Since last year was a modest success (fitting in my opinion!), we are looking to see if anyone would be interested in participating in NorFin Week 2023!
It would likely be hosted January or February and go by our regular, relaxed rules, such as having a free pass to draw the pair with any prompt you want.
If you are interested at all, please reblog or comment on this post so we can hear you!
(p.s. this year would be co-hosted by @tolyys if we get things moving 🤭)
The prompt voting is here! Click on these 2 sentences to access the Google Form. The voting ends on January 16th, so please vote sometime this week if you have interest in participating.
Also! NorFin week will be from Monday, February 6th to Sunday, February 12th! I haven’t gotten around to making the promo graphic yet but hopefully it’ll be here when we know the final 7 prompts.😩
basically the same rules but with a fresh coat of paint on them.
please tag all submissions with #norfinweek2023 and @ this blog so we see it faster! if we can't see your post then we can't share it.
you may submit any medium of creative work that you wish to. it could be an edit, a fanfic, a drawing, photography... have fun with it!
there is no pressure to spend 5+ hours creating your submission. we take anything so long as it fits our rules.
all submissions must be a healthy portrayal of norfin (no cheating on anyone) and norfin-centric.
we accept any version or AU of norfin. yes to 2Ps, nyotalia, and so on.
your submissions for each day you participate may be connected if you wish.
we accept late submissions for an entire month because... we get it. in fact the whole week thing is just a suggestion.
NOTE: every participant is allowed to have one submission that doesn't follow any of the weeks prompts. this is to encourage participation and creativity!
Recommended listening: The Dead Waltz by Radical Face
I fell behind but I still had this in the works, so I'm posting this one late. I may pull more out my nose later.
A03 link
@norfin-week
And everything was bathed
In light white as milk
As the impossible began
She danced across the water's edge
But her feet, they didn't sink
As though she flew
It’s funny, he thinks, that this has become such a strange habit for him. His body wakes at the same time, and he rolls over to check the clock just to be sure. 23:45 shines back at him and he groans, listening for the windchimes. And then he climbs from his bed and starts searching for his boots.
Lukas wonders why he’s still doing this some nights. Nothing really changes.
It’s been probably a year since he’d discovered the lake and the boy who roams it. He hadn’t been able to sleep one summer night, and had snuck out his bedroom window to go wander, soothe his mind. Somewhere on the property, he knew there was a lake. His younger sibling had wanted to go swimming, and had been upset when their mother had said 'no' -- that's mostly why Lukas remembered where it was. His feet carried him across the yard and into what he and his sibling referred to as "the wood", until he found the lake where he sat down by the edge.
He remembers that the moon had been full, and it had illuminated the water in a way that seemed almost magical. He doesn't know how long he sat there before the figure appeared, dancing across the lake as if it had been borne from it. The figure was a boy, somewhere around his age, and it had a soft glow to it but Lukas found that he could see through it as well.
Seeing ghosts was nothing new for Lukas. His home prior had been haunted by a man who mostly just wanted to be left alone to do his thing, but was also lonely enough to talk with Lukas on occasion. The older he gets, the less it scares him.
And so he watched the boy until he vanished, and he suddenly remembered that he could move and went home. A few nights later, he found himself at the lake again, watching the apparition. And again a few nights after that.
Sometime later, he started asking around the neighborhood, wondering if anyone else knew of the boy. He finally found his answers through a woman who lived in the house behind his own. She got misty-eyed when he told her what he'd seen, and she replied that it was her son. He’d been bullied and she hadn’t known until it was too late. He used to figure skate, as a hobby. The last owners of the house that Lukas and his family lives in had complained about the ghost on the lake. But she thinks that her son is still out there, doing what he loves -- and she seems a little happy that he finally has someone around his age that's noticed him.
That's how it started. Lukas goes out almost every night now, and the boy has noticed him more frequently. He hadn’t asked the woman her son’s name, and she hadn’t given it. But visit after visit, the boy seemed to learn to trust him. My name is Tino, he’s told him before, and Lukas still wonders about why he was so forthcoming with his name.
Nights like tonight, Lukas hates to think that Tino is still lonely.
He makes his way to the shore, and sits down, hugging his knees to his chest. Tino is already on the lake, dancing and spinning as if there’s ice beneath his feet. He rests his chin on his knees, watching, and mutters, “I bet we could have been friends…”
Tino looks over his shoulder at him, makes a sort of gesture as if he wants Lukas to follow. He shakes his head minutely, and briefly thinks of going home. But… Tino needs someone that he hadn’t had in life. And what’s a little lack of sleep when he can help someone out? He smiles as he watches Tino, and he really hopes that one day he can actually do something more for him than simply keep him company.
God, I am so sorry; I am just not feeling it tonight. I think I might be getting sick but I am refusing to acknowledge it rn. But, regardless, I wanted to attempt this anyway. Please forgive this nonsense. I just wanted something soft and cute. 😭
(Kinda set in "I Asked for Coffee and Got You" but you don't have to read it to get it.)
@norfin-week
It's been a shit day, and Lukas feels it. He sits in his car for a moment after work and stares out his windshield blankly. He wants to go home and go to bed, but he also doesn't really want to tell his partner that he's not feeling well. Tino can be such a worry-wart sometimes, and he's already stressed with work -- he doesn't want to add to it.
Lukas sighs as he bangs his head against his headrest, and then starts his car. He needs to go home regardless, or he really will freak out Tino.
He and Tino have been together for somewhere around two years now, and he knows how Tino can get -- a bit fussy. Lukas usually finds it endearing, but not today. Today, he knows that he's pushed himself. He's been more stressed and anxious than usual, and it's hit his immune system hard. Which maybe wouldn't be a big deal, if he hadn't been ignoring Tino's repeated attempts to get him to slow down and rest more. Now he just knows Tino was right and it's annoying.
Lukas gets home before Tino and takes a shower before getting into something warm. It's supposed to snow tonight, but that's not why he's cold. He's actually freezing, and he knows he only gets like this with a fever. So he pulls a half-gallon of orange juice from the freezer to start thawing and makes himself a cup of tea before settling into bed.
At 7pm.
He's going to hear about this one.
He must have dozed at some point because when he wakes, he's aware of Tino bustling about the apartment. He frowns and climbs from bed, wrapping one of the throw blankets around himself before he heads down the hall. "How long have you been home?" he asks when he sees Tino in the kitchen.
"Not too long," Tino answers, a very slight edge to his answer that sets Lukas off.
"I'm sick," he snaps impatiently and heads for the couch. "You don't have to rub it in or anything." He gets now reply as he settles on the couch and it makes him nervous and more agitated.
Who knows how long he pouts there before Tino comes out with a couple mugs of fresh tea. "I wasn't going to," he tells him quietly as he hands him one of the mugs. "I was just going to ask if you needed anything, or if you wanted to be left alone. I guess I know the answer to that."
Lukas stares into his mug as Tino goes back to the kitchen, presumably to make himself something to eat this time. "Hey, Tino," he calls after a beat, setting the mug on the coffee table. He waits for Tino to appear in the doorway, and then he says, "I do need something. Can you come sit with me?" Tino sighs, grabbing his mug and a plate, and sits beside Lukas. "I'm sorry... I didn't want you to be right..."
Tino sets his mug on the coffee table beside Lukas's and crosses his legs, balancing his plate of cheese and apples in his lap as he mumbles, "You sure are stubborn. And grumpy when you're sick."
Lukas snags one of the apple slices and rests his head on Tino's shoulder. "Thank you for being here..."
"I always will be," Tino replies easily. "For as long as you want me to be."
"Which will be until I die," Lukas declares, turning awkwardly to wrap his arms around Tino's waist and hide his face in his shoulder.
"So dramatic," Tino chuckles, reaching over to stroke Lukas's hair affectionately. "I just worry about you. I'm allowed to, you know."
It's in this little moment that he forgets why he'd resisted Tino's comfort all day. Suddenly, it's all he wants -- to be wrapped in his arms, his head on his chest, being lulled to sleep by his steady breathing... "I love you," Lukas says into Tino's shoulder.
Tino is quiet for a moment, and he peeks up at him just to see one of his softest and warmest smiles. "I know. I love you, too."
Linking in the AO3 version in case it's easier to read.
@norfin-week
Shit. I almost forgot to add the recommended listening.
• I also recommend listening to Woodland Folk by Ella Roberts while reading!
There’s a story that the nearby village knows well; a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. The story of two men, Tino and Sigurd, who lived near the river. They had fallen in love and built a house together, promising their lives to one another. And for many years, they did. But war came, and they were split up in the coming battles.
Tino returned home, but found it empty, and believed that Sigurd had been lost. He took his skills that he’d found on the battlefield and got work as a Hunter, tracking and killing monsters and beasts that caused people distress and harm. He abandoned his home and all the dreams he’d built with his partner, in favor of something he believed he would be doing for the rest of his days.
But Sigurd also lived, and came back to an empty home. He, however, waited. He had the hope that perhaps Tino had lost, and he used it to get through many lonely days and nights. For years, he kept their home and the land and waited for Tino to return -- until his hope finally faded into disrepair.
He refused to leave all their hard work, all the memories of the two of them, everything they had built together. Instead, he went to the woods to find the fae and ask a favor. He begged and bargained until they took him back to the river.
For a moment, Sigurd feared that they’d misunderstood or he’d worded himself incorrectly as he followed their instructions and stepped into the river, felt himself get swept under. But instead of losing himself, he became the water. He could move and churn as freely as the rushing water; there was no real way for him to determine where it started and where he ended.
One may think that that would be the end of the tale, but Sigurd’s bargaining hadn’t left him emotionless. Whether he was aware of it or not, he tormented the village. In rages, the river would rise and swell, flooding the village when they were the least prepared for it. When he was sad and withdrawn, the river seemed to be lower and wouldn’t provide the water needed for crops. The villagers tried to appease the river sprite, but nothing worked.
It was these woes that eventually brought Tino home. The villagers asked for him to rid their town of the sprite, as it did nothing but harm to them. Tino thought it would hurt, to return to a place that he had once regarded with such fondness. He listened to the people, and followed the river back to his old home, dismayed to find it in such disrepair…
When the time came to face the sprite, he was surprised at the familiar face he found in the waters, the cry that seemed to come from all around him -- a cry of both joy and rage. You came home.
I thought you were dead. Tino found himself wading into the water, searching for his lover in a sort of desperation that he hadn’t known since he’d left an empty house so many years ago…
Though there is much debate on exactly what came next, the local legends all agree that neither left their home after that. The waters of the river are steady, and none of the villagers dare wander up that way any longer. They say that on warm summer nights, the river seems louder and villagers talk about how they see a man near the shores, dancing with the fae and fireflies.
Tino and Sigurd, they say, still care for their home and enjoy the place that they had first loved.
