If I was slightly better at archery and slightly less afraid of intestinal parasites, Charlie would have been a really excellent hunting dog.
He's a Mdium-sized Rez Dog which is to say he's mostly sighthound and pointer but he's a perfectly classically shaped hunting dog. He looks like he modeled the dogs on grecian pottery or hopped out of one of those 1700's paintings of stags at bay that would hang in the smoking rooms of the guys that funded the pillaging of the Americas but I digress. Sometimes I feel bad that I can't indulge him in what he was bred to do, because he loves scent-tracking and flushing geese and he damn near got me arrested in Grand Teton National park after he chewed through his leash and went haring off after a pronghorn antelope for half a mile at roughly mach fuck before the damn thing finally crossed a river and I was able to grab Charlie because he doesn't like getting his feetsies wet.
But today, we were on a walk in the local open space on a moderately muddy trail with fresh horse tracks in it.
As in, we parked next to the horse trailer.
The horse itself is actually perfecty visible about half a mile ahead of us.
But Charlie saw the tracks and went "I'm gonna scent-track this shit. I'm gonna hunt this motherfucking ungulate down by smell alone. I am truly the Nimrod of Dogs."
Full Instinct takeover happens. Head down, nose to the ground, pulling on his martingale hard enough that I could have hooked him up to a sled, stopping and dramatically pointing at road apples and bits of nibbled grass until I acknowledge that he has Identified An Article. He is having a GREAT time doing this, so I'm just there, looking at the horse that we are slowly catching up to and going. "Yeah! You got it! Good Job!"
But I'm also walking Herschel, who is a Corgi and he loves Activities, so he sees his big brother doing this and goes "OH BOY! AN ACTIVITY!!" and is trying his darndest to copy what Charlie's doing.
Except he doesn't have a damn clue what is happening so he's slapping his livestock-bullying instincts on these horse tracks as hard as he can and just. Barking at horse shit to alert me to it's existence. Stalk-posing at the gras Charlie is pointing at, in case it jumps up and tries to run off. I think he thought perhaps they were herding an Invisible Cow and BY GOD it wasn't gonna run lose on his watch. Wherever it was.
Eventually, we get to about 100 feet behind the horse, which is an older Pinto out for a nice stroll and some fresh air and at this distance, Charlie decides that we're probably close enough for my dumb, relatively sensorily deprived human ass to see the horse, but just to make sure, he POINTS.
He's so fucking good at pointing. Perfectly still. Perfectly straight back and tail. Head up and ears forward. Front paw up and at the ready. Little diamond shape of back hackles up in excitement. Determined, unblinking lazer-eyed stare at the target. He looks like a very carnivorous hood ornament, the distilled essence of Hunting Dog, in a perfect scuptural pose. It's downright artistic. Inspiring even
Herschel is DELIGHTED, because he might not understand scent-tracking but he DID learn how to Point from Charlie and copies his pose exactly.
It has almost exactly the opposite emotional effect.
A Pointing Corgi is the most canine clownshoes nonsense possible. Herschel's pose is flawless of course, he learned from the Master, but the perfectly straight back looks funny as hell with a perfectly straight nub of a tail. His head is up and his gaze is locked but instead of predatory intent his face is EXTREMELY excited about this new Giant Friend and thier giant ankles he can barely wait to launch himself at and his face is about 80% Big Dumb Corgi Grin. Instead of Charlie's minute, even delicate hackles, Herschel has a full-body length doggy mowhawk, which is a good three inches long at the peaks over his shoulders and hips, ruining the sleek image and making him look like he just came out of the dryer and is still full of static electricity.
And, of course.
The Paw.
The Front Paw is up and at the ready- he and Charlie are both right-pawed apparently- and on his little stubby Corgi legs it looks like a toddler trying to use a smartphone. He thinks he's doing exactly what the Big Dogs do, but he only has these tiny feets.
Anyway, that's how they made a Jogger laugh so hard she ran into a garbage can.
ao3 comments will be like “i like this line of your fic” and my reply will be like “fantastic thank you here’s my entire thought process about how i ended up with that particular line and also an outline for another fic i have and fifteen resources i used to research 1980s politics” and nobody asked for that chill
Definitely asked for that, and also here’s the other three dozen lines from your fic that I liked and the outline for the fic they inspired me to write plus some extra character meta that at this point is only tangentially related to your fic but was definitely inspired by those 1980s politics resources and -
Fic Commenters: If you ever want to make a comment going on depth about a part of a fic that stood out to you, but think “does the author really want to read all this?” The answer is YES! YES WE DO WANT TO READ ALL THAT!!!!
Fic authors: If you ever see a comment that makes you want to explain your thought process behind your writing, and you think “does the commenter really want to read all this?” The answer is YES! YES WE DO WANT TO READ ALL THAT!!!
Yay!!! Going to answer in this same reverse order, I think. ;-)
Fanfic Ask Game
Z. Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?
Do I read it? Oh, certainly--sometimes that's just the way I need to get myself in the emotions. Now, writing it... I mean, I've kept canonical character deaths, but only temporarily and with the intent of enabling character journeys (twice now I've used the tags "No beta we die like [character] ...did and sometimes he deals with that"). I have certainly entertained the idea, and maybe actually wrote one down once but never released it, but nothing that's ever gained traction.
As for not being able to tolerate a character death... I mean, at this point, it's Tron and Beck. There's maybe a little wiggle-room on Tron's end, because I've seen some instances where it's a more merciful way his story goes instead of the Rinzler route, but in large part, I cannot accept it as his fate post-Legacy. (We're not going to talk about the vague idea of a Pull the wreckage AU that I contemplated just for the tears.) As for Beck... maybe it makes narrative sense on several levels and has massive angst potential, but maybe I just as readily don't want to think about him as a Rinzler casualty.
R. Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?
Ooh, y'know, I don't think I consciously take inspiration or cues from other writers? I mean, I certainly have admiration for them and enjoy their craft, but my writing style is pretty much however things decide to spill out of my head.
K. What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?
In all honesty, Pull the wreckage 'verse is at the very least up there; even if it's to get on a road to healing, we've definitely had to hit rock-bottom with that story. But there was also Old enough to know (we're never letting go), which was one of the aforementioned "canonical character death for the purpose of character journey" fics that brought long-lost twins together only to leave one grieving the other for most of the story. I'm sure I could think of more, but most of them would be half-formed ideas I use to entertain myself and wouldn't seriously consider writing.
F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
I do so love both the Beck and the Paige arguments in That I'll be somebody, but while Paige gets to deliver those real gut-punches of truth, I did enjoy weaponizing the "Identity" confession in Beck's scene and bringing the Tron-as-liar theme back around again. It's such a simple exchange, but it hits hard, especially punctuated by that harsh laugh.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he says instead, voice heavy under the weight of all he holds back. He pivots so he faces Beck, but places himself a marked distance away from that glitched disc.
“I’m asking you to be who you are,” its true owner emphasizes, stepping in closer to lift his head high in challenge. “You don’t need your memories for that. That was something you told me yourself, you know.”
Laughter crackles cruelly out of Tron’s throat at the declaration, unstoppable even if he cared to try.
“So, I’ve always been a liar,” he muses, stepping back as the unforgiving obsidian of his mask forms up and locks around his head. “That’s a comfort.”
Throwing it back at you for the fic questions! F, I, O and Y :) (I'll answer mine once I'm home from dinner lol)
Delighted to accept the volleying-back! ;-D Thanks!!
FanFic Ask Game
Dropping below the cut, because this immediately got long.
F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
Ooh, tough one, because going back to finished works is going a bit outdated and into more niche projects, but That I'll be somebody (in my own time) is a near-constant minefield of spoilers... Think I'm just going to have to bite it and go for one of the milder ones.
This fic is a big angstfest (but purposeful: the hopeful/happy ending tags are there for a reason), so there aren't a whole lot of lighter/comedic scenes in it. But circumstances (read: they straight-up invited themselves into this fic and forced me to add weight to a passing plot element to make it work) dropped the security team from "Scars"--recovering from their own repurposing--on my hands. Aside from some light canonical joking-around, those three characters are such blank slates that they became my comic relief for a scene in Chapter 4, and I could have wept for how smoothly their banter flowed out of me.
“Think you got ‘em?” Reeve asks, raising a hand above his eyes to block out the inferno’s glare and assess the damage from a safe distance.
Klax snorts, her palms planted on her knees as she doubles over to recover from her sprint. “I better have. That should have been enough grenades to take out a mid-sized building.”
“And if we were to check our supply cache, would there be any left?” Nord deadpans, shifting his weight in such a way that makes Tron’s upper half flop around.
“What, jealous that you didn’t think of that plan?”
“No.” Another fidget, though this time it’s to sulk. “It’s just that we have to keep a close eye on our inventory, now. Besides, I had a more important task.”
“That I had to force you to do,” Reeve chimes in, not keen to let his contribution slide.
Klax laughs mockingly. “Oh, that’s right! Congratulations on getting one of your half-witted ‘Save Tron From Overworking Himself’ schemes to actually work. You gonna let him down, now?”
Tron takes that as the ideal opening to let out an annoyed, non-read error growl for emphasis.
“Oh, frag.” Nord scrambles to slip him back off that shoulder and onto his feet, before taking a few noticeable steps back as protection. “Sorry. It was for your own good.”
I. Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
Identity. IDENTITY. Secret identities, identity reveals, identity crises... Whether it's superhero shenanigans, or being convincing (or, alternately, being convinced) that these two characters from different media are the same person under different identities, I'm here for it. It's not just about the gimmick, give me all the introspection for the character in question, and both the internal and external tension of a hidden identity (and eventual reveal).
O. How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
I mean, if we're talking original fiction, I have several characters living in my brain who I adore dearly and are fairly fleshed-out... Their plots, not so much. With fic, though, I think it kind of depends? Before I ran full-tilt into Pull the wreckage 'verse, I was mostly writing oneshots for an OTP or for this crossover series I had going, and most of those were just me throwing characters together with a general idea and letting them drive the boat. I'm a very big character dynamics kind of gal, so that jived pretty well for me.
In all honesty, writing That I'll be somebody (and eventually the rest of the series) is probably one of the first times I've been plot-focused and then the characters fell into place. I've had to carefully lay threads since the first chapter and have a good idea of my endgame this whole time, but there's always been room for characters to push me to write more scenes between them than I first planned, or even--looking at the security team again--show up when they weren't even supposed to be here!
Y. A character you want to protect.
You already know I'm in agreement with your answer: currently, it's Tron. Absolutely Tron. The entire reason I'm even in this fandom is because--to quote an actual text I sent in the middle of unhinged ranting about this franchise--"Like excuse me for wanting to see the brainwashed and tortured character experience healing!!"
Now, look, am I still tormenting him a ridiculous amount? I'll be the first to admit it (and that I'm having fun doing so). But it's with the express purpose of getting to that healing: it's messy and angry and painful, but more in the way of re-breaking something that healed wrong before and starting the process anew with proper support. It's a cathartic pain, and even if it might not seem like it sometimes, there's so much hope on the horizon.
✨ Please reblog the polls to make them reach out to as many people as possible, but KEEP IT SPOILER-FREE to make people listen to the music with an open mind 💖
✨ Artists and titles will be revealed with the full song after the poll's conclusion, check the original post for an update!
⚠️➡️ Yes, spoilers includes posting the lyrics. Please don't spoil. There are other ways to have fun with the post if you reblog it, maybe be sneaky/witty about it with obscure references. Have fun while following the rules! 😄💖 Fandom blogs/communities are welcome to reblog, but please keep that as far as it goes with spoilers!
A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?
B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?
C: What member do you identify with most?
D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?
E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?
F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
H: How would you describe your style?
I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].
K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?
L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?
N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?
O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)
Q: How do you feel about collaborations?
R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?
S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?
T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?
U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?
W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?
X: A character you enjoy making suffer.
Y: A character you want to protect.
Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?
jacobvanloon
germansingergirl
kianamaiart
snowghoul
kaledo-art
gummygunk
titsay
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
