Stephan Sinding: 'Adoration' (1903)

Oh my god I’m 21 now what the hell

no i’m not lonely yes i tear up when i see random families and friend groups in public. i do it on purpose. i do it for fun. ok

He’s talking about his new campaign… 🥰

“Corro—You do remember!” “Oh my god! Yes, of course. With a name like that, how could I forget?” “I dunno. You’re a freak”

Yes. We haven’t talked enough about them. And yes, they deserved a better ending. A happy ending.

Reblog to give an asexual a treat

ETA: additions to this post (and fic recs!) are in this tag!

YOU KNOW WHAT THE BEST THING EVER IS? IT’S SOULMATE AUS LIKE GOD DAMN I HAVE SEEN SO MANY ON FFN/LJ/AO3/TUMBLR OVER THE YEARS LIKE:

the one where you only see color once you meet your soulmate(s) (so you don’t know them until you see them), and it goes away when they die

the one where you don’t know your soulmate(s) until you touch them

the one where you don'y know your soulmate(s) until you hear them speak, or hear them speak a certain word; your name, for example

the one where you get the name of the person in their handwriting on your body somewhere at a certain age

the one where the first thing they say to you appears instead

the one where you get each others’ fingerprints

the one where you get matching marks/symbols/tattoos

the one where your marks or words that change depending on what’s going on with your soulmate(s)

the one with the clock that counts down the time until you meet your soulmate(s) (multiple clock for multiple soulmates? one click until you meet them both? unexpected third soulmate showing up after the clocks drop?)

the one where when you sleep you dream of whatever they’re experiencing from their point of view until you find them, or AFTER you find them

the one where you can straight up talk to them in dreams until/after you find them

the one where you form a telepathic/empathetic link until/after you find them

the one where you share extreme physical sensation until/after you find them; if one of you hurts the other one hurts, if one of you is getting lucky the other one gets a little hot and bothered

the one where the closer you are to them the more aware of them you become, and you find them playing a hot/cold game; for instance, colors get brighter and brighter the closer you are and fade into gray when they’re too far away

the one where once you turn a certain age/one night a year you swap bodies with them for one night and you have a limited amount of time to leave/collect clues to their identity

the one where being next to your soulmate(s) can heal you from things people don’t normally heal from

the one where only your soulmate(s) can kill you (maybe you can still be killed by age/disease, maybe not, maybe you become vulnerable only after you lose your soulmate(s))

the one where reincarnation is also a thing and meeting your soulmate(s) either unlocks or erases memories or your past lives until the next one

the one where in universes with magic meeting your soulmate(s) activates your powers/unlocks more powerful magic

SOULMATE AUS WITH COMPLICATIONS:

blind characters who can’t see if the world’s in color or black and white

characters like x-men’s rogue who literally can’t touch people; characters who have been through trauma who don’t want to touch people

hard of hearing characters like clint barton who can’t hear their soulmate speak without hearing aids/at all or on the flipside characters who can’t speak; maybe it still works in sign language, or maybe it doesn’t

people who can’t read/can’t read the language the words on their body are in

characters like bucky barnes who’ve lost hands and/or had their fingerprints removed

soulmate clocks that time out in the middle of the crowd; there’s an entire craigslist category for finding who else was there that day with a clock that timed out too

famous characters speaking to or performing for a crowd and suddenly their world is in color/their clock times out/etc and every member of the audience pretends to be this celebrity’s soulmate and a cinderella type situation ensues with the finding

soulmates playing the hot/cold game and they kEEP MISSING EACH OTHER

insomniacs who rarely sleep, much less at the same time/different time than their soulmates

soulmate ot3s/ot4s/otmores where you dream in varying people’s povs every time you sleep and get super confused

people who get sick or injured and frantically search for their soulmates so they can survive

people who need to be in medically induced comas and their soulmates have to stay away so they don’t accidentally wake them up

the one where soulbonding is actually a choice and someone chooses to bond with someone they may not know or like to save their lives and have to figure out if they can unbond or if they have to live with the situation (and of course learn to love one another either romantically or not)

new souls who don’t get memories of past lives because they don’t have one and panic

muggles/people without powers who of course CAN’T get them upgraded or unlocked

COMBINATION AUS:

the one where you one or both of you have to do all three (see your soulmate(s), touch your soulmate(s), hear your soulmate(s)), or all three have to happen at least once between the 2+ of you

or it’s completely random how you find your soulmate(s): one of you gets a name and the other gets a fingerprint, one of you has to hear your soulmate and one of you has to see them, etc; particularly useful if you happen to be blind or deaf

same for characters with other disabilities/who have “complications”: they get or find a different way of finding their soulmates, not better or worse, just different

THEN THERE’S SOULMATE AUS THAT DON’T HAVE TO CONFORM TO LIFELONG MONOGAMY:

the ones where you have more than one romantic soulmate at the same time or you get a new soulmate after the first dies

the ones where people have multiple soulmates of different types and it’s color coded; a red name/mark/etc for love, a blue one for friendship, etc; for the ones where you start seeing color you get a new one for each soulmate

the ones where some people have romantic soulmates and some don’t, and those that don’t are still perfectly happy anyway, maybe in a relationship anyway, maybe not

the ones where some people have multiple romantic soulmates who may or may not also be soulmates with each other

aromantic or asexual people who have soulmates who are not and they manage to work it out

romantic and sexual people who don’t have soulmates but find happiness anyway, either with someone like them or someone not like them

SOULMATE AUS THAT EXPLORE THE RAMIFICATIONS OF SOULMATES BEING A THING:

the ones where soulmates are for everyone and get legal aid to help stay together, like if their in-laws try to keep them apart/someone risks getting deported/someone gets drafted/whatever

the ones where soulmates are super super rare and TECHNICALLY get exempted from shitty things like “people of different races/the same sex/etc can’t get married/have relations/etc” but maybe still face a lot of prejudice and they fight to get those types of awful laws lifted for everyone

agencies that exist to help you find your soulmate(s) or figure out which soulmate thing you have but some of them are just shams, bonus points for this being in a verse where the thing is exceedingly rare to begin with

people pretending to be soulmates to take advantage of the laws, for good or ill; the couple who loves just as fiercely as a soulmates who will do anything to stay together, or the shitty people who try to claim they’re mated to people who’ve rejected them so they “have” to stay together

tabloid mags photoshopping matching soulmate marks or following big legal cases where someone tries to prove or disprove that they are soulmates with someone else

soulmates in universes where they’re a rarity or rare soulmate types like ot3s/ot4s/otmores in dodging government officials because they don’t want to become lab rats

people who don’t believe in soulmates until it happens to them, or people who believe hardcore and want to find theirs but they don’t necessarily have one, or don’t have a romantic one

little rituals that make finding your soulmate more likely, like shaking hands with people as often as possible even with the cashier ringing up your groceries, repeating each other’s names after you’re introduced, etc

just give me alllll the soulmate aus ok, give me people finding each other in spite of complications, give me all the delightful plot twists, give me detailed worlds where this changes the norms, give me it working out in the end whether romantically or not, bonded or not

feel free to reblog with sources! (or MORE AUS.) a little over half of these are things i’ve seen elsewhere over time and i cannot remember where they are all from

haha or if you’re into this sorta thing you could just take pity on me and reblog it anyway this took an embarrassingly long time to type up oh my god ;;;;;;;;;

Bonus:

Chapter 6

Monster Dearest

Warnings: TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter will have TWO disturbing scenes. Ximena is a very morally incorrect character. This chapter will have a SH scene (not detailed) and a scene where a parent lashes out at a child due to addiction/substance abuse (of a made up substance) but both child abuse and substance abuse are still VERY real issues and if you know someone struggling with either of these things please reach out to someone or check out literally ANY of these:

Crisis Text Line

Crisis Text Line offers advice and referrals for anyone who feels that they’re experiencing a crisis. This can include drug and alcohol dependency, suicidal impulses, family problems, and other personal difficulties. To access the Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741741 any time, day or night.

National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine

The National Alliance on Mental Illness operates a helpline for individuals and their loved ones who feel they may be experiencing a mental health crisis. People who know or suspect they have a mental disorder or who believe a loved one might be suffering from such an issue can call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) to get help. The helpline also accepts text contacts, and the alliance may be reached via email. Responses go out during normal business hours.

National Drug Helpline

The National Drug Helpline is open to any individual dealing with addiction issues, including family members and other loved ones. Resources are available for those struggling with any addictive substance, including alcohol, and professionals are available to help 24/7/365 at 1-844-289-0879.

National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center

The National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center hotline helps people suffering from mental illness find the resources they need to get treatment, including crisis intervention. Services are available in English and Spanish at 1-866-615-6464 or 1-866-415-8051 for TTY users. Live help is limited to regular hours, though online chat is also available.

————————/——————//——

Ximena had always been known as a loved woman. She had a loving husband, two sons that loved her more than anything, a mother that lived with them in a large cottage on the very top of the hill that overlooks the villages. She would always go to the village and trade the fruits and vegetables for swey that she could find, but never brought the collection home to her family. Instead, she would bring home weapons that she claimed to have traded the food for to soldiers.

Ximena knew the perfect people that would do anything she asked when the time was right, so when the time presented itself, she willed herself into an alleyway close to her friend’s house with nothing more than a few vegetables and a dagger tucked away into her boot. She knew what she was going to do was ridiculous, but she also knew that it was a surefire way to get exactly what she wanted.

Taking the dagger, she swiftly stabbed herself in the side, being sure to avoid going too deep to miss any arteries or major veins. Ximena threw the vegetables to the ground to make sure they scattered and hid the dagger back into the boot that she retrieved it from. Begging for help from anyone that would hear, two of her older friends bolted around the corner in a panic.

“Ximena! What happened?!’

The voice of the first man brought a tiny, downward quirk to her lip, he wasn’t the man that she wanted, but his brother.

“I’ve been stabbed- I wasn’t able to provide enough vegetables for a trade and he took an armful and ran! I couldn’t see which way I-”

The brother of the first man looks at her and tries to assess the wound from overhead, but Ximena was moving too much.

“I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get something to wrap you up with, quickly.”

As she continued her sob story, the very man she was looking for came into the alleyway with weapons and bandages.

—------------------------------------------------------------------

Ximena had always been known as a loved woman. She had a loving husband, two sons that loved her more than anything, a mother that lived with them in a large cottage on the very top of the hill that overlooks the villages.

All of that changed when her oldest son found the stacked gallons stash of swey and connected dots that she wasn’t ready for anyone to connect. So she did the only thing that made sense to her. Ximena lashed out on him, pulling her dagger on him and swinging rapidly, only the thought of keeping her final plan on schedule. Griffin let out a surprised cry and grunted as he dodged her swipes. He wouldn’t fight back, he loved her too much.

“You weren’t supposed to find this.”

Griffin didn’t know what to say. There was no explanation, no apology, just a blame to his name.

She landed one slash from his jaw to his bottom lip when she finally realized what she had done.

“You aren’t supposed to be here. My son.. I’m so sorry.”

Without another word, Griffin turned his back to her and ran. He didn’t know where he was going to run to, but he knew that he couldn’t tell his brother and he couldn’t tell his father in fear of tearing the family apart. He also knew that he couldn’t tolerate anything along the lines of what she had just done ever again, so he ran.

Ximena sighs and drops to the floor of the swey cellar, staring at the dagger in her hand. She began to sob and threw the dagger at the wall, flinching as it crashed to the floor. Realization shoots a chill up her spine when the truth that just attacked her eldest son for the sake of her own addiction hits her.

The love she did have was fabricated in an intricate caricature of her own design. If there was no way to regain the love she lost in a world she destroyed, then she would let herself drown in a pool of lies to avoid facing the truth of her faults.

“M’lady you are lost in your head once more.”

“I’m just thinking,Ordóñez.” The masked man let out a sigh at her calling him by name. Such a rarity was to be cherished in moments like these. He takes off his mask and clips it to the loop in his belt, waiting for her to continue, but she doesn't.

“That’s dangerous.” She could practically hear the small smile that crossed his features. Letting out a hum, she turns to face him. She never noticed how distressed the bags under his eyes had become.

“I suppose it is, but we make due anyhow. The human brain is a dangerous thing, yet we all have one. How strange, we are all equipped with the most deadly weapon of all, yet hardly anyone knows how to use it.”

Trailing off in her ramble of power and how the brain could be used more efficiently, Ordóñez couldn’t help but wonder when or if she was even capable of facing herself. How was it that such a broken, mourning yet strong woman could hide so much pain behind a veil of power? What was her true motive when it came to the rule that she held? Was she doing the things she did because she was simply scared of what would happen if she tried to turn herself around? If that was the case, Ordóñez would be the first to admit that he has been in that situation too many times to count. Maybe he continued on his sadistic path because he couldn't accept that he has done too much damage to be redeemed in anyone's eyes. The hole has been dug too deep, and digging deeper seemed to be the only option. That and praying that the digging will come to an end once he finds there is no floor and he falls to what he could only describe as a well-deserved end.

“Ordóñez.. you are lost in your head once more.” Ximena’s voice, laced in something between worry and fake annoyance pulls him from his spiral, something he is eternally grateful for.

“I’m just thinking, my queen.” He shakes his head, mirroring her earlier phrase.

“That’s dangerous.” She continues his banter as she takes a seat next to him in the large room.

The library that she demanded to be built was always her favorite place to go when she truly needed to clear her head. Something about the rows of books and the ancient text reminding her of years past helped her find comfort in the fact that there is a possibility of beauty in the pain that has been inflicted on both herself and the world she knew.

There wasn’t much seating, only five chairs and a loveseat, all covered in maroon velvet with dark wood for the structure. She had no intention of letting anyone into her safe space, so she didn’t feel the need to have too many places to sit, but once she met Ordóñez, learned what he had been through and found that he was just a little too similar to her, she decided he was the only living person that had the opportunity to invade such a sacred space.

Castlevania + text posts part 2