neverlonging

[neverlonging]

"ao3 should have an algorithm" ao3 should continue only giving me exactly what I ask for which happens because I know how to use the search, sort, and filter functions

[neverlonging]

gosh but like we spent hundreds of years looking up at the stars and wondering “is there anybody out there” and hoping and guessing and imagining

because we as a species were so lonely and we wanted friends so bad, we wanted to meet other species and we wanted to talk to them and we wanted to learn from them and to stop being the only people in the universe

and we started realizing that things were maybe not going so good for us– we got scared that we were going to blow each other up, we got scared that we were going to break our planet permanently, we got scared that in a hundred years we were all going to be dead and gone and even if there were other people out there, we’d never get to meet them

and then

we built robots?

and we gave them names and we gave them brains made out of silicon and we pretended they were people and we told them hey you wanna go exploring, and of course they did, because we had made them in our own image

and maybe in a hundred years we won’t be around any more, maybe yeah the planet will be a mess and we’ll all be dead, and if other people come from the stars we won’t be around to meet them and say hi! how are you! we’re people, too! you’re not alone any more!, maybe we’ll be gone

but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, who were these people? what were they like?

the robots can say, when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.

and they told us to tell you hello.

[neverlonging]

chapter 6-1

chapter 6 begins!

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

[neverlonging]

a study in silence.

[neverlonging]

Guest Comic - Park View

This guest comic was created by Albin, the creator of webcomic ASPERA! Albin’s style is so beautiful and I was super excited to commission him!! As you may have guessed, this guest comic is inspired by the classic meet cute scene from 101 Dalmatians: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xi6kCNw9VY Follow Albin and check out more of his work here: twitter.com/albindraws tapas.io/series/ASPERA See you on December 1st for the start of chapter 6!

[neverlonging]

There’s a ghost story people on the Continent like to tell.

It’s about a witcher and the bard who followed him, singing tales of his heroic deeds. Although they bickered often, they still travelled together for decades, the two of them. They became as used to each other’s company as a pair of odd socks, unmatching but part of a set: the witcher and the bard.

Witchers are strong and live for centuries, though, while humans are weak and have only a tentative grasp on life. All it took to sever that grasp was a ragged bunch of bandits, the bard stood in the wrong place at the wrong time, a flash of steel and a dagger embedded in his stomach. The bard bled out on the road as the witcher pressed his hands to the wound, trying to stop the flow of red, but not even the witcher’s strength could match the icy inevitably of death.

Even after that, the witcher saw the bard’s face everywhere. In the wraiths he fought and in glimpses of strangers on the street. Always a twinning of hope and horror: hope that the bard would come back, and horror that he’d come back angry and unforgiving at the witcher’s failure.

The witcher packed away the bard’s books and notes and sent them to Oxenfurt where his poetry could be read and his music could be sung. The bard’s clothes, his finery and silks in all different hues, those the witcher couldn’t bear to sell, so he burned them in a bonfire on Saovine, watching the flames creep up to lick the night sky, whispering a goodbye in words half-spoken.

The bard’s lute, though, the witcher couldn’t consign to the fire. It was a thing of beauty, gifted by an elven king, and it had so many years of love and music poured into it that even by looking at it, one could feel the weight of its history. The witcher strapped it to his saddle and carried it with him, a reminder of the light and life that had once been part of his travels.

He saw the bard more often after that. A shape in the darkness; a flash of colour in the tavern. As he drifted into sleep and as he stumbled into wakefulness he’d hear softly plucked strings, a gentle lullaby to tide him through the night.

Sometimes, when he was camped miles from anyone, all alone in the darkness, the witcher would take the lute from its case and turn it over in his hands. The wood was warm and smooth; its shape was a balm. One night he found himself plucking at the strings, lacking skill or artistry, but the round, single notes were comforting all the same. And as he played he saw a familiar figure across the fire: the bard, in outline, smiling in the blackness.

Each night when he was alone, the witcher would take the lute and play. Not even tunes at first; his fingers too big and clumsy to pick delicately as the bard had done. Just simple notes on open strings. But whenever music sounded from the lute, the spirit of the bard would be nearby.

Over the weeks, and months, and years, the witcher grew in skill. First he played notes, then simple tunes, then whole songs. He’d never be the musician the bard was, but when he touched the lute he felt something moving inside him. Something restless, yearning to be free. Something too big and too full of love to be contained.

He saw the bard more and more clearly, sat by the fire, tapping one foot in time to the music. Never angry, never disappointed despite the witcher’s failure to save him. Always there to calm and to encourage, each time a little closer, and yet always just out of reach like the smoke from the campfire that slipped into the night air.

Until, finally, one night, the bard sat next to him and took the witcher‘s hand, and he felt whole and warm and solid in his grip. The witcher touched the bard’s cheek, his chest, ran his hands over every part of his fine silk clothes and his soft skin and his beautiful face, flushed with health and joy and life.

“How?” the witcher asked, voice trembling.

The bard shrugged his shoulders, posture casual but eyes wide and dark with all he had seen. “We’re more than the sum of our parts. As long as we’re thought of, as long as our memories resonate in the living, then dead doesn’t mean gone.”

People say they still see the witcher and his bard, arriving at the cusp of evening when a village’s need is greatest. They say they still hear music drifting through the night, lifting hearts when everything seems hopeless.

People say it’s a ghost story, but it isn’t. It’s a love story.

Perhaps they’re the same thing.

[neverlonging]

15x18 - Despair

[neverlonging]

#I’M SORRY

[neverlonging]

every ‘hello dean’ (and the final goodbye)

[neverlonging]

chapter 5-24

birthday time!

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

I really appreciate reblogs and shares - please help me spread word about this comic! I’m so excited for people to read it!

[neverlonging]

chapter 5-23

making plans

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

I really appreciate reblogs and shares - please help me spread word about this comic! I’m so excited for people to read it!

[neverlonging]

chapter 5-22

reunited!

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

I really appreciate reblogs and shares - please help me spread word about this comic! I’m so excited for people to read it!

[neverlonging]

Guest Comic: Stray by @moemai!

This webcomic was created by illustrator and comic artist Moemai! I was so excited to commission them because I LOVE their style and I really hope you enjoyed this little comic! You can follow @moemai here: https://twitter.com/Moemai https://www.moemai.fr/ https://www.patreon.com/Moemai https://www.instagram.com/moemiaw/ And if you enjoyed this little comic, you could always consider supporting Moemai on ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/moemai

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

[neverlonging]

TWILIGHT (2008) THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY | “Öga for Öga” (2020)

[neverlonging]

chapter 5-20

making a plan

read from the beginning / read on tapas / read on webtoon / my art blog / my personal blog / art instagram / heartstopper merch / read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Nick and Charlie are characters from my debut novel, Solitaire. Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

I really appreciate reblogs and shares - please help me spread word about this comic! I’m so excited for people to read it!

[neverlonging]

chapter 5-19

a tough conversation…

read from the beginning

/

read on tapas

/

read on webtoon

/

my art blog

/

my personal blog

/

art instagram

/

heartstopper merch

/

read the next update early on Patreon!

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st.

I really appreciate reblogs and shares - please help me spread word about this comic! I’m so excited for people to read it!

[neverlonging]

the parasol school