#well. i forgot partway through

[seagullcharmer]

sigh. feeling very shy and lonely in this chili's tonight

[darkmagicmirror]

She's learning more dark magic, probably 🐍🪞

[chorne-the-firstborn]

I recently got watercolors and I LOVE THEM!!! I'm especially proud of the lighting on the candles. :D

[piningpercussionist]

Hehrhgrrhehehe mmy ediblles kickkingg In :3

I think I’m floating

I’m floating

*Shes floating*

-🐇 (She’s floating)

(ooc p.s: this is based on how I type when I’m high teehee :3)

I... is this a bunny thing?

It's just weed in this right?

I should probably feel a bit more concerned than I am, but like, it's not like we're outside or something I guess...

[skelekins]

:o what a neat idea from @cranberrytea451 since there has been a full animal bunny but not

full bunny kelek [furry]

seabun - kelek - scar

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

On the topic of COPY<|>KATE: holy shit I forgot just how harrowing the end of part 2 is. Like, Jesus Christ, they really just did that. (Well, they were partway through doing that when the chapter ended, but still.)

When you're a society of copies on a distant planet you gotta do what you gotta do

[akakumoeteru]

just a small notice but with the slow motion trash wreck that is the bird app i've been seriously debating how i should move house and i know i said before i'd be slowly moving all my mxtx stuff here (a process i have STILL yet to complete because what in the heck i drew so much) but i have also decided to move my pre-MXTX fandom stuff as well >< it's gonna be a lot and my plan is to just post and then backdate the posts to their original relevant post date a few weeks later but it's.... it's a lot. i drew at least the same amount for my previous fandom as i did for mdzs so U_U; anyway, my main concern is spam because of the volume and maybe it won't be so bad because i tend to forget i was posting something partway through the process (hence why my move from bird app to here for mxtx has been going on for like 3 years at this point) but just in case if you're only interested in my danmei stuff, you can feel free to mute the #suzalulu tag ahead of time. there's some other miscellaneous stuff but only a tiny bit in comparison so hopefully people will have patience with me that's it thank you for your patience i'll have more mdzs stuff i forgot to post soon too

[bones-mccoy-turned-me-bi]

Ok so last night I had a dream about startrek, it started during amok time pretty much going the same way except, T'pring didn't do the challenge they got married.

Only remember bits and pieces during this point but Kirk is heartbroken, he's not letting Spock know (duh) which isn't a problem because Spock is oblivious about Kirk's feelings for him.

I forgot to mention that Spock does have feelings for him and didn't want to marry T'pring but he was convinced that Kirk doesn't love him,whilst also doing this whole "It's Vulcan way" so he decided to just do it.

Anyways he went through Pon Farr with T'pring and ended up getting her pregnant

This is another point where memory doesn't like me, but anyway they have a son (his name was changing like every half a second but ima call him Telek since that's one of the only ones I remember)

ANYWAYS this child just sorta exists in the back of Kirk's mind for like 2-3 years till T'pring's work (I forget what she does but it's like similar circumstances to her being on the enterprise in snw) lines up with the enterprise, and she brought Telek with her.

So they meet the kid

Kirk is trying so hard rn but it's like that's Spock's child with the wife he didn't know he had so he's struggling.

Mccoy likes the kid and is doing a way better job of being normal towards him and T'pring ( whilst also comforting Kirk which I thought was really cute )

Anyways another time jump

T'pring dies.

This isn't even that much later cause Telek looked like 4.

I have no idea how she dies but she did, Spock is hurt but not like extremely?

Like he did care about her but he never really loved her and when they spoke it was really just him asking about Telek.

Anyways Kirk is like kinda happy about this but also very mad that he is happy about this because Spock's wife died and that's horrible so he's like trying to comfort Spock but it's kinda awkward because Kirk hated T'pring and they both know he hates her.

Anyways Kirk is like well he's not married anymore maybe nows my chance and Mccoy is like "She just died dude at least give the guy some time to grieve "

So Kirk does but like only for a month or so

and he's back to trying to court Spock, but Spock is still oblivious and thinks Kirk is just still trying to comfort him so it's not working that well. At some point Kirk decides fuck it I'll just tell him.

So Kirk invites Spock over for chess and partway through like thier second game ( gotta give him some time to work up the nerve) Kirk blurts it out.

And like at first Spock doesn't react so Kirk's like freaking out like "omg I just ruined our entire friendship " " why did I say that" " holy shit he hates me now doesn't he?? " all the while Spock is like fucking buffering because the guy he's been in love with for years just admitted loving him since like the first day they met and like ????? Holy shit?????.

Anyways Kirk started like apologizing to Spock which kinda snaps him out of his little trance and Spock is now the one freaking out cause he took to long to answer so he kinda panics and just like

leans over the chess board and like fuckin kisses him.

Anyways they're together (they also find out they are T'hy'la and it's really sweet)

And at some point ( not that much later come on its Spock and Kirk and they've been in love for years ) they get married and it's very sweet and they are both Telek's dads now and stuff and Mccoy is doing his whole " took you two long enough Jesus " but he's secretly stoked and not hiding it well.

Um anyways this is about were I woke up.

Its the most coherent dream (am I saying that right? ) I've ever had

Idk if you wanna make a fic about it please do and post the link when you reblog it cause I'm not gonna find it otherwise 👍

[conventionalwisdomcomic]

Weekly Digimon Comic: Digimon Tamers - page 13

Well, it had to come up at some point, didn't it? For those of you who either don't know or just forgot: the teacher in Tamers is drawn a lot like the way grown-up Kari was drawn in the last episode of Digimon Adventure 02, where Kari was established to want to be a teacher herself. Building on the gag, the Saban dub gave her the same voice actress as Kari, and you'd better believe the fandom noticed.

Of course, the second punchline of this comic didn't even hit me until I was partway through drawing it. Just you wait, Takato. It'll take a few seasons, but your time will come...

Conventional Wisdom / Patreon

[being-of-rain]

I wasn’t really a big fan of The Giggle by the time I finished watching it, and I liked it less the more that I thought about it. Which is a real shame, because I think it was full of a lot of great ideas that were squandered with poor execution. I didn’t really want to just post pages of negativity, so I’ll quickly skim through a list of things I think could’ve been done better, and maybe I’ll expand on some of them later or if I’m asked about them. Still, this is your warning for negativity.

The whole 'screens are evil and making everyone think they're right' felt so shallow and cheap, especially because it was set up as the main obstacle and then largely ignored. A lot of the characters at UNIT really didn't do much (I totally forgot about The Vlinx after my first watchthrough) but I think that didn't bother me much while watching because I was used to Chibnall regularly ignoring characters like that. It was nice to see Mel again, but she didn’t really serve much purpose.

RTD’s take on the Toymaker is quite similar to his take on the Master, which was sometimes fun and sometimes annoying (specifically the German accent, which lost its appeal pretty quickly for me). But he felt pretty hollow and full of wasted potential beyond that, feeling like he was there just to give the episode a villain. Although speaking of the Master, his brief inclusion was hilarious and an easy way to write him back into the show later, nicely done.

The last third of the episode had some many intriguing and potentially awesome ideas behind it. The new Doctor turning up partway through a story? Cool! The Doctor defeating his final villain alongside the next star of the show? Fun! The Doctor getting self-care and words of wisdom from his next self? So heartwarming! One Doctor retiring to be happy while his next incarnation travels off to continue the adventures? A fun use of the show's format!

But for me these ideas just didn’t work or didn’t fulfill their potential, and it’s mostly because there’s no narrative justification for them. No cause and effect. There’s no given reason for the Doctor to bigenerate, it just happens. There’s no particular reason that it was the Doctors rather than the Toymaker who won the game of catch to save the world, it just happens. Without any narrative reason the third act feels so unsatisfying, like spectacle for the sake of spectacle, and (I don’t say this lightly) incredibly lazily written.

That lack of story reason also undermines the ending, clearly the thing RTD was most interested in, by making it feel unearned. Like a first draft script that worked backwards to make it happen. The retirement ending itself I have mixed feelings about, which I’m not sure I can fully articulate. One thing I love to see is that RTD can actually do a genuinely happy ending rather than making every ending a tragedy. But said happy ending feels a little too ‘married-with-kids-and-a-white-picket-fence’ to me – though obviously I can’t stress enough how relieved I am that romance didn’t factor into it. It just felt like it wasn’t set up well enough. I’d probably like it a lot more if they made clear if Tennant’s Doctor was going to turn into Gatwa’s Doctor or if they’re just separate people now. It was sweet of RTD to try and bring a conclusion to the ‘Doctor is traumatised’ thing that he introduced to the show 18 years ago, but he did it poorly. At least it offers interesting new possibilities for the show going forward!

With all that said, in the end The Giggle felt to me like RTD retreading some of his biggest flaws as a writer, and throwing in a few borrowed from other showrunners for good measure. It was a disappointment both because of the good ideas just below the surface, and because it came after a very fun first episode and an incredible follow-up.

But like I said, I’m excited to see what the show does next! I saw talk that there’ll be lots of mythical and unnatural creatures turn up due to the Doctor’s salt thing, which is super cool. And obviously I’m excited for more Gatwa! I haven’t really felt a lot of reason to be excited about Ruby yet, but as always I’m ready to fall in love with the new companion quickly!

[tiktaaliker]

my thoughts on the stuff ive listened to during work; note that im not basing my reviews on how good the actual book is, its based on how my personal experience was to listen to the audiobook while working in the lab

Animorphs books 1-3: i read this series as a kid but only once, so i was familiar with the story enough to not get distracted but i had forgotten enough of the details to be kept engaged. Voice acting was fine, tolerable to listen to, character voices distinct enough to differentiate without being annoying (albiet with at least one exception). Biggest issue is length- since my shifts are 8 hours, i got through the first 3 books in a single shift, and the specific version i was listening to was split up into a handful of short parts each book so i kept having to switch to the next video, which was way too much of a momentum-stopper (and work interruption) to stick with this series specifically.

The Witcher books 1+2: eh. was fine enough. once again this was something i was familiar enough with to follow without having to worry too much about missing details, while also being somewhat entertaining. i think i liked it a lot better to read than to listen to. voice acting was fine. biggest issue was that i had finally gotten used to the narrator pronouncing dandelion as dan-DIL-leon for the first book but in the second book he switched to pronouncing it as DAN-dee-lion and i had to stop partway through because of it

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: i remember enjoying reading it a lot more than listening. Ill be the first to admit that im kind of picky about audiobook narration and this one just didnt hit right, but was overall a good experience. Voice acting was fine, and the actual story was very entertaining as expected. Perfectly acceptable.

Discworld books 1-2: extremely good listens. Voice acting was great, character voices were fun and fit the characters really well, only skirted the line of being annoying. fantastic story, but not too complicated or unfamiliar, so i could still follow and be entertained while still focusing on work. Will probably continue the series at some point, but giving myself a buffer period before i start up again to avoid series burnout

Malevolent parts 41-44 (catching up with the podcast lol): man. theres just something about listening to a guy getting gutted and filled with maggots while working in the lab of a hospital. like broooo you are going to get sepsis!!! Very good listen, as expected, just kinda funny trying to keep a straight face while talking to coworkers and simultaneously listening to arthur's no good very bad day

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: probably the best one so far for what im using these for. The length meant i was able to spend like 4 whole shifts on the one audiobook. Footnotes were incorporated fantastically, narrator and voice acting was phenomenal, and its also pretty much my favorite book of all time. Ive read this SEVERAL times, but because of how fucking huge this thing is theres a lot of details i forgot about or misremembered. Only issue is that it was split up into several audio tracks, so i had to switch to the next one a few times per shift. They were each around 2 hours long however, so it wasnt too inconvenient. Also at one point i fucked up and accidentally skipped like 8 whole hours without realizing until after an hour in where they referenced an event i KNEW i hadnt gotten to yet lol

Catch-22: man they really went all fucking OUT on the voice acting here. All characters are EXTREMELY distinct, so im very easily able to tell who's talking even without speaking tags. One of my pet peeves in audiobooks is when the narrator whisper-yells when a character is meant to be screaming. That does not happen here. Narrator fucking COMMITS. Yelling, sobbing, laughing, all of it. Fucking fantastic. Phenomenal as an audiobook, i think i mightve even enjoyed it even better than actually reading it.

Slaughterhouse-five: man. this one is ALSO an audiobook that is fucking PHENOMENAL. biggest problem is that i got WAYYY too into it. I really needed to just sit down and soak it in, which was not very condusive to a workplace environment. I now have a self-imposed limit where im not going to be listening to any more vonnegut books from now on because i KNOW itll have a similar affect

His majesty's dragon: this one couldve been good, but the recording i found was not. The guy reading it did a big spiel at the beginning of each chapter and kept adding unneeded commentary like it was a middle school read along. Im going to be getting a library card today so i can use libby, so i might come back to this once i get access to an actual official audiobook lol

murder on the orient express: nope. barely lasted three minutes into this one

percy jackson and the lightning thief: see this is an example of something ive actually read too many times as a kid so i know the book too well for an audiobook to be entertaining. Dropped it after less than a chapter.

the kane chronicles: had potential, i remember liking the story a lot as a kid but i hadnt read it nearly as much as the pjo series, and i think it wouldve been at least vaguely entertaining. However, half the book has one of the narrator sdoing a really bad british accent for his sister's voicelines and i just couldnt do it. i didnt have the strength. Dropped after maybe 4 chapters.

Camp Damascus: the only audiobook of the lot that i actually bought, and the first one i got through that i hadnt read the physical book before. Interesting story, ok voice acting. Solid choice to listen to. Not quite what i was expecting, but pretty good story! Had some EXTREMELY gnarly descriptions of body horror thrown in at like. two points of the story maybe. Didnt really affect me personally but kinda threw me off in a 'this feels like a different story entirely' sort of way. Dont have much else to say here since these reviews are more talking about my experience with these as audiobooks specifically, and i havent read the book itself to be able to compare this one.

[theweeklydiscourse]

For even more context, ACOTAR, ACOTAR 2, and half of ACOTAR 3 were all written consecutively in 2014. That series was very different than the actual published series as SJM said Rhys was initially a villain and there would’ve been a love triangle between Tamlin, Feyre, and Rhys (which many readers speculate would’ve ended with Feylin endgame regardless of whether Feyre and Rhys were mates in that original). Later before publishing, she went back to tweak ACOTAR. This is where many of us speculate she rewrote the second half (starting with Calanmai, onward) since it’s so vastly different from the first half and also added in the whole painted dresser thing but forgot to change… well everything else. To further this speculation, in SJM’s own words, she said she had to add Rhys in earlier. (She never specified if earlier meant earlier in the first book or earlier as in adding him into the first book where in the original he would’ve appeared in the second, maybe even third book, but many of us assume it’s the latter since you can take him out of his scenes in ACOTAR and they would work just fine with other characters in his place.) She scrapped ACOTAR 2 and that half ACOTAR 3 to write ACOMAF and ACOWAR.

(Disclaimer: SJM does like to always say she had always planned on Feyre and Rhys, probably because it sounds cooler and more soulmatey, but not only does canon (aka book 1) completely contradict that, many of her earlier interviews (that have suspiciously become difficult to find) tell a very different story about her writing. Like the fact that she’s mentioned many times that she doesn’t outline and she “lets her characters taker her where they feel like it” but that she has vague beginnings and endings and musical outlines. Or that she’s mentioned while writing the published version of her first series, while writing what was supposed to be the third and final book in the series she changed her mind about the endgame and having to change the ending of the series, multiple times, in order to make that endgame possible as it didn’t work with what she originally set up, thereby extending the series. She also mentioned that in that very same book two characters just walked into her head while writing it, meaning she didn’t plan on having them, so there was no way to foreshadow them in the previous two books as fans like to claim. So…)

Oh god it makes my head hurt.

It is so disorganized and vague that it makes it impossible to judge the characters without considering Maas’s clumsy handling of her narrative. Whenever I try to approach the issue I’m constantly thinking “How seriously should I take this characterization? How much weight should I give to this information that is contradicted later on?” because Maas is so fickle with her characters and narrative. Like you said, there are many readers that claim that Maas had a plan all along and seem to hold the belief that they alone can comprehend the complexities of her writing when really the writing in question is just…bad.

Her foreshadowing (if you can even call it that) is merely what she wrote when she had her first idea of what the story would be and her follow-through is her retroactively modifying her narrative to make it fit. To put it plainly, any foreshadowing Maas does is weak and feeble because it is consistently overpowered by her poor planning and conflicting ideas. All of her contradictory additions exist for one reason: to disguise the fact that she has plan and makes narrative decision on whims. Most notably, Rhysand and Tamlin are great examples of this because of how obvious Maas is in her defanging and rehabilitation of Rhysand coupled with her questionable writing decisions for Tamlin. She changes her mind by partway through her story and veers off in an entirely different direction, resulting in her readers being subjected to chapters and chapters of inane explanations and retroactive continuity. Hence, why Maas frames certain character decisions as sudden “realizations” and “epiphanies” meant to recontextualize previous events but are really just her scrambling to make her favourite pairing endgame as quickly as possible. It’s lazy, choppy and insulting to the reader.

It makes ACOMAF an extremely tiresome book because of how insistent Maas is with her newly decided characterizations. Suddenly Rhysand’s is a righteous and noble prince who only ever wanted to protect people and loses any edge he had in ACOTAR. Suddenly Tamlin is obsessed with respecting tradition and customs despite his stated aversion to it previously. While I can see what Maas was trying to do with the two of them, her lack of foreshadowing ruins my suspension of disbelief and creates a jarring shift in the story that never truly feels earned. To claim that Maas thoroughly planned these books would be generous.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond!: The Game!

Hey, all! As part of an effort to further potential with my Tumblr project, I have a huge announcement to make for you all. Introducing...

An official game adaptation of Sonic: Into, Across and Beyond!, and boy, will it be a treat to behold, huh?

The game has started development today, and you'll be able to look forward to:

Each of the stories in gameplay form

Over 20 playable characters

Plenty of cutscenes to enjoy

Interactive environments to explore

Epic boss encounters with many rogues from the Sonic multiverse

And so much more!

I really hope you're all looking forward to-!

OMT!Tails: Woah woah woah! Hang on a moment.

Huh?

OMT!Tails walks into frame.

OMT!Tails: The story's barely 6 months old yet, and you're seriously pitching a game for it?

Ah, right. I forgot.

CR!Sonic and CR!Sally show up.

CR!Sonic: You okay, Tails?

OMT!Tails: You guys might want to look at this.

CR!Sally: A video game of all our endeavours? Seriously?

CR!Sonic: Looks like it. How would it even work out, though?

OMT!Tails: I doubt it'd ever see completion, though. I mean, over 6 quests to fill out into gameplay form? That'd take AGES, and it's likely going to risk cancellation partway through the process.

CR!Sonic: Yeah, you got a good point there, kid. I mean, can't people just enjoy the stories as they are? They're not meant to be "played".

OMT!Tails: Yeah, exactly. Especially after what I've been through...

CR!Sally: I get you, Tails...

CR!Sonic: Into, Across and Beyond! is meant to be a story project for free and for fun! Pico doesn't have the time or energy to dedicate part of his life to making a game. I bet those children and hate band-wagoners on Twitter would just jump at any opportunity to hate on it for petty reasons. And that's why they have so much-!

D-Sides Mighty enters.

D-Sides Mighty: What's going on here?

OMT!Tails: Oh! Hey, Mighty.

D-Sides Mighty: A game, huh? Don't people have enough Sonic fan-games to play?

CR!Sonic: That's what I've been trying to get at, bud. I mean, the story here on Tumblr's satisfactory enough.

OMT!Tails: Wait, "Tumblr"?

CR!Sonic: Hmm?

OMT!Tails: I thought it was called "Tumblelogs".

CR!Sonic: It was! Well, used to, anyway. I'm guessing it's still called that in your dimension?

OMT!Tails: Mhm.

D-Sides Mighty: Yeah, we don't need to go for a game of this, considering the Spider-Verse IP is copyrighted.

OMT!Tails: Hmm... Give me just a moment!

OMT!Tails spins around the lower text, tweaking it a bit.

OMT!Tails: There! Better?

CR!Sally: Much better! Well done, Tails!

D-Sides Mighty: Well, that's one situation we can finally close the book on, wouldn't you say?

CR!Sonic: Yep. Come on, Sal. Let's head back now.

CR!Sally: Good idea, Sonic.

The couple headed off.

D-Sides Mighty: Wanna go grab a bite at Burger Monarchy, Tails?

OMT!Tails: Sure thing!

They left too.

Well, that's that, then. You're NOT getting that game. In the end, it was a cleverly-veiled April Fools' gag!

Happy April Fools' Day, folks! You've got all there is so far of the story to enjoy here from the comfort of Tumblr. Plus, I've been generous enough with each post to compile links to every post for this project on a Master Post that you're more than welcome to view on my profile. Well, see you around in the next post!

...

...

...

...

???: It's all the same for your heroic delusions. That is, until you finally meet ME. I already won because I was two steps ahead and found a way to tap into what I desire most. You think a hero of Mobius, let alone a type of Sonic, always has a chance against Dr. Eggman? HA! Don't make me laugh. I ripped that hope to pieces for my Sonic long ago. And soon, with the power of MY Chaos Emeralds, all other universes will follow... Now, you'll all see how big a man I can be. It's time to say goodbye to humanity, heroes...

???: And hello... to the NEW NORM! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The reveal of the final main antagonist... coming soon.

[an-animagi]

christmas time!! this is my gift for @honeyblockm for the @mcytblrholidayexchange!!

i wrote a fic (which i put below the cut, and the ao3 link is here) and i was really excited to write this!! originally i planned for it to be longer but my brain switched up on me partway through, so hopefully you still enjoy this!!

ive had a lot of fun writing this actually, considering ive read one wedding fic, have been to two weddings i dont remember and all of c!quackity's experiences when it comes to engagement and marriage, and i hope you are satisfied with what ive created :)

this has rolled in at 1040 words, just in case anyone is interested (i dont usually post fics on tumblr ehe i have no clue what im doing✨✨)

ALMOST FORGOT!!! its called 'me and my husbands (we're sticking together)' stolen inspired by 'me and my husband' by mitski (i have just made the lyric plural lol)

-=~=-

Quackity almost expected to be left alone at the altar. Again.

Between the shit-storm that was his relationship with Schlatt, and then the failed wedding attempt a few months back, he hadn’t had many positive experiences of being stood at the concrete table, waiting for a time that no clock could reach.

Or, more correctly, he hadn’t had any, so sue him for setting his standards low. Maybe this time he wouldn’t have to hold back tears after the second hour. Maybe the tissues he wore as armour would protect the open wound in his back from the inevitable knife that kept getting rammed between his ribs.

But that wasn't the point. The point was, that when the heavy doors creaked open again, Quackity didn't nervously glance at them. He didn't restlessly readjust the veil covering the back of his head. His wings didn't shuffle awkwardly behind him.

(He was getting better at lying to himself.)

The door slammed shut with an echoing bang, startling the avian. Usually, anyone entering or leaving did so quietly, slipping in or out of the small hall awkwardly. Instead, when Quackity turned to face the door, his shoulders slumped and he released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

As the seated guests began turning their heads in alarm at the sound, Sapnap started his confident march down the aisle, hitching the skirt of his dress up part way through with a huff. Feeling his cheek feathers begin to fluff up, Quackity used all of his willpower to force them to lie flat.

God his fiance was hot.

Quite literally, too, if the faint smoke coming off his fingertips was anything to go off of. With a quick lick of his lips, the avian admired the way that the white dress accented his fiance’s features, watching the demon hybrid walk between the rows of chairs towards him.

White fabric exaggerating his pecs, Sapnap ungracefully dropped the bunched skirt as he reached the altar. If they hadn't been surrounded by both of his fiances’ family members, Quackity wouldn't have hesitated for even a second. As it was, his hand twitched with the urge to squeeze. He thanked God for giving him enough self control to not start groping his fiance’s chest at their wedding altar.

Wings twitching, Quackity met Sapnap’s eyes as they traced his body, smirking at the familiarly hungry look in his fiance’s eyes. Striking his right hip to the side, the avian suppressed a shiver at the wispy fabric of his own dress brushing past his legs and instead wiggled his eyebrows at the black-haired man.

Making a show of flirting like this made it easier for Quackity to ignore the doubts still present in the back of his mind, ignore the whispers of Karl forgetting again, ignore the slight tremble to his hands that had persisted for days and made painting his nails a much more tiresome endeavour than it should have been.

There were two of them now. Quackity could not be alone anymore.

Then, the door creaked open once more and this time the avian let himself look towards it. Sapnap turned as well, both anticipating the final member of their trio to enter the hall and join them. And neither were disappointed.

With the door falling shut behind him, Karl sheepishly grinned at the pair already at the altar. The dress he wore was the only one which reached the panelled flooring, trailing slightly behind him as he walked down the aisle towards the stone table. In his hands sat a small bouquet of flowers, yellow tulips and daffodils wrapped in a white cloth and cushioned by his palms.

A classical song Quackity couldn’t remember the name of played in the background, his thoughts fully consumed by the sight of his fiance in a pristine wedding gown rather than the odd musical choices one of the men he was marrying had made. 

If asked, each of them would answer that it had been Sapnap’s idea to wear the dresses. In truth, it had been Quackity who had jokingly offered to wear a dress to their wedding, a smile tugging at his lips as the brunette of the group turned to face him and determined that he would wear the dress, that he wouldn’t mind the white and his hair would clash against it less than the other’s black.

Then Sapnap had declared that they were all wearing dresses, and it had snowballed into looking at renting or purchasing prices and deciding that weddings were expensive.  The odd looks upon entering stores which sold dresses and instead being directed towards suits would likely take a while to stop staining the avian’s mind, but in the end the throuple were going to get married.

It ended in their meeting at the altar. Then something new would begin.

Soon enough Karl reached his two fiances, standing between them both with a shining grin on his face. A soft look crossed Sapnap’s face, and Quackity smiled in response, his heart beating wildly as he took in the sight of both gorgeous men in their dresses. God he loved these two so much.

As they all stood, watching each other with smiles on their faces, waiting for the ceremony to start. His stomach fluttering, Quackity couldn’t help the tears that brimmed at the corners of his eyes at the thought that after that day, nothing would be the same. 

Most people would call it a new adventure but Quackity hated that. He hated the uncertainty that threatened to taint every moment and the lack of warmth, a comfort that should fill his chest, at hearing the word and the idea of there being a risk. He could lose everything all over again.

But with the adoring look in both of his fiance's eyes, the avian knew that wouldn't happen. They wouldn't let it happen.

So this was it, the start of something new.

And maybe it sounded less exciting or romantic, but Quackity liked the security. He liked being sure that the fears running wild in his mind would never form in the real world. He would never be alone again.

Not for as long as he had Karl and Sapnap.

[nostalgia-tblr]

back to writing yesterday's fic! today i have to change the most dramatic scene because i forgot what the plot was partway through writing it! i wonder if this is why other people write their stories in chronological order? oh well!

meanwhile am thinking of ways to make myself not post it Anon, might just mention enough of the plot here that it'd give myself away and make Anon'ing it pointless. hrm.

but first i have to go write more of it! it's 7500 words long already, what the actual fuck! EXCLAMATION MARK!

[makingshortstorieslong]

"How was he to tell T about his absurd upbringing? Five elder sisters, one elder brother, a father who never talked, and a mother who never stopped. The snake killer. Red Shorts. The irrigation ditch. The Wedding of the Century. The bishopwood tree. The White House. The hippopotamus. The Eternal Prosperity Pool. The secret basement. The starfruit orchard. The temple to the Lady at the Foot of the Wall. The Tomorrow Bookstore. The silver water cistern."

I wish I'd highlighted this paragraph from the first few pages of Ghost Town and referenced it as I was reading. All of these things are elaborated into stories, and there are more stories this paragraph doesn't even touch on, because these all refer back to the town of his childhood, but there's also the stories of his mother and father and sisters and brother, and of his life in Germany with T.

Please someone else read this book and talk to me about it. It's definitely a book that can sometimes in the first third-to-half feel like slow going or not really drive me to keep reading because there are more questions than answers and the timeline is hard to make sense of but it all pays off and is probably an amazing re-read, when you at least somewhat remember the story and feel like everything is fitting into place. I do want to read it again sometime, after some time has passed.

I'm a little divided on how I feel about the translation, because the thing is, I was partway through the book and fully forgot I'd seen the translator's name on the inside cover, and started wondering if it was NOT translated but had actually been written in English. I like reading translations. I spent the whole time wondering what the characters' Chinese names were. At least the translator does tell use what they are in his note at the end. I can understand why he'd make the choices he made, some people feel taken out of the story by footnotes or Chinese characters they can't read...but I CAN read them... just not well enough to read a whole book written in them... so I do have to read the translation... anyway overall it's really well done it's just too seamless for my tastes.

October 2024