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
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!!
@evanheaven can vouch for me when I say Austin is a THEATRE KID, through and through. As a theatre kid myself, I see it a lot in his behavior: an odd balance struck between not caring about what people think so you act obnoxious because it’s who you are, and caring so much about what people think about you so you act obnoxious to try and get a laugh/impress them. With Austin, because he’s not humble in the least, leans toward the acting obnoxious because he must + wanting desperately to get a laugh (be the center of attention.) I show this in my writing by having Austin (as he does in canon); do weird accents, talk really loud to gain attention/embarrass the reader, make very lewd jokes at inappropriate times, and make faces at reader/strangers/other characters.
On the topic of theatre kids & acting, Austin exhibits specific acting traits of 2 Hollywood actors: Jim Carrey, Jonny Depp. This is one of my favorite aspects of Austin (especially because Evan rarely dives into these acting styles outside of Austin from what I’ve seen). The way that I show this in my work is with behaviors I noted above, as well as some other little traits I work in. The Jim Carrey aspects I like to use are (again), lots of big expressions - almost overacting, accents, overall loud voice + personality. All of this VERBAL and EXPRESSIVE stuff is balanced with the Jonny Depp traits: big movements that are played up but actually thoughtful (waving arms around but careful not to be clumsy about it), fiddling with things, wandering hands, feeling himself up a lot, playing with his clothes. He also drops his voice when saying certain things (more serious moments, flirtatious quips) rather than being loud like he is when joking. Think mainly Jonny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow (my thoughts anyway)
Austin is a writer and makes it obvious. 🙄 😒 He likes to use a big vocabulary when he can, and likes to talk a lot. And not shut up. If he’s asked to explain something, he will paint you a vivid picture that takes 5-7 business days to articulate, usually branching off on tangents that don’t make sense (thanks to the non-muse drugs he takes). Even sober, he likes to ramble. And if he doesn’t have time for a long conversation? He makes as many clever comments as possible to sound like the smartest man in the room.
Austin is rarely serious! Austin is a playful person in general, he has a loud personality, likes to laugh, and likes to make other laugh. Most of the time, he is smirking, chuckling to himself, or at least wearing his resting face: a satisfied small smile. He’s really just a giddy pervert who enjoys pleasure. He gets serious when he really needs to, but that’s usually when something is going wrong and he gets into a bad mood, otherwise he is a chill guy. He likes karaoke, that should say enough about him. ;3
(Because we unfortunately don’t see it in canon, these are mostly my HCs but I think they’re accurate) As far as sex goes, he’s the same as usual: loud and obnoxious. he likes to bite (duh), and also get really gross/rough/crazy with it. Pretty much whatever you show enthusiasm for, he will double down and make sure you’re feeling it for a week— whatever the kink may be. Despite being into fashion a fair amount, getting his designer clothes messy or stained is not important to him. He has enough money to just get new ones. (Except his pjs he looooves his pjs)
He’s a very sexual person. He likes to tease, flirt (with reader as well as anyone/everyone else), and is very touchy— he enjoys letting hands wander on him & Vice versa. Also off topic slightly I kiiiinda hc austin to have tactile hypersensitivity (possibly from drug use or maybe it’s all in his head), so he tugs at his clothes a lot, plays with his jewelry, palms himself through his pants, manspreads or crosses/recrosses his legs wherever he’s sitting. It’s another reason he loves his silk pjs :3
totally forgot this note but writing vampire characters: you CAN be cliche! Vampires are often depicted as sexual beings who like sex and blood and don’t go much deeper than that- and that’s okay! Austin in particular likes bringing attention to his penchant for blood because 1. He can’t get ‘caught’ because half the town is in on it, 2. He’s not one to deny himself pleasure because there’s no point to torturing himself, and 3. He likes the attention! He wants to hear you gasp under him and see heads turn when he says things too loud and he wants to use his teeth because where’s the fun in always keeping them hidden? He carries traits of the old school vampires in the way that he talks big (big loud, big exaggerations, and big vocab), dresses extravagant because he can afford it, and pretends to keep a low profile while being the biggest narcissist in the room.
Welp some of these are kind of nonsensical but hopefully you get the point! I may add to this eventually but for now I think these are good baselines to aim for when writing Austin Sommers! 🩸 🩸 🩸
When Democrats are polling very well, the media refers to the election as a blue wave. When Republicans poll well, I prefer to think of it as a red tide, akin to a harmful algal bloom which chokes the coastal ecosystem. Looking forward to 2026, I have a feeling it's going to be more of a bloodbath. Democrats underperformed across the board in 2024, devastating losses in every single swing state. Republicans took back important governorships and state legislatures. In California, voters decided not to ban penal slavery or raise the minimum wage despite there being no official opposition campaigns.
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.
If one of these two events happen, Democrats will be on the back foot in 2026. If both happen, they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell. The House is too close to call, even if the California gerrymander passes and negates Texas, and the Senate map is very unfavorable, multiple weak seats to defend but none to pick up. Their best shot is Maine, but the incumbent Republican is not unpopular, so even that's a long shot. Democrats earned a lot of goodwill in 2018 and 2020, which they subsequently farted away in 2022 and 2024, so unless they pull a miracle out of their asses there's no way they'll gain any back in 2026. Trump is as unpopular as ever, despite how he and his cronies act; he has NEVER had majority approval, not during his first term, not during Biden's term, not now, and the only time his approval was above disapproval was during the first month of his second term (still less than 50%). Democrats should be wiping the floor with him, but they are ineffective cowards who have chosen not to fight. They don't want to win. They don't want to even try, and the American people are fed up with giving them chance after chance after chance just to blow it. Their failures have cost us dearly these last ten years, and it's nobody's fault but their own (the leadership, not the voter base).
