Relief - Blog Posts
CRIMSON HANDS
TW: Gore description, bl00d, d3ath
When you love someone you try to give them every piece of you just to be noticed, just for them to stay. The thing noone ever talks about is being loved.
Every day I've roamed this forest. I known every path, every step I will take and every step I took. It used to be freeing, relaxing and something I looked forward to everyday.
With my big antlers I felt as if I could reach the highest leafs in the sky. My bulky form was respected and mesmerizing to other members of the forest. Every bugle I'd let out would send shivers so deep it reached the roots of the plants.
How did I end up in this situation?
With every step I take, I can feel it, I could feel her.
She appeared out of nowhere, ran up to me and never left. I don't know her, we haven't talked, we don't share the same language but my heart didn't have the strength to turn her away.
She was hanging on me, laying on my back, dragging me down. I couldn't hate her. All she did was love me after all. As I roamed the forest with her on my back I'd ocassionally hear her giggles and chuckles. She would decorate my antlers with flowers and her songs.
Even during the night when I'd sleep, she'd tangle herself around my antlers. My beautiful antlers.
The weight I felt was unbearable. I didn't know why, I didn't understand why.
Every day she'd tell me about her day. It wasn't a mystery though for she would spend every day with me. Every single day.
I missed who I was before her, before her company, her presence. It was drowning me.
She'd offer me gifts, sweet words and pets. I loved her. It's true.
She was mesmerizing, a good fit for me. But why do I feel so heavy at my chest?
Each walk I take now I feel as if my antlers are slumped down, dragging along the ground, leaving a trail behind me. I've never looked behind me, not until now, not until I met her.
As days passed I grew weaker and weaker as her love grew stronger. I was dying in it. It was suffocating me.
I could feel her tightening her grip around me, trying to drown my sorrows and lift my spirits with comfort. She didn't know I felt like this because of her. I was never like this, never this broken.
My walking has come to a stop as I knelt down and fell to the ground. I managed to catch a glimpse of her. She didn't leave, of course she didn't. She clinged around my neck and giggled, chuckled, laughed.
Did she not care for me?
She kept by my side as I slowly let out slow breaths. Where her arms slumped around my neck I could feel a strong burn. She was burning me. I could feel the blood rush to the surface of my skin, right under her touch.
I felt her dig into my skin. I let out a silent sound but she only smiled at that as she hugged tighter. I could feel my skin tearing apart slowly, inch by inch. The burning sensation. It was killing me, but I couldn't stop her. I don't know if I wanted to, maybe after this it'll all finally be over.
I managed to see her trembly hands as my breathing became more shallow. I was fully laying down on the sturdy ground I once roamed with confidence and freedom. I felt the stain of her love soaking deep into my fur. I saw her hands, crimson dripping of it right on top of my cheeks. She never stopped looking at me. I could see her cheeks getting rosy.
How could she like this sight of me? The sight she made. She made me like this and all I could say to her would be gratitude, if I had the strength and the voice for it.
The life I've lived. What has it come to. What did I even do in it? It all seemed pointless. But she was there. I should be happy that I met her, I really should but I can't find the happiness. It's gone. Just like my heartbeat.
I let out my final breath. And I felt it. Relief. Something I haven't felt in a long while.
Demi
finally understanding why i have never been able to look at someone and think their attractive makes sense now. I’ve never had a big thing for sex neutral to it but then suddenly being so close to someone it sparked and i had a want for the first time. then that reaction went away as i grew away from that person and didn't resurface until another extremely close emotional relationship. finding out how i felt was something real that i wasn't wrong. that its ok to be in that in between is so comforting.
The sweet, unrivaled joy of finally finding a toilet when you have to take a monumental piss <3
"Composition # 5" Woodcut print of St.George Station in Toronto Canada. 100% of the sales will go to Food Banks Canada and I made the decision that instead of donating when it completely sold out that I would donate it now out of pocket in full. The woodcut prints are still available up in my shop.☺️ . Special thanks to everyone who has purchased one.🙏 . Edition of 30 Print size: 21.2 cm x 10 cm Paper size: 24.5 cm x 12 cm Cotton Rag Paper . . . . #diogopinheiroart #perspectiveart #contemporaryarts #fineartwork #publictransit #geometricabstraction #canadianarts #artcollections #gallery #fineartist #curator #geometricaart #fineart #ttc #toronto #printmaking #woodcut #reliefprint #relief #foodbankscanada #printmakingart #inkart (at Toronto, Canada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCoFeW5gyvj/?igshid=3al6tgpje9fj
So if anyone’s curious about how this ended up getting resolved, here’s what happened.
He came back in multiple times looking for me, according to my coworkers. They and my boss had all been made aware of the situation. Thankfully, I was only there one of those times, and it was shortly before closing, so I was able to get rid of him without too much trouble. After that, my boss insisted on calling the police to ask for advice - and so that there would be a record of what was happening.
Then, while I was off-shift for a week or so for exams, he came back in a couple more times, and this time, he started harassing my boss. The second time he started bothering her, she called the cops. Apparently, while the security at our mall is basically nonexistent, there’s a police precinct across the street. They came. It was quickly discovered that we were not the only store in the mall that had had a problem with this man harassing female employees.
Anyway, he’s banned from the mall now, and if he comes back, we can call the cops again and he would receive a citation for trespassing. I feel so much better now when I go to work since I no longer have to worry he’s going to pop up and start bothering me. I was so on edge for a while, worrying incessantly about what clothes I wore and whether I was going to be on shift alone. The fact that he’s gone is such a relief.
Thanks to @radicallyaligned and everyone else for your support and advice!
(1/3) So, the store I work at just moved to a new location where there's greater foot traffic. Today was my second day there, and my first shift manning the store alone. I’m 18, by the way. Towards the end of the day, this guy came in. Sweaty from a run. Seriously muscled, maybe mid-to-late-twenties. Anyway, he started talking, being kinda friendly and joking, and also I had the impression of flirtatious too.
(2/3) I was, you know, wearing my ‘customers’ face. Anyway we’re chatting, I’m telling him about our soaps, etc. Then, he kinda stops, looks me up and down, and says, “You know, you have a great body. Do you work out?” And I’m like, ugh, internally. I shrug and tell him I do ballet. I go back to talking about the products, kind of just, you know, moving away, but he kept moving closer to me, getting within about a foot of me.
(3/3) We talk for a little bit more about the products, then he looks down, says “Wow! Your feet are so small! They’re tiny!” and then he knelt down and he grabbed my foot around the heel and lifted it up to examine it. I was so startled I nearly kicked him, but I just ended up just jerking my foot away. He stuck around for the rest of my shift (half an hour), and said he’s planning to come back and see me again. Any advice, anyone?
Okay that is seriously creepy and I’m so sorry you experienced this. Touching you without permission is harassment. A couple thing to do if he comes back in, optional, of course:
1. Immediately alert your manager or another person on staff. Tell them he has come in before to bother you, touched you without your permission, and makes you uncomfortable. Allow them to handle him while you wait in a back room.
2. If you do not have another person working with you, be sure to keep your distance from him. Stay behind a counter. If he lingers, inform him your “boss” has a policy against loitering, and you’ll have to ask him to leave if he isn’t shopping. If he inquires further, say that the door “has a counting metric, to see who enters and leaves without a purchase, and it affects your formal review”. (A retail shop I worked at before had this, it’s real tech). This is to encourage him to leave.
3. If he strikes up casual conversation about yourself, or asks your number, work in that you “have a boyfriend”. Creepy men often respect the “authority” of a created man having “ownership” of you more than your own bodily autonomy. This can make you safer and deter him from returning.
4. If he touches you again, tell him you are going to have to ask him to leave. He will likely do a big show of “wow you’re making something out of nothing!!” Calmly ask him again to leave. If he seems aggressive, remind him of the “cameras”. It doesn’t matter if you actually have cameras.
5. If he continously shows up to bother you, make sure a manger is on shift with you to deal with him.
6. If he ever follows you home, or shows up anywhere else in your life, call the police.
I hope some of this helps!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KING DEDEDE AND KIRBY!!
When I tell you I speedran this drawing, you better believe it. I've loved Kirby since I was a kid, and he formed a lot of who I am today. I love the little guy. I also love King Dedede! He's developed so much and he's still so funny and has just the right amount of Dedede to stay memorable. I love these two! Happy birthday.