#god this is so rambley

[bonesbuckleup]

Do you have any advice on how to learn from writers you love? I've read a few books recently that are absolutely spell binding but not in a way I'm currently capable of mimicking. Do you think there's a way to pick out what it is we love and then practice it in our own stories?

Oh, bud. Oh, bud. OH, BUD. The way this ask has been making me positively rabid all day with wanting to answer it. Fun fact--this is a hill I have died on, am currently dying on, and will continue to die on for my entire existence.

Short answer: Yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. What you're describing is the oldest model on earth for learning how to do any artistic undertaking: you look at what the masters are doing; you think that you would like to do that thing; you learn the rules; you replicate, replicate, replicate, replicate; once you've mastered the rules, you break those rules to create your own style. Painting, writing, musical instruments, woodworking...this is the most classic of classic ways to learn a craft.

Long answer: Number one, anyone doing anything remotely creative should listen to what Ira Glass has to say about the creative gap. I kept trying to type up an answer to this ask, and he says in 2 minutes what I was taking thousands of words to try and describe.

Under a cut! And I'm sorry, it's very rambley, but I really think I could teach an entire semester class based on this concept.

The thing is, the way you go about picking out what you love and figuring out how to do it yourself will vary widely depending on what you want to replicate in your work. Dialogue, general plotting, vibes, mood, setting, character...all of these have slightly different ways you can go about them. I could probably write a book on this topic. I tried to boil it down to a few ideas:

Identify what it is EXACTLY that is drawing you to that particular book, short story, writer, etc. There is no room here for "I don't know, I just love it!" It might be the overall mood of the story. It might be the way characters are depicted. It might be the way the writer puts a sentence together. It might be how they use really plain language and then just SMACK YOU IN THE FACE with a sudden lyrical sentence. It can be anything. It might be small, like a specific 3 lines of dialogue. It might be big, like the way the plot is put together. I had a professor who called this the "gravitational pull," which is a part of the story you are drawn to the most. There can be multiple of these in a single work, of course, but the important part is to be explicit and direct in pinpointing what they are.

Rip apart the thing you love. Violent? Yes. Necessary? Also yes. Once you've identified what it is that's your gravitational pull in a story (and it's okay if there's more than one, just work through them one at a time), it's time to figure out how they work. I tend to be fascinated by how plots fit together, the if-then of storytelling, so I end up spending a lot of time making outlines of other people's books. (Fun fact: using a classic three act structure, Twilight is an almost mathematically perfect plot). Figuring out how things work can take a while, depending on what aspect you're looking at. If it's a character arc, you might plot out the main scenes and shifts that character goes through, then identifying the specific moves the writer made to take them from Point A to B to C to D. If it's something like style, such as the way a sentence is phrased or the way the language works, write down your favorite bits and figure out what, exactly, it is that you like about them. What's the draw? How is it functioning as one piece in a whole?

(One warning for ripping apart the thing you love--once you start reading like this, it's really hard to turn it off. You'll be perpetually diagnosing and dissecting everything you read. It takes a really good book to make me not do this, but even then, once I realize my analytical brain was quiet for a while? It gets kicked into overdrive, because a book that makes Analytic Brain shut up is a really fucking good book, and I want to know what makes it tick. ANYWAY. Be warned.)

Read a metric fuckton. Read the kind of thing you would like to write. Read the opposite of the thing you would like to write. Read fiction and non-fiction and fanfiction, and figure out how they're similar or different and what the rules are for each. My favorite books all combine bits and bobs from different genres (Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is such a banger of a book, and it's basically if Arthurian Legend met Beloved by Toni Morrison and took place on a college campus which is a bizarre premise but it WORKS SO WELL).

Write "In the Style Of" Pieces. Another professor of mine had us read several stories by the same writer all in a row. We identified the things that made them That Writer's style. So, for instance, JD Salinger: he has short sentences, very plain language, tends to have a page break/vibe shift approximately halfway through his short fiction, and often has some kind of shift at the ending. I think. It's been 10+ years since I read one of his. THE POINT IS: we identified the things that made a JD Salinger short story a JD Salinger Short Story. We looked at them and figured out how they worked. Then our assignment was to write a JD Salinger Short Story using the themes and style ticks that he used. We also did this with Denis Johnson (lyrical prose about very un-lyrical situations), Flannery O'Connor (Catholicism and people being shady), Raymond Carver (a rant for another time lmao), and a few others who are escaping me.

Were my pieces anything like the greats? NOPE. Not at all. I definitely fell short. But! There were a few things I learned from each of them, including things I didn't want to do. I think knowing what you don't want to do in writing is almost more valuable than what you do want to do, but I'm getting off topic. By forcing myself to write in a style completely alien from my own, whether or not it was good writing, I started to figure out what my aesthetics are, what I want my voice/writing/style to look like, how I wanted to structure stories, and I learned that from taking bits and pieces from some of the masters. This is an exercise I still sometimes do: what would this story look like if Neil Gaiman wrote it? Leigh Bardugo? Karen Russell? Tamora Pierce? How is a story by CL Polk different than one by Kazuo Ishiguro or Douglas Adams or Cornelia Funke?

Steal Widely and Mercilessly. Fiction is stealing. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. I got into grad school with a story that boiled down to "what if Leonard McCoy was drafted into the Vietnam War and had to decide to dodge or not?" My grandma had a saying about babies--hope for a girl and love what you get--which is more or less the basis of a major character in the novel I'm finishing up. We all steal. We're all thieves. There's a difference between stealing and plagiarism, obviously, but like...I love the way Rory Power balances dialogue and action, and sometimes I read and use her stuff as a structure model. I used the plot breakdown of Hunger Games for that same novel I'm finishing up--it is nothing like HG, but the pacing was relevant, which is learning while running. Whenever I'm about to write a garden scene, I reread bits of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Like. Steal. Do it. We all do. Fiction's a grab bag and we're all out here grasping at straws. We're not stealing things verbatim, because again, plagiarism, but like...you like Zuko from atla a lot? Cool, grab his general character and put him on a space ship. You think the concept of Bruce Wayne is fun? Neat, what's he look like on spring break and broke and named Carl? You heard someone say something truly unhinged on the bus? That happened to a friend of mine, and her book came out from Simon and Schuster a couple years ago and the unhinged thing is still in it.

Make writer friends. I don't necessarily mean accomplished writer friends, though that's fine too! But the most valuable writer relationships and critique partnerships are with people and who are on an even-ish level to your current writing status, whatever that is. Because sometimes it's really, really hard to articulate what you love about a thing that's working well, especially if you're new to this practice. However, it can be much easier to recognize what isn't working well. That's the true secret of writing critique: it's not always to make your writing better, but to teach you how to talk about what you like, don't like, is working, or isn't working in any particular piece of writing. Plus, then you have a buddy to commiserate with, and that's always a necessary component of writing.

Write a metric fuck ton. Once again, I reference Ira Glass on the creative gap. You churn through enough words, and eventually you look up and realize your words have gotten better. I know a bunch of writers, and you want to know the difference between the truly talented and "gifted" ones and the ones who hustle and grind? Over the years, the ones who work really fucking hard and put a bunch of words out (versus being precious and going after perfection) have published more widely and are producing more interesting, compelling work than the "talented" ones. Almost every time.

One final thing: the moments I hate my writing the most are almost always just before a level up occurs. It's like a boiling point. So those times you really, really hate everything you do? You might be close to a break through, so do not give up. Keep going.

And, actually, I lied. I'm going to end this with a few of my favorite books about writing. None of them I love 100% all the way through, but the all had bits and bobs that I've found useful in how to dissect stories and diagnose what you like or don't like about them:

Story Genius by Lisa Cron

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (very woo woo but honestly a feel-good favorite)

Story by Robert McKee (A BRICK. Technically about screenwriting, but it's useful for classic structures like the 3 act, a hero's journey, etc)

Steering the Craft by Ursula K LeGuin (when I say that I would die for any word UKLG says about writing...ugh...love her.)

I hope something somewhere in this answered your question, and honestly, thank you for giving me an opening to scream about this specific thing, because it's one of my favorite rants to have.

[spooksier]

having a moment. but when i was little and first getting into writing stories and drawing characters i always used to make every single character white, strange when you consider that im literally black but much less strange when you realize that at that point in the early 2000s i had never before seen a black person play a hero in something i loved or see a black person on tv with an actual role period (me and my sister used to see how long we could watch tv without ever seeing a black person, INCLUDING ads and it would go on for hours) so to little me, all the heroes were white. things slowly got better and i obviously got over that idea but still most roles i saw a black person play on tv was the sassy best friend of the white protagonist who existed only to be a sidekick or anything like that. but this is the first year ive actually felt like things were actually looking up.

between spiderverse, doctor who, and percy jackson i have never seen so many widely loved protagonist roles in mainstream media held by black people ever before in my life, ESPECIALLY by dark-skin people!! and they're well written! and they're the hero! and they have full lives outside of just being "the black character"! idk man it's just nice to finally get this, i love u miles morales, i love u the 15th doctor, i love u annabeth chase <333

[eeveekitti]

rambley my new best friend rambley

[howdy-folks-its-showtime]

Meet The Mods: Mod Whirly!

Howdy! I'm Whirly or Cobalt, both names work though Cobalt is usually the name I use for my sonas. Speaking of Sonas look at the LOVELY batim-sona my partner Roddy designed for me!! Such a talented boyfriend I have truly. They got my vibe down so well and gave me such gender~ I always loved the lost ones designs so it just felt fitting for me to be one.

Brief backstory time! I'm the writer and original artist behind It's Showtime, I wrote the original bits of story for it probably about 5 years ago, around when BATIM first released. It's Showtime basically started out as just my own predictions and theories for how Batim would go, but as it continued I fell so in love with the story I began telling through RPs and ideas I picked up along the way, it just sort of gradually became it's own thing!

Of course the entire thing needed a huge rewrite considering I was newly in middle school when it started and now I've graduated Highschool, but I've made tons of progress on it so far. It also needed a huge redesign and I have my lovely partner to thank for all the wonderful designs you all see on the website! They truly took my old designs and fresh rewrites of the characters and made the kind of art I always imagined would pair so well with this story <3

So whatever it is we choose to do with this story and its characters I can promise you all, I'll put my heart, soul and other organs into it.

[providencehq]

With the reveal of the Black Pawns actually being robots, what did you think that said of BK's leadership style vs WK's leadership style? Also, do you think she incorporated some aspects of herself into them? Like, fighting styles and personality traits; watching "Assault on Abysus" had me hyperfixated on that one Black Pawn with a speaking role. That one, at least, made me think of a younger BK, more easily frustrated and with the need to succeed without additional help.

Man, your brain. Thinking things I would have never esp in regards to Black Knight. You seemed to have nailed on the head of my personal headcanon when it comes to her: her leadership style is vastly different from White Knight but it seems more so from an internal force rather than external and it radically shapes their ideals and how it plays out into their leadership styles and let me explain. (Edit as I finish writing this, very rambly, I think I repeat points many times)

Black Knight is seen constantly as a need to control, something, anything whether it is as openly as Providence or as lowkey (more so indirectly but still having her hand in the pie as the saying goes) in regards to the initial Nanite research group. This need to have control and in essence power can stem from who knows where. We as viewers never get that chance to actually dwell into her past like we were able to in a degree with White Knight. I personally make the assumption due to what we do see of her of being a fairly rash, quick tempered, and take/make an opening to get the smallest step ahead as a result not having power in her life to some degree when she was younger. Black Knight has to make opportunities to get power rather than what seems to be willingly handed with White Knight in comparison. (I can and would talk about my headcanons about young BK here but that is long and lengthy and I feel like little evidence to support from the show but know my ideas about her and her relationship with whatever happened to young her is basically rivalry based and feeling lesser.) She kills a member of the Consortium who more or less challenged her and made it seemed like she was a means to an end (for the Consortium) because she wasn't viewed as an equal. Questioning of her role, her power, her knowledge is a threat to her and the ability to control herself.

But here's the thing! She's a really, really shit leader for Providence. We know she's rash, manipulative (yay! go gaslight, gatekeep girlbosscore for her). She can't lead like White Knight does. Here's the thing, White Knight, questionable at times with his leadership skills but he's commanding a massive, multibase operation over many years and he makes tough calls. He commands forces, he gets information, he's actively working on trying to better the world whether the cure is feasible or not. He was forced into a position of power by happenstance but he takes in stride and understands that his leadership hinges on the survival of humanity, cure or not. WK has a tough job he has good reigns on the whole of Providence.

What does Black Knight do? Clearly struggle through keeping Providence under any semblance of control in comparison. She has lost it's more or less elite force when Rex went a little MIA there for a few months and clearly she can't keep things in Providence under control unless every aspect it seemingly controlled by her. The Black Rooks, her elite guards (I don't think all of them are androids just... most. I like to think she managed to have a few actual human elite running around) ARE FUCKING ANDROIDS! SHE CONTROLS THEM FULLY! Programmed to obey (and clearly be more prone to violence and generally extreme tactics which uh, wonder who programmed them to be like that!?) But to get onto that point of her ask, I see it's a very reasonable jump to make that she included aspects in herself in the androids. She needs something that she can rely on, that she can understand what move they'll make next, that understand the objective. Time after time we see she can't rely on anyone but herself to get after her true goal of just control (over Providence, Rex, EVOs, nanites, Consortium, the human body, life and death itself) why would she program her elite to not have a similar mindset to herself? Basically disposable extensions of herself. But I like the idea of her incorporating her fighting style with them, I will be crafting ideas in my head for that for a bit. Gonna let that idea simmer in the brain pot of headcanons.

Also back onto the whole internal verses external forces causes her leadership to be super wonky and insightful in comparison to White Knight. White Knight is more or less driven, yes to an extent the Consortium, but mostly by to be in power. A goal that all of humanity can overcome or bare with the nanites. Dude is pessimistic, makes choices that could easily in the blink of an eye end millions of lives (like bleaching a city), and manipulates/misleads people to get closer to a cure. But it's all for that chance for a cure, for Providence to come out on top, for humanity to survive fully! He has the support of Providence, large portions of the population, Rex and Six and Holiday, to make the hard decisions for humanity. To make decisions with that kind of gravity can't be done lightly and there's trust in his leadership and decisions even if they suck from Providence on multiple levels.

Black Knight doesn't have this trust. We as the audience are missing a lot of information from those six months Rex was gone but Black Knight is in charge now and things are weird and bad. The lack of trust with Black Knight being in charge can come from so many angles: new leadership, discontent from the public and Providence workers as a whole, the loss of many of their assets without an effective replacement. But I lean towards she won't trust down the ranks in Providence. She sees herself as higher than everyone else in Providence and won't let anyone be an equal. Research? She knows best. EVO containment and control? She knows best. The direction of Providence? Don't worry, she knows what to do. Her need of control is her downfall for leadership, her suspected inability to have Providence soldiers/rooks be completely under her thumb with her decisions led her to make her androids that would follow her orders instead. (Which brings into question, what was something she asked them to do that they wouldn't cross the line of? WK was going to bleach a city, costing countless lives, what could be worse than that? Providence before WK was pretty casual about child vivisection so who knows! Maybe refusal to accept a new leader simply, esp head of Providence.) Black Knight's leadership is stemming from her need to control, a pressing internal force is seemingly every choice she makes. She's selfish and it shows how she heads towards goals with Providence as the vessel and man! is it shit! It's just a massive shitshow barely holding together!!!

Black Knight is ahhhhh! She's so focus driven on herself and her goal of control in whatever means and it's so clear she's basically a kid who wants power but doesn't actually know how to handle it. She's nothing like White Knight no matter how she tries to emulate him when she's running Providence. She wants power but she doesn't know how to handle it. She fumbles through the steps of being a leader and yes, members of Providence question her, but she's still there, leading it! It isn't until placing her directly up and against White Knight do you really see it! Their fight is such a great analogy for how they run Providence. White Knight prepares, plants ahead, has backup plans, and knows what he's up against verses Black Knight who lashes out, has to pull a plan out her ass, and thinks she knows what she's up against by personal history but not through technical knowledge and it fucks her in the end.

Ahhhhh! the parallels! THE PARALLELS!!!!!!!!!!

[wings-of-angels]

I completely believe that the way Stone and Robotnik dance together symbolizes their relationship and if Stone and Robotnik don't finally properly dance together in Sonic 3 I will lose my shit

[narancias-headband]

For the assumptions asks: I think you're a really creative person who easily gets into various characters' mindset and personalities. It shows pretty well in your headcanons. Also, you seem like that one person who's always fun to be around!

Ahhhh this is so sweeeet!

I really try to like. Make the characters feel authentic. I just... Think. And project onto them. Until it just feels right. Idk. My creative process is really weird. I settle into the mindset and just. Let it happen 😂

And I do really try to be fun to be around. Cuz like. I just wanna have a good time. And I'm so happy people think I project that energy!! :)

[wall-e-gorl]

Potty training a puppy is. exhausting

[shaykai]

Super rambley but Sceleritas tries so hard for Durge.

If they spare Isobel, he tells them they’re going to kill their nearest and dearest companion (which Durge has a history of not doing- Orin straight up calls them a liar if they say they’d kill those they’re closest to without hesitation) not because Bhaal asked for another head to replace Isobel’s, but because Sceleritas knows the consequences of not giving him one (and so should Durge, but their brain is ruined and muddied and surely they can turn this around because it isn’t their fault, they don’t know what they’ve done by sparing her)

They need something grand and dramatic and meaningful, it needs to be a sacrifice on Durge’s end because that’s the only way to possibly make up for them resisting their god given Urge

It’s not meant to be a punishment (but it is, isn’t it?) it’s meant to be repentance, a sad gift to Father in hopes that he’ll forgive their transgression

It’s not right, but that’s just how it is being under Bhaal. Sceleritas understands the consequences- his whole existence is purely meant to help steer Durge towards their purpose- what’s a bit of hurt now if it will save their very life? Their blood right?

The love is there, it’s just twisted to the point that the only people who would recognize it as love are other Bhaalists

[lemonjestercoffee]

so i said something about alicorns being funky in my last mlp redesign post yeah? well before i get into that-

the beautiful bride and the ugly ass groom

okay okay jokes aside here's Shining's real sheets and Cadance on her own

starting off with design choice notes

Shining Armor - his was like- really hard to figure out and i didn't really know what i was doing, but i did like the concept of him having lost a leg in some sorts of battle. one thing i did know what i was doing with tho was his armor, i never really liked the canon armor so i decided to take my own stab at it. decided to make it cover the more important areas better, added gambeson underneath, put a royal crest on it, and gave them a head weapon. yes the metal horns are on all species armor, it's there not only to protect real horns from oncoming attacks but also give all soldiers an emergency weapon if they get disarmed. the tassels would be colored differently depending on rank

Cadance - the only through i really had going into her design was i wanted her to have a cloud and heart motif, but i'm unsure if the way i handled it is the best. her cutiemark is meant to resemble a Mexican sacred heart because deity of love- like come on. i also wanna kinda change the color of the carnation in her hair to stand out more, but white carnations have a different meaning so it's fiiiinee

okay now what we really wanna hear about, what the fuck did i do to the alicorns?

i decided to tamper with their lore quite a bit, as i was inspired to by the Skyscraper Gods Au by Shirecorn. now mine is no were near as drastic as that au, obviously, but it did inspire me to come up with my own quirks for them.

i went more "alicorns are more like the elves of ponies but because they can only be made by some unexplained rare mystical intervention and live for fuck off long, normal ponies see them as demigods of sorts". i've even given them things like groups or locations that they act as patrons of and prioritize above other things, but that stuff gets a little rambley so imma not do that on this post

for the anatomy tho, i can talk. i'll be using Twilight as a visual example because she's the one i've drawn in all stages

so basically the concept here is pretty similar to the canon, but with some funky add-ons.

first up- when an alicorn ascends, not only do they gain the wings/horn combo and grow an inch, they also gain some other unique anatomy from the other species.

Unicorn- along with the horn, they also receive the ear tip tufts i gave unicorns. these actually have a purpose, they're sensitive to magic energy and allow unicorns to tell where magic is coming from. depending on the unicorn they vary in sensitivity but alicorns are by far the most sensitive Pegasus- along with the wings, the get some of the extra feathers pegasai have on their bodies, namely the ones on their ankles that are used for finer trajectory adjustments in flight. they also receive the sensitivity of their hooves that's used to pick up changes in cloud texture and sense their stability Earth Pony- earth ponies may seem like they don't add shit, but they actually give two very important things. the first thing is a strength boost, as they're stronger than the other two pony species by nature. the other thing is dense as fuck hooves. that sounds kinda lame but they have rock hard hooves that allow for them to dig into dense materials and have a kick with some real bite in it that the others just can't replicate and might tear their own hooves up trying. they also add the visible fluff in the ear canal. but that's just a dust filter and if isn't cleaned properly might actually be more of hindrance

it's worth noting- if you look at Cadance and Twilight side by side- that despite being given extra anatomical traits from the other species they will always look more like the species they were before ascension. this is mostly visible in the ears, tails, and hoof shapes -unicorns have long tails with hair only growing from the underside, basic ears, narrower hooves, and usually have long fetlocks as part of their culture. -pegasai have short tails that are completely covered with hair and have rudder feathers at the base, pinned back feathery ears with restricted movement, and really shallow hooves with no fur around them -earth ponies have medium tails with even hair growth around a third of the way down, basic ears, and slightly taller hooves with varying fetlock sizes.

second up- the only uniquely alicorn physical traits that they really have (aside from height) are their hair and beards. unlike normal pony beards that are made of the same hair as their manes, alicorn beards are made of coat fur and will grow a specific length each year that marks how old they are kinda like tree rings. due to this the alicorns don't try to cut them. the manes are kinda funky cause they start out at the roots as normal hair, but then become more "ethereal" after a few inches or so. they tend to start to become ethereal roughly 10 years after ascension

they do have one more weird trait but it's less noticeable and that's the thing with the patterns. when an alicorn is first ascended they gain an extra pattern on their legs, and that pattern gains a second layer around the time they start to get their ethereal manes. you can see it happening on Twilight's lineup.

there's also a bonus thing here that has nothing to do with alicorns as much as it does unicorns- but i like the idea of Unicorn tails (flesh/bone, not hair) getting longer with age. it's usually not too noticeable because they don't normally live long enough for it to be really noticeable compared to younger unicorns, but alicorns do- so former unicorns can end up with some long ass tails in their 1000's

that's all i really got now- if i added in magic and social stuff this would have been way longer. i'm done with my rambles

[louloulemons-posts]

Oil At The Coffee Shop I

Eddie Munson X Fem!Reader

Summary : Moving to the small town of Hawkins you hoped your journey would be a smooth one, what we hope for doesn’t always happen.

Word Count : 1.7k

Warnings : introduction, not much eddie x reader interaction, very rambley, bestie steve, sweetheart uncle wayne, grumpy eddie.

Fic Masterlist

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Moving away was scary, but you couldn’t stay put any longer. You knew if you didn’t move now then you would never leave, and you needed to go.

“That’s the last of it,” you brother smiled, putting a final box in your car. “You sure you’ll be okay without me?” you asked.

“Oh Im planning on calling you every day,” he smiled, “Seriously though, this is something for you. Aunt Callie wouldn’t have left it to you if she didn’t think so.”

“Only if you’re sure-“

“I am, now,” he turned from you, “Kids come say goodbye to your auntie.” Two children came running out of the house, their mother following behind.

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” you said squeezing them tight. “We miss you too,” your 2 year old niece spoke. “Will you come and see us?” your nephew asked.

“Of course Bud, and you can come and see me, and we can call!” Giving them one last squeeze you hugged your sister in law. “It’s gonna be strange not having you around, you take care of yourself okay?” she said.

“I will, and you too. Don’t let him start slacking off or I’ll come back and get him,” you laughed. “I’ll never slack off, now come here and hug me,” you brother smiled, opening his arms.

“I’m gonna miss you Scottie,” wrapping your arms around him. “I’ll miss you too Kid.” Rubbing your wet eyes and pulling away you climbed into your car. “Call us when you get there okay?” you sister in law spoke.

“Will do May, I’ll see you all soon!”

Soon enough you were off, driving away from your hometown to a small place called Hawkins.

You’d spent a lot of Summers there, your Aunt Callie had lived there. You’d spent your time playing in the lake and exploring the forest. It had been so much fun.

She had passed away a few months back, and soon you were sent a letter about her old shop. She’d left it for you.

If you weren’t swimming or running around you were in there with her. Helping her run the place for 3 weeks of the year. It was your escape, something you and Scott always looked forward too.

Hawkins had undergone some hard times, a serious of earthquakes and a whole bunch of nasty rumours. Now it was being built back up, physically and its reputation.

Your aunts shop, well your shop would be the next thing on that list. It would take a while to get there, but you hoped it would be an uneventful journey.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

It was not an uneventful journey, “I swear to god next time I see that mechanic I’m gonna beat his ass,” you ranted, your car had broke down, only half an hour away from where you had to be.

You knew there was something us with it, but the smarmy man had said no it’s all in your head. He was just too lazy to take a look. Groaning you dropped your head onto the wheel of your car.

A knock on your window caught you off guard, “You alright miss?” Looking up it was thankfully someone you recognised. “Chief Hopper!”

“My god, is that really you! I haven’t seen you in so long, how are you?”

“Great, I’m good. How are you?”

“Wonderful, what are you doing here?”

“I’m actually going to be running Callies old store. My car broke down though.”

“I see. Well I can ring a mechanic for you, stay with you until they get here.”

“Would you?”

“Course, Munsons are the best.”

“Old Wayne Munson?” You asked.

“That’s him.” He left to make a radio call from his car, giving them an idea of your location. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Thanks Hop, so how’s life treating you?”

“Life’s good right now, got a wife. Kids.”

“Finally had the guts to tell Joyce how you feel?” He nodded, chuckling. “And the kids?”

“Well her two boys, mine now. Jonathan and Will. Then we’ve got a daughter, El.”

“Callie mentioned, gosh I bet little Wills all grown up now.”

“He’s 19 in a few months.” You let out a sigh, “Man you’ve made me feel old.” Hop laughed at that.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

The catch up continued for a while, laughter and shared memories. Hopper was baffled by the fact Scott had a wife and kids of his own.

Soon enough a tow truck came driving up towards you, loud music playing. “Here we go,” Hopper said, motioning to the vehicle.

A man climbed out of the truck, clad in overalls and a grease stained white tee. Curly hair pulled into a bun on his head, hands cover in rings and tattoos here and there.

“Eddie, thanks for coming,” Hopper spoke.

“No worries, this the car?” he asked.

“Yeah it’s mine,” you motioned to yourself, and he met your eyes.

Dark eyes that looked like melted chocolate held your gaze. A face with light stubble, maybe from 2 days of not shaving. Wrinkles by his mouth, smile lines clearly, but darkness under his eyes.

He was beautiful. “Eddie this is Miss Callies niece,” he introduced you.

“Right, Eddie Munson. What happened?” he asked. “Well it was fine, it’s been making weird noises and then it just stopped. I had it checked over a few weeks ago but the guy wasn’t the best.”

“Well I’ll tow you into town, and then we can sort everything out at the shop.” He walked to grab his gear from the back of the truck.

“Great. Thanks for staying with me Hop,” you smiled at the older man. “Sure thing, Eddie you alright to take her into town.”

“Sure, you can get in. I’ll be with you in a minute,” he spoke, he voice was dull. Almost like he was bored, or tired or both.

Saying goodbye to Hopper you climbed in the van, waiting for Eddie to connect your car to the van.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Here we are,” Eddie spoke as you pulled into a mechanics shop. This was the first time he’d said a word since you left Hopper. You’d tried to make conversations, only met with grunts and hums.

Climbing out you saw a few other guys around the shop. A older man walked over to you, “Hey Son, this the one Hop called in?”

“Yeah Wayne, says there’s been a strange sound. Had it checked a few weeks back but not thorough.”

“We’ll get it sorted for you,” the man, Wayne, smiled softly at you.

He had a kind face, old and worn, but you could tell he was a gentle soul. “Thank you so much, you don’t happen to have a phone I could use do you. It’s just I’m moving here today and all my stuff is in the car.”

“You got someone who can help?” Wayne asked. You nodded, “Right, okay come with me.” Wayne led you into an office space, a phone on the desk. “Take as long as you need, I’ll help Eddie check it over.”

Dialling a number in, you waited for it to ring. “Harrington.”

“Stevie,” you smiled, he spoke your name, “How are you?” he asked.

“I’m okay, I’m really sorry to ask though, can you help me out?”

“Sure, what do you need from me love?”

“Think you could come and get me and my stuff from Munsons Mechanics?”

“I’m on my way, I’ll be there soon.”

“Thanks Steve, you’re the best.”

“Oh tell me something I don’t know.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

A maroon BMW pulled up. You’d met Steve good few summers ago, he’d been playing basketball with your brother. You’d become fast friends, he was a sweetheart, a flirt, but a sweetheart.

He spoke your name, smiling widely. “Steve!” you grinned, he wrapped his arms around you tightly. “Hello you, god I’ve missed you,” he said.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Course.”

“Hey Mister Munson, would I be okay to start moving my stuff?” you asked the older man. “Sure, I’ve got some paperwork for you to fill out too.”

“You go do that and I’ll start moving your stuff,” Steve said, squeezing your shoulder.

“Harrington.”

“Munson, how you doing?”

“I’m alright. What are you doing here?”

“Picking up my friend,” he nodded over to you, who was currently filling in paperwork. Chatting away to Wayne as she did.

“You know her?”

“Mhm, childhood friends, Callies niece.”

“I’ve heard, never seen her.”

“She used to come every summer with her brother, makes sense you didn’t see her, was when you just moved here.”

He hummed, as Steve went and moved boxes between cars. “Right that’s the paperwork sorted, we’ll give you a call when it’s all ready.”

“Great, do I need to pay a deposit, I’ve got my purse.”

“We don’t really do that ‘round here, small town and all.”

“Oh I insist,” you pulled out a 50 and passed it to the man, smiling at him softly. “At least for fuel money for you coming to get me.”

“That’s very kind. Did you want help with the boxes?”

“Oh no it’s okay, I haven’t got much.” Smiling again at the man, you walked over to help Steve move the last few boxes.

“Thank you for the help, it was nice meeting you,” you spoke to Wayne.

“Course, we’ll give you a call. Nodding you climbed in besides Steve, “Thank you too Eddie.” He gave a grunt of your welcome and you were on your way.

“God I can’t believe you’re staying! It’s so exciting,” Steve said happily.

“It is, I’ve got a lock of work to do though. I know those earthquakes did a lot of damage to the shop.”

“I’ll help you fix it up, sure the others can too. Does anyone else know you’re coming into town?”

“A couple people, I mean Hopper was the one who helped me out when my car broke down.”

“Ah right, well Wayne and Eddie will get it fixed up in no time.”

“Don’t think Eddie likes me all that much,” you huffed a laugh. “Don’t worry about him, he’s grumpy all the time.” Nodding you head, you couldn’t help smiling when the shop came into view.

Climbing out of the car Steve spoke, “You go open up and I’ll start grabbing stuff.” Walking towards the door, you used the code to unlock where the key was kept.

Pushing it open a wave of memories took over, some new ones were about to be made.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

A/N: AHHHH! It is here, the first part of Oil At The Coffee Shop. I can’t wait for you guys to find out what’s to come I hope you like it 🤍

Thank you so much for reading 🤍

[reticent-writer]

Hello hello! Your writing has dragged me back into Demon Slayer(/vpos) and I got an idea, if you’re up for it! (This might be rambley so bare with me please)

What about (character(s) of your choice) with a music lover s/o or friend who gets turned into a siren-like demon? Physically speaking, maybe their skin becomes scales and they grow some fins here and there. And while they’re still mentally present enough to be themselves rather than a mindless cryptid, perhaps they become spacey, a bit more jumpy, and find a lot of solace near water/with music. How would your characters of choice handle these changes? Especially if s/o refuses to drink blood(or at least sources it like Tamayo does) and wants to fight by their side? (Maybe their Blood Art has something to do with their voice, like a Siren’s luring voice or a Banshee scream!)

I hope that’s not too much detail, feel free to leave out/add anything and have a wonderful day/night! Thank you!!

◡̈⋆ʜᴇʟʟᴏ(●’◡’●)ﾉ thank you for requesting, don't worry I love a lot of details.

sorry for the wait

I viewed most of these as platonic but it can go either way

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

If there is anything that you need Tanjiro gotchu. If you do drink blood he'll offer his if you don't that's even better. Out of everyone here he notices the changes in your personality the most. He notices your likes and dislikes and changes what he does to accommodate you.

"Y/n? you alright?" Tanjiro taps your shoulder to which you jump and turn around. Seeing that it was just him and nezuko you smile.

"Yeah why wouldn't I be?"

"We're on a mission and you were spacing out again." He sweatdropped as you took in your surroundings. It was the middle of the night, in a forest.

"Oh I'm sorry." You flush, "Did you kill the demon. I'm so sorry-"

"No no it's fine... it's just that I kinda broke my leg and I'm bleeding internally."

"OH MY GOD."

-------

One minute you're both talking then the next Muichirou forgets what you were talking about and you are spacing out. When he gets his memories back the first thing he remembers about you is your voice. You never tried to eat him so why should he care if you are a demon or not.

After the battle in the swordsman village, Muichirou was transported to the butterfly mansion.

"MUI-"

"Y/n don't shout this is an infirmary." Aoi scolded and you replied with a meek sorry.

the moment the two of you made eye contact, his eyes lit up. His best friend was waiting for him and he could clearly remember everything about anything.

You waited for Aoi to finish setting Muichirou in a room before you sat at his side and talked to him.

"Y/n can you sing the song that you're always humming."

-------

Rengoku believes that if nezuko can be a non-human-eating demon then there is a chance for you to be one too. Once he knows you're harmless he brings you around senjuro.

You were a former demon slayer and or close friend(or S/o) to the flame hashira, Your families were close.

"Senjuro you remember Y/n, don't you?"

"Oh no did something happen to them."

"Well not exactly she um-" cue you (who was standing in the shadows of the Rengoku estate) stepping out into the sunlight and getting burnt.

You gave Senjuro a heart attack when he saw you.

-------

Genya doesn't know how to react. It takes him days to figure out how to deal with literally everything. Man is walking on eggshells around you.

He literally just stares at you.

"Um genya... your creeping me out."

In the blink of an eye he snaps out of it and his face goes red.

-------

mitsuri finds you absolutely adorable, she's glad that you didn't turn into a full demon. Obanai on the other hand is very skeptical.

"Obanai look it Y/n." Mitsuri enthusiastically presented you to the less-than-happy man.

"Another demon seriously."

"Oh Obanai don't be so

-------

Tamao takes an interest in your changes. You being around is like a breathe of fresh air for her and Yushiro. Although Yushiro would never admit it.

"How are you feeling today Y/n." Tamao said as she offered you a cup of blood.

"I'm feeling fine thanks for asking.

"If you feel so fine would you mind getting back to work." Yushio butted in.

"Ah poor Yushiro having to cover for me for less than 2 days while I was out."

"Oh please you were only dying for a day you stayed down to be dramatic."

"Wow I-"

"Can both of you not argue please."

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope this holiday season has been full of joy.

This is my FINAL post of 2023.

It has been a year of many surprises and has now ended.

I'm still accepting requests but I won't post until the New year because there is so much going on.

[raayllum]

i'm literally sitting here trying to figure out what EVEN i can SAY about aspec rayllum here? i think about them and i want to combust into heart emojis. i watched the first season when it first came out and then only happened to catch up last year with my qpp, and in between i was like. so infuriated when i found out they'd made rayla and callum a thing bc i - naturally - latched onto the green and purple character as an aroace icon at 18 years old, and my partner was like "no no no no TRUST me you've got to watch it, you'll love it"

they weren't wrong and after bingeing the whole show i'm stuck thinking about rayllum a LOT. they're written so much like my own ideal relationship that i kind of want to explode from it sometimes. anyway, my absolute favorite thing about them is how much emphasis there is about their friendship - to the point that when i watched season four, I can't remember which episode specifically it was number wise but when rayla suggested splitting up and offered to go with callum and he turns her down, my first immediate heartbroken thought was "she misses her best friend..." i just love how they're in love but they're in love cos they're best friends....11/10 no notes i need more relationships like that in media

ANYWAY long rambley ask about my loves aside, my question is what are some of your favorite moments where rayllum are so clearly best friends/goofballs in love?

No like honest to god though — me and the Rayla to my Callum are also in a QPR + dash of romance relationship and like... arc 1 and arc 2 Rayllum are just so goddamn sweet??

I don't agree generally that arc 2 Rayllum is more Mature™ than arc 1 rayllum — Callum is more patient and Rayla is more open, so they've matured as individuals — but merely just that they're different flavours of aspec-ness. Like arc 1 is the craziness and rollercoaster of meeting a stranger and realizing they're Your Person, and arc 2 is the deepness after the fact of "I know you, and I know that we can get through everyone so long as we have each other" mostly cause I think the main reason people label arc 1 Rayllum as more immature is because s3 Rayllum gushes over each other, but that's bc people have a hard time conceptualizing having deep admiration for your partner(s) that isn't infatuation... even though like? It's totally normal and welcome, like any long term relationship is "my partner is the most amazing person ever and i'm also very aware of all their flaws simultaneously" and like, arc 1 Rayllum hits that balance perfectly imo

I just love all of their stages and sides to them so so much

But yeah! Some of my fave moments Rayllum wise for the Best Friends quality has to be when they help each other up in 3x05 (Callum after the soulfang chase and Rayla on the ambler) because things are Weird but they're still always going to help each other? The "I missed my best friend" quality in s4 with no one laughing at Callum's jokes / talking about magic with him (vs their first scene in 5x01 being him telling her all about the magic stuff he's reading) and Rayla keeping her disappointment at bay always hits hard and I loove 4x06 when she's beating herself up and he takes care of her because a Good Relationship isn't about how you treat each other when everything's fine, it's 100% about how treat each other when life is hard/stressful and/or you're upset with each other

But I love all the gentle teasing in early S5 and the fist bump lives in my head eternally rent free. The 2x03 hug also means a lot to me cause that was the turning point she went from being a friend to being family and I think in a lot of ways, that's their relationship's most important turning point alongside maybe 1x06 (trusting her anyway!) 4x09 (forgiveness) and 5x04 (her opening up).

5x02 post-inn and stargazing scene are also faves just because of how happy they are talking about Nothing and everything, and like — that's just so fucking real, y'know? When someone makes everything automatically better just by being there

As Callum says, "We've been through a lot, and a lot has changed. Well, some things have changed, but not everything," and this never will

[icekingofhope]

so indigo park just came out afew hours ago and my god I love it already I love this game so much you have no idea

and I had to draw the lad Rambley the raccoon

(this is lad means so much to me you have no idea I don’t care if he gets to be some twist villain or some shit he is my squishy and I love him)

[valerieofavonlea]

I think we as a fandom are overthinking the terms of the duel too much

So I just went through and reread most of Taravangian's chapters for a different theory, and something really stuck out to me, especially in RoW.

We were given some frankly kind of vague terms at the end of RoW between Dalinar and Odium, and with a long wait in between books, what else are we supposed to do other than pick apart every tiny detail and theorize? I have some thoughts.

This might get a little rambley so buckle in.

Let's establish a few things, and then I have a point, I promise. I know everyone is focusing on the draw, on not making a plan for if no one wins, because of Wit's story. That makes sense and could be obvious foreshadowing. But Dalinar in the moment kind of threw out everything Wit had carefully prepared and put together very simple terms. I still don't know that there's a whole lot of room for a draw with the terms we have, nor does Todium imply a draw when he's reviewing the deal, but a victory:

"The way to win was to make sure that, no matter the outcome, you were satisfied. Odium should never have entered a deal he could not absolutely control. 'It can still be done,' Taravangian realized, seeing the possibilities -so subtle- that his predecessor had missed. 'Yes... Dalinar has set himself up... to fail. I can beat him.'"

I'd also like to point out how Odium operates, as stated on at least two separate occasions:

"Should we write... a contract?" "Our word is the contract. I am not some spren of Honor, who seeks to obey only the strictest letter of a promise. If you have an agreement from me, I will keep it in spirit, not merely in word."

and

"This isn't some deal with a Voidbringer from your myths, where one tricks the other with some silly twist of language."

Now it is unclear if this is a Rayse philosophy or something the shard itself is bound to, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Now, onto my main point. Taravangian is a scheming, conniving character who spent four books paying chess, outsmarting and manipulating, and very very carefully planning. His arc in RoW is quite interesting then, as he gets dumber and dumber, he begins to see less value in the intelligence. For all his smarts, all his planning, he has managed to save just one city out of an entire planet, landed himself an execution as a traitor, and burned countless potential allies.

"Smart Taravangian has proven insufficient. Smart Taravangian has failed. He hasn't just been made intelligent. He's been given a coin and a curse. Intelligence on one side. Compass on the other. When smart, he assured that compassion was the curse. But was it really? Or was the curse that he could never have both at once?"

By the end of RoW, Taravangian has become so much a being of pure emotion that he's constantly attracting spren, and he has become the perfect vessel for a shard of pure emotion.

The old Taravangian would have chosen the scheming, the wordplay, outwitting anyone and everyone he could have. The old Taravangian would have reveled in a tiny tiny loophole or trick of wording only he could see, but he got a whole lot of nowhere with all that scheming.

"Odium had bet so much upon Dalinar being his champion. Now that was in chaos. The god bragged about his plans, but Taravangian knew firsthand that you could plan and plan and plan, but if one man's choices didn't align to your will, it didn't matter. A thousand wrong plans were no more useful than a single wrong one."

So, what if he is leaning all the way into the passion thing now rather than the intelligence he was chasing for most of his life? Because the scheming and trying to overthink didn't work out that well for him, but the emotion, the feelings, that's what got him this power (and the capacity to save everyone). So the question becomes, are we as a fandom approaching the duel incorrectly, trying to think too hard about loopholes and the specific wording, when this new version of Todium would be more likely to use an emotional approach? Something to think about.

[rhythmicjester]

💜💜🥳🥳🥳🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIDGET!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳💜💜

(this was meant to post yesterday actually during their bday but tumblr shat itself ARRRGHHHH… alas..)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVOURITE OUR WONDERLAND CHARACTER WHOM I LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART 🥹🥹💜 featuring my lovely friends who enable my insanity

edited floaty gidget and me being stupidly sappy n rambley under the cut..

okay so I started playing our wonderland like a year ago now and safe to say its like totally taken over my life 🥹 and gidget. aagh. gidget. aagh. aaagh!!!!

im really bad at articulating stuff (probably on account of my mental impairment but… YKNWO… XD) and there is lots of feelings and thoughts and agh gidget. GIDGETTT!!!! i will try my best to word

our wonderland as a whole has grown to mean a shit ton to me (but ill talk more abt that at length in a later post) and i love all the characters so so fucking much and especially gidget and iggy. especially gidget, oh gidget has thieved away with this aching heart of mine. or something.

im always extremely drawn to n obsessed w characters and storylines around like… a self suppression, muting, coiling up into some unreal ideal and reality so deeply it becomes some 'new reality', until you can barely see yourself anymore…. im crazy abt that shit. it rules. and gidget is all that. and also just a silly illy billy booly looly who i want to put in my mouth and chew up like a wad of paper. uh

i think about them like all the time 24/7 366 (cause its a leap year!) and im always like. thinking on new angles and perspectives and little intricacies and probably a solid 80% of it is just all in my head but god. i love them sm they are so awesome n well written n silly n WAAAAAAAAAAAGH

i love gidget so much. i love our wonderland so much. thankyou carrot so much for your wonderful phenomenal storytelling, characters and art, im like consistently entranced and blown away by it istg.

again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIDGET!!!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳💜💜💜🥹 and i hope all of you have very fantastic days. i luv this game n fandom n gidget so much. life may be very stormy and dark and scary but oh it truly is joyous i think. but maybe thats a little too sappy even for me

i eep now

goodnight !

(oh and heres the floaty gidget. im really proud of how it turned out. i keep on flying around the print out of it and saying 'look they have smelled some delicious pie…' i am a very predictable and simple person.)