#and i want recognition

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The musical episode.

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[eff-plays]

The way Astarion reacts depending on how you compliment him in the mirror scene (I have no interest in insulting him so I won't be covering that here, have fun though!) drives me fucking insane.

"I want to know what the world sees when it looks at me. What you see."

And you get two types of responses. First, your choices for compliments are

Strong, piercing eyes.

The creases when you laugh.

Pick the first, and he's pleased. "Go on," he says, sounding very seductive. You're giving him exactly what he wants, and he's encouraging it.

Pick the second, and he gets upset. He's an eternally young vampire, not your doting grandmother! You can do better than that. Even if you meant it as a compliment (I know my Tav definitely did), he doesn't seem to take it that way.

Your second options are

That dangerous smile.

The way your hair curls around your ears.

Once again, the first one pleases him, and he even praises your efforts. Very good. Now finish the scene and tell him he's beautiful.

But if you say the second, he gets exasperated. This is meant to be flattery, not poetry. Just tell him he's beautiful and we can call it a day, he says with a dismissive wave of his hand. He doesn't need to hear this crap, just tell him what he wants and fuck off.

Of course, it doesn't matter how you get to this point, and every dialogue option at the end of the scene nets you the same amount of approval. If you call him beautiful, it's +1. Call someone else beautiful, it's +1. If you ask whether he just wants shallow praise (aka don't call him beautiful), you get +1. So this is me pulling this out of my ass I guess.

I always choose to call him beautiful becuase 1) he is and 2) my Tav thinks so too and would oblige him if he asked for it that directly.

But I am obsessed with the different routes you can take to get to this point and what they imply.

Strong, piercing eyes and dangerous smile pleases him more outwardly, but doesn't actually affect the outcome. He's satisfied and confident with these compliments. They confirm what he's trying to project into the world, what he aspires to have and to be.

The creases when he laughs? The hair curling around his ears? Those are things he can't control, can't use against someone else. But he asked to be seen, and if this is what Tav sees, then what does that mean for him?

Why are they complimenting his laugh lines? Why are they speaking poetry at him? Why are they seeing things he has no control over, and why are they revealing them to him?

He doesn't want shallow praise. Questioning this nets approval, and giving it to him doesn't increase approval. What he wants is assurance that what he's trying to be is what the world sees, that he's in control.

And if you actually act as a mirror, point out the things unique to him that you see, he gets uncomfortable, because you're showing a reflection of someone he thinks he's not, of someone he has no control over. And that's scary, even if it's supposedly complimentary.

Because what's scarier than losing control?

But then, compared to how genuinely upset he seems when you insult him (I looked these up on YT for context), the laugh lines and hair curls are still accepted as compliments. So what does he think when Tav says these things?

They see past his piercing eyes and dangerous smile. They see something else that they like even more, things he's not aware of or doesn't appreciate as much. What does that feel like, to cultivate such a perfect image of oneself for the purposes of seducing and tricking others, and then be stumped when someone walks past all that and points out something entirely different that they noticed and found endearing?

Do you do him a favor, and tell him you see only what he wants to be? Or do you speak the truth, and show him what he actually is? Which one is better? Which one is worse?

[zillychu]

Consider for a moment: A slow-burn identity reveal “no one knows” AU with an emphasis on ghosts being taken seriously as an actual, world-changing threat.

Ghosts are treated as an exceedingly dangerous, but unavoidable force of nature. They can come and go without warning, through naturally occurring spontaneous portals. They're territorial, driven only by obsession and hunger for the living. Particularly powerful ghosts are on par with natural disasters.

Life goes on because there's simply no other option. All major buildings have varying levels of ghost shields, some stronger than others. Just about everyone has some form of personal shield, weapon, or general deterrent. For the most part, humanity takes this apocalypse in stride, barely keeping it all together because there's just enough safety to keep them all sane.

Which is why the rumors of Phantom being able to fully mimic a human body incites panic in Amity.

Phantom was already a nightmare as it was–one of the most powerful and intelligent ghosts on record. His territorial fights with other ghosts for haunting (hunting) grounds in Amity have made global news several times already. Powerful ghosts could appear more human–but to think he was transforming down to a cellular level? Hiding among them? Bypassing ghost shields and alarms? Picking them off one by one?

The focus is mostly with Lancer's class, and how the school deals with this new threat on top of everything else. Everyone is a suspect, no one is safe, and Danny Fenton in particular gets slowly more and more exhausted, apathetic, and… unnerving.

The stress, the lack of sleep, the fighting, no one to turn to, not even his best friends or family–it takes a toll on him. Starving himself doesn't help, but he refuses to do more than take small bites from the ambient life energy and emotion of the living around him. Nothing that won't actually do lasting harm. He begins to slip up more and more, which Sam and Tucker begin to notice but haven't quite connected the dots yet.

But, well. What else can Danny do when Pariah Dark comes knocking on Amity’s doorstep, and his whole class is in the line of fire?

[haunted-xander]

Who's the "real" me?

+ some references for the Rise-related things I included <3

[allyriadayne]

Hook, line and sinker: Larys and Alicent // Larys and Aegon

[queenlypirate]

drawing on vc with the besties ✨

[deoidesign]

For my birthday... read my webcomic! It's literally free! (Unless you want books. Those are not free)

It's beautiful, it's gentle, it's funny, they're canonically t4t and gay... And it's about time traveling vampires solving supernatural mysteries!

I've spent thousands of hours writing and drawing it, and it's really good! I'm not biased!

It's on hiatus right now and coming back in 2 months, so it's the perfect time to get caught up

[bidonicart]

Is this anything

where else to find me

[pigin-is-so-rad]

Outer wilds inktober day 2: Translation

really late again!! But that’s alright because I got this to a place where I finally like it

[lucabyte]

Almost, but not quite.

[ovaryacted]

Please nobody tell me that the hype for Logan Howlett/Wolverine died down already cause I’m trying to post some nasty old man Logan ddlg smut and I don’t want it to be a miss. Please I beg PLEAK! 🙏

[sqrkyclean]

Hey how did you set up all these commissions and followers for yourself? I'm a kinky furry artist too but I can't seem to find a niche/audience, any tips?

-sturgeon guy

Stop Trying To Build An Audience. Make art for yourself and at maximum 3-5 other perverts. The rest will come with earnestness and repetition.

[elbdot]

Here comes a very special mare Her name was "Ode". She was like mother nature incarnated. Visiting her was special. She had an incredibly soothing, calming aura to her. Petting her made you feel grounded, as you stood next to her incredibly massive body and her enormous hooves. And she was as patient and kind as ever to every soul who came to spend her a visit.

We loved her dearly. But the farmer who owned her didn't take care of her well. After selling his other horses, Ode was standing alone on a paddock for over half a year. No one brought her into the stable, no one gave her any shelter and no one took care of her hooves. We tried everything to get Ode away from her owner, but in the end, the only solution was money. After we collected enough from friends and family and invested some of our savings, we bought her free and found a new loving home for her.

Ode lived another beautiful year owned by a loving family on a big farm with lots of other horses and instantly became the new leader of the herd. We stayed in contact with the family and heard how well Ode was doing, how much she blossomed in her new home. But one winter morning, she refused to get up. Through the neglect of her former owner, she had developed arthrosis in her legs and she was unable to stand without pain. Her family decided to release her. That was a couple of years ago. I still miss her dearly. She has left a lasting impression on me like no other horse ever has and I wouldn't be surprised if she was a Goddess of nature in disguise. Despite her life being cut short, I am glad we were able to give her one last year full of love and joy.

Cheers to you, Ode, on whichever plain you're now running free💖

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I have never seen this man in my life.

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[beatleswings]

HONEY LANTREE, drummer of the THE HONEYCOMBS. 1964.

[taxinealkaloids]

harrianthe + sewing (variations on a theme)