#mini novel

[lord-ofthe-frogs]

LOVING the idea of a sci-fi space travel story meets like ancient forest horror type trope.

Like. This is a routine scouting mission, you are flying closer into this planet because it was detected on scanners as being life supporting (obviously- you could have told that from a picture, the whole place is covered in green) but the foliage is so dense that from standard distance, the scanners couldn’t get a full read of the land (weird, that usually isn’t a problem, but some places flora do have weird ways of incorporating materials that really shouldn’t be in a plant, it isn’t entirely unprecedented). Could also be- like, lead in the atmosphere or something. Well- almost definitely not. Stuff doesn’t really grow that big in an environment that’s anything other than right in the golden zone, so it’s probably nothing like that. Still- this isn’t one you’d want to risk going no-suit for.

You’re swooping in closer for some recon- because, Dagnabit, you still aren’t getting clear readings- and- with what this place seems to be so far, the chances of intelligent life (intelligent enough to interfere with your ship, at least) are incredibly low. Only- suddenly, your scanner is detecting things. But- it’s totally on and off, like these leaves are completely blocking your signal somehow. Heat maps show nothing too special- heat seems to get trapped under the foliage somewhat, magnetism mapping seem to show signs of metals nearby, but nothing too out of place- perhaps a ridge.

But there’s some movement, which doesn’t seem to match wind direction. You’re too focused on checking your side panels to catch what happens as suddenly you’re being dragged off course- the carriage of the ship scraping against the plant matter as you careen into the undergrowth below. Which each layer of leaves and vines you clear, less and less light penetrates through. By the time your ship hits the ground, you’ve pretty much lost all trace of sunlight, despite the sun having been pretty much directly above you. Instead- the grove you’ve dropped into is lit only by bioluminescent fungi and the like- which stretch outward from what you realize are impossibly thick plant roots.

As your engine sputters and stops, you go into damage control mode. Okay- you have the materials to last you, you shouldn’t have to forage around for food or water any time soon- but you’re now underneath the foliage that had been blocking your scanner and, frankly, unless you find some way to get your communication gear back up there- or get this ship back up and running- you’re pretty much just gonna be stranded here until you die. Not great- but, you probably have the tools to get into it. I mean. How tall could these plants even be?

So, you check all your systems- try fixing up the systems and engine- and.. well, even if you did get her back up into the sky- there’s no way she’d make it through the kind of hyperdrive it would take to get you back to the nearest settlement. And, well… you’d rather die here than in the empty void of space, really.

With that set- you secure the ship, double check with all your crew-mates to make sure nobody was harmed- status reports, full medical checks- suit checks- luckily, nobody seems all to worse for wear. All that foliage must have slowed you down somewhat, thankfully. At least- in the upper levels. There are no real branches or anything down here- just.. fungi, really. From- what you can see from the ship. Not that you expect to find anything else. Smaller life forms, at the most- you don’t know of much else that could subsist on the sort of materials available down here. But- still, always to err on the side of caution. Evolution is a wild thing, after all- people were always finding new crazy things about it.

After about a day of just making sure everything inside the ship is secure, and planning out your next steps- you and a few of the crew take a venture out, to test your surroundings. It seems like your ship ended up nestled between to giant roots- and as you step off from them, you find that most of the ground underfoot is really just a mix of root, mushroom, and dirt. Rich dirt, at least.

This place could be a real fantasy looking environment if the trees (well- they seem to be trees, at least. You’d been taught not to be too quick to categorize foreign planet organisms.. but if the shoe fits,) were more.. reasonably sized. You start setting up your plans for scaling these giants- an organized system, checkpointing along the way. It’s practically like rock climbing, with the size and hardiness of these things. Eventually you climb up to a chunk where the bark has been carved through, exposing softer, young material (ignoring the question of how it had been dug through like that- might have been hit by your ship on the way down- or maybe there’s some type of creature here that eats this stuff, and had been chowing on it for a while.

The idea that some single creature had left it there in passing is quickly barred from your mind- nothing is that big). When you dig your climbing pick into this softer ‘wood’- it sort of sticks. So much so that you nearly fall off attempting to pull it back out. Sliding your gloved hand along the surface of the tool, though, it doesn’t seem to have any sort of residue or stickiness- so you brush it off as maybe just the tool sinking a little too far into wood that was clearly softer than you expected it to be. You try once more, determined to make some good progress on this task tonight- only for it to get stuck again. This time, you actually can’t manage to yank it out. You try again- and again, but it’s totally sunk in there. One climbing tool shorter, pretty exhausted by now, and starting to get very hungry- you decide it’s time to call it a day for this task. You begin the grueling task of making it back down- and join back with those still at the ship. The other two you set out with originally are still back at the ‘tree’- but the two of them happen to be a species more hardy than you, and they had been working on a system to create an accessible way up- rather than just scouting to see how high they could climb as you had been. It would certainly take longer- much longer- but it may help in the long run.

Anyway. You touch back in at the ship and take some rest, assuring yourself you’ll continue working to figure things out in the morning. Not that ‘morning’ was really a relevant term right now, considering the constant dark. The ship lights were still functional, at least- as well as those built into your suit. Things seem to be going fine. Nothing immediately dire- the only prospective issue so far seems to be how to get up high enough to deliver a signal quickly enough that you might be retrieved before supplies run out. Not that that should be an issue- after all, all fleet ships keep highly stocked at all times, and, as long as nothing changes too much- you should be set to survive for a good long while yet. At least a few hundred cycles.

Waking in the ‘morning’ to the same darkness as you’d fallen asleep to makes you a bit jealous of those few crew members which were nocturnal by nature- they must feel right at home here.

—

About a week in- crewmates are complaining of feeling like they’re ‘being watched’. A front of fog had set in around the third day, making further exploration difficult. You honestly almost write it off as the effects of stress and being in the dark and stuck in the same place when a few people start complaining about noises- that is, until you get so spooked you have to turn your team around after you all swore you heard something like a voice coming from the fog beyond (nothing you could decipher. The wind through the foliage, maybe? Is that a reasonable explanation? You can’t really think about the science of it right now.. but .. that was probably it.)

Still, you forge on, and the next day you set out again. It’s all standard, really. You haven’t even run into any fauna yet, why would you let a little whistling of the winds disuade you? (Not that you would really see anything, if there was something to be seen. This fog is too thick, now, you’ve had to set up a line from the ship to your place on this tree just to prevent you getting lost.)

You’re a traveler of space. What could one little forest planet really have against you, who’s toured tens of barely documented other planets?

You decide to start keeping a journal.

—

About two months in, things start going wrong. You’re starting out another climb, when your pick slips and you’re suddenly falling. You get tangled up in your rope- and you end up getting your suit ripped one of your pick blades- breaking the seal on your air. Thankfully- it seems… breathable. In fact, when you run another check to make sure you aren’t secretly gonna get horrible sickness after a while of breathing this stuff- you find that it’s actually pretty similar to that of your desirable conditions. In fact, it seems to actually be more suitable for you than the ‘universally breathable’ air they usually have on multi-species ships.

People continue to complain of weird feelings- like eyes on them, or this deep instinct that they ‘shouldn’t be here’ or whatever- you keep brushing it off the best you can- these sort of conditions for so long can really impact someone, especially those who are adapted for more sunny conditions. Nothings gone so wrong that you worry about losing anyone, at least. So far, everyone has been hanging on.

One day when you come back from some recon, everyone is agreeing that they heard something in the distance.

You find a couple smaller creatures, bugs, you’ve been logging them as you go along. Not too much fauna to go off, just yet.

Then- the ship starts deteriorating. The fuels somehow been sapped- you swear that root didn’t wrap so closely around the ship when you first arrived- some branch debris fell down a couple days ago, and now half the chasis has been wrecked- the backup universal air got hit, which is seriously going to impact how long you’ll last if the air doesn’t prove breathable for the others- and the lights in the operational parts of the ship have begun flickering on occasion.

Along the next few weeks, around half of the crew stops replenishing their air tanks and just resorts to braving the air around them- just hoping that no airborne contaminants come around. For a planet so dominated by flora, there’s actually a pretty reasonable balance of C02 to 02. The fungus, you reason.

After about month more in these straits- heating becomes an issue to face. You’ve run out of fuel to keep going on as you were- and some energy needs to be saved in case- so, ensured by the oxygen ratio in the air that it won’t result in anything too catastrophic- you and the crew decide that testing for flammable materials is in order. You find that the bark of the ‘trees’ works alright enough- though, you don’t have enough smaller foliage to make any sort of easy burning. Still- it works somewhat. So, you set up for wood-chopping shifts, setting out to collect bark and flammables. You’re not sure how well it’ll do if that fog rolls back in.. but it works for now.

Then, one day.. the person set out doesn’t come back.

Weeks pass. The paranoia amongst the crew worsens. Someone swears they saw something moving in the distance- one claims they heard distant footsteps, loud and booming, when they were out scouting.

You’re climbing again, when you see the faint imprint of glowing fungi parallel with you in the distance. Passing. Something this tall, moving along-

You don’t mention it to the crew.

Eventually- people start encountering things.

You lose a few more crew-mates.

Slowly but surely, you’ve begun to realize that there are things in these woods that you just don’t understand.

These things are much older than you.

This place is much older than your science.

No planet should survive long enough for this sort of evolution to come to fruition- but, for whatever reason, this one did.

And you are here, now- disturbing things which predate you by millennia, realizing-

That all you consider to be the standards of probability- these standards you’ve been so sure of- simply don’t extend to a place like this.

All this time, you’ve been operating on averages- and this place… this place is different.

[xxoolii]

HOLY CRAP OH MY GOD OH MY GOSH

[junesfool]

close enough, welcome back headcanons

(guys send me your original svsss designs in the askbox I wanna try smth 💛🐛)

Transparent versions:

[dallasgallant]

Still thinking of how Twobit knows more than he lets on of the world and of his friends, just how thoughtful and caring he is under the jokes and shoplifting.

Particularly his relationship with Johnny,

it’s mentioned in the book that if it’s not the curtis’s he’ll likely be with Twobit on nights he doesn’t go home. Also how we see two fight back Johnnys mom from a beating and then again at the hospital. Looks out for him. Two bit is a follower, he typically will be in a rumble to back up his buddies so when he’s the one starting something it’s with purpose- every time we see or hear of him doing so it’s defense. For others more than himself. (He still held his own when he was jumped)

[evaapriless]

Hello loves <3

Surprise - I didn’t stop at making Charlie Spring’s room! As of earlier today, here is my miniature version of Nick Nelson’s room!!!

Had the perfect box (no space on the shelf yet) and with a few minor adjustments (namely the vaulted ceiling) I had convinced myself that I needed this in my life XD

About 5 hours, some cardboard and LOTS of fabric scraps later, I now have Nick’s room as a little nook to match my earlier one of Charlie’s room!

Also, check out this one of Tori’s room!!

There was a LOT of hand sewing in this one, but I got the beanbag right on my 2nd try (the first attempt was more a hackey sack lmao) and managed to match as much as I could to the illustrations AND Nick’s room in the tv show.

psst! look at the computer on the beanbag!!

Anyway I just figured I’d continue posting these on here since it’s where I originally put Charlie’s room on, so I hope y’all like it :D

really want @aliceoseman [ @chronicintrovert ] to see this 😭

Unrelated but check out this thing I made while reading The Reappearance of Rachel Price

[circusshepherd]

a little comic about the human soul.

[zahri-melitor]

I’m tired of boring samey suggestions for comics runs to start people on. Here are 6 comic stories I bet plenty of you have never read, require very little context, and that I rate highly as far too much fun:-

Batman/Wildcat: are you in the mood for Bruce Wayne and Ted Grant tracking down an gambling ring over illegal cage fights and ending up in one with a bunch of villains, set in late 90s DC comics? Do you want it to be charming, silly, and full of people getting punched? Have I got the story for you.

Black Canary & Zatanna: Bloodspell: There’s a curse on a group of women Dinah knows that were hired to knock over a casino. Dinah investigates and gets Zatanna to help her sort out what’s happened. It’s a heist story meets magic.

Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death: Ivy gets a job at a scientific lab and attempts to give up crime, while also growing a gaggle of fast-aging plant!Sim babies in her giant flowers. Yes. Really.

Arsenal 1998: Vandal Savage, the ultimate ancestor of Roy Harper, tries to kidnap Lian Harper for scientific experimentation. Roy and Dinah STRONGLY object. Famous for being the first time Lian Harper is actually a character not just a poppet in arms.

Arkham Manor: Wayne Manor gets turned over to Arkham Asylum to hold the patients. Bruce goes undercover as a patient to solve a murder mystery. Goofy plots involving various villains ensue.

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia: okay this one is cheating, but if you haven’t read the Hiketeia you really should. A young woman in trouble uses an ancient Greek ritual to bind Diana to be her teacher and protector. Bruce comes to hunt her down for her crimes. Diana is sworn to intervene. Bruce ends up eating a lot of dirt.

[leoneliterary]

Honor Amongst Thieves (WIP) — UPDATED 4/13/2024

The demo has been updated! Play it HERE!

This demo is short and I'll probably update it in a few weeks. (Although it didn't feel short to write. It was honestly confusing to write, but anyway, that has to do with branching stuff.)

Hope y'all are doing alright so far this week!

Let me know if it breaks and I hope y'all enjoy!

FORUM ~ KOFI ~ PATREON

[murasaki-cha]

Tcf novel spoilers

Raon: it's ok I won't have to fight alone, we have lots of companions

Cale: Yes

Raon: I can just run away

Cale: correct

Raon: and come and hit them in back of the head later

Cale: .... Sure

Raon: and scam them!

Cale: wait-

Raon: AND STEAL ALL THEIR MATERIAL POSSESSIONS!

Cale: hold on

Choi Han, Choi Jung Soo and Sui Khan: *trying their damn hardest not to laugh*

[skywalkr-nberrie]

I was rereading some chapters of Queen’s Peril, and I just love how the book talks about how as a kid Padmé use to travel off world with her dad, Ruwee, to other planets and doing public service, like food distribution, relocating citizens, etc. Padmé even suggested to her family that they grow a kitchen garden in their backyard, and save the crop (vegetables, fruits) they grow and donate it to starving families, on world and off world.

I also just love how the story parallels Anakin and Padmé in the narrative, in the sense that they both come from modest origins, and humble beginnings, (Of course, Padmé’s dad is well endorsed in relief movements and public service, but the Naberries still aren’t noblemen.) but are destined to become prodigies whom were both identified as gifted and brilliant young people at an early age. Also they’re strong sense of justice, with Padmé wanting to aid anyone in need, and Anakin vowing to leave Tatooine someday and free the slaves. It’s giving ✨ “made for one another” and “soulmatism” ✨

[verycharismaticdragon]

Y'know I'm not going to go and argue with people but I'm. kinda weirded out by the "Shen Yuan's family was actually neglectful/awful/abusive" takes? Because we have a story where:

a point is made about cycles of violence and how abuse creates more abuse (with Qiu Jianluo - Shen Jiu - Bing-ge sequence).

a point is made about how the person can turn out very differently depending on their environment growing up (with differences between Bing-ge and Bing-mei).

And like... how does one look at those two points, then at Shen Yuan saying he had a loving family, and forgoes the obvious conclusion - that growing up in a stable home is what sets him apart in the world of PIDW (including from literal author of the world who is a lonely and embittered child of the divorce!) and allows him to change it with the power of love & kindness & bonding with people - in favor of deciding that his family was ~actually~ horrible?..

In that case, what makes him capable of breaking the cycle? Some kind of innate goodness or kindness? That, for some reason, no other character happened to possess? Right. Nice going completely devaluing Shen Jiu's tragedy.

To explain the last point: we get a lot of backstory for Shen Jiu, and the obvious takeaway from it is that he was not born a scum villain. That he did have a desire to do (and be) good, but it just couldn't flourish - because of a combination of terrible circumstances of his youth, his personal flaws, and the demands of the meta-narrative.

Thing is... two of those problems, he shares with Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan has his own personal flaws aplenty, even if they differ from Shen Jiu's, and a literal manifestation of the meta-narrative haunting him. But, unlike Shen Jiu, he happened to have a good family. That is their fundamental difference.

If one argues that Shen Yuan's family situation actually wasn't good, then what allows him to be so different from Shen Jiu? Isn't that saying that Shen Yuan was just a good person from the start... and Shen Jiu was just a bad person from the start? you know, the exact sentiment that made Shen Jiu give up on himself? And isn't it flattening Shen Jiu's story from a tragedy of a person who was broken out of his desire to do good by his terrible circumstances, into just 'a bad guy doing bad things because he's bad'? like, exactly what Airplane did to him in PIDW...

---

But, some of you may ask, don't we have evidence that Shen Yuan wasn't actually very happy in his past life?

Thing is, I don't disagree with that! I just think it didn't necessarily have anything to do with the quality of his home life.

For starters, having a loving family is not everything. Like, even if you just look at Maslow's pyramid, "love and belonging" is actually in the middle of the thing. Shen Yuan could have a perfectly fine, caring family and still be unfulfilled on "esteem" (recognition and respect from other ppl + personal feelings of accomplishment) and "self-actualization" (becoming the best possible version of himself) levels.

And that's before we factor in that he's a(n obviously if you read between the lines) queer dude who grew up in a country that criminalizes queerness which is something I don't see brought up a lot in discussions of the strength of his internalized homophobia, and the possibility that he is an undiagnosed neurodivergent person (i personally hc him as having adhd-I, i know there are also ppl with autistic headcanons, could be both, etc etc), and the influence of his social circle outside his family (cishet dudes on the forums, from what he know, so not the most positive and uplifting bunch)...

---

Lastly, while I think the thematic evidence from the first half of this meta is more telling, there are also a few small in-text details that prove Shen Yuan's words about how close-knit his family was.

First, the way he compares Yue Qingyuan to his older brothers in the very beginning, at the time he is still finding his footing and YQY is the one person looking out for him. (On the subject of SY!SQQ and YQY, just read this post, I won't be able to put it better.) Shen Yuan is explicitly "feeling at home in the atmosphere of brotherly love".

Second, the fact that we know he read his younger sister's danmei novels. On Shen Yuan's side, literally how committed he had to be to supporting his sister's interests, when we know from being in his head how determined he is about playing ostrich with anything and everything gay. No shit he spoiled her, I believe that one hundred percent. And on his sister's side, the level of trust she has towards her brother? Having full confidence that she could make him read gay bdsm and he wouldnt love her any less?..

---

So yeah, I think all signs point to Shen family being as close-knit and loving as Shen Yuan says.

[ivoreene]

“Because I want to leave him in the care of an adult who understands other people’s pain. Someone like you.”

“…You came here just to say such sugary-sweet words?”

“You know that I have a sweet-tooth, don’t you?”

“I’m not good with sweets, though.”

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

happy nanago day!! it still 7/5 where i live so it counts :] go read the jjk light novel (where the quotes come from) ! its very cute !

my fav translation here -> right here! (i used quotes from this translation, please go check it out it has footnotes and everything! :] )

[xxoolii]

oh it’s happening, i can’t wait to see Xie lians outfits

[junesfool]

everytime I show my nyy design to one certain friend she screams "HATSUNE MIKU" and I lowkey see it now

[maowbean]

Lan Zhan catch me!

I finally got my Wei Wuxian mini doll! The wait is over Lan Wangji. They are so cute! Still debating on how to display them

[dallasgallant]

Darry is a part of the gang in that he’s a part of the friend group. After all they’ve always been more of a friend group than a gang (to Pony’s own admission) they’re not organized or named etc.

What differentiates Darry is he doesn’t participate in the crime aspect. Now again they usually don’t do anything organized/together but almost all the guys apart from Johnny(early on), Darry and perhaps pony have a bit of a record forming.

Now mind you it’s typically non violent and minor issues but it’s still “law breaking”. Darry has even more of an incentive to be “good” and do things by the books since he’s taken custody of his younger brothers, he’s petrified they’ll be taken away so he steers clear.

But pony implies he’s sort of always been this way. He doesn’t do anything himself but he’s always been “the guy to come to”. He guides the guys away from blowing up or doing something stupid- or if they do something he’s the one to hide them and talk through next steps. He’s the one who keeps everyone safe and at least tries to keep them out of jail.

That’s what gets to me particularly about Dally calling him. Is that he’s been the guy to turn to, the guys have blown up before and it’s even implied robbed a place before. But never armed. Never with the … intent… dally had. It’s that he calls for help, like he would any other day of the week but you know in this instance he doesn’t really want it just someone there idk its ough-