#red tide

The lighting in this airbnb closet is awful but THE EGGS ARE BEAUTIFUL.

And there are 18!! Her biggest clutch to date.

So I took some advice from my friend Lisa and changed things up. Red Tide is a 2014 animal. First laid in 2019, 10 good 1 infertile Laid again in 2022, 4 good 7 infertile Laid now in 2026, 18 good Usually I do most of my feeding up to breeding weight prior to pairing, then give small meals here and there while paired. This time I fed heavy while pairing. 6 jumbo rats between 9/1/2025 until 12/28/2025, which is a ton for her. Paid off well with 18 beautiful fertile eggs.

Echidnacaris!! ive been meaning to draw one for quite a while now given how especially weird it is even for radiodont standards (imo at least). i should really draw more radiodonts ngl

Red Tide Chapter 1 from Dark Horse Presents No. 3

I am by no means an expert at ALL on writing this man, but I have been writing for vampiric characters for 3 years now and was very happy to add him to my collection and you can see threads in most of my vampire works that connect them thematically. :3 Ive also watched Red Tide close to a dozen times 💀 so I’ve practically memorized that (half) season by now…

As most of you know, Red Tide was very short and imho soooo underwhelming at the end (I loved most of it tho), the characters didnt have enough time or actual energy put into them to flesh them out properly so I’ve worked hard writing Austin as he’s portrayed in his short scenes to get his characterization right (because he deserves it).

Disclaimer: these are just my personal tips for writing this particular character! Most of it is based on his actual canon characterization + my general guidelines for writing vampires 😜 no need to agree with any of these!!

red tide (riso)

˖°𓇼⋆🐚 𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི

ꪆৎ: 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝚑𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝚑𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝚑𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘. 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔𝚑𝑡, 𝑤𝚑𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝚑𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐𝚑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝚑𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠. 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝚑𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑟, 𝑎 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟.

𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠/𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑠: 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝚑, 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝚑𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑘, 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑝, 𝑐𝚑𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑠

You sat down resting your back against one of the supports holding up the boardwalk above you. The waves crashed up onto the shore just enough to dampen the bottom of your shoes.

Unzipping your bag, you pulled out a pencil and a paper and rested it on your lap. A cold winter breeze blew in making you shiver and squint as you looked out into the foggy grey waters that reflected the sun which was now setting behind the horizon.

In the summer, the cape was a popular vacation spot. Beautiful beaches, warm weather and perfect little cottages that lined the streets. In the winter it was left empty. Only locals and people looking to get away from the busy life of the city stuck around. That was exactly your plan. Leave New York for a while and hide out someplace peaceful. You were an art student in your second year of collage and you thought it might be inspiring.

Your pencil touched the paper lightly and began moving. Your eyes flicked back and forth between your paper and the scene before you, trying to replicate the view.

“No.” You whispered to yourself before crumpling the paper and grabbing a new one.

The crumpled paper began flying through the air, carried by the breeze.

“Shoot.” You said getting up quickly and running after the paper. You were never one to litter.

The wind slowed and so did the paper as it gracefully danced in the air before falling to the sandy ground.

You picked it up and turned to walk back to your spot on the beach when the sound of rustling in the tall grass caught your attention. Your head whipped over and you stepped closer attempting to get a look at the cause.

Your hope was that it would be a deer. You had read that they were native to here.

You kept your distance, but pushed some of the grass to the side. That’s when a figure came into view. Someone hunched over, wearing black with no hair. They were facing away from you, but you could tell how pale they were from the top of their head.

You stumbled back quickly. Another reason people stayed out here in the winter was because of drugs and you weren’t about be killed by a meth head on the beach.

Your feet carried you quickly back to your spot and you gathered up your art supplies, stuffing them into your bag before speed walking away from the beach.

The sun was set completely now and the lamp posts came on, illuminating your surroundings. You were slightly out of breath but kept a quick pace as you walked through the cemetery which was on the way to your house.

Then, another sound. You paused for a moment. Surly it was just someone on a walk. It wasn’t the middle of the night or anything. It got dark early in the winter so it wouldn’t be unusual for people do be out at this time. You were after all. But that person at the beach had shaken you up.

You scanned the cemetery, looking around for a sign of someone and that’s when you noticed someone up ahead. They looked fairly normal. Not bald nor pale and dressed in a long black coat.

You sighed and continued walking. The view of the person become more clear as you approached them.

They turned and looked at you. It was a man. You recognized him from around town. He and his family lived a couple houses down from the one your parents had rented out. He was some kind of writer or something.

“Hello.” You said politely.

“Hey.” He nodded his head at you.

He looked nervous. He looked around before turning his attention back to you.

“You shouldn’t be out alone in the dark.”

“Oh don’t worry about me. I’m heading home right now actually.” You said. Maybe you shouldn’t be talking to a stranger in a grave yard in the dark.

“I can walk you if you’d like.” He said as you were about to walk away.

You thought for a moment. He seemed nice enough. He had a daughter after all, but still the man at the beach had put you in a weird mood. Maybe it would be nice to have some company though.

“If you don’t mind.” You shrugged.

“Not at all.”

You started walking again, along side him this time.

“My names Harry.” He spoke.

“Y/N”

You exited the grave yard onto a street.

“So what were you doing in a creepy cemetery at night?” You smiled.

Before he could answer a figure appeared behind him, making you jump back and gasp. It looked like the same man from the beach though this time you could see his face. He was inhumanly pale and his movements were abrupt and jerky.

“What the hell.” You said which caused Harry to turn around.

You turned away and began walking faster down the street but Harry called out to you.

“Hey!” He followed after you grabbing your wrist.

“It’s alright they won’t bother you if you’re with me.”

You yanked your arm away looking up at him confused. The man was still standing staring but didn’t move any closer to the two of you. You kept looking back at him though.

“What the hell is that?” You said keeping you voice down.

He just shook his head.

“Why don’t you come to my house. It’s not safe out here right now.” He said and began walking.

You were shocking and didn’t quite understand what was happening. Was it some kind of ploy to get you inside? You followed anyways not wanting to risk being alone with that thing.

You followed Harry up the steps of an old looking house with blue shutters.

“Wait a minute.” You said stopping before entering the front door.

“I need an explanation. What was that thing?” Your voice was raised.

Harry’s eyes drifted behind you and you turned around. Now there were more. All of them pale and hairless wearing similar clothes. They kept distance but looked like they would pounce the second you were alone. One of them opened their mouth, revealing sharp teeth stained red from what you prayed wasn’t blood.

“You need to come inside.” Harry looked back at you. There was an urgent tone to his voice and you decided you trusted him more than those things outside.

Harry shut the door behind you quickly, locking it.

“Seriously what is going on!” You shouted your voice.

“Listen.” He said looking down at you intensely.

“My wife and daughter aren’t home right now. You can stay here till morning.”

“I don’t understand.” You shook your head.

He paced back and forth for a moment as if he was contemplating something. Then he stopped and looked at you again.

“There’s this pill.” He started, combing his hair back out of his face with his hand.

“They’re drug addicts?” You questioned.

“No. No not exactly.”

“It makes you…” He paused thinking for a moment.

“It enhances your talents. But if you’re talentless, and you take it, you turn into one of those.” He pointed to the locked door.

There wasn’t any way to say it without sound crazy.

“That makes no sense.” You shook your head more.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to believe me. Just don’t go back outside.”

You bit your nails nervously, contemplating this impossible explanation he had given you.

“Did you take it? The pill? I mean you’re a writer right?” You asked.

“Screenwriter.” He nodded.

you sat down on the couch looking down at your hands.

“If you’re not lying, if this pill really makes you talented….” You paused.

“Do you think i could have some?”

Harry looked at you like you were the crazy one before he began to shake his head.

“No.” He sat down putting his head in his hands.

“Look.” You said pulling your sketch book from your bag.

You placed it on the table and he looked up flipping through the many years of drawings. He closed the book.

“You are talented-“ You cut him off before he could finish.

“Then what’s the problem? I won’t end up like one of those things outside.”

You looked back at the door before turning back to harry.

“You don’t understand. There’s side effects.” He pushed the sketch book back to you.

“Like what? Those things won’t bother me right?

“Yes. But also...” He sighed

“There a hunger that comes with it.” He explained.

“That’s not the worst thing ever.”

“No you don’t understand.” He stood up quickly.

“You’ll need blood. Human blood.” His voice was lower now

“It’s not worth it.” He shook his head.

You sat there stunned.

“Human blood? Like to drink?” You were beginning to feel sick.

“Have you…” You stood up slowly.

“I didn’t want to. Trust me.” Harry looked down at the floor.

You walked backwards till you reached the front door.

“Stop. Don’t go out there.” Harry put his hands out in an attempt to stop you but you quickly opened the door and stepped out running out into the street.

The creatures were gone so you continued down to your house. You barely walked a meter before you heard footsteps coming from all around you. They were emerging from the darkness. Even more of them than before. And they were closing in on your quickly.

“Get away.” Your words came out as a sob

“Hey!” Harry called from behind you walking in between two of the creatures to you. They suddenly stoped approaching.

Tears flowed down your face as you rushed toward him. He pulled you into a hug.

“Shhh it’s ok.” He stroked your head trying to clam you down.

“I feel like i’m going crazy.” You sniffled, grabbing onto him tightly.

“I won’t let them hurt you. You just gotta trust me.” He reassured.

You nodded and followed him back to his house making sure to stay close. He kept his hands on your lower back the whole time. There were butterflies in your stomach but you couldn’t tell if it was from the fear or his touch.

“You can stay in my daughter’s room. I’ll be close by.” You followed him up the stairs and down a hall.

The two of you entered the room and he moved quickly towards the windows shutting them and closing the curtains though you could still see their silhouettes made clear by the lamp posts.

“I don’t want to be alone.” Your voice was quiet as you peered out the windows.

“Can you stay?” You turned your head back to Harry.

“Please.” A tear fell from your eyes.

“i’m not sure that’s a good idea.” You noticed him look down at the ring on his finger for a split second.

A muffled growl came from outside and you jumped.

“Ok ok i’ll stay.”

He sat down next to you on the bed.

“When you were in the cemetery, what were you doing.” You asked hesitantly.

He looked down.

“I was trying to find someone.” He explained vaguely.

“For blood?” You said and he nodded.

“Would you hurt me?” Your voice trembled.

“No. I promise.”

“Were you going to? At the cemetery?” You asked.

He just looked down shaking his head slightly.

“I only kill people no one will miss. People who deserve it.” He explained.

“Does your wife know?”

“No.

“Your daughter?”

He inhaled sharply and then nodded.

“She took one when I wasn’t looking. Now she wants to get rid of her mom. Saying she’s no use to us anymore.” He rubbed his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” You looked to him making eye contact.

Your eyes fell to his lips. You weren’t sure if this feeling was just because he had saved you, but something compelled you to him.

You leaned closer and he did too, closing the gap between the two of you. Your lips connected and his hands moved to your waist pulling you into him. You felt his teeth graze lip before biting down. You pulled away quickly as a metallic taste entered your mouth. Your brought your finger up to your lips and looked down at them. Blood was left on your fingertips.

“I’m sorry.” Harry said breathing heavily. He was looking at the blood on your finger.

“It’s ok.” You said and he grabbed your hand brining your fingers to his mouth.

He licked the blood from your fingers.

“Harry.” You stared at him eyes wide and bloody lips parted. You were scared, but you couldn’t pull away.

He leaned back in kissing you again, hungrier this time, tasting the blood that coated your bottom lip.

“Harry.” You spoke again, against his lips.

His grip on your body tightened as his hands moved up to your jaw holding your face. He moved back looking at you.

His pupils were dilated, and some of the blood from your lips had transferred to his.

“I’m sorry.” He looked away running his hand through his hair.

“I promised i wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. Im not hurt.” You said holding onto his arm.

“Are you sure?” He said bringing his hand up to cup your cheek. You leaned your head into his touch and nodded up at him.

“Thank you again for earlier.” You said wrapping your arms around him and resting your head on his chest.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said kissing the top of your head.

If he wasn’t already in trouble, he was now.

In 2025 it's looking like California's blue gerrymander is going to fail despite Texas' red gerrymander being pushed through without majority support; the blue gerrymander needs 60% approval to pass, but it's polling in the high 40s and low 50s. It's an off year, so turnout is going to be abysmal, and without any other major offices being up for election there's no chance it'll miraculously get over the hump; no statewide Democratic candidate managed to get 60% in 2024.

Virginia holds it's gubernatorial elections in off years, and even though the Democratic candidate is polling ahead it's still a statistical tie, something like 45-40 with 15% undecided, so it could go either way. This next fact is just a personal anecdote, so it might not be relevant, but my aunt is a civil servant who works in Virginia and she says the Democratic candidate is not very popular because she's former CIA, mistrusted by the party, another self-proclaimed moderate who would try to court the center and the right rather than the base on the left, so it is very likely that she's going to blow the pitiful lead she has and give it to Youngkin's lieutenant instead.