#ofmdjanuaury

[ofmdjanuaury]

It’s that time again!!! Join us for JanuAUry round 2!

Post your newly created fills to the ao3 collection and tag them #OFMDJanuAUry here or on Twitter!! Have recs for older things that fit the daily prompt? Tag those #OFMDJanuAUry, too!

Prompt list below the cut:

1/1 - Apocalypse | Municipal | LARP

1/2 - Food Service | Aliens | Inventors

1/3 - Author | Fae | Wedding Professional

1/4 - School Staff | Podcast | State Fair

1/5 - Bar | Any Meme/Vine/Tiktok | A. I.

1/6 - Performing Arts | Tentacles |ASMR

1/7 - Myth | Home Renovation | Vloggers

1/8 - College | Any Book | Taxi Driver

1/9 - Celebrity | Journalist | Award Show

1/10 - Transit | Any Cartoon | Dealer

1/11 - Law | Bookshop | 60s Sitcom

1/12 - Fantasy | Any Movie | Co-Working

1/13 - Boat | Radio | Robin Hood

1/14 - Trains | Fandom | Foragers

1/15 - Archeology | Postal | Game Show

1/16 - Noir | Creature | Crossword

1/17 - Neighbors | Any TV | Talking Animals

1/18 - Photographer | Olympics | Astronaut

1/19 - Science | Gamers | Different Pirates

1/20 - Tattoo | Role Reversal | Animal Trainer

1/21 - Crime | Food Delivery |Advice Column

1/22 - Sci-Fi | Spiritualists | Research Vessel

1/23 - Pre-1900 | Car Enthusiast | Blogger

1/24 - Sports | Comic Book | Drag/Burlesque

1/25 - 20th C. | Animal Rescue | Fiber Arts

1/26 - Epistolary | Heist | EMTs/Firefighters

1/27 - Porn Star | Any Musical | Vintner

1/28 - Art Model | Filmmakers | Laundry

1/29 - Disney | Place- Based | Kink Club

1/30 - Small Business | D&D |Taxidermy

1/31 - Canon Diveergent | Fic of Fic | Write Yourself In | Catchup Day

Feel free to promote already-posted works on the relevant days, too!!

[sungmee]

OFMD JanuAUry day 11: planes, trains, and automobiles pilot AU! stede is both the owner and a pilot for a private charter airline, and ed retired from a larger company to join stede's

[onlylostphysics]

@ofmdjanuaury day 10: Radio!

my brain: radio -> vhf operators -> Ed and Stede in opposite camps during the apocalypse??

Sure, why not.

---

Day 178. Transcript of transmissions received at Camp Revenge. Messages start 05:38.

05:38 > Edward? Are you there?

05:38 > Camp Revenge, Camp Revenge, are you there? Please respond. Over.

05:40 > Ed, please. I'm sorry for what I said, before the storm. I'm -- I shouldn't have said that. Ed, please, just talk to me. I'm so sorry.

05:41 > Ed, please let me know you're alright.

05:42 > If anyone else is getting these, could you please pass a message along to Ed? Tell him I'm very sorry, and -- <static, a rush of sound> -- I love him.

05:44 > That's for Edward Teach, I mean. I never asked if there were any other Eds at your base. Apologies if that went to the wrong Ed. My one -- I mean, Ed, Edward Teach, he used the call sign Blackbeard, when we first started talking. Just in case there's more than one Edward Teach over there.

05:46 > It's Stede, by the way. I'm the only Stede over here. Possibly the last one left in the world, I suppose.

05:46 > I'd consider talking to other Eds if they're available.

05:46 > But I'm afraid there's only one I'm in love with.

05:47 > Gosh, that's nice to say out loud. I love you.

05:47 > I love you.

05:47 > Ed, I'm so in love with you.

05:48 > Please, just let me know you're alright.

---

(and then i started wondering what dumbass thing Stede said, and this happened:)

---

"Stede," Ed starts, and the pause lingers for so long that Stede frowns at the radio. He's reaching for the knob when Ed's voice crackles back to life. "Do you think it's possible to fall in love with someone without having ever seen their face?"

Stede laughs, short and intrigued. "I'm not sure. How would you even get to know them?"

"I dunno, maybe --" Ed starts, stops, and Stede looks at the dials. There's a very odd lag today. "Maybe they write letters to each other."

Stede leans back in his chair, the old metal squeaking. "Well, I suppose so. It is easier to bare your soul through a letter than face to face, I've found," he says, tangling his fingers in the coiled cord that links the handset to the controls. "Although, can you really know someone just through words on a page? They could be concealing something humongus and you'd never know!"

"I hope so," Ed says, and Stede hears Mary cough in the next room. He's about to ask what that means, but Ed barrels on: "But, I dunno, what if you'd told each other everything? And you really liked the way they said things?"

Stede hums. "Well, I've certainly fallen in love with a fair few authors in my time. But it would be rather different if I met them! I wouldn't expect them to feel the same way about me as I did about them."

"Oh," Ed says, and then, "Right, yeah, I get it."

"It would be quite strange to expect any kind of reciprocation," Stede says.

"Yep," Ed says.

There's a pause.

"You lot ready for the storm?" Ed asks

"Oh! Yes, I think so. Doug's been reinforcing the east wall, he thinks we'll muddle through without too much damage."

"Great. Good. I should go, we've got a -- thing. Battens to hatch. Hatches to -- fuck, gotta go. Bye, Stede. Out."

"Oh, I -- goodbye, Ed! Out."

Stede stares at the dials for a long moment, wondering if maybe he should call back and... something. Double check they're okay. Set a time for checking in after the storm, maybe. Although surely Ed would have mentioned that, if he thought it was necessary.

Stede sighs, the chair complaining as he spins, and then flinches back because Mary's leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed, her mouth tight and small.

"Stede," Mary says, with that glare that still -- despite everything, despite the world ending and the revelation about Doug and the saving each other's lives and the honest, soul-baring conversations they've finally been having -- makes Stede's heart squeeze tight, like it's trying to make itself a smaller target. "You are such a dick."

Stede frowns. "That seems a bit uncalled for."

"Ed's trying to tell you he loves you, idiot," she says, her glare softening into something disappointed and familiar.

"What?" Stede says, and laughs. "No, he --" he says, and then, "that wasn't what he -- " and then, "he could have just said if he --" he says, and trails off.

"Oh god," Stede says, and reaches for the handset just as the first patterings of the glass wind hit the walls.

The radio spits nothing but static.

---

(Ed's fine. He's just... got things to do. In places other than the radio room. He asked Fang to keep an ear on the radio and write down anything that comes through, but only respond if it's an emergency.

Fang is feeling very torn between rushing off to get Ed and not wanting to miss anything Ed's boyfriend says. He hasn't cried this much since they found that dog wandering outside the bunker and he was allowed to keep her.)

the rest of my JanuAUry fics can be found on tumblr or AO3!

[forpiratereasons]

a brief interlude, by darcylindbergh

In which a gent gets kidnapped by a pirate.

Rated: G | Complete | 2227 words

Fluff and comedy in an alternate first meeting between Stede the Documentarian and Ed the Disruptor, who turns out to be a modern pirate.

[napneeders]

a quick short ficlet for @ofmdjanuaury day 12: Kraken. young ed/izzy, 200 words.

**

The tentacles didn't stay the same.

He had been trying to catch them at it since he was a boy, but whenever he noticed that one had changed shape or appeared or disappeared, he couldn't tell when or how it had happened, whether it had been hours or days.

Most of the time, the changes seemed to portend a need. The night before he left home his tentacles were many, thick and strong.

They stayed numerous after that.

The first night on his stolen ship, as he lay on the cabin floor in a pile of ink-stained stolen silk, naked and sweaty and sated, most of him wrapped around a dazed Israel Hands, he noticed a new one.

The silks still smelled faintly of smoke. The moon was full, even the shadows silver. Izzy's heart beat a heavy patter of vows against his chest. Slowly, Ed raised the tentacle above his face; it was something new, the tip thin and sharp, hard as a nail, and instinctively he knew that it would squirt ink if he flexed the new muscles he felt.

He saw the spill of pale light high on his stolen first mate's cheek and he understood.

[kaelleid]

Holding Out For A Hero

“Avast ye, villains! For it is I, the Gentleman Hero, here to—” he was cut off as he stumbled backwards, his cape caught in the door of the Revengemobile. “Ah, damn. Can you two give me a moment?”

Izzy let out a sigh that, if measured, would have broken the world record for longest duration. “Honestly boss, can’t we just kill him this time?”

Written for @ofmdjanuaury Day 3 - Superhero. Beta’d by the wonderful @queuest.

[pearwaldorf]

A ficlet for day 1 of @ofmdjanuaury! Prompt is "library". Disgustingly saccharine modern AU.

--

Stede opens the door for Alma and Louis as they step into the library. Normally Mary or Doug would take care of this, but they're on a well deserved vacation. And it's nice to be able to spend time with just them. Ironic that he's a better father after the divorce, but he supposes not being consumed with misery at his daily existence helps a great deal.

The kids return their books in the drop and go over to the children's section. It's well appointed, with squashy cushions and READ posters everywhere. There's a man in a purple t-shirt shelving books. He looks up when he hears them coming.

God, he's fucking gorgeous. His silver hair is twisted in a bun, the same shade as his short-cropped beard. He's smiling, his eyes warm as he sees the children.

"Ed!" Alma squeals, louder than Stede thinks is appropriate for a library, and throws her arms around him.

"Alma!” He hugs her back enthusiastically. “How's my favorite little lady?" 

"Good. Our dad's here today 'cause Mom and Doug are on vacation." She gestures imperiously for Stede to come over.

"Hello," Stede manages.

"You haven't been introduced yet!" Alma looks at him like he should know better (and maybe she's right). "Dad, this is Edward the librarian. He says to call him Ed but that's his full name. Ed, this is my dad. His name is Stede." 

"Pleased to meet you," Ed says, extending his hand. Stede grasps it. It’s a good handshake: firm but not crushing. He absolutely does not think about those hands other places. 

“Sweetheart, why don’t you go help Louis find some new books to borrow?” 

“Okay! Come find us later.” She looks up at him, all too knowing, before she joins her brother by the picture books.

“So, you’re Dad. I’ve heard all about you.” Stede catches the briefest of once-overs, so quick he might have imagined it, except for the way Ed leans closer, resting against the shelves. 

“I’m sure it’s all terrible.” He tries to keep his voice light. The only people who would have anything to say about him would be the kids and Mary, maybe Doug. They certainly have quite a bit to be resentful about, although he doesn’t know how much detail they might have gone into. 

“Less than you think, mate.” Ed’s voice is low, serious. “And pardon me if this is way too personal, but you’re not the only guy in the world who’s woken up and realized they’ve felt like they’ve been drowning on dry land for way too long.” 

“I see.” Stede’s voice is barely above a whisper. It should feel intrusive, at the very least weird, to be clocked this way by a virtual stranger, but a sense of relief, no, recognition almost overwhelms him.

“Mary’s talked a little about it, but Alma?” Ed glances over at her, still engrossed in whatever she’s doing with Louis. “You’re her dad. She loves you, she’s seen how you’ve changed.” 

“I’ve tried to make up for… before. I think I still have a ways to go.” His hand goes to the chain under his shirt, almost without thinking.

“May I?” 

Stede nods and Ed pulls at the chain, fishing it out. His hand is warm. The orange heart necklace he shares with Alma swings gently, along with the birthstone charm for both children.

“You could have faffed off, gone your own way and never talked to the rest of your family again. But you didn’t. And that’s something.” 

“I suppose it is.” 

“Daddy?” Louis pipes up, and Stede and Ed jump apart. Alma, still in the picture book section, smirks. 

“Yes darling?” 

“I’m ready to check out.” The pile of books in his arms is tall enough he can barely see over them. 

“All right then. Do you need help?” Louis shakes his head and very carefully makes his way over to the circulation desk. 

Stede glances at Ed, who’s keeping an eye on Louis’s journey with a fond expression. He likes this man, even if they’ve just met. He’s spent so much time not doing what he wants that he feels the need to make up for it now. 

“We’re going out for hot chocolate, if you’d like to join us? Of course I don’t know your schedule, but we can do it another time—” 

“I’m off shift in ten minutes. But I don’t think anybody will mind if I slip out a little bit early.” Ed winks. “See you in the parking lot?” 

“Daddy! I need my library card!” Louis calls. 

Stede grins. “I’ll meet you there.” 

[nonplayer-character]

Day 20 - Austen

[chocolatepot]

I think I'm going to try to come back later and turn all of my little ficlets for @ofmdjanuaury into proper one-shots and then post them on AO3. For now, have a ficlet for the prompt "apocalypse" (which I interpreted as "post-apocalyptic").

---

It boggled the mind how Stede had managed to survive for so many weeks aboveground, traveling through the Waste with his crew. Only half of them were what he’d call experienced, and at least three seemed to have never left a bunker for more than fifteen minutes at a time. One of the experienced ones was clearly a Changed … but then, the radioactivity had apparently given him the ability to speak with birds, which was pretty cool, and maybe potentially useful. Made him reconsider his crew’s rule against the Changed.

Well, Stede hadn’t managed to survive, had he? He’d walked right into a trap – he’d been staked out in the boiling sun to roast, and he’d been four-fifths cooked by the time Ed got to him. Just the thought of it gave him a wave of nausea that had nothing to do with needing another dose of anti-rad.

So: the lessons. Stede hadn’t been so bad at building an emergency shelter, and he’d eventually found fresh water (okay, Ed had pretty much led him to it without looking like he was doing it), but Ed was finding that he was a terrible shot, a complete danger to himself and others, although not the others that he might want to shoot. It was kind of terrifying to imagine Stede having to rely on himself, but there was a pretty clear upside.

“Right. So, you want to keep your elbows loose,” said Ed into Stede’s ear, holding Stede’s forearms and pressed up against the length of Stede’s body; his hands traveled slowly along Stede's arms and then down his sides. “And you want your hips even.”

“Right,” Stede repeated, and he did sound a bit dry, didn’t he? Ed wasn’t sure he wasn’t imagining it. He shifted his feet, looking down, and then took aim.

“Remember to exhale when you pull the trigger,” said Ed, still in his ear, and Stede absolutely did not – in fact, he inhaled sharply and fired, the bullet going wide of the entire target.

[ofmdjanuaury]

HAPPY DAY ONE! Make sure you tag your work #OFMDJanuAUry and add them to the ao3 collection!

[sungmee]

OFMD JanuAUry Day 3: medical vet Ed and Stede, who runs a therapy dog organization 🐶

[onlylostphysics]

@ofmdjanuaury Day 14: Magic (of course)

A bit more of the Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell/Canonverse AU! Set immediately after the co-captains scene, because I cannot leave that moment alone <3

Previous parts: Day 5 (pick any book) | Day 6 (canonverse AU)

---

Silence fills the room like a sunset, all soft and warm and golden, and for a long moment Ed just enjoys this -- the brandy on his tongue, the soft cushion under his back, Stede at his elbow. 

Stede, when Ed glances at him, is looking over at his library, his eyes bright with the kind of fire which always means he's about to suggest something insane. Ed's heart knocks against his ribs. 

"You know, there is one spell I've always wanted to try, if you'd be up for it?"

"Yeah," Ed says, meaning always, and Stede flashes him a grin before he's up on his feet and dashing across the cabin. 

"It's -- ah, yes, here it is. 'A spell requiring two intimate magicians,'" Stede reads, holding a small, fabric-covered book open with both hands. 

"Intimate?" Ed echoes.

"Oh, you know, good friends. Best of pals, even."

"Right, yeah, best of pals," Ed says, and swallows. "That's us," he says, and Stede beams at him for a lightning strike of a moment before looking back at the book.

"We don't need many items, just a mirror and candle by the looks of things. It's more about the gestures and the words and the intent, I think," Stede says, mostly to himself.

"What does it do?" Ed asks. 

"Oh! Right, yes, of course. It's a spell of perfect understanding, apparently," Stede says, still looking at the book, and then he laughs. "I suppose it's ironic that I'm not really sure what that means. It doesn't sound like it can do any harm, does it?"

Ed would give someone else's right arm to fully understand Stede. "Yeah, let's do it," he says, eager and breathless in the way Stede always brings out in him, and finishes his brandy with a careless gulp before jumping to his feet to help. 

The candle gets placed over the mirror, which lays face up on the small table, which Stede moves a foot to the right so there's plenty of space around them. They run through the words and the gestures and the intent -- Ed can feel the shape of it, the spaces where the magic wants to flow, and Stede never gets it when he tries to explain so he just grabs Stede's wrist and moves his fingers for him.

"Ah, like that, is it?" Stede says, and then, "I must make a note of that. Do you think Lucius is --?"

"Later," Ed says, cutting him off. "Are we ready?"

"I think so," Stede says, an airless edge to his voice that stokes something low in Ed's stomach, and the low-level warmth burns a little brighter as Stede beams at him from a candle-length away. "Let's do it!"

Ed lights the candle with a simple flick. Stede turns his wrist in Ed's hand, their palms pressed together before they start the slow and deliberate linking of their fingers. It's a dance, kind of: on one side keeping their hands low enough to feel the kiss of the candle flame a few inches below, on the other side holding their arms high and their hands at shoulder height, both watching as their fingers tangle together.

It's about the slide of skin on skin, and the perfect entanglement of two people, and there's an odd bashfulness in Ed's thoughts that make him reluctant to compare this to a quick fuck, but, fuck, he's never felt so hot and tense and naked while being fully clothed. His heart feels too big for his ribs. Stede's bottom lip looks pink and shiny, like he's been worrying at it. 

He'd taste like the most exquisite brandy, if Ed kissed him right now. 

They say the spell. They link their hands completely, fingertips blanketing each other's knuckles. Magic rushes in to fill the space and perfect understanding hits like a wave: messy and drowning. 

Stede wants him and he doesn't know what that means but he wants Ed to stay and he wants to give Ed anything everything he wants and he wants to keep Ed close he wants to share his bed his clothes his life he wants to be enough but he knows he isn't he wants Ed he wants

-- and at the same time Ed knows that Stede knows that --

Ed wants him with the force of a volcano he wants to kiss him for hours and fuck him until they both break he wants to live in this dream forever he wants Stede to never see the worst parts of him he wants to taste his mouth his skin his cock he wants to be wrapped in silk and remade he wants Stede he wants

Stede's the first one to move. He drops Ed's hand and lurches forward, finding Ed's mouth just as Ed wraps an arm around Stede's waist and drags him into a kiss.

---

the rest of my JanuAUry fics can be found on tumblr or AO3!

[veeagainsttheday]

I wanted to write something for @ofmdjanuaury on the 5th about my favorite book (for the topic "any book"), but the idea never made it off the ground.

I wanted to write something based on my favorite book, Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon, which is about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the two guys who, among other things, surveyed the Mason-Dixon line for the Royal Astronomical Society in the 1700s.

Then I realized it is a highly fictionalized account of the nuanced relationship between two real dudes in the 1700s that plays with historical accuracy in a very deliberate way to create an effect, that explicitly addresses the possibility of romance between the two men, that discusses the damage of colonialism and slavery and the genocide of indigenous people, is often funny but occasionally heartbreaking, is told as a story within another story (similar to all the theatre elements within OFMD)...

What's that meme that's like if I had a dollar for every time i got brain worms from a piece of media that's RPF about two dudes in the 1700s, I'd have $2, which isn't a lot, but is notable?

Anyway it's not an easy read, but it is truly the most beautiful, nuanced description of a lifelong friendship/relationship I've ever read (it does not become sexual but they both feel romantically - described explicitly by the author - towards the other at different times). Serious literary critics describe it as being about huge themes like the founding of America and colonialism and etc., and those things are definitely there, but to me, it's about two little guys who find each other in a big and scary world and help each other through it.

[napneeders]

a snippet of the daemon au piece for @ofmdjanuaury day 1 because I've run out of steam on it and maybe if I share this I can move on to the next prompt

---

Ed itched to ask about it; he itched for years, until it became just one of the swarm of itches under his skin, the background hum that kept him awake for good and for evil.

He had known a guy whose daemon was a swarm of bees, once, a ship carpenter many carpenters ago. The voice of the swarm was one but distant, spoke in sharp sparse shapes.

Sometimes he wanted to shake Izzy or possibly Egon, scream at them – how can you give me everything but not this? 

He had touched Egon, once. They'd avoided each other for weeks after that.

**

"Give it up," Ri said. Ed hadn't realised she was awake. Gentle nails scrabbled up his shirt and a soft nose poked into his neck.

"I'm not," he said.

It was a clear night, a full sky of stars travelling above them. He had climbed up into the crow's nest, Ri gathered up into a breast pocket, like he often did when he couldn't sleep. Usually Ri stayed right asleep, stubbornly refusing to participate in his insomnia as if to underline that he wasn't the boss of her.

It had proved useful sometimes, when the daemon was sharper than him in the mornings, biting at him if he overslept, readier eyes than his saving them from trouble with the quartermaster.

Well, that was no longer a concern – and also it was, but a new one.

Ri ignored the obvious lie. "I've told you, I don't think he can." The sleek ferret settled around his neck. In the light of day she was a gorgeous mahogany; in the dark her fur looked pitch black, indistinguishable from her shelter of Ed's hair.

"He has to talk to Izzy, though," Ed insisted, feeling across the well-plucked strings of a conversation they'd had a thousand times.

"Maybe he doesn't."

There was a way that Izzy and Egon would glance at each other, as much as a snake could glance, and Ed would know that something was being said. That was normal. He could taste Ri's thoughts all the time. But being denied audible witness to their relationship made Ed resent those wordless communiqués.

"No," Ed said. "That's too weird. Can you imagine not talking to me?"

"You're not Izzy." There were soft tugs of his hair and a tickling on his shoulder and he knew that Ri was arranging a pillow of hair for herself. It would be a bitch to brush out tomorrow.

"Are you saying you wouldn't talk to him either? If you were his daemon?" That seemed mean. And sad.

"No, you daft prick," she huffed. "I mean that you couldn't imagine living any part of his life."

"Our lives are pretty much the same," Ed argued even though he knew what Ri meant.

"You know what I mean."

[themrsscience]

A lil angels/demons for #ofmdjanuaury

[ofmdlovelyletters]

Have to send a lovely letter to the folks behind AUgust! All the monthly AU events are some of my favorite in any fandom, ever. They're fun and low pressure and always with incredible prompts I never would have come up with on my own. I love pushing myself and also seeing what everyone else comes up with. Can't wait to see what this month has in store!

Hello @ofmdjanuaury! You've received a lovely letter! 💌

Crew, if you'd like to play along this month, the prompts and guidelines for AUgust 2024 are here.