for the ask game: owi_blackrock16 and solanum.twee?
:DD
the first one, owi_blackrock16, is an AU I am… uh. Well. I was writing it, and then a different fic hit me like a truck, and also ended up superceding it in some ways thematically, and now I have a completely different version of it being planned that basically would scrap most of what I've actually written for it, lol
the premise was originally inspired by a piece of art from @robotgutzz's Endling AU, mostly because i saw a very distressed hatchy being rescued by nomai post-supernova and brain went brrrrr and refused to shut up about it. it has since drastically diverged from whatever is probably going on that AU, and will continue to diverge in exciting new ways if I ever get around to properly writing it. it has also produced multiple OCs.
Keeping your upper eyes shut to ease your stubborn headache, you sit up (shut up, ribs!) and lurch forward, tamping down the automatic anxiety of Stranger nearby as you try to snatch at the mini-torch with your relatively free hand. The Stranger and the Nomai both startle at that, and the Nomai starts talking at you, frantically gesturing something like "lie back down" or "don't get up yet" while the Stranger discreetly scoots their seat away from your bed, taking the torch with it.
In a display of childishness you would also like to blame on the concussion, you make a show of reaching for the torch again and do little grabby hands at it. The Stranger stares at you with their species' usual inscrutable gaze and does not hand you the torch.
Thanks a lot, buddy! Really helping!
-
solanum.twee, as the filename suggests, is actually a project in twine! basically just a sort of character study/pre-canon piece about her pilgrimage to the quantum moon, mostly a product of me trying to hash out some headcanons for her, though it's not quite an active WIP right now (and whatever's here is definitely subject to change)
As a child, you developed something like a grudge against this planet, rooted in a nameless jealousy for the good fortune of the creatures that lived there. Why could your grandparents' escape pods not have landed somewhere like this, instead of the sand-choked heat of Ember Twin, or the equally barren cold cliffs of Brittle Hollow? Back home, you rationed water more frequently than food, taking sand-baths more often than not, while here these creatures had enough to live their whole lives in it and never think once of its absence.
You remember hearing this for the first time from Lami, after she and Laevi had gone to visit for a school trip for a biology course you weren't taking, and throwing your pillow at her in disbelief. We went swimming, she had said, and there were so many life-forms in the water! You could simply reach your hand out and grab one!
You did not! you had insisted, and hit her again with the pillow when she failed to recant. Laevi, tell her to stop lying!
ehehe, that's another rain world fic that's been on the back burner for a while (mostly because i want to watch at least one full campaign playthrough to get a proper sense of routing, and i've been procrastinating on that, especially since fandom-hopping into outer wilds lol)
On the fifth cycle from home, you see a creature that looks like you.
It is not you, of course. You know what you look like; God showed you a mirror for the first time when you were six cycles old, and you paced and snarled and growled at it for so very long before He showed you there was no other frightening creature growling back but yourself. It unsettled you at the time, this idea that others, like you but not, might exist somewhere out in the world, but no mirror could have prepared you for this.
kind of! I write my fic mainly in plain text with some handwritten HTML tags, e.g.
<center>***</center>
<i>I should have killed you</i>, she finds herself saying, once, fingers digging into the gaps in his plates.
but sometimes I do use a little bit of markdown or stuff-that-passes-for-markdown for asides and notes, so saving the files that way is convenient since it makes the formatting and HTML tags show up with nicer styling and highlighting in my text editors, e.g.
This is extra useful on AO3 when I want to do custom workskin stuff (which is... often), since I can just paste straight into the default HTML editor and it pretty much works out of the box! But I also picked up the habit on Dreamwidth where the default 'casual HTML' setting on comments behaves pretty similarly (I was writing a lot of prompt/anonmeme snippets circa 2021-ish, lol)
ooh, that's one i haven't touched in a while! it's actually rain world fic, which i sadly haven't got a whole lot written for beyond a few brief scenes (more vibes than anything, tbh)
I should have killed you, she finds herself saying, once, fingers digging into the gaps in his plates.
It is not like her to hold grudges. The golden haze of this place renders everything into unbecoming, dissolving self like so much fat at the foaming surface of a boiling pot. Already, she is spiraling towards her own transcendent singularity, and so is he.
RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous, and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and you post a snippet or tell them something about it!
... since I have, uh, a lot of WIPs, like 99% of which are permanent drawerfic or otherwise not currently active (rip), I'm going to have to cut down the list a little, but here goes... :)
postnova68b.md (variously referred to as TP1364, but it's feeling just like every other morning before, and still morning comes)
owi_blackrock16.txt (and its close cousin owi_blackrock_adjacent3.txt)
sadending4.txt (current tentative title: more distant and more solemn than a dying star)
bsc1.txt (tentative title: The BlueStrandCrystal Drama)
solanum.twee
the promise of tomorrow-7065413 (2).md
AWBD_chapter5onward_20.txt
hunterouchies_2f_2.md (tentatively then nothing is for what i yearn)
sitv-cwgw-fic_v2.html
dreambubble-6849404_2.md
shadow ichor-6739599_20250517.txt
RESCUE_MISSION_2026_1.md
Tagging (no pressure!) @tls332 @eternal-aegis @graveexcitement @cosmosogler @tacticianlyra @wickedcriminal @sadinasaphrite @twelfthadept @owtechnolich @mysteryflare56 @tenspontaneite @mostlydeadallday and anyone else who wants to join in!
"Incredible. Er, if I may ask, what does this ship use for propulsion?"
"Uh, turpentine, mostly."
"Turpentine?"
"Distilled pine resin."
"… distilled pine resin."
"And acid. For oxidizing. Sometimes we also use ethanol fuel, but turpentine is easier since it doesn't cut into the food supply as much."
"Oxidizing... as in, combustion?"
"Uh, yeah? You can't burn stuff in space without an oxidizer-- but uh, you knew that, obviously, I mean, you're a Nomai, you guys have been in space way longer than we have--"
"Your ship is powered by highly flammable liquid explosives. Which are also edible."
"Well, not really. I mean, I guess sap wine is technically a kind of turpentine, but it's not the same stuff, exactly? This is way more concentrated. Plus I think it comes from, like, a different kind of tree? Tastes pretty similar though, even if Porphy swears it doesn't."
"Every time I learn more about your methods of spaceflight, I grow more impressed your species has survived this long."
TIMELINE GROUP A - SURVIVAL, INTACT (SAPIENCE AT 0 B.E.)
Nomai, 281,000 B.E. As previously recorded. An abrupt ending by ghost matter leaves many structures unintentionally abandoned, but for the planet of Coleus's endearing semi-aquatic lifeforms, the deliberate conscientiousness of its visitors ensures minimal impact on the species' early evolution.
2. Hattans, 282,000 B.E. Multiple settlements and extensive infrastructure remain in place in Tallpines and Deepwater after the ghost matter wipes out their inhabitants. Resulting civilization is a "junkyard species" of sorts, building villages directly on the exposed steel ruins of their predecessors.
3. Roa, 189,000 B.E. Planet RFS-9J3Y44-II is catalogued under survey as an area of low risk: pollen contamination unlikely within next quarter-million years. It is subsequently left to its own devices.
4. Poloni, 74,000 B.E. Planet of Bountiful Geysers is noted containing a nascent sapient species, and subsequently marked off limits for future visitation (concessions for indirect study notwithstanding) until proof of interstellar travel can be confirmed, per the Primary Law of Contact. Of course, the universe won't last long enough for that to ever happen. A nice thought, though, wasn't it?
5. Quartil, 11,000 B.E. The research outpost is ordered to cease ground operations after the first three centuries, as the species is reclassified as a type II primitive sophont protected by law, but the cultural memory of mistreatment long outlives its creators. A suspicious and uncertain species grows up aiming flint-knapped spears at the still-orbiting satellites with dead batteries and blinded cameras. Spacefaring carries an air of trepidation; the sky people might strike from any direction. (But of course, nobody believes in sky people anymore -- have you ever seen one?)
TIMELINE GROUP B - SURVIVAL, TECHNICAL (PERMANENT REGRESSION; DOMESTICATION)
Myrans, 202,000 B.E. An invading force, set to an unfortunate outpost. Primarily regard the local salamanders of Noteworthy Planet 311-2 as bushmeat; local term translates as something like "supplementary rations". Species survives in spite of frequent efforts, but sacrifices intelligence and social cohesion for rapid breeding and accelerated maturity.
2. Tsedang, 257,000 B.E. After settling the system and appraising for resources, specimens of the Cordy's Star-II aquatic midsize lifeforms are re-engineered for domestic usage, primarily for meat and roe. The wild strain is rapidly eradicated as fisheries expand, eventually exterminated as an inconvenient pest.
3. Samir, 199,000 B.E. After no source is found, Second of Voidsong's native "land fish" are domesticated to multiple ends, as livestock and in a more intelligent form as working animals. Typical uses are as herding and hunting animals, social support, or companionship. Laboratory studies test regenerative capacity and use the species as a potential source of novel chemistry, as is common for exoorganisms. Feral counterparts linger, but in small, dwindling numbers, dying out by 195,000 B.E.
4. Ilawak, 262,000 B.E. While the ecosystem of Faint Melody's Second is initially left untouched, water-lizard specimens are captured for scientific study, and later poached for exotic animal trade, becoming moderately popular in domestic form as pets. The original species survives, but never expands to dominate the surface, blocked from this niche by encroaching Ilawak colonies.
5. Yeq, 214,000 B.E. Terraforming efforts transform the environment dramatically; what survives must set aside intellect in favor of high acid, toxin, and temperature resistance. The hot springs salamanders of Fountain Peaks, charming as they are, never surpass their ancestor's height of intelligence, though a few allow themselves to be tamed as companions.
TIMELINE GROUP C - EXTINCTION
Cloud-Star-Three, 156,000 B.E. Silicon lifeforms whose primary interest is the stones and metals of the planet's core. Organic life is a disgusting contaminant to be cleansed, not unlike mold found growing in the back of a refrigerator. Judicious application of ionizing radiation, planetwide. Extinction is rapid and absolute.
2. Dimolan, 283,000 B.E. For mineral-based life mining the core of Hot-Water-Table-High-Jets, most larger organics are a nuisance to be removed. Due to damage from operations, ghost matter easily penetrates to the planet's core when the comet arrives, though by then little life remains on any part of it.
3. Talai, 271,000 B.E. Unregulated mining and exotic-matter-recovery operations on Malo's Treaty System XIV-II rapidly degrade the surrounding habitat and drive most key species to extinction within a few centuries. It will be approximately three thousand years before life recovers enough to return to land; intelligent successors evolve beginning 20,000 years later from a kind of large, mutated crustacean.
4. Everyone's Body, 105,000 B.E. The formless hivemind readily assimilates the small stone-age population, as well as most other sentient life, into its collective amorphous biomass. It splits several times, with its last offshoot containing any biomatter from the nameless geyser planet dying around 23,000 B.E. There is a flamethrower involved.
5. Oscovi, 108,000 B.E. Conquest of the Land of Plentiful Blue Trees is rapid and absolute. A defiant stone-age species with no meaningful contribution is to be decimated, enslaved, and replaced. A small population circulates, scattered across the stars, for less than a century before dying out. Ecosystem is replaced by invasive species, eventually naturalized to the environment.
6. Thaucinite, 52,000 B.E. Per holy edict, any inconvenient natives of "undiscovered" lush, fertile land such as Geyser Valley are exterminated as a matter of course, to make room for new inhabitants. The engineered plague administered at the first contact festivities kills the majority of the population within six weeks. More active extermination of holdout pockets continues for several more months, and the planet is declared "habitable" by the year's end.
7. Abnakite, 24,000 BE. To showcase such a jewel as Pinewood Heights, of course, one must first conquer and extinguish its resistance. One-seventh of the primitive population is retained for display, so her Eminence may see the humble common people of this hidden beauty as they labor under the heel of the Empire. When they are deemed unnecessary, the end is swift.
8. Variskine/Bright Three, 300 BE. The early radio calls of a blooming civilization attract unwanted attention amid a rare era of protracted interstellar warfare. Variskine forces arrive first, recruiting alarmed and bewildered natives at phaser-point to convert their largest settlement into a hidden base to store munitions and house soldiers a few light-hours from the contested interstellar border. Bright Three forces first bombard the planet a month later. By the end of the war, nine years onward, little else remains.
Some old art of a few more Rain World OCs I forgot to post a while back. These two are part of Three Rivers' entourage/bogus voting council -- they grew up in her superstructure and sort of act like Mini's annoying older siblings, lol. Rivers gave them more traditional ancient-style names, but they just go by the short versions normally.
From the original notes doc:
A pair of scavenger siblings, raised as citizens of Three Rivers. They were orphaned and stranded from their colony as kits during the big landslide and unexpected flash-flooding from Clouded Verdancy's collapse, and took shelter in Three Rivers' structure to escape the rains that first cycle, leading to their adoption and integration into the colony there. Consider themselves Mini's big siblings, Elder's honorary grand-kits, and TR's... underlings, more or less.
tried making a quick pseudo-conlang script for hearthian to look vaguely like the textures seen in game, just for fun. my time management skills remain unparalleled.
romaincrisis
janainaart
origamiaround
gummygunk
areudirty
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
jbbartram-illu
andulkaphoto