LUAISY 💚🧡
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They look so damn CUTE 😭😭😭 I swear, I've enjoyed writing the whole post, but the Luaisy parts were my ABSOLUTE favorite because this couple really owns my heart. And, more specifically, their first Book Day together, with Daisy's purple dress covering Luigi's legs while he tries to read the book he has gifted her... My God, how I ENJOYED writing that. These two cuddling and kissing and sharing their love for literature I just 😭😭😭 I love them.
And then you go and draw this MASTERPIECE and I'm. So dead and happy and crying 😭😭😭😭😭 It's literally my phone wallpaper right now, THANK YOU, thank you for all your drawings, Vee, but especially for this one 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 You made me SO HAPPY 😭😭😭💚🧡✨
Again, thank you everyone for all your love and support! You truly mean EVERYTHING to me 🥹 I still can't get over the fact that what I write not only interests you, but you also enjoy and love it. I'm so elated to be part of such an amazing and wholesome community 💖💖💖
I'm now off to bed, but again, thank you so much for making this the best Book Day I've ever had 🥹🥹🫂🫂 I love you all with all my heart 💖💖💖💖💖
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yansurnummu · 3 months
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“I’m sorry,” Drals said, his voice just above a whisper. “Yesterday, I… said some things. Things I didn’t mean, but… I think I wanted to be true.” “Why would you want those things to be true?” Azandar turned to him, leaning his head against the opposite side of the window frame. Drals sighed, mirroring him, no longer avoiding his eyes. “It’s easier, isn’t it? When you know people don’t want to stick around. When you don’t have to look at yourself in the mirror and face the things you’ve done. It’s easier being a fuckup when you’re alone. Now I feel like I’ve got an audience.” “Ah,” the corner of his mouth turned into a smile. “Introspection is a cruel mistress.” “Never knew her, before I met you.”
a scene from my fic that I really wanted to try drawing. I just love them a lot :')
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fuckinart · 2 years
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The most important factor in toxicity is the chemical structure of a substance—what it is made of, what atoms and molecules it contains and how they are arranged.
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hivemindscape · 1 year
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The waves continued to lap against the shore. Push and pull. Breathe in, breathe out.
“What triggered it?”
The question was quiet, and so out of the blue it took Wilbur a moment to realize Tommy had asked it.
“What do you mean?” Wilbur asked.
“Your panic attack,” Tommy clarified, his hair tickling Wilbur’s cheek again. “Was it random, or did something trigger it?”
"Your Name Is A Triangle" by @bonesandthebees​
song i drew this to alt version under the cut
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moregraceful · 10 months
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put 712 of the worst words ever put in a google doc tonight BUT! it is 712 more words in the google doc than i had yesterday. this fic will be more than 2k, so help me god
#the past six months have been so weird after posting over 200k last year (including the longest fic i've written since bandom)#i think i would have been fine continuing to post 1-3k one shots all year if i had not just had to request extended time off of school#but between that + having no idea if i have a regular schedule at the library + my nonprofit boss sending a harrowing welcome back#i'm like by god jason robertson we are going to take a couple of leisurely 7-10k+ strolls to get you a boyfriend or two this summer#well all that + being horrendously writers blocked on the other two longer projects lmfao oh my god#10k deep in one and every time i open the google doc a portal to hell opens up in my living room#0k into the other bc every time i open my outline another different portal to hell opens up in my shower#i get no rest. i get no peace. every morning i wake up and 5 more demons are- oh my god#bro my fucken train of thought just got completely derailed by spotify. i know i'm the last person in the world to know this but#3oh!3 and big freedia remixed rebecca black's friday?? and it's completely unlistenable?? girls what did you do#3oh!3 kill me bc no time traveler ever took their faces in hand and kissed them gently on the forehead and looked into their eyes#said ''please focus on coloradosunrise it will literally course-correct the trajectory of your career from frat house gimmick to#rowdy but respectable indie edm artists. you can remain true to your warped tour dirtbag origins but you HAVE to develop THAT sound''#like the chainsmokers are a joke but i feel like THAT + ANGRY EMO GIRLS + THEIR TOTAL DISREGARD FOR MARKETABILITY... could have been THEM#when the piano drops?? hello?? i had so many mental breakdowns in college listening to that song they could have defined a generation#like who else is gonna get noah cyrus and ashe and gayle and olivia rodrigo's vision. only warped tour dirtbags.#me @ myself [so lovingly]: what are you talking about. how old are you#me @ myself: talk to me abt earth 2 in which 3oh!3 remixed i got so high that i saw jesus....and it whipped ass#also. i had to google how old i was. THREE TIMES last week.#the minute i turned 32 apparently i was like i'm in my mid-30s now the rest of this decade is NOT my business until i turn 38#this post was supposed to be an uplifting reminder to myself to keep pushing forward and trying hard and to not let the rot consume me#but i think i just drove off a cliff like fully my god#i need listen to big freedia more she rules#fresno oilers.txt#another banner day in the tags with kasper moregraceful
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chiropteracupola · 1 year
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the wind and sea do follow thee /
and all the ledges calling thee...
#em draws stuff#treasure island#squire trelawney#doctor livesey#selkie au#it's been long and long but I've had these two on the brain lately#and because my current fic is un-illustratable for several reasons I decided to pop back over to an old favorite#'peter kagan and the wind' has been my song for calming down lately and it's a very similar vibe to what I want out of the selkie au#it has actually been eight months since I've drawn trelawney and I've decided to change up his design after years and years#liking the new shapes (which I can actually draw well I think)#specifically right where his neck and shoulder meet - it's closer to how he's built in my head than I've ever captured before#and I've been liking the more defined pockmarks that I do on alan so I've decided to bring those over#I'd always intended for some similar stuff texture-wise on trelawney but I wasn't being very confident in it so it was difficult to see#but in the end this is just me splashing all manner of things that I like for these two into one drawing#good saturated purples and my best attempt at those mignola-esque gravestones and a try at capturing how tom harpernovakaine writes them...#this whole thing went through many moments of looking unsalvageable but in the end it is probably one of my best drawings of them#I have a very early livesey drawing stuck to the back of the ol' ipad so it's really cool to hold that up and compare how far I've come#it's been an interesting three years and I think I'm a much more confident artist now!
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happi-tree · 1 year
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your eyes look like coming home
On their two-week journey back from Earth, the protective paladin watches over his sleeping friends. As it turns out, though, he's not the only one having trouble getting some shut-eye.
Title from "Everything Has Changed" by Taylor Swift (yes, that one)
*waves* Hello dndads fandom! Enjoy some post episode-23 taylor/link (taylink? swiftli?) softness bc they deserve it 💗💗💗 ft. my part-demon trait hcs for Taylor and a nonzero amount of unintentional foreshadowing!
Lincoln had always been an early riser - more out of self-imposed obligation than anything else, really - but lately, he’s been finding himself staying up later and later, unable to rest. The concept of sleep itself is like a dream he can’t quite grasp, reminiscent of the firefly-golden flickers of memories that are not his. 
Gossamer and effervescent and magical and horrible, they sear themselves into the backs of his eyelids even now, miniature sunbursts in the darkness (and all of those metaphors in English class make sense now that he’s actually seen a sun) filling his senses with too-hot-too-bright-too-much. Every time he closes his eyes, the flashes linger like so much of its static in the back of his mind, always present like the undulating black not-sky of his true homeland, always watching like the red-black eye that gazed blinkingly upon his entire childhood. 
And this is all too much for Link to deal with, and he can’t change the past no matter how it haunts him, and he can’t command its all-seeing form to turn away, so he sits quietly in the middle row of the Pussywagon and watches with bloodshot eyes as his companions slumber. 
If he’s awake, at least he can look out for his friends. 
He can look at Scary and take comfort in her even, deep breaths and her ramrod, borderline vampiric posture as she mutters in her sleep, her nightcap slightly askew atop disheveled black-magenta hair. He grimaces to himself a bit as she grumbles incoherently - Link doesn’t trust this Willy guy one bit, but after these past weeks, he’s just glad to see her sleeping peacefully. Glad that her chest rises and falls with each breath, glad that her typical sneer has faded at the corners, rounding out her face into something younger, more like the girl that used to lead the varsity soccer team.
If Link’s still conscious, he can look at Normal and breathe a quiet sigh of relief that he’s not thrashing in his sleep anymore, every cell in his body begging for its presence to get out of his head as he dreams. Even still, silent tears stream down his acne-ridden cheeks, face contorted into an anguished mask so unlike his enthusiastic smiles, and Lincoln finds himself mumbling words of comfort on instinct. He feels the now-familiar twinge of magic siphoning from between his cells and coalescing into an invisible, intangible something that smooths the furrows between Normal’s brows, eases the tension of his jaw as the boy exhales more steadily than before.
If Link can force his eyes to stay open, he can look at his father, now more childlike and more intensely violent than he has ever known him. He had fallen asleep at the wheel (and Link is eternally grateful that this cat-bus can drive itself), smartphone abandoned on his lap playing the low-volume, tinny Fortnite theme on its dim screen. He snores annoyingly loudly, and Link is hit with a pang of homesick-nostalgic-bitterness at the sound. Link gingerly reaches across to shut off the device and has to shake off the innocent, desperate part of himself that wants to cuddle up next to his dad and feel safe in his warm embrace. (That ship has long since passed, now. The only protection Link has is the safety he makes for himself.)
If Link refuses to sleep, he can look at Hermie, who has graciously taken the passenger seat next to his dad. He’s been through a lot of unnecessary trouble for their little group, and despite his initial misgivings, Link can’t help but worry for him, especially given the more recent revelations about his parentage. Hermie twitches in his sleep, hissing when the worn upholstered seat rubs too harshly on his partially-healed burns. Link’s going to have to see about healing those the rest of the way soon - maybe Normal can help with that, too, since he seems to have a soft spot for the guy. A conversation for the morning (or what amounts to it in the void), definitely. 
If Link just stays awake, he can look at Taylor, who -
“Hey,” a familiar, nasally voice calls out from the purple-tinted not-quite-darkness, accompanied by a crooked smile that looks several shades thinner than usual. 
Oh. Taylor’s still awake. 
Carefully, Link shuffles across the seat toward Taylor’s prone form. A singular eye is cracked open, glowing amber like a yellowed headlight. It’s a different hue of gold than the shades from the church, Link thinks, a soft, pretty color, and then wonders why he thinks that. Must be the lack of sleep.
“Hi,” Link says, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible.
“You’re trying to stay awake, aren’t ya?” 
“Someone’s been working on their perception, I see,” Link replies in lieu of a direct response, and it earns him a quiet huff of laughter. It’s such a childlike sound, like a secret shared at the sleepovers they had as much younger kids, and it makes Link ache for something that none of them can ever get back. 
“You look exhausted, man,” Taylor says, and both of his eyes are open now, molten-honey sclera fixated directly on Link. 
“Says you,” he retorts, taking in the bags beneath those lamplight eyes, the way Taylor’s knees press against the seat in front of them. “You don’t even have a blanket, dude, no wonder you can’t sleep. You must be freezing. Here, let me -”
“No!” Taylor says, the sudden volume making Link freeze as he holds up the edge of a thermal blanket (it’s actually Taylor’s, one of many the boy had stashed in his “go bag”) for his friend. 
“I mean, nah, man,” Taylor repeats, quieter. “I run pretty warm usually - ‘s why I gave my blanket to Scary. I actually, uh, overheat a lot? And Mom and I could never figure out wh-” and Link watches realization cross Taylor’s face in tandem with his own. 
“Oh,” Taylor says, a soft, broken syllable as he looks down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. “Oh. That tracks, I guess.”
His eyes shift upward, easy to track in the dark, and something in Link’s body language forces a half-laugh out of Taylor.
“It’s, uh, pretty cool, actually! Another power to add to my main character repertoire. Living furnace, baby! Perks of being half-demon,” Taylor cracks a grin, and it’s a bit wobbly around the edges. 
If Link was to put Taylor’s typically unshakeable confidence on a scale of, say, one to twenty, he’d probably give it a solid six. 
“Speaking of, how are you dealing with, uh, all of that?” Link offers hesitantly, briefly looking down at the way Taylor’s hands clench-unclench-clench.
“Pfft, all of what? The fact that my dad’s a kickass demon and now the government’s after me? Just a typical day in the life of a cool shounen protag like me!” Taylor jerks a thumb toward himself in emphasis, slightly-sharp teeth glinting in the purple-tinted dark. 
“If you say so,” Link says, uncertain. “It’s just, I meant to check in with you earlier, but between all of the… well…” Link makes some stupid, aborted gesture with his hands that does absolutely nothing to convey all of the mind-bending shit they’ve seen since the FBI. 
“You worry a lot, don’t you, big guy?” Taylor mutters, forcing Link to look up from fidgeting with the hem of his tattered Ho Topic shirt. 
“I mean, aren’t you worried?” Link responds. “It’s just - a few weeks ago, the biggest thing I had to worry about was getting on varsity next season, and now the fate of the world is at stake? And we could die at any moment? And I don’t even know my own dad anymore? We’re just - fuck, we’re just kids. We shouldn’t have to deal with… everything. Of course I’m worried, and I’m stressed, and I don’t know what we’re-!”
“Woah, woah, woah, dude,” Taylor says, waving his hands in a lowering sort of motion, and Link hadn’t realized how loud his voice had gotten.
“Sorry,” he squeaks, voice cracking pathetically.
“All good, my man,” Taylor reassures, and he must’ve scooted closer to Link without him noticing, because -
“Wow, you really do run warm,” Link says, almost to himself. “You’re like a tiny space heater.”
“I - I’m not that tiny!” Taylor splutters, temperature briefly spiking even warmer. “Some of us haven’t hit our growth spurt yet, mister tall-dark-and-handsome!”
“I - wh-” Link hopes his complexion hides the heat in his cheeks, because he’d hardly call himself handsome.
Taylor just scoffs. “Unbelievable. I know being all sheltered is like, your whole thing, but you’re really pretty, dude, you gotta know that. Like, prime shoujo love interest material, here!” He sounds genuinely exasperated that he has to spell this out, and then his pupils constrict comically (kind of like a cat’s, Link notes. It’s pretty cute), and he blurts, “In like, a totally platonic no-homo kind of way, uh. Yeah. Heh.”
“Oh,” Link says, because how the hell is he supposed to respond to that?
And then, because he apparently likes shooting himself in the foot, he says “Did you know that your eyes glow in the dark? They look pretty cool.”
“I’m always c- wait, really?!” Taylor nearly falls over in his attempt to pull his phone from one of his many, many pockets, only to pull a face at whatever he sees.
“Damn, guess they don’t show up on camera that well,” he mumbles. “Lame.”
“The white parts are like, this warm, pretty coppery-amber color,” Link tells him, only half-aware of what he’s saying. “Like honey. Or apple juice. And it’s kinda faint, but they glow like Christmas lights, or like, candles or something. They suit you,” he says, voice low, and he realizes that he’s much closer to Taylor’s face than he had been thirty seconds ago. “Uh. I mean. They look cool. Yeah.”
Open mouth, insert foot. At least he hadn’t said that Taylor’s eyes remind him of home or something ridiculous like that. Jesus Christ. 
“Didn’t know we had another poet in the bus with us,” Taylor says after a moment of stunned silence. “Not gonna lie, that was kinda fruity, dude,” he teases, nudging an elbow to his ribs.
Link’s stomach briefly drops, and then he remembers the pink-purple-blue striped pin on the jacket Taylor always wears, and Link lets out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.
“Says the guy who called me handsome,” he deflects.
“Hey, I said no homo! What’s your excuse?”
“I’m wearing socks,” Link counters.
And Taylor laughs, sudden and sharp and incandescent for the briefest of moments before he claps a hand over his mouth to stifle it.
It’s stupidly contagious, and Link bites down on his grinning lips to suppress any sound, his shoulders shaking with the effort. 
He really likes Taylor’s laugh, Link realizes. He should get that sound to happen more often.
Eventually, Taylor pulls his hand away from his mouth, and Link is greeted with a smile - a real, genuine smile, not one of those fake smirks he uses like a shield, but something open and unguarded, matching the warmth in those shining eyes. 
The temperature spikes again from beside him, and Link’s eyes dart away from curling lips and flashing teeth in concern. “You alright, man?”
“Yup!” Taylor chirps, wobbly and high-pitched. Link decides not to comment on the voice crack. His eyes dart around a bit, and then he asks, “Uh, got enough blanket there, man?”
“Wha- oh,” Link says, looking down at the way that his feet and the majority of his shins peek out from the borrowed rectangle of fabric. “Most blankets don’t really uh… account for taller people. ‘M used to it.”
“Tch. Not if I have anything to say about it,” Taylor murmurs.
“Seriously, dude, it’s fi-” suddenly, it feels like Link’s holding the sun again, except this warmth doesn’t burn him and it’s also person-sized. Because Taylor is pressed up bodily against him, a line of soothing heat from shoulder to knee. 
“Uh.” 
Taylor leans away the slightest of millimeters, and Link has to stop himself from leaning with him. 
“Oh, I totally should’ve asked if you were okay with that, man, I just thought that since-”
“You’re fine, Taylor,” Link says, and he finds that he truly means it. “Just surprised me, is all.”
“Really?” Taylor asks. “Not too weird or like, awkward for you?”
“I mean, we’re both wearing socks, aren’t we?” Link jokes. “It feels pretty nice, actually.”
“Well c’mon, then, get some of this hot half-demon bod!” Taylor says, winking as he pulls one of Link’s arms across his shoulders. 
“Mmkay,” Link mutters, the comforting supernatural heat already beginning to lull him to sleep. He turns onto his side, curling subconsciously around Taylor’s warmth, and if he was any less exhausted he might’ve realized that he was practically spooning his smaller friend. As it is, though, he pulls Taylor closer to his chest and rests his chin atop greasy black hair with a quiet “Thanks.”
And as the warmth spreads through his body, his dreams are colored with a blessedly warmer shade of gold.
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whollyjoly · 56 minutes
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for some reason i can't explain i know saint peter won't call my name
nothing that lives, lives forever - an immortal soldier!alton more au
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(1.1k of snippets from my old guard(ish) au where alton more is old, too old, and has been living and fighting far longer than anyone should. full description/other thoughts at the bottom. tw: blood, violence, mentions of death)
Alton clicked the lighter closed, running a thumb over the silver case. The night was warm, sticky in a way that he never could get used to. He sucked in a breath from the cheap cigarette, letting his head fall back against the rough side of the barracks.
It was quiet. Typically, there would be no end to the commotion coming from the small building, one of many that littered Camp Toccoa. The wall of sound was ever-present, no matter if it was shouting or laughing or snoring. But whatever the cause, there was always noise. 
No matter if it was a blanket of noise he knew well, unchanging except for the language and the scenery. Soldiers are soldiers, and some things are a constant. It could almost be comforting, if it didn’t also mean that the need for soldiers was a constant as well.
However, tonight was a Saturday, and it was one of the few weekends that Sobel had allowed Easy the use of their weekend passes. Almost every man in the company had jumped at the chance to get off base, to travel home if they could and spend time with loved ones. The ones with farther-flung hometowns had spirited off to Atlanta, happy to spend their time drinking and dancing and fucking instead of slogging through another run, three miles up, three miles down.
Normally, Alton would have joined them in their carousing - it was easier to pass the time with the effortless camaraderie built during a training camp than bored and alone. 
But today had been a bad day. The sound of swords and the shift of sand beneath his feet followed him out of his nightmares, the humid summer of Georgia morphing itself into the baking, dry heat of the desert. 
His shouts must have been real, because when a hand came to shake him out of his dream, the first face he saw was not that of a grouchy NCO, but of a blood-caked Saracen, eyes alight with righteous fury. 
Alton didn’t think. He had grabbed the knife from under his pillow, an old thing that had been sharpened more times than he could begin to count, and was on the man in less than a breath, pressing the blade into the side of his neck. The familiar thrum of blood beat against his fingertips, the grit of sand scratched his gums. He knew what he had to do, had done it a thousand times, a thousand thousand times, what was a little more bloodshed spilled across his feet-
Alton had blinked, and came to himself in a rush.
Instead of an unnamed Saracen, the ashen face of Johnny Martin stared up at him, eyes wide behind the knife.
Alton drew back his hand, retreating almost as quick as he had lunged earlier. He mumbled a quick curse and apology as he stepped out of arm’s reach from the man. It wasn’t until Martin’s eyes widened even farther that Alton realized his tongue was slipping out Arabic of all things.
Usually, Alton was better about remembering himself, who he was almost as important as where he was. But for whatever reason, his demons had decided to catch up with him that night.
After a quick smile and some quip about the Krauts in his dreams, he managed to wave an only-slightly-mollified Martin off. The shorter man apparently hadn’t forgotten it though, if his watchful eyes during chow that morning were anything to go by.
Alton was just glad that no one else was awake to see it, at least. That was the last thing he needed.
And so, instead of joining in on a weekend of broads and booze, Alton found himself waving away the invitation by an eager Smokey and bemused Alley. When the horde made their way out of the barracks, fantasizing in bawdy terms about their planned misadventures, he felt like he could breathe easy.
Fucking finally.
~~
Alton took another drag from the cigarette. He watched the smoke curl, up and up until it faded into nothing amongst the darkening sky.
The lighter was a welcome weight in his hand, grounding him to this time, this life.
The design was worn by now, details barely visible after a half century of worrying. It still managed to amaze him, sometimes, what people could do with the smallest of canvases. Alton didn’t feel the same wonder however, wasn’t as mesmerized by the beauty man could create as he once was.
But in the quiet moments, he could still appreciate the time some French craftsman took to transform a hunk of metal into a small token carried around by a dead man.
Luz had spied the lighter one weekend, and laughed at him for using something so old-fashioned. Alton just shrugged, not caring to admit that he was still getting used to having a light at his fingertips. It wasn’t all that long ago when he was still lighting a pipe with a flintlock pistol, and not so long before that when he would carry around a flint and steel.
Time was passing all the more quickly these days, technologies changing and advancing, and everyone was obsessed with needing things to be quicker, cheaper, simpler. Alton scoffed. He could hardly find it in him to care.
He glanced down at the lighter in his hand, shifting it back and forth in a practiced motion and watched as the light skittered across the sides. 
It had shown flowers, once. A veritable garden of carnations, daffodils, and lilies of the valley, with leaves spilling across the front panel onto the back. They represent good fortune, he was told. Good fortune, luck, and hope. 
When the merchant described it to him, eyes ablaze with a passion known only to those with wares to sell, Alton didn’t try to hide the snort that escaped his throat. 
Fortune and Luck had abandoned him long ago, and hadn’t returned since waking up in a battlefield abandoned by all but the dead, sword in his chest and blood in his mouth. 
And what the fuck was Alton supposed to do with hope?
It was the quote on the back that had caught his eye, all those years ago in a street market in Reims. The beveled edges had faded with time, the familiar letters Alton traced were more memory by now than any physical mark. Une vie honorable est une vie éternelle.
An honorable life is an eternal life.
Alton couldn’t help but stare at the message, both then and now. He hated that goddamn word. Immortal. Unending. Eternal. 
They were such flowery words, used by people who craved what they couldn’t have, what they shouldn’t. The romanticized idea of the everlasting, the fountain of youth, the gift of life! Alton was sick of it.
This wasn’t life. He was a fucking dead man walking. And he sure as hell didn’t do anything honorable to deserve it.
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months ago, while thinking about the absolute insanity of the almost...cavalier? attitude we see alton more have over the course of the series, an idea hit my brain: what if there was a reason nothing seemed to phase him - not panzers, not being a breath away from a car wreck, not bastogne, not speirs? what if this wasn't his first war? that thought spiraled me into a minor insanity that is this: my immortal soldier!alton more au, loosely inspired by the movie the old guard (2020). the idea is that, once upon a time, there was a soldier in a land many centuries ago. one day, he died in battle. and then, he woke up. and then he died. and then he woke up. over, and over. drawn to countless battles, conflicts, and wars, each one etching itself into the core of his soul. a never-ending cycle...until one sweltering summer, where he found himself at a training camp at the foot of a mountain. anyways. at some point, i plan on writing this as a full story, but that is admittedly a long ways away. however, in celebration of alton more's birthday today, i wanted to post my favorite scene that i've written for this au! it's set sometime at the beginning of the story, in the early days of camp toccoa. mostly, it's just a character study of this version of alton more. hope you enjoyed! and of course - happy birthday alton more!
(song insp.)
taglist: @sweetxvanixlla @coco-bean-1218 @bucky32557038ww2 @georgieluz @samwinchesterslostshoe @xxluckystrike @next-autopsy @ronald-speirs @land-sh @ronsparky @panzershrike-pretz @theredrenard @kyellin
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maranull · 8 months
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over a month's work
I'm doing so well at writing rn
I totally don't want to take my brain out of my head and start yelling at it
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moinsbienquekaworu · 15 days
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How have I been in fandom for - going on 8 years (?) and not gotten into fanvids before?? All the association I could have been making.... All the memories.... All the composition and clever editing....
#going a little bit insane frankly#it's been about a month of absolute and utter mcu frenzy in my brain and i'm. vibrating#truly feels like some kind of intense fever at times#i've rewatched talitha78's set fire to the rain vid so many times it entrances me#it's to the point where every time i see that shot of loki grabbing mjolnir i hear 'you rose to claim it'#btw hello 13 years late to the party but like. 20 seconds in and i felt like that vid unlocked something in my artist brain#no because the lyrics are 'i let it fall / my heart / and as it fell / you rose to claim it' right#and so she puts clips of thor being banished and losing mjolnir and then loki trying to grab it#which. the interaction between the song and the video making mjolnir thor's heart.... not even 20 seconds!!#it's so clean to me#it's like when i actually took a good look at bill cipher's design and realised he had such expressive potential#and i had to do like a page of doodles about it#in 20 seconds that fanvid from 2011 made me want to make animatics so so bad#which btw i watched it partly because a fic i liked cited it as an inspiration#and partly because i looked at the dates#and realised that the creator put it out like not even two weeks after the movie came out??#absolutely insane. i love this so much#this is like having a family heirloom in your hands#grandma lending me the necklace she wore to her first date with grandpa for my anniversary dinner or something#i have just entered a new fandom and the fans who were here before are showing me what it was like when they'd just arrived too#the sacred texts and such also#anyway. man i love fandom.#wow i have a ramble tag now
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rubberbandballqueen · 4 months
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About your tags: is there more that you can share about the OW fandom and fics? This was a phenomenon I wonder about too. It was one of the most popular fandoms around 2017-2018, but the way the fandom stopped on its tracks around 2019 was hard not to notice. Especially from people who didn't play the game but were aware of it's fandom.
oh! overwatch is one of about 50-ish fandoms i track for this one spreadsheet project i do as a hobby (which i Technically blog about @fandom-data-scientist, but i've been too lazy to do a proper writeup to explain what the hell it is i do), wherein i try to answer the age-old question: when did the weebs move to ao3?
(the answer is late 2015/early 2016. most likely this was in large part a result of undertale and sports anime, but that's currently just my own conjecture)
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According To My Research(tm), the overwatch fandom peaked in late 2016/early 2017 when it comes to the number of new fics posted per month. after this, it declined quite rapidly, as it didn't even get to enjoy a plateau period.
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(there's a reason why the plots are really wonky towards the end of this graph-- it's bc i found the past dates for number of fics archived to a particular site via the wayback machine. since those snapshots are typically bot crawls, the number of fics shown on the fandoms listings will not include fics that have been archive-locked. although i technically started this project in august 2022, i did not add overwatch to my tracking list until this june/july or so. my current guess for the small uptick in the rate of ow fics published to ao3 in october 2022 is that the sequel came out? and then the rate plunged for january 2023 bc of the ai scraping scare that happened at around that time-- nearly every single fandom i track had a significant drop right then bc everyone was archive-locking their fics. the rate shooting up in like july 2023 on this chart is bc like i said, that's when i added ow to my list of tracked fandoms; because i'm logged into my own ao3 acct when checking these numbers live, i get access to the archive-locked fics and so the display number goes up.)
in my experience, fandoms will generally kind of plateau in their fic production after their peak, which will ofc normally gradually taper off. games that receive regular lore or story updates probably have fairly long or stable plateaus, although i haven't made scatterplots or made any comparing analyses to prove this rigorously. this plateau period generally represents a time of fandom stability as the fair-weather, casual, or migratory slash fans run off to the next big thing.
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if we ignore the fact the plague and quarantine happened, we can see a nice, steady, and very consistent plateau period for the danganronpa fandom from about 2018-2020!
let's look at an older fandom, like my archnemesis final fantasy:
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granted, the ao3 numbers are kind of all over the place these days, but you kind of get my point by now, right? that healthy fandoms tend to plateau as the wind carries away the faintly-interested and leaves the long-haulers behind to form their communities.
overwatch struck me as unusual when i was on one of my long wayback machine trips because of the way there was a net increase of only two fics published from 1 july 2021 to 1 october 2021, when before then it had usually been in the hundreds or so. i then went on a work tangent n googled around n more or less concluded it had Something to do with some kind of scandal with the development company, but otherwise i don't really have any more comments on it hahaha.
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