#novemberrambles

[soupandsorcery]

i'm coming up on 10k words of fic for a ship i don't think anyone reads for anymore, for a show that came out 30 years ago

[soupandsorcery]

P/Alexander thoughts:

Alexander is a little obsessed with how beautiful Pino is. Like. The hair, the eyes, the freckles?? He has to touch that lovely face every day.

Pino is quiet, but he processes information incredibly well. Alexander tends to wax poetic about whatever interests him, and Pino listens quietly, but then will sometimes chime in with something profound and Alexander is just full of affection.

One day, out of nowhere, Pino is just looking at Alex's face, and is just like, "You were right about being very handsome," and then just goes off to cuddle a cat or something, and Alexander is just staring after him because you can't just say that and not get kissed, come on.

They spend so much time touching. SO much time. Alex didn't have hands there for a while, so he wants to reacquaint himself with all these sensations, and Pino doesn't realize that he's touch starved for a good bit. At first it's weird to have Alexander petting his hair and hanging all over him all the time, but then there are days where he just rolls up and puts his head in Alex's lap, and Alex teases him about being like the cat.

[soupandsorcery]

who knows if i will ever write this, but i feel insane about it, so i'll just share it here on tumblr dot com.

p/alexander. p doesn't want to turn the machine off because he's really just devastated at the idea that someone as bright and clever as alexander won't exist in the world anymore. he wants to fix this. that's the whole thread of the dlc, right? p thinking he can fix these horrible events and try to make things better in the present.

we all know how the rest of it turns out, but he manages to somehow put alex in a puppet body permanently. he at least goes for a nice one with a good face, and he's like, "sorry you might not be as handsome as you used to be, but at least you have hands now."

puppet alexander goes to hotel krat where he and klaus try to out-yap each other while p faces the horrors and devil fish and everything.

but then p gets sent back to his proper time. and he never got to say goodbye. last thing he told alex was that he'd be back after he found lea.

he goes back to the hotel in the present and alexander is still there. a little worse for wear after however many years and all the shit that's been going on, but as far as anyone at the hotel knows, he's always been there, so they kept him safe. he's even been chatting with venigni about upgrades to his body and especially his face. ("i can tell you what i used to look like, and you can build it. it can't be that hard, can it?")

but anyway, p shows up, alexander pulls him into a hug and says that he knew p would be back like he said. he's never met anyone who keeps their word they way p does. which gets p in a tender place because of all the lying, but still.

and then they fall in love.

[soupandsorcery]

spoilies for the hymn to dionysus

phaidros is my everything. he's such a good character. i go from wanting to shake him to wanting to hold him in the space of a chapter. he's flawed, he's a lil stupid, he's doing his best. he's got so much trauma and is such a product of the way he was raised and the things that have happened to him, and he knows that. he's one of those self aware neurodivergents who can see that they're Not Right and understand why but can't seem to do anything to be any other way and fuck i relate to that so hard. but he wants whimsy and magic and to be loved so so desperately and that's why he clings to dionysus and their dynamic is just so fucking beautiful.

a mad god, a witch, a marvel (in the non theban sense), and he just wants to show one broken man all the shades of blue there are and keep him alive.

i am eating this shit up with a SPOON

[soupandsorcery]

as always, the hang up for this fic is what the fuck do i do with aubrey?

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I was tagged by @blue-glasses-dork to share the books I'm currently reading and want to read soon. My tbr is massive, but these are the ones currently high up on the list. I'm a few chapters into When the Tides Held the Moon, but I got distracted, so I need to go back to it. I also started listening to the audiobook for Babel, but I wasn't vibing with the narrator, so I think I need to just read it. @punky-thera has been waiting patiently for me to read Don't Let the Forest In so we can discuss it, so it's a toss up whether I read that or Hungerstone first, and of course I have to continue my way through all of Natasha Pulley's books because I'm obsessed. You can't just reread The Mars House 5000 times, November.

Tagging @punky-thera and @quillfulwriter if they wanna do it, and anyone else who sees this and feels so moved to share!

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Wanted to have more of my P/Alexander story for Snippet Sunday, but my brain and body aren't cooperating, so you get ✨vibes✨ instead.

Alex's crush on Pino is so obvious to basically everyone but Pino. Venigni and Eugenie talk about it all the time, and Eugenie thinks it's very sweet. And it's clear Pino favors Alexander a lot, but neither of them make any moves for a while.

Then Venigni makes Alex a new body, complete with a face that's as close as he's going to get to Alex's human face, without a picture to go off of. It's not perfect, but it's very good, and Alexander is thrilled with it. He hugs Venigni. Venigni doesn't remember the last time he got a hug. It's emotional all around.

Alex asks Pino what he thinks, and Pino is just happy that Alexander is happy. So Alex has to wheedle for more compliments. Doesn't Pinocchio think he's handsome? Isn't this an improvement over the random puppet bodies? This is him after all. As close as it's going to get.

And Pinocchio explains that he's always seen Alexander as Alexander, no matter what body he was in. Even when he was just a brain in a vat, he was Alexander, somehow managing to be expressive and brilliant and exasperating even without the benefit of a face or a body.

This leaves Alex dealing with feeling so seen that he kind of wants to cry. He does the next best thing and kisses Pinocchio, fully expecting to get the 'I'm not interested' conversation afterwards.

But Pino kisses him back, clumsily but with intent, and later that evening, when everyone retires to their rooms for the night, Alexander asks Pinocchio if he would come lay with him. They mostly just talk, but there are more kisses in there, and both of them are coming to terms with the fact that there's someone who cares about them fully.

[soupandsorcery]

me, revisting my wips: fuck, these slap, goddamn

me, trying to work on my wips: how do words???