#swegory

[artsyunderstudy]

Hi. Hello. I'm here today to talk about Swegory.

This fic (Jelly Babies and other signs that your roommate probably isn't a demon by @chen-chen-chen-again-chen​) and this pairing has absolutely stolen my heart. It features a teen Swithin Grimm and his roommate Gregory Petty (with whom he is secretly in love), and elder queers Baz and Simon there to help them along a bit, even if it's just to listen patiently while one or both of them has either a mini breakdown, a realization, or both?

I want to do more art of these babies, but I just had to get a sketch out tonight. PLEASE give this fic a read, I promise you'll fall in love with these characters. Get all cozy when you do it, get a warm drink, and a snuggly blanket, because that's what reading this fic already feels like. COZY.

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Six Sentence Sunday

Thank you for the Sunday tags, @captain-aralias, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @nightimedreamersworld, and @artsyunderstudy!! I love seeing all your gorgeous work. ❤️❤️❤️

Okay, so. I swear one day I'll do like a "normal" SSS or WIP Wednesday, but. Today is not that day.

Six-ish sentences that demonstrate the pure joy and creativity of community:

1.) @larkral joked that someone would answer @ionlydrinkhotwater's Carry On Prompt (Swithin gets a crush on his roommate and calls Big Bro Baz for help) with a 75K fic.

2.) I said, in this comment thread with @whogaveyoupermission and @larkral, that if Jelly Babies became my longest CO fic, I would buy a cake with the phrase "Your roommate isn't a demon" on it.

3.) @artsyunderstudy MADE THE MOST INCREDIBLE SWEGORY ART

4.) Jelly Babies officially became my longest CO fic, currently clocking in at (checks) 23 348 words (also, I hit a fun milestone: as of right now, I've published 108 296 in 2022 words on AO3, outstripping my previous record of 102 355 words in 2020. What the duck!!!)

5.) I loved @artsyunderstudy's art so much that I put it on a cake so I could eat it.

6.) I ate my nerd sons.

Bonus sentence:

7.) They were delicious

so sweet 

and so cold.

I keep describing my energy while writing Jelly Babies as "unhinged" and honestly, even as I've slowed down and we're heading into the home stretch, that still holds. I had a really, REALLY tough time containing my maniacal gremlin laughter until I left the DQ Chill & Grill. Ange from DQ, wherever you are, you are a literal angel for making this beautiful cake and adding (totally unprompted!) those tiny hearts in the background. 

I brought the cake to a writing session with some of my IRL writer friends (who are normies and don’t know I write fanfiction). They were quite puzzled by my explanation but delighted to eat ice cream cake, even though it’s -25 Celsius outside with windchill and we got like 30 centimeters of snowfall this week. We paired the ice cream cake with one tea that tasted of smoke and bourbon, and another that tasted of cinnamon hearts. 

I’ve never been so intensely delighted by a cake before I even ate it. It’s the best $40 that I have ever, EVER spent.

It's already evening where I am, so instead of tagging folks, I will just say have a BEAUTIFUL Sunday and I hope that wherever you are, you get to eat cake. 🍰❤️🍰❤️🍰❤️🍰❤️

P.S. I can't bring myself to consume their beautiful faces......

[dohrnaira]

So. I have a small stash of MTG cards I grabbed from the discard pile of my brother's Cube. I got them out this morning and made. This.

5-min fanart for @chen-chen-chen-again-chen and all the Swegory supporters out there !

Go read this fic if you haven't already. It has EVERYTHING. See below.

(and. About the notes in Chapter 9. Well. Can't wait to read this bit aloud...)

[izzoliauto]

After a fabulous weekend of family, fresh air and beautiful views, I've not had much time to indulge in my passion for motorcars, so no time for messing about, here's a proper car in its natural habitat in South Kensington. Enjoy.😎👌✨ - Photo credit: Greg Fulford @swegory https://www.instagram.com/p/CDHps3ODIBn/?igshid=1pkt5b6efcg3p

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Jelly Babies Master Post (Edited)

I'm laughing I'm crying I can't believe that this goofy Swithin/OMC drabble just keeps going and it's actually posted on AO3 now I don't understand my life~

Jelly Babies and other signs that your roommate probably isn't a demon

Rating: Teen

Words: 31 743

Chapters: 25/25 (COMPLETE!!)

Pairing: Swithin Grimm/Gregory Petty (OMC)

Summary: 

Based on a prompt from @ionlydrinkhotwater: "@carryonprompts can we get a fic of Swithin in Watford developing a massive crush on his roommate and calling big bro Baz for help?" 

“I.” Swithin doesn’t meet Baz’s eyes directly; he never does. Rather, he looks at a point between Baz’s chin and collarbone. “I think I’ve got a crush on my roommate.” 

Halfway across town, Simon Snow is sitting in a chip shop and watching his fifteen-year-old cousin Gregory Petty shred a napkin into confetti with the sheer force of his anxiety. 

“I think my roommate is a demon and that he is literally trying to kill me,” Gregory blurts out.

Part of Carry On Countdown 2022, Day 5: Bloodlines and Day 30: The Beginning.

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

WIP Wednesday + fic drop

Thank you for the WWIP tags all you lovely souls: @bookish-bogwitch, @cutestkilla, @martsonmars, @artsyunderstudy, @whogaveyoupermission, @fatalfangirl, @larkral (I answer your call of a forceful tag! I'm sure it was a firm, grounding touch ❤️).

I have TWO things for you today. One of them is not actually an WIP, but a little shortie from the Rosethorn girl universe that you can read on AO3 right now! No fancy art because my brain is being Bad Brain right now. Thing 1:

They were all children once

Rating: Gen

Words:  823

Chapters: 1/1 

Part 3 of Rosethorn girl

Summary:

Salisbury House thinks of the children that it's sheltered throughout the years.

Part of Carry On Countdown 2022's Day 13: Devotion.

I will also stick stuff about JELLY BABIES (a wee snippet & overly-emotional blather) under the cut. Next chapter with these sweet baby gays should be coming out tonight!

Ch. 10 (!!!!) of Jelly Babies is almost good to go. I THINK I will try to post daily until this bad boi is done?? I have a buffer of about 3-4 chapters, but I am human, so absolutely no guarantees. I do have an outline and a rough idea of where it's going to go, and I hope (DEAR GOD I HOPE) that it'll wrap up before the end of December. We shall see.

Thing 2. Here is a VERY SHORT SNIPPET from tonight's chapter:

“What?” Gregory asks, confused. He squints up at it. There’s some plants there that look familiar, a bunch of leaves with small white berries, wrapped up with a red ribbon. It looks like the stuff he helped Ioanna gather up the other day - 

“That’s.” Swithin clears his throat. “That’s mistletoe.” 

I just want to say a big, sloppy, huge, emotional, tearful, Gregory-esque thank you to everyone who has engaged with this work. Honestly, every time I write something (especially in fandom spaces), my go-to thought is, "This is so weird. This is just a lark. It's okay if no one reads it - I'm just happy that I wrote it and put it out into the world." But then y'all show up waving homemade signs and cheering and crying and Embracing the Weird and I am eternally grateful to exist in this corner of the internet with you.

I mentioned this before in responses to some comments, but I feel like writing and sharing "Jelly Babies" re-set some kind of button in my brain and my body so that I am actually able to experience joy again. And I hope that in some way, it brings you a little bit of joy and warmth and sweetness and the conviction that (as Dr. Chuck Tingle says) Love is Real. We're all just wee humans dealing with this hard shit and trying to make it through the day.

Whether you've been working joyfully or slogging away or unable to make anything at all - whether you're on top of the world or just struggling to make it through the the next minute - you always belong. You always deserve a hug and a hot drink and a rest so that you can sit down and take off your heavy boots.

Thank you. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hello tags!  @captain-aralias, @excalisbury, @facewithoutheart, @hushed-chorus, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @johnwgrey, @moodandmist, @nightimedreamersworld, @raenestee, @sailorblossoms, @thewholelemon,  @you-remind-me-of-the-babe  

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Six Something? Sunday

Hello hello hello!! Thank you for the Sunday tags, @onepintobean, @johnwgrey, @fatalfangirl, @forabeatofadrum, and @artsyunderstudy!

I don't have sentences, but I do have a thing for Jelly Babies, my Swithin/OMC (Swegory) fic which keeps growing tentacles and tails:

[ID: Grimm Family Tier List (GREGORY'S {troll emoji} RANKINGS)

S Tier - {Unicorn emoji} Swithin (duh the S is right in his name)

A Tier - {Vampire man emoji} Baz (Simon's bf, good egg)

A Tier - {Rose emoji} Daphne (keeps offering me food) (Note: yes, Daphne's emoji is a rose because of Billie Piper)

B Tier - {Cookie emoji} Tyr (great baker, nice, will probs move up to A tier)

C Tier - {Vampire woman emoji} Mordelia (scary, always on her mobile)

D Tier - {Joker emoji} Sophie (chaos demon, likes taking the piss out of me)

F Tier - {Horse emoji} Swithin's dad Malcolm (Is this too mean????)

Hello tags, and a blather about productivity & rest under the cut!

I want to say a huge thank you to every kind human who sent me their blessings and good wishes for a restful Sunday. It’s been a weekend full of R&R over in this here lazaretto (as my spouse and I call our haunted house), filled with good pizza, daytime naps, luxurious head scritches, and cackling over the anime My Next Life as a Villainess (which is hysterical. Everybody’s gay for the protagonist. Everybody).

I wrote a lot of Jelly Babies at what is (for me) a truly insane place, churning out the first 6-7 chaps in a weekend because I could not. Stop. Thinking about it. This was followed by three days where I was put on a steroid, Prednisone, for a post-COVID ear infection, and it made me VERY ENERGETIC and VERY UNFILTERED (good for writing Gregory, in other words), and I felt a lot like that gif of the cat smashing at the keyboard.

Then the slump hit, as it invariably does! I do truly feel incredibly blessed when my trio of the DMC (the Daemon, Muses, and Creativity) take over and I can write and write and write. But I know enough now about that process to brace for the impact when the DMC leave and I am just a human again, left to tend to my fleshy body and to learn how to walk again when before I was able to fly.

Writing and posting Jelly Babies is a huge push out of my comfort zone, which is good for me. It's so funny to me now, looking back on this post about Why I don't usually post WIPs. "The tears of Mummers House" was such a good exercise in posting a WIP, but that was like wading in a kiddie pool whereas now, with Jelly Babies, I feel like I have firmly pushed myself into the deep end (in the good way). Bless COC and every human (looking at you, @sailorblossoms) who has been an inspiration for just making the work, putting it out there, and Having Fun With It.

I really struggled with whether to take a break from posting today. Part of my brain was like "But my family is STARVING, I have to FEED them" and a much more sensible part was like, "Every single person reading this story would wrap you up in blankets and tell you to take a nap." So again, thank you for being wonderful, and I'm so excited to return with more sweet baby gays tomorrow! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Pressure-free hello tags, and I hope y'all have a restful Sunday: @bookish-bogwitch, @captain-aralias, @cutestkilla, @excalisbury, @facewithoutheart, @hushed-chorus, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @larkral, @martsonmars, @moodandmist, @nightimedreamersworld, @raenestee, @sailorblossoms @thewholelemon, @whogaveyoupermission, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

For the WIP Game! @you-remind-me-of-the-babe asked about Summertime jelly babies 👹❤️🦄😎⛱️🍉

This is another one that is sitting in the planning stage, so I'm not sure if I have any shareable prose just yet! But I DO fall asleep thinking about it occasionally and get the goofiest grin on my face.

Here are some snippets from my planning notes folder:

Just imagine both Fatima and Gregory hurling imprecations at Swithin for something and he is just so happy that they are getting along

I love the idea of Swithin cooing and chirping. Just happy vocal stims

Daphne gets a chihuahua pom puppy and he is the stinking CUTEST, just like a FURBALL, so light, so precious, just sajkldkljsakljas

Swithin and Gregory aren’t thinking anything dirty with the school uniforms. The adults definitely are

Niamh doesn't really understand the LARP-ing even though she is straight up a cleric 

Three teams: The Simon Scones, the Perfect Pitches, & the Chaos Legion

Baz gets sick the week before the wedding and goes around hugging everyone when he is high on cough syrup. He holds Swithin by the cheeks and says solemnly, “I am very grateful to you. I am so proud of you. You are a beautiful unicorn.” 

He pats Gregory on the head and says, “You’re a very good gremlin. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” 

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

For the WIP Game! @larkral asked about Sour patch kids, which is a Mordelia fic set in the Jelly Babies universe!

Sour patch kids is about Mordelia's friendship with Cam Petty who is (in the Jelly Babies 'verse) Gregory's older sister. I can't remember if I mentioned this anywhere, but she is (fun fact!) a canonical character. She's Nico & Ebb's niece, the one who confuses Nico for Ebb when he shows up at the Peckham house at Christmas.

Because I'm...... me, I took a character who has literally like two lines, gave them a name, made them gay, and then wrote a whole story about them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  That's kind of my jam!

One of my alternate titles for this story was This story doesn't end with a kiss. I wanted to write a story that was about love but not necessarily romance between the two main characters, about loneliness and queerness and friendship. Because that just seemed Neat.

You wants some snippets???? Here's a Swegory snippet:

Mordelia glances over at the dance floor, where Gregory seems to be teaching Swithin how to do the hand jive. Swithin is looking at his boyfriend gravely, as if the matter is life or death; Gregory’s instructions mostly seem to consist of flailing. 

And here's a little bit of Mordelia being a baby lesbian, pining for the unattainable Fiona:

Fiona looks perfect in a black and white houndstooth swing dress and bright red petticoats, and she’s being whirled around by Nico with more enthusiasm than skill. They’re grinning at each other in that way they have, not only like they’ve a secret but they’ve pulled off some marvellous prank, and by the time someone’s called a fire truck, they’ll already be gone, running off hand in hand and laughing like hooligans.

And here's Cam and Mordelia, clearly already destined to be the best of friends:

“Think I’ll head to the bar,” Cam muses. “Feel like a gin daisy?”  

“What’s a gin daisy?”

“It’s like a gin and tonic, but gayer,” Cam says, getting to her stockinged feet. “Don’t sell my shoes on Ebay to a pervert, okay?”

[dohrnaira]

Something to celebrate the last chapter of Jelly Babies - Part 1 ! I'm saving it for tonight but I wanted to post this noooooow 🎁🎄

HUGE THANKS to @chen-chen-chen-again-chen for gifting us with the most perfect bedtime story/advent calendar/Christmas fluff.

And looking forward to the next tales of the Gremlin and the Unicorn...

[artsyunderstudy]

Wild, wild Wednesday folks.

Thanks to everyone who continues to tag me, even tho I’ve been a bit out of pocket.  

I don’t have anything new, I already posted all the words I wrote last week and I lost my apple pencil and still haven’t replaced it because its like, expensive, and also I’m holding out hope my pencil will just show up.  Magically.  In the meantime I figure I’ll just do whatever the heck I want.  Here are some of my favorite lines from recently published fics, and then a couple recent recs.

What We Crave  

 “Is this what you want?” [...]  “You have to tell me, Baz.”

“Yes, you nightmare.  Just touch me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” he lies.  Into my fucking mouth.  All I do is hurt him.

Sixty Seconds

Like clockwork, his body relaxes into mine, his head turned so I can feel the press of his nose against my neck.  He's so cold.  I want to warm him.  I comb my fingers through his hair as his arms wind around my waist, clutching, pulling me closer.  He exhales shakily.

“You’re my best friend,” I say quietly.  It feels inadequate.  It doesn’t feel anywhere close to enough, not for what he means to me.

We Still Bloom

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve already crossed over.

“I don’t feel like that around him, though.”  I pause.  Take a breath.  The fire breathes with me.  “He makes me furious.  And he breaks my heart.  And he shines so big and bright I can’t help but let it warm me.

“I love it,” I say quietly.  “And I hate it.  And I’m sorry for it.”

I close my eyes.  The heat licks at the tips of my fingers.  One bare inch between me and destruction.

“I don’t think I’d give it up for anything.”

And now for a few recs.

Jelly Babies and other signs that your roommate probably isn't a demon by @chen-chen-chen-again-chen (WIP, Teen)- This fic has bewitched me body and soul.  It’s a rare pair fic with Swithin and OC Gregory Petty.  It’s so good, so pure, it literally made me cry with happiness.  Move over Snowbaz, Swegory now holds my heart.

Depth of Reason by @you-remind-me-of-the-babe (WIP, Mature) - This is such a good, smart canon divergent fic.  Simon is now social worker in the Department of Magical Creature Management tasked with monitoring the recently-outed-as-a-vampire Baz.   The relationship between Baz and Simon is so good so far, and the politics are really complex and well written.  We get to see Simon’s innate goodness shine through as his views on magical/dark creatures shift.

Don't Forget to Write by roobadly (Complete, Teen) (omg I don’t know Roo’s tumblr, someone help) - This is such a good, sweet, fun, canon divergent fic taking place in 7th year.  Baz is planning to torment Simon with a bit of spell paper, but his soft heart gets the best of him and they start up a magical correspondence.  It’s a magical texting fic, full of amazing banter and a punch you in the heart sort of climax.

Stress Management by @whogaveyoupermission (WIP, Mature)- This UST filled AU is just such a treat, and also really emotionally impactful, especially the most recent chapter DAMN.  Simon is a stressed social worker and Baz is his former roommate/enemy/crush and current crush/barre instructor.  This fic features a load of pining, amazing outfits, and tons of FEELINGS. 

Tags below the cut!

@forabeatofadrum @johnwgrey @takitalks @bazzybelle  @ileadacharmedlife @aristocratic-otter  @urban-sith @basiltonbutliketheherb @letraspal  @tea-brigade @stardustasincocaine @palimpsessed @cutestkilla @whatevertheweather  @nightimedreamersworld  @orange-peony  @carryonsimoncarryonbaz  @ionlydrinkhotwater @raenestee @fatalfangirl @captain-aralias @erzbethluna @stitchyqueer @larkral @whogaveyoupermission @you-remind-me-of-the-babe  @chen-chen-chen-again-chen  @ivelovedhimthroughworse @confused-bi-queer @moodandmist @martsonmars @sailorblossoms @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @yeonjunenby  @bookish-bogwitch @facewithoutheart @hushed-chorus @shrek-gogurt @thewholelemon