#lemonsharks fanfiction

[lemonsharks]

A fic i am actively writing right now, please hold me accountable xxoo

working title, change my name for you, futurefic, cot3 established relationship (with flashbacks), multi(?) pov

One day in the somewhat distant future (or forever away if you're a teen), when the agency has grown by a team or two and Lockwood, George, and Lucy are staring down the barrel of their Talents' obsolescence,

Lockwood is going to take on a job ("a job that no one else can, or will do") that is too big and too dangerous, layers on layers of quarantined ghosts across the building's history as half a dozen terrible places with terrible purposes where people died terrible deaths;

The kind of job that the younger and newer agents have been itching to get dirty in, have heard stories of and want to experience for themselves. It's not hard to rile them up when so many of them only really understand the danger of their jobs in the theoretical ...

... Turns out almost dying, almost losing people, again and again over time, makes you cocky

And Would Lockwood put kids' in the kind of disposable child soldier in the ghost war danger the other agencies do? No,

Not on purpose

Not without his Agents' enthusiastic consent and foreknowledge of the situation inside

Not without leading them into that danger himself

He's not going to sit outside under the ghost lamp while other people fight, for fuck's sake

(Kipps leaves, because he for one won't be party this kind of abandon, not again

Lockwood doesn't quite understand why)

Because they've got it, right? They're Lockwood & Co, the best, the boldest, with the lowest agent death rate in the country and this is the way to see the agency through the next handful of generations of figuring out how to end the Problem and then dismantling it at its source, piece by piece,

(it ends in disaster)

And it's going to to be a fucking miracle that everyone makes it out alive

Sometimes the infestation is so bad that only workable solution is bulldozing the site under light of day and setting the ruins on fire and

It is only by virtue of everyone making it out alive, if not unscathed (they don't Lose Agents but they lose agents), that keeps Lockwood & Co from flat out losing their accreditation, which is not something that has been a meaningful possibility in some years

But Lockwood?

Is still young and stubborn and he's the first of the three of them losing his Talent and he has not told anyone (obfuscation and selective dispensation of the truth aren't lies, they're barely even secrets, and it's still his name on the door)

(lucy: "and our lives on the line. All of us. And no one is setting so much as the toecap of a boot on any kind of job until you get your head on straight--and we--"

george: "--consider us on strike."

lockwood: "you can't--”

george: "can we not? or do you want me to start on collective bargaining precedent? because I will paraphrase right now")

And that is how Lockwood & Co gets a new set of rules and six months (minimum) of spirited (ha) debate about rebranding.

After boyo gets his head on straight.

Y'know. And then they kiss.

[lemonsharks]

(Welp, new influential post to the Lucy-Norrie roleswap au that lives in my head. (That is, Lucy is the one whose best friend drags her out of the mill, and due to a handful of very inconsequential-seeming differences which lead to that situation, both girls live. And nothing is the same ever after.))

Jacobs, to Lucy: Would you say that you're independent?

Lucy: *looks at Norrie*

Norrie: *nods*

Lucy, to Jacobs: Yes, I’d say so.

[lockwood-fic-recs]

March Masterlist

All the fics we shared in the third month of 2024!! Thank you again for all the support :)) We'll keep sharing as long as you keep reading! <3

04/03 | The boy out of time by The_Biscuit_Agreement

07/03 | lavender, sunshine, and salt by hazelnut_chai

08/03 | [EXPLICIT] Through The Open Flames by ScienceFantasy93

11/03 | Stone Walls and Light Cracks (This will be us) by Mirroringdust

14/03 | the sum of our shadows by RainShadow07

18/03 | i’ve never seen someone lit from within (blurring out my periphery) by youareiron_andyouarestrong

19/03 | Ask: Good Boyfriend Lockwood Fluff

21/03 | Buttered Toast (And Other Essentials) by ConYamArtist

22/03 | [EXPLICIT] caught up in orbit by Anonymous

25/03 | Second Choices by MissPennington

28/03 | First Question, Alive or Dead? by lemonsharks

[lockwood-ot3]

Lockwood & Co Fic Recs: cot3

Lucy/Lockwood/George fanfic recs! By no means comprehensive.

Last updated 7/8/23

I Found A Fox, Caught By Dogs by @twelfthbite Some of the best tension in a scene between L/L/G I have read. My goodness. light kink & D/s tone Literally Everything by TheMalapert but especially her L&Co Bodega Series which includes "Ghosts made them do it" Literally Everything by chahakyn / @shizuoi see my Author Spotlight for extended summaries!

Better than Before Series by @lemonsharks Stunning tension between cot3, then progresses further into the relationship. features the amazing line: "George, I," Lockwood said, then hesitated. "I like the way you look at me, too." Sweet Somethings Series by justice_for_skull (hyper_fix) Insanely hot series including free use & cockwarming. So hot, and soft at the same time.

Sink or Swim by @waiting-for-my-hogwarts-letter Mermaid AU! Freedivers Lockwood and George; local mermaid Lucy

Someone Throw A Lifeline (I Don't Wanna Drown) by @waiting-for-my-hogwarts-letter pre-cot3. Anthony Lockwood hates storms.

Interpolation (A Line We Drew In the Array) by @iantalks Great pacing, and ballet.

Honey honey honey (series) by @fromjannah Pre/developing Lucy/Lockwood/George

aftershocks by @aberfaeth Fantastic magic system theory concept, well-executed

Chivalry Fell on Its Sword by alphabetsoup4u cute get together fic

Kiss It Better by @wolfjawswriter Cute, with fun banter.

whiskers on kittens by 11pmbed great pacing, Locklye --> ot3 progression with fantastic confession from Lockwood

at last, peter rabbit made his way home by 11pmbed drunk!Lockwood & spot-on dynamics between the three of them

Tea for Three by IceAngels sweet ot3 w/ plenty of tea & an observant Portland Row neighbor

Could Never Want For More When I'm Here by @dont-offend-the-bees like a warm hug. fantastic ot3 dynamics!

Gunshots Are More Powerful Than Sheer Stubbornness by @between-two-fandoms such great Lockwood POV, showcasing how & why it's hard for him to be vulnerable. so sweet thunderbolt through my body by @sa-heelies amazing view of George thru Lockwood's perspective and it feels good to be known, so well by @paladinbaby Lucy & George, then George & Lockwood. it takes Lucy & lockwood a minute but they get it together pieces of you and me (and us) by @grasslandgirl bright and dark and beautiful

you should never know how easy you are to need by @grasslandgirl Lockwood develops Hanahaki. Death by heartbreak, and all. Dreadfully boring.

Dressed in Black (head to toe) by cherriepixie27 the Lockwood Dress Fic

Domino Effect by cherriepixie27 insanely hot Maysturbation fic - chain reaction of overhearing each other

chase the echoes from the rafters by @sanvitheartificer Three scenes of Lucy, Lockwood, and George loving each other on purpose.

Turning Saints into the Sea (Series) by @alphacrone “Georgie.” Lucy tilted her head up to look at him. “Do you love him?”

i'd blind myself to see it by @hazelnutchai Includes kissing (for science!) and then kissing (not for science)

Sundress Season by Lindzm1318 getting together Pride!fic with Lucy doing face paints, queer Kipps & Kat, (well, queer everyone) and Lucy irresistible in a sundress, of course. The Night Started Like Any Other by @siapom pre/developing cot3 featuring George in a too-small towel

Blinding Lights by @kennysbirthday Lockwood gets a migraine, and George knows how to help. Lucy follows his lead. featuring great banter

you only live forever in the lights you make by @thethinkingcloth two years after she was ghost-locked, Norrie wakes up. book spoilers! found family goodness, and not just for our cot3 The Care & Keeping of AJ Lockwood by FionaDunn featuring Dom!George with some smokin' hot dirty talk!

hug all your friends and let them know by @beautifulmakkaris Contrary to popular opinion, Lucy realises she’s in love with both boys on the same day.

Please also check out my cot3 fanfiction on Ao3 (Rainshadow07)

Updated 7.8.23

[chibiosaka]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

tagged by @yarrowseed <3

3 ships: Locklyle, Cot3, and Reylo (I know, I know)

1st ever ship: I wanna say RobinXStarfire cause that was when I first started writing fanfiction but I think from like, my earliest memories my way of understanding media was that female characters existed to be romantic interests for the male characters so I honestly don't know. Probably Robin Hood and Maid Marian?

last song: Tokyo Calling by Atarashii Gakko, I just discovered them on YouTube and I love them already

last film: Godzilla Minus One, went to see it with my partner and cried, it was so good

currently reading: After School Lessons For Unripe Apples-Webtoon by Soonki, but it just went on hiatus :C Planning to do a read-together of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language with my mom and sister next month.

currently watching: On my...third? Re-watch of Crazy-Ex Girlfriend, and catching up on What We Do in the Shadows with my partner. We also watch Pretty Cure together, the current season is Soaring Sky Pretty Cure. It's cute but it drives me bananas that the magical sidekick for this season is a literal baby, I hate it so much.

currently consuming: Panang Curry I made for dinner. I put too much fish sauce, but it's not bad.

currently craving: Chocolate. As always.

tagging!

@frostingzamboni @ohmyoverland @hailqiqi @starwritingbri @luckylolabug @cats-and-metersticks @lemonsharks @itripandfallalot @shizuoi

obviously optional etc and you can still do this if i didn't tag you and you still want to do this go ahead!

[lemonsharks]

"I see him from the street right now, slotted between his window curtains. He's getting thinner, our pretty boy.

"You need to drop this while I still have the restraint for it. Think how hard it will be for me to stop after I've heard him beg like you have.

"I'm only flesh, Lucy. We're so far beyond stacking them like sacks of earth inside the garden shed.

"I can only wait to hurt him like you have for so long."

Thinking about a story where, during the time Lucy has left Lockwood and Co, Lucy ends up getting herself tangled up in the life of a murdered ghost and is determined to work out who was behind it only for her to get a letter posted through her letterbox from the murderer saying that if she doesn’t stop investigating she will never see Lockwood again. 

She goes to 35 Portland Row to warn him only to learn from George that Lockwood has been missing for two days. Lucy begins to spiral as she rushes to work out who has taken Lockwood, feeling like nothing she can do will keep him from getting killed because of her.

[malkaleh]

7, 36, 43 for fic writer ask game

7. Do you prefer to read short fics or longfics?

I believe I lean towards long fics - which is possibly due to being a LOTR person ;). I love being able to just get lost in a fic/fic series

36. Are there any fics or fandoms you’re embarrassed to have written or been part of?

So I try not to say embarrassed because if I do I will end up deleting everything I have ever written and I think in every fandom I have learned something, met some lovely friends and such. There are definitely things I wish I’d written better in terms of knowing what I know now but I think what I’ve had to do is resolve to do better and know that I’ve evolved.

(A lot of it is - realising it’s okay to write the kind of characters I want to write. It’s okay to write biracial and Jewish characters because ME. It’s okay to write about trauma and write self indulgent stuff. I think I’m still working on that one but I’m better about it).

43. Talk about a positive experience with fanfiction or the fanfiction community that you will always remember

I just I have so many. Meeting my best friend in the comments of a fic community and starting a journey of brainstorming and fic plotting and so many multiverse AUs we are super great @armyofthedaegiloth <3. Hanging out with @notabuddhist eating pancakes and talking about Star Trek. Talking on the phone with @star-anise and @lemonsharks and @shes-a-voodoo-child about fandom and life and me being like MY SAATIS. All my friends/sisters/sibling friends who have been there, who love me and like me.

It’s a really lovely thing. I have found my faith, my heritage and the fact that maybe, just maybe I am not tainted so yep, a lot of good.

[lemonsharks]

sometimes I think about cho chang

I need to be working at work, not writing an entire essay (too late) about How To Introduce Cho Chang (for starters, not with that name) And Not Have Her Entire Character Arc Be A Massive Fail

And, well, it would build out into a large not!fic that I am not starting because: I am also working on a queer/ish regency romance series set in magical england (still figuring out what bits of 'worldbuilding' to keep/toss, as "adding magic" means keeping sexism etc is now a deliberate choice)

1) introduce important characters for later as soon as you can

2) portray them through a lens other than the pov character's thirst, ie, people go for "friends to lovers" way more than they go for "she's hot to lovers"

3) portray characters through their actions, not their stated traits

4) if you're pulling a late- or mid-game love interest switcheroo, and you want audience sympathy, you really need to do it with a character for whom you've already built some sympathy.

Anyway. if I WERE writing the Cho Character Redemption Fic (because I'm already writing the not!fic apparently...)

fix Cho's backstory:

She'd be chinese-korean, for one: two muggle-born parents, bonded over being asian at the most anglo school in the universe. ("My English name is X. My Chinese name is Y. My Korean name is Z. I answer to all 3 of them so pick the one you can pronounce without extra coaching and do not call me [Offensive mispronunciation Q].)

Cho's grandparents are the expected amount of disapproving that their kids (1) did not follow their plans for their educations and (2) married outside of their nationalities but (3) ADORE their granddaughter enough to (begrudgingly?) follow their kids rules about grandparenting (most of the time).

Cho herself appears periodically throughout books 1-3 as a peripheral friend of Harry and Hermione who is sometimes called upon when they new eyes on a problem

She still sorts into Ravenclaw, but it's as much for her common sense as her book smarts. She's seen around campus as a friend to Luna in books 2-3.

Introduce Cho earlier, via not cancelling quidditch in book 3.

an overheard/witnessed conversation in ... book 1 or 2: Some Tool: "Where are you from" Cho: "Glasgow" S.T.: "No I mean where are you REALLY--" Cho: "Whin ah say a'm fae glescae ah mean a'm fae (*&^%!) glescae "

at which point Harry realizes that that wow, 1) wizards have some of the same prejudices muggles have, and 2) he'd like to get to know this girl better, because she has a firecracker personality. ie, make her More Scottish.

Book 2 or 3 sees Cho become Harry's Quidditch Friend.

Book 3 sees Cho become Hermione's Study Friend/

Cho catches the snitch but Gryffindor wins the match; Harry is gracious about it and Cho responds, cheerfully, in defense of both her teammates and the Gryffindor team's skills. They have some time so they get into an interesting conversation about snitch-catch "end with points" vs "simple end" rules (does catching the snitch end the match and earn 150 points or does it simply end the match? this is a matter of DEEP IMPORTANCE and MANY impassioned letters to the editor.) At some point we find out that Cho reads The Quibbler, which gives her some unexpected depth. "Only under the covers with alohamora ;) "

Re-arrange the trio, Hermione's backstory, GOF dynamic:

Ron and Harry are already fighting, but this time Hermione firmly takes Ron's side.

Because Hermione's parents are dentists, but they're also dentists in the 80s and living anywhere from just to oh shit above their means. Plus, the GBP to Wizard exchange rate skews heavily in favor of Wizard, and Hogwarts tuition, which richer than god Harry doesn't have to worry about, is expensive. Books and tools are expensive. Even cat food (you think Crookshanks tolerates anything but the bougiest of magical cat food?) is expensive.

Hermione Understands Poverty, and while it's not like Ron understands poverty, it is in her own way. She has talked her parents into telling her more about their finances than she has any right to know. ("Nothing that's actually happening could possibly be worse than what I've come up with in my own head.")

Hermione was a scholarship kid at her primary school but she's not one at Hogwarts (something about )

She has significantly less patience for Harry's empty-headed "it's just money, it's not important"ing

Because this Hermione? has come home to find the lights turned off because Dad paid the credit cards and not the electricity, then forgot to call the electric company and arrange a payment plan), but she's never woken up hungry the week before payday because Mum magicked extra food into the family dinner.

She's not Rich like Harry and her parents would NEVER self-identify as working class and probably don't vote labour, despite it being against their best interests and she's absolutely listened to her parents argue about whether paying their own mortgage or their employees' salaries is more pressing, because one too many patients wrote them a hot check this past fortnight.

(the answer is your employees. you pay your employees before you pay yourself. then the business bills. then your own household bills.)

So you get a secondary trio for GOF:

Harry, Cedric, and Cho

Harry approaches Cedric early on and goes: I swear I didn't put my name in the cup. You're the real champion and I'm going to stay out of your way so you can *be* champion.

Harry deliberately loses all of the Triwizard events, because he didn't sign up and he's not supposed to be there and they can force him to participate but they can't force him to try.

Cedric and Cho are not dating, but they are very dear friends (Cedric having been Cho's Dad Friend during books 1-3, as she also had a lot of Hufflepuff friends.)

They activate the room of requirement without realizing they've activated the room of requirement, because Gryffindor is being shitty to Harry about not trying to win and Hufflepuff is being "???????" to Cedric for befriending Harry.

Cho asks Harry to the yule ball, because all the boys are too intimidated by her to ask for themselves. Harry accepts. It's weird but not bad-weird but still weird-weird. They decide to keep being just friends for now.

They (Cedric and Cho particularly) have suspicions about "Mad-Eye" that none of them can substantiate, which is DEEPLY FRUSTRATING.

"Mad-Eye" keeps creeping on Harry, which causes Yet More Conflict with Ron and Hermione ("special treatment, ugh") but which Cedric and Cho find fucking creepy because it's fucking creepy

Harry comes to rely on Cedric and Cho for reality checks--and more importantly, learns how to ask for a reality check when he needs one.

At some point Harry gives up his conviction that Something Is Up With Snape, to be turned upside-down and sideways in book 5-6-7.

Someone, probably Cedric, spells it out in small words money makes people weird. It's a pride thing, and it's stupid, but when you don't have any money you have to cling to what you do have, and so very often that's pride, therefore setting up his reconciliation with Ron and Hermione at the beginning of book 5.

Harry actually puts in some effort in the maze, but only once he realizes that Cedric and Cho are in danger.

Ending is roughly the same as canon book 5.

[codenamecynic]

hatorade replies like whoa

How dare you force me to read the entire thing three times! You monster!

thievinghippo replied to your post “Nothing like getting AO3 hate on a clearly tagged kink fic by someone...”

why are people like this?

locketofyourhair replied to your post “Nothing like getting AO3 hate on a clearly tagged kink fic by someone...”

i am so tired of people acting like aooo should be a safe space. It's tagged, you're warned, and it's your problem, anon-hate-commenter. >:(

servantofclio replied to your post “Nothing like getting AO3 hate on a clearly tagged kink fic by someone...”

omg what

lemonsharks replied to your post “Nothing like getting AO3 hate on a clearly tagged kink fic by someone...”

set them on fire

So like.  I mean.  You guys know, I’m kind of ‘come at me bro’ when it comes to people throwing shade at my fanfiction (oh no! two cartoons fucking?! YOUR RELIGION WHAT WILL YOU DO i don’t care), but I did delete them just because I felt like it was kind of like unexpected douchery that anyone else reading shouldn’t be eyeball blistered by.

That being said though, if a fic is rated Explicit and the tags are illustrative of just about every kind of sexytime that  you can expect to have in the fic, like I’m? Not? Sorry?  Also it’s not a short fucking fic, it’s over 6K words long, whaaat are you doing with your life that you made notes on parts that you hated, I mean shit.  Go to the kitchen, eat a twinkie, raise that blood sugar and maybe click out of this fic because somewhere between ‘bondage’ and ‘vibrator’ you probably should have figured out it wasn’t for you.  Just saying.

Still,  “ridiculous purile filth” is legit one of the best things anyone has ever said to me.  And maybe the misspelling made me giggle.

[lemonsharks]

Yeah that's what Lucy does, too.

She gets home, flips Skull's talking valve into the "shut up" position, and sobs until she can't breathe through her nose anymore.

Starts recording a tape for Norrie about what a terrible day she's had but before she can really get through much she's fully committed to ugly-crying, ends up balling up a sweater and using that as a pillow because her actual pillow has become saturated on both sides and she cannot deal with the building's awful shared laundry situation right now.

(She erases the tape, including the previous week's worth of postcard-length audio bits and bobs, which is really just the icing on the cake.)

She is not out of tea which is the only thing that could possibly make her experience of existing worse, although Skull would say, are you sure about that?

Which is why she flipped his taking valve to "shut up"

Lucy does not ugly-cry often. It's something she thought she'd trained out of herself before she'd even started at Jacobs'. And the part where suddenly it always feels like there's too much of herself for her to deal with on her own is not something she spends a lot of time examining closely.

I feel like I haven't contributed at all to locklyle sadness today so here we go: do yall think that once lucy leaves, he imagines seeing her everywhere?? and I'm not saying like "oh he sees a girl w brown hair and convinces himself for a second that it's lucy and then snaps out of it" I'm saying like at the very least once a week he sees a girl w brown hair and genuinely believes that like lucy has come back or that there's some random bit of good karma that's acting in bringing lucy back to him.

I have a personal idea for a fic that goes w this hc that I'm gonna share. one day he's out like grocery shopping w george and he sees a girl w brown hair and bangs and a similar face shape and from the angle he's at he is dead certain that it's lucy. he like runs away from george and gets to her counter but goes into the employee only entrance just to find out that this girl is, in fact, not lucy. (also this girl eventually becomes Holly's gf but that's neither here nor there) ANYWHOM he has to go back to george and apologize to the girl he scared and he and george don't talk about it for the rest of the night until it's like almost midnight and neither of them can sleep so they're in the library and george just whispers "I thought it was her too" and then lockwood just. breaks down.

@givemea-dam-break I feel like ur gonna yell at me

[lockwood-fic-recs]

First Question, Alive or Dead?

by lemonsharks on ao3

Rating: T | Category: Multi | Relationship: Lockwood/Lucy/George

Lockwood appeared in the kitchen doorway a little later, his face bloodless as he cleared his throat for their attention.

"So," he said, glancing back and forth between Lucy and George with glassy eyes and eerie calm. "I cannot move my arm."

The aftermath of Kensel Green. It takes them a while to get from the ambulance to breakfast table.

[lockwood-fic-recs]

Fic Discussion #52

Our second fic from last week was First Question, Alive or Dead?, and it's time to start a discussion! Kicking off straight after the end of the final episode, we get a little taste of the trio's relationship while navigating Lockwood's injury. What did you think? Reply or reblog using the tag #lockwoods book club and let us know!

[lemonsharks]

Have some light meta fandom wank set in @mihrsuri’s tudors OT3 universe

_____

yeet-lizabeth

You know what my very favorite thing is?

Two THOUSAND words of hot take about Mirimah-as-converso on my dash in the morning, and not a readmore in sight.

And by favorite thing I mean don’t make me scroll through that dumpster fire

triptychxx

@ / dinners-in-the-hand-of-a-hangry-god again? 🙄

yeet-lizabeth

Who else?

tudorprotectorate

I've literally never seen this person before now, who even DOES THAT

tudorprotectorate

I just scrolled through her tumblr (instant block) and WTF WTF WTF

I mean did you sleep through the entire 90s? I could understand it if she was a continental or something, education is all over the place over there, but she’s from freaking SWANSEA.

And I know that most of the “DID U KNO Thomas I welcomed his wife’s imam into their household some years into their marriage” is usually like ... A Levels stuff but

But

yeet-lizabeth

that’s a big ‘yep’ on the slept through the papers thing; she’s a restorationist

tudorprotectorate

so much becomes clear

It’s not like we don’t have children’s picture books about the triad and how different families are different

It’s not like the papers haven’t gone through forensic analysis or anything

Where do these people COME from?

triptychxx

I can answer that!

Dinners is big time wanker from New Netherlands fandom who jumped over to Triad because fave actor crossover

Thinks reading one (1) reactionary pop history book makes her an expert in all history that ever happened, never even mind fandom and canon, yknow what I mean?

Possibly a tradwife. Can’t tell. Her description keeps changing.

[lemonsharks]

@mihrsuri somebody’s going to end up shipping the fandom OCs eventually. I’d put money on it. In fact, it’s going on my 2021 bingo card.

(Pending lil approval I hereby declare that the Starbucks analog for not particularly good yet consistent coffee and coffee like beverages is called Argonauts’ in this universe)

hrhlottie1official:

PhD shenaniganry of the now:

we’re not racist, we just like deifying the man (movement) that deposed the first english king to marry a Black African princess

I knew diving back into this subculture had a 30% chance of breaking me but they could at least TRY for something original

[secret sideblog, dm me for followback]

tudorprotectorate:

I will personally mail you a £5 note if you make the working title the final title

hrhlottie1official:

Thou shalt not antagonize my committee, meg. 11th commandment. We’ve been over this

tudorprotectorate:

Yeah but it’s such a great title, though, how are you going to beat ‘in limp defense of the roundhead king: an anthropological discussion of one woman’s ##-year reimmersion into the modern restorationist community or; when the material reality of one’s day to day existence was better in 1650 SOMETHING HAS GONE HORRIBLY WRONG’

hrhlottie1official:

sometimes you just have to sit back and have yourself a little primordial scream. As a goodie

At least I haven’t run into my freaking dad yet, right? Right?

tudorprotectorate:

IDK, pater throwing you into the quasi-arranged marriage of his networking dreams might lend your work a certain je nais se qua, an authority to speak on the topic, a set of roots within the community you’ve chosen to study

Oh wait that’s ‘gone native’ bullshit n/m

(I JOKE. I JOKE. @ everyone I’ve already volunteered my amateur womens’ rugby team for an extraction if lotz over there needs it 😘)

hrhlottie1official:

*primordial scream* AAAAAAAAAAHHHhh

You owe me £50 and a bottle of scotch old enough to vote for emotional distress

tudorprotectorate:

done

only if you use the working title though

sailingintosunstars:

I realize this is showing up half an hour late with an argonauts’ but I NEED to read this thesis when it’s done @ hrhlottie1official

tudorprotectorate:

That’s what I said! Then she impressed me into service alpha-reading her applications and THEN she was like oh yes I’m going back into the cult, don’t worry about me BITCH I’M ALREADY INVESTED IN YOUR WELL-BEING OK

[lemonsharks]

Signs of affection meme. 20. Anora/Isabela

20 - a confession

The sea lapped faintly at the hull. The sails were still, the crew languid as they ever got to be. Some whittled. Some whistled, or sang off-key tunes better suited to work in rough weather, and Anora leaned over the railing above the prow with sweat in her plaited hair and salt on her skin. 

The sun hung high overhead, but her skin had long ago crisped to a faint, freckled brown--she wouldn't burn today, or tomorrow, or at all without several months indoors rubbing lemon on her nose to bleach the dark marks out. She tapped her foot behind her, cracked her neck and listened to the rumbling voices of crewmen at a game of cards. 

When had the ship become so small? The anchor was up, not that it mattered in a sea calm as glass. Anora thought she might shatter if she fell, though she adopted a set of sea legs long ago and never quite got re-accustomed to land. 

They could give her the crown of Ferelden now and she wouldn't take it, no, she would bow her head with the coronet in her hands and rise, hand it back to the Revered Mother and apologize, because she had not let politeness go, and the strictures of the court held no appeal for her any longer. 

Humming, behind her, a few bars of what-do-you-do-with-a-drunken-sailor, and she knew Isabela's tone as well as she knew her own reflection. Though her captain had only the one small, cloudy mirror in her cabin. Anora didn't turn, but she did hum another bar and lifted her voice in a chorus that drew out Isabela's throaty laugh. 

"If the damned wind would just pick up," Isabela said, matching Anora's pose over the railing. 

The woman on the prow, carved of hardwood and long ago washed clean by the sea, said nothing. 

"We would hardly be here, wasting time," Anora replied.

"Hmm. There is that. And yet, here we are, becalmed."

"I would ask you to dance if it wouldn't make both of us a laughingstock." 

"You're in luck then," Isabela said, "I'm quite a terrible dancer. Especially when I'm not properly drunk--and I'm not. Properly drunk."

It was Anora's turn to laugh, to press the coil in her stomach down once again, the call to a life bigger than this one, her lover's first mate on a ship small enough to go unnoticed in most ports. Big enough for hidey-holes and hidden, smuggled cargo in the hold, the sun on her back and the clatter of dice down the deck. 

She had made no promises--none to Isabela, nor to herself--and she knew she could leave the next time they made berth with no complaint and no need for word, but that wasn't her--that wasn't the person she had been, nor the one she had become in the years since the Blight and the king drove her from her throne. 

There had been no itch, no half-frantic drive to put herself elsewhere, see shores far beyond the ones that had come beneath her gaze so far. And she could. She had learned so much, since she took a place among Isabela's crew, since she had first boarded another ship with a scimitar between her teeth and stolen away the best of its cargo. 

"Something's weighing on you," Isabela said. 

She could have shot back irritation at their sad, still state, but that would only give way to probing questions. Isabela knew her too well, and she stretched like one of the ship's cats and let her arm fall around Anora's waist and ease her close. 

Anora sighed, though lightning ran down her spine. Best to say it quickly so she could bandage the cut left behind. 

"The next ship we take," she began. She turned in Isabela's arms so she rested against the rail with her hands on Isabela's hips and Isabela herself wrapped around her. Gold eyes met green, and Anora licked her lips. She said, "I want the next ship we take."

She was close--so close she could taste Isabela's skin beneath her tongue if she just leaned forward, and her breath caught between her lungs in the moments after she spoke. 

I want to leave you, I'm done with this life we've built, I'm ready to start my own elsewhere...

But Isabela smiled and bent down for a searing kiss that Anora could not help but return. When they were done, she said, "It's about time, sweet thing."

[lemonsharks]

marigold/yarrow for Ellendra/Mattrin :D

There is a Templar called Mattrin in Haven, found arguing with Lysette. Possibly/probably the same one from the side-quest My Lover’s Phylactery. From which we acquire Enchanter Ellendra as an agent.  

Ellendra is no spirit healer.

She turns her phylactery over in her hand until it shines, the blood within bubbling from agitation, the crystal glinting in the thin autumn light. Mattrin, she thinks, you should be here. But Mattrin was foolhardy in life, always at the edge of a conflict. Mattrin who could never say no to a chance to prove himself best.

She sighed, and put the phylactery away among her things. I should destroy it, she thinks, I should break the seal over the fire and finish it with a spell of erasing, of ending things. I know the spells, I've done them before.

With sanction. Always with sanction. And the Inquisition needs more hands now, at Haven, needs her hands and her bandages and her spells. She has the First Enchanter's word, and that is the best word she will get in the chaos left over from the world.

She makes the trek through the mountains with the irregular soldiers recruited from refugee stock. Pop in to Haven for a bit of training for them, pop back out into the world when they've a little more polish on their armor. A little more armor on their thin flesh and bony shoulders.

Ellendra wonders: will she be allowed back out into the world? Would she go if they gave her that chance? She had been a Loyalist in the Circle, well-respected and tidy in her every move. The safest way. Mattrin loved to tease her, though there was never any acid in it. Never the smallest trace of Templar superiority in his voice or step. For all the bravado, when he stood beside her at the evening meal he would whisper questions or quips and she would have to shush him. You're supposed to be silent watchers, remember?

"What was it like, growing up here?"

"The same as growing up anywhere else. The children are supposed to obey the adults but often don't, and often regret it later."

"What does magic feel like?"

"Exactly what it is. Quiet, you."

Meals are served to the whole of the Inquisition, a jumble of Templars and mages and ordinary folk caught up in the mess after the conclave.

Ellendra has never felt quite so alone.

The Archdemon comes as a surprise. They had known the force they faced was great, had known their chances were quite slim all told, had known very little about the enemy they would one day have to fight. And that the Breach closed with such little effort on their part, a few hundred mages and the Herald of Andraste at their fore, seemed quite the joke.

Too easy.

She steps high through the blowing snow, raising her knees in the march of a soldier on parade, just to get past the snow. She'd been from Cumberland, before her magic erupted. Been from the Cumberland Circle afterward, and had never seen a flake of snow before she came to Ferelden. It stuck to her clothes and sank with tiny biting teeth into her flesh and made her shiver beneath the too-light cloak.

Made her wish for Mattrin at her side, made her hate the phylactery she wore around her neck, glowing dimly and warm in the unlit night.

He had always run hot. Like a furnace even on the coldest nights, so that she cast off blankets and rucked her nightdress up around her thighs so that she could stay near him just a little longer. Before he kissed her neck and made a terrible joke and slipped back to his duties, his absence unnoticed and his absence sorely felt.

They camp at last on the sheltered side of a ridge, on Commander Cullen's orders. She would rest, but there are injured to tend, and she is good at least with hot water and bandages. Good at soothing hurts, good at talking laughter into the dying and might-be-dying.

She hefts a woman down from a wagon and lays her out beside one of their fires, lays a warming spell upon the ground and bedroll, and the tight line of her mouth eases a little. One of the proper healers sets and splints her broken arm while Ellendra holds her other hand, lets her squeeze down tight and leave fingernail crescents pressed into Ellendra's own flesh.

She is the first of many that night. Cleaning wounds and warming the cold with her mana and holding attention and shoulders all through a line of stitches.

"Mage! Come! He'll freeze to death!" and so she leaves her patient with clean cloth wrapped around his head and goes, the nearest mage to the healer calling out.

She has precious little energy left, and the pale pink glow behind the clouds to the east suggests it might be morning, though through the snow and thick clouds you would never know it. Ellendra breathes in and snatches at the sparks within herself, coaxes them up into the crackle of a fire, and lays her hands upon the chest of this man who might die without her help.

He goes from stillness to shivers to a ragged cough, and after a time he says a handful of words Ellendra cannot make out above the wind. Instead she turns and retrieves a cup of hot water--the bubbling pots of food are elsewhere, the flask at her hip long-since emptied of whiskey--and holds it to his lips while he drinks. She watches his fingertips around the vessel change from white to red.

"Never thought you'd be the one warming me up," he says, when he's finished with his drink, and Ellendra starts.

She has not yet looked at his face. She does, now.

Mattrin has three days of beard upon his cheeks and chin, but the same brightness in his eyes, and she can't think of anything to say at all. Instead she lays her forehead upon his shoulder and sobs. He clutches at the back of her neck with cold fingers, and this time he shushes her.

"You were dead!" she says between the hiccoughs that have bubbled up inside her throat, because he had been dead, she was sure of it.

"That's rather a long story," he tells her, then says, "Help me sit and I'll start from the beginning."