#after i've been so busy lately

[skullswithmarigolds]

Kuboyasu: ...

Saiki: ...

Kuboyasu: *sighs* Alright, where is it?

Saiki: Don't sigh at me, I'm being foiled here! *points at his bed while standing on his desk* The demon is under there.

Kuboyasu: *evil arura as he goes for his target* Got it, doll.

[ifindus]

Historical - for the fifth day of @hetalia-rarepairweek ✨

It's been a while since I've done any viking/celtic ScotNor 🥰

[wyvernquill]

Finally some more Dreamling Anastasia AU!

(Obligatory link to the masterpost with all the other posts in this AU - it's also pinned at the top of my blog!)

So, it's been... a while... but I've recently finally got some motivation to write a bit more of this. Apologies to everyone really looking forward to the finale/resolution - I've decided to go all the way back to the start of the story, instead. I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless!

(Tag list: @10moonymhrivertam @martybaker @globglobglobglobob @anonymoustitans @sunshines-fabulous-legs @dreamsofapiratelife @malice-kingdom - since it's been a, uh, really long time, please let me know if you're no longer interested in this AU/fandom and don't want to be tagged anymore, I won't mind! On the other hand, if someone else would like to be tagged in future updates, please let me know!)

---

“Sister… it’s me.”

The man on the dilapidated theatre’s stage shrugs a heavy, moth-eaten velvet coat off his narrow shoulders. It crumples into a dark semi-circle around him, releasing a dramatic cloud of dust.

“Dream… of the Endless~”

.

“Ah. Hm.” A somewhat fussy older gentleman in the empty space usually reserved for the audience adjusts the small circular glasses on his nose, grimacing in a polite and distinctly English way - which he has, once, after first coming to this realm and taking this form, spent hours practising in the mirror - while checking a long list in front of him. “Mr… Carter, was it…?”

“Oh, please.” The man on stage flicks back his white-streaked bangs. “Call me Hal.”

“Yes. Of course, Mr. Hal.” The gentleman purses his lips. “That was… not, er. Not terrible, I suppose. And we’re pleased to note that you appear to have… brought your own cloak.”

“Don’t get used to it. Zelda and Chantal only let me borrow it for the audition.”

“Well, it is a lovely cloak. Only, ah, while Dream of the Endless was known to have quite striking eyes, I do think that, perhaps a little less eyeliner…”

“I could tone it down, I suppose, but I really think the performance would lose something without the makeup.” Hal sighs melodramatically. “I can sing and dance too, if you need it for your… what is this audition for, actually? Play? Music hall show? Ooo, one of those moving pictures?”

“Er.” The gentleman fidgets with his cane, grass-green eyes flickering around the empty theatre. “Well-”

“Thank you, Hal.” The younger man beside him interrupts with a winning smile that only barely covers the boredom and frustration lining a rather ruggedly handsome face. “We’ll let you know.”

“Hm.” Hal, clearly enough of an old hand in the acting business to know a polite “you’re not getting the role, piss off” when he hears one, frowns, and bends down to gather up the borrowed cloak, stalking off towards stage exit right with his head held high, not deigning either of the two men with even one more look.

“...I really do not think this will work, young Robert.” The older man mutters, decisively striking through Hal Carter’s name on his list. It is the last. “None of them look even remotely like him. And the voice-”

“I know, Gil. I know.” The younger man, Hob - only Gilbert is proper and precise enough to call him Robert - rubs at his temples, as if to stave off a headache. “They never manage to get the voice right, do they.”

“Ah, if it were only that…” Gilbert sighs, setting the list down. His eyes are soft and unfocused, seeing far into a past that has long since been razed to the ground. “His Lordship, he… he had a certain air about him, you understand. An otherworldly strangeness. He was the dream-maker, and dream-made, and to look at him was to gaze upon infinity.”

A soft scoff.

“Even if we claim that he has been greatly reduced by being turned into a meagre human - no offence, dear friend - as long as he does not have some spark of endlessness about him, nobody who has ever met him would fall for the ruse. And we are attempting to con his family. I simply cannot see any viable path to success.”

Hob does not respond, for a moment, picking up one of the flyers on their table.

It reads:

.

SEEKING Actor, slender, pale, tall, dark-haired, in the 20-40 age range to play the role of Dream of the Endless (method actors preferred). Generous pay and further benefits await. Auditions each weekday at 6pm at the Old Whickber Street Theatre, Soho. Ask for Hob and Gil.

.

“We’ll find him.” Hob insists. “The perfect pretender. He’s out there, I just know it.”

“We are not the first fools who have attempted a, a caper of this sort.” Gil points out, almost gently. “None of the others ever succeeded.”

“Yes. Well. None of the others managed to find and correctly identify the late Dream’s own pouch of genuine dream-sand on sale at the black market.” Hob shoots back, gesturing at the cord just barely peeking out from under Gil’s collar. (They’ve decided it would be safer if Hob comes into contact with the sand as little as possible, and Gilbert has taken to carrying it as closely to his heart as he can manage.) “It’s hard evidence, Gil, it’s a sign, it’s our chance - and it might just be enough. The trick with a good con is really making it look like you’re giving the mark exactly what they desperately want… and there’s nothing in the world Death of the Endless wants more than to have her brother back.”

.

(She wants it so desperately, in fact, that she’s offering immortality to any sentient being who manages to procure Dream for her.

And, well.

There’s nothing in the world Hob wants more than to live forever…)

.

“Your word in- or, well, kept out of Destiny’s ears, young friend.” Gil sighs, collecting his lists and notes and the remaining flyers, tucking them into his coat and reaching for his cane. “In the meantime, how about we go down to the public house and have a bit of a snifter to wash away the memories of all those atrocious performances, eh, my lad?”

“Best idea you had all day, Gil.” Hob grins, clapping a hand on Gilbert’s shoulder. “Are you buying?”

Gilbert raises one grey brow. “At the risk of provoking a joke regarding my non-human status: in your dreams, Robert.”

Hob laughs; and, together, they step out into the winter night, old snow crunching under their shoes and new flakes beginning to drift, gradually, down from the sky.

.

.

.

It has been a decade since the end of the Endless’ reign.

Ten years since humanity tore Destiny’s book from his hands and burned it.

Ten years since Destruction abandoned his siblings, hiding away in his own, separate exile. 

Ten years since Despair’s first aspect was killed, and another took her place.

Ten years since Delight went mad with grief and became Delirium…

.

And ten years since Dream of the Endless was captured, bound, turned human, and killed.

.

People still whisper about it. Still speculate, trade gossip and hearsay back and forth. Some insist that the Dream King yet lives, hidden away, turned human, just biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to return to his siblings.

It’s a lovely legend, Hob supposes. A fitting end and non-end, for the Lord of Stories, to live on in one… but that’s all it is. A pretty tale, which will breathe new life into a myth only for as long as it’s being told. It isn’t true…

…but now, ten years later, Hob and Gil will damn well make it so.

.

.

.

Ten years is also, coincidentally, all that a man a few streets down from the old theatre can remember of his life.

Ten years since he was found, naked and emaciated and bleeding, in a ditch next to some countryside road in East Sussex.

Ten years of fighting his way through a life in poverty, with no family, no friends, no-one to care for him, except perhaps the birds.

Ten years of strange and haunting dreams, blurred faces calling out to him with names he can never remember later but knows are his; ten years of waking every morning with tears on his face and a longing for someplace - and someones - he wishes he could remember; ten years of a woman’s voice begging him night after night to come home to her, to them.

.

Ten years of being much too busy starving and freezing and barely surviving to spare even a single thought to the dying legends of the Endless.

.

This man turns his face up to the sky, snowflakes catching in his dark hair and on his coat like stars glinting in the night; and he shivers, his breath clouding mist-white in the air, curling thin arms around a narrow torso.

(For a moment, just a moment, his eyes glow dark and infinite, a mirror to the night sky and the endless universe beyond.)

And then, he ducks his head down into his scarf, shivers again, and continues on through the snow.

Ten hard years have taught this man better than to waste his time standing about and daydreaming.

[fantaseagal]

wrath of the storm

[averlym]

@remylong :

[scoliosisgoblin]

quickies feat. Peter, Eddie and @bennydunbar

[roaringroa]

they should make a life where you don't have appointments, work, school and scheduled events every single day for months on end

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

There have been so many songs I've had in the back of my head loosely linked to Ricky and Gina, and today's prompt finally gave me an excuse to compile a playlist for them. There's honestly probably more that can be added, but I'm actually quite proud of how many I was able to add to this list!

There are some songs that are from Gina's perspective ("Mastermind", "What if I Love You", "Nobody Love Me Like You"), including her S2 perspective, some from Ricky's ("would you love me now?", "Smoke Slow"), some about their angst that can be from both perspectives ("The Night We Met", "Where's My Love"), and some that are more joyous and celebratory ("Different", "I Just Love You", "Honeybee").

However, the one I really want to highlight is "Nebraska" by Oh Wonder. This was in my top 5 most played in 2021, so I can't believe I didn't think of it until now as a Rina (and especially Gina) coded song, but BOY does it fit them so well. Seriously, go listen to it now and tell me this doesn't perfectly represent and describe Gina Porter and how she feels about Ricky. It touches on the importance of "I love you" but that it shouldn't be a wasted phrase, and the narrator sings about traveling the world but the only place that feels like home is her beloved (who may have also broken her heart).

The other song that I want to talk about briefly is "I Just Love You" by Roo Panes. The feeling and atmosphere the music of this one creates always reminds me of domestic Rina, and the simplicity of the lyrics ("I just love you") reminds me of how Ricky feels for Gina. I also headcanon Gina's middle name is Marie, so the lyrics of the first verse fit, and the second verse sings about they've both had fears of vulnerability ("why are we oh so afraid / of saying something real?"). This contrasts the straightforward conclusion of the chorus, which definitely reminds me of Ricky's resolution, certainty, and directness in "Love You Forever".

[livingfast04]

I went to the Metallica Concert in Arlington this past weekend- It was my High School graduation gift from my parents, went to both nights, spent way too much money- Holy fuck man. James calling all of us misfits and fuckups and then welcoming us home?? On the floor, screaming, crying-

[rookflower]

do you have any results to share from the wc fan survey?

ive been busyyy sorry. I'll try to close it soon 😭

[magistralucis]

@absolut--kurant!

[silverselfshippingchaos]

r.une is so awesome! he's the kindest guy ever and I always drop by the thieves guild whenever I'm not doing anything just to hear his pretty voice

[schattenmagier]

// Let's see if I can get some writing done today

[justinefrischmanngf]

my week has been so strange..... i just listened to the full 3 minutes that is shut up by stormzy because it was brought up @ work today and icl it does fuck severely . you should all go listen to it . anyway it got brought up because my manager's friend told him that it was released 8 years ago and then there was a whole Does Nessa Know It bc i was the youngest in the room at the time and i did know it so i win at life basically <3 but more than that i've just had a week full of socialising and it's been very interesting i am interested it's all interesting i feel exhausted but like . content in a way . i feel if not settled then at least like i have some hand in how my life is being shaped . i'm not necessarily making the wisest choices but i am making choices and i am taking action and i am living my life and it is mine <3

[eggmeralda]

I may have lost all hope

[theflyingfeeling]

Imagine if either Olli or Aleksi (or maybe both??) is used to sleeping with someone and just can’t fall asleep without another person and of course a bro helps another bro out and volunteers to cuddle but oops feelings

(also may I introduce this collection of them cuddling 🥰)

noooooooo that's one of my favourite tropes!! 😭💞

and why not combine this with the 'coming up with excuses to sleep together' trope because 🥺💞💕💓💗💕💞💕 the excitement of getting under the covers, the wondering if the goosebumps on the other's skin is just because they're feeling cold or something else... the perfect excuse to cuddle closer anyway 🥰