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welcome-to-the-neotheater · 4 months

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Non-Comprehensive List of Things I Love About AJR City Savers

AJR WEBISODE: CITY SAVERS (youtube.com)

keep reading because loooooooooooooooooong post

0:00, I love the implication that they are spending 3/4 of their waking hours on this club and they don't have any free time between that and the band

0:12-0:15, he's holding this box with his bare hands normally for a few good seconds here, and only at the end does he decide that its actually super radioactive and he jerks his hand away from it really fast

0:20 Yeah that's going to help get the paint off

0:23 The old logo looks really weird to me after being used to the current one

0:30 he is so fucking proud of himself for putting a leaf into the trash can

0:35 "We founded this city savers club to protect this fine city we live in", the protection of course being kicking a piece of cardboard about 5 feet

0:38 "We start off at 4:30 in the morning, first item on the agenda, song" They're singing songs for the public, (specifically, the "youth" , 1:10) at 4:30 in the morning, "first item on the agenda"

0:48 none of the children are paying any attention to his song, the only one who even looks at the camera is a parent who, if anything, seems unimpressed

0:52 they did this shit in public

1:06 great camera work there

1:13 "We really feel like it gets our message across"

1:20 this is entirely useless

1:35 Does he have a meterstick? How does he know?

1:37 There's no god damn way they can hear him inside their fast cars, probably with windows up with him speaking at slightly above speaking voice

1:42 "Morning Deb!"

1:46 Outfit change from previous scene, these are different days. He does this regularly.

1:53 "NO!"

1:57 He's no longer doing something useless, this is actually disruptive, as you can tell from the honks

1:59 Unless one was added in the jump cut, you can see in the previous shot there was not, in fact, a baby blue jay's nest right there

1:59 What purpose does the word "baby" in "baby blue jay's nest" serve? Correct me if im not up to date on bird knowledge, but aren't all nests built by adult birds build the nests for their babies? Is he trying to say that the baby blue bird built the nest? I don't think baby birds can build nests. Is he just referring to the fact that the birds that live in the nests are babies? This is either redundant or wrong.

2:05 "I've submitted my application for the city savers club almost a dozen times now... I really hope I get in this month". He has been applying to enter this "club" (it has 2 members and does nothing of value) for almost a year.

2:17 Jack checks behind the curtain as if there's any way Adam was just hiding behind the curtain

2:22 Ryan is already so bored

2:28 I counted a 5 second pause before "What?"

2:40 Their brother attached a headshot in his resume as if they wouldn't know what he looked like.

2:43-48 this is just great

2:05-48 Jack and Ryan have created this fake club and have, for almost a year, been holding this over their older brother's head and having him submit formal applications to join his younger brothers' fake club and they have been denying all of them. If that isn't the most sibling shit out there, I don't know what is

2:48 "Graffiti" is a child's chalk drawing

2:55 "Can't get this out", he's using his shoe to remove washable childs chalk from the street. "Can't get this out" have you tried water??? They have to make that shit so it's easy to get out of children's clothes, and so that it washes away when it rains, if this "graffiti" is such a problem get some water and spray it

3:01 "Surprisingly pigeons don't just eat breadcrumbs". Look, I've never been to New York, but if the pigeons there are anything like seagulls, it should be 0 surprise to someone that's grown up there that the pigeons will eat whatever you give to them.

Idk what those are (skittles?) but they don't look like you should be feeding them to pigeons

3:07, they're feeding chunky peanut butter to the pigeons. naturally

3:12 LEE!!!!!!!

3:18 He runs away immediately after hearing they're going to try to put that sweater on him

3:20 They were already talking to him at an unreasonable distance apart but now even more so as he's gone entirely off screen and they continue to talk normally to him for I counted 7 seconds.

3:27 The cut off "Lee-". How long did they do that for?

3:29 Gotta love the "we're saving the world!" music that comes in here

3:30 Pre 2020 mask

3:33 All of the water has fallen out of his hands before he reaches the plant

3:37-41 I don't know if this was planned, I don't want to know if that was intentional

3:52 Wow! Look at this plant!

Throughout the entirety of this video they do nothing actually helpful for the city (yet continuously act like they're saving the world). Their "good deeds" are either entirely pointless ("traffic control", trying to get rid off the paint with his foot at 0:20, "singing for the youth", "watering" that plant) or actually slightly harmful (blocking some car because of an invisible blue jays nest, refusing to let their brother into the club, feeding shit to pigeons that they should not be doing, trying to get rid of a child's drawing)

Jack stated in an interview once that he's actually afraid of pigeons

Adam is a climate activist now, and I like to think that stemmed from not being allowed into city savers

Damn did I write a lot for a video under 4 minutes. I feel like one of those people that keeps interrupting movies to talk about deeper meanings or explain the jokes now.

#ajr #ajr brothers #ajr songs #maybe my friends are right about me being autistic #oh well

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sanversandfriends · 1 year

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Art and intro by @thelxiope1. Thanks, pal! (,:

Last but not least! It is an honor to do the mini-view intro for our esteemed and gifted event organizer, the one, the only: @smarterinabsentia. You know her mostly as a writer of incredibly rich and detailed Sanvers fics filled with cinematic drama, action, passion, history, science, aliens, magic, music, and a vast knowledge of all things Super. She is also a talented artist and a superb beta reader. But today she shares her thoughts on writing and finishing one of her epic and ambitious works.

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started writing fic? Have you written for other fandoms? What are your favorite tropes?

Unless you count an Alien sequel as a kid, I really didn’t start writing fic until Sanvers. I’m a lifelong DC fan and read Maggie’s first appearance right off the stands, so I was excited to finally get a version of the character who wasn’t a name drop or a blip in an animated series. What I didn't expect was THAT chemistry and THAT coming out arc, and being able to witness the S shield become so indelibly associated with queerness it made my heart sing. So when Maggie walked out of Alex’s apartment for the last time, it was both a devastating loss of rep and the start of a careless and very painful dismantling of the world they’d built in Season 2. I’d been lurking on A03 and, as so many of these fic origin stories go, I thought, “I’ll just write one chapter. What could possibly go wrong?!"

For as much as I hate Alex’s S3 body snatching and the reasons for the breakup, I’m a sucker for the reluctant parent trope. I do like to put Maggie with kids, not as self-sacrificing mother figure, but someone who treats them very much the way she would an equal. This backfires on her sometimes, but counterintuitively makes her a better parent than Alex.

What were your inspirations for this particular story? What was it about this/these ships that grabbed you?

I’ve always been fascinated by the Soviet side of the Space Race and how they achieved so much on fewer resources--not to mention putting a woman in orbit two decades before the U.S. The U.S. had its glamorous flyboys, but the Soviets had women cosmonauts, not to mention soldiers and pilots and snipers, and something like 42 percent of doctors during World War II—a number that rose to 70% in the 1960s.

I’d just finished Svetlana Alexievich’s Unwomanly Face of War, an oral history of the women who'd fought on the Eastern front, and while I didn't expect to encounter any out lesbians in those interviews, the dearth of queerness felt pronounced. I started thinking about who Alex and Maggie might have been in that war, and soon enough, they were fleeing the Germans on a boat on the Moskva river. This is probably nothing new to folks writing historical AUs, but being new to fic at the time, it was eerie just how snugly those characters slotted into the tapestry of Soviet history, from Maggie’s navigating the power shifts in the NKVD/KGB to Alex strugging under the chokehold of Lysenkoism. Every character fit, and every character became this deep-dive learning experience about the era/s.

Has the time spent away from your story changed your outlook or approach to any of the storylines or themes? Have you had any new inspirations or breakthroughs/revelations in the meantime?

I’ve had some more insights into the characters, especially Jami, who surprised me, and there was a retcon I had to do with a reveal in the dialogue, something I realized was a big moment I should have saved for … the big moment (so I hope no one notices, haha!) And this is probably because I use world building as a means of procrastination, but I’m in this place right now where I’m as excited about the world I’ve set up at the end of the fic as I am about the fic itself.

Any advice for new or aspiring fic writers?

This goes back to something I wish I’d said at the Sanvers research panel a few years back. You might hesitate to write because you think you don't know enough about a particular subject, but that desire is often a signal that you know more than you’re giving yourself credit for. Once you get started, you'll discover you've gotten a lot right out of a mix of prior knowledge and spooky action at a distance. So absolutely do do the research and be respectful of the material, but don’t let a perceived lack of knowledge put you off from getting started. What turns out to be accurate in those first drafts will feel like magic, but what you have to correct in your seconds and thirds will stick and be the best kind of learning experience.

If you were going to promote this fic with a single line, what would it be?

Lesbians live and so does Laika.

Link to the story if you have one.

#Supergirl #Sanvers #Finish the Fic

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scouts-thingsandrps · 9 months

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Incorrect Across the Spiderverse Quotes

Hobie, texting: Miles, will you please go to sleep?

Miles, texting back: What makes you think you didn’t just wake me up?

Hobie, yelling: I CAN HEAR YOU CLAPPING TO THE FRIENDS THEME EVERY TWENTY MINUTES SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP!

Hobie, texting: Just a hunch :) You goin’ to sleep soon?

Miles, texting: I’m trying

Hobie, yelling again: TRY HARDER I HAVE A 5:45 AM MEETING TOMORROW BITCH

Hobie, texting: Okay, don’t stay up too late or you’ll be cranky :)

Miles, writing in their diary with a glitter gel pen: I'm losing my sense of humanity. Nothing matters. God is dead. There's blood on my hands.

Gwen: I feel so burnt out.

Ember: Don’t worry, it'll be over soon.

Gwen: Are you gonna... assassinate me?

Ember: Well not if you’re expecting it.

Gwen: If I run and leap at Hobie, they will most certainly catch me in their arms.

Gwen, running towards Hobie: Coming in!

Hobie: No! I’m holding coffee!

Hobie: *Drops coffee and catches Gwen*

Lyla: DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT JOKE WAS FUNNY? IT WASNT. NOBODY IS LAUGHING.

Lyla: *pulls up a graph* THIS IS WHEN YOU TOLD YOUR JOKE, YOU HAVE SONGLE HANDEDLY RUINED COMEDY! IVE ALSO ASKED MANY COMEDY SCHOLARS ON THEIR OPINION OF YOUR JOKE AND THIS IS WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY!

Miguel: I've been researching comedy for the past 20 years, and I have genuinely never seen a joke this bad. We have used quantum physics to look into alternate universes to see every joke made, and yours was still by far the worst.

Lyla: CONGRATULATIONS! YOUVE SINGLE HANDEDLY CREATED THE WORST JOKE IN HUMAN HISTORY! HERES A MEDAL! *pulls up a horrible ms paint drawn star that says "you need help*

Pavitr: I wish I had more enemies.

Hobie: I’m sure you will someday, honey.

Gwen: LOWERCASE LETTERS ARE FOR THE LOWER CLASS!

Hobie: And here we have a capitalist.

Miles: Did you just-

Pavitr: Let us all take a moment to appreciate that all of human history, human language, and the universe itself aligned to make this joke possible.

Pavitr: What does “take out” mean?

Gwen: Food.

Miles: Dating.

Ember: Murder.

Hobie: It can be all three if you’re brave enough

Miles: You really put aside everything and came all this way for me? How did you even get here so fast?

Hobie: Several traffic violations.

Gwen: Three counts of resisting arrest.

Ember: Roughly thirteen cans of energy drinks.

Pavitr: Also, that’s not our car.

Ember: ...I'm pretty sure that place is fire-proof, or something.

Hobie, grenade in hand: Alright, but is it explosion-proof?

Miguel: Peter! For the love of god, please turn down that music. I have a hangover.

Peter B.: *blasting the mii theme at full volume* That sounds like a you problem, not a mii problem.

Jessica: Wow, this parking is as straight as I am.

Miguel: I know I should be focused on the fact that you just came out, but HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY PARKING!

Jessica: I'll offer you some friendly advice-

Miguel: I don't want your advice.

Jessica: Well, then consider it unfriendly advice.

Miguel, holding a kettle: Coffee or tea?

Jessica: Tea.

Miguel: Wrong. It's coffee.

Miles: Being half asleep and feeling someone gently plant a kiss on your forehead is one of the purest kinds of love in the world.

Hobie: Unless you're home alone.

Miles: Why are you like this?

Hobie: *mixing different alcoholic beverages together*

Gwen: What are you making?

Hobie: A mistake.

Miles: *makes Pavitr a cup of tea but puts salt in it*

Pavitr: *sips tea*

Miles:

Pavitr: *finishes tea*

Miles: Didn't it taste bad?

Pavitr: Yeah, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings so I drank it all.

Miles, tearing up: Oh, okay.

Pavitr: Of course I have a lot of pent-up rage, you fool! I've been the same height since I was twelve!

Hobie: Anybody got any crayons so I can color in my Ph. D.?

Miles (42): Like, no offense to myself and all, but what the fuck am I actually doing?

Miles (42): How the hell are you still alive?

Ember: Honestly, I’m just as confused as you are.

Gwen: Is it just me or is instant ramen even better uncooked?

Pavitr: It’s just you.

Gwen, reading a recipe: Beat three eggs?

Miles (42): It means like in hand-to-hand combat.

Gwen: Ohhhh-

Miles: Both of you get out of this kitchen.

#gwen stacy #hobie brown #pavitr prabhakar #miguel o’hara #jessica drew #miles ‘the prowler’ morales #miles ‘spiderman’ morales #ember jackson #incorrect across the spiderverse quotes #spidersona OC #we have npd

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freshdotdaily · 1 year

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Warning: Strong Opinion, but I only LOOK young, I'm 42 years old and my first march was across Brooklyn Bridge for Abner Louima, a victim of Police BRUTALITY in 1997.

Police'll kill another black person this year, either a "whoops, I thought it was my taser/accident" or a very clear intentional act of cold-blooded and brutal lack of humanity murder. Both will be caught on film. It'll be clear as day & broadcasted ad nauseum.

The supposed infraction will be minuscule. A broken taillight, jaywalking, a wallet mistaken for a gun, expired registration tags, breathing the wrong way, etc. Won't matter, a vicious death'll be the sentence.

We'll march. We'll protest. We'll mourn. Some may even riot out of pain and frustration.

Aaaaaand, it'll happen again. The annual sick American Ritual of Black Bodies sacrificed will be on full display in the media as a warning to black people and people of color in this country that at any given moment, should the protectors of the ruling class deem it, your life could be forfeit. It's fascist fearmongering from the service that we pay taxes for to protect and serve us. Murderers in uniform get off with a wrist-slap unless they too, are people of color, then justice is swiftly & severely metered out. We internally know they aren't here to protect, nor serve US.The sick joke wrote itself. But we'll march. Our "leaders" will encourage us to.

Martin marched, it ended poorly for him.

Actually, it ended poorly for most civil rights leaders.

But we'll do it. Nothing will change. Kumbyah's will be sung. We'll go home, watch our Sports and HBO shows and forget til the next dark sacrifice for public consumption goes viral. But forgetting isn't bad, it's a coping mechanism for knowing that agency over your own corporeal self is an illusion as is your safety if you are black or brown in America. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But we'll march & protest again, won't we? "But- but- we shouldn't lie down and DO NOTHING! Something should be done! and Said!" Yes. Yes, something SHOULD be done and said. However, the onus for action is not on black or brown bodies. It's clear we are not heard NOR respected. History has shown almost all of our civil unrests have been met with more violence. These actions of public unrest and outrage by black and brown people end up being performative mostly despite the best intentions because we do not have enough leverage, political power, wealth, and or influence to make a lasting change or instill fear of consequence or retribution. The hashtags, t-shirts, murals, and posters get made and rallied behind and then forgotten until the next public lynching.

It's a story as old as time. If you are not black or brown and do not condone The Annual Negro Culling Ritual, then the burden of responsibility lies squarely on your shoulders as an "ALLY" to put all your resources, your voice and your body on the line if you have had enough. Come up with ACTIONABLE ITEMS that your leverage, political power, wealth, and or influence will make lasting change.

Until I can see the impact of that, count me absent from the triggering superfluous displays of solidarity, I can stomach it no longer. My black time will be spent preserving my finite energy toward my black life's betterment. It is inhumane to force me to look at my slain brothers & sisters & relive their tragedies for platitudes that have no real-world results while I wonder.. "Am I next? Will I make it home to the people who love me?"

#blm #justice for tyre nichols

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snowdice · 2 years

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Little Kestrel (Part 49) [Birds of Different Feathers Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Patton & Virgil (future Virgil/Patton but not in this story)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Patton, Virgil

Appear: Thomas

Mentioned: Janus

Summary:

It was supposed to be a quick job either way. Either Virgil would assassinate King Thomas of Prijaznia or he’d be caught and get executed. Yet, when Virgil gets the wrong bedroom and gets caught by Prince Logan and his future royal advisor, Patton, the job ends up getting way more complicated for the 14-year-old. He also ends up sleeping in a (actually pretty comfortable) closet for a few weeks…

Notes: Implied/referenced child abuse, assassination attempt, knives, torture mentioned, captivity, teenagers being really dumb, sexual coercion of minors implied, a minor offering sexual favors

This is a prequel to Kill Dear. I wrote it 100 words at a time on my blog, but this is the edited version. If you want to see how it was crafted (and possibly some future content), look at the tag proofread stories.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48

“So,” King Thomas said as they walked through the halls towards the kitchens.

The path to the kitchens was familiar to Virgil now even from an area of the castle he did not frequent as often. Food was abundant in this place and there were no restrictions on Virgil eating it. There were no restrictions on anyone in the castle eating it, unless you counted Patton’s mother insisting people eat a more varied diet than only cookies. Personally, while Virgil did like cookies, he had no complaints over that matter.

“You and Logan seem to be having a disagreement,” Thomas continued.

“I’m right,” Virgil insisted, and he was.

However, explaining why Virgil was right to the king was a bit difficult when Virgil was hiding why he knew Logan developing survival instincts was important. It was clear that Virgil did not get his point across correctly because the king laughed slightly.

“Everyone believes they are right during a disagreement,” Thomas said. “I’m sure Logan has his own ideas about who is correct.”

Virgil frowned at him. “I am.”

“Perhaps you are both right,” the king suggested.

“But…”

“You cannot dump water on people’s heads in the castle hallways, Virgil,” the king scolded, but it was a gentle scolding and Virgil forced himself to not climb the wall and disappear under the king’s kind, but stern expression.

Virgil had a point to make.

“Especially not in the winter,” the king concluded.

“He’s the prince,” Virgil argued. “He needs to know how to protect himself in case of danger.”

“That is true,” Thomas conceded. “You are probably correct that we should be making sure the royal family is well protected and can protect themselves. We have been safe for a long time, but there is always a risk.” He seemed contemplative for a moment. “However,” he continued. “The way you are going about it is not correct in my opinion. Clearly, it is not in Logan’s opinion as well.”

“But…”

“You risk making more problems than solving with your strategy,” the king said.

“How?” Virgil asked.

“Well,” Thomas said. “Getting someone wet when it’s cold is never a good idea even inside a castle.” Virgil… could agree with that. “You also could accidently ruin something important by getting water on it if you don’t give warning. Even if you are doing something besides pouring water on his head, if you continue to do things to ‘train’ Logan in the same vein, he is likely to become more paranoid than vigilant.”

“What’s the difference?” Virgil asked.

“Being vigilant means you are prepared for danger around every corner. Being paranoid means you are expecting danger around every corner.”

“There doesn’t seem like there’s much of a difference,” Virgil said.

“There is,” said the king, as they pushed through a set of double doors. “Take any of the royal guards,” he gestured subtly at the two people guarding the room to the hall they’d just come from. “If a guard is constantly worried that every little sound is a danger and every new person is an enemy, they will waste all of their energy and time chasing down stray rodents and interrogating maids that decided to walk a different path to their destinations. When real danger does appear, they may be too worn out or distracted to react.”

Thomas paused to smile and wave at the next set of guards before continuing.

“However,” he said, “if the guards are calm and instead of instantly overreacting to every small thing, they make a note of it in case it ends up being something they need to react to later, then they will be prepared to act if there are any actual threats.”

Virgil bit his tongue to stop from mentioning that he’d managed to sneak by the guards to the royal wing the first night he was here. A boy with a cookie sheet had done more against him than King Thomas’s guards.

“That’s why I make sure everyone who works for the castle, especially the guards have not only time off to sleep and eat, but time off for leisure where they are not expected to be hypervigilant.”

He glanced at Virgil. Virgil’s expression must have been slightly funny because he cracked a small smile.

“All people need to have a time and place to feel safe, even the ones whose jobs it is to keep others safe. Logan’s job is not the same as the guards who keep the people in this castle physically safe, but he is training to be king. He needs time to perform his duties and to relax between them. Harassing him all day with survival training is not going to help him.”

“People don’t need to feel safe,” Virgil argued. “They need to be safe.”

The king stopped walking and turned to him. Virgil couldn’t help but cringe a bit as the king studied him.

“You haven’t had a chance to feel safe very often in your life, have you?” the king asked.

Virgil shrugged, looking away.

“What would make you feel safe?” Thomas asked.

“Logan being safe,” Virgil said.

“Logan is safe, Virgil,” the king tried to argue.

Virgil scowled. “I don’t trust your guards. Even the best guard won’t be able to help if Logan gets trapped alone with someone. He needs to learn self-defense.”

“Well, I’m already planning to up security in the castle when spring comes. Would me asking if he’d be willing to do self-defense training with someone help?”

He thought about it for a few moments. “Maybe,” he said, lips pursed, “but what if the person you get to teach him isn’t any good at it?” Honestly, Virgil wasn’t sure if he could trust anyone in this entire kingdom to do proper training.

Then again… Prijaznia had been holding its own against Mocnejsi for… Virgil didn’t actually know for how long. He just knew that he remembered there being a war between them for his entire life. And… while no one had ever actually said it out loud, Prijaznia was probably winning. It’s why Mocnejsi was going for things like assassinations and tricks instead of normal warfare.

Not to mention Prijaznia was less… war torn. Sure, he’d been living in the castle recently, but even in his travel to the castle, people seemed to be a bit better off than most people in Mocnejsi.

So, maybe there were some people in the kingdom who knew what they were doing when fighting. However, Virgil wasn’t going to trust the king to pick out who should train Logan.

“I’m sure we can find someone who is up to your standards,” the king said, though the curl to his lip seemed to indicate he wasn’t taking Virgil seriously. Of course, as far as he knew, Virgil was just a random kid his friend had befriended, so that was probably fair.

It was a bit frustrating to not be able to tell Logan’s dad why Virgil was worried or how he knew how to help, but Virgil wouldn’t dare give him even the slightest hint of the truth. He respected the king. He was starting to like the king. Yet, Virgil was not a fool.

The king obviously misinterpreted the disgruntled expression on his face. “Maybe you can also do some of your training,” he said, “but there has to be compromise. You and Logan need to talk about it without fighting before anything goes any further. I can mediate. We’ll talk about what things might be okay and what things are off limits.”

“Okay,” Virgil said, still not happy, but knowing there wasn’t much else he could do.

“Okay,” the king agreed. They were now at the door to the kitchens “Now, let’s get those cookies.”

Want to read more? Click below!

Birds of Different Feathers Master Post

My Masterpost

#sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #character thomas sanders #adriana writes #little kestrel #birds of different feathers #implied/referenced child abuse #assassination attempt #past torture #captivity

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im-a-gaymess · 3 years

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How do I tell him?

Young!Tom Riddle x Male Reader.

7th Year.

Angsty Fluff? Contains suggestive/smut scenes.

Slight mention of violence (Just Tom wanting to punch the stupid out of people).

Summary: You and Tom are in love with each other, always were, though you only realize it after ending a pretty toxic relationship.

Word Count: 1786

A/N: I thought of this while listening to Strawberries & Cigarettes thought I'd share

[1:42 AM]

"Look, I'm not saying that I want their attention 24/7, it's just that, well, they don't ever try to make time for me. Even when I need them, they're never here. But I'm expected to be there for them at all times. I'm just so tired of it. I don't know what to do anymore." You sighed, lowering your head as your eyes wander around the ground.

You've lost sense of time, place even. Only once you stopped to take a breath did you note how late it became. As you raised your head you saw how dark it really was there. The clouds over the stars making their light nearly non existent, and the moon half hidden behind some trees.

And as your eyes travel all over the quiet, dark yet beautiful sky, Tom's attention is strictly fixed on you.

If only you knew how much that man felt at the moment. Really, he was almost overwhelmed with the amount of different emotions.

For one, how badly he wanted to punch your partner for how deeply they hurt you. He knew, from your previous vents, that there was so much more than them just having no time that bothered you. He wanted to make them cry out apologies with regret guilt for how they made you feel.

But also, he couldn't help but feel the need to hold you, keep you close to him, tell you how everything's going to be alright. How all he wants to do is protect you from all of the world's evil, to keep you from anything that could cause you harm.

Without you even noticing, Tom gently put his hand over yours, rubbing circles with his thumb on your hand. How can someone be so,, so endearing,, so loveable and be treated this way? How could someone ever look at him and want to use him? he thought, not brave enough to bring himself to tell you what he truly thinks of you.

"You know you deserve better, right, my love?" he asked, and you, all too familiar with the pet name reply with a little smile. "Would you be surprised if I said yes?" you chuckled, turning to face him, the sight of the boy in front of you making your smile grow a little bigger, causing the other to look at you with loving eyes.

"I still love them, though, I don't even know why, but I do. I still hope they're going to change, even when I know they won't" you continued, a short, awkward laugh leaving your lips.

"Believe me, sweetheart, I know exactly how that feels." he smiled at you, gently stroking your face with his free hand as the two of you continued to talk about everything, and anything, enjoying the company you gave each other.

[Following day, 4:27 PM]

Who knew that drawing in the library's restricted section would be so relaxing? Sketching animals, book covers, objects and even some random fellow housemates. It wasn't so bad, right?

But let's be honest, you were only using it as a means of distraction, trying to get yourself to forget about the fact that you're going to break up with your s/o. You don't even know how Tom managed to convince you.

Of course, it's for the best, you know that. Doesn't change the fact that you feel so damn guilty about it. I mean, why do you even? It's not like they value you, it's not like they won't have other people lined up to take their bullshit right the moment you decide to leave.

Okay, that's it. You're doing it, you're definitely doing it. You mumbled to yourself. After, of course, another art session in your little distraction place.

[5:54 PM]

What's the worst that can happen if I confess? I mean, it's not like the world would end, not like the world would explode and I'd be buried underneath layers of rock and lava.

You had him feeling something he's never even imagined he'd feel; he was nervous. His forehead full of sweat, causing his hair to stick on to him. What are you putting him through?

Friendship...That's all I am to him. I'm just a friend to [Y/N]. He only sees me as a friend. Nothing more than that. Maybe I shouldn't. I probably shouldn't.

[6:11 PM]

To his surprise, Tom heard a knock on his door. He most definitely wasn't in the mood to see, yet even talk to anyone.

"Tommy? My love, are you in there?" You questioned quite loudly, making sure to be heard from across the wall.

That petname, you have no idea what it made him want to do. Did he want to have you underneath him, touch every little bit of your body? Did he want to show you that you're his? Hear you whine and beg for him to kiss you; and so, so much more than you could imagine.

It's not the time to get lost in such sinister thoughts, Tom, he mumbled to himself, finally walking over the room to let you in.

"Hello, darli―" before he could finish, you rushed into his arms. Wrapping your hands around your friend's waist as your head rested under his own. "I missed you all day, dummie" you spoke quietly, finally happy to spend time with him.

He was quite surprised to say the least, you weren't the type to enjoy going for any type of physical affection of any type, unless it was under certain circumstances. Especially the hug being so long.

He wasn't complaining, he adored it, but he couldn't help but worry. Was something wrong? Were you hurt?

"Love, as much as I enjoy moments like this, is there anything you need to tell me? Should I kick anyone's arse?" he raised his brow, looking down at you.

You shook your head, never letting go of the taller man, a smile appearing on your face. How cute he is when he's worried, you thought.

That's pretty much how the rest of the day night went. The two of you in each other's embrace, spending it in utter silence, just glad to be in your own little world together.

You told him, before going back to your dorm, about how you finally broke up with that douchebag, and was your man proud.

The couple next days, weeks even, went by quickly. You and Tom would hang by the library after classes to complete and give help with what the other might have been stuck on.

Tom walks towards you, so dangerously close, you can practically feel his lips on yours. A hand's glued on the wall next to you, right above your head. Your body pressed against a door, his knee right in between your legs, brushing against your crotch. His other hand pulling you closer by your waist, soon planting kisses all over your jaw and neck. You can't help but melt into his touch, his lips- you just want more, more of him.

You gasp, practically jumping up your bed. It was only a dream, wasn't it you thought, sighed in slight disappointment. You wouldn't like to admit it to yourself, but you've been thinking about Tom in a certain way lately.

That only made things worse for you. Because according to you, he would never see you that way. Because the way you saw it, Tom only ever thought of you as a friend.

And so thought he. He was just as disappointed every time he'd dream of the two of you being intimate, romantically, sexually, it didn't matter. He was just as devastated when he woke up. Always went back to sleep hoping those wonderful dreams would go on.

Both of you had a few dreams like those. Some were a whole lot sweeter. Dates together, just the two of you softly making out with the sound of classical music in the background. All of this causing the two of you a bittersweet feeling, thinking that all of this was just hopeless dreams, impossible to come true.

════════════════════

Starry night, you and him, the lake, the full moon shining bright. There's nothing that could ruin this delightful night. It feels like a dream, so much that you even question the reality of what's going on.

"Is this...real?" you ask Tom, not taking your eyes off the sky you so dearly loved. He raised a brow at you, looking at you in a clearly confused expression.

"If it wasn't, we'd be doing more than just stargazing, love" he chuckled, really hoping you'd take it as a joke.

"What would we be doing then, darling?" you question once again, mocking the way he calls you petnames while at it, a visibly evil smile painted on your face.

Tom takes his bottom lip in between his teeth, turning to face his pretty boy. "Do you really want to know, [Y/N]?"

The usage of your name kind of, just a little bit, frightened you. Not in a necessarily bad way, more like in a 'I have no idea what to expect next' way.

"What would you do if I kissed you?" he smirked at you, feeling oddly confident, though your silence and shocked face slowly faded. He was about to mutter apologies 'till you let out a mumble. "I'd like that" you said, your voice barely above a whisper.

"What was that, my prince? Would you kindly repeat that for me?" he told you with a straight face, making you wonder if he truly didn't hear you. If only you knew the amount of pride he felt at that moment, barely four words and his mind wandering to so, so many things he knew the both of you would like.

The shade of your cheeks changed a bit, was it from embarrassment? Or from the idea that he may actually like you back. Either way, you did repeat what you had told him, blushing even harder as there was an ever-growing smile on your face.

Soon enough, Tom sat up, leaned against a tree nearby. Motioning on his lap, he asked you to sit there, and happily you did.

You've never seen him smile like that. He looked at you like you're the only person in the world. His hands firmly on your cheeks, slowly pulling you in.

Your arms instinctively went around his neck, tilting your head to the side in order to deepen the kiss.

Once you pulled away to take a breath, his hands rested on your lower waist, his eyes staring at you lovingly as they always did.

"You know I'm no good with words." you looked at him exactly the way he was looking at you; you were truly each other's everything. "I know, my prince" his hand wandered around his loverboy's hair, soon pulling him in yet another kiss.

He knew he loved you, and now he was sure you loved him too. Only thing is, he wasn't sure how to ask you to take over the world with him, but for now, he was happy with what you had, and so were you.

#i loved the process of writing this #I feel like Tom would really treasure the person hes in love with #harry potter x gender neutral reader #harry potter x male reader #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle #tom riddle x gendernatural reader #tom marvolo riddle #writing #scenarios #tom riddle headcanon #harry potter #hogwarts #harry potter fanfiction

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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 2 years

Text

Revelations: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.8k

Warnings: heavy angst, spencer reid being drugged and tortured, canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there is any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

Emily and JJ came back with news about what they found out at the meeting. The person in charge of the whole operation and Tobias' sponsor, hadn't seen Tobias in almost ten years. Tobais' form of drug was dilaudid, which is a drugstore heroin. He used to use it with psychedelics because he was only trying to escape reality as far as he could get. The sponsor told Emily and JJ that addicts don't get excuses, but Tobias was one of the exceptions.

He went on to say that his mother ran off without another man when he was seven. His dad went all out and started preaching about sin and the end-of-the-world shit. He beat Tobias on a regular basis if Tobias didn't do whatever his father wanted. He even burned a cross in Tobias' forehead when he was ten. If Tobias wore a hat to cover it, then his father would beat him even more.

It's shocking he is still alive after being alone and beaten for so long. Emily and JJ managed to get all of this, but Tobias didn't have anyone else in his life he could turn to, so you have no idea where he would take Spencer. You feel bad for the kid, obviously, but he's doing so much bad that he can't see it because the other personalities won't let him see it. Or, maybe he does know that what he's doing is wrong, but the personality that has taken the form of his father won't let him do anything about it.

You're just scared of what he's going to do to Spencer if he disobeys or does something he doesn't like. The entire time they are speaking, Derek, Faraday, and Hotch are going through the endless notebooks that Tobias wrote in to document everything in his life. You're sitting in a chair biting the hell out of your nails, nervous about what might come up.

"You need to calm down," Gideon says gently to you.

"I can't. We need to find Spencer before something worse happens to him."

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel him, Gideon. I can feel Spencer's pain, okay? He's scared and I feel that too. That means two things: one, he's suffering when he never should be, and two, he is close enough for me to feel him. He's near us, I know that much, and we're doing nothing to find him."

"We're doing everything possible to find him. You have to believe he is going to be okay."

"There's something weird going on here," Derek interrupts the moment, frowning at the journal in his hands.

"You think?" Faraday scoffs.

"No, seriously, check this out. This journal is filled with religious ramblings. He notates hour by hour. 'November 15th, 3:17--if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offering unto the lord, ye shall offer it at your own will.' And it goes on and on. 5:04, 7:41, 10:22, 1:42. Then it goes blank for days."

"Maybe he got sick of writing."

"No, I got it," Hotch says with another journal in his hands.

"December 6th. Father is sick. Wants me to put him down. I say, thou shalt not kill. He says, honor thy father. Must pray for guidance."

"So he kills his father as an act of mercy?"

"This is two months ago. Tobias' father had been dead for four months already."

"Look at this," you clear your throat and wipe your eyes free of any tears. "Look at the floor. These scuff marks are fresh. It's as if two people were moving the chairs constantly. One of Tobias' personalities is his father."

"She's right. This journal matches Charles' handwriting, but it was written after he died. Upstairs in Tobias' bedroom has got junk piled from floor to ceiling, but the other bedroom could pass a military inspection."

"Tobias was raised with a strict religious code--black and white, right and wrong. When his father asked him to kill him, something inside Tobias broke. His mind split into two to keep his father alive," you explain.

"So, who is Raphael?" Faraday wonders.

"My guess is he's a mediator between the two. Angels have no human emotions. Live or die, they don't care, as long as it's God's will."

"We need to start profiling Tobias' father. He may be the one who chose where to take Reid."

If Charles beat his son on the daily, and he's the one who took Spencer, then he's in more trouble than you thought.

"I'll get Garcia on it." Derek says and leaves to join her in the other room. You take a deep breath and follow him so that you're the only three people inside the room. "Garcia, I need you to log into the system as Tobias' father."

"The system was set up three months ago. Dad was already dead."

"I know that, smarty-pants, but do it for your boy anyway, alright?"

"Okay," she shrugs.

She logs out of the computers and logs back in, but as Tobias' father instead. Instead of video games and sports on the screens, there are a bunch of natural disasters and violence everywhere. Tobias liked to watch people play video games, but Charles liked to watch violence.

"This could be some bad news," Faraday says in the next room. You're close enough to hear them, but not close enough to engage in the conversation. "A computer store was robbed in the middle of the night. A suburb outside of Atlanta. The thief got away with four laptops, external hard drives, and a satellite."

"If it's Tobias, it puts him right back in business," Hotch sighs.

All of a sudden, every single computer screen shuts down on Penelope, but she didn't touch anything.

"What happened?" Derek asks.

"I don't know." Just then, one screen comes up, and Spencer is sitting on a chair, tied up and bloody. "Oh, my God."

A loud sob escapes your mouth when you realize Tobias or Charles is live streaming wherever he is, and Spencer is the star of the show. He looks so beaten down and broken, and your heart breaks at the state he is in.

"Guys! Guys! Get in here!" Derek yells at everyone.

Every single person rushes into the room to see what might happen with Spencer.

"He's been beaten," Emily states.

Your knees buckle from underneath you, and you sink into the chair closest to you. Tears are streaming down your face, out of your control.

"Can't you track him?" you ask between hiccups.

"Hankel's only streaming this to his home computer," Penelope shakes her head.

"This is for us. He knows we're here."

"I'm gonna put this guy's head on a stick," Derek threatens.

"Why can't you locate him?" Hotch wonders.

"He's rerouting to a different IP address every thirty seconds. I can't track him," Penelope panics.

Just then, Tobias comes onto the screen and grabs Spencer, scaring the shit out of him. You can't keep watching this, but you have to if you want to figure out where he's holding Spencer.

"Can you really see inside men's minds? See these vermin? Choose one to die. I'll let you choose one to live," Tobias says in his father's "voice".

He must have computer screens that Spencer can look at with people on it. It has to be behind the camera since you can't see any of it.

"No," Spencer mutters, his voice hoarse.

"I thought you wanted to be some kind of savior."

"You're a sadist and a psychotic break. You won't stop killing. Your word is not true."

"The other heathens are watching," he says, pointing to the camera. "Choose a sinner to die, and I'll say the name and address of the person to be saved."

"I won't get to choose who gets slaughtered and have you leave their remains behind like a poacher."

"Can you really see into my mind, boy? Can you see I'm not a liar?!" Tobias screams, causing Spencer to flinch. "Choose one to die, and save a life. Otherwise, they're all dead."

"Alright, I'll choose who lives," Spencer sighs. This shouldn't have happened. This is all your fucking fault. You lower your head and sob quietly with tears streaming down your cheeks. "Far right screen."

"Marilyn David, 4913 Walnut Creek Road," Tobias states.

"You got that?" Hotch asks.

"Yeah."

Penelope works her magic and gets the phone number associated with that address. Once she has it, Gideon gives it a call.

"Hello, is this Marilyn David? ... My name is Jason Gideon. I'm with the FBI."

Gideon tells her about what's happening with her computer, and she thanks him for the information and promises to be safe. You look at the screen as Gideon hangs up on the woman, and your head starts to hurt as if you're the one that's in the chair. You've never really felt other people's physical pain before, but you're feeling it all with Spencer.

"Raphael," Spencer says.

Just then, the camera shuts off and you've lost Spencer.

"I can't do this," you whisper to yourself.

"Maybe you should get some rest, Y/N," Hotch suggests.

"I knew it was a bad idea to split up, but I did it anyway and left him alone. Now he's hurt because of me," you cry. "I have to do everything I can to find him."

"So, now what? Wait for a 911 call, and hope they get there in time?" Emily asks.

Since you couldn't go to the address in time, you have to wait on Faraday's word if they got there in time...

...they didn't. When you got the news that the poor couple was murdered, you went to the kitchen to try and separate yourself from the rest. Pam and Mike Hayes were the ones who were murdered. Mike was a local defense attorney, and the bible passage that was left was from Isaiah 59:4: No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

You can't believe this is happening right now.

You're staring at your nubs for fingers, your whole body numb with fear. You don't even notice that someone walked until they speak.

"I thought you were going to try and get some rest," Derek states.

"Every time I close my eyes, I see Spencer in pain. So, no, I have to work. Everyone else is."

"We can handle it."

You know what his words are saying, but his tone is telling you something entirely different.

"You can't really make me feel worse than I already do, Derek. You think Spencer and I should have stayed together."

"Y/N, go get some rest."

"I know that's what you're thinking. Don't try to fucking hide it from me."

"I just want to get Reid home safe."

"But if I had his back, like I was supposed to, he'd be here right now."

"What do you want from me, Y/N?"

"I just want someone to tell me the fucking truth. It's my fault."

"The truth is one of you is here, and one of you isn't. You've gotta figure the rest out for yourself."

Derek leaves the room, and you sigh sadly. He didn't explicitly say it, but you know he blames you. Everyone here fucking blames you because you're the one who is supposed to know better. You're the one who is supposed to be better.

wanna be tagged? add yourself to this document! if your tag has a strike through it or it’s not linked, it means doesn’t work. find out why!

@averyhotchner @lets-be-gay-for-the-angel @fan-girl-97 @inkstainedwritergirl @estrela-rogers @kwbaby24 @redsalv20 @joonie-centric @xs @sixpencespencee @boygenius-reid @meganskane @prophecyflame @happynekochan1 @babydee17 @darlingisntit @fandoms4ever97 @spencerreid-187 @snakeythesnake @nomajdetective @scarletstarrs @hc-geralt-23 @fairytalesforever @werewolfbanshee-love @bluetreecloud20 @lucyysthings @slightlyvicked

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manypersons-writes · 2 years

Text

A Million Angers and Frustrations

This is more of a comedy that is 100% meant to be given as a speech. I write it when I was really angry and for some reason, it came out really funny and has a flow that is really fun to perform. 10/10 would give this speech again

Summary: just imagine you're at school and a guest speaker is there idk

I remember when I was a child, looking up at the stars in fascination. And how I was always wondering how they decided their own alignment and how this affects our day to day life. How something so many billions of miles away could still touch me here on Plain Old Earth. I remember all these wonderings and then realize that now's not the time and that my following speech has literally nothing to do with the stars. Welcome to my PSA "A Million Angers and Frustrations".

Yeah, you heard it, right there in the title; I've got a million of them. I'd list them all out right here and right now, if I could, but I'm afraid a pathetic ten minutes just won't suffice. I've got a million things that are just enough to really tick me off and about a billion that ought to count (sadly these were all turned down by the Board of Complaints when I went downtown to file 'em).

I know, there may be a few of you out there who may be exactly like me; share the exact same issue that I do. And that's okay! Accepting yourself for who you truly are is the first step to alleviating this prominent dilemma, even if you are still currently blind to it (don’t worry, I’ll help you to see it).

Yes, I may have a million angers and frustrations, but believe me, I am not an angry person. My ma' always said that I could never have a mean bone in my body. Nope, not even that super tiny one that's supposedly in my ear. You see, I'm genuinely a nice person. Just yesterday, I picked a gum wrapper up off the ground (well, after I'd dropped it, but that's completely besides the point). About these frustrations and complaints and such, it's quite clearly not because I'm a bad person or anything like that. I doubt there's a single person out there who's ever been rubbed the wrong way by me.........well unless you count.........Anyways! It's definitely not that. 'S probably just the opposite. I'm a good person, (er) frustrating things just seem to happen to me in particular.

A million frustrations and angers. Now, I know exactly what you must be thinking: "A million? That must be some sort of record! How does one achieve such a feat???" And to this, I must reply, yes. A million. I could show you the list..........but, um, perhaps after the fact. And, as to how I achieved such a thing, it was pretty simple. You'd be surprised at how quickly these things add up. Just yesterday, I was down filing in the office of the Board of Complaints on seven different occasions..........my morning didn't go so well............ Let's see(*as though scrolling down a long list*).........ah, here we are:

8:47 A.M., COMPLAINT #999,989: Shoelaces tangled momentarily.

11:23 A.M., COMPLAINT #999,990: Coffee (black) “way too hot”

11:25 A.M., COMPLAINT #999,991: Laurel (secretary) asks "How's the coffee?" twice.

11:26 A.M., COMPLAINT #999,992: Laurel (secretary) can't seem to understand that the

coffee (black) was "way too hot".

12:21 A.M., COMPLAINT #999,993: Kathleen (from office next door) asks "How're the

husband and kids?". Client reportedly does not have kids, not are they married.

12:46 P.M., COMPLAINT #999,994: Subway sandwich (toasted with turkey, lettuce,

tomatoes, and extra mustard) is not toasted as requested.

5:42 P.M., COMPLAINT #999,995: Bathroom light still flickering.

You see the sort of stuff I have to deal with? And that wasn't even one of my busy days! You should have seen me last Tuesday.......heh, heh, heh.......that was not a good day. Cousin Mark showed up in my lobby.......twice.

Yes, it has been a tough road to a million angers and frustrations. But it is a life I could never regret. Just this morning, when I was filing COMPLAINT #1,000,000 (bathroom light burns out), I truly appreciated, for the first time, what a grand fest it was that I'd achieved. And them the representatives from the Board of Complaints asked me to do this motivational talk thingy just about twenty minutes ago. Of course I was thrilled, I still remember my very first complaint:

August 23, 1987, 2:22 A.M., COMPLAINT #1: Client is born.

........yeah, it pretty much went downhill from there.....but don't get me wrong! My life isn't all angers and frustrations. Every now and then, I go for a walk in the park. That rarely ever leads to some sort of complaint........usually. I also volunteer at the animal shelter on Saturdays. The only regular complaint there is the smell.

I stand here before all of you today as the world record-holder for the most grief caused to the Board of Complaints (not exactly sure what that means, but that's what they wrote here) and I do hope to continue to change the world by spreading the word of my angers and frustrations and I also hope that this here gathering has opened your eyes to certain realities that are present in our world and are becoming increasingly more so, especially today.

This all sounds really great, right? And you're convinced that this just can't be true? And you're all moments away from demanding to know where you can sign up??? Right? Right??? Well, everything I've said throughout this entire presentation has been 100% true (*wink, wink*) and all you have to do to start changing the world for the better today and begin to record every last anger and frustration that impedes your daily life, all you have to do is simply make your way on over to the Board of Complaints. No, no, no! Not yet!!! When you get there, it's as easy as opening up an account. If you all start as early as today, I am absolutely positive that each and every one of you will eventually attain the status of which I have on this fine occasion................

….Actually, I have a small something to confess to all of you. I wasn't really planning on sharing this bit, but.......the Board of Complaints never asked me to speak here today, in reality. Actually, some blonde chick was supposed to be here. Said she had a story about how she'd gotten a "severe" (*eye roll*) case of depression after some jerk boyfriend broke up with her. Anyways, my million angers and frustrations are way more interesting than that, I'm sure you'd all agree, but if you really want her back, I'd check in the broom closet if I were you. And also, I suggest bringing a crowbar or something heavy.

To wrap things up, because I really am in a rush, millions of angers and frustrations go unnoticed and unchecked daily. I'm here simply to impress upon you the absolute magnitude of the situation we are currently in and to urge you to join our cause. It was a miracle that I managed to catch as many complaints as I did. The Board of Complaints needs your support to-

(*Mouth sounds: bzzt, bzzt, bzzt*) (*whispering*) It's the Board of Complaints; I've got to take this, sorry.

(*talking into "phone"*).....Yeah, 'course it's me.....What do you mean???..... If course it's your guys's job to record and keep track.if complaints and of course you need more volunteers..... (*off "phone", to crowd*) These guys, what kidders. (*back to "phone" *) Mhmm......alright, if you say so..... Good bye, love you~<3 (*hangs up*)

Excuse me, but I've got to go. I actually need to get over to the Board of Complaints right about now, I have a few complaints O forgot to record earlier. Hope to see you over there!!!

#manypersons writes #writing #my speeches #a million angers and frustrations

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juniorgman187 · 3 years

Text

Serpent of Eden (Reid Series - Part 3)

~ Reader’s one-night-stand with Spencer turns into a year long semester ~

Summary: After a month of smooth sailing, Reader and Spencer finally cross paths on campus and spoiler alert - it’s not pretty. Couple: Fem!Reader x Professor Spencer Reid Category: Angst, Fluff, (eventual) Smut, Series Word Count: 1.7 (ik i promised no small chapters but this ones slightly more spicy and its in preparation for better, longer chapters) Content Warning: Age-gap, teacher student relationship A/N: POV switches from Reader to Spencer indicated by “_ _ _”

PART 2 HERE!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

It was easy to maintain a romantic relationship and to believe that everything was alright when we never had to see each other at school.

What’s harder was being in a professional setting and forcing ourselves to confront the reality that what we were doing was wrong.

Just plain wrong.

We must’ve lucked out in the first few weeks of our relationship because it was smooth sailing for the entire first month. We’d even gotten into a routine - found our groove, if you will.

Most often, we would meet at a place far from Hollis, where we knew we wouldn’t run into anyone who would recognize us. There we could just be (y/n) and Spencer; and there I would get lost in the good times and the bliss of the moment to the point of forgetting that we weren’t just (y/n) and Spencer - we were student and teacher, too. Other times, I’d come over to his apartment, but given my living situation, he had never come over to mine.

It was somewhere around our one-month anniversary when our luck ran out.

Holly had come into the room while I was finishing (or at least attempting to finish) reading a court case.

“Are you going to the Promotional FBI Seminar?” She slid a large pamphlet on my desk, never minding the fact that she’d just haphazardly thrown the pamphlet in the spot where my book lied, causing me to lose my place on the page. Though I didn’t outwardly display my frustration, my agitation did grow beneath the surface.

“What’s that?” I asked her, not out of sincere curiosity, but more so because I wasn’t even really listening to what she’d said before, and I’d pushed the pamphlet out of the way before I even read it.

“A couple guys from the FBI are coming to talk to us about the job, like all the requirements to be hired, how much it pays - stuff like that.”

Holly’s voice didn’t make for great background noise, especially when she started rambling while I tried to continue reading.

“Are you going?” I asked. Again, this wasn’t a sincere question, just a way to make it seem like I was listening.

“Yeah, and I really want you to come with me. I think you’d like it. You’re really into crime stuff, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah…” I said in a daze, obviously distracted by my other priorities.

“So you’ll come?”

I should note that I faintly recognized the name and premise of the seminar, but I couldn’t quite place where I remembered it from, and I was far too preoccupied to pay any further attention to the topic, so it slipped out of my mind almost as fast as it entered it.

It was this moment here where Spencer’s eidetic memory would’ve come in handy.

You see, the reason I weakly recalled the seminar was because just three days ago, Spencer had told me he was going to be a guest speaker for it. But again - I didn’t remember that, and so without any recollection of this information, I told Holly I’d go just so she’d stop bothering me about it.

Unbeknownst to me, I’d just agreed to attending my own personal hell.

I woke the next morning to Holly violently shaking me.

“(Y/n), we gotta go! We’re so fucking late!”

Still half-asleep, I mumbled, “Huh?”

“The seminar started at 9:42 and it’s 10:36 right now.”

This was enough to jolt me awake and get me out of bed.

There was just something about the pressure of being late that forced me into a mode where I could get ready in an ungodly short amount of time. I could never get ready that fast unless I was late for something, which makes no sense.

Holly and I ran from our dorm, through the courtyard, and into the classroom, somehow managing not to trip once on the way there. I was actually quite proud of that.

I couldn’t tell you if it was our breathlessness, our late departure, our struggle to find open seats, or a combination of the three, but we’d commanded the attention of the entire room - and the attention of someone I had yet to notice, too.

“There’s a free seat over there. I can sit in the one over here.” Holly told me, suggesting that if we wanted to sit anywhere, we’d have to be separated. I followed her finger to the empty seat, shuffling awkwardly and apologizing profusely to the people I disturbed by approaching. I was so caught up in the hysteria and chaos to even bother looking up at the stage, hindering my ability to meet my impending doom any sooner.

On the way to my seat, I noticed the copious amounts of notes being taken by virtually every student in the room, so rather than taking any time to look up, I was searching my bag down below me for note taking materials.

But as they say - third time's a charm.

After I’d settled into my seat, I finally looked up from the floor and it was then that I was transported back to a month ago - an eerie parallel to this exact moment.

“Holy shit,” I muttered, earning sneers from the people sitting next to me who I’d clearly disrupted with my profanity.

“Sorry,” I whispered to them, for I was truly sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. When I saw him, my stomach dropped. I had a feeling he’d already seen me, but I was too disorderly before to notice.

I did, however, notice how he eyed me from the stage, even doing a double take when we locked eyes.

“Most of us have done extensive work in areas such as …” His voice faded while my mind swirled.

We have got to stop meeting like this, Spencer.

Our eye contact was too much for me to handle, so I was the first to break away. Through the entire question-period, I kept my head down to avoid any eye contact I could.

“Well, that’s all that we have for you today. Before you go, please hand in your applications if you filled them out.” The other lecturer advised.

I was well on my way out of the room even before he dismissed us, but I was drawn back by the sound of the sentence, “Excuse me, Miss? Could you stay back for a moment?”

I briefly walked backwards before turning on my heels and meeting those eyes that I desperately didn’t want to.

“I noticed you came in late and I thought you might want to know the information you missed -” Spencer paused to look over his shoulder, noticing his colleague was attending to someone else and therefore, too engaged in that conversation to interfere with ours.

“(Y/n), what are you doing here?” He asked me in a hushed tone, a stark contrast from his sweet tone from before.

“I’m so sorry, Spencer. I completely forgot that you were a speaker for this seminar. I didn’t even know I was coming until last night when my roommate asked me to come with her. I would’ve warned you if I knew. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in this position.”

My apology was sincere seeing as I promised Spencer we would never run into each other. In fact, it was the sole reason we agreed to stay in this relationship - the mutual guarantee that we wouldn’t be put in these situations, but here we were.

In this fucking situation.

“No, it’s fine. I was just surprised to see you, that’s all.”

Spencer could tell I was flustered and truly apologetic for my ignorance, and he was almost about to reach out and rub my upper arm comfortingly when his actions were cut short by the looming presence of his fellow guest speaker.

“Hi there. David Rossi.” He introduced himself by extending his hand into the space between us. “And you are?”

“(Y/n) (y/l/n).”

_ _ _

“(Y/n) (y/l/n).”

It was like watching my worst nightmare come alive.

If I ever imagined introducing (y/n) to my work family, this certainly wasn’t the plan. I just hoped to God that if Rossi and (y/n) ever met again in the future, he wouldn’t suddenly obtain my eidetic memory and recall her familiar face from this exact moment.

“Got any questions for us?” Rossi coyly asked her. Once more I prayed to God that his profiling skills hadn’t just improved drastically and that he could sense the tension between the two of us. It almost seemed like he asked that question just to tease her because he knew what was really happening. But then again, that was probably just my paranoia speaking.

She looked mortified when he asked this, even glancing back at me briefly as if to ask for a reprieve. “Um, no not really. I-I was just telling Dr. Reid that I’ve applied to audit his class before, but was always rejected.”

“That’s a shame. Well, maybe I can look into that. You know, put in a good word for you.” Rossi chuckled, nudging (y/n)’s shoulder to suggest he’d help her. She only shyly laughed and took a step closer to the door.

“Oh, no you don’t have to do that for me.”

“Nonsense. I’d be happy to do it.”

“Thanks, Mr. Rossi.” With a thankful smile, (y/n) pranced out the door, closing the lecture hall door sharply behind her without one look back.

“Nice girl,” Rossi acknowledged. “But it would be nicer if she could be on time.”

I laughed, despite not finding (y/n) to be at the butt of the joke to be funny at all.

“Um, are you actually gonna put in a good word for her?” I followed Rossi with my eyes, searching his face with a desperate hope that my question didn’t reveal too much.

“Yeah, why not? I figured you would’ve liked to have another student audit your class.”

“Yeah yeah…” I murmured in false agreement.

Herein lies the trouble.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

PART 4 COMING SOON!

comment to be added to the taglist!

taglist:

@andiebeaword @rexorangecouny @rip2myyouthjpg

#serpent of eden #spencer reid #spencer reid series #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic

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backslashdelta · 3 years

Text

@mostgeckcellent thank you so much for the tag! This is such a fun tag game! I'm making a new post because this is long and so the post you tagged me in was fairly long as well lol

how many works do you have on AO3?

I have 42 works on AO3 across 2 pseuds! That being said, one of my pseuds is for podfics only (all but one of which are podfics of my own works); the number of works on my main account where I keep all of the written versions of my fics is 33.

what’s your total AO3 word count?

250 307 words :) and I am very proud of all most of them lol

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Only one, and it's Glee. I may or may not branch out in the future, only time will tell ;)

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It Was Only a Kiss (582 kudos). I think this absolutely deserves to be my top fic, in my opinion. It's my longest work, and it's the piece I worked on the longest, and poured the most of my love into. I'm very very proud of this one. Though, fair warning, it is an anti-Blaine Kurtbastian fic, so to my Klaine followers: you probably don't want to read it. But that's okay. Because lots of other people already have lmao

I Want the World to See You'll Be With Me (116 kudos). A sweet Kurtbastian one-shot I wrote as a Christmas present to @unhappyending last year. I'm surprised to see it so high, because I'm not really a fluff writer and this is unmistakably fluff, but... I guess the Kurtbastian fans love them some fluff!

Notes of an Old Mistake (96 kudos). It's Kurtbastian, it's angst, it's porn with plot! I feel like this fic is one of the most me things I've ever posted, which is interested since it was a gift to @pouralittlewater and very much based on what she wanted written. Guess we have similar tastes!

A Rush of Blood to the Head (76 kudos). The first pwp I ever posted, a Kurtbastian vampire!Sebastian halloween one-shot. Iconic of that to be this far up the list honestly.

The Hazards of Love 1 (68 kudos). This fic is what really got me in to writing. It's ~50k words, my second-longest fic to date, and it means a lot to me. There are some things in it that I'm iffy about, but also some scenes that I really, really love, and are very dear to my heart. When I started posting it, I didn't think anyway would read it because of the premise. Apparently I was wrong.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes. I always respond to the first comment someone leaves on any of my fics, or any chapter of one of my fics, if it's a main comment. Sometimes people will reply to my reply, or reply to another commentor, and in those cases I don't always respond, but otherwise I do; if someone binged one of my multichaps and left a comment on every chapter, I will respond to every single one.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

This is an easy tie between He Forgets Me, He Forgets Me Not and Never Ask For Anyone But You (a birthday gift for @unhappyending), both of which end with the death of one of the main characters; in the first, the final scene is a funeral where it's revealed that the character has died, and in the second, the actual scene where the death occurs is described (though it could be left up to interpretation whether the character actually does pass away).

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I do not, but I have an idea for one that I might eventually write...

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I received a hateful review on FFN once, but it was clearly spam. Other than that, the closest I've gotten to hate has been someone asking me to go a different direction with a fic after I had already made my intentions clear; if that's the worst I have to deal with, I am very happy. Especially since there are a lot of things I write about that some people may have a problem with lol

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Girl yes. I've already linked 3 explicit fics in this post lmao who am I if not a smut writer?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

have you ever had a fic translated?

I haven't! I'd love to translate my own fics into French though. I think that would be cool. My French is not good enough unfortunately, but maybe someday if I ever make an effort to improve it.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! Last Christmas @unhappyending and I (KC you're getting tagged A LOT in this post lol sorry) co-wrote the Kurtbastian 2020 Advent Calendar. We posted one chapter per day starting on December first and leading all the way up to Christmas Day (inclusive). It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! I also recorded the podfic :)

what’s your all time favourite ship?

Kurtbastian. I'm a huge multi-shipper, as we all know, but Kurtbastian is where my heart truly lies.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. This was originally a one-shot for @blangstydays, and then I decided to write another chapter, and now it's sitting there as a WIP on AO3 and I never think about it and will probably never finish it. Oops, sorry.

what are your writing strengths?

I think my biggest strengths are a) dialogue, and b) describing a character's internal thoughts/logic/whatever. These are kind of tied together; essentially, I just think I'm good at getting into the character's head and really being able to put into words what they would think and say in a way that feels authentic to them.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Right now my biggest weakness is having the motivation to write. But when I do have the motivation, my biggest weakness is probably transitioning between scenes, or scenes that don't feature much dialogue. I'm just... not the best at describing things, imo. I also don't think I'm great at scenes with a lot of people; I don't know what to do with all of them, and even if I do, I can have a hard time getting into the heads of that many different people for the same scene.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think I've written maybe a few words in French, but only because I know a little bit of the language. I wouldn't write anything substantial in another language unless I had someone who knew that language and was willing to proof-read it for me. In general, I don't think I have an issue with it. I'd have to translate it if I was reading it in a fic. I don't know, it's not something I've given much thought to.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Glee. The first and only <3

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

The answer to this is easily It Was Only a Kiss. I have some other one-shots that have a special place in my heart, by IWOAK will forever and always be my baby, and I am so glad she gets the love she deserves in the form of hits/kudos/comments <3

Time to tag some of my writer friends! @unhappyending (figured I should tag you in this post one more time lol), @esperantoauthor, @20xbetterthanu, @awkwardcaterpillar, @useless-fanfictions, @blangstydays, and anyone else who wants to do this please feel free to do so and tag me, I'd love to read your answers!

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mshermia · 3 years

Text

LYKHIW Timeline - WIP Page

Welcome! This post records the status and progress of my work expanding my Post-Endgame (MCU) series to “Like You’d Know How It Works”.

I left the cinema post-Endgame incredibly mad and disappointed. After I aired my immediate frustration with the movie in two One-Shots, I decided for my own peace of mind, I had to try and salvage the mess that was Endgame somehow, because I simply like the characters too much, not to. A week after I started writing, I published the first chapter on AO3. About a year later, I felt the need to expand on the original fix-it. I have and will continue to add to this timeline, writing different adventures that will mostly focus on Tony Stark and Peter Parker.

Genre: MCU fanfiction

The Fix-It

Like You’d Know How It Works (completed)

Setting: sets in right after the battle at the Compound is over, supersedes the concluding events of Endgame.

Premise: Straight after the battle is won - or lost, depending on your perspective - Peter tries to convince the Avengers to save Mr. Stark by going back into the Quantum Realm.

Tropes: time-travel, quantum realm, protective Peter

Mood: grief & loss, hope, family

Someone had organized this room at Metro General hospital for them to sit and talk. Sitting was not an option for Peter though. He couldn’t bear to sit. He couldn’t bear to have anyone look at his injuries either, not when there were more pressing matters to attend to.

“You said that whatever we do in the past will not change our present!” Peter’s fist hit the table with a crash. They simply weren’t listening. His face felt grimy and tight in places where the dirt from the battlefield stuck to the tears he had cried over Mr. Stark’s body. Maybe he should have thought of washing the traces off his face before confronting a few of the Avengers and Doctor Strange. It might have made him seem a little more collected. A little more rational. “That’s what you just said!”

Chapters 9/9 | 42 K | Teen and Up

Follow-up Shorts and Multi-chapters

Just Outside The Door (completed)

Setting: Days after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise: Peter did it. He found his mentor and brought him back, but sometimes it all just seemed too good to be true. Sometimes, his mind played tricks on him and he just couldn’t sleep, wondering if he had really brought Mr. Stark back or if it had all just been a desperate dream.

Tropes: nightmares, PTSD, protective Tony, Whumptober 2020: No. 23

Mood: fear, working through trauma, comfort

There was only silence in his room now unless you were to count the frantic beat of his heart and the deep shaky breaths he sucked in and blew back out. It hadn’t even been a nightmare this time, not truly. He hadn’t really fallen asleep in the first place. Exhaustion was tugging at the edges of his consciousness and that’s where his thoughts had started to spiral.

Mr. Stark was okay. Peter was… he was pretty sure of that. He had succeeded, had brought him back home and now he was okay. But there was a little voice in the back of his head that kept nagging, that kept telling him that maybe… maybe he was wrong. Maybe it had all been a delusional dream, too good to be true, Peter wishing something into reality that was unobtainable. He had seen his mentor die after all. He had died right in front of him, the memory etched into his memory, right there whenever he closed his eyes. Dimensions, time travel… was that really real?

Chapters 1/1 | 4.2 K | Teen and Up

Nothing Left To Lose (in progress)

Setting: 2 weeks after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

The reversal of the Snap added an additional 3.5 billion people back to Earth’s population. 3.5 billion more people to house somewhere, 3.5 billion mouths to be fed, 3.5 billion people who return to a world that was not expecting them to ever come back.

Tropes: food shortage, starvation, looting, blurred lines of good and evil; Whumptober 2020: No. 3

Mood: anger, desperation, conflicted who to help

Tony groaned, rolling his stiff neck from one side to the other as the gate clicked shut behind Pepper. “Remind me again… Why did we agree to this?”

Pepper didn’t bother to send him a scolding look as she wrapped the security seal around the gate’s locking mechanism. “Because we’re good neighbors?”

“We are?” He smelled like damp fur. When did wet fur and barn animals become his life? “Since when exactly? Was there a house meeting? Did I miss it?”

“Mh… do you need a reminder of the process of negotiation?” She took a step towards him, one hand twisted in his shirt pulling him close against her, their lips almost close enough to touch. “You smell like wet alpaca.”

He pulled in an affronted gasp. The hand that was still holding his shirt pushed him away from her, her lips stretched wide in amusement. “Come on, Cesar. Maybe I’ll remind you after a hot shower.”

Chapters 1/2 | 3.4 K | Teen and Up

Unnamed WIP (unpublished)

Setting: 4 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

For months, Peter has been commuting between the city and the Stark’s remote cabin in the woods. But now that life in NYC has regained some normalcy, he really wants to show Morgan what the greatest city in the world has to offer.

Tropes: power outage, panic attack, PTSD; Whumptober 2020: No. 27

Nope. “Not going down that rabbit-hole, Parker,” he muttered to himself.

“What rabbit-hole?” Morgan was sitting opposite him, munching on the cookies Pepper had put out.

“Nevermind.” Peter scooped two tea spoons of sugar into his coffee, then added another one just to be safe.

“Mommy says coffee corrupts the soul.”

“Please, like you even know what ‘corrupt’ means….”

Morgan tilted her head to the side, just like her mom would do. “I know it’s not nice.”

Peter gave her a look. “Well, your dad says it’s the elixir of life.” And Mr. Stark would know. Peter gave his head one hard shake. Tony. Tony would know. One sip of the black brew and Peter’s teeth hurt. Definitely too much sugar. “Okay, remember what we talked about?”

Morgan sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Ask mommy first!”

“That’s right! Make sure you use those puppy eyes, too.” Morgan nodded along enthusiastically while he quickly nicked her glass of milk and poured a generous potion of it into his mug. “We wait till, you know, till Tony’s gone downstairs or something and then—”

“And then you’ll ask me what?”

Chapters -/2 | - K | Teen and Up

Christmas Eve - At Peace (completed)

Setting: 5 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

Just a couple of months after they defeated Thanos, Tony and Pepper throw a Christmas party. Instead of a partying kid, Tony finds his Spiderling outside in the snow at the grave he has been trying to ignore ever exists.

Tropes: anger and grief, blame and fear, no prompt

Mood: wholesome, family, frustration

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "I mean it!" For good measure, he took a healthy gulp from the cup, positively burning his throat in the process. But it wasn't until Harley threw his hands in the air and turned his back in defeat - for now - that Tony allowed his face to cringe at the sting. Those little trouble makers were not helping with his heart condition. Speaking of trouble... "Where is Peter?"

Harley crossed his arms in front of himself, his mind clearly brooding on a new strategy. "No clue."

Tony's next sip of the hot wine was a lot smoother than the first. "What do you mean, no clue?"

"It generally means that the person doesn't have any information about the subject that you are—"

"Alright, short stuff..." Tony's eyes were searching the room but the little spider was nowhere to be seen. "A bit less of the asshole routine please?"

"Listen, if you want me to babysit, same rules apply as they do for Morgan." Brazen in his brattiness, the little shit ladled a good helping of mulled wine into a new cup. "I'll need a heads-up and generous compensation that I'm happy to re-negoti— Hey!"

Harley tried to hold on to the cup that Tony once again just plucked from his hands. "You've had enough of this!"

"That one is for Rhodey," the boy scowled.

Chapters 1/1 | 3.8 K | Teen and Up

The Winter Air (completed)

Setting: 6 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

Tony, Peter, and Morgan spent a winter day outside the Stark residence.

Tropes: accident, hurt Tony, hurt Peter, Whumptober 2020: No. 13

Mood: fun to fear, injury, accusations, blame

Well, it wasn’t that easy. Because things were apparently never just easy in the life of one Peter Parker. Turned out, there were still some assholes out there. Not the Thanos-kind. Not for now at least. The regular kind though and Peter for one saw absolutely no reason as to why anything should have changed in his responsibility to stop them from being assholes.

His aunt somehow disagreed more often than she didn’t. Annoyingly now though, she managed to drag Mr. Stark to her side a lot more than she used to, too.

Peter shook his head at himself. Tony. T-O-N-Y. It wasn’t that hard, was it? He still slipped up every so often. But as much as that bugged him, it was the others who bugged him even more. Colonel Rhodes and Hawkeye among them the most willing to tease Peter about it. Him, and Tony too, for his mentor never commented on it with more than a crooked smile. When it was just the two of them, that was often the only indication for Peter, that he had said it again.

It made the times when it really was just them so enjoyable. A new ease between them. They had never had this, this kind of bonding. Sure, they’d spent time together before everything had gone downhill on their little space adventure, in the lab or on a normal earth-bound mission. Not like this though, not like Peter staying over at the Stark residence for a few days at a time. Not like him sliding along-side Morgan on the ice on the lake, trying to catch Tony. Not like Morgan falling over and taking Tony right with her and the way Peter’s stomach hurt from laughing so hard when Mr. Stark’s sweet little Morguna drowsed him with two full hands of snow and he just hadn’t seen it coming.

Chapters 3/3 | 14 K | Teen and Up

Unnamed Multichapter WIP (unpublished)

Setting: picks up where The Winter Air ended, 6 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

First time all of the Avengers come together after the Snap was reversed. With Tony retired, Peter has to find his place in the team and learn to work with the other Avengers without Tony. Tensions are running high with the events of Civil War still largely unresolved and lingering resentments stemming from Peter’s multidimensional rescue mission to save Tony.

Tropes: Avengers mission, mistrust, growing as a team; Whumptober 2020: No.7

Tony’s eyes went wide. Was it possible that…

“Hey, FRI?”

“Good morning, boss. It’s 10:16 am on February 5th, 2024. The temperature outside is—”

“Yeah, just… can you stop for a moment?” He waved her off. “Send Dory out to the lake, would you. There’s some stuff still lying out there on the ice.”

“Right away, Sir.”

Tony watched as the little blue drone circled the lake, getting closer and closer to what he was sure were the Spiderling’s clothes still lying out there, where he had taken them off to—

“Hey, what are you doing out of bed!”

Despite himself, he twitched as Pepper made her way into the room. She had pushed the door open with her hip, balancing his breakfast on a large wooden tablet.

“Here, let me—” Tony stepped towards her, arms at the ready to take the tablet but she held it out of his reach.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get back in that bed!”

Chapters -/- | - K | Teen and Up

There... And Back Again (in progress)

Setting: about a year after Tony was brought back to life

Premise: The Starks drive upstate to the old Mansion where Tony grew up. To Tony’s horror, the trip takes him and the kids a lot further down memory lane than anyone could have predicted.

Tropes: time travel, Howard Stark’s A++ parenting; Febuwhum2021 Day 12 - Who Are You

“Pete, seriously…” Tony looked up into the review mirror trying to catch his eye. “Can you not? I don’t want Morgan up all night, terrified of some dumb ghosts.”

“Come on, it’s just a story, Tony. Morgan knows I made it all up, right?” Peter winked at her, then wiggled his eyebrows in a way that seemed kind of familiar.

“Yeah, daddy.” But Morgan was full-on ignoring Tony, her eyes on Peter trying to imitate the wink and wiggly eyebrows he had just sent her way. “It’s just a story.”

He could do little more than groan as Peter continued to spin a tale of spirits and witches, ancient pacts and promises that had to be kept, ransoms that the spirits had vowed to retrieve.

“It was a night very much like tonight,” Peter continued, his voice low and full of dreadful foreboding, “that the witches broke that pact they had signed with the blood of the innocent…”

“Morgan’s gasp morphed into a giddy giggle while Tony could only rub a hand across his brow and mumbled, "Blood of the innocent, give me a fucking break…”

Chapters 1/3 | 4,4 K | Teen and Up

Are We Out Of The Woods Yet?, (completed)

Setting: 4 years after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

Peter takes Morgan into the depths of a National Park so she can collect samples for a biology project.

Tropes: Peter & Morgan, protective Peter, hurt Morgan, hurt Peter, Whumptober 2020: No. 12

Mood: disappointment, mistakes, anger, angst, comfort

“There are so many reasons why online classes are better than going to school.”

Peter shook his head. “And there are plenty of reasons why learning in school with other students is preferable. How it helps retain the material better than—”

Morgan groaned without even looking at him, her nose in the air, eyes on the leafy trees above them. “You can learn the same things at home, only then you could have dinner at night with us instead of in your stinky room in Boston.”

“Hey,” he craned his neck to see where she went, then walked after her. “My room doesn’t stink.”

“It’s a boy’s room.” She said it like that alone was a valid argument, when it couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the girl’s dorms he had been in—

He stopped himself. Not the time and place.

Chapters 2/2 | 8 K | Teen and Up

#wip #wip page #irondad #spider son #prompt fill #peter parker fic #tony stark #iron dad and spider son #mcu fanfiction #fanfic #LYKHIW-timeline

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orsuliya · 3 years

Text

On sword maintenance and anger management

Ever since I saw episode 42 raw, I’ve been having some Thoughts about the sword sharpening scene. Bear with me, please. Beware, spoilers ahead!

Now, Xiao Qi is having a really Bad Day. First he gets to know that his beloved wife is planning to meet his personal enemy/her kidnapper in order to save Wang Qian, whom he very much does not like. This results in a single kick to a nearby table as well as slightly laboured breathing (see how his nostrils move!). Then he actually (quite calmly) quarrels with said beloved wife, gets hit with some uncomfortable truths and storms away, leaving the doors behind him swinging back and forth. On his way out he encounters the very reason for this quarrel, Miss Screecher. Even so he still has some compassion for her... until she has the audacity to come uncomfortably close, touch him and make a poorly veiled proposal. He is positively disgusted! Aghast! Enraged! Really, if any of his enemies saw his subsequent power walk, they would immediately run for the hills.

As a result, instead of joining Awu in bed, Xiao Qi comes into his manly lair to sulk, takes a sword from its stand and I immediately think: ‘Aha, we’re getting another sword dance, good, good, let him burn off some of that anger!’, but no. He goes to sharpen it instead and I am suddenly very, very afraid. Let it be said: brooding heroes are usually very, very bad at sword sharpening, but very, very good at sword torturing. Now, I don’t know if that’s the case with katanas, since polishing a katana and sharpening a sword is a wholly different kettle of fish. But the type of blade Xiao Qi is using? Those suffer a lot on screen.

But as always, The Rebel Princess has our backs on the tiniest, yet vitally important details! Imagine my surprise when Xiao Qi actually does a fine job! To start with, he carefully inspects the blade for any residue; since it looks fine and was resting on a stand, I’ll give him a pass on not wiping it off. He holds the blade for sharpening as one plausibly would in the field (none of this tip-on-the-floor nonsense), he goes steady and gentle with his filing, and at a more or less correct angle. Moreover, he starts from the middle towards the tip, which are, respectively, the parts that would see the most wear and need to be the sharpest. That’s exactly what a consummate soldier would do. (This particular sword, by the way, boasts a double fuller and a lovely, not too steep secondary bevel, which tells us that it’s a really strong and not too heavy blade for killing a lot of armoured people in quick succesion very, very efficiently!)

But that is not what gets me about this scene.

What you need to know about sword sharpening is that it’s a really bad idea to do it while angry and/or distracted. It really is not as easy at it looks and you can seriously hurt yourself and/or the blade. You need to pay attention. (Sharpen calmly, kids and keep your fingers!)

Go too hard and you risk exposing an edge too much and oversharpening. Now, this type of sword, one built for war and melee, is decidedly not designed for that. If you get it too sharp, not only will it dull much quicker than it should, but it also may actually get worse at killing people. And you really don’t want that to happen!

Go at a wrong angle and you can mess up the whole geometry of your blade. What’s more, keeping to your chosen angle is crucial and takes a whole lot of control and endurance, especially if your sharpening tool is neither fixed to a table nor guided. This is slow and back-breaking work – just re-setting a single edge takes time and once he breaks out the oil and gets down to proper sharpening? The whole thing can easily take an hour or more.

Also, a sword this long? Impossible to do in one piece. You need to go by sections, which means paying attention is a must! Otherwise you can end up with a visibly uneven edge. Sure, it may not matter that much when in active combat, but they are currently not on the battlefield, so I think Xiao Qi would actually care about the nice finish!

Gentle, steady and consistent, that’s what you need to sharpen a sword by hand. So… it may not necessarily be the best way to work out your anger, unless you’ve got blades and effort to waste. And swords are expensive in low-tech settings! (Not that they are very cheap nowadays…)

This whole scene tells us a lot about Xiao Qi’s usual anger management strategy. He does not work his anger off nor ever fully expresses it in a constructive (or non-constructive) manner. Why, in this particular case he basically chokes down his rage and then deliberately sets himself a task which requires considerable control and gentleness. Sure, the familiarity and routine of the task may help some, especially if he’s counting the strokes, but on the whole? Oooof! Xiao Qi, baby, this is not healthy! I totally get why you are doing it, you hyper-responsible poor thing, and your self-control may be truly inhuman, but all that suppressed anger? It doesn’t just go away.

Those jokes about him snapping, bathing everything in blood and then carrying Awu over the resulting rivers of gore? Yeah… They may not be that far off from the truth.

#oops my general nerdery end excessive larping is showing #notice that I kept from making any sword jokes!#so my self-control is not too shabby either #this is going to end up in blood and gore #and I am here for that!#the rebel princess #monarch industry #episode 42 #rebel princess meta

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majwrites · 3 years

Text

Lighter fluid

Sick Boy

Summary: Sick Boy and his sibling somehow managed to stick together throughout the years

Note: the only info I have about Sick Boy is from the Trainspotting movies. Didn't read the books yet.

Flashbacks to the 90s are cursive.

Warnings: smoking, drugs, alcohol, loss of a child, lots of cursing

This one goes out to my brother @malexmalereader

"The fucked up thing is that I never thought we'd make it that far", they ashed their cigarette onto their now empty plate, "you get what I'm saying? The past 23 years have basically been a bonus round". There was no reply. "Are you listening to me? I was supposed to kick the bucket decades ago, and now what is this? 42?", they lit another cigarette. "How many fuckin times did I tell you to stop ashing on the plates?", he took the plate and put it in the sink behind him. "Wouldn't have to if they wouldn't have banned smoking inside bars, you shouldn't have gotten rid of the ashtrays". "Stop running your mouth or I'll throw you out". "You wouldn't dare", they were now ashing directly onto the counter. "You know what, we're going outside", he took their cigarette and put it out on the plate in the sink. "What's prompting you to take a walk, Sick Boy?". "Stop calling me that". "Never". "Put on a coat". "You're not my boss". "Still three years older", Sick Boy took his own coat and their coat off the clothing hanger. Outside they reached into his coat and pulled out the box of cigarettes. "What the fuck, will you ever stop doing this?",he didn't make an effort to get back his belongings. "Left mine on the counter", they lit another cigarette before stuffing the pack and lighter back into his pocket.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing", they didn't even enter the room. "Cocaine", he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "In grandma's bathroom?", they stepped inside. "Where else? Don't talk as if you never did this", he proceeded to snort. "I actually never did", they searched their pockets for a pack of tictacs and finally found it. "Those are orange flavour", he noted, "anyways, what do you want?". "We're leaving in a few". "Tell them I'll be there any second", he cleaned up the evidence. "You can tell them I'll be there any second, I need this bathroom".

"Did he say anything to you?", he dug into the pocket of their coat this time to fish out another package of tictacs. "You think I'd talk to Begbie if I saw him?". "Fair point, doesn't answer my question though". "I don't even think he'd recognize me anymore".

"What I'm saying is why would you prefer something like Goldfinger if we have Timothy Dalton playing Bond. He's clearly the best", they continued cutting out a picture from the newspaper. "Sean Connery was the first one to play Bond. His films are the classics", Sick Boy took a sip of whiskey. "And I'm not denying that, but Roger Moore is way funnier and Timothy Dalton is my personal favourite, which should already count more simply just because I love him", they put down the scissors. "So you're the movie expert now? Remember who you learned from". "Sick Boy, you didn't teach me shit. I saw all these films with my own two eyes", they picked the scissors back up. "I taught you everything you know, and put those scissors down", he stirred his drink. "Sure thing, where would I be without you, brother".

"You want to watch Spectre with me? We could make it to the late night screening", they were both smoking in the backyard. "You've seen it thrice already", he put out the cigarette in the ashtray, "and how many times do I have to tell you to use the ashtray, you're ashing this thing all over the place". "Cause you're hoarding the ashtray", they kept ashing onto the table, "Spectre is a masterpiece, we can watch it multiple times". "Only if you pay". "Deal", they went inside to get ready. After a few minutes they were ready to leave. "Is Timothy Dalton still your favourite Bond?", Sick Boy closed his jacket. "I love them all", they pulled a hat out of their pocket and put it on, "Timothy Dalton is still the best though". They walked on in silence.

"You want to get out of here?", they finished their fifth cup of orange juice. Sick boy just nodded. They got up in sync. "Say something, Sick Boy. They're starting to suspect something", they got out of their chair and tossed him his coat. He didn't reply. "We're going for a walk", and they both left the house. "They all didn't even know about her", Sick Boy still looked messed up. "I know about her", they lit a cigarette and passed it to their brother before lighting another one for themselves. "Will you tell them?". "Never", they took a long drag, "unless you want me to tell them".

"It has all come full circle now", they were sitting on a stone in the backyard. "What do you mean?", Sick Boy looked like he hadn't slept in days. "I mean Spud has never done anything wrong so it's only fair that he got to betray all of you". "Of course you'd side with him, hasn't changed in 20 years", he snatched their scarf and put it around his own neck. "I'm just saying this whole plan was bound to fail, you should've built this cultural exchange youth center thing for real, it would've been less trouble", they put their hands in their pockets, it was really getting cold. "Of course you'd say something like this. You should show a bit of compassion". "You want to stay at my place tonight?", they yawned. "We're in our 40s, I'm not going to have a sleepover with my sibling", he wouldn't admit that there kind of wasn't another option. "We could have a Bond marathon. Our future is bound to be trash anyway, so what does it matter now". "You had me at Bond marathon", and with that they both headed home.

#reader insert fanfiction #gender neutral reader #trainspotting #sick boy #simon williamson #t2 trainspotting

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blanket-hole · 4 years

Text

Im calling this the faberry files cos I feel like a spy when I'm really just very gay

This is just basically timestamps of every faberry moment I could find as I was rewatching season 1-3. I don't know if anyone wants to see it but I just put it here cos why not. I wasn't really planning on posting it but here we are so it features my gay ass commentary. Anyway there u go.

gay ass looks-

-1x04- so far I’ve seen a gay ass look Quinn gives Rachel at 35:36

-1x05-39:50-not that gay but a little bit, also long

-1x09-43:02 she looks so adoring

-1x10-during endless love

-1x11-9:37 voiceover is mean but just look at those eyes and tell me I’m wrong,34:00 she literally looks so adoringly I can’t

-1x12-10:41 pretends not to see her only to look straight (or not) at her

-1x15-35:02 they’re even talking about love at the time and sitting weirdly close for enemies

-1x16-41:30

-1x20-43:06 I can’t really see where she’s looking under those long ass lashes but I think when Rachel does that little giggle she stares at her while smiling, might just be Faberry goggles tho

-1x22-9:05 I think thats like the cutest smile my little gay heart, 14:23 Quinn is fully checking her out rn like not even subtle they’re on stage

-2x04 16:12, 41:48 at Rachel singing

-2x07-23:19 that could in no way be regarded as a platonic look of enjoying the song, especially since its just started

-2x09- 43:04 part of dog days but its just so cute them holding hands also weird since they are still meant to hate each other lol

-2x10-6:03 this could just be my Faberry goggles but im counting it :D, 31:20 staring at Rachel while she looks sad

-2x11-11:04 could be at puck but she was looking at Rachel before when they were further apart so imma take the w also Diana looks really cute in this bit

-2x16- 4:27 is being kinda mean but also the way she looks at her <3<3<3 :DD also 5:21 if u don’t want to wait through a bit of a scene and the look then is suuuuper gay, 43:17 she looks so proud of her girlfriend :DDDDD

-2x18-52:49 she looks like such a proud girlfriend in this bit

-2x21-1:29 its only a quick look from Quinn tho

-3x06-28:26 Quinn gives Rachel the GAYEST lingering look at the end of the song (unless my eyes deceive me but I don’t think they do cos I’ve checked like 3 times :DDD)

-3x07- 25:00 this is possible the outright gayest look from Quinn ive ever seen, its during one of the songs but I had to put it in

-3x08- 41:10 the look of joy on Quinns face when Rachel touches her shoulder is just pure gay energy

-3x14- 17:27 ‘for the rest of my life’ looks at Quinn, ffs just get married already, 24:07 she literally bites her lip like wth how is this not canon

-3x19- 39:08 kind of but Quinn looks really happy when he says Rachel Berryand its so cute

Scenes together-

-before I had this idea- the “eavesdrop much” talk, and a couple of other things e.g. the ru Paul scene and the sweetie scene.

-1x05-41:59 during somebody to love weird foot tap thing

-1x06- 18:34 gay ass looks as well, 22:58

-1x07-21:45, 28:53 (the you obviously have a lot you need to express scene), 32:07 they just get wierdly closer for no reason

-1x09-26:09 not much but still

-1x13-3:06, 11:01

-1x15-34:18 sitting really close together next to each other when they’re meant to not like each other?

-1x20-5:42 they also sit really close and a bit of gay staring

-2x02 35:40 (on left of stage next to mike) they’re seen really close and talking, 38:55 standing unreasonably close and also in weird positions for a conversation, 31:28 Quinn looks really sad when Rachel sings to Finn (could also be a Fuinn thing tho so idk)

-2x04 28:11

-2x08-9:44

-2x13- 30:51

-2x14-8:19 its shortcut the level of gay panic on Quinns face is enough for its own spot

-2x15-0:03 how closeted is it to be the only two in the celibacy club fighting over a guy that neither of them want or need lmao I just think its really funny

-2x16-9:31 the level of gay panic on racehls face when she says she’s right is just a mood, 22:27 I think this is a scene about miscommunication and Quinn blatantly states that she thinks Rachel is much better than Finn and that she believes in her I have a lot of feelings about this scene but ill leave it at that

-2x17-16:20

-2x18-2:38 not much tho, 10:53 they’re being civil and touchy feely also leads into pretty/unpretty, 21:50 when it pans to Quinn it makes it seem like it would be a Fuinn jealousy scene but she doesn’t look jealous at all just a bit sad i think she possibly is worried about Rachel and while she understands (which is why she’s helping) she wants her to feel beautiful in her own skin sorry if I read a bit too far in lol

-2x20-29:42, 33:12, 35:30 I love how finn last episode said Quinn was so closed off with her feelings and then this scene like maybe she can be herself around Rachel idk

-3x01-10:57 Skank Quinn fully checks Rachel out as she’s leaving in this scene also right after a scene where she said she’s not interested in the boys

-3x05-22:55 talking about finchel tho

-3x08-0:00, 21:54, 37:48

-3x11-14:28,20:00 is also a gay ass look but shes talking to Rachel so I put it here

-3x12-13:09 she only taps Rachel tho

-3x13-15:43 Quinn is acting like the stereotypical ‘gentleman’ and its very Faberry canon esque, to put it the best can

-3x14-34:28 this scene I just can’t the way Quinn lights up when she see her and her voice softens a bit and what she said this is the gayest scene no-one can explain it it a hetero way just ahh

-3x15-10:28 they’re holding hands :DD

-3x19-31:48

-3x22-23:12 those tickets cost so much money I swear they should have been way better friends after high school pft, 40:15 Quinn looks so proud of her girlfriend

Possible scenes, could be just drama-

-1x09-29:27 could be at Rachel

-2x10-12:40 kind of about being sad about Finn but could be jealousy?

-2x16- 34:47 could be about Faberry but is framed as finchel or fuinn

-2x17- 37:28 probably just finchel drama but still Faberry jealousy

-2x18-17:16 they say how they’re ‘fighting about Rachel again’ and Im putting it in idc about finchel :DD

-2x19- 23:19 more about Fuinn like always in this category but Faberry jealousy

-2x22-2:27, 3:29, 8:25 finchel/fuinn/faberry jealousy

Sitting really close when they’re meant to not like each other-

-1x15-34:18

-1x19-32:33

-1x20-19:16 in the scene Quinn kinda checks her out but then they stand really close so I put it here

-2x02 23:24 sits really close to Rachel when she dresses in her Britney Spears costume and in the scene Quinn looks like she’s purposefully trying not to look at her and at 29:20 Quinn chose to sit right behind Rachel again, 39:52 seen sitting right behind her again

-2x10- 35:03 standing really close when it would make a difference if Quinn stood anywhere else (e.g. next to her friends or boyfriend) I just think its weird lol

-2x15- 6:28 (before Quinn starts plotting against Rachel, they’re in celibacy club together but all they do is argue so its still a bit weird)

-3x07- 4:54

I dont know where to put this-

-2x17- 35:10 they kinda just look a bit nervous and small interaction I just wanted to add this because I thought it was cute the way they moved around each other idk

-2x20- 14:46 Rachel knows Quinns eyes so well she knows the flower and colour of the ribbon (also gardenias are for secret love which it would surprise me if Rachel already knew)

-3x04-20:26 Rachel isn’t sitting near her boyfriend or anyone she’s even really friends with its a bit weird that shed be sitting in the corner right next to Quinn away from the other chairs

Songs- Ive probably missed a bunch of these but I tried lmao-

-somebody to love

-halo

-ride with me

-no air

-keep holding on

-bust a move

-proud Mary

-crazy in love

-imagine- there is a gay ass look

-you can’t always get what you want

-dont rain on my parade

-my life would suck without you

-gives u hell

-hello goodbye

-like a prayer

-home(kind of)

-give up the funk

-any way you want it

-faithfully

-dont stop delieving

-Empire State of mind

-ice ice baby

-toxic

-damn it Janet

-time warp

-sweet transvestite

-start me up/living on a prayer

-hot patootie

-forget you

-umbrella/singin in the rain

-I think I wanna marry you

-just the way you are

-ive had the time of my life

-Valerie

-the Dog days are over

-the most wonderful day of the year

-welcome Christmas

-heads will roll/thriller

-fat bottomed girls

-sing

-blame it on the alcohol

-tik tok

-do you wanna touch

-afternoon delight

-get it right

-loser like me

-pretty/unpretty

-born this way

-pure imagination

-New York New York

-Fix you

-last Friday night

-hit me with your best shot/one way or another

-I cant go for that/ you make my dreams

-I kissed a girl

-feed the world

-summer nights

-we found love

-gotta be starting something

-Im sexy and I know it

-stereo hearts (not technicaly but a lot of Faberry so I’m putting it in)

-fly/I believe I can fly

-heres to us

-its not right but its okay

-its all coming back to me now

-paradise by the dashboard light

-we are the champions

-tongue tied

-you get what you give

#faberry #rachel x quinn #quinn x rachel #rachel berry #quinn fabray #glee

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wbqotd · 4 years

Note

What could you do for time or days if people live underground with out a Sun to help with time?

Sorry this one took so long to answer. I hope it’s still relevant to you! My advice is under a cut this time since there was a lot to say.

I think there’s a lot of ways you could take this without breaking readers’ suspension of disbelief.

When it comes down to it people still need to sleep and eat at fairly regular intervals. Whether or not you have hours or minutes to measure time with, you can still conceptualise time though patterns of sleeping and eating. A ‘day’ could simply be the period of time a person is awake for after a long period of deep sleep. A ‘morning’ can still be the period of time between waking and a midday meal. Likewise, an ‘afternoon’ can be the period of time between the midday meal and the last meal of the day. That’s not to say you have to make three meals a day and eight hours of unbroken sleep the norm. You could have people eat four meals a day and have a siesta in the middle of the day or make segmented sleep and two meals a day the norm. As long as there’s some kind of pattern, you can use it to split time into pieces.

There’s been a number of studies involving sticking people in caves/underground bunkers and seeing what it does to their circadian rhythms and perception of time. It’s been a while (nearly ten years) since I studied the subject so take this with a big pinch of salt but if I remember correctly one of the big studies (Mills, 1974) suggested that most people will adopt a sleep/wake cycle of just over just under 25 hours when left in the dark without any way of measuring time. I’m sceptical about how applicable the results of studies involving isolated individuals or small groups who’ve lived above ground for most of their lives and are used to a 24-hour day are to a whole society of people living underground for generations. And I’m sure there are criticisms to be made about the reliability and validity of these studies. But I wanted to mention it because it’s somewhere to start if you want some science to base this on.

Of course, on its own, the sleep/eating patterns thing really only works on an individual level. It’s hard to organise a society if your only concept of time is ‘in the morning’ or ‘after lunch’ because even when everyone in a society has a siesta and three meals a day people aren’t going to be doing everything at the same time every day. Such a society could be fun to explore. I imagine people would have to live in small close-knit communities, where everyone you know lives within walking distance and it’s normal to knock on your neighbour’s door if you need something at any time. It’s hard to organise large scale societies without a standardised way of measuring time - imagine trying to run a business or plan a wedding or use public transport without it. Your culture might also place more empathise on certain events then we do. A baby’s first steps might be more important than reaching a first birthday. Menarche might be the indicator that someone is old enough to drink or get married or enter a legal contract. Perhaps a couple can’t divorce unless they’ve lived in separate dwellings for the length of at least one pregnancy, as opposed to something arbitrary like five years?

If you did want to look into real societies that don’t/didn’t have a calendar/clock system, I’d start by researching the Amondawa people. Again, it’s not a perfect parallel and you’ve got to be very very careful about generalising the ‘findings’ that come (Eurocentric) studies of one group of people to other populations, but it’s something to look into if you’re interested.

Now, to answer your actual question: You’ve got a couple of different ways of measuring time without the sun.

Firstly, you could base your measurements of time on natural phenomena. A ‘new year’ could be indicated by something like plants/fungi blooming or fruiting, the mating season of a particular animal, the migration of an animal that lives underground, or an underground lake filling up.

Here’s an example of how something like this might work: Every spring the sun melts the snow on the surface. Water starts to seep into the ground, slowly at first and then faster as the world above gets warmer. You get lakes and streams and waterfalls in the summer. Until eventually all the snow is gone and the streams begin to dry up and the lakes become more shallow. The new year is marked by the return of the first trickle of water in a particular passageway where some legendary event was rumoured to have taken place aeons ago. Once there’s water spotted in that passage, planting season begins because it’s not long before the lake will be full and that can be used to water all those fungi your population relies on for food.

If you use a natural event to mark a new year it’s unlikely that it’ll match up exactly to one of our years or that the length of a year will be exactly equal every year. It also leaves a lot of room for something to go wrong, which can be fun from a writer’s perspective because it can create problems for your characters or inspire further world-building.

Going back to the above example: Imagine this is your system and a volcano went off and covered the Earth with a cloud of ash. The snow doesn’t melt that year. Those underground lakes and passageways don’t fill up. Planting season never comes or perhaps it’s started too late. There’s famine. People turn on each other. Maybe they have to invade another settlement or abandon everything they know for a better life? Or perhaps they run out of safe drinking water before they run out of food? Diseases caused by drinking unsafe water run rampant and kill off most of your population before starvation is an issue…. Things like this can be a part of your plot, but they can also be a part of your backstory or world’s history. If something like that happened previously in your setting it could have changed your fictional society dramatically. Maybe a particular sort of person was blamed for the disaster and that type of person is still persecuted? Maybe your people became more warlike and had to raid other settlements to survive? Maybe efforts were concentrated on developing better irrigation methods? Maybe someone invented a new way of cleaning water? Maybe religious rituals developed in hopes of preventing it from happening again? There’s a lot of ways you take it, whether it happened in the distant past or living memory.

For measuring smaller units of time you can still use most of the methods we use above ground: water clocks, oil/candle clocks, hourglasses, mechanical clocks, quartz clocks and atomic clocks should all still work. I won’t go into detail about these since this already a long post and it’s easy to find more information about them. But I will say that if you use one of the above types of clocks, the units don’t have to match up to our own. You can create fictional units of time if you want to. But you can also translate those units to existing compatible units of time. I’d personally make the units comparable to our own. E.G. I wouldn’t have a character take a nap, eat a meal and take their pet glow-worm for a walk and then call the time-frame they did it in ‘a minute’ or ‘a month’ (unless some magic was at work) but you could call it an hour even it’s not 3,600 atomic seconds long.

If you get creative, you might even find a way for the above to work for longer periods of time. Imagine a giant hourglass that’s turned seven times a ‘year’ or a ‘week’ to mark which god you should be praying to. Or maybe you’ve got a giant mechanical clock in the centre of the town square that’s been counting down to something and chimes every 42 million heartbeats or so. It’s been there so long that no one can remember it’s original purpose but all those small hands are sure helpful for arranging meetups.

Lastly, you can create periods of time through artificial means. The obvious method would be through artificial lighting but sound could work too or even something like set communal eating times can help you keep everyone on a similar schedule. For example, you could dim a large outdoor light for so many hours a day Or you could cut off power completely encourage people to sleep during those hours. You could even have a large city with limited power light up half the city for 13 or so hours while the other half is in darkness and then redirect the power supply so it’s the other way around for the next 13 hours. It could be a lot of fun writing something set in place where you can walk from day to night at will.

I hope that’s given you something to work with. Good luck with your project!

#acecove #writing advice #not a qotd #mod post #death tw

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