#zephyr talks

[trashpremiium]

some bug doodles i did at work today

[rezeptkapziv]

I dont think Smuldunde would dance much?

They will rock back and forth rhytmically, sway to the music almost all the time they hear the music, no matter which kind. This kind of their dancing is with them all their life, but it might've looked a bit awkward in their teenage years. Now the long fur swaying makes it quite interesting to look at.

Smuldunde does go crazy once in a while! When their favorite optic disc is on, in their caves, in the company of the creatures they trust most, they whip out the craziest moves and they think it looks absolutely ridiculous (it looks alright actually)

By the way, Dedusmuln would dance like there's no tomorrow. The Waynecrew looks at them like damn friend you're going

They have force and energy in their moves, the same reason why they deal with the percussion instrument in the band. (they are a menace on the theremine as well)

Both cousins puff their lammelae the fuck up if they have them

^ fresh for yall bc its both associated with the cousins for me and because they will go so hard when this one is on

[glitchgh0sty]

Ohmigosh- while we’re still talking about ocs!? I realize I forgot to pat this down here.. so—

*pat, pat,*

@fallisl1fe come collect your gremlin child, as she can no longer be trusted and @innome0,, can I keep your tired mom?? He is the entire ships only braincell,,

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Not nearly enough talk of Marya and Maxwell’s friendship actually

like Marya is just so battle hardened and she can’t allow herself to lose herself in the moment of adventure anymore but damn if she isn’t gonna try and help Maxwell experience the joy she once had and to Maxwell Marya must be like the personification of everything that he’s been told his whole life can go wrong with windriding but he still keeps going and he comforts her and tries to help her with what she’s going through and Marya thinks she’s cursed because of where she came from and that holds her back at times but she’s learning to work through it with the crew and Maxwell refuses to believe that he’s cursed because of his family and will go to the ends of the earth to prove it wrong but being around the superstitious Windriders might be causing some doubt (but hey at least he’s not alone in being cursed) Maxwell being affected by the Straka energy and having very few moments of just pure joy in his life and almost turning mechanical Marya who had so much joy when she was younger but lost it because of Straka and who was so good with mechanical things until that moment I’m so normal about them oh my godddd

[snepfeathers]

Aaand here's Zephyr's updated ref! Or Storm. Or Valkyrie. you can call them a lot of things tbh. point is, xe's my fursona!! <3

honestly most art I make of them will probably be closer to the simplified ref's design, I just like having the option to break out Extra Detail Nonsense Mode every now and then lol

I also just love getting to ramble about details, so there's way more text than strictly necessary, but whateverrrr. she's also got a taur form I might make a miniref for at some point...

higher resolution versions of the ref pieces under the cut!

[angeltheghoul]

More fall/winter domestic Ghoul thoughts because my brain won’t stop:

Aether being the first to take care of anyone when they get the flu because they trust him the most.

Mountain making his nest comfortable enough for all his mates needs incase they want to join him while he hibernates.

Dew pulling them to himself once they get back to the abbey either after outside duties or being in town and cranking up his element so he can warm them up.

Rain making sure they’re all wearing their jackets and coats before they head out and buttoning them for those who need help.

Ifirit lighting the large fireplace in the Ghouls den and gathering everyone from the pile being especially careful with Zephyr when helping them in.

Aurora making everyone coffee,tea or hot chocolate depending on their preference and always making sure she’s mindful of everyone’s dietary needs and allergies.

….ill add more later but yeah

[divine-misfortune]

Mountain on his knees begging Aether to make him forget Zephyr ever existed because the memory of them hurts too much to bear

It's like his hearts being gouged from his chest every time the wind chimes sing or a breeze blows through his window, it's like suffocating without them and he can't take it anymore

He loved them so much he had to forget them or risk succumbing to grief, even though part of him wanted that, to waste into nothing and give back to the earth for another chance, another life, where he might see them again

But Aether took his burden and locked it away, unwilling to risk losing anything else

Mountain forgets why he'd been weeping to begin with, or why he'd sought Aether out, he just apologizes for interrupting and leaves Aether alone to digest this bitter secret he now has to keep

[thehypnone]

absolution live 2017/2023

here I am with my over 1,5k word autistic ramble about the differences between absolution live from 2017 and 2023. at the end there is an audio file of both versions put together, if anyone would be interested in that. it sound very cool heh

also tags for people who showed interest in this: @forest-rot @ghuleh-recs @counting-eyerolls @ngnt-writes @ghnosis @rain-ghoul-appreciator @sister-rosemary-marie

anyway, under the cut

I will start with an analysis of instruments and players separately, one by one, and then I’ll talk about the whole thing a little bit. Also I’m using only ghoul names in there, but when I’m talking about styles and skills I obviously mean the unmasked folks.

Both in 2017 and 2023 we have Mountain on drums, which gives us a very fun comparison opportunity. In 2017 he goes heavy on the cymbals—according to the original version of the song—but it makes the whole thing a bit too crashy and too clogged. The drums are very widely mixed and set—slightly focused on the left side following the stage layout from then—but I think the cymbals could be a bit quieter in comparison to the actual drums, especially the floor tom. In general we can hear how smaller Mountain’s kit was in 2017. In 2023 the entire drum part is sharper and deeper, more bassy and it’s focused more in the middle. The way it feels to me, in 2017 the drums are the background and in 2023 they are the core. Mountain has better fills in 2023, he obviously got more comfortable just jamming in there and having fun over the years.

Dewdrop on bass in 2017; we can hear (or at least I can) that he is not a bassist. He scrapes his pick on the strings a lot which is connected to him being primarily a guitarist—it’s about the picking hand placement and angle. The bass is pretty quiet and it has overdrive on it. It helps conceal his buzzing a little bit, because it happens a fair amount for Dewdrop. Again—bass is not his main instrument. We can also hear exactly when he slams it, like we know he loves doing. In general sometimes he’s quieter and sometimes he’s louder and it’s mostly caused by his picking; how he angles his hand in certain moments and how much strength he puts into it. At the end he goes absolutely feral. Not surprising.

Rain in 2023 is amazing. He’s very skilled, and it’s a huge shame Ghost doesn’t have any songs that could really allow him to show off. He hit his cue a bit too fast at one point, but it might as well be intentional. He’s so much clearer and cleaner, both due to his skills and the settings. Rain has more drop, he most likely has his bass on a different pickup setup than Dewdrop, plus they used different basses—Rain’s with additional mods. One of those mods is a very heavy bridge—Badass Bass—and I bet we can thank that piece for the sustain and note definition in Rain’s playing. In general it flows more, fits into the whole image better. His changes in volume are controlled, not accidental like it happens for Dewdrop. Rain puts more slides, tiny additions and note changes into his live playing, it makes it a bit more lively to me. He’s put perfectly in the middle, nicely blended with the drums.

Unfortunately there isn’t much I can say about Ifrit, Dewdrop, Aether and Phantom mainly because “Absolution” isn’t really a guitar focused song and so it isn't the best song to compare guitar skills, either. The most interesting part—guitar wise—is the solo and little fills on the rhythm now and then.

Ifrit is very precise, I couldn’t hear any mistakes from him, but also the lead is surprisingly quiet in general. His palm muting is on spot, pull-offs and hammer-ons both in the chorus and the solo are very clean and he is simply a pro, he’s got super skills and I wish we could’ve gotten more (</3). He makes the whole song as lively as his stage personality, it sounds flowy but packed with emotions and still so precise it hurts.

Dewdrop’s sound is way better, though he and Ifrit are close skill wise. The difference between Hagstrom Fantomen and Fender Stratocaster is a big one, the main aspect that we can hear is the sharpness of the former and more grounded sound of the latter. Those two guitars also have a very different pickup arrangements—Dew’s strat has SSS (3x single-coils) pickups and he uses the bridge one (which is a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail), and the Fantomen’s has HH (two humbuckers that can be slip, but as far as I’m aware no ghoul used that feature), also with the bridge one used more frequently. In “Absolution” Dewdrop doesn’t add very much—as he does to some other songs—so it’s pretty much the same as the original version. There are small differences that inherently come with his style and that is what makes his version differ from both Ifrit’s and the album's, but it’s all very slight. Dew also makes a very good use of his pedals, mainly wah—especially at the end.

Aether is a bit off tempo in some parts. He plays well, mostly clean, but we can pick out some slight mistakes—mostly sounds that aren’t supposed to be there. His palm muting is a bit too light. He goes heavy on the pick which makes his part of the solo a bit sharp (especially that he’s playing the higher harmony) and square-ish. The sharpness is, again, something we can partially blame on the Fantomen. Only partially because both Ifrit and Phantom prove that it’s manageable. 

Phantom is very clean, he adds a lot of slides which is a feature of his personal style. Said style of his is very lively and fun, to me it sounds and feels like a slinky (don’t laugh at me it’s the autism). He’s more fluid both in the solo and the rest of the song than Aether, but makes one—barely noticeable—mistake in the solo where he misses a note.

Also Phantom and Dewdrop in 2023 are more in sync than Aether and Ifrit in 2017. For whatever reason.

Now keyboard; Zephyr goes absolutely ham on the keys, but it is a piano song so that’s not only understandable, but also desirable, I would say. Key’s are in the right ear with slight migration to the middle when it matters, again according to the stage layout. Their precision and speed and overall skill is insane, the ending when they go wild is the most impressive part, because the song itself doesn’t give many opportunities. If you haven’t seen a video of Zephyr playing that ending you gotta do it now because it really is insane (RIP to that Nord Stage 2 though). The synth fill before the solo in 2017 is played back, in 2023 it’s played live by Cirrus.

In 2023 Cirrus plays the main chorus keyboard part, it can be heard easily on the left side (so once again stage layout accordingly). It’s clean and precise, she’s also very skilled, but unfortunately doesn’t really show off at the end like Zephyr does. Cumulus plays some chords before the solo while Cirrus plays the synth fill.

Vocals are not my thing so I’m only going to say what most of us can hear; Terzo is very nasal, but cleaner, and sings a bit higher. Clear pronunciation, good flow. It’s closest to Tobias’ normal singing voice. Copia is even more nasal, more growly and raspy. They’re both, obviously, in the middle in case of mixing.

Backing vocals in 2017 are all play-back for obvious reasons—pretty simple, taken straight off of the album recording. It’s put on the left, but it could be more favorable in the middle. 2023 is way more spectacular thanks to—mainly—the backing vocals. They are 90% Aurora and Cumulus, with lower levels of Cirrus and barely anything of Swiss. He’s louder by the end. I’m still conflicted about the growls—if it is Swiss or Papa’s play-back—but it’s a great addition that was very mild in 2017’s play-back. The backing vocals are on the sides, accordingly to the stage layout. It all just adds more spice, I adore them.

Sound engineering and mixing is so much better in 2023. We can easily tie it to the budget (though I’d like to “blame” it on Hayden’s part in the engineering, he’s a mastermind, too). The sound is much clearer and fluid than in 2017, it highlights all the instruments perfectly at the same time. Mixing in 2017 is more blunt, it’s a bit duller and some changes in volumes and placements of instruments could—or even should—be made. It doesn’t mean 2017 sucks—far from it—it’s just a technical difference which actually warms my heart if we look at how far has Ghost come. So, once again, considering the budget in 2017 vs. 2023 it’s all understandable. Also the crowd sound control in 2023 is very fun; it makes a great use of all the yelling causing the whole song to sound warmer and fuller.

Both 2017 and 2023 are on the exact same tempo, they can be put over each other perfectly (which I did). They slide apart at the end and the break before the outro is longer in 2023. The 2023 outro itself is pretty boring in comparison to 2017, most likely because in 2023 it’s not a closing song. Below there’s both “Absolutions” over each other; 2023 in the left and 2017 in the right headphone.

[bixels]

I'm obsessed with your rarijack post. I would love to hear your thoughts on flutterdash. That one was always my favorite but rainbow was often a victim of the new writers not understanding her and writing her weirdly

SHE SOLD HER INTO SLAVERY!

[tillythemenace]

I agree with you on Homecoming, but please please tell me you did like Nuffink and Zephyr! Hiccstrid babies are so cute!

Oh I adore them. I could go on FOREVER about how Hiccstrid babies have been my favorite thing since at least 2012. I've always wanted to see Hiccstrid babies and the epilogue absolutely floored me.

I talked about it in my httyd3 review that I absolutely ADORE the epilogue if I take it out of context cause Hiccstrid babies?! YES. Gimme more. Adult Chief and Chieftess Hiccstrid? TRIPLE YES. Parent!Hiccstrid is a concept I've been obsessed with for so many years and I've read SO MANY FICS about them that seeing it canon was my dream come true. Like that ALONE is amazing. I love that concept.

Idk why tho I just love them being parents cause we do see so much of that in the shows, like Hiccup IS already a dad at that point. We had endless headcanons, I in fact remember doing my own Hiccstrid baby OCs :'3 oh the times (also i always had this HC that at least ONE Hiccstrid baby will be names Finn and I guess Nuffink HAS "Finn" in it so IT'S REAL TO ME!

I also love that Zephys acts tough like Astrid but really is such a bookworm like Hiccup with his innate curiosity and that Zephir is tiny and cute like Hiccup but has this STOICK in him. I feel like he could grow to be very much like Astrid. Idk I could go on and on with my HCs cause I've had them for more than a decade but I'm happy they're such cute lil babies

Also another HC is that Astrid is pregnant with a third. Like Hiccstrid WILL have 3 kids I will die on this hill :3

[trashpremiium]

twins tragically separated by phylogeny

[aweisz]

almost forgor to post this here 🫠🫠

[theposhperyton]

I dunno how many people watch the movies, but this is kinda what watching film Z feels like

Aokiji just keeps showing up to give lore or say something cryptic and reminiscent of bygone days or build a helpful ice sculpture. And then he leaves again

[ajax-lightning-zephyr]

{Ajax lays in their bed staring at the wall in front of them, the lack of sleep this season was interesting... they didn't feel tired, even if he was working on getting better the whole time they've been here. The demons have kept his mind off most things, replacing- gaining new friends, so maybe that's why he didn't notice the new pain in his throat, or how hoarse his voice was sounding.

He didn't want the others to worry about this little sickness that swept them under so, he hasn't talked much or interact much with the others. He's fine anyways...}

[snepfeathers]

hey! fursona history flashbang upon ye

I present: a quick overview of my fursona's history, from conception to current day!

there's.... a lot here. I really, really like having records of my art over the years, and luckily I've been pretty good at keeping it around for the most part! (keeping it organized though? not so much. getting her toyhou.se into shape has been an Ordeal that I'm still not fully finished with.)

I just think it's super fun that you can so clearly see her evolution over the years... and really, it's even clearer going back through all the art of her, although most of that early stuff is stuck on deviantart. maybe one day I'll get it ported over to toyhou.se too but that might give me a conniption lmao

even if you don't count the rainbow stuff, she's still been recognizably Storm since 2015! that's so wild to think about! 13 years of Storm overall, 10 years of her in this general state... okay even if you're a stickler and want to start counting at when she got the extra feathers, that's still about 8 or 9 years ago. She's grown up alongside me and it's fun to think about how we might change in the future :3

bonus: a few years ago I redrew a bunch of old art over the ages (full post here)

That 2022 version is supposed to be her under UV/blacklight. She's still got the rainbow marks! they're just fluorescent and usually not visible now. I'd probably rework the feather markings some but still

I <3 fursona lore and I <3 this cat! She's me!

[divine-misfortune]

Dew loves being the stress relief Zephyr doesn't know they need sometimes.

They're not often a heavy handed dom, preferring to order rather than force, but sometimes there's that itch they struggle to scratch. Can't push Mountain around like they can with Dew. Can't manhandle Ifrit the way they can with Dew. Can't take Aether over their knee like Dew. But that little water ghoul eagerly submits to their more sadistic side without question, eager to feel the brunt of their frustrations like no one else can.

He's mostly good, they know he truly only acts like a brat when Aether's around, but sometimes he seems to delight in riling them up. Poking the beast until he spends the next day wincing when he walks and nearly yelping when he sits down, the backs of his thighs and his ass bruised dark as a plum - the thin marks of a whip still visible in the muddy array.

It isn't all punishment, because Dew often proves himself good. He looks beautiful and delicate above them, hands braced on their chest, working those narrow hips like the only thing he knew was pleasing them. Small and fragile enough they can take him in their hands and bounce them on their cock with ease, and Dew takes it. His head falling back, flush creeping down his chest, little cock dripping as he's moved like a doll. Rewarded for his submission by being used for their pleasure.

And when Zephyr finally cums, the irritation and annoyance seemingly vanishing from their body, they can drag Dew down against their chest, slowly softening cock held in the warm clutch of his body still. He's limp against them, thighs trembling on either side of their hips, face squished into their collarbones. They stay there, nose buried in his hair, knuckles dancing lazily up and down his spine, Dew purring sweetly all the while.

Zephyr's appreciation is hushed, whispered into him like a secret. Soft thanks breathed close to his ear until they can look down and see those pale blue eyes staring up at them, still a touch glassy, a little wet around the lashes. Silent gratitude and adoration in the way he looks at them, 'I love you and I trust you' without words every time.