getting caught up in the syllables

Yang | 30+ | they/them | overthinking out loud

[goldflinches]

✨Dreamling Bingo 2024 Masterlist ✨

All snippets 😔✌️ but happy to get these fics going. Hope to finish them before the year ends!

A1 - Loss of Power

In The Pursuit Of Better Magic (snippet) Every seventh of the month, Magis Morpheus Aeternus and Magis Robert Gadling duel at the ruins of the White Horse to prove which approach to magic is superior. This has been their standing arrangement for seven years and counting. Then Mg. Aeternus fails to attend one duel. Months later, his eventual reappearance opens up new questions about magic — and about his acquaintanceship with one Mg. Gadling. And of course, more duels.

B1 - Comforting Insecurity

no. 40 (snippet) Even unfinished things have a beauty to them, as hard as it is to believe about your own creations. It takes a bit of heart-to-heart and some poetry from an old friend to impress this truth upon Dream of the Endless.

B2 - Free Space

Little Gifts (snippet) Once a century, Dream of the Endless meets the immortal Hob Gadling to ask him if he still wants to live. (And once a century, Hob Gadling unknowingly receives a gift from his mysterious stranger.)

B3 - Obsession

the same difference (snippet) A friend is a friend, even a few realities removed. (or: Hob meets a different Dream. He deals with it with as much grace as he can. Which is to say, not much at all.)

C1 - Lovers to Enemies

The Hangman's Bridge (snippet) When you're raised with a gun in your hand and the world in the crosshairs, love and the like are all but building bridges just to watch them burn. Dream Di Clemente has never wanted, never hoped for a life outside the family business – until he meets Hob Gadling.

C2 - Creature: Barghest

swear by the dog (snippet) What is a death omen to an immortal? A friend. And to an Endless? What it is. Nothing more, nothing less. (or: a Barghest bears witness to the life and loves of an immortal.)

[dreeeam-diary]

im just throwing this here and continue my leave....

[dreeeam-diary]

I cant escape....i cant.....

NSFW

Pillowfort

TWT

[gabessquishytum]

Idk why but my brain is very hooked on Hob's wives and children, specifically the fact that it's plurals. I mean technically him and Eleanor had two children, so it doesn't have to mean anything, but I feel like it's implying he had even more children thereafter. Which is interesting in two ways: 1) We never see him grieving as hard and long again as after Eleanor, which makes me wonder if he found any good coping mechanisms to deal with it better. And 2) if he wasn't as unlucky with the other children, did they grow old enough to have children of their own? Does Hob hold contact with them? If so, do they know his true identity?

Yesss this is something I think about a lot!

It does make me go offer on a tangent and wonder how Hob reacts to 21st century developments like genetic tracing, DNA ancestry websites etc. Obviously Hob himself would probably be too smart to upload his own profile, but if he does (or did) have kids they or their descendants would potentially be able to trace each other. How weird would it be to find out that your great great great great grandfather has just quite recently fathered another child?!

I wonder if all these further developments would discourage him from having any more kids. He'd certainly also have to keep very good track of all his descendants. It would be a terrible coincidence, but if he wasn't careful he could potentially end up dating his own great great great grandchild by accident.

In addition to all that - I personally just find it difficult to imagine Hob having lots of biological kids - after the trauma of Robyn and everything that he experienced after that. However, I can easily see him adopting, fostering or just being a really good mentor to other children. And I do genuinely think that he wouldn't tell any of them his secret. He doesn't want to put that burden of knowledge on them.

As to his coping mechanisms for grief, I'm sure he would find better ways. But I think that each loss would still be a unique circumstance, no matter how much he tries to prepare himself. One thing about Hob is that he definitely isn't cold or numb to the experience of death, he absolutely mourns the people he loves every single time. However many times it takes.

[kamwashere]

woah the raven black hair, fair skin, and piercing blue eyes look sooo familiar i can’t quite put my finger on it

[valiantstarlights]

[ellenchain]

PLEASE can you post the Meljayvik art that you posted on bsky on April 11th 😭

Ohhh you mean this one? ❤️

[teejaystumbles]

I forgot I can post this here as well. @tj-dragonblade's merman Hob, based on a leopard trout. If I find some time I want to draw him properly, this was a first sketch and colour tryout

[goldflinches]

Maybe my fatal flaw is that I think every ship should have a Roman Holiday AU. As a treat.

[dreeeam-diary]

catch me in our treehouse!!!

The one that has the sweetest dreams as as guests

[pellaaearien]

Here With Me (Prologue)

Dreamling | E | Edging, Caretaking, Porn With Plot | ~20k total

Dream is the oracle of the Endless Kingdom, sworn to a life with no orgasms in order to increase the strength of his prophecies. Hob is his knight.

“Haah... Hob! Hob, please!”

His beloved begs so sweetly. He always does. He knows better, but can’t control his mouth as he gets closer. Hob wants nothing more to give in; hearing Dream plead, seeing the tears of frustration on his cheeks, knowing that he is the only one who can grant him release, is its own form of torture. But Hob knows his duty. Dream has never had a single orgasm in his entire life, and he thanks Hob for it when he’s clearer headed.

Not right now, though. Hob has been edging him for the allotted hour, first with his fingers, then with his mouth. His beard is soaked with Dream’s fluids as he licks and sucks, waiting for the telltale sign he’s learned means that Dream is about to climax.

“Ho-ob!” Dream wails, belly twitching with the hitch in his breath, and all at once Hob pulls away, leaving his love to sob and writhe in thwarted pleasure. A bowl of cold water sits near at hand just in case, but Hob has rarely had to use it.

He is very good at his job.

“Ah!” Dream jerks, and Hob grasps his wrists in an iron grip, pinning him to the bed as Dream squirms.

“Shh, my love,” he murmurs, though it’s an open question whether or not Dream can even hear him. “I have you. I’m here.”

Dream’s back arches, his eyes shooting wide and blank.

“The blue morpho,” he gasps, in a voice sounding nothing like his own. “Follow where it flies. Water from under the rocks.” Then he slumps back, chest heaving. He blinks, and life returns to his eyes.

“Breathe,” Hob reminds him, gentling his hold and pressing a kiss to his forehead. The court stenographer Nuala is scribbling furiously, but Hob’s focus is all on Dream. “Just breathe. I’m here. You did so well.”

Dream follows instructions, staring up at the ceiling until his breathing slows, and Hob carefully removes himself from him to get the water, coaxing him to sit up and drink.

“What did I—?” Dream croaks, once he’s swallowed the water. He never knows what he’s said when the visions come on him; he described it to Hob once as “going somewhere else.”

“Sounds like the villagers are going to find the new source of water they need,” Hob says quietly. Dream sighs in relief, sagging further into Hob’s embrace. Hob bites his tongue. He knows how important Dream’s visions are to the kingdom. No oracle has ever had stronger, more accurate prophecies. He just wishes it took less of a toll.

Once Dream’s trembling stops, Hob cleans the sweat from his body with careful swipes of a cloth. He’s flushed and gorgeous, the most beautiful thing Hob has ever seen. Only Hob can touch him, and no one will ever have him. It’s nearly enough to drive Hob mad, but he loves Dream enough to do whatever he asks.

“I think I have one more in me,” Dream says, meeting his eyes, and Hob, resigned to his fate, bends to his task.

[last-smoke]

*ebsolutely not* a bunch of links to arcane season 1, season 2, and the 'art and making of arcane' pdf ⚙️

[dubiousdisco]

[writing-for-life]

There Is No Safe Word

How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.

If the paywall comes up, try to put the link into this: https://www.removepaywall.com

Posting in the spirit of not staying quiet about this.

I strongly suggest you read this—all of it, because it’s long. Lila Shapiro is the journalist who wrote the investigation into Joss Whedon btw and won an award for it, so maybe people can finally stop making this all about Tortoise Media.

[oidingus]

Added the promised second part y’all!

[nosongunsung11]

collection of posts for a very specific dynamic

[kwekstra]

Ok I am once again liveblogging the Word of the Year vote

• For informal word of the year, multiple people have gone up to the mic announcing themself as “team rawdog”

• One respected professor threw his support behind “W”, saying (I’m paraphrasing) “double the u, double the pleasure”

• In lieu of an institution, one person announced themself as a “tumblr shitposter”. That person? Was me.

[kwekstra]

Unsurprisingly, “rawdogging” has won Informal Word of the Year 2024 by a truly MASSIVE landslide

[kwekstra]

“Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body” has just been last-minute nominated for political word of the year, challenging “Luigi”’s crowd-favorite status.

[kwekstra]

Someone just started playing smooth jazz on the speakers to pass the time as waited for the presenters to resolve their tech issues

[kwekstra]

“Luigi” wins political word of the year!!

[kwekstra]

• Somebody (me) just last-minute nominated “I’m bald” for Digital Word of the Year.

• A middle school teacher has gone up to the mic to INSIST that the correct order is “Skibidi Ohio Rizz”, not “Skibidi Rizz Ohio”

• The Digital Word of the Year commentariat appears to be almost entirely made up of middle school teachers

• A middle school teacher sitting next to me: “I’ve had to set a quota for how many ‘skibidi’s are allowed in my students’ creative writings”

[kwekstra]

“Brainrot” wins Digital Word of the Year!

[kwekstra]

• For the second day in a row, the presenter has insisted that “hurkle durkle” can be used as a synonym for “bedrotting”

• “Lock in” wins Most Useful Word of the Year

[kwekstra]

• WOTY mvp Nicole Holliday has brought up the concept of “Toilets with threatening auras”, arguing that “we live in a vibes-based economy”.

• Arguing in favor of “Unserious”, someone claimed that “there is nothing more cutting than being called unserious.” She then proceeded to call the rest of the contenders unserious, eliciting audible gasps from the audience.

• “Unserious” has defeated “NIL” in a runoff for Most Likely To Succeed Word of the Year

[kwekstra]

Ok we’ve moved on to “Most Fun While it Lasted”, a category that I accidentally caused to exist during nominations yesterday.

• Someone has gone up to defend “hawk tuah”, calling it the “most potent, most virile” word of all time. The havoc this comment has caused is indescribable.

• Ok seemingly everyone this round is speaking in support of “Hawk Tuah”

• “Brat” wins Most Fun While it Lasted!

[kwekstra]

• Someone has provided “We boutta rawdog an entire presidential administration” as an example sentence

• In a profoundly unsurprising development, basically half of the commenters this round spoke in favor of “rawdogging”

[kwekstra]

RAWDOGGING WINS WORD OF THE YEAR 2024!!

[official-linguistics-post]

OFFICIAL BREAKING LINGUISTICS NEWS

[ren-144p]

ARCANE: Silco & Vander ↳ “Everything might have been different.”