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morgana0203 · 10 months

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A Midsummer Night's Dream ― Chapter 1: Ill met by moonlight

Oberon Vortigern | Pretender / Reader

“Between this little king and queen of sprites there happened, at this time, a sad disagreement; they never met by moonlight in the shady walks of this pleasant wood, but they were quarrelling, till all their fairy elves would creep into acorn-cups and hide themselves for fear.”

word count: 1,009

warning(s): none!

── ◜ ⪩⪨ ◞a/n: hello mine own dears ⸜( ´ ꒳ ` )⸝ i welcome thou to tonight's dream! i have returned to playing fgo but alas i was two weeks late for king oberon (つω`｡) but! i will try to meet him in the next summer! what is funny to me, is that depending on what kind of a bgm you listen to, the first half of the chapter can either be comical, or very depressing! so, my little dears, i desire you not leave, and stay. this work is planned to have a few more chapters, but please keep in mind that oberon, for me, is a complicated individual. my good-for-nothing assumption of his character will definitely show, as i apologize. now, rest here on this field covered in soft moss, and let me show you a good dream...

It was the evening of a starry sky, an unorthodox time for summons.

You stood at the magical circle, nervosity written on your face. Ritsuka —who had accompanied you for this attempt with Mash by his side— smiled back at you with confidence to compensate for your lack thereof. It wasn't your first time summoning for Servants, oh no, but it was always an exhilarating experience. Your lips formed a tight line as you looked down at the ground. You seemed hesitant, and your fellow Master was unable to read your thoughts.

You closed your eyes and with a determined look you gave a short and decisive nod, followed by extending your arms.

Heroes of Legends, these words are for you alone atop the debris of what you once fought for beyond lies only the refuse and regret of its creation None shall enter none shall leave these blasted plains there is no world beyond Your great strength marks you amongst us step across this threshold and obey our laws

Descend through the ruin and proceed onward to share in its glory bear witness to the last and only civilisation Here, all wishes shall be granted, all truths revealed You who hail to heed the call, from desire, under will come to me

The winds began to change, verdant winds stirring up a storm. In an instant, a lightning struck down, the blinding light almost being too much to bear. The force that was released as if it had been in a slumbering state, knocked back everyone in the room. The torrent of winds were so powerful, you were shoved only for you to step your foot down in order to counter the impact. The gale was so strong, you could barely make out anything from how your hair was blown into your face. Ritsuka watched in shock at the immense pressure your chant has brought out. It was completely different from what he had known.

What were you wishing for? Just as abrupt it hit, the current lifted immediately, revealing the Pretender.

Your hair fell into your face as you stared at him, bewildered. He stared back.

He stared back, but with a disobeying, disapproving and angry look.

Your stomach dropped just like your face, looking like you were about to fold. Drops of sweat covered your face, and the dirt that the wind caught up made you appear as a measly cringer. He turned his gaze to Ritsuka, making you look disappointed with how he turned away from you.

"...what's this? How did things come to this...?" He demanded to know from Ritsuka, but he only nervously lifted his hands that it was not him who would be his Master. This made Oberon land his gaze onto you.

"Ah... it's you."

As if with regret, Oberon's eyes looked down to the side and he clicked his tongue in frustration. You tried to ease the situation for yourself by trying to smile at him, hoping that he wouldn't take it too personally (he really seemed uninterested).

"Ugh..."

You let out a defeat sigh, uncomfortable at his dejected reaction, but what else would you have really expected from him, really? After all, it was a freak incident that you summoned the Faerie King. He sighed as he closed his eyes, turning his head almost dramatically up and then back to you, looking disgusted. His shoulders even slumped as he exhaled.

"My name is Oberon. Since I got called, I will lend you my power." He paused, putting his hands on his waist.

He really hated it here...

It was constant fighting. Back and forth and just outright annoying each other in the beginning. Oberon wouldn't follow your orders, but just enough to not call it "him completely ignoring you". Because of him you ended up having to chew more than you bit off. Oberon always excused himself that it was you who stood right behind him where you shouldn't, ending up stepping on your foot by accident. Strangely enough, each time you walked past him his hair would be yanked backwards but it was never you. You made a mockery of him that he must have been imagining things, as the two of you made ugly faces at each other. He would call out to you with a smile and let you know of his kind thoughts regarding your appearance, by calling you a creepy cringer. You, in exchange, complimented him that he looked like the French. He always appreciated your thoughtful and unique way of showing him kindness, and this was visibly from his contorted face, and twitching fingers ready to grasp onto something (instead of strangling you).

Even though the two of you always argued over the smallest things, Ritsuka could only smile at the efforts you have put into ascending Oberon.

The first time you made it possible, he found it annoying and unnecessary. The second time he didn't understand why you would go to such lengths.

And the third time, he pledged himself to you, but he would never tell you that.

You just knew, each time he shielded you, or looked back at you with a cynical, dirty grin in the middle of the battle.

Your persuasiveness was grossing him out, but for some reason he always smirked.

He was ridiculing you for betting everything on him. But he still kept on grinning, wickedly. Or maybe, it was you who was wicked.

After all, you smiled back just like him.

── ◜ ⪩⪨ ◞a/n: thank you for reading! i really wanted to accentuate the "bond" or "companionship" between the reader and oberon. it wasn't as much as a twisted relationship between them, but both of them being on the same wavelength. i usually struggle a lot with where to start stories, but this time i felt more confident! this would conclude our prologue for now, please look forward to more elements of the story and characters. good night!

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scifrey · 1 year

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Hold Tight (3/6)

Status: Complete. Unbeta’d, we die like Hob doesn’t.

Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Includes some comics canon, and some cameos from the wider Gaiman-verse, but it’s not necessary to know to enjoy the story.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Discussions of grief and in-canon character death. Also includes some erotic content. Please curate your internet experience accordingly.

Relationships: Morpheus | Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, Past Eleanor | Hob Gadling’s Wife/Hob Gadling (past), Hector Hall/Lyta Hall (past)

Characters: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Hob Gadling, Matthew the Raven, Desire of the Endless, Lyta Trevor-Hall, Daniel Hall, Rose Walker, Jed Walker

Summary:

Hob is tasked with his first quest as Vassal of the Endless, Morpheus is bad at using his words, Destiny thinks he’s so clever, Desire makes a confession, Rose Walker meets her Uncle’s boyfriend, and Lyta Hall punches Dream of the Endless in the nose. Or, the one where Hob Gadling turns into everyone’s therapist, and honestly, he ain’t mad about it.

Set at the end of Cling Fast - after the premiere of “Elizabethan Manor”, but before the Epilogue.

READ ON AO3 or below:

Chapter Three

Hob wakes the next morning to the ping of a text coming in on his phone. He cracks a bleary eye at his clock, and pouts when he realizes that his alarm is going to go off in three minutes and he doesn't have the time to roll over and ignore the Waking world for a little bit longer.

He feels rested—he always does, nowadays, no matter how busy or, ah, athletic his dreams are—but he's still bedsore from where he's been lying funny on his pillow. He sits up slowly, stretches and cracks his neck and shoulders, yawns wide and splays his toes like a cat. Rubbing the last of the grit from his eyes, only then does he pick up his phone and check his messages.

There are the normal ones that come in overnight: social media likes, emails from students obviously pulling all-nighters, automated push notifications about this promo code or that newsletter. None of them woke him, because he tries to have good sleep hygiene and sets his phone to Silent Mode before bed.

But somehow, one single text message had made a noise.

On purpose, it turns out.

Vassal - what are you doing? the text says. And comes from contact D#5. It takes Hob a moment to remember if Desire or Despair is the older twin.

Hob thinks about his response, dragging his body into the bathroom to unglue himself from his pants and wash the sex-sweat from his body. Feeling fresh and wearing a clean, dry pair of pants and nothing else, he goes into the kitchen to fill and start the electric kettle, then pulls down a mug and tea infuser.

Decision made, he types back: As I’m bid.

There.

It’s just civil enough to be polite, and just snarky enough to hopefully get Desire off his ass.

If Desire takes issue with Destiny's quest, then they can take it up with their elder brother themselves and leave Hob the fuck out of it. He's already got his hands full with trying to wrangle Dream over this Walkers-and-Halls-and-the-Importance-of-Family after school special nonsense. He doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to hold Desire's hand, too.

Of course, Desire clearly disagrees, because Hob is accosted on his way back from fetching lunch a few hours later.

The breeze is brisk, the first promise of spring not quite strong enough to push off the lingering tattered winds of winter today. Hob fancies he can see the tightly furled buds on all of the trees along the grand university avenue pulling in tighter around themselves, shivering in their little verdant coats. Around him, students march between buildings with their hands punched into their coat pockets and their shoulders hunched up to protect their necks.

The world smells of approaching rain, and the tender crushed new-growth grass, and the coffee in his hand.

Hob has popped down to the Pret on the corner to pick up a flat white and caprese sandwich to take back to his office between classes. He’s just thinking about how much he wished it was warm enough to sit on a bench in the sun instead of huddling into his coat and scarf, when a beautiful person in a wide-brimmed hat a terribly a la mode androgynous white suit slides up to him on the sidewalk. They’re dressed more for a runway than a chilly afternoon outdoors.

The escaped-model falls into step with Hob. For a moment, he thinks that the person might ask for a selfie, that they’ve seen the show, and is one of the well wishers or Shakespeare lovers who want their own brush with Hob's brand of extremely niche fame.

The minute he gets a look at the person's eyes—fire and honey—Hob understands what he's looking at. Or rather, who he's looking at. He gets the vague feeling that he's seen this face before, but then he's likely met all of the Endless before, in one incarnation or another. They have the uncanny ability to make you forget what they look like.

"Desire," he greets politely. "Forgive me for not offering a hand in greeting." He holds up his sandwich and coffee in demonstration.

Desire steps in front of Hob, arresting him right there on the sidewalk. They hold their own hand out. On one finger perches an ostentatious gold-and-fire-red ring with a stone in the shape of a heart. Hob is both smart enough and old enough to stoop quickly and kiss it.

Desire, he notes, has two shadows and smells faintly of peaches. He wonders if that's a hand-cream, or just the Endless themself.

"Charming," Desire pronounces, and they resume walking. "But you don't really desire it to be warm enough to sit outside in early April, do you?"

"Oh no," Hob agrees. "Climate change, global warming, bad stuff, absolutely. I just don't like the cold. It makes all the old war wounds ache."

Desire smiles at him with too many teeth. "I can warm you up."

Hob cuts an unimpressed look at the being.

"Just an offer," they purr with a shrug.

"Not that I'm not delighted to finally meet you officially,” Hob says, “But to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Hob can see them chewing on the word pleasure, working out a pun or an innuendo, and then deciding to let that one slide. "I come to lay a quest before you, vassal," they settle on.

“Okay,” Hob says, leading Desire up the steps into the History building. “So long as it doesn't interfere with my class schedule or my ability to turn my marks in on time, or the other quest I’m already pursuing, I'm happy to help you.”

Desire studies them as they hold open the door for him. "You really mean that."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You are my brother's creature," Desire says, following Hob into the building. "Surely that must make me your enemy."

The satellite campus of the University of York, nestled in one of the suitably historic and pokey areas of London, is filled with very old buildings that have painstakingly been brought up to code. They therefore leave behind the charming brick and stone exterior for the brutalist cement corridor, and Desire’s high heel clack with intriguing authority and mystery. It’s the kind of sound that is designed to make you want to poke your head of your office door to see who is making it.

Hob is impressed only one of his colleagues does so—the rest all be in class or the canteen themselves.

“Hey, Pradeep,” he greets the Politics of British India head. “Sup?”

“Hey Bob, hey…”

“This is Dez,” Hob offers up. “My partner’s sibling.”

Pradeep’s deeply quizzical look transforms into one of understanding and fondness. “Family coffee break?”

“Something like that.”

“Nice to meet you, Dez,” Pardeep says and ducks back into her office with her cheeks flagging crimson.

“Woof,” Hob says in low tones as they pass her door, heading down the hall to his office. “Whatever mojo you’ve got wafting around, turn it down. I’ve never seen her blush like that.”

“Can’t help it,” Desire says, and the look on their face makes it clear that they’re not ever going to try helping it, either. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you changing the topic, Handsome Hobsie.”

Hob sighs and rolls his eyes. "Look, first, I'm your brother's lover, not his slave."

"You are his head priest," Desire points out, as if it's the same thing.

"Not at all," Hob demures. "And secondly, I'm Vassal of the Endless. It's my duty to help you out with the stuff you can't do for yourself. I'm never going to say no to you, Desire. And, you know full well I didn’t mean it like that," he tacks on, because ‘Vassal of the Endless’ apparently doesn’t mean ‘immune to their influence’ when they’re literally breathing the same air.

"Because you are my vassal?" Desire asks, dubious and perhaps, ah, yes, there it is, a little bit worried.

"And because you're the sibling of the man I love most in the entirety of existence. That makes you family."

"Family," Desire scoffs, but there's a tremble in the way they echo the word. As if they are realising, for the first time, that it actually can encompass good things, and not just the strife and spitting dissension that it does among the Endless.

Hob squinches his sandwich under his arm, and roots through his pockets for his keys as they approach his office door. Before he can withdraw them, Desire waves their hand and the door creaks open slowly.

"That's handy," Hob allows. "Come on in, sit down. I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation. Do you mind if I have my lunch as we talk?"

"Not at all," Desire allows, and slides themselves onto the sagging old sofa Hob has jammed up against one wall. Hob makes no comment when the sofa suddenly puffs back up, the springs repaired and the leather shiny and new-looking again.

Hob shuffled himself behind his battered desk, and into the creaky old wooden swivel chair that he’s had for, lord above, decades it must be now. The head of facilities keeps dropping hints that she’ll order him an ergonomic plastic-and-metal one in a heartbeat, but like a pair of clogs, Hob’s worn the perfect butt groove into this one and won’t part with it for love or money.

"Do you want a tea or something?” Hob’s got a little tea station and electric kettle on the top of his filing cabinet, half-hidden behind the overstuffed bookshelves. “Or I can run to the staff lounge, or…?"

"I have all I desire, for the moment," Desire purrs again, stretching out along the revitalised sofa. Clearly Morpheus is not the only cat-like sibling among the Endless. It should sound filthy, the way that Desire intonates their own name, but Hob's starting to become immune to Endless nonsense like that. They're just trying to wind him up.

As he'd decided this morning, he doesn't really have the emotional bandwidth for that today. So he's just going to ignore it. Better part of valour, and all that.

"Great, if you don't mind then," Hob says, sitting at his desk and tearing the foil off his sandwich. It's only slightly squished, and he takes a big bite.

Meh, he's had better. He's had worse, too. It'll do.

"So I do gotta tell you," Hob says after he's swallowed his first few bites. "I'm already doing the vassal thing for one of your other siblings right now. Is this something that can wait until that's done or…?"

"I believe," Desire says, fingers fidgeting with the long pearl necklaces they're wearing, and huh, that looks like nerves, Hob thinks. "That perhaps Destiny's quest and my own, ah, intersect?"

It's the first time Hob's heard one of the Endless sound unsure. He waits for the universe to crack, or for a fissure to Hell to open beneath them, or for the sound of the seas boiling. Instead the clock over his door continues to tick loudly, and there is no sound but the rustle of his sandwich wrapper.

"Alright," Hob says. "Lay it on me."

He keeps going at his lunch, though, because he has a feeling that as soon as Desire says what they want to say, he's going to have to get back on his feet and start vassal-ing. And it's no good going on adventures on an empty stomach, he already knows this.

"I desire…" Desire sits up and folds their hands over their knees with studied demureness, eyes lowered to their red-talon nails. "I desire a relationship with my grandchildren."

"Oookay," Hob says between bites, chewing on the food and this revelation. Intersecting quests, indeed, Hob thinks.

"Though my brother may tell you otherwise, I am capable of loving them," Desire snaps, fire flashing through their golden eyes when they glare up at him.

"I never said you couldn't," Hob says placatingly. "I'm listening. Go on."

"While the Endless are forbidden from romantic relationships with mortals, we are capable of feeling love for them. And parental love for the result of those unions."

"Did you love Unity Kincade?" Hob asks gently.

Desire fiddles with a locket on the rope of pearls, a gold heart that they snap open and closed–snick snick snick snick. Hob has no idea what, if anything, is inside it. He couldn’t even begin to guess who or what Desire of the Endless might want to honour in such a sentiment-laden way.

"No," they eventually confess. "To my shame, no. I used her because she was the Vortex, and it would hurt Dream. I could make him spill family blood, which is the only and ultimate sin for the Endless. It would mean his own doom, and I hated him…" Desire says, fisting their other hand on their knee, before taking a deep breath and forcing themselves to flex the fingers, to relax. "I hated him and I wanted him to suffer."

"He has suffered. Are you happy about that?" Hob asks mildly, challengingly. He sips his coffee and tries to make it clear with the warmth of his expression that he's not accusing or throwing anything back in Desire's face. He just wants to know.

Desire squirms again. "I thought it would make me happy. But I stood beside Roderick Burgess as he foamed over with vile, poisonous desire for that which my brother could not provide him, and Dream could not see me. He was… he looked…" Desire shakes their head. "And it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough, because it was not at my hand, so I found the Vortex and I…"

Hob waits them out.

"I'm not a rapist!" Desire blurts, all of a sudden. They press their palm against the chest, as if expecting to find a wound there, gushing blood, and is surprised to find themselves whole. "Unity Kincaid was a means to an end. And desire is not the same as love. All the same… I cared for her, in my way. The realm of Dreams was shut off, for her, being what she was a victim of the Sleepy Sickness both. So I took her into the Threshold, made a home of it for her, became the man of her greatest childish romantic fantasies. I made of myself lover and husband, and father, and her life was good, there. With me.”

“Playing house,” Hob says, wanting to be very clear on his understanding of the events.

“Playing house,” Desire says softly. “But when it was over, I pushed her out of my realm without a second thought. I sent her back to the Waking, and cared only if Rose Walker would punish my brother as I designed."

"But she didn't," Hob ways, tossing his empty wrapper into the bin by the door. It bounces once and then against all the rules of physics and gravity, tips into the bin because he wants it to, and Desire is in the same room as him.

"That child was born of my hate," Desire says, confusion rippling across their whole body. "And Dream showed her such love."

"And that confuses you?"

Desire just nods.

Hob scrubs his hand over his eyes, and wonders how such incredible cosmic beings can be so stupid. "Desire—you're his sibling. Of course he loves you. And of course he'd love your children, as well."

"But he doesn't like me," Desire protests.

Hob shrugs. "Well, there were days that I didn't like Matilde, or Isobel, or John. But I didn't stop loving them. Or Mattie and Isa's children, and grandchildren."

Desire glares at Hob flatly. "I wanted Dream dead."

"Okay, so your family is… yeah, complicated," Hob settles on. "You all are big universal concepts, with big personalities, and therefore big problems. I’m honestly surprised that there isn’t a Drama of the Endless.”

Desire snorts, an inelegant sound that fills Hob with warm fuzzies and pride. It’s rare that he gets to surprise one of the Endless enough to make them spill out awkward sounds. “My brother holds that subsidiary title among his vast list of others.”

Hob sips his coffee and gives Desire his best best oh come now professor-look over the rim.

Desire huffs. “It is one that we share,” they admit.

“True,” Hob says. “And listen, I’m not trying to minimise what you said, about how deeply vindictive what you did was. But also… you've all suffered. You've had traumas. Bigger, scarier, more hurtful things than I’m sure I’ll ever understand. But you’re all also just… just people. And as people, we hurt the ones we love the most in the most desperate, painful ways possible, because we know them so well, because we love them.”

Desire says nothing to that, but looks away, at Hob’s messy bookshelf, golden eyes unfocussed and introspective. They chew on their thumbnail thoughtfully.

“I wanted him dead,” Desire says again, but this time it sounds more like a question. “Surely, Uncle Dream will never let me near the children now.”

Hob takes a moment to digest that. “Morpheus is not their gatekeeper.”

“Is it you I must convince, then?” Desire asks, and they lean forward earnestly, ready to say whatever pretty thing they think Hob needs to hear.

Which is… not how it goes.

“I’m not their keeper, either. It’s Rose and Jed themselves,” Hob says. “You gotta lay it all out for them and let them make up their own minds. And it won’t be easy, but I think if you come to them with a genuine apology and a genuine, heh, desire to be a good part of their lives, I don’t see why they wouldn’t want a relationship with you, too.”

Desire snorts and slumps back against the sofa. “Because they only exist as the result of a fratricide plot?”

“One that didn’t work,” Hob points out. “Are you still planning to kill Dream now?”

“No!” Desire gasps. “I… no.”

“Because he threatened you, or because you genuinely don’t want him dead anymore?”

Desire snorts again. “Does it matter?” they ask, dismissing the topic.

Hob does not allow the topic to be dismissed. “Yes, it does. If you sit there and tell me that you’re planning to harm my beloved, we’re going to have a problem.” Hob allows something of the old bandit to glint in his eye, puts the swing of a sword and the hot spray of aerial blood into the grim line of his mouth.

Desire regards him with genuine surprise, which slowly morphs into something Hob suspects might be respect. They sit up and meet Hob’s eyes with all the gravitas of a monarch laying forth an edict.

“I no longer wish to harm Dream of the Endless, nor specifically the facet known as Morpheus, this I swear to you on the First Circle,” Desire intones seriously. “Nor shall I knowingly seek cause him harm in the future.”

Every hair that Hob’s got–and to be fair, he has rather a lot of them–stands straight up. A frisson wracks his body, something like a gong, and also at the same time something like the roaring silence of the end of the universe jams up his ears. He knows, he knows, in the deepest part of his soul, that this is not the kind of oath that any being takes lightly.

“Thank you,” Hob chokes out, struggling to breathe around the intent that is so thick in the air that he can taste it, heavy and grim on his tongue.

“Besides,” Desire says gravely, and then suddenly the atmosphere is broken when they throw up their arms with a seductive giggle. “I like you too much to get on your bad side, Handsome Hobsie.”

“Oh, well,” Hob says, clearing his throat with a thin chuckle of his own. “If only to spare my ire, then.”

“I would rather…” Desire starts, and then stops. When they speak again, their voice is very, very small. “I wish it could be as it was. At the start. Back when he loved me.”

Hob lets that hang between them for a moment. He wishes there wasn’t a desk and half an office between them, because he thinks that Desire could really use a hug right now.

“Listen, I’ll be honest,” Hob says instead. “I don't think you're toxic, not to the point where you can't work things out with Dream. Not to the point where I think it's better for you, or him, to go non-communicative. And you wanting to find a way to have a good and healthy relationship with your grandchildren? You coming to me to help? This right here? This is proof that you can be better. That you can work toward it, the same way that Morpheus is working toward it."

Desire blinks at Hob at that. "Dream is working on bettering himself?"

“Yeah, he's working on himself,” Hob says gently. “He's been in a millennia long depression since the death of his son. He had to start climbing out of the hole, or it’d drag him down. And, I’m gonna flatter myself here, I think if he didn’t have outside support, he might have let it.”

Hob should probably feel a little more guilty about airing his lover’s dirty laundry so casually, but he was talking with one of the undeniable forces of the universe. They absolutely already knew. Though knowing and understanding seem to be two separate things for the Endless.

"Depression," Desire murmurs, thoughtfully. "That is not an Endless sibling I am familiar with."

"And let's hope you never do become acquainted," Hob says gently. “Frankly, I think the whole lot of you could use therapy, but it’s not my place to say so.”

Desire shoots them a smirk. “And yet you just did.”

Hob finishes his coffee instead of answering, utterly unrepentant.

“Well, what an indulgent waste of a quarter of an hour this has turned out to be,” Desire harrumphs. “I came to you with a quest and your response is to tell me go to therapy.”

“You never told me how to solve your problem,” Hob points out. “Only that as your vassal, I have to.”

“Cheeky vassal.”

“Stubborn liege,” Hob reposts. "Now, I hate to kick you out, but my office hours start in three minutes, and I know for a fact Cassie is freaking out about her poster presentation and will be here at 2pm on the dot."

"Cassandra O'Brian desires to keep her scholarship so she can escape her living situation," Desire murmurs.

"She's a smart kid. I have every faith that she'll succeed," Hob agrees.

"Still, as a devotee, I should reward her dedication," Desire says, rising. "This I will do as a favour to you, Hob Gadling. In return for helping me."

"If I'm honest," Hob says, climbing to his own feet to get the door for Desire, which feels like an appropriately gentlemanly and vassal-y thing to do. "You don't need to do anything in return for me. The reward will, I hope, be the improved relationship between you, and Dream, and the kids. All the same, Cassie deserves to have her dreams come true, so you won't get any complaints from me. Just don't break her heart, yeah?"

Desire lopes over to the door, predatory and confident again, now that they are back in more familiar territory.

"I make no promises, Hob Gadling," Desire rumbles, and tucks two of their fingers under Hob's chin to raise it up, so that they can meet his eyes. Gosh, those heels make them tall. "I do, however, express my gratitude for taking up this task for me, and grant you my protection and favour in return as you do so."

And then they kiss him.

It is long, and slow, and not at all chaste. But Hob keeps his mouth closed, and his eyes open, and doesn't let Desire get a rise out of him.

"Pah, you're no fun," Desire sighs, wiping a bit of red-red-red lipstick off his lower lip with their thumb. Then they sashay out the door, and vanish in a cloud of cinnamon-heart-scented glitter halfway down the hall.

If Hob catches Pradeep running her fingers through it with an intensely confused look on her face a few hours later, well, that’s between Hob and the glitter.

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#losyark #hold tight #cling fast #cling fast adjacent #hob x dream #dream x hob #dreamling fic #dream #dreamling #desire of the endless #dream of the endless #professor hob gadling #hob gadling #the hob adherent series #hob adherent #netflix the sandman #the sandman fanfic #sandman fic #sandman

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featherquillpen · 2 years

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My favorite Hubert characterizations

These are fics that I feel really nail the Hubert characterization. Multiple ships because that's how I roll.

The Girl Who Prayed for Wings by AMX004_Qubeley (10k words, gen, G)

The original, the unimpeachable, trans femme Hubert fic. It's so in-character, the way that she basically has to be tricked into allowing herself to express her gender, because she can never truly say out loud that she wants something. The scene where she oh so tentatively approaches the pegasus in the hope that it will accept her is just.... my heart.

i need to leave (but I want to stay) by dustofwarfare (24k words, Hubert/Edelgard/Ferdinand, E)

This fic captures Hubert's biting sense of humor so perfectly that I reread bits of this fic every time I want to write about Hubert being funny, just to remind myself how it's done. Check out this banter:

“I can make room for your head on my wall as well, von Aegir. Right next to von Riegan’s. I shall start my own macabre collection.”

Warhound by GoldenThreads (5k words, Hubert/Bernadetta, E)

It's very common in fanwork to have a dynamic of Hubert caring for a fragile Bernadetta. But the reality is that their support chain is one of mutual support. Hubert helps Bernadetta overcome her fears, but Bernie also helps Hubert with these feelings of dysphoria discomfort with his spooky facade. This fic does something that Hubern fics very rarely do, which is show Bernie caring for Hubert through a personal crisis. Hubert needs that support, too!

Carrion by cyranonic (9k words, Hubert & Dedue, Hubert/Edelgard, M)

This fic made me weep and ache inside. It's set on a Verdant Wind route in which Hubert and Dedue survive but their lords do not. It's all about codependency and the dark side of devotion. Exactly how far would Hubert be willing to go to try to resurrect Edelgard? This fic says "very, very far," and I believe it.

A faint and faraway sound by Carry_the_Fire (26k words, Hubert/Ferdinand, Hubert & Edelgard, T)

I am in agonies over this fic. It's an amazing character study of Hubert's self-objectification and depersonalization, and his fear of being truly known. There is a wonderful theme in this fic of Hubert learning to trust other people enough to delegate tasks, and finally carve out a life beyond devoting every waking hour to Edelgard and the Empire.

Edelgard & Lysithea (& Hubert) by @rijinks (5 pages, gen, G)

So yes, this is a fan comic not a fic, but... oh my god. This is a comic about Hubert welcoming Lysithea into the Black Eagles found family. Hubert is just so happy to see Edelgard bond with a friend who can truly understand her experience, and expresses gratitude to Lysithea in a very Hubert way.

#fic recs #fe3h #hubert von vestra

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iturbide · 2 years

Note

WAIT TO PIGGYBACK OFF OF THAT GUY WHO POINTED OUT THE ROUTE NAMES - THAT'S WHY DIMITRI'S ROUTES IN BOTH GAMES START WITH THE SAME AZURE TITLE - AZURE MOON AND AZURE GLEAM

HE'S THE ONLY ONE OF THE THREE TO STILL RESEMBLE HIS THREE HOUSES SELF AT ALL - EDELGARD HAS NEW PLANS AND A NEW ALLY WHILE "CLAUDE" ISNT CLAUDE AT ALL

AND THAT'S WHY THE GD ROUTE NAME CHANGED COMPLETELY TOO, FROM VERDANT (MORE GREEN ASSOCIATED) TO GOLDEN (OBV YELLOW), IT WAS A SIGN THAT THIS CLAUDE IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND NOT EVEN CLAUDE TO BEGIN WITH, ITS ALL COMING TOGE*forcibly removed and pulled off screen by a comically large hook*

I am going to END whoever is operating these stage hooks you hear me

I have a pitchfork and I'm not afraid to use it

I'm having flashbacks to the Three Houses route name discussions we had, breaking down the implications of Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind and the like (and I loved those discussions, they were excellent).

Also maybe it's just the geologist in me but Golden Wildfire also kind of makes me think of pyrite -- the textbook example of "all that glitters is not gold," considering that its colloquial name is "Fool's Gold." It might look like gold, even shine like gold, but it's not gold in reality -- just like how the character in Three Hopes looks like Claude, but reveals himself almost immediately to anyone that knew him in Three Houses as someone else entirely.

Verdant Wind was about hope: it was the green of new beginnings and the winds of change. Golden Wildfire is a brilliant falsehood, poised to destroy everything in its path.

#answered #anonymous #fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #fewth spoilers #claude got bodyswapped by an agarthan #this is what happens when my science side kicks in #not often i get to play with the geologist stuff though #at least not with fandom #it's a nice change of pace

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mayhem-ensues · 2 years

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Golden Wildfire Thoughts

I'm happy that they're clearly setting up Almyra as a more major element of the route than what we got in Claude's route for Three Houses. Like, there was so much potential in terms of what they could have done with Almyra but Claude's route just ended up mostly just being the Church route again but with a different final chapter and a token Almyran appearance at Fort Merceus. I will say though it was bit comical for Prince Shahid to say that Claude reminds him exactly of his brother but not have him put two and two together. Obviously the writers want Shez and the rest of the Deer to not know about Claude being half-Almyran so early, but they should have just had Shahid not recognize him I feel.

As for the post time skip stuff, Claude stringing Shez along talking about all the mercenary work they can get in the Alliance only to leave them stuck guarding hotels for crap pay for years was pretty funny, but also kind of a huge dick move. That being said Claude is the only Lord so far that's talked about helping Shez accomplish their own goal of catching up with Jeralt's mercenaries so it evens out.

Speaking of Jeralt's mercenaries, I wonder how that whole business is going to go down with Leonie. I'm hoping that students other than the Lord and Retainer get more screentime in the main plot in Three Hopes cause I'd love for Leonie being conflicted about a friend and ally hunting down Jeralt to be a major story element.

They also seem to be setting up the possibility that Count Gloucester might turn on the Alliance to side with the Empire. I'd kind of love that to happen to see how Lorenz works through that but the story in Three Houses pretty firmly establishes that Count Gloucester only sides with the Empire out of fear and he's not dedicated to them, so I'm expecting that instead Claude and Lorenz will work together to convince him to stick with the Alliance.

Also just like with the other two routes, I liked how much insight you got into Alliance politics in the brief post timeskip part of the game. Probably the most disappointing part of Verdant Wind is how much they talk about how Claude is going to go talk things out with the Alliance leaders only to them immediately cut to black and just tell you what happened instead of showing it. Showing Claude actually talking to characters like Holst and Count Gloucester does a lot to actually sell the problems the Alliance is meant to face in the story, that being that all the lords with voting power have their own agendas and the problems that Claude has in trying to get them all to work together for the good of the Alliance.

My only major disappointment was that I specifically grinded Hilda and Marianne's support level because I love them together and saw they had a C support conversation only to find out that their support conversation is locked until later in the story. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

Oh also Holst's haircut is very not good. Fix that shit up dude.

#fire emblem #three hopes #golden deer #golden wildfire #claude von riegan

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dashreads · 1 year

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2023 Reading List

January:

What Lies Beyond the Veil- Harper L Woods & Adailade Forrest **

What Hunts inside the Shadows- Harper L Woods & Adailade Forrest **

Rhuger's Pearl- Carlotta Hughes ****

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February: X

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March:

4. Silent Lucidity- Tiffany Roberts **

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April:

5. Yearning for Her- Tiffany Roberts ****

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May: X

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June:

6. That Time I got Drunk and Saved a Human- Kimberly Lemming ***

7. How To Marry A Marble Marquis- C.M. Nascosta ****

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July:

8. To Tame a Dragon- Tiffany Roberts *

9. To Love a Dragon- Tiffany Roberts *

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August:

10. Taken by the Aline Next Door- Tiffany Roberts ***

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September:

11. Blood Moon- Jillian Graves **

12. The Sea Witch- Rebecca F. Kenney ****

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October:

13. Rhuger's Cridhe- Carlotta Hughes ****

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November:

14. A Duel with the Vampire Lord- Elise Kova ****

15. A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic- J. Penner ****

16. His Darkest Desire- Tiffany Roberts ****

17. Scream for Us- Molly Doyle **

18. Bloodshed- Molly Doyle ***

19. Melt for Us- Molly Doyle **

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December:

20. All I wanted was sushi but I got abducted by aliens instead- Petra Palerno ***

21. All I wanted was to become a Scientist but now I've got an Alien Boyfriend- Petra Palerno ***

22. All I wanted was a glass of Vine but an Alien Duke kidnapped me instead- Petra Palerno ***

23. A Court of Sugar & Spice- Rebecca F. Kenney ****

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Reading Goals:

Read 45 books (I'm ok if I read at least 20 due to life changes)

Read 10 comics/webcomics/manga

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Rook- Jillian Graves (Delayed)

Welcome to Azathé- CM Nascosta (Delayed)

Welcome to Fae Café- Jennifer Kropf

Enchantment- Orson Scott Card *2

My Side of the Mountain- Jean Craighead George *2

The Goddess of Yesterday- Caroline B. Cooney *2

A Little Princess- Frances Hodgson Burnett *3

Journey to the Center of the Earth- Jules Verne *3

Ascendant- Michael R Miller *1

Throne of Glass- Sarah J Maas

Crown of Midnight- Sarah J Maas

Heir of Fire- Sarah J Maas

Queen of Shadows- Sarah J Maas

Empire of Storms- Sarah J Maas

Tower of Dawn- Sarah J Maas

Kingdom of Ash- Sarah J Maas

Dragon Keeper- Carole Wilkinson *1

A Natural History of Dragons- Marie Brennan *1

Dragon's Flight- Anne McCaffery *1

Dragon Keeper- Robin Hobb *1

Phoenix Unbound- Grace Draven

Dragon Unleashed- Grace Draven

Raven Unveiled- Grace Draven

Undying King- Grace Draven

Entreat Me- Grace Draven

House of Earth & Blood- Sarah J Maas

House of Sky & Breath- Sarah J Maas

Jurassic Park- Michael Crichton

A Rake of His Own- AJ Lancaster (Reading)

Parties- C.M. Nascosta

Contact- Carl Sagan

Spinning Silver- Naomi Novik

Iron Widow- Xiran Jay Zhao

Uprooted- Naomi Novik

The Name of the Wind- Patrick Rothfuss

What Sleeps Within the Cove- Harper L Woods & Adailade Forrest (10/17/2023)

Get off the Unicorn- Anne McCaffrey

Cursed Cocktails: A Cozy Fantasy- S.L. Rowland

Run, Run Rabbit- CM Nascosta

Stolen Midsummer Bride- Tara Grayce

Uncommon Verdant- Daria Vernon

Bow before the Elf Queen- JM Kearl

The Crystal Shard- R. A. Salvatore

Streams of Silver- R. A. Salvatore

The Halfling's Gem- R. A. Salvatore

The Legacy- R. A. Salvatore

Starless Night- R. A. Salvatore

What Lurks Between the Fates- Harper L Woods & Adailade Forrest

Shadow Wizard- Jeffe Kennedy

Rogue Familiar- Jeffe Kennedy

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Witch Hat Atelier

My Father is a Unicorn

Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu

Restaurant to Another World

The Savior's Book Café Story in Another

Campfire cooking in another world with my absurd skill

The Way of the Househusband

Delicious in Dungeon

Housekeeping Mage from Another World

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

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Reading Challenges:

Read 5 Dragon related books (listed)

Read 3 books I read in school (listed)

Read 2 classics (listed)

Read at least 5-7of the Legend of Drizzt books (listed)

Read 5 books recommended to me

Read at least 5 books by Grace Draven (listed)

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Total Reading Goal: 50

Just to be kind to my future self when she looks at this at the end of the year: remember that we were pregnant, had a baby, had to look for a new job, and had to move. We just didn't have time. Maybe we will next year.

Also I will admit I've been binge reading some of Tiffany Roberts' work here and there.

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Ok this year's reading challenge was completely and utterly slashed. I got overly enthusiastic and just went all over the place. I enjoyed reading when I could, especially after having a baby. February through May was difficult for me as I was in a lot of pain and just wanted to sleep on the last few months of pregnancy. I cried a lot. After I gave birth, reading helped me slowly heal my new found scattered and tired mom brain. I started off slow and after August when I started working again, I came back with a vengeance.

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Favorites:

* it was good

** loved it

*** would read again and again

**** Can't stop thinking about it, won't stop thinking about it

Not a fan: X

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