
Home, at Nurmengard
(If this blog is deleted, find my main blog and art on
AO3: archiveofourown.org/users/x57/profile and Pixiv: pixiv.me/x57 Copy the links, due to tumblr’s terrible linking system.)

Home, at Nurmengard
(If this blog is deleted, find my main blog and art on
AO3: archiveofourown.org/users/x57/profile and Pixiv: pixiv.me/x57 Copy the links, due to tumblr’s terrible linking system.)
It hasn’t been asked! There’s a bit of a story behind it, but I don’t know that it’s too interesting.
Several years ago a friend of mine wanted me to try a specific chat client she liked, only I needed a username for it and the custom for that particular client was that it be two words. I had one I’d been using for a while, but it was only one word, so I’d need a new one. Now, I am TERRIBLE at naming things. Terrible. As in, it takes me 3 hours to create an MMO character and 98% of it is spent clicking “next” on the random name generator and rejecting every single one. The very best part about writing fanfiction is that the characters already have all their damn names decided on.
So I told her I’d try the chat client if she came up with the name.
We talked a bit about it and she asked about some things and concepts I identified with. I remember I told her mercury, as in the element, because at the time it had some symbolism for me and I thought it was pretty cool. She came back with a few different ideas, and Mercurial Tenacity was one of them.
I pretty much immediately liked the contradiction in it, but it somehow describes me really well. I’m not sure if I can quite explain it, but something about perseverance coupled with fluctuation and changeability just feels like it fits.
I hated the chat client, but I kept the username.
Yessss this is good too. Everything Albus does is amplified by the total deprivation, and Gellert doesn’t know whether he craves it as relief from the horrible all encompassing nothing, or dreads it for the almost painful frustration and need it leaves him with. Perhaps he tried to shut Albus out of his mind at first, but after a while he just… stopped fighting it. It’s the only thing he’s been allowed to feel for… days? Weeks? Maybe even months, he doesn’t know. It’s impossible to keep track of time in the total darkness.
Perhaps Albus stopped for a while, and that’s what broke him – the fear that he’d never be allowed to experience touch again, that he’d be trapped forever in this hell, this yawning void, and when Albus enters his mind again – finally, after so long – he would have sobbed with relief if he’d been capable of making a sound.
No one at MACUSA knows it’s happening of course. Gellert can’t speak, he can’t move, all he can do is sit there in total silence and isolation while the entire outside world slowly ceases to exist for him. All that’s left are Albus’ touches on his mind.
OH. Yes, good. Not many people are powerful or skilled enough to get past Albus’ defenses, but Gellert does. He forces all manner of sensations and images on him, and they’re all so very pleasurable. When he’s eating breakfast, when he’s teaching, when he’s in the staff room with colleagues, and all he can do is suffer through it while pretending his deepest wish isn’t for Gellert to be here, now, doing these things to him in person.
I think it’s basically inevitable at this point :’)
To be honest humiliation and pet names are two big kinks for me, so in the end I’ll probably be biased towards them. That said, I love this interpretation too – more subtle, so that you could almost mistake mirror!Newt for his canon-verse counterpart if you didn’t look too closely. He’s still kind, patient, gentle, never raising a hand against any creature under his care… but he treats Gellert with that same dehumanizing compassion, refusing to so much as mock him as he would a real opponent. Gellert isn’t a real opponent to him, not anymore. He’s just another hapless creature Newt needs to protect.
Ooh I’m so glad you like that one! I feel like Theseus is devoted to Percival in that one, feeding off how much Percival loves their game. Theseus adores when Percival gets that flush in his cheeks, when he starts to stutter and stumble over his words, soft like putty in Theseus’ strong hands and loving every second of it.
I’ll put it on the list! 😀
um YES. Is this a mirror verse where Gellert was trying to bring peace between the magical and muggle worlds by ending the secrecy while Albus wanted to stay in the shadows and manipulate muggle society so that they never rose above their place? And when Gellert loses instead of imprisoning him in Nurmengard Albus keeps him as a trophy, glad to have him back after all this time. He is cold to him, though. Gellert lost. He is weak. And Albus will never let him forget it.
And Newt – maybe he was the one to finally tame Grindelwald, so he has a claim on him too. He doesn’t want to see Gellert suffer, just submit totally. And after Albus’ cruelty, all it takes is a crooning voice and caress of his flank for Gellert fall into place, completely obedient and docile. Newt gathers him into his arms and speaks to him softly until his shivering subsides and a little bit of lucidity returns to his eyes.
“Sssh, you’re all right. No one expects you to be capable. It was a simple task, but too difficult for you. That’s fine.”
Gellert whines, a hint of the proud man he once was flickering across his face – but only a hint. It’s quickly replaced by a look of shame, apology, and fear. Gellert is broken now, and there’s no going back.
“You’ll have to do something else for us, though. Something a pet as stupid as you can handle. Why don’t you think of a way to make yourself prettier for me?”
Newt waits, smiling indulgently, while Gellert’s eyes dart in thought. He’ll admit that he’s looking forward to whatever his pet comes up with – the worst tortures wrought upon his body have been Gellert’s own ideas. Last time he’d been set this task he’d asked for his nipples to be stretched; and so they had been, slowly, excruciatingly, until they’re now over an inch from his chest and studded with jewels. Even Albus loves to tug on them, so easy now to grab.
“My… my dick,” Gellert says at last, his voice scratchy and hoarse.
“What about it, pet?” Newt prompts.
Gellert’s forehead creases, and he works his jaw for a moment before continuing. “It would – another piercing would look better. Through the head this time. If it – a thick one, and if it was a ring, you – then you could put weights on it.”
He sags in Newt’s arms, exhausted, and Newt’s smile widens.
“Oh, good boy. Ask me properly.”
Gellert shivers, closes his eyes, but he does as he’s told.
“Please, Master. Please, will you let me be pretty for you?”
I remember in Interview with a Vampire it was implied, if not outright confirmed, that Lestat used Claudia to keep Louis with him.
So imagine Gellert doing that with Credence and Dumbledore.
Dumbledore wants to destroy the blood pact and leave Gellert, so Gellert shows up with Credence.
“His magic is too powerful and unstable, Albus. We are the only ones strong enough to teach him. He needs our guidance, Albus. Surely you would not leave this poor child out in the cold?”
And Albus stays for Credence. He stays to help Credence learn control and to hone his magic.
But mostly… he stays because he fears what kind of path Credence would go down if he had no one but Gellert for a mentor.
I had thought of this parallel with a Graves situation, but it works so well for Dumbledore. Love it.