hi, if you like hybrids and interpersonal dramas you should give Dog's Life a read. The main plot is 14 players participating in an episodic hunger games setting, but the author got very interested in the world building so now we're exploring the consequence of a fey creature governing a community that's hiding away from a world fallen into anarchy. Everyone is reaching the end of their ropes with the scarcity problems and the very very very long life span everyone has isn't helping this issue. This has the best depiction of the different expressions of love i've ever seen. plus, only one person in the entire cast knows what sex is even though multiple characters have been in relationships before and have created children together.
it has dragons. we're actually at the part of the fic where the dragons are going to be showing up a lot. please it's the last trick i have up my sleeve. you guys have to read this masterpiece.
I like, immediately got an intense image of the idea for this fic the minute this song played, and I thought you would really like it as a cowboy enjoyer. we're going through a cowboy kick together right now so it tracks for me too <33 woe, my daydreaming song of all time be upon ye
(942 words)
The morning sky was still dark, that deep purple-black of early dawn, but clear far out to the horizon. Stars had just begun to fade around the edges, giving the dustiest impression of sun Jimmy had ever seen. He let out a breath. It fogged in front of his face as he turned back to the stable beside him. Still lingering in warmth from the night’s wood-burning heater, the stables cast a small, yellow glow across the wide expanse of nighttime that surrounded them. Morningtime, he supposed, since he’d risen this early on purpose. He finished fixing the blanket over Biscuit’s sturdy back, her dusty tan coat paler in the dim light. He gave her haunch a small pat as he pulled away. She watched him from the corner of one eye as he lifted the saddle into his arms and hoisted it over the multicolored blanket, settled the straps, looped them under her ribcage. She accepted the bit without a fuss, but not before sniffing his gloved hands for any left over sugar cubes. He huffed out a laugh.
The morning was cold, and quiet, and a tad bit lonely with his friends southward for the winter, but Jimmy was trying to take it in stride. His keyword being trying. Somewhere down the long stretch of prairie road that connected their farms were Bdubs and Etho, but the rest of the north of the valley had gone silent and still, aside from the occasional farm hand, the rare loose sheep or cow. Joel and Lizzie were with family, Scott somewhere so far south Jimmy didn’t have it on his map, and he’d not seen Grian for some time. Maybe since the peak of Summer—except for the letters he got from him. But the perimeter of his farm still needed searching for gaps, just like it always did at the top of the week.
With a settling breath, Jimmy swung himself into the saddle, and coaxed Biscuit from her pen.
Jimmy followed the same well-trodden path through the frosty grass, eyes scanning the dim horizon. The fenceline stretched along each line of his property, marking off the acreage, keeping all the cattle in. He could see the large clump of them in the distance, spotted cows, wooly sheep, the other horses that had wandered out of their stable and into the grass to feed. There was still hay from the night before, and the trough was full of water, so Jimmy skirted the line of the fence, and drew his attention elsewhere.
A dark splotch against the background of night caught his eye as he looked back toward the farmhouse. Some distance behind the rise of the roof was a grey-black plume. Jimmy blinked. He turned Biscuit around, tugging at the reigns as she protested for a moment, then went. He hadn’t left the stove on, he knew, nor the fireplace. The smoke was too far back to be the stables by the house, or the coup near the garden. He furrowed his eyebrows, squinting his eyes. He brought Biscuit into a trot, then a canter as they entered the open field. Light was beginning to spill across the frosty plains, lighting up his silhouette in the dark. He took Biscuit around the side of the stables, still trying to pinpoint the smoke—and he hoped it was smoke, and not something else entirely.
As he rounded the stable, a large, metallic shape came into view. Jimmy slowed Biscuit considerably, and she shuffled forward, sensing his unease. She stopped a handful of paces away from the shape and its rising smoke, the long, muddy skid behind it trailing back like a pull-cord for a toy. Jimmy slid off the saddle, hand trailing Biscuit’s shoulder as he soothed her. She huffed, then stepped back. It was Jimmy who took the few, careful steps forward. He rounded the glittering shape, trying to parse out what it could possibly be. Parts looked like a coach, the way the metal warped reminding him of windows, or places things should be stored, or ways someone could enter. Parts looked almost like boat hulls, or birds wings, or the sharp fins of fast-swimming fish. He took in an uneven breath, trying to slow down his heart. The majority of the smoke poured out from an unseen fire, further back in the contraption. As he came around to the other side, the metal sheet seemed to give way to an interior just as confusing as the exterior, aside from a small, person-like shape inside. Jimmy froze. For all intents and purposes, it could be a person. They were small—not childlike, but not tall—dressed in black and red, one piece of cloth making up their entire outfit. Their skin was yellow-orange, like they were jaundice, their eyes shut but wide set. Jimmy swallowed, his throat dry. It could be a person, but it was so un-person-like that every hair on the back of his neck had stood straight up. His hand went instinctively to his hip—but there was no gun. His stomach dropped.
It was still in the stable. He’d forgotten to replace it when he’d saddled Biscuit.
Inside the metal shape, the person—the thing, stirred.
Against his better judgement, Jimmy stayed put, and when the person-thing inside opened its wide eyes, he stared back into red-within-red. Neither moved, and neither made a sound.
His brain trying to catch up to the reality of the situation, Jimmy swallowed again, muscles tensed, heart slamming in his ears. Then, without thinking like he’d intended, he opened his mouth, and said the stupidest thing he’d ever said in his entire life:
“Who are you?”
(send me an ask with a number 1-100 for a little story!)
this master post is definitely not 6 months late <3 A low-stakes fic exchange between friends.
✧ Back to Nothing Again. by @everestlost
Aisling doesn't really want this life. She never asked for this. Diedre may be young, but she knows things. William can't quite bring himself to be entirely honest, especially not to his mother.
✎ Original work/Original Characters. Gifted to mxtheyes.
✧ Cowboys Are Often (Secretly?) Fond of Each Other by @mxtheyes
“What would you say if I told you I was thinkin’ about leaving?”
Samson paused, fork halfway to his mouth. “Well, I’d probably ask why. An’ how, an’ to where.”
“I’unno… It’s just been an awful long time on the road.” He shoveled down a mouthful of food just to escape talking. Samson, accursedly, waited for him to finish chewing. “I can’t explain it well. But don’t you ever think about a change of pace? About goin’ somewhere we never gone before? About maybe gettin’ a house or somethin’? Settlin’ down like… like real people do?
✎ Original work/Original characters. Gifted to changelingthingling.
✧ Everything Stays, But it Still Changes by @lucidfeverdreamer
After years spent unfulfilled and unhappy, Gem moves to the one place she can count on.
✎ Hermitcraft Stardew Valley AU. Gifted to ZodiacDragon334.
✧ I Am The Monster That Breathing Men Would Kill by @thechangelingthingling
In August of 1922, Grian stumbles across a beautiful mansion on his way to his sister's wedding, but the two strange inhabitants of this home begin to seem more and more sinister the longer he stays.
✎ Mumscarian vampires AU. Gifted to lucidfeverdreamer.
✧ My Little Oasis / Lasy Confessions by @1nd13gh0st
A fluffy domestic fic with a love confession and a first kiss!
✎ Scarian 3rd life AU. Gifted to OrchidKai.
✧ Neath the Grove is a Heart by @zodiacdragon334
"Scar lifted his head back to Camelot. The bells fell silent, their dying breaths rising as smoke. Dawn painted brilliant streaks of colours across the sky. The blood of Camelot on a canvas of twilight, mocking beauty after the bloodshed.
"I need to find my family," Scar said, his voice softening. "Before Mordred's army does. You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"I'll stay with you." Grian's words tumbled free without second thought. He cleared his throat. "I mean, I've got nowhere else to go anyway. And we'll have a better shot at surviving if we stay together."
✎ Desert Duo Camelot/Medieval AU. Gifted to 1nd13gh0st.
✧ Never Give a Dead Cat a Flamethrower by @twynte
"How do you know his name," Grian grounds out, each word putting more pressure on Scar's temple. Sooner rather than later his head will burst like a balloon.
"He told me."
"Liar."
"No, no—listen." Scar keeps his voice calm and steady even as Grian's hand digs further into his skull. "Mumbo told me his name willingly. There weren't any hoodwinks, or deceptions, or even online digging. He—We went on a date a couple months ago."
The author never did anything with the romantic tension. Scar might as well pick up the pen.
✎ Mumscarian superheroes AU. Gifted to ethoretical.
✧ Trouble (The Bad Place) by @etheoretical
"For the greater good." A common phrase said by those who believe they have the moral high ground simply because of their unfortunate upbringing.
Etho is a human super weapon, and Gem is a scientist.
Both against the roles they must play in this theatrical piece called life, and both would do anything to change that — even if it meant going against their own morals.
✎ Hermitcraft Sci-fi Superpowers AU. Gifted to everestlost.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP, Life Series | 3rd Life SMP Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar
Characters: Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar
Additional Tags: redscapeweek25, redscape week day 3, Yippee!, Scar as Hotguy, but like. mumbo knows of his two identities lol, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Superheroes, Cigarettes, Smoking, mumbo is addicted, to cigarettes or to scar it's for you to decide, Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Damsels in Distress, ish, Banter, Kisses, no beta we die like my sleep schedule, Purple Prose, Drabble
Series: Part 3 of redscape week 2025
Summary:
"Dropped this, sweetheart?" Hot Guy teasingly susurrates in his ear, and, flushing from head to toe, embarrassed beyond belief, literally constituting a damsel in distress, Mumbo swallows a curse down his throat, staring at the cigarette bud that sits in between the superhero's gloved fingers, its fire still persisting, not yet extinguished.
Or: Hot Guy saves the mess that is Mumbo K. Jumbo. (Again.)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP, Life Series | 3rd Life SMP Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar
Characters: Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar
Additional Tags: redscape week 2025, day 1 yippee!, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Fluff, Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort, mermaid au, Merman Scar, Astronauts, astronaut mumbo, Size Difference, Outer Space, Alternate Universe - Space, Drabble, Purple Prose, no beta we die like my iron levels, Sirens, Lullabies, Soft, so soft it's like marshmellow
Series: Part 1 of redscape week 2025
Summary:
Scar's blush resembles northern lights, Mumbo distractedly notices, in awe, and adoration surges forth, invading his heart.
Or: A gigantic space siren cradles an astronaut close, singing him to sleep.
