#been trying to put new ideas in their own docs just to get things moving and on paper

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

My Chapter 51 Thoughts and my thoughts around ShimaMitsu in general

So @mapoeggplant​ had a really cool discussion thread on twitter and I wanted to contribute to it. But I got very longwinded and now idk if the pics in my google doc even loaded... so I decided to share my thoughts here on tumblr as well!

Be warned, this post is littered with manga spoilers so if you are an anime-only or haven’t caught up to the most recent chapters, avoid this post so you don’t have the journey spoiled for yourself ^o^

Mika realizing something is up with Mitsumiー Mika is definitely a character that surprised me in how much I ended up liking her! Everyone in S&L I think is a subversion of popular tropes in manga’s past where on the surface they look like a trope and then boom, sensei hits us with a reality check and explanation as to how they are. Mika is clearly the ‘mean girl in shoujo who hates the protagonist by virtue of crushing on the male lead’. *Worry not, I’m aware S&L is a seinen*

But her maturity and growth over the series? Astounding. From reconciling with her envy of Mitsumi, Nao helping her come to terms with the idea of Mitsumi and Sousuke dating hypothetically in the future and becoming such a good friend? Love it.

So I love how Mika is the first to really notice that something is off with Mitsumi in regards to Sousuke.

Pretty sure that back in chapter 47 it was established that all of the girls have noticed something was off with Mitsumi. But they decided to respect her privacy because if she wants to tell them what’s wrong, she’ll tell them and they want to give her the chance to come to them first. Though they did express they were worried she wasn’t truly seeming like herself.

And the reason Mika starting to connect the dots this most recent chapter is so ‘big’ for me, for lack of a better word, is because it really puts into perspective how Mitsumi has been handling the breakup.

Mitsumi breaking things off with Sousuke was definitely a mature move. I’ve even been in the same position of breaking things off with a relationship because of feeling like the way we loved each other was different and it would be best to go back to friends. Then spending 2 years chatting with my ex as if nothing happened before having an emotional breakdown about it and needing two weeks of space from her before I could function around her. And it feels like Mitsumi is doing the same thing with Sousuke. But by virtue of Mika spotting Mitsumi’s discomfort in sitting next to Sousuke and starting to question things, it really solidifies how Mitsumi is processing things.

Like, Mitsumi telling Sousuke she can work on her own and such when he proposed the idea when she mentioned wanting to work to get Maharu a new wallet. She wasn’t just brushing it off and being all chill, kumbaya. She was more than likely trying to avoid him because she isn’t really ready to just be alone with him yet.

So I’m hoping in this arc that Mika is going to bring up what she’s noticed to Mitsumi. Because since she’s already processed her feelings, if Mitsumi were to admit to her that she and Sousuke dated briefly before she ended things it wouldn’t make Mika spiteful or anything weird like that. If anything, I think it would bring them closer together because if there is anyone who would understand the Sousuke-failed-relationship/rejection love pains Mitsumi is going through, it would be Mika.

Mitsumi & Sousuke (and Yasaka)ー

As for Mitsumi specifically, I think that her relationship with Sousuke as present is a ripple effect of Yasaka’s statement back during the chapter Mitsumi rightfully called Sousuke out for not standing up for her when she would definitely do it if the roles were reversed.

Immediately after that, we see Mitsumi beginning to contemplate what she said, her perspective of Sousuke and she doesn’t really know how Sousuke was raised, his relationships with his family etc. Like, she knows there is some drama there, based on the school festival arc with the play and running into Sousuke’s childhood friends and mother but she also acknowledges she doesn’t know the full story and how Sousuke came to be how he is today.

While Yasaka’s assessment did give Mitsumi the idea that she should keep in mind how she was raised and how others were raised paints how they become in the present, she is almost like… overly internalizing that and trying to be overly conscious of Sousuke’s feelings. And even the feelings of Maharu. I’m not sure I’d go as far as saying Mitsumi is blaming herself for what they are going through since so far I haven’t really seen anything that would indicate self-blame. The closest you can get to that is her scolding herself for expecting Sousuke to come to her defense just because they’re dating.

When, in reality, while Yasaka is right Mitsumi should keep in mind that Sousuke and her have different frames of reference and she should be considerate of that… Mitsumi was well within her right to be upset that her boyfriend was letting some mean girls shit talk in her face and made no effort to defend her.

Then the next time you see them interact in chapter 45, she essentially brushes that under the rug. She apologizes to Sousuke for getting upset, he says he is going to turn down their party invite and they go their separate ways… But Sousuke never actually apologizes for not standing up for her which, at least in Mitsumi’s eyes, would solidify the idea that she was in the wrong and was expecting too much of her at-the-time boyfriend.

This overly considerate behavior Mitsumi is now displaying even went as far as not wanting to tell her friends about the breakup and everything that led up to it because she was worried about how they would perceive Sousuke and possibly give him some sort of negative treatment in response to how things went. Not to mention, she’d rather just bottle up her feelings than cause a rift in their friend group they’ve had since first year.

When she breaks up with Sousuke, she goes above and beyond in reassuring him they have and always will be friends. Which while that is cool because the hiccups aside, they have a pretty great friendship, Mitsumi isn’t really allowing herself to feel hurt by the breakup and thinks that, while even if a large portion of it is that she and Sousuke’s ‘love’ is different her actions thus far would imply she thinks it is on her for expecting so much. (So I guess there actually is a good portion of self-blame from her, even if subconsciously!) 

And with the most recent chapter, Sousuke gets to see how Mitsumi is hiding how hurt she is by Maharu’s rejection of her gift and her outburst that Mitsumi is only thinking about herself and to me his expression is almost like a parallel to his expression in chapter 46 when Mitsumi broke up with him.

In chapter 46, Sousuke needed comfort. He’s worried about being abandoned or viewed as worthless because he wasn’t able to live up to the ‘use’ or ‘idea’ Mitsumi had of him.

This time, Mitsumi needs comfort and it’s like this moment has essentially confronted Sousuke with the fact that she isn’t as cheerful, mature and invulnerable as she has presented herself to him thus far. So while yes, Yasaka was right in how Mitsumi doesn’t know as much about Sousuke as she thought she did, the reverse is also very true in that Sousuke doesn’t really know Mitsumi as much as he thought he did.

Sprinkle all this into the fact that Sousuke is going through his own whirlwind of emotions regarding Mitsumi, their breakup and how he feels about her. He’s jealous of Ujiie and how close he is with Mitsumi, he feels left out that Mitsumi hasn’t really been including him in activities outside of school and he was pouty and perplexed in chapter 47 about her perspective of the breakup going far as to pout to Chris and Ririka:

And Chris rightfully being confused because he doesn’t get Sousuke’s reaction since back in chapter 42 he didn’t even really know if Sousuke really even liked Mitsumi romantically (as proven by how, when Sousuke told him about the breakup, he automatically assumed Sousuke was dumper and not the dumpee). Now he wants to be closer to her while Mitsumi is essentially going ‘I want to keep everything chill and normal but at the same time I’m still upset and trying not to be next to him for extended periods of time just yet’.

Fast forward to chapter 51 and Sousuke’s in Mitsumi’s childhood home and feeling out of place/out of his element. So this is all the recipe for him to confront his own misconceptions of Mitsumi and, hopefully, apologize for his part in the breakup and how he should have stood up for her. Which we do see him do later in chapter 50 when she isn’t present, but Sousuke has the self-awareness to know and bitterly accept that if Mitsumi hadn’t called him out before he likely would have let them continue talking poorly about her.

Maharu & Mitsumiー Now onto Maharu~ I’m fully looking forward to her part in this arc because it is very clear that she is dealing with insecurities regarding herself and her older sister. Mitsumi has been confirmed by multiple characters that she is essentially a prodigy in her hometown and her hometown is being hit with a very real-life problem the Japanese countryside faces. Like, it is to the point where schools in the countryside are shutting down because there aren’t enough students to justify keeping them open because the young people are leaving for the city, not returning and not raising their kids there (which most people aren’t doing anyway due to the decline in birthrates in recent years for Japan).

Mitsumi even went as far as telling Sousuke her thoughts that she might likely be the only one of her siblings to even leave their prefecture.

We don’t really know how much Mitsumi is discussed back in her hometown, but it must be enough to make Maharu feel the way she does. It is just unfortunately manifesting in taking things out on her sister rather than talking to her parents about how she feels or even trying to discuss it with Mitsumi. Hell, talking to Mitsumi about it first probably won’t even help things come to a positive conclusion. As it stands now, Maharu’s perception of her sister is that Mitsumi looks down on her for getting out of the prefecture and going to the holy grail that is the capital of their country for school.

She needs an outside perspective that isn’t ‘tainted’ by Mitsumi.

Mitsumi’s friends from Tokyo are out because 1) they are Mitsumi’s friends and 2) Maharu already is feeling insecure and putting them on a pedestal because they are Tokyonites and fancy people.

Her family is out because Mitsumi is essentially their pride and joy.

And the chapter end with Maharu running into Fumi and while I wanna say ‘Fumi, get in here and rescue this sibling relationship’-

Fumi would still fall under the category of ‘tainted by Mitsumi’ by virtue of being Mitsumi’s best friend, even if Fumi has been shown to be very close to the Iwakura family. So I honestly think it could go either way with Fumi trying to talk to Maharu and help her vent how she feels, but Maharu could easily do that and when Fumi tries to be reasonable Maharu could think that Fumi is trying to take Mitsumi’s side when she is just trying to help give Maharu some outside perspective.

So that would basically summarize all of スキロー thoughts with the most recent chapter sensei has delivered us. I’m loving it all so far and looking very forward to what happens next!

[physalian]

Writing with Executive Dysfunction (or how to lower the barrier of entry)

So you want to write a book, but all you have is a cool one-liner, a niche super power you want to explore, and the blurry image of a love interest with a two-syllable kind of name. You don’t know where to start, what to tackle first, how to jump in the deep end.

Can you write the ending first? What if you want this really cool gimmick in a fight scene but can’t write action to save your life? Do you start in media res or with a prologue, or with the character starting their daily routine? Do you write the villain’s POV first?

Or do you start with an outline, character sheets, a title, summary, your themes and motifs? How many pages and pages of worldbuilding notes should you have built up before you’re good to tackle the first page? You’ve heard time and again the critical importance of the first three sentences. The first chapter if your audience is generous.

The pressure mounts to be unique, but not try-hard, descriptive but not flowery, intriguing, but not confusing, all in the first hundred or so words. You sit there staring at the little blinking black line on your blank page… and the idea gets shelved for another day. It collects virtual dust in the backlogs of your computer, forgotten until you have to clear out space on your hard drive and stumble across unspent potential.

Everyone and their dog has their own bits of writing advice and I’m sure I’m about to echo tips that have been around the block once or twice, but there are a few I don’t see talked about enough.

Whether you suffer from severe procrastination, fear of failure before you even begin, the overwhelming limitlessness of choice, or just can’t sit down and dedicate any time to see what happens, this list might be for you.

1. Write Every Day

This is nothing new, but I’m going to tackle the implementation of such a habit over why it’s important. You already know why it’s important. Writing every day doesn’t demand a full page of a Word doc, or 200 words before you can get up and do something else. Sometime a witty dialogue exchange comes to mind while you’re doing dishes – write that down.

Or you saw a cool name for a character in a commercial – write that down.

Or you had a dream about your characters in a high-octane street chase – write down the synopsis.

Personally, I use Apple Notes. It’s free, I can log-in to iCloud through a browser and keep writing, and my phone is always with me. I have dedicated folders to sort which notes belong to which concepts.

Disclaimer: Apple Notes is meant for exactly that: Note taking. I take it to the extremes, but it’s not a word processer. It’s not meant for anything more strenuous than putting virtual pen to virtual paper.

I build up so many variations of scene ideas and concepts for character arcs that my ‘notes’ for any given book can be as long as a full-length novel. Most of the time, admittedly, those ideas get outdated fast as I move on to bigger and better things, but the point is this: I never would move on to better things if I didn’t have somewhere to start.

I have a personal grudge against OneDrive for a sync failure losing 20k words of a WIP, so most of my writing is done through Google Docs and saved to Google Drive. It’s not the most powerful word processor, but you don’t have to worry about formatting until the very end and can export later. It’s free, like Apple Notes (assuming you have an iPhone), and the smart phone app for Google programs works phenomenally better than the MS Word app – so once again, the barrier for being within reach of places to jot down ideas is lowered. My phone is always with me.

It doesn’t have to be digital – carry around a journal or a notebook or a legal pad if you want. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing. The point is to have somewhere to take all the ideas you have in your head and get them onto paper the moment inspiration strikes.

2. Writing is Supposed to be Fun

The dreaded writer’s block, scourge of authors everywhere. You’ve reached the point in your manuscript where you’ve caught up to the epic adventure you’ve written in your head. The little writer in your brain has gone on strike and you’re left in the doldrums of how to transition from one chapter to the next. One idea to the next. One scene, one line of dialogue.

Answer: Skip it.

Unless you have a hard deadline to make, writing is supposed to be fun. Your best work comes when you’re passionate about doing it, not when you’re holding your fingers hostage to put something on the page or else.

When you start getting frustrated, walk away. When you get stressed, walk away. The manuscript will still be there once you’ve slept on it for a day or two and you’ll be glad for it. Or, write a different scene. Write a hypothetical scene (more on this point later). Write anything you want and come back to the hard parts later. The gaps will fill eventually, and if they don’t—consider what about that transition or scene is so hard and consider axing it entirely. If it’s frustrating for you, it’s probably boring or unimportant to the reader.

3. Script it

My favorite writer’s crutch is to make a skeleton of the scene I want to have, fill it with dialogue, and move on. The pretty thematic narrative can come later. It’s halfway between an outline and a first draft and, for me, someone to whom dialogue comes easier than narrative, this is another barrier removed to letting creativity flow.

I don’t have to think about dialogue tags or movement of a scene or how exactly I want to structure a sentence or describe the setting. Scripting lets me sus out the pacing of a given scene, test run a conversation I have in my head to see if it might really work before investing all the time and effort of a fully fleshed out first draft, only to erase it all later.

You can do this mid-narrative, too. If you just want to skip over a couple lines that aren’t coming naturally to you, script a vague sense of stage directions until you get to easier narrative and come back later.

When I say scripting, mine look something like this:

Character A (ChA): [position within the setting, tone of voice, any notable gesture or action that enhances the dialogue] “Dialogue.” [specific dialogue tag, if necessary] … (often a paragraph break) … “Dialogue.” Character B (ChB): “Dialogue.” [emotion, reaction, details about the setting that are now important, new revelations by the narrating POV] … “Dialogue,” [action. Tonal shift. Movement] ChA: “Dialogue.” [action] … (scene continues)

In practice:

… ChA: [kicks back against the wall of the room, arms crossed. Annoyed, waiting for ChB to speak first, but they don’t] “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to leave?” [head tilts, still waiting on an answer ChB isn’t giving] “All you had to do was ask.” ChB: “You were having fun,” [quiet, wringing their hands in their lap on the edge of the bed] “You wanted me there. So I was there.” [huffs, flips their hair back. Not sure how many times they’ve had this conversation. Will always hate parties, not going to suddenly like them just because ChA is there] “You can either have me there, or make sure I’m comfortable. You can’t have both.” ChA: “So now I’m the bad guy.” [foot thumps on the floor like a judge’s gavel] …

Scripting also lets you fill a scene with multiple new characters before you figure out their names or descriptions, tagging their lines with the bare minimum. I often test out entire action scenes (which I loathe writing) in script form, so I know I’m satisfied with the pacing, blocking, and amount of movement before I lock it in and write the first draft of actual narrative. It also forces you to make sure your characters are taking actions and not just sitting at a table like talking mannequins.

Transitioning from script to narrative can be mighty tedious sometimes if you try to fit in chunks of narrative in the exact places you left on your initial pass. Fictional prose is organic, so let it breathe.

Maybe you let a character monologue for too long, or they have too much movement in a scene that becomes unnatural and clunky. Or the entire scene ran away from you because the conversation was just that good. Whatever the case, a script, bare minimum, gets your foot in the door.

4. Write Fanfic

I like sci-fi and fantasy. I also like taking my sci-fi and fantasy characters and throwing them into ‘fanfics’ to test out relationships and start to get a feel for what makes them unique from the rest of the cast.

Sometimes the setting changes to something mundane, sometimes it’s a hypothetical scene that the current pacing of the narrative just doesn’t have room for, or it’s a flashback you’ll never include but want to have written so it’s concrete when you reference it in the present.

It also helps you fall in love with your characters when you can write them without consequence, doing whatever, doing whoever, saying whatever, going wherever. In fanfic, their personalities can start to write themselves and you discover them as you write them. And, hey, sometimes you come up with a concept so good, you change the entire real narrative around to fit it.

All your attention doesn’t have to be on the story you’re actually writing.

5. Keep All of Your Deleted Scenes

I keep so many of mine, the ‘deleted scenes’ doc of one book is 40k words longer than the actual manuscript, filled with numerous variations of the same scene written over and over again in vain trying to keep something that no longer works.

Keep them for several reasons:

It reminds you of how far you’ve come.

You can pick through the bones for bits of dialogue and setting descriptors even if the majority is trashed.

You remind yourself of what didn’t work before, so you don’t fall in that same trap again.

If you change your mind, all you have to do is copy-paste it back in.

6. Remember First Drafts are First Drafts

Let the word spew flow forth from your fingers and don’t look back and start questioning every decision and all its flaws until your creativity tank starts sputtering on empty. It’s supposed to be messy, it’s supposed to have plot holes and typos and inconsistencies and things to fact-check. If you start hyper-fixating on making sure your manuscript has absolutely no errors before moving on to the next chapter, it will never get written, and you’ll convince yourself you’re a terrible writer.

Writing is easy. Revisions are hard. Just as storytelling doesn’t have to be linear, neither does the writing process. If that critical first line just won’t come to you, stuff a mediocre one in its place and move on. Write the ending first. Write all the romantic entanglements first. Write the big climactic argument first and figure out how the rest falls into place around your beautiful centerpiece.

But remember: You do, at some point, have to write the hard stuff. Hopefully, when the time comes, you look at all the rest you’ve written and are proud enough of your progress that those daunting scenes that looked impossible before become much more approachable now. Do it for your future readers who want to know how it ends. Do it for your characters. Do it for you.

[labselkie]

tl:dr im gay i love my loser wife and i needed to drop this headcanon/scenario

god forbid a woman has hobbies

I know Liv is ruthless, yeah everyone who watched itsv knows this, i dont personally like the ideas that she was just a manipulative monster at Alchemax to Ohnn and everyone else, but she would be more than willing to pull some strings (based on an old director quote.) One thing I cling onto like a little creature is that Fisk overworks everyone, and that at multiple points she actually expresses genuine concern for the preservation of her work. She just has to put up with him for that (checks notes) 10 billion dollars.

(More below, mainly about the Spot and her position as Doc Ock, and art)

Based on the incomplete stare of the collider in the first movie, it's obvious that their research took a LONG time, so for anyone being in such a perpetual state of moral ambiguity and stress could definitely warp a person. I'm not brushing off any of her bad traits, i heart toxic yuri (/lh obvs,) but for her especially I just felt like dropping all this off here. The strain of her relationships with everyone around her probably doesn't help either, her past with May, her isolation, think Reagan Ridley idk

Unbridled comical villainy definitely does shit to a mf

Yes! She stole Johnathan's base work and had ignored him, and that's still a shit move, but I'd chock that up to her fear of her own failure and the recognition of another for something she'd been trying so hard to learn about. She's probably very focused and deliberate in her work, prone to unwanted distractions and easily annoyed, another possibility of her definite distaste to him.

I usually use this idea for writing, but something else I hold dear is if she survived and was thrown to another universe after the one deleted scene. There, she jumps in literally as it's being destroyed, something she's probably put decades into, only preserved by her impulse to try and achieve more from it. She's beaten and bruised and in the stark contrast of a new universe, she's alone again. I write that she gets tossed to my sona's universe because I'm VERY cringe, but any can apply. The hard mask of Ock breaks, and she's just left an older woman with some big multiversal dream. (In retrospect she'd probably just brush it off but idcidc she deserves comfort)

This self indulgent dumpster fire goes onto Sky-Spider finding her, and thereafter being one of the first people who treated Liv like a person in a long time.

[subwaytostardew]

Update: One year on the tracks!

It's been a year (and a week) since we first started working on this mod! April 25th is when I first started working on this project! Terrible timing since that's literally the day before my birthday and I'm too busy to make anniversary updates the day of. Thank you everyone following this mod despite how slow we chug along!

If you see the first ever post Thylak did over on his main - you will just see my little comments discovering his work and instantly being like

*Fast excited ADHD typing* I GOT IDEAS.

Rest is history....

We've been hard at work trying to get the mod complete enough for a (still unfinished...) release! It won't have everything we have planned (marriage events, Elesa events, platonic route, roommateable Cilan, etc.) because it would take forever otherwise (we keep getting ideas for additions...)

So many ideas. Sometimes we have to dial it back...... The amount of times events had to be cut down for concision... and we still struggle to keep them under 8 minutes...

1.6 broke a lot, so sorry for the delay in updates! (WHY CA WHY!) We've been having to do a lot of backtracking and behind-the-scenes work. (SO MUCH BACKTRACKING) Pretty much every event broke. I have to resprite all the portraits to match the vanilla-size because HD Portraits is still not updated. The schedules need fixing.

But despite all of that, the station bundles are done! We also redid the house exterior for submas because it was ugly. I did not know how to do pixel art a year ago. Nor did I know how to decorate maps. They have a whole new area off to the side of the Railroad now!

We hot potatoed that map so much. First Thylak would work on it. Then I did. Then back to him...

Still need to get around to adjusting their schedules to switch their coordinates to the new map when they're working on the Railroad. Previously, they were just pacing around in the various empty areas of the Railroad. Now they have trains.

The house itself was actually two different structures with a seperate clock tower but then we decided it looked better overlapping the bit of roof peeking out. It's much less flat now.

Submas have a mailbox that adheres to Stardew's perspective.

No longer is the house a cardboard cut out with shading and lighting. LOL (I didn't know how to sprite buildings!!! I put all my effort into Emmet's walk cycle!)

Also speaking of mail boxes... since it been a year; I'm sure all ya'll are curious to how we do our modding, story, etc. We encourage you to hit the mail car button and ask away (so many of you already have) But since it's been a year. Go Crazy.

But I will nip the common asks tho.

Some Common Asks.

"Is this mod SVE (Stardew Valley Expanded) Compatible?"

No.... Unfortunately due to the complexity of both mods. (Ours due to railroad being used. And SVE already expanding on a bunch of stuff) It will just be compatible with vanilla and any mods that does not replace or edit the railroad (majorly).

We did move submas's house over to the side so it won't overlap the farm it adds or impede any space that you want to use the Railroad's empty spots of land for, but it's still very much a "play at your own risk" type of thing. I'm not familiar enough with SVE to code compatibility for it (not familiar at all actually... I don't play the game enough! All my time is spent working on the mod! All I do is stare at google docs and type walls of text! I'm not interested in SVE anyways for personal reasons.)

SVE is infamous in the modding scene since it changes pretty much every map and steps on other mods with incompatibility. I don't want to deal with making two seperate events with the coordinates/movements edited for compatibility. It should be compatible with most other expansion mods like Ridgeside Village or East Scarp since they mostly keep to their seperate areas and not edit things unless necessary (like submas do now)! SVE changes too much to gurantee compatibility and for the sake of my sanity I won't provide it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, pick and choose for that save.

So.. SVE and our mod. Incompatible....

"Release Date?"

Unfortunately it is still undetermined! (Due to our busy schedules.)

(For example - I myself work 2 jobs and currently going through a lot of chaotic life stressors.....)

However, we will make a progress post soon about how much left on our list where we are satisfied with moving onto the next stage of our mod which is.

There's actually not much new content planned until we're ready for initial release, we mostly have a lot of behind the scenes cleanup and backtracking. I still have portraits to do (I took a break... switched off to mapping). Event-wise I want Emmet's 10 heart event to be done and a few station/side events we have in the drafts. We'll need more festival dialogue (since... they don't show up unless if I have stuff for year two for some reason). After that, we get into more fun stuff! Patches!

PATCHES! Oh we love a good mod patch! And we have a lot planned. Meaning there's still more ahead on the tracks!

"Are they romancable?"

Yes. Yes they are. HOWEVER! WE DO SEE YOU AROACE COMMUNITY! And we will be making a route that will be planned in the next comming phase to make them platonic relations as well!

It's the first stop on our intinerary! We'll release the platonic route alongside the marriage event update so there's something for everyone.

We are just following vanilla format at the moment as it is easier coding wise. And also a good place to start planning where the branches are going to happen. Making roomates is a bit more complex... I have to make a custom item for "proposal" much like the void pendant.

I think that covers the common asks... OH!

Also! Since we have released the Joltik Adoption aspect as a separate mod as well as a little fun tease (And test run) - before we actually drop Subway to Stardew. So sorry the event didn't work at first! I was testing on the main expansion mod. Should be fixed now!

We recommended that if you find any JOLTIKS. Scurrying around. Causing trouble. (Aka Bugs.) Please send in an ask! Or head over to Nexus to drop a bug report! It will help iron out some things that we may not be aware about before release!

And when we do release we HIGHLY encourage the bug reports cause it's just two of us... <_< and those Joltiks get into everything! (Doesn't help that THYLAK KEEPS THROWING THEM EVERYWHERE! I find them in my paperwork... and Atwood's bedding.... My poor Phantump. He can't catch a wink without a Joltik scurrying all over the place!)

It's just me doing all the coding (All. Of. It.) so I hope you all can continue to be patient while I work on things! Sorry if I miss some things! We probably won't playtest too extensively before the initial release, so please do report any bugs you find then!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[dukeswonderousmenagerie]

ok so the cute but also kinda sad angsty idea has to do with a concept i love very much in Lupin, especially PT2 so you know how the gang know tapcode

well in LJS Lupin gets hurt right and because of the machines hes on he cant talk, at least vocally Well I had the cutest idea where, the downside to lupin being in the hospital is that Jigen can’t always stay with him, there’s things he has to do, things he’s in charge of when Lupins down for the count that he has to take care of and as a result he does leave once in a while but always makes sure to come back at a specific time.

Well one time when he’s coming back, he passes the nurses station and overhears a conversation between two nurses as he does. Their both talking about a patient in a room, and Jigen recognizes the room number their talking about. It’s Lupins, so he listens in to the conversation and it’s interesting.

As it turns out, once in a while, when the drugs that keep him under start to wear off, the patient starts to move a little and rhythmically starts tapping his finger(s) against the metal of the bed with his finger nail all up until they put him back under again.

One of the nurses mentions how strange this is, considering all the patients she’s had in the past simply wake up trying to rip their stuff out.

The one she’s talking to agrees, then mentions that the pattern is so consistent that she can almost do it her self, and as a joke starts to do it herself, it’s not as precise, but when Jigen listens in he’s really surprised by what he hears

It’s tapcode And not only that

it’s Jigen’s name

Lupins been sleep tapping his name

Now

Cut to a few weeks later, the situation changes, Lupin has to be transferred out from the facility he's in for his own safety to a more secure location Lupins memory is excellent, but so is his olfactory memory, he recognizes things by smell, and with his eyesight near trashed at this point, smell is the best thing he has to go on. He recognizes the smells of people closest to him, he recognizes the smells of the nurses and docs and of the room he was in.

So when he comes too almost immediately after transport to the new facility, he basically panics, nothing smells familiar, no one no thing, nothing it’s all different, and the different smells scare him cause it’s nothing he’s come to recognize, plus there’s no Jigen smell or even the lingering sent of him anywhere so of course he’s nervous.

But there is one scent. One scent he recognizes, and it’s strong too, and he hears it so obviously it’s there and it’s talking to someone.

So he starts tapping, but he’s confused, he’s taps Jigens name first and suddenly the voices stop and his brain doesn’t compute the lack of voices so he keeps tapping, still tapping Jigens name and frantically asking where he is.

But it’s not Jigens voice who calms him, tells him what’s going on where he is and just basically tries to calm him down because his heart rate is sky rocketing and faltering despite the drugs because Lupins basically panicking and his body can’t handle the stress of it right now

But the voice is strong, burly, one he recognizes and over the years one he’s come to trust, so little by little he does begin to calm down, the drugs they also give him to relax him also help too.

When everything calms down, the burly voice stops talking to him and Lupin hears footsteps, so he starts tapping again all tired telling the smell not to leave, not yet anyways,

don’t go. . .please don’t

The footsteps stop some feet away, Lupin can’t tell, but he hears the voice, the voice sounds sad, but after a few seconds of silence and the soft creaking of wood like the voice is leaning against something, the voice says it will. The smell comes back, he hears the creaking of a chair and the scent is strong and it’s close by and it’s calming.

And the recognizable smell is still strong long after sleep takes hold, and the voice finally leaves

[useless19]

I was kinda hoping for a junior birthday edition of days, i loved junior in this series? I thought you were hinting twards it to. Did you have ideas or was it just a way to reasure bowser that luigi would be back?

So was I! I made a space for it in my drafts doc and everything, but I couldn't figure out enough of a plot to hang it together. It might've been because by that point I was starting to wind down my writing in Days with an aim to finish the series off, or it could have been because it would've required a fairly heavy narrative switch and I was already struggling with Bowser's pov for Day 16.

Or it could've been that I didn't want to have to figure out what a spoilt 8-year-old Koopa prince's birthday presents were going to be!

It's Junior's birthday, so it's going to be the most coolest awesomest day of the entire year! -the planned summary

Like King Boo, I left myself the option of writing Junior's birthday just in case. I've honestly found this to be pretty useful for constructing the series as a whole. Things happen that the narrative doesn't show (Luigi thinks about taking Junior Lava Bubble fishing one time, but we never see that), and allowing myself the freedom of not having to write it meant that I managed to finish more other parts than I ever thought I would when starting.

Still, I know roughly where the characters are at on Day 51 (aka Junior's birthday), so let's have a look at them, shall we?

Luigi extends his visit so he leaves the day after Junior's birthday. It's much easier for him to agree to stay longer than it is for him to commit to a longer stay before he arrives. He gets comfortable where he is. He spent the previous day making sure Junior knew he was going to leave after his birthday so that he wouldn't have to keep reminding Junior on his birthday and bring the mood down. Luigi likes a good party and he doesn't have to be the centre of attention, so he has a great time.

Bowser likes a party even more than Luigi and his son is growing up so well. He's way more tolerant of destructive antics than most parents too (he's got minions to deal with mess and rebuilding). He also starts to realise some of Luigi's problems when it comes to visiting; ie that he's very suggestible. It's not an entirely conscious observation, but he's less worried when Luigi leaves and spends more than a week away, despite saying that he was only going for a week. There's always going to be some lag. Email updates help (even if the first one is from a long-suffering Mario).

(If anyone other than me did the maths and figured out that Luigi wouldn't actually be at Bowser's castle for Day 69, assuming a consistent week-in-the-Mushroom-Kingdom/week-in-Bowser's-castle, this is why. It's always a bit more than a week-long visit).

And, of course, Junior. He's more resilient than Bowser in the being abandoned department, though he's still a bratty kid who's used to having his own way. He's very determined to show Luigi every single last one of his presents so Luigi will know what he's missing out on if he goes ahead with his stupid leaving plan. Similarly, the Koopalings also get the full range, but they have to leave in dribs and drabs over the next week too.

I guess part of why I couldn't figure out a plot was because Junior is going to be getting more and more intense and overexcited as his birthday party goes on and that would narrow the focus too much to be interesting.

(Maybe the lesson here is that putting it in Junior's pov was a bad call and I should've been trying to see Luigi's thoughts on the whole thing).

I don't know what Luigi would get Junior. He'd probably play it safe and do some art supplies (which are fine, but nothing super exciting and he gets a bit miffed when Junior moves on fairly quickly). He also delivers a letter from Peach (which Junior initially dismisses as boring), with an invitation to a brand new tournament she's organising (I'd have just picked a random sport that's not a main Mario tie-in game, or maybe one of the less represented sports like one of the Olympic ones). Luigi can't remember speaking with her about that, but he must've said enough for her to do this. Junior's quite excited over this - it's his own invitation, not just his dad's!

I also imagine that Mario sends something, maybe food? Possibly a bunch of hot sauce bottles from the various places he's helped out (they won't stop sending them and, while he likes spicy food, he can't eat this much!)? He puts the same amount of effort into it as he would a nephew. Luigi's also surprised at this and has to deal with the (actually super obvious in hindsight) realisation that he's sort of on his way to becoming Junior's step-dad, not just a regular old babysitter.

(Yeah, this would've been a challenge to properly depict in Junior's pov. Possibly an interesting one though.)

It was definitely set up more as potential day for writing, but it was useful to help reassure Bowser once I'd added it.

[encasedinobsidian]

Thoughts on writing - June 16 

I don’t expect anyone to read this, but I meant for this tumblr to be specifically for my writing after all, so I figure this is the place to put these thoughts, and anyone is welcome to read them if interested. I’m just reflecting on myself as a writer, how I relate to this hobby, and about feeling discouraged/lacking in meaning, and trying to figure out where to go with it when there are no clear paths ahead. 

I feel like I vent to my friends often but never really try to articulate my thoughts the way I do when I actually write, so maybe writing about writing will help me sort it out for myself. 

I never meant for writing to become much of anything at all. I started writing a fanfic, thought it was funny, and my intention was to post it and move on like I always move on from any other hobby, following the same pattern of interest → hyperfixation → creating something → getting bored → discovering something new. I had no experience with writing or fandom, and it was thanks to a tiktok on my FYP that I even discovered Pedro boy fanfic in the first place, though I found it insanely weird at first. My eventual amusement obviously turned into something much more significant, and I’ve found a lot of personal healing through writing, discovered different sides of myself, developed the ability to sustain the attention needed to read a full length book, etc. I guess the difficulty is knowing where to go with it. 

It’s funny - I frequently find myself thinking this sucks, why am I doing this, nothing interesting will come of this, my brain is empty, fuck this, about writing. And I say those things but then I write anyway. I say I’m done with it and thanks for the past 15 months, I’m out, and then a few hours later I’m on my doc coming up with something. I can’t really stop at this point, it’s like my internal monologue got a physical manifestation and now it’s something I just do. At any given time, I can open my docs and add something to some story, regardless of where I am. It’s like a reflex at this point, and I have no control over it. I put my hands on the keyboard and things just come out one way or another. 

I frequently feel like I’ve reached the end of my own ability, though, or the end of what I’m capable of creating. I was never an avid reader, so there’s a foundational understanding of storytelling that I largely feel like I don’t have. I’ve read more in 2024 than I have in my whole life, actually finishing books instead of reading the first quarter over and over, so I essentially feel a bit dumb or lacking in knowledge about what makes a story interesting. I really, truly have no idea what I’m doing, I don’t know any conventions I’m supposed to follow. I pretty much know the concept of “showing not telling” and that’s it. I also know the typical series buildup of the angst peaking, conflict, resolution, which I'm now trying not to do so I don't repeat myself too much across series. I’ve also read a lot of things (both books and fics) that I very much enjoy but that don’t match my inner voice at all really, and ended up feeling less than as a writer because certain styles of writing don’t come naturally to me. Reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was the first time I read something and thought, wow, this actually reads very naturally to me, especially after a year of feeling like my inner voice is wrong or oversimplified or dumbed down. 

And even though we all write for ourselves, we are all affected by our audience. I’ve been sort of brutal in unintentionally cutting down my own audience by moving platforms and no longer writing the things that gained me my following in the first place, and I guess I’ve done it as part of my constant, neverending, extreme need for authenticity of some sort, and a hatred for being boxed in or expected to do things I don’t want to do. Truthfully, I don’t know what my audience wants from me, and even if I knew, I probably wouldn’t be able to cater to it. If I put out a poll and asked what people wanted to see from me, the overwhelming majority would likely say Joel Miller with no real specifics on what type of story they’d want to see, or they’d want my rendition of something they’re already familiar with. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, I’m very flattered by everyone enjoying my takes on that man, but I guess I’m in this place where I’ve spent so much goddamn time on writing and I need to figure out who I am as a writer completely outside of that. 

One of my writing colleagues said that I’m very mercurial, and I’d never thought much about that word at all despite how well it describes how I’ve been my entire life. I can never seen to make up my mind on things, and I’m frequently changing, removing stuff, my writing style changes as I deepen my understanding of the story, my characters etc, as I take more things into consideration and expand my own view. 

To put it in Patrick Bateman terms: this reflection…. Has meant…. Nothing. And it’s true - there is no real meaning to it, cause it’s me sitting here at 6pm, looking out my window and trying to find meaning and direction in a hobby that is a completely open landscape, and where it seems like publishing is the only real goal one can have. Either that or internet success. I don’t know, I’m not sure where I’m going with any of it and who will want to read it. I guess I have a fear that everyone who has ever followed me only wants me around as yet another source of endless Joel fic and that nobody really has an interest in my writing for what it is, or for the writer I am. I don’t try to be like anyone else - everyone sees things differently, and my fics are just a representation of how all these different scenarios look in my mind. My hope is that the people who enjoy my writing regardless of characters enjoy my writing because they enjoy my POV, or enjoy the attention paid to the things I emphasize. 

Maybe I’ll come up with something more concise next time, but this has been my writing journal entry for now !! 

[sassenach082]

I gotta know, what is your writing process? Is there a specific mindset you get into or can you just write anywhere? take me through the process please:)

Hey there! Okay, wow, so. I'm going to attempt to answer this without sounding like a lunatic. It's going to be long so I'll put it under the cut for those of you who want to move on.

First, my actual writing process, which is mostly planning.

The first thing I do is decide how I'm ending. I'm a work backwards kind of writer, probably because I'm a teacher and that's how we plan, the first thing we decide is what we want them to know. So in writing, I always decide, "How is this going to end?" and write that first. I've had the final scene of I'll Ride in my google docs since about 3 hours after I saw TG:M for the fourth time (I saw it 12 times in theaters, hence the lunatic comment above, but I digress).

Once I know how it's going to end, I decide, who are the characters? Where is the setting? What is the conflict going to be? Once I have a vague idea of that, I start my google doc for my outline. Since I write both POVs, I do three columns:

chapter number

POV

main scenes / summary

I'm not someone who writes out every little thing in an outline. Just to give you an idea, here's the summary for chapter 8

title: that fear that’s inside you will lift, give it time

-Ice & his fam vs. The Colonel Who Is An Ass -Sarah is a gem and already knows he’s gay and loves him anyways because, she’s A Gem™  -ice talks to Pete on the phone after dinner, listens as Mav and Bradley read the dinosaur book to him -ice goes to the o club to see the boys and is all ‘yo maverick is fucking struggling also we’re all adopting bradley’ and the boys go ‘aiight cool bro’ -slider pins him against a building and is like “so how long have you been fucking  mitchell” and ice is like ‘fuck off ronnie’ and ronnie is all ‘ice for fucks sake how stupid do you think i am i don’t give a fuck if you like dick i know you’re in love with him i’m not an idiot’ etc -He checks out books after Mav’s panic attack on how to help with trauma

So as you can see what I had in my outline isn't exactly what happened, it's basically just "which scenes do I want in this part". I don't write them in order I just kind of write the main things I want to happen, the scaffold if you will, and then I build the house. I usually go through 2-3 drafts which is why it sometimes takes me a long time to post. It's a 4 step process.

+ decide the scenes I want to see + write the main scenes + put them in chronological order in a new doc + go back and fill in details to connect the scenes together

I'm a very visual person and I have a gift of being able to read something and play it like a movie in my head while I'm reading. It's actually called "visualization" and lots of people can't do it which is my theory why they hate reading but that's whole other conversation. The point is I make the movie in my head, but I pay attention to - where are they? What are they doing? How are they moving? Where are their hands? Ice picked something up, now he has to put it down, where is he going to put it down, how, when, etc. I call it setting the scene but I don't know what it's actually called. As a reader it annoys me when I have no guide on what they're doing in a scene so I try to include those details just because it's easier for me to picture it and I hope it's the same for my readers.

Sometimes my brain decides to do other scenes and I'll add those in as I go. Sometimes my chapters get too long and I have to shove scenes down into the next chapter. It all lives in my google doc so I can keep track. When I'm working on a chapter I will just highlight what I've written so I can see what I still need to write.

Once it's written, and I think this is the most important part, I go back and reread. The whole thing. Start to the end of my new chapter. I check for: 1. am I following my own canon 2. do I have a plot hole on accident, and if I do, I have to fill it 3. do details match (like descriptions) 4. does it flow Sometimes I don't like the flow and that's why I will scrap sections and rewrite them to get more in the headspace of whoever the POV character is. This is extremely difficult for me to do with Ice, he's the harder of the two to write and his chapters take me a life age. I've straight up had Mav's chapters done for over a year. It's the Ice ones I'm working on now. Some of the later chapters will have both POVs just because Ice is so hard for me right now.

Once I have it done I send the link over to my beta. She's great and gives feedback on scenes etc. (Love you mtnofgrace!) and helps me to check that it makes sense / is in character / etc.

Then, I post! I can write pretty much anywhere, and I get into the writing mood by listening to the Top Gun soundtrack mostly. Or just rewatching one of the movies if it's been a while since I've written. Some days I write nothing and others I crank out thousands of words, it just kind of depends on if my muse is flowing. Listening to asmr Top Gun youtube videos with the music and jet noises helps me focus that's what I usually listen to while writing.

Hope that answered your question!

[blankieisablankie]

Finally making a post about this guy, wanted to wait to make an animation but that would take too long d,fjdkj

“Alright people, you know the drill by now, let’s do this one more time.”

[original panels]

This is Spider-Sketch, worlds sleepiest superhero. Born a generic snowy tiny town in Canada, parents moving back and forth until ending up having to leave him with his aunt and uncle in Vic York. (A mix of Victoria and New York, in sort of a limbo on wether or not it’s in Canada or in America) Going off on a trip and never returning, causing him to be raised by May and Ben from there on out.

Putting the rest under the cut to avoid this post being too long

Spider-Sketch’s real name is Hunter Oaks, he inhabits Earth-757 (my favorite number with my 2nd favorite number on the end) and ends up finding the spider society due to 757 Doc Ock getting into shenanigans involving multiverse travel. (Who will get his own post once I redesign him)

For his powers Spider-Sketch has everything you would expect, wall crawling, web swinging, enhanced strength, spider sense, etc. and some of his own ontop of that. Those being much higher pain tolerance (maybe even some sort of thin invisible exoskeleton?), enhanced hearing (because of the bunny motif) and maybe a few others if I can ever come up with any good ideas.

Rather than the classic tale of losing uncle Ben, Spider-Sketch loses aunt May instead. Another thing, rather than being in love with MJ, Hunter rather takes interest in Akheku’ s spidersona, Athan.

Other than a few obvious (and a few less obvious) deviations Spider-Sketch is pretty much just me, Canadian, Stubborn, artsy, etc. He’s constantly trying to convince villains to be good guys instead, trying everything he can to give everyone a redemption arc despite being told repeatedly to cut it out.

When it comes to Venom if it weren’t for the canon they would’ve likely been completely inseparable. Getting along like two peas in a pod despite one’s murderous tendencies and the others desire not to harm anyone or anything. Venom also has been slightly tweaked to work closer to how he works in the movie with Eddie rather than just being a black suit, he’s sort of part of the suit and part of Hunter at the same time, because I can and because I think it’s cool.

Anything else I’ve forgotten or that I add in the future I’ll add in a reblog most likely. His whole universe and story are still very much in progress

Some other art + reference sheet (kind of)

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

back at it again with the 2 billionth joker request 🤭 I keep getting ideas LMAO

after you made that post about him being abandoned by his mother & having a child of his own he can't bear (or bare idk) to leave I've been thinking about it for quite some time now, a scenario where the s/o is giving birth and once the child is here he cried with child 🥲

how dare you make me write this with my own two hands-

DISCLAIMER: This piece is accompanied by a section of lyrics from the song “Piece By Piece” by Kelly Clarkson! I don’t own the song, don’t claim to, and am not profiting off this piece at all.

piece by piece, I fell far from the tree I will never leave [him] like you left me and [he] will never have to wonder [his] worth because unlike you, I’m gonna put [him] first.

When JOKER gets the message that (Name) is in labor, he’s surprised his heart doesn’t burst right out of his chest.

He’s there within minutes, and he thinks he would have been there in seconds if it were physically possible. Nothing else really matters right now, except being there to see his child come into the world. This is the moment he’s been waiting his entire life for! He can’t miss it…

All he can really do as he crouches there next to his beloved, holding their hand, is pray that it’s an easy birth. He’s heard so many horror stories of births that last a full day or more, and imagining his darling struggling through that, being in so much pain, just to bring their little baby into the world, is like torture. Especially because, well, there’s nothing he can do to prevent it or make it easier.

“Ye got it,” he murmurs in what he hopes is a supportive voice as he lets (Name) clutch his hand. It’s his good one, just so their agonized grip doesn’t risk breaking the prosthetic. (He can just hear Doc’s scolding of, “You didn’t realize they could break your hand while giving birth?! Imagine trying to squeeze out a tiny human and see if just the thought doesn’t give you ungodly strength! You have to be more careful!”)

The other hand, what he’s always thought of as his ‘bad’ one, runs gently through their hair. “Ah, ye’re doin’ so good, my love. It’s… it’s gonna be jus’ fine, alrigh’? I’m ‘ere, an’ ye’re doin’ a great job, jus’ breathe.”

Breathe they do, in between wails of pain. Speaking of Doc, he should probably be here to help things along, but… Beast is doing well enough as a stand-in midwife. Much as Joker is thankful to Doc, the idea of it being just family to witness the birth of their child is more appealing to him. If anything goes wrong, they’re close enough that they can rush (Name) over to the medical tent.

It seems that for the first time in his life, God has decided to answer Joker’s prayers. Things don’t drag on for too much longer before Beast pops her head up to speak to (Name). “Alright, c’mon! Give us one more big push, sweet’eart, I think that’ll do it!”

“It hurts so bad,” (Name) sobs. “I don’t know if I can take it!”

Beast gives them a pat on the leg. “Yes, y’ can! Y’re doin’ great, jus’ give us one more push ‘n’ it’ll be over! Deep breath, ‘n’… push!”

The rest of it is a blur, and Joker can imagine that it all doesn’t matter to (Name) too much either, not once the baby is actually here. Beast, bless her heart, works fast — cutting the umbilical cord, helping (Name) through getting the afterbirth out, cleaning the screaming infant up. After their baby is delivered, it feels like the rest of the process takes all of ten or so minutes.

Joker stays with (Name) as they hold their son for the first time, and he notices that Beast quietly slips out to let the new parents have their moment of privacy. He gives her a grateful smile before turning back to his partner. He continues to praise them in a low voice, that they did so well, that finally their little boy Ellis is here, that this is such a beautiful start to their family, that he’s proud of them.

At last, (Name) gestures for him to move closer, toward their arms. “Here, my love. Come hold your son.”

Just those words, your son, are enough to bring tears to his eyes. Despite the fact that he tries to hide it, he feels so much, all the time, and a lot of those feelings are distracting or unpleasant.

This is the best possible mix of emotions he could be overwhelmed by. There’s some worry tingeing it all, but he doesn’t want that to ruin the rest of it.

He reaches down, both hands shaking, and gently takes the baby in his arms. All Ellis is doing is crying; with an air of amusement to his thoughts, he decides he can’t blame the little one. Coming into existence must be just as hard as continuing to exist.

“There’s my wee babe,” he coos as he straightens up. Cuddling this tiny life against his chest, looking down at this incredible child he helped to create, his thoughts suddenly turn to something else.

… His mother. He doesn’t know if his father was any different, but the little he knows about his mother is enough to make his head spin.

She left him, a baby, and he doesn’t even know how. Did she leave him on someone’s doorstep and knock, ensuring that he’d be taken care of, because she knew she couldn’t take care of him? Did she leave him in some box in the gutters, rain-soaked and next to the filth of London’s streets, because she didn’t know where to go?

Did she want him? Or was he just… a mistake? An accident?

Even if he was, people still manage to love babies who weren’t planned. Hell… he and (Name) didn’t plan Ellis. They weren’t trying to get pregnant.

And yet, he still loves his son. He loved this baby for so long before Ellis even arrived.

Now that Joker has his baby in his arms, looking down at this small person who’s less than an hour old, he doesn’t think he could love his child more. But he knows he will tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that until he dies.

The thought of just leaving Ellis somewhere and walking away, never coming back, makes Joker feel physically ill. Tears are rolling down his face before he knows what’s going on, because his thoughts are a jumbled mess as he tries to make sense of his past.

How could she leave him? Aren’t mothers supposed to be the first one to love a person, even if it’s not quite instant? Didn’t his mother have some kind of responsibility to make sure the life she brought into the world was cared for, even if she didn’t have any good options to take care of him herself?

He can’t imagine leaving Ellis on a doorstep or in an alleyway or wherever his mother left him. He can’t imagine not feeling a sense of duty to ensure his child has everything he needs.

It wasn’t so black and white for his mother. That’s something he can understand, at least a bit; the little he knows about her is that she was a prostitute, a line of work that all but ensures a woman will end up pregnant, and a line of work most people look down on. It wasn’t as if she could just walk up to someone and hand them her baby and say, “I need you to take care of him because I can’t.”

There just… there had to be something she could have done, hadn’t there? Anything other than washing her hands of her child entirely?

He tries so hard not to be bitter about it. Those thoughts just run wild sometimes, wondering how she left him and if she ever loved him at all.

The bad ones have taken root in his mind like weeds in a garden, convincing him that she threw him away. That she left because she saw she’d given birth to a baby with only one arm. That she was disgusted by him, that she left him somewhere to die instead of leaving him somewhere that gave him a chance.

And if his mother never loved him, then who else could? If the person who brought him into the world saw something so wrong with him that she abandoned him, what could anyone else see in him that was worth loving?

The part of him that wants to hope pushes back with, (Name) did. They saw someone with a sweet smile, a kind heart; someone loyal and devoted who’s willing to do anything for the people he loves. They saw you and they loved you and they will love you until the stars burn into ash. And now they’ve given you a child to protect.

Whatever else his life will become, whatever similarities he shares with his mother, he will not walk away from his baby like she walked away from him.

He doesn’t care how hard life gets. He doesn’t care what struggles he’ll face. He doesn’t care what he has to do.

Abandoning his child just isn’t an option for him.

Ellis will grow up knowing that he is loved, and he won’t ever have to guess whether his parents wanted him. He won’t have to wonder if there’s anything wrong with him.

By this point, even Joker doesn’t know if he’s crying or laughing as he rocks Ellis in his arms. Both, most likely.

“Papa’s ‘ere, Ellis,” he whispers to his child. “I’m ‘ere. ‘N’ I always will be. I ain’t never gonna leave y’. I promise.”

This might be the only promise he fully keeps in his life.

But by God, he is going to keep it.

[theovergrowth]

Macrides and/or Diamond for the headcanons meme?

Diamond

Headcanon A: realistic

I bet Diamond has those migraine-preventing sleep masks. The ones that add pressure in just the right places to prevent headaches? But he doesn’t just have one, he has like 5 just in case he loses one.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

Diamond fucking Despises sci-fi. He just sits there and internally points out everything inaccurate that happens, then does the dad thing of making little noises of disapproval. His MOST HATED sci fi property is Doc//tor W//ho, which he saw when it first aired and thought “hopefully this stops after the first season” and he’s still upset about it.

Alt: High school teacher Diamond is put on detention duty all the time because he’s one of the only teachers who the “trouble kids” respect enough to not just unleash hell upon him. That’s because he doesn’t treat them like trouble kids, just kids. Still, it’s very irritating to have to stay late after school every day.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

It would be so painful to live so many lives and remember each one. You know what else is painful? The idea that Diamond lives an incarnation where he has people who love him, dies young, then comes back in relatively the same area. Watching his former friends and family grieve but slowly move on from him, watching the people he cared about not spare him a second glance because They Don’t Know Him.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

Diamond has low iron and is constantly blacking out when he stands up. Statistically, this has killed him at least once because he fell in the bathroom.

Macrides

Headcanon A: realistic

Macrides loves music, but so far his favorite genres in the Mortal Realm have been folk and psychedelic rock!

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

Macrides thinks that technology is just new magic, but he takes it pretty seriously. He spent 3 hours trying to free Alexa’s soul from that tiny box.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

Ahhh this one’s a little stressful but;; Macrides didn’t actually want Titus? I think he just wanted to be a dad again, to make up for failing his daughter. And I think he still kind of feels like that towards Titus? He really meshes the two together in his mind.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

Macrides gets super into documentaries. But then he sees Bla//ir Wit//ch and thinks it’s real, and wanders around that forest looking for the witch to meet her. It distracts him from literally everything else for like 4 months.

[definitelynotaminion]

Evil Purging Seal - pt 9

In my WIP full doc, which just hit 9,800 words, I came to a stopping point that would let me either end the fic (unlikely, I still owe them so many orgasms) or at least break for a chapter, which means I can put it on ao3.

Which means I'm going to have to come up with a summary for this madness. Anyone got any ideas?

-

Naruto moaned, unable to help himself.

“D-dobe,” Sasuke stuttered, voice hoarse. “S--fuck-- Usuratonkachi--”

“Ew, Naruto, you’re smearing it everywhere! All over Sasuke’s...uh...” Sakura’s voice trailed off, indignation vanishing as they all stared. And swallowed.

“Me?” Naruto’s hips stuttered, cheeks burning hot. This position was really... “Mine’s barely wet! This is all him. If anything, he’s getting it on me.”

Sasuke made a sound of wordless outrage and they all looked to his wrist reflexively. The fourth bead was still pink. And was it Naruto’s imagination, or was it a slightly lighter shade than it had been?

Maybe. A little bit.

Still, it wasn’t any darker! They were doing something right!

Naruto redoubled his efforts, shifting forward-- moving Sasuke’s ass up higher on his thighs in the process-- so he could get some leverage. He pressed down on each stroke, no longer rubbing along Sasuke’s clit but grinding against it.

Sasuke made a shocked, wounded noise, and this time Naruto knew it wasn’t pain. Sasuke’s fingers dug into the skin of his own face, knuckles standing out as he covered his eyes, and his chin rose to point at the ceiling as his whole body bowed up a little.

“Oh fuck.” Sakura whimpered, almost under her breath.

Naruto chuckled, a little, and Sasuke growled at both of them. It was a particularly pathetic growl, given the circumstances.

He couldn’t help but look down. Shit, Sakura wasn’t wrong. It looked so lewd and dirty. Naruto’s tan cock slid through Sasuke’s pink folds, nudging wrinkled skin aside. Barely an inch or so of his dick, mostly the head, made contact. It was all focused on the top, where Sasuke’s clit was, each thrust moving it this way or that-- practically bullying it.

The change in position really, uh, put Sasuke’s pussy on display. His lower back was lifted off the ground, lower body half held up by Naruto’s thighs as he knelt. It almost made him want to...

Naruto really wasn’t sure how far he could go, here. On the one hand, he needed to get Sasuke off-- and wasn’t that a fucking wild concept! On the other hand...

Wouldn’t it be kind of counter-productive, if he pushed too far and made Sasuke mad instead? What if they couldn’t get him off fast enough to counter the anger and the last two rocks turned completely red!?

...Well.

Well, they could always use their last resort: the seals. Sure they had a reason to try other methods first, but if push came to shove...

It was almost like a safety net.

They’ll try to get Sasuke off, but if they can’t, at least they have something to fall back on. And at least they tried. Kakashi couldn’t fault them for that!

Actually, how did Kakashi-sensei make Sasuke feel good without triggering all the anger and indignity!? This was the most undignified and vulnerable thing! It was a wonder Sasuke wasn’t gnawing his way out!

So, really, if Kakashi could do it... without triggering the full-fledged curse seal...

It didn’t hurt, Sasuke had said.

And then, earlier: Just get it over with.

Sasuke... knew why they were doing this. Sasuke wanted him to hurry up. It was necessary. Needed. He knew he couldn’t let himself get too mad. He’d...

Fuck, he’d practiced this with Kakashi, he was used to it, it wasn’t new.

Naruto was the only one pussyfooting around, here.

And if he was going to do something, he should really commit and do it, yanno!?

He gave into impulse and moved his hands to Sasuke’s legs, bare on either side of him. Tan hands cupped right under Sasuke’s knees and pressed, forcing his legs up, shifting his weight until he was holding Sasuke down, all the Uchiha’s weight on his shoulder blades.

“Whoa-- what--” Sasuke’s breath left in a whoosh, hand falling down from his face-- Sharingan red eyes looking out with wide, wide pupils, cheeks flushed, lip bitten cherry bright.

Sakura made a surprise sound but held onto Sasuke to keep him steady, even as Sasuke’s hands flew up to rest on Naruto’s shoulders.

Naruto, who was now looming over him.

Naruto, who had fucking fantastic leverage.

Sasuke’s pussy was facing up, on full display, his knees pulled back to his shoulders with what would be impressive flexibility-- if they weren’t all really good shinobi, anyway.

“You--” Sasuke started, eyes wide and shocked, only to be interrupted as Naruto leaned into his grip on Sasuke’s legs and drug his cock from slit to clit.

-

To see these snippets in chronological order, click here (tumblr tag)

If you don’t want to wait for updates, you can go read the whole WIP on patreon. But it’ll eventually be on tumblr and ao3, so you can also just wait

[tenpintsofsundrop]

hi i was wondering if you’re able to repost the headcannons i think with Abby, Dina, & Ellie? i think it’s the one where Reader has a kid with them or marriage? not so sure but i remember you writing about the three of them in some sort of headcannons. i don’t think it’s on ao3

I did already address this another post - and maybe I'll put a short FAQ or something like that on my pinned post, but I don't have these to repost.

I wrote these types of headcanons on my phone, and I didn't copy and paste them into word docs or anything, so I don't have another copy of them.

and you're right, they are not on ao3, because I don't consider that kind of content to be 'formal' enough to put on ao3, but that's just my personal opinion. because imo, it's just spitballing ideas, it's not 'real' fanfiction (not an insult to anyone who posts headcanons on ao3, I'm just stating what I like to do with my personal account on there).

when I deleted my blog, I unintentionally deleted all of those type of things - headcanon posts and my more informal type of fics - like random blurbs and spitballing ideas. (but I deleted my blog and started over for my own mental health, so I am not too upset about it.)

and to be perfectly honest, after the Quizilla incident and after the incident that happened with my first fanfiction blog, I have come to think of fanfiction as a kind of Mandela.

like - you can save it and make copies of it, but sometimes, you work on it and it does just get deleted and wiped away, and sometimes the purpose of it is to be enjoyed for a temporary amount of time. (not that I would ever delete my fics on purpose). but I have come to realize that moving on and working on new things is better than mourning over it.

and I could spend time trying to rewrite those headcanons right now, but I haven't been feeling a lot of creative spark with TLOU lately - because the incident that happened with the fandom did make me feel a bit sour with the characters, so I have been feeling very creatively disjointed from them. and I am actually taking a break from my TLOU works for now in order to go work on some other stuff and find creative satisfaction elsewhere for a while.

so I do apologize if those headcanons were your favourites - maybe I will redo them sometime, but for now, they are just gone.

though from what I have seen - because they were done in the beta editor and not the legacy editor, the readmore is probably still functioning, so if someone has reblogged them, they will likely still be fully readable on someone's reblog if you can find them on someone else's blog - again, why reblogging things you like is important, instead of just hitting the like button. reblogging things is a way of archiving them in case someone's blog gets deleted.

if that is the case and I see any of the posts floating around, then I will copy/paste them and dress them up and repost them here, but as of now, I don't have a copy and I'm not going to stress myself about it

[nny11writes]

My “favorite” thing about the bloodborne AU is each time I get a burst of excitement and inspiration for it, the very first thing I have to do is scrap tens of thousands of words of written work because it’s cluttering the story.

I’m not deleting them, but good god each time I look at this monster I realize a huge problem is I’m doing the equivalent of trying to explain all the backstory and lore in the fic itself. Which, like, most of my worldbuilding has been more for me than my readers. For internal guidelines and rules to follow, but they would detract from the story if left in.

I am just not used to doing this kind of in depth world building, so I have to stop come up with explanations and background to help me chart out the plot, and then painfully realize that there is no way for me to include some of these things at all.

I have a hole document just for Etherian Customs and Practices, a deep dive breakdown on the main types of blood (one of which I don’t think even makes a named on page appearance), major institutions, political historys and alliances, important items to the story, and a timeline that stretches over the 72 years the broader fic takes place during.

And today I realized I need to focus in on one character’s story if I ever hope to finish this.

I’m glad I’m making it better! Just! Would be cool to write something that will actually be in the fic. :)

[sardonic-sprite]

For funsies Imma just answer all the questions 😝 Also, Q, I'll get to your asks as soon as I can!

Don't exactly get the phrasing of this question, but I guess what I'm proud of with my writing would be that I've been able to overcome blocks more often lately

Not quite "outlining" but improving my direction. Having a sense of where I'm gonna take a story rather than hang on for dear life as it drags me around.

I assume this means new chapter on a fic that was a one shot? Basically I figure out what makes having it a one-shot dissatisfying and then decide what openings were left in the story to fix that

Every time I open the doc, I read the fic through from the beginning (or beginning of the chunk/scene I'm going to continue) and flag or change things as I see them. Rinse and repeat.

Alfred. He's fucking hard. Jason's easy though. Like, frighteningly so. Damian is also pretty easy, but I don't naturally choose him very often.

So often this happens when I've written a line or an exchange that I find really funny or powerful, but just can't figure out where to go next. I try to cling to everything on the page and it messes me up, because while it might be fun, it doesn't actually work practically in the story.

I consider if I can move those lines to another place in the story or to another story entirely. Then I consider, regardless of where I could put them, can I delete them from right here? Usually I can, and I go back up a few paragraphs from the gap and start over.

So I took a deep dive into novel advice for my manuscript which I NEED to get back to but it's just so nebulous and daunting... 😭 Anyway, what's really stuck with me is character over plot. I can have the coolest series of events, but it will be meaningless unless my characters (or DC's but whatever) grow and change (or stay true to themselves despite strain).

Dialogue, no question. It is the single most common compliment I receive, and it's also just super fun!

Hmmmm. Maybe how sporadic it is. I'll obsess over a work for some short period of time then drop it completely for like 3 months while I attend to other works. I feel like, if I'd started the prose, it makes the work disjointed. But alas, I've tried to force myself to complete one work before moving on, but it just gets me frustrated and stuck.

So until like, eh, a month ago, I didn't. Now what I seem to do with short fics is take my idea and just start writing a ways, until I get to a point where I'm halfway stuck. Then I scribble notes about what WILL happen, as a guideline for me to go in later and turn those lines into actual prose. For long fics it's very similar... actually it might be the same.

So my current story is like, 10 simultaneously. The ones I'm cowriting are inspired by my cowriters. Another one was inspired by my own stress and yet another by "bane" bc I needed the fluff. My inspiration comes from all sorts of places

Fight scenes lmao. It's really difficult for me to picture people and spaces let alone actions. I have to stop and try to run blocky mental animation to know what people are doing, then translate it to words, then go reassure myself that the words aren't too clunky and don't disrupt the pacing of a fight. Also, some concepts I come up with. Young, Innocent, and Righteous is one, and the last June of Doom fic is another. I know that things I do in them either aren't MY usual or aren't a general taste, so I worry sometimes about how they'll be received.

Hmmm. I mean specific lines in specific stories sometimes, but it's not as though there's a thematic Thing I always do that I want people to notice.

Hmmmmmm. My word choice I think is most often influenced by my narrator. Damian uses bigger or older words, because he wants to seem more mature, and was raised to be highly formal. Bruce uses adult words too, but not to the level of Damian, because his sophistication is natural, not for show. Jason gets big words sometimes, but he also gets slang and cusses, because he's a literarure-loving Alley brat (affectionate). Examples below 😊

Yes. I've finally broken through a wall on the ages-old requested fics, but I'm also spazzing because June is almost over and I spent so long finishing the challenge I don't have much else prepared. I'm proud of finishing the challenge, but also overloaded because I have SO MANY ideas and not as much time as I thought to write them. And then there's the manuscript looming over me that I poke at with a stick then run away from

So I go through moods of reading and writing, and when I'm doing one frequently, I'm hardly touching the other. However, if I'm writing and get stuck or hesitant, but what I'm working on matches the vibe of something I've read, I run and find that fic to springboard off of it

Hmmm. I don't pay that much attention to this, honestly. Someone told me recently that she was surprised and proud of how I took really ugly emotions like guilt and regret and grief and actually explored them in "big brother" because humans generally don't want to deal with those feelings. But I didn't think I was doing that conciously while I wrote

I've been an envysparkler fangirl for a long time. Her Jason and Tim works really got me hooked on the batfam, and give me lots of feels and inspiration. But I also admire the people I write with now, for their passion and love for the characters and stories

The absolute randomest times I swear. I'll be in the middle of something and get an idea and be like Oh shit theres another one now 😂

Narrator/word choice examples:

Here's bruce in "bane": (cw for referenced sexual assault)

Thirty seconds of silence followed Tim’s explanation. A massive portion of Bruce’s terror corroded into disgust and horror as he imagined – tried not to imagine – a faceless, eons-old woman forcing herself on his teenage son.

Words like "portion" "corroded" "eons" and the phrase "forcing herself on" aren't what the general population would use, but neither are they words that make general audiences pull out a dictionary. Bruce isn't forcing his education in your face, but it is noticeable

Here's Damian in a WIP:

The goal of the contest was to win ten consecutive victories, and thereby freedom for your party. Damian understood that the Ghavka-La, their extraterrestrial captors, thought that desperation to save loved ones' lives would make their competitors fight more brutally – more entertaingly – but in his observance, it just froze them stiff and made them easy prey for the trained champions.

Words like "consecutive" "thereby" "extraterrestrial" "observance" you might not actually need a dictionary for, but they don’t flow like typical thoughts. They're older and have more syllables. Damian's grammar is also more formal and complex. He wants you to think he's sophisticated, and you can't help but notice.

And finally, here's an upscale Jason in the last June fic:

And on he went, cobbling together the most hobbit-hole-like picture he could for them all: warm, cozy, and full of good things. Whatever he had memorized of Tolkien's words, he used, and filled in other lore with as good a mimicry of the prose as he could manage, making gentle references to the kids and things they knew of, trying to welcome them into a world where Dark things were fated to have a final end

"Cobbling' "mimicry" "prose" are pretty rare words, and the grammar and flow are highly prosaic as well. Not to mention the actual literature references, so Jason's very much lining up with bruce and damian here. Right now he wants to be seen as comforting, so he takes on a friendly storyteller vibe, informed by the stories HE loves.

But now here's the contrast, which is also 100% all-natural jason todd: (cw for referenced harm to a minor)

Jason wanted to cry. Or vomit. Or scream, or most of all rip the bars apart, get his hands on a weapon and finish the goddamn job he’d started (failed, hissed his mind) and kill everyone who could hurt a tiny four-year-old with a goddamn bow on her shirt so badly that the sight of any adult caused her to panic.

"Goddamn" twice in one sentence lol, accompanied by violent thoughts. This is someone who's seen ugly things and doesn't much care to mince his words. Worth noting that my jason swears much more when he's angry or emotionally charged, and usually for emphasis. He wants to unleash his anger ao there's the words. However, the very next paragraph...:

But he forced down that rage, because he knew even his most righteous anger was violent, and violence was not going to help him reassure these kids that the last thing he’d ever do was hurt them

The cussing is gone. We've gone from "rip" and "kill" to just vague and higher brow "violence" and while we aren't storytelling, we're in a pretty normal-sounding range of expression.

So basically, Bruce sounds like an educated adult in any circumstance and doesn't pay attention to that, Damian sounds like an English-language overacheiver in any circumstance and likes that, and Jason is a linguistic chameleon, changing vocabulary and syntax based on what's around him.

Since this has been a hella long tangent anyway, here's a fun fact: when I was younger I was Damian and I had to actually work on toning it down with a speech therapist (among other things) and now I'm Jason 😁

WRITER ASKS

Thanks for the tag @liiilyevans! I do love an ask game.

What are you most proud of your writing right now?

Is there something you're specifically working on to improve your writing?

What is your process for going about writing a new chapter?

Describe your editing process.

Is there a character's voice that you struggle with? What about one you find easy to write?

Where you do find yourself "hung up" while writing?

What methods do you use to get out of "hang ups" while writing?

What piece of advice did you hear/read recently that's been helping you to improve your writing?

What do you feel that you are naturally talented with in terms of creative writing?

Do you have any personal pet peeves about your writing that you're working to change?

How do you plan out your story writing process? For chapters and/or the entire story?

Who/what is your greatest inspiration for your current story?

Do you have anything you are self-conscious about in your writing?

Is there something you wish readers would pick up on more in your stories?

Talk to me about how you go about word choice. Do you have an example of your writing that you're particularly proud of clever word choice?

Where are you currently at in your writing mindset? Frustrated? Excited? Focused? Other?

How do you use reading material to help you with your own writing?

Are there emotions that come to you easily while writing? Or ones that are difficult for you to describe?

Who is another author (fanfic or otherwise) that you admire? Why?

When do you get most of your ideas and inspiration for writing?

(Never pressure) tags: @merlinsbbeard @charmsandtealeaves @kay-elle-cee @athenasparrow @quotidian-oblivion @jfleamont @itsjamespotter

[knullanon]

H! I was just wondering if you were planning on continuing your Doc Ock New Year’s Eve thing? I have a hyper-fixation on him, but I’ve only been able to find like three platonic fanfics with him, so it would be fun to see more of it (and possibly future platonic fanfics with him 👉👈) Have a great day!

ok I was originally gonna discontinue it but a bunch of ppl asked for it so this is the 3rd part! be warned tho, I was gonna discontinue it bc I didn't like how I wrote it, so it might be janky as fuck because I truly have no idea on how to write it anymore. but I do have ideas for him in the future!

New Years Eve Part 3

word count: 2306

summary: while tensions have calmed between you and otto, your want for freedom is is still there.

warnings: minor injury, lmk if I missed any!

"Spider-Man is a menace, just destroying property and ruining the neighborhood with his lies! In fact, crime has actually spiked from the last 10 years to now, from when spiderman first started his little game with these maniacs! The only thing he has done is-"

"Would you mind turning that down? I need to concentrate on this build."

While Otto was happy you were finally setting in, he also did not appreciate these little segments where you were just being annoying for the sake of being annoying. This could range from malicious compliance to right now, where you were allowed your little segment of the news, and you would blast it at the loudest volume possible.

Otto returned back to his project when slowly, the volume lowered until it was barely a mumble. This latest project was actually a request from Martin Li, something about a cloaking device for a car. It was a strange request, but not impossible. He had wanted to get it done sooner than later, so he could continue to work on his latest "override" project.

Unfortunately, the system had connected to all the doors in the complex, which made things utterly impossible to try and test. it was a simple fix, really, but so far, there was no time to do so, especially with this new little cloaking device for Li.

The override project was supposed to be a new way of almost trapping Spider-Man, to put him in a certain area and lock him there. So far, there was little success in even finding an area to test it, but Otto was not one to back down.

He had to deal with it later, however, as the build for Li still needed to be completed.

Wondering back to you, he thought about your wants. He remembered you asking him about a, as you referred to it, "child-proof" computer. You had explained while it still had most of the functionalities of a computer, it just didn't allow for communication of any kind, and that certain websites would be blocked or completely gone.

Maybe he would get you a computer of your own. Maybe he might even build it from scratch, as to not miss any mistakes of course. He had smiled at the thought of you and him building one together, but he later decided against it as while he trusted you, there was still a possibility of you tampering with it in any way.

I could also get them into working with me, as well. It would be a waste to just let them sit and do nothing all day-

Throwing the tool down, he clutched his palm, and hissed in pain. He had burnt his hand on one of the exposed wires. He powered down the machine, and tried to ignore the sing-song tune one of his arms was making in his head.

Walking out of the lab, neither him nor his arms noticed you sneaking into the room from the other side.

---

You weren't originally going to sneak in. In fact, you were there to ask him about what he wanted for dinner. But he had startled both you and himself from the burn. You hadn't even entered the room, but you could hear him moving around, and when you did eventually peak your head in, his back was facing you and he was walking out, presumably towards his little med bay.

Once you heard the door close is when you actually walked in. Looking around, you could obviously tell he was busy doing something. He had blueprints, tools, safety masks, everything spread everywhere in the lab.

You knew he would notice if anything was taken, so you just browsed the different cabinets and lockers before you stopped at one that was locked.

It was a cabinet with a regular padlock to it, so you tried to look around to try and find something to open it with. You tried to shake it open, to no avail. Looking around, you realized how disorganized the lab was. Different cabinets and lockers open, tools in the wrong places, and even the ground was dirty, with little metal pieces around the floor.

The table he was working at was probably the messiest, though, with tools, papers and extra wires hanging around, with one singular rectangle box sitting in the middle. It almost reminded you of a miniature toolbox, like the ones they had on sale at a department store.

However, you stopped when you saw a very strange looking metal stick. It had a smooth backpiece that was tinted blue, and on the other side was just a bunch of little chips together. It almost looked like if you had stuck a motherboard onto a very long lego piece.

Suddenly, you stopped. You listened outside of the door, before you realized it: Footsteps. Realizing what you looked like, and really having no other reaction time, you shoved the weird rectangle into your leg pocket and flushed your shirt down to it so you could at least semi cover it.

Just after you turned around to try and make the lock look normal again, the door slammed open behind you.

You quickly turned around, to see him holding open the door, with a bandaged hand to his side. He probably wasn't expecting you, which explained his small shock.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, obviously a tiny suspicion in his voice.

"I wanted to know what you wanted to do for dinner. Y'know, because it's already 4?" You relaxed your shoulders as you tried to force every jitter and worry out of your voice as you spoke. Making him more suspicious and possibly angry was not gonna go good for you, even if it might be a little funny.

He fully walked into the room, and towards the center table. "Oh, well, that depends," he was still eyeing you, almost like you were going to strike him when he looked away, "what did you want to have?"

You shrugged. "I don't know. I was gonna ask you to see what you wanted." You walked to the opposite of his spot, hoping he wouldn't see the stick in your hand.

He reached and grabbed some safety goggles, before reaching for a welding like tool with one of his arms. "Well, I was thinking of just anything we really have. Did you want to make soup?"

"Sure, I think we have stuff for soup. I can go check, if you want me to."

"No, no, it's alright. Let me just finish this weld and I'll deal with it." He stepped back from the table, before motioning to you.

"Did you need anything else?" You shook your head, "No, but I'll be out in the main room."

You quickly shuffled out of the room, really hoping that he didn't hear or see the weird rectangle in your pocket. Now that you were thinking about it, you could've just thrown it towards the table. But, then it could've alerted the fact that something was going, it could've just went over the table when you threw it...

Realizing it would be pointless to think of the what-ifs, you walked down the hallway to your little makeshift room to change. You were also going to try and hide the stick, and hiding it in your pocket was not going to be an option.

After getting changed and looking around, you found that the safest place was probably the stuffing of one of your pillows. While impractical, it was the better out of the other ideas you had. You would look at it tomorrow, you decided. It didn't look very interesting, probably just some strange little stick.

---

The next day, when you checked it, you realized it was in fact, not some strange stick. It almost looked more like a key. The chips, now that you had a better look at them, were abundant and yet scattered in a particular pattern.

It was strange to see, and explain to yourself. How would it even work? But you decided to bring it with you today, because you were going to see if it opened to anything.

It was also the day that Otto had to bring the device to Martin Li.

Otto probably didn't want Li to find out where you were, so he had realized that having a meeting point where it was safe for the both of them nearby would be a good investment. He had apparently found some abandoned warehouse that was nearby a broken down part of the subway.

While it wasn't the best, it also wasn't the absolute worst that they could've gotten in the long run.

So, you were told to stay out of the lab and med bay, as he knew there were things you could use, and he locked them. You wondered if he thought about you needing a band aid or ibuprofen, but he was also only going to be gone for a short amount of time.

Which also meant you had little time to look around in areas you could be allowed into. You had only about 15 to 20 minutes before he came back, so you had made you sweep quick. 15 minutes later, and you still hadn't found anything.

You knew he would be back any minute, and tried to wonder what the damn little chip thing could do. It was supposed to be a big key, so why wasn't there some other big keyhole around? Why did he have this thing?

You were becoming much more frustrated walking around and seeing nothing you could use, so you took a tiny break to try and just think of where something like it could be. You sat on the couch, and held the key in your hand.

The doors, the cabinets, anything that was locked. But you really couldn't think of anything. Sighing, you heard something almost groan and then a bang. Since the doors to the outside were completely different than the ones in the main area, they were bigger, and it was almost like a doorbell for you, letting you know when you should be ready.

You shoved the key back into your pocket, this time making sure it wasn't going to be visible to him.

When he entered, you had turned on the TV and pretended to be watching the news.

You heard him walk around, before he finally revealed himself from the main hallway.

He walked over to his little coat rack he had near the kitchen entrance, and then walked into the hallway. He turned back to you and said, "I'm going to be in the lab for a while, there is dinner in the kitchen. If you need anything else...?"

You shook your head. "No, thank you though. I'll just be sitting out here."

He stopped, and turned to face you. "Also, I wanted to tell you something."

Oh no. You sobered up pretty quick, and paused the TV. "What is it?"

He chuckled, "Well, I've thought about it, and I think that you can have your own "child-proof" computer as you call it." You internally sighed in relief, before responding, "Oh, thank you for that."

Nodding, Otto turned around, while saying, "Remember, I'll be out in a few hours."

After you heard the lab door lock close, you visibly relaxed. Eventually the low hum of whatever machine he was using started and you realized that you would still have time to look around, only more quietly.

You decided to try one more time with the main door. It was the door that he really didn't want you going into as it was a door that lead out into (what you assumed) the outside. Obviously it wasn't the only door, it still had a bunch of different locks on it, but only 2 of them actually had a key hole.

Looking at them, there was no way that the chip had anything to do with them as it was too long and there wasn't any other place to put it in. It was almost the same with the other doors in the place.

You were just about the break the damn thing, when you saw something on the wall.

Right next to the key hole, there was an inconsistency in the paint. The lines didn't match up with each other.

You scratched at it, thinking it was some kind of painting error, when you felt it shift a bit. You tried again, and it shifted more.

Eventually you were shifting it side to side as you realized it wasn't a weird paint error, it was a secret little panel.

Pulling open the panel, you saw a few different portholes for different objects. There was even a headphone jack, which was strange. However, there was a big rectangular indent that was a little like the porthole.

You placed the chip so it would fit directly into it, and to your relief and happiness, it fit.

You heard something groan before the chip was ejected, and held by the porthole. The door had a loud clunk sound from the locks unlocking, and you stayed silent for a moment, worried that he might've heard you.

But there was nothing. The hum of his machines continued, and after half a minute of waiting for him to power something down, you realized that he couldn't hear you.

Which also probably meant he couldn't hear anything for the next few hours.

Wasting no time, you took the chip out, and opened the door, which lead down a long corridor, to another door. Again, you waited at the doorway, listening for him to come barging out of his lab, yelling at you, to drag you back inside, to lock you in your room.

But there was nothing. Nothing from anything or anyone.

And without even thinking, you ran.

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wow this sucks, better late then never tho