L.M. du Plessis 🇳🇦 🇺🇦📚💙 ‪✨Editing Cavern Clipper✨
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smoking-gnu.bsky.social
L.M. du Plessis 🇳🇦 🇺🇦📚💙 ‪✨Editing Cavern Clipper✨
@smoking-gnu.bsky.social
3.6K followers 6.4K following 4.2K posts
Writer. Dog and birdy lover. Inept gamer. Social barren wasteland. Suspected Grey-Ace.
🚫AI🚫

https://www.wattpad.com/1529561072-moving-day
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smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips. Here, in the first chapter of TLC, we see Jennifer's day (night?) go from bad to worse in a most unexpected manner.
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“Ugh. Fine! You know what, I’ll sleep it off here!” The weirdly defiant words echo out into the night, and it’s only then that I notice that it’s dead silent. No insects, no soft sound of scurrying critters. Nothing. Shills creep up my spine. I look around but see nothing. “Of course I see nothing, it’s fucking dark!” I chastise myself and decide to just get into the truck and sleep it off here, first remembering to close the hood. It slams shut with a distinctive click at exactly the same moment as a bright light from above nearly blinds me. My hands go up instinctively to shield my eyes from the bright white light as I try to see what’s above me. All I can see is the silvery circular outline of something hovering above. I can see it slowly rotating, smaller lights near the edge turning clockwise. “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I say in exhausted amazement, the thought of trying to run away from the flying saucer above me never even crossing my mind. Not that it would have mattered, because a moment later my feet are off the ground and I’m ascending into the central bright light with absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever. Some days the universe just likes to pile on.
November 16, 2025 at 8:52 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Back on track, baby! Passed the month goal 50% mark right on the middle mark of the month!
#WIPTLC is progressing, with things heating up in the *very* near future!
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TLC writing progress Nov 15, 2259 words written.
November 15, 2025 at 11:32 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Progress is being made on TLC, but it feels so slow-going, in stark contrast with how fast things seem to be going inside the story right about now.
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The call goes quiet from all ends as Cynthia’s gaze shifts back towards the hologram image. Twenty seconds pass, and just before I speak up to break the silence, she does it for me. “I’m going to need some time with these plans. Give me 12 hours and I can come back to you with a yes or no. Driona, did he say how long he’d wait for an answer?” “Until an hour before the meeting.” Cynthia nods in a business-like manner. “Then it’s good that this planet has a 27 hour day. Gives us plenty of time to do shit after I say yes or no. In the mean time I’ll get the balls rolling at least so we have a minimum amount of effort if I find something,” she says, keeping her eyes on the hologram. I let out a huge sigh of relief, but regret it almost instantly as Cynthia’s holographic gaze snaps back towards me. “Don’t be so sure that’s a yes, missy! We’ve made good progress in the last twelve months, but we’re really nowhere near being reliably operational still! This could be all sorts of risky for Terra Legionis Cohors!”
November 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
I blame Steam for today's lack of progress in #WIPTLC. All I could think about was the possibility of switching out my 11 year old PC with that cube.
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TLC writing progress Nov 14, 870 words written.
November 14, 2025 at 11:16 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Oh! I gots something for this!

CW: Severe flesh wound.

Context: scene moments after giant Snipdragon Alpha absolutely obliterates the gunpod Sam was in with its barbed tail.
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His mind managed to sort out the confusion brought on by movement and sound at about the same time Clarence’s concerned face filled his vision, yet the pain remained. He tried to breathe, but found the process blindingly painful and difficult, as if he was trying to breathe through a wet towel. Clarence scanned Sam up and down, visually taking note of several points, Sam could clearly see. “…how…bad…?” Sam managed to croak out. “Oh… nothing too bad, it’s all minor really. DOCTOR! DOCTOR, GET HERE RIGHT NOW!” Clarence called, looking up and around over Sam. A blue blur landed on the mainmast and clambered down. Before Sam could decipher what this meant through the pain, Nyxel’s head joined Clarence’s in Sam’s field of vision, their face a mask of horror and dismay as they mirrored the scanning motion Clarence had just performed. Summoning effort through the pain from somewhere, Sam tried to lift his head to see what everyone was looking at. He saw a momentary glimpse of a tattered shirt and rather ragged looking skin and muscle and even a few hints of bone poking through a long, deep, diagonal cut across his entire chest, before Clarence’s hand forced his head back onto the deck. “Stay still you idiot!” the First Mate chided him. “You’re fine! Don’t move!” Sam could tell he was absolutely rattled.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Alllllmost at the end of the week now, so allow this little snippy from TLC sooth you into the weekend!
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“So that’s not an immediate no?” I ask. “It is not,” Joey answers, and for some reason I nearly jump out of my seat in excitement. “It’s also not a yes either! There’s still a lot of details that need to be fleshed out first, and at the first sign of fuckery, we’re out! Do you understand?” “Perfectly, although I’m not entirely sure on what ‘fuckery’ would entail exactly,” Rondu comments. “I’ll tell you later,” Driona says and stands up off of the couch, in which she has created a sizeable divot. “I still have your box communicator thingy, I’ll let you know when we’re available for a tour of these facilities, should be a week after we get back to our homes to move some things around. And you!” Joey says, pointing to me. “Who, me?” “Yes, you! Day after tomorrow, dinner at our house! No blowing it off this time! We have things that need discussing!” “I’m making pot pie!” Warren says cheerfully, and my mouth instantly starts to water. Cynthia’s eyes roll, but she has half a smile plastered on her face as she does so. “Well twist my rubber arm why don’t you?” I say and stand up off of my chair. As first meetings go, this could have gone worse…
November 14, 2025 at 9:18 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Another bit of the scene from yesterday, just before the shirt bit, from TLC. I seem to be getting a lot of snips from this particular part of the manuscript (Chapter one)

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Some of the aliens try to speak to me. “I don’t understand?” I say out loud to the nearest one, another centaur person with a more slender build. Sirens start blaring from where I came from, I think. The sirens were a much lower pitch than I’d expect and remind me of elephants for some reason. A spike of fear shoots through me and I bolt into the crowd again in the opposite direction. The aliens cry out in alarm and make way from in front of me, trying to avoid physical contact. The next handful of minutes pass by in a blur as I run. I don’t know where. I don’t know why. I just run. I run from the fountain square to strange roads loaded with alien pedestrians and even stranger plants, purple and orange and blue and anything but green, and into a new large square, this one with three statues in the middle of more alien figures.
November 13, 2025 at 9:55 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
The new pace continues for #WIPTLC! If i can keep this up for a few more days then I’ll be at my daily target, and at the half point! I've also broke 40K words in the draft and gotten to Part Two of this story. Progress all around!
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TLC writing progress Nov 12, 2554 words written, now at 41k words in the draft.
November 12, 2025 at 10:48 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Busy morning today, but not as busy as Jennifer is experiencing in this particular snip.
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The sirens still blare behind me. The road I’ve just come from is in audible uproar, and I think there are aliens in pursuit. I swear to myself and try to remain inconspicuous in the crowd. It really doesn’t work. The uproar spreads around me I’m halfway across the new square when I feel a large, strong hand grasp my shirt at the back of my neck and begin dragging me in a new direction. I grasp and claw at the thick, muscular arm in a futile attempt to break free. “Ow! Let go! You’re hurting me!” Someone responds harshly, tugging me from side to side, and the pace of my dragging increases. Before I know it, I’m through a set of doors into a building, then through another set, then two single doors and finally I’m in a small room straight from a sci-fi movie, filled with tech and tools I have no chance of ever identifying. The hand throws me forward, just a bit roughly, and a sprawl over a stack of presumably cargo containers. Only then, as I turn around, do I manage to get a glimpse of who was dragging me.
November 12, 2025 at 10:21 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Alright, so i haven't shown much progress the past few days, but i'm back on tract for #WIPTLC! Had a bit of a mental day yesterday and did basically nothing.Will have to keep the high number count for a few days to get the numbers up to acceptable.
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TLC progress, 2600 words written.
November 11, 2025 at 11:23 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! The morning has been filled with struggles and reconstruction, just as much struggling as Jennifer is musing on in this snip from TLC.
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I’m in the middle of musing on the horrible possibility of going back home, and how I’d rather deep-throat a wasps nest, when my phone vibrates. I glance down to see a message from Joey. Knowing him, he’s inviting me to dinner tomorrow tonight, which is technically tonight. When was the last time I had a proper dinner? Oh, right, three weeks ago, when Brianna took me out on our first and last date. A nice local place and I even paid for my half. Probably shouldn’t have ordered the salmon, but then I thought I’d still have a job and I’d been saving up a bit. The salmon was great. The date… not so much.
November 10, 2025 at 8:59 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
So progress is again apace in #WIPTLC. Research contact got back to me yesterday with everything I needed, and I was so excited I only managed a few hundred words. Stopped just short of the critical climax conversation of Part 1. Will tackle the rest tomorrow.
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Day 9 of challenge, 2148 words written into TLC.
November 9, 2025 at 10:57 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPsnips. Jennifer (of TLC) is not having a nice time here, what with having just woken up out of a hibernation pond and instantly bolting out of a sector police impound lot, because flarpin' *aliens everywhere*!
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“Where the hell am I?” I ask myself under my breath as I run across what looks like a wide open square with a strange spiral fountain in the middle. I’m running over triangular flagstones on my socks. Where are my shoes? “Ow fuck!” The socks are already giving way and I’m basically running on my bare feet. I look up to try and identify my surroundings beyond the growing crowd of eyes, so many different eyes. The skyscrapers around the square are strangely unsettling. They look like blades with rounded edges piercing the sky. Most of their windows are round or oval with intricate frameworks interlinking them. I slow down to gawk at the alien structures, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it on earth. The strangest part of it all is how run-down everything looks, like it was a picture of some far-future utopia, but a few hundred years after people stopped trying to make the place look nice.
November 9, 2025 at 8:31 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Today's snip from TLC comes from the opening of Chapter 1, right at the start just before sh*t starts to go sideways.
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The vibrations from the steering wheel were getting more and more pronounced by the day. Sooner or later this ancient truck was going to give in permanently, and I have no way to replace it. Add it to the list, I guess. My name is Jennifer Carpenter, and I’m very newly unemployed. Not that the Walmart cashier job was worth anything, but it helped keep some food on the table at the very least. I’m also stupidly tipsy while I’m driving this back road back home, which it only barely qualifies as such, being a small one-room building in the back yard of a friendly family’s property. Wondering if I should just park nearby and sleep on the back seat so I don’t disturb them. They’re nice people with well behaved kids, and it’s a weeknight. I glance over at the dashboard to see that it’s actually a week morning now. Damn. Joey had me forget my troubles a little too hard at the bar, it seems. At least he was buying. Buying. Not a lot more of that I can do for the time being. Time to look for another job. At least I have the month’s rent stashed away. Better get used to ramen again.
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! For today i have the absolute pleasure to present you all with something absolutely Cursed and Disturbing from TLC. Please, enjoy!
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“Does it look like a drawer with stretched skin in it?” “…yes?” I answer hesitantly, still looking at it. “Then you found it. Climb into it, both your feet, stand inside the drawer.” Driona issues the instructions matter-of-factly, as if the action is the most normal thing to do. “Excuse me? Why the fuck would I do that?” I ask and the thought of stepping on that… to put it mildly, the thought of it will probably replace the clown in my nightmares. “You want a protective covering for your feet, don’t you? Shoes, right? I don’t use it myself, don’t need them, but some passengers do. It’s a fairly common practice.” “Oh, good, a fairly common practice with space aliens. Whatever could go wrong?” I’m careful to say this under my breath, as quietly as possible as I continue to stare at the twitching skin. “Well, you can always go barefoot all the way if you like,” Driona says from the cockpit, and I clamp my mouth shit. Apparently she has very good hearing. I’m still staring at the skin, wondering if I should just risk being barefoot, but change my mind in an instant and in one smooth movement climb into the drawer. The skin inside distends like a rubber sheet and stays like that for several seconds before contracting around my feet. I nearly panic, but it’s over in a moment. The skin pulls away, and I have brand new leather shoes that fit my feet like gloves.
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips. Still with TLC here and had to go with vibes for this particular word choice for today.
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Three flying saucers occupy other landing pads next to the one Driona’s ship is on. I really have to talk to her about if it has a name or not. “Do not be alarmed, Jennifer. This drone is an extension of my will, and I placed it there as a guard. I keep my guests safe, even if the possibility of mishap is extremely remote.” “Right. Good. Cool. So… where is everybody?” I ask, looking around at the now completely illuminated complex, as my eyes adjust properly. “We are just now concluding negotiations,” Rondu says cryptically. I wait for him to elaborate. “Negotiations? With who?” I ask when it becomes obvious there wasn’t going to be any elaboration. “Why, with the Kowellians you chose to give an easy out to with your stunning manoeuver earlier today! News of that little event is already spreading, even though it’s of far less importance than most other galactic events. You have already turned a fair few heads!”
November 6, 2025 at 9:51 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Well, i got over the daily minimum for #WIPTLC today, but it was an effort riddled with research and distractions, but i managed to tangentially work in the Roswell Incident into the story.
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Nov 5 writing progress in TLC, 1933 words written out of 1700.
November 5, 2025 at 11:16 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Today, in TLC, we witness an alien being indirectly exposed to the one thing us humans do *really well*.
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“It’s not possible… wait, it goes on? Oh no, it goes on and on for centuries! You- you’ve been at war for millennia!!!” Driona says as the text flies down faster and faster. “Yeah? Ever since we picked up a nice pointy stick, I guess?” “It can’t be that bad. What about a survey of current weapons on the planet? It can’t be that bad…” her desperately hopeful voice trails away as an entirely new page of data starts scrolling down. Her eyes widen even more as she stares at it, and for a second I’m worried that her eyes will actually pop out of her skull. “This is impossible!” she breaths, her voice only barely edging out the noise of the calculating console by a few decibels. “There’s… there’s so much! How… how do you use all of this? On each other? Why?” I stare at her with my mouth open, unable to answer. “You… you’re from some place called the ‘United States’, correct?” she demands more than asks. “Yeah? New Mexico to be exact.” “Your country has more weapons in it than most Empires have across dozens of worlds! You’ve fought more wars on your one planet than half the galaxy has in ten millennia of recorded history!”
November 5, 2025 at 8:53 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Today sucked, but I at least got this much into #WIPTLC. So there's that, I guess...
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Nov 4 TLC progress 1253 words written out of 1700.
November 4, 2025 at 10:06 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPsnips. Shorter snip for today, but at least i have the word in TLC.
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“What do you think you are doing??” Voliannas hisses in my ear, suddenly close enough to my head for me to feel her body heat. A warm caterpillar. Ergh. “I am doing as I am rightfully entitled to,” I reply, turning my head to face her eye to eye. My voice is as firm as steel, and I lock into a staring contest with her. “Maybe if you had tried listening out there, we’d have other options than this. Her face drastically contorts, and she seems to be speechless for the first time since we met. Before either of us can say anything more, the Arbiter speaks up from his podium.
November 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Day 3 of #WIPTLC and minimum count exceeded once again! Past the 10% milestone! We're zooming, baby!
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Day 3 of Nov challenge for TLC, 2384 of 1700 words written.
November 3, 2025 at 10:43 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! Again from TLC, and featuring a very not-nice person talking to Jennifer for a court case of some sort.
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“Good Afternoon, I’m-“ ‘Yes, yes I know. Miss Jennifer of someplace called Earth. Some confusion is involved there, we’re going to have to sort out that soon enough for the paperwork!” A cold shiver crawls down my spine. I do not want that kind of paperwork to happen, as I said to Rondu earlier. This is my first, hopeless chance to forestall it. “Well-“ “There’s no need to thank me, this is just tradition. You have nothing to worry about or even anything you need to do yourself except testify and be present for this civil trail. At the least you look presentable. Nice, even. For a primate.” Voliannas scans me up and down while saying this, and my hackles would be bristling if I had any. “Now look-“ “The proceedings have already been set rolling, Jennifer,” Voliannas continued like a charging bull on meth, and with every bit the same ability to notice other people around her. “You see, Jennifer, the Kowellians have been an annoyance to this part of the galaxy for centuries now, even stretching back to the time of the Empire. But they’re pacifists, so no one has as of yet acquired any real cause to bring them to heel. Until you were found in one of their pods!”
November 3, 2025 at 8:39 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Today's in the bag! Much progress in #WIPTLC, plus some in-depth advice on how to make this specific sound plausibly legally sound, as Jennifer attempts to use an overworked stellar nation legal system to her advantage.
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Nov 2 daily progress on TLC, 2330 words written out of 1700.
November 2, 2025 at 11:08 PM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips! And we're back on the TLC train, now that I’ve restarted work on it for November. Will be doing 50K just like everyone else is doing this month, so I’ll prob be doing TLC permanently for the month, writing the words in as needed.
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The hallway is cramped with many different aliens trying to take up as little space as possible and failing miserably, and the bench I’m sitting on was not designed for human comfort. For that matter, it doesn’t look like it was designed for anyone’s comfort, but more like a one-size-doesn’t-fit-anyone-whatsoever type deal. If everyone is uncomfortable, no one has any real cause to feel left out, I suppose. At the very least the business formal suit I have on still fits perfectly, to my complete surprise, even tough I had to clean a few cobwebs out of it. The thought still makes me cringe, thinking what might have been living in it. It still looks good, at least it did on the mirror on Driona’s ship. It had been a bit smudgy, but it did its job. I even got my hair up to a moderately presentable fashion, considering I had nothing to actually work with.
November 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
Alllrighty then, I think that went pretty well for my first day back into #WIPTLC, and a good first day for this month's 50k challenge! Even managed to work in tomorrow's #WIPSnips prompt to boot!
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November challenge day 1, 2050 words written out of minimum 1700 for TLC.
November 1, 2025 at 9:55 PM