#it has the most consistent story and flows the best

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

okay and another thing (maybe the last. let's hope. I don't want to be the old person yells at clouds meme forever!)

can we (and, God willing, Tony Gilroy) stop excusing every strange narrative choice, every lack of payoff and every characterisation inconsistency with "well, they were going to do five seasons but then they only got two"?

Because it's not like they had everything laid out and the scripts all finished and the cast all under contract and then someone called Gilroy the night before shooting started and said "lol btw you have to do it all in one season good luck". This was also Gilroy's decision, and they knew this for some time.

I'm sure Gilroy and company wrote a script for that five-season version of the show they were proud of, and I'm sure it was disappointing to have to cut it down. I write too, I get that feeling. But here's the thing: Your job as a professional writer is to tell the best possible story within the parameters you are given. If you're a novelist and your publishing house will only let your book have 500 pages, and you turn in a book with no ending and say "well, I ran out of space", then you didn't write a good book. If you're a journalist and half of your article is missing because you ignored the space limit and now everyone only has half the information, that is a bad article. If you're a student and you have an idea for a term paper that spans 50+ pages and the page limit is 20, and instead of picking a different topic you cut your first draft down to fit even though you lose half your argument and most of the relevant analysis in the process, you've written a bad paper. And regardless of how great that writer, journalist or student think their text could have turned out to be, the bottom line in the real world is that the public has a book that is bad, and an article that isn't telling the whole story, and that student is getting a bad grade for handing in an incoherent, surface-level paper.

When you realise the parameters of your task have changed, it is your job to adapt to that new framework. And if you look at the story you have and think, well, this thing needs way more seasons to tell than I am given by the studio... then it is your job to put that draft into a cupboard and get to work on a story that can be told in a single season. Even if that story is completely different from the one you were going to tell! Kill your darlings, gentlemen! I'm sure they loved what they had written, but as professionals, it is their job to recognise this story no longer works, and let it go. They didn't do that. They chopped bits off until the foot somehow fit into the glass slipper, because they were too concerned with their own attachment to the work they had already created, and not concerned enough with the question of whether they were giving their audience the best story they could tell in the framework they were actually given.

And that is called doing a bad job.

So I'm sorry, but every time someone counters a critique of the narrative flow or the character consistency or the treatment of every female and/or poc character with "well, they didn't have enough time to tell their story!", all I am hearing is "well, consider that this show was written by people who were being bad at their job!"

[letorip]

tara carpenter hcs?

tara carpenter headcanons

so glad you all liked the headcanons i previously made and had a lot of fun doing, because it’s something i can do more frequently and consistently than my long form fics, which i promise i am hard at work doing. here are a few more :) also, kiss with a fist [ii] out soon

***also i wrote this and i think (?) i cooked? would you want this as an actual story at some point? cause i was doing this a bit lightheartedly and then i was like wait a minute- i usually struggle to think of plots but this came super free-flowing

tara wants absolutely nothing to do with you at first. she doesn’t trust easy, and some random kid chad met in class is not going to quickly break down that barrier, no matter how not-fugly you are

but chad feels like he can really trust you. you grow to become best friends over time, and he's still healing from ethan's betrayal.

even after you've won everyone else over in the group, tara is the stubborn one who refuses to acknowledge your presence

it all changes at a singular party. you stand up for a girl being screamed at by her boyfriend and shoved, and even though he tries to fight you, you don't budge

he's a massive guy on the football team, known around campus for being super jacked and picking fights, and though you wouldn't win in a million years and she can see you're scared, you don't move a damn inch from in between them

she doesn't say anything to you while it's happening or while anyone else is around, but when you're on the roof, after chad's come to help you, staring out into the city, she finds you alone against her better judgement, and asks if you're okay

you give her a weak smile, say "no," and she nods and just sits next to you for a while. you don't say anything either, but you appreciate it

tara slowly opens up to you more. she actually starts to listen when you speak, and what she finds is that you're so much smarter, and sweeter, than she realised. you share a lot of similar interests she had missed until that point, and you bring her a sense of peace and happiness, whenever she sees you

even though sam still struggles to see you as one of them, tara finds herself defending you now, and with it, realising she just might want you more than as her friend

she hasn't had a crush that intensely childlike since amber, and now that you're there, she's a bit apprehensive

but you're you, and things happen, and you kiss one night, over at her apartment, while you're watching a movie. you're both with your eyes locked on the screen, until the music swells and suddenly you're looking at each other. It happens so quickly but it feels so right.

when you ask her if she's okay with this and if she's comfortable, it makes her heart flutter in a way she doesn't feel she deserves

she's definitely apprehensive about letting your relationship grow. ghostface has brought her life a hell that she doesn't want you to experience it. but you remind her thousands of hells are worth it to be with her every day

you finally get together on a warm summer day, right after your semester has ended

now that tara's experienced a life with you, she's upset that she had to live a life before

she clings to your chest and loves to lay on top of you, on the sofa. she doesn't seem like she would be, but she's a massive cuddler. she didn't have much physical affection as a child, with her mom and sam being gone, and so she makes up for lost time by hugging or hand holding whenever she can

you guys have silly arguments, where it's clear neither of you are taking your side especially seriously, and you argue the most outrageous things. you'll make her laugh until there are tears in her eyes and then tackle her in a hug

whenever you're running late for morning classes, ninety-nine percent of the time, it's because tara begged you for five more minutes to cuddle in bed, or just straight-up wouldn't roll off you, even when you reminded her you had to go.

she's little spoon sized, but she actually loves being big spoon, because she'll squeeze you against her and hold you tight. when she wakes up in a cold sweat, having a nightmare about woodsboro, you're right there, peacefully sleeping, and it helps her calm down and ground herself

she had a thing for a while, about not wanting you to see the scars on her stomach. she thought they meant she was damaged, and tara insisted you guys fucked in the dark for a while, until you asked her directly about it one day, like the good communicator you are

tara tends to bury her head in the sand when it comes to being direct to talk to you about something, but you communicate well

upon explanation, you insist nothing could make her ugly to you. she cries when you say you'll love her no matter what, and you see her completely in the light. your look of awe at her beauty, and your tender fingers reaching out to brush against it, just make her fall even harder

idk what else to put, did i yap for a long time?

okay so i kind of want to make this a story now? would you be down

[seafoamreadings]

week of february 2nd, 2025

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: venus moves into your sign this week. while venus is classically debilitated in your sign, it just means the energy is not very natural to her. venus in aries is actually lovely as a force for the beauty of justice, and she can make you quite charismatic as well. embrace aesthetics and a little romance.

taurus: while many parts of your chart are active this week, the epicenter of activity is your career, reputation, and public image/status. there are changes coming to this realm and you will do well to put some effort into aligning those changes with the legacy you want to leave, the imprint you wish to make on the world.

gemini: you have great money vibes this week, especially if you are pursuing higher education, spirituality, or foreign travel. jupiter also goes direct in your sign this week, likely bringing helpful people. remember, it's auspicious to also be a helpful person yourself.

cancerians: if you need to do any reputation damage control or prettying up your social media or resume/cv, this week is a perfect time, especially once venus is ensconced in aries. in general you're going to have sort of low energy, so get lots of sleep!

leo: if a friends to lovers story is your idea of fun it's quite probable this week. you'll need to be looking out for it but it will be unmistakable when you do see it. and if that's not really your thing (or in addition to it) you can still make the most of the week's astrology by doing something really nice for a close friend, and appreciating them when they are there for you.

virgo: it's not the sort of week that you can expect things to go according to even your most impeccably laid plans. lean into your natural mutability and embrace unexpected changes instead of letting them chafe and irritate you.

libra: good air vibes continue. these are hard times broadly but for you on a personal level many good things occur and beauty exists everywhere. try to spread some of that to people who struggle more to see it.

scorpio: no matter how developed and complete you may have thought your spirituality to be, your philosophical approach to it continues to develop at light speed this week. don't try to dig in your heels about it but go with the flow instead. you are meant to change and not stagnate, fixed sign though you may be.

sagittarius: your ruling planet jupiter goes direct this week and you may even instantly feel like any stuckness in your life is magically undone and you can move forward (or at all) again. if stuckness hasn't been an issue rest assured good things are occurring for you behind the scenes if not before your eyes.

capricorn: your week consists of mainly minor influences but there is overall a push that you should be having fun, and not forcing yourself to go through rote motions for money or corporate points. it's not a bad time to "touch grass".

aquarius: jupiter direct brings you fun and even romance if you're open to it, but at the same time ceres in your sign square uranus in taurus is a strange standoff that can put you in somewhat unhealthy situations. try to form, or improve, a healthy and stable foundation so that when wobbly aspects like this come up you can regain your footing easily.

pisces: a surreal quality continues into this week. but now you may find you are a little bit more in your head than in some alternate dimension or dreamscape. keep one foot on the ground, and continue to avoid excess or addictive tendencies. indeed, it's not a bad idea to relax at home and see what good fortune just lands at your doorstep for now.

watch the transit posts in real time to have the best guide through your week. want a little more? have a look at my patreon or ko-fi.

check out my etsy for a private reading or fill out this form to set up a reading through venmo, cashapp, or paypal.

[thecoiledserpent]

smh how could i miss such an obvious co-relation: mahalakshmi is the significator of venus and is associated with movement. she is called 'chanchala' or she, who is never constant and ever flowing. venus is money. that's why people who don't invest money or don't use it for the finer things in life are bound to lose it, because mahalakshmi dislikes having to be still. she adores movement, and blesses those who move her to the right places. putting this money in the wrong places is like putting mahalakshmi in a drug store or an alcohol shop, obviously she would hate it.

now, in nakshatras, we follow this order: ketu, venus, sun, moon, mars, rahu, jupiter, saturn, and mercury.

many nakshatras are associated with the 'birth' of mahalakshmi, that is, when she was churned out of the ocean but i personally believe it to be either pushya or anuradha; both saturn naks. the thing with saturn naks is self-containment. where punarvasu is outward expansion and ashlesha is inward expansion, pushya is consistency and the ability to control expansion.

jupiterian punarvasu expands to give, and is associated with charity or giving away or spreading light. giving is not always a good thing because if you give away your best, you will no longer matter. like the sun giving away its shine. ashlesha expands inwardly, and if it missteps, ends up poisoning itself. it's like a star collapsing in on itself and creating a black hole which mindlessly consumes.

but pushya is about balance and understanding that neither simply giving away or endless consumption is the path to any form of happiness or satisfaction. it's like knowing where to keep and where to give away. this is part of the reason pushya is considered a wealth giving nakshatra, because it's natives have this intrinsic understanding of the nature of happiness and mahalakshmi.

now, after saturn comes mercury. when saturn achieved wealth and these ideals, it had the choice of giving it, or withholding it from mercury. this is why struggles with gaining wealth, or inheritances is a mercurial theme. forgetting what it learnt when it was back in saturn leads it to lose its wealth and start over again. most saturnian people give mercurials a hard time with receiving things, and it can even be about knowledge or family traditions.

if, however, mercury manages to sustain itself, and withhold enough knowledge, then when it moves again towards ketu, it carries this wealth with itself which is why most ketuvian people are privileged somehow.

but the thing is that there is immense difficulty here because at the gandanta points, water and fire meet to create a dangerous situation. this is why you will rarely see any ketu or mercury dominant person having stable money, or being able to sustain money. and this is why the saturnian naks are beheld as the wealth giving nakshatras because away from turbulance, saturn learns to thrive. but it creates the space and desperation for the native to want to pursue something and not just sit around in life.

wealth is not necessary, but a certain royalty is transferred from ketu into venus and sun but is lost in moon. which is not to say that lunar nakshatras are bad or poor, but going into mythology chandra has always been problematic or controversial. stealing tara who was jupiter's wife, laughing at ganesha... there are many stories associated with him which highlight this nature of his.

from moon onwards we see a shift towards forming the baseline for the nakshatras to start learning about the nature of mahalakshmi. in mars we see the struggle to be perceived correctly and not be over-idealised to the point of self ruin. with rahu we see the struggle of polarity and recklessness as mars' immense passion is given to a body-less planet. in jupiter this passion or this energy is converted into the ability to create and then donate or give away before it again reaches saturn and the cycle continues.

[27dragons]

How do you write like you're running out of time? 😭🎶 teach me your ways 😭

HA! You think you're just throwing a compliment my way, but I'm going to answer this seriously.

What works for me may not work for you. Sorry about that. But here's what works for me:

Have an obsession.

Have a writing partner (or several). Either someone who actually writes with you or who consistently reads and encourages your writing.

Write for a long, long time.

Understand that it comes and goes in waves, and sometimes there are reasons for it and sometimes there are not.

Since 2018, I've kept a spreadsheet to track my wordcount. Take a look at the difference between this year (so far) and last year:

Note that my best weeks from 2024 don't match even my worst writing weeks of 2025. The spike of functionality at the end of 2024 was me preparing to do my Countdown to New Years; otherwise, I wrote one single story, and it took months, writing a couple hundred words a week. Then I watched Arcane over my '24 Christmas vacation and got obsessed (thank you, @monobuu, for that!) and started reading all the fanfic I could get my hands on, and then around mid-January this year I started writing and... kind of never stopped. But you can see that I'm currently on a downswing -- those several huge spikes were weeks that I was absolutely obsessed with getting Match Your Breath to Mine finished and literally writing in every spare moment I could steal; now I'm writing much more slowly across several projects while I catch my breath from that. (And also while I deal with a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome.) ✨ Obsession! ✨

Writing partners are essential, too: Buu has helped me write some stories, and also I got @zillac to start beta reading for me and they've been an amazing writing partner; we haven't written anything together but we spend a lot of time bouncing ideas off each other and they've helped me work out so many rough patches.

And yeah. Write a lot. I wrote my first fanfic in 2014. And I wrote a lot of non-fanfic stuff before that, too.

(Do notice the actual numbers and not just the height of the spikes; the scale varies from year to year.) That huge dropoff toward the end of 2020 was when my best friend and co-author had a stroke. She was the one who kept me writing most of the time back when our mutual obsession was the MCU, so as soon as she wasn't able to keep pushing me, my output dropped fast. She died at the end of 2021 (and then my mom passed in early 2022) and grief (on top of pre-existing clinical depression) killed my writing even more for several years, aside from a few month in 2023 when I had an obsession with Sandman.

But even from 2018-2020, which were good years, you can see ebb and flow. I'm better at accepting that now -- a few years ago, seeing my current downswing would've put me into a panic tailspin of "oh god I'm losing my ability to write" but now it's just like... eh. It'll come back.

I'm still going strong on Arcane; part of that is that I got my depression meds adjusted, which gave me more energy to indulge my obsession. And a big chunk of it is knowing that people are reading what I'm writing and enjoying it.

This whole post is kind of disorganized and scattershot, but I hope it helps, somehow? Or at least informs.

(Also, I'm old. I'm past 50. I am, in fact, running out of time 🎶🤣)

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

regressor tiresias headcanons !!

— art by ximena natzel —

— requested by @ducydoo2000 —

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

🦋 - stuck at the same age for many generations, tiresias has no concept of time as it passes or flows. his prophetic abilities and the fact that he’s, y’know, dead means that he is consistently trapped in the past, present, and future all at once. his regression is a byproduct of this, of his mind being confused and lost. his prophecies overwhelm him and many of them showcase horrific realities. the only way his soul can cope is if it reverts to something more tangible for him to anchor himself on to. there isn’t much of an age range that he can see, but his behavior is that of a child under ten.

🦋 - souls of the dead come and go, with the only consistency being their guide. hermes often visits him, making sure to say hello and asking tiresias personally to watch over his kin. tiresias does not actually remember why hermes seems so fond of him, but it’s nice having a friend. in truth, hermes knows him from his various past relationships to the other gods and he likes the fact that tiresias can understand birdsong; it’s just cute. he also feels bad for the little guy who wanders aimlessly around the entrance to the underworld— which is where odysseus meets him as well. hermes, as a guide, will often hang around tiresias and physically guide him to the areas he wants to go, like the meadows of asphodel that tiresias consistently ends up wandering away from.

🦋 - because of how he perceives time and his own identity, I really like genderfluid regressor tiresias that is sometimes a little boy and sometimes a little girl. his soul is a bit of both due to his transformations and it will warp and waver, giving him a vast spectrum of spectral appearances that coincide with his headspace. it usually takes the form of a young man because that is how he most prefers to remember himself after so many years of living and so many years being dead. it never goes too young, but it’s young enough to be visibly noticeable.

🦋 - he loves listening to the flow of the water, the rustle of the meadows, and the faint music in the air of the underworld. it is the only thing that calms him when he’s regressed and spiraling with prophecies. emotions and physical sensations are strange in the afterlife. it’s not that they don’t exist— they are just… different. it’s colder, somehow, and he knows it’s off from how it used to be, but he can’t recall how so instead he focuses on memorizing the smooth, wet rock of the cave entrance, the silky waters of the river, the misty breeze of the meadow. the interaction between him and living beings is strange too; it’s tangible, allowing him the chance to touch warmth even if it is dulled. this is why he keeps wandering to the entrance, waiting to touch and interact with those who might arrive.

🦋 - he enjoys listening to the stories of the souls passing by, as well. having lived through most of thebe’s history, tiresias is filled with stories that he’s told alongside his prophecies for generations. it makes sense that, while regressed, he’d enjoy hearing what tales others have for him. his prophecies are usually that of strife, so he really enjoys the happier stories and tries his best to commit those ones to memory. it’s harder, as a roaming soul, but he’s had many years of practice.

[bengals-ix]

Snooze

Summary: A late night drive through downtown Cincinnati after a rough day at work helps your blossoming relationship with Tee become even more serious.

Warnings: just straight up sickening fluff; allusions to a potential spicy part 2 👀 and it’s also just really freaking long so 😅

Also, thank you again @balanceingrace for helping with framework and helping me love this story again. I love you always🤍

You shuffle into your little house after an extremely long and busy shift at the hospital, throwing your purse lord knows where and your shoes in the general vicinity of the little shoe rack by the door.

You loved your job, but a day like today made you want to break down and never go back. It was one thing after the other, difficult patients, difficult family members, there was no time for time management, and not to mention losing a patient halfway through the day. That was your straw, but you had no choice but to swallow back the tears and keep moving.

You peel off your scrubs after slugging off to your bedroom, and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Your mind was numb, your body was numb.

After a few minutes, you finally slide off the bed and go into the bathroom to take a shower, the borderline scorching heat of the water soothing your achy, and extremely tense muscles. You let a couple tears slip out but you always tried to make sure you didn’t bring work home with you, because that would just make your job and home life worse. You refused to combine the two.

You step out of the shower and quickly dry yourself off and half ass-ly drying your hair. You realized once you started that you quite frankly didn’t care. You slip on an oversized shirt and panties before slipping into your bed, the tears wanting to flow but you wouldn’t let them. You just took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling once again.

Your brain started running 100 miles a minute. Replaying the day in your head, if this was what you still want you wanted to do for the rest of your life, what tomorrow what was going to consist of, your relationship with Tee that has become VERY serious recently, the big black hole in the middle of our galaxy. You know, all the things.

At one point, you turn over and the clock read 10:47pm.

“Oh shit” you groan. You had laid here for an hour and a half just thinking. You wanted to go to sleep but you couldn’t shut your brain off.

Your phone dings and you let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You lazily picked up your phone off of your nightstand, and it was almost like your favorite person read your mind.

Tee 🤍

wanna go on a drive?

You smile at the text, your heart that has been cold most of the day flooding with warmth almost instantly and a couple tears make their way down your cheeks. It’s like he knew, he had that instinct of needing to take care of you, and that’s what he was going to do.

(Y/N)

how did you know I needed that?

Tee🤍

bc I know you

I need to see you and I feel like you need to see me

I was just hoping you were up since it’s way past gma’s bed time 😉

You roll your eyes, that smile not leaving your face. You did normally go to bed at 8:30pm. You loved your sleep, who doesn’t? But he loved to make fun of you for it.

(Y/N)

I do need to see you, really bad.

come get me

Tee🤍

on my way baby

You take another deep breath, not only thanking Joe and Olivia for introducing you two but thanking God for placing Tee into your life. The longer you guys have been together, the more he knows you, how you operate, which faces mean certain feelings, even as much as knowing when something is wrong even when he’s apart from you. It was the little things.

You throw on a pair of biker shorts and a long sleeve. It was fall time and temp was in the 60s. It was beautiful outside lately.

You fix your hair as best you can, still keeping it up but making it look like you weren’t just about to go to bed. 15 minutes later, Tee texts you saying that he had just pulled in and you throw some shoes on before heading out of the house.

You walk down to his car and open the door, leaning down to peek at him. He smiles at you, one arm leaning on the console and the other resting on the steering wheel and you couldn’t help but match his smile.

“Hey you” you say.

“Hey you” he repeats, his smile radiating. His smile killed you. It was so bright, so genuine. He was someone who was genuine. Very kind hearted and caring. You adored him.

You climbed into the passenger seat and made eye contact once again. You two look at each other for a moment before he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to your cheek and then on your lips.

You pull away a few moments later and bump your nose against his, smiling like a love sick puppy. The way he makes your mood change instantly still blows your mind.

“Missed you” he murmurs.

“I’ve missed you too” your voice cracks, not intentionally, but those tears were making their way back. Little did you know that you just needed him to help you feel better.

“I knew something was up, what’s wrong?” He asks, resting his hand on your thigh, his eyebrows furrowed as he watches the tears form in your eyes.

“It was just my day. I can tell you while you drive” you assure him.

“Driving can wait” he gives your thigh a squeeze.

“No Tee, it’s okay. I’ll be over it by tomorrow. Just go ahead and drive, for me, please?” You quietly beg. He stares at you for a moment before nodding and backing out of your driveway.

You two ride in silence for awhile before you tuck a foot under you, getting comfortable since who knew how long you two were going to be driving around for. At one point, the air was getting colder and you were getting cold but you didn’t want to say anything because you were enjoying the windows down.

Tee easily read your body language so at the next red light, he put the car in park and unbuckled before slipping his hoodie off and handing it to you.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m fine” you smile at him as he buckles himself again.

“No you’re not. Can’t have my girl freezing” he smiles back before hitting the gas as the light turns green. You roll your eyes and throw his hoodie on, sneakily smelling his cologne.

Tee’s hand slides onto your thigh, giving it a nice squeeze. You smile over at him and you rub your hand up and down his tattooed arm. Sexy ass.

“Do you want to talk about your day now?” He asks, glancing over at you. You let out a deep sigh before starting to explain one thing after the other, and he listened attentively, he was a very good listener and you were thankful, especially on the days where you needed to rant.

“….and everything just piled on top of each other and it became almost unbearable. I tried to wind down so I could go to sleep and just forget about today but my brain wouldn’t shut the fuck up” you let out a huff of annoyance and he quietly chuckles at the last part.

“First off, I wanna say how much of a badass you are. I could never do what you do in a day. That’s a hell of a lot of brain power to use and energy that I don’t have”

“You’re a fucking wide receiver, Tee, you have a lot of both of those things” you giggle.

“But it’s different, you know what I’m sayin’? Like you are having to keep people alive, some you can’t help and it was written in the cards from when they were even thought of. But you are so fucking brave and so strong to do what you do everyday. I hope you know how badass you are, because seriously, you are and I admire you for it every single day” he looks over at you as he arrives at another stop light.

Your heart floods with a familiar feeling you’ve experienced honestly since you started dating Tee but you kept pushing it off because you didn’t want to believe it so early but it was happening; hell, it happened already, you fell in love with him, truly, madly, deeply. It was pathetic.

He was the most generous and loving person. He was supportive and encouraging in everything you did. Always looking out for you, checking on you, making sure you feel beautiful always. You were his queen, his number one, other than his Momma, and rightfully so.

You’ve had a few serious relationships over the years but all of those men turned out to be trash and honestly gave you trust issues but this was different in only the best way possible. You saw a future with Tee, even after this short time that felt like a lifetime.

Not to mention he was a hottie. His handsome face, that stunning smile, his tall and muscular frame, his tattoos; the man was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome.

Tee glanced over at you, feeling your eyes on him, he gives you his bright smile that makes you want to squeeze him tightly and never let him go.

You love him.

“You want to tell me what’s on your mind right now? Did I say something wrong?” He asks, turning his eyes back to the road, a small and almost worried smile gracing his face.

And speaking of heart racing, yours was about to beat out of your chest at what was spilling out of your mouth.

“I love you” you breathe out.

Tee’s heart could about explode. He’s been so scared to say it, afraid of how you would react when he would say those exact three words to you. He honestly fell for you a lot sooner than you fell for him but that was another story for another time.

“I am so glad you said that, because I love you too” he says, his smile the brightest it’s ever been.

“I really need a damn stop light because I need to kiss you so bad right now” you say and he laughs.

“Hold on, I gotchu”

He turns onto a different street and the light turned yellow and he slowly comes to a stop, placing the car in park and looking over at you.

“Thank you Jesus” you breathe out and grab his face, smashing your lips against his. You two smiled against each other’s lips, thinking about how you both finally made the long awaited confession.

Then to make it even more perfect, “Snooze” by SZA comes on shuffle. You two finally pull away from each other, not without another sweet kiss from Tee.

“I fucking love you” he says just above a whisper. Your stomach was doing backflips. Just hearing him say those words meant the world to you.

“And I love you” you smile.

He gives you one more firm but tender kiss before he shifts the car back into drive as the light turns green.

That just happened.

When you first started dating Tee, “Snooze” was y’all’s vibe, and still is. You dreamt about him. There was never a moment where you wanted to be somewhere else. He made you feel so important, so wanted, cared for, loved.

Everything in this moment couldn’t have been more perfect. This song playing as you two drove through mildly quiet downtown Cincinnati, windows down, the cooler air slipping into the car, nipping your skin but in a comforting way.

The sky was clear so despite the city lights, you could still see the beautiful stars in the sky. The man you loved to the left of you, his tattooed hand on your thigh, you wearing his hoodie, and both finally saying out loud that you loved each other. Your heart was surely the size of both of your lungs combined at this point. Every bad thing that happened today vanished from your brain like it never even happened. This was what heaven looked like to you.

He must have felt this moment too because his hand finds yours and laces your fingers together, giving it a soft squeeze.

“Long as you dreamin' 'bout me, ain't no problem

I don't got nobody, just with you right now

Tell the truth, I look better under you

I can't lose when I'm with you

How can I snooze and miss the moment?

You just too important

Nobody do body like you do”

“Damn” Tee murmurs and shakes his head.

“What?” You ask.

“You…the way you make me feel. It’s just wild” he says, full on blushing and you couldn’t help but blush in return.

“Quit Tee” you smile down at your clasped hands.

“You quit” he chuckles.

“Ain't a home when you not here

Hard to grow when you not here, I'm sayin'

I can't lose when I'm with you”

“You should stay over tonight” he glances over at you with hopeful eyes.

“Teeee” you sigh.

“Please? It’ll kill me to take you home tonight” he juts his bottom lip out.

“That’s very dramatic” you giggle and flick his lip.

“It’s not dramatic. I don’t wanna take you home, especially now” he says, squeezing your thigh. You smile sadly and rest your head on his arm, your mind already working to figure something out. You didn’t want him to take you home either.

After another half an hour or so, he pulls back up to your house. He leans his head back onto the head rest and looks at you, his eyes sad.

“Don’t look at me like that, Tee” you whine.

“I don’t want you to leave. It’s been a week and I miss you” he sighs, looking down at your hands intertwined, his thumb rubbing back and forth on your hand.

“You’ll see me at the game this weekend” you tell him but he still didn’t like that. You wanted to play a little hard to get now.

He turns his head back, looking forward. You knew he was pouting.

“Tee”

You sigh when he doesn’t answer you. His hand still rested on your thigh as you watched him. You get an idea.

You unbuckle your seatbelt and climb over the console and into his lap, straddling his hips. He looks up at you, eyes widened slightly. He gave you a quick glance up and down before his eyes meeting yours as you speak up.

“Can I suggest something?” You ask and he hums.

“I would stay at your place, but I have stuff to do here tomorrow, stuff that I could get done while you’re at practice. So what if we stayed at my place tonight? I know it’s not as nice as y-“

“Okay” he smiles, his hands running up your thighs and holds onto your hips.

“Okay?”

“Okay. But I might have to run home to grab stuff for tomorrow, if that’s okay?”

“Well yeah, of course, whatever you need to do. Are you sure it’s okay?” You ask running yours hands up and down his shoulders.

“More than okay. I don’t care where we stay, as long as you’re there” he smiles again and you couldn’t help but smile back.

“And then I could stay with you this weekend?” You suggest.

“Absolutely” he nods.

You wrap your arms around him and nuzzle your face into neck.

“I’ve also missed you” you say, pressing gentle kisses onto his neck, your breath sending chills down his spine. He wraps his arms around you tightly in a hug. He couldn’t get enough of you, ever.

“I’m going to go home and grab my iPad for our meetings and grab more clothes so I can stay a couple days, okay?” He asks, running his thumb over your bottom lip.

“Okay”

“That okay with you?”

“More than okay with me” you kiss his lips multiple times, him giving you a loving and healthy smack to the ass before you crawl out of his lap and out of the car.

“I’ll be back. I love you” he smiles. God, it felt so good for him to say that, and it felt so good for you to hear it.

“I love you. Be careful” you smile back, giving him another kiss before shutting his door and making your way back into the house.

Holy shit. What a day.

45 minutes later, as you laid on the couch, you get a knock on your door.

“Damn it” you curse under your breath as you hop off the couch and run to the door. You accidentally locked the door out of habit.

You unlock the door and open it to be greeted by Tee who had a bookbag on his shoulder and a duffel bag hanging by his side.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to lock it” you say grimacing.

“Don’t want me to stay, huh?” He smirks pushing his body up against yours, backing you further into your living room, shutting the door behind him.

“Don’t you start being dramatic again. You know I want you to stay. I want you to stay all the time” you cock an eyebrow at him, sliding your hands up his arms and around his neck as he drops his bags.

“Mhm” he hums as he presses his lips to yours, his tongue making its way into your mouth, giving you all the feels.

Tee’s hands slide from your hips to your ass, squeezing it with his large hands. You moan into his mouth and he presses his hands into your ass so your hips press into his.

After a couple minutes of your make out sesh in the middle of your living room, he pulls away slightly, his breath fanning your face. He must have brushed his teeth before coming back over to your house because you tasted and smelled mint.

“You make me feel…insane” he says.

“Is that a good or bad thing?” You ask and he smiles at you.

“So good” he chuckles, reattaching your lips for a few more minutes before you break away again.

“As much as I want to continue this, it’s so late and you’re gonna hate yourself in the morning if you don’t go to sleep” you breathe out.

“You right. Tomorrow, after I get back?” He smirks.

“If you’re lucky” you shrug, giggling at his expression.

“I’m very lucky, damn it” he says nuzzling his face into your neck making you laugh.

“Let’s go to bed, you exhaust me” you sigh, walking past him towards your bedroom.

“You haven’t seen anything yet, baby” he says, giving a harsh smack to your ass as he walks behind you.

“Tee!” You gasp and he smiles innocently.

You two eventually get changed into more comfortable clothes and get comfy in bed, your back pressed against his front, his long arms wrapped around you and his face nuzzled into your neck, mumbling “I love you’s” to each other that still didn’t feel real.

And that’s when he starts to slowly hum a melody that you both listened to earlier in the night, allowing you to relax and finally drift to sleep.

I can't lose when I'm with you.

How can I snooze and miss the moment?

You just too important.

Nobody do body like you do, you do.

[flamboyant-king]

Time for another King Ramble!

I need to be more, idk, proud of the things I do. Give myself more credit for the things I accomplish, despite NEVER completing anything. So, here I go--

I like my comic, despite it just starting ("starting," story-wise it has barely begun, but bro, it's almost a year since I first started. I've taken so many breaks that I am not go--positive, I have to be positive). It's a simple story, no giant world building or a multitude of characters I need to create depth for. It's a simple story on growth, characterization, and healing. Building a connection with other people and doing everything you can to improve as a person. Setting boundaries yet also going with the flow. Just a story about living life and making it the best possible. It doesn't have the most drama, the most action, the most exciting moments, but it's just life. It's cozy, its uncomfortable, it has its moments.

I'm happy with how long I stuck to it. I usually give up within a month, but look, I stuck it out a whole SIX months. And I learned quite a bit, by asking questions to other creators, but also by just pushing myself to learn a bit. Forcing perspectives, effects, and trying out new brushes. I'm even asking for help, I never ask for help. That's a fucking huge improvement. What kind of stinks is I took on this project in the middle of me trying to fix myself as a person, getting therapy and various diagnoses and whatnot. I thought creating a comic would help me improve, but there are other issues that adding more stress on won't fix.

But it's freaking cool. I've got hundreds of folks who like what I have so far. I don't want to disappoint them by making them wait longer, but this is my story I want to tell. It will be told, one way or other, and it's gonna be perfect because it's going to be MINE. I mustn't be so scared of trying or failing, I just need to DO. I'm failing already if I don't try. I won't fail if I'm TRYING. I just need to DO IT.

COME ON KING

GET UP

AND DON'T BE AFRAID

JUST WORK ON IT

JUST DRAW

JUST HAVE FUN BRO

(My mind is kind of a bungled mess right now thanks to all my health concerns. Stuff with insurance, biopsies, tests, and my weight. Agh lots on my mind. Getting off topic oogh agh I'm at work rn and it feels nice to type on this crusty ass keyboard haha)

Thinking about winning that webtoon contest. or even just placing in the genre categories puts a smile on my face. Just thinking that something I made is worth money makes me smile. Like someone buying a commission or ordering something off my etsy. It makes me smile. My comic isn't the most polished, most consistent, or most intriguing, but it has so much heart to it. Not to say the other THOUSANDS of entries don't have heart, but knowing the stuff I've been going through, I know I put my heart into it. There is so much turmoil surrounding it. So much stress. So much struggle put into it. Personal, mental struggles. I know folks are in it for the prizes, the contracts, the notoriety. I'm in it for the HOPES of awakening my passion to make art again.

It's been gone for the last few months. All these MINOR, literally minor, like its not cancer, im not dying, HEALTH problems really taking their toll on my psyche. Eating at my motivation and my focus. I will cherish the pages I already made for the comic, but I super-di-duper want to make more pages. But there is something there blocking my ability to just DO IT. I want to so bad, but my body refuses.

If you're curious, my health issues are like a bunch of small things, like teeth fillings, sleep apnea, i got a fuckin lump in my boob, they want to test me for autism, ive gained so much weight thanks to my bipolar medication, they DONT BELIEVE i have adhd because i dont show SYMPTOMS when i TALK to them. It's a focus thing bro, what you want me to focus on? your luscious lips?? i want to draw bro and i cant do it??? i want to finish projects but i cant bring myself to do it because i cant find the right background noise?? or i havent SPICED up my energy gauge to get that momentum rolling??

speaking of unfinished projects, how's that LING PICREW going KING!? Well, I was able to finish drawing/coloring all the hair options. But its uploading the 2000+ files onto picrew is too much tedium for me. IT WOULDNT BE, IF I HAD THE RIGHT BACKGROUND NOISE!!!???????? It would have been so much easier if i uploaded the files in proper labelled format and sorted them differently into folders, but noooooooooo, that's too confusing. AND IT IS FOR ME BECAUSE THERE'S ADHD IN MY BRAIN

BUT APPARENTLY THATS NOT SO!?!?!??!?!?!

I am proud of myself for the things I did do before, like the uquiz, the toyhouse profiles i was able to finish, the visual novel that GOT NUKED FROM THE FACE OF THE INTERNET, the UI for projects I did in university, the game demos I had a hand in making, the 3D model of a beach I did, I graduated high school with cum laude, I was offered a half-ride scholarship to the art college I wanted to go to, I got a few art scholarships despite it all, got a couple associate's degrees, I got my bachelor's degree in compsci with a minor in finearts, I'm even proud of getting fanart of characters I made.

Seems like a steep difference in the things I'm proud of, but my perception of success and achievements have been distorted by high expectations and my POSSIBLE AUTISM. I remember telling my english/composition professor in community college how I didn't feel proud of graduating high school. I forgot what he said, but he said he can see how bleak my outlook on life was.

Idk how a therapist could help me fix that. I want to be proud of things, but I'm proud of things people arent proud of me for. I'm proud to finish a painting I spent 80 hours on, but I don't care that I barely scraped by to get a degree I didn't want in the first place. HMMM MAKES YOU THINK

What's done is done. The damage is all done. Now I need to fix how I view the world and myself. I tried a year of therapy but see no difference on my brain chemistry. I do, however, have new ways of coping, such as going on a walk, playing with legos, time to myself, hanging with friends, and whatnot. So that's something. A lot of money spent, but who gives a shit. When I'm dead what am I gonna do with that money?

Oop, work is almost done in 6 minutes. If you actually read this, leave a comment that says "hehoo"

[purplecoffee13]

The Fake Girlfriend - pt. 1

Summary: “Y/N hates Harry, but fake dating him for a while seems to benefit them both, and she wouldn’t pass an opportunity to torture him, of course. But the lines drawn are blurry, and the tension is high…”

Wc: 3.4k

Tropes: semi-enemies to lovers (she doesn’t like him)

Warnings: jealousy, (slight and mentions of) violence, sexual tension

"Okay, just let me see if I got this right. You want me to be your girlfriend during the wedding of your cousin to get your parents off your back about another girl?"

"Fake girlfriend." Harry corrects me. "But yeah, that's basically the gist of it."

I stare blankly at him before letting out a scoff. This must be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard, and I've had a guy call me 'daddy' before.

"Why don't you just reject the poor girl? I'm sure that message will get to your parents."

"Do you seriously think I haven't tried that?" He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I was just saying.." I raise my brows. I don't get why he's acting so frustrated, he's the one asking me for help. Which reminds me...

"Also, why me? You don't even like me."

When Harry and I first met, he was dating my old best friend, Marie. One night, he tried to kiss me while we were all out on the town, and I flipped out at him for betraying my best friend like that, and thinking I would ever go along with it.

The next day I told Marie about it, but she accused me of seducing him and we stopped being friends. Ever since then, I've hated Harry Styles. I hate him for creating that mess, for thinking I'd do something like that to my friend and I blame him for losing my best friend.

We never really spoke much to each other after that whole situation —besides the occasional forced conversation or collaboration during a project — so naturally I was surprised when I heard someone knock on my door and it turned out to be him.

"Because I don't want to go through the hazard of leading someone on, and all my other girl friends are taken and Leila's gay." He explains with a shrug.

"You won't lead someone on who's gay." I reason.

"My parents know Leila, so that wouldn't work." He counters, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "So, do you want to do this or do have any other burning questions?"

As a matter of a fact I do, ass.

"What makes you think I would help you?"

Harry clears his throat, shifting on my bed until he's seated with his body towards me. I get a bit nervous with how serious his face expression is.

"I've heard the stories about Malcolm, how he's trying to get you back." My face falters once the sentences leave his mouth. I didn't know it was that obvious. I know that Harry senses my uneasiness, but he goes on anyway. "After what he did, I understand that you don't feel the same as him, and this way we can get him off your back."

I frown, because he's right. It would benefit me too, and I hadn't even realized it until he pointed it out.

I caught Malcolm cheating on our six month anniversary, which was about about two months ago. I immediately broke up with him, and blocked him on everything. Unfortunately, Malcolm had somehow divulged himself into the delusion that he could convince me to get back together and he has been annoying me ever since. And while fake dating Harry seemed like absolute hell, it would be the perfect opportunity to send Malcolm the message that I’d moved on.

Malcolm disliked Harry too. I’ve never known why and I don’t think I ever will, but I didn’t question it at the time because I didn’t think very highly of Harry anyway, and assumed he’d pissed Malcolm off during a project or something.

I let some dramatic silence flow over us that consists of me frowning very deeply as if I'm working everything out in my brain, but I quickly open my mouth to avoid drawing it out too long. I have to say that it sounds like it could be fun, and an opportunity to embarrass Harry in many ways, in front of his parents.

Now that's tempting.

"Fine, I'll do it." I give in, secretly getting more excited as I make up ways to torture him in my head. "Anything I need to be aware of?"

"Wedding's in Italy, so you'll have to fake a stomach flu." He casually remarks, as if it isn't something he should have clearly mentioned before asking this loaded favor.

"What?! I was going to spend spring break at my moms!" — not that I was looking forward to that — "And how in the world am I going to pay a ticket to Italy? You know what, maybe this isn't such a good idea—"

"The ticket has already been paid, you don't have to worry about that. But if you'd prefer to be with your mom instead of a hotel in Italy, that's your call."

Harry's face stays neutral, but I can see in his eyes that he's hoping for me to say yes. I'd be lying if I said I was excited to spend a week at with my mom and her new husband; Italy sounded way more appealing. So, that—along with the whole Malcolm situation—was the only reason I said

"Okay, I'll go."

*****

"Oh my goodness, how romantic! When do I get to meet him?" My mom chirps over the phone. Her voice has raised two octaves since I told her that I'd started dating someone in secret about a month ago, and that it was getting pretty serious and he was now taking me to Italy for his cousin's wedding.

It was a bit weird to lie to my mom, but most of what I was telling was actually the truth, so that made the lie a bit easier to keep up.

"Oh I'm sure you'll meet him soon. Sorry I won't make it during spring break, though." I feel the need to apologize anyway, we hadn't seen each other in quite some time and she'd really forced me to take time off from my life here and work on our relationship.

"Yes, well it would have been good to see you, but you're young and these are the adventures you need to go on!" She encourages me as kindly as she can, and I fake a smile, even though she isn't there to see it.”

"Thanks for understanding mom."

"Of course sweetheart. As long as you take lots of pictures, we're good." She jokes. After that, we just say our goodbyes and I hang up.

I'd been running around so much to try and find outfits for Italy that I'd forgotten Harry and I were launching our fake relationship at a party tonight. We didn't really set that many boundaries yet, but I was quite okay with anything. It had to be believable, and my hatred didn't make me blind. Harry was hot and I knew it, everyone knew it.

He was at my door at nine on the dot, which I hadn't expected. We drove to the party because Harry wasn't in the mood to drink, giving me a free pass to get wasted. However, I made a promise to myself not to get too drunk tonight and accidentally slip out the truth.

By the time we arrive it's around nine thirty and the house is already filled with people. Since I broke up with Malcolm, I haven't really been to a frat party anymore, I've grown to dislike them actually. However, this is the perfect place to be seen, and our friends were going to be here so our 'relationship' would be picked up on soon.

Harry and I agreed on the friends with benefits to lovers story, and that's what I start telling my friends while they look at me as if I have grown a second head.

"But you hate the guy, you just complained about him last week." Zoey, one of my friends, remarks, making my stomach drop.

Fuck, I did talk shit about him last Wednesday.

"Uhm– yeah, that was just to keep up appearances." I quickly manage to make up. They all hum in understanding, which is quite surprising to me. From the looks of it, I know that they're not fully convinced, but I hope they'll just see it as my crazy rebound phase and leave me alone.

"Well, as long as he makes our little Y/N happy, right?" Natalia throws her arm around me, raising her brows at the rest of the girls, and they all agree with her.

"Okay... but if he hurts you I will cut off his testicles, fry them until they're crispy and force them down his throat." Zoey grunts, squinting her eyes at Harry who is standing a few feet behind us. He has his back turned to us because he is talking to his friends, but it's funny nonetheless.

I notice that Zoey's glare quickly disappears and blood starts to rush to her cheeks. Just when I'm about to ask what has gotten into her, I feel someone throwing their arms around me from behind.

By the tattoos on his arm I'm immediately able to tell that it's Harry, and my heart starts racing at the realization that this little act needs to be kept up for a month or two, and it needs to be realistic.

"Hi sugar." Harry greets me sweetly before kissing me on my head. I fight hard to keep myself from vomiting at that hideous nickname, and play along.

"Hey hot stuff." I turn around, and I catch the twitch in his eyelids as the equally, if not more disgusting name leaves my mouth.

"You want to go get a drink?" He asks after letting out a small sigh. I nod, and he intertwines his hand with mine before leading us to the kitchen.

I can see the people staring at us with wide eyes, and I don't blame them. It is a rather weird look, me and Harry. However, I ignore it and focus on the main goal, I can't back out anymore so I might as well make it as fun as possible.

When we get to the kitchen, Harry immediately nominates himself as my bartender.

"What d'ya wanna drink, babe?" He asks, observing the countless bottles on the counter.

"Something strong please." I lean my elbows on the counter, watching in silence as I see him scanning the table before grabbing a rum bottle. He fills almost half of the cup with rum and the rest with coke.

He pushes it into my hands when he's done, a bit of the drink spilling on my fingers as I take the cup from him.

"Hey! Be gentle, boyfriend." I grumble, sucking on each of my fingers to clean the rum and coke off them. Harry's gaze lingers on my mouth and fingers a little bit too long, but he is fast to regain himself. Scoffing, he leans forward until he's inches away from my face.

"I don't do gentle, girlfriend." He mocks me before backing away from me again. "Taste it."

I give him a firm glare, but take a sip of my drink anyway. My eyebrows instantly knit together at the strong taste of the drink.

"You know I asked for a drink, not a horse tranquilizer."

"You said you wanted something strong. 'S not my fault you can't handle a bit of liquor." He says as he pours himself some soda. I roll my eyes at his little jab and continue drinking the strong drink anyway.

There is a bit of silence between us, and when I feel it get awkward, I decide to speak up.

"D'you want to go back to our friends?" I propose, tilting my head a bit as I wait for an answer. Harry's eyes avert from whatever's in front of him and throws me a small smile before nodding his head. I'm about to start walking when Harry suddenly  grabs my waist, turns me around and pulls me into him. My drink nearly spills again.

"Just don't call me 'hot stuff' in front of my friends, it's an awful nickname." He pleads with a small smirk, occasionally breaking eye contact to observe the party.

"Says the one who called me sugar." The corners of my mouth start to lift too, liking this playful part of him. Because I spend most my time that I've known him hating him, I never really got to experience this side.

"At least mine is accurate." He reasons, grabbing my hips and guiding me until I have my back against the kitchen island. My heart beat picks up a bit; I'm not used to him being this close to me and I didn't expect him to be either. I remind myself that it's an act, even though we're not in front of our friends so technically there's no reason for him to get this close to me. But, I allow him, mainly because he smells so good.

"And why is that?" I ask, my eyes landing on the cross necklace dangling as he leans into me a bit. When I meet his eyes again, Harry has a smug look covering his face.

"Because I bet you taste real sweet."

His hoarse voice manages to awaken a tense feeling in my stomach. He closes the distance between us until our noses are touching, and a hitched breath leaves my mouth. He smells very intoxicating and I feel very floaty even though I've only had a couple of sips from my drink.

"You wouldn't mind if I see for myself, would you?" He pushes some strands of hair behind me ear before cupping my jaw with his right hand. I ignore the way my body is reacting. I haven't slept with anyone since Malcolm so this is the first time I've been so close to someone in a few months.

"Knock yourself out, hot stuff." I tease him. My laugh quickly fades away though, when he actually leans forward and kisses me. I didn't think he'd actually do it, I just thought he was purposefully riling me up.

I can't help myself to do anything other than go along as he deepened the kiss with the subtle entrance of his tongue into my mouth, entangling us even more than we already were.

A part of me was surprised to find out how good it felt, but something inside of me already knew. There was just something about Harry that always made me wonder. I mostly think it was because he managed to hit a nerve that nobody else could with his annoying antics and inappropriate actions, and I guess I always wondered if he would be the only one to be able to soothe it too.

This kiss makes me lean towards the idea that he indeed would be the only one to know exactly how to relieve me, just like he knows how to irritate me.

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by how quickly he pulls away, but the smirk on his face gives me just about the same feeling as that kiss did.

"Let's go back, hmm?" He suggests, peaking his head to the side before planting a kiss on my forehead and putting his arm around me. I nod with a faint smile, my lips still tingling from that kiss and let his tight grip pull me further into him.

My smile immediately fades, though, when I see Malcolm staring daggers at Harry and me from across the room. My heart drops. I had no idea he was going to be at the party. The reason I actually agreed is because when my friends asked me to come initially, they assured me he wouldn't be there. I figured that his friends, who were here, would see us and that he’d find out that way.

There is no choice but to walk past him, and my hope for ignoring him crumbles when Harry decides this is the time to chat with him.

"Oh hey buddy, didn't see you there." He fakes some civility, and the puzzle pieces click together. Of course he wasn't kissing me because he wanted to; He saw Malcolm and wanted to piss him off to satisfy his own personal vendetta against him. I know it's what I agreed to, but it feels kind of weird anyway.

I don't want to be in the middle of whatever feud those boys have, and I definitely don't want to be confronted with Malcolm right now, so I wiggle my way out of Harry's arm and try to walk past the two. But when I do so, Malcolm grabs me by my arm and stops me in my tracks.

"Seriously? Him? Is this to get back at me?" He asks, the seriousness in his tone matching the crease between his eyebrows.

"Don't worry Mal, I'm sure there's a girl out there who'd like to settle for your small dick." Harry remarks, clearly pleased with himself.

"I don't have to explain myself to you." I growl at my ex, clenching my jaw. My second attempt to walk away fails when he tightens his grip even more as he pulls me back, which causes me to stumble backwards.

Before I get the chance to yell at him to let me go, as the painful feeling in my arm had turned into a lingering sting, his hand has disappears. When I look up from checking the fresh scratches on my arm, I see Malcolm pushed against the wall with Harry's hand around his neck.

Louis and Zayn, two of Harry's friends, are suddenly standing behind him ready to fight if necessary. I'm so stressed about how quickly this situation escalated that I don't give myself time to wonder how those two popped up out of fucking nowhere.

"Touch her again and I swear to God you'll never see the light of day." Harry threatens, and I actually find myself being kind of scared by his voice and his demeanor. He backs up, turning around with a frown that fades when he spots my widened eyes.

He pushes Zayn and Louis out of the way, his eyes and hands immediately focusing on my arm that still has a red handprint on it, along with a few scratches from Malcolm's nails.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" He tilts his head to see all the way around my arm, his fingers softly hovering over my elbow.

"'M fine." I huff, puzzled by how many sides of Harry I've seen today. "I'm gonna go home."

"I'll take you." He immediately offers, following me as I walk towards the door.

"I'll get a cab." I quickly make up, not wanting to be around him anymore. I walk out the front door at a fast pace, hoping he won't be able to keep up.

"Y/N! Stop!" Harry yells out, running until he's in front of me. "You're not going to take a cab, I'm going to take you home. C'mon, my car's across the street."

"What the hell do you care? You're not my actual boyfriend!" I say the last part a bit more hushed.

"I care because I'm a decent human being." He argues, setting me off more. I thrown my arms over each other.

"No you're not! A decent human being wouldn't use someone for the sake of their own personal vendetta!" I yell at him. Harry stifles out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Isn't that exactly what you're doing?!"

"I'm doing this because this is the only way Malcolm will leave me alone. You kissed me because you wanted to set him off, to make him mad. What if he decides to get back at me when I'm alone one day?"

"He won't. He's too much of a pussy for that." Harry growls, but I can see that he's starting to see the logic in my argument.

"That's not the point, Harry!" I groan, throwing my head back and taking a deep breath. "Look, if we're gonna do this, we've got to set the record straight. I don't mind you kissing me, but it'll only be in public places to keep up the act, not for personal, selfish reasons. Understood?"

After some silence, Harry finally answers me.

"Yeah, okay. 'M sorry." His keys dangle between his fingers that he plays with as a nervous habit. "Can I take you home?"

I nod, throwing my arms over each other to warm myself up from the breeze that just passed over, and we start walking to his car.

Part 2 here

[bettercallstan]

V.II Snail - Second to One

Armoured Core 6 has an excellent story. The themes are well realised, the plot flows naturally, the world is coherent, but most of all the characters are layered and consistent. When you ask people who their favourite character from the game was most people will pick either V.IV Rusty, Handler Walter, Ayre, G1 Michigan, or G5 Iguazu. Armoured Core 6 has three endings and four major antagonists. The Fires of Raven ending has Ayre as the central antagonist, Alexa Lacta Est has Iguazu and Allmind, but the Liberator of Rubicon ending likely has the best antagonist in V.II Snail. Snail is the second in command of Arquebus’ Vespers and is often cited as a well written but fairly two dimensional character.

The first time Snail is introduced is just before Operation Wallclimber, where Walter is negotiating to send independent mercenary C4-621 on the mission. During the conversation Walter says ‘I hear you’re deploying V.I again. Must be rough having only one good pilot to rely on.’ He says this to insult Snail, as V.I Freud is the only person Snail can never be better than. Freud is ranked number one in the arena, he’s the highest ranked Vesper, and he’s both of those things without any of the augmentation that makes piloting an AC even possible for most people. Snail has many augments but despite that he can never catch up to Freud. In response Snail says ‘Are you suggesting your dog can take Freud’s place?’ This line is very interesting due to the similarities between Freud and 621. Freud may be the highest ranked Vesper but he isn’t loyal to Arquebus; he’s an expert AC pilot who only cares about getting to fight people he deems to be worthy opponents. 621 – the player’s avatar – is much the same, as what else is the player here for but for cool mech fights? Equally, 621 is a Gen 4 augmented human, a generation seen as outdated and subpar. So whilst not unaugmented, 621 needs significantly less augments than Snail to pilot an AC at the same level of mastery as Freud. Snail likely sees Freud in 621, and this is why he chooses to let 621 take Freud’s place on Operation Wallclimber. During the fight with the Juggernaut, Snail lies to V.IV Rusty about needing him to intercept incoming reinforcements, which causes him to leave 621 to fight the Juggernaut alone. Unfortunately for Snail, 621 wins, his plan fails.

After this failure, Snail becomes much less antagonistic towards 621. He takes a back seat in the story until the final mission of Chapter 3, Destroy the Ice Worm. In this mission Arquebus and Balam have agreed to cooperate, with Balam leading the mission under the command of G1 Michigan. Snail manages to nab himself the position of ground leader, and works with 621 and three other AC pilots to take down the Ice Worm. He’s mostly absent during Chapter 4’s descent into Watchpoint Alpha, because Arquebus have agreed to let Balam take the first shot at reaching the convergence. In fact Arquebus don’t even enter the watchpoint until halfway through the chapter. This is important as Snail seems to represent the ideology of Arquebus. His callsign – Snail. Snails are best known for being slow, and both Arquebus and Snail seem to embody the ‘slow and steady wins the race,’ mentality. This can best be seen when Snail lets his colleague V.VI Maeterlinck die so that 621 can defeat the Ibis series CEL-240 that guards the convergence. After the CEL-240 is downed, Snail ambushes 621 at the opportune moment and captures them, much like how Arquebus waited for the opportune moment to take down Balam by killing G1 Michigan earlier in the chapter.

At the beginning of Chapter 5, 621 escapes the Arquebus reeducation that Snail himself oversees. If that wasn’t already enough of an embarrassment, the player can choose to fight him on the Xylem and destroy his AC or ignore him. Both of these are incredibly humiliating for Snail; either he got his AC destroyed by an outdated pilot, or said pilot decided he wasn’t even worth their time. The other side of Snail’s callsign is that Snails are small, weak creatures that retreat into their shell when they feel threatened. In response to the incident on the Xylem, Snail retrieves the prototype Arquebus Balteus to try and finally put 621 to rest. This is a perfect conclusion for his character for a few reasons. Firstly, the main gimmick of the Balteus mech is its pulse armour; a spherical pulse shield that protects the mech from all damage, much like the shell of a Snail. But secondly, it relates back to his god complex being born of a feeling of inferiority. Snail sees Freud in 621 but even with this immensely powerful mech at his disposal, he can never overcome 621. He still loses. During his final fight he says ‘Raven the independent mercenary, you’re not the mutt I thought you were. You’re below that, you are vermin!’ During his conversation with Walter he called him a ‘meagre dog-sitter,’ so this shows how his hatred of 621 has deepened; he started off derogating 621 as just a dog, but now sees him as even worse than that because the only way he can feel better about himself is to put others down. No matter how hard he tries he can never be better than Freud or 621, so the only course is to bring them down to his level. During the fight he goes on a tirade, saying ‘Out of my sight vermin! That traitor V.IV, those dolts at command, but worst of all – you! The pest of Rubicon who stirred the cinders, you sicken me, all of you! I’ll crush you underfoot, I am Arquebus!’ Being stepped on is a common fear for Snails, so it seems he may be projecting somewhat here. Snails are incapable of ever crushing anything underfoot, just like how Snail can never beat 621 like he wants to.

However, the most interesting line to me is when he says ‘I am Arquebus.’ It’s worth noting that whilst Freud is V.I, Snail is the one with the power. Freud just does what he’s told if it involves cool mech fights, Snail is the one calling the shots at the Vespers. In practice he is the highest ranked member of Arquebus that we see in game. During his final fight, Rusty says ‘Snail may be V.II but he’s second to none.’ This is interesting because we know for a fact that’s not true – Freud is canonically the better pilot in every way that matters. What this actually tells us is that Snail, whilst not as skilled as Freud, was still skilled enough to gain Rusty’s respect. Snail had everything. He was respected as an ace pilot, he was in charge of the Vespers and of his rival, but he couldn’t see any of it because he wasn’t V.I. He was so obsessed with something that ultimately didn’t really matter that he failed to see just how much he has because at his core he is greedy, nothing he gets will ever be enough to satiate his inferiority complex, and it manifests in an arrogant, god complex personality that no one wants to be around. He ever says that 621’s greatest crime is trying to kill or ignore him. He can’t see how 621’s actions affect anything other than himself, and ultimately he dies inside Balteus for this failing.

In conclusion, V.II Snail is not as two dimensional as people say. He isn’t just arrogant, he isn’t just a man with a god complex. His character goes much, much deeper than that, and it’s one of the many reasons why I believe him to be Armoured Core 6’s best villain.

[miifu666]

You mention you had facts about Suklha awhile back XD love to hear about them please

Annoonn hii ♡♡♡ 🤩🤩

I do i do!! Heres a few Fun Facts ♡♡

Suklha likes to dress in brightly colored garments and thick layers, this is mainly because i was inspired by some centipedes who have vivid colours to warn predators they may be poisonous to eat!

Ive put Peking Operas as the main inspiration for Suklha's garments. This is because centipedes are known to move swiftly through almost leaves and rocks and more. To imagine an Opera actor who wears thick garments yet still moves so swiftly and naturally athletic without any problems is mesmerizing to me! I believe Suklha would be like that too!!

Part of Suklha's clothes are inspired by traditional Tibetan and mongolian clothes, not fully but definitely some of it.

Suklha is inspired by Hundun! A faceless being in chinese mythology who is believed to be the central of primordial chaos. Actually, I wanted to make that fact as part of Suklha's story- so spoiler ig

Given the title "Bastard of Immortality" by the celestials, is also a reference to a chinese slang "Filthy egg". A small note to how Whatever is her origin, its most likely primordial enough to be connected to the cosmic egg

Suklha loves to riddle!!! So much! She might even deprive Wukong from any affection till he answered her correctly lmao

She has a sweet tooth!! And an iron stomach!! Which means she loves both sweet and spicy things, Shes eating best of both worlds fr fr. She doesn't like bland food though, like one look is enough to make her disagree from coming into a place.

Has a habit of taking too long to shower, her bodycare routine is like a wholeass scripture. She always smells good atleast.

The main reason why Suklha wore Yunjian (Cloud Collar) is because Wukong had enough of her indecent "chest exposure." (He's dramatic) Not because he's afraid, he believes if she isn't fully clothed, it'll give the sign that she's open for marriage. Now, monkey king does NOT like that. And such he always helps design her cloud collar from now on.

Suklha doesn't particularly like it. Made her broad ish shoulder looks bigger. But damn if she doesn't appreciate Wukong's effort to design one

The markings underneath Suklha's eyes are scars from her deal with some guardians in the underworld that went south. A permanent reminder to her that while she has more power, her own body and vessel still belongs to the world.

If you hurt Suklha enough, more Centipede like limbs and traits will show. She won't be able to keep her humanoid physique while being badly injured.

I have a habit to add more details to things i KNOW not many people will notice, but here is some things in their design.

Replica! Suklha. color palettes consist of White (Signify her death, since chinese people use white as a funeral garment), Purple (Signify her Immortality after death), Gold ( which is Wealth, power and prosperity, a symbol of her omnipotent strength also as a place of yellow is a representation of freedom and entering Buddhism), Red (Opposite of original, color to ward off evil, good luck, sign of happy ending), Gray (Wisdom, Calmness, unassumingness)

Original! Suklha, color palettes consist of Blue ( Strategic and thoughtful nature, calmness, security and trust), Gold ( wealth, power, Prosperity, Symbol of omnipotent strength) , Red (Makeup, Good luck) Gray (Wisdom, Calmness, unassumingness)

Original!Suklha has a much more realistic Centipede attributes in her tails and antennas, while Replica!Suklha is much more tamed. This is because the energy flowing through the vessel is different, one is dark energy and the other is new enlightened energy.

[bratbarzal]

Hey, sorry for bringing this up but I was wondering if you could give any advice on how to spot AI in fic or writing? It makes me feel weird to think I'm reading or enjoying fics on here and the content is AI generated :(

I'm not necessarily the one to be policing this but I'll do my best to help bc I understand how disheartening it is to think you're unintentionally consuming AI generated content when it doesn't align with your own morals. I'll do my best to be helpful, but if anyone has any other advice, please feel free to add on if you can!

I'll also preface these points by saying, I'm talking about using AI to write a fic. I'm not talking about AI to translate, I'm not talking about AI to generate a prompt, or any other ~innocent use of AI within this sort of space. I don't intentionally use it at all as a personal decision/dislike, but I can understand it's place and the fact that it can be unavoidable for certain things that there is no ~easy alternative to.

Imperfection! I don't want to sit here and say perfection in writing is anything to be alarmed by - people proof read their work, or have people who do so for them, to make sure it flows or reads as well as it can, and obviously no one wants to be putting out anything that isn't their very best - but if I see any sort of mistake in writing, I feel safe enough to assume it wasn't generated by AI. Spelling errors, grammar mistakes, this boy doesn't even know the difference between there, their, and they are sort of thing. Imperfections are human. Ramblings are human - does a sentence go on way too long (me)? Does it seem like the writer is running out of ways to avoid overuse of the same word and are getting a migraine from scrolling through power thesaurus (me)? All indicators of someone who doesn't know when to stop, and isn't interested in keeping things looking perfect, therefore most likely not AI. The same can also be said about imperfections in written speech. Stutters, hums (uhms, ah's, ehh's, uhh's etc), saying phrases that are incorrect (like "could care less" which should always be "couldn't care less" lmao) are all human, and would not be replicated in speech generated by AI.

Personality! I think it's impossible to write something without inserting a little bit of yourself into it, and often you can see a consistency between someone's personal posts, and their writing. I acknowledge I'm saying this as someone who signs every sentence off with lmao like it's a period, and then writes 81k word fics with excessive use of the oxford comma and that often read like unhinged ramblings, but what I'm saying is, you will see their personality in their writing. I'm admittedly and to a fault sarcastic, and a raging idiot, and the shit I say on here reflects that, but my writing, and the people I write specifically, reflect that, also, and do so in a way that shows there is a human being behind it. I've never read an AI text that isn't robotic, or monotone, or lifeless. It doesn't matter how many prompts you give it, or how many times you run it through the mill, it cannot manipulate the essence of a person. I also recognise that not everybody shitposts in the way I personally do, but if you can get a good read on a person through their blog, through posts they make otherwise, or tags they add, or asks they answer, you should be able to tell if their writing is their own.

Language! Similar to the above, is the language used throughout consistent with the kind of language that writer uses elsewhere. Is any of it unnecessarily formal? Does the fiction that you are reading, read like fiction, does it read like there is thought and intention behind every word as there would be behind something a real person wrote?

Emotion! Again, tying into the above few points, is there more to the story than just action? I see a lot of AI that is - this happens, this happens, this happens, speech, movement, telling and rarely showing. It's all very specific, and again, robotic. Shoutout katie @nol-pat bc we were just discussing examples and she brought up a valid point which is that there is never anything beyond the action of it all, because the bot isn't capable of the emotion or explanation that goes along with any of it. There is little thought, there is little feeling, there is little grit, if that makes sense? And sometimes, people write this way, but if they have the power to be writing a story, they usually have the power to add beyond the bare minimum of basic human movement. And in a similar vein, does what you are reading make YOU feel something? Beyond a description of flushed cheeks and heart hammering, can you really relate to what you are reading, to how the characters are reacting and responding to what is happening? Do you feel immersed in what you are reading, and do you feel that way throughout?

Consistency! Chances are if you are reading anything multi-chapter or that is a continuation of a previous work, it won't be AI generated. If there is a story you can follow through each chapter, if there are call-backs and references and repeated traits and characteristics, that make the story flow, there is someone putting a whole lot of pain-staking thought behind it. I think the same goes for generally longer fics. From what I've seen of AI in other works, the longer it is, the more likely it is to go off the beaten path. There will be inconsistencies later down the line in an AI fic because of the way it is set up - it usually takes more and more prompts to make it longer, and the more you instruct it to expand, the more it forgets what it originally gave you.

This last one I was hesitant to bring up because I see it all over, and I see people pointing the finger at it's use, and I don't generally agree that the EM-dash is the devil, but in looking at a few proven and assumed AI works while I've been thinking about this, I feel like it's something I want to raise for you to look into yourself, because it is very much something that keeps cropping up.

I'll preface what I'm about to say with I don't think the use of an em-dash necessarily an outright indicator, but bare with me on this whole thing, because there is something to say about its overuse.

-, a dash, is typed outright, and a part of most regular keyboards, certain writing tools will autocorrect this to a longer version, which is an EN-dash (e.g. I use pages, when I type a -, it will often elongate it to an – within the app. - vs –) when it is used to signify an "up to" or a "until" like you'd see on opening hours or something, but when works are copied into Tumblr, it will usually just revert to it's regular dash size. An EM-dash is a longer dash and the correct use of this would be to indicate a break/change in sentence structure —. So that is - vs —.

- which is a dash/hyphen (eg. book-end, co-worker, etc.)

– which is an EN-dash (eg. 9am – 5pm, pages 4 – 5, etc.)

— which is an EM-dash (I'll use an example from merriam-webster here, because as I will go onto say, I would usually just use a regular dash “That is—I suppose it is concerning.”)

If you type in a DOUBLE hyphen into most tools, it will correct to an EM-dash, and I don't know if it's the tool I'm using, but when I have then copied this into Tumblr, or written straight into Tumblr if you're the kind of live-life-on-the-edge maniac insane enough to rely on doing that, it usually ends up coming out as a double hyphen (--, so that's -- vs —). Again, I'm not saying em-dashes are a certain indicator, but something to consider if the rest of the text seems off. There's a lot of research and debate around this, but in my personal experience, as a creative writer, as a reader, as a general enjoyer of fiction, when I see an EM-dash outside of a corporate email or an essay, it feels generally misplaced, and you'll notice it replacing commas, colons, semi-colons, etc and you will be able to see what I mean for yourself. I (again, PERSONALLY) have always just written a hyphen, never even a double that would auto-correct, which is why it's shifty to ME. An em-dash, despite it's definition and it's place in grammar and punctuation as a whole, reads more like a personal or professional function, and not something I would see or use in creative writing. I'll attach some reading on this, I've tried to find anything not behind a paywall, and a few different opinions on the matter. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Something I will say to look out for specifically when it comes to the EM-dash, is how it is being used. If you think it's being used to cover up where a human imperfection may be, especially in speech, like a stutter, or a pause to think, or fillers like "uhh" or "erm" you have your answer.

Overall, AI is a complex and ever-evolving beast, and it's borderline impossible at the end of the day to ever know for sure, but I can tell you as someone who has been on this site a long time, there are a lot more creatives on here than there are those who are fraudulently posting AI works as their own. Sometimes it can feel like a plague, and sometimes the tags are riddled, but if you're ever unsure, ask around. People will direct you to fics that made them feel something - fics that made them laugh or cry or think, and you'll find the authentic writers behind them 💕

All we can do as a community here is continue to push for authenticity and honesty - and encourage people to post their own works, no matter how rough they believe them to be. I'll make more of an effort to reblog fics I love if it helps, and celebrate the thriving creativity that still remains in this space.

I've said it a million times by now, I'd rather sit here and read bullet pointed thoughts/fragments of a story than the same regurgitated nonsense I keep seeing people paste from chatgpt.

Also, the obvious would be running it through an AI detector, although this can be subject to error as with everything else, my above points are kind of to make you think without having to copy and paste fics into the below, but they're always useful too!!

UndetectableAI, Grammarly, ZeroGPT, QuillBot

And I’ll follow on by saying, if you’re using one of the above, use a couple. I ran a text that I knew to be AI through QuillBot, and it said 0% was AI generated, but ZeroGPT said 94% of it was.

[pumpkinpie59]

ranking the tmnt shows based on plot writing, character writing, and what my preferences are:

first off, plot writing

6, tnm

idk what to put here.

5, 2012

it really sucks because its first season’s writing is unironically my favorite writing in the franchise. but then the show steadily gets messier and more inconsistent writing as it goes forward. especially in season 4. i wish i could defend it more but it is at the bottom for me. besides tnm ig

4, 87

i actually like the arcs in 87, but the thing with 87 is that … the plot isn’t the point! but i don’t consider that a flaw. the show is a comedy first, and it’s great at what it does. so yes, even if the plot episodes are pretty forgettable compared to the goofier episodes, it’s not the worst thing in the world. but it’s still number 4.

3, rise

rise is kinda weird because even tho most of the series is comedy filler like 87, it’s most known for its plot. but i think it earns that because sometimes the show will throw in episodes that foreshadow the big plot at the end of the season, and it handles it pretty well for the most part.

2, tales

i honestly really enjoyed the way the plots were set up in tales. since it’s pretty new, i won’t spoil it, but i think my only actual complaint was the framing devices they used. but otherwise it was pretty good.

1, 03

every once in a while, the show would have a hiccup writing-wise, but overall i liked the flow of the arcs and stories it was trying to tell. out of all the tmnt shows, 03 was the best at juggling several arcs at once and committing to giving them closure (cough. unlike 2012-).

okay character writing rankings.

6, tnm

tbf this one has venus. and a pretty good donnie.

5, rise

this is so controversial i know. but i just get so frustrated with how the show handles leo and donnie’s writing specifically. they feel ooc half the time and there’s little consistency. and then raph and mikey (my favorites of the team) were sidelined a lot.

4, 2012

mikey has no character growth whatsoever and is an adhd stereotype. donnie’s development gets thrown to the background so you only notice it if you’re paying attention to him the entire time. leonardo gradually gets worse over the course of the series and we never see him get better. they couldn’t decide what to do with karai half the time. april’s arc got switched for a different one halfway through (i still love her tho). the only one with a decent arc is raph, and i still think it could’ve been better ://

3, 03

this is not a knock at 03. i just think that character growth wasn’t its priority. telling stories was. however we do occasionally see them go through arcs. most obvious is leo, but i also enjoy seeing raph get less hostile and trusting leo more over the course of the first season.

2, 87

you’d have to watch the whole show to see it, but there’s almost … an accidental ?? arc for each turtle??? raphael gets angrier up until it reaches typical raphael levels in red sky, donatello goes through ups and downs of wishing he was never mutated while still pursuing human-level knowledge, michelangelo early on in the show wished he was more human (he changes his mind after becoming human once, but the feeling lingers a bit sometimes), and leonardo goes through anxieties related to his team (he acts differently about being without them depending on the season). but even without considering development, their personalities are written fantastically and i love seeing how they interact with the world around them.

1, tales

this is suspect to change since we’ve only had a movie and a 12-episode show. but what i’ve seen so far, i’ve really liked. my only complaint is that donnie feels different in the show vs the movie ://

and ,,, my biases

6, rise

sorry.

5, tnm

guilty pleasure idk what to say. uh. venus de milo. and turtlelamb <33

4, tales

i liked it a lot! i just want more characters and world building. we’ll see where it goes in the future.

3, 03

i love many aspects of the show. it’s not quite as entertaining to me as the next to tho. idk why but my attention span just can’t handle too much of it.

2, 2012

i grew up with this one. does it suck? oh yeah for sure lmao. but it’s nostalgic and i like a lot of the characters. and season 1 particularly is amazing. sucks for the rest of the show tho lol. i will unashamedly bully it.

1, 87

wow. who would’ve— i mean. man. who could have possibly guessed— this one has lotus blossom so i’d say this one can’t be beat.

[justforbooks]

What’s the real key to a fulfilling life?

For centuries, we’ve pursued happiness and meaning. But what does that leave out?

What if I told you that we could all be rich? Not in dollars or pounds, yen or rupees, but a completely different type of currency. A currency measured in experiences, adventures, lessons learned and stories told. Social psychologists, have dedicated their research careers to a simple, but universal question: what makes for a good life, and how can we achieve it? For much of human history, we have been presented with two possibilities: pursuing a life of happiness, or a life of meaning. Each of these paths has its benefits and proponents, but decades of psychological research have also revealed their limits.

The current cultural conception of happiness, for example, can work against us finding fulfilment. Historically, happiness tended to be defined as the result of “good luck” and “fortune”. Today many expect it to come from individual effort and success. But this, in turn, makes unhappiness and negative emotions such as sadness or anger seem like personal failures.

Ask the Danes and Finns, who consistently rank among the happiest people in the world, what their secret is and they’ll tell you this: lower your expectations and be content with what you have. It is a recommendation backed by plenty of evidence. Paradoxically, happiness is easier to achieve if you don’t want too much of it. We assume that the big things in life will make us happy: a wedding, a promotion or a new car. They do, but not for long. Studies show that we adapt to our new conditions more quickly than you might think, something psychologists call the “hedonic treadmill”. Instead, it’s the daily walks with your dog, the weekly coffee with your best friend and the monthly romantic dinner with your partner that provide a more enduring happiness. It sounds good, doesn’t it? But it leaves something out. It’s a bit like being a college student who only takes easy courses to be sure of getting good grades. Might there be more to life than simple pleasures and cosy comfort?

Then there’s the meaningful life. We often imagine that meaning flows from trying to change the world, à la Steve Jobs, Greta Thunberg or Mother Theresa. The pressure to realise this kind of grand vision can be immensely taxing, and feels out of reach for most of us. Once again, the research shows that lowering your sights and focusing on the little things can offer a more achievable sense of meaning. Often people find it in routines like taking care of family, volunteering in the community or maintaining a religious practice.

Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. But there is also a dark side to the pursuit of meaning: researchers have found that it can encourage people to draw sharp lines between those who belong in their group and those who don’t. The rituals and love that bind us to our chosen way of life can come at the expense of compassion for those unlike us. Rightwing authoritarians and members of terrorist organisations, for example, tend to report leading more meaningful lives.

None of this is to say that happy or meaningful lives cannot be a good ones. But both models fail to capture the breadth of human experience. What of curiosity, ambition and exploration? Or failure and resurgence? Thinking about what happiness and meaning leave out, and the traps they can set us, led psychologists to sketch out a third route to fulfilment: psychological richness. A psychologically rich life is one filled with diverse, unusual and interesting experiences that change your perspective; a life with twists and turns; a dramatic, eventful life instead of a simple and straightforward one; a life with multiplicity and complexity; a life with stops, detours and turning points; a life that feels like a long, winding hike rather than many laps of the same racing circuit. Such experiences can kickstart the psychological immune system, making us more resilient. Not only that, embracing the pursuit of psychological richness can make us less prone to regret: it matters less if the thing you did went wrong. You did it regardless, and chalked up another experience.

A life of psychological richness is also accessible to everyone, whatever their circumstances. In times of illness, bereavement or financial ruin, happiness or meaning can seem out of reach. A mindset focused on richness is able to incorporate these disasters into the tapestry of life, confident in the knowledge that things will change again soon.

In any case, a psychologically rich life can have meaning and happiness as its byproduct. Take Linda, a taxi driver from Riverside, California. Her life has been psychologically rich by any standards: she gave birth to two of her grandchildren as a surrogate for her daughter, whose medical condition made it dangerous to deliver a baby. She finds happiness in regular visits to her children and grandchildren and finds meaning in her previous career as a public servant and the donation of one of her kidneys to her ex-husband. In her retirement, she drives part-time because she enjoys conversations with her customers, and it funds her annual travel abroad.

In the end, perhaps no one said it better than Eleanor Roosevelt: “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear”.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[novlr]

Hi I’m interested in writing, but idk how and where to start. Any advice?

Starting your writing adventure can seem daunting, but it’s actually the best time to have fun and discover what the craft means to you. And to get started with writing, I have a few basic concepts to consider.

Whether you’re writing poetry, a novel, short stories, nonfiction, or even screenwriting, the below concepts are versatile, and work as general steps on how to start.

Let’s dig in!

Start small, build a habit

The first thing to do to get started with writing is to actually start writing. Earth-shattering response, I know.

Start with finding a small routine that works best for your schedule and try it for about two weeks to gauge if changes are needed.

For example, you can spend five minutes during lunch every day to type whatever is on your mind. Then, once that becomes an instinctual habit, increase it to 10 minutes. You can also experiment with half-hour increments every other day, or, your routine becomes writing a few hours on the weekend because of your work schedule.

There’s no magical writing routine you should force yourself to do. Everyone has their own pace, and it’s up to you to find yours. There’s no wrong answer to this.

Experiment, adapt, and find your flow. Finding a routine can take a few tries, and that routine can also change after a significant life event (you can also have a different version of the routine for low energy days). So no need to be rigid with yourself. But once you find your flow, do it as consistently as possible.

As for what to write: write about your day, let out an emotion, tell a story from childhood, practice talking as a character; whatever fancies you at that moment. As long as you’re writing, whether it’s 5 or 5,000 words, you’re doing it right!

P.S. Looking for more on building a writing habit? Our course “Write to Play” helps you get started with writing and learn to enjoy it! Our Discord Community also hosts weekly writing sprints and other activities, so you can connect with fellow writers and work on goals together. Both are free to join.

Ask why you want to write

Writing may look like a glamorous career or hobby, but as with many things, it takes effort. And your level of writing effort depends on why you write in the first place.

Some people get started with writing because they think publishing something will make quick bucks. But it should never be about the money (although money is a nice bonus). Writing is about community and entertainment via the oldest form of connecting with others: storytelling.

We write because we love to tell stories. We write because we want to share a message with others through written expression. We write because we are natural creators of worlds and characters that weave adventures.

So ask yourself why you really want to write. Do you want to connect with others through your personal experiences? Is there a message you want to share with the world? Do you want to entertain the masses with meaningful adventure? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, great news! You’re on the right track.

If you need a “why” example, I’ll give you my reason for writing poetry and fiction. It’s to advocate mental health and self-worth.

After going through a personal journey of discovering self-acceptance, I want people to follow their hearts and core desires, and to love themselves for who they are. Because that’s true happiness–valuing your core identity.

Genre and theme

Genre and theme are two vital things you need to get started with writing.

Genre is fairly straightforward. Most aspiring writers already have one in mind. However, if you’re not sure where to start, think about the genres that your favorite books, movies, or TV shows are, and go from there.

Do you like epic fantasy and adventure? Try the action genre. Do you enjoy dystopian settings questioning the ethics of society? Society and worldview are great for getting deep and philosophical. Or do you love a character rising to the top with a successful career or sports tournament? Look into performance and status.

Theme takes a little more effort, but if you spend time on your “why,” that will help significantly! Because the theme you write about, from a poem to a novel, typically derives from your “why.”

Take my own “why” again as an example. Since it’s about mental health, I spend my days on themes of self-discovery, societal influence on “success,” inner demons, acceptance–the list goes on. But they all come from my overarching goal to show how valuing your true self brings real happiness.

Here’s another example: say you have a personal experience of winning a sports tournament because you pushed yourself, even though you wanted to give up. Perhaps that’s inspiration for a project with the message, “with effort comes reward.” That theme opens all kinds of opportunities, from looking at the best-suited genre to what kind of story and character to write about.

Which leads to my next concept! 

Characters and story basics

Genre and theme play right into your characters and story. This is where we dive into some mechanics of storytelling, starting with the concept of story and characters, and then how the theme and genre affect them to create a basic project outline.

To start, your story is the external sequence of obstacles your character faces, leading to learning the theme at the end. Your character is the one going through the story’s external events while internally processing them.

Your theme then determines the “what” in your story: what message the story shares to readers at the end, and what core events lead to the theme reveal. Meanwhile, the character(s) are the “who” being affected by the theme throughout the story.

With that, the theme determines the beginning and end of your story, as well as the path of growth for your character to experience. This is the bare minimum you need when writing a project, like a novel or short story. Even if you don’t use outlines.

For the end of the story, we already mentioned the theme reveal; and that’s typically portrayed through the character facing a final challenge–like a big boss fight. And through that challenge, the character grows from learning the theme. So the theme dictates the end of the story by what the final event and message are, and who the character becomes after growth (or lack of, for tragic ending). 

From there, we can move backwards to the beginning of the story. In storytelling, the ending is the opposite of the beginning. So, if the story’s end has a character learning the theme through a final challenge, then the story’s beginning introduces that character with a major flaw to overcome by learning the theme; while starting the sequence of obstacles that eventually leads to the theme reveal at the end.

Just like that, you have the theme crafting the basics of your story with a dynamic character!

But let’s dive further with genre. Genre helps plot the “how,” as in, how your story and character’s journey are told (i.e. action, romance, etc). Each genre has specific conventions for a story to follow, thus acting as a great template to plot lengthier projects like novels.

For example, romance genres start the story with two characters meeting as potential love interests (the meet cute), and typically end with them falling in love. Thus, if you choose romance as your genre, then you work your theme, story, and character(s) into those parameters.

Once you do that, you’ll notice you’ll have a basic outline for a project. Shall we go through an exercise to see the magic?

Let’s go back to the theme example of “with effort comes reward,” and combine it with a character, story, and genre.

Based on that theme, the character needs a major flaw at the story’s beginning, one to overcome by learning the lesson. Also, the beginning starts a sequence of obstacles that must lead to the character getting rewarded from effort.

So let’s create a character who believes everything comes easily to them–someone born into a rich family and had everything handed to them at a young age. That’s the flaw. And for the sequence of obstacles to start their growth, we’ll have the character lose their inheritance, forced to figure out how to live on their own.

These obstacles become the hardships of living without wealth. That way, by the end of the story, the character comes face to face with the theme, realizing if they want “reward” (or perhaps fulfillment), they must put effort into what they do. The story thus ends with the character growing and understanding it’s worth working toward something.

Now add the romance parameters mentioned above for genre. After the character loses their inheritance, they meet someone at a local store; one who becomes friends and helps tackle the character’s personal dilemma. This also helps the character realize genuine happiness as they also fall in love. Therefore, they find their path through their own efforts, without inherited wealth, and live happily ever after.

Tackle that mindset

There’s only one mindset every writer needs to have before they get started with writing, and that’s this phrase:

Perfection is failure.

Trust me, as a healing perfectionist, that sounds wild. But here’s something crazier.

Not even your published work will be perfect.

You will always reread your work and think a word needs tweaking, or a character needs different reactions in dialogue. Some published books still have typos, too.

With projects like novels, most writers never finish their first draft because they spend time and energy editing the story as they write. To perfect it as they go.

But you don’t know how the novel goes until you write to the end of it. 

Like creativity, your project will change and flow. Especially in the beginning, as your first draft is the discovery draft; the foundation of the project. That’s not the time for tweaking, but the time for building.

So allow your first draft to be messy. Get the whole concept out first. Then, you will have better knowledge on how to edit the entire project. Not just parts of it that might change anyway as you get closer to the end. Don’t waste your precious time and creativity like that.

This is the same for me with poetry. I always focus on the poem’s core message first, then I’ll play with pretty prose and rhyming.

So focus on the journey of writing the draft and getting the full idea down. Again, creativity is fluid. Allow your writing to be the same.

My favorite book coach discusses perfectionism with the analogy of baking a cake. You can’t put icing on a cake without letting it fully bake first. Finish baking your draft to the end, then add the icing edits.

And there you have it! Those are my five main concepts to remember to get started with writing. And those are merely the tip of the iceberg of what the craft has to offer you–but remember, this is the time to have fun and discover!

Are you ready to dive in and get started with writing? I can’t wait to see what you create.

Happy writing!

[weedrow]

The importance of logic in writing

Not enough people realize the fundamental issue of logical consistency within storytelling. With any story that is incredible that even you yourself love, there is a line of logic that connects the elements that you like. That connect that which is excellent. Even the most iconic lines in anything have logic connected to it that makes it so.

In Star Wars, "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." Is not potent because of vibes or vacuous ideas of truth or soul, it has a logic. Luke Skywalker is a heroic figure who has to wrestle with his inner darkness that pulls him towards quick effective ways to get what he wants, but they are down the path of darkness. Of evil. And his father had been faced with this precise issue and had fallen to it. Despite this, Luke has faith in his fathers goodness. In his ability to return to the light. So this line is referencing the great hero his father once was before he fell to the darkness. And it also reveals his ability to falter, yet his firmness in his choice to the light.

In Pride and Prejudice, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." An iconic line of all literature, that again has a logic that flows throughout the entire book. The conflict consists primarily of Elizabeth and Darcy struggling with their preconceptions of one another and their own pride. WOAH PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (I don't give a single fuck what people think about Pride and Prejudice. It is a masterpiece.) And this conflict is seemingly contradictory to this line, except it is to accentuate the perspective of Elizabeth. She could easily have simply gotten married to Darcy and lived with wealth comfortably for the rest of her days. But instead she stood behind her beliefs and principles, because Darcy had shown himself to be contemptable. However her standing true to herself and holding Darcy accountable brings the entire story together, as Darcy then swallows his pride and goes out of his way to fix the harm he had done to a dear friend and an innocent woman. A classic piece of feminist literature, showing the power women have and must use to advocate for themselves so they may have a good life. That a woman should not be beholden to the approval of men simply because a wealthy man would be in want of a wife. The line outlining this universally acknowledged truth regarding gender dynamics is thus directly confronted and challenged, for us to find at the end a story of truth, pride and prejudice.

Then even in stories that suck, the best lines will have a line of logic that people love it for. Let's go with a horrific show for many reasons, a prime one being logical consistency (That's a bit of a sly move as any flaw in a movie can be formatted into logic). In Obi-Wan Kenobi the show, the final confrontation with Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, Vader says "I am not your failure, Obi-Wan. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did." A line that has numerous flaws. One being that this is not the character of Vader nor Anakin, rather speaking from a perspective of some fan who does not understand the characters, using vague terminology of killing Anakin, without establishing his separation from that identity beyond 'ohh he's evil now so he's not anakin good guy he's vader bad guyyyy' which is weak as hell. Then it has no source for this dialogue, "I am not your failure" speaking as though he knows Obi-Wan's thoughts rather than speaking on his own perspective. Do you remember their last fight on Mustafar? Do you remember all the things they talked about, about democracy, the empire, the dark side and the light. Their relationship of brothers being reduced to one of enemies. With "I loved you" hitting hard. That is also with a slough of issues throughout the movie.

Yet this line of dialogue still maintains some relevance that stands as the reason people love it. It refers to an understanding of guilt and responsibility that Obi-Wan has, that of course he would have. He was his mentor and family, and he was not there to recognize the signs of Palpatine seducing him to the dark side. He was not there to pull him back when he was on the brink. So then for Vader to specifically go for the jugular, trying to taunt Obi-Wan into making a mistake by saying he himself murdered the man Obi-Wan cared so dearly for, it follows. The tragedy of Anakin turning into Vader being accentuated and put in the face of an audience, with cinematic lighting, and the mask cracked, acting as a bridge between the humanity of Anakin and the evil of Darth. There still is A line of reasoning and logic there, even if you have to ignore some of the most horrendous writing known to man to see it.

This leads to the conclusion of the entire affair. Logic is essential in storytelling. Without it, you can just as easily say "Sad man was really sad and killed himself" and that would be meaningful, yet it isn't because there is not the logic lying within to make it so. The tissue to connect it to something that resonates with an audience.

Then comes the difficult part. How to make a story that is logically consistent. Well that simply comes down to drafting, redrafting and redrafting again, with a keen sight for ensuring all you are attempting to do is founded and earned. Premise to conclusion, set up to pay off. Same ideas, different words.

It is worthwhile holding a logical standard that can be verbalized as such. The logical through-line of a story is immensely simple to understand and explain to people to make better stories and better standards, but you must care about it and you must practice. But it will all be worth it once we arrive into a golden age of storytelling, where society only gives validation and monetization to stories which have merit worthy of us as a human civilization. The civilization built on the shoulders of giants. We owe it to ourselves, our ancestors and generations to come. Have a high standard in storytelling.