#if you want anything else just lmk !!

[valtsv]

this quote about cordyceps from this article in a scientific magazine is basically how i've always imagined possession to work in horror stories. the demon/entity/whatever doesn't alter your perception, displace you, or control your mind, they just take over all your bodily processes, bypassing your brain entirely. they force your mouth and vocal cords to form the words they want you to say, force your limbs to move in the direction they want you to go, and force your lungs to keep expanding and contracting and your heart to keep beating, even through excruciating pain and horrific injury, so you can't even self-sabotage and your friends and loved ones are discouraged from trying to stop you for fear of what harm they might cause you to do to yourself to escape. you're a passenger in the driver's seat of your own car, and the hands on the wheel, though outwardly apparently the same pair you've always had, are no longer your own.

[whenthelightisrunninglow]

remembered @hehe-hoho-ohno's misfits au it's sooooo good and i love it. CHEERS AND APPLAUSE. YAY

[southern--downpour]

WIRED

[skitskatdacat63]

Happy Birthday to Seb, and Seb only.

+ some explanations

I realized as I was making this, some of the little stuff probably only makes sense to me, and maybe people who have been following me for a while atp. So I wanted to explain some of the little details I included cause I really love them!!

First of all, I wanted to incude my original sketch for this(from like 5 hours ago lmfao), bcs I find it sooooo cute. Look at him!! Little guy!

I. Fernando's Gift

This is of course a reference to the Fernando teddy bear, but more specifically to the vettonso comic with the bear I drew a while ago. As you can see from my sketch, this is the first gift I came up, which I'm pretty happy about!! It's always so cute to me no matter its form. Though...I don't think teddy bears existed yet in the early 1700s, but Fernando found a way, okay? I like to think Fernando is all gruff in the beginning, but gives Seb this or something similar and remarks "to keep you company when I'm back in Spain," and then he has to pretend he has food poisoning rather than living with having said something so sappy.

II. Mark's Gift

I don't think this is really a reference to any specific post of mine. Dog!Mark is just an important Mark characterization in general, but especially in boy king au where he is really reduced to the status of dog by virtue of his upbringing and vocation. He definitely plays this off as wanting Seb to get another hunting dog(something he advocates for often. Seb knows it's entirely self motivated but loves to humor him bcs its cute to see how much he loves dogs. Well Seb loves dogs too, one dog in particular-)

III. Jenson's Gift

AAAAHHHH I'm so proud of this one bcs of how many leves there are to it!! I couldn't for the life of me think of what Jense would gift him but then I remembered I characterize him as horse obsessed(read: ye olde carfucker.) So this is basically the ye olde version of him getting Seb ultra detailed minatures of his cars. HOWEVER this is also a callback to one of my favorite posts I've ever made, back when I translated Seb's car names into Latin. So it was fun to actually get to canonize that in a way. ALSO! BTW! Those horses are specifically Lipizzans, which are a very iconic horse breed in the Habsburg Empire and Vienna specifically. A horse breed sought after by the Habsburgs for both war but also riding schools, and they still remain as the breed of horse trained in Vienna's Spanish Riding School today. The emperor Seb is based on comissioned the school's main riding hall, and his portrait still hangs above where the riders enter. So I thought that was a fun little easter egg to include!

Also the characterization in this is so funny. I guess I'd consider them a polycule, like they're a unit and all have interesting relationships between each other. But one of the main focuses is the kinda love triangle between sebmarknando. Like Mark and Fernando constantly fighting for Seb'cs undivided affection and attention. But as per usual, Jenson, who is on the sidelines, swoops in effortlessly with the most perfect gift ever. I feel like he understands and gets along with Seb the best out of the three, but just doesn't want to deal with such a complicated thing so he's satisfied being a bit distant(he secretly takes a lot of joy one-upping the other two. It's impossible to not crave your ruler's attention, no?)

[starlitflowers]

Saw this post and got inspired to find some numbers

On AO3 there are 315 fics tagged Ashton/Orym

Of those 315, 186 are tagged 'other' (59%). Of those 186, 62 are also tagged as m/m (33% of fics tagged other, 19% total). And from what I can tell, of those 62 only 19 of those fics have another m/m relationship (30% of fics tagged other and f/m, 10% of fics only tagged other, 6% total fics)

On the Callowmoore side, there are 108 fics tagged Ashton/Fearne

Of those 108, 67 are tagged as 'other' (62%). Of those 67, 8 are also tagged as f/m (11% of fics tagged other, 7% total). And from what I can tell, of those 8 only 3 have another f/m relationship tagged (37.5% fics tagged other and f/m, 4% of fics tagged other, and 2% total fics)

So in conclusion, callowmoore writers are more likely to tag their work as other, and less likely to tag both other and f/m than ashrym writers are likely to tag as both other and m/m

Feel free to check my math/numbers, I just thought it was interesting to point out

[moonlightperseus]

okay like i want to preface that i do not have anything against the storylines that they are doing, i’m straight vibing with this season, having fun. i just want to say it’s a little frustrating to me that 911 keeps tacking on these buck and/or eddie centric “surprise” scenes at the end of an episode because then it becomes the big talking point of the episode after the fact and a lot of the other stuff that happened in it falls away to the sides a bit

[good-beanswrites]

Just wanted to plant an idea if you wanted a bit of fuel: Mahiru asking Yuno to come to her cell before everything goes down.

Edit: I forgot the ask didn't say it but this is part of Kyanako's incredible Order Of Attack AU!

Didn't mean for this to become a mini Mappi study but here we are ✨ Thank you for the request! I fully intended to write them hanging out, but it's more right before they hang out lol. Went a bit on-the-nose with foreshadowing, but isn't that the fun part? It has become Emotional Over Mahiru Hour...

I kept things vague, but TW for mentioning her boyfriend's state of potential self-harm

Mahiru tried not to act superstitious, she really did. As much as she loved the idea of little luck charms, or avoided easy signs of misfortune, it was easier to keep quiet about such ridiculous things.

Maybe catching a bride’s bouquet meant no guarantees; maybe there was no real harm in stepping underneath ladders, maybe a coin tossed into a fountain had no real magic to its wish. However, the one thing she knew for sure held power was a lucky presence. Being in the right place at the right time could alter everything. And today was the right time for something. There was this waiting in the air. The prison had been holding its breath. Mahiru knew it was time to release it all.

“You must be so lonely, why don’t you let big sis Mahiru keep you company?” She beamed at Amane.

She often recalled the good fortune that she and a certain young man had crossed paths on the university terrace. She used to laugh with him about the wonderful coincidence of bumping into each other outside of the bakery, then the convenience store. 

Though she’d never spoken about it to him, she was also grateful for many occasions where she walked in on him at the precise moment to talk him out of something reckless. She always told him that they’d do everything together. He didn’t need to be alone anymore. 

“I wish to be alone. I need peace of mind to think.” Amane turned away from the cell door.

It was a good thing, too. Mahiru’s smile wasn’t as convincing as she said, “o-oh. Of course.”

She made her way around the panopticon, hearing Fuuta pace his cell in anticipation. He must have felt it too, this holding of breath. 

Or perhaps not. He turned down her offer for a bit of company, including a few more colorful words than Amane had. Mahiru just apologized for bothering him and headed back to her cell. She wasn’t sure where Mikoto was at this hour, but she didn’t feel like smiling through a third rejection.

She shook her head back and forth. She wished the motion could rattle the voices inside, she wished she could shake them all away. With her arms secured in place she could no longer cover her ears. She used to hum to keep them at bay, but lately they’d been too loud to stifle. They just kept on talking.

Their words told her the two were right. Nobody needed her company. No – nobody wanted it. Being together hadn’t helped her boyfriend. In fact, being together had been the very thing that got him killed. No wonder Amane and Fuuta wanted to avoid her. 

So then, this was for the best. She would rather deal with the brief sting of refusal than stumble in one day to find them hurt… or worse. As much as she tried to avoid the superstition of it all, the voices reminded her that her very presence could mean life or death. 

“Mappi, are you alright?” Mahiru hadn’t realized a tear had slipped down her cheek until she hurried to swipe it away in front of Yuno. 

“Hah, I’m fine! Just fine.” It was impossible to fool her, Mahiru had learned, but that never stopped her from trying. 

At least she always spoke tactfully. “Rough morning?”

Mahiru shifted her arms in her uniform, making a small sound of agreement.

“Can I do anything to help? What if I stay with you for a bit? I can do your hair, and…”

The voices were right. Amane and Fuuta knew it, too. Presences did hold power, and Mahiru’s was cursed.

But she would sound foolish admitting such a fear to Yuno. She'd heard plenty from the voices about how stupid and airheaded she was, there was no use in getting the same lecture from someone as grounded as her.

Mahiru managed a weak protest, unable to explain her real reasoning. Yuno was insistent. She didn’t give much of a choice. Could she feel the strangeness of the prison, as well? 

At last, Mahiru allowed her shoulders to sag. Yuno was lucky. And kind. Having her nearby would do her good. Amane and Fuuta would be alright. Mahiru had tried spending more time with them after verdicts were announced. Now, she made a mental note to pull back. If her love couldn’t save anyone, at least she could spare them from her curse. They would be safe. 

“Yes. Please stay. The truth is... I don't want to be alone.”

[windfavord]

starter for @cagedfreedom ! —— ⟡ ( starter call )

HE HAD SPENT THE EVENING perched up on one of the rooftops, looking out over the cityscape. It hadn't been easy to get up there. Instead of simply flying up, he'd had to painstakingly climb. Not impossible, but still more tedious than he'd like.

It was one of his favorite pasttimes-- situating himself above the world around him, watching things happen.

Sometimes, it could be quite entertaining. And interesting.

He couldn't care less what people did to one another. Whether they lived or died, betrayed one another or came together, none of it affected him in the least-- but one thing he couldn't resist was the chance to cause a little bit of chaos. Mess up someone's evening.

Especially when there was a chance that they might deserve it.

He'd picked up a newspaper earlier that day, just to skim over to see if there was anything worth looking at-- and lo and behold, when he glanced up from the paper, he caught a glimpse of someone whose description just so happened to match the description of a killer the island's police were on the hunt for.

He had no intention or interest in helping out law enforcement-- but that didn't mean he wouldn't have a little fun with it, so he climbed down from the rooftop, charting a path through a couple of side streets so that he'd end up in front of the person he was following. He had no idea whether or not this was actually the suspect the paper was talking about-- and he didn't care either.

A smirk on his lips, his hat tipped down to shade his face, he stood in the middle of the path, barring the other's way.

"White hair, dark clothes... it's a little vague, isn't it?" he intoned with a bit of a lazy drawl, "Still... you fit that description, don't you? Awfully brave of you not to be in hiding right now, don't you think?"

[birdietrait]

hi birdie !!!! you don't have to answer this because i know its a lot buuuuut wcif the cc from your "another apocalypse survivor" sim?

in particular, their: hair, top, shorts, blood splatter, eyebrows, tights (although i cant tell if if those are just bg LOL,) and necklace!

im sorry theyre just so cool ur sims never miss

hair | eyebrows (22) | outfit | dirt overlay

[goldkirk]

Do any of you remember what lists I told you I’d give you? I know I’m still working on unique/niche YouTube channels, but I feel like I owe someone a book list too. And I still owe grace pictures of my shiny rocks and a few anon askers some explanations about objects they asked about

[halchron]

@yeonban ♡'d for a starter !

❝ you know, if you keep scowling like that your face'll get stuck like that. ❞

really, did eric always have to be so dour ? he supposed it was only a natural side effect given the other's ability, but one would think he would at least attempt to smile while visiting another country. though given their mission, aldous had to remind himself that their visit to japan wasn't just for a vacation. why the dame paired him with eric of all people, he'll never know. with a sigh, he pulled out his phone to look at a map of the area before turning to look at the shorter man again.

❝ come, enough of your brooding, we have work to do. ❞

[strayslost]

"The job requires a lot of hard work. I've been told that I'm exceptionally talented, but really..."

Sigma trails off before he can finish his thought, uncertain if it's something he really wants to share. With the Sky Casino being so high-profile, most would expect it's manager to be someone impressive, and he's sure they're aware that the position is a demanding one - but quite how much work has gone into it is something he doesn't think people fully understand.

But Sigma is no man blessed by talent. Sometimes in the past he's felt like he's being torn by the seams, with the desperate lengths he's been driven to in keeping his home. And that's only within the short frame of it's existence, in spite of the world believing it had been around for years...

"...Well. I'm sure you must be a hard worker, too. Have you ever gambled yourself?"

@lunargifted ( starter for atsushi! )

[yoshicolonoscopyfootageofficial]

(Stares at both the pinned and some of ur pics)

So basically, you're a...

...

...hm

400 pounds... 200 centimeters... trans and robogender. Also her looks are Not What Society Calls Attractive and thats like... unimportant??? So what can i say here? "Armored titan"? But thats chitinous armor. "Evangelion"? But what if she has whatched the series. Titan? Well what if she somehow thinks its offensive. Come on i have been given on a golden platter the chance to make someone laugh by making a reference with their character- but how the fuck can i make that if all i have are cartman tier jokes that i cannot even formulate??? I must say something here aaaaaaaa

...uh. i see from your pinned that you're.... taken... good for youuu!!!...!...!!

Fuck yeah i nailed it aaaaaaaaa

not me having a Bocchi The Rock moment in ur askbox because im afraid to say something mean based on your looks no siree aaaaa (autism pain)

Hi

[teethcore]

you know. i was feeling bad today, convinced myself i was exaggerating everything and they probably didn't actually hurt me at all, and maybe i was just trying to make up things to be upset about. but then they violated a small boundary that i've expressed over and over again to them and when i pointed it out, it sparked a tense convo, which escalated to them pulling the "because i'm stupid and can't do anything right." then they yelled at me to not help them when i brought a tupperware over for their leftovers. now they're in the car "just to sit," but they brought the keys, which is the kind of thing they do every time we argue (that is, a gesture that implies they're not safe or they're on the verge of doing something impulsive to hurt themself). so at the very least there's definitely emotional abuse happening. right? that's what that is. am i crazy?

[gibbycat]

saw an anon ask on @/zilodaks blog that asked for advice on how to write ai characters. as someone who is drawn to and likes analyzing these types of characters, i offer some advice below (read more; note there are discussions of portal characters that aren't spoiler-free so be wary):

for the sake of making myself clear, i'm going to use GLADoS and wheatley from the Portal series since they're a) very familiar to people and b) they're relatively easy to understand character-wise. i'm only going to discuss them as it pertains to the points i'm making. i encourage you to research some popular ai characters and take the time to deconstruct their character to figure out why and how they work (you can also figure out why they're popular too!). with that out of the way, let's get into it.

when i interact with ai characters, i've noticed that most (if not all) share three things in common that makes them compelling to people:

their original purpose (why they were created)

the "rules" they must follow (which, to me, is their motivation)

a development of sentience

purpose

all ai are created with a purpose in mind. if you look into some popular ai, most of them were originally developed to fulfill some need/want that their creator wanted to see fulfilled. they can be simple, such as running simple equations, or complex such as overseeing an entire community of people. GLADoS and wheatley are similar in that they're both personality cores, little spheres of ai that are noted for their ability to express emotions. but they serve different purposes.

in GLADoS' case, she was created to oversee and maintain the enrichment center on behalf of aperture science. wheatley, on the other hand, was made with the sole purpose of inhibiting GLADoS' intelligence so that she is easier for the scientists to manage.

when creating an ai character, it helps to figure out what they are originally created for (as well as *who* created them) to get a good start on fleshing them out. which brings me to my next point:

2. "rules"

ai are machines first and foremost, programmed by their creators to fulfill a purpose. as a result, theyre bound to a set of "rules" within their programming that helps to fulfill their purpose in an efficient and successful way. as the central core of the center, GLADoS (and later wheatley) have a strong desire to conduct tests and maintain the center to the best of their ability. since GLADoS was intentionally created for this purpose, the center has a clean look and smooth operation under her guidance.

wheatley, however, does a terrible job which is (primarily) because of his original purpose as an "intelligence dampening sphere". as a result, the center becomes messy and rocky in terms of operation. though GLADoS and wheatley are both personality cores, their differences in their purpose and "rules" overall dictate the condition of the center beneath them.

after deciding on the ai character's purpose, you can then move onto figuring out the "rules" included in their programming since that can influence their behavior. to me, the main rule that GLADoS must follow is the rule of "maintain the testing facility and continue testing on behalf of aperture science". she does follow this rule faithfully to a t, even if she has the habit of harming the test subjects involved. which brings me to my last point:

3. the issue of sentience and morality

a lot of popular ai characters have some level of sentience to them. sentience, in layman's terms, is the base level of consciousness that allows organisms to feel things and recognize that feeling. in my opinion, a lot of sci-fi writers and creators play with sentience in ai characters because it makes them more compelling/interesting to their audience (giving human traits to nonhuman beings). this also allows them to explore the potential consequences of allowing ai to gain sentience.

with GLADoS, wheatley, and others within the enrichment center, they all have some level of sentience that allows them to experience pain and emotions. to me, this makes them more approachable to the audience since they aren't unfamiliar (the use of human traits makes them more palatable).

but at the end of the day, ai will fall back on logic/reason in order to solve all potential problems. inevitably this often leads into morally grey territory where they may cause harm in the pursuit of fulfilling their goals. even a "good" ai may be so tightly bound by the "rules" that it pushes them towards harming humans in order to adhere to them (a famous example of this is HAL 9000).

both GLADoS and wheatley have done actions that have harmed chell, even though wheatley was the friendlier one towards her throughout the portal 2 campaign (though it is mentioned in portal 2 that him dropping chell into the pit was an accident).

keep in mind that an ai gaining sentience does not mean that they will develop a good moral character. again, ai are machines and will act according to what is programmed in them. while that doesn't mean it's impossible for them to change, they are incredibly resistant towards it.

a good way to tackle ai characters in this regard is to decide on two things:

whether they gain sentience (and if it evolves into a more "human-like" consciousness)

what they do as a result of sentience

these questions are broad because there isn't an exact answer i can give. there are many ai characters across the spectrum of "good" and "evil", with a good amount of them falling in the morally grey area. to me, the matter of sentience is fully dependent on their purpose for creation and the circumstances surrounding it. similar to how humans raise children, ai are molded by their creators into what makes them unique.

ai, as a concept, is a fun one to explore. but it can be difficult to figure out where to even start since they come in so many shapes and forms (literally). to summarize, consider the following factors when writing an ai character:

research some popular ai, take some time to deconstruct their character and figure out why they work within the narrative. as much as research sucks, you can't make an ai from scratch without some background knowledge.

once you do the research, you can then:

figure out their purpose: who created them, and what they were created for

figure out the "rules" they follow. this can relate to their purpose or, if they are sentient enough, can be a honor code that they adhere to.

determine the level of sentience that the character has, and what they do with that.

[stilettobite]

🥀starter call. @dxnse-macabre

the question wasn't as much about how had so many been taken by the nautiloid and had a tadpole inserted into their brain, but why ceremorphosis hadn't taken hold of any of them yet. and that wasn't even secret's first question, though her own wasn't something she felt she could voice yet.

they all had their own secrets, shadowheart's worship, and… the tiefling glanced over to astarion's tent as the sounds of the camp rustled around them, the party settling in for what would hopefully be a restful night. it made sense that he kept the whole vampire thing close to his chest, but… truthfully, secret didn't mind. she was more of a monster, anyway.

grabbing a bottle of wine, the paladin strode over and cleared her throat to announce herself.

"i wanted to talk to you, and i have wine." bold words spoken softer, not a threat. more gentle. she was practicing being gentle.