#thoughts and constructive criticism welcome

[godlyicarus]

my home is a mouth by youssef khaireddine

hello! i spent the first few months of this year passionately working on self-publishing a poetry collection but i've lost the passion for it so i'm abandoning the project. i still want to share what i've come up with, so even if no-one reads it, here it is! :)

(edit: the above photo was going to be the cover art. there was a poem about it but it didn't make the cut)

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

odnlb writing process/workshop

this is mainly for my own reference. however, if this post ends up helping you with yours, then even better! 😊

most of you know, i wrote this fic as a practice for using save the cat (aka snyder) structure, and so now that it's complete i have the outline to come back to in a way that i understand and can use in future wips! did i deviate from this structure? yes. a lot. did i still follow all the beats though? i think so! check out how i formatted my outline!

my starting point: marinette 🐞

want: revenge against monarque

need: replace hate with love

this gave me a very clear picture of the emotional journey she would undergo. once i figured out her emotional need and decided what she would do to fulfill that need, i was able to pretty much plot out the entire fic. we needed a hero (in her case, an anti-hero) we could follow through an entire 45 chapter fic, and odnlb marinette gave us a reason to care about her and root for her right off the bat!

here's what save the cat's 15-beat structure looks like at a glance:

(isn't it just beautiful? 😍)

for odnlb, i combined this structure with the 3-act, 9-block, 27-chapter method:

lol so i did not exactly stick to this, as was my plan (my huge cast of characters wanted more from me.) however, i did stick with the proper beats...it just ended up expanding into 5 acts.

this is how my outline ended up looking (orange = save the cat, purple = 3 act 9 block 27 chapters):

act 1 - ladybug meets the villains

block 1

opening image - marinette leaves a rose at chat noir's statue. her eyes are dead (like him)

introductions/setup - 6 years later, marinette works for chloe. adrien still models for gabriel & is estranged from her and his old friends

theme stated - alya says, "you're getting better." (marinette has not been focused on hatred, but her personal growth)

catalyst/ inciting incident - bunnyx steals the rabbit miraculous & draws out the villain team

debate/ immediate reaction / fallout - villain team decides to abandon plan to use rabbit miraculous & get ladybug's miraculous instead. marinette decides to get cat walker's miraculous & kill monarque with it.

block 2

actions - ladybug interrogates adrien agreste bc he is close to lila, chloe, and felix (primary suspects). he doesn't give her any information, but reassures her he is on her side.

consequences - volpina attacks ladybug, villain team overpower her

block 3

pressure - ladybug is outnumbered, cannot stand against all the holders & their power-ups. villain side: ladybug is onto them. ladybug needs an ally & turns to kagami (also close to felix), but kagami turns ladybug down (but why?).

pinch/plot twist - cat walker contacts ladybug: tells her monarque is going to resume akuma attacks unless lb gives her miraculous

break into act 2 - monarque attempts to akumatize ladybug, but cat walker saves her. realizes villains' motivations are split.

act 2 - rise of monarque

block 4

new world - luka and zoe come to town. adrien is in trouble but felix stands by him. su han abandons marinette; he cannot teach her bc she has too much hatred.

fun and games/ b story/ies - felix and adrien switch so adrien can meet his friends for drinks. chloe sneaks snake miraculous back to luka. felix and lila threaten each other. felix likes kagami.

bad guys close in - monarque akumatizes nino to punish adrien. marinette finds out cat walker is a sentimonster

juxtaposition/ old vs new - luka/aspik shows up & joins marinette's side (she's not alone anymore). adrien realizes he has to be alone bc of what happened to nino. kagami confronts felix and gets the dragon miraculous (war begins)

act 3 - adrien identity reveal

block 5

build-up - luka and marinette plot to find the sentimonster. luka confronts adrien indirectly, suspects monarque is gabriel. marinette sleuths on felix (suspected peacock holder) only to discover adrien is a sentimonster/cat walker. kagami finds ladybug & offers to spy on felix & the villain team for her. monarque akumatizes zoe to punish chloe. ryuko gets her felix's amok in the fight, but gets it back when ladybug uses it against him. to stop ladybug harming argos & ryuko, luka reveals chat noir is still alive.

midpoint - montparnasse scene: ladybug confronts cat walker, he admits the truth. stand off with monarque until aspik & mellona rescue ladybug.

reversal - marinette is no longer hate driven, but driven by love to save adrien

act 4 - angrybug reversal

block 6

reaction - due to big emotional distress, ladybug goes into the avatar state (foreshadowing 👀). luka and chloe calm her down. feligami get together. adrien pleads to his father not to harm ladybug.

action/trials (raise the stakes) - the more adrien breaks his amok, the more he breaks his miraculous. marinette is set up to "spy" on adrien for the villain team. villain team plot to corner ladybug at dj wifi wedding.

dedication - adrinette kiss scene. adrien promsies himself he will harm himself before he lets harm come to ladybug. marinette promises no more harm will come to him.

block 7

calm before the storm - lila flashback: she killed nathalie and has been akumatized/transformed for 6 years. balcony scene: marinette tries to keep adrien close to no avail.

pinch/plot twist - volpina and monarque attack chloe, luka, and zoe. vesperia and carapace get their miraculous back. ladybug tries to heal cat walker & free him with her power, but his miraculous is too broken. she can only save him by getting his amok.

everything goes wrong/ dark night of the soul/ all is lost - lila & felix flashback: lila is monarque reveal. ladybug confronts gabriel agreste & tries to kill him, but can't (bc she is no longer full of hate). realizes monarque is lila. monarque takes felix, but kagami takes the other miraculous back to ladybug.

act 5 - fall of monarque

block 8 - finale

power within - team assemble. chloe uses mouse miraculous to activate other holders. lila finds marinette's identity.

action - monarque attacks. luka sacrifices himself to get the upper hand. alya gets the fox miraculous off lila, all her illusions drop. lila akumatizes timetagger, bunnyx shows up to get him. team fights argos and his sentimonster, red moon, to the death. chloe incapacitates argos.

converge - monarque takes the senti-twins and runs. remainder of the team follow her to agreste mansion.

block 9

final confrontation/final battle - monarque tries to make felix fix her miraculous. ladybug and team show up. monarque morphs into monster and attacks. gabriel sacrifices himself to save lb, but monarque still gets the upper hand. chat noir cataclysms monarque with a broken miraculous.

climax - the broken cataclysm destroys the world, but carapace's shield protects remainder of team. with adrien gone, felix is free and emilie is awake. ladybug goes toe-to-toe with broken miraculous final form chat noir, but her power is too weak compared to his untethered destruction. then felix gives her the peacock miraculous and she uses it to create a new bond for adrien, tethering him to life with her love.

resolution/denouement - all of paris knows chat noir is alive! big parade for heroes. ladybug and chat noir do a william and kate kiss. alya shoos off su han. felix gives gabriel to chloe and decides to work for tsurugi tech so he can stay with kagami. zoe and luka decide to go back home for a bit then come to stay too. emilie wants to be close to felix and adrien, but she is def not the priority for them atm. marinette takes the butterfly miraculous back from emilie. adrinette go off on a honeymoon vacation. adrien practices his proposal on a beach.

final image - adrien and marinette playing in the water on a beach on la reunion. “camera” pans away from their silhouettes running around on the sand, back to their stuff on the beach. shows a ring box in adrien’s bag with plagg & tikki chilling.

if this helped you out, i'm so glad! it definitely helped me see how to organize a story. i think if i ever do a fic like odnlb again, i will definitely do this for it.

[sillypoetproject]

Heart

in their open palms is a heart

still slowly beating as blood drips down their arms

and with a gentle squeeze of their bloodied fingertips

down their arms, the blood slowly drips

and to their face, they bring this heart

so they can see it clearly in front of their eyes

and with one quick breath

the smell of death

surrounds them like some sort of prize

and oh it is you who they felled

gazing upon your pale face as they consume you whole

and oh the sight was one they beheld,

sticky red hands covering their equally red face as the room suddenly went cold

“you beast”, a quiet voice whispered,

a snakelike lilt in it’s words

“you kill and you feast while forever they’ll sleep, all because you wanted your sick comforts”

now usually their skin is thick, tough as a crocodile’s hide

but their hands shook and a whimper escaped their throat as they felt a hit to their pride

“i know they loved me most,” they said weakly after swallowing the sinew in their mouth

“and i warned them beforehand that the taste of their heart was not something i could go without”

and so the room went quiet

as they went to devour the flesh in their hands,

but before their teeth could embrace the meat

the voice pulled them out of their head

“you bring only destruction,” it hissed, “culling all those you see struggling,

and to me, it seems you are entirely unaware of the monster you are slowly becoming”

and with a frown they lowered their arms, laying their hands fisted upon their upper legs,

once more gently squeezing the heart between their fingers as they thought about their new regrets

“i am not a monster,” they said, voice cracking from disuse, “they gave me permission to disembowel them in hopes that within their body i would find use”

the voice went silent as the person spoke, their words said clearly and true

and they stood from their crouch and spun around so the disembodied voice could enjoy the view

if the voice had eyes it would see

a bloody figure with bloody hands holding a bloody heart

in front of a warm corpse

frowning in all directions as they slowly started to mourn

and with great sadness, the disheveled figure began to speak, once again raising the heart to hold it against the side of their face as the organ continued to bleed

“we are close in ways it is hard to describe”, they said,

“because while we like sharing traumatizing stories

of traumatized children

trying to live their traumatic lives

we also understand that these stories are our memories

that our traumatized brains provide”

and as they spoke they stared down at the body,

at the corpse decaying before their very eyes,

and they started to sputter as tears overflowed and their body started shaking with cries

“i didn’t really want to kill you,” they said aloud, speaking to the cadaver in front of them,

“i didn’t mean to make it permanent

but now there are maggots under your skin,

and i’ve never felt so torn

so i’ll take your heart and eat it all up until it is finally gone”

the being heard no more voice, nothing to combat them anymore

and with some sick glee, they fell to their knees beside the body once more

“you love me and i love you,” they whispered,

“and now forever we will be,

for in my stomach, your heart will lay,

right where it should be”

with that, the figure kissed the body, once on both of its cheeks

and they raised the heart, clenched in their fists, to devour the sacred meat

[losingjude]

kind of sucks but idk pls gimme pointers

[carnivorousyandeere]

The DnD Yans’ starter characters thus far (strong homebrew vibes):

Noe: a Metallic Gold Draconic-Orc Paladin. A princess born (hatched?) to parents who were wed for political purposes, she felt deeply called to martial arts and insisted on training with the knights. Once she was old enough and strong enough, she abandoned the throne meant for her to embark on the holy journey she felt called to. The guilt of escaping her family and responsibilities mixes eternally with her joy at adventuring. She’s deeply idealistic, and prone to getting in over her head in her determination to help others. Noe’s characters often share her idealism and hard-headedness, usually trending towards good and lawful alignments.

Millie: a Tiefling Rogue of Dispater’s bloodline— his direct child, and raised to be his eyes and ears in the human world, regardless of their own safety or comfort. They were raised to be strong, agile, sneaky, and above all loyal to protecting their father. They come across as rather laid-back and unconcerned with the goings-on around them, but they’ve got keen ears and pay attention to every little detail you think you’ve hidden. It’s almost impossible to catch them off-guard, and even if you do, they always land on their feet like a cat. Millie’s rogue gets to do things that Millie themself is generally too tired to actually do, or would feel guilty actually doing, though some part of them might like to— like gutting anybody who gets too close to their Darling DM.

Hymn: a Satyr Bard. Channeling their real-life love for music, Hymn figured playing a Bard would be pretty fun. They love the chaotic potential Satyrs are rumored to have. None of their characters really have deep backstories, as many of the characters they come up with are joke characters of some form or another; evil televangelist warlock, a Druid version of Shaggy Rogers who wildshapes into Scooby, a Druid who wildshapes into a horrible goose on a lovely day, etc. Despite this, their characters have a habit of unintentionally spawning heartfelt backstories and making deep connections with NPCs along the way.

Scott: a High Elf Warlock. Before coming to your table, Scott always played the same character over and over again under different names (a High Elf Wizard), but at your encouragement, and with much reluctance, he decided to “try something new,” and make his character a Warlock for his first time playing DnD with you. Everything else about the character is the same— personality, appearance. His character is always a solitary sort of person, who spends all of their time pursuing esoteric knowledge that others couldn’t possibly understand or appreciate. His characters always have a powerful grasp on magic.

[junipum]

"I know pain. I feel it every damn minute every day that I'm alive. I wake up and remember that I never wanted to in the first place. Every step I take is one unbearable agony after another. I can barely function most of the time, let alone think, and these pills are the only thing holding me back from a more permanent solution. If you don’t want to deal with me, if my pain is just too much for you, I’ll close this door right now and you can walk away. I don’t blame you. I could never blame you.”

His speech is finished with anger, anguish, and a multitude of other unnamed emotions flickering across his face. House looks ten years older than Wilson knows him to be, and it stings like a scalding brand in his chest.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re in pain, and I wish I could help you. But I can’t. And you know I can’t. But what I can do is be there for you when you need it.” Looking into his eyes is too intense right now, so Wilson drops his eyes to House’s running shoes that haven’t truly been used in years.

“You’re not weak for needing support, House. You know I care about you, admittedly too much for how screwed our relationship has been for two decades. We need each other, and like I’ve said before, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing anymore.”

He looks up again, scanning House’s face for the deeper emotions always hidden under his cold facade. His face is impassive, but his eyes tell worlds of information, a million miles away in a far away land. But Wilson can see. He’s always been able to, no matter the time or place or insane context. He feels himself breaking, overcome with the emotions he’s repressed for years. To think this would be the day he couldn’t hold it anymore. A gloomy Sunday in August, slight chill creeping along the ground and through his thin jacket.

Turning, he hears House inhale sharply as if to say something, but ultimately shuts his mouth with an audible click of his teeth. A shudder wracks his shoulders and down his spine as he walks away from the low steps of the building. Leaves scrape across the ground, red and brown in retreating summer warmth.

Brow tense and eyes shining, he leaves the light of the lamppost behind as the distance between them grows with each tired step.

[ramrage]

Loki Laufeyson is a Man of Many Complexes

chapter 1 of ???

“This is a very funny joke if you had all the details,” Loki says. He’s out of breath and it’s mostly likely because he’s bouncing on some blond behemoth’s behemoth dick. The man kneads at Loki’s ass, seemingly unaware of this whole exchange. Loki just smiles wryly at you.

On a particularly naughty thrust, the blond man smacks roughly at Loki’s ass, growls out a “Who’s your daddy?”

Loki turns to you with a grin, “So was that. Pardon me for a moment,” he says before leaning down to his blond’s face for a kiss. This situation would feel much more odd if Loki seemed more perturbed, but he doesn’t. In fact, having an audience seems to egg him on. He whines out a pornographic, breathless “you are, you’re my daddy”. The blond man seems pleased by this, given the appreciative sound he grunts out.

Loki smirks at this. “For context,” he says as he grinds his hips, “this is no one.” He nods to the man. “No one of import, at least. Met him at a bar and well, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.” The man grabs Loki’s hips, stilling them. Loki shoots a puzzled glance your way but complies as the large man arranges him on all fours. With an appreciative hum, Loki remarks, “Ah, backshots.” The man reinserts himself, groaning.

“So tight,” the two say in sync. Loki rolls his eyes.

“Just for you,” Loki says, glancing back. He can’t help but melt bodily into the sensation, rolling his hips. This was good.

After settling himself, the man starts up at a punishing pace, filling the room with lewd slaps of flesh against flesh. Very good, indeed. Loki leans into his touch as hands slide across his flanks, across his chest, up his neck. Fingers roughly press at the seam of Loki’s lips, and he allows them in, sucking.

“The punchline is coming,” Loki assures you around the mans fingers, pausing to smirk at the double-entendre. “I’ll tell you when.”

—

“When?” Loki says, sort of outraged. A limp asparagus drops to his plate, plopping lamely next to a congealing mess of gravied mashed potatoes. A mandatory excursion of unknown but longer-than-desired duration to the middle of bumfuck nowhere was not ideal. Not remotely ideal.

Frigga, otherwise known as “Mom”, spoons a heap of mashed potatoes onto Odin-Father’s plate. “As soon as your brother’s semester ends,” she explains, nodding at the blond behemoth sat at the opposite end of the dinner table.

Loki raises his brows knowingly at you. “Ba-dum tish.”

Interpreting his silence as moody disapproval, Frigga scolds her youngest son, “Loki, your grandmother left behind a lot for us to sort out with the house. This is an all-hands-on-deck operation.”

“Are we forgetting that I am employed? With a job?” Loki asks incredulously. To be fair, he didn’t exactly care about this job, but the real offense was the general lack of consideration vis-a-vis his life. “What am I supposed to do? Just leave indefinitely?”

“Family comes first,” Odin interjects.

Loki scowls impressively. “He’s become a man of few words in his later years,” Loki says, addressing you. “Mostly chiming in to offer obnoxious, unyielding moral platitudes when they’re least wanted. He also enjoys reminding me that I’m the worst.”

Odin sighs like an old man. “Your brother will be attending classes remotely and he hasn’t complained.”

“See?”

Thor knows better than to react to that statement. Or maybe he doesn’t give a shit, too busy looking gorgeous as he inhales his eighth helping of steak.

“He’s a super senior.” Loki nods in Thor’s direction, but no one seems to notice. They continue eating silently in the oppressive awkwardness specific to tense family dinners. They’ve made it a weekly tradition, keeping the family bonds strong, or whatever “You can spend ten years at school and no one seems to give a shit if it means holding onto their star QB. America is weird.”

As if closing off any further commentary, Frigga sighs, not looking up from her plate. “We’re all going, and that’s that.”

“Well, you heard her,” Loki says sardonically, shrugging, “that’s that.”

[starryalpacasstuff]

The Mask

I made a mask. Not today, not yesterday, but over the course of two, painstaking years. I would not say I am particularly good at creating masks. I had never made one before this one. But it's quite an extraordinary mask, and like it exists no other. I did not make it in a workshop, or even in the way you would expect a mask to be made. I placed the pieces on myself, one by one, sometimes right after one another, sometimes with months in between. This mask is not made of paper, or metal, or cloth. It is made of pain and sadness, adorned with dreams and wishes. I am not quite sure if the mask is done yet. Perhaps one day, I may decide to add something to it. But for now, I believe this is my best work to exist. It fits like a second skin, and fades from your conscience once you slip it on. It is convincing, almost too convincing. So much so that at times, I forget that I am wearing one at all. I made a mask. And I can no longer tell where it ends and I begin.

[kirins-stuff]

The latest chapter is now up on Ao3

Title: Bend and Don’t Break

Rating: PG-13/T

Summary: Fifty years have passed since the Avatar’s disappearance. Fifty years since the war between nations came to a bitter end. A new world has risen from the ashes of tragedy. Yet the embers of war threaten to rekindle. Faced with a precarious future, a simple Water Tribe girl seeks to restore balance to the world. (InuKag, AtLA AU)

Content warnings: Canon-level violence (Inuyasha), major character death, swearing, body horror, psychological horror, torture, sexual intimidation, physical abuse of minors, psychological abuse of minors,  mentions of death and injury to minors, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry and prejudice

Pairings: Inuyasha x Kagome, Onigumo/Naraku > Kikyou (unrequited), Akitoki Hojo > Kagome (unrequited), past Inu no Taishou x Izayoi, male OC x male OC, female OC x female OC

Genres: Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance

Chapter preview:

Hiten didn't even hit the ground. The spirits met his fall with cries of rapture. He was swallowed by a wave of shadows. 

Inuyasha hurtled after him with a yell. He slammed into the dirt inches from the gate. The spirits tore at the barrier as they scrabbled to claim him. Their claws still couldn't reach beyond the stones. He watched the onslaught with an ashen face...

[drained0vampire]

I don’t know what to call this? seems to long to be a poem but i hope it’s better then okay writing feel free to  critique. (i’m sorry if the grammer is terrible english isn’t my first language)

there’s something magical about prancing around my room all day

I wake up with my cat by my side i have the lesbian flag in the window so my room is covered in orange-pink lighting it feels warm and my bed is soft so i slip back i to sleeping till i’m ready to get up

my stomach rumbles but i cant go downstairs downstairs is where is kitchen is, the food is, where i’ll hate myself maybe if i run straight out the door but i’m not safe outside either. outside is where take out places, restaurants, the grocery store are.

so i’ll stay. let’s look outside the window or listen to my vinyls then i’ll read and after i sit and draw. i feel so weak so it’s working. i like to draw body’s not just ones i want to emulate but the poses is what i focus on specifically a women laying on a couch with rag doll likeness all sprawled out. she’s tired and bored and looks ready to die but there’s a satisfaction, a slight smile she’s boney so to hell with getting up.

hours have passed and now maybe if i have energy i’ll make my bed and organize my closet sometimes i come across that top or those pants that fit but i don’t want clothing to fit me i want it to be loose i want gaps i want clothing to drag over me.

now’ll i sit on my bed stare at my ceiling, my walls. i love it here no one has bothered me not even myself. my body has begged me to go downstairs but i won. my room is clean and the sky is clear. now all i see is the shade of musty blue and head to bed again.

[lustlessgrace]

restrict it all so i feel fuller

it hurts to eat but i’m not bitter

live forever under someone else’s reign

not my voice that leads the way

somehow she’s even meaner

leading the day she won’t go away

often it feels like a loosing game

that i never even wanted to play

‘someone help me’ i want to scream

the only exit is a deadly reach, but still

i like to think sometimes i’m clean

no dirty hands all over me

only the ones i’ve prescreened

[grayh0und777]

Food For Thought

I want to start a blog, or a magazine, or something where young artists and writers can get together to share their art. I'm not sure. I'm a huge writer and for the first time I'm interested in nonfiction, specifically journalism. However, art will always be my first love and it would probably be art focused. I want to include poetry, short stories, book reports, scientific journalism, activism, etc etc.

My biggest issue is that I have a LOT of hobbies and my focus changes every few months. I'm worried that I will only be invested for a few months then decide to move onto upholstery, or whittling, or something else equally random. I don't want to put effort into something and then leave my two whole readers hanging.

This could also be seen as a good thing. I want to this to be a showcase of the esteemed "homosexual audacity". People in our generation are extremely talented for our young age. We are passionate with many interests, I want to create a space to share all of our miscellaneous talents. So as the tides of our collective attentions change, so will the contents of the blog/journal/magazine, making for interesting and fresh reading material.

Thoughts? I'm looking for the harshest contructive criticism. Is this even an interesting idea? Will this last? I am asking for unnessesarily crude opinions. :)

[piratesexmachine420]

2012-12-05

It is December 5th, 2012 and somewhere around two in the morning, mountain time. You’re watching the news. Everyone is watching the news. It’s because they’re talking about aliens. In the movies, when the news is talking about aliens, they love to show people all over the world huddled around their televisions and watching the news about aliens. People are saying “truth in fiction” a lot. You wish there was less truth in fiction.

They’re saying it’s going to land in China, and you’re imagining some salt-of-the-earth rice farmers crowded around a tube TV; kids plopped straight on the floor, grandma or grandpa rocking in a big wooden chair, mom and dad looking in from the kitchen door. They’re all transfixed by the television.

You wonder if maybe your mind’s eye is a little racist.

The news anchors are talking about how fast it’s falling again. About how all the scientists thought it would have slowed down by now, if it didn’t want to crash. Just a couple minutes to touchdown, they say. Touchdown. Nobody on the TV is saying “crash”. But they’re thinking it. And you’re thinking it. So you try to imagine the family instead.

It’s cold in the living room, so you get up to grab a blanket from the closet. You’re trying not to think about how the dinosaurs went extinct.

Too fast.

Can’t slow down.

Crash.

You’re rounding the corner into the kitchen when it starts.

First, everything goes silent. Then the lights go out. Everything is pitch black. The power must have gone out. You grope around, trying to find where you are, among the counters and cookware. Then, you hear a humming. It’s coming from the walls, high-pitched, and something in your gut tells you it’s very bad. You look up, and realize you can see again. There’s light coming through the windows – some kind of greenish, sickly luminance from above the clouds. It isn’t very bright, but it hurts to look at,. You stumble your way forward, shielding your face from the glow. You really need that blanket now. One step forward, two steps, and then you trip. The ground is shaking.

You’re shaking too.

Okay.

You gotta get under a table, right? That’s what all those earthquake drills in elementary school were for, right? You crawl backward, lurching your way to the dining room as fast as you can. There’s a “bang!” sound, like a gunshot or a bomb. You dive for the ground, curl up like a baby. The humming is louder now, and the green light is getting brighter. You think you smell smoke. There’s another “bang” sound, much closer, coming from the kitchen sink. You don’t want to look at it. You glance from behind your fingers, and see the faucet is blown clean off. Steam is billowing from the wreckage. The humming is still louder. You definitely smell smoke. There’s a flash, like lightning, and you hear glass breaking. A light bulb maybe. There’s a chandelier hanging over your table. There are sirens in the distance. Fire trucks, or maybe ambulances.

You curl up tighter. If those sirens don’t come help you, you’re probably going to die. All the way on the opposite side of the world. You wonder what might’ve happened to your hypothetical farmer family. You wonder if they’ll tell you on the news.

You wonder if there’s still going to be news. You wonder if this dining table can take another lighting fixture falling on it, or if you need to move.

You’re starting to see smoke now, coming from the outlets. They look blackened and burned and covered in soot but it’s still hard to tell in this light. You close your eyes. You hear another “bang!” from somewhere in the neighborhood. Then another. Bang, bang, bang. There’s a lot more sirens. Your neighbor is trying to start his car, but it doesn’t sound like it’s working. You hear it backfire, or some other loud noise. You don’t really know that much about cars. He goes quiet.

You open your eyes again. The glow is getting dimmer, and there’s a fire somewhere. Too much smoke. You push yourself to your feet, and it feels like a nightmare. Everything is so fast you’re so slow. Your hands tremble as you pull yourself to your feet. The ground isn’t shaking anymore. You glance quickly around, then bolt for your front door.

Thank god it’s unlocked thank god it’s unlocked thank god it’s unlocked.

You throw it open and dash into the middle of the street.

The whole town is dark, though you see some spotlights near the river. In the distance is… some kind of inferno. There’s a fire hydrant on the corner. It looks like it was bombed. Water is spewing everywhere. You look for your neighbor. He’s safe, you think. The car doesn’t seem damaged. Probably. It’s hard to tell. You glance up at the sky again, and the light is nearly gone. You hear the grumble of an engine. You look to your neighbor again, but his car hasn’t moved. Behind you, someone on a motorcycle shoots by. You’ve never seen anyone ride a motorcycle that fast before. You have no idea where they’re going.

You turn back to your house, try to take stock of the situation. Smoke is pouring from every window. There’s smoke everywhere. From every building. Someone down the street runs out their front door. They’re yelling something. You listen to the sirens instead. It’s hard to say if they’re moving or not.

You slowly sink into a seated position, here in the middle of a four-way intersection, and try to think about tomorrow. It is now 2:00 AM exactly.

---Stories from 1C, CRWPA – Commission to Elect Joe Biden, 2015-05-27.

[hiding-all-the-bodies]

It had always been considered a town mystery why the river switched directions halfway. Those on the north side attributed it to the moon tides, conveniently forgetting that the nearest beach was over 4,000 miles away. Those on the south side claimed it had something to do with the earthquake of 1848.

Newer residents of Splitrock tended to scoff at the tall tales, as only the elders told the stories, passing the rumors from person to person like honey dripping from their words. Only the elders even cared about the switch-current at all, as it hadn't caused any major issue to the town's function and certainly didn't invite any tourism beyond the occasional hippie looking for energy hotspots.

The Town Sheriff was rather tired of these persistent rumors. No true harm had come from the silly talk that had evolved. So what if Old Barry thought the river had swallowed up his wife? It didn't matter once he realized she was at home, cooking dinner as usual. Barry continued, of course, to claim that the woman making his porridge was most certainly not his wife, but that man hadn't been right in the head for over ten years now. Luckily for the Sheriff, Old Barry was such an old fool that using any sort of technology was "too hard" to learn in case of an emergency. The Sheriff decided long ago to take his complaints with a grain of salt.

Young adults living in the newly developed part of town loved the river and used it often as a meeting spot for friends and lovers. The directional change made the water nice and still for about 300 yards, creating the perfect swimming hole for skinny-dipping. The elders hated the young adults, and the young adults hated the elders right back.

The elders hated the young so much that when the body of twenty-year-old Catherine Eckels was found at the swimming hole, missing the bottom half of her jaw, the elders didn't have any tale to spin regarding the cause of the tragedy. The only thing they would tell the Sheriff when asked was a single sentence:

 "The river wanted blood."

[sonxofxgondor]

Because I'm curious, and truly want to know, what is your opinion of my portrayal of Boromir? Have I done the man justice? Do you think that there's anything that I should improve upon or change? Thank you!

[pastrydragon]

But that "retcon" makes no sense at all.

How to give constructive criticism: https://www.valamis.com/hub/constructive-criticism

I hope this helps!