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I've been fully obsessed with the Rivers of London books for about two years now, so it's about time that I drew the OG Folly gang! I love all of them, and I'm really pleased with how this group shot turned out - it's probably the most complicated multi-character illustration I've done to date.

(Drawn in alcohol markers and fineliners on smooth cartridge paper)

I've got some A4 size prints of this one available - check my blog page or pinned post for links!

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Jack Lowden as River Cartwright Slow Horses, Season 4

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looking for opinions both from americans and non-americans: what would you consider to be the big 4 american cities in terms of like, vibes-based cultural impact?

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Some days, I could really slap somebody for this trend of "if it's not fun, I'm not doing it"

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WIP game: Hudson & Rex and Claustrophobic?

This fell through the cracks - whoops. Anyways...

This one was because after watching seasons 1-3, I realized there were a TON of scenarios where Charlie winds up in trouble in small/enclosed/trapped spaces, and then I was musing outloud to @itsjustdg - "you know, it's kinda surprising he doesn't have claustrophobia at this point, after being left to freeze to in a walkin freezer, had his air cut off while diving and almost drowned, was caught in a mine collapse and pinned, and my favorite - buried alive." And thus, this fic was born. Actually, it migh've even been something closer to I couldn't think of a plot and then stuck Jesse and Charlie in an elevator and got it stuck, and that's how Charlie finds out oh heeeeeeey, maybe I'm not as okay as I thought after all that.

(I live for people finding out they have issues by accident - found out I might have claustrophobia after watching Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning and having to hide my face for like 20 minutes of him on a submarine).

Anyway.

Snippet:

It really shouldn’t have come as any surprise that Charlie developed claustrophobia, but somehow, it did.

Maybe because it started off slowly. Rationally, even - if an irrational fear could ever be considered rational.

After the freezer incident, he stopped crossing the threshold into Sarah’s lab until he ran his fingers across the sliding door, feeling it move beneath his fingers at the slightest touch from the sensor, proving that it wouldn’t lock behind him.

After the diving incident, he stopped closing the door to the bathroom all the way when he was in the shower, facing purposely away from the spray and towards the open door.

After the near-miss with the shipping container, he started avoiding parking in the garage, opting to walk from the further open lot, no matter the weather. He rationalized it was for Rex’s benefit. The shepherd liked the extra walk, especially since it allowed him to get extra snacks and pets from their favorite coffee and donut vendor.

After being buried alive, he stopped sleeping in the dark. Rex changed from sleeping on his bed on the floor to the bed with Charlie, so when Charlie bolted upright in the middle of the night, gasping at air he was sure wasn’t there a second ago, Rex could sidle closer, stretching out the length of the bed so that from toes to shoulder, Charlie could feel the warmth of his body, the softness of his fur, and the cold wet of his nose.

They were all rational choices, Charlie convinced himself. Anyone else would do the same after all that. It didn’t impact his work, and no one else seemed to notice, and if they did, they didn’t comment. And if they didn’t comment, how odd could those new habits be?

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Me to my draft: You are a oneshot.

The draft: Wrong. I am the pilot chapter of a multichapter fic that you do not have the bandwidth to take on, but will haunt your every waking thought anyway.

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Garden Path 🌹✨

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I feel like this is an unpopular opinion, but more people should read incomplete/unfinished/in-progress fanfics.

I've noticed this huge trend where creators on tiktok and tumblr who will be explaining how to use Archive Of Our Own to new users and they always say "and make sure to scroll down and click completed only" or how people will go out of their way to mention they only read completed fics 'because they were traumatized when they forgot to check the dates and didn't realize this fic hadn't been updated since 2012'.

The thing is - I think by not engaging with and/or actively avoiding writer's WIPs readers are potentially adding to the aggregate of abandoned works. Now this obviously isn't the case for all abandoned fics, anything from major life events, to loss of interest, to getting busy can be a reason for a fic getting abandoned - but at least on some level I just know that writers are quitting while they're ahead when they aren't garnering any response or feedback because reading WIPs has become unpopular. If you're worried about reading something that hasn't been updated since 2012 then you can use the date updated function to sort out old fics.

Anyways, support your favorite fanfic writers by engaging with their WIPs.

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damn i wish u guys could read this fic i haven't written and this fic i haven't finished writing and this fic i'm putting off outlining and this fic i outlined but haven't started and this fic i'll never write and this other fic i haven't written and this fic that exists only in vague impressions in my head that fall apart every time i try to commit them to the page and th

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I can't decide, because all your og wips seem interesting (and I'm writing og stuff too, btw, but i whine about it on a different blog ;), but if I had to choose... tell me more about the Sci-Fi/Space Western and those two characters who are not romantically involved.

So FUN FACT - none of mine are romances. Take that, mainstream Hollywood! But anyways.

So space western/pirate story has a very wibbly wobbly Escher-eque evolution. I started writing a single scene when I was still in the Navy and very bitter about that fact, and it became this long and winding, incredibly satirical slapstick comedy where a bunch of scenes existed, but nothing actually connected, and it wasn't going anywhere. But at this point, I loved the character too much to let them fall by the wayside.

It's now basically a bunch of favorite tropes flipped. So like the two main characters, Rue and Nate, are what I call my Trauma Twins. They're closer than family, they deeply love one another, but it is entirely platonic and they probably fall on the aroace spectrum (though it's never mentioned and people don't ask because it's just obvious that nobody is going to matter more to one than eachother), but part of their bond is what drives them apart for a chunk of their lives. Both of them have survived a massacre as children/preteens, and they handled it very differently. Rue basically said "fuck this, I'm out" and became a pirate (by the dumbest definition of the word, and she more than once points out that she breaks laws that shouldn't exist, etc) and Nate winds up joining the equivalent of military based Starfleet, trying to effect change from within type deal. But then they get brought back together because the guy who committed the genocide isn't as dead as everyone was left to believe, and it seems he's back and up to evil shenanigans. (and this is the shortest write up I have ever done of this story).

As for a snippet - from in the beginning where Rue has been arrested and they're trying to blackmail her into aide:

“Miss Rue,” Sims greeted, nodding curtly as he sat down across the table from her. “Been a while.”

Rue glowered from behind her icepack. “Not long enough.”

Sims ignored the jibe, flipping open his folder and rifling through the multiple sheets of paper. “You’ve been a busy girl, Rue. Last time I saw you, your rap sheet fit onto one side of the paper. Now…” he ran his thumb through the pile like a flip book. “A novella of crime.”

“Mom always said I was a go-getter,” Rue offered, refusing to even sit up to address the chief. “Is there a point you’d like to make? Or can I just skip the ‘squandered potential’ lecture and go directly to jail?”

Sims continued to ignore her. “Smuggling. Grand theft. Impersonating an officer, attacking Alliance ships, raiding Alliance supplies, press ganging, and oh - my personal favorite - stealing an Admiral’s cat.”

“Felicia is fine, by the way,” Rue pointed out. “Thanks for asking. And she much prefers being the mascot to the Unreliable to the USS Dipshit. You can tell Admiral Kohler to go fu-”

“Anyway,” Sims interrupted, raising a pointed eyebrow. “An impressive record for someone your age.”

“Like I said - a real go-getter.”

Sims turned to a new page. “That might’ve been true, once. I recall you being quite the rising star at the Academy. All the professors were very impressed by you. Could’ve ridden that Golden Ticket anywhere in the Alliance. And yet…” He gestured meaningfully to the interrogation room. “Here we are. What happened?”

“I failed an ethics class.”

“Shocker.”

Rue heaved a sigh, lowering the icepack from her eye which was still an impressive shade of red. Two days from now, it’d be the same purple as her shirt, if she was lucky. “Look, Chief. You wanna shoot the shit? Fine. I prefer to do it in a bar over drinks, but I sense that’s not going to happen here. My head is killing me, I have a ship to get back to, and as you’ve pointed out, crime to commit. Are you going to get to the point, or should I just make my escape now?”

Sims ignored her, shuffling papers - who even used paper anymore? - thumbing through a folder.

“Where have you been the last few months?” he asked.

“Out.”

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an aspec just minding their business: I sure do wish fandom explored more things that aren’t romantic or sexual-

approximately every allo under the sun about to explain how someone not making something about romance or sex for 0.3 seconds is puritan and personally oppressing them:

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WIP tag game

Tagged by @eveningspirit god like 2 weeks ago now but in my defense, I have not being paying attention.

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have wips.

Okay, so I was in fact tagged in this a couple weeks ago. I think. Or something very close. And I am super lazy because today is in the 90's, I don't have AC, and my arms are sticking to my desk, so I am going to do the titles (ish, they really don't have titles) of original works (okay fine, they're vibes with character names) Sci-Fi/Space Western - Rue and Nate

Irish fantasy/myth adjacent - Lir and Tally

Samson and Delilah - imagine if the demon you made a deal with had also never done a deal and the both of you are just guessing at shit

Despite the fact that they are titled with two characters, none of them are romantic.

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Unfortunately reblogs were turned off but that post is important for people in fandoms to see

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Tagged by @thewildballyntynesgrow - I assume I spell out my URL with song titles?

Devil You Know - Tyler Braden

It Knows Me - Avi Kaplan

Save My Soul - Jonah Kegan

Screws - The Foxies

Afraid of the Dark - TALK

Pilgrims - New Dialogue

Poison - Jet Black Alley Cat

Everybody Breaks - Ivan & Alyosha

Adventurers - Holley Maher

Round Hole - Rebecca Brunner

I Can't Dance - Mating Ritual

Nice to Meet You - Myles Smith

Golden Dandelions - Barns Courtney

I Will Come - Alpha Rev

Nightingale - Norah Jones

Queen of the North - Two Steps from Hell and tagging people I know have some music I want to discover - @lord-owlsnake, @abubblingcandle @philcoulsonismyhero @altschmerzes @jamietarttsnorthernattitude @cashewthrower @amandagaelic @brambleberrycottage @endlessbluesky @hippytater (also all of these are hella long which means I get MORE music

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Tagged by the wonderfully talented @cartwrong

Rules: Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Mmmm, yeah. I would say so.

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WIP Word Game

I was tagged by the lovely @abubblingcandle for this I think a week ago and kept forgetting about it, so...whoops?

Post a snippet from a WIP that contains each of these words:

My words are: middle, keep, door, light

Middle

The beginnings of a fight - perhaps tussle would be more accurate, because if he didn’t know any better, it almost sounded like the Dogs were trying to be gentle with whoever they had - echoed off the wall of glass and metal, as he curiously stepped around the corner of the elevator bank to see what, or who, would be able to create a scene in the middle of the Park without being promptly tossed into a cell or back onto the street.

He almost laughed.

Almost.

Because of course it was River Cartwright. Because Cartwright never set foot in Regent’s Park without causing widespread panic, mayhem, and disorder, and to be perfectly honest, that was Lamb’s favorite thing about him. Not many people had the warning on their passes ‘REQUIRES ESCORT’ printed larger than their name and yet were still allowed in the building. Most of his Horses wanted back at the Park badly enough they could ill afford to make themselves a nuisance. But, over the weeks and months Cartwright had been at Slough House, Lamb would almost dare to say that he was beginning to prefer it over the Park. Maybe not the mindless errands that Lamb sent him on just to keep him occupied, but his view of what the Service actually looked like was beginning to skew to the point that returning to the Park was no longer at the top of his To Do list, replaced by taking the opportunity to stick it to First and Second Desk whenever it presented itself.

A career goal that Lamb could heartily endorse. Besides, it was an understandable shift in view now they’d tried to kill him more than once.

Keep

It’d been eight days.

Eight days, and they hadn’t found him.

Lamb could easily throw the blame on Cartwright. The man was always wandering off, pursuing his own leads and his own cases, as if he were an MI-5 team of one. His instincts were solid, and if that little shit Spider and Taverner hadn’t purposely torpedoed his training exercise to cover up their own cock-ups, he’d be at the Park at this very moment.

Compared to Lamb’s normal throwaways, Cartwright was almost competent. Lamb never felt like he had to keep a tight leash on the young man because of all the Slow Horses, Cartwright was the only one there because of someone else’s mess - because he’d been a little too good at being a spy, and caught the wrong people at the right time.

It made Lamb complacent.

Lazy, he cursed to himself on the fifth day. Lazy, and fucking stupid.

Door

Shirley figured it was about…60/40 odds that River was sent on assignments just to get him out of the office versus Lamb’s faith in his actual ability to do it. Competence being tempered, obviously, by River’s fuck awful luck.

Did he successfully break into the Park not once, but twice - second time being a speed run event and somehow also still escaping with literally the entire security force after him? Yes. Yes, he did.

That actually took talent.

Or a vengeful god who had it in for you.

Possibly both, in River’s case.

The first time she walked out with River at the end of the night was 90% percent because she wanted to make sure he wasn’t turning into Lamb and actually sleeping in the office. The other 10% was to see if she could actually catch a glimpse what he was up to on his computer - more out of sheer nosiness than anything else. If he noticed, he said nothing, though he did hold the door for her when they left out the back.

Light

“Now, I know I told you the rules for your brothers, but I think we’re going to have to work out something a little different for you, wouldn’t you agree? But I’m going to have to think about it for a little while. Gotta make sure the lesson really sticks with you so we don’t have to keep doing this. So let’s just consider this a time-out for now, and when I think you’ve learned your lesson…” there was a pause,and then even the miniscule light from the crack in the door was gone, the darkness so complete River couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face - he couldn’t tell if the wall was six inches or six feet away, which way was up or down, or if he was even truly alone down here. “I’ll consider letting you out.”

tagging....I again have no idea who's writing now, or even likes these games. So uh...shot in the dark no pressure tags but I like getting snippets:

@dragonnan @itsjustdg @amandagaelic @tenderhooked @altschmerzes

And my random four words that are perhaps cheating: river, hurt, dark, guess