I was shopping for groceries at the supermarket near my home and found myself contemplating a bag of bok choy that appeared slightly wilted.
“Veggies are getting so expensive,” I said in Chinese to a fellow shopper, an older auntie with a dark red paisley shirt, khaki pants, and a jade bangle.
She nodded and replied in Singlish, “Ya lor. Last Thursday I buy is $1.25. Today already $1.80. Next time buy cooked food more cheaper.” Then she peered into my basket and advised, “Eh, the kangkong today better. Buy kangkong.”
I took her advice. Aunties who remember the individual prices of vegetables are aunties whose advice on groceries you take.
What a strange phrase “cost of living” is.
Probably only humanity out of all the living things in the world has the concept that being alive should come at a monetary cost. I can’t know for sure that the sea cucumbers do not have a burgeoning society built upon whale bone fragments that they exchange for whatever sea cucumbers eat, but I think they are not so intelligent as to be so stupid.
What have we done to ourselves?
Does a butterfly consider the cost of flying to a yellow flower instead of a pink flower? Does a tree know what it has to expend in order to photosynthesize? Does an amoeba contemplate the price of evolving pseudopodia instead of flagella?
I sure hope not. For one thing, I don’t want cats to learn about economics. They’re powerful enough as they are.
Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
it pisses me off how writing doesn’t get people money unless they’re like jk rowling like writing books should be one of the highest paying jobs in the world that shit is hard
i bet that open heart surgeries are harder
Open heart surgeries can be taught. You can’t teach a person a world that no one else has created.
you won this time.
Write one sentence. Let it lead to another. It comes in waves.
as a creator you shouldn’t have to feel like you constantly gotta one-up yourself. consider one-downing yourself instead. keep producing worse content to make your previous work look great by comparison
writing tip:
if you push buttons on a keyboard, letters will appear on the screen. and with that power you can do anything
me reading my own wip: damn this is good af someone should finish this.
elemental-queen-writes:
WIP ask game: (I'd fall to) Pieces On the Floor
So this is a Julian missing Garak post-canon fic. The basic gist is that he has to clean out Garak’s shop and his quarters. And he’s been repressing how much he misses Garak, so of course it all comes out in the process of going through Garak’s things. Also there’s a bit of Kira/Ezri. Here is a snippet:
“Colonel Kira to Dr. Bashir"
"Bashir here”
“Doctor, I have an assignment for you. Please report to my office.”
“On my way”
Julian saves his work on his most recent project and reports to the captai- the colonel’s office.
“Julian. This is a somewhat personal request and should not be considered an order.”
Julian’s mind immediately shouts a thousand possible options of what this could be about. They are all wrong.
“Garak will not be returning. I finally have secured permission to empty his shop and his quarters, but he has requested that you be the one to do it.”
“Me?”
“He says he doesn’t trust anyone else.”
“Yes, well that sounds like him.”
“This isn’t about him. This is about you. If you don’t feel up to it, I will have security take care of it. Garak might not trust them, but I do.”
“Bajoran security? He would hate that. And they wouldn’t know what to keep or what he might want.”
“He says he doesn’t want any of it.”
“Then why?”
“He says that you might.”
Julian squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, breathing calming breaths.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I will do it. It may be the last request he makes of me, and our friendship deserves that I honor that. He deserves that, don’t you think?”
“I reserve judgement on what Garak deserves. However, here are the passcodes you will need to access his quarters,” she hands him a PADD. “…and his shop.” She hands him another PADD. “If you happen to find something dangerous or suspicious, contact security.”
“Of course, Colonel. Thank you.” Julian turns to go, but then turns back. “How are you holding up, Kira?”
“Oh, I am surviving. Thank you for asking. Good luck, Julian."
Julian nods with a strained smile and finally leaves.
Tagged by @section-69 💜
RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.
So like I have lots of mostly abandoned wips which aren’t even Star Trek. Might not list all of those lol
L&H 3
In the Cellar (during the war)
Talk to Me
(I’d fall to) Pieces On the Floor
DBIP Fic
Mila Two
I have a couple AOS wips
Holding Hands
Lullaby Fic
Cock Block
This is probably long enough but lmk if you want to see the Hannibal and Star Wars one 😂
I’m not gonna tag anyone, but feel free to do this if you want!
enterprisery:
i'm very intrigued by "In the Cellar (during the war)"!!
Ah yes so as you might guess it is about Garak, Damar, and Kira in Tain’s cellar. All I have right now is a bit of Damar and Garak talking about Tain, because Damar is still processing the revelation that Garak is Tain’s son. And he can’t understand why Tain treated Garak the way he did if he was his father. How could someone be so cruel to their own son? I only have less than 300 words. Here’s the beginning:
“Tain was your father. Your own father…” Damar bites his tongue and trails off.
“Please do bore us with the rest of that thought, Damar.” Garak speaks without looking up from the comm unit he’s repairing.
“Your own father had you exiled! He set someone else as Head of the Order and sent you away to rot!” Damar’s tone is incredulous and just shy of mockery. “Dukat claimed to know what happened, but I never quite believed him.”
“Oh I gotta hear this,” Kira chimes in.
“He said Garak fucked another man’s wife.”
Kira’s eyes widen as she barks out a laugh. Garak huffs.