#cursed solidaritek au

[scribbling-dragon]

I dunno, if you're still accepting prompts/ideas...

But... maybe little tango/jimmy beauty and thebeast? Mr. Canary going to his demon coalminer while his village is actively hunting demons because of past conflicts-

this was actually so so much fun to write, so i hope you enjoy it!

the canary and his flame

summary:

“And I keep telling you, Lizzie, there’s nothing to worry about, really.” He smiles at his friend, ignoring the frown she gives him, crossing her arms. “I mean it.”

“Uh-huh, and the stories about the monster in the woods aren't true? You and I both know that it killed-” she cuts herself off with a sigh. “I get that you like going out there, that you two did that a lot, but you don't have to keep doing that. All you're doing is putting yourself in danger, that’s no benefit to anyone.”

(ao3 link)

(3,123 words)

He pats his bag once more, resting firmly against his hip, checking that all of the contents within are safely secured. The latch of the bag holds firm, buckle glinting in the light as he steps through his front doorway, out into the midday sun. He squints a little as he emerges, shielding his eyes to peer up at the sky, checking the weather.

The skies are clear and blue, not a single cloud in sight, only a few wisps of white interrupting the great blue expanse currently hanging above them. He eyes it once more, just to be sure, aware of how quickly the weather can turn when he becomes involved in, well…anything.

“Jimmy!” He turns as someone calls his name, hand dropping to the bag at his side, holding it closer. He releases his grip on it a moment later, but the two sudden movements draw attention to the bag slung over his shoulders, and the newcomer narrows her eyes at it, before glancing back up at him. “Jim, c’mon, we've spoken about this before.”

“And I keep telling you, Lizzie, there’s nothing to worry about, really.” He smiles at his friend, ignoring the frown she gives him, crossing her arms. “I mean it.”

“Uh-huh, and the stories about the monster in the woods aren't true? You and I both know that it killed-” she cuts herself off with a sigh. “I get that you like going out there, that you two did that a lot, but you don't have to keep doing that. All you're doing is putting yourself in danger, that’s no benefit to anyone.”

Lizzie’s eyebrows press together, crinkling her brow. All it does is make her look decades older than she actually is, shoulders sagging with a weight she cannot bring herself to name. He’s almost tempted to tell her the truth behind his visits, to promise her that there is truly no harm that can come to him.

“You say that as though I'm not constantly in danger,” he scoffs. “I'm more likely to die to a falling tree branch than any monster in the woods.” His wings flutter behind him, as though to emphasise his words a little further. Lizzie frowns a little deeper at the reminder, eyes flicking to the bright yellow feathers, as though she’d forgotten they existed. “See,” he reaches out a hand to nudge at her shoulder, “I can already see the gears turning in your head, whatever you're thinking, knock it off.”

Lizzie cracks a grin at that, ducking her head and looking away. He notices the small bucket resting in the crook of her arm just then, watches as some water sloshes around inside of it, a quick flash of pink brushing past the surface, before disappearing again. He smiles a little, both at his obvious victory within their small argument (he wouldn't even call it an argument really, but it’s not a discussion either- he’s not sure what it would be, really) and also at the fact that Lizzie is still taking her axolotls on walks. Despite the fact that they, themselves, do not do any of the walking.

One of them, another pink one, pokes its head over the side of the bucket, peering at him, before twisting to look up at Lizzie, staring at her until she notices it too. “Oh,” the bucket jostles as she moves, and the axolotl slips out of sight once more, a small splash of water spilling over the side of the bucket and darkening the ground between them. “I'm so sorry, I forgot you were even there.” She glances back up at him, eyes narrowing once more in a threat that is more light-hearted than anything. “I better see you tomorrow morning as well, mister. I swear to the gods, if I have to come looking for you, I’ll kill you.”

“Surely that would be counterproductive?” He asks, calling after her.

“Not the point!” She calls back.

He smiles at her retreating back, watching her go for a moment longer. Watching her means he’s able to see the moment when she leans in, towards the bucket, lips moving as she speaks to the axolotls within. He begins walking in the other direction a few moments later, bag swinging back and forth, bumping against his hip as he walks.

The streets are still rather empty, despite the late hour, but he supposes that many of the residents prefer to finish their business in the morning before retiring for the afternoon, retreating to their homes for lunch. He certainly doesn't mind the emptiness of the streets, as it means he comes across only one other person on his trip out of the gates, and they're rather quick to hurry on past him, clutching something to their chest as they all but run down the street.

Jimmy pays it little mind, stepping out beyond the wall and into the lush greenery surrounding their small village.

There’s just something incredibly relaxing about walking through the trees, even though the tree trunks slowly inch closer and closer together, the canopy above him growing so thick that only a little light filters through to where he walks, and even that light is tinted green and dim, leaving him squinting into the darkness and he walks down the well-trodden path.

It’s not actually all that well-trodden, in actuality. In fact, the only indicator that he walks this path regularly is the occasional scraped off bark on a few of the trees along the path. It had been the best way he had thought of that wouldn't reveal the path to someone looking for it.

The birds continue to sing as Jimmy walks, high and chirping. It’s occasionally accompanied by the sound of beating wings, and one sparrow even shoots past his face, swerving around a tree trunk before it shoots back above the canopy again, disappearing from sight. There’s the slight rustling of small creatures skittering along tree branches and rummaging around in the foliage collecting around his feet, too.

He gives a squirrel a wider than necessary berth as he walks past it, wary of disturbing it and causing it to forget where it buried its acorns. It hardly even notices him, ear twitching only once before it resumes its scraping amongst the leaves, pushing an acorn into one of the small holes it makes. He almost trips over a tree root from staring at the squirrel for too long, stumbling and struggling to regain his balance as his foot throbs from the sudden impact.

The tree above him shudders as well, and he ducks backwards, out of the way of any stray falling branches that might choose to crash down on his head. Just on time, a branch, one which had previously been securely attached to the trunk of the tree, wiggles loose and crashes down to the ground.

It stirs up the browning leaves as it lands, sending them fluttering about before they settle again. He steps over it carefully, murmuring an apology to the numerous woodland critters he sent scattering with the loud crash of the branch to the forest floor.

His walk is altogether uneventful after that, only a few branches creaking above him in a breeze, as though warning him of how easily they could come crashing down on him if they so wished. None of them make the sound of a branch that is actually going to break, though, just a gentle creaking rather than the sound of splitting wood and bark that comes moments before it actually falls.

Something cracks, and he hops back, staring up at the canopy above, waiting from a branch to come plummeting from the darkness lurking there, shooting towards the ground, landing perfectly where he was just standing, mere moments before.

He waits, the sound of his own breathing heavy in his ears, head craned back to stare up at the darkness swathing the upper branches of the trees. No branch falls. There’s not even another creaking sound, nothing to indicate that the falling branch is caught amongst several other branches, twisted into a tangled snarl of leaves and wood, waiting to fall on him the next time he passes beneath it.

Something else cracks, to his left this time. He whirls to face in that direction, wings flaring out behind him. It’s an instinctual act, something done to make him appear bigger than he truly is. The undergrown wings that are for little more than show do very little to make him appear larger and more intimidating, but he can't help the reaction.

There’s a slow, sliding sound in the direction he’s looking. It sounds like something heavy being dragged over the ground, rustling amongst the leaves, only slightly disturbing them. Moving slowly, then. He watches, the sound of his breaths even louder in his ears, the blood in his ears thrums in time with his heart. He can feel it pumping in his chest, can feel the blood rushing through his veins as he attempts to see between the tightly clustered trees.

There’s another sound behind him, but he’s too slow this time. He’s halfway to turning around when something heavy presses into his shoulders, sending him crashing to the floor, scrambling to grab onto his bag and protect the contents of it. He hits the ground with a thud and a small oof, feeling the air rush out of him in one large exhale.

A growl rumbles through the air around him, and he relaxes, if just slightly, into the ground beneath his back. His wings are still awkwardly twisted beneath him, feathers caught and no doubt collecting all sorts of debris.

A grinning face looms over him, lips pulled back to show off teeth that are easily as large as his fingers. He doesn't hesitate to shove said grinning face away from his own, smacking at one of the hands holding him down until it releases him, allowing him to sit up.

“You need to stop doing that,” he chastises, opening the bag and peering inside, making sure none of the items within have been squished too much. He frowns, spotting a mushed up banana that’s going to make his bag stink for weeks. “Seriously.” He frowns a little more when his assailant doesn't stop laughing, a low, rasping sound.

“Aw, don't be so sour, love.” A furred hand pulls his own hand away from where it clutches at the bag still, claws carefully kept away from the skin. “You know I can't help it.”

“Yes, you can.” Jimmy says. “There’s no reason for you to do this every time, as much as it must be fun for you to watch me try and find you. It just leaves me in a mess, look at what you've done to my wings!”

“I’ll help you clean them up later,” those furred hands, far larger than his own, pull him to his feet easily. “Besides, surely you've missed me?”

He huffs a sigh, turning his head away to hide his smile. “You know I always miss you, Tango. It’s hard not to, the village is so boring without you there. No one even speaks to me anymore,” he frowns. “Only Lizzie and Joel speak to me, and Grian only pops into check on us every few months- and he brings his annoying boyfriend with him every time. Seriously, if I never saw the Scar again, it would be too soon.”

“I like Scar.”

“Of course you do.” He can feel a tail curling around his back as he walks, the pressure and weight of it just barely there. He doubts Tango even realises he’s doing it, though he’s not about to begin pointing it out, in the fear that Tango might stop doing it. He can see the tip of it flicking back and forth, the flaming fur at the edge dancing as they make their way down the last stretch of the path together. “You only like him because he comes to visit you.”

“I like seeing your brother as well,” Tango frowns, eyes flicking over to see him. “And seeing you is the highlight of my weeks, nothing could be better than that. But Scar brings fun things.”

“And the things I bring you aren't fun? This bag isn't light, you know.”

“You bring the essential things,” the small clearing they've  entered is quickly cut off by a rock face, the sheer wall stretching far above both of their heads. “Those are useful, certainly, and seeing you is always a delight. But Scar brought me these wonderful quills last time he visited, the ink has glitter in it, isn't that amazing?”

“The ink is quite nice.” He agrees. His feet carry him on this path easily now, years of practice making him familiar with the route they take. He ducks beneath Tango’s arm as he pushes the curtain of moss backwards, revealing the cave entrance behind it. “It looks like he’s somehow managed to catch the stars and shove them into the ink.”

“I know right!”

Jimmy cannot help it, even after the years of visiting Tango here, years of stepping foot into this very cave, of following Tango down the short path, he still can't help it; he hesitates. The yawning cave mouth in front of him makes something deep and primal within him recoil at the very thought of willingly stepping foot into it. The thought of stepping into that darkness and not emerging from it claws at the edges of his mind, threatening to overwhelm him entirely.

Tango waits just beyond the threshold. He doesn't do anything, simply standing there and waiting. Sometimes, he doesn't even have to pause for a minute, simply stepping into the cave in time with Tango’s step, following Tango through the darkness, watching the flame on his tail dance back and forth, not stuttering for lack of oxygen. On other days, he might stand here for upwards of an hour, unable to overcome the fear that grips him as he stares into the cave’s maw.

Today, it takes him just short of ten minutes to make that first step into the cave, a rock shifting beneath his foot and threatening to trip him and make him roll his ankle not even a step into the darkness. Tango grabs his arm as he begins to slip, pulling him back upright and preventing the waiting disaster.

He breathes out slowly, taking a moment to regain his balance, before taking another step forward. He easily falls into the rhythm after that, ignoring the lingering anxiety that threatens to seize his lungs again. Instead, he focuses on the warm presence of Tango at his side, listening as he tells Jimmy of the story he’s been trying to write recently.

He doesn't direct Jimmy over to his desk, like he sometimes does, asking for a second pair of eyes on his work. Instead, he nudges them both over to the pile of blankets and pillows tucked away in the corner, functioning as both a seating area and Tango’s bed. He follows along with Tango willingly, wings already beginning to itch from the twigs wedged beneath his feathers, and the feathers that have been twisted out of place from their small tumble in the forest.

“Tell me,” Tango says, breaking the silence as Jimmy pulls his boots off. “How’s Lizzie? You said she’s still talking to you.”

“She’s doing fine,” he tosses the second boot aside, taloned feet clicking against the floor as he shuffles over to Tango, flopping down into the blankets beside him. “Saw her walking her axolotls this morning, told me not to go into the woods, etcetera, etcetera, you know the rest.”

Tango hums, a clawed hand running over his wing, pausing to fix a misaligned feather, correcting its position. “She still think I'm dead?”

“Yeah,” he laughs, though it’s muffled slightly as he presses his face into the pillow he’s resting on. “She still can't bring herself to say your name…but. I don't know. I can't really tell her, can I? That’s for you to do, and she won't exactly see you unless she stumbles across you and Joel having your moonlit meetings.”

“Joel doesn't exactly remember those meetings either.” Tango reminds him, teasing a small twig from his wing, pulling it free carefully. The simple action is enough to make him sink into the pillows a little more, going boneless beneath Tango’s hands as he continues cleaning his wings. “Though he’s certainly fun to run around with.”

“I doubt Lizzie would be pleased to know that all of her friends are supernatural beings and none of them have told her.”

“She’s seen your wings.”

“And she thinks I was cursed,” he sighs, “not…whatever this is. I don't know. Can't tell her, because she’d probably kill me, and then she’d be sad, because I'm dead.” He frowns. “Anyway, she has Scar. Her and Scar are buddies.”

“Scar’s not human.”

“Huh?” He twists to look at Tango, wrenching his wings out of reach as he turns to look at him. Tango blinks back at him, red eyes almost comically wide, ears perked forward.

“You…didn’t know? Isn't your whole, like, shtick being able to sense all of that around us?” Tango wiggles his fingers as though that at all helps to demonstrate his whole shtick (it does, rather effectively too, but Jimmy isn't about to tell him that). “That guy is super not human, the charisma he lays on is imbued with far too much power for that, at least.”

“Him and Grian are rarely apart, how am I meant to tell whether there’s some other, mysterious source of power if Grian’s there?”

“I’ll give you that one,” Tango concedes, pushing at his shoulder until he lies back down again. “Grian’s freakishly powerful, everyone should just be grateful he hasn't gone on a murder rampage yet.”

“I have just as much power as him.”

“I know, dear,” he can feel Tango nodding, even though he can't see him. “But you're too nice to go on a murder rampage.”

“You're lucky that I am,” he grumbles, listening as Tango’s following laugh reverberates through the room.

“Certainly.” Tango presses a kiss to the back of his head- while he’s unable to even reciprocate it, the cheat! “Now, did you want to hear about the story I'm drafting at the moment?”

“Always.”

“Alright, so, the main plot of it is a main character and their partner, both of them leaving their home to travel the world beyond their small city, seeing the sights and setting up several businesses at a time. I even began considering the thought of there being a corrupt monarchy in there at some point…”

[1watermelontea]

pinned post: will be prone to edits!

hi, you can call me melon—they/he/it (all fine)

i’m a hermitshipper & i write fanfics. i exclusively ship the characters, not the people. you can find my ao3 attached below:

more-in depth descriptions of my currently published fics under the break:

Chasing the Horizon Line

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds! a seablings fic with a dash of scarian. gem moves to aurecove, a seaside town, to be the new lighthouse keeper. turns out she may have bitten off more than she can chew with this place—between spreading rumours and missing persons, gem and grian become unlikely friends. merfolk and land dwellers are not meant to interact, evidently. hurt/comfort with themes of feeling lost and wanting to find where you belong. gem & grian -centric povs (swaps multiple times each chapter)

Crosscurrents

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds! oneshot side story and mostly prequel to chasing the horizon line that explores 4 times that aurecove citizens met mers, and 1 time that a mer met a land person. has main characters you don’t normally see—like joe and stress—and duos you scarcely see, too. humour, through and through, and we thoroughly bullied bdubs throughout the entire run of it. five different povs in total.

There Must Be A Catch

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds! oneshot attached to the cthl series following skizz’s pov. throughly crack. i cannot describe it in words.

Walking the Line

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds! the second mainline instalment of the cthl series. solidaritek with a notable dash of flower husbands. three years after moving to lunere, jimmy and tango are doing dandy, until jimmy’s past comes back to bite him. when jimmy goes dark, tango is left scrambling to figure out what’s happening. it only gets more complicated from there. angst & humour with some timeline jumps. jimmy & tango -centric povs (swaps multiple times each chapter)

Set On True North

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds and @crabbri! oneshot side story directly following the events of walking the line. gem and grian find a way to sort out their mer memory problems. humour with some beautiful prose in there. gem-centric pov.

A Week in the Life of “Detective” Scar

co-authored with @nine-of-diamonds! a scarian oneshot wherein grian is pearl’s assigned watcher, and scar is very interested in knowing what’s going on with these new faces! however, the fact that scar can see grian at all is incredibly weird, and now scar’s losing sleep trying to figure out why only he can see this cute guy. lots of convex in this one, too. deeply unserious but very fun. scar-centric pov with some sprinklings of jellie’s pov.

But There Was Nothing

oneshot following the aftermath of secret life. lizzie relives memories of other lives, but telling what is real and what stories she's just telling herself to stay sane is a challenge. all she has left is the void. mostly canon compliant lizzie-centric pov.

Frost Focus

rancher duo. can be read platonically or romantically. watcher!tango + canary!jimmy decked out 2 au oneshot wherein jimmy and tango are trapped within the walls of the deepfrost citadel, cursed to eternally watch as players scour the depths in an attempt to win and free their friends. at last, pearl's diligence might serve to open the door for them. tango-centric pov.

Reverie, Revelry

solidaritek. assassin au. tango’s employer would benefit greatly from the sole heir to the solidarity family fortune being removed from the equation, so this assassination is high profile, to say the least. the only issue for tango is that, well, he fell in love with him. now to figure out how to deal with that, on a time limit. fluff with a decent lot of implied sexual content. tango-centric pov. shorter fic compared to my others.

Here’s To The World Where You Do

scarian. a fantasy au wherein scar, grian, scott, and jimmy are caught as members of a resistance against the current monarch, ren. however, with assistance from some undercover rebels (or by other means), they manage to escape. action! betrayal! false identities! there is a lot of violence in this one. angst with a happy ending and lots of lighthearted moments between the horrors. scar & grian -centric povs (swaps each chapter)

MORE IN THE WORKS 🎊🎉

[pastelitey]

It's technically still the first day of the fandom appreciation week thing, right? Any future or headspace ideas you would like to share?

hii i'm so honored to be sent one of these, thank you so much! <3

i have. um. a lot of headspace ideas that i have yet to finish/polish, but i hope to put out there eventually! here's just 3 of the many fics i have in my drafts rn

1. Storyteller(a.k.a the Scarian immortal AU)

premise here is that Grian and Scar are immortals, via the Fountain Of Youth, but have spent their very long periods of existance tracking the other down and making their life miserable. this fic was heavily inspired by Amal El-Mohtar's This Is How You Lose The Time War, and i want to replicate the poetic and ethereal-esque feeling of that novella with this fic. unfortunately that will probably be my demise and lead me to never finishing the fic, but a girl can dream!

very heavily based off of 3rd life, a Renchanting & Desert Duo based AU where Grian and Martyn have to work together to cure the spell of madness that has befallen King Ren, and is affecting the entire kingdom through him. in this AU names hold power, Fae-style, so every character has a pseudonym(The Hand for Martyn, The Con Man for Scar, etc.) and Grian, mysteriously, knows everyone's true names. i have a lot planned for this AU involving complicated, layered mysteries, lots of plot twists, and two sequels! the main thing holding me back is i need to do my Renchanting research, so if anyone wants to volunteer to educate me on them i would very much appreciate it!

2. Glass Desert AU

3. Trading Curses

Team Rancher/Solidaritek based fantasy AU, in which Tango has a gambling problem and manages to rope Jimmy into accompanying him on a quest, lest Tango become indebted to some pretty dangerous people. this fic has been my most recent hyperfixation so i've been flushing out the story a lot, and i love what i've come up with so far. the plot twists in this one are no joke, and there's one big reveal i have planned that i have a feeling will be a big hit with readers. if, you know, i ever get around to writing it!

i've been eager to get my hands on a new project ever since finishing off pick me up, take me home so hopefully i can start working on one of these fics soon. but i just started at a new job and this semester of college has been kicking my ass so far, so it might be a little while before i come out with anything new.

thank you so much for sending this ask! i will absolutely take any chance i can to ramble about my fics, lol. if anyone wants to hear any more about any of these premises, please don't be afraid to ask! <3

[scribbling-dragon]

care to elaborate on what’s up with some of the characters in that beauty and the beast au? or would you rather not reveal and leave it for future works

i can certainly elaborate! i do have a few ideas for writing future fics, but i certainly don't mind expanding on the characters (especially because my writing is often..unpredictable dshkdshkjk)

jimmy, our main boy, our little harbinger of death. and he's pretty much the same here! he's a canary, a harbinger of death who has an unfortunate side gig of being incredibly unlucky. the whole harbinger of death shtick is also a lot harder than a lot of people make it out to be- what do you mean he's gotta choose them himself. (he has,, a lot of control over who lives and who dies. don't let his sunny smile fool you)

and tango! jimmy's friend since childhood, and local cryptid to the small village. he was genuinely cursed, but rather than it being some big evil that cursed him, the person that cursed tango,, was tango. him and jimmy found a book, failed to take jimmy's bad luck into account. and bam. big furry creature that everyone just assumes ATE tango, despite there being no evidence for such a thing. so he lives in the woods and jimmy brings him food on the regular.

grian,, jimmy's brother that left the village as soon as he could to see the great bi wide world. him and jimmy are a little different, though they certainly work together on a lot of projects. there's hardly a point to someone's life and death if there's no one around to remember it, right? grian isn't sure what his role is. he's certainly not a harbinger of death, despite how linked his role is to jimmy's. he's more of a collector, but of information rather than oddities (though he has plenty of knick-knacks he collects)

the seller of said knick-knacks is scar! your local friendly salesman that always has a grin for every customer and his cat is so incredibly cute too. his items are top quality! there's nothing else like them! until you get a few minutes from his stall, and it's suddenly a useless knick knack again, and you dont actually know why you bought it in the first place. but, by the time you've returned to the stall, he's nowhere to be found, not even a cat hair betraying the path of him and his odd companion that seemed to have far too many eyes-

(he's a sorcerer that accidentally sold his soul to some kind of demon because goddamit jellie is incredibly cute. yes. jellie is a demon cat that scar sold his soul to on accident. its fine, they have a working agreement)

and your local, slightly unhinged but overall okay-ish neighbour, joel! him and his wife lizzie live on the very outskirts of the town, far away from the general hustle and bustle of the other people, both for the sanity of lizzie's axolotls, and also so joel can slip over the wall every few weeks on a full moon, with no one the wiser. he's none the wiser either, because he doesn't actually remember the full moons. if asked, though, he'll recount them in a similar way to someone that got incredibly drunk and actually cannot remember what they did the evening prior.

and lizzie. who thinks all of her friends are really quite pleasant. sure, they all act a little weird at times, but who doesn't! she's not going to start judging them (especially not as someone who takes axolotls for a walk!)

[scribbling-dragon]

why can’t they tell their friends (just lizzie?) about tango’s curse?

originally, lizzie didn't get told because jimmy just assumed she was playing along with the lie. and the jimmy said something about tango to her one day, and she got all sad about him and angry about the horrible creature that killed him (tbf. if you also think one of your closest friends was killed by some creature, you wouldn't be all that happy either)

and at that point, with Jimmy realising that she doesn't actually know, several years after the event. he just. doesn't know how to bring it up. he's worried about how she might react about being lied to for so long etc etc.

[scribbling-dragon]

Did Tango and Jimmy get together before or after Tango got cursed? Is Jimmy's reaction to the curse more 'I still love you' or more 'hot damn eyes emoji'

moreso the hot damn route LMAO

they were on a date gone horrendously wrong <3

[scribbling-dragon]

so many things to do. yet i am afflicted by the worst possible disease: fic thoughts

[scribbling-dragon]

okay poll time :]

+ small descriptions of each one!

cursed solidaritek au: wrote a one-shot for it once! and always had a grian and scar visit continuation planned but never got around to writing it. (here's the one-shot link for your perusal)

5+1 red bandit fic: Jimmy gifts Tango a hat to look "more the part". this. was a bad choice on jimmys part (Tango looks too good in the hat, oh god, oh no, he has to do his JOB rn)