#I can't get this story out of my head

[birinboom]

Ume makes a new best friend only a few weeks after you opened your cafe. Kerii, a mackerel tabby, has decided that he's her favorite person. Every time she hears his voice - even if she's busy playing or cuddling with another customer - she's off to scream at the door.

As soon as he enters, she's winding around his legs, begging for attention. If he takes too long (like saying hello to you and ordering his coffee, rude!!) she's waiting for him on his favorite arm chair, kneading the cushion. Or, on the chance it's occupied, whichever seat is closest.

As soon as he sits, which usually requires him to lift her out of the chair so he can actually sit, she's all over him, rubbing her face against his, headbutting his hands, nipping and licking at his nose - which Ume bears with a strained smile - until she plops onto his chest, her face pressed into his neck. You can hear the happy purrs across the room.

It's not uncommon that Ume ends up staying longer than he planned due to Kerii falling asleep in his arms. He doesn't have the heart to move her. Sometimes his friends will drop by to see him while he's cat-trapped. Other times he'll join Kerii in a nap, though you're pretty sure it's rarely on purpose. The arm chair is comfortable to sit in, but not great for napping.

At this point you're begging him to adopt Kerii. You're not sure she'll be truly happy anywhere else. Ume, however is hesitant. He's not really familiar with cats, and he usually doesn't spend a lot of time at home. Sure, she could come to work with him at the flower shop, as long as he moves some things around so she can't get to the flowers which are poisonous to her. But what about the rest of the time?

You eventually make a compromise with him: you'll help in the beginning, and drop by every so often to check up on both of them. It's a compromise all three of you happily agree to - you and Ume get to see each other more often, and Kerii gets her favorite human. And maybe, just maybe, you could move in too at some point.

Apparently posting a drabble yesterday didn't scratch my itch 'cause my head is still full of Umemiya.

Like I have the opening scene of a longer fic going where you've just moved to Makochi to open a cat cafe. You take a break from painting the cafe to visit a local summer festival which runs over a long weekend and you come across 20-something Ume manning a crepe booth (I just want him to make sweet treats for me okay??)

He strikes up conversation while he makes your crepe, something like:

Ume: haven't seen you around before, you new here? You: oh, like you know everybody around here ;) Ume: I pretty much do, yeah

Anyway, crepes are delicious, they have more fillings you want to try, you need energy after painting and prepping for the grand opening all day, so you come back the next evening and he's manning the booth again. More casual chatting. Next day (last day of the festival), same thing, but this time your crepe is on the house, he makes one for himself as well, and tells Kotoha that he's taking his break.

You walk around together for a while, just chatting, you make a comment about how you're gonna miss the crepes, and Ume's like 'they're pretty simple to make, I can show you how' and gives you his contact info.

You never get to take him up on the offer because when you open your cafe he's one of the first customers (gotta check out the new place, they have kitties and-- OH IT'S YOU!!!)

He becomes one of your regular customers before the week is over. (you're there. cuddly kitties. you. coffee's good. you. nice view (also you). it's a no-brainer to him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

But. I'm having a slight issue with this story.

I need to figure out what he does for a living. I have several opinions and I can't figure out which one fits him the best. The only two things I'm pretty settled on is that he would do something that benefits the community, and that he most likely wouldn't pursue a uni education. He doesn't strike me as someone who's overly book smart unless it's a subject he's interested in. So that strikes social worker off the list.

I could see him working as a gardener or working for/starting a landscaping company. Like he'd become one of the people in charge of maintaining the park. Put flower baskets in front of every store on the main street. Plant a couple of trees.

I could see him work in construction or as a mechanic. You need your driveway fixed, Gramps? Sure, he can do that on his day off. Car's making a funny noise? He'll take a look.

I could see him being a firefighter, risking his life to save people.

I don't know what to choose 😩

[benevolenterrancy]

Hi I have caught up to you on having feelings about Zhuzhi-Lang. He's a good boy! 🥺 Good snake boy! 🥺 I had the thought, after Zhuzhi let SQQ leave after SQQ yelled at him... what if they Stole Him. What if.

(Also have you read/been recommended anything by corduroyserpent yet? Big writer of Zhuzhi-Lang fics, including a very cute de-aged Zhuzhi-Lang and some zhushen)

Justifications of bride-stealing!

(AND HE'S THE BEST BOY 😭 I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, SO MUCH!! have some further au thoughts because this has contaminated my brain...)

What I think would actually happen if they stole SQQ? Absolutely nothing good for anyone, LBH would Lose His Fucking Mind xD as a more interesting answer though, I like the idea that Shen "Pedantic Nitpicky Asshole" Qingqiu's primary point of argument is that he is not a bride so he cannot be "bridenapped" regardless of demonic tradition or intention!

This eventually leads to them all completely avoiding the Maigu Ridge incident because TLJ realizes that, somehow, SQQ doesn't realize the depths of his son's feelings for him and decides to put all his efforts into being a wingman for his nephew instead because he finds the entire thing absolutely hilarious and rather satisfying after his own sad romance. Obviously someone like SQQ would do much better with his good, loyal nephew than the disappointing offspring of that disastrous relationship!

As for ZZL he just has to assume that LBH must not be treating SQQ anywhere near the way he should be (and like... he isn't wrong at this point, there is a non-zero amount of torture and terror going on here) if SQQ doesn't see himself as being tied to LBH in any way. And if he's not attached to LBH then there's absolutely no reason he shouldn't make his own efforts to seduce SQQ! After all, if LBH isn't valuing SQQ properly then obviously ZZL has to step up because someone as kind as SQQ deserves the best!!!

[fairsweetlonging]

based on this post of mine, imagine a choose your own story svsss au that functions basically like that app Episode, where all the good options are hidden behind 10000 point paywalls and shen qingqiu always gets the weirdest choices for no reason that don't make any sense and sometimes don't even influence the story.

【 yue qingyuan has invited you on a mission! will you:

option 1: slap him in the face

option 2: kiss him 】

x

【 you have an important meeting today, what will you wear?

option 1: beautiful green silk robes (20💎)

option 2: a cloth sack (free!) 】

x

【 mu qingfang is noticing there's something strange about your meridians

option 1: burst out crying and confess all your sins

option 2: tell him you're pregnant 】

or like liu qingge invites him to spar and he gets a [yes/no] option but when he picks "no" because he's tired liu qingge will literally just still drag him along.

it's even worse because shang qinghua has none of this. he has a normal system.

[gingermintpepper]

There are many things people expect from one called 'God of Blood'. Always, the first thought is the blood of war, the blood of violence, the blood of the weak shed for the goals of the strong. Ares doesn't think of the blood of battle at all. When he thinks of blood, he envisions the many tied knots of blood bonds and bonds forged in the blood of battle. Blood sons and blood daughters, blood brothers and battle sisters, blood oaths and blood vengeance - he watches over them all and keeps close each one of these bonds.

One cannot begrudge his displeasure then when he realises he cannot tell Leto's offspring apart just by looking at them.

It was easier when it was just Artemis. Dark hair curled about her shoulders, a fierce mien whenever Father summons her to the mountain, a scattering of bones and blood shed whenever she was disturbed; the eldest child of Leto was a wild thing, sharp toothed with sharper claws always at the ready. There's whispers of her being a twin, of her other half being made to crawl on their belly as penance for their sin of god-slaying but Ares pays it little mind. What twins look alike among their number? Even dog litters are born distinct with all their unique markings inlaid in their fur. Artemis' twin too would be much more than their sister's mirror image.

Pouring over his list now, he wishes anything about Phoebus Apollo was that simple.

Mirror image did not begin to describe it. The twins were the same height, the same build, had the same colour and texture hair, ate the same raw food and drank the same amount of nectar. There was no difference in how they dressed, no difference in the company they kept, no variance in the weapons they used. There are some days Ares still cannot believe Phoebus will grow into a man and not some nymph with the way his ears have that slender point. He watches them now, sitting together beneath a shady palm and stringing their bows in an uncanny unison and curses because he still cannot tell them apart. What use is his skill in knowing blood when they both have the same damn blood running through their veins? What bond is there to sense when they are tied so tightly together, Ares can scarcely tell brother from sister?

He sighs. Unadorned and completely alone, the only way to know who is who is to speak to them. He'll have to find more ways to tell them apart from a distance. Surely they cannot stay this similar all the rest of their immortal lives.

[ahollowgrave]

-- mistletoe. pt iv. (feat. the darling Rika of @darcar!)

You've unlocked a second, secret version:

[alicornze7]

The pacing is a wee bit weird but this took 2 whole days so bear with me here

(oh God it's even cheesier than the first post)

The aftermath

[sarnai4]

Athena: Ares, have you had a candy called Warheads?

Ares (suspiciously): Are you messing with me right now?

Athena: I'm being completely serious.

Ares (equally shocked and overjoyed): Really?!!

Athena (makes a bag appear): Try one.

Ares (eats it): So sour. You have to be courageous to eat these... I love them! (Devious) I bet I can eat more than you can.

Athena: I didn't necessarily tell you about them to start an eating competition.

Ares (downs another handful): Tastes like victory!

Athena:...(makes a bag appear for herself) That's what you think!

[nixie-deangel]

me to me, in a stern voice: we don't need another idea to add to the list. do you fucking hear me???? WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER!!!!

me to me, in a sad voice: okay.....I do hear you....but....🥺🥺🥺🥺 maybe think about hangster breaking up because of Jake's family though? just. just think about this with me. okay?🥺🥺 please?

me to me just giving up: *sigh*..............what's the idea?

me to me about to add yet another WIP to my new list: awesome! okay, so we see a lot about hangster being ex's and breaking up (and who's fault it is varying on the shifting tides of fandom and how we're feeling about characters from moment to moment)

BUT have we thought about Jake's family being the reason for it??? like. okay. Jake's family has so many expectations on who Jake should married, that every time Jake brings Bradley (and for this, we're saying both are stationed in Corpus Christi during this period) and they can't help making snide comments to Bradley about how he's not enough and how Jake won't actually settle for him and how Jake will eventually find someone better and more worthy of the Seresin name.

and well, seriously there is only so much Bradley can take, what with him already feeling not enough and out of place and like he's not deserving of Jake's love and attention and time anyway.

so it's the nail in the road that explodes the tire and sends Bradley careening into breaking them up and getting as far away as he possible can because yeah, he DOES want Jake to find his happily ever after and get everything he wants and deserves but Bradley cannot be around to witness his future, his heart, finding what he so badly wants for them with someone else.

and then of course the mission happens and it's just an all around mind fuck for Bradley, though it all works out with him and Mav clearing the air and him and Jake somehow finding a tentative friendship once again.

and then weeks later, Javy makes mention Jake is bringing his new boyfriend around to meet them and he wants to make sure Bradley isn't going to cause a scene or be a problem and Bradley can't help haltingly answering that it's okay, that he knew this day would come, that Jake would find someone truly worth him, that his family would love, someone that was truly deserving of Jake's time and love and that he'd get his happily ever after.

only, Bradley starts saying this just as Jake walks in and is floored because how dare Bradley think Jake could ever find his happily ever after when that was Bradley and Bradley walked away from him, from them! but then he latches onto Bradley saying someone deserving of Jake, someone worthy of him, someone his family would accept and love and things start clicking in his head.

and obviously, Jake and Bradley get back together and Jake becomes an unholy terror to his parents and sisters who were part of the problem, who were the match that lit the fire that imploded their relationship.

idk. just. the thought of Jake's family sparking the match and setting the explosion off is tempting. and I can't stop thinking about it when I should really be sleeping right now.

[mel-loly]

I liked this flower..   It shines so much...

I wish my life could shine like that   from time to time...

Staying in this dark is so sad..   Will I ever be able to know happiness...?

Will I ever be able to see the light...?   Or will someone bring me this light...?

Well.. I don't know...   But if I were to make a wish..

I would ask for someone who could show me the way to the..

Light

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Most important thing to know before writing: What is the point of your story?

There are two parts to that question.

-What are the main story elements you want to feature? A certain character? A setting? A moment of the plot? A particular theme? Which elements are essential to the story you're trying to tell?

-What type of ending are you aiming toward? It doesn't have to be super-detailed, but knowing something about where the story is going is how you know you have a story and not just an image. Is the main character going to change/grow somehow? Learn the answer to a question? Accomplish a certain goal? Make a friend?

Defining those things before you start lets you know that your idea is a story, not just an image or a concept that won't go anywhere. It also gives you a core to base the story around and keeps you from going off-track.

As long as you have defined the essentials to the story and the general direction that you need the story to go in, everything else is negotiable. You have freedom to adjust the non-essentials and explore different possibilities as you discovery-write, so long as none of those non-essentials interfere with the point of the story. If it distracts from the main point, or turns the plot in a way that'll make it impossible to reach main point of the story, it needs to be discarded. Anything else will most likely enrich your story.

[thecarelessvoice]

Guess who have a new hyperfixation?!!!!

[somegrumpynerd]

Good heavens, look at the time! (Points to a clock where every hour is replaced with "gooptales")

@topazshadowwolf's boys will be the death of me please read it it's so good

[topaziraphale]

"Stop saying Crowley won't help Aziraphale in S3 he'd go back to him in a HEARTBEAT and nothing would stop him" I get it no one likes the idea of Crowley being bitter after what happened for a long period of time but like can we at least acknowledge that he's currently going through probably the most emotional pain in his life since falling? Can we agree that he's opened his heart entirely - something you couldn't pay him to do unless the world is literally ending and he's desperate - to Aziraphale, and got shot down? Can we understand that he did it AGAIN only to lose Aziraphale again? Not that what Aziraphale did isn't without Crowley's own shortcomings (hiding the truth of Heaven's cruelty from him) but like,,,,

The appeal here isn't Scorned Crowley Doesn't Love Aziraphale Anymore, or Never Wants To Help Him Again, the appeal here is Crowley learning enough self respect to not just walk back right to Aziraphale like nothing happened after Aziraphale has had a pattern of consistently refusing him. Going years ping-ponging between "We're not friends I don't even know him" to "That's what friends are for right?" and "We're friends, why would you even say anything?" and "Friends? We're not friends. We are an angel and a demon!"

Like I get it, Crowley is a heartbreakingly forgiving person. Of course he's gonna forgive Aziraphale, I'll be surprised if he didn't forgive him by the time he walked out the bookshop door, but gdi he could at least grant himself the luxury of being at least a little irritated for longer than however long it takes to make a globe and some books float and angrily cry out to God in his flat. But due to the change of pace and dynamic that is establishing part of the conflict for Season 3, I just really like the idea of him for ONCE prioritizing himself and being like "Okay, fine. We'll get back at it when you're ready, then," instead of just taking Aziraphale back like his words and actions meant nothing to him, when clearly they have an effect on him.

What is Aziraphale going to learn if Crowley just accepts what he did so quickly, like he always has the entire time they've been friends? Idk maybe I'm just projecting too much darkness on their dynamic but I mean, if the pattern of Aziraphale pushing Crowley away/disrespecting him one day and then being fine with his friendship the next + Crowley never stopping to be like "Hey, that's not cool, at least give me a little credit" or smth was fine all along and will continue to be fine in the future, then why, after 6,000 years of being friends and loving this demon, can Aziraphale still not accept that Crowley is just fine the way he is, and instead got excited to promote him to an angel in a heartbeat once the opportunity presented itself? You can't blame all of it on Heaven when Aziraphale has demonstrated his free will/defiance to Heaven so many times. Or, I don't know, I guess maybe we can? Maybe I'm just craving too much angst to the point where I'm letting it cloud my analysis of canon. Idk.

[mechazushi]

Kafka Hibino

Kafka Hibino.... with visible salt and pepper side burns.

Kafka Hibino.... wearing glasses and has salt and pepper side burns.

Kafka HIbino.... in that black turtleneck and a dark brown leather jacket and also wearing glasses and has salt and pepper side burns.

Kafka Hibino.... wearing that outfit and is an Animal Biology Professor in an College Au.

Kafka Hibino..... asking out Hoshina who is an Advanced Mathematics Professor working at the same college, to have an after-work drink with him.

Slightly DRUNK Kafka Hibino... becoming very forward with an also slightly drunk Hoshina

Slightly Drunk Hoshina... immediately matching Kafka's freak tenfold and Kafka is very much fine with this.

[ruvviks]

Mikhail and Vitali were inseparable; when they weren’t studying or getting into fights, they would hang out at Mikhail’s place to smoke and get drunk on cheap rum and vodka, to then pass out in each other’s arms and sleep most of the next day away. They promised each other— no matter what would happen— they would never leave each other’s side. Yet after starting university and college respectively, they did not see each other for a little over six years, leaving them both heartbroken and wondering what went wrong.

by lucas expedidor // catch me if you can; eden // clementine von radics, from 'courtney love prays to oregon' // sam sax, cruising: a broken tiara // 'ceramic home' by heavensghost; quote from john murillo // 'something's changed' by laiikastears // i don't want to watch the world end with someone else; clinton kane // fortesa latifi, from 'the truth about grief' // audre lorde, the evening news // frank o'hara, biotherm (for bill berkson) // heading home; ruben // 'preface to a dream' by alessandra casini // tokyo; caroline kole // langston hughes, poem // haruki murakami, norwegian wood // julie buntin, marlena // by lute // by aleksandr popov // anyway; noah kahan // christa wolf, cassandra: a novel and four essays

[red-high-tops]