Maxwell straight up giggles, a high-pitched little laugh, and Torse's escapement misses a tick. It shouldn't be able to do that. He'll be fine.
“Torse,” says Max. “I think I'm- I think I've had too much to drink.” As he says it, he sways sideways, dangerously close to the edge of the ship.
They'd disappeared to watch the sunset together. Maxwell had stood up from the group, having emptied at least two fallen angels, and tugged Torse with him away from the group.
Marya had whistled. Torse had been glad to be unable to blush.
Torse grabs Maxwell's waist, pulls him back away from the edge. Maxwell sways into him, head pressing into his side, forehead hot against the chill metal.
“'M not gonna fall,” he mumbles, though his recent behaviour begged to disprove it.
“No, you're not," Torse says, and picks him up, one arm around the ribs and the other under his knees. “I won't let you.”
Max's arms find their way around Torse's neck like they were always meant to be there. “The sunset was pretty,” he says. “It makes you - gold. Glowy. Shiny. You're- you're strong,” he adds, as if he's only just realised that Torse has bodily lifted him. “Wow. I-” a hand, pressed against Torse's chest, feeling- “I don't normally get picked up.”
“I did not want you to fall,” Torse says, and ignores the reflexive twitch of his fingers into the soft meat over Maxwell's ribs.
Maxwell tucks his head into the space between collar and neck, and Torse walks him back to the main group, pace steady. Maxwell dozes off in his arms, curled into his chest, and despite the lack of nerves Torse feels a pang in his chest.
He stops by the group of the crew, still sitting around in a circle. Olethra has sprawled out on the floor, her head in Van's lap, and the rest of them seem to be playing some complicated card game. Were it not for his charge, Torse would join in.
Instead, he says “Maxwell has fallen asleep. I am going to take him to bed. Goodnight.”
Olethra starts a sentence- “Oh, I bet you'll take h-” but Monty puts a hand over her mouth.
“In their own time, Olethra,” he says. Torse is… unsure of what he speaks. “Goodnight, Torse.”
The goodbye rings around the group, and Torse nods, taking the sleeping Maxwell down to his quarters - the ones Torse spends his waking nights in, more often than not, listening to the quiet rush of Maxwell's breath. He deposits the sleep-warm man into the bed, preparing to disanimate for the night, but a hand clamps around his wrist, surprisingly dextrous for the amount of alcohol Maxwell had consumed.
“Stay,” mumbles Max, and tugs the hand towards him.
this is an Unexpected Surprise (ily) trick or treat with me here.
treat - but the narrative irony makes it a tricky treat?
Ludmila was convinced that Marya could pilot the Kingfisher by touch alone. She barely seemed to look as her fingers danced over the controls and she span the wheel to exactly the angle that she wanted. Her eyes were on the sky, outwards, never on Ludmila, as her strong hands seized at the wheel to hold it where she wanted, coaxing the perfect movement from the airship.
Ludmila wanted to feel those hands for herself. In many other scenarios than flying them across of Gath's skies. In every scenario she could dream up, in the idle hours.
Marya's voice was low enough that others might have to strain to hear, but Ludmila was well-attuned to her Captain by now; hanging on her every word, some might say, but Ludmila considered it just being a good crew member, alert to the orders of the Captain. Ready to jump in at a moment's notice, to prove herself as the most worthy on the deck. She was talking through a heading, and Ludmila was committing it all to memory - she, one day, was determined to be the captain, to be the one who charted their ways across the skies.
She just needed a little more time.
And if, in the meantime, it meant that she could watch the way that Marya's brow furrowed, and she worried at her lower lip with her teeth, while she prepared them for the next move - well, Ludmila was certainly not complaining about mapping those images to her mind as well.
There was much to learn, about the skies and about Marya, and Ludmila was determined to learn it all.
hi! i saw this post here that you made, which was basically like... snippets of everything everything lyrics? and i wanna know if it's ok to try and do something similar because god this band is so good, and i really like the way you formatted everything in the caption (sorry if this comes out of nowhere!! i was looking at the woefully empty ee tag in the past and found that post)
pfft yeah i didn't invent the idea of compiling band lyrics by theme in a tumblr post go ahead!! we need more EE-posting on this website
5 is broken bones by KALEO, and 55 is epic church organ by rafael krux, which is almost Certainly due to @atrueneutral ‘s blood in the wine playlist! edit: correction! still neutral’s playlist, but he will be all she knows, not blood in the wine :)
that is, without a doubt, live to see the end of the world. i think that maybe one or two fics outdo it in kudos, but it tops out when counting by hits, bookmarks, and comments. it was an absolute beast of a fic that was mostly written by hand in notebooks (that i still have!) while i was working at a job where i couldn't have my phone on me!
it clocks in at 83,801 words, making it my longest fic as well, and 41,043, which is such a bonkers number i can't even really comprehend it.
🍠 How long does it take you to write one of your fics or a chapter/part?
oh, man, i am chronically bad at sitting down and focusing to write. it can really be anywhere from an hour to a little over five months (ch. 32 of live to see the end of the world).
but when i get into the groove, though, and am writing a healthy amount, it usually takes me a day and a half to get through writing, editing, and posting!
🍥 What's your favorite fic you've written?
this is SUCH a tough question. there's definitely fics that hold a dear place in my heart even though i don't consider them to be my best writing (again, end of the world, along with my botw corruption au, which were two of my first forays into longform writing).
i also tend to be very self-indulgent when it comes to writing, so i like all of my fics! i'm writing them for me, after all. but if i had to pick a favorite, at the end of the day, it might actually be what happens in fantasy vegas. it's short, it's sweet, it's funny, and it's one of the only pre-2020 fics of mine that i regularly reread.
🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?
definitely this is not a swan song, my bnha/pacrim fusion au. writing for big fandoms is always rough when it comes to fics slipping through the cracks, but i was pretty proud of this one and i think more people should have read it.
5. what work of yours got more feedback than you expected?
my tav/astarion baldur's gate fic for SURE! i've never had so many people be invested in an oc x canon ship, and it was really lovely to hear all of the feedback about my take on the relationship.
6. favorite title you used?
probably catch you when the current lets you go - it's a line from the killers song this river is wild, which is a personal favorite!
15. what wip are you taking into next year with you?
MY CURRENTLY UNNAMED STARDEW VALLEY FIC!! currently it just lives in my head (and scattered google docs) but i swear to god one day it will be real, i will keep chipping away at it until it becomes a reality.
17. your favorite character to write this year?
astarion baldur's gate, hands down. i'm holding him by the scruff of his neck like a cat. i'm putting him in a spin cycle on my washing machine. he captivates me and he's such a fun personality to write
25. did you receive any gifts this year?
i did not! i wasn't the most active in writing communities this past year, what with moving countries and [gestures at my mental health], but it's a real goal for me to get more involved and make more writeblr friends next year- and to write some gift fic of my own!!
