Pretty things and teary flings

whimsicaldragonette:

This is a tough one to get into. It’s a fascinating premise, and the magic system is equally fascinating and incomprehensible, with its weaves of air and hope and bone. I don’t know if it would make more sense if I’d read the short stories that precede it, but I found that if I floated with the current of the story I could sort of skim along the surface and not get too confused. The language is poetic and layered and difficult and I felt the author was talking around what they wanted to say, but while it frustrated me at first in the end I got used to it. The ending was powerful and moving and I love how all the threads get tied together and feel that it wrapped everything up pretty well.

Also I am HERE for two older (60s) trans leads off on an adventure to start anew after years of hardly living.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc to review         

(via the-knights-who-say-book)

madjesters1:

It doesn’t hurt, exactly.

The first time they’d fused, it was just messy, limb to limb, skin reforming and enveloping in a way not entirely unpleasant. Sniper remembers, though, that even then there had been a section of their minds that refused to come together, both of them flinching away at the barest part of their cores until the difference pulled them back apart.

It hadn’t hurt. It hadn’t.

He keeps telling himself that.

It’s dark, now, and Medic is perched quietly at his desk, looking for all the world like one of his doves as he examines a shared skin sample from Soldier and Engineer. He’s gnawing on the inside of his cheek, Sniper notices, and he’s about to say something when Medic breaks the silence for him. “You’re up late.”

“So’re you.” He folds his arms over his chest. “Everyone else’s asleep, n’god knows you get on us all about gettin some rest, so…”

“I’ll still do it,” he responds absently. “You should go to bed.”

They both know they’re not going to sleep tonight. They haven’t slept in days.

Silence.

“We should try it again,” Sniper days before he can lose his nerve. “We- we got close before. And no one’ll be shootin at us this time.”

The Medic makes a small noise through his nose. It might be laughter. “And zen you’ll go to bed?”

No.

“Yeah.”

~|~

There’s no moon tonight, but the stars fling brightly above, studded through the velvet black sky. Medic and Sniper don’t look up at it. They aren’t touching each other. Sniper fiddles with the phonograph before giving it up as a lost cause and rubbing his hands down his pants. “Dont ‘spose you’re feelin up to hummin, eh?”

Medic blinks at him for a moment before removing his gloves and holding out a hand to him. There’s blood under his fingernails. “If it vill help.”

He doesn’t think it will. He takes his hand. Medic starts to hum delicately under his breath.

It’s just their breaths and the crunch of gravel underfoot and that quiet music threading between them.

His skin buzzes, and Medic takes his wrist and pulls him closer. He feels something pop in the center of his chest.

It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t hurt.

He stumbles slightly as his center of balance shifts, his skin caught up in Medic’s. His eyes are changing color behind his glasses, swirling with brown and settling into a warm grey. He feels his coat wrap around him, pulling him closer as they move, and Medic keeps humming, words emerging softly under cover of darkness.

“Don’t be afraid… you vere made to go out and get her…”

He clings tighter. His hand sinks into Medics arm. He’s not sure he could let go anymore unless he stopped moving entirely, let the whole thing fall apart, and…

He doesn’t know how many legs he has. He is unbearably close to Medic’s body. Something in his hips aches for a moment before he hears a small crack, and the humming stops for a moment. “Are you-“

“‘M fine,” he says quietly. It doesn’t hurt. Oh, god, it doesn’t hurt, and that’s so much crueler. He’s inches away from Medic’s face. Everything below his ribs feels vague, half-dissolved and liable to fall apart. “I don’t… think we’ve got a lot of time left with two faces, so…”

Medic laughs quietly and kisses him as their minds pull together, their centers circling and pacing before twisting together, and he feels himself being held as he disintegrates, and it doesn’t hurt, and he kisses back.

~|~

Crossbow pulls a blanket out from Sniper’s trailer and wraps it gently around his shoulders. His halves are exhausted, and sleep drags at him, bitter and undeniable. He sits against the trailer wall with the blanket draped around him, and watches the silent stars.

He rests.

(via weenie-kun)

nao-fanart:

(via kazliin)