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carionto · 7 months

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Geronimo!

Space suits have come a long way - near 1 to 1 articulation and haptic feedback, intuitive zero-g booster based movement, nano-clamps for spiderman-like grip in low/no gravity, and of course dozens of micro layers of protection against all know space radiation and other hazards. Plus a centimeter thick composite armor against sentient threats, with a "cocoon" mode to fully cover all joints and other normally more exposed parts, that renders the Human inside near impervious to most small arms, and even some heavier impacts.

To fully test the limits of protection you don't actually need to have a person inside, just plenty of sensors and a good understanding Human physiology and anatomy. The military, of course, does things a bit differently, as their suits are even tougher. They do have this half-half mode where you are mostly armor, but can still move, but more like the Terminator. Given it also boasts a powered exoskeleton between the armor and hazardous protection layers, soldiers can wield weapons other militaries typically mount on vehicles, so the metaphor is almost just a straight factual comparison.

Some, however, are still not satisfied, and are always seeking to extend the durability of their suits to beyond the extremes.

____________________________

Hilda Lavre was standing on the edge of the ship in low orbit. One hand gripping an outer handle while engaged in final diagnostics.

"Alright, Hilda, everything looks green on our end, how 'bout you?"

"Same green green. I'm good."

"Whenever you're ready then. There's some clouds in the way of the predicted path, might slow you down a bit. Wanna wait?"

"Nah, nah. I'll wing it."

After a seconds pause, Hilda let go of the handle and gently kicked off the side of the ship. She was now on a direct collision course with the Atlantic Ocean.

(Thermals should start going up soon. I'm gonna turn on the external mic just a tad. There's just something about how the heat sounds scraping against the metal.

Oh, there it goes. Yellow, slowly getting to orange. Good.

Yea, that's a nice screech - burn that paint!

Halfway to red, altitude check. Already this close? Guess it'll be just shy of 80% tolerance.

Hehehehe, that means we can go for a bit faster next time. Cool.

Eh... wind without the heat just doesn't sound right, I'll turn it down to just barely audible. Something to keep me company.

Aaaand three.

Two.

One.)

SPLASH

(It's dark. But I guess it was dark before...

before what though?

Well, that's okay.

This feels like a new kind of dark though.

There's the dark when you're alone in your room at night, all the lights are out.

Another kind is when you decide to get inside your brothers closet to scare him when he comes back from the kitchen. That's a fun kind of dark. (it's getting cold)

There's also the dark of being in an underground bunker during a storm. Then the power gets cut and all the exits are sealed. That's a... lonely kind of dark.

One time I was wandering the woods, and before I knew it, it was the middle of a moonless night, overcast too. Hiding out in an abandoned shed, without even the wind or animal sounds to let you know anything is out there. I didn't like that kind of dark at all. (It's really cold)

This dark though... I dunno. It's like I'm hiding out in my own closet. My shoulder is up against my winter jacket, feet are grazing those old sandals I swore to throw out two summers ago. But also, it's not my room. Or even my house. Why am I in my closet? How did it get here? Where even is here?

I feel sleepy.

"Hey, hey! Hilda! Wake up!"

*grunting* "Ugh... shut, shut up Barry..."

"Gods, don't freak us out like that. You okay?"

"Depends. How high did it go go?"

*laughter* "Okay, [She's fine everyone] yeah, you're fine. 87 meters, new record."

"Hmm, I was aiming to to break 90."

"Well, those clouds nudged you a little off, you hit it at a 83 degree angle. Still, those other readings are nice. I'm pretty sure we can do a boosted fall next time."

"Yeah, I I think so too. I feel a little little cold, did something break on hit hit?"

"Not break, but the impact did jolt the subsystems a bit. Activated one of the sedative shots. I manually made your suit give you a wake up shot right as I noticed. You should be feeling the effects right about now."

"Mmhhmmm, oh yea. I'm feeling the kick kick now. We need to improve the kinetic tic dampeners. No good if if it puts you to sleep upon any hard enough nough impact."

"Yup. We're suspending any other jumps for the week until we get that fixed and implement some minor tweaks based on your jump once we analyze the telemetry further.

Okay, everyone! Good job today! Let's meet up next weekend and test these bad boys out. Let's aim for a 100 meter splash by the end of the year!"

*cheers and yeahs as Barry opens a mini fridge and everyone cracks open a cold one*

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are deathworlders #humanity fuck yeah #carionto #sky diving #more like space diving #but whatever #also #don't know how I feel about giving her that... stutter?#I just randomly felt like trying out a speech impediment #hope I don't offend anyone with the way I presented it #I don't think I've seen how a stuttering character talks in text format #well #trying out new things

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lets-try-some-writing · 10 months

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The Grim Dark Archives: Statement #003 Holoforms

[Statement taken from [Redacted] on the 11th of October 2004, one year and two months after the Autobots have made their presence known and begun corresponding with human personnel. [Redacted] has been complacent but has refrained from revealing anything that we could use against the Autobots. They have shown willingness to give us ways to ward off Cybertronians, but they refuse to give us any data that we could use to potentially cause actual harm.

No amount of bribery or convincing has changed [Redacted]'s stance. Even using our own vulnerability as a talking point failed. High command has not issued an order to force [Redacted] to give up such information, but with what we are learning, I worry that order may come sooner rather than later.

Recently a report was received from Agent Fowler that caused a great deal of concern among high command. The Autobots were seen using what they call 'holoforms' to interact with humans. They do this by using an avatar that looks like it could be a human without closer inspection. It was not explained how they gained these avatars, but recently five individuals were reported missing across the continent. This alone is not unusual, but what is causing concern is the fact that the Autobots avatars match the missing individuals down to every detail except voice and mannerism.

In light of this, [Redacted] was called upon to give a statement in regard to the situation and what it means.

Statement begins.]

══════════════════

Holoforms? I suppose it would make sense for my kin to begin using them now that they have largely adapted to your planet and overall culture. My kind have always been fond of trying to blend in as much as possible on whatever worlds and with races they interact with. Its not even required half the time, but they do it instinctually. I suppose it is because blending in decreases chances of being killed, or it might even be a side effect of the T-cog. Whatever the case, it shows that they are settling in and preparing to act more boldly.

I will begin with a bit of history before I explain everything else.

To start, the idea of a holoform was not devised until the golden age when the empire struck out across the stars. Before that age we were content on our homeworld and had no need for holoforms to communicate. However as we spread and our empire grew, we found that even our adaptation couldn't make up for the impression our frames gave. Thus we searched for a way to make speaking with other races easier when our adaptation failed to suffice.

Much like T-cogs, our holoforms are not something we are forged with. No, the ability to create a holoform comes from an upgrade given to diplomatic units, or at least it was before the war. Now the upgrade is so common as to be given to every unit able to receive it. As for what the upgrade does? It allows up to process data on organic and inorganic material through a special series of... functions that we use to understand what we are processing on a base level. I do not believe it would be wise to elaborate further-

... I do not believe explaining the details would do you any good. It's not pretty by any means-

Fine... if you must know... just be warned that its a rather touchy thing for you organic types. The last group who learned very nearly waged war over the subject. I suppose it doesn't matter much now, you couldn't fight back against my kin even if you wanted to. At full strength, they could destroy your planet's entire structure without even devoting their full processing power to the action.

Right... we have unique nano-technology embedded alongside our processors that allows us to create a replication of what we are knowledgeable on. That means when we create holoforms we go out of our way to understand every single detail of what he are trying to replicate... inside and out. We need to pick what we are replicating apart in every conceivable sense to truly understand. We need to connect to them and see how they work, what makes them tick and function.

Those missing humans? I can tell you almost exactly what happened. It is near certain that they were specifically picked out from amongst your population for their traits and for their ability to vanish and largely be unnoticed. Looking at these files, I see a missing adult male, ex military with no family, grizzled expression and a firm build who disappeared in the woods up in Alaska. That one was likely taken by the Prime. I can already guarantee he is dead. The Prime most likely picked him out and hunted him down. At that point the male was most probably taken to whatever facility the Autobots are using and meticulously tested and taken apart until the Prime had a detailed understanding of how the male functioned.

I cannot even begin to guess what they did exactly. I have never taken a holoform, so I am unacquainted with the process. That said, it would not surprise me to learn that they dug through the male's mind until they had a detailed understanding of its functioning. It also would not be out of the ordinary for them to have slowly cut the male open to examine his biological functioning. The medic quite likely drew the process out too considering the way medics function. They are odd mecha... odd and dangerous. Whatever the case, the male is dead, along with whoever else was taken. They live on as images and facsimiles of my kin who will bear their likeness until they prove no longer useful or more data is made available.

Oh yes I can near promise you that the humans taken by the Autobots suffered and endured torment no being with pain receptors should ever face. However I would remind you that your world is covered in all sorts of your kind who can and do vanish without a trace. A few of your less useful humans perished so that the Autobots will not need to tear into your more valuable ones, at least until their medic decides to run more tests.

I would personally suggest keeping your noses out of it. The Autobots have what they want now, and if you keep clear of their machinations, you should be fine. Their acquisition of holoforms will not harm you any time soon. Now if there were a few dozen bots taking on holoforms, then I would tell you to begin gearing up for war. When that happens it generally means the empire is preparing for an invasion, but as it is, the Autobots are too weak and scattered to care about your planet in any significant manner.

Keep your head down and don't say a word. That is my advice if you want to keep of the medic's operating table.

══════════════════

[Statement ends.

[Redacted]'s words... they tell us a great deal. The Autobots are a threat, that much we know. They have weapons we didn't even know of and still there is so much to be addressed. What did [Redacted] mean when they spoke of the medic? Just what the hell happened to those missing people?

...What did [Redacted] mean by invasion?

We need to ask more questions, we need to understand everything we can about these aliens if we hope to survive. Not even [Redacted] is truly safe, they are not kind, though they portray themselves as if they were. They are different than the Autobots, that much is certain, but they are not like us. I doubt they even know that with how much they try to claim to understand about us.

Agent Witwicky signing off.

Recording ends.]

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #the grim dark archives #statement recording #[redacted]#agent witwicky #alternate universe #rewrite of canon #cybertronian biology #grimdark #mystery #this was mainly an attempt to pass time while I get the next piece ready #hope it turned out reasonably #I take way too much joy in making things dark #this might as well be shattered glass at this point #only no one is really the good guy

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tumblydovereviews · 18 days

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What Failing NaNoWriMo Taught Me

This is a change in subject from the usual media posts, but I wanted to try and broad out the scope of my writing a bit.

If you are even remotely familiar with the online writing community, you will probably know what NaNoWriMo is. Every November, writers from all around the world scramble to start an all-new story and to finish that very story by the last day of the month. And, did I mention that this novel needs to be 50,000 words at the least?

Being the bored person I am, I decided to take a risk and try the challenge out. And thus, half my October was spent forming a new world with new characters and a unique plot. On November 1st, I gathered up my supplies, booted up my laptop and started the grand journey into the wild west that is NaNo season.

Obviously, if you read the title of this article, you would know how that went.

I wrote only approximately 29,000 words for my novel. That's it. Out of the 50,000 words I was planning on writing, I barely made it half-way through.

But yet, despite my technical failure, I don't think competing in NaNoWriMo was a complete waste. I learned quite a few lessons from the journey, both writing and non-writing related, and I'm here to share them with you.

Hydrate, hydrate, HYDRATE: Like many others, I have trouble keeping a consistent amount of water in my daily diet. Somedays, I'll hardly drink any at all and on others, chugging down is all that I'll do. A few years ago, my lack of hydration actually landed me in the ER on an IV. Most of the time, we are taught only to drink water to keep our bodies going. But, I learned that when I was sufficiently hydrated while writing, I could go on for much longer periods of time compared to when I was thirsty. As it turns out, drinking water and fluids can also have a positive impact on our brain function!

Create goals based off your personal style: I'm not too bad of a chronic procrastinator. Like all of us have, occasionally I'll put projects aside towards the last minute, but for the most part, I'm a pretty good worker. My problem is working consistently- I concentrate much better in controlled bursts of time than in a long session, but at the same time, I don't like leaving work unfinished. If I start a chapter, I'm going to finish it no matter what, for better or for worse. For NaNoWriMo, I decided to aim on finishing at least one chapter of my story per day. That way, I would have a manageable amount of work while still staying productive in the process.

At the same time, life is WAY more important than writing: Throughout November, Thanksgiving, school, and the start of the holidays in general impeded my ability to write as much as I could have. And that's okay! Writing is just one part of my life, not my entire well-being. I try to divide the different aspects of my life into certain 'parts,' from my academic part to my author part for tumblydovereviews. This helps me to throw away any worries I mayhave about another 'part,' and instead focus my whole self onto one part at a time.

Grow a closer bond with your characters: I loved my characters. I thought about them throughout the day and as I wrote. I came up with their favorite activities, movies, and foods, and imagined scenarios for them in my head. In a way, this made writing them easier as I knew more about how they would react and why.

And, if no matter what you try, you still fail NaNoWriMo...: That's okay! Remember, the entire point of this challenge is to have fun while also completing a story in the process. No matter what happens, I'm proud of you for trying. You're doing great!

Will I decide to complete NaNoWriMo again next year? It remains to be seen. But one thing remains clear: even through my failure, I still love to write. I still love to read. I still want to create stories and worlds and essays. And, nothing will stop me from doing that.

#nanowrimo #writing #writing tips #fallure #essay #tumblydovereviews #creative writing #writeblr

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eggnogisyummy · 4 days

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For anyone that is curious, here is some info of my Redemption AU of the SAMS!

**NOTE: THIS IS A SAMS AU, NOT EVERYTHING IS GONNA BE CANNON**

*Basic Info: The redemptions first started between the time when Solar Flare was made and when Bloodmoon was supposed to die. It first started with KC, then Bloodmoon, until finally Eclipse(though he put up a fight about it first). Characters such as Solar, Jacko, Forkface and Ruin still came through time.

*Characters! (Oh boy 🥲)---------

Sun: Has anxiety and trust problems. He fully doesn't trust the ex Villians and hates it when he doesn't get info on what they're doing. He's in a relationship with Bloodmoon as well, not by force by any means but still has some trust issues with the twins.

Moon: A mix of the old Moon and the new Moon. They took KC out, though the memories stayed and the code had to sort of rebuild itself. Moon is sort of keeping tabs on everyone, though he keeps overworking himself and sometimes really snappy but he truly does care for his family. He has the star hidden somewhere and plans to use it to get rid of the creator.

Earth: Still the main therapist, Earth helps the Villians see the wrongs they have done and how they could make up for it in some way. She has a small therapy garden she likes to take care of.

Lunar: He helps Earth with the Therapy, sometimes giving his own advice, throwing in humor and/or just being the stress ball/plush(since y'know, hes still made of nano machines at this point). He also works in the theater.

KC: Basically the tired but loving dad. He works at a soup kitchen and takes care of Eclipse, Solar Flare and Bloodmoon. He visits the daycare every now and again, especially on Halloween since the kids love to see him on that day. He's trying to look for a partner through Tinder of course, and does SoundCloud rapping to pass the time. He's pretty decent and is taking lessons.

Eclipse: Still a bastard, he's the least nicest of everyone. He throws insults whenever he feels like it, but doesn't do any actual physical harm anymore. He refuses to go to therapy, but KC drags him to it anyway. He has his own body, but he can't upgrade it to make himself stronger since they don't want to risk Eclipse trying to kill them all again.

BM: Nano machine ADHD twins, they still hunger for meat and blood. However KC managed to get blood bags and raw meat from stores. If Bloodmoon stays good sometimes KC will even give him a really bad guy to kill. BM is currently dating Sun.

Solar Flare: SF is the youngest, and the favorite child since he knows when to mind his own business and not act like a lunatic. He's still growing as an AI, but he's better at recognizing emotions and feelings, like the feeling of trauma from when Eclipse tried to take him over and the hatered he has for Eclipse. He tried to find ways to hurt Eclipse, though usually he keeps himself from doing those things. Sometimes he just can't help it.

Solar: He's Solar. And not dead, since Ruin didn't get a chance to kill him.

Forkface: They dont have really any huge beef with anyone except for the Creator and Ruin. They're still mysterious and powerful, but still loveable. They are living happily with Ruin Monty and are getting married soon.

Ruin: He is under supervision almost 24/7 after he tried to kill all the creators. He almost succeeded, but Bloodmoon and Eclipse were able to stop the machine before it could kill off Solar's creator. Ruin is fine with being supervised and is willing to be redeemed, even if the process is slow.

Jack: Jack is Solar Flare's best friend since the two are both growing AIs(and bodyguards lol). He enjoys playing with Sun's cats and protecting his family. He hates Ruin with a passion and doesn't want anything to do with him.

Creator: Still the main Villian and a horrible father. Kidnapped Lunar once and literally everyone ganged up on him, especially KC. He's currently in hiding and everyone is hoping he stays like that and doesn't bother them again.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask! Thanks!

#fnaf #fnaf au #sun and moon show #sun and moon show au #solar flare #eclipse fnaf #tsams au #tsams sun #tsams solar #tsams eclipse #tsams solar flare #tsams bloodmoon #tsams killcode #tsams creator #tsams forkface #alternate universe #fnaf security breach #fnaf daycare attendant

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kydrogendragon · 4 months

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Please, can I ask about The Raven King?

Raven King! Yeah, so this was what I originally planned to do for NaNo this last November and just started writing it by the seat of my pants without much of a plan. Ended up not finishing it but I did get a good 20k words into it. It's just a scattering of scenes right now, mostly.

The overall premise is a Hades/Persephone mixed with Beauty and the Beast type fic. Hob ends up going into town on the Winter Solstice and happens to go on the same year when The Raven King comes for "payment". Every fifty years, he comes and takes a soul away from the town as per their arrangement for existing in what are technically his lands.

The warning being that if you light any light on the longest night, the Raven King will come claim you instead. So no one as any fires or lanterns or anything going. Hob, not quite believing such a myth and who is also freezing his arse off, lights up the fireplace in his room. Which, unbeknownst to him, is him basically screaming out to the Raven King, "Hey! Please come take me and marry me!!"

There's gonna be some sort of climactic action, but what it is yet, i've no idea, so most of the scenes have just been them leaving to slowly love each other. A very enemies to friends to lovers bit.

A snippet for ya!:

A female voice shrieked. Hob jolted awake. His vision was empty. Nothing but a void seemed to cover his eyes, no matter where he looked. The voice was muffled, like it was underwater, or he was underwater. What was happening? “Robert Gadling,” a deep, soothing voice called out from somewhere in the void Hob seemed to be stuck inside. “You have lit a fire here in the night, calling me to you. We will depart shortly.” Depart? This was a dream, surely. Besides, who else would have such a perfect voice if not but in a dream? “You’re taking him?” a voice, the innkeep, Hob was pretty certain, asked somewhere to his left. “I am.” Hob’s limbs felt weird, now that he thought about it. They were weak, like how they are after a long hunting trip in the cold, or [ANOTHER REASON HERE]. He tried to raise his arm. He thinks he succeeded? It was hard to tell. He couldn’t feel any wind or warmth. It was truly like he was in a void. Was he? Finally, a sense of panic grew in his gut. He doesn’t know why it took this long to feel this way. He should have felt panicked the moment he opened his eyes and appeared to have gone blind, but better late than never. Frantically, Hob raised his hands to his face and thank the gods, he can actually feel his fingers against his cheeks. He climbs higher, reaching towards his eyes only to find nothing in front of them. Cautiously, he pressed a fingertip to his eye. His eyes are, indeed, open. There’s no lids in front and he can feel the coarse pads of the calloused tips rub against the soft jelly of his eyes. A hand grabs his wrists. The skin is cold, like they had just pressed their hand in a bank of snow and left it there. Hob jerks back at the sudden sensation, but finds himself stuck in the unnaturally strong grasp. “Peace, Robert Gadling.” Ah, so the voice belongs to Mr. Frozen hands. Not that that calms Hob down any. He pulls, testing the grip, and finds that the hand do not move. Not unlike stone. “I beg of you, my lord, he is not from here. He did not know what the fire meant.” My lord? Hob’s stomach sank. The innkeep’s story flashed through his mind. The Raven King, the otherworldly lord of this land. The one that takes with him someone from the village every fifty years as a… sacrifice. “And would you rather I chose another, Alice Thornan?” The innkeep was silent. Unsurprising, but hurtful nonetheless. Hob scoffed. Sacrificed. That was to be his fate. Hob couldn’t find it in himself to be very disappointed, all things considered. If this spared the life of another in the village, then so be it. At least he’d go out saving a life. Surely that would count for something towards his place in the afterlife. Perhaps the gods would even be kind and allow him to reunite with his dear Eleanor and sweet Robyn. Hob could hear some sort of shifting of fine grain or sand of sorts in the background. Then, the gentle rustling of feathers, like a bird preparing for flight. And then that deep voice called to him once more. “Prepare yourself, Robert Gadling. We are leaving now.” The hands that held his wrist left, the almost numbing cold vanishing with it. Moments later, two rather thin arms rucked themselves around his body, one underneath his legs, the other around his back, and lifted. Hob felt almost like a bride, being carted through the entry of her new home. He wonders briefly if Eleanor felt like this all those years back. Although he doubts he felt as cold as the stranger did. Tucked against the sturdy, but still freezing chest, of the Raven King had Hob shivering in his thin bedclothes. If wherever he was being carted off to for sacrificial rituals or whatnot was a long journey, he might die from the chill before making it there.

#ky asks #wip game

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lovova · 5 months

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I see artists doing little showcasings of what they've accomplished creatively in the last year, decided that looks fun, and decided I'd do for myself an little inventory of what I've written in the last year as well, based on archive posts and what I can recall (I specify 'what I can recall', because I was not keeping track of when I did or did not update my main fanfic "Video Game Cruelty Potential" so...guestimates for that fic! I have 36 chapters, I can probably guess it was updated at least every other month) ~ So! For 2023: January: Did a fan-fanfic for my friend Lex called "The Other Rooms" where I explored off-scene implications of his cool-ass fic Room No.5 February: Created an alternate version of VGCP called "VGCP: Characters at their best" where I tried to explore some of the chars in the same setting being more well adjusted. I haven't gotten very far in it, but I am determined to get back to it this year! Also probably updated VGCP March: Did two short Kaito stories, an Oumota called "Playing with Phobias" where Kokichi messes with Kaito and a Saimota called "Luminary Hero of the Track Field" where Shuichi worries over Kaito's enthusiasm to sports while sick. April: Started what was MEANT to be a multi-chaptered Homestuck!V3 Kaito fic called "The Devotion of the Luminary of Skaia", but I haven't gone back yet to figure out what happens next yet. Thinking about it now, I think I was to make it a three chapter fic, but I just need to save some space to go back and outline it someday. VGCP? Maybe? May: A short Oumota piece called "Carnation: Please Handle Gently" that I got some awesome art commissioned for by the incredibly talented Ere. This short story inspired me so much that I'm actually basing a new original novel on the same concept~

June: I (believe) this was the month I finished Kaiden! An omegaverse original story I was writing and posting to Kindlevella. I am super proud of finishing that piece, and while I want to go back and create a more refined second draft before selling it as an Amazon book, I still LOVE this version as well. Very proud~ And VGCP!

July: Two Oumota short stories, "Touring Mortality" and "Execution Failed". Touring Mortality was especially fun to write, though I was amazed at the positive feedback Execution Failed got. It was very uplifting XD This was also the month I (re)started my original story "Pearls and Shackles". Also probably VGCP August: More Pearls and Shackles, more VGCP. September: Pearls and Shackles! Probably more VGCP! Can't remember! October: Can you guess? PEARLS AND SHACKLES! VIDEO GAME CRUELTY POTENTIAL!! November: This was a purely Pearls and Shackles month, and that was because I dedicated NANO (National Novel Writing Month) to finishing it. AND I DID! It super needs a second draft, its not ready to show off, but it EXISTS! So hell yeah!

December: A funny short V3 story called "Soulmate Goose of Enforcement!" I had a lot of fun collaborating with this one with Lex, and am hoping to do a chapter 2 with another great writer added to the mix too, Andromebaa. I also started the first two chapters of a new novel manuscript, a Hanahaki story about a pair of lesbians struggling with love in their own ways, but both trying their best! And, also, I updated "Video Game Cruelty Potential"

Did I overestimate how often I updated VGCP this year? Underestimate? I have no idea, that fic is almost 300,000 words long by this point, let's call an update every other month a generous average of how often I add to it. Other then VGCP, I did 8 Short Fanfics, finished a book, started and finished another book, and started a third book. And I'm not counting stories I had to write for my school year. Just ones I did out of the passion in my damn heart.

So, yeah! I'm pretty proud of this year, it was a good one. I hope anyone reading this had just as good a year! Writers, steal this idea, go looking back the year and brag about what you accomplished! You deserve it!

Have a good 2024 everyone!

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neververy4 · 6 months

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First ATTINY85 project!

(warning: video has actual flashing LED lights)

[ Video ID: A breadboard with a Blue LED on top of an 8-pin DIP Integrated Circuit on it. The Blue LED is flashing rapidly. There are other components on the breadboard in the background. End ID ]

Last week I bought some ATTINY85 Microprocessors to experiment and work with :) With my W65C02 project on hold until I can afford an oscilliscope, and my Radio project delayed because I can’t quite figure out how to reverse engineer the 8 pins on the volume knob, I wanted something else to work with. I’ve been wanting to mess with Atmel microprocessors (Arduino Uno runs on an Atmel ATMEGA328), and now’s a good chance!

I’m jumping straight to assembly with the ATTINY85; I don’t know any C/C++ code, and also I’m familiar with other processor Assembly languages, so I might as well. And other than different names for functions, it’s been pretty easy so far! Something I’m not used to is that this processor, despite being pathetically tiny, has 32 registers; I’m used to working with 8 Max.

Anyways, for the code explanation: When the processor first starts, it turns on PINB0, which is physical pin 5 on the processor. Then, after counting to 256 256 times, it turns off PINB0 for another 256^256 counts. I’m away from home while writing this, so my notes arn’t here, but if I remember correctly it came up to 200k microseconds? That adds up to about 400 nano seconds per on/off cycle, or 2.5 flashes per second. I can add in another loop to make it last longer, but before I do that I’d like to look about to see if there’s a smarter way to tackle this.

My next step after this, is to figure out how to get this processor to read digital inputs: My next project is to finally do something with my box of telephone rotary dials. I already have one spec’ed out for breadboard testing. I would LOVE to show it, but Tumblr has a One Video Per Post limit :(

#neververy4 #elec-repair #flashing lights #alt text in image #Assembly #Atmel #ATTINY85 #LED

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pertinax--loculos · 7 months

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Re: The Job

First of all, I have to say thank you so much to everybody who congratulated me on the new job, gave me good vibes when I was freaking out about it, all that -- basically everybody on here who took a moment to wish me luck or congratulate me, you guys give me life. <3

So I start on Friday (ahh!) and given that there's a Cert IV involved, the next 54 weeks of my life are essentially planned out (AHHHHH!). So that's not terrifying or claustrophobic or anything ahaha... ha. I'm sure I'll get used to it; this job pays a lot of money for something you can enter unskilled as a 'mature age' person, so I'm very keen to take full advantage of it.

With that being said: NaNo.

So I was planning to do NaNoWriMo this year (because I'd convinced myself I wouldn't get The Job, because the expectation of failure hurts less than hope), and I was feeling kinda keen about it because I have Psyche Shards pretty much fully zero-outlined.

(And guys, I actually think this could be a really cool story. There's this particular conceit about it that's going to be difficult to pull off, but with the planning I've done I'm pretty sure I can do it. And I think it'll make it a really engaging read with some pretty awesome reveals and whatnot at the end. I'm kinda excited about it.)

Now, I'm going to be working full time for the first time in... almost ten years (!), so I don't really wanna set up 50k as a goal. When I'm in the flow I can write that easily in a month (see: writing ~190k in just over a hundred days for ATN), but I don't know how I'm going to cope with the fulltime hours.

But, I also think it would be a good opportunity to set a writing habit with the new Job, rather than letting it fall by the wayside. So, at the moment, I'm thinking I'm gonna set a writing time per day (ie one hour), use the hype of NaNo on here to help me get into the groove, and let the wordcount fall where it may.

(I was really tempted to give @winterandwords's CalmWriMo a go, too, and I may still do that for the community feel. We'll see!)

But yes! I'm sorry this got long and rambly (no surprise there 🙄) but that is my current thoughts re: writing and everything else that's going on in my life.

If you go this far, feel free to come tell me what your plans for NaNo are! I'm trying to catch up with everybody but I'm semi-overwhelmed with everything so direct interaction will probably be the best way to get me haha.

Regardless, I hope everybody's going well, and that the words flow true and easy. ^_^

#pockets muses IWL #pockets muses IRL #rare combo post lmao #so yeah I need to think about it a little more over the next week or so #i also need to write and submit my final two assignments for uni for the year #which is a whole other thing i am putting off dealing with #because i am healthy and able to deal with more than one thing at a time :)#LOL JOKES #anyway

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pb-dot · 8 months

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Wip Wednesday: Status Rapport

This week, I figured I'd use this slot to talk a little about where I'm at in the project that is The Clockwork Boy. The reason for this is twofold. For one, I'm nearing what I think is a very important threshold in the process and I'm excited to talk about that. For the other this week has been a Bad Brain Week so I haven't been able to come up with anything else to write.

So where am I at with The Clockwork Boy? Put plainly, I'm pretty close to done. Well, done might be an overstatement as I don't plan to consider the thing truly done until I hold a printed copy in my hands, but I'm rapidly approaching the "as done with it as I can get by my lonesome" point. Rewriting has gone slower than I had hoped for several reasons, chiefly some migraine problems that have been keeping me down lately.

Despite being a mite off schedule for this bit, though, I will say I am very happy with the work I've done. In addition to fixing messy grammar and some go-nowhere dialog, I have almost entirely rewritten some scenes that went from being aimless and kind of disposable to some of my favorite moments in the book. I still feel the mild to moderate distress that is recognizing my own writing, and I suspect I will do that as long as I still write, but I've come to the point that I realize it's a better version of the same. It's a start, at least.

Next up, I plan to do something about the "by myself" part of the equation by roping in some fools recruiting someone whose abilities and tastes I trust for a beta read. This is pretty scary to me, but I fully recognize that it is a necessary step in the process. For the duration of the rewrite I've felt like I'm missing something, but considering this darn thing has lived in my head for nigh on a year now, I can't be sure if that's a healthy hunch or just anxiety giving me the business. So, I hope some fresh eyes on the whole thing will help me either sate or quiet that voice.

After getting the beta reads back and doing any changes I feel it needs after that, the next step is, unfortunately, starting to query publishers and/or agents. I'm not looking forward to this bit, but considering how I do want the book actually published and don't feel capable of doing all that indie publishing requires of me, there's just no way around it.

I expect the whole query business will take some time, so I haven't planned much past that point. I plan on doing NaNoWriMo this year, and although I am considering starting work on the first Hearts In Clockwork sequel right away, I recognize that I need a bit of a break right now. Most people would, perhaps, not take a writing break that consists of getting lost in the sauce of another month-long writing sprint, but I rather like doing just that, so do that I shall.

I'm not sure which of my potential projects I'm going to do for NaNo this year, but I am considering one of my horror pitches, possibly The Artists or a hitherto untitled one dealing with a Norse variant of the living dead, the Draugr. Either way, I'm going to write a draft that is probably way too long and entirely too indulgent, and odds are good I'll have a blast.

So, not the most exciting WIP update from ol' Peebs today, but some days one just needs to be one's own project manager and talk dates and estimates and what have you. In the process of writing this, late enough that it felt weird to discard this in favor of it, of course, I came up with an interesting idea for next week's WIP Wednesday, so look forward to that.

Tag list

@ettawritesnstudies @mrbexwrites @teacupsandstarlight @anonymousfoz @wrenofthewords @sm-writes-chaos @dyrewrites @owlsandwich

If you want to be put on the Tag List for this project, please interact with my Tag List Post

#hearts in clockwork #the clockwork boy #writing #writeblr

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touchingmadness · 1 month

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Camp Nano Progress Update #1

The first week of Camp Nano is complete, and I'm actually really happy with my progress! I expected this month to be a little rough for me, since I'm usually pretty active in the (currently shut down for good reason) Nano forums and tend to use the energy of other writers to bolster me through the event. And yeah, I'm writing a lot less than I would be under those conditions. But I'm still writing, and I'm still enjoying what I'm writing, and that's what really matters to me.

Excerpt:

You spend the rest of the day loitering around a city that would be far more beautiful if it wasn’t smack dab in the middle of tourist season. Instead, the streets and beaches are teeming with well-off people getting away from their well-off lives and generally spoiling the atmosphere with their existence. You can’t help but feel bad for the people who live here, even if you’re sure they make a pretty penny off of these people. And so will you, it seems, when Soren nudges you with a smirk and proceeds to nick the coin purse right off of a wealthy man’s belt. It takes everything in you not to gape at him, but you do cast around your gaze discreetly. The menace is subtle and slick, good with his fingers and anything that requires him to be quiet and look innocent, but this is something entirely different than what you’re used to from him. Sure, he’ll pilfer anything left unattended for too long, but pickpocketing is a whole other game. You have no objections – these people could do with lighter pockets – but it’s not going to be good for either of you if he gets himself caught. “Watch yourself,” you sign as he shoves the pouch into his bag. He sticks his tongue out like a child, fingers flying. “Watch me yourself.”

Statistics and reflection under the cut.

Just the Numbers

I've added 6,302 words to Let the Light In in the past week, bringing the total count for the project up to 23,611 words. Most of these new words have been in Chapter 3, although a few were used to round out Chapter 2 at a healthy 7,942 words. I've written on 5 out of 8 days, with my highest wordcount day occurring on April 8th, with 2,132 words written.

Notable Scenes

Group cuddles. I cannot stress this enough. Group cuddles!!!

A thieving contest started by the savior of the universe. Hell yeah.

Lounging in the ropes on a boat. Showing off like a cat.

First kiss (angst edition). Not quite to first kiss (soft edition) yet.

Making Big Decisions

I've already stated that I'm quite happy with what I've written, and while that's true, I have had some decisions to make. There was one scene I got myself especially tripped up over. I wanted to use it to develop the dynamic between my POV character and a member of the party, but I recognized that the pretense under which I had them sit down for a conversation didn't ring true for either of them. I wrote a good chunk of it, and it's still in my draft, but I know for a fact that it's going to be scrapped. I'll replace it with something more naturalistic later.

Based on where I'm at in Chapter 3 and how much I have left to cover, this one's going to be a lengthy one. That being said, I'm standing by my decision to segment the first three chapters (which span over the first act of Dragon Quest XI) the way that I do. Narrative cohesiveness is more important to me than content balance, especially when I know that Chapter 4 is going to be an absolute baby chapter, since it only encapsulates a short story that happens in the game's interlude.

A decision I still need to make is where I'm going to start the narrative for Act II in Chapter 5. This is more about the logistics of the source material and the fact that the player character is not my POV character for this fic. Basically, at the beginning of Act II in DQXI, you have to regather your party members. If you follow the story, you regain my POV character fourth, but you can get him third if you decide to wander. I haven't decided how I'm handling this in the fic yet, because there are benefits and drawbacks to both, but I think I'm going to write it as though he's acquired third and remove/edit scenes later if I decide to go in the other direction. Final decision will likely come down to how good those scenes end up being and how well they integrate with the rest of the chapter.

Moving Forward

The rest of Chapter 3 is going to be mostly relationship development for the main pairing and the party as a whole, which I am so excited for! I have a lot of funny, goofy little ideas planned to really cement all these Fools™️ together, though the thieving contest scene and its aftermath will likely remain my favorite. It's nice to have this downtime with them before the plot and angst pick back up again. I don't anticipate finishing Chapter 3 this week, as there's some lengthier scenes I have planned, but I'm perfectly content to linger in these moments, especially since that's why I'm writing this.

I hope everyone else's writing journeys are going just as great! My inbox is open if you want to infodump or chat! 💖

#writeblr #writing community #camp nano april 2024 #nanowrimo #amwriting #wip: ltli #not tagging the fandom bc i already have to restrain myself from flooding the tag with memes on my main each time i write a new scene lol #this is more about the writing process than the project's contents anyway #other than the excerpt #soren the gremlin my beloved 💜

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planets-and-prose · 6 months

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Siren's Song (20k Excerpt from Continuing Education)

Hi all, here's the snippet! As usual this is written for NaNo, so, entirely unedited and a hot mess, so please no critique about how I write. If I get caught up editing this, I'll just get stuck :( )

Context: The squad suspects that the lead of a play that Achaemenes is helping with tech in is a siren, and that she's using her singing to manipulate everyone into loving her. Briar and Kay are trying to get her one-on-one to confirm their suspicions.

---

“So…is it going to be ready in time for the show?” Marina asked Briar, looking a little worried. Briar took out an earplug to hear her better, making a calculated choice that it probably wouldn’t be too bad.

“Should be. Usually these things aren’t hard to fix. Thanks for helping.”

“Anytime. I’m just…so flattered that everyone said my voice was that good.” She gave a smile that, to Kay reeked of a phenomenon that he learned was called ‘the pick me girl.’ This girl was angling for compliments like a starving fisherman trying to find his next meal. Briar, however, didn’t bite, just looking busy, and Marina looked visibly disappointed. It took every ounce of restraint Kay had (which, to be fair, wasn’t much, but at least he was using it) to not laugh. “Have you gotten to hear me sing?” she asked Kay with a small, hopeful smile.

“I have, I’m usually running lights,” he said, noting the expression on Marina’s face. She was doing a long series of invisible calculations to figure out why this random person was not treating her like the goddess that everyone else did.

It didn’t take long to get to the sound room, and once they made it, Briar immediately found a reason to leave them alone together. “I’ve gotta grab one of the faulty mics from the stage manager, be right back,” they said, and suddenly the awkwardness in the sound room was palpable.

“So…” Kay tried to begin, but Marina just started humming to herself, first softly then a little louder. At first Kay considered pretending, trying to act like he was falling over himself for this girl, but he was so tired of her antics at this point that he was basically done. He just watched her for a minute. “The mics don’t need to be tested yet,” he said, curious how she’d react.

“So you aren’t human,” she said, voice accusing. Kay paused.

“Okay, so first of all I am human, second of all that’s kind of rude right off the bat—“

“Don’t lie to me,” Marina hissed, suddenly looking more terrifying than ever before. Her eyes almost seemed to glow with rage.

“So being fey-touched actually makes it so I really can’t do that, and also, uh, it makes it so that I’m not as vulnerable to siren shit apparently. Listen, I didn’t even fully realize I was immune to this till I noticed something was going on.”

“What are you doing here? The stage manager’s like you. She doesn’t listen to my songs.”

“Uh…I honestly don’t know about that. She just…doesn’t listen I think. She’s just kind of a mess.”

“Whatever. Why are you here?” Marina demanded, her glare deepening.

“Man, I just want to put off getting my last pre-med credit,” Kay sighed. “I’m here to run lights since they look pretty and be sad that I’m not in the spotlight since I really didn’t want anyone noticing me and getting some idea about being nonhuman. But someone’s going to notice something’s up with you.”

“And why shouldn’t they?” Marina’s glare turned into a smug smile. “If I’m able to wrap people around my finger, then why shouldn’t I?”

“It’s…dishonest!” Kay tried, feeling weird preaching about honesty. They tried again to more clearly articulate what made them uncomfortable with what Marina was doing. “You’re basically hypnotizing people. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

“So?” she asked rhetorically. “Humans are cruel creatures. They can lie and manipulate and make feel things you never wanted to feel. They can string you along and use you and then throw you away like you’re trash. If I can get the upper hand, I deserve to have the upper hand after everything that humans have put me through.” She grinned. “I’m sure you can relate, if you’re so scared of being noticed that you stick into the dark, gross tech areas instead of being the star.”

Kay took a minute. His instinct was to be snarky, but he had to think of something else. Something that wouldn’t piss this girl off, because honestly he didn’t know what sirens could do and if he wasn’t on her side, she’d convince every human in the area that he was the villain. So, he thought about Semira. About how she acted when she was around. “I thought that too, at first,” he said, calmly. “But I met humans who aren’t half bad. Sure, they’re kind of annoying and weird, but they’re not bad.”

“They’re not bad yet. They haven’t done anything to you yet. All humans are going to do something. Are you really trusting a human not to kill you just because they feel like it? Because you don’t know anything about what they feel!” Marina was clearly starting to get agitated.

“I don’t. But I trust myself enough to know that I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know the pain that humans will put you through. And you brought a human in, and told them what I am. But it’s fine. They’ll forget about it soon enough. And I’ll get what I want.” Marina started to head for the door. Kay started to move, but Marina turned back. “Ah ah ah, don’t even bother trying to stop me. Because the second you lay a hand on me, everyone who I’ve sang to is going to know that you assaulted me without being provoked, that you tried to trap me in the sound room on false pretenses. So if you want to keep not being noticed, you’ll shut your mouth and keep working with your little lights.” She gave Kay a small smile and waved gently, before heading out of the room and closing the door calmly.

Tagging @k-v-briarwood and @the-grim-and-sanguine as usual, let me know if you'd like to be added!

#continuing ed sots #my writing #oc: kay #oc: achaemenes #writing #siren #fey #paranormal #writeblr

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preromantics · 2 years

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Hi! If you're still doing the one-word prompt ficlets, I wanted to try one:

Starker, suit

After the most recent one, it's all I could've thought about. Your writing's amazing <3

i am! pretty much always but answers come and go in waves. and thank you!!

y'all are horny for the suit based on my asks (i mean, me too obvi) so combining this and a few anon prompts here!

starker, suit porn, ~2800 words, NSFW

a vague continuation of this but stands mostly alone, established relationship. since i can't write short tumblr things they're both up on AO3 too as one combined thing, if you prefer to read there!

AO3 LINK

It's not that Tony hasn't thought about having sex with someone in the Iron Man suit. He'd certainly thought about it a lot in the early days, and during the chaotic ones where he'd whip it out at parties to impress people in the most ill-advised, whisky-blurred way possible.

But then his world got a little more narrow, his chest a little tighter - the suit could hurt, it could kill, it intimidated people both good and bad and, well-- he stopped thinking about it like that. He couldn't bare to be flippant with his life, with his partners.

Until the night a super-sloshed, pink cheeked Peter Parker sat in the lap of an empty Iron Man suit for all of five minutes, arms wrapped around the bulky metal neck, and looked like he belonged there.

Conveniently, Tony had recorded the interaction automatically and saved it automatically to a private server. Not so conveniently, it was burned into the back of his brain so vividly he never even had to pull the video back up to replay.

The newest version of his suit is mostly nanotech, but back to basics with a structured skeleton to step into, heavier armor but still on-the-go, and it's currently suspended on some heavy-duty chains in the middle of the workshop, slightly ripped apart in the name of science.

Tony is staring at it from the front, the dull glow of the reactor making him squint as he looks at the neck of the suit where it meets the helmet.

Peter is standing at it from the back, half obscured by the bulk of the suit, but visible enough that Tony can still see the way Peter is rolling up the cuffs of his expensive pressed dress shirt, thin nano web shooters glinting on his wrists like expensive cuffs, having already discarded the jacket and long ago pulled collar from his throat, undoing several inches of buttons down his chest.

(Peter had been lovely and flushed at dinner, buttoned up nicely in his tailored outfit and still never sure of which fork to start with for which course, but Tony insisted on actually wining-and-dining him on dates instead of rutting in the lab or on the couch like teenagers when the tension built up too high.

Tony didn't need to, could see it clear as day in Peter's eyes from the first time they - finally - kissed, sober and under the too-bright florescent lights of the lab, that Tony could do the bare minimum like always and never lose Peter from his side.

That was terrifying in itself, so he'd vowed to do it right, to do the whole going out to dinner thing and non-international-emergency vacation thing, even if they did end up mostly like this anyway, clustered around a problem to solve in the lab, tangled in sheets by the morning upstairs.)

"I think it looks like mark-ninty-whatever did too many 'roids, honestly," Peter says, head tilted to the side as he, too, observes the neck of the suit.

There are a lot of extra neck supports, thin metal rods from the helm down into the guts of the suit. It's the problem they're solving for, super-strength enemies who recently came too close to ripping Tony's head off his body. Another day at work, another new fear unlocked in the pit of his stomach that he'll never talk about out loud, and yet still find acknowledged silently, worry in the depth of Peter's fond eyes.

Tony hums noncommittally, feels a small tension headache coming on.

"I could test it out," Peter offers. He leans to one side so Tony can see him clearly and makes a disturbing gesture with his hands that looks like he's yanking someone's head off which, Tony supposes, mental image aside, is the whole point.

"Go for it, kid," Tony says, the endearment rolling off his tongue too soft as always.

Tony isn't sure what he expects Peter to do. He watches Peter web the ceiling, drawing himself upward until he can wrap his legs around the shoulders of the suit, his thighs straining at the seams of his charcoal slacks as he steadies himself on the hanging suit.

It looks intimate, the splay of Peter's legs, the way the suit helmet -- already larger than Tony's head -- is dwarfed by the long muscle of Peter's thighs as they squeeze, as Peter digs his hands beside the meat of them and pulls at the helmet. His arms are flexing under his rolled up sleeves, his tongue darting out to worry his bottom lip in concentration as he pulls and Tony loses the plot of what they're doing all together.

Tony sometimes forgets how strong Peter really is, how much strength is contained in the same body that tucks so neatly against Tony's side as they walk through the part, or how he fits sweetly against his sweat-slick chest in bed.

The whole head comes off with a screech of metal-on-metal and Peter swings backwards a little gracelessly, landing hard on his feet back on the floor as the head rolls away through the lab.

"Simulation failed," FRIDAY calls out cheerfully.

"No shit," Tony says, though he rolls his eyes fondly at the ceiling.

Peter looks slightly sheepish when Tony walks around to him, knocking their hips together. "V-2?" he asks.

It's late already, and they never truly finished dinner -- the lightbulb of an idea for the suit burning bright between them halfway through the main course, the hurried tip for the waiter too much for a dinner where Tony didn't even try and feel up Peter under the table before they rushed out.

"V-2," Tony agrees anyway with a grin, clapping his hands to change the lighting. "Fri, pull up those schematics again."

Three more failed attempts into the early AM and Tony realizes his mistake as another metal helmet .

It's not that he wants the structural integrity of the suit to keep failing -- they're both smarter than these results -- but he absolutely and with sudden clarity does want to keep watching Peter wrap himself around the body of the suit, his thighs flexing and his ass round and tight, his fingers nimble and so strong around metal curves and edges.

"I think this one went better," Peter says as he slides down the front of the suit to land back on the floor, dragging his body down the whole front line of it in a way that Tony is relatively certain isn't meant to be sexual but absolutely is. "I had to actually really dig in there and stretch it before I could pull. Maybe we could add some sort of internal lubrication so it's harder to get a grip?"

Tony tilts his head back and groans.

"What?" Peter asks, but when Tony looks back up at him there's a little glint in his eye like he knows exactly what.

"Anyway," Peter says, when Tony says nothing back, "I doubt anyone could get enough time on your back to actually y'know at this point."

"Thank you for your delicate phrasing," Tony says. He's already drawing up another round of revisions with his hands in the air, a few puzzle pieces clicking into place.

Peter leans against his side, watching him work, the heat of his body almost too-hot in the artificial coldness of the lab. "What about this instead?" Peter murmurs, flicking at a change Tony has made and replacing it with -- oh that works.

"Smart boy," Tony praises.

"You just want to see me manhandle the suit a few more times," Peter says, pressing his smile into Tony's shoulder in an almost too endearing way that contrasts deeply with the dark thrill that sends up Tony's spine.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Tony says, though Peter reads him like an open book as always these days.

Peter leans a little more into him, still watching him work. "Oh? Well I enjoyed it," he says.

Tony swallows. He knows Peter probably enjoyed it, the slide of his body down hard metal, the coolness against his skin, the idea of the suit being so intrinsically tied to Tony. The way he'd saddled himself over the suit's lap, months ago, and ground down minutely as if he couldn't help himself, as if it was where he wanted to be all along and lowering his inhibitions had allowed him the fleeting pleasure of a not-so-hidden fantasy.

Maybe Tony is projecting.

Peter grinds softly into Tony's side. "Just saying," Peter says softly. "If you were also, maybe, into that."

So maybe Tony isn't projecting, for once.

"I am, in fact, very into that," Tony says. "I've never actually..." he trails off, unsure for a moment.

"Something you haven't done? Well now we have to," Peter says brightly, still curling tighter against Tony by the second.

Tony finally knocks the schematics projection out of the way and twists against Peter, pulling him to his front so they can look at each other. As always, Peter is unguarded, his pupils already dark and blown, like just the idea of sharing something completely new with Tony has him near the edge, the length of him already hard and obvious against Tony's thigh now that they're pressed together.

Tony brushes their noses together. "Is that so hard to believe?"

Peter looks away, eyelashes fanning out over his cheeks. "It's just... you've had so many of my firsts, I think -- I'd just like to share one with you for once."

Tony smiles, genuine and wide where Peter can't see him, so he presses it against the top of Peter's head instead. Peter's earnestness will always be endearing to him, doubly so now that he's seen it in action in bed (or on any available surface) many times over.

"Definitely not with that decapitated piece of junk, though" Tony says.

"I guess," Peter agrees, though he sounds adorably reluctant about it.

Tony tugs at him, maneuvering them back toward the crash couch in the corner of the lab with a view of the suit. "Maybe we could start thinking on improvements for this particular use case scenarios in the meantime?"

"Oh?" Peter hums, allowing himself to be spun around a bit, so pliant as always as Tony sits on the couch and pulls him down between the spread of his own legs.

Tony drags his teeth lightly over the stretch of Peter's neck level with his mouth, just because he can. He flicks at the arm of the couch, pulling up another holo-view of a basic suit render with one hand while his other curls around to palm at the bulge in Peter's tailored dress pants. (There's a smart button fly under the seam, which Tony is regretting now even though the tailoring is exquisite, suddenly caught on the idea of inventing some sort of flexi-nano fabric so he can undress Peter at will with a flick of his wrist. A thought for later.)

He's grateful for the ability to multitask, attention stretched to the limit as he rubs deeply over the line of Peter's cock, enjoying the way he wiggles his ass against Tony's own hardness, while spinning the suit diagram around in front of them.

"So should this be a standalone suit or something I'm inside of?" he asks, accompanying it with a squeeze.

Peter's hips roll upwards into Tony's hand and he slumps back a little further. "Both, please," he says lowly.

"Both? Greedy."

"Well," Peter says, his voice hitching as Tony trails his hand along the inside of his thigh over the soft material there, teasing back upward, "I think you could watch if you weren't inside."

Tony nips again at the pale line of Peter's neck, imagining it. He flicks in a new option on the schematic, a crude but serviceable dildo protrusion that extends between the legs of the suit, retracting back and forth on the screen to show it's usefulness.

Peter moans as the addition flickers in front of him, timed perfectly with a long stroke of Tony's hand, his fingers cupping Peter as much as he can through his tight pants.

"Yeah, you like that?" Tony asks softly, though the answer is obvious. He lets his lips brush the shell of Peter's ear with each word, making "You want to ride my suit while I watch? Spread yourself open for me on whatever I build for you?"

Tony squirms his fingers in between the buttons of Peter's fly and tugs, the buttons popping and scattering over the floor as Peter hisses out a low noise of affirmation.

Tony's free hand pushes a slider on the schematics, thickening the protruding dildo and adding length as he wraps his hand fully around Peter's cock, the heat of it almost startling against Tony's palm, the slick head leaking precome and smoothing his strokes immediately.

"You'd take it as thick as I would make it, wouldn't you?" Tony asks, not really a question with how easily and greedily Peter nods against him.

Tony wishes he could see Peter's face, can tell from the side view he does have that his mouth is parted, lips wet from licking them as he pants softly while Tony speaks. "Could design something to stretch you open more with each stroke, maybe?"

Peter makes a soft, strangled sort of sound and Tony can't resist grinding his hips upward into the soft curve of his ass.

"So good," he compliments, thumbing the slit at the head of Peter's cock as more precome beads out. "What else?"

For a moment it seems like Peter can't find any words to answer with, strung out on the images Tony is providing them both, the promises to explore. "You could fuck me in the suit," he offers, breathless, canting his hips so high upward into Tony's fist that he's about to slide off of Tony's lap.

"Obviously," Tony says, tightening his grip, more urgent now that he can hear the desperation thickening Peter's words.

"You could hold me down, for real, in it," Peter adds, squirming.

Tony makes a few thoughtful adjustments on the screen, adding in small thrusters to the back of the suit's forearms, changing the angle of the schematic so it's clear he could add strength from above to hold Peter down with. Enough strength for someone superhuman, nothing like the way Peter likes his wrists held down now.

Peter gasps, bucking up, his cock twitching even within Tony's tight grip.

Tony likes the knowledge that Peter likes being held down, lets Tony grip him tight and keep him in place even though it would take nothing to break free. There's a thrill in Peter's easy submission, something they haven't played with totally yet, and how much he trusts Tony -- but this would take it to a new level, actual restraint and so much trust, more than Tony thinks he deserves, that Tony feels it bloom in the hollows of his chest.

He slows his hand down, leans closer up against Peter's back and kisses him softly along his jawline. "You're perfect," he says, completely sincere and only slightly overwhelmed by it.

He rests his chin on Peter's shoulder to watch the way Peter's cock slides in and out of his fist. He leaves the holo on but stops messing with it, brings his other hand up to trail down Peter's neck, knuckles running down the exposed flushed skin of his chest exposed by his open buttons.

"Tony," Peter gasps, drawing out the 'o', his hands white knuckling his thighs.

"You can have anything you want, I'd buy it, I'd build it," Tony murmurs, pressed into Peter's shoulder, the crisp bleach smell of his dress shirt just edging out the sweat and precome salty smell overwhelming the rest of the space between them. "Just say the word."

"I only want you," Peter says, desperate and choked as he arches his back beautifully and comes across Tony's fingers, barely managing to not slide out of Tony's arms.

That warm feeling curls up Tony's chest again, as urgent as the near-painful hardness of his cock as he finds himself rutting against Peter's ass, panting into his neck while staring at his come-coated hand, tinted blue with the explicit schematics still floating in front of them, and then he's fucking coming in his pants within seconds like he's half his age, like he's Peter's age and can't help himself.

He can't help himself when it comes to Peter, has never been able to, and he shudders as his cock gives a final twitch in his pants, laughing lowly at the absurd perfection of it all into Peter's neck.

Peter lets out a contented sigh, melting back against Tony. "Clean up and then get to work on that?" he asks, energy already coming back.

"You're insatiable," Tony says. "Maybe we actually go to bed at a semi-reasonable house tonight, though."

"How responsible of you," Peter smiles, "but sex suit tomorrow, please?"

"Since you asked so nicely. Mark sixty-nine, coming up," Tony agrees, nudging him off the couch with contentment of his own weighing his bones down, steering him out of the lab. "I promise."

#prompt fill #starker #ao3 link

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kifu · 4 months

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I'm feeling incredibly apprehensive and there's no real reason for it. I hate it.

I decided a thing. I really, really want to do one painting a month this year. Historically, I'm awful at long term goals. Awful.

I also want to participate in NaMo - National Model Painting Month. Which is a little hilarious after giving up first on Inktober within days, and then NaNo in just as little time. But.

The painting a month thing - I want to use my own photos of, presumably, around here. I think that I can successfully take one pretty scenic picture a month. I have one that I plan on using for January. At least, the color scheme works just fine. I need to go back out there and get a better cropped shot and adjust.

With that photo reference, I think I shall also add a unicorn. Random unicorns. Because I can. I also already have a reference photo found. Cute little Welsh Cob with beautiful lighting. Really feeling a high stocking chestnut on this one. I'll get some good purples in there, and the yellow lighting will really make the copper coat pop. It'll look great with the sky.

And with these paintings a month, maybe I actually sell art? Like, actually have physical stock to sell. And if i feel like doing digital art (which I do, it's just complicated relationships with ... doing), I can use MY characters. Maybe eventually print out prints, sell those for cheap, too. Something like 200% cost of print cheap.

I dunno. I got a raise. I'm just tired of struggling. And this is art I already want to do. If i can sell it, awesome. But convincing myself to do a thing? It's ... so hard. Plugging in the tablet is a chore, let alone paints. Probably start off with acrylics simply because they're easier, even though i long for the blending capabilities of oil.

Which brings me to NaMo. I'll be painting my Georg in the pintaloosa bay. I'm desperately trying to strip him now and outlook isn't great. I don't know what I'm doing. Reprime in black if I can get the bubbles and cracks out of him, and he'll be good to go. He's prepped enough besides; I give up. He's BETTER prepped than other customs I've seen of him that go for more than what I plan on asking (minus primer fucking up on me). Which, depending on how this goes, I don't want to take less than $300 for him. $350. He's hair by hair. If I pull it off, he should be worth double that.

Turns out that I bought GOOD oil paints a while back. I think I NEED to use those on Georg. Maybe do whites in acrylic, pinking in oil on top, but base in oil. Because that bay will be demanding and I know how much acrylic will want to turn on me.

I just. I need to do it. I need to do things. Maybe it's the seasonal depression talking, maybe it's the overworked burnout talking, but I'm tired and I love the idea of doing, but I'm stuck again.

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smallblueandloud · 4 months

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2023 fic roundup

2023 was the year of the comeback. in 2021, i wrote about 25k; in 2022, i didn't even keep track. meanwhile, my total wordcount last year was 119,226 words. while that doesn't come close to my 200k from 2020, i am arguably prouder of last year and what it represented. my writing isn't dead! my abilities haven't vanished! i can have fun making art again :D

as always, the summer was the most productive for me. you can see that i wrote more in the spring than the fall -- this roughly corresponds to how i was doing during those times, lol. i had a Much Better spring semester than the fall. september was very rough, i had a very bad time, and it meant my mental health suffered for the rest of the year. but hey, at least i was writing essays :')

some more scattered thoughts:

i was arguably pretty consistent this year? may/june/july all had about the same wordcount (roughly) and i think that's cool. my goal isn't to be doing NaNos, it's to be writing consistently, so i'm very happy with this

ao3 says i published 67k in 2023. minus the first chapter of something out of a dream, which was published in 2020, i believe that's 65k or so total. i wrote 72k of fanfic last year, meaning that there's about 8k from last year still sitting in my google drive (a rough eyeball at my WIPs folder confirms this). these numbers don't QUITE make sense to me, since i used a fair bit of old material in what i published last year, but i'm not going to think about it too hard

i published fic for a whopping fifteen fandoms in 2023. nine of those were fandoms i'd never published anything for before! i am so, so proud of this stat. i remain multifandom as all hell and seeing that represented in my work makes me really :D

two fics -- be amazed by the sky and i got your back (and you got mine) -- were crossovers! i'd only ever written one crossover before (stay all day in the sun, which i still love dearly) and it was fun to play in these playgrounds (mostly by sticking the librarians into other universes, xD)

i published 25 fics last year! and five of those fics were less than 1k, which i also really love. this year i really tried to let go of my idea that my fics Had to be more than 4k (and super polished) before they could see the light of day. i think my writing has been more fun and less stressful because of that.

i polished off 4 multi-year WIPs last year: but the verse is sweet, something out of a dream, don't wanna see you go (but it's not forever), and all we can do today. it felt so, so good to finally get those out there. the only one i have left from The Great Hiatus of 2021-2022 is éponine de bergerac. i will finish that someday, but i'm letting her take her time, because she deserves it. (i DID make good progress on that fic, which is something at least!)

most popular fic of the year was sit there in your heartache, which. is a spirk fic written right after a relevant episode, so not a surprise lol. the fic that surprised me most is actually the sisterhood of the travelling main character plotpoints -- i kinda expected that one to vanish quietly, but the hatchetfield fandom is WAY more active than i expected! which is very cool :D

the fic with the fewest hits was sidenote, which doesn't surprise me, since the librarians isn't a very active fandom and it's a rareship within the fandom anyway. the people who DID read it were very sweet, so i am very grateful for them. (i'm doing fic with the fewest hits because i feel like it's better to focus on that than What Didn't Get Kudos)

i started 2024 with 5 WIPs. i actually already finished one (and then immediately started its sequel, whoops) (shoutout to the ds9 modern au, i'll make a real post about that sometime). none of these fics are particularly progressed, but i'll keep working on them and try to find the Finishing A Project Dopamine from ficlets if i need it.

i didn't really have any Writing Goals for 2023 aside from doing any writing at all, lol. i think for 2024 i want to try to get more consistent with my writing -- instead of doing x number of words per month (which usually happen over 3-4 Big Writing Days), i'd rather try to write for 5 days out of every week, or something like that. we'll see what i can get done.

in the meantime: thank you guys for listening. i'm proud of what i did last year, and i'm excited to see what happens next year :D

#fic roundup #2023 #sb and l rambles #sb and l is writing #let's see what 2024 holds :eyes:

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