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ananxiousgenz · 1 month

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TPP HADESTOWN AU PART 8: song for a caged lovebird

IT'S PART 8 WHAAAT this is absolutely insane, i'm having so much fun rn <3

this is a lil shorter but it's very interesting, so as usual, enjoy

EDIT THAT I FORGOR: this is now gonna be titled "song for a caged lovebird" from here on out, thanks for the idea jay <3

all my tpp homies in the house!!! if you are in my walls, please leave (jk i love you i'll bring you snacks)!!!! @smidgen-of-hotboy @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @one-joe-spoopy @urjover @waters-and-the-wilde @demonic-panini

His eyes fluttered open at the sound of the door. It was dark.

He wasn’t quite sure of the time or his location. He was laying on something soft, he knew that much. A bed, maybe? He had been sleeping, or so he thought. He felt groggy, disoriented, still tethered to the world of dreams by a song that he couldn’t quite seem to shake out of his mind. Was it his own voice singing it, or someone else's? He almost thought he heard a train whistle in the distance, but knew the train line hadn’t run in months, not since the rails had frozen over with ice so thick it couldn’t be melted.

The world felt so strange. There was a heavy knot lying in the pit of his stomach, like something horrible had happened, but he couldn’t quite tell what. Was it his own doing? Someone else’s? He felt almost completely certain it had to do with someone going missing, but no more details sprang to mind.

The person who had entered the room was talking. He didn’t process what they said.

He tried to sit up to face them. He knew whatever was being said was important. He had to pay attention. But a wave of dizziness overtook him, and he fell back down. They asked a question, and when he didn’t respond, they turned and left.

He let them go. He didn’t have the energy to stop them or ask them to repeat themselves. Sleep was already tugging his eyelids closed again. He let it come, and gently slipped back into a world of dreams.

—------------------------------

Far below the ground, there was a factory town.

This town was old, old enough that no one could really remember when it began. All anyone really knew was that it was hell on Earth. Giant metal works spun rusty gears through all hours of the day and night, and blast furnaces and refineries threw their dragon-fire heat out into the town. Housing was small and cramped and never used, stacked like smashed crates in the rare cooler corner of town, right next to the assembly lines for cars and TV screens. Mines worked overtime to produce rare gemstones and pure gold, and on the outskirts of town, there was a wall. And that was where most of the people worked.

There were a lot of people. Maybe millions, if one really took the time to count. Backs bent to their work, eyes milky white with focus, pickaxe or shovel or wheelbarrow in hand. Different ages and races and genders, but they all had two things in common: they kept their heads down, and they belonged to the king of this land.

Some had signed their souls away in an attempt to avoid their own death. Some had done it in the name of a loved one. Some had even done it in the hopes of getting paid. But that didn’t matter now. None of them could remember anything about their lives before Hadestown anyway. They did what they were told, and they had been told to forget and to work.

So they did.

At the center of town, in a grand office in a high tower, staring out a window at his beautiful city, was the king.

He had always been a crafter, an inventor of sorts. But this was on a far greater scale than anything he had ever imagined when he was a child. He was proud of his beauty, his greatest creation. But it had always been missing something to him. As grand as his factories were, and as many souls as he and his executives had gained to carry out the work, something was just never quite right. He had always hungered after something else, something from his past he hadn’t been able to take with him into the underworld.

Now, though. Now he had finally acquired the missing piece, and everything would finally be perfect.

One of the executives appeared in the doorway behind him. “The target you requested is nearly here, my associate.”

He nodded, not turning away from the window. “Very good. Bring him up to the office as soon as he gets here. I need to speak with him.”

“As you wish, my associate.”

He grinned a bit to himself. It had been years, but he was certain the man he was bringing here would be happy to see him again. They had been so close when they were younger, and he had never forgotten the time they spent together. He hoped that, even for old times sake, the man would want to stay with him a while. He hoped he would be impressed by everything he had created in his absence. It was all for him, after all.

The door creaked open behind him. “You have a visitor, my associate.”

He finally turned away from the window to face the door and watched as the man stumbled through into the office.

The years had certainly changed him. He was tall now, not short as he had been, but still as thin as ever, hair dark and messy and heavy circles beneath his eyes. One lens of his glasses was shattered, his clothes were ragged and torn, and there was a large dark stain cascading down the front of his shirt, coming from a mostly closed wound on his neck. Gods, even looking as terrible as he did, he was still as handsome as he had been when they were kids. He looked tired and frightened and horribly angry, but as soon as he saw him, he went completely pale in disbelief, jaw working furiously as he struggled to find something to say.

The man by the window grinned. “Hello, Petya. It’s been a while.”

#hahahahaha #i'm so evil #i'm so so evil #love you guys <3 #the penumbra podcast #tpp #tpp hadestown au #hadestown

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smidgen-of-hotboy · 1 month

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Out in the Cold Field, pt. i

Hello Travelers. Friends. It is an old song, a love song, and we're gonna sing it again. This part of the story takes place BEFORE what Zeph is currently writing. Long before. This is the story of Buddy, Vespa, and Jet.

@ananxiousgenz @urjover @one-joe-spoopy @demonic-panini @waters-and-the-wilde @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @the-private-eye

“You are going to bed, and when you wake up tomorrow, you’re going to start being grateful for everything. You don’t know how good you got it, Kid, until it’s all gone. Until I’m gone.”

Having recurring nightmares about her childhood was not what Buddy had planned for her future, but these are the cards she was dealt and had to play with. She let out a long groan and raised her hand to rub feeling back– and raised her hand– and raised her hand–

Something was wrong with her. Everything felt terribly heavy and sharp and not at all normal. She thinks back to the last thing that happened before she woke up:

Docked the Carte Blanche, disembarked, and headed into town.

Talked with the locals, confirmed her location, and started her trek down the road to find the train tracks.

She found the tracks but ran out of food. The wind picked up, whisking the scarf around her neck away with it. She could’ve turned back to chase after it but would’ve lost the tracks if she had. In every story she knew the train tracks only revealed themselves to those who were lost. And if you turned away or walked back, they vanished, and would not show again until it was your time.

With no other choice, Buddy pressed forward.

The wind picked up, the snow fell heavier, the cold nipped at her skin, and… then she fell. Stumbled more like it, less than graceful, disgrace to her mother (wherever she disappeared to).

Her knee throbbed. Still is throbbing. But that isn’t it. What happened between then and now and why is she here? She should be dead. She should be… unless…

She isn’t dead.

Against all odds, somehow, Buddy Aurinko is still alive. And she should be bursting with joy for this second chance.

So why was she so damn angry.

“It’s not fair.” Her voice rasps. She licks her lips and clears her throat. “It’s not– fair!” With every last ounce of energy Buddy has left, she pulls on her limbs. Slowly she brings herself up just enough off the cot she’s been laid out on to get a better view of the room. Her eyes jump from one wall to the next and fall on a lone figure huddled in the corner over a small fire. When was the last time she had seen a fire?

The figure’s shoulders rolled back. They stayed seated on a stool, hunched over a pot set on the fire. They turn just enough to look at her. Their face is covered by a thick scarf and goggles.

"Oh good, you’re awake.” Their voice is low rumble sending chills down her spine. They turn back to the pot to stirs its contents. Buddy frowns, resuming her fight to get her arms to cooperate to pull herself up. A drop of sweat rolls down her temple. “I would not move if I were you. You were lying in the snow for a while.”

She hisses through clenched teeth as a jolt of pain runs up and down her arms and legs. It doesn’t go away. “It’s frostbite. Because you were out in the cold for so long without proper cover, you developed frostbite. You have frostbite.”

She grunts, falling back on the cot with a snarl. “Who the hell are you?” She snaps at the large figure. They set their spoon aside and turn around on the stool. They lift their goggles, revealing soft, kind eyes. Wrinkles creep in at the edges.

“The Unnatural Disaster, but you may call me Jet.”

Buddy snorts, “And I’m the fucking sun goddess, Aurora.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Aurora.”

Her frown deepens as she flops back on the cot. “Frostbite… how bad is it?”

“Terrible. Your right hand was pinned under your body so maybe two of your fingers were affected the worst. And your left arm was stretched out so far, I would be surprised if after a few days you get to keep even one finger. I’m less sure about the damage to your face though. Only time will tell.”

Buddy hums. The Unnatural Disaster– Jet– had no pulled a knife on her yet. He also had not chopped her into bits, yet.

“Frostbite…” She tilts her head and can barely make out Jet’s figure past her mess of red curls. “Why did you save me?”

“Because you would have died. I cannot allow that.”

“I didn’t ask to be saved.”

Jet hums pushing his goggles up into his hair. He crosses his arms while leaning back slightly. “Well, if you can get up and crawl out the front door, I will not stop you. I will not stop you nor will I save you a second time.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m afraid, Aurora, I do not joke.”

Buddy smirks. Jet seems honest enough. And its hard to tell from this angle but that might just be the hint of a smirk on his face too.

“Where did you get the fire from? I thought there was no more fire on the Earth.”

“And you would be correct,” Jet nods down at the fire. “This is the last one. My partner stole it from Hades.”

“Partner?” And Hades? Jet knows a way down to Hades. Or at least his partner does.

“Work partner. Associate. They–”

“They got fire, from Hades? How? No one who goes down there comes back. They haven’t shared any resources with Above in centuries. Not since Persephone died.”Jet frowns and gets up from his stool. He crosses the room to Buddy’s side in two strides. Slowly he brushes her hair back from her face. “Our work allows us to travel to Hades. And my Associate stole this fire from Hades. We are on the lam.” He bends closer and his voice drops to a whisper, “Now why do you care so much about making it to Hades? What happened to make you want to die?”

#ask to be tagged or removed #zeph and i have been hollering about this for a couple days now #also this is completely unedited so mind the errors #things are subject to change #also also i am an angst writer be warned.#you will cry once or at least be on the verge of tears by the time I'm through with you #zeph is evil. i am straight up rude. take your feelings and i do not give them back #the penumbra podcast #the penumbra fanfic #tpp hadestown au #out in the cold field #private eye's keys go jingle jangle #a hotboy's writing

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ceaseless-watchers-special-girl · 1 month

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mum come pick me up i'm scared

#tpp hadestown au #guess i better finally listen to the full soundtrack and try and figure out what you're about to throw at me

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asexualsoup · 9 months

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Not sure if this comparison has been made yet but I had to do it. Can’t believe a Hadestown AU finally broke my fanart block.

(also guess who only recently first watched Hadestown. I’m soooo late to this party)

Wait for me, I'm comin' Wait, I'm comin' with you Wait for me, I'm comin' too I'm coming too

[ID: A fan art piece of Juno Steel and Peter Nureyev from The Penumbra Podcast dressed as Orpheus and Eurydice from Hadestown, in full color.

Juno, dressed in Orpheus’ pants, shirt, and suspenders stands facing the viewer. His head is turned over his left shoulder to look at Nureyev behind him, and Juno holds up a dahlia and a rose to him.

Nureyev stands with his back to Juno’s. He is dressed in Eurydice’s final outfit from Hadestown, with dark blue overalls and a cloth wrap around his chest. He peers over his right shoulder at Juno, arms crossed, looking like he wishes he could join Juno but knows he can’t.

Text: “Wait for me. I’m coming with you.”

The text is an excerpt from the song Wait for Me from Hadestown.

End ID]

#also yes juno is holding a dahlia and a rose #i had to do it #tpp #the penumbra podcast #penumbra podcast #junoverse #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter #tpp au #tpp fanart #hadestown #orpheus #eurydice #orpheus and eurydice #hadestown au #asexualsoup

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sadberrystuff · 8 months

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yeah yeah Peter is Eurydice and Juno is Orpheus, but consider Mick Mercury as Hermes

#the connection between mick and juno at the end of The Last Page and Hermes and Orpheus in Wait for Me tho #feral #eating walls about it #tpp #the penumbra podcast #juno steel #junoverse #peter nureyev #mick mercury #hadestown #hadestown au #tpp au

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nerdetiquette · 10 months

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I’ve been listening to listening to too much musical theater because I’m getting the urge to write fanfic again, anyway tpp Hadestown au

#I really have been listening to too much musical theater #my partner does not like Hadestown so hopefully tumblr can back me up here #and I love writing but I have never finished a long project a day in my life #anyway I have a lot of thoughts on this #I might do something about it #the penumbra podcast #tpp #juno steel #junoverse

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stubbornjerk · 4 years

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it’s an old song, it’s a tragedy

ko-fi

#my art #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter #hadestown au #the penumbra podcast #tpp #junoverse

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labelleofbelfastcity · 4 years

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Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel

Summary: It's an old song. (it's an old tale from way back when.)

It's a sad song. (it's a tragedy.)

But we sing it anyway.

Or, A Hadestown Jupeter AU because I like to suffer.

#bellewrites #the penumbra podcast #tpp #fanfiction #fic #jupeter #jupeter fic #hadestown #hadestown au #juno steel #peter nureyev

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simply-weirdly-me · 3 years

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I'm gonna say it........ hadestown x tpp au

#Juno is Orpheus #And Nureyev is Eurydice #Who fell in love in spite of himself #Call him a fool if you'd like #And who went astray to pay off his debts oof #tpp #juno steel #peter nureyev #the penumbra podcast #Hadestown

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bisexualoftheblade-old · 3 years

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how many wips do you have? like what are they all, and not the number of wips in a fandom? what are all the names?

okay. fuck you. fuck you so much. fuck you.

i’m putting this under a read more cut no one else deserves to see this shit. a lot of these are requests, and for those i will just write out the request itself

Shadowhunters:

domestic polycule fluff with tem, jessa, and will because im not a coward

Supernatural

- hehe hoho i request destiel hehehe

- request 61/? cai cai cai cai i need you to rewrite the destiel scene but yk. GOOD. not like i'm in the know about the spn fandom or anything, it's been years for me. but DO IT

Bright Sessions

- caleb/adam grisha AU

- mark bryant vs. united states aka sue the AM

- caleb/adam college fluff

Umbrella Acaademy

- request 31/? i want a ben and klaus drabble please spare me some brotherly bickering

- AND SO BEGINS NIGHT 4 with request 13/? oooh oooh can i get a raymond and allison playlist??? i think their vibes together would SLAP

- hi there night 2 is technically morning 3 but who's counting not me anyway request 5/? can i get a ben moodboard? gotta rep my tua bb

Percy Jackson

- request 9/? can i get a percabeth moodboard or quote edit?? like god they're the og couple goals take me back to high school cai

- For the 100 follower things :D Jercy getting caught in the rain

- request 29/? a drabble about literally anything to do with pjo. i’ll be happy with anyone and anything i’m love these children

- *somersaults in like I’m a real fancy acrobat* hello ello ello may I request some camp half blood chaos possible involving *does a flip* ✨side characters✨ <3

Penumbra Podcast

- request 52/? drabble about the penumbra podcast. this is for ren bc ren likes it and i don't actually know anything about it. juno? i think? that's the one ren likes. write it for ren

- Tpp ghost hunting / buzzfeed unsolved au

- sad juno smut

- final resting place fic go brrrr

Marvel

- request 6/? i'm going to my roots y'all can i get a spider-man playlist? if not a playlist then i'd honestly be happy with literally anything involving spider-man

- request 15/? i'm going crazy this is recorded evidence of me actually losing it ANYWAY can i get a quote edit for something from iron man? literally anything that man says is gold so cai's choice :D he deserved better in endgame i'm still bitter

- request 42/? do another spidey thing that differs from the other spidey thing

- request 73/? you have Opinions. rant about infinity way and/or endgame. go.

- request 74/? quote edit for deadpool!!

- spideytorch relationship character study

- peter parker as a tired grad student monitoring the young avengers (send help)

Six of Crows

- okay listen i wasn't going to request anything bc i worry about you but also? if you want to/have the time hit me with a playlist for our girl nina zenik

- request 43/? fuckin give me the ending anya should have had. she is alive and with her new son and having a great time

- request 45/? inej moodboard?

- request 47/? will you make literally any meme of your choosing for six of crows?

- request 48/? write a drabble for kaz, my favorite bastard

- okay so i don't actually like nina or mattias that much but i still wanna hear about your thoughts (and also see if you'll change my mind)

- kaz brekker turning 18 fic. birthday party, everyone singing, whole shebang. i need it stat

- religious trauma fic aka i started shipping kaz/alina/inej and i can’t stop

- kaz trauma soup (he has D.I.D. and you can’t prove me wrong)

- my two redacted fics for @grishaversebigbang

- wesper fake dating

- six of crows bright sessions crossover: everyone gets therapy

TMA

- uhh... s1 gang having a nice time? melanie getting to have some Pride™️? some "fun" horror thing?

- request 7/? spare steph and jason bonding? please sir? spare some for a humble child such as myself?

- okay so this was meant for night 3 but i had midterm shit SO this is honorary night 3 let's DO THIS request 8/? i want a moodboard of extremely out of context magnus archives shit like i mean confuse the FUCK out of me i don't go here i know Nothing about it

- request 11/? OKAY so i need tim stoker meeting tim drake now i need my timmy to meet your tim plus i want to see character differences no i'm not trying to create a tim stoker in my head so i can read a's fic while NOT thinking of tim drake whaaaaaat you're crazy

- request 18(i think)/? i need a quote edit of every time within the first like. 15 eps of tam where jon is like “sounds fake but go off” thank u bb

- request 40/? i challenge you to write a tma drabble based only on the episodes i've heard. i'm currently halfway through episode 23

- Jon being lovingly bullied into taking a break. I'm aware this has been written a million times but it is one of my favorite things.

- spiral!sasha AU

- extinction martin go brrrrr

- high school era timsasha. they've both been friends for years, and everyone always asks when they will be a couple. they decide to fake date, to prove everyone wrong and show what a bad couple they would be. turns out that's a bit trickier than they thought

- after sasha comes back, tim is broken. he can't let go, scared that if he looks away for even a minute he'll lose her again. sasha suggests shibari as a way for him to give up control

- sasha pov mag 19 au, sacrificing herself to save the others, knows that if she gives herself up to the not!them it will let the others live

- this is the "tim finds a polaroid of sasha" trope

- early archives days,, long nights in research,,, clothes sharing,, somft. late nights and falling asleep at their desks warm and safe in the other's presence

- two parts: timsasha as kids, each picking a constellation that is "theirs". just soft kid antics. tim at sasha's grave glancing up to see their constellations

- continuing your job’s a joke (you’re broke)

DC Comics

- TIMSTEPH HADESTOWN AU,,,

- my redacted fic for @batfam-big-bang

- request for you to get a decent amount of sleep? serious answer, dickkori, SAL's Venus

- request 4/? timsteph morning after 👀 mayhaps?

- a concept: nonbinary stephanie brown

- teehee hi mom, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but can i request damian angst for your accomplishments 100 followers?

- hi you can ignore my first request if you want, or you can ignore this one. but bls possibly write some bikini ra’s? -the bikini bitch

- request 27/? jay is asking through me for a jondami playlist but tbh i also want it so win win yk?

- "I don't know how to help you but I can help you find someone who does" with bruce and jason? im just craving bruce being a good day to jason for once

- “I am putting you in time out because you need to understand the consequences of your actions.” with steph and jason as dumbass disaster bi best friends pretty please?

- request 32/? timsteph patrol date!!!

- request 33/? timsteph *gala* date? mayhaps??

- request 37/? tim drake drabble but make it Edgy cai

- request 39/? drabble of a prank war between tim and damian

- joyfire cuddly fluff please? or like just any outlaw fluff if joyfire isnt your thing (feel free to add every member of the outlaws, dont feel like u gotta stick with jason, kori, roy i love them all)

- barbara and robin! jason fluff? bonding over books or something?

- request 62/? i need a drabble about the chaotic trio jason, tim, and steph i'm love them ty

- request 63/? batfam x mcu crossover. batfam meets ironfam. give me ALL the cliches. ALL OF THEM

- request 64/? young justice x young avengers - jay cuz idk SHIT about the young avengers

- request 66/? jondami moodboard pls and ty

- request 67/? timsteph moodboard!!!!!!

- request 69/? HEHEHE kinky 😏 i would v much like a timsteph drabble of the almost first time. does that make sense? like i don't want you to go all the way NSFW cuz i know that's against the rules and i'm a rule follower. but like they *almost* go all the way. this could be fade to black or some shit i don't care just make it a lil steamy and have Fun

- i request damian angst! all of it

- hmm... maybe i request? jondami?

- mayhaps,,,,some batfam,,,,,committing crimes? ily be gay do crime <3 - lu

- How about a ficlet with Steph and Cass?

Found Family Bingo Prompts

- no powers au

- tunnel

- first day

- join the club

- hurt/comfort

- experiment

- playing favorites

- hold on

- possession

- 10 o’clock

- singing

- road

- snitch

- curfew

- timer

- fantasy au

- zombie au

- dreams

- campfire

- are you okay

- movie night

- games

- scared

Miscellaneous

- a request: Write A Drabble, Coward

- is it too late to request a moodboard for me?

- request 20/? i’m going off book because i’m in a Chaotic Mood™️ can you just absolutely vibe check me like go off cai demolish me

- request 21/? i formally request that you pick a favorite cai. i don’t care what that favorite pertains to, just pick a favorite something

- request 23/? roast me

- request 24/? can i have a buzzfeed unsolved spoopy playlist but spoiler alert it’s not spoopy bc shane doesn’t believe does this make sense it has been a Day™️

- request 25/50 i want a jake and amy fic make it Soft cai i’m love them b99 is so good

- request 28/? i know nothing about the lord of the rings so make something that will confuse the shit out of me

- request 34/? malvie and jaylos moodboards 😈

- request 35/? a moodboard for the bbb mods!! perceive all of us!!!

- request 36/? moodboard for the tua mods too???? mayhaps??

- request 41/? doctor WHO? idk but i want a drabble of him and the one character i know from doctor who which is rose

- request 46/? make an alignment meme with our group, have fun!!!

- request 49/? i want you to kin assign me a character from every fandom you can/want to. go feral

- request 50!!!!/? this is a special request. the most special request. can you make a bastards tbh playlist? i want our vibes encapsulated. i want us in music form. i want to hear those songs and be like "that's me and cai" and smile.

- requests 51/? i know jack shit about good omens. explain it to me in the most confusing way possible. make me know less by the end than i know now

- request 53/? can you write a mel aesthetic? i'm Curious

- request 54/? give me a list of book recs cai i want some good book recs pls

- request 56/? edit a picture of US together too

- request 58/? oooh can i have a disney edit? like. hm. i just really love disney and i want anything to do with disney. like a quote or an aesthetic or an aesthetic edit i just want disney.

- request 59/? i would v much like a recipe for carbonara. i've never had it but it sounds fucking delicious

- request 60/? ooh hey can i get a makeup tutorial? i know you like makeup, i'm shit at doing makeup. teach me

- request 65/? i need the most emo playlist you can make that vibes with dear evan hansen thank you

- request 68/? i want a superwholock moodboard. this can be serious, with the actual fandoms in mind, or literally what the era felt like. the insanity. the horror.

- request 70/? ooh ooh ooh do you have a good bread recipe?? i wanna get that bread

- request 71/? i want a playlist with the vibes of summoning a demon. please don't ask questions. i don't have answers. and if i do, no i don't.

- For the requests, how about writing something based on a friend?

- request 75/? MMMM i want literally anything to do with natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812

- request 76/? i want some healthy recipes. help a girl out

- a feral bbb quote or two?

- you perceive my plant but now I dare thee to perceive mine own visage

- okay this is a two for one request. 1. you did the bee movie script so now we need a shrek two script edit 2. sleep please

- Pansexual mb for my lil queer soul?

- my (probably) final request is just for you to ramble about something, i don't really care what

- HI ILY CONGRATS AS WELL CAUSE IM LATE BUT CONGRATS. could i request a pirates of the caribbean (or just pirates) or whatever you what to do, free range.

- mood board for the beluga whales who got brought to the animal sanctuary in Iceland please?

- 100 follower request: Moodboard for my stuffed cow Oaky?

#cai's 200 #asks #mininacl

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ananxiousgenz · 1 month

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SONG FOR A CAGED LOVEBIRD: PART 9 (?)

i've lost track by now ngl. we're at over 9,000 words so i get a pass. this part is. ouchie central. so i am expecting a lot of people yelling at me in the comments and tags. this is fun for me.

LETS GO TPP CREW, ROUNDING THE CORNER WITH MY TPP CREW: @smidgen-of-hotboy @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @urjover @one-joe-spoopy @waters-and-the-wilde @demonic-panini (@the-private-eye i'm tagging you too bc i can :))

The silence was what finally woke him.

Juno had been solidly asleep, dreaming about things he couldn’t quite remember but that made his stomach twist. When he finally opened his eyes, the room was abnormally quiet. No rain, barely any wind, and… he rolled over to check. Nureyev wasn’t next to him in bed. That was not entirely out of the ordinary, as his insomnia often took him on long walks through the woods as he tried to find sleep, but this morning it set his teeth on edge. Something about it felt… wrong. Like he had walked out of the door for the last time, and would never come back.

Juno shook the thought away. It was a ridiculous notion. He loved him too much to let that happen. If Nureyev was having trouble, or looking to leave, he would have told him. Juno trusted him.

He dressed and washed his face and walked downstairs to grab some breakfast before starting to get the bar together for opening. Hopefully, the rest of the day would pass without incident, and he could chalk this nauseous, nervous feeling up to a nightmare that he couldn’t quite remember.

It was what he saw at the bar while half-way down the stairs that really made him feel sick to his stomach.

Buddy was leaned over a half-empty bottle of whisky, rubbing the bridge of her nose, tear tracks shiny on her face. That bottle had been full when he had replaced it on the shelf last night. She never drank this early in the morning, and never that much. Always said it made her unfit to serve the public or interact with any decent human being. Jet, the man she had employed as a bar bouncer when times were better, was standing next to her, a large hand on her shoulder. He was crying too. Buddy only called him when things were drastic, like when their latest whiskey shipment had been stolen by pirates on its way to the bar.

And then there was Rita.

Rita, who wore her heart and its many thoughts on her sleeve like a badge of honor for her humanity, was nearly silent. She was snot-nosed and puffy-eyed, like she had been crying for hours, and said absolutely nothing outside of the occasional sniffle and a quiet request for Jet to grab her a glass of milk from the kitchen.

Juno thought he might hurl right there on the stairs. A silent Rita was new. Juno had known her for years, and she had never stopped talking once.

What the hell had happened?

He cautiously came down the rest of the stairs and approached the bar. Buddy looked up at his approach and tried to wipe some of the tears from her face just as Jet returned from the kitchen with the milk for Rita. “Good morning, Juno.”

“Hey, big guy,” Juno responded, nodding in Jet’s direction before looking at each one of the weeping figures in turn. “What happened? You guys look like hell. Did we get another snowstorm in the middle of the night or something?”

The three of them exchanged a look that Juno couldn’t quite decipher before Buddy answered.

“I think Rita can answer that question better than Jet or I can,” she croaked before downing another swig of whisky.

Juno turned to Rita and reached out to wipe a stray hair out of her face. “Hey, Rita, what happened? It’s okay, it can’t be that bad, right?”

At that, Rita burst into tears again. “It is, it really is that bad, Mista Steel! You don’t get it! It’s the worst thing! It’s about Mista Nureyev!”

Juno’s heart dropped through the floor the second she said his name. “Rita. Rita, look at me. Rita. DAMMIT, I need you to tell me what happened to him.”

Rita looked at him then, with such a look of despair and heartbreak on her face that Juno’s heart ached for her. And then he realized. He knew that expression. It was nearly second nature to him. He had seen it every morning on his own face in the mirror after Benten had-

And then he knew.

He breathed in, breathed out. Took a step back. The floor was spinning. He dropped to his knees. “No. No it can’t- no, no, no, no, this can’t be right, Nureyev can’t be…”

Rita nodded, tears still flowing steadily down her face as she clambered off the bar stool to hug Juno. “He came back after dark last night, and I thought he was actin’ real sketchy, so I watched him for a while, and then when the sun started comin’ up, he packed up some stuff and left, but I followed him, only he didn’t know, ‘cause I acted real sneaky-like, and he went to a train station that I’m pretty sure wasn’t there before, and he met these big, creepy guys, and they gave him paypawork to sign, ‘cause I think they were makin’ some kinda deal, and once Mista Nureyev signed it, he fell down and started coughin’, and then one of the big guys said somethin’ about not havin’ enough time to wait for him to die, and then the otha one pulled out a huuuuuge knife, and then he- then he-”

She burst into sobs again on Juno’s shoulder. His ears were ringing and he knew his face was deathly pale. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

Buddy looked at him hollowly from the bar. “Rita said he called your name. It was the last thing he did before he… before they loaded his body up onto a train and left.”

‘He called your name. It was the last thing he did before he died.’ And Juno didn’t even hear him. He hadn’t been paying attention. How long had he been calling? How long had Juno been ignoring him? Why was he only now hearing his echo instead of his voice? How pathetic was he, that he prioritized a fucking song over his husband? What was wrong with him? But of course, as soon as he realized his problem, it was already too late to solve it.

He never got to say goodbye.

Dimly, Juno realized he was shivering and tears were flowing down his face and Rita was apologizing profusely that she didn’t do anything to try and save him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so horrible about himself.

Now, it was all over. He’d lost him forever, and it was all his fault.

He would never get to see Peter Nureyev again.

He sat there, curled up on the floor for a moment longer before a different wave of feeling crept over him.

No.

This was not the end. He wouldn’t let it be the end.

He was going to get his husband back if it was the last thing he ever did.

He sat up, wiped the tears from his face, and grabbed Rita by the shoulders, lightly shaking her out of her self-deprecating ramble.

“Rita. Rita, look at me. I need you to tell me everything you know about the Underworld. It’s important. Really important.”

“Well,” Rita sniffled, wiping her face on the sleeves of her sky blue sweater, “I heard a while back about there bein’ a back door. A way to get in without havin’ to actually, ya know, die or somethin’.”

Jet nodded sagely. “This is true. I walked that road with a friend of mine years ago, trying to save people from unwise decisions.”

“It’s not easy though, Mista Steel. The road is reeeeeaaaaally long and difficult, and with the weatha bein’ the way is it, you could get caught in a storm and get hurt, and I don’t want you to get hurt, Mista Steel!!”

Buddy looked at Juno again, an odd kind of hollow despair marking her face, like she saw something in Juno’s set jaw and bright eyes that made her want to disappear. “I know what you’re thinking, Juno, and it won’t work. I’ve tried. Believe me.”

“I’m not going to give up on him this easily.” There was a defiant flame rising in him now, melting the shards of his broken heart back into a semblance of hope. “I can get him back. I know I can.”

Jet walked over from his perch next to Buddy and crouched on the floor next to Juno. “Rita is right, Juno. The road to Hadestown is not an easy one to take, which is why I must ask you: how far are you willing to go for your husband?”

The flame grew into a wildfire.

“To the ends of the fucking earth.”

There was silence as Jet examined him for a moment longer, face expressionless, before letting out a small sigh and standing up again. “Very well then. Pack your things. I will take you to where the road to Hadestown begins. If you are going to make stupid choices, I will at least make sure you can begin making them safely.”

Buddy started shaking her head vehemently. “No, no, no. You can’t let him go, Jet darling, he’s just going to get himself killed too. It’s not safe.”

“And yet you took the same course of action all those years ago, Buddy. What does that say about you?”

A muscle in Buddy’s jaw twitched as she took another long swig of whiskey. Juno slowly stood up, like a prey animal caught between two predators trying to remain ignored. He desperately wanted to know what had happened between the two of them, but somehow got the impression that any requests to know would be soundly ignored.

Buddy glared at Jet with one sharp eye, but said nothing.

Jet sighed again and put a large hand on Juno’s shoulder. “Go grab your things. We will leave in two hours.”

“Wait for me, Mista Steel! I’m comin’ too! I gotta go get my stuff and then I’ll go with ya! Lil old Rita isn’t as fast as she used to be! Wait up!”

Juno sprinted up the stairs, Rita’s voice carrying after him. And in spite of the loss he had just suffered, he was grinning.

Hang on, Nureyev. Just a little longer.

He was going to get his husband back. At any cost.

#the ending isn't that sad tho right #like it's a lil better #good luck guys #as always #i love y'all <3 #the penumbra podcast #tpp #tpp hadestown au #song for a caged lovebird

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smidgen-of-hotboy · 1 month

Text

Out in the Cold Field, pt. ii

Hello Travelers. Terrible Waste hurt us all... Surly this won't hurt you more?

@ananxiousgenz @urjover @one-joe-spoopy @ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @demonic-panini @waters-and-the-wilde @the-private-eye

The woman’s expression went from smug to slack in mere moments. She said her name was Aurora. Aurora’s expression went from smug to slack in mere moments.

She recovered swiftly and chose her words carefully, “I have no clue what you’re talking about Darling.”

“If you have intention to lie to me, then my Associate and I will be less inclined to help you.”

“Like I said, I didn’t ask to be saved. And in any case, you’re running away from yourselves, you and your Associate, correct? I can’t begin to conceive why you would stop to pick a stranger off the side of the tracks. I have nothing to give or offer you.”

“My Associate and I do not want anything from you–”

Aurora’s laughter is sharp. Like nails gliding against a chalkboard, she cackles with an amount of carefree nature that Jet hasn’t heard since spring disappeared.

“Oh Jet Darling– you really are a comedian! There is no such thing as free in this world. Everything has a price. I didn’t have the best relationship with my father, but he made it a point that I understand that nothing I wanted would ever be handed to me.”

Aurora loved to talk. Or maybe she just liked the sound of her own voice. She would be in for a rude awakening tomorrow when her voice would be gone. Already raw as it is, if she kept this pace up it would be gone within two hours. Four at most. It makes the corner of Jet’s mouth twitch with delight.

Aurora pauses her yammering. “Something I said tickle your fancy?”

“I was just thinking you had a lovely voice.” Jet leans away from her and turns back for his stool. He pauses. “You never answered my question.”

“What question? I don’t recall you ever asking me anything.”

Ah, the talking was a distraction. Whoever Aurora really is she’s quite the character.

“I asked: what happened to make you want to die?” He’s met with silence. Jet nods and crosses the room. He resumes his seat next to the fire and pot of stew. They had but three shriveled carrots and a quarter head of cabbage left to split three ways. It needed a protein, but regardless it’s come together rather nicely…

Another twenty minutes creeps by. Jet looks up to check on Aurora and finds her eyes closed. Whether she’s actually asleep or pretending to be is not his concern. Watching her chest rise and fall is.

She looks so small lying on the cot. With such a big mouth she must be quite the showrunner at parties. She just about talked circles around Jet, and he has the sneaking suspicion she would if he let her.

Her bright and bold red hair is what allowed Jet to spot her in the blizzard. He had been walking back to the small Hanataba Cabin carrying a frail rabbit for the stew when he saw what he first thought was a dahlia. Dahlia’s growing along the tracks were not uncommon, but they tended to sprout sporadically and wither quickly. Upon further investigation seeing that it was in fact, a person not a flower, he dropped the rabbit and scooped the woman into his arms. He hadn’t tried to sprint through the snow in years. Once he got her settled in the cot and addressed her frostbite as best they could, he sent his Associate away to forge for roots. They always had better luck at it than he did.

And now here they are. Aurora shivers. She clenches her teeth revealing a smile missing a few teeth and the rest filed to dull points. Perhaps they were razor-sharp some years ago.

The door to the cabin creeks open and a gust of billows in. It nearly sweeps his Associate off balance but they hold their ground. Aurora jerks and tilts her head as much as she can to peer at them as they throw their body against the door to jam it closed.

“Goddess! It’s colder than Pluto out there!” They remove their bag and toss it towards Jet. He catches it mid-air and rummages through it to pull out whatever goods they managed to find. Mostly roots. A single rogue mushroom… and acorns. Lots and lots of acorns.

“I told you to stop scavenging for acorns.” Jet looks up at their Associate.

They hum, unwrapping their layered scarves. White hair spills down around their shoulders in long dreads. “Did you?”

“Yes. Last year when we met up at this cabin, I told you the cabbage tasted bad with the acorns.”

“And I seem to recall telling you the acorns tasted bad with the cabbage. I like acorn stew.” They approach Aurora’s cot and quickly pull off their goggles to wink at her. “My my, look who’s alive! How do you feel?”

“Never been better,” she rasps. “I feel like I can run a marathon. Sign me up for the next triathlon.”

They laugh heartily while Jet sets about adding their forged goods to the stew.

“A pretty face and a sense of humor. You’ve earned two points in my book. Do you have a name by chance?”

“Nobody that matters anymore.” At this, Jet does allow himself to smile. With his back turned at least neither of them can see his expression.

“Ah, that got you to smile now, didn’t it Big Guy?” Well, at least Aurora couldn’t have known. He’s worked with his Associate for too long now. They know each other like two sides of the same coin. A loud thunk and Jet is reminded that they stashed their instrument under Aurora’s cot in a haste to address her injuries. “Well then Ms-Nobody-That-Matters, can’t you tell me who you were when you did?”

“Depends on who you are I suppose. Your Associate over there said you stole something very important from Hades. And based off those bandages on your hands, he was telling the truth.” Aurora hums setting off a chain reaction of humming around the room. Jet turns to face the both of them. Their Associate has made themself plenty comfortable on the ground in front of Aurora.

“What else did he tell you? Because my Associate was telling the truth. I did steal something important. I stole fire from the King.”

“Why in Goddess name would you do that? You must either be incredibly smart to do such a dumb thing, have a death wish, or love to play stupid games.”

They smile and Jet’s stomach drops. He never liked that smile. “Silver-tongued... I like you. Pleased to make your acquaintance Ms-Nobody, call me M’tendere. And you’d be right– about everything. Work for the Crown for as long as I have and you’ll do just about anything to push some buttons.”

“What, no title like your Associate the Unnatural Disaster?”

They shake their head and reach out to brush a hand through Aurora’s hair. “‘Fraid not. Why’d you tell her that anyway, Jet? You haven’t gone by that in years.”

“Not within the last century yes. I needed to build trust with Aurora. Showing her my hand was the easiest thing to do.”

“Oh darling– it’s Buddy actually.” Aurora– or rather, Buddy– blinks sympathetically towards Jet. “I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

“Don’t apologize to the Big Guy. Ever.” M’tendere strums the strings on their instrument. “Big Guy doesn’t think he’s worth apologies.” If it came from anyone else Jet might have been slightly hurt. Coming from M’tendere though it's just the truth. They pluck a few notes absent-mindedly humming the same tune they always do.

“M’tendere doesn’t apologize to me. Whether you do or not is your decision to make, Buddy.” Buddy… Buddy with the red hair… Jet’s eyes widen as a confounding puzzle from four months ago slots together. “Buddy… Buddy Aurinko? You're Palomine's daughter." It’s not a question. It’s a fact. A fact just like how Jet doesn’t accept apologies from M’tendere.

Buddy opens her mouth to speak and without looking up M’tendere cuts in, "He's dead."

She scoffs, "No that can't be. I just saw him last year. I got a letter from him four months ago–"

"And now four months later,” Jet reigns the conversation away from M’tendere before they can run it. Having one person around to do all the talking was headache enough. He enjoyed Buddy’s chatter though, M’tendere’s less so. “We’re telling you he's dead. Trust me. He would not stop begging for his life. He even bargained for it with yours."

The warm atmosphere falls cold. The small fire that Jet has continued to tend to crackles and pops. M'tendere gets up and leaves their guitar on the ground. They get up to rummage through a cupboard, busying themself with a set of metal tools and glass bottles on a shelf. Buddy rubs the thin sheet covering her between two fingers.

"How do you know all this?"

"It's our job," M'tendere turns to face her. "The Big Guy and I lead lost souls down to Hades. We've been at this for a while now."

An abrupt laugh erupts from the cot. It breaches Buddy's mouth and sounds more like a wheeze then a laugh. More like a strangled sob then a breath. Jet glances at M'tendere. They share a long look and exchange a loose shrug. By the time Buddy gathers herself she closes her eyes and presses her lips together in a thin line. Her shoulders begin to shake.

"You should've let me take his place. You should've led me to Hadestown..."

#the penumbra podcast #ask to be tagged or removed #again completely unedited so mind the errors. grammatical and continuity and otherwise #the penumbra fanfic #tpp hadestown au #out in the cold field #private eye's keys go jingle jangle #a hotboy's writing #also this will be the only time i ever write like this for jet. not to say there won't be more Jet-Tense parts in the future-#but don't expect them to be set during this same time frame #EDIT: IF YOU SAW THE STRIKETHROUGH LINE BEFORE I DELETED IT NO YOU DID NOT

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