#this sinking ship

[tielt]

Disco Elysium is 75% off on steam. I trust several people who put it in my orbit as a great game. 10 bucks till the 19th. God of War Ragnarök released for PC in September, 60 bucks though. Haven't played any male protag games in a while, feels dysphoric somehow it's a dumb thing but it is. Tried to detox by switching modes temporarily and society is now on some gone into nuclear fallout boombasticlot.

[riggio037]

[capsandbottles97]

Day #3 - Smoke Or Fire - Irish Handcuffs https://youtu.be/tBpcJ4VhNAA

[tanukiham]

So I have no idea what’s going to happen on Dec 17th. I’m posting all my contact details in my AO3 profile so if you wanna catch up on dreamwidth or pillowfort or whatever check out my AO3 for further instructions :)

[loveisswift]

Here to announce that I will be at Taylor’s 1st show after this “big life event” and will have my eyes peeled for Karlie in the audience.

[sassycatpantsu]

digging thru old word docs to see what i had lying around and what i felt like working on and found a bit of this sinking ship i’d forgotten i had started but not finished??? it’s from a later bit of the story rather than anywhere near where i left off but i think i’m gonna continue it a bit bc i liked where it was going tbh rferfdv

"Oh! Oh, my. Hello there."

The voice is unexpected, and Sparkplug whips around and comes nearly face to face with an unfamiliar human face; a face which hops back out of grabbing range almost immediately, before she can react. Eyes narrowing, Sparkplug leans forward to inspect the human -- male? She thinks it's male -- as he leans forward to do the same. "Who you?" she demands after a long moment of mutual examination, and he looks startled before a grin breaks across his face. "I'm Wheeljack! Call me 'Jack, everyone does. I'm a friend of Ratchet's; I do most of the maintenance around here for him! Are you the new resident he mentioned? You must be, I've never seen you around before. Sparkplug, aren't you?" Oh. He's the crazy inventor that Ratchet told her would be visiting today, then. She sighs, disappointed that he wasn't an intruder she'd be allowed to tattle on and Sparkplug slipped further into the water in disappointment. "Me Sparky, yes." He laughed, sounding delighted as the pack he was carrying was set down at the computer desk. "I hope you don't mind if I chat with you while I work? I'm going to be recalibrating some of the equipment in the other pool, you see -- the temperature regulators and such, which keep the water a nice temperature for you! -- so I'll be here for awhile and you seem interesting. I've only ever spoken to Rodimus, you know? And he's a wild mer too of course, but he's friendly with humans, as I'm sure you noticed, and I'm curious about the more reclusive pods. I've never met a shark mer before, obviously. Can I ask you questions?" Sparkplug stares at him for a long moment, most of his words going right over her head. There's a pause, and Wheeljack clears his throat. "I keep your water warm." "Oh." She's not sure she trusts him, but he keeps the water warm so she supposes that it'll be fine. "Sparky talk, then." "Wonderful! Alright, alright so -- and you don't have to answer me if you don't want to of course -- but can you tell me what it's like in the depths of the Rust Sea? I've always wondered. I could build something to find out for myself of course, but I'm always so busy and there never seems to be time for it, and I'm curious how a mer would describe the same sensations -- do you feel pressure and cold the same way we do? Given how deep you can go, it seems like you don't but I just don't know and it's so fascinating." There's another long pause as she tries to work out what exactly she's just been asked. Pressure? Depth? He wants to know how deep she's gone in the sea? She thinks that's what he's asking, at least. Sparkplug watches Wheeljack work for a few moments as he awaits her answer hands flying over the odd little machines that Ratchet is often using on his desk. Computers, Rodimus had called them once. "Sea deep," she says finally, thoughtful. "Dark, in deep. Water all around, only sound to see. Life all over, if know look. Crushing, the water. Sparky not go too deep into darkness, or die. No breath. But song, all songs. Everything sing, if listen." She's not sure it makes sense to the human. They're landwalkers and she has never seen any of them truly understand how the sea works. There's a rhythm to it, and a song to the sea that humans just don't seem able to hear. Wheeljack tilts his head curiously. "Everything sings?" He's not sure what she means by that -- a lot of the deep sea is a complete mystery to humankind, and the mers who could tell them about it... well, humans and mers don't typically exchange information. He watches Sparkplug's thoughtful face before she dives suddenly, pressing against the glass and beckoning him closer. He knows not to get within her range, courtesy of Ratchet, but he can't help but respond to her gestures and come closer anyway. Not close enough to grab, but enough that he can see her as she sinks lower in the pool and then opens her mouth. And the song, it's amazing. The notes are crystal clear despite the muffling of tons of water, and it echoes -- sound waves bouncing off of objects and returning, and sound altered by the movement of the currents -- It's like listening to whalesong, he realizes after a second. It's a type of echolocation, designed to help her navigate in addition to communication. He realizes it as she actually uses the song to swim a lap, eyes closed and still avoiding everything in her path before she pops up again. "Sings, everything. Listen to song, know to go. Sing back." Wheeljack can still hear the underwater song echoing even as it fades hauntingly. Now he understands the stories of sirens and mer song. It really is beautiful. "Amazing." "All sea sing, Water make sound, currents. Living make song. Dead different song, absence sound. Break song, is song too." He doesn't quite get it, but Wheeljack thinks he understands all the same. The sea has a rhythm, and she knows how to live within it. Fascinating. "Thank you for explaining," Wheeljack offers, grinning. "I think you could teach me a lot." She scoffs, but looks pleased nonetheless and he laughs as he goes back to hs work. "Is there anything you'd like to learn? In exchange for your little lesson." Sparkplug considers his offer for a moment, before humming gently. "Sparkplug learn speak. Not very good now, be better. Wheeljack show." "I think I can do that, yeah. Do you learn better visually or with audio?" "Not know ask?" "Oh, um. Do you learn better with being shown how to do something, or told?" Ah. "Mer learn from story. Old mer tell new mer stories and new mer learn from old."

[sassycatpantsu]

He tilts his head at her curiously. "Yeah? What're you gonna do with me, then?" And then he winks, and she splutters in surprise. What? What? What is he doing?

The tattered fins and slice across her face are a pity, but the rest of her? Sleek curves, dark colors and patterned bands crossing most of her back and sides? Yeah, she's nice. But he figures she's just angry at the stolen prey, and his hunch proved right as his flirting stops her in her tracks, leaving behind a confused mer. She's still angry -- oh, she's so angry, he can nearly taste it in the currents around her -- but she's confused and thinking a little more clearly now than she had been when she'd been chasing him across through the water. Now that she's no longer chasing him, he can appreciate her looks a bit more.

rodimus takes flirting with death to a new level tbh.

this is only a rough draft tbh, like super rough and i hate every word of it lmfao but after i do my nano write in today and get home i’ll go thru the chapter and pick out the bits i like, rewrite the rest and fiddle the bits until they fit in right lmao

[sassycatpantsu]

Optimus curses under his breath as the injured mer crumples under the blow to the back of her head from Prowl. Not the way he'd have done it and certainly something Prowl would be lectured for when they got her to Ratchet, but her injuries are severe enough that she needs medical attention and she'd been in no condition to listen to soothing words. Chances are, with the very obvious knife wound, she's been wounded by humans and had considered his approach to be a threat.