Sights and Thoughts from the Rails

What is says on the tin. (Plus embroidery and whatever else catches my attention.)

[mxtheo3]

I think it is my shipper nature talking but Scott calling Brain to watch the Sun Probe is just real sweet - I'm sold on NerbBirds ship big time

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Can I recommend the following fic?

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

(Sadly unfinished, but that's no barrier to loving what's on offer!)

[mockva]

[penny-anna]

one argument you often see about fanfiction is that it's like 'training wheels' writing? like 'oh it's fine to do that while you're still learning, it's easier than coming up with your own ideas'. and I have to say I have just never agreed with that.

[penny-anna]

in my experience it's actually pretty common for newbie fanfiction writers to gravitate towards coming up with OCs rather than writing about the canon characters (hence the infamous Mary Sue); this suggests that many people find that 'easier' than attempting to write about pre-existing characters.

I would say that recreating the characterisation, mood and general vibes of an existing work of fiction is in fact a skill in and of itself that's acquired via practice. A common compliment delivered to fanfiction writers is how well they have captured the spirit of the original work. Inexperienced fanfiction writers fail to do this.

When creating an original character you can, ultimately, say anything about them and now it's canon bcos you created them and you said so. conversely, well, if you are covering a well known song and start playing the wrong notes people will notice immediately.

In addition: a lot of fanfiction, IMO, is in actuality a form of metafictional literary analysis. a story where two characters sit down and talk about their feelings about a canonical event? literary analysis, which is of course a skill. Sometimes fanfiction is bad bcos the writer is not good at interpreting texts.

finally I have made this point before but you never really see anyone suggesting that fictional works based on existing public domain texts are on 'easy mode'. is it 'easier' to write something based on a copyrighted work than a public domain work? Of course it isn't.

[penny-anna]

I know I said 'finally' but I forgot a point:

A major strength of the transformative work is its ability to create dramatic irony. If a fanfiction's emotional resonance is dependent on being familiar with the source material that's not necessarily a bad thing. sometimes it's a sign that the author has done a really skillful job of engaging with said source material.

[faggotfungus]

[kings-out-of-pocket-hell]

Thunderbird 5 please respond

John?

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Looks like that deferred maintenance caught up with Five...

[pangur-and-grim]

this is my live mammal

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Is it possible he's cold?

I know you've in summer, but cats usually cover their noses to help keep warm, so if you've got A/C running, the nearly naked beastie might be getting a chill...

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[elianzis]

Damn... I never thought about it

[pareidoliaonthemove]

I need to sit with this a while...

[abnormoinfo]

new ebbits! new site!

[poison-liker]

this is probably my favourite comic of all time jsyk

[sonic-gems-collection]

can someone explain this to me?

[shadeddaxion]

Sure thing! For convenience I’ll refer to the guy with his arms in his pockets as SG (shorter guy) and the one on the computer as TG (taller guy).

In the first panel, SG sees TG playing on the computer and is disappointed. SG puts a lot of value in the idea of “making things,” specifically “art,” and thinks TG is just wasting their time

So he asks them if they wouldn’t rather be “making something” instead of just playing games and listening to music, implying that TG isn’t doing anything worthwhile or creative with their time

But TG replies that “interpreting is generative,” meaning that even if they spend their time just doing fun stuff, the mere act of enjoying something is creating an experience and an interpretation. Talking about something, dancing to music or sharing a piece of art with your friends IS “making something,” and each of those can be worthwhile and artistic.

SG leaves, complaining he “can’t be an auteur of [interpretation].” Auteur is a movie term that refers to a filmmaker with artistic control and vision enough to be considered essentially the singular creator of the resulting work of art. Turns out, SG doesn’t just want to “make things,” he wants to make things he and others see as “important.” He wants to make art not for the sake of art, but for the sake of being recognized and praised for his art.

This comic really speaks to elitism within the artistic community, the idea that art needs to meet certain standards to be considered art. SG’s viewpoint is really traditionalist, that art need to be “approved” and validated in order to be considered “really art;” while TG recognizes that art can be as little as just talking about what you love.

TLDR: Art is for everyone, not just some sort of social “artistic elite.”

[abnormoinfo]

ooh i love the explanation

[trickstertime]

Rebloging for that in depth and not even a little snarky explanation. 10/10

[itspronouncedfeckyou]

for any new followers here: i am the Biggest hater of people pronouncing

this animal. as "Axe-oh-lottle"

the term 'axolotl' comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Nahua people (or the aztecs, for the uninitiated). it is derived from atl (water) and xolotl (one of the gods in the pantheon). in nahua, x's make a 'sh' sound, not a 'ks' sound. and when you have a 'tl' at the end of the word, it is best to just omit the l (since, in english it does not flow very naturally to make the Proper sound)

with this knowledge, we realize that the word 'axolotl' is actually pronounced "ash-o-lot" and Not "axe-oh-lottle"

anyway. thats my tedtalk

sincerely,

a native american who cares about language preservation

[itspronouncedfeckyou]

as an additional note, 'hua' like seen in "nahuatl" makes a 'wa' sound

so 'nahuatl' is pronounced 'na-wat' not 'na-how-tle'

jsyk

[thunderbirds-tracy-island]

[janetm74]

I forgot that Jeff played too…

[janetm74]

Does anyone remember which episode this is from?

[pareidoliaonthemove]

I think it's from the Thunderbirds Are Go movie...

Virgil's shirt is definitely not from the TV series, anyway.

[partywithponies]

My woke take, as someone who has worked in both a public library and a school library, is that we desperately need both more books that are at a higher reading level but a less mature subject matter, and more books that are at a lower reading level but a more mature subject matter, because 8 year olds who are advanced readers are still 8 year olds and don't want to read about graphic violence and torture, and teens and adults who have learning difficulties or who are just later readers for whatever reason are still teens and adults and don't want to read about Billy the Bunny going to school or whatever the hell.

[partywithponies]

Shoutout to people in the notes also mentioning people learning the language, I should've mentioned that really, given that I've been stuck reading German picture books myself while learning German.

[specialagentartemis]

I agree! In English second group of books are called Hi-Lo: High interest, low reading level, specifically advocating for adults with low literacy / poor English skills who still want to read books for adults. Gemma Open Door for Literacy is specifically a nonprofit program/publisher that publishes books for this demographic. If you are a librarian or have sway at your library, consider ordering a collection of these!

[dogpuppy]

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Laughing at the thought the train had to stop to let the fire truck go through...

[blue-bird0]

Rewatching bones is weird bc hodgins crazy conspiracies aren’t that crazy anymore, like hodgins will be like “yo the government isn’t helping people and are all rich assholes who say they want to help to stay rich whilst everyone else get poorer” and everyone around him will call him crazy. But I’m here watching from a third person perspective from the other room behind a glass wall and all I can do is bang on it and scream he was right but no one can hear bc it’s a fucking tv show.

Like no booth the government starting wars isn’t taboo anymore girly it’s fucking true they do it all the time.

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Three More Letters

Chapter One: Dear Mrs Blake

Dear Trapper,

I know I’ve not been the most reliable correspondent, but you’ve been here – you know what it’s like, and when everything is the same old khaki green and mud brown with splashes of arterial red there’s not a lot to say.

As you can guess from my start, I now have something to say and am therefore writing you.

Remember how we used to plan the five year reunion? Well, all of us here now have gotten sick of waiting. We’re having the reunion now. Seeing as how we’re all still here, and our families are there, it’s going to be the M*A*S*H 4077 reunion for our families. The general idea is that while we’re all here together missing our families, our families can get together there to miss us.

Trapper – I miss you. I miss you almost as much as I miss my Dad. BJ, the new guy is great company, but he’s not you. He wasn’t here to learn to hate Frank, the food, and the working conditions with me.

I’m writing to invite you and your family to the reunion. I know you probably don’t want to remember your time in Korea, but the thought of you there with my father gives me hope that I may one day make it myself. And God knows (as Mulcahy frequently assures me) I need that hope, even if the army doesn’t.

I’m also writing to invite Henry’s wife, Lorraine, and even old Ferret-Face. If you could make it, I would ask you to give Mrs Blake a hug, and tell her how much we miss Henry, and lay one on Frank for old times’ sake. A kiss or a punch, I leave up to you.

I hope you are well, and I hope you will make it to the reunion. I wish I could.

Your friend,

Hawkeye

[ailesswhumptober]

Prompts for AI-less Whumptober 2026

As always, picking what prompts to include was really hard thanks to you guys' wonderful brains, but we hope this list will excite many of you! Additional info + plain text versions of the prompts can be found under the cut. Please check the FAQ below before sending asks.

FAQ and Rules

What sort of content can I create for this event?

You can create whatever you want (fic, art, edits, etc). Any fandom is allowed, as well as OC stuff. NSFW is allowed, but please tag your content accordingly! The only thing not allowed is AI-generated content. You're also free to combine these prompts with the prompts of any other event.

Do I need to make 31 things to participate?

Oh heavens no! You can make as much or as little content as you like, skip days when desired, or combine prompts (so for example, write something that covers a prompt from day 1, 2, AND 3). You don't have to do the days in order either, go wild! To be considered a 'completionist', you only have to make sure that at the end of the month, you've covered 31 prompts from 31 different days, but whether you do that in 31 works or just 1 is up to you. Your works can be separate oneshots or one continuous fic, or something in-between.

How do I interpret these prompts?

Creativity is the name of the game here! If you don't understand a prompt, feel free to send us an ask about it. However, the important thing is you can interpret the prompts however you want. For example, 'heat' could be literal (fever, heatstroke, burn wounds) or figurative (somebody getting heat for something). The dialogue prompts are allowed to be slightly rewritten to fit better for the character whose mouth it's coming out of, be that the whumpee, whumpter, or caretaker. As long as you're having fun!

What are these alts about?

If none of the three prompts of a particular day are your cup of tea, you can swap them out for an alt prompt of your choice. This will count as having covered that day for completionists.

How do I tag my works and is there an AO3 collection?

It suffices to tag your work with #ailesswhumptober for us to see and reblog it! Please also tag nsfw content, since we'll be using that tag on this blog too. Tagging the day is optional but does help the mods along.

There will be an AO3 collection like every year. It will be linked here once created (closer to October).

What's this I hear about badges/achievements?

For those who want an extra challenge, we come up with a set of achievements each year in addition to the 'completionist' one for you to strive for. Each achievement you complete comes with a cool little badge, hand drawn by our very own Mod Radio, which you can claim at the end of the event. A full list of the achievements will be linked here once created (closer to October).

That should be all. If you have any additional questions, check our pinned or hit us up in the ask box. Or join our discord maybe, whumping can be a great group activity!

---

Plain text versions of the prompts:

October 1: Used like an object - Sacrificial lamb - "Can't you see you're hurting them?!" October 2: Pulled underwater - Electrical burns - "I never expected this from you."

October 3: Magical affliction - Struggling to breathe - "Pain makes you taste sweeter."

October 4: Substance withdrawal - Moments too late - "Shhh, shhh, you're okay."

October 5: Life altering injury - Pushed to the limit - "Go to hell!"

October 6: Arranged Marriage - Misunderstanding leads to whump - "I deserve this."

October 7: Trapped in a small space - Dehydration - "How many fingers am I holding up?"

October 8: Sibling caretaker - Whumpee trivializing their own trauma - "Me?! What about you?!"

October 9: Forced to fight - In the nick of time - "What happened? You look half dead."

October 10: No sedation - Flinching - "Just hold on a little longer."

October 11: War prize - Gilded cage - "You'll live to regret that, I'll make sure of it."

October 12: Psychological torture - Hallucinations - "This is where you belong."

October 13: Human shield - Surprised at being offered aid - "You're hurt because of me."

October 14: Thrown into a wall - Blood draining - "Look at you. Pathetic."

October 15: Last one left of a species - Raised in a laboratory - "Whatever happens, just remember that I love you."

October 16: Moment of softness - Losing a comfort item - “I hate you"..."I love you too.”

October 17: Apotheosis/Deification - Resurrection - "I'm saving you from yourself."

October 18: Collapsing from exhaustion - Hunted like an animal - "This is how you repay me?"

October 19: Nonconsensual body modifications - Unconventional limb removal - "Be good."

October 20: Bridal carry - Weakness - "Sweet dreams, whumpee."

October 21: Refeeding syndrome - Allergic reaction - "Don't move. Please, don't move."

October 22: Unconscious for days/weeks - Classic sickfic - "Hey, open your eyes. Stay awake for me."

October 23: Unwilling witness - Blindfolded - "I miss it more than I can ever explain."

October 24: Everybody you once loved is dead - Scar torn open - "Please don't lie to me."

October 25: Living weapon - Forced to hurt somebody - "If you love me, you'll do it." October 26: Fever causes a seizure - Can't see straight - "I thought it was just a cold."

October 27: Infection spread through bite - Rash - "Don't touch it, you'll make it worse." October 28: Flogging/Whipping - Hanging - "I just want it to stop." October 29: Stabbed in the back - Untrustworthy - "At least I never pretended to be anything I'm not." October 30: Public humiliation - Involuntary tremors - “Takes one to know one, hm?” 

October 31: (Found) family but they suck - Reading the will - "You actually thought I cared? That's hilarious." ALTS: 1. Haywire instincts

2. Shaving

3. Forced bitching

4. Time loop

5. Dopplegänger/Changeling

6. Tampering with food or drink 7. Eldritch horror

8. Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn

9. "Let me protect you for once!"

10. "You don't have a home left to go back to."

[little-vulpecula]

TAG Chibi Cross-Stitch Templates

Here are all the templates I designed for my cross-stitch chibi charms! Since I'm no longer selling them, I thought I'd share them so anyone who wants to can make their own :)

Part 1: Scott, Gordon, Virgil, Alan, Brains

Part 2: Kayo, Parker, Grandma, Penelope

I designed these using FlossCross and with this template I found on Pintrest.

[janetm74]

Thank you!

[only-tiktoks]

[swagpaws]

[VD: A TikTok titled "My 10 favorite (inexpensive) holiday gift ideas for the blind & visually impaired." The first clip shows a person pointing up at the title as they voice-over: "These are my ten most favourite gifts for the blind and visually impaired".

The following items are demonstrated in the video and described in the voice-over:

1. Assorted bump dots - Various kinds of stickers with protruding dots on them that can be put onto appliances to make them more tactile.

2. Pocket money brailler - A device that allows you to imprint braille onto paper notes, indicating their value.

3. Liquid level indicator - A device hung on the edge of a container with metal prongs that detect when liquid has reached it.

4. Braille Pop-It - A pop-it with the alphabet in braille on each bubble.

5. Tactile Rubik's cube - A rubik's cube with unique textures for each color.

6. Braille color clothing tags - Tags with braille to indicate what colour a piece of clothing is.

7. Signature guide - A card with a rectangular slit in it to guide the user when writing their signature.

8. Low vision playing cards - Cards with very large and colorful numbers on them.

9. Pop-A-Cell - A plastic card with 6 bubbles you can indent to practice braille characters.

10. Talking keychain clock - A clock that says the time aloud when you press a button.

End VD.]

[swagpaws]

rbing again to boost my description! please make sure to rb this with a description! its a bit painfully ironic to see a video about blind people without a description... yknow, so visually impaired people can access it