#this was a lot shorter than i expected

[galasgamingcorner]

Control | Scenery

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAu Drabble - Day in Town

The poll has ended (and as always i sneaked to see the results early :3) and this one won out! @spotaus

You guys really just like the domestic fluff of these guys trying to parent. Don't you? It is okay. They are rather sweet :D

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Lets get to it! (and for those who forgot because i did because i only mentioned the name ONCE. Crop's brother is called Straw :D) Also I had to really consider who's POV I was going to use for this one as they all would have worked but I ended up going with Killer because he is silly and hasn't had a turn in a while. At least that is what it feels like :D

*----------------*

Killer taps the door as he stares out of the window of the truck. People would assume it is crowded but it honestly isn't that bad.

Mostly because Horror is sitting in the by rider seat with Nightmare in his lap, safely seated. Cross and Dust decided they prefered to drive in the actual cargo area of the truck. Which left only Killer and Crop in the backseat.

Killer honestly also thinks that Dust specifically prefered to sit in the back as he wouldn't have to see Straw. Dust still has the most issues with seeing any other universe's Papyrus. Killer would have gone to sit with him but Cross had been faster with offering it and there is no way in HELL that Killer was going to leave Horror and Ngihtmare without a set of extra sockets.

Doesnt make the drive any less tense.

tap. tap. tap. tap.

Crop sends him another nervous glance before clearing his throat "So.. you guys are finally going to see the town! excited?"

Killer huffs "Not really. But Dusty mentioned needed actual stuff for Nighty." which is why Killer leans closer to the seat before him holding Horror and Nightmare. He looks over the side and grins at Nightmare "sup tiny boss."

Nightmare looks over and sends him a tiny glare "You should have your seatbelt on."

Killer coos "Aw you do care~ such a sweet baby."

Nightmare blushes and mutters as he hides his face in Horror's sweater. Horror sends him an amused look "Killer. stop that."

Killer shrugs and leans back in his seat. feeling very accomplished.

Killer just needs to make sure that Nightmare doesn't fall into old patterns of trying to be the adult and leader. He doesn't need to do that and it isn't healthy for the babybones. so. Time to unlearn! At least those moments have been getting less and less frequent so there is progress!

Killer still doesn't appreciate the look send their way from both Crop and Straw, Yes he knows tiny boss is adorable but if they as much as try to get closer there is going to be spilled dust.

Straw stops the truck and announces their arrival.

Crop gets out quickly and they are on a parkinglot outside a shopping street. It isn't too large by the looks of it and just shops and a bar restaurant thing, probably this universes Grillby's.

Crop smiles at them "Okay! First day out!" Crop looks almost as nervous about this as Cross looks and Cross is actively looking around and has his hand ready to grab his knife.

Crop must see it too as he and straw share a look. Straw motions towards them and the town and Crop waves it off.

Crop turns back to them and Killer grins "SOmething the matter?"

Crop is quick to answer "What?! No! Of course not! It is just. a lot. This can be a lot and i just want to be sure everything is fine!"

Killer chuckles and sees Horror shoot him a disapproving glance. Still Horror goes over to Cross and hands Nightmare over to him. Cross is quick to hug him close and Nightmare has his grumpy face on again but still holds unto Cross. Clearly comfortable.

Horror joins his side "Killer. Stop." Killer sticks his tongue out at Horror and Horror's disapprovement makes way for amusement.

Hah! Still got it!

Horror looks at Crop "This isn't first time for us. We know how to behave."

Crop nods as he rubs his arm "I figured! It is just... If this works out you guys can stay longer and have something of a base to fall back on. I am just worried because some people can be..." he searches for the words.

Straw leans clsoer "Mean, harsh and rude."

Crop sends him a glare and Straw shrugs "It is true!"

Crop sighs "Anyway." he turns back to them "Ready to introduce yourselves?"

Killer grins "And spread rumours!" He can see Dust pull a pained face again. Dust is still not a fan of the backstory they settled on but they are already commited to it after the doctor's visit!

Crop chuckles and grins "I am still curious about what you guys settled on myself..."

Killer shakes his skull and shakes his finger "No no. No cheating. figure it out yourself" and he grins.

Cross huffs as he keeps Nightmare fully against him "Lets just get this over with..."

Adn they walk into town.

People are staring which they all had expected and should be used to at this point. But Killer doesn't like the fact how many people see Nightmare at the moment, and by the looks of it, neither do the others like this. Cross keeps trying to hold Nightmare as close as possible and almost hide by Horror. Dust has started to fully shadow the two as he barely looks around.

Crop and Straw obviously see the tension and seem to be sharing more uncertain looks.

Nightmare however doesn't seem to share their issues as he happily leans away from the hold to enable himself to look around. He studies buildings and vehicles. and even just stares back at people staring at him. Clearly more interested in learning about this new place than actual worry.

Or maybe he just feels safe with them and that does THINGS to Killer.

Crop stops them near the middle of the streat "okay! This is it!" he waves around himself "It isn't a lot now as people are still waiting for the produce to finish growing. But. Generally." he points to a shop "General store. they have most things needed." he points to the shop next to it "Bookstore. self explainatory." he points to the large bar "Grillby's is a bar and restaurant. people spend most of their free evenings there."

Hah! Called it!

Crop points out a few more buildings but most of those are for farming things and supplies.

Dust nods and looks over at them before looking back to the bookstore and general store "Going to get things. be back soon."

They watch him casually walk away on his own.

Yeah no absolutely not!

Killer is already half jogging after Dust as he waves at Cross, Horror and Nighmare "You guys stick together and get a feel for other people!" After which he sprints to catch up with Dust.

They enter the general store together.

Dust shoots him a look "don't need a babysitter."

Killer huffs and grins "Says you!" and he follows Dust as Dust looks at things. Killer just doens't like any of them being alone unless it is at a secured place. So Killer will jsut stalk Dusty for a bit! It is perfect!

Dusty looks at items and ends up getting two more notebooks and some pencils. he nods to himself and gets in line to pay for the items.

Killer checks the funds and frowns. They are running out and they will either have to go to another universe to steal more and risk drawing attention or actually think of a way to make money the legal way.

A groan from upfront and Killer looks up to see a teenager panicking over the cash register. the customers before them all look angry and annoyed.

The teenager presses buttons but nothing seems to help "I am sorry. I am sorry! It just... has issues once in a while. I can fix this!" the teenager does not look any clsoer to fixing it!

Dust huffs and turns to him "Hold." and Killer gets the few school supplies pushed into his arms. Dust afterwards walks over to the front. He grabs the basket of items and pushes it into the arms of the man in front "Hold." the man goes to say something but Dust just hops on top of the counter and sits next to the register. He turns it this and that way.

Dust hums as he pulls out his pocket knife and undoes some screws. the cap opens and he looks into the darkness, a shift in his socket and his eye light now lights up the inside of the register.

He looks at the teen "Got tape?"

The teenager blinks at him before nodding.

Dust nods "Get it." and turns back to the register as he removes some wires and starts making tiny cuts.

The teen grabs it from a drawer and hands it over "Euh... sir... I don't... i mean... i am not allowed... i don't know if you can..."

Dust hums and doesn't listen at all as he redoes some of the wires and removes some of them that looked burned through. He secures things with the tape and closes the back up again. he turns the register back in place and hits the side once.

The register lights up and asks for a log in.

Dust looks at the teen "Fixed." he hops down of the counter. Takes the basket the man in front is still holding dumbfounded. DUst places it back on the counter and walks back to Killers side where he takes his own stuff back.

Killer grins at him "Nicely done. I think that is a new record for you fixing soemthign."

Dust may appear calm but Killer know shim and can see the smaller skeleton looks smug "Easy fix. just a burned wire."

Killer nods "Still a new record! Sadly i didn't have the free hands to time it."

Dust shrugs and acts like he doesn't care but Killer knows better.

The line goes a lot quicker and once it is their turn they quickly pay for the items.

The leave the store and Killer points at the bookstore "Do we need anything from there?"

Dust thinks for a moment before shaking his skull.

Ah. seems like Dust doesn't plan on expanding the classes just yet. Likely wants to see if they actually stay for longer here first.

So they walk back to the group as Dust holds a tiny bag with the new things. they see them near another store and they seem to be talking to a bunny and a dog monster.

The bunny coos as they stare at Ngihtmare and Killer feels himself glae as he rushes to their side "Hey!! Whatsup!" and he nuzzles Nightmare in greeting.

Nightmare huffs and whines "Killer! Careful for my ice cream." Killer pulls back and sees now that Nightmare is also holding ice cream. woops. Killer looks down adn yeah that is ice cream on his shirt. Oh well. he shrugs.

Cross laughs as he smiles at Nightmare "Still good to eat?"

Nightmare studies his ice cream before nodding and going back to eating it with tiny tiny licks. dust joins them again and Nightmare immediantly looks at him. Killer can spot their tiny Nightlight starting to raise an arm towards Dust but he stops himself and pulls it back.

Luckily, or unluckily, Dust is very observant and saw it right away. He gives the bag to Killer and easily climbs the haystack Nightmare had been sitting on. Dust next pulls Nightmare into his lap without disturbing the ice crema eating process.

Nightmare hums happily and leans back into the hug as a tiny purr starts to leave him.

Killer grins as he leans against the hay stack and looks at the two other monsters, who are staring very intensly at Dust and Nightmare and Killer feels... something protective rise up. still he keeps asmile on his face as he speaks "who are the new fluffballs?"

The bunny smiles brightly "Hey! I am Ellie and this is Dani, we are fellow farmers like Crop. We own a tree farm and cherry farm."

the dog, Dani, nods "Yeah! Crop asked us if we had any spare clothes so we kinda knew some people moved in. it is nice to meet you five!" she smiles brightly.

Killer nods as he keeps his arms crossed and his grin sharp. stop looking at them. stop looking at them. stop looking at-

Horror nods "Nice to... meet friendly faces. We are still...settling..."

Cross helps quickly "As Horror said, we are still getting used to things around here. we are very lucky that Horror and Crop were friends and he was willing to let us stay."

Dani looks curious "I hope you don't mind me asking... why the name change from Sans to Crop?"

Killer freezes as he tries to think but Cross shrugs "Skeleton naming thing. Normally you are named after fonts that we speak in, yes we can see fonts and yes it gets weird and yes it takes magic. We just kinda know the vibe and with magic can see those. You can named after that. problem, we all speak in the same font type. Meaning we all kinda had the same name." he rubs his neck "Two people with the same name you can work around but six gets confusing. So nicknames."

Ellie smiles brightly "Dani and I are the same! We were both named Danielle and when we met we realised this would get annoying. especially when we.. euh... got together together." she giggles "so. we are now Dani and Ellie!"

Dani looks highly amused "Our house voicemail is still, the house of Danielle however. It was too good of a joke to pass up."

Ellie nods and smiles "If you guys need anything or help let us know. We have a lot of leftover stuff from our own moving and getting settled and saved everything we could." She looks at Nightmare and Dust again and smiles "And can I jsut say the tiny one is adorable." she looks curiously at them all "So... you guys got one?"

Killer feels that portective rage turn into protective and possessive smugness as Dust answers "he is mine. we all work together." and he shrugs at the questioning look.

Cross shakes his skull at the questioning look "That... is rather personal... they prefer not to talk about it."

Killer can see Ellie and Dani share a worried look before both smile reassuring "That is fine. Take it easy okay?" Dani smiles as Ellie nods along.

They continue the small talk for a moment longer before Ellie reminds DAni that they came to get fertilizer and they two walk off hand in hand.

Crop watches them go "That... went very well..."

Horror looks at him amused "Told you."

Crop laughs adn nods "Yeah you were right. You guys totally got this."

They remain there and meet a few more people from town as they wait for Straw to finish getting what Crop and him need for their actual farm.

Killer relaxes in the sun as the day slowly passes.

When they get back Cross will probably force him out of his now sticky shirt. Killer will tease him about wanting to undress him which will make Cross sputter and blush. Killer will end up wearing aclean shirt and probably watch as Dust teaches Nightmare more about math while Horror and Cross help Crop and Straw around on the farm.

Killer hadn't expected this all to go like this but it is nice. it is quiet. and most important, they are all safe.

*------------------*

All in all? Great success!

I still don't feel like i quite nailed Killer. Killer is a curious character to write as he is very silly but also wickedly smart. mmmmh. but then again this is a drabble. *shrug*

Realistically? If this was a full on chaptered fanfic this would probably be a chapter i had to rewrite a few times. Just to make sure I get Killer's character and behaviour right. But for now it is fine :)

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[peachcitt]

merry christmas @burntwaffle12‼️‼️ this beast is just for you for the @mlsecretsanta gift exchange<3<3

you can read the first chapter of your gift here

happy holidays and i will be back so soon with more<3<3

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2024

Day 04 - Reticent

Their trip to the Sea of Clouds could have been wonderful. If not for the company.

It all had started when Alphinaud offered help to Lord Fortemp with some tasks as a sort of payment for letting them stay. Rael had thought it a very good idea too. They never liked being indebted to someone and more importantly they hoped that a change of scenery and something useful to do would help A‘viloh‘s mood a little.

Admittedly the Miqo’te enjoyed their stay in Ishgard more than Rael had expected but after most of the sightseeing was done and with nothing meaningful to do he seems to be more and more bored and disheartened again. While Tataru spent her days talking to merchants and customers at the Forgotten Knight, and Alphinaud and Rael had decided to rummage through the libraries of House Fortemps or the Athenaeum Astrologicum, A‘viloh barely left the warm comfort of the manor and wandered the house with growing impatience. Of course Rael, and also Haurchefant, had tried to find something for A‘viloh to do but none of it had worked out so far.

So the idea of helping Lord Fortemps sons with some duties outside of Ishgard had sounded like a perfect opportunity to Rael. Only the fact that neither of said sons actually reacted in an adequate manner to this proposal was somewhat irritating.

While Artoirel had answered with arrogance and rejection, which visibly hadn’t helped making A’viloh’s insecurities better but still somehow worked out in the end, Emmanellain had simply seen this as his chance to pass his work on to someone else.

Rael hadn’t spoken much yet to the youngest son of Lord Fortemps but already couldn’t help but find him annoying. A‘viloh had taught them not to judge people by first impressions and so Rael had decided to remain as open-minded as possible. But the young Elezen and his rather unique temper really weren’t making it easy for Rael. To them he seemed self-centered, spoiled and lazy but with a habit of poorly hiding all of this behind a thick layer of jokes and false excitement.

“Let’s go, boys! To the airship landing!”, Emmanellain exclaimed and euphorically wrapped his arms around both A’viloh’s and Rael‘s shoulders, pulling them along. Due to the sad circumstance that the young Elezen seemed entirely oblivious to Rael‘s deadly glare, the viera had to restrain themself not to try and break their host’s arm.

The flight to Camp Cloudtop luckily didn’t take too long. It could have been quite an enjoyable journey, the weather was nice and the view beautiful. But of course Emmanellain Fortemps couldn’t keep his mouth shut for more than a minute at a time. He either was bragging about something or complaining about whatever just crossed his mind, preferably his workload or people neither of them had ever met before. Had the flight taken much longer than it did, Rael might have considered to throw him out of the airship and somehow make it look like an accident.

The Sea of Clouds itself was a breathtaking place. Of course Rael hadn’t been entirely wrong with their Nym-hypothesis but never would they have expected flying island of such scale as well as flora and fauna. Not only grew strange colorful flowers and plants everywhere but also some tall trees, strong enough to build treehouses between them. It was worlds away from the lushness and the villages of the Golmore Jungle but it was the first bit of vivid vegetation Rael saw in a while and somehow it still made them feel better. The fact that A‘viloh stared a the flying green islands floating between the clouds with eyes so shining as if he just witnessed a miracle was a welcome bonus for Rael.

So for a short moment the world had been okay.

Then Emmanellain Fortemps once again felt the need to share his opinion and make it everybody else’s problem.

“Awfully cold up here…”, he complained while shuddering in a very exaggerated way. “I mean, Coerthas may not be blessed with the warmest weather in the world, but compared to this, it seems positively balmy…”

Rael didn’t think it was that much colder than Falcon‘s Nest and they were sure A’viloh wouldn’t have noticed but now that it was pointed out…

“It‘s really quite cold. Pretty surprising with all these flowers around don’t you think?”, the Miqo’te agreed and adjusted the scarf around his neck. Rael decided just to shrug for the sake of everybody’s peace and quiet.

Well, quiet of course wasn’t the right word in Emmanellain‘s case.

“Brrr… I am freezing”, he whined. “But of course Rael here is wholly unperturbed. You don’t have to maintain that strong, silent persona all of the time, you know.”

But that’s exactly what Rael did. They stayed silent and hoped that sooner or later (preferably sooner) the scowl on their face would send the right signals to the Elezen. But if Emmanellain Fortemps felt so cold, maybe they should offer some help after all. With a Flare spell maybe… but before Rael could be tempted into action Emmanellain had run off, already changing the topic of his endless jabbering to a certain beautiful Lady, named Laniaitte, he wanted to find.

For pretty much all the time it took to walk to the Rosehouse, the headquarters House Haillenarte had established here, he didn’t stop loudly daydreaming about this woman. To be honest Rael was kind of curious to see the kind of person willingly tolerating Emmanellain for longer than strictly necessary but in the end it turned out that she actually didn’t either.

Laniaitte Haillenarte was Francel‘s sister and just as friendly. To finally be able to meet her brother’s saviors seemed to make her very happy and so she greeted A’viloh and Rael in a very polite and welcoming way.

For the rude interruption of Emmanellain‘s attempts to flirt with her, she didn’t have no patience whatsoever though.

Politely but firmly she rejected him, in a way that even managed to make the young Elezen shut up for a moment. Immediately Rael liked her.

She kindly explained to them the role this outpost had for Ishgard as well as the currently situation, especially regarding an apparently hostile beast tribe of birdlike creatures. Every other remark by Lord Fortemps youngest son was simply ignored. She seemed to have some experience already in dealing with him and Rael admired her for her calmness and patience. Meanwhile the viera just thought the more nonsense the Elezen talked the more punchable his face looked.

Rael remained silent and left most of the talking to A‘vi until at some point Emmanellain spoke to the viera directly.

“Why so reticent, Rael? My dear half-brother often praised you for being so clever. Don’t you have any hypothesis on why the beast man suddenly attacked our people? I am a little disappointed that you don’t live up to Haurchefant’s description.”

Obliviously he grinned while A‘viloh and even Laniaitte seemed highly alarmed by the deadly stare Rael gave him.

“I‘m sorry.”, Rael said way too sweetly. “Please don’t mistake my silence for something it is not. I simply prefer not to talk to —”

Nervously A‘viloh laughed, as if someone just said something horribly funny.

“Sorry! What Rael was trying to say is that it would be unwise to jump to conclusions! It could all just have been a horribly misunderstanding, you know?”

Rael just kept staring viciously and bit their tongue, while even Laniaitte nodded along appeasingly and changed the subject. Instead of more attention Emannellain was given the most simple tasks possible, if only to keep him busy and out of trouble. She managed to make it sound very important though, so he would be motivated enough not to pass all of it on to his poor servant Honoroit.

Fortunately that meant A‘viloh and Rael had some time to explore the area without having to babysit Lord Fortemps son. For a while they just walked wherever it seemed interesting, stopping here and there to look at some especially weird plants, a beautiful view or an unusual creature. Rael made a mental note for themself to later ask Lady Laniaitte about whether or not some of the alchemist had already tested the plants here on their medical abilities, while A‘viloh spotted a strange flying cat and decided to chase it to get a better look at it.

“A‘vi!”, Rael yelled as the Miqo’te got dangerously close to a cliff for their taste. Just that it wasn’t only a slope or ravine beneath them but the endless blue sky and far far below, barely visible through the clouds, the solid ground of Dravania. In Emmanellain‘s case they wouldn’t have minded and probably blamed his own stupidity if an accident occurred but in A‘vi‘s case… “Please don’t step so close to the edge. Believe me or not but that would be a fall you would not survive even with my aid and I doubt Lord Haurchefant will come swooping down from the sky on a flying chocobo to save you this time!”

“Haha, very funny!”, A‘viloh yelled back but decided it was safer to listen to the viera and give up the chase. Instead he came jogging back to Rael, who had sat down to sketch some of the plants into their grimoire. For a second he observed Rael’s work and then lay down in the grass next to them with a deep sigh. „Isn‘t it wonderful here? I told you we‘d have a vacation!“

“Mm-hm…”, Rael only answered, looking up from their sketch to watch A‘viloh staring into the blue sky. He tilted his head towards them and asked, “Don’t you like it here or is it just Emmanellain?”

The viera rolled their eyes and lay down in the grass too in a gesture of exhaustion. “No it’s very nice here. It’s just Emmanellain… He is horrible!”

A’viloh shrugged and chuckled. But before he could dare to say anything in Emmanellain‘s defense a shrill scream appeared. Alarmed they both sat up again and watched Honoroit hurry towards them. Rael realised the poor boy wasn’t to be envied, after all he had to deal with Emmanellain’s nonsense all day, every day of the year. No one could blame him if he finally lost his mind.

“Help!”, he screamed and when he stopped in front of them to catch his breath he looked quite worried. “Master A‘viloh! Master Rael! You need to help me! Lord Emmanellain! He has been taken by the Vanu! They had my lord surrounded - a whole gang of them! Please, you must come quickly!”

“Where?”, Rael simply asked instead of wasting more time with explanations. For all the moments they had imagined to get rid of the annoying young Elezen, they knew better than to have their host‘s son killed on their watch.

Honoroit pointed into the direction he had come from and ran off again.

“So much for our vacation.”, A‘viloh sighed. “Let’s take a look at these birds. I still hope they are just friendly cute creatures, but who knows. Maybe they aren’t and you can take some of that annoyance out on them instead of poor Lord Emmanellain.”

Rael shook their head but smirked.

“I can’t promise he won’t get a little singed in the crossfire…”

[aroaceacacia]

I wonder how they made the purgatory 2 teams ... like with purgatory 1 you could tell they were tryign to break up most of the pre-established relationships for the sake of drama. but with purgatory 2 there are multiple team-ups of people who really really wanted to be teamed together - for example, etoiles, who joined purgatory 2 specifically to play with kenny, got to be teamed with him. plus iirc they did do team balancing to a certain extent (and also didnt team any purgatory 1 players with each other). so I wonder if they went the MCC/block wars/pandoras box route of "google form that asks you who youd like to be teamed with"! I feel like that would account for some of the interesting/unexpected decisions especially amongst new players (eg. Rodezel, who really wanted to be teamed with Bad)

[br1ghtestlight]

🫡🫡

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Stuck In Her Head

short contemporary YA coming-of-age set in Hong Kong, following two teen girls who are friends

one is a musical prodigy but has lost her passion and wants to explore different possibilities for her future

the other is passionate about music but dealing with mental health & family issues

the latter develops a crush on the former, who is aroace, and they have to re-navigate their friendship, while working on a music/coding competition project together and dealing with their own issues

[eldritchmochi]

Hi its the anon that keeps poking you about cs again! All of those ideas are great and just so the pain of fanfic often sort of being what would be a novel first draft by being episodic, but I feel like you could so weave in a tonne of this stuff past now anyway. Especially the cane leaning, im a cane user too and I totally get it, how my partner handles my cane is just.... it feels different to anyone else. Like they get to touch my body differently to anyone else and that applies to my cane too since that really sort of a part of my body??

the inherent eroticism of ur partner touching u(r cane) i should make a zine about this lmao

rn i am considering how much if any retouching i wanna do of the existing 260k of coping skills cos yeah, the struggle of fanfic essentially being the first draft of a novel. usually it doesnt get me too bad since a) i generally fully complete a fic before posting so i do have a chance to go back and adjust things here and there & 2) i really havent ever cared to redraft something in the more traditional sense and iii) i basically never write things over 100k let alone anything substantially over 100k

one of the options im considering would involve a fairly big overhaul where i pull out the individual arcs and flesh em out with additional scenes for better pacing, and then repost as a series with shorter individual fics (with the og in tact as is, just with a note). ive had several people tell me theyve balked at the length of this damned fic, especially since its barely half done plot wise for JUST this specific already plotted chunk of the whole shebang. it has quite possibly gotten a smiiiidge out of control lmao but its been a great learning experience and i am Determined to finish it

however, i am ALSO considering filing the serial numbers off this fic once its done. i absolutely plan on redrafting the whole thing with a bunch of developmental editing work so the end result would almost certainly be a very different form of the story from the fic as it is now. im still unsure of how much of the rework i have in my head i want to put on the internet as Coping Skills: The Fic tho. its really important to me that, whatever i end up doing, i keep this monster available on the internet as a fanfic cos i am well aware of how much it means to a lot of folks

at the same time though theres a lot of backend stuff i could build into the cs2.0 idea that would make writing the rest of the story a LOT easier, which would make dev edits and redrafting easier bc ill be starting with something that has more structure, etc

theres balance somewhere i just haven't found it yet, HOWEVER im absolutely gonna be stuck til i figure it out. im a plantser when it comes to plot, im more than happy to figure out the path to a fairly nebulous endgoal, but i struggle to write stuff if i dont have a good idea of the overall structure of how i tell the story, like pattern of pov shifts and theming, which definitely got a bit away from me the last like 80k lmao

[birb--birb]

Savrin de Riva, spellblade crow and certified Short King

[get-more-bald]

the thing about X6 is that he's essentially a slave given to the Sole Survivor by the Institute. and I think that the fandom's treatment of him would be different if the game addressed it or even just said it

[stabbyfoxandrew]

y'all who like my AUs and play wipw with me, i have a small dilemma: last week i got so many asks that it stressed me out. a lot.

i wanna keep doing wipw. so... do i turn off my inbox after i get a certain number of asks or limit it to one ask per person? like idk i don't wanna not do it because it's so fun and i like it but oh my god last week was rough for me and my silly little brain

[some-zer0]

The difference between Japanese and American average height in relation to Ace Attorney is so funny cause Edgeworth gives off such tall vibes but he's only 5'10"

For extra reference, Gumshoe is 6', Gant is 6'1", and Kristoph is 6'1" too (and I don't know how I feel about that last one...)

[fallen-kingdoms-crk]

So how are those animatic going?

((I finished one... I lost interest in the other... thus is the life of the bnuy))

[abimee]

ruyan wont admit she has a type but she does which is either short fat guys with facial hair (short is relative to her, any guy whos head sits below her nose is short) and high sex drive women with soft hair. this is why haurchefant is the best of both worlds

[cjgladback]

For the first time in a long while, I got to go to a white elephant gift exchange this December! We had a low price ceiling and my practically wins out over any practical joke sensibilities every time, so on the designated shopping day I left my local overstock store with a nice chopstick set, some fancy (not at all mess-free) popcorn, and a dream.

When I was growing up, my mom was an intrepid homeschooling parent who loved event planning, valued cultural exploration, and had married into a Japanese family. Multiple times - sometimes in the setting of a multicultural fair, at least once as a kind of class party (with celebratory takeout at the end) - she faced teaching large groups of children how to use chopsticks quickly and with as little cost and cleanup as possible.

Her answer was popcorn! It's edible, so you get the full motion down, and lightweight but large enough for less coordinated sticks to pinch. It has tons of nubbins to grab and widely varied shapes to experiment with. Specifically, we used air-popped kernels, without oil or toppings, so when it gets overzealously crushed or bounces away and gets missed by a broom, it's basically biodegradable styrofoam.

What I'm saying is, this is my mom's fault. Other than the choice to draw so many hands in one afternoon on the same day as the party, while also baking a snack. That's all me. This primer was delivered in the format of a tiny booklet (if you look up an "eight page zine" that's also a method I learned from my mom, to turn single-sided misprints into notepads), with fewer jokes and tips than I'd have liked because I simply did not have time to transcribe a hashi rest fold or hairstyle. But reformatted (for Mastodon) it looks fairly respectable.

Lengthy image descriptions and full poster format under the cut.

[ID: A title page reads "How to Use Chopsticks" in all caps. The words "without too much mess" are between two straight, orange lines, which start with round points at the left, evoking chopsticks, and end in flared shapes of a silhouetted splash on the right. Below the lower line are the words "by CJ Gladback." All the text is in black, the background is white but appears light orange due to a repeating geometric watermark pattern of CJ's logo in orange overlaid on the whole image; her handle on most sites is included once on each of the following spreads: @cjgladback​

Next is the first spread of four illustrations with their instructions. On the left half of page are two line drawings of a right hand holding one and then two chopsticks, with the text, "The first stick rests on the side of your ring finger's nail and the flesh between your thumb and index finger. Your middle finger's pad holds it securely while it can slide against your thumb as your hand changes posture in use. The second stick is held between the knuckle of your thumb and the middle section of your index finger. This is the one you move to change angles; it may touch but doesn't really rest on the middle finger's tip." In orange, two arrows indicate the rest points for the first stick while small hashes emanate from the points pressed on the middle and ring fingertips and under the thumb's joint holding the top stick. On the right upper quadrant of the page is the text "Hold them close to parallel to scoop." A hand holds two sticks poked into a bowl of rice between the viewer and the palm; a series of parallel orange lines emphasize the space between the sticks. The remaining quadrant's text reads, "Press with your index finger to pinch firmly." This hand is holding an indistinct rounded shape in its chopsticks, with an orange arrow indicating the rotation of the index finger's tip to press the top stick's point toward the bottom's.

Next is the final spread of the pamphlet. The upper right text reads, "Practice with something medium sized and low mess like (air-popped) popcorn." A single piece of popcorn is held in disembodied chopsticks above a full popcorn bowl, with several kernels fallen to the surface below it. Text below reads, "Pick up your dishes to bring close to your mouth to scoop the harder to grab foods." An implied tilted bowl of food (fried rice or porridge with diced pieces) protrudes off the page, covering only the lower left corner. Close-up chopsticks have their points buried in the food and their lines fade out toward the right. The final black text, underlined by two orange chopstick shapes, reads, "but most of all, do what feels comfortable and eat well!" In orange in the lower right corner, the parenthetical "(and maybe knit a scarf)" is followed by a small orange drawing of a steaming bowl of noodles and sliced egg with a noodle line trailing toward two upward angled sticks with loopy hashes indicating knit fabric hanging from them.

The final image is the full booklet in its web format, with the three previous images from this post stacked vertically. Some orange lines have been added between what were pages in the print booklet, to aid reading flow. /end ID]

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