#original tags that are still very applicable:

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

I still stand by most of this but having reread Dracula fairly recently I take it back, he’s a great character and far less one note than I remembered. Stoker gets a lot of mileage out of simply making him weird. And there’s an undeniable pettiness and volatility in how he fixates on the protagonists— therefore allowing them to defeat him! When if he would have just moved on elsewhere or retreated he would’ve likely survived.

My typical preference still is for a villain with intense emotional ties, something Dracula does not have. But he’s framed as almost a force of nature within the story, so I can accept it.

thoughts on the best villain archetypes, since you don't like my whiny crybabies lmao

Referencing this ask To be clear! I love crybaby villains, I just prefer them when they’re not going through moral dilemmas. Like again to bring up Phantom of the Opera: I love Erik regardless of his last minute come to jesus moment, not because of it. A big reason I do love the larger story is because his come to jesus moment is not through “the love of a good woman” as opposed to just a moment of self realization. But again, I’d still love him as a character even if he were rotten till the last moment.  I did give you a short list off the top of my head when you brought it up the other day. But let’s go in depth: Evil Queen:  Generally, I fucking love bitches in power. They’re often times very vain and very in control of their shit, to the point where that is their weakness. This usually ends in them spiraling and losing that carefully constructed demeanor. I define the queen aspect loosely, but they must be in charge of whatever is the story scope’s main institution. The appeal is equal parts aesthetic, power fantasy, and watching that inevitable Machiavellian spiral at the end. Examples: Cersei, Azula, Lady Macbeth, and more obscure but my favorite is Arianrhod in Snow Queen Cycle.

The Mentor: This type of villain tends to be overbearing, well spoken, volatile, and genuinely believing they’re in the right. The power imbalance is integral, and the initially positive relationship that later turns suffocating. (The latter aspect being why I prefer Louis and Lestat’s relationship in the film to the novel, there’s a longer span of time before Louis hates him.) And it usually— and ideally— ends in the protégée rising above their reach and eventually killing them. The appeal here lies in revenge fantasy, wanting nuanced portrayals of dysfunctional dynamics, and lmao I’ve just had some very messed up relationships, okay. Examples: Erik/Phantom of the Opera, Lestat, What The Darkling Could’ve Been.

Righteous Villains: This character type is often (and ideally) religiously motivated, but being consumed by any sort of ideological perspective is good enough. These are the evil priests, the political fanatics, the horribly devoted knights and warlords. They also need a position of institutional power at all, though they do not need to be at the top of the food chain, even within the scope of the story. I prefer these characters with a lot of tragedy or at least through a vaguely sympathetic angle, but pure evil is honestly fine too. It’s all extensions of the same trope imo. The appeal is more in seeing how dogmatic ideals can twist and ruin a person. And how institutions like the church can be wielded for selfish gain. Examples: Claude Frollo, Javert, Konstantin from the Winternight Trilogy.

I think saying which are the best archetypes is definitely subjective. But these are my favorites anyway. Other traits that I generally enjoy are: competence, style, humor, genuine ruthlessness, and a fundamental weakness or frailty. Villains are often powerful, and they can run the risk of being too perfect in their evilness. They need to ever make mistakes, be caught off guard, or have their choices blow up in their face. If they’re too in control of everything then it starts to become one note. My favorite part of villain arcs tends to be when they begin to unravel, and when they lose themselves over the course of the story. Pettiness can also be a fantastic trait. Like if they shoot themselves in the foot because they had to get back at someone. Or just the constant desire to fuck with the protagonists or have the last laugh, to the detriment of strategy.

Conversely, characters that have no emotional bonds, or regrets, or their own version of morals are also fundamentally uninteresting to me. If they’re just there to kill people, grimace, and ruin everyone’s day for #reasons, without any other defining characteristics... that’s boring. (Yes I like Dracula despite this, but I maintain that Dracula is, by far, the weakest part of Dracula) They need to be fleshed out characters that are actually believable as people. Send me “thoughts on___” to here my opinions on random things!

[5ummit]

So there's this post with a troubling number of notes going around insisting that "dead dove" is not a genre, it doesn't inherently have anything to do with darkfic, and that the tag could be applied to fics that are "100% fluffy where everyone's having a good time" if they happen to contain some abnormal (though entirely non-problematic) content like an unusual kink. The claim is that "dead dove: do not eat" is simply a "courtesy tag" that means "this is a very specific niche, mind the tags." And that's just... wrong.

I wrote up a whole rebuttal to this post since I can't stand misinformation and frankly OP was being kinda rude and judgey on top of their wrongness. But right after I posted my reply, OP turned off reblogs because, and I quote, “some fuckwad added some dumb shit onto this post and it is no longer educational” (the “fuckwad” being me and the “dumb shit” being proof that they were wrong). A couple people have asked me to make a rebloggable version of my response, which I've decided to do because this isn't the first time I've heard similar claims and I want to help set the record straight. However, I'm not linking the original post on the off chance this gains traction because OP did the right thing by turning off reblogs, preventing it from circulating further, and I don't want them to get hate for being unfortunately misinformed.

For those who don't know the history, "dead dove: do not eat" was originally proposed as a catchall "hydra trash party" alternative label for any fandom to warn that the content of a fic may be considered problematic or potentially upsetting and to read the tags carefully so you know what you're getting into and won't complain later. Specifically, DD:DNE was intended to convey that the Bad Things in the fic would likely be reveled in and not explicitly condemned by the narrative, which some people tend to get up in arms about, hence the need for the extra warning in addition to the tags. Don't believe me? Here's the original proposal (note DD:DNE can be found on a handful of fics dated before 2015 but this is when it really took off and became a Thing).

There are currently around 50,000 fics tagged as "dead dove: do not eat" on AO3 and close to 50% of those also include the rape/noncon warning (which of course is not the only type of "dead dove" but is one of the most popular and most consistently tagged). The normal percentage of noncon fics in any given fandom? Around 1-3%. That's a HUGE disparity. So don't tell me that dead dove is just a general "courtesy tag" and doesn't or shouldn't have dark connotations. Even the context of the original joke on Arrested Development has a dark undertone. Micheal Bluth casually finds an animal carcass in a bag in his refrigerator with the label "do not eat", as if eating it would be any sane person's first thought. The whole situation is kinda fucked up. And this fucked up vibe very much carries over into fandom usage too, as was intended.

The claim that dead dove has nothing to do with the content's genre and could just as easily be used to describe a 100% fluffy fic in which everyone's having a good time is straight up Wrong, or at the very least, severely warping the original meaning. Also, when someone these days says that they like/dislike "dead dove" most people in fandom automatically understand what that means because of the consistency of its usage over the years and the way language evolves. Whether you like it or not, "dead dove" IS a genre now and the term does carry a specific connotation. I do agree that DD:DNE should definitely still be used in conjunction with other tags, when applicable, to be explicit about the exact type of fucked up content you may find, but to say that the term is meaningless on its own is patently false and I'm tired of people who don't know what they're talking about pushing this narrative and causing even more confusion.

You want a generic term that also means "mind the tags" and doesn't have any inherently dark connotations? Just use good ol' "what it says on the tin" instead of trying to force dead dove to be something it's not.

[rou-luxe]

ikevil - tips on how to draw william rex

next: harrison ->

what better way to start this than with our beautiful lord rex? I hope I make sense with this guide oml

introduction: you know how you want to draw your favorite characters, but don't know where to start? you know, those characters with ridiculously difficult designs?

this is for ikevil. hope this helps

(there is no tracing whatsoever in this. this was all done by hand. analyzing anothers' artstyle is NOT a form of art stealing. people naturally learn from observing others. imitation is the highest form of flattery. this is not meant to disrespect natsume lemon in any way.) disclaimer, I am not a professional artist. these are not set in stone. these are just tips.

section 1 - observation

finding important traits

my writing sucks. let me sum it up for you

thin, angular features. thin nose, sharp eyebrows, elf sharp ears

his face is quite long. the chin is not completely sharp, it is more blunt.

william has an earring on his left ear.

large forehead to plant a kiss on

his smile is :>

his eyebrows are in a ] shape (I don't know how to describe it)

section 2 - study

imitating the original sprite

this is the part that gets tricky.

it helps me learn better because it translates the reference into something I can understand. it's also so I don't forget anything (so many accessories...)

I crudely slapped the colors from the original onto my imitation to save time 😭😭

let's break down his design.

hair

monstrosity. aesthetically pleasing to look at. but drawing it? hell. I have color-coded it into pieces here:

magenta: back hair. very spiky and a bit long. it's a bit poofy on top (at least on the main sprite)

red: extends outwards. try to have the part dangling down cover the end of the hairline.

yellow: think of it like a little extension from the green section. just dangling down a bit.

green: make it dramatic

blue: similar to red, but smaller and on the other side. tucked behind green.

2. eyes

his eyes are in a parallelogram shape. the slant is similar for both ends.

outer corners extend upwards.

they're not opened very wide.

almost everything is sharp. very little curves.

his pupils are a bit larger than slits.

the inner corners are lowered significantly.

3. clothing

I only did a bust but still

underneath that outer collar is the same dress shirt you see in the sprite below. don't forget about it.

the cravat (???) is crinkled by the outer chain

I was obviously too lazy but remember to draw the pattern of the outer collar

all these accents have a rope-like texture

the chain mainly consists of triangles, but they rotate... I could not be bothered to go through that pain

accessories in the third image

section 3 - personal application

applying all these tips to my own artstyle

this was arguably the most painful part of the process. I got artstyle envy because of the study, so I had to hide the study 😭😭

I hope I portrayed him accurately

got a lazy with the clothes... but I make up for it in coloring. eugh trust the process

final comparison

I still like the study better but my artstyle is fine too 🤧

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

taglist!!

@bakersgrief @floydsteeth @tako-cafe @rubia8 @xxoomiii

@sh0jun @noxinara @g0dwat3r @sapphire-323 @lycemagee

@citrusmornings @drachonia 

please let me know if you'd like to be added or removed!! or if you'd just like to be tagged for this series

[hwashotcheeto]

𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕

Kim Hongjoong X afab!gn!reader

Summary: You and Hongjoong hated each other. At least, that's what you told yourselves, until you ended up in the same bathroom at a party.

WC: 2.1k

Content: Smut, lots of smut, little bit of fluff, little bit of angst

Smut warnings: Dirty talk, kissing, fingering (reader receiving), oral sex (reader receiving), unprotected PIV sex (this is fairly vanilla)

AN: This is in reference to this post, so those of you who were interested, here you go. ;>

And this was originally written for @malldreamprincess but she gave me permission to edit it and post it. 💜

Tag List (Remember: Please send it through the ask box to be added to any tag lists!): @cherrycel @mxnsxngie

“You’re just a fucking bitch,” you spat, exasperated. Hongjoong laughed as he looked at you through the mirror, still more focused on fixing his stupid lipstick.

“Come on, even I say that. Do better, babydoll.” He puckered his lips and made a pop noise, finally satisfied with his application. He capped the tube and spun around to look at you, leaning back on the basin of the sink. His multitudes of rings clinked against the porcelain, and it was enough to make you want to rip your hair out of your skull. 

You clenched your hands into fists as he stared at you. He tilted his head. A taunt. 

You really had nothing except elementary level insults. “You’re not even pretty,” “you’re mean.” What could you say that someone hadn’t said already, that he didn’t already know, that Hongjoong wouldn’t have a smart, sexy retort to spit back at you with his bright red painted lips? 

“Your ex just fucked you because of your ass” is what came out. You didn’t even think about it, but all of a sudden, the words tumbled out and there they were. 

And to your surprise, the color drained from Hongjoong’s face. His smile dropped instantly and his eyes went wide. You felt pride that you’d finally stunned him, and then you were terrified half a second later by his sudden dead eyes that stared through you as you knew he was thinking about how to kill you. 

“I dare you to say that again,” he said slowly, his eyes still wide, but devoid of any and all emotion except for one: Rage. Unbridled, fiery rage. 

Your heart pounded wildly in your chest like a panicked bird, smacking against the sides of your rib cage. For a moment, you really considered staying quiet. 

“Your ex-” 

He threw you up against the wall and pinned your hands above your head. Your head hit the tiles of the bathroom wall and your vision swam for a second. 

When you could see again, all you were met with were Hongjoong’s eyes, staring into your very soul. Your lungs instantly shrunk and your stomach was in your throat. Your mouth was drier than sand in the Sahara. 

“You have no fucking right to say anything like that,” Hongjoong spat, pressing you against the wall harder. His body wasn’t touching yours, but fuck, it was so close, you could feel the heat coming off of him. 

“And what if I’m right?” You breathed. It was such a cheap line, and you knew there was a high chance he’d slap you for it. 

But he didn’t. And deep in his eyes, you saw it. Hestience. Uncertainty. 

Insecurity. 

I’m right, you thought, but you didn’t dare utter the words. 

Hongjoong finally collected himself and blinked. The insecurity disappeared, and the rage was starting to dissipate too. 

“Why did you say that?” He asked, still holding your hands above your head. 

And it was as if you both had a realization moment: What the fuck were you two doing? 

What were you doing here? In this bathroom, at this house party, arguing about a whole bunch of nothing, when you both could’ve ignored each other? It would've been so easy to ignore each other, to ignore Hongjoong, and stay with your friends and talk about everything and anything. 

You two didn’t like each other. You wanted nothing to do with each other. 

You hated each other. 

Right? 

“Because I hate you,” you breathed. 

And Hongjoong called your bluff. 

“No you don’t,” he whispered, and smashed his lips against yours. 

And it was a fiery kiss, of passion, rage, hidden and complex feelings neither of you wanted to confront. All tongue and teeth and spit. 

Hongjoong moved all over your body, groping at everything, your ass, hips, waist, tits, all of it, moaning into the kisses as he did. You gasped as he kissed down your neck feverishly. 

“Feels so good, Hongjoong,” you slurred, clinging onto him. 

“Yeah?” Hongjoong asked, running one of his hands down between your thighs, rubbing your clit through your pants. “Keep telling me that.” 

And you did, letting out all the whiny, desperate moans trapped inside you that Hongjoong forced out. Fire and desire raced through your body, from your head to your feet, your skin was screaming his name. 

Hongjoong groaned seeing your face, your eyes rolled back, feeling your slick all over his fingers, dripping out of you, it was so much. Everything he ever wanted. 

He leaned in and kissed you again, with the same intensity as before, pushing his tongue inside and fighting with yours, twisting and dancing, moving all over your mouth. 

As he pulled back, a string of saliva connecting your lips, you looked at him with half closed, dazed eyes as you mumbled: “Fuck me.” 

“Oh, I'll fuck you.”

Hongjoong helped you get your pants and underwear off before making you hold your own leg up to spread you wide for him. 

“Is this good?” You asked as you looked up at him through your lashes. Hongjoong smirked as he ran his fingers over your slit, gathering up some of your arousal. 

“Yeah, good doll,” he ground out as he pushed two fingers inside you. You’d hardly adjusted to the feeling of being stretched out before he was fucking you hard and fast. 

“Fuck, Hongjoong!” You cried out, clenching down on his fingers, rolling your eyes back into your head. 

“That’s it, keep saying my name, gorgeous.” Hongjoong’s forehead was leaned against yours, his nose pressed against yours, his lips a breath away, feeling his heavy breaths on your lips. 

You obeyed, whining and whimpering out his name while his fingers were slamming into you, pounding against your spot, fucking you wide open. Hongjoong smashed his lips on yours again, the kissy messy, his free hand in your hair, holding you in place so you couldn’t pull away. 

Not that you ever wanted to. 

“So perfect,” he mumbled in between kisses. “Feels so fucking good, all of it.” 

His words went straight to your cunt and you clenched down again, feeling your orgasm creeping up. 

“Hongjoong, I’m gonna come,” you whimpered out. 

She immediately pulled back, making you squeal and whine in disappointment. But you rolled your eyes back as he dropped to his knees and pushed back inside you again. 

“Come on my face, baby,” he whispered before he dove in, sucking on your clit and fucking up into you. And how could you deny him when he was fucking you like that? 

It didn’t take long before your thighs were shaking and your head was going light. One of your hands dropped down to grip onto Hongjoong’s hair, holding him as close as you could. She moaned and smothered his face in, putting his free hand on the small of your back to keep you close. 

With one final suck on your clit, you came with a scream of his name, pulling on his hair, trying your hardest to not let your legs buckle underneath you. 

Hongjoong moaned as he drank up everything that spilled out of you, fucking you through it, then licking at your still pulsing hole. His eyes were rolled back as he happily took it all. 

“Fuck, baby, you’re so hot,” he breathed as he pulled away, leaning back on the floor on his hands. And fuck, he looked irresistible. 

The low lighting of the bathroom barely illuminated the shine of your slick on his face and neck, his hair was a mess, his pupils blown out with that little Cheshire smirk on his lips. 

You dropped to your knees and crawled over, pinning him on his back and kissing him again, and she let you do it. He let you pin him to the floor and kiss him, and have your way with him. 

Your hands went down and struggled with his pants, and he thankfully helped you get them down to give you access to his rock hard cock. You smiled into the kisses as you started stroking him, pulling a gasp out of him. 

“Aww, you’re so hard,” you cooed, sitting up on top of him. Hongjoong’s eyes rolled back as he bit his lip, stifling the noises that were beginning to bubble up in his throat. “I thought you hated me, Hongjoong.” You lined his cock up with your cunt and teased the head, making him buck his hips up and groan. 

“Shut up and fuck me,” he breathed, his nails digging into your hips. You almost wanted to make him beg for everything he ever did to you, but you stopped yourself, and slowly sunk down onto him. 

His mouth dropped open as he gasped, squeezing you tighter, trying to keep his noises quiet. But even as you were struggling to stay composed, you weren’t about to let him stay quiet,oh no. 

Thanks to him fucking you open already, you could set a fast pace from the beginning. Hongjoong let out a choked moan and closed his eyes. He bit down on his lip as a whine slipped out, his eyebrows going together. You were so tight on him, so warm, it was almost burning. His head was already going light from the pleasure in his veins. 

“Come on, Hongjoong, don’t be quiet,” you breathed, putting your hands on his chest, leaning close to his face. “I wanna hear how good it feels.” And at first, nothing changed, and you expected him to stay quiet. He didn’t open his eyes, he didn’t change. So you dropped down on his lap harder than before. 

And after that, all the noises were tumbling from his lips. Whines and whimpers, little broken gasps, all of it. 

“So good,” he whimpered out, his head tilted back against the floor. 

“Yeah?” You couldn’t help but smirk, even when your stomach was churning and twisting, and your thighs were quivering in pleasure. 

“Yeah, don’t stop, baby, please.” 

And you weren’t about to. 

You put your hands on either side of his head, staring down at him as you continued. Your eyes trailed down to his exposed neck, and got an idea. 

You leaned in and bit down, making him yelp in pain, but you began to suck and lick over it, soothing the pain and making a mark where everyone would see it. 

That he was yours now and no one was going to take him from you. 

His thighs began to tremble and his back arched. “I’m close, please don’t stop,” he gasped, his hands going up to grab onto your shoulders, holding you tight against his body. 

You were close too, and it was making it difficult to keep the pace up. But hearing all Hongjoong’s desperate cries and moans gave you the motivation to keep going. 

He could see how you were close, and how you were focusing on him and not yourself. So he took one shaking hand and rubbed your clit to help you along. 

And it was almost instantly that you came all over him, screaming his name, bouncing on him frantically to ride it out. He came when you did, fucking up into you, crying out your name as he dug his nails into your skin. 

“You marked me,” he panted once it was over. You smirked as you crawled up to him and looked at it. A dark mark, right in the middle of his neck, where everyone would see it. 

You looked at him, and he was smiling too. “Good.”

“Good?” You asked, slowly pulling up off of him. 

“Yeah.” He pulled his pants back up and got up off the floor, helping you as well. “This isn’t how I wanted to tell you, but I have to now.” 

You looked at him confused as you began to clean yourself up. He helped you before you got redressed, and he helped you fix your outfit before he continued. 

“I never really hated you. I only ‘hated’ you because I wanted you. But when I did, I was dating my ex. I didn’t know what to do, and it came out at that. I’m sorry.” 

And all the animosity you ever felt towards Hongjoong disappeared, and you threw your arms around him in a tight hug. He froze, not really believing you were hugging him. It took a few seconds before he hugged you back, squeezing you so tightly. 

“You’d really have me?” 

“Yes. Now I know it wasn’t genuine. I’d love to have you.” 

Hongjoong smiled and held you even closer. It wasn’t how he wanted the conversation to go at all, but it ended better than he could’ve hoped. 

No matter what happened now, you'd be with him. Everything would be okay because you were with him.

Thank you for reading! Please reblog if you enjoyed! 💜

This is a work of fiction written by me. This does not represent the idol(s) in any way. Any re-upload is not allowed and will be reported.

[getvalentined]

I've never done a full breakdown of everything that happened to my version of Vincent while he was under the knife (although there is a partial breakdown from like 12 years ago on Ask Vincent Valentine), but @spinejackel tagged my recent Vincent doodle gushing about autopsy scar (Vincent Has a Y-Incision headcanon supremacy!) so I figured it was probably a good time. This is also probably the best method, since I can apply the right tags and trigger warnings to hopefully keep it from hitting the people who would be disturbed.

For anyone who doesn't know, figuring out the fucked up physiology of victims of science is like my entire jam. I think this is what happens when you let a chronically ill child watch Akira and the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA and most of the works of Masamune Shirow. All that before FF7 even existed. This means that the explanation under the cut may seem excessive, and this post is very long. I've been building it over over a quarter century, I don't think there's any avoiding it at this point.

Warnings for body horror, nonconsensual body modification, medical horror and torture. Basically, if there's anything you can think of related to becoming a victim of science under the rule of an unethical sci-fantasy oligarchy, it's probably in here to some degree. It's explained plainly and simply, in clinical but not visceral detail.

My headcanons for what Hojo did to Vincent are pretty specific, albeit not precisely comprehensive; 27 years later I still don't really have a particularly solid concept for how he turned Vincent into a shapeshifter, although at least we know it's not something entirely specific to Vincent—Hojo repeated that facet of the experiment in Azul, but not in any other SOLDIER operative even in DeepGround, implying that it's only possible if very specific physiological conditions are met. The minimal concept I do have involves a twisted application of the concept of incarnate summoning as it appears in FFXIII-2, but it's very vague and also not the topic of this post. Maybe later.

Regarding the Y-incision/autopsy scar, my headcanon is that once Hojo tweaked Vincent into being able to regenerate from any injury—an enhancement that is confirmed to be entirely Hojo's work in Dirge—the professor of course felt it necessary to run various tests quantify the usefulness of his handiwork. He did this first by inflicting various surface injuries, then by causing more extreme bodily trauma, which eventually culminated in Hojo removing the majority of Vincent's internal organs in order to measure how long it took them to grow back and, assuming they did grow back, how the new ones compared to Vincent's original parts.

To be able to observe this as closely as possible, Hojo kept Vincent's torso open for the entire process—which he repeated twice more in order to check the weight, size and structure of the newly-grown organs in comparison to the originals. This study proved that most of them did grow back, but the majority of them stopped developing much earlier than was appropriate for Vincent's age and size. The difference was consistent, Hojo just never figured out why most of them grew back smaller and less-developed.

The reason this happened is based the fact that most of the organs in the human trunk are used in digestion and other related processes, and Vincent's regeneration means he doesn't need to eat or drink anymore. His body only expended as much energy as was completely necessary to develop those organs to the point of being functional rather than normal, because they're not really necessary. Vincent is glad he still has them, though, because he does still occasionally eat (usually in social situations) and also he'd be really sad if he couldn't even have coffee.

Vincent's brain activity remained normal during the entire process, although that may have something to do with Hojo driving a bunch of fluid lines into his head and flooding the inside of his skull with mako to keep him awake the whole time even while deprived of oxygen. (Rebirth spoilers, but seeing the bit in the Nibelheim Protorelic questline where Hojo does something super similar to this, after this has been my headcanon for decades, was a trip.)

Two organs didn't grow back at all: Vincent's appendix and one kidney. This was also the result of efficient energy expenditure, as the human appendix isn't necessary for survival, and only one kidney is really required. (Each time Hojo removed the new kidney, the one that grew back would be on the opposite side, which bothered Hojo to no end.)

His lungs grew back a little larger, possibly because his skeletal structure never quite recovered after his first transformation into Galian—his arms and legs are noticeably too long for his body, although not to the point of looking impossible, and likewise his ribcage settled to breadth that would allow for larger lungs. He doesn't really need these anymore either, related to his brain being exposed to so much mako during the process that it can now operate without oxygen if necessary, but switching himself over from aerobic to anaerobic respiration is really unpleasant and Vincent tries to avoid it when he can.

His heart was pretty normal by the time Hojo was done with him, although his heartrate had dropped to like 20bpm even when elevated. Again, if respiration isn't necessary, there's not much reason for the system to be active. (By the time Lucrecia was done this had dropped to around 5bpm on average, although it's completely arrhythmic and jumps all over the place when he's not either particularly active or on the verge of a transformation.)

This was the experiment that left Vincent susceptible to degradation, which Hojo didn't realize until after finally closing him back up. Upon realizing that Vincent's body wasn't responding properly to a different test (a repetition of an earlier experiment related to the regeneration of external tissues and features), Hojo just kinda threw him in a tube to be disposed of at a later date, kinda like that scene in Arrested Development where there's that dead dove in a bag in the fridge. The incision healed at some point during the period that Lucrecia was working on him, but early enough in her work that the tissue couldn't flawlessly regenerate (like it does in the present), leaving him with one more gnarly scar on top of all the rest.

Vincent is self-conscious about all the physiological changes brought on by what was done to him, often to the point of loathing. His left arm is the worst—it rotted off while he was in the throes of degradation and grew back as something that he hesitates to call his arm—but Vincent hates that Y-incision scar almost as much. Some days they tie.

(It has come up in appropriately horrified conversation with Shalua that, considering how his regeneration works, Vincent could probably get rid of all the scars on his chest if he somehow peeled the skin off his torso in a single swath. He will not be doing that. Besides, it might grow back the wrong color/texture/etc, like his left arm. Not worth the risk, much less the suffering.)

Also I gotta finish off this entry with the extremely stupid headcanon reveal that Vincent's (honestly fairly impressive) dick was cut off during the first round of bodily trauma regeneration tests—and Hojo has never felt the sort of rage he experienced upon discovering that it grew back bigger than before. This occurred early enough in the experiments that Vincent was not awake for it, and thus has no idea how the fuck this happened, and does not want to talk about it ever thank you very much. I've never mentioned it in public anywhere because it is extremely stupid, but I hope someone out there finds it as funny a concept as I do.

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

This collab has been in the works for some time now and we’re finally ready to share with you the first chapter! @kultavalo and I have giggled for many a moons over these two love birds so we hope you enjoy them just as much as we do 🥰

*Read on AO3

Pairing: Josh Kiszka X Danny Wagner *sweet sweet slash

Warnings and tags: 18+ ONLY! No minors need be present where Finn and I are involved! Some slight angst, idiots pinning and flirting, fluuuffff, more tags to be added later

Word count: 2.7k

Omne Trium Perfectum, everything that comes in threes is perfect.

What a beautiful phrase, though anything in Latin did tend to have that effect.

It was something Danny often thought about ever since he heard it read aloud from a book Jake was reading in their shared space on the bus between two seemingly identical cities.

The more he thought about it the more it did very well seem that everything that came in threes was indeed perfect: the sun, the moon, and the stars. Melody, rhythm, and harmony. The three musketeers, the three wise men, the holy trinity, hell even bacon lettuce and tomato…

Though he’d been close with the Kiszkas for a very long time, Danny still sometimes struggled to find where he fit in. Josh, Jake, and Sam- everything in threes is perfect.

Even despite their constant corrections of interviewers, their heartening attempts to include him, Danny still had this nagging feeling in the back of his head that he would always be just on the outside looking in. Of course that was until three times he and Josh kissed, and by the third time he knew he was right where he belonged.

𖤓 - ☾ - ☆

The mall was quiet. The giant plastic ice cream cone that slowly turned near the entrance to the food court hummed softly in its rotations. A pack of moms with strollers had invaded the benches near the central fountain and a group of kids who were quite clearly supposed to be in school right now shot them nervous glances from their huddled corner near the Hot Topic.

It wasn’t often that Josh and Danny got to spend some quality time with just the two of them. Often either Sam or Jake or both would tag along on whatever adventure they might go on, not wanting to miss out on any potential fun.

But honestly this trip to the mall was not exactly the kind of quality time or adventure anyone was actually thrilled about.

Earlier that day Josh had received quite a scolding from Jen, their makeup artist. He had been secretly dipping into her stash of white eyeliners after he had run out of the one tiny pencil he had brought on tour himself.

In his defense Josh had never expected that he would enjoy wearing the simple white dots that were all his current skill level would allow on a daily basis. The original idea had been to only apply them for interviews and more casual public outings where he still had to look the rockstar part. But the more he practiced and perfected his symmetrical application, the more he started to add the tiny bits of flair to his daily outfits. They made him feel pretty. The pencil he had brought lasted about two weeks.

He really thought Jen wouldn’t notice. It was just one pencil out of her giant kit! But in his ignorance Josh had inadvertently grabbed the most expensive item out of the whole bunch and Jen had definitely noticed.

She had cornered him in the dining room of the hotel during breakfast that morning. It had just been him and Danny at their table, sleepily blinking into their cereal as they tried to wake themselves up enough to actually go out and enjoy their day off between shows. Neither boy had noticed her angrily stomp up to them until it was too late.

She slammed her hand down on the table, rattling the cups and bowls and startling the two half asleep musicians.

“Joshua Michael Kiszka.” she hissed as she held up the stump of what used to be a full white eyeliner pencil.

“I know your mother raised you better than to steal so would you care to explain to me what this is supposed to be?”

Fear gripped Josh’s heart. Jen was one of the most gentle and loving people he knew. No matter what kind of shenanigans he pulled or how bratty he acted she always treated him kindly and with a smile. So the fact that she now looked like she was about to strangle him truly made him think carefully about his next words.

“Uhm…” was all he managed to stutter out before she put up a hand to silence him.

“Don’t even start with me, young man. Do you have any idea how expensive this pencil is?”

Josh simply shook his head slowly. He’d never really thought about the price of makeup, the shitty little pencil he got at CVS was just a few bucks, but the look on Jen’s face told him that had not been the case for the one he’d so carelessly nicked from her beautycase.

“Forty five dollars.” she spat at him and all the color in Josh’s face drained. He didn’t even know eyeliner could be that expensive.

“You better get me a new one Josh.” Jen continued, “Or you can do your own makeup for the rest of the tour.”

Danny, who had been trying to stay as quiet as possible and had just focussed on finishing his cereal and getting the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible let out a tiny snicker at that. He instantly regretted letting the small noise escape his lips when Jen turned her burning gaze to him.

“And you!” She pointed an accusing finger at Danny but quickly lowered it when she realized he hadn’t actually done anything wrong.

“You better go with him and make sure he doesn’t fuck up more.” she grumbled before storming back off to her room, leaving the two boys stunned in her wake.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that angry before” Danny mumbled into his coffee cup as Josh dropped his face into his hands in shame.

“Yeah me neither.” Josh’s voice was muffled but Danny could still make out the words.

“You gotta help me Danny, I really fucked up this time.” he sighed as he rubbed his hands over his face.

Danny sighed as he finished the last of his coffee. This wasn’t exactly what he had planned for his one day off in over a week, but he couldn’t let Josh down. Something about those big brown eyes that pleadingly stared at him from between those fingers made him incapable of saying no.

“Fine, but you owe me one.”

***

They'd hijacked a runner van and taken a trip to the nearest mall.

Soft jazz echoed through the almost abandoned halls and promenade as Josh and Danny made their way from shop to shop. The search for the insanely overpriced pencil had started frantically. Jen had left the stump Josh had tried to sneak back into her kit on the breakfast table and the boys had been smart enough to bring it with them for reference.

It didn't take long for him to get distracted however.

Besides his own impulse purchase of the white eyeliner during an unrelated CVS run, Josh had never actually been inside a makeup store. He had no idea about the wealth of products that were available and the wide assortment of colors and sparkles blew his mind.

Danny tried to keep him on track for the first hour or so but he had to admit trying out all the different shades of eyeshadow on the back of his hands was pretty fun.

“Do you think we should get Jen a new eyeshadow palette as well?” Josh had asked once both of his hands were covered in colorful swatches.

“You know, as an apology?” He continued as he swiped a new color onto Danny's wrist, having run out of space on his own skin.

Danny shot him a halfhearted frown but in all fairness the glittery purple Josh had put on him did look good against his skin.

“We don't have to do anything. If you'll remember I didn't steal anything. If you wanna buy her something extra to make up for your crimes feel free. I'm just here to keep you out of more trouble.” Danny said as he jokingly swiped a line of silver powder across Josh’s cheek.

Josh snorted out a laugh as he swatted Danny's hand away from his face.

“And you're doing a marvelous job at it darling.” He laughed as he turned back to the array of makeup in front of him, loading up his fingers with 10 new colors to try.

Danny knew Josh joked when he called him pet names. He called everyone darling, it wasn't anything special.

But the way his stomach felt… like there was a tiny firecracker that went off in his abdomen when the word hit his ears. It still made him feel special…

Danny quickly locked that feeling back in the corner of his brain he had labeled “for future consideration”. A corner he had established a few years ago when one random Tuesday in August he had looked at Josh and something in the way the sun hit him in that moment made his stomach flip over twice.

Danny wasn't sure when the time for consideration would arrive. It certainly wouldn't be right now though, walking towards the lipstick counter, about to tell Josh he probably shouldn't swatch the chapstick straight on his lips.

“Josh, I don't think that's very hygienic.” Danny hissed into his ear while he scanned the area for any employees who might have spotted them and deemed this the final transgression worthy of kicking them out of the store. They still hadn’t found that ridiculously overpriced pencil they were looking for in the first place.

Josh simply let out a huff and rolled his eyes.

“Calm down, I’m gonna buy it. It tastes like watermelon though!” he said as he absentmindedly threw the tube into the shopping basket Danny was holding.

After about another hour of swatching, searching, and Danny herding Josh through the aisles like a toddler who might eat all the crayons in art class, they finally found the elusive white eyeliner pencil.

Jen hadn’t lied, it really was fortyfive dollars. It seemed like a ridiculous price to Danny but Josh bought two anyway. One for her and one for him so she wouldn’t kick his ass for stealing again.

After their quest was complete the two men decided to reward themselves with milkshakes and look at their respective hauls in the food court.

“Can you get me a chocolate with whipped cream shake?” Josh asked as he walked towards the nearest table, typing on his phone as he took a seat, practically ignoring Danny.

“Absolutely the fuck not.” Danny said with a huff which made Josh look up in surprise. The confused look on his face was honestly adorable but Danny didn’t let that influence him.

“I sacrificed my free day to come along with you. You used both my arms as swatch central, and I’m carrying both of our bags. You get me a milkshake.” Danny laughed. He wasn’t actually angry at Josh but someone needed to reign in the diva on occasion.

The pouty look Josh shot at him was almost enough to sway his determination but Danny put his foot down. He did do all of those things for Josh and there was no reason why he shouldn’t receive a little bit of gratitude for it.

Josh let out a dramatic sigh when he realized Danny wasn’t wavering but he did get up and started walking towards the shake shop.

“Don’t you want to know my order?” Danny asked as Josh walked off but he simply waved and said “I know what you like.”

Danny pretended his stomach didn’t shoot up into his throat at those words. He took a seat at the table Josh had picked and started rifling through their shopping bags. their quest had started with just one pencil but they had ended up with so much more. Eyeshadow and blush palettes, mascara, nail polish, lipstick. They could have put together their own beauty kits at this point.

Danny lazily looked over it all as he waited for Josh to return. They had bought so much sparkly shit. He didn’t even know what half of it was for but he was sure he could figure it out with some help from google and youtube.

Out of the corner of his eye, still slightly stuck in the plastic bag Danny spotted an item he did know how to use however. The chapstick Josh had said tasted like watermelon.

He grabbed the tiny tube and pulled the cap off. The strong, sweet smell of artificial watermelon immediately penetrated his nostrils. It was a fairly intense but nonetheless pleasant smell.

Danny absentmindedly pressed the chapstick to his lips, wanting to see for himself if the smell actually matched the flavor or if it would simply taste like vaseline.

He had to admit he wasn’t disappointed. The chapstick truly did taste like a watermelon candy.

“I don’t think that’s very hygienic.” Josh's mocking voice spoke from right next to him, slightly startling Danny.

Josh simply chuckled as he set down the tray carrying the two giant milkshakes he had purchased.

“Now it’s almost like we kissed.” he grinned at Danny as he took a sip from his own cup and pushed the other towards the drummer.

Danny’s eyes went wide and all he could stammer out was a shaky “Wh-what?”

Josh shrugged as he popped the clear plastic dome off of his cup and used his straw to mix the whipped cream through his drink. He barely even looked up at Danny as he continued speaking.

“That’s what they say, when you share chapstick it’s like you kissed. ‘Cause your lips touched the same surface.”

Danny stared at Josh for a long quiet moment. Josh hardly seemed to notice, too busy with mixing his drink to the perfect consistency.

Eventually the self preservation mechanism in Danny’s brain took over and he quickly took a sip of his own milkshake to break the awkwardness.

The taste that hit his tongue was simultaneously nothing like he expected and everything he knew he wanted.

“I didn’t know they made watermelon milkshakes.”

“I told you. I know what you like.”

Danny tried to hide his blush behind his giant cup but honestly it was hardly necessary. Josh had grabbed the nearest eyeshadow palette and was intensely studying the shimmering colors.

Once they had finished their drinks they decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

They had seen pretty much all the tiny mall had to offer and Danny was set on spending whatever remained of his free day soaking in the jacuzzi tub his room had granted him access to. If he spent some of that soaking time thinking about a certain frontman and getting himself off, well that was between him and the bathwater.

Josh had texted the van driver while they were still at the food court so by the time they’d found the correct mall exit they only had to wait for another ten minutes to be picked up.

The sun was shining bright and there was a small patch of grass next to the pick-up area. Josh quickly kicked his sandals off and sighed contently as his bare feet touched the grass. With his eyes closed and his face turned to the sun Josh didn’t notice Danny staring at him.

There was a reason everyone compared Josh to the sun. He radiated a certain kind of light that was simply undeniable. Right now Josh seemed to be recharging, soaking up the few rays of direct sunlight he could get to make his own glow shine brighter once more. Danny loved staring at that glow, even if he could only do it in secret. Whenever he could bask in those little rays of Josh’s sunlight he felt like a starving man finally being fed.

It wasn’t too long before the van showed up and Josh reluctantly put his shoes back on, threw his bags in the trunk, and joined Danny in the backseat.

Josh patted his pockets as the van started driving, seemingly looking for something. He turned in his seat and hooked his arm over the headrest, trying to reach something in the trunk.

Danny looked at him in confusion but before he could ask what he was doing Josh turned back. He huffed, looked at Danny, and kissed him straight on the lips.

Danny’s brain short circuited.

It only lasted a second. Honestly it was over before he even realized what had happened.

He simply blinked at Josh in confusion, hoping that somehow the morse code his eyes were spelling out conveyed his question of “what just happened” to the other man.

It seemingly worked cause Josh simply shrugged and said “my lips were dry. The chapstick is in the bag in the trunk but you’re still wearing it. I’m simply getting back what I paid for Daniel, don’t look so surprised. If anything, this whole trip today should have taught you that stealing doesn’t work.”

He pulled out his phone and half heartedly started scrolling through instagram, ignoring Danny’s still shocked gaze.

Josh had kissed him. On the mouth. Like it was nothing.

Danny's stomach was in his throat and his heart was in his ears and Josh was just looking at his phone.

The watermelon flavored tube of chapstick burned a hole into the pocket of his pants.

𖤓 - ☾ - ☆

Tags: @sanguinebats @gracev0609

[finickyfelix]

Writeblr Intro: Up-to-date Version

About Me:

You can call me Felix. 20 year old trans man, he/him pronouns exclusively. I am extremely shy and socially awkward, but I'm trying my best to become more social, mostly by talking in reblog tags, which is my main method of communication around here. I enjoy being tagged in tag games, although I can't get to them much of the time. But I still like being tagged in things and I will try to do them when I can; show me your writing!

Also I draw, sometimes. I occasionally post my art here, but only very, very rarely.

I am a very big fan of Slay the Princess at the moment, so I do reblog stuff related to it a lot.

What I Write:

I once would have said write fantasy, but who knows what I write anymore honestly. Horror mostly, lately, I guess, considering the fact that my current WIP is Faded Daisy, which is horror. Regardless of genre, I always write character-focused stories without much of a focus on plot. I often write fairly dark stuff so please be careful around here. Also I have been known to write (and reblog) NSFW writing on occasion. I do make sure to try my best to tag everything appropriately and use mature content labels when applicable, but still. You have been warned.

Below the cut are my currently posted works + info on my WIP, which I shoved down there because this gets long otherwise. Please click on the read more if you're interested.

Currently Posted Writing:

Note: Although I have works on AO3, I no longer can use AO3 going forward due to reasons involving their updated privacy policy and my anxiety. So although my works are staying up, I can no longer reply to comments and I can't read anyone else's work on AO3 anymore. Sorry!

Snakeskin:

(Available on both Tumblr and AO3)

Linos Tievis, a failing medical student who has an interest in monsters, finds an injured monster on the side of the road. Obviously he can't just leave her there, so he does what he can to nurse her back to health. However, she hates him, which is making things difficult.

Word count: 11,117 (on AO3. The word count on Tumblr is a little different due to edits.)

Genre: I have been told that it's horror. It's not supposed to be scary though, just... subtly disturbing. It's mostly meant to be a character study.

Content warnings: Blood and injury, misgendering, familial death, childhood trauma/child abuse, gender dysphoria, non-consensual kissing, past sexual assault, sexual thoughts, kind of cannibalism threats. Very brief and minor mentions of animal death and self-injury.

Notable features: villain origin story set 15 years before Faded Daisy, has a one-sided and very toxic monster/human "romance," has authentic evil insane trans man representation. Also there is a hot lizard lady.

There is also a separate NSFW monsterfucking bonus content story that I wrote for Snakeskin that exists both on Tumblr and on AO3. The Tumblr version is better because I added a bit to it. I am not linking that here. You can hunt it down yourself if you're so inclined (and if you're an adult.)

Some Company for the Evening:

(Currently only available on AO3, although I do have plans to repost it to Tumblr soon.)

Mazarian, a priest currently in line to become the High Priest of Palvis, has recently made a habit of sneaking out at night and drinking in the Lower District. He's kept his celibacy vow intact though; although he's breaking several other vows, this is one line he's not willing to cross. However, tonight he encounters a somewhat suspicious foreign prostitute who seems determined to make him break that vow.

Word count: 8,139

Genre: Fantasy-romance

Content warnings: No actual sex but there are a lot of sexual themes. Also contains themes of religion, implied self-harm, and mild transphobia

Notable features: Fluffy tea date, exploration of religious sexual repression, a cat indirectly contributes to a religious crisis

WIPS:

Faded Daisy:

A monster wakes up with no memories and no idea who or what they are, in a city that usually kills monsters on sight. However, they survive due to the help of the questionable Dr. Tievis, who names them Nameless and says he has never seen a monster like them. Grateful to him for saving their life, Nameless trusts him.

Estimated final word count: ~40,000 words

Genre: Horror

Notable features: Second person POV, a mad scientist, monsters, an extremely fucked up relationship

Content warnings: Abuse, manipulation, injury and mutilation, blood and needles, borderline sexual assault, cannibalism, body horror (and since it's not yet finished, this list will probably grow.)

I had other WIPs once, but I abandoned them all and Faded Daisy is all that's left.

[mesetacadre]

Do you know where the stereotype that trots are fixated on selling newspapers comes from?

Saw a lot of people posting jokes about it here and then at a Palestine protest I went to the trots were selling their newspaper, so I have seen it happen in the wild, but I've been curious what the origin of this stereotype was.

PS I've enjoyed reading the articles you've posted, the one about Yugoslav volunteers in Spain was really interesting

Thanks about the articles! I have another translation in the #brigades tag about the arrival of the XI Brigade in Madrid, though it's not as direct a translation:3

As I understand it, it comes from an uncritical application of Lenin's emphasis on the newspaper in his works pre-revolution. It was a very important aspect of agitation because it provided a source of income and was a very effective way of transmitting more complex positions, as well as keeping members and workers informed on the state of the worker's movement, from a class perspective. Nowadays, while newspapers still hold most of these benefits (in my humble opinion), it is neither the only possible way for communicating Party positions nor as crucial. But most trotskyist groups don't take their own conditions into account a lot (totally uncharacteristic for them lmao) and just do literally what Lenin said. Most communist parties with any base wider than a group of friends will probably have some form of newspaper or publication, but trotskyists generally stand out because of how much importance they place on it. One time I was with a trotskyist in a room with other people, he brought out this comically large and thick newspaper, and sold it for like 7 cents to the only person that showed even a little bit of interest.

[lookingfts]

Hi, I'll preface this by saying that I'm a fan of your writing and this is not a rant at you specifically. It's something that I'm growing more and more frustrated with when navigating content/creations in the fandom (and other fandoms on here too tbh). Your posts just happened to be the ones I came across today and they provide a convenient case study into the matter.

I politely appeal for you to insert gif credit and sources in posts like these: https://www.tumblr.com/lookingfts/752534640842211328?source=share and https://www.tumblr.com/lookingfts/752585046132752384/this-ridiculous-little-man-with-his-stupid-little?source=share

From what I can tell (unsure about the s3e1 bedroom one) but the other two come from: https://www.tumblr.com/chenfordsbee/752307297817165824/kanthony-hands?source=share and https://www.tumblr.com/bakerolivia/750875519674892289/anthony-bridgerton-and-benedict?source=share

I think we all know that the inbuilt tumblr feature to embed existing gifs in posts is very broken (where it automatically credits, and links you back to the full set when you click the text/username under it), and it can be very frustrating to find the exact one you want.

But reposting them yourselves without credit is seen as very bad etiquette amongst creators, and a lot of creators will block people for this reason (to avoid said person collecting and reposting their future content), and warn their fellow creator mutuals to do so too.

Also, it makes the user experience quite annoying for some users. i.e. You see a post with a really cool gif; you swore you've seen that exact one before, you may even recognise the very specific style/coloring, OR you've not seen that scene giffed before but you've wanted to, you now really want to like/reblog the full set if you could find it. Either way; you wish you could see the whole thing from the original post. But there's no link or even an indication as to the original creator/blog it came from, so... yeah this sucks.

From your other posts you seem like a reasonable and well intentioned person, so I don't think you're setting out to be deceptive in any way (some will actually fully repost a mish mash of different sets, and caption and tag it as if it's their own creation), you just want to scream about your faves, as you should. And I'm sorry this got so so long but I think I need to make it really clear, because I assume that some of these reasons/povs/repercussions must be unknown for it to keep happening. I could go into how it affects creators in fandoms in more detail but I'm sure you can imagine and I don't want to extend the lecture (just imagine someone copying and pasting excerpts from your fan fiction, and posting it, without any citation of said fan fiction or even mention of the author).

TLDR - Please link back to the original post if you're sharing stand alone gifs, made by someone else, in your own posts. Or better yet, reblog the original post that you're downloading the images from, with your added commentary (we would actually LOVE to see it, but I do also get if you just want to pluck out one specific moment from the set).

An example:

[THAT ONE GIF FROM THAT MOMENT YOU REALLY WANT TO POST ABOUT]

GIF by @tumblrusername

Blue font to illustrate that this is a hyperlink to the original set. I just based this on the way the aforementioned broken inbuilt one is formatted, but as long as you @ the user (this pops a mention into our activity just like the inbuilt feature does so we can come scream along with you) and link the applicable post in some clear way it's all dandy and helps everyone out.

I really hope that this doesn't come across as hostile, and that you answer so it can be shared to make others more aware too.

Thank you for asking this. You're totally right - I have not been thinking about crediting gif creators, and that's something I need to learn!

I'm still very new to Tumblr and learning the ropes. I didn't really intend to post S3 gifs at all - I was keeping Kanthony photos/gifs I liked on my phone to share with friends, and eventually I realized how many I had saved, so I decided to start making posts with them, and I was simply uploading them from my phone at that point.

You see so many gifs floating around here - I didn't think closely about the time and effort that people are going through to create these gifs, and I will do better in giving them the recognition and attention they deserve. (If one of the gifs I've used is yours, please let me know and I will tag you.)

Thank you to everyone in the fandom for contributing their art, and thank you for standing up for creators.

[vriskaserketdaily]

Announcement; CW for graphic descriptions of medical emergencies & discussions of death/mortality

so, yesterday i briefly mentioned that i had been hospitalized. i unknowingly consumed edibles, became anxious and hyperactive, had a full-blown panic attack, and believing myself to be in the mother of all caffeine overdoses (2 cups of black tea) or having a heart attack or both, called emergency services, and was hospitalized with severe tachycardia.

i genuinely thought i was dying, sitting outside in my pajamas with my back to the mailbox post waiting for the EMTs to arrive. i still thought i was dying two hours later, struggling to breathe in the hospital room with my parents beside me.

i thought about a lot of things in the time between calling the emergency number and being lifted into the ambulance. i didn't want this blog to be my only legacy when i have so much more to do and be and make. i have other hobbies---knitting, crochet, playing guitar & composing music, and especially writing. i haven't drawn or written about my ocs in years, even during the recent hiatus, and i would like to change that.

to that end, i will not be drawing vriskas on a daily basis or consistently updating the fan art queue for the forseeable future. i will still draw vriska, especially if there are requests in the inbox, but i won't be going out of my way to squeeze out fan art when i'm ill, busy in other areas of my life, or generally not feeling it.

i will be keeping this blog up. i will not be changing the url because i fought too hard for a hypen-free daily vriska url and i'm not giving it up that easily. perhaps, after a year or two, i may even resume daily vriskas and normal blog operations.

COMMON QUESTIONS:

are you like, okay? i think i'm fine, physically? i was discharged after about four hours in the hospital and was able to move and eat and stuff today. i still feel some soreness/tightness in the chest, but i think that's to be expected given the circumstances.

can we still send requests? YES please omg. the interactions i have had through requests have been so positive and rewarding that it'd be difficult for me to fully give this blog up. even something as simple as "draw vriska" will function as a request. one thing that's been going through my head a lot lately is the thought that i could die and no one here would notice or care, so having tangible assurance that there is at least one person in the world who wants to see my vriska art would be very meaningful in that regard. i may not respond immediately, but i will respond to all requests that conform to the blog rules and mission (no nsfw, no pedophilic/incestuous ships, must involve vriska in some way)

will you consider opening mod applications? no, both because i don't think there would be too many takers for the position and because i know from experience that the fastest way to kill a daily blog is to load it up with a bunch of mods. (i am not the original owner of this blog and have moderated a few other multi-mod blogs before---i am currently the sole mod of the two i stuck with, this being one of them). i'd rather keep this blog half-active with just me than have it be completely inactive with me and 3-6 other people. again, there's a chance that after a year or so of taking things slow, i may come back to it.

can we tag you in art/fics/vriska posts? yes, actually, that would be very helpful. i don't expect anyone to do this, but again, i will no longer be actively perusing the character tag. feel free to @ me in vriska-related posts you think could use a little love.

if i have a daily vriska blog, will you promote me? sure! genuinely, i wish you luck---i've seen a couple of y'all come and go, and it really takes a lot to keep a blog like this running for more than three months. if you can do that you will be certified spiders for real.

where else can we find you? my main blog is @beangods, where i reblog posts that are not about vriska. you can send art requests there, too, but they cannot be related to vriska. that's what this blog is for. i also moderate @theextendedzodiacas, which is mostly fantroll-oriented. i'm on discord, too, but you won't find me on any other social media site.

is the vriskord still up? yes, it is, and you can join it, though the server is not very active. i don't plan on taking the server down or anything like that.

eighth question eighth answer 8ottom text

please feel free to reach out to me, and i'll be happy to answer any questions that i can. thank you for your understanding, and i'll see you . . . in probably a few days when i draw the 1 request currently sitting in the inbox.

thanks for reading all this.

-mod 8

[shinesurge]

in a fit of minor despair i blazed TWO (2) comic posts, and by chance a very kind reader ALSO blazed a completely different post the next day. Some insights from the new dashboard (assuming they're accurate lmfao), in case it helps anybody:

The major takeaway here is, as much as we all hate booktok ads and despite what people insist, nobody actually wants a real synopsis of your thing, they want zero-context clickbait.

All three of these were for 2500 views, mine were both targeted towards identical tag audiences and the Kind Follower's was ALSO for 2500 but they chose some different (still applicable) tags.

The pinned post, with some actual comic pages, the elevator pitch, and some basic info about the comic gained around 37 engagements, including 6 reblogs. Worth noting that I formatted this post specifically to be clear and painlessly sharable, it doesn't stretch the page or have clickable links and has all the info about the thing right out front, the sort of thing I respond to.

The softer world edit I originally made because I like making them, with no intention of using it for advertising and which includes zero context for the characters, also no links, got 80 engagements, 6 reblogs and one new follower.

And finally, the follower's blazed post was an actual comic update that differed from the usual for Reasons; instead of a real comic panel it ALSO had a softer world edit attached. None of the text was formatted well for an ad at all, just being the usual links to the comic's website. It gained 36 engagements overall, with 4 reblogs.

And no matter WHAT the post looks like: nobody clicks links.

I'll also mention that pinned post has been there since February, and before I blazed it it had gained around 175 notes in five months. A lot of my static character posts will get 70 or 80 notes without me tagging or trying or really doing anything to promote them, because. They're not meant to be used like that lol

Granted: tumblr as a website is a mess, these numbers could be wildly inaccurate, this is not a super scientific study, but Man.

Personally, I do not respond to this sort of clickbaity booktok shit very well when it's INTENDED for advertising, specifically because I feel like it disrespects the audience and, worse, imitates genuine art to exploit peoples' genuine feelings. It feels VERY close to those covert influencer ads, it honestly makes me kinda sick. But I have talked about this phenomenon before, and the numbers here do back it up. I do think there's some nuance here, but it would take a whole other post to get into it I think.

And I mean, when I make stuff about my own comic it IS always genuine. The audience for "fanwork" I make of my own stuff is extremely small (mostly Me) so it's not like it would be lucrative to crank out a ton of random fake fandom posts; they're not any less earnest if I use them for ads now and then. So I dunno, I guess it's not EXACTLY the same as those gross publisher ads pretending to be teen girls, but it's irritating to be here. I know what I'm looking for wrt ads and getting into new things and I try to treat others the same way. It would be cool to get some traction while treating my audience like Real People, but clearly that route doesn't work seeing as my comic career now has a very real expiration date lmfao. Get out there and make some memes I guess?

[freakblrbookkeeperofficial]

Blog Name: I didn't get to say goodbye

Username: @cringelordofchaos

Aliases: @mr-broom, @x-daisy-x, @hailey-i-guess, @xjaded-sadiex, @background-bg-chan, @xx0blooming-orchid0xx, @totallysean, @freakblr-lore, @tmf-tournaments

Type of Blog: Original Freakblr Seven

Date created: Late 2022-Early 2023

Reason Created: N/A (Non Applicable)

Last Active: Present Day

--------------------------------------

@cringelordofchaos is one of the more noticeable and still active members of Freakblr. And is also been cited as one of the Freakblr Original Seven, giving them special status on this blog. As previously mentioned, all Freakblr Original Users are sourced from @sobeksewerrat's post from several months back.

Cringelordofchaos stated that the main reason they joined tumblr in general, is because this is where they were able to find content for their favorite fandoms. "I noticed that when I search up cringe ships I like and go to Google images most of the things sourced back to "Tumblr", and so I realized that Tumblr could be a place I could be more accepted at, that people wouldn't judge me for being cringe, for my personality, fandoms, interests, ships or queer identity, and I wanted in." They even gave a reason for the name of their blog, "I made the blog called "cringelordofchaos", to reflect the fronte part of myself I was willing to share."

Though, they specifically found Freakblr like many of us do. Through, "@tmf-confessions!(While scrolling through the TMF tag on tumblr I came across . There were barely like, 15 posts at the time if not less when I first discovered the blog, and each post had like 2 likes from the same people, and that blog really was a primary catalyst for sharing your thoughts or anything related to TMF really, we all quickly became mutuals cuz again there weren't many of us"

They described the early days as many Freakblr Original Users and older members of the community do. "It was great! It was a pretty small group of people, like what? 3/4/5 of us at first? We mostly hung out at @tmf-confessions, right? And we were pretty tight since there were so few of us, and we let ourselves go wild and do all sorts of shit." It seems many believe the early days to be best, when activity was at an all time high and when there was a sense of freedom and almost casual community.

Cringelordofchaos has several aliases/alternate blogs. It's quite impressive. I listed many in the above section of this post. but some of note would be: @freakblr-lore and @tmf-tournaments. Still, the rest are just as important, making up their identity in Freakblr and the mark they've left on the community thus far.

When asked about blogs of note, chaos specifically mentioned haileyxaustin (left tumblr) and roryheart (deactivated). As well as zzstar-head, b0ytr4sh and zoeyhoeyisalive (deleted). Through just these connections, it's clear Chaos is/was very involved in this community.

They also noted that they were very close with @sobeksewerrat and @undeserved-halo.

When asked about enemies they said they felt they had no enemies. "I don't think I have any enemies ??? I consider myself pretty close to most of the OG7 + some others to the point where we talk abt much else more than tmf."

The memory Chaos decided to share is one that's considered classic amongst members of Freakblr, specifically those older members of the community. "When berry (@strawberry-pretzels) revealed they had rats that laid eggs, I mean that's always going to be iconic." They also had another memory, that's much more obscure in contrast to the previous one. "The time Roxy said she wears socks with tights." But, i think it's important to note they also said this, "I find each moment in this community equally important and special."

As mentioned previously, like many older members of Freakblr, they had mentioned not an aversion too new Freakblr, but a longing for it's earliest moments. "I liked the older days of Freakblr much, much better. Since there were less of us we all pretty much knew each other, we were pretty tight like an actual friend group and had a ton of inside jokes n stuff the new Freakblrs don't know, and we used the Freakblr tag for non-tmf related stuff more." There was, as mentioned, a sense of casual community. A tight knit group that felt more like friends than just strangers bonding over the fandom. "In short we were all much closer and it all felt so special and if the community wasn't as small as it was before I don't think I would've met my closest mutuals." Like I said, this seems to be the consensus among many Freakblr Users who were around for the early days.

Cringelordofchaos is one of the Freakblr Blogs I consider to be memorable. You can find their comments and reblogs in many older Freakblr posts. And even outside of Freakblr they pop up in places like Ao3 comment sections. While not as active in Freakblr spheres specifically anymore, they are still an active member of the overall tumblr community. And when you think about Freakblr, it's hard not to think of their blog. Like all Freakblr Original users they've left their mark on the community and will always be remembered by us.

As a final quote to sum up their thoughts and feelings on Freakblr, Chaos had this to say:

"This place is a perfectly imperfect disaster and I don't wish to ever leave."

[a-big-apple]

ok locked tomb fam, we’re getting closer to october and the original release date for Alecto, and i’ve been seeing an uptick in anxious/aggravated fans in the tags wondering when we’ll get any new info. waiting is very hard, i feel it too, so i wanted to share some things i have gleaned about publishing through a masters degree and a decade of bookselling!

the book is not coming out in october. the marketing would have started months ago if it was—and there’s no way that the final book in a series as on the radar as TLT would have less marketing than the previous books did. the galley isn’t out there yet either, as far as i’ve seen. i think a fall or winter release is extremely unlikely at this point.

book publishing, for the most part, is not willy nilly. marketing has to thread the needle between starting too early (risking losing the attention of the casually interested) and starting too late to build a good buzz. release dates have to take into account what other books are coming out at the same time—not just what Tor is putting out, but likely what their parent company, macmillan, is putting out. i know this is capitalism at work, but this is the system we live in: they don’t want similar or similarly big books in the same company or imprint competing with each other, it can hurt sales all around. 

Tamsyn said in an interview back in december ‘22 that Alecto was written, but editing had not begun yet. editing takes a lot of time, and marketing steps are frequently linked up—announcing a release date hinges on how close the book is to being ready, especially since the original release date is no longer applicable, and getting books ready for print takes a lot of time and a lot of steps!

the biggest times of year for book releases, especially highly anticipated books, are Oct/Nov before holiday shopping starts, and Mar/Apr/May. obviously that’s not true for every book, but this is a big book for Tor, and big books get better spots in the release calendar. if i had to make an educated guess, i would wager Alecto will probably come out in spring ‘24, and we won’t start to see announcements or marketing until after the official release of the Nona paperback on Sept 12. again, this is sales driven: news about Alecto could muddy the waters for the Nona paperback and impede sales, especially since there’s new content in there. i think it’s likely we’ll hear something a little later in the fall.

i’m not as plugged into publishing as i used to be, so i am fully prepared to be wrong about any of this—it’s just assumptions based on what i’ve experienced of the book industry.

either way though, a point i want to make is that nobody at Tor is witholding information from us maliciously. there are a million moving parts in making and marketing a book (and i’m sorry, but huge Hollywood movie releases that are topically resonant but not actually related do not have any effect on publishing schedules). most of those moving parts are human beings: Tamsyn, trying to tie up the series under enormous pressure, still during a pandemic; her editor, who has other books to edit at the same time, and surely wants to do this work justice; Moira Quirk, hopefully, bringing her genius to recording the audiobook; copy editors, designers, marketing people, all of whom are people, many of whom are overworked and underpaid in an industry that is largely not unionized. 

they’re not trying to fuck with us. i understand where these impulses come from, but getting angry, begging, pestering, none of that is going to change the plain fact that you can’t market a book until you have an almost-ready book, and Alecto is one that Tor will want to put the best tactics and timing behind. be patient a little longer. fuck corporations and capitalism, but have empathy for the individuals who will put Alecto in our hands from within a very flawed system. Tor has a long and successful history in speculative fiction publishing, they know what they’re doing.

[rou-luxe]

ikevil - tips on how to draw harrison gray

<- previous: william + series introduction

section 1 - observation

finding important traits

little ahoge ♥

droopy, sleepy looking eyes

mustache and sherlock pipe optional

is it just me, or does he has a triple eyelid

thin nose as well, but not as thin as william's

rounder features

eyebrows are (

his smile is :]

section 2 - study

imitating the original sprite

i'm very, very sorry. i have massacred your boy. i'll make it up to you in section 3 🤧

the fluff was hell. I was mostly fucking around

breaking it down.

hair

not nearly as horrific as william's, but still terrible in its own way.

these examples are from my version because of how terrible the imitation turned out

magenta: back hair. spiky and extends out. think of russell from end roll (rightmost image)

red: the hard part. I recommend having an extra layer just for this part because you don't want to ruin everything, right? 😭😭 four spikes.

yellow: it's... kind of like red, but smaller. how do I explain this

green: cute ahoge <3

blue: it's kind of just there

purple: I assume this is hair tucked behind the ear. it's difficult to tell on the original sprite, but it's there.

2. eyes

his eyes are... kind of an omelette shape. a squished omelette.

both corners extend downwards.

sleeeeeepy look. dreamy eyes.

there's a lot of curved lines here. his eyes are soft.

pupils are ovals

sorry he looks so dead here

don't forget the beauty mark

there are eyelashes because I am me but you don't have to

he has quite a dark lower eyelid...

3. clothing

messy turquoise dress shirt!! remember to show his collarbone and a bit of his manboob 🤤

please don't forget the black vest.

you're on your own for the fur. can't help you there. if I have to suffer, so do you 😇

thankfully, not much jewelry with harrison. (button, brooch, earring)

section 3 - personal application

applying all these tips to my own artstyle

really happy with how this came out!! I was scared because harrison's design has colors I usually don't work with, and the values meshed together a lot while I was working...

still don't know how to draw the fur sorry

final comparison

in my rendition, he looks like a protagonist in a Nintendo 2DS/3DS game. am I wrong? it feels nostalgic.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

taglist!!

@bakersgrief @floydsteeth @tako-cafe @rubia8 @xxoomiii

@sh0jun @noxinara @g0dwat3r @sapphire-323 @lycemagee

@citrusmornings @drachonia 

please let me know if you'd like to be added or removed!! or if you'd just like to be tagged for this series

[ariannaserissa]

2024 Fic Wrapped

Tagged by @teamdilf - thank you!

Words Posted: So, on New Year's Eve, I made the depressing realization that I hadn't posted a single thing on AO3 in 2024. I don't post very often as it is - my writing inspiration comes in spurts and then disappears for months at a time - but I didn't know it had been that long.

Additional Words Written: I didn't keep track of this, but I just looked at the WIPs that I'm pretty sure I started in 2024 and got a rough estimate of 16,000 words. Whoo...

Fandoms: Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate 3, and Mass Effect - in order of how much focus each received in my writing and brainstorming over the course of the year.

New Things I Tried: I finished BG3 for the first time in January 2024, and shortly after that I started working on fic for it.

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: I spent a good chunk of time putting together my Dragon Age canon across all four games. Those are a series of stories instead of one fic, though.

Fic I Spent the Least Amount of Time On: I'm not sure this is applicable, since I haven't finished any of the stories I started in 2024, so technically I'm still spending time on all of them.

Favorite Thing I Wrote: I've probably enjoyed working on my Inquisitor and Solas Post-Breakup story (see below) the most. There are some scenes and interactions between characters that I think are really good and I'm excited to share them.

Favorite Things I Read:

A Melody in a Forest by Missjlh (@teamdilf on Tumblr) - Contains ending spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard! - A lovely glimpse into Iris Lavellan's and Solas' future together in the Fade.

On Such a Starless Night by @diaphanouso - A Rolan/Tav story with such a fascinating and likeable Tav. It made me a fan of this pairing and DiaphanousO has several Rolan/Tav fics!

Writing Goals for 2025: GET. SOME. WRITING. DONE. More specifically, I'd like to finish the incomplete works I have on AO3. There are two currently: Heart of Flame, Soul of Steel (Avatar: The Last Airbender) and No Small Sacrifice (Dragon Age: Origins).

I want to post new stories, too, of course (see the section about New Works below). I'd also love to participate in a fic exchange this year! I haven't done that yet and it seems fun.

If I have the inspiration and motivation to work on any longfic this year, I've gotta spend that time on my original novel.

New Works: With these, I'm trying to focus on stories that I think I have a good chance of completing, rather than more complicated ideas that have been fun to think about but haven't materialized much in terms of actual prose.

Tentative Title: All the Hopes She Carries AKA Inquisitor and Solas Post-Breakup (Dragon Age: Inquisition) - I've posted a snippet of this already. I also have another story set after the Trespasser DLC from this Inquisitor's POV I want to finish and post.

Tentative Title: A Song in the Stillness (Dragon Age: The Veilguard) - Covers the endgame of Veilguard and beyond, mostly from the Inquisitor's POV. I've posted a snippet of this fic as well.

Tentative Title: What the Dawn Would Bring (Dragon Age: Inquisition) - The Inquisitor decided to leave Alistair behind in the Fade. The Hero of Ferelden - along with some friends - attempt a rescue mission.

I have one Baldur's Gate 3 fic that is almost done and I think might be worth posting once it is. However, that game hasn't inspired me to write as much as the Dragon Age or Mass Effect series do, so I'm not sure that I'll have a lot of works for that fandom.

Lastly, I still have some Mass Effect stories I want to write for my Priority: Shakarian series, not the least of which is Through Hardships to the Stars, which is the conclusion to my Shepard's story.

Tagging @kalliesa if you want to participate! Never any pressure with these.

[curioussubjects]

Kara/Lee Fic LiveJournal Links

It occurred to me a while ago maybe not everyone is familiar with navigating LiveJournal, much less how to go about finding fic there. I figured it could be helpful to have a list of personal journals and communities to make that easier, or just to have on hand. What's included on this list: * Authors (prolific and/or widely rec'd, some with partial AO3 archiving); * K/L Communities (great sources for other fics and fanworks); * General Battlestar Galactica (2003) fic communities; * Friend-Locked and Deleted Journals (for reference and archived links, if applicable); * Authors that moved all their fics to AO3 (not linked, also for reference). All that being said, this post is neither a rec list or comprehensive. Mainly, I wanted it to be a point of entry for new fans or fans who aren't familiar with LiveJournal. With that in mind, if I forgot a community or user you think should be here, let me know and I'll edit the post to include them. Let me know if there are any issues/questions!

If you see your username on this list and you'd like to be taken off of it, just let me know and I'll edit the post, and likewise if you have your fics listed on LiveJournal and you'd like me to link to them.

Note: You might notice reference to a specific archive for Kara/Lee fic, called Fallout Shelter, as you explore these links. The bad news is that the site is offline. Unfortunately, the site wasn't archived very well either, so pretty much all the fics that were exclusively archived there are gone. The good news is that the archive was a repository for fics originally posted on the ApolloStarbuckFic yahoo group, which was saved during the massive archival effort to backup YG back in 2019/2020. The even better news is that the data for that group might become available some time next week. I'll make a post explaining how to go about sifting through all the messages if/when the data becomes available. Keep in mind though that I haven't seen this data yet, so I have no idea what, if anything, is saved in the group's messages and files. Still, though, definitely something to be excited about!

Fics under the cut! ☺

General Communities

Battlestar Recs BSG 2003 Fics BSG Creative BSG Epics BSG Fic Finders BSG Kink BSG Remix BSG Slash

Kara/Lee Communities

The Applecart Beyond Insane KaraLeeFic No Takebacks Pilots Big Bang Pilots Presents Reel Pilots SASA HQ (additional fic tag)

Authors (A-Z)

alissabobissa (general k/l tag, ffn) anr (general k/l tag) apodixis bantha-fodder (general k/l tag on dw) that i should suffer (archived) brynnmck (general bsg tag) coffeesuperhero (general fic masterlist) daphnaea (general fic masterlist) dionusia (general k/l tag) elly427 (general k/l tag) embolalia (general k/l tag) fahye (general fic masterlist) hackaddict indigo419 kate98 (lj deleted, find on ffn) kdbleu leavingslowly leda13 (general fic tag) letterstonorah (lj deleted, general k/l tag on dw) liminalliz (general fic tag) lint (deleted lj, fin on ffn/ao3) lotus79 meyerlemon (lj deleted, find on ffn) mnemosyne olaf47 sangga (general bsg tag) shah-of-blah (general bsg fic tag) stars-like-dust (general bsg fic tag) svilleficrecs (general fic tag) tamsibling thefannishwaldo (general bsg tag, also on ffn) voleuse whatimages (general bsg tag) widget285 (general bsg tag) wisteria- (general bsg tag) zeplum (saintstreet, plumunited) F-Locked Journals queenofthorns (f-locked on dw) rawles/peri-peteia (ao3, dw) workerbee73

Deleted Journals/Fics

kag523 latteaddict nancy777ca (some fics on ffn) oxymoronassoc (archived, see below) Look Him Straight in the Eye Just Something Out of Step shawngf sloanesomething (archived, see below) And So I Woke (1 [might be gone], 2, 3, 4, 5) All the While Byzantium (SVU crossover) Terms Five Things that Didn’t Happen on Colonial Day Untitled

Find on AO3: callmeonetrack elzed Innibis ninjamonkey73 rachelindeed rayruz scifishipper SomewhereApart