#fun talk

[cakbanedraws]

I've been questioning this by myself..I'm a bit sure that Cooper Howard is a part of his self-inserts, lmao I'm just kidding.

Sometimes it's really fun to talk about funny things on Fallout discord community

[elitadream]

Peach and Daisy having a girls night while they talk about their crushes. Peach talks up Mario like the hero of heroes while Daisy just wants to jump on Luigi to see if he can hold her up

Oh I love that idea! Just the girls having fun and gossiping giddily about the bros. 😄💖 We would get to see their respective tempers a bit more from the way they talk about them. x3

Peach would sigh in soft torment and have that dreamy sparkle in her eye, showing all the smitten demureness of a graceful and delicate lady trying to keep a hold of her frenzied heart while smiling broadly and biting her lip shyly at the confession; Whereas Daisy would be going absolutely feral beside her with gleeful madness, bouncing on the bed and shaking Peach' shoulders for her to do something while describing in great details how much she wants to grab Luigi's face and squeeze his cheeks and throw him bodily over her shoulder and just run away home with him like a stolen prize. 😂

Now I'm curious as to how a boy's night would go and who would be teasing who the most. ;D

[lifehasparallelparkedonmycorpse]

Fun fact of the day, my teacher allowed us to do a presentation on anything we want to see how our teaching style is.

I decided to show the class my unbridled hatred for Scrappy Doo and brought my mother fuckin receipts.

[choko-flan]

Oh gosh that video was great it definitely gave me Adam and Eve vibes! that’s also such a cute idea that eve considers the robots their parents I could see that and you getting into the good bits! Get ready for the emotional roller coaster

I been told and I’m scared!;w; I’m glad you like the video and message I send to a friend <3Thank you Anon, and I hope you have a wonderful day btw ^^b

[defendersofspaceandtime]

Hi! Can you write a scenario where Shiro's s/o is a med student of some sort and is secretly working with Pidge, Hunk, and Coran to make him a new arm Galra tech free?

 Awwww.

I love it. 

——————————

“Can I make it give the middle finger?”

“Lance,” You say sternly, “please-”

“Ah come on Y/n! J-just for one second! Come on, it’ll be really, really quick-”

You tuned out his rambling from then on, solely focused on your little project at hand-

no pun intended.

You do confess, however. It’s Shiro’s new arm. 

Though it was never discussed directly, the four of you (Pidge, Coran, Hunk, and yourself) had begun to suspect that the Galran implant for Shiro’s arm might not just be the only thing it is used for. Whether it be some form of mind control or magical trickery, or-

A tracking chip. That one was a particularly popular theory amongst the group. 

“You know, I have to ask,” Coran says, his chin resting in his closed fist, “Why might it be that you find your appendages so offensive? I mean it is, just a finger, right?”

“I hate breaking it to you, my dude,” Pidge says absentmindedly through their chewing gum, twirling a socket wrench in their hand, “but throwing up that finger is the equivalent of telling someone to go fu-”

“H-Have fun! It’s to go tell them to have fun. Right, Pidge?” Hunk protested weakly, a half-smile written across his face.

Pidge grumbled, only answering through their pop of the bubblegum, “Whatever.”

You sighed once more, shaking your head at the casual chiding that had gone on with those three, 

“Pidge,” You inquire, “Help me with the magnet on the attachment, will ya? Can’t have this thing falling off him at all,”

“..But why don’t you just…attach it to the thingy-mabobber currently? Isn’t that where the arm gets all its like, magic from?” Lance interjected, his eyebrows practically raising above his head. 

“That’s the point, though, Lance,” You reply softly, trying to wipe off the sweat that covered your brow, “I don’t think all of that magic is necessarily the…um…best, for him,”

“But then again,” You add quickly, “It’s not like I’m too knowledgeable about such things anyways. Give me a body, I can dissect it. Tell me to name all the bones in the human anatomy, I’d begin at your toes, but this…”

You point towards the arm that the four of you had worked on for months at a time,

“This is something else, entirely.”

-

“Y-You…You did what?”

-

Well, that wasn’t exactly the reaction you were looking for.

“We…we made you a new arm,” You explained again, fidgeting with your fingers. You hadn’t a clue as to why you were so nervous exactly, what was the worst he could do? Politely decline?

That didn’t exactly ease your nerves. 

“We made you a new arm!” Pidge repeated excitedly, practically zooming around the room, buzzing with excitement, “All without magic and more magnetic! Though the actual metal itself is not made out of things that are attracted to magnets, but the harness that the arm is attracted to- which you could easily swing on, by the way, and hopefully very comfortable- is made of-”

“Y-you guys…” Shiro had repeated, his eyes the widest you’ve ever seen, his face tinted a rosy pink.

“Do you…um… do you like it?” Hunk asked, scratching the back of his head nervously, a wide grin on his cheeks, “b-because if you don’t, I mean, we could always keep a…um…”

“An extra pirate arm?” Lance suggested, laughing at the thought. 

-

You had started to feel even worse you watched Shiro get teary-eyed right in front of you,

“S-Shiro? Are you okay?” You responded to his emotional state quickly, enveloping him in a hug, “I-I- we’re sorry if-”

It was sudden, but sure returned the hug back, holding on to you as if he were to collapse on the spot,

“Thank you,” he whispered into your ear, voice cracking along the way. 

You felt a warmth bloom in your chest, spreading throughout your body as you tried to go through your own euphoria,

“I...I just don’t want to see you in pain,” you professed, your body closing in the gaps that were spaced between the both of you, 

“I hate it. I hate it so much.”

No one spoke after that. It was as if Shiro had been frozen in position, his body never releasing you from the hug.

It seemed like an eternity before he replied with three, explosive words, 

“I love you.”

-

“Hey! Um, I don’t wanna break up whatever the hell is going on between the both of you, but I totally worked on this thing too!”

Lance’s protests were drowned out by everyone else’s groans. 

“You and Hunk bent the metal,” Pidge says blatantly, her eyes staring deeply into Lance’s eyes. 

He nods frantically, “And that was important! Right Hunk?”

“...”

“Hunk?”

“Hm? O-oh! Yeah! Totally!” Hunk looks over to Coran questioningly, 

“Um...do you have any clue as to what they’re talking about?”

“Not a single idea.”

“Perfect.”

[cuddlyskykit]

Just came here to say that I’ve started playing cult of the lamb again because when I first played and finished it (not 100%) there was not all the dlc and stuff available. I just got the worm follower form yesterday and the first follower I had join who was a worm was petable! I can pet the worm!

[mamamittens]

Storytelling (Themes and Character Building)

For funzies while I'm waiting for this current raffle to end, I wanted to talk about the themes and characters I tend to write about starting from the ground up.

If you don't want to hear me talk extensively about my writing process and OCs, as well as their stories, feel free to scroll away, as the rest will be under a cut for brevity's sake.

Now, there are two different ways I go about crafting a story. And to assist, I'll use actual, recent(ish) stories I've written on AO3 as an example.

A Friend of Charlotte (FNAF: Security Breach) started off with the idea of what would it be like to be essentially a medium in this world.

What are ghosts like here? What would it be like to interact with the animatronics when you have an intimate connection with death yourself? From there I crafted Blaire's story while designing her character with consideration for where her powers come from.

Her eyes for example, are a literal representation of her ability to see the dead with the pupils reflecting light (an homage to a BNHA fanfic I highly recommend if you enjoy spooky content "Yesterday Upon the Stair"). Her tendency to wear layers of clothing and long sleeves are because the presence of ghosts causes an eerie chill that she is very susceptible to.

She was not a character I designed then wrote the story for. From the ground up, she was made for this story specifically. Designed to accentuate themes of grief, family, connection, the occult, and understanding. As well as the connection between death and life and where actions have consequences, even if they don't appear to at first. So when she stands up for someone else, it is to alleviate immediate suffering, and is willing to cause present discomfort to achieve that goal.

She is a very gray character to reflect a story where the suffering you cause others has very real consequences in the afterlife. And where choosing to do something and becoming invested in seemingly small problems can lead to greater things down the line.

And then I have Python Scramble (FNAF: Security Breach)

Mandy was developed as a character before I even began planning how her story would go. Her eventual PHD in AI, backstory tying her to the main cast, and even her prodigious strength were outlined before the story I'm still writing. The goal of her story is to explore what it would be like if someone invested in the animatronics AND capable of solving the problem ran through the story of Security Breach.

One of the core themes of her story is actually about 'the butterfly effect'. One of my favorite versions, in fact, where an act of kindness long before the story pays dividends in the darkest hour. Her story is all about 'set up' and 'pay off'. A trail of cause and effect so wide, it wouldn't be unfair to say that the conclusion was forgone long before the story even started. Where the 'right thing to do' may not have immediate benefits, but will eventually lead to a positive end. And negative actions will have equally reaching consequences.

Her story was tailor made to accentuate kindness, the importance of taking a firm stance, and making bonds with people even if there doesn't seem to be a benefit.

And now I'm going to talk about stories that I have written massive portions for but have never published (because I foolishly thought it would help my problem of waiting ages to update from writer's block).

"Cuts Both Ways" is a One Piece story with over 46,000 words that does need some editing to reflect changes I have made to the story since I originally started writing it.

It follows thirteen year old Joan joining the Spade crew after finding herself alone on an island in a whole new world and only a passing grasp on the language from her father. Who was born in One Piece.

She was designed much like Mandy, before the story was nailed down. It is all about finding and making new family, as well as a support system to deal with trauma and grief. Dealing with a horrifying new power that she can't control, as well as difficulties of outside perception of her person. Specifically age and gender.

(Excuse the old picture, it's about a year old)

Her story as it stands is all about finding a place in the world, what it means to be family, pacifism, and what it takes to break that pacifism (as well as how far this break will go). As well as personal identity, heritage, and self acceptance, hence her young age and conflicting image.

Now, as a character design, it lowkey started out as a joke.

"What if, instead of the anime trope of '3,000 year old woman that looks like a five year old girl', I wrote a character that was fairly young but looked more like a full grown adult?" And not in a sexy way, either (though I will fully admit that's why her eyes are like that, I was going for a bishonen look for a fun tropey gag). Aside from prodigious height and facial features, I designed her to have a thin frame like I remember having at that age before puberty.

Then I wrote her character and story with the real consequences of that in mind, including a somewhat warped self image. She's constantly getting confused for a man or an adult, so she acts with mannerisms that reflect that. It's only under stress that she really shows how young she is (which is where that good hurt/comfort comes in, cause I love fluffy family interactions).

Essentially, her story is all about having to grow up too quickly.

Now, this is a story with the working title of "One Good Turn", with an OC I'm still working on in One Piece.

You might recognize him from one of my recent posts comparing my art style two years apart. He's actually my first lead, male OC that has his own story.

His story has themes from several of my other stories, particularly grief, self identity, and the butterfly effect.

While he doesn't have a name, I've nailed down his personality and how it changes due to his current frame of mind. Playing into the 'aloof Cheshire Cat' identity to distance himself from pain by literally drifting through life. He doesn't get invested in anything after a family tragedy but there's still that kernel of a desire to help and do go in him. Without meaning to, he finds himself drawn to charismatic people in a desire for personal connection again.

And it is only after confronting tragedy that he finds himself 'grounded' again. And willing to step out of his comfort zone to help others even if it comes with great personal risk. The greater details of his story are still up in the air right now, so I can't go into too much detail about him.

But I can say that it involves another one of my favorite tropes where an aloof character essentially shows what it takes to make them move mountains.

So, what's the point here?

One of my favorite things about writing OCs is giving them powers and abilities to solve their problems before demonstrating that those powers did nothing to truly help them. The solution only comes after they realize what they are capable and willing to do, particularly for others. That's not to say that their powers are useless. Just that, until they are willing to take a stand and confront their real issues, they won't achieve or resolve anything. It's sort of like in "One Punch Man", where Saitama has the ability to defeat any foe in a single punch... but his life is empty without any challenges. He does a lot of good with his powers (when he uses them), but his real problem can't be solved with any number of "Consecutive Normal Punches". In fact, you could even say it made the problem worse.

The point of a lot of my stories is that even with great power (or even great responsibility), the real issues that prevent them from living fulfilling lives can only be solved with kindness (from others and towards themselves) as well as emotional growth and maturity. And the importance of choice that gives them the real power to change and improve the lives of themselves and those around them.

Unless of course the story we're talking about is smut, in which case it's that if your partner isn't satisfying you emotionally AS WELL AS physically, then literally what is the point.

If B.O.B. can beat out your partner by a country mile, it's time to find either a better partner or have a frank conversation about why a few AA batteries and a romance novel is more enriching than the IRL human being you share a bed with.

Don't look at me like that when you know I'm right.