#I have a diagram I drew

[overlyimmersed]

I can see why Gloxinia doesn't bother wearing shirts...

So my dumb ass is over here neither sleeping nor accomplishing all the things I'm staying up to accomplish. Instead I'm...trying to design a shirt for Gloxinia????

Like, I know the anime and manga don't actually bother wondering if fairy clothes are practical or make physical sense for them. They just...it's all kinda drawn as if the wings are pure magic so the clothes are just normal clothes.

I don't! I love designing clothes and when I design clothes for Fairies I do so with the physiology of the wings in mind. Which means shirts are usually some variety of backless for the sake of ease and comfort.

What does this have to do with Gloxinia to the extent that I have to make a vaguely exasperated post about it?

His wings are weird.

Like yes, we know they're fucking huge. That's not even the primary issue. It really is no wonder at all that he just doesn't bother with shirts.

Not only are the larger then average, they're also set high. The joints are positioned...I'd say 2-3 inches higher on his back then the average fairy. Just as well, his upper set seem to be wider at the base then his lower set. And while that last one doesn't have much of an effect on clothing design, it's still atypical.

So his entire wing configuration is weird. The only thing I can tell that's normal about them is how they move. The actual function of the joints seems to be perfectly average for his natural resting position. Which, for reference, is about the same resting position as a butterfly.

Why do these facts make it hard to design him a shirt?

Well, it really only does if you want the shirt to be comfortable.

Because of the high setting of the joints, even typical backless tops are not quite suited. The only thing that would really work is a sort of backless halter type. And it'd have to tie or otherwise fasten around his lower back, rather then something he could pull on because no way in HELL could you pull anything over wings that size.

Trying to create a garment with these necessary qualities that is also fashionable is just kicking my ass...

...

AND THAT'S NOT EVEN WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE DOING RIGHT NOW

[dkettchen]

art v artist 2024

[xochimillilili]

Fuck he makes my brain so so mushy, heart pounding so loudly and gets me blushing way too easily!!! I love giving them my entire heart, knowing I'll be treated so so softly and caringly !!!!!

[anotherpapercut]

one of the 3rd graders at work has become very attached to me recently and does not want to leave my side and today he had to go home while he was in another room and one of my coworkers said over the walkie "*kids name* really wants to come say goodbye to you, Orion. he's on his way" and a few seconds later he like burst through the doors, hugged me super tight, and then ran back out of the room. I almost cried

[love-songs-for-emma]

[mochimellowd]

And must I now begin to doubt

What I never doubted all those years?

I am reaching but I fall, and the stars are black and cold

I'll escape now from that world

There is no where I can turn, there is no way to go on

[lorelune]

mao asking about my a/b/o hcs...

[baejax-the-great]

[First, I was rereading "Agua Caliente" and I remembered a song that played a lot in my childhood (and I had kind of forgotten) bc the lyrics somehow matched the Patrochilles dynamic in this fic. This is kind of funny bc I would never in my life associate sertanejo (it's a type of country music, I think? Idk I've never heard country, but the aesthetic is kind of similar. Anyway, it's pretty popular here) with shipping an ancient Greek couple in modern AU, but ok. And I went to listen to this song again and now I'm listening to it on a loop, so thanks for that.]

Now the real question! It's perhaps a strange question, but do you plan what you write? Like, before you write, do you have the whole structured idea in mind? I could have sworn it was like that reading the fics, but then some notes on Ao3 and certain things you say on Tumblr started to make me reflect that maybe you don't plan as much as I thought… in that case, how do you manage to connect everything so well without looking like something was left out/without prior planning??? It's magic, technique, luck or actually do you plan?

Sorry if the question is a bit "???" but I'm REALLY thinking about this! I used to write fics years ago and I was in the "won't plan" group and as expected the fics came out obviously unplanned (but that was ok with me bc it was just to pass the time and I didn't expect it to be an engaging story or anything), and here's why this ask exists: it's precisely bc I was in the “won't plan” group that I'm really intrigued by the possibility of you NOT planning bc it just doesn't seem that way reading your fics...

The short answer is that I do plan what I write, but probably not enough.

I rarely start writing a fic with an entire idea. Often it's just a vibe. But I won't start posting a fic until I know exactly what the conflict is and how it will be resolved.

This was easy in ATG, for example, because I'd already written the resolution before I even decided to write the fic. Structuring it by Patroclus's age also helped, because I could make an outline with the stuff that needed to happen and then jam stuff I wanted to happen around it. That "Stuff" could be really specific--obviously Pat had to graduate school and Achilles had to go to the Olympics on specific years, and it was also like, this section should have them fighting. This section should have them getting along, but Achilles is hiding this big lie so there should be a weird tension.

In Sunset, it took me longer to figure out the conflict/resolution. Sure, I knew that Achilles was going to cry on a Chicago street corner and get naked in Pat's kitchen, but why was he there? How did he get there? I had already written Achilles settling in to Pat's place and the scene where he gets into the lake before I decided on Aphrodite being the key to explain this whole thing. Then I knew Pat had to die. But a lot of the stuff that happened in the middle was sort of on a whim (particularly Achilles getting on the wrong L train-that was definitely just an impulse I had while finishing that chapter). Tecmessa's chapter was also a later addition, and a deeply self-indulgent one, hah.

Agua was the least planned of these three, and in some ways it was because the idea was a lot simpler. After three years, Achilles runs into Patroclus again and they reconcile in some way. I knew exactly how Patroclus would feel about the whole thing (relieved, guilty, upset, wounded, hopeful, upset about feeling hopeful). My original plan was just to set up Achilles in his shop and his new life doing his best and have him run into Patroclus at the beach, and eventually they'd go to the desert. I wrote parts of their meeting first, and then I started writing the beginning and ended up scrapping most of that. I realized I was going to have to do a lot more writing for poor Achilles. My lack of planning here did cause some difficulties--I had like three versions of that date he went on with Pat with different endings. One involved Pat in the hospital, lmao. Zag and Meg coming to stay with Achilles were kind of whims, and I had meant to have Hypnos show up for "his turn" and have Achilles send him home because no, these were not team-building exercises, but then I forgot 😩.

The reason that I need to know the conflict/resolution at the start is because I do think all the scenes in a fic should relate to it in some way, either by building up the conflict or setting the groundwork for a resolution. Even for the impulsive scenes I add just for fun, I think about how they can do this. For example, Achilles getting lost on the L allowed me to build up Pat's unreasonable anxiety, show that Ajax was also feeling it to some extent, and end in Pat saying "fuck it" and just giving in to making out with his hot, ancient boyfriend. It was also something that happened to a friend who was visiting me from out of the country and didn't have a working cell phone. That moment of watching him through the window of the L as it slowly pulled away is just etched in my memory.

In Agua Caliente, almost anything could relate to the resolution, because the resolution was "Achilles having a life," thus it didn't require as much planning. Zagreus's apartment getting flooded (something that happened to me in grad school) showed Achilles attempting to be flexible with some success while allowing himself to become closer to Zagreus, which led to a point of connection with his kids. It also made it easier to explain why Achilles was doing Zag's delivery that day when he ran into Pat. There were only a couple things that truly needed to happen in AC for the fic to make sense, and that was a resolution with Achilles' kids and then with Patroclus, of course.

I do get loose threads sometimes, side conflicts or things that didn't end up going anywhere, and those things tend to annoy me until I figure out a way to resolve them or make them otherwise relevant. Or I don't. Or sometimes I realize I need to add something/someone into the fic, and it would have been smoother if I'd added it in an earlier chapter so it didn't seem like a convenient thing I'd just thought of to solve a problem. That's always annoying to me. But whatever. It's fanfic. That's the risk of posting while you write.

[crossbackpoke-check]

re last answer: please don't stop, being very unhinged about these two pretty white boys is helping distract me from the sharks losing streak rn so bring it on

https://www.tumblr.com/bondedpairs/764566430180147200?source=share

(sideblog woes but there's the link for you) anyway in the vid they talk about going over to each other's houses to have dinner and things and while that is a delicious example of their codependence i love it bc through an rpf lens there is definitely some old man ******* going on. they can have the dilfs and each other.

(someone else mentioned kept boys which i could write an essay on but i fear being Perceived™️)

anyway if you have anything to add to this please do, if not ignore me and i will hide under a rock until the stress-related insanity has worn off and i am a functioning member of society once more 😂

- @bondedpairs

ty for the video!!! and please, WRITE THE KEPT BOYS ESSAYYYY i promise i will read it with my hands over my eyes if you don’t want to be perceived. do it scared!! do it anyway!! we’ll all love you for it!!!

[spearxwind]

idk if youve answered this before since its one of the coolest eel facts, but does talas have a pharyngeal jaw? 👀

He does not! The pharyngeal jaw mechanism in him is replaced by the tentacle hell in his chest (since he has that, having a pharyngeal jaw would be really redundant since the tentacles serve the same purpose and have an absurd reach)

Fun fact, when I first made him and first tried out the eel vibe for him but couldnt really give him a pharyngeal jaw I gave him the mask as a design wink to the ones eels have. So legally his mask is like his second jaw :]

[ofstoriesandstardust]

currently wedding-ssesed and R&R's wedding is just getting longer and longer....

[judesstfrancis]

asked my coworker if she could write up a little checklist for me on working the admissions booth bc I'm covering shifts in there once a week and I've never done the open/close procedure before I've only ever covered for an hour while someone's on lunch but anyway she really saw into my brain and knew I would need it to be as detailed as possible. love her

[scare-ard--sleigh]

my husband and i got exceedingly hammered last night and he proceeded to explain the history of catholicism & christianity to me so i could write more accurate porn fjbmgfbkj #blessed

[vivcaprica]

I do wonder how this was worn...?

Over the head?

Over the shoulder?

Or is it a really tiny cloak, worn on the head?

We may never know.

Someone living in Sweden during the Iron Age wore this cloak. Unfortunately, they wore it while they were murdered: forensic analysis found the holes in the cloak match how stabs would have penetrated the folds of the cloak when it was being worn.

Dating to 360 to 100 BCE, is also the oldest known example of a houndstooth pattern!

[sky-cow0]

Reference photo

[cursedauxiliary]

I hope the extremely detailed western blot protocol is helping the future interns and students at my previous job...