#novemberrambles

Rules: post the beginning lines of your most recent 10 published fanfics, then attempt to tag 10 people!

Tagged by: @blue-glasses-dork

god, I have. not published much this year at all. the writing juice has not been with me at all, but here we go.

i'm on my knees in fascination (P/Venigni): Mornings are softer now than they've ever been before. Pinocchio remembers all too well the mornings after sleeping with his back against the wall in any random alcove— or side room or outcropping or abandoned crate—he could find, back when he was snatching moments of rest at any available hour, just to keep himself going.

flowers in the window, sweater on the bed (Kurama/Yusuke): Keiko breaks up with him on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. She's between classes, and that's probably intentional, so this conversation has a natural time limit to it. He can't decide if that makes him feel better or worse.

mentoring (Kurama/Yusuke): "Well that's that, I guess." Kurama opened one eye, interrupting his sun basking to peer at Yusuke as he walked across the springy grass to join him.

every precious thing (Shane/Ilya): The drive away from Shane's parents' house is much lighter than the drive to it, like a heaviness has been sucked out of the air, and they both can breathe easier.

these shaking hands, soaked in red (River/January): Time moved oddly when you were watching something horrible happen. Especially when you were powerless to stop it.

i push my luck (it shows) (River/Max): Aubrey was in their element. Drunk, of course. Laughing. Saying something cutting and likely overtly cruel to someone, who was too dazzled by them to be offended.

you have this way of knowing it'll be okay (River/January): Mornings with River looked like this: Somehow, despite always being the last to fall asleep, River was also the first to wake up.

tender, like a bruise (River/January): Everything was pain and numbness in turns, and it was terrible. The painkillers made them feel off balance and slightly nauseous, and top of that, the name was clearly a lie because River could still feel plenty of pain.

you're the risk i'm gonna take (River/January): It was freezing and pissing down rain in London when January finally made it back to his apartment. The hems of his pants were soaked, and his shoes made unpleasant squishing sounds as he made the trek to his bedroom.

shiny, golden, and new (P/Venigni): Being at the hotel more now means that Pinocchio learns much more about the other residents than he ever did before. Like the fact that Polendina really never moves from behind the reception desk anymore unless someone gives him another task, and that Eugenie has a whole collection of novels under her desk that she reads when she thinks no one is watching her. And that Venigni sings when he works.

Alexander is a little obsessed with how beautiful Pino is. Like. The hair, the eyes, the freckles?? He has to touch that lovely face every day.

Pino is quiet, but he processes information incredibly well. Alexander tends to wax poetic about whatever interests him, and Pino listens quietly, but then will sometimes chime in with something profound and Alexander is just full of affection.

One day, out of nowhere, Pino is just looking at Alex's face, and is just like, "You were right about being very handsome," and then just goes off to cuddle a cat or something, and Alexander is just staring after him because you can't just say that and not get kissed, come on.

p/alexander. p doesn't want to turn the machine off because he's really just devastated at the idea that someone as bright and clever as alexander won't exist in the world anymore. he wants to fix this. that's the whole thread of the dlc, right? p thinking he can fix these horrible events and try to make things better in the present.

we all know how the rest of it turns out, but he manages to somehow put alex in a puppet body permanently. he at least goes for a nice one with a good face, and he's like, "sorry you might not be as handsome as you used to be, but at least you have hands now."

puppet alexander goes to hotel krat where he and klaus try to out-yap each other while p faces the horrors and devil fish and everything.

but then p gets sent back to his proper time. and he never got to say goodbye. last thing he told alex was that he'd be back after he found lea.

he goes back to the hotel in the present and alexander is still there. a little worse for wear after however many years and all the shit that's been going on, but as far as anyone at the hotel knows, he's always been there, so they kept him safe. he's even been chatting with venigni about upgrades to his body and especially his face. ("i can tell you what i used to look like, and you can build it. it can't be that hard, can it?")

but anyway, p shows up, alexander pulls him into a hug and says that he knew p would be back like he said. he's never met anyone who keeps their word they way p does. which gets p in a tender place because of all the lying, but still.

phaidros is my everything. he's such a good character. i go from wanting to shake him to wanting to hold him in the space of a chapter. he's flawed, he's a lil stupid, he's doing his best. he's got so much trauma and is such a product of the way he was raised and the things that have happened to him, and he knows that. he's one of those self aware neurodivergents who can see that they're Not Right and understand why but can't seem to do anything to be any other way and fuck i relate to that so hard. but he wants whimsy and magic and to be loved so so desperately and that's why he clings to dionysus and their dynamic is just so fucking beautiful.

a mad god, a witch, a marvel (in the non theban sense), and he just wants to show one broken man all the shades of blue there are and keep him alive.