#safe enough: and other stories

[richardarmitagefanpage]

Safe Enough: And Other Stories by Lee Child, narrated by Richard will be released on Audible US/UK and Kobo on August 29, 2024.

Synopsis : I was the guy who always found a way.

I was the guy that couldn't be stopped.

A drug-dealing hit man unburdens his fears to a stranger. An overlooked rookie cop is assigned to the department’s file room. A ruthless killer only kills bad guys. A methodical bodyguard quits his job when he’s outsmarted. A military mission is planned to perfection. . .

[rustedhills]

Disney, releasing Wish: "so it's all about legacy--the new generation surpassing the old, overcoming the evils perpetuated by them, relinquishing singular power... and there's an old man in a tower, uh... animal sidekick, i guess..., ah... magic...?

Miyazaki, just out of frame, sledgehammer raised:

[i-bring-crack]

A–Aventio TGCF idea?? Wherein Civil God Veritas Ratio meets the infamous Ghost King Aventurine during his first mission cuz cuz like— The "live for me" paralels?!? The one who has all the luck partner as well?!? The villain who was actually not the Villain this whole time!?!? The loving humanity a little too much it causes their downfall !?!?!?

Rant AU in the tags proceed with caution

[fusionsprunt]

Hunter what the FUCK-

.

[lovecolibri]

Oh I am *cackling* at the producers trying to claim the show was driven by Loki and Sylvie's relationship when she refused to lift a finger to help multiple times (while platonic bestie Mobius was living out romcom moments by the dozen with Loki), and honestly they could have not had her in the season at all and barely anything would change. Like, I don't like that ship but it's still SO deeply disrespectful to give them NOTHING on screen all season while giving all the cute classically shippy moments to Lokius, and then come out after and claim it was some grand, sweeping romance and also there was nothing intentional about giving all the shippy stuff to Lokius. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Also, as I said in some tags, the "we can't get into Loki's head" like is just....peek absurdity. My brother in Christ, YOU'RE the writers! This character has been in the MCU for like, 14 years, played by Hiddleston who is *obsessed* with Loki. Getting into Loki's head should have been a cake walk! And even if it wasn't, IT'S LITERALLY YOUR JOB TO GET IN THE CHARACTER'S HEAD. Maybe this is why shows are so shitty? Instead of letting the characters drive the plot by getting into their heads and making choices from that perspective, showrunners instead twist the characters into a storyline.

ANYWAY.

[spotaus]

Coda and Ichor! (Catacombtale Style!)

These two don't have a *ton* of interaction in the Main story, but since Ichor and Balance are the only two characters I've fully designed, Coda gets stuck next to him, haha!

BONUS art jumpscare:

These two actually exist in another project I'm working on too called Codex, which is basically just removing the UT aspects of Catacombtale and doing a lot more worldbuilding and character design!

Coda is older in Codex and is marked by an old God (which should get him jailed or killed, as it means for everyone else) but he hides it for years and years before he finally flees the complex he's living in to go confront the gods and stop their destructive path. Meanwhile Ichor is much the same, only he's much more ready and willing to help Coda without much prompting. Here he's also sort of a Koi Fish! (His brother is a Betta Fish)

[lokh]

there's this twitter thread of white people talking about the off the wall shit they or their children did as toddlers and im just like. well i would have been killed for that so i never did any shit like that but glad u guys were OK 😭

[cookinguptales]

well, how about this, while I wait for the roofers to come fix the mess they made of my ceiling. just so I can feel like I'm doing something productive.

since my savings are now significantly smaller than they were a week and a half ago, I guess now's a good enough time as any to start talking about some half-decided plans I have for this upcoming story I've been writing, and perhaps other original stories as well if this goes well.

while I'm still going to be posting the bulk of my work on AO3 like I usually do, I think I'm also going to be launching a patreon!

here's the soft plan, though I'm still working out details:

serialize this story at a chapter each week, which will probably take a few months overall.

chapters will be posted to AO3 the same day every week, and a week early on patreon.

extra material will also be on patreon, from author commentary to essays on historical/mythological background that's going into the story to extra fics that will be a few thousand words each. (or... so.)

the main story will fully stand alone. extra scenes will be like... stuff happening from other POVs offscreen, flashbacks, a sappy post-story fic, etc.

after the story is fully done being posted, an ebook version of the story will be made available to patrons with thanks, etc. to everyone who supported the project.

??? repeat?? m/m minotaur story this time, f/f witch who owns a familiar animal shelter story next time. lmao

part of me is still like "no, no one will pay money to support your writing" but like. I've seen worse writers than me make money, I guess, so why not try? it's not like it can hurt, and it can be fun to experiment with new methods of distribution sometimes.

I'll probably post a survey once I've finished the rough draft of the fic so I can plan out the finer details, but that's my basic plan. I want to write the whole fic and edit it before I start posting anything, and at the rate I'm going... I'm aiming for the beginning of May? it's at about 70k rn, and I'm thinking it probably has about 10-20k to go.

so I guess we'll see!!!

in the meantime, if you are a person who is interested in any of this and you have feedback about the project, feel free to lmk! anon or logged in, either is fine. lemme know if there are any patreon perks you'd like to see or if you have ideas about pricing/tiers/etc.

I'm very new to this so I'm open to ideas and opinions!

fingers crossed. lmao

[aster-daydream404]

I just woke up and now im having a panic attack because some overfried orange bigotted dictatorial asshole (and a bunch of red elitist capitalistic shitheads) was given too much power and now they’re starting to try and fucking axe literal safe spaces for queer people and minorities on the fucking internet as long as the base of operations are in their fucking country……..

And the thing is its just the start too…

[ofcowardiceandkings]

the sinus headaches are already not great but Extra Shit has been added to the pile and im just sat on that right now trying to figure out what the fuck to do

[anaesthesia-why]

question to radfems who play project sekai: what is your analysis on mizuki?

My take is going to be very "on the surface" as I tried to play the game twice (bc there are a lot of cool songs (vocaloid and not) incl 2 by mafu) but just don't like the gameplay mainly for the upward flick notes and I don't follow stories of the games I don't play so I skimmed the wiki for cards and some quick info. So (using sex-based pronouns for the character Mizuki here):

Mizuki is a crossdressing male, voiced by an actual female actress. His gender is stated to be unknown, the character himself uses "boku" which is used by males and tomboyish females, the game either avoids using pronouns or uses "kare" which is "he" but I see people say is also used gender-neutrally for "they" (male pronoun is used as gender neutral, who's surprised? Not me), eng version uses "they", the playable characters who didn't know him before he grew out his hair and started dressing in feminine clothing sometimes use "she". He is and was bullied in school for liking cute things, was/is still(?) depressed bc of it (even wanted to commit suicide), mostly skips school but not so much he'll be made to repeat a year. Good at altering/making(?) clothes and making music videos. And well the being bullied/depressed can be easily sympathised with, and his talents appreciated. Worth noting that being bullied for liking cute things bc they're "for girls" is a strictly male experience (but idk the details and can say that if a girl is bullied for that (if by other girls I mean) it usually goes w it being her hyperfixation if she's autistic, if by boys it's bc they just bully just bc.). However, the way the character is coping is... not really cool. He engages in consumerism and recreating his idea of "cute" with wearing dresses, thighhighs and heels(?)/feminine shoes and using infantile (yes mainstream cute in jp really is that) poses and face expressions such as : ○, : ↿, : - and :p and "foxy" (cunning?) expression with a slight smile and slightly lowered brows. Most of the cards have him with these expressions, but also a lot of them have him portrayed pretty happy, some are just neutral but usually include a "cute" pose. One or two looked like the character is evil/insane (glowing eyes and a wide smile without showing teeth :) ), and then like again JUST one or two look like the character is sad (younger version with short hair and masculine clothing crying and another which looks more like serious/deep in thoughts and has a pretty dark palette). He doesn't call himself a girl though and doesn't try to convince anyone that he is one, instead he hopes he can be viewed as just "Mizuki" like he is. Means he's just a gendernonconforming guy that is unfortunately imitating/perpetuating harmful stereotypes generated by the culture he currently lives in.

Edit: also he used to experience dysphoria/dysmorphia if he used to cover the mirror?

(Disclaimer about femininity: it was created and is constantly modified to opress the female part of the human population, which is punished for both following it and refusing to follow it. If a male is uncomfortable with masculine gender roles, which are used to learn to opress and tries to follow the other set of rules he is bullied for CHOOSING the "loser" position that is used for women and everything associated with them. This is an EFFECT of misogyny but is again a strictly male experience which means it isn't misogyny itself)

I'm trying to reflect what my PERSONAL gripes are here: when I chose that band bc the theme of trauma resonates with me most out of all the others (I mean the group with a (self-made)trainee and 3 ex-idols just by description sounds meh bc female idols are exploited too strongly but I hope they're characterised well ig, I didn't get to research that when choosing and tbh now too, the group about reconnection sounds ok but too slice-of-life-y, the other two are mixed, I mean have boys) and I hoped it was a group of just girls trying to be supportive of each other and to overcome hardships together and then among them saw this kinda shallow infantile character who also mostly didn't even look depressed and looked "playfully cutesy" and happy and was also a "trans girl" (which to me explained these shallow imitations of being a girl) but turns out it's the fandom shouting about trans so loudly and occasionally about nb, and shutting down any discussion about him being male. Idk if the storywriters and artists are ever trying to make a comment about gender roles or just want an actually shallow cute-pretty appealing with looks character. I do not want to research any further and if anyone actually following the story of the game can tell me if the matters are made better or worse, I'll be glad. For now I can say I don't have a strongly negative reaction to the character anymore, as intentions matter, but still remain critical of him not reflecting on why he is following what society says is cute and why is he not dropping out of high school if he doesn't need it?

Disclaimer for gender-pilled tumblr community: I reflected on my kneejerk hateful reaction to a character and softened a bit but still remain critical for slightly different reasons now. I know you don't like sex-based pronouns but if you come here to argue please read the whole thing first

[a-eo-iu]

Somi, Somi, Somini

[br1ghtestlight]

i absolutely cannot write reincarnation au's like its the most tragic thing in the world to me BUT IF I COULD reincarnation au tinimmy would explain why tina keeps following him around across time and space..... bcuz she knows they're bound to be together platonically or romantically and they've had so many failed attempts in past lives. yknow

and it would make sense ANYWAY bcuz tina writes them together in all her different friendfictions they've already been together in many lives real or imagined. and they will always be

[curiouschaosstarlight]

Does anyone else get into a mood where their brain is stuck on a past experience and then they can't really process anything else

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 10: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

Yesterday's poll decided that The Adventurer should join the travelers on the larger river boat for a short lunch ...

~

"Before he even fully musters the courage to shout a 'hello', the large group on the boat initiates contact first, gleefully waving at him, whooping and shouting as they near his tiny raft in the water. Apparently, some of them were betting over whether they'd actually find any other travelers out on the river today.. He fumbles over his words a bit, as always, but somehow manages to successfully get himself invited onto their boat for a quick lunch..

After safely securing his raft to the side of the boat with some spare rope, he climbs aboard, stumbling into the excitement of some sort of celebration. A few of them explain that they're traveling for 'kahesallei', an old elven holiday recently re-popularized in some of the larger cities nearby. Whatever it's true meaning and origins used to be, the current significance (at least to those within the city walls) seems to just be mindless feasting, drinking, and gaudy decor. Most of the traveling group are strangers to each other, only brought together by catching a ride on the same tour/party boat, but the mood is light, quite friendly between them, and perhaps a bit drunk.

While the boat itself is relatively plain wood, it's been strewn with gold and orange banners, flags, shimmery tassels, beads, and bushels of dark green ivy braided with fresh herbs and wildflowers. There are flat round tables of food and drink, plenty of cushions to lounge on, and one random guy perched precariously on the edge railing of the boat, gently strumming a lute for background music..

The elderly ship captain hobbles over to The Adventurer, sternly explaining that, no matter what the 'silly' passengers say, he's only allowed to stay for an hour because he didn't pay for a boat ride ticket, and thus really shouldn't even be allowed on board. By the time The Adventurer has mentally processed this information, the captain has already returned to his little steering room, slamming the door shut with a displeased grunt.. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to confront him or question the rules...... But! Hey, at least he has one hour at the party.. How should he spend his time? "

~

Additional Information

the adventurer's current main goal: follow his map to reach the abandoned castle ruins and see the rare animal specialist about the mysterious egg he has

[shigussy]

discovered a food allergy by eating it(again)