valiantstarlights
Live, Love, Lord and Savior Hob Gadling
Nina. She/her. Just trying to live one day at a time. Currently obsessed with The Sandman. AO3 | tumblr fics
613 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
bgybgy
RANDOM.THINGS.HAPPENED
baxterhighcheerleaders
CAOS Baxter High Cheerleaders
sexiiness
Only The Sexy.
Text
[Bluebeard Dream AU] The Seventh Spouse
In which Dream is both Bluebeard and Evelyn Hugo.
...It's been a while, but you know how questionable I get with my AUs. 😂 That hasn't changed with time, un/fortunately.
For Dreamling Week 2024 Day 1: Hunt / Bodyswap / Indulgence / First Time
--
The Starlight Observer
June 7, [year redacted]
No one talks about how tedious it is to find a spouse. It is difficult enough to find someone willing to brave the treacherous sea known as marriage, but managing to convince one candidate after another to undertake the journey with you, even after they know about your previous failed marriages?
Truly, Lord Dream Endless (despite not being a Charmer like his sibling Desire) is a master at convincing nobles to tie a ball and chain around their ankles and throw themselves overboard, in the hopes that, by sinking down the watery depths, they will be the one who will finally anchor him.
Then again, Lord Dream has his eternal youth, his otherworldly good looks, and his and his family's accrued wealth going for him. It is more than what most in the ton have to offer potential matches, and so Lord Dream continues to sail the open waters unchallenged, collecting anchors while flying the red flag.
The immortal lord's latest target seems to be one Lord Robert Gadling, mutation unknown, who has recently arrived from India without much fanfare. Lord Robert has an air of charm and mystery about him, and this author personally saw how disarmingly charming he is to the debutantes of all species and sexes as they flocked to him like birds of prey upon fresh meat.
Unlike fresh meat, however, Lord Robert managed to captivate them all with his wit and his smiles, and the vultures instead became like dogs at the feet of their master.
Perhaps Lord Dream is just another noble Lord Robert has enthralled, or perhaps Lord Dream is looking for a challenge this season.
Whatever the case, this author only hopes that Lord Robert be warned that there is a wolf Shifter among the dogs at his feet, looking not to be the alpha of the pack, but to ravish the master himself.
--
Notes:
The name of the scandal sheet, The Starlight Observer, is both a play on my username, valiantstarlights, and a nod to The Star of Albion, which is the name of the newspaper in Neil Gaiman's short story, A Study in Emerald. ✨
The Lady Whistledown of this AU is a vampire Julie Andrews, a duchess (now dowager) who lost all her fucks when she got turned at age 27. (Julie Andrews was 27 years old when they filmed Mary Poppins.)
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hello, my loves. 🥰
It's been...half a year? since I last posted, and I missed you all so much. 🤗 I won't go on an unhinged AO3-author's-update-after-a-long-hiatus story and tell you about all the RL things that kept me from tumblr, but rest assured, I am alive and whole and doing pretty well. 🙏
As for all of your kind messages, I will (slowly but with great determination) reply to all of them. Thank you for thinking of me and being concerned about my well-being. 🙇♀️ And thanks as well for all the likes, reblogs, and replies that my posts continue to receive! 🥰🤗 I'm blown away by the amount of notes that accumulated over the time I was away, and I'm so glad my memes and stories continue to bring you joy.
Alright, I think that's it for now. I shall endeavor to catch up on stuff and (hopefully) be on a semi-hiatus state here in tumblr. Wish me good luck! 🍀
- valiantstarlights ✨
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Brick by Brick
Dream is not accustomed to being treated with patience.
Those who claim to love him are not shy in only loving the parts they cannot see, the parts they assume. He is cold and aloof and guarded and they do not want those parts of him but that’s okay because surely there is more underneath, surely he is hiding something better. They do not love the locked chest, they love the treasure they assume must be held within it, and they want him to give it to them right now. They fight him for it.
Don’t be so guarded, they say, and they come at him with a pickax.
Open up, they say, crowbar already jammed in a crevice.
And it is terrifying, in a way he would never admit to anyone, can barely admit to himself. He is armor and walls and closed doors and no one loves that part of him, and Dream wonders if there even is anything else, maybe that is all he is, all the way down, an empty chest, walls around a barren field, hollow armor, and it is terrifying to think of the ones he loves (love wholly, loves every part of) ripping him apart just to discover that there is nothing lovable among the rubble.
So Dream closes himself tighter, because he does not think there is a treasure inside him, and so when will they stop? They scrape and break and tear at the shell of him, and he thinks that if they do not find what they want they will just keep going- shatter the armor and then the person underneath without slowing down.
They are determined to break through his walls, even if that means breaking him in the process.
Open up, they say, and they do not knock.
Well. Hob knocks.
But Dream can’t recognize it, just hears a thud against his protections and flinches. Hob says “I think you’re lonely” but all Dream hears is “I will love you with my fists. If you loved me back you’d let me hit something soft”.
So he hits back. Lets the gates slam shut and runs and runs and runs, Hob pounding on the door behind him.
When he is trapped in Fawney Rig, it only seems to prove him right. Cut off from his power, from his home, his purpose, himself, he feels hollow. Scraped out and empty, and he holds fast against Burgess, makes his walls impenetrable even as he realizes there is nothing there to protect. He escapes and finds his home, himself, decayed and rotting and wonders if it has been like this from the beginning. He hunts down the missing pieces of himself, the fragments that feel next to nothing now, thinks that he is next to nothing, just crumbling walls and battered doors and locks damaged from all the people who would rather break them than ask for a key.
Dream sits before Hob, and feels himself settle somewhere between peace and resignation.
Still guarded. Still locked. Still hollow. Worn down and weak, one hit to his defenses and he will crumple, and no one ever hits just once.
Hob smiles at him. Hob offers him food and drink. Hob tells him of all that he has missed in the past century, laughs and gestures enthusiastically, and never once demands, never once pushes or pulls or pries and it is enough for Dream to want to weep with gratitude.
And then, to his confusion and surprise and utter awe, Hob begins to help him rebuild.
They see each other more often, their centennial pattern broken and their friendship declared. Sometimes Dream feels cracked and raw and Hob catches glimpses of his vulnerability, but instead of taking advantage of the openings, he shields them. Dream’s voice cracks when he tries to explain where he’s been, and Hob jumps to make him tea, bustling in the kitchen and chattering about nothing, still there with him but looking away while Dream pulls himself together. Dream’s eyes well with tears the first time Hob tells him he loves him, and Hob smiles and kisses his forehead, says “it’s getting late, shall we talk more tomorrow?” and lets him leave without running away. Dream’s hands shake when he tries to take his clothes off for him, and Hob kisses his fingers and wraps him in blankets until only his face is showing, laughing lightly and talking about the coldest places he’s traveled.
Dream rebuilds his walls and Hob hands him the mortar. Dream barricades the door to his heart and Hob happily sits and calls out his love from the other side.
Hob makes him feel strong. Hob loves Dream, and he loves his walls, his doors, his locks, his armor, too.
And that is precisely the reason Dream invites him in.
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
Miss this
596 notes
·
View notes
Photo
courtly love
prints now available!
6K notes
·
View notes
Text
Your daily dose of spooky posts
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
Fucking Rain.
988 notes
·
View notes
Photo
How did you find me?
24K notes
·
View notes
Text
The Knight of Dreams.
Maybe it was medieval AU？
Or maybe it's a knighthood for Hob，From Dream . hhh
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
Poetry Comics Month is almost here!
Throughout November I’ll share a new poetry comic daily, including guest posts from other great cartoonists. Make your own poetry comics and share them with the tag #poetrycomicsmonth. I’ll post reader submissions toward the end of November.
My upcoming book, POETRY COMICS, is now available for pre-order wherever you get your books.
418 notes
·
View notes
Text
Elend Venture, Reading at the Ball by Rachel J Russon
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
POV: Your Master's thesis on the quantum mechanics of space cat is due in an hour but it's also nap time.
39K notes
·
View notes
Text
shitty little sketch
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
Twitter | Instagram
743 notes
·
View notes