Stories Spun

Mostly a fanfic archive. Header image by @terriblethanks on Twitter.

[storyspinner91]

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

Here’s a link for my main (by which I mean “so far only”) fic, Like Constellations, A Million Years Away. If I have time I’ll do a sort of explanation post later; but for now, I just wanted to share the link.

This story mixes action and emotion (I hope fairly well) and is set in the universe of the tabletop roleplaying game Lancer - but you don’t need to know anything about that to enjoy it! (I have been assured by readers so far that they don’t and are liking it!) It’s a far-future science fiction setting featuring mechanized chassis as weapons - think along the lines of Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc. So all of the crew get to pilot giant robots. Adapting the story of Willow to this very different setting has been fun (and I’m increasingly rapidly departing from the original story as the work goes on)!

This is a work in progress, but chapters 1-8 form “Book One,” which prioritizes Jade’s POV and character arc, so that’s a sort of “done” section, if that’s important to you. There will be 4 books in total: next up is Kit, then Graydon, then Elora.

Summary:

In the far future, the hegemonic benevolence of Union ensures a stable, peaceful post-scarcity society in the "center" of the galaxy around Cradle, the planet once known as Earth. But on the fringes, utopia hasn't yet arrived. There some worlds are still wholly self-governing, some are simply distant from Union's gaze, and many are ruled by the massive corpro-states that operate within but largely above Union's power.

It's on one of those worlds owned by Smith-Shimano Corpro, Tir Asleen, that Kit Tanthalos is facing down an arranged marriage to Baron Graydon-Hastur of the House of Shadows. Kit and her best friend, Jade, would like nothing more than to be lancers together, pilots of powerful mechanized chassis. But that future seems impossible.

-or-

My brain - and mine alone - asked, "What mech would each of the Questies pilot?" and everything has spiraled out of control from there.

Chapters: 12/29 Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jade Claymore/Kit Tanthalos, Elora Danan/Graydon Hastur, Thraxus Boorman/Scorpia Characters: Jade Claymore, Kit Tanthalos, Elora Danan (Willow), Graydon Hastur, Thraxus Boorman, Willow Ufgood, Scorpia (Willow) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, AU - Lancer RPG, Mechs, mud & lasers, only my diseased brain would take these two cultural products and say "now kiss", Angst and Drama, Tanthamore, POV Jade Claymore, Kit Tanthalos Has Abandonment Issues, Kit is allowed to swear the correct amount in this one, (Jade too for that matter), POV Kit Tanthalos, POV Thraxus Boorman, pov Graydon hastur, POV Elora Danan, POV Everyone apparently, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by an Oh Hellos Song, Title from an Oh Hellos Song, Oh Hellos - Anemoi Cycle, POV Venoma Scorpia

[psychotic-gerard]

listening to a man break up with his partner on the train and the first sentence I heard was "I just don't appreciate you cheating on me six different times, once with my own father."

[noah-wyles]

[lizormianillustration]

reading terry prattchet is so crazy, cause you'll be reading about a character called something like plinko plonko and their zany exploits, and then he'll just drop a paragraph that goes so insanely hard like -

and then I just have to stare at the wall for a bit.

[sweetcardamom]

Pratchett does do that.

[and-my-sword]

a princess who only has her hands to entertain herself in the night and the knight who shares a bedroom wall with her and is being tested by god

[wolftoes]

She's doing shadow puppets and the knight can't see who's making them

[and-my-sword]

tags by @wolftoes

[tuxankhamun]

sorry kids daddy lost all his money betting on rhinoceros beetle fights again there won't be a christmas this year

[bester-jester]

good news babies, momma just cleared some chump of everything. Two christmases this year. God i love beetles fighting

[thorin-is-a-cuddler]

We celebrate David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Prince for their gender-nonconforming amazingness as we should, but let us not forget

Annie Lennox

Grace Jones

Sinead O‘Connor

Dolores O‘Riordan

Patti Smith

Tracy Chapman

Please add if you like, i do not own the photos

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

Big Mama Thornton (photo credit unknown)

Joan Jett (photo credited to Brad Elterman)

Pauline Black (photo credited to Ebet Roberts)

Meshell Ndegeocello (photo credited to Raymond Boyd)

Tanita Tikaram (photo credited to Bernard Weil)

[ibetteracethatinterview]

[emilybeemartin]

I saw a post saying that Boromir looked too scruffy in FotR for a Captain of Gondor, and I tried to move on, but I’m hyperfixating. Has anyone ever solo backpacked? I have. By the end, not only did I look like shit, but by day two I was talking to myself. On another occasion I did fourteen days’ backcountry as the lone woman in a group of twelve men, no showers, no deodorant, and brother, by the end of that we were all EXTREMELY feral. You think we looked like heirs to the throne of anywhere? We were thirteen wolverines in ripstop.

My boy Boromir? Spent FOUR MONTHS in the wilderness! Alone! No roads! High floods! His horse died! I’m amazed he showed up to Imladris wearing clothes, let alone with a decent haircut. I’m fully convinced that he left Gondor looking like Richard Sharpe being presented to the Prince Regent in 1813

*electric guitar riff*

And then rocked up to Imladris a hundred ten days later like

[emilybeemartin]

Some people have been wondering about the raccoon. Listen. Listennn. Don't ask about the raccoon.

[mavaris]

But does the racoon survive the Uruk-Hai? Does he curl up on Aragorn's head, or does he go straight to Faramir? Does he bite Denethor?

[emilybeemartin]

My friend. My colleague. My brother my captain my king. I too have been pondering this question, and in my mind there can be only one ultimate outcome.

A few months later

All hail the High Warden of Gondor.

Epilogue: It ADORES Faramir.

[elodieunderglass]

Every time I see this post I’m obligated to reblog and make it your problem too!

[andhumanslovedstories]

Some of the categories for the NYT Connections fills me with hatred and wrath. What do you mean “dog breeds with the first letter changed” i’ll kill you

[andhumanslovedstories]

Fury. Rage. Flames on the side of my face.

[snake-eggs]

“This is how these words would be related if they were different words”

[humanerrers]

x

[humanerrers]

stop spreading despair and nihilism

stop buying into the idea that nonviolent activism is useless, rather than (by far) the most effective form of protest

stop falsely claiming that BLM accomplished nothing and that most citizens “don’t care” when people are murdered by the state

start understanding that most of your neighbors care about your rights, and their own

start noticing that most people are moved by injustice, including against people who look nothing like them

[crafting-and-tea]

Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong

The pushback against ICE exposed a series of mistaken assumptions.

[crafting-and-tea]

Wed. Jan 28, 2026

Masked, armored, and armed to the teeth, and they're afraid of people blowing whistles at them. link to post

[the-apocrypha]

Attn: People With Cervixes!

When was your last Pap smear?

Because I am tired of seeing young people (think 40 year olds!) die horribly of an almost completely preventable disease, and I haven't seen the obligatory Tumblr PSA about it, so I'm making my own.

1. CERVICAL CANCER IS REALLY BAD

Cancers that have a good prognosis are usually cancers that can be caught early--like skin cancer, which is easily seen, and therefore usually treated very early. Cervical cancer does not give you symptoms until you have very advanced disease, which means unless someone is regularly testing your cervix, you will likely not be diagnosed early. More than half of people diagnosed with cervical cancer present with advanced disease. 75% of them will be dead within 5 years. For comparison, when caught in the earliest stage, there is a 90% 5 year survival rate. Treatment for those diagnosed is chemo and radiation, and believe me, those are not fun. If you do happen to be in the lucky 25% of survivors, if your cancer comes back, you have an 85% chance of dying within a year. Also! We think of cancer as something that happens to old people, but the average age of diagnosis for cervical cancer is 50.

2. WHO GETS CERVICAL CANCER?

Cervical cancer used to be the most common cause of cancer-related death in women in America, but at this point it's basically a disease of People Without Pap Smears--developing countries, immigrants, low socioeconomic status, BIPOC, rural communities, LGBTQ, etc.

3. HOW DO PAP SMEARS SAVE YOUR LIFE?

A Pap smear is a screening test for two things: HPV, and your cervical cells. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world. Literally half of the people in America have some strain of HPV on their body. Most HPV infections go away on their own (in people with healthy immune systems), but some strains are Very Bad, and some people are just Very Unlucky, and the HPV starts causing your cervical cells to turn cancerous. 91% of all cervical cancers are caused by HPV. So a Pap smear looks to see if your have HPV, and if so, is it one of the bad ones? And also, do you have any cancerous cells hanging about in your cervix? And! It takes 10-30 years for HPV to turn those cells into cancer, which means you have a really really long time to catch it before it becomes cancer and cut those pre-cancer cells out!

4. WHAT ABOUT THAT VACCINE?

The thing my dad said I shouldn't get because it might make me a slut. Yes! There is an HPV vaccine! You should get it! It protects you against the nine most common cancer-causing types of HPV. It's recommended starting at age 11, and you can get it up to age 45 now! (It used to be 26, but as of 2020, it's now extended.)You can get it from most primary care doctors, or from Planned Parenthood, CVS, Walgreens, etc. If you get the vaccine you still need Pap smears.

5. I HEARD YOU CAN ONLY GET THE VACCINE IF YOU'RE A VIRGIN

Fake news. While the vaccine does not treat old infections of HPV, it does prevent new ones, so while the benefits are theoretically decreased in those who have already been sexually active, it does not mean you will not benefit from having it!

6. WHO GETS PAP SMEARS?

Everyone with a cervix starting at age 21, until you lose your cervix or until you're 65. You should get them every 3-5 years (depending on your exact age and what test your doctor does).

7. BUT I GOT THE VACCINE

Nice! You still need Pap smears.

8. I HAD ONE AND IT WAS HORRIBLE/I'M SCARED OF THE EXAM

Talk to your doctor about this in advance! Good gynecologists (and other providers) will work with you to minimize discomfort as much as possible. They can use a small speculum and lots of gel, prescribe anti-anxiety medications to take in advance, and some people will even use numbing creams and/or laughing gas.

9. BUT I DON'T HAVE/CAN'T SEE A GYN

Most primary care physicians can do them! So do a lot of urgent care centers!

10. BUT I'M A LESBIAN

HPV can be transmitted through oral/genital contact, hand/genital, and even hand-to-hand-then-genital, so you still need Pap smears.

11. BUT I'M A VIRGIN/ASEXUAL

You still need Pap smears. HPV can be transmitted not just through penetrative sex, but also through oral/genital, hand/genital, and hand-to-hand-then-genital, and also 9% of cervical cancers are not caused by HPV.

12. BUT I'M A TRANSGENDER MAN

If your cervix was removed, then congrats! You do not need Pap smears. Otherwise, unfortunately, you are still at risk for cervical cancer and need to be screened.

13. BUT I'M A TRANSGENDER WOMAN

Neovaginas do not need Pap smears! Congrats! Consider getting the vaccine, though, to prevent spreading HPV to others.

14. BUT I'M A CIS-GENDERED MAN

Congrats! You do not need Pap smears! You should still consider the vaccine though, not only to prevent the spread of HPV to others, but also because HPV causes 50% of all penile cancers as well.

In summary: please please please go get your pap smear. Go get vaccinated. The spread of HPV can be prevented, and cervical cancer can be caught and treated before it even becomes cancer.

DON'T FEAR THE SMEAR

[the-apocrypha]

it's cervical cancer awareness month y'all

[thestereotypebuster]

Also, pap smears need to start at age 21 OR when you start being sexually active, whichever comes first.

[kereeachan]

My GYN specifically uses a speculum on me that is SUPER small and that helps, as does taking anxiety meds. BUT my cervix is also at a bit of an angle which means entry angle is ALSO super important, get that wrong and it still hurts like fucking hell.

I had to get them early in life since we worried about endometriosis (my cramps were that bad) and HOO BOY I nearly broke some poor nurse's hands on some of those early ones. Now is much better. Small Speculum for the win.

[ryebreadgf]

something something the poetry of science etc

[ryebreadgf]

woah

[dramaticwriter]

yeah

[capsyst]

I love animation history and one of the things that always baffled me was how did animators draw the cars in 101 Dalmatians before the advent of computer graphics?

Any rigid solid object is extremely challenging for 2D artists to animate because if one stray line isn’t kept perfectly in check, the object will seem to wobble and shift unnaturally.

Even as early as the mid 80’s Disney was using a technique where they would animate a 3D object and then apply a 2D filter to it. This practice could be applied to any solid object a character interacts with: from lanterns a character is holding, to a book (like in Atlantis), or in the most extreme cases Cybernetic parts (like in Treasure Planet).

But 101 Dalmatians was made WAY before the advent of this technology. So how did they do the Cruella car chase sequence at the end of the film?

The answer is so simple I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner:

They just BUILT the models and painted them white with black outlines 🤣

That was the trick. They’re not actually 2D animated, they’re stop motion. They were physical models painted white and filmed on a white background. The black outlines become the lineart lines and they just xeroxed the frame onto an animation cel and painted it like any other 2D animated frame.

That’s how they did it! Isn’t that amazing? It’s such a simple low tech solution but it looks so cool in the final product.

[muppetshow2026]

WHAT IS THE CHARGE? EATING A PENGUIN? A SUCCULENT ADÉLIE PENGUIN?

[normal-horoscopes]

Y'all. "Hell is empty and the devil's are here" is not one of those epic Tumblr quotes. It's from The Tempest. The Shakespeare one.

[apolloendymion]

remember when that furry post went around with "you have nothing to lose but your chains" and people were saying "this is such a raw ass line and it's from a furry post" but it's literally karl marx

[mercymorns]

reading waiting for godot for class and finding out that’s where that “that’s how it is on this bitch of an earth” meme is from ruined me i think

[astraltrickster]

new game: "classic or shitpost?" in which we give you a raw-ass quote and you have to determine whether it came from an internet shitpost or classic literature

[headspace-hotel]

"I will face god and walk backward into hell" that one on the other hand is actually from a dril tweet

[fullyconsumedbywhatlovesme]

“I’ll take care of you”

“it’s rotten work”

“Not to me. Not if it’s you”

classic or fandom?

[vogueshiki]

STILL THE ROAD AWAITS YOU

INJECTION DAY, FIRST OF THE YEAR

COMMEMORATORY LITURGY

[being-of-rain]

If you think about it, Back to the Future is the anti-Oedipus Rex. Marty tries to save his father's life, then goes to great lengths not to fuck his mother.

[airprime7]