Hob Gadling - Blog Posts

Wishing a very lovely day to all you gals, guys, non binary folks, ravens who sound like patton Oswalt, anthropomorphic manifestations of words that begin with D, emotionally tormented bisexual exorcists, diner lesbians, boys with mummy issues, boys with daddy issues, girls with both, random medieval peasants who live forever and hang out at the local pub, human personifications of a meadow, and a literal nightmare dressed like a daydream

Jessamy, Raven of the Dreaming, messenger of Lord Morpheus, his eyes and ears in other realms, bearer of hot gossip.

1389.

The Dreaming titters with the knowledge that something has happened, a new star in the sky above the throne room, burning suddenly bright.

"That's Hob Gadling," Jessamy confides to Lucienne. "Lord Morpheus' sister granted him immortality."

"Why on Earth would she do something like that?" Lucienne asks.

Jessamy ruffles her feathers. "She saw the way Lord Morpheus looked at him. He hasn't looked at something like he cared that much in centuries."

1489.

"How was—"

"Oh he's so handsome now," Jessamy gushes before Lucienne can finish her question. "And he's gotten into printing."

Lucienne looks around the already-expanding library, shifting and adjusting to suit the needs of a human populace whose relationship to the written word has changed forever. It's been like this some time.

The newest star in the throne room shines a little brighter.

1589.

"You seem—"

"He walked away from Hob," Jessamy says. She loves Lord Morpheus with all her heart, but sometimes she forgets he was never human.

"Did he do something wrong?" Lucienne asks, running a comforting finger over her head.

"He's happy," Jessamy says. "I think it was an affront."

1689.

Jessamy barrels into Lucienne's chest, trying to scrabble under her coat.

A waking world raven has no tears to shed, but part of Jessamy will always be human, and she does not wish to cry in front of an audience. Lucienne is a librarian, she's accustomed to keeping people's secrets.

"He's been alone and miserable for eighty years."

"Lord Morpheus?" Lucienne asks. "It's been much longer tha—"

"Hob!" Jessamy wails.

"Oh," Lucienne pauses. "Did he ask for—"

"He still wants to live!" Jessamy sobs.

"Ah." Unknown to Jessamy, tucked under Lucienne's coat, Lucienne smiles.

The star in the throne room blazes like a sun.

1789.

"They were attacked," Jessamy reports.

"Who were?" Mervyn, finally, has decided to catch up with the local gossip.

"Lord Morpheus and Hob Gadling," Jessamy explains, vibrating with energy. "Hob got up to defend him before I could wriggle my way out of his coat. It's so tight this century."

Lucienne smiles a knowing little smile. “Did he, now? That is interesting.”

In the throne room, Lord Morpheus watches the star.

1889.

Lucienne finds Jessamy hiding in a gap in a bookshelf, glaring out at the world with barely restrained anger.

“He walked away again. All Hob offered was friendship. He wants it. I don’t understand.”

Lucienne offers an arm, and when Jessamy accepts it, holds her close to her chest, stroking her gently.

“This is why he’s immortal,” Lucienne says wisely. “Lord Morpheus has never made a friend before. It’s a slow process.”

2022.

“I’m sorry, is there something… moving in your coat?” Hob asks, halfway through an anecdote about the first car he’d owned.

Dream clears his throat subtly. He hesitates, and then holds the coat open, to reveal the head and a strip of striking white breast of what looks, to Hob, like a very small, very strange raven.

“I thought her lost,” Dream says softly. “But found her wandering the Dreaming once it was put to rights. She has been eager to meet you for some time. I had always intended to introduce you,” he adds, clearly for the raven’s sake rather than Hob’s. “I had simply meant to ease him into the idea first.”

The raven nuzzles his cheek.

Hob’s heart swells three sizes.

"This is Jessamy," Dream says. "She has been exceptionally loyal to me." A pause. "And to you, when I have been… unkind."

Hob tilts his head. Jessamy tilts hers right back. "She's been in your coat the whole bloody time, hasn't she?"

Something Hob had never thought to see no matter how long he lived happens then. Dream blushes.

Jessamy makes a soft sound that serves as an answer, and Hob grins at her. "I like you," he says. "We can be friends too, if you like."

"I'd like that," Jessamy says.

Hob is very lucky he literally can't have a heart attack. At the same moment, there's a tap on the window. A bigger, all black raven is perched on one of the chairs next to it.

"Ah," Dream says. "It appears Matthew would also like to make your acquaintance."

Hob blinks. He looks at Jessamy. He looks at Matthew. He looks at Dream.

"How many bloody ravens do you have?"

part 2 of my hope!hob Pandora's box au

part 1

word count: 2079

Morpheus picks the candle up and rolls it in his hand, examining it. it's not really anything special, just a yellow prayer candle. The glass is completely blank showing off the candle completely. He runs his fingers over the smooth glass considering putting something on it, like a sticker or something. Does he even have any stickers? Does hope even like stickers? Does he know what stickers are? He shakes the thoughts from his head and instead thinks about what story to tell. He'd thought about it a lot over the past few days. He's lived so long. How could he possibly choose where to start? Would hope have some sort of request?

he eventually decides to just light it, maybe his audience will inspire him and everything will work itself out once hope is here. Morpheus grabs a match and lights the candle and for a moment, everything is still. Morpheus looks around not seeing anything change and wonders if he did what he was supposed to. Maybe he was supposed to light it on an altar? Moving to a small table in his living room, he notices all the lights in his house are getting noticeably brighter until he has to set the candle down on the little table and cover his eyes from the blinding light. He keeps his face covered until he can tell the light has died down. When he uncovers his eyes he sees hope looking at him with a confused look.

"why were you covering your face?" he asks as Morpheus blinks away the floaters from hopes entrance

"your entrance was very bright" he says rubbing his eyes "if i hadn't it would have caused some serious damage to my eyes"

"oh I'm so sorry" hope apologizes stepping back and pulling his hands seemingly into his chest "I didn't know I'll try not to do it next time" he says looking down.

"It's alright, I doubt you can help it" Morpheus says turning back to the little table kneeling "next time I'll just close my eyes and face the wall after I light the candle." he assures hope as he clears the table of its previous inhabitants.

"What are you doing?" Hope asks, peering over his shoulder.

"I'm making a specific space for your candle." He explains picking up the candle to wipe down the table. He doesn't notice the endless' start to glow behind him.

"like.. an, alter?" hope inquires expectantly. no one had ever made HIM an alter before, it was always for some lesser being, made to syphon from him through a god or deity, he could feel it while he was in the box. he felt the faint pull in his chest, the construction and destruction of temples and altars made for others in an attempt to reach him through them. to have an altar made with specifically him in mind, well, it was... flattering.

"Yeah, an altar. seems like the most efficient way to do this, to get you caught up when I'm busy. I can just leave you things and you can examine them to learn about the current state of the world." he explains, dusting off his hands and standing up "does seem a little bland right now though huh? I don't think my darker colors really match your candle though, gonna have to go out and get some white and gold stuff." he adds examining the bare 'alter' with nothing but a candle, 'hardly counts as an alter right now though'

Morpheus turns to face hope, noticing he's still wearing a tunic. "how about instead of a story we can go get you a new wardrobe and some stuff for your altar?" he suggests looking hope up and down "you'll have to change though, i think my clothes will fit you"

"i- i mean- yeah, sure, sounds fun." Hob can feel himself falling through the words, first the mortal makes him an altar then offers to not only buy him clothes but choose things for his altar? He stands there lost in thought for a moment until the aforementioned mortal speaks to him once more.

"Also, will you stay here if I snuff the candle? I don't want to waste it." he asks handing him a set of completely black clothes 'he doesn't want to waste it' hob thinks with a smile. "yes I will, is there a room I can change in?" after Morpheus helps him to the bathroom and leaves hope to change, he snuffs the candle and makes a small list of the things he knows he has to get:

gold tablecloth

white lace runner

small offering tray

one (1) nice outfit for hope

they'd have to go somewhere nearby, hope doesn't seem like he'd be too keen on travelling by anything other than foot. Luckily there's a small boutique and second hand store nearby where they should be able to get everything. hob walks out with the clothes slightly askew and holding a pair of shoes.

"I do not know how to put these on," he says, raising them slightly higher. Morpheus looks up from his list surveying hope in his clothes.

"I probably should've helped you, apologies" he says adjusting the clothes slightly "but you managed to get the socks on so overall I'd say this is a success" he declares, motioning for hope to sit down on the couch. as soon as he does Morpheus kneels to help hope with the shoes

"Will the clothes we get me today look like this?" Hope asks as he watches Morpheus tie the left shoe.

"no, were going to get you something nicer, these clothes are just easy to take off and put on" he explains tying the right shoe "makes the whole process of clothes shopping easier" he sighs looking up "ready to go?" he asks standing up, hope nods. "alright let's go then."

the shops truly aren't that far. a ten minute walk at best. They don't talk much as Morpheus is too lost in thought and hope is too enamoured by the advancements of civilization, so enamoured in fact that he almost gets hit by a car. If Morpheus hadn't pulled him back onto the sidewalk at the last second he would've been very uncomfortable. He takes a minute to process what's going on and notices he is very close to Morpheus, almost burrowed into his chest with his arms wrapped around him. and Morpheus is so very comfortable and warm with the long coat he has on an-

"Okay" the word cuts through Hob's thoughts like a xiphos as Morpheus backs up to look him in the eyes and holds out his hand "take my hand."

"why?" If hob were human he'd say he could feel the blood rushing to his face as his eyes widened. but he's not human so he could soundly tell you  that he was glowing slightly.

"So you don't go, somehow unknowingly, stepping into oncoming traffic." he explains as he holds his hand up a little higher, hob takes it and they continue on their way.

Morpheus wouldn't say he was out of his depth when it came to clothes shopping, he just didn't buy color very offten. All of his clothes were various shades of black and dark grey with a few lighter greys (to which his students never failed to make a comment along the lines of 'busting out the spring collection I see' ) but looking at hope in his clothes... well he just didn't look right in black. but trying to figure out what base color to start with was tricky. black was out of the picture but yellow seemed too strong to use as a base. Eventually he settled on a white button up to layer with some sort of sweater. Maybe that's where the yellow could come in? He could worry about that in a moment, he should deal with the rest of the outfit first then the rest of the layers. He looked over all his options, made some choices and measured them against hope to get the right size and sent him to try them on and went looking for some layers. Maybe a blue sweater? but then the colors would-

"professor galanis?" uh oh "what are you doing here? its for sure not your style.'' This much was very true, though he hadn't expected to run into any of his students so he absolutely did not come up with a cover story.

"well, i-"

"hey, could you help me with this?'' The students' eyes go wide and Morpheus can't tell if the interruption is a blessing or curse but goes to help nonetheless. After defeating the buttons he hands hope a couple sweaters to try on and turns around to see his student still standing there.

"sorry about that I-"

"don't even worry about it sir." she says with a smile "sorry for interrupting your … outing." he’s going to get so many questions on Monday "i'll just-"

"actually, could you help me?" he will never hear the end of them "I'm not much of a color person and I need to pick out some accessories"

her eyes light up and she smiles wider "of course sir, i wasn't planning on buying anything anyways"

They spend far more time in the store than Morpheus had planned and by the end of the trip Hope has several outfits with accessories to match. The outfit he's wearing to replace Morpheus's clothes consists of a pair of cuffed blue jeans, a pale yellow sweater over a white button up, a string of fake pearls and a pair of converse.

"Thank you Ms. Tarcey," he says as they start heading out.

"no problem Mr. g, I came out to window shop and this was way more fun!" she says, opening the door.

"I'm sure it was," he says with a laugh "to show my gratitude, I'm willing to give you full marks on the writing assignment I know you haven't started." he offers as they get to the street watching as her eyes go wide and mouth falls open. "Now this is a one time thing. I will not offer this if you help me again." he warns, grabbing Hope's hand before he can run down the sidewalk to follow a dog.

"sir you have no idea how much that helps me" she mumbles, face still in total shock.

"I actually do," he quips. "have a good evening Ms. Tarcey. I'll see you Monday" he says leading hope to the secondhand store across the street.

"who was that?" hob asks once they're in the store.

"one of my students." Morpheus says inspecting a tablecloth. "I teach creative writing" he clarifies, putting the tablecloth back and picking up another. "What do you think of this one?" he asks, handing the fabric to hope.

The cloth is a rich yellow with a light shine, when the light hits it, shifting it reveals a pattern akin to Victorian woodwork, hob doesn't know that of course but he thinks it's beautiful anyways. He looks over to Morpheus who is carefully inspecting other tablecloths and table runners. hob notes how sharp his facial features are, how … elegant … they look. Morpheus turns back to him and he shakes the notion from his head.

"so..?"

"huh? oh, OH, yes i like it, it's perfect" hob chastises himself over how the words come out and picks up a thin lace table runner and pretends to examine it to keep his eyes from wandering. "this one's nice isn't it?"

"mm" he agrees silently, taking it from hob’s hand  and putting it in the small basket on his arm and walking towards a different part of the store. As he's following a small dish catches hob’s eye, well it's not really a dish, it's a scallop shell with a castle on a hill painted in blue on the inside and the edges are painted gold. He carefully turns it over in his hand examining it closely.

"Do you like it?"

Hob turns and sees Morpheus is behind him looking over his shoulder "oh yes, isn't it cool?" he beams, staring into morpheus's very.. pretty.. pale blue.. eyes.

"It is very pretty," he says, taking it from Hope's hand, examining it himself for a moment before gently putting it in the basket. "lets go check out." he says with a small smile and hob glows a tad.

sandman hope!hob au Pandora's box

okay so we know DC follows Greek/roman mythology to a point right? so Pandora's box must exist, and we all know the story right? hope gets trapped in the box after Pandora opens it.

part 2

wordcount: 1551

hope!hob is trapped within this box for several millennia all alone, not even taunted by captors, just isolated in the dark and quiet watching as new awful things are born within the box. I imagine the box is opened by someone just before the age of heroes begins. a scorned lover pouring all the new horrid things directly into their cheating, abusive partner and catching a very small light before it enters their gaping chest cavity. they hold hope there, magically closing the wound and sealing their lover into an endless void, outside of time’s realm condemning them to live forever in never ending pain. they do all this with one hand, carefully holding hope, they take his small form outside and whisper into their hand

“do something worthwhile with this freedom, any god out there knows we need you” the words are washy and weak “and if you cannot find the strength to do it all yourself, bless people to inspire you within the minds of the rest of us”

they open their hand and hob’s little light form takes off to see just how the world got on without him. not well obviously, a world with no hope is desolate and cold. hope goes back to his realm to call on his sister death to catch him up, and she tells him she knows just the person to do just that.

Morpheus has been around a long time. he was born after Pandora opened the box and the only word the people of his village called him was hopeless. this was not a surprise of course, hope was not where he was supposed to be, but the rest of the children still seemed to want to live. Morpheus however made it seem like a chore. he went through the motions as they came and did nothing more or less. he was a thing of beauty though, his demeanor didn’t stop suitors from pursuing him. they all did their best but none of them ever seemed to interest him. he even caught the eye of a king who gifted him a ruby necklace saying it popped against his pale skin and dark hair. Morpheus did not particularly want to keep it but his parents had insisted he keep it and marry the king anyway.

and so he did.

he was not particularly fond of his husband, but he didn’t dislike him. the marriage and his husband were just another motion. the grounds of his husband's kastro were vast and stretched for miles and ended in cliffs that Morpheus found himself standing before at the end of the many walks he took in a day. one particular evening, when the winds were stronger that usual, he found himself lingering at the cliff’s edge a bit longer and a bit closer than he normally would, and so had someone else

“are you going to jump?”

to say the voice had startled him would be incorrect, it had simply shifted his focus. the woman who the voice belonged to was dressed in a fine ebony cloth and a very simple necklace with a strange symbol he could not place, and her skin was just as pale as his, if someone had seen them together they might’ve thought they were siblings, still Morpheus did not especially care who she was or what she was doing here but answered her nonetheless

“no, but would it really matter if i did?”

“what does it matter? you know, most people have some sort of emotion towards the prospect of dying.”

“i suppose they do, don’t they? i don’t see why though, it’s going to happen whether they want it to or not”

“they probably see the beauty, or in some cases pain, that life has to offer” Morpheus tilted his head and thought for a moment before looking back at the woman

“perhaps life has nothing to offer me, nothing of value anyway” he said starting his way back to the kastro past the woman dressed in black. he had already gotten past her as she cocked her head and called back to him

“you know how you said it happens whether one wants it to or not?” he stopped and turned back to her

“yes, what of it?”

“it’s not going to happen to you”

“what?” she turned to face him once more

“you aren’t going to die, whether you want to or not. you are going to watch as life progresses and evolves into something you, at this moment, could never even fathom.” she beamed, before he could question her further one of the servants called his name, it was late and the king wanted him back in the kastro, he called back saying he’d be in soon, but when he turned to face her, she was gone.

now, hundreds of thousands of years later, as he stands in the entrance to his home, standing in the living room, the woman is before him once more for the second time. her clothes match the days casual fashion just as they had before, all black and very simple with the same necklace. the man next to her, however, is wearing clothes that fit with the first outfit he has at the very bottom of a trunk in his attic. a long pale yellow tunic with white underneath with traditional sandals. his hair reaches just above his shoulders and his head seems to have a faint gold glow around it. he's looking around at the shelves of books, movies and various musical mediums with awe before moving on to the trinkets and sculptures scattered around.

"I don't believe I introduced myself the last time we met" she pipes up drawing Morpheus's attention away from the man

"you did not." he confirms as he sets his bag down and hangs his coat "you also left quite suddenly" he adds as he takes off his shoes

"yes I did" she laughs "I'm here to rectify one of those things, I am death of the endless and this," she pauses to pull the man behind her to her side "is my brother, hope" the man smiles "and I have a favor to ask of you"

morpheus tilts his head "a favor, why would i do you a favor?"

"its not really for me, its for him" she says pushing him forward a bit

"he doesn't have to do anything for me if he doesn't want to" he says to her before turning to Morpheus "you really don't, I can figure it out by myself, sister I can figure it out on my own this really isn't necessary" his motions are slightly sporadic

"figure what out?" he asks walking to the kitchen thinking about what type of drink to get for his guests.

"you don't have to worry about it, it-"

"my brother hasn't been able to reach this realm for quite awhile, he needs someone to catch him up on what he's missed" death interrupts with a smile "and I thought who better than someone whos been around the longest?" she asks as she follows him to the kitchen

Morpheus ponders this for a moment 'what he's missed?' he pops his head out of the kitchen to take another look at hope 'based on his clothes he's probably never had hot chocolate' he thinks as he goes back in to start gathering the various types of chocolate from his pantry and put some milk on the stove.

"if I were to help him. what would I have to do? just give him the internet, could he just absorb the information?" he questions as he cuts up a chocolate bar.

"internet? what's an internet?" hope asks panicked "can it catch me? is it magic?"

"no hope, no, nononononono, it cant catch you" she reassures him "its like destiny's book but, um, well its hard to explain but its not a net, it cant catch you" she puts her hands on his shoulders and quietly says "no one is going to catch you again I promise. I wont let them"

'catch him again? where was he?' he thinks as he stops cutting 'who caught him?'

"okay no internet"

"no internet"

"i guess, i could just, i dont know, tell him stories?" morpheus suggests pouring the chocolate into the milk and stirring

"stories sound nice, i'd like to hear stories." hope says in a small voice

"you're gonna need some new clothes though," he says pouring the hot chocolate in a cup "tunics aren't exactly in style anymore. here I think you'll like this" he says handing it to hope, watching his reaction as his face lights up. like actually lights up. well not his face per say, but the light around his head.

"this is delightful! what is it?" hope beams (literally) looking into his cup

"you may not have been around but you still live within their souls, if ever so slightly. they are never truly free of you, hope" death says leaning over the counter. "anyway. hope, when Morpheus lights this candle it means he's ready to tell you a story. okay?" he nods "alright lets get you bac to your realm" "okay :)" and with that they're gone.

"..."

"I didn't even really agree" Morpheus says, holding the candle.

n e ways i hope the four people who see this and also read through all of it like it! thank you for reading!

The chokehold they have on me fuck I’m not ok

You need not have come to my defence. Clearly. Still, I didn’t want to be drinking alone here in 100 years’ time. 

[insp]

Dreamling/Ineffable Husbands Parallels:

"We're not friends"

"Dating through the ages" montage episode

*Need to make Shakespeare famous*

One of them never eats

Hob/Aziraphale: looks like a cinnamon roll, could actually kill you

Dream/Crowley: looks like they could kill you, actually a cinnamon roll. That could actually kill you.

Their arc ends with them sitting together at a food establishment

50% of the couple must be goth

The other 50% has a thing for tweed elbow patches

hey Professor who’s your cute goth boyfriend?

.

can you imagine Dream dropping into Hobs lecture while he shit talks Shakespeare o̴u̴t̴ ̴o̴f̴ ̴j̴e̴a̴l̴o̴u̴s̴y̴

I need The Sandman & Inception crossover (fanfic or fan art it doesn't matter) I just need it please

I just realized that Dreamling and Corvosider are practically the same ship......

They have so much in common

I mean there is this brooding entity that is bored out of his mind until he finds an interesting mortal who he first consideres nothing but a mere amusement, but after some time he realize he feels something more for this human (and let's not talk about how both Hob and Corvo are handsome, brown longhaired, strong and kind individuals)

And also that both Dream and Outsider are gothic drama bitches

Dream: Go to sleep

Bruce: ..........

Bruce: No

Dream: >:0

Dream: hOw dArE yOu dEfY mY OrDeRs ?!

Nothing in my brain except these gothic bitches

(Free Prompt please take )

Hob “words of affirmation” Gadling stuck with Dream “to emotionally constipated to talk” Endless.

And

Dream “quality time” Endless stuck with Hob “I’ll sleep when I pass out” Gadling.

Needless to say misunderstandings ensue.

Hob also presumably still doesn’t know Dream name.

I… have nothng to say to this.

Why did you go to his slam poetry night?

Robert fucking Hob Gadling really had the nerve to be jealous of Will Shaxbeard, after showing his boyfriend friend acquaintance that he was the side piece after 200 years of going on dates.

Robert fucking Hob Gadling really had the nerve to be jealous of Will Shaxbeard, after showing his boyfriend friend acquaintance that he was the side piece after 200 years of going on dates.