#i'll probably post this later on ao3 but i have to organize shit there first

[unreadpoppy]

For the flower asks: thyme!

Minthara x Galatea: Mercy

Read on AO3

A/N: This is before their relationship is established. Also, let's both pretend this ask hasn't been sitting on my inbos for a full month.

With Ketheric dead, Minthara turned her mind to other pressing matters. While one of her enemies was down, there was still Orin and many others who served the Absolute to defeat. The road towards a cure for the tadpole was long, and she would need to prepare herself if she meant to survive.

But as she went over battle strategies with Galatea, one question went to the front of her mind. 

“In the goblin camp, why did you spare me?” She asked the tiefling. 

Galatea was taken aback.  “Why the sudden interest in that?” 

“It had been on my mind for some time, but while Ketheric lived, I needed to focus on that.” Minthara crossed her arms. “But now, he is gone, and I cannot help but wonder. Every other person in that camp met their demise that day, except for me.” She took a deep breath. “If I am to trust you, I must know why.” 

In truth, the tiefling already had her trust, and maybe more, if Minthara let herself follow her feelings. Galatea had spared her from a fate worse than death, she brought her along to their battles and agreed to end Minthara’s foes. She actively sought Minthara’s advice and listened to her ideas, taking them in consideration when making a decision. Besides, the constant praise of Minthara’s prowess in battle did not hurt either. 

But the goblin camp….it confused Minthara. Why go through the trouble of killing everyone else but her? When in the depths of her trance, the drow wondered if she had been also manipulated by this tiefling since the beginning. After all, Minthara knew she was a strong ally to the party, but she couldn’t help but wonder if that had been the plan. Kill everyone in her camp, so that she would have to be saved by them, inevitably making her indebted to the group. Maybe everything, from their conversations to the compliments were all part of Galatea’s plan to entrap Minthara in her web, just to discard her again when the -

“To be honest, I am not sure.” Minthara was snapped back to reality by the tiefling’s answer. 

She furrowed her eyebrows. “So you don’t know?” She crossed her arms. “You killed my whole camp, resulting in my humiliation in front of the general, and you don’t know.”

Galatea raised a brow “That is not what I said. Allow me to clarify.” 

Minthara straightened her back, scowling, preparing herself, in case things ended badly. “Explain yourself, then.” 

“If you are looking for one, straight, correct answer, there is not.” Galatea took a deep breath. “I knew that if we were to save the Grove and the tieflings for good, we had to eliminate the goblin threat. And to do so, we needed to kill the goblin leaders - You, Gut, and Razglin.”

Minthara nodded, a silent command for her to continue. “By the time we reached you, the others had been dealt with and too much blood had been sprayed. You had been knocked out, and when Karlach was about to deal the final blow, I stopped her.” 

Galatea shook her head and took another deep breath. “I’m not sure what exactly was that compelled me. Part of me did consider that perhaps we could make you join our cause. You did give Wyll a good beating.” The tiefling chuckled, remembering how bad the warlock had been even after days of healing. “But that was not the main reason. Maybe I was tired of the bloodshed we had done, maybe I did think you were dead, maybe I just wanted to leave.” She looked at Minthara’s eyes. “Or maybe, I just felt compelled to enact one simple act of mercy, after a day filled with death.” 

The drow scoffed. “If that is the reason, then you are a bigger fool than I thought. Allowing an enemy to live could have cost you your mission, perhaps even your life.” 

Galatea crossed her arms, raised a brow and slightly tilted her head.  “And yet, it didn’t, and you stand here, by my side, making plans for the future.” 

Minthara gulped. “Still, showing an act of mercy to an enemy is a poor choice. You’re the leader, you must set the example, be ruthless.” 

Galatea listened to her words, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She let her arms loose, and straightened her neck. “A good leader must, above all, practice balance.” She began saying. “If a king slaughters all his enemies, all those who oppose him without a second thought, he is a tyrant and will be overthrown. If a king is too lenient, too merciful, allowing his conspirators to grow in power, he is weak and will also be overthrown.” 

Galatea closed her eyes. “A good king knows when to use an iron fist and when to lend a helping hand. A good king must know this, lest his kingdom crumble.” She opened her eyes and looked at Minthara. “These are my father’s words, and although neither he or I are kings, these are the rules I follow in my leadership of this group.” 

She took a step towards Minthara. “Had I been merciless, I would not have you as an ally, and we would have lost many battles. But, if I hadn’t been ruthless when killing the goblins, Dror and Gut, I wouldn’t be standing here.” Their faces were close and it was at that moment that Galatea noticed how she was a few inches taller than Minthara. They stared at each other’s eyes, the fierce passion in Minthara’s being met with Galatea’s cold resolve. 

Minthara was impressed. It was not every day that someone was able to stand up to her. She smirked, briefly, and then said “Very well. I am satisfied.” 

Galatea nodded, taking a step back. “Good. Or else I would have believed you have a death wish.” She cracked her neck to the side, yawned and said “It is quite late, and the day ahead of us will be long. Rest well.” 

“You too.” Minthara said, and they made their separate ways towards their respective tents. 

That night, when she laid in bed, Minthara replayed the conversation in her head, thinking also of all their past interactions. The more time passed, the more Minthara began to admire Galatea. She was strong willed yet listened. She could be ruthless and still show kindness - something Minthara did not understand but could still admire. The tiefling’s intimidating demeanor was a wall she had put up to protect herself, but the drow could see its cracks, in the way she spoke with the other companions, in how she laughed and saw beauty in broken things. Minthara longed to know more about her, to tear down that icy facade until the blue haired girl was laid completely bare to her, in both body and soul. 

It was when Minthara’s thoughts began to take a turn for the carnal, that she opened her eyes, looking at her tent’s ceiling. “Straj.” She cursed to herself. Maybe her feelings for the tiefling were deeper than she had previously thought. Putting a hand on her face, she decided to think on this tomorrow and for now, only hoped for destiny to have mercy on her heart and her soul.  

[moondragon618]

~ About Me ~

You can call me Moondra or Moon, Lunar/Luna, Cynder, Dream, or Reverie :) My pronouns are they/them, it/its, she/her, and multiple neos which I'll list here:

xey/xem/xeir/xeirs/xemself

fae/faer/faers/faerself

sh:)/h:)r/h:)rs/h:)rself

lun/lunar/lunars/lunarself

moon/moons/moonself

dre/dream/dreams/dreamself

drae/draer/draers/draerself

dra/dragon/dragons/dragonself

🌙/🌙s/🌙self

🐉/🐉s/🐉self

Feel free to use any of these or you can ask for my preference, but I'm not picky lol :)

I'm a bi + grey aroace genderfluid enby, I'm fine with all gender neutral terms, and gendered terms (excluding woman/man & female/male) are fine too especially if it's funny :) I'm also (self-diagnosed) ADHD + Autistic and have social anxiety- be warned I'm often very slow to respond to asks/reblogs/DMs/etc and that's probably why lmao. I'm also fictionkin with my kins being c!Dream/Divine c!Dream, Protegeinnit/Divine c!Tommy, and Cynder from the Legend of Spyro trilogy :)

~ Interests ~

I'm currently a dsmp/c!primeboys enjoyer as you've probably noticed lmao, and I'm a fanfic writer and occasional sort-of artist :)

Some of my other interests include Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Undertale/Deltarune, the MCU (specifically Irondad lol), Markiplier/Unus Annus, and the Legend of Spyro trilogy (my first fandom <3)

~ Some tags I use ~

c!prime thoughts for all of my c!Prime analysis posts :)

my writing which has all my fics + me talking about my writing lol

Immortal c!Prime- Immortal c!Prime AU (also includes Divine c!Prime where c!Dream becomes a god and makes c!Tommy into an angel)

Shapeshifter c!Dream AU (exactly what it sounds like lol)

Hybrid c!Prime AU (in which c!Dream in an ender dragon hybrid and c!Tommy is a cardinal avian)

ad infinitum :) - My c!Dream kin tag, also includes Immortal/Divine c!Prime :)

everlasting daydream ❤️- My Protegeinnit kin tag, technically also my Protege AU and c!Dream butterfly chat AU tag lol (though for the sake of organization I may make a separate tag for that later)

rp c!Prime :) - posts reblogged from my c!Prime RP blogs :)

~ Before You Follow ~

First and foremost: I absolutely Do Not support cc!dream in any way. I enjoy c!Dream strictly as a fictional character. I completely understand if others personally find c!Dream posting uncomfortable and if that's you, then you might want to block me. If you harass me over this, or for not supporting cc!dream, or any other reason lol, enjoy getting blocked on sight <3

As for a DNI, I don't really care as long as you're not on some terf shit, generally just hateful and/or bigoted, super NSFW, or shipping incest or adult/minor ships (p*ppytwit/blr this means you too stay tf away from me istg). cc!dteam and cc!wilbur stans will also be blocked on sight, and same goes for c!Dream apologists I Do Not fucking trust you lmaooo

~ Links ~

My Ao3

My Writing Masterlist (I desperately need to update this lmao)

My RP blogs:

c!Prime- @haver-of-wives & @your-eternal-nightmare

Divine c!Prime- @your-divine-nightmare & @/angel-of-reverie (this one's having some technical difficulties rn, tumblr stop immediately flagging it as explicit the second I try to remake it challenge (impossible difficulty))

Please check out Stemms, my beloved QPP <3333

Please check out Midnight, my wonderful friend <3

Anyway that is all enjoy my deranged fandom blog lmao :)

(Post dividers by @cafekitsune)

[gendervapor14]

gen's work in progress list!

here's a little list of every story i have that's either posted but incomplete, a rough draft, or even just a little concept! it is loosely organized by priority. feel free to poke me about any of these. sometimes i need a kick to the pants to get them going. i'll try and keep it updated too!! 👍

also there are spicy themes in here so minors, DNI. thank you

titles listed in large font, italicized, and underlined, are fics that are posted on ao3! titles that are just italicized are confirmed, working titles for a rough draft. titles that are neither italicized nor underlined are still in the conceptual/early development stage. it's likely the ratings, warnings, genres, etc may change as i continue to work on them. more than happy to talk about any of these tho, regardless of their status! 💕

last updated: 11/26/23

CURRENT PROJECTS

two fights for freedom

rating: M warnings: graphic depictions of violence category: F/M, gen status: ~10 chapters posted, updates every week, ~35 chapters, ~70k-100k words tags: canon divergent, fix-it, everybody lives, pre-arlong park, angst with a happy ending, angst and feels, fluff and humor, hurt/comfort, suggestive themes, sexual tension, limes (yes i'm bringing limes back), eventual smut, romance, slow burn, arguing, financial issues, broken bones, references to depression, alcoholism, mental health issues, canon backstory, mentioned doflamingo, non-canon backstory (giving bell-mere a backstory), found family, medical inaccuracies, blood and injury, trafalgar d. water law is a little shit, developing friendships, past child abuse, nightmares, more tags to be added later (?) characters: rosinante, bell-mere, law, nami, nojiko, genzo, arlong relationships: rosinante x bell-mere summary: freedom for one means adventure. exploring all the world has to offer, while avoiding the occasional haunting. freedom for another almost costs an arm and two daughters. a home, a village. perhaps freedom is best sought back-to-back. {a cora and bell-mère lives au} wip notes: got like 80% of this mapped out so despite my busy schedule, i'm pulling this out of the woodworks! XD thank opla arlong park for giving me a kick in the pants

speechless

rating: E warnings: none category: M/M status: ~11k words, oneshot, complete, not posted genre/cw: modern au, romance, parties, awkward meetings, hidden scars, angst & feels, hurt/comfort, smut, gender dysphoria, trans croc, lgbt+ themes, first time characters: crocodile, rosinante, donquixote parents, doflamingo relationships: crocodile x rosinante, past rosinante x bell-mere conceptual summary: at a christmas party gone sour, crocodile decides to put an end to his hiding. wip notes: my desire for soft crocorosi led to this story. hopefully i'll have it ready for christmas!!

a lesson on co-parenting

rating: E warnings: none category: F/F status: drafts of 2/3 chapters written genre/cw: modern au, nanny au?, miscommunication, humor, drama, suggestive themes, smut, moral conflict characters: sora (oc), bell-mere, rosinante, law, nami, nojiko relationships: sora x bell-mere, background rosinante x crocodile conceptual summary: sora is hired as a nanny for a busy, catastrophic family. what she assumed to be an easy, generous gig turns into disaster when the matriarch openly flirts and coaxes her into bed. wip notes: i started writing this ages ago on a whim and i do intend to finish it, but i got stuck on the smut XD as soon as i finish that tho, the fic is done!

ON THE BACKBURNER

trans corabelle fic

rating: M warnings: creator chose not to use archive warnings category: F/M, M/M, gen status: 75% of the first chapter drafted, will probably be ~12 chapters genres/cw: modern au, childhood friends, class struggles, angst, gender/sexuality, bullying, suicidal thoughts/actions, toxic relationships, hospitalizations, infidelity, child custody mayhem, ftm rosinante, mtf bell-mere, drama & romance, implied sexual content characters: rosinante, doflamingo, donquixote parents, bell-mere, crocodile, law relationships: rosinante x crocodile, rosinante x bell-mere endgame conceptual summary: sometimes you have to crawl through hell to reach your happy ending. wip notes: this has become the recent brainworm. i chip away at it when i have the energy. it's gonna be fucked up, hopefully.

lost in walmart

rating: gen warnings: none category: gen, F/M status: purely conceptual genres/cw: modern au, humor, fluff, domestic bliss characters: rosinante, law, nami, nojiko, bell-mere relationships: background rosinante x bell-mere conceptual summary: bell-mere drops off rosinante and the kids at a walmart while she runs some errands elsewhere. rosinante ends up losing all the kids and struggles to relocate them before bell-mere gets back. wip notes: this idea came to me from the heavens. i'll work on it once the nanny fic is finished 👍

all that glitters

rating: M warnings: graphic depictions of violence category: gen, F/M...? status: purely conceptual genres/cw: canon divergent, donquixotes never left mariejois, angst & feels, moral dilemmas, slavery, humor? but more of a dark humor, not sure about romance/smut yet characters: bell-mere, rosinante, doflamingo, donquixote parents relationships: either none, or bell-mere x rosinante conceptual summary: what if instead of accepting death on cocoyashi, arlong sells bell-mere into slavery for a taste of irony? bell-mere would accept - she can easily escape and get back to her kids while still complying with arlong's demands. meanwhile, the donquixotes granted their youngest son his own manor. doflamingo decides the best kind of housewarming gift for his beloved brother is a pretty young slave who can keep the place tidy and prepare some meals for him. if only that gift was a bit more cooperative. wip notes: YEAH so this idea rotted my brain pretty fast once i thought of it. and i pitched the idea to a few friends, expecting to have it get shot down, but they encouraged it so, i will be writing it at some point. it'll likely be multiple chapters, and there are a lot of story holes, so i'll have to iron those out first.

sublime > perish

rating: M warnings: graphic depictions of violence, major character death category: gen status: rough draft of chapter one finished? chapter two almost finished genres/cw: canon-plausible, backstory, steampunk, angst characters: gladius, oc parents, doflamingo (at the very end) conceptual summary: “Life on this island guarantees a fatality rate of one-hundred percent. You’ve defied those odds so far. Are you willing to keep risking your life for this measly place? Or would you rather have this entire world in the palm of your hands?” This was not a difficult choice to make. If only it was. wip notes: backstory fic for gladius! put this down for a while to tackle the rarepair event in feburary, and i really need to get back to it!! 😅

the heart of art

rating: gen warnings: none category: gen status: a few little paragraphs 😔 genres/cw: modern AU, fluff, humor, slice of life, artist cora AU characters: rosinante, law conceptual summary: maybe he had no gross motor control, but if there was one thing rosinante was a master with, it was art. wip notes: i promised @flashily i would write this story ages ago and i have absolutely no excuse as to why it isn't finished yet. i am so sorry. it is up here on my list!! see!! i will get to it, i swear!! 😭😭

all bark and no bite - part II

rating: E warnings: none category: M/M, gen status: purely conceptual genres/cw: modern AU, humor, suspicions, fluff, romance, smut? characters: rosinante, crocodile, bell-mere, potentially law, nami and nojiko, but idk yet relationships: rosinante x crocodile conceptual summary: crocodile invites rosinante on one of his trips overseas. rosinante sees it as the perfect oppertunity to get his second wind and dive into his dark secrets. wip notes: received overwhelming positive feedback on the first part of this, so i've started planning a second part. but idk when i'll get around to it! i need to do a lot more plotting.

sticky fingers

rating: E warnings: none category: multi, gen status: purely conceptual genres/cw: modern au, humor, smutty but nothing you can bite your teeth into, sex toys, heists, scheming, financial issues characters: bell-mere, rosinante, various background characters relationships: bell-mere x various background characters conceptual summary: bell-mere is hankering for a reliable, human-free source of fun, but the price of sex toys is far too exorbitant for her wallet. her solution? hook up with as many rich people as she can to pocket their best toys on the way out. wip notes: i was researching sex toys for ANOTHER fic and i couldn't help but notice the prices?? i was like "christ, bell-mere could never afford these" and then i got me thinking of her sitting on a thrown of stolen sex toys with a dildo crown. and i thought. i should write that.

donut miss your chance!

rating: T warnings: none! category: M/M, gen status: one chapter posted on ao3, 5300 words genres/cw: modern AU, fluff, humor, slice of life, blind date, awkward date, anxiety, reference to selective mutism characters: rosinante, bell-mère, katakuri relationships: rosinante x katakuri summary: bell-mère sets rosinante up with "a cute baker." a 7'2" punk-goth behemoth is not exactly what rosinante had in mind. wip notes: planning at least one more chapter for this! (but probably more) i'll get around to it after i find the time to watch WCI 👍

nami sewing

rating: gen warnings: none category: gen status: purely conceptual genres/cw: canon compliant, flashbacks, nostalgia, character study, canon-typical violence, blood and injury, angst & feels characters: nami, bell-mere, arlong, strawhats pirates conceptual summary: nami remembers her mother teaching her how to sew. wip notes: sometimes when i look at my hands, i see my grandmother's hands when she would teach me how to sew as a child. i wonder if, even though they weren't related by blood, nami sees her mother's hands in her own when she sews.

rainstorm

rating: E warnings: major character death...? category: F/M, gen status: a few ficlets half-completed genres/cw: angst, romance, canon compliant, smut, humor, tension characters: rosinante, sora (oc), possibly sengoku & tsuru relationships: rosinante x sora conceptual summary: a ficlet collection for sorazon. wip notes: basically a dumping pile of scenes i scrapped or wrote in a sad, sappy stupor.

physical therapy au?

rating: M warnings: none category: F/M status: purely conceptual genres/cw: modern au, physical hurt/comfort, rehabilitation, injury, humor, awkward sexual situations, awkward flirting, mutual pining, dating, romance, secret relationship characters: rosinante, sora (oc) relationships: rosinante x sora conceptual summary: sora gets assigned a "highly-temperamental" case of a very injured marine vet. after expecting an irritable, violent older person, sora is thrown off when her patient turns out to be a kind-hearted young man. wip notes: this story is like a little bug nibbling at the back of my brain. i might bump it up after i grab lunch with a friend who is an occupational therapist. miiiight just annoy her with 100+ questions XD

babysitting

rating: T warnings: none! category: gen status: one chapter posted on ao3, 2,737 words genres/cw: humor, domestic fluff? as domestic as the donquixote family gets at least, canon-compliant, dark humor characters: gladius, dellinger, doflamingo summary: “What’s the matter, Gladius, are you afraid of little Dellinger?” “Horrified, sir.” wip notes: i posted this ages ago and got a few comments kindly requesting the second chapter so. yes. it is coming. i have a loose plan. gladius is going to end up taking dellinger to that grocery store. the grocery store will not remain standing by the end of the story 👍

corazón de oro

rating: gen warnings: none! category: gen status: complete, oneshot, 2,785 words genres/cw: hurt/comfort, grief/mourning, nightmares, canon-compliant characters: rosinante, law summary: “Love, it’s…kind of like a leap of faith. You take your dive, you give them your heart. And you can only hope they’ll catch it when you land.” worth clarifying, not a ship wip notes: adding another chapter soon! i have this idea in mind revolving around this idea of rosi and law discussing religion 👀 (outside of my field of expertise tho, so i may take a bit with this one)

dofladile story

rating: M warnings: none category: M/M status: one and a half chapters of rough draft written, but idk where i'm going with it genres/cw: canon-plausible, humor, angst, maybe light smut? idk characters: doflamingo, crocodile relationships: doflamingo x crocodile conceptual summary: somehow, doflamingo convinced crocodile to take a visit over to dressrosa. his lovely guest is not as lovely as he was anticipating. wip notes: i'll go through phases of working on this and adding like, 1000 or so words at a time, and then i'll take a huge break. they're both very difficult for me to write in a canon-plausible setting. so much thinking.

band au?

rating: ??? warnings: none category: ??? status: purely conceptual genres/cw: modern au, band au, uhhh. sex and drugs i dunno characters: rosinante, bell-mere, smoker, hina, others. probably relationships: ??? conceptual summary: ??? wip notes: SORRY i have nothing for this other than a band (the four listed characters) and a few lyrics in a little notes document on my phone. might turn this into more of an art project than a story. yet to be determined.

01746 sequel

rating: M warnings: graphic depictions of violence category: gen, M/M, F/M status: fragment of the first chapter written, mostly conceptual genres/cw: canon plausible, angst, mental health issues, alcoholism, pirates are evil, especially doflamingo, dark themes, unhealthy relationships characters: doflamingo, donquixote family, crocodile, sora? (oc) viola conceptual summary: the death of the heart left a gap for many. some filled that hole with shovels and dirt. others used lead. wip notes: uh, yeah, pretty much the label on the can. picks up directly where 01746 left off. doflamingo is making his way towards dressrosa, trying to pick up the pieces. idk if sora's going to be in this. if she is, i think she might join baroque works. we'll see. this one's going to require a boatload of planning, so i'll get around to it next century.

make sure you check out my #gensbthb tag too, for details on upcoming projects for the bad things happens bingo event. i write those very randomly so there's no saying when another will pop up.

[sunstar-the-destroyer]

Here I am 24 hours later, back on my shit.

TROLLS BAND TOGETHER

So first of all, not that anybody is following, but I did update the trolls fic on AO3. Here's the link for anyone who wants it.

Also I know nobody asked and I'll probably post it as a one shot or something but in my head, trolls have the little tails with the puffs I keep seeing people draw on this website. It's cute. Also it makes it that much funnier when someone is being smug and the other person's tail just puffs up, like a cat. I imagine that is a young Sunny during 80% of the conversations she has with John Dory. He thinks it's adorable. She's going to bite him one of these days.

I'm going to go ahead and say that if anyone has a question about the story or characters I'm down to answer them, ask box should be open! Thanks to anyone out there in the internet void listening!

That's it, that's my full rambling update. I just have a lot of trolls related thoughts nowadays. Bye!

[frogsandfries]

It only took me actually all freaking day

But I finally got merely most of this body of work organized across several documents.

Thousands. And. Thousands.

No. Literally. Thousands. Of (okay, admittedly horribly formatted) pages. Just for this one collection of work. Whhhyyyyyyyyyyyy

I somehow missed a chunk? Deleted it? I'm not really positive. So I do have to go back through and locate those items.

Anyway, so I get to have tomorrow off, and luckily my boss stopped in and reminded me that my schedule change came through or I would've missed work Sunday. They changed my schedule finally; it's fine. It'll honestly be nice to have Mondays and Tuesdays off. It can be hard to get shit done when I'm on the phones 9-5 M-F. Plus, there's this all-you-can-eat sushi place that I've been dying to give a second chance, and the best day to do that is Tuesday. Oddly enough, yes.

I get to chill out tomorrow, work Sunday, and then have my first Monday and Tuesday off. So......bleh. Could be worse. One time, in another job, long, long ago, on third shift, I had to work something like eight days in a row. That. Was awful. Awful, awful.

I'm absolutely dying of exhaustion. I actually want to go back through the chapters I haven't yet and get the tables of contents set up in each of the documents, just to be absolutely positive that I got everything saved. Blehhhh I should go back through the fics off AO3 and set up their tables of contentses, but.......it's honestly kind of a nightmare and I'd honestly rather save it for a) the really, really long fics, and b) later. Like, absolutely the last minute. Admittedly though, I do not know what I would do without the table of contents for Debt of Time. Probably split each of the books into their own, multiple documents so I don't have to spend ages and ages scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

I wish I had something to do tomorrow, somewhere to go. I could go to the cafe up the hill. Or the other....is that one a cafe? Meh, I'll probably go to that one the next time I'm over at the post office. Now that I get Mondays and Tuesdays off, I could save the almost hour walk when I finally go over to take my sister's gift to ship, but....where's the fun in that? I could go over that way and check this place out that I think I've walked past several times. I want something more social, though, than just sitting at a cafe and prodding at fanfic.

Ugh, I guess I have enough paper presently to print some more textblocks, which I'll get to the first press and then neglect. Again, even if I bought one book cloth each paycheck, with the number of books that I have to cover at this point, it's going to take a long time to cover each of them, even if I don't do any kind of embroidery or embellishment (I keep thinking about a) 15/0 seed beads and b) that bead place in town). Even longer if the stack keeps growing. Oh, and don't forget that I haven't been able to squeeze more cover boards out of my budget, so there's a bit of a bottleneck there too.

What's the real hurry though? It's not like I have a bookshelf--still, yet.

But hey, I could and should be kinder to myself. I'm finally getting a vacuum, and also, I rather need my vices. Mine are not the most dangerous vices that were ever had by a socially isolated human. Also, I should finally be able to devote the necessary energy to trimming and punching the other half of my fic catalogue; that'll be......fun? Pleasant to fill up. I'm still struggling to think up an expandable enough spine. Maybe I should just not even worry about it and set up either a basic long-stitch or criss-cross spine. Well, actually, the long-stitch style spine might be a bit of a......poor match for what I have going on with the stab-type spine. An adapted criss-cross type spine could be good. If I break the initial volume into two parts and use two or three spines per volume, initially, that should give plenty of breathing room.

Honestly, now that I'm elbows deep into this random ramble, my mind keeps returning to a criss-cross binding as really the best option for a sturdy, expandable spine. Think about it: You could undo the spine, and either replace it, weave in another, or attach another spine and/or cover on the 'outside'. All you need is for the threads to pass through the signatures in some fashion.

Although, even a long-stitch isn't necessarily a bad idea. You'd have to set it up a little more like a travel journal, and even the only thing wrong with something like a travel journal is the poor way elastic ages. If it weren't for the matter of covering them, I think I'd be leaning more toward just weaving the booklets together by their spine stitching.

Maybe a softer, wrap-around style cover, to make up for any expansion? Maybe I'm too worried about expansion that I know will happen. I'm not just going to be like "well, section 'b' is full up; no more fics with titles that start with 'b'".

[chokefriends]

Anatomy model Eustass Kid

By @godims0tired ♡ for my fic Life Drawing

Rating: E

Warnings: None

Characters & ships: Eustass Kid / Trafalgar Law

Word count: 2978

Summary: Law practices his anatomical drawing with Kidd as his subject. With his devil fruit abilities he can see right inside him.

Kidd finds this insanely romantic.

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Read on Ao3 or below the cut. I know it's an older fic by now but I havent posted it here before so here!

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Kidd jerked into full awareness as he lay sprawled in his bed. He checked around himself without moving and sensed a second heartbeat in the room, near enough that the dim echoes of its electrical impulses lapped at his skin like waves. Slow and calm. Just watching then; not yet poised to attack…

There were eyes on him.

It took him a moment to remember that the other heartbeat was supposed to be there. He wasn't used to having bedmates stay overnight.

Red eyes slid open and found keen grey ones fixed on him.

“The fuck you staring at.”

“You, idiot.”

The big redheaded sprawl snorted crassly at that and flopped over, returning the stare with sleepy menace.

Law smirked. He was wedged sideways in one of the heavy carved armchairs in Kidd's quarters, loosely wrapped in a sheet and busily scritch scritching in a large book. His gaze flicked from page to Kidd and back.

Kidd prodded him, “See something you want, Trafalgar? Come over here and take it.”

His limbs were still all loose and languid from when they'd fucked a couple hours before, but Kidd could stand to go another round. Especially with the sharp, evaluating looks Law was throwing him right now.

“Come on, c'mere.”

“Later. Go back to sleep, Eustass-ya.” The pen bobbed.

“Don’ wanna. What are you doing still up?”

“Just passing the time until my brain decides to let me fall asleep.” Law's insomniac woes again.

“A good fuck will do that for you. Lemme do the ligature thing and you'll be out like bam .” Kidd offered generously.

“Heheh. Thanks but oxygen deprivation is not the kind of sleep aid I need.”

“Your loss.”

Kidd burrowed into his cluster of satiny pillows with a sigh. For an infamously brutal pirate captain he sure liked his little extravagances. The whole room was draped with horribly clashing bits of luxurious fabrics and furs, and the odd shiny sharp thing. The manic magpie whims of past raids.

“Nah, that's no good,” Law recrossed long legs over the chair’s arm, well cushioned with some spotted pelt. “Go back to where you were a second ago.”

“Are you…? What, taking notes on me? Writing an ode to the sinful curve of my flawless ass?”

“Something like that. I'm adding my own anatomical diagrams to this medical text. It’s my favourite for reference material but the illustrations are scanty and kinda shit -- it's like they've never dissected anyone before.”

“Nice. Add a diagram of these.” Kidd kicked up a leg.

“Hah. I'm nowhere near the section on genital abnormalities, but I'll look you up when I get there. Turn on your side again, I was doing upper body musculature.”

“Ooo. I got lots of that, yeah.” Kidd complied.

The lamplight was flickering low behind Law. Kidd could see him and his book backlit dimly, the small hairs on his leanly muscled shoulders aglow like a nimbus. Tinged subtly blue.

Wait, blue?

“Do you have a Room up?”

“Yeah, so I can scan down and see the actual anatomical stuff.”

“Huh. That's handy. You don't even have to dissect anyone.”

“Yeah but it’s easier to see everything if you physically open someone up. You can isolate the individual structures that way.” Law peeked overtop of the book. “And it's more fun to do it the old-fashioned way, heh…”

Kidd gave a low laugh. Law wasn't even joking, he knew. He imagined waking up one night like this, to find some part of him delicately splayed open and the dark haired doctor sketching away with the same expression. If Law used his devil fruit power he could do it painlessly and bloodlessly, without even waking him. Kidd had seen him sever heads away from bodies completely within that blue sphere, both pieces still functioning as one. He’d never been the subject of that eerie power himself, though.

He didn’t think so, anyway.

Law untangled himself from chair and sheet, and finally came over to join him on the bed. Kidd was gifted briefly with a full view of the lithe figure. His recent handiwork was beginning to show in the mottling that ran up either thigh and the bites framing his chest tattoos.

The long limbs refolded next to him. “Stay there, I wanna do the neck muscles now.”

“Lemme see that first.”

“Don't be grabby,” Law complained, but gave up the book.

“Holy fuck.” Kidd flipped through studies of his back, shoulders, hands. “So that's how I look without skin, huh.”

He had been expecting more… yeah. Skin.

“I did say I was drawing the muscles.”

“And my bones and everything.”

“Yeah. Good skeletal structure too. Several odd calluses where breaks didn't quite set right, though.”

“You can see all of that?”

“Yeah, of course. Like I said, I can scan down to any level. Though it helps if I know already the shape of what I'm looking for.”

Something about the drawings was just so Law. The lines so precise, so sharp, somehow impatient. A little obsessive and overworked on certain details, like the hollow between his collar bones and the knobbly crook of his index finger, broken at least twice. Many practice studies on loose sheets of paper showed that Law had been trying to get these parts just right.

It occurred to Kidd that these weren't just anatomical studies using him as a model -- these were him.

Jotted notes crowded around the practice studies, but Law grabbed the book back before Kidd could read them properly.

“Trafalgar. Does that seriously say I have 8.2 litres of blood in me.”

“Nevermind that. Just an interesting fact. You have a lot of blood.”

Kidd stole another peek as Law held him off. “And that I have a grip strength of 68 kilograms in my right hand?”

“At least. That’s not something I can see; that's from uh, experience.”

Kidd leaned back with his hands laced behind his head to look at Law. “One might misinterpret this as a target profile of some kind.” Because that's exactly what it was -- a detailed map of Kidd’s strongest, and weakest points.

“Whoa, your blood pressure’s spiking.” Law grinned with more teeth than usual and leaned in to hover over him.

“Now you're just showing off,” Kidd complained.

“Does this disturb you?”

That wasn't exactly the feeling that was spreading through him, no. Or not entirely, anyway. Kidd just cracked his neck, stretching it out for Law's benefit, and raised an eyebrow.

“So you wanted some neck action? It's all yours.”

Law seemed to like the sound of that. He angled Kidd’s head away and up with a gentle press of fingers, so the ear and neck were exposed to him.

Kidd watched his shadow flicker on the opposite wall and listened to the pen scratch across paper. The undulating magnetic field of Law’s heart was so close now, washing over him. His own blood thudded in his ears, senses all on high alert from holding himself in this vulnerable position.

He could be fuckin patient. Sometimes. Well… when he had all of Law’s attention focused on him like this, he’d stay still forever. He could feel the sharp eyes on him like a touch. His own eyes started to wander back over…

He jumped a little when Law did touch him, nudging him back into place. And then trailing fingers over the mound behind his ear.

“Sternocleidomastoid,” Law mouthed to himself. “Levator scapulae…” The hand travelled down to his collarbone and rested there lightly, his thumb tracing little circles.

It was so calm. And strange. Rare for the reserved doctor to be so casually intimate. Even while they were fucking, touch was more like a struggle, hands straining against and into each other. Kidd was rough without even trying, but it was Law who seemed to flinch from any contact not resembling combat. Or medical care. Such structured things. He’d objected -- vehemently -- to being “pawed at” and “pet like a lap dog” often enough. As though anything less than bruising force would hurt more.

He was so guarded. It made Kidd greedy.

“You're hard, you know,” Law breathed onto his neck.

“Yeah I'm aware.”

“Heh.”

Tattooed fingers ran along Kidd’s side, over the tight bands hugging the ribs (“Serratus anterior…”), and pinpricks rose in their wake. Kidd found himself arching up against the hand desperately.

“Ah, fuck, Trafalgar…”

“Mhm,” Law responded, distracted. Or pretending to be. He followed a particular cord of muscle down Kidd’s powerful thigh with his thumb. “Sartorius. Gracilis.”

“Dick.”

“No that's not a muscle, Eustass-ya.”

“Oh for the love of GOD.”

Law made a sound that was probably a muffled laugh. “Hold still. I'm doing anatomical studies.”

“Oh is that what we're doing.”

“Obviously.”

“Where's the book.”

“It's…” Law looked around for a minute. “On the floor.”

Kidd covered his face with his hands and just laughed. Law sighed dramatically.

“Well. Guess I gotta start from the top again.”

 

---

Law could be a pushy bastard when he topped. But he kept up the slow, focused treatment this time and it was driving Kidd fucking insane.

“I'm gonna flip this the fuck around and pound you inside out if it takes any longer.” Kidd growled from under his arm, slung across his face.

This was as close as he could get to actually asking for it. Here he was laid out, so open and ready, core clenching and unclenching. Needing to be fucked, to have hands on him, in him, whatever. All of it.

“Nah you're not.” Law countered smugly.

“F-uck,” was all Kidd could come up with when a third finger twisted into his slicked up hole. His body tensed and spasmed before yielding itself open.

By the time Law was actually fucking him, Kidd had nearly popped a fucking vein.

Law pushed in slowly, slowly. Until they were pressed together as tight as they could go, breath hot on each other's faces.

“Shit, Tr--ahh…”

“Eustass-ya…”

He was done with all the slow shit. Kidd was a shifting mass of need under him and honestly, he was even more worked up. He dragged almost all the way out only to grind back in hard, and the tight body jolted.

“Aw fuck, yeah…”

Law braced his weight on his arms, pressing Kidd’s hips into the bed. He watched the muscles bunch beneath him with each impact, Kidd straining to meet him. Watched through skin so pale it was translucent, glowing and rippling.

Kidd still wasn't entirely sure what to make of that gaze. All hunger and splitting seams, open lips and ragged breath.

He quirked up one corner of a mocking mouth.

“The fuck’re you-- ah --staring at?”

Law didn't answer for a moment. Under Kidd's skin it was like… layers of red ribbons, wrapping him up. The ribbons all pulling and straining against each other when Kidd moved (when Law moved in him), like something inside was trying to burst out. Under them, ribs curving -- jealous fingers. Wetly clinging membranes. Then under that…

“Your heart. It's…”

Their bodies collided, beaded with sweat. Harder. More. Law could see, hear Kidd's heart beating faster as he picked up his pace. God, he could feel it in his palms. In his dick. Beating so strong it echoed in his ears, drowning out his own.

“Fucking perfect. It's perfect.”

Kidd laughed breathlessly. His heart. What the hell. “...You wanna get your hands on that too?”

Law did.

He wanted to grip it, feel it flutter, make it burst …

… What if I could? he thought. He slowed, thinking, and spread a hand over Kidd’s breastbone. Not just to incapacitate through dismemberment, but to cut a piece from the whole, one vital piece…

Kidd watched the pensive eyes flicker and gave him a swift jab of encouragement with his heel.

“You'll just have to get hold of it the old fashioned way. Hahahaaa…”

“Hah.” Law shook himself from his distracted state. He picked up a pace that was slower than before, though not less jarring. “Like… I should court you or like I should cut you open?”

“Whichever ...ah ... But you should fuckin get me off first.” Kidd guided the tattooed hand down from his chest to his dripping cock, and Law obliged, finally.

They fucked with foreheads pressed together and grips slipping on sweat slick skin. Kidd thought of Law digging his hands right into his chest and came in jerking starts like it was being beaten out of him, legs clamped tight around him. Skin thrumming with the echoes of hands and heartbeat.

 

---

Kidd flipped through the last few drawings with some undefinable flutter in his gut.

“That's some shit you won't see in any other textbook.”

“Mhm.” Law allowed himself to press against Kidd just slightly as they lay sprawled out, sweat drying in the cool air. He was in a fuckin good mood, kinda dazed.

“I do look damn good without skin, I'll say that much.”

“Heh. And with. You can see the suprasternal notch really clearly even under the skin, it's nice. I fuckin love all of that. That area.”

Kidd choked a little but Law didn't seem to realize what he'd said. And that's not even what he meant anyway, Kidd told himself.

But the whole thing kinda was the same as a confession, at least as far as Law went. The drawings, as vaguely threatening as they were, betrayed an intimate preoccupation with Kidd's finer points. Maybe even admiration. Definitely possessiveness. Need.

“I wanna do you too.”

Law grinned, “Already?”

“Not that, idiot. Draw you.”

“I didn’t know you could draw.”

“Well, draft. I can draft things -- just basic. For engineering stuff on the ship, mostly.”

“Oh, nice!” Law bounced up to get fresh paper from the floor by the chair. “How does one usually draft stuff? Don’t you need a triangle thing? Compasses, etcetera?”

“Maybe. I’ll just make an outline for now.”

Law seemed right into this whole idea. “Draw me like one of your machines, Eustass-ya.” He draped himself dramatically across the bed and Kidd shoved him with a grin.

“How do you want me, though.”

Kidd appreciated that question for a moment.

“Doesn’t matter,” he shrugged. “I don’t know how to draw from life -- like perspective or anything. So it’s gonna be pretty diagrammatic. I just need a few details and some numbers.”

“Like specifications? How to build a Trafalgar?”

“Yeah, so I can make another if this one breaks.”

That made him laugh.

“Okay lie out flat and lemme measure you.”

“With what measuring tools?”

“I'll just eyeball it,” Kidd insisted.

This turned out to mean that he was going to get his hands all over him, which Law supposed was fair. He tensed and shied but stayed mostly still, letting Kidd explore his dimensions and proportions. Pages filled up with ratios and vectors of movement. Things got off track again around when Kidd was testing the rotation arc of his arms and quickly became vicious rutting. Light, skimming hands could become crushing ones so quickly.

Anyway, turned out that Law could get off while his arms were being hyperextended behind his back. Pretty effectively, in fact.

After, when they were laid out next to each other once again, and Law’s breaths were finally lengthening into sleep, Kidd dared to try another light touch. Without their thin pretense of functionality this time -- just want. He smoothed a hand over all the tattoos he'd taken such careful note of earlier. A large heart on his chest with a grinning skull similar to his Jolly Roger. Hearts on his shoulders. Kidd’s fingerprints blooming dark purple on his upper arms.

Sixty-eight kilograms of pressure and Law hadn't made a sound, but a feather touch over the marks and a quiet ah pushed past his lips.

“Whose emblem is that tattoo?”

Law mumbled with his eyes closed, “Someone who died. Long time ago.”

“Someone…” Kidd repeated to himself, but didn't probe. “You going to get any more?”

“Nah.” His breath stuttered slightly when Kidd trailed knuckles down his jaw. “I just like… your marks…”

He fell asleep with Kidd's lips against the shell of his ear.

 

---

A roll of broadsheet tied with string arrived by carrier gull when Law was back on his sub some days later. He stole away to his cluttered quarters and spread the roll out on the bed.

Inside the broadsheet was a large-format technical drawing.

There were three flat outlines of Law: front, back, side. All heavily marked out in blunt pencil, all surrounded by arcs and lines, dotted and solid, indicating measurements and angles of motion. The insides of the outlines were empty except for perfectly to scale renderings of his tattoos.