Nat Lawless 🌈🦄
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nat-lawless.bsky.social
Nat Lawless 🌈🦄
@nat-lawless.bsky.social
1.4K followers 980 following 1.8K posts
Queer ND writer, reader, muso, academic, critic. Different hats, different names. Queer fantasy/romantasy/historical romance/sci-fi. Ask my characters about my gender. No DMs. No AI. https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nat_Lawless/pseuds/Nat_Lawless
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nat-lawless.bsky.social
Most realistic elements: Ulysses’ anxiety dreams & preferring to face zombies and demons rather than defend his thesis.
Most fantastical: getting your PhD 2 months after your supervisor asks for revisions to the conclusion & being handed a job… lol
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A book. Old Time Religion. E.H. Lupton. Bronze figures, two men, one shirtless and holding a dagger, the other wearing a toga and supporting him, holding a branch in the other hand. Both have green ivy around their heads. A black background.
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
When you reread after a year and it’s just as delightful as the first two times! Magic academia queer romance with gods and demons. Looking forward to finally reading book 4. @pretensesoup.bsky.social

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A book. Dionysus in Wisconsin. E.H. Lupton. A bronze cover with black etching- look figures of two men wearing green ivy wreaths. One is sitting down holding a goblet and the other leans towards him with a hand on his shoulder.
November 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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‘It makes as much sense as that bullshit! You’re so godsdamn determined to think the worst of him.’ ‘I healed the bastard!’ ‘And then sulked at every minute you had to spend with him!’ Rathaliel stalked to the door; Daem grabbed at her arm and she wrenched it away. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Out,’ she said, slamming the door behind her.
November 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Daem was leaning against the railing with his back to the river and Elyan’s purported misery, arms folded and an expression of studied disgust on his face. Mostly feigned. ‘How long can you keep this up?’ Rathaliel muttered to Elyan. ‘It’s getting pretty tedious. If the deck doesn’t clear soon I’ll clutch my arse and make a run for the dunny.’ She stifled a laugh and pointedly didn’t look at Daem, whose amusement tingled at the edge of awareness no matter how much he tried to hide it.
November 17, 2025 at 5:53 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
The calendar is divided into moons and tendays (which approximate the cycles of the two moons respectively).

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Elyan's life was a fucking hot mess, practically asking the clans to put his neck in a noose five times a tenday, yet this could the first time in his life he’d contemplated his own death with regret rather than indifference or, in darker moments, something that might have been longing. Extremely helpful thoughts to be having when it could all become moot any moment.
November 14, 2025 at 12:09 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Because Daem was so focused on healing magic, which Rathaliel had little aptitude for and less skill, they’d naturally spent a lot of their time in the caves apart. And it had been good. Being in each others’ pockets was all very well at the beginning of their relationship, since they’d both ripped their lives up and left everyone else behind. But travelling with Elyan had put an itch under her skin, or maybe lit a fire under her arse. Waving her swords around just to keep a roof over her head and food in her belly while she tried to follow the trail of a ghost was starting to feel suffocatingly small.
November 5, 2025 at 12:03 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Rathaliel danced backwards as her opponent’s blade slashed towards her stomach. She parried low with her left-hand weapon, drawing the right up high, ready. So quickly the steel blurred, her series of blocks and thrusts drove him backwards. Sweat slicked his face as it did hers. As he dropped low to swing at her legs, she vaulted the blade neatly, delivering a roundhouse kick to his shoulder that sent him stumbling backwards and a low sweep that landed him on his backside. Another time she might have kicked an opponent in the face, but he was far too pretty for that.
November 4, 2025 at 12:44 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
Celebrating the return of my favourite bookmark from the ADHD portal. It has been missing for a week. Praise be!

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A leather bookmark with Oxford University and college shields, names and dates on a dark blue background. It is in front of a purple book.
November 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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It wasn’t long after Rathaliel banished the magelight that the breathing from the two in the bed took on the even rhythms of sleep. Wouldn’t that be nice. Elyan’s eyes flicked open, staring into the darkness, his thoughts a tangle of sluggish but maddeningly insistent snakes.
November 3, 2025 at 12:05 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
Hard relating to Cicero this morning!
I am part feline after all.

‘I’m wet, Thomas! Wet!’

@jordanlhawk.bsky.social

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A book cover. Hexbreaker. Jordan L. Hawk. A Hexworld novel. Top image: two white men with short dark hair wearing formal dark grey and white clothes. One stands close behind the other, eyes closed, mouth close to the other’s face. Their hands are entwined. Bottom image: silhouette of a cat super-imposed on an old map. View through a train window looking at train tracks and a station. Rain runs in rivulets down the glass.
November 2, 2025 at 11:26 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
Running out my KU free trial at the start of the month, increasing my audio listening in the middle as I started listening while commuting (and definitely not at my desk while working), and library books.

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A collage of book covers, mostly queer historical romance or romantasy. A collage of book covers, mostly queer historical romance or romantasy.
November 2, 2025 at 1:48 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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‘I never took you for the outdoorsy type,’ Daem said dryly. ‘I’m not,’ Elyan said. ‘But I have always liked caves, and I heard rumours. Not from anyone who’d been there; maybe their grandparent or great grandparent had seen them. Figured it’d be handy to have somewhere secret to stash some things, if there were people looking for them. Of course, all the good places were too far away from the river and impossible to get a cart near, let alone a wagon. Fuck me, I think I even drew a map of part of it, once.’ ‘You went hiking for two moons,’ Rathaliel said, ‘because someone’s grandfather’s sister’s dog might have seen a cave once.’ ‘I did find them. And I didn’t have anything better to do.’
November 1, 2025 at 12:31 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Elyan glanced at her. ‘Go alright?’ Rathaliel grimaced. ‘I feel like a monster.’ His lips twitched. ‘Well, I didn’t like to say…’
October 31, 2025 at 12:46 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
My current library stash! A few rereads (inc @socallahanauthor.bsky.social), some new from familiar authors (inc @tjalexandernyc.bsky.social) and some completely new!

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A stack of books. Chef’s Kiss. TJ Alexander. Chef’s Choice. TJ Alexander. Triple Sec. TJ Alexander. Paris Daillencourt Is about to Crumble. Alexis Hall. The Fever King. Victoria Lee. Kiss Her Once for Me. Alison Cochrane. Iron Widow: Duran Jay Zhao. Fella Ever After. S.O. Callahan. Fella Enchanted. S.O. Callahan. Faebound. Saars El-Arifi. The Incandescent. Emily Tesh.
October 31, 2025 at 8:21 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
Mara is deaf; she and her sibling invented a sign language that some of their friends have learnt, but fluency takes time!

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Elyan tried to keep the tale brief, but a lot of it was beyond his vocabulary, especially when it came to magic, and the more words he had to fingerspell, the more he lost the thread of what he was saying. And Niv would be finding it harder to understand him, making her read three words in five… Eventually Ren begged him to speak aloud and let them interpret. Mara waved away his apology, telling him they could have a spelling competition another day, and he finished the story in Cylian with guilty relief.
October 30, 2025 at 12:20 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
Italics = mind speech

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Still. Rathaliel sounded dubious. At least cover your tracks from now on. Yeah I will. Elyan paused. How do I do that? Apparently she did it by using air and earth magic, and seeing as he had much ability there as a stone, he was reduced to laying a false trail, stepping on stones where he could and using a make-shift broom to sweep away his tracks.
October 29, 2025 at 12:25 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
My characters’ blood is determinedly uncurdled.

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The woman shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. Is there anyone else here, besides us? Did you come with anyone?’ It isn’t lying, Elyan had said, not really. She just had to believe that. Obviously, what her captor really meant was, ‘Can we also abduct and torture whoever you’re with?’ Niv believed that. She knew it. The blood thundered in her ears. ‘No,’ she said. Her voice hardly even shook.
October 28, 2025 at 12:37 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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With a sigh, Elyan clambered to his feet and donned the guard’s uniform he’d swiped the previous day, glamouring his boots to approximate the uniform as they hadn’t been so easy to come by in his size. He put on a forgettable face with bland features, the skin, hair and eyes in unremarkable shades of brown. His hair was a bit longer than looked usual, but twisted into a queue and tucked inside his hat, he could glamour it well enough unless someone tried to run their hands through it. He could probably avoid that.
October 27, 2025 at 12:43 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
🌈📚💙 🪐📚 🌈🚀💫 🌈✒️

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The alcove in the gate-tunnel wasn’t exactly comfortable, and Elyan wasn’t sure shifting position every moment he wasn’t plagued by waking dreams of cold metal snapping on his wrist counted as rest. But when Imre alerted him to incoming humans, he managed to get to his feet and shield them both without keeling over, so that was a victory of sorts.
October 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
The perfect way to spend a Friday! Copper Script was super fun, the right amount of tense, and I am 85% Joel (not the tea-drinking part). I reckon those two will settle down somewhere with a cat and eat at nice restaurants a lot.

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A ginger cat is asleep beside a lap, one which rests a book. KJ Charles. Copper Script. The background is blue with the outlines of two men in orange/copper.
October 24, 2025 at 6:44 AM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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By the time the north wall loomed above them, Elyan felt like he’d sprinted the length of the city, carrying his three charges on his back. Stars help him if he didn’t manage a nap before riding out.
October 22, 2025 at 12:08 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Elyan couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him, and they were both whooping and laughing as the wagon rolled on. They’d done it. They’d fucking done it! Askha and [other horse] were prancing as they picked up the humans’ mood, setting the wagon rocking. Rathaliel clutched at the side but even the thought of being flung out of the wagon at top speed wasn’t going to dent Elyan's mood. On second thought, a fall at this speed could leave him with more broken bones. He shuddered.
October 21, 2025 at 12:37 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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Rathi reappeared a moment later, taking the reins of Niv’s horse. ‘It’s just a glamour! The big tree shows how much of a gap there is. Go first if you like.’ Niv walked slowly up to the tree – a solid, very real looking tree! – with her hand outstretched… and it passed through empty air. Keeping one hand in front of her face, she kept walking, and emerged in a clearing filled with people. ‘Haestur’s blood and Ofela’s tears!’ she said under her breath. Rathaliel was leading Niv’s horse through a gap between relatively sparse trees.
October 20, 2025 at 1:05 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
My characters eat a lot of bread, especially Elyan. It’s safe.

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‘You’re really not disappointed,’ Elyan said eventually. ‘Fuck no! At least not with you.’ Rathaliel folded her arms. Some of the tension seemed to ebb from him and he took some of the bread, sitting back to nibble on it, leaving one knee bent. Then abruptly he grinned. Look at us, misunderstanding each other better than non-mages!’ ‘If you weren’t shut up tight as a fucking oyster it’d be easier.’ ‘Force of habit.’ Still, he didn’t loosen his barriers.
October 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
nat-lawless.bsky.social
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‘Friends?’ She cares for you. As do I, Dee had said. ‘But-’ She stood in front of him, arms folded. ‘But what? But why are we friends? Right now I have no idea, because you’re being incredibly annoying. So come downstairs and maybe I’ll remember.’ Elyan wavered. ‘I’m not hungry.’ ‘I don’t care. You can have tea.’
October 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM