#hob.

that was the sexiest nat one.

h0b rationalises the transference of power and reincarnations of dr.eam similarly to doctor who's the doctor reincarnations and i think it leaves him something tender to consider how dream might find the act endearing bc h0b relates his experiences to a fictional story which ultimately falls under his friend's domain

post the sandman ending, inclusive of part two, ( if you know you know ) imma take liberty from the author, because i can, and say that maybe hob finally take the plunge and try to bridge the gap between the endless, the supernatural, and himself. i think for as long as he's lived, he was afraid to do so because, well, (a) you don't fuck with magic, and (b) he was afraid it may incur the wrath of the entity who had given him immortality. but after losing morpheus, and feeling as though he could've done more, he'd be much more interactive and would want to extend his companionship wider. this means, he wants to get to know each of the endless [if he can reach them] and regularly invite them for tea or brunch or whatever that fits them, he wants to know the lore and history of other supernatural entities, he wants them to be well and okay and safe. he doesn't want another funeral. and even if he must attend to one, at least he would've known them more than how he'd never pushed when it was with morpheus.

thinking about a possible nightmare-dream version of grief personified and how they would visit hob after the funeral, and staying with him for years after (the last time had been with peggy, the longest had been after eleanor and robyn) and how maybe this time hob could sometimes be lucid enough to greet them like a friend and just ended up in their hold, but when he wasn’t lucid enough? he’d go through his last days with audrey and mostly morpheus again. he talks about things he never would. he’d cry and ask for forgiveness. sorry i wasn’t there; sorry i couldn’t have made it better. but his best days in the dreaming would be if matthew would interrupt that dream-nightmare, and when lucienne would be kind enough to invite hob to spend what’s left of his time asleep in the library, and they’d sit there, and they’d share their grief, and they’d make do with what they could and what they have and try to see the beauty in what was left and what will be.

also one last thought ........ but h0b is a natural storyteller. natural. he's always had a knack for telling a tale, whether true or false, and he's always had the charm and the cadence and the behaviour to keep attention, or to steer an environment into tension or to ease from it. and the idea that he's been telling stories of his life, even if it's mundane as all heck, to the prince of stories for about 650 years now? oh i bet death was so proud they bet on him.