#aini nufire fics

[enigma-the-mysterious]

[demonic chanting] DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT

Also, may I recommend @aini-nufire 's Musketeer Dragon Riders series in the meantime? :D

I really wanna write a Temeraire-esque au for the bbc musketeers where everything is the same except they're historically accurate dragon riders, but then I remember that's basically the entire plot of my og story and I'm like. Hm...

[whumptober]

Completionists of 2023 - 3/4

Jaelijn | @jaelijn | Jaelijn on AO3

quietlyimplode | @quietlyimplode | quietlyimplode on AO3

@adzeisval | adzeisval on AO3

Callaei | @callaeidae3

Jungledragon | Jungledragon on AO3

Wishfulthinking1979 | @musewrangler | Wishfulthinking1979 on AO3 | AO3 Series

@blubfishblue | blubfishblue on AO3

RD Eternity | @rd-eternity | rd_eternity on AO3

Honmyo SeaGull | @honmyoseagull | Honmyo_Seagull on AO3

Priya | @viridimessorem | viridimessorem on AO3

@aria0fgold

Brievel | @brievel | Brievel on AO3

N | @sadisticallysmirking | sadisticallysmirking on AO3

Veldeia | @veldeia | Veldeia on AO3

bec | @here-be-booker | here_be_bec on AO3

Autobot2001 | @autobot2001 | Autobot2001 on AO3

GieRo | @gierosajie-art

Cyberwhumper | @cyberwhumper

@bumblingdragon

Bubblebee10230 | @tarlettuce10230 | Bubblebee10230 on AO3

crematosis | @crematosis | crematosis on AO3

whumpypepsigal | @whumpypepsigal

StellarCoachman | @stellarcoachman | StellarCoachman on AO3

E | @e7y1

Dizarys | @dizaryswrites | Dizarys on AO3

Jada | @actress4him | actress4Him on AO3

sasuga-whump | @sasuga-whump

Sheepish | @samtheacesheep | sheepishwitch on AO3

@idunnothiseither | tired_but_hopeful on AO3

@seven-stars-in-his-palm | gravitron on AO3

@crimsonlyinglilly | CrimsonLyingLilly on AO3

@half-milke & @light-illuzions | Half_Milk on AO3 & Light_Illuzions on AO3

Cora | Stormwriter on AO3

@bloodyfeverdreams | messedupstargazer on AO3

ChemistryNerd & BlackDragon12 | ChemistryNerd on AO3 & BlackDragon12 on AO3

Kaesa | @kaesaaurelia | Kaesa on AO3

bowsie22 | @bowsie22 | bowsie22 on AO3

Gale | @galewritesfanfiction | Huntress8611 on AO3

@aini-nufire | Aini_NuFire on AO3

Felix/Wiatt | @callmesummon | callmesummon on AO3

Rory | @ethereal-catharsis | ethereal_catharsis on AO3

@ensignsenna | Senna_B on AO3

Rime | @going-to-the-sun | RimeThyme on AO3 | AO3 Fic

LizzyDizzyYo | @lizzyverydizzyyo / @lizzydizzyyo | LizzyDizzyYo on AO3 | Tumblr Masterpost

Lucifer | @crypticidentity | crypticidentity on AO3

@omgiamwish

Mj-iza-writer | @mj-iza-writer

Mati | @whump-my-dear-watson

Ace | @aceofwhump

@veryrealimagination | CelticGHardy on AO3

[Completionist Post 1] [Completionist Post 2] [Completionist Post 4]

[lady-wallace]

Whumptober 2023 Masterpost

It's time for the official 2023 @whumptober masterpost!

Fandom and characters as well as the prompts used, are tagged for each day with links to both Ao3 and Tumblr

~~~~~~~

Day 1: Safety Net | Swooning | 'How many fingers am I holding up?' Buddy Daddies (Kazuki) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 2: Thermometer | Delirium | 'They don't care about you.' Buddy Daddies (Rei) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 3: Solitary Confinement Shadow and Bone (Nikolai) Art Collab with @aini-nufire (Read Fic)

Day 4: Cattle Prod | Shock | alt prompt 15: Reluctant Whumper Jujitsu Kaisen (Gojo & Getou) Ao3

Day 5: Debris | Pinned Down | "It's broken" Hellsing (Integra) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 6: Recording | Made to Watch | 'It should have been me' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Narancia & Fugo) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 7: Radio Silence | 'Can you hear me?' Hellsing (Alucard) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 8: Outnumbered Jujitsu Kaisen (Gojo) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 9: Polaroid | Mistaken Identity JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Abbacchio) Ao3 | Tumblr Part 1/2 (Pt2 on Day 18)

Day 10: Broken Phone | Stranded | 'You said you'd never leave' Buddy Daddies (Kazuki) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 11: Captivity | 'No one will find you' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5-Vampire Hunter AU (Giorno) Ao3 | Tumblr Part 1/2 (Pt2 on Day 27)

Day 12: Red | alt prompt 8: Hunting JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5- Vampire Hunter AU (Bucciarati) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 13: Cold Compress | Infection | 'I don't feel so good' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5- Hearts of Gold Verse (Luciano Abbacchio) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 14: Water Inhalation | 'Just hold on' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Giorno) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 15: Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | 'I'm Fine' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5- Hearts of Gold Verse (Bucciarati) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 16: Gurney | Flatline | 'Don't go where I can't follow' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Giorno) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 17: Collar | Touch Aversion | 'Leave me alone' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Fugo) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 18: Tortured for Info | 'Hit them harder' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Bucciarati) Ao3 | Tumblr Pt 2/2 (Pt1 on Day 9)

Day 19: Floral Bouquet | Psychological | 'I'm not as stupid as you think I am' Jujutsu Kaisen (Gojo) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 20: Blanket | Found Family | 'You'll regret touching them' Buddy Daddies (Rei & Kazuki) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 21: Vows | Restraints | 'Don't Move' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 4 (Josuke & Jotaro) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 22: Glass Shard | Vehicular Accident | 'Watch Out!' Jujutsu Kaisen (Gojo & Utahime) Art Collab with @waffles-in-winter (Read Fic)

Day 23: (alt prompt 7. 'Examination') JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Giorno) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 24: Goodbye Note | Neglect | 'I thought they were with you' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Narancia) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 25: Buried Alive | 'They're not breathing!' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5- Vampire Hunter AU (Abbacchio) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 26: Seeing Double | Working to Exhaustion | 'You look awful' Jujutsu Kaisen (Gojo) Ao3 | Tumblr (Collab with @waffles-in-winter)

Day 27: Scars | 'Let me see' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5- Vampire Hunter AU (Giorno) Ao3 | Tumblr Pt 2/2 (Pt1 on Day 11) Art by @waffles-in-winter

Day 28: Bloody Knife | Sacrifice | 'You'll have to go through me' Hellsing (Alucard) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 29: Scented Candle | Troubled Past Resurfacing | 'What happened to me?' Buddy Daddies (Rei) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 30: Borrowed Clothing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Everyone) Ao3 | Tumblr

Day 31: Setbacks | 'Take it Easy' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Pt 5 (Bucciarati) Ao3 | Tumblr

~~~~~~~

[29-pieces]

Part 4/10 art throwback - Uriel and his spirit animal, a leopard. Fanart for an AU Supernatural series by @aini-nufire, featuring angels with fighting spirit animals instead of wings! 

Episode 4 of Apocalypse Wars: The Mole.  Zachariah’s forces make a move to wipe out the rebel garrison. (featuring some awesome Cas whump, which I always love! Spoiler: Uriel is an assbutt.) 

Read here on AO3

Part 1: Cas and panther Part 2: Gabriel and eagle  Part 3: Lilith and hydra

[gremlinbehaviour]

After being rescued from being a shade, Lancelot asking Merlin to use magic on him just so he can feel the warmth and safety of Merlin's magic?

Hi Anon! I'm not sure if you meant this as a prompt or not, but either way I'm going to direct you over to @aini-nufire's work! Heart and Soul has this exact idea in it I think and it's so sweet, and a bunch of her other fics have Merlin using his magic to warm up Lancelot in other circumstances, including, if my memory serves, The Ice Queen, Hell or High Water, and Knights of the Living Dead. It's one of my very favorite things and I hope you enjoy those fics as much as I did 😊

[lemissingmask]

Doodles based on chapters 3-6 of an awesome fic by @aini-nufire - these do not come even close to doing the story itself justice, so if you haven't read it (or even if you have), please go read! (https://archiveofourown.org/works/31563695)

[oh-three]

11, 12, 23 and 36 for the writers ask game 😯

11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most.

The Ahsoka novel is an inspiration for a certain fic in the Guard series, that fic being a bit of a continuation of the last scene.

But for the most part, I've been influenced by a lot of the things I've read. So many books and authors (both fanfiction and published), all of their writing styles have influenced my own and given me ideas for my own writing. I simply can't really choose any single one.

12.  Describe your perfect writing space.

My perfect writing space is somewhere dark and quiet (other than my own river water ambience and music) where I won't get interrupted for hours.

Usually, it's my own room, but there were a couple classrooms at school that did it for me as well. Shame I won't be going back there (the school year starts this Monday, actually, so that's a weird feeling that my brothers will be gone all the time and I won't be till I get a job).

Back on topic, the darkness and near-silence keep me focused (I still get distracted- what else am I gonna do with ADHD- but I can more easily re-center my attention on my writing in this environment) a lot more than any other place can.

23.  Favourite author.

Published? Either James Dashner, Suzanne Collins, or Erin Hunter.

Fanfiction? Off the top of my head, @aini-nufire is definitely one of them. I follow so many that I can't even think of all my favorites. 😂

36.  Last sentence you wrote.

"...What is it?" He asks after about thirty seconds of those present just staring at him.

(this one's from the Guard series, inspiration on the opening of one of the next fics just hit right before my shower last night)

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

[angelfishofthelord]

I wrote this post about fix-it fics where the boys are actually there for Cas in all the times he suffered alone in show and then @bluejaybug and @alphamano asked for the list so here you go! I divided them up by seasons; most of them are all one-shots or episode codas but there are a couple of longer ones.

Season 5:

We Will Work With Each Other, We Will Work Side by Side by @maychorian: post 5x13 the boys look after Cas

The Sleeping Safety Squad by @inkandpaperqwerty: during 5x13 Sam looks after Cas when he suffers from time travel complications

Season 6:

Not Quickly Broken by @littlehollyleaf : post 6x22 where the boys help save Cas

Season 7:

Silent and Still by @wallmakerrelict: Dean talks to Cas before leaving him in 7x17

Perspective by @purplearrowzandleather: the boys actually visit Cas in the hospital

Good Things Do Happen by @darkestsight: the boys forgive Cas like family

Season 8:

Breakdown Lanes by @dustlines: Dean helps Cas deal with his suicidal thoughts

Bound to Follow You Down by @littlehollyleaf : Dean and Sam figure out what was going on with Naomi and help Cas

Home by shinigami_yumi: someone (Sam) is nice to Cas when he comes back post 8x22

Season 9:

Always Welcome by @endlessnepenthe: Cas is safe and warm in the Bunker for his first human night

The Loss of Healing by @a-rose-with-a-thorn: the boys find Cas and take him home

Season 10:

This Time by @aini-nufire: the boys find Cas dying from the stolen grace

Season 11:

Consequences by @fromcenotaphy: Cas doesn't go to the angels and instead Sam finds him and takes care of him.

Traumatized by dragonwriter24cmf: the boys talk to Cas about his tv binge-watching and ptsd

Netflix Novacaine by @catalogercas: 11x06 coda where Dean talks to Cas about what Metatron said

Live and Let Die by @aini-nufire: Sam talks to Cas about the self-worth issues that led to Cas saying yes to Lucifer

Season 12:

Living Arrangements by @fromcenotaphy: early s12 where Dean makes sure Cas knows he's family

Everything by @castielsdisciple: the boys realize how their deal in 12x09 would have affected Cas

Season 13:

The Last Star of Mo(u)rning by @lies-unfurl: Cas tells Dean about Naomi and the angels

Everything Ends by @aini-nufire: post 13x19 the boys help Cas deal with what he found out in Heaven

Wenn Die Engel Fallen by @29-pieces: Sam checks on Cas after the confrontation with his apocalypse - world self

Season 15:

this room is wrong by @castielsdisciple: post 15x03 Sam goes to find Cas

Stitches (hold together) by lynx357: post 15x03 Cas gets taken care of by the Wayward Sisters and Jody

Out in the Open by @paclipas-blog: post 15x03 Dean gets his head out of his ass

If you know of any more good fix-it fics feel free to add onto the list! Especially for s10~ that stolen grace situation is sorely lacking in fix-its. Also thank you to all you beautiful writers for giving us what the show never did

[sternenblumen]

Fanfic writing tag

Thank you for the tag, @privateerstudies!

Side note: Usually, my writing stuff goes on @flowers-creativity!

how many works do you have on AO3?

 23

what’s your total AO3 word count?

135676 (woah!)

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Four (on AO3) - Stranger Things, The Musketeers, Leverage, Stardew Valley

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Normalcy and Safety Small Things The One Bed Job Whumptober 2019 - The Musketeers Bad Luck

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Aaaaah, I’m very ashamed and embarrassed because a lot of (most of?) the time I don’t, because of social anxiety and stuff 🥺. I try to! I should maybe go through the unanswered ones and answer them with a blanket “Thank you” so I can answer any new ones without feeling guilty and bad about not answering the old ones?

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I actually think I have no angsty endings?! Plenty of angst in between but I try finishing on a positive or hopeful note.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t have any crossovers so far.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

No. Well, there was one time where I took some passive-aggressive negative comment as referring to Bad Luck and was very insecure about it ... But nothing openly hateful.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

I don’t write smut.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

have you ever had a fic translated?

No. (afaik) (Back in the day when I wrote German Elfquest fanfic, I sometimes translated a drabble myself.)

have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do all that much shipping ... I’m very fond of the Leverage OT3, Stoncy and Constagnan, afhgsfvd.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Theoretically, I always wanted to finish the challenges I’ve taken part in where I didn’t do all the prompts (Whumptober & Co.) but yeah, I don’t think that’s happening (see: Whumptober 2021 is right around the corner, and I haven’t finished 2019 and 2020 ...).

what are your writing strengths?

Uhm. People say I’m good at writing the characters true to themselves? I’m not bad at whump/injuries and action and at banter, I guess. And I have a pretty “clean”, straightforward style.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting (I’m the ultimate pantser) and research ^^’.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’m very insecure on how to format/embed it ... Also, please ask native speakers if it’s a language you don’t speak yourself!

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

On AO3? Stranger Things. Of all times? Elfquest

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Do you ask people who their favourite child is, too XD? That’s haaaaard! Okay, one that I really felt I had to write was Four Long Years (because discord in friendships is hard and there’s never only one side to a story).

Tagging @29-pieces, @aini-nufire, @gremlinbehaviour, @little-ligi and @lady-wallace if you haven’t done it yet (and feel inclined to do so) - also anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

[whumptober]

2020 Whumptober Completionists

You’ve toiled and trudged for 31 days. Now it’s time to sit back and marvel at the fact that you just created content for 31 Whump prompts, possibly even more!  So without further ado, the Whumptober Mods proudly present (in no particular order) the Whumptober2020 Master Completionist List.

(Format: Tumblr Username (AO3 Handle))

Congrats to everyone who participated! This year was phenomenal and we can’t wait for 2021!

@maybetheremaybenot​ (MaybeThereMaybeNot)

@doctordiscord123​

@h2-oh-fic​ (cliniclyInsane189)

@thetragicallynerdy​​ (tragicallynerdy)

@bluejayblueskies​​ (bluejayblueskies)

@sassydefendorflower​​ (AuroraKant)

@whumpfigure​

@whumpateer​

@cynic-cognitive-dissonance​ (cognitiveDissonance)

@ilikedolphinss​ (ilikedolphins)

@psychoseal​ (liesorlife)

@sableflynn​ (sableflynn)

@its-all-related​ (Safealpaca)

@evilwriter37​ (evilwriter37)

@stairre​ (Stairre)

@faofinn​

@just-another-whumper​

@appalachianapologies​ (AppalachianApologies)

@braddersbangerz​ (dabberdees)

@memoriesofthealhambra​ (MemoriesoftheAlhambra)

@kinsbournescream​ (Analinea)

@valdyers​ (RobinsonsWereHere)

@splat-dragon​ (splat_dragon)

@mythyk-art​

@liliability​

@thedumbestavenger​ (TheDumbestAvenger)

@fogsrollingin​ (fogsrollingin)

@pebr-writes​ (Pebr)

@sweetwhumpandhellacomf​

@heres-my-damn-whump-blog​

@galewritesfanfiction​ (Huntress8611)

@endless-whump​

@rejectedmarvel (Rejectedmarvel)

@whump-side​

@omgiamwish​

@kirrithian​ (Kirrithian)

@theskylarkin​ (TheSkyLarkin)

@ohmywhumperflies​

@sammy-2306​ (Sammy2306)

@whump-tr0pes​ (whump_tr0pes)

@mrmustachious​ (TheWeatherOutside)

@echele-78​ (Echele78)

@into-the-ironverse​ (thunderstruck)

@embyrinitalics​

@viva-la-whump​ (Arlothia)

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[lady-wallace]

Whumptober Day 3: Solitary Confinement

My @whumptober post today is part of a collab with @aini-nufire ! I did a couple illustrations for her Shadow and Bone fanfic today. Go check it out (and her others) if you enjoy Nikolai whump ^_^

READ THE FIC HERE

[29-pieces]

Art throwback, part 8 of 10: Hael and butterflies. Traditional art, stippled micron pen (that’s aaaaaaall tiny dots, baby!) 

I love that in @aini-nufire‘s Supernatural AU series, Hael was actually one of the GOOD GUYS, and in fact a really sweet character. In the AU canon, she’s one of the healer angels, evident by her gentle butterflies rather than one of the fighting spirit animals. Read it here on AO3!

Episode 8: Profound Bond.  An attempt to kill the Devil has deadly consequences for the Winchesters and Castiel.

Part 1: Cas and panther Part 2: Gabriel and eagle Part 3: Lilith and hydra Part 4: Uriel and leopard Part 5: Lucifer and dragon Part 6: Balthazar and fox  Part 7: Muriel and osprey

[gremlinbehaviour]

His Own Shoulder

@aini-nufire I finally finished it 🙈

Lancelot wakes up in a sorcerer's hovel with something inside him. He has to get it out before it can hurt anyone.

TW for self harm and mentions of suicide. Neither of them are in the typical way that you'd think of though. Lancelot does have self worth issues, but he also has a reason beyond that for needing to hurt himself. It's more of a self sacrifice thing than actually wanting to hurt himself or die. It'll make sense if you read the fic, but please take care of yourself and skip this one if you think it might upset/trigger/squick you

There's also mentions of vomit and quite a lot of discussion of someone having a parasite inside them

Read on ao3 or below the cut!

Something squirmed in Lancelot's stomach. He wanted to throw up. He knew there was something bad inside him even though he couldn't remember what it was. Yet he couldn't make himself do it with the way he hung from a roof beam. His wrists ached from the ropes cutting into them and the sensation of swinging back and forth from his arms wasn't helping his nausea. Although his feet touched the ground, he couldn't seem to stand upright. He didn't know when the sorcerer had left, but he was alone in the hovel now, except for the jar of pickled newts that glared at him from a shelf.

He was glad to be alone though; it meant none of the others had been captured, at least. Although...before he'd left, the sorcerer had said something about it not being a problem, that he only needed one… Lancelot could almost remember him monologuing about his evil plan, but couldn't recall any of the actual details. Merlin could figure it out, if he were here.

But Merlin… Lancelot squinted against the painful memory of his friend being thrown into the river as their patrol was ambushed. The assault had been targeted and well-planned; the sorcerer brought down the bridge they had been crossing with a powerful earthquake, effectively blocking off the escape route, taking out the rival magic user, and separating Lancelot from the other knights all at the same time, while mercenaries attacked his friends. He'd been horribly helpless, unable to do anything but watch as his friends fought for their lives and feeling again like a child watching as his village was massacred. Merlin's scream echoed in his ears as his head was pulled under the water. The warlock couldn't swim! Lancelot started to strip off his chainmail to jump in after him, before everything went black. He must've been knocked out somehow.

Panic surged in his chest at the thought that Merlin might be dead. He quickly shoved down the thought and forced himself to take a deep breath. Or at least,  as deep of a breath as he could with the way he was strung up. The tightness in his chest didn't let up, but his heartbeat calmed a little as he forced himself to believe that Merlin's magic wouldn't let him die. Even so, he mumbled a prayer to the Vilia, begging the spirits of the water to look after his friend once more.

When Percival busted down the door to the hovel, his heart clenched to not see Merlin leading the rescue party. The other knights were all there, but Arthur and Merlin were nowhere to be seen. Had something happened to the king as well? Lancelot wanted to ask, but he couldn't breathe well enough to get the words out until Elyan came and lifted him up slightly from the waist while Leon cut the ropes holding him up. His knees buckled when he hit the ground, but Percival was there to catch him and keep him on his feet.

"It's clear," Gwaine announced after he'd searched the hovel. "Though that's not a promise that the sorcerer won't come back."

"We should leave as soon as possible," Leon agreed. "Lancelot, can you walk?"

"I can carry you if not," Percival offered, in that gentle giant way of his.

"Where's Merlin?" He asked instead of answering. "He was, I saw him go in the water, he can't swim-"

"Merlin is fine, Lance," Elyan reassured him, squeezing his arm. "He did swallow a lot of water, but Arthur fished him out. They stayed behind near the fire they made to dry off."

Lancelot nodded as relief flooded his body. He let his friends help him to his feet and bundle him out of the cabin, with Gwaine grabbing his friend's chainmail, sword, and dagger from a shelf where they'd been stacked after they were stripped off of him. The relief that his friends were okay made Lancelot feel almost dizzy, and he was glad that Elyan had ducked under his arm for support and Percival held onto his left shoulder.

"Lance, are you hurt? What did the sorcerer do to you?" Gwaine asked, noticing that the knight didn't seem to be recovering as quickly as he would have expected now that he was free. There was blood caked on his forehead from a cut over his eyebrow, but that might not be his only injury.

"I don't know… I think… I think he made me swallow something."

"Some kind of potion?" Elyan asked, sounding nervous. His shoulders were tense under Lancelot's arm.

"No, I don't think so," he mumbled, struggling to remember. Something about whatever it was he had drunk was making him forgetful, or maybe that was just the head injury. "I think it was…" He stumbled as he remembered and his feet stopped working because he was so horrified. "It was a snake."

"A snake?" Leon shouted as everyone drew to a halt. Percival instantly squeezed Lancelot's arm protectively, his grip almost too tight.

"Did the sorcerer give it a name?" Gwaine asked. The normal cheerful knight's voice was grave and his skin had gone gray with apparent fear.

"I don't… it might have started with an f noise. F-fo-"

"Fomorrah?" Gwaine suggested. He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath, obviously trying to keep himself together through his fear, when Lancelot nodded.

"Do you know what it was?" Leon demanded. Gwaine sighed.

"Merlin knows more about it than I do, but he told me a little about it." Lancelot knew that during the time that he had been…  gone, the warlock had confessed his magic to the other knight and told him about the magical threats they had or might face. They must've encountered this animal during that time. "The fomorrah is a creature that can control the mind of its victim and bend it to a sorcerer's will." 

At the thought of that, Lancelot shuddered so hard that Percival couldn't help but pull him into a hug. He was still recovering from Morgana's influence when she brought him back as a shade. Being controlled again would break him, especially if it was the sorcerer's will to hurt the people he cared about.

"How do you stop it?" Leon asked. "If Lancelot threw it up, would that do it?"

Gwaine just shrugged in response. "It probably can't hurt to try, but like I said, I'm not an expert."

"I'll try anything to get rid of it," Lancelot immediately agreed, his voice muffled by Percival's chest before he pushed himself back from the embrace with shaking arms. "I can't… I can't-"

"We know," Elyan said, rubbing his back comfortingly. He kept up the calming circles as Lancelot made himself vomit. Already nauseous at the concept of having swallowed a snake, it wasn't hard to do. But nothing slithered back up his throat, and all he brought up was the remains of breakfast and some blood. 

"That's not good," Percival remarked. It was such an obvious statement that no one bothered to reply.

"What if…" Elyan started, then trailed off to nervously lick his lips, which were suddenly very dry. "What if it bit him from the inside? It might've latched onto the side of his stomach, and is trying to control him through the venom, or maybe it is, um, trying to burrow through him to reach his head or heart or something."

"Maybe," Gwaine agreed. He said something else too, but Lancelot didn't hear it; he was too focused on trying to feel the snake inside his body. His stomach had been churning earlier, and then his chest had hurt. If there really was something inside him though, he would have thought he would be able to feel it more. Although, he had been very disoriented from the head injury. He thought he might have felt something now, high in the right side of his chest, just opposite his heart. A little squirm, a little thrum of pain.

"Lancelot!" Someone said more forcefully, and he blinked as he was yanked back to awareness. His friends all looked worried as they stared at him.

"Are you still with us, buddy?" Percival asked, and he nodded. "Okay. Good. We're gonna get you back to Merlin, and he can help."

Something in Lancelot's chest squirmed at that idea, and he didn't think it was just the snake. What if he didn't have that long? The fomorrah was clearly moving inside him; was it just slithering with no purpose, or did it have a goal in mind of something it was trying to reach? His heart, maybe? His head? When Gwaine had named the creature, it had somehow felt familiar. He cursed his mind's sluggishness as he followed after Leon as he led them towards where Merlin and Arthur had made camp. How far away was it? He had no way of knowing. What if the snake could only control him once it latched onto a certain part of his body? He had to stop it before then; he couldn't let it take over. There was no telling what the sorcerer wanted from him. Would it make him hurt his friends? He couldn't allow that to happen, would do anything he could to stop it.

His hand closed around the hilt of his knife where it hung on his weapon's belt. One of his friends must've buckled it on him, perhaps figuring that he wouldn't want to be defenseless should the sorcerer return or they encounter more of the mercenaries. It was a kind gesture, since they all knew how much he struggled with being vulnerable, but he wished they hadn't. If the snake took over, that would just make it that much easier for him to hurt them.

Maybe he was meant to be an assassin, maybe that's what the sorcerer meant about bringing down Camelot with just him. Maybe he was meant to kill Arthur, or, even worse, Gwen.

The snake squirmed in his shoulder. It was making its way upwards, to his neck, Lancelot realized. He suddenly remembered why the word fomorrah was familiar. When he had returned from being in the Veil and then being Morgana's Shade, he and Merlin had spent as much time as possible together. At one point, just to feel close to him, Lancelot given his friend a neck massage to help with all the muscle knots and tension that came with the stress he endured.

"What's this scar from?" He remembered asking, referring to the raised patch of skin at the base of his neck. There was a small neat X of white scar tissue covering it, as if someone had cut him very carefully.

"It was called a fomorrah," Merlin had replied, shifting uncomfortably under his hands. "I don't want to talk about it."

Lancelot had of course respected his wishes, but now he wished he hadn't. He needed to know how Merlin had defeated the creature. It looked as if it had been cut out, so maybe that's all that had to be done. The fomorrah slithered inside his flesh just under his arm, and he felt a sharp sting as it moved upwards, into his shoulder proper. He glanced at his friends who walked ahead and behind him. No one was looking too closely, so he lifted his dagger out of its scabbard.

Lancelot raised the knife to his own shoulder, despite the spasm in his arm that caused his hand to shake. He could feel the Fomorrah under his skin clearly now, the pain and sick feeling as it twisted and slithered. He was now certain that it was trying to reach his neck, his spine, where it would latch on and control him. It was too close, it was too close already, he had to stop it now. Any farther and it would be fatal, he couldn't get it out safely once it was in his neck. Merlin might be able to, but he couldn't go near his friend, nor Arthur, not when they were weakened and vulnerable from almost drowning in the river. It was too dangerous, he couldn't risk hurting them. He had to kill either the fomorrah or himself or both before he reached them; that was the only way they would be safe. So before anyone could stop him, he drove the knife into his shoulder all the way to the hilt.

He felt the pain of it, but only distantly, his focus only on the feeling of the snake writhing under his skin. He'd failed, gods, he missed, it was still alive. But the movement must actually just have been a dying thrash, because then it stopped. Lancelot let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding, and the reality of the situation, that he had just stabbed himself, hit him. Along with the shouts of the other knights.

"Lancelot, what the fuck?!" Gwaine demanded at the same time as Percival grabbed his arms from behind to steady him and Elyan snatched ahold of his hands and wrenched them away from the knife, which was left embedded in his shoulder. "We were taking you to Merlin, what the hell did you have to go and stab yourself for?!"

"I had I had I had to stop it," Lancelot tried to explain, panting through the pain that was beginning to take him over. "I could feel it, it was moving in me, I had to kill it before it could-"

"You could have killed yourself!" Leon hissed angrily.

"Backup plan," Lancelot mumbled. "That was the backup plan."

Percival squeezed his shoulders and he realized he shouldn't have said that. Elyan looked stricken and Lancelot's throat felt tight. He really shouldn't have said that.

"Don't touch the knife, and get him sitting down," Gwaine instructed, the expression on his face hardening. "We shouldn't move him now, it's too great of a risk of him hurting himself more. I'll go get Merlin and bring him here."

Lancelot didn't know whether Gwaine was just worried about the knife in his shoulder shifting and cutting him more if he moved, or if the knight thought that he was going to try to stab himself again. He let Percival and Elyan guide him to kneel down at a relatively clean patch of ground, as he was already feeling a bit faint and admitted to himself that it would be better to be sitting down when he passed out. His head felt clearer though, less choked with panic. Leon stood guard beside them, hand on his sword, as if the danger was going to come from the outside instead of blood loss and muscle damage and infection. Elyan knelt in front of him and held onto Lancelot's hands. He tried to return the tight grip on them, but his right arm felt weak already.

"Why did you do that, Lancelot?" Elyan asked, voice gentle and sad instead of angry. Leon, however, looked to be fuming and his grip on his sword was white-knuckled. Percival sat behind him, so he wasn't able to see how the large knight felt.

"It's better that I hurt myself instead of one of you," Lancelot murmured. "I never want to hurt any of you."

"Did it not occur to you that you being hurt and risking yourself hurts us?" Leon asked testily.

"We already lost you once. Please don't make us do it again," Percival added more softly. His broad hand was splayed over Lancelot's back to help keep him upright, and every place where one of his finger tips flexed against his muscle served as a grounding place for the injured knight.

"You should have waited for Merlin," Leon said.

"Did you at least kill the snake?" Elyan asked, and Lancelot nodded. It was a relief to have something he could answer, as he felt like he was being peppered with accusations and concern from all sides. It wasn't easy to hear or handle, and it didn't get any better when Merlin and Arthur arrived. They were both half-dressed in damp clothes, but they didn't appear to be hurt or shivering. Lancelot sighed in relief, but broke off with a gasp as it sent a bolt of pain through his shoulder.

Merlin instantly dropped down beside Elyan, reaching for the knife in his shoulder. "And the snake is in here?" He asked. Evidently Gwaine had already briefed him about the situation.

"I killed it," Lancelot agreed. His chest hurt from more than just the knife in his shoulder, and when he coughed, he tasted blood in his mouth.

"Killing just one part of the snake doesn't help, it'll just grow back. We need to find the mother monster," Merlin said. "Arthur, you, Leon, Percival, and Elyan need to go find the hovel and kill anything you find with multiple heads. If it's not in there, the sorcerer might've fled with it. Gwaine will stay here and help me."

"Since when do you give the orders?" The king grumbled.

"Since your knight and friend's life is at stake and I'm the only one who actually knows what to do about it!" Merlin snapped back.

"I wasn't going to not do it!" Arthur said, his voice a sharp retort but his eyes softening when he looked down at Lancelot. A lot of things could be said about his arrogance and priorities, but no one could deny that he cared deeply for his soldiers. "Leon, lead the way back to where you found Lancelot."

The group of knights left, though Percival and Elyan kept glancing back over their shoulders as they walked away, and once they were out of earshot Merlin got down to business.

"Okay, Gwaine, sit behind him. Lancelot, I'm going to have you lay back so that your head and shoulders are in his lap," he instructed, already guiding them into position. Pain spiked though Lancelot's whole torso, and when he coughed, he watched as Merlin's eyes went wide in fear. The warlock wiped a cloth over his friend's lips, which felt wet now, and it came away red with blood. "Oh, of course there's internal bleeding, shit, I should have thought of that earlier," Merlin barked. He always did tend to get snappy when he was stressed.

"Can you heal that?" Gwaine asked. His hands clenched anxiously but gently in Lancelot's hair and around his shoulder.

"I have a spell that can heal him enough that he should survive, but first I have to get this knife out, and the fomorrah, or else all my energy will go into sealing that wound instead and it'll just make it worse," Merlin explained. Lancelot wondered how much practice the warlock had gotten with healing spells while he was gone, since he used to be awful at them. He didn't have enough breath to say that he was proud. "Lancelot? Can you breathe?"

"It- hurts- but- yes," he panted, forcing himself to respond because of the urgency in his friend's eyes.

"Okay. Good. Just keep breathing for me then, okay? This is gonna hurt, a lot, probably, but Gwaine will hold you still so you just have to focus on staying breathing."

"Okay," he huffed out. "I can- do that."

Merlin really hadn't been kidding when he said it would hurt. Taking the knife out wasn't so bad, as it was eased slowly from his shoulder with care not to cut him any further, and the worst part of it was just the shifting feeling that made Lancelot worry that the Fomorrah had come back to life. Blood welled from the wound, and Gwaine pressed a clean cloth down against it. Lancelot bit his lip to keep from crying out and focused on trying to breathe steadily through his nose. His vision was starting to grow gray around the edges, but he didn't know if that was because of the injuries themselves or lack of air as he struggled to breathe enough around the pain.

Whatever it was got so much worse as Merlin, who had no tweezers or other medical equipment with him, reached his long fingers into the wound to grab at the snake. Gwaine had to use all his strength to hold Lancelot's shoulders down as he thrashed against the intrusion.

"Lance, please, calm down, you're making it worse," the knight begged. The desperate plea just barely made it through to his friend, but a second later he felt the touch of Merlin's magic in his head. There was no spell associated with it, not even the sleeping spell Swefe Nu, just calming energy and the reassurance that there were things in this world far beyond Lancelot's understanding, and that one of them was his friend. He marshalled his willpower and held still for just long enough. Merlin's fingernails caught on the fomorrah's body instead of slipping off with the movement and slipperiness of scales, and he ripped the snake out.

More of that soothing energy instantly flooded through him, an internal healing light as bright as his best friend's golden eyes as he knelt above him. The residual squirming feeling in his chest and stomach faded, and breathing grew easier. It was all he could concentrate on, that power inside him, and his consciousness chased it even as it slowly faded, leaving him in darkness.

He gradually returned to awareness with the feeling of fingers running through his hair and soft voices talking.

"How did you heal when you were controlled?" Gwaine's voice asked, rumbling right behind Lancelot's head. "Did Gaius do it, or can you heal yourself?"

"There weren't any internal injuries for me," Merlin replied. He was right beside them too, judging by the closeness of his voice. "The fomorrah was inserted right into the back of my neck, so it didn't have to burrow through my body like it did with his."

"So why did the sorcerer do it this way? I mean, if he was planning on using Lancelot as a puppet, wouldn't it be better for him not to have internal injuries? He'd survive longer that way." Gwaine sounded disgusted at having to think about it in that way, and the hand petting Lancelot's hair paused to rest for a moment on his forehead before resuming.

"I don't know. My best guess is that he got bad instructions, or read the spell book wrong. Maybe he translated Inject as Ingest. Whatever it was, we're damned lucky he did it that way, because otherwise it would have taken effect immediately and Lancelot wouldn't have been able to take action against it or even warn us. I know this seems bad, but it could have been so much worse." The sorrow and regret in his voice made Lancelot's chest hurt in an entirely different way as he thought about his friend blaming himself for being mind controlled.

"I wish he had just warned us, instead of stabbing himself," Gwaine said bitterly.

"I couldn't let it hurt you," Lancelot managed to mumble, finally prying his eyes open. His head and shoulders still laid in the other knight's lap, with Merlin crouched beside him. The warlock was pressing more fabric against his wound, but he must've been using his magic to numb the area, because the injured knight felt the pressure of it but no pain.

"We weren't exactly defenseless, Lance. We could have taken care of ourselves if it came to that, and with a lot less damage to you too," Gwaine retorted, but gently. "If you'd told us that you were too worried to wait until we got to Merlin, Percival could've knocked you out and carried you or we could have taken your weapons away and tied you up if you wanted."

"As much as you hate the idea of being controlled again, it's nothing compared to what it would be like for us, for me, to lose you again," Merlin added. His voice was choked with emotion and his golden eyes wouldn't meet Lancelot's gaze. The injured knight didn't know how to respond to that, as he knew his assertion that Merlin's life was worth more than his own wouldn't be taken well, so he just reached out to grab his friend's hand. Pain shot through his shoulder at the movement, though, and Gwaine gently pressed his arm back down before he made contact.

"Lay still, you're still hurt," he scolded.

"And it might not be over either, if they haven't killed the mother fomorrah," Merlin said. "If Arthur and the others don't return soon with news, I'll have to go and do it myself." He sounded so weary at the prospect that Lancelot found himself praying more for Merlin's sake than his own that they had already disposed of the beast. "In the meantime though, let's get you sitting up so I can bandage your shoulder properly."

Gwaine did most of the work in helping him upright, since Lancelot was still exhausted and in pain despite being mostly healed from his internal injuries, and let him lean against his chest to keep him that way as Merlin began to wrap bandages under his arm and around his body. 

Arthur and the other knights arrived as the physician was finishing up. Percival and Leon each held onto the arm of a bedraggled old man who had his hands tied together behind him. The sorcerer. He glared at Lancelot and Arthur, but behind his eyes Merlin saw sadness as well as anger.

"Is he alright?" Leon demanded first as he looked over at Lancelot, less angry than he had been before and more obviously worried. It was clear he wanted to get closer and see for himself that his friend was alive, but couldn't because of his duty to restrain the sorcerer.

"He will be as long as you killed the fomorrah," Merlin replied. That wasn't strictly true, since there was still the possibility of life threatening infection and fever to deal with, especially because of the nature of the wounds and the fact that he'd had a snake inside him, but the internal injuries had been mostly healed and they didn't need to know about those anyway.

"We did," Arthur confirmed. "Randall here led us right to it."

"Rendell," the sorcerer corrected.

"Oh, I'm sorry we didn't pronounce your name right after you tried to kill our friend," Elyan snapped.

"I didn't want to kill him," Rendell countered. "He would've been fine if he'd played along. The fomorrah would have released him after his task was completed."

"And that task was?" Merlin prompted. From the way Lancelot looked at the sorcerer intently, it was clear that he wanted to know what he had almost been made to do.

"He was supposed to kill the King and Queen! The Pendragon family is illegitimate; Uther was a conqueror, not the rightful heir, and the Purge only shows that he's an outsider that doesn't share our values! He and all his children are the ones who should be purged! The rightful rulers will rise up once Arthur and Morgana are both dead! They-"

He continued on this tirade against the crown until Percival shook him and told him to shut up. Lancelot went even paler than he previously had been at the admission that he would have been made to hurt Arthur and Gwen had he not escaped the fomorrah. Although he had suspected that he would have been used as an assassin, hearing it confirmed, and laced with so much vitriol at that, still shook him. Gwaine rubbed his uninjured shoulder gently at the same time as Elyan knelt down to hug him very carefully.

"Lancelot, are you able to travel back to Camelot?" Arthur asked, to which the injured knight nodded. He would need support, but he knew his friends wouldn't mind helping him, and he very much wanted to be home.

"Why don't you go ahead, and we'll follow after?" Gwaine suggested. That way Lancelot wouldn't have to be close to the sorcerer as he was transported back to Camelot for trial.

"Good idea," Arthur agreed. "Stay in earshot, and give us a shout if you need to slow down or stop."

"Yes sir," Lancelot mumbled. Merlin and Gwaine helped him carefully to his feet as Elyan hovered anxiously near them. The injured knight was steady enough that he just needed someone on one side of him once he was standing up, so Gwaine eventually let go. He and Elyan stayed close though, flanking the other two men at front and back. Surrounded by his friends, people that wanted him with them more than they cared for their own safety, Lancelot was struck by the sudden realization that he'd found a cause that wasn't just worth dying over, but one worth living for. He didn't want to abandon that cause, his family, not if he had a choice in the matter, and they damn well weren't going to let him leave if they could help it either. With a silent prayer that nothing would try to take him away from them for a while, Lancelot let his friends lead him back home.

[playing-with-inks]

Song in Your Presence

Gift fic for @gemennair-rb! Hope you enjoy! Thank you for recommending the Silmarillion to me this past year. It has certainly become one of my all time favorites. Also, thank you @aini-nufire for beta reading!

Song in Your Presence

“Look, Maitimo! Found another good one!”

Fingon had been fond of nautilus seashells since he was a child. He loved them all, and cherished even the broken ones he discovered. While silently listening to his younger cousin's enthusiasm over collecting them, Maedhros often participated in helping Fingon find his new treasures. After their steps left happy footprints upon the soft white sands one morning, Fingon even brought the shells with them on their trip to the Two Trees.

It was a rare time when countless blue butterflies came for a visit to soak their wings under the lights of the Two Trees before their next collective migration. The air had become an ether sea during this hour, as a chorus of blue wings rejoiced in their light kissed flight.

Deeply stirred by the sublime beauty of the moment, Fingon took out his harp and composed a new song for the Two Trees and the visiting winged creatures playing among the mingling lights. Like a single chord drawn out of two separate strings, Fingon wove two themes of Time into his music. His new song enveloped the independent rhythms of the ephemeral butterflies and the ageless light of the Two Trees inside one poet’s dream—commanding them to become interdependent with one another amidst his song. And free as the infinitely many waves harmonizing within one ocean, all the lights and the butterflies moved and sang with him like a contrapuntal polyphony within one unifying musical dimension.

(Continue reading in the link below!)

Song in Your Presence

[enigma-the-mysterious]

For your end-of-year writing meme: 1, 14, 25

1. Favorite fic you wrote this year

I answered this here

14. A fic you didn’t expect to write

The Porthos whump-fest that is my prompt fill for the Day 7 Whumptober theme Support/Carrying. I had planned on writing something else for this day but oh well.

25. A fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

Oh, there are many, many such fics, how am I expected to choose only one?

There's @happydaygirlfanfiction 's amazing Musketeers/Old Guard crossover Forever is our Today

@talvenhenki 's bittersweet Man on the Bridge/Shielding a Candle in The Winds of Change

@dropdeadjack 's hilarious laugh-fest Just for Once in Your Life, Aramis, Don't Smash

@smhalltheurlsaretaken 's Cris Rios angst/whump-fest Comme Un Fils

@aini-nufire ‘s entire Musketeer Dragon Rider Series

And many, many more that my little brain cannot remember right now!