#types of sap projects

[jonty-10]

types of sap projects

[kedreeva]

There are good things in this world still

Today, I ate banana bread for breakfast. I baked it myself, using bananas I had put in the freezer for later, and the new bananas that were on the counter a touch too long. I used the maple sugar remnants from boiling down my maple sap into syrup, and letting it settle out. It was REALLY GOOD.

Today, I collected 35 eggs from my quail. Almost all of the breeding hens are laying now, and it's so many eggs. I'm putting almost all of them into the incubator, because they're all project lines at this point. Because some of the birds are young, they are laying pullet eggs- which means the size, shape, and quality can vary greatly....

Tonight, I get to put the fresh batch of full wild type quail eggs on lockdown, with the expectation that they will be hatching around monday. I am practically vibrating in excitement.

Today, I watched another episode of The Residence, and fell a little more in love with Cordelia Cupp, who (rightfully) rated sex lower than her abiding love of birding. Living for the bird love!!!

There are good things left in this world, however small. This is your opportunity to reblog this and share your good things with each other, or check the notes if you need a reminder.

[definitelynuwonhere]

I need to express my gratitude to the fandom for a bit, cuz even if i have been sobering from the High highs of this fixation, and even if I’ve barely been able to listen to a full audio in months, The posts i see still bring a smile to my face

Tho i do admit some of those smiles were spitefully envious cuz GOD I WANNA LISTEN TO THEM but still, even if it’s slowly retreating to the back of my brain, This fandom still brings and has brought me so much joy, It’s ridiculous/pos, there came a point where Redacted was my only waking thought.

It’s gotten me to improve my writing, my drawing, MY STANDARDS?!,

It’s gotten me through some of the darkest times, it’s made me make so many good friends, meet so many cool people, it’s just been great guys. Idk where the sap is coming from, would’ve been nice if these words came to fruition during the channelversay but i digress,

I just felt like expressing that. It felt right to. (It’s such an in the moment process as well ai srsly just got done with my final, im still in the fucking classroom)

BUT YEAH, tHIS IS ISNT A FAREWELL POST, this is just like, a bittersweet acknowledgement of me relinquishing my vice grip on the fandom and transitioning it into a loose cuddle.

I’ll still be posting abt them, thinking abt them, but I’ll also prolly start experimenting with new ones as well, dipping my toes into new obsessions, maybe, hopefully, finally start my original projects now that schools almost out

AND YEAH, holyshit this has prolly been the most I’ve written in WEEKS, the words flew from my brain to my typing fingers so effortlessly It feels fucking awesome, I hope to continue that

Ima tag some honorable mentions now to the people in this fandom that have really made the experience 10x better

@erial-c @running-tweezers @miyaheestar @moronkyne @darling-solaire @ririchurl @wib-was-here @zimix-whispers @vind3miat0r @bazpire @breezysuffers @brainrotcharacters @fedorabender @frog-0n-a-l0g @no-see-um-incorrect @pandoraroid @everything-redacted00 @jamieeeeee33333 @heartf0ul @cyanbugremix @vegafan69

[asimplechaos]

I rarely post art on here anymore (and don't expect it to be particularly Regular anymore), but I am pretty proud of these, so I figured I'd share them!

Doing a small project where I design pre-evos (or in the case of Kartana, an evo) for the Ultra Beasts! So here's the ones for Pheremosa and Buzzswole!

More info and rambling under the cut.

IMO, designing pre-evos is a little harder than evos, namely because you have to try and identify what would be the core 'theme' for the line, as well as dial back on the level of detail. And when the Pokemon you're working on are Ultra Beasts, who have their own specific design philosophy attached, it gets a lot more tricky.

I ran into a real roadblock with this regarding Kartana, because really my only option was a paper shuriken, but, well... I couldn't do that and keep the angular aspects of Kartana as well without it looking like A Certain Something, so rather than risk that, I went for an evo. You'll hopefully see it later.

For now, let's focus on these two.

Parfroach

Bug-type

Parfum (French, lit 'scent') + Roach

Evolves into Pheromosa after learning Double Kick

Dex 1: "A rather meek type that prefers to hide in the shadows of Ultra Space. Despite being a natural part of its body, the flaps of chiton over its legs seem too long, and are often sullied with dirt."

Dex 2: "This species is oddly concerned with its self-image, and seems desperate to make friends at times. As it grows, it learns how to make use of its pheromones to influence the moods of others."

The main design basis for this was the idea of an insecure, clumsy girl at an early school age. You know that trope in media where a character is considered 'ugly' or just undesirable in general when they're younger, but once an adult, suddenly they're considered attractive/suave/charismatic? That's the primary thing I was going for.

And a lot of that is influenced by societal views, childhood bullies, and a general insecurity in one's self-image, so the general demeanor of the species would probably be an Ultra Beast with inklings of an inferiority complex, avoiding others just on the assumption they will ridicule Parfroach for deeming them 'weird.'

It leads into quite an appropriate turnaround when it evolves into Pheromosa, having gained the looks it so desires, but now has no interest in emotional connections, instead using pheromones to manipulate others to get what it wants. Beautiful, but hollow, lacking the earnest heart of its previous form.

Musculicid

Fighting-type

Muscle + Culicidae (the family for mosquitoes)

Evolves into Buzzwole after learning Power-up Punch

Dex 1: "Though only a larva, this juvenile Ultra Beast is known for its scrappy nature. It lurks in cloudy pools of water and challenges all passerby to wrestle with it."

Dex 2: "It only saps the energy of those is can defeat in a proper fight. It eagerly awaits the day it can show off the strength it has accumulated."

This one is actually a lot more straight-forward than Parfroach, simply because I already had a strong visual in mind. Unlike roaches, mosquitos go through a larval stage, so their anatomical structure is considerably different.

Though heavily based on mosquitos, I made Fighting its type instead of bug for two main reasons: One, because Buzzwole and Pheromosa can be considered counterparts, while sharing the same type, so having their pre-evos be primarily different types was a small nod to that.

The second reason is because Buzzwole's core concept is more closely related to strength and combat. Pheromosa isn't to be underestimated with its violent kicks, sure, but if we take the anime into account, fighting is definitely more of a last resort for it.

As far as design goes, I more or less kept it close to an actual mosquito larva while also keeping aspects that stood out from Buzzwole. Another smaller detail is its overall shape resembles a thermometer, and while the levels of a thermometer rise with temperature, the visual of its own rising as it drained opponents was a good fit.

Though not expressed here in the art, I also have the idea that in a 3D model, the abdomen would have an effect similar to Paras' eyes, where that core is given priority, sort of the hammer in the idea that everything around it is more of a fluid than a solid texture.

Those are all the notes I have, so thanks for reading if you did! I dunno when I'll do the next ones, but I do have them all sketched out/designed, it's just a matter of taking the time to render them all lmao

[stone2stars]

I've been working on a project for school. It requires that we research molecules normally found in food, and I decided to use a protein molecule. I felt like doing a challenge and analyzing a smaller type of protein. However, there are few to no ways of observing said molecule, and simulations are out of the question. My goal is to get the most accurate information possible by dealing with the real things manually, so I tend to avoid cheats like simulations. The machine I need, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometer. So I attempted to make one myself. The first time, the FBI raided my house because they found out I owned radioactive material. It got confiscated. The second time, I built the machine without the aforementioned radioactive material, instead using an eco-friendly substitute I made myself. It exploded. No casualties occurred because our basement is surprisingly sturdy, and I had kept myself safe utilizing proper protection, but that was still one hell of a hospital visit. So I have to ask- Do you know any place where I could purchase one? Not that I have the money to buy one, I mean, that's one million dollars (I'm saving currently), but I would like to know for future reference. Thank you for reading.

…Yo. What. 😨

You tried to build an NMR spectrometer, from scratch? With radioactive material?

Do you wake up in the morning and choose potential felony charges for breakfast?

First off, let’s be clear: you’re incredibly lucky that the FBI raided your house before your spleen got vaporized. Also, shout-out to your apparently bomb-proof basement?? But please don’t let structural integrity be the only thing keeping you alive.

That said—

I can’t even pretend I’m not impressed. Most people struggle to understand how an NMR works and you just casually attempted to make one in your house, like it’s a middle school science fair project??? That takes an absurd amount of stubbornness, a ridiculous amount of curiosity, and… well, clearly no regard for federal law, but I digress…

As for acquiring one?

Yeah, good luck… 😀 Those things run upwards of a million USD, require liquid helium refills, and are more high-maintenance than a diva on a deadline.

But if you’re serious about this long-term? Suck up to your favorite NASA-employed scientist. 🤗

Specifically: find a way to guilt-trip some poor old sap like Xeno into funding it. Pretend you’re seven, handwrite a letter in purple crayon, and sign it “Future Nobel Laureate.” He has a weakness for prodigies and will 100% justify the purchase as “mentoring the next scientific generation” while pretending it wasn’t emotional manipulation.

Just… next time you’re tempted to mix science with federal crime, maybe call it a simulation and go outside instead.

Respectfully.

[ardentrob]

TAROT INSPIRED POKEMON "The Lovers"

Picking up this series again with the intent to finish it. More art/info under the cut! (There's also a Youtube video if you'd prefer to hear me chat about 'em in my dulcet tones ❤)

________________________________________________________ A quick intro to this shindig: This project is about taking tarot cards (specifically the Major Arcana) and interpreting their meanings and symbolism into a Pokemon/Fakemon line. Today's Arcana is The Lovers! Based off of the Pamela Colman Smith art in the RWT, the card seems to play a lot off of Relationships and Duality:

The artwork depicts several examples of """opposites""" at play: Masculine and Feminine (The two humans), Impulsivity and Deliberation (Tree of Life/Tree of Knowledge), Conscious and Subconscious (Humans/Angel; Earth/Heavens) These conflicts, these dual forces, are representative of our own struggles internally and externally: It's not that one side should win or reign over the other, but that Both can and should find Balance; Harmony. Balance your inner conflicts and stand firm on what you Will and Won't tolerate. With that in mind, I decided to take those notes and use the snake present in the scenario as base for the line: While this whole scene is a very apparent reference to the Garden of Eden, I wanted to play a more sympathetic angle for the line since we already have a few more "villainous" serpents in the canon Pokedex.

Panaceasp (Panacea + Asp) JP: Hebii (蛇 (へび; Hebi; Snake) + 医 (い; I; Doctor)

Our first stage takes inspiration from the Rod of Asclepius: The motif of opposing forces works really well when we apply it to Medicine, since "the dose makes the poison", and Grass and Poison often represent Healing and Withering respectively. The intention with this one was to portray a creature out of balance: Its pose is errant and unevenly wound around its mobility aid, with one eye open and the other shut.

For Moveset: This little guy gets a signature move! Painkiller is, for all intents and purposes, a Poison type version of Pollen Puff: Damages opponents, heals allies in a Double battle. Beyond that, Panaceasp mixes strong attacking options with a bunch of useful Status moves, capable of inflicting Confusion, Toxic, and Paralysis while also keeping its own teammates healthy and status free. When traded to another player with High Friendship, Panaceasp evolves into:

Emissymm (Emissary + Symmetry) JP: Shishatai (使者 (ししゃ; Shisha; Envoy/Emissary) + 対 (たい; Tai- from 対称; たいしょう; Symmetry/Second Person)

The final stage of this line takes us from Asclepius to Hermes; from Rod to Caduceus; from Cane to Crook (or crozier!) Unlike the rod of asclepius, the caduceus is used erroneously as a symbol of medicine and healthcare. It is actually more a symbol of negotiation, used to represent commerce and trade more appropriately than medicine. According to Greek myth however, the staff of hermes was said to possess the ability to revive the dead and bring the dying a gentle repose, so it's a tangential fit for the initial medicine theme. More importantly, the caduceus is also a great symbol for balance and harmony; It's even featured on the Two of Cups Minor Arcana, which shares quite a few themes the Lovers as a whole! In this case we're presenting it as a two-headed winged serpent, where it relies on being "fully balanced" to even function properly.

Regarding its Moveset, we expand and replace a couple of its Level-Up options: Upon evolving it loses Shed Tail in exchange for Pain Split, and nabs some tasty new support options like Revival Blessing, Perish Song, and Wide Guard. While you have Leaf Storm + Contrary to take on a more sweeper-type role, there's some fun cheese to be had with the ability otherwise: Skill Swap contrary to a teammate and boost them with Strength Sap (or Feather Dance), run Scale Shot for a Trick Room team, etc. Beyond its moves, Emissymm replaces Shed Skin for Synchronize: Not the best ability trade-off, but since you're immune to Poison/Toxic, being able to threaten the return of a Burn or Paralysis is a decent defensive option to have in your pocket. Its Liquid Ooze ability also becomes a bit of a cheeky joke, as the caduceus is also used to represent the element Mercury, which is quite poisonous to ingest. (This is also why Emissymm gets access to Steel-type coverage à la Flash Cannon!)

Finally, a full-body view of the shiny palettes. Since I took some inspiration from alchemy regarding Emissymm's biology, I thought I could bring it all back around by going with a White/Red colour scheme, in reference to Rebis, or "Dual Matter"; The union of the Red King and White Queen; The ultimate reconciliation of opposing energies. Anyhow! That's it for now. I'm thinking of taking a swing at Strength next, but I suppose we'll see!

[this-acuteneurosis]

anonymous-for I am a sap and must hide it

Tricks for Treat.

Dont Look Back Au.

Continuation - A Fancy or a Feeling.

I think it be important to get the opposite side here OBIWAN realizes the OH NO I got the feelings bit as well, ALSO does the denial bit, cant do anything, it complicate, it mess with things, I wont do this again, (I wont say im in love, from BOTH! Meg Energy!!!)

possibly them both on a totally-not-a-date thing as well. with both not SAYING THINGS. or at a work party. Hell, middle of battle works too.

Anakin or Shimi giving them looks would be appreciated but not necessary.

Fortunately for Anakin, this conversation did not happen in front of his salad.

[sphalerites-delight]

Silly As It May Be, I Still Want It

Optimus is a sap and would like to make a sparkling with the person he loves.

Preferably with interfacing beforehand. He gets what he wants, but it doesn't make the wanting any less painful when he does.

Yeah no this one is just sad. Also the introduction of the "dry" method of making sparklings. I'll probably go in depth on that here or on my art blog eventually.

I posted this like two weeks after the last one? had a lot of tension on me.

[isthemedia]

Figured to post up Chapter 2 as well, since I got that finished-just so the feel of what this fic is about is demonstrated more vs just with the first chapter.

Chapter 3 is almost done and 4 is in the works.

Summary:

So, Paradox had cronies-or maybe just sad saps-to help him push for the "pruning" shit. And TVA wanted THEM to look into places for clues? Sure, they can treat it like a vacation! Multiversal travel and all. Huh, never heard of this Earth before.

Notes:

A/N: Pretty sure some of you are gonna know that this earth is more inspired by certain anime series-or at least their tropes. I've always been a sucker for "accepted meta society" and them just treated as a norm rather than something to be feared or envious of. Also I know Miracleman has had a 2020's series released, but I haven't read it. Also yes, the poly is probably one of my favorite ships in comics-really even though I don't consider Jean as anywhere near my favorites, I just want her to be happy in a relationship. Lastly, I prefer the more nurturing and motherly type Jean over all else-so I decided to have some fun with playing around with the Phoenix Force. I'll understand it's not for everyone, and that's fine. It's why it's just a fun lil' AU they can pop into.

[titleknown]

KAIJUNE 2025 #4: SILENT RUNNING

I woke up to see a giant skull from the hotel window. Good fucking god, this was it. The drugs had caught up, I had seen the reaper’s coil, I felt the pains of death… No, that was just the hangover from last night. I’m a functional addict, not a fucking death seeker. I got up, put on my pants, wrung out my shirt, and walked out to see the skull.

It was… calm, unlike most of the poor saps at the hotel. The whole floor was running, screaming, pissing and shitting was presumably involved. More continental breakfast for me I say. Still tipped the staff, I’m not a monster. Tho interns had to go halvsies on their rooms. Like, we are not doing well for money, I’m three-quarters of the way to taking their feet pics

One of the guests, expensively dressed lady who would have definitely had one of those breathing-problem-dogs if this place had had pets, said “I’ve never seen it this bad before,” of course you haven’t lady. Of course you fucking haven’t. You came here after the city got its shit punched in. Fucking disastourists. Of course they rebuild the hotel for them before they rebuild the housing, this is still America after all!

She said she got a real tuft of fur from Baba O’Reily from some seller, didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was probably Mr Krinkle. I could tell from the smell…. Well, okay I did have the heart to tell her, I just didn’t have the time.

There were also a couple rent-a-cops, presumably got there last night. I went for an interview, they told me to fuck off until I brought some of the extra doughnuts, because stereotypes are true sometimes. I told them, “Didja hear, about the Fentanyl dust? Yeah, Mr Krinkle left it behind, he does it all the time,” you know, lying. Told ‘em the symptoms were slow-acting, said a day or two. They were sweating after I walked off. It took every minutia of patience I had to not show the big shit-eating grin in my soul.

So I, and a couple of interns, walked out to see the big skull. And Doc was there, right out of sight She has a name of course, but I always forget it and I can’t give a shit to edit it, so she’s Doc now. And the doc says, well, the skull wanted to see me. I want to ask questions, but I know her answers are between jack and shit, so I clam up. The Doc’s always mysterious, and you’d think as a reporter I’d hate it. And I do! But, they do the job and she knows what’s up so I shut my face.

The skull wants to see me, that’s that. I look into its not-eyes. It turns around. There’s a flower on its back, it’s glowing like the horn. There’s someone in there, a flower of flesh and blood. And also blue glowing shit, but that ruins the movie reference, shut it.

There’s something in my mind. Not a psychic thought blast, but a whisper. Not a drug thing either, if you know you know, it’s different. I saw some things I remembered vaguely. Half finished drawings finished, half-cut tracks woven together, contents of a room with an LCD glow and hands typing frantically at keys. But there’s a name there. Maria…

...Wait what the fuck?! I look down at Doc and she nods. I thought that kid was dead. Or, turned into some kind of giant baby, the fuck?! But, then again, I’d noticed the talk about the cloning project, and the conspicuous absences from the Reverend’s broadcasts for the time. She escaped. Mother of Santa Muerte she escaped, ha ha!

Though… well, why the fuck did she go to me? Does she… nah, can’t be. Maybe. I think. We’re going Silent Running on this shit, heard from a contact that Flesh Gladiators and some of the Reverend’s Jesus Freaks are headed this way. Not from this shit, but something else.

This is D.W. Devlin signing off, and I’ve never been so happy to be wrong on a story before!

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

Abilities: She's not very physically strong, but she's significantly more resilient than she should be and is extremely fast, with the added ability to move without a single sound. Can project a smokescreen from her eyes and a bright "flash" from its horn, creating a sticky "light venom", though this is more for incapacitation than combat and serves to allow her to flee. 

She can also create a version of this venom from the blueish tips of the "flower" containing the "passenger" she's formed around. It is significantly more complicated, an extremely potent corrosive and oxidizer that can cause serious pain to other kaiju, but it is purely defensive, used against those 

Bonus Trivia: While she was formed as a "shell" around Maria after her escape from St Anger by way of automutation (Leaving a decapitated shell of St Anger that the Reverend would proceed to clone), it's likely the entity that is Silent Running will survive as an independent being after Maria incubates into her final form. 

I imagine she might serve as a protector and potential incubator to others, whether desired or against their will...

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

THE STORY CONTINUES! Yeah, the story with the sad fate of Maria being forcibly warped into St Anger was not the end, but rather, just a beginning, and we're still not done! Like, while her story's not gonna reach the climax until next year, there is a bit more related to her that's down the pipe.

And, as for the reference to how Devlin knows her, well, that's a short story I've had rattling in my brain for a while. But that's probably gonna be told well after, tho I will link it here when I'm done with it.

The song she's named after is Silent Running, and very specifically the cover by The Protomen, because... well, for anyone marginalized in the US, it is currently A Mood right now.

In that grand Kaijune tradition, these narrative elements are under a CC-BY 4.0 license, as long as I, Thomas F Johnson, am credited as their creator…

[ufolane]

happy belated halloween! i took adderall for the first time in weeks and instead of working on my projects i drew my interpretation/slight redesign of greavard and my overhauled redesign of houndstone!

artist notes below the cut! :D

Greavard

i decided to not spend too much energy trying to keep the "pokemon art style" so i could focus my energy on making him look good

i wanted to keep the core features and make him still recognizable as greavard

i also wanted to stay consistent with the trend of puppy pokemon evolving into a dog pokemon, with the puppy still being passable as a full grown itself (eg: yamper, lillipup, houndour)

my biggest problems lied with how cartoony he looked, so i fixed this by giving him more realistic proportions but still keeping them "puppy-like" by giving him big paws and ears, which are the defining features that puppies have that indicate how big they will be when they grow up

the candle looked stupid and clumsily done, so i made it feel a bit more natural by having it look more realistically like a candle and have the melting wax turn into fur. originally i wanted to have his bangs also be melting wax and make that more of a part of his design, with his fur also looking like dripping wax, but that felt like it would stray too far from the core design

more ghost-like features! i gave him a big long translucent tongue and made his fur turn wispy at the ends of his ears and tail. considered doing this to his "cape" of fur too but it cluttered the design too much

i also considered giving him some kind of chains and shackles like i did with my church grim fakemon i made years ago, but it didn't feel fitting for greavard since his evolution is supposed to be the spirit of a dearly loved pokemon. it made sense for a church grim because theyre supposed to guard graveyards, and their spirits are bound to the graveyard that they're buried at

Houndstone

So I did originally just try and tweak houndstone's design, but every attempt I made just kept getting shafted by the stupid tombstone that looked like a stupid little hat. So he needed an overhaul

Houndstone's dex entry says "A lovingly mourned Pokémon was reborn as Houndstone." Maybe this one evolved after nobody loved him as a greavard (since they sap your life force) and his loneliness caused him to take on a malevolent evolution?

I wanted to keep the mound he had because bulbapedia says it might be referencing a type of burial mound. But in his canon design it makes him look like he has a camel hump. So I transferred it to his shoulders to give him a hyena-like body type, to make it more pronounced, make his silhouette more dynamic, and to make his draped mane look cooler

Gave him more realistic proportions, just like with greavard. No more stupid giant head

Gave him pointy teeth instead of the silly nubbins to make the "malevolent" part more appearant

Replaced his stupid headstone with a candle with a bigger flame. Maybe it's bigger from stealing the life force from so many possible trainers? Also gave him a row of candles down his back to help him look more like an "upgraded" evolution of greavard

Longer bone tail because it's cool

The sprites with the flat colors and his in-game sprites showed his fur as completely white with purple spots on his back and head. I thought the official art was cooler with the color variance so I used that instead

Just realized I forgot to add wisps to the ends of his ear like greavard's but I don't care anymore

Thanks for reading my ramblings! I had a lot of fun with this!! :D

[catiecat1320]

Sonadowtober Prompt 25: Phobia

I'm so freaking late TvT

Kakorrhaphiophobia: the fear of failure

Direct continuation of Prompt 12: Role Swap, for my Second Chances AU! (Psssst my askbox is open wink wink)(pathetically begging)

Read Below🔽

Shadow gasped for breath as he fell out of Chaos Control, collapsing to his hands and knees. Disoriented, the cold metal beneath him provided little comfort. For a moment, all he could hear was his own rapid heartbeat drumming in his ears, drowning out the world.

Then, a voice. Maria’s voice. “Shadow!”

She dropped to the floor beside him and hugged him tight. “Are you alright?”

Shadow slowly sank into her arms as his surroundings bled back in. The ARK. Just beyond the golden blonde hair in his face, he spotted the others. Knuckles. Robotnik. Tails. All looking at him with waning curiosity in their eyes as they looked at him for someone else.

“...No.”

“Shadow?” Maria loosened her hold to look at him as well. But he didn’t want to be looked at. To be judged. Faulted. Blamed.

It was his fault.

“No.” Shadow’s voice cracked painfully and he couldn’t anymore. Breaking out of the embrace, he did the one thing he could— run.

But they were on a space station. Even as big of a space station as this was, he couldn’t run forever. 

Especially not after what he’d done. Or more accurately, what he didn’t do.

Observation Deck B. The big window called to him, as if to offer a semblance of hope. Unable to resist, Shadow collapsed next to it and raked through the empty space beyond over and over with as much focus as he had, hoping to spot anything.

But his search was fruitless.

“Sonic…”

His voice echoed through the empty room. He hadn’t meant to say it. It felt forbidden; he had no right to speak that name, not after he’d failed its owner. 

He failed.

A sob bubbled up from within and Shadow attempted to choke it down, sucking in far more air than necessary. He couldn’t cry. Who was he to cry over something he himself did? He should… he should be trying to fix this, not crying over it like a child. He—

But he couldn’t get up. How was he supposed to make this right? Sonic was gone. As resilient as he was, atmospheric reentry would certainly… certainly kill him.

Shadow clamped a hand over his mouth as he shook, leaning against the glass for support. He killed someone. 

Not just someone, his inner voice helpfully provided. Sonic. Sonic, who had awoken to a world bent against him, who had been used and abused for his entire existence, who had in the end chosen to save the world despite it all. Sonic, who had every right to live.

If Shadow didn't have a hand on his muzzle he wouldn’t have had the mind to breathe. Who was he to call himself a hero after this? Who was he to walk out of this mess alive while leaving behind those who’ve long suffered?

Every inhale served as a reminder of his continued existence, wrong. Every exhale carried guilt like a tidal wave. Hatred flooded through his body, sharp and cold. Failure echoed in his bones. 

He shouldn’t be breathing. Yet with each breath he took they only came faster.

He shouldn’t be here at all. He should be dead. Someone much more deserving of life in his place.

He shouldn’t be here, not after he’d failed to save the one person who needed it most.

Shadow isn’t sure how long he stayed like that. Pressed against the window, warmth slowly sapped by reinforced glass; tears rolling down his face, absorbed into white gloves; breaths drawn stuttered, uneven, wrong.

He didn’t bother looking up when the metal door slid open, knowing soft footsteps well enough to know who’d entered. He had half a mind to compose himself for her sake, but the other half won that battle.

“...Go away,” he whispered, voice as loud as he could manage to wrangle out of himself. 

Maria sat down beside him instead, movements careful as if she were approaching a stray cat. She took a deep breath before fixing those sky blue eyes of hers onto him. “This… this is about Sonic, isn’t it?”

Shadow’s hand dropped into his lap in defeat, no tears left to cry. He shook his head weakly, but it likely didn’t help his case as much as he wished it to. Seconds ticked by as the two siblings sat in silence, each awaiting more from the other. 

Finally, Maria sighed. “He saved you.”

A fact. Shadow liked facts, but not this one.

He felt that annoying prick in his eyes again. Perhaps there were more tears. Regardless, Shadow swallowed thickly, hoping they wouldn’t show. “He shouldn’t have.”

“Shadow.” She cupped his face so gently it hurt, lifting it to meet her gaze. “Take a deep breath for me. Please?”

He couldn’t deny her that. But he could deny the next words that came out of her sweet mouth.

“Don’t blame yourself. The choice was his.”

“It should’ve never been a choice, much less his.” Shadow reached up to pull those hands off his face, feeling too guilty for touch so soft. He’d prefer to be punched.

“Shadow—”

“No. I failed him, Maria. Him of all people.” He stood up shakily, balling his fists to resist the growing urge to wrap his arms around his middle. “I let him die! He’s dead. You can’t… you can’t possibly…”

“Forgive you?”

He bit back tears. “Don’t.”

He inched closer to the exit, wanting so badly to run away again. Escape to a place where his failure wouldn’t follow. Where guilt wouldn’t cling to him like a ghost. If only such a place existed.

Maria sighed quietly as she watched him, no doubt knowing him well enough not to try to stop him. “I…you. You will have to one day, Shadow… He did what he did for a reason. Think about it. Please.”

The hedgehog squeezed his eyes shut, ears flattening against his head as Sonic’s words floated back to him.

“If not for you, then for the people. You’re their hero, Shadow. They need you.”

Did they? It felt like all he did was play with fire, then burn things down and escape the consequences. The people didn’t need him, he just acted the part they wanted to see.

He shoved those thoughts aside. They need you? 

Okay.

“I… have to tell them what happened.” Shadow mutters, then pauses. Turning around, he gingerly takes Maria’s hands and tries to ignore her concerned gaze digging into his head as he leads them back to the others, prepared to drop news they’d likely already figured out.

He’ll try not to fail again.

[poeticclown]

looking for something wet & messy? bite scene got you feeling a certain type of way? do you like pathetic men? look no further, i gotcha :))

He picks up his pace, imagining that beautiful haze he slips into when Astarion feeds. That oozing darkness that saps at his strength and makes the edges of his vision fizzle out. L’appel du vide, as the elves say. He focuses on the imagined sensation of fangs in his neck and keens. He imagines Astarion’s voice, low and husky against his neck. Darling. Delicious. Divine.

The imagined praises only continue to stoke the fire growing in Seeker’s belly. Pulling at his curls, he exposes his neck for his imaginary lover. He rolls his hips into his hand, fucking the tight circle of his fist. His breaths come out in little pants, ragged and wanton.

“A–Astar–ion…” he moans brokenly, hips canting upwards of their own accord. He was close, so close. He just needed a little more.

~//~

Seeker (Tav) has never been one to consider the consequences of his actions. Astarion gives him consequences to think about

[artificial-absinthe]

devil, this is an extremely brilliant, gorgeous writing.

I wish I could write as brilliant as this, and that there were more megasound stories like this one, truly portraying the multi dimensional aspects of their characters and of the beyond labels, deep connection among them.

wordless (24358 words) by Anonymous Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: Transformers: Prime, Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Megatron/Soundwave Characters: Megatron (Transformers), Soundwave (Transformers), Orion Pax, Shockwave (Transformers) Additional Tags: Book: Exodus, Minor Character Death, Soundwave goes full protagonist, Megatron is such a sap it's laughable Summary: In the gladiatorial pits, in the depths of the world, Soundwave is not a follower. He is cataclysmic.

[otterandterrierwrites]

Han/Leia vampire AU epilogue is up!!

Whew, I've been talking about this fic for so long and it's finally all posted. That might not be much compared to other writers who write far longer fics in less than two years, but it's actually pretty big for me 😂

If you haven't read it yet, here's what you can expect:

poor little meow meow vampire dom!Leia

Han discovering a kink in real time

buckets of ust

biting biting biting

accidental misuse of the Force

deliberate misuse of blood

vampirism as a chronic illness

Ord Mantell 👀

heaps of devotion

um, vampire/human smut, obviously

but also vampiric hunger as sexual desire and symbiosis

nobody is actually dead, happy ending because I'm a sap

read it, comment, ask me questions if you don't know whether you should read it, and you'll have my undying devotion (once I learn how not to die)!

[quilleth]

Weekly check-in for the reach for the stars event time from @the-wip-project (a day late for when I've been trying to do them, whoops).

I didn't manage to write every day this week, or even most days, or to finish the story I was close to finishing in the last check-in like I'd wanted. It was a rough week and some things at work really sapped my energy or motivation to do much of anything. I came close to hitting my weekly goal word count, I think.

So this week's goal is to finish that story! Sadly, I think I'm going to need to cut most of what I did manage to write the past week in order for the story to flow and wrap up nicely. I'll find out more when I type it. For now I'm going to go ahead and write where the last scene was going, since I can make that call, or adjustments to what I write, during that process.