sapphoandherbff

[sapphoandherbff]

Evil biology facts that fill me with Fear :)

hey, I heard y’all like evil biology facts like knowledge about horse blood types.

well! today I was researching alternative biochemistries extraterrestrial life could use and. man. I think Earth life is fucked up enough for me thanks

biological dark matter. WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BLOOD HAS DNA IN IT FROM NO KNOWN SOURCE. YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT COME BACK HERE

One specific cave that has been sealed for 5.5 million years and has developed an ecosystem completely dependent on chemosynthetic bacteria.

Was anybody going to tell me that bacteria have decided iron is yummy and are eating the Titanic, or was I supposed to just read that myself

Terrible Berry (yes, that’s what the genus name means). This whole thing is so fucked up. These scientists were testing whether radiation could be used to kill pathogens in food, so they dosed a tin of meat with enough radiation to kill any known living organism (as one does) but guess what, it still fucking spoiled because of THIS BASTARD FUCKER.

(seriously, why is it like this? WHY has a bacterium evolved to chill in radioactive waste like it’s a soothing Jacuzzi tub? What does it know that we don’t know?)

(ANSWERS. I WANT ANSWERS, YOU CHERNOBYL ASS BITCH.)

Cursed worm, which has no mouth or digestive system and depends entirely on five (5) different species of bacteria, which consume hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen monoxide, and carbon monoxide, for food. How do you, a worm, even...figure out how to do...all that?

Bone worms. At least they like their bones already dead. I still could have gone without knowing this was a thing.

“Oh, parasitic plant, that sounds c—WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING”

I am like half convinced this is made up. Seriously, bacteria grow their own electrical wires and we just let them?

[sapphoandherbff]

AMITA SUMAN Photographed by Joseph Sinclair for Notion.

[sapphoandherbff]

Shower Time 🚿

[sapphoandherbff]

Writing Emotion: Deceit

If you’re writing a mystery type novel or have a plan for a plot twist, you may want to explore how people express deceit! In this post, we’ll go over how people verbally and nonverbally show that they are are not telling the whole truth, as well as how to use them in your stories. 

Body Language 

Of course, lying is an actual skill. Depending on how good a person is, their body language signs may be more subtle. Be sure to think about how good your character is at lying before choosing some of these habits!

Body Language of a Low Skill Liar

Facial expression contradicts what they say (scowling when talking about someone they say they like, but actually hate)

Touching face - scratching neck/collar bone, picking at skin, etc.

Fake smiles (smile doesn’t reach eyes)

Excessive hand movement/gestures 

Fidgeting (indicates stress)

Stuttering/hesitation

playing with hair

Medium Skill Liar

No eye contact

Rapid blinking, excessive blinking

Weird reactions to what’s being said, as if they practiced reactions. 

Sweating on forehead or neck

Touching the nose

Hesitation

Less use of me/my/mine and instead use they/the/their (because they are making up a story, and when telling a story people tend to distance themselves from it.)

High Skill Liar

Minimal gestures

Can “keep their cool” better

Sudden pauses after an unexpected question is asked (a good liar may prepare the answers of expected questions beforehand, and when given a question they did not prepare for, they will scramble to think of an answer)

Licking lips or rolling them back

Verbal Signs

Awkward or unnatural pauses between speech: “I went to the store… and then the apartment.”

Telling the story a little different every time: “And then he came back.” “I thought you said he didn’t come back?” “Yeah! that’s what I mean…”

Not saying enough

Saying too much (TMI situation)

Change in speech pattern (a person who typically speaks slow is now speaking fast, a person who is used to speak very clearly is no slurring their words together)

An unusual rise or fall in tone (Like how our voices go up at the end of asking a question)

How to Use these Traits

Again, you should first determine how good your character is at lying. If they are very good, they may be harder to write, especially if you yourself are bad at lying (me XD) 

If you pick these traits for your character with their skill in mind, you will better show the reader (through the character’s actions and words) what skill level they are.  

Be sure not to over-use and/clearly outline the body language of your character, because it ends up making the reader feel that something is off. Body language is typically very subtle, even with someone who isn’t very good at lying. This is what I mean:

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, taking her hand and aggressively pulling the hair behind her ear.

or:

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, pushing the hair behind her ear. 

The first example makes it extremely obvious something is wrong. If that’s the conclusion you want the reader to come to right away, then go ahead and do that! If you want to draw it out, and make the reader uncertain, the second example is a good way to go. The reader may not realize it right away, but once they figure it out they’ll have an “Aha! That was so obvious, of course she’s lying!” moment. 

For dialogue, it’s really down to the personality of your character (how they normally say things when not lying) and their ability to lie. Things like stuttering or hesitating indicate nervousness, but not necessarily lying. So be careful with that! 

Little things like accidently saying a little too much, or giving away a key part of the mystery is much more common for medium to low skill liars. Also remember that lairs don’t typically speak and use the same language as when they are talking normally. Their speed might change, their use of slang might increase or decrease, that kind of stuff all indicates something is wrong.

Liars are some of the hardest characters to write myself, so doing the research for this post helped me! I hope it helped you too. Thanks for all the love on my blog recently, you guys are awesome! Anyway, thanks for reading and happy writing!

-RB

[sapphoandherbff]

being a girl and hitting puberty is so traumatic. you go from being a genderless little free thing to being hit with shaving and makeup and growing breasts and skincare and menstruation and suddenly being sexualised when like a few years ago you could take your shirt off to play in the stream and trade yugioh cards with the boys and come home covered in mud and not even think about it. and then you spend years hating being a girl and hating everything puberty did to you and wishing you could be a boy or be completely genderless again and it takes you Many years to come to terms with yourself Or you simply try to Lean In to everything and do makeup tutorials on YouTube and claim it’s for fun. like how can this be treated as normal

[sapphoandherbff]

I’m crocheting a top right now that is essentially a bra and let me tell you—the feeling I get when I make something that actually fits me and feels comfortable while providing support unlike literally every bra I own is just ✨✨

[sapphoandherbff]

I hate to talk about something so extremely severe but I just need to say it. I know the whole “why is nobody talking about this” thing is annoying but I really am starting to feel like I’m going insane over the fact that Tennessee recently passed a law (PASSED IT, not suggested it, not considering it, it’s FINALIZED) stating that businesses have to put up a WARNING SIGN if they are supportive of transgender people. A public warning sign stating that they allow trans people to use their facilities. And I’ve seen almost basically mainstream acknowledgment of it at all, anywhere. Just other trans people expressing their fear and anger. Can we maybe acknowledge that for like, how deeply horrifying that actually is.

[sapphoandherbff]

Salt of the Earth (1954), dir. Herbert J. Biberman

[sapphoandherbff]

and the Iraqi people welcomed the Americans with flowers. I wanted to set a historical event to teach Bush a lesson from the Iraqis, telling him you lied, we did not welcome you with flowers, and instead we are saying goodbye with our shoes.“ 

[sapphoandherbff]

NK Jemisin could come to my house and demand my soul as payment and I would just give it to her for free

[sapphoandherbff]

Got my keychains done! Some much needed color after these gloomy days we have had! They will be added to my shop soon, as I don’t have many made yet! I’m also taking commissions for other flags you might not see!

[sapphoandherbff]

here’s your damn fish

[sapphoandherbff]

Every kefta I’ve crocheted just looks like a really comfy bathrobe

[sapphoandherbff]

Made his head!!

Milo the goat in progress

[sapphoandherbff]

This is for the... accountants out there or if you’re like me and people have stolen your photos before and sent several angry perverts to your personal accounts

[sapphoandherbff]

israel has been bombing residential towers, refugee camps, media offices and now there are reports that it plans to bomb two UN run schools in palestine. reminder that many ppl who have been rendered homeless by these bombings have found shelter in these schools. palestine's hospitals are overflowing, their top doctors are being killed in these bombings, and the pandemic is still raging while israel is blocking humanitarian aid as well. these are war crimes. this is a genocide.

[sapphoandherbff]

PLEASE DO NOT THINK FOR EVEN A SECOND THAT YOUR VOICE WILL NOT HAVE AN IMPACT THIS IS LITERALLY THE BARE MINIMUM

I'm sorry for putting this in the BLM and stop Asian hate tag but in the last few days posts tagged with "Palestine" have not been showing up.