#I'm better at starting out strong

[total-serene560]

Writing Patterns

thanks for the tag me @longtallglasses and @magentamee!

rules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 8 5 posted fics (and 6 wips) and see if there's a pattern.

(these are not in chronological order of when I wrote them, but man I feel like it's super obvious which ones I wrote more recently)

POSTED:

What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)

This summer, Mike decides, has been complete and utter bullshit. 

I Dare You

It was 3am at that point. The party they left had ended hours ago- one of those end of the year events hosted by their high school that had way too much adult supervision for any of the teenage antics that usually went on at all the parties they never got invited to over the past three years.

The Truth Runs Wild Inside of Me

Mike closes his eyes, El right across from him one second and swallowed up by darkness the next. She had a makeshift blindfold pulled taught over her eyes, making her quick-growing curly hair splay out in all directions when she asked him to sit down in front of her and close his eyes.  

Below The Fold

 It took until Piper was standing in Oberland Station, talking to a confused couple that was really just minding their own business in the biting morning of the autumn wasteland, for her to realize that whoever told her that they had some juicy story for her was a big fat liar. 

Source Decay (first thing I posted after a 5 year gap in writing lol)

Piper stood in front of the massive gate of Diamond City, her face pinched in frustration, “Seriously?” She muttered under her breath, rubbing her temples with her hands as she paced back and forth in front of the gate, “What the hell!”

UNPOSTED WIPS:

A Papercut For Two (Part 1 of A Strange Education)

The morning before his life is set on an unavoidable trajectory for disaster, Mike almost gets his foot run over by Nancy’s stupid car.

Violent Angles (So Tangled Up)

Warm wind blew against his face, picking the loose curly strands of his hair off his forehead and neck as he stepped out of the car and onto the gravel of the parking lot. The papers in his hand fluttered as he turned and closed the car door.

Go West, Young Man

Young boys were not supposed to roam the foothills without supervision. They were full of bears and cougars and abandoned mineshafts that burrowed into the land like goring wounds in the abdomen of a dying cattle driver. The people before had come for copper and gold, and left behind yawning pits that could crush a body as well as a bear’s teeth. And the people before that, he did not know. 

The Way

His mouth tasted like copper and white liquor when he finally came to, body heavy on scratchy carpet that scraped against the right side of his face. His arm was numb beneath him, and he squeezed his fist a few times until the nerves screamed back to life and made his hand feel warm and tingly. He rolled on his back, the popcorn ceiling swimming above him as he fought to keep his eyes open despite the pain piercing through his skull. 

Cyclebreaker

Hopper remembers bringing his fists down into Will's ribs, over and over until he gasped his way back to life. He remembers the phonecalls and the endless appointments with Sam, the odd shiver he’d get realizing that Sam thought Will was his. His and Joyce’s, a miserable little family that tragedy would follow around like the grim reaper, reminding him that he’s not only cursed, but a curse. He remembers how Jonathan told him they’d be okay, how okay never quite turned out to be what any of them expected, once all the dust settled and they tried to piece back together normal. He’d been piecing back together normal since Sarah, though, and he’s convinced it’s made up. A lie meant to comfort those that couldn’t handle the truth; life is going to destroy you, and there’s no way back to normal. 

Unison

“-And that’s the traffic. Now to-”

Nate turned the volume down, one hand on the wheel. Silence filled the void between them.

tagging: @oldfashionedmorphine @fireflywitch @pearlypairings @wendydarlingfics @id-rather-be-home @parkitaco @foodiewithdahoodie and all my other mutuals who write! (sorry if I double tagged you)

[manderleyfire]

I will do all this, I will get all this blood on my hands, and you are able to plead naivety.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Some (late) holiday photos of the boye~!

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

on my quest to find more books to read this year, there's been something kind of heartwarming to see that of the books on hold at my local library, or on the weekly bestseller's list at my local bookstores, there's always at least one book up there that's about Palestine. It's at least nice to see that some people in my area want to learn about the historical context of what's happening now, and learn far more than what a few posts on their feed can tell them. It makes me hope that public perception will continue to change for the better - and that the kind of support I've seen in my area won't die down immediately after a ceasefire is called

[dawdlecentric]

Man, this doujin isn't fucking around

Meanwhile, Seikuri in the background...

Doujin: Flashbackers by Totobe

[blackjackkent]

Me> Yeah, no, the leadup to the move has actually been pretty stress free and I'm pretty pleased that I haven't had to deal with--

The Move, today all of a sudden for no reason>

[magnifiico]

@howthesleeplesswander || are we ready to die? i think we're ready to die 8'D

He had no concept of time down here. Only that enough time had passed for his mind to clear, reality to assert itself, and King Magnifico to find—

Well, a dungeon cell was no more befitting a king than the mirror just as abhorrently containing him. So, what was he? After all he had done for Rosas, the sacrifices he’d made, the protection he’d offered them for years beyond count, they would treat their king like some common criminal? His queen would dare to turn her back on…

His queen. Amaya. Amaya.

Magnifico had run his muddled mind through the events of that day on a near tireless loop: picking at bits and pieces of his memory, recollecting flashes here, a foggy and distorted mess there. And despite all that he had gathered—a puzzle he’d had plenty of time to build—he’d yet to trace back to what had offended her so. What had antagonized her, driven her to stand against him as if he were the villain betraying the very kingdom he had built?

I built this. We built this.

And he’d promised from the beginning he’d do anything and everything it took to protect it. No questions asked. No holds barred. Magnifico used that book because he had to. The people hadn’t given him a choice; if he had let them—

No. No, no no. We said we’d never let that happen again.

But nevertheless, here he was. Dethroned. Defamed. He’d almost convinced himself his queen planned on letting him rot eternally, but when he heard the creak of a door on that fateful day—could’ve been morning, afternoon… or perhaps his darling had decided to pay an evening visit when all had quieted down—Magnifico hadn’t needed to see her to know. Her footsteps were a recognizable rhythm, soft and elegant, down the steps. Somehow, the echo seemed to penetrate his magical prison just as well, and in some way, each beat trembled down to his core.

When she stood outside the bars, however, peered in at that loathsome little mirror on the wall, he was ready to face her. That is, he’d convinced the faint flutter in his chest that he was.

“You’ve placed a magical mirror in which I am already very securely contained—trust me, I’ve had plenty of time to determine that’s the case—within a literal prison cell,” he observed blandly, head cocking while a bitter smile tugged on his lips. “Is that not just a touch excessive, my dear?”

[despairforme]

National holiday for FOOLS?? Him.

[friendofthecrows]

they gotta make nap-length sleep mediations. Also ones where the speaker doesn't sound like the world's most annoying yoga intructer or perhaps therapist.

[kneelb4kesha]

Some of y'all have such tv show privilege, imagine being a sci-fi fan and knowing the most sophisticated and intelligent sci-fi show of the last decade was created by seth mcfuckinfarlane? Imagine recommending a show to someone because of its deft hand at exploring transgender and intersex issues, and having to codify it with "so, it's created by the guy who sang that horrible boobs song at the oscars, but-" Y'all out here recommending Yellowjackets and Succession and I'm in my clown makeup talking up The Orville

[opossumanon]

Not me wondering if I'm actually aromantic or if I'm just so mentally fucked up from years of being excluded, made fun of, called ugly, asked out as a joke, etc. that my brain just turned off the ability to feel romantic attraction for anybody?

[theflyingfeeling]

...😫

[savage-rhi]

💀

[magentagalaxies]

going to a comedy open mic tomorrow mostly to watch my friends (it's at a cool venue that my improv troupe performs at once a month and a few improv troupe friends are doing standup there) but when these friends were asking if i'd be interested in coming they were like "btw there's usually a ton of open spots on show days if YOU want to do something... and they're not strict about it only being standup either, people have done character pieces and sketches etc like they embrace the weirdness... and they're not strict about time limits you could probably do anything between three and eight minutes... sometimes if there's not enough people signed up they'll even let you go twice..." and i'm like god damn it i thought i was gonna take a break from aubrey but this setup is like tailor made for an aubrey appearance lmao

[mariyekos]

One day I'm going to finish my FFXVI mega essay, but for now I think my thoughts on the game can be summarized like this:

When making FFXVI, the developers sure knew what they wanted to do, and by god were they going to do it.

Were they also going to do other things that would make those first thing better? Were they going to do other things that make a good game overall? Ehhhhh...they were going to do what they wanted to do, and invest all their time and effort into that, so surely that would be enough! Surely!

[daz4i]

i'm like a people pleaser but only in theory bc i'm just so bad at it. like i wanna be useful and helpful but i truly just Suck (<- literally can't do shit) and my reflex reaction to anything is to argue. i'm like the most stubborn person on earth that somehow ended up unlocking a few trauma combinations that made it want to justify its own existence but also other... trauma...?? combinations that made it even more stubborn and insistent on being itself no matter what. you can see how this is a problem right