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#there is something. there IS a pattern. they're so different but also. are they..........
ysrjune · 3 days
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(i feel like i need to let you guys know that I HAVE to listen to the song on repeat 4 a few times to really get me going for this fic 😔)
also i know the ending kinda sucks Im SORRY
Into You ✦
Sam had texted you to dress nicely since he was taking you to a nice restaurant. It's so sweet of him to do this even though you forced him out of your life for 6 years.
Luckily, you had packed a few nice dresses in case something special came up. This was definitely something special. The color of the dress was plain but had a cute pattern all over it. You did your hair in whatever way you thought looked the best and added a few other details like rings, earrings, and a necklace after finishing your makeup.
To top it all off, you sprayed your favorite perfume, and you were done getting ready. You had a couple of minutes to wait until Sam came by to pick you up. You spent that short amount of time talking pictures and becoming a little nervous about how this is gonna go.
Your mom came knocking at your door, smiling. “He’s here,” She entered, admiring how beautiful her little girl looked. “You look so gorgeous, my love.” A tear nearly fell from her eye. You smile softly to her and give her a gentle hug. “Thank you, mom. I'll see you later.”
You went outside to find Sam with a bouquet of flowers. “Looks like someone really outdid herself on the whole look, huh?” He huffed a chuckle, totally checking you out. “You're the one who told me to dress nice.” You say with a twirl while walking over to him so he could see the whole outfit.
“Well, you listened.” Sam smiled down at you and passed over the flowers. “Oh, Sam. I love th—”, “ah-ah. they're for your mom.” He cut you off, making you look to the side, then back to him with confusion. “Um, what?” You asked before he shook his head with a laugh. “Just messin’ with you, n/n.” Oh, so you leave for a few years and all of a sudden he thinks hes a comedian..
“Come on, let's go.” He reached his arm around you, leading to his car. This is so weird.. Sam has never been the type to be so touchy, talkative, or confident. He really was like a new person.
The car ride was anything but quiet and awkward. He started all the conversations, as well as kept them going. “A year after you left, I realized how big of a loser I was. Weird, too.” He cringed at the memory of how he used to be. “I was so pale, too. I genuinely looked so unwell. So, I decided to go out more to get tanned.”
He had worked in construction for a while so he could have more color to his skin, and it worked really well. He also told you about how he started working out to not be scrawny. The brown hair with blondish tints was actually because he didn't like the black and blue anymore. Eye makeup? How child like.
Listening to the reasons why he changed was different than you expected. Way different.
Dinner went well. You told him about your studies and life after graduating. Sam made sure to pay attention at all times. You also learned that your cousin wasn't lying about so many girls liking him. “I went out with a few, had sex with one, and regretted it. They didn't like me for who I am. They just liked me cause I stopped being so emo.” He laughed at it.
“Did you like them for who they were?” He rolled his eyes at your question. “Well, duh. I don't go out with girls just cause they're cute. All those girls I dated, I got to really know before, and it's not like I went out with all the ones who wanted me.” He sips his drink, “Some of them were skanks, and I didn't wanna catch anything. And some of them were just.. not good at all, yknow? Cant believe some girls think being rude is flirting.”
“Did you start looking more for personality than looks after Alyssa?” You crack a joke, hoping that he doesn't take it the wrong way. “Yep. Most definitely.” He replied with that charming smile.
Dinner was mostly catching up. After paying, he took you to his house. Lets just say one thing led to another, and you were arguing about how you just up and left like that.
“You promised! You promised that you'd call and visit, but you lied! If you wanted me to disappear from your life, you could have fucking said that!” He sort of shouted. “Sam, I didn't want to erase you from my life. I just wanted to live a little!”
“That doesn't make any sense. You probably just didn't care about me anymore after meeting new people. Look, its fucked up, but you can say it if you want. After all, it shouldn't matter anymore cause you're here now, right?” He says sarcastically.
“I waited for you to call me for 6 years! almost a whols decade, y/n!” He crossed his arms. “I don't know if it ever occurred to you that the phone works both ways, Sam.” You yell at him.
“No, dont pull that shit on me because I did call. I tried, but you know what? You changed your god damn number.” He sounded so mad and frustrated. “Do not play with me right now. Just say it already.”
“Okay! I stopped caring! Im sorry, Sam. That was stupid of me. I was like, your only friend. I know!” You replied and put yourself on his arms for a hug. As much as he wanted to push away, he wasnt like that. At least he wasn't gonna be like that after you apologized.
he sighed, arms wrapping around you and chin resting on your shoulder. “I know you're sorry. At least you're here now.” His big hands slide up and down your back. “Missed you so much.”
You sniffled into his chest and mumbled out the same. “Let me tell you something.” He says and sits you on the couch. “If I wasn't in love with you, I wouldn't have cared thaf you left. I was so used to people leaving already, so it wouldn't have mattered. but you had me so head over heels. that's the biggest reason I was mad.”
You sort of knew he had a little crush on you, but in love? “You're lying.” He shook his head. “Why would I lie?” Fuck, thats true. “To get back at me, maybe.” You sigh. “Sam, im gonna be honest, I never had a whole crush on you, but I did think about us being a couple sometimes. When you were with Alyssa, I was thinking about how I could treat you so much better.”
“Then why didn't you? I would have said yes. Didn't you realize how often I'd rather spend time with you than her? I wanted it to be you.” He spoke softly, tangling yours and his fingers together. “I've never gotten over you. I look for you in every girl I go out with. Whether it's personality or if she has the slightest resemblance..”
Okay, Sam.. what the fuck. but also, aw! “That's.. kind of weird, but sweet in a way.” You say with a giggle. “Yeah, I guess.” Sam shrugged, accidentally looking down at your boobs. “Um, sorry.” He looked away and blushed.
No matter how much he changed, he was never gonna fully get rid of that shy guy in him. “It's okay.” You laughed at him and decided to stroke his cheek with your hand. “You've always been so cute when you blush.”
“Yeah, okay.” He says in a deepened, sarcastic voice and rolls his eyes. “Its just. blushing. Nothing about that should be amusing.” , “But it is!” Your hand went to mess with his curly hair.
“You look really good with long hair, too.” You keep complimenting him on his appearance until he rushed in for a kiss. His hands went to your hips, rubbing up and down until they got a little more nosy and rubbed your thighs, making you shiver.
“Sam, what are you doing..” You mumbled against his lips. “I couldn't hold back anymore. I needed to do something.” He mumbled back and pecked your lips one more time before shifting to your neck. “Sam, what if someone sees—” That made him smile against you. “Silly, no one's gonna see. I live alone.”
One thing led to another, and now he had two fingers in you on his bed. So much happened too fast. You couldn't remember what even led to this. “Sam, faster, please.” You whimper, holding onto his forearm. “Why, you don't like me going slow? Don't like when I'm being nice?” He whispered into your ear, speeding up the pace just a little bit.
“No, I—,” What were you supposed to say? You were already at a loss of words, getting so stimulated by his long fingers. “Can't say anything else, baby?” He smirked and shook his head. “It's okay. Just let me make you feel good.” He removed his fingers and put them on his mouth, sucking off all the cum you left.
He let his cock free from his boxers and slid it on between your folds, causing a moan to leave your mouth. “You like that?” He questioned, not expecting you to react like that. You nod your head at Sam, letting your hand find its way to his cock and inserting it into you for him.
Sam let a breathy moan escape him as you did this. “Shit, you couldn't wait?” He grips your hips, swallowing. “So tight. It's better than I ever imagined.” He groaned, moving in and out slowly. “Can I go faster, please? pleasepleaseplease.” Every plead was said with every thrust.
You nod your head, keeping your eyes on his face. He looked so good in the dim light. All sweaty, eyebrows knitted together. “Sam, ‘m gonna cum.” you scratch at his back. “yeah? so do it then. cum all over my cock, s’okay, pretty.” his cock went deeper inside you.
just a couple more thursts, and it was over for you. He edged himself for a little while so he could make you finish 2 more times before he slid in between your folds and came all over them. the way he would only whimper when be was close was so cute.
He stayed lying on your chest for a short while as you twirled his locks in your fingers. “Please dont leave. I can't lose you again.” Was he asking you to move all the way back here again? The first thought that came to your mind was yes, but then you went deeper into thought, thinking about your friends back over where you lived now.
“I'll..” You pause, looking at him. Look at you with his pretty eyes. “stay.”
Great.
Timeskipping to a year later, he asked you to be his official girlfriend and to move in with him. And of course you said yes! Life with Sam Monroe is perfect. Hes so sweet and gentle all the time, even when hes upset. Hes all you could ever ask for in a boyfriend.
tags: @heartsforanakin @sockiess @radiantvader @anakinstwinklebunny @lunalitva @lvrfay3 @froggyfrip @geckoomoria @espinathena-17 @demieyesore @your-arm-is-minty-fresh @gallerygourmet @haydensprettyprincess 🎀
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DCA Subnautica AU
Version #2 of the designs, including the bioluminescence! + fun tidbits on each of the goobers and a visual on Y/N!
Eclipse is up first!
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Theirs was the first design I drew out in any detail (as shown in the crude MS Paint drawing), so it's the one that needed the most work. Even after making the more detailed version with the lights, I still ended up changing things as I got a better grasp on what direction I wanted to head in. Fun lore tidbit! Eclipse is a freak of nature and should not look like that! They're properly split down the middle between day and night. Also I messed it up in the drawing because I was tired when I made it, but they're also covered in scars and bite marks.
Sun !!
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I did Sun next, and here I had a better idea for what I was going for. There were still a few problems with this design though, which got changed. This is also where I started drawing the pattern on the tail, which I felt looked weird in this picture. Fun tidbit! Sun has an inability to express his feelings in the appropriate fish mermaid way, leading to much confusion.
Moon !!
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Moon was done last. Once again, I learned from this drawing and changed Moon's design to match, however Moon is the one that remains the most unchanged! I knew what I was going for by the time I got to him each time, so I guess that helped. Something I did alter, however, were some of the lights. I found that they either blended together too much or weren't as visible as I would have liked. Fun tidbit! This is pose actually based on a scene in one of the chapters. It was actually one of the earliest written scenes.
Y/N, my beloved <3
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I did 2 versions of Y/N, one with longer hair and one with shorter. It was important for me, when writing the story, that I kept the person I'm imagining as vague as possible, with the only physical descriptions being "physically fit" and having a few scars (for plot reasons), so this is only for me and whatever drawings I do. As a result of trying to keep it vague, I ended up going with the shorter hair (though in the final reference I made it a bit longer than shown here). Fun tidbit! The green is because whenever I'm sketching, I have 4 colours I sketch in to differentiate parts of the picture (usually background vs foreground or different people), and green was the one I used here (red, blue and purple were taken, I'm sure you can understand why). It ended up sticking, since I didn't want to go with the orange that's on Ryley's suit in order to avoid possible confusion.
That's it for now! At some point, I'll post the full references for each of them, but until then, the next thing I post will probably be chapter 1!
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widevibratobitch · 6 months
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me when im drawing parallels between my favourite characters from completely different media that have nothing whatsoever in common........ or do they
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mars-ipan · 6 months
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overcoming anxiety (through practicing the things that scare you) is so interesting. i used to be horrified of taking up space or alerting other people of my presence. now i'm compelled to tell strangers i like their outfits or hair or earrings- on bad days i tell maybe a quarter of them. do i still overthink it? absolutely. but i call attention to myself to tell someone else my opinion. and with the way they tend to smile and tell me "thank you!" i'm pretty sure it's taken to heart.
i used to be horrified of making phone calls as well. this is one i'm still getting over- i just Don't Like Doing It. i used to have a phone call routine that i still joke about- realize i need to call someone, cry, avoid it for a few days, suck it up, write a script, memorize the script, cry again, final script read, make the call with the script in front of me. and i would be Exhausted by the end of it. i don't cry when i need to call people anymore. i'm even needing scripts less and less- i've found out that people actually won't kill me if i talk a little too fast or stumble on my words. i doubt i'll ever like making phone calls- i especially hate robots (i'm afraid they'll mishear me and direct me wrong or a person will suddenly show up and i won't be prepared)- but i can make them now.
i get overwhelmed really easy. just a thing that happens to me. my brain is really really good at taking one task and breaking it up into thousands of little tasks and it feels like i'm drowning. if i try to make it fewer larger tasks then it starts to feel insurmountable. i was completely lost on how to deal with this (other than avoid until you get that panic attack and can do work in the post-catharsis calm until 6:00 AM) until one night when my dad (who i often meet late at night due to overlapping mental illness symptoms) asked me how to eat an elephant. i looked at him, confused, and he said "one bite at a time." that was way more effective than any other analogy i've seen has been. "light at the end of a tunnel"- i don't feel like i'm moving forward, i feel like i'm scaling a wall. "steps on a trail"- i can see my destination, but it feels impossible to move forward. but eating an elephant? that sums it up perfectly. this huge task which seems impossible at a glance. but it must be done. so you eat the elephant, a bite at a time. every time i'm overwhelmed i repeat that phrase to myself. it hasn't made any major changes yet, but it keeps me calm enough to start before i hit the panic attack, which i'll take.
i was such a perfectionist growing up- i actually thought it was a good thing (school always taught me to strive for perfection). but it made me scared to try new things- if i wasn't immediately good at them, then it clearly wasn't for me. i'm still not great at starting new hobbies, but i try a lot of new things within the hobbies i already have. i test out different ways of making art, i try new puzzle games i don't understand, etc. and the feeling of steady improvement reminds me that i don't need to be good right away. some of the most satisfying moments don't come from immediately being good- they come from achieving that skill over time. i'd like to try to learn to sew soon.
idk it's interesting. i rewire my own brain's fear response by doing the Horrifying Thing enough times for me to understand that no i will not die. and while i'm doing it it feels like nothing is changing. i get so stressed every time- it can actually take a lot out of me (turns out fight-or-flight burns a lot of energy). but i look back at then vs. now and i realize how far i've come, and i can't help but think "huh. neat"
#marzi speaks#this post has no point. i am simply thinking out loud#i think understanding the root of where the anxiety comes from helps a lot too#like. my mom feels most secure when she's in control#she doesn't like situations in which she can't control how she responds or what happens when she does#it makes her feel helpless. and that's how her GAD affects her#it's also why her fear response is 'fight'- she stress-cleans and expresses authority because those are things she can control#it's a self-soothing technique#but for me it's different. i'm most at ease when i know where i am and what's going on#this could be for plenty of reasons. i'm bad at directions and time blind so i feel lost easily#i had to learn to do a lot of things by myself growing up because my brother needed a bit of extra attention#my parents used to sometimes forget to tell me about things- i wouldn't know we were going somewhere until they asked me if i was ready#or even just that i was always surrounded by so much information and i love learning with my whole heart#when i can't know what will happen next or why something's happening in the first place i get disoriented and frightened#i don't need to have a say in what will happen. i just need to know. then i can roll with the punches#this is why MY fear responses are flight and freeze#i self-isolate because i know environments like my room and my mind#other people are unpredictable. i know what i will do#i like puzzles because they're something i can learn and figure out. once i understand it's a matter of patterns#and they take my mind off of the unknown i'm worried about#my mom will engage in a lot of conflict behavior. i engage in a lot of avoidant behavior#yes this caused arguments growing up lmao. i'd be freaking out abt smth and she'd be confused as to why i wasn't just going and fixing it#or she'd be freaking out abt smth and i'd be confused as to why she didn't try to just get all the facts#but we're better communicators abt that now teehee#it's interesting though. we have the same illness (generalized anxiety disorder) and are similar in a lot of ways#but because our root fears are different our responses to them are different#this could also be learned#my mom grew up poor and didn't get to do a lot- she worked her ass off to have financial freedom#i grew up comfortable with every question i asked entertained by two very smart parents. when a question can't be answered i feel dissonant#it's probably a bit of both in some cyclical manner. still nifty to think about
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xellandria · 3 months
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Do you ever think about your OC's accents? I know folks often do voice claims for their characters, but if your stuff was being adapted into a format with audio, how would they all sound in relation to each other and in your native language? Would everybody just have the "normal" regional accent for your area (whether that be locally or country-wide), would certain characters be exceptions? How deep down the rabbit hole do you go, and is this a dark, dangerous door for me to have opened? :P
#xellafail#I've been thinking about it a lot for some reason#and while I can't say I have any specific accents chosen for any of my characters#I do know Karra and Sevvie and James would all sound different than the rest of the cast#because they're not from the area it takes place in#(or in James' case the time period it takes place in lol)#Xella-or-whatever-Xella's-replacement-ends-up-being would probably have a 'fake' accent that blends in and a 'real' accent that doesn't#I'm tempted to say that Alex would be given whatever accent seems to be the most 'swoon-worthy' in the states at any given time#so like australian or soft texan or something like that#(what are people swooning over these days idrk)#Sevvie's the only one that has a sort of 'grounded' accent#but even that's kind of up in the air#because I vacillate daily between her being some flavour of British#(because when R made the character she was leaning heavily on BTVS' Spike for it)#and californian#(because her language patterns are heavily californian and also that's where we were at the time)#which is a weird ping ponging in my head but there you go lol#almost all the Hellfyres would have the local accent#Kanos might be SLIGHTLY different due to James' influence but not significantly so#don't even talk to me about my D&D characters tho bc I have absolutely no idea lmao#I think I've been thinking about it because of the new-ish Castlevania series#where everyone's british except for the aztec vampire#even the french folks#also I guess the russian lady#and possibly more characters I haven't run into bc I'm having a real hard time getting through it#but like everyone's from the same place even though they're not!#and it's driving me crazy for some reason#(I think I listened to the og castlevania series in french maybe that'd help here)
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nateserenas · 1 year
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literally to present the world with a better version of you which could mean facing your future and and forgetting past mistakes or finally settling on a brand new path while they both stare at ticket stubs from a film they saw together (literally they both kept the tickets...) and then they promptly throw away the ticket stubs as though they've just been burnt because they catch themselves doing something terrible - thinking about each other. (literally they both kept the tickets but then absolutely did not think about why they'd kept the tickets, because as if they've reached a point where they'll allow themselves to realise that maybe it's possible for them to enjoy each other's company yet. and then them throwing away the tickets is them being like nope refusing to think about why I kept this it never happened i definitely did not willingly engage in recreational activity with dan humphrey/blair waldorf and then i definitely definitely definitely did not keep the evidence it just didn't happen none of it happened i will not think about it ticket gone means no more thoughts on the matter okay case closed moving on time to go visit serena...)
#AND THEN THEY BOTH LITERALLY GO VISIT SERENA#gg voice while dan is walking out the door to see serena “ and forgetting past mistakes” blair looking at her resume blair walks into seren#but a new year doesn'#sn't wipe away old problems#dan&serena proceed to lock themselves into the same dance they've been doing since high school and it's#blair's words that are a significant part of breaking dan specifically out of it#and then blair with her resume trying to figure out where she belongs in the world and her terror at the thought of becoming her mother lea#s to her plotting and scheming for something she doesn't actually want that much#and it's in talking to dan that she starts to let herself make plans for her life based on who she is and what she actually wants to be#rather than planning her future to run from the fears that have haunted her her whole life#it's about how they've always seen each other the mistakes theyve made what they're afraid of#but also the beauty they're forced to admit exists in their enemy/frenemy (depending on the day)#so it's like now they're talking and they're showing each other how they see each other and it's so very different from how anybody else se#es them and it's these pictures that are completely different but completely accurate that help them break the patterns of their pasts#in that the newness the difference allows for the realisation of “youre not what you were” and the accuracy is like i know you we'll show e#ch other what we actually are we see each other#okay now i'm#just rambling but it's them running away from the fact that they enjoyed each other's company and then proceeding to spend the episode trap#ped in patterns they've been trapped in forever until they help each other realise that they don't have to be trapped forever and then they#end the episode beginning to actually face the future and settle on a new path when they go see another movie together#okay done now so sorry this is insanely long help
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Very strange outfit that is sort of like.. a mix of my current style (pattern mixing, pom poms, fun sandals) combined with how I dressed when I was like 10 years old. The stereotypical skelanimals hoodie vest and the skull t-shirt lol.. 
#self#kit the cat you will always be famous#all that like 2004 - 2008 emo & scene fashion is kind of like goth fashion in that I largely am not into it really but ALSO I can respect#elements of the aesthetic. Especially pattern mixing. plaid with stripes?? with checker print also?? Very cool. Less with scene stuff since#the patterns were all like#animal prints which was worse hghjbjh.. cheeta print with zebra print with checkers is a little weirder. I think I just don't like animal#prints though. Striped parts of hair are cool though still actually to me unironically like. If it wasn't so associated with sceney stuff#still I would maybe have some stripes lol#Googling skelanimals now most of it is unappealing to me but there are a few things that are cool. there's a jacket that has stripes and#heart print mixed together. Do I just really like pattern mixing?? ghbjhbhj.. that seems like the qualification.#T-shirt? no . boring. I hate it. Will never wear it. Same exact t-shirt in the same exact style except part of it is floral and the other pa#rt is striped and it also has like lace lining or something so it's more detailed looking? wow . perfect. I love it.#Silly skull animal hoodie in plain black? boring. no. never. Same hoodie but now each sleeve is a diferent pattern? Wow.. truly amazing#I can be won over by anything that's gaudy/busy/over complicated. That quote about like ''once you think your outfit is perfect remove one#more accesory'' or whatever about minimalism and not overcomplicating a look except the opposte. Once you think your outfit is perfect add 8#more items. also they all should be different patterns. hghjbhj#ANYWAY.. I do like some of the concepts of some of the older fashion. Like t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt and they're both different#patterns. and then a skirt that's a different pattern. and some tights or socks that are also assymetrical or some like complimentary#other pattern. Stripes + plaid especially. Famous combination. And the having like 667495789789 little plastic bracelets. No idea what was#up with that since I'm too socially out of touch especially when I was in school (I remember hearing that like some colors#of bracelet mean different things or something) but it was an interesting aesthetic. And the wrist bands#The t-shirt is from walmart from when I think I wasnt even in middle school yet still late elementary school and I remember thinking it was#the coolest thing ever because usually you had to go to hot topic or something to get clothes with skulls on them. And it's so so weird look#ing like. the colors?? are ugly and shouldnt work but actually I still kind of like the aesthetic. green with pink and weird mustardy yellow#and gray??? Maybe I only like it because it has different patterns (skulls + checkers + dots + hearts)#Anyway it's a really funny t-shirt to me. One of those weird items that is captivating for some reason#And the hoodie I actually owned a long time ago too. but I think I got it later. I had one other skelanimals thing which was a jacket and it#was like 5 sizes too big for me which I loved. And I remember being really obsessed with the font they used on their tags and trying to#replicate writing that way. not the newer gothy one. but the old logo font like.. it looks like Curlz MT or something lol
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kindaeccentric · 9 months
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Me: posts something from Midnight Mass
Mutuals: Ok, HEAR ME OUT
#BUT I LOVE IT#i love feeling like i have impact on the world even on such a small fairly insignificant scale#and i love you guys#anyway my opinion is:#flanagan is still better in his og stuff than doing adaptations#he has a fairly good grasp of building relationships between characters BUT he seems to struggle with the stories themselves.#he builds and builds this grand idea but then his endings go out with a fizzle not a boom#don't get me wrong the series was entertaining but the actors were a huge part of it they really worked their asses off#if not the charm of hamish linklater and the charisma of everyone else it would fall a bit flat#and of course you gotta let your actors do their thing but the story shouldn't rely on them to be good#i feel like flanagan loves references and patterns too much to the point where he becomes drunk on the concepts and the plot suffers.#which i can understand bc i also love patterns BUT#when you're creating a tv series you can't lose the forest for the trees#(i didn't mind the monologues tho! that's not where the problem lies surprisingly.#it's more the way they're written and how the story is - it's supposed to be deep and it is but it loses the depth when it's overexplained.#sometimes you wish something was withheld from you as the viewer.#like the moment of silence when riley goes out at night and sees the world differently. i really like that moment of stillness#where everything he could have said was felt rather than explained.#so there's that)#i also wish he was more daring#because in the end everything was very simple and explainable. all the reasons all the relationship dynamics.#i personally would push for more ambiguity. more moments of uncertainty and madness#it was all very constrainted. despite there being a literal winged vampiric creature hanging around.#which btw was underutilized. OR could have been eliminated altogether. that would have been interesting.
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3hks · 2 months
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How to Write REALISTIC and SMOOTH Dialogue
In a story, dialogue is quite important, it helps the readers paint a picture of what's happening and the characters themselves. However, it can be difficult to avoid the unnaturalness and choppiness that comes with a lack of experience. But luckily, I have put together A LOT of advice on how you can get over that rockiness and improve!
*** KEEPING YOUR DIALOGUE REALISTIC, AND PACING ***
>> Keep your characters in character:
Dialogue is a remarkably quick way for readers to determine your character's personality. Thus, you want their speech patterns to remain fairly consistent so the audience won't get confused. If your character is more serious, then they will use less slang and perhaps a more impressive vocabulary. If your character is more relaxed, they will use more slang and compress the words. (such as "dunno," "kay," "y'know," etc.)
Basically, you want their tone to match their traits so the way that they talk is more realistic and personlized to themselves. If the way all your characters speak is the same, there's something wrong. A strong tip is to put yourself in your character's shoes and imagine how they would respond!
>> Take the situation into consideration:
This is another part of keeping your characters in, well, character. Different emotional situations will have a different effect on separate people, so make sure that you have an idea of how your character will act during stressful, irritating, and sad times.
If your character is normally cold, they will struggle if it comes to comforting other people because they have less experience in that field.
>> Don't take too long with their words:
Unlike when narrating something, most people talk just to get the idea across. They will be more specific and quicker with what they say. (This excludes any character who likes to talk a lot.) Unless it's on purpose, they won't dance around the topic. Think of when you casually chat with your friends; you're pretty unlikely to use certain words and/or phrases that might be common to use while narrating.
If you want to explain something complicated, instead of writing out a paragraph of just one person talking, use a question-and-answer prompt! This is where another character continuously asks related questions that get answered by another person, so you can indirectly reveal your explanation.
*** HOW TO WRITE A SMOOTHER CONVERSATION AND DIALOGUE TAGS***
>> Having a variety of dialogue tags:
This is a pretty basic thing to look out for if you're new to writing conversations. Using words like "said," every other sentence can easily make it feel choppy and robotic. Instead, use words like "murmured," "smirked," etc. to paint some emotion into their words. Additionally, vary the location of the dialogue tags! They don't all have to go after the statement, you can include something in the beginning or even the middle, too!
Examples:
Beginning - She tilted her head, "What are you talking about?"
Middle - "Oh," he blinked, "I actually never thought about that."
End - "Wait up!" She exclaimed loudly, waving her hands around.
>> Using no dialogue tags to create a smooth conversation:
Having too many tags can also overwhelm your reader--remember, sentence variety is a crucial part of writing--so you can always drop them if they're unneeded. This applies when your characters (two is the suggested amount) are talking back and forth in a pattern straightforward enough for the reader to understand who's talking without it having to be labeled.
Dropping dialogue tags in these moments can create a smoother atmosphere during the conversation because the reader only has to focus on the talking present.
*** USING SLANG, STUTTERS, FILLER WORDS, AND PAUSES ***
Human speech is often not perfect; when talking, we often make mistakes such as filler words, grammatically incorrect phrases, etc. Hence, for more natural-sounding dialogue, it's important to incorporate some of these.
>> Pauses and stutters:
When reading dialogue, we read it at a steady pace unless it's written otherwise. However, that steady pace can soon get too robotic and too smooth. Luckily, there are several ways to change this! You can use dialogue tags, (ex: she quickly spoke) commas, and ellipsis (...). These are often integrated when the character is hesitant, nervous, answering something, or when they need to admit something. The same idea applies to stutters--they're mainly used to demonstrate anxiousness, which can be found in varying situations.
>> Filler words and slang:
Filler words can really just be used where you see fit. They may be used in the situations I previously mentioned (because it shows someone stumbling over their words) but it's ultimately up to you!
Slang, just like everything else, should not be used too often, or it will seem forced and exaggerated. The point is to sound natural, and increasing amounts of repetitiveness can ruin it. It's also important to remember that in real life, our conversations move slower; when someone speaks, another person usually doesn't respond quite literally, right after. However, in writing, dialogue can actually often seem that way, which is why using tags and these imperfections of speech is pivotal for building a realistic conversation!
*** CONCLUSION ***
Lastly, a key point when writing dialogue is to ALWAYS read the conversations! Whether it be in your head or out loud, it can often help you catch anything that seems off! Additionally, like I mentioned at the very beginning, write dialogue from your character's perspective! Imagine yourself as them and how they/you would talk. Try to keep your dialogue tags, sentences, and word use varied to create a natural conversation!
If you were struggling before, I hope that this (extra) long guide was able to really offer you some insight and useful tips! If you read this far, thank you!
Happy writing~
3hks <3
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rayroseu · 13 days
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DRACONIANS WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY QUEEN MALEFICIA 😭😭‼️‼️‼️✨🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 MALLEUS CRUMBSSSS HOOOOORAYYYYY ✨✨✨✨💖💖💖💞💞💞💖💞💖💞💖💞💖💞💖💞💖💞
Thank you Koono Sumire-sensei(the manga artist) for believing in the "Malleus chubby cheeks" agenda 🙏🏻🙏🏻✨💖💞💖 eternally grateful how round than usual his faces are here,,, he's so cute 😭💞(usually Malleus' faces are drawn like he's Sebastian (rough and very masculine lol) ilysm artist who draws Malleus like a cutiepie 😔🙏🏻💖💚💚)
in my world, Yuuta already eats ramen with Malleus at this point lol THAT is a very healthy and beautiful dragon 💚💚💚💖💖
ALSOO
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IM SENSING A PATTERN.... thank you MalleYuu for inventing height difference with your partner trope ✨✨🙏🏻🙏🏻‼️‼️🥺🥺🥺
ALSO this makes me squeal, the Yuu's really look like at Malleus like he's an interesting specimen🤣🤣🤣 LIKE DO YOU SEE HOW SCRUTINIZED YUUKA WAS WITH HIM AOHDKHAKJDKA THEM YUUS KNOWS NO FEAR 😭😭😭‼️‼️
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edit:
ALSO there really was GARGOYLES AT RAMSHACKLE!!! 😭😭😭 I'VE ALWAYS BEEN CURIOUS HOW THEY LOOK LIKE but we never got a view of it until now(?) bcs Ramshackle s pictures are usually not that detailed or the mansion is so far away lol
Yuu's scrimblo gargoyle who protected us all this time so that the roof wouldn't crumble even if theres ceiling leaks....🙏🏻🙏🏻✨✨💞 THANKS TSUNOTARO‼️‼️✨✨✨
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and now this makes me sad, he's at this dialogue where he's explaining that gargoyles are scary and modelled after monsters but they're also useful and protects infrastructures KNOWING BOOK 7,,,, NSKDNKSD 💔💔💔💔
on another thought, i appreciate the writing of Malleus interpretating gargoyles like this,,, its like so emotionally empathetic 😭 which is in contrast to the interpretation that he's selfish and unable to connect with feelings lol I guess he really only emphatize something when it has a relation to him?
I love that Ramshackle gargoyles looks like a dragon with no wings, its like the Eastern dragon decorations from Diasomnia's Halloween 😭💚✨ no wonder Malleus is attached to Ramshackle lol maybe he has preference over dragon gargoyles lol
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inkskinned · 3 months
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crows use tools and like to slide down snowy hills. today we saw a goose with a hurt foot who was kept safe by his flock - before taking off, they waited for him to catch up. there are colors only butterflies see. reindeer are matriarchical. cows have best friends and 4 stomachs and like jazz music. i watched a video recently of an octopus making himself a door out of a coconut shell.
i am a little soft, okay. but sometimes i can't talk either. the world is like fractal light to me, and passes through my skin in tendrils. i feel certain small things like a catapult; i skirt around the big things and somehow arrive in crisis without ever realizing i'm in pain.
in 5th grade we read The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time, which is about a young autistic boy. it is how they introduced us to empathy about neurotypes, which was well-timed: around 10 years old was when i started having my life fully ruined by symptoms. people started noticing.
i wonder if birds can tell if another bird is odd. like the phrase odd duck. i have to believe that all odd ducks are still very much loved by the other normal ducks. i have to believe that, or i will cry.
i remember my 5th grade teacher holding the curious incident up, dazzled by the language written by someone who is neurotypical. my teacher said: "sometimes i want to cut open their mind to know exactly how autistics are thinking. it's just so different! they must see the world so strangely!" later, at 22, in my education classes, we were taught to say a person with autism or a person on the spectrum or neurodivergent. i actually personally kind of like person-first language - it implies the other person is trying to protect me from myself. i know they had to teach themselves that pattern of speech, is all, and it shows they're at least trying. and i was a person first, even if i wasn't good at it.
plants learn information. they must encode data somehow, but where would they store it? when you cut open a sapling, you cannot find the how they think - if they "think" at all. they learn, but do not think. i want to paint that process - i think it would be mostly purple and blue.
the book was not about me, it was about a young boy. his life was patterned into a different set of categories. he did not cry about the tag on his shirt. i remember reading it and saying to myself: i am wrong, and broken, but it isn't in this way. something else is wrong with me instead. later, in that same person-first education class, my teacher would bring up the curious incident and mention that it is now widely panned as being inaccurate and stereotypical. she frowned and said we might not know how a person with autism thinks, but it is unlikely to be expressed in that way. this book was written with the best intentions by a special-ed teacher, but there's some debate as to if somebody who was on the spectrum would be even able to write something like this.
we might not understand it, but crows and ravens have developed their own language. this is also true of whales, dolphins, and many other species. i do not know how a crow thinks, but we do know they can problem solve. (is "thinking" equal to "problem solving"? or is "thinking" data processing? data management?) i do not know how my dog thinks, either, but we "talk" all the same - i know what he is asking for, even if he only asks once.
i am not a dolphin or reindeer or a dog in the nighttime, but i am an odd duck. in the ugly duckling, she grows up and comes home and is beautiful and finds her soulmate. all that ugliness she experienced lives in downy feathers inside of her, staining everything a muted grey. she is beautiful eventually, though, so she is loved. they do not want to cut her open to see how she thinks.
a while ago i got into an argument with a classmate about that weird sia music video about autism. my classmate said she thought it was good to raise awareness. i told her they should have just hired someone else to do it. she said it's not fair to an autistic person to expect them to be able to handle that kind of a thing.
today i saw a goose, and he was limping. i want to be loved like a flock loves a wounded creature: the phrase taken under a wing. which is to say i have always known i am not normal. desperate, mewling - i want to be loved beyond words.
loved beyond thinking.
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forgeofthenine · 5 months
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Omg in the last few posts you were talking about heat as in temperature but my brain registered it as something COMPLETELY different and it got me thinking…
What if tieflings had some kind of a heat cycle and they get extra sensitive and desperate because of it?? I can imagine Zevlor and Rolan being super embarrassed or nervous to bring it up, maybe Dammon’s more chill about it but still extra needy
So, this has absolutely been a passing thought in my mind and as soon as this request came in I knew I just had to push it to the front of my request queue, purely for my own mental health lol
Gotta admit, I'm a fan of omegaverse dynamics and I actually looked a little into irl animal biology and mating behaviour to get a better feel for what I think tieflings would be the most like. So this has both general headcanons and some NSFW headcanons for the individual bachelors
You probably didn't expect quite this much (over a thousand words of tief content) when requesting but this had me in a chokehold, I hope everyone enjoys <3
TW: NSFW under the cut, very heavy breeding kink, overstimulation, alpha/omega adjacent dynamics
Tiefling NSFW heat and rut headcanons
General
So, I feel like once all tiefs reach sexual maturity they'll start to either have heats or ruts, depending on their biology
Anyone with female biology will have a heat, and I feel like they'd have heats similar to cats but with a slightly longer time between heats
So generally they'd have a heat every two to three months or so unless they're pregnant or have other health issues
For the ones with male biology they'd definitely have a rut
They'd follow similar patterns to the women, but it's not unusual for some tieflings to have longer stretches between their ruts if they don't have a partner
A single tiefling that isn't particularly sexually active might only go into rut once or twice a year
I do think a male tiefling could prematurely go into rut if exposed to a females heat, and couples that have been together for a while will sync up
They have pretty typical heat and rut behaviours with nesting, possessiveness, and a pretty undeniable breeding kink
Nesting, possessiveness, and general mood shifts tend to start setting in during pre-heats and pre-ruts
Pre-heats and pre-ruts can last two to five days, and a full heat and rut can last anywhere from two days to a full week depending on the individual
In saying that, having a partner can definitely shorten both heats and ruts, so single tieflings working through things by themselves will have longer heats or ruts
Heats and ruts can also become more painful the longer they go on without the relief of a sexual partner
Tieflings can tell when others are in heat and rut mostly through pheromones, but a female tieflings tail will also involuntarily lift when she's in pre-heat/heat and around a male
I wonder if I should go so far as to headcanon that they have knots, I did already give them all ridged dicks
Dammon
If you and Dammon aren't dating then he'll be much more shy about his ruts
He basically disappears from his forge and the public for a few days and then comes back as if nothing happened
Once you start dating him is when you find out why he pulls the disappearing act
Dammon is actually very open about it now you're both together and have already been intimate
Blushes slightly while trying to explain some of the more physical, primal aspects
Would flush even more if you tell him you find the whole thing incredibly attractive
The next time he has his rut, you're the only person allowed to see him, and he really is a sight
Naked and tangled in his sheets, all flushed and tense, undeniably hard as he palms himself while looking over at you
Even the way he strips you of your clothing is different, he just about rips it off you as he kisses and nips down your neck and chest
While Dammon is usually one to take his time with making you feel good when he's in rut the only thing on his mind is getting to cum
Though even in his hazy mind frame he still makes sure you're comfortable the whole time
Even a near sex crazed and highly hormonal Dammon is still a very caring partner
You know he's going to bend you in half as he fucks you, he just loves how good you look underneath him like that
Breeding kink go brrrr
This man always fucks like he's trying to breed you but it's off the charts when he's in rut
I hope you're ready to be fucked within an inch of your life because his refractory period ceases to exist
Absolutely watches as he pulls out of you and some of him cum leaks out because he's stuffed you so full
Dammon praises you so well too, you can not shut up this man and his dirty talk
"That's it gorgeous, you take my cock so well."
"You gonna make me a daddy, darling? 'm gonna knock you up, full you up with my cum."
Once his rut dies down enough, he'll scoop you up for a bath
There is no way you could stand after the way this man just wrecked you-
Dammon takes very good care of you, and then you do it all again the next day
Zevlor
Whether you're dating Zevlor or not, he's your personal wealth of knowledge on everything tiefling
So what do you do when a book you read mentions 'the times of year and conditions unique to tieflings' and doesn't explain it?
You go and find your favourite paladin
Zevlor is so embarrassed, dating or not, explaining to you how tiefling heats and ruts work
Can't even keep his eyes on you
When you two are dating and you realise you didn't see him at all yesterday, it's time to go hunting for the man
You have an idea of what might be going on but nothing prepares you for what you find
Much like Dammon, you find him tangled in his bed sheets desperately trying to get himself off
He lets out the sexiest groan when he sees you standing there
He's the gentlest of the three while working through his rut
Even then, Zevlor is noticeably rougher with you than usual
Has you in a missionary position, his whole body pressed to yours as he pants in your ear and thrusts into you
Zevlor can't keep his hands off you when he's in rut, they're all over your hips and chest and giving light tugs to your hair
He gives into the primal need to mark you too, it's the only time he'll give you hickeys
Breeding kink: the sequel
Absolutely tells you he's going to breed you, and fucks you like he means it
Doesn't even think as he uses his hands and tail to spread your legs so he can fuck you deeper
Zevlor loves to look at the way you tremble every time he fills you with cum, using his fingers to help you get off at the same time
Even while he's trying to find his own relief, he makes sure to make you cum so many times you end up overstimulated and about to cry from the pleasure
Definitely has you cockwarm him as the two of rest, the thought of you keeping his seed so deep in you until it takes just gets him going again
You'll know he's ready for another round when Zevlor starts grinding himself into you again
When the worst of his rut is over he gives you the best massages
Apologises so profusely too the first few times you help him through his rut, even if you tell him how much you like it
Rolan
There is no way Rolan is ever telling you anything about heats and ruts
Absolutely forbidd his siblings from mentioning it too, he's just way too embarrassed for you to know
Even when you guys are dating he just locks himself away in his tower for a week while he works through it and recovers
This man will not tell you anything
And then he forgets to lock the door
As soon as you open it you're met with the sight of a whiney, teary eyed Rolan trying to get off by grinding against a pillow in desperation
Unlike with the other two, there's no clear 'top' when you're with Rolan during his rut
He loves having you ride him until he sees stars just as much as he wants to bend you over his desk until everyone else in Ramaziths tower can hear you scream
Rolan loves hearing you when he's in rut
Yell his name, tell him that you belong to him, tell him how good he fucks you, say he looks so pretty when you ride him-
He loves all of it so much
He's also the one that bites you the hardest, expect him to draw at least a little bit of blood by accident
Breeding kink: the trilogy
Rolan isn't letting you leave the room unless he's knocked you up
Absolutely puts a fertility spell on you by brushing his hand over your lower belly and murmuring the words
He also refuses to pull out unless it's to change positions, and if any cum leaks out of you he'll push it back in with his fingers
Overstimulation is the name of the game with Rolan, he wants you both overstimulated and crying and completely fucked out
This man believes in equality and we love him for it
The youngest of the tiefling bachelors and definitely the most pent up, it'll take all day before he calms down enough for the two of you to rest
When things do calm down, after he makes sure you're both clean and fed, Rolan wraps you up with him in his bed and will read to you
It's his own personal flavour of aftercare, cuddling and reading your favourite book as he makes sure you're comfortable and happy
And it all starts over when you wake up the next morning with him hard as a rock against your ass
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medicinemane · 2 years
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Ok, but when people make dyed resin versions of stained glass, not to dump all over what they've done because it often looks nice... but it 100% doesn't catch the light like stained glass does and it lacks the texture stained glass has (each color of glass I find usually has a slightly different texture in any given piece)
So I just don't like it. Not to be elitist, it just really really doesn't fulfill my the needs I have for stained glass
#I actually learned how to use stained glass. I may even have the kaleidoscope I made#if it didn't get lost or broken#you gave me the tools there's a reasonable chance I could do something with it#cause it's like woodworking... anyone can do it... there's just a difference in what a novice and a master can pull off#what I really wish I could learn is how to make the glass itself how to stain it which means probably how to cook and form it#eh... whatever#I suppose if I ever think about it I could probably use stained glass in my woodworking#it's fairly easy to cut from what I remember you're just scoring it so you can snap it#curves are harder though I think you may just sand down to that#of course my wish is I want to find a way to cut everything like wood#I wish I could carve glass and stone and gems#even if not with my tools still cut them with something#cause maybe gems were once cut but now they're just sanded into shape which doesn't interest me#but yeah... could probably do something with stained glass if I had the dosh to pick some up#and the motivation to actually use it#and... well and the ability to draw so I could make myself a pattern#... also if I was the kind of guy who could draw a super even pattern#hell I could just take one of the simple Bavarian patterns with lots of triangles and cut stained glass into a smaller triangle#find a glue that wouldn't look cloudy and glue the glass in as an accent piece#...but I also really hate using glue#so feel free to steal that idea from me I'm even happy to tell you more or less how I'd do it#just consider tossing some money my way if you have any to spare down the road though don't feel obliged#but yeah... if you like the idea I can tell you more or less how I'd do it though the main thing you'd need to mess with would be#getting the glass shaped but I'm sure you could figure out a way to do it with little waste sooner or later#also I wouldn't want to charge much for it cause I'd want poor people to be able to get it
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mechanisedbrainrot · 6 months
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MECHANISMS REF IMAGE MASTERPOST
Okay, so I put together refs for each of the mechs as best I can. I tried to avoid anything in a show lighting, but sometimes it can't be helped. Notes will be underneath each section
Whole cast
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Ivy is the only character leaning on the wall in the second image, but is roughly as tall as Ashes
Jonny D'Ville
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Jonny in earlier shows like TTBT wears a black shirt underneath instead of the white. He occasionally has red or black painted nails and his goggles are either black or bronze. He has a black 7 of diamonds. He often holds a mic - which is a Shure Super 55
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Drumbot Brian
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He usually has just the flower in his hat, but sometimes it's replaced with RAM or his drumsticks. His goggle has a very small crack at the base. The rings seem to be a bit of a motherboard and screws? The visible heart is something I can only find in one picture, but it's cool
Gunpowder Tim
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Sometimes wears jeans instead of dark brown trousers. His eye scars are more geometric than Jonny's, and he has dark eye shadow around the eyes where Jonny uses just eyeliner
Raphaella la Cognizi
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The top is three layers: a white/cream shirt, a brown puffy shirt and a a top layer which has a halter neck. Occasionally one or both of the undershirts won't be worn (see HNOC liveshow). Tights can be blue or black. Light up wings from DTTM
The leggings/tights are sometimes black and sometimes deep blue
Ivy Alexandria
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A few different outfits, in liveshows they're also wearing some outfits not shown here - but always black and red with a waistcoat of some kind.
Nastya Rasputina
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The necklace is a little cat :3
Marius von Raum
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Kneepads in DTTM. The cards are a jack and ace of hearts. Necktie either has a white or gold pattern on it, but they don't always wear it. The green jacket has a tailcoat
The Toy Soldier
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Hair varies a lot. Sometimes it's worn down, in a ponytail or hidden under the hat. Sometimes nails are painted red or black
Ashes O'Reilly
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In live shows they often wear this eyeliner which has thick bars that go behind the ears - but I couldn't find any clear pictures of this. Though their outfits changes, always mostly black with some red in the hair
Dr Carmilla post can be found here
I hope this was in some way helpful to anyone who wants to draw the mechanisms. If you have questions feel free to ask me in the ask box and I will do my best to answer them and provide some photos <3 have a great day
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ahhhwomen · 2 months
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I don’t know why I bite.
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Vampire Empire
Part 1
Pairing: DarkVamp!Wanda Maximoff x DarkVamp!Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader
A/N: We are going to ignore how long I disappeared, okay thank you. Also, y/n will not be in a proper relationship with the girls, she will very much be viewed and treated like a pet not a partner, but she will obvi still get the love.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language. All mistakes are my own.
AU Warnings: Human pets, abuse, violence, possessiveness, probably incorrect vampire lore, angst, panic attacks, hurt/comfort, kitten play (?), also this is not a Carol positive fic (I have nothing against her, but I needed a villain), death (later on)Minors DNI 18+
Summary: Your Master is a cruel woman, but you would never stand a chance against her, but what if they can?
Word Count: 3.5k
The keys jingle in a pattern.
With each step, the clash of metal calls out. It changes tune, depending on the day. If she’s tired, she drags her feet, it’s a slower melody. When she’s angry, there is a harshness to the smashing of the chain against her belt and a thud to her heavy boots.
You don’t know what her happy steps are, you think the sound would be smooth. Maybe, like she´s floating?
You wonder if you are ever going to hear it? If you are being honest with yourself, you don’t really know if you want to. At least her other behaviors are predictable, you can handle predictable, uncertainty however, that is an entirely different game. Not one you are very keen on playing.
Today, her steps boom like thunder, and her keys shriek like lighting.
Chills run down your spine; you press against the cold concrete wall. It scratches your skin. You press harder and cower closer.
You are shaking as she sweeps around the corner of your prison; she’s frowning today.
But…?
It hurts.
From yesterday. It still hurts.
She always gives you a day.
It still hurts.
You need a day.
It doesn't matter. You know you can’t stop it.
You close your eyes and submerge yourself in the void. You don’t like the dark, but she doesn't like it when you see.
Your cage opens with a shriek. You flinch as she touches your face, she is breathing down your neck and you feel yourself panic as she struggles with your collar.
It's never good when she takes away your collar.
Before you do something stupid, like fight back, a soothing voice guides you. It’s a whisper, that only you can hear. Drag in slow breaths, in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. Rinse and repeat. You do as they tell you.
You're in a sunflower field.
The heavy feeling in your stomach is from the big dinner you had, half an hour earlier.
The sun is setting, and you are smiling and laughing as you run through the field of flowers. They're ginormous, almost bigger than you. There is a weight to them as you push past. They scratch and irritate, but it's only temporary, so you keep laughing to yourself.
There is a whip to the wind, the sound loud and frightening. The flowers are louder, so you pretend not to hear. They rustle and dance in the harsh wind.
It's dark, but the yellow glow of plant life guides you. You don’t know where you are running to, maybe home, maybe the ocean. It matters not. You are happy, just you and the flowers.
When the wind calms and the sun peaks over the horizon you know it’s time to leave.
You trek through the soil and ignore the sharp stones that prick your pale skin, you wish you could stay, but it’s time to return.
You open your eyes when she leaves. She almost killed you today.
It's okay.
You deserved it.
Tomorrow, you rest.
Maybe.
Natasha smirks over the rim of her whisky glass. One would think the blonde would be professional after almost a century of doing business, yet she still stomps around like a child throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get it her way. The redhead almost feels bad for the poor pet that was going to be at the end of Carol's rath tonight, almost.
“Knock, knock.” Wanda stands in the doorway, her knuckles lightly tapping against the dark oak.
She’s dressed modern today. Her suit is fitted to perfection, it hugs her waist and expands her hips. She also went for a smokey makeup look, her eyeshadow a mix of dark brown and black, her lips a deep amber, just like her suit.
If attraction could kill Natasha would be one dead woman.
She smiles at her wife before signaling her in with a wave. She’s surprised to see Wanda, her wife comes by occasionally, and she has always dressed nicely, but this is new. Due to her desk stealing her view, Natasha can't see, but she can hear her wife's high heels as she passes through the threshold. Same color as the suit she imagines.  
“What brings you here?” Natasha questions as she pours her wife a drink.
Wanda settles herself in the plush chair in front of her wife before bothering to answer. “Do I need a reason lovely? Maybe I just want to see my beautiful wife in her place of work.” Wanda grins while the other redhead hands her a glass of whiskey. Neat, just how she likes it.
Natasha scans her wife with suspicion, she wants something. She can tell by the way Wanda leans her body slightly to the left while her lips lift into a flirtatious half-smirk.
The shorter redhead lifts her eyebrow. “As nice as that may be, why are you really here?”
Wanda deflates slightly at her wife’s accusatory tone. She is right, of course, but Wanda was hoping she could butter her up a little before getting to that. Wanda will have to ask her out on a date soon and make herself a little less predictable.
She is ashamed to say it's been a while since their last dinner date, or movie night for that matter. However, it's hard to find the time when you have been married since the eighteen hundreds, and you both work more than any human would be capable of.
Which brings her to her point.
Wanda pulls in a breath, “I want a pet.”
Before Natasha can get a word in Wanda continues to ramble all in the same breath, “And I know, I know, we have already gone over this. But I'm lonely. The business has been slow since the Stark clan agreed to our peace offering. And while you are busy here, I want someone to come home too.” Wanda keeps her tone open and light.
She wasn’t here to accuse her wife of not giving her enough attention, they both knew that their different work would keep them apart, but while Wanda would spend long nights in her home office, Natasha would spend them in her company office on the other side of the city.
Natasha drums her fingers sharply against her desk, she wants to shut the idea down immediately.
Having a frail human pet would mean having a weakness. Natasha knows her wife well. She knows her wife will get attached, and she knows it will never end well for either of them.
On the other hand, she understands her wife's needs. Natasha spends most of her days in the office, working to uphold their cover, while Wanda spends her days all over the city settling their other business. Their schedules never align either, Natasha works days, Wanda nights. She has to admit, it doesn't sound half bad to have someone to come home to the few nights she can afford it.
Wanda is waiting with bated breath as her wife concludes.
“You have already set up the meet, haven’t you?”
Wanda gapes slightly but conceals it before her wife sees. She knows her too well indeed.
She slumps into her chair, “Yes.” She lifts her finger to stop Natasha from commenting, “In my defense, I was coming here to get your approval.” Natasha chuckles to herself.
“And if you didn’t get it your way?”
Wanda smiles bashfully, “Then I would go without you.” Natasha has to blink away tears from how hard she laughs, she is gripping her stomach, wheezing while answering, “I would expect nothing less my love.” She rights her posture and wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. She glances at her wife hiding her blush behind luscious red locks.
She can never say no to her.
Clapping her hands together, she responds. “Fine, you win.”
Wanda practically shines with mirth and joy, “But,” her companion eyes her carefully, nodding to confirm she´s listening. “I get to pick the name that goes on her collar.”
The other redhead huffs, “Fine, but it better not be something stupid.”
Natasha shrugs and her wife leans over the table to slap her shoulder in warning. Natasha smiles all the same and shakes her head, “Yeah, yeah, nothing dumb.” As much fun as she is having with this, she is a busy woman.
She runs her hands down her black suit, thinks of what paperwork to finish, and mumbles a question about when they need to leave while sorting through the latest update about their progress on Project X. Wanda, without missing a beat, states a simple, “Now.”
Nat drops her pen and pinches the skin between her eyebrows. Wanda shrugs half apologetically as Natasha fixes her with a hard glare.
Rolling her eyes, Natasha grumbles a short, “Right, we better get going then.”
It's been almost a decade since she has set foot in one of these shitholes. Nothing has changed, the cages are just as small, and the odor stinks the same, alcohol, blood, and fear.
Wanda shifts uncomfortably as they wait for the salesman to get his spreadsheet, Natasha silently watches from the sideline as he sorts through a mess of paper and fast-food containers to find what he is looking for. She chastises Wanda for not finding a better establishment. Back in their time, this was the usual, but nowadays they have far better alternatives.
Wanda leans against Natasha to whisper, “It was the only place by a few miles Tash, and it’s the only place we have time for.” Natasha stays unimpressed. Wanda smirks at her wife and tucks a strand of loose hair behind the other redhead's ear before discreetly licking the shell of it and whispering sweetly, “I will make it up to you.” Natasha shivers under the attention and the salesman grunts a weak, “found it” before leading them into the main hall.
The ocean swishes in the background as you lie on your blue, shark-themed blanket in your modern bikini. The sun gleams over your head. Your skin stings and you shift onto your stomach, you must have forgotten sunscreen again.
Nonetheless, you purr under the shine of good weather; you wish you had taken a book with you. Maybe next time. For now, you stretch out and lay your bare arms against the warm sand. It will be stuck in every crevice, but it's nice.
A light breeze passes you.
You suck in a big breath, it burns, but you ignore it. It smells of salt and….. salt… and….?
Ice-cream.
It smells of salt and ice cream.
You think you may stay for a while today. You might visit tomorrow, but you would rather not.
If it doesn't burn too much, you hope to sleep tomorrow through. After all, if you are really lucky, you may not wake up again.
This place is even more depressing than Wanda had anticipated.
She and the other redhead had been to a similar place a few decades ago, but this was just sad. Not even the potent scent of blood can get her to ignore the uncomfortable sound of churning, empty, stomachs.
If they lived in a different city she would have taken her wife to a more humane operation, but with limited time comes limited opportunity.
The male and female sections are separate, in the left hall she can smell the odor of young men eager to please, while in this hall she can see the curious and smell the fearful. The gruff man showing them around had introduced them to a few pets by now, but she had to admit they were not what she was hoping for.
There had been one pet she took a slight liking to; a young woman, in her mid-twenties, she was in the puppy section, an enthusiastic little thing. But in the end, she was a little too pushy for Wanda’s liking, Natasha hadn’t seemed too keen either, so they left it there.
The kitten section wasn’t too bad, but every time she thought she was building a connection, Natasha would step into the pet's line of sight and they would cower away one by one. She knows her wife is putting on a stern face to test the poor little things, but it was starting to piss her off big time.
Wanda rolls her eyes as the feeble man struggles with yet another lock, she lifts her suit jacket and checks the expensive gold watch ticking away, fifteen more minutes or they will have to come back another time. Given that this was the only available time she and Nat had had in a few weeks the dire truth of not getting a pet today was settling in.
“Here she is, now she's not much to look at, but since you wanted to see them all,” the man shrugs and Wanda has half the mind to bite his head off. Before she can do anything of the sort Natasha takes her by surprise by stepping into the cage before her.
Nat ignores her wife as she steps into your cage, she has seen you before.
You were Carol's pet, or at least she thought you were. But it seems you were a less permanent part of the blonde’s life. Your cage was different, it was slightly bigger, the poorly dressed man had said something earlier about you being a leased pet.
You look horrible. She is studying you from a few feet away and she can still see the horrors you must have been through.
She knows Carol is violent, it's why she has spent so long trying to negotiate with blondie. Their clans were never on the same page and yes, threats were constantly made, but this was something else. Natasha would never think the pathetic woman would do this just because she could.
She hears Wanda step in and gasp at the sight of you.
You are lying on the hard floor with your back turned to them, a rag the size of a hand towel barely covering your bottom. Your hands are stretched out under the lamp, the only heat source you have, you have been beaten to a pulp. There are deep lacerations covering you, your entire body is one big bruise, and dried blood covers every crevice of both your skin and even part of the walls. But that was not what caught either of their attention, no, it was the lack of life they could sense from you.
Natasha kneels a few feet away from you and studies you carefully.  Her hand rests against her cheek as she tries to focus on your heartbeat. It beats, but there was something off about it. It's slow like you are asleep, but she can hear in your breathing that you are still conscious.
She tilts her head and talks off-handedly at the man behind her.
“Is she sick?” She hears him scoff but ignores it in favor of closing her eyes and trying to feel you.
“Of course not-“ He waves his hand, “all that,” he gestures at your body, “was her own fault.”
Before Natasha has time to reprimand the pig, she hears a crunch behind her followed by a heavy thud.
She huffs and raises herself slowly before opening her eyes and looking at her wife with her peripheral vision. “I thought we agreed to not kill anyone today.”
Wanda stares at her with empty eyes. “No. We agreed on not killing any innocent people tonight. As far as I am concerned, I am just following his logic, after all this was all his fault.” Wanda gestures at the dead man's body.
Natasha turns to her wife while rolling her eyes.
Wanda ignores her wife's sass and looks past her to take you in once more. “Who is she?”
Natasha shrugs and gazes at you over her shoulder. “She was Carol´s plaything, but I guess Carol never owned her like I thought.” Wanda raised her eyebrows in surprise and stared at Nat, “That’s y/n?”. Her eyes move down to you again, “last time I saw her she sure as hell didn’t look like that.”
Natasha nods and crosses her arms in thought, “well it seems Carol is an even worse owner than she is a negotiator.”
The last time Wanda had seen you was when she joined one of Natasha’s meetings a few months ago, you were a new thing back then. You had scars, but they were pink and healed, you were a skittish little thing, but you ate, you had some color to you, and you sure as hell didn’t feel like this.
You could feel their eyes all over your body. You hated it, you never liked it when people looked too hard or thought too long, it always meant the same thing. They were assessing whether or not you are a feasible option as a pet. You know you aren’t, you know they will scoff and turn their backs to you as if you disgust them, like you don’t deserve to breathe the same air as them.
You get it though, they are probably right.
Usually, such a thing wouldn’t bother you, you are used to it by now, but there was something about their scents that put you off, you felt out of place even more than usual, and you hated it.  
You were too focused on pretending to be asleep to assess what the heavy thud against the concrete could have been.
Whatever it was, must have had something breakable inside of it as you could hear a clear crack as something bounced off the floor. You decided you didn’t care, you only cared about the sudden voice that took over all the space of your enclosure. Powerful enough to command any and every room, you know this voice. It belongs to one Natasha Romanoff, and suddenly the voice behind her made sense too. You had only seen the redhead once, but you would remember her anywhere, just as commanding as her wife, and even more scary, Wanda Maximoff.
If you weren’t scared before, you were positively shitting your nonexistent pants now.
You try to keep your breathing even so as to not show any hint of awareness, you have no idea what they could be doing here. Had Master sent them? Were these the last moments you would have, were you going to die in this tiny, claustrophobic hellhole?
You were panicking, and you know they can sense it. Feel it. No matter how many times Master called you such, you weren’t an idiot. You know what they are, you know what they can do, what they will do.
As you hear one of them take a step closer you turn into a stiff board. You stay completely still as you feel your lungs start resisting the air you desperately try to force into them, you have this sudden need to flee or to bear your neck and beg for them to finish it quickly. Right after the thought passes your mind you shrink in shame, Master will kill you for ever thinking of bearing your neck to another.
You can hear them pause for a moment as you feel their eyes on you again. You have been made.
You don’t know what comes over you, you don’t know where you suddenly find the strength, but before you even know what you are doing you are leaping towards the women, your hands ready to claw out their eyes if need be.
You know they are stronger, faster, and smarter than you could ever wish to be, but this is a survival instinct, nothing makes sense, nothing matters. And as you collide into a warm body and start ripping into it, to the best of your ability, you realize, you have no idea what you are doing.
Natasha knew what you were about to do, possibly before you, and as you crashed into her and started scratching and ripping at anything you could get your hands on, she realized that maybe you still have a chance at this life. For the first time during their little visit, she can feel something in you, it’s small, scared, abused, but there is a will there, a will to live, a will to fight. That is more than most in this bleak city.
She holds you gently as you rip apart her coat, tear at her skin, and bite her hands. She hears Wanda take an uncertain step toward the both of you, unsure of what to do. But Natasha waves her hands nonchalantly and asks Wanda with a calm voice to stay back.
Natasha understands that to her wife you must look positively rabid. You were in the kitten class, but you were fighting Natasha as if you were a fighter dog. All teeth and claws. However, compared to Natasha, you might as well have been a mite.
No matter how hard you try, you can’t pierce her skin, can’t topple her balance, you can’t win.
Your fingers dig into the soft skin, your nails gripping and tearing, but nothing happens. There is no skin underneath your nails, no blood, no sight of damage against pale skin. You bite the hands that hold you, and you can hear your jaw creek as you strain your weak body, but the skin doesn't break, the only blood you taste is your own.
You are scared, you don’t know what to do, there is no sunflower field to hide behind, no sea to drown in, you feel powerless, even more so than she makes you feel.
You don’t know what they want, you don’t want to die like this.
Even after all your effort goes to waste you can’t give up, you have to keep trying, you have to-
“Stop.”
Wanda looks at you with an unreadable expression, you look up in terror as you realize you can’t move your body. One simple word, in one simple tone, has made you paralyzed.
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caffeineandsociety · 1 year
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There's a specific genre of shitty antisemitic joke that I have seen fly under the radar (as it was designed to) a LOT more often lately - especially since Kanye started going full mask-off nazi - so I feel the need to issue a warning about it. Namely, the genre is jokes that get spread around by people who aren't willfully antisemitic because outside of conspiracy brain rot land, it appears that the point of the joke is absurdism.
As an example, let's examine the 23-and-me lizard DNA test that I've sadly seen floating around unquestioned.
Because, see, to the average person who isn't willfully antisemitic, this genre of joke comes off as nonsequiturs, or hilarious mistakes - you, as a person with some level of basic observational and critical thinking skills, living on Earth and not in whatever batshit mirror dimension conspiracy theorists think we live in, might very well end up getting a giggle out of it because, HAH, we KNEW those DNA ancestry kits were a scam! If you're not a deliberate antisemite but not really up on the dogwhistles, it doesn't scan as anything awful because you're put in mind of things like feeding a photo of something decidedly not human into that one selfie-to-anime neural net, which sometimes works and produces interesting results because the thing is looking for specific patterns and trying to make anything fit - not things like blatantly lying about doing something like that in the hopes that normies who see the absurdity and want to have a laugh at a scummy company's expense will pass it along to people who unironically believe that Jewish people are actual literal lizard aliens and the test proves it.
This is the same strategy that guy at the game awards pulled. You, a person living in reality where the main source of political corruption is just the basic consequence of an economic system that makes power pool in the hands of anyone willing to exploit enough people, a world of banal mundane evil, know damned well that QAnon-pizzagate-satanic ritual abuse cult conspiracy bullshit is, well, bullshit, if you're even familiar with the details of what they believe at all. When someone crashes the stage and thanks Rabbi Bill Clinton, you may very well laugh because to YOU it is a blatant absurd nonsequitur.
Problem is that to someone else, someone who's deep into that shit, it's either someone letting the truth slip, or someone backing the deep state into a corner - whichever is more convenient to believe.
This is one form of how the far right uses memeification (CW: the example discussed in the link is a rape "joke") - it means something totally different to the in-group than it does to the out-group. To you, it's funny because it's nonsensical; to them, it's fun because they think they're onto something huge and they're about to blow this shit wide open and it's going to be their great moment of triumph.
I cannot stress enough that no matter how absurd an antisemitic conspiracy theory sounds to you, there are people who believe it, unironically. There are people who unironically believe that Jewish people are very literally not human and no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever change their minds. There are people who believe that we're born with horns and tails and pointed ears and have them surgically altered to fit in with good Christian humans like some kind of extremely high-stakes game of Among Us. There are people who believe that we steal, ritualistically abuse, and kill Christian babies. These beliefs, while fringe enough that, yeah, most of you who this post is aimed at have never heard them in the wild before very recently, are not nearly as fringe as you probably think they are. Just look at fucking Kanye. This asshole has more fans than there are Jewish people in the world.
So I'm begging you to please, bare minimum, be careful of "absurdist" jokes about Jewish people, especially if they reference lizards, money, banking, or government power. Also, you may see Jewish people debating how religious laws may apply to fictional creatures, but outside of that context you should also be wary of any time Jewish people are mentioned in the same sentence as vampires, dragons, goblins, zombies, fantasy demons, or any number of other fantasy creatures known for greed, feeding on humans, or both.
If the reason it seems funny to you is because you'd have to be really stupid to believe it's true or makes any kind of sense - it's probably looking for you to spread it to people who are, in fact, that stupid.
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