#also the reason this image looks terrible up close is because i was drawing with a .8 pixel brush for some god forsaken reason

[sketchmre]

posting tongues and teeth at the worst possible hour

[redskull199987]

What about a Mike x fem!reader where reader helps mike through one of his nightmares?

Lifeless Stars

Mike Schmidt x fem!reader Request

Word Count:1.6k

Warnings:very angsty again, but also lots of fluff and comfort too, I also may have added Abby a bit into this because I love her and I wish I had a sister like her:,), also Movie spoilers

Summary:After the events at the Pizza-Plex, You and Mike both have problems coping with what happened. But at least you have each other…and a sweet little Girl, whose goal it was to make you smile again...

Masterlist

You felt tired. Terribly tired actually. The Sun had long disappeared behind the Horizon. The House was quiet and all lights were shut off, as the entirety of your little family had withdrawn behind the warmth and comfort of your blankets. 

And theoretically, you should have been asleep. But much to your dismay, you weren’t. You had been awake for hours, downright tired to the verge of passing out, but sleep just wasn’t able to find you.

Maybe it was because of what had happened a few days ago at the Pizza-Plex. The events were still burned into your skull, the images still vivid and every time you closed your eyes, it didn’t take long before that damn Golden Bonnie crept his way up into your dreams. You supposed, that was the reason you were unable to sleep tonight.

With a sigh, you quietly tried to sit up while not waking up Mike, who had his head laying on top of your shoulder and his arm slung around your waist. As cautious as possible, you pushed him off of you and stood up. You looked at Mike once more and gently pulled the blanket back up to his face again, before making your way into the kitchen.

 ‘Maybe a cup of tea could help’, you thought. And you seriously hoped it would. Your last resort would be Mike’s sleeping pills, but you really didn’t want to use them, knowing of how much trouble they always brought Mike.

So, without turning on the lights, the house only illuminated by the shine of the Moon, you stood in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil, so that you could put on your tea. Your eyes wandered all over the room, gazing at the various pots and plates that were standing in random places. Abby’s drawing of you guys and the kids on the fridge or the Picture of Mike and his brother, when he was still alive. You sincerely hoped that he had found peace too. That he was in a better Place now, looking down on Abby and Mike with a smile on his face while patiently waiting for the day of their reunion.

The sound of the tea pot pulled you out of your thoughts. Quickly, you poured the steaming water into your cup and set it down on the kitchen table to let it cool down a bit, so that you would not burn your tongue when drinking it.

With another heavy sigh, you walked over to the couch and flopped down on it. Your body felt heavy. Too heavy. With a small hiss, you lifted your shirt, taking a look at your still healing injury. Mike might have had it worse than you, but Afton had still managed to nab at you with his damn knife. You got way more lucky than Vanessa though, since she was still in the Hospital. You really hoped that she would wake up soon, so that you could thank her properly. If it hadn't been for her, you would probably all be dead.

A noise from your bedroom suddenly caught your attention. With furrowed brows, you swiftly jogged back through the dark hallways. You could swear, it almost gave you a heart attack, when you abruptly ran into Mike, causing the two of you to stumble to the ground.

“Mike?”, You groaned quietly, blinking in the dark trying to spot him,”Mike, are you okay?”

You didn't receive an answer, but instead, you felt a pair of hands, searching for your own in the darkness.

“Mike, I’m here.”, you mumbled, reaching out for your boyfriend. Your hands hastily found his shoulders and pulled him closer to you. Only now, you noticed that he was trembling. His breathing was fast and heavy and he was slightly sweaty.

“Mike..”, you whispered, lacing your fingers with his,”Come with me.”

You quickly pulled him to his feet and guided him to the bathroom. Once you were inside, you switched on the lights and closed the door. You saw how Mike slightly flinched away, as soon as the dim light illuminated the room. You gazed at him with concern on your face, before motioning to the bathroom counter. He quickly understood and sat down on it.

With your eyes still on Mike, his hands were still trembling, you grabbed a cloth and held it under the water, before coming back to him.

With a reassuring smile on your face, you slowly stepped in between his legs. Mike almost automatically grabbed your waist, pulling your body closer to his.

“Hey.”, you tenderly grasped his cheek, making him look at you. Without another word you raised the cloth to his face, slowly wiping the sweat off of his forehead. Mike only closed his eyes, seemingly just trying to enjoy your sweet touch on his face.

“What happened?”, You finally asked, when he had calmed down again. His hands were no longer trembling anymore and his breathing had returned to normal. 

“I had a nightmare.”, Mike explained, his gaze now focusing on the ground,”I dreamed that..that, I wasn’t able to save Abby. That they took her, just like Garret. And I couldn't do anything. I was just staring like a useless piece of shit-”

“Mike.”, you said firmly, turning his face back to you,”Don’t say that. It was just a dream. Abby is safe. She’s with us. Nothing can happen to her.”

Mike didn’t say anything in return, so you tried something else instead of just talking to him. You swiftly raised your other hand, but not to his face, but to his chest. Your palm rested right above his heart, that you could feel beating rapidly. Mike only looked at you in confusion.

“Mike..”, You mumbled, searching for the right words,”What I can feel under the palm of my hand, is the Heart of a Big Brother, that’s only beating for his sister. A heart that’s beating because it’s owner decided to stay alive for his sister. To be there for her and give her the life she deserves. And not only for her, but also for me. I know what you did to save us and I will be forever grateful for that. So are Abby and Vanessa. You saved us. We’re alive because of you, Mike.”

You could feel tears well up in your eyes, because as you said them, you realized how true they were. You owed Mike your life and you would forever be grateful to have him in your life.

“I love you.”, was all that Mike was able to mutter in response, before he pulled you into him by your waist, connecting your lips in a sweet and tender kiss. You felt him holding onto you tightly and as you parted, he gently leaned his forehead against yours.

“Thank you, Y/N.”, Mike mumbled, kissing you once more on your temple.

Your sweet moment was interrupted, as you saw the lights in the hallway suddenly go on. Mike and you only looked at each other for a second, before he jumped off of the bathroom counter. He pulled you behind his body, as the two of you quietly walked over to the door. With one final step, you walked into the hallway and all your tension quickly dissolved into relief, as you saw who the culprit was.

Abby was sitting at the Kitchen table, sipping on the tea you had made earlier.

“Hey, you little thief.”, You smiled and sat down next to her, “That was mine.”

Abby looked at you apologetically, but not really:”Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”, you smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately.

“Why are you up, Abbs?”, Mike asked, also sitting down next to the two of you.

“Couldn’t sleep.”, the girl answered shyly,”So, I drew a picture for you guys.”

Wordlessly, she slid a piece of paper over to you and Mike. The two of you looked at each other for a second, before glancing at the drawing. Your heart bloomed with joy, as you realized what it was.

In the drawing, you could see Mike, Abby, Vanessa and you playing together. It looked like Hide and Seek and while Mike was the Seeker, Abby, Vanessa and You all hid from him with a smile on your faces.

“That’s really beautiful, Abby.”, you mumbled, trying not to tear up.

“Let's put it on the fridge, hm?”, Mike suggested and promptly did what he just proposed.

Abby only smiled at you and instantaneously jumped up, giving you and Mike a big beary hug. You could only embrace the girl in your arms. You had grown so much closer over the years and you were extremely grateful for that. You really did love her like a sister,

“Let’s all go to bed now, shall we?”, Mike proposed,  a smile now also on his face.

Abby and You could only nod, as sleep was now finally catching up to you. You could barely remember what happened afterwards…

Bonus:

Your eyes only opened reluctantly, but the sun had been poking your face for a while, so you decided to give it a shot. But as you tried to sit up, you realized that it was of no use. This morning, you did not only feel the weight of one body on you, but two.

 You blinked around a few times, before realized what was going on. Abby had asked to stay with Mike and you for the Night, so that she could fall asleep faster and thus here you were. With Mike clinging onto your left side and Abby onto your right.

But all you could do was smile at your little family and close your eyes again, pulling the two of them closer. You really were grateful for everything. And you always would be.

[spilledcoffeeclub]

I can explain.

Well, can I?

Those who follow me or have followed my Filofax journey know that this image is Wrong. I use a Filofax for all my planning, memory keeping, journaling and commonplaceing. So what is this?

Honestly I blame Lindsey @/lindseyscribbles and her new moleskine daily journal. We’ve all seen it, it’s amazing. And usually I would say I’m sort of immune to fomo from watching other peoples notebooks, I’m so wrapped up in my own notebooks and honestly looking through my old notebooks is usually what gives me the most fomo I would say. But Lindsey’s video just struck a cord with me. I looked at her moleskine and I thought “that looks so nice”.

Moleskines in general were my first love, from before i knew how to plan (I very much believe planning and journaling etc is a skill just like drawing or taking neat photos, something you have to learn and practice) or what I would ever do with a notebook. They were and are very widely available where I live, can be found in any stationary section or bookstore quite easily. And they’re so fancy. Not fancy enough that you wouldn’t give a pocket moleskine to a 10 year old, but fancier than spiral bound notebooks or cheap notebooks marketed for kids. It felt like such a an adult thing, I guess.

So I think that’s one of the reasons why Lindseys videos struck a cord within me, to begin with and I just couldn’t get the thought of a daily dated journal out of my mind. This is such a huge move (for me at least) from the ever adaptable Filofax with endless customization and flexibility. A Filofax is also such an open system, where as a moleskine daily journal is very much a closed system. It has dated days - meaning that if you fall sick for a week and don’t feel like writing in your little journal, you will always have those blank pages there. This was what scared me most with this and one of the reasons why I have stayed away from dated planners for such a long time. I just don’t trust that I’m gonna keep it up for the entire year and I don’t like backfilling, and previously that has sort of made it impossible for me to keep a dated journal. Having spent more time in the planner community though, I’ve realized that it’s okay to leave a couple of pages blank, and that your notebook will still have value if you have a couple of missed sections. Another thing that scared me was that what if I need more than one page to write about my day? Because we all have those days.

But still with all these thoughts bouncing around in my head, not to mention the terrible paper quality in moleskine - the fact that they differ from book to book, even within the same series or from the same place is just TRASH - there was something that felt so comforting about a dated journal.

And I think that was what really sold me in the end. I wanted that comfort of knowing where I would be for the next 12/18 months. Coming from Filofax with its endless customizability there is a constant upkeep with new pages and because there is always other options its easy to fall into the trap of never really stopping to adapt and pick at your system which just becomes exhausting after a while. With a bound, dated book you only have the system that they offer and you can manipulate it a bit but there’s really only so far you can go with it. And somewhere in between having these thoughts I had put the 18 months in my cart and ordered it.

The experience has been maybe not as glamorous as i had initially hoped - a new sketchbook has a lot of promises and potential until you realize its just a couple of papers bound together and its you who have to bring the magic. I’m using the page very much as Lindsey does, a small timed to-do list and then just rambling about my day. It’s only been about a week and I feel like I’m still learning what I want from this. It’s not so much memory keeping, because nothing all that exiting happens in my life, but rather a sort of mixture of talking my way through various tasks I need to do, and small sort of check-ins on how I’m feeling and if I’m eating etc. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time in both bound books and Filofax and while I dont put too much value into these inserts after they are done - as they don’t have a lot of substance - it is still something I need to do every day to function and having a separate space for this has just made a lot of the noice in my head just lessened a bit. I also think that this could be something I use for a longer period (I’m not gonna say this is the one because that would just jinx it) because its such low maintenance - there is no memory keeping or decorations or backlogging, just brain dump after brain dump. I’m also very much open to the fact that my page layout will shift as the year goes by, but that hopefully all the change will happen within these pages instead of in another system.

Obviously, I’m one week in and have a terrible track-record when it comes to dated planners, but I’m feeling optimistic. Has anyone else recently changed systems?

[honeymochibubbletea]

Hmhmhmhmhmmmmmm....

Remember this?...

I have a theory... What if... Just what if...

...

...

...

...

Charlie was an ink monster? Y'know. Like bendy and alice angel? And what if phantasmo found out somehow and Charlie would try to hide that fact... What if Charlie... Was already an experiment back then? 😦

Hewwo! Greetings, how have you been?

About your theory… i find it kind of fascinating really but… i believe that’s not the case, well, at least for the new story that @jencilthepencil/@lemonlysunny wants to tell us XD

Let me elaborate: in the past Charlie (which was Lily) was a cuphead oc, and i think the reason Jencil/LS draw her, Carter, Daisy and Squirt like this was to represent the fact they are toons, because you know, the whole idea of cuphead was to be inspired by the old cartoons.

And if you see on her YouTube channel, you can see that Barron had created them because he’s an artist so it would make sense your theory. But with the new comic coming and Jencil herself saying that Charlie and the others are no longer cuphead Ocs, that they are now original Ocs, we can only especulaste what this new story is going to be about:

(Drawing made by Jencil the pencil/Lemonlysunny, all rights reserved to her)

As we can see on the image above, we see that baby Charlie was brought by a stork.

Now you may be thinking: “but which family was going to receive Charlie?” Or “where did she came from?” Or (honestly i was also wondering that one too) “where’s is her brother???”

Well, only time will tell and… isn’t baby Charlie adorable?🥰

Ahem, I’m getting off tracks here, what i’m getting at is, i think Charlie is not an ink monster nor an experiment… but perhaps she was created by some sort of magic or science…

But i really liked your theory! It’s really creative and at some extent it would kind of make sense X3

Now it’s my turn on theorizing who is going to find Charlie first, because by the looks of it, she was brought into a forest (apparently storks tend to be terrible at their jobs of bringing a baby to the family that asked for them 🙄):

Young Carter: i think we will see a young Carter strolling through the woods and finding baby Charlie all alone and ending up adopting her as his sister

Barron: it would reference the old source material while changing it a little bit and making it look new. I imagine that Barron would be scrolling through the woods and found Charlie crying all alone… at first he would be looking for anyone but after noticing that there was no one, he would pass through and try to ignore her… but then the guilt would be too much and he would come back to adopt her.

The most improbable but still i like to theorize :3, Phantasmo: i think that Phantasmo’s mansion is very close to the woods… i could be wrong about that one but oh well, i think he would be floating around the woods after he heard a baby crying and was too annoyed by the noise, so, he went to investigate. When he finally found Charlie, at first he just faced palm himself and muttered under his breath that it was probably the fault of a stork… then he would poke little Charlie and try to get rid of her: by finding the nearest house he could find and placing her on the front door… little would he know that she was going to be a lot more of a pain in his ass then he initially thought in the future, lol

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Iomedae: The Hand of the Inheritor

CR 15

Lawful Good Large Outsider

Inner Sea Gods, pg. 292 (image from the Wrath of the Righteous video game!)

Among the most famous of the Divine Heralds is the first one we'll be looking at during Heralds of Hope Month. I say 'most famous' for a few reasons; he's one of the most active Heralds on the planet, what with that whole Worldwound problem going on in the north. There is rarely a moment's rest allowed for the Hand of the Inheritor in the tireless battle against the Abyss' expansion, so it's perhaps no small surprise surprise that he would eventually make a terrible and tragic mistake and end up the mercy of someone without any.

There's other reasons he's famous, in and out of universe, and those reasons are why he's no longer the Herald of Iomedae.

But this isn't talking about the now, we're still in the then! When he was at his strongest, healthiest, and least corrupted most devoted to the ideals of the Inheritor Goddess. Fittingly enough for the servant of what is essentially the Goddess of Paladins, the Hand is an angel blessed with the powers of a Paladin, built for and unafraid to put himself right in the middle of a pitched battle and cut his way through Evil like a hot knife while they struggle ineffectually to harm him. Like all angels, he's protected by a 20ft "nuh-uh" bubble that shields himself and all his allies from Evil creatures, granting them and him +4 to AC and to saving throws versus Evil creatures and effects, while also hedging out Evil summoned creatures and stopping any spell of 3rd level or lower from entering this sphere of protection, stripping many fiendish minions of their ranged options.

But of course, that's just what every angel can do. Let's look at what the Hand's unique powers have in store...

HAH, gotcha! The Hand of the Inheritor has no unique powers! I wasn't joking when I said he was basically an angel with Paladin class levels. ... except not really, because an angel with Paladin class levels would actually be much better than the poor Hand actually ends up being. But we'll get to that in a moment, so first, the positives!

Perhaps fittingly for a man who finds himself fighting alongside the front lines against demons, the Hand is just as useful bolstering his allies as he is actually leaping ahead of them into the fray. He has Aid, Lesser Restoration, Dispel Magic, and Magic Weapon all at-will, can grant himself or his allies Bull's Strength or Resist Energy 3/day, can swath the battlefield in a calming Prayer up to 3/day, and give everyone around him some extra stats and 18 temp HP with Burst of Glory 3/day. Any ally that falls in the midst of battle may be re-raised with his 3/day Raise Dead, but actually killing anyone he's trying to protect in order to draw out that resurrection is incredibly hard because of his 1/days: Death Ward, Dispel Evil, Greater Restoration, and Heal.

Killing HIM is even more annoying, because he's got 15 charges of Lay on Hands, which means +9d6 hitpoints for him as a swift action, IF you manage to get past his 32 AC. With such a menagerie of protective magic, you may think he's got no room for offense, to which I answer: 3/day Flame Strike, Holy Smite AND Order's Wrath to bring down on his foes from a distance, smiting entire crowds of them at once, and of course that's nothing compared to what happens when he gets in close. His 150ft flight speed lets him cross entire battlefields in seconds and settle down to begin Full-Attacking up to four times a round with his +2 Holy Longsword for 2d6+9 (+2d6 vs Evil) damage. Not only does he have a threatening sword, but his shield isn't just for defense, and he can indeed bash someone twice a round with his +2 Heavy Steel Shield for 1d6+5 damage. Anyone slammed by his shield is subject to a free Bull Rush attempt from the Herald as well, letting him reposition dangerous enemies as he needs.

Quite the force! But, sadly, that's about where everything of particular note ends. His Protective Aura is always on, and he's also got a 10ft Aura of Courage to grant his allies +4 against fear effects... But nothing else. Why, exactly, he lacks any of the other aura abilities a Paladin of his HD would have is a question I have no good answer for, and while he DOES have Lay on Hands (9d6 HP, 15/day), he lacks any Mercies to flavor the ability in any way or make it any more substantial... and, even more damning AND more baffling, he has no ability to Smite Evil. Given where he works, you'd think Mercies and Smite Evil would have been the second things Iomedae wrote on his sheet right after she finished giving him his gear.

Fun fact on that note, though: He wasn't originally Iomedae's Herald, he was Ragathiel's, and joined Iomedae's crusade after being awed by her skills and her sense of justice. She didn't even make him! But being the Herald of Ragathiel just makes his lack of auras, Mercies, and Smite Evil even MORE glaring, because Ragathiel has all of those.

There's also one unfortunate choice in regards to his skills that feels like a pretty big weakness: His impressive flight speed goes to waste with his lack of Fly ranks, meaning anything but a straight line is difficult for him to manage, and certain weather conditions or enemy attacks can severely impact his ability to remain airborne. He has more ranks in SWIM than in Fly! SWIM!

A lot of the Heralds in Inner Sea Gods have similar design choices, which is a huge shame, because that's where almost every Good-aligned Divine Herald is found! Whoof! His showing in the Wrath of the Righteous video game was significantly more impressive, with the ability to use Wall of Force and apply Smite Evil to entire crowds of enemies at once.

I'm not saying he's weak, no, he's actually a very powerful and stubbornly resilient melee beatstick that's outright immune to most demonic tricks and tools, but he's got some design flaws and odd choices that make it hard for someone like me to be interested in him. Perhaps this is why he's eventually superseded by someone with actual Paladin levels.

You can read more about him here.

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

UPDATE 01.10.24

I will be getting back to writing/drawing soon. I want to and I miss it so much, but I'm sincerely drained with this hurricane shit. And people acting like idiots because of the misinformation of "an even worse storm coming this way" is not helping matters. Groceries are running out in local stores, and with gas stations already being empty we can't spare the gas to go to the next town over to get groceries. I'm rationing food at this point and have no idea how or when I'm going to get more if things don't calm down soon. The whole situation is awful.

My son will also be home from school until at least Thursday, as we got word today that school will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to the continued issue of widespread power outages in the area. I also don't think the school even has internet service back yet. Going on four days now with no estimated time for restoration of service. Apparently a major regional hub was damaged in addition to fiber optic cables, and pretty much everyone from here to North Carolina will be without internet for the forseeable future.

Most areas nearby will see power restored by this Friday. I still cannot believe we didn't lose power here. More than fifty percent of customers in our region with our electric company lost power.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by this storm. It was already massive after gaining strength in the gulf, and evidently it was fueled even further by various factors once it hit land. The satellite images alone are terrifying to look at, even in retrospect. This was before the eye even touched land, and the bands stretched all the way up into the Carolinas and higher.

Entire towns and communities were wiped off the map in North Carolina from flooding alone. Entire highways collapsed due to soil washing out from underneath them. The death toll is over one hundred, with even more people left unaccounted for throughout the Appalachia region. Also noteworthy is the fact that two mines that produce essentially the entire world supply of quartz used in processor chips for phones and computers were wiped out, which could create further economic crisis on a global scale.

Where I am in upstate SC got around 10" of rain over a three day period (most of it Thursday night/Friday), which was devastating enough to cause widespread flash flooding, not to mention sustained winds of 50mph for several hours that night that knocked down and uprooted trees in a heavily forested area. I know of two people in my county alone who died as a direct result of trees falling on their houses.

And parts of North Carolina got 45" in a three day period. Almost four feet of rain in three days. That's catastrophic ANYWHERE, and even moreso in a geographical region that's completely unprepared for it.

This was expected to be a bad hurricane season, but no one expected this. There's a strong chance that Helene, like several other catastrophic hurricanes through history (Katrina, Hugo, Harvey, etc.), will be retired as a hurricane name, which occurs when a storm is "so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity."

It's been four days since the storm hit, and the worst still isn't over for a lot of people. It was a terrible case of everything that could possibly go wrong, going wrong all at once.

Things aren't nearly as bad in my area as they could have been, and I'm grateful for that. But there are still a lot of issues and obstacles to get through right now, and I thank every last one of you for being patient and understanding. I say it a lot, but I want you to know I mean it, completely and absolutely and unequivocally, when I say I love you guys ❤️❤️

I'm still here for asks and shit, and I'll be back writing and drawing and simping and endorsing brainrot soon.

[heckthis-heckallofthis]

Random headcanons I think of sometimes (Oops! All Friends spinoff)

Dendritic cell doesn't get his cytokine material himself, he employs the M cells in the bars to capture the most horrendous images of immune cells while they're all intoxicated (he wears a feather boa when he's activated <3)

Canon but I don't think a lot of people know, he has good voice acting skills with his singing + narration being pretty good

Leaves his plushies everywhere. Gave one to M cell to see if it'd cheer him up, it did because M cell was happy he tried helping him. Dendritic cell thought it was just because of the cuteness and purity of the lactic acid bacterium

He visits M cell so much, every time M cell rings up the dendritic cells for antigen presentation it's always our beloved Dendritick cell that comes to his bar to get it

Dendritic cell also started out absolutely terrified of bacteria, had to practice very hard with antigen presentation

There is written fiction of the neutrophils, probably a lot of BL let's be real

There is a popular book that is like Twilight but with those weirdos

All neutrophils except for 2145 have colored hair and eyes, I will not elaborate

More of a general thing rather than only friends, but neutrophils definitely have sharper teeth compared to non phagocyte cells

2145 goes to work everyday even on his off days, it's for a free lunch

2145 eats the body of cells right in front of other cells without thinking of the implications, he is enjoying the snack.

His favorite past time is listening to 1235 talk about her day, she is like a radio for him

3033 doesn't have a single creative bone in his body, you ask him to draw something and it barely even looks like what you wanted. He wears all white all the time because he doesn't know what outfits look good with what color, it's terrible.

Squad Leader would kill himself if he knew, but 3033 dislikes him. It's not for any particular reason, they just don't mesh well. It's okay since Squad Leader doesn't bother 3033 a lot anyways

Canon but I never realized this in 3 years of reading this manga: 3033 doesn't wear his knife straps on his legs if it isn't necessary to use those knives, only wears them when he needs to fight something dangerous.

M cell low-key has trouble eating enough because of his depression. You can directly counter this by getting him foods that expire within a day or two, he hates wasting food so he eats it before it expires.

Actually canon again but I need more people to know: M cell can make balloon animals

The fact that M cell has a lot of random skills in general, I wouldn't he surprised if he knew how to make stained glass art or could do wood carving

Cross reads the smuttiest, most vile BL stories as a past time. If you find his stash he will go insane.

He also enjoys talking to 1235 about squad leader (and then later on about 3033, girl talk)

1235 befriends so many immune cells because just like AE3803 from Main, she is a danger magnet. Everytime she is saved from an immune cell she makes small talk with them no matter how introverted they are (see 2145, NK and Eosinophil)

Helper T cell doesn't remember anything from his thymus days because it was so traumatizing he just blocks out those memories. It's not that he doesn't recognize Squad Leader, it's that his mind won't let him remember.

Squad Leader physically cannot hit another cell without orders, he can hit HT because Squad Leader is filled with so much rage every time he sees HT he just gains the strength to do it.

Also a general HC but I think Reg T cells in general have major face blindness. Unless you're someone close to them they will not recognize you once you do a change of clothes, but it's okay, as long as you still have the right receptors for the body they will protect you.

Eosinophil regularly visits M cell's bar because not only is it good practice for her with minimal casualties (poor M cell) but also it's an unpopular bar so she doesn't need to be so anxious.

B cell tried to hit on Eosinophil exactly once (1) and stopped because she exploded from anxiety and B cell thought she hated him so much she'd rather explode than talk to him

B cell and M cell don't like each other a lot, M cell thinks he's too loud, and B cell thinks he's too much of a downer. Partly the reason why Memory cell visited his bar alone without B cell

If you put NK and Eosinophil in the same room alone, they would just not talk. No conversation between those two. NK thinks Eos is judging her but Eos thinks NK doesn't like her and doesn't want to talk to her.

B cell and Mast cell get along surprisingly well (ignore how in canon Mast cell says he'll never talk to him again if he insults his gacha game girlies again), B cell talks about the pretty cells he sees regularly on the job while Mast cell show him his anime girls. Mutual respect until B cell is like "Well I prefer girls you can actually touch in the real world" in which Mast cell will tell him to shut up

[quasarlasar]

MELISSA AND THE ALLIES OF GAIA ART DUMP 1 - THE SUPERCELL

In episode 9 of the story "Melissa and the Allies of Gaia" I posted on Wattpad in August, Melissa and her storm avatar partner Hurricane Carla (shown in her miniature form) face off against a sapient high-precipitation supercell over a salt marsh in Alabama. A pair of fisherman have been using the tornadoes/waterspouts it creates to catch fish, having used an artifact of evil weather magic to take control of the storm.

Since actually moving to Alabama (I had no idea I would end up there at the time I wrote the story chapter) I have kind of developed a new fondness for this character. Most of the characters in the story I have done art previously for but I have never drawn this one.

While I don't specify this in the story, I imagine this supercell to use she/they pronouns (insert mammatus cloud joke here) and the tornados are like her "children" that she lets out to "play" (I mean if you scaled up a toddler to the size and strength of a tornado you'd probably get as much destruction). I plan for her to come back in a sequel, though of course Melissa will end up calling her something like "Mr. Thunders." (not that I imagine she would care all that much, of course, being a giant storm and all).

Like the hurricane avatars, she has a miniature form (shown in the top image) that she stays in when conditions aren't right for her to build up her massive supercell body. It looks like a cute little cumulus cloud with a thunderbolt crest. She doesn't speak any human language, and in the story she only briefly speaks in the wind language of storms to Carla, so she isn't very talkative. For this reason I imagine Melissa might one day try to keep her as a pet, which of course goes terribly wrong (as you can see in the first page with "Mr. Thunders" pooping huge spiky hail all over her apartment ["Mr Thunders! Not on the car!"]).

Shown in the top image is also her standing off against the miniature form of Labor Day and glaring at him with lightning. This happens in the story because Labor Day gets really hungry after the wind shear causes dry air to be entrained in his circulation and he basically loses control for a brief moment and tries to eat her waterspouts. Needless to say "Mr. Thunders" doesn't like this one bet, and attacks Labor Day. Fortunately it turns out "Mr. Thunders" also is hungry for some warm moist air too and they end up just kind of returning to Gulf Coast Headquarters and having lunch on some tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico.

The final drawing on the first image shows them snuggling with their tornado children. Ultimately I imagine she only wants what is best for them. It just so happens that sometimes what is best for a tornado isn't what is best for humans.

Some more notes on her design:

-Since she's a high precipitation supercell I imagine she has a lot of precipitation falling both from her anvil and from her base, which obscures anything like the wall cloud etc. This also conveniently means I don't have to draw all the features in the base of the supercell because I can't make heads or tails of how they are arranged lol (you can tell I have more experience with tropical cyclones)

-I basically imagined her thunderhead anvil is like her hat. It actually extends far ahead of and behind her head (it is extended by the upper level wind shear) but since she's viewed from the front it is foreshortened. From the side it would be quite long.

-Her eye color is supposed to be the deep green seen in storms with a lot of hail as the sun sets. I imagine her triangular pupil actually looks like a conical tornado up close.

-I had previously in the webcomic drawn Melissa as having a peace sign beanie or skullcap, but I realized when writing the story that that sort of hat doesn't make sense for her home of Galveston, which has a hot climate. I imagine it's more of a sunhat now. (Okay this isn't about the supercell's design but I think it's important)

[buck-yyyy]

Mike’s Pocket - AKA, Theo losing his goddamn mind over FUCKING fabric

Okay, so I’ve talked about this before, you’ve definitely read about this before, everyone knows about Pocketgate by now—so, instead of reiterating old points, I’m gonna summarize my opinions (and therefore what I’m drawing from for this whole thing) the stuff that we’ve all been over and then I can talk about fun stuff >:D

1. Finn Wolfhard said that the pocket was sideways!

Okay, yes he did say that, but I also need everyone to look at the pocket closely for a second.

See that thick shadow and creasing at the top? The pocket opens from the top, meaning that it can’t open from the side (underneath the triangle) because it needs to be attached by at least three sides—otherwise, it would be hanging off. There is no way for the pocket to open from the side, because it wouldn’t be structurally sound—additionally, we would see the fabric creasing to accommodate that opening, whether or not there’s a cover over it. That triangle opens (we can see that the metal circle is the same kind of snap closure that’s at his neckline), but it’s purely decorative.

2. The triangle points to Will all the time!

HELL YEAH! GONNA GET INTO THAT!

3. There’s a letter in the pocket! Hm. See, this is where I’m torn, because I love the idea, but also, I don’t think it… makes sense? Even folded up notebook paper (because it would have to be folded to fit) would be noticeably bulging (hate that word for…chronically online reasons) against the fabric and noticeably pushing it out. This anon I got a while back makes a good point, but I’m not a huge fan. I just feel that we would see the letter in the pocket, because even if (like the anon said) they’re planning on him having a letter, he wouldn’t have had it in that pocket because changes of clothes do exist, and after several sweat, dirt, blood and grime filled days in the same clothes, no matter how much of a teenager Mike is, he would one HUNDRED percent change out of that thing as soon as he had the chance. No point in keeping it around.

4. Triangle imagery = queercoding!

FUCK yes. The woman in charge of costume design literally said that she purposely incorporated triangle patterns and organization into Robin’s clothing, there’s absolutely zero reason to believe that she wouldn’t do that for other characters that are intended to be queer.

FUN PART NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just finished my fourth or fifth rewatch of season 4 today, and I noticed something kinda neat��it almost seems like there’s… two jackets?

I’ve talked before about my theory that they used interfacing in the pocket (because we know that it’s handmade) to draw our attention to it, and I stand by that based on the way that it moves—in certain scenes.

A fabric that’s reinforced with interfacing will bend, but it will NOT bend the normal way fabric does. It doesn’t quite follow the shape of your body—I mean, it will follow the curve roughly, but it’ll kinda make its own shape. I wish I had an example, but I don’t own any clothes with interfacing, aaand my mom already looked at me like I was insane when I ran in to bend the collar of my dad’s shirt to hopefully get an example, so. You’re just gonna have to take my word for it. 

For example- interfacing in the collar of his shirt to keep it stiff!

NOW, FOR A REFERENCE!

Alright. Here’s a shirt made out of what I’d wager is a pretty similar fabric, although I think it’s slightly more flexible than what Mike is wearing. (If I see any of y’all insulting my fashion taste I Will End You)

When the fabric around it is scrunched, it keeps its shape, yes—but the fabric of the pocket creases slightly in places where it already had wrinkles. And what about when it’s actually on?

I hope you all know I bound my chest (at almost 11pm) so I could make this as accurate as possible without it getting in the way. 

Anyways, see how when my arm is close to it, it bends? Mike’s only does this, like, half the time.

This is a terribly blurry image, but you can see that the pocket is facing Argyle, and is bending perfectly naturally with his arm pressed up against the side of the shirt. It matches the shape of his pose, and it doesn’t look like there’s anything in there. Regular pocket! No interfacing!

Points to Jonathan, and it’s a little stiff, sure, but it's creasing pretty normal. Likely just a stiff jacket.

This one is,,, tricky. It looks pretty stiff, I’d agree. 

But look closely! The black lines are where it creases and wrinkles with the shape of the rest of the fabric, and the white traces how the shape of the pocket follows the shape of the edge of his shirt.

And oh, my favorite ever example (and the reason I’m looking into this to begin with) <3 that pocket is moving NORMALLY and it’s facing EL!!!!! RIGHT AS HE’S SUPPOSEDLY ABOUT TO SAY ILY!!!!!!!!

But let’s look at some examples where it IS facing Will. 

NOW THAT’S AN INTERFACED BEND! JUST A LITTLE BIT TOO PERFECTLY CURVED! Notice the difference between how it’s bending in this versus when he’s with El in the last example! (of course, the difference in pose should also be accounted for, but still. That is HEAVILY drastic.)

FUCKKKKKKK YEAH BAYBEE

STIFF! ASS! POCKET! I mean, it’s nearly straight (heh), whereas Will’s is way more curved. They’re both slouching and facing the same direction. 

(Tracing isn’t perfect but my point still stands.) 

Anyways, I fully believe that there’s two copies of this jacket—one for scenes with Will on Mike’s left, in order to draw attention to the triangle/arrow; and one for scenes without him. Thoughts?

[alectoperdita]

aughghghhg i need to draw but i have too many questions to ask!!

It's literally going to be too long so I put it under keep reading HAHAHA

Have you thought of a few scenarios yet...? 👀

from this post

Mitsurugi would probably be suspicious that Kaiba has gotten involved with something shady. Jou's not exactly subtle in his signifiers about being in the yakuza. As for Naruhodo, that likely depends on the context in which they meet? If it's in a social setting, like both pairs just ran into each other on the street and made introductions, Naruhodo might just think Jou's a friendly guy. I mean his best friend is Larry, so not like Naruhodo doesn't already have friends that act kinda shady. 😅

Ohh yeahh! Actually I thought regardless of what scenario Naruhodo meets mob joey, his first impression would be like a mix between Larry (friendliness?) and Klavier (because Jou oozes that charisma + suaveness and flashiness).

Also I think (hmm, maybe you think otherwise) but Naruhodo would be able to tell that they're dating(?) if he notices Kaiba's body language, such as looking more relaxed and not as much tense, and letting Jou like, let's say put a hand on Kaiba's shoulder for example.

this one you posted

Seto's a complete simp for Jou. It's only going to get worse as time passes. 😂

How so.... 👀👀👀 I would like to know... or will it be shown later in the fic?

Seto is intensely possessive and jealous, and he's terrible at hiding it. Does his best not to think of what other people Jounouchi might be fooling around with when he's not around (Jounouchi is not sleeping with other people but God forbid they actually communicate), but knows he can't begrudge them because they never agreed to be in a relationship.

What examples do you have in mind where he shows his jealousy without Jou in presence? 👀 Maybe for example, he's sitting at his desk typing out and suddenly he recalls his image of Jou in his douchey jacket from Ch 3 and sitting next to the hostesses?

I think the main hesitation with doing the "Jou kills Gozaburo and Seto helps him cover it up" is that it would have immense impact on the tone of the story. I could do it as part of a series, so that this earlier reconnection stuff is somewhat separated from a more serious murder cover-up plot.

In general, I don't think Jounouchi would do this lightly/in cold blood. It would have to be in defense of Seto, as in Seto is in immediate grave danger unless Jounouchi stepped in. There's also the possibility of Jounouchi doing it in revenge of some great wrong Gozaburo might have done to Seto. That said, I can't come up with any reason I like that doesn't feel overdramatic.

But it's still a fun scenario to consider.

---

Oooo I had forgotten about Klavier. I haven't played the Apollo Justice games yet. But yeah, I can see how Naruhodo would recognize a bit of that showy/flashy vibe from Klavier.

It's true, though. Jounouchi is a tactile guy. And it's in character for him as a gangster to be touchy and close, like slinging an arm over Seto's shoulders. In this case, he's not doing it to intimidate or unsettle Seto. He just wants to be close to Seto cuz he likes him and he understands what he can get away with with the persona he plays in public. What is most telling to Naruhodo is tglhat Seto allows Jounouchi to do that and hover in his personal space.

---

Seto is very thirsty for Jounouchi. His mind can't help but go in the gutter/right to sex when he's near Jounouchi. He gets so irrationally angry about Jounouchi's fashion sense sometimes, yet he can't get him alone and fuck him fast enough. And then there are the times when Jounouchi's clothing doesn't offend him, he's just kinda weak for him. Jounouchi in a leather jacket is his ultimate weakness. 🤣

---

He and Jounouchi text a lot. So I imagine that Jounouchi also likes telling Seto about the stuff happening around him, like other employees at the club. In fact, I think a lot of the times they're texting is later at night so Jounouchi is usually at the club. Might occasionally take selfies and send them to Seto, sometimes with other employees or club goers/regulars. That's guaranteed to drive Seto a little batty. Especially if he's writing late-night documents/emails, and then all he can think about is Jounouchi dancing and drinking with other people in the club. Has half a mind to slam his work laptop shut and go down to the club himself. Jounouchi's always trying to convince him to go...

[beesandwasps]

Um… you do know that you can turn off the hardware DRM stuff, right? There is an option in System Preferences to disable it. There aren’t any “Apple-only chips” — devs with access to the installer (which Microsoft won’t sell you) have reported that you can install the ARM version of Windows (the version which is on the original Surface, for example) on Apple Silicon Macs, and that it actually runs better than on Microsoft’s own hardware; the reason you-the-consumer can’t do it is because Microsoft is refusing to let anybody buy copies of Windows for ARM; you have to be partnered with them and bound with all kinds of legal restrictions before they’ll let you have access. You can certainly put Linux on ARM Macs if you want, although the drivers aren’t all the way there yet. (Then again, if you want a full set of drivers which work on modern hardware you aren’t using Linux anyway.)

It might be worth quoting the Asahi Linux (a project to make a distro specifically for Apple Silicon Macs) intro:

Will this make Apple Silicon Macs a fully open platform?

No, Apple still controls the boot process and, for example, the firmware that runs on the Secure Enclave Processor. However, no modern device is “fully open” - no usable computer exists today with completely open software and hardware (as much as some companies want to market themselves as such). What ends up changing is where you draw the line between closed parts and open parts. The line on Apple Silicon Macs is when the alternate kernel image is booted, while SEP firmware remains closed - which is quite similar to the line on standard PCs, where the UEFI firmware boots the OS loader, while the ME/PSP firmware remains closed. In fact, mainstream x86 platforms are arguably more intrusive because the proprietary UEFI firmware is allowed to steal the main CPU from the OS at any time via SMM interrupts, which is not the case on Apple Silicon Macs. This has real performance/stability implications; it’s not just a philosophical issue.

(And it’s worth mentioning: regardless of what you may think of Apple, the X86 instruction set’s days are numbered. All modern X86 CPUs — whether they’re from Intel or knockoffs — end up with either massive power usage and heat generation (and also more and more difficulty of manufacture, and increasing amounts of mandatory error-checking because in order to keep up performance the architecture has to be made so small that it is subject to Quantum Weirdness and things like electron tunneling are causing faulty output unless there’s a whole extra layer of microcircuitry to verify results), or else terrible performance. There are no cool-running, fast, modern X86 chips, and sooner or later Moore’s Law will fail outright and there will be a mass industry exodus from their chips. (Which isn’t necessarily the end of the line for manufacturing or sales — the Motorola 68000 series CPUs from the original Mac, the Amiga, and the Sharp X68000 computers are still being made and used today, long after they stopped being used in any manufacturer’s desktop computers. They’re just in different markets, primarily embedded systems, using a streamlined version of the CPU which wasn’t possible to make back when it was new.) Apple isn’t the only one trying to get away from Intel before the emperor is publicly revealed to have no clothes — Microsoft has seen the writing on the wall and is sending ARM workstations to developers (they look like squatter versions of the Mac Mini), while those prebuilt Linux systems from Raspberry Pi use ARM CPUs as well. But apparently nearly all ARM systems use soldered RAM — when last I checked there were only a handful which didn’t, even in the Linux “build your own” world — so unless there’s a major sea change you’re going to have to get used to that.)

If you like to spend as much time doing maintenance and hardware tweaking as you spend actually using the computer, then go ahead, build your Frankenstein’s monster computer which you can continue to upgrade 20 years from now and run the latest version of Linux (which at that time, I’m betting, will still not have a DE that doesn’t require the user to drop into the command line to do really basic things like change the monitor resolution). But you are in a minority of users which is actually smaller than Mac users. The overwhelming majority of computer users — both PC and Mac — actively don’t want to fiddle with hardware, and tend to replace their machines long before they technically become obsolete, and in fact in practice PCs have always had (and continue to have) shorter average lifespans than Macs. (The numbers are a lot closer than they used to be — back around 2000 it was something like 2.5 years for the average PC, 4 years for the average Mac, the last time I saw figures, about a year ago, it was 4.5 years for the average PC, 5 years for the average Mac.) “You’ll still be able to upgrade this in 7 years” is mostly a selling point for the delusionally optimistic — the overwhelming majority of users, regardless of OS, will have replaced the machine outright long before they reach 7 years. Complaining that Apple doesn’t make a machine to cater to your niche — which has significant overlap with “I’m a cheapskate and proud of it” and therefore requires an entirely different approach anyway — is like complaining that Boeing doesn’t sell autogyros.

So: again, an anti-Apple ranter who uses lies and half-truths to justify their biases. Color me surprised.

One thing that I keep seeing whenever I make posts that are critical of macs is folks in the notes going "they make great computers for the money if you just buy used/refurbs - everyone knows not to buy new" and A) no they don't know that, most people go looking for a new computer unless they have already exhausted the new options in their budget and B) no they don't make great computers for the money, and being used doesn't do anything to make them easier to work on or repair or upgrade.

Here's a breakdown of the anti-consumer, anti-repair features recently introduced in macbooks. If you don't want to watch the video, here's how it's summed up:

In the end the Macbook Pro is a laptop with a soldered-on SSD and RAM, a battery secured with glue, not screws, a keyboard held in with rivets, a display and lid angle sensor no third party can replace without apple. But it has modular ports so I guess that’s something. But I don’t think it’s worthy of IFixIt’s four out of ten reparability score because if it breaks you have to face apple’s repair cost; with no repair competition they can charge whatever they like. You either front the cost, or toss the laptop, leaving me wondering “who really owns this computer?”

Apple doesn't make great computers for the money because they are doing everything possible to make sure that you don't actually own your computer, you just lease the hardware from apple and they determine how long it is allowed to function.

The lid angle sensor discussed in this video replaces a much simpler sensor that has been used in laptops for twenty years AND calibrating the sensor after a repair requires access to proprietary apple software that isn't accessible to either users or third party repair shops. There's no reason for this software not to be included as a diagnostic tool on your computer except that Apple doesn't want users working on apple computers. If your screen breaks, or if the fragile cable that is part of the sensor wears down, your only option to fix this computer is to pay apple.

How long does apple plan to support this hardware? What if you pay $3k for a computer today and it breaks in 7 years - will they still calibrate the replacement screen for you or will they tell you it's time for new hardware EVEN THOUGH YOU COULD HAVE ATTAINED FUNCTIONAL HARDWARE THAT WILL WORK IF APPLE'S SOFTWARE TELLS IT TO?

Look at this article talking about "how long" apple supports various types of hardware. It coos over the fact that a 2013 MacBook Air could be getting updates to this day. That's the longest example in this article, and that's *hardware* support, not the life cycle of the operating system. That is dogshit. That is straight-up dogshit.

Apple computers are DRM locked in a way that windows machines only wish they could pull off, and the apple-only chips are a part of that. They want an entirely walled garden so they can entirely control your interactions with the computer that they own and you're just renting.

Even if they made the best hardware in the world that would last a thousand years and gave you flowers on your birthday it wouldn't matter because modern apple computers don't ever actually belong to apple customers, at the end of the day they belong to apple, and that's on purpose.

This is hardware as a service. This is John Deere. This is subscription access to the things you buy, and if it isn't exactly that right at this moment, that is where things have been heading ever since they realized it was possible to exert a control that granular over their users.

With all sympathy to people who are forced to use them, Fuck Apple I Hope That They Fall Into The Ocean And Are Hidden Away From The Honest Light Of The Sun For Their Crimes.

[perpetual-fool]

Why is technology terrible?

Been having a lot of trouble with Steam lately. At the moment it is failing to uninstall Call of Pripyat, which immediately crashes and locked up my computer. Failing to uninstall seems entirely inexcusable. Like, just delete the fucking files, how is that hard? And yeah, it's not just the game files, it's also shortcuts and stuff. But that really doesn't make it better. Two reasons. One, it shouldn't be set up to fail like this. The game files should stay put in their own little folder, and the shortcut files should stay in their little folder. How does it know to make a shortcut? I tell it to, manually, maybe. This could be a holdover from growing up with 98/XP, but I think that sort of thing should be easy; right click > new shortcut. Or maybe the shortcut program sweeps the files automatically, looking for executables. Or whatever, it's not a hard problem. Two, what is there to fail in the first place? Which is the bigger deal.

How is it failing at all? Computers just do what they're told, right? How come sometimes the process works and sometimes it doesn't? How come when I 'Exit Steam' the program doesn't close, when I "End Process" from System Manager it doesn't close, I have to "Kill Process" to close Steam. And there's two of them, I have to kill them both. Why does it refuse to just stop? And I wouldn't get official support even if I reported this, because Steam only officially supports Ubuntu. Why does that matter? Isn't it running the same instructions?

So here's roughly how I understand it. If I write a little program in C, so long as the hardware can actually run it, it'll run on any machine it can be compiled for. And it's going to do exactly the same thing on every machine, unless the hardware is faulty. Similarly, if I write something in Python, any machine with a working Python interpreter for the correct version is going to produce exactly the same result. If I write a program that depends on another program, then so long as the other program is there, and it's not broken, then it will just work. But suppose the other program isn't there, getting to the issues with Wine/Proton. It the other program isn't there, my program doesn't work. Simple enough. Game wants DirectX, DirectX is not installed, game no work. But suppose there's another other program there, pretending to be the first other program. If it's taking the same inputs and doing the same things with them, then it should just work. Game asks DirectX to draw a square, Wine translates DirectX 'draw_square' to OpenGL 'draw_square', OpenGL draws a square. Right? (I dunno what the deal is with Vulcan, I haven't researched this in a while.)

I could sort of understand it not working if they used totally different methods. Like how raster(pixel) images and vector images are not even the same kind of thing. But then that sort of conversion sounds completely insane.

So, particularly for the stuff that used to work and now doesn't, where are the problems coming from?

[cloudsoffire]

Old Art Part 2

i have some more art from high school that i never posted, so i will do so now because the only thing i've been able to draw recently is a messy colored sketch of L from death note.

quick note before hand: a lot of these are of my sona because i'm trans and wish i looked a certain way so i drew my sona to cope. even now i don't look like my icon. plus it was a character i didn't need a reference for so it was easy to experiment with. the only other character i could do reliably from memory was... a skeleton. so yeah that's why these characters look alike.

1.

small one but i like the angle

2.

this one has some detail you can tell it was drawn in class. that's some terrible foreshortening on the second scythe though. also wildly impractical.

3.

the proportions on this one aren't incredible but again you can tell time was spent on it. a note above it says "form: dragon" so like that explains the scales. stomach and torso could stand to be wider but i don't remember the drawing process. i probably wanted to keep the shoulders close together for dysphoria reasons, and then i wanted the left arm to be visible. idk something like that. i also only recently started drawing wings the correct way so if there are any other "m" shaped wings you now know why.

4.

phantom of the opera but make him a handsome anime twink

5.

thumbs up

6.

get a load of this society.

7.

i think the image explains itself. must've been using a different pencil than normal. maybe with thicker lead. obviously didn't like it. i don't think my other character drawings were this disproportionate, so i might've been trying to include some of my irl weight while also not including a gut because i'm hugely insecure. either that or i just didn't plan to draw legs the majority of the time so i didn't sketch them out. either one really

8.

is this what you would call vent art?

9.

idk if anyone has been here long enough to remember my friendship with thatmegalomaniac/sushiibetrayal/mental-1llness but i'm pretty sure this is him in a suit. if you've been around that long i am so sorry you had to endure my cringier-than-normal years

anyway that's all for this post, reached the image limit. i'll continue in a sec.

[amothmanslife]

"PatchyPines Blocked me for no reason!"

I get folks quite frequently telling me some folks or another every so often has come to them with this type of distress. I'm tired of repeating myself so; I don't block for "absolutely no reason."

First thing you should ask yourself is; this person came to you saying I blocked them for no reason, I'm a terrible person due to it. They beg you to try to reach out to talk to me to reconsider to unblock them, Or they have some other grievance- Ever think behavior like that- dragging other people into drama and shit that doesn't even involve you at all is probably why they're blocked in the first place?

Because I do block folks who make it their life's goal to be extremely negative and make every day be about constantly stirring up drama, lying about folks, gaslighting folks, and painting themselves as a victim for attention.

However, if you really want to know the exact reasons why I block people.. It all started because my therapist and my doctor both told me to set clear-cut boundaries for my mental health.

And that the internet is a beautiful place where if you don't want to see something you don't like; you can block it and move on. Same goes for scrolling along- you can zip past stuff you don't like seeing.

I heavily go by the quote: "Those who get upset that you set boundaries, are those who benefited from you having none."

I block folks for these reasons here:

- Harassment and sexual harassment. Caught harassing others or myself.

- Stalking people.

- Fetishizing a minority group. ( I am literally an Intersex person. )

- Being anti- LGBTQIA+ ( I am literally a queer nonbinary person. )

- Being racist. ( Native headdress, "W*n**go is my favorite cryptid!", anti-Asian, Literally being racist towards POC in any way. )

- Literally being a Nazi.

- Being pro-gun to the point I'd feel unsafe meeting you offline ever.

- Body shaming/ fatshaming.

- Being ableist.

- Treating artists like shit/ expendable. ( Using AI art, Using NFT's Tracing over others art, Not crediting artists. Or just treating artists like shit in general. )

- Being sexist. ( saying shit like "looking for Females." )

- Being pro-cop/ republican/ basically being a bootlicker.

- Anti-vaxers.

- Being very obnoxiously Abrahamic Monotheistic. ( I literally have PTSD with the christian religion due to surviving a conversion therapy "pray the gay away" camp. If all of your posts are only or mostly jesus, I will block you out of my own self preservation. )

- Only talking to me to just talk about art, using me as your artist stepping stool, having me around because you want me as your art teacher or as a means to compete with me artistically, I am not your free advertisement or free art teacher. I am not a competitive person either it's not enjoyable for me, there's many other artists who enjoy competition I just want to see folks grow around me and enjoy creating together.

- Coming to me only to vent and that is all. Even when I said I am not a place to vent to, you still continued to vent to me.

- Trying to keep me around so you can get free art, it's just not how friendships work; you literally cannot buy your way into a friendship.

- Supporting Zoophilia/Beastiality.

- Supporting Cub/Shota/Babyfur/Pedophilia.

- Harassing people or guilt tripping/gaslighting people who wound up in any of my art giveaways, raffles, group images.

- Only talking to me when I finally got healthier and got speech therapy, but shunned me and tried to force me into voice chats while I struggled with muteness and was at my worst health-wise in 2020-2021.

- Trying to get me to draw stolen characters.

- Unsolicited nsfw/nudes/e.t.c. or begging me for nudes/nsfw/e.t.c.

- When I say I apologize I am a recovered person, I don't feel comfortable talking about alchohol or drug use- and it is all you do is talk about only that even after I ask to change subject several times.

I am also a part of a small close-knit and diverse queer group and a good chunk are artists.

So, if one of my friends in that group show screenshots of someone being shit to them- or heck, anyone shows someone being shit.

We all band together and quietly block this unsavory person in question out of self-preservation.

We don't flame, harass, attack, communicate with, or even talk to or approach this unsavory person.

After blocking them, it's all dropped and we continue out lives happy with one less awful person and forget this person we blocked even exists.

People I keep around me are folks who enjoy videogames, writing, some kind of hobby even if it isn't traditional/digital art. We talk about life, are open to communication, and are shoulders to be there for eachother. We hold eachother accountable and even have hard open discussions if needed in hopes everyone will continue growing in a positive direction.

I'm no perfect person, but I am brutally honest and upfront and set clear-cut boundaries that follow all of this here.

I don't waste my time with arguments and once someone is blocked I move on with life and generally forget the person existed in a week.

My health is too trash to hold onto negative things, and I focus on the positive things and I do a lot of self reflection on how I can improve as a person.

Life is way too short to waste it on holding onto so much hate- I don't have the energy and wake up choosing happiness.

I hope someday you can too.

[mantis-lizbian]

several of these options i think actually map pretty well onto LotR characters in terms of how they'd interact with the Ring. certainly not a full 1:1, but close enough that we can use the comparisons to draw some conclusions.

first, we must acknowledge that in contrast to Middle-Earth, Discworld is a light-hearted comedic setting, and with most of these characters being protagonists, a case came be made for each of their success through this lens. however, more impactful even than the setting's tone is the Law of Narrative Causality which is such a strong force in the setting that characters within it are able to study it scientifically. not only does this help counteract the otherwise assured success the tone would provide, it helps tell us some about who would and wouldn't be able to succeed in destroying the Ring, even outside the characters' capabilities and personalities.

all right, so.

Colon and Nobby Nobbs: these two are comedic relief even within a comedic setting with incompetence being a particularly notable characteristic of theirs. at best, they would fulfill a role similar to Merry and Pippin who also demonstrate a resistance to powerful dark magic, but are disqualified from Ringbearership due to being too metaphysically side character-y.

Rincewind maps fairly well onto Bilbo. he is almost certainly the reason the Ring has shown up in the Discworld, or at least is the one who causes it to be brought to the attention of other characters. he is incapable of destroying it, however, because he would much rather use it to just disappear so everyone will leave him alone, and it is fairly likely that he would manage it. sure, he might be able to even keep it lost from Sauron himself while hiding with it, but it won't be destroyed. the Luggage should NEVER be allowed to possess the Ring. a Ringbearing Luggage would terrify not just Sauron, but likely even Eru Ilulúvatar.

the Librarian, as stated, is not helped by being an orangutan. nothing terribly exciting one way or the other, he just wouldn't be able to destroy it. best case scenario, he causes it to become lost in the Unseen University's library for a while, whether intentionally or otherwise.

Moist von Lipwig: yeah, no. he's not going to doom the world, and may even be instrumental in the Ring's ultimate destruction, but he's not going to be directly responsible for it, himself. not unless it's in a similar way to how Gollum was.

the witches in general would have a certain resistance to the Ring's corruption but it would largely manifest in the ability to take one look at it and go "nope! we're know better than to fuck with that kind of mischief!" aside from that, Weatherwax and Ogg still seem like the natural choice for swift disposal, however the Law of Narrative Causality, i would argue, prevents this for the very reason that it would be so easy. Ogg, i think, would fill a similar narrative role to Tom Bombadil, someone who is both essentially fully immune to the Ring's corrupting influence, but with that a certain ambivalence. she knows that things will sort themselves out whether or not she gets directly involved, so she'd rather judt go back to her raunchy songs. Weatherwax, meanwhile, would be in a situation similar to Gandalf and Galadriel, but with a twist. i think her will would actually crush Sauron in the psychic battle of control even while the Ring's evil would still corrupt her. essentially, she would become the new Sauron with all the horrors that image entails. fortunately, as said about all the witches, she knows better than to fuck with it and would have an even easier time rejecting someone offering it to her than Gandalf did.

i have actually read The Amazing Maurice yet so i can't speak informedly to his capabilities.

Vimes is, within the context of the Ring, basically Aragorn and Boromir rolled into one and working on galf as much sleep. best case scenario, he takes one look at the Ring and recognizes it as being well above his paygrade to deal with. he would reluctantly but dutifully join the Fellowship, though, in order to protect the Bearer. likely assigned to the task by Elrond Vetinari.

Dorfl, on balance, would probably be more likely than not to be able to resist the Ring. his lack of need for sleep and general sturdiness, however, would probably make the quest too easy for the Law of Narrative Causality to allow him to be the Ringbearer, but he would likely fit neatly into Gimli's role in the Fellowship.

Carrot and Angua are definitely a solid workable choice for Ringbearer. however, i agree that Carrot would definitely be Sam and Angua would definitely be Frodo, and a werewolf being slowly corrupted by the One Ring could be rather likely to create far more serious drama than the Discworld's tone generally permits. it would definitely be a great story that i would love to read, but i'm not sure if it could quite be a Discworld story.

Cheery Littlebottom is my pick. Carrot and Angua together would be her Sam.

the Nac Mac Feegles are the ents. they do not even coming close to crossing paths with the Ring in the story, and wind up having a slapstick side adventure with Colon and Nobbs where they take Orthanc. Saruman kills himself in shame for having been defeated by the two mosy incompotent members of the City Watch and a bunch of angry Smurfs.

Explanations welcome! No "other" option, sorry.

[prouvaireafterdark]

Sweet-talking to Despair

Just a bit of speculation about how Louis and Lestat will handle the realization that Claudia may resent them after she figures out she’ll never be able to grow up.

Also on AO3!

***

Louis stood before the fireplace in the living room of their townhouse at Rue Royale, an iron poker dangling idly from his fingertips. He watched the flames lick the air with an unflinching gaze, trying desperately to sear the image of Claudia’s eyes from his mind. 

It wasn’t working. Guilt was crushing him like a physical weight, a stone in the pit of his stomach that threatened to pull him through the floor and directly into Hell. He almost hoped it would. After all he’d done, would he not deserve it?

Two arms suddenly snaked around his waist from behind, pulling him tight against a familiar, solid chest. He could feel the heat of Lestat’s body, warm from his most recent kill, against his back as he hooked his chin over his shoulder.

“Bonsoir, mon amour,” Lestat whispered, voice low and intimate, his lips brushing the shell of his ear. “Did you miss me?”

The poker fell from Louis’ grasp and clattered to the floor, a sharp, dissonant sound ringing through the air. Lestat laughed at his clumsiness, oblivious to the war in Louis’ mind as he began pressing a series of soft kisses to his neck. 

Louis wanted to weep, the tender warmth of Lestat’s embrace as much a blow to his tortured heart as a balm to soothe it. He longed to turn in his lover’s arms and bury his face against his neck, to let his touch distract him from the horrific revelation he’d had earlier this evening. But what right did he have to that kind of peace, when his own selfishness would inevitably bring misery to one he loved so dearly?

Instead, Louis covered Lestat’s hands with his own where they were clasped against his navel and gently but firmly pulled himself free from the circle of his arms. He could hear Lestat sigh petulantly behind him as he did so, but he let him go without a fight.

“What have I done now?” Lestat asked, bitterness beginning to seep into his tone at Louis’ silent rejection. “I’ve hardly even seen you tonight, you cannot possibly have a reason to be angry with me.”

Louis turned around to face him then and Lestat must have been able to read something on his face or in his eyes because his annoyed expression shifted at once to one of sympathy.

“Oh, Louis,” he sighed, reaching up to cup his jaw in his palm. 

Louis closed his eyes, unshed tears burning behind his lids as he felt Lestat’s thumb brush his cheek. He covered Lestat’s hand with his own again, but this time he couldn’t bring himself to push him away.

“Eternally my bleeding heart,” Lestat murmured, more to himself than to Louis as he stepped close, their chests nearly brushing. “What is it that plagues you tonight, hm?”

Louis took a deep breath, his chest heavy with emotion.

“We’ve done something terrible, Lestat,” he whispered at last, his vision tinged red with tears that still clung to his lashes as he opened his eyes.

“Um,” Lestat paused, brow drawing together in confusion, the barest hint of a smile playing at his lips. “You’ll have to be more specific, mon cher. By now, the list has grown quite long.”

If Louis’ distress was not so great, he would have rolled his eyes.

“To Claudia,” he answered, his voice rough.

“What about Claudia?” Lestat asked, the smile slipping from his face. 

Louis shook his head, frustrated with Lestat’s confusion and his own inability to express himself. Not for the first time, Louis wished Lestat could simply look into his mind and know his fears so he wouldn’t have to put words to them.

“Louis, you’re scaring me,” Lestat said, drawing his chin up so Louis had no choice but to look him in the eye. “Where is Claudia? Is she alright?”

“She’s asleep upstairs,” he assured him before he continued, “and she’s fine for now, but in a year? Ten? Twenty? One day, she’ll realize that never growing old means never growing up and she’ll hate us for what we’ve done, Lestat. She’ll hate us and we’ll deserve it.”

Lestat looked at Louis like he was going mad. He let go of Louis’ face to wrap his fingers around his bicep and pull him toward the couch. 

“Where is this coming from?” he asked as he sat, his body turned to face him.

Louis sighed, mirroring Lestat’s position where he sat, one elbow propped up on the back of the couch. He reached up to run his fingers tensely through his slicked back curls as he explained what had happened as best he could.

It had started just before Lestat had left the townhouse for the second time that evening. Louis was sitting on this very couch, a book in his hand, and Claudia was lounging in the armchair with her legs thrown over the side as she wrote in her diary.

Lestat had swept into the room then, dressed impeccably for a night on the town and still flushed from his first kill of the evening. He playfully shoved Claudia’s legs off the armrest on his way to say goodbye to them before he left.

“Hey!” she yelped as she spun in her seat. 

“That’s not how a proper young lady sits, chérie,” Lestat scolded her gently.

“Well, I’m not a proper young lady,” Claudia countered defiantly, folding her arms over her chest as she threw her legs back over the armrest. “I’m still a child so I can sit how I want.”

Louis chuckled at Claudia’s response, amused with how frequently her perception of her age seemed to coincide with whatever it was she wanted. In truth, she was barely fifteen, but when she wanted a new dress or to go dancing, she was a refined young woman, and always a sweet innocent child when she broke a rule of the house. 

Lestat seemed to be of the same mind.

“A convenient excuse,” he mused, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll remember it the next time you want to go out hunting by yourself.”

“What? Louis!” Claudia shouted, peering around Lestat’s frame to look at him imploringly. “Tell him that’s not fair!” 

Lestat only laughed at her as he stood to his full height and turned his gaze on his lover.

“Yes, Louis,” Lestat purred, mischief sparkling in his icy blue eyes as he stepped closer. “Tell me what a monster I am. You know I love to hear you say it.”

Louis rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips turned upward into a smile in spite of himself.

“Like you’ve never sat in a chair like that,” Louis pointed out, marking his page with a finger while he set his book in his lap. “In fact, I seem to recall you doing so just last week while you were waiting—impatiently, I might add—for me to finish balancing our checkbook.”

Lestat leaned down to place his palms on the back of the couch, an arm on either side of Louis’ head.

“Perhaps,” Lestat conceded, bringing their faces close enough to whisper. “But as you well know, mon amour, I’m not a proper young lady either.”

Louis heard Claudia pretend to wretch in the background, and he couldn’t help but laugh against Lestat’s mouth as he leaned forward to kiss him. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Louis said, his smile turning fond as Lestat pulled back.

“You love it,” Lestat said, his eyes still half-lidded and focused on his mouth.

“I do,” Louis admitted, just to see the curve of Lestat’s smile widen. 

Lestat didn’t disappoint, and when he surged forward to kiss him again, Louis was tempted to grab hold of his expensive tie and ask him to stay in tonight. The kiss was over before he knew it, though, and then Lestat was stepping back and pushing a lock of golden hair that had fallen from behind his ear into place.

“I’ll be back before sunrise,” Lestat announced as he started to leave. “Try not to have too much fun without me.”

Louis’ eyes followed Lestat as he walked out of the room and toward the front door, as if he pulled his heart with him on a string. It certainly felt that way most of the time. 

When the door had shut firmly behind him, Louis picked up his book again and struggled to remember where it was he’d left off, a smile still lingering on his lips.

“You really love each other, don’t you?” Claudia asked him suddenly. Her amber eyes were trained on him when he looked up at her. 

“Of course we do. Did you think that we don’t?” Louis frowned. 

He knew she’d overheard them fighting a few times in the year since they’d adopted her, but they’d tried to shield her from that as much as possible whenever it inevitably happened. It was important to them both that Claudia felt they were a real, loving family, and it troubled him to think they had accidentally allowed their occasional moments of anger and bitterness to touch her.

“No, I just—“ she said, but suddenly stopped herself, a slight flush blooming on her cheeks. Louis cocked his head to the side, curious about what she was hiding.

“What?” he probed, a smile beginning to return to his face.

“Nothing, it’s just—It’s sweet,” she admitted at last, looking at him shyly from behind her diary before she let her eyes fall to the page again. A beat later she let out a dreamy sigh and said, “I can’t wait to find somebody that looks at me like that one day.”

Her statement, simple and wistful though it was, made Louis’ happiness turn to ash in his mouth. 

It shocked him, though perhaps it shouldn’t have. She was a teenager, after all; it was only natural that she was interested in finding a love of her own. 

But the truth of it was that Claudia wasn’t natural. She was an immortal, and Louis realized with sudden horror that all the things that come with growing up—falling in love, building a home, having a family of one’s own—would be forever out of her reach. She would continue to exist in this perpetual state of arrested development—no longer a child and not yet a woman, but with the desires and appetites of both.

This undeniable fact had not yet occurred to her, he could see, but he knew with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that one day it would. One day, she would understand what they had taken from her, and it would no longer be God’s forgiveness Louis must seek, but Claudia’s alone.

Claudia remained oblivious to the change in him, and when she finally set her diary aside and wandered over to the grand piano to practice her music, Louis stayed frozen in his seat, his eyes unseeing as the full consequences of what he’d begged Lestat to do finally began to unravel before him.

Louis couldn’t meet Lestat’s gaze as he finished his story, his eyes on his lap.

“Louis,” Lestat sighed when he had finished his story. He reached for Louis’ hand across the couch cushions before he said, not unkindly, “I think you’re overreacting about this.”

“What?” Louis asked, pulling his fingers from Lestat’s grasp and looking up at him as outrage began to build inside him. “How can you say that? Did you not hear what I just told you?”

“What, that our teenage daughter wants to fall in love some day?” Lestat asked incredulously. “That can hardly come as a surprise, Louis. You have not been a vampire nearly so long that your memories of your own adolescence have faded. You remember what it is to be young.”

“Yes, and I remember what a relief it was to reach adulthood and finally be allowed to live my life as I chose to live it!” Louis said. 

“Please, that girl wants for nothing in this house,” Lestat scoffed. “She needs only ask for something and it’s hers.”

“It’s not the same and you know it,” Louis argued. “She’ll resent her dependence on us.” 

Lestat shrugged. “Yes, and she will come to terms with it eventually, and then things will be as they were.”

“She shouldn’t have to come to terms with anything,” Louis whined. “And you don’t know that.”

Lestat sighed harshly before crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, there’s nothing to be done about it, is there? Why give yourself grief over it?”

“Because she’s our daughter,” Louis said, unsure how else to explain that the very idea of Claudia experiencing pain—pain caused by their actions—hurts him beyond words.

Lestat stared at him for a long moment, his lips pressed into a thin line. When he said nothing in response, Louis sighed and hung his head, his arm dropping to rest along the back of the couch. 

“Louis,” Lestat said after a long minute, and Louis looked up to face him when he felt the tips of Lestat’s fingers brush the back of his hand. “Viens ici.”

The stubbornness in Louis wanted to refuse him, but he was as weak as he had always been when it came to Lestat, and in the end he did as he was asked. He slid forward on the couch until their knees were knocking together and he was close enough for Lestat to wrap an arm around his shoulders and pull him flush against his side.

Lestat sat there in silence for another moment, letting Louis get settled before he finally spoke. 

“What father in this city—in the world—wouldn’t give everything he had for his daughter to stay young forever, to be safe from death for all time?” Lestat asked gently.

“It’s one thing to want it, Lestat, but it isn’t supposed to happen,” Louis answered miserably. “She’s supposed to grow up and—”

“She was never going to grow up, mon cher,” Lestat interrupted, wiping a stray scarlet tear from Louis’ cheek he hadn’t even noticed had fallen. “If she had not become an immortal, she would have died in that fire. At least now she can live. Isn’t that better?”

Louis opened his mouth to argue, but no sound came out. 

“Claudia was born for this life, Louis,” Lestat continued when Louis didn’t, a father’s pride clear in his voice. “I know you don’t love to hear about these things, but the truth of it is that the way she kills, it’s—exquisite. She relishes the blood, the violence unlike any creature I’ve ever seen, save perhaps myself. This existence we share is not a burden to her the way it was to you in the beginning.”

“Not yet,” Louis rasped, and Lestat huffed in annoyance at Louis’ negativity.

“Whatever happens when she realizes what the Dark Gift cannot give her,” he began, as diplomatically as he could, for which Louis gave him some credit, “we will face it together, as a family, will we not?”

“Of course, we will,” Louis answered.

“Then let us enjoy her innocence a while longer and leave the self-flagellation for another night, hm?” Lestat proposed. 

Louis didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing at all. Lestat seemed to take his silence as acquiescence, so he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, and then another to his lips.

Without another word, Lestat began to recline lengthwise against the couch, and Louis let himself be pulled down with him until his head was resting against Lestat’s chest. 

He could not let go of his guilt—even after years of practice, that was a skill he had never quite mastered—but with each soothing stroke of Lestat’s palm against his back, each slow, steady beat of his heart beneath his cheek, Louis felt its burden begin to ease, just a little, the weight of it in his chest not so heavy now that he knew he wouldn’t have to carry it alone.