#the samples only come in one size but i wanted to see what its like.
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
velvetwyrme · 3 months ago
Text
LITTLE GUY SAMPLES.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(theyr a little Lorge, so i'll probably order a smaller size for the actual thing, but. LITTLE GUYS.)
78 notes · View notes
incognitopolls · 1 year ago
Note
can we like. ban the "see results" option it literally makes 99% of these polls completely useless
I know it's frustrating when the results are heavily skewed by responses outside of the target audience, and I'm sorry about that, but no– this isn't something I plan to change.
Short answer:
If you're willing to do some math, you can subtract the "see results" votes and calculate what the actual percentages would be. Most people won't want to do math, and that's fine; without getting fancy at all, if you just ignore the "see results" line entirely, you can still see which options are the highest, which are lowest, etc. The numbers just won't add up to 100%.
Longer answer:
The majority of votes on polls come from people who see it via reblogs (rather than organically in searches or from following this blog). People don't reblog polls unless they get to click a button. If the buttons only allow responses from a limited group, reblogs will be extremely limited and therefore the response pool is too.
Take for example this poll about colorblindness. I forgot to add a "not colorblind" option to the submission, and it got 36 notes and 72 responses. Compare that to any of the polls in the days before and after it; all of those got 1000+ responses. I can't prove anything from that, but it's pretty clear to me that it's related– and that if non-colorblind people had been able to vote on that one, they also would have reblogged, and then the poll would have reached more colorblind people.
In a situation where a poll reaches more of the "in" group because the "out" group got to click a button too, it will always be true that the absolute data is skewed– but the relative data is actually more useful because it polls a larger sample size of the "in" group. Even then, though, it's worth keeping in mind that this blog does not and cannot serve as a genuine research tool; it's a fun way to gather anecdotal data but that is its limit.
628 notes · View notes
onyourowndaisymae · 1 year ago
Text
strawberries
Tumblr media
mammon hears you're missing something from the human world. so, he decides to fetch it for you.
content + warnings: just some cute (implied) x reader, can be read as platonic, normal mammon tsundere shenanigans, fluff
word count: 952
[longer oc version coming soon?]
Tumblr media
mammon doesn't particularly think he's a nosy person. if you're having a conversation within earshot, then surely you're comfortable with someone nearby listening in. and when it comes to matters involving you-- well, surely your first man deserves to know more about you than anyone else, right?
while casually "passing by" (and definitely not stopping outside the door to the kitchen to listen in when he hears your voice get all soft and sentimental), mammon hears you talking to beel. you're talking about something you used to eat as a kid, laughing as you share how you used to make yourself sick on summer nights eating your fill. you paint a picture with your words of yourself several decades previous, with sweet red juice dripping down your chin, leafy tops discarded in the yard as you played long into the sunset. beel eventually has to ask you to stop-- he's actively eating his own meal, but your descriptions are so colorful that his stomach howls with want anyways.
mammon's lost in thought by the time he wanders off. what were these splendorous fruits you spoke so highly of? did they have a devildom equivalent? he didn't even catch its name...
part of him wants to grab these magical fruits and use them to turn a profit. since the exchange program had been initially proposed, a small but growing faction of demons had become obsessed with anything relating to the human realm. food, clothes, entertainment, etc-- all of it was heralded as exciting and mystifying. but the other part of him wants to see if you really liked them as much as you said. he wants to hear the stories directly from you, not overheard in the hallway, on how much you loved these little fruits.
a plan begins to form in his head. he'd be flying by the seat of his pants, but...
Tumblr media
"they're a summer-y red human fruit. y'know, with the juice that gets all over ya?"
two teenage employees stare at mammon, trying to understand what the hell he's describing. he's speaking cryptically, like he doesn't even know what he's looking for.
"sir, can you be more specific?" the employee with flaming red hair asks.
"you said a summer fruit?" the other employee, an older blonde girl, asks. "like, maybe... watermelon chunks?"
"I don't know, maybe?" mammon's face is just as befuddled as before.
"here," the ginger proposes. "how about we go get some samples and have him taste everything? maybe he'll be able to figure it out then."
mammon is left standing alone as the young girls dart off towards another market stall, whispering and plotting as they scurry together. he feels like an idiot, truly. damn you. damn you and your pretty words, your smile, the way you make him feel so in love with you that he's willing to brave a human world market by himself on a busy sunday just to make you happy. his cheeks feel warm just thinking about it.
the girls return as quick at they left, a little basket of fruit donated by some nearby stalls to help the poor confused man nearby find fruit for his beloved (a bit dramatic of a marketing pitch-- but they're not exactly wrong). they eagerly beckon him to try all of what they brought. after all, helping someone is much more interesting than, say, doing the more boring tasks in their job description.
watermelon are nice, but the moment he see the actual size of the whole fruit, he knows he's got the wrong one. cherries are too tart. he can't imagine you gleefully popping them into mouth as a child without choking and dying on a pit (humans are so fragile). raspberries are close, but he isn't quite convinced...
then he sees them pull out a fruit with the leafy green top-- if only he'd remembered that earlier-- and he knows he's found what he needed.
"what are these called?" he asks.
Tumblr media
"strawberries?"
there's a sense of awe in your voice as you look down at the little container. your favorite childhood snack is staring back at you, and they look just as wonderful as ever. mammon's face is red as he shrugs noncommittally.
"yeah, well, whatever. those lousy witches gave 'em to me while i was up in the human realm. i figured you'd know what to do with 'em."
he's lying. you could tell he would before he even opened his mouth, but you don't mind. the berries are vibrant and pretty under the kitchen lights.
"would you like to share them with me?"
"huh?"
his confusion only makes you laugh. you take your time washing them off, telling him the stories of how much you loved eating strawberries and running around your back yard at night. you have a feeling he knows these already. but he listens intently, arms crossed as he leans back against the counter and watches you, sprinkling in some commentary now and again about how human children are strange. there's a soft look on his face as he watches you work.
finally, you back to the counter and sprinkle a light dusting of sugar on the strawberry, then hold it up for him to try. his fingers brush against yours, but you make a noise and open your mouth-- you want him to do the same. he gets red again, eyes darting around for a good several moments, before hesitantly leaning in to take a bite.
a dribble of juice trails from the corner of his lips. you smile, chest warm, and thank him for caring so much about you. his sheepish smile only makes the strawberry taste that much sweeter as you take a bite yourself.
Tumblr media
438 notes · View notes
moonstruckme · 7 months ago
Note
feels odd being a marauder fan asking for tasm Peter content but i couldnt help myself <//3 if ur still taking requests id love to see ur take on Peter and the art students meet cute (or not so cute meeting) I always wondered how two vastly different people would even meet lol
Thanks for requesting gorgeous!
cw: mention of animal cruelty (not present in the story)
tasm!Peter Parker x artist!reader ♡ 831 words
Peter wonders if he should put on his mask. 
He’s not really sure what the protocol is for non-mutant criminal activity that makes its way into his daily life. But he’d only been trying to lock up the lab for the night, and there you are, spray painting all over the glass panes dividing the workspaces. 
“Hey!” He decides to forgo the mask when you direct your can scary close to a container of samples. “Don’t do that, you’ll ruin them.” 
You turn slowly, tense all over. It’s a look Peter’s not unfamiliar with; fight and flight are warring in your nervous system. You’ve been caught. 
“No one’s still supposed to be here,” you say, voice muffled slightly by the painter’s mask covering your nose and mouth. 
A laugh bubbles out of him. “Oh, my bad. Sorry—actually, since I’m clearly the one breaking the rules, I’ll just go.” 
You remain frozen in place, seemingly waiting to see if he’s actually joking or not. Peter’s not sure what to do. He can’t just…let you continue to destroy the lab, but calling the cops has never been his MO. He crosses his arms and leans back against a table, doing his best to look in control. 
“What are you even doing?” he asks. 
“It’s…” You look around you as if you’d forgotten, to the glass now dripping gorily with red paint. “It’s about animal cruelty. It’s a protest. Do you have any idea,” you say, your voice picking up conviction as you speak, “how many animals die in these labs every day?” 
Peter blinks. “Not really.” It feels shitty to say, but it’s not like he’s around for every class and project that happens here every day; something like that would be impossible to keep track of. 
Your eyes flash. “Too many.”
“So, what?” He looks around, at the red dribbling down the glass panes—blood, that’s what it is—and your paint-spritzed overalls. “You make some maintenance worker have to clean this up tomorrow morning, and then the science department will decide to stop?” 
Your eyebrows bunch. You hadn’t thought of that. “I just want to bring attention to it,” you say. “I’ll come back and clean up if I need to, but I just—I think it’s important that people see it. That they can’t just keep ignoring it.” 
Peter frowns, bending to pick up one of the paint canisters stacked neatly by a backpack. He gives it a little shake, and this one’s still full, the pile it came from larger than the matching one of used-up cans by your feet. Your eyes track his movements, too smart to try and take it from him but attentive nonetheless. You’re watching him with this flaming intensity. There’s something quietly passionate about you, like you’re burning with an energy that would be almost frightening if it didn’t seem so heartfelt. 
“You realize there’s cameras all over this place, right?” he asks. “You could get kicked out of school. This is vandalism.” 
You don’t flinch. “It’s uncommissioned public art.” 
“You think they’ll see it that way?” 
You sigh heavily, and Peter wishes he could see what was going on behind that mask so he’d know what you were thinking. Thankfully for him, your eyes are expressive enough. They narrow as you cross your arms, jutting out a hip. 
“So what, are you going to go and tell someone?” 
Peter sizes you up. He can relate to feeling like you need to work outside of the system to get something done. To being sick of going to the proper authorities after being told too many times that while they really do care, they won’t do anything about it.
“How about this,” he says. “You let me stay here and make sure you don’t damage any of the equipment, and I won’t rat you out.” He might even scrub the camera footage once you go. But he’s still figuring you out, so he doesn’t want to make promises. 
“Deal,” you say immediately. If you’re surprised at his bargain, you don’t show it, only shaking the paint canister in your hand and starting to spray another layer of paint onto the glass. Your brows pinch slightly as you work, evidence of an assiduous concentration Peter is familiar with. 
He makes himself comfy in a rolling chair, sitting back to watch you work. “We actually do some really important stuff here, you know.” 
“I’m sure you do,” you say without pausing. “It’s not like I blame everyone you personally. I get that the research helps people, but, I mean, at what cost?” 
Peter shrugs. It’s a good point. “True. It’s a lot worse for animals in the big labs. We’re small-scale because we’re funded by the school, and we’re also responsible for reporting to the higher-ups.” 
“I know.” Your eyes flit to him, less wary than before. “But I don’t have access to one of the big labs. Change has to start somewhere, right?” 
You can certainly agree on that. 
110 notes · View notes
pandoa · 2 years ago
Text
it's the little things: III
Tumblr media
the little things they do for you
~feat. heartslabyul~ ~twisted wonderland x gender neutral reader~
~headcanons~ part 1│part 2│part 3
Tumblr media
ace trappola saves you a seat wherever you two may go—though that doesn’t make him any less of a pain in the ass about it. in class, the cafeteria, library, or even your own dorm room, ace makes it his personal obligation to (1) save you a spot beside him, and (2) piss you off in the process. it's not like the seat wasn’t meant for you, but ace felt that he needed a much more entertaining way to save it for you. from draping a lazy leg over your seat just as your body finds its way into the chair to placing random—but overall harmless—items onto the cushions of your seat, he’ll do almost anything to mess with you. your reactions are just too priceless.
"Ah... class is finally over..."
"I thought Trein's lecture would never end! I am exhaus— Hm?"
"Oh, hey, (Y/n). What's up?"
"I... took your spot? Nah, I don't think I saw anyone sitting here before~ You're imagining it."
"Besides, my legs seem really comfortable here; I don't think I could move even if I wanted to."
"There's an open spot on the ground, though; you could sit there if you wa— Ouch! Okay, okay, I get it! I'll scooch over!"
"Just stop hitting me for Seven's sake!"
Tumblr media
deuce spade unconsciously picks up your mannerisms. whether it be the certain phrases you say or the carefree way your hands seem to wave at the sight of him, deuce begins to mimic it all. he doesn’t even notice it until ace irritatedly points it out after a sickeningly oblivious “study session” with you and the other first years as the majority of the time was spent watching the two of you—each both more dense than the next. it wasn’t too difficult to catch on, really, but some part of deuce hopes that you hadn’t caught on just yet. he wishes to face his feelings properly, so perhaps give him a little more time, yes?
"Wait, so... in the history of magic, the fae began to progress their own kingdom... when?"
"Uh... let's see. It should obviously be sometime before the war between the fae and humans, that's a given, but... Huh?"
"What's up? Is there something wrong, (Y/n)?"
"We're both just sitting the exact same way—? Oh... yeah, I guess we are."
Deuce looked down only to notice the similar way your hands would fidget in sync with his. Oh, great. Now we're both twirling our pens the same way; I need to stop before this starts getting a little weird for them—
"U-uh! It's probably just a coincidence! Yeah!"
"No deeper meaning to it... totally."
Tumblr media
cater diamond sets his phone aside when talking to you. he may be the type to practically be attached to his phone twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; however, that doesn’t mean he lacks any self control when around you. even he knows that time is precious and that the memories he shares with you would come to be much more valuable than checking the likes of his latest magicam post. flipping over his screen to face the back of his phone, cater’s attention is entirely on you, and you alone. although, he might pull it out for a quick pic with you as you two are hanging out wherever you are. could you blame him, though? the view of you and him in the same camera frame was just too pretty for a sight to skip out on~
"(Y/n)! You made it~ I think you had something to tell me, right?"
"Nope, you weren't interrupting anything! Just posted a last-minute story on magicam—nothing too important."
"Just go on with whatever you wanted to tell me. I'm listening."
"Oh... my phone's ringing? They can wait, hehe."
"Keep going~ My full attention's only on you."
Tumblr media
trey clover never fails to give you a small treat—be it a homemade piece of candy or pocket-sized sweets—each day he sees you. at first, it starts as a matter of chance. one day he happened to have a petite sample of a new recipe he’d been experimenting with and saw you as the perfect taste-tester of the newest treat. but as one day turned into another, trey found that he never failed to keep a sugary dessert inside a pocket or two of his uniform, each one different every day. he just enjoys the way your face seems to light up at the sight of the sweets gently being placed into the palms of your hands.
"(Y/n), here's the book you left back at Heartslabyul yesterday. Make sure to remember it next time, haha."
"It's no problem. Oh, yes, and—"
"I baked these miniature pies yesterday after you and Grim came over for the Unbirthday. They're candied, too, so they might be to your liking."
"It's no trouble! I'm glad you seem to like the smaller things I bake."
"It's nice to see whenever you enjoy my cooking, in all honesty."
Tumblr media
riddle rosehearts is more lenient on you when regarding the dearest queen’s rules. he doesn’t seem to be doing it on purpose, though—no, no. all of his words and actions, to him, are all acts of respect and common courtesy for the dear prefect. you’ve encountered so much; the most he could do is show you respect as well, yes? like deuce, everyone but him tends to notice it and it truly messes with everyone’s minds. clearly an act of favoritism, all the students of heartslabyul grow envious of riddle’s much more lax treatment towards you. riddle may be fond of you, but why did they have to get the short end of the stick???
"And what do you all think you're doing eating a tart so guiltlessly?"
"Rule number 089: Never eat a tart without the Queen's permission. I do not remember giving any one of you permission to eat a tart today."
"Such violations will not go unpunished."
"Oh... the prefect is here, too? Well..."
"They are in no part of the Heartslabyul dorm and, in fact, lead their own dorm as well. We are—in some way—equals from differing dorms."
"No, I am not just conjuring excuses! Stop this nonsense, or off with your head!"
Tumblr media
a/n: ace was one of those kids who’d pull on another kid’s pigtails or ponytail back in elementary school i just know it
374 notes · View notes
thewertsearch · 1 year ago
Text
FUTURE carcinoGeneticist [FCG] 3 HOURS FROM NOW responded to memo. FCG: HEY DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE THAT YOU UNCOUTH PIECE OF SHIT. [...] CCG: IT MUST BE PERIGEES EVE, BECAUSE GET A LOAD OF THIS HUGE BEHEMOTH LEAVING THAT JUST GOT DRAGGED IN. CCG: JADE, OUR DUTY IS CLEAR. WE MUST DECK THIS TURD TO THE NINES. FCG: OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT WAS A CLEVER THING TO SAY. WHAT A DIPSHIT. ?GG: aaauugh what the hell!!!
Honestly, at this point Jade should just close the chat and come back in an hour.
?GG: i cant take this anymore!!!!!!!! ?GG: i dont even know what im reading here but its preposterous and ive had it! ?GG: i am just so angry, i cant believe i let you push me around all those years ?GG: you are completely out of your mind, i was too nice by just blocking you and typing frowny faces and stuff ?GG: i should have let you HAVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Jade Violence has been a long time coming. Unleash it!
?GG: if you want to apologize then great i am all ears! but just mentioning it off hand and then yelling at yourself the same way you yell at me all the time as if i need a knight to come save me from yourself is so lame [...] ?GG: you treat everyone horribly, even yourself, i cant even fathom how awful it is to be you
Several other characters have self-esteem issues, but Karkat's the only one who directly attacks himself in conversation - and I'm not really sure why. You'd expect it to be the Time Player whose issues are expressed through time duplicates - although, come to think of it, Aradia's fatalism was evident in how her alt-selves considered themselves expendable.
Maybe, then, Karkat's own direct self-hatred says something about Blood. We don't know a lot about the aspect - and it's hard to derive much, when your sample size is one Player with an unknown Quest - but we can certainly speculate.
There's a lot that Blood could symbolize. Violence would work, as would pain or injury - but none of these stand out as particularly applicable to Karkat or his issues. Sure, he's been injured before - but in Sburb, who hasn't?
Family is another contender, and it'd be interesting to see how that would map to Alternian culture. Plus, it actually does apply to Karkat, since he's the one who cloned the trolls. Nanna even mentioned that a team's ectobiologist is, in a sense, the 'parent' of the other Players...
120 notes · View notes
thescrumblingmidwife · 1 year ago
Note
Hi! I know other people have sent similar asks before but I thought I'd send my own just to be sure. I can't fit more than a finger... up there. And even then its a tight fit. That's enough for me but I'm worried about if I go for a pap smear (I think that's what its called, I have a bad memory): something has to go up there right? Will it fit? What happens if it doesn't? Is it going to be a hassle to request a woman? How much do I need to "clean up"? No pressure to respond right away, I get that you're busy. I just wanna know what to expect. Thank you! 😊❤
Hi Anon!
How old are you? You don't need a pap smear until 21, and you don't need a pelvic exam at all before then unless you've got some kind of complaint or you want to get fitted for an IUD. If you are 21+ and have had zero sexual contact, you can discuss a modified schedule with your provider.
PELVIC EXAMS
Reminder - pelvic exam is when the doctor/midwife examines your pelvic area and vagina. This can include the use of a speculum or not, and be done for a number of reasons. Pap smear is a screening test where we take a cell sample (like a cheek swab) from your cervix to check for HPV/precancerous lesions. A pap smear is usually conducted in conjunction with a pelvic exam, but not all pelvic exams include a pap smear, as you don't usually need one every year.
Let's go through your questions one by one. But first I want to start by saying that medical consent is the same as regular consent - you have a right to refuse or defer any procedure or examination, or to stop one at any time. You have the right to fully understand everything you're consenting to, and ask as many questions as you need to feel comfortable. If you make an initial appointment with an OBGYN or midwife, and she doesn't pass the vibe check, you are not obligated to go through with the exam. It can be scary to stand up to someone who seems like they're in a position of power, but you should know that you can.
"Something has to go up there, right?"
At your first GYN appointment, nothing has to go anywhere. You'll meet with a provider, she'll take your full medical history, your menstrual and sexual history, your family history, ask if there are any concerns you want to discuss. At this point, you should talk to her about your issues with insertion and your anxiety about it. She may want to have a look (literally just eyeballs) to ensure there's nothing going on, but she will ask permission before doing any touching, and explain everything she's doing. If she thinks it's worth attempting a pelvic exam, she would start very slowly and only with your full buy-in. It may be necessary to try to figure out if you've got an underlying problem.
When a pelvic exam is warranted (like when you need a pap), the provider may first insert fingers while pressing on your belly (called a bimanual exam) to assess your anatomy, and then use a device called a speculum, which allows us to actually see the inside of the vagina (speculum exam). The speculum will be lubricated, and the provider will coach you through the insertion process. You can also ask about inserting it yourself. Usually, you lie back and put your legs up in stirrups, and are coached to let your knees fall out and give a deep breath out, so as to relax your pelvic floor muscles, while the speculum is inserted down and back (towards your tailbone) in a smooth motion. You'll then feel a bit of pressure as the blades of the speculum are slowly opened so the provider can peek through. It shouldn't hurt, but it can be uncomfortable. I don't know anyone who actively enjoys speculum exams, but most people would say they're not too bad. The whole thing is over in a matter of seconds.
Tumblr media
"Will it fit?"
Speculums come in a wide range of sizes, in plastic or metal (if metal, it will be warmed). You can ask for the smallest speculum they have (they make pediatric-sized speculums, so there are definitely small ones - see middle device in the image below, about the size of a finger). The provider will use one that should fit based on your history, anxiety/preferences, and her visual inspection of you - but don't be afraid to speak up.
Tumblr media
"What happens if it doesn't?"
If you have an anatomical variation that means even a pediatric speculum could not fit, the provider will likely catch this before you get to the speculum stage. If you've got something going on like vaginismus, this will help her diagnose you. The most likely scenario is that you just need a competent and compassionate provider you trust and some good coaching. But what will NOT happen is the provider trying to jam something into you that doesn't fit!
"Is it going to be a hassle to request a woman?"
Absolutely not. It's very normal to have gender preferences with medical providers, especially for something so sensitive. Just ask for a female provider when you're requesting your appointment. You can also ask to see a midwife -- we're something like 96-99% female-identified, with most of the rest being AFAB trans/GNC/NB. (There ARE a few male midwives, but they're really rare).
"How much do I need to 'clean up'?"
If you've got time and it would make you feel better, take a shower before you come, wash with soap and water like normal. But if you can only get in on your lunch break or something, that's fine. Otherwise, you don't need to do anything! I promise your pubic hair is not so forest-like that we will not be able to examine you. Don't douche, or use any fragrances or lotions unless you would like some patient education about how you should not use "feminine products."
Okay Anon, that's an initial GYN visit in a nutshell!
65 notes · View notes
bug-memory · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Hey! I shipped all the Muriels! I did it!
Over the past three days, I have mailed out orders. Please keep an eye out for your Muriel box!
If you need your tracking number, please contact me and I'll gladly link it to you. I think BackerKit doesn't send them to people for some reason.
I'm gonna add a little cut here because I have some more things to say about the project as a whole!
So... First of all, in the future, I would like to avoid using Kickstarter and Backerkit as a platform for my dolls. I used Kickstarter because, at the time, I wasn't really active in the doll community and didn't know that most people just did a pre-order independently. I don't regret doing the Kickstarter, but I do think I'd like to try something else next time.
Aside from printing some smaller batches of new Muriel colors in the future, I will probably avoid 3D printing dolls as a final product and stick to using it for prototyping only.
My reasons for this are... The printed resin properties still just aren't there for me. I think the Muriels turned out just fine and I'm happy with them, but have found that when adding more pigment to them, they scratch easier, which was what I was trying to avoid in the first place by using Mecha/Tenacious. I think the pigment thinning it out further reduces its anti-scratch properties, but idk. (My ratio was 4:1 Mecha/Tenacious in case anyone is wondering). Because of this, coating the Muriel joints is a necessity rather than an option, imo.
I do plan to do some smaller batches of different colors for Muriels. I most likely won't make any more larger sized ones, though. All the colors for the Kickstarter are exclusive and won't be remade.
So... Projects coming up... First of all, Harold.
Tumblr media
I should finally be getting his robe back next week, and will work on making it more "spooky," as well as print a prototype in what will hopefully be a close approximation to one of the color options from my caster. After I up my photography game, hopefully the photos are pretty enough to encourage people to pre-order him. I would love to do this in October--it is MY MONTH, after all--but also Harold is literally a ghost and a witch, and I think this is an appropriate spooky season for their pre-order. So, I really hope that now that the factors outside of my control are almost resolved, I can get this finished. If I work on him for a week, I can probably have the photo-worthy prototype.
Anyway, soon.
Future projects:
Violet and Lucian, my werewolf dolls, will probably take up most of 2025 for me.
Tumblr media
They will have separate pre-order periods, so if people want both, they won't have to order both at once. I want them to be 1/3 scale, so they will be pricier (layaway is your friend, tho). I just really hope there's enough interest for them by the time I get to this stage (guessing, next year). I hope the extra income from Harold will help me get a casted sample for Violet, to see if anything needs to be changed engineering-wise. If for some reason it just doesn't work in 1/3 scale, I might go with a 1/4. I just really think a werewolf is worthy of a big doll. She will be a bit of an engineering challenge for me, but I think I can work out most of it by printing parts of her; I do plan to print a 1/4 one to test before going with the casted sample (which will cost upwards of $600 for a single one).
I think, for Lucian (which will just be a masc version of the werewolf sculpt) I can just edit the Violet file's proportions and hopefully keep the same joint engineering between the two.
Waaaay future projects I want to do:
Bisbee (1/4)
A big demon dude with wings (1/3)
A kobold? (dunno what scale)
16 notes · View notes
themsource · 3 months ago
Text
Crime N(ever) Pays
Rating: M Pairing: UF!Sans/Frisk TW: Smoking
Sans frowned as he searched a pocket of one of the many basketball shorts littering his bedroom floor, his crimson colored eyelights glancing up at his ceiling with growing irritation as he dug around only to feel a few crumpled receipts and random G lining the inside.
“ya gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me…” He grumbled as he threw the shorts down and went over to his dresser to search his barren sock drawer.
And of course, even that was empty too.
He slammed it shut. “the fuck does a guy have ta do to get a damned smoke around here!?”
Sighing, Sans ran a hand over the top of his skull. He could have sworn he’d bought more than one pack last week, three at most the last time he’d gone out shopping on his day off, but from how it was looking he hadn’t.
Unless he was finally losing his mind.
of course i’d lose my marbles after gettin’ out of the underground… just my fuckin’ luck…
Letting out a huff he stomped out of his room, not bothering to hide his frustration as he slammed his bedroom door shut behind him. Predictably his brother’s voice echoed out from the kitchen as he made his way grumpily down the stairs, “DON’T SLAM THE DOORS! I JUST REPLACED THE FRAMES!”
Sans rolled his eyelights as he ignored him.
“i’m goin’ ta the store! be back in a sec!”
“DAMNIT SANS, DINNER IS ALMOST READY! I SWEAR IF YOU AREN’T BACK IN TEN MINUTES I’LL—”
The rest of his brother’s diatribe was forgotten as it faded in the background, Sans’ eyelights honing in on and dilating as they locked on Frisk seated on the couch. She’d come over to spend the weekend with them as was tradition since they came topside six years ago, the skeleton brothers being her second favorite friends to visit aside from Alphys and Mettaton, and she never missed a visit much to Sans’ amusement and Papyrus’ joy.
But the fact she was there wasn’t what drew the older skeleton brother’s attention.
It was what was dangling from his lips, piping red at the tip as it burned crisp and hot before a gentle plume of white smoke drifted up into the air.
At first, Sans was shocked.
Ever since she turned eighteen Frisk had been trying more daring things and sampling more questionable vices, experimenting, as all teenagers and young adults should. However seeing her dare to do that in his and Papyrus’ house was mind blowing. 
Frisk knew how Papyrus could get, he didn’t like anything questionable going on in his home, especially one of the habits he found the most deplorable: smoking. Sans actively had to make sure he stepped outside every time he wanted to light up. It was the very reason he’d even built their doorless balcony, as a place he could go without worry about upsetting his bro and to avoid being an open target for other monsters back when they were still a hundred feet in the dirt.
But then he quickly became amused as he smirked at her.
Sans went to make a cheeky comment about Papyrus’ latest gardening hobby and how that might tie into a pretty little plot with the Frisk’s name on it, before he narrowed his sockets.
There was a gold band with the MTT insignia on the filter.
…was that one of his cigarettes?
Frisk glanced up at him just as his eyelights flickered up, and their gazes locked.
A sweat drop ran the side of her cheek.
this little shit!
Well, she wasn’t so little anymore, in fact she was taller than him now by about an inch, but that didn’t change the fact that stealing his smokes was such a bratty move he wanted to literally bend her over his knee and spank her.
…his eyelights drifted down to her small chest, perky beneath her sweater dress despite its modest size.
On second thought, doing that probably wouldn’t have been the best idea. He knew the moment he felt any supple part of her press against him he would more than likely try to push the envelope. It was no secret how attractive she’d gotten or well developed. 
Sans was a man, a skeleton monster, but still a man, and he’d noticed a long time ago now before many others had, the surprising and captivating changes Frisk had gone through.
Admittedly, he couldn’t help still feeling tempted to teach her a lesson though. One in a way that he knew he would enjoy the longer he stared at her and took in her beautiful figure and increasingly worried and guilty expression.
While Sans was feeling more and more tempted, Frisk was becoming more nervous.
She didn’t like that cold and calculating look in his gaze.
“is that mine?” He drawled, his voice a dark and menacing pitch as his eyelights gave a soul piercing pulse of maliciousness with how they brightened and dimmed.
Frisk instantly regretted her actions.
She hadn’t seen that look since the underground when they’d first met, his voice harsher and words acidic.
Truth be told, Frisk hadn’t wanted to steal his cigarettes, but she’d been just so curious to try them, and she’d known both Toriel and Asgore wouldn’t have allowed her to buy them when she was just seventeen.
‘It’d only be one cigarette’, she’d promised herself back then, and then one had turned into two, and then three. Before she knew it she’d been stealing Sans’ packs on the regular and had developed a habit by the time her birthday rolled around a week later.
Not a habit really… she didn’t smoke every day, maybe twice a week, but she did start hoarding when she did take them.
And this time she had to admit that maybe she’d been a bit too greedy, otherwise Sans wouldn’t have come down so unexpectedly to go get more and seen her. She knew this was typically when he’d be out on the balcony, he always went for a smoke before dinner, and she’d ruined the nightly ritual.
Five minutes was all she usually took, and apparently all she needed to get caught.
It was just bad timing that Papyrus was currently in the middle of having the bathroom cleaned and she’d been forced to try and sneak it in the living room while the younger brother stopped to make the evening meal.
Frisk would've gone outside to smoke, but she knew that she’d have gotten busted for trying to go out in the snow based on suspicion alone. The brothers knew she hated the cold. It was why she always wore sweaters and the like.
She swallowed thickly the longer Sans pinned her in place with his glare. Frisk did NOT want Sans to get angry. He still scared her to this day with his temper even if it wasn’t nearly as bad as all those years ago.
“U-um…” She pulled the cigarette away, trying to speak through a lungful, “Sans I—”
Frisk didn’t get a chance to speak and explain herself.
Sans was across the room in one moment, and right in front of her the next, his hand cupping her chin. 
Right before he leaned in and captured her mouth with his.
Frisk jolted, the ridges of his grin coming down to lock with her lips in the facsimile of a kiss as he held her in place and pried her pliant lips easily apart with his tongue in a single brush. A whimper almost slipped out but died where it rose within her filled chest.
He stole her breath, literally.
Sans gently drew the air from her lungs, as if a caress, with a single soft and deep inhale.
Frisk was frozen, her heart hammering as her cheeks flushed and her eyes opened to reveal their golden hues in stunned silence.
Sans’s SOUL gave a spine-tingling thrum at the sight. 
Frisk rarely opened her eyes, if ever. How she managed to navigate with them closed he never knew, and had often thrown it up to the fact that she carried more magic within her than the average human nowadays, allowing her to see without seeing.
Those honey colored irises did more to him than the kiss did.
He pulled back, his hand still cupping her chin as he brushed a gloved thumb along the side of her jaw and slowly blew out a breath, exhaling the smoke that’d been shared between them with another fiery pulse of his eyelights.
Sans' tone was rough, an octave lower from the tainted air with thickened accent, “shouldn’ smoke sweetheart, it’s bad fer ya.”
She was still frozen, locked in place like a statue, as he casually released her chin to reach down into her sweater’s right pocket and pulled out one of the two missing cigarette packs. With a glance he saw there was only one missing from it.
He was willing to bet she’d already smoked the other one.
With a hum he straightened and tapped the pack against his palm, causing one of the sticks to shoot up right before he plucked it free with his teeth as he pulled out his lighter and lit it. Sans took a deep drag and closed his sockets, savoring it.
It was relieving, but not as satisfying as it’d been when he’d stolen Frisk’s.
He glanced down at her as he blew out another billowing cloud through his sharp teeth. 
“stay away from my smokes, capiche?”
Frisk could only nod, her hands trembling as she looked down and timidly bit her lip.
cute.
“hey boss! c’mere, somethin’ i wanna show ya!”
Frisk jolted, and gasped in shock and betrayal as Sans took another drag and filled the air with more gray tinged vapor, before abruptly shortcutting to his balcony and leaving her to her fate.
“WHAT IS IT SANS—”
Sans leaned against the wall of the house and chuckled as soon as he heard the realization and offence in Papyrus' voice.
“FRISK! HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING?! IN MY LIVING ROOM!?”
Sans glanced up at the starry sky as he listened to the chaos inside, his thoughts all circling back to how Frisk’s lips had felt against his. He secretly hoped she did steal another pack from him.
He welcomed her to try.
12 notes · View notes
midwesternwitchery · 1 year ago
Text
Die Sonne - Part 3
Tumblr media
a/n- I'm not entirely satisfied with how this came out but I know if I keep poking at it, it will only get worse soooooo here we go! If you have requests or ideas on where to take this story comment/ask/message me! I'm always down to hear yall's thoughts! 1.7k
Holy shit. Hes fucking massive. She thought as she stared at him. Apex Alpha was right the man was a fucking giant. He sat strapped to a chair in front of her. Big black boots led up to thick legs easily that were the size of her waist, he could snap her in half if he wanted and there would be nothing or no one who could stop him. She continued her perusal of him, noting a wide chest attached to powerful shoulders. He wore a hood over his head, even if he hadn’t been blindfolded she wouldn’t have been able to make out any identifiable features to his face. Probably to do with his military status- she assumed.
She frowned- Why did he look like he was hunching his shoulders inward? Was he trying to make himself- smaller? for her?
Her omega preened at that, she had to get that in check. It would do her no good to let her omega run the show. Tara said to trust her omega but that didn’t mean she had to give in to all of her impulses. Neither of them had moved as she looked him over. She had frozen in place just inside the door. Curious to see what he would do she waited for him to make the first move.
His voice was soft yet thickly accented as he said, “Hallo” with a slight wave of his bound hand. He seemed nervous, yet he smelled divine. The sample they had her sniff was nothing compared to having him right in front of her, even with the several feet of distance between them. Belatedly she realized she hadn’t responded as he shifted in his seat.
“Oh, um h-hi.” was all she managed to get out. Clearing her throat she tried again. “I’m Mina, there wasn’t much in your application that wasn’t blacked out and they didn’t tell me your name…” She trailed off hoping he would fill in some of the blanks she couldn’t seem to get out of Tara or Elias. She had tried questioning them while she waited to no avail. 
“König.” he said. When she raised a brow at him questioningly he rushed out- “My name, its König. Würdest du näher kommen?” He slipped into his native tongue without realizing it, she smiled at him. He was nervous, so nervous that he couldn’t keep his languages straight. 
“I um.. was that German?” she asked. His fists clenched over the arms of the chair and he let out a string of German under his breath (likely cursing his own stupidity) when he realized what he’d done. “Apologies, Mina. Would you come closer? Please?” 
She thought for a moment and decided there wasn’t any harm in coming a little closer. It most certainly had nothing to do with the fact that if she was closer she could smell him more. Nope. Definitely not. 
She stepped forward, closing some of the distance between them. Looking around she noticed this conference room was different than the last one she was in. There was the same table set up but one side of the room had plush sofas with throw blankets and pillows in baskets on the floor. She stopped at the edge of the platform, a mere foot of space between them. 
He was much bigger than she initially thought. She was barely eye level with him sitting in front of her. He inhaled deeply, letting loose a low rumble in his chest as he leaned into her space. Closing her eyes, tiny pinpricks of awareness came to life across her body. She sucked in a breath, inhaling his scent. He smelled like a warm campfire in winter, comforting while burning with its intensity. Her omega was pushing her to lean into him, to craw up in his lap and never leave.
That got her attention, she had closed her eyes at some point. Snapping them open she realized she had been leaning into his space, her lips just a breath away from his behind the mask. Despite her realization she froze, hoping he hadn’t realized how close she was she slowly leaned back. His head jerked in response, senses zeroing in on her, then quickly leaning back to give her some space. 
“Apologies…I-forgot myself for a moment.” His body was tense, voice strained as he spoke. “I do not wish to frighten you maus.” 
“You don’t. I mean not the way you think at least.” 
His posture slackened a bit at that, tilting his head slightly as if hes thinking intently.
“You are not what I expected, kleine maus.” there was a smile to his voice and she wondered if she would ever get to see it.
Straightening her shoulders she was determined to get this back on track. She had questions and needed answers. “I’d like to ask you a few questions if that’s okay?” God why was her voice so soft and timid. What the hell was wrong with her?! 
He nodded his acceptance.
‘Why are you here?’
‘To find my mate.- she took note he said his mate not a mate. Maybe there was hope.’
‘Your mate?’ 
‘Yes maus. My mate.’
‘You’re military. Does that mean you will be away a lot?’
‘I have time off for the next 6 months to find a mate. After that it depends. There will be times I’ll have to be away but if I am so lucky as to be accepted- they would be less frequent.’ before she could continue he asked- ‘Are you lonely Kleine Maus?’
Was she lonely? There was no simple answer to that. On one hand yes she was incredibly lonely. She was one of the only omegas in her family and they treated her much differently than that of her siblings. On the other hand she enjoyed her freedom away from the demands of others. She didn’t want to end up with someone who wanted to control her every move. 
Yet this alpha, he had shown her nothing but kindness, taking care to not show off his size against her, as most alphas tend to do. 
‘Yes.’
‘You don’t have to be.’
She could melt right there, a puddle at his feet. 
Before she could think better of it she stepped closer, standing in between his legs. His head shot up following her movements. 
‘Maus?’ His voice was cautious, uncertain.
‘Can I-’ He cut her off- ‘Anything maus. I am at your mercy.’
Oh he was good. Letting her be in control, knowing she likely had never been in control of her life, not truly.
She reached out, sliding her arms around his neck, she leaned down until her head was tucked into the base of his throat, hugging him. 
‘Will you be good to me?’ 
‘Always kleine maus’
She was about to ask what that meant when a knock sounded at the door startling her and making him growl low in his chest. Mina looked up at him, “I should probably go speak with them.” His whole body tensed, fists clenching and UN-clenching as she released him. 
Leaving him with a soft ‘Goodbye König.’ she slipped into the hall.
She turned to Tara as they walked down the hall and said, “Its him. I’d like to set it up with him.” Tara stopped walking and studied her for a long moment before asking, “You’re sure? An apex like him will not allow you to back out and leave. Its in his nature, apex alphas mate for life regardless-” 
Mina cut her off, snapping at her, “Yes I know” She sighed, attempting to soften her tone, “Just set it up please. I know what I’m doing.” 
Tara let out a huff, clearly thinking Mina was in over her head. “Alright lets set up the paperwork.” 
***
Three days. She signed the contract that day and conveniently enough there was a clause giving her three days to get her affairs in order before she would be moved into his home. Every time her thoughts went to him she swiftly pushed him from her mind. She had other things to think about right now. Most of which revolve around telling her family.
They were good people but thought they should dictate her life simply because she’s the only daughter and omega of her family. Knowing they would never approve of König she was conflicted. The damage was done, the contract had been signed but she was hesitant to say anything for fear of how they would react. Would her father try to overturn the contact? Would her brothers try to use force? Both are possibilities she would like to avoid. 
So she did the only thing she could do. She called her mother, and lied.
“Mama, I found an alpha. I’ll be moving to his home tomorrow morning.” 
For a moment all that could be heard on the other side of the line was unintelligible squeals of delight. She knew her mother would be happy but nothing like this. Once she calmed a bit the questions started.
“Who is he? What does he do? Where does he live? Tell me everything!” Her mother gushed at her. She answered her questions as vaguely as she could but her mother knew something was up that she wasn’t telling the full truth.
“What aren’t you telling me Mina?” Her mother wasn’t one to circle around her questions, she was much to direct for that.
“Mama please it’s late I really need to get some rest before tomorrow.” For a moment there was only silence, then her mother sighed.
“Just be careful. I love you.”
“Love you too mom.” Ending the call she wondered how this would all play out. 
Eventually they would find out he was an Apex, it was unavoidable. They would know the second they met him, but she hoped to have a few weeks at least alone for them to become closer before then. She wanted this to work, but would it? Could she ever be happy with an alpha? 
She cleared those thoughts from her head and crashed into her bed for the night. Hopefully the morning would hold more clarity, but it wasn’t likely. She was screwed and she knew it. She tossed and turned until the early hours, finally dozing for what seemed like just a few minutes before her alarm’s shrill ring startled her awake. 
Today was the day.
It would be the beginning or ending of her life as she knew it.
82 notes · View notes
which-is-the-very-best · 2 years ago
Text
Hello hello everyone, and welcome to what is bound to be the most insane thing I've ever done thorough Poké poll this side of the non-fictional world!
We will be going through every, yes every, known Pokémon in these upcoming months!
We'll start with each evolution chain or similar grouping. Only Pokémon from a single generation will be grouped together. So if a Pokémon has evos in other gens they won't be added until their gen comes up, for example: the first round will only have Pikachu vs Raichu. Pichu will be a stand alone for the gen 2 round. Each chain will go through voting, to narrow down the numbers. Then brackets will be randomly generated (the evos mixed with non-evos) until we get down to one single Pokémon per generation!
Then again the bracket for the final 10 (to make it even Legends Arceus will be its own generation!) will be randomly generated and the real fight begins!
Be sure to follow me (if you want 😄) and reblog the polls so we can get a good sample size going and make this fun!!
Each poll will be a week long. Feel free to ask questions (anon is on as long as everyone behaves!) and I'm happy to spread well meaning propaganda!!
Have fun!!!
Generational Winners:
Gen 1: Bulbasaur!
Gen 2: Umbreon!
Gen 3: Spheal!
Gen 4: Luxray!
Gen 5: Zorua!
Gen 6: Sylveon!
Gen 7: Mimikyu!
Gen 8: Hisui - Hisuian Zorua!
Gen 8: Galar - Snom!
Gen 9: Clodsire!
Finals voting going on now!
The Very Best:
2nd:
3rd:
Runners up:
1st:
2nd:
3rd:
Favorite Starter:
2nd:
3rd:
Honorable Mentions:
(those last 3 options are subject to change, I just wanted to see them on here!)
tags: gen [#], thanks for the ask!!, not a poll, round [#], poll reblog (the round [#] will be excluded from reblogs, so when searching you won't get double polls!), other polls!!, propaganda
(Likes come from my main lilbit-of-kizzy)
157 notes · View notes
redistrictgirl · 3 months ago
Text
What's the deal with North Carolina and Georgia?
So we have our first weird quirk of this presidential election - North Carolina seemingly polling much less favorably for former President Trump than Georgia, even though he won NC and lost GA in 2020. Indeed, my polling average has Mr. Trump leading by over two points in the Peach State but only half a point in the Tar Heel State, so today I wanted to analyze the phenomenon more closely and come up with a few different factors that might be contributing to this.
First, let's go over the one that Republicans will want to talk about and Democrats fear, polling error. In 2020, President Biden led polls in North Carolina by a point more than he did in Georgia, yet lost the former by about 1.5% while winning the latter narrowly. Clearly, this is the same situation and a harbinger of a red wave, right?
Calm down there. First, yes, state-level polls produce outcomes like this from time to time, but it defies logic to assume that pollsters didn't attempt to correct for their genuinely disastrous misses in 2020. Second, there are more undecided voters in North Carolina, which could certainly cause the gap to close as we trudge towards November. Finally, even if we ignore those first two factors, the current polling gap between the two Southeast states is bigger than 2020's - so any polling error must not be the only factor.
This brings us to a possibility that liberals would prefer - the post-Dobbs coalition applying to its first presidential election. For those who haven't seen me use this term before, this describes the depolarization of party coalitions along racial lines in favor of increased polarization along religiosity lines - a phenomenon we started to see in 2020 but really took hold and accelerated in 2022. If it accelerates this year, it would be a boon for Democrats along the Rust Belt and in more secular Sun Belt states like Arizona and Nevada. Certainly, there's some compelling evidence that these demographic shits might be a factor or even the primary driver of the disparity - for one thing, at the state government level, North Carolina actually voted to the left of Georgia on average last cycle! Part of this is the across-the-aisle appeal that Governor Kemp and Secretary Raffensperger have proven to have, but it was still somewhat of a surprise to see that outcome in practice during the midterms. Georgia also had 6% more black voters compared to North Carolina (relative to overall turnout), so the racial depolarization aspect of this equation makes sense here, and we're seeing the strong polling along the Blue Wall for Vice President Harris that would match our hypothesis.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
That said, I have a couple of problems with this theory. First, North Carolina actually has more evangelicals in its voter pool than Georgia, so religious polarization should be a problem for Tar Heel Democrats. Second, we're not seeing big polling surprises in Florida, which is more secular but is still a Southeast state, is extremely racially diverse, and just came off an R+20 election in 2022.
Finally, let's look at the boring option, a different pool of pollsters in Georgia vs. North Carolina. It's August, so we aren't going to see a glut of data yet (which is reflected in my model). So let's just do an apples-to-apples comparison of polls from both states around the same time and by the same pollsters, based on which had more favorable margins for Ms. Harris:
GA +2 (Morning Consult, late July)
GA +1 (Redfield & Wilton, late July)
NC +1 (BSG/GS Strategy Group, late July)
NC +6 (NYT/Siena Group, mid-August)
GA +2 (Redfield & Wilton, mid-August)
That's a much slimmer difference in North Carolina's favor on average, and really driven by one massive outlier poll (by the New York Times, but still!) It looks very likely that we're dealing with selection bias at the moment.
So in conclusion, the North Carolina rating being to the left of Georgia is probably a nothingburger driven by small sample sizes, but watch to see more signs of the post-Dobbs coalition going forward - it could make the 2024 map look weird.
9 notes · View notes
vi-writes-things · 3 months ago
Text
Piece of Mind
By Vivian B
———————
Kira furrowed her brow, not entirely sure she understood the customer correctly.
“I’m sorry, what would you like, ma’am?”
“Just a finger”
“Only a finger?”
“Yes…”
Kira stared at the customer; a tallish woman, blonde hair sitting around the shoulders. She looked more or less like an average, if slightly upper class, customer that Piece of Mind would see.
———
Ever since the Anatomical Exchanging and Modifying Act was passed, anybody could now use technology to enhance themselves legally and without taxation (taxing the use of technology in this way was apparently more of a debate than anything the ‘god made man in his image’ crowd could come up with). funds were made available, scientists and engineers got to work, and pretty soon Bio-Enhancing services were cropping up all over Neo-Terra and all of its satellite colonies and dominions.
The sentiment behind the act was to ensure everybody could have a body they could be proud of, that wouldn’t hurt them physically or psychologically. No longer were the circumstances of birth something to either begrudgingly accept or try to deal with.
It should’ve been a utopia of bodily autonomy.
And then the finance bros jumped in and created franchises.
———
Kira searched through the anatomical databases… they had arms, forearms, shoulders(?), hands, muscles, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves, skin-grafting and even the growth rate of nails.
They had no fingers.
Kira should’ve told the customer that they didn’t provide services for fingers, that they could provide hands at the very least. She didn’t want to draw the ire of the boss, however…
‘IF I HEAR ONE MORE CUSTOMER HAS BEEN TURNED AWAY BECAUSE OF SOME BULLSHIT EXCUSE, YOU’RE ALL FIRED!!!!!’ screamed the angry post-it note on the wall of the break room. The manager, Jones, had left it there after one very drunk customer tried to fight Mathide when they refused to administer breast augmentation to his less than enthused spouse. After several holes punched in the wall, Jones had reluctantly decided not to fire them, just dock a week out of their pay…
Kira couldn’t afford to lose money or get fired. She was so close to finally being able to afford a full-body enhancement. She was this close to freeing herself of the body she was born in and becoming herself…
“I’m afraid we don’t have fingers only in our database…” Kira cautiously explained to the customer. “I’m going to have to consult with my colleague…” she said before nodding her head apologetically. The customer seemed to understand, or at least not scoff at the fact Piece of Mind thought about nerve endings and veins, but not fingers.
———
“Just a finger?” Mathide asked, their furry brow raised.
“That’s what she wants…” Kira sighed, massaging her temples. If she had known this problem would come up today, she wouldn’t have sampled the margarita mix gifted to her last night.
“Who the hell wants just a finger changed?” Mathide scoffed, reaching a paw for their coffee. It tasted godawful, but instant usually does. “Not even, like, the hand… just a finger?”
“She said there’s a wart she doesn’t like…” Kira responded. “Apparently getting it frozen off never crossed her mind. I can’t just refuse her, Jones will skin us alive when he gets back from Titan…”
Mathide took a sip of the coffee, their fur standing on end. Too hot…
“But it’s a finger! What does a finger even cost?!”
“Well we know a hand costs 500 credits…” Kira said, trying to do the math in her head. “We just divide that by 6 I suppose…”
“Shouldn’t the size of the finger come into play? You know how much Jones haggles people…” Mathide said.
“Since when did you care what Jones would do?” Kira chuckled darkly, dodging the empty cup thrown at her expertly.
“So we divide 500 by 6, and charge her that?”
“Sounds like the best way to go forward.”
Mathide looked at their phone and crunched the numbers. “That’s 83.33 credits…” they said with a frown.
“Great, so that’s the price we charge.” Kira said, bending down to look at the calculator. A primitive part of her reckoned standing next to Mathide would make the numbers make sense.
“But the cheapest thing we offer is altering the growth rate of nails…” Mathide explained. “That’s 90 credits. Jones wanted to charge even more but a creditcent more and that would be illegal extortion.”
“Well we don’t have much of a choice. That fucker didn’t even think about what a finger would cost…” Kira sighed. This was the last thing she needed. “Either way, Jones will kill us…”
Mathide looked up at Kira standing over them. They could sense she was stressed. Their tail involuntarily curled around her ankle gently. It was the least they could do as a friend.
Kira smiled in return. She gave Mathide a ruffle of their ears before turning to face the door.
“Need a hand?” Mathide asked, standing up. Despite being a cat hybrid, Mathide had an excellent way with customers.
“Thanks” Kira said as the two of them emerged from the break room.
———
The procedure went surprisingly smoothly for such a hassle. The atomic replacer machine was calibrated to a hand, but the customer was asked to place only the finger into the slot. The machine could recognise what body parts were placed inside so there was no risk of the finger being replaced by a small second hand.
As Kira oversaw the procedure, she felt a pang inside her. A kind of heavy feeling that clung to her heart. People like this lady could come in for something as trivial as a finger and pay as if it was pocket change. Bodies were as valuable as toilet roll to them.
Not to Kira, though. She spent 26 years being stuck in a body she never asked for. She wasn’t skilled enough to build a machine for herself that wouldn’t blow her up or turn her into soup.
Mathide got lucky. They had a friend who was an expert biohacker. They were able to hook Mathide up with their dream body. Unfortunately, that friend left for Androma a long time ago, and Kira still had nerves about going to the unregulated biohackers, despite Mathide’s reassurances.
For now, all she could do was bide her time, watch more rich assholes get custom made fingers…
8 notes · View notes
unmask-strange-aeons · 4 months ago
Note
I was originally convinced it was strange, but after the blood tubes post I am not that convinced. Those blood tubes are proper blood tubes, and the fact they have no information such as barcodes that go along with it is a bit sus. Most machines cannot run without a barcode, I know some smaller hospitals might run them without barcodes and just paperwork but I'm not too sure.
Also I have never seen blood tubes in just ziplock bags without information (such as test requested). Also putting patient samples in work fridges are a fireable offence (once again this is just where I am in lab sciences). There's a high chance it probably does happen in some areas. Also the fact that they are all lavender tops is odd, as blood tubes are normally sent down clumped as patients not as types of tests. These tubes could also be someone who has a port, I'm aware some people maybe asked to take out some of their blood, but for my own personal experience they tend to be in hep tubes, with a syringe, not a pressure tube.
So it could be some real blood tubes with fake blood in it. Lavender tubes have been in limited supply in some parts of America, but that's not applicable everywhere. Also if you were to be buying blood tubes as a troll to do this you wouldn't bother buying a few of each colour.
I am genuinely a bit worried, I want to be reassured that this is just a funny troll.
So here are a few ideas how this "Blood" situation could come to be.
So lets get the most concerning point put of the way the "blood" situation. There are many substances that can look like blood, and i do generally not belive this to be real blood. Such as red honey and red syrup. Or its real blood they found somewhere. Now you might wonder why would Father Strange go dumster diving for possible blood vials? Because she doesnt, what you need to remember is that father Strange doenst work alone, she has hundrets if not thousands of patreons who would be able to do this. If even only one would find something like this they could just sent a picture of it to Strange.
The next points those vials are something you can buy. We found the exapt same tubes on the internet. They are called //3ml Draw Vacutainer™ Cat no. BD 367838 Blood Tubes K2EDTA with BD Hemogard™// just google them and you will find a packed size 100 for only 20 bucks. Now the labes, everyone can print them. Or you even go as far as to write to the company and request a costome order. Or some patreon found them and sent pictures to Strange.
We all are thinking that Strange is like us. But she isnt. She has 1 million followers on youtube and hundrets if not thausands of Patreons, what for us could be a very different task she could just outsource give the project to others. And in the price situation, the Patreons are paying her money. And she has youtube revenue. She may not be the richest Person on the earth but we cannot underestimate her resources. Not only her money but also her manpower. She isnt alone. There are hundrets of people following the muppet, do i say all of them are Patreons? No, but it wouldnt be too far fetched to say that many are. This also gives her a good oppertunity to create more Tumblr blogs and have them interect with her Muppet persona, we know that the muppet has stated that "his" roommates have tumblr blogs, and i am very sure we will see them in the future. She isnt like us. She has the money and the manpower to pull this off. Who else on tumblr would have the resources and the motivation to this? To create the ultimate Tumblr fake story. Something so big it streches all the way from tumblr to Tik tok. No one.
@strange-aeons is @the-muppet-joker, pass it on.
7 notes · View notes
ben-wisehart · 2 years ago
Note
hi! do you ever feel like the bingqiu fandom is binghe biased? like a lot of the time its giving.. “wow binghe is our little precious bun who deserves the world and more! ..oh and stinky neet loser sqq is so blessed to have him lul” it feels unfair towards sqq :( it makes me sad hes no ones fave but thats okay like whatever right? but even when its bingqiu hes treated like an afterthought. like we have binghe fans criticising sqq for not doing more, sj fans are frankly delusional, sqh fans think hes “too mean” to their precious hamster, liushen fans only like him bc hes a good hole/dick for lqg (obligatory “not all men” lol) idk i only follow a handful of svsss twt accs because no one seems to like him, he feels either tolerated or treated as a gag character lol 🥹
i just dislike a lot of fanon bingqiu i think? i read all the books before hopping on twitter and i see some absolute rancid takes on there like the woobification of Shaun(tm) qinghua and jiumei.. which is easy enough to avoid tbf so whatever floats their boat idc. but when i follow bingqiu accs, it feels like OC x OC rather than ~bingqiu~ if that makes sense? like i LOVE the manipulative crybaby domtop x flustered thin face subby pillow princess they have going on!! and fanon bingqiu is just.. not it? and obv id never send hate or anything (i just block and keep it moving) but it makes it kinda sucky when the fandom is already teeny tiny and a large chunk of the fandom isnt what i envisioned/expected i guess which is so odd! when they essentially erase canon!! if it’s like some queerbaity ship or whatever, people can characterise them however they want but its like CANON how they act/are in bed/etc and its all taken away!!! idk im probably just whining sorry 😭
(i included all my thoughts here sorry for the spam!!)
hey, thanks for stopping by!! I definitely know what you mean with regards to SQQ, but I will assure you that there are very much still plenty of dedicated "sqq mains" out there. My sphere of influence on twitter is heavily biased toward people for whom sqq is their favourite character, so maybe I'm not getting a representative sample of the fandom overall, but he's definitely a very well loved character and has more than his fair share of people who do him justice in their writing and for whom he's their primary blorbo!! I remember posting this on reddit a while back and more than half of the responses (though admittedly a small sample size) had him as their fave. So, I don't think he's without appreciation!
But with that said, I do get where you’re coming from. I’m not gonna talk about readers who take his actions in bad faith and actively dislike him (HOW??), but as you’ve said, even among people who do like him, we don’t always understand him as well as we could. Most fans do get on some level that he’s an unreliable narrator, but it’s still very common for people to take him at face value and completely miss his depth. He’s a funny little guy with amusing narration, but he’s also kind and selfless, and he’s also smart and witty, and obnoxious and annoying, and frankly pretty insensitive, and deeply, deeply traumatised—and a million other things! He has layers.
I think all popular characters in fandom will inevitably start getting boiled down to a few key traits. And as somebody who’s been writing fic for 15 years, it’s really hard not to let your own biases colour your portrayal? I absolutely do it with SQQ!! I focus on his kinder, warmer aspects and downplay his flaws, I’ll readily admit that. We all get drawn to a favourite character for a certain trait, and that trait becomes the grit around which our interpretations form. If you’re somebody that likes silly characters, you’re going to write SQQ and dial his silliness up to eleven. If you like kind characters, you’ll write SQQ with emphasis on his kindness. None of these traits are OOC in and of themselves, but if you start to only read fanfic and don’t revisit the source material, you can get lost in what’s popular and forget all the depth that actually made them interesting in the first place. And once you’ve grown attached to a particular version of the characters in your head, it can be really hard to let go of it. I don’t really know where I’m going with this, but I'll add that I think protagonists are just particularly prone to this happening because they're usually the one the audience relates to most.
Idk if any of that really addresses the stuff you were talking about. You mentioned dom top Binghe/pillow princess sqq and to be honest I’m kind of reluctant to talk about this in depth because I’ve received negative comments in the past for supposedly being anti-bottom Binghe, when all I’ve ever said on this matter is that I think it’s a bit weird to insist that “I’m scared of hurting you so I might as well let you do it” is proof that Binghe is canonically a bottom. The fact that someone found that statement so threatening to their view of the characters that they would go to my ao3 page, click on the first fic they saw that happened to feature bottom SQQ and leave their holier-than-thou anonymous opinion there is just bizarre to me.
To be honest tho, it tends to be Binghe characterisation that puts me off moreso than Shen Qingqiu. The only SQQ characterisation that truly bothers me is when people write him as willing to hurt Binghe, or willing to do anything with underage Binghe, but there is a LOT of Binghe stuff that I’m sensitive too. Idk if you read this thread of mine but like, even my friends whom I love make “Binghe stalking/imprisoning/"atticwifing" SQQ” jokes and these bother me way more than any random stranger saying SQQ would get off on spanking Binghe.
And like, it’s kind of hard because objectively, Binghe is a very dark character, so it doesn't feel particularly OOC to say he would do those things, but it's about framing. It bothers me when the emphasis is on how fucked up he is and not how hard he's trying, because it implies a level of futility that I just don’t think is there in canon. To me the beauty of him is in how much doing right by SQQ doesn't come naturally to him, but he ultimately decides to do it anyway because he wants SQQ to be happy. (I feel it needs to be said that I don't mean this in a judgy "if you write dark Binghe you don't understand him and are a bad person" way. Just that I myself can't handle that, and I strongly disagree if you think it's where Bingqiu's relationship is headed).
but idk, I've found my corner and I'm very happy here. I actually don't read fic as often as you'd think, mostly because I am sooooo picky, so I totally get where you're coming from :) but the fandom is still decently sized and very diverse, so there are always going to be at least a few people who share your feelings, if you can find them!
56 notes · View notes
beesmygod · 1 year ago
Text
BLOODBORNE LORE PART 8: RESEARCH HALL, MARIA, LUDWIG, AND THE PALE MOON
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6 (start of lore dump)
part 7
BLOCK #LONG POST/ TO NOT SEE THESE HUGE POSTS
i will post pure speculation in italics and important nouns in bold. these are created with the intent to be enjoyed by fans and non-fans.
---
we're back at a part of the game you actually play. all of that shit except for the fishing hamlet (and even then you don't see the raid happen) happened off screen. i had to prove it all happened to you using the stupid item descriptions and cobble together a timeline using context clues. either there's a satisfying enough thread of cohesion that can be teased out of this story in spite of its rampant and wild editing or im very ill and need to go to the doctor.
i just really like how many things have direct relations and it leaves it to you to figure out. the allure is that it doesn't spoon-feed me and trusts me to be intelligent enough/insane enough to want to figure out on my own why the hunter just did any of that. if you're actually playing bloodborne as a first time player, the plot is a series of incomprehensible and horrifying situations that makes it seem like the hunter is just stumbling unluckily into various evil rituals and happenings. the game+ system and the sheer size of the chalice dungeons encourages you to re-play the game, but this time with what little you know.
Tumblr media
oh also when you do ng+ you'll have enough insight to see that the buildings have been crawling with enormous bug monsters the whole time. that's worth looking into. anyway:
---
Once, a young girl had an older brother who was determined to become a doctor, and so she wilfully became his patient. In the end, this led to their encounter with the Eldritch Truth, for which they considered themselves blessed.
laurence wanted to be a doctor, which makes his blindly optimistic interest in a magical blood from a hole in the ground that cures all your ailments much more understandable. this interest drove him to leave byrgenwerth with some of his associates in order to form their own research hall/church/punitive colony. he did not, however, totally abandon the eyeball-based research of byrgenwerth.
it seems yharnam has a lackadaisical approach to human rights and torture: the subjects of the research hall are criminals or heretics who cry out that they're "guilty, they know" and they "won't do/say it again". i dont think there's any reversing what they do to them, based on what you harvest out of them:
"Greyish amoeba-shaped brain fluid. Wobbles and bounces. Extracted from a patient whose head expanded until that was all that they were.
In the early days of the Healing Church, the Great Ones were linked to the ocean, and so the cerebral patients would imbibe water, and listen for the howl of the sea. Brain fluid writhed inside the head, the initial makings of internal eyes."
"imbibe water" is an incredible innuendo for "pour dirty, parasite-filled ocean water inside of their skulls" (likely using the techniques seen in the skulls of the fishing village from the previous post. just get a funnel and see what happens). makes me a bit queasy, honestly lol. also it was a huge bust, except in a handful of cases. the most significant discovery came from the aforementioned doctor's sister.
Tumblr media
on the left is a research hall patient stock enemy. they have the emaciated, pallid bodies associated with those who experience The Eldritch Truth™ (they are, in fact, reskinned labyrinth pthumerians). some have grown into giants, some are only heads, some are friendly but insane, most are hostile.
on the right is laurence's sister, blood saint adeline. a blood saint is a woman (apparently, as all of our samples come exclusively from women) whose blood has been specially treated and cultivated to be superior in healing. adeline and a blood saint during the main game named adella both serve up blood with bonus healing (adeline's effect is superior by far). arianna's dirty vileblood increases stamina regen instead. here's all the bloods side by side with the brightness blasted up so we can see. i included iosefka in here for good measure but she is not a blood saint. it doesnt seem like the blood from the vial is hers.
Tumblr media
blood saints are "vessels for blood", which i take to be literal. i think they are the results of a full blood transfusion of old blood. i mean, you run into some of these guys with the transfusion bags still attached to them so its a fair assumption. whatever the process, there are enemy patients with rotten track-marked arms that spew slow poison at you (as opposed to rapid poison, a different mechanic) whose transformation was unsuccessful. poisons are found in story significant places and enemies; most relevant at this moment the weapon obtained at the end of the DLC, the kos parasite, that spews slow poison. lore note: black and white healing church doctor armor sets protect against poisons. poison might have been a big problem in day to day life in that shithole of a town yharnam.
anyway, look again at the two lumps up there. adeline's head is paler than the enemy versions. the more frenzied an enemy is, the redder their head (...). check out the difference between the patients that attack you with their fists and the ones that run on all fours and growl.
Tumblr media
remember this simple rhyme:
if its eldritch and true: its pale and blue if the blood is red, its a beast ahead. -shakespeare
this will come up a lot more later.
all this shit lead to at least SOME kind of information. the experiments lead to some interesting results, such as the notable failures who survived a grotesque transformation but their eyeless heads collapsed. there's also the patients in the lumenflower garden who have arcane magic and cast spells of "slow down your ps4's frame rate". there's some heads just oozing around without bodies. all in all, just some freaks who were on the precipice of scraping something otherworldly, but fell just short.
except adeline.
after partaking in multiple helpings of "brain fluid" (...), adeline hears/see something and transcribes it; a rune that reveals a sliver of the eldritch truth and what it means to be a "celestial attendant".
milkweed. something to be eaten to facilitate transformation.
when milkweed is equipped with the kos parasite, the hunter takes on a bizarre transformation.
Tumblr media
okay, it's a reference to matango, but it also turns your ass into space broccoli for parasites to eat. the hunter moves jerkily like the parasite is piloting them ratatouille style. we can assume the brainsuckers operate on similar principles; parasites have some agency in this world.
---
following the events of the fishing hamlet, lady maria abandoned the hunters and took up residence in the astral clock tower above the research hall. while beloved by the patients for her compassion, she was unable to ease their intentional suffering and was driven to despair. when the hunter finds her trapped in the hunter's nightmare, she is forever in her final horrible moments. her wrists are slit.
Tumblr media
---
lady maria's suicide drove gerhman over the edge. his "curious mania" for her was such that he buried her in his workshop (where you find the old hunter bone), made a porcelain doll of her (uhhh...), and dressed it in weird doll clothes completely unlike her real duds (O_O). and like. combed its hair and groomed it and shit.
and in his manic, feverish, obsessive grief, gerhman was heard by a sympathetic spirit: the nameless moon presence. the umbilical cord in the workshop says as such.
said umbilical cord had a different description before the patch on day one. it seems like an old description from the alpha. it reads:
One of the heirlooms used to contact the Great Ones, originating in the child of the Vilebloods. Long ago, in an encounter with the Great Ones, a contract was established, establishing the hunters and the hunters dream. Keep one to fend off foul spirits, or use it to obtain great Insight.
i find it a satisfying explanation to assume that of the many things the church pilfered from castle cainhurst, any remains of an attempted "child of blood" would be at the top of that list. it puts annalise's predicament more into focus. she has to start all over again to create her mysterious "child of blood" but with hardly anyone to serve her.
---
in the deepest depths of the labyrinth (my guess is isz, given this cut scourge beast intended for that chalice dungeon that shares a color scheme with the following items- and literally nothing else in the game), old hunter turned tomb prospector ludwig discovers three things that change his, and all of yharnam's, fate forever. the first is a sword with an initially unremarkable appearance. when called upon by ludwig, the sword would shine with eldritch moonlight, rallying his own spirits and those of his cadre of hunters who were drawn to his heroics (the sword would remain an iconic symbol of the church hunters). the second was found in conjunction with the sword; a rune meaning "guidance" that glows with the same strange pale moonlight as the sword. and third, in the seemingly eternal darkness of his closed eyes, suddenly ludwig could see tiny flecks of light dancing in his mind's eye. or perhaps, in his real eye, as the dlc he appears in establishes is quite possible (albeit with different result when a kos parasite is used). it is worth considering that ludwig's mysterious and otherworldly "threads of light" that he secretly feared were something literal, and physical, and not figments of his imagination. something parasitic from the moon that facilitated the blood thirsty hunt for a greater purpose.
youtube
this is the greatest voice acting of all time. please spare one minute to listen to the funniest "scary" horse sounds ever made
---
ok thats all for now. its a lot. this shit is complicated. i can finally get out of the stupid shit that happened before the game that we have to guess at soon. like the next post should wrap it up to old yharnam burning. i feel like my brain is melting.
32 notes · View notes