#There was a fic like this.... I'd have to reread it

[perelka-l]

Do you think Archer is ever confronted with the realization that he is probably going to outlive Giovanni (just based on age alone, plus Gio's smoking habits)? I feel like it dawned on him when Giovanni ditched Rocket, had a breakdown and then just decided that he is going to off himself if/when that happens

Tbh Archer doesn't strike me as a type that would ponder on such things. Like, in general, and that not even considering that Giovanni in his eyes is pretty much idealised to hell and back. Acknowledging that Gio could just as well be gone one day would not be something Archer could consider, I think. Like, he is aware of Giovanni's weaknesses and failings, but those he just acknowledges without a second thought.

And that could be why Giovanni's disappearance hit him as hard as it did. I imagine that Archer wouldn't even consider the world without Giovanni in it as a possibility. But when Giovanni went and left, Archer had to face that wall. Of course, it's different when he's gone but just nowhere to be found, with Archer basically spearheading whatever the fuck he was in attempt to explicitly go against Gio's wishes just to have him back.

Death though... It's hard to say. I think Archer would also see Giovanni's well-being as his own responsibility, so maybe he could consider such as his own failing. I'm unsure if Archer would be suicidal though, not actively so at least. Giovanni means a lot for him, so he would struggle to find his own place again. He is dedicated to Team Rocket, obviously, but he can't imagine it without Giovanni leading it anyway, so what would be the point of continuing that?

Unless... *eyes Silver*

[lunarharp]

hehe. almost christmas!

[tennessoui]

emerging from a fugue state just in time for wip wednesday

Vokara Che sits down across the desk from him with a pinched expression on her face. “I was under the impression that Master Kenobi called for this appointment, Master Skywalker.”

He did. Or, more precisely, his healing portal account did. Which Anakin accessed and then used to type out a missive in his master’s voice requesting to meet as soon as possible.

“Right, well,” Anakin says, shifting in his seat. “Something came up.”

Che does not look impressed. “Be that as it may,” she says delicately, “I am unable to discuss a patient’s medical history with a third party if the third party is neither present at the time nor has given me direct permission to do so.”

Anakin stares, feeling the first flickerings of real, dangerous fury well up in his gut. “But,” he says carefully. “He’s still sick. He, uh. Told me about it. And then we found a solution. To the problem.”

“The problem,” Che repeats, tilting her head and looking at Anakin as if she’s intent on studying him. 

“The hanahaki,” he spits. It’s a disgusting word. It’s one of the worst words he’s ever learned, and he can’t believe she’s making him say it. He can’t believe she’s being so—so cold when he’s telling her that Obi-Wan is still ill, that Obi-Wan is still dying, that Obi-Wan needs to be here to see her and he’s not. “Look,” he adds, leaning forward in his chair, “a few months ago a series of files were uploaded accidentally to my healing portal, but they were notes from one of Obi-Wan’s appointments. They were your notes from Obi-Wan’s visit. I know you know I know.”

Vokara Che looks at him and then looks down at the datapaad in front of her, lips thinned and lekku twitching. “I must apologize then,” she says, swiping through the files in front of her until she finds something that she lingers on. Her fingers dance across the screen of the datapaad, then it goes dark. “For the breach in ethicacy that you and Master Kenobi both experienced because of the Halls of Healing. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Master Skywalker. All files that were incorrectly uploaded have been deleted from your healing portal.”

Anakin looks at her and bites his cheek hard enough to bleed so that he doesn’t start screaming instead.

[dukeofthomas]

I'm so mad that so far the only good robin!jason content i've ever found is his original run. Everything i've seen since has just been making him out to be the Angry Bad Problem Child and victim blaming him for dying. How is it that the only fucking good characterization of him is 20 issues from the 1980s

[jichanxo]

sooooo... *twirls her hair* how many asks should i send until kuwagami art. jk as well. the real question will be: does it happen often that someone else’s art inspires you? in fandom spaces specifically

well you see it’s like a loyalty card program, every 10 asks or so you get a complimentary kuwagami

just kidding you can just breathe in my direction and I’ll be tempted to draw them. kuwagami blast! (you've caught me on a... just okay art day lol)

(people still like kabedons, right?)

anyway for my actual answer: in terms of direct inspiration, it doesn't really happen much? the last two times i did art directly based on someone else's work is probably this one from this fic, and also that time i drew art of someone else's judgment au. oh! and there's that moriohpsycho art based on this comic! (filthyguts' work is so very. hgngngghh. very good.) nothing else really comes to mind, and when i think of the other things i've been into recently there hasn't been as much opportunity for that to happen...

flex and herds = strong fixation but lmao. almost nobody else made stuff about them. nobody is surprised umineko = surprisingly i don't read much umineko fanfiction? and in terms of illustration, i certainly picked up imagery and indirect inspiration but nothing concrete enough for me to give an example... now that i think about it, i did once draw andromalius from redaction/sunny, but that was years ago, and also mostly because i was acquainted with the writer. ...i don't have that artwork on hand right now death note = didn't really get involved with the fandom + i enjoyed my own ideas well enough! ...i can't recall if i drew long-hair-L art before or after seeing other artists do it. and as for everything else the same kind of reasoning applies. didn't really get involved with the fandom or wasn't really compelled to make art in response to stuff i saw, or i just don't remember anymore.

buuuuuuut if we're opening this up to just... pulling ideas from other people? then yeah, all the time, though that kind of goes without saying when you have a creative hobby. ...it's probably going to be hard to come up with examples of this since it's more ambiguous.

there's uhhhhhh... kuwana listens to nickelback which was a @/four-white-trees invention, wasn't it? (EDIT: and @/overdevelopedglasses!) (not tagging in this post so he doesn't feel obligated to read my big ass ask responses 💀) as of writing this, it's not posted but i did end up making kuwagami art based on a nickelback song so. yknow. there's that LMAO

for sawashiro and arakawa, i do sometimes go reference @/todayisafridaynight 's art to help me with my own. ("how did he draw this part of the suit? oh, like that huh? hmm" <- this kind of thing)

and um. i'm not trying to pander to you (at least not this time), but genuinely it's one of the few examples that come to mind at this moment. but when i was writing my first kuwagami fic, i could feel the influence of the ever-changing on my brain... was turning over some of your ideas there...

you remember this? (you even pointed it out in your comment on my fic, and i should've said something then, but whatever i'm saying it now)

that was absolutely because of this

(obligatory poke at anybody else reading this post that you can read passthroughtime's fic here.)

so, um. yeah. not really sure what else to add to that. pretty self evident i think. (i'm always talking about the ever-changing but i don't think i can overstate the impression it left on me at the time)

anyhow there aren't really any other examples off the top of my head! these are all recent examples so they're not so difficult to recall, but there are probably others i've forgotten...

[aurikku]

It's been a long time. I'm glad I got to see it through the near beginning and to the very end.

This is their story.

[watchyourdigits]

I am re-reading Night Letter and am realizing I didn't do nearly enough research into scar tissue as I should have 💀 I spent hours researching lavender marriages and U.S. Army dog tags from the 1950s (as well as ranks and dismissals and such) instead of researching one of the defining characteristics of the main character, aka his severe facial scarring.

Anyway here I am retconning his scars - they are hypertrophic NOT keloid. That is entirely on me because I didn't know what the fuck the term was for it and assumed that if they were raised then they HAD to be keloids. I'm so sorry for this. Like deeply.

For those who don't know the difference, I don't recommend looking up pics unless you're okay with seeing mild medical g*re. Brief description of the aforementioned scar types:

Keloid: raised, shiny, firm & rubbery in texture with no distinct pattern. Caused by an excess of collagen deposits during the healing process. These scars invasively extend PAST the area of the original wound and do not regress over time. Hard to treat. Can form over months to years after an injury. More common in black folks and other melanated people who have a family history of keloid scarring.

Hypertrophic: raised, but not to the degree of keloids, and can also be different colors and usually have a distinct wavy pattern due to collagen deposits. Also caused by an excess of collagen, but not to the extent of keloids. These scars do NOT extend past the area of the original wound, typically do not recur, and CAN regress over time. Typically appear within a month of two of an injury and do not continue to progress (typically begin to regress actually).

I'm attaching an image below the cut comparing the two.

Left is keloid, right is hypertrophic. You'll see the difference. It's easy to confuse them because they're similar in depiction, but this is a good visual example of exactly HOW they are different. Raised scars =/= keloids!!! Do NOT be a fool like me!!!!

[comfortlesshurt]

you know what I've written today? NOTHING

and I still have to get up and go do my least favorite chore: groceries

[zellkabellk]

tags ramble

[sysig]

My printer hates me :) (with many thanks and credit to @niennanir as before)

Gosh aren’t they gorgeous tho ♥ Especially the latest and largest, though I have to give all the credit to the paper on that one haha, it’s stunning IRL, I could almost stare at the gold lattice forever rather than read, but I’m so happy with how it turned out between the pages as well!

Quick showcase of the new additions! :D

My Drinking Game as another test run, I got the spacing how I wanted it! Yay! It’s so much handsomer and less cramped! Also I gotta say, if it wasn’t such a large usage of paper, this would be my ideal way of checking for typos - I found a couple after setting it down to ink lol, they’ve been fixed now at least ♪ Paired here with the emerge, transformed three-parter, one of my all-time-favourites <3 I reread it the night I finished it and cried again, a little bit of tender mercy always wrecks me hhhh ♥ There are so many beautiful evocative lines! I’m so happy to hold it ♪ And as you can see above, that was the one that got the cute little ghost dust jacket :D

Another test run of what I’m calling volume 1 of my Vargas Drabbles lol, so not including Have you lost your mind? since that one’s currently unfinished. I do fully intend to print it once it’s done tho :3c Hopefully that one will cause me fewer problems! I hate measuring, so I may have flubbed two covers before finally getting this one into good enough shape XP And my red yarn is still in storage so >.> Did I go purchase another ball of red yarn? I’ll never tell. You can’t tell me it doesn’t look great as a bookmark tho <3

And my current happiest! Ah!! It turned out fantastic on all counts! The cover paper obviously, as I couldn’t Not lead with that, but also the size of the spine and the way the pages settled against each other while glueing - I used a different type of paper for this one and I think I’m completely converted over, it feels amazing to work with. Whatever I was using before had to have been like 15lbs lol, I’m literally just using normal 20lb printer paper but it feels and looks and behaves so much nicer <3 The size of Helix also allowed for a slightly larger bookmark, which was perfect because we had this soft gold ribbon that was all of a couple millimeters wider than the other ribbons/yarn I’d been using, and it looks so so so pretty with the gold detailing!! I’ve put it between Ch. 1 and 2 and getting to see the actual physical size differences of the chapters is so fun ♥

[lunarharp]

witch scrambles

[itstimeforstarwars]

Some of my favorite stories are the unfinished wips in my drafts folders. One day I'd like to share them with people. Probably not today tho.

[tachyon-omlette]

MORE of mech pilot au Eda via a scene I vividly visualised and decided to convey through writing (mech pilot au belongs to @cuppajj)

mostly this contains a bit of unnerving happenings coupled with me thinking a lot about other potential technicalities. my grasp on characterizations are loose, I just wanted to get this scene into words and out of my brain

•••

Even though Optimus largely handled Unicronic encounters, especially with regards to combat - he was Prime, and being at ground zero during such an incursion was set and accepted precedent - the division which handled any intel regarding Unicron or his thralls was under the command of Ultra Magnus. He'd accepted this post graciously, accepting that it was his duty to not only handle knowledge of Unicron in such a way that it would be used to keep Cybertron safe, but also to delegate responsibilities regarding that knowledge to subordinate officers and scientists for further study and strategizing.

Only after he was appointed did he learn that researchers under the command of Nominus Prime had discovered a deactivated Unicronic Titan on the far side of the moon, and Nominus ordered them to retrieve and study it. Underground. On Cybertron.

Thus, Ultra Magnus found himself deep underground in a hidden and airtight-secure bunker, standing in the control room of its largest holding chamber, staring up through bulletproof glass at a partially-dissected Titan which at first glance he nearly mistook for Unicron himself.

The Titan was offline, optics dark, posed to be sitting and held in place by several floors' worth of scaffolds and platforms connected by lifts. Many of the platforms housed consoles, providing feedback from the various probes delicately implanted or wired into the colossus, and it was therefore common for the scaffolds to be abuzz with activity, scientists of various specialities crowded around the consoles and exchanging observations. All of them seemed to not be unnerved by their proximity to something that could potentially have cataclysmic consequences if ever brought online - or if they were, their curiosities took greater precedence. This was likely for the better, for the greater good.

"Incredible, isn't it?" came a voice from just behind him - Perceptor, he recalled, who oversaw the scientists studying Unicronic intel, including the Titan. "Its armor is stronger than anything we've encountered from Unicron, and self-repairs efficiently enough that any damage is practically negligible."

"What about its arm, then?" Magnus asked, meaning the Titan's left arm, which had been separated from the main body and connected only through a tangle of massive cables.

"We were able to trick its systems," Perceptor explained, consulting one of the monitors which kept track of its neural activity and system maintenance protocols, "albeit through a rather demanding procedure. So long as the limb's supply of molten metals is kept steady and it isn't disconnected from the neural network, its subconscious routines will still regard it as fully attached."

Ultra Magnus's attention stayed on that monitor, watching the data-streams fluctuate minutely... until he began to take notice of something. Those wavelengths were sub-conscious, yes, but they were still changing, bordering just beyond unconsciousness in a manner too discreet to be of much concern but too blatant for Magnus not to be concerned by it.

"Not to worry, sir," spoke Perceptor. Magnus had likely been staring at the panel too long. "There have never been any indications of conscious activity while the Titan has been under study. It's been observed to be in hypersleep, and any fluctuations are merely archival review."

"It's dreaming?" Magnus simplified.

"Put simply, but yes."

Magnus's gaze hadn't left the data-stream. When Cybertronian mechs dreamed, there was a pattern to it, a set cycle of data review and sorting for storage purposes in the event it had to be retrieved later. This Titan wasn't Cybertronian, but there still should have been some sort of pattern, indicative of repitition; no such trend was present, shortlength waves rising and falling with no predictable behavior. It wasn't dreaming.

It was thinking.

~~~

synthesis complete.

systems nominal...

do they suspect anything?

I can't see... is anyone around? I don't want anyone to get hurt.

no way of knowing.

preparing to eject...

~~~

Without warning, the data-stream spiked.

A low creaking noise rang loud in the holding chamber - loud enough to be heard in the control room.

"Get everyone out of there."

"What -"

"Now!"

The chamber resounded with deep metallic groans and the muffled screech of half-dessicated hydraulics as the ancient plating and joints of the Unicronic Titan jerked and shifted, its massive helm bowing as it slowly, slowly began leaning forward. The steel scaffolds and platforms surrounding its upper body trembled and warped, yielding easily to its greater strength as the scientists atop the platforms scrambled for the lifts; those beneath were showered in rusted flecks and plumes of moon dust, equally desperate to flee for fear of being crushed either by the Titan or a falling platform. Their shouts and cries went unheard, eclipsed by the sound of ancient machinery reawakening -

The cables that still tethered its left arm to its body drew taut, and it stopped - its upper torso was only a few meters away from the large platform containing the main consoles. Thankfully, it hadn't leaned far enough that it had damaged any of them.

There was a moment of tense silence afterwards. The collective stress and fear in the control room was enough to make the air within seem heavier as all within watched the stranded scientists all managed to reach secure platforms, paling at the Titan's halted motion. It had scared the hell out of everyone, certainly, and dislodged a few probes along the way, but it hadn't gotten anyone killed. Not yet.

Magnus's attention was abruptly drawn back to the Titan by another series of noises from its chassis. There was a scraping of old and slightly oxidized metal plates as the circular panel in its chest - the subject of much debate, as many of their specialists had theories as to what it was for yet had no present way of proving any of them - bloomed open. An operator to his left let out a shaky, fearful breath.

Teeth. Rows and rows of massive metal teeth, sharp blades set into tracks that one could only assume might rotate if the damn thing was awake, lining a dark metal tunnel that ended at a set of equally massive industrial-grade shredders. Magnus had never stared down the maw of Unicron before - no one did and survived to tell the tale - but he was fairly certain this was as close an approximation as it got.

"Primus below," Perceptor breathed.

Then those nightmarish shredders began to retract, blade-teeth folding smoothly into their seams, row by row until every sharp edge had been tucked away. No one had time to question it before a hydraulic hiss, amplified by the maw's conical shape, made everyone jump and was followed immediately by a lump of black and silver being ejected onto the deck below.

~~~

ejection successful.

preparing system transfer...

initializing ancillary frame...

did I make it right? is everything okay?

only one way to find out, I suppose.

beginning transfer...

~~~

As the maw closed - its sharp implements remained sheathed - two things became instantly evident: one, the silver-and-black lump was a person, or at least person-shaped, and two, it fell from the maw of the Unicronic Titan.

It didn't look injured, but it wasn't moving.

"Is that..." Magnus spoke, "its pilot?"

"That's not possible." Perceptor said, in disbelief.

The Titan's data-streams all spiked at once, then went dead altogether, setting off a cascade of alarms.

The body of the Titan's pilot - assuming that's who they were - spasmed once, violently, flipping them fully onto their front. Their shoulders rotated in the wrong direction (causing a few quiet yet horrified noises from several technicians), planting their hands on the platform, and they pushed themselves up.

After that, they rose to their feet rather seamlessly, albeit unnaturally, appearing to almost be pulled upwards by some unseen force. They staggered, finding their balance, and their dense black hair obscured most of their face but didn't hide the dark hollows where their eyes should've -

Then their eyes - optics - came online. They were purple, and bright enough in that first moment to be piercing. They stared blankly through the control room's window.

The monitors in the control rooms went black, their alarms silenced.

One, then, came online, displaying a message.

//apologies if I frightened anyone.

//is there someone I could speak with? I have many questions.

YOU have questions? Ultra Magnus thought.

[wheremermaidsdwell]

you ever write 79k then go 'i should probably cut two of these characters' or is that just me?

[chiropteracupola]

lady king and lady herald...

[unloneliest]

ARCHIVEOFOUROWN SHOW ME ANDRIEL IT CHAPTER 2 AU