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dead-girl-tells-stories · 1 day

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DC x DP Idea

After several years, Danny and Damian meet each other again at a gala. But there was no heartfelt reunion since the moment they led eyes on each other it was all-out war. Damian takes out a sword from somewhere and Danny just starts throwing hands.

The fighting is intense, and blood is being spilled (what are those glowing green specks?). They are screaming at each other in Arabic as it's easier to slip back to your mother tongue when in rage right? This makes the fight more personal.

Most people don't understand what they're saying but those who do look at the boys then Bruce. Bruce then back to the boys again. Like B, we know you're stupid but you fucked this person twice.... did you NOT see the red flags the SECOND TIME!?!?

The fight ends with Damian on the ground with the sword grazing his neck. He looks up to Danyal with the fear of god in his eyes, knowing that with one swift movement, he'll be dead on the dance floor. But Danny's eyes were cold and tired, they were dead. No spark, no sense of life in those chilling blue depths.

Calmly, Danny spoke to Damian. His voice was crystal clear, cool like a mountain stream.

"Just because you jumped into the fire behind me doesn't mean you felt the pain I did. Your hand was held above the flames while I was being burnt in the fucking fire."

Damian begins to cry because he knows that Danny is right. No matter what he went through, it would never compare to what happened to his big brother. Even more so, when he feels long lanky arms wrap around him, a cool hand rubbing his back soothingly, and whispers of sweet nothingness entering his ears.

He cries because no matter what he does he will never be like his big brother.

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc crossover #Danny and Damian have a five-year age gap #so he's like 11-ish when he leaves the league and Damian was 6-ish #Damian didnt have a place in the league before Danny left and was trained like any other soldier #When Danny left and he got the title of heir to the demons head he clung onto it #Ras realize that training Damian like he did Danny would only lead to disaster so he was 'lighter' on him #Damian noticed but didn't say anything about it #During training #he was constantly fed lies and half-truths about Danny #while simultaneously hearing his praises while he got barely any #this caused him to hate Danny #Ra knew Danny was alive but also knew that hunting him would be a horrible idea #Danny hops around the world for a few years until he's adopted by the Fentons a year before the DP series #I would like to add that Damian is like a raging fire reading to burn everything in his path #until he cools down and he becomes a small flame of warmth and comfort #Danny is like a river clam cool and refreshing until you piss him off and he introduce you to the rapids #or worse #look up The Strid #dp dc crossover #dp x dc #dcxdp #dc x dp prompt

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pigswithwings · 6 months

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A Guide On Lessening Yourself

(Or, What To Do Before They Cut You Open)

This guide has been created to prepare you for your upcoming procedure. Please read carefully and follow all directions in order to have the safest experience.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

- Do not eat. (Required; at least 3 hours before the procedure starts. No meats, no vegetables, no grains, and especially no fruits. Any remaining food that is being digested will get in the way.)

- Do not drink. (Required; at least 2 hours before the procedure starts. No water, soda, juice, soup, milk, coffee, or energy drinks. Any remaining fluids will get in the way.)

- Do not bleed. (Required; at least 1 month before the procedure. No paper cuts, nosebleeds, injuries or other form of your own blood leaving your body. Restriction of the expression of your mortality is imperative.)

- Do not dream. (Strongly suggested; at least 1 month before the procedure starts. No daydreams, no hopes, no wishes, no lifelong goals, and no nightmares. Avoid losing yourself within any fantastical trappings - these are the vestiges of a mortal mind.)

TIPS:

BEFORE

- Make sure to confirm your procedure date. Whether by checking online, asking your doctor, or praying, it's of utmost importance that you remember the specific time and day of your event.

- Make certain that this procedure is for you.

Though the process has already been scheduled, you still have options if you're unsure. Asking God or previous patients are the most authentic ways to learn about this process. Consider the benefits and consequences of the procedure as a whole - this will undoubtedly affect your life, but will it be more negative rather than positive? Will you be able to be happy again? If you are willing to accept such possibilities, continue on. Should you choose to, however, you may still opt out before the scheduled date by telling your doctor and/or healthcare provider.

DURING

- Make sure to arrive early to your procedure. Timeliness is key.

- Be flexible with your interviewers. Many angels are unfamiliar with human languages and may instead choose to communicate directly inside your mind. This may cause discomfort as well as the feeling of being stripped into nothingness. Don't panic and remember that you deserve a chance at holiness, regardless of your humanity.

- Be polite. Though your angel interviewers may have already visited Earth before, human customs are often difficult to adjust to. If an interviewer makes a social faux pas (such as revealing their true form), brush it off and continue the conversation as best you can.

- Be prepared for any questions regarding your past attachments, relationships, possessions, etc. If you've prepared well, you'll be able to answer with full honesty that you have left all possible remnants of humanity behind - that means no mistakes, no regrets, and no emotions.

- Should you pass the interview (you will be told after they have finished), be ready to experience anywhere from a small to large amount of pain. This experience usually lasts around 20 seconds, but some say it feels like an eternity of blinding, searing light. The scale of your pain will be a direct result of how successful you were at stripping away your humanity; the agony that follows will be the angels burning it off of you.

- Wait through the pain.

- Wait thought it.

- Wait through it.

- Wait

AFTER

- If you've successfully passed the interview, survived the procedure, and become an angel, congratulations! The following tips are only suggestions, but may help you in adjusting to your new existence.

- Avoid brightening your divine light too much at once. You'll quickly realize that your new eyes are far more adjusted to light than a human's, making the world appear dimmer than before.

- Avoid speaking out loud to others for the first few millenium, as this may cause harm if done incorrectly. Instead, practice "speaking" through the visual and audible expression of abstract concepts.

- Don't expect to visit Earth again. More often than not, angels avoid the human world (most say it's too painful to linger), so it's very unlikely that you'll return. Don't come back if you possibly can.

Finally, enjoy your new status as part of the divine. Not many people get to experience the feeling - you have made it! Please enjoy the rest of infinity.

#pig pens #pig originals #unreality #unreality tw #tw unreality #cw unreality #unreality cw #<- using all the tags i can possibly think of because this is formatted like a medical guide and like. HEAVILY plays with the idea of it #religion #<- also for filtering but less so #and also cause its so long ive hidden it under a readmore. tags warn you whats ahead 👍👍 i hope this makes sense and is slightly confusing #let me know if you have questions. i thought this up when i ws like #really fucken tired #going with my original title also! i like it even though it only half applies to the actual content. gg #anyways. haha

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dailyserirei · 1 year

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Part 2.1 // Part 2.2

#serirei #reigen arataka #serizawa katsuya #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #decided to title it as uhhhhhhh #love day #so you can look up similar content like this #[ ok i have announcement to make. shadow the heaghog is a bitcha ss motherfucke #HELP MEEEE I THINK IM GOING INSANE MAKING THIS im sorry that you had to read this all and yelling at me im sorry im sorry #i did this in a whole day like i almost dont have any idea till idk???? this shit?????? whats going o #also yea thats the reason putting read more bcus its too damn long im sorry again and i will do it again]

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pettyprocrastination · 1 year

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whoever this beloved anon was I am so touched by your kindness! You definitely didn’t have to do this but I am so happy you enjoy this idea and I will happily expand upon it for you!

this is just a collection of word vomit bullet points for the time being but I will happily answer any and all questions about this pair!!

warnings: violence, angst, child death (Sarah Miller), foul language, the same warnings that apply to tlou, reader is Sarah's mom and described as having similar features to her.

So the general Idea is that you and Joel are happily married before the outbreak.

You had been Sarah's mother, his high school sweetheart he got pregnant when neither of you were old enough to have any reaction to the pregnancy test other than a fucking panic attack in one another’s arms. but you made it work

you both worked but made time for one another and your sweet girl, going to museums every other weekend and joel insisting on swooping you off for a date every now and then

nothing special. He knows you’re more of a diner gal than anything too fancy that makes you both feel out of place.

On his birthday in 2003, you had planned to tell him that you were pregnant again. But the memories of your own fears of motherhood from all those years ago begin to swirl through your head again and you get cold feel. deciding to tell him the morning after

it is his birthday afterall, you want to focus on him.

but when you’re woken up in the middle of the night because tommy needs to get bailed out, Joel kisses you sweetly one last time before promising he’ll be back and you can’t shake the feeling that something bad is happening.

its you that shakes sarah awake that night. shouting at her to put on her shoes when she’s still rubbing the sleep from her eyes because you’ve been listening to the radio for the past two hours, calling joel again and again and again praying for him to fucking pick up but to no avail.

Sarah, bless your little girl’s bleeding heart is the one who insists you check on the adler’s against your better suspicions and when you find the eldest looming over her daughter, blood and sinew dripping from her mouth, you grab your daughter hand and burst into a full sprint until something slams into your back and sends you tumbling onto their front lawn

its how joel finds you, struggling to keep the once sweet old woman, whose now nothing more than dead eyes and gnashing teeth straining to snap at your pulse point as you push against her while sarah shrieks before your husband runs forward and cracks her skull with a wrench.

there’s hardly a moment of pause, just enough for him to pull you up and into his arms before he’s ushering you both into the car with an urgency.

when the truck crashes, you get separated from them. Perhaps at Tommy’s side when the flames rise and create a wall, separating you from your husband, or maybe pulled into the mob of chaos when trying to escape from those already infected-

all joel knows is that you promise you’ll find him: just get sarah to safety and you’ll meet him at the river

Poor thing is already so frightened, held in her father’s arms with tears streaming down her face insisting they can’t leave you they just can’t but her father kisses her forehead and reassures her its going to be okay

“we just need to be brave, okay babygirl? Your mama’s real tough, she’s gonna be alright.”

he isn’t sure if he’s saying it to his daughter or himself.

but when he comes to the river you aren’t there. Only a soldier who points a gun at the scared little girl in his arms and then he loses everything

its when the light is gone from his daughter’s eyes that he realizes. His voice cracked and raw from sobbing that he looks around to see his brother with drawn in shoulders and tears in his eyes but his wife is nowhere to be found.

Tommy says you got lost in the chaos. Everything was so loud, so sudden that he turned around and suddenly you weren’t there.

Joel wants to go back but its Tommy that stops him, that dulls the red in his vision to a sad faded pink because his brother points at the orange horizon not too far from them, so much of the city is already in flames.

“We’re gonna find her, but not there.”

So Joel searches. for the first year spent in the world post-outbreak its all he did.

He became a smuggler because of it.

Information came at a price and he needed to be able to fucking pay it, whether it be in blood or ration cards. He was willing to do anything to find you or any thin thread that lead your way.

But it’s Tommy that asks him to give up. Not in those words of course.

The youngest Miller knows better than to say something so cruel that would make his brother, the only person he has in this world turn on him.

But his voice is worried when he asks him one night in Boston when he hasn’t even had the chance to wash the blood from his knuckles

“You think she would have wanted this for you?”

the fight that followed his words was brutal. Vicious insults and scarred fists slamming against each brother until they're both too tired and bloody to continue. Each leaning against a wall for support and Tommy’s wavering voice breaking the silence.

“I don’t know where she is, Joel. But I do know you're gonna get yourself killed if you keep lookin’ for her.”

All he can do is nod.

It’s a few days later when he meets Tess. Who has heard plenty of stories about the elder miller’s brutality and wants him to put that muscle to good use for some extra profit.

It begins his new life. One that empty and cold but one he can live.

Until of course, Ellie comes along. The sweet and incredibly opinionated girl that makes him become something akin to the man he thought died twenty years ago.

its when he’s traveling with Ellie, that it happens. When a warm familiarity has settled between the two because so much blood and pain has been shared he can’t help but see her as something close, something bright even though all he can force himself to utter in her reference is “cargo”

when theyre traveling through the woods as Ellie chatters away, probing his memory about a movie that may or may not have existed thirty years ago because her descriptions of the plot are incredibly odd he hears a voice shout for them to stop and finds himself staring at a man- no, a boy- pointing a gun at them.

Ellie stills, but Joel can see enough to know that from the lanky figure and dimpled face that he’s young. Maybe twenty, twenty-two at the oldest, but his eyes dart from Joel to Ellie with a pinprick of fear that allows Joel the time to charge forward and slam him to the ground before wrestling the gun from his hands.

He has enough to time to tuck it under the stranger’s chin before he hears the sound of the safety being turned off and finds himself looking up and seeing a gun just inches from his face.

Joel’s head whips around when Ellie’s voice calls out his name in fear, he turns to see another stranger holding her a gun point, shoulders drawn back and a shadow cast over their face by the had obstructing their identity.

“You hurt one of mine, I hurt one of yours. That a fair deal?”

Its takes him a moment to recognize you. It’s been so long since he’s heard your voice, the sweet tease when you would poke at him each time he woke up late despite the fact that you reminded him to set his alarm the night before, the times you’d chide him with a harsh “Joel Miller!” whispered in public anytime he was able to grab you a bit too passionately to be appropriate in public but the laughter in your voice let him know you were never truly mad at him. You didn’t know how to be.

But that sweetness is buried under a cold rasp that cuts through the air as you point a rifle at the scared little girl in front of you.

“You think I won’t?” You’re older now, skin covered in scars from a life he didn’t know you got the chance to live and your eyes are cold as they regard your husband. “Put the gun down and get the fuck off of him, I won’t repeat myself.”

Joel mumbles your name in awe. The woman he loved, the woman he mourned the one he fought so hard to find stands before him like some sort of hallucination and suddenly the world feels like its spinning until you bark orders at him again.

“You’ve got five seconds Joel, make a fucking choice before I make it for you.”

He looks down and realizes the boy under him, the one with the bleeding nose and snarling face has your eyes and his dimples.

“One.”

The one above him has Sarah’s hair. Soft brown curls that shine under the sun.

“Two”

Wait. No, they both do.

“Three.”

Twins. Jesus fucking Christ you had twins.

“Four.”

Joel holds the rifle up above his head and the one boy standing snatches it from his grasp, tossing it to the ground and kicking it far from his reach. He slowly stands, allowing your son- dear god your son- to scramble to his feet.

Your voice softens just for a moment. “You okay, Duke?”

Blood stains the bottom half of his face from where Joel slammed his fist into the boy’s nose just moments before, but he nods nonetheless.

Now, they both stand on one side of you and he can see the resemblance clear as day the same way he would whenever Sarah was by your side.

When you order him to hand over his bag, he does so without question before telling Ellie to do the same.

She watches him with wide eyes, her hands still up in the air but gaping at her companion as if he had grown a second head.

“Joel!” “Just do it, alright?”

He doesn’t miss the way you watch their interaction with narrowed eyes until she tosses her bag to you and you slowly lower your gun.

“Now, you want to tell me what the fuck you think you’re doin’ at my home?”

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #i had an idea of something similar for tommy but on outbreak night he uh. abandons you instead of getting separated from you #because. angst :D #people say nice things #this was incredibly generous of you anon thank you so so much!#i may get myself a little starbucks drink this week now because I havent had starbucks since like january 1st lol #joel reeling from taking in all this information and also realizing he suckerpunched HIS OWN KID #id like to apologize for all the grammatical issues with this. this is just a bulletpoint word vomit to get my thoughts on the page before-#-beginning the actual fic. also I have to do a midterm tonight and this is my treat to myself hehe #but yes. joel getting separated from his wife on outbreak night and having to accept that shes probably dead #meanwhile youve lived this entire life without him because you think HES dead ad raising your boys all on your own #which just- further digs into his insecurities about failing in his role as a protector #he couldn't save sarah. he can't save ellie and he couldn't even save you #he thinks about you pregnant and alone. fending for yourself in a world full of infected and raiders and his chest grows tight again #this is all followed by Ellie going >:O 'you KNOW THIS PSYCHO?'and then joel immediately snapping at her to WATCH HER MOUTH #because that kid has no filter and he has to explain that youre his wife #anyways joels wife is a badass mfer who also maybe has a little garden and some chickens that you and your boys take care of <3 yeah .#reunion tag #ill be using that for this specific couple because I dont have a fic title yet but if anybody has suggestions!

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taffywabbit · 4 months

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i just woke up so i haven't actually watched the pokemon direct thingy yet, but i heard they mentioned they aren't pushing out another console release at all for 2024 and if that's true then frankly THAT news is way more hype than any actual game announcement could ever be. go girl let us wait!! this is genuinely what i've been begging for for years now

like, oh a new Legends game? that's neat i guess. oh wait it's being given literally ANY time to cook and they aren't crunching Game Freak to hell and back in order to pump out a bunch of half-baked annual releases for the first time in ages?? NOW we're fuckin talking. LOVE to see the torturous cycle broken

#buny text #pokemon #granted they may have just delayed their plans simply because nintendo still isn't releasing a new console til pretty late in the year #and they cannot feasibly keep trying to squeeze things down into a format the switch can (barely) handle without losing goodwill #but i'd like to hope that this also proves they don't need to be pumping out 3 console titles and multiple DLCs in such short spans of time #i'd love to see what might happen if the pokemon devs were ever given the kind of long thorough dev cycles that the zelda team gets #like let gamefreak cook for as long as they need and release when they actually feel it's ready. please.#as frustrated as i am with how SV turned out the majority of my frustration was that you can still FEEL the devs' passion in there #but it's massively overshadowed by jank and lack of polish and design decisions that would only ever be made under intense time pressure #the last chunk of that game's story is cool as hell but getting there was such a depressing experience that it's very hard to recommend #these are clearly artists who still have good ideas and interesting experiences to create! give them the time they need to do it properly!

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fatuismooches · 3 months

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EVEN MORE CUTE DOTTORE MOMENTS TO MAKE YOU SMILE 🙏 (because I am too tired to post anything of quality)

#smooches talks #ouhhhh... to experience the domestic life with him...#someone motivate me to start writing actual fics again...#the dottore honeymoon fic merely has the title “medicus scriptor amorem” and “Honeymoon fic” in the actual document LMFAO #i made it on... january 27 oops #idek if im gonna stick to that name because google translate for latin is so bad omfg #(TO THAT KIND PERSON WHO SENT ME IDEAS ILY AND I PROMISE I WILL RESPOND. I PROMISE IM NOT IGNORING U)#i also have another wip i havent touched with loving the harbingers when they weren't in the fatui yet #no like seriously i think churning out 50k words did something to my writing state 💀🙏#a snippet from dottores part: Il Dottore’s strength was nearly unmatched in the Fatui being the Second Fatui Harbinger and all.#what most people do not know is that he was… certainly not the best fighter during his Akademiya days.#A claymore was also out of the question - he grumbled when he had to lug his numerous research materials and parts to the desert…#In the end you settled on teaching Zandik the basics of a sword. do with this as you will...#however i am still so proud of myself for fabulam diu oblitus #i was rereading in class bc i was bored and i was like #damn i kinda ate with this #thanks for listening to smooches mini writing life crisis if u made it here #okay i go sleep now... i have midterms this week #OMFG THESE TAGS R SO LONG IM SO SORRY

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lonicera-edulis · 6 months

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If the Hobbit characters were in the trek universe, what field/job do you think Bilbo would have in Star Fleet?

Also have you read "like warriors from the scientific sagas" on ao3?

Well, he is an adventurer, so maybe him being in Starfleet would work. And he is a writer and linguist 🤔 Maybe he could be like Uhura, a communications officer? He is not a scientist or a man of hard work, so I don't think other roles would fit his canonical portrait. Although, even if I have drawn a crossover art earlier, I don't entirely think mixing Star Trek and The Hobbit works. I don't know how to integrate dwarves and hobbits in that so it won't be an AU where they are Men.

Sadly I haven't read the story you mentioned, I am having trouble concetrating on reading 😢 Not to mention that I have become too picky lately and skip every story if I see something in description/tags that I am not up to read. So I end up not reading anything at all even if I really wish to read a story with my favourite characters. Maybe it will become better eventually and I will be able to read these stories, there are plenty of good and kind fic writers 😭

And I will look up the fic later. Thank you for the ask!

#replies #my mind is not that flexible like others creators' from the fandom #it is possible they have a better idea how to cook this crossover #I am being too stubborn to enjoy simple things and I am too negative so good ideas may pass by :(#also I have such a weird OCD theme which makes me think I am losing interest in current fandom #and it feels like searching through fics makes it worse because I am getting irritated easily #how do you find a specific fic on AO3?#I can't find it helpo #google shows warriors cats fics xD #AO3 searching system doesn't show the story with this title #полседьмого утра #я страдаю #update: I was given the link

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cienie-isengardu · 7 months

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MK 9 (2011)'s story mode & MK 1 (2023)'s story mode

#mortal kombat #bi han #sub zero #lin kuei #kuai liang #smoke #tomas vrbada #cyrax #sektor #you don't have an idea how this makes me happy to see bi han put in the middle (leader) position in two different timelines #especially considering his bad social skills and/or lack of patience for people in general XD #the most surprising things about those pictures is that the right place of bi han is taken be person who seems he less likely choice?#i mean kuai liang is his blood-related brother and second in line to the title of grandmaster #but it is smoke who is almost all the time occuping bi han's right side #bi han and sektor are implied to be on good terms in alternative and new timeline yet it is cyrax on sub zero's righ side #what makes sense as he is more active in the cyrax-sektor duo #also yellow color should be forbidden in lin kuei as everyone who has this color (Cyrax & Scorpion Kuai Liang) somehow betrayes the clan #just saying

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reloaderror · 1 month

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cheers

#im no drink connoisseur so im unable to come up w a fun possible pun title here but if you have ideas go for it #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #my art #dunmeshi #also these pink tinted champagne glasses exist i keep looking at them #i have no need for champagne glasses

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flareboi · 3 months

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what if purple never calls him dad

#what if the word ‘dad’ is something purple doesn’t like.#what if it carries a bad connotation for them and a bitter reminder for mango.#family doesnt always have to look like one thing yknow? i dont think those two would have a traditional dynamic in that way #maybe purple does consider him their parent. they just dont call him ‘dad’ unless its in third person #and theyre fine with that and so is he #king is his father figure yes but he’s also a mom. a big brother. a sister. their dynamic just isnt captured in purple calling him ‘dad’#maybe his name is the best way they can say it. the best way they can appreciate him #because for purple a father is someone who hurts you. someone who leaves you #i think ‘purple calls him dad on accident’ is a cute idea #but honestly it would make more sense if they called him mom on accident instead. or if it happened when they were afraid. not comfortable #(this is presuming orchid is his mother and navy his father based on the pronouns used in the react vids iirc)#because why would purple refer to someone he sees as a parent with the title of the one that presumably did not raise them?#and on mangos end #i think u can kinda tell who in this fandom has never lost a loved one in how they characterize him #guys. grief doesnt leave. it never leaves.#you just learn to live with it!!!#mango is not okay just because he has a new kid to take care of. i would know this my bio mom passed and i have a stepmother!!!#she does not fill that void and i do not expect her to because it cannot be filled. but she brings a lot new to ease the pain and is a #wonderful part of my life #the same thing here #mango will never ever just .. go back to how he was #he will never be the same since gold died. and thats okay #purple will not change that. they will merely add something new #their dynamic can be beautiful and nontraditional and a showing of how grief can change you #it doesnt have to be ‘replacement dad and replacement son’#its so much more #oke. tag rant over #fett rambles #ava #uhh should i tag the chars

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wordsinhaled · 2 years

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these bones never rested while living; so how can they stand to languish in repose?

dreamling bodyguard AU??? - for @raven-star7

“i have an appointment,” death tells him, “with a man here. not much longer now. in the meantime—drink your drink, dream. you might like it.”

morpheus obliges and takes a long sip of his ale. the urge to spit it back out is immediate and visceral, but she is watching him drink intently, eyes sparkling; he refuses to add truth to her jest.

“when i return to the dreaming,” he leans in close to be heard, speaking into her ear, “my first order of business shall be to plant a new grape varietal in the palace vineyards and name it in your honor, my sister.”

death lets out a bright peal of laughter and nudges him with her shoulder. “was the ale really so vile?”

but before morpheus can respond, a gale of guffaws draws his attention to its source, a table in the corner of the bustling tavern. the man seated at the center of the commotion puts down his tankard and looks around at his companions, grinning genially.

“death,” the man says, with all the handsome confidence of someone proclaiming an incontrovertible fact, “is not going to come for me.”

morpheus raises an eyebrow at his sister. “surely that cannot be the one—”

she nods. “there’ll be a knife fight, just outside.”

“ah,” morpheus says. “that is an irony indeed.”

his name is robert gadling, and he dreams of immortality.

“—and in another hundred years,” he is saying now, “who knows what the world will be like? in two hundred? how much better it might be?”

“an’ i suppose you plan t’be around to find out, do you, eh, hobsie?” scoffs one of his friends—but the gleam of wonder is upon the fellow as he looks at gadling. the others, too, crowd closer to hear gadling’s answer, drawn as common moths to a candle flame.

“this man...” morpheus frowns. “who is he?”

a pause, during which morpheus very deliberately does not glance back at his sister, for he can feel her appraising look, and knows she will see into him, as is her way, and read rightly that this night has discomfited him. “you know who he is,” she says carefully, as though she would say more but chooses not to. “you know everyone.”

“when he sleeps,” morpheus says, “he dreams of finding love. of having a child, one day, who will inherit his eyes and his stubbornness. he dreams of impossible things, sister, that his friends cannot imagine or comprehend. things that will not come to pass for centuries yet. he dreams of living forever—”

death rests a hand between his shoulderblades. takes the tension from him with her touch and leaves a little of her warmth behind. “nothing can live forever, dream,” she tells him, gently, “and no one. i walk alongside them all, in the end.”

“is it truly his time to go to the sunless lands?” now morpheus does look at her. “he inspires others. there is some greater purpose to him. do you not see it?”

his sister tilts her head, and morpheus can almost hear her thinking. in her face is the wisdom and kindness of all the years this universe has known, and a little mischief too. “it is hob’s time to meet death,” she says at last. “but he could find his greater purpose somewhere else.”

“my sister,” morpheus says, “you vex me. you cannot mean what i think you imply.” back in the dreaming a wind picks up, brisk enough to match the coolness of his tone and the gathering thunder in his gaze. he rattles the palace windows and stirs the trees and tears leaves from the hedges in the gardens.

yet his sister, in the waking, refuses to be disturbed. simply waits until he settles, and accepts his sourness with equanimity. “you could use a bodyguard.”

“a bodyguard who lost his life in a knife fight?” morpheus purses his lips.

“everyone has their off days,” she says pointedly. “you might see a knife fight or two yourself yet, you keep swanning about in the world looking like that.”

nonplussed, morpheus looks down at his own clothes—at his dreamstone gleaming richly on its cord about his neck, and his long black robes. the customary dress he has favored recently, even at home amongst his subjects. “i do not need a medieval peasant for a minder in the waking world. in the dreaming, jessamy serves me perfectly well. he certainly does not belong in my realm.”

“doesn’t he?” his sister’s eyes are back to twinkling. “you said yourself he’s the consummate dreamer. wishing for implausible things.”

morpheus watches the man get up and walk out of the white horse tavern. his hangers-on return soon to their drinking, though their raucousness, their hopefulness, is a little dimmed in his absence. the sounds of a scuffle, shouts, thuds, drift in distantly from the alley outside. morpheus bows his head.

death touches morpheus’ elbow, and slips through the door easy as a shadow.

when she returns, it is with hob gadling cradled in her arms.

he is so pallid, and so soaked in blood, and all the verve and boastful pleasure of before are so thoroughly gone from his face that morpheus thinks him dead, at first. then he opens his eyes, and his features contort with agony, and morpheus feels the dream that is still fervent in him, like a second pulse that thrums in time with his thready heartbeat.

the dream that calls out to be saved.

“please,” hob whispers to death. “not you. not yet.”

“did i hear you say, earlier,” morpheus asks him, then, “that you had no intention of ever dying?”

hob stares up at him from the comfortable haven of death’s embrace. his wish to live gives a valiant beat of its wings. “yeah,” he says, “that’s right.” there is red at the corner of his mouth as he smiles.

“you are dying, now.” morpheus kneels beside him.

hob laughs; choked and pained, but a laugh nonetheless. “not if—not if i can help it, my friend.”

“well,” death says, “as it happens, you can.”

“robert gadling,” says morpheus, against all reason, “i offer you a choice.”

#the sandman #dreamling #bury me as it pleases you lover; at sea or deep within the catacomb #oh hellos supremacy tbhhhh #also yeah i have no idea what i am doing here #the title is cliche i Do Not Care the song is 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻#dreamling bodyguard au

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