#eddy writes

Use the trident. 

Throw the ender pearl. 

Don't breathe, not yet.

The thrill of the chase seeps into his bones. Anxiety on his heels. Head north - NO south! West maybe. It doesn't matter, the ender pearl lands. Water fills his vision. The sudden pressure change almost forces the air out of his lungs. Stop! - Don't. Breathe. In. 

The Sediment at the bottom of the ocean is deep and sticky in the way only wet silt and loam can be. Take out the trident, throw the ender pearl. A distant rocket announces the Poe's presence. Moving closer, faster and faster and faster and - the enderpearl hits. Still ocean. Good he needs all the cover he can get. 

Think, Joe, think.

He crouches down, wet sediment clinging to the felt of his body. It's a good time to be blue. A nearby cove finally provides some cover from his pursuers overhead. Crouch, stay hidden, stay safe. He hears the Poe shouting from overhead. The words get swallowed by the waves. They sound - frustrated? Maybe? It's more important to stay down, he so desperately needs a moment of respite. Then finally over the fading sounds of rockets; the Poe pick a direction and simply fly off, simply miss him, squatting in his small alcove and joe? Joe nearly drowns himself in the relief of their mistake. 

Breaking the surface, he finally takes a breath. Okay, one step at a time. Take a look around, what do you see? Ocean, but wait - a sliver of land to the northwest. He reaches to check his coordinates, after all where there are hermits, there are portals. Heavy limbs, soaked with water, rejoice at the thought of the nether. Warm and dry and faster. The weight of hundreds of eyes follow his hand as he reaches for his own location - Stop! No coordinates, it's not safe, who knows who will see. It's a reflex of calmer time. How could he forget?

Breathe, Joe, breathe. 

There is truly no time to relax. After all things need to get done, need to be moved along. There is so much he has yet to even begin doing. He regrets not being more prepared. He should have been more prepared. What was he thinking not preparing more! He should have known! He should have - No, stop, no use in catastrophizing. He couldn't have known. He couldn’t have known that they would bleed him out, death after death after death. Less and less resources and even less allies. How long has Jev been gone? He remembers the exact day they got Ren and Cleo. Gods, he misses Cleo. He can almost hear their voice, taunting the Poe, across the nether roof. Coming closer every second, one block then another and another. Steadily and surely. He gives the thought a smile. Either way Joe likes to think that he’s the resilient type; sown of thick fabric; strings of fate guiding his every movement. So he stops and breathes and continues on. After all he has things to do! 4 - 7 - 8

Persevere, Joe, Persevere.

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Also on AO3:

Sooo there's no way I can think of (and I have been thinking on this a lot) that this post isn't going to be a little bit awkward, but it's going to exist anyway.

A year ago, in 2022, I saw this post from 2021 by @anonymousdandelion on Aziraphale and Crowley meeting Herschel of Ostropol (protagonist of Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins, a Jewish children's book, as well as a Jewish folkloric figure).

Then, a) being Jewish and Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins being a fondly remembered book from my childhood, b) someone who enjoys Good Omens, c) also a fic writer and, d) the idea being adoptable, I started to write a story.

(and okay, it's taken me roughly a year to give it a solid shape (long story short that's less to do with the story itself and more to do with me figuring some things out about what and who I want to write for, but I digress), but the fic itself very much exists now.)

I planned to have the full Chapter 1 done in time for Chanukah this year. Due to life in general being pretty chaotic, that hasn't happened. Instead, under the read more is a preview (the first scene of chapter 1), because I still wanted to post some part of it for the holiday.

Some Fic Notes:

-This story is, arguably, two stories intertwined. One that takes place in the 'present day' (though before the Apocalypse, etc.), and one that takes place during the Herschel story.

-It will largely follow the perspective of and by driven by OCs. Though, Aziraphale and Crowley will have a strong presence and influence, it didn't feel like it was their story to tell.

-It is written with two base structural rules in mind;

Aziraphale and Crowley had a hand in the stories of Herschel of Ostropol being remembered. The original kernel this fic was built around and expanded from was answering the question of how that happens.

There can be absolutely no interference in Herschel's story happening in the synagogue (i.e. the narrative of the children's book cannot be altered). Though, that doesn't necessarily mean Herschel is prevented from appearing in the story ;)

Story Preview Beneath The Cut

Hello! Happy MCYT Holiday Exchange 2025 @fake-hollie!! I have a gift for you :D I really hope you enjoy it, this was sooo much fun to write!

The story goes like this,

Herschel of Ostropol traveled to a town beset by goblins and, with his wits and wiles, broke the hold the goblins had over the town.

It is a story well-loved and fondly remembered. That is certainly not in question.

What is is how it came to be told and who did the telling?

To answer, we look to the town itself, to its people (to perhaps two more strangers who arrived around the same time as Herschel) and their stories, both told and untold.

And to many, many years later, when a girl who comes from a family with a long, long tradition of bookbinding sneaks into a bookshop to finish a story.

Finally presenting the first chapter of the story I shared a preview of in this post.  In short, Aziraphale and Crowley meet Herschel of Ostropol.  Told, mostly, from the perspective of those who were also there.

Today in places you don't expect to return to, and the fics there that are slightly less dead than expected.

Since it's been a hot minute and a blog shift, here's the fic summary:

During infancy, a human will learn the basic skills of operating in an unfamiliar world. Eventually, everything from walking to talking to comprehension of what their senses are telling them will come naturally.

A supernatural entity, separated from the mind brimming with memories that gave him frame of reference, a body to be passenger in, and positioned as an adult, who finds himself in control of a vessel empty but for himself will find himself posed against challenges not unlike those young children face exploring the world for the first time.

Figuring things out will take time, but at least he’s got help, right?

It appears I am now writing a Malevolent fic

Peridot and Lapis introduce Bismuth to the idea of meep morps.  A series of short scenes.

AO3 link here

Previous

Before Bismuth or Lapis could do anything, Peridot rushed forward into the heart of the Forge once Bismuth got the final door open.  Neither of the two gems hurried after her until they heard a loud, rather concerning THUD.

Lapis’s gem glowed.  Her water wings appeared.  With a forceful wingbeat that blew both her and Bismuth’s hair, she rushed forward.

“Peridot?  Peridot, are you ok?  What happened…?”

“I’m fine.”  Peridot struggled to get up out from under an anvil.  “Perfectly fine.”  She managed to tilt the anvil up on its side and almost scramble out from under it, but it came crashing back down before she could get out of the way.  “Oof.”  She grunted.  “Is this a weapon?”  She asked Bismuth, who entered the forge moments after Lapis.

“No.”  Bismuth lifted the anvil up and moved it to the side so Peridot could escape.  “It’s an anvil.”

Peridot stood and inspected herself.  One had ran over the surface of her gem.  “Are you sure?  I can think of numerous potential scenarios where your anvil could be used as a weapon.”

“Peridot, you probably shouldn’t have done that.  We don’t know what anything is in here.  You could have gotten hurt.”  Lapis approached Peridot and put a hand on her shoulder.  Her fingers squeezed.

Peridot put her own hand atop Lapis’s.  “I’m fine.  See?  Not even a scratch.”  She showed her her gem.  “You don’t have to worry.”  She paused.  “But I see your point.  I will be more careful.”

“Thank you.”  Lapis gave Peridot a small smile, which Peridot returned.

They both turned to Bismuth, who was pretending she wasn’t paying them any mind.  When she saw she had their attention, she grinned.  “So, who’s ready to get down to bismuth?”

“HA!  That was a joke!  Lapis, she has jokes!”

Like this has nothing to do really with the canon of Trollhunters, which is what I write fanfic for, and I only used it for 2 shippy scenes between two characters, but it’s an au since none of that actually happened in the show.  Hell, the two characters barely even talk in the show.

So, in theory, I could just remove them from the equation, create two new characters and use those.  Like the only thing that’s actually TH canon that I utilize here are Barb’s interest in painting and Nomura’s affiliation with pottery, which I think I can still use because those two characters aren’t the only characters who can exist liking those things?

So, I could have:

-2 girlfriends who meet in college.

-One is in a more intense career path (I’m gonna go with lawyer now) to please her family (who are homophobic jerkfaces), except she really just wants to be a painter.

-The other is into ceramics (and maybe has a troubled past? I need to think on that more).

-Ceramics girl convinces painter girl to run away with her and they travel cross country in a van they bought and try to sell their artwork.  Various adventures ensue (brainstorming those/how this all functions).

-I’d need names, physical descriptions, and character traits that are far removed from Barb and Nomura for the characters, but that shouldn’t be all that hard to accomplish.

-since none of this actually happens in the show or is in any part of either Barb and Nomura’s backstories, it’s already fairly removed from them.  I just inserted them into a situation I created during a writing exercise, so I can just remove them, switch some things around, and get something unrelated to fanfic, I think?