#baltic mist

[upmala]

perfect summer’s day (baltic iron age reconstructor festival Bandava, 2023)

[voninsterburg]

[okami-ae]

A billion words ago The sailors disappeared A story for the children To rock them back to sleep

[skchorpion]

-

[mariacallous]

European lawmakers are issuing increasingly bleak warnings about the future of the war in Ukraine and the continent’s security as a $60 billion U.S. aid package for Kyiv continues to languish on Capitol Hill and the war is set to enter its third year later this month.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Washington has welcomed a steady stream of lawmakers, government ministers, and heads of state from Europe amid transatlantic efforts to coordinate military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. But there has been a palpable ratcheting up in the intensity and urgency of their message. 

“You can’t help but wonder what has happened here. We seem to have drifted apart,” said Diljá Mist Einarsdóttir, chair of the Icelandic parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Einarsdóttir and a delegation of six other chairs of the parliamentary foreign affairs committees of the Baltic and Nordic states spoke with a small group of journalists on Thursday morning as the U.S. Senate voted to advance a stand-alone aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It remains unclear whether the bill will be able to garner enough votes to pass the Senate and House. 

A bipartisan effort to combine the aid with an immigration reform package was shot down by Senate Republicans on Wednesday evening after former U.S. President Donald Trump urged his party to reject the legislation. 

“Dear Republican Senators of America,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the vote. “Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.” 

Dire warnings from European lawmakers come as Ukraine has stalled on the battlefield and Russia is making significant investments in defense spending and production. In the early days of the war, Moscow appeared to be on the back foot as its economy was pummeled with international sanctions and its armed forces struggled through a poorly planned invasion. 

But two years on, the Russian economy is projected to grow, albeit marginally, in the coming year fueled by a significant boost in defense spending. One-third of the country’s state budget has been allocated for defense in 2024, and arms manufacturers have been urged to work around the clock. 

“If we cannot manage, together with the U.S., to stop Russia in Ukraine, it’s a matter of time if it is a war against NATO in general, and that will be much higher cost,” said Aron Emilsson, chair of the Swedish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Emilsson’s Latvian counterpart, Rihards Kols, said he was struck by the lack of urgency in Washington about the war. “I got the notion that the war in Ukraine is something very far away, distant from the U.S.,” said Kols, who noted that by comparison, Latvian public discourse had been dominated by the possibility of a wider war. 

Last month, top military officials in Sweden and the United Kingdom warned their populations to prepare for a potential war.

Zygimantas Pavilionis, chair of the Lithuanian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who has made several trips to Washington since the beginning of the war, said that the reception he and his colleagues get on Capitol Hill is “getting worse with every visit.” Pavilionis, like many lawmakers and officials from the Baltic states, sought to sound the alarm about Russia’s revanchist intentions long before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Our argument is simple: If you don’t want another Pearl Harbor, you better listen to us,” he said. 

Ahead of this week’s visit, the delegation reached out to the offices of around 20 congressional Republicans who have to varying degrees been skeptical of U.S. aid for Ukraine. Just three offices responded, Kols said.

The visit follows a trip by the chairs of the parliamentary foreign affairs committees from six NATO member states last month who brought a similarly stark message. “The reality is the U.S. also needs a wake-up call,” said Alicia Kearns, chair of the U.K. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Hill reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also in Washington this week and is set to meet with President Joe Biden and members of Congress to make the case for continued support to Ukraine. In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, he laid out his case about the dangers of a Russian victory. 

“We have to do our utmost to prevent Russia from winning. If we don’t, we might soon wake up in a world even more unstable, threatening and unpredictable than it was during the Cold War,” he wrote. 

The United States has provided more than $75 billion in aid to Kyiv since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of which $46 billion has been military support. Analysts have warned that a collapse in U.S. support would deal a significant blow to Ukraine. 

“We are not able to fill the gap if the U.S. pulls out,” said Ine Eriksen Soreide, chair of the Norwegian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who stressed that there would be wide-ranging ramifications if Russia were to emerge victorious. “If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wins the war, it would embolden him; it would embolden China; it would embolden Iran; it would embolden [North Korea],” Soreide said. 

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2003 - Number 35 - Slobodan River - "What a Day"

Welcome to one Estonia's enduring Eurovision legends. Slobodan River is a certain Stig Rästa's first band. He's there, looking very young indeed. Together with another Eesti Laul Eurovision name, Tomi Rahula, producer of the entire competition from 2019 to 2023. Singing is Ithaka Maria aka Maria Rahula completing the band line-up.

For all of them, this is their first time preforming at Eurolaul, but Tomi and Maria have already had two songs competing as song-writers, and one of those songs was a certain Mere Lapsed sung by Koit Toome at Eurovision giving Estonia a 12th place finish in 1998

What a Day is a Baltic indie-pop banger plagued by so much dry ice you can barely make out the backing singers or the band through the mist. Lyrically, well, it's not so subtle. This appears to be a song about alfresco canoodling and woman who seduces the mind out of the subject of the song with her beach-based sexuality. It's... ...direct and to the point.

There are a lot of long-held notes in the chorus along with a heavy rhythmic pulse and a repeating, very standard four-bar chord progression. It's a song that has to move as fast a heart can pound while Maria cries over the top of it. Maria, her red hair and white outfit is not so much the focal point of the performance, as pretty much the only thing we get to see. She seems very pleased at the end of the song.

Maybe the lyrical content or the unrelenting central progression at the song's heart were what led to it only finishing joint 7th of the 10 songs competing at Eurolaul. Obviously this was not the end of the story for any of the band. All of them were back in 2004 as Slobodan River again, thereafter they entered again as individuals, members of new bands and even more often as song-writers. Stig made it to Eurovision stage in 2015, Tomi ran Eesti Laul through some of its more successful years and Maria went on to become Miss Estonia in 2018 at the age of 39 and as a mother of 3.

Before the split up in 2006, they did release one album, 2004's Surrounded featuring many of their best known songs including this one.

[z428]

10pm and slowly on, a bit more. This time, fog seems here to stay a little longer, veiling most of the bay, most of the port, most of the infrastructure between the quay and the chalky rocks of the coast. Light dispersed by myriads of drops, air heavy with water, a lot of old stories becoming alive in the vague shapes to make it through this mist. An hour of dreams, without having fallen asleep yet.

#outerworld #later that day later that night #the baltic self

[feverinfeveroutfic]

The Red Flannel Dress | Kinktober 2023

title: master of the house

prompt: role play (courtesy of @flightlessangelwings)

pairing: alex/q (love is not enough)

word count: 3180

masterlist | ao3 🍎

Jay had quite the stories to tell for him, but there was something about Q in particular with the scars on her lower belly and the way she watched him from the other side of the bed. The broach of the taro root followed him in the corner of his eye all the way to across the Atlantic Ocean, but Q kept silent all the way to Cardiff. He knew that he had to give her something special for their brief time in Wales together.

As the plane descended over the Irish Sea followed by the lush countryside down below before the outskirts entered their view, he thought about the scars on her skin as well the ones on her psyche. Jay had scars as well, but there was something to Q, however. Something that made him glance over to the distant expression on her face as well as the frizz to her hair; when he glanced back to Jay and the peaceful slumbering expression on her own face as well as the petals of the broach, he could feel the flutter in his chest as well as his stomach. But he looked back over to Q and he could feel a slight yearning within him.

The plane touched down on the tarmac, which in turn jarred Jay awake. She adjusted her hat and showed him a smile.

“Welcome to Wales,” he told her with a smile back to her.

“I have roots here,” she replied.

“Really?” He raised his eyebrows at that.

“Oh, yeah! I’m French, Belgian, Welsh, and Irish on my mom’s side, and Scandinavian, Portuguese, and Baltic on my dad’s side.”

“Wow. That’s fascinating.”

“I’m sure your story is interesting, too,” she pointed out.

“Eh. I’m Ashkenazi Jewish. There is a hell, and we have seen it, but we know how to fight, though.”

“For thousands of years, no less,” she insisted. “

All the while, Q remained silent, and more so as they stepped off the plane and padded through the airport to the main entrance: the rest of the band was a few hours out, and thus, they had time to themselves for a while. Jay adjusted the brim of her hat and beamed up to the gray sky overhead.

“What’cha thinking about?” he asked her with a kiss on the side of her neck, and she lifted herself up onto her toes at the feeling.

“I’m gonna look around for any places we can get our paws on lingerie,” she told them with a wink. “I could also get us something to eat, too, if we’d like.”

“Yeah, we could check into our room and then we’ll join in on the walking around,” Q added. “You know how we do it over here across the Atlantic, Jay Mama.” She flashed her a wink, to which Jay puckered her lips at her in response.

“We’re gonna be at the hotel right around the corner up here—” He pointed up the street to the first corner away from the noise of the airport. “It’s got a red roof, can’t miss it.”

“I’ll be right back, baby,” Jay promised him. He gave her another kiss on the neck before she padded away from them: a fine mist fell upon their heads, all while he watched her go all the way to the corner off to the right. Once she bowed around the bend in the road, he turned his attention to Q, who remained there at his left.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked her in a soft voice.

“Of course,” she assured him, and they began walking up the street, in the opposite direction towards the hotel in question.

“Seeing as we’re in Wales, and Jay’s gone off into town, what say you and I enjoy this time to ourselves?” he suggested. “I feel like I barely know you, so I want to get to know you.”

“Oh, there’s not much, baby,” she told him with a shake of her head and shrug of her shoulders. “I’ve had my journey through the world of sex. I’ve been ill, I’ve had my heart broken many times before, my mother is a widow…”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my dad died a couple of years ago. Cancer.”

“Oh, jeez, that’s horrible,” he lamented.

“It’s been rough, but—just like Jay—I do what I can, though. I like to go back home and be with my mom, you know, just so she’s not by herself because my aunt, my uncle, my grandma, and her friends can only do so much. Jay and I both have our battle scars, and we walk through the streets in search of healing ourselves.” They reached the corner, and he led her across the street to the opposite corner. Indeed, just prior to the corner up ahead stood that bright red roof behind a cafe and a bookstore, both of which looked to be closed for the rainstorm over Wales.

“It’s funny because Jay’s actually really insecure,” she added once they reached the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

“Feeling good around me but insecure elsewhere,” he muttered.

“My mom says it’s the curse of the tomboy,” she continued. “They’re hot but they don’t realize it.”

“I knew a few girls like that,” he recalled. “Some of the best female friends I’ve ever known, too. It was like they knew how to treat me well, and they often flirted with me, too.”

“You are quite the decadent specimen, baby,” she told him as they reached the front door of the hotel. She did the honors of checking them into their room, as well as the added tidbit that Jay was to show up to the room within the next hour or so.

Their room was up on the second floor, just so it looked out to the city of Cardiff in all its coziness there under the gray of the wispy clouds from the North Sea. The dark red velvet curtains over the little square window made everything even softer and cozier. The entire room smelled of fresh linen and peppermint, accentuated by the red and white striped wallpaper of the walls and the dark red wine-colored duvet covers on the beds.

Q set her things down before the dresser on the edge of the room, and she gave her hair a gentle toss.

He peeled off his jacket and hung it up on one of the hangers on the silvery rung right next to the door. It was right then he had an idea, and thinking about it brought the butterflies to his stomach.

He was alone with Q, and it would be some time before Jay returned to them with something to eat as well as some slinky lingerie.

He bowed into the bathroom with his travel bag still slung over his shoulder, and he set it down on the floor before the bathtub. He continued to think about the scars on her lower belly, the way that they resembled to commas on her skin, as he searched around for the right shirt, the one packed at the very bottom to protect the smooth silk and fit him only one time. He took off his shirt and put that one on: the white silk hugged his slender little body, especially around his waist, while the small black buttons proved to be hard to fasten all the way up to his collar.

Thinking quickly, he cupped his hand underneath the faucet for some water, and he ran his fingers through his bangs and the plume of gray at the crown of his head, as well as the waves and ringlets all on the sides of his head. He already wore a hint of cologne on the sides of his neck, and he had a hunch that he was going to need a shower after the fact, especially with the lingerie on its way to the room.

Something caught his eye there under the basin of the sink: he took a step back to find a small box of white latex gloves there.

“Jackpot,” he whispered, and he took two for himself. He kicked off his shoes and his socks so he could have some ease in taking off his pants.

He slunk out of the bathroom with the right one on part of the way. He cocked his hip out part of the way for Q’s enjoyment; she had taken her seat on the edge of the bed with the phone directory plunked across her lap and her jacket unbuttoned so he could see the low cut blouse underneath the thin black leather. She lifted her head and gasped at the sight of him there before her.

“Oh, my,” she breathed, primarily at the sight of his smooth pearly white silk shirt.

“Latex gloves,” he said with a snap of the left glove on his wrist. “Something I’ve never seen before in a hotel room, much less a room in the United Kingdom.” He slipped one glove on, followed by another.

“When I was in the hospital, my nurse was a man,” she told him.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He was a great nurse, too. He was really gentle with me and he knew right away that I didn’t react well to morphine.”

He took a step closer to her so she could see the gloss to his curls, and she showed him a little smile.

“One thing I’ve never been able to do with a client before was role playing,” she confessed. “I don’t know, I was just never given the opportunity to do it with someone. Jay’s the role player, if you ask me. Her aunt is an actress and she was in drama club in school, so she’s good at it.”

“Her aunt’s an actress, really?”

“Yeah, she’s been in stage productions for decades. One thing Jay’s told me—and she has yet to prove this to me, like she actually has a few photographs back at home, and I’m dying to see them, too—is her aunt was actually wardrobe director for Mistress of the Dark.”

He gaped at that.

“Elvira?” he sputtered out.

“Yeah. According to her, they used to style up her dresses to where they’d stand up without the hanger. Since there were always wardrobe malfunctions, they painted her boobs black to go with the dresses themselves.”

He clasped a hand to the crown of his head.

“Fucking hell, that’s like every boy’s dream right there,” he declared, and she chuckled at that.

“I should put in an extra request for Jay to show us the money then,” she declared. He snapped the bottoms of the gloves and gave his hair a toss with the flick of his head. Q glanced over at him with a little smile on her face.

“You wanna play around and show me the inner actress in you?” she suggested.

“I’ve got the gloves on, after all,” he assured her, and he held out his hands on either side of his head, as if he prepared to perform an examination on her.

“Here—” She sauntered over to him, and she placed her fingers on the top button of his shirt. She undid his collar for him, and she followed all the way down the front of his shirt to his waist. She nudged the sides of his shirt to the sides to reveal his pale, milky skin and the sparse line of dark hair on his chest to her. That line of hair, the way it started from the middle of his chest down his belly to the waist of his pants; she licked her lips at the sight of him.

Q then took a step back to peel her jacket off all the way.

“So, you want me to be your nurse?” he asked her with a little smile.

“Be my nurse and don’t leave me in the hearse,” Q declared, to which he chuckled.

“I’m gonna need you to change your clothes, my dear,” he said to her in a low voice.

Very slowly, she took off her top, followed by her pants, the latter of which she let slide down her legs to her feet. She tossed her top over to the dresser, and she stepped out of her pants. She nudged the duvet cover back to show off the clean bedsheets underneath, and she climbed up onto the bed with her ass pointed towards him so he could have a full view of her: he licked his lips at the sight of that smooth skin on the backs of her thighs. She lay down on her side to show off her curves, and then she rested the back of her hand upon her forehead.

“Oh, my nurse! Nurse Tevye! I am in need of having my pulse taken. I think my blood sugar is a little low.”

“Allow me,” he assured her with a flash of his eyebrows and a sly smirk on his face.

He locked eyes with her as he strutted over to her; he rubbed his hands together before he put one knee up on the edge of the mattress. He crawled closer to her, and he eyed the scars on her belly, right over the delicate band of her lacy panties.

He lowered himself onto his chest so he could be face to face with the scars.

“Oh, whoa,” she blurted out.

“Tender?” he asked her, slightly concerned.

“Still.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be gentle. Besides, kisses are a better medicine than morphine.” Gingerly, he brought his lips to the scars for some tender feeling. Q groaned in her throat, and he knew that they still ached her. His lips lightly brushed against that extra soft scar tissue, and she groaned again, that time a sound he knew wasn’t a pained one.

She rolled over onto her back so he could have more control.

He nudged the waistband of her panties back to show more skin, and all the while, he kept his lips on that tender scarring.

Anything to make the pain go away for a little while.

“My patient is going to need a pelvic exam,” he said, still with that sly grin on his face.

“Please,” she begged, and she tilted her head back so she could breathe better.

He peeled her panties off a bit more to show off her hood as well as her lips. He could feel his own dick pressing against the denim inside of his pants, and he knew he would have to act quick. To ease the pressure on himself, he unbuttoned his pants and let them fall down his legs, down the side of the bed and onto the floor.

He snapped off the left glove and slipped it over his dick to act as makeshift protection once she was ready. He licked his lips and brought his head to the rim of her hood. She gasped at the feeling.

“Did you shave, nurse?” she asked him.

“Not yet,” he replied. “Is it too much?”

“No—it’s not enough,” she insisted. “Give it to me, my naughty nurse. Get on top. It’s your turn to get on top.”

With another lick of his lips, he slithered his tongue inside. He lightly tapped the head of her clit, and she immediately bucked her hips. With his gloved hand, he held her still on the mattress.

He slipped his tongue out to give a lick to her lips. His tongue wandered inside and she gasped again at the feeling. It wasn’t as intense as the caress on her clit, but he continued with it to tease her. Her lips were smooth and warm, and he squinted his eyes open to see her clit right in front of his face.

He slipped his tongue out of her lips for another lick of her clit. She once again bucked her hips at the feeling: her chest heaved, rose and fell at the feeling, but her lips were still not pink enough yet.

Another stroke of his tongue on her lips, and that time with his eyes open all the way to see her face. She raised her head enough to lock eyes with him, albeit for a moment. A brief thought shot through his mind, one that told him he should also work this magic on Jay when she returned, but for now, he was with Q.

He was with Q and treating her to something that she so desperately yearned for in those dark moments, between the loss of her father and the fear of succumbing to cancer on her own part.

He could feel the electricity up his spine, especially when he tapped the head of her clit extra hard. Q yelped out from the sensation, and he slipped his tongue out yet again. He adjusted the glove on his dick, which had grown even fuller from her own pleasure.

“We’re gonna need to prescribe a heavy duty painkiller, darling Q,” he told her in a husky voice. “Something that kicks morphine’s ass one way and the other.”

Careful not to hurt her, he straddled her hips from the edge of the bed, and he very gently pushed his protected dick into her lips. It was tricky given the fingers of the glove, but he could do it. He thrust slowly and gently into her: Q locked eyes with him, and she breathed harder. He had no idea if it was from the sight of him or the feeling of him, but it made no difference to him. He was giving it to her.

He was giving it to her, and when he had been on the bottom most of the time this whole time.

His face flushed as he knew he was about to reach the top on his end.

“Harder,” she blurted out. “Harder!”

He thrusted harder, and through the protection of the latex, he could feel she was even wetter and softer from before. He had already made her come twice with the licks on her clit, but now he was about to do it himself. He barred his teeth and raised up before he came all inside of the glove. He nearly fell onto his back on the floor, but he caught himself and flopped face down onto the bed next to her, out of breath. His damp hair spread over his face, and he could feel the sweat on the side of his forehead.

She lay down on the side of his body and kissed the side of his neck.

“You did so good,” she whispered into his ear. “So very good.” She then lifted off of him and climbed off the bed.

“There’s Jay with the food and the lingerie,” she said, out of breath. He closed his eyes and listened to the door opening, followed by their whispers to each other. They giggled at something, and then he felt Jay gently patting his bare ass.

“He’s gonna have hell of a time after dinner tonight,” was all he heard right then.

[amwritesitall]

Assigning the Sarahs Imaginary Authors Perfumes

Niche content from yours truly. I did spend a lot of time contemplating this though. Also, the "notes" and "when to wear" section is from imaginary authors website

Masterlist

Billie Dean Howard

Fragrance Name: Whispered Myths

Notes: Natural Cambodian Oud, Cantaloupe, Cedarwood, Muskdana, Honey, Salvaged Shipwreck

When to Wear: This is a classic scent with deep historic undertones. It is long-lasting, bold, and artful. Wear it with reverence and appreciate your dynamic place in this big, crazy world.

Lana Winters

Fragrance Name: Slow Explosions

Notes: Saffron, Rose Absolute, Leather, Apple, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Arpora Night Market

When to Wear: With pops of rose and hits of saffron, this scent explodes on the skin and awakens the senses. Every inhale will open you up to the idea of escape, push you to take risks, and embolden you to get truly lost. Let us know how it goes.

Cordelia Goode

Fragrance Name: Saint Julip

Notes: Sweet Mint, Tangerine, Southern Magnolia, Bourbon, Grisalva, Sugarcube

When to Wear: When the weight of the world seems too much to bear, a prayer to Saint Julep will not only soothe, it will give you the aplomb to keep marching forward.

Bette and Dot

Fragrance Name: Yesterday Haze

Notes: Fig, Iris, Cream, Tonka, Tree Bark, Walnut Bitters, Orchard Dust

When to Wear: The seductive, dreamlike quality of this scent works like a magnet. Use it liberally during the day and, as it lingers into night, watch as those around you are lured into your sphere.

Sally McKenna

Fragrance Name: A City on Fire

Notes: Cade oil, Spikenard, Cardamom, Clearwood, Dark Berries, Labdanum, Burnt Match

When to Wear: The refined smoke accord makes this an austere and luxurious scent for evenings on the town, whether with a special someone or alone and looking for trouble.

Audrey Tindall

Fragrance Name: Sundrunk

Notes: Neroli, Rhubarb, Honeysuckle, Rose Water, Orange Zest, First Kiss

When to Wear: The obvious choice is to plunge into this scent at the peak of summer, allowing the cool citrus to wash your worries away. Less obvious is to douse yourself in the darker months, letting your skin soak up the sun and radiate it outward when it matters most.

Ally Mayfair-Richards

Fragrance Name: Fox in the Flowerbed

Notes: Jasmine, Tulips, Frankincense, Wildflower Honey, Pink Peppercorns, Silver Thistle, Alpine Air

When to Wear: Wearing this floral wonder will amplify the beauty in everything. It’s a versatile scent, doubling as a mood-lifter during the day and bringing an ethereal elegance to nights out. Don't be led astray by the name, there is nothing animalic or off-putting about this scent.

Wilhemina Venable

Fragrance Name: O, Unknown!

Notes: Black Tea, Lapsang Souchong Tincture, Orris Butter, Kyoto Moss, Musk Balsam, Sandalwood, ???

When to Wear: At the risk of sounding bleak, this night could be your last. Splash on O, Unknown! and plunge forth into prosperity and joy. Repeat as often as you are able.

Mildred Ratched

Fragrance Name: Every Storm a Serenade

Notes: Danish Spruce, Eucalyptus, Vetiver, Calone, Ambergris, Baltic Sea Mist

When to Wear: Don’t be detoured by perceptions of ambergris, this is an everyday scent for those with discriminating taste.

Harriet Hayes

Fragrance Name: Memoirs of a Trespasser

Notes: Madagascar Vanilla, Guaiacwood, Myrrh, Benzoin Resin, Ambrette Seeds, Oak Barrels

When to Wear: A true adventure scent, wear Memoirs of a Trespasser when traveling, and again when you’re back home to conjure comforting memories.

Alice Macray

Fragrance Name: Telegrama

Notes: Talc, Lavender Absolute, Black Pepper, Teak, Amyris, Vanilla Powder, Fresh Linens

When to Wear: Inspired by a vintage first-class experience, this plush scent has the ability to turn even the most ordinary day into something dignified and memorable. Indulge often.

[upmala]

midsummer morning mist in the flower garden

[voninsterburg]

[tgarnsl]

WIP Wednesday Friday:

From my Flight of the Heron Roman au. Below the cut for rambling.

A/N: still not entirely happy with Keith’s Roman name but for the sake of place holding it’s Gaius, and Ewen is Wennos.

—

A heavy mist lay over the forest, out of which the trees loomed like shades, their skeletal branches catching at Gaius’ cloak as he pressed on, weary, footsore, yet filled with the certainty of the huntsman that the quarry he had tracked for days lay only just ahead. There, beyond the oak, just by the stream — Gaius pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it in preparation as he carefully stepped closer and drew.

The stag was magnificent, its coat the rich colour of dark Baltic amber, its eyes liquid and huge. The antlers crowning its head were the smooth, dark colour of a stag’s in autumn, curving upwards and dividing into sixteen tines, each as sharp as a spear and as pale as bone. Yet all was not well. The stag stepped forward to meet the edge of the stream, and Gaius could see that it was limping and badly wounded, its left hind leg stained deep red with blood that must have come from a terrible gash. Whatever had inflicted the wound had not finished the work, and Gaius knew, without understanding, that the life of this stag was not his to take. As the creature dipped its head to drink, Gaius lowered his bow, returning his arrow to the quiver.

When the stag raised its head once more, Gaius saw that it had changed. The creature before him was not a stag at all, but a man, naked save for the pelt of a stag across his back. The ink designs that graced his body were shifting, the red and black lines twisting and changing shape. A crown of antlers graced the stag’s brow, from which his hair flowed unbound to his shoulders, its colour the same as the pelt of the stag. Like the creature before him, he was injured, and badly, scarce able to stand for the wound in his thigh, gaping red and horrible. The sharp snap of a branch caused the man-stag to turn, and Gaius’ breath caught in his lungs, for the man before him now was Wennos of the Eagle Clan, his blue eyes wide. Yet he did not seem to see Gaius standing there, for his eyes were fixed on a distant point beyond, and Gaius understood now that the look on Wennos’ face was not that of surprise, but of fear — the look of the animal which has sighted the wolves. Gaius could hear them now: a chorus of cries that turned his veins to ice. His eyes met Wennos’ at last, and saw the desperate plea within those blue depths. But what could he do? There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The wolves were so close…

Gaius woke, his head aching, slumped over his papers, the oil lamp smoking and guttering, casting strange shadows on the wall. He rubbed his eyes. No more than a dream, he told himself. The work of putting down rebellion was always taxing, it was no wonder that his dreams should trouble him so. Yet as he rose from his desk, he saw for a moment a shadow on the wall that made him pause — the shadow of a man with a crown of antlers.

[fushiyu-ningiyo-port]

Baltic Pantheon: Dievas

So firstly, this is just my own modern take on the Baltic mythological God, I have way more sketches made. But I introduce you to - Dievas, the highest God in the Baltic pantheon. When speaking about this God, he/she/they (plural and singular) all work, as Dievas has no single form.

Now onto the story I made around Dievas.

“The Story of Creation”

In the vast empty void, Dievas floated in it. In a sudden crack of anger and paranoia, they created the universe with a massive explosion. In a day, that by human standards, lasted billions of years the planetary systems and life was created.

Dievas once again saw that their destructive tendency crated perfection. And that’s when they noticed the Earth, populated by a variety of animals. This is where she felt sad, as no creation was evident on this planet. Thus, from the soil he formed man and woman.

The perfect dichotomy, perfect balance. The two first humans were hailed as the highest magnum opus Dievas had created. The purest form of their being condensed in flesh. Lovingly, Dievas let the humans roam the Earth, being overjoyed at seeing them create art, buildings and other materia.

There was only one request: “You have been given eternal life, plentiful fruit, but you must not touch the eternal fire”.

The eternal fire was a gift to every single planet - the partial remains of Dievas. It is the ethereal materia that fed from the misery and pain from the world, cleansing it from such experiences.

The man and woman knew nothing of this. For hundreds of years they lived on the planet until their curiosity got the better of them.

Humanity finally held the sacred fire. But that was a grave mistake.

With their touch, the eternal fire fizzled out and died. The wisdom and pain of the fire was absorbed by humanity, the link with Dievas was broken.

With that single action, the sky turned crimson as whails of despair shook from the planet, death and suffering flooded the Earth.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Dievas as their screeching from the skies pierced the ears of the living.

Devine anger struck from the skies. The black squiggly mist began to disappear from the Dievas face, every step taken on the mortal realm left dead land behind them.

At the peak of their anger, the mist dissipated …

“The Devine light has been severed from these lands!”

The very essence of life was sucked away beneath their being. Any bits of soil turning to sand as revenge.

But Dievas was beyond angry. His light was absorbed by humanity. Her connection severed from her joy. Their being killed by their own creation.

As retaliation, they took the woman and man…

Dievas ripped their bodies apart. From their tendons they weaved new humans. In pain, her hands sewn the parts of woman to man. In revenge, he reassembled parts of man to woman. The perfect balanced was severed. New humanity was a chaotic mesh of their former creation.

But after Dievas calmed down, they looked at what they had done in a fit of rage, feeling shame and regret they fled off to not set foot on Earth again. That is when the other Gods were created - to manage Earth for them.

Dievas feared that their restructuring of humanity meant that their creation was doomed to die off in misery…

But Dievas forgot that their hands were created to keep balance. Everything done always leads to perfection.

The new humanity, even though restructured, was just as perfect. Man fell in love with woman, man with man, woman with woman. But even more so - humanity broke the very essence of the dichotomy introduced by Dievas. Humans were not tangled by the idea of man and woman, humanity broadened what it means to be human and what that experience would entail.

Dievas could only look with curiosity as their destruction of the binary balance created a spectrum of experience that created equilibrium in itself.

Once again the God could be proud of their creation, having created something more complex, something more… perfect.

[skeppsbrott]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers💖 (no pressure though! <3)

Bright summer nights in the archipelago: standing at the cliffs and watching the wind calm down outside the natural harbour once the sun has set: the disturbing of still water and quiet air as bodies leap across and off the docks to splash and cheer in the never-warm-enough baltic sea: the clicking of ropes against the masts in the wind: leaving the towels hanging on the boom overnight because the mist has already set in: knit sweaters and bare legs and feet under blankets and plastic glasses of whiskey: mosquitos and the keen awareness that tomorrow this hour will be a little bit darker: the occasional splash of a fish.

My friends in my home, talking and laughing to one another, eating food I have cooked for them.

Alone in my home, my photos and pieces of scrap spread out over my bed and table, piecing together the time that has passed since I last sat down with the work. Putting everything in chronological order, organizing the binders, taping and glueing and cutting papers and bits and pieces of my life together, flipping through it with dry glue on my fingers.

The tension backstage before the curtains come up for premiere.

A good night out: the excitement and takeout and drinks before: looking your best with your friends and affirming each other: walking through the city like you own it: talking loud on the bus or subway: the buzz of energy at the bar: the collective movement of bodies at the club: the strobes and smoke and dense sound: the liberated body: the sense of possibility: looking at people and being looked at: bumming a cigarette in the cold night outside and telling strangers they look good: daring to entertain the idea of the body next to you following you past tonight: kissing your friends good bye: walking alone through the city at night: the glamorous couples holding hands on the subway and the crowds of just-legal-teenagers looking for mischief: the drunk girls giving up on their lipstick with their midnight meals: the sun rising as I re-enter the serene space of my home.

[ebayjz-blog]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KwreVujyPujfakE1oWB_6ouv80-VVhfKJhSLBFa2ePc/edit?usp=drivesdk

Show respect to your parents who are Wii-We-The-Many(PRIMORDIAL-PRIMEVAL-Creators'-Vessel)-I-Joseph-Alexander-Mannino-Zerilli-10-08-1984-Primordial-Primeval-Creators'-Vessel; Primordial Entities, Primordial Deities, Progenitors, Primeval Entities, First-Generation Primordials, Cosmic Entities, Higher Divinities, Expert Reality-Warpers, Multi-Dimensional Travelers, Kabbalah (Abrahamic), Protogenoi (Greco-Roman), Kotoamatsukami (Japanese), Ogdoad (Egyptian), Second-Generation of The Pre-existentials

Primordial Creators

Kabbalah (Abrahamic)

God - Abrahamic Primordial 'God' of Existence, Light, Good, Purity, Heaven, Order and Creation

Ayin - Abrahamic Primordial 'Goddess' of Non-Existence, Darkness, Evil, Impurity, Hell, Nothingness and Chaos

Barbelo - Abrahamic Primordial of Silence

Life - Primordial Entity of Life

Death - Primordial Entity of Death

The Darkness - Abrahamic Primordial 'Goddess' of Nothingness, Emptiness, Darkness and the Night

Protogenoi

Khaos - Pagan Primordial God of the Void, Nothingness and Creation.

Dʰéǵʰōm - Proto-Indo-European Primordial Goddess of the Earth and the Land

Dyēus - Proto-Indo-European Primordial God of the Sky and the Heavens

Chronos - Greek Primordial God of Time

Nyx - Greek Primordial Goddess of the Night

Erebus - Greek Primordial God of Darkness and Mist

Aether - Greek Primordial God of Light and the Upper Sky

Amor - Greek Primordial God of Love

Tartarus - Greek Primordial God of the Abyss (the Underworld)

Hýdros - Greek Primordial God of the Ocean, Sea and Water

Thésis - Greek Primordial Goddess of the Earth, Creation and Donation

Hemera - Greek Primordial Goddess of the Day

Pontus - Greek Primordial God of the Sea

Achlys - Greek Primordial Goddess of the Mist of Death and the Eternal Night

Ananke - Greek Primordial Goddess of Inevitability, Compulsion and Necessity

Aion - Greek Primordial God of the Ages

Caligo - Greek Primordial Goddess of the Abyss

Norse Primordials

Búri - Norse Æsir Primordial God of Creation

Ymir - Norse Jötnar Primordial God of Ice

Surtr - Norse Jötunn Primordial God of Fire

Auðumbla - Norse Primordial Creature of the Beginning

Ginnungagap - Norse Primordial Void

Ogdoad (Egyptian Primordials)

Nun - Egyptian Primordial God of the Watery Abyss and Masculine version of Naunet

Bennu - Egyptian Primordial God of Rebirth

Aten - Egyptian Primordial God of the Fire

Mehet-Weret - Egyptian Primordial Goddess of the Sky

Amun - Egyptian Primordial God of All Things Hidden and Masculine version of Amunet

Heh - Egyptian Primordial God of Infinity and Eternity and Masculine version of Hauhet

Kek - Egyptian Primordial God of the Darkness and the Day and Masculine version of Kauket

Qerḥ - Egyptian Primordial Snake God of the Night and Masculine version of Qerḥet

Mesopotamian Primordials

Abzu - Babylonian Primordial God of the Fresh Water

Tiamat - Babylonian Primordial Goddess of the Salt Water, the Ocean, the Primordial Chaos and Dragons

Nammu - Sumerian Primordial Goddess of Water, Life and Creation

Kotoamatsukami (Japanese Primordials)

Amenominakanushi - Shinto Primordial God of Creation and Control

Kami-Musubi - Shinto Primordial Goddess of Creation and Divinity

Takami-Musubi - Shinto Primordial Goddess of Creation and Conquest

Umashi'ashikabihikoji - Shinto Primordial God of Energy

Amenotokotachi - Shinto Primordial God of the Heavens

Hindu Primordials

Brahman - Hindu Primordial God of the Highest Universal Principle

Atman - Hindu Primordial God of the True Self of the Individual

Shakti - Hindu Primordial Goddess of Cosmic Energy of Existence

Mahadevi - Hindu Primordial Goddess of the Soul of Existence

Pralaya - Hindu Primordial of the Void

Aztec Primordials

Ōmeteōtl - Aztec Primordial God of Fertility, Nature and Duality

Cipactli - Aztec Primordial Eldritch Monster of the Primeval Seas

Finnish and Baltic Primordials

Ilmatar - Finnish Primordial Goddess of Chastity and the Air

Zoroastrian Primordials

Ahura Mazda - Zoroastrian Primordial God of Benevolence, Light, Creation and Wisdom

Angra Mainyu - Zoroastrian Primordial God of Malevolence, Darkness, Destruction and Chaos

Zurvan - Zoroastrian Primordial God of Neutrality, Duality, Infinitude and Space-Time

Other Primordials

Ouroboros - Primordial Dragon of Infinity

Ozgon - Primordial Entity of Fear

Father Time - Primordial Entity of Time

HWML and HWMD - Primordial Old God of Light and Darkness

Bondyé - Primordial God of Creation, Kindness, Goodness and Honesty

Primeval Creators

Aztec

Huitzilopochtli - Sun Primeval

Quetzalcoatl - Wisdom Primeval

Tezcatlipoca - Night Primeval

Xipe Totec - Agricultural Primeval

Chinese

Shenlong - Storm Primeval

Egyptian

Apep - Chaos Primeval

Atum - Creation Primeval

Khnum - Nile Primeval

Neith - Fertility Primeval

Ra - Sun Primeval

Thoth - Wisdom Primeval

Greek

Aphrodite - Love Primeval

Atropos - Moirai/Fate Primeval

Charon - Underworld Primeval

Clotho - Moirai/Fate Primeval

Eris - Discord Primeval

Geras - Aging Primeval

Hypnos - Dream Primeval

Keres - Death Primeval

Lachesis - Moirai/Fate Primeval

Momus - Misery Primeval

Moros - Doom Primeval

Nemesis - Retribution Primeval

Oizys - Misery Primeval

Thanatos - Death Primeval

Hindu

Brahma - Trimurti Primeval of Creation

Vishnu - Trimurti Primeval of Preservation

Shiva - Trimurti Primeval of Destruction

Saraswati - Tridevi Primeval of Knowledge, Music, Art, Wisdom and Nature

Lakshmi - Tridevi Primeval of Wealth, Fortune, Power, Beauty, Fertility and Auspiciousness

Parvati - Tridevi Primeval of Sex, Love, Beauty, Marriage, Children and Devotion

Kamiyonanayo (Japanese)

Kuninotokotachi - Creator Primeval

Toyokumunu - Cloud Primeval

Uhijini - Mud Primeval

Suhijini - Mud Primeval

Tsunuguhi - Animal Primeval

Ikuguhi - Plant Primeval

Ohotonoji - Sexuality Primeval

Ohotonobe - Sexuality Primeval

Omodaru - Completion Primeval

Ayakashikone - Completion Primeval

Norse

Borr - Aesir Primeval

Bestla - Aesir Primeval

Mesopotamian

Enki - Sea Primeval

Ninhursag - Mother and Fertility Primeval

Enlil - Air Primeval

Ninlil - Air Primeval

Damgalnuna - Motherhood and Fertility Primeval

Canaanite

Asherah - Fertility Primeval

Astarte - Love Primeval

Bethel

Dagon - Agriculture Primeval

El - Creator Primeval

Gebal

Other

Sara la Kali - Primeval Salvation

Mithra - Primeval Frienship

Ahriman - Primeval Desserts

Angra Mainyu - Primeval Evil

Ahura Mazda - Primeval Good

[spoekelse]

THE LIVERY OF PROTEUS

On a Scandinavian promontory fretted by a gray sea whose waters are never utterly tranquil, stands a forgotten stimulus, and the crudely set architecture of a cyclopean memorial. Sometimes the girdling ocean heaves slowly in long swells, and out of the white mists that wrap about its breast comes a low moan, as if a multitudinous dead lying within its sombre depths was stir- ring restlessly, and complaining through a heavy sleep. Rarely its surface shimmers into quick ripples ; often the storm-wind tramples over its wrinkled face, and towering walls of dark water crested with white, come roaring in wild succession to burst upon the shore and, sweeping far up the strand, hiss among the dunegrass and smite with javelins of spray, the dumb witness of dead men signalling down the clangorous years of change.

All the magic of ancient legend and shadowy history lingers about the solitary mounds and tumbled menhirs, many an one such as this, to be seen arching up against the sky-line from the bare fell-sides of the countries of northern Europe: eastward from Ire- land to the Baltic strand.

Love and devotion built them ; and before the driven brine was launched against them in aerial attack, salt tears had fallen upon them ; and from their freshly heaped sides were tossed back upon the night, wild farewells and the flaring lights of failing torches. In fear and defiance their runic characters were graven ; that memory of the dead might not pass from time; nor knowledge of their hardly-won faiths, which upheld them above the brute-beast, from succour of the generation of men—devoured by the laughing mystery of the ocean; and the travailing of deep with deep as some shuddering purpose went forth to unfold.

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