#1000-5000 words

[saph-writes]

A Crumpled Red String Laced Around Our Throats - Chapter 2

ao3 link:

Words: 4185

Chapter: 1, 3, 4, 5

Kunigami began sneaking into the clearing every day. 

He told himself he wouldn’t at first, as the appearance of guards surveying the area grew more and more by the day. However, as he wandered the forest endlessly, his footsteps always ended up at the same dreamy clearing of the day he met the boy. He’d sit down on the grass, and watch the clouds wash away the sunlight, until the sun had set once again, and he was forced to go back home.

One day, when he entered the clearing again, Chigiri was there. His back was turned away from him and he sat on the grass, staring at the birds in the trees. He wore an oversized white blouse with translucent fabric around his shoulders. His soulmark matched the color of his hair, blowing in the wind. 

Before Kunigami could run away, Chigiri turned around. He met his eyes and smiled, then laid down on the grass. 

“Took you long enough, didn’t it?”

Kunigami did not understand what he meant, but for some reason, something pulled him to walk up and sit down on the grass next to him. 

They sat in silence for a while. 

“What do you do in the forest?” Chigiri finally asked. 

“...Nothing.”

“Nothing at all? There has to be something.”

Kunigami hesitated.

“I come here. And wait for the day to pass by.”

“Do you ever play?”

“Not really. There is not much to play with.”

“What about your magic?”

“..I don’t have any.”

“Why?”

“Hey, this is starting to feel like an interview, isn’t it?”

Chigiri stopped and laughed. His entire body shook in giggles and his face turned red. If Kunigami was being honest, he had no idea why. 

“I’m sorry…” Chigiri said while catching his breath. “It’s just funny that you were so blunt while trying to be nice about it. Okay, sorry, I’ll stop with the questions.” 

Chigiri’s eyes lit up. “How about you ask me some questions, then?”

There were a million things Kunigami wanted to ask him, but all of them felt tricky to say. Like he might accidentally say something wrong and Chigiri would run back to the castle, crying about the monster in the forest. 

Instead he asked the most sincere question he had. “Why are you so nice to me?”

“Because you seem nice.”

“How?”

Chigiri laughed again. “What do you mean how? It’s not like you’re a monster or anything.”

Kunigami fell quiet.

Chigiri nonchalantly ate a piece of bread he had in his hand. 

“You don’t know that,” Kunigami said quietly, his voice slightly shaking. “I don’t have a soulmark, how do you know that I won’t-”

CRUNCH

Kunigami and Chigiri jolted. The sound of rustling came from the bushes in front of them, as well as the crunching of hard soles hitting the leaves on the ground. A loud booming voice shook through the line of trees.

“Prince Hyoma!” 

Chigiri sat up quickly. Kunigami looked at him and for the first time since he met him, he saw the look of panic cross his expression. 

“Shit, I thought they never bothered going out this far.”

He grabbed Kunigami’s hand as he started running in the opposite direction. “Come on!”

Kunigami did not need to be told twice. He got up and ran as fast as he could while Chigiri pulled him along. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep up. His feet tripped over the tangled foliage and rocks littered on the forest floor. Meanwhile, the sounds of footsteps and yelling behind them grow louder and closer behind them. 

Kunigami looked around him, desperately trying to remember this part of the forest outside of his daily trips to the clearing. As their running crossed over to swampy ground covered in mud, Kunigami suddenly got an idea. 

“Follow me!” 

Chigiri, for a brief moment, slowed down. 

From where they were running, they were laced between the trees but off to the side was a collection of bushes all too thick to hide in. Thick except for a single area. 

They made a turn to another intersection of trees before Kunigami turned his heel again, ducked, and slid into dense, foliage-covered bushes on the side. He tugged Chigiri with him, pulling both his right hand and left forearm, and used his own body as a cushion. He braced for impact. 

The running footsteps of the guards behind them had caught up, and Kunigami could feel the vibrations beneath him as their hard soles hit the ground. The sound rumbled in his ears, loud as thunder, until slowly, the sound grew further away. Until nothing but silence remained. 

A minute or two passed until Kunigami opened his eyes again. While he expected pain in his back from the impact, he felt nothing of the sort. After all, they hadn’t fallen into the thick wall-like structure of the bushes, but instead an opening to a path inside it. The layers upon layers of leaves coating the small path served as a pillow beneath them, and the hole through which they jumped through was effectively covered by the loose branches of the bushes’ leaves, sunlight shining weakly between the gaps. 

He breathed heavily. Then, he looked down. Mere inches away from the top of Chigiri’s head, the strands of pink hair grazed his nose and cheeks. Kunigami felt a pounding heartbeat and belatedly realized that it did not belong to him, but to Chigiri, who was still staring at the opening they entered from. 

For a while, they sat, still trying to catch their breaths. 

“I..” Chigiri said, “can’t believe we were able to get away…”

Kunigami stared at him. “Yeah…” 

Chigiri jolted. He shifted forward, then turned around to see Kunigami and the area they had jumped into. “Woah, how did you know where to find this hiding spot?” 

“I… sometimes pass by here, and use this to hide whenever I hear noise.” 

“It’s a path, right? Where does it lead to?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been further than here.” 

Chigiri, still in a daze, stared at the long path behind them. Then, he carefully climbed over Kunigami and started crawling forward on his knees. 

“Wait, where-?”

“Let’s go check it out!” Chigiri gave him a cheeky smile before crawling faster. 

While Kunigami was hesitant to follow him, especially since he could hardly remember the direction they came from before this, he figured that he shouldn’t leave Chigiri alone. After all, he was still a normal human boy. A boy with a soulmark, a prince, and a human with a future. 

A boy who was kind even to monsters like him. 

Kunigami doesn’t know what he would do with himself if he allowed him to get hurt. 

By the time Kunigami made up his mind to follow him, Chigiri had already made a good distance and before long, he was out of sight completely. 

This is a really long path , Kunigami thought. Also he is way too fast. 

After 5 minutes of awkwardly shuffling his feet through the path that, while Chigiri slid easily, he was much too big for, a light started to appear through the broken leaves. He swatted the leaves sticking out above him and as he reached the very end, he moved the large branch of the exit up. 

A bright clearing in the sky greeted him with sparse trees in sight. The smell of wet leaves and sticks was so strong it nauseated him, and for some reason, the ground he was on felt shakier than usual.

As soon as he thought that, he heard a crunch.

Then the ground gave out under him. 

Before Kunigami had a chance to scream, he heard a splash and felt his body completely submerge into water. He pulled himself up to the surface of whatever body of water he had fallen into, and gasped for air. 

Somewhere to his side, he heard a laugh. 

It was Chigiri, who was also floating in the water.  

Kunigami looked around. They had fallen into a lake and the path they had come out of hovered a few feet in the air, where just a few branches kept the bushes afloat. One of them swung broken underneath it. 

“You know,” Chigiri said, “We probably wouldn’t have been able to escape them if you weren’t a forest kid.” 

Kunigami turned and saw that Chigiri had swam closer to him and was looking up at the same path they had fallen out from. 

“Last I check, monsters don’t save people.” 

Chigiri turned and grinned. Kunigami stared in disbelief. 

“So, thank you.” 

Kunigami felt his face get very hot. He looked away and huffed a bit. “You don’t have to. I’m not as noble as you think I am.” 

Chigiri giggled and pressed closer. “What, are you embarrassed?”

Kunigami turned his head further, trying to avoid Chigiri’s gaze. However, when he felt the cold press of fingertips on his cheek. he jumped and pushed away. Another splash erupted before him as he sent Chigiri plunging into the water.

Kunigami felt his blood run cold. Did he hurt him? Why did he react that way? Did he push him too hard? What if Chigiri doesn’t come back up? What if he’s hurt? Where would he go? He’s hurt him, of course he did, he’s a monster, that’s all he does, why did he ever think otherwise, why-

“Ha!” 

In his spiral of thoughts, Kunigami perked up. Chigiri’s head popped out of the water, his face red but smiling. But just before Kunigami could apologize, he felt a splash of water hit his face. 

“That’s payback!” 

Kunigami couldn’t say anything because continuous splashes of water kept hitting his face, some entering his mouth and nose. In retaliation, he blindly threw some water back. A yelp told him he hit his target. When he saw Chigiri giggling again, he kept throwing some more while Chigiri combated him with splashes of his own. 

Until eventually, Kunigami found himself laughing too. 

The two fought each other in the water until their arms were sore and they were out of breath, but even so, they were both giggling, laughing into the endless sky. Into the sky over a clearing where no other soul could hear or see them, alone together, as if that was how it was always meant to be. 

~

When Kunigami arrived back at the forest, Tei was sitting on the grass, preparing food over a small fire. Kunigami blinked twice. 

“You’re back already?” 

Tei perked up, and turned around. She smiled weakly. “And you’re out awfully late, aren’t you?” 

Kunigami scratched his head and awkwardly walked over to their shared hollow tree trunk. He took off his wet shirt, set it inside, and sat down outside on the opposite side of the fire. Tei simply stared. He wasn’t sure if she was looking at the pieces of meat cooking, the fire, or something else entirely. 

They both sat in silence.

“You like eating meat, don’t you?” 

Kunigami didn’t say anything. He grabbed one of the sticks, the meat still half-cooked, and blew on it. He took a bite. 

Tei continued. “I wonder if it tastes good-” 

“Why are you always away?” 

The fire crackled before them. For the first time, Kunigami looked up at her face properly, and noticed the eyebags under her eyes. She smiled, still keeping her eyes on the fire. 

“Just visiting a friend.” 

Kunigami opened his mouth, but he didn’t say anything more. He sat quietly, chewing on the thin slice of meat. After a while, Tei took a piece for herself. 

The fire crackled until its heat began to die down. Kunigami watched the grass on the ground burn into black ashes beneath the wood, and the dark stains of teardrops on the dirt behind it. 

~ 

“Prince Hyoma, are you there?!” 

Chigiri cringed at the door closing shut with a bang. He quickly used his magic to dry his shirt and pants off. He scrambled to arrange his hair somewhat neatly. But before he knew it, the shadow of a figure towered over him. He sighed.

“Prince Hyoma, where have you been?! The guards have been deployed hours ago to search for you and a siren has long been sounded. Your mother and father are worried sick, how dare you wander off on your own when your own mother has been-” 

“That’s enough, Sir Ladon.” 

Both Chigiri and the highest-ranking guard reprimanding him turned around. On the other side of the hall, the princess of the royal family of Belushi walked towards them. 

Sir Ladon awkwardly greeted her with a bow. “Oh Princess Hiumi, you have already arrived from your trip, I see…” 

“Yes, yes I have. And it seems I have missed a few events. Is there a concern regarding my brother I should be aware of?” 

“Why, you see, Prince Hyoma has been running off again and worrying the King and Queen. You must be tired, my Princess, so please allow me to-” 

“Oh, it is no trouble at all,” Hiumi interjected. She smiled kindly, her eyes gentle and warm. “This is personal family matters, and in situations my parents can not facilitate, it becomes my duty. I can speak with him. Privately.” 

Her words ended so conclusively that Sir Ladon looked back and forth between the two siblings before bowing out and quickly excusing himself. As soon as he disappeared, Hiumi glared at Chigiri. 

“What is the excuse this time?” 

“I… found a cool bird?” 

“That’s even worse than last time.” 

Chigiri sighed and slid down against the wall to sit on the floor. He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in it. Hiumi’s face softened, although her glare remained. 

“I can’t always protect you. Or that boy. You know that right?” 

Chigiri did not respond. 

“If the guards find out you’ve been playing with a boy from the forest, they will-”

“I know, I know….I know that.” 

Hiumi shuffled around. She looked at both sides of the empty hall, only lit by the weak candles, before eventually sitting down next to Chigiri. She laid her head against the wall. A comfortable silence wrapped around them. 

“Why do they care so much that I go play?” Chigiri eventually whispered, still keeping his face hidden. “It’s not like I can do that here. They don’t want me to play with the kids here either.” 

“Well,” Hiumi said. “They want to protect you.”

“For what?”

“Because you’re important. You’re the prince.”

Chigiri huffed. “They don’t do that with you. You can go into the town with no problem, talk to whoever you want, and they don’t make a fuss. Why only me? Why no other kid my age?”

“Because…” Hiumi trailed off. 

“And he started talking about Mom and Dad. What’s happening to Mom?”

“Nothing, she is just tired-” 

“You always say that!” 

Hiumi jolted at Chigiri’s sudden outburst. He was now looking directly at her, exasperation and frustration clear on his face. 

“You never tell me anything! I can never have fun because that dumb guard is always following me! I can’t go into town, I can’t play with other kids, I can’t know anything about my own family. What else am I supposed to do?” 

“I-”

“I finally found someone I can play with. Someone who understands me and I have fun with, and everyone wants to take that away from me! It’s not fair!” 

Chigiri stopped for a moment to breathe but when he did, he found tears started streaming down his face. 

He quickly tried to hide it, but when he realized he couldn’t, he jumped up and started running away down the hall. Hiumi, caught by surprise, quickly caught his arm just in time, but was thrown off swiftly. 

“Hyoma, wait!”

But it was too late. Chigiri, having always been a fast runner, had already run a good distance down the hall, farther than where he could hear her. Hiumi watched the empty hall as his figure disappeared completely. 

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The memory of a few days ago, when Chigiri first came back late, drifted into her mind. 

~ 

“Has anyone seen Prince Hyoma?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Not me.”

“The Prince is missing?”

“Oh lord, this is a mess..!” 

Hiumi, preparing to go to her second trip into a town on the outskirts, approached the group of guards huddled amongst themselves in the grand ballroom where a crowd had already begun to form. She cleared her throat. 

“Any word on my brother?”

“Princess Hiumi! Goodness, no, nothing at all. It is like he has disappeared into thin air! Sir Akio, deploy unit 7 to area 4 of the forest! You! What are you doing having lunch, don’t you see that…!” 

The guards quickly forgot about Hiumi to argue amongst themselves. All around her, the staff of the castle shuffled from one area to another. If they were not swiftly attending to their daily duties, they were searching for the Prince. None of them hardly spared a glance to her. 

Hiumi sneaked among the crowd to go to the hall, searching for a moment of silence in the chaos. The hall was empty, and outside the windows, the castle’s garden and its blooming flowers made for a beautiful view. Hiumi leaned against the windowsill to watch the bees and birds fly above them. 

However, in her thoughtless daze, she spotted something in the forest. Something that looked suspiciously similar to flowing pinkish-red hair. 

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she implemented an invisibility illusion spell on herself and quietly snuck herself out the door, using another spell to make the sound of the door closing silent. And just in case, she placed a strength spell on her legs. 

Keeping her eye on the blob of pink hair, she ran up to the forest line. Sure enough, Chigiri was standing there. On one side of the garden, there was a group of guards. Hiumi figured that Chigiri was hiding from that. However, when she traced his gaze, she realized that he wasn’t looking at them, but rather at something else entirely.

That was when she spotted a blob of orange hair. 

A young boy with spiky orange hair was hiding behind a bush, anxiously watching the group of guards, and Chigiri was watching him. Just when the boy was about to back up and run away, Chigiri ran up to him. The boy tried to run, but Chigiri stopped him. Then, he grabbed the boy’s hand and tugged him away deeper into the forest.

Hiumi watched the scene in disbelief. The first thing they are taught is to never trust people who come from the forest due to the risk of them being monsters. Chigiri had always been a defiant boy, but to think that he would disregard a precaution like this one was unheard of. 

She was tempted to go back to the castle and report the case, however knowing the guards, they would likely make a big fuss of the situation. And she would rather not let her parents know about it. 

Instead, she opted to run after them, grateful that she casted the strength spell earlier. 

She found the boys in a clearing. Feeling her invisibility spell starting to wear off, she hid behind one of the trees. Aware of the dangers this strange orange-haired boy may cause, she kept her magic readily available to step in if needed. 

However, not a moment like that came. 

She turned around and saw Chigiri talking with the boy. The boy moved around nervously, but it was like Chigiri paid it no mind. Before long, Chigiri had tugged the boy along to run around in the clearing, pointing and jumping at the ground. A small ball appeared before them, and the two kicked it around. They laughed. They ran around as if they were playing. 

Hiumi stayed hidden behind the tree for 10 minutes. Then, she headed back to the castle. 

Chigiri did not come back until sunset. The search party was still out, and the halls were littered with guards. Hiumi simply set an illusion spell to render a section of the hall invisible to them, and waited for the door to open. 

And sure enough, Chigiri strolled right back in. 

“You seem oddly happy.” 

Chigiri yelped right before Hiumi covered his mouth with her hand. She looked around at the guards who noticed the sound, but they did not pay it any mind. 

“Hiumi, what are you-?!”

“I should be asking you that.” Hiumi released her hand from his mouth, but she kept her grip on his forearm. Not that he would be able to run away without the guards seeing him. 

“There has been a search party looking for you for hours. And what exactly have you been doing?”

Chigiri glanced around. “I was.. Um.. practicing magic. In the forest.”

“Likely story. In a clearing, right? With an orange-haired boy?”

“How did you-!”

“Who is that boy?” 

Chigiri opened his mouth to speak but closed it and opened it again. As he thought about what to say, he scratched his head then groaned. “It doesn’t matter, okay?”

“Yes it does.” Hiumi said sternly. “Is he from the forest?”

“I-”

“Did you see a soulmark on him? 

“Why-”

“Could he do any magic?” 

“Stop!”

The guards responded more to the sound this time, and walked out of their positions to search for it. Hiumi cursed under her breath. 

She grabbed Chigiri forcefully and whispered the spell under her breath. The floor of the hall disappeared beneath them and was replaced by a carpet. Their surroundings dissipated until it formed to that of Chigiri’s bedroom, cluttered in clothes, gifts he never used, and toys from his younger days. 

Chigiri pulled away from her. 

“He’s not bad. He’s not a monster like you think he is. He’s nice.”

“How do you know that?” Hiumi clapped her hands to turn on the lights. “This is your first time meeting him I presume. How can you know a boy you’ve only met today?” 

“Because he’s nothing like what you all say monsters are. He’s not animal-like or aggressive or mean. He was scared of those guards. And I helped him.” 

Chigiri tightened his fists. “He is the same as me.” 

Hiumi wanted to protest further. After all, there have been countless stories of people who have been deceived by monsters only to be attacked by them. People who have lost family members to them. She would never forgive herself if she allowed Chigiri to be one of those numbers. 

However, in the same thought, she noticed the expression on Chigiri’s face. The shift from anger at her to the contemplative look he had while talking about the boy. A lonely look. With how sheltered he is, that comes as no surprise. That’s partly the reason why she was not concerned when he was declared missing. This is a habit of his. 

Still, it shocked her to see the passion he showed defending the boy. 

Hiumi thought some more, but as the situation grew more convoluted in her head, it made her want to scream instead. So she simply asked, “How do you know he won’t hurt you?”

“I asked. I asked if he was planning something bad, and he said no. And I believe him.”

“And if he’s lying?”

“He isn't. I just know he isn’t.” 

Hiumi stared at Chigiri, and similarly, he stared back. Then Hiumi sighed. 

“The guards are going to find you eventually if you aren’t careful. Make up an excuse so you won’t be deemed missing again, and don’t stay out this late. You also need to cloak yourself in an illusion spell. The guards use spells that can detect life energy. You need to hide yourself and the boy from those spells.” Hiumi turned away and clicked her tongue. “And I do my part here inside the castle.”

Chigiri stared at her in disbelief. Hiumi walked over to open the door and leave. 

“Thanks, Hiumi.”

Hiumi’s hand stopped on the doorknob. At that moment, she remembered the smile Chigiri had when playing with that strange boy. She turned her head away. 

“I’m just letting you handle this. I’m still here if you need me, okay?” She hesitated. “We’re not just the princess and prince. We’re brother and sister. Remember that.”

“Okay…” 

Hiumi shut the door behind her. 

~

Hiumi laid her head against the wall. She looked at the direction Chigiri ran off to, then up above her, where the window sill was. The window that peered into the garden. Where she saw the boy with Chigiri for the first time.

The image of the nervousness in the boy’s movement flashed in her mind, but so did the laughter the two shared. In that clearing, all alone, where there was no one else besides the two of them together. As if they were the only two to have ever existed. 

“I wonder if that was the right choice…” She whispered to herself.

[pinimi]

Armand orchestrated Madeleine’s death because she so easily outcunted him. Absolutely no effort just laughed him in the face at his questions “yeah I can live and be mentally stable for eternity. what, like it’s hard?” she said skill issue if you can’t handle killing as a vampire. Every night Armand has seven different existential crisis and Madeleine sleeps soundly without a shred of guilt WHILE ALSO looking dead drop gorgeous and being funnier than everyone around her. Armand had to take her out early. He never stood a chance

[hephaestuscrew]

The role of Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual in the characterisation, symbolism, and themes of Wolf 359

TL;DR: The DSSPPM is used as a tool to help establish and develop Minkowski and Eiffel as characters: Minkowski as a strict Commander who clings to the certainty provided by a rigid source of authority like the DSSPPM, and Eiffel as the anti-authority slacker who strongly objects to the idea that he ought to read the manual. The way their contrasting attitudes towards the DSSPPM manifest through the show reflect their character development and changing dynamic. The DSSPPM can be directly used against the protagonists by those with power over them, and the reveal of its authorship gives a particularly sinister edge to its regular presence in the show. But it can be also be repurposed and seen through an individual interpersonal lens.

Note: There’s plenty that you could say about the DSSPPM through the lens of what it says about Goddard Futuristics as an organisation, or about Pryce and Cutter as people. Or you could talk about Lambert quoting the DSSPPM an absurd number of times in Change of Mind, and Lovelace’s reactions to this. But in this essay, I’ll be analysing on mentions of the DSSPPM with a focus on Minkowski, Eiffel, and their dynamic.

“One of those mandatory mission training things”: the DSSPPM as a tool to establish characterisation

The first mention of Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual (the DSSPPM) in Wolf 359 is also the very first interaction we hear Eiffel and Minkowski have. In fact, the first time we hear Minkowski's voice at all is her telling Eiffel off for not having read the manual:

[Ep1 Succulent Rat-Killing Tar] MINKOWSKI Eiffel, did you read your copy of Pryce and Carter?  EIFFEL My copy of what?  MINKOWSKI Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual.  EIFFEL Was that one of those mandatory mission training things?  MINKOWSKI Yes.  EIFFEL In that case, yes, I definitely did.  MINKOWSKI Did you now? Because I happened to find your copy of the D.S.S.P.P.M. floating in the observation deck.  EIFFEL Oh?  MINKOWSKI Still in its plastic wrapping.

This is an effective way to establish their conflicting personalities right out of the gate. Minkowski's determination to "do things by the book - this book in fact" contrasts clearly with Eiffel's professed ignorance about and clear disregard for "this... Jimmy Carter thing”. Purely through their attitudes to this one book, they slot easily into clear archetypes which inevitably clash. Everything about Eiffel in that opening episode sets him up as a slacker who doesn't care about authority, but the image of his mandatory mission training manual floating in the observation deck "still in its plastic wrapping" provides a particularly striking illustration.

By contrast, we immediately encounter Minkowski as a strict leader who cares deeply about making sure everything is done according to protocol; the intense importance she places on the DSSPPM is one of the very first things we know about her. Her insistence on the importance of the survival manual might seem somewhat understandable at first, if perhaps unhelpfully aggressive, but it starts to feel less sensible as soon as we start to hear some of the tips from this manual:

Deep Space Survival Tip Number Five: Remain positive at all times. Maintain a cheerful attitude even in the face of adversity. Remember: when you are smiling the whole world smiles with you, but when you're crying you're in violation of fleet-wide morale codes and should report to your superior officer for disciplinary action.

The strange, controlling, vaguely sinister tone of some of the tips we hear in the first episode is largely played for laughs, emphasised by the exaggeratedly upbeat manner in which Hera reads them. But even these first few tips give us some initial suggestions that the powers behind this mission might not care all that much about the wellbeing of their crew members.

It says something about Minkowski that she places such faith and importance in a book which says things like "Failing to remain calm, could result in your grisly, gruesome death" and "when you're crying you're in violation of fleet-wide morale codes and should report to your superior officer for disciplinary action." (Foreshadowing the Hephaestus Station as the home of immense emotional repression and compartmentalising...) Having those kind of pressures and demands placed on her (and those around her) by people above her in the military hierarchy doesn’t unsettle Minkowski.

Eiffel groans and sighs as he listens to the tips, but Minkowski seems to see this manual as an essential source of wisdom. The main role the manual plays in this episode is to establish Minkowski and Eiffel as contrasting characters with very different approaches to authority and therefore a potential to clash.

When Minkowski demands that Eiffel reads the DSSPPM, he decides to get Hera to read it to him, asking her to keep this as “a 'just the two of us, totally secret, never tell Commander Minkowski' thing”. Eiffel seems convinced that Minkowski won't be happy with him listening to Hera read the DSSPPM rather than reading it himself. This suggests that (at least in Eiffel's interpretation) Minkowski’s orders are not just about her wanting him to know the contents of the manual, since this could theoretically be accomplished just as well by him listening to it. But she wants him to do things in what she’s deemed to be the correct way, to put in the right amount of effort, and not to take what she might see as a shortcut. It’s not just about the contents of the manual; it’s about the commitment to protocol that reading it represents.

“When in doubt: whip it out”: Hilbert’s use of the DSSPPM

In Season 1, the DSSPPM isn't purely associated with Minkowski. Hilbert actually quotes it more than she does in the first few episodes. In Ep2 Little Revolución, Hilbert's response to Eiffel's toothpaste protest is inspired by "Pryce and Carter six fourteen: “When in doubt, whip it out - ‘it’ being hydrochloric acid.”" This tip is absurd in a more direct obvious way than those we heard in Ep1. While this absurdity is partly for humour, it also casts further doubt on the usefulness of this supposedly authoritative survival manual, and therefore on the wisdom of trusting Command.

In Ep4 Cataracts and Hurricanoes, Hilbert starts to quote Tip #4 at Eiffel, who protests "I'm not gonna have one of the last things I hear be some crap from the survival manual". These moments again place Eiffel in clear opposition to the DSSPPM, but also suggest that Hilbert's attitude towards the DSSPPM - and therefore towards Command - is closer to Minkowski's than to Eiffel's.

When Hilbert turns on the Hephaestus crew in his Christmas mutiny, his allegiance to Command is revealed as dangerous. And here the DSSPPM comes up again. As Minkowski dissolves the door between her and Hilbert, she triumphantly echoes his own words back to him: "Pryce and Carter six fourteen: “When in doubt, whip it out - ‘it’ being hydrochloric acid.” Never. Fails." This provides a callback to a previous, more comedic conflict on the Hephaestus, and reminds the listener of a time when Minkowski and Hilbert were working together against Eiffel, in contrast to the current situation of Minkowski and Eiffel versus Hilbert. But it also shows that Minkowski, like Hilbert, is capable of using some of the more absurd DSSPPM tips to defeat an adversary. And it shows Minkowski leaning on those tips in a real moment of crisis.

Once Hilbert has betrayed the crew in order to follow orders from Command, we might look back on his quoting of the DSSPPM as casting the manual in a more sinister light, and again calling into question the wisdom of Minkowski placing such trust in it.

“It's not that I don't believe it, I'm just disgusted by it”: the DSSPPM as an indicator of a changing dynamic

The next mention of the DSSPPM is in Ep17 Bach to the Future:

MINKOWSKI Eiffel's been spot-testing me, Hera. He doesn't believe that I've memorized all of the survival tips in Pryce and Carter. EIFFEL It's not that I don't believe it, I'm just disgusted by it. I keep hoping to discover it's not true. MINKOWSKI Well, believe as little as you want, doesn't change the fact that I do know them. And so should you!

I think this provides an interesting illustration of the way in which Minkowski and Eiffel’s dynamic has developed since Ep1. They still have deeply contrasting attitudes to the DSSPPM, but this contrast is now a source of entertainment between them, rather than merely of conflict.

Given that Hera wasn’t aware of Eiffel testing Minkowski on the tips, we can guess that it’s a game they came up with while Hera was offline. In the midst of all the exhaustion and uncertainty and fear they were dealing with after Hilbert’s mutiny, this was a way they found to pass the time. It must have been Eiffel who suggested it; Minkowski cites his disbelief as the reason for the spot-testing. And yet she plays along, responding each time, even though this activity has no real productive value.

Minkowski is keen to demonstrate that she does know the tips and she emphasises that Eiffel ought to know them too, but their interactions about the DSSPPM in this episode have none of the genuine irritation and frustration that they displayed in Ep1. It feels almost playful and teasing. Eiffel still thinks Minkowski is "completely insane" for learning all the tips and is "disgusted" by her commitment to memorising them, but these comments feel much closer to joking about a friend's weird traits than to insulting a hated coworker's personality. It feels like something has shifted since Eiffel responded to Minkowski’s passion for the DSSPPM by saying “I'm so glad that your shrivelled husk of a dictator's heart is as warm as a decompression chamber”.

Another thing to note here is that Minkowski's respect for the DSSPPM has clearly survived Hilbert's Christmas mutiny and Minkowski's resulting distrust of Command. From Hilbert's behaviour at Christmas, it's clear that the crew's survival is not at the top of Command's priority list. But Minkowski still trusts the book that Command told her to read. She still thinks Eiffel should read it too. The main figures of authority above her are dangerous and untrustworthy, but she still clings to the source of guidance they provided her with.

It's also worth noting that Minkowski has not just learnt the advice in each of the 1001 tips, but she has memorised (nearly) all of them by number. If it was just about the information that the manual provides to inform responses to potentially life-or-death situations, then knowing the numbers wouldn't be necessary. Nor would it be particularly useful to know them all exactly word-for-word. Minkowski's reliance on the DSSPPM is again suggested to be about more than the potential practical use of its content. It's about showing that she is committed and disciplined and up to the task of leading. She does have some awareness of the strangeness of many of the tips, but this doesn't diminish the value of her adherence to the manual for her:

EIFFEL You're insane.  MINKOWSKI I'm disciplined. Although I will admit they do get more... esoteric as you go higher up the list.

There's only one tip Minkowski doesn't seem to remember, and that's revealing too:

EIFFEL 555? Minkowski DRAWS BREATH - and STOPS SHORT. [...] MINKOWSKI Hold on a second, I know this. (beat) Dammit. EIFFEL Hey, look at that! Looks like there may be hope for you yet. MINKOWSKI Quiet, Eiffel. Hera, what's D.S.S.P.P.M. 555? HERA "Good communication habits are key to continued subsistence. Be in touch with other crew members about shipboard activities. Interfacing about possible problems or dangers is the best way to anticipate and prevent them." This hangs in the air for a second. Then – EIFFEL So you forget the one tip in the entire manual that's actually helpful? MINKOWSKI Shut up.

Communication is a key theme of this show, so it’s interesting that this is the one tip Minkowski can’t remember, perhaps indicating an aspect of leadership and teamwork that she doesn’t always prioritise or find easy.

Eiffel saying “Looks like there may be hope for you yet” seems like just a throwaway teasing line, but it’s got a profound edge to it. A lot of Minkowski’s arc is about learning how to provide her own direction and support her crew outside of the systems of authority and hierarchy that she’s grown so attached to. So perhaps Eiffel is right to see a kind of hope in her failure to remember every single DSSPPM tip – she has the potential to break free of her reliance on external authority.

“Which one was 897, what was the exact phrasing of that Deep Space Survival Tip?”: the DSSPPM in interactions with Cutter

The Wolf 359 liveshow, Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol, is literally named after the manual. This suggests, before we’ve even heard/watched the episode, that the DSSPPM will be a key symbol here. Which is interesting because I'd say the liveshow has two main plot points: (a) Eiffel's failure to read the DSSPPM or follow orders in general, the resulting disruption to the mission, and his crewmates' frustration with this; and (b) the looming threat of Cutter, the necessity of keeping information from Command, and the risk of fatal mission termination.

Even without the knowledge that Cutter is one of the co-authors of the DSSPPM (which neither the Hephaestus crew nor a first-time listener knows at this point), there's a kind of irony in the contrast between these two plotlines. On the one hand, Minkowski repeatedly berates Eiffel for not having read Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual, which was made mandatory by Command. On the other hand, she is aware that Command in general - and Cutter specifically - represents the biggest threat to the safety and survival of her crew.

Cutter uses the DSSPPM against each of the Hephaestus crew in their one-on-one conversations with him. For Minkowski, he uses it as a way of emphasising the expectations and responsibility placed on her:

MINKOWSKI There are always gaps between expectation and reality, but-- CUTTER But it's our job as leaders to close that gap, isn't it? Pryce and Carter...? MINKOWSKI 414, yes. Yes, sir, I know.

Cutter knows that Minkowski will know those tips and he knows abiding by them is important to her. She's quick to demonstrate her knowledge of the DSSPPM and agree with the tip. There's something deeply sinister to me about Cutter's use of the word 'our' here. His phrasing includes them both as leaders who should be ensuring that things are exactly as expected. It’s almost a kind of flattery at her authority, but it comes with impossibly high expectations. This way of emphasising the importance and responsibilities of her role as Commander is a targeted strategy by Cutter at manipulating Minkowski, designed to appeal to her values.

In Hera's one-on-one, Cutter uses a DSSPPM tip to interpret her behaviour and claim that he can read her motives:

CUTTER This thing you're doing. Asking questions while you get your bearings. HERA Sir, I'm just curious about-- CUTTER Pryce and Carter 588: Shows of courtesy and polite queries are an efficient way to gain time necessary to strategize.

Unlike with Minkowski (or Eiffel), Cutter doesn't prompt Hera to demonstrate her knowledge of the manual. That wouldn't work as a power play against Hera, who would be able to recall the manual (or, rather, retrieve the file, however that distinction works within her memory) but who doesn't care about the DSSPPM like Minkowski does. Instead, Cutter implies that Hera’s behaviour can be predicted - or at the very least seen through - by the DSSPPM, which seems like a cruel attempt by Cutter at belittling her.

For Eiffel, Cutter uses the manual as a weapon in a different way again. He asks Eiffel, "which one was 897, what was the exact phrasing of that Deep Space Survival Tip?", something which Eiffel clearly doesn't know, but Cutter of course does. This puts Eiffel on the back foot, trying to defend and justify himself, allowing Cutter to emphasise his position of power yet again.

The DSSPPM plays a double role in the liveshow. On the one hand, as Minkowski reminds Eiffel, proper knowledge of the manual "would've saved [the crew] from these problems with the nav computer" – some of the tips can potentially save the crew a great deal of hassle, stress, and risk. On the other hand, the same manual is used by Cutter to manipulate, unsettle, and intimidate the crew. There are these two sides to the information given to the crew by Command - two sides to the manual which Minkowski still values.

In another duality for the DSSPM, the manual is sometimes used as a symbol of the relationship between the crew members and Command, and sometimes used to indicate the dynamics between the individual crew members, usually Minkowski and Eiffel. Before Cutter’s appearance in the liveshow, Minkowski and Eiffel’s discussions of the DSSPPM reflect interpersonal disagreements between two people with fundamentally different attitudes:

MINKOWSKI Oh come on, why do you think I keep trying to get you to go over these things? Do you think I enjoy going through them? EIFFEL Yes. MINKOWSKI Well, alright, I do. But this knowledge could save your life.

Minkowski enjoys rules, regulations, and certainty, for their own sake as much as for any practical usefulness. Eiffel very much does not. This is a simple clash of individuals, in which the link between the DSSPPM and Command is implicit. Minkowski doesn't seem to question the idea that the information in the DSSPPM is potentially life-saving, even though she knows Command don't care about their lives. But Cutter’s repeated references to the DSSPPM remind us who made that book a mandatory part of mission training – it certainly wasn’t Minkowski, even if she’s often the one attempting to enforce this rule.

At the end of the liveshow, in a desperate attempt to prevent mission termination, Eiffel promises Cutter that he will read the DSSPPM (the liveshow transcript notes that him saying this is "like pulling teeth"), an instance of the manual being used in negotiations between the Hephaestus crew and Command. All Minkowski’s orders weren’t enough to get Eiffel to read that book, but a genuine life-or-death threat might just about be enough. Perhaps it's ironic that Eiffel reads the survival manual out of a desire for survival, not because he thinks the contents of the book will help him survive, but because he’s grasping anything he can offer to buy the crew’s survival from those who created that same book.

In the final scene of the liveshow, Minkowski catches Eiffel reading the DSSPPM, and he fumbles to hide that he's been reading it, a humorous reversal of all the times that he's lied to her that he has read it. Perhaps admitting that he's reading it would be like letting Minkowski win. Minkowski seems to find both surprise and amusement in seeing Eiffel finally reading the manual, but she doesn't push him to admit it. There's some slightly smug but still friendly teasing in the way Minkowski says "were you now?" when Eiffel says that he was just reading something useful. In that final scene, the manual is viewed again through the lens of Minkowski and Eiffel’s dynamic – Command’s relation to the DSSPPM becomes secondary.

“The first thing I'd make damn sure was hard wired into anything that might end up in a situation like this one”: the DSSPPM as a tool of survival

In Ep30 Mayday, when Eiffel is stranded alone on Lovelace’s shuttle, he hallucinates Minkowski to bring him out of his helpless panic and force him into action. And this hallucination also brings with it one of Minkowski’s interests:

MINKOWSKI Eiffel... I worked on this shuttle. Reprogramming that console. EIFFEL So? How does that help – MINKOWSKI Think about it. BEAT. And then he gets it. EIFFEL Oh goddammit. MINKOWSKI What's the first thing that I would do when programming a flight computer? The first thing I'd make damn sure was hard wired into anything that might end up in a situation like this one? EIFFEL Pyrce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual.

Again, a conversation about the DSSPPM gives us an indication of the development of Minkowski and Eiffel’s relationship. Not only does Eiffel imagine Minkowski as a figure of (fairly aggressive) support when he’s stranded and alone, he thinks about what advice she’d give him and he follows it. Rather than dismissing the manual entirely, he looks for tips that are relevant to his situation. He’s not pleased about his hallucinated-Minkowski trying to get him to read the DSSPPM, but that was what his mind gave him in an almost hopeless situation. Some part of him now empathises with Minkowski’s priorities in a way that he definitely wasn’t doing in Ep1. He thinks that the DSSPPM might be on the shuttle because he knows the manual is important to Minkowski. It’s by imagining Minkowski that he gets himself to read the manual in order to see if it can help him survive – he certainly doesn’t think about what Cutter or anyone else from Command would tell him to do.

In the end, the tips Eiffel picks out aren’t all that helpful or informative: “Confront reality head-on”; “In an emergency, take stock of the tools at your disposal. Then take stock again. Restock. Repurpose. Reuse. Recycle."; and “"In times of trouble, an idle mind is your worst enemy”. But Eiffel does use these tips to structure his initial thinking about how to survive on Lovelace’s shuttle. In an almost entirely hopeless situation, Eiffel finds some value in the DSSPPM. But since the tips he picks out are mostly platitudes, the actual wisdom that allows him to survive all comes from his own mind; the tips, like his hallucinations, are just a tool he uses to externalise his process of figuring out what to do.

“Wasn't there something about this in the survival manual?”: Minkowski potentially moving away from the DSSPPM

Given the significance of the DSSPPM in Season 1 and 2 to Minkowski in particular, it feels notable when the manual isn’t referenced. Unless I've missed something (and please let me know if I have), Minkowski – the real one, not Eiffel’s hallucination - doesn't bring up the manual of her own accord at all in Seasons 3 or 4. This might make us wonder if she’s moved away from her trust in and reliance on that book provided by Command.

Perhaps the arrival of the SI-5, which highlights to Minkowski that the chain of command is not a good indicator of trustworthy authority, was the final straw. Or perhaps the apparent loss of Eiffel - and any subsequent questioning of her leadership approach, or realisations about the valuable perspective Eiffel provided - were what finally broke down her faith in that book.

Alternatively, perhaps Minkowski still trusts the DSSPPM as much as ever, but trying to get Eiffel or any of the other crew members to listen to it is a losing battle that she no longer sees as a priority. Either way, Minkowski’s apparent reluctance to bring up the DSSPPM feels like a shift in her approach. 

The associations between Minkowski and the DSSPPM are still there in Season 3, but they are raised by other characters, not by Minkowski herself. The manual is used to emphasise Eiffel’s difficulties when he’s put in charge of trying to get Maxwell and Hera to fill out a survey in Ep32 Controlled Demolition. Trying to force other people to be productive pushes Eiffel into some very uncharacteristic behaviour:

EIFFEL Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? It's like you've never even read Pryce and Carter! Tip #490 very clearly states that – He trails off. After a BEAT – HERA Officer Eiffel? MAXWELL You, uh, all right there? EIFFEL (the horror) What have I become? [...] Eiffel, now wrapped up in a blanket, is next to Lovelace. He is still very clearly shaken. EIFFEL ... and... it was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was slowly transforming into Commander Minkowski. [...] It was a nightmare! A terrifying, bureaucratic nightmare!

This is a funny role reversal, but it shows us the strength of Eiffel’s association between Minkowski and the DSSPPM, as well his extreme aversion to finding himself in a strict bureaucratic leadership position. It also suggests that becoming extremely frustrated when trying to get other people to do what you want might make anyone resort to relying on an external source of authority, such as the manual. I don’t know whether this experience helps Eiffel empathise with Minkowski, but perhaps it might give us some insight into how her need for authority and control in the leadership role she occupied might have reinforced her deference to the DSSPPM.

In Ep34, we get a suggestion of another character having a strong association between the DSSPPM and Minkowski. After the discovery of Funzo, Hera asks Minkowski what the manual says about it:

HERA Umm... I don't know if this is a good idea. Lieutenant, wasn't there something about this in the survival manual? MINKOWSKI Pryce and Carter 792: Of all the dangers that you will face in the void of space, nothing compares to the existential terror that is Funzo.

It’s interesting to me that Hera asks Minkowski here. We know from Ep1 that “Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual is among the files [Hera has] access to”. Two possible reasons occur to me for why Hera might ask Minkowski about the DSSPPM tip here. One possibility is that Hera thinks that retrieving the manual from her databanks and finding the correct tip would take her more time than it would take for Minkowski to just remember the tip. Which suggests interesting things about the nature of Hera’s memory, but also implies that - at least in Hera's view -Minkowski’s knowledge of the DSSPPM is more reliable than that of a supercomputer.

The other possibility is that Hera could have recalled the relevant DSSPPM tip incredibly quickly but she doesn’t want to, maybe because she resents having that manual in her head in the first place, or maybe because she wants to show respect for Minkowski’s knowledge as a Commander. Either way, we can see that Hera – like Eiffel – strongly associates Minkowski with the DSSPPM.

And Minkowski, even if she wasn’t the one to bring up the manual here, recalls the relevant tip immediately. Perhaps she is moving away from her trust in that manual, but everything that she learned as part of her old deference to the authority of Command is still there in her head. She might want to forget it by the end of the mission, but that’s not easily achieved. The way Minkowski’s friends/crewmates associate the manual with her emphasises the difficulty she’ll face if she tries to move away from it.

“One thousand and one pains in my ass”: The authorship of the DSSPPM

In Ep55 A Place for Everything, Eiffel effectively expresses his long-held dislike of the DSSPPM when he comes face-to-face with both of its authors:

EIFFEL What? What the hell are - wait a minute - Pryce? As in one thousand and one pains in my ass, Pryce? (sudden realization) Which... makes you...? MR. CUTTER (holding out his hand) W.S. Carter, pleased to meet you. 

It’s significant that the two ‘big bads’ of the whole series are the authors of the manual which Minkowski and Eiffel were bickering about all the way back in Ep1. It’s not the only way in which the message of this show positions itself firmly against just accepting externally imposed authority and hierarchy without question or evidence, but it does reinforce this ethos.

By being the authors of the manual, Cutter and Pryce have had a sinister hidden presence throughout the show. Long before we know who Pryce is and even before we hear Cutter’s name, their manual is there, occupying a prominent place in Minkowski’s motivations and priorities, and in her arguments with Eiffel. It’s not at all comparable to what Pryce put in Hera’s mind, but it is another way in which these antagonists have wormed their way into the heads of our protagonists.

Minkowski will have to come to terms with the fact that the 1001 tips she spent hours memorising and reciting were written by two people who would have killed her, her crew, and even the whole human race without hesitation if it served their purposes. We never get to hear Minkowski’s reaction to learning the identities of Pryce and Carter, but I think processing the role of their manual in her life will be a long and difficult road that’ll tie into a lot of other emotional processing she needs to do. Her assertion to Cutter that, without him, she is “Renée Minkowski... and that is more than enough to kick your ass!” feels like part of that journey. She doesn’t mention the DSSPPM at all in Season 4. She’s growing beyond it.

"Doug Eiffel's Deep Space Survival Guide": The DSSPPM as a weapon against those who wrote it

Last but not least, I couldn’t write about Eiffel and the DSSPPM without mentioning this scene from  Ep58 Quiet, Please:

EIFFEL As someone once told me: "Pryce and Carter 754: In an emergency, take stock of the tools at your disposal, then take stock again. Repurpose, reuse, recycle." And right now? You know what I got? I got this lighter from when Cutter was using me as his personal cabana boy. [...] and I've got myself this big, fat copy of the Deep Space Survival Manual, and you know what I'm gonna do with it? [...] Eiffel STRIKES THE LIGHTER. And LIGHTS THE BOOK ON FIRE, revealing Pryce just a few feet away from him! EIFFEL I am going to repurpose it... and reuse it... and recycle it into a GIANT FIREBALL OF DEATH! And he swings the flaming book forward, HITTING PRYCE ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD. [...] EIFFEL That's right! Doug Eiffel's Deep Space Survival Guide, B-

No one other than Doug Eiffel could pull off the chaotic energy of this moment. It doesn’t get much more anti-authority than lighting the mandatory mission manual on fire and using it as a weapon against one of its malevolent authors. It might not be the wisest move safety-wise, and it certainly doesn’t improve the situation when the node gets jettisoned into space. But there is still a powerful symbolism in taking a symbol of the hierarchical forces that have tried to constrain you for years and setting it alight to fight back against those forces. Eiffel takes his own approach to survival and puts his own name into the title, an assertion of his agency and rejection of Command's authority.

The DSSPPM tip that he uses here is one of those he considers when stranded on Lovelace’s shuttle. It’s understandable that after that experience it might have stuck in his memory.

I can’t help feeling that the line “as someone once told me” has a double meaning here. The immediate implication is to interpret “someone” as being Pryce and Cutter – it’s their manual after all – which makes this line a fairly effective ‘fuck you’ gesture, emphasising how Eiffel is using Pryce’s manual against her in both an abstract and a physical sense.

But I think “someone” could also mean Minkowski. Eiffel uses a singular rather than plural term, there’s already an association established between Minkowski and the DSSPPM, and, in Mayday, it’s his hallucination of Minkowski that gets him to read this tip. She's probably also recited this tip to him at other points as well. Under this interpretation, this line is as much a gesture of solidarity with Minkowski as it is a taunt to Pryce. I like the idea that these two interpretations can run alongside each other, reflecting the duality of the use of the DSSPPM that I talked about in relation to the liveshow.

Conclusion

The DSSPPM is a symbol of external rules imposed on people by those with power over them. These rules can be strange, arbitrary, and even sinister, but for those with a desire for certainty and control, like Minkowski, they can be tempting. And they can have their uses, as well as the potential to be repurposed. Attitudes towards these rules provide an effective shorthand as part of Minkowski and Eiffel’s characterisation. And the clash between these attitudes, and how that clash manifests, can tell us something about how the dynamic between those characters develops and changes.

[ohno-the-sun]

Oooo scene from chapter of fic I finally finished

Link to the first chapter here

And since they asked @enyter

[ohbo-ohno]

hello, happy october eve everyone!

just wanted to let you guys know that all 30 of my kinktober prompts are queued up for the month & i'll be cross-posting them on my ao3. they'll post at 7 a.m. my time (central time zone in america) everyday. fair warning - some of them are definitely better than others lmao, and most of them vary pretty drastically in terms of consent. cw's are listed before the drabble, so there shouldn't be any confusion there

each drabble is anywhere from 500 to 5,000 words and almost all of them are ghost x soap. hope you guys enjoy!!!

i'm using this prompt list and i'll be uploading the first chapter of my serial killer ghoap x reader au on the 31st in place of the free day

as always, let me know if something extra needs to be added to the tags before the fic! i was a little unsure of how to tag certain things without spoiling the drabble and some of them get pretty intense imo, so if i missed something send me a message or an ask and i'll fix it asap :)

all that said - happy reading! i hope you guys like what i've got for the month <3

[broccoli-bitching]

Writing Commissions - my friend will write you (almost) anything

A very close friend on mine Mx. Parsnips (disabled, transmasc, they/he, lesbian) has recently starting accepting writing commissions on fiverr (both sfw and ns/fw). They lost their job fairly recently due to their disability so right now he's accepting pretty much any and all writing requests you might have.

Having read his writing for many years I'll say that Parsnips is exceptionally talented. For me personally, I've always found thier characters to feel extremely life-like and the dialogue to just flow in a way I've not really seen anywhere else. It wouldn't shock me if they ended up getting published one day.

If you'd like to get an idea of how they write I would recommend checking out his completed Steddie fic Like a Rainbow in the Dark. It is exceptional work.

It'd be amazing if any of you could check them out or offer them a commission or even just reblog this post to get it shared more widely.

https://www.fiverr.com/s/BlQm6G

[7loveneverfails]

I might be planning some research to write a novel of the life of Elijah.

I might have a note on my phone....

[derrypubliclibrary]

now that its summer im Hoping to spend more time writing so . good news for the those of you who read my fics community

[nostalgia-tblr]

if god is real why do i have to mute the author of the oneshot collection not just the oneshot collection itself?

[saph-writes]

Living Together (New Situations, Old Habits)

ao3 link:

Summary: A series of stories following Shidou and Sae living together for the first time. Along the way, they both begin to learn more about each other, and maybe a little about themselves.

Words: 2421

Sae should've thought twice before agreeing to move in with Ryusei. It's very rare that he finds himself thinking that. Usually, he makes every decision with careful consideration and thought. Mistakes are a rare occurrence, as that would require a lapse in judgement. Then again, he did end up giving Ryusei his number years ago, and regretted it immediately when he was awoken early the morning with a text asking for dick pics. He swore up and down later that it was just a joke (a flirty tease apparently) but that didn't make Sae any less irritated. Not to mention that once they started going out, Sae started to see more and more of how Ryusei is really like and to no surprise, he is just as much of a demon off the field than he is on it.

Despite all that, he had somehow been able to convince him to buy an apartment for the two of them, with Sae's money of course, and move in together.

If only he could travel back in time and warn his old self. Actually, maybe he should go back even earlier and make sure he never found out about the blue lock project in the first place, and Ryusei would've never become a problem. Or maybe before then, when he got his first ever offer to Spain. Blissful ignorance actually seems preferable right now.   Sae finds himself questioning everything that has led up to this point as he stands by the door in their new apartment, keys in hand, and stares with a deathly glare at a bobbing head in the kitchen. The kitchen that had been squeaky clean before he left, but now lays as a complete mess.

Everywhere is absolutely filled to the brim with dirty dishes and containers, trash, bits of food literally everywhere (how the fuck did he get some on the ceiling), and unopened bags. Sae shuts the door behind him and sets the keys on the table. The blonde head of hair standing in front of the stove pipes up and turns excitedly. "Sae-chan!" "What the fuck are you doing." Ryusei grins and playfully shakes the spatula in his hand around in the air. "Making dinner for a special someonee... You wouldn't know him though, he's super shy." The spatula throws a bit of dough onto the counter. Sae can feel his eyebrow begin to twitch. "I clean this entire kitchen before I left, how the fuck did you fuck it all up in a few hours?"

Ryusei seems to be feeling extra giddy today, because he just gives Sae a sly smile and shrugs, giggling to himself as he turns back to stir the pot. At least 3 others were piled beside it on the counter. "Dunnoo, maybe someone casted a spell here to curse us... should I put in soy sauce or tomato?"

Ryusei looks thoughtfully up and contemplates. He settles the dirty spoon down on the counter, the white counter, and begins opening the cabinets. His lips twists into a frown. 

"Saee, we don't have-"

"I already bought it. It's in one of those bags." Ryusei grins and Sae catches him moving to open the bags."-Wash your hands first. Disgusting."

Ryusei blinks and notices his hands, all dirty with dried sauces and spices stuck on. While he puts them under the sink, his head bops from side to side, and he's humming a joyful tune. It sounds vaguely familiar to that obscure music Sae always hears him listen to. He turns back to Sae. "All done~"

"Okay, now help me clean up."

"I need to finish our special meal first though." Sae is more than willing to eat takeout for the fifth time that week, but he complies nonetheless. 

"Alright. And how long will that take."

"Hmm.." Ryusei playfully taps his chin and closes his eyes, as if he was deep in thought (as if he had more than two braincells). "Welll.. if you're nice, maybe another hour. Then, as the chef, I can graciously welcome you to my kitchen for our special dinner."

"You mean my kitchen?"

"Our kitchen," Ryusei corrects, shooting him another toothy grin.  He grabs the soy sauce out of the bag and dumps some of it into the pot, splattering bits on the stove.

Sae was nearly fed up. "I'm going to kill you-" However, before he has the chance to strangle him (though he doubts Ryusei would count that as a punishment), his pocket starts vibrating and sending a obnoxiously loud ringtone. He grabs his phone out of his pocket and glances at the caller ID. Then, taking a deep breath, Sae calmly walks towards the door. "Oh? I thought you were going to kill me?" Ryusei says. He has a look of amusement, like he is excited to see he got a rise out of the usually calm and calculated Itoshi Sae. Sae gives him another death glare. "Clean this up before I come back in." "Will do~" Sae gets a final look at Ryusei turning back to the stove and jumping cautiously before he closes the door. Two days in, and he is already regretting moving in with someone with the mental intelligence of an 8-year old. But, he does do what he is told, and always seems weirdly happy about it, something that made Sae tolerate him a little bit more. At least more than other people his age. The phone is still ringing. Sae leans against the hallway of their apartment building, rests his head on the wall, and answers the call, discarding all those unnecessary thoughts and concerns that floated around in his head. ~ He ends up being out much longer than expected. The call lasted for about an hour, dealing with important matters from the club, and afterwards he was forced to help out an old lady move in some boxes. (He tried to get out of it, but this lady was tone-deaf or something because she kept insisted repeatedly. Sae was about to tell her to fuck off when he realized that Ryusei had locked the door with his keys inside, because of course he did.) By the time he finished, it had been nearly 2 hours, and Sae is ready to come in and see another mess even worse than the last. He is already mentally preparing to get the cleaning supplies he had brought a few days before just for this very occasion. Bracing himself, Sae violently shakes the doorknob to their apartment. The door flies open. There appears Ryusei, leaning against the doorframe with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He even has the audacity to give him a wink. "Hey there, you come here often pretty boy?" "Let me in." As expected, Ryusei does as he was told. He has on the apron he had worn while cooking, even though it was technically Sae's, and his back hair is pulled back behind a headband. The apron is covered in dark stains and powder and so are parts of his sleeves and t-shirt appearing underneath. At least he has the decency to wear casual clothes beneath his apron. Sae steps into the apartment. However, as he looks around the place (their place), he raises an eyebrow.

The apartment isn't in shambles. The furniture is still standing, and nothing is on fire. The kitchen counters are perfectly clean, along with the stove and table. They look like they have been wiped down and the bits of trash that have been scattered all over have all been thrown away. Even the dishes and pots are washed, leaving the sink completely empty and organized. Sae moves towards their small dinner table for two that sits in between the kitchen and tv area. A skinny glass vase stands in the middle, perfectly distanced between the two chairs. In it, a single red rose. Sae didn't remember buying- Two arms wraps around his waist.

Sae jumps. His body goes on edge, tense, until he looks down and spots two familiar blond hair strands out of the corner of his eye. A head leans on top his shoulder gently, pressing a light weight on his back. "You've been gone all day," Ryusei whispers. "I thought we'd eat dinner together, just the two of us."  His voice is so uncharacteristically soft that Sae has to repeat his words again in his head to fully register it. For a moment, he wonders if Ryusei was acting this way because he wants something. It wouldn't be the first time it had happen. But something about the way he holds his arms loosely around him and his movement rocking them back and forth tells him he was being genuine. It would explain his giddiness from before, too.  Sae leans in against him. "That's because you decided to kick someone during practice and got yourself suspended for a week."  "What else what I supposed to do? I was getting bored, no one there could make my heart explode. Not in the way you can, Sae.."

Of course they couldn't.. Sae thinks, but doesn't say. Ryusei doesn't say anything either.

The two of them fall into a mellow silence.

Ryusei shifts to position his head, and begins to hum a rhythm, presumingly the same song he had been humming just a few hours earlier. Sae is able hear it clearly right against his ear, where Ryusei is leaning his head against Sae's neck.

It is so clearly out of tune, not following any beat whatsoever. Completely disorganized, appearing in absolute disarray. And yet, a richness lays beneath the melody, one that if Sae listens closely, he could feel the notes as if they are coming right off sheet music. Then it came to him that Ryusei probably isn't trying to imitate the song he has in his head, but is instead adapting it to his liking. Changing bits and pieces of it in his own, unique way. 

It is a rhythm made solely for him, one that he is sharing with Sae at this very moment. 

As if he knew what Sae is thinking, Ryusei holds him closer, and hums the rich tune just a bit softer.

This isn't the same kind of flirty touch Ryusei usually gave when they were alone. Sae could tell that there is no underlying desire in his embrace, but rather a kind of comfort and protective hold containing nothing but affection. It is a touch that lives for the moment, for the simple wish of having him in his arms. They could've been there, laced together, for a few minutes or hours, it doesn't seem to matter, only that his arms were around him. That is all the two of them needed.

It is a feeling that lingered even after Ryusei pulls away and steps in front of him. He has a large stupid smile on his face. "My, my, who do we have here? You want me to pull the chair out for you, pretty boy?" Sae bares no reaction to Ryusei's usual flirtatious antics, but a smile inevitably escapes him. And like that, it was enough for Ryusei.

Ryusei grabs his hand and tugs him towards the chair. Sae decides to play along and sits down. Now that he thinks about it, he actually curious to see what Ryusei has made. The last time he cooked their meal, it was nearly inedible. Sae held that over his head for ages while ignoring the fact that he can't cook either. After all, it had been amusing to see Ryusei try to disprove him.  Sae looks at the table's surface, which already has plastic utensils placed in each of their spots. He knows damn well that they had metal spoons and forks in one of drawers. But as he stands up to get them, he was pushed back down into his seat. "Hold on, I'm almost done."

Irritated, Sae taps his fingers impatiently against the table. There are sounds of shuffling occurring behind him and footsteps moving up and down. Eventually, a presence appears right behind his seat and he sees a plate come down from above his head to be settled before him. It is a white ceramic plate, and on it is golden-colored noodles, glistening with a sauce poured all over. It is complimented with the typical side of white rice and vegetables covered in soy sauce. It even contained mushrooms, which were one of his favorite foods. In fact, he realizes he greatly enjoys all of the foods Ryusei has picked for tonight, and Sae can only faintly recall a time where he has mentioned it at all to him. Perhaps around the time they had started texting, years ago, when Sae had told him about his particular notions towards food. Ryusei sits across from him with a very similar plate. He sets down two glasses filled with red wine for the two of them and takes a sip from his glass. His apron is gone and he has even somehow had the time to change into a cleaner shirt. Quiet, ambient music plays in the background. In the just the span of a few hours, Ryusei has been able to turn their bare apartment into a place Sae thinks he would never want to leave. 

He catches Sae's eye and shoots him a winning smile. 

"What, you too impressed to speak?" That flirty tone is back, and combined with the earlier realization still turning in his head, Sae looks away. He takes in a large forkful of noodles and swallows hastily. After all these years, Sae could still feel flustered from something Ryusei did or said. It was like magic, a spell casted upon him to make something that has never existed before blossom inside him, like the rose that sits between them. It's a feeling he doesn't think he's felt since he's been thrown into the world-stage as a young teen. As Ryusei and Sae comfortably sit and eat ("the rice's overcooked." "aw you love it~"), talking about their day one moment and sitting in peaceful silence in another, Sae finds that he no longer regrets his decision.

This progression of events that has led him up to this point feels like it has always been met to happen. It's as natural as the setting sun and rising moon, a seed taken away from its dying mother to be planted again, a slow but worthwhile act of something lost being found. In fact, he thinks it's the best one he's ever made.

[nancywheeeler]

well the first 2 of 5 parts i outlined for this fic just clocked in at 20k so i guess look out for a 50k one-shot in the very near future

[walkingstackofbooks]

The trouble with writing is you have to write everything, not just the fun parts that are plaguing your brain 😅

[slusheeduck]

Call me Alexander Hamilton for the way I'm writing like TOMORROW WON'T ARRIVE, WRITE DAY AND NIGHT LIKE YOU NEED IT TO SURVIVE, HOW DO YOU WRITE EVERY SECOND YOU'RE ALIVE EVERY SECOND YOU'RE ALIVE EVERY SECOND YOU'RE ALIVE

[oikasugayama]

heyy!!! oh my god i don't want to be annoying or anything but i just can't get the akutagawa fic out of my mind-- 😭😭

so recently, i re-read it - for the fourth time (⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠) - and i wanted to ask a question about the conversation that takes place at the dinner with the akutagawa siblings and some other PM members, especifically the one where gin says that we wouldnt recognize akutagawa if we saw him truly drunk

soooo- i was wondering if we'll ever get to find out how he is when he gets drunk fr, and I also just wanted to know how the fic was going in general

I hope you're taking care of yourself, resting and taking breaks when writing, have a great day!!(⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

( and sorry for any mistakes english isn't my first language (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠) )

OMG four times????? you're insane and incredible and i'm so happy to have someone who likes what i made this much. im honored <333

I didn't have a plan of putting super drunk akutagawa in the fic in the future but hey, maybe i will now just for you ;)

i had a really shitty day at work but i wrote a few hundred words of a date scene yesterday, and i'm just now sitting down to write some more today! I'm excited about where the fic is going even though it's a bit troublesome weaving some of these plot threads together

also your english seems flawless to me, i wish i was that good at an extra language ;-;

[samderella]

Living with my in-laws after evacuating from a hurricane be like

I appreciate you love and want to spend time with me, but if you don't let me hide in the guest bedroom and write nonsense for five uninterrupted hours, I will scream

[flower-sniffing-friend]

how do people write long scenes, i can't get mine over 600 words 😭