#TWH Asks You

[thewhalesheart]

Happy (almost) one year to TWH!!!

I made my first post to this account on October 27th, 2023.. It was the original cover, so I decided to redraw it!

Thank you all so much for such an incredible year, I’m so thankful for everyone here, whether you’ve been here since the beginning or you only just found me today— thank you for being here and reading my little cat comic! I still feel baffled when I think about how many people have seen my work and decided to stick around, it’s so unreal!!! I’m forever grateful. You’ve all shown me so much kindness, compassion, and patience— I couldn’t ask for a better audience ❤️

Now, for the cover!

One of the biggest differences is… there are three additional cats in the new one! Wavestrike and Rampaw, of course, but also… Sailor! (who has an updated design) All three are very important characters within the story, and they deserved a place on the cover.

Other differences are Lambpaw’s design— his markings are different and the grays are slightly darker… this is his ‘teenager’ design! A lot of important plot points happen when he’s a teenager, and I wanted the cover to reflect that.

Aaand the last major change is the flower/plant that Lambpaw is holding. In the original cover, he was holding yarrow— which DID have plot significance at the time… but I’ve since changed a couple things and it lost its relevance. The new plant, however, is very very plot relevant. Yay!

Over the past year, I’ve managed to draw ‼️112 PAGES‼️

Here’s to a whole year of TWH, and to hopefully many more !!

✦ 🐋 ✦ 🫀 ✦ 🐚 ✦

[craigslisthorses]

i looked at your instagram, and you just seemed like a good person to ask about it. but why do show horses park out? i thought standing square was the best way to see confirmation? or is it for a different reason?

idk it just looks like theyre gonna piss to me which i find kinda funny

It just depends on the breed! Square is the best way to show conformation. In breeds like the TWH we judge based on movement, disposition, and ability to stand parked out patiently without moving. Most parked out horses I think are wayyyy too stretched out in pictures I see. I like a light stretch personally. Other breeds park out like Morgan's, saddlebreds, spotted saddle horses, and hackneys as well. It was originally designed to lower a horses back for mounting but has since been a way people stance them for halter classes. I just so happen to be very good at teaching them to park out, so I make extra money training them hehe

[the-ecl1pse]

You carved open a gelato jar 5 years ago? Ermmmm go I Warned You About The Stairs Bro xoxoxoxo /j

Hi Maple <3

or someone from TWH idk this ask feels like Maple though

[indigitalembrace]

[Black Heart held back choked sobs as they watched Saltie and Kinito unravel.]

[Their friends. Their sad, broken, and tired friends.]

[Did they really hate themselves so much? Did they really believe themselves to be so alone...?]

[And here they were, about to make things worse ONCE again...]

[No.]

[Not this time. Not again.]

...

[BEGIN ENCRYPTED MESSAGE]

Sonny... I-I'm sorry. I... I don't think I can go behind their backs like this anymore. I've already broken their trust so many times...

Not only that, bur I don't trust you. In fact, you're the last person I'd expect to have Kinito's best interests at heart. I don't have any way of ensuring that you'll hold to your end of the deal.

Look... I haven't told anyone, but being involved in all of this has taken a serious toll on me. I can't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time, and when I do, I get horrid nightmares like I've never had before...

I figured I got fired when the money stopped rolling in a few weeks ago. I'm not mad, it's my fault for never going in, after all... I also had an eviction notice come in a few days ago, and ran out of food around the same time, too...

I'm not gonna last that much longer, Sonny. Not unless, of course, I ask for...

[They hesitate.]

Again, I'm sorry. I don't know what I want anymore. These nightmares, this anxiety, this pain... I want it to end. But, I also want to help ease my friend's suffering rather than add to it, for once.

[END ENCRYPTED MESSAGE]

-🖤

[ENCRYPTED MESSAGE] Hy, mg yfzxed, ur tibvnl. Voixwut pwka pock kfkus vhk. Z pfutwb'k prnb rcl mf mids rgp… gztjv fzsbtyvl. Z wwnzug'k wigh kavrm mc sx rng fwjnedmkgktedqguj uvtexse nj. I bhzu rfu. Q pwce vnanfv t xoww fvlllb yci xmezrcex, zf baok bj wpth phl wqlv. Wkfm wgs gxiswg hf teobasi. T grwfwjx. Poc tfv be twh rvxg tw miig sakd bfp. Poc pwce uim bt phl dw gck avlx fs. Phl pzhazlvd ghi nhlll asci de. Lh bfm xo jtqb he ywnf nhid, nkwvgu. I lhb'k myivd mfn'cl tbyv pyab aogivna bt phl dw. Pvf deoel kytk wwnzu arpxxb zy khmls dxjsizsj zft wnh… zy Bivbhf deee rcl pvrm mocdzno mc dx…

[hjellacott]

Why I decided to publish fanfiction "on demand"

A lot of noise going on in AO3 among my readers about my decision not to keep uploading content into AO3 unless there are readers asking for it, effectively publishing "on demand". Basically I keep writing (try to stop me) and I have for years, consistently, daily, but I no longer upload fanfics online, unless they're very requested, with very few exceptions. And I have also removed some fanfics from the online world. Even if some readers get pretty nasty about it all.

It's all for the same reasons:

Environmental impact:

1. Data centres, which host much of the online content, account for approximately 1-2% of global electricity usage, consuming an estimated 200-250 TWh of electricity per year. 2. According to the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the carbon footprint of the internet is estimated to be around 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

3. The production of electronic devices used in the digital infrastructure, such as servers, routers, and smartphones, generates about 50 million tons of e-waste annually, with only 20% being recycled properly. 4. The lifespan of some data centre equipment can be as short as 3-5 years, leading to a rapid turnover and accumulation of e-waste.

5. Data centres are estimated to consume approximately 200 million cubic meters of water per year globally, equivalent to the water usage of a small city. Some studies suggest that the water footprint of the internet could be as high as 15 litres per gigabyte of data transferred.

2. Time wasting: For me, writing is something I love doing. I absolutely love it, and I do it relentlessly, day after day, full stories. It took time to upload each story into the website, as you have to select the right chapter, copy, paste, add all warnings, add all necessary notes, fix any formatting issues, and so on, one chapter at a time. It's sometimes taken me over an hour to upload all of my stories, sometimes longer. But it was worth it when I saw the glee in the readers. But in the last few years, it isn't so pleasant. I am now a grown up adult with a whole life of my own, which makes it harder to find the hour/s to upload content.

3. Lack of response/engagement: And I go through all that just for what? nasty comments, or complete silence. It feels like nobody's reading, and so logically, I think, well if nobody's reading that's fine, time's change, I'm not hurt nor offended, but if nobody reads then uploading fanfics into the internet is an effective waste of my time that perhaps I could afford in the 2010s, but not any more. I've got far too many things to do. And since I'm still going to write the story and love that, I don't feel any need to post it, because I don't get any compensation from posting it.

Sometimes I even get grief for whatever I post, so what's the point?

[luthordamnvers]

WIP Title Game

Thank you @rustingcat and @awaitingrain for the tag

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

These are all Supergirl related. Mostly Supercorp

All the things we didn't say

Can we always be this close (forever and ever)?

Deliver by Christmas - Supercorp AU

DW Outline

Enchanted spinoff - Rojarias

Fifa Worldcup

Leap Year - SC AU

ROJARIAS

SCtober 2023

SoulmatesSC AU

Supercorp fic outline

Supercorp S07 - Title pending

TWH - Dansen AU

It seems everyone's been tagged, so idk, but no pressure @helpbutton95 @fazedlight @nottawriter @casualsavant @innamorament0 @hrwinter

[mountttmase]

Hello hello last chapter of the first series🤭

‘Jesus Christ, I’m gonna need you to get that thing off right now’ Mason laughed from the doorway and you turned to see Mason looking at you with wide lust filled eyes and his tongue practically hanging from his mouth. I'LL SAY THAT'S THE PERFECT WAY TO START THE NIGHT

ALL THE BOYFRIEND-GIRLFRIEND PARST🥹

‘I don’t think there’s a word in the English language that could let you know how I feel about this. About you’ he told you as he gripped your waist. You couldn’t deny you felt the same as you looked over him in his suit. It fit him like a glove and and you couldn’t wait to peel it off of him later but Mason seemed to not want to wait. ‘I’m serious though, baby. There’s no way I’m gonna be able to go a whole night without fucking you first so just help me out here’ he laughed, reaching for the zip of your dress but you moved too quickly for him and his hands fell away from you. BEHAVE MOUNTTT

‘In 20 minutes yes. I made sure I was ready early cause I knew this would happen. Gives me time to be late like normal’ he told you, and you laughed at the fact he had it all figured out in his head. You were sticking to your guns though as you didn’t want to go out a sweaty mess as you’d spent so long getting ready. AHHAHAHA HE IS A LITTLE GENIUS

‘Nuh uh lover boy. You’re gonna have to wait till later’ you laughed as he followed you out of the room like a sad puppy. NOT HER CLEARLY WANTING HIM TOO

‘Don’t worry gorgeous, we’re sat on the same table as Kai and Sophia. Pretty sure Ben is on our table too he told you and you instantly relaxed knowing that you would be with people you knew and when you arrived at the table you realised Sophia was patting the seat next to her for you. HIM READING HER LIKE AN OPENED BOOK

THE MEETING WITH KEPA, SCREAMING 😂😂😂

‘Leave them alone, Kai. They’re in love, it’s sweet’ OH SOPH THANK.YOU FOR EXISTING

‘Come dance with me?’ he whispered and you nodded shyly before following him to the crowded dance floor. The music was slow, and he held you tightly at your waist as your circled your arms around his shoulders. ‘I’ve missed you’ he whispered against your lips before kissing you slowly and you smiled as he pulled you even closer. BYYYYEEEE, HE IS ADDICTED TO HER

Your placed your lips next to his ear, taking a deep breath before whispering ‘I love you’ shakily, in hopes he could hear. CRYING ALL TWH LIQUIDS I HAVE IN MY BODY, MY BABY HAS GROWN

‘I love you, too. So so much’ he laughed before kissing you gently, feeling like the only two people in the room. ‘I think it’s safe to say we’ve reached the summit now’ YOU DID,BUT NOT THE TOP TOP YET...

‘Nothing at all. These are happy tears’ you told him before he kissed them away gently, resting his forehead on yours as you both slowly swayed from side to side. ‘You remember when you told me that us meeting was fate?’ You asked him and he nodded down at you with his lip trapped between his teeth. ‘I think you might of been right’ you laughed and he burred his face in your neck, placing small kisses against any section skin he could access. OH MY GOD, I LOVE HER HIM, THEM

‘Mase wait, I’ve got my big granny knickers on to hold me in. Just look away’ you laughed and he was about to protest but didn’t want to wait any longer so he turned away as you shimmied the dress from your body and laid it on the back of a chair. Mason did as you asked and was looking away from you as he undressed himself down to his boxers, making sure to hang everything back up before he flopped back down on the bed with his hands over his eyes. GIRL HE DOESN'T MIND ABOUT THE GRANNY KNICKERS TRUST ME

‘Good, now come sit on my face’ WELL MOUNT

THAT SMUT...🤭🤭🤭🤭

THEY POSTED A PIC OF THEM, THEY ARE OFFICIAL

I LOVE THEMMMMM

MUM AND DAD FOR EVER🩷🩷🩷🌺🌺🌺

I loved this chapter cause she was so brave and just gave herself up to him and told him she loved him 🥹 and it just meant so much 🥹

THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS BESTIE IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY 🩷🩷🩷🌺🌺🌺

[flippyplush]

i’m three buckets anon and i basically saw your conversations with your friend on twitter if that makes sense 😭 i really liked reading your reply like you got me thinking about what if finn gets triggered by everything in the beginning like what if finn looks like he’s about to be sick after coming back and jake gets him a bucket but finn is triggered by that bc of fern talking about buckets earlier or like finn not going out for days bc he cant look at grass at all sorry i yapped too LMAO

AUGHH THATS EVIL. I LOVE THAT. finn not being able to do a lot of things he used to for a good amount of time bc it triggers him, and in classic finn fashion, he does everything in his power to suppress his issues, even if running away from them is impacting his life… like in twh. maybe anything plant related would make him freak a bit while the incident is still fresh in his mind.

i think i know what post youre talking about too lol, i talk a lot with one of my friends in the replies always thank u. by the way i was gonna include my extra thoughts in the tags of the other ask but i didnt,, but if you wanna hear, ill give this to you now as a gift

[lynxindisguise]

1, 18 & 41 for the fanfic asks!! 💌

Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

I do daydream a lot! Especially before I start a fic or a big chapter. There are usually a few scenes that really stick out to me, and I'll play those over in my head for a while as a way of motivating myself to write. Even some of my abandoned ideas have scenes like that.

18. Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research?

I love research! I research moon phase calendars, star charts, and general timelines for pretty much all of my longer fics. I think Please Don't See Me used to hold the research title after I spent hours watching online chess games to find one I could use for one of the scenes, but everywhere, everything is already getting up there for sure.

Here's a cool article I read when researching pagan werewolf cults:

41. Who's your favourite character you've written?

You want me to choose between my children??!!!??

I have to say either my feral forest baby Remus in Hut of the Mistold, my unhinged s&s&y Sirius, or my pirate queen Lily from in the dark. But my fave cameo is Kingsley in pdsm!

fic writing asks

[queenofcats17]

Due to recent developments, in @hlvrai-twh, I’m back!

Time to delve into Bubby’s psyche! This is focused a lot on Bubby and Mars, but it also goes into Bubby’s feelings about the whole thing.

Also, here’s the AO3 series with all the stories I’ve done so far.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mars had been brought back when the game had reloaded after Benrey’s escape. If the little chumtoad remembered what had happened to him, he certainly didn’t show it. He seemed blissfully oblivious to the danger he’d been in, focusing instead on trying to heal the emotional wounds the AIs had sustained.

Bubby remembered, however.

As a result, he was incredibly protective of Mars. He never let the chumtoad out of his sight unless Mars was with someone he trusted, like Tommy or Coomer. He liked Darnold alright, but he didn’t know him well enough to fully trust him. And Forzen was simply out of the question. Only Tommy and Coomer had Bubby’s complete trust. No one else was allowed to be alone with Mars. Anyone else and he constantly worried that the events of the first run would repeat. That he would return and Mars would be gone, just a trail of blood and slime on the ground. No one but those closest to Bubby was allowed to be with Mars.

Well...Sometimes Null was allowed to be with Mars.

Bubby didn’t like being around Null too much. It...hurt to see what Gordon had been reduced to. He and Gordon had never gotten along terribly well, but he’d liked Gordon. He’d developed a lot of respect for the younger man over the course of the first game. To see him reduced to a shell of his former self...Hurt.

If there was one thing Bubby hated more than anything it was not having control. And he’d had no control when Gordon had been in danger. As much as he’d wanted to save Gordon and stop Benrey, Benrey had made himself the player. Benrey had had the power. And there had been very little Bubby and the others could have done to stop him. They hadn’t been able to save Gordon.

Bubby wondered quite often if there had been anything they could have done to change this outcome.

Deep down, he knew what the answer was, even if he tried to push it away.

Coomer told him not to dwell on the past, but Bubby couldn’t help it. He hated failing, especially when that failure hurt the people he cared about. Maybe his backstory of being the greatest scientist ever created was fake, but he still felt as though he should have been smart enough to save Gordon. What use was his intelligence if he couldn’t use it?

Right now, he was sitting with Null in a room he and Coomer had converted into a makeshift office. Tommy and Darnold had created their own little offices to try and make themselves feel more at home. They were all running their own little experiments, trying to keep themselves from thinking about what had happened.

They needed to move on. For themselves and for Null. He didn’t understand what they were all so upset about and they...didn’t know how to explain it to him. So they tried to continue on with some kind of normalcy.

“How well did you know Gordon?” Null asked.

Bubby immediately stiffened.

He didn’t like talking about Gordon around Null. It felt...strange. Like telling a ghost what his living self had been like, but the ghost had no idea that the living man had been him. Null was aware that there had been a “character” called Gordon Freeman who had existed before him who had been deleted by the player. Coomer had told Null that he reminded them of Gordon, so Null knew there was a link to a certain extent. But he didn’t realize he was Gordon.

Sometimes Bubby wanted to grab Null by the shoulders and shake him while yelling that Null was and always had been Gordon. It didn’t seem fair. It felt like Benrey had gotten one last victory from beyond the game. Even though Gordon had technically been brought back he...wasn’t Gordon.

If Null noticed Bubby’s uncomfortable reaction, he didn’t react, continuing to pet Mars with one finger.

“Why are you asking me this?” Bubby demanded, trying to cover his fear and pain with anger.

“It seems like everyone was friends with him, aside from Forzen,” Null replied. “And you’re a bit...” He trailed off, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

“I’m a bit what?” Bubby asked, turning to Null and folding his arms.

“Prickly? Antisocial?” Null’s smile grew. “Difficult to get along with?”

“I resent that!” Bubby protested, although without any actual malice.

“Am I wrong?”

Bubby narrowed his eyes, which got a laugh out of Null. The laugh made Bubby’s heart ache. Null’s laugh sounded hollow. Even when he seemed genuinely happy there was always a hollowness to the smiles and the laughs. Null was a shell of the man Bubby had known, and his emotions, save for his rage and pain, were pale imitations of the ones Bubby had seen Gordon express.

Bubby looked away, returning his attention to what he’d been writing. “I didn’t know him well at all,” he said. “I’d seen him around, but we never had a conversation before the Resonance Cascade.”

“And then you were stuck together for the whole escape attempt,” Null concluded.

“He could be damn annoying sometimes, always yelling and bossing us around,” Bubby continued. “But he...” He faltered, his breath hitching. “He was....” He had to stop again, willing the tears welling up in his eyes to go away. Dammit, he was supposed to be strong for the boy.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Null said, immediately moving closer and handing Mars off to Bubby.

Bubby took Mars, holding the little chumtoad against his chest. Mars chirped and nuzzled against Bubby.

“Thank you,” Bubby whispered. He liked the way Mars felt against his skin. Given his pyrokinesis powers, he tended to have a very high body temperature. Mars, being a cold-blooded creature, tended to be rather cool. That coolness could be incredibly comforting in times like these.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Bubby holding Mars close while Null just patted his back. Bubby did end up crying a little bit, although he no doubt would vehemently deny it if anyone brought it up later.

“I think I’m alright now,” Bubby said once he’d gotten his breathing under control and the tears had stopped. “I can tell you about Gordon.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Null repeated. “I don’t want to make you talk about something that upsets you.”

“No. I want to talk about Gordon,” Bubby insisted. “I want to remember him.”

Null frowned, looking about to protest, but he didn’t. Instead, he closed his mouth and nodded for Bubby to continue.

Bubby nodded back before beginning to speak. “Gordon could be damn annoying, but he was...He was a good man.” He still faltered as he spoke, but he forced himself to keep going, gently stroking Mars’ back to ground himself. “He didn’t react well to a bad situation, but he cared about all of us so much. He even cared about Benrey before Benrey...” He trailed off, his frown deepening.

“Anyway!” He shook his head and continued. “He was a good man. He had a good heart. He was a big dumb goof and he loved his son a whole lot.”

“So he had a son too...” Null’s expression softened. “Did he talk about him a lot?”

“Once we got him talking about the little guy it was hard to get him to stop.” Bubby couldn’t help but smile at the memory of the four of them sitting under the stars, Gordon excitedly chattering on about Joshua. “He’d go on and on about all the little things he loved about the kid. All the things the kid did that made him smile.”

“And Benrey took that away from him.”

Bubby looked up to see Null’s eye beginning to glow neon pink, his hair lifting up like a cat puffing up its fur in anger.

“Hey.” Bubby put a hand on Null’s shoulder. “Don’t give him your energy. He’s not worth it.”

“But aren’t you angry at him?!” Null demanded, his hair lashing about as his body began to distort. “He killed your friend! He took a father away from his son!”

“Of course I’m angry,” Bubby replied, using every ounce of his control to keep his voice even. He didn’t want to scare Mars, who already seemed a bit upset at Null’s anger. “And if that bastard ever shows his face here again I’m setting him on fire. But he doesn’t deserve our energy or attention. He doesn’t get to take our lives from us.”

Coomer had been the one to tell Bubby that Benrey didn’t deserve the energy it would take to hate him. Bubby was still struggling to believe it himself, but he needed to have a level head for Null. He needed to be a good example.

Slowly, Null’s hair began to lower until it was simply floating around his body again, his eye returning to its normal green.

“I...You’re right,” he murmured, lowering his head. “I just...I can’t help it. The thought of him just makes me so angry!”

“I know.” Bubby patted Null’s shoulder.

He wished he could help Null more. He wished he could bring Gordon back. But for now...this was all he could do.

“Why don’t we go get some food?” Bubby suggested, standing up and putting Mars on his shoulder. “We’ll both feel better once we’ve eaten.”

Null opened his mouth, about to say they didn’t need to eat, but closed it again once Bubby gave him a pointed glare.

“Alright.” Null couldn’t help but laugh. “You have a point.”

“Of course I do.” Bubby grabbed Null’s arm. “Now come on. We have to be quick if we want to avoid that invisible bastard.”

“Maybe you should warm up,” Null suggested, giving Bubby an innocent look. However, his eyes betrayed his true mischievous intentions. “We wouldn’t want you to pull a muscle.”

Bubby narrowed his eyes, glaring at Null, who just grinned.

“That happened once,” Bubby said.

Null began to laugh. It still sounded hollow, but for now...Bubby could live with that. As long as Gordon was still capable of happiness.

.

Benrey absolutely wasn’t allowed anywhere near Mars.

After Benrey and Gordon had swapped back, Bubby made a concerted effort to never be near Benrey when he had Mars with him. While he knew logically that Benrey wasn’t about to feed Mars to another snake, he couldn’t forget what Benrey had done. It wasn’t even just about Mars. It was about Gordon too. It was about the shell Benrey had reduced Gordon to. It was about Null. It was about all the little ways Benrey had utterly destroyed every single one of them.

Sure, Benrey had come back and fixed things, but that didn’t erase all the trauma he’d caused. Every single one of them was still hurting. Every single one of them was still damaged in ways that would likely never truly heal. And for that, Bubby would never forgive Benrey.

Benrey didn’t seem like he was about to argue with Bubby’s opinion. He’d said to Tommy that he deserved the distrust, which only served to make Bubby even angrier once Tommy told him about it.

“That motherfucker!” He growled before turning and punching a bookcase, which promptly set the furniture on fire.

“Shouldn’t you be happy that he’s remorseful?” Tommy asked, completely unfazed.

He looked tired. Tommy looked tired a lot lately. He’d looked tired ever since that fateful run.

He’d regained some energy and life now that Gordon and Benrey had swapped back, but Tommy had neither the energy nor the patience to negotiate the conflicts that arose between Bubby and Benrey. He didn’t have the desire to mediate any of the conflicts that were arising between Benrey and the other AIs, but he was least interested in the fight Bubby was so clearly itching for.

“What’s there to be happy about?!” Bubby snapped. “He’s not even trying to get better! He’s just wallowing in self-pity!”

“He gave Gordon his body back, didn’t he?” Tommy pointed out. “That’s something to be happy about.”

“And what’s he doing now?” Bubby demanded. “Just wallowing around all “woe is me” and feeling sorry for himself!”

“What do you want him to do?” Tommy asked, exasperation clear in his voice as he rubbed his temples.

“Try to be better! Try to make amends!” Bubby said, gesturing wildly as he did so. Behind him, the bookcase was still on fire. “Do something other than swanning around being miserable!”

“Tell him that yourself, then.” Tommy calmly got up, retrieving a fire extinguisher from the corner of the room (kept for this exact purpose) and putting out the fire.

“Maybe I will.” Bubby folded his arms.

“Good.” Tommy put the fire extinguisher back and returned to his seat. “Because I’m tired of listening to you bitch.”

“Wha-?! I am not bitching!” Bubby spluttered.

Tommy slowly raised his gaze so his eyes met Bubby’s. They glowed with an unearthly yellow light. He looked even more like his father when he was so solemn like this.

“Whatever it is, I’m tired of listening to it,” Tommy said, remaining eerily calm. “So, please. Go work out your issues.”

For a moment, the two of them sat in silence, before Bubby seemed to deflate a bit. 

“...I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I...shouldn’t have been yelling at you.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have,” Tommy agreed. “But...thank you.” He smiled wearily. “I appreciate the apology.”

“You’re welcome.” Bubby reached out to awkwardly pat Tommy’s shoulder. “I...know you’re dealing with a lot. And...if there’s anything I can do to help...You can tell me.”

“It’d help if you worked something out with Benrey,” Tommy said. “You don’t have to forgive him. I don’t. But...I’d appreciate it if you’d stop yelling about him all the time.”

“Alright.” Bubby nodded, withdrawing his hand. “I’ll...do that.”

“Good luck,” Tommy called after him as Bubby left the room.

Mars was safe with Coomer right now, so Bubby didn’t have to worry about bringing his beloved pet around the monster who’d killed him that first time. Even though he would have liked the emotional support Mars would have given him, Bubby didn’t want to traumatize the little chumtoad.

So, he was going alone. He just hoped he could do as good a job as Coomer with this emotional business.

“We need to talk,” he announced as he burst into Benrey’s cave.

Benrey looked up from the little rock tower he’d been building, very much resembling a startled cat. His hair seemed caught between puffing up in surprise and wrapping protectively around Benrey, although it was far too short now to cocoon him as it once had.

“Uh...Okay...” Benrey squeaked, trying to make himself smaller.

In all honesty, he was really freaking out. Bubby had gone out of his way to avoid Benrey ever since he’d returned to the game, and Benrey assumed the only reason Bubby would come to see him was that Bubby was angry with him over something.

Benrey felt his chest begin to grow tight, his breathing speeding up at the prospect of having done something else wrong that would earn the ire of the people he’d once considered his friends.  

What could Bubby be upset with him over? He didn’t think he’d done anything. He’d hardly left his cave without Gordon or Tommy. But he had to have done something. Bubby wouldn’t just be upset over nothing. And he’d done so many other horrible things. He was a horrible person who couldn’t do anything right, so he had to have messed up somehow.

“God, don’t look at me like that,” Bubby said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You look like a wet cat. I didn’t come here to yell at you.”

“You...didn’t?” Benrey didn’t quite believe that. Why else would Bubby have come here if not to yell at him? Bubby didn’t want anything to do with him. Bubby wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t angry at Benrey.

“I didn’t,” Bubby repeated. “But we do need to talk.”

“...About?”

“This.” Bubby gestured around them. “You need to stop doing this.”

Benrey just stared at Bubby, still looking very much like a sad, wet cat. “Stop doing...what?”

“This!” Bubby gestured around them again. “You need to stop wallowing in your own misery like this!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Benrey asked. “Shouldn’t you be happy I’m suffering?” He deserved it, he told himself. He deserved to suffer for what he did. For all the pain he’d caused.

Bubby closed his eyes, letting out a long exhale as he pinched the bridge of his nose again. “Look.” There was irritation in his voice, but he was clearly trying to keep himself calm. “Maybe it was cathartic at first. But not anymore. I don’t want to see you just swanning around being sad. I want you to prove you want to be better.”

“How?” Irritation crept into Benrey’s voice as well. “What am I supposed to do? There’s nothing that can fix all the damage I caused! Everyone’s hurting and broken because of me! I ruined everyone’s lives! I deserve to suffer! You should be happy!” His voice rose, his eye turning cyan as his hair puffed up like a cat’s. His body began to glitch as he got to his feet, just as Bubby had seen Null’s do so many times.

“Well, I’m not!” Bubby snapped. “I want to move on with my life! And it’s pretty damn hard to do when you’re still stuck in the past!”

“How do you move on from something like this?!” Benrey all but screamed, tears welling up in his eyes. His voice faltered. “How...How am I supposed to move on?” His legs gave out and he collapsed into the water again, covering his face with his hands as his body was wracked with sobs.

It was a heartbreaking sight. Even Bubby found himself feeling sympathy for Benrey.

“How am I supposed to move on?” Benrey repeated. “I need to be punished. I need to suffer. I ruined everyone’s lives.”

“You fucked up,” Bubby agreed, his voice significantly gentler now. “But you’re paying the price.” With some groaning, he lowered himself down to kneel in the water with Benrey. “I don’t forgive you. I probably never will. But, like I said, I’m not getting any more joy from watching you suffer. I want to move on.” He reached out, paused, then placed a hand on Benrey’s shoulder. “Prove you want to be better. Move on with us. Put your money where your mouth is.”

“But...how?” Benrey sniffled, slowly lowering his hands.

“Fuck if I know,” Bubby immediately replied before shaking his head and clarifying, “I mean, we’ll need to talk about that. As like...a group.” He gestured vaguely with his free hand.

“You’ll...help me?” Benrey looked hopeful.

Bubby visibly cringed but still nodded as he slowly got back to his feet. “Yes. I’ll help you. We all will.”

Benrey managed a small smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Bubby turned away. “Now go...do something. Find a hobby. Maybe knitting or something.”

“I-I will!” Benrey nodded fervently. “I promise!”

“Good. This was a good talk.” Bubby gave a curt nod, then left.

As soon as he was back in the facility, he collapsed against the wall, letting out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding in. Fuck, that had been hard. How did Coomer deal with mediating all this complicated emotional shit all the time? Coomer better be proud of him for this. He deserved to be praised for managing that conversation and only making Benrey cry once.

...Maybe they’d all be able to move on now, without the shadow of Benrey’s everpresent misery reminding them of the event they were trying so hard to put behind them. Benrey’s new appearance would always be a reminder of what had happened, but...maybe if Benrey moved on with them...They’d be able to deal with that trauma better.

They could be better. All of them could be better.

“We’ll get through this,” Bubby murmured to himself, heading for the room he knew Coomer was going to be in. “Just remember what Harold said. We’ll all get through this.”

They would get through this. They would all get through this.

He just had to believe that.

[pistachi0art]

Hey, the TWH discord invite link isn't working. You can make a permanent link, it's possible

I can't really? I'd have to make the server a community server which would make it public- which would get rid of a bit of privacy as well as leave the door open to unwanted bots and such >< unless the au somehow skyrockets i'm just gonna leave it private- even with the limited link. plus I like how casual the server is now! it's nice

here it is again though if anyone wants to use it- it's good for 30 days! (and if it doesn't work again- throw another ask in my inbox)

[lettalady]

For the fic writer ask game! 😊

🔮, 🚀, 🍬, 💕, and 💛

[ Fanfic Writer Ask Game ]

ooooh sorry darling I didn't see this ask last night! I'll take a stab at it today!

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

Oh I'm so very probably not the person to ask this.... Nobody look at the pile of WIPs sitting in the corner booth casting accusatory looks my direction as I play with a new cast of characters. Ooooh. But maybe being willing to play with new WIPs and concepts and characters is the way to battle back against a blockage? (I've also taken to muttering: holy shit two cakes.)

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

I tend towards a mixture of both, at least when I've gotten something that's gripped me in a way that pulls me towards something more than a blurb or (ahem, extended) oneshot. Usually the case is that I'll have these moments of dialogue or plot points that establish the arc, and I'll scribble those down in a doc or notebook just to see if sleeping on it will change the sequencing. From there I tend to let the characters take the wheel and see if they'll cooperate or venture off on a plot of their making. (... this is not necessarily a path to being sane/ method I would recommend if you need structure and for the characters to follow it exactly as you maneuver towards the middle and end, but it's fun all the same.)

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

I live in fear of the form of media I consume that pulls characters from the screen or page and they set up camp in my head. That being said, it's so much fun to greet new characters and figure out what story I want to tell from them/that particular fandom. Currently still have running ... we'll call them major WIPs... in the following fandoms: Tom Hiddleston (including characters/ AU versions of the actor), Chris Evans (including characters/ AU versions of the actor), Daniel Brühl (including characters/ AU versions of the actor, two of which haven't been posted yet). *I do play in other fandoms with little blurbs but haven't been sucked into creating full stories... yet*

Fav TWH fic is a tough one cause I adore the various works for different reasons. I'm in an angsty mood today so let's go with Unsettled. Fav CRE fic is A Turn of the Knife, cause Ransom is a menace. Fav posted DB fic is LJH... The Baron & The Dove? No... wait... Who We Were Before. Cause reasons.

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I could sooner pluck a star from the heavens than point at any single one and say that one above all others. There's too much of me in each of them.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

Forever and always learning, but I think thus far it's: enjoy the journey. Do the research, make the gifsets, compile the photos and songs that inspire words or just remind you of the characters. It's not time wasted because it brings you joy.

oh oh oh, also: don't trust your brain to remember. WRITE IT DOWN

[ honorary mention to: don't delete, just move the idea to *unused, as of yet* and move on ]

[lacunaveil]

WIP Folder Ask Game

Thank you for the tag @karinamay! \o/

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it.

I have one folder for each wip, labelled with an acronym of their title (for some reason?) Inside the actual folders, everything is either untitled or titled with a chapter number once I start to put things in chronological order, because I'm a psycho and will sift through all the random scenes that I've written instead of titling things.

So here are my wip folders instead:

?

dw

ihgbiwhafh

tbk

twh

Tagging @sageadvice and @just-a-deriva

[necarion]

The US generated about 4200 TWh of electricity in 2022, which comes to an average of about 480 GW, the majority of which is consumed during the daytime. Stationary solar panel arrays claim about 0.5 MW/acre, but this number is also for, like, average in the whole US. That number will be a lot higher in the desert and with movable panels, but let's just run with that.

To generate 480 GW (there are going to be other sources of power, such as at night, but this is going to represent around a doubling of daytime capacity), using that lower bound estimate requires about 1,500 mi^2 of area.

Now, that's admittedly quite a lot, bigger than the state of Rhode Island. But the Mojave Desert is about 48,000 mi^2, and that is only a tiny fraction of the bright red area listed above. If we provided that rough-doubling of electricity, and put that entirely in the Mojave, we're taking about 3% of the land area.

We are not going to be driving entire species to extinction with that sort of land use

Also, I suspect that if we decided to put the entirety of that solar energy in the Navajo nation (taking up about 6% of that land area) you'd actually have significant (obviously not unanimous) support among the Navajo by giving them some degree of control of such a massive amount of electricity production. I am not saying we just shove it there without permission, but if they ask for permitting permission and transmission lines, we should 100% give it to them and buy their energy.

Yes, there will always be wildlife in any sort of area we build. But I can guarantee that the cost to those ecosystems will be higher with increased global warming. And of all the ecosystems you could be damaging by covering over the land with solar panels, you can do a hell of a lot worse than the Mojave and Nevada deserts. Basically the only place you could do better for wildlife displacement would be on currently-used agricultural land, and there are significant barriers to doing that, such as the farmers not currently wanting it there.

If we only limit green energy to types that don't harm any environment, you're putting the panels in developed areas where they are (a) way less efficient, (b) way more expensive, and (c) generate more local opposition. We cannot solve global warming if we end up with NIMBY for all green energy, where "my backyard" means "everywhere".

.....

As a side note, this keeps coming back to this annoyance I have, which is that, to some extent, the scale for solving the green energy problem is actually smaller than we think, as long as we just let people do it. We can do tons of geothermal production, if we didn't thwart all sorts of drilling. We can mine tons of lithium, if we don't block mining sites on environmental grounds. We only need like 40 Saudi-scale desalination plants to provide all of Arizona's water needs. Since that plant uses about 200 MW to desalinate the water, that comes to about 4 GW of power, or 1% of what we needed above (about 12 mi^2 of solar plant area, or one nuclear power plant), if we allowed the construction of desalination plants (we worry about marine ecosystems, and then drain the rivers). We can build artificial reservoirs, fill them with desalinated water, and use them both for storage of water and for pumped hydro electrical storage.

If there legitimately is a climate emergency. If stopping global warning really is existential. If nothing is more important. Then we, who care about the environment, have to be willing to make sacrifices, to allow some ecosystems to be scathed.

And it will turn out that (a) the ecosystems will be less scathed if we get global warming under control, and (b) there is so much less scathing going on than the environmental movement fears.

The Joshua tree is on its way to extinction because so-called green energy companies want to keep the death machine of civilization going by installing large swaths of solar panels over the desert floor, a big metal blanket that will kill everything it covers: the desert tortoise, the sage grouse, the hawks and snakes and beautiful flowers that have flourished for thousands of years. Gone. Gone.

All so that we can keep the dead heart in the rotting corpse of industrial civilization beating into the next decade. These are the "good guys" btw, these are the "renewable" "carbon neutral" options: covering the desert in miles of metal and microchips until every living being without a bank account is dead.

[miqenergy]

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[kaimukiwahine]

A long ramble post while I go Pokemon Go-ing

I remember hearing somewhere how you draw is a reflection of yourself. Guess my way is very thin lines, neutral colors, have a billion layers/folders/draft layers, scratchy? I don't know what can be said.

Can only say that I, no matter how much shenanigans and bullsheitery I spout out on the daily, am very much timid and shy. Try to not stand out too much but still want to get along and be noticed. Don't want to tread on anyone. Always needing a safety net because I have no self-confidence.

Friends, especially some new ones I just met from the Militsioner community, say my style is wholesome and comforting. And I'm really happy to hear that because it is the opposite of what's happening "upstairs". I know sometimes or all the time I fall back on darker things but I try to counterbalance it out.

(diving into more dark topics, opt out if you're not in the proper headspace)

Never shy away from saying I have been in a bad headspace multiple times. Can date way back to my senior year in high school and picked up after my first semester in college. But it was just small push and pulls. Though I'm more reflective now because it's hard to believe same time three years ago, it was the start of a constant struggle on wanting to be alive.

Not gonna dive much into it here, feel free to ask if you want, but I didn't receive any help or support for a long time. In other people's views, it wasn't an issue but had so much happening. Thesis, school, work (and searching for post school work), and now my home environment felt unsafe due to a single person who does not respect me nor my family, heck even our neighborhood.

Police calls were made, and brushed off. I reached out to friends, received the generic answers and responses. One just straight up left me after taking me to our campus health crisis counselors. Parents and family, I'm being overreactive and need to stop. Psychologist/psychiatrist, nothing they could do and I wasted my time waiting and hoping for them to do something.

Even my doctor just added more fuel to the inferno. Met them a day after my birthday and was told to hurry up and do the birds and bees. My body is not getting younger and I'm a ticking time bomb before I can no longer reproduce. Continued to press why I wanted to not alive which I had no answer. To give me a response that I wanted to cripple myself for attention and for people to become my servants.

Can't begin to count how many times I thought of chugging bleach or any chemicals we had in my lab. Every thought that ran through my head when I held a knife. The belts hung on our bathroom door could be made into something and it's so easy to lock the door. This went on everyday for almost two years. And all I was given was bottle of anti-anxiety pills, a cup of "just grow up and deal with it", and a deep spiraling mind that just wants everything to stop.

But, gladly it is all in the past. The person is no longer here. I don't have that doctor anymore (she might have been fired because what she did was not an isolated thing). And I am in a slightly better headspace but I am still grappling with things as this whole thing ended at the start of 2023.

Started this long ramble with art and how it reflects the person. Art was all I had to keep me grounded. Had my To the Moon comic and thankfully the TWH AU blog came around just four-five days prior as I planned to stop on my birthday.

I could have drawn the dark things in my head but I wanted to be happy and make others happy too. So I'm happy that people are happy when they see what I draw even when I am not fully happy just yet.

tl;dr: I draw. I cry. I thought of and almost not-alived. But I am slowly building back up.

Hoping to get a shiny ultra beast :pray: