#yet another Hob rescues Dream fic this time with MAGIC

[avelera]

This Rough Magic: Ch. 5 Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Relationships: Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling Characters: Dream of the Endless, Roderick Burgess, Hob Gadling Summary: After the disastrous 1889 meeting, Hob Gadling turned to the occult to find a way to contact his stranger and apologize. Yet despite becoming a fairly adept occultist in the process, Hob ultimately lost his nerve and never cast a single spell to contact Dream. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the matter, when Hob's dabbling brought him to the attention of Roderick Burgess, who is now convinced that Hob is a fellow Magus, capable of convincing Dream to give Burgess the gift he gave to Hob all those centuries ago: immortality. Now, Hob must use wits, magic, and a great deal of charm to convince Roderick Burgess he is indeed an ancient, powerful Magus who wants nothing more than to help Burgess become immortal too, if he is to get himself and Dream out of Fawney Rig.

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This chapter is possibly my favorite in the fic so as a weak, sinful creature, I gave in and posted it right away because I've been dying to share it for months. I can't promise this quick an update again going forward but who knows, if people seem to be enjoying this fic, I'll move it up in the fic queue ;)

#the sandman #dreamling #hob gadling #dream of the endless #roderick burgess #occultist hob fic #yet another Hob rescues Dream fic this time with MAGIC #inspired by Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell #this rough magic

[cuubism]

Stranger for the ask thing

Dream, meanwhile, was from Hob’s other life, the one made of secret meetings in taverns with an ethereal stranger, the life that knew that magic, in some way, was real. That life seemed, in some ways, realer, for all that it was brief, secret, threaded between lifetimes of normality. Being with Dream was to dip back into a deeper well of truth he usually had to lock away; his own truth, their truth. [Silly Rabbit]

~~

Hob lays his head on Dream’s chest, sighing, long and empty. Dream wraps his arms around him. Were they mere humans, and not the strange twisted things that they’ve become, Dream thinks they would find this moment strange. Overly intimate, for two strangers. But they are not mere humans, even Hob is no mere anything anymore, and they are strange twisted things. Dream has allowed them to become twisted together when he should have kept his distance, and now he knows not how to break apart those melded branches. [Deja vu, Deja connu, chapter 4]

~~

His stranger looked like he could use some offered kindness, anyway. The thought hadn’t crossed Hob’s mind in that way at their last meeting – he’d been too overjoyed just to see him at all, and hadn’t taken in much detail. But now he realized that his stranger looked… worn. He wore it quietly, of course. Like a coat whose seams were just starting to loosen, it could only be seen up close. But… Hob tried to pay more attention without making it look like he was scrutinizing. No, the lines at the corners of his mouth were deeper than Hob remembered. And the cut of his jaw was as sharp as a blade, as if every spare ounce of fat had been trimmed away. Hmm. [Yet another 2022 reunion meeting fic of sorts]

~~

The first time Hob truly longed for his stranger, his dream, was in the mid-1600s. Broken, filthy, lying in a gutter somewhere starving, he would think of his mysterious stranger swooping in to rescue him. Materializing from the very shadows Hob languished in, sweeping his imperial coat from his shoulders and draping it over Hob’s rags. Coming to him as some awesome beast, a great black unicorn, perhaps, for their touch was said to heal – and resting the tip of his horn on Hob’s head like a strange knighting, banishing the many bruises from his skin. Appearing, even, as the night itself, and softening the sharp edges of the darkness. Whisking him away, maybe, to some faraway land. Just for a little while. [ritual sex fic]

~~~

“I’ll have to keep doing that, then,” Hob says, swiping at his eyes, because damn, he is crying, shit. After centuries of careful love and observance of his dear, stoic stranger, even the smallest confession from Dream can get him like that, right behind the sternum. [from a fem!dream smut fic, ha]

#thank you! #ask games #silly rabbit au #deja vu deja connu #my writing #ask #anonymous

[yary-t]

The Sandman in general (and dreamling in particular) has somehow gotten me to be truly active on Tumblr for the first time in years, to unearth my ao3 account, and to bury myself under a pile of fic ideas. 

List of Dreamling fics I actually managed to finish:

When your breaking point’s all that you have: Hob gets captured by Burgess, a fishbowl breakout ensues (and then a good chunk of the word count is just unwittingly dating), or, as summarized by ao3 user reallyhotgoose, “you look at them and think shall we play it safe? no, you say LET’S MAKE THEM MORE TRAUMATIZED“. Rated M. 

His skin was pale and his eye was odd: attempted human sacrifice culminates in identity reveal. Rated M.

My wildest dreamings could not foresee: vampire!Dream x regular human!Hob. Rated E.

The valley of the night: fairy tale AU, my attempt to write something more artistic. Rated T. Contains COMIC SPOILERS.

Like a hand in a flame: a sequel to the vampire au, from monster hunter!Johanna’s POV. Rated T.

List of Dreamling WIPs in case anyone wants to ask me about any of them thus adding to my motivation to actually work on them  (ordered by how much of the fic I actually have written):

No defense, no escape from the ties that bind: yet another installment in the vampire AU. Rated E.

Putting it together, bit by bit (Or: scenes from that one time Mr. Gadling was put in charge of the school play and dragged his goth not-boyfriend along for the ride, as seen through the eyes of assorted cast members): the multi-chapter outsider POV fic I started writing while working on the beginning of When your breaking point’s all that you have because I needed a break from all the pain and suffering. Pure fluff, more a series of drabbles and scene fragments in chronological sequence than a full story, pre-relationship.

Untitled siren AU: scuba diver!Hob x siren!Dream. Featuring: Dream saving Hob from drowning when he gets nitrogen narcosis while diving alone, Dream sort of becoming Hob’s dive buddy, Hob rescuing Dream from a literal fishbowl.

Thinking they’re alone: fantasy AU, sex worker!Hob x unspecified-magical-being!Dream. [I have it plotted but it requires smut and will be maybe 10~20k words so I’m putting it off]

List of fic ideas not yet promoted to WIPs, aka concepts that I want to read more than write (please send me links if you know fics that match! I haven’t been able to keep up with everything posted):

Untitled ballet AU: dancer!Hob x choreographer!Dream. [I have no plot, just a few ideas that may become a plot. This was originally listed as a WIP but it got demoted; I think in the end I did want to read this idea more than write it because once I did I was no longer invested in this WIP at all. So if you want an AU with this set up may I recommend bartered tendons; battered rhythm]

Untitled 1: and then they were roommates, except Dream is the ghost that came with the cottage in the middle of nowhere Hob (a regular, mortal, human) suddenly inherited. Hob’s lived on the streets, though -- he’s not about to let the fact that it’s haunted drive him away from a perfectly nice house. [I have some random worldbuilding but the entire note is three short paragraphs]

Untitled 2 (tw: dub con): instead of Dream being the one who feels obligated to provide sex, it’s Hob who thinks like this. Hob who offers the use of his body, feeling he owes it for his immortality. Dream who is being offered something he wants, who has no reason to assume it isn’t willingly offered, and so he takes. Hob would do anything for immortality (if it's set early in their acquaintance), for his friend -- to keep his friend (if it's set in the present) [This is literally all I have written on the note for this idea. I wrote it after reading illuminetic’s arguments re: 1489 Hob’s fuckability. Illuminetic wrote an AMAZING fic about Hob fearing that his stranger wants sexual favors. I also want one in which he actually provides them on the mistaken assumption that Dream requires them]

Catch me I’m falling (below there are COMICS SPOILERS; also, tw: mentions of suicide and depression):

Once upon a dream, an ordinary man faced the fates, the kindly ones, the furies with no weapon but his humanity. And he got them to bend--to be satisfied with Dream of the Endless, and to spare Morpheus. His friend, his love.

This is not that story.

This is the aftermath of that story.

Morpheus, no longer Dream, cast into a silence as fatalistic as that of his glass cage, with no hope of ever escaping it. Caged into a flesh that is human, if not truly mortal. Bereft of his function, his purpose.

Aka the epic Hob trying to support Dream through navigating humanity while still struggling with his depression fic I am in no way shape or form qualified to write. A retired!Dream fic in which being freed of his burden doesn’t solve his problems, but makes them worse. Hob struggles with guilt that he didn’t see what Dream was doing, fear that he’ll try again, anger at Dream for being willing to just abandon him, anger at himself for being angry at Dream. [the sheer amount of research I’d have to do to sill maybe mess it up somehow is dauting. I mean, should I even call it depression? Idk, I’d have to read up on it]

#the sandman #dreamling #dreamling fic #my fic #WIPs #I also like send character to therapy fics (Lise's Life in Reverse for Loki; a voyager fic I read on ff.net ages ago for Janeway) #So that'd work within Catch me I'm falling #But it could also just be a post season 1 one-shot #tw: dub con #tw: suicide #tw: depression #the sandman comic spoilers

[avelera]

This Rough Magic (15835 words) by Avelera Chapters: 4/12 Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Relationships: Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling Characters: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, Roderick Burgess, Hob Gadling Additional Tags: Occult, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Hob Gadling, Spells & Enchantments, Hob Gadling Saves Dream of the Endless | Morpheus from Roderick Burgess, POV Hob Gadling, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, 1920s, Occultist Hob AU, Deception, Suspense, Alternate Universe - Magic Summary: After the disastrous 1889 meeting, Hob Gadling turned to the occult to find a way to contact his stranger and apologize. Yet despite becoming a fairly adept occultist in the process, Hob ultimately lost his nerve and never cast a single spell to contact Dream. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the matter, when Hob's dabbling brought him to the attention of Roderick Burgess, who is now convinced that Hob is a fellow Magus, capable of convincing Dream to give Burgess the gift he gave to Hob all those centuries ago: immortality. Now, Hob must use wits, magic, and a great deal of charm to convince Roderick Burgess he is indeed an ancient, powerful Magus who wants nothing more than to help Burgess become immortal too, if he is to get himself and Dream out of Fawney Rig.

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I realize it's been awhile since I updated this, but it turns out the edits this chapter needed were more minor than I feared! Hope you enjoy!

#the sandman #dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #roderick burgess #occultist hob fic #hobmurphy #hob x dream #dream x hob #yet another hob rescues dream fic but this time with magic! #my sort-of what if they hooked up in 1889 fic