mooncello

[mooncello]

Last wipsday post for more than a footnote!

I love a good bookend moment. A solid callback. One of my favorite things about the fic playlist, for example, is that it begins with conan gray's 'best friend' and ends with laufey's 'best friend.' not only do the lyrics in both songs perfectly encapsulate footnote, but it's such a cool statement about the story itself. a lot changes, but the constant? Dev and Niall are best friends at the beginning of this fic—and at the end. 

placing the rest under the cut. chapter 9 drops friday. 🖤

from chapter 2:

Here's a bookend moment from the actual fic. The first snippet is from Dev's first-ever POV in the story, and the second is from his final POV. 

I’ve had months to think about it, and my list just keeps growing longer. Of what I wish I had the balls to say that night. You should never spell your irises blue because your big brown eyes are enough to make me commit forbidden magic, if you asked. Your hair keeps getting darker each year. So the ginger kid I met at the Crucible now has brown hair threaded with copper, and when the sunlight catches it, I kinda want time to stop because it’s one of the prettiest fucking things I’ve ever seen. Your smile could power the sun. It sure as fuck controls my breathing. You’re real and honest without even trying. And you have the weirdest sense of humour. You make me laugh. You always have. You’re my favourite person. Ever. 

from chapter 9:

He smiles sweetly at me. And I can't help it; I smile back, even as I roll my eyes. I comb my fingers through his hair, fluffy from shower water, and my gaze falls to his jawline that I've watched sharpen over the years. Then back up to his clever mouth. And his dimple that halfway convinces me some god must exist somewhere. "You're my favourite person," I tell him, and am rewarded with an incandescent smile. "I'm glad we met, too."

love them. love y'all. 🩵✌️

@whatevertheweather @artsyunderstudy @cutestkilla @valeffelees @bookish-bogwitch

@drowninginships @rimeswithpurple @iamamythologicalcreature @leithillustration @alexalexinii

@fatalfangirl @larkral @orange-peony @hushed-chorus @run-for-chamo-miles

@brilla-brilla-estrellita @theimpossibledemon @fiend-for-culture @emeryhall @j-trow-95

@you-remind-me-of-the-babe @ileadacharmedlife @best--dress @confused-bi-queer @messofthejess

@roomwithanopenfire @shrekgogurt @stitchyqueer @monbons @youarenevertooold

@blackberrysummerblog @thewholelemon @skeedelvee @talentpiper11

[mooncello]

[mooncello]

characters apologizing for things they have no control over. mumbling sorry while losing consciousness. feeling ashamed of a bleeding wound. embarrassed when an infection sets in. deep seated feverish guilt when they need to be carried, when their legs won't keep them upright anymore and they lean heavy on a friend, slurring apologies..........

[mooncello]

more than a footnote is coming back...

Dev and Niall are snuggled up and ready to read the latest and final chapter of @mooncello's lovely fic, more than a footnote. It's a tribute to fighting your demons, to finding yourself, to love, and most of all, to the sort of friendship we should all aspire to find.

New chapter drops Friday, June 27th! This promo message has been approved by Dev Pitch and Niall Connelly.

[mooncello]

Niall Appreciation Post

Niall Connelly is the best. Yes, I adore Dev. I talk about Dev a lot. But there's a million reasons why Dev loves Niall. He's the best.

Y'know how you wish certain characters could be real people? I wish that about Niall Connelly. Everyone should have a Niall in their life.

In advance of posting chapter 9 of more than a footnote (this Friday!), I want to nerd out a bit about my favorite nerd. 

But first: here is Niall's study playlist. Enjoy. 🩵

Niall Appreciation continues under the cut for length. Most of this is character stuff, not spoilers. But if you haven't read the fic yet, note there are some excerpts below.

Niall is such a nerd. footnote opens with Niall working on a trigonometry problem, an elective he takes because he loves math and angles. About halfway thru the fic, I had Dev call Niall "nerd" in an affectionate nickname kind of way, and it stuck.

“Hey,” I say, “stop stressing. You’ll be fine.” “Easy for you to say, nerd.” “You should give your brain a break,” Baz interjects. He caps his pen with a smooth click and slips the essay into his bag. “Cramming will only increase anxiety at this point. Decrease memory recall.” Dev’s face goes slack. “For real?” “You’ll be fine,” I repeat. “You’ve got this.” I smile at him, wide and drowsy, and flick my pencil on the tip of his nose. 

Niall loves architecture and wants to study it at university. He's a spatial thinker and loves geometry and design thinking and patterns.

The World of Mages is built upon words. I like building things with numbers. With tactile, solid materials. Patterns, angles, geometries. Where other students see opportunity in pop lyrics or Shakespeare, I see potential in space and shapes. I like that about me, despite sometimes feeling out of place at a school where you’re supposed to be obsessed with wands and words.

Niall is aspec. This has been an incredibly important part of his character from the very beginning. He's demi/gray ace, and I think he'd call himself demiromantic, too. He doesn't subscribe to relationship hierarchies or escalators. He loves Baz just as fiercely as Dev. Both those relationships are important to Niall. 

He's so pretty. And bony. All angles. I'll let Dev tell you:

His bony, gangly body makes me lose my fucking mind. I wanna bite every nub of bone, from his collarbones to his ankles and everything in between, and then suck kisses in those same places.

The half-moons of his eyelashes look dark against his pale milky skin, and his hair fluffs out around his head like a copper cloud.

Niall is flipping his pencil through his fingers, and I’m momentarily distracted by the knob of bone in his wrist. And the delicate webbing of his veins against pale skin. 

His coppery hair falls over his eyes as he bends over his notes, the cuffs of his Watford jumper pulled over his knuckles. The low lamplight along the study tables reflects a pale gold against his skin. He looks like one of those ancient scribes toiling away on the Book of Kells or some shit. Focused, illuminated, serious. Perfect.

And yet, despite being the very best friend in the world with a big beautiful brain and the biggest brownest eyes, he's got garbage self-esteem. He doesn't see himself as anything special.

So I'm very glad he has Dev to remind him that he's extraordinary.

Niall is pragmatic and rational. He keeps Dev grounded. (And Dev takes Niall on much-needed side quests.)

He's the king of sweatshirts. Dev likes to wear them. 

I stand and remove my jacket, dress shirt and trousers, and toss them on the ground by my dresser. Joggers go on. Then my favourite sweatshirt—soft and stretched out, with TOUCH GRASS printed across the chest. It used to be Niall’s. A charity shop find in Camden last summer. I kept stealing it to sleep in, and he eventually gave it to me so long as I promised to stop complaining about his morning alarm. The only downside to this exchange is that the sweatshirt no longer smells like him. And, y’know, the alarm thing still sucks, but, yeah, worth it.

Niall also likes oversized shirts, denim, soft sweaters, cozy joggers, and his sherpa-collar corduroy jacket. Natural fibers and lots of earth tones. He looks amazing in green, devastating in indigo blue.

His magic smells of forest and rain. 

Niall loves to read horror. Mysteries, too. (He likes to see if he can solve them before they're revealed.) In footnote, Dev enjoys manga, and Baz reads poetry. I like each of them having their own favorite genre. They're cute.

(For any superfans, footnote Niall and lost boys Niall have some points of connection. Both love video games, horror, and electronica.)

Niall may be rational, but he has a mischievous streak and doesn't have a problem with breaking certain rules. He's the one that started the trio's tradition of smuggling dessert onto the roof of Mummers, for example. He's also besties with a chaos demon. You just know the two of them got into so much mischief when they were 11. And 12. And—

One of my favorite Nialls is high Niall.

Niall is still looking at me. A soft smile takes possession of his mouth. “Your eyes are pretty.” My heart slams against my chest.  I know he doesn’t mean it like that. He’s hella high and just saying whatever comes to mind. He says it like any other kind of neutral observation. It rained last week. This hospital blanket is green. He won’t remember any of this in the morning.  I don’t have a chance to respond to his comment—or even breathe—before Niall follows up with, “And your hair is, like, those volcano rocks. The shiny dark kind. Ig…Ignatius.” “Igneous.” I’m not sure how I know that. His smile stretches wider. “Yeah, that.” His gaze returns to my hair. “Like obsidian. Volcanic glass.” He says the word again, stretching it out. “Glaaasss.”

But perhaps my favorite thing about Niall is that he sees to the heart of a person. He sees the heart of Dev, beneath the chaos and anger and irreverence.

Underneath all his swagger, he’s deeply good. And sincere. Annoyingly, he’s one of the most brilliant people I know; he just never applies himself. Says he’s already a disappointment to his family, and it’s easier to keep disappointing them than, I dunno, trying, I guess, which is utter bollocks. He’s so much better than the mould they cast for him. I wish he could see that.

And he sees Baz, as a best friend and a teenager:

Baz giggles at this, and he’s suddenly eighteen. Not the 40-year-old he holds himself to be so much of the time, stuffed with familial duty and self-loathing and enough existential angst to fill a philosophy textbook. Just a teenage boy who studies hard, loves poetry, and has a secret sweet tooth. “C’mon, let’s dance.” I stand and tug at his elbow. “No,” Baz whines. The song shifts, and the bright melancholy of The Cure fills the hall. My grip on his arm tightens. “Oh, come on. You love this shit.” He heaves a large sigh but he’s smiling again. “I do,” Baz says as he stands. Then he’s twisting his hips and lifting his arms above his head, eyes closed as he dissolves into the music. I grin and follow him to the dance floor. He’s such a dork.

He even sees Simon. Not as some heroic Chosen One or tragic story, but as the guy who just maybe loves his best friend.

To be loved is to be known. And Niall knows how to love. He does it selflessly. He does it with his whole heart.

I fucking adore him.

If you're still reading, you're a legend. And you probably adore Niall, too. Thanks for loving him. He deserves it.

technically this isn't a wipsday but I'm tagging y'all anyway:

@whatevertheweather @artsyunderstudy @cutestkilla @valeffelees @bookish-bogwitch

@drowninginships @rimeswithpurple @iamamythologicalcreature @leithillustration @alexalexinii

@fatalfangirl @larkral @orange-peony @hushed-chorus @run-for-chamo-miles

@brilla-brilla-estrellita @theimpossibledemon @fiend-for-culture @emeryhall @j-trow-95

@you-remind-me-of-the-babe @ileadacharmedlife @best--dress @confused-bi-queer @messofthejess

@roomwithanopenfire @shrekgogurt @stitchyqueer @monbons @youarenevertooold

@blackberrysummerblog @thewholelemon @skeedelvee

[mooncello]

It really is 2003 again Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

Like, all Republicans did was replace Iraq and gay people with Iran and trans people.

[mooncello]

sometimes making tea is less about drinking it and more about it keeping you company

[mooncello]

i hit the green tea so hard i can feel all the weather on earth happening at once

[mooncello]

Happy Birthday, my rosebud boy! 🌹

Simon Snow makes me feel grounded, I've learned so much through him, he gave me hope when I needed it the most.

(How could I not celebrate his fictional birthday when everything he meant—means—to me feels so real?)

Happy Birthday, Simon Snow. I love you so much!!!!!! I will always love you.

[mooncello]

Happy Birthday to my actual fave Simon Snow. I love every messy bit of him.

[mooncello]

Stitches and Sentences

Morning all and thanks for the tag @thewholelemon! It's always great to see what you are up to and I am loving your text fic 🩷. Hope everyone did something fun yesterday in Simon's honor and enjoyed all the Simon posting!

My life exploded a bit this past week because my kids are out of school now, so camp mom was in full effect. Still, I accomplished some things...

STITCHES In case you missed it, I posted a new Simon doll. He's out and about on an upgraded Wayward Son-style trip.

I also wanted to cobble together a few behind the scenes pics of recent projects, including the leather jacket in the birthday post because I made that. Some doll items are too complicated to make myself (*cough* shoes *cough) but I decided I had to learn how to make jackets, especially since the rest of Wayward Son Simon's outfit was so basic and I already owned Baz and Penny. Given that it is a first attempt, the jacket looks great on the outside... and a hot mess inside. It be like that sometimes.

Also yes, that is a vintage Barbie car in the picture. It is from 1988. Like ACTUALLY from 1988. (It is pretend from 1957.) I had one of these for my own dolls growing up. (I too am vintage.) Finding one again for this picture was such a stroke of luck! (And now the Littlest Bon has a cool ride for all her stuffies and dolls.)

I also made some HIS and HIS pajamas this week for one of my favorite pairs of boys. Can you guess who it is?

Also also, @leithillustration wrote an awesome fic inspired by my pride dolls and @artsyunderstudy's pride art! Check it out here. I love how much this fandom inspires and loves on one another. It's such a special place to be! SENTENCES In fic-land, Cheer!Simon is making some real progress, not just in terms of word count, but in fighting off evil Mrs. Pitch who will not fund his team. (She's not actually evil.) Have way more than six sentences of Simon POV below.

“If interest in cheer wanes, then we disband the team,” Mrs. Pitch answers matter-of-factly. “You wouldn’t!” Agatha gasps beside me. We’re still holding hands, and her nails dig into my palm. “We are an extremely selective school and do not have a student body capable of fielding teams in every sport, Agatha. At least half the schools in our conference with similar enrollment numbers don’t even have a cheer program.” “I understand that you think we’re lucky to have a team at all,” I cut in. “But—if you’ll excuse my bluntness—a half-hearted attempt at a shoe-string program isn’t just dishonest and demoralizing, it’s unsafe.” Mrs. Pitch narrows her eyes at me, and I feel Agatha squeeze my hand like she’s trying to crush my fingers. 

Hellos and high-fives and have a lovely week. May you win all your battles, too.

@alexalexinii, @argumentativeantitheticalg, @aristocratic-otter, @arthurkko, @bachusekart, @best--dress, @blackberrysummerblog, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @bookish-bogwitch, @confused-bi-queer, @cutestkilla, @drowninginships, @emeryhall, @facewithoutheart, @hushed-chorus, @iamamythologicalcreature, @ic3que3n, @ileadacharmedlife, @katatsumuli, @larkral, @letraspal, @mooncello, @nausikaaa, @noblecorgi, @orange-peony, @prettygoododds, @raenestee, @rbkzz, @roomwithanopenfire, @run-for-chamo-miles, @rimeswithpurple, @shrekgogurt, @skeedelvee, @stitchyqueer, @supercutedinosaurs, @talentpiper11, @the-beard-of-edward-teach, @twinkle-twinkle-up-above, @theimpossibledemon, @whatevertheweather, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @youarenevertooold, @jyae23, @j-trow-95

[mooncello]

Six Sentence Sunday

Earlier this week @mooncello used the phrase "white knuckling joy," and that feels pretty accurate for this point in history. Like Simon Snow would say (paraphrased), "we're hanging on by a thread but the important thing is we're hanging on."

So, in this space together, let's lean into the joy here & now. Looked like Simon had a beautiful birthday yesterday! I was searching for fossilized shark teeth with the little lemons (we found some!!!!) so I might have missed some tributes, but everything I saw was gorgeous! You guys are amazing and Simon is lucky to have you.

Before I give you some text fic snippets, some things I'm reading:

Pride by @leithillustration on ao3, a tribute to @artsyunderstudy and @monbons' Pride art--this fic made me so warm and fuzzy. it's short and sweet, highly recommend both the fic and the art!

Loved this comic by @stardustasincocaine.

Working my way through The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, which is fun.

Also reading a book on AI, which is...I can't say it's fun, but it's useful knowledge and definitely making me feel better informed & justified about the concerns I continue to hold about the proliferation of AI in our lives, so I'll count it as a win for now.

ok! below the cut, a snippet of the text fic I'm still messing around with, named hey beautiful :) (I love this name. I am fully committed).

Last time we learned that Agatha is the likely culprit for having shared Baz's number with an annoying stranger, so this won't be too much of a spoiler for you:

Annoyance: i’m not stalking you! why do u keep answering that cute girl’s mobile Baz: I already told you. I’m not a girl, and you’re texting my mobile. Annoyance: wait is she your girlfriend Baz: Impossible. I don’t do girls. Annoyance: but how could she not know her own number? she gave me yours twice Baz: I have a terrible suspicion. Describe this girl.  Annoyance: Agnes or agatha i think? hard to hear over the background noise. blonde hair, legs for days, so beautiful trees bend her way? Baz: I’m going to murder her. She thinks she’s hilarious. Annoyance: whoa whoa whoa don’t make me an accomplice to your premeditated crimes  Baz: I don’t need an accomplice. Baz: And in case it wasn’t clear, she’s not into you, mate. Annoyance: ya i’m starting to gather that

tagging everyone above and all of you, too:

@alexalexinii @alleycat0306 @aristocratic-otter @best--dress

@blackberrysummerblog @bookish-bogwitch @bachusekart @bookishbroadwayandblind @brilla-brilla-estrellita 

@confused-bi-queer @cutestkilla @drowninginships @emeryhall  @facewithoutheart

@fiend-for-culture @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife @ivelovedhimthroughworse @j-trow-95

@jyae23 @katatsumuli @larkral @letraspal

@martsonmars @messofthejess @nausikaaa 

@noblecorgi @onepintobean @orange-peony @pato-roldnart @palimpsessed 

@prettygoododds @raenestee @roomwithanopenfire @run-for-chamo-miles 

@shrekgogurt @skeedelvee @talentpiper11  @the-beard-of-edward-teach @theimpossibledemon 

@valeffelees @whatevertheweather @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe 

[mooncello]

Happy Birthday, Simon Snow!

Chocolate cake | Cherry cheesecake filling | Cream cheese frosting | Gum paste sword

@rainbowrowell

[mooncello]

BIRTHDAY HUGS FOR SIMON (with a hint of angst)

[mooncello]

Happy birthday, Simon Snow!

He is and will ever be my favorite character of all time. There's no one like the rosebud boy. He's pretty, complex and has beautiful wings.

Nothing else to say because I have a galaxy filled of thoughts and words that I could never articulate, but I love this boy that's now more a man.

He deserved to be turned into a lottery card because he's that special.

Te amamos, Simon Snow ❤️

[mooncello]

Happy Birthday Simon!

“Simon Snow in America: jeans and a white T-shirt, skin already pinking up from the sun.” —Wayward Son

For Simon’s birthday this year, I’ve gifted him a roadtrip where everyone is smiling. 

@rainbowrowell

[mooncello]

'You call the shots, babe I just wanna be yours'