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#31 DRAWINGS!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE
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“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)
(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)
So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.
Hair Textures
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We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.
Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!
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Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)
“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”
-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro
When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.
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Braids (31 Braid Styles)
There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!
CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!
Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.
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Locs
(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)
"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.
Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.
LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!
Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!
In Professional Media
The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.
If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:
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This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!
I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:
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This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!
To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!
But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:
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Straight Hair
We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.
'I think it looks better good this way!'
If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!
Doing it in Art
Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-
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(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)
@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)
Hair Brushes
Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!
I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!
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lazarusemma · 5 months
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Nov 6 - Cas is
Nov 11 - He’s
Nov 18 - Sam says Mia says journaling helps. Sure.
Nov 19 - Should’ve been me.
Nov 20 - Sam, if you’re reading this thing, I’ll kick your ass.
Nov 21 - Spaghetti for dinner. Cas still dead. Journaling still stupid.
Nov 24 - I should’ve said
Nov 25 - Should’ve told him.
Nov 26, Thanksgiving - Not a whole lot of thanks around here. Thanks for dying in front of me, man. Thanks for saying all that. Thanks for disappearing again before I
Nov 30 - C not back.
Dec 5 - 1 month. C gone. J quiet. S annoying.
Dec 6 - Least Sam’s alive.
Dec 8 - [drawing of Castiel, half sketched]
Dec 10 - Not much of a friggin’ artist huh.
Dec 26 - No miracle.
Dec 31 - Gonna be another year without 
2021
Jan 1, New Year’s - Midnight alone. You should be here. You should
Jan 2 - I should’ve
Jan 5 - 2 months
Feb 5 - 3 months since I should’ve fucking kissed you.
Feb 28 - If this was a leap year man I bet you’d be back tomorrow you always did shit like that surprised the hell out of me.
Mar 1 - So it goes.
Mar 2 - S thought the library here had Vonnegut. Didn’t.
Mar 5 - 4 months Went to get a library card in town.
Mar 11 - “And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.”
Mar 30 - Sam might have a hunt for us. Don’t know if
Mar 31 - Turned it down. Passed it to Jody’s crew.
Apr 1, April Fool’s - Real funny C. Joke's over. Come back already.
Apr 9 - There’s things I can’t say things I’ve never been good at saying but you gotta know
Apr 29 - He didn’t know he didn’t know he didn’t know he didn’t
May 5 - You died not knowing, you asshole. 6 months and you’re not back so I can’t tell you.
May 6 - You missed Star Wars day, you know.
May 7 - Didn’t even Han you. Well I didn't know did I.
May 8 - Did I?
May 9 - Maybe I
May 26 - “How nice — to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”
June 5 - 7
July 5 - 8
Aug 5 - 9
Aug 6 - What if you don’t
Aug 10 - You missed my birthday. S’s too. J’s.
Aug 11 - If you can hear me
Aug 12 - What would he even
Sept 5 - Nearly crashed the car today. S had to drive. Banged up my head leaning on the window in the backseat like a kid. 10
Sept 6 - Researching.
Sept 7 - Ain’t fair you missed a whole year. Gonna have a lot of catch up to play when
Sept 8 - …when we get you back.
Sept 18 - Been 12 years. You believe that, Cas? Since I came back. Since you brought me back. Guess I hoped today would be the magic bullet to getting you back. Like you’d tip your head at me and say Hello Dean. And I’d tell you how I raised you from perdition. Whatever. Just a day I guess. Universe doesn’t care it’s our anniversary
Sept 19 - Still gonna say it though. When it works.
Oct 5 - 11. It’s gonna work
Oct 31, Halloween - Never got to put you in a dumb matching costume. Next year though.
Nov 4 - Can’t sleep. Sam says time is powerful magic or some shit like that. Says an anniversary can have echoes. So we’re trying it tomorrow. God, this better work. Cas, you hear me? We’re coming for you. I’ve been praying all year and I’m hearing nothing back. I’ll tell you tomorrow. Gonna get this stuck mouth of mine to make good. It’s just the words, even on paper, they don’t—Tomorrow though, tomorrow I’m telling you everything. Promise.
Nov 5 - Today.
Nov 6 - !!! 🙂🙂🙂���
^ heh. check out this dork
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AITA for attacking someone on Artfight? I am female, 31. There's this event called Artfight in which you can draw people's ocs as a ways of making points for your team. I've been participating in Artfight since Tea vs. Coffee and haven't had a problem until last Artfight.
I typically prefer to attack using the random character button and I found a really cute character that was someone's sona that was a dog. It had really nice colors that mixed well with my fursona's colors so I checked their permissions to see if they were okay with their characters/sonas being drawn with others. They were! They even encouraged and really wanted interactions of their characters or sonas with other people's characters or sonas. What caught my eye was that they also encouraged speciesswap too which I thought was cool. My sona is a pooltoy dog so I thought it'd be cool if I speciesswapped their sona to be a pooltoy too! I drew up the attack and posted it, but even after a few days they never commented on it. I noticed they commented on other attacks they got after mine so I thought they had missed it, alright no big deal. I'm not attacking for comments, I'm attacking for fun. Well, I attacked them again later in the month since I had time and I had saved another character of theirs earlier since it was part of a closed species I was apart of, but when I went to submit I realized they had blocked me. I know block evading is wrong now and shouldn't have bothered after realizing but I didn't know at the time, so I contacted them on tumblr to ask what was up if they were upset with me. They called me a proshipper and a freak and a pedo, saying I was disgusting for that attack. I was very confused and upset, so I asked what was wrong with it to see if I could fix it and they said I'm a freak for making fetish art of their sona when it's personal to them and they have stated in their permissions absolutely no fetish content since they're a minor.
Here's where I believe I am the asshole. It is true I do have a pooltoy fetish, but you have to search outside of my Artfight profile to find it. Even so, I keep my NSFW pooltoy work to one outside profile, everything else I ever draw outside of that specific profile, my pooltoy artwork is completely SFW. And I will add their age was not listed anywhere on their Artfight page but even then the art I made was not meant to be fetishic nor did I think it would come off as so? It was just two pooltoy animals having fun. Even so, they told me they reported the attack as soon as they realized, said a few more nasty things to me then blocked my tumblr. I began to think I may have been the asshole as a few people I know have said I should prepare in case that kid and their friends make a PSA on me which is making me think this may have been more severe then I'm thinking it was.
So tl;dr, I have a pooltoy fetish, I drew me and this person's sonas as pooltoys as an Artfight attack since it wasn't against their permissions, and they even encouraged it. They then called me a freak, blocked me and reported my attack. AITA?
What are these acronyms?
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Choices March Challenge 2024
I asked and you answered. It seems like flowers and spring are prompts you are interested in for the March Challenge!
I hope you enjoy the prompts I chose. There is a mix of flowers, spring related words, March holidays, dialogue prompts, and visual floral prompts. I also posted some floral dividers that you're welcome to use.
Have Fun + Happy Creating!
Prompts + Guidelines below the cut!
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Flowers (these are some possibilities, but all flowers are accepted)
Bleeding Heart Flower
Carnation
Chrysanthemum
Coneflower
Corpse Flower
Daffodil
Daisy
Gladiolus
Hydrangea
Iris
Jade Vine
Lavender
Lilac
Lily
Marigold
Moonflower
Nightshade
Orchid
Pansy
Peony
Poppy
Rose
Snapdragon
Sunflower
Tulip
Wildflowers
Spring
Awakening
Baby animals
Butterflies
Clear skies
Daylight saving
Fresh air
Growth
New Life
Outdoor activities + sports
Picnics
Rain boots
Rainy days
Renewal
Spring cleaning
Sunny weather
Warm temperatures
Longer days
Umbrella
March Holidays (these are some possibilities, but all March Holidays are accepted)
March 01: National Peanut Butter Lover's Day
March 08: International Women's Day
March 09: National Barbie Day + Get over it Day
March 11: National Napping Day
March 15: The Ides of March
March 16: National Panda Day
March 17: St. Patrick's Day
March 18: Awkward Moments Day
March19: First day of spring
March 23: National Puppy Day
March 30: National Take a Walk in the Park Day + Doctors' Day
March 31: Easter
Dialogue Prompts
"The flowers in the park seem to have a secret language, don't they?"
"Why does every spring bring back memories of that garden?"
"I can't believe you kept that secret from me all these years."
"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?"
"I never thought I'd see you again."
"Do you believe in second chances?"
"I thought we were in this together."
"You're not the person I thought you were."
"Sometimes silence speaks louder than words."
"Is it too late to start over?"
"I don't know who I am anymore."
"We're running out of time."
"Why are you really here?"
"Your laughter is my favorite melody."
"If our love story were a book, every page would be filled with the softest words and the sweetest kisses. What chapter are we on now?"
“Will you please shut up”
 “Of all the things i love about you, this is my favorite.”
Visual Prompts:
If one of these inspire a creative work from you feel free to use it. You can list the prompt topic + # (ie: Rainbow 3)
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Guidelines + Rules
Submitted works will be featured on a weekly masterlist
Every form of creative work can be submitted: fanfiction, drabbles, moodboards, edits, drawings, poems, songs, sketches, and more—all are welcomed.
Work from any book and story from the Choices (and Pixelberry) universe are welcome (new and old alike)!
You can participate as many times as you want during the month
Clearly list the prompt your used
You can combine submissions for this event and others
Please add a cut to avoid long posts and exposing other fans to triggering/disturbing content.
If your work is NS*W please label it as such and use appropriate warnings. Adult content should be hidden under the page break.
You can get creative with the prompts. It can be a variation of the word and/or concept. It doesn’t have to be exact or literal. If the word inspires a train of thought that led you to something different, put that in the notes and send it in! Have fun with it! Make them work for you! The ultimate goal is just to find joy in creating!
Please tag @choicesmonthlychallenge​​ and if you’d like to add me you can do so as well~ @lovealexhunt​​​ (feel free to DM me your work too since Tumblr tags are fickle)
Please do not submit work that has been created with AI. Works that contain AI will not be reblogged. If reblogged inadvertently and I find out they have AI, they will be deleted.
Late entries will be accepted through April 5
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ralfmaximus · 2 months
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Remember that 737 MAX whose door plug blew out in flight?
A boeing whistleblower created a burner account and reported the following (reproduced here in its entirety in case the original gets deleted):
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Current Boeing employee here – I will save you waiting two years for the NTSB report to come out and give it to you for free: the reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeings own records. It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.
A couple of things to cover before we begin:
Q1) Why should we believe you? A) You shouldn’t, I’m some random throwaway account, do your own due diligence. Others who work at Boeing can verify what I say is true, but all I ask is you consider the following based on its own merits.
Q2) Why are you doing this? A) Because there are many cultures at Boeing, and while the executive culture may be throughly compromised since we were bought by McD, there are many other people who still push for a quality product with cutting edge design. My hope is that this is the wake up call that finally forces the Board to take decisive action, and remove the executives that are resisting the necessary cultural changes to return to a company that values safety and quality above schedule.
With that out of the way… why did the left hand (LH) mid-exit door plug blow off of the 737-9 registered as N704AL? Simple- as has been covered in a number of articles and videos across aviation channels, there are 4 bolts that prevent the mid-exit door plug from sliding up off of the door stop fittings that take the actual pressurization loads in flight, and these 4 bolts were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane, our own records reflect this.
The mid-exit doors on a 737-9 of both the regular and plug variety come from Spirit already installed in what is supposed to be the final configuration and in the Renton factory, there is a job for the doors team to verify this “final” install and rigging meets drawing requirements. In a healthy production system, this would be a “belt and suspenders” sort of check, but the 737 production system is quite far from healthy, its a rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen. As a result, this check job that should find minimal defects has in the past 365 calendar days recorded 392 nonconforming findings on 737 mid fuselage door installations (so both actual doors for the high density configs, and plugs like the one that blew out). That is a hideously high and very alarming number, and if our quality system on 737 was healthy, it would have stopped the line and driven the issue back to supplier after the first few instances. Obviously, this did not happen. Now, on the incident aircraft this check job was completed on 31 August 2023, and did turn up discrepancies, but on the RH side door, not the LH that actually failed. I could blame the team for missing certain details, but given the enormous volume of defects they were already finding and fixing, it was inevitable something would slip through- and on the incident aircraft something did. I know what you are thinking at this point, but grab some popcorn because there is a plot twist coming up.
The next day on 1 September 2023 a different team (remember 737s flow through the factory quite quickly, 24 hours completely changes who is working on the plane) wrote up a finding for damaged and improperly installed rivets on the LH mid-exit door of the incident aircraft.
A brief aside to explain two of the record systems Boeing uses in production. The first is a program called CMES which stands for something boring and unimportant but what is important is that CMES is the sole authoritative repository for airplane build records (except on 787 which uses a different program). If a build record in CMES says something was built, inspected, and stamped in accordance with the drawing, then the airplane damn well better be per drawing. The second is a program called SAT, which also stands for something boring and unimportant but what is important is that SAT is *not* an authoritative records system, its a bullentin board where various things affecting the airplane build get posted about and updated with resolutions. You can think of it sort of like a idiots version of Slack or something. Wise readers will already be shuddering and wondering how many consultants were involved, because, yes SAT is a *management visibilty tool*. Like any good management visibilty tool, SAT can generate metrics, lots of metrics, and oh God do Boeing managers love their metrics. As a result, SAT postings are the primary topic of discussion at most daily status meetings, and the whole system is perceived as being extremely important despite, I reiterate, it holding no actual authority at all.
We now return to our incident aircraft, which was written up for having defective rivets on the LH mid-exit door. Now as is standard practice kn Renton (but not to my knowledge in Everett on wide bodies) this write-up happened in two forms, one in CMES, which is the correct venue, and once in SAT to “coordinate the response” but really as a behind-covering measure so the manager of the team that wrote it can show his boss he’s shoved the problem onto someone else. Because there are so many problems with the Spirit build in the 737, Spirit has teams on site in Renton performing warranty work for all of their shoddy quality, and this SAT promptly gets shunted into their queue as a warranty item. Lots of bickering ensues in the SAT messages, and it takes a bit for Spirit to get to the work package. Once they have finished, they send it back to a Boeing QA for final acceptance, but then Malicious Stupid Happens! The Boeing QA writes another record in CMES (again, the correct venue) stating (with pictures) that Spirit has not actually reworked the discrepant rivets, they *just painted over the defects*. In Boeing production speak, this is a “process failure”. For an A&P mechanic at an airline, this would be called “federal crime”.
Presented with evidence of their malfeasance, Spirit reopens the package and admits that not only did they not rework the rivets properly, there is a damaged pressure seal they need to replace (who damaged it, and when it was damaged is not clear to me). The big deal with this seal, at least according to frantic SAT postings, is the part is not on hand, and will need to be ordered, which is going to impact schedule, and (reading between the lines here) Management is Not Happy. 1/2
2/2
However, more critical for purposes of the accident investigation, the pressure seal is unsurprisingly sandwiched between the plug and the fuselage, and you cannot replace it without opening the door plug to gain access. All of this conversation is documented in increasingly aggressive posts in the SAT, but finally we get to the damning entry which reads something along the lines of “coordinating with the doors team to determine if the door will have to be removed entirely, or just opened. If it is removed then a Removal will have to be written.” Note: a Removal is a type of record in CMES that requires formal sign off from QA that the airplane been restored to drawing requirements.
If you have been paying attention to this situation closely, you may be able to spot the critical error: regardless of whether the door is simply opened or removed entirely, the 4 retaining bolts that keep it from sliding off of the door stops have to be pulled out. A removal should be written in either case for QA to verify install, but as it turns out, someone (exactly who will be a fun question for investigators) decides that the door only needs to be opened, and no formal Removal is generated in CMES (the reason for which is unclear, and a major process failure). Therefore, in the official build records of the airplane, a pressure seal that cannot be accessed without opening the door (and thereby removing retaining bolts) is documented as being replaced, but the door is never officially opened and thus no QA inspection is required. This entire sequence is documented in the SAT, and the nonconformance records in CMES address the damaged rivets and pressure seal, but at no point is the verification job reopened, or is any record of removed retention bolts created, despite it this being a physical impossibility. Finally with Spirit completing their work to Boeing QAs satisfaction, the two rivet-related records in CMES are stamped complete, and the SAT closed on 19 September 2023. No record or comment regarding the retention bolts is made.
I told you it was stupid.
So, where are the bolts? Probably sitting forgotten and unlabeled (because there is no formal record number to label them with) on a work-in-progress bench, unless someone already tossed them in the scrap bin to tidy up.
There’s lots more to be said about the culture that enabled this to happened, but thats the basic details of what happened, the NTSB report will say it in more elegant terms in a few years.
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empty-movement · 1 year
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sorry but please... post your akio plastic covered couch tweet here... the world needs to know...
Warning: pics of gross shit happening on the couches
I'll do you one better and include the STORY! So, I, Vanna (note: Yasha mostly does the Tumblr and I mostly do the Twitter,) was smoking enough weed to knock out a large horse or put a very tiny dent in my constant back and shoulder pain, as one does when when they're a middle-aged Registered Nurse in the year 2023. (I'm 39 but it's an old 39, lmao.)
Scrolling through Twitter, I stumble on a fanart of Suletta from Witch of Mercury sitting goofily on a white couch. Now I haven't seen this show yet, but the white couch....looked familiar, and I know the show is very much a descendent of Utena in terms of creative teams. For those that don't know, the series is written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, who also wrote the two Revolutionary Girl Utena novelizations...which if you didn't know about before, you know about now, and can read translated on our site here! (Warning: Touga and Miki uh, in the novels...)
Anyways, so I hop onto my own website and start downloading the images that will constitute receipts, before realizing 1. these images are all on multiple computers feet away from me, 2. the couch isn't an identical match, 3. that'd have been weird anyway, and most importantly, 4:
AKIO'S COUCHES DON'T LOOK RIGHT. OBSERVE:
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The edges of the armrests have sloppier upholstery than the blanket I have covering my computer desk. I took the time to tuck seams at least. What is this??
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Now it could absolutely be leather, I thought. It would absolutely track. But leather upholstery doesn't look like this. It doesn't wrinkle quite this way. It would have cleaner seams.
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No. No that's too shiny for leather. So here I am, presented with this strangeness I'd never really considered in how Akio's couch is drawn, and having spent the last few months learning about my Italian-American family history, my chemically altered ass came to the only reasonable conclusion:
Akio Ohtori has plastic coverings on his white couches, like he's a depression era American in poverty.
Fuck yeah, I though, A HIT TWEET, there, at the end of all Tweeting things. (Yeah I'm working on that, stay tuned, lmao. I of all people know when to bail on stupid men with stupid power.) Because I am me, I framed it as semi serious by pulling a context to explain it out of my ass:
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I was joking.
But the replies? They were not. And then I thought about it some more. And I've kept thinking about it. Do I seriously think Ikuhara and Co literally are intentionally drawing a plastic covered couch? Doesn't that feel, Vanna, like a bit of a stretch, even for Utena meta?
Listen to that CRONCH when Akio sits down in episode 31, before Anthy is seen by Nanami. Look, the buttons on the back rest don't quite fit, but the rest? Yeah it kinda does. I was high, but not wrong!?
Akio *does* surround himself with a bizarre hodgepodge of Americana as an aesthetic. The arm garters. The piping and cut of his cowboy-ass shirt. His American car. His mullet. His miniature fucking golf. Why not the plastic covered couch? It's a trope of American poverty that would absolutely have fallen neatly into the diet of American pop culture that influenced Ikuhara. (He makes references to E.T. and The Godfather and Suspiria and all kinds of things in his other work, Utena itself is a little less obvious with individual references but inherits HUGE amounts of vibes from the same content--Ikuhara and Co watched Lost Highway in theaters during the production of the Akio Arc and I will not be convinced otherwise.)
So yeah. That's the story, and that's the theory. Do I seriously believe it was deliberate? Maybe. Probably. Possibly. But it fits so well it's headcanon for me, and in the Utena fandom, pretty much all canon is kind of headcanon so enjoy this one.
What an asshole.
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ask-emilz-de-philz · 3 months
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!!!! $12 (international peeps) / PHP 550.00 (for The Philippines-based peeps) QUICK COMMISSIONS!!!! PLANET PUTO CHARAS only ❗❗❗
STATUS: OPEN (FOR LAST BATCH)
LIMITED TIME OFFER / PROMO FROM DECEMBER 22 - 31, 2023 ONLY.
From my fixed rate of PHP 850, ya’ll only need to pay PHP 550! Ain’t that swell? ;w; Or like $ 12.00 if ur like, mr worldwide //slapped
Commissioned art: LINEART + BASE COLOR (NO BACKGROUND/transparent background) only
Options: BUST / CHIBI
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Hello everyone! I’m opening for commissions (again)! But quick lang muna for the mean time. ;w;’’
Just trying to get back on our feet for this period, health-wise I'm still trying to get better and I'm doing my best to help my family, ;w;b it would mean super much to us if you could commission me or simply share this post so it may be able to reach out anyone who might be interested:
(LAST BATCH)
1. IJSA
2. IJSA
3. MGM
4. reserved
5. RESERVED
6. Reserved
7. Reserved
8.
9.
10.
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!!!!!!!!! NOTE !!!!!!!!!
Things I WILL draw
- Planet Puto characters from any AU (you’d get a bonus if this is your option <XD)
- SFW lang only hahah
Things I WON'T draw:
- Animals & insects (believe me, they still look like the ones I doodle since 2nd grade)
- Environmental Backgrounds (please have mercy)
- Mecha (hnggg)
- Furries
-Too complex poses (sob)
- NSFW (let’s keep our workplace safe, keds, for now //slapped)
*If you’re curious that one of the things/themes/etc you want ain’t on this list, let’s chat, we can work something out ^_^b.
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RULES
- Payment is via GCASH/PAYMAYA/BANK TRANSFER only. (My contact will be the one who’ll receive your payments in behalf of me.) Any tips would be highly appreciated if you want, I'd like to thank you in advance if you ever want to give one! ;w;!!! It's up to you ;w;b
- The transaction fees (if there are) upon sending your payment is to be covered by you.
- I shall only start once the payment is fully paid. (Clients who get to pay full first, gets their commission done earlier/first than the others. I’ll start immediately when possible.)
- You may use or repost the art for non-commercial use only. Kindly credit me if you do so.
- Please be patient while your commissions are being made.
- I have the right to decline or cancel commission requests.
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Interested? Q7Q !!!! Please PM this page or HaimaCheir (my art page) for the Order Form and Payment Form.
Thank you po everyone and have an awesome day! ;w;b
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thewinterstale · 7 months
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hello dear person whom i love. could you perhaps do 31 ("spooning") + 19 ("vulnerable") + 6 ("misunderstanding") for my friends pre-canon campal
Pre-Canon CamPal - #31, #19, #6: Spooning, vulnerable, misunderstanding 
(For the one-word fic prompt game! I’m trying to write a 24-hour fic every day during the long weekend! This is ficlet #3! The first is here (cytherea/loveday - games), the second is here (cassy/nigella - vulnerable, unexpected, desperation)!) “It just doesn’t make sense, Cam,” Palamedes Sextus, nine years old, whispered harshly from his prone and curled-up position in the shuck. Camilla Hect, nearly ten, was beside him, of course. Their bodies were pressed together like sardines, though if they noticed, they certainly didn’t mind. 
Palamedes was going through a growth spurt (a theme that would persist for the next eight years, give or take), and there was a sliver of pallid ankle peeking out from the bottom of his striped pajama bottoms. Those gangly lower limbs were tangled up in the sheets while he somehow gesticulated with the upper ones, despite the lack of physical space. 
Cam blinked. It was, in fact, 3:04 in the morning. His back was to her, and he couldn’t see her face, but he knew she was listening. Likewise, she couldn’t see his face in the dark, but she always knew precisely what it looked like. Right now, it was sure to be his trusty declamation face, well-honed after years spent speechifying at the wall in the dark. 
“She’s the Duchess,” he continued, his cold foot catching her knee, “The Duchess of Rhodes, at that, and we both know what that means now. I can’t believe they wouldn’t spare the expense and have a lithograph made. They have heaps of artists on the Seventh, I’m sure. And given the circumstances—” he swallowed, rolling over onto his back, sending her toward the edge of the mattress by another few centimeters, “Well, if I were in charge—and would that I was, Cam—heads would roll. I’d have a new one commissioned every month.” “Okay,” Cam said. 
“Am I overthinking this?” he asked, turning just his head to look over his shoulder at her huddled form.
Cam said nothing, which said everything. 
“No. You’re right. Of course,” Palamedes continued after a respectful pause, “Lady Septimus’s time is precious. To ask her to sit like that for hours would be a deplorable waste of a very finite resource.” He sighed a mighty and profound sigh in the dark as he rolled fully back over onto his side. 
Cam immediately scooted back into the warm spot he left behind.  
“You don’t have a lithograph, either,” she reminded him.
“Of course I don’t,” he squinted, “I’m not a head of state. Besides, my time is her time now. If it would be an irresponsible waste of her time to sit for a portrait, it would be criminal for me to use my time to—” he froze, going very still. “Unless you think she’d want to see one?” 
“I know what she’d want more,” Cam muttered, curling the toes on one foot and then the other, like a cat making biscuits on the sheets. In the dark, Palamedes raised his eyebrows hungrily, waiting. 
“She’d want you to go back to sleep.” 
“Sorry, Camilla.” “It’s alright.” 
For a moment, it was very quiet as two growing bodies squirmed among the blankets, each trying to find a comfortable position without disturbing the other. Both their eyes were firmly shut when, uncharacteristically, Cam spoke again. 
“I can draw your portrait if you like. To send to the Duchess.” 
Two gray, owlish eyes popped open. “Would you?” 
“Sure.” 
It was silent again for a moment, and Cam briefly (and erroneously) believed he’d fallen back asleep. In fact, those pale, myopic eyes were still wide open, boring a hazy hole in the wall with the intensity of his unfocuzed gaze.  
“Do you think she’d like that?” he asked quietly. 
Camilla nodded against her pillow, which made a soft rustling sound that he felt as much as heard. Her subsequent yawn was even louder in his ears. Guiltily, Palamedes shut his eyes again at once. 
It was only after his thoughts grew quieter and his breathing evened out that Cam allowed herself to drift off, too. 
In most ways, Camilla Hect was not a particularly remarkable nine-year-old. As long as she sat next to Palamedes, she’d never stand out as exceptionally bright. She was still frequently overlooked and underestimated at the spire, which wasn’t entirely an accident. Much of the time she fell somewhere near the bottom of the bell curve, as her lack of interest in amorous poetry meant she frequently did the minimum. 
She’d often get called out for fidgeting, and most of her instructors wished she’d speak a bit more during class rather than simply burying her face in her notes. As far as anyone knew, she was not at all exceptional for a child of the Sixth. She was merely another gray body in the hoard. 
But despite all that, she did develop a reputation as an artist. Granted, it wasn’t the most high-demand skill on the Sixth, but it had its value. Scholars always needed diagrams, or visual documentation, or mockups, or plans. The skill was an exciting development for her fathers, who liked that she’d gravitated toward an interest. They worried about her following Palamedes around without cultivating anything that was just hers. 
Unfortunately, the more they encouraged her, the more secretive she became about her drawing habit. It wasn’t for them, and it wasn’t an outlet, whatever they had to say about it. It was helpful for mocking up anatomical treatment diagrams for Dulcinea. That was all. 
It wasn’t a creative endeavor for her, either—not really. Creativity, she thought, was just run-of-the-mill problem-solving covered in glitter. She’d once borrowed a library book that showed how to break the face and body down into ratios and proportions, and suddenly, drawing seemed more like an interesting mathematical challenge rather than some lofty, inaccessible form of self-expression. It was geometry. She’d renewed that book a dozen times before the age of seven. 
She believed that all a person really needed to draw were strong and steady fine motor skills, a keen sense of observation, and enough dogged determination to work at it. She had all three in droves. 
Cam was nothing if not a noticer. Often, she’d spend the majority of a lecture looking around the room for interesting shadows, attempting to find the light source and calculate the angles. She’d frequently illuminate her class notes with a uniform row of neatly cross-hatched spheres or tiny studies of the human eye. 
When she was stuck in a conversation and didn’t know where to look, she’d let her earth-brown eyes wander about the speaker’s face, noticing the distance between their eyes or the shapes within their ears. 
Hair had been difficult to render for a while, and mastering drapery had required incredible focus, but foreshortening and perspective were both just math, really, so she approached the challenge as she’d approach an equation. 
She didn’t think of herself as an artist, which helped. An artist tried to show their hand and gesture in their work, making it distinct. Camilla did whatever she could to hide hers, representing things as they were. Drawing was another way to live her House’s motto - to tell the truth, warts and all. 
It hadn’t occurred to her, at nearly ten years old, that she couldn’t divorce herself from her drawings in that way. They relied on her unique perspective. There could be no true objectivity in portraiture. That knowledge would come later.
Thus, when Palamedes sat for his portrait, she’d planned to approach it like a practical mathematics exercise. She would draw what she saw—no more, no less. She would render him honestly, as was her duty. In two-dimensions, Palamedes Sextus was just a set of physical data; proportions and angles made visual, like a graph. 
The reality of Palamedes Sextus in three-dimensions made that difficult in five distinct ways. 
Difficulty the first: Though considerably less squirmy and fidgety than Cam, Palamedes consistently forgot that his only task was to sit still. He needed to be reminded. With frequency. Difficulty the second: Occasionally, Palamedes managed to remain perfectly stationary, looking off into the middle distance with a wistful and pensive expression on his face, which made her job easy. At a certain point, he’d even declared that sitting still for an unspecified period of time each week was good for him, actually, because it left him with dedicated time to think, which was a luxury. 
Of course, he did use the time to think, which meant he’d start having ideas, many of which he wanted to act upon now. He wanted to run an experiment. He wanted to fetch a book. He wanted to find a scholar from Curative Sciences and get their opinion on an idea he just had about bone marrow and thalergenic revision.  He tried to resist. He really, truly tried. The problem was, she knew him and knew he was uncomfortable. The more he resisted his thirst for knowledge, the more he fidgeted, and the more he began to look like a torture victim. He’d gaze across at her with those eyes, and he’d remind her about the Duchess and the stakes. “What if this is the breakthrough?” he’d ask, eyes optimistic and wild with possibility. “If I can solve this now, there will be time later for all the drawing we can stand. I’m sure you get it, Cam. If you’ll give me a minute, or, realistically, an hour, accounting for red tape and such, we might not have to rely on drawings at all.” 
Alas, he was very persuasive. Eventually, it made more sense to stand back and let him go. And he didn’t go anywhere without her, so that was that. 
Difficulty the third: To put it kindly, Palamedes Sextus, at age nine, had yet to grow into his face. He was all weird curves and strange angles, with bizarre shadows that didn’t exactly flatter him. 
His proportions were far from textbook. Cam was constantly second-guessing herself. The jaw had to be wrong. At certain angles, drawing his nose meant blocking one of his eyes, which didn’t seem right. 
So she started over.
And over.
And over. 
She tried again.
And again.
And again. 
And, so far, she’d refused to show Palamedes her progress until she was finished, which meant, at some point during the drawn out process (and even taking his many urgent interruptions into account), he’d started growing excited about the product. 
Surely, something that was taking so much time would be a sight to behold, especially if Camilla was working on it! He was expecting a fully rendered, life-sized portrait in the style of great Seventh House masters—the sort that hung in the toilets on the Third in gilded frames. It was certain to be a labor of love worthy of their Duchess! They’d all see it, and they’d understand how talented Camilla really was. 
Difficulty the fourth: Camilla Hect was talented…for a nine-year-old. She was not, however, a child prodigy. She was young enough that she still had much to learn on her path to greatness, and old enough to realize it. Her flaws were stark in her own eyes.
That might have been fine. She’d fought through frustration before, and knew it took time. Unfortunately, she had an almost untenable amount of unbridled affection for her subject, which made it harder. 
When she tried to be objective, Palamedes-on-flimsy looked like, well, himself, as rendered by a non-prodigious nine-year-old. 
When she tried to correct for instances of accidental subjectivity, Palamedes-on-flimsy looked nothing like himself… still as rendered by a non-prodigious nine-year-old, which was worse. 
She couldn’t strike a balance. She was failing him. 
Difficulty the fifth: After about two months of obsessive effort, Camilla Hect started shutting down. 
Palamedes kept Camilla’s portrait of the Duchess Septimus tacked up on the inner wall of his shuck. Even in the dark, with his spectacles tucked safely away, her ethereal presence loomed large, like a blurry, blue-eyed specter haunting the cramped and cozy nook. 
Dulcinea had loved Cam’s handiwork, according to her letters. She thought Cam was very talented, and encouraged her at every turn. 
In a recent letter, Palamedes had mentioned their portrait sessions. In her reply, she’d waxed effusively about her excitement—both at the prospect of finally seeing his face and at owning another priceless Camilla Hect original, which she insisted would become a rare and precious collector's item and fetch billions at auction one day. 
In his next letter, Palamedes had brought it up again. 
In her reply, the Duchess said that the promise of this masterpiece was giving her something to look forward to while she was bedridden and bored to absolute tears after a procedure. 
She’d also written that he shouldn’t worry, that she was on the mend, and that he had no business taking her setbacks personally because they had absolutely nothing to do with him.  
Ironically (but predictably), it was the latter part of the missive that was keeping Palamedes awake that night. 
“Humor me,” he’d whispered to the image of the ghost on the wall, though he was obviously addressing Camilla. “If you had to make an estimate, are we looking at another week? Another month? I really regret that I couldn’t keep it a surprise. I want you to take your time and make something you’re proud of, of course. You deserve that. But I can’t help thinking about her stuck in bed, waiting on us.” He reached out a stick-bug arm and touched the edge of the flimsy with a dramatic sigh. 
“I’m sleeping,” Cam said. 
“I have reason to suspect that’s untrue.” “It’s two o’clock in the morning.” 
“Sounds like something an awake person might say, if you ask me.” 
“I didn’t.” Cam rolled over in the bed until she was facing the shuck muffling. She forced her eyes shut so aggressively that she began to see stars and fireworks. Beneath the sheets, one of her legs was jiggling frenetically, which meant Palamedes’s entire person was also jiggling frenetically. 
“Best guess?” he begged, a hint of benign desperation in his tone. 
Cam said nothing. “Cam?” “I have an exam tomorrow.” “Ah,” he said, “Apologies. We can talk in the morning. Goodnight, Camilla.” 
Cam had lied about the exam, of course, and she felt terrible about it instantly. She went from jiggling her leg to tensing all the muscles in one calf and then the other, back and forth, back and forth. Without peace of mind, he wouldn’t sleep a wink. If Palamedes didn’t sleep, Camilla didn’t sleep. She had to tell him something, or they’d both be impossibly grumpy in the morning. 
“End of the week,” she muttered into the shuck muffling, “I promise.” 
“Thanks, Cam.” 
“Mmhmm.” 
The middle of the following week was, coincidentally, Camilla’s tenth birthday. Everyone kept pointing out that she was ‘double digits now,’ as if she didn’t know how ordinal numbers worked after an entire decade of life. Her fathers, of course, loved a party, and Camilla, of course, hated a party, which meant compromising and having “a small family gathering.” 
It would soon come to light that the definition of ‘a small family gathering’ was in dispute. 
Dad said a family gathering should include the four of them. Kiki suggested that they include Palamedes for Cam’s sake, and, with a shallow nod, Cam had agreed. 
Papa said he thought Palamedes could entertain himself for the night, just this once. Cam had argued that they were second cousins and, therefore, related, meaning he was a relative and should automatically be included in a family party. Dad had said if that was the case, they should just eat in the main canteen and call that a family party. 
Kiki had said that it was supposed to be Cam’s birthday, and if this gathering was really for her, she should be allowed to invite anyone she liked, and if it was really for them, she should be allowed to go up to the spire and practice somersaults instead. 
(Cam had reminded Kiki that she’d been able to do a perfect somersault since she was two. Kiki had reminded her that it wasn’t wise to get sassy with the only person defending her interests, and Cam had humbly conceded and had gone back to blowing at her fringe and rocking on her toes while the grownups bickered.) 
Papa had mused that Palamedes likely didn’t eat much anyway, and Dad had said that wasn’t the point, and Cam had asked him what the point was, then, and Papa said they missed her, and she said reminded him she was standing right there, and then Dad looked at Papa, and Papa sighed and looked at his shoes, and Kiki said how about let’s have dinner then invite him over for cake. 
It was fine, in the end. There was cake, and Palamedes loved cake, so she’d given him the icing she’d scraped off hers. He still had a bit of chocolate on his upper lip when he presented her with an immaculately wrapped package. Her brow furrowed. He’d already given her a gift in private earlier in the day, and while she’d loved it, it certainly hadn’t looked like this.
The box was wrapped in pale green damask flimsy, and tied up with an organza ribbon. The gift tag was delicate, with tiny, genuine flowers pressed into it, secured to the package with a cloth rose. It read, in a familiar hand: “Happy birthday, Cam! I didn’t have anything to do with this ostentatious wrapping job, so don’t blame me if it takes you an age to get to the good part. With that said, Pro sends his love. 
I hope your tenth year will be the best one yet, and that this gift will make your job a little easier (though I’m sure you don’t need any help, you genius). 
Your pal,Dulcinea”   
Camilla removed the rose and untied the ribbon. She carefully peeled off the paper without tearing it, then folded it up into a series of neat squares. Then she opened the box to reveal a case with a false wooden veneer, and she opened the case to reveal rows and rows of drawing pencils, two sharpeners, two clean white erasers, a dozen tiny tubes of gouache, a series of brushes lined up in size order, and two long, vertical rows of highly pigmented chalk pastels. 
“Look at that,” her Dad said with a grin, elbowing her Papa, who smiled, too. 
Cam did not smile. Instead, Cam grew uncharacteristically still, looking from one face to the next as they looked back at her, waiting for a reaction that wouldn’t come. Her stomach was starting to hurt. Maybe she’d eaten too much cake? 
She took a deep breath in through her nose and set the case down on the table, pushing her chair back as she exhaled. When had her heart started pounding in her ears? 
“Make sure you tell your Duchess thank you,” Papa was saying. 
“I’ll do it now,” she said succinctly, pushing in her chair and exiting the scene as quickly as possible, leaving the lovely case behind. 
Instead, she went into the girl’s toilet off the dorms, pulled her feet up onto the seat, and buried her face in her knees. She sat like that for a long time. 
On her first official night as a ten-year-old, Cam fell asleep alone in her own shuck. 
The end of the week came far too quickly. 
Palamedes had arranged a time for their final sitting, during which he presumed she’d put the finishing touch on the spectacular portrait she’d been working on for weeks. Instead, she stood in front of him, staring at a daunting, damningly blank page. There could be no more do-overs. This was it. 
Today, she’d either render him perfectly or she’d open the airlock and expose herself to the elements. 
Objectivity, she reminded herself, render the data, trust the math. Don’t misapprehend the assignment. Draw what’s actually there. 
The sitting began the way it normally did. Obediently, Palamedes looked off into the corner, sorting through the overstuffed filing cabinet that was his brain. His eyes grew all soft-eyed and dreamy, and he barely fidgeted at all. Though his brows jumped upward and his eyes grew wide and excited at moments, he managed to keep his urgent epiphanies to himself. 
Meanwhile, Camilla busied herself with angles and distances, light sources and shadows. She reserved white for his bright, luminescent eyes and the sharp angles of his cheekbones. 
Next, she let her eyes wander, with the goal of finding his darkest darks—the blacks of his eyes, his bold brows, the shadowy crevices within his ears. From there, she managed her intermediate hues, using the sharp tip of the pencil to draw in critical details. She took her time on his hair, which was messy today. His slightly rumpled white lapels gave her a bit of trouble because she refused to settle for a babyish contour line, but she pushed through. 
It was a very long time before she stepped back and really looked at her work. 
Subsequently, she wondered how long it would take for direct exposure to Dominicus to kill a ten-year-old girl. 
“Cam?” Palamedes asked, looking over at her, brows darting toward his nose. Her face must’ve been betraying something. Or maybe he was clued in by the way she was pacing furiously in front of the easel, back and forth, like a wild, caged thing. She gave her head a shake, unable to find the right words. 
This task was utterly futile. Given a myriad, she didn’t think she’d be able to capture the essence of Palamedes Sextus. 
“Cam, what is it?” he pressed again, rising from his stool to approach her. He reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder, and she stopped her pacing. 
Face to face, they looked at one another, sharing a silent conversation. After a long moment of shifting eyebrows, quirking lips, flaring nostrils, and subtle posture adjustments, Cam stepped aside and allowed him to approach her easel. When he turned back around, she was standing with her forehead pressed into the wall, humiliated and utterly resigned.
She’d failed the Duchess and her cavalier, who deserved a drawing that reflected the truth. 
She’d failed her fathers, who believed she could be an artist. 
She’d failed herself. 
Most importantly, however, she’d failed Palamedes Sextus, who’d been counting on her to do one simple thing. If she couldn’t do this…  
Before the easel, Palamedes unclipped the sheet of flimsy and took the whole thick stack of drafts in his hands. He sat himself on the ground, criss-cross applesauce, and took his time studying each one. Sometimes he stopped to chuckle—at what, she could only guess—but mostly, he looked on reverently. The look on his face was one Camilla had seen before. It was the way he looked at letters from Dulcinea. 
When Cam finally grew bold enough to fully remove her forehead from the wall and hover near his shoulder, he had two drawings in front of him—the first and the last. They could have been drawn by two entirely different people.
If she really thought about it, they had been. The first was the work of a confident nine year old who hadn’t realized she could fail. The last had been drawn by an anxious ten year old with a chip on her shoulder (and maybe, just maybe, a crush). 
Her shadow clued him in to the fact that she was there. As she watched, he laid all of her work out, in order, first to last. The authentic ones. The uncanny ones. The ones that were more nose than person. It was obvious where she got shaky and was doubting herself, and even more obvious where she’d pushed through and learned to compensate. You could see the precise point when they started improving again. 
“Cam, you’re brilliant,” he said zealously, tipping his chin up to look at her. 
Cam blinked. She sat down beside him. 
“Are they good enough for her?” 
“They’d better be. They look exactly like me. You didn’t hold back at all, did you?” Palamedes grinned, “I won’t pretend to act surprised about it. You never do.” 
Cam’s entire body flooded with relief, and she rewarded him with a sweet, handsome smile. It was only there for a heartbeat, but it was enough. 
“Maybe we ought to send her the lot,” he mused, “I can’t presume to know her taste. We’ll send copies, though,” he amended quickly, “We can’t let her have all your originals.”   
Cam rose to her feet as he gathered them up, flimsy rustling quietly. She paced a bit, working her throat and flexing her toes.
“Palamedes?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Yes, Cam?” “I don’t want to be an artist.” 
“Alright. What do you want to be?” 
Cam breathed. She thought, though she didn’t have to. Not really. 
“Your cavalier,” she said, with a confident finality that betrayed her years. 
Pal grinned, big and slow, then snorted playfully. “Tell me something I dont know,” he said.
“You’ve got graphite on your cheek,” Cam supplied helpfully, leaning forward to rub it away with her thumb. With a wrinkle of his nose, he shooed her off. “I can worry about that later. Right now, we’ve got a letter to send. She’s been waiting.” 
When she followed him back to his shuck, she was sure to walk one precise half-step behind him. 
About a week later, Camilla and Palamedes received a reply.They gathered in his shuck to read it, elbow to elbow and knee to knee. They read with heads bowed by the light that crept through the gap in the muffling.
Dulcinea’s note was effusive—she was delighted by the portraits, but that hadn’t stopped her from including a loving jab about sending them the bill for the sixteen custom frames she’d need to hang them all. 
She provided an update on her health, too: the results of the recent procedure were questionable, but she was no longer bedridden, and thrilled to be writing from a dull bench in the dull rose garden on dull Rhodes. More importantly, she was epically bored and ravenously craving enrichment for her enclosure. 
They couldn’t blame her if the letter was a bit overwritten. Palamedes, in particular, loved it when her letters were long and filled with details about her life, and often rewarded her with the same. 
She’d concluded her epic, as she often did, with a postscript just for Cam: “Cam, 
Your thanks are far too gracious. You’ve done me a favor by allowing me to spend an afternoon pouring over a catalog for the perfect gift. I’ve never wanted to be a patron of the arts, but now I can understand why someone would! You should try it sometime, if you get the chance. (Do Sixth children get an allowance?) 
I was given a set just like that when I was about your age, and though I never used it much, I’ve always been glad to have it around when I need a pencil in a pinch. I hope it isn’t greedy of me to ask you to put it to use again. Now that I know what our Pal looks like, I’d love to see a portrait of you!
Your distressingly bored but steadfast patron,Dulcie”   
Camilla looked at Palamedes. Palamedes looked at Camilla. 
They both laughed to beat the band, falling back on the pile of pillows.
“I suppose I can try my hand at it, but I can’t promise it’ll be remotely recognizable,” Palamedes offered. 
“She can use her imagination,” Cam said decisively, as the drawing of the Duchess Septimus, now tacked to the wall next to a portrait of Palamedes, watched over them both.
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emberfrostlovesloki · 2 months
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Aaron and Criminal Minds March/Spring Prompt List
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Photo credits: Left (@foxy-eva) Center (@agentdilfhotchner) Right (@enid-rhees)
Good evening loves! We made it to February! It’s hard to believe we are one month into 2024! I love the idea of the team during Spring time and I thought I'd make some March/Spring prompts because it makes me happy. This prompt list is inspired by the always amazing, @imagining-in-the-margins who always make the best prompt lists. I'm currently writing for her New Beginnings Challenge (linked) and having a blast). For my prompts, I won’t write for all these prompts, but I will for at least a few. The rules for using these prompts are that there are no rules! You could use any Criminal Minds characters, OCs, reader inserts, etc. You could draw, write, make mood boards, or imagine anything else. I have included 31 prompts for each day of the month. I also get inspiration from plain old words, so I’ve included 10 Spring words that might inspire something. Lastly, I’ve included a few dialog and art prompts too. You can find that all below the cut. If any of these prompts inspire you to create, I’d love to be tagged to see what you have made. This is all just for fun. I wish everyone a great start to the month. Please know I’m proud of you wherever you are right now. Love - Levi 🌸
General Prompts
Character A buys Character B their favorite flowers once they are in season.
Character A plans a fun day out at the park with their kid and they run into Character B unexpectedly.
The team gets called to a case on the beach in Florida.
Character A had experienced something bad this time last year and Character B checks in on them.
Character A buys a new swimsuit to feel confident in their own skin.
Spring Break with the BAU (young AU or present-day or anything else.)
Character A becomes addicted to a seasonal drink at a coffee shop and begs the barista to teach them how to make it.
Character A buys pastel lingerie for Character B.
A night of celebration after the case reveals feelings that have been hidden for over a year.
The newest member of the BAU has their birthday on their first case ever. The team still tries to make it something for them anyway.
A Character manages to catch a cold in the middle of Spring.
On an incredibly hot case, Character A collapses from heat exhaustion.
Characters A and B bump into each other at a music festival.
The team goes to the beach together and Character A and B awkwardly put sunscreen on each other.
Characters A develops an allergy to a favorite food and tries to find alternatives.
The BAU faces a lockdown in Quantico as an active threat is in the building.
Character A confesses their love to someone and gets turned down. Character B makes sure Character A is holding up okay after the rejection.
Character A gets drugged and Character B gets them to the hospital.
Character A has a bad dream and calls Character B; they talk till morning.
Breakfast in bed.
Characters A and B go on a date to a bookstore/record store and things get more frisky than expected.
Characters A and B try role play in bed for the first time.
Characters A and B take a road trip.
There is a malfunction on the jet and it makes an emergency landing. The team is stuck in the airport for a few hours.
Characters A and B get matching tattoos.
Characters A and B get a little too competitive about March Madness / Sports.
Characters A and B talk about possible baby names.
BAU case on a ranch in the West (Yeehaw).
It's Characters A and B's last night before their wedding.
A tragedy strikes the team at the worst time. The must bond to move on.
Easter Egg Hunt with the BAU.
Word Prompts
Refreshed
Swimsuit
Break
Lemonade
Tipsy
Easter
Park
Blossom
Picnic
Beach
Dialog Prompts 
“If you can beat me at beach volleyball, I'll do your files for a week.” 
“________ people wear sunscreen for a reason. You're all burned up.” 
“Do you have any idea how many people lose their virginity during Spring Break?” "No... Why do you ask?"
“Spring is great until you get to the allergies.” 
“This time of year isn't all it's cracked up to be. At least, not for me.” 
“_______ if you don't buy that sun dress and make ______ swoon I'm gonna believe love is dead.” 
Art Prompts
Any CM kid in a cute Easter costume. Bonus if the parent matches.
Any BAU member in a swimsuit.
A BAU prank gone wrong.
Garcia in the most SPRING outfit possible.
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callistolivia · 2 years
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Who I am to You – Synastry 101, Part 1
I had to divide this post into parts seeing that it was becoming quite lengthy. Part 1 covers interchanges to the generational planets in synastry. 
[Preface]
I’ve been recently thinking a lot about synastry after listening to an anthropologist talk about love and the cultural statistics around relationships. It just sort of peaked my interest in astrology again and the complexity of synastry; how we are kind of one big organism or machine, with all of these gears that interlock with each other; all the people in our lives serve a purpose of being there in a particular moment. How we happen to pass by some people and experience a love at first sight with others. How we happen upon our family; how the people who we consider coworkers or colleagues end up in the same place as us; How we operate generationally and systematically. The gears always turning and changing within this magical makeup of our reality. Relationships are really fascinating, especially if you believe and indulge in astrology. 
I also re-read Linda Goodman’s Relationship Signs, and while she draws from somewhat of a overtly spiritual bias (lots of soulmate this– karma that–), she provides both an expert analysis of synastry (having done synastry for many many people, gathering statistics) and an optimistic, magical perspective on relationships that would make one feel as though there is some sort of cosmic significance to their own relationships. Her book is inspiring and being a hopeless romantic myself, I can’t help but enjoy the spiritual bias around romance and relationships in general. 
I figured since I’m doing the research anyway, I might as well attempt to make a comprehensive post on synastry for this dead blog. I also think this topic tends to be what peaks people’s interest the most in astrology. 
Generational Planets – Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
I’ve decided it makes more sense to work backwards; before exploring the dynamics of personal relationships, understanding how people function as groups or generations provides a grander perspective on synastry. I think the casual astrology enjoy-er tends to get wrapped up in the mystic of these planets in both their natal chart and in synastry interchanges. We are drawn to these planets, especially when we locate significance in a chart, because they symbolize a collective experience and understanding. There is something paradoxical about the relatability and understanding felt towards the impersonal planets.   For those of you who are unaware, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are considered generational planets because of their long cycles. Uranus takes 84 years to cycle through all of the signs, approx. 7 years in one sign; Neptune takes 165 years to cycle through all of the signs, approx. 14 years in one sign; Pluto takes 248 to cycle through all of the signs, approx. 12-31 years in one sign. The length spent in one sign is a stark difference to the amount of time it takes for the Sun or Moon to transit a sign, thus these three planets impact one on a generational level.   Uranus represents social climate, environment, and advancement in technology. Neptune is seen as a cultural representative as well as a passive form of social climate; the quiet tide of acceptance in contrast to Uranus which chaotically brings issues to light and demands justice. Pluto is the inward and intrinstical generational planet; representing generational trauma and grief, collective attitudes and needs of a group, the depth of collective experience; a soul grouping.   It is very evident that there are powerful interchanges taking place between generations of people (e.g. Millennials vs Gen Z, Gen Z vs Baby Boomers, etc.) which astrology provides insight to. Your parents or grandparents don’t quite “get you” and you don’t need astrology to tell you that, but astrology can! Which is a fascinating little thing!
Interchanges between generational planets
 The distance between two generations will roughly create the one-sign-apart semi-sextile aspect; an example being the relationship between Millennials and Gen Zs and these two groups’ semi-sextile nature. Within a semi-sextile in synastry, there is a tendency for the sign ahead to not see the sign behind. There are a lot of similarities between these two generations in that they blend like a brush stroke. However, we also see Gen Z discovering “new” things and pioneering trends meanwhile Millennials sitting back saying to themselves, “been there, done that, actually.”   The distance between Gen Z and Gen X is roughly that of a sextile, a harmonious aspect. An example of the relationship these two generations share is the very apparent recycling of arts and culture. Gen X, having the opportunity to be a teen in the 90′s birthed some of the most influential arts and media we have today; that 90′s culture is deeply appreciated and repurposed by Gen Z.  If we expand even further, the distance between Gen Z and Gen V (the generation notorious for being called “boomers” but aren’t technically baby boomers... Again, we can take into account the brush stroke semi-sextile between actual boomers and Gen V) is roughly a square aspect. There is an inherent natural strife between this older generation and Gen Z; differing world views, the inability to see each other’s perspective, and a general misunderstanding for one another. Similarly, we can also take note of the square between the actual boomer generation and millennials. The strife between Pluto in Leo and Pluto in Scorpio is that of who deserves power and say? Who should be making the choices for society’s future?  I could go on and on about the relationship dynamics between generations, but the main takeaway is to observe the relationships generational planets provide on a very broad level. It’s very likely one will inherently understand the generation they are in (ignoring other natal chart factors, of course) because of a conjunction occurring between Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. In synastry, when this conjunction occurs, two individuals relate to each other on a cultural, societal, memetic, and systematic level; two individuals on the same timeline, in the same soul-grouping. 
Interchanges between generational planets and personal planets
 While interchanges between generational planets provide broad, impersonal significance in synastry, we can see personal significance when a generational planet interacts with a personal planet. In synastry, we can look at this as the chart holder with the generational planet being seen as someone who directly relates and signifies to the cultural, environmental, political, and metaphysical experiences of the chart holder with the personal planet. Personal planets can give remarkable power to the otherwise unconscious and invisible planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Sun The circumstances in which these two individuals meet will likely be unconventional. Additionally, the relationship itself will likely be unconventional and unexpected. The intensity of a conjunction can make for both positive and negative outcomes, though the “negative outcomes” do not reign anything close to the negative affects of the malefic planets, Mars and Saturn. At most, these two individuals may find themselves unexpectedly separated for periods of time; or that the chaos of Uranus is somewhat of a liability in their relationship (particularly so if the Uranus person embodies somewhat of a chaotic, radical archetype in their overall personality).   In positive outcomes, which includes trine and sextile interchanges, there may be a revolutionizing quality to the relationship. If we consider the Sun symbolizing the self, then we may conclude this encapsulates all of the individual’s quirks and facets, including potential hardships brought on just by their very being or walk of life. The revolutionizing quality of Uranus may bring aid to the Sun, especially if the Sun individual faces particular injustices in their life. Uranus is radical, innovative, and ingenious; being the higher octave of Mercury, it problem solves and advocates for the needs of the Sun individual. The Sun individual will likely find themselves doing things they wouldn’t normally do or think of thanks to the Uranus individual.  Both individuals boost each other’s confidence; there is a sense of feeling comfortable in one’s own skin and embracing one’s quirky side. The positive interchanges remark platonic harmony and a relationship with substance.   In the negative interchanges, such as a square or opposing aspect, the relationship could be described as erratic and conflictual. There may be differing political and world views; the Sun individual too arrogant and stubborn and the Uranus individual too radical and unforgiving. Arguments tend to be explosive, especially if Mars is also somehow involved, and particularly ego-damaging. There needs to be forgiving aspects elsewhere to undo emotional bruising.
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Moon  Likewise with the Uranus-Sun interchanges, the circumstances in which these two individuals meet will likely be unconventional and unexpected. The conjunction can bring about tension as these two planets function very differently from each other. Uranus being such an erratic force, it can provoke and trigger the Moon which can cause emotional meltdowns in the relationship. This can be similarly observed with the square and opposition as well. Without other promising aspects in the synastry chart, there will be a proneness to breakups and physical separations.  Despite the emotional chaos, there is an unwavering draw to each other, particularly the Moon individual being drawn in by the Uranus individual’s intellect, uniqueness, and/or rebelliousness.   The trine and sextile interchanges are much more forgiving and are actually constructive. The relationship sparks inspiration which can lead to trying lots of new things both individuals wouldn’t have done otherwise.  If the Uranus individual embodies much of the attitudes and direction that Uranus represents, then a relationship with the Moon individual can shine light on an empathetic and introspective approach to their goals, especially if their goals involve politics, environment, or any field that impacts the world.   Similar to the Uranus-Sun interchanges, the positive interchanges remark platonic harmony and a relationship with substance to it. With this aspect, a friendship tends to take precedence over a romantic relationship; within a romantic relationship the two people retain a strong best friend dynamic.  As with all Uranus contacts, aspects between these two planets definitely add quirkiness to the relationship. 
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Mercury  With the conjunction, trine, or sextile, these two individuals are transported to a completely different plane of being when they interact. The depths of their conversations leave people to believe they are witnessing two aliens talking to each other. Conversations feel exhilarating to both individuals, they feel smarter around each other. These aspects are particularly beneficial if the relationship is a business one or if the two individuals are colleagues. Together they have unmatched creativity and ingeniousness that can be utilized for projects, inventions, and movements. Additionally, there is something about the positive contacts that gives this pair reach to broad audiences. This is particularly true if there are social house involved in the overlays. We can expect these two people to have a rapidly growing social group when they become acquainted.  In the negative aspects, square and opposition, we see what two people with two different sets of quirks interact. Both individuals will be outspoken about their beliefs to one another and somehow topics that are prone to being heated are reoccurring. The Uranus individual is much too serious and radical whereas the Mercury individual is much too light-hearted and trivial; at least, this is how these two perceive each other. If there are other positive aspects in the synastry chart, these interchanges aren’t particularly damning to the relationship. Patience and acceptance goes a long way in dealing with the square and opposition. 
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Venus  With the conjunction, trine, or sextile, there is a magnetizing, strange attraction between these two individuals. The Venus individual would likely describe their attraction as unusual or unexpected; there is something about the Uranus individual that doesn’t appear as the Venus individual’s usual “type.” The Venus individual finds the charm, intellect, weirdness, and quirks of the Uranus individual irresistible. The benefits for the Uranus individual is that they don’t really need to “try” or do anything to seduce the Venus individual. They are liked simply for who they are entirely and candidly.   Romance aside, the positive interchanges are also beneficial platonically and even in romantic relationships, the individuals retain a very friend-like dynamic. This combination can operate well as a creative duo; any projects worked on together won’t be anything less of avant-garde.   Additionally, with the conjunction, there may be a tendency for the Venus individual to have bouts of insecurity about the relationship. There’s a slight inherent coldness from Uranus that makes the individual too cool as a cucumber for the Venus individual. With positive interchanges elsewhere, these anxieties can be easily outweighed or remedied. However, with the square or opposition, there is less ease. The Venus individual will consistently feel as though there isn’t enough romance coming from the Uranus individual; a romantic relationship may feel like it’s lacking intimacy and warmth without good synastry elsewhere in the chart. Similar to Uranus-Sun interchanges, there may be a proneness to sudden separations.  In all Uranus-Venus contacts, intimacy and love takes an unconventional form. For people looking for experimentation, challenge, and excitement, having an aspect between Uranus and Venus in synastry will give just that.
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Mars  Interchanges between Uranus and Mars is best described as a loaded trigger. Both planets offer immense direction and power ripping at the seams; and when they come together, they trigger each other’s chaos.  With the conjunction, we see this chaos’ full potential. We might find an anarchistic duo from the radicalizing Uranus and the action-oriented Mars. In a positive light, the conjunction makes these two individuals unstoppable towards whatever shared ambition they might have. However on the flip side, the intensity of the conjunction can also reap a negative affect where two individuals reach a boiling point and turn on each other. We can definitely expect the former outcome if the two individuals work in the same field and likely have the same goals in mind.   With the trine and sextile, we can also find this unmatched ambition when these two individuals come together. These aspects are fantastic for colleagues, business partners, freedom fighters, and even lovers! The spasmodic energy of Uranus harmoniously interacting with the Martian planet makes for great sexual tension; you can especially expect some friskiness if there is a 5th house overlay involved. Mars can also draw out the experimental side of Uranus which is sure to provide excitement to those looking for an un-ordinary, non-vanilla relationship.  Although the house overlays involved with these two planets will provide more insight to this, it is worth noting the social and generational themes Mars will activate in Uranus. There’s definitely a direct correlation to politics, science, environment, technology, and activism when these two planets interact. It wouldn’t be surprising to see these two individuals dismantling the patriarchy or fighting climate chaos together!   With the square and opposition, tensions are high between these two planets. If you’ve ever met someone who just don’t get, don’t understand why they do the things they do, or get irritated by their mere presence, these aspects could be why! These two planets can just irritate the absolute heck out of each other. These aspects are particularly problematic if these individuals are involved with each other in the realm of politics, current events, and social issues. There can be a refusal to understand one another because of drastically different viewpoints. In personal or romantic relations, this aspect can be looked at as an enemies-to-lovers sort of configuration. The sexual tension is also not lacking in the negative aspects, so there may be a plus there.
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Jupiter  Interchanges between Uranus and Jupiter aren’t quite felt on a personal level as Jupiter is one of two social planets. Similar to the Uranus-Mars interchanges, the social and generational themes come to surface with aspects between Uranus and Jupiter. Jupiter being a benefic planet, aspects to Uranus denote justice, inspiration, harmony, and spirituality. Jupiter acts as a supplier to Uranus’ cause; a philanthropist to an organization, metaphorically speaking. The conjunction, trine, and sextile are particularly beneficial. You really can’t have too many of the Jupiter individuals in your life if you’re the Uranus individual as these are the people who will always see your vision and possibly even fund it!
One’s Uranus aspecting another’s Saturn  Similar to Uranus-Jupiter interchanges, aspects between Uranus and Saturn are not felt on a personal level. Aspects between these two planets will play into the social and generational themes of Uranus. However, in contrast to Jupiter, Saturn is a malefic planet and may reap difficulty in the worldviews and social needs of these two individuals. With positive aspects such as the trine or sextile, the interchanges between Saturn and Uranus simply represent the past mirroring the future. There is a willingness to commit to change on Saturn’s part for the benefit of Uranus’ future. What is thought to be necessary for the betterment of humankind is more likely to align more-so with the positive interchanges.  However, in the harsher aspects such as the conjunction, square, or opposition, there is a discomfort with each other’s generational needs. The Saturn individual might subconsciously perceive any of Uranus’ drastic or radical approaches to things to be immature and hasty.    The energies between Uranus and Saturn are not something felt on daily basis nor do they normally wreak havoc in a relationship anyway, however when their conflict does present itself to a relationship, the remedy is simply patience and hearing each other out. 
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Sun  With the conjunction, trine, or sextile, there is something hypnotizing, dreamy, and nostalgic about the relationship. This is one of the interchanges in synastry that Linda Goodman considers “karmic.” She mentions a strong psychic connection, particularly with the conjunction.   In a more technical sense, I believe that with the positive contacts, trine and sextile, as well as the conjunction, what is being ignited in the pair (especially for the Sun individual) is a reflection of their past (a hyper-romanticized version of it, that is), as well as a personification of their interests. By interests, I mean interests that were cultivated by their generation of media and culture particularly. This could be why we are so mystified and hypnotized by people whose Neptune makes significant interchanges to our birth chart. Neptune being a higher octave of Venus, it casts a charm over a person to make them appear as someone’s favourite song or favourite piece of media, but as a walking, breathing, existing version of it. So of course, if you meet someone who reminds you of your favourite song, they will undoubtedly seem special, significant, or fateful.   Wow-factor aside, there can be a negative side to Neptune interchanges, even in positive aspects, and especially with the conjunction. That is a tendency to idealize. With Sun-Neptune interchanges in synastry, one or both people may have a totally inaccurate perception of the other person because of this idolization.   With the negative aspects, square and opposition, there are two possible outcomes that tend to occur in synastry. First outcome being the Neptune individual is totally out of the Sun individual’s reach. If this is one the strongest aspects in your synastry chart, you can expect the Neptune person to be extremely elusive to the Sun individual. Linda Goodman also mentions issues around deception and infidelity with this pair in her book.   The second outcome is that the Neptune individual is very much involved in the Sun individual’s life, to the point where Neptune completely consumes the Sun with its venomous charm. There can be themes of dependency, substance use, and the sort of “pulling” into one’s hell.  The former outcome is much more common with people who have a very strong Sun presence in their chart; the latter is common with individuals who do not have a strong sense of self.
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Moon  Most of what can be said about interchanges between the Sun and Neptune can also be applied here. However, the difference here is a larger focus on each other’s emotional realm, and you could consider these aspects less superficial and less about idolization.   With the conjunction, trine, or sextile, there is a connection between these two individuals that transcends any ordinary relationship. Again, we see these two pulled in together by possibly a similar taste in music, similar upbringing, familiar culture, etc., but in addition to that there can be spiritual alignment too. The spiritual and emotional swimming and meshing is a definite plus for romantic relationships.  However Neptune can trigger a lot of sensitivity in the relationship when in contact with another’s Moon. With the conjunction, there is an over-exaggeration especially. While things can seem very beautiful in the relationship and bring about many tears of joy, there can also be tendency to fall into a pit of despair and emotional exhaustion. It’s important for both individuals to find other outlets for their intense feelings other than dependently funnelling it into their partner. Artistic, spiritual, and clinical outlets tend to do the job.  Similarly in negative aspects, square and opposition, there is acute emotional sensitivity triggered. This pair is easily hurt by each other and there is a tendency for misunderstandings thanks to Neptune’s proneness to obscuring clarity. If there isn’t enough good synastry between two individuals, the negative aspects can be somewhat of a red flag for close relationships. Neptune harshly having that stand-offish grip on the Moon leads to all sorts of trouble with disintegrating emotional reality. There may be themes of emotional manipulation (not in the vain of control, but rather a defence mechanism), bad habits, and deception. With this all said, there is nothing therapy can’t aid!
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Mercury  In the conjunction, trine, or sextile, this interchange is an incredible source of creativity and muse. The Mercury individual makes the Neptune individual’s creative subconscious tangible. This is a great aspect to have in a synastry chart if the relationship is a creative one (e.i. musicians, writers, artists, or creative colleagues of any sort). Together, a pair like this can produce some very intellectual and sensitive pieces of work.   In addition to this, in the positive aspects, this pair will find themselves inspired by each other. The connection ignites poetry, colour, and music.   According to Linda Goodman, the positive interchanges are an indicator of a “psychic” connection in synastry as well.  In the negative interchanges, square or opposition, we can see a sort of lost-in-translation affect. Accidental misunderstandings, deception, secrets, and mind games are the themes of these interchanges! These aspects are particularly annoying in business relationships; neither person is being clear, project delays, intentionally leaving out information in business emails, and so on. It may be a little bit easier to speak up on the issues Mercury-Neptune squares and oppositions bring about if the person you’re dealing with isn’t your boss. In intimate relationships, this pair will find their bond grow closer once they stop keeping secrets from one another and lay everything on the table. 
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Venus  The interchanges between Neptune and Venus reminds us just how important Venus is to one’s personality and to relationships (of any kind; platonic, romantic, with nature, with humankind, etc.). Venus interacting with its supposed higher octave is so potent and telling of oneself; the conditions of Venus is important to its interpretation here.   In a conjunction, attraction is often instantaneous and hypnotizing; these two people will be immediately pulled into each other’s world when they meet. There is also the outcome of mistaking deep empathy for love; compassion and obsession is somewhat of a troubling combination. The Venus individual, obviously depending on the conditions of their natal Venus, may have that easily moved, compassionate, and sympathetic personality; the type of personality that attracts the types of people seeking refuge. The Neptune person, either consciously or subconsciously will seek out the Venus individual and immediately become obsessed with their forgiveness and dependability. There can obviously be some level of toxicity in that the Venus person sticks around out of guilt and is somewhat of an enabler for the Neptune individual’s troubles.   Outside of this negative outcome, there are positive outcomes with the conjunction as well and we can include the trine and sextile aspect along side with these outcomes as well. Romantically, this could potentially be a hedonistic match made in heaven (as long as the rose-coloured glasses stay on). This pair is deeply romantic, spiritual, and creative. The positive aspects evoke a relationship that does not lack colour; this is a pair that wants the cultural perception of romance which alludes to the whole shebang (extravagant dates, writing love notes, movie nights, sharing headphones, sentimental gifts, flowers, watching sunsets, and just about every romantic trope you can think of).  The positive interchanges also indicate creative collaboration and similar to the Neptune-Mercury interchanges, these aspects would be beneficial to creative relationships. Both individuals have a lot to offer each other in terms of creativity.   In the negative aspects, square or opposition, the mutual draw towards each other in a hedonistic fashion is still prominent, however there is a forbidden or confusing quality to these aspects. There’s a chance this pair, if romantically interested in each other, will never fully admit to their romantic feelings for one another, especially if there is nothing keeping this relationship from drifting apart. There is a tendency for one or both people to hide things from each other in general.  Similar to the conjunction, if the Venus individual is a compassionate type, they should be cautious with those who’s Neptune opposites their Venus. Particularly with the opposition version of this, the Neptune individual may attempt to pull the Venus individual into their gloomy fog.   In the negative aspects, this pair is susceptible to enabling each other’s guilty pleasures. Extra caution should be addressed if either people have an addictive personality or happen to have met at a rehabilitation centre. 
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Mars  With the conjunction, this aspect in synastry is particularly beneficial in creative and business relationships (particularly work that is ruled by Mars, Neptune, or both). The combination of these two planets together is ambition soup. This pair is bound to make music, cinematic masterpieces, life-saving medicine and devices, or lead the free world. The Mars individual has the will, drive, and connections and the Neptune individual has the vision and deep understanding for what the world loves and needs.   On the flip-side, there is a negative outcome with the conjunction (the square and opposition can be included here as well), particularly with closer relationships, that should be cautioned. Similar to the Venus-Neptune interchanges, there is susceptibility to bad indulgences. This pair should be extra wary if either have an addictive personality or a history with rehabilitation. This pair should also, just in general, avoid vices and substances as a means of inspiration. In addition to this, this pair should also take caution with radical groups, especially radical groups dealing with spirituality (phew, lots of precautions).  With the trine and sextile, they too are beneficial for creative and business relationships. The difference between these aspects and the conjunction is that these aspects are a lot gentler in more intimate relationships and not likely to cause any sort of troubles. This leaves more room to bring that same beneficial energy seen in business and colleague relationships into intimate relationships. This pair will likely share a similar hobby, spiritual perspective, or effort/dedication to the world that they will undoubtedly be inspired to work on together.  With the square and opposition, Mars is too harsh and triggers Neptune’s sensitivity and evasiveness. The Mars individual will likely find themselves disagreeing with the Neptune individual’s perception on spirituality, politics, culture, or the world in general. This disagreement can lead to aggressively prying at the Neptune individual to change resulting in the Neptune individual fleeting or withdrawing from the relationship.
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Jupiter  Interchanges between Neptune and Jupiter are not quite felt on a personal level as Jupiter is one of two social planets as discussed earlier with Uranus. Nevertheless, interchanges between these planets are still special, especially considering how deeply spiritual Neptune and Jupiter are. This combination is actually somewhat similar, spiritually speaking, as Venus-Jupiter interchanges if we consider Neptune being the supposed higher octave of Venus.  In the positive aspects, conjunction, trine, and sextile, themes of spirituality will be very important in the relationship. With Jupiter’s expansive abilities, it excites the depths of Neptune. The relationship has a general feeling of goodness; there will be many moments where these two people feel absolutely mystified by each other or that they are very fortunate to have met each other. This euphoric connection sparks the desire to take chances. Jupiter wants to make the fantasies of Neptune a reality. This could look like a wide range of outcomes, but in essence, chances and opportunities that involve a lap of luxury, spiritual enlightenment, or euphoria are the dreams Jupiter wants to try and make a reality. The houses involved with these planets will indicate what kind of experiences will be created with this pair.   Since Neptune encapsulates this sort of generational understanding of culture and social climate, this planet might be an area where an individual feels deep empathy or concern for the world. The Jupiter individual can aid these worries by showing the Neptune individual how to take action or change their perspective of the world. Once again, the houses involved with these planets will be telling of what these concerns are and how perspectives can be shifted.  Along with the conjunction, the square and opposition (by mainly seen in the intensity of the conjunction or opposition) can trigger some over-indulgent tendencies. This pair should be wary of substance use, gambling, over consumption, and extreme belief systems making its way into the relationship. Neither planet has a good grip on reality or the consequences of careless actions; a strong Saturn influence in the relationship or in individual natal charts can aid these issues, particularly if the Jupiter-Neptune interchange is one of the more prominent aspects in the synastry chart.
One’s Neptune aspecting another’s Saturn  Similar to interchanges to Jupiter, interchanges between Neptune and Saturn will not be felt on a very personal level as one is a generational planet and the other is a social planet. The most important thing to be noted about interchanges between these two planets is how different these two planets operate. One planet forgets and transcends reality, the other is stuck in reality. These two modes play an important role in their interpretation in synastry. The aspects between these planets will be of particular significance if either individual is Saturnian or Neptunian. In the positive interchanges, trine or sextile, the Saturn individual may benefit from the Neptune individual; Neptune can help Saturn with their rigidity, seriousness, disconnect from spirituality, and inability to step out of safety. On the other hand, Saturn can ground the Neptune individual and help them overcome irrational fears, disconnect from reality, and difficulties with direction.   With the conjunction, there can be similar themes as the trine and sextile, however the conjunction’s intensity can match the challenges of the square and opposition. With the challenging aspects, these two planets differences represent a lesson in the synastry of two individuals. Again, the significance of these planets interactions are heavily dependent on whether either individual is Saturnian or Neptunian in nature, otherwise the challenges are vaguely a difference in beliefs. If either individual is Saturnian in nature, the challenging aspects remark being triggered by the Neptune individual’s beliefs, potential deceptiveness, and lack of regard/caution. Alternatively, if either individual fits the Neptunian profile, they may feel controlled, heavily critiqued, and limited by Saturn. If the challenging aspects propose a great theme in the synastry between two people, they will have to work on seeing each other’s perspectives otherwise this is very much an “agree to disagree” interaction. 
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Sun  With the conjunction, there are two potential themes in synastry. One theme depends on how relevant Pluto is in an individual’s chart; one individual actually being quite Plutonian themselves will certainly experience this relationship differently than otherwise. In this instance, there can be fight for power in the relationship; the noble Solarian individual outshining the Plutonian individual; and the insurmountable Plutonian individual vanquishing the Solarian individual. This isn’t to say these two people couldn’t work together, they had just better have something in common that they can consider neutral territory. With their shared power, they can actually make great business partners.  The second theme reads as more-so the general descriptor for Pluto conjunct the Sun, and the trine and sextile can also fall in line with this interpretation. Pluto interacting with another’s Sun positively can indicate a subconscious magnetism to each other. There is something about the Sun individual that sparks a slight obsession in the Pluto individual. If the Pluto individual is aware of this obsession and wants to pursue some sort of connection with the Sun individual, they will intricately weave their way into the Sun individual’s life until recognition is received. Given that the Pluto individual has likely carefully laid out their cards, the Sun individual will start to feel like there is something auspicious and significant about their connection. The mutual magnetism grows from there.   Contacts between Pluto and personal planets are very commonly described by astrologers as karmic. This may or may not be the case, but it is important to note that Pluto is also commonly associated with past lives and things beyond our basic conception. Pluto-Sun interchanges does have credible significance in that powerful, unexplainable, and deep connections are formed when two people have these aspects in their synastry chart.  With the square and opposition, the themes described with the conjunction and power struggles are also quite prevalent here. While these aspects don’t destroy a relationship, they are not without difficulties to overcome. The Pluto individual is often extremely envious of the Sun individual’s success at life. This almost completely blinds Pluto of their own potential, their own path in life, and just derails the idea that the universe has a different set of needs and experiences set out for Pluto. There is obviously a destructive outcome of a relationship like this where jealousy turns to hate. However, the saving grace in all of this is the humanity and love that can come from the Sun individual who sees Pluto. The Sun individual can illuminate Pluto’s strengths and their own path to success. They can even make a great team as long as Pluto doesn’t exhaust the aid from the Sun. There’s only so many times the Sun can say something like, “you and I are actually alike” before thinking Pluto refuses to help themselves.
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Moon  As mentioned in the Pluto-Sun interchanges, personal planets interacting with Pluto are time and time again described as a karmic connection. While this may or may not be true, to believe either is up to you, the significance in the connection is true. Pluto always brings about an unexplainable magnetism that adds magic to relationships. The Moon is quite concerned with the past and Pluto is concerned with the sort-of meta-past, thus synastry between these two planets bring about a sense of familiarity in a relationship; whether that is a good or bad familiarity. The Moon individual’s upbringing and childhood will be very telling on how this aspect will operate. With a rather rough or traumatic past, the Pluto individual could potentially reawaken those memories in the Moon individual. The intensity of the conjunction can see this being both a good and a bad thing. There is a potential for intense pain to be resolved and transformed as much as there is a potential for a scarred Moon person saying “hey, this relationship reminds me of a terrible part of my life and I can’t move past that.”  The lessons that come from Moon-Pluto relationships are that of how much one really understands themselves emotionally; their traumas, boundaries, and relational schemas. They can be rather helpful to one’s growth.  There is obvious ease with the positive interchanges, trine and sextile. With these aspects, the prying one does to the Moon individual’s past never crosses unforgivable territories. There can actually be a real, deep understanding for each other.  In the negative interchanges, square and opposition, the Pluto individual might feel like they are walking on eggshells around the Moon individual. The Pluto individual reminds the Moon individual of someone in their past and there is a tendency to recreate that relationship to try and re-do things. Unless the Moon individual has a deep emotional understanding of themselves, this relationship will be prone to a very messy separation. It isn’t all on the Moon individual though, Pluto may have to work on their differentiation and kindness.   Outside of intimate relationships, Pluto-Moon contacts can really put emotions into words, secrets into the light, and decode life’s intricacies when they work together. Possibly this is where the real magnetism for each other comes into play; these two will go to each other with an idea, or concept, or dream they had and give each other the perfect response. These two are always left thinking, “YOUR MIND!! ♡”
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Mercury  While these two planets together do not say a lot about personal, emotional inner works of a relationship, they do work similarly to the Pluto-Moon aspects in that these two people just work well together mentally.  Particularly with the conjunction, trine, or sextile, these two people will feel connected mentally and maybe even psychically. These two will have a lot to talk about; there is a never ending eagerness to expand on each other’s points. The Mercury individual will likely find the Pluto individual to have a very interesting, possibly even odd, way of understanding aspects of life. Pluto ignites an esoteric interest in Mercury thus the discussions these two will have will almost always lead to topics bigger than life.   If these two happen to be coworkers or colleagues, they would make an incredible team at jobs that involve sleuthing or intense research.  Additionally, a mentorship type relationship may form where the Mercury individual is drawn to the secrets and experience Pluto holds.   In aspects square or opposition, these two people may be at odds with their perspective on life. Pluto symbolizes a deeper, emotional understanding in the relationships whereas Mercury symbolizes a realistic and logical perspective. There may be times where each individual’s valued perspective on life may be challenged by the other person. The lessons here would be that both individuals need to humble themselves around differing worldviews.   Aside from heated arguments here and there, the negative aspects are not too challenging. These two people might even be drawn to each other for their differing mental and emotional skill sets.
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Venus  According to Linda Goodman’s book, Pluto-Venus contacts are karmic and may be a soul-mate indicator. As romantic as that sounds while you think about your hero in the dark or queen of the night, take “karmic” and “soul-mate” with a grain of salt! Especially if you’re the person with Pluto!   Exploring Linda Goodman’s perspective on these aspects, a conjunction, trine, or sextile between two people remark intense magnetism towards each other. The force between each other may be so strong that they meet at the wrong place-wrong time, but given that these two have some soul-business to sort out, the time and place becomes right eventually. When these two meet for the first time, it is love at first sight; these two fit each other’s love map perfectly in a spiritual and emotional sense. The positive aspects remark commitment and connection. The intensity of the positive aspects described in Linda Goodman’s book would likely have to be supported by other major configurations in the synastry chart in order for it to be a true “soul-mate” indicator. Regardless, the infatuation is still prominent, especially for the Pluto individual. When another’s Venus activates one’s Pluto, the Pluto individual is absolutely hopeless for the Venus individual. This can trickle into obsessed territory (especially with the conjunction or tight orbs), so it would be wise for the Pluto individual to practice living in reality instead of seeing everything as a sign.   Aside from the attraction side of Pluto-Venus contacts, in the positive contacts we can see a healing quality to this relationship. Especially if we consider the purpose of these planets and what they can do for each other when they come together. The thematics here deal with healing trauma, compassion, self love, and an exploration of spirituality and self.   With the square or opposition, there is a similar magnetism as the other aspects, however much more difficulty and strife comes along with the square and opposition. The selfishness in Pluto is activated by the Venus individual. There may be upwellings of the past that Pluto brings into the relationship or the Pluto individual may be somewhat controlling or smothering. Other positive aspects in the synastry chart can negate Pluto’s power here.   In all Pluto-Venus aspects, Pluto promises transformation in Venus. The two people involved with these aspects will learn a lot about themselves, relationships, and their values.
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Mars  The positive contacts between Pluto and Mars can be described by a few words, “great power.” With the conjunction, trine, or sextile in synastry, these two individuals would make great business partners. There is, of course, a great capacity for attraction as well and in that case, we can name this pair a power couple.   The conjunction does have the potential to manifest itself in an unfavourable manner. If both individuals are considerably strong willed and in need of being in control, this relationship can reach a boiling point over who has say over matters (the houses involved may give insight to these “matters”). Arguments are explosive; Mars is relentless and Pluto is vengeful. A deep, mutual passion for one another is the only thing that will keep this relationship from falling apart if there isn’t any other favourable aspects in the synastry chart. Time spent away from each other can also cool things off when things get too heated.  The opposition is similar to the intensity of the conjunction. In conflict, these two will need to compromise for each other. Both people can’t be right or in control 100% of the time– both individuals need to take a step down from time to time to allow the other person to have matters their way. Emphasis on BOTH.  The square could potentially be the most difficult Pluto-Mars contact as there isn’t much seeing eye-to-eye to share a business or be a power couple. There also isn’t much room for meeting each other halfway. Both individuals are gonna have matters their way and the other person will just have to deal with it! It would be wise for these two to avoid provoking arguments. 
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Jupiter  As mentioned with the other two generational planets, interchanges between Pluto and Jupiter are not felt significantly on a personal level. There is however little noticeable nuances and symbolism that can be picked up. There is also a bit of a social commentary, something on a grander scope, that can be said about the relationship when these two planets interact.   With the conjunction, trine, or sextile, the Jupiter person augments the spiritual side of the Pluto individual. Jupiter really brings the curiosity and weird out of Pluto; these two will find themselves delving into the unknown more often than prior to meeting.   Fiery planets, such as Jupiter, interacting with Pluto are always good for business matters. These two would make great business partners with Jupiter’s celebrity-like qualities and Pluto’s insatiable desire to be CEO of something big.  The way in which these two people are associated with each other could be for reasons connected to a larger social matter; perhaps these two met through politics, or a protest, or even just a philosophy class! Wherever it was they met, it was as big as a network and depthless in human importance.   The square and opposition are not the worst synastry aspects in the world thanks to the benevolent nature of Jupiter’s touch. There may be spiritual and moral disagreements between these two individuals; the reason for their differences will take root in the houses associated with these planets. 
One’s Pluto aspecting another’s Saturn  As mentioned before, the combination of a generational planet and Saturn isn’t always felt on a personal level as these are not considerably personal planets. However, there is a strange energy to this combination, two lord-like planets interacting with each other. Especially if Saturn is a chart ruler.   With the conjunction in particular, both planets potency oh-so-strategically prys open each other’s secrets, shortcomings, and traumas. The conjunction’s intensity can swing both ways where this can be good or bad, depending on the rest of the synastry chart. The square and opposition lean more-so towards “bad.” It doesn’t help if these two people come from different socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds as there is a fight as to who’s hardships were worse. With this all said, Pluto-Saturn interactions in general tend to go unnoticed. One good Venus interaction and you won’t even be thinking about Pluto and Saturn.  The trine and sextile are as equally strange (feeling/energy wise) as the conjunction, however it is important to note that these aspects can make two individuals good business partners. Both powerful planets in business, these two people will be making executive decisions together and expanding their brand’s empire. Oh, and these two are likely going to be in each other’s lives for a long time!
✧・゚: *✧・゚ *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚:* ✧・゚: *✧・゚ *:・゚✧*:・゚✧・゚:*  Stay tuned (patiently...) for part two! In the next part I will go over the personal planets in synastry.
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@febuwhump Day 25 - ALT PROMPT - Immortality
ZB-162 our beloved. Speedrunning the final postings for these so that we can actually send in our index post. Day 29 is already done - we're just finishing up our mostly-finished prompts and doing a handful of illustrations for those that can't be made full-length in time. This is an OC work! You guys like undead switchboard operators, right? Definitely.
You did not have a name before you entered their systems.
You never expected to have one, then. You are a worker bee. There was no one to direct letters to you, and no reason for anyone to refer to you who wouldn't have already caught your scent. A name is for utility or diplomacy, and you were not one of those who had need for that utility.
You were yet another mediocre worker in service to the queen, and you had no reason to believe you would be anything but.
It was random chance that you, out of all bugs, would be chosen. You were never one to believe in fate, for all that ZBT-63 would claim it was destined. You were one worker among many, and you were the one to draw the short straw.
You knew little when you first entered the labs. You knew little when they first made the surgical incision at the base of your neck, feeding young tendrils of fungus in. Your memory of that time is foggy, clouded with a mixture of trauma and the typical failings of a fleshy, mortal brain.
You spent ten long, painful days in uncertainty, being held under observation as your other half grew. And then you were two, and the uncertainty that had been your constant companion began to fade.
The sentiments that your siblings hold towards your firstborn halves are varied. You know this more than anyone - save, maybe, Kjdrira. You are not entirely unique in it, but you find the feelings of nostalgia your siblings often feel to be alien.
Perhaps, in a way, your original self died when your younger half had burrowed into their brain. Or perhaps you merely want to grasp at anything that will distance you from the mundane bee who first entered Snakemouth.
You do not miss the uncertainty of living memory. You do not miss the mundanity of life in the hive. You certainly do not miss the feeling of being a cog in a machine that does not care about you.
You were given a name - ZB-162 - and you would cease to be a bee shortly after.
The rhythm of the lab was simple. Easy to learn, though you would not be so callous as to call it soothing. It was simple to know what was expected of you. It was simpler to follow it. Tests, you would find, had a simple sort of structure, the sort of thing that you could have grasped even without your other half. It was all strange to you, then. You wouldn't think to ask if there were others like you.
It would be days before you were contacted. It would be days before you would so much as realize that you could be contacted, rather than simply existing as the only bug in a lab full of roaches. It was them who found the network, a hundred years ago, writing words upon words into a communications network hurriedly thrown into the undercarriage of their computer system.
Your siblings reached out, fearful and hopeful in equal parts. You reached back, and in an instant, you were made aware that you were not alone.
You knew little, then. There were few of you connected, few of you even aware it could be done - Kjdrira, so terribly, consistently inventive, its range sweeping so much wider than the rest of you, had been the first to reach out, the first to find that there was even potential for a network to begin with. ZA-31 had been the first to connect, ZBT-49 networking soon after, the others latching on one by one as they were reached out to. You were one in a half-dozen, a bare fragment of the hive, clinging to each other in a world that was all too new.
With time, your numbers would grow. Now, you spoke with your Siblings, you fumbled with languages old and new, and you began to learn the paths that would grow to be your whole life.
You were small. Unknowing and afraid, cowering before systems you could only barely hope to understand. Your connections were feeble and inconsistent, here one day and gone the next, interrupted by the slightest lapse in concentration, and what you could communicate was limited. Lines would overlap. Too many on the line would reduce the signal to incoherency. Few of you spoke the same language, fewer still knowing how to utilize the new one implanted into your brains with your newer halves. You struggled to speak. You struggled to hear.
And yet, fear and loneliness kept you still reaching out.
You were still of flesh, then. Caught with endless hours pacing your cage, barely in range of Kjdrira, speaking through brief brushes of signal. Your enclosure was blank and featureless, your paws itching for work - you could only stand still for so long, then, could only remain idle for so many days before the itch began to burn at your shell again. You were small and afraid, and you had nothing to do but sit and count the hours between tests, and you wanted dearly - oh, so dearly - to be useful.
You began to work on figuring out the connections.
Early on, every new discovery would improve clarity in leaps and bounds. Signals could be passed through Siblings, cloned and echoed to increase their range. A low-volume ping allowed you to indicate beginnings and endings of speech, limiting the interference of crosstalk. Improvements in communication. Improvements in speech. Improvements in coordination. More efficient packets to pass. Learning to lever your new shared language to make your communications more comprehensive. Learning to use the crystals in the roach technology to pass signals, rather than the ones in your own bodies.
You learned the workings of your new bodies by trial and error, slowly working out the limits of what you can and cannot do. You learn it through testing, experience, happenstance - how it was accomplished mattered less than accomplishing it, and with every new connection, you could share your discoveries easier.
One bug's knowledge was the whole hive's knowledge. You clung to each other like lifelines in a world that was not meant for you, tips and tricks and connections making paths between a slowly-growing colony. Your knowledge was the same as everyone else's knowledge, the hive united in working towards whatever would aid you- and the one thing that you were beginning to know, more and more, was that you couldn't sit with the roaches' experimentation forever.
None of you wanted to stay. None of you wanted to be trapped here forever, the short-term benefits of cooperating not outweighing the detriments. The new connections were a double-edged sword, allowing you to remain connected at the cost of knowing precisely when the others were hurt - anaesthetics grew less consistent as you grew further from your host's baselines, and the roaches would not halt progress for their subjects' comfort, logging the failures as simply another part of the experiment.
Your hive was hurting. You were hurting, feedback from your Siblings washing back through the connections that you yourself had forged in rivulets of pain, the ability to sense your hive serving as a way to tell you whenever one of the bugs you connected to died. You wanted it to stop, and you knew you were not alone, the connections between the others of your hive a near-constant presence in the back of your brain that reinforced and confirmed.
Private links were difficult, then. Kjdrira, Blight-carrying crystals loaded into it so thickly that its chest then had been nearly packed solid, was the only one of you who could manage them without fighting its own failsafes. Still, it spoke to you, hidden from the rest of the communications network beyond a thick veil of static.
Something needed to change. Kjdrira, ruthless, protective thing, spoke of a plan - not quite formed, but soon to be worked on, something that it hoped would set you all free.
Kjdrira spoke of rebellion. Of slaughter. Of killing the roaches that had kept you captive. Of turning their own systems against them, allowing them to be slaughtered in their own test chambers, the same way they had slaughtered you.
You had no wish to kill. You had never been one for bloody revenge. But you were bitter, and fearful, and you had watched so many of your own die by now that to watch your own colony die felt routine - you didn't want to feel the deaths of those you now cared for so dearly, and when those who kept you saw you as disposable, you felt there was little reason not to say they were the same.
Kjdrira, and any of your colony who wished to share in its bloodlust, would kill the roaches in their own homes. And you, the network-grower, would help them do it.
You were the first to break into their systems proper.
Crystals, by their nature, network with other crystals. It is the principle upon which crystal computers function, it is the thing that makes computing with crystals even possible without needing something the size of the Ant Kingdom Palace. It was the thing that allowed for your initial contact, it is the thing that allows you to stretch your network beyond the network laid in the lab now. Data carried between points in space, networking between crystals, allowing information to be passed through that which would otherwise be impassible.
Your crystals, the ones that hold your thoughts and your memories, network with the computer network in the labs.
You were the one to find a way in. You were the one to figure out how to carve a path into their systems, to access their files - to access the data they stored on you, and their many experiments.
It was a small step. But you could read their plans now, even if you were clumsy, even if you had to be careful with it. You could monitor upcoming tests, you could predict when newblooms would need to be integrated into the system - you could relay what was to be expected to anyone in your range, even if it took effort.
Seven months into your testing, your heart stopped.
Activity ceased in your brain. Your blood stopped flowing. Your body became medically dead, your host body's innards eaten until they could no longer function, your body more fungus than flesh. Despite it, you are still alive.
You knew when it happened. When the barrier between the coded self they put in you and the self you lived with dissolved. When the sensations of your body changed, subtly different, even if still nearly the same. When the weakening thump of your heartbeat went silent. When the hemolymph stopped flowing in your ears.
You read the report on the computers later. Total brain death. Cessation of bodily function. Appears to have no change in behavior or personality, according to the roaches. You did not struggle to read anymore. You did not need to translate anymore. Your pathway was easier to access, easier to erase once you'd finished, easier to treat as though you were just another scientist. You understood their words as though you had spoken them all your life. You touched the network like an extension of yourself, and it replied in turn.
When you checked the records saved to the crystals in your heart, you found that nearly all of your former transmissions had become total gibberish.
You have forgotten the tongue that you used to speak. You have forgotten the name of your queen. You have forgotten the name of your former friends.
It was too late to mourn then. It is too late to mourn now.
The mycelium of the network spreads, laid in pencil-holes and screw-shafts and rusted, infinitely small cracks in the metal. ZA-811 buries stolen crystal in the floor, and the range expands. ZBT-92 is left in the testing labs for minutes at a time, and they pull overgrowth from their pock-marked shell, laying roots that eventually connect to those beneath the new-blood. You know every new bug that enters. You know every new death. Every day, Kjdrira stocks just a bit more power.
Every day, you get just a bit closer to running.
You remember the day of escape. You remember the slaughter of the roaches. You remember the milk-white blood on Kjdrira's claws, one of last things that you would see with failing eyes. You remember running a million billion lines of communication through yourself, your mind more the speech of others than any thought of your own, hundreds of glimmering threads coordinated in attack and escape.
You remember losing track of your body. You remember losing track of your mind. You remember undirected limbs, a body moving on the bare minimum of thought that your mind had left. You remember your own inability to pay attention. You remember the roach.
You remember the hole ripped in your face, and you remember the eye burst as a clipboard cracked into your fragile, breakable skull.
A hundred strains of micromanaged thought scattered at once, mingling and intermingling as your control was lost. The colony - your colony, the only one you had now - exploded in disorganization and concern, and you could do nothing to help it as you desperately tore into the bug who had attacked you.
You were afraid. You were injured. You were holding your ganglia into your head with your bare claws, missing an eye and staring at a roach's corpse on the ground. It was a miracle you were still alive.
You stayed there, hours after the breach, until your sibling found you. And you stayed there hours longer, after Kjdrira had patched the holes in your shell with roach's blood.
You have no record of the latter part of the night. You still sees its records, filtered through the eyes of hundreds of siblings, disarray and panic and blind attempts at attack. You will still regret losing focus years later.
When you finally drew yourself back to coherence, the door was closed, and none of your kin could open it to chase those who had escaped.
You were still alive, when your siblings began to starve. When it became apparent that you were locked in, that the workarounds and tricks you used for your own operating systems were doomed to fail at the claws of the main lab's operating system. You were still alive when it became evident that a piece was missing, that even the most talented of your number could not open the way out because the scientists had cut out the door. You were still alive when it became obvious that escape was either impossible, or so impractical that it would lose you nearly all of your newfound colony.
And you would remain, as your siblings began to slip into sleep, unable to breach the walls of your entrapping home.
Perhaps it was madness that kept you awake. Perhaps it was duty. Perhaps it was lingering nature. You were a bee from the moment you hatched. Idle paws were not meant for your kind, and idleness never suited you. Perhaps it was carry-over from that that kept you, even detached from hive and identity, working away. Ironic, then, that you would retain your central drive, when others of your kin proved content in idleness.
Your peers, in their few periods of wakefulness, would equate it to hibernation. You could not truly claim to know of it, never having been made of any species that truly hibernated. Bees did not sleep through the winter - they huddled in dorms and bedrooms, trapping the heat in with their bodies, pressing up against each other for warmth and exchanging words and stories as they waited for the cold to pass.
There are fewer, here. Fewer, still, awake consistently. ZBT-63 rarely stays asleep for more than a few months at a time, woken by their splintering back as the errors pile up. ZA-527 struggles to stay down more than a few hours at a time, misfiring signals irritating their brain and their mycelium until it gives up and dedicates its thought to something else. The very Blight that allowed Kjdrira to rain death on the roaches lingers in its blood, unstitching and restitching its flesh at a constant pace that means sleep risks death for it. ZA-61 cannot sleep at all, oldest surviving of its kind and bearing the shoddy work to show it.
Sometimes, there is no one but you. More times, it might as well be no one but you. Compared to the hive, the lab is achingly lonely. Still, you remain.
You spend your time alone, weaving together the network. Fixing code. Working out kinks. Kjdrira has more processing to spare than any of you, but you are loathe to test on it when you know that a poorly-done line could threaten whatever passes for its life nowadays. You have little opportunity to test it nowadays, as hope of ever finding escape wanes.
Time passes. Chitin wears. Your cordyceps hatch fruiting bodies from the weakened shell over what used to be your eye.
Perhaps you will never get out. Perhaps you will never see the sun again. Your vision has long since gone out, all semblance of sight faded years ago, your newer senses never quite the same. Perhaps you will be trapped here forever, withering away in the husk of the lab that you destroyed in a life extended so far as to be unnatural.
Perhaps, rather than surviving so long in this life, it was you, the bee, who should have died before your other half even wove into it.
You have been alive for so very long, trapped in this impenetrable cage. You have taken injury beyond what any bee should have been capable of surviving, you have lived through hardships that many of your former hive never could have dreamed. You have grown resigned, by now, to the fact that you will never die; that your design, made for immortality, will never falter so much as to allow you to. You weave your hive's communication in a great web directed by principles that your older self never could have comprehended, crystalline structures that mortal brains were not made to understand.
You are greater than you once were, in some ways. But you are so very much smaller in others, trapped within a cage you have no hope of breaching. You are administrator of a colony that permits you to warp your siblings' very thoughts, capable of coordinating hundreds of bugs without so much as twitching a finger. But you cannot move beyond the glass cage that contains you.
You have a name. You have a role. You have a million fingers of mycelium moving behind your single, useless eye. You have siblings who care for you, who answer to you, who could not imagine living without you. You are so far from the person who was first claimed for this project that you would not recognize your own face, were you capable of seeing it.
And you - you the cordyceps, you the bee, you the experiment, the network, the immortal - are still doomed to spend your eternity trapped in the echo of another life's corpse.
You should be dead. But you aren't.
What a mercy. What a nightmare.
[ZB-162 - Central Communications Module. Former bee, and the colony member responsible for keeping communications throughout the hive fungal network coherent and functional. One of the few colony members incapable of going into hibernation between Upper Snakemouth's destruction and its re-opening more than a century after - though it itself cares little about speculating on the underlying cause, the most likely cause is something to do with errors in neural mapping, as is common in the larger batches of experiments.]
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Kinktober Day 31
Piquerism: a sexual interest in penetrating the skin of another person with sharp objects.
Pairing: Nakamoto Yuta x reader
AU/Genre: smut, roommates with benefits!AU, dom!Yuta, sub!reader, it gets weirdly emotional towards the end...
Word Count: 2544 words (really went off on this one huh)
Warnings: kink discovery...?, knives, author tried to educate themselves before writing, but let's just consider this artistic freedom, teasing, blood play, mentioned masturbation (m & f), brief choking, fear play ig, dirty talk, humiliation low key, degradation, panty sniffing while they're still on???????, oral (f receiving), tears, Yuta is MEAN, blood licking (how tf do you call this), marking (literally? 😭), kindaaa confessing during (unprotected, wrap your willy, silly) sex
A/n: knife/blood play should only happen between two consenting adults who actually know what they're doing, not like these two idiots. this is just fiction, if you wish to engage in such activities, please educate yourself since this is something that can be really dangerous fr!
A/n 2: the last Kinktober fic, I can't believe it!! also, this was really last minute, i wrote this, like, 2 hours ago, but here we are! thank you for being a part of this!
Taglist: @matchahyuck @seraphinealana @yyawnnz @allaboutthedongs @baehaechannie @iwannabreathetosetmefree @positionslab @jjenodream @kundann
Stepping into the kitchen with a simple "hey, what're you doing?" shouldn't have lead to this. But it did. Maybe you should've seen it coming, your roommate slash guy that gets to hit from time to time is easily to be startled, so when you did walk into the kitchen, accompanied by said words, the inevitable happened.
Yuta, in the midst of cutting a carrot, spun around on his heel, the huge Japanese knife in his hand almost making contact with your body. He shrieked, immediately pulling the knife away and hiding it behind the width of his back, and your reaction should have been quite similar.
Though it wasn't.
"Cooking," Yuta finally said, voice quiet and a little breathless from the shock – who can blame him? You just blinked. Time passed by without a word being said, and you throughoutly hoped that it just slipped his ears.
"Did you just moan?"
Oh, it did not.
"No, I did not."
"Yes, you did."
You anxiously bit your lip, hands coming together behind your back as your eyes scanned the area to find a place to land on until you gave in and finally settle your gaze upon his. A smirk was displayed on his handsome features. Other than to press your lips together and gulp, you decided not to react.
"Why?" His smirk only widened. He knew exactly why, he's not stupid. He just wanted to humiliate you further by making you say it out loud.
"I don't know what you mean," you grunted, not ready to give in. But when he pulled the knife from beneath his back and gentle pressed it against the soft skin of your neck, your breath hitched, eyes rolling back involuntarily.
Yuta loves to tease, hence that was not the last time he tried getting you all hot, bothered (and your palms a little clammy) by surprisingly feeding into this newfound liking of yours. You assume that he aims to find out how far he can push you before you admit it, and you surely won't make it so easy for him.
Though, you would have never guessed how hard exactly that would be. You only realize it too late, pressed against the door of your room rubbing one out aggressively after fleeing another instance of Yuta pushing your buttons, this time with a prettily decorated pocket knife.
For fuck's sake, you just wish that he would finally act on it, finally do something, finally fuck the living hell out of your compliant body as the blade carefully draws red lines across your skin.
The thought of that makes you orgasm hard, back gliding down the wooden door as your legs give out. Fucking hell, you think as you come back to your senses, there is no way you can go on like this for much longer. It genuinely surprises you, though, how long Yuta'd gone without getting needy. If only you knew about the way Yuta's pressed against his own door, a hand pressed over his mouth to keep down the sounds as his right hand rapidly strokes his cock.
You have it all planned out, pretty lingerie adorning your body beneath your sweatpants and hoodie as to not give anything away, the most important purchase of your life resting idly in your pocket.
"It's go time," you mumble to yourself, aiming to sound cool for no one but yourself, as soon as you hear the front door open and close. Yuta is home from his art class, something that, for unknown reasons that you decide not to question, usually causes him to come home with an increased level of horniness.
An ear pressed against your closed door, you wait for him to enter his room, then barge out of yours. You cross the small hallway within seconds, entering his room and trapping him against the door.
God, must he look so enticing, dressed in all black looking so- bad and rotten to the core...? You shake your head away from drinking in his looks and focus on his face instead.
"Do it already," you demand, a palm pressed against his chest that you must admit feels incredibly hard against your skin. Your other hand pulls the knife from your pocket, still closed, you press it into his hand.
Yuta does not respond, he only tilts his head to the side, smiling innocently. You sigh heavily, rolling your eyes before unzipping your hoodie.
"Just fucking do it already."
Yuta's and your sex life had been anything but vanilla, you really enjoy the way both of you see sex as something to experiment with. You'd tried out a variety of kinks before, everything from bondage over public sex to role playing, but all of it with a hint of meanness and teasing. It's just the way your relationship works, riling each other up to a point where annoyance and arousal mix to create angry intimacy, each of you too proud to admit to a kink, it always has to be some sort of game, of experimenting, of finding and living out.
After scanning over your body, Yuta's gaze bores into yours. He knows what you want, that you know. Every time he gazes into your eyes as deeply as he does right now, you know he can read you. Your mouth could lie to him, maybe you could even get your body to lie, but your eyes never could, so full of desire and lust for the things you wish he'd do to you.
Within the blink of an eye, Yuta reacts, attaching his hand to your throat, fingers closing around it immediately as he spins the both of you around, pressing your back to the door instead.
"Is this what you want?" Yuta asks, feigning innocence as he lifts his other hand still holding onto the knife. You nothing but moan as he allows it to snap open with ease, his gaze darkening as he inspects the shiny blade. There's something about Yuta's eyes that hold the potential of going completely crazy in them, and it seriously turns you on beyond believe when he looks like he could completely ravish your being without a single ounce of concern or sanity.
Yuta handles the pocket knife expertly, lifting it to press against your cheek briefly before teasingly dragging it down, your breath stopping with due respect as you watch him remove his hand from your throat to be able to glide the blade over your skin instead.
As the knife travels further down, your breath hitches in your throat, core throbbing with anticipation, surely wetting your panties in the process. Though, you stay still, curiously waiting for what's to come. The blade glides down to your breasts, teasing your skin.
"I don't think we need this anymore," Yuta whispers just as he uses the pocket knife to cut the piece of fabric between your breasts, causing your bra to snap and dangle lifelessly from your shoulders.
You breathe in to snap at him for ruining your lingerie, but Yuta's quick to press the blade against your throat once more, making you quiet down immediately.
"Shut the fuck up," he hisses, pressing the blade dangerously hard against your racing pulse before stepping back. "Get on the bed."
You do as he says, quickly shuffling over to lay down on the duvet, wrinkling the fabric in the process.
"Turn around," Yuta commands as he steps towards you agonizingly slow, and you comply, presenting your ass to him as your forearms dig into the mattress. It shifts beneath you, material sinking in due to the weight of Yuta's body behind you. You can't see him, only feel his presence, then he presses a kiss between your shoulder blades – an action that would seem loving and romantic if it weren't for your heart racing in fear and excitement. Yuta presses another kiss to the middle of your back, then just above the hem of your panties before licking a fat stripe up your entire spine, causing goose bumps to erupt all over your skin.
Without words, you suddenly feel the blade against your ass, cold and dangerous as it glides over the surface of each cheek, then carefully over the flimsy material of your panties. You whine in anticipation as he drags it further along your clothed slit, then presses the flat side of the knife against your clit.
"You're so fucking wet, how embarrassing. It's even sticking to the blade," Yuta remarks, voice sounding amused, but your cheeks begin to burn out of shame. "Stupid slut," he adds before wiping your wetness off the blade by smearing it over your ass.
You jump a little as you feel his nose pressing into your clothed cunt, the side of the cold blade pressed against your ass cheeks as he pushes them apart with both hands for better access. Then he inhales deeply, almost exaggeratedly, then breathes out with a groan, pulls back and briefly sinks his teeth into the supple flesh of your ass.
You whine, but he's not finished, hands now resembling the motion of the knife earlier, which allows Yuta to feel your arousal on his own skin before he pulls your panties away from your body to cut through it as well, leaving it to hang purposelessly from your waist.
You let out a surprised squeal as his tongue suddenly presses against your core, a groan vibrating against you as he tastes. "Shit, if I'd known that this stuff gets you so wet, I would've used this sooner. Fuck, you're dripping," he laughs, and you press your face into the pillows shamefully.
Yuta eats you out a bit more, tongue focusing on tasting your wetness rather than stimulating you, just trying to tease you, not to please you. All you do it take it, whimpering over his humiliating words and actions when suddenly you're turned on your back.
"You're crying? How cute," Yuta comments with a smile that does not contain any sentiment at all, it simply mocks you, especially given that you hadn't even noticed the salty tears escaping your eyes.
The knife appears in your sight again, and your breath hitches once again visibly.
"Do you want me to cut you?"
The whine that comes out of you sounds raw and desperate, your head nodding quickly as he aligns the tip of the knife to the soft skin of your breasts.
"Then look me in the eyes as I do it." You do, fearful gaze catching his dominant one as you feel the blade tearing your skin. It stings, but you love it, moaning out as you feel wet blood tickle out of the fresh cut.
"Good fucking girl," Yuta praises, eyes wide and crazy as he takes in your bleeding. Your mind is hazy as you take in the way he fiddles with the button of his pants, doing only so much to get his cock out. Yuta's crooked smile catches your attention just as he leans down to lick up the drops of blood resting on your skin.
Fuck, your eyes roll back at the sting, core throbbing emptily with the need to be filled, your chest rising to push against him.
"Dirty girl," he says, "want more, huh?"
"Yes," you whisper, your voice sounding raw and desperate. Yuta chuckles, pressing the blade to your opposite breast, repeating the motion of cutting your skin lightly, but this time he decides to push his cock into you simultaneously.
Helplessly, you grunt, it's too much, but so good, your hands grabbing the sheets in your fists as your cunt throbs, clamping down around Yuta's girth, your body and face contorting in pleasure.
Yuta just watches, amused.
"Didn't know you were such a knife slut, it felt like you almost came from me pushing into you. It's amazing how desperate you get once I hold this little blade in my hands," he notes, grinning evilly and your heart flutters, core throbbing around him once more.
Why is he so fucking perfect?
Yuta finally begins moving, dragging the entirety of his cock along your hugging walls. At the same time, he drags his index finger through the fresh wounds on your breasts, smearing the blood around your tits.
His stare is insane, tongue licking over his teeth when he lifts the finger up to your lips and pushes in, making you taste your own blood. The metal taste clouding your senses makes you dizzy.
"Write y-" you begin, a moan interrupting your speech, "write your name."
"What?" You scoffs out a laugh. "Are you crazy? You want me to carve my name into your body? You really want to be my bitch, huh?"
"P-please."
You watch as he moves the blade to your thigh, carefully stilling the motions of his hips to make the cut that you groan out to, hazy eyes taking in the way fresh blood bubbles out of the cut. He drags the knife over to your other thigh, slicing into your skin twice more before he starts moving again. The cuts are not that deep, yet still deep enough for more and more blood to drop out, pooling on your skin.
Yuta drags his fingers through the red substance, then moves the covered digit to your stomach. Your eyes flutter close at the sensations of the burning cuts, the cool blood, his hot finger and the movements he picked up once again, the head of his cock massaging your insides expertly.
All is too much, you can't comprehend what's happening, all you can focus on is how good everything feels, for the lack of a better word. You whimper out as Yuta's hand leaves your stomach to rub at your clit, thumb pressing harshly into the nub, and you feel your thighs begin to shake from the overwhelming pleasure.
"Now, do you like it?"
Confusion fogs your brain, your eyelids heavy as you open them to take in the way his bloody thumb expertly abuses your clit. It's then when you see it.
Yuta.
The letters of his name are written on your skin in your own blood.
You whine out, fingers reaching out to really touch him for the first time, your orgasm building up rapidly.
"Yuta, Yuta-"
The pocket knife, long forgotten, lays next to you on the sheets, painting little, red dots that sink into the fabric as you pull Yuta closer, he's still grinning as tears fall from your eyes, legs desperately hugging around his waist to never let him go.
Yuta presses his forehead against your own, being as close to you as possible all while his cock quickly pushes you over the edge. Cries of all kinds fall from your parted lips as you get overwhelmed with emotions.
"I love you, I love you," you whimper as he pushes deeper, drawing out your orgasm as he finishes himself, groaning loudly at how tightly your cunt is hugging him, fucking into you a few more times, hard and deep, before his thrusts slow down and his lips crash into yours.
You're not sure what just happened, and you're not sure whether his kiss means that he reciprocates the feeling, but you're sure that you just never want him to leave.
© 2022 YUTASBELLYBUTTONPIERCING all rights reserved — please DO NOT translate, take, nor repost any of my works.
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rainbowchewynuggets · 11 months
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TMA Encore #16
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Martin, Jon, Sasha, and Tim take in fresh air they never thought they’d breathe again and sunlight they never thought they’d feel again. They stare absently at the smoking hole where the Institute used to be. The persistent bustling of the town around them, totally unheeding of their presence, helps draw them out of their shock.
Both sets of Fears are still there. Distantly, but unmistakably. But the hold that the invading set had in the enigma has grown faint, like a droning noise suddenly absent. The world is still and quiet.
Jon feels half-blind–partially because his glasses are nowhere to be found.
The absence of hunger tells them that Not-Jon and Not-Martin are still out there.
After a long heavy silence, they begin to talk in low voices about what to do next. They did make it out, though no one can quite remember how. Their shaky progress has given them some tepid confidence. If they can get themselves away from here without incident, they could potentially rebuild some form of normalcy. The four of them could keep in touch, helping each other monitor their stability.
And they should hurry. There’s a rather uncomfortable feeling in the air.
The four of them do worry where the doubles could be, what they could be doing. But they can’t let themselves get distracted already. Maybe they can work on it later, if the two start making noticeable trouble.
Tim makes a Scooby-Doo joke. Everybody needed it.
They’ll definitely have to find new jobs too, they realize.
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The pair uncoil. Jon looks into Martin’s eyes.
NJ: How bad is it?
Martin tries his best to look placid, but the pain of the hunger is evident on his face.
NM: It’s… bad.
NJ: I’ll help you work through it. I know some tricks to take the edge off. And, maybe we can find some better ways now. Less self-punishing.
NM: Sounds manageable.
Jon smooths his partner’s hair back and brushes his cheek with a thumb.
NM:  How about you?
NJ: Better. So much better. I can’t believe I–
He swallows with difficulty.
NJ: Martin, I’m so sorry.
Martin nods.
NM: I am too.
Jon looks incredulous.
NJ: For what?
NM: For wasting time, I guess. We spent so long letting them make us miserable, and I didn’t even…I don’t feel like I was much better than you, in the end.
NJ: Well, they don’t get to tell us how to be miserable now.
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The wind rustles the grass as the clouds pass their shadows over the pair.
NM: What do we do now?
Jon curls his lip thoughtfully.
NJ: We should probably make ourselves scarce. The police might be sweeping for arson suspects. And… maybe we should let you get more used to the hunger before we go anywhere around people.
NM: Right.
They hesitate. Jon stares into the trees. Martin can’t help doing the same.
NM: There’s definitely one of them among the EMTs.
NJ: Yep.
She reeks of Spiral.
Section 31 is on its way, too.
The surviving archival staff should really get going if they want to make it out clean.
There are more. Others. Moving and agitating, attracted to the vacuum of power. Yet, they’re small. Vulnerable. Containable.
It would be easy.
Jon tears his eyes away and squeezes Martin’s hand.
NJ: You wanna go for a walk?
He gestures at the open field behind them with a thumb.
Martin brightens.
NM: Sure.
They get up and start walking through the brush, hand in hand.
NM: So, if a tomb is out… You think we could go for a house? Probably abandoned, but hopefully not too falling-apart.
NJ: That’d be nice. Maybe something in the country.
NM: ...Oh! And we still need to go let Gerry out of the book.
NJ: Oh, yeah. Definitely.
————
Next
Prev
First
(Epilogue next time!)
Index
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blackheart-6 · 4 months
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dess-ember day 9/31
some thoughts of mine below read more
normally when i draw, i do cutesy stuff. but today i wanted to try and draw something more emotional and bleak.
this drawing is supposed to be of noelle holding dess' guitar. i have dess there, though thats just a spirit/imagined version of her, its not actually her. i imagine the backstory is that noelle never learned how to play guitar, her and dess never getting around to having lessons together, and now that dess is gone...
and i also raise a question that i thought of while drawing this
do yalls think dess is dead?
me personally, i think shes not. i feel like, in a narrative sense, her being dead would make her less interesting, because theres nothing more she can do. of course, dead characters can still be interesting, especially when they haunt the narrative like dess is doing, but i feel like her being missing, as opposed to dead, would be more satisfying.
but from an in-game perspective, i feel like if she was dead (and the characters knew that she is dead, if shes dead and they dont know thats the same as missing in my eyes, it just means she wont be found) then kris and noelle wouldnt have grown distant. i know friends can naturally grow distant, but the way i consider it, they grew apart when dess went missing. but if she died, i feel like noelle at least would have wanted to grieve with kris, but idk.
i consider her missing. i think shes in the same place as gaster (aka the games code), and i think she got there through the bunker, but im still unsure of what exactly happened. i just think kris was with her when she went missing, but only they saw it, and when they tried telling people how she vanished (or whatever happened) they didnt believe kris, and when they told the mayor, she didnt believe them, and thought they were just playing an incredibly cruel prank. i think the mayor told noelle not to hang out with kris anymore, and kris just avoids noelle after she says how kris was being terrible by lying about what happened. now that noelle is older she thinks kris was just wrong about what happened, instead of them purposely lying, so thats why she is friendly with them again.
but those are just my thoughts, and id be delighted to hear yours, if you wanna share!!
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mcdynamite · 2 years
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OTP OCTOBER PROMPTS
I got bored the other night and on a whim came up with a list of 31 autumn/Halloween-themed prompts for the month of October. Please feel free to use them however you see fit! All ships/fandoms are welcome, and you can use as many or as few as you'd like (or even take some of the ideas for your own prompt lists)! Whatever you want! This is just here to serve as some inspiration! Happy writing/drawing/painting/creating! 🎃🍁👻🍂🍎
1-2 Word Prompts
Cuddling
Costumes
Cozy
Halloween party
Scars
Scream
Apple picking
Pumpkin carving
Bonfire
Haunted house
Corn maze
Baking
Trick-or-treating
Sweater
Tattoos
Full moon
Candy
Smores
Dusk
Dialogue Prompts
“I hate Halloween”
“Are you scared?”
“You look cold.”
“Shut up and give me some candy.”
“You’ve got leaves in your hair.”
“Are you busy tonight?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”
“It’s not even that cold!”
“You look good.”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“Are you really going to eat that?”
“You should stay.”
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writeblrfantasy · 5 months
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THE NIGHT AUCTION: BOOK INTRO
“I’m sorry,” Aric admits, conceding a bit of honesty for once. “I am the one bringing the mood down. I wanted this too, and I can’t understand why I’m having a difficult time adjusting.”
Kyrell snorts. “I can. You were just bid on like a piece of meat in front of a whole crowd of fools, bought by a man you barely know when you were least expecting it, and given more money for it than you’ve probably ever seen at one time, if you would pardon my frankness.
“Now you’re alone with that man and the clothes on your back, and though they’re very nice clothes and a very nice man, your world probably feels like it’s been ripped out from under you whether you wanted this or not.
“So, yes, anyone in your place would be having a difficult time adjusting too. I say it’s more amazing that you haven’t thrown a completely justifiable fit, screamed, punched me, or cursed all of our names. Or all of those consecutively.”
genre: fantasy romance
status: complete. word count 70k
blurb:
For a gemeyes, love is a prison. What happens when it could mean freedom? Aric is a gemeyes, a powerful and heavily regulated mage in the second class of Vadare society. His whole life, he’s worked hard to survive—he doesn’t dream, and he certainly doesn’t love. When an old debt comes knocking, Aric is forced to turn to The Night Auction, a club where gemeyes go to be auctioned off for dates. There, he is bought by Kyrell Tierwood, a first class lord who’s kinder and handsomer than any Aric has met before. Kyrell’s main draw is his wealth, which Aric needs in order to protect the family secret. Aric’s plan is simple: seduce the money he needs out of Kyrell and then leave him. It’s not love, it’s business. However, Aric didn’t count on his seduction turning into something real. As Aric and Kyrell navigate coexistence, Aric is torn between two worlds: the love he’s fostering with Kyrell, and the secret he will do anything to keep.
please let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist for this book!
surprise! 🎉🎉my secret book is finally done!
for the past month i pulled a sanderson and have been working in secret on this baby. THE NIGHT AUCTION is about finding trust, friendship, and love through class gaps. It's about realizing your mistakes and actually changing your behavior instead of just promising to be better.
it was supposed to be nanowrimo, but in typical me fashion i got impatient and started drafting october 13 and finished drafting october 31. there is only one person in the world to whom i mentioned i was writing a secret book. not one soul on earth knew the plot, the characters, nothing.
it was the most fun, the easiest, the most delightful drafting experience i've had in years. it's also one of my favorite books i've ever written. i feel so connected to these characters, this world, the heart of the book, in a way i've been lacking lately.
the top word i would pick for how it felt to write this book was healing. every moment was freeing, every word was fun. it was lifechanging.
i will be posting character intros, excerpts, and more to help you meet the world that has been living rent free in my head for a month. so, so excited to finally be sharing this with you all!!
GENERAL TAGLIST: @worldbuildng @muddshadow @nikkywrites @47crayons @directionoftime @chayscribbles @magic-is-something-we-create
also, if you made it this far, you deserve to know that the idea for this came from a seinfeld episode, if you can believe it! (the barber)
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