#this is ... some good wings reference !

[fearandhatred]

the very first thing i did in 2024 was go insane aka i slept at 7am and among other things i drew these! they're unrefined and only two panels of a much larger thing i'm doing but since that'll not be done any time soon i thought i might as well post these first

panel 8 of panel 2

[bloochouli]

this cute gelfling is berjeg, belonging to @pockettron3000

[hopecomesbacktolife]

while I expected lots of cute moments with bb-8 and pew-pew adventures in Poe Dameron: Flight Log (which, don’t get me wrong, I definitely did get and was very happy about!!) along with lots of cool ship specs and tech details—

what I wasn’t expecting (a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one) was several instances of incredibly heartfelt, evocative, and sweet introspections from Poe on his family, upbringing, philosophy / ethics, the resistance, and love 🥺 so many sweet characterization tidbits in this book, I really enjoyed reading it ♡

if you’re interested in reading it as well, I borrowed it (for free!) on internet archive which I highly highly recommend, it was such a fun read and it’s very easy & user-friendly to borrow books from them!

[dreameroftheblue]

bunch of recent crowley studies + a few doodles from memory; sorting my wing ref folder made me wanna practice some less common poses/angles... so of course they all became God's Favourite Demon™. because he lives in my brain and hands and demands to be released

(listen I know that the wings are meant to be metaphysical/spiritual/etc,, but also. monsterpeople with realistic proportions doing natural sorts of movement will never not be fun lol)

[dracothelizard]

Sexualise that man, sure, but maybe only based on planned bits he knows are being filmed.

[ceiling-karasu]

I was discussing Korean shamanism with @agotia-t after they introduced Hanbam, and this encouraged me to finally draw my White-Naped Crane shaman OC, Chongsu (link to months old post here), as I said I eventually would. I have briefly included her in The Rod that Blocks the Lightning (here, about 2/3rds of the way through the chapter), as well.

She participates in the spiritual and medicine making practices of the mudang, while avoiding the performances of the kisaeng path.

Here is an example of one of her gutdang worship rooms, in which she would perform sacred ceremonies.

Generations past, a Joseon style caste system was kept in place with the help of the spiritual priest class, mudang shamans with a mixture of Confucianism and Buddhism, enjoying many luxuries and power in their caste high above most other species.

In the current day of the AU, generations after the former kings and caste systems were overthrown, the scars still remain (ex. Weasels thinking they are superior to smaller species and the squirrels needing to be reminded that they are allowed to join the soldier hedgehogs).

The White-Naped cranes spiritual practices, and preference towards the old caste system, have fallen out of favor with the general populace of Flower Hill. It is, however, very popular with the Weasels, who still hold that they are superior to the smaller animals. Many shaman leave Flower Hill to join the weasels to provide spiritual practices, something Flower Hill cannot stop due to migration permits.

Chongsu is based on a mudang shaman whose bloodline supposedly ties back the strongest to Sungmo, the mother of all shaman priestesses. Which makes her a sort of community elder despite her young age, as well as her constant mysterious illnesses.

She is a young crane, who lives in Flower Hill, too sickly to make the annual migration to Teikoku (Japan), like most of the White-Napes cranes. She and her followers assist in making medicine for the troops. Her biggest wish and command is for all species to get along with each other in harmony. What she does not realize, is that as the ‘supreme leader,’ this could possibly be misinterpreted as a command for her followers to reinstate the caste system, by any means possible, which could even mean teaming up with weasel, wolf, or tiger leaders, who also wish to return to the caste system and crush all underfoot.

In real life, white named cranes are unusual in that they primary live in the demilitarized zone of North Korea, but migrate to Japan. Shaman still exist in Korea to this day (participating in spiritual/healing leaders, fortune telling, and entertainment such as with the kisaeng), but are sometimes treated with suspicion, especially in North Korea, due to many of them, especially the kisaeng (who the Japanese troops found similar to geisha, apparently according to reports), siding with the Japanese during the invasions. As a result, the distrust and semi discrimination the Flower Hill commanders hold for Chongsu, is a hint that all is not absolutely perfect in Flower Hill.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Afterlife

Ah, the concept of afterlife. That attempt of ours to battle the uncertainty of death and handle the fact we all, eventually, end. A marvellous concept, really.

I wish, though, to talk about very specific presentations of the afterlife. What came to mind originally was the similarities and differences between His Dark Materials and the Good Place in handling those topics. Spoilers for the HDM books and tGP TV series ahead, then - massive spoilers, as both works pretty much end with what I intend to talk about. Since I plan on writing long, I'll even be gracious enough to put it under the cut.

So, similarities and differences. My interest mostly piqued because of one particular trope both works have in common - the Door at the end of the afterlife that returns your particles to the universe as the solution to the afterlife. I suppose this idea isn't necessarily unique to those works, but I don't really know of any other work that does that. Except maybe Kaos, where it's the lie the Greek Pantheon has been telling people is true.

It would be interesting to remark that this same solution is applied to two wildly different problems: the HDM's afterlife is a bleak wasteland ruled over by lie-sniffing harpies, and is actually a prison - a threat held over mortals by the Authority. Only all mortals go there because the Authority is too lazy to actually reward his followers. Seriously, 90% of the premise isn't "if G-d is real and acts as Christians say He does than He's the villain", it's "if G-d isn't actually G-d and both Heaven and Hell are actually Purgatory/the Fields of Asphodel then the world is crap". I'm sure someone somewhere can correct me on how it still works as a criticism of organized religion - like, "with how these Fire and Brimstone preachers speak, practically everyone goes to Purgatory forever anyway, plus religion does try to restrict your enjoyment of worldly pleasures" or something like that. Or a way more educated version that mentions Paradise Lost and William Blake a lot or something.

I would say that I digress, but this isn't the only criticism with which I wish to inflict HDM today. Because,speaking of the freaking afterlife, this world's version of the ultimate judgement is very much not morality based. Which, hey, I suppose is fine. It just means extremely boring people are the ones damned to spend an eternity continuing to exist in boring conditions, while every interesting person, be they unfathomably evil or perfectly good or anything in between get to reunite with the universe. The additional people who'll have problems include compulsive liars and possibly amnesiacs and anyone with a memory problem. The deal only covered babies being free, after all - everyone else has to tell true stories about themselves. Sure, Gracious Wings and co. can choose if a given true story will get you through and they can choose who to punish, but we have no frame for their morality outside of truth and lies. So sure, go ahead and argue the afterlife judgement shouldn't be morality based and your morals should be based on other things. You still damned some particularly weak groups for eternity just because they can't tell stories. I'm exaggerating a bit. But we do know that fanciful tales are out of the question - would a work of outright fiction be fine if it's not technically lies? And I'm digressing again. This system is immoral - or, more accurately, morally neutral. It has no mortality to it. The exact opposite of the Good Place's system.

The Good Place uses the Objective Point System: the moral system to end all moral systems which, for some incomprehensible reason, is point based. And it's fine, right? Everything's fine... Oh, no, nevermind, consequentialist purity culture dictates that everyone goes to hell ever since the start of the Modern Era. Well, that and not receiving love and support from your surroundings? But Chidi, who stressed about the former and actually had the latter also failed because of his infinite attempt to find moral clarity? Clearly, my knowledge of moral philosophy is just as flawed as my understanding of classic English literature about Genesis. But that's not really the point.

After the entire system was reformed - not by getting rid of the Infallible Point System, but by adding another stage to the testing with as many repeats as you like - the Soul Squad find that heaven has a problem: they kind of turned into the Pullman version of the afterlife, only for the opposite reason: an abundance of pleasure had turned them numb and now they're bored for eternity. The solution, though, is the same as HDM only different: a final Door is added, but its point is to have an end in sight to the eternal paradise. It functions similarly, but not the same - as the Good Place has some time in heaven before reuniting with the cosmos. Which is more fun than being flown over a bottomless pit, I think.

A couple more notes, since we're at it: out of the Soul Squad, Jason will have the easiest time passing through Gracious Wings' test. Tahani will come as a close second. Chodi and Eleanor will have the most trouble - Chidi because of his indecisiveness, if the Harpies will tell him he doesn't need to stress out over complete accuracy of details he can be fine, and Eleanor because she can be a compulsive liar sometimes - I'm sure she and Lyra could bond over that and having crappy parents. She'll deal eventually, anyway - the Dress Bench story alone should be enough if recounted with honesty.

On the opposite side of the veil, I don't really know enough about how the new System of the Good Place works to judge how long will it take any given HDM character to go through it. I think Lyra's major flaws are her arrogance and self-assuredness, Will's is probably his ruthlessness, Lord Asriel's is his hubris and also ruthlessness (thank goodness he and Will never met), and Mrs Coulter's is probably her manipulativeness. But I'm not really the best judge of character. Putting the four of them in the same neighborhood is probably a terrible idea but it's fun to consider and I might try writing this fic at some point. Maybe.

I feel like this kind of lost its thread in the middle. I'll keep the title, because it still is about the afterlife in some ways even though half of it is random rambles. Maybe one day I'll delve into more afterlife systems. Until then - thank you for reading!

[yellow-yarrow]

weird things in the SATA book that I keep thinking about but I don't know what they are supposed to mean

Ann-Margret being perhaps the most Dolores Dei-like

Maj being an unplanned pregnancy that "deformed" Ann-Margret, how Charlotte says she wouldn't give the peaches of immortality to her yet because she is too young, her sisters not bringing her to take cherry speed or giving her alcohol, the girls buying only three meat piroshkis, seemingly leaving her out of some things, yet she disappeared too, how the only trait about her is that she is dressed as a fairy godmother/angel and sits on Tereesz's shoulders. The older sisters and their mom have some traits that resemble Dolores Dei (blond with green eyes, politician, peaches, freckles/birthmarks, references to ancient times, etc) but Maj only shares the blond hair and white clothes. like it feels like she is the odd one out. And she is the one who says that the time is going wrong.

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

really weird thing ive noticed lately re: hermits getting critiqued for stuff theyve said or done is that as soon as someone holds a shit opinion (even if it's just them being stupid, or a centrist, or saying a bad word without knowing what it means, or whatever) people immediately seem to flock to the 'this guy should die' 'kys' 'why are we giving this person a platform' rhetoric and like. that's not how meaningful change is made?

like, yeah, if one of my beloved CCs posted a tweet or video tomorrow about how much they hate gay people, or believe in conservative ideals, or they just said a bunch of slurs or whatever (these are hyperbolic examples obviously) then yeah, fuck them, they should go rot. but like, having some dumb takes, or saying bad things in the past, doesn't = evil terrible person...

idk, i feel like we can critique content creators without getting so insane about it. like, shit, there are things some of my favourites do that i don't like, but theyre not even really worth bringing up tbh. unless its something actually important, i feel like it just creates more drama out of nothing and all these assholes come crawling out of the woodwork to tell everyone how much they hate that creator. or find their content boring anyway so clearly they have no real merit to anyone.

more of an explanation of what i mean in the tags but yeah.

[birdietrait]

lil wip teehee

[bijoubetrayal]

too many ppl who know nothing about Filipino folklore n culture r talking shit about my ate. she’s based off of the manananggal, which you can compare to the European vampire, if that helps you understand it better. although, i’m reluctant to mention that becuz some ppl, who choose to be ignorant, currently hold the view that she’s just an Asian-colored vampire mishmash monster. she is not. other than the fact that she manages to exist at all, here are some details i appreciate about her.

first, she has a face that looks like my family’s. that’s my lola’s nose. that’s my mom’s birthmark. shit, those are my uncle’s cheekbones. the headpiece features jasmine, our national flower. the translucent petals are cool.

second, you can display her in two pieces, split by the torso. its not just a “cheap gimmick” you ignorant pos. at nightfall, the manananggal severs itself in two, leaving behind a vulnerable lower half while its upper half hunts for nourishment - blood, raw hearts, livers, fetuses. the red fringe represents her dangling intestines, hanging loose as she flies after ripping her body apart. the string detail is on the skirt for consistency, but also, intestines are long as fuck? why wouldn’t they also hang from the bottom, assuming they also get split in half.

while we’re on the outfit, the top is an extremely traditional (Spanish colonial, ugh) style in both fabric and shape. i have attire that looks exactly like it, minus the monster high red foil pattern. the tiny, “woven” sleeve cuffs are a nice touch. the earrings and bracelets look to be woven palm too, but aren’t as effective in plastic. the bottom half skirt is quite a bit shorter than is traditional, and the heels higher. it’s a monster high doll.

most accurate would be barefoot, tbh. but you guys would riot, and again, its a doll. actually, the shoes reference a lot from Filipino culture. the heel is a coconut tree overlooking a kubo, a one-room stilt hut built with natural materials such as bamboo and palm, and specifically made to be remade as necessary. the sole is “wooden”, also an accessible material of which some shoes were made with. it is attached by braid to what looks to be a straw strap. also not unusual for a shoe.

her fan and wings feature embroidery, and if you look closely at the latter, you will see a thin and delicate flora design in between the spider web pattern. this is extremely reminiscent of calado, a type of traditional hand embroidery akin to lace that is difficult as fuck. a dying art, btw.

i didn’t wake up looking to ride this hard for a plastic woman lmao. but if you’re gonna come for her, it better be because of the fluorescent green in her colorway and not because you don’t know what you’re talking about. honestly, a lot of Filipinos are just happy to be considered and celebrated. “wins” like this mean everything. maybe it’s not good enough for your collection, but now you know more about my culture than you would’ve gone out of your way to. and that’s good enough for me.

[neganium]

Got caught up wondering if hot wings were made from baby chickens or not (they're not, so far as I can tell, which means I can still eat them), and now I kind of want some. Alas, I cannot afford tasty treats right now... or ever, really. Art isn't exactly a lucrative career, and any and all attempts to advertise apparently fell on deaf ears, so... idk, man. Not like I should be eating that crap, anyways... but it's oh so yummy...

[shiawasekai]

This drawing is both feeling like pulling teeth and validating my efforts during 2024. Weird.

[bmpmp3]

i keep choosing like the hardest songs possible to try to learn to make midis for vocal synth covers on. why do i keep doing this to myself. like is that reverb doubling back creating noise, vocal doubling, or a harmony. if its a harmony i'll explode on impact

[imsobadatnicknames2]

What does the "banana republic is a fucked up name for a store" post you reblogged mean? I'm afraid of looking dumb.

The term "banana republic" was originally coined to describe countries in Central and South America (mainly Honduras and Guatemala) whose economies were rendered dependent on the production and export of bananas (among other agricultural goods, but mainly bananas) by American fruit corporations leveraging the power of the U.S. government, the U.S. military and the CIA.

Throughout most of the of the 20th century, American corporations such as United Fruit, Cuyamel, and the Standard Fruit Company owned large portions of these countries' lands, to the point that in some cases they controlled their railway, road, and port infrastructure, and they engaged in a variety of imperialist actions to lower production costs, such as violence against labor activists and anti wage reform lobbying.

The pinnacle of this phenomenon was the 1954 Guatemalan coup, when United Fruit convinced the goverment of US president Dwight D. Eisenhower that the elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Árbenz (who had expropriated some of the company's unused land and given it to Guatemalan peasants) was secretly working with the Soviet Union, resulting in a CIA coup which deposed the Árbenz government and replaced it with a thirty-year right-wing military dictatorship which effectively acted as a puppet government to protect the interests of United Fruit and the U.S. government.

Nowadays the term has broadened to refer to any small, economically unstable country with an economy which has been rendered dependent on the export of a particular natural resource due to economic exploitation by a more powerful country.

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Tattoo artist!rafe x angel!reader who lets rafe do her secret tats, the ones that her parents have no clue about.

warnings: secret tattoos, suggestive so MDNI, he does end up touching and looking at your boobs LMFAO, nd this is for my girls with spaced out titties (me) ✊🏽

♫ dirty little secret, the all-american rejects

“Shit, is that who I think it is?” His voice causes you to look up, smiling at him with a little wave, standing up from the leather couch you were sat on, pocketing your phone and walking towards him.

“My favorite client.” He complimented, walking over to you and wrapping his arms around you with a grin on his face.

“Aww… you’re too sweet.”

“How are you? It’s been a little. Last I saw you was church.” He said with a chuckle, you shrugging.

“Same old. How about you?”

“It’s been… going. You know, can’t complain. But I was really glad when I saw you dm me.” He spoke, motioning for you to follow him back when he began to walk. He led you into a room, shutting the door behind him. You sat down, nerves shooting as he turned back to you.

“So, I got the reference all drawn out.” He spoke while grabbing the stencil, showing it to you. “What do you think?”

“It’s amazing! As always.”

He smiled, flattered. He began putting his gloves on, your heart thumping against your chest as you sat down. You were nervous for two reasons, one being that tattoos always made you nervous, rightfully so. Reason two, well, that was because Rafe, one of your best friends who you had a fat crush on, was about to see you completely topless. It’s not like he hasn’t before, last appointment being a pair of little angel wings on your back, leaving you in your bra.

But now, he was literally going to see you without a bra. Maybe you should have picked another artist.

But it was too late to turn back now, you realized after he turned back, cleaning supplies for your skin in hand, along with the stencil.

“Uhm- can you take off your shirt and bra f’me?” He nodded at you, your cheeks warming up at the words. “Here, I’ll-“ he murmured, turning around to give you some sort of privacy, his back facing you. You tugged off both garments of clothing, and swallowed the lump that formed in your throat when he turned to look back at you. You sat back down on the chair.

“You all good?” He asked you, trying his best to look at your face rather than your tits as he walked closer to the chair. He grabbed the cleaning supplies, cleaning near and on the area where you wanted it before drying your skin off.

“Mhm.” You nodded, watching as his eyes traveled down your body, a spark in his eyes, he moved his hands slowly, beginning to line the little bow stencil up. His hands grazed the skin of your breasts, causing your breath to hitch. You held them in your hands, shielding them from his eyes.

“Okay… you said right here, correct?” He spoke, glancing into your eyes as he placed the stencil where the valley of where your boobs were, trying his best to remain professional despite everything. God, he hoped you couldn’t see the way his cock started to stir in his pants.

You nodded at him, him poking his tongue out of his mouth as he put it against your skin, smoothing it against your body before peeling it back, the ink now on your skin.

He sighed out in relief, it was perfectly placed and he hadn’t given away that he was rock hard.

“You want a water?” He asked you, you nodding at him. “Alright. I’ll be back.” He spoke, you finally taking a breath when he walked out of the room.

Not only was it an almost seemingly very long appointment, he made it worse every time you felt his hands brush up on your body.

You tried your best to have casual conversation, but god, was he making it hard.

“Hey, did you ever tell your parents about this?” He asked you randomly, you looking at him with a furrowed eyebrow. “Just out of curiosity. I know how they are.”

“Definitely not. They would kill me. They already think that anyone else with tattoos is ‘sent by the devil.’”

He chuckled, “heard that one before.”

You found yourself staring at his pillowy lips when he spoke, or his hands when he traced over the stencil carefully.

And once it was done, he gave you a fucking discount.

“Wait, whys it cheaper?” You asked him, looking at him with confusion on your face.

“I told you, you’re my favorite client. Plus, I can’t say I disliked the view I got during it.” He was getting bolder, a smirk making its way onto his face.

Cheeky motherfucker.

You tilted your head to the side with a little pout on your lips. “Are you sure? I feel bad.”

“I’m sure, princess.” He chuckled. “Just come back, yeah? Needa see you more.”

“Well, actually… if you want, I’m having this party next weekend… you know,” you shrugged, casually leaning over the counter. “My parents are out of town for a while.” You told him, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips as he raised his eyebrows at the invitation.

“Yeah?” He hummed out.

“Mhm.” You nodded, “you should come!”

“Oh, I definitely will.”

You smiled at him, leaning further over the counter to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Rafey!” You told him when you turned around to leave, waving bye to him.

“Anytime, angel!”