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annymation · 6 months

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Okay, now I wanna know how the calming from nightmares would play out between Aster and Asha…which means I’m giving you full permission to write this type of angst.😅 Maybe the two of the have a nightmare about those AU endings you gave each of them (Asha is cursed and Aster is a black hole). If it means I see a wholesome interaction of either of them calming each other from a nightmare, it’ll be worth the angst.

OOOOH-HOO HA HA HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh Emptyblog7 my poor, naive, little friend! You have no idea of what you just unleashed!

Thanks to you, I can now explore the deep machinations of my characters psyche, their deepest and untold fears are revealed in poetic ways, and best of all, I get to make my favorite blorbo suffer YIPPIEEEEEEE!!!

So anyway, Asha got a nightmare in chapter 8 of Kingdom Of Wishes (In the updated version) so I guess it's Aster's turn.

"All you'll have to do is give her a true love's kiss" Explained Acrux, the south star of the southern cross constellation. The elder star spoke calmly with a wise and serene smile "If your feelings are indeed true love, then... You shall become a human"

He finished that sentence with his voice sounding slightly quavery, almost as if he was trying to hide from Aster a sense of dread he was feeling.

Aster, however, didn't notice the uneasiness in his voice at all. The young star was beaming with the news that the stars would actually grant his wish. He couldn't stop smiling, frantically moving his arms up and down with an unbound energy.

Aster celebrated in front of all the stars that surrounded them "WOOOAAAAH!!! LETS GOOO-" But he stopped himself, realizing it was best to show maturity in front of the ancient star "I mean- ahem- Thank you, for giving me this chance" The little star bowed down his head to Acrux, to which the brighter star just smiles amusedly.

Another star that was among the many others gathered around them spoke up "We couldn't, in good conscience, let you go without asking one thing first" The star that walked forward was Meissa, more specifically, she's the head of Orion "Do you truly understand what your wish entails?"

"Ummm sure I do, it means I get to spend the rest of my life with the one I love" Aster replied with his eyes sparkling brighter than the sun.

And speaking of which "Indeed, the rest of your life..." The sun from the earth's solar system herself spoke "A life that, for us, will be nothing but a passing moment... We'll view your life the same way humans view the life of a butterfly. Freeing and beautiful, sure, but also short and fragile." She explained with a smile that carried some worry behind him

Aster understood what the other stars were worried about, that he'd regret this choice, that something bad would happen to him, he smiled and tried to reassure them "I know, and I've already accepted that. As long as I have Asha by my side I have nothing to fear"

...

A voice echoed from the crowd of stars "Well then, I guess we're asking the wrong question. Aren't we?" Just from their tone, it was noticeable how they were smiling while speaking.

Aster was caught off guard by the voice. Deep down, they knew that this whole thing felt quite "Deja Vu"... Almost like a memory he was re-living... But that felt different, he didn't remember this part.

Aster turns towards where the voice came from, he doesn't know which of the stars spoke "And uh- what would the "right question" be? Heh heh" Aster asked, feeling anxious all of the sudden, not sure why.

The stars that were gathered around moved to the side, almost like a door sliding open to reveal who had spoken... Aster's breath hitched.

All he saw was two eyes. Two tiny, shiny, yellow eyes. On a dark silhouette.

Aster couldn't quite make out who or what the silhouette looked like. But he knew one thing... That's NOT how stars present themselves when taking a physical form... This is something else.

Aster floats backwards slightly, his eyes darting around to the other stars, he looks at them distressed as if to ask "Are you all seeing that?"

But they seem unnerved by the newcomer... They actually have no reaction at all.

The shadowy figure then says "The question isn't if you're prepared to die eventually, of coooourse you are." There's nothing to be seen on their face besides their eyes, however, Aster can practically HEAR their huge smile as they speak. The silhouette takes a few steps forward as they ask their first question "What you really should ask yourself is...

Are you ready to lose her?"

Aster felt a chill run down his spine... Which was odd, stars can't feel cold. He tried to open his mouth to speak but-

"Are you ready to be even MORE helpless than you already were?"

His voice didn't come out, it was as if something was holding his lungs. Aster turned to Acrux but-

"Are you ready to be useless for her, again?..."

Acrux wasn't there, he vanished. Aster quickly looks around, and to his horror... The stars are gone.

Aster is shaking, all he sees around him is darkness. There's nothing, there's no one. Just him, and this thing getting closer and closer.

The figure suddenly get's close really fast, floating right above him "Tell me, do you really think you can protect her?" He sneered, it felt more like a mockery than a question "Even though you can't even protect yourself?"

Aster was frozen in place, staring at those bright eyes looming above him.

Suddenly, he feels himself getting smaller, but not because he was shrinking. Looking down, Aster sees he's being sucked into a hole that opened beneath his feet.

They try to scream, but no sound came out.

And even if it did, no one would hear.

It's just the two of them, in the dark emptiness of space.

Aster feels as if they're being swallowed by quicksand, as his feet sink down slowly, down and down into the hole of emptiness.

"Heh heh it's like they said, you're just as fragile as a bug now" the shadow couldn't hold in a lowly chuckle as floated in circles above Aster, watching the other sinking down slowly in amusement "Ah but then again, that's nothing new to you, is it?" those glowing yellow eyes pierced through Aster's soul "Even when you had magic, you were weak. Now? Now you're NOTHING!" The shadow's hand SLAMS with all force on Aster's face, now pushing him down, making him sink faster and faster. "So, when something WORSE than Magnifico shows up, what will you do? Hmmm?" Aster tried to pull and punch the hand out of his face, but it wouldn't budge, it was like the arm was made of concrete. He was powerless to stop this "That's right, NOTHING!" The hand pushed Aster down harshly, he could feel his whole lower half was being pressured from all sides, like he was being buried alive.

From between the dark fingers, Aster could open his eyes to look at the silhouette face to face...

He wasn't a silhouette anymore.

Aster could see their face... It was his own face.

It was like looking in a mirror, albeit, a mirror with a very sinister smile.

"But hey! That's what you wished for, right?" they kept pushing Aster down, his chest was completely swallowed by the hole. The shadow grinned as he rambled almost playfully "To live unsure of what the future has in store, not knowing what other threats you'll be hopeless to stop next, wow, exciting stuff, huh?! Everyday a brand new failure!" Aster once again tried to scream, but his voice wasn't coming out no matter how hard he tried. They were buried now up to the neck. His shadow stopped smiling, now with a cold expression, he said one last thing before pushing Aster into the abyss "So don't cry about it when things get tough, you asked for it."

With one last push... Aster fell in.

And he kept falling. Down.

Down and down.

Free falling.

Down.

Until.

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" Aster woke up in cold sweat.

The boy was breathing as if his heart was trying to jump out of his chest, his eyes darting around the room, blinking rapidly, trying to adjust to the darkness. The room was barely lit thanks to the light of the full moon coming from the window, but slowly, things started coming into focus.

Aster tried to calm himself, hugging his pillow as he looked around to ground himself back into reality. None of that was real, he was fine, he was in his room, with just a closet, a few books scattered on the floor, and a face staring at him.

"GAAH-" Aster let out another yell, realizing that the face staring at him was his own... Because there was a mirror on the other side of the room.

He let out a sigh, of both relief and frustration, he literally just got scared of his reflection, how pathetic is that?

They stared back into the mirror for a few moments. Seeing his now curly brown hair and freckled cheeks... He could also see how much he was shaking, even though it wasn't cold.

They breathed deeply a few more time, as everything from that dream started to sink in, and not only that, but everything else that has been happening since Aster became human.

All the times he got hurt by accidentally forgetting he couldn't fly anymore and Asha got really worried about him.

All the times they passed by the royals statues and Aster had in the back of his mind the lingering fear that maybe the spell wasn't permanent.

All the times he wanted to express how this is all so new and overwhelming, to the point he sometimes didn't want to hang out with Asha and the others, sometimes, he just wanted to be left alone.

But he can't say that, right? Their time together is short, he has to enjoy every day like it's his last, that's what being human is all about... Right? And... That's what he wished for...

Aster didn't even notice he was crying til he felt a knot stuck in his throat. Tears were running down his freckled cheeks as he still kept staring in the mirror.

*knock knock*

"AAH!" Aster screams for the third time in a row once he hears someone knocking on the door.

"Aster, are you okay? I heard you yelling" Asha's voice came worriedly from the other side of the door "May I come in?"

Aster quickly dried his own tears with his pillow "Oh he-hey Asha! Ye-yeah sure, I'm fine, just uh- I fell from the bed" he lied, trying to disguise how hoarse his voice sounded

Asha opened the door, wearing a simple orange night gown and holding a candle "Did you hurt yourself? That was a pretty loud scream"

She wasn't actually buying this "Fell from the bed" talk, she knew by now Aster sometimes had the bad habit of keeping any negative feelings to himself. They still had to work through that.

Aster chuckled awkwardly "Heheh oops, I should probably apologize to Dahlia, her parents and the neighbors tomorrow, shouldn't I?" he tried to lighten the situation, but the shakiness in his voice gave it away that he wasn't feeling well

Asha set next to him on the bed and placed the candle on the night stand "Aster, you know you can tell me anything... I want to help." She held his hand, soothingly caressing it with her thumb. With his other hand Aster dried another tear that threatened to fall from the corner of his eye. Asha gently held his other hand as she said "You can cry if you need to"

And that was enough to make Aster break into tears.

The two of them hugged, as Asha caressed his back gently and whispered words of reassurance, his sobbing slowly subsided into small hiccups, and later to just some spaced out shaky breaths.

Soon, Aster was able to take deep breaths and calm himself, although he had calmed down, the two remained in the embrace, like neither of them wanted to let go.

"... I'm afraid of the unknown." Aster admitted in a sigh "Of not knowing what'll happen with us in the future... What if something worse than the royals comes and I- I can't keep you safe..." Aster's voice started shaking again.

Asha held him closer "I'm afraid too... Everyone's afraid of not knowing what'll happen next, that's part of life" she explained, feeling her own heart ache, as she indeed understood what Aster meant, or at least part of it "But we promised we'd protect each other, remember? That means I'm here for you too" She let go of the hug to look at him in the eyes with a smile "So don't put so much pressure on yourself, okay? We're in this together"

Aster's tears still glistened with the moonlight coming from the window, but he had a bittersweet smile.

"Thank you..." Aster pondered for a moment, and then asked "Is it okay if we cancel those plans we had for tomorrow and just... Stay home? Maybe just talking?... I think I want take the day to relax" He wasn't sure if it was selfish of him to ask that

"Of course we can." Asha replied warmly "That's actually a great idea, to be honest, we've been showing you so much human things everyday it probably got you kinda stressed, huh?"

Aster hugged her once again, she didn't know how much that meant to him.

"Thank you for understanding... I love you, Asha."

Asha hugged him back with a smile "I love you too, Aster"

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dang that was a lot. I had to do some research about dream symbolism, look up the meanings of "Not being able to scream in a dream" and "Sinking in quick sand in a dream" and also "Free falling in a dream" for more insight.

Basically what I wanted to explore was both Aster's fear of not being strong enough to protect Asha, a fear that carried over since their star boy days to his human days, and also the guilt that comes from not feeling 100% happy after getting something you wanted all your life. Aster wished to be human for so long, so he feel like he doesn't have the right to feel sad, otherwise they're being ungrateful, when of course there's nothing wrong with not being happy all the time, that's something Aster still gotta work through.

In conclusion, Aster needs some therapy, luckily Asha is the next closest thing.

Tagging yall cause I've been teasing this angst for days now lol @gracebeth3604 @uva124 @emillyverse @oh-shtars @signed-sapphire @kstarsarts

#wish rewrite #wish reimagined #kingdom of wishes #ask

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p-loq · 2 years

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The first hurdle: file sharing

I would not have thought this to be such a hassle. On *ppl*, there's a thing that allows you to share a file, or a link, with another device nearby. The connection – to the best of my knowledge – is local, and when it works* it's pretty fast and convenient. *It does not always work. Sometimes it refuses to see the other device, and sometimes it hangs halfway through the handshake, either before or after the transfer. But it ends up working more often than not, and so it has become a missable convenience. Besides, when setting up a new device, transferring files around is kind of required practice.

So how do we fare on Android? Why hello anarchy, old friend, how have you been? It's the wild, wild west.

G**gl* offers an alternative, but it is very much dependent on their spyware services, and of course does not offer cross-platform compatibility. Other major vendors roll their own alternatives, which can exists alongside G**gl*'s own, but offer even more limited interoperability: only among their brand. Understandably, who would want to maintain their own software on other people's products?!

But in that respect they're all as bad as *ppl*'s offering, in that they do not play nice with the other kids on the playground. This kind of "segregation" is one of the nasty tactics employed by vendors to "lock in" the user base: they kind of take you hostage. You get the shiny device X from brand Y, and then a friend gets it too, and ooooh: now you can use all these cool features among each other, but if either of you decides to switch to a different brand, all the Y-branded stuff will be gone, including said cool features like the simple act of sharing data. And this in the 21st century, the age of the internet.

Unsurprisingly, I am looking at breaking free from all this nonsense, and thus I am looking for something that will work across as many platforms as possible. This is where anarchy bites. While there is no draconic overlord to dictate "the only way" (see *ppl*), there is also no cohesion or unity of effort. Just because everyone can roll their own approach, does not necessarily mean they should. Mind you: I'm not advocating against the diversity here. Different approaches can suit different people, and some healthy competition can keep people on their toes. Heck, in an ideal world, someone implementing a cool new feature might spark a whole slew of similar updates among comparable projects, spreading the new feature around.

But we don't live in an ideal world, and as per usual, capitalism is here to wreck the show. Under the guise of their "walled gardens", the tech wanna-be-monopolies try to leash their users to their platforms, and so the concept of interoperability becomes synonymous to heresy. So we have dozens of approaches, each different at the very least in name (i.e. branding), and none actually worth more than the cross-section between their user base and an individual's needs. And sadly, right now, my needs cross the boundaries of plenty of platforms, dramatically shrinking the number of viable candidates.

At present, I found one that kind-of works: KDE Connect. The apps for Android and the other mobile platform work pretty much out of the box, the laptop took a little more work. I tried a build from the official website, and it would not allow me to configure anything, complaining about a missing plugin.

Some digging around led me to instructions on how to build from source, and after a lot of compiling, the process failed: some library was built for x86 platform, while I was compiling on ARM. So I trashed the whole folder and tried again: let’s just build an x86 version and rely on the compatibility layers currently in place. Surely by the time those get deprecated, we’ll get a native version.

Well, no luck there, either, because the whole convoluted (and a bit opaque) compilation setup failed off the bat, being unable to cross-compile.

Back to almost square one, I resorted to look for other sources of a built binary, and found someone linking to a github repository dating back a few years, but lo and behold: it worked! The user interface is atrocious, but it would appear to integrate well with the OS. Of course, this is all very early days. We shall see how far we get with this option, or whether we will need to keep looking.

You’d just think this kind of problem had been solved by now, but I guess it just goes to show how little the greater good can compete with corporate greed.

#stabbing at windmills #reasons to hate corporate greed we didn't need

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tripstaysnoided · 4 years

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Flow Just Like Water

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Story and writing-related transparency update and my many shames...

The Question on Everyone’s Mind

“Hey you haven’t updated No Stars over Uptown in almost a year...”

Hmm, I hate it when you’re right. (This section has been rewritten ad-nauseam to curb back the bitchiness by the way)

So back in early/mid 2018, the idea was to divorce Uptown from a person who influenced it (and myself) heavily. She was my most important audience member, the closest friend I ever had, and unfortunately someone who used her power to bully, ostracize, and hurt others with my help. I cut contact when the hurt + some self-awareness finally reached me. Apologies were made and I feel like my work will never be done with it, but there was still Uptown.

Between censored comments, entirely recasting Axel’s save, different plot threads, and a load of disclaimers, there was nothing that would scrub her influence from the story. There was no way to cleanly drop everything because of how deep her influence went. It disgusted me to look back at it, and I had to private the blog because I feared what it endorsed, even if just in the past.

I pulled back from that sims writing community. I had its main thread on the Official Forums removed too (I guess if that was a mystery to anyone). It was a surrender that I never wanted to do, but I had it in my mind that if I was gone, then she wouldn’t be there either. Uptown became this cursed item, and as I quietly retired it, I noticed that she went quieter too. Not gone, but enough to make me sleep easier at night and even occasionally say hello to old friends.

And I hope deep in my heart that no one else is getting hurt in my place, but now this is gonna haunt me all day huh!

The two paths forward...

1) Complete Uptown rewrite that I’ve been threatening everyone with all year. While it won’t ever be clean because I can’t undo time, I do have a sound outline for a story that is much more true to my actual vision and how I’ve evolved, with a few necessary boundaries in place that are going to be there for all stories moving forward: no more casting calls and no more collaborative efforts. I am not going to open myself up to this happening again, even if the people have changed.

2) Same as above, but I continue the original Uptown as a favor to loyal readers alongside the rewrite. I would try to put the effort into it that I initially did, but with no promises on an update schedule and no advertising. I did ask myself “is there Patreon but without pledging money, just the private posts function” but it could operate as part of a private forum, a members-only part of a website, etc.

Also readers of the original would be beholden to a rule of “don’t spoil the rewrite for new readers, c’mon guys”. I mean, not really, but it is a good courtesy to extend to people.

Priority on this isn’t high but you at least will see what is!

I will probably make the blog public again either way due to the many broken links on my Tumblr but we’ll see. There are other things to deal with as I shall list!

Where Life’s Been Regardless

Been spending more time with my grandpa every weekend. Life’s pretty good and he’s warming up to my dogs.

Shiny New Webbed Site

Cucumber Fields Forever is a site I own now. We have a full domain, cucumberfieldsforever.com, a blog with one post, and the framework needed to host stories the way I want to and still through WordPress. The functionality of likes, comments, and following should still be the same but you know...I’ll take feedback too...

The main blog still has an undefined purpose though I do have drafts sitting around about:

The maybe/maybe not hoax band that was on the Metal Archives and the history of Funeral Doom Metal.

The curious case of when Sims 4 babies get their genetics and my only collaboration (read: was talking about it with a friend and might quote her if needed, it’s actually a bit of a doozy)

Amazon.com’s fake dried udon noodles, an actual issue by the way.

Things I’m reading! (This’d be a monthly feature if so)

For the sake of unity, I am thinking of solutions for hosting old and shameful content there including Uptown and for the real fans in my followers feed, Eight Cicadas...a world I totally have plans for too (not really). I don’t want them to be front-and-center, and that’s why I mentioned forums/members-only content. I finally have that power! Maybe.

Ooooh but what are the costs? Not too much to handle, that’s what. 😉 (Like really, I don’t need any hand-wringing about this, I can manage my finances)

Project Queue (In Order of Confirmedness)

Outrun the Scythe: have you seen me post out-of-context Sims 3 pictures? Did you want more? Did you hope it was Linda in Custody? If the answers are yes, yes, and “meh, whatever you want”, then you’re in luck.

Outrun the Scythe is a Sims 3-based tale of a young gay man and his zombie grandma, as they are both offered separate roles of being the undying intermediaries between the world of humans and the influence of a race of space daemons. It’s pretty familiar if you’ve been following me pre-Uptown, taking some cues from stories I’ve kept under lock and key like Eight Cicadas, The Chains of Lyra, and the not-so-locked-up Ironstar Immortals (of which Outrun is just the direct sequel to sans any retconning...ah the smell of early 2013 and performative heterosexuality)

Ah, back to my roots.

It’s a hybrid of gameplay, story, and lore about my little race of daemons with a lot of my own idiosyncrasies that I’m not really ashamed of: basing it off a super-polarizing Sims 3 challenge from a site I moderate, using a lot of EA’s pre-made townies and their genes, lots of unnecessary posemaking, stupid references. It’s a comfort to have in my roster.

While the first few chapters are in the middle of revision, I have around six in the queue and will be making this public when I have ten. I’m guessing December then?

Undocumented Black Widow Challenge: I just did this for fun/forum kudos (yes, in fact I have joined many forums), there was going to be a short story but it was quickly becoming something against my code of ethics. I mean, sims die and all. (read: I had to choose between “heterosexual widow” and “widow with some same-sex marriages that still end in tragedy, reinforcing negative stereotypes to the public for the sake of me not getting bored and detached during gameplay” so there were no good choices. Except for her affair with the mailwoman, 10/10) I hope to finish this before October ends and get my medal on Boolprop, I’m pretty far through it all. I might upload the sims involved anyways. This is for TS4.

I mentioned it because it’s keeping me busy. But not for long!

NaNoWriMo 2020: Dipping my toes into that again! It’s not sims-related, just a tale of lesbians, nosy neighbors, a haunted beach house, and some light murder and kidnapping. And I actually got my brother to scout out locations for me this weekend. If there’s any demand, I can share chapters as the rough drafts are finished, especially for the sake of proofreading.

Not saying I’m publishable, but wouldn’t it be nice? Will keep me occupied for much of November.

Untitled “Dear Diary” Challenge: Tired of feeling left out of the fun on the Boolprop forums, their “Dear Diary” challenge was the one that appealed to me the most on first glance. Why? Probably once I found an idea that let it be set in the early/mid-2000′s to begin with and explore some interesting characters through diary entries (which I have mixed feelings on as a literary device but I think that’s just me saying “well I didn’t like Dracula”, yes you get bonus points for writing it like a diary)

Also writing is the one skill I’m good at across multiple games. Wanna hear me bitch about the cooking skill tree in TS4 or riding in TS3? I’ll spare you.

I guess I could have included “spending time on Boolprop with old and new friends” in where my life has been. It’s a nice lil community if also a place with its own idiosyncrasies as well. So it doesn’t feel like I’m promoting another community if/when I make a thread there for Outrun the Scythe, I want to have a couple chapters of this ready to go by Outrun’s release, though it’s not gonna be the highest priority compared to it nor as long because I think I can blast through the gameplay quickly.

This one will be played in TS4 due to it having the easiest writing skill/I dunno variety is the spice of life. And hopefully another December release.

Defunded or Forgotten?: Oh shit I actually released stuff in 2020 and told no one? I do have a “mortifying ordeal of being known” sinking feeling whenever I get a site hit because it’s not my best work (but good enough) and veered sharply into issues I may be over my head in, though I try to be a good noodle with research and listening. Maybe hiding is bad after all.

Being based off a very flawed and incomplete Sims 3 challenge I found in the annals of the Official Forums, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work just making sense of things. And I’m scared of working on reconstructing the house but I haven’t abandoned the project yet. The story has eight chapters so far and is pretty game-based with some additions here and there. Scared of how long it could be though!

Date for this unknown.

Untitled Sunlit Tides Decadynasty: another year-long abandoned TS3 project with a much stupider reason why. Last update was about Hua getting ready for her wedding, and I wanted to do some poses for a bait-and-switch wedding chapter because to put it mildly, her real one was an absolute disaster.

Blender decided to fuck up its interface again, I got discouraged (this probably does account for some of the Uptown delays too), and when I decided to plow forward, it was for other projects instead.

Meanwhile I played all the way to Gen 5′s teenhood and the only thing stopping me is time (it takes almost 30 minutes to load the file right now, though they’ll be looking at moving towns in a couple gens) and maybe fear of the Logic skill.

Date for this also unknown but it’s easy to pump out updates once I’m in the groove for it. My third heir had a difficult life so maybe I’m just trying to bury it.

Also I just noticed the view count there was really good and probably because I linked it here on Tumblr last year. Thank you so much guys. I can’t really fret over views on Carl’s forum these days thanks to the years-long death spiral pretty much every forum anywhere has been riding on. But it’s a nice surprise. And it’s an alright little challenge recap to read during your lunch break or whatever.

The Wawas

I figured I’d end on the real news everyone wants! Both the chihuahuas are a year and a half now and reached their adult size around a year ago. For the most part, they are happy and healthy dogs.

#state of the uwunion #long post

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timep3tals · 5 years

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Ooooh if you're doing drabbles, something from i swear i'll come back to you universe where we have a very overprotective and stressed tony and peter just trying to drive properly that somehow results to a minor accident?

this ask makes me so happy ;-; im so glad you’re enjoying i swear, i’ll come back to you, enough to ask for a piece of that universe!!! i hope i do it justice

also, a link to the full story (which I will update hopefully in the next two weeks or so!): i swear, i’ll come back to you

—-

Two weeks have passed since Peter’s unexpected, non-zombified return to the land of the living. In those two weeks, Peter hadn’t seen anything beyond the same old compound walls. Tony decided the best course of action (without consulting Peter, mind you, who’s the one who came back from the dead in the first place) was to lock him up at Avengers Compound, send all the workers on their unexpected but very well deserved paid vacation time, and settle down for constant Badger Peter Until His Ears Bleed time.

Bafflingly, May agreed with Tony.

Everyday she made the hour or so long trip from New York City to upstate. May wouldn’t even consider taking him back to New York until his quote-unquote “issue” had been “resolved”. Peter was of the opinion that his issue (being dead, that is) had already been resolved, and he would very much like to get back to his life, please and thank you.

Unfortunately, they still hadn’t figured out why or how he’s back, so… yippee, hooray, he’s a walking, talking mystery. Doctor Strange visited fairly often, Christine in tow, to poke and prod at Peter with shiny needles and sparkly magic. Peter couldn’t really tell you what they were looking for — he was alive. It’s not as if death could linger on him.

At the very least, Tony tried to keep Peter entertained. If left to his own devices, Peter would likely sneak out as Spider-Man (or at this point, even plain ol’ Peter would suffice), so he figured it was probably for the best Tony insisted on spending as much time as humanly possible together doing everything the genius could concoct, all the while under the compound’s watchful eye. Or FRIDAY’s watchful eye. One in the same, really.

One of those activities was finally making good on the promise of teaching Peter how to drive. Really, he was more terrified than excited anymore.

Especially because he was currently behind the wheel and Tony was bossing him around from the passenger seat.

God help them all.

“Peter, Peter,” Tony said. His hand was tight on Peter’s arm as he steadily drove the car around the compound. He’d been panicking for most of the ride, and yeah, sure, Peter gets it. New driver and all, but the new driver already had anxiety and he didn’t need Tony Stark adding to his hysterics. “Slow down.”

“I really can’t go much slower than this,” Peter complained. “I’m at fifteen miles an—”

“Fifteen?” Tony clasped a hand to his chest, and Peter might’ve cried had he not been able to hear Tony’s steady, albeit quick, heart beat thundering in his chest. “My god, kid, are you trying to kill us?”

“What? No!” Peter groaned. He gripped the steering wheel even tighter than before. The plastic began to warp under his brutal grip. “This is slow, are you serious? You drive around at like, a hundred plus all the time.”

“I’ve also had years of experience,” Tony pointed out. He eyed the nearest pole, some twenty feet away, with fear and disdain. “Thirty-seven, to be exact. I can speed if I damn well want to, but you’ve never driven anywhere before in your life.”

Peter bit back the automatic retort of, Because I died. Otherwise he would have well over a year of experience, but he didn’t think Tony would take well to a reminder. So he bit his tongue, despite the overwhelming urge to scream and fight.

“I’m driving around a building,” he said instead.

Irritated at both Tony and his own inability at driving still, Peter pressed down on the gas pedal a little harder. The speedometer inched higher until he was hovering around twenty-five. Tony’s heart rate jumped up in time with their speed, and he reached over to grab onto the wheel.

“Peter, stop!” he said urgently. “Let me take the wheel.”

“Will you quit?” Peter snapped back. “I can handle twenty five miles an hour!”

Tony looked between Peter and the outside world as the car jerked and swerved under their mutual grip. “Stop the car!”

“No, get off!”

“Peter, the tree!”

The car jerked as the front end slammed into the tree. The airbags didn’t deploy, but Peter felt momentarily choked by his seatbelt before he rocked back into the driver’s seat, stunned. Tony scrambled to unbuckle himself, sitting up and leaning over as he began to check over Peter.

“Are you okay, kid?” he asked. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me—”

Peter knocked Tony’s hands away, sick of his constant fussing. Tony sat back in his seat, startled at the sudden show of force.

“Knock it off, Tony!” he shouted. “You’re driving me crazy, and I can’t take the constant nag, nag, nag. I know what happened, I know how much time has past but you have got to let me breathe! I’m just as scared as you are but you’re going to suffocate me before anything else kills me! I don’t want to die either, you know! I’m constantly afraid to vanish again but never know it because there was nothing while I was dead! Nothing but emptiness — a void I-I know is there, but it’s just nothing! So please, stop trying to smother me and let me live again!”

By the end of his rant, Peter was heaving for air. Tony’s brows nearly touched his hairline, staring at Peter as if truly seeing him for the first time in two weeks. Frustrated, Peter jerked his head to look out the driver’s side window and wrapped his arms around himself.

A hand brushed through his hair. Peter didn’t fight it.

“Hey, kid,” Tony said, quiet. “I’m sorry. I forgot this is all just as difficult for you as it is for me. I’m not trying to suffocate you, I…”

Tony took a deep breath, sounding as though about to cry. Peter turned his head back to his mentor, heart aching.

“I already know what it’s like to lose you, kid. I never, ever want to experience that kind of pain again. Losing you took away everything I thought was good in this world. All I want to do is protect you.”

“I know, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, “but you gotta let me be my own person again. I love you, I do, I love you so much, but I can’t live wrapped in bubble wrap.”

“And you shouldn’t have to.” Tony studied Peter’s face before opening his arms. Peter unbuckled and eagerly dipped into the hug. No matter how angry he was, he’d never refuse a hug from Tony. Especially not when every hug now came with guaranteed hair-playing. “I’ll try to back off. No promises, but… I’ll give you some space. Some, Peter. You’re still going to have me hovering over you as often as I can, but it’s because I love you.”

Peter’s eyes burned. Tony had never said I love you out loud before.

“I love you, too.”

“I know.” Tony scratched his fingers along his scalp, and Peter shived with the pleasant sensations. “You’re a great kid. The best.” He patted Peter’s shoulder, and when he spoke again, he sounded like he was smiling. “Now, you wanna send a text to those nerd friends of yours and see if they want to come up for movie night? No hovering, I promise.”

Peter pulled back. “Really?”

Tony nodded. “Sure, kid. Besides, someone has to fix up this car now.”

Oh, yeah. Yikes. Peter grimaced. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Tony reassured him. “Now get out of the driver’s seat. I’m driving us back to the garage.”

Absolutely beaming, Peter eagerly jumped out of the car and let Tony take the driver’s seat. Movie night with MJ and Ned was only the start, but Peter felt as if it was the first step to getting the life he’d known before back. And he couldn’t wait.

Tag List: @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars @riseuplikeglitterandgold @just-the-daydreamer @roaringgay @serendipity–goddess @tony-wheres-my-supersuit @baloobird @spider-beep @swagfictonreadingnerd @tcny-stcrks (If you want to be added or removed, just let me know!)

#i swear i'll come back to you #my writing #drabble #tony stark #iron man #peter parker #spiderman #marvel #mcu #tony stark and peter parker #tony stark & peter parker #spiderson #spider son #iron dad #iron dad and spider son #iron dad spider son

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 5 years

Text

Paper Mouth, Opera Game, Beautiful Place | Writing Update

Hey People of Earth!

This is December 5th Rachel here to tell you this has been sitting in my drafts since the prehistoric era and we boutta update on three chapters of Moth Work *cracks knuckles*.

First, let’s start with chapter seven of the book, AKA Paper Mouth.

I wrote Paper Mouth back in August, and while I drafted it (over a few writing sprints), I was happy with it, but eventually realized I actually... didn’t like her, lol. Though objectively this chapter ain’t my fave, it does establish a very! important! thing! And that’s my shiny new gal, Eliza.

So, if anyone remembers from previous updates, I conceptualized most of MOTH WORK back in January when I was *stressed* at the end of a semester and needed a *break*. During this period of brainstorming where the whole photograph plot formed, I characterized a woman (the woman in the picture) who I knew would be central to the book. I knew I wanted to name her Eliza, I knew what she looked like, and had a loose backstory outlined for her, buuuuut… I started drifting from the photograph plot (it was only meant to be a booster) and without the photograph plot, I didn't have a reason to include her. So I thought I’d actually cut her involvement in the book way down from about 30-50% to 2%.

This changed however, when I added Lonan’s POV to the book (what I’m writing at the moment). Because I was in his head, I quickly realized how important finding this woman (someone who had a previous affair with his father [TEA]) would be to him.

This is how we end up at Paper Mouth!

The chapter is almost a direct continuation of the last, and starts out as follows:

Scene A:

Lonan makes a phone call to Eliza from a phone booth. They’ve never met, she like new phone who dis, but after an off-screen explanation, we jump into scene two.

Scene B:

This scene covers the two meeting for the first time outside of a diner. Lonan got dat brooding hoodie energy, and Eliza has tattoo-artist but also your mom friend energy, and we love the dynamic already! From here, she offers to buy Lonan a milkshake as an incentive to speak with him. Me too sis, me too.

Scene C:

They chat, until Lonan moves the conversation to his father. Things go downhill lol, Lonan gets overwhelmed and heads outside to leave, despite having no way home, but is followed by Eliza. They have a convo that gets heated about his father, tho this sort of veers off abruptly my bad.

I honestly don’t love anything enough to share from this chapter, so let’s move on to the next!

EDIT: y’all this is the second edit I’ve made in this post because guess who forgot chapter 8 existed.

Opera Game took me so long to write, I forgot it existed! I either started it at the end of August, or the beginning of September--it took so long I’m pretty sure I only finished it in November, lol.

Scene A:

We get more Lonan + Eliza time as Eliza pulls a Fostered book three and stitches up Lonan’s busted face

This goes wrong very quickly when Lonan keeps bringing up the fact that he thinks she’s spooked because he has his dead father’s (AKA her ex’s) eyes.

Scene B:

We have din din with Eliza + Lonan and she gifts him back his mother’s ring (at last, the OG plot) that she may or may not have had wrapped for months to give back to his dad (yikers). << this causes some minor problems lol

Scene C:

Lonan and Eliza share a cigarette on her apartment’s balcony. They’re supposed to be just friends but let’s just say apparently I cannot write those (see Darren and Reeve lmfaooo).

The end of this chapter was so fun to write. Take with that what you will! I put Nothing But Thieves’ cover of Love You Should’ve Come Over on repeat to write scene C. Take with that! What! You! Will! ;)

And now for excerpts! Sharing this because of the word guileless:

Eliza looks like a girl. She’s a girl with too many tattoos bartered for free in college, convenience store lipstick she bought from the clearance section, a haircut she found in her mother’s mail-order catalogue, rings hand-bent from an age 12+ kit. She cries like a girl, and sits like a girl and wipes her face like a girl, and he sees the same thing in her that he sees in himself—something guileless, something see-through.

I don’t usually share dialogue, but here is some dialogue from scene B:

“Should I have gotten something different?”

“This is fine.”

“They had chili chicken too. General Tso’s. I should’ve followed my gut.”

“This is fine.”

“There’s even an Italian place just a block over. I forgot about the Italian place.”

“This is fine, Eliza.”

And now, a very on brand excerpt ft. dead bodies:

He can’t remember why his mother died, or when, or why she’s more of a mother than his own mother. He only wants to visit her. Slip the ring back on her finger. She would smell like peaches, hibiscus, almost chlorinated, embalmed, absently pretty, not because she wasn’t beautiful, but because her body would be empty.

EDIT (again): hi y’all it’s been a month since I drafted this, and so here we go with yet another chapter update because I refuse to do schoolwork!

Beautiful Place is chapter nine of Moth Work, and is chock full of all the tea you’ve ever wanted! Watch Rachel take a pure friendship and make it *not* because that’s her #1 talent! Pure friendship? lol you THOUGHT.

I wrote this chapter over the course of my reading break. @sarahkelsiwrites and I went out to a coffee shop and did a few writing sprints, where a majority of this chapter was birthed.

After Opera Game, I was a bit stuck with this book. I needed a chapter that shoved Eliza and Lonan closer together, but couldn’t figure out exactly how to go about this. I’d semi established a semi friendship between Lonan and Eliza, but wasn’t fully understanding how they’d go from “lol ur my dad’s ex” to “buds? hi!” to “lol ur my ex” and I toyed around with a lot of ideas in my head before I accidentally stumbled into the scene that defines the entire chapter.

Scene A:

All you need to know is Lonan is chillin’ on Eliza’s couch, she’s making some good ol’ french toast, and then tells him she wants to take him to a “good place” and he’s like ok)

Scene B:

Eliza’s place is a cove she found a while back with someone I cannot name because of spoilers (just know that this definitely changes Lonan’s opinion of being there)

When he asks her about the person who she found the place with, she gets *shady*, he gets *extra*, there is *tea*

Here is an excerpt ft. my most overused verb: starbursting (why)!

“You like the beach?” Eliza turns off the car engine, checks her lipstick in the rear-view.

“Just the water.”

“But not the beach?”

“I like the water.”

They get out of the car together, and Eliza’s sundress catches in the rain. The cotton is patterned with palm leaves, birds the size of his pinkie, and it whirls around her in the wind. He doesn’t ask why the good place is the beachfront, or what’s so good about it. He doesn’t shake her hand off when she takes it and leads him toward the sand. Eliza moves around amber driftwood and rubbery kelp like this isn’t an obstacle course but a regular commute. Her hair blows out of her face, starbursting like a halo. She says something about coming here when the Vegas lights blocked the stars. That it’s magical at night, it’s intoxicating, it’s spellbinding, and all of these words remind him more of his sister than sand, than waves.

Here’s a description of the beautiful place ooooh:

The first thing he notices is the light. It’s only the sun reflecting off the stone, but he sees constellations, jittering like they’re both submerged in water. Bits of gold catch in Eliza’s hair and the peaks of the waves, and it’s the cove he notices next. They stand in the centre of it, the stone arched over a spread of water, lapping inches from their feet. It’s like being enclosed in a snowglobe, a private hemisphere of light, water, stone, sand. A resurrection.

And here lies tea:

Eliza is spreading out a picnic blanket while Lonan kneels toward the water. He punctures the current, and lets it stream between his fingers. Even in his hands, the water is gold.

“A friend and I found it,” she says, as water drips into his palm, down his wrist. “I said it was magical.”

“Was it my father?” he picks up a clump of sand, lets it disintegrate back down.

When Eliza says nothing, he turns back to look at her. She’s rummaging through the picnic basket, humming something under her breath, fixing the corner of the blanket.

“Eliza?”

She looks at him, and then back down, glasses clinking. She pulls out two jars—one orange, one pink. “Which do you prefer—marmalade or strawberry?” She digs through the basket, pulls out another jar, olive coloured, speckled with reds, yellows. “Or tapenade?”

“Eliza,” he says, wringing out his hand as he rises. “Was it my father?”

“I brought red wine, too. Do you drink?”

Lonan approaches, and crouches at the edge of the picnic basket. He plays with the hem, smooths his fingers over the metallic underbelly, the fleecy plaid pattern on the good side.

When she pulls out the wine bottle, he reaches over and places his hand on the neck. Their fingers brush when he secures his palm around it. When she doesn’t look at him, he moves his hand over until it covers hers.

“The friend you found this place with,” he says. “Was that my father?”

Eliza tightens her grip around the wine bottle and pulls it back, placing it into the picnic basket. Her sigh trembles, vibrato like a flute, an opera singer. She smooths her hair back, once, twice. “It’s shiraz. My mother sent it from Italy.”

And at last, I call this: Kind of A Wild Thing to Do But Pop Off I Guess:

On her pulse sits a tattoo of a single crow’s eye, and Lonan traces it with the tip of his fingernail. He touches down, to the dagger following the vein on her forearm, and when he reaches the golden cherub an inch from her elbow, leans down and kisses its head.

Aaaand, what a fun way to end this update!

I’m not sure if I’ll get another update up before the new year, but let’s cross our fingers! If not, here’s to 2020! Let’s finish these books y’all.

--Rachel

#writing #amwriting #writeblr #writerblr #mothwork #writingupdates #fostered

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snakeysleepy · 5 years

Text

Snakey Gets Hypnotized Part... uh... 7?

I haven’t been keeping track :p

But anyway, this episode features something you all have seen a lot lately.

Yep! It’s our friend the Hypno Virus!

...excuse me. I’m not sure what came over me.

Anyway...

Pleasure.exe just got a shiny new update! Version 2 just released yesterday and I finally had some time to run it.

Well, not like I normally could.

I had my sister visit, and she shares my room with me.

So my normal setup for running the virus was out of the picture. Now, if you’re into hypno kink like me, I bet you’ve resorted to using the bathroom as a private setting for trance before.

Right? That’s not just me?

Because that’s what I ended up doing. Sitting on the floor, laptop sitting on the toilet lid in front of me.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

And speaking of desperate...

Pleasure.exe booting up...

Rachel. We decide for you now.

I whimpered, plummeting into sub space. My surroundings no longer mattered. It was time to just give in.

Mindless Mantra

My heart pounded. This was a new one for sure. Mantras... oh they must have known how much I loved those. How much I loved the one they gave me.

No thoughts

No will

I obey what the hypno virus will say.

Need rolled over me in pulses. I loved those phrases with every fiber of my being. The virus was using them against me. Well, not against. I wasn’t against this in the slightest.

Rachel, begin to touch now.

Hear the clock tick, and feel the pleasure grow with each one.

Repeat your mantra until the bell rings.

Begin.

Clock tick?

Then I heard it. Soft, mind numbing.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

My hands moved before I even realized.

I hadn’t heard these before. Already I could feel their effectiveness. The image it brought to mind...

A swinging pocketwatch. Gently swaying side to side.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

My mantra began to spill out of me. Words effortlessly spoken. The mantra was a part of me now, really.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

They sounded almost... earnest now. Like they were coaxing me into a frenzy of arousal. More. More.

Tick. Tick. Tick... tick.... tick...

They grew softer. I moaned, wanting them to come back. I was so sensitive. If the ticks played for just a bit more...

Bell ring.

My hands fell to my side and the mantra ceased.

It was never that easy, I knew that. The pleasure was at the Virus’ mercy now.

We have reveiwed your results.

Oh... I was lucky the last two times, maybe my luck would run out...

We have decided...

You will experience what you humans call an ‘orgasm’

Relief. Must still be on their good side.

Feel your hands move behind your back.

What?

Feel rope tie them together, making it impossible for them to move.

Involuntarily they moved. That tingly, almost unnatural feeling when you’ve been triggered to move your body. Then I could feel pressure around my wrists. Arousal spiked in me.

I thought I was going to be allowed...?

Spread your legs for us, Rachel.

My breath caught in my throat. I let out a whimper in a shakey breath. What on earth were they going to do?

You hear a buzzing.

Wait.

Yes, Rachel. We know about sex toys.

Oh. Ooooh.

Oh no.

Feel it now.

Arousal growing fast.

Bringing you closer.

My hips has already began to buck.