#but I want to have fun so I'll mash them together okay

[airandangels]

I still really want a movie or show about the Frankish weather wizard-assisted grain-stealing sky pirates versus the anti-demon grain-defending werewolf corps in mediaeval Europe

I think we do it animated in a similar style to the Netflix Castlevania series

like you open with the werewolves having a normal one descending into hell to fight the demons that keep trying to steal the grain from the fields at night (because Hell wants grain for some reason? or just to make life hard for the humans?)

it's cool as heck and there's lots of subterranean parkour and biting

there's a new young werewolf in the team (Thiess) and the others are protective of him and he very nearly gets got by the demons due to his inexperience and eagerness but the brave big mama werewolf saves him

in the morning they are tired but happy knowing they did good and kicked ass for the Lord

and tomorrow night they'll do it all again!

at least they think that's what's going to happen!

but then SHBOOM SKY PIRATES!

and the werewolves and the demons are like "what the fuck"

(they're not going to declare common cause or anything the werewolves still beat the shit out of the demons it's just that they have a shared moment of perplexity)

also also

the Frankish weather wizard magic from the sky is going to cause crop circles

I love my idea

[rainboq]

Meowdy!

I just wanted to start by saying that I adore Statistics and Purity Through a Prism.

Do you have any general advice you can give to less experienced writers? I’m also hella into making LiS fics, but I’m still trying to find my footing. Plus most of my projects fizzle out around chapter 5, and I’m not sure how to get momentum back after taking a break 😂🥰 how do you write stories that go for so long?

Thanks!

First of all thank you very much for enjoying my fanfics! I'm sorry that I haven't updated anything in a while, life and original fiction projects have pretty much taken over (I'll be self publishing a novel in the next few months).

For general advice, consider the following.

Keep an idea diary. Write down your ideas, just because you have nothing to go with it doesn't mean you won't later and don't be afraid to mash things together.

Learn about story telling as a craft. Study any and every medium and think about how to apply their lessons to word smithing. I highly recommend Every Frame a Painting, Thomas Flight, Hello Future Me, and Ellen Brock.

Read everything twice. Once for pleasure, once to tear it apart to figure out how the sausage is made. Dissect word choice, structure, pacing, foreshadowing, all of it. If you want to get better as an author, get better at media analysis.

Ask yourself why a project fizzles out. Did you lose sight of your original goal? Is it not turning out the way you hoped? Can you not remember where you wanted it to go? I tend to write with a few very specific scenes fixed in my head and I need to massage the characters to make those scenes happen and make sense. For Prism that was Kate and Chloe's clifftop kiss. Everything after that was kinda ad-libbed.

Embrace failure. Enjoy failure. Fail faster. As the Frizz would say: take chances, make mistakes, and get messy! You will learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. It's okay to be disappointed and upset when things don't go your way, but then dust yourself off and figure out what went wrong where and learn your lessons. (Just because you can write a novel in 3 months doesn't mean you should)

Your ideas are crap. It's okay, mine are too. Ideas always suck, they become good when you actually write the stories and find your blind spots. Make it work in the edit. You can change things right up until you publish, so play around and have fun.

It's okay to not finish projects. Use them as learning experiences. Practice writing better and better hooks. Find character's voices. Toy around with premises.

Practice with a purpose. With everything you write, pick something you want to focus on. Dialogue, pacing, structure, action, word play, imagery, etc. Pick something, study, execute.

Keep it simple. Elevator pitches are 30 words or less. If you can't summarize the crux of your story simply and succinctly, consider revising your idea to make it less complicated. Prism's premise is literally "What if Max never went to Blackwell". Statistic's premise is "What if Chloe was a homeless trans girl dealing for Frank". Complicated premises aren't bad, but they make executing much harder, and you don't need them to tell a good story.

Don't stop. Always be reading, writing, and thinking. Your creativity is a muscle, work it out. Hit the brain gym regularly with focus and intent and you'll see the growth.

I hope these help and good luck!

[distant-screaming]

GMM2025 Lineup Game

Rules: write your thoughts on all the gmmtv series pilots released today (or just the ones you plan to watch) and tag any 3 (or more! or less!) ppl whose thoughts you wanna know about!

thank you for the tag @bubbalakebrome!! I actually was writing out my thoughts for @ranchthoughts and thought this was the perfect opportunity to put em up in public too! I'm very fried from exam stuff so if these are poorly worded please forgive me <3

'dee,' you may ask, 'which of these shows are you going to watch?' no idea. I watch stuff after it's done airing, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have next year. still, if I have a positive impression of a show I'm very likely to watch it, so take that as you will!

Dare You to Death - joongdunk: it's....crowded? there's a lot going on, and it feels kind of like they mashed together two separate ideas they had for shows? but I love shows with guns because I get to kill people in my fics so LMAO!! also joongdunk are cool

Head 2 Head - seakeen and surfjava: deeply ambivalent to the actors and I've never seen them before, the plotline seems fine enough but not really my kind of thing? kind of a weird enemies to lovers I think

Burnout Syndrome - offgun + gundew(?): fascinating stuff happening here!! however. unfortunately. I don't really care. offgun are not my thing and the plot doesn't really intrigue me, it just feels dark and edgy in a way that's not my style. gun in black lipstick was something though!!

I Love A Lot of You: LIKE… OKAY GUYS… CAN WE LEAVE THE ABLEISM?? anyway. het show so I wasn't really paying attention, also has kind of split personality disorder but I'm not sure how well gmm will handle it based on their track record? anyway nanon's in it but shrug

Whale Store XOXO - milklove and junemewnich: .........shrug? sorry yuri fans I'm very ambivalent to this one, it feels like fluff the way 23.5 was fluff? not a high school gl at least! I might end up watching this, but I'm not on the edge of my seat for it

Only Friends season 2 - earthmix, ohmleng and jossgawin: INSANE. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one because (glances at season 1)......theatre kids only friends is incredibly funny though

That Summer - winnysatang, mondryu and neomint: WINNYSATANG MAINS YAY!!! the more amnesia, but it looks interestingly done at least, and it's a jojo show and I trust him. tang being a prince is... this drama has the space to either become overdramatic fanfic or really really good and I'm desperately hoping for the latter. tang's chara is an amnesiac prince. I get to write ballroom dancing scenes. I win. mond kisses a guy which is awesome, neomint is a thing and I am deeply ambivalent to mint

My Romance Scammer - juniormark, ohmfluke: this one's concept is deeply funny to me, but the execution could vary! lowkey the energy it's giving is mame show if mame was not obsessed with blurring consent? trashy fun watch energy. also, ohmfluke doing this one is great because their most well known show is like Heavy and Serious and this one is 'I marry this guy as a gay marriage scam and fall in love'. incredible no notes. also can the actors start naming themselves fluke1, fluke2, ohm1, ohm2

Melody of Secrets - forcebook: YES. YESSSS. THIS ONE'S FOR ME. LITERALLY FOR ME. CLASSICAL MUSIC, HORROR ESQUE PLOT, SEMI MURDER, ESTABLISHED GAY PEOPLE, MAYBE MISTAKEN IDENTITY? INCREDIBLE NO NOTES. also forcebook are like, solid actors for me so yay no issues there! I want my blorbos in incredible angst STAT

Love You Teacher - perthsanta: age regression. also perth's character is just a dick to kids for no discernable reason. amnesia. age regression????

Mu-Te-Luv - multiple pairings (seven I think?) gay ones are ohmleng and seakeen: I'm usually pretty chill with anthology style shows, they're fun enough! jamie's in this one and AHEM CLEARS THROAT I LOVE JAMIE JUTAPICH!!! so. the chances of me watching this are low simply because of my backlog, but it looks interesting enough! also there's ladyboy (I hope that's the right term) characters, and I don't know how good the representation is gonna be but it's there! neo is one of them (??)

Cat for Cash - firstkhao: this is just firstkhao get paid to flirt and play with cats the series, and honestly good for them!! a little supernatural element ie first can hear cats' thoughts, which I'm curious where that will go? but overall very low stakes show, seems like the kind of thing I'd binge in a day. firstkhao are fun. I hope people are capable of being normal about a low stakes show heart emoji. I personally think it's a chill watch but I'm not bouncing off walls excited. first is handsome though

Girl Rules - namtanfilm, milklove, viewmin: high heat messy drama shows I prefer to watch in gifs and skipped around eps, but we love messy lesbian representation always!! view plays a straight (soon to figure out she's not so straight) girl which I think is kind of funny. I hope they make out a lot

Boys in Love - papangpodd, lukemick, astonchokun: hello there, obligatory gmmtv high school show! I'm pretty happy with this one, because the actors are all actually young I'm pretty sure and they're all new so it's a nice start for them, very classic. I don't know any of them. papangpodd are there, and as soon as papang appeared I started crying loud and violent tears because I am deeply and unambiguously in love with him. I hope he commits hr violations on school grounds

My Magic Prophecy - jimmysea, teefranc: it's a doctor x psychic, and it feels like a vice versa but not really. the trailer was kind of boring in the sense of composition and scene choices and such. forced proximity trope, which I sometimes do not really like so this one is on thin ice. no idea who the side pairing are yay

A Dog and A Plane - taynew, marcpoon: banger cast!! I haven't seen taynew in anything yet I don't think? but I've heard good things? marc is my beloved, of course. the plot is incredibly interesting at first look, though the cheating thread kind of bothers me? whether it will win out over my enjoyment of the rest of the trailer is yet to be decided. judgement's still out on this one

Me and Thee - pondphuwin, perthsanta: overdramatic spoiled rich kid pond who is obsessed with lakorns x photographer phuwin. incredibly hilarious dynamic. I enjoy pondphuwin, and I enjoy rich kids who grow. seems interesting for sure

Wu - skynani (bl or bromance? unclear): they really looked at the skynani popularity, said bet filmed one (1) scene and stuck it in the lineup. good for them! I hope they kiss! there's golden thread of fate involved, which is fun. I don't want to watch if it's bromance though, my backlog yearns to be freed as is

Ticket to Heaven: RELIGIOUS TRAUMA AND INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA CATHOLIC EDITION THE SHOW????? FROM G4???? WILD STUFF. WIIIILD. I'm very excited for this one, it seems there's heavy topics so hopefully they're dealt with well. g4 will slay I know already. religious imagery goes hard in fanfic if literally nothing else. I will probably cry with this one. I will still watch it. I was also informed that gem went to a catholic high school. fun!

Tagging: @winnysatang @jojotichakorn @lamonnaie @pondphuwin @jjsanguine @cornflowershade! apologies if any of you have been tagged before <3

[discord-and-the-blog-of-chaos]

When Worlds Collide

As the camera starts out staticky, you can hear a dark chuckle. Once the static clears out, a rather strange, mixmatched, dragon-like creatures comes into view.

"Hello, everypony! Should I say everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony!"

"Originally, I wasn't scheduled to make my Tumblr debut until much later, but a certain mod informed me that desperate times call for desperate measures. Something on the line of... 'notifications'?"

"Though as exciting as it is for me to show my face early, my only complaint would be the fact that I have to SHARE this blog with others. But I suppose this will have to do for now. Perhaps if things go well here, I'll be able to have my own personal blog down the line..."

"With that being said, let's get this show on the road! I've been sent here to summon several muses here that I'm sure you'll be happy to see! After all; a lot of them are people you've met before I assume?"

And with that, Discord snapped his fingers. Just like that, tons of people(and one pony), appear. They look around in confusion before turning to face the odd creature that was before them.

“UwaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!!!”

The spikey-haired boy ran into hiding. Oddly enough, two of them looked and dressed exactly like him. One went after the more timid version to check of him, while the other had bandages, all over his torso, arms and legs(I have no sprites for that one! T_T)

"W-what that f&ck is that?!?!"

'Kyaaaaaaah! It's a monster!'

"I'm going to assume that this is the creature who brought us here. But... why?"

Discord was rather disappointed by certain reactions as he turned away.

"A simple 'thank you' would've sufficed! But I suppose most of you aren't much a fourth-wall breakers now aren't you...? How rude! To think I actually did this to help you all on your current predicament-"

Before the draconaquus could finish his sentence, a certain pink pony zoomed in and gave him a super tight hug from behind.

"GYAAAAAGH!!!"

"Discord! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you sooooooo much for bringing us all together! I'm so happy to finally be able meet all my neighbors at once! I thought it going to take like... foreeeverrr to meet a few of them at a time! And I SO thank our mod a bejillion times for this too! And that best part is... you now get to be a part of this too! This is the best! Decision! EVERRRRRRRR!!!"

"C-can someone... please give us a promo... before Pinkie Pie... breaks me in half...?"

(Hello everyone. Mod Princess here. So basically, this is a chaos blog mashing @ask-timid-makoto-naegi, @danganronpa-v3-demo-au, @your-pink-party-pony, and @sole-survivor-makoto-naegi altogether. This is being done due to the recent changes on tumblr regarding the notifications. I figured that I'd have some fun and add Discord from MLP into the blog as well.

So this is what's going to happen from here on out. Every event and starter I decide to do regarding any of my other blogs are going to start off here from now on. You also can also RP on the chaos blog if you'd like. It will just require me to use other blogs to respond depending one which of my muse(s) you are interacting with. I will also be using this blog for any and all RPs that I didn't get notified on.

Aster recommends this to me as an alternative option to constantly pinging, and so far it seems to have worked after @unofficialuserluser tested it out. So now I'm giving it a go. Fingers crossed this continues to work!

Edit 5/5/2023 - Okay so I wasn’t informed until like… just now the the problem has been fixed. REALLY wish someone would’ve told me this sooner before I went ahead and made this blog. Nonetheless, it’s here and people are already interacting. So I’ll need to figure out an alternative. If you still want to interact, go ahead and do so.

@unofficialuser(anyone you want), @werewolf-makoto-naegi @slimemakotonaegi @ask-ghost-boys @yui-samidare-reborn (anyone you want), @japanese-ultimateautism @special-encounters (surprise me), @laylayeh @tobys-multiverse-official @lre123 @ask-ultimate-personas @ask-the-ultimate-matchmaker @alizachan @coldwisped

As always, anyone who isn't tagged can also interact

[queenerdloser]

also i AM playing veilguard and i made a wee pocket sized lad of a man for my first rook and i love him and his boyband hair. spoilers & reactions below the cut.

my first rook is a lord of fortune mage w/the plan to romance lucanis. he's very snarky and i love him.

i'm glad they made the call to go back to the like. da2 style of dialogue.

me so far every time rook talks to solas: get his ass!!!!!!

that said, i feel like they're making solas like rook too quick. what the fuck. it took my inquisitor like YEARS to build a rapport with this motherfucker.

i hate the combat lol. maybe i'll enjoy it more when i get used to it but there's too many moving pieces to keep track of for me. my favorite combat is where i can just like mash one button and easily kill everything in my path, i don't want to be strategic and have to micromanage everything. also what is this three potions bullshit. even dai gave you 10. and i have to like find them in random pots????? what the fuck????

very fun to sprint and jump. makes me feel zoom.

why do the elves just accept that their gods are back and evil? like. it feels like they accept it WAY too quickly lol.

dialogue so far is uh. very cheesy. a lot of "we're all great so let's work together!" stuff that is like. fine. but cheesy.

i'd die for lace harding. she looks so cute in this game.

when solas stabbed varric i SCREAMED. i was like. do NOT kill my boy in the first fifteen minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm still only like a couple of hours in but varric was being suspiciously sick in the cutscenes so i have feeling he is going to die :((((

me: where is my BOYFRIEND (lucanis) and my FUTURE BOYFRIEND (davrin)

i love neve but i have a feeling we are going to butt heads a lot lol. i'm playing my rook as the reckless, confident type with a saving person thing that feels true to what we know about his backstory and he's already disagreed with neve several times. whoops.

i love the little marker showing me exactly where to go. hell yeah, hold my hand with this bullshit. kind of glad they dumped the open world of dai and got us back on rails.... tho that may change as i get further in the game???

when i say i spent HOURS in the character creator.... like i love it but it honestly felt like TOO much tbh. esp. when i had to do it for rook and then immediately again for my inquisitor too.

i ended up going lord of fortune background almost entirely bc i liked their casual look the best but i think i'll definitely try to play most of the backgrounds. they're so fun! i was THIS close to doing shadow dragons.

honestly minrathous is really cool???? all the locations so far have been great, love the lighthouse. (v. funny 2 me that we get all of these cool locations thanks to solas. man knows how to find a cool spot and name it i guess.)

the updated blight is VERY creepy. also those new darkspawn??? i gasped.

i do like that they're playing solas as this like. enemy who is begrudgingly allied due to worse enemies. but i'm so curious how they'll play it when the inquisitor gets involved. i'm doing my kai lavellan inky who DEFINITELY is going to try to stop solas at all costs... uh oh lol.

i know people were salty about not getting to integrate a lot of dai choices but tbh i'm fine with it. i'm more happy we got to include our inquisitor tbh.

morrigan showing up looking younger than she did in da:o.... um okay lol. also i kind of hate that she's considered an expert on elven history yet again. stop that.

im going to say again i hate the combat bc i really do hate it. praying it grows on me as i get more used to it bc otherwise i'm enjoying the game a lot.

[bluebelleix]

Mashle OC dump..?

(OLD, she acts differently now)

Her personality would be like all serious and shit at first glance but talk to her for like a minute and it'll be alot different.

Like how she's actually not serious most of the time and just let things go how they want. Think of her as like Finn but. dumber. Yeah that' it.

I guess she also has this smug to her and would annoy people but doesn't mean to. All she wants is to find fun and joy in something, anything! She probably messes up sometimes to see what will happened.

So probably not that serious kind of gal because she just prefers not to.

Also with the nickname thing, it was birdie at first but then I realised it was kind of like.. a petname? XD

Nothing' wrong with that! (Considering between the two they're kinda goofy together and I intentionally crackshipped them)

However, if I wanna be like for real for a second, I prefer to use Feathers because it's nicer?

I'll just use Birdie for some other time I guess.

I don't know what her favourite food will be but at the time of making that drawing, I ate a fruitcake and it was good!

I want more fruitcake..

Maybe she'll follow the path of liking the pastries as well because she's like me fr (and Mash I guess).

Saint Ars Uniform Dump

Okay so, I had a lot of trouble what the uniform will be but on the top on my head, I tried to like colour code them into their houses as well(which is like Topaz, Ruby and Sapphire).

I realise I also should colour the male uniforms as well but idk, white was the first colour to come to mind but I got a lot more creative with the girls.

Aaaa, I'll probably fix the uniforms a lot more in the future.

I have some ideas in my head that the girls can wear the male uniforms if they want to, uhms hence why I let Claire use the male one?? Hdhsj Idk it fits her

[koreposion]

Something sweet for Geno to think about before it all goes downhill from here.

Horror and Geno have been preparing the meal all day. They both got up early to clean up the castle's kitchen and set up the cook wear. Pre-heat the oven, premake batter and ferment yeast for bread. They both switched between cooking and cleaning with ease.

Working on a big meal for the evening also meant that others came into the kicthen throughout the day. First for breakfast in which Geno had made burritos and handed them out. Second for lunch, Horror had made tea and sandwiches that were labeled for each member. Finally then there would be the time before they took everything out to the dinning room. When they would need help carrying everything.

Both dressed in short and loose clothing to make movement easier, paired with aprons and oven mitts, Geno and Horror worked vigorously. They had taken breaks over their course of cooking, but it was soothing to always be doing something.

They flowed together easily, Horror correcting spices and Geno checking temperatures. Making sure the texture was right and some tastes weren't too strong. Cutting up fruit and frosting desserts, plating everything and keeping it warm.

"This is the most normal I've felt in forever." Geno said as he placed a cake into the freezer and started cutting into cooked meat.

"Keeping busy does that I've noticed...have you not been keeping busy?" Horror questioned as he test tasted the stew in the crockpot and added a touch more spice.

Geno quickly chopped through the rare meat as he spoke, not nicking himself with the knife once, "The whole getting used to you guys and then the eldritch God magic has been driving me crazy." He spoke honestly, not caring who might be listening.

"I've noticed, I don't like it when the others look at you like you're weird." Horror comments as he moves over to some mashed potatoes, adding just a bit of salt, "Your reactions are normal, no one would react well if they were told their magic was being changed against their will. I sure didn't."

Geno pauses as Horror speaks to him with sympathy, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, "Really? But you seem so..."

"Alright. Yes, but unfortunately you get used to madness and it's made to be the most normal thing apart of you." Horror comes close to Geno, taking the knife from his hand and washing it, "It's okay that you're upset about it, no one likes the idea of losing their mind. Seeing as you barely know who you are right now."

He then opens the oven and makes a small cut into the chicken, "I combated that feeling by just being away from everything once in a while." Once he confirmed it was cooked he took it out and set it onto the table.

"Yeah, but I don't....I don't want to talk Blue that I want to get away from all of the crazy that's happening. It might upset him" Geno says as he checks another oven with Mac n' cheese in it, "I sorta like him a lot."

"Well then you don't have to word it like that. You don't even really have to tell him- make sure to check the other batch." Horror offered his solution to the matter, "Just hang out with me one day and we don't have to talk about work or our bosses. We can just look at cool things and eat good food."

Geno listened, checking the other batch of macaroni and taking it out. It was made for Dust seeing as he didn't like crunchy things. He placed that beside the chicken and closed the other oven with the unfinished macaroni.

"That sounds like fun...I wouldn't mind it..." Geno smiled to himself as he thought about going out, he hasn't been much places. Mostly because he always had a hard time choosing where to go next, "As long as you pick, I'm bad at choices."

"That's fine with me, I'll text you a date later. Now let's finish this up so we can take a break before dinner." Horror said as he nuzzled his skull against Geno's as he carried two trays of cookies.

"Got it!" Geno gave Horror a big smile as he got to work on frosting the cake he had put away before.

Dinner was very pleasant that evening.

[doodle17]

What do you think the interns/junior Psychonauts minds look like? And what do you think each of them would be struggling with in their mind? (Or outside their mind)

OKAY gonna start off with Norma and Lizzie because I've actually been thinking about theirs for awhile and I love it so much. But I should probably mention real quick that they're minds are like- 2 levels of the same mind. Basically, you have to finish one of them before moving onto the other to finish completely.

So I'll start with Lizzies mind! Her's is a night theme, with dark blue sky and a crescent moon constantly hanging above with multiple stars. It's a Gothic victorian setting, with retro 80s music playing in the background with a vhs overlay. I haven't really thought of what could be her "issue" but I was thinking it could be something along the lines of her being very frustrated but also worried about her sister overworking and stressing herself out. She would eventually tell Raz to go to Normas mind to help her.

Norma's mind is day themed, with a blue sky and bright sun. Or at least it's supposed to be, but there's a constant thundering storm and black clouds blocking out the light. It'd probably be an office/library setting, and her issue would be working so hard to get something, only for it to be for nothing. So, there's piles of papers and files and that kind of thing stacked from floor to ceiling. But a veeeerry familiar mental "enemy" with fancy goggles comes in and knocks all of them over, to which Norma has to stack them all over again, begrudgingly. Her level would eventually end, and all the clouds would clear letting in the sun!

Morris' mind is more based off of my headcanon about his childhood and growing up. It has an autoshop and multiple instruments and records and all that stuff kind of mashed together, creating a really cool looking world. The issue to be resolved would probably have to be about how ever since his dad died, he and his mom haven't been as close as they used to be and he wants to be closer again but she just won't listen to him. So you have to go around starting up records, boom-boxes, etc. To play enough music that's loud enough to get a mental npc, that's supposed to represent his mother, to hear him.

Adam's mind is like a D&D fantasy world mixed with steam-punk. He, and the intern mental npc's, are all going on an adventure together. But Adam's issue is that anytime he tries to help out, he's either talked over or ignored. Usually, it's from the Norma npc who keeps taking charge, when Adam is supposed to be the leader. His issue would be, that he just wants to be able to help and he wants to be seen as an important member of the team too.

Gisu's would be sooo fun. Her mind looks like an early 2000s late 1990s skater movie, full of rails and ramps. There would be segments where you go into a wall as a graffiti doodle, fight against mental enemies while rail grinding, super cool stuff like that! Bot exactly sure what her issue or mental problem would be, yet. But I have a basic mind layout

Sam's mind would be as if nothing in the real world has changed. Except everyone is an animal, except for Sam. Gisu would be a dog, Lizzie and Norma would be cats, etc. She'd be pretty content, not really have a lot of issues going on. Maybe she has a small grudge about how everyone thinks she's just a weird, comedic relief, despite being a really good agent.

[constarellations]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG!

NAME: Kosmic! Well, it's a more recent change in terms of online alias. I still very much go by Eryn, but because I've been able to take that name and make it my IRL name, I've decided to have a new online name for comfort's sake. Ofc, I don't mind being called by my IRL name here, but I grew up old-school, ya know?

PRONOUNS: they/them!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION:  I like to start with Tumblr IMs, but I'm definitely okay with sharing my Discord with mutuals because 1.) I hate Tumblr IMs, and 2.) my mobile app is typically logged into my personal account, so I don't always respond to messages quickly.

NAME OF MUSE(s): Aether is my primary muse always, but I do want to write more with Xiao, Wanderer, Freminet, Lyney, Lynette, and Layla! Aether just comes more naturally, but I know that I'll never get a chance to write the others if I don't have everyone on the same blog.

BEST EXPERIENCE: This one is rather personal and less about the Tumblr RPC, but I think the 'best experience' I've ever gotten from RP is being able to meet my current partner through Discord Group RP. Between Gen.shin specifically and RP, if it wasn't for meeting him, I would still be stuck in a horrible situation IRL because I wouldn't have been able to physically move away. And without that, I wouldn't have been able to continue having a passion for the game and RP, and thus wouldn't have been able to meet all the wonderful friends I've made. It's a butterfly effect, but it still falls under a 'best rp experience' imo.

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: One-sided conversations and being talked over constantly. For me personally, roleplay is about building a story and developing characters together. More times than I can count have I've been subjected to people who exclusively talk about their characters or personal interests, and will always change the topic to fit themselves whenever I try to engage with something based on my muse/experiences. I'm not a brick wall to be talked to, and my muses are not accessories for your own character. Roleplay is a partnership between writers imo, and I will drop people who continue to act in such a manner as stated above.

MUSE PREFERENCES: As in muses that I would like to write against? Hm, I know I prefer dynamics that easily give my characters a reason to go back for more. It may be a basic answer, but it does encompass a lot of variety in muses I think? Whether it be shared history, empathy, a mystery to solve, a curiosity to explore, an itch to scratch — it's hard to argue that realistic relationships aren't built on the base concept of reoccurrance. It's not exactly always fun for me to try to mash two random characters with no similarities and try to make them stick; after all, why should my character want to see some stranger again without reason? This is also why I want to make my own muses have enough depth to intrigue other characters to want to form that connection, because I want our characters to develop and grow because they know each other, to have a lasting bond whether it be familial, platonic, or romantic.

PLOTS OR MEMES:  I like plotting mostly, but I'm always okay with memes! It really just depends on how much canon has given to our characters. Let's take Lyney as an example: with his strongest bonds like Lynette, Freminet, and Arlecchino, I would gladly start with memes because there's already a basis for interaction. But if a Ga Ming were to show up? That's a bit more difficult since there's nothing really tying them together in canon. Like sure, I can figure something out, but what does the mun want from this exchange? At that point, I'd rather plot something to make sure both parties are satisfied.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: At minimum a paragraph, but I personally struggle to provide quality with shorter replies. Between my tendency to ramble and my desire to give an enjoyable response ( and my brain wants my writing partners to go 'goddamn that's a good response' ), my replies tend to be 3-5 paragraphs? It really depends on the overall plot of a thread and how close I am to that particular mun. Honestly it's one of the reasons I struggle to write nowadays cuz I'm never happy with my own replies ;~;

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Truly, honestly? I write the best when I'm doing actual work, and it SUUUUCKSSSSS. All my brain juice is flowing when I'm working and my brain has time to wander, but due to working in food service, I don't exactly have time to write. I do keep a notebook at my prep table to write down scraps of sentences, whether it be a thread I'm really focused on, or a headcanon thought that will disappear the moment I get home, but it's still not often I get the chance to stop and actually write it down because at that point, my brain goes blank. Same with when I get home, all those thoughts are lost to the wind. After that, the best time for me is in the early morning when I'm still in bed. I do keep a notebook in my nightstand and I'll pull it out when I have the time to write because that's when everything is 'fresh' for me.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): This current batch of muses? Well, my partner likes to joke that I'm an Aether kinnie, but I think that's just cuz he loves how I write him lol. I try to not use Aether as a 'self-insert' cuz I hate the whole "the Traveler is only a self-insert and not their own character" shtick, and I don't think I'm really similiar to anyone else I write? I do find shared qualities between myself and my muses, but that's about it. Now if any of y'all think otherwise, then. . . ¯_(ツ)_/¯

TAGGED BY : @citrinitxs ( thank you, idr if anyone else has tagged me in this but honestly I need to do this meme at some point ) TAGGING: idk who hasn't done this yet, but feel free to snag it and say I tagged you cuz I'd love to read what you write!

[pbandjesse]

Happy Christmas Eve. We are in the car on the way home. I am really tired but we should be back by 8. There's not many people on the road tonight.

Today was a really good day. Me and James did not sleep well last night. That bed is just a little to narrow and because James can't sleep on their side right now it was a little bit of a struggle. But it wasn't horrible. I just laid half on them. The problems came when I had to roll over. I kept losing my blanket. When James got up they covered me up and I was able to sleep a little longer.

James went to Philly to drop off gifts. And they would go get bagels for everyone for breakfast.

I was going to get washed and dressed when they got back. I had slept weird on my neck and it was very painful all day. But I loved my outfit so much. I didn't know I was going to wear this sweater under my dress but I absolutely love how it looks and I was super cozy all day. I just felt really nice about myself.

And it was a fun day. The bagels were really good. James got a special ginger snap cream cheese. And I enjoyed my breakfast.

We all are together. And would soon start building the Lego project we brought with us. We had lots of chatting and laughing and building. It was a lot of fun. We got about a quarter of it done and we have that to work on next time we are there.

It was a really nice day. It was cold outside but we were cozy inside. Me and James would go outside to take pictures. And that was fun but also very brisk! I was surprised how much the dogs wanted to go out.

Molly, the oldest of the three, lost a pound and she looks great. She seems more comfortable. Gracie was a princess like always. Sophie continues to be a bad girl when the others get attention but on her own is still sweet.

James made me a grilled cheese. And we opened gifts. I love the ring my parents got me. And this neat fabric bowl. James got me a new wallet that I love. It looks like a book, specifically the velveteen rabbit. I'm thrilled. I also got a hair pin and a few pairs of socks. And a very large/long demon cat plushie.

Mom liked her frog plushie and hair clip. Dad liked his car cane. James liked the Pokemon figures and books I got for them. It was a sweet little exchange. I loved that my mom wrapped on big box and that was filled with a bunch of small wrapped gifts. I just like unwrapping things. Though the bows were very difficult to get off. Stupid painful fingers.

We would chill on the couch for a while. A neighbor came over to talk. And my mom would lay down for a bit. Me and James went to the basement to look for a glue gun to fix my lipgloss that split and I got to show them a bunch of toys and art and things from my youth. It was just really a lovely day.

We made dinner for 4. Mac and cheese. Crab cakes. Stuffing. My special mashed potatoes. It was very Carby but really really good.

I honestly just had a lovely day. I'm a little sad my brother wasn't there. But I understand. And I love him very much. Things change when you get older. I understand. We didn't go out for dinner this year. And we didn't have a live nativity. And that is okay. We did get a little snow and we got to be together and I loved that.

After dinner we did some family pictures. I used dad's new prosthetic leg as a tripod to hold my phone. We used a poinsettia to hide his leg. And I think it was very sweet. The whole day. I felt warm inside. Very loved. It was a good Christmas Eve.

And then it was time to go home. James packed up the car. Hugs all around. And we are on our way home.

If I could have anything I would have a peppermint milkshake. But I care more about getting home then stopping for a snack. Plus I don't like going to businesses on holidays. I try to avoid it if possible. Maybe when we go home I'll have a snack. Maybe I'll just unpack and get myself ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Fulwilers are coming to our apartment for presents and breakfast. And then we will get together with the Changs' to go to the Fulwilers for dinner. I think that is the best way. I hope it's just a lovely day. I am looking forward to giving gifts.

I hope you all sleep well tonight. Take care of each other. Try to stay warm. Goodnight my friends. Until next time.

[mithrilhearts]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers (◠‿◠✿)

Oh gosh, okay! Thank you so much for this Robyn! And @middleearthpixie also tagged me in this as well, so we're just gonna combine them.

My favorite five fics that I've written....okay! Time to do a little Razzle-Bragging (in no particular order)

Acorntober 2021 - This was an absolute BEAST to accomplish. 31 days of Bagginshield one shots (or 2 chapter updates for the last two days, actually). It was so draining, but it was also one of those things that I couldn't give up on. My 1k follower event was worth it, but I don't know if I'll ever want to do something like that again. Maybe. Will Acorntober 2022 exist? We'll see.

May Your Forge Burn Bright - My first big fic!!! It's still ongoing, but we're on the downhill slope...sort of! Honestly, this is the fic that really launched me into the world of fanfic and I owe a lot of my success(?) to this one. I can't wait to finish it. It's the original Razzy fic!

Dragonhearted - THIS ONE!!! This one!!! It's a tie between this and MYFBB as to which is my favorite at the moment, as Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, and the Hobbit is my favorite other movie and story. Mashing them together has been so much fun, and DRAGON!THORIN MY BELOVED. The overwhelming response to this one has been, well, overwhelming. Lots of kind words and feedback have made this story beyond incredible for me as a writer.

Bookbinder//Songwriter - My first modern AU piece! And it was a real bitch to get off of the ground. I honestly had no idea what to do with it, and it started out as a small prompt from @mailinsblogofstuff and now has skyrocketed its way to the top, becoming something of a favorite among my friends, as well as for myself and I can't wait to dive more into this universe! I love rock music, I love books and I love Bagginshield. What more can I ask for?

Where The Shadows Lie - WWDITS has cursed me, apparently. Goth!Bagginshield fic needed to happen. This is the crackiest and most wild story I've got on the go right now, and it really makes my creative brain tingle with excitement. There's no such thing as something being "too weird" in this story, and it gives me some fun things to play with. I love this story and all its weirdness-it looks like a fair amount of others do too!

[dreamifics]

Immature

Oneshot

Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: Talk of sexual activities and stuff but no smut

Y/N joined the Avengers shortly after the big fight between Tony and Steve. Stark recruited her due to Fury's orders, she used to be under control of Hydra, like Barnes.. All of the Avengers had no problem with her, only one..

''Stupid Rogers!" Y/N shriek as she stares into her bathroom mirror..

Once again, Rogers benched her, because and she quote

'She used to be just like them!'

They were supposed to raid a Hydra facility, and something snapped at Steve's brain when he saw that Y/N was going too.

Y/N sighs, she just gripped the porcelain sink and steadied herself, she was ready to kill Steve, she was so angry.. Y/N just washed her face with the cold water from the faucet, hoping that it'll help ease the anger in her blood.

She exits the bathroom and was greeted by Bucky, he was sitting in her bed.

"Hello Tinman.." Y/N gave Bucky a smile.

"I want to apologize for--"

"You don't need to apologize in behalf of Steve.. I'm cool.."

"Are you really?"

"Yepp!No word of Captain Ass can get to me.."

Bucky crossed his arms, he knew she was lying.. Y/N just awkwardly smiled at him, she walks to her bed and dived in her bed..

"You can leave now, your boyfriend's might be missing you now.."

And in queue Sam and Steve popped up in her door, Steve was furious.. His eyes were fixed to Bucky, while Sam was just smiling slyly..

"Speak of the devils.." Y/N mutters as she gave Steve a deadly glare.

Bucky stood up from her bed and gave the two men a small nod.. Steve was still looking at Bucky but it soon averted to Y/N, she just raised her eyebrow at him.

"Have a fun mission, you two.."

"Will do, Y/N" Sam answered and gave Y/N a smile which she gladly gave back.

"Oh, Bucky!Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît pousser le capitaine hors de l'avion pour moi?" Y/N spoke in french knowing that Bucky will understand.

Can you please push Captain out of the plane for me?

Bucky just laughs and shakes his head as Sam grabs him and drag him out of Y/N's sight. However, someone still hasn't left and it made her anger bubbled up even more.

"I swear to God if you don't leave, I'll squeeze your kneecaps.." Y/N said jokingly? She was not sure, she might just do that if Steve won't stop his douche ways..

"Cut it out, Y/N.." Steve ordered..

Y/N rolled her eyes, she sashay her way to Steve and move her face closer to his.

"You're not my Captain, you don't get to order me around.."

Y/N was supposed to walk away but was stopped by Rogers hand in her arms.. However, his hands didn't hurt her, his touch was soft and gentle.. Typical Steve..

Always a gentleman..

"I'm the Captain, you'll obliged to me.."

Y/N scoffs as she takes her arm away from him, she looked him deeply in his and saw that there were anger filling his blue eyes.. This guy really hates her..

"And what if I don't?What would you do?Fire me?Spank me?" She sassed but Steve eyes soften and his eyes wander to her body..

Y/N brows furrowed, what was Steve doing? He just stared at her and his cheeks suddenly got flushed.. Di-Did he just imagine what Y/N has said??

"What?" Y/N was weirded out, she hated the eerie silence between them and to top that up he might be imagining sexual things or so she thought..

"Capsicle, let's go!" Stark voice boomed out through the whole tower, it made Steve snap back to reality and he just walks away.

This made Y/N flabbergasted, he walked away just like that.. After the awkward silence and him being flustered, he just walked away with no explanation or whatsoever. Y/N just huffed in annoyance and flops back down to her comfortable messy bed..

What is wrong with Steve?

Days passed and it seems that Y/N is finally at peace, there were no longer eyes watching her.. Yes, Steve has given up.. How does she know? Simple, Steve is now avoiding and pretending she doesn't exist.. Which is fine by her, but there's this small pain in her heart.. She missed Steve acting like a douche..

Y/N mentally slaps herself, she used to complain about Steve always criticizing and annoying her but why is she missing it now? Y/N sighs as she slams her head in the table infront of her. A piercing pain welcomed her as her head hit the table but she ignored it.

"Umm, can I go on with my briefing?" Tony was standing in the middle of the big briefing room..

Y/N put her hands up and gestures an 'okay', she completely forgot that she was sitting with the Avengers in the middle of a meeting..

"Are you okay, Y/N?" Wanda was the first to ask her that, Y/N just let out a groan.. All of them just shared knowing looks and Tony fakes a cough.

"If you want to rest, you can go.." Tony chided..

"Alright.."

Y/N stood up and was almost to the door when Steve's phone suddenly rang, he answered it..

"Sharon?"

This name made Y/N stop, are they together? They look nice together, she hope that they'll break up soon.

"I'll be there.." Steve endes his call and stands up..

"Sorry everyone, I have a date with someone.." He push passed Y/N leaving her heart on the floor..

He has a date? Why is she even concerned about that? She doesn't care, Steve's stupid anyway!

"Wow, Capsicle is going on a date, I'll be damned.."

"And with Sharon?She's nice.." Wanda chirps in..

Meanwhile, Natasha notices Y/N who was dumbfounded and hurt by all the recent events..

"Aren't you gonna go, Y/N?" Nat asked with mischievous eyes wandering to her face..

Y/N put out a fake smile and left, how is she feeling this way? Does she like Steve? She groans as those thoughts eat her alive, maybe she just need a fresh air..

Yes, fresh air..

That's exactly what Y/N needs, she has been cooped up in the tower for weeks now.. She sped up to her room and grab her keys, jackets and Tony's credit card.. He won't mind it, that man is richer than the whole US goverment..

Y/N jogs to the elevator, turns out she's not going to be waiting for the elevator alone.. Steve is right there, also waiting for an elevator so he can go to his fancy date with someone else..

"Fuck.."

Y/N was deep in her thoughts that she didn't realize that Steve was looking at her.. She cleared her throat and walked up to the elevator doors..

"Up or down?" Steve asks making Y/N look at his stupid handsome face.

"Can't you figure it out Sherlock?" She's grumpy and she doesn't care.

"What?" Steve questioned.

"Down!"

"Could've just said that.."

"We're on the fuckin--"

"Language!" The infamous 'language', he's being dramatic as hell.

"Fine!We're on the freaking top floor and your asking me if I'm going up or down?"

"I didn't notice."

"You're just stupid.."

The elevator was taking forever, normally it would be up in a minute but she's been standing her for almost five minutes and the elevator is still a no show.

"This is taking forever, I'm going to take the stairs.." She was going to the staircase when the elevator doors opened..

"You're impatient.." Steve mumbles.

"Asshole.." Y/N mumbles back..

And before she knew it, she's pinned to the floor.. It happend so fast, Steve has pinned her down to the floor.. Their face were only inches apart, it made Y/N blush but she somehow hid it..

"Let me go, Steve.."

"Not until you beg for forgiveness.."

"Beg?Didn't know you had a kinky side, old man.."

Steve got flustered by her words, still he didn't let Y/N go.. She started to fight back by getting the upper hand and overpowering Steve.. Now she's on top, she smirks and inch her face closer to Steve's face.

"Dominant, I like that Cap.."

"Although, next time ask for a girls permission before you go and pin her to the floor.."

Without thinking Steve kissed Y/N, her eyes widen but soon she melted to the kiss. It started out soft but it became rough within seconds.. All of the unsaid feelings were mashed into the kiss.. She was out of breath but she didn't want it to stop.. Steve pulled back and smiled sweetly at Y/N, she was confused but she smiled back..

"You like me back?"

"No shit, Sherlock.." Y/N smiled but instead of Steve saying language he smiles back..

"You're so immature.."

They both laugh as Y/N got up and offered her hand to Steve, he gladly accepted..

"Go, you'll be late for your date..Wouldn't want to keep her waiting.." Y/N shooed Steve away but he just stands there..

"You are my date.."

"Well powder me in sugar and call me a donut.. Was all this planned?" Steve nods and Y/N just shakes her head in disappointment, she interlock her arm to Steve's arm.

"Let's go eat some ribs and steaks, Cap.."

On the briefing room with all the remaining Avengers,  they were cheering and celebrating as they watch the two from a surveillance camera.

"Not bad, Cap.." Natasha mumbles as she eats popcorn with Wanda and Bucky.

By commenting, or reblogging this post, you’ll be telling me that you’re interested in being on my tag list! You’re also welcome to DM me or send me an ask if you’re more comfortable with that :)

If you guys have any request for a oneshot about ( marvel characters, DC characters, stranger things, game of thrones, brooklyn 99, friends, basically anything! I accept everything!)

[bluewinnerangel]

Ho! Okay so I am currently trying to catch up on Larry moments and things throughout the years because I was not a fan when 1D were together and performing. I keep seeing a "proof" and I am trying to understand if it is real or edit. Its something about larry being real when pigs fly? Do you know what I am talking about? Sorry, english is not my first language so I am not sure if that makes sense.

Hi! I wasn't in the fandom at the time so anyone reading this that knows the story better than me please chip in! I am going to make some extra links I haven't seen around tho. I'll just put the story together how I understand it, there's just bits and pieces here and there and I think is just fun to observe as the main clowns (harry&louis) are total clowns and I totally think they have some clownfriends that clown with/for them and this might be some of it. Shouldn't be more than that. Shouldn't be "proof". That's also why I tend not to really focus on whatever their families/friends are up to and if theyre "confirming/denying larry" because they aren't and shouldn't be doing either of that and honestly 9/10 if not all times I think they're just fking with the wild gullible blue and green heart spamming kids in the chat just because they can or they're using bluegreening or some other way to publicly support them as that's the only way they can really.

Cute relevant picture and then a cut because pictures and stuff:

Anyway I might be wrong but I think it was October 2018 louis' sister was answering stuff on her instagram stories and included this:

They might be fake, I don't know, I haven't seen it with my own eyes. Maybe the first one's real but the 2nd isn't. But I mean they're around as both larry and anti proof so let's just discuss it.

Since your english is not your first language I'll mention that "when pigs fly" is an expression meaning something's never gonna happen / impossible. So when she says "when pigs can fly larry can be real" it means larry can't be real.

At some other point she's in a live and she says "pigs can fly" but I don't know the context like its cut way too close to when she says that so basically that's just garbage but here that is.

Anyway then a couple months later in january 2019 Gucci launches a campaign dedicated to the chinese calendar's year of the pig, and it's full of piglets. Here's the insta feed of Gucci around that time, entirely piglet:

And it includes these brooches of flying pigs x:

Then what we see floating around the larry proof worlds are Allessandro Michelle's story of just the flying pigs (idk if i need to explain who that is, Gucci's designer, styles & seems good friends with Harry):

But also Louis' stylist shared these:

As well as probably loads and loads more fashion people in fashion.

And we can make even more links if we want, going back to I believe a little bit before Daisy's instagram, back in September 2018 Harry modeled for the previous Gucci campaign that included various animals, including piglets:

And

x / x

Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele pays tribute to France in his spring/summer 2019 collection. Inspired by the disco culture of the 70s, the show was hosted at the historic theatre-turned-nightclub Théâtre Le Palace in Paris, where crystals, metallic fabrics and animal prints came together in an epic runway mash-up. The result? A bewildering and exhilarating show, with cheeky accoutrements in the form of flying pigs, inspired by the saying “When pigs fly…”

So yeah the links are there, but unless Harry was that bothered by Daisy's (non)denial to the point where he got his Gucci bro to be inspired by the saying (which yeah he IS that extra, I totally see that happening but I wouldn't try to turn that into a reach, just a headcanon then...), or Daisy knows flying pigs are gonna be a harry-linked thing soon, I don't really think there's much going on here. I just think she had some energy to reply to the "larry real larry real" spam that's happening in all the lives of anyone connected to them and just threw some flying pigs in there like have fun interpreting this and that's just it.

Again if anyone reading this knows and remembers this well, knows the order of events and the fandom's response and all that let me know so I can get the facts right!

[serenityseventeen]

Love & Letter: To The Thirteen Boys I've Loved Before

The Twelfth Letter

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

To: Chwe Hansol/Vernon

From: Y/N

Hello, Vernon.

It hasn't been that long. Actually, as I'm writing this letter, we had our first kiss a few days ago.

I guess I must have the worst timing when it comes to love or just falling in love in general. Maybe I took way too long getting to know you. Maybe I didn't believe in myself enough and I let the curse take effect again.

I told you about how I had the worst luck with love. During all of my time in graduate school, I haven't fallen in love again, but now, I guess I have fallen in love with you.

I don't know what it is that made me realize what I had for you was love, but from the moment we met, I felt a spark in my chest.

That day when I had my ears plugged with white headphones, looking down at my phone with music blasted high, you grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to your chest. You also had headphones on.

I guess that left a great first impression.

You saved me from a dashing motorbike that could have crashed into me and for the first time in years, I felt my heart race. With your hand holding my back, you asked me if I was okay, but I couldn't hear a thing.

Then, you removed my headphones and brought me back to reality when I was having a daze.

“Are you okay?” You asked as you let go of my body. “You should watch where you're going, always.”

I was almost too caught up in your handsome visuals to say anything. Your eyes were such a beautiful brown and your foreign-like visuals were mesmerizing. In the end, I just nodded and thanked you for saving me.

As you were walking down the street, about to plug in your headphone piece that fell, I was still able to feel my heart thumping. I brought my hand to my chest and I knew this undeniable feeling.

That's when I called out to you and told you that I'd repay you.

Liking you brought back the feeling of having a youthful crush. I felt like I could fall in love again. It felt like I was returning to my youth and I was able to recover all those broken love stories with yours. Of course, I knew I was just getting ahead of myself.

I didn't expect anything from us. Our career paths and majors were similar but also different. We didn't get to see each other often and when we did, it was usually always coincidental; at the coffee shop nearby, or library, or the burger place nearby campus... It was just like that for us.

We didn't start hanging out until I asked you out to the movies. Well, not really ‘asking you out’, I just asked to hang out as repayment, since you saved me from getting hit by a bike. I remembered that you liked to watch movies.

I guess that would be named our first date for me. It was fun, sad, and scary, thrilling, and fun, and I could tell that you enjoyed the movie a lot. It was awkward being at the movie theater with you at first, but the moment we sat down, you talked to me casually, making me feel comfortable when I was the one who should have made you.

You acted like yourself during the entire movie and seeing that side of you made my heart race. You laughed and clapped out loud. At times, you seemed to be an extrovert who was confident, and at times, you seemed to be a quiet introvert. Your personality baffled me in a good way but I know one thing for sure.

You give the best reactions.

Watching you laugh at the movie was enough to make me almost laugh as well. Before I knew it, I was enjoying it just as much as you did. I think the fact that I was with you left an impact on my happiness during that movie.

Vernon, you're a fun guy. We started hanging out more often after the movies. Sometimes we would even grab lunch together, go buy books, chill at the beach watching the waves, stay cool at a pool, etc, whenever we had free time. We also talked a lot with each other.

I liked that we talked a lot with each other. I had only a few friends that I could talk to but with you, I felt like I could tell you anything. You just had this trustworthy aura floating around you at all times and I knew I could trust you.

You seemed to tell me everything too. I'm glad that I could vent out my anger to you and you would always be willing to listen to me and give me advice. I'm also glad that I was able to hear all of your problems and help you with them too.

I remember a day, when we were walking in the park while drinking soda, you told me about your insecurities. It was the first time you ever brought it up. Usually, we didn't talk about anything too personal like that - just our families, work, friends, hobbies. Yet, you were able to tell me about what you were insecure about.

To me, Vernon, you seemed like a perfect guy that I didn't even know you had such insecurities. I don't want to write them down in this letter to you just in case someone reads it, so I won't. I'm glad I was able to make you feel better about your insecurities though. I just always remembered your insecurity and complimenting that part of your body made me feel happier too. I can still remember that smile of yours when I complimented it. It was so bright, shining, and warm.

Since you were able to tell me such things, I felt that I could tell you such things about myself too. I had many insecurities and as a person, I wasn't satisfied at all with how I looked. To me, everything about my body seemed like a flaw.

Thank you, Vernon. I can still remember that scolding tone of yours when you responded to my confessions.

“What are you talking about? Why are you even insecure about that? You are literally- your skin is perfect! Your hair- it's not oily at all?! And your fingers- I mean, they are so delicate, how could you even be insecure of them?”

I wanted to say the same thing to you. How could you be insecure about that one thing? To me, you were complete perfection with imperfections, and it was alright to be that way.

You took my hand and that's when I noticed your long and large hand. It was much bigger than but since it was the first time our hands were up against each other, I could finally compare the size; which revealed to be strikingly different, unsurprisingly.

Vernon, you were like a therapist. Every week that I spent with you, my feelings began to grow. I'm sure I loved you but at the same time, this feeling that I feel for you seems to be like friendship. I don't know if I love you as a lover or a friend.

I guess spending so much time with you made me realize what a great guy you are as a friend and potential boyfriend. I would be glad to keep you as both, it doesn't matter which one. I just wish that I could keep you by my side; though it's quite obvious that being friends is the more obvious chance.

A few days ago, we kissed each other.

I know you know which day that is because it's your birthday. You held a small celebration and invited me over. Of course, I wasn't expecting much but since it was your birthday, I decided, “Why not get dolled up for it?”

After the birthday party, we were both a bit drunk. I'm pretty sure I was drunker than you were so the memories I write down may be blurry.

Everyone else had left except us. The restaurant was closing and since I was drunk, it was a bit hard for me to walk. I managed to get out the front door with the help of your hand holding my arm but when I took a few steps outside of the restaurant, my feet finally turned to jelly.

Like a hero, you caught me with your large hands. You had pulled me with your hand and scooped my waist with your other hand.

Trust me, even though I was drunk, I was able to feel emotions and I was a tiny bit sober enough to think properly.

Standing in front of the restaurant in our cliche but romantic position, it just felt like the right moment for the drunk me. We were holding eye contact and though I couldn't tell what you were thinking, it seemed like you felt it was the perfect time too.

That's why I wrapped my arms around your shoulders and pulled your face closer to mine until our lips were gently mashed. My heart was pounding but I couldn't distinguish whether it was from nervousness or enjoyment.

I just remember your warm breath and the strange sweet taste of wine lingering on your tongue as you kissed me. I'm sure the kiss was a bit sloppy but to me, it was passionate and sweet, even though I was a bit out of it. You had your hands tracing up and down my waist and hips while my hands were digging the back of your hair, my chest pressed against yours.

After that, I think you took me home.

After your birthday, you told me that you'd want to stay friends, though it seemed like you were a bit unsure of what you were saying. I was fine with that decision though because, after the kiss, I sort of felt that it wasn't right for us to date. It seemed like to us, friends were the best we could be. You and I could lean on each other.

Kissing that night on your birthday was probably just a one-time thing for you and me.

I'm glad that we can stay friends though. Even after that kiss, you're acting normal around me, like we're still friends, which I'm thankful for.

Up until now, I'm pretty sure I loved you. Love is a confusing topic to me. I still love you.

I've loved you romantically.

And now, I'll love you as a friend.

I'm thankful enough for that.

Sincerely,

Y/N.

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

© serenityseventeen

7/13/21 - 8:40 pm

a/n: Vernon Chwe... Gosh why does he look so good in that photo!? + I have a plan/general plot for a book but I am having trouble deciding the male lead... I plan for it to be a fanfiction but I'm stuck on the male main character.

[sem-voids]

thoughts on lostbelt 5.2: olympus.

spoiler warning for lostbelt 5.2: olympus!

i did one for lostbelt 4 and 5.1 so here we are with 5.2. will probably make one for hell mandala because i like douman (yes. questionable taste, i know).

this is mostly dedicated to the story, but the gameplay was part of the experience so i'd like to share my thoughts there as well.

the boss fights were fun actually. maybe it's because my servants are strong, but i really enjoyed playing them.

my favorite was the fight with kirsch. my mash defeated two of his bars and she kept tanking anima animusphere like it was nothing.

let me grail mash, lasagna!

the final battle with zeus was nice too. demeter wasn't too hard to be honest, but it's probably because of my kintoki and double skadi...

moving on. i'll start with the npc, makarios and adele.

i loved both of them! they were competent and cool and just really nice characters. they didn't resonate with me the way patxi did, but they fulfilled more than being the sob story for this lostbelt.

they were crucial parts of your plan and they weren't simply victims of the lostbelt being destroyed. they have their own agency and i loved how they worked to fulfill their wish of stopping the stagnation that left them unable to grow.

but they also had their regrets and their scene with makarios telling his sister that actually he wanted to see a little bit of tomorrow drove me to tears because yes they were going to die anyway because the olympus would disappear just like all the others did

but them choosing to send off the chaldeans and getting crushed by debris or falling to their deaths sounded horrible to me and partner it up with the dialogue options that had the player character asking if they could at least be together until the end

and musashi wanting to have a little banquet with them and the craft essence reward just hammering it down!

they also made nice foils to the dioscuri (more on them later), how their bond as siblings enabled them to call each other out rather than being yes man to one another like pollux with her brother even though he was so blinded with his prejudice that he came off as very very unhinged.

also how they can be angry and distrustful and just exhibit all these emotions that makes you feel yes these are real people and when you crush this lostbelt just as you have done with the others these real people with emotions and bonds and relationships and wishes will disappear too!

i love them, okay. honestly one of my favorite npcs... makarios and adele my beloved.

can't wait for the from lostbelt chapter with them to destroy me even more :)

next are the gods. let's start with demeter. i'm going to preface this with the fact that i'm a fan of greek mythology. i'm not an expert but i've read lots of books about them and the origins and tales about the gods.

demeter is not really a caring mother for all humankind. for persephone her favorite, sure, but she's just as callous as the other ones and it kind of reflected in this lostbelt.

she claimed to love the humans but she continued to kill them to achieve her mission and the way she kept apologizing is very god-like for me. they claim to love these humans so much but they hurt them for the sake of accomplishing something never mind the trauma they could get from it and they apologize but they do it again and again

it was giving me these olympians fulfilling their directives as machines but they were damaged so they malfunctioned and did things like apologize and feel grief

and that's great, but i also have some bones to pick

we didn't really get into depth with demeter. she just died too early. and somebody (i forgot who it was) just kinda gave out exposition at the end as to what happened to persephone and how demeter did this and that but i personally would have preferred if they had flashbacks to show that rather than it being exposition after her demise. how her feelings were at that time, how she grieved (this is the same demeter who fucked up the seasons because hades kidnapped her daughter, right)

also i heard from a lot of people about how heartbreaking demeter was and like... yeah... sure... you do you, sis.

maybe they were talking about her buff removal and buff block. that's heartbreaking. i honestly did not feel anything other than catharsis after her fight because it was really satisfying to defeat

actually this goes for the other olympians too. cool designs, voice, etc., but the expository parts were overwhelming, yet somehow left you wanting more. they were surface level, didn't go into depth with the characters and just kept dragging on and on about the sci-fi shit that i frankly could not care about.

also the sci-fi bit with the aliens

cool concept, but give us more about these machines who were exposed to the concept of gods but still had relationships with their loved ones and how they viewed humanity.

aphrodite was better handled but i was laughing at the parts with hephaestus and her because they really were setting her up to be aphrodite who loved hephaestus so much, but couldn't because something's wrong with her and she's remorseful

didn't she cheat on him multiple times? with ares? also they said phh aphrodite was remorseful with the trojan war and just... okay... yeah... sure....

she's really wicked and god of love who has forgotten how to love is a cool concept but ehh. still love her though. wada did a great job with the design

i also liked her interactions with beryl and koyanskaya. it showed what type of god aphrodite was and how she viewed love. her weakest connection is probably with hephaestus and wish we could have more information or hints to that. maybe from the hephaestus side and aphrodite's self reflection. or maybe just remove it entirely?

next is zeus and he was good and detached from the humans he allegedly loved. when europa told him that he really loved them like they were pets she kinda snapped because yes that is how it came off

and it makes zeus full of faults but really good as a character. because he's this nigh omnipotent god but he's also very human with how condescending and petty he is

him removing the limiters for the anti-planet weapons or skills he possessed felt petty to me. it felt like he was willing to have all the planet erased because he hated losing and go off writing team those are the gods of olympus. they are petty and they think very highly of themselves but they are also powerful and will still occasionally fulfill their responsibilities as gods

all in all, they were tolerable. maybe they were hurt by the fact that olympus in itself was a boss rush so we couldn't expound on them, but they didn't ruin the whole experience and that's enough for me.

addendum: aphrodite attacking the master's mind was such a good move and i love how it translated in game with the dialogue options and the looping. very immersive. kinda helped tie the overarching emotion of grief from temple of time to the lostbelts.

yes i did keep on clicking on the options hoping that he was there. yes i looped like four times

moving on to the dioscuri. honestly they were kinda silly. i love their design and beating them with my archers, but god were they so one dimensional. pollux exists to be castor's yes man and castor was more compelling than her sister, but the characterization i gathered from him is that he was angry, prejudiced and petty.

someone once mentioned that sakurai's dioscuri were cartoonishly evil. that's a really good way to describe them. just look at the dialogues where castor's screaming chaldea lol

it kind of sucks because the npcs had a better sibling dynamic than both of them. and there was potential in exploring that contrast and tying the dioscuri being stars that guide the way to new or better things to these machine gods whose choices have made their people stagnate.

all in all, the gods and citizens of olympus were okay, but my main problem is something that ties to my problem with the chaldea side and the writing in this chapter overall.

the chaldea side, except for the occasional banter and the jokes that didn't miss, was boring tbh. most of the exposition was coming from them. i don't know if it's mash or holmes or adele or makarios but by god, stop.

the dialogues were very formulaic to the point that i had to take a break because it was getting boring. somebody said exposition about the gods, somebody reacts, the player character chooses an inconsequential dialogue and we get fou to reply with... something

(maybe it's just me but they could have demeter losing persephone, aphrodite and hephaestus' deal, etc. being portrayed in that stylistic greek way just as they did in circe's white day event or in that one scene. it would be expository, but it's a nice break from the characters talking in heavy blocks of paragraph and it'd be nice on the eyes too. also sakurai's writing is very prosey and melodious she could pull it off if the rumors are true and she wrote this chapter)

through it all i was holding the urge to just skim the dialogue. this general observation probably applies to holmes mash da vinci and et cetera so i won't dive deep into them.

and my thoughts on sherlock aren't very coherent. i have the complete volumes of his adventures and have read them as well. i also have seen lots of iterations of him and fate's take is still something i haven't judged.

i will be talking about goredolf tho

goredolf was amazing. the croissant scene is yeah, it was really good. his guilt about chaldea, his need to take responsibility and his bravery despite the fact that he was scared.

goredolf is honestly the most human character in chaldea's side. he's honestly endearing.

side note: during the prologue to arc 2, i was screaming for them to just leave him behind, take da vinci with you and blast off

but now having him with chaldea's side was a great decision. honestly an amazing character.

p.s. stop subjecting him to the stupid fat jokes :)

next up: romulus-quirinus. i liked the summoning scene. it was really cool; i had goosebumps.

side note: i loved the osts during this chapter, they alleviated some of the draggy parts.

there's something poetic about a roman entity ending the age of greek gods. sick design too.

that's all i can say.

the a.i.'s were there, i guess. thanks you guys. they were there to offer additional exposition and laid the groundwork for your victory.

musashi was fun. the way she reacted to foe and friend alike was nice. her energy's infectious and i liked the scenes where she was being same old musashi with the humor, but the fighting savvy parts of her too.

i enjoyed shimousa because she was the companion character too. also the forced supports weren't as bad as that one because you could actually put her in the backline and her level and skills are maxed. also she has a charge and is buffed.

she's reliable and lovable that's for sure. the implications of her hitting on the characters that looked young were icky though. theres no need to do that. her flirting withe caeneus and holmes are fine.

i felt like they dragged on a bit with the sacrifice part, but it still managed to shed some tears from me. i love her, okay? the dialogue options with the master being upset literally screaming and crying for her to stay. i loved it

i do get the criticism that chaos was weird and just out of the blue. i think they did foreshadow chaos, but just not in a very good way.

kirschtaria and caeneus were one of the best parts of the lostbelt. if i had to choose my top 3 for this one, it'd be kirsch, goredolf, caeneus/musashi.

the bits of flashback, the dialogues and his actions were really great.

kirschtaria's plan for humanity was veryyy optimistic tho and there's something thematic over the fact that one of his servants is atlas and he's trying to shoulder the burden of the entire world.

we could raise some interesting points about kirschtaria's plan. like human agency. in olympus we see adele and makarios rebelling over their situation. what if kirschtaria's plan isn't something that humans want? what if people rebel? because he really is imposing this huge change upon others.

and we see that with beryl's reaction too. guy doesn't give a fuck about that and just wants to continue whatever's going on with him

i love kirschtaria but yeah. not saying that what phh is doing is perfect as well. grey areas and all that.

the disciples were pretty fun. limbo really enjoyed whatever he was doing. good for him.

love pepe for doing that to him.

deserved.

i lowkey want kadoc to wake up too. have him join chaldea so we can get more interesting interactions and dynamics.

the alien god was horrible. i was so confused the entire time because i felt like it was supposed to be this serious and threatening scene with the final boss and just... it wasn't.

i could not take her seriously and it was worsened by the fact that zeus, the other gods, chaos and kirschtaria felt like more imposing antagonists and the alien god is powerful but kinda pathetic?

the design is atrocious. she should start a clown circus with douman except douman looks better and their design makes more sense for him as a character. i hope they improve it or burn all of it or something.

i don't care if it has references to fate or whatever. it's fucking ugly that's what it is.

not even in the koyanskaya true form ugly and grotesque kind of way (positive). it's just... ugly.

i don't have issues with the fact that it's olga they're probably setting us up to save her and all that. tie it back to fuyuki. but the design is so atrocious and from what we're gleaning from her, she's just kinda... meh. put her next to rasputin and between the two of them, he feels more like a final boss.

also it was pretty funny how beryl booked it as soon as he felt that rasputin was going to kill him.

there's always a bigger fish or something like that.

most of my thoughts are kinda negative, but i'll end this by saying that olympus was really fun and i was hyped and excited and sad and happy through the course of the chapter. there was so much lore that i enjoyed and characters that i adored.

the lightning effects, the sound effects, and the cgs were great.

black barrel was fucking awesome and i adored the osts.

that aphrodite mindbreak scene was chef's kiss and we should get more of that, have the choices affect something.

so far it's below lostbelt 1 and 4, maybe the same as lostbelt 3 or a little higher. and definitely higher than 2.

p.s. excited for heian kyo.

[hyperpsychomaniac]

Flight or Flight - Chapter 7

DT17 Fanfiction

Summary: When Della discovers her childhood hero, Ripcord McQuack, will fly Scrooge's new aeroplane at an upcoming airshow, she weasels her way into a meeting with Scrooge and the aeroplane's lead designer, Birdie McQuack. But the McQuacks have a request: that Della set up a meeting with their son, Launchpad, who they've been in contact with but has actively avoided seeing them in person.

Chapter 1

***

Launchpad frowned at the keypad for the security system in Mr McDee's hanger. He never could remember the dang code. "Hang on. Third time's the charm."

Ripcord hovered at his shoulder. "It'd better be. I think it's going to go off if you don't get it right this time."

"Hmm. I know Della set it. That's right! It's one of her boys' birthdays. But I only know Dewey's so…" Launchpad gritted his teeth and mashed his hand across the keypad. The system clicked off. "Phew. There we go. I guess Dewey is her favourite. He'll be so happy." He flicked on the overhead lights, revealing the Sunchaser. Crowded right up around her were a dozen smaller stunt planes. They were packed in, completely filling the hanger. Mr McDee had rented the space out for cheap, he'd said, but it looked like he'd got as many of the small planes squeezed in as he could. They effectively blocked off the Sunchaser, and Della would have had a fit.

"That's your plane?" Ripcord asked.

"Technically, it's Della's. But she said we could call it Sunchaser like I'd wanted, which was nice. And I do most of the maintenance."

"That's pretty cool. I've done some, but Gasolini never really let us muck around with his planes."

"I guess she doesn't fly like the stunt planes you used to. Or Mom's."

Ripcord squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, that's nothing to be ashamed about. You know, after I couldn't fly these little fellas anymore, but I still wanted to be up there, I was flying stuff more the size of this. They're different, yeah. But fun, in their own way. It kind of feels… I don't know, you're slow and heavy, but…"

"But you know the plane is going to support you. She's there for you, even if you mess up."

"Yeah, that's it!"

Launchpad put a hand on the Sunchaser's side. "The Sunchaser is like that. I've crashed her like a million times, but she's never hurt me once. She's got my back because she knows I'll always put her back together again, and I'll even make her better when I do…" Launchpad trailed off. "Sorry, that sounds silly."

"It doesn't," said Ripcord. "You know, if you're having trouble crashing, I could teach you some stuff. If you trust me, I mean."

"Della has tried teaching me how to land. But she hasn't had much luck." Launchpad frowned. "Wait, why wouldn't I trust you?"

His father looked away and shrugged one shoulder. "I wouldn't blame you if you didn't trust me to teach you to land."

"How come?"

"You know, because of last time. The only time I tried teaching you. I completely ballsed it up, and we crashed. You and your Mom, you could've…" Ripcord's hands tightened to fists at his sides.

Launchpad gulped. Of course, his Dad would be worried about him doing something like that to him again. He forced a smile. "I get it, Dad. It's okay. I don't think I'm ever going to figure out how to land properly anyway. But don't worry. I'm good at crashing. I can make do with that."

"Yeah, of course." Ripcord swallowed and looked around. "Hey, let's see what's stashed in here, huh?"

They walked among the stunt planes where they sat nestled under the Sunchaser, like chicks under a mother hen's wings.

"Wait, I think this one is Loopey's!" Launchpad stopped at one, painted bright pink.

Ripcord laughed. "Yeah, that's hers. Man, this is a really good plane; I wanted her to have the best. And then she goes and paints it hot pink."

"I think it looks nice."

"I think she wanted to make a very clear point about exactly who was flying the plane. She gets that from her Mom." Ripcord ran a hand over the wing.

"I really wish you'd taught me too," Launchpad said quietly.

"I still can. If you want."

Launchpad swallowed and looked at his feet.

"Hey, you don't have to decide now. We're just mucking about in here, remember? No pressure." Ripcord trailed between the planes, a wistful look on his face. "Wait a damn minute." He moved towards the back to a small plane covered in a tarp. "Give me a hand with this."

Launchpad grabbed the other corner, and together they reefed the covering off. A beautiful yellow and gold biplane was revealed.

Ripcord ran a hand over the wing. "Holy crap…"

"Is that?"

"The Joyrider. I didn't know Gasolini still had this. He's given her a paint job and… holy crap…" Ripcord's eyes sparkled as he walked around the plane, running his hand over her. "Oh, girl, I missed you."

Launchpad felt a lump rise in his throat. He'd taken all this away from his father. But he'd said he'd be there for him, said he loved him, and Launchpad could not remember him telling him that as a kid. Maybe, he had forgiven him. Even though Launchpad had never got the chance to apologise. He could not let this slide any longer. Sure, his parents had made mistakes. But so had he. "Dad?"

Ripcord looked up. "Yeah? Hey, what's up?"

"I'm… I'm sorry, Dad."

"For what?"

"For that day at the airfield. For stealing a plane. For making us crash. I ruined your entire career."

"Kiddo, don't worry about that."

"But you love planes! You loved flying these planes, especially the Joyrider. And I get how much that meant to you now. But, if I hadn't gone up in that plane. If I'd listened to you instead of slamming into the runway and dragging us all down, I…"

Ripcord grabbed him by the shoulders. "Woah, woah, slow down… It's okay. Take a deep breath."

Launchpad did as his father instructed. "You can't fly stunt planes anymore because you hurt your leg. And that was because I made us crash. I just… I had to make sure I said it. I'm sorry."

"Aw, Launchpad… I… argh…" Ripcord shook himself a little. "That crash was not your fault."

"But I slammed us into the runway."

"At that point, I think it might have been one of the better options. We could've ended up in the fence or the swamp otherwise. That would've been worse."

"But…"

"Hey, I think it might be your turn to listen to me. Or rather, my turn to actually talk to you. I didn't talk much about what happened that day. I probably should have. And I always wondered, if I had, if maybe you wouldn't have left. But I wasn't real good at that sort of thing then and… and that's just another excuse. Will you let me explain?"

"Sure, Dad."

They sat down, under the Sunchaser's wing, beside the Joyrider. Ripcord took a breath and began.

***

The training plane taxied awkwardly down the runway and took to the air. Ripcord ran a hand through his hair. "Crap." He wasn't sure he was grateful that his son had taken off fine. It'd have been better if he'd baulked or given up and stayed on the ground.

"Yup. Serious, discipline issue there, McQuack," said Gasolini. "Now, if that were my kid…"

"Shut up," said Birdie.

"Discipline issue all around," Gasolini muttered, but this time had the sense to lower his voice.

Ripcord didn't have time to argue with his manager. Gasolini would find some way to punish him for this later, but right now, he had other issues to deal with. What the hell had gotten into Launchpad head?

Birdie grabbed his arm. "We need to go up after him."

"I know. We'll get a plane…"

"Oh no," said Gasolini. "Those are my planes, and if you think you can just use them as you please to deal with your own personal family crisis, then…"

"And if we don't get Launchpad down in one piece, he's going to smash up that plane he's in. Do you want that?" Ripcord snapped.

Gasolini glared. Yup. He was definitely sweeping the hanger later. "Fine. But then you get your boy off my airfield, understood?"

They got clearance, and he and Birdie fell in beside their son.

"Launchpad, we're up here with you," Ripcord radioed.

"Dad!" And even through the radio, Ripcord could hear his son's excitement. "I can fly."

Amidst the annoyance, Ripcord felt something else stirring inside of him. Hell, Launchpad was flying a plane. Just like his old man. If the circumstances had been a little different, he would've been proud. If only he had the time to teach him himself. Gasolini would never give him the time or even a plane. And now, the stupid kid had gone and got himself banned from the airfield. So much for that.

"That's great, sweetheart," said Birdie. "And we will talk about you flying. Let's just get you down and…"

"Do you really think we should reward him?"

"I think there's a bit more going on here, Rip."

Yeah, but what? Birdie was talking to Launchpad again. And, of course, it ended up in a fight. Ripcord shot back a halfhearted response and tried to think. Maybe, he could get the kid to do something fancy. Yeah, that would do it. He wanted his old man to teach him some stunts. So he would. With any luck, Gasolini might see and think twice about banning Launchpad from the airfield. He might give Ripcord the chance to train him. He just had to show him that he had a bit of spunk and some potential. Gasolini might smell cash and be willing to see where it went.

Of course, he'd have to be careful and make sure Launchpad never signed anything with the bastard.

"You want your old man to show you how to land a plane, yeah?"

"Yes! Dad, that's all I wanted."

Ripcord swallowed the lump in his throat. Poor kid. He'd really messed up as a dad, but he was going to turn this all around. He'd find the time. He'd make this work, somehow. As long as he was flying a plane, he would figure out how to pass that onto his son. And make sure he didn't make the same mistakes he had.

"Okay. I'm going to show you a little trick me and the boys have been practising. I'll guide you in so you don't get scared, and you'll know exactly what to do. Head for the runway. Birdie, I want you to pull in under his left wingtip."

They both did as he instructed. This was kind of fun, actually. "Okay, I just need you to ease the throttle back a bit…"

"Ripcord, he's not a stunt pilot, and neither am I."

Ripcord gritted his teeth. "Will you listen to me without bloody arguing for once?" Or course, he wasn't stupid enough to transmit that comment over the radio.

And then Launchpad sped up.

"What are you, the other way!" Ripcord burst out. "We need to slow down!"

"What are you even trying to get us to do?" said Birdie. "Ripcord McQuack, if you are showing off for your friends, I swear…"

"Will you shut up for once in your life and listen to me?!" He wasn't doing this to show off. He was doing it for his son! Couldn't she just trust him?!

"We need to get him to land the plane safely! Not pull off one of your stupid tricks."

"I'm Ripcord bloody McQuack! I am the best pilot on this damned airfield, and if I want to show my son how to land a plane with a little bit of flair, then I can..." The runway loomed, closed. They'd been practising this trick. But, his wingmates were trained stunt pilots. They knew how to land. Launchpad had half a dozen lessons under his belt, and he had not been taught to land yet. He still hadn't even got his head around how to slow down. Even Birdie was a good pilot, but she didn't do this for a living.

"You idiot!" Birdie's reprimand blazed through the radio, even as Ripcord realised it for himself. "You are not in control of this!"

"I… I'm not…." Ripcord's thumb slipped off the radio's transmit button. The runway, the trees and the swamp at its end all loomed nearer. He should pull up. It'd be easy. But Launchpad and Birdie had to as well, and he needed to tell them. But what if Launchpad couldn't pull that off? A half dozen over maneuvers spilled through his head, but he could not teach his son in the rapidly dwindling seconds. He couldn't teach stuff!

Ripcord's throat constricted, and his hands tightened, locking onto the controls, and he couldn't even move, far less think straight enough to respond to the desperate pleas of his family over the radio. He could barely breathe.

And then his aeroplane was dragged down onto the runway in a screech of tortured metal.

Ripcord woke to the sound of screaming airfield sirens. He shifted under the wreckage, then yelped at the pain that tore through his leg. Birdie. Launchpad.

"Launchpad!" He tore at the fuselage that pinned him. The glorious creature that had always brought him so much joy was now his prison. It enclosed and clamped down on his leg like a vice. It was crushing him. He couldn't move. He could not check if his family was okay.

He was not in control.

***

Ripcord stared at the hanger floor. "I know you stole the plane, and we wouldn't have been up there if you hadn't. But you were a kid. You wanted to fly, and I, of all people, should have seen that. It was the only way you could get through to me. You're right. I don't always listen. But crashing? That wasn't your fault. I could have guided you through a normal landing, and even if you'd set down a little hard, it wouldn't have been so bad."

Launchpad had thought his dad had zero interest in training him for all this time. "You were trying to teach me a stunt?"

"Heh, yeah. Stupid, huh? I had no idea how to teach flying back then. Maybe that's why I got into training all the kids, because of you. At least I'm good at that now."

"How come you freaked out?"

Ripcord shrugged. "I think I realised I was going to hurt you guys, and there'd be nothing I could do about it. That's never happened to me before, and…" He swallowed hard. "I clammed up. I'm Ripcord McQuack. I was supposed to be fearless. Guess I bought into that. But the first time I found myself in a situation I couldn't control, I baulked. I just need you to know that I was the one who screwed up. Not you. Like I said, smashing us into the runway like that may have been pretty crazy, but I think you saved us from getting hurt worse."

Launchpad stared out into the hanger at the planes surrounding them. "So you're not mad at me for the crash?"

"No, I never blamed you. I was just a little sad after I figured out I wouldn't be able to fly the planes again. You know because… because of my bum leg." His voice was strained as he ran a hand over his thigh.

Launchpad gulped. "Then how come you told me to leave home?"

Ripcord's gaze shot up to meet his. "What… when, Launchpad, I would have never told you to do that!"

Launchpad felt his chest tighten. "You don't remember? In the hanger, Dad. That night I found you, and… well, I guess now I know you'd been drinking. But you'd been talking to your manager, and you said I should leave and… and I did…"

"Wait, you left home because you thought I wanted you to?"

"You said you didn't want me!" Launchpad burst out, hands tightening at his sides. How could his father not even remember?

Ripcord gripped his arm.

A part of Launchpad wanted to pull away. But he couldn't. Because at that moment, he also didn't want his dad to let him go.

"I remember talking to you, alright? But I was under a lot of stress that night. I know I yelled at you, but… look, can you give me a chance to explain? Then, we can work this out."

Launchpad's chest heaved. He bit his lip and nodded. "Okay, Dad."

***

Ripcord gripped the phone's handset so hard he feared it would crack under his grip. But he couldn't work up the courage to pick up, not yet. It was going to be Gasolini. He'd listened to his crap a million times. But this time was different. Because no matter how much the man belittled or bullied him, Ripcord knew he would be unable to comply with his demands.

Finally working up the courage, Ripcord picked up the receiver.

"McQuack, is that you?"

"Yeah."

"For god's sake, answer the phone properly. Where have you been? You missed training," said Gasolini. "I don't want to have to keep chasing you up like a five-year-old. You already missed one show because of your idiot son. But, it's going to be alright. Supply and demand, I guess… you weren't there, so now, everyone wants to see you more than ever. I'm going to make a killing at this next show. Isn't that great?"

Oh, how Ripcord wanted to go. But he knew he couldn't. He'd tried. At training, when he'd finally got away from Gasolini, Dave had realised he was struggling and had offered to give him a hand. He'd been a bit more understanding and helped him up into the plane. This time, despite the twinge of protest from his leg, Ripcord had managed to get into the damned thing.

But he hadn't been able to get the plane off the ground. He'd thought, with his leg better enough, he could manage it. I mean, it wasn't like he had to do much with it once he was in the cockpit. And it had hurt, so bad. Not his leg. But the realisation that something else was wrong, and it had hit him like a slam to the gut. He could not do this. He'd held it together on the airfield, at least. Dave probably could see that something was going on, but he was one of the nicer guys and didn't say anything.

Ripcord had bailed and returned to the hanger. And still, bloody Gasolini hounded him. He had to stand up to him. And somehow, although he had no choice, which should have made it easier, it still scared him.

"You know there's no way I'm going to make the next airshow." He'd meant to be firm. He just sounded tired.

"Don't try and bail on me, McQuack," Gasolini exploded. "You have a contract. You fly all the main airshows, and whatever the hell else I tell you if you know what's good for you. So what the hell's wrong? You've been spending too much time with that family of yours. That's what it is. I'd told you they'd drag you down, especially your wife. You've got more important things in your life. Like a legally enforceable contract…"

He should've defended Birdie. But he never had, and he didn't this time either. Ripcord just wanted this conversation to be over. At least the contract no longer held the weight it once had. He and Birdie had been over it enough times. He knew where the holes were. "I don't care about the contract. Good luck making that thing stick. My leg's busted up good. And I can't fly a plane in an airshow like this." He physically couldn't. And that was his out. Good luck arguing with that.

Gasolini was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, you see, I'm not so sure I believe that. I saw you get into that plane just fine, and as far as I'm concerned, if your leg's the problem, that's the hard part. Once you're in the cockpit, there is no damned reason you shouldn't be able to fly it. Besides, I spoke with your doctor. And he told me it's healed up fine. There's no reason physical reason you can't fly a plane, so if this is some…"

"You what?!" Ripcord exploded. His heart hammered in his chest. "You have no right talking to my doctor. He has no right talking to you and…"

"I have a vested interest in you. I own you…"

"I don't care!" Ripcord felt his chest tightening again. No. Just, just go away. But he wanted to fly the planes. Even if it was under Gasolini's stupid contract. But… "I can't!" And as the words tore from his mouth, they brought tears to his eyes. "My leg's busted up good. And I cannot fly those stupid tiny planes..." He slammed the phone back into its cradle. And it punched straight through into the wall.

Ripcord stood, chest heaving. He could not fly the planes. Whatever Gasolini thought had happened in that crash, whatever his doctor thought, it didn't matter. He couldn't. End of story.

End of being a pilot.

"Dad?"

The voice brought Ripcord spinning around. "Launchpad? What are you doing here, son?"

Launchpad looked up at him, eyes wide. He was growing into a man, Ripcord realised. When had he missed that? But there was a softness there, in his eyes, looking up at his father with concern. "You seemed sad at dinner. I wanted to see if you were okay?"

Of course, he did. Launchpad cared deeply about, well, everybody. It was something Ripcord had only come to realise in the past few months. Stuck at home, sure he'd been happy to spend the time with Birdie and the kids, but he still felt stuck, and he'd known it'd made him a little quiet. Launchpad had always asked him how he was. Or got out a board game and asked him if he wanted to play, to distract him, even though he almost always lost.

Now he was here, checking on him again. "Am I okay? Heh." Ripcord glanced at the bottle he held in his hand. He'd pulled it out of the hanger fridge, always stocked, when he'd got here. He'd hardly gotten through it, though he'd planned to consume many more before the night was over. He didn't want Launchpad to see him in that state.

He chucked the bottle in the bin, hard. "Well, I only just told my good-for-nothing manager I can't make it to the next airshow."

"Aw, Dad, I'm sorry. I know you were really looking forward to it."

Ripcord stepped away from his son's touch. He didn't deserve the sympathy. He should've listened to Launchpad when he said he wanted to fly. Then they wouldn't be both in this mess. At least his son was only banned from the airfield, and that wasn't so permanent. He walked across the hanger and laid a hand on the Joyrider's wing.

"That's your plane, isn't it? The Joyrider? It looks really cool."

"My plane. Hah. Don't let Gasoilni hear you say that. I only flew it." Past tense. "And now I can't."

"Because I made us crash, and you got hurt. Dad, I'm so sorry. But, there's always next year, right?"

Next year? No. Ripcord felt something well up in his chest. Tears filled his eyes. "I can't fly these planes again. Not just this year. Not ever."

"But… but why?"

Ripcord whirled around. "I tried, okay? I tried! With Gasolini harassing me and everything. But I can't! I can't even get in the cockpit, far less get one in the air. You were there. I busted my leg. Right? That's a legitimate reason? Isn't it?!" Launchpad was there! He knew what had happened. He would believe him when he said this was something he could not do. "And I can't… it just won't work with these small planes… I…" He turned around, resting a hand on the Joyriders wing. The tears he had so desperately been trying to hide from his son squeezed from his eyes. He needed to feel this. He needed to tell someone. And Launchpad, with all his understanding that Ripcord had been too stupid to see until these last few months, he would get that, right?

"Dad, I'm so sorry," Launchpad said softly, "Don't cry…" And he laid a hand on his arm.

"I'm not crying! I'm a man!" Ripcord snatched his arm away. No. His son could not see him crying over a stupid machine. A machine that had always made him feel more alive than anything in the world. "Why'd you have to steal the plane, huh?"

"I wanted to fly, just like you…"

"Yeah, well, so do I. And now I can't! Not like this!" The anger pushed away the pain for only a brief moment. And then it was back. "I tried, LP. I tried really, really hard and… I can't and…"

"Dad…"

"You did that to me." And that wasn't fair. He knew it even as he said it.

"I'm sorry." Launchpad grasped his shoulder.

Ripcord shrugged him off. "I don't want you here. Leave."

"Dad…"

"I said go!" Ripcord felt his control slipping, even as his hands started shaking down at his sides. "I don't want you…" He choked off as tears spilled over his beak. I don't want you to see me like this. "Now, get the hell out of here."

He didn't turn around. Couldn't. Couldn't check if his son had gone. Because if he did, he would see him fall apart.

Launchpad had left.

Ripcord slumped over the Joyriders' wing, hugging the cold metal, and broke down.

***

Ripcord traced a finger through the dirt on the hanger floor. "It hurt, you know. Knowing I'd never fly like that again. I was scared of you seeing me like that. I was young, stupid, now I know you would've been there for me. And I'm sorry. I was such a wreck that night; I guess I didn't realise how you might have interpreted what was going on. But I never said I didn't want you."

Launchpad stared at his father. "I thought…" he said thinly. "When… when you told me to leave the hanger, you just didn't want me to see you break down, but I only heard…" His stomach twisted up in knots, so bad it physically hurt. He wrapped his arms around his middle, hanging his head as his next breath came out a gasping sob.

"Hey, hey…" Ripcord put his arms around him and pulled him into his side. "It's okay, buddy."

Launchpad buried his face in his father's shoulder. All those nights with his family those last few months. Playing games, watching movies, hanging out. It all flashed before his eyes, too short. He thought his father had snatched it away from him. If he'd only stayed a little longer, confronted his dad. Or told Mom and got her to do it. But instead, Launchpad had left. He'd thought he had to.

Launchpad wanted to explain this to his dad. But he was shaking, his breath coming out in sobs, and all he could manage was: "Dad, I wanted to stay."

***

Launchpad pressed against his father’s side, letting him get an arm around him as they walked. It was far too close to really be comfortable, making keeping pace a little awkward. But he hadn’t cared.

His parents had mucked up a lot, sure, made many mistakes. But he had still been the one who had chosen to leave, and somehow that hurt more. But it meant he didn’t need to be angry with them, keep them at the same distance. They were trying to be here. And they had wanted him. What he’d missed out on still hurt, more deeply than anything Launchpad could remember feeling. But if he could make a choice to leave, he could make a choice to try this again.

“Hey, we’re here.” They stood outside Mr McDee’s garage. Ripcord squeezed his shoulder. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” Launchpad did not move to open his door. He wanted to stay here, at his dad’s side. “I’m not sure I want to be alone just yet. But, you know, if you need to go home, or…”

“We have a spare room in the apartment.”

“Yeah?”

“Come on. If it’ll help you sleep better. Me and your Mom’ll make you breakfast in the morning.”

***

Chapter 8