#My process is heavy on reverse-engineering

[shadesofmauve]

Alliance Normandy SR-2 redesign: Deck 5

We've finally arrived at the bottom: deck 5, home of the hangar, the Kodiak shuttles, and now, Marine Land!

There are some oddities with this deck, because I was guessing at how fast the hull tapers towards the bottom at the back (I'm working off references that show front and rear elevations, but that only shows you the broadest points). I messed up something with my core chamber measurements and had to make the entire rear end (heh) slightly bigger here before posting, but the deck design errs on the side of narrower.

Hangar

When I wrote A Star To Steer Her By I ignored the silly shipbuilding because I was focused on a relationship (and because it wasn't supposed to be a door-stopper novel. Oops), but as I went on things like "this hangar should be regularly exposed to vacuum, how can you leave gym equipment in here" bothered me more and more. By the time of Sunset and Evening Star I couldn't let that state of affairs stand. So: this hangar is regularly exposed to vacuum. No fancy force fields that keep in the air but let out shuttles. You don't leave anything in here that isn't protected from vacuum and strapped down.

The hangar is the limiting factor in the size of the entire ship; it has to fit between the central elevator and the hangar door, and it must fit two Kodiaks. To reach this size I had to make the Kodiaks boxier; my drawings are taller for their length than the game models. They still seat twelve, and there's room for one to do a 180 on it's axis while the other is in its cradle. The hangar floor slopes down slightly towards the door in the middle, and the Kodiaks are 'shelved' to the sides.

Cortez runs the flight deck from the exact same place he is in game, but now he has bulkheads and windows between himself and the cold death of space. Airlocks on either side give access to the flight deck. There are also giant doors straight into the deck 4 cargo bays, but those won't open unless the hangar is pressurized.

Marine Land

Jack's Sulking Pit is now a gym, with weights, treadmill, stationary bike, heavy bags, and mats for sparing (and occasionally making pillow forts for evacuee toddlers). Mats are usually stored stowed against the wall, and other equipment can be moved as needed.

To port are the marine berths. The usual compliment of marines is a dozen, including their unit leader, but there are twelve bunks as well as the officer's tiny cabin (because there's no point wasting the space, and you never know). Other than their semi-privacy, the marine racks are no different from the enlisted racks on the two decks above.*

*"Except for the smell." — the rest of the crew, probably.

Berthing the marines on deck 5 is all about quick access to their arms, armor, and transport. Directly across from the marine berths is the entrance to the locker room and armory. After armoring up they grab their weapons and can get to the shuttle through an airlock entrance in the armory. On the way back, they reverse the process; stow weapons, strip off armor — often dropping damaged plating into the recycler chute as they go by — strip down, and shower.

The Alliance military is gender neutral, and nowhere is this as obvious as the marine lockers. The marine unit regularly strips down in front of each other; it's just part of getting ready for work. You can't be body-shy and be an Alliance Marine.

(I like to think the separate bathrooms on the crew deck were the Illusive Man's weird traditionalist decision. Sometimes the gendered-bathroom thing starts to grate on Bo Huan, the third-watch pilot, so they come down to deck five to use the locker room showers, leading Joker to quip "Ah, the third gender: marine!")

More engineering, and the answers to a few questions

Ladders from deck 4 lead down to another engineering area on the hangar level. It's not connected to the main areas of the deck by conventional corridors, but it is accessible through the warren of service passages that run throughout the ship. More of those access-ways lead aft of the eezo core chamber to the fusion plant (not shown). Because the core chamber narrows faster than the ship, it's easier to get around it here than it is on the engineering deck, where the core chamber is at it's widest but the hull has started to narrow. These access tunnels are rarely comfortable to get through, though they often open out into areas that are easier to work in, or into surprising pockets of unused space. They may require crawling or climbing, or clambering over obstacles.

All the maintenance accesses are kept pressurized and aired up, but the habitable area shown on these posts is wrapped in an inner hull, and the doors for maintenance access are all pressure doors: if a hit damages the tunnel you use to access the ship's innards, it won't kill all the crew in the room next to it.**

**It will obliterate the illicit still and the not-actually-a-secret-make-out-nest, as well as anyone stupid enough to be distilling and***/or fucking in those locations, which is why we don't lollygag between the hulls in combat, private!

***AND?****

****Some people are remarkably talented.

Normandy redesign posts

Intro

Loft

Command

Crew

Engineering

Hangar

[filmtv2022]

The Way of Things

Story: On a cold and rainy Fall night, life as Y/N knows it rips at the seams. With no one else to turn to, Eddie steps up to help hold all the broken pieces together.

Warnings: Language, talks of parental infidelity, lots of emotion, skipping school, Y/N/N (your nickname does get used).

A/N: So... umm I had a thought the other day as I stared down the ever growing list of unfinished or unposted fics in my folder. I've decided that over the never few weeks I'm going to work on finishing "Our Time is Limited", and posting my slew of unpublished fics! Here's to finally having a small break from work. As always, I apologize for any mistakes! Enjoy!

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Heavy sheets of rain carved through the inky blackness that closed in all around. Even the dim fluorescent glow of the street light wasn't enough to illuminate the rocky path at the shoulder of the road. Soaked to the bone, the worn tread of your hightops caught roughly on a jagged chunk of broken blacktop, causing you to stumble. Off balance, you tried to catch your weight, but gravity had other plans. Down in a heap faster than you could throw your arms to the sides, you landed ass first on the muddy ground, surrounded by a puddle of dirty water. 

Lit only by the flickering bulb high above, and far too exhausted to care, you stayed down, eyes unfocused, observing the way the rain blew through the yellowed light. Droplets beaded off your skin, rolling over the humble curve of your lips and nose. Taking your time, you assessed the state of your body, noting the sharp pain that radiated from your ankle to your knee. Nothing felt broken, but adrenaline was a bitch that could make anything seem less severe than it really was. But with no choice other than to move or die of hypothermia on the side of the road, you came to the conclusion that it was time to get up. With your pride bruised and your ankle rapidly swelling, you righted yourself, hellbent on making your way home to what you could only hope would be an empty house. 

The throbbing grew more intense once you were up, but it thankfully wasn't yet debilitating. Though its presence was sure to make the walk even more unpleasant. Shuffling your way closer to home, the oncoming grumble of an engine had you taking a few steps further away from the road. No need to die at the hand of some asshole who wouldn't know the meaning of a speed limit if it hit him flat in the face. 

The silhouette of a battered sports van flew past, spraying a heavy blast of water in your direction before the driver slammed on the brakes. For a moment, the vehicle sat idle as if contemplating what it meant to drive like a sane person, something they had clearly yet to master. The sudden reversal of the van should have been concerning, but the reverberating thump of heavy metal told you more than enough about who sat behind the wheel. Parallel to you, the curly headed boy leaned across the passenger seat, rolling down the window. 

“The hell are you doin’ out here, Y/N/N?” Eddie screamed over the grating howl of the music. 

“What's it look like, Munson? I'm walking.” A stiff gust of wind knocked you off-kilter, punctuating the sad state of affairs. 

Flicking off the music, it was shocking how loud the night had become. Rain screamed in the night, biting at anything left exposed to it with vicious teeth. 

“In this shit?” There was still amusement in his voice, not having processed why you would be out at a time like this. 

“Obviously. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get home before I freeze to death.” You ducked your head, trying to block the icy tendrils of precipitation that slicked down your back. Eddie followed at a crawl, hollering out the window as you went.

“Get in the van, Y/L/N.”

“Fuck off, Munson!” 

“Come on! Don't be so stubborn. Get-in-the-van! I really don't want to have to explain to your parents or the police, why you froze to death on the side of the road.” 

“Don't worry ‘bout that, they'd probably think of you letting me expire as a favor. Besides, you'd have to get them in the same room first.” You whispered the second thought to yourself, not nearly loud enough for him to hear. 

Brake lights flared, followed by the metallic scream of rusted hinges ringing over the wind. Out of the driver's seat, Eddie came toward you, stopping his long strides just in front of your path. His dark expanse of curls flooded quickly, weighing them down even as the gusts plastered them in haphazard patterns over his face. 

“You're limping like you're busted up, and you're shaking. Get in the van, Y/N/N.” Watery brown eyes held something soft and tender at the sight of you, filling you with anxiety. 

“I already told you, no. Besides, don't you have some lame ass party to make some money off of? Wouldn't want the jocks and cheerleaders to have to live through one measly night with their own thoughts, now would you? Or maybe you need to fuck off with your little posse of losers and play pretend. Aww, how do they live without you?” 

“God, you've become a real bitch, ya know? And for your information, Hellfire was last night, and deliveries have already been made.” 

“Well, damn, Eddie the businessman, living up to your end of the deal… literally.” Bumping into his shoulder, you pushed past. You'd made it only a few steps when another loose chunk of pavement nearly brought you to your knees. The only thing that kept you from falling was a pair of calloused hands. 

Carefully, Eddie helped you regain your footing, “Just let me take you home. You don't have to talk or even pretend I exist. Just let me get you there safe, yeah?” 

Peering down at you through lashes far longer than was fair for any man to have, Eddie caught the bone deep look of exhaustion that clouded your vision. 

“Fine.” You hauled yourself away, stumbling back to the van through the waterlogged mud and grass. The passenger door greeted you with the same protesting groan. Inside, the faint skunk of weed clung to the air. Empty bottles of YooHoo clinked together on the floor beneath your feet, earning a huff of laughter and a smile from you.

“What's so funny?” Eddie jabbed as he flung himself behind the wheel, shaking his mane like a dog. 

“Nothin’, only you do realize there are other beverages besides that shit, right? Like a little water every once in a while wouldn't kill ya, Munson.” 

“Where's the fun in that?!” He flashed an award winning grin. The beautiful sight lasted mere seconds, falling away at the sight of you curled into his passenger seat. Your knees were tucked under your chin as you stared blankly out the windshield. “Come on, let's get you home.” 

Eddie turned the knob for heat, cranking up the temperature as high as it would go. Warmth trickled from the vent, chasing away the chill of the cavernous van. The drive was silent, apart from the rhythmic tapping of Eddie's ringed fingers on the steering wheel. Dread filled your gut the closer you got to home. Sensing your discomfort, the metalhead tried his best to abide by the speed limit, though he routinely failed. Eventually, the dim light of your front porch came into view. 

The curtains that normally blocked the window over the sink were drawn wide, giving you both a perfect view of the space. Even without being able to hear, the backlit scene playing out in the frame was easy to interpret. The late stages of an argument rolled on for the pair of you, your father was red faced and your mother was as indifferent as ever. Unsure of what to do, Eddie parked in the street and waited.

“They do that a lot?” Eddie asked hesitantly. This kind of thing was all too common in the Munson household, but it was far from what he expected from the picture-perfect backdrop of your own life. 

“No… just Wednesdays, and Fridays, and well… any day that ends with ‘y' ” You quipped, deflecting from the situation. Reaching for the door, you flung yourself out into the storm once more. Still holding on, you paused to look back at Eddie, whose attention was on the peeling leather of his steering wheel. 

“Umm, thanks for the ride, Eds.” 

“Don't mention it.” Catching your half smile, he tried hard to reciprocate. The crunch and slam of metal on metal reverberated as you slammed the door behind you. Jogging up the steps, you disappeared inside. Eddie stayed put, waiting for the telltale flicker of light from your room. The yellow bulb came to life just above the garage, giving him permission to leave, even though he desperately wanted to stay. With the key jammed into the ignition, the engine grumbled back to life. The quick turn of the dial, and music blared from the speakers, vibrating everything nearby. It was like this, blocking out worry with sound, he made his way home. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------

The hallways were filled to the brim with aimless chattering and high-pitched laughter. The weight of your bag sagged against your shoulder, rubbing tender spots into the skin under the strap of your dress. Closing the distance to your locker, you stopped short to avoid colliding with the couple playing mash and grab before first period. 

“Excuse me.” You waited impatiently, rolling your eyes at their shenanigans. “Excuse me!” you offered up louder, hoping to startle them. Sick of waiting, you felt yourself losing control. 

“Alright! Get the actual fuck outta my way!” You pushed between them, ignoring the grumbles of annoyance. “Yeah, yeah, I know. So sorry to put an end to the foreplay, but you're young, I'm sure you'll be able to get it back up in no time. An’ really you should be thanking me. Now you have time to wipe the lipstick off your snaggle tooth, and you have time to take care of that stiffy before first period.” 

The couple scoffed, scurrying away while cursing you out under their breath. All eyes followed them away from the scene you'd definitely caused. It wasn't like you'd tried to keep your voice down, after all, a good public shaming was necessary on certain occasions. You shoved your bag into your locker, though the effort seemed to be a losing game. Eddie's voice was filled with hilarity as he leaned against the locker next to yours. 

“Holy Hell, Y/N/N. Didn't know you could be so vicious.” 

“Really, ya didn't? I mean you did call me a bitch yesterday. So I'm not really sure why you're so surprised.” You crammed the last bit of your stuff on top of the pile and tried your best to shut the door, making do with the way it barely closed. Tired of his shit, you turned on your heels, limping through the sea of people. Eddie jogged to catch up with you. Reaching out, his rough fingertips wrapped loosely around your bicep, turning you around to face him. 

“What the fuck do you want, Eddie?” You snapped, not really looking at him as you spoke.

“Hey, look,” he waited for you to meet his eyes, “I'm sorry I called you a bitch. I never should have said that.”

“Yeah, well… it wasn't like I was being nice exactly. So…” Your gaze dropped to Eddie's chest, where a few stray crumbs clung to his collar. Gently, you brushed them away as you continued, “I shouldn't have said those things last night either. I was… ya know what… it doesn't matter. I never should have said it.” 

“Is that an apology? Did I just get an apology? Holy shit!” 

“I take it back! I take it back.” Smiling, you started to walk away with Eddie trailing beside you. 

“Nope, can't do that, no takesies backsies!” Eddie bumped your shoulder, causing you to step poorly on your tender ankle. A pained gasp slipped from between your lips, “Shit, sorry. Ya okay?” 

“Yeah, I'm fine.” 

“Ya know, it's okay if you're not okay, I mean.” 

“I know.”

Eddie's tongue darted out, wetting his lips as his eyes darted down the hall, “What do you say we skip?” 

“Eddie!” You replied in half exasperation, “I can't do that.”

“Live a little,” He grabbed your elbows, shaking you from side to side, “We can… rent a movie… get pizza… take a nap… like old times. What do ya say?” 

Staring up at him, you noticed for the first time just how tall he’d gotten, and yet he was still the boy you'd known your whole life. A broad grin broke over your features, turning your lips at the corners, “Fine, but if we get caught, I'm throwing you under the bus. Ya hear me?” 

“Deal. Now let's get the hell outta here.” 

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

A mostly empty pizza box sat discarded on the coffee table in front of you as the credits for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ played. Several empty bottles of YooHoo were scattered amongst the cans of Coca-Cola you'd downed. From his spot on the couch, Eddie chanced a glance toward where you'd fallen asleep. Curled up, your head rested on the broken down pillow you'd stolen from his bed. The buttery leather of his jacket draped over your frame. It didn't take long for him to notice the purple hues that painted your under eyes. Shifting onto his hip, he grabbed for the tattered throw from the back of the couch and laid it over you. The added weight and movement of the cushions stirred you from your much needed nap. 

“Hey, sleepy head.” His chest hitched as you welcomed yourself into his space, leaning heavily against his shoulder.

“What time is it?” You grumbled, voice cracking with sleep.

“It's 2:00.” His breath fluttered at your temple as he spoke. 

“Shit, I'm so sorry, I slept the day away.” 

“It's alright. Ya clearly needed it.” There was no malice in his words, though you couldn't place what laced each syllable. 

“You tellin’ me I look like shit, Munson?” You shoved his shoulder with your own before settling closer into his side. Curled into his radiant warmth, you felt your eyelids growing heavy again. 

“That's not what I mean, and you know it.” Eddie's strong arm wrapped around you, hauling you between his legs as he laid back on the couch. Cheek pressed into his chest, you hummed happily as he raked gently down the length of your spine. 

“I know.” You murmured into him, the heat of your breath bleeding through the thin cotton of his t-shirt. “Do you think… Do you think I could maybe stay here tonight? My dad's gonna be outta town, and my mom… well… she tends to take advantage of him being gone if ya know what I mean.” 

“ ‘Course.” Eddie buried his nose in your crown, breathing in the flower haze of your perfume. 

“Thanks, Eds.” Struggling to loosen the knot in your chest, you cuddled closer, gripping his shirt in your fists as the tears came hot and fast. The pair of you stayed like this, locked in each other's arms. Feeling you begin to tremble, he hauled you further into him. steady streams rolled down your cheeks, staining the skin and smearing the mascara you'd applied before school. 

“Hey… hey… you're okay. I'm right here, I'm not goin’ anywhere.” He whispered, doing what he could to help you through the worst of it. In time, your lungs settled back into their typical rhythm, allowing you to speak on shaking cords. 

“Divorce papers.” Barely loud enough to be heard, you felt instant relief at having spoken the truth for the first time. 

“What'd you say, Sweets?” Eddie's head dipped closer to your face. 

“Divorce papers. That's what they were fighting about last night. My dad caught my mom.” 

“That's fucked up.” He didn't really know how to respond. Anger, sorrow, heartbreak, and so much more rolled in drowning waves over the pair of you. Frustration won out. Tearing yourself away from him, you sat bolt upright on the couch. 

“Like, I'm not even mad about the divorce. ‘cause god, it's gotta be better than this shit, but I just… why'd she have to go and fuck everything up, ya know? Like, why didn't she just leave!? Why? But no, instead she had to go and fuck anything with legs, and in the same fucking house they built together!” You were yelling now, overflowing with rage, “I fucking hate her! An’ I know she's my mom, but I just can't-” 

You broke, a choking sob caught in your throat. Without thinking, Eddie scooped you into his arms, rocking back to hold you in his lap. Arms wrapped tight around you, holding the shattered pieces together, and blocking out the reality of the situation. At that moment, only the two of you existed. The heady waft of his cologne filled your senses, blending with the faint scent of dryer sheets and clean cotton. Shaky fingers and broad palms ran over your back, skimming with steady pressure. Leaning into him, your plush thighs bracketed his own, giving you the steadiness you so desperately lacked. 

“Fuck them, Y/N/N. I know, I know they're your parents, but if they want to act like kids… let'em.” 

“I just… I don't know what to do… everything's falling apart, and I… I-” Shoulders hunched and lips drawn into a thin line, you couldn't get the words out. 

“I don't know for sure what's goin’ on in that brilliant mind of yours, but this is one time I can almost guarantee, it's not true. None of this is your fault, I promise. And I don't want you to think that… not for a goddamn second. You hear me?” Eddie cradled the back of your head, lifting your face so that he could look you in the eyes.  Black lines ran down your face, staining the neck of your shirt. Wiping away the mess as best he could, he tucked a few errant strands behind your ear. 

“Yeah, I hear you.” You nuzzled into his neck, sending electricity zipping down his nerves. 

“Good.” Eddie's voice shook with caged anticipation. He knew this wasn't the time, but every part of him screamed for you. Taking a steadying breath, he squeezed you tighter, letting this moment linger for as long as you wanted. The steady rise and fall of your chest, lulled him close to sleep. For now, this was enough. For now, his only focus was holding you together in the storm. 

[rottenraccoons]

Hello!

Not sure if it's ok to ask but I'm kind of curious about condition/s for the transformation (referring to the ending 25 in Cirrus chapter 2 route). Some kind of medicine or torture, maybe?

English is not my first language so I'm kinda confuse. UwU

If that contains any spoilers or information will be provided in the next chapter (or somehow already explained but I missed QuQ), please feel free to ignore <3

Luv u guys, love the game, can't wait to play more of them!

This is a pretty Chapter Two spoiler-heavy topic so I'm gonna put it under a readmore, but the short answer is that it's safe to assume there's probably more information out there.

So, the transformation reveal in Ending #25 is contextualised by information revealed in Keir's second chapter. We recommend players do both routes even if they're only really interested in one love interest since information in one route can inform another.

In there, Keir and his gang describe the process of making lunar ichor as involving drugs and torture. But an important thing to remember is that they're guessing at what the process is; they're making very educated guesses, but they're reverse-engineering a process based on victim testimony, and the victims also don't fully understand what's going on.

Which is to say, the theory in Keir's route isn't wrong, but it's safe to assume they don't know the full story either. If you don't totally understand the conditions, that's fine.

[andypantsx3]

do you have any tips or advice for being more confident about your writing / avoiding the comparison trap on here? /gen

Hello my love!! Oh my gosh, I have a zillion and one thoughts on this subject. Please excuse how disorganized this is but I am so happy to word vom at you lmao.

I think to start with, it depends on what you're comparing: whether it's the work itself or the metrics surrounding it! I will start with the work itself, and move on to talking about metrics if that's cool.

Your Story

In terms of the quality of your work, there are a couple key things to remember!! Firstly, think it's easy to feel like so many tropes and story lines have already been done, why would anyone want to read mine? But you can circumvent this quite intentionally in your writing by thinking about what new thing you can bring to that trope or story line. And make no mistake, there is always something new, whether it's a plot twist, a unique motivator, a different character's perspective, etc.

For example, I've read and loved several merman Shouto fics, and I also wanted to write a merman Shouto fic. In the development of something in the water, I sat down and thought about what things I'd read about merman Shouto before, and how could I add to that, outside of rehashing what I'd already read. I discovered I wanted to expand on mating rituals, spend some time on the cultural differences a human and merman would inevitably have, and linger in the feeling of a tropical island because at the time of the fic's conception it was like, the dead of my winter LOL. And I do think that something in the water has turned out pretty distinct for that effort; as far as I am aware no one has written merman Shouto being wheeled into a tropical bungalow in a wheelbarrow to watch The Little Mermaid lol.

So you can always bring something new to the table! And it will make your work feel standout to you, as well, as you will be very aware of all the things you did that were unique!! You will not feel like you're just rehashing something that has already been done, you will feel like you're adding!

Also in terms of quality, I think it's helpful to look at fic writing like a growth opportunity rather than a permanent, established skill set. The "quality" of your style is not fixed, it something you actively develop by reading, digging into other people's styles, seeing how they make their writing work, and trying out some of those elements for yourself. Maybe someone has a really rich descriptive style that you find beautiful, maybe someone writes dark psychological fics that thrill you; if you spend time looking at the words they are using and how they use them, you can replicate those techniques in your own writing. You can quite literally make your own writing look more like the writing you admire by reverse engineering authors' techniques.

Conversely, writing as a growth opportunity mean you do not have to be perfect. The process of writing is the process of figuring out what works, mechanically. It's not a reflection on you at all. You don't have to write anything "good," you can publish something you had fun with, see what people react positively to in it, and turn around and take those elements forward in your next story, while abandoning the things people maybe did not love or had questions on. And rinse and repeat over and over until you do end up with something you'd term "quality."

To me at least, that thought is a huge relief. Because I can just have fun, let people say what they say, and do something different in my next story if needs must. It's like any skill set, I think. It takes time to hone but no one would call, like, Van Gogh untalented because he once started with rough and heavy pencil sketches, right?

It's the knowledge that I'm building up my future self's skill set that gives me confidence to publish, even if I'm not quite where I want to be currently! And I really hope this helps you the way it does me; the knowledge that you can do anything, write like anyone, but that it's all part of an overarching process to learn to enjoy writing like you!

Which brings me to:

The Metrics

I am just going to say flat out that you should try to ignore metrics as best you can. In my experience, metrics are absolutely no indicator of a work's quality. Some of the work I am proudest of is what anyone would consider a "flop" by note count, whereas I think some of my most trite & banal works would be considered by some metric quite "popular." And I think that way about some of my favorite fics too, one of my absolute fave fics of all time only recently broke 100 kudos on ao3 after being up for years!!

I especially think this is true on tumblr, where a work's packaging and digestibility seem to be the key elements in gaining notes (ao3 does not allow the same level of customization). Fics with elaborate headers, cute & small fonts (I am guilty of loving these), and eye-catching graphics all naturally draw attention more easily in the sea of other fics, so it makes sense why more people would tend to look at those, and subsequently like or reblog them. I also think bullet-pointed headcanons or single/short paragraph works tend to skyrocket in notes here because they're quick and easy; and that makes sense too, right? If it's easier to read of course it's likelier to be read more!

But those things mean absolutely nothing about the quality of the work within. And you can take reassurance from the fact that you too can replicate those elements if note count is what you are truly after here! You can make a video header with any of the premades on Canva! You can try different font arrangements or cool graphics. You can even write a paragraph and tag it with a bunch of different characters for maximum exposure. There is no reason to get jealous, I think, if you can do it too!!

I also think you have to be conscious of different factors at play with authors. Some authors have been around since the inception of the fandom you're in, and naturally will have had more visibility for longer than you, but that also says nothing about the quality of their work. I've been around in the BNHA fandom for four years, and by a mixture of luck and timing ended up getting to publish a lot of my work during the pandemic when more people than ever were getting into BNHA. But does that make me better than some of the newer authors joining the fandom just now? HELL no lol, if anything maybe I could be getting complacent!

And this goes for the size of fandoms and the popularity of certain characters as well!! A Shouto fic is not going to do as well as a Bakugou fic because Bakugou has like, three times the stans. A Shinsou fic is not going to do as well as a Shouto fic because Shouto has like, five times the stans lol. And a Kaiju no. 8 fic is not going to do as well as a JJK fic because the fandom size (and therefore potential audience pool) has a significant discrepancy! Don't gauge your fic's success against someone else's in a different fandom or for a different character (or honestly even at a different point in the source material's storyline because sometimes a character has a moment where they are most popular but that drops off - think BNHA Hawks in 2020/2021 vs now lol).

There is a huge variety of external factors at play that determine your exposure and audience, but absolutely none of those can ever say anything about the quality of your work. So I hope you can try to distance yourself from the need to compare your metrics to anyone else's, because quite frankly they do not mean shit.

TLDR, think the best way to overcome the comparison trap is to write a story you love and feel is unique, something you are proud of. Because no one is ever going to tell a story quite how you would, and therefore no one can ever be compared. & I hope this was helpful and addressed whatever specific area of concern you have!! But let me know if not and I'm happy to discuss more!!

[blaithnne]

Early concept sketches of Midnight Giant Lauren! You can see me figuring out the style, colours, as well as Lauren’s outfits, plus a little Hilda that I wanted to include but gave up on cause I couldn’t get her to look right.

Johanna switches outfits about 3 times in this comic, so I wanted Lauren to do the same. Also, since Johanna’s deerfox outfit in the flashback is based off one of her looks in mountain king, I wanted Lauren’s to as well! So one of these outfits will be repurposed for teenaged Show!Lauren in the deerfox later down the line, which I think is fitting because she’d be around the same age in the flashback as Comic!Lauren is here

I didn’t talk much about my design process in the original post, so I’ll make a couple notes on that under the cut!

Here’s the final product for reference-

Though Johanna changes outfits about 3 times in this comic, one of these outfit changes is just the same outfit but with trousers instead of a skirt. So I wanted one of Lauren’s outfit changes to be more subtle, keeping most of the same items of clothing but only changing the jumper!

In terms of her outfits, I tried to add a little bit of a late 2000s - early 2010s vibe, which I think makes her fit in a lot more

Whilst this style still features quite noodley characters, it allowed me to bulk up Lauren much more than the troll did, so I took advantage of that and started adding in juuuust a little muscle! But she’s still kind of twig looking, so I brought back the same trick I used in the troll and gave her a big ol’ pile of logs and a heavy axe to weild in one of the sketches just to show that she’s a strong girl. I swear I tried to think of something other than an axe but it’s surprisingly hard to think of heavy objects that a character would just be. Carrying around lol

Looking back at this design a few months later, the biggest thing I’d change is I’d make her look a bit younger. It’s a little hard to design a unique character when you only have two points of reference lol, one of which is an adult and the other of which is a child, so I think I made her look a bit too much like an adult, oh well!

One thing I kept though to help her look younger is her freckles, same as Hilda! I love freckles but I swear I never use them in character designs. This design feature disappears from Hilda in the later comics, but I wanna keep them for Lauren for as long as I can tbh…

I mentioned before that I thought it would make sense for Lauren to go through a couple different hairstyles before reaching her final one in these early comics - the designs in the show are based off the ones in stone forest, which was the most recent comic to be released at the time the show came out. The style and characters designs had changed a lot from the early comics, and one of my favourite things about reading through the series is seeing how the designs changed and progressed before reaching those “final” versions, so I’m kinda reverse engineering Lauren’s design process to get that effect here, and I think one way that’d be shown is through her hair. Here her style is getting closer to the final version, her fringe has been lifted so it no longer covers her eye, and she’s got more of a curl! But her strands fall a little differently, so we’re not quite there yet…

I struggled a LOT with colouring this one, and that’s because I got the colour count wrong! One of the most overlooked ways to emulate a style is to count how many different colours appear per character - Hilda The Series generally has 6, 2 for hair and skin, and 4 for outfits, though the number can change. I miscounted here and thought the comics had 4 outfit colours like the show, but they actually only have 3. Once I realised that it made things much easier, though I still sent a little over it with some varying shades of green in her shoes. These kinds of rules generally aren’t firm, and might not even be one’s the original artist is even aware of, but when you’re trying to emulate someone’s work these little things can make all the difference

Show!Lauren probably doesn’t play guitar, I’ve mentioned before that I think she’s decent at piano and I stand by that, but I thought it was fitting for Comic!Lauren lol

That’s everything I can think of right now!

[toskarin]

I tried getting into elona a while back after you talked about it and remember being confused about the different versions; omake, elona+, and the Mobil version seemed really different and gatcha heavy.

Do you have a recommend for someone looking for the entrance to the rabbit hole? Or should I just wait for Elin?

so with elona, let's get one thing out of the way that's hard to glean from community discussion (because most players don't really talk about how to get into it): you shouldn't be playing vanilla elona in [current year] unless you specifically want to do it to get a glimpse into what it used to be like

your assessment of the mobile version is correct! it's fucking awful and, in spite of what a lot of people seem to believe, has no financial connection at all to the original creator. that game makes a lot of money and noa doesn't see any of it, to my knowledge

the mobile version is full of microtransactions and reworks several systems from the base game to encourage spending (including adding a companion and weapon gacha, timegating shop refreshes, turning sleeping bonuses into a daily reward, and making god battling an arena minigame), so its streamlining of gameplay is entirely in service of getting you to spend money on what's supposed to be a free game

so that leaves deciding between OO and Plus, and since you're starting out, Plus is the best choice.

Plus is not only the most popular of the two, but also has a not-insignificant amount of english language learning resources available. beyond that, its lack of build diversity is actually a boon because the game makes it pretty hard to well and truly ruin a character (you'll pretty naturally gravitate towards A Good Build)

OO is really good, but it's very bad at teaching you to play elona and a lot of its more opaque mechanics kind of require a working knowledge of how to play the game to reverse engineer them, in lieu of having seen the development process that informed them

I wrote a little bit on how to get into Plus over here

if you have any questions about the game that you want answered quickly, you can find the non-JP discord here. the JP elona discord is over here, in the event you want that as well

be of good cheer!

[katherinecrighton]

Nuts and Bolts: Thoughts on Plotting

(Reposting a 2013 post from the Anna Katherine co-tumblr)

Here, have some really straightforward, practical thoughts about plots and plotting. Of which I have way too many, btw.

(Previous nuts and bolts caveats apply, naturally. Assume I have so many thoughts about this stuff because I’ve fucked it up pretty often.)

::::

1. A short story is a single idea, examined or played out. (Movies are also short stories. This is why turning books into movies leads to tears.) Figure out what your “idea” is – or the goal of your story, or the point you’re trying to make, whichever terminology floats your boat – and aim toward that without wavering.

2. Your plot and your characters go hand in hand. They inform each other – if you have one, you have the other. It’s one of the ways that storytelling is the least like real life. The entire plot might as well be a metaphor for whatever issues are going on in the characters lives – but once you realize that, you can use that fact to reverse-engineer your characters or your plot if you’re stuck without one or the other.

3. Frequently problems with plots are just problems with structure. Go find your favorite book (or rather, your favorite book that is most like the kind of book that you’re trying to write) and break it down, section by section, until you’ve got something really basic like “meet-cute” and “things go bad” and shit like that. Then see if you can’t just drape your plot right on over that structure like a brand new Sunday suit.

4. It’s okay to borrow structures. It’s okay to borrow stories, for that matter. Plots can come from a lot of places. “Write what you know” clearly meant “steal every anecdote in England” to Chaucer, and he became the father of English literature, so. 

5. Middle sections of books are terrible. They just are. Everyone wants to give up. This is the number one reason to have an outline or at least a game plan, oh my god. You want to see some hope of a way out, because the middle of a book lasts twice as long as the end of infinity.

6. To that end, once I’ve got some characters and a vague idea of what I want to do with them, I like to put together a list of “adventures”. It’s just stuff I’d like them to do during the course of the story. Sex scenes, car chases, dress fittings, amusing adventures with food, anything like that. Just stuff that I think would be fun to write, and that I know I will need to fill the endless fucking wasteland of the middle of the book.

7. (Those adventures? Should reflect the issues of the characters. Because characters and plots are the same thing. See point 2.)

8. For short stories, have an end point to aim toward, along with a general emotional zone to wallow in. I had a short story whose working title was literally “and then somehow, making out,” which was indeed the end point I was aiming at. The emotional zone I wanted to stay in was fairly light with some emotional dips into heavy stuff for contrast. But mostly what it said on the tin.

9. For books, writing the last scene right at the start of your process is sometimes nice, because it gives you a sort of mark to aim for. (You can always rewrite it later.)

10. Try to capture some really vivid mental pictures of strong scenes. Add those to your “adventure” list, or, better, just write them down. It doesn’t have to be perfect – if you want, just bro it out like you’re describing your favorite badass robot move from Pacific Rim to someone who’s never seen it. At that point there are barely any characters, there’s just the broad sweeps of movement across the page.

+1. Remember: You are the god-king of the book. If worse comes to worst, have a plague of shrews suddenly appear and make your characters deal with it. You can do anything! If you don’t know what to do, do anything. It’s better than doing nothing, and frankly, if it doesn’t work, at least you’ll have written something. You can always delete it tomorrow.

+2. No, seriously, I was writing a book and I could tell there needed to be some kind of big turn in the narrative (because of structure!), and I couldn’t think of what, so I literally wrote down a list of random shit I could make happen to the characters. Just because I could. That list included:

set house on fire airplane explosion hunting accident heatstroke

I was willing to set a house on fire, possibly by having a plane explode on it, just to get my characters doing something for another twenty pages. And the best part was: All I had to do was write the consequences, and add some foreshadowing, and I’d get away scot-free. The perfect crime. GOD-KING, Y'ALL.

[bopicksreviews]

Aqua Tower Review – The Ultimate Water Generator of 2025

Aqua Tower Review – Introduction

In a world where access to clean, sustainable drinking water is becoming increasingly uncertain, the Aqua Tower stands out as one of the most innovative and practical solutions of 2025. Whether you live off-grid, in a drought-prone region, or you're just preparing for emergencies, this cutting-edge water generator offers an eco-friendly, cost-efficient answer to your water needs.

Aqua Tower Review – Overview

The Aqua Tower is a DIY atmospheric water generator (AWG) system designed to extract moisture from the air and convert it into clean drinking water. Created by Richard Wilson, a third-generation farmer from California, the system is the result of decades of experience dealing with water scarcity in one of the most drought-affected areas of the United States.

It’s not just a tool—it’s a life-saving innovation that empowers users to take control of their own water supply, without relying on failing infrastructures or costly bottled water.

What Is Aqua Tower?

The Aqua Tower is a portable and efficient device that generates water directly from atmospheric humidity. It functions based on the principles of condensation, much like a dehumidifier, but is engineered to produce safe, drinkable water through a multi-layered purification process.

Built for self-sufficient individuals, survivalists, and eco-conscious households, Aqua Tower delivers up to 60 gallons of clean water per day, depending on humidity levels.

Aqua Tower Review – Features and Benefits

✅ Advanced Atmospheric Water Generation

Extracts water from the air 24/7.

Works in humid and semi-humid environments.

Provides consistent water output even during power outages with backup power options.

✅ Multi-Stage Filtration System

Includes activated carbon filters, reverse osmosis membranes, and UV light to ensure maximum purity.

Eliminates bacteria, heavy metals, and airborne contaminants.

✅ Sustainable & Eco-Friendly

Reduces plastic waste from bottled water.

No plumbing or groundwater access required.

Leaves zero ecological footprint.

✅ Energy-Efficient

Consumes minimal electricity.

Compatible with solar generators and battery backups.

✅ Easy Assembly

Comes with step-by-step blueprints and video guides.

No special tools or prior experience needed.

✅ Compact and Portable

Ideal for small homes, RVs, remote cabins, or emergency kits.

Designed to move easily and fit tight spaces.

>>>Order today, click here

How Does It Work?

The Aqua Tower captures moisture from the air using a condenser unit, which cools the air to its dew point. Once the moisture is extracted, the water flows through a multi-filtration system:

Air Intake – Pulls in ambient air rich in moisture.

Condensation Chamber – Water vapor condenses into liquid.

Carbon and Reverse Osmosis Filtration – Removes contaminants, chemicals, and microbes.

UV Light Treatment – Kills any remaining bacteria or viruses.

Storage Tank – Clean water is stored and ready for use.

This entire process is automatic and continuous as long as there is sufficient humidity in the air.

Aqua Tower Review – My Experience Using It

After using the Aqua Tower for several weeks, the results exceeded expectations. Water quality was noticeably better than municipal tap water and even some bottled brands. Setup took under an hour using the guide provided.

In our off-grid testing environment, the Aqua Tower consistently produced around 40-50 gallons per day, enough for a small family. The filtration process was smooth and reliable. Best of all, the system operated quietly and required very little maintenance.

For anyone living in a region prone to drought or with unreliable infrastructure, this device can truly be a lifesaver.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

✅ Produces clean water daily.

✅ Eco-conscious and plastic-free.

✅ Reliable during emergencies.

✅ Works well with solar power.

✅ Compact and easy to move.

Cons:

❌ Performance drops in very dry climates (under 20% humidity).

❌ Needs basic electrical source unless paired with solar.

❌ Initial learning curve for beginners (solved with guide).

If you're interested, don't miss your chance to try Aqua Tower today.

Who Should Use It?

🌿 Preppers & Survivalists: Ensure water supply in uncertain times.

🏡 Off-Grid Households: Live independently from municipal systems.

🚐 RVers & Travelers: Clean water anywhere on the road.

🌞 Eco-Conscious Consumers: Reduce waste and environmental impact.

🌍 Families in Drought Zones: Reliable hydration even during shortages.

Aqua Tower Review – Price and Evaluation

The complete Aqua Tower system is available for just $39.69—a fraction of the cost compared to commercial atmospheric water generators, which can cost upwards of $1,000.

It comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, allowing users to test the system risk-free. For anyone serious about self-reliance, sustainability, or emergency preparedness, the Aqua Tower is an unbeatable investment.

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🌊 Final Verdict – Aqua Tower Review

The Aqua Tower offers a truly revolutionary approach to water independence. It’s efficient, environmentally friendly, and accessible to nearly everyone. Whether you're planning for the future or just want a backup plan for your family's safety, this system delivers exactly what it promises—clean, safe, and abundant water.

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[sofs-studio]

DES 302 - Week 3 Capstone

Woo hello to #302week3 of capstone! 

So far the last two weeks have been very much me trying to stand on my own two feet and finding a way of creating a road map towards my project. I’m not going to lie, I am a bit concerned that I am still in this ‘brain mush’ stage, I am hoping that by the end of this week, I will have a better idea of the light at the end of the tunnel.

The first and second weeks of this sem have consisted of me organising my thoughts, and processes I will use from both Diversity Works NZ and the Standford D.School Thinking Process. From feedback by Diana in last semester’s 300 research proposal - Diana suggested perhaps I use the new modified version of the D.School Thinking Process, which looks at a more Equity Centred Design Approach. Taking this feedback, I have decided to implement this process and ditch the original D.School Process. Of course, I still wish for my work to be empathy led, but now a focus on equity will enhance my empathy-led outcomes. 

That being said, after taking on this feedback, I had to reverse-engineer my timeline of work in the 13 weeks of this semester to coincide with all the sections of the Equity Centred D.School Framework. The first two weeks of this semester consisted of the ‘Notice’ Phase - a new phase implemented in this framework. The ‘Notice’ phase looks at developing a self and social-emotional awareness before entering the practice of the ‘Empathy’ phase. I believe I have a strong social-emotional understanding of the topic, and perhaps I underwent the ‘Notice’ phase for most of the second half of semester 1 while undergoing research for my 300 research report.  

Now this week I will be heading into the ‘Empathy’ phase, where I will gather secondary research that assists me to empathise with users’ point-of-view and feelings. Ultimately I will empathise to help define the problem - and I am assuming this phase will be conducted in a shorter span (about 1 week). This is to allow for more time to direct the ‘Define’ phase, which I am predicting will need more time to allow for margins-of-error that may occur with feedback from my studio peers+teachers.  

I must say I am looking forward to next week and moving forward from the content-heavy phases that I am currently in. I just want to get to the ideate and prototyping phase (my favourite phases)!  

[seethingpoison]

iobartach​:

Deceived beyond question, he buys the other’s feigned personage without much effort. Lacking any proof to hand that would raise suspicions, the impression he gathers from her is that of a fellow professional, putting in a showing here to continue the work they held a passion for. Not yet aware that part of that remit included the study of his dubious act.

Cognisant of his standing within the company, Alchemax’s poster child had some sense of how far afield his work had travelled, breaking fresh ground every other week in a race that was expedited by his own lucrative bouts of heroism. Achievements that were unreservedly worthy of acclaim, in spite of the heavy taint of corporatism that went along with it.

Sold on her act, Miguel offers a nod of recognition as he diverts his gaze back to the nearby coffee machine. Pouring himself a dark roast into his awaiting mug, the appliance gave off an irritable squeal from the release of steam, a sound sharp enough to register a note of discomfort on his face. Providing, in his own unknowing way, more clues for the inquisitive imposter beside him to study about himself.

“It’s no trouble at all, Dr. Irving.” His assurance spills out from the sides of his mug as he takes a cautious sip, starting in place when word is shared that his work had served to foster inspiration. Leery about what this could suppose, he forces himself to swallow a note of trepidation, taking as little pride as possible in producing work that had already claimed a single casualty.

Of her work, he says; “A new alternative for bone marrow you say? That could be a revolutionary breakthrough. Tens of thousands would benefit, at a generous guess.” Filled with a mix of concern and curiosity, Miguel inclines his head to gaze at Paula over the rim of his glasses, his garnet hues trying their level best to get a measure of her. Something wasn’t quite adding up, like an equation written incorrectly.

Uncertain as to what he would uncover, upon stewing on the offer for a moment, he makes a decision. “Yes, I’d be interested in seeing how you have progressed so far with it. I have a moment free now, if that would suit you?” He was prepared to push for examining her work if required, spurred on by a nagging feeling that manifested into existence the very moment that she cited his lamentable research.

      From what she had wagered, that was actually quite a modest guess presuming she could see the project to its full potential, but she was far from keen to correct him as subtlety had always served her best. Though perhaps it was a test within itself to see the breadth of his imagination and ambition when something new had been provided for him. 

     After all, even a miracle could be reduced to nothing if put in the wrong hands. 

     A mild sort of cryptic delight prevails at his agreement, but her demeanor still remains measured. 

    “   It would suit me rather well, actually; I’ve just completed the first cross-breeding attempt between my specimens. If you’d just follow me.  ” 

   Carrying her tea, she leads him a rather familiar way albeit with the expected divergence to her own office adjacent to the laboratory showcasing her progress behind glass walls. There, she carefully lays her cup to rest on the desk, picking up a manila folder and presenting it to him despite the twinge of reluctance that suddenly comes to her in the very moment, carefully hidden behind some sense of sheepishness. 

   “   You could say my work follows the theory of taking a few steps backwards in our evolution in order to go many forward, hence why I’ve selected particular species of sponges, moss, and even fungi to create something akin to the unique tissue found in our marrow. Of course, it’ll be quite a long and tedious process, obtaining the most favorable genes of each, which is why I’ve also reverse engineered a Turing equation to help guide the process. That is what you have in your hands.   ”

A face and name he didn't recognize was the point entirely: it meant that Dr. Paula Irving's efforts of seamlessly assimilating into Alchemax were all going according to plan, if one wanted to be so cliché to say that.

Pois.on Ivy.

Eco-terrorist.

Menace to society.

She was, after all, a villain by any other name, now trying to stray from that path of reckless destruction, but she knew the world wouldn't let her go willingly. And so she dons a persona of the reserved scientist, one that feels as though trying to wrap herself again in a shed husk - familiar yet estranged all at once.

But she was soon to find out she wasn't the only one here pretending to be something she's not.

She didn't have the luxury of non-vigilance, but he was one long on her radar ever since investigating into joining Alchemax, his praises sung across the company for all his contributions to the field of genetic engineering. Naturally, she read up on anything she could get her hands on beyond the red tape of confidentiality and felt confident in her commendation of his work. It was practically magic, making clay of men, making them more.

But then, pray tell, why was such a miracle being wasted?

And so consumes her the one toxin she could never develop a resistance to - the burn in her skin of yearning to know, and an old rage beginning to fester in the familiar scent of a man's treacherous secrecy. Though perhaps it's not fair to make such classifications yet for she understands better than any that people like them have their reasons. The difficulty always lies in finding the why.

She pauses a moment, taking in his disheveled countenance but that's nothing uncommon with their work, so she assures him with an amiable smile, fingers pulled from the warmth of an herbal tea to adjust thick frames.

"Oh, forgive me if I've come at a bad time, Dr. O'Hara, I just haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet. My name is Dr. Paula Irving and I must admit that your work has inspired my research here at Alchemax. I'm creating a transgenic moss to be used in medicine as a substitute material for bone marrow transplants, so if it interests you, it would mean a lot if you would come by and review my work sometime. Perhaps even be so kind as to let me pick your brain now and then."

[threewaysdivided]

So what we know so far is that the justice league as a whole never new about and ghost or the infinite realms, but did Constantine and other magic users now? Does Dr. Fate?

Those are some interesting questions!

And now, I'm afraid that in order to properly answer you I'm going to have to be a bit annoying.

Truth is, I'm one of those fanwriters who just... doesn't have consistent universal headcanons for a lot of things. There are some common headcanons I use to answer recurring questions (e.g. finding an explanation that accounts for both DP ghosts and DC ghosts in a crossover universe) but in a lot of cases the lore/theories I have about how the world of a specific story works will depend on how I need things to work to suit that specific story.

As for the explanations in Deathly Weapons:

When it comes to the League as a whole, you're completely correct. The standard headcanon I use is that portals to the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms are very rare and unpredictable outside of a few hot-spot locations (Amity Park, the Bermuda Triangle etc.), which means that actual ghost sightings throughout history have been incredibly uncommon and easily confused with other paranormal/ magical occurrences or mixed in with urban myths/ folklore/ cryptid stories. Add to that a few... interested parties with a vested interest in keeping it that way and League was left with so few data points that no-one even realised there was a pattern until Phantom called Batman and Robin's attention to it.

With regards to Doctor Fate, my take (at least in the DW!Verse) is that the Lords of Order and Chaos are at least aware of the Ghost Zone as another dimensional plane. But since the residents aren't really involved in their conflict and the Zone itself is too big and varied (some areas ordered, some chaotic) to be useful in that conflict or worth the potential costs of aggravating them, they mostly just leave each other alone. I would expect that the average ghost would be more wary/hostile to the Lords than the other way around, since I usually go by the rule that magic is something that can affect them - which for a regular ghost means potentially enduring a very one-sided stomping before being forced into whatever humiliating/ condescending/ cruel situation the Lord feels like.

I also have the idea that Clockwork and Doctor Fate personally know/know of each other and have a kind of passive-aggressive grudging-respect working relationship on the rare occasions their paths cross (both seeing the other as a melodramatic interfering busybody), which isn't relevant to any story idea but I think is funny.

Now, as for Constantine and other magic users...

Let me answer your question with another question: Does John Constantine need to exist within the world of Deathly Weapons?

I swear this isn't meant to be condescending. It's just that I don't really see the point in explicitly including characters if they aren't actually going to interact with the plot/ lore/ character arcs of a story. I legitimately don't know whether Constantine exists in the DW-version of Earth 16 but it's kind of immaterial because as far as the plot of DW is concerned he never comes up. If you'd like to imagine that he does and he's too busy dealing with some unrelated side story of his own to show up then feel free. And if you don't want him there at all then feel free to imagine that too.

This is probably going to sound heretical to some comic books fans but I'm okay with each story being it's own separate thing, and I genuinely don't think it's necessary to for every DC character to exist in every story. In the 2004 Teen Titans Animated Series the Justice League never shows up and is barely mentioned outside of some indirect references. Most of the League (and Earthly heroes in general) are barely present in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. I'm fine with Batman: The Animated Series just dropping Jason and making Tim the second Robin because the writers couldn't/didn't want to/ didn't feel like including a version of Death in the Family as part of that story.

I'm fine with a story or series or show just exploring one character or team in one city and leaving it completely ambiguous whether the rest of the DCU is present in that world. It's also fine by me if a story is taking place in a universe where certain characters exist but never had a reason to become the heroes/villains they are in main continuity. I can accept a world where Harvey Dent became a (perhaps slightly intense) lawyer and nothing went wrong. I can accept a world where a character named Barbara Gordon exists but decided to become a librarian or a gymnast or a private investigator or what-have-you. I can accept a world where Barry Allen or Wally West is the first and only Flash. I can accept a world where Harleen Quinzel declines to apply to Arkham and instead takes work at a small clinic that the Batfamily interact with in passing. To me those are just fun Easter Eggs and if that's all the relevance they have to the story then that's perfectly fine.

I know I'm slowly becoming the sole occupant of the tiny Tumblr niche that is "complaining about scope management" but that's kind of where my brain goes; if a story element or character isn't contributing to the narrative relative to the amount of time/space they consume, then what's the point of having them there?  References and Easter Eggs are a lot of fun, but a collection of references and Easter Eggs does not a story make.

(It’s that “narrative efficiency” thing I keep banging on about.  If you explicitly add a character then you have to add in-universe reasons for why they aren’t participating in the story.  And then more reasons to justify why they don’t just solve the big plot conflicts that are more narratively interesting to have other cast members tackle, but which they would obviously be a better/ safer/ more effective solution to within the rules of their fictional world.  Adding the character means taking time away from the actual story to fix a problem that never needed to be caused in the first place.) 

There are other story concepts I've kicked around in my head where Constantine does exist and does interact with DP and other DC characters but even then, what his role is and how much he knows changes depending on what he needs to know to make that story work.

So I guess, TL:DR - in Deathly Weapons DP-style ghosts are mostly a mystery to the relevant characters, and for others who might exist "off-screen" it could simply be a field of science/magic/study that they aren't personally interested in pursuing.

Sorry for the unsatisfying and weaselly answer, but that's kind of the best I can give you on this one.

[beomgyuls]

⋰ Them coming to pick you up when you’re drunk ⋰

- Beomgyu, Yeonjun, Taehyun, Hueningkai.

NOTE: If you’re wondering why it’s only the four of them.. uhh  I ran out of ideas on what to write in Soobin soo... I’m sorry :<

Beomgyu poked the inside of his cheek after reading all of your drunk texts to him whilst he sat in his car, he was quick to stop playing his usual game when he saw your text to him that you are indeed drunk and the worst part is that you don’t even know where you are. Shaking his head to the side at your state but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his lips after finding your name flooding his lock screen, you left more messages to him as they reached him in notifications. Some notifications said that your head hurts and just some random emojis that you found interesting due to their expressions for you to continue spamming his cell phone.

Stopping at a convenience store to buy some ibuprofen for your headache along the way and something sweet to clear your throat just in case you decided to vomit some alcohol out of your stomach. Beomgyu licked his lips after finally seeing your location at the “Find my iPhone” he would always remind you to turn it on whenever you would head out with your friends just in case something would happen like this situation the two of you are in right now. Walking back to his car, he started the engine and began driving down the road to head straight to where you are, his eyes squinted at the sight of your friends standing outside a club and his heart began to beat fast with worry after not seeing you even if his phone is telling him that you’re close.

Beomgyu let out a heavy sigh of relief when he saw you sitting on the sidewalk, you were laughing at what your friends just said and you had your phone on your lap, he could see that you were also waiting for him. Parking his car at the side for a moment, Beomgyu entered your field of vision and your smile grew wider after seeing him walk up to you, watching him remove his grey hoodie with his hair getting messy in the process, he wasted no time putting it on you. Kneeling down at your level he started helping you wear his hoodie on properly, grabbing both of your hands Beomgyu gently pulled you up to your feet.

“Bye, guys! I had fun!!” You shouted, waving goodbye to them as Beomgyu placed a hand on the small of your back, guiding you to his car.

 “You guys should also go back home, take care and be careful on the way” You heard him say to your friends also with a wave of his hand.

You watched him circle around the car before finally getting inside and taking his place in the driver's seat, you titled your head to the side when he reached for something in the backseat and for him to bring out a white plastic bag of everything he bought at his convenience store stop. He handed it to you for you to peek inside, seeing one bottle of water, ibuprofen, and one chocolate bar of your favorite.

“Awww! Thank you, Beomgyu! I have such a caring boyfriendddddd!!” You said happily, hands flying up in the air to express your gratitude to him.

“Just take one of those to stop your headache” Beomgyu bit down his lip to keep himself under control from becoming a blushing mess about what you just said, switching his attention to the steering wheel as he began reversing the car with one hand, taking glances at his side mirror and rearview mirror.

“Okay, I love you,” You said so softly as it almost sounded like a whisper, you both sat in silence after that, you caught sight of Beomgyu's red-tinted cheeks and ears and the sight made you smile widely. You would always say that you love him at random times of the day and he would always react with flustered cheeks, butterflies inside his stomach, and a euphoric ego that could reach the sky.

“I love you too”

Your eyebrows furrowed down in confusion as you looked behind you, the loud and blasting sound of music coming from the club speakers filled the whole second floor, with many colorful lights decorating the area. Yeonjun stood there not so far from you, he was leaning back at the railing of the stairs, wearing a white shirt that was tucked inside a pair of his black skinny jeans with a dog tag hanging around his neck. He too was drinking from the way your eyes trailed at the empty glass in his left hand, Yeonjun pouted after seeing you not closing the distance between the two of you. One of his friends dragged him here inside the club to have a drink but he declined the offer after seeing you also here, someone has to be sober to drive the other one home and that was Yeonjun.

“You’re here??” You asked, walking closer to him and careful to not bump into someone.

“Yeah, don’t worry I didn’t drink anything. I was just here to look out for you” Yeonjun smiled, finally wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you even closer after seeing you standing in front of him. You looked up at his sharp eyes, he does smell sober and the only thing you could pick up was the smell of his cologne, it quickly felt like home from the way everything else doesn’t matter to you anymore but the man in front of you does.

You rested your head on his chest in the meantime, also wrapping an arm on his waist to keep your body warm from his presence alone. You felt him kiss the top of your head from the way he leaned down to peck it, your drunken state was a heavy feeling to you and you quickly felt your eyes closing slowly.

“Yeonjun bro! Come over here and drink this bottle full!” His friends shouted somewhere around the room. Yeonjun stared at the bottle of alcohol but seemed unfazed at it, he drifted his attention back to your sleeping state in his arms with himself finding it amusing that you could manage to sleep while standing up, but he knows that you’ll get sore feet from it since you’re wearing high heels.

“I can’t, drop me out. I have to take my girlfriend home” Yeonjun said to his friend, waving him a hand and pointing at you who was still sleeping on his chest.

“C’mon, be a good girl for me, and let’s walk to the car okay?” Nodding your head when you felt him gently tapping your cheek, waking you up, Yeonjun placed an arm over your shoulder as the two of you walked out of the club to head straight to his car that was parked outside.

“Bye, Y/n!”

“Bye!!” You waved your friends off as you watched them cross the street, their loud laughs still reaching you from the fun night you had at the bar your friends rented, the cold night was your companion with the wind whistling calmly. You stood outside the bar and waited for Taehyun to arrive, hugging yourself close as you keep an eye out for his car to stop by, and the long silence was stopped after hearing your phone ring, picking it up after seeing that it was Taehyun.

“Taehyun?” You started.

“Are you still there?” Taehyun’s soft voice passed through your cellphone, and you could also hear the sound of his car moving at the back.

“Yeah, what about you? Are you close?” You asked, looking both left and right at the ends of the street, hoping to see his car pass by.

“I’m almost there, don’t worry”

“Alright and end the call now so that you’ll focus on driving” You followed, knowing Taehyun, his focus would switch after hearing your voice. After ending the call, a loud sound of a car honking greeted your ears, looking up you saw Taehyun’s car slowing down in front of you.

You watched as his window rolled down, eyebrows pinched together in worry but you had the opposite. Your eyes were smiling along with your lips as your jumpy steps circled around the car to get inside. From the moment you got in you were met with a pair of sharp eyes staring straight at you.

“How drunk are you?” Those were Taehyun’s first words as he turned his body to face you.

“Ummm… I drank five bottles of beer?”

“Jesus” He muttered.

You just sat there, looking straight at the unmoving car with no words being said. You were always the reckless and outgoing one in your relationship for Taehyun to look after you, he’s always laid back but would tell you things with caution. Warning you and being the caring boyfriend he is.

“I’m sorry…” You spoke between clashed teeth, afraid that you'll be a burden on his shoulders again. You were honestly surprised that Taehyun still hasn’t broken up with you from the way you act around him, you’re childish, and bright with energy.

And that’s what he loves about you. He gets to look after you, he’s the one who will be taking you home and spending his hours in.

“It’s fine, I’m not mad”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and on our way home how about we go grab ourselves some eomuk? Your favorite?” Taehyun smiled, starting the engine of his car after taking in your joyful bliss from what he said.

“Yeah!!” You laughed, clapping your hands together.

The night was deep for Hueningkai to look out the bus window, half of his face was getting kissed by the orange tint coming from the streetlights. Pressing the button beside his seat, he got up and exited the bus. He was quick to look for you. He found you sitting down underneath a waiting shed with your head hung low.

A wave of worry embraced him after taking look at you, looking both left and right, checking if some maniacs tried to make a move on you but no, you were just alone. Sleeping with your jacket draped over your shoulder. Slowly, he walked closer, nearly closing his eyes in disgust after seeing you hunching over to vomit beside you. 

Taking a napkin out of his pocket, Hueningkai carefully wiped the corners of your mouth with gentle strokes making you open your eyes to see your boyfriend kneeling down in front of you. He had his face formed a frown due to his focus on wiping the remaining mess.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, putting a strand of stray hair behind your ear. 

Biting down his lips, Hueningkai stood up, circling around the bench to now stand behind you. 

“I feel sick...” You managed to say, a breathy laugh leaving your mouth afterward.

“Understandable” He laughs along, grabbing your hair tie that was acting as a bracelet on his wrist. Tying your hair to keep it away from your face.

“Where’s your phone and wallet?”

“In here” You lazily pointed at your purse that was secured beside you.

Hueningkai placed his lips in a thin line as he checked your purse, making sure that your cell phone and wallet are really inside. Once done, you felt him take your hand and carefully dragged you along with him to the next bus stop. And when the bus finally stopped, he gave you the seat that was right beside the windows so that you were safe, placing your jacket on your lap to cover your legs as you were wearing shorts.

“Close your eyes for a moment, I’ll be here when you open them” He whispers and gently placed your head on his shoulder.

You nodded your head, closing your eyes really did help for you don’t feel dizzy anymore. The whole ride was quiet, but the assuring rubs of his thumb on your skin made you calm down.

“Hueningkai...” You mumbled.

“Yes?” He was quick to answer.

“Thank you”

[chipped-chimera]

WIP WEDNESDAY - 21/06/23

(I mean it’s technically Friday now between timezones and spoons but have this otherwise I’ll keep forgetting) My first WIP Wednesday! Thanks @theviridianbunny​ for the tag! I’ve been really getting stuck into modding - as well as falling into my usual mod habit of ‘start like six project at once and end up with a million WIP files' but I guess I’ll talk about the major ones.

Graphic design is my passion ...

(Long) rambling about mods I'm making + things I've learned below the cut~

My V’s tatt project is still ongoing, and I’ve (somewhat begrudgingly) been trying out Substance Painter to work on bits of it, mainly polishing seams between UV maps. It’s definitely got a lot of benefits, especially for graphic placement in really tricky areas (like anywhere in the entire head mesh region for example) but I still think a lot of the heavy work will still be done in Photoshop so I’ll probably be writing up both experiences with them when I do that tutorial I keep hinting at for complex tatt work. I’ve started drafting a tumblr tutorial but I wonder if that’s the best format, maybe a PDF? Google doc? Github wikis look cool? (tho I think I need to pay for that) - if y’all got suggestions for tutorial formats pls let me know!

As for the other arguably overly-ambitious-project-where-I-bit-off-more-than-I-could-chew ...

H A I R.

Hair has been the bane of my existence for about the past week( ... weeks? Maybe two?), most of it involving cursing, a lot of reverse-engineering game meshes and smashing my head against blender. But if not already evident from my monowire post - I am a stubborn bitch with too much time on my hands so even though there were at least two moments where I wanted to curl up on the floor under my desk and just stay there - we got there.

This all started because my favourite hair mod which I cannot split from my V’s identity was acting funky and the shape of it had been altered since a physics update. It wasn’t her anymore. So I needed new hair. I tried editing the existing hair. I tried importing the old hair mesh. I tried so many things and they didn’t work out one way or they threw a million errors or there were an obnoxious amount of verts.

I even tried looking for replacement mod hair. None of them fit, all of them felt too ‘clean’ for my V. So I just concluded: FINE. I’ll make my own damn hair. From scratch. At least then I’ll actually KNOW what’s going on with the mesh, right?

Problem with hair is tutorials are very limited in respect to Cyberpunk, so I had to learn a lot of this by myself and looking at other processes used for building game hair. I’ve had a previous stint in game design at uni but it was very introductory and more broad-strokes concepts not specific stuff like what ‘real time hair’ is and how you actually go about placing hair-cards (there’s a million different ways btw) but after another 3 days smashing my head against blender I finally got shit to work to a satisfactory level using hair tools for blender and the particle hair grooming system (not the 3.5 blender system, maybe more on that at some point).

Putting together the hair cards I was 120% convinced this was going to blow up in my face, primarily through vert count. But this hair tool plugin? Alarmingly efficient. I was frequently checking my work against Alt's hair mesh (one I was planning on rigging to) and here's the final-ish stats -

This is with only Alt's hair mesh selected (no cap) and then only my mesh(s - lots of layering to build it up), and by comparison I felt I'd built up the density of a chinchilla. This is not a brag, this is mostly genuine confusion over how efficient this plugin is, all I did was smack around hair curves. It did all the UV mapping junk on the fly.

Although structurally complete, I still consider this a WIP (yes I know there's a reeeeal fun vert funkiness in that second render, it's been fixed) since I'm having to go back and fine-tune some of the UV's the plugins mapped that I'm not happy with and generally figuring out my density problem because if anything, after putting it in-game it felt too dense.

Because yes, somehow I got it in game.

WITH. PHYSICS.

This may have driven me absolutely up the wall between having to learn blender from scratch then what the heck real time hair is and how that works etc. etc. but ... god, seeing her move back from the mirror and just feeling that instant catharsis of 'IT'S HER!' made it so. Damn. Worth it.

It looks too thick - this might be because I chucked in the 'doubled' feature Wolvenkit comes with because I hadn't spent any time doing backfaces. But it also might be because it's black? That's going to need investigating.

The physics need a lot of work too, I did a pretty rushed weight painting job last night on a merged version of the mesh because I was worried whether it was even viable and I'd already dumped an insane amount of hours into this between trying to salvage the old hair and building a new one (with some more bells and whistles. Mainly - curly). That wasn't without it's issues -

This almost fucking cracked me, given this was one of the issues I was experiencing before trying to fix an existing mesh mod. Turns out I was just being dumb and forgetting to export the armature, which I'd thought I wasn't supposed to do after having blender throw a bunch of errors on other hair attempts. I gave it a try after one last shot and boom. Worked. (I dunno what those errors were about man but now I know armature? very important).

Will I release this hair? no damn clue, depends on if I can get it to a level I feel is 'releasable'. I already know what I'm calling it though - Venatrix her side-handle I've decided on.

I look forward to adapting it into maybe a comb-back version, as well as a tied up version, so I can show off both her undercut + have the option of NOT hiding every damn tatt I've obsessed over placing on her neck haha.

In other news -

My much-needed wacom tablet replacement arrived (as well as other things I was looking forward to 👀) meaning my Wacom Cintiq, workhorse of ten years can finally enjoy her retirement. Her controls were getting funky, she had a few dead pixels but man. I'm convinced they won't make them like her ever again. Either way she's done unfortunately - upgrading my monitor to 2k made this painfully obvious. I don't think it's even running in full HD, it's that old. And with Phantom Liberty coming out this year? I'm probably going to need a new videocard and DVI compatibility isn't really a thing anymore.

So for future I think I'll just stick to the basic tablet set up, invest in screens. Also now I FINALLY know what her hair is gonna look like and with the tablet here, I can get back to work on the tattoo bodysuit.

Anyways, that's it for now! (Jesus Christ did you really read all of this? If you did you're a fucking trooper). Sorry for the extended ramble but MAN I did a lot, I needed to yell.

Till next time Chooms! Thanks again @theviridianbunny for the tag~ <3

Oh shit wait, have the blender renders before I forget because hahah I figured out how to do that too lol -

[lilypads17]

theres this fic that exists in my head that im like. trying so hard to write but The Chronic Illness Brain won't let me and its like

guys in white reverse engineer the ecto stoppo power ifier and boom danny's stuck in human form

normally this isn't too bad, his biggest deal recently is his secret identity

the guys in white go searching for phantom cause "he's gotta be powered down by now" and danny's like haha lmao. those guys are worse than my parents some days

uh oh

he can't use like. most powers. he's still got his fucked up stitched-together-with-duct-tape-and-prayers biology and still technically has an ectosignature, but that's the limit

normally, binding a ghost to the human plane would destabilize them instantly. because they're in amity park which is drenched in ectoplasm it would take a couple days, a slow and painful process

but danny isn't any ghost, so binding him to the human plane like this has limited him to human form, cut off access to his more resource heavy powers like the wail, more elaborate ice structures and duplication, so he's at a significant disadvantage. his halfa-ness makes it so he has some access on the human plane alone, but without a connection to the ghost zone that's failing fast

and so is his body lmao <3 cause like. his body stays "alive" (or as close as it gets) on both counts through a symbiotic parasite-esque relationship, his human body has a hightened healing factor, strength, senses, reaction time and several basic ghost powers and the only reason that much electricity didn't fry him into dust and that it can even function is because of his ghost body and it's ectoplasm, which is mostly fed through cellular respiration and feeding his obsession, which makes him unusually durable for a ghost.

so rn he's kind of like. flaking apart.

have that timeframe of 4 days. valerie comes to danny out of desperation and some knowledge that sam and tucker help phantom sometimes. she reveals she's the red huntress so he can help her help phantom, and danny's like. alright well this works out.

basically you get that pirate radio "danny is just as competent without his powers" dynamic with a time clock hanging over their heads and the giw on their asses

they're also going after valerie because her suit's from technus and they're like ah. the half ghost we've been hearing about. what an excellent cover.

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.7 Forget Me Not

Other Chapters

Once the express had cleared the block, the signal dropped and Screech set off with her load. Every few miles they would pull off the mainline into a passing siding to either allow another train to pass, or to pick up more trucks. Slowly slate and stone stretched out in front of her. The train grew from 10 trucks to nearly 40. The crew explained they normally had to make two trips to make all the collections, as the weight was too great for any of their engines. As the train grew, Screech had to work harder to restart the train every time they stopped.

She pulled into Din near 10 o'clock with heavy puffing, and clouds of smoke and steam billowing from her funnel as she climbed through the town to the goods yard. Workmen scattered as she steamed into the yard, grinning from frame to frame with the challenge as she pulled to a stop.

'What about our plan?' The whisper hissed.

Before Screech could respond,  she was uncoupled and given a slow goods to Henaint. The whisper tried to ask again, but they were sent further down the line to Coedwig to pick up a load of timber from the mills. She ran the timber down to the Harbor at Uman, before immediately being sent to Dyffryn to collect a train of wool and mutton.

On throughout the day, Screech ran up and down the railway. Fast trains, slow trains, branchlines, the mainline, and everything in between. She only ever stopped long enough for her loads to be coupled and uncoupled, taking on coal and water while her trains were being arranged.

Again and again, the whisper tried to ask what was her, their, plan. But each time she was given a new train before she could answer.

As darkness fell, she left Din with a load of empty trucks, stopping at each station and goods yard to drop some off.

The moon was high in the night by the time she reversed into the Uman sheds, the last engine to arrive. Enid and most of the other engines were asleep, but Abbey was still awake.

"You should be asleep." 

"I can't. Not till all the engines are back, I'll have nightmares otherwise."

Screech nodded in acquiesce. 

"Eagle was much the same. Now rest while I keep watch."

The express engine frowned, "it's my turn to keep watch, it is your turn to sleep."

"I am unsure if I can sleep. I may very well lack the ability. I certainly don't tire as I used to."

Glastonbury Abbey met her eyes searchingly then nodded slowly. "Very well, but eventually you will need to rest, even if you don't need to sleep."

"But not tonight." Screech flicked a tendril up in front of Abbey's face. The Star's eyes crossed trying to look at it.

"Sleep."

The tendril pressed the express engine lightly on the nose. She stubbornly tried to resist, but couldn't keep her eyes from closing.

Screech smugly smiled, but her good mood was not to last.

'REVENGE,' the whisper hissed, angry at having been ignored throughout the day.

Screech was slammed by images, London, the other railway, the scrapyard, her sisters...

For a moment she was lost in the swirl of images, but with a heave, she threw them from her mind.

"YOU FORGET YOURSELF!" 4702 roared, the sound thundering across the valley.

Next to her Enid jerked awake at the sound, trembling in the sudden cold.

Screech quickly trailed a tendril across her cheek to send her back to sleep, repeating the process with the others just to be sure.

She then turned her attention back to the whisper, glaring into the night. "You have no right." She rumbled angrily.

'Revenge.' It whispered back, chastened, but still upset. It flashed images to her, gently this time, of her day. Of her running throughout the day, laughing and smiling. 'You're forgetting revenge.'

"I haven't forgotten. This is revenge." She could feel the whisper's askance at the assertion.

Screech let out a long sigh, "We can't win. No matter how many of them we kill, they'll just appoint more. And the scrapping won't stop. We can wreak all the havoc we want on people, but the Other Railway won't care. But this... This is something they want. Something we can take from them."

The whisper was quiet for a moment. 'Don't forget revenge.'

Screech smiled, "I promise I won't forget you."

With that promise, the whisper quieted. She settled down to guard the shed for the night.

[apoptoses]

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in Blood Sanation what would it be?

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for Come Pull My Strings in general? Explain your choices if you want!

Bonus if you want/have time: 50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

I'm going to disappoint the hell out of you and admit that I can't hear lyrics 90% of the time, so it's hard for to me to pick songs to relate to fic. I have severe audio processing issues, it takes me like twenty repetitions of a song to even realize the singer is saying words most of the time. And even then I don't understand correctly lol

To make up for that! I have a missing scene from Blood Sanation that I'll give you right now. It's Armand and Daniel returning home to NYC. It just didn't fit in the narrative so I cut it, but it's not a bad scene I think:

Armand rested heavy against Daniel’s shoulder, eyes on the screen embedded in the back of the seat in front of them. Daniel kept scrolling through the movies again and again in wonder. Beside them passengers pushed their way toward the back of the place, bags thudding into their overhead compartments. The flight attendant reached over Armand and slammed shut the compartment above them.

“The seats suck compare to the flights we used to take, but the little tvs are an improvement I guess,” Daniel said as he pushed a button on the menu and found the games.

“Have you not been on a plane since I last saw you?”

Daniel shrugged. “Yeah but I wasn’t really in the mood to play games. I think I stared out the window the whole time.” He put his arm around Armand’s shoulders and squeezed. “I didn’t have you there to hassle me and keep me entertained.”

Armand smiled. Funny how they could make light of that time now, if only to keep from dulling their mood.

Flying home commercial had been his idea.

Skipping the private jet and going to the airport like normal travelers had only seemed natural after reliving the early days of their relationship. True, the airplanes were different now. The seats even in first class were more narrow, and the lounges upstairs were gone. But now Armand could curl up against Daniel’s side freely and not worry about what anyone thought. He could nap against his chest the whole way home if he wanted.

“I’m kind of nervous about going back, to tell you the truth,” Daniel said suddenly.

The plane pulled back from the jetway. It shuddered as the pilot took it out of reverse, changed gears, and turned toward the runway for takeoff.

“What about?” Armand asked.

Surprising for Daniel to say this now, when he hadn’t seemed to worry the entire trip. Armand sat up, craned his neck awkwardly to look at his face without removing Daniel’s arm from his shoulders.

“It’ll just be different, not having you all to myself,” Daniel said. “And I’m not against you having your own relationships outside of what you have with me. But I can’t say I’m not nervous about how it’ll all work out.”

“I don’t think either of us can say how it’ll work out,” Armand said slowly. “We can only try our best. Especially if you’ll be living outside of Trinity Gate.”

“Right.”

The plane rumbled as the engines turned, gaining speed. It rolled forward slowly and then, with a great leap that jerked them back into their seats, roared down the runway and into the sky. Daniel always used to sweat at this part. He’d drink a glass of whiskey before boarding and then request another the moment they’d sat down to get him through the anxiety of take off. As an immortal all Armand could offer him was his hand.

Outside the window the lights of the city grew smaller and smaller. Daniel closed his eyes and laced their fingers, holding his hand tight.

“But just think, the nights I come to visit you we’ll be all alone together. I can get in bed with and sleep away the day, and when I go back home you can text me as much as you like,” Armand said to distract him. “I can send you all sorts of things now when we’re apart.”

Armand shifted closer. He leaned across the armrest to whisper into Daniel’s ear above the roar of the plane.

“I can send you photos. Videos. Louis loves to go to the symphony. I could slip away to the bathroom and send you all sorts of things and he would hardly be the wiser. Or would you like him to know?”

Daniel’s adam’s apple worked in his throat. Armand grinned.

“You want him to know. You like nice, proper Louis knowing that I’ve left my seat to send you photos of my cock.”

Daniel glanced over. “Jesus, Armand, we’re in public.”

“That’s never stopped you before. I remember what I used to do to you under the blankets on these planes when the lights were out. If I could still get in your mind I’d put the image there but- then again, I don’t have to, do I? You can imagine it quite well.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I remember,” Daniel said, voice low and rough.

While no one seemed to be paying attention Armand dropped his hand. Reached over and gave his groin a quick squeeze.

Daniel made a sound as if the breath had been punched out of him. The plane evened out and hit cruising altitude.

“Nice to know I still have such an effect on you,” Armand said and snuggled back up against his side. “Really though, Daniel, Louis will understand.”

Daniel dragged his hand over his face. He was so red under the harsh fluorescent lights in the plane. “I just don’t want anyone jealous or putting you in the middle and making you feel like you have to choose. Or making you feel like your whole job is running back and forth between guys and you never get time for yourself.”

“But I like spending time with each of you. And we can all spend time together, can’t we? Surely you and Louis can survive watching a movie in the same room with me.”

“Yeah, I mean more like- if you spend a couple nights with him and I’m missing you. Or the other way around. Does that sound silly and insecure?” Daniel asked.

Armand nestled into the warm space of Daniel’s underarm and bit back a smile. When Daniel glanced out the window he saw the reflection of his face in the plastic. His hand went still on his shoulder.

“What’s so funny? It is silly and insecure, isn’t it?” he asked.

Armand shook his head. “No. I was only thinking I haven’t had men openly jealous over me since I was a boy. The idea of you and Louis arguing over me is entertaining, that’s all,” he said. “It’ll be fine, really. If you need me all you ever have to do is ask. And besides, Louis may return to Auvergne with Lestat.”

Daniel’s hand resumed rubbing its slow circles into his arm. Armand closed his eyes. They were high enough in the sky there were no lights to look at now, only clouds and endless dark sky.

“And are you worried about that?” Daniel asked.

“Of course. But there’s nothing I can do about it, is there?”

The idea made his chest go tight, caused the lump to try to creep up and constrict his throat. But Daniel’s big hand on his arm helped to push it back down. Over the hum of the engines he could hear the slow beat of his heart and the rasp of his lungs. Armand tried to breathe with him, to exhale whenever Daniel did and keep his airway open.

Louis might leave. But Louis might also stay. Louis and Daniel might one day live with him, all three of them together with whoever else chose to remain at Trinity Gate.

Or perhaps he’d live with Daniel again, just the two of them. There was no way to know. But they were going home now, back to New York, where they could begin again and find out.

Daniel touched the computer screen again. He scrolled through the movies until he found a film with Meg Ryan, one they’d seen together shortly before they’d split. When Harry Met Sally. He felt for his headphones in his pocket and plugged them in, giving one of the earbuds to Armand.

Armand placed the thing in his ear, curled up at Daniel’s side and watched the opening credits roll.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah?”

Armand smirked. “Do you think if I ask the flight attendant for a blanket she’ll bring one?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. Reached up and pressed the call button. It lit up with a soft ding.

“I’m never flying commercial with you again.”