#blog ethos

[howgaytobequeer]

And once you know what vital services these 'ugly' plants are providing, isn't that beautiful?

I'm also reminded of how, whenever you're making art, at some point in the process the piece is going to look butt-ugly. Ask any artist of any medium. But these 'ugly' drafts and sketches and ingredients are necessary for the final piece to be what the artist wants it to be.

[limewashedup]

sketches from the early retirement au ;)

[tango-but-everywhere]

bogos binted?

mumbo, wild life 5

[ID: a minecraft screenshot from within the spanners’ tnt minecart tower. from left to right, impulse, pearl and tango are all facing the viewer, though pearl is looking at tango. end ID]

[howgaytobequeer]

Unironically, getting into something like iNaturalist and making a goal to make at least one observation a day has helped me a lot with this kind of thinking.

I don't always make my goal, like when the weather or my health prevents me from going out, but it does help.

"There's no wildlife here. The land is barren and stripped from farming chemicals"

I just saw two blue herons fly super low over our house, which means they've been fishing in the creek behind us, which means there's fish there. Which means there's bugs to feed the fish and algae to feed the bugs, which means the water and soil is worth something damnit.

Yes, I'm sorry the suburb isn't the grand, sweeping swath of uninhabited land that you so desperately crave but would learn to loathe, but saying that the land here is barren and that there's no wildlife here and that there's nothing to salvage- that's a You problem. Nature might be struggling, but against all odds it is at least trying.

[chirrups]

I feel like I have nothing to ask, I simply would love to hear more about them fucked up mermaid and murderer

And I would absolutely love to tell you about them, Tin.

This AU takes place somewhere vaguely in the Pacific Northwest (circa. 1970s-80s) in an isolated fishing town along a storm-wracked coast.

Fisheries in and around the bay have collapsed due to extreme winter weather patterns + overfishing + an oil spill from a tanker run aground down the coast, leaving most of the bay's inhabitants to live pretty much hand-to-mouth off contaminated fish in recent years.

get ready for LORE (and more drawings but mostly the LORE)

general warning: this is pretty long

The "story" as it were, kicks off when Gem finally gets fed up with another fisherman in the area, Grian, over continued conflict about ownership of fishing grounds in the mouth of the bay.

She orchestrates his death (with the eager assistance of Scott and Impulse) out at sea and passes off his death as a tragic accident in the winter swells with her being the unfortunate finder of his remains.

And it works.

See the thing is: Gem has a history of causing disappearances. It started with some accidents with out-of-town poachers. She would chase these people off and one or two would just slip overboard and happen to drown. It wasn’t her fault and besides they deserve it. But things start to escalate from there. Poachers become outsiders become fellow townspeople. Grian is someone Gem’s known for years, whose friends are tangentially her friends or acquaintances. His death is a cold-blooded murder driven by hatred and frustration. This time something is different about what she's done and Gem knows it.

But Gem is a reputable and well-known person. Her prices are fair, she drives poachers out of the bay and maintains order around the pragmatic fishing ground policy that undoubtedly helps everyone to survive.

She is the type of person to look to for guidance when things get hard because she can make those hard choices. So how on earth could it be her fault?

No one is wiser until Grian's funeral brings an old friend into town who is more than a little suspicious about the circumstances of his death.

Scar was one of Grian's crewmates when they did trawling much further south. They split when Scar took up (illegal) whaling and Grian moved into the bay.

As an outsider, Scar isn't so swayed by the goodwill the town has around Gem's name. He's no detective but for the sake of an old friend, he might as well try.

In this AU, mermaids are social mammals part of the Hominidae family that went back into the ocean similar to Cetaceans. They live in matrilineal family groups or in any other female-led organization of pods and have a very "survival-oriented" global culture (with regional variation).

Pearl is a lone mermaid whose pod lived in the bay until they were starved out by the collapsing fisheries. PNW mermaids are more territorial than other ecotypes and value strength over anything else. Pearl's inability (read: unwillingness) to oust other pods for better fishing grounds and the loss of one of her pod members summarily lead the other two to abandon her.

Without a pod to help her, hunting enough in her dwindling territory has been difficult and lonely, leading her to slowly starve just as the humans in the bay have begun to.

She took to trailing fishing boats to steal from their catch, which is how she met Gem who was mid-throwing some unfortunate soul overboard.

They have an interesting relationship.

Gem is enamored with Pearl at the halfway point between a person and a large apex predator. She loves the way Pearl needs her to live and the way Pearl, as a social creature with no pod, craves her attention. It's thrilling to have a predator at her beck and call like this and, in turn, to be so desperately needed. She also loves the way Pearl doesn't look at her like she's dangerous (the way Scott and Impulse have begun to when they think she doesn't see them). Her interest in Pearl seems to be leaching into something more than just wildlife admiration. She's begun to learn the mermaid language just to talk to her. For what? Who really knows. Meanwhile, Pearl is hungry enough to eat just about anything Gem throws her (including human bodies) and desperate enough that she lets Gem get much closer than many humans in this area have ever been to a mermaid. (They even touch, scandalous for mermaids.)

It's skewed for sure. From Gem's perspective, they've got something special going on. From Pearl's... not so much.

This being Secret-Life based, you can imagine how this story ends...

Bonus piece: Pearl and her old pod.

IN GENERAL, Biological females are generally larger with a set of rotated tusks protruding from their lower jaw for dominance displays. Biological males are commonly smaller and more agile, with more dexterous hands due to decreased adipose tissue distribution over their bodies. (They actually have 3 biological sexes and tons of social gender variation but that's a talk for another time). Pre-cultural awakening, these pods would form around a biological female and their harem for reproductive purposes. That female would then protect the harem from other females looking to "steal them" or their territories (like horses but reverse-style). In modern times, these pods are often composed of groups of friends/related family members as sort of "platonic life partners" and stealing other pod members is seen as a very archaic sort of thing. Territory stealing, however, is still up for grabs.

[fountainpenguin]

Tango and GeminiTay visit Etho post-charity stream travel while Grian interacts via chat. Etho says he and Joel were alone all week and everybody teases him.

19 minutes into Tango's "I AM THE MASTER" stream, April 2024

Transcript:

Tango: So, Etho, what did you do all week by yourself? Were you lonely?

Etho: Dude, it was so dead on this server-

Tango: It was so quiet! I know.

Gem, overlapping: Did you miss us?

Tango, overlapping: He DID! He did!

Gem: Awww!

Etho: A little bit... It was just like- It was like Joel and me, and...................... and that was about it... And Cub came back eventually.

Gem, overlapping: Of COURSE you mention Joel first.

Tango: Yep, yep; of course.

Tango, quietly sing-songing: Obsessed~ ... Obsessed...

Etho: [Laughs]

Gem: Not your neighbor, Cub. JOEL. Joel's top of the list.

Etho: But I couldn't even go see Joel because it would've been awkward to, like... just be alone.

Gem: You poor thing...

Tango, reading Grian's message in chat: 'Joel is enough for you.' Yeah...... I see more statues popping up- Who's making them?

Etho: Not me! Okay, something weird is going on- I don't know the deal behind it-

Tango, laughing: Uh-huh...

Etho: I've made two statues... Total.

Tango: Which ones did you make?

Etho: The Joel one... and the other one's... a secret.

[End]

Next, Tango and Gem tease Etho because they're pretty sure the other statues he built are the giant Etho statues, implied to be something he put in front of Joel's base himself. Etho says this is "not confirmed in his video."

[daily-ethoslab]

[984]

reblog to fucking kill him

like to fucking kill him

ignore to fucking kill him

either way he's getting fucking killed

[chalkrub]

demon that critically analyses the past actions you'd really rather forget

[wickedfarter]

be nice to bdubs day!

[mothofprophecy]

i love your art very very much. its like drinking hot coca. :))))

if you’re doing the fandom swap, mayhaps a vampire of the etho slab variety?

no pressure obv, have a good day

Hdjsjss ty lmao!

Here’s your Etho, I ended up turning his mask into a floofy collar to show his fangs XD

[simplepotatofarmer]

if i'm honest, the mcyt fandom has the biggest case of 'except for the acceptable target' syndrome. they'll make posts about 'handling cringe' but make it clear the acceptable cringe is not dsmp fans or dream fans. they'll talk about growth and nuance and change but it's never applied to the people they hate. bullying is wrong, of course, unless you're 'driving out' the dream fans.

there is always an exception to any of these statements, there's always someone who you're allowed to treat poorly and i really hope one day the fandom can move away from that and be kinder.

[daily-joel-smallishbeans]

day 3. and now for the real reason why i made this blog

[agarafile]

this is the return of not one, but TWO MURDER CAMELS (gem&etho and pearl&impulse)

[tango-but-everywhere]

*rises from the dead* thank you pearl for this behind the scenes/exclusive preview!!

[ID: a minecraft screenshot, taken within a trial chamber. Pearl and Etho are closest to the viewer, standing back to back. The minimal armour texture pack is on. Pearl is drawing a bow in full netherite and Etho is wielding an enchanted diamond sword in a mix of netherite and diamond armour. Between them and further away, Tango is walking somewhat toward us. He’s wielding a bow but not drawing it, and wearing full diamond. There’s a whole bunch of blue flame and skull particles in the air between the three of them. End ID]

[aromantichc]

Aromantic Character of the Day (2/11/24) is...

Ethoslab (Hermitcraft) !

Anon headcanons Ethoslab as cupioromantic grayromantic!