This is something rough that I wrote for my Louis/Tom Hiddleston film set AU for @louisrarepairfest during the lovely sprinting event at @writerscornercafe!
When Andre was growing up, he never thought it odd that his heart didn’t beat with a dull drumbeat pulse but instead ‘ticked’ a crisp and precise ‘tock’ through his veins.
For all he knew, this was how all hearts worked. Ticking along in perfect metronomic time, causing all other clocks in the vicinity to match its beat. He just assumed that’s why we’d made clocks like that. What other conclusion was he supposed to reach?
It wasn’t until he was a teenager that this assumption was quite thoroughly deconstructed, as he fainted in class and had to go into hospital. When the doctor put her stethoscope to his chest she heard, instead of the usual lub-dub of thumping meat, a steady metallic sound of perfectly kept time.
The doctor said to Andre:
“Um, your chest appears to be ticking?”
To which Andre replied:
“Oh no, is it not keeping good time? I’ve always been regular before.”
The doctor wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. So she sent him to get an x-ray instead.
The results were … surprising.
There, drawn out in negative, was a timepiece growing out of his heart and nestled beneath the clockface of his ribs.
This caused much consternation from the assembled doctors, not to mention Andre’s parent. They had always done their best to take care of him and thought they’d done a damn good job all things considered, so this really was a bit much.
It was only Andre who seemed sanguine about the situation. After all, he’d managed perfectly well so far with a clock in his heart. What could he really be expected to do about the situation?
Given the hubbub, they sent Andre for a second x-ray. Then a third. Then a fourth. As well as numerous other tests.
The fainting, it turned out, was not related to the heart, but a simple result of low blood sugar.
Much more interesting was what the subsequent x-rays revealed: Andre’s heart was *counting down*.
There was a great deal of speculation about what it might be counting down *to*. Perhaps to his death? Grim, but possible. To some important event? Who knows. Perhaps a time bomb? Well, we can’t rule anything out.
Andre didn’t let it bother him too much. His clockwork heart had never steered him wrong, after all, so he was content to trust it to take care of itself, oiled by his blood and powered by his strength.
Then, one day, it finally counted all the way down…
He was walking down the street on the way to the library. It was a nice day, so he had just bought an ice cream with a single chocolate flake. It would keep him cool till he got to the library’s calming air-conditioned oasis.
Then he heard a ringing out. It was coming from his chest.
An alarm was going off.
Not only that, but he could hear another alarm going off nearby.
He walked in the direction of the other alarm and it took him up to a house on a nearby side street.
He knocked on the door.
It was opened by a man with a thin angular face, dainty spectacles on his nose and leaves in his hair. Behind him, the hallway stretched on into the distance, the knotted wooden floor lit by a strange dappled light from heavy crystal chandeliers.
He looked at Andre. Andre stared back.
Their hearts rang their alarm in harmony.
“Would you like my flake?” Said Andre.
“Very much.” Said the man with leaves in his hair.
It’s been a while since I last posted or updated the shop, but life got crazy and so I’m taking this lull in craziness as a chance to catch up.
Right now, new things in the shop are holographic magnifying glasses, mini versions of my existing sticker sheets, and a bundle of my complete game guides for games 1-4. These guides have every clue, phone number, spoiler, Easter egg, coin location, award—you name it, it’s in there. But on to the more exciting news! Tomorrow I’m dropping a huge update. Sticker sheets for SHA and CRY will be added (sneak peek below) as well as pins! Yes, pins! These are handmade polymer clay pins that i painstakingly craft individually with love and minimal frustration. Some of the pins even glow in the dark! I’m really excited for these and I hope you like them too! Along that same vein, I’ve added some novelty items to the shop, including glow in the dark rocks that I stole from Blackmoor Manor, as well as some Gold Hearts that I borrowed from Dirk Valentine’s Treasure. All of this will launch on my Etsy shop at 10AM EDT tomorrow, 18 March 2022. You can follow the link in my bio and favorite my shop to be notified when these babies drop!
As always, thank you for your continued support! It amazes me every day when I get an order from you guys and I’m eternally grateful. I love sharing my love for these games with you. And who knows! Maybe we’ll have a new game to obsess over soon…
Even if you can’t afford to purchase from my shop, a reblog is as good as a sale! Please feel free to hit that reblog button and share the love.
So I recently just had to put down a bunch of unexpected money on my car. I get paid monthly so it’ll be a couple of weeks before I get any more income and so I am opening up some commissions in the meantime.
I do these mini-portraits of actors so if you would like one, please message me!
They are on little 3x5 standard notecards and done in ballpoint pen. I can do humans and yes I do need a reference picture.
They take me about an hour or more to do (the elaborate hair took me two hours) so I will take $10 per head or more if you want to donate.
Please and thank you!
Commissions are still open! Please message me if you are interested!
Isn’t it beautiful being in love with small things
Novelty: a word I didn’t know the meaning of until a conversation with a friend. She lived near the ocean and I said, “You are very lucky to get to see that every day.” And she said, “The novelty wears off though.” I remember I had to google the word. I had thought of the river near our house that we had started to go along walks to. I had thought, “I don’t want the novelty to wear off.” So we went on walks and every day there would be something beautiful. The wind would be pleasant. The sunset would be especially crimson. We would see a pretty bird. Days turned to weeks turned to months turned to years, the excitement of seeing the water for the first time wore off, no question, but the happiness stayed and I thought, “Isn’t it beautiful being in love with small things.”
It’s the same with everything. As kids we’d stare at clouds endlessly trying to make shapes and trying harder to make others see them, and still sometimes when I see a particular shape I get excited. Sometimes the clouds would be bright and fluffy so I stare at them. Sometimes they would be shades of red like fire so I stare at them. Sometimes they would just be normal like every other day but there’s beauty in everyday things too. I remember standing in our garden looking up at them once and my grandma said, “You look crazy like that.” I thought, “I am. I’m crazy about the sky.”
Me and my brother would sit on the roof of the car for over an hour at night gazing at the stars. I remember my uncles scolding us and saying, “What’ll people think seeing you like that?” I thought, “I don’t wanna waste this moment wondering that.”
I remember when I felt our cat’s kittens in her belly for the first time. I was stunned, both at the experience and the fact that she let me do that. I thought, “Isn’t it wonderful to be trusted by her?” Slowly it became a routine to pet her belly and feel them. Everytime I would still think, “Isn’t it wonderful to be trusted by her?”
I remember the first time I saw the kittens. I was an incoherent rambling mess. I couldn’t believe it. I thought, “This feels like a dream.” Now they are three months old, they are a part of my life and routine. I still look at them and think, “This feels like a dream.”
I remember the first time they slept on my lap, I was frozen and took a hundred pics. It was a milestone I wanted to mark. I screamed to my friends about it. Now Luna’s favorite spot has become snuggled against my cheek. I still freeze, I still take a hundred pics. I still tell my friends about it. Some say, “You’re obsessed with them.” I think, “I am. I’m in love with them.”
I remember the first time I wrote a story. I remember the satisfaction of finishing those mere three pages. I remember the joy at someone saying it was good. I thought, “I wish I could do this forever.” I still feel that satisfaction every time I finish writing something. I still feel that pure joy when someone likes it. I think, “I want to do this forever.”
I remember eagerly waiting for my English book in middle school and opening it to read all the stories. I remember that excitement of finding a different world in those pages. Some said, “You’re a bookworm.” I thought, “Yes. If I could live in them, I would.”
Now I eagerly wait for new books to be released or stories to be updated by my friends. Now I have worlds upon worlds in my head. Now I have people who share that world with me. Now I have people who explore those worlds with me. Now I have people who gush over those worlds and the characters in it with me. Some people say, “How can you be so engrossed with something that isn’t even real?” I think, “It doesn’t need to be real for me to love it.”
Now I have people like me. People who get excited about the little things, people who find happiness in those little things, people who cherish those little things and make them and the world even better.
The novelty wears off; an inevitable truth. The novelty of everything does wear off. You won’t ever look at something the way you did the first time. But the happiness and excitement it gives us doesn’t need to, not if we’ll still find it every day.
I still run after butterflies to get just a glimpse of them, I still stop in the middle of a path to admire a beautiful flower, I still try to pet sheep when I see them during our walks. Some say, “It’s childish.” I think, “I don’t ever want to lose this childlike wonder.”
Rainbows and sparkles time! I’m wearing an outfit by Kendall Made www.kendallmade.com #rainbow #rave #festival #costume #burningman #handmade #kendallmade #cape
Okay, so I haven’t been making/posting much lately (doing the “business” side of things lately, not really interesting to blog about right now), but my amazing and talented friend Kendall just keeps on killing it with her magic. She’s a wonderful person who makes wonderful things (and she ships internationally, hint hint).
I finally did something with the child Hawkeye doodle I did! This wasn’t really planned, but it’s cute at least. I tried to mess around with the brightness and stuff because this seemed dark, but ultimately decided to leave it. As you can probably guess, I have no idea what ocean fish look like…. or the ocean.
Absolutely love this picture of young Hawkeye! @captaincaptaincupcakethings blows my mind with her artwork.
Sorry for shit lighting,, it’s like midnight here. But yes here is the thing! (@corvuscrowned@ilovechristopheralexandershaw) I needed help to pick colours for the finishing touch to the art of my bedroom wall,, iirc I posted a WIP of it before. I had already got an idea yesterday of what would complete it, but I couldn’t figure out all the colours to pick. Thank you to @curlyy-hair-dont-care@ladderofyears@thesleepiesthufflepuff@iero0 @steadyharrypotteronfood for your suggestions ❤️ Here’s the addition I made just now based on them:
And here’s the full artwork:
Please click on the images for better quality :)
that’s so cool, @crazybutgood! the shapes, the colours!! it makes me so happy to know that I contributed to something you’ll be looking at in your home <3
apost-apocalyptic zombie/inferi story (explicit | 61K words) by gnarf with an intriguing plot, amazing characters and even more art, created by noone less than the one and only gnarf herself.
you will also find the art at the very end of season 1 (in better quality than tumblr allows). thanks to @ladderofyears for cheering me on!
“It happened really quickly,” Harry said, standing over Ron’s unconscious body. “Duelling robbers on Knockturn… A bright red spell hit directly in his chest.”
Healer Draco studied his diagnostic charmwork. “Don’t fret. It’s only an impermanent Insentience Hex. I can bring him round easily enough. Of course, he’ll be woozy. A short sharp shock is the best technique to snap him out of it fully.”
Harry narrowed his eyes. “Is that your professional opinion?”
A Finite Maxima broke the magic and, when Ron woke to find his Healer and his Auror Partner snogging passionately, he was restored to perfect health.
These plants you say there’s magic in them they take the pittances we give
Air Water Soil
And make
make oxygen, make potions, make medicine Make life from the drabs we give them
Is there anything more magic than that?
I was taught magic is
Spells Wands Blood Undeniable Inevitable
You showed me magic is more and less than these things. I’m learning to see things differently because of you and maybe that’s magic too
Maybe we’re also magic
Taking the drabs stolen glances hidden moments whispered words
And make
What?
Make my heart echo in my chest Make my body warm when it’s cold Make me soft where once I was hard Make me reach for you, take each moment and treasure it, deep inside the treasure trove in my chest
These moments make me stand up when I am weak, power the spell from my wand, turn my lips up when I am sad. have me growing where once I withered.
They change me as You have changed me
What is that if not magic?
xx
Many thanks to @iero0 for the edits. also available on ao3 here
“With every man I’ve dated before, my feelings waxed and waned,” Draco confessed to an amused Pansy, over tea and finger biscuits, “but, with Harry, they seem only to grow larger.”
Today I am so excited to lift up the one and only starry ( @the-starryknight | thestarryknight on AO3). starry is one of those shining lights in fandom - kind, supportive, uplifitng and an incredible creator! I’ve loved starry’s work for a long time now, and have even been inspired in some of my own writing by starry! To me that’s such a mark of the creativity on the piece - when I’m so inspired by someone else’s work to create my own new thing!
Here’s a true story about starry - when I reached out to ask for a recommendation of a piece to read, starry… RECCED ME OTHER PEOPLE!!! Like, the instant response starry had was generosity and lifting others up. That’s the sign of a generous soul.
Like I said, I think starry is just a brilliant writer, able to create the most gorgeous lush and vivid moments in the microfics, but I also want to draw your attention to this one: the other harry’s happiness (Drarry, 2764, Teeen). I will admit, parallel universes make me sort of anxious (but I have an anxiety disorder so that’s actually nothing special), but I really trust starry as a writer.
this story gave me goosebumps, for real. It’s starry’s voice - I can’t quite articulate what is so compelling about it? The writing is lyrical and captivating, but also so clear. This is a Harry who is a bit lost, it seems, looking to be found, and in trying to find himself becomes almost at risk of losing himself in the mirror. It really resonated for me - that sense of a glimpse into a different life you might have had, if you’d made different choices. It feels like a kalaidascope in the middle - that sense of being tumbled over and over, not knowing which way is up, and then it’s like it all comes into focus.
I also love that the end note isn’t “happily ever after” - it’s more “okay we’re going to have to do a lot of work to figure this out” - but it’ll be worth it.
Beautiful fic, beautiful writer, lovely person!!
Oh@phd-mama, this is just the sweetest thing. What a lovely, thoughtful, and insightful message to wake up to this morning! Your “May We Lift Each Other Up” posts brighten my day every time I see them coming across my dashboard – they’re full of kindness and they remind me of all the things I love about sharing this fandom with you and your beautiful words (like this stunning poem!)
Also, thank you so much for trusting me with this fic! I loved writing it – it was one of those that just came easily and didn’t need much editing (which feels more and more rare for me these days).
Also me: What if one day Quinlan is back on Mapuzo and he touches the message he left and he gets a flash of Obi-Wan’s absolute relief and joy that Quinlan is alive?
I ended up writing something where Quinlan finds Obi-Wan via Mapuzo. There are hugs involved.
God. Okay. Okay I can totally be normal about this…
Only no, no I can’t. This fic is so utterly precise and perfect, the language so clear and clean and evocative. There is not an ounce of waste to this, not a single word that isn’t exactly where it needs to be. The bleakness, the hope, the heart break, the careful care they both are taking in this moment…
You guys, seriously. Do yourself a favor and read this fic. Trees is an absolute and unparalleled master of the short fic and she’s been honing her talent even more lately—giving her all to embracing the art of it—and holy shit it shows.
For some reason in fandom spaces a lot of the time short fic is looked down on, seen as something ‘less than’ in comparison to long fic. Like one is so much easier than the other. I’m here to tell you, friends, they are two entirely different beasts and if you want a taste of the entire world that can be built and explored and felt in a handful of words, then you need to read this fic. And once and for all see that short fics don’t need to be seen through the lens of “more please” they are complete thoughts in and of themselves.
