#pen issues

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 706

I inked a fountain pen for the first time last night, though I wished it was for better reasons.

While I was working on a birthday card my glass pen slipped out of its box while I was trying to get it out. Even though the box was on the desk and so it was a very small drop from the box to the desk, the nip tip chipped.

It’s still a usable pen, it's just harder to write finely on it, and using the wrong side will make it drop large fat amounts of ink (great for large swooping titles, not great for small writing). As I needed something to write with, that also could use the same ink, and my fineliner needed to be cleaned out and re-inked (at a later date), I was at a loss. Then I remembered I did have a fountain pen from a subscription box back in the spring.

I’ve been ignoring my fountain pen for two reasons.

The first, primary reason is simply use and care. Unlike the glass pen which is just a dip pen and can be cleaned with a bit of water and tissue (and a toothbrush if you happen to use shimmer inks), the fountain pen requires it to be inked and later cleaned properly.

The second is, maybe a bit of trauma. In hindsight, I forgot that the last time I used a specialty pen, it was a metal calligraphy pen. More importantly, I was using a calligraphy pen for a medieval writing course, which meant you had to write in a specific way that is hard for left handed people. However, I am using a fountain pen, with a writing nib for solely writing purposes.

Since the nib is not made for doing the thick and thin strokes you associate with fancy writing, it’s not a concern. As a result, it was like writing with a ballpoint pen, only smoother and with me being mindful to not use a heavy hand. In addition, the nib is actually a fine tip (because it was designed to fit within the grid boxes of my preferred journals). This also means, I am less likely to smudge the ink while writing, because on most paper I own the ink will dry relatively quickly.

My only two issues I have is at some point I need to get a smaller ink bottle and an eye dropper to make it easier to refill the pen. On my larger ink bottles I have to dip pretty far and that caused me to get ink on my fingers while filling the converter that held the ink.

The other isn’t so much an issue as it is a preference. I would like a thicker nib as I would like slightly larger strokes. This would require me to get another fountain pen (preferably one that can change its nibs), however that is not my highest priority.

I like the uneven look of glass pens and I like using them. As such, I am probably going to check my numbers and see if I can buy a second glass pen but with a removable glass nib so it can be replaced when I ultimately have another incident. I still can use the old one, and in fact it’s probably better for swatching inks now than it was before.

Am I becoming a pen person? Maybe, do I have a place to put those pens? Not really.

[missolaris]

FireAlpaca, please fix this

[nutsack90]

!!!got a proper tablet!!!

im free from the shackles of drawing with my finger on my phone!!! also click for higher res tumblr hates my textures lmfaoo 😓😓

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

Eddie is gushing about Steve to Robin and he mentions how it's so fucking metal the way he never shies away from danger. Like, quite the opposite, he literally jumps right into it without a second thought!

And suddenly Robin remembers how Steve wanted to be tortured by the actual real Russian secret service if it meant that his then friendly coworker who he never saw outside of Scoops would be at least a little bit safer. And she notices for the first time how Steve always makes sure that everyone is safe before he leaves a dangerous place - how he makes sure to always be the last one - and she thinks fuck.

(She feels so fucking bad. He is her best friend. Her soulmate. The person who knows her best and vice-versa. How has she never noticed this before?!)

They start paying closer attention to him, then. Neither like what they see. Steve's eyebags grow bigger with every day that passes. He doesn't eat a lot. He can never say no to others, no matter how much it inconveniences him. And when Robin and Eddie gush about what an awesome person he is, he gets an uncomfortable expression on his face and denies it. Robin had never noticed how most their interactions were self-deprecating jokes until now, either.

They need to stage an intervention.

The next time Steve walks through the doors of Family Video, Robin and Eddie are ready. They lay down all the facts and propose a simple deal: either go talk to a professional, or they will explain everything to the rest of the party and they will force him to talk to a professional. It will end the same way no matter what he chooses, might as well take the path with least resistance.

The only thing that sounds worse than paying a stranger to talk about his feelings is to be forced to talk about them to his friends, so he agrees.

He doesn't think it will make a difference, at first. It's not like he is allowed to talk about monsters and other dimensions.

The first session is awkward. But Robin and Eddie always look at him with such worried and expectant looks and he cannot bear to burden them in any way, so he starts opening up more. He can't talk about the time he almost got eaten by Demogorgons in a secret supernatural underground tunnelsystem, but he can talk about the time Billie almost beat him to death. He can't talk about the secret Russian operation beneath the mall, but he can talk about almost dying in the "mall fire". (His memories of his time there are all scrambled because of the drugs, anyway. It is more about the 'near-death' thing and never being able to feel safe, which he can talk about)

He doesn't mean to talk about his interpersonal relationships at first. But then his therapist cautiously asks him about his parents, and before he knows it he is spilling beans he didn't even know needed to be spilled. He talks about how he only seems to be friends with people who went through traumatic experiences with him, and what does that say about him? He talks about when he first realized that other kids are not left behind by their parents for months at a time. He finally starts unpacking the whole Nancy situation and realizes, wow, turns out he isn't nearly as over the whole thing as he'd hoped. (There are a lot of tears).

He seamlessly fills session after session, and at first he doesn't think that it makes much of a difference. Until the kids meet him after he is exhausted from a double shift at Family Video and beg him to drive them somewhere or other, and he can say no and not give in without fearing that they will cast him aside.

(Robin and Eddie are smug when they also notice the changes, but Steve supposes they have earned it this one time.)

[yardsards]

everytime i get too excited about stationery i feel like her

[cheapbourbon]

The moon requires a sacrifice 🌙

[jawd]

i keep struggling with how i want max's hair to look but i think ive settled on no bangs

[thewritetofreespeech]

Gale x Tav

words: 811

rating: G

summary: basically there are too many things about Gale being 'the perfect husband' and having 'the perfect marriage with him', but even the best couples have bad days and fight.

----------------------------------🟣---------------------------------------

It’s been hours. And the two of you still hadn’t talked.

You pull the covers tighter around your body. Surely a pseudo comforting mechanism to make up for the phantom cold you were feeling. It was an emotional chill, not physical. This might be the first night in a long while that you might go to bed alone, and it’s certainly the first night in a while you aren’t going exactly willingly.

You and Gale had a huge fight. You can’t even remember what started it exactly. It was something small. Simple. Yet it seemed neither one of you were willing to get over your mole hill and now there was a chasm between your two mountains.

Playing the fight over in your mind, you were trying to figure out where you went wrong….

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous!” You snap back at Gale. “Ridiculous. Yes. I’m being ridiculous because I asked you to help out in your own house.”

“And I said I would get to it later!” Gale snapped back. He rubbed his temples with his hand across his eyes. “Gods above, would it kill you to have a little patience from time to time??”

“Perhaps. If we had it your way we’d still be on that beach by the nautiloid for how long your ‘laters’ take.”

Your husband glared at you. “Insulting my character. My, what a fine fall we’ve made for decorum in this house.”

“I’m not insulting your character, Gale. But what about you! You just called me ridiculous and that’s not insulting my character?!”

“It’s not insulting your character if it’s true! And you’re being ridiculous!”

It had all gone downhill from there. More insults. More backbiting. You both said things you didn’t mean, like you saying you should have stayed in the Gate if this was how things were going to be and Gale wishing he still had his orb because it seemed the only way to get out of this conversation.

He had taken off not long after that with an “I’m done” and stalked off to some remote, quite corner of the tower to cool off. You hadn’t seen him since.

Now that the fight was over, and night was closing in, you wished you could talk to apologize. But you didn't want to be the one to go to him. You didn't want to 'lose'. Which you knew was toxic and childish, but you couldn't help the way you felt.

So, that never happened and for the first night in a long while that you go to bed alone. Quiet tears on your pillow.

The next morning you wake up. Face puffy. Eyes red. No real sleep to call your own, so you went downstairs to get coffee.

You find Gale already there. His own cup in his hand. Looking equally disheveled and un-well rested. But, and most importantly, another cup across the counter in front of him. It’s steam wafting up from the mug so you knew it was fresh. Cautiously, you move to the counter and take it. “Are we still fighting?”

“Do you want to keep fighting?” Gale asked back. Not trying to instigate the fight again, but gauge your commitment to continue it.

“No. I don’t.” You sip your coffee carefully. Even though you’re fighting, it was still perfect. “Where did you sleep?”

“In my study.” There is an ornate couch in there. Leather. Expensive. More of an art piece than a comfortable piece of furniture. His lack of sleep may just be from trying to sleep on that rather than the tossing & turning you did last night. “I didn’t think you’d want me.”

“You could have come to bed.”

You probably wouldn’t have talked, and it would still be ‘cold’, but it was still his bed too. “I don’t like it when we fight.”

“It’s not my ideal way to spend an evening either, my love.” Though he said it his ‘my love’ doesn’t have the same warmth in it it normally does. “Look…I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“I’m sorry too.” You apologize back. “I didn’t mean to….”

“We both said things we didn’t mean.”

The two of you sip your respective coffees. Not really sure where to go from here. Yes, you apologized. The fight was over. But apologies weren’t like the incantations Gale threw around all the time. They weren’t actually magic words to make all the hurt you felt a moment ago go away.

“Do you want a hug?”

He didn't say anything, but Gale sat down his coffee and came around the counter to you. You both wrap your arms around each other, but it’s awkward. Stiff. There is love between you in the hug, but that chasm you built last night was making it harder to each one another. It would fill. You both would mend. But for now it was just going to be a little uncomfortable around the house.

The two of you separate and go back to your coffees. Sticking to safe topics like what you would like for breakfast. Hopefully you couldn’t disagree to harshly on that.

[babychosen]

save a horse (ride a cowboy)

8pm, Friday. Red dress. Booth near the end of the bar, by the dart board.

She forgot how demanding the text felt, but it had only encouraged her to want to show up even more.

[isbergillustration]

Testing out acrylics in new sketchbook. Result is No.

[tjarry]

i do think maybe we should give the pens goalies (ned, jars, and we'll even bring blomma back up for a minute for this one) something sharp so they can chase the rest of the team around, maybe it'll help

[thefabulousfab-3]

The only reason that Eloise isn’t running to tell Colin about LW as soon as they come in that door, is because of how much she loves Penelope and people still have the nerve to hate her.

[3cosmicfrogs]

enough girlboss, time for girlfailure

[spittyfishy]

A little Mikan on paper!💜💉💕

[nonsensicalcomics]

I feel god in this chilis tonight

[ezlo-x]

are there any digital pens that are compatible to huion tablets that feel lightweight? Like holding a traditional ink pen and whatnot?