#also I'm up super early

[nipuni]

Timelock 🕰️

A speedpaint video of this will be available at my Patreon on december 1st!

#doctor who #dr who #DW #tenth doctor #david tennant #10th doctor #gallifrey #my art #I'm drawing at inhuman speed to meet deadlines I can't even tell what looks okay anymore #I have two more things to turn in tonight then I have to render videos then take a shower and be up super early tomorrow aaa 🫠 #also hey Ten drawing at hour ten #I loved this part in The day of the doctor special SO MUCH this whole concept I love I love #reminded me of the FFXIV calamity forming Dalamud ahhhh

[fudgecake-charlie]

Joe & Cleo life is strange AU!

Joe gets time control from a haunted polaroid camera, Cleo reunites with an old friend because of her near-death situations, a storm is brewing on the horizon, and none of the original game’s plot is real here :]

Close-ups and textless version under the cut!

Also rambles are in the tags if you wanna hear art and AU thoughts. send an ask if you want!

#Hermitcraft #Hermitcraft AU #Joe Hills #ZombieCleo #hello you two #LISAU #art out the oven #au wasnt meant to be /r but i have just realised the implications of making them chloe and max lmao #Also! their outfits and roles are swapped around! because i think it fits better #feel free to fuck around w this concept if you want bcs i probably wont be #i just think joe should time travel more in AUs and that the two of them should have a really fucking awkward reunion #in my head im ignoring game plot because it was a little too fucked up to put j+c into #and also theyre in their late 30s/early 40s #this art was a struggle and a half btw. this was 12h across 2 days i think? #super rusty at art and doing low stormy lighting is hard as hell!! #so it looks awful on low brightness screens #it's not perfect but i'm pretty happy with it

[tripably]

my one complaint about the booping day is that now that it's over, all the notifications regarding it are gone too, and though I would finally have time to go through all the random blogs I interacted with massively but didn't immediately think to follow are now gone from recorded history )-:

#my second complaint which has more to do with myself than the booping day itself #is that i didn't wake up early enough to pay back all the boops that i received during my few hours of sleep D-: #like I'M SORRY FRIEND I WOULD HAVE BOOPED YOU SO ARDENTLY IF I'D ONLY THOUGHT TO SET AN ALARM #also i'd like a statistics feature of the booping day boops #global statistics and personal statistics #i'd love to know how the booping frienzy affected user activity on the global level #which percentage of active users activated the booping feature #what were the most popular booping times of day #how popular was spam booping #how popular were super boops and evil boops #did an average user give or receive more boops #how many self boops per user #i'd obviously love to know top 10 global boopers and boop receivers but that's not in accordance with tumblr way of life #personal top 10 would be nice though #who did you boop the most and how much #who booped you the most and how much #sending this out into the void in the hopes that this actually exists somewhere and i've just become too boomerized to realize #boop

[goldicthehedgefox]

gotta say, Shallot looks great in Trunks's clothes

#dragon ball legends #goldic's draconic legends #goldic rambles #shallot #shallot DBL #got the outfit from an event halfway through the android section of the story slapped it on him and never looked back #currently hunting down the stars I missed early in the story and decided to let Shallot loose since I never really use him outside the stor #too busy experimenting with the other units I have to let my max power Shallot run wild yunno? #tbh I'm actually just hunting down any Z Power I might've missed for Shallot cuz I've seen people have him in red stars and mine's only 7* #granted: fully completing story mode 100% is on the eternal bucket list but I really wanna see Shallot reach 7*+ #Fun Fact: I had Shallot wear Nappa's scouter right after getting it up until he unlocked SSB on my file cuz it looked nice with the outfit #i CAN'T be the only one that thinks Shallot looks great in this outfit; something about it just screams Hell Yeah to me #for those that are curious: I run Ultra Super Vegito's blue card on Shallot #the hand refill is so nice after watching him bash someone's face in and blast them #but also i think the animation suits him #can't wait for legends fest it's gonna be so much fun; my first legends fest! yippeeeee!

[directactionforhope]

A weird reason I'm optimistic about the future/humanity

I keep thinking about making a post about this on reasonsforhope, and then not making a post about it, for what will become obvious reasons, but anyway here's a thought:

I get asked fairly often (relatively often? I don't get a lot of asks these days because I'm terrible at answering them) how I maintain hope and optimism in the face of everything.

Good question! I wonder that sometimes too, honestly, because I try to stay very aware of the world and very self-aware about my optimism and how realistic it is. (Three cheers for evidence-based optimism.)

And honestly, a really, really significant part of the answer is that I think the past - in general and especially during specific eras - was Significantly worse than the vast majority of people realize.

Like, the past kind of sucked, imho! People died all the time of all sorts of things! And then we had a solid 500 years of Big Time Atrocities. (aka 1492 to like. roughly the 1980s.)

In comparison, the 2000s have mostly been a really big improvement in a lot of ways, imho!

Weird argument for optimism, I know, but it is the basis of a lot of my optimism.

Why do I think things will change in the future, given that?

Well, mostly, it turns out that photography/film/the internet/phone cameras/social media/the general democratization of communication/the modern concept of international law all it way harder to get away with doing atrocities! And also, we now have scientifically validated proof that yes, people really can change, and no, no one is innately or hereditarily evil, and no, not even members of that one group you really hate, which personally I think is very reassuring! And a useful thing for society to have proof of!

#me #not an action #dafh not an action post #life #the future #cw genocide #and by the way this is I think true #even in spite of the genocides going on right now #like it feels super fucked up to even say that but we really DID used to commit SO MANY atrocities #btw I'm in no way trying to deny or downplay the severity of genocide or what's going on in gaza right now #it's just. historically. humans really did do so many atrocities. #like idk living in the 2020s sucks in some very real ways #but we also don't live in the early 1940s or say the 1850s or or or #so yeah #that's my two cents hope it's worth something to some ppl or at least not too upsetting

[icewindandboringhorror]

sneepy cozy....

#cats #(medical stuff mention for tags) #poasting confortable image of boye for peace and serenity and such forthe #I have little weird episodes sometimes where I get shaky (but like violently like 'would spill a drink if you were holding it beacuse #your hands are moving so much' type shaky) and weird and sick feeling but usually it passes in an hour or less. but last night I just #literally couldnt sleep I was shaking so much and my heartrate was up a ton and wouldn't go down even after like 6 hours plus super nausea #so I went to the hospital and now shall wear a heart monitor for a week. which hopefully it's just some weird drastic low blood sugar #event or something and there's nothing actually going on. ekg + ct scan for blod clots + virus panel + almost all of the blood work seems #normal so... aa....... #Though me being so privacy focused hrggh... I basically have a constantly bluetooth connected device around me #since the monitor comes with a cell phone that is constantly transmitting data to the place. which they said they'll call you #if they see anything weird which is also scary. random phone calls... but definitely better than letting an issue go unadressed lol #the phone is also not meant to be more than 10 feet away from the monitor at any time so I put on this old tactical fishing #vest thing thats like navy green with 100 pockets and im just using one of the giant pocketson the side as a phone holder #my enormous silly vest just to keep one little phone #ANYWAY... because I got up early the morning before and didn't sleep at all and spent nearly all day in waiting rooms and such #I have been awake for like 32 hours striaght. which I'm sure also does not help with an elevated heartrate lol #feeling shrimp emotions or whatever people talk about unlocking at a certain level of stress and sleep deprivation #and also no food or water. after a while they brought me like 3 saltines and some ice water but I basically also haven't eaten since 3am #last night and it's 2pm now.. #thus............ bapy............. baby boye....... he will help ease all ailments with his baby powers... #And no I dont drink energy drinks or anything with caffiene really I'm afraid of all substances on the planet essentially #My body just likes to become shaky and weird randomly even when I'm not conciously anxious about anything/have had no caffiene/etc #and I guess I'm always more nervous about getting anything heart related checked out because of my arm/shoulder/chest area injury stuff #... i literally have constant chest pain all the time. it moves around but i nearly always have some sort of pain or pressure in my chest #so when people are like 'oh well a little weird heartrate is fine but watch out if you have pain!' it's like... i always do lol.. how am I #supposed to tell the Bad Pain apart from the Always Pain when the descriptions of Bad Pain are very very similar #AAAANYway.... hrghh... i wanted to be very productive and finally post drafts and wrok on things today. but alas.. #I can at least post small image of soft boye.. though he recently got into stuff in the bathroom whilst left #alone and knocked things into the toilet.. So perhaps not an innocent and NICE boy.. but still.. a soft one .. beautfile....

[an-inspired-eternity]

desmond hall... save me

desmond hall

save me desmond hall

#shitpost agenda #shut up richie #project eden's garden #desmond hall #happy early birthday to him also #sudden surge of p:eg in my brain and ouuuuu i miss him... #if he dies i'm going to be so fucking sad #i mean its a dr fangame my hopes arent super high but please survive ch1 im begging

[queerstudiesnatural]

you know how some people have sleep paralysis where their mind is awake but their body isn't. well i have the opposite where sometimes i wake up and my body is awake, i can like walk around and stuff, but it's all on autopilot and i can't access my brain. like i'll spend several seconds, minutes sometimes, just trying to remember who the fuck i am and where i am and what day it is and what i did yesterday. terrifying

#usually happens when i'm woken up too early or when i've taken an involuntary nap #my brain takes ages to come back on #sometimes i start to panic like ok this isn't funny i have no idea what day it is or what happened in the recent past #also doesn't help that my dream memories are super strong and i can't tell what actually happened and what i dreamt up most of the time #anyway my brain is lagging i would like a new one let me just find the warranty #rain.stuff

[b4kuch1n]

tdov was like a week ago already but I just wanna say when I came over to vacation slash help my sworn brother move flat he told me, "ever since you said you wanted to get top surgery I've been thinking about it. it's straight up number two on my bucket list"

#bakuspeech #number one is a house bc obviously. if u can own a house wouldnt u #he was very drunk at that time of the evening. I was not bc I have the constitution of a hot air balloon and any stimulant will blow me up #(relatively new development. france fucked me up big time turns out) #we held hand on his bed for like the whole evening. it was honestly very funny in hindsight but we were extremely earnest in the moment #and Im like. working on this thing as well. I dont got meds or therapy lmao Im bootstrappin here #but yeah early last year his bf offered to get me meds and I... turned it down... I think I was worried abt like. idk. something #but one year past looking back Im fully like that was a stupid move you shouldve gotten meds. youve once again fucked urself baku #but yeah with that kinda realization Ive also come to realized I've somewhat? accepted. that I'm just gonna be. like this #this in light of a number of likely chronic stuff too (hence my balloon-like constitution lmao) and #that's kinda bled into the rest of me without me really noticing #but him bringing that up fully unprompted... kinda jolted me out of it #its just. really incredibly sweet. that someone doesn't want me to settle for what I make do with #and like. preps for that work. just kinda held my hand and told me it's possible to do this actually #I didn't really express how I felt very well in that moment I think my brain is very bad and I process emotions with like a day of delay #but. well. Im thinking abt it Right Now. so yknow thats the kind of impact that had on me lol #not super sure why I wrote all this down here really. I think I just want a good n nice reminder that object permanence is real #and I exist in my friends' life even when Im going insane in a hole by myself #and with the power of friendship we can alter the universe's plan for ourselves and also kill god #that's that. anyways I eat lunch now and then pass out probably. last night was... eventful lmao #but!! very good things on the horizon hopefully. well manifestly we hold hammers and we use them #have a good day lads. let's go out and slay monsters under a highway

[boobiestarplanet]

ok so obviously we have the gumball guardians, ricardio the heart guy, lady rainicorn, magic man, the jiggler (the jiggler! i didn't think we'd ever see him again! i love him!) and the lich, but who is that guy in the first gumball guardian's baby carrier thing? like that's a human baby right there right?

#im sure this is the most unimportant thing but it still caught my eye #also i need to share my excitement for the jiggler. one of my favorite super early episodes i could not tell you why #adventure time #fionna and cake spoilers #also also i'm not making this a separate post because im afraid of embarrassing myself if im wrong #but the pb in the winter prince's world sounds different right. like i dont think that's hynden walch #which is weird because she did ''additional voices'' in earlier eps #maybe she just had a cold when they recorded it or smth lmao #<- nevermind i was straight up wrong ✌️😋

[thedreadvampy]

I tried listening to Olivia Rodrigo and I'm sure this is really good for its target audience of Teen Girls Going Through A Breakup but has she actually ever put out a song that isn't about a guy cheating, breaking up with her and moving on to someone else?

like babe he's not coming back it's been 2 years you gotta find something else in your life

#red said #it's not to my taste. tbh #content aside pop music is going through a very early 2000s breathy oversinging phase #hated it with xtina and alanis hate it with ariana and olivia sorry #it's a personal taste thing but to me however hard you go with the backing track that kind of soft pretty vocal style kind of #drags it back into midtempo sludge for me #also tbh it's just extremely normal music. like i went over to her yt bc people were talking about how Weird vampire is #it's not though????? it's super not???? #anyway the only one I've got anything out of is good 4 u cause she sounds more involved and less self-pitying on it #every other Olivia song I've heard sounds kinda the same bc they all have the same earnest self-pity vibe #which is what a lot of people need out of music! music that makes them feel the depth of their anger and sadness! #but idk it's never done it for me i like there to be something of a tongue in cheek or a hysterical edge #i think most of the songs I've heard from her are just too controlled and polished for them to not sound to me #like she's the person who sees you crying cause your partner is in hospital and goes YEAH I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL #MY EX CHEATED ON ME 5 YEARS AGO AND IT REALLY TRAUMATISED ME AND I'M STILL NOT OVER IT and then you have to comfort her #like i recognise she's a 20 year old making music for teenagers so that is. appropriate. #but i struggled with the wallowing then too. were i a Teen at school with Olivia's character i would be so desperate to tell GROW UP #and it's not the lyrics it really is the music #heartbreak is a perfectly good theme to write on but oh my god not every song about it needs to be a mouthful call to arms

[heloflor]

After getting into Mario with a more “fandom” kind of mindset, and more specifically getting a bigger interest in the RPG games, something that amuses me a lot are the people in youtube comments trying to argue that the Koopalings aren’t Bowser’s children.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I know Miyamoto retconned their link to Bowser. But the funny thing is, even to this day, Nintendo themselves are still writing those kids as if they were related to Bowser !

Seriously :

- In New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii U, the Koopalings are attacking the castle along with Junior/Bowser, thus putting them on the same level of importance as Bowser and his son. The ending cutscenes do the same thing, especially the one in Wii U that just screams “they’re a family”. Plus, all the Koopalings serve as world bosses, which was kinda Junior’s role in DS, yet again putting them on the same level.

- In New Bros U, they all have their own ship. The only character to have a ship with their face on it before had always been Bowser.

- As I’ve seen someone point out in a comment section, the Koopalings are different skins of Junior in Smash Ultimate, again putting them on the same level as Bowser’s son. They might also be skins of Junior in Mario Maker 2 but I’m not sure on this one.

- In New Bros 2, they’re using a giant clown car, which is implied to belong to Bowser as Bowser and Junior are the only ones with a recurring clown car and Junior’s is too small. I doubt Bowser would let just about anybody use his car.

- On top of that, each has their own clown car in Smash.

- You know that icon/logo of his head thing that Bowser has (the one we see in games like 64 when we die) ? Bowser Junior had had one for a while now and more recently each Koopaling were given one (I think you can see them at Nintendo World in Bowser’s castle ?).

- Since they were originally created as Bowser’s children, they’re the same type of Koopa as him, and that fact hadn’t been changed in recent years. Hell, outside of Ludwig in Mario World and the fights in Superstar Saga, the Koopalings are never shown to breath fire, yet in the remake of Superstar Saga, they chose to keep the fire breath (except for Ludwig ironically enough). They could’ve easily removed the fire breath to make them more similar to Boom Boom, especially since Boom Boom has recently been shown with spikes on his shell, but they chose to keep this ability. Granted their shell plastron is different from Boom Boom, but that’s another design change Nintendo could make to set them apart from Bowser (giving them the same shell as Boom Boom to make it seem like they’re the same species, instead of keeping them as “Royal Koopas”).

In short, the Koopalings’ design wasn’t changed after the retcon, making them, Bowser and Junior the only members of that specific type of Koopa, thus implying they might be related. It’s also not helped by them having magic (which only Magikoopas and Bowser have) + being high-ranked members of the army. They might also be the only minors in the army, which raises a few eyebrows as to how they got the job (why would Bowser hire a bunch of children/teenagers to put in charge of his army ? Granted some like Ludwig, Roy and Wendy might be adults by now but I can’t bring myself to see Lemmy and Larry as anything other than teenagers).

- Saw a video of the bosses in Paper Mario Color Splash, and the minions (paratroopas) address Ludwig as “your evilness”, which is pretty reminiscent to how Bowser is called by his army, most notably by Kamek (“you grouchiness”, stuff like this)

- Baby Bowser and Bowser Jr are referred to as “young master” by Kamek. In the RPGs, the Koopalings are sometimes called “master [name]” (and “mistress Wendy”) when talked to individually. Note that both this point and the previous one are for the English version tho, not the Japanese one (no idea how they’re called in Japan).

- There’s that one Super Mario Adventures comic made in the 90s that was apparently re-released a few years ago (something like 2017-2018 ?), aka well after Nintendo retconned the kids’ relationship with Bowser (around 2012). Yet, in this comic, at least in the English version, the Koopalings are explicitly said to be Bowser’s children, with him saying he wants to marry Peach so they can have a mom + the kids calling him dad. And I don’t think they changed this dialogue in the re-release ?

- Bowser Jr’s Journey. Just, Bowser Jr’s Journey. After seeing all the cutscenes of this game, it is a crime that those kids aren’t related ! Hell there’s literally a moment where Junior pulls out the “I’ll tell dad !” card on Roy ! And let’s not forget stuff like the interactions between Junior and most notably Ludwig/Morton/Roy, Junior saying “us Koopalings” at some point thus including himself amongst that group, or stuff like him singing “I’m the one who wears the crown” making it sound like he’s saying “I’m the one chosen amongst the eight of us”. Then there’s the “family drama” vibe in the first half, the cute moments etc (Also unpopular opinion but after seeing that game, Ludwig should still be the heir of the throne. He has what it takes to be a fantastic king ! Granted Junior is still extremely young and could learn and mature.)

- Also about Jr’s Journey, the main conflict actually works a lot better if you imagine the kids to be siblings, with the Koopalings talking down to Junior because he’s the baby of the family + they resent him for taking the throne from them, while Junior is tired of his siblings babying him + he’s that kind of kid who orders the older siblings around because he thinks he has the power to do so. Them being siblings also justifies why Junior changes his mind so easily during the beach scene and then is quickly shown to be strongly attached to the others (getting happy when Iggy gets his memories back, ordering Ludwig to stay with him from now on, that whole adorable scene with Morton etc).

Meanwhile, if you see the Koopalings as nothing more than high-ranked underlings, it’s weird why they would have such an issue with Junior, the son of their king who is also their boss, and likewise it’s weird why Junior would take such issue with them only to have such a quick change of heart. Idk, I feel like if they weren’t siblings they probably wouldn’t spend that much time together, making both their whole conflict and strong bond a bit weird. And in general their interactions in this game read more as people who are widely different and wouldn’t usually be friends yet still love each other, which is the kind of dynamic many siblings tend to have (isn’t there a poll going around about whether you’d be friends with your siblings if they weren’t your siblings, and the option winning is “we wouldn’t be friends” ?)

- According to their page on the Mario wiki, during an interview revealing them in Mario Kart 8, Miyamoto used a word that means either “underlings” or “adopted children” when mentioning their relationship to Bowser (btw I know it’s the most popular headcanon anyways but them being adoptive children is just perfect. It would explain why 1. Some might be young adults while Bowser is younger than 40 depending on how old you see him, 2. Why they look so widely different from Bowser and each other, 3. Why Junior is the rightful heir).

- Also according to the wiki, the Italian and German versions of Mario and Luigi Paper Jam has mentions of them being Bowser’s kids, which I find hilarious. The translation teams didn’t give a fuck !

So yeah, when it comes to the Koopalings not being Bowser’s kids : who’s gonna tell Nintendo ?

(Side note about the whole idea of “Bowser clearly likes Junior more and neglects his older kids” : what if instead it was just that the Koopalings are teenagers/young adults now so Bowser is giving them their space + have them busy with royal duties, hence why he doesn’t spend that much time with them ? Plus, in all the examples that put the Koopalings on the same level as Junior, it’s pretty evident that they have the same privileges)

#Super Mario #Bowser Jr #Bowser Junior #Koopalings #sorry I'm too lazy to tag all 7 kids #their names are in the post anyways so if you use the search function the post will show up #Flor talks #long post #it's kinda funny how I've been into Mario since I was a kid #yet seeing more of the fandom is giving a different perspective of those characters; it's a weird thing #anyways yes this post was entirely made due to 'Bowser Jr's Journey' and how cute the cutscenes were #I legit didn't care much about the Koopalings before seeing those cutscenes; and they made me fall in love with those gremlins #(btw I don't remember when the 'us Koopalings' is but the 'I'm the one who wears the crown' is very early on #one of the last cutscenes before they leave the tutorial at Bowser's castle) #but yeah; Bowser has 8 babies (12 if you count the Koopa Kids) and I will die on this hill #(also kinda ironic I'm posting this on fathers' day)

[neathbound-fiends]

copy pasting from DMs and expanding on this a little actually

Thinking abt the fact that Elliott is an unreliable narrator and will just outright lie about things about himself, or twist them so severely that they threaten to break in order to be palatable and not say anything he thinks people won't want to hear. Man who spent a lot of years lying about his family, and upbringing, and sexuality, all because none of it was something someone else would want to hear and he doesn't want to be seen as broken, or a bummer, or to speak ill of the dead. It's better to mangle the truth until it fits whatever narrative you want to spin than it is to say something that's going to horrify someone

#one of my genuine favorite bits was from the SUPER early days of RP and deciding I didn't like how I had written his backstory #and began to slowly over the course of several months dole out little bits of lore that directly contradicted something he had said #until his brother (prior to his death) smashed their childhoods open like a seed and said ''he has been lying and here is what happened'' #love a dramatic backstory reveal #also loved the panicky desperation of a caged animal who knew he'd been caught but still was unwilling to admit it #your super open and honest and truthful friend has been LYING to you about every inch of his past short of why he came to the Neath #and the configuration of his family #anyway then his brother got murdered because he sucked (womp womp) #now instead of lying about his life on the Surface he just doesn't discuss his childhood or up until he came down almost at all #''why is most of the post in the tags'' I'm using my inside voice

[juneviews]

DAMNNN, they kinda popped off on step by step! would be a fair point to make if it wasn't itself a bl show profiting off lgbtq+ relationships but oh well 🤭

#axelle rants #step by step #step by step the series #like ngl I can never take shows that do this seriously lol bc how are you gonna call yourself out like that #to be fair step by step is a lot less exploitative than other bl shows so far but still #and to be fair it IS very much in line with pat as an actual queer character to say that so it makes sense why this sentence was said #I do really like the show though & this is making me think: is there a way to make bl shows non exploitative? #I guess not pushing the pairing in events & such but it's so embedded in thai culture atp idk if that's possible #ANYWAYS we're raising philosophical questions here lol #but anyways what do y'all think of step by step? I'm super enjoying the long episodes & the characters I'm very much into it #also LOVE how they're taking their time to set up the ship slowly even though most bl shows rush to hook fans in as early as possible #but also khun jeng asking pat to share his bed ON A WORK TRIP AS BOSS EMPLOYEE IS FUCKING INSANE #all of these boss employees shows are making me think: is there no hr in thailand? bc phi gun & khun jeng would've have been fired - #- a long time ago almost everywhere else LMAO

[mercymaker]

pairing: astarion x tav rating: nsfw-ish notes: non-native speaker behind the wheel; a study on the main character, intimacy, and their relation to power. summary: when you try to manipulate a vampire spawn into believing he can easily manipulate you, but you forget to assess how it all might backfire.

She tensed against him, nails instinctively digging into his shoulder where her hand had caressed his skin before. He knows. Fuck, he knows. As calm and relaxed as Maleane tried to play it, her body betrayed every plan she'd set up for the night. Use it. Be the damsel, the morsel, the fly trapped in his web. Make him think you're innocent, weak, pathetic. Frantic thoughts darted through her mind like crossbow bolts, one faster than the other, panic almost dulling the ache that every move sent through her body. Mal opened her eyes to peer at his, assessing the situation, trying to look past that perfectly polished facade. A glimmer of something she could not recognize danced across his blood-red irises and it made her heart race faster. No, too pathetic. He would never believe it. He would never trust it. He could never use it. As the pieces on the board started falling into place, Astarion opened his mouth. To mock her? To tease her? To bite?

"Harder." A rushed whisper escaped through her lips as she pulled him in, hand grasping the back of his neck, pushing those sharp teeth towards her delicate throat.

One desperation for another. A leverage. A distraction. Yes, that will distract him. The rapid volley of her thoughts came crashing in waves, trying to squeeze in between every sensation that was consuming her body. The dry sticks digging into her back, the suffocating feeling of being pinned down, his lips at her neck, the discomfort of it all. How did she end up like this?

Before being infected, Maleane rarely thought of this moment, preferring to take advantage of whatever opportunity would eventually come her way. She was well aware of how this world worked, however, witnessed plenty to grasp the essence of what urges most living, breathing creatures possessed. But all of them seemed so distant, in her periphery at best, for Mal had different things to worry about, survival being at the forefront of her mind. Yet, even those who think themselves high above such mortal indulgences can’t lie for too long.

The first time it became apparent was at a tavern. From time to time, Maleane would wander into one village or another, bringing game or furs to trade. It wasn’t the easiest interacting with people, as most feared drow like the devils from hells, a sentiment she could, unfortunately, relate to. But goods were goods and coin was coin, so once the sense of threat had subsided, many were at least accepting of her being around. Some went as far as growing to like her, for Mal was good at molding herself to whatever person she needed to be for the occasion.

She sat at the corner of the room, sipping on the mead that the dwarf lady who owned the place had offered, her pale lilac eyes scanning the evening crowd. Travelers resting after a long journey, a bard belting a song about doomed lovers, four ladies dressed in revealing outfits leaning over the tables, sweet-talking their way into the men’s purses, and some urchins scurrying around between the tables. Maleane found herself gazing at one of the wenches, her ample bosom almost spilling out of the top of the laced dress. The woman’s skin glistened in the hazy lantern light, tiny droplets of sweat strewn across her chest like a dozen tiny gems. Something stirred in Mal’s core, as if a hand was slithering inside her, reaching down and down to where her thighs met. She wanted the woman to be at her table instead, leaning close, whispering what she could only assume were profanities into her ear. The whore would only want me for my coin. Maleane’s gaze returned back to the half-empty mug nestled between her hands, the soft tingling in her belly dissipating as quickly as it first emerged. She didn’t want to buy something she could take, that was beneath her.

One day she decided that she would do it. Instead of passively waiting for the opportunity to run into her, Mal would take the matters into her own hands and be done with it. For as much as she tried to deny it, the wench haunted her sleepless nights, pulling up memories that the drow had never paid much attention to before. A peek between the boards of a shed, where a maid was wedged between two men, all three engaging in carnal pleasures. A conversation she overheard between an innkeeper and a miller over how the former had found a patron bound and gagged in a room after a particularly rowdy night. A shepherd she had once observed burying his head down the pants of another boy in a field not far from her camp.

It wasn’t long before Maleane was in the village again, looking to replace the tools that had worn off from years of use. While waiting for the blacksmith to return from the market, the elf found herself wandering between the haystacks, away from the busy street and into the backyard. There, an orange tabby rolled in the dirt, soaking up the sun with its big cream belly. As Mal watched the animal play, she noticed that there was another spectator. Unlike Maleane, he wasn’t interested in the playful feline, his eyes were fixed on her.

Pretty, for a human. The youth froze in his tracks the moment the drow moved towards him, eyes widening in surprise. He tried to step back and retreat, however, it was too late and soon he found himself trapped between the elf and the wall.

Maleane examined him from head to toe, lingering on the lean yet muscled arms, the hints of hair peeking at the neckline of his shirt, the faintest outline of the curve beneath the linen pants. He wants me. Like those wenches at the inn. Like the maids bathing in the pool. And yet, his eyes are streaked with fear. She shoved the boy against the wall and pressed her lips against his, hand sliding up his chest to grip his shoulder, while the other slithered to undo the laces of his breeches. The human didn’t protest, surrendering to her advances, yet he didn’t respond in turn. Nothing. It was exactly what was happening, what she was feeling. Nothing stirred, nothing awakened, nothing ignited. She left the backyard, the man still frozen, his pants awkwardly sliding down to his ankles.

It was all before the tadpole, before the nautiloid, before running into the pale elf. With the notion of impending doom breathing down her neck, Maleane was thrown into a swirling pit of chaos. It was a time to take advantage of every favorable circumstance, to risk everything, at every turn, she’d realized. And he was one hell of a risk. The flirt, with words so honeyed it betrayed him. Mal knew better than to trust him, but she also recognized the importance of keeping him in the fold, for a ticking time bomb waiting to stab them in the back was the last thing the group needed. So, she went along with his flirtations, the overt courting, the flattery. All in hopes to keep him on her side.

Astarion wanted her blood, her body, the vulnerability that he’d been prying out of her with every sweet word. Leverage. How transactional. And yet, despite that knowledge, it wasn’t nothing. He made her feel something, a part that she’d hushed, pushed down, locked behind a gilded door in her mind. Mal wanted him, in some strange way she didn’t recognize. In a way that she could never have. She knew better than that.

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion x mc #astarion x tav #oc: maleane #maleane/astarion #mywriting #wooo i did! i actually cut it a little short in the end because i originally wanted to do more with the initial scene and develop it more #but it felt somewhat fitting to end it here for now #it's definitely more tav-focused because i wanted to flesh out her character and do a lil study on her #but astarion plays a big role in tying this whole thing together #so yeah! there's that #ALSO keep in mind i'm only in act 1 and this is their first night so it's super early in the story #but i'd be SHOCKED if they don't catch one feeling or another later in the story #they kinda deserve each other in the most messed up delicious way #play stupid games win stupid prizes: losing your vcard to the worst possible candidate out of the bunch

[hawkeyedflame]

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#my new job is like a damn dream btw #i'm not getting paid as much as my target was but it more than makes up for it in really good work culture #and tons of employee engagement/amenities that are just fucking Nice #not that i utilize most of this but: cafe with free food and drinks. 24/7 on-site gym access. very flexible work schedule. #frequent free food events #discounts on sport/concert tickets/ski resorts/etc #unlimited PTO. tuition reimbursement. volunteer support (can take time out of your work day to do volunteer work while still getting paid). #my manager's ethic is: don't care what hours you work as long as you're here at the morning meeting and get all your work done #basically as long as i communicate i can work 7-3 or 8-4 or 9-5 or whatever suits my personal schedule #and i am allowed to leave when my work is done. no sitting around twiddling my thumbs trying to look busy #if all i have left is data analysis i can leave early and do it from home if i want #i can set up my work so that i can work from home once or twice a month. something i never thought I'd be able to do as a bench scientist #its so amazing compared to anywhere else I've worked #i'm sure it's laughable compared to the super wealthy pharma companies but those are evil places so i'm happy with this #ALSO i get regular raises and a merit bonus every year #just...wow what a great place to settle down for a few years