#just housekeeping things

[plusultraetc]

I currently have over 500 drafts on this blog with recent ones ranging from ‘UA faculty sitcom S1E02’ to ‘quirk notes on brain activity’ and I am starting to think that maybe it’s time to calm down

[just-antithings]

https://twitter.com/babyniecewife/status/1738374734738530516

"JUST GO FUCK YOUR COUSIN INSTEAD OF SHIPPING INCEST" I am fucking dying

I can’t view twitter links since I don’t have an account can someone provide screenshots please

[tojisun]

nothing really matters like we did (a song by jaedynn latter)

so unfortunately i’m not done with millsy/petey posts because every break up song can be a song about broken families or something something (img)

[simptasia]

if julian and garak were to have children (and i imagine they do), i think the kid(s) would have the last name "garak". not only does it continue mila's last name, but it destroys richard bashir's oh so precious legacy

[not-poignant]

Any plans on adding to 'Underline the Red' in the near future? I haven't seen it on the schedule; just wondering.

Underline the Red will become the main story once Underline the Black is finished.

Until then it shares a stage with Underline the Blue and Underline the Gold as a side story. However, I only share chapters from one side story per month, which means whenever Blue is up, Gold and Red aren't, or whenever Gold is up, Red and Blue aren't, etc. For example, it's been months since an Underline the Gold chapter, far longer than anyone is waiting for Red since I put chapters up for that more recently.

So December and January will be rotating to Underline the Gold!

I cannot handle (literally energy wise, I'm not superhuman) actively updating 7 stories at the same time, it's just a fast-track to not wanting to do this job anymore x.x So they do get rotated. Since Red has been updated more recently than Gold, it's Gold's turn.

TL;DR not in the near future, no, as it's rotating with other side stories monthly. But there will come a time where it steps up into the "main story" category, and then it will be Blue, Gold and Silver (or just two) rotating instead, and Red will steadily be put up month by month like Underline the Black is.

[bameme]

In what feels like the algorithmic version of politely ignoring a fart, Google keeps recommending me resources on how to start my own cleaning company. As if the reason I keep searching how to get different stains out of things is because I'm an entrepreneurial go-getter, instead of having the same relationship with condiments that a toddler has with a hamster (love, enthusiasm - and, if left unsupervised - tragedy at the speed of light)

[rainbowsandwhumperflies]

The Winged Servant - drabble

Notes: okay you might've noticed there was no poll last week to vote for this week's chapter. That's because I love Dakota too much and didn't want to keep them to myself for any longer and no one was voting on the option for Ryan to meet his only ever friend. Ryan is 18 here, about two years before he ever heard Onyx's name. Speaking of which, Onyx is not here, and neither is any other whump content. This is whatever the opposite of fanservice is, where the author is clearly the only one who cares

content warnings: super corrupt Rao monarchy, that's pretty much it, this is not even whump

masterlist

“I have dinner for you, Your Highness,” someone said from the doorway, and Ryan glanced up to see a person who, sure enough, was holding a tray of food. But it wasn’t Jayden, and Ryan had told Jayden to bring him his food.

“Where’s Jayden?”

“He’s busy.”

HIs eyes narrowed. “He’s never too busy for a direct order from the royal family. What the fuck did you do?”

The servant cocked their head to the side. “Apologies, Your Highness. I asked if I could do it instead. I didn’t realize this meal delivery was so important to you.”

“... Why?”

“Because you don’t tell people things like that.”

“Why did you ask to do it, dipshit.”

They grinned. “Maybe I like seeing you, Your Highness.”

“Is that right? You like seeing me, and you like being a smartass, and you like pissing me off?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe,” Ryan repeated sarcastically. “Fine. Bring me my food, and take a few bites so I know you’re not poisoning me, and you can get out of my hair.” That wasn’t as safe as he was supposed to be. But there were still four more complaint forms to go through before he’d have time to care.

“I sure hope you weren’t poisoned,” the servant said, setting the tray down and picking up a cracker. “This would be a really stupid way for me to die.”

This would also be a really stupid way for them to spend their time living—it’d be faster to just let Jayden, a close, trusted servant do his job—but Ryan didn’t point that out.

Ryan also didn’t point out the way that the crumbs clung to their sparkling lip gloss. That was the reason he was staring at their lips, because it was distracting, but it’d be rude to point it out. So he kept staring at their lips.

~

They were at the next dinner party. Not serving food at the party, either, getting served food, which meant that they were not a servant. “Dakota Lake,” they were introduced as, though their younger sisters kept calling them Kota. And while Ryan hadn’t noticed them posing as a servant, he would have recognized their sisters. Only eight years old and already, the two had a reputation for being the castle menaces at every single event. And… he supposed that if he thought about it, their mom had been working there for a few months now, an important enough job that her family was considered nobility.

Dakota didn’t seem entirely focused on the dinner party, which was disrespectful enough in and of itself that Ryan started to get pissy. But clearly they weren’t the only distracted one, or Ryan would have been able to recognize them before they’d delivered his dinner four days earlier.

They ran right into the prince later, balancing three plates of what had been turkey before it became a mess on his suit. “I’m- shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You’re not a servant,” Ryan blurted, making Dakota pause in their reach for paper towels.

“... No, Your Highness. What?”

“You’re not a servant, and you brought me food last week. I want to know why.”

They laughed breathlessly, brushing Ryan’s shoulder off with a napkin. “Christ. I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to see you.”

“No one wants to see me.” That wasn’t exactly how those words were supposed to come out, but they were true regardless. Prince Ryan wasn’t known for social visits.

“Really, Your Highness? No one?” They handed their dirty plates off to a servant passing by, apparently deciding that they’d done enough cleaning and the servants could do the rest. “Do you get out much? Lots of people think you’re nice to look at. How did you recognize me, anyway? You were so focused on that paperwork—barely looked at me.”

Ryan blinked slowly.

Lots of people think you’re nice to look at.

He wondered if lots of people included Dakota. He wondered why that mattered. He wondered if it was relevant at all that he’d recognized Dakota based on the sparkling lip gloss that they were wearing, the lip gloss that the bread crumbs had stuck to when they’d delivered the food.

“I remembered you because it’s weird fucking behavior to intercept a direct command from a prince just because you wanted to see him.”

“Do you want me to piss off? I will if you want.”

Not particularly, Ryan realized, which came as a surprise to himself. He had always hated the dinner parties. Cardan hated them, too. Really, the only people who liked them were noble families who needed to feel important and appreciated, and Ryan wasn’t in the mood for appreciating people.

But Dakota had made the poor decisions that they’d made, and they’d done it without apparent motive. That made them an unsolved mystery. And a mystery was much more appealing than the dinner party.

“I forgive you,” Ryan decided, and Dakota snorted as if he’d made a joke.

“Okay, Your Highness. Thank you.”

“Unfortunately, we’re both still covered in your fucking turkey. Come on, I’ll let you borrow some of my clothes if you need some.” They had other options, actually. Like asking literally any of the people employed here for clothes. But they hadn’t said “lots of people think you’re nice to look at” to the people employed here.

“Okay,” Dakota agreed with a soft smile. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

~

taglist: @kaleidoscope-of-thoughts @toyybox @fuckcapitalismasshole @rainydaywhump @jay--o

@risk606 @cepheusgalaxy @fourwingedwriter

ps: I'm tagging you all because this is very much the universe that The Winged Servant takes place in. However, all this stuff that happens to Ryan before he meets Onyx is pretty much irrelevant to the actual plot. And not whumpy. And there will almost definitely be more of this because Dakota is my favorite ever character. So if you don't want to be tagged for this stuff lmk ^^

[saradika-graphics]

something I have been thinking about for both this blog (and for blogs that take requests in general, because I have seen this happen to others) - if you are asking someone to spend their free time making something for you, please take a few moments of your time reviewing their bio/request info/rules before sending an ask 💖

[painalotwww]

[katsy-kitty]

I'm going to vacuum my apartment, which means I'll be out for the next few days.

Keep me in your thoughts.

[wuffen]

henlo, as twitter's going down the drain i feel incentive to tell ya i am on bluesky as well

[zyrafowe-sny]

Note to self: when editing things late at night, read them over again in the morning before sending them out. Preferably after a shower/coffee.

[collaredkittyboy]

.

[not-poignant]

January 2024 Writing Round-Up

Here's the monthly round-up of everything written and posted in January 2024! How is the first month of this year nearly over already??? But here's the chapters that were released: 

Birthday Spotlight - Dr Gary Konowalous 

Birthday Spotlight - Nathaniel (Nate) Prince 

Underline the Black 76  

Underline the Black 77 

Underline the Blue 09 

Constellations 02 

The Nascent Diplomat 40 

The Nascent Diplomat 41 (Augus+Gwyn Tier+)

Underline the Blue 12 (Augus+Gwyn Tier+)

Constellations 05 (Gary+Efnisien Tier+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 33 (Mosk+Eran Tier+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 34 (Mosk+Eran Tier+)

Tradewinds (full e-book) (Gary+Efnisien Tier+)

FANFICTION

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 29 

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 30 

Palmarosa 16 

Palmarosa 17 

*

An extremely quiet month, with only 31,000 words written. That's not bad (my minimum is 25k) but I'm sure y'all know I like to aim higher than that most months!

A reminder that enrolment into the Merch Tier to get the May/June rewards is still valid until mid February!

*

On the writing side, I wrote across multiple stories: Palmarosa, Constellations, The Nascent Diplomat, A Stain that Won't Dissolve, Underline the Black, and Underline the Blue.

*

We adopted a gorgeous puppy called Tobermory but it's been very overwhelming on a PTSD and autism front (we actually decided to rehome at one point, and then decided to stick it out, but it's been rough). And also just on a 'young puppy life' front lol.

In the months ahead I'll be taking a break in the form of not posting one Underline the Black chapter per month to give me one Sunday-to-Sunday stretch of posting no chapters. I will still be active and around! These aren't holidays from writing or interacting with you all, just from the schedule itself. :D 

I also really want to get stuck into editing Game Theory, it feels like a distant dream right now which is more than a little frustrating, just because of time and energy, but please know it's still high up on my list! I'm also going to start designing/planning the next round of merch soon, so stay tuned for that. :D

*

Tradewinds has LAUNCHED!!! This is a Patreon/Ream exclusive, meaning that - at this stage - it can only be read if you join that tier and download it to read. You're welcome to stay in the tier, drop back down to your regular tier, or even just sign up for one month and leave again. Obviously the latter isn't my preference! But I want folks to enjoy themselves and am sensitive to the fact that not everyone can afford regular subscription, or has to be careful how they subscribe <3 

Tradewinds is a completed Fae Tales Verse story with a completely new cast of characters that focuses on merchant fae in the southern hemisphere, and Seelie vs. Unseelie merchant traders.

*

Remember you can reach out to me privately at any time, at my email piafoxhall@gmail.com - if you can't find something, or just want to find out something, let me know. I'll do my best to help :)

I'll see you all in February 2024! We've smashed into a brutal heatwave, with temperatures of 42C, 43C and then 41C coming over the next few days (that's 107F, 109F and 105F for the folks in the USA!) Pray for me, because I am going to have to walk everywhere with a spatula so that I might lever myself off the bitumen (road/asphalt). 

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

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[zellkabellk]

Nowadays trying really fucking hard to teach to my brain that it's okay and better to "just do 10 min of this task" even if it means leaving it unfinished (but further along than before!) rather than not doing it "because when I do it I should do it all" Because jfc I can't keep leaving my house in states where I need to do 30+ minutes of dishes instead of just... doing a little everyday and at least it remains a manageable amount in the sink even if it's not always emptied...