#spawn of sid

[roberttingle]

this is a sid squinty eyes appreciation post

[lavampira]

I miss sid ;-;

[arttheclown]

fanexpo 2023 pic spam ft some wonderful cosplayers i met + harvey guillén who is absolutely radiant irl ☀️

[hamilando]

ੈ✩ love island (smau) ੈ✩

pairing : lando norris x reader

tw : fluff; suggestive, tiny tiny angst, jealousy love island coupling, mentions of other celebs as cast, kissing pictures

fc : Jung HoYeon

a/n : AHHH! THIS IDEA WAS IN MY HEAD FOR SOO LONG ! also did y’all really think just because s2 is here, we are going to forget the main s1 simp? She is so pretty, I can’t -

·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ

liked by user1, user2 , lando and 347,387 others

loveislanduk @ lando JOINS US FOR THIS SEASON !!!!

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user1 that's it. I am dead

user2 seeing landhoe being more hoey?

user3 BRO IS DOING EVERYTHING AS A SID E HUSTLE

user4 fuck paddock, I am going on a padi vacation

user5 SHIRTLESS LANDO 25X8 !?!?

user6 does mclaren even know !?

user7 THE SAUCY CHALLENGES YALL !?

user8 so you are telling me, he is going to cheat on Carlos !?

user9 I would love to see the grid’s reaction…

user10 I can imagine max saying simply lovely

liked by user1, jennieruby, user2 and 836,297 others

sojuyn ig survival shows are my thing

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user1 MOTHER IS GOING TO LOVE ISLAND !?

user2 she went to the final of squid games, what’s this for her ? 💀

user3 I just love how her pics are serving like always

jennieruby AHHH! can't wait to see you there xooxo

liked by sojuyn

user4 Y/N, DONT SHOW YOUR SEXY SELF To others 😔

user5 can't believe we can't gatekeep the hottie anymore 😔

liked by charlesleclerc, oscarpiastri and 1,366,872 others

lando Getting that British island 💪🏻💂

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carlossainz55 can’t believe you are going there

lando you have Rebecca !!

carlossainz55 I get it Lando, no need.

maxverstappen1 simple lovely mate

georgerussell getting over the championship defeat ?

lando getting over your gay ass ?

georgerussell it’s called being a diva

mclaren we weren't informed, Lando.

lando random applications i guess 😃

comments for this post have been restricted

liked by user1, user2, user3 and 1,357,827 others

loveislanduk the first episode just premiered!

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user1 HELLO THE CAST !?

user2 so you are telling me, Lando, Jude Bellingham, hjevelyn and BRYCE HALL !?!?

user3 HOW DID BRYCE HALL SPAWN HERE !?

user4 HJEVELYN 😍😍

user5 Y/NNNN 😍😍😍😍

user6 I see admin has a favorite, already posting lando and y/n 😃

user7 Is this some sport island season !?

user8 the amount of celebs !?!?

user9 WHY DO YOU HAVE TO TORTURE ME FOR ONE WEEK BEFORE RELEASING MORE

user10 I am here for the drama

liked by user1, user2, user3 and 1,365,467 others

loveisland raise your ya ya ya - heart!. The saucy challenge is only available on episode 2 🤭

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user1 the caption is killing me 🐸

user2 DID WE ALL SEE LANDO AND Y/N!?

user3 LANDO'S HEART ROSE TO 140!?

user4 IS THAT EVEN SAFE !?!?

user5 we could see jude burning eyes into lando-

user6 THE FIRST COUPLING WAS SOGOOD

user7 I think it was obvious that y/n and lando will couple up-

user8 i can sense lando-yn-jude

user9 jude was not happy when lando picked yn

user10 the face when jude had to couple with magui-

liked by sojuyn, user1, user2 and 1,934,267 others

lando hideaway 😗

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liked by user1, user2, user3 and 1,763,278 others

loveislanduk @ lando debriefs with the guys, before grabbing @ judebellingham for a quick chat !

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user1 lando said no one messes with my girl

user2 ngl, those two look good together

user3 we seeing a lot of bromance

user4 i feel the connection between them

user5 istg if they dump the girls and be togther -

user6 POWER COUPLE

user7 yn with the richest and handsome men after her

user8 oh to be her 😔

user9 magui is not going to like this

user10 imagine jude coupling with her next week

liked by user1, user2, user3 and 2,463,274 others

loveislanduk the third episode started with drama! @ sojuyn was splashed by @ maguicorceiro for apparently lip locking her couple up @ judebellingham, @ Lando does not look much happy ! Tune in for episode 3 !!

view comments

user1 and i-

user2 LANDO LOOKS ANGRY

user3 not kando turning into max by wearing mclaren merch-

user4 I am not even there but I can clearly see that that's not yn!!

user5 it is jude, but not with yn

user6 ITS EVELYN

user7 oh my gosh, ITS EVELYN AND JUDE!!

user8 YN IS LOYAL TO LANDO

user9 magui really wants lando

user10 just because they both are Asians -

part2...?

let me know if you want to be added or removed to the tg!

permanent tg: @isotopemylove @chair-things @justaf1girl @nichmeddar @bibblemiluvr @blushmimi @nikfigueiredo @amz824 @ivegotparticulartaste @raizelchrysanderoctavius @freyathehuntress @piastri-fvx

fic tg: @sweate-r-weathe-r @jxnellat @loveofmylife12 @budgetcupid @lilaissa @scorpiodiosa @wondergirl101ks @nichmeddar @hoeforlifee @urfavnoirette @lily-ann-b @ilivbullyingjeongin

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Know any gaming myths to debunk?

Gaming myths have been around as long as games, from the earliest Sumerian board games to the latest video game for your brand new Nintendo 64. Here are a few popular myths over the years to debunk:

The Royal Game of Ur: According to the weekly cuneiform tablet of Lord Kotaqu VI, the Royal Game of Ur held a secret block that could be accessed by moving a stone left, right, left, and right and up and down several times. This was simply untrue and Kotaqu was executed for his charlatan magic.

Chess: Several early critics of the game of Chess claimed that the game's battlefield strategy emulation inspired violence, despite many studies showing that Chess players like Gandhi were no more likely to go to war than non-Chess players such as Napoleon, except in certain Sid Meier simulations.

Texas Hold-'Em Poker: Many poker players were prone to cheating, especially in the old west. There are claims that card manufacturers such as Bicycle and Hoyle began to include serial numbers and codes, such as letter "L" on the lower left corner of a card so that nobody could claim a 9 was a 6, and so on. Though this has never been proven, many still claim that the L is real.

Pong: In the 1970s, games went electronic and many myths developed about this strange new form of play. The first game, "Pong," was much like table tennis, and some players claimed that one could, with proper timing, pick up the "ball" pixel and throw it on the "roof" of the video screen. This was proven untrue as more people learned how computers worked.

Tomb Raider: As more teenagers played video games, playground rumors such as a "Nude Code" to show the game protagonist naked became popular. Though there is no nude code in Tomb Raider, there is one in Kirby's Dream Land, in which Kirby can appear nude but for shoes by starting the game in normal mode.

Dark Souls: With the complexity of the world of Dark Souls, many rumors and myths were spawned, such as the ability to fast-travel early, a hidden map behind an old fog gate, and even the ability to enter other games by switching discs during a load screen. This last bit was only true in one case, where replacing the game disc with Postal 3 would improve the quality of the Postal game by making it crash irrecoverably.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder: The newest Mario game's "Wonder" mechanics are strange and diverse, leading to many rumors about weird tricks they can result in. While the normal game can turn Mario into a sticky blob, make inanimate pipes crawl like inchworms, or illuminate previously invisible walkways, claims of Wonder effects that make the console explode, save money on your car's extended warranty, or even let you see real people's names and how many days they have left to live have mostly proven false. One Wonder effect that did prove real was a 79 step ladder that lets Mario climb into a developer room. The room didn't have all that much in it, but also, it's everything.

[princess-ibri]

Have you ever thought about the backstory for Yen Sid in your Disneyverse?

Hi! Sorry this took 5 months! My life kinda fell apart and then came back together and I just realized this has been here since December. My sincere apologies!!

Ok!

Yen Sid Backstory

I decided that I'd actually want Yen Sid to be the younger brother of Vár, the woman who would become Vor, the oldest Villian in the Everrealms. After she sells her soul to Chernabog and unleashes the dark forces upon the world, Yen dedicates himself to gaining enough power on the side of Light to defeat her.

He helps creates The Protectors, and it is ultimately thanks to him that they're able to trap her with the locket that held her for so many centuries.

Yen Sid went on to help establish or aid many bastions of Good to stave off the forces of Evil, (including the dark family his sister had spawned).

The Protectors, the Storykeepers, and many more have been touched in some way by his influence.

Eventually his reach went even beyond the world of the EverRealm into other worlds, which is how he became the mentor of Merlin, the magician Astoroth, the overeager apprentice Moustredamous and many more

He now resides in a tower that dwells in a liminal space between many different realms, acting as a spoke between worlds, such as the Everrealm, Our World, the equally liminal Mystic Isles, the Land of Dreams and many many more.

You can reach his tower realm through any world, if you know the way, and if he deems you worthy of entering. From here he watches over the Multiversex ever on guard against the forces of Evil.

[freshestsploontournament]

character list so far

under the cut are all the splatoon characters ive written down so far. please tell me if theres anyone missing! id be happy to add them

also, it seems 3 members of Riot Act dont have official names yet. it may very well be that their names get revealed before i start this tournament due to my general slowness. if not then ill just add them as "unknown riot act member" or smth similar, if thats okay.

Agent 3/Captain

Agent 4

Agent 8

Neo agent 3

Callie

Marie

Pearl

Marina

Shiver

Frye

Big man

Craig Cuttlefish/Capn Cuttlefish

DJ Octavio

Little Buddy

C. Q. Cumber

Judd

Li'l Judd

Mr. Grizz

Great Zapfish

Zapfish

Mini Zapfish

Iso Padre

O. R. C. A.

Sheldon

Annie

Moe

Jelonzo

Crusty Sean

Spyke

Flow

Craymond

Jelfonzo

Bisk

Murch

Gnarly Eddy

Nails

Jel la Fleur

Mr. Coco

Harmony/Paruko

Shelly

Donny

Fred Crumbs

Telephone

Nami

Ichiya

Ikkan/Quinn

Murasaki

Clash

Orion

Sid

Taka

Kuze

Nishida

DJ Lee Fish

Bob Dub

Turquoise October (the entire band i guess)

Mizuta Ahato/Dedf1sh

Keaton

Mizo

Ryley

Neil

Candi

Bertie Feeder

Murdoch Feeder

Finn Feeder

Tangle Feeder

Jawn Feeder

Yoko

Karen

Bibi/Zuzu

Oonie

Maya

Kitamura

DJ Real Sole

The Firstborn Child of Alkyne, the Hidden Blade of Yakiharas

The Valiant Green Flame Born in Jigo

The Faithful Servant of the True Salmon Emperor Hizunamasu

Karla

Ryu Chang

Myron “Ronnie” Swamps

Paul

Mashup/Warabi

004Clam

Beika/Baker

Kikura/Kiki

Uotora/Walter

Shy-Ho-Shy (Squid Sisters’ producer)

Barry C.

Sally (graffiti artist)

Hara Wataru (graffiti artist)

NILS Statue

human scientist

Glen Fiddler

Sea angel

Ping-pong tree sponge

Deep-sea jellyfish

Predatory tunicates

Gulper eels

Flashlight fish

Birdbeak dogfish

Siphonophores

Blobfish

Garris

Vinny Mack

John Goose

Octolangelo

Octotrooper

Shielded Octotrooper

Octodiver

Blobby Octotrooper

Octohopper

Twintacle Octotrooper

Shielded Twintacle Octotrooper

Rocket Twintacle Octotrooper

Twintacle Octodiver

Octoball

Octosniper

Octocommander

Octostamp

Amped Octostamp

(enemy) Octoling

Tentakook

Octohurler

Octoballer

Octocopter

Rocket Octocopter

Octobomber

Rocket Octobomber

Octostriker

Missile Octocopter

Speedy Missile Octocopter

Octomissile

Octozeppelin

Octodisco

Squee-G

Industrial Squee-G

Flooder

Octopod

Oversized Octopod

Octorpedo

Octostamp DX

Octowasher

Octoseeker

The Octostomp

The Octonozzle

The Octowhirl

The Octomaw

Octo Oven

Octo Samurai

Neo Octostomp

Octo Shower

Octo Oven XXL

Octo Samurai (sanitized)

Octostomp Redux

Octo Shower Supreme

Sanitized Octoling

Fuzzy Octoling

All of the other octarians again but sanitized/fuzzy but im not writing those down

Chum

Smallfry

Cohock

Snatcher

Steelhead

Flyfish

Steel Eel

Maws

Stinger

Drizzler

Scrapper

Fish Stick

Flipper-Flopper

Big Shot

Slammin' Lid

Griller

Goldie

Chinook

Mothership

Mudmouth

Cohozuna

Horrorboros

Megalodontia (Joe)

Marigold

Super Sea Snail

Master Mega

Frye's Moray Eels

Fresh Fish

Monkey Crab

The Professor

Ammoses Shellendorf

Baby Jelly

Cool Jelly

Aggro Jelly

Acht

Asynchronous Rondo

Pinging Marciale

Parallel Canon

Cipher

Lionel

Cory

Tao Blu

Tosh

Martin

Jessika

Oonie

Kitamura

Swarming Languendo

Marching Andante

Battering Lento

Portal

Drizzling Capriccioso

Panicking Alla Mambo

Whirling Accelerando

Springing Spiccato

Gushing Trionfale

Spawning Accordo

Homing Arpeggio

Towering Nobilmente

Smollusk

unknown riot act member #1

unknown riot act member #2

unknown riot act member #3

no particular order

[goldensunset]

disappointing? perhaps. ultimately for the best? yeah.

let him do crimes against humanity idc

[alittlecherrylemonade]

I’m just gonna keep a running list of Sunrise on the Reaping spoilers below the cut as I go

*SPOILERS*

Lenore Dove is Clerk Carmine’s niece????

Burdock is Katniss’s dad isn’t he 😭

And of course he’s Lenore’s cousin 

That’s definitely Katniss’s dad… But not Lenore’s cousin? 

LENORE IS A BAIRD???

MOM DIED IN CHILDBIRTH???

PA’S NAME IS A MYSTERY???

shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shut. the. fuck. up is Lenore the product of Lucy Gray and Snow

“And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.” oof Collins said what she said.

I mean that’s probably not likely right, but wasn’t Lucy Gray the only Baird? I would’ve thought Maude Ivory but… hold on lemme look

okay so she could be Barb’s, but Barb had a girlfriend. and was the oldest of the bunch. which admittedly could’ve been like 20. But that was 40 years before Sunrise. So she’d be 60 in Sunrise and Lenore Dove is only about 16 so she’d be having a child at like 44, but people in 12 die young and reproduce kinda young so that’s just not as likely… then again, she did die in childbirth. and if it somehow was Lucy Gray, she’d also be about 40 when birthing. I did not think about the math when I flipped out earlier, definitely not Snow’s at least but jfc I need this family tree

THATS THE COVER!!!! OF THE BOOK!!! Lenore Dove you spicy minx you know exactly what you’re doing and you’re sending him to the Capitol wearing this??? GURL

“It takes a lot to break these two. They’re survivors.” UHHHHH???? I really didn’t think I needed to know for sure what Lucy Gray’s fate was but now I’m frothing at the mouth

the lil nugget about Clerk and his fella having to be DL to avoid arrest 👀 Suzanne you’re not even hiding the allegory now. Thank you

Burdock gathering herbs for the apothecary 😭 for Asterid March… we know Katniss’s parents now

The repeated hints of 12 being the exact type of mining town that spawned riots 100 years ago… I’m gonna be listening to so much bluegrass

The Reaping being July 4th lol she is literally spelling it out for us

Woodbine was the second boy. Literally, they demand child sacrifices. I’m gonna scream.

Peeta’s dad. Otho 😭

Oh. Haymitch wasn’t even drawn. Oh. Oh.

Plutarch saves Lenore’s life? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

Sid was born on the sunny side? 😭 yall gotta quit referencing Covey songs

Louella being sweetheart 😭 I cannot handle this Suzanne

Maysilee is about to serve absolute cunt isn’t she

Ohhhh shit so Plutarch is the mentor?

Oh okay no he isn’t but what exactly is his role?

Dammit Lenore why didn’t you talk to Haymitch about Lucy Gray

They fucken use victors from other districts as mentors?? Insane.

a birthday cake? that’s so fucking sick

The Raven, in the little house by the lake 😭

every time the “NO PEACE!” propos get mentioned, it churns my stomach bc it feels like a direct, intentional perversion of “no justice, no peace.” which is exactly the kinda shit an authoritarian regime like Panem or the fucken current USA would do. the allegory is gut wrenching

The Academy gymnasium as the tribute center holy fuck

omg do we get to see Tigris

WIRESS IS THEIR MENTOR??

And Mags??? 😭😭😭

Ampert is Beetee’s son??? 🥺

Louella didn’t die??? What the fuck???

Also Snow really is every abusive manchild ever, 40 years down the line and still not over the one who possibly literally got away 🙄 and the oysters? Finnick referenced that shit directly.

The foreshadowing of drowning his sorrows with the plant by a name referenced in the poem his girl got her name from

Ah. They made that poor dead child into an uncanny valley ass mutt. The parallels to Katniss’s story go crazy, like the mutts who ended the 74 Hunger Games.

Oh god no this is way worse than a lab built mutt

It was so much more than using the force field

I just wanna pause real quick bc a big standout here to me is how obvious it is not only that there is a rebellion simmering under the surface, but that it’s the same rebellion from the Dark Days. And it’s the same rebellion that comes to fruition in Mockingjay. It was always there, a living breathing part of Panem. And it wasn’t obvious to us in the first three books bc we were seeing it through the eyes of traumatized, sheltered, likely autistic with a hyper focus on survival 16 year old. Haymitch is, was more attuned to the goings on. Katniss couldn’t see the forest for the trees. (District 12 aphorism, or at least is now, from the area 12 miles would be in)

I kind of put it together a few chapters ago… But now that they’re talking about their tokens it’s more obvious. Wasn’t it implied in the original books that Maysilee‘s token was the pin? Either way, it did belong to her. 

THATS EFFIE ISNT IT

YASSS

Oh poor Lou Lou 🥺 we’ll never even know who this poor child is…

Oof not Haymitch trying to for Lou Lou something like Katniss did for Rue… the parallels go too hard. But why didn’t they attack Katniss when she did it?

Pearly white bones… Suzanne wtf 😩

Of all the heart wrenching shit in this book, it’s Maysilee telling Haymitch, “Sure, I’ll be your sister.” And him answering, “Night, Sis.” that finally made me cry 😭

Nothing they can take from you is worth keeping… insane how many Covey song references she’s sprinkled through this damn book

A sister is someone you fight with and fight for. Tooth and nail.

I need to hug my siblings rn. The one I was born with and the one I chose.

The chocolate to Silka is honestly such a fucking humanizing moment. I can see why the version Katniss and Peeta saw smash cut from Maysilee’s death straight to the final showdown…

Poor Wellie man… this might beat Cato as far as gruesome deaths illustrated in these books go

Fuck. That would’ve been a good death. I don’t want to keep reading. Because I know if we changed the story and Haymitch died right then, breaking the arena, it would’ve been his best option. I’m so sad about what comes next

THEY SHOW HIM LUCY GRAY??

Mags and Wiress 🥺💔

The Hanging Tree…

Lucy Gray’s grave omg

That epilogue destroyed me. The realization that the promise of rebellion is the only reason he didn’t kill himself, then Katniss and Peeta? 😩 I’ll have more to say later but oh my god

[robertfripp]

"In August, after finishing work on Earthbound, Fripp returned to the producer's chair last time [in 1972] to work with Matching Mole at CBS' London studios in Whitfield Street."

"Brian Eno, then still in Roxy Music was invited by [Matching Mole bassist] MacCormick to add VCS3 synthesiser. "We'd played a gig with Roxy in Liverpool where they'd supported us so I had met Brian Eno and we got on, and so I thought it might be interesting to see what Brian might come up with. I told him what we were looking for, he came into Studio 2, did a few things which Fripp loved and it seemed to work.""

"Importantly, the album spawned a significant new friendship between Fripp and Eno. Although they had previously met at the EG offices, the album put them together in a working context for the first time. Just ten days after Eno completed his overdubs on Gloria Gloom, Fripp entered the living room of Eno's Maida Vale flat and plugged his Les Paul into Eno's Revox tape machine to record layers of inspired rhapsodic guitar that would later become the first side of Fripp and Eno's groundbreaking No Pussyfooting."

~ From In the Court of King Crimson by Sid Smith

[undermounts]

your reflection can't offer a word (to the bliss of not knowing yourself)

Summary: a character study of pre-game Astarion.

Content warnings: blood and injury, implied torture, implied dubcon, slavery, referenced self-mutilation

Read it on AO3

Preview:

But Astarion excelled. Excelled at ensnaring his target. Excelled at leading them home. Excelled at using his wit, his charm, his body to trick innocents–criminalsdrunkardsfoolpeople–to follow him home. 

We must strive for perfection in all things. Cazador’s favorite saying. 

He is the best of them. The vampire spawn, that is. The pied piper, leading his flock on their death march.

Astarion no longer thinks about what that says about him. What kind of monster he has become.

-

The wounds are already beginning to heal.

Astarion aches. Bruised skin and tender muscles, Godey had gotten him good. 

There was no rhyme or reason to this session. Tonight has been relatively mundane. No summonings from Cazador and no sign of his siblings except a brief glimpse of Petras slinking through the halls, which gave Astarion reason to hope—foolish!—that his master was preoccupied for the evening. Astarion could hardly begin to understand Godey’s reasons for doing anything, but today he would venture to guess it was simple boredom that caused his handler to seek him out.

There was no such thing as a light beating from Godey. But there are bad ones and there are much worse ones. Nothing sharp tonight, no bones broken, no silencing, no geas invoked. By now, Astarion knows how to bear it, and so he did, retreating into a remote spot in the back of his mind, dark and quiet, and leagues away from the rot and terror of Godey’s kennels. He did not cry out.

Godey was pleased.

Now, Astarion lays in the cool, stale dark of the bedchambers he shares with his six brothers and sisters, all gone elsewhere for now. Face pressed against his starched pillow, he runs his tongue across his teeth, the acrid taste of rat blood still foul in his mouth. Beneath the dull throb of his handler’s efforts, Astarion’s body is tense with hunger. Every muscle and sinew feels as if it has been drawn taut toward the center of him, like he could collapse inwards and pack his body so tightly, there can be no room for the hunger that has taken root in his bones.

One rat. That was all he bothered to hunt tonight, down by the kennels. It takes three to make him almost forget the hunger but he hadn’t the energy nor the patience to hunt for long. Moments like these, of quiet solitude, are few and far between when one lives with six other spawn. Astarion is determined to relish it, drifting in the dark in this state of nonexistence, not quite asleep, but held just beneath the surface. Weighed down by exhaustion, buoyed by pain.

The soft scuffle of shoes over marble brings Astarion to wakefulness, although he doesn’t yet move. He holds himself still, breath held in his lungs as he listens carefully. Someone moves in the hallway just beyond the door to the spawns’ chambers. A sibling, Dalyria perhaps? But—no. Whoever it is pauses outside the door and Astarion gets the sense that they are listening in as well. Looking for him.

Godey, Astarion thinks. The damned skeleton returns for another round, unsatisfied by his charge’s tame behavior, bored by a listless evening.

No, no, no, but he had been so good.

But when the door opens and the dim light of the hallway sconces licks into the dormitory, Astarion sees that it is not his taskmaster, his scalpel, his Godey. 

Cazador.

“Master.” The word claws its way out of his throat before he knows he’s said it, so fast is his submission that he isn’t sure whether it is an action born of instinct or Cazador pulled the yoke. He supposes it doesn’t matter.

Dread fills Astarion as the vampire lord steps into the room, his shadows seeping across the carpet. Astarion longs for the moment just before the door cracked open, when the world still held other possibilities for who might have been on the other side. He thinks, albeit foolishly, that he should have wished harder for Godey.

How wretched he has become that he should prefer one monster over the other. How pathetic. He despises himself for it. 

“My boy,” Cazador croons, tutting to himself as Astarion pushes himself up from the sheets on trembling arms. Flakes of dried, dark blood are scattered across the blankets from the split wounds Godey gave him, still healing and tight across his skin. “Let’s get you cleaned up. You’re going out tonight.”

Nausea rolls through Astarion, causing bile and the putrid blood of the last rat he ingested to rise to the back of his throat. Not again. So soon.

Cazador’s… cravings are regular. Predictable. Every ten days, a new body must be brought in. A new victim to be lured. 

There are seven of them, seven spawns. In the beginning, the task–burden, punishment, curse–was split almost evenly among them. But Astarion excelled. Excelled at ensnaring his target. Excelled at leading them home. Excelled at using his wit, his charm, his body to trick innocents–criminalsdrunkardsfoolpeople–to follow him home. 

We must strive for perfection in all things. Cazador’s favorite saying. 

He is the best of them. The vampire spawn, that is. The pied piper, leading his flock on their death march.

Astarion no longer thinks about what that says about him. What kind of monster he has become.

And to what end?

He does it all to save his own life. He does it all to avoid a worse punishment than the one that will come nonetheless. He does it all because he must, because even when he refuses–when was the last time?– there will always be that bond, the leash and the hand that yanks it, that forces his body to obey.

The last victim came in only three days ago. Astarion brought the man in himself.

Astarion remembers what he looked like–he remembers all of them. But when Astarion thinks about the man now, as Cazador ushers him up out of the hard and threadbare bed to the hallway, he doesn’t think about the autumnal colors of his hair, the freckles along his stomach, the calluses of an archer's hands. Astarion thinks of the way he lingered alone in the tavern, worn traveling cloak peaking out his satchel. The accent that was not Baldurian–Rustic, he’d thought at the time, How endearing–and the particular type of stitching in his clothes that was most common in the eastern reaches of the continent, the Dalelands. He wasn’t from Baldur’s Gate. And that made him easy to miss. 

Astarion disappears deep into the far recesses of his mind as Cazador leads him to the washroom and bids him to undress, to climb into the tub of soapy water. The water this time is warm and pleasant, scented with flowers. Violets.  It makes Astarion’s stomach roil. 

His master is always sweetest when he is at his worst.

The punishments tonight, Astarion suspects, will be particularly harrowing.

“You are a marvel, my boy,” Cazador croons, lathering soap along Astarion’s back, the water turning pink with old blood. His, Astarion thinks. And probably a rat’s. “A beauty. So much potential.”

No matter how deep Astarion retreats into his head, it is never quite far enough to escape the feeling of Cazador’s hands on his skin. A possessive touch. One that seeks and claims and owns. Dried blood and old skin slough off into the suds, but Astarion never quite feels clean.

Cazador lathers soap through hair that glistens like starlight, his touch gentle and doting but for the subtle scrape of claw-like nails across his scalp. A reminder that in this household, pain and punishment are always just a hair’s breadth away. All the while, Cazador hums quietly, a sonata that was popular last spring. They had gone to see it together, the master and all of his spawn—like some sort of family—seated in the shadows of Cazador’s personal box.

Astarion feels the skin above his right ear split open and does not flinch.

-

Later, Astarion keeps his eyes on his bare knees, pale and knobby, as Cazador tilts his head back, garnet eyes scrutinizing every minute detail of a visage Astarion no longer remembers. Astarion’s jaw is held between thumb and forefinger with a pressure that is just shy of pain but could shatter bone in an instant. An ornate comb sifts through his hair, the fine metal teeth just barely grazing his scalp as Cazador styles his hair to perfection. A man sharpening his favorite weapon.

A heartwood vanity stands before master and spawn, the spotless mirror reflecting the decadent expanse of Cazador’s bedchamber, seemingly uninhabited save for that gilded comb, slicing through empty air. Astarion has never asked why the Szarrs keep mirrors—and in such sparkling condition!—when they are useless to all inhabitants of the manor, barring the deluded mortals that serve by their own will, salivating at the false promise of immortality. He supposes that part of it may be to keep up appearances for any guests of the Szarr family that come to call, or even the myriad of victims Astarion and the other spawn bring home. 

All it takes is one good look at a mirror, though, for Cazador’s prey to realize something is wrong. To question why they appear alone in those candlelit reflections, without their lover. It had happened once, not long after Astarion had been turned, before he had transmuted himself into this thing. A thing that knows how to draw attention, how to beckon, how to please, and how to detach.

He’d been careless, too far gone into that space at the back of his mind that he carved for himself. He forgot about the mirror on the wall in the entry hall. Hadn’t noticed when she looked directly into its surface to see herself, hair tousled, clothes askew, and undoubtedly alone. He remembers how she tensed, oh, how she had screamed.

He had not had the senses, the wherewithal, to end it then and there, before true horror could descend—a mercy kill. Cazador was there in an instant, as if he’d been waiting just down the hall, testing him. Godey dragged him out of the room, just before the bloodshed began. Those raw screams, a prelude to the punishment that came for him later.

Astarion regards the empty vanity mirror before him as Cazador fashions his hair just so. The other reason, Astarion thinks, why the Szarrs keep mirrors around is for their own game of self-deception. Keep the mirrors up, just like they should be in any other home, but always in the periphery, and one could almost forget what kind of monster they have become. It’s a shallow lie, one that stings every time it falls apart, but Astarion appreciates it nonetheless. This flawed facsimile of normalcy that has become his life.

Astarion tries not to shudder when Cazador places the comb down on the vanity table in front of him. He knows how cruel the edges of that comb can feel, how his flesh tears and splits beneath the teeth, how much pressure to apply. 

Another punishment, another evening. Astarion doesn’t remember what he had done to deserve that one; perhaps he’d been a touch sullen, or maybe his hair had not sat quite right—ah yes, that was it. 

Cazador’s fury was inconsolable, unwilling to be placated. He decided to send another spawn out that night, while Astarion whittled away at his own body with that comb, bound by his master’s geas.

The stains on the heartwood never came out.

-

When the grooming and dressing is done—glossy maroon silk, detailed with gold embroidery he did himself, one of the finest tunics he owns—Cazador accompanies him to the grand doors that lead from the Szarr estate to the rest of Baldur’s Gate. An unusual breach in their routine; Cazador always sends him off from his chambers, sometimes with specific instructions of what sort of prey he craves. 

But now, Cazador opens the door, allowing Astarion to slip out into the balmy night. But before Astarion can venture off toward the warrens of the city, he feels his master’s hand on his shoulder and turns, suppressing the urge to shudder when cool dry fingers alight against his cheek.

“Be quick about it, my boy,” Cazador croons, his manner almost fatherly. For once, Astarion cannot detect the malice, the next blow before it lands. “When you return, I have something special planned, for just you and I. Tonight is a night for poetry. Do you agree?” 

Astarion’s master sighs, tilting his face up and breathing in the night air. The stars twinkle overhead, dim in the wake of the city lights. Fleetingly, Astarion thinks of distant places, destinations he has never seen nor heard of, where the firelight is sparse and the world is quiet. How the stars might shine in a night as dark as pitch… 

Cazador turns his gaze back to Astarion, red eyes gleaming like beacons. Cazador smiles and fear blooms in Astarion’s gut, cold and leaden.

“I want you to help me write it.”

[simmer-until-tender]

Sooo after *checks notes* a year and a half since I started this hood, my first sim has finally died of old age! Sid passed with a shit ton of money, at the top of her career, and still her grave spawned right next to the garbage lol

and of course grim's gotta use the potty

would it even be the sims if grim wasn't using the potty?

[lavampira]

d'alia + combat

VIPER

as an adventurer, wielding twinfangs was alia’s primary skillset. she trained as a viper through other members of her clan as a hunting and protecting technique, as well as by trade for earning a livelihood, passed along with other facets of their turali culture as diaspora residing in mor dhona. it’s the core of who she is and how she moves on her feet or handles a weapon. she’s less of a traditional snake-like combatant, more of a stalking and prowling panther-like huntress.

ARCANIST / SUMMONER

the main reason that alia first went to limsa was to join the arcanists’ guild. with hydaelyn’s call and the echo, she sought magical research to her own ends, but continued down a path of arcanima and egi that would aid her endeavors with the scions against the primals and ascians. she feels as though she needs to ‘earn her keep’ as a scion, so this is how she contributes to the cause more than simply getting aimed at enemies - she even has enchanted ink imbued into runic tattoos on her forearms should she ever be without her grimoire. the connection to the sons of saint coinach and allagans also feels rooted in home to her, seeing herself as a daughter of mor dhona, and her role in events around the NOAH expedition. she secretly wishes to write a thesis on her private studies and experiences in the field to become an archon one day.

DARK KNIGHT

alia stumbled across fray’s job crystal not long after arriving in ishgard, leading her down the path of the greatsword, dark magicks, and her oath to protect the weak and innocent from the corrupt. it’s the most integral to her identity - she’s the stalwart sword of the scions. but her style is also heavily influenced by her partially self-taught, partially gleaned knowledge of fray’s residual memories in the crystal before training with sid, affected by her strength as a summoner in spawning simulacra and weaving arcanima as another form of crowd control on the battlefield besides the abyssal magic, and combined in her movements with her prowess as a swift and stinging viper, too.

MACHINIST

truthfully, machinistry is more of alia’s hobby than a reliant method of combat, but it’s a fallback for when she’s unable to cast or can’t wield her sword and fangs. she initially seeks out stephanivien to learn about his creation of job crystals for his machinists and grows more invested in the ‘how it works’ of the mechanics, only to finally be convinced to train while lingering for ishgard’s restoration. she often has a holstered pistol or brings a rifle on long journeys and builds/repairs her own aetherometer as well.

[deebormzone]

I admit, I'm in a bit of a slump.

Work's hard. I got no motivation to work on my big projects, or to start new ones.

Games are hard too. UFO 50 is what it is, and in Metaphor a wolf bit me and I died, which dampened my enthusiasm.

Lately, the most reliable option I've had is a nice, straightforward simulation of the entire history of the world: Sid Meyer's Civilization. It's very relaxing, since it's turn-based and playable with mouse only.

I hate the Māori empire and here's why.

There are 78 different leaders in Civ 6 and the game spawns Kupe of the Māori right next to me every single time.

Here he is. Right now he hates me because I threw car batteries into the ocean.

Now the Māori are usually no threat at all. They have a special gameplay style, which lets them settle cities across the ocean from turn one. It's a cool concept, but CIv 6 includes a revolutionary Loyalty system, in which your citizens can decide they don't like you any more and simply join another player.

This means Kupe settles on distant shores far from his capital, and his new cities swiftly join the empires they're built near, leaving him with nothing.

Here in 1500 AD, his capital city is this crappy shack on the bottom edge of the map.

By comparison, here is the beautiful pinnacle of humanity, Stirling, capital of Scotland.

We have towering monuments

and we can see the flow of magic through the ground in the form of ley lines. The shadow man told me if I do the correct hand gestures I can channel this force for myself, and it's working out great. I built a golf course next to it.

In short, the Māori are inconsequential here. So what's the problem?

The problem is that their national anthem is "yelling at you"

The game alternates the theme song of every country you've discovered. That means once the Māori are here - in basically every game - I'm going to get yelled at for the next three thousand years.

This is true even if they occupy one tiny city on the map and are basically not even playing the game.

The real issue is their theme is actually pretty good.

Beautiful.

But this lulls me into a false sense of security before I get yelled at again at 2:05.

This might be the only vocal national anthem in the game. That's the real issue. I'm just a cave creature, and if I hear a human voice I curl up like a dead spider.

Really though, this theme song would be improved with the introduction of some gentler instruments, such as our own: the noble bagpipes.

Also look at this cool tooth I found

[sc0tters]

Sid’s crisis on whether to retire spawns a very serious conversation with Camille and I feel like her approach is “I never want you to regret anything” and she knows just how much this man loves hockey!! She also might say something like “I can handle whatever you need me to handle, but once you retire, you’re going to be as hands on as you want”

Camille was surprised when he sighed tapping her shoulder “I want to stay but I just don’t know if that’s the right choice for us.” He confessed making her turn on the bedside light as she furrowed her eyebrows “baby you know I never want to you regret anything.” She was quick to explain as she turned to face him.

Sidney nodded as he placed his hand on her lap “I know but I just miss out on so much with the kids.” The hockey player kissed her cheek as he twirled his fingers through her hair “well when you retire the kids will be here because we aren’t going anywhere until then.” Camille knew it was a common conversation for them to have at the end of the season but it was never made any easier.

As he sat there in silence she kissed his cheek “I will support you if that’s in the house or in the stands.” Her voice was soft as she squeezed his hands before she rolled over to go back to sleep leaving Sidney with his thoughts.

[ace-shenanigans]

Was goofin off with max and mattie again which spawned the silly idea of drawin sid and ry in the characters with the closest vibes to them

Ry -> @softwhitepeaches