#refer to my other posts

[axolotlclown]

I deleted my post about the DSMP because a friend messaged me and let me know that Wilbur actually only worked on some parts of it, while the rest was mostly written by Tommy.

I would have left the post up, but I sat with it and decided that it's distracting from all the other posts I've made. I want to focus on what's happening now.

While I still agree with what I said, and I think we need to reevaluate content that Wilbur was involved with. Poking the DSMP bear was not the move. Not now, at least. I want to focus on other things for today.

[thelaughingpanda]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX3Z8qG7AKo

[ryssbelle]

Drew a bunch of Marinettes in a bunch of different artists styles it was a lot of fun!!

Artists who's styles I mimicked: @buggachat @hamsternamedmarinette @ladybeug @sabertoothwalrus and @anna-scribbles all epic artists 🤟😎

[pigswithwings]

no genuinely oceanblr would be so fun. the bloggers long for the sea and - oh shit what's t [is enveloped by the waves]

0 notes 🔁❤️

🦈 jaws-little-brother Follow

Community Pool: Is water wet?

yeah ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛ (67.3%)

no ⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (32.7%)

Remaining time: 4 moon cycles

🐡 on-line-off-hook Follow

what the kelp are you guys on.

185 notes 🔁❤️

🕳️ coelacanth-official ☑️☑️☑️☑️ Follow

decade 23 off the South African coast ... they ain't find me yet but when they do they're gonna be real surprised

40,739 notes 🔁❤️

🐌 justasnailfish Follow

its so quiet here .. nobody. no friends?

🔍 ms-magnap1nna Follow

We can be friends. come closer

7 notes 🔁❤️

🦐 shrimpathy-for-the-villain Follow

group of friends & i just won a battle against a whale, got a trophy (real)

🌑 ohboy-baleen-deactivated

No you didn't. No you did not. There's literally zero possible chance of this happening, regardless of how many other shrimp were with you because that is Logistically. Impossible. This is so fake oh my fucking cod

🦐 shrimpathy-for-the-villain Follow

ok. group of friends & i sitting inside a whales mouth, about to be krilled (real)

211 notes 🔁❤️

🐚 is0p0d-isle Follow

suuuuuper tired of all the negativity. can we have some appreciation for the "ugly" and "scary" fishes already? thank u blobfish, thank u viperfish, thank u goblin sharks, thank u everyone else who is socially isolated bc of how they look!! ur awesome!!

94 notes 🔁❤️

🐠 reeffraff Follow

human slang is so boring. what the hell is a "fridge". what's a "stove". oh, you have a "microwave"? i see 10 meter tall waves every day. loser.

🐬 atlantic-potion Follow

but they were right about "tubular", you can't deny it

🐠 reeffraff Follow

yes i absolutely can. "tubular"? are you kidding me? any fry on the sandbar could come up with that one. "tubular" is the word you would use to describe a coral and nothing else. it's lame. you have the linguistical taste of a tongue parasite.

🐬 atlantic-potion Follow

say that to my beak you coward

🐠 reeffraff Follow

maybe i WILL

🚹 surface-dweller ☑️☑️ Follow

holy shit, those fish are fighting! mary get the camera!

🐠 reeffraff Follow

GET THE WHAT?

[the-final-sif]

I feel like there's two parts to the no fly list leak that are getting overlooked right now

1) the person in question has the handle "maia arson crimew" meaning media outlets have to cite "crimew" as the person they're quoting, which is amazing.

2) From everything I've read, crimew didn't actually commit a crime (in this case at least). According to crimew, the no-fly list was discovered on a publicly accessible server, totally unsecured. crimew was using Shodan which is a totally legal tool regularly used by a lot of the security community for research. Schools use and provide access to Shodan, it's a normal tool. Nothing crimew was doing was out of the ordinary. Her access and use of the file was most likely legal (or at least next to impossible to prosecute), given that it was publicly accessible.

crimew even notified CommuteAir of the data vulnerability. Which prevented more sensitive data from leaking, and was absolutely a sign of acting in good faith. Her obligation to even do that is a pretty gray area, but she did it anyways.

Now, crimew has gotten charged by the US in the past for other things, however, Swiss citizens cannot be extradited against their will. So the proceedings were suspended. She could only be charged under Swiss law, and given that the data is/was publicly accessible and the exposure was for public good, that's very unlikely to happen.

The people actually getting investigated by congress/the FBI/the TSA are the idiots at CommuteAir that were hosting the no fly list on an unsecured publicly accessible server. They're the ones who actually get in trouble for failing to have followed basic security protocols. They're the ones who had a legal obligation to safe guard that data, and they're the ones who fucked up.

[mx-paisley]

My Arthur Lester with an updated design yipee!!!

You may notice the moon theme, WELL! i had this idea of incorporating a symbol i assigned to malev characters into their designs. Arthur is the moon, John is the sun and Oscar is the star.

@teafromthemicrowave gave me the idea of arthur and john being the sun and moon and then I added oscar to be the star. This is the greatest thing ever ash you wont understandddd THANK YOUU FOR THE IDEA

The scar on his cheek, neck and his torn hear resembles a crescent moon shape

The buttons on his coat are different phases of the moon

The chained pins on his tie, represents the three. Notice how the star (oscar) and sun (john) are only linked together thanks to the moon (arthur) ...thats the best i could explain i hope that makes sense

Bonus sketches

Forget-me-not collar pins anyone??

the glasses is not new, in fact my very first drawing of arthur have glasses!! I removed it when i realized he can't have had it but now that @percymawce-arts also interpreted him to wear glasses, I felt comfortable to have glasses for my own Arthur's design again now too 💞

[non-plutonian-druid]

[ID: A drawing of all the Hargreeves plus Lila riding in Diego's van from season 4, wearing the outfits they usually wear in the promo posters. Diego is driving and using a fist to mime singing into a mic. Five is reading a newspaper in the passenger seat. In the row behind them, Klaus is dangling his arms out the window, Lila is throwing snacks at Five's head, and Allison is sharing headphones with Viktor who is sitting behind her. Ben is in the same row as Viktor and is staring straight ahead looking shaken. Luther is taking a nap in the trunk. End ID.]

Family Road Trip!!

[seefasters]

i think it took mob some time to get used to expressing his emotions openly again so for a while he just reacted disproportionately to random things

[art-is-kayos]

Checking up on his commission

[handthattakes]

Her name……….. is Howdy. Howdy the cowboy vampire. Howdy says say happy birthday to my girlfriend or else

[excali8ur]

Weird dream.

[feketeribizli]

diversity win! the cars from your childhood are bisexual

[keii]

no sense of personal space

[its-your-mind]

god i’m such a slut for characters who think what they’ve done is unforgivable who are just gobsmacked when they open themselves up to someone who forgives them as easily as breathing

[vorestarr]

ascended astarion and vampire spouses

so I've been reading the dnd 2e manual "Van Richten's Guide to Vampires" for fic/game inspiration, and there's this really interesting chapter on vampire brides and grooms. after reading it, it's very clear to me that Astarion didn't turn Tav into a typical spawn, but into a vampire spouse, which are two very different rituals with very different outcomes.

the typical vampire spawn creation process is exactly what Astarion describes happening to him: a painful death, a painful rebirth into undeath, fighting his way out of his own coffin, and Cazador's complete control over him. this is described pretty clearly in the guide to vampires:

According to most related tales, a vampire can create another simply by killing a mortal either with its life-energy draining power (draining all the character's experience leveIs) or by exhausting the mortal of his or her blood supply. If the victim's body is not properly destroyed, it arises as a vampire, under the control of the creature who killed it, on the second night following the burial. [...] Most vampires remember the instant of their death and the nature of their killer, and understand immediately their new nature. Certainly their new hunger gives them a good idea of what they have become. They must immediately free themselves from their grave. either by breaking it open from within or by assuming gaseous form and diffusing out.

so that's definitely what happened to Astarion, but that's not what happens to Tav. after ascended Astarion turns Tav into a vampire, they can ask him what happened, and he describes the following:

Astarion: You are so beautiful... And you will be beautiful forever. Thank you for trusting me. Player: What exactly happened? Astarion: You were drained dry, and at the height of your delirium, I granted you one drop of my own blood. Things will be a touch different for you than they were for me when I was a spawn. I'm imbibed with unfathomable new talents. I am fairly certain I can extend Mephistopheles' blessings unto you. Player: Does that mean I need not fear the sun? Astarion: You need not fear anything. You will be stronger, swifter, sharper, but you won't be different. You were already perfect before. It's hard to improve.

for reference, this is how the guide to vampires describes the ritual for vampire spouses:

To actually create the bride, the vampire bestows what is known as the "Dark Kiss". lt samples the blood of its mortal paramour—once, twice, thrice—draining her almost to the point of death. This process causes the subject no pain; in fact, it has been described as the most euphoric, ecstatic experience, in comparison to which all ether pleasures fade into insignificance. Just as the subject is about to slip into the terminal coma from which there is no awakening, the vampire opens a gash in its own flesh—often in its throat—and holds the subject's mouth to the wound, As the burning draught that is the vampire’s blood gushes into the subject's mouth, the primitive feeding instinct is triggered, and she sucks hungrily at the wound, enraptured. With the first taste of the blood, the subject is possessed of great and frenzied strength (Str 18, if the character’s Str isn't already higher), and will use it to prevent the vampire from separating her from the fountain of wonder that is its bleeding wound. lt is at this point that the creator-vampire's strength is most sorely tested. He is weakened by his own blood loss, and also by his own rapture as the "victim" of a dark kiss. Overcoming the sudden loss of strength and the inclinations of lust, the vampire must pull her away from its own throat, hopefully without harming her, before she has overfed. Should the subject be allowed to feed for too long (more than 2 rounds), she is driven totally and incurably insane, and will die in agony within 24 hours. Once the subject has stopped feeding, she falls into a coma that lasts minutes or hours (2dl2 turns), at the end of which time she dies. Several (1 d3) hours later, she arises as a Fledgling vampire—and her creator's bride.

this to me sounds like what Astarion describes. he drains Tav almost dry, and at the very last moment, gives them a single drop of his blood. (also interesting reading this guide, the single drop avoids the problem of the vampire spouse being driven ravenous with hunger for the vampire creator's blood and attacking them. did Astarion know this and give them one drop on purpose to avoid that and Tav potentially being driven mad by it? or was he being selfish and this is just a nice but unanticipated outcome?)

i kept reading and there's a lot more interesting information about vampire spouses, but the most interesting thing I found related to the game was this:

Although there are some folk tales that describe the bride of a vampire as its slave, in much the same way that offspring are slaves, a bride is free-willed from the moment of her creation. The creator vampire does have great influence over the bride. however although this control is totally nonmagical. When a vampire is created in the traditional manner—that is, when a victim's life energy is completely drained away—the new fledgling instinctively understands much about the vampiric way of unlife, and about its own strengths, weaknesses* and needs. Not so the bride.

so basically, the vampire spouse is not tied to the vampire creator in the same way as a spawn (i.e., not able to be fully controlled) but is still extremely reliant on the vampire creator to teach them how to live as a vampire. the guide goes on to describe that some vampire creators may lie to their vampire spouse about the control or powers they have, in order to exert more control over them.

interestingly, if you ask Astarion if he can compel you the way Cazador compelled him, he doesn't give a straight answer, he just says this:

Player: Cazador could compel you - can you compel me? Astarion: Why would I need to? You're going to be wonderfully obedient.

to me, all of this says that Astarion was telling the truth when he told Tav that they would be different from him as a spawn, and also in emphasizing that they are not a spawn but a consort. he didn't create a spawn, he created a vampire spouse. he married Tav, and because of this Tav also retains their free will.

of course, Astarion doesn't say this. if he knows, he withholds this information in much the way that this guide describes, as a way for the creator to maintain more control over their spouse. but still, extremely interesting implications for the ascended Astarion romance, imo.

other interesting facts about vampire spouses from the guide to vampires:

the married couple has telepathic communication that can span miles -- so Tav and Astarion can potentially have a telepathic bond even after the tadpoles are gone. (another note, this communication has to be consensual both ways for it to work, so you can't just dig around someone's mind if they don't want it.)

the vampire creator is extremely jealous and possessive. (yeah lol)

their life forces are linked, so one suffering a great deal is felt by the other.

the bond can be broken, but the ritual to do so has to be initiated by the creator. to break it, they both spill their blood on the ground and allow it to mix. this dissolves all aspects of the bond (i.e., telepathy and linked life forces), but the spouse stays a vampire.

[quikyu]

Vivian do you know that I would take one hundred thousand million and one bullets for you