#read my folk tales!

[mothfables]

♡ Bunny Flops ♡ - Part Two

(Legend has like 0.5 seconds of angst cause ✨trauma✨, but then it’s just fluff <3)

The second time it happens, the Chain is taking a much-needed break at Lon Lon Ranch. Several weeks have gone by since the first Incident (as they’ve taken to calling it when Legend isn’t around to hear), and it’s mostly passed from everyone’s minds by now.

Legend refused to answer any of their questions, growing embarrassed and awkward any time someone brought it up. Eventually they gave up and let him be, to his relief. He doesn’t want any of them knowing it’s a holdover from his Dark World form - or that he suspects that isn’t the only reason for his more...rabbit-like tendencies. Luckily (or, perhaps, unluckily in this case), those tendencies really only show themselves when he feels truly comfortable and safe, with a few exceptions.

(He doesn’t want to think about what it means that it’s happened around the other heroes. Thinking about it means acknowledging it, and acknowledging it means he has to face the fact that he’s let himself get close. Close to people who will just get taken away go away again.)

(He can’t go through that again. He can’t.)

As it is, Legend is curled up on the rug in front of the fire in the main house, his hands wrapped around a steaming mug and a fluffy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Quiet chatter mixed with soft music flows around him. Chores are done for the day, none of his weapons are in need of maintenance, his belly is full, and he’s warm and cozy in a house that makes him feel as safe as he’s ever been.

Legend feels himself start to drift, his mind growing hazy and soft. Each blink is longer than the last, and he fumbles to keep from spilling his drink as he begins to drift off. Someone takes it from him, their hands gently easing it from his own, before patting him on the head. Half-asleep, he barely registers giving a soft chirring purr in response to the affection, hearing the other chuckle warmly as they continue petting his hair.

Sky smiles down at him as the younger hero begins to doze. He pauses for a moment to twist around, searching for the coffee table so he can put down the mug he’d taken from sleepy hands. Once that’s done, he turns back around to continue his ministrations, only to blink as he realizes the other boy is not where he’d left him.

He glances around, confused, before looking down and seeing Legend curled up on his side before the fire, blanket clutched in his thin hands and violet eyes blinking sleepily into the flames. Giving a relieved sigh, Sky shuffles closer and lays a hand on soft pink locks. Legend starts purring again as Sky gently pets his hair.

He only half-listens to the sounds of the other heroes in the room with him, most of his attention on the cozy bundle before him that is the young hero. As he weaves his hand through his hair, marveling at the softness of it, he senses more than sees someone moving to sit next to him.

“He’s doing it again, huh?” Warriors’ voice, hushed in the quiet peace that’s settled over them all, comes from his left. He joins Sky in reaching out and laying a gentle hand on Legend’s arm. The Vet sniffles once before sighing. Wars runs his hand along his arm in a soothing motion, and his eyes slip shut as he finally nods off.

“So, it’s not anything to worry about then, do you think?” Sky asks, keeping his voice low. “Since he’s just sleeping when he does this?” ‘This’ being tipping over and falling asleep with ease as compared to the restless, guarded nights they’re all used to.

Wars shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so. This is-” he stops, looking for the right words. Sky nods; he understands what his brother means.

This is an incredible show of trust. For the Veteran, prickly and snappish and guarded to his core, this may very well be the equivalent of lowering every wall he has and opening the door straight to his heart. Sky’s own heart warms at the realization. He lets himself trust that they will not hurt him, and in turn allows them to protect and care for him at his most vulnerable.

The Chosen Hero turns his head to meet the Captain’s eyes. They both nod, coming to an unspoken agreement that they will do everything they can to keep this trust. Their brother deserves to be able to let his guard down, to be able to open himself up, to know he has people he can depend on, and that none of it will be taken from him.

With a content sigh, Sky lets himself lean into Warriors, resting his head on his shoulder. They each keep a hand on their sleeping brother, protective and soothing both. The two of them will keep watch over their brother tonight, here in this house of safety and warmth and love, to make the most of every ounce of trust they’ve been given.

<< First : Last >>

[not-poignant]

wait okay so now that you're seriously thinking of publishing, will you be writing a new prequel to game theory with the new 'Canon'? like the story as it's meant to have happened between gwyn, augus, terho and the nightingale, or are we just starting from game theory?

ALSO I'm so glad that you might be publishing the ftv soon for wholly selfish reasons -- you're clearly done writing about these characters, but personally I am nowhere near done reading about them, and I'm definitely not creative enough to write fanfiction myself either, so I'm just stuck rotating the characters inside my head like a microwave😭😭 it's really tough out here!!!

imagine the massive wave of new readers and the new community that's gonna come in once the story's more accessible... IT'S SO EXCITING

Hi anon!

No prequel, I'll be starting with Game Theory (and Deeper into the Woods will be published afterwards as a prequel, just as it was chronologically in general!)

Quite a bit of Game Theory is being edited and new content being added (anyone on the Gary & Efnisien tier can already see about 2,000 words of new content in the first three chapters alone, including new scene/s with Crielle), and some content being removed where it's OOC. The events with Terho and the Nightingale will be explained in Game Theory, with Gwyn likely meeting with Terho (or learning about him) a few times within.

As for Fae Tales, you know, it's nice to think there will be some new readers, and there might be like a handful or two, but there will be no massive wave. It is the least popular thing I've written in proportion to the amount of time I've put into it. Even the AUs have all generally done better proportionately.

It's one of the reasons I've never rushed to publish, honestly. It's a lot of work to put into something that you know will never financially justify itself. To the point where I think other projects are far more viable financially (Underline the Rainbow as a series I actually think would be great, because new, meaty omegaverse has a very intense (though small) fanbase and I think that series would bring more people in).

There would be no massive wave of new readers. I think we'd be lucky to see at most about 10 or 20 new folks, and I'll cherish everyone, but I'm also pretty realistic. More people find all my other works these days than Fae Tales, The Ice Plague is still one of the worst performing things I've written in proportion to length + time + work investment (despite being one of my favourite series out of anything I've written).

I think I'm realistic, and I also think there's a chance that the Fae Tales Verse if published could draw some haters. Most people don't want that level of BDSM in their epic fantasy, unless it's much lighter 'romantasy,' which Fae Tales definitely isn't. There's even a chance I might get my KDP author account suspended because of breaching content TOS/violations.

So yeah, it's a risk, but I'll take it. It's just not a risk I'm prioritising right now, because I can't see a way that the Fae Tales Verse will ever really go that far. Hand on heart, way more people who come over from my fanfiction find Falling Falling Stars and Underline and almost no one (with maybe a few exceptions - I love y'all) goes into the canon these days unless they're older / long-time readers.

[non-un-topo]

He, Dreamless by nizzuto

Part 1 of I don't see the sun (I know it's there)

Through the tear-away of waves and the vastness of oceans and the separation of the three of them, there remains the legend of true love and the infinite fight to get back to it.

A gift for the incredibly talented @guarncre, whose gorgeous fic (and every single fic since) I adore so much. Few fics have so effectively simultaneously ripped me apart and put me back together, and swallowed me up with every word. These drawings have been a long time coming, but I really wanted to show my love for the fic by attempting to capture its evocative storytelling and imagery. And this is my call to everyone to go read it, now! Right now!

[Image description under cut]

[I.D.] Two digital drawings of Joe and Nicky, respectively, depicting scenes from nizzuto's fic He, Dreamless.

Joe is standing alone in a dark brick tower, visible down to his waist. His head is tilted down, his eyes closed, and he has a melancholy expression on his face. Only one of his arms is visible, his hand gently curled over his chest. His hair is long and loose, a few curls lit by moonlight. A deep red garment is draped over his shoulders. Behind him is a small arched window with bars, where a bright moon attempts to shine through. He is half-lit and half in shadow. A small signature in the bottom left corner reads, "Siggy, '23".

Nicky is sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head tilted up and painted with bright, almost heavenly moonlight. He is in a hole underground, and the dark ground can be seen surrounding him. He is wearing a tattered uniform, the details of his clothes mostly hidden in shadow. His hair has been cut short and uneven, as has his beard. He is reaching up with one hand, the tip of his finger poking through the bars above his head. He wears an expression of longing. The moonlight is casting streaks through his fingers onto his face. He's looking at the same moon as Joe. The same signature as the first image is written on the bottom right corner.

[ellennieel]

i am rereading tithe and ironside at the moment and just can't rid of the thought how Roiben was just a light and sweet boy, who had to face betrayal and manipulation from one queen and absolute cruelty from another. i really want to see him more pre-unseelie court. he literally thinks about binding the hob as something terrible and it makes it really more painful when you know what he'll have to do in the future. just realising how innocent and pure he was you understand how broken he must be.

he has no idea what to do with the unseelie court. he is disguested with it's people. he is still able to see there are some good ones among them. he is ready to die if it means silarial will die with him. he thinks kaye will be better without him. he didn't want to hurt her like he was hurt by silarial, he didn't want to be this cruel.

he is just my little meow meow🥺

[faaun]

this is such a random question but do u have a favourite question from persian folklore and if so, what is it?

hello! i was confused at first but i saw ur ask correcting 'question' to 'story' :)

i think my favourite is conference of the birds ! i read it when i was like...maybe 9? and i thought it was so beautiful at the time, the book i bought had these colourful illustrations too...i still think it's such a beautiful poem/story

it's about a group of birds who realise they don't have a ruler and their life is purposeless. one of the birds suggest they search for a ruler, the simorgh (phoenix, essentially, but translates literally to 30 [si] birds [morgh]). this birds tells them they must journey through 7 valleys in order to reach the simorgh at the end. the valleys being quest, knowledge, detachment, unity, wonder, and annihilation.

they voice out their anxieties about making this very harrowing journey and the quasi-leader bird tells them stories and anecdotes to tell them why/how they should get past these fears (this is the main bulk of the story iirc). going through these valleys, more and more birds die of panic and illness, heat and cold, violence, etc, until at the end (at the end of the valley of annihilation) there are 30 left. at this point they have detached from their 'selves' such that their perception of each other is identical to their perception of themself and vice versa - they realise they are resemblances; beings that are united and nonexistent as individuals.

once they make it to the simorgh, all they see is a mirror, or rather, themself reflected back. it's sort of a lesson in unity, detachment, self-perception, and that the absolute/beauty/god/beloved is not in itself a separate being but a reflection, and specifically, a reflection of the self which is also the totality of all things. it's cyclical but in a comforting way. they realise they are the simorgh (phoenix/30 birds). .....ok this sounded confusing and it IS a little confusing but when u read it, it makes more sense it's so beautiful

brief descriptions of the valleys if ur interested:

[human-being61]

The bottom shelf of my bookcase is the “Hall of Important Books” aka the books that mean the most to me. In it we have Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities, and of course, the entire The Folk of The Air series

[origami-butterfly]

So I wrote a sort of poem about how much I love tumblr storytelling. (I'm not usually a poet please don't judge my writing)

I wish I could write like the tumblr storytellers.

Not like Homer or Sappho or one of the great writers of the past

Just the way people on tumblr do.

If I were a better poet, I'd describe my envy,

Envy of the webs they weave the yarns they spin.

I'd describe it like a spider, or a fire.

But I'm not. So I won't.

I wish I could write like the tumblr storytellers

The stories I've read have done many things.

Broken and healed my heart

Made me cry with joy and laugh with sadness

Transported me to the prettiest worlds built with the prettiest words.

A world where beauty and devotion share a temple.

A world where parents choose both children.

A world where witches speak to the wind.

I wish I could write like the tumblr storytellers.

Stories that inspired this were:

The God of Arepo

Raise Both Children

Eindred and the Witch/The Witch Who Spoke to the Wind

[awoooniper]

What if there were two guys on Winter and one of them killed the other one with a rock? Wouldn’t that be fucked up or what?

[l3monsoda]

I have this stupid romanticized fantasy where I have a teaparty book club. It's a normal book club that meets periodically but when they do it's a tea party and everyone sips teas and eats finger sandwiches and has fun being dainty while talking books.

This dream will never come true because it requires a set of impossible to achieve conditions. First a friend group or social circle of similarly inclined individuals large enough to pull from to get a group of 4-7 people big enough for interesting conversations. Second all members of said group would have to have the necessary amount for free time to actually read the book AND a consistent enough schedule to plan for and attend meetings on a regular basis. Third the only way to maintain sustainability for something like this is if either each member takes turns hosting or there is some kind of money pool and or distribution of tasks for setting up tea which is another time and resource factor that members would have to be able to afford.

And even if by some far away and out of reach middle class dreams miracle all these factors DID manage to come together it STILL wouldn't work because literally no one in my social circles like any of the books I do so I would have to read books I don't like every month or no one would join. Or more likely I'd try it for a few months just get tired of the book choice and eave and every one else would go on living my fantasy without me because just like how I never get the aux cord, no one is letting me curate the book club reading list.

[not-poignant]

*screaming crying throwing up* I just found out a friend from my high school follows you aND I WANT TO KNOW IF THEY’VE READ FAE TALES AND HOW MUCH THEY LIKED IT BUT THEY ARE ASLEEP 😭😭😭 he is the only possible person other than myself that I know that may have read your books and I am going to interrogate him (not kink shame but more along the lines of kink SAME) like I’ve recommended your writing before to friends and they’re just like “that’s nice buddy” and never read it but there is a possibility he has read your writing and now I want to start like a little book club and talk about chapters and ocs and stuff idk but I am EXCITED FOR HIM TO WAKE UP AHHHHHH

Hi anon!

Unfortunately, if you aren't a legal adult, we can't talk about my writing, and saying 'my high school' strongly indicates to me that you're likely not a legal adult.

So I'm glad you're having fun! But after that, for a lot of reasons (including liability reasons) I'm not going to engage any further with this ask and officially do not condone underage folks reading my stuff.

(Also a reminder to folks, if you ever tell me your age on places like the Discord etc. you will be blocked/banned due to legal reasons. I'm extremely realistic that underage/minors will be reading my stuff (I was underage/a minor once and I know what I read, but I also knew to be mature enough to never let the author/s know I was a minor), but please respect that I am using sites where this isn't allowed, and where encouraging it puts my accounts in jeopardy. This 100% could have been something I could have engaged with if the words 'high school' weren't used).

(DO NOT TELL ME YOUR AGE IF YOU'RE A MINOR, DO NOT EVEN TELL ME YOU'RE IN HIGH SCHOOL).

[llondonfog]

MR GAIMAN, MR NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN!!!!!!

[cosmicrhetoric]

i think i had to acclimate a little to the violence of the devourers (it doesn't bother me but this is mixed with like.....what FEELS like a very familiar south asian folk writing style so it was just jarring) but im in it and im finally hitting my stride. every thing that is happening is frankly an insane situation to be in

[britneyshakespeare]

i read the first three acts of as you like it today

[cirrus-grey]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT?! (positive)

Strong comment to follow

Lol I take it you read the chapter? 😁

[freakshowcowboy]

got a hardcover edition of a book bc i liked the cover better than the paperback but i just. regretting deeply. i love p aperback............

[found--family]

Helluva name for an ep! I'm thinking it's a trifecta: 

Steph dealing with her father - again, though hopefully less heartbreaking than last time; maybe something happens and he comes around to her way of thinking ie. her mom needs professional help. (I hope Steph gets someone on her side) 

Duela's mom visits her for her birthday - she got out of prison, maybe escaped? Or maybe Duela goes to visit her for her birthday. Either way, Duela's mom reveals The Joker is not her father. (I'm still on the Duela Dent train but I don't know if they'll reveal that as well; if Duela's father is fugue!Dent, her mom might leave clues for her to figure it out for herself which would mean a second reveal maybe at the end of the season, maybe just before or after Harvey's Two-Face incident leaving a cliffhanger for season 2.) 

Harvey encounters his father. The way it's worded - 'collision course' - is intriguing. Will he encounter fugue!father? Will fugue!Harvey encounter his father? Did he think his father was dead? We've only had scraps of his past and whatever the comics say, GK is doing it's own thing so who knows what could happen. If his father is alive and it's a surprise maybe fugue!Harvey will kill him? But there's still the possibility that fugue!father is in league with the owls somehow (how else would they know about the piano trigger? Unless fugue!Harvey himself gave it to them..) 

I love the crew's passion for creating this story! They care about good storytelling, they care about the details, they want to entertain and surprise us! They're taking the best bits of the DCU and giving us something new! I'm very excited for the possibilites of this ep. This story continues to keep me guessing, has me caring about the characters, and keeps me invested in how things will unfold.