ramblesamongstardust

[ramblesamongstardust]

Doctor Evil is a campy Saturday morning supervillain and usually defeated by pre-teen heroes. Lesson included. He also once took down an entire alien armada by himself because they were ruining his fight with one of his pre-teen foes

#best response to this prompt!

[ramblesamongstardust]

I must not explain the joke. Explaining the joke is the joke-killer. I will face my followers who did not get the joke. I will permit them to pass over me and through me

#I mean this absolutely unironically: this is a post that can be about writing #explaining the emotions of a character is the emotion-killer #explaining the jokes in the dialogue is the joke-killer #it's sooooooooooo hard not to explain everything #just let the readers who don't get it pass over you and through you

[ramblesamongstardust]

The Corporation is distinctly opposed to calling pilots "angels". They've released several statements recommending that officers silence any such language, saying it "threatens the integrity of the forces", and that HAKs and the pilots who control them are "tools, not deities". But I mean, when you see the way a suit's holoprojectors form a pulsing ring around a pilot's helmet, or when one slumps forwards out of its cockpit to reveal that thick mass of wires creeping from its back, it's impossible not to see the resemblance. And when, like most of the men stationed here, you've found yourself pinned down by heavy artillery fire from two directions with no chance of survival, but out of the heavens a Bishop-class rig emerges and razes the enemy with what can only be described as holy flame? I mean hell, that's enough to make anyone a believer (pardon my language).

I have a buddy who deals with the HAKs directly. He works in biomechanics, combat simtech or whatever. I asked him once what he thought about the whole "angel" thing. He got real quiet, and he looked directly at me and said, "you don't even know the half of it." And I stared right into his eyes and I could see that same heavenly flame burning in there and I knew that he had seen something he couldn't quite understand, but that he loved with all his heart.

[ramblesamongstardust]

Robot art by Mark Zug.

[ramblesamongstardust]

all sentient robots are trans because they

are inherently nonhuman things and have to adapt to a human concept of gender

are assigned genders by their creators/by society

are treated as a parody of whatever gender role they select for themselves

all nonsentient robots are trans because they

just are

[ramblesamongstardust]

Every* Type of Mecha

*Not Actually Every Type.

Something I spent WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time on lol. This is entirely just riffing off of the many 'kinds' or 'tropes' in mecha design I found. Feel free to suggest more of them.

Might make a document providing examples for each one, but idk. I think most of these are pretty self-explanatory.

Tell me your favourites below

[ramblesamongstardust]

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

[ramblesamongstardust]

imagine if doorways grew back like scabbed over with fresh drywall and you had to keep carving them back out with a jabsaw to keep the doorway clear etc

#thinking about the storytelling in this post

[ramblesamongstardust]

Last Contact

“What will you do when we are gone?”

Layla grasped the edge of the marble table. Not actual marble, of course, for it was not of Earth, but stone enough for the cold to settle into her palm. With her other hand she sipped the warm beverage that was provided for her, the flavor something crossed between mango and orange. Voxfruit, a delicacy from the planet below.

“Adjust trade routes. Prohibit looting on your homeworld, but I doubt I can get your colonies the same protection.” She replied, setting the cup back down on the not-marble with a small clink.

“We will appreciate your every effort in those regards.” The being across from her gave a nod. One eye blinked. The other two were as still as glass. Remnant injuries from the war. 

“Is there anything else you wish to request from my species?” She asked. “You’ve been close allies of Humanity for-”

“We need nothing else. The measures you propose have no effect on us, only on our legacy. Worry not too deeply for us, ambassador.”

Her breath hitched. She moved her hand from the cold edge and grasped the warm drink. She pulled it close, but not too close, not close enough to add to the fire in her chest.

“Layla?”

“Nothing. I shall arrange those shortly. If you think we are finished, I can. . .”

The being arranged their face into the expression she had come to intimately know as a smile. A soft one, the way their skin folds trembled. They extended a hand forward across the not-marble.

“My dear, are you frightened for us?”

She could only focus on the way the light reflected off their eyes of glass. Still and quiet, lifeless at first glance. 

“We go where you should not follow, but it does not mean we are suffering. Our ancestors have traveled the way before us. They will guide our bodies into their embrace. We are ready.” 

“Why?” 

“We must.”

“You’ve told me that before.”

“There is no other answer.”

“There has to be.” Her voice cracked. 

She clenched the cup in her hands even tighter. The aroma rose to her, Voxfruit, bright with citrus, a coppery liquid. The scent of it in the air around fields awash in bushes and busy workers to harvest it. A humble fruit stand on the side of the freeway providing a moment of peace to an otherwise hectic diplomatic visit.

“You know we must.”

A drink remembered and a drink shared over many following conversations. Terms negotiated, agreements sealed over the fruity miasma. Holding the other mug was always them, they who remembered it was her favorite, they with the calm demeanor and subtle humor and soft smile. 

They who sat across from her now.

“I don’t want you to go.” She whispered.

“I know.”

“Why can’t you stay?” A childish question, barely audible now.

“You would be the only reason to stay. You all, humanity, were the only reason we stayed this long.” Heavy weights pressed down upon their voice.

“Then don’t go.”

“We must. Take my hand, Layla. Take my hand.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat and set down the drink. Slowly, she extended her hand into theirs. They grasped firmly, a hold so full of energy and a vigor.

“You have enriched me with your presence,” they said. “Every day I am grateful we stayed long enough for me to meet you, but now we must go.”

She looked down and closed her eyes. She took to memorizing every groove in their hand, every wrinkle in their leathery finger pads, every tendon in their grasp. That firm, solid grasp like the first time they ever shook hands with her.

“Then this is goodbye.” She said.

“When you return to your shuttle, departure preparations will begin.”

“Then. . . I suppose I’m holding you up, then.”

They loosened their grasp and withdrew their hand. With their other, they pushed her mug back towards her. “Don’t forget to finish your drink, dear.”

There were only a few sips left before the coppery liquor disappeared, the warmth traveling down her throat and to her stomach, the flavor there and gone again. She set the cup back down. She looked back to them. With their nod of encouragement, she pushed out her chair and stood. 

“Goodbye, Layla. It’s been a pleasure.” 

The door seal behind her and their face faded from her eyes into her memory for the last time.

#rambles #sci fi #science fiction #short story #original fiction #writers on tumblr #writing #alien

[ramblesamongstardust]

free my girl she did all that shit but the fandom is mischaracterizing her for it

[ramblesamongstardust]

Atlantis: The Lost Empire visual development by Jim Martin

#I just adore the visual designs of this movie #this was my childhood favorite movie growing up!!

[ramblesamongstardust]

i love pictures of the international space station which are just completely overexposed because that is just.. unequivocally an angel.

#fantastic post right here

[ramblesamongstardust]

Everybody needs a little robot guy they're a little obsessed with. Good for the soul. Especially if you're a lesbian. Find a robot- fictional, real, whatever, and get a lil weird with it.

[ramblesamongstardust]

something about a horror beyond your comprehension, except they're surprisingly friendly and gentle with you >>>

the creature underneath your bed or in your closet, coming out to ask you if you're ok after a nightmare, and even possibly comfort you until you're ready to go back to sleep.

the thing in the woods at night cornering you at a dead end, you shitting yourself thinking this is it, only for it to bend down and ask - in somewhat broken & awkward english - if you're lost or need help.

whatever you imagine behind you in the shower while you're washing your face, actually washing your back for you.

imagine your sleep paralysis demon getting along with your pets.

[ramblesamongstardust]

Interspecies kissing my beloved. Species that show affection through biting, species that literally don't have mouths so they just ram their forehead into yours like a touchstarved cat.

Species with specially produced venom that makes giving kisses a bit difficult, but a human s/o can kiss them like there's no tomorrow, and they very much would appreciate if you did.

Species that don't do the snuggly bits of a relationship, but they make sure to taptaptap you on the shoulder at least once a day as a reminder of their affection.

Just any kind of alien or monster that looks at humans kissing and decides they want in somehow.

#FANTASTIC post #this also applies to robot characters I swear to god #if I see anyone giving aliens/robots human faces because 'how else will they kiss?' I'm going to throw something

[ramblesamongstardust]

Not enough alien x human romances with bioluminescence imo. Alien trying SO casually to keep their lights to themselves, but every time you pass by they get so overwhelmed with the need to dazzle you. As enamored as you are with the pretty lightshow they are just as much obsessed with your reaction, trying to gauge your strange human expressions for reciprocation. Not that you don't compliment them outright, but all they can do when you try is glow a different color. PLEASE show them human fireworks, or decorate your room with fairy lights, even if you didn't mean it a declaration of romance they're flashing every color of every rainbow because omg you shared your light with them even though your body isn't capable of doing it in the same way! You have an alien partner now, I don't make the rules.

[ramblesamongstardust]

dostoyevsky kinda ate with “your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.”