musewrangler

[musewrangler]

“Gather every denton we have!” he ordered. “Brainard, stuff em all in yore kit bag.”

They all obeyed, shuffling and rolling awkwardly to get to the weapons from their prone positions.

Piett cautiously peered over the rock again to be sure of his idea. There was no guarantee this would save them, but it could buy some time.

“Done, sir,” Brainard snapped. They were the same rank, but right now he was deferring to Piett.

“When Ah give tha word, Brianard,” he said, slinging his blaster rifle around awkwardly with one hand, “Ah want ya ta throw it as hard as ya can into tha entrance of tha passage.”

“All right.”

“Why?” Renslo asked tensely, watery blue eyes fixed on the aliens still shooting at them from the ridge over the passage.

“Because Ah want to collapse that area and take ‘em with it,” Piett replied, internally cursing his useless left arm. “Damn it. Ah nade someone else ta take tha shot…”

Dinlay scoffed at him.

“None of the rest of us have a chance in hell of hitting that, Firmus. It has to be you.”

“Ah canna steady the barrel…”

“Oh, kark it, I’ll do that,” Renslo huffed beside him, and surprised Piett by rolling over to hold the rifle steady. “Anytime now.”

Piett sighted down the scope, and gripped the trigger with his right hand.

“Brainard,” he said, breathing out as steadily as possible, “NOW.”

[musewrangler]

writing is so humbling. one day you're like “this paragraph could end war.” next day you're like “was I having a stroke when I wrote this???”

[musewrangler]

Sour pie cherries acquired. Depitting them—-historically not awesome.

On the other hand—-pie

[musewrangler]

20 min airport sketch that came to me in a vision

[musewrangler]

“Certain is Master Ilara?” asked Yoda, watching Plo’s padawan keenly.

“Yes, Master,” Firmus replied, standing straight in the center of them. Plo keenly wished he was here in reality, particularly with this fresh news. But for now, they would have to make do with his blue holo image.

“She said only a Sith could do what has been done in Commander Fox’s mind to keep any of us, including Fox, from knowing who is using him.”

“What do you believe Fox is being forced to do?” asked Mace, steepling his fingers and frowning from where he sat in a camp chair.

Firmus looked unbearably grieved and frustrated.

“There is good evidence that…that Fox has killed beings. He and I have gone over it and…it looks rather certain. But we cannot guess why they were killed.”

Plo could feel his friend’s rage and disgust. All of them had worked closely with the clones for several years now. They were friends who had fought and bled and died right beside them. For a clone to be abused in this way…

And it was very clear that Firmus felt protective over the Coruscant Guard.

“The Sith is covering his tracks,” Plo stated.

“To what end?” Mace asked him.

“The question, that is,” Yoda said gravely. “Young Piett, ideas have you?”

Firmus nodded.

“Actually, yes, Master. Physical evidence was tampered with. Fox says only a limited number of beings could have the clearance to do it. I am going to investigate that list very carefully.”

[musewrangler]

Well this is insanely relevant to what I'm writing this very second. Terrific work.

Blub blub

[musewrangler]

In the midst of writing an important scene for Duel of the Fates, but Ladyhawke soundtrack comes on and the sheer, compelling ROMANCE of that music....!!!!!

My muse is immediately all----we need some Firmus/Sola RIGHT NOW. And I'm all---I'm not anywhere close to writing any of that in this story! TRYING to get to something completely different.

These muses, guys. They'll be the death of me.

But also----Ladyhawke soundtrack. It will kill you dead in all the right ways, good golly.

[musewrangler]

The library of Marienstatt cistercian monastery, Germany.

The library is considerably older than the current library building, constructed 1907-1909. It contains more than 100,000 volumes, of which 21,500 are considered historically important. Since 2017 the library is considered a nationally important cultural heritage.

Photos from the monastery webpage here.

[musewrangler]

[musewrangler]

The way you change your immediate reactions to things is that you catch yourself having an uncharitable/bigoted/overly judgmental thought and you catch it and replace it and then you do that a hundred times a day for your whole life and eventually one day like five years later you realize that you think differently now and you’ll always be working on something but that’s how life goes and that’s fine.

[musewrangler]

do fic readers know that their comments actually influence the course of the story sometimes? i don't mean in a "you need to write it this way because i say so 😡" type of comment, i mean when people are asking questions or really engaging with the plot and the themes in the comments they sometimes bring up things that i didn't even think of, or dig into parts of the story that i've overlooked, or get really interested/fixated on something i was going to just kind of glance over--and it has me going 'oh wait that's actually really interesting, that's a good point' and fully adding or tweaking or changing things about the story going forward. i'm literally adding an entire additional chapter to something right now because someone's comment had me like "oh i didn't dig into that as much as i could have." you have impact!

[musewrangler]

Rise and collapse of a wave. Details of paintings by Michael Zeno Diemer (1867-1939)

[musewrangler]

This right here, is where it’s at

I love 'hero living long enough to become the villain', but oughhhh, 'villain living long enough to become the hero' is life altering. Also not just ending in some goddamn sacrifice. They've gotta legit LIVE with those actions. And holy fuck, if they end up caring for someone they previously traumatized and now have to bear being the thing that haunts their nightmares for years? OH, THE ANGST, TAKE ME NOW!!!

[musewrangler]

I’m delighted to inform you that an American ➡️ British English dictionary exists and was enormously helpful 😂🙌

A translation of British sayings, what non-British people think they mean, and their actual meaning.

[musewrangler]

So the one upside of having my gall bladder out is that I have a whole host of writing descriptions for being shot running through my head. 😂😂😂

Doc said: get up when drugs wear off and walk.

Me (walking like a 90 year old): I have SO much respect for Firmus because this is a tiny FRACTION of what I put him through 🫡

[musewrangler]

[musewrangler]

But at last, the news broke that the Axxilan fleet, with the help of a small force from Jumara, had held off the Black Sun and their forces had retreated. It seemed the fleet—what was left of it—--was returning to Axxila for repair and offloading all the seriously wounded.

Shmi had not heard from Firmus for two weeks, and she checked the spaceport rosters every hour for a list of the ships that had returned.

When she found Firmus’s ship on the roster, Shmi didn’t even have to ask Clio for time.

“Go,” said her friend, eyes kind. “Take whatever time ya nade.”

So Shmi joined a thick crowd of family and friends waiting anxiously at the exit to the spaceport, all craning their necks for a glimpse of those dear to them.

Eventually, people trickled away—some with loved ones—-many more without, and weeping bitterly.

Shmi’s lungs got tighter and tighter as the people around the landing pads cleared.

Please, please, please…

Then—--

There he was.