#ten paces au

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yeehawgust day 8: 8 seconds in the saddle, plus again also counting this as taurgust

stepping away from my strictly western aus given bucking is going to feature later on in ten paces

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thinking about centaur astrid + lydia being bad at having a foal again

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could you pls draw ten paces lydia but before everything became so sad and mean to her, i just. i wanna see her happy :(

incredibly loved foal

send me prompts for taurgust :)

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been tweaking this baby over and over but i think im finally happy with it

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just learnt that taurgust is a thing so i am requesting art requests or questions about centaurs in general or my beeteljuice & hadestown aus (details below the cut). i would like to keep it up for the month is possibe so if youve got multiple go for it :)

Ten Paces (Beetlejuice) - lydia is a young centaur captured from the wild and kept in a small paddock. beetlejuice is attempting to tame her like a feral mustang. there are plans to bring astrid into this one later. tagged ten paces au.

The Running Iron (Beetlejuice) - western setting. beetlejuice and lydia are centaurs put to work building a railroad line. tagged railway taurs au.

My Bones to the Birds (Hadestown) - human characters are centaurs, god characters are humans. orpheus has been hanging around hermes' pub for years, eurydice turns up one day half-starved and feral. persephone tries to help her. tagged hadestaurs au.

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wip wednesday sentences for 4/6 and 11/6

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass (4/6) @whimsicalmeerkat @aparticularbandit @combeferres-mothematics @tamsinswriting

A ghost they didn’t even want to try to force her to capture.

She can’t shake the sickening feeling that it’s her mother.

It’s a possibility that’s haunted her since she learnt what Juno and Otho were really doing. What if, before they took Lydia, they captured her mum? Squashed her down and locked her in a jar to keep in the basement? And now, what if she’s evaded capture the last three years only to be taken now? Her hands tremble as she sets the jar on the table. Otho is pulling on his gloves.

“Otho?” she asks quietly. “Please?”

“Mouth shut, Lydia,” Juno snaps.

Otho slips a hand through the hatch in the soul box and lifts out a dazed, miniature rabbit. And then he puts his other hand in, and pulls out a mouse. It takes Lydia a moment to understand it. Two ghosts at once, and they didn’t even try getting her to catch them.

“Is that- Barbara! ADAM!”

She tries to lunge towards Otho as he drops them into the jar. Juno catches her by the hair.

“You wanted to see, Lydia, and you saw.”

Bugebroph @dreamed-for-not @eriquin

 She can already see Adam cracking.

“Well… If we can’t do it ourselves…”

“You’re sure you can do this carefully?”

Lydia nods enthusiastically.

“She won’t harm a hair on their heads,” Beetlejuice confirms. “Hell, you can sit in on it if you want. They aren’t gonna see you, evidently.”

bj/nimona crossover woo @twyrewolf @zyrafowe-sny

It occurs to her that it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Nimona is just as interested in the only person her age as she is, but years of school canteens have taught Lydia otherwise. Nimona flashes her another grin, but is quickly distracted by her fork.

“Nim,” Ballister whispers again. “Don’t chew that.”

“I’m being gentle.”

“That’s not-”

He’s dragged back into the adults’ conversation before he can finish his point.

The Parent's Guide to the Young Conduit @kalira @noisesfrombeyondtheuniverse @tamsinswriting @meggiejolly @stonemaskedtaliesin

“I suppose that makes sense… Adam, did you catch that?”

Adam falters in his latest attempt to posses Delia’s arm. “Catch what?”

“Lydia doesn’t know we’re doing this.”

“Oh. Well, if I’m being honest, we’re currently not doing too much for her to know about.”

“Delia, dear, does your arm feel at all possessed?” Charles asks. Delia flexes the arm experimentally.

“Not particularly.”

Barbara rests her chin on her hand. “May I have a go?”

“Be my guest.”

Adam steps back, and Barbara steps forward. She takes a deep breath - not for any need for oxygen, but just to steady herself. Raises an arm.

Be Right Back @auburnlaughter @tamsinswriting

She’s sure Ballister can tell, when he asks if that’s okay with her, that her acceptance is begrudging. “I’m still going to be sleeping here,” he says. “I’ll be coming right back here after work. It’s just that Ambrosius can do some parts of his job remotely, and I can’t.”

“What, they haven’t invented remote controls for horses yet?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“Bummer.”

Ten Paces @zyrafowe-sny @dreamed-for-not @tamsinswriting

Lydia stays in her little shelter for hours. There’s no point going out and pacing, the ropes will trip her up the moment she stops focusing on them. So instead she lays on the thin bed of straw and slowly picks at bone marrow. Her body still aches from all the running in circles the day before. The rope itches.

It’s sometime around noon when the rain starts.

It’s just a drizzle, to begin with. A light patter outside, the occasional drip through the gaps in the roof. Lydia doesn’t react much more than shuffling further back from the door and grumbling to herself. But it only gets worse. The noise gets louder. The air gets colder.

Netherborne ch17 on @dreamed-for-not @twyrewolf @eriquin

“Right,” Beetlejuice says, clearly eager to move on, “now that’s out of the way. We’ve got other shit to figure out.”

“Other shit like what?”

“Other shit like how you’re gonna insist on coming with me when Rigel introduces me to Maxie Dean, aren’t you?”

(omitted chunk I’d already written)

“We can do that.”

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out the same notepad he wrote the house rules on. Rules for social events, he titles the page. And just like the house rules, he divides it into columns and labels each with a name.

“So. You gotta call everyone ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’,” he says as he writes.

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass (11/6) @dreamed-for-not @auburnlaughter @kalira @tamsinswriting

“Aw, what’s wrong? Was the nasty lady mean to you again? Poor little wizard.”

Lydia grips her oversized sleeves tight. She wants to bite back at him, tell him exactly what Juno just did, but she knows he doesn’t actually care. It would only lead to more mockery.

“Shut up, jar boy,” she says instead.

“Oh, you really got me with that one. I’m wounded.”

“You wanna be shaken again.”

“You’re not scary, kid.”

Lydia glares at him for a long moment, and then looks away. It’s an empty threat, really. Her shoulders hurt too much. She hears quiet tapping on the glass as he paces about his jar.

“...So. What was all that with Otho?”

The Book in the Birdbath @dreamed-for-not @kalira @tamsinswriting @meggiejolly @whimsicalmeerkat

Before he has time for further thoughts on that, Skye is clambering onto the bench beside Lydia. She sticks out one small hand, the other twisting in her hair.

“Hello Mr. Deetz, it’s nice to meet you!”

Lydia can tell her dad wasn’t expecting that, but he readily accepts the handshake. “It’s good to meet you too, Skye.”

“We’re neighbours on the ward,” Lydia explains. “Skye’s in the next bed over.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I have a congenital heart disease!” Skye eagerly adds. Lydia’s dad’s eyebrows raise slightly.

“Right. And you and Lydia have been… hanging out?”

“Yeah! We go for walks in the garden and we talk about ghosts and we do our schoolwork together!”

The Running Iron @dreamed-for-not @stonemaskedtaliesin

Oscar’s hand hammers against the wall. She groans, hiding her head in her folded arms.

“Come on, get up! We’ve got a railway to build!”

“You’ve got a railway to build,” Lydia grumbles. “I still don’t see why that’s my problem.”

“Less complaining, more eating. I want you up and harnessed by the time I come back.”

With one final smack to the wall, he leaves the bunkhouse with a door slam and the clunk of a lock.

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Centaur lydiaaaaa

beej come get your weird horse

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wip wedneseday sentences for 7/5

the backlog is almost defeated

The Offering @tamsinswriting @dreamed-for-not @eriquin @nonepizzawithleftglitter

Lydia grumbles wordlessly, thumbing at the rope mark around her wrist. “Just… gimme something else. Another example.”

Beetlejuice snorts, rolling his eyes. “Alright, give up then. How about this one?”

Holding up both hands in clear view, not moving either, he reaches out to adjust the volume of the radio and grab another bottle from the table to hand to her. Lydia spends a long moment staring at his third and fourth arms.

“Cool, right?” Beetlejuice grins, crossing an alarming number of legs.

“...I can’t do fire, and you decide to give me that?” She glances down at the bottle. “That and vodka?”

“It’ll get you going quicker. The vodka, I mean. ‘Going’ as in hammered.”

“How thoughtful of you.”

She sets both bottles down firmly and stares down at her arms. Two ruffled sleeves ending just above her elbows. The pallor of heavy blood loss in her skin.

Heritance of an Occultist @tamsinswriting @oriharaizayadividesintoslytherin @twyrewolf @somefishycat @dreamed-for-not @nonepizzawithleftglitter @stonemaskedtaliesin @whimsicalmeerkat

“You did that.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said earlier. You remember us fishing you out of the tub, then?”

Lydia squints down at the wooden lion. “Eh. Little bit? Wobbly.”

“Not surprised. Wasn’t sure you were gonna make it, honestly.”

“Make?”

“Make it. Like, survive. Like… I thought you might die, kid.”

He sits down, pawing at his tail. Lydia grabs a shelf for balance to sit down with him. She looks around, checking for Charles. She has a feeling he wouldn’t like this conversation. Once she’s sure the coast is clear, she holds the lion tight in her lap and fixes Beetlejuice with a serious stare.

“Die like Mama?” she asks quietly.

“Mhm.” He’s keeping his voice low too, clearly agreeing with her assumption of Charles. “‘S what I was saying about you being viable. After your mama died Chuck didn’t want to go through her stuff so he never found you in there. When I showed up you’d been there way too long. Wasn’t sure you’d survive being taken out.”

Lydia’s brow furrows. She puts a hand to her head, willing the words inside it to line themselves up right. This just seems far too big for her grasp on the English language.

“If- if you didn’t know. Thought I might die. Why… Why’d you do?”

Ten Paces @tamsinswriting @edisacornball @auburnlaughter @twyrewolf @dreamed-for-not @nonepizzawithleftglitter @combeferres-mothematics

She glares a moment longer, considering him, before shuffling a step or two closer and sticking a hand out. Deciding to count that as a win, he tosses the bone. It lands a little way in front of her. The foal snorts, giving him an unimpressed look.

“What? I’m a ranchhand, not a- not some sports guy.”

She reaches out a foreleg, trying to snag the bone, and only when that fails shuffles a little closer.

“There ya go,” Beetlejuice says as she stoops and grabs up the bone. “Not the worst thing in the world, am I?”

The foal is already backing away, still glaring at him. She retreats to her shelter to pick the marrow out.

“You gonna come back out?” Beetlejuice calls after a while. “I got more snacks!”

There’s a loud snort from the little shack. Beetlejuice takes a sugar biscuit from the back, rustling it as loudly as possible as he approaches the shelter.

“C’mon, kid! Biscuits!”

The foal’s pale blue eyes are just as furious when they come back into view. She stomps, growling something at him. He’s maybe three feet from the door. The second he raises his foot to step closer her ears pin back and she stomps both forefeet, teeth bared.“It’s okay, I’m not gotta hit or catch ya. It’s just snacks.”

Until We Wake @oriharaizayadividesintoslytherin @akumteir @zyrafowe-sny @nonepizzawithleftglitter @phantom-z0ne

Lydia figures it’s a good thing Betelgeuse is currently sat up front as it severely limits his annoyingness to the newcomers, but her dad seems less thrilled when he opens the drivers side door and finds the dog in his seat.

“Betel- No, bad dog. Down. Shoo!”

He gives the dog a light push, and he bounds across to the passenger seat and down into the footwell.

“Lydia-”

“I can fit in around him,” Lydia says, already clambering onto the seat and attempting to shove her boot in next to him.

“Alright, as long as you keep him on that side.”

Lydia hugs the dog tight around the neck, just as he was moving to clamber up on top of her. “On it.”

Her dad shakes his head as he starts the engine up again. And they’re off, a new team of dogs in tow. Nothing more between them and the trailhead. For a short while there’s quiet between them, just the rattle of the van. Lydia looks down at her dog, rubbing his ears between her fingers.

“I think ‘Betelgeuse’ is too sophisticated a name for this guy,” she says eventually.

“You do?”

“Yeah, he’s not distinguished enough for astronomy.”

She pets the dog’s snout, and he makes an earnest attempt to eat her coat sleeve.

“I’m calling you Beetlejuice,” she decides. “Like the grungy, weird creature you are.”

Her dad snorts. “If you say so, Pumpkin.” in waiting @edisacornball @auburnlaughter @akumteir @nonepizzawithleftglitter @phantom-z0ne

Setting the bottles back in place, she turns away from the window and glances around the room again.

Now what?

Is she supposed to just wait here for Persephone to come back for her? Is she allowed to leave? It’s not clear where she stands here. Sure, she has a job title and the general expectation of companionship, but she doesn’t have rules. And while she’s fairly sure Persephone would be forgiving, it’s not Persephone she’s most wary of.

Eurydice creeps over to the door, pressing her ear to the edge. She can vaguely remember being brought through a small hallway to get here. That hallway seems quiet now. Taking a deep breath and trying not to focus on the possibility of being smited, she cracks open the door. All clear, for now.

Trying to keep her footsteps soft, she slips into the hall. It reeks just as much of old money here as the rest of what she’s seen, but at least it’s a little easier to breathe inside the apartment than it is out in the smog. Eurydice can admit to enjoying not being seared by the heat of the forges. She creeps along the hall, listening suspiciously at each door, not sure what she’s really looking for. That is, until she hears a voice as deep and as burned into her head as the town itself. Eurydice freezes. It’s too muffled to make out any words, but still everyone in Hadestown has an instinctual reaction to that voice.