FlightSporadic

she/they | Adult Fandom | Writing | Art | sometimes other things currently mostly IronStrange/MCU | Iron Lung also: Stargate | Tolkien/LotR | AtLA | Star Wars | Star Trek | FMA

[hallwaysss]

Genuinely I think this might be the most important scene in the book

[hallwaysss]

@carlyraejepsans how does it feel to be the most correct person ever. You're so right

[theoppositeofwar-writes]

Stephen's brain shuts down completely when, in the middle of some of their usual teasing banter, Tony boldly climbs right onto his lap.

Stephen sank into the hot tub with a contented sigh, ignoring Tony's smug little laugh as he did so. They were a few glasses into a very nice bottle of whiskey Tony had bought when he'd gotten married, intended for the ten-year anniversary that they never reached. Pepper was still Tony's friend, but she'd declined to share the bottle, so it had been gathering dust until Tony had found it tonight. It had taken little convincing for Stephen to split the bottle, but a fair bit more to get him in the hot tub. He'd finally relented, and it seemed Tony was rather proud of the fact.

"See? I told you you'd enjoy it," Tony teased, the smugness carrying in his tone. Stephen cracked one eye open to see him grinning at him from the other end of the tub, perched high in one of the corner seats and delicately holding his drink out of the water.

"It doesn't take a genius to know that I'd enjoy sitting in a hot tub. Everyone does."

"Well, you sure were hesitant to get in this one."

Stephen flushed, hoping that the change wasn't visible on his alcohol-reddened cheeks. He had a reason to be hesitant- several, in fact- but he couldn't admit the real reasons to Tony. "That's because it's late-"

"It's barely midnight, you and I usually hang out until three or four."

"I didn't have a swimsuit!"

"Obviously not a problem, did you really think I was a one swimsuit kind of guy? Of course I have extras."

"Okay, but-"

"And you have your portals. You could have literally grabbed your own without leaving. Not that I'm complaining about you choosing to wear my clothes."

Stephen nearly dropped his glass into the tub. "Excuse me?"

Tony shrugged. "What can I say? I've got good taste."

"I feel like that's not really an answer."

"You didn't really ask a question, either."

"What was that about good taste?"

"I've got it in spades. The whiskey," Tony lifted his glass, "The swimwear, the hot tub, the company."

"And I suppose I'm supposed to take this as a compliment?" Stephen teased, largely to hide the fact that he was genuinely touched.

"Only the best for Tony Stark," Tony responded cheerfully. "My time is worth a lot, you know. I wouldn't spend so much of it with you if I didn't consider you a worthwhile investment."

If it was possible for Stephen to flush any deeper, he did. "I bet you say that to all the heroes."

"Ha! They wish."

"You mean to tell me that you never get drunk and go for a late-night soak with Banner?"

Tony snorted. "You think this is Banner's scene? No, the late-night soaks are just for you."

"Soaks, plural? This is the first time you've ever gotten me in the hot tub."

"I know. And now that you know firsthand how nice it is, it's going to be easier and easier to get you in here, and you might actually relax for once in your freakishly busy wizard life."

That was exactly what Stephen didn't want- to be coaxed back into the hot tub regularly. He didn't need to get used to a luxury like that only to lose it someday, nor did he need the test of will of regularly seeing Tony in his far-shorter-than-average swim trunks. It was hard enough to be drunk around Tony and not let on how he felt, it was all but impossible to be drunk around a scantily-clad Tony and comfortable enough to let his guard down.

"That's rich, coming from you, Mr. 'I Have Three Personal Assistants to Plan My Days Since Pepper Retired'."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I need three PAs. Not everyone is equipped to work with the amount of rescheduling that it takes to maintain my schedule. Between work emergencies and Avengers stuff, it's a lot. Splitting the load between them seems to help."

"Exactly. Pot, kettle. You can't poke at me for being busy when you're as busy as you are."

"I actually can, because everyone has been poking at me for my schedule since I was nine and you're just as busy as me, you've just got Wong to keep you on track."

"I am perfectly capable of managing my own schedule, I assure you."

"I'm sure you're capable of a lot, but don't pretend that you don't lose track of time just as easily as I do."

"Are you serious? You lose track of time at the drop of a hat, I at least have the self-awareness to try not to get distracted if I know I have something important coming up."

"Well, really when you think about it, it's way more embarrassing for the keeper of the Time Stone to lose track of time. Isn't that like, your whole job? Keeping Time?" There was an undertone to Tony's voice that was clearly recognizable- he was baiting Stephen. But, drunk and comfortable, Stephen took the bait, hardly taking notice of the fact that Tony started crossing the tub towards him.

"You know perfectly well that using the Time Stone is extremely dangerous and misusing it even more so. I can't just bend Time to my will just because I'm the keeper of the Stone. It could bring about all manner of-" Stephen cut himself off abruptly as Tony reached him and brazenly settled right onto Stephen's lap, bracketing Stephen's legs with his calves and laying his hands low on Stephens' bare shoulders. It wasn't the steadiest position in the hot tub, and despite his utter shock, Stephen's hands steadied Tony's waist.

"Do you have any idea how cute you are when you get defensive?" Tony asked, but it took Stephen several seconds to process the words. He was too distracted by the sudden deluge of sensations at his fingertips.

Tony's warmth registered above that of the hot tub itself, something Stephen distantly knew was related to something called Extremis, and Tony's calloused fingers drifted down his chest, dipping under the water to skim across Stephen's ribs. Then, he raised one hand up to scratch at his own neck, and Stephen watched with vision that suddenly felt too-sharp as rivulets of water ran down Tony's chest, across his scars and the unmarked expanses between them. Not for the first time, Stephen was struck with the near-overwhelming desire to reach out and touch those scars, though his hands stayed anchored at Tony's hips.

"... Cute?" He responded belatedly, when the words finally penetrated his brief stupor. He looked up to meet Tony's eyes, and oh, he was so close. Tony's grin turned wolfish, drawing Stephen's eyes to his lips.

"Beyond cute, actually. Irresistibly cute." Tony's warm hand cupped Stephen's cheek, and he leaned into the touch before he could even process it, his eyes briefly fluttering shut as all sensation fell away but the warm, gentle touch. Tony hummed, sounding amused and almost joyful. "Like that? That was super cute. So cute, in fact, that I could kiss you."

"Please," Stephen breathed, unable to stop the word from slipping out. He didn't have time to panic, however, because Tony's grin turned wide and sweet.

"Well, if you insist."

[page127]

eye see you

[stonelionhearts]

i think as a writer, the older you get and the more you read, the more you realize there are very few actual truly bad ideas. which is a relief. but! the other thing you learn is that stories live and die on the execution and ha ha. lemme tell you. unfortunately. there are lots and lots of bad ways to execute an otherwise fine idea

[stonelions]

i've reblogged this before to say the same thing but i think it bears repeating that crucially, if you do execute an idea and feel like you got a less than stellar result....... you can do it again. remix. mashup. v 2.0. take another run at it.

the majority of writing is the process, anyway

[unsterr]

It’s always dark In the ancient glade The quiet shade Across old bark

[bumbburger]

eye contact

[tartapplesauce]

Obadiah Stane and personal space

In the “Avengers” movie, there’s one scene where Tony Stark puts a hand on Steve Rogers’ shoulder and Steve throws it off and speaks angrily to Tony.

There’s been some back-and-forth about what was going on: in one interpretation, Tony was trying to be genuinely friendly and casual with Steve, who over-reacted.  In another interpretation, Tony was pulling a ploy with Steve that Obadiah Stane had pulled with Tony.

I favour the second interpretation, and here’s why.

In the first “Iron Man” movie (and this really shouldn’t be a spoiler by now), Obadiah Stane is the villain working behind the scenes to have Tony Stark killed and to take over the company.  We get a lot of scenes of Obie (you’ll permit the affectionate diminutive, I hope) and Tony together, where Obie is standing very close to Tony and encroaching on his personal space.

It’s been suggested Obie doesn’t understand, or has a different understanding, of personal space; that he’s using closeness as a form of demonstrating intimacy with Tony (knew the father before him, knew Tony since he was born, is a close family friend).  I dispute this: I think Obadiah Stane is very much aware of the parameters of personal space and deliberately encroaches upon them as a dominance/status display.

He even does it with Howard Stark - and here we see the beginning of a pose that will be repeated again and again (crappy screencaps courtesy of moi-même):

Here Obie is trying to portray an image (and this is a publicity shot for a magazine, in-movie) of equality and partnership with Howard Stark.  It fits into the personal mythos he creates and retails for the next thirty years, as he constantly says to Tony “Me and your dad” in some shape or form.

But Obadiah Stane and Howard Stark were not partners in the business.  It’s Stark Industries, not Stark and Stane Industries (and really, in the context of getting their start making weapons during the Second World War, company initials such as “SS” would have been unfortunate).  Tony is Howard’s heir, not Obie (and there’s a huge wellspring of resentment there about that for Stane).

Obie is, when it comes down to it, an employee just like Pepper.  Pepper is very aware, despite how close she is to Tony and the unique part she plays in his life, that he’s the boss and she’s the personal assistant (see her protests at the charity ball about how it looks when Tony drags her out to dance).  He may be a very important and powerful one, he may have a sizeable share of the stock in the company, but when it comes down to it - Howard Stark did not make him a partner and Tony Stark can, if push comes to shove, fire him.

This is Tony Stark with someone he’s comfortable with.  Rhodey is sitting very close, he’s touching Tony, but only with the tips of his fingers.  He doesn’t have his arm around Tony or his hand grasping his shoulder.  Although he does get into Tony’s personal space, he’s respectful of the boundaries.

And Tony is listening to him - he’s deflecting or ignoring what Rhodey is saying, but he’s looking at him and listening to him and not (yet) trying to get out from under him.

Okay, let’s look at Tony’s first press conference when he’s back from Afghanistan and has just dropped the bombshell that he’s shutting down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacture.

This is before Tony even speaks.  Obie is asserting control here - that’s what it reads to me.  He’s reaching across the distance between them, so there’s a contradiction between the gap between them and the seemingly friendly gesture bridging it - there’s no eye contact, and it looks awkward.

This is Obie when Tony is first going ‘off the tracks’ (coming out from behind the podium, getting everyone to sit down on the floor); this is Obie reacting with his first instinct: assert and regain control.

This is after Tony’s bombshell, and this is what Obie always does: plasters on a big smile, puts his hands on/arms around Tony, talks over him, and hustles him out of the way.

This is not someone unaware of personal space; this is someone using it to his advantage.  He is seeking to make himself the dominant figure by seeming bigger and broader than he is (stretching out his arms to encircle Tony).  Look at his expression: inwardly he’s seething, of course he’s angry - even when we don’t yet know his real reasons for rage, we assume he’s got to be angry at Tony for pulling this stunt without telling him - but he’s aware all the time of the public gaze on them, so he puts on the big ol’ friendly grin, takes hold of Tony and physically displaces Tony.

He’s exerting control over the situation by exerting control over Tony.

After the press conference, we have the scene with the arc reactor.  Obie reveals his knowledge that Tony has managed to make a minaturised, efficient version and insists on seeing it.  Tony tries to get out of him how he found out - did Pepper tell him? Rhodey?  But Obie keeps insisting “Show me.  Show me.  Show me.” 

And Tony does.  He doesn’t refuse Obie, he doesn’t retain bodily autonomy (and this is after he’s been held captive and tortured, so control over who does and does not get to see his injuries should be very important to him - e.g. the refusal to go to the hospital).  He’s used to giving in to Obie, he’s used to Obie encroaching on his physical space (it’s maybe a bit much to say he’s been trained or conditioned to do so, but he doesn’t tell Obie ‘No’ outright at any stage):

Now comes the really subtle bit, the master-stroke of showing Obie’s exertion of dominance and control: it’s when he buttons up Tony’s shirt for him

Big deal, sez you.  Guy has his arm in a sling, why shouldn’t he need a friendly hand doing up his shirt?

Because:

(a) Tony was able to unbutton his shirt himself, though he did have to take the sling off to do it.  If he buttoned up his own shirt, this would indicate he’s the one in control: he chose to unbutton and show his chest with the arc reactor to Obie, and now he’s hiding it again by his own choice

(b) But it wasn’t Tony’s free choice to show the arc reactor in that place at that time; it was Obie’s badgering that made him unbutton his shirt and reveal his secret.  Tony wouldn’t need a hand doing up his shirt if Obie hadn’t insisted on seeing for himself - and we don’t know that Tony does need the help; presumably he dressed himself that much beforehand (even if, say, Pepper had to tie his tie for him).

© What Obie is doing here is infantilising Tony. He’s emphasising his self-appointed role as a replacement parental figure (“your old man and me”, Obie as the family friend, Obie as Howard’s stand-in).  He’s putting himself in the role as the one in charge, the dominant one, and by extension Tony’s words and acts are those of a petulant toddler.  Obie makes Tony show him the arc reactor and Tony doesn’t say ‘no’ because you don’t say ‘no’ when your parents tell you to do something.  You may complain and bargain and try to get out of it, but you do it eventually.

If Tony doesn’t need help dressing himself, Obie is regressing him to the state when parents and caregivers do up buttons and tie shoelaces for children.  Tony is the child here, and Obie is the adult.  And lastly, Obie is claiming his property - ‘you belong to me, the arc reactor belongs to me’.  Putting his hands on Tony like that is a possessive act; we’ll see the mirror of ‘the hands on the chest’ when Obie fingers (sorry, there’s no other word for it) the hole in the chest of Tony’s ‘box of scraps’ suit of armour where the first arc reactor was, in Raza’s tent.

And what does Obie do immediately after he sees the arc reactor in Tony’s chest and buttons up his shirt for him, hiding his property away from public view?

Why, it’s the big ole grin and arm around the shoulder once again!  Getting into Tony’s personal space, pulling Tony close.  And Tony is exhibiting all kinds of avoidant behaviour - there’s little eye contact, he tries to get away from Obie as much as he can without physically throwing him off.

Tony only touches Obie as a last-ditch effort to claim equality and get away from him - the hand on Obie’s upper arm in the image above (which is not as aggressively grasping a hold as Obie’s hand on Tony’s arm).

Obie has a pattern of laying hands on Tony to re-inforce his attempts at exerting control.  He does it in private (and nobody else, even Rhodey, touches Tony like this even when they’re arguing) EDIT: i neglected this point, that it’s always Obie initiating contact; I’m open to correction on this, but I don’t remember a scene where Tony was the one to hug/put a hand on Obadiah first, which again re-enforces that it’s about control and dominance - Obie is the one with the authority to touch whomever he likes and the confidence to do so, backed up with the undercurrent of physical threat by the ‘bigger stronger’ displays (humans are not pack animals, but we have enough animal psychology to recognise and respond to signals of fighting for dominance) :

We see the same pattern in the ‘smile and pose for the photos’ on the steps after the charity ball:

Here, Obie has forced the pose: he’s the one telling Tony “smile and pose for the photo”.  And at the same time he’s dropping his bombshell (‘I’m the one who took out the injunction against you, surprise!’), he’s doing the ‘friendly arm around the shoulder’ bit again.

It’s not just Tony he does it to:

This is not Obie being friendly to an underling; this is Obadiah Stane demanding why they can’t recreate the arc reactor technology in miniture as Tony did.

So let’s compare the two poses we started off talking about:

Notice any similarities?

Wonder why Steve might take a ‘friendly’ overture as an aggressive act designed to signal dominance, control and superior status?

Tony, whether he realises it or not, learned that trick from Obie.  And Steve, who grew up as a ninety-pound weakling in Brooklyn, knows all about why you don’t let (bigger) guys treat you like that: they’re not friends or on friendly terms at that stage of the movie, this isn’t a gesture of friendship.

Yes, Steve lets Bucky do that, and it’s precisely in the context of Bucky demonstrating that he’s the protector, the big strong guy, the alpha male rescuing his little buddy from the bullies; they’re friends, but it’s still unconscious condescension on Bucky’s part to Steve:

[ssironstrange]

this is a wonderful post going into just how much of a fucking disgusting creep obadiah really is to tony, and reinforces my stance on how everything about the two of them is a prime example of a toxic and dangerous relationship.

and also a sad insight into the lingering effects of it all on tony.

[apod]

2026 July 28

Barnards Loop over Twin Volcanoes Image Credit & Copyright: Gonzalo Laserna Vargas

Explanation: What’s connecting these two volcanoes? In ancient folklore, the two volcanoes, Parinacota (left) and Pomerape (right), are connected by representing a mythical prince and princess who engaged in a forbidden romance. Beneath the ground, the two peaks are not known to be connected by a common pool of hot magma, and neither volcano has erupted in the past 1000 years. Above the ground, there is usually nothing in the sky that connects them – except if you use careful timing and look from a specific location. The featured well-planned image was captured from Bolivia in mid-April with a series of camera exposures taken on the same day and from the same location. Then, Barnard’s Loop appeared to connect the volcanic peaks. Also visible in the image is the Orion Nebula in the center, the star Betelgeuse on the right, and the Rosette Nebula on the upper right.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260728.html

[mcufam]

Iron Man 2 (2010) directed by Jon Favreau

[chimaerakitten]

I have just enough knowledge about archaeologists working for the American federal government to write the most boring stargate: SG1 fanfiction ever put to page. Everyone be thankful I have not inflicted it upon you.

[chimaerakitten]

It would also be a good opportunity to set the fanon record straight a bit. Nobody in the archaeology world would be shocked about an archaeologist working for the Air Force. Working for the federal government is one of the most normal career trajectories for archaeologists in the United States. If you search “archeologist” (note, the federal spelling omits the second ‘a’ for some bureaucratic reason) on USAJobs right now, 5 open positions come up. Two of them for the army.

Granted, Daniel’s a bit of an odd case since he got run out of academic archaeology first instead of coming up via the CRM track, but still.

“Why would the Air Force hire an archaeologist?” Is the wrong question. They (and every other branch of the military) have dozens of others for completely normal non-aliens reasons. (And no, im not talking about contractors. People performing Inherently Governmental Activities are gonna be civilian GS employees.) Some of them attend SAA events every year perfectly normally. Better question: why has nobody from the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of the State Archaeologist, or the Ute tribe met this guy?

[specialagentartemis]

#basically there are a lot of people out there who think they know what Daniel’s job is #and also think he’s terrible at it #‘What do you mean Cheyenne mountain has had an archaeologist for TEN YEARS and he’s never emailed us once?’ #<- statements overheard at SHPO

[chimaerakitten]

#pffft#oh so not only do they think he's racist they also think he's completely phoning in his job#but also this is making me think about#Daniel Jackson Has To Actually Do CRM At Cheyenne Mountain Because SGC Wants To Build A New Hangar For Their Alien Spacecraft fic#Daniel Jackson Does Tribal Consultation and the Ute THPO doesn't actually /want/ to meet with him due to the Ancient Aliens thing#Stargate

(tags via specialagentartemis)

The really excellent thing is that even after he does [what everyone thinks is] his job publicly where they can see, they’re still gonna think he’s been phoning it in this whole time because it’s so obvious from the way he goes about it that it’s not what he regularly does.

“What do you think he normally does with his time?” Says the person who just got their first ever in ten years email from Dr. Jackson. It’s awkwardly phrased and missing about half the necessary information.

“While on the clock? Probably pitching to the history channel or something,” says their coworker. “2 Ancient 2 Aliens.”

“I don’t know if that’s better or worse than him writing—“ she pauses to do air quotes. “—‘Pyramids of the Gods’ on the taxpayer dime. This whole project is gonna be torture.”

[CUT TO DANIEL who is, at that very moment, actively being tortured]

[skaylanphear]

Okay but teacher Grace on Erid having very little say in which kids get filtered into his class, though he is aware that the selection process is super specific and that most of the kids he gets are high performers with star academics and some even with influential parents. He isn't quite comfortable enough with Eridian culture yet to object to the selection process and make it more inclusive, however. That is, until he learns about the special needs kids.

Obviously, there are Eridian kids with special needs, and a few of them even filter into his classes. But one specific type of special needs kid has never shown up in his classes, and the only reason he even learned of the condition is because Rocky and Adrien's first pebble has the condition.

It's initially quite a struggle for them to deal with, and Grace sympathizes of course, because the child will apparently have huge learning and academic struggles and will likely never be able to live on their own. That is, until he learns the details of the disability.

Basically, it's a condition where the part of the Eridian brain that gives them their eidetic memory isn't fully developed, and so these kids just... can't remember things the way most eridians do. And in a culture where an eidetic memory is the norm, all things cater to that, so not having that is actually a massive disability.

But Grace is like, so... this kid just learns the same way a human does, or something like. Which is nothing new to him, though he is somewhat boggled at how much Rocky and Adrian struggle with their infant and their "slow" learning curve, even as far as initial developmental stages. Grace, on the other hand, simply treats the kid the same way he would a human infant, and Rocky and Adrien are impressed with his patience.

But, through this, it occurs to Grace that there must be other kids out there with this disability who likely aren't getting the attention and chances in life that they deserve, because Eridian culture is particularly hostile toward this disability, and actively views those with it as unable to function in regular society.

So Grace demands that a special course be put together where he teaches kids with this disability specifically. Rocky is hesitant, as most kids with this disability are home schooled and kind of... kept shut away. But Grace insists and as one of Erid's saviors, he gets what he wants eventually.

His first class is super small, maybe only three kids because so few parents were willing to advertise that their children have this disability. And because of the stigma around it, even those who agreed to it are super unsure and want to be present during the lessons, perhaps paranoid about the impression it will leave on Savior Grace, who is so accustomed to only teaching the most gifted students.

But Grace knows exactly how to deal with these kids. Some of them have varying degrees of function when it comes to their memory banks, which isn't so unlike teaching kids on earth. And so Grace is able to introduce all these tools and teaching techniques that were previously unheard of on Erid (though very normal on Earth) like having textbooks for reference with you at all times and having strategies that are less focused on memorization for understanding, and providing these kids with tools like calculators and teaching them the art of taking notes to look back on, etc etc.

Suddenly, with all these tools that most Eridians don't need, these kids are learning at a much faster rate, and succeeding with the help of all their little tools. And because so many normal eridians are ignorant of Grace's actual biology, it's shocking to them that Savior Grace doesn't have an eidetic memory either (shocking to everyone but Rocky anyway)--that his brain functions quite similarly in capacity to these "disabled" children.

Once this news gets around, suddenly there's more kids in his special classes, and there's all kinds of discourse being inflamed because the real reason these kids can't live on their own or function is lack of support from Eridian society.

If Savior Grace, who is well respected as a genius in his own right amongst the Eridians, can function so successfully, they why can't these kids?

I dunno, I just think it's an interesting premise.

[dawnfelagund]

101 Comment Starters

I began working on this last summer. Like many veteran fanfiction authors, I lament the decline in commenting that I’ve seen in my fandom, the Tolkien fandom. I’m also a humanities teacher, so I spend a good part of my day teaching young people how to write, and one lesson I’ve learned the hard way is that each type of writing involves unique skills that have to be learned. And commenting is a unique form of writing and one that comes with added stresses around social expectations and public performance. My research on the Tolkien fanfic community confirms this: Many people want to comment, but they simply don’t know what to say.

As a teacher of writing, I often use  sentence starters or mentor sentences. The writer uses these to jumpstart their thinking and writing, until they become comfortable enough to begin working independently. “101 Comment Starters” is built around this research-based strategy of teaching writing.

Some of the comment starters are simple enough that they can be merely copied and pasted. Others require filling in some blanks or providing some elaboration. In some cases, a because can be dropped if the reader isn’t comfortable providing that level of elaboration yet. In other cases, a more experienced commenter can add the because and elaborate more on their comment.

They also differ in their level of praise. They range from simple statements of how the author made the reader feel to compliments around an aspect of the author’s writing or their work in general. I’ve tried to limit words like really, very, and so as much as possible, except when it made the comment feel wooden. You’re welcome, of course, to add those words in if you feel they more accurately help capture how a story impacted you.

If you’re just starting to comment, please keep in mind that the vast majority of authors will love to hear from you! They don’t care how long or elaborate your comment is. They don’t care if your English is perfect or if you’re a little awkward. They just want to know that you’re reading and enjoying their work.

Finally, please feel free to reblog and share and add your own comment starters!

ETA: I’m officially declaring these in the public domain. If you want to use them in something, while I won’t turn down credit, don’t let the inability to give me credit for them to stand in your way. Share them, make stuff with them, whatever you want to get the comments flowing!

101 Comment Starters

Keep reading

[snowstories]

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.

[mossbear-minese]

I don't remember where I saw this piece of advice so I can't credit it, unfortunately

But it was along the lines of "instead of asking whether something is out of character, ask 'what would it take for this character to do this'"

Which I think fits really nicely with this advice of making the actual action itself also feel in character

[airas-story]

Love how you have so many stories were Stephen and Tony basically speedrun getting married. It's so hilarious and so them. So my prompt is just hoe fast can you have them speedrun marriage? Can it potentially somehow be before they even meet? If not whatever ridiculous scenario you can come up with is good.

Stephen couldn’t believe he was doing this. He had always prided himself on being level-headed and reasonable, and this was the furthest thing from it. Still, it didn’t stop him from pressing the submit button on his post, mentally hoping that this didn’t lead to something grisly like his murder.

Looking for a spouse on craigslist was definitely the sort of thing that would get him murdered.

It would have been easier if Christine had agreed to marry him, he thought morosely. The divorce a few months later would have been amicable. But Christine thought Stephen’s little ‘scheme’ was ill thought out. And hey, Christine was a good judge of that sort of thing. It probably was ill thought out.

Stephen just didn’t care.

If the doctors were right—and Stephen knew they were, having looked at all the information himself—then his mom had only months left, probably less. And his mom was desperate for Stephen to be married. It wasn’t something Stephen cared about, but he just… he wanted to make her happy in her last days. Stephen had been an idiot a year ago and had pretended he was dating someone seriously—another attempt to bring her happiness and peace—and he knew just how badly she hoped that a marriage was on the horizon. Her memory was going as quickly as her health and Stephen guiltily acknowledged that would let him fudge a few of the details he’d given her in the past, because she likely wouldn’t remember them.

She had to ask about his non-existent’s boyfriend’s name 75 percent of the time. 

He sighed and pulled away from the computer. He’d leave it overnight to see if anything turned up. If not, maybe he’d go scout out local theatre groups. It’d be the acting role of a lifetime.

When he checked the computer the next morning, the number of responses to his post genuinely shocked him. Well, this was hopeful.

He skimmed through the responses, dismissing a few as he went—and if he was judging people by their grammar, he had to be cutting down the list somehow—and making notes on the details the different people had shared in their ‘application’.

Stephen sighed, going with his gut and messaging one of the men on the list: Tony Stark. He was close to Stephen’s age, an engineer, and had promised he could be charming. Stephen re-outlined the requirements: Tony would have to meet his mom, utterly charm her, propose in front of her, and hold a courthouse wedding within the month. They weren’t allowed to get divorced until after Stephen’s mom died, and while Stephen hoped that day was far away he knew, deep down, that it wasn’t. There would be a prenup, obviously, but Stephen would pay him for his service. An upfront charge and then a bonus for every month they were married.

Stephen tried not to think about the fact that he was still paying off debt for medical school and this was a very idiotic financial choice. But he had to give his mom this.

This was still probably an idiotic choice, but… it was for a good cause.

All right, he wrote. Let’s get married.

[necer0s]

Random PHM thought that just occurred to me: for the sake of both controlling the spread of astrophage and also creating backups in the case of catastrophic extinction events, it makes sense to seed Taumoeba in every system that is being affected by astrophage. If nothing else, it makes it easier for any other races affected by astrophage in the future to find the cure. But that’s obviously an incredibly expensive undertaking, even with astrophage fuel.

So the only sensible way to do it is to add taumoeba-seeding probes, similar to the beetles but with an automatic deployment when they reach their destination, to missions that are on their way past other systems. And almost all the missions that will be launched in a post-taumoeba world will be to Erid.

Which means that, in time, the path of travel between Earth and Erid will be marked by a line of notably brighter stars. And if they ever are discovered by another species, eventually the paths between their world and the other two will also be brightened. Whenever a sentient species looks out to the sky, they’ll be able to see the bonds between peoples by looking for the connections of light.

Constellations made out of hope, shining against the darkness.

[potejto-potato]

Inspired by @ctrl-shift-alt-9 's headcanon about Simon mining asteroids as a convict I decided to headcanon a design for a four convict mining unit. I'm not the most comfortable in photobash but it really felt like the perfect medium for this one.

Portable mining units

As I envision it this MS's would be a small part of C.O.I's mining operation. Leaving prisoners inside mostly on their own for better or for worse, with not much guard oversight in terms of rationing or behaviour, the shittiness of the circumstance would depend mostly on who you are stuck with. And considering the relative autonomy, being considered for MS work would be the kind of thing you get for good behaviour.

Otherwise you just get to work in the bigger supervised mine or the refineries (which I might also concept out later).

(Also I would consider it funny that the C.O.I owns both an SM and an MS 13 and both had the same unlucky convict inside at some point.)

More headcanons

- The mining stations are all equipped with a radio that is supposed to only serve as communication with nearby tow ships, but there is a way to jail break/jerry rig them into taking external signals. The convicts that can do that are valuable in prison society. The jail broken communicators are mostly used to listine in on passing vessels, or sometimes even far away eden scavenger transmissions or something like it. If a mining operation is all made out of previous eden brothers, that is most likely what they do in their free time.

- a sub headcanon to this is an actual pirate radio station in the iron lung universe, but I think I'll make a separate post for that.

-All the mining suits are numbered, and since Korean culture might have survived in space I think number 4 is still considered unlucky. Simon always gets the number 4 suit

-The crews are usually chosen at random but you can cash in favours to be with the same people twice in a row, I wouldn't say it's common, but there are reoccurring crews that are somehow bonded on these missions (I don't think a cosmic misery universe is complete without a little bit of hope)

[ctrl-shift-alt-9]

Holy WOW. @duskdev LOOK.

[avengerscompound]

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

IRON MAN 2