#darcylindbergh

Transcendently calm, gloriously still.

@forpiratereasons posted Grounded and you should go read it.

(Good Omens Christmas fic review week!)

The Grinch Who Sold Christmas by @forineffablereasons is an elixir of the most concentrated and unbridled Christmas joy you’ve ever had, wrapped up in a gorgeous writing and ineffable feels. The story arc echoes your typical cheesy Christmas movie - big-city solicitor Crowley comes to finalize the sale of the Tadfield high street, and in the process of doing research for his proposal, falls in love with the small-town community and a certain kind-eyed angel. But regardless of how predictable the plot may sound initially, this fic is the most magnificent kind of fantasy - not because it contains any supernatural elements, but because it gives readers a taste of the ultimate dream: of unconditional love, and incandescent happiness, and being exactly where you are supposed to be and where you wholly and irrevocably belong.

This fic is so supremely soft - sticky-sweet and syrupy, but not in a cloying or overbearing way. Instead it feels like you are being enveloped in the tenderest and most comforting of hugs; like you are submerged in a torrential outpour of love that is all-consuming in its potency, leaving your fingertips all tingly and your face stretched involuntarily in a silly, dazzling smile. The romance between Crowley and Aziraphale is downright picturesque, from the flirty first-date banter to sticking with each other through thick and thin, and it’s wholesome and glorious and miraculous in its totality. I also cannot rave enough about the writing: it is some of my favourite kind of prose, flowing and melodious, with the lyrical cadence of a bedtime story and the unfettered magic of a fairy tale.

(it's darcy forpiratereasons on main lol)

HI DARCY <333

you're more than welcome!! i love Casper so much he's the perfect amount of stupid, hot, pathetic, and cute 😌

I’m not putting any pressure on myself to post these daily, just as the spirit moves. In case you’ve been keeping score or something.

This entry includes my absolute favorite love declaration of all time in any media of any kind anywhere. It also gives me an excuse to talk about narrative distance, so a double win for me!

the thunder beneath his ribs, by darcylindbergh

Darcylindbergh writes lyrically, as in their works are word music. They play with language to great effect, and as someone who pathetically paws at that kind of thing from time to time, I have the greatest respect for their efforts.

(This one got long, so I'm getting all fancy and installing a cut. The love declaration is at the bottom of the post.)

really enjoyed this scene from this fic !! (on the necessity of a temptation by darcylindbergh) (rated M) -- enjoyed it in a way i couldn’t quite put in to words, so, here’s some art about it (hope i did it justice!)

holding steady by darcylindbergh (@watsonshoneybee) (12k, E)

“Forever, then.”

There’s a curve of a smile against John’s neck, and only a moment later, the press of a kiss to the corner of John’s mouth. “Yes,” Sherlock promises too. “Forever, then.”

It’s quiet. It’s peaceful.

John closes his eyes.

Finding one part from this fic to quote was so incredibly hard, because I am in love with every sentence of the story. Truly. But I feel like the quote I chose really encapsulates a lot of what holding steady stands for. It’s a well earned quote, if that makes sense, because the weight that it carries is accumulated through the course of the fic. Also, the beautiful circular ending, with the fic beginning with the same line it (almost) closes on is just incredibly satisfying.

I love basically everything written by this author (I think it's safe to say that you can expect more recs of their work on this blog), and holding steady is no exception. In fact, this is one of my favourite comfort reads. For me, Johnlock is very much about devotion and the kind of bone-deep love that nestles into the very structure of who you are, unshakeable and inevitable. holding steady enumerates this dynamic so, so beautifully. The prose is incredibly elegant and melodious—it's not poetry, but it sounds like it, if that makes sense.

This fic is genuinely a treat for all of your senses. The imagery is just immaculate. When John and Sherlock were on the dock, fishing, I could hear the lapping of the water as Sherlock swished his foot in it, I could see the faint mist rising off the dewy grass, shimmering golden in the oncoming sunrise. When they stood in the meadow, I could feel the wind on my face, stirring the grass and making the flowers dance, could hear the susurrus of insects in the grass. Hell, I could practically smell the loamy, cool scent of the soil.

And my god, the way the author has written John and Sherlock and everything they share here is so...intimate. It feels private, and something that words don't really do justice to, because what the author is writing about is so instinctive. One of the tags they use is "Mood without plot" and that's about the most I can hone in on. This fic is guaranteed to make you feel things, all of them good.

I can’t possibly make a rec of this fic and not talk about the smut in this fic because holy hell. It is masterful. It is so tender and reverent and yet so heated and passionate. Actually, reading that sentence again, I feel like I should make a correction; there's nothing "and yet" about it, it's tender and reverent and it's hot and passionate (much like John and Sherlock themselves—or the versions of them that live in my head rent free, at any rate). The author weaves the overall theme of firm, unyielding love that forms the beating heart of this fic, so effortlessly and organically with all the tension and rising heat of an extremely well-paced smut scene. Mark me down as emotional and horny 😌

holding steady by darcylindbergh

Johnlock Love Letters #2098