#I'll Write You An IOU

[divinekangaroo]

falling - pettiot - Peaky Blinders (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

PART ONE - DAY ONE

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9

PART TWO - MONTH ONE (Or Maybe Month Two, Or Three)

Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | ?

A Modern AU take on Tommy's immediate return from military service, and the period between his demobilisation and the start of S1.

(Tags shall be progressively updated)

.

Tommy Shelby/Lizzie Stark, Tommy Shelby/Freddie Thorne, Arthur Shelby, Polly Grey, Ada Shelby, John Shelby, Johnny Dogs, Various Lees, John Shelby's Children, Zhang, S1E1 Red Dust Girl | Alternative Universe, Modern AU (ish), No iPhones (yet), Awkwardness, Age Difference, Disassociation, Miscommunication, Banter, Fast Food Vendor of your Choice, Pre-Season, Past Trauma, Flirting, Have I Met You Before, Heckling, Cars, Drug Use, Past Childhood Trauma, Mrs Shelby Lives, Gender Role Dynamics, Small Neighbourhoods, Greta Jurossi Haunting the Narrative, Brotherly Dynamics, Sibling Dynamics, Class Issues, Attraction, Casual Sex, Car Sex, Military Transition Program, Wilful Medical Noncompliance, Melodrama, Illegal Bookmaking, 90s Fashion, 2000s Fashion, Slow Reveal, Slow Burn, Coming Home, Dysfunctional Family, Lasting Legacy of Catholicism, Bad SMS Etiquette, Gang Activity, Domesticity, Booty Call, Guilt, Shame, So Much Marijuana, Arms Dealing, Crimes & Criminals, Ill Informed Economic Theorising, Wanking, Ethnicity, Stereotyping

.

[dystopicjumpsuit]

Smutty dialogue and dirty talk

I was chatting with a good friend about dirty talk (as one does). We were discussing the things we like and dislike, the things we wish our partners would say, and the things that are absolutely not for us. And because of this, I was thinking about how tricky dirty talk is, not just in real life, but also in writing.

On occasion, people have DMed me to ask for advice on writing smutty dialogue. While I'm in no way an expert, I have written a fair amount of smut, and of course, I made my name writing this bit of filth, which is entirely dirty talk. So I do have at least some experience.

When I was a wee little DJ, I used to steal magazines from my older sister and hide with a flashlight to read the sex advice column, as curious little DJs are wont to do. I don't remember any of it EXCEPT for one column that has stuck with me for the last *cough cough* decades.

A reader requested advice, saying that their partner had asked them to talk dirty, and they were struggling with what to say. They said it felt unnatural and awkward, and they could never think of anything to say in the moment. The columnist came through with some truly excellent advice.

They suggested starting out simple: "I love the way your X feels in/on my Y."*

The columnist said that eventually the words would start to flow as they became more comfortable with talking in bed, but that the most important thing was just to be honest about how their partner made them feel. Honesty is the key to making dirty talk feel natural and authentic instead of forced and rehearsed. It's about connecting with your partner(s), not about putting on a performance.

And that's exactly how it works with writing, too. The key to writing great smutty dialogue, in my opinion, isn't to try to force it to be the dirtiest, most explicit thing ever (not that there's anything wrong with that). It's to just let your characters say how they feel in that moment.

It doesn't need to be a flowery, heartfelt declaration of eternal love; it can be as simple as, "Damn, you have an incredible [body part of choice]," or just feedback like, "Don't stop," "God, you feel good," "Harder," "I love the way you taste," "Do that again," or, "Right there, just like that." Don't underestimate the impact of a well-timed curse, either. And if a flowery, heartfelt declaration of eternal love is what feels right in the moment, go for it! It's your story, and you can write it however you want.

*Note that neither X nor Y have to always refer to genitalia or even necessarily to body parts. I'll be reblogging with examples, but I'm keeping this post reasonably SFW.

Sexy, smutty taglist:

@523rdrebel @wings-and-beskar @merkitty49 @arcsimper5 @clio3kantarella

@cloneloverrrrr @goblininawig @ladytano420 @arctrooper69 @sunshinesdaydream

@littlemissmanga @stunkbiggu @marierg @idontgetanysleep @lonewolflupe

@moonlightwarriorqueen @dudewhynotthis @sleepycreativewriter @tcwmatchmakingau @littlemissbshine

@multi-fan-dom-madness @heavenseed76 @wizardofrozz @bobaprint @sweetcream-coldfoam

@skellymom @pickleprickle @trixie2023 @cw80831 @flyiingsly

@lightwise @swcowgal @vrycurious @thora-sniper @returnofthepineapple

@reader6898 @cdblake1565 @epicy0n @starstofillmydream @msmeredithrose

@totallyunidentified @eclec-tech @euphoriacafe @hipwell @kimiheartblade

@dangraccoon @transactivecybermemory @etod @ivyyyyy @somewhere-on-kamino

@burningnerdchild @saneabandoned @heidnspeak @maniacalbooper @rebell-ious

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

UPDATE

There will not be a new chapter of Where's Mommy? today. Sorry, y'all 😮‍💨

I tried really hard to get it done in time, but alas, I could not. I'm hoping to have it done for next Friday, though 🤞🏻

It's been a crazy beginning of the year. I am very busy at work, but it's a very good busy! Because of my hard work last year, I got not one, but two raises! Which calculates out to a 6% increase to my annual salary 🥳

So, now I'm hard at work again to do even better this year! I'm not burnt out or anything like that, but, since I'm doing a lot with documentation and spreadsheets, after 8-9 hours of typing, I really don't want to type when I get home 😅 It's been a bit rough.

I'm also busy in my personal life, with friends, family, and my volunteer work, all good stuff, so I don't get a lot of sit-down-and-write time. There's also this guy that I'm falling for 👀🤫🤭 Honestly, I'm living my best life right now, even with the not great stuff. I'm happy.

In between work and life, I'll still be writing, but you may not see me around here too much. I've even been tossing the idea around of just posting my fic updates on AO3 and not on Tumblr. Don't worry, I'm not leaving Tumblr or deleting my blog. It's just a lot of extra time and energy to cross post. If I do decide on that, I'll make an announcement.

And now, if you've made it all the way down this post, below I have a little snippet from the next chapter as a show of good faith 🥰

Cara stood between Wolffe's knees and slowly swayed back and forth while staring at blankly at the woman. "Why's your hair yellow?"

"Cara!" Wolffe scolded, tapping his left knee into his daughters side. "That's rude." Wolffe looked up at the woman with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry. She's not usually like this."

Lilith chuckled. "It's alright. Actually, it's pretty normal behavior." With a bright smile, Lilith leaned over her knees to look Cara in the eyes. "Why's your hair black?"

Cara grabbed the hem of her shirt and played with it while she thought of an answer, a tell-tale sign that she was embarrassed. "Because of Daddy," she said while pointing behind her.

"Ah," Lilith said knowingly. "Well, my daddy had yellow hair, so I have yellow hair. Just like how you have black hair like your daddy."

Cara stared silently as the wheels turned in her head. "Oh."

-

Tag List:

@nahoney22 @sunshinesdaydream @padawancat97 @coraex @lickylickylicky @homemade-clones @523rdrebel @clonemedickix @moonwrecked @stunkbiggu @cdblake1565 @ladytano420 @moonlightwarriorqueen @returnofthepineapple @clonethirstingisreal @dreamie411 @trixie2023 @cw80831 @ca77m3anna @reader6898 @kimiheartblade @dukeoftheblackstar @arc-trooper-8008 @knightprincess @kell-of-storms @skellymom @grindeeloo @totallyunidentified @ladylucksrogue @tesahuy1629 @tanaka @gjrain20-starwars @nerd-ika @imabeautifulbutterfly @tallrock35 @ivanessame @msmeredithrose @griffedeloup @salaminus @rebell-ious @nursekyra @clones-cyare @roboticsuccubus83 @totally-not-your-babe @rinwritesfics @vithe-potato @haybellewrites @unicorngirl17 @notgonnaedit

[educatedinyellow]

Vid WIP meme (continued)

Thank you so much for the ask, @thetimemoves!

"How fun! I would love to know more about the two Sherlock vids: Memento Mori and Headlock. I’d also love to hear more about the songs you associate with different characters."

Memento Mori is a song by the group Fish in a Birdcage. I actually started to make this vid in the somewhat frantic run-up to the most recent round of Holmestice before switching tacks to fic writing. I was introduced to the song via a wonderful Sherlock & Co. playlist on Spotify, and as soon as I heard it, I thought the darkly playful sound was perfect for the more frenetic Holmesian adaptations, like BBC or the Ritchie films. The theme of the song seemed to me to be about the adrenaline rush that comes with mystery + the fascination of death, plus the abhorrence of mundanity (my mind rebels at stagnation, give me problems, give me work!) That repeating chorus ("I never wanted to sleep") plus the self-aware, mordant cheek of the verses ("ashes to ashes, dust to dust, filling up my coffee cup") -- there's an awareness here that this character craves the stimulation of violence/danger and the exultation of being constantly in overdrive. The "hound" references in the bridge obviously lend themselves to Baskerville. The verse "inside the timeless cage, I never wanted to sleep" definitely brings the Mind Palace sequences to mind, especially in The Abominable Bride where he mentally retreats so far into another time and place that he temporarily loses his sense of reality.

I started this vid with images of water cascading down paired with Sherlock stepping up onto the ledge at Barts in The Reichenbach Fall. Then we cut to a shot of John choking on smoke inside the Guy Fawkes pyre paired with a shot of a beautiful, flickering flame. The title card comes up -- Memento Mori -- and we get Mycroft's dialogue ("You're not haunted by the war Dr. Watson. You miss it. Welcome back.") That's all timed over the opening instrumental and when the first verse starts (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) we cut first to the shot of dirt flying around John at Maiwand as he's shot, then to the opening of ASIP and the glimpse of the gun he keeps in his drawer, and a lingering shot of him near tears in his bed, post-nightmare, "I never wanted to sleep." I timed out some of Sherlock's riding crop swings at the corpse to match the initial percussion when it comes in. Plus: "Memento mori leaves a debt, you haven't paid it yet" = Sherlock rotating the IOU apple after Moriarty's visit in TRF.

Anyhow, that's about as far as I'd gotten. The process is slower than it used to be because I lost all my old vidding programs when my former laptop died a year ago, and I'm only slowly learning new programs/finding alternatives that work. It's still an open question whether I'll get any new vids done, especially anything that would require me to rip new footage (the software to do that is increasingly elusive, at least for me). But we'll see :)

Headlock by Imogen Heap is another song that I thought has the right sound for BBC Sherlock. The theme seems to be about self-sabotage, a person -- or two people -- who have convinced themselves they aren't cut out to let their hearts rule their heads ("You say too late to start, got your heart in a headlock"), which works as a running Johnlock theme. There are little phrases that remind me of John and Sherlock's first meeting ("throw a stranger an unexpected smile". And then John being at a loss how to be anything but a soldier -- "with big intention, still posted at your station" -- transforming into something joyful in that crazy rooftop chase when he first jumps after Sherlock and forgets his limp: "still going on about the day you should have flied.")

The song's bridge is perfect for a Mycroft-Sherlock interlude ("You've been walking, you've been hiding, and you look half-dead half the time. Monitoring you, like machines do, you've still got it, I'm just keeping an eye"). The sound of a pulse monitor flat-lining in the middle of the song before the big instrumental kicks in would work perfectly with the whole Mary shooting him business. I don't know, I just see lots of story hooks in these lyrics, and it seems right for the frustration of an unrealized love story that ends with a tentative try at believing that a new start is possible after all.

The second part of your question was about songs that I associate with particular characters despite not being tempted to vid with them. This can happen for a lot of different reasons -- maybe it's a song I associate with the character because someone else already made a great vid for them with it! Or maybe it's a song where the lyrics are right but the sound/tone is wrong for source material, or maybe there's one perfect verse but the rest of the song doesn't work nearly as well. Most often, though, it happens when there's a song focused heavily on emotions/interiority that perfectly matches my headcanon for a character but doesn't really lend itself to any specific story elements from the source material the character is in. That makes it hard to storyboard a visual narrative to go along with the song. So, to give a few examples...

This is a song I will forever associate with Sherlock because humansrsuperior made a wonderful vid with it over a decade ago (which has long since vanished from the internet): Hi by Psapp. ("Compulsive: every page I turn I want more. I never know the next thing in store, 'cause you excite me like a locked door does.")

Here is a Sherlock song where the lyrics are right but the sound is (in my opinion) not an easy match with the source material: Curses by The Crane Wives.

And for those headcanon songs that express a character's interior life/emotional truth vividly but are hard to visually storyboard, the two at the top of my list are love songs for my two favorites from SPN, Dean and Cas. Dean's song is a cover of A Modern Leper by Julien Baker. ("And is that you in front of me, coming back for even more of exactly the same? You must be a masochist, to love a modern leper on his last leg.") And Cas's is Two by Sleeping At Last. ("I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well. I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself....I will love you without a single string attached.") Both a perfect summation of, like, 10,000 fics, but neither easy to vid with footage from the show itself.

And to conclude on a Holmesian note, for me one of those headcanon 'this is what he's like on the inside' songs for BBC Sherlock is All I Really Want (Acoustic) by Alanis Morissette.

<33333

[tobiasdrake]

Well, chief. I guess this is it. Thanks for everything, and I'll see you aro-- Oh, we aren't finished yet.

Goddammit.

Hypothetically speaking, if you were going to be alone with a man who might try to kill you, what size of knife would you carry on your person and where would you stash it? Asking for a friend.

Are you, though? You know in a Saturday Morning Cartoon when the adult guardian goes, "The plot is happening but YOU will go to your room and behave yourself. You will NOT slip out and go do the thing."

But this is like episode 87 and we all know they're going to slip out and go do the thing anyway so, really, saying this is just a formality at this point?

That's your level of authority, Yakou. Thank you so much for saving my life from my terrible mistakes last chapter; Anyways, back to doing the things that got me in trouble in the first place!

I'll write him a note and leave it in Halara's hotel room, along with an IOU formally requesting that they deliver it to Yakou upon confirmation of my death.

I obviously won't be able to pay the IOU but at this point I'm pretty sure Halara only cares about the optics of charging money.

Kurumi, I took you to meet my dangerous, ambiguous wildcard contact. There's a 50/50 chance he's going to tie you to a chair and dangle you over a vat of acid before all is said and done. We are well past the point where something as innocuous as worry is inappropriate.

OH THANK GOD. Of Death. Literally. Thank you for finally ending this awkward quasi-farewell, Shinigami.

We're running out of good ideas to escape from this sub. This is one step above pointing behind Yakou and shouting, "LOOK, A FALSE LEAD!" then bolting when he turns around.

Because then it will spoil. The best kinds of evidence have an expiration date!

Yuma finally proving that abandoning all pretense and bailing at the speed of feet is, and always has been, a viable option for dodging Yakou's paper-thin attempts at professional responsibility.

Sorry, man, but you-

HAHAHAHA OKAY, Yuma made me laugh but I was unprepared for Kurumi to then also bolt out the door. XD Run, guys! Yakou looks like he maxes out at a shamble! A brisk jogging pace should do!

To be fair, she does not work here. It'd be uncomfortable for her to stick around someone else's workspace without her one and only connection to this place.

Sorry, Yakou. As hard as you're going to kiss her ass, Kurumi is not interested in becoming your intern. She's here for Yuma. And she is as much of a troublemaker.

HOLY SHIT YOU GODDAMN VAMPIRE

I legit did not turn the camera to check the fireplace. He may have been here for this entire scene thus far.

I KNOW RIGHT!? We need to put a bell on him. Wait, no, bell only chimes when you move. ...one of those perpetual motion clicky ball sets that managers have on their desk to make them look important. He can wear it around his neck.

You heard as much as Yakou, man. Yuma was super cryptic and then fled.

*sigh* Okay, what's Desuhiko pulling this time, Vivia? Is the pale blue blink supposed to be Fubuki? But then the storm would be... him getting the shit kicked out of him....

Ugh, I don't have time for his shenanigans, I have a trap to go die in.

For a man who was all gung-ho about box cutting my throat out, you sure don't seem to be in any rush to do it. I think Vivia used up all of his energy trying to stand up dramatically.

How are you going to feel if I die before you have a chance to kill me, Vivia? Can you live with that regret? Or... I guess, since you want to die someday, maybe not being able to live with that regret would be a good thing.

I guess. Keep doing what you're doing and hope for the worst, my guy. Power of positive thinking!

[innerpalaces]

The Life of a Cannon Fodder Mother-in-Law - 38

Chapter 38: The Step-Mother-in-Law 5

The two stared at each other, and Ge Gen was the first to give in. "Manyue, lend me the jade pendant. I'll find a way to return it to you later." He gritted his teeth and said, "I can also write an IOU."

"No one knows better than me how much money you make every year and how much money you have in your family." Liu Yuniang said unceremoniously: "Based on the number of times you give gifts to Yan Songyu, it will take at least eight to ten years to return my jade pendant. If you get sick or injured during this period, who should I ask to get back my things?" She waved her hand: "No need to discuss." Ge Gen glared at her: "How can you agree to give me the jade pendant?" 

Liu Yuniang pondered for a moment: "You can use your shop in exchange." "You're dreaming!" Ge Gen scolded. Liu Yuniang spread her hands, "If you don't want to, then forget it. This kind of thing requires mutual consent, and I'm not forcing you. Why are you so fierce?" She yawned, "It's getting late, I have to rest. Hurry up and get out!"

Ge Gen's gifts were already prepared, and with the jade pendant, the birthday gift would be very suitable. Without the jade pendant, the things be bought would probably be the shabbiest among all the Li family's guests. He went there to give Yan Songyu face, not to embarrass her.

"Exchange it for something else." Liu Yuniang closed her eyes: "I'm not interested in the other things in your house. Unless it's the house deed." "You..." Ge Gen clenched his teeth: "Why are you so unreasonable?"

Liu Yuniang looked at him and said in a cold tone, "I told you, if you dared to take that silver and buy those gifts, we will separate. So, if you really exchange it for the shop or the house deed, it will be my property and have nothing to do with your Ge family!" Ge Gen: "..." How could he give it to her under such circumstances? Just as he was about to say a few more words to persuade her, he saw the woman in front of him wave her hand impatiently: "It's absolutely impossible for me to give in. I'm not buying or selling by force. You go back and think about it yourself. Get out quickly and don't delay me going to bed." Throughout the night, Ge Gen tossed and turned. The bed was not big, and the father and son were squeezed together like pickles. Listening to his son's snoring next to him, his mind was racing... He didn't dare to make the decision on his own for such a big matter. At dawn, he knocked on his mother's door. When Old Madam Ge learned about it, she was immediately furious: "She really dares to say anything! She must be dreaming!" Ge Gen patted her on the back: "Mom, don't be too angry, or you'll make yourself ill. I've thought about it carefully. Manyue is in her thirties this year, and even if she gets married again, it's impossible for her to have more children. She has been planning for the siblings these two days... According to this situation, no matter how much stuff she has in the future, she should give it to the two children. Therefore... it's fine if we give her some things. Just treat it as if we were dividing the family in advance, and give Guangxing's share too..." This explanation seemed to make sense. But the old madam felt unhappy: "We are giving gifts for the good of the children, why doesn't she understand?"

"She is brainless and stubborn, and it's impossible to reason with her." Ge Gen sighed: "Mom, we will go to the Li residence in the afternoon, so it's important to get the jade pendant first. When this matter is settled, I will coax her into giving it back. If it doesn't work, just as I said just now, treat those things as being given to Guangxing."

The old madam was unwilling to give away the ancestral property. Even if it was to her grandson's mother, and these things would fall into her grandson's hands sooner or later, she still didn't want to. However, as things stood now, there was no way to steal it, so this is the solution. She looked at the sky and said tentatively: "At this hour, people are still sleeping. How about you try again?" Before Ge Gen answered, there was a sound of the door opening outside, and it came from the main room. The mother and son looked at each other and completely gave up the idea of ​​stealing the jade pendant. Ge Gen asked tentatively: "Mom, what should we do now?" The old madam sighed. "Go and invite her in!"  Liu Yuniang expected that the mother and son would compromise. After entering, she asked directly: "How did the discussion go? What do you plan to give me?" The house was a shelter from the wind and rain, so there can be no risking it. In addition, Yan Niang was still pregnant and it was not suitable for her to move. Therefore, the house cannot be given. But the shop was the basis for the family's survival, and it can't be given away. The old madam was in a dilemma. Ge Gen pondered for a long time and said, "I'll give you the shop." Liu Yuniang clapped her hands together and said, "Okay! Let's change clothes and go to the Yamen to change the owner." Ge Gen: "...I meant I'll give you the deed first. There's no rush to change the owner. You know, I have to hurry to the birthday celebration." "It won't take long to change the owner, and it won't delay you attending the birthday celebration." Liu Yuniang smiled half-heartedly. "So you're still plotting. If you don't change the owner, the shop will still be yours. Do you think I'm a fool?" Even though the old madam was well prepared, she couldn't help but feel flustered when she heard about the ownership change, and blurted out, "Then let's not change it." Ge Gen was slightly stunned. Liu Yuniang nodded: "It's better not to make the exchange. I can't bear it." After saying that, she walked out the door. As soon as she left, Ge Gen immediately leaned into his mother's ear and analyzed: "Mom, I have thought carefully about it. I will give her the shop. She has only been to the shop a few times in all the years she has been here. She doesn't know how to do business at all. By then, the shop will still be in our hands. At worst, we will just rent it and pay her rent every month... Although we have a falling out, we are a family after all. She will never abandon us and choose someone else... With the two children here, we have the final say as to when and how much rent will be paid."

The shop originally belonged to the Ge family, and if they really didn't pay the rent, outsiders wouldn't gossip.

After hearing what her son said, the old madam had no objection to giving up the shop. Liu Yuniang had just finished bathing when she was invited over by the two of them. The old madam was unhappy and her expression was ugly. "I can give you the shop in exchange for the jade pendant, but from now on, you are not allowed to mention this to outsiders. Not even your parents. That jade pendant belongs to my Ge family. Do you understand what I mean?" Liu Yuniang nodded. "I understand. We can't let outsiders know about our family's dispute because of this jade pendant, so as not to embarrass Yan Songyu. " This time it went well. After Ge Gen changed his clothes, he took her to the Yamen. He was afraid that he would not be able to go back to wash up in time, so he gave the master a few copper coins as a bribe. In less than a quarter of an hour, Liu Yuniang got the brand new shop title. Ge Gen looked at the smile on her face and said, "We still have a lot of goods piled inside. Let's do this; from now on, I will pay you rent. I will give you the same amount as other shops on the same street. I won't let you suffer a loss." Liu Yuniang didn't answer and went back home. She was displeased, which was what Ge Gen expected. To be honest, he felt a little happy.

In his opinion, she must be jealous because he wanted to buy a decent gift with the shop and send it to the Li family. Knowing that she still cared about him... was a good thing, and Ge Gen became happier the more he thought about it. He successfully obtained the jade pendant, prepared a decent birthday gift, and it was very likely that Zhang Manyue was reluctant to leave him, so in the end the shop still belonged to him. Ge Gen was in a good mood all the way, and after arriving at the Li family's house, the smile on his face never fell. Madam Ge was also smiling so hard that her teeth couldn't be seen. What was even more joyful was that at the birthday banquet, a wealthy businessman said that he would order a lot of goods after visiting their shop. For Ge Gen, if there was anything upsetting, it was probably Yan Songyu and Master Li standing together to greet the guests. At first glance, they looked like a couple with a deep relationship. Feeling both happy and sad, he drank too much. It was already late at night when mother and son returned home, and Ge Gen fell asleep. The old madam was pestered by Ge Guangping and his wife asking about the overall situation of the Li family... On a day like today, if Ge Guangping showed up, it would be awkward for Master Li. Therefore, neither Guangping nor his wife went. When Ge Gen woke up, it was already bright and the sun was high outside. He squinted his eyes and was in a daze for a long time before gradually coming back to his senses. He was the only one on the small bed, Ge Guangxing had already left.

Suddenly someone pushed open the door. He looked up and saw a slender figure standing in the backlight. They had been married for more than ten years, and he recognized Zhang Manyue at a glance. He rubbed his brows and said, "Pour me a bowl of water." Liu Yuniang didn't pour the water, but walked directly to the bed. "I have something to tell you." Ge Gen was still not clear-headed. "Tell me!" "It's not a big deal," Liu Yuniang looked at his face and said, "Yesterday you said I can't do business. I think it makes sense. Compared with a shop, I want a house to settle down in. What you said before was also right. I can't live in my parents' house with my children forever. That would be too troublesome for them. So, I plan to sell the shop and buy a small house, so that I can have a place to go after I am separated from you."

Hearing this, Ge Gen woke up instantly. "You want to sell the shop!?" Liu Yuniang nodded: "Speaking of which, the location of your shop is really good. As soon as I let the word out, there were already three middlemen who want to bring people to see it. I have inquired secretly. As long as the price is right, I can get the money within ten days." She reminded: "I came to you just to tell you to sell the goods as soon as possible, or move them somewhere else." Ge Gen: "..." He never expected it! He really never dreamed that Zhang Manyue would be so bold and sell it directly after getting the shop! "What if I don't move?" Liu Yuniang said seriously, "The new owners will have to chase you away, so I can only sell it at a lower price. Don't worry, I'm only buying a small house, I should still be able to afford it!" Ge Gen: "..." What is he worried about? Whether she can afford it or not is none of his business!

The most important thing is that the shop is the ancestral property of the Ge family and cannot be sold!

Get up to 15 advanced chapters on Patreon

[pillowspace]

What if y/n just got Sun to write an IOU note & leave it at that? Would that work or would Sun whine about rules?

Isn't an IOU note just another way of saying "I'll owe you when you need it"? He'd still have that itch of an unpaid debt, I think. If the IOU stopped Sun from owing them, that'd probably defeat the point of the IOU. I... I think. I literally only ever heard of IOUs from Hermitcraft

[someguy-209]

Vote for The Ghost's Vault please I'll do anything

If you know anything about me you know this is EXTREMELY out of character for me. My idea of being-on-the-internet is the occasional message or reaction at best or just plain lurking. So if I'M telling you to please please please vote for Ghost Vault here:

then you KNOW I'm being serious. I had to figure out how to tumblr for this. I can offer a puzzle, sudoku or not, maybe a place for you to talk to someone about something you're interested in? Maybe you want me to try to make artwork or a lore piece??? Maybe an IOU????? (i've learned nothing)

Theres under 11 hours left at the time of writing and it's still SO close. If you haven't been voting due to lack of interest or belief in it not mattering you plead you to reconsider. Dominion was a great SMP that was so sadly cut short before Viking's arc could be finished, let's give it some of the respect it deserves! I'd talk more and more about the important of this vault but so many other people have explained it better than I ever could.

TLDR: Some chronically offline guy on the internet figured out tumblr to kindly ask you to vote for ghost vault and you really should listen to them :P

[wordsandrobots]

Welp. Here's hoping the amount I've been listening to 'Great Night' by NEEDTOBREATHE doesn't convince Tidal to recommend bands tagged as Christian rock to me on the regular. I do not want a repeat of the 'accidentally adding a track about sinners going to hell to my playlist because it had a good beat' incident (I am often very shallow about music, as the above probably proves; I have gotten better at listening to lyrics on the first go).

But hey ho. I'm listening because it's perfect for the crack(?)ship Iron-Blooded Orphans slash pairing that Wishing on Space Hardware has totally not been building towards (it honestly hasn't but I need about ten years of character development for this nonsense to work so --).

A free writing request to anyone who can guess what that pairing is (Phyn, Walrus, you two are disqualified on account of knowing already). I'll add an IOU to the pile along with said nonsense, the other side of the Venus debacle, more Yamagi/Shino smut and that McGillis/Cyclase meet-cute I should probably jot down (cute = potentially murderous) . . .

[firinnish]

Okay so here's the easy explanation. Money is literally not worth anything. It's just a formal version of a note saying "I owe you one".

Say you make candles. You have way too many candles that you don't need, and you want to acquire a broom. You can go searching for someone with a broom, let's call her Brenda the broom-maker. You say, "Hey, wanna trade my candles for your broom?" and Brenda might say, "Yeah okay," and then you'd have gotten rid of your candles and gotten a broom instead.

But Brenda might NOT say that. She might say, "Well, candles for a broom is theoretically a fair trade, but I don't WANT candles. I'm just not in a candle mood. I want a crystal ball." So now you have to go looking for Cassandra, the crystal ball maker. You say to Cassandra, "I want your crystal ball. Can I trade candles for your crystal ball?" and she says, "Yeah, that seems like a fair trade," so you give your candles to Cassandra and get a crystal ball, and then you go back to Brenda and give her the crystal ball, and you get the broom. Now you are happy.

But Cassandra might NOT say that. She might say, "Candles for a crystal ball is theoretically a fair trade, but I'm allergic to candles so I don't want one. I do want a pet frog, though. Can you get me a pet frog?"

So now you have to go to Fiona, the responsible frog breeder, and ask her if she will trade candles for a frog. You get the frog from Fiona, to give it to Cassandra to get a crystal ball, to give it to Brenda to get the broom.

If Fiona says, "I don't want candles. I want some really big mushrooms," you might have to go to Minnie the mushroom farmer to get mushrooms so you can give them to Fiona to get a frog so you can give it to Cassandra to get a crystal ball so you can give it to Brenda to get your broom. And after all that, you're probably feeling pretty damn frustrated. So you invent a new idea: a bit of paper with writing on it.

You go to Brenda, and you say, "This is a bit of paper I invented. I'm calling it money. It says IOU on it, meaning I Owe You. I will give it to you, in exchange for this broom."

And Brenda might say, "I don't want a bit of paper. That doesn't seem like a fair trade for a broom."

And you say, "Aha, but it's actually like I'm giving you some candles, but it's better. Whoever has this bit of paper can ask me for my candles, and I'll give them the candles. You don't actually have to take my candles or store my candles. You could just trade the piece of paper later, for something you do want, like a crystal ball."

Brenda might object, "But Cassandra definitely isn't going to give me a crystal ball in exchange for a stupid piece of paper."

And you say, "Okay, but she might give you a crystal ball in exchange for a frog, right? We know she likes frogs. And this bit of paper is sort of like giving her a frog."

Brenda might say, "Giving Cassandra a piece of paper is not actually very much like giving her a frog."

And you might explain, "The piece of paper is allowing her to get a frog. She can give the piece of paper to Fiona, who has frogs, and Fiona will accept the piece of paper as a fair trade because she knows she can give the paper to Minnie to get some mushrooms, and Minnie will accept the paper because she wants some candles, and the paper is an IOU that says I'll give candles to whoever has the paper. Really, it's sort of like if I was running errands all over the place, getting mushrooms to give to Fiona for a frog to give to Cassandra for a crystal ball to give to you. But instead of me running all the errands, we just pass the paper around until it finds someone who wants some candles."

"Hmm," Brenda says. "I definitely don't want to make you go running all over town. Okay, here is a broom."

Some time later, Minnie comes to you and exchanges the "IOU" note for candles, and everyone is happy.

This is how money was invented. It's basically just a special kind of object that exists just to be traded, purely so that you don't have to go running all over town on a series of fetch quests in order to make a trade.

There's some complicated steps in between this toy story and the real world, but this is fundamentally what's going on. You put in an hour at your office job, and you get given a piece of paper, and you go to the shop and swap the piece of paper for some food. This is useful because you don't have to go running all over town looking for somebody offering the specific trade "I'll give you food if you do an hour of office work for me" - you can just abstract away all those other trades by handing each other little pieces of paper.

Our witches could make their system more similar to our system by getting together and making an agreement that all of them will accept a piece of paper saying "IOU" in exchange for a certain amount of stuff. So you can give the IOU paper to Brenda for a broom, or Minnie for some mushrooms, or Cassandra for a ball. Or you could give Fiona two pieces of paper for two frogs, or perhaps you could give her three pieces of paper for a particularly big and awesome frog.

If a newcomer to the village arrives and writes "IOU" on a hundred pieces of paper, and tries to swap those pieces of paper for frogs and candles, then the village will have a serious problem. They don't actually have a hundred crystal balls, or a hundred frogs, or a hundred brooms. Brenda just doesn't make brooms that fast. She's a small, artisan broom-maker who only makes one broom per week. The problem is that they've got more pieces of paper saying "you have to give me some frogs" but they haven't actually created any extra frogs.

They could tell the newcomer to fuck off with his fake IOUs. But if they want to allow the hundred extra IOUs into the system, they're going to have to change what the IOUs represent. Maybe now, you have to give Fiona four pieces of paper to get a small frog, and twelve pieces of paper for a particularly big and awesome frog. She needs the extra paper because suddenly Minnie is only giving a single tiny mushroom for a piece of paper, and Minnie is only giving one single tiny mushroom for a piece of paper because she needs enough paper to buy candles, and candles are worth more paper now.

You can't actually magic a hundred extra candles out of thin air. You can create more IOUs, but they won't represent any real candles, and the whole point of the IOU in the first place was the idea that you could swap it for a candle. If you can't swap it for a candle, it's not actually useful to anyone.

We do like to create extra IOUs sometimes. This is mostly because it's very, very bad if the amount of IOUs actually goes down. If one of the IOU papers is destroyed - say, Brenda's cat eats it - then suddenly the opposite happens: all of the other IOUs are worth a little bit more, so everything becomes a bit cheaper to buy. The problem with this is that if everyone knows this will happen, then everyone wants to hoard IOUs and refuse to trade them for goods, since everyone knows IOUs are more valuable in the future if you hold onto them. Now the paper isn't actually doing its job anymore - if people don't want to trade it, then you're going to have to run around town all over again. We want people to be focused on making candles and not on hoarding paper, so we want to always create a FEW extra pieces of paper each year, so that people feel like it's better to have candles and frogs and brooms than to have paper.

But if you want everyone to be better-off, more paper doesn't help. You need more candles.

i love this girl on tiktok who was like ‘no matter how times someone explains it to me i will never understand why we cant just print more money’

[sparklingsplendor]

RECOVER !

List of Scenarios | Still Aceepting!

RECOVER :  for one muse to return the other’s lost belonging.

"Well look at you being a good little citizen out here!" It wasn't her pocketbook that she laid down only a couple minutes prior but still having someone be looking out for her was pretty enjoyable.

"Tell you what, I'll write down "white looking hedgehog" for an IOU the next time we meet. It'll be my treat!"

[breitweisergallery]

For the Fanfic Writing Ask (get bombarded bitch (affectionate): 4, 10, 16, 19, 20, 29, 30, 33, 36, 39, 51, 57, 73

haha ily <3 <3

4 How do you choose which fics to write?

Honestly, it tends to be whatever strikes my fancy. Some fics require less brainpower and so I'll work on those on days when I need to give myself grace and leeway for existence.

10 Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?

... multiple. Definitely multiple.

16 Do you write by hand, on your phone, or on your laptop?

By hand and on laptop! I do a LOT of my planning and outlining by hand and if I get stuck, I'll start writing by hand exactly where I stopped. It's easier to freewrite by hand, I feel like.

19 Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters?

I definitely do like OCs but I try to only insert as many as are needed for the story. It's part of why the idol AU is so fun to me - I get a chance to flex a bunch of characters from the tookverse that I created who would never see the light of day otherwise.

20 Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Both are fun, and it depends on the canon. I'm a big fan of canon divergences particularly.

29 What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

That I still do it, no matter how sick I am of writing. I still do it.

30 How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

Yes and yes. I edit as I write, and then I start writing sessions by using my first timed period to edit and get myself back into the mindset of the project in question.

33 Is there a specific word count that you hold yourself to/enjoy writing the most?

I've been trying to aim for over 3k for oneshots. For chaptered things, it's harder but I've been trying to go for longer recently.

36 What fic are you proudest of?

Currently, it's owed grief and promised IOUs

39 What’s your most self-indulgent wip?

Honestly, also probably owed grief and promised IOUs. Anytime I write about writers.

51 Does what you like to write differ from what you like to read?

Yes. Or at least, the things I end up publishing end up being different. I've always been a lover of dead dove topics and dark AUs but I don't often publish them, even if I write them.

57 How conscious are you about including symbolism or foreshadowing in your fics?

Very.

73 What do you tend to get complimented on the most about your writing?

Character and dialogue!

[huhnkie]

~~ one night ~~

So you are the male human being who wants to purchase my daughter from me for one million dollars?

"Yes Sir Mr. Sir, my name is hunki li and I'm running for u.s. president 2024 as an independent thinker and I'm also a humanologist and I met your daughter five years ago in social media when was 13 years old and our relationship and friendship has been strictly platonic for past five years, Sir."

And?

...

"Ten hours ago, your daughter turned 18 and our relationship all of a sudden became a romantic one and we decided to get married today right away. She told me I have to pay you one million dollars up front in cash to make that happen."

That is correct. 

Now, 

Do you have it?

...

"No yet Sir, But I'll have it soon..."

Ok.

When?

"As soon as I prove Riemann hypothesis, I will win one million dollar prize and then I can pay you arrears. I can write you an IOU now and you can store it in your refrigerator until your favorite IRS comes knocking on your door, Sir."

...

Ok.

Whatever. 

Now,

How much money do you have with you now?

"I got a dollar in my pocket, kind Sir //:-) "

Alright, son.

Go home.

In peace.

In one piece.

Like,

Now.

"Yes Sir, good night Sir"

...

..

.

//xD

[random-gramander-archive]

Summary:

When Percival wakes up and sees a different ceiling than the dark, blood splattered one of his prison for the first time in three months, his first thought is, I’m going to owe Newt the biggest IOU ever.

Or: Percival Graves and Newt Scamander have been saving each other in turns for years. So, really, Newt revealing Grindelwald is just another Wednesday in his book.

Rating: Teen and up audiences

Warnings: No archive warnings apply

Words: 7 963

Chapters: 1/1

[thecoolesttallestever]

You buy me the frosty youre the one who promised it!

I said I'd give you the rest of the one I had, and I don't ""have"" one

[cagenewman]

"I can't go all in on you the way I do the boys," he admitted with a laugh. Lucie was his little sister, some of the things that he snapped at Colton and Shawn wouldn't fly with Lou. Not even because she couldn't take it, but because she'd retaliate. And also because his wife would kill him. Her end of the bargain seemed beyond easy, and he shot her a look that said 'do you really think that's a bad thing?' before lifting his shoulder. "Oh no. Babysit my nephew that I adore… how ever will I survive?" he asked, heaving a dramatic sigh before bumping his shoulder into hers. "Two more reps and I'll take him on an overnight. A whole weekend, even, if you want. I'll write out the IOU when we get back in the house."

Dramatic? Maybe. Stubborn? Absolutely. "This coach talk - these threats - they're just not doing it for me." She had no doubt Shawn and Colton could run rep after rep in this exercise. She also had no doubt that she could wheedle them into disobeying their dad. When it came to influence, cool aunt beats father every single time. She grunted as she looked up at him, squinting in the morning sunlight. It seems they were up to bargaining now. "Aim higher," she suggested. "Think babysitting."