#breadthief thoughts

[enbyartblog]

Transparent perrito tomasito burrito, if anyone finds themselves missing him, or in need of comfort by the tumblr pastime of playing with jpegs like dolls

(If you do insert him into images, please tag my main - I'd love to see it!)

Take him, treat him gently

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I never need much of an excuse to look at animals, so I looked through shelter websites (in Thomas' area lol) to see if anyone struck as inspiration for Clouds Of The Soul when considering the inclusion of a dog.

So this is the facecast for Bluebell (actually a male named Sven, I think), to help your imaginations:

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Something is happening 🙌

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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 15/15 Fandom: Conclave (2024), Conclave - Robert Harris Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vincent Benítez/Thomas Lawrence (Conclave) Characters: Vincent Benítez (Conclave), Thomas Lawrence (Conclave), Raymond O'Malley (Conclave), Aldo Bellini (Conclave), Sister Agnes (Conclave), Goffredo Tedesco (Conclave) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, ace4ace, Asexual Relationship, Asexual Vincent Benítez, asexual thomas lawrence, (different experiences of aceness though), (and neither of them know the term), Non-Sexual Intimacy, Non-Sexual Kink, Romantic Fluff, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, heavy on the comfort, Mention of past csa, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Dom/sub Undertones, Sub Thomas Lawrence (Conclave), collaring, Panic Attacks, Mentions of Cancer, Body Dysphoria, so much Emotional Healing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Nightmares, agender thomas, (he doesn't understand that either) Series: Part 3 of Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks If His Tail Don't Wag Summary:

Life is good since Thomas' return from his vacation (for the most part, anyway). He's more relaxed and having him around helps ease Vincent's mood. The effect is even more considerable now they are so much closer.

As Vincent learns to accept and adapt to a more settled life around his papacy, Thomas must learn to undo six decades of repression to be able to settle into their relationship.

But they can do it. Together.

  *(past csa/child abuse tags are only relevant to Ch11, can skip)

Finally complete! Epilogue now added 🙌

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omg... went to have a lil look to check something that I thought might be quicker to do looking in the bookmarks on More Than Time and... I'm legit getting a bit tearful 🥹

I don't think I'm any kind of person of note in any fandom. In fact, I always feel on the outside (which might be for the best).

But More Than Time now has 170 bookmarks, 4 new ones just this year. 6 years after I finished it. (I've not looked at it in awhile)

This was my first contained longfic. I suppose my first 'novel' (at over 140k, it qualifies length-wise for sure..). It gave me my best friend, who has spoken to me every single day for 6 years because she loved that story. It's special to me for those personal reasons.

It's my most read/well-liked fic by a significant margin, but the fact people are still finding it for the first time, or willing to reread it, is so so touching.

At the time I think I was comparing myself to other people too much - that it'd never be as good as X or Y, because I could often feel very stupid in a space seemingly filled with very academic, intelligent people with deep knowledge of history and literature. (And when the final chapter was freshly posted, I think 3 people commented in the following days and I was like damn... my writing wasn't engaging enough to retain the interest of everyone else... But it did take me a whole year. Can't really expect people to stick around that long!)

These bookmark comments are nearly making me cry. Like... this is what it's all about..?

incredible and life-changing valvert

This is the fic that changed everything. Made me read the brick and got me into this ship lmao. It only took 15 years

What... what do you mean???!😭💖 it made someone read the brick???

And just that people have it in their 'all time fave' or 'rereads' collections... my heart is so full... feeling a lot on this Monday night...

Maybe I can have the strength to write a novel for a tiny fandom...? Maybe in 6 years time someone new will love that too...

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#breadthief thoughts <- is the tag for anything related to my fic. Blacklist or follow as you desire

I always have too many ideas to possibly write, here's a list in case I never get around to them

⚫️ Not started

🟠 Not started, posted/collected notes

🟡 Started, unposted WiP

🟢 Started, posted WiP

Ideas in the oven:

Lawrenitez

⚫️ Ray is convinced Thomas and Vincent are making out every time they're alone and takes it upon himself to make loud noises and diversions before anyone walks in on them. In actual fact, they are oblivious to their feelings and worry Ray's strange behaviour is him having a breakdown and/or going deaf (comedy)

⚫️ Thomas has a stroke after the stress of the conclave. He had a small one during the conclave that went unnoticed as he passed it off as a migrane. His speech is most affected, which is especially difficult for him feeling he's lost his usefulness. (Whump, hurt/comfort, and my favourite: recovering with love and support) (important to note Thomas gets a beard in this one because he stops shaving)

🟢 "Regular" Guy AU: Thomas, manager of a boring corporate company for decades, finally decides to retire and try and do something Meaningful with his life. Sees an ad for a new charity seeking managerial expertise. Vincent, recovering from his injury sustained in a bombing, can no longer return to being in UN field service, still wants to help and has set up a food bank/resource distribution charity. Thomas, who only the week before was lamenting never being brave enough to attempt to date a man, gets his first male crush. Is concerned that he's crushing on someone who's technically his boss. But it doesn't matter, because what would someone as wonderful as Vincent, who's lived such an incredible life, possibly see in him? (this one's fucking LONG, I can feel it. It's basically original fiction at this point) [status: posted WiP]

⚫️ "Regular" Guy Sequel. Yeah. I already have a sequel to a thing I haven't written. They adopt a kid

⚫️ The Most Fucked Up Thomas. I don't think I'll ever write it because I fear it'll be upsetting to people, but this was born when considering Thomas' backstory in Collar Me and wondering what it'd be like if he experienced Worse and in the present. How he wouldn't speak of it, but Vincent would recognise the signs, gently helps him through, romance develops, and Thomas is even more horrified by his body and takes some drastic measures... he's decidedly not coping at all but believes he is. Absolute disaster man👍

Bone Temple

🟡 No Outbreak Au/Everybody Lives: Isla, successfully undergoing cancer treatment after Spike waited outside a different GP surgery to beg for someone (kelson) to fix her after their GP not believing anything serious was wrong, encounters a woman going into labour in the street. Isla and Spike get her to the hospital and wait to see what happens as the woman is alone and very distressed.

Samson is contacted to say there are serious complications with the birth of his child. This is news to him, as the pregnancy was a result of a drunken, drug-fuelled party that he has very hazy memories of. This person he hooked up with never contacted him again and he had no idea she was pregnant. In his rush to get to the hospital, he gets into a car accident and suffers a traumatic head injury. He never makes it to the maternity ward.

Confused and afraid, he's constantly drugged to ensure he's not a danger to any of the hospital staff. He escapes the hospital, and kelson finds him wandering, frightened and in pain.

Eventually, all the dots will connect up. The mother of the child has many struggles and does not want the responsibility of a child. Samson becomes the sole guardian and kelson (now friends) helps him raise the baby. Romance develops. Rated E (the entire point of this is 'kelson and samson raise the baby'. But also probably fucking Long to do all the set up 😔) [Status: in progress + backstory notes]

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Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Conclave (2024), Conclave - Robert Harris Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vincent Benítez/Thomas Lawrence (Conclave) Characters: Thomas Lawrence (Conclave), Vincent Benítez (Conclave), Raymond O'Malley (Conclave), Aldo Bellini (Conclave), Goffredo Tedesco (Conclave), Sister Shanumi (Conclave), Joshua Adeyemi (Conclave) Additional Tags: non curia au, regular guy au, asexual vincent, demisexual thomas, background bellesco, Slow Burn, Romantic Comedy, figuring yourself out in later life, Angst

Chapter 5

Thomas suffers some trials and has an important meeting. Fortunately, he has Aldo to come to the rescue and put things into perspective. 

Meanwhile, Vincent makes a new friend c:

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Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Conclave (2024), Conclave - Robert Harris Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vincent Benítez/Thomas Lawrence (Conclave) Characters: Thomas Lawrence (Conclave), Vincent Benítez (Conclave), Raymond O'Malley (Conclave), Aldo Bellini (Conclave), Goffredo Tedesco (Conclave), Sister Shanumi (Conclave) Additional Tags: non curia au, regular guy au, asexual vincent, demisexual thomas, background bellesco, Slow Burn, Romantic Comedy, figuring yourself out in later life, Angst

Chapter 2

Perhaps Thomas should fill his time in such a way, if he had time to give. There must be some charity that could use his assistance, and feeling helpful, having a purpose, would be good for him. And prevent a descent into hermitude.

Thomas returned to this thought once he was back home, deciding there was no time like the present to check if there were places actively seeking volunteers and in need of the extra help. Some of it was entirely outside of his skillset - maintenance of online platforms or web development, community programs for people with complex needs or children, retail assistants for their high street shops… Thomas supposed he could work a cash register, but he'd never had a retail job in his life.

He wondered if he should call Ray and ask if that friend of his needed an extra volunteer, or if Ray thought that Thomas would have any useful advice to give. Although, if that were the case, he thought Ray would have already asked for his help.

Then there was something Thomas felt perfectly qualified for: Corporate Liaison/Outreach.

One Roof is a new charitable trust, and our aim is to gather all available resources across Cambridge and get them to where they're needed most in the wider Cambridgeshire community. A large part of this mission is reducing unnecessary waste from high street stores and corporations. We need a Corporate Liaison to convince these companies that donating their usable ‘waste’ will not impact their profits.

We're seeking an excellent communicator who has experience with large companies, as well as making presentations and pitches.

This is an Unpaid position.

Thomas could absolutely fill such a role. In fact, he thought that guilt-tripping CEOs into actually doing something useful was very appealing. The catharsis would be payment enough.

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