#the very no-nonsense professionals

[quatregats]

I'm rereading Master and Commander and I'm deeply in danger of just posting every single passage from it ever but I did love the way that the capture of the prize in Chapter 6 was framed on either side by the logbook's entry, and also the way he transitions out of it to set the scene and tone:

Sunday, July 1 … Mustered the ship’s company by divisions read the Articles of War performed Divine Service and committed the body of Henry Gouges to the deep. At noon dº weather. Ditto weather: but the sun sank towards a livid, purple, tumescent cloud-bank piled deep on the western horizon, and it was clear to every seaman aboard that it was not going to remain ditto much longer. The seamen, sprawling abroad on the fo’c’sle and combing out their long hair or plaiting it up again for one another, kindly explained to the landmen that this long swell from the south and east, this strange sticky heat that came both from the sky and the glassy surface of the heaving sea, and this horribly threatening appearance of the sun, meant that there was to be a coming dissolution of all natural bonds, an apocalyptic upheaval, a right dirty night ahead. The sailormen had plenty of time to depress their hearers, already low in their spirits because of the unnatural death of Henry Gouges (had said, ‘Ha, ha, mates, I am fifty years old this day. Oh dear,’ and had died sitting there, still holding his untasted grog) – they had plenty of time, for this was Sunday afternoon, when in the course of nature the fo’c’sle was covered with sailors at their ease, their pigtails undone. Some of the more gifted had queues they could tuck into their belts; and now that these ornaments were loosened and combed out, lank when still wet, or bushy when dry and as yet ungreased, they gave their owners a strangely awful and foreboding look, like oracles; which added to the landmen’s uneasiness.

[...]

Jack leant back against the curved run of the stern-window and let Killick’s version of coffee down by gulps into his grateful stomach; and at the same time that its warmth spread through him, so there ran a lively tide of settled, pure, unfevered happiness – a happiness that another commander (remembering his own first prize) might have discerned from the log-entry, although it was not specifically mentioned there: 1/2 past 10 tacked, 11 in courses, reefed topsail. AM cloudy and rain. 1/2 past 4 chase observed E by S, distance 1/2 mile. Bore up and took possession of dº, which proved to be L’Aimable Louise, French polacre laden with corn and general merchandise for Cette, of about 200 tons, 6 guns and 19 men. Sent her with an officer and eight men to Mahon.

[apheliia]

the more pantalone lore we get, the clearer it becomes that dottore is most likely the more rational and "sane" one in that business partnership

[oxventurequotes]

johnny: you can move thirty feet

mike: per what

johnny: round

mike: and a round is?

johnny: SIX SECONDS

[thebirdandhersong]

house on fire :)

[laurenttheninth]

*chanting to myself* I will not be offended by clown stereotypes, I will not be offended by clown stereotypes…

[irenespring]

Time for one of my favorite TV traditions, "watch the new episodes of Selling Sunset and argue with the screen like the people can hear me."

[stranded-labyrinth]

sorry i'm slightly livid but less than friendly reminder that if your AO3 Bookmark is public, the author of the fic can see what you wrote in it, and so can everyone else.

if you're for some reason bookmarking a fic you didn't particularly enjoy, just keep it private if you want to leave your negative commentary. everyone has different tastes, nobody needs to know that you didn't like that particular fic, and the author especially doesn't need to hear your griping (or your rating system, for that matter).

it may not be in the comments section, but you've left an equivalent to a hate comment. there's no point in acting like you haven't.

[clowncloud]

finishing uni is being forcibly expelled from the world of sweats and suck in to the world of professional wear *gags*

[novemberdevils]

first off— OBSESSED with inertia. The characterizations, the tropes, the formula 1 of it all. The writing. It’s so good I can’t believe it’s real and I get to read it.

second- for the ask game 🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go? would love to know how you just casually churned out 170k words and we’re only at chapter 5 !!

thank you!!! this is very sweet i appreciate it <3 inertia my beloved i know i say it all the time but i am soso happy there r people out there who appreciate the fic it brings me infinite joy. and to answer question...

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

uh i am the world's worst outliner. like i am so terrible at it. i think i have a tendency to get impatient during the outlining process and i just want to write the thing so then i just start writing it 😭 i have always been this way about Everything like when i used to be more focused on original fiction i would start writing a novel with like a vague plan and some characters and a blank google doc. which, fun fact, means the first drafts were always a giant mess, but that's fine. who needs an outline anyway???

for inertia specifically, i did try outlining the fic beforehand, but uh the outline is like really suck. it's bad. it is borderline Nothing. i have a document for it but it's mostly just a picture of the race schedule and some notes that i've made while writing the fic so i don't forget certain things, and i have a more specific "outline" for a couple of the races (all of the american races have outlines, the last two races have notes, and a few rounds at the beginning) but re: i got super impatient while outlining so i just made a document and started writing the fic lmao. i will go back and add things like if i had an idea for something i wanted to happen in a later race i would go in and add it so i don't forget to make Thing happen but for the most part a lot of the races have 0 plan. i just write shit. i'm making it all up as i go. godspeed

and another one of my personal issues with outlines is i suck so bad at sticking to them. everything i write at some point grows a mind of its own and diverges off the outline -- i have a note on my inertia outline doc that says nico was in a title battle the previous season. fun fact: no he was not. but i had half-intended for that to be true at some point, then i changed it. because who cares!

the one thing i do have super formally outlined is actually nico and jack's championship points. i made a spreadsheet where i decided their placements for every race and totaled up their points so i would know who wins, who's leading at any given point in the season, et cetera. and i do stick to that because i've made their title fight super close on purpose and i don't want to diverge from that. my beautiful championship points spreadsheet...

also ik i've said it before but this fic was originally supposed to be a oneshot (a long oneshot tho, i was aiming for ~70k words total) and look how that ended up. so outlines are a joke. i have a lot of respect for people who can effectively outline and stick to it, i am just not one of them and i never have been. the 170k words i have written of this are built on vibes and one google sheet that's it

fanfic writer ask game

[gcrdy]

GUESS WHO I GOT TO SEE LIVE TONIGHT (fighting for his life doing a totally improv musical)

[thedeadthree]

IOVANNA DAYNE, hotd 🔮 | CALLA TARGARYEN, hotd 🌞

OLGA LITVINCHUCK, tlou⚕️| IRYNA PASTERNAK, tlou 💀

MARTA CHAYKOVSKI, fhr 🕸 | UNA ULLER, hotd 🐍

IRINA RURIK, vtm 🥀 | NYNANE SELWYN, vtm 🩸

TAGGED BY the darlings @morvaris, @leviiackrman, @detectivelokis, @corvosattano, @confidentandgood, @shadowglens, @nightbloodraelle to make the dears in this picrew! ty so much! <3

TAGGING: @risingsh0t, @feystepped, @griffin-wood, @kingsroad, @jendoe, @phillipsgraves, @chuckhansen, @queennymeria, @denerims, @marivenah, @florbelles, @arklay, @unholymilf, @adelaidedrubman, @aartyom, @roofgeese, @nuclearstorms, @noonfaerie, @shellibisshe, @girlbosselrond, @fragilestorm, @yennas, @leondaltons, @malefiicarum, @anoras, @minaharkers, @loriane-elmuerto, @jacobseed and you!

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

feeling very weird about the last two episodes of Miss Scarlet (3.3 and 3.4), because I... actually really loved them?? and I know it was largely because of the absence of William.

which I find odd, because I actually DO like him!! he's a complex and interesting character, he and Eliza's spark off one another is really fun (and also lbr, infuriating, and that's a large reason why this show works; hence the title), and I just... genuinely do like the character. he's irksome as all get-out, he can be entirely insensitive and a touch misogynistic and sometimes I really do wanna break his nose. but I still like him! he has a part to play in this story and I understand that for what it is within the narrative, I really enjoy it!

and yet... I've felt like these last two episodes were some of the most genuinely well-written and especially well-character-written ones for a good while.

I guess it's just because, with the Duke out of the picture, other characters aren't constantly being held up to him in one way or another. Moses, Detective Fitzroy, Mr. Nash, Detective Phelps--they're all given a chance to be developed as characters in their own right, instead of just supporting William/William and Eliza's relationship. and even Eliza grows and is a far more multi-faceted and, I think, genuinely enjoyable character when she's not reduced to simply her reactions to and against William.

I'm intrigued, to be honest. I know he's back in his usual spot as the second lead in the next episode, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens given the ~revelation~ in the very last scene of episode 3.4... but I'm already kind of sad that the rest of the characters I've so enjoyed getting to spend more time focusing on are going to once again be cast in the shadow of 'Miss Scarlet and the Duke'. despite that literally being the entire point of the show.

[chaoticdelinqueerwithglitter]

Perfect way to explain how stupid is this shit:

They are fucking fictional, the same way I don't go to say to you how freaking boring I found the way you play with your dolls, let me play with mine as if I was Sid from Toy Story. THEY. ARE. FICTIONAL. DOLLS.

(also, honey, the weirdos and the freaks were here before, if you think incest is now appearing in fandom spaces... Hot take: you're the fish outside the water)

The amount of incest, noncon, and pedophilic jjk smut content is getting out of hand.

"Just scroll if you don't like it!" - this doesn't negate the fact they're posting disgusting scenarios. They're targeting an audience of people who should seek therapy. That kind of shit is not okay.

It's like saying "scroll part a zoophile account on Twitter if u don't like it." See how stupid it sounds?

This Fandom is slowly becoming one i regret being in because of just how disgusting people are becoming. Come on guys, do better.

It's okay to have kinks and fetishes, but that doesn't mean they're okay. It's not okay to sexualize minors, it's not okay to sexualizw little space, it's not okay to sexualize r//pe! I get dubcon, but noncon? That's literally just nonconsensual sex.

Anyways. Rant over. Do better, people.

[superfluouskeys]

god FINALLY the end of the term is in sight (actual) (real) (really mean it this time) (no seriously) (:'))

[youareinlove]

I remember travis being pissed off because someone said he was a wide receiver and he was like “i wish i was paid like one”

YUP, i remember his vanity fair interview in the 2022-23 off-season where he was like “yeah sometimes i wonder if i’m being undervalued but i don’t know that i’d get more money if i asked anyway” and the answer has ended up being yes he would

[kashverse]

the first time it happens, sukuna doesn't even react.

your daughter, a tiny little thing with a head full of wild hair that looks just like his but with your color, storms up to him while he's adjusting his tie. she's got a determined look on her face, a plastic figurine clutched in her tiny hands—a sonny angel doll, of all things.

"papa, hold," she demands, her chubby fingers working to shove it into the breast pocket of his pristine, custom-made suit. he looks down at her, red eyes blinking slowly. then he looks at you, standing off to the side, barely holding back your laughter.

"what is this?" he asks flatly.

"sonny angel," your daughter says like it's obvious. "he's cute. for you."

you make a choked noise behind your hand, and sukuna exhales through his nose. his baby girl, his tiny menace, is standing there with all the confidence of someone who has never been told 'no' in her life. because, well. she hasn't. so what does he do? he lets her shove the damn thing in his pocket. adjusts it a little so it's sitting neatly, because if he's going to have a tiny cherub-faced baby figurine sticking out of his suit, it's at least going to look intentional.

"happy?" he asks.

his daughter beams at him, gives his pant leg a firm pat like he's done a good job, then scurries off to continue whatever other toddler nonsense she was up to before this. you’re wheezing in the corner.

"don't say a word," he warns, fixing his cuffs.

you grin. "i didn't say anything."

cut to his meeting later that day. sukuna walks in like he owns the place (because he does), radiating his usual aura of dominance and unrelenting authority. his executives are already seated, tense and ready, knowing full well that sukuna does not entertain idiocy. but today? today there is something new. today, nestled neatly in the breast pocket of his three-piece suit, is a tiny, plastic baby figurine wearing a duck hat.

the entire room freezes.

one poor soul, likely new and unaware of how the corporate hierarchy works under sukuna, makes the grave mistake of letting out the faintest, almost imperceptible snort.

sukuna turns his head very slowly.

"who the fuck just laughed?"

silence. absolute, suffocating silence. the man looks down at his notes as if they might save him from impending doom.

sukuna leans back in his chair, tapping a clawed finger against the conference table.

"anyone else got something to say about my sonny angel?"

no one breathes.

good.

he conducts the rest of the meeting as if nothing is out of place, occasionally adjusting the little doll in his pocket like it's just another part of his attire.

by the end of the week, rumors have spread. no one dares to question the sonny angel. entire powerpoint presentations are given with the utmost professionalism while a tiny, smiling cherub peeks out of sukuna’s suit.

by the end of the month, it becomes an unofficial rule of the office. mock the sonny angel? fired. make a comment? fired. even looking at it for too long earns you a pointed glare.

and by the end of the quarter, the entire upper management team has started discreetly wearing their own sonny angels in solidarity. your daughter, completely oblivious to the corporate chaos she has caused, simply continues her toddler life, happy and content in the knowledge that her papa always carries her gift with him.

and sukuna? well. if having a tiny plastic baby in his pocket means seeing his little girl’s delighted grin every morning, then so be it.