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delimeful · 9 months

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to taste your beating heart (8)

warnings: implied abuse, mild blood and injury, non-graphic blood drinking, vamp thralls, assumptions/miscommunication, lmk if i missed any

Anx hadn’t really believed the hunters about the whole ‘protecting the innocents’ thing.

Sure, he believed they believed it, but that didn’t necessarily make it true. There were all sorts of ways to ‘save’ someone, and there were all sorts of reasons to deem someone guilty instead of innocent. Especially if that someone happened to be a monster.

Hunters were hunters. They could try and use pretty words to conceal the truth of their occupation all they wanted, but it wouldn’t fool Anx.

They’d realize he couldn’t give them what they wanted soon enough, and then he’d be fair game; subject to however they actually treated the other vamps they ran into.

That’s what he’d thought, anyhow.

After having a coven head waltz into their house like he owned the place, convene for a private meeting with them, and then walk back out without a single threat issued or drop of blood spilled, though, he was beginning to re-evaluate his initial impression.

The entire situation had been so jarring and strange that he’d almost doubted its authenticity for a second, but there was no faking the scent of a coven head. Especially not one as well-established as... Janus.

(Something about the name scraped at him, like sandpaper against skin. It wasn’t the same sharp, piercing pain of ‘Virgil’, but it was disorienting nonetheless.)

He wouldn’t have thought a coven head was even capable of getting through an entire meeting without any blood spilled, especially a meeting with humans. Especially one where the humans in question seemed to spend half the time blatantly bickering with him.

If it had been his coven head that had been treated with such disrespect from beings as reviled and lowly as hunters…

He didn’t even like these humans, but the thought made him shudder.

Things were different around here, clearly. Everyone else already knew the rules, and he’d been left scrambling to catch up before it cost him.

“Fangtastic Four, are you even listening?” One of the insane humans in question prodded him in the side, eliciting an automatic low hiss.

Instead of looking even remotely threatened, Roman moved his finger up to point at Anx’s face instead.

“I’m over here putting my sweat, blood, and tears— mostly the blood, actually— into making sure you don’t wither away into a particularly pointy-toothed husk, and you aren’t even paying attention!” he accused, frowning theatrically at him.

What was this guy even talking about?

“Nope,” Anx replied, popping the 'P' with a casual air that would have gotten him cuffed at best by any older vamps in the coven. “I checked the kidnapee contract and ‘listen to my captor’s ramblings’ wasn’t on there. Add more fine print next time.”

Roman gaped at him for a moment, before pulling back slightly, his lips twisting with something Anx couldn’t read. In the next moment, he had returned to ranting, dramatic flourishes included. “I cannot believe you’re trying to pull the ‘poor, abducted victim’ card when you literally tried to take a bite out of Patton.”

Anx’s shoulders hunched slightly against his will, still waiting for the other shoe to drop even as he opened his mouth to snipe back. “Hey, I just call them how I see them. I was brought to a basement while unconscious, I can’t leave, and I’m wearing handcuffs. Facts are facts.”

Roman sighed exaggeratedly, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face. “Yes, well, don’t try to mind-control and-slash-or murder me during this whole bloodsucking thing, and we can discuss alternatives to the cuffs.”

As though the cuffs were the main problem.

“I feel like maybe you’re missing the bigger picture here,” Anx said, before the rest of the sentence registered. “Wait, you’re serious?”

Midway through the process of rolling his sleeve up to expose his vein, Roman raised a deeply judgmental eyebrow at him. “Have you been paying attention at all since my brother left?”

No, not really. Between the lingering haziness of his forced metal retreat and the bizarre fuzzy-feeling instincts that Remus had somehow activated, he’d been just disoriented enough for the conversation going on around him to go in one ear and out the other, leaving little to no actual impact on his brain. Something about research?

Somehow, he got the feeling that the others didn’t actually know Roman had decided to do this now. Letting a moderately untrustworthy vampire feed from him for the first time didn’t seem like the sort of thing they’d let him do alone.

This did explain why they’d returned to the room with the containment circle, though. His nose crinkled at the cloying smell of the runes, and he eyed the inactive circle with distaste.

He could already see the way things would go. He’d get to feed for precisely as long as they deemed necessary, probably the bare minimum required to keep him alive, and the moment he overstepped, all Roman would have to do was yank his arm back over that line and let the burn of the ward do the punishing for him.

What was the point of pretending this was an extension of trust, then? From within the circle, even if he did try to thrall Roman, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Hello? Tall, Dark, and Stormy, can we get on with it?” Roman cut into his thoughts, waving a hand in front of his face. Anx barely resisted the urge to bite it. “If you keep spacing out, you’re going to give me performance anxiety.”

“Performing? For what audience?” Anx snorted, and then watched with bemusement as Roman planted himself on one of the halloween-themed beanbag chairs.

“For an actor like me, all the world’s a stage,” he retorted, flapping his bared arm at Anx expectantly. “Now hurry up before I start developing stage fright.”

“What, you want to do it there?” he asked, brow furrowing as his gaze briefly slid over to the convenient, risk-free containment spell that was only a meter away. He was kidding, right?

“Remus said I would faint, and I’m fairly sure he was bullshitting me, but not sure enough to risk cracking my head open,” Roman replied dryly. “I’ve never actually done this bit before, you know.”

That wasn’t really what he’d been talking about, but whatever. It wasn’t like he was going to be the one to insist he be trapped, even if it was the obvious smart decision.

Anx tentatively sank into the matching purple beanbag chair next to the hunter, and wrapped his hand around the wrist of Roman’s arm, which had been helpfully (read: obnoxiously) shoved into his space.

Despite Roman’s faux-casual words, his heart was thumping a little too fast for him to be anywhere near relaxed. An actor, indeed.

Anx checked the doorway again, searching for shadows under the crack or the subtle turning of the knob. Any signs that the other two were waiting to pounce. Anything at all that indicated he was currently walking into the world’s most obvious set-up, other than his own panicked mind.

Nothing.

He frowned, eyes darting back down to the free meal he was being offered, and then sighed. Whatever the catch was, he might as well take advantage of the offer while he could.

Roman shifted antsily, darting glances at Anx from the corner of his vision. “Do you always take this long to— ow!”

—

Roman barely resisted the urge to twitch away as Anx sunk his teeth in, both from pain and indignation alike.

The pain faded only a second or two later, his lower arm going pleasantly numb, but he still felt like Anx could have been a little gentler about it. He would have appreciated a warning, at least!

He opened his mouth to say as much, and found that the part of his brain dedicated to coherent words seemed to have scuttled out of reach while he wasn’t looking.

Everything was a bit distant, now that he thought about it, like all his senses had been wrapped in a hazy layer of gauze. The realization caused a strange swoop in his stomach, but he couldn’t figure out what to do about it.

It was hard, thinking like this. All the important thoughts seemed to slip between his fingers and get lodged in hard to reach places like grains of sand. He blinked several times in rapid succession.

That seemed a little bit not good. Maybe he should have gotten one of the others to chaperone after all.

Anx was lifting his head now, gaze bouncing around the room like a hunted deer before finally settling on Roman.

Roman could feel the vamp’s nervousness, his gut-clenching anticipation, as though it was his own. He could feel the expectation of pain that hovered over his head like a guillotine, ever-present and automatic.

(Had Patton been able to tell just how wrung-out Anx was during his own stint under thrall? It explained the sympathy, at least.)

He also felt the moment that Anx realized that the thrall bond had snapped thoroughly into place between them. That for all his posturing, Roman wasn’t anywhere near experienced enough to throw it off or even resist it.

Anx could strip away his free will with the simplest of commands, and he wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.

He knew this was bad, logically. There was a part of him that was freaking out, but it had been confined to a small corner of his brain and cut off from the rest of him.

Physically, though, he’d never been more relaxed. His heart thumped along a steady metronome, his breaths coming deep and easy. According to his body, there was nothing to worry about.

His body was a dirty traitor, and there would not be any replenishing spa days for it in his near future.

Assuming he still had a future.

His fingers twitched again, and Anx followed the motion, still holding onto his arm with those icy fingers.

He stared at Roman’s sluggishly-bleeding bite mark for a long moment, worrying at his lip with a conflicted expression. Roman tried very hard to feel concerned about the likelihood that he was about to be drained by a vampire, and mostly failed.

“This is so stupid,” Anx muttered, and moved Roman’s arm back over to his side, releasing it.

In the same moment, Roman felt a mental tug, like an intangible line had been pulled taut, and then with a snap, the bond was severed.

For a few long seconds, he sat there, stunned by the sudden wave of sadness he felt at the rejection.

In the next moment, his survival instincts snapped back into place like a lock clicking, and he sucked in a sharp gasp of air, his heart rate kicking up belatedly as adrenaline surged through him. He fumbled for the dishtowel he’d brought and quickly wrapped it over the bite, just as an extra precaution.

“There. I played nice,” snapped Anx, his posture defensive as he watched Roman take big, gasping breaths. “Are you satisfied? Do I get to go home now?”

Roman held up a finger in a silent request for him to wait, still trying to shake the lingering effects of the bond. His whole body had gone from relaxed putty to rigid plastic in less than a second, and it was more than a little disorienting.

It had the added bonus of letting him actually think about his answer for a few moments, instead of letting the knee jerk response he wanted to give tumble out of his mouth. (This is your home.)

“We brought you here because we thought you were V– our friend,” he corrected hastily. “And because we thought you were in danger, and needed a safe place.”

“I’m not him.” Virgil’s glares had always been scathing, but the unnatural purple irises added a whole new layer of eerie.

“Yeah, we picked up on that much,” Roman said curtly, ignoring– for now– the way he’d noticed a hundred little mannerisms that Anx and Virgil shared. “But the rest of it, I’m not so sure we were wrong about.”

Anx blinked, his defensiveness stopped in its tracks by Roman’s easy agreement. “What?”

“Anx,” Roman said, the name strange in his mouth. “Were you in danger? If you went… went home, would it be a safe place?”

For a brief, telling moment, Anx hesitated.

“Of course it’s safe,” he snapped, a beat late. “Safer than I am in a den of hunters.”

Roman worked his jaw, trying not to dwell on all the signs he’d seen that the opposite was true. If Anx had retained even half of Virgil’s stubbornness, there was no point in arguing in circles to try to force him to change his mind.

A different tactic, then.

“If you stay with us for a while, we could at least help you recover some of your memories. You can’t tell me you’re not curious about your life before turning at all.”

Anx’s lip curled up in a half-snarl. “I can tell you that, actually. What came before doesn’t matter, anyways. That’s the whole reason why vamps lose memories after turning.”

“Uh,” Roman blinked, genuinely thrown off. “Not to be contrarian, but that’s not true? Remus was turned, and he probably remembers more stories about our childhood than I do.”

Mostly so he could embarrass Roman at every opportunity, but still.

“I’ve actually never heard of memory loss as a symptom of being turned,” he added, trying not to let his concern crease his brow too obviously.

Anx had gone statue-still, and Roman bit his lip for a second before reaching out to set a tentative hand on his arm. “Are you–?”

“Don’t touch me,” Anx snarled, and in the next moment, he was on his feet and then bolting out the door.

Roman sat upright with some half-formed intention of going after him, or at least letting the others know that their resident vampire was upset, and then promptly flopped back against the beanbag as the world spun nauseatingly around him.

Right. Blood loss. He’d just text them then.

Letting his head fall back, he stared at the deep purple walls of the room and tried very hard to not think about how much he missed Virgil, and mostly failed.

#sanders sides fic #vampire au #to taste your beating heart #ttybh #ts virgil #ts roman #my writing #writing #queue

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karnaca78 · 11 months

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I'm looking forward to see your exploration of the Dishonored scientific lore! Roseburrow's an intriguing soul, considering he had his best intentions, had difficult time and lived in poverty and then... he's famous innovator with guilt conscience. I see your Esmond on the edge of the discovery - not yet enough resources and support, but he feels he might soon bring great changes in the society. Any natural philosopher is remarkable, the developers really made the game's lore worth of interest, Sokolov from the first Dishonored is my absolute favorite. Renaissance man with many talents and complex character. Perhaps, Dr. Galvani is another interesting scientist. He's as well passionate about his work; marks the day he had a conversation with Sokolov as the greatest day in his entire lifetime; once was Granny Rags' doctor; studied the rat plague, kept a bunch of rats in his house for that case (there was an incident which resulted with a severed arm that can be found near the rat pantry); he can be robbed by the protagonist at least thrice after which he becomes understandably paranoid (I also loved his notes, he seems like an ardent man, maybe choleric). I even find some similarities with Piero. I'm curious what people imagine him look like. Oh, and you can think of the parallels with scientists from the real world! I'm certain there's a lot. P.s. I have no idea if I made any spelling mistakes, but I hope my rant is somehow coherent. I wish you luck :)

Hello! First and foremost, I thank you kindly for your interest and your support, it's very much appreciated!! :)

Your message is very interesting, and there's a lot to say about all of these scientists.

Starting with Roseburrow, I think that's an unjustly forgotten character. Probably because we barely hear of him at all in the games, and not everyone has seen the beautiful Tales of Dunwall shorts. But without his breakthrough, who knows what the Empire would have looked like at the time of Corvo and Emily's story? He's a truly pivotal figure and I think it right to pay him tribute somehow. So yes, I wanted to depict him as he was in his younger years; idealistic, full of good intentions and gifted with a true belief in science despite the hardships thrown his way.

Sokolov, too, is a man of many faces! By 1837 and the Rat Plague outbreak, he has completely eclipsed Roseburrow (whose death is still recent!) with his deadly contributions to natural philosophy. On the other hand, he is the Royal Physician and an accomplished artist. Although his methods aren't always the most commendable, he's also a fascinating character.

As for Galvani! That's a good idea. I don't envision him as a genius, and not really as a pivotal scientist in the grand scheme of things, but I agree that his works and his character in general are very interesting too. He's a bit of a shape-shifter as far as I'm concerned: almost menacing in Dishonored, because his apartment anx experiments are honestly very creepy; less so in Dishonored 2, where robbing him is played more as comic relief and there isn't a mission that features him extensively like in the previous game. Representing him would be an interesting challenge, so thank you for the idea!

Researching real scientists and their artistic representations is also a great inspiration, of course! It's pretty clear that Sokolov is heavily inspired by Da Vinci, whereas Jindosh is something of an "evil" rendition of Nikola Tesla. Hypatia, too, is named after a very real Greek philosopher! I'm not sure about the others, but perhaps someone else can provide insight on them.

Forgive me for rambling! I'm very happy to share my thoughts on Dishonored lore and your contribution is very thought-provoking.

Thank you again for your message and have a great day! :)

#ask answered #dishonored #dishonored lore #science illustration #natural philosophy #thank you for your message!#esmond roseburrow #anton sokolov #luigi galvani #alexandria hypatia #kirin jindosh #piero joplin

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 2 years

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*crashes into your inbox like a feral raccoon* REQUESTS ARE OPEN, REQUESTS ARE OPEEEEEEN

Anyway, I have been hyperfixiating on the porniplier boys.

I wanted to ask on some HC's of some of them (Specifically Date, Pizza man, Plumber, anx life guard) reacting to their S/o blanking out on them out of no where? Like the S/o was the DA before, and when they warped to the porn's universe the crystal stopped working for a while?

And the reason of them blanking out is because they keep getting a glance at the house mirror? And it just reminds them of what happened back at Markiplier manor?

I hope this makes sense-

- 🚬 anon

Date

“We can go roller-skating or get ice cream or see that new movie or...!!”

This dumb himbo doesn’t realize you stopped listening to him until he’s out of breath. But not on purpose.

You’ve been stuck here since the crystal ran out of juice, adjusting to your new life and going on some dates with your new bf, remembering how messy the first one got.

But you'd often find yourself blanking out in front of the beautiful bronze-rimmed mirror in the apartment.

It reminds you of that manor...where you were once imprisoned. Just lots of bad memories.

Date eventually stops rambling and sees you staring at yourself, bringing you out of the trance by making you face him, giving you a hug and a smooch against your helmet.

“Hey, don’t worry. You look amazing! You may see something else but I see someone who’s super handsome and/or beautiful <3″

Pizza Guy

He stopped charging you for pizzas long ago.

You can repay him in other ways, he says ;)

But you let him stay at your apartment for as long as he wants. He doesn’t wanna go back to his shitty job. He’d rather spend time with you than deal with another entitled customer.

One night, he comes in with the spare key and sees you spaced out in front of your mirror.

He thinks you were checking yourself out but then notices your blank stare and gets worried.

Like Date, he’d try hugging you and distract you with compliments.

“Say, I heard a new Italian restaurant just opened. Let’s get some pizza there..it’s gotta be a thousand times better than the shit I’m selling.”

Plumber

Turns out he’s actually here to fix the pipes.

But tbh it’s also just an excuse for him to see you again while he's working. He just can’t stay away from your apartment for long.

Though when he asks you what he should inspect, he sees you just staring at the mirror, confused..

“Is uh..your mirror broken?”

“I don’t know..” You mutter, still lost in your trance.

You suddenly regain focus when he awkwardly coughs and you’re embarrassed that you got distracted. “Oh! S-Sorry, uh..I think it’s a water leak coming from the bedroom.”

“Gotcha. Let’s go check it out, shall we~?” He winks.

Lifeguard

His attempts at flirting with you end with him ranting about his chronic fear of the ocean.

Poor guy’s laying across the couch and you’re like “it’s okay babe”, listening to him.

But you do catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and just..blank out, remembering things you'd rather forget.

However he takes your vacant expression as one of boredom and he sighs, apologizing. “Oh well, at least I still look hot, right?”

Then you come back to your senses and reassure him you were listening and that it was okay if he didn’t like his job.

“Actually uhhhh I wanna downgrade to a pool lifeguard...do you guys already have those here?”

“Nope. Just a “swim at your own risk” sign.”

“..ohh, so could I be your personal lifeguard then?” He smirks, making you flushed.

#clanask #smoke anon #iswm 2 x reader #in space with markiplier x reader #porniplier x reader #headcanons

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coldercreation · 5 months

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Have you ever been in a relationship before?

(Short answer:) I have dated before but not in a serious and longterm enough way that I’d call it ‘being in a relationship’, if that makes sense? Like, I’ve never thought of someone as my boyfriend/ex, so it's just been dating that never became serious enough to turn into a proper relationship.

(Longer TMI ramble answer lmao:)

I've mentioned this before, both in the context of writing Nat's anxiety for CYE and just simply ranting here, that I used to be really anx-depresso for years and years. I had zero interest or energy for anything for the longest time, including anything social. So while other people were doing the usual young people things and getting these experiences, I was just a sad blob getting through them days</3 Crappy times but great source material for writing realistic emotions for all sorts of different scenarios in stories😩 ANywho, I've always been pretty romance-y even when sad blobbing, so when I finally started to get out of that a lil and felt a bit more human, I wanted to try the whole dating thing too. So far I've never really clicked with anyone though, which is why it’s never gone past the more casual dating stage.

In the last few years I noticed that I really don’t like the whole dating thing in general, at least not in the way it’s gone for me in the past. Learned that I hated being in a situation where the dating started with us having the same expectations (relationship, not casual), but somehow I'd end up feeling like only I was hoping to build that relationship / care / connection, and the other person was just after the physical side. I really didn’t like how it felt like the only way to get attention from these guys was through that route, and my people pleasing butt took a bit too long to realise that that was not a fitting vibe for me😅 Left me feeling a lil bit too insecure and objectified for it to be acceptable in my books :’) But so it goes, it's a learning process like anything else. Still, I decided not to do that at all for now: the next time I’ll even consider ‘dating’ someone, I want to feel like there’s some more connection first and not just physical attraction or whatever.

It’s just tricky because dating in general seems to traditionally rely on that physical attraction and angle from the get go, and it's so fast. Like, dating apps always rely on the visual side of things from the start, y’know, and you're generally just expected to jump right into it. If a stranger asks me out somewhere, my first reaction is usually a whiplash because… wait, you don’t even know me??😭 (I find people attractive physically/aesthetically too, but that's more secondary for me in the beginning compared to sensing a good, matching vibe from someone over a longer period of time) I know dating is supposed to be about getting to know someone…. but I guess after all these years and experiences, it just easily gives me a weird ick when someone approaches me based on just my looks alone?

Asdfgh it’s confusing, I don’t know how to explain!! Like, compliments and interest is nice obviously, but I guess the next time before I date/go meet someone with the intention of dating, I want us to actually know each other a little bit so I know they actually like me too?? So it’s not dating just because they’re horny and they think I’m fit lmao :')

#Are/Have you been in a relationship? xx #I feel like I lost my train of thought like 10 times while I wrote this sorry lmaoo oh well #ohhhh adding to the last bit:#It's not really about Me needing the time to like Them #I just need to feel like they actually like Me and not just the way I look ????? ehh dunnooo #Another part of #ask me simple questions #get a whole essay as an answer #xo xo #go piss girl

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