#no more turtbles....

[istherewifiinhell]

Area blogger succumbs to sadness when it realises there no more childrens cartoon to watch...

[some-pers0n]

Restless Nights

Fandom: WoF

Characters: Qibli, Winter

CW: Mentions of night terrors, trauma, etc

Summary: Qibli's having troubles falling asleep, kept up by the Bad Thoughts again. Yet, through it all, he hears someone nearby shuffling through papers.

Word Count: 1.0k

A/N: Oh SHOOT it's almost the end of gay month- TAKE THIS!! I'm not typically a Qinter writer. I've ranted before about how I don't quite care for the main fandom interpretation and how I prefer Turtbli, but eh,,,sometimes you just gotta write it.

Qibli tossed and turned, unable to fall back asleep. It was one of those nights again. You know the type. The ones where you flip and flop from one side to the other without rest. The ones where you try counting sheep only to get distracted after the first hundred or so. The ones where unwanted thoughts and ideas pester you nonstop. You know they aren't true, but, hey, it's nighttime and everything's possible; including believing that everyone hates you and can't stand the persona you've built.

So, yeah. Great. Just terrific. Lovely night as always. Wouldn't be him if he didn't constantly worry that his closest friends despised him. He rolled over once more, dwelling away in his thoughts.

However, as he did so, the still darkness wavered for a moment. First, some rustling. Then, a tiny scraping sound. At last, light. Despite his eyelids blocking most of it out, he could see a tiny orange flare flickering away.

Obviously, he became curious. There was something happening right in front of him. He'd be an idiot to not at least look. That's what he's been taught to do since he crawled out of the egg: sleep with both eyes half-open just in case somebody's decided to put a hit on you.

He squinted. His eyes were adjusted to the pitch-black room that was his sleeping quarters. On the other side he saw something quite odd.

Winter was there. He was laying on his bed of embroidered cushions and silky blankets, several scrolls sprawled out. An inkwell rested nearby, which he dipped an icy blue claw into and began to write on one such scroll. A couple tall wax candles were dotted around him, their wicks just recently lit.

"What are you doing?..." Qibli asked, his voice hoarse and groggy.

Winter's head shot up. "Nothing!" he hissed, quickly grabbing the scrolls and shoving them under the pillows.

"Oh, nothing? I couldn't tell you were doing nothing. Sure looks like you were doing something, but I guess writing on scrollpaper at...moons above, what time is it right now?"

"Late," Winter said, "the moons are at their peak. Besides, what does it matter what I'm doing?"

"C'mon, don't be a pain in the tail here. I've...actually got a bit of a headache here," he half-lied.

The corners of Winter's mouth tightened as his eyebrows furrowed. "I see. I don't think sitting there and talking is really going to help with that though. It only makes you and I more stressed. Hows about you try- oh I don't know- going to bed?"

"No can do, frost-face," he lightly teased. "I can't really sleep right now."

"What? Why?"

"Just can't. It's one of those nights again."

A look of familiarity stretched across Winter's face. He let out an exhale. "Right. Of course. Sometimes I forget you get like that too."

"Even after our big talk like a month ago?"

"My mind wasn't concerned with you at all. I have other things to worry about."

"So you care more about 'doing nothing' than about me right now?"

"That's not what-" He took a small breath. "If you're looking for sympathy right now, you're not going to get it by teasing me."

"Sorry! You're just an easy target," Qibli snickered, but surely enough the guilt settled back in. "But... You know what, never mind. Sorry about that. Shouldn't've been a jerk like that."

Winter tilted his head. "Is it really that bad enough for you to admit that your wrong?"

"No, I just..." Qibli rubbed his face. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing work."

"What kind of work?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"I just wanna know what it is. I kinda like hearing you talk. Gives me something else to listen to."

Winter stared blankly for a moment, eventually breaking the eye contact. "It's a personal project. It involves scavengers."

"Scavengers? You're still into them?"

"You thought I wasn't?" he scoffed. "I'll have you know that I'm planning something with the council in Sanctuary. A little plan that'll perhaps help in letting dragons come to realize that these aren't mindless pests." Winter's voice got more intense at the tail-end of that sentence.

"Didn't know you were that passionate about them. That's cool! Much better thing to like than...I dunno, nothing." He slipped out of his little alcove. "You mind if I sit next to you?"

"Uhh," he stammered. "I suppose. Just don't muddy up anything or I'll slit your throat."

"Heartwarming." Qibli plopped himself right next to him. "What sort of stuff are you planning? You've been gone from Jade Mountain for a while. I'd assume it's for something big."

"You could say as much. It's a program that'll go on for a couple months at a school we're building there. Animal studies and whatnot, but with a focus on scavengers and their society." Winter pulled out a scroll, his signature neat and dainty writing all over it to the point where there was more black ink than pale-brown paper. "I took a couple notes." He continued to pull out even more scrollpaper, all of which with similar amounts of writing.

"Three moons, that's a lot."

"Really? I don't think it even comes close to the amount I could jot down. Scavengers are brilliant when you get to them. You have to actually be around them and watch them as opposed to eating them like a savage beast."

"What do they like to do?" At this point, Qibli was pretty interested in what he had to say. Truth be told, he was never all that into scavengers. They were weird creatures, but he never gave them too much thought. However, listening to Winter talk so passionately about them was thrilling. It was entertaining to watch him ramble for once in his life about something he loved. Something he wholeheartedly loved. Not something he was told to love, like his tribe or whatnot. He was talking about a true passion.

It calmed him, listening to Winter speak. Everything felt much better around him. He'd never quite met a dragon before that was so easy to be around. Yes, he could be cold and distant at times, but there was nobody else who really got him. Who understood the words he said. Who knew what it was like when he finally admitted to wanting to put down this mask he puts up around others.

Winter was special to him. Winter made him happy.

[wingsoffireconfessions]

Do you have any good m/m ships? I would love to see what's out there ^^

absolutely! as before i have also crowdsourced this bc i am bad at remembering. also as before, the ship names i know of are in brackets

ships that i see pretty often:

Qibli / Winter ( qinter )

Turtle / Qibli ( qirtle, turtbli )

… that’s really it? I’ve seen these around so much that I guess I just kind of thought there were more, but. Mostly these two.

ships that i don’t see often but still hypothetically exist and/or that i want to exist so i’m putting them on this popular blog (mostly just that i don’t see often) :

Stonemover / Webs ( stonewebs, webstone ) ( bad dads club )

Starflight / Flame ( starflame, flameflight )

Six-Claws / Smolder ( haha, smolclaws )

Darkstalker / Fathom ( darkfathom )

Jambu / Riptide ( jamtide )

Coconut / Marsh ( cocomarsh )

Meerkat / Vermilion ( meermilion )

Winter / Pike ( winterpike)

Blue / Swordtail ( bluesword? )

notes:

i’m going to promo LGBTWings again because it’s still very good

Umber is Clay’s brother, making him the same age as Clay, so please don’t ship him with younger dragons like Qibli or Turtle. I know he comments on being with Qibli in the books. It’s also nasty and I’m disappointed in Tui

Don’t ship Clay w his brothers or Starflight. Don’t ship Turtle with his brothers. Be normal

again feel free to add your own if you know of them! just keep the healthy stuff in mind

[some-pers0n]

Saw some Winter/Turtle art (or Wurtle as I insist on calling it) and it reminded me of why I feel Turtbli and Wurtle are superior in every regard to Qinter.

I've talked about it before, but I like it when ships like Qinter are treated seriously. Yeah yeah, it's funny when the sand dragon makes a haha goofy joke and the snow dragon blushes and gets flustered (very original and funny), but have you ever considered 'Qinter but angsty'?

Think about it for a minute. Qibli and Winter had awful childhoods. No short of completely terrible. Winter was raised under the intense rules and expectations of his tribe while Qibli had to make a living on the streets with his crime family. They're both traumatized and have a ton of issues to sort through.

Now, while you could explore it though Qinter, I feel it's even better if you replace one of them (or just simply add because poly ships are neat) with Turtle.

Turtle is...not exactly a character who's goofy or extremely angsty like Qibli and Winter respectively. His issues and troubles are front and center with his anxious personality and shy demeanor. When you ship him, you more or less have to work with that.

I find pairing him up with Winter or Qibli helps bring out that aspect of him a lot more. All three of these dragons are unwanted children in some way or form. They're undesirables who have been more or less shaped by their childhoods into who they are now. They cope with it by burying it and trying their best to hide it. Winter develops a hard exterior to mimic the rest of his tribe. Qibli has a 'cool guy' persona that's likeable and friendly. Turtle is socially awkward and doesn't want to talk with anybody. Yet, they all share a common desire: wanting to be loved and accepted by their friends and peers.

These three work so good together. It's a crying shame how underrated their dynamics are in the fandom.

[some-pers0n]

Hmm,, how long has it been since I've had people send me unpopular WoF opinions (or just general opinions and or rambling)? Yeah, let's do that again

I'll start with a couple.

Coral is a really fun character and I'm really happy Tui leaned into her being an egotistical and pompous queen

Blue I feel is a pretty alright protagonist and I do like the idea of a straight-man character as the introduction to Pantala, but I do think he should've had a little more agency and his personality be more defined and clear

TLH was boring

THK was boring

TDS is one of the best books in the series

Annnndddd Turtbli, Turtlewatcher, Wurtle >>>>>>>> Turtlejou

[some-pers0n]

Erm, uh, Wurtle?

I'm not really into Wurtle as much as other people. I'm more of a Turtbli person myself tbh. However, I still like it. Pretty good and cute

[some-pers0n]

What’s your favorite Wings of Fire Ship? Canon and/or Fanon :).

Turtbli!! I really do love them a lot. Also Turtlewatcher, although more in a QPR fashion.