#those body waves...

[deathsmallcaps]

*Pixie Dust or no

Personally, I’m a Peter Pan type girl. And in every dream I convince myself that I’ve actually always been able to do it and I just have to get in the right mindset to do it. And every time I do I wake up slightly convinced I can still do it <3

[i-am-very-heck]

heeyyyy guys.... look outside ocs just dropped :]

we have Jeebies Deeby, a conspiracy loving ghost/cryptid hunter, on the left and P-K Etherton, a hobby herbalist, on the right. both use they/them, jeebies uses gamer additionally while p-k uses dude.

lore + additional drawings about them under the cut :]

these two, besties for gods know how long, live in the apartment's basement together. on the night of the visitor's arrival P-K was in the middle of letting a centipede they had caught outside. both they and the little bug had witnessed it and fused, dude's own panic not helping their situation at all. they called out in agony to their roommate to put on protective wear and don't look out any windows.

and so, Jeebies puts on the most protective piece of clothing they own. Their ghost hunting disguise, constructed with thick fabrics would make sure no flesh was exposed. Gamer quickly checks on P-K only to see, well... that. Hunched over the hastily shut windowsill and still actively transforming was definitely their companion. Thankfully, dude stayed lucid.

This whole thing got Jeebies thinking though, and despite P-K's attempts to stop them, gamer eventually did look outside too, joining dude in being a freak.

better image of what they've got going on under there btdubs. the tongues are prehensile and kind of like a chameleons, so they can latch on quickly and pull you in if wanted ↓

↓ and that is a doodle of once P-K found out Jeebs looked out there

I imagine you can get Jeebies as a door encounter and they're asking around on visitor stuff, and later can find the apartment with both of them chilling. you can find a pinboard with theories and stuff and also a little herb growing shelf and other shit.

[deoidesign]

someone asked me what if adam and steve switched vampire and werewolf...

And then since my monsters are purposefully not much visually different because of metaphors, I went more traditional vampire and werewolf...

and then I got carried away...

[impossiblefeat]

[galehowl]

Man it'd be fun to sketch out some evolution sequences for the main group Digis, at least for the Child->Adult forms, because I imagine them being quite individual in visuals, but I'm not able to draw something like that lol, Idk how to show the needed effects

[ruined-sketchbook]

Roman and Remus + Remus' tattoo for my TMA/TSS AU I've been brainrotting over (breakdown for the tattoo under the cut)

One of the things I found out while concerning my FBI agent was that a lot of people don't like to taxidermy pets/aren't happy with their taxidermied pet because they don't tend to look right/like themselves afterward...all this to say Remus was definitely convinced Roman got bodysnatched before he found out what ACTUALLY happened.

(Tagging @lickoutyourbrains and @glacierruler hope that's okay)

[lokijiro]

Frigga keeping Loki indoors a lot during the summer, making sure to cover him with sunscreen and watch him closely whenever he goes out. This results in a very pale Loki at the end of summer, whereas Thor is brown and freckled.

[micamicster]

Last night Somebody (who shall remain nameless) went through my entire destiel tag all the way back to November 5th 2020 and let me just say Godspeed soldier 🫡

[bogos-bint3d]

Have I ever told you guys about my favourite physical stim which is walking and moving and talking like a video game character

[sweetevoltrap]

Fantasizing about long wavy hair on Rafayel while rotating him.

[bluberimufim]

The Caretos of Podence

Happy Carnaval!! Time for another cultural ramblie because I haven't done this in a while!!

(I just think they're cool)

This was originally gonna be about multiple Carnaval traditions in Portugal, like my Halloween post, because I wanted to talk about a really beautiful festivity in my city but then I realized it was related to an entirely different holiday and I wasn't gonna scrap this idea (I'll do that one in August, I guess??). So I decided to make a post about the Caretos of Podence because I just really vibed with them.

disclaimer! None of this is from lived experience, just online research (although I tried to use sources directly related to it, specifically the Casa do Careto website). I am not from Trás-os-Montes at all and have little contact with this. Just like in my first cultural ramblie, this is just me trying to better connect with my own culture and sharing what I find with anyone who's interested. If you see any errors or want to add anything, feel free!! I'm always happy to learn!

Okay, but before we begin: what exactly is Carnaval?

You might have heard of Brazil's Carnaval. Portugal's is way less hardcore but still culturally important (although some brazillian-style Carnavais are celebrated here).

The actual day of Carnaval is the day before Ash Wednesday, but it usually lasts about a week or 3 days in more urban areas (Carnaval break is a real thing that schools have). The general objective is to have an all-out celebration before Lent starts because, after that, you're not supposed to celebrate until Easter rolls around.

The Caretos

The village of Podence is in the middle of Trás-os-Montes, somewhat between Mirandela and Miranda do Douro. It is mostly known for this celebration, which lasts for about a week.

The name "caretos" means something like "big faces" and comes from their very recognizable masks. They're made of either leather or metal and are meant to completely obscure the identity of the wearer. The costumes are made of rows of coloured wool and are usually made by the community. The red, yellow, and green pattern is not mandatory and it can have many different colours, but it's the most common since it's the colours of the flag. On top of the costume, they wear a lot of bells: smaller ones attached to the straps on their chest and 4 to 8 bigger cowbells tied around their waist.

During the celebration, the caretos dance through the town, accompanied by the jingling of their bells. Traditionally, the caretos were young men who chased after single women, but today anyone can wear the costume and chase after anyone they please. They also go around stealing any easily grabbable chorizos left hanging from smokehouses, and use wooden staffs to propel their jumps higher.

On the last day of Carnaval, the Entrudo (a giant figure of a man) is burnt to draw away the bad things of the old year and let in the next. Like this:

This celebration has pagan roots, although none really know exactly where its origins lie. People seem to point to it being a pre-roman festivity, but we have few sources to go from. The most probable explanation is that it was a fertility ritual connected to the agricultural cycle, since this is generally the time in which farmers can start planting again after the winter.

I hope you enjoyed this little ramble. Because I very much did. Here's some more pictures:

[keeps-ache]

[walking around, peering into people's faces like i'm in an art exhibit] hm. nice

[foxcassius]

i was bored to death at work on friday and wrote out some oc thoughts on marnin and selp and their personalities and i want to reiterate/summarize them here too

marnin is, first and foremost, careful, nervous, and guilty—he is quick to blame himself in any situation and is as careful as he possibly can be, especially around selp (when he is of his own mind). however, marnin is also curious and obsessive, and these things can build up and like consume his thoughts and cause him to act impulsively and without thinking. as careful as marnin tries to be in toeing the lines of their weird relationship, he is DEEPLY curious about everything about selp and of such an obsessive personality (and the two of them being isolated together doesnt really help keep his mind straight either) that he ends up crossing lines he normally wouldnt and then wallowing in guilt about it later. his guilty conscience also keeps him from picking up consciously on the signals selp puts out that beg him over the hazy, unclear lines between them; he picks up those hints only unconsciously, as they feed into his obsession, curiosity, and want.

selp, however, is putting out those signals at almost all times. for all that marnin is careful and reserved, selp is possessive and analytical and jealous. these might not be the first words you would use to describe him upon meeting him (or upon reading the story he features in), but they are his deepest and some of his strongest personality traits, especially in regards to the relationship he and marnin share. don't get me wrong, he tries to be careful with marnin. he knows marnin well and becomes very quickly acquainted with marnin's anxiety and conscience. this is why he doesnt push or act himself, usually. he doesnt want to frighten or distress marnin. but selp is obsessive to a whole other degree. marnin wants to know things; selp NEEDS to know every last thing about marnin in his efforts to "have" and "keep" him. it is why, especially in the beginning, selp takes so many more liberties asking questions, touching and investigating marnin physically, and making decisions for him. once they are on the ship alone among the stars and the boundaries between them begin to blur and selp sees how much this confuses and distresses marnin, that is when he takes more of a backseat role and encourages, flirts, asks leading, dangerous questions, and utilizes this new body language he has never tapped into before but that marnin reacts to. as little as selp understands the physical draw he feels, due to it not being a thing at all in olss culture, he thoroughly enjoys each heightening moment of intimacy between them and truly it is a feat of his restraint that he manages to maintain his more passive role as his need and obsession and desire to "have" increase as their encounters cross further and further into the realm of the sexual. i would say, especially in some of these ways, selp is manipulative, though i would try to argue he never goes too far with his manipulation, and marnin's guilt is entirely his own creation, as selp is always quick to assure him that 1) theyve done nothing wrong, marnin has done nothing wrong and 2) they BOTH acted, mutually

marnin is walking repression and restraint carrying simmering want that is forced to build and bubble over in outbursts that cause him, after the fact, to panic and apologize and beat himself up. selp is a vibrating, horny 600 year old who doesn't even know what sex is but wants it so so bad but restrains himself tremuously, waiting until marnin is on his wavelength and then sending out a steady stream of sub-atomic invitations to partake of his flesh. and they were made for each other.

[jrueships]

i think abt the fact that jaba literally has cute dimples, and nobody even knows or gives a fuck bcs the grumpy bitch never smiles, alot. all the time, actually. in my terrarium

[scalproie]

kazzy dont say thaaat

[twilightichor]

𝐂𝐋𝐗𝐕𝐈. This is a topic I've been wanting to address ever since I finished the Chenyu Vale questline, but never knew what to make of it due to the fact that it was novel... in a way. Before diving in, I want to preface that this will be surrounding the premise: What does pure blood Khaenri'ahn special? So if you see me digressing until I reach to that point, do bear with me. I will.

Something that caught my attention first is the few nods we get throughout the questline as we advance that there were other creatures there before gods came to Liyue, creatures grander or less grander that would be called Adepti which, in essence, is just a title and not something that one is born as. This isn't anything groundbreaking as it is obvious that dragons and their brethren existed before Phanes' arrival to Teyvat, but it was a curious indicator to me nonetheless that other kinds of creatures existed alongside them, pure elemental beings that have other shapes that aren't limited to dragons (Nahida's second quest comes in handy here, a reminder that the form a being takes doesn't matter, what does matter is their essence, their spirit). But to this there is an additional layer when Fujin argues that humans, creatures artificially created by Phanes to dwell Teyvat, have an innocence not so dissimilar from that which these creatures that existed before have.

To put a small parenthesis before continuing, I want to point out that Lingyuan mentions four reasons that the actions of any living creature follow: natural principles, logic, emotions or anyone's orders. And so she poses a question to the traveler and the traveler asks another question in a one for one deal: Those that come from nature will, for some reason, go against nature— against the laws nature originally followed. Will humans also go against humanity, against the principles they initially followed, for certain reasons?

If human activities are part of the laws of nature... How would you [Lingyuan] view humanity?

The answer she provides to this question is precisely what I want to bring to attention: Humans were part of nature in the distant past, but they aren't any longer. This whole questline explained more in depth about the Archon War, about the times that used to be like back then down to the human behavior and coexistence with nature and its creatures. We know at this point that the Archon War took place after the Apocalypse and that it became a turning point in several aspects hard to miss at a worldly level.

As another parenthesis, we know of the existence of the primordial sea from which all life came in a natural manner, that used to be on the surface before the world was altered (possibly when Phanes and the four shining shades won the war against the dragon sovereigns for the first time, as a result of the Apocalypse or both) and that the energy it contains isn't just hydro (raw or broken down to make it simpler, as it was stated in the event that took place in Enkanomiya that elements exist in simpler and more complex forms), but (an)other kind of energy(ies). Neuvillette, as a dragon sovereign and a creature that resides in the realm of light has an affinity for light, but it is interesting to think that upon reclaiming his authority, both pneuma and ousia coexist within him without posing any danger to his health even if there have been various instances in which these elements were described as independent elements but mutually virulent if they interact. Which begs the question: Could it be that within the primordial sea there is ousia energy too? Even better yet: is it possible that there was a time when what we know as the Abyss wasn't toxic to anything of Teyvat, but eventually something turned it so?

On the topic of humans specifically, it was Phanes who created them, but we also know because of Neuvillette that, unless what he did is limited to Oceanids, it is also possible to alter their inner constitution significantly as they live without going through the process of birth and have the resulting humans with the change that was done, following the same principle Phanes did to create humans. To go back to Lingyuan's words that humans used to be part of nature but they aren't anymore, what makes me wonder is if during or after the Apocalypse humans in general underwent a significant change in their constitution that those who later on would come to be pure blood Khaenri'ahns didn't. As for what this change could be, I think it might be related to the elemental energy.

Because we learn from Dottore's study documents of the Eleazar (highly likely tied with abyssal energy) that humans possess elemental levels of energy innately. And he also discovered that the higher these levels are, the more dangerous and aggressive the effects of Eleazar are on said individuals. This could be a result of the abyssal energy consuming elemental energy, and how dangerous it can be of pure elemental energies even from the light realm as vishaps and dragons are. The reason why I think this could be a plausible reason to determine the purity of a Khaenri'ahns blood or lack of thereof is that in the beginning, perhaps these humans were created in a way that they have at least a higher tolerance to the abyssal energy which, as I mentioned earlier, could've been an actual part of Teyvat before and as we currently know it is star-devouring. While I have no doubt that human life was possible in Khaenri'ah due to the studies they must've made of the abyss alongside medicine, fauna and flora there was incompatible with life— so there is a possibility that humans struggled with sicknesses akin to Eleazar unless there is a tolerance that either reduces this vulnerability or erases it completely.