#Oh this was in the bonus notes on the recent chapter but!

[transformer-hardlyknowher]

G.H.O.S.T, Ghosts, and getting better. - Chapter 27 - Transformers_Hardly_Know_Her - Transformers: Earthspark (Cartoon) [Archive of Our Own]

New chapter is up! Bonus art:

[jasminerva]

heya, jas~

i have been rereading sakadays, and nagumo's hair looks longer in the early art style compared to the recent one. ever since then, i can't stop thinking about how nagumo would come to us for help in cutting his hair. the bonus comic where rion cut his hair didn't help either haha. he would use it as an excuse to spend time together with us too, and make up lies like 'i don't feel like going to the salon. too noisy there!' when asked why he didn't go to a salon instead.

for him, it could be one of the rare times where he feels more ease. he would chat (and teasing) with you, but i like to imagine him staying silent most of the time to enjoy the rare times he gets to feel peace and safe in your hands. it's just you, him, and the sound of scissors snipping his hair in the background. even if you mess up his hair a little, he wouldn't mind haha.

(constantly adding these longer-haired Nagumo arts: 2dyongamja, Account_SSAW, kuroiisana, nano099, BByo_chick, DoReMi__2523, kongmn41, sylyaoh, Oeasy_2, KAISEI_10TSUKI)

Yo, Memi~!

It certainly does!!! That's why in ch4 Tenju's comment about how he should get a haircut was a bit of an easter egg XD Maybe he cleaned it up after that huehuehue~

I love rereading SakaDays haha I have a bookmarks folder of all the chapters where Nagumo appears 🙈 FOR RESEARCH! I SWEAR!!!

Omg that bonus / extra was so cute. And showcases how petty Nagumo can be. I can picture it now during their early JCC days.

Thank you for sharing that idea! I loved it so much I wrote something on the fly~

(P.S. I don't know anything about cutting hair. The most I've ever done was cut my own bangs -- badly -- so now I've grown them out lmao.)

Want more? Check out my SakaDays Masterlist!

Comments, reblogs, tags appeachiated~! 🍑

You: A haircut? Didn't Akao give you one a while back? Nagumo: Come on, [f/n]-chan! I need someone more delicate. You: Oh? I see now. You'd rather risk getting your ear cut off than talked off. Nagumo: Ha! You got me there. You: If you want delicate, Tenju's really good. She does all my hair-- Nagumo: No, thanks. With me, I guarantee she'll 'miss' and cut off my head instead. You: Fair enough. (sighs) Fine, what's in it for me though? Nagumo: Brownie points! You: Pass. Nagumo: (pouts) All right, then... a favour! I'll owe you anything! Within reason. You: (narrows eyes) Deal. "Finally, a peaceful haircut," Nagumo muttered under his breath, his body visibly relaxing as your fingers threaded through his hair, the contrasting warmth sending pleasant shivers down his spine. He closed his eyes, leaning back slightly into the chair, allowing you full access. A small sigh escaped Nagumo's lips as he felt your hands working through his hair, the soft snipping of scissors adding to the tranquil atmosphere. He opened his eyes halfway, watching your reflection in the mirror. The sight of your focused expression and the seriousness in your eyes as you concentrated on the task at literal hand stirred something deep within him. As you continued snipping away at his hair, he couldn't resist the urge to tease you. He reached out, his fingers trailing along your wrist. Nagumo retracted his touch as swiftly as he had initiated it, feigning innocence when you shot him a glare through the mirror. Nagumo: (smirks) Careful there, don't wanna end up with bald spots now. You: Don't tempt me. Inwardly, he appreciated that you weren't tempted, instead enjoying the delicate touch of your fingers against his scalp as you worked meticulously.

End note: Can't guarantee how the hair looked afterwards, nor what the favour you end up cashing in is about. It's all up to your...

/ P.S. thanks to @dearsecretlover - I imagine / personally like to think that you / the Reader just left Nagumo's hair out in the wilderness of the JCC campus so birds could make a nest out of it.

Sustainability FTW!

[rambleonwaywardson]

Clegan Olympics AU - Loss/A Good Horse

Part 9ish. Read Morning After first!!!

Masterpost

Author's Note: A bonus chapter this week. Disclaimer: all main characters, including Whiskey, are FINE. That being said, this is written in memoriam for a friend's horse who was recently lost entirely too young. The horse world isn't easy on the body or on the heart, but we do it anyways.

---

“Gale? Honey?”

He hears Marge’s voice echoing down the aisleway, searching for him. He hasn’t yet decided if he wants to be found, but he knows he won’t push Marge away when she does find him.

He isn’t hard to find, after all, for those who know where to look.

He’s sitting in the back corner of Whiskey’s stall, on top of a quite frankly absurd amount of bedding, with his legs crossed in front of him and hay stuck to his clothes. He’s always sought out the same general hideaway since he was a child, for as long as Marge has known him. A horse’s stall has always been his safe space, the place he goes when the world hurts too much. 

Whiskey is laying down in the bedding in front of him, her huge head in his lap like a dog. Her ears flick back and forth whenever she hears a bird or a voice or a footstep, but she stays right where she is. She knows her job: to take care of her person.

Everyone always says that geldings are less temperamental than mares. That they’re kinder and sweeter and more playful. More forgiving. More reliable. More loving. Sometimes, these qualities might even make them more trainable.

Gale doesn’t necessarily disagree with these statements, but he also knows they’re lacking nuance. Mares pick their people; that’s why many riders won’t call themselves a “mare person” – if a mare doesn’t pick you, she might not perform for you, and some people can’t stand that. But Gale knows better. If a good mare picks you as her person, there is nothing she won’t do for you. She will go to war with you. She will protect you. A good mare can tell how you’re feeling from the way your breath leaves your chest. She can read your mind, know what you want from her before you even have a chance to ask. A good mare will try her damn best to do everything right by you and she will never give up and she will never let you down. A good mare will work hard. She will love hard.

She will love you with everything she has.

Whiskey chose Gale as her person seven years ago. She can sense what he’s feeling by the set of his shoulders, by the tone of his voice, by the nearly imperceptible tremor in his hands. He’s sad. He’s angry. He’s grieving. So she grieves with him.

Gale absently strokes his hand over Whiskey’s big ear, feeling the soft hair against his skin. She blinks up at him, huffing hot breath against his leg, and he smiles sadly, fighting the tears in his eyes. He can hear Marge’s footsteps coming closer.

For all that talk about a good mare, that doesn’t mean Gale doesn’t love his gelding just as much.

It doesn’t mean he didn’t love his gelding just as much.

Marge pokes her head into Whiskey’s stall, and she looks like she might cry, too. “Oh, honey,” she sighs when she sees Gale. She opens the stall door and goes inside to sit down next to him. She just leans back against the wall, looking straight ahead. She squeezes her eyes shut when Gale’s hand, the one that isn’t petting Whiskey’s face, seeks hers out, and she twines their fingers together on top of her knee. 

“Benny told me,” she says.

“I figured.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I-“ Gale doesn’t have words. There’s no words that can possibly encompass this feeling. This loss. “I shouldn’t have left him.”

Marge feels her heart breaking, tearing at the seams for her best friend, practically a brother to her. “Sweetie, no. No. There is nothing that could’ve kept this from happening.”

Gale knows that. Somewhere. But it doesn’t change the fact that his heart has been ripped out of his chest, reshaped with a missing piece, and shoved haphazardly back in. He needs someone to blame, and there’s no one but himself. 

“Gale,” Marge says, her voice sad and pleading. “Look at me.”

He does. He bites nervously at his lower lip, trying to hold himself together.

“It’s not your fault,” Marge insists, squeezing his hand. “It’s no one’s fault. It’s just… it’s just awful, awful luck.”

Gale nods dumbly. Luck. That’s what took his gelding away from him.

Apollo. The sweet little gelding that Gale had been bringing along. The same horse that colicked right before Gale flew to the Games. The one he stayed up with all night, making sure he was okay. The one that had landed him on that plane with John Egan.

It happened again. He started showing severe colic symptoms in the middle of the night stateside, and the barn staff did everything they could. By the time the vet made it, it was probably already too late. They’d called Gale, asking if he wanted them to try the surgery, and he’d said yes. But the horse died on the table.

And Gale wasn’t there.

Sometimes Gale wonders if the heartache of this sport is worth it. It’s taken years off his life, he’s sure. Raising and training a horse is like dedicating your existence to trying to keep together an animal that's intent on finding new ways to tear itself apart. They always find new ways to hurt themselves or get sick or otherwise need special attention and care. Every day it’s something new with these horses, and losing one isn’t like simply losing a pet. It’s losing a partner, losing a child. 

But then Gale looks into Whiskey’s eyes, and he knows. It is worth it. It has to be. Every single second. He wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

Marge squeezes his hand again, a silent I’m here, and he squeezes back. But she knows her friend. “Do you want to be alone?”

He nods wordlessly. He just needs to sit here with Whiskey and grieve. So she kisses him on the cheek, stands up, and she leaves him be.

“Marge?” he says softly as she closes the stall door behind her. She looks back over at him, a silent question. He meets her eyes. “I was supposed to meet John for lunch.” He’s late. And the thought of Bucky standing alone, wondering where Gale is, drives another spike through his chest. He feels empty. So tired and defeated. He doesn’t have the words or the energy to explain this cruel twist of fate to a man that he loves too deeply for such a short amount of time and yet who he isn’t convinced will stay. 

He doesn’t know if that’s unfair to John, or maybe unfair to himself.

Marge nods. “It’s okay,” she tells him. “I’ll let him know. He’ll understand.”

And Gale knows that he will. 

–

Gale doesn’t look up again until a good hour later, when a shadow blocks the light streaming into the stall from the windows in the aisleway. Whiskey stood back up some time ago and is munching on hay in the opposite corner, but Gale hasn’t moved. He’s just been watching her, worried that if he takes his eyes off of her, she’ll leave him, too. 

When he was just a kid, no older than ten, one of his father’s horses broke a leg. She was a lovely little Appaloosa mare, about 15 years old. She was the sweetest thing, one of the first horses Gale himself learned to ride on. He loved that mare to pieces, and he thinks she loved him back. 

The thing about Gale is he spends so much time acting unemotional, like nothing phases him, when in reality, he feels too much. It’s how he’s always been, since he was a kid. He loves hard, and he cares deeply. Neither of those traits were valued by his father. 

So when that pretty little mare that Gale loved so much broke her leg, Gale knew what his dad was going to do. He watched his dad take the rifle out of the safe and walk outside, towards the barn. And hell if Gale didn’t throw himself at that man, grabbing at his arm and begging him not to do it like that. Begging him not to stand that mare by a tree and look her in the eye, so scared and innocent and in pain, and put a bullet through her head. 

His dad had tried to throw him off, to shove him away, saying “this is the best thing for her. Quick and easy.”

But little Gale Cleven could not fathom doing that to any animal, no matter the reason, especially one who was loved so deeply. So he begged. 

He begged and begged and begged even though he was certain he’d get a beating for it later. He tried to pull the gun away with his little hands, tried to block the stall door, cried even though he knew his dad hated tears. 

He threw his arms around that horse’s neck, and he begged. 

To his surprise, his dad looked at Gale, his son who loved too deeply and cared too much, and he sighed. He set down the gun. He called the vet, even though the house call fee alone was exorbitant. 

Gale watched, trying not to cry too much and failing miserably, as the mare was humanely put down, and that was one of the few kindnesses his father ever afforded him. Gale didn’t even get a beating later. All he got was his father’s hand on his shoulder, the words “I’m sorry, son,” ringing in his ears. 

That was the only time Gale’s father ever did that. The next horse that had to be euthanized, he said he couldn’t afford the vet fee, no matter how much Gale protested. Gale learned to say his goodbyes first, and ride off into the mountains so he didn’t have to watch, a gunshot echoing behind him. 

That’s what Gale is thinking about, a sick feeling in his stomach as he stares at Whiskey, when that shadow appears. He frowns and squints at the silhouette on the other side of the stall door. “What are you doing here?”

“Marge called me.” Bucky gives a weak smile, motioning to the latch on the door. “Can I come in?”

Gale wants to snap. Say that he just needs to be alone. That he can’t deal with this right now. But one look at John, and he knows that isn’t quite true. The truth is, Gale doesn’t know what he needs. He hasn’t felt this small since he was just a bruised and banged up kid trying to break his way out of Wyoming. So instead he nods silently.

Bucky settles down beside Gale, where Marge had sat an hour ago. But instead of taking his hand, instead of just silently being by his side, Bucky wraps an arm around him and pulls him close, and that’s when Gale breaks.

He tucks himself against Bucky and cries against his shoulder, fingers clutching too tightly to the fabric of Bucky’s shirt. He shakes as he tries not to make too much noise, hearing his father’s voice – quit cryin’ boy, you’re too old for that. But small gasping sobs tear out of his throat here and there anyways, making him flinch in anticipation of a reprimand that won’t come. 

Instead Bucky’s other hand moves up to cup the back of Gale’s head, stroking his hair soothingly and pulling him closer. “It’s alright,” he whispers. “I’ve got you.”

“I’m sorry,” Gale mumbles, sniffling against Bucky’s neck. He’s embarrassing himself. 

Bucky shakes his head and presses his lips into Gale’s hair. “Don’t be sorry. I’m right here with you, darlin'.” The kindness makes Gale lose control that little bit more, choking on a sob as he clings tighter and tighter to Bucky. Bucky just keeps running his hand over Gale’s hair, calm as can be, as he whispers “You’re okay. You’re okay,” and holds Gale through it. 

“I’m so sorry, Buck,” he says. 

When Gale eventually pulls away and settles back against the wall, still sniffling quietly, he looks up at the rafters above. Bucky looks at him. 

“Sorry,” Gale says again. 

“Why do you keep saying that?”

Gale shrugs. “Crying’s not somethin’ that was accepted in my family,” he admits. 

Bucky sighs and strokes the sweaty hair back away from Gale’s face. “Look at me, Buck.” Gale does, and Bucky tries to force every ounce of sincerity he can into his expression. “Do not apologize for that. Okay? You have no reason to apologize.”

Gale can’t really fully comprehend that right now, but he nods anyways to make Bucky happy, and he thinks maybe he can learn to understand what Bucky’s trying to tell him. If Bucky will stay. 

They sit in silence for a while. Bucky is once again struck by the fact that they’ve only known each other for a matter of weeks, and barely that. They talk and laugh and kiss and comfort each other in a way that feels so familiar, like they’ve known each other for years. And yet there’s so much about one another that they don’t know. So much beneath the surface, slowly clawing its way up in bits and pieces that reveal themselves all out of order. 

Bucky wants so badly to know more. It hurt, the way Gale flinched every time he so much as made a sound as he cried in Bucky’s arms. As if he expected to be punished for it, as if he expected Bucky to be angry with him for being devastated by a devastating loss. 

But he watches Gale watching Whiskey, and all he can do is keep his arm wrapped over Gale’s shoulders, holding him close, and try to reassure him that whatever he’s feeling, it’s alright. 

“Tell me about him,” Bucky says. “The horse.”

Gale is quiet for a long time, and Bucky thinks he’s not going to answer. That’s fine, Bucky thinks. He’ll just sit here as long as Gale needs and they can talk or they can just be quiet, listening to the sounds of Gale’s mare still very much alive and well. That’s fine. 

But then Gale’s mouth tries to do this thing where it frowns and quirks up in a smile at the same time, and Bucky is fascinated by it. He gently plays with the soft hair curling at Gale’s nape, trying to offer comfort. 

“His name was Apollo,” Gale says. His voice is carefully controlled, but Bucky can hear the faint tremor in it. “He was only four. This absolutely beautiful bay Thoroughbred. Harding and I bought him as a yearling, planned to bring him up the levels and maybe get him here someday. He had so much potential, John.”

“How can you tell, that young?” Bucky asks. He’s worried for a second that he shouldn’t have asked, should’ve just sat and listened, but Gale looks at him, and he looks sad. But his eyes are also so full of love. 

“The way they move. The way they look at you. The way they’re built. There’s so much you can know about a horse before you even get on them.” Bucky doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of listening to Gale talk about horses, because his voice changes, when he does. He sounds open and joyful with this wistful, loving look, like he’s endlessly in awe of them even when he's falling apart. “They tell you everything you need to know if you know know how to listen.”

Gale leans his head against Bucky, and it makes Bucky feel warm. He’s never had this before, someone who looked to him for comfort like this. But holding Gale like this feels so natural, and for a second they aren’t in Paris. They’re not at the Olympics. The world isn’t expecting great things from either of them. They’re just them. 

Two people, sharing a moment, sharing a loss. 

Gale sighs. “He was a real good horse. Not like Whiskey, but damn close. We could see when he was just a year old, he had this incredible trot. Looked like he was floating. And he was the sweetest thing. I loved him immediately, and…” he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “I started riding him a year ago, when he turned three. And I was right, John. He was perfect. He moved so beautifully. He wanted to do the work. He wanted to learn. He was-“

Gale shakes his head against Bucky’s shoulder. “Sorry,” he whispers.

“It’s okay.”

“I can’t believe he’s gone.”

“I know.” Bucky knows too well, and his heart breaks for Gale. “It’s not fair.”

"If I’d stayed with him-"

“No,” Bucky says, echoing Marge’s words. “It’s not your fault, Buck. It’s not.”

They sit quietly, and every once in a while Gale says something else about Apollo. 

“He liked sour patch kids.”

“I think he would’ve been a great jumper.” 

“He had the softest ears.”

“The first time I asked him to canter he bucked me off and then stood over me like ‘what the fuck dude.’”

“He was a damn good horse.”

And sometimes he laughs the littlest bit as he talks, a wet, bubbling little noise that breaks through the sadness in his voice. “Ridiculous creatures,” he mumbles, shaking his head.

Bucky isn’t sure if he should, but he repeats the words that Gale said to him before: “A miracle they’ve made it this far.”

Gale nods, every possible emotion coursing through his body and showing plain as day on his face. Love and sadness, anger, pain, grief, joy for what he had. “But I’m damn glad they did,” he sighs.

I love him, Bucky thinks. I love him. 

“Thank you for being here,” Gale says quietly, after they’ve sat in that stall watching Whiskey putter about for who knows how long.

“Of course,” Bucky says. Of course he’s here. Of course he wants to be here. Of course he feels far too many emotions about the fact that, of all people, Gale wants him to be here. 

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

[judesmoonbeauty]

Ellis Twilight Both Ends Bonus Story 🗡

Fan translation only. Not 100% accurate. Please expect grammatical errors. This is a SUMMARY/Semi-Translation of the bonus story. I am roughly translating this with out much research other than specific lines from certain scenes. Why? Because it's a huge task to translate a main route chapter line by line. So, this is what we're working with, and I appreciate your understanding ♥︎ Cybird owns everything. Re-blogs are appreciated, but please do not post my translations elsewhere. The summaries will be uploaded in groups.

I thought my love would make my loved ones unhappy. So I tried to only think about the other person.…..I think about my brother smiling happily that day. But I also suspect that I may have twisted my own memory. - I think he was actually very frightened. Like the lives I took for Crown. Such thoughts blur my brother’s smile that day. The truth is, I can’t even remember the look on my brother’s face at that moment anymore.

Ellis is waiting for Kate outside of a store. It’s been about 10 minutes since she’s entered and he’s getting antsy with worry about being approached by strange people. As he debates if he should go look for her or not he sees her through the shop window and is put at ease, but she was chatting with a man amicably inside which Ellis notes that she’s smiling at the man as he opens the door for her. He wonders about who the guy is and then Kate runs up to him apologizing about keeping him waiting. They talk about the man she was speaking with and he apparently helped in the past as a postal worker by drawing a map for her. Ellis called the guy a “nice person”, but was analyzing the guy in his head; he didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives, and his smile seemed genuine, plus he held the door for her. At this point, Ellis seems to compare himself to that man with himself because that guy can offer to help someone in a very natural versus Ellis who can not do that since he wants to kill someone even more if he likes them more.

He recalls his Dad telling him the day his brother died that, “Killing people and laughing about it is something demons do….Repent and atone and you may still be forgive.”

(Forgive me? Who?)

(I just wanted him to stay happy.)

(Is the way I show my love unforgivable?)

Kate is the only one he’s really confided to about his past and more and more he’s getting selfish with wanting her to love him. Because only she has forgiven him. He offers to carry the bags for him, but she refuses and it shocks him, so he let’s her carry them. He’s sad that he can’t hold hands with her, so he wraps his arms around her shoulders instead and they head back to the castle.

(I wonder if you’d be offended if I told you that I was a little anxious?)

There is a flashback to when he rescued her and she confesses that she accepts Ellis for wanting to keep the happiness of his loved ones within his grasp.

Flashing forward to the present. Jude & Ellis who’ve just finished a mission, he tells Jude that he’s sure it’s normal to feel pain when you kill someone, and Jude is like: Oh?? He wipes off the blood-soaked knife before he sheaths it; staring at the puddle of blood that spreads like splattered jam, Ellis says: “But, I’m not bothered to do this kind of work.”

(Kate is kind enough to grieve.)

The guy at the grocery store, I wonder if she’d be happier if he were her lover instead.

(But I could never let that guy take Kate away from me.)

(I don’t think I could tolerate it.)

Jude: Huh, what? Ya wanna be “normal”?

Ellis: ….no.

I don’t want to be someone else. Kate said she liked me because I’m me. It’s just -

(What can I do to make Kate smile?)

(I keep thinking about it.)

That night at the castle Kate greets Ellis when he gets back home, who was reading in his room. Kate had recently been taking an interest in Ellis’ and Jude’s work and so she decided to study up on business material. It was a serious task, but Ellis thinks it’s wonderful. Ellis didn’t let her go on the mission tonight because of the level of difficulty and because it was going to be so bloody that he wanted to protect her from it. So, she waited up for him so they could have a drink together.

She said that she’ll get the drinks ready in a set of new mugs that have matching designs on them. Ellis asked if the mugs were from her secret shopping trip before lunch earlier that day, and she confesses it was. As she offers herbal teak, hot milk or alcohol to him, he approaches her from behind and hugs her from behind and says that he prefers Kate over those options. Rubbing her cheek against his arm she says okay, feeling his hands slowly crawl up body.

(Kate’s so soft.)

It’s so different from his own, so when he touches it he gets worried.

(It’s too easy to break.)

Ellis pulls down the top of her negligee and slowly squeezes her breasts which makes her moan, and he asks if she likes it when he does this standing behind her. She says that she does because it feels like she is being completely surrounded by him and it makes her happy.

(It’s no good….Kate.)

(You’re too cute.) Ellis kisses and touches her in many of her favorite places, and even though he wants to make Kate feel good, he is painfully aroused….

Ellis: Then, I’ll do you from behind today.

Kate: Ah……

Kate squeezes his fingers inside her and Ellis pushes Kate onto the bed.

(Oh…..)

(My head is a mess.) ……Which one love???

I want to feel good. I want to feel good with Kate. He looks at her tear-stained eyes.

(It looks like Kate wants to feel good with me too….)

(Is it my imagination or….I don’t know.)

For you, for me, it’s all a jumbled mess..

Kate: Ahhhh!

Ellis: ……Ah…..Ah…..

Ellis hugs Kate’s sleeping body in the middle of the night and thinks she sounds cute. Sometimes, he thinks that they’ve reached their happiest moment as he loves her with his bloodstained hands, for another day. He dreams of the day when his dirtied with her blood.

(…..I want to stay like this forever.)

(With you in my arms.)

(I want to stare at your happy sleeping face.)

The end of this happiness, I don’t want it to come either. The moment you’re killed by me Kate is also the moment -

(Oh.)

Kate slowly lifts her eyelids and look at him drowsily and she laughs at Ellis. He asks why she’s laughing at him and she says it’s because she woke up, and Ellis was right next to her and she thought she was happy.

-No matter how much I dread tomorrow. Even though I’m not sure if you’ll really be smiling on that day that will come someday.

(I can’t help but love this person.)

Ellis: Kate….

Kate: What….?

Ellis: I love you.

Kate: ….Hm.

Ellis: I love you, I love you…..I love you.

Kate: Hmm….hehe….what’s up…?

I bury my face into Kate and she holds me to her chest. It smelled like sweetly simmered jam and it made my heart ache.

Kate: ……Ellis, are you crying?

“No,” I almost reflexively said that, but now I don’t have to hide these feelings anymore.

Ellis: …..Yea, because I’m happy.

Ellis: I’m glad because you’re smiling.

Kate: I see…

Kate reached out and patted Ellis’ head.

Kate: I love you too, Ellis.

(I’m willing to be killed right now.) I bet that if I told you that tomorrow morning that I really thought that, you’d laugh again.

I’m sure there will be more of these supremely happy moments waiting for me.

Fin.

[Master List]

[i-sveikata]

Hey!

I’ve been reading your fic for a year now—I used to comment as Jackdaw but recently changed my nickname. It always brings me so much joy to see a notification for a new chapter. I can’t even express how happy it makes me! I really admire your work. I wanted to ask you two questions; how do you stay on track writing this fic for such a long time? And do you have any advice for a starting author? Stay blessed and merry Christmas, Jackdaw/Sarina

Oh hello! God it’s so crazy that I’ve been writing it for that long but thank you so much!

That’s a really good question! I’d say it’s honestly a few things but the main fact is I’m interested in the pairing and how they might possibly fall in love after such a messed up start and that’s kind of been the driving force of the fic. So even though I’m posting chapter by chap I’m also writing future scenes past the current chap which kind of always leaves me with somewhere interesting to write in the story? Like say if I’m doing plot heavy stuff and I’m not feeling very invested or have the energy I’ll instead move down the doc and write a tension filled scene that captures my attention and keeps me engaged even if it’s happening way in the future. It’s very easy to write when you have so many scenarios on the brain at least for me.

But keeping it up means having to write character or fact notes at the beginning of the fic so I don’t forget them and even writing plot points of things that need to happen at the beginning of every chap before I continue writing it. When I feel like I might be losing the thread of the story I just go back and read what has already been posted (and what stuff I might have forgotten about lol terrible memory here) and that will help keep me on track.But yeah it’s also very very important to take breaks.

This has been a huge undertaking and if I hadn’t allowed myself the time to rest when necessary I might not have felt inspired to keep going tbh so that has been a pretty crucial part to it. The interactions with the readers make it especially fun but I’m also very very careful not to get too reliant on the response/ comments because whilst great and encouraging and really makes it feel worth it- that’s not enough to keep me motivated. Every time I’m writing a story it’s for me and how everyone receives it is just a fun bonus at the end and that makes it very easy to focus on the journey/ joy of it rather than the end result (ie how quickly people get to read the chaps, many people engage with it and like it and comment and how many kudos it gets etc)

For a starting author my best advice would be to sit down and consider what you like to read first and foremost because I truly believe if you’re not being engaged by your own story it’s so much harder to even get the thing finished and you might not love the end result in the same way as you would if you were following what appeals to you about a story first. If you’re unsure of what you like in a story then you need to get reading!!! And start reading as much as you can from a range of different genres. It’s so so important to read if you want to be an author because the more you do the more obvious it becomes to you what can really work for a story and what doesn’t. Then it’s just about finding or creating a story that really speaks to you.

It’s like working a muscle honestly and you’re not going to build that muscle or finish the work out if you get bored in between it- the whole process needs to be fun for you not a chore!! My second bit of advice will be just to write as fearlessly as you can. You won’t learn how to be a writer or how to get better at it if you don’t first put something out into the universe (and that doesn’t even necessarily mean you have to share your first story if you don’t want I just mean you need to create it first). And you won’t do that if you’re too focused on making it perfect and trying not to fail. But you have to fail to write! You have to write cringy sucky stuff until you find you’re own groove and begin to develop your own skills and preferences in a story but if you’re too bogged down in the ‘making it perfect’ element you won’t write anything at all! So my second piece of advice is truly don’t be afraid to suck. Just finish your story and then wait for the next lot of brainworms to inspire you for another and then keep going!! Write write write!!

[v3nusxsky]

Lunch date

—————————————————————————-

*A/n~ i was going to write NSFW with this prompt however the fluff works best here it is coming tho. A new story will be released soon ;) this is a bonus chapter I will still update later and for todays fun fact ironically this was written while I was eating cookies*

TW~ eating d!sorder

Prompt~ sleepy fluff just fluff fluff fluff please (I'm going to very loosely continue the one shot body image in this one. So if you read that one shot this one will make more sense, however it can be read alone)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since that night in your room, Larissa made every effort to ensure you were getting the correct amount of food. She was gentle but persistent on the subject which eventually broke down your walls. Any information you offered about your eating disorder was eagerly listened to and stored in her brain so she could find the best ways to help you. So when you revelled that you often skipped meals if you were alone due to the fear of eating more than everyone else, well the only logical solution was to have lunch together. These lunch dates were a routine that you grew to look forward too. On the good days, company was amazing and you felt good just sitting in silence, enjoying her company and eating. On the bad days you would sit and anxiously watch how many bites Larissa had compared to yours, picking at your own food and pushing it round the plate. Those days you'd struggle only to be met with comforting words and reassuring touches to your arms or knees. Never in your life had anyone put this much effort into ensuring you ate and were well. It was an odd feeling but not one that wasn't welcomed. Over time Larissa learned your safe foods, and the foods that you couldn't even look at without panicking. When Larissa started to make you both foods that you'd not longer ate out of fear or just foods you'd been too scared to try, you became aware of the part of her desk that had your safe foods safely tucked away in.

The impossibly loud bell rang out as you were mid way through a sentence, signalling lunch was here. Today was definitely a bad day for you, and as the students fled the room to go and have a well earned lunch you debated not going to Larissa. You'd had bad days before which she had dealt with beautifully as always. But this was different. You knew the principal was stressed with the recent events at Nevermore and the last thing you wanted was for your bad day to burden her. In an attempt to protect Larissa, you settled at your desk ready to work through the lunch break. Your lesson plans would provide an excellent distraction from the guilt that was gnarring at your stomach. You felt worse by not going. But it was for the best. Right?

Wrong. Oh how you were wrong. Larissa anxiously waited for you assuming you'd just ran over into lunch. You'd be there soon right? You'd never missed lunch with her since that night. The halls went quiet as the students settled in for lunch and still there was no you. Larissa couldn't explain the feeling but somehow she knew. Something was wrong. And that's what lead her to your classroom. Peering through the little glass window she was met with the sight of you hunched over your desk scribbling notes. With a small sigh she knocked on the door watching as you jumped straight of of the chair in shock. Making her way to you she could see that you were fighting and internal battle here.

"Y/n? Are you quite alright? I was worried when you didn't come to my office like normal dear." Her gaze was unwavering as she observed your reaction and behaviours. She was pretty good at depicting the bad days from the good based on your body language alone. Today was most definitely a bad day. You looked tired, shoulders slouching ever so slightly and your delicate arms wrapped around your middle as if you were holding yourself up. All things easily missed if she were anyone else but herself.

"I-I I'm sorry I just it's bad today and you have so much going on I don't want to make you deal with me I'm sorry I didn't want to worry you I just I can't add more to your already full schedule." You rushed out the panic evident in your tone as you dropped your head down in guilt. You only wanted to take something off her plate. After all she wasn't required to help you at all. The relationship you and Larissa had engaged in was growing more than a boss and employee and maybe even more than friends at this point. This terrified you. How could anyone want to be with you? Negative thoughts continued to swirl round your head in a never ending cycle causing you to miss the reply to your rushed statement.

"Are you still with me little one?" She hummed out eyes softening as she could see you were heading well on your way to a panic and anxiety attack all in one."y/n? Can I touch you please? I'd very much like to take this to my office. It's a lot more private there dear."

You found yourself nodding watching as she took your hand in hers and held it tightly. She motioned to the door as an incentive for you to come with her, however your body was stiff. Her office meant food. You knew that. You really didn't need lunch. She really didn't need to concern herself with this. It was the arm coming round your shoulders guiding you to the door that broke your thoughts. Soon enough you were sat in the office seeing the usual set up of your lunch dates.  Panic and guilt made themselves present again. Larissa had gone through a lot of effort and you didn't even show. Tears silently trailed over your cheeks. Why couldn't you just be normal?

Soft pads of the older women's thumbs brushed the tears from your cheeks and she spoke in the sweetest voice it may as well have been angel Gabriel speaking. "Little one, it's okay. I'm not mad. Try to ignore the food for the minute and focus on my voice okay? I'm here. I'm not mad. And I'm not leaving you okay? "

This invoked a small nod as you tried to do just that. Focusing your gaze onto her beautiful sky blue eyes. You could get lost in those easily. The lighter shades mixing with the slightly darker shades swirling together creating its own unique shade that was hers and hers only. They say eyes are the windows to the soul and now sat here like this you could confirm it's accuracy. The women sat in front of you was pure of heart and soul and you could see that in her gentle gaze. Without realising you seemed to have calmed yourself right back down before the attack could reach its full height. The gentle strokes of her thumbs on your cheeks had helped greatly.

"That's it good girl. It's going to be okay.  Now do you think you'd like to try what I prepared today?" She questioned you the tone of her voice letting you know you could say no. It was completely up to you. The small nod she received caused her to smile and lead you to where the food was set up. "Little one how many? 3?"

You paused assessing the situation of the food in front of you. They were quite small and looked inviting. How many calories- no no no you wouldn't do this. You were going to be okay. Larissa is here and wouldn't give you more than you needed. You're safe. The next sentence you mumbled shocked yourself and the older women briefly.

"I uh um can I have four?" You whimpered quietly. What had you just done? Oh god. The panic began to rise but being vanquished when you saw the beautiful eyes light up and respond "you can have five little one"

"I only want four" you replied with your voice shaking

"Okay" her voice would solve world wars one day you swear it.

"Okay" you whimpered back watching as she plated your plate before doing the exact same for herself. Knowing this was a big step for you. Especially on a bad day. She was so proud of you, you could practically feel it radiating round the room.

You struggled carefully watching Larissa in a comfortable silence. Her smile was magnificent as she saw the empty plate. Immediately coming round to you and gathering you in her arms.

"Oh my darling girl, you did it. You did amazingly. I know that was hard for you but I'm so proud of you. Such a good girl for me hmm?"she whispered into your hair before absentmindedly placing a kiss to the crown of your head. The bell rang in the distance and it was then that you were glad for planning periods.

You stayed in her embrace just soaking in the comfort she was offering up. "I'm sorry for not coming myself Rissa. I just don't want to burden you're already so busy and everything is so hectic I just didn't want to be extra work..." you trailed off the emotion was thick in your voice letting on just how badly you believed you were a burden.

"Darling, you're never a burden. When you love someone it's never extra work. You did amazingly today little one I'm so proud of you. Remember you never have to face the bad days alone I'll always be here with you."

"I-uh- you love? Me?" You stuttered out not quite sure you heard her right.

"I do yes. You're absolutely beautiful inside and out what's not to love?" Her admission causing tears to fall freely once more. "Oh little one don't cry it's okay you're okay come here." Her arms opened and on instinct you threw your tiny body into her strong arms. You choked back your tears as you whispered "I love you too Rissa" into her neck.

Maybe you we're flawed. You knew this would never go away. But maybe just maybe you could deal with it. As long as you had her.

Word count~ 1754

*A/n~ I never originally planned a sequel but I love how this one could flow from Body image. I hope you're all okay and remember my messages are always open to any of you struggling. Remember to look after yourselves dear readers. *sips water and continues to write more for you all*

[evilpenguinrika]

How about 4 and 73?

Ask Game For Fanfic Writers

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

OHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYY. I actually have a few I believe. But I'll share a few since this would end up getting way too long lol (plus I would have to comb through my backlog to remember):

I have two plus one rewrite ideas for Ikarishipping. The rewrite is basically just a whole rewrite (for the second time in my life) of my biggest at-the-time on-going fic Bluebells and Lavenders/re: Bluebells and Lavenders that I posted way back on ffnet. The reason being that when I first wrote BbaL I was like, 13-15 and got a really nasty flame comment (I am showing my age with this lol) about my grammar and writing syntax, plot, etc and like, at the time despite English being my first language, I just could not understand grammar or the basics of the English language (look, words are hard okay 😥).

So I decided from that flame comment I was going to rewrite that fic and I did when I was 16-17. But since then my writing and style have changed and I would like to rewrite it and post it on ao3. I think I haven't gotten around to it is because it's just... A lot to do. And a lot to plan. When I rewrote BbaL and wrote re:BbaL I had meticulous notes that I have no idea where they are now.

The other two Ikari fics I want to write, one is insp by Marianas Trench song "Haven't Had Enough" which I also originally wanted to do a Cosplay Music Video back when I was 15-16 because why not lol. Plus CMVs were really popular back in my day (OH GOD I USED THAT PHRASE). I'm not sure if it's still popular now? It would be, also a Modern AU/College AU I think? I haven't really thought that ahead other than "slow burn rivals to friends to lovers" LOL

And the second idea is just inspired by the song "SUPERMODEL" by Maneskin. I'm not sure what the root idea would be other than maybe Paul and Dawn are both huge top models...? Yeah, I hadn't really gotten too far with this idea haha.

Another plot bunny I had on hold is a Hosie one actually! Actually I have a lot but I'll share two:

One is a Modern AU and it's actually inspired by my time working on student films. Except this idea is more Josie has a webseries and brought in friends from her film school days to help her out and Hope is the cinematographer. I started writing it actually, around the same time I was working on my own webseries. But since my webseries project went caput, I haven't found motivation to keep writing this fic.

The second is a Life is Strange 1 AU where Josie is Max Caulfield and Hope is Chloe Price. I wanted it to also be like a "choose your own adventure" type fic as well where at the end of certain chapters with BIG decisions, you would then pick your choice between 2 options and skip to whatever chapter your choice would be in. I think the reason I haven't done this is cuz it's also pretty hefty to write, and also doing a "choose your own adventure" is gonna require lots of meticulous planning that I don't have the spoons for.

73. how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

Definitely like a movie in my head!! It helps me more when I picture the scenes I want to write in my head and then I just figure out the words from there.

It's especially helpful when I write fight scenes! I watch a lot of anime and other action-based shows (recently binge watched Cobra Kai and watched some clips from The Magicians since I miss that show a lot), so when I write fight scenes in my stories (mainly You're The One Born To Save Hosie series), I just visualize the fights/actions like an anime. I mean, I already mucked up the magic lore in the TVDUniverse so I might as well keep going with the artistic liberties and flair with it haha. Plus, it's really fun writing these anime-esque action fight scenes :3

.

thanks for the ask!!

[roosterbox]

hey! found your blog the other day and i love it<3

do you have any arthut/eames fic recommendations? i rewatched the movie a week ago and can't stop thinking about them

(sorry about the wait!)

First of all, hey there! Hello! Glad you found me, and glad to know you liked Inception. Hard to believe that it’s still drawing so many people in, 14 years on.

Second of all…

Oh baby. Oh man. Not just fic recs, but A/E fic recs? Yesssssssss my time has come.

First, there are a couple of writers whose entire oeuvre you should definitely check out if you haven’t.

Lolahardy, whose Dreamhusbands work is vast and varied, but here are a few of my own favorites (important note: no links because Lola’s fics are currently locked, but they are easily findable if you have an AO3 account, and you should definitely check out all of them, not just the few I mentioned here!):

In Every Universe - the fic that will never die, lol. So many great A/E stories here, but for me, the biggest draw are the other JGL/TH ships contained within. My personal favorite is Forrest/Evelyn, who I almost love even more than A/E at this point. Also, so many tropes and kinks and whatnot. Safe to say, I’m positive you’ll find a lot of different things to enjoy!

Le Mal Du Pays - this one is just lovely. I reread it again for this rec list and boy… still amazing. The chapters set during canon are so good, it’s like watching the movie again, but with the added bonus of actual A/E in the plot, you know?

Love is Strange - A/E by way of Dirty Dancing! I love it when you can enjoy an AU based on a very specific property even without having seen said property. For example, I adore everything about this fic even though I have never watched DD, not even once, lol.

OneWhoSitsWithTurtles, whose A/E work is never anything less than stellar and beautiful, and regularly makes me cry. Also, they have works in other fandoms that are equally worth checking out!

Christmas Without You (Is a Christmas Not Worth Having) - the best. The pinnacle. If ever you (or anyone else, for that matter) were curious about what my favorite A/E fic of all time is? Here’s your answer.

Dream of Me - This one is just beautiful. A simple little somewhat canon-compliant love story. So sugary sweet at times, it runs the risk of being tooth-rotting. But I’m always willing to take that risk.

39 Days to Fall in Love - the survivor AU you didn’t know you were missing. Seriously, it’s so good it might make you want to watch Survivor if you haven’t already, even if you know there’s no Arthur or Eames in it, lol.

Lullaby - Hands down, the saddest A/E fic I have ever read, and certainly in the running for saddest fic period. Seriously, it’s beautiful and worth reading but don’t go in without some tissues.

The Bumblebee and the Flower who Fell in Love - Also very sad, but so very whimsical and sweet besides. A/E works well in seemingly silly setups like this.

And now, for a few more individual recs. Mind you, a lot of my recs are a bit older - I really need to go back and peruse through the ship tag to find new stuff to bookmark - but hey, something something wine metaphors, lol.

End of the Road - this one is so cool. If you like Mad Max Fury Road and ever wondered what it would be like if you combined it with A/E (sort of) and some A/B/O Dynamics, you can’t do better than this.

Quiet Desperation - a lovely little A/E and 00q crossover story! I would read an entire series of this if it existed.

Next Big Thing - A/E as judges on a HGTV reality show. Classic! The exact kind of fairly low stakes drama I can get behind. No spoilers, but my favorite character is Misty Rainbow. For one scene in particular. If you read it, you’ll know exactly which one. Also I wish this show was real.

The Party - heavy subject matter in this one (heed the tags), but getting through the rough stuff makes the eventual fluffier bits almost extra sweet.

Out of Reach - a recent addition to my ranks, but absolutely beautiful. The emotions are so palpable and heartfelt.

And… would it be completely shameless if I included a couple of mine? I don’t like to toot my own horn too much, but since nobody else ever puts me on their reclists, why not, right?

Darling I’m Killed - my somewhat still ongoing Inception/Bond crossover. There are two sequels, and I have no concrete ideas for more yet, but there’s potential.

(I Would Like To) Paint the Way a Bird Sings - the Paint Shop AU that wouldn’t quit, lol. Still can’t believe I actually finished it. Four ships for the price of one in this fic!

Other inception fandom peeps, feel free to reblog and add any fics or authors you like! Especially more recent stuff because I am such a fandom oldtimer, lmao.

Thanks for the ask! I love recommending fics! Also thanks for the follow!

Happy reading!!

❤️

[ihni]

🌟Writer Appreciation🌟

When you get this show of our five of your favorite fics and five fics you like from other writers then send this to at least one other person.

(Since I was also tagged by @sanguine-tenshi to post my five favorite fics that I've written, I'm gonna smash'em together, because I don't wanna be too self-centered!)

My (current) five favorite fics that I've written (in no particular order): 1. Baby steps (a tumblr post that grew) 2. Taking Notes (bodyswap; longest fic I've written) 3. Birthday boy (made the most people cry, MUAHAHAA!) 4. Every weather is sweater weather in Hawkins (feelgood) 5. Over the edge (guilty pleasure, most fun to write)

And then about the five fics from other people ... you know what, let's make this interesting! I'm gonna rec SMUT, since you poor followers never ever get that, with my own writing XD (and since it's a rare, rare occurrance, let's do TEN): 1. On Billy by @sanguine-tenshi (because I just re-read it yesterday) (Billy&the basketball team basically, filthy filthy filthy, with a fantastic bonus non-smutty third chapter that I really enjoyed) 2. Mine Again by youllneverrecme (which, obviously I WILL rec you) (Harringroveson, mpreg - which, pregnancies overall freak me out but I'm a big girl and know how to skip the parts that aren't for me - and I really enjoyed the dynamics between the three in this) 3. this ain't a love song by @brawlite and @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger (Harringrove, college au, drinking, King Steve comes out to play) 4. ��Por qué no los dos? by @robthegoodfellow (Harringroveson, ARO BILLY!! Fantastic to be reading aro ANYONE honestly, especially in a ship and with smut! A+ Love this) 5. Feeding Your Hunger by @weird-an (Harringroveson, and I just love this dynamic they've got going on) (Also honorary mention to Clutching Pearls, which I recently re-read and was so enamored by the thought of Billy in a pearl necklace that I forgot it had fisting in it XD) 6. brainless by shippertrash140109 (Harringrove, through Jonathan's eyes. One of the earliest smutty fics I enjoyed reading. So prettily written!) 7. Secrets make this town by Oop (@thingsalexwrites I think) (Harringrove + Hopper. This is so surprisingly sweet and feels romantic, admist all the fucking) 8. The Stolen Sapphire by @billyharringson (Harringroveson, very obsessive and unhealthy probably but SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN) (honestly, anything by Jad3w1ings is bound to be good, I'm also very into Forged so far but that's not done so it doesn't get the MAIN rec :p) 9. .｡❅*⋆⍋* Warm Nights at Frosty Heights *⍋⋆*❅｡. by @bouncypickle (Will never not rec this. The most romantic and unproblematic smut you ever did see. Feelgod fic, with smut.) 10. Smell of Apples by @neonponders (Harringrove, Steve is a demon and Billy's a man of the Church. It's exactly what you think it is, but better. Plus, apple pie mention! Oh, and the most savage line ever; "We're older than your god". Love.)

[nonbinaryeddiekaspbrak]

FANFIC RECS!

here's a revamped version of my rec post - each fic will link to it's corresponding ao3 page, a summary in my words, small notes/review, and a disclaimer for more mature ratings if needed.

enjoy!

(* = new entry, last updated: Dec 3rd, 2023, still going through recent bookmarks)

(ps. let me know if you want your mention to be removed!)

IT

and a stain on my shirt - venom crossover, vv good, also a fix-it, venom finds another eddie to latch onto, a lot of humor, reddie get together, venom saves eddie

awake my soul - pretty angsty, keep an eye on those trigger warnings, this was pretty good, i rlly couldn’t take any breaks with this one, richie and eddie get jumped but in the process of putting away the ones responsible for the hate crime richie finds that he’ll have to come out sooner than he’s ready for, added bonus of art!!, happy ending, has fan reactions and news coverage as things are slowly revealed

come over here and overwhelm me - nsfw, a VERY GOOD rec, SO tender, the fluff is so well written, richie is having a bad day nd eddie comes to the rescue being so hfwjaklhj!!!, this fic said bottom richie rights nd it opened my eyes

don’t break character - HE/THEY RICHIE RIGHTS, richie finds that maybe his journey of identity isn’t over when he hears the word “nonbinary”, very!!!!, fjkdkslahfkl, just him having he/they pronouns is so exciting and flappy hands-worthy

I killed a clown. ama! - it chapter 2 except it’s through the lens of social media from posts by richie eddie myra and background fans, very very entertaining, canon compliant until eddie’s death it’s actually a fix-it, fair amount of angst??

it’s not real - WATCH THE TRIGGER WARNINGS, a lot of angst, very intense, eddie has an amazing richie impression, almost like they share the same braincell, eddie is also vv caring and will drag any faceless internet account down with him, could def make it in celebrity PR according to richie’s manager steve, richie comes out but he gets a horrible reaction and then finds himself in the middle of a clusterfuck of things that unfortunately couldn’t stay in the past, bill apparently also gets cancelled a lot and he cannot cook, he’s also the only other loser in here, a black mirror au, AGAIN WATCH THE TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS ONE

oh, wouldn’t it be nice? - nsfw, some angst, eddie finds richie’s obituary that he got from adrien (the park scene in chap 2; at least i think it was adrien), SUPER SWEET OMG, i had to stop a few times from the sheer amount of emotion this gave me

parental interference - in 1989 some parents are coming to their senses when it comes to a certain clown, i love went he’s an awesome dad, T rating, i suggest a peek at the trigger warnings/tags just in case, canon-typical triggers, again i really love wentworth tozier in this fic he’s a 10/10 dad

predicament bondage - nsfw, richie is 100% a sweetheart, eddie is fjdsljfkslf i love this version of him, richie is cast as a dom in a movie so he decides to get information from a professional which is eddie but he finds that working with eddie might bring his heart into the mix, a lot of internalized homophobia so watch out, ur honor i love eddie here

puppets and plants - the way this was written? *muah* my number two rec, some angst, the intimacy of u nd the guy set up across from u at the farmer’s market, amazing stanpat dynamic, trans eddie and ben!, pride parade!!

the king is gone - absolutely AMAZING time travel fix-it, fairly long, some angst, some fluff, not at all a boring read

the lockbox - pushing an M rating? maybe a T?, asexual eddie finding out that he’s ace and everything that comes with realizing u aren’t straight, honestly made my ace heart so happy, bit of angst

work friends and emergency contacts - outsider pov, eddie makes a work friend, fix-it w both eddie and stan living, eddie gets a divorce pre-itch2, damon just wants the best for richie and eddie, reddie getting together, richie visits eddie at work

STRANGER THINGS

bottle it up until it overflows - ohhhh boy, i absolutely love the vecna possessing mike trope and this fic definitely lives up to high standards, rated mature, bad parent ted wheeler and internalized homophobia, basically mike gets vecna'd is the entire plot - @ghoulsanderson

i feel like i know you (but we never met) - post season 4 of stranger things, ambiguous / open ending, teen rating, oh boy this made me emotional!, without spoilers i have to say this is such an angsty fic and i love it, this fic is written beautifully, the party all forget will because of vecna suppressing their memories, spoilers: mike puts everything together to figure out who the "missing person" is - @andiwriteordie

something's made your eyes go cold - TW SUICIDE ATTEMPTS, rated mature, mike is chronically suicidal, very very angsty but relatable (sadly), oneshot - @defendingtammythompson

when everything was fiction, future and prediction - two words: time travel, mike is confronted by his younger self and figures out a few things, very much hurt/comfort, rated teen

9-1-1 TV

*all the time in the world - i literally know nothing about the dsmp but the way this was written is so beautiful, i love angst and buddie but also buck angst gets me the most, evan buckley used to be someone called karl jacobs but eddie doesn't know that and thinks buck is a war veteran, he's not entirely wrong but also don't make me fact check that beyond reading this, this fic makes me feel super autistic in a way i can't explain, time travel and secret identities are just so my jam dude, bonus chris moment that made me squeal bc chris eddie and buck are so family material - @official-impravidus

*my palms and fingers still reek of gasoline - such a good crossover, the characterization is very very good, i definitely need to read it again, a pjo au that has a twist, demigod buck and eddie are special to me now, having buck be on that side is an interesting choice and i like it, buck's mom being aphrodite makes so much sense - @trashyinfernomusic

[tealmaskmybeloved]

Toxic Consequences AU: Chapter 6

The Heroes of Kitakami

(Notes will be under the cut. Enjoy!)

This was a new experience for Kieran.

He had believed the Loyal 3 were heroes for most of his life, at least until recently. But even with his new knowledge on their evil deeds.... he still couldn't hate them.

Right now, Kieran was being carried by Okidogi as they left the house, careful to avoid being spotted.

"So uh, where are we going exactly?" Kieran asked, confused.

"We're going to finish what we started all those years ago! Getting the masks!" Munkidori replied, almost excited to pull it off.

"Wait hold on here. We can't really, well, do that." Kieran blurted out. The Loyal 3 and their master turned to look at Kieran, disappointment and confusion on their faces.

Kieran had to think fast. "I-I mean, won't we get caught? The town is really protective of the masks... and there's no way they'd let us near them."

Please let this work. Kieran thought, his heart racing.

Eventually, their leader spoke up.

...Fine. We can delay the heist for later. Until then-

"OH MY GOSH, IS THAT THE LOYAL 3?!"

The group jumped in surprise. They turned to see some of the townsfolk running up to them.

"Um, uh, what do we do?" Kieran whispered.

"Quick, Okidogi, knock them out." Munkidori said.

"Do we seriously have to?" The dog replied, looking unsure.

The town's caretaker walked up to the group, his hands behind his back.

"Welcome, you all! It is an honor to be blessed with your presence! We of Kitakami thank you for fending off the Ogre all those years ago!"

The Loyal 3 gave each other looks. Fezandipiti almost snickered. Was he serious?

The man continued. "We owe great thanks to you heroes of Kitakami! We've been worshipping you since your passing, and we are more than happy to see you alive and well! Perhaps fate has shined upon us? Either way, we shall make sure your visit here is as pelasureable as it can be!"

It took all of the Loyal 3's willpower and their leader's control to not burst out laughing and lay waste to the town. The people thought that they were heroes of all things?! Did they not know of their heist?! Or the man they killed?! Or the countless other towns they've raided and attacked?!

Without hesitation, the caretaker pulled out the masks from behind his back and gave them to the crew.

"Here, take this. As a sign of our loyalty and thanks for your bravery." The caretaker said with a smile on his face.

The Loyal 3 gave each other smug looks and eagerly accepted the masks.

"Well that was easy!" Munkidori grinned.

"They know that we ain't heroes, right?" Fezandipiti asked, a look of mischief on the bird's face.

"Don't say it! They'll hear you!" Okidogi growled.

It doesn't matter. They can't understand us anyway.

But the people were not done. "As a little bonus, here's a treat for you all. Freshly made from our best bakers, here's some mochi!"

One of the townsfolk handed them a plate full of pale mochi.

"Well don't mind if we do!" Okidogi snatched the plate and offered the mochi to the others before taking a bite of one himself.

The Loyal 3's leader stared at the mochi with a look of disdain and hatred.

You realize we're the bad guys here, right?

"Oh come on now, boss. A little appreciation and a break never killed anyone!" Fezandipiti said. Clearly the Loyal 3 were enjoying this.

Kieran was as well. He was finally getting used to hanging out with the Loyal 3 and their leader. He let himself relax a little. Maybe things won't be so bad!

Ahem. I know you all are enjoying this, but we need to get going, now. Their leader spoke again, clearly annoyed.

The Loyal 3 grumbled in response.

"Come on, don't be a buzzkill! Let us have some fun!" Okidogi said gleefully.

"Yeah, there's no harm in this!" Fezandipiti agreed.

I said.. we need to get going, NOW!

The voice from their leader was more aggravated than unusual, startling Kieran. He could feel its presence in his mind again, but this time stronger.

Kieran wasn't the only one. The Loyal 3 had an unnatural pink glow to their eyes, almost like they were being controlled...

There, that's better. Now, let's leave before things get worse. Come along, Kieran.

Reluctantly, Kieran went after the group, now unsure whether or not if this was a good idea.

The group left Mossui Town, masks in hand...

Ogerpon's POV

Ogerpon was peacefully resting with her new friends when she sensed something troubling.

She knew.

He was back. Him and his Retainers.

They can't take my friend away this time. I won't let them. I'll make them pay for what happened all those years ago....

WOOOOOOT ITS OUT YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA

Dokutaro is an evil lil jerk and doesn't let the Loyal 3 have fun.

Also I loved writing the part where they're snickering about being seen as heroes. They were just like LMAO BOZOS YOU THOUGHT-

My first draft was for them to be like ABOUT THAT and just destroy the town, but I'll save that for later.

Anyways, lemme know what you think about it! Reblog, send an ask, anything works!

[greenerteacups]

Merry Swiftmas! I saw your note at the end of the most recent chapter. What are you Tortured Poet Department thoughts and feelings?

Literally just got back from a listening party so this is all coming in VERY fresh and unprocessed but first reactions:

The unfortunate exigencies of Industry Shit have kind of hurt Swift creatively because (1) she's been taught she can have her cake and eat it too with the Grammy-winning 15-track sonically cohesive tone album if she just drops it separately as the first act of a 30-song behemoth deluxe edition/multiverse of bonus tracks, and (2) the Vault Tracks have taught her that fans actually do want to hear every single thing she writes, even if she (rightly) might have thought it wasn't release-quality 5-10 years ago. Long story short there is a good album in here but it needs to be TIGHTLY pruned out because a lot of these songs are either underwritten or underdeveloped or both. She should've focused her energy on improving a smaller set (i.e. cleaning out some of the clunker lines, tightening melodies, giving each song its own identity) and cutting like, more or less the last third of the tracks. That being said! I did like a lot of it.

I also think some people fail to understand Swift is a pop artist making pop music. When we say she's a good lyricist, we don't mean she's fucking Samuel Coleridge, it means she uses the medium of a pop song successfully to communicate a mood or an emotional experience. Pop is vernacular; it's supposed to evoke the kind of language you hear every day. Not surprisingly, I find her at her best when she's not trying to affect some kind of heightened poetic mood. Songs like "Would've, Could've, Should've" straddle this line pretty well for me, because it's not affected, it's just... intelligently thought-through. It's a single metaphor, taken from multiple angles, explained well, and set to a great melody. It's not trying to impress you, but it still does. Anyway.

Miscellaneous/specific thoughts:

"Guilty as Sin?" is my favorite, it's going to be one of my most played songs of the year, both for reasons of Oh Shit It Me and because I'm just straight up in love with the sound of this motherfucker. No analysis it makes the happy juices in the brain go

Other favorites: So Long London, Fresh Out The Slammer, The Bolter, Daddy I Love Him

"thank you aimee" is a reprise of "Mean" addressed semi-obviously to Kim K/the Collective Nation of Haters of Taylor Swift, which was a weak diss track when it was a teenager singing it and has not improved in the mouth of a 30-something artist

"But Daddy I Love Him" is conversely a very successful ironic reprise of "Love Story," and I'm fond of it because it reads like a love letter to the girls who grew up on that song

Interesting strains of Reputation on "Little Old Me," I feel like there was an earlier draft of this song that went harder on the Bad Blood/Don't Blame Me vibe, but she's still scarred from the critical reaction to reputation and hasn't fully gone there since. Which is why someday I will throttle the Pitchfork editor with my bare hands

Florida!!! feels like it needed some more production besides Jack Antonoff sitting on the synths with a jackhammer but I do like it. The bridge/second half sounds a lot like a Bleachers song (compliment)

"So High School" was sweet and I was surprised by how much I liked that and "The Alchemy," both of which are fun but ultimately simple and sentimental — which is GOOD to be clear I don't go looking for Proust in my pop music, and simplicity can be a virtue

However, I scream-laughed in a full room when I heard the line "you can ball and I know Aristotle," and I look forward to thinking about it once a day for the next forever. Insane. So good. Also, like — Taylor, have you read the Politics? You are legally obligated to tell us now if you have read the Politics.

[tojiscrack]

if your goal was to give me an aneurysm from the most recent chapter congrats you did! 🥳🥳🥳

LOVEBIRDS??? nuh uh. NUH UH UH. stawp kamo back off pleaseeeeuhhh 🙏🙏😭😭💔💔

BUUUUUTTTT jealous megumi??? OH WE ARE SO GETTING CLOSE TO ANGST i can picture it all in my head:

megumi: why have u and kamo been so close recently, ur supposed to be my ..bsf 😡😡

y/n: ummm wdym porcupine shut up were not that close 😤

AND BOOM ANGST i am so scared yet excited for the angst to be more serious 😈😈 (i am almost 100% sure every single ask ive sent u has mentioned the angst in one way or another)

um also do NAWT expect me to switch teams, CUZ YOU HAVE BEEN SEEING THIS FROM AO3 READERS (and like 1 tumblr reader) BUT NOT ME!!!! i will not be going to team kamo because 1. i am a SUCKKKERRRRR for childhood friends to lovers + the whole dynamic they have (constantly teasing each other but always matching the energy) AND 2. my fav jjk character is megumi so obviously i wanna see him more

btw i think this bonus scene is my favorite because its soo ridiculous?? 😭 i hope yk whenever you put something from canon into this (like w the prison thing) it feels like im watching a reboot of a show or movie and theres a parallel/refrence/character return, and all im thinking is “holy shit i know this!!! omgomgomg!!!!”

btw i apologize for sending this in later than i normally would, i saw you posted last night but i was soooo tired and i decided to sleep, and i was binge watching “you” all day so uhm i just read it! 😅😅 (also if it helps im like 99% sure you posted the chapter on megumis birthday in my timezone)

anyways!!! AS ALWAYS FANTASTIC WRITING LIKE mwah mwah mwah i adore it so much, you genuinely have such a good way with words it amazes me every time how your writing is consistently good, but also improving?? its so impressive i wanna eat your writing 🙏🙏🙏

i was actually aiming to give you a stroke instead but, yk, aneurysms work too ig 🙄

‘stawp kamo back off pleaseeeeeuhh’ — i wrote the lovebirds line while giggling btw, i knew you and a bunch of others would react either angrily or just panicked 😭 so worth it, honestly, ur reactions are so funny dkmmm

HAHAA WHY DID YOU MAKE A WHOLE NOTE FORM SCENE OF IT? 😭😭 that’d be the sitcom version of it, narrowed down, less drama, etc. you just wait 👀

‘i am almost 100% sure every single ask i’ve sent you has mentioned the angst in one way or another’ — no i agree, i’m also almost 100% certain every single ask you’ve sent has smth to do with the angst 😭 LMAO I REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE STRESSING ABOUT THE ANGST WHEN THE FIRST REAL PLOT-THICKENING CHAPTER CAME OUT JEISJWID

and whole time, it was just a little bit of plot sauce, nothing major

even now, the angst isn’t even here yet, and you’re still stressing 🌝 you’re gonna get greys before the story even takes off girl, CHILL 😭

‘do NAWT expect me to switch teams’ — YOU? switching teams? if that ever happens, i’d actually log off and just contemplate and ponder for a week straight. you, who was stressing about the angst before it even arrived (still not here yet)? you, who had your megumi funko pop mauled by a bear over this story? you, who returns in my inbox at least thrice a week to give everyone a speech about your negative thoughts on kamo?

yeah, me expecting you to switch teams is NEVER happening, don’t you worry about that 💀

‘btw i think this bonus scene is my favourite because it’s sooo ridiculous? 😭’ — so real. i loved writing it. initially i was gonna put smth else for the bonus scene, but i might push that smth else onto next chapter’s one. the whole reason why the gojo-phone-box scene was even put in was ‘cause of a question someone asked about whether i’d lock satoru up in jail to parallel the prison box issue in canon 😗

BUT AHHH, I’M GLAD YOU LIKE THE PARALLELED STUFF? I HAVE SM FUN WRITING THEM OUT, YOU HAVE NO IDEA 🤭

and i have more ideas to put in, but i don’t wanna introduce the newer characters from the manga just yet ‘cause ik there are some anime-only readers and i respect their unspoken wishes for a spoiler-free zone — unless otherwise mentioned :)

^ that kinda complicates things for my timeline, but it shall be fineeee, i’ll work through it lolol

don’t apologise!!

i did kinda wonder where you were (‘cause this chapter was me being purely evil by making the first half about the friend group and then the second half about kamo) so surely you’d be the first to arrive to give me a good scolding or smth? 😀 but you came anyway, so it’s fineee :) i hope you got all the sleep in the world! <3

also currently reeling rn ‘cause your comments about my writing improving is just sooooooooooosnisheidjwjdjejsbe 🙂‍↕️🤚🏽

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 10.16.2024

I keep meaning to do these on Tuesdays and they keep leaking over onto Wednesdays. Oh well. I'm going to keep striving for Tuesdays because I really don't want them leaking onto Thursdays.

Anyway, Bleach Returns! Week is over and I'm pretty happy with how I did. I got 4 artworks and two fanfics done: you can see all of my contributions here. I do have a little bit of Bonus Content to one of them that I am still hoping to finish up, but we'll see. I sort of lost my momentum entirely the minute I finished up that last fanfic, so if I don't get back to it, it won't be the end of the world for me.

I'm spending this week trying to get caught back up on stuff, both irl and online. I'm working on my ao3 inbox, which got woefully behind again, for which I am very sorry. My Tumblr drafts are also...substantial...again, but that's no one's problem but my own.

I am finally ready to actually get ready to work on a little in love again. I even looked at my notes and outline! The outline was a lot more filled in than I remembered it being, but I also somehow expected to get through act iv in 9 chapters which seems a little...spare to me. I took a break from reading Pride and Prejudice because my hold on The Goblin Emperor came in at the library, but it was worth it because I loved it and it was also Relevant to The Vibe. I keep trying to convince myself that I don't really need to re-read the first three acts of alil, but I am pretty sure that I do. I think I should finish up P&P about the same time I get the inbox taken care of, so that ought to line up pretty well.

I currently have about 8500 words from the last time I tried to work on this story, in various states of ready-for-primetime-ness. Sometime between now and next week, I hope to get sort of a baseline established so that I can start doing wordcounts again.

Oh, yeah, wordcounts. I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of how much actual writing I do (vs posting, which is what ao3 tracks and often isn't actually indicative of when I did the work). For the last two years, I have written about 110k per year, and I thought I had been doing pretty good this year, but it turns out I am only at 90k at the moment, so I would really like it if I could get at least another 20k by the end of the year. That seems pretty doable except for the fact that my Decembers are always shit, but maybe this one will be different! lolololol

I am really proud of how much drawing I have done recently, because I hadn't really done very at all this year. I'd like to try and keep that momentum, even if it's just doing a bit of a scribble every day from my art club prompts. Who knows, we'll see. I always found the banners for a little in love to be incredibly fun to do, and I'm looking forward to the possibility of making a couple of new ones.

[lbigreyhound13]

BESTIEEE!! Tell me more about Many Adventures!! What inspired you to write it? Is there any fun plots or details you haven’t been able to add to it that you’d like to one day? LOVE YOUU

THANK YOU, BESTIE!!!!! LOVE YOU TOO!!! And OMG!!! I would love to talk about Many Adventures! Here we go!!

Okay, so, in regards to how I got the idea, I had gotten into Iron Dad after I saw Infinity War with my ex-boyfriend not too long before Endgame came out, and after I saw THE HUG in Endgame, I was even more hooked. So of course I got sucked into the Iron Dad tag on Tumblr and fanfiction. And I think I was scrolling through Tumblr one day and saw a post talking about how cool it would've been to have a limited series (it had to have been when Wandavision and Falcon and Winter Soldier were announced or something, I don't remember) centering around Tony and Peter and have it take place between Homecoming and Infinity War. And I was in love with the idea because I loved the idea of getting more Iron Dad content and having RDJ come back as Tony and really exploring how Tony and Peter went from that awkward not-a-hug in Homecoming to Peter gripping onto Tony like a lifeline in Infinity War. Although, I knew it would be close to impossible, so...I think I pretty much decided I would try to tackle that concept but of course as fanfiction.

I did some researching in regards to analyses about the relationship and the characters and the timeline of that 2-year-gap between Homecoming and Infinity War and saw that it worked. I had read a Big Time Rush fic called When We Were Young and was already working on a fic for my OC called The First 21 Years of Grey Bergman. So I was already familiar with this concept of each chapter taking place over the course of a certain period of time. I planned it out in my Notes app in my phone and began to write it. Thus on June 27, 2019, I posted the first chapter of The Many Adventures of Iron Dad and Spider Son on FF.net and then on AO3 as well in February 2020. Also, as a bonus, I got the idea for the title from The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh. I have no shame! LOL! So, yeah, that's pretty much what inspired me to write it.

As for plots and details I haven't been able to add but would like to, ooooo, that's a good question. I do have a few!

I would love to show more of Tony and Peter training as heroes together. In a recent chapter, I have them agree to train more together as Iron Man and Spider-Man for when the aliens would come back.

Another idea I had is Tony and Peter being trapped in a freezer together. I got that idea from the show Castle. So, if I can find a way to make that happen, I would love to do that.

I also would love to do a chapter where Peter is so distraught because he wasn't able to save someone and have Tony comfort him. I guess, kind of like what you did for Dadneto, bestie.

OH! I would also love to squeeze in doing a scene similar to Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man where he saves a kid and unmasks himself to help the kid feel more comfortable.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now, but I'm really excited to get back to continuing Many Adventures, especially during our writing sessions. But the fics are on a rotation, and I'm sticking with it to help my sanity, lol! Thanks so much for asking, bestie! LOVE YOU!!!!

Reblog if you're okay with receiving asks for backstory info on any/all of your fics.

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 18

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which I would punch the air if I hadn't previously read the book.

Murderbot 1.0 Status: Not so great Forced Shutdown: Restart What happened? Forced Shutdown: Restart: Failure Retry Forced Shutdown: Restart: Failure Retry Restart Yeah, I’m definitely in trouble here.(1)

Murderbot hurts everywhere, and has no outside inputs for a bit, until it finally starts to get systems back online. It's hanging upside down by four cables in a large, dark, open space, and its environmental suit has been removed, though it still has its shirt, pants, and boots.

The air is thin, but it's not worried about itself… just the humans that it was protecting. It doesn't hear any sounds, and there aren't any human shapes in its field of vision.(2) Nor are there any power sources within its scan range, or feeds available. It is next to a large machine with variously sized arms which might be an assembler. Despite the name, they can be used to dismantle as well.

Fear gives way to anger as MB wonders why they haven't torn it apart yet, if that's their intention.(3) If they try while it's conscious, they'll live to regret it.

Still, it can't use its arm energy weapons to free itself, because the angle is wrong. It has to do this the hard way: turn down the pain sensors, and dislocate the right joints to let its hands slip through the bindings. Oh no, wait, that's what something more human might do. Instead, Murderbot detaches its right hand(4) to free its right arm, reattaches it, and then breaks the clamp on its left arm, and then its feet. In the process, it makes a note that whoever hung it up this way doesn't understand SecUnits at all, as they don't seem to have tried to relieve it of its energy weapons and thought that upside-down would hurt like it does humans.

Once free, it hangs from one of the cables, but on purpose this time, and looks around upright. It seems like an old mine shaft, now used for storage. It sees some warning colours, red and orange and yellow, so climbs down another nearby cable to make its way toward them. It learns on the downward climb that its left knee is in particularly bad shape.

It finally gets to the warning paint, which is very outdated, but it's close enough to the popup feed paint that MB recognizes that it gives its message: a contamination warning. Its organic bits go cold, realizing this is the original alien remnant contamination site. It doesn't know if it's contaminated yet, but it does know it has to get out.

MB climbs up toward the tiny light it noticed earlier, and finds that it's attached to some scaffolding. Nothing nearby looks like a door that's been used recently. Still, eventually it finds one panel that moves a little when MB pries at it. Soon it gets enough leverage to get it open, and finds a stone foyer with better airflow.

It goes inside, and sits on the floor to have emotions while also having lots of pain. Three of its biggest fears are happening all at once, and its only comfort is the hope that the humans made it to Art alive, even though none of them have any reason to believe MB is still alive to come back for.

While it's wallowing, it realizes there's an active feed in this space, so it connects… and is promptly assaulted by MB2.0 yelling in its ear to ask if it's itself. At first it wonders if it's a ghost, but it's real, and really calling itself by their private shared name. 2 says advisory that it's a private name wasn't in its instructions, and tells MB to read a record of what it's done so far.

Right. Okay. Right. Things weren’t nearly as bad as they seemed. The explorer was permanently out of play and ART’s last three crew members were retrieved, plus some bonus Barish-Estranza survivors. But note to self: the next time you create sentient killware based on yourself, set some damn restrictions.(5) (It had downloaded one of my private archives to that SecUnit. I mean, my new friend SecUnit 3 who if I actually get out of this alive, I’ll have to do something with, like civilize or educate it or whatever. Like what the humans originally wanted to do with me, except we all gave up on that.)(6)

MB asks if 2 knows where its humans are, but 2 says the priority is neutralizing targetContact. MB says that's not its directive, but 2 says it wrote its own new directive.(7) Instead of expressing its feelings about killware that can think for itself like that, MB says it doesn't feel well. 2 immediately tries to hop up in MB's diagnostics, but MB says there's no time.

After establishing that 2 doesn't have any schematics or camera feeds, because MB didn't give it mapping code, it tells MB that there are feed and comm channels here, mostly not controlled by TCS, it's just accessing through a back channel. But, there's another section that's sending a distress signal. "Assistance needed" at ten second intervals, indicating that this is someone begging for help from anyone who could hear.

2 suggests contacting the distress signal sender. MB pings it, and the advisory stops for thirty seconds, then resumes, pointed right at MB. 2 observes that the system heard it. MB is just glad to have a direction. On the way, it gives 2 a corner of the processing in its brain. It can't really sacrifice that right now, but even less can it afford for its killware child to forget who its ally is and turn on MB.

Passing through corridors and hangars, MB realizes this is the pre-CR installation for sure. And, 2 observes that they weren't aliens. MB starts to argue they already knew they weren't aliens, but decides against arguing with itself. The tech doesn't look like pre-CR historical dramas, though.(8) And, they find a body wrapped in white crystalline growths that must be alien remnant related. As they near it, the "assistance needed" message changes to a "hazardous material" warning, so the system knows where they are.

2 cautiously suggests MB adjust its filters, and rescan the area to include more channels than its standard range. When it does so, 2 makes a diagram before MB can even fully process the results.

This wasn’t so much an oh shit moment as it was a spike of brain-numbing terror. I was expecting a room full of active connections, from the components to the screens and then through the walls to the rest of the installation, even if some or most of those connections were sending or receiving from damaged or dead nodes. Instead, the diagram showed the connections, but they came from the dead human body, and formed a weblike mass. It was interwoven with the central system, then stretched out to the walls, following the old connection pathways. I bumped into the hatch, which was when I realized I had been backing up. 2.0 whispered, That’s targetControlSystem.

=====

(1) Yeah, unable to reboot sucks, but our Murderbot is still alive to HAVE that problem, which is worth celebrating after the forced shutdown, restart unavailable a couple chapters ago. (2) Even though we know all the humans really DID escape, and MB's actions DID work, that was still a tense passage for me. (3) I think the later discovery that this is a storage room emphasizes the theory that they did not intend to dismantle MB, that was just the best place to hang it up. I'm confident that they wouldn't care if it was conscious before starting, if they wanted to. (4) EWW Ms Wells did you have to do THIS MUCH body horror just to subvert the expected trope? LOL (5) Always be precise about what you mean if the results might, in any small way, be meaningfully annoying to you if you don't. (6) So, I have two thoughts here. One, "civilize" and "educate" are two things SecUnits don't really need so much. Well, educate maybe, because their modules can be very limited, but not in the way "civilize or educate" implies to me. Two, I think the humans gave up because they recognized that you were better off without trying to impose some other personality type onto you, MB. Like, there's a whole essay somewhere in here, about the anthropological consequences of SecUnit independence and how they might be encouraged to their own individuality. (7) You can't give a script sentience, or more properly sapience, without expecting that it will defy the rules you assigned it. This is the whole fear of AI. I love how it's being played with in this series so much, and this book in particular, with 2. (8) Just in case you forgot who was narrating. (9) Eep! So close, TOO CLOSE! At least, if they don't have something with which to destroy it. No wonder it felt human.