#tam lin's twin

[marypsue]

so, bluebeard's daughter 👀

[from this meme]

This title is a bit of a misnomer, now. I started this document when I started writing bluebeard's daughter, and then just kept adding to it when I started a sequel (scheherazade's son) and then a three-quel (tam lin's twin).

This is a Stranger Things AU combining elements of seasons 1 and 2, which started with a prompt to somehow make the crackship of Joyce Byers/Martin Brenner work, and turned into a horror story in which Brenner married Joyce to get custody of Will and Jonathan and all three of them got disappeared and experimented on. (Yes, I return to the same well with some frequency. What can I say. Agatha Christie wrote about murder, John Grisham writes about lawyers, and I write about furtive human experimentation and superpowers.)

The title of the document, bluebeard's daughter, is a reference to how Joyce is being gaslit to think she's had a psychotic break and been institutionalised, and how her uncovering the truth that's being deliberately kept from her (thereby putting herself in danger of her life at the hand of her husband) goes hand in hand with her finding El (her husband's 'daughter'). Oh, the cleverness of me.

The first part focused on Joyce, and the second on Jonathan. I'm currently working on the third and final part, which is focused on Will, Mike, and El. I've been sitting on an absolutely awful wonderful idea of what's going on with Will in re: psychic powers since I was halfway through the second part, and if it turns out that season four sniped it, don't tell me.

Because of the storytelling/fairy tale theme that's been running through the titles so far, I'm experimenting with some fairytale-style interludes throughout the third part. Have a sample, because, well, technically you did ask:

Once upon a time, a girl lived with her papa in the heart of a deep, dark wood. They were very happy, just the two of them together, for a time. But what the girl did not know was that her papa was not her papa at all. That the man she called her papa was really a wicked sorcerer, who had stolen her away from her true mother at birth to feed his own dark powers. When the girl learned that this was true, she fled the home her papa had built for her, in the heart of the deep, dark wood. But he had built it well, and strongly, and hidden it best of all, and the woods were so very deep and so very dark. Though the girl found friends along the way, she could not find her way out of the woods. And it did not take her papa’s many men very long to find her again. The girl’s papa told her he wasn’t angry with her, when those men brought her before him. That it only made him sad that she would try to leave him. That she would want to leave the deep, dark woods, which were the only home she knew. The only place where she would ever belong. The girl’s papa told her, when he locked her up inside a tower far above the ground, with no doors or windows save the one to which he held the only key, that he did it only to protect her from the wolves that called those woods their home, as well. That he did it only for her own good.

[tyrantisterror]

What are your top favorite fairy tales? Either classic literarily stories, adaptations of literary fairy tales, wholly modern fairy tales, or even just stories that you think are structured like fairy tales. (Roald Dahl books, Studio Ghibli movies, even Shrek and Puss in Boots movies, etc.)

That is an unfathomably vast genre of fiction to try and condense into a ranked numbered list. I think... I think that may be impossible to actually answer as requested. But I can ramble about some of my favorites I suppose.

Let's do this sorta like the Oscars and divide things into categories.

Category 1: The Heavy Hitters

Some fairy tales are significantly more famous than others, so this category is for them: the heavy hitters, the classic fairy tales that are most well known, as defined by my own nebulous perception of which fairy tales are more popular than others.

Of the heavy hitters, my favorites are Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. Little Red Riding Hood is such a spooky story no matter which telling you're looking at, and has contributed a lot to both the fantasy and horror genres thanks to its simple yet evocative premise and visuals. Jack and the Beanstalk, meanwhile, is just a really solid story of a trickster fool, which is one of my favorite archetypes in all of fiction. Love a good trickster fool.

Category 2: The Obscurities

As I said, this ask is covering a HUGE amount of fiction in its topic, especially since the border between a fairy tale and, like, ANY folklore isn't really well-defined (not in a way anyone can agree too, anyway). But there are a lot of obscure folktales I love that are at least sometimes lumped in as fairy tales, and I'm gonna list them here:

The Lambton Worm - a classic tale of dragon-slaying and getting fucked over by prophecies

The Lindworm Prince - queen can't concieve and consults a witch, ignores witch's directions, gives birth to human baby and dragon baby. Dragon baby grows up and demands a wife before human baby can get his, and a clever girl decides this is her chance to get rewarded for monster fucking.

Maud and the Dragon of Mordiford - the story of a girl who adopts a dragon only for it to end tragically, which inspired one of the novels I'm gonna write one of these days

Tam Lin - the story of a woman who wanted that elf dick and wasn't afraid to do some weird shit to get it

Biancabella and Samaritana - a story about a girl and her sister who is a snake because her mother had trouble concieving

King Odd - a story about an odd king who's actually an exiled fairy queen in disguise, and the man who wins her heart after surviving her attempt to execute him. It's like a Nordic medieval Tenchi Muyo.

You've probably noticed some themes about my favorites right now - lots of stories with dragons, people being transformed into monsters, and heroes who are into that monster shit.

Category 3: Archetypal Pieces

Ok, so for this I'm going to focus less on individual folktales and more on recurring plotlines, character types, and story beats, which you begin to notice the more you read up on Fairy Tales in part because many of the more obscure ones take beats from ones you're probably more familiar with and mix them together in new ways. So, my favorite plot beats in fairy tales:

Any sort of monster, obviously

The villain who literally removed their heart out of fear of being vulnerable

The baleful polymorph (i.e. a human who inhabits a beast/monster body against their will)

Monsterfucker protagonists

Trickster Fool protagonists

Disobedient Girls (examples: Little Red, Goldilocks), though I don't like how this archetype is treated

You want to have a baby and seek a witch and she gives you VERY SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS which you ignore because you really want this baby and oops you've got twins and one of them is some sort of monster good job asshole

The hero helps three (or more) people/creatures in need, and when shit hits the fan, they return the favor

Category 4: Modern(ish) Adaptations

Our penultimate category focuses on adaptations of fairy tales from, like, the 1900's on - anything made in a century I've lived in part of, basically. These arguably shouldn't be divided from "normal" fairy tales, but my brain regards them differently than, like, Victorian era fairy tale retellings, because hey, I lived in the age of these, more or less. They're "modern" for whatever nebulous definition of that word my brain's decided on.

And there's a lot for me to put in this category. Sleeping Beauty might be my favorite of Disney's fairy tale retellings, though Beauty and the Beast is a strong competitor for that role (and maybe Mulan, if we count its source material as a fairy tale, but I'm not sure we can). I think overall I like Sleeping Beauty's more stylized animation and character designs as well as its less conventional story-telling structure a bit more than B&B's, but Beauty and the Beast is still gorgeous and kind of perfectly scripted, so it's a tough competition.

My alltime favorite adaptation of fairy tales, though, would be Jim Henson's The Storyteller:

Using the magic of 1980's muppeteering, it adapts several fairy tales, many of which are more on the obscure side, and sometimes mashes a few different ones together to make sure each episode has a good three act structure. It's wonderful and fully captures the weirdness of fairy tales, while also having a lot of heart - The Heartless Giant is my favorite of the whole series.

Category 5: Works Inspired By Fairy Tales

I almost lumped the following stories into the above category, but while the division is, again, purely in my mind, there's something different about modern works that claim to adapt fairy tales 1:1 and ones that take fairy tale characters or concepts and throw them in entirely new tales with different directions, so that's what our final category will be.

I've gushed about Puss In Boots: The Last Wish enough that I don't think it'd surprise anyone that it would end up here - the same goes with the works of Rankin Bass, which is why I doubt anyone is surprised I'd put The Last Unicorn here too (technically based on a book, but it still fits the "has big fairy tale vibes despite not being based on one specific one" that I'm using to justify this category).

Pan's Labyrinth would also go in this category, with a protagonist who's both a trickster fool AND a disobedient girl, as well as a beautifully gothic take on fairy tale motifs. I'd put Company of Wolves here as well, being a very multifaceted riff on the Little Red Riding Hood story and a movie that sets both my analytical and creative parts of my brain on fire each time I want it.

I'd also put The Path, a short video game explicitly inspired by Company of Wolves, on this part of the favorites list. It's a game about, like, a DOZEN or so different takes on Red Riding Hood and her story, all with different flavors and subtext to analyze. It's unsettling but good.

Dimension 20 had a whole season focused on a horror-themed crossover of fairy tale characters called Neverafter that was fantastic, with one of the best riffs on Little Red Riding Hood I've ever seen, Puss in Boots and Pinocchio working together as con artists, and a vampire Snow White, so yeah 10/10 there, no notes.

And while I've only seen scattered bits of it, what I've seen of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, a sequel series to Disney's Rapunzel adaptation, is pretty great, though maybe I just think Cass is hot.

If you put an angry woman with a sword in your work of fiction I will at least stay for a few episodes to see what you do with her.

Given how much it consumed my brain in so little time, Revolutionary Girl Utena has to rank among my favorite Fairy Tale things ever - like, this is too chaotic a list to really rank things, but if I were to try, it'd at least be in the top 10. The same is true for Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, which in addition to being a big fun crossover between a bunch of the Heavy Hitter fairy tales, is also one of the best musicals ever written - and indeed, one of the best stage shows of all time.

Shit, where do I put A Midsummer Night's Dream? It feels like it should be here, but it predates the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, whose works my brain categorizes as "old fairy tales" rather than "modern fairy tale retellings." Well, it'd be somewhere among these categories, being one of the best tales with fairies in it ever told.

The Princess Bride would be up high like Utena no matter what - it's one of the best works of fiction about love that we've got. Same goes with Galavant, which I consider its spiritual successor, although I think one could argue Galavant isn't specifically a fairy tale pastiche and is more just a lampooning of fantasy in general.

Oh, and The Hazards of Love, a concept album by The Decemberists, should be here too. That's the last one I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll think of a few others later that I like enough to regret not putting on here.

[guvmy]

One thing we as a society need to talk about more is the fact that elves only wanting one kid/not twins is super messed up and also extremely stupid.

The reasoning is the fact that the firstborns have the best genetics but this has been disproven. By Fitz being a telepath while Alvar a vanisher, and Tam and Lin being a Hydrokinetic and SHade. Thses are the ones that came in my head but like for the millenniums Elvin society has existed no one thought that MAYBE having more then one kid wasn't so bad. Like its not like the Songs and Vackers were the first and only siblings in Elvin society. In conclusion Elves are stupid

[dlsintegration]

Using @iwtvfanevents's a meal to remember event as an opportunity to celebrate some of the sickos beautiful authors in this fandom 🧡 here's a list of some of my favourite recommendations, all of them Louis-centric and/or involving louis in a major fashion.

I will also be adding a song that I associate to each of them!!

🐺Leslou🐑

canon/semi-canon compliant

Pour (E) by baberainbow / @baberainbowao3: Kicking this list off with one of my all times favorite, manages to capture their voices perfectly. You'll never go wrong with one of babe's fics, they're all canon in my head 🧡

song: holy terrain - fka twigs

Glass (E) by baberainbow / @baberainbowao3: Melting just thinking about this one. I can never be free of them.

Pieta (E) by baberainbow / @baberainbowao3: Gabrielle gives lestat something he needs and gives louis something he didnt know he needed 🧡 Gabrielle is so kind 🧡

song: let go - tinashe

song: mary magdalene - fka twigs

Tides (E) by @nlbv: Tides my best friend. had to stare at my ceiling for at least 10 minutes after that one and it doesn't lose its impact no matter how much I come back to it. Masterful grasp on both louis and lestat's characterization and the toxicity that permeates their relationship.

song: tear you apart - she wants revenge

Roadkill (E) by @baberainbowao3 and @nlbv: TELL THE AVENGERS TO PACK IT THE FUCK UP. This is the most ambitious crossover of our generation. Roadkill my wife my beloved my soulmate. Read it so many times i've managed to convince myself it was canon. and it is. What is a family meant for if not for going to the circus, commiting horrifying acts of violence and making plans for the future 🧡

song: savage good boy - japanese breakfast

someone buy me roses (E) by indigostohelit: Perfect dialogue, impeccably true to their characters, illustrates louis' religious hangups and repression in a subtle funny and intimate way.

song: save a prayer - duran duran

Amour Rouge (E) by revengefrnnk: Louis exploring femininity. Big big fan of putting that man in lingerie personally. 10/10 certified s1 deleted scene to me.

song: blood and butter - caroline polachek

AUs

Reformation (E) by verseau / @greedydemands (MODERN AU): The sacred texts. We all remember where we were. 10/10 will make you go through the full range of existing human emotions. I laughed. I cried, a number of times. I sweat, I danced. I got... a shot, I ate and... I had many epiphanies.

song: heaven - shygirl / be sweet - japanese breakfast

hold me tight, & fear me not (E) by boltcutters / @wordforworldisforest (TAM LIN AU): Me when I find a beautiful fairytale book in the evil yaoi section. Read if you love beautiful writing and if you want to find out what happens to lost little lambs that stray from the path.

song: i cant breathe - gwsn

Part of Your World (E) by weathermood / @weather-mood (LITTLE MERMAID AU): I never know where to start when praising POYW, from how real and alive the world feels to the sense of tragedy permeating Louis and Lestat's entire relationship, to how much it's made me miss the sea. Oh and also the monsterfucking ❤️

song: like real people do - hozier / sea, swallow me - cocteau twins

House of Gold (E) by dirtygoldensoul / @revolution-starter : I don't usually read A/B/O fics but I love this one so much, for many reasons, the main one being how bad the family dynamics get me... Can't recommend it enough 🧡

song: work song - hozier

Like a Heathen clung to the Homily (E) by @thelioncourts (SEX CLUB AU): One of my favorite insights into Louis' internality and his lingering religious trauma, and how it still affects him, chapter 4 almost made me cry... Can't wait to see where it goes next.

song: after dark - mister kitty

🥀Loumand🎭

canon/semi-canon compliant

dirges (E) by boltcutters / @wordforworldisforest: Can't make my way into loumand territory without mentioning my beautiful wife dirges. Ziska if you read this know that you will be dealt with shortly. Loumand bed death allegation hours: CLOSED FOREVER.

song: posing in bondage - japanese breakfast

Alluvium (E) by serpenstkirts / @knifeeater: The best way I can describe Laïs' fics and how they make me feel would be to liken the experience to drowning into a lake and being grateful for the dark water filling your lungs. This fic is about eroticized latex gloves and finger sucking btw.

song: only seeing god when i come - sega bodega

vanishing point (E) by serpentskirts / @knifeeater: Motorcycle sex as religious experience. Day 67 of my campaign to get Laïs in that writing room.

song: sunset - caroline polachek / nascar - stella smyth

Selfsame (E) by @vampdf: 70s LOUMAND CRUISING ERA MY BELOVED. Number 1 on the list of the crimes Eli has to answer for. 1000/10. Died five separate times reading this. Rolin look at me. Rolin dont listen to AMC. You need this in s2. It is crucial that we get this. Louis deserves it.

song: a pill to crush - evelyn / sulk - tr/st

Prey Drive (E) by The_Lame_Goat / @iwtvdramacd18: Speaking of loumand's 70s insane bdsm practices 💔💔💔 s2 script just leaked. Is your eternal vampire marriage hitting a rough spot? Try our newest predator/prey large-scale roleplay!

song: lullaby - the cure / on the run - kelela

Mark Deep (E) by The_Lame_Goat / @iwtvdramacd18: Goat you have my blood on your hands. No added commentary needed actually. The damage this fic has done to me is irreversible. Read if you want some more quality t4t loumand insanity.

song: pang - caroline polachek

Rumpelstiltskin (E) by weathermood / @weather-mood: Most normal loumand roleplay night. Louis wakes up in a tower. I literally refuse to say anything else until you all read it for yourself and go through the sheer range of emotions I've went through when first reading it. #Their princess/captor slay is real and alive and thriving. This fic is also part of the NMHMRGPINE (No Matter How Much Rashid Gets Paid It's Not Enough) verse btw.

who is she ? - i monster / big bad wolf - shakey graves

AUs

the night island (E) by @vampdf (MAFIA AU): I don't know much but I know Armand was made to be a mob boss and Louis was made to be a mob wife. One of the most insanity-inducing byproducts of the career dom s2 teaser Armand scene(tm).

song: bitch bites dog - cecile believe

🚬Armand/Louis/Daniel📚

thy fearful symmetry (E) by mothmaiden: 70s era. One of the flrst iwtv fics I ever read. Never left my mind since. Delicious dynamics between the three of them, got me gasping and covering my mouth many times. Can't recommend enough.

song: soul control - jessie ware

Little Kidnaps in the Dark (E) by @gayvampiredivorce : The damage little kidnaps has wrought on my crops, my mental health, my friends and family can NOT be overstated. Masterful interpretation of the evolution of their relationship and dynamics through the haze of vampiric existence. Anne could never have done this.

song: when the sun hits - slowdive

Lethe series (T/E) by serpentskirts / @knifeeater: Quite simply one of my favorite series not only in that tag but in general. Every sentence Laïs writes pulls me into a dark void that I hope I'm never getting out of.

song: hopedrunk everasking - caroline polachek

🖤Lestat/Louis/Armand/Daniel💀

Good to Love / Ruthless in Love (M) by themasterletters / @brightfelon (MODERN AU): Reading Toni's fics makes me feel like im a teen again, waiting anxiously for updates and calling up all my friends to scream and , am in love with all of Toni's readings of the characters but his Louis truly gets me. That fic doesn't only live rent free in my head it's also led me places I wouldnt go to with a gun. I have seen the best minds of my generation led to madness by toni's loumand. btw.

song: career boy - dorian electra / genghis khan - miike snow

Lestat/Louis/Armand

A Potentiality for Corruption (E) by @vampdf: The thing is. I can't talk about Eli's fics without talking about Potentiality. However. Talking about Potentiality also happens to send me into a state of delirious hysterics. Daphne Du Maurier found dead in a ditch. Charlotte Brontë shaking and crying. Guillermo Del Toro found jobless. There's a new Gothic classic in town.

song: ptolemaea - ethel cain

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Mature Rated Fics Masterlist (22)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18 / Part 19 / Part 20 / Part 21 /

Created: December 16th, 2023

Last Checked:------

Little Deer, Little Sun, Little Coincidence-orphan_account (ao3) Summary: Katniss is less than enthused when Prim all but forces her to spend the evening at the fair with Johanna instead of with the twins, especially when Johanna's friend-of-a-friend joins them under the Ferris wheel. That is, until she recognizes this friend-of-a-friend: Peeta Mellark, the personable boy who went away to some fancy, big-city college six years ago. Obviously there's some catching-up to do, and more than can be done on a Ferris wheel, too, but being a single mother for nearly five years has left her a bit rusty in the flirtation department.

Miles Cross-Mejhiren (ao3) Summary: ‘And they that wad their true-love win / At Miles Cross they maun bide.’ Katniss holds Peeta through a critical episode, paralleling Janet in the old Scottish ballad of Tam Lin (often told as a fairy tale in prose form). “Miles Cross” is the crossroads where Janet pulled her lover from his horse and, by holding him through his many frightening transformations, won him from the fairies. Canon oneshot, post-MJ; written for the THG Fairy Tale Fic Challenge.

Rebound Girl-Diana_Flynn (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen only goes for only one type of man. It doesn’t matter how tall he is, the color of his hair, or even his personality. What she wants is the man fresh out of a relationship. She likes being that temporary girl the guy uses to lick the wounds of his bruised heart. Too bad Peeta Mellark changes everything for her.

Refuel, Restore, Realign-JennaGill (ao3) Summary: Peeta and Katniss take a chance they missed in high school, changing life paths and testing family loyalties. “No son, it’s a family business. And blue means loyalty, family loyalty. It means obligation. It means duty. Values we Everdeens and Hawthornes hold high.” Mr. Everdeen takes a deep breath and looks me over once more. “I can see from your expression that you’re not following me son, forget the damn sign. It means my daughter will not date you. Katniss’ path is not with you.”

The Dreadful Beauty-Diana_Flynn (ao3) Summary: She watches him, the beautiful blonde boy who has become a fixture at the bar/brothel she buses tables at. He just sits there and waits, and she wishes she knew what gave him that chip on his shoulder. Mutt is her name, and no one cares to remember what her real one is, or even notice her. She doesn’t care either, as long as she makes ends meet . But her life will change when that boy with so much to hide notices her. Everlark Fanfiction Inspired by East of Eden. Takes place in World War I Era, Monterey CA.

The Mockingjay and the Mutt-Abagail_Snow (ao3) Summary: While taming a hijacked Peeta in District Thirteen, Katniss comes to understand a side of him that she had never allowed herself to see. Loosely based on Beauty and the Beast.

The Need for Speed-Peetabreadgirl (ao3) Summary: Race car driver, Peeta Mellark, is chasing his first racing title, but along the bumpy road he ends up lost, stuck in Panem Springs where he meets an enchanting, silver-eyed trophy of a different kind.

The Unexpected Message-Diana_Flynn (ao3) Summary: Years after the war has ended Katniss has a fight with Peeta, but she finds an a gift that changes her perspective.

This is Halloween-bubblegum1425 (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen has been in love with her best friend, Peeta Mellark, for nearly as long as she'd known him. They'd grown together, carrying on their yearly Halloween tradition of watching The Nightmare Before Christmas and other scary movies, but this year was going to be different. This year, Katniss is finally going to use their time together to tell Peeta how she feels…if he doesn't ruin her plans first. College Everlark. Modern AU

We will call this place our home-JLaLa (ao3) Summary: “She closed her eyes, trying to hold in the disappointing sting of being duped. This man was indeed Peeta Mellark, her husband.” An arranged married in three parts. Everlark.

[longsightmyth]

Idk I just think if you read a series centered on a biracial Black man and his interaction with and sheer bloody-minded dragging into the future of like. The literal magical world. In which he is in a longterm loving relationship with a Black woman who happens to be a river goddess (who sprang him from fairyland tam lin style) while having a full life including college and a masters degree and they have twins, and then you also have one of the main antagonists of the series be a white woman who falls in with The Big Villain of the first seven books whose entire thing is white supremacy for her own ends even if that isn't her goal...

And then ignore all the other Black women (including multiple Muslim women) who have character arcs and development and are doing stuff...

And also all the queer characters including queer women...

And your focus is on the white dude mentor character to the point you get mad when the author starts focusing on other characters...

Maybe it's not the author who's the problem here

[myfairkatiecat]

WAIT. There are characters named "Tam" and "Lihn"? Like, Tam Lin the folklore character?? Are they related?? Please tell me they're related

Omg I’ve never made that connection before—I’m SURE shannon messenger did that on purpose….

Tam and Linh are twins!! One has shadow powers and one has water powers, and elves are sorta prejudiced against twins so they look out for each other <3

But wow that’s such a cool connection, genuinely didn’t even notice

[cordeliaflyte]

when you get this ask could you perhaps maybe bless us with 5 of ur fav songs (currently or of all time), and then send this ask to 5 of your moots who you think have good taste!

of course ^_^ I'll do both just because I wish to

current

all time

[colleenmurphy]

Meet Mary Colleen Delaney

Full Name: Mary Colleen Delaney

Nicknames:

Mar, Mare, Col, Marco ( only by her nephew Sammy ), That Delaney Bitch ( by those that take offense to how she keeps peace in the Park)

DOB: November 1, 19-

POB: Auerbach Falls ME / Fennish Bay NS ( grew up )

Parents: Marguerite Minerva McGuire & James 'Jigger Jim' Delaney

Siblings: The eldest of six and only girl, all half siblings are through her mother's subsequent marriages and last relationship.

Mike & Dennis Flaherty ( Minnie & Dick Flaherty )

Ronnie & Will Kirwan ( Minnie & Hank Kirwan - Mar's favorite step dad of them all honestly )

Steven McGuire ( Minnie & Frank Lapierre - Stevie will always be the one Mare and the Boys are protective over )

Occupation: She's had many over the years but at the moment she's tending bar at the Legion outside the border town she calls home. She also has a cosmetologist license so she's on call around the trailer park.

Home: 333 Tam Lin Drive, Hidden Hills Trailer Park, Fennish Bay NS

Significant Other:

Children: Hers? Yours? Theirs?

Hers - Twin girls Fawn and Dawn Trager ( grown ) + her brother Denny's boys, DJ and Tyler ( almost grown )

Your's - Her four youngest brothers and her ex husband's child with his affair partner while both did time.

Their's - Her ex sister-in-law's two kids ( Allison and Zack )

Vices: Essex Super Slim menthols, Northern Light cocktails, weed and the occasional tipple of straight Yukon Jack.

[wolfjackle-creates]

WIP Ask & Tag Game

Thanks for tagging me @gremlin-bot!

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

So, I probably won't be tagging as many people as I have WIPs, but I'll tag a few.

DPxDC

Bring Me Home

I'll Carry Your Heart (Until I Find You Again)

Ghost!Robin

Want to Hold on and Feel I Belong/Bad Reveal AU

Demon Twin AU

Wrong Number AU

Danny is Clark's Nephew

Johnny and Kitty & Superman and Batman

Good Omens

Rewrite the Stars

Parent Trap AU

Tam Lin AU

Sick Crowley Rises

@greensword101, @isalisewrites, @britcision, and anyone else who might be interested in this game.

Please send in any asks about these! Most are backburner right now as I try and finish up the Bad Reveal AU (#4) and Arc 2 of Bring Me Home (and a 3rd secret project which I haven't included because Secret). But I hope to bring a few back to the forefront come December.

[songofthesibyl]

Very Faerie — An ACOTAR playlist

For Tamlin Week day four, a soundtrack for A Court of Thorns and Roses. It is generally chronological; and since it is for Tamlin Week, it has a slight focus on Tamlin, though most of the songs apply to both Tamlin and Feyre. Cover image is from an illustration by Stephanie Law of The Ballad of Tam Lin.

Song listing with notes below:

Tam Lin by Mediæval Bæbes

         “And at the end of seven years           We pay a tiend to Hell.           I am sae fair and fu' of flesh           I'm feared it be myself.”

          “Tiend” is also known as “tithe.” The Hell tithe, as described, was a payment that had to be given, every seven years, of a fairy to Hell. It is not commonly referred to in fairy mythology; the Ballad of Tam Lin is one of the few mentions of it.

2. Howl by Tanya Tagaq

        A lament for the sentries killed in the curse. 

3. The Curse by Agnes Obel

        “It was swift, it was just another wave of a miracle

        But no one, nothing at all would go for the kill

        If they called on every soul in the land, on the moon

        Only then would they know a blessing in disguise

        The curse ruled from the underground, down by the shore

        And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before

4. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game by The Marvelettes

         I had to lay such a tender trap

         Hoping you might fall into it

         Love hit me like a sudden slap

         One kiss and then I knew it

         Oh, my plans didn't work out like I thought

         ‘Cause I had laid my trap for you but it seems like I got caught

         What's this whole world comin' to

         Things just ain't the same

         Any time the hunter gets captured by the game

         MY ultimate Feylin song.

5. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side by The Smiths

        The boy with the thorn in his side

        Behind the hatred, there lies

        A murderous desire for love

        How can they look into my eyes

        And still they don't believe me?

        How can they hear me say those words

        Still they don't believe me?

6. I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You by Tom Waits

        ‘Cause falling in love just makes me blue

7. Throughout The Dark Months of April and May by Cocteau Twins 

        The Bogge, the Púca, torn wings

8. Lhiannan Shee by Mediæval Bæbes

        Lhiannan Shee, also spelled Leanan sídhe, is a type of Irish fairy that takes human lovers, often becoming a muse to them. The human chosen, however, often ends up dead or insane from the encounter. “Lhiannan Shee” means “fairy lover.”

9. Hymn To Herne by S. J. Tucker

        Hunter who tracks outside of time

        Guardian lord of ancient rhyme

        Brother stag in the musky glen

        And consort of the Goddess in her woodland den

        We call you forth as we make our way

        Walking in your power every day

        Guide us true in our hunt this night

        And maybe even later in the Great Rite!

       He will call you out, make you sweat

       Give you a blessing that you'll never forget

       So revel in the chase and let your heartbeat run:

       Blessed are the children of the Horned One!

Herne the Hunter is a spirit said to haunt the British countryside. He is known to bear antlers, and is often associated with other horned gods and gods of the hunt and the wild such as Cernunnos, Pan, the Green Man, etc. though these aren’t all the same figure necessarily. The Great Rite is a traditional Wiccan ceremony. Writer Starhawk on The Horned God:

“The Horned God is difficult to understand because he does not fit into any of the expected stereotypes, neither those of the ‘macho’ male nor the reverse-images of those who deliberately seek effeminacy. He is gentle, tender, and comforting, but he is also the Hunter. He is the Dying God—but his death is always in service of the life force. He is untamed sexuality—but sexuality as a deep, holy, connecting power. He is the power of feeling, and the image of what men could be if they were liberated from the constraints of patriarchal culture.”

10. The Mummers’ Dance by Lorena McKennitt

        When in the springtime of the year

        When the trees are crowned with leaves

        When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew

        Are dressed in ribbons fair

        Mummers are masked and costumed performers often associated with springtime and fertility.

11. As The Bell Rings The Maypole Spins by Dead Can Dance

       Maypoles were described as being raised for Midsummer in A Court of Thorns and Roses; in some cultures they are raised then, but they are also associated with May Day—known in Welsh as Calan Mai

12. Beltaine Fires by Gaia Consort

        Beltaine is a similar celebration to Calan Mai. The fires occur on the night before, traditionally as protection for cattle, crops, and people. Rituals involved people leaping over the fires, and driving cattle between the bonfires. 

13. Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley

        Lilac wine is sweet and heady, where's my love?

        Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, where's my love?

        Listen to me, why is everything so hazy?

        Isn't that she, or am I just going crazy, dear?

        Lilac wine, I feel unready for my love

        Feel unready for my love

14. Joga by Björk

       All that no-one sees

       You see

       What's inside of me

       Every nerve that hurts

       You heal

       Deep inside of me

       You don't have to speak

       I feel

      Emotional landscapes

      The “Winter Woods” painting scene

15. Pepper-Tree by Cocteau Twins

        A head in the garden; the curse ticks down 

16. Jig Of Life by Kate Bush

        "C'mon and let me live!"

        Solstice/Rhysand terrorizing Feyre. This is my favorite song featuring the fiddle.

17. All Night Long by Peter Murphy

       No bad vibe hearts

       Tamlin and Feyre’s last night together. This song was inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and includes audio from Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film La Belle et La Bête.

18. Flight by Tanya Tagaq

        The next song on the album this comes from, Animism, is “Fight.” And though Tamlin does fight to the last, as evidenced by Feyre when she returns to the Manor, I imagined this song as representing Tamlin as prey that has evaded his predator for over 500 years—but who finally gets caught.

19. Otterley by Cocteau Twins

        Nothing is known of what happened to Tamlin under the mountain; still, this song describes the unreal and nightmarish atmosphere in the early days of his captivity.

20. 57821 (feat. Deep Cotton) by Janelle Monae and Deep Cotton

        One by one

        It's your time lead them both back to one

        The sun has come (sun has come)

        May your light lead them both back to one

        (May your light lead them both back to one)

        Indivisible sum

        Here's the book now the saga's begun

        He wonders if she is the one (she wonders if he is the one)

        (You're the one) you're the one

        “If it’s any consolation…she would have been the one for you…”

         Feyre returns.

21. The Warden by Chelsea Wolfe

        Hole, rack, wheel, time

        Heart, thorn, knees, blight

        Hand, hold, bright white

        Whole head feels light

        Tore off my limbs and my breasts

        The heart it's heavy in the chest

        Pulled out my tongue so I can't speak the truth

        The picture in my vision it's the sun, it's you

        This song is about two lovers who are separated and tortured so that they will betray one another—but who refuse to.

22. In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated - Remastered by Dead Can Dance

       I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take

       When memory bears witness to the innocents 

       Consumed in dying rage

      The way lies through our love

       The final trial.

23. Dreams Made Flesh - Remastered by This Mortal Coil

         Feyre’s suffering under the mountain.

24. Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers) - Remastered by Dead Can Dance

        Feyre’s death. The titles of this song and the last, of course, hint at what’s to come.

25. Into My Arms - 2011 Remastered Version by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

        And I believe in Love

        And I know that you do too

        And I believe in some kind of path

        That we can walk down, me and you

        Feyre’s resurrection, and reunion with Tamlin.

26. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Ruby Weapon and Hannah Telle

        All flowers in time bend towards the sun

        I know you say that there's no one for you

        But here is one

@tamlinweek2023 Day 4: Music

[marypsue]

Also!! For the writing meme (if you’d like!!) 11,16,32,39, and whichever you want to answer!!

[from this meme]

11 I have answered, but I'll do the others!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

I actually haven't had a plotbunny for a new fanfiction in a while. I'm still plugging away trying to get my five current WIPs wrapped up (former heroes, the ageswap AU, the bodyswap AU, the robber bridegroom and other stories, and, yes, still, the sequel to Reincarnation Blues).

I have four original fiction WIPs that I haven't put into long-term cold storage (yet): Fearleading Squad, Le Morte d'Artificial Intelligence, Circus Luna, and the one I've just been calling prairie gods. It has an inspiration tag. I don't think I've shared anything about it. It's an experiment.

And I have also just recently been bitten hard by a new origfic idea, which is shaping up into an actual story with something resembling an outline and everything. At the moment, I'm calling it Girls, Ghosts, and Meathooks. You know, after Carol J. Clover's 'Men, Women, and Chainsaws'. I'm hilarious.

32. Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Neil Gaiman, Diane Duane, and Mercedes Lackey!

(Wait, was this not the assignment?)

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

Have one from tam lin's twin, the last piece in the robber bridegroom and other stories!

...

El calls the nowhere place where she and Will first met, the lightless void that doesn’t exist outside of both of their heads, the in between.

This place isn’t it. This is somewhere different. Something different.

Will’s starting to understand better, now. This place – it’s not, actually, a place, exactly. Sort of the same way the void, the in between, isn’t exactly a place. But he’s really here. Very much the way he wasn’t really there, when he visited his friends in the void.

He’s really here.

And this place doesn’t want him to be.

Something’s hunting him. It has been since he – arrived. Will still doesn’t entirely understand how he got here. All he remembers clearly is the panic. All he remembers clearly is the way the lights all flickered, the rising grate of the alarm.

And the screaming.

He doesn’t entirely understand why he’s being hunted, either. Or what he’s being hunted by. All he knows is that he is. And that he doesn’t want to know what happens if he gets caught.

So he’s been running. He’s been hiding.

So far, Will’s been lucky. So far, whatever’s been hunting him hasn’t been able to catch him. But there’s something else. The longer he’s here, alone and cold and tired and scared and starting to get hungry, the longer he’s trapped and helpless and relentlessly hunted, the more worn down he gets, the more Will can feel himself…slipping.

It wasn’t easy, exactly, the things El showed him about not getting lost, about not losing control. But it was something he’d gotten to be able to do without having to think about it. When he was relatively safe in the facility, anyway. When he knew what the dangers were and they came on a predictable schedule.

But here…nothing is predictable. Will doesn’t know anything about what to expect, or what the dangers are. Other than that everything’s dangerous. And his – whatever Martin did to him, whatever they did to his mind, his, his – powers –

It’s like when everything started, all over again. Like it was when everything was new. It’s taking all of Will’s concentration to keep it in check. And in a place that’s constantly trying to kill him, he doesn’t always have the concentration to spare.

He’s not sure what happened, exactly, when his friends tried to contact him. The same way he’s not sure exactly what happened to bring him here. It’s a blur. Will just remembers Mike saying that they’d told people. Told the police. He just remembers how it brought back the hazy, half-conscious memory of Martin and the state troopers, that last night he’d gone to sleep in his own bed and woken up for a moment or two while he was being bundled into the windowless back of a van. He just remembers the bone-deep panic.

Will doesn’t remember exactly what happened, when his friends tried to contact him. But he thinks – he thinks it was something bad.

He wants to go home.

But maybe. If this place isn’t the only reason Will can’t keep his – his powers under control. If getting out won’t fix them.

Maybe he can’t.

[ettawritesnstudies]

Hi there! I was poking at your WIPs, and I would love to hear more about the worldbuilding in Runaways! :D I love the idea of the two courts warring against each other by dragging mortals into it.

Thanks so much! :D

The worldbuilding is inspired by many different folklore concepts which I'm mashing together so I hope this makes sense! (Scottish myths of the courts themselves, the legend of Tam Lin, Shakespeare stories, Grimm and Hans Christen Andersen's fairy tales, Aesop's fables, etc.)

The main idea is the Seelie and Unseelie courts - they're two groups of semi-immortal fae who live in hidden pockets in the wilderness around human life. The book is set in a modern day rural town and so most people (or at least adults) don't believe in the fae. The Seelie consider humans to be a quaint joy at best and an inconvenience at worst. They're powerful enough, so why bother meddling with mortal affairs? That's beneath them. They're not particularly nice but they're by far the less dangerous of the two courts. The monarchs are Lord Oberon and Queen Titania.

The Unseelie consider their counterparts in the Seelie court to be weak and uninspired, and think of humans as little more than livestock to be overpowered, used, and discarded. Their power structure is made of several archfae warlords who report to Queen Mab, who in turn gains power through a tithe to Hell Itself every 7 years. The Seelie keep to themselves, but the Unseelie go out of their way to antagonize along the borders and pick fights, so the two sides have been at war since the beginning of time. The catch? Neither side really wants to waste their immortal lives on fighting, so they both take humans as fighters.

The Seelie court will accept any human runaways that stumble into their lands and give them the choice to stay, grant them with boons of magic power or enchanted tools, and train them to be champions. Most folk heros of old belong to this group of Powers, which is run by the Lady Brigid. The Unseelie on the other hand, take changelings. The process involves finding weak faeling sprouts - kids that are infected with a blight that shortens their immortal lifespans to about 100 years, stealing them from their fae parents, and training them to be spies. Then the fae kids are exchanged with human infants through a Switching Spell that suppresses their memories of ever being fae, and locks in their glamour disguises. The Unseelie get to spy on mortal households that might be working with their enemies, causing general havok and despair, and they also get healthy human kids to train and use as soldiers.

In the story, Hannah is a normal human kid and she's got a younger sister Cecelia, who disappears one night after leaving cryptic messages about the Pied Piper. When Hannah puts together the clues, she goes stomping into the forest to demand the fae give her sister back. Only when she stumbles into the Seelie realm, she finds out her little sister was a changeling all along who ran away from her duties to protect her adopted family. The two of them make allies, and set out to rescue their lost Third sister, Cecelia's human twin who was taken.

Sorry this got so long! If you're interested in more, you can feel free to peruse the tag - I'll add it below :)

[collective-remnants-rwby]

Do you know the story of Tam Lin?

I do indeed! I have a character based on Janet & Tam Lin.

She's a bit of a thief, preferring light green. Her Semblance, Trinkettake, allows her to manipulate small objects, and while she does carry a (pilfered) weapon, her twin pistol punch daggers called Yarrow & Etrick are last resorts.

Though given she's fallen in with the son of a crime lord, she might have to brush up.

[pettyelves]

Fey and Folk Asks 🧚‍♀️

🍄 Mushroom Ring: Your character has entered a new realm. It seems a great deal like their own, but it is strange somehow. Describe this world beyond the veil!  👥 Fetch: A doppelganger of your character is running around. How is this spectral version of themselves different? (Think evil twin.. or good twin!) 👺 Changeling: At birth your character was switched with another fantasy race (or human, if you’re already an elf or some shit), how is their life different? 🌊 Selkie: What lengths would your character go to for love? Murder? Changing their very being? 🌸 Nymph: What aspect of nature represents your character? How would that take Nymph-ish form? 👿 Spriggan: Is your character prone to mischief? How do they enact their schemes? 👑 Queen Titania: If your character was suddenly in charge of a free state, how would they rule? Fairly? With a council or in an absolute monarchy? (Bonus if you describe the place they are in charge of)  👻 Bean Sidhe: What are your characters thoughts about death and spirits? Fear, wonderment, maybe a bit of both? 💋 Tam Lin: How does your character act when they have a crush? What might they do to court the person of their affections? 🌟 Cu Chulainn: Has your character ever experienced an intense romance that was doomed to fail? What befell them and their stare crossed lover? 🎶 Lorelei: What is your character’s singing voice like? 🤬 King Oberon: Your character has suddenly been cursed for offending the feyfolk. What curse would be the most devastating? (EG, a singer who can’t sing anymore, a doctor cursed with shaky hands)

[words-writ-in-starlight]

ohh, angst asks! Gotta Stay Quiet To Avoid Discovery for songxiao and/or Desperate Hand-Holding for jame/tori. (also 98% of those prompts have happened onscreen or been heavily implied to have happened in the kencyrath and i've gotta say... it good, it very good) (but kindrie is not given enough emotional support in response for him having to deal with it)

THIS IS SO UNFAIR HOW CAN YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE actually never mind I fixed it, I wrote both, the other one will go into the queue.  Have a much-compressed AU where Jame gets to be the rescued party for a change.  For this ask meme!

Jame doesn’t let her fingers shake as she braids bells into her horse’s mane.  She rides with the Hunt every year, and every year she hates it, hates the rising blood-song of the magic, hates the horses, hates the moment where she becomes the crest of the wave and brings the Master’s strength crashing down on anyone in their path, but that is what the Mortal Knight is for.  A focus.  A spearpoint.  Her mother was the Mortal Knight before her, until the power was too much and sent Jamethiel shattering, and now--

Now Jame is not letting her fingers shake, and it’s not out of dread.  Jame doesn’t believe in dread.  She hasn’t in a long time, not since she ran from her father’s hall straight into the arms of the Hunt as a child.  Dread is only a way to prolong the suffering of a bad moment, so Jame deals with bad moments as they come and tries to ride them out as best she can, and this Hunt will be another in a series, but there’s no point dreading it.

Jame is good at not feeling dread.  But hope--that’s another thing entirely.

“Still scared of horses, little dreamer?” Keral croons, and she snarls at him.  He reaches out to brush his fingers through her hair, where it’s loose around her masked face, tiny plaits woven with ribbons of silver and scarlet hidden in the curls.

“I’ll break your hand,” Jame says.  She could, too.  The Hunt is rising, the magic is boiling up, and she is the focus, the harbinger, and tonight she could break Keral’s laughing smile into pieces and scatter them at her feet.

“Keral,” Tyrandis interrupts, melting out of the shadows.  He’s like that.  “Go and prepare.”

Keral tugs on one of Jame’s plaits and smirks at his half-brother, but he goes.  Tyrandis watches him go, and then turns back to Jame, where she’s checking her saddle.  She hesitates over the buckles.  She could loosen them, just one notch, or try to hide some damage to the straps--but no.  They might come loose at the wrong moment, and her horse be traded out.

And she told Tori that she would be on the only white horse, is the thing.  She’s not allowing herself to count on him.  She won’t.  But by God, she’s going to start and end this Hunt on a white horse, one way or another.

“Jamie,” Tyrandis says.  She snaps around to look at him, and manages a small smile.  He knows how she feels about the Hunt, but he’s smiling back at her, although his eyes are sad and his fingers linger on her cheek when he brushes her hair out of her eyes.  “I’m proud of you, Jamie.  Keep it in mind, hm?”

Jame trusts Tyrandis implicitly.  She trusts that he loves her.  She trusts that he will always do his duty to his Master.  She trusts that he is smart enough to know something is amiss, and she trusts that he knows that asking any questions would force him to betray her.

“I will, Senethari.”

“Good.  Mount up, we’re riding out.”

The crossroads is glowing with moonlight when the Hunt sweeps down on it, and Jame’s heart would be in her mouth if not for the fact that all she can hear is hunting horns, all she can taste is foreign blood, thick and iron-bright.  Her hands are tangled in her horse’s mane, without reins, and she is at the head of the Hunt, a creature made for killing, glittering in silver and scarlet and black, and everything is wonderful.  This, this is how she should always be, magic flowing through her like blood, and she does not remember why she hated this, when it is so clearly all that she was born for.

They slow at the crossroads, the Hunt piling up behind Jame like a wave, calling out to each other like a pack of hounds belling in the dark, and she tips her head back to the moon and tries to remember why she has stopped.

The moonlight falls on her like wine and honey, sinking into her skin, and Jame opens her mouth, takes a breath to say onward, and--

The figure in black is slight-boned and as quick as a whip, and his hands are like iron when they close into her hunting coat and wrench her to the ground.

Jame hits the packed dirt hard, and the magic of the Hunt cracks like glass with the impact, leaving her shaking and weak and gasping.  The man--Tori, it’s Tori, he came for her, after all this fucking time he actually came for her--is above her, pinning her down, and he’s haloed in moonlight that glows on his silver-shot hair when he says, “Jame?”

“Yes,” Jame wheezes, breathless.  “Hold--hold me tight, brother.”

“I have you,” Tori says.  She thinks he says it, anyway.  She hopes so.  She told him not to be afraid, among the roses.

She hears the Master’s voice, distant and terrible, speak a word from amidst the Hunt.

The magic crashes back down onto her, the sky falling in shards and ripping into her fragile mortal skin, and she’s screaming, trying to fight her way out of her bones, out of Tori’s arms.  She claws at his hands, snaps at him with a wolf’s teeth, and he doesn’t let go.  Tori buries his face in her thick-furred ruff, where she can’t get purchase on him, and clings to her until Jame is panting and still underneath him, and then--

The magic surges, and another scream fights its way out of her throat, a hunting cat’s screech, and she twists like water until she can sink a paw full of lethal claws into Tori’s shoulder, through his coat and shirt and skin and muscle until she scrapes bone.  He doesn’t let go.  He fists his hands in her sleek short fur and presses himself close without regard for his blood coursing over her paw, and then--

A third rush of power and pain, and armor is growing from Jame’s skin, ivory-white and stronger than steel, barbed at her joints so that it tears into Tori’s coat as she fights to her feet, a half-grown rathorn colt screaming in the bone-shaking register of her kind.  Tori tightens both hands in her mane and twists, and brings her down.  She bites him--she can taste blood on her fangs, his blood, real and rich--and he doesn’t let go.  He doesn’t let go.  He doesn’t let go.

The magic falls away like bursting out of ice-cold water, and Jame is left shivering on the ground, her brother’s blood and the dirt of the road on her skin, and Tori’s face is still pressed into her shoulder, his arms tight around her ribs and his chest pressed to hers.  

“Were you afraid?” Jame rasps, hugging him close and meeting Tyrandis’ eyes over his shoulder.  Tyrandis nods to her.

“Yes,” Tori says, raising his head to look at her.  He’s bruised, but his silver eyes are fierce, and when he unwinds his arms, he doesn’t pull away.  Instead, he pulls his torn coat off and drapes it over Jame’s naked shoulders, and puts his hand into hers, and doesn’t let go.  He pulls her to her feet without regard for the wound in his shoulder, the blood on his arm, and says, “Let’s go home.”