#derynxalek

[hanahclairart]

I just read past the “hold alek at knifepoint” scene in Leviathan and couldn’t get this image out of my head. It’s pretty tense but their banter is so unserious, lol. I’m looking forward to how these iconic moments are portrayed in the anime next year!

[boffinsandbeasties]

You still accepting prompts? I'd love a post-Goliath five (as long as you want) about Barlow giving deryn and Alek a mission for the society where they have to "pretend" to date and lilit happens to be involved and just finds the whole thing HILARIOUS

“I still don’t understand why we were sent on this mission,” Alek grumbled, stepping stiffly about the dance floor. “Why, Barlow and Volger could easily –”

“No, they couldn’t have, and you know it,” muttered Deryn, fumbling her footwork and nearly colliding with Alek as he guided her into a sudden turn. “Oi! Warn me next time, will you?”

Deryn could practically see Alek’s internal eyeroll at that. “I thought the wall we were dancing towards would’ve been warning enough.”

Deryn huffed. “Well excuse me for being distracted by your continued insolence, your highness.” She lowered her voice, shuffling closer to her partner in their next few steps. “You know why we have to take this one. Sneaky though the boffin is, I can’t imagine her making an escape on a body kite.” Alek sighed, conceding the point for about the hundredth time. “Besides, I can’t see why you’re complaining. You’re not the one who’s been forced into a bloody dress.”

“I honestly don’t understand your aversion to them. The one I wore wasn’t – oh, hang on.” Alek’s hand suddenly pressed more firmly into the small of Deryn’s back, and he steered them deftly around the dancing pair of dignitaries in their path.

“Nice one,” Deryn admitted, only a little miffed at being dragged in her prince’s wake.

Alek shook his head. “Not really. Volger was right – I am getting rusty.” His frown deepened.

“Ah, forget Volger. That count is entirely too critical. He’d scold a messenger lizard for speaking too slowly.”

Alek snorted. “He has.”

“Really?” Deryn stumbled, suppressing a laugh. Alek caught her weight and pushed her gently upright again. “Thanks,” she told him, squeezing his shoulder. “See, that was brilliant. You didn’t even break step. You’re dancing just fine with a bum-rag of a partner, so quit frowning.” Deryn placed a gentle hand on Alek’s cheek, and paused to watch the boy’s face freeze in surprise. Moments later, she dug a forceful thumb into the corner of his mouth, dragging it upwards until his expression became a grimacing grin. But soon enough, the other side of his mouth ticked upward to join the first. When Deryn withdrew her hand, a soft smile remained. “Much better,” she told him.

“You are ridiculous,” Alek noted. But he was still smiling, so Deryn counted it as a win.

“Guilty as charged,” she affirmed. “We should probably be sneaking off soon.”

“Mmhmm,” her partner hummed distantly, eyes fixed on something above her right shoulder. Deryn watched as his smile faded, a light blush emerging high on his cheekbones – and, Deryn observed with some amusement, the tips of his ears. Deryn wondered for a moment if it was because of her reassurance – but no, this was something else.

“What is it?” she asked him.

His eyes drifted reluctantly down to meet hers. “Hm?” Deryn raised an eyebrow.

“Um. It’s nothing,” Alek managed.

“Uh-huh. Sure. Nothing.” Deryn took control of their next few steps, spinning them around so that she could scan the area Alek had been staring at. A sea of diplomats and dignitaries, the opulent decorations of the Ottoman Sultan’s former ballroom…nothing out of place. Deryn let her eyes trace upwards over an ornate column, and suddenly they settled on a familiar face. Aha.

Lilit stood poised on a balcony overlooking the ballroom, managing to look both beautiful and haughty at once. When Deryn met her gaze, the young ambassador gave a jaunty little wave and a knowing grin. Deryn smiled back uncertainly, fighting down a blush of her own. Then Alek led them into a mass of tall Ottoman socialites, and Lilit’s piercing expression passed out of view.

“Lilit?” Deryn queried, and Alek’s blush returned. “What’s she done to make you all…” She prodded him gently in the side, and he jumped, scowling. “…jumpy?”

They weren’t moving as much now, swaying slowly within the mass of other partygoers, all of whom seemed more interested in gossiping with their dance partners than in keeping with the music’s faster pace. Alek coughed. “She’s just…smirking,” he whined, as if that were a criminal offense. “That’s what Lilit does. She smirks at you like she knows exactly how uncomfortable you are and all the reasons why. And like she’s amused by it.”

Deryn nodded. “Yeah, that is what Lilit does. I think it’s just something that comes with being so perceptive.”

“But what about us makes her so…”

“Smug?” Deryn supplied. Alek nodded. “Well, she saw through “Dylan” when we first met. And later on, she saw through…” Deryn trailed off, not wanting to recount her time spent pining after the prince.

“…what?” asked Alek. Then Deryn’s first sentence seemed to register. “Wait, wait. She knew you were a girl before I put it together?”

“Yep.”

“Wh– and you never saw fit to tell me that particular story?” Alek sputtered.

“Nope.”

“You–! She…ugh. She really is quite perceptive.”

Deryn nodded, feigning sympathy. “Told you. Anyway, I think she knew exactly how we felt about each other before we realized it ourselves. So it must be…funny, or maybe gratifying, to watch us fumble about as a couple in public.”

“Actually, I find it infinitely amusing,” said a smooth voice from behind the former prince. Deryn would’ve laughed at the shock on Alek’s face if she hadn’t been busy nearly jumping out of her skin herself. “Mind if I cut in?” Lilit asked, already nudging Alek out of the way .

“Lilit?” Deryn hissed, even as Alek stepped hesitantly aside and the young ambassador took his place, her dark eyes glimmering with amusement. “What are you doing? We’re supposed to remain inconspicuous! Dancing with the hostess certainly isn’t –”

“Relax,” whispered Lilit. “You’ll only cause more of a scene.” She resumed the rhythm of the dance, then, leading Deryn across the crowded floor. They weaved among the dignitaries and war hawks, leaving Alek hovering awkwardly at the outer edge of the massive hall.

“What are you doing?” Deryn asked again, softer but with growing impatience. “In…” she glanced at the bronze clock at the head of the hall. “In five minutes, we’ve got to get to those blueprints and –”

“I know what the plan is, I created it,” said Lilit, smirking.

“Then why –”

“Because,” said Lilit, “I wanted to wish you luck.”

Deryn paused, surprised. “O-kay?”

“And I wanted to stress the importance of this again. The safety of my people and the continued neutrality of the Republic depend on your success here. You need to steal those Clanker schematics, get them off the premises, and leave no clues as to who it was that stole them. It’s the only way we can reject the Germans’ gift without….rejecting the Germans’ gift.”

Deryn nodded, meeting Lilit’s cool stare. “I know,” she said. “We know the consequences if we should fail. So we won’t. I promise.” Deryn watched as something faded in Lilit’s eyes, some layer of fear and urgency melted into trust. “Even if the boffins weren’t interested in keeping your country neutral, I still would’ve come.” She peered over her shoulder at Alek, who had moved into a gaggle of Ottoman statesmen in an attempt to blend in. “And Alek would’ve come too.”

Lilit smiled. “I know. And I thank you for that.” Suddenly, she spun on her heel and lowered Deryn into a dip. I didn’t even notice she was leading! Deryn thought. “Barking spiders, you’re stronger than you look,” she blurted.

“You’re heavier than you look,” replied Lilit, mouth pressed close to Deryn’s ear, strain creeping into your voice. “Let’s review: where are the plans?”

“West wing of the palace, Kizlar Agha’s former quarters,” Deryn whispered.

“And the body kite?” Lilit pressed

“In the cupboard, left of the window.”

Lilit pulled her slowly out of the dip, straightening but keeping her voice low. “Good. I’ll be sending a messenger lizard ordering the guard posted there to report to me. That should get him out of your way for a bit, but when he arrives I’ll have to insist the message was faked. You need to be gone before we return to investigate. Understand?”

Deryn had the odd urge to salute. Instead, she kept her hands in position as the pair danced back toward Alek. “Yes. Don’t worry, Lilit, we’ve got this,” Deryn assured her.

“I’m counting on it,” Lilit whispered. “Oh, and Deryn?”

Deryn didn’t like the glint in Lilit’s eyes, but she responded anyway. “Yeah?”

Lilit’s smirk was back in full force. “The two of you are sickeningly, awkwardly adorable.” Deryn felt the heat rising in her face, heard Lilit’s quiet chuckle. “And I think I’ve just made Alek very jealous by stealing you away. Do with that information what you will.” A wink tossed in her direction and Lilit was gone, winding away through the crowd.

“What was that about?” Alek asked, sidling up next to Deryn. “Anything wrong?”

“No,” Deryn murmured, “Just going over the plan one more time. Nothing, really.”

Alek huffed. “Well, I hardly think that was necessary,” he said grumpily.

Deryn grinned to herself. She didn’t think Alek was capable of jealousy, but now she saw it plain as day. Lilit was really going to have to teach her some of her tricks some time. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Alek’s hand. “It’s time for diplomacy by theft.”

Ten minutes later, Deryn was cranking open the broad palace window, German blueprints in a scroll case strapped to her arm and Alek fastening the last of the clasps on her flight suit. “What I don’t understand,” he was saying, “is when Lilit even found the time in all the chaos of the uprising to tell you she’d figured you out.”

Deryn was drawn vividly back to that moment – the cliff, the kiss, the kite. She grinned, blushing. “Oh, she managed,” Deryn told him coyly.

“Wh– what is that supposed to mean?” Alek sputtered.

“Nothing.” Deryn smirked, understanding why Lilit took so much pleasure in just knowing. “A story I’ll tell you. But some other time. Get out of here safely. And quickly!” she called over her shoulder, jumping boldly from the window and spreading her wings wide, whooping as the air carried her over the bustle of the Ottoman Republic.

[cupcakecore]

I've been listening to the Goliath audiobook all day

Specifically the 2nd half of the book.

I've had nothing but heartwrenching feels about my OTP all freaking day.  It's very distracting at work.

I would swoon if they made a Leviathan movie which I feel like isn't an impossibility, I mean, they made a Cassandra "I'm a terrible writer and a morally questionable person" Clare's book into a movie, and these books are so SO SO much better.

Movie thoughts?

1. Alan Cumming would HAVE to be Count Volger.  While he would make a good Eddie Malone, let's be real peeps, all day I have been thinking "h8 u eddie malone". Anyway, Mr. Cumming reads the audiobook and his Count Volger is PERFECTION.  As are the rest of the books. GO LISTEN TO THEM NOW.

2. Keira Knightly would ruin it and should not be cast at all.  I think Rachel Weisz or Helena Bonham Carter would be excellent choices for Dr. Barlow depending on which direction you want to go in.

3. Deryn's actress needs to be androgynous, but I think Alek's actor needs to have delicate features and a certain amount of pampered leanness.  He's certainly fit, but he's not bulky and strong and let's not forget,Deryn is taller and heavier than Alek (this is canon).

So yes, movie thoughts: I have them. 

EDIT: And if you haven't checked out the Leviathan series OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GO DO IT NOWNOWNOW!

[reedroad]

The fan name for the DerynxAlek ship in Leviathan is Dalek.

Even Scott Westerfeld calls them this! IS THERE NO ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS HOW STRANGE THIS IS?!

[hanahclairart]

I don’t know why I associate deryn with liking potatoes other than it’s mentioned that she eats them twice and I’m sure potatoes are the cheapest nutrient rich food to give soldiers. Anyway, I’m testing out some sketches of deryn sharp. She’s so fun and I’m excited for more people to be introduced to her.

[hanahclairart]

I can’t believe, myself, how incredibly canon this is 😆 now that we know what deryn and alek look like for the leviathan anime, I wanted to draw some fanart. Here’s my first official leviathan fanart for the Netflix series ! #leviathan #leviathantrilogy #leviathanfanart #scottwesterfeldleviathan #leviathanbooks #derynsharp derynxalek #leviathananime #studioorange

[boffinsandbeasties]

Hi, this is bovrilicious asking from my main! Here's an idea for a drabble based on a headcanon of mine: Alek remembers what happened during the storm with Deryn on the topside every time it rains. Sorry if this is not one of my best ideas...

It’s a lovely idea! And it hurts my heart that it took me literally two months to do because COLLEGE, but here it is, in all its drawn out, trope-y glory.

_______________________________________________________________________

As the sound of rain hitting the roof of the study grew suddenly from a whisper to a thundering, Alek glanced up from his book to observe the storm. Sure enough, fat, wind-blown raindrops splattered against the windowpane and rushed downwards in a gathering stream. Abandoning the thick volume Dr. Barlow loaned him – “The Natural and Fabricated Evolution of Beasts of Burden: From Mules to Mammothines” – Alek pushed himself from a plush armchair to perch on the broad windowsill. He pulled his knees into his chest and leaned back, resting his head against the fabricated wood of the tall bookcase behind him. Being indoors during a gale like this, safe and warm while the sound of rain muffled the noise of the rest of the world…it used to be comforting. Now, Alek didn’t know what to think of it. Where as a child he would have been transfixed by the thrashing elm branches in the distance, he now stared searchingly at the wall of water just beyond the glass, reminded acutely of rain washing over a different membrane.

Well, “washing” was putting it mildly. The torrent that had swept down the flank of the Leviathan that night was more reminiscent of a waterfall than anything rain could accomplish. Flashes of images had haunted Alek’s dreams for weeks – the mass of water rushing through the flooding channel, the rain-diluted blood staining the fabric of his glove, and the bone-deep cold that threatened to drag him from consciousness. But the stitches at his left temple had healed months ago, and the nightmares left with them. (That’s not to say they weren’t replaced with new ones – his airship home splitting with flames, a clever midshipman burning without him – but that was neither here nor there.)

But the rain…drizzle or downpour, it was now irrevocably linked to that cold night topside with Deryn. And when the sheer fear of it was gone, all that remained was her. Her determination to mend the godforsaken wire, the set of her jaw as she clipped them to the rigging on the beastie’s flank, the way she had wrapped herself around him – as if her wiry form could somehow save him from drowning. The only thing he’d been conscious of saying was a demand for her honesty.

And she had given him her last secret. A brief press of lips confirming what Alek had already guessed, but awakening a secret of his own, one that –

“Well, this is rubbish.”

Deryn was perched in Alek’s vacated armchair, examining Dr. Barlow’s book with apparent distaste. She’d crept in so silently she may as well have just appeared there. Alek usually didn’t startle anymore, having adapted to Deryn’s talent for skulking about, but his mind had been so far away that he couldn’t help but jump a bit. If Deryn noticed (of course she did, Deryn noticed everything) she didn’t let on.

“I thought you approved of my studying up on your beloved Darwinist fabrications?” Alek queried.

Deryn stood, replacing the book on the armchair and drifting toward the windowsill. “Oh, don’t act like you don’t love them too,” she scolded. “Besides, that was when you couldn’t tell a messenger tern from a strafing hawk. You know plenty more now, working at the bloody zoo. This,” she cast a hand toward the book, “is just dull.”

Alek hummed thoughtfully. “But you know this stuff,” he reminded her. “Studied it same as I’m doing. It’s only fair I…subject myself to it as well.”

“No, it isn’t, not when you’ve got every beastie in existence within walking distance of your own front door.” (Our own front door, mused Alek, the thought making his insides feel pleasantly warm.) “If you want to know about…” Deryn glanced at the book, open to a dense entry on lupine life-threads. “If you want to know about tigeresques, go march up to their enclosure and give one a scratch hello.”

Alek laughed softly. “I think that’d earn me a snarl at best, and an amputation at worst,” he replied, shuddering. “I will stick to my book, thank you very much.”

Deryn smiled, exasperated. “Suit yourself, your Serene Highness. I suppose it’s as good a day as any to get some reading in.” Eyes fixed on the growing storm outside, she hoisted herself onto the windowsill across from Alek, swiveling around to entangle her legs with his. They were silent for a while, Alek pretending to watch the trees thrash outside, unable to ignore the feeling of Deryn’s eyes searching his face. “What were you thinking about?” she finally asked, voice quiet.

Of course she’d noticed his deep thought from earlier – who knows, Alek realized with a start, how long she had watched him before making her presence known? She was irritatingly perceptive, his midshipwoman. Alek decided to give her an equally irritating answer.

“Rain,” he told her. Hey, it’s not as if he was lying.

Deryn sighed, knocking at his feet with her own. “Wow,” she began, voice flat, “I always had you pegged for the philosophical type, but I’d never have guessed you’d be such an enigma.”

Alek snorted. “Yes, well, being raised in a palace does that sort of thing to a guy.”  He made the mistake of looking up at Deryn’s face, and her blue eyes held his, questioning.

“Alek,” said Deryn, gently admonishing. “You know I can tell when something’s bothering you. What were you thinking of?”

The ex-prince let out a breath, long and slow, holding her gaze. “The rain…that night we were topside.”

“Oh,” Deryn uttered. She paused, thoughtful. “But I thought the nightmares–”

“Yes, the nightmares have stopped. But I still dream about it. About…about you. The way you saved me. The way you…” Alek trailed off.

“The way I what?”

Alek glanced around at the rows of shelves. Assured that they were alone in the library, he stretched forward, catching Deryn’s lips in a chaste kiss to demonstrate. “The way you saved me,” he repeated, conclusive.

“Oh,” Deryn breathed again.

Alek felt like talking about it, suddenly. He didn’t know why, but he needed to explain this to her – to himself, maybe. He shifted closer to Deryn on the windowsill. “It was the first time I saw you…as you. Not just as a girl, not just as Middy Dylan. It was the most complete Deryn Sharp I’d ever known. And I…” he swallowed, realizing what he was about to say, realizing that he meant it. “And I loved her.”

Across from him, Deryn visibly stiffened. Dropping her gaze, she turned towards the downpour beyond the window. Alek watched her reflection in the glass pane, saw her eyes close. “And do you still?” she whispered.

“No,” said Alek lowly. Deryn’s eyes sprang open, but she kept on facing the window. Alek reached out to rest a hand atop hers. “It’s changed.” Deryn moved as if to draw her hand away, and Alek grasped it in both of his. “I do believe I’m in love with her now.”

Deryn finally looked at him, expression unreadable. “A worser fate, indeed.” Her other hand joined Alek’s own, but Alek’s eyes were fixed upon her face, where a faint redness she would later deny was blossoming high on her cheekbones. “But one that we share,” she amended, leaning forward to kiss him firmly without bothering to check the perimeter. Alek couldn’t blame her – spectators be damned. This was worth it.

Deryn didn’t need to say it, but she did, breaking the kiss to exhale the words into the small space between them. “I love you too, you daft prince.”

Alek couldn’t help but grin into their next kiss.

[boffinsandbeasties]

YO, LEVIATHAN FANDOM

Hey there! I’m not exactly new to Leviathan, but I’ve just reread the brilliant trilogy and have an urgent need to WRITE ABOUT IT -- drabbles, fics, utter nonsense, entire novels, who knows. So please, please, please, prompt me.

I’ll write you fluff. Angst. H/C, crack, smut, whatever you like. Give me some ideas, and I’ll make it worth your while.

And bear with me while I reintegrate myself in this fandom, I guess.