GhostInTheClawMachine
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Summary
According to her, one of these should appeal to him above all others. It should call to him so clearly that its owner was sure to be compatible with him on a biological level — compatible enough that simply existing near them could begin to purge the rot still pulsing into his body from the wellspring in his carotid artery. Passive recovery, they called it.
Astarion has been mated to a monster for 20 years, a nightmare with no way out. When he finds himself faced with the prospect of freedom, the possibility is overwhelming. How could he get by on his own when just getting through the day is a battle? Fortunately, there's a lifeline, a voluntary program that matches people who have suffered a great trauma with a volunteer whom they are scent-compatible with. By simply sharing a home with this person, healing comes faster than it ever could alone. Astarion is paired with Wyll Ravengard, a young man who has done more for the program than almost anyone else.
It's a simple arrangement - move in, get better, and move on without giving a new alpha any chance to harm him. After all they've suffered, who would expect feelings to complicate matters?
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One of Astarion’s siblings wanted to leave the settlement in the Underdark and needed a different place to stay. Were it any of the others, Shadowheart would have scoffed and written back to tell Astarion to go fuck himself before inviting him out to the farm for a visit. It wasn’t any of the others, though. It was Leon, whose daughter had already witnessed more than one lifetime of horrors and didn’t deserve to be subjected to more.
After realizing the a settlement of 7,000 vampire spawn is a horribly unsafe place to raise a human child, Leon reaches out to the only one of his 'siblings' to have made a real life for themselves and asks for a different option. Astarion sends him to Shadowheart's doorstep. Her little farm in the countryside is the perfect place to recuperate, and she's already saved Victoria once, whether Leon knows that or not. It might just be the perfect place for the two of them to land. Plenty of things can grow in good soil when you finally have time for planting.
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It would come back again. Maybe he might be lucky enough to go years in between, but soon enough, the itch would return. In a way, this was rather fitting. His body never had learned how to stop craving the worst things that had ever happened to it.
A deal with a devil isn't a bond so easily broken. Even after Mizora is gone, Wyll finds himself going through a sort of withdrawals. An infernal itch lives beneath his skin, banished only upon fulfilling the conditions of his old pact - the death of something infernal, demonic, heartless, or soulless. A vampire ascendant fits the criteria quite nicely, if you can stand the pain of coming close enough to kill one.
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Gale stood alone atop the last evil left to face, and death did not fulfill its promise of oblivion. There was no comforting dark embrace nor any gentle erasing of hardships.
After sacrificing himself to defeat the Netherbrain, Gale doesn't fade quietly into death. He becomes one with the Weave, indistinguishable from the magic he loves. Every use of it anywhere in the realm feels as if it is delivered by his hands.
Written as 28 sequential drabbles to fill 28 prompts for Febuwhump 2026
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On Main Street, between the circling cop cars, a path of flesh probably ran from a pothole to the flaming wreckage of Steve’s bike.
A foot to the left and he would have died.
Recent series
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I Am What I Am (I’m Not Apologizing) by GhostInTheClawMachine
Fandom Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Sep 2025
Summary
The Wounds Where Blood Just Won’t Congeal + related stories
- Words:
- 177,281
- Works:
- 8
- Bookmarks:
- 36
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Whumptober 2024 by GhostInTheClawMachine
Fandom Baldur's Gate (Video Games), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stranger Things (TV 2016), Watch Dogs (Video Games)
31 Oct 2024
- Words:
- 54,066
- Works:
- 16
- Bookmarks:
- 1
Recent bookmarks
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You Have a Little Life in You Yet by OrYouCouldHaveMine
Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
12 Mar 2026
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PLANE CARRYING OTTAWA CENTAUR’S HOCKEY TEAM, COACH, PERSONNEL, REPORTEDLY LOST CONTACT, PRESUMED MISSING -
Shane’s eyes scan over the words, once, twice. It’s not true. It’s some mistake. He knows it.
“Lost contact?” Hayden asks, his tone a mix of concerned and confused. “What’s that mean? Like they lost their ability to communicate? Won’t that make landing hard?”
J.J. frowns. “I do not think they will be landing,” he says solemnly.
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The Ottawa Centaurs plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. Shane tries to get answers while Ilya tries to stay alive.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 38,306
- Chapters:
- 5/5
- Comments:
- 704
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- 6,458
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- 1,910
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- 86,596
Bookmarked by GhostInTheClawMachine
08 May 2026
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Is this thing on? by ARustySpork
Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
04 Apr 2026
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Summary
“They need to return to a conference based system,” Svetlana said, slamming her hand against the table. “It was fucking fine the way it was, why are we handing out participation trophies to shitty divisions?”
Ilya raised his eyebrows from where he hovered in the kitchen, cracking open another Red Bull.
“This is fun,” he said, deadpanned. “You guys should start a podcast or something. I would not listen, you are both terribly boring.”
* * *
Or, after an injury on the ice forces Shane into an early retirement, he and Svetlana start a podcast.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 12,671
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 597
- Kudos:
- 10,064
- Bookmarks:
- 2,262
- Hits:
- 63,040
Bookmarked by GhostInTheClawMachine
28 Apr 2026
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Summary
“Did you like them? My parents?”
Ilya squints at him. “I love them,” he says simply, like it should be obvious. “They’re your parents.”
But, Shane thinks idly, there's a difference, isn't there, between loving them and liking them?
(5 times Shane thinks Ilya doesn't like his parents and 1 time he finds out the truth)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 12,743
- Chapters:
- 6/6
- Comments:
- 438
- Kudos:
- 7,091
- Bookmarks:
- 1,645
- Hits:
- 57,496
Bookmarked by GhostInTheClawMachine
29 Mar 2026
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Summary
Ilya died, yes, but then the doctors saved him. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the ambulance, three electric shocks, two emergency surgeries, twenty-six units of blood. Ilya died, but then he came back.
If only Shane could get his subconscious to understand that.
Series
- Part 1 of my anonymous heated rivalry fic
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 13,090
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 548
- Kudos:
- 11,330
- Bookmarks:
- 3,317
- Hits:
- 110,324
Bookmarked by GhostInTheClawMachine
19 Mar 2026
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Summary
The Swiss National League doesn’t care about the legendary Hollander-Rozanov rivalry. When the MLH can’t negotiate with the Hockey Players’ Union in time to prevent a hockey lockout at the start of the 2015 season, the Zürich Lions jump at the chance to sign both Shane and Ilya to short-term contracts. For four months in Switzerland, they share a team, a line, a house, and a bed.
Then the lockout ends in January, and it’s time to go back. Back to different countries, cities, lives. Beds.
Reentry is harder than expected.
Series
- Part 8 of my heated rivalry anon fics
- Part 1 of homegrown
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 38,174
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 3,954
- Kudos:
- 31,018
- Bookmarks:
- 13,001
- Hits:
- 588,993
Bookmarked by GhostInTheClawMachine
11 Mar 2026