#how angsty do I want it to be? It's Hob so it can't be TOO bad right?

[littledreamling]

A Funeral for a Living Ghost

An excerpt from my upcoming ficlet about religion and mourning and the process of letting go

Hob Gadling had a bad habit of attending his own funerals.

It had started in the early 1500's. He had taken something of an extended vacation, traveling to the Holy City of Rome, finally restored to its former glory after languishing for years while the Papacy resided in France. When he had returned to London after twenty or so years, his beard grown in and his hair significantly lighter from the southern sun, he had been welcomed back by his neighbors as his own son. He had been forced to, on the spot, spin a tall tale about his dear father, who had met his demise under the hooves of a draft horse. The entire town, good Catholic Christians that they had been, had insisted on a funeral. Last rites and all, they had said, and Hob had been too touched to refuse. The majority of the attendees hadn't even known him; they had simply known of him, had heard stories from their parents about their old friend, Robert Gadling.

There hadn't been a body to bury, for obvious reasons, but he assured his neighbors, to the best of his ability, that the body of his father had been laid to rest in Rome. Not home soil, but holy soil nonetheless. Still, his neighbors insisted that there be, if not a funeral, a service. A commemoration of his life, of everything Robert Gadling had done for his community and once again, Hob was too touched to refuse.

The church had been quiet; the kind of quiet you could feel in your soul. It was the quiet of respect, of mourning, of a great and terrible sorrow. In that quiet, Hob Gadling found himself thinking of his own father, the father he truly had lost, and found that the stinging tears prickling at his eyes were as real as any he'd ever shed.

For the first time, he had allowed himself to mourn his friends; those he had known, the parents and grandparents of those who filled the pews of the church, those he had seen be born, those he had seen take their first steps and babble their first words, those he had attended weddings and funerals for. He had allowed himself to mourn that version of Hob Gadling, the name he would never wear again, the person he could never be again, the life he lived until he could live it no longer. He had mourned, and then he had left.

#my writing #sandman fic #ficlet #the sandman #sandman netflix #hob gadling #dream of the endless #morpheus #dreamling #I thought about this a few nights ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since #Hob is probably the only person on earth who has repeatedly attended his own funerals #there's a lot more; this is just the historical background #I just haven't figured out how it ends yet #how angsty do I want it to be? It's Hob so it can't be TOO bad right? #narrator voice: it definitely can be too bad and probably will be #my blog is essentially just a Hob Gadling altar now tbh #I love that man #I write more about him than I do the main character of the show #and I refuse to be ashamed of that #I'm not sorry actually #Hob is my Dad tm

[gabessquishytum]

in the spirit of sharing our appreciation, that bachelor ask was so good !!! I would read a whole long fic about that where maybe (bc whilst I love smut I am a slut for pining and angst) they don't fuck immediately, hob really does tell dream stories all whilst trying to ignore how looking at dream too long makes everything else fade away and give him butterflies or how dream begins to get surprisingly touchy feely as the week goes on but he can't possibly be interested in hob, after all he agreed to hear hob's success stories in the interest of believing he could meet his (female) true love on this show. (I've never seen the bachelor don't laugh lol) anyway it carries on like this, dream ramping up his affections, thinking he's being soooo obvious, he cannot believe hob is not taking the bait, when it hits him ! It's not that hob isn't picking up on dreams signals, he just. does not want that. so he suddenly stops (he's soooo embarrassed, of course hob knew what dream was doing, he probably knew all along 😖🤦🏻 he's just not into him) and then hob is like.... Have I done something to upset you? Etc anyway it all comes to a head and they fuck nasty, are missing alllll night and til early afternoon the next day when they emerge looking thoroughly well fucked, dream is actually amazingly pleasant?????? clearly just needed to release some tension.... And the show people are like. Uhhhh. You haven't been hitting it off with any of the contestants how are we supposed to explain all these fucking hickies on the show??? which is where hob as mystery contestant comes in. Anyway I didn't mean to write that much, just wanted to say that I looooooved that idea as someone who loves delicious angst and pining etc etc (which feels very on brand for our two centuries old idiots who've been on multiple dates, and yet...) It has sooo much potential !! I also liked it just as they wrote it, hob sucking dream off on the first night was so unexpected but a welcome change from the uncertainty and self consciousness of what I usually like. Just wanted to share how as an idea it really has legs - so thank you to them for sending it in, I really enjoyed it !! Would love to read more 💓

Thank you so much for developing this with a little angsty twist anon!!! I love it. Misunderstandings are so delicious. Can you imagine being another contestant watching all of this going down? Alsksjsjsj that's quality entertainment tbh. And I just really love the idea of hopeless romantic Hob working on this show because he's sooo into romance and shmoopy love stories - and he ends up in his own love story which is spiralling like crazy, getting so dramatic, causing Hob so much angst. It's all worth it of course. Falling in love with Dream was really the best thing Hob ever could have done <3

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft

[signiorbenedickofpadua]

20 questions for fic writers!

I was tagged by both @honeyteacakes and @acedragontype. Thank you my dears!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

7 right now. I think I had three or four up on my first account, but that one was randomly deleted by the site in like 2019? Or something? I never could get it back, and I never republished the fics, because I kind of lost motivation for writing for a while because of that, and now that I'm back in the game, it's been so long since I wrote that stuff that I either don't really like what I wrote then, or figure that I'd rather rewrite the one fic that I do still like. Oh, god. I just remembered that there was ONE fic that I actually orphaned back then, which means that it's still up. Oooh Christ... I'm not going to name drop it, because I orphaned it for a reason - the reason being that it's the crackiest crac!fic imaginable, born out of sleep deprivation and giggly group chats... I'm looking at it now, and it's apparently 10 years old. Oh. Oh no. I reread it. Oh, god. This was the first "attempt" at smut I ever wrote, and it was between a woman and a sentient inanimate edible object. 8d10 psychic damage, do not recommend.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

At the moment: 296.290 words When I'm finished updating This Dream Is Over (Another Has Begun) it will be around 350.000 words, and I just hit 105k on the Regency fic I'm working on, so by the end of the year we might be close to 500k... written in one year...

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Sandman, currently. On my last account I wrote for Merlin, ACD Sherlock Holmes (a school project, believe it or not), and a LotR/HP crossover (yeah, I don't really feel like re-publishing and finishing that in 2023, for obvious reasons). I might go back to writing for Merlin again, some day. I sort of want to rewrite that one fic I did post, because I quite liked the premise...but I feel like I would need to rewatch the entire series before I did that, and who's got the time?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. My Stranger, My Dream - 1507 2. Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem - 818 3. Yours for the Taking - 579 4. Body and Soul, Always and Forever - 565 5. Stay, Just this Once - or - GroundHob Day - 499

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to reply to almost every comment, because I want the commenter to know how much I appreciate that they took the time to comment. I crave that validation, perhaps a little too much, but that's robably common with authors... When I'm updating a fic one chapter at a time, I usually manage to reply to all of them, even if it's just with a couple of heart emojis (if I couldn't think of anything else), but once the whole fic is up and I get one reader who is leaving a bunch of comments in rapid succession, I sometimes skip the one's that are just emojis or exclamation marks and focus on the ones I have real replies to - not because I don't appreciate the emojis just as much, but because I worry that I'd be spamming the reader with like five identical heart-emoji replies :P

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm, I tend to end things rather happily, but I suppose Stay, Just this Once could be read a bit angsty, since it ends with Hob in 1889 going "Dream kissed me and then left with an implication of potential future kisses? Oh boy, I can't wait until 1989!" when, you know, Dream won't show in 1989.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably This Dream Is Over. I mean, they're all pretty happy, but that one is just so hopeful and soft... You'll see what I mean when I post the last chapter ;)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. There was one reader who left a couple of comments with very much unasked-for advice (and fairly bad advice, at that) which made me feel a bit meh, but that's hardly hate. Then there was this one comment that went a bit like "Well, that was stupid," and to this day I have no idea if they meant the writing or the characters (who were, to be fair, being very stupid in that chapter). Tone can be very hard to read in text, so I'm trying to give them the benefit of doubt. But no, no real hate, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup. When I started writing again about a year ago, I decided to give it a try, not really thinking I could make it work, considering the last time I wrote romance I had trouble even describing a kiss (which was almost a decade earlier), but it actually worked (I hope)! Then I just couldn't seem to write something without smut. I tried to deliberately leave things off before the explicit parts in one or two stories (making them "just" mature) for people who aren't into the stuff, and I also try to make all the explicit content skippable for those who want to read the rest of the story. What kind of smut? Idk, I've written M/M and M/F so far, I'll probably write F/F at some point too. I think most of it has been fairly vanilla so far, with some light themes of BDSM maybe, if you squint.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Only that LotR/HP one I mentioned earlier, which I abandonded when my account was deleted. I did start planning a Star Trek AU for Merlin, but I think I only wrote a chapter or so before my motivation died and I never published anything. I think I'm generally more interested in AUs taking place in other franchises than "real" crossover with actual characters from both universes.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. Let's keep it that way!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I suppose I could do it myself, but as the only language I speak well enough to translate into is Swedish, and Swedes tend to read stuff in English anyway, I don't know that there would be much of a point.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I'd be open to trying! Could be either super fun or incredibly frustrating, but you never know until you try!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, I think it's a draw between Merthur and Dreamling. If I went back and started reading and writing fic for Merthur again, I'm sure I'd fall right back into it, even if Dreamling is my current obession.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Only the couple of WiPs I have from my first AO3 account, I think. I'm trying really hard this time around not to jump between projects too much, but finish what I have before I start something new. If I give myself free reins, my ADD is going to make sure nothing ever gets finished.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, for sure, and characterisation - or at least I fervently hope that my readers would agree on that point.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, definitely. What does anyone look like? I don't know, I couldn't decide, make it up yourself. I had to go back and make myself add a sentence about Hob's friend Dana being blonde in the last two chapters of This Dream Is Over, since she's an OC and my readers would have no idea at all what she looked like otherwise. It's a struggle, and I do try to practise, but it doesn't come as easy as dialogue and character.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Fun! I've written a few scenes with some Middle English in them, and I have this vague idea of part of a scene where Hob and Dream are walking in London or something and Hob overhears a couple of Swedish tourists discuss how to get somewhere or something, and him turning to them and giving them directions in hilariously outdated Swedish, and Dream going, "When did you last visit Scandinavia?" And Hob says, "Um, 1745, I think. Why?" and Dream is like, "...Nothing." I just don't know how funny that would be to readers who don't speak Swedish... Might still use it some day.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically? The Redwall series. I was like 10 and we had to write a story in school, and I was obsessed with Redwall and wanted to write something with talking animals, and I couldn't come up with a better name for the place, so in the end I straight up copied the world and wrote more or less a self-insert who ended up there, entirely oblivious to the concept of fanfiction, but I suppose it counts anyway. I won a prize for it. I have no idea if the adults who judged it knew it was fanfic or not...

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I think it's the Dreamling Regency AU I'm currently working on. If I manage to pull it off as well as I'm hoping to, I think it will be the best thing I've written so far. I'm even considering looking for beta readers for the first time, because I think it has potential and I want it to be the best it can be.

21. CHEEKY EXTRA QUESTION BECAUSE I FELT LIKE GIVING ADVICE - What's the best advice you have for other writers?

If you write longfic, NAME YOUR CHAPTERS! My first couple of fics just had numbered chapters, and whenever I had to go back to double check some detail, or rewrite some sentence I had to retcon, I had to be like "uuuh I think it might be chapter five??" and then waste a bunch of time checking. Now, I have chapter titles which are descriptive enough to remind me of exactly what the chapter is about, and it has made my life so much easier... Also, connected to this, actually using the chapter headers etc. in your word processor so that you get a list of chapters you can pull up to navigate.

Tagging:

@pellaaearien, @arialerendeair, @hardly-an-escape, @ml-nolan

#tag games #writing #my fic

[rooftopwreck]

ooh ooh, 58 for the Spotify wrapped fic idea thing!

Hello, Hello TJ! I have two ideas for this!

The First one is a sequel to the angsty Modern AU Dreamuse Break Up I came up with for @ghostboyjules where in this one there's reconciliation, healing and a hopeful ending. Oh, just thinking about it makes me 🥺

The second one is set in 1989 where Hob thinks he got stood up. It's more of an introspective look on how Hob's feeling, starting to get a little drunk and melancholy as the day stretches into night as he waits in The White Horse.

I'll dive into the first scenario instead bc I have an actual idea for it than the second which is mostly just Hob having some sad lonely drunken musings before his night gets worse (he doesn't know about the pub shutting down yet rip)

My mind is complicated Find it hard to rearrange it But I'll have to find a way somehow Overreacting lately Find it hard to say I'm sorry But I'll make it up to you somehow

Years after their mutual break up, Dream and Calliope happen to run into one another (haven't decided should it be a quiet balcony at a Gala or something more mundane). They have polite (albeit stiff) conversation, making nice and catching up. After that they can't seem to stop happening across one another, it's almost as though it's fate.

They continue to make polite conversation each time. Once, Dream makes a dry remark, it makes Calliope laugh. Dream is simultaneously delighted by her joy and overcome with a sense of grief. He takes his leave shortly after but not before Calliope suggests it would be nice to keep in contact again.

Dream struggles with the love he had for Calliope, their falling out, his own failures in their relationship, how they seem to get along better than ever despite their interactions are tainted by shadows of their past and how it feels the same but also very different. She feels different but also the same. He wonders if he's changed at all and if the man he is now is worth her time despite everything that's happened.

Seeing her again brought back old grievances, not against her but himself. He considers making amends if he wants them to start again as friends. He has missed her dearly.

Did I miscalculate this? Let's just go back to basics Forget about what's come and gone 'Cause I hate to see us like this Breaking up on nights just like this We should be shooting for them stars of gold

It is good to see him again, Calliope thinks. It might have been good to hom too, she thinks. That is until he suddenly froze up and backpaddled out of the conversation at the speed of light, but never in an undignified way, just as he used to. After so many years, she thought she had a good enough read on him, that he did not hate her as she initially thought, that he was comfortable with her. Perhaps she is mistaken, perhaps she is too hasty in her desire to have Dream warm up again, perhaps he was reminded of their past and remembered he would rather not reconnect.

Calliope wishes they could put aside their past and work towards something new. They've both changed a lot, they're not the same as they once were. Their relationship will not be that of the past. It can be something new if Dream comes around to the idea.

So tell me you want it A thousand miles away from the day that we started But I'm standing here with you just tryna be honest If honesty means telling you the truth I guess we lost our focus And it's killing me that we could go to war like this But I'm standing here with you just tryna be honest If honesty means telling you the truth Well I'm still in love with you

They make tentative steps together, navigating this new friendship. Sometimes, they make more mistakes than they do progress. Sometimes, they make leaps and bounds, bonding in a way they haven't before. It is good, they are good. Things are alright, they're more than alright.

Dream has not smiled quite so much in a long time. Calliope's eyes twinkle brightly as she teases him. Her smile soothes something inside him, it settles him. It is not to say she has lost her spark, but it is a warm, almost banked fire, instead of one that rages wildly. He feels at ease, like he belongs.

He freezes. He had not intended this to happen, but between their conversations and not-dates since they first reconnected, he's in love with her. He had been, but it's different but still the same. He should leave. He needs to go, he cannot burden her with this. This was not what Calliope had desired when she suggested they keep in touch. He's fucked this up again. He needs to go.

Calliope's hand settles on his and pulls him back. She calmly asks him not to panic and run, to please talk to her if there is something wrong, to be honest.

So, he does. He's still in love with her, new and different. He's fucked up their friendship by carrying this torch, if he hasn't already, then he will. He doesn't know what will happen next, he's terrified of losing her again after just having her back in his life.

Oh, we'll be alright Oh, it'll be alright Oh, we'll be alright Oh, it'll be alright

Calliope cups her hand around his and gently says she loves him too. Whatever comes next, they'll figure it out together. This time, they'll be alright.

#thank you for sending a number!! i cant believe the numbers worked out nicely that i can give them a better ending 😭😭😭 #fic idea kinda just turned into quasi fic musing oops! (haha muse-ing) #I hope you had some fun reading this monster. i am clearly no writer but i enjoyed doing this immensely 💜 #asks #tj_dragonblade #v's chatter

[endless-bees]

I finally figured out why I didn't understand shipping Dream and Lucienne despite it making so much sense. And then I figured out that I actually like the idea under certain conditions.

Dream/Lucienne as short one-shot established relationship material: nah

Dream/Lucienne as a 500k incredibly slowburn during which he continues on making the progress he already has taken the first, hesitant steps towards and becomes more comfortable treating Lucienne as, if not a complete equal in running the Dreaming (because the Dreaming is him and he's connected to it in a way that is unique to him), then a close second, while learning to accept the advice, opinions, and support of other people around him, with a short aside wherein he figures out how romantic attraction works when his younger sibling isn't being a little shit, and all that before he finally considers asking Lucienne out because even he realizes that if he fucks this up by taking it too quickly there's more at stake than just his love life: HELL YEAH

And I'm not used to shipping things that require that much building up to! But it could be such an incredible love story if Dream puts in the work, especially if he grows to the point where their working relationship won't be harmed if either of them decide to end the relationship!

Bonus if it leads to "Hi, I'm Hob, and this is my husband Dream, his wife Lucienne, and her (girlfriend or wife) Gault". Why do I see potential between Gault and Lucienne? I dunno, the idea occured to me the first time I saw Lucienne compliment how good she looks with her fairy wings and I can't quite seem to put it down despite having very little evidence to support it.

CONTINUING ON MY DREAM IS THE DREAMING ELDRITCH CREACHER BS what drives me absolutely INSANE about morphienne is that Lucienne is so loyal, so devoted, that she stayed to guard and tend what pieces of the Dreaming she could while Morpheus was imprisoned. What pieces of HIM she could while Morpheus was imprisoned!!! God I don’t even know if he puts it together but I think she’s the first person to see him so vulnerable THAT HE ALLOWS TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP in a long, long time. Even when he, Dream, Morpheus, the BodyTM, gets back to Dream, the Dreaming, the RealmTM, and he needs help standing up? When he fails to fix the throne room? He allows that care.

SHE WAITED FOR OVER 100 YEARS AS HER HOME CRUMBLED AROUND HER I AM RABID. 

Also psst hey. hey you want. some morphienne recs.

Woolgathering by sunsorbit is so soft and the pining is an absolute delight. I won’t spoil but the Library itself is a POV character!

And then there’s Dreams Written in Sand by cunticuss, which is also a oneshot series. I still need to read it but it might change your mind on the just wanting long angsty 300K things :D

Finally there is the Gospel, as far as I’m concerned, not just of morphienne but of Dream smut: How Vibrant the Color by unnecessary. Stories as foreplay and the morphussy. Excellent.

#morphienne #asks #anonymous #You wrote such a lovely thought out ask and you got whatever this is. Apologies! #fic #fic recs #dream of the endless #lucienne #morpheus #sunsorbit #cunticuss #unnecessary #me