#but they are all personified!!! anthropomorphized really

[mars-ipan]

YES YES YOU GET IT EXACTLY THANK YOU

i think part of why i love tsp is i love horror but hate threats

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

𓅨 Shifting Wings: Chapter Eleven

Shifting Wings: Before the Raven Matthew, there was Jessamy, and Jessamy came with a little sister by the name of Adrienne. Dream adores his two little Ravens, but after over a hundred years of imprisonment and the death of Jessamy, Dream will find that he has not just lost his companion, but his beloved little Raven Adrienne no longer brightens the halls of his Palace. None of his staff wish to speak of where the Raven has gone, but the silent new resident of the palace is cause for question. After all, she was the one who aided in his release. If none of his subjects would help him find Adrienne, perhaps she could lead him to the whereabouts of the missing Raven. If only the woman wasn’t so flighty and hard to track down.

Warnings: Nudity, Hell, Angst.

To Note: Morpheus/Dream x FemaleRaven!Reader, NAMED Reader (I like the name).

Word Count: ~2.9k

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“So… you knew Jessamy?” Matthew asked, cocking his head to the side as you shelved some books for Lucienne.

“Yes, I did,” You answered, wondering why the raven was bringing the topic of your sister up. She was dead and had been for nearly a century. Why was there such an emphasis on her now? “What is it that you wish to inquire?”

“I just— I just want to know more about her, you know, being Morpheus’s raven and all now. I have no idea what I am doing.”

“You are doing an adequate job, Matthew,” you informed him. “I do not see how discussing your predecessor will enhance your ability. You are different ravens.”

“Well it’s obvious Morpheus really cared about her!” Matthew protested, feeling like he was fighting an uphill battle with the Endless. It wasn’t like being a raven of Dream of the Endless came with a manual. “I don’t want to just exist within her shadow, I want to be useful to him, otherwise why am I here?”

Your fingers still against the spines of the books you shelved and you slowly shifted your gaze to him. Matthew was looking at you with such a pleading look. You were unaffected of course, but his desperation was palpable.

“You do realize that I am unable to sympathize with your situation as I cannot feel emotion… correct?” You asked the young raven. Matthew was unperturbed.

“Yeah, but you are the only one who will talk about her.” He pointed out. “Like, everyone is walking on eggshells about Jessamy and then even more when Adrienne is brought up… like what is up with Morpheus and Adrienne? Cause I’m sensing some sort of attachment or— or a relationship between them? I mean Adrienne was a raven wasn’t she? How does that… work?”

“Lord Morpheus is an anthropomorphic personification of dreams and reality.” You explained. “He personifies an idea, not a thing, and therefore does not necessarily conscribe to the social norms of humanoids. As for his relationship with Adrienne, not even I know what it was nor what it could have been. I simply understand it as a relationship in which two beings found comfort and understanding within each other.”

“Yeah this is making my head hurt just trying to think about it.”

“My apologies for causing such duress.” You told the raven, eyeing him closer. “I am sure you do not need the complexities of such relationships to cause you more stress for understanding.”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Matthew replied, shaking his head. “I just— Everyone keeps putting Adrienne on such a pedestal, like she meant everything to Morpheus. Like he loved her. Pretty sure he does at this point, he’s sulking about her right now… and assuming she loved him back why hasn’t she shown up yet? Was it one sided? I’m pretty sure she’s avoiding him. If she loves him? Why is she not here? Lucienne and Mervyn keep avoiding mentioning where she is every time she comes up in conversation, and every time Morpheus asks where she is, they get all suspicious and try to bail answering the question. They know something about her, and aren’t telling anyone.”

You blinked at Matthew’s words, surprised at how astute he was to your and Morpheus’s relationship despite still being so new. He was an adequate raven for Morpheus, even if he did not think so. As for Lucienne and Mervyn’s behavior when Adrienne was mentioned, you were sure it was because they still had emotions. Another reason to not have them, emotions were so meddlesome and tiring. But you would not leave Matthew hanging on questions, not when his role for your lord was so important.

“No, Morpheus’s love was was not one sided.” You replied quietly, your mind thinking back to the time Adrienne spent at his side, faithful and dutiful. She hadn’t done much other than be the palace artist, but Morpheus had greatly appreciated her time and company, and often sought her out. She’d been rather pathetic and pitiful now that you thought about it. One look at her and everyone could see how enamored she was with the Dream Lord. How in love. “Conventional, it was not, but her presence was enough for Lord Morpheus.”

“Ah, I guess that explains why the boss is so insistent on Adrienne making an appearance. He’s probably craving her attention at the moment,” Matthew cawed, bobbing his head and shifting his feet. “She better show up or he’s gonna be real pissed. I think the boss might start crying soon…” You blinked, you mind mulling over Matthew’s words. Surely an exaggeration. Her presence was not needed for Morpheus, just a helpful addition. She was a mere blip within his endless existence.

“Adrienne is dead,” You stated flatly. “And whatever Morpheus is looking for, no longer exists, if it ever did in the first place.” It was, perhaps, cruel and heartless of you to say that, but your words were true. Morpheus had set a firm line between him and Adrienne. Nothing was ever to come from it… so why should that change now? Adrienne was dead. Adrienne is dead. She was at peace in eternal slumber, sheltered from her pain, her agony. You would keep it that way. She would not hurt under your care. Matthew stared at you, slightly bothered by the fact that you seemed to know so much, but were entirely convinced Adrienne was dead. How could you know more about her than anyone else? Were you friends with her? And why did you say that she was dead, when everyone else said otherwise?

“That’s not what Mervyn and Lucienne say,” Matthew quietly commented, shuffling his feet and staring at the table he stood on. “That’s not what Morpheus believes.”

“Mervyn and Lucienne didn’t know Adrienne like I did,” You replied, trying to be less stoic and flat to the raven. “Lord Morpheus has been gone for one hundred and six years, how would he know of her condition?” Matthew wilted as you went back to shelving books, your stoicism and emotionless state getting to him once more. You dismissed his echoing words, focusing on the task at hand.

He was new, he would learn.

“So… you want me to be a carrier pigeon to Lucifer!?” Matthew questioned as his feathers ruffled and raised. “Like the mother fuckin’ devil!?”

“Yes, Matthew, I believe you have already met? It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to drop off a letter for me. You needn’t do anything more than that.”

“Okay, yeah, I can do that… but did you see the way some of those demons eyed me? It was like they were looking at a chicken!!” Matthew burst out, waving his wings about and airing his displeasure. “One of them might decide to turn me into fried raven!”

“The Morningstar would not dare to directly attack you, Matthew.” Morpheus sighed, not eager to send his raven to hell but knowing that he had to. “I must reassert myself and the Dreaming as a place of power so those that seek us harm do not think we are available prey.”

“Sorry I know, I know, I just don’t wanna get eaten by any of them,” The raven muttered. “Died once, not interested in dying a second time, ya know?”

“I would not send you if I had another choice, Matthew,” Morpheus said, his eyes tightening. Matthew bobbed his head before waddling forwards and taking the offered invitation from Morpheus. “You only need to be there as long as it takes to deliver my invitation, there is no need for you to tarry.”

“Don’t plan on it!” Matthew chirped, attempting to be enthusiastic about his job. Swooping into the air, he disappeared into a portal that led to hell, hoping that this would be a very uneventful trip. He still found flying through the netherworld odd, but Matthew managed to pop out in hell just fine. It was just as misty and creepy as it was the first time he had been… and it seemed grimmer than before if that was even possible.

“Get to Lucifer, give invitation, leave,” Matthew chanted to himself, clenching the letter within his grasp. He then fluttered his way through the dominion of the devil. Matthew made it to the throne room of sorts where Lucifer and Morpheus had their challenge and touched down on black marble. Standing on the balcony was the formidable figure of the devil, dressed in white. That didn’t take away from their menacing aura. Or their cruel beauty.

“Hello, raven,” Lucifer drew out, slowly looking over their shoulder to eye the lone raven. “What brings you by my domain?” Matthew felt a shiver of fear run up his spine and he forced himself to step forwards, taking the letter from his beak and holding it with his foot. Rather awkwardly too.

“Lord Morpheus has addressed this invitation to you,” Matthew explained, wanting to get this over with so he could go home.

“Did he,” Lucifer aired out, their eyes glimmering with deviousness and venom. “Come, raven, deliver your master’s invitation.”

Matthew had a bad feeling in his gut, but didn’t have much of a choice, so he took to the air and flew closer to Lucifer. He perched himself on the back of a chair and let Lucifer slowly, a little too slowly, take the invitation.

“Okay if that’s all, I should probably get back to Morpheus in case he needs something from me,” Matthew softly muttered, turning his body to take off and flee. Lucifer didn’t let him.

“Why in such a rush?” They asked with a small smile. “Do you not, enjoy hell? Or are we such bad hosts… surely you would like to see some of our sights.” Oh shit, how was Matthew going to say no to Lucifer!?

“It has been too long, Lucienne,” Morpheus spoke, drumming his fingers on the armrests of his throne. “It should have only taken Matthew but a moment.”

“Surely Lucifer wouldn’t threaten or hurt your raven, that would be an outright declaration of war.” Lucienne commented, her brow furrowed.

“I wouldn’t put the Morningstar past anything at this point in time.” The Endless growled, rising to his feet and stepping down the stairs. He approached Lucienne and thought over the scenarios that would delay Matthew. “I shall see what I can and we will go from there, there is no reason for Matthew to remain in hell this long.”

Morpheus concentrated on his connection to Matthew and viewed what his raven was seeing. Instantly he could feel Matthew’s panic as he urgently flailed and flapped around, dodging leering demons trying to get their hands on him.

“Hand off! Hands off!!” Matthew shouted urgently, his panic making his avian heart race unbearably fast. “I’m not gonna be your dinner!!” Morpheus jerked himself back from Matthew’s gaze, rage broiling within his body.

“They’ve attacked him,” Morpheus hissed, eyes blazing with Endless might and power. “I must—” He cut off at the sound of something heavy hitting the marble floor of the throne room. Lucienne and Morpheus turned to see you standing at an entrance, your face blank. You had dropped several books that you were bringing to Morpheus to aid in his quest to solve the current issue within the realm. Lucienne’s heart dropped knowing that you had heard that Matthew was in danger. She knew what you would try to do.

“Blanche,” Lucienne whispered in warning, her eyes showing her fear of your reaction. “Don’t— do not even entertain the idea of—” You were already moving, spinning in a circle to head out. Lucienne called to you one last time in desperation, her tongue slipping momentarily as desperation clawed to the forefront. “Adrienne!!”

A sickened feeling rushed through Morpheus as he watched your body shift and morph from humanoid to a gorgeous raven speckled with midnight and pearl. The very raven he had so desperately wanted to see since returning. You swooped upwards towards the ceiling, disappearing into a portal that would surely lead to hell. If the Endless had a heart, it had either dropped to his stomach or jumped into his throat as he stood frozen in place, trying to understand how Adrienne, his beautiful and gregarious raven, and turned into you. Cold, emotionless, hardened. A shell. You, his precious and beloved raven that Morpheus felt he could not live without, had been here the entire time, and he had not even recognized you.

“Lucienne,” Morpheus said, barely able to find his voice as his fingers dug into the armrests of his throne. “What happened?” Lucienne sighed heavily and peered at her lord and king over her spectacles.

“I’m afraid I cannot say as it is not my business, sir,” Lucienne answered. “Adrienne— Blanche, has requested for privacy and for us to not acknowledge her life as Adrienne. She says she is dead, and that is how she has lived in the past nine decades. As separate beings… and as much as you might wish to address this, we need to focus on Matthew.”

“He is in hell and Adrienne just went after him.” Morpheus hissed, eyes shimmering with supernovas.

“If anyone is going to get him back, it would be Blanche.” Lucienne softly pointed out, not looking forward to the hard conversation Morpheus was going to have with the woman he loved. “She is not the same as you remember, sir, she—” Lucienne paused, her gut twisting and clenching within her body. “I have not seen nor heard from the Adrienne we knew in nine decades, Blanche is in control. Not Adrienne.” Morpheus stared hard at his oldest raven, his vibrant blue eyes border lining silver, and watered down with innumerous unshed tears. Lucienne took a sigh and collected herself once more. “If you wish to inquire what happened to Adrienne, you must go through Blanche first.” An agonizing ideation, as nothing about Blanche was familiar… nor inviting.

Your wings angled your sleek body through the skies of hell as you scoped out poor Matthew who was being harassed by demons. Lucifer would not touch him, but that didn’t mean the demons would do the same. They were going after the touchable, the one that would hurt Morpheus the most should Matthew be killed. You would not allow that. Tucking your wings to your sides, you dove like a bullet for the group of demons. They were not expecting you to dive right into the fray, your feet an nails extended to scratch at their faces. They yelped at your dive bomb and dispersed, leaving Matthew in a dazed heap on the cold ground. You shifted from your raven form to your human form and scooped up the disoriented raven before taking off.

You streaked away from the demons, running through hell with Matthew clutched tight to your chest. The plan was to get Matthew as far from the demons as possible, and when he got his bearings back, send him through a portal back to the Dreaming. The dazed raven was moaning and mumbling nonsensical words against your skin as you rounded a corner and ducked an incoming mace.

“Two for one boys!” A demon crowed, crooked teeth baring at you in a twisted smirk. You were undaunted. “Fresh meats on the menu tonight!”

“I told you I had a bad feeling, sir,” Matthew babbled shaking his head and trying to clear the stars from his eyes. You scrambled over a rock and glanced down at him. “I don’t wanna be fried raven!”

“Matthew,” You called, hoping that he was well enough to fly on his own.

“You don’t sound like Morpheus,” The raven mumbled. “Way too pretty.” You shook the raven in your arm, trying to jostle him out his trance. “MATTHEW!” You barked at him, blocking a shower of rocks headed at you while you slipped your way down a mountainside. The raven snapped to.

“I’m awake, I’m awake!” The raven squawked, squirming in your arms. Then he realized where he was, and that you were clutching him to your chest. Not to mention you were naked. “What the fu—”

“You need to go!” You ordered, crouching down behind a large rock and pulling the raven from your chest. Matthew was placed on his feet and he shook himself out.

“How are you here!?” He asked, staring at you in shock before remembering that you were naked. He quickly covered his eyes with a wing. “I did not see anything I swear!”

“I got here the same way you did and the same way you shall leave.” You stated, eyes lifting to scan the horizon. “You must summon a portal and get back to the Dreaming.”

“You were a mothering fucking RAVEN this whole time!?!” You proceeding gaze had him shutting his beak and processing your words. Matthew would leave. You would stay. “Wait, what about you!?” Matthew protested.

“My life does not matter as I am not Morpheus’s familiar, he needs you,” You stated, glancing over the boulder once more. A demon caught sight of you and they started charging. “It is time to leave, young raven.” Plucking Matthew’s body from the ground, you surged to your feet and summoned all your concentration on building a portal straight to the Dreaming. In the distance one bloomed for you and you ran as fast as you could, Matthew protesting the whole way. You didn’t give him a chance to physically resist your actions because the moment you got within distance of the portal you threw the squalling raven through it as hard as you could.

Date Published: 7/12/23

Last Edit: 7/12/23

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[floatingcatacombs]

Compile Hagiography Through Reading the Hyperdimension Neptunia Wiki

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 4

When I’m really bored on the computer, one of the things I'll occasionally do is explore the Hyperdimension Neptunia wiki. Neptunia is a role-playing series whose main distinction is being centered around moe anthropomorphizations of video game companies and consoles, which fascinates me. These are textbook trashy 6/10 anime RPGs, and release at a pace that suggests both a low budget and a pretty dedicated fanbase. I don’t mean to patronize, though. I’m not above this kind of stuff, I just can’t let a bunch of mid 30-hour JRPGs into my life at this moment in time. Rather, my angle of interest here is the origins of the Neptunia developer, Compile Heart.

listening and learning

You see, back in the late 80s and early 90s, a company called Compile was one of the greats in Japanese home PC gaming. Most of their early output was shmups for the MSX, although they dabbled in a bit of everything, including running a disc magazine to distribute games. Compile’s first hit was Madou Monogatari in 1990, a numberless first-person dungeon crawler with a focus on voice samples. It features a lovable cast, starring young magician Arle Nadja as she attempts to graduate kindergarten, viscerally decapitate an evil sorcerer, and fend off Satan and the girl who’s down bad for Satan. Plenty of remakes and sequels followed, and eventually Compile struck gold with Puyo Puyo, the platonic ideal of competitive falling-block games. To set it apart from the more faceless puzzle games of the era, they reused the Madou Monogatari cast, resulting in a cutesy aesthetic with occasional lingering bits of fucked-up lore.

After porting Puyo Puyo and its sequel to everything imaginable, Compile spent their mid-90s rapidly scaling the company, ultimately biting off more than they could chew. This was an era of serious change as developers moved towards 3D, and consumer preferences moved too fast for Compile to adapt. Some high-profile failures like Madou Monogatari Saturn and Puyo Puyo Dungeon sent the company into a fiscal downward spiral, leading frequent business partner Sega to bail them out by buying the rights to Puyo Puyo. Compile got to finish their in-progress work, including the gorgeous yet frustrating Puyo Puyo 4, but the writing was on the wall. Compile declared bankruptcy in 2003 after throwing all of their hopes and dreams into one last little game, Pochi and Nyaa. It’s a puzzle game with simple yet strategic mechanics that feels like something of a return to infancy for the developers. Also, it was released on the Neo-Geo in 2003! If you know anything about arcade hardware, that’s nuts.

The late 90's pre-rendered backgrounds combined with Sunaho Tobe's character artwork give Puyo Puyo 4 such a special look. Shame it's unplayable unless you're very good at chaining.

So Compile scatters to the winds and a lot of the non-shmup devs regroup at the newly formed Compile Heart, where they eventually hit the jackpot with Hyperdimension Neptunia and crank one of those out per year ad infinitum.

That was a pretty tumultuous history! And Neptunia seems like a way to process this? After all, the protagonist is named after and personifies the Sega Neptune, a cancelled 90’s console. Compile and Sega have intertwined histories and faced a similar trajectory. Rapid success in the early 90s was followed up by bad business decisions later in the decade, leading to a tragic exit from the industry that nobody wanted to see. Hyperdimension Neptunia wants to convey these scars to an audience who weren't necessarily around for it.

The first Neptunia game opens with the anime girl manifestations of Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox deciding that in order to break the sixth-generation console war stalemate, they need to team up against the one who poses the biggest threat. So, they get together and betray Neptunia, casting her out of the heavens. Obviously, this isn’t how it happened in the real world. The Dreamcast may have been awesome, but Sega was operating at a loss trying to support it, and the release of the all-consuming PS2 spelled doom. But this intro is closer to how it felt to Sega fans. It’s a mythical retelling of the fall, one that slots right in with the endless glowing retrospectives of Sega’s glorious but doomed last breath (My favorite is calling the console a “small, square, white plastic JFK”).

I’m no industry expert or historian, but I was around to see the Japanese game industry flounder during the PS3 era, when high definition brought with it new expectations and inflated development cycles. Obviously juggernauts like Capcom and Square Enix got out fine, but a lot of smaller studios went under at some point in the past 15 years. Hudson, T&E Soft, ASCII, Clover Studio, Imageepoch. In another world, beloved FromSoft could have fallen to the wayside just as easily.

That’s why Neptunia is really important, I think. It serves as a way to self-mythologize, to keep fragments of these studios alive no matter what happens to them later. It’s a snapshot of all the B-tier Japanese game companies at any given point, written by one such company. When some of them inevitably fold, the Neptunia series will act as one more eulogy. As a huge fan of Compile-era Puyo Puyo, it’s a strange but relieving afterlife to witness. I may never play these games, but I’m grateful for what they do, and it’s a very entertaining series to rummage through the wiki of, especially as someone with a known appreciation of OS-tans.

The second Hyperdimension Neptunia game appears to introduce the Gamindustri Graveyard, a burial ground for defunct game companies. Resting there alongside all the other fallen studios is 1st-Gen Compa, the spirit of Compile. She’s wearing an outfit adorned with Puyos, with ears resembling those of beloved mascot Carbuncle. What is just a random horny anime girl for one person is a loving tribute for another. It’s a meaningful way to send off the old.

…and so is raising the dead! In October, Compile Heart announced a new Madou Monogatari game, with Sega giving them the rights to use classic Puyo Puyo characters on the project. According to the press release, the development team includes many staff members who were part of the original incarnation of Compile. Hope springs eternal, somehow.

[ad-caelestia]

I understand you say you are a secular witch but I have also seen you mention star worship and the like - wouldn't that be considered religious?

i think that my beliefs have certainly evolved over time - i never really had a great grasp on religion as a whole, being raised catholic but not feeling like i belonged in the church or believing in that version of god any way. i went through a period of atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, etc. i may not be traditionally "religious" but i am not sure i would consider my practice "secular" anymore.

if we view non-secular witchcraft as witchcraft with organized religion and the worship of personified deities, then yeah i would be a secular witch. but i think that definition differs from person to person.

the best way to describe my relationship with the planets is astrolatry - aka, worship of the celestial bodies, revering them as deities or gods, etc; but not personifying them or giving them human like qualities and without anthropomorphism.

i guess i could also be considered an animist the way i consider that all things have innate energy, some would call them "spirits" (water spirit, fire spirit, things along those lines); and how i believe the spiritual world definitely intertwines with the mundane.

all in all, my spiritualty is ever-changing, but at my core, i am an astrolater. all celestial bodies and their energy is divine to me.

[sniffanimal]

I'm noticing my way of engaging with art (specifically narrative art, the kind that draws a fandom to it) has changed over the years to where I'm a lot more interested in like discussions of the themes, character development, and general Fanart and less interested in shipping and headcanons (this point of this post is definitely not to disparage those). and I'm finding what I'm more fascinated with is when I encounter fans, mostly of the preteen-teenage variety, who make blorbos out of nothing with art.

this is usually in video game fandoms I'm finding, where you'll find someone who has decided a silent protagonist, or some other character, is their Babygirl and will devise deep headcanons, and draw buckets of moe fanart of them (bonus points if the character is a humanization or never has a canon appearance). And I know I was interested in engaging with fandom like that when I was a teen. I'm now starting to recognize that as just a really teen thing to do with art.

some character examples of the top of my head I've seen this with are like, Stanley TheStanleyParable, Herobrine Minecraft, and various creepypasta characters. Characters who in their source material are generally supposed to be Everyman type characters, or unknowable as part of the horror.

If I had to guess, the teenage longing to make something of no one is rooted in the teenage quest for self. Now that I'm an adult with a sense of myself, I'm more interested in the metaphor of the bucket in the Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe as an anthropomorphized sense of emotional support out of nothing like how fandom misses the point of Stanley's character, than I am literally personifying the bucket and shipping it with Stanley.

I don't mean to say teens are bad at media literacy (they're teens after all), or that they're "doing art wrong" or anything. Just that it's interesting how interacting with art evolves as you get older.

Anyways play Hypnospace Outlaw it's my GOTY a few years late. There's bigger messages about nostalgia, piracy, internet safety, and archives for us oldheads who knows what webrings are and there's Zane, for the teenagers

[oreynjii]

The Lore (some of it)

📌 Red Velvet

My anthropomorphic form of Death.

Imagine a universe where, when a human dies, their soul can choose from different sets of doors that will lead them to their new life. That's the principle surrounding my world. My personified depiction of Death is more of a guiding light, hence the fire. But he can also be associated with the Phoenix since, after passing, the souls he guides get to live another life—another cycle.

In my universe, there are two major celestial powers. To simplify terminologies, I call them the Creations and the Destructions. Creations are what we know as Angels, Gods, and the like. Destructions primarily consist of the Four Horsemen—Death, Pestilence, Famine, War. Creations bring forth life, worlds, and realities, while Destruction ensures that everything has an end, clearing the path for new beginnings. They have a pact dictating where and when the Creations can bring something into existence and where and when the Destructions can erase it. These maintain the balance, preventing either side from overstepping and disrupting the natural order. The relationship between the two forces did not begin as a rivalry, it is more of a mutual necessity and respect. However, over time, things got lost in translation. Instances of Creations creating in universes they shouldn't increased, causing disputes between the forces.

Creations have a prophecy, something like rules or guidelines they must follow while creating a world. It states that one of them must fall into the depths, joining an agent of Destruction. This serves as leverage to ensure that Creations do not overstep by creating creatures that will destroy the universe. This is why there has to be a 'Fallen Angel.' Each creature from different universes has different terms for this, but I will stick to Fallen Angels.

My world is almost a direct counterpart of Earth. They share almost the same cultural and religious beliefs. Thus, it is unsurprising that no one really chooses the door that leads to Hell. Hell, in my world, and contrary to the beliefs, is empty. Remember when I said that Ignatius is a counterpart of Lucifer? Well, he is all alone after his fall from grace ("Ignatius" wasn't his first choice of name; it will be the same as what humans coined him for millennia, like Lucifer, Satan, etc. but when the story takes place, he will choose the name Ignatius). So, every 50 years since ancient civilization, Death visits Iggy in Hell.

There will be more about them soon, but fun fact: Death and Lucifer, due to the dispute between their Celestial Ancestors, did not start on a great foot. In fact, they challenge and taunt each other. One time, while overseeing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Death would say something along the lines of, "I bet you cannot make them eat that forbidden fruit." And guess what? Luci did it, BIG TIME.

[sroloc--elbisivni]

(Another one from Whispering Forest :D This entire scene was breathtaking)

The woman in a grand kusode made of living scarlet maple leaves seated on a mountain as though it was the dais of her audience hall and looking out over the valley was an unfamiliar feature of the terrain. Her hair was swept around her like a wild wave and her face was smooth as a porcelain mask. Her name came to him like this was a dream.

“Aki-Onna-sama.”

“Miyamoto Usagi,” she said, still watching the valley. “You freed me once, when your life was at risk and you could have fled.”

Usagi searched his memory. “I’m sorry. I don’t recall this.”

“Mortals rarely do, and you were still a child then. But I owe you a debt. Witness.”

Send me up to 500 words from a fic and I will give you my director's commentary on it!

ahhhhhhhh aki-onna!!! okay i GOTTA get photos for this hang on--

these are the two actual looks we get at Aki-onna in the one Usagi Yojimbo story she appears in. (note baby usagi in the lower left of the right picture.) that's "Autumn." it was one of the first stories I read, because it's the fourth one in Volume One of the Usagi Yojimbo saga. I think this is about the point at which the switch in my brain got firmly flipped and i went 'oh i'm IN THIS in this.' it's still one of my favorites, and it's the first UY story i read that really went full speed ahead on 'this is a world of monsters and magic.' (there's an argument to be made that the whole thing is a hallucination usagi had but i think that's a boring explanation.) I knew from the beginning that this story was going to be leaning into autumn vibes, and i put together pretty quickly that if I was making it a theme she was the perfect character to incorporate. especially since this whole fic is my psyop to get people to read the comics.

originally I thought she'd be like....an information source, someone who provided a key detail to crack the whole thing open. she was supposed to show up between mikey getting attacked in the woods and the forest getting set on fire. at some point i realized she worked much better as part of the climax.

true story, before i wrote her into this and double checked my information, I genuinely thought Aki-Onna was an existing mythological personage Sakai had adapted into the comic. and then I tried to research her and every single english source i found just went straight back to the comics (it's possible that i'm talking out of my ass here and there's a mythology of an autumn lady that hasn't been translated to english that sakai picked up somewhere else.) there's the yuki-onna, a type of yokai like beautiful women who lead people to die in snowstorms, but autumn personified as a woman who can be imprisoned to stop the changing seasons...she's an original. i love her. she hasn't recurred since, and I don't think she ever will--I don't actually think canon Aki-Onna owes Usagi a debt. she's above and beyond him. it made for a convenient way to get her in the story, though, and an extra convenient way to see all the action of the climax. it was important to me that even though it's technically a deus ex machina, she herself is doing very little--she's holding back the rain until the moment where it will have the most impact, and she's letting Usagi see what he's brought about. every other character who has come up in this story has fought to get things to where they are. she's just stopping by.

i loved describing her, too, trying to convey this sense of OTHERWORLDLINESS that her image gives after you've gotten used to anthropomorphism. she gets compared to a force of nature and something inhuman, and is placed in an impossible setting. I picked that paragraph apart and put it back together several times to try and make sure the narration flowed because i wanted it to be all impact, nothing where the reader had to think about words. (fun research sidebar: this section is where i realized that 'kimono,' while a term in existence at the time, would not have been used to refer to most common formal garments--we get kusode instead. went back after this and edited leo being mean and hot scene accordingly.) in the same spirit of "she's just stopping by" and "everything about her needs to make an impact", she only has four lines in the entire story. which is! SOMETHING! when two of them are also the only exposition non-comics readers are going to get on her presence!!!!

i loved this scene for the imagery, and getting to draw into another part of the comics that meant a lot to me, and also for the way I got to make it the buy-in for the cutting between scene. it led into the scene that changed everything about the way I had been telling this story so far, and brought together everything--I had to do it in a way that made people want to come along with me. it's wonderful to hear you liked it!!!

[royalphantompain]

When you die for days and then come back to yap about furries.

Honestly, it's weird. Years ago, when I was 17, I had a part-time job, and I remember watching all these tutorials on how to make a fursuit, I even went to Amazon and saved all the supplies I would need on there but I never bought them.

Also, it would probably be a bad idea to get stuff everything from Amazon, especially faux fur. I have been going out to store specifically for arts and crafts.

For a while, I did consider myself a furry, but over years, I kind of stopped because I just was not involved with the community, but also, I think after a while, I was confused because it's honestly a vauge term, since it just means to be a fun of anthropomorphic animals. But I don't know. Maybe that's why it's a huge community, because a lot of it can go and it can be about your own characters or you.

While I stopped calling myself a furry, I do mostly still draw animals, even if they are mostly feral sparkle dogs, still. I feel like that is similar since they are still personified.

My SIL has been getting into furries more, and since I love to draw gay little animals uhh she talked to me about it, and that's cool. She even got us tickets to MFF.

She even had her own fursuit to wear, and I decided to try to make my own like I always wanted to. Fursuits are really fucking cool. I love them, and it would be very neat just to be a cartoony sparkle cat in real life. I guess I am furry, but I am not too involved with the community.

Even though I am fine with being called a furry, though, uhh... I don't know why, but I don't want my persona to be called a fursona, even if it is an anthropomorphic animal. It's funny to call her a fursuit, though, since she's a haunted mascot suit.

[stardxstsleep]

The Stupid Rainbow

The Stupid Rainbow are a group of variants of myself that represent specific factions of myself, often conflicting with eachother

They are NOT Tulpas, Alters, or a System, they are merely fictionalized manifestations of chunks of my head. They tend to have their own values and opinions, but they do share unanimous opinions sometimes, which are the opinions of Derek prime (aka ME!).

They all refer to themselves when separate as Derek, only calling themselves by their assigned colors when with eachother, and are distinctive mostly by the colors on their scene bang, which is rainbow on Derek prime.

They can be activated nodes, consciously or subconsciously activated based on context

they are...

Derek (white) He has a desire for perfection, believing that a perfect mind, soul, and body will get people to like you. This gives him a distaste for anything that he sees as an imperfection such as sexuality, extra weight, excessive flavors, bright colors, and other things that would set off a puritan type

Derek (red) He is like, an actual vampire, he likes emo music such as My Chemical Romance, and he wears a hoodie so he doesn't explode. He loves the taste of blood and would love to suck the blood of an attractive person. You can see it as a metaphor for sex if you want, but he just thinks attractive people have tasty blood. But don't worry, he also fancies blood like substitutes like kool aid, ketchup, marinara sauce, etc.

Derek (orange) A film and music geek, where Red is more emo in terms of visual presentation, Orange is more Frutiger Metro in presentation. Good with guitar but better with drums, he likes music, though his other passion is films and television, he collects dvds and really likes physical media. He's an active supporter of media preservation

Derek (yellow) Absolute dudebro, he wants to be seen as cool and badass, despises anything feminine and tries to make himself seem as close to a cishet man as possible even though he is a transgender bisexual man, he does this by overly sexualizing the men he likes and treating them like women. He is also intentionally a douchebag, which he sees as a way to affirm his gender.

Derek (Green) He is a tech bro but of a bygone era, with a passion for web design, blinkies, and BBS, he is also a gamer and loves supernatural creatures like aliens, he's a gnarp gnap bogos binted type

Derek (Turquoise) He is a fandom nerd. Give him an excuse to yap about Sonic The Hedgehog, Invader Zim, or Happy Tree Friends and he will take it. He is also one to personify and ship whatever the hell he wants, no matter how absurd, he will ship characters from two different pieces of media, anthropomorphized objects, concepts, and even tech, and dozens of other things

Derek (Light Blue) He is a lover of frutiger aero, loving light-up aquarium nightlights, freshly cut grass, and tropical fish, alongside bright colorful technology. His other passion is for cute stuff, especially kitties and the members of Fall Out Boy (which, all of the others enjoy as well)

Derek (Dark Blue) A lot smarter about music, collecting CDs and Vinyls. He HATES pop music with a burning passion and DESPISES the "pop punk" label, often referring to bands that do get labelled such by other labels such as "alternative rock" or "emo"

Derek (Purple) Strange and unusual, often depicting himself as a sorcerer, he wants to learn magic for real to act out his strange ideas, but he's a bit paranoid.

Derek (Pink) Quirky and girly, the epitome of a mid 2000s scene kid, lover of sparkledogs and designer of marysues, due to his girly nature and willingness to wear skirts and dresses, he is often mistaken for a girl, something he does not like at all.

Derek (Black) It is unknown how he originated, his color being an absence of color means it's likely he is an abnormality, his disturbing behaviors often display this.

[poecatherinek-g]

Research related to rat pirate project

All of these pieces of media feature or focus on animal characters.

Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter)

The characters in Peter Rabbit aren't anthropomorphic animals as they don't have any human features like arms and legs but instead they act more personified so they wear clothes and behave like humans do. I really like Beatrix Potter's character designs and illustration style as they have a hint of realism to them but that doesn't over shadow he own personal approach to drawing animals.

Robin Hood

All of the characters in this retelling of Robin Hood are anthropomorphic animals with each animal kind of reflecting the characters personality like Robin Hood is a fox because he's sly and cunning and the King John is a lion (despite him being quite cowardly). There are many interesting character designs in this film and I think the art style used for this film works really well with them.

Fantastic Mr Fox

This is another example of anthropomorphic characters in media. Because the movie is stop motion animation, the characters were made as models meaning their designs had to be physically possible to achieve in a 3 dimensional format. Despite the limitations modeling can make, all of the characters are uniquely designed with varying statures and features that were successfully translated into 3D.

Watership Down

This is one of the only piece of media out of the ones I've looked at were the animals, in this case rabbits, more or less act like how the do in the wild. Despite the fact that the animals speak in the movie and there are some human influences seen in the characters, throughout the whole story the rabbits exhibit behaviors they would have in the wild like living in and digging warrens (tunnels where rabbits live).

[captainrufflebanger]

A grown ass adult but still smol and tiny, you could literally fit in my shirt pocket sksjsjsksksj, you're not even as tall as my finger LMAOOOOO, but I am sorry for teasing I mean it. Anyways, what kind of bat are you anyway? Are you one of those marshmallow bats that all cuddle together on or under a giant leaf?

FUCK I COMPLETELY MISSED THIS ASK FROM MARCH whoopsie. Bat lore below!

I didn't have a specific bat species in mind when I drew the first bat in 2020; I just wanted to make a tired lil guy to express my stress as I was suffering from a month of insomnia while being forced to work publicly during the pandemic. I originally named them "Insomnia bat" akin to Anxiety Fox by Naomi Romero because if personifying your illnesses as cute animals ain't the best coping mechanism, idk what is!

The bat got a lot more marshmallow-shaped over time but those dark circles haven't changed (and neither have mine 💀).

That said, I do adore Honduran white bats and I also love species with giant ears like desert long-eared bats. And of course a shoutout to the Northern ghost bat for being The Grumpiest Little Guys™ ❤️ You can see the family resemblance, no?

I'll throw some extra trivia in bc I'm bored too.

The bat does not have a name. I tried making a name up and that didn't feel right. It's just the bat lol.

If I had a dollar for every time someone's asked for bat pin/charms/buttons/plushies, I'd have enough money to make merch.

I sewed a bat onesie and it is the best thing I've ever sewn.

The bat is me but I am not the bat. This is a silly little character I wear to be funny and work out my own emotions.

As such, there's no gender involved here. Bat pronouns are they/it.

I'll make silly lightly sexual-natured jokes (bat stuck in boobs teehee) but I get really uncomfortable when people make outright sexual comments. This ain't a fursona.

Lemme repeat that

THIS IS NOT A FURSONA.

"Persona of an anthropomorphized animal" sir that is a crunchy cotton ball with rhombus ears. I will fight you on this.

[caramelcuniculus]

"Excuse me."

A small young woman walks up to Pekoe, looking rather fascinated and a bit confused. Flora has never seen a creature like this before, but she has never seen many things before, so maybe she's just out of the loop? At first she thinks it's a costume, but upon closer inspection that really doesn't seem to be the case… Maybe a robot? Or magic!? Of course, the only way to find out the truth is to ask for it! ...Or puzzle it out, but that's more Layton's territory. "Are you a real-life teddy bear?"

Pekoe only had two things on hand: her purse and her basket of English tea sets. With the moderately nice weather outside, she was minding her own business in measly walking home. She had what she went out of the house to buy: the different assortments of teas to try! She even had a wider smile than usual, personifying her happy mood. The day couldn't get better… or worse for that matter! There was no reason why it could skyrocket either way. Just sweet, sweet neutrality--

The bear cub's eyes widened hearing a voice directed in her direction. She slowly came to a stop, only to hear the rest of a stranger's words. Now, she had an eyebrow raised. Real life? Teddy bear? That was a weird thing to say. Nevertheless, maybe someone else wasn't entirely used to beings such as her walking around, despite the oddity in that logic. Didn't humans walk alongside anthropomorphic people? Wasn't that normal?

She finally turned around to face Flora. Human, just as she expected, but this simple prospect should be fully understood by now, shouldn't it? Pekoe shouldn't judge; maybe this one was just late to the party. "Teddy bear? I don't think a teddy bear is as big or tall as I am, bud." She shook her head with a neutral expression.

"I'm just your normal bear cub. I'm not as big nor tall as the other bears, but I don't mind. I've never minded. That's the way around genetics." If Flora went to associate her with a stuffed animal of all things, she more than likely had no idea what she was talking about. Pekoe tilted her head to a side, a questioning glimmer in her eyes.

"That was besides the point. Do… do you really mean that? You thought I was a teddy bear?" She looked somewhat sad… and worried. "You're a bit lucky you asked me that opposed to others, bud. Other bear cubs would take offense to such notion."

[insanesonofabitch]

#wait okay since when do you think Dean started talking to baby? #like I know he actually does talk to them in the show from time to time (even though it's very short “conversations”) #but I am absorbing this headcanon into my brain and I'm trying to think of when he started doing it #I think it would be when he was a kid. maybe Baby in some occasions is the only the private safe space he can have #where he can just vent and not necessarily have to deal with anyone else's reaction #like how a regular person might do in there room. but since he didn't have a room since he was like four... #yeah. #idk how young exactly. maybe when John started taking him to hunting. #like maybe John is out busy doing whatever #and Dean is left in the car so he just started talking about not wanting to do this particular job and being scared but he still has to #without really thinking about addressing Baby in particular. #but then it became kind of a habit over time and whenever he wanted to talk about something but not to anyone he just started going to Baby #and it started including not just venting but also like. everything. happy things. silly things. #grief. loss. things he wouldn't wanna openly admit to Sam or Cas in particular. whatever. #and sometimes he would just drive to nowhere and talk to Baby. #and yeah #that's my take on it anyway #Baby should definitely be personified in the show at least once. #it would be funny if it turns out they're like actually really masculine despite how everyone uses she/her pronouns to refer to them #I think she would still use she/her pronouns anyway #also where do you think would all their weaponry and hunting stuff in the trunk go? #I think it would all seemingly disappear which would worry Sam and Dean #but Baby would just be like “oh you mean this?” and pull it literally out of nowhere #maybe they'd have to take them into battle despite being human just for their weapons. #they're in the middle of hunting something and Dean would have to shout whatever specific weapon he needs and Baby would and toss it to him. #also like. Baby is inhumanly goddamn fast. and pretty damn sturdy too.

(my previous tags btw if anyone was interested)

But YEAH!!!!! Exactly!!!!! Also clarifying a little bit on the weaponry part just in case I wasn’t clear enough (the tags were honestly constricting I probably should’ve just posted all of this in the first place lol) but I was thinking she would have like some sort of spatial powers as a consequence of the curse. Everything stored inside her especially her trunk still has to be somewhere. That plus her speed and strength, she’s got to join them hunting, which also means more opportunities for her to reveal Dean’s stuff 🤭 could get pretty angsty if we’re really getting into it. Also Dean whispering to baby and Sam noticing but not saying anything about it is so damn adorable. The little bits of destiel is the cherry on top, and them being accepting on her pronouns is amazing. Human!Baby is such a fun concept there’s so much possibilities. The idea of a place/object having a “memory” in general is such a cool concept, that added with personification/anthropomorphism is awesome!

Supernatural Head cannon

Dean talks to his car, always has. As a result Baby knows everything. Every secret from Deans emotional turmoils and breakdowns to his crush on Cas. Baby really knows about Cas. It heard about every time Dean was divorced or Widowed and it heard about how hot Dean found Cas in his cowboy hat as well as doctors coat. The impala is the first one he comes out to, albeit unintentionally as Baby witnessed his baby bi breakdowns. This is not an issue until Baby is hit with a curse that turns them human. And as Baby was previously a car they don’t really understand social rules. So, Baby keeps accidentally spilling his secrets and the episode is mostly Dean trying to keep Baby quiet, Sam finding it hilarious and Cas being confused/concerned.

[yandere-daze]

Hello!

Characters who speak in all Hiragana in text is actually fairly common, I think. I remember seeing it multiple times but I can only think of two examples right now besides Kanata: Imanotsurugi from Touken Ranbu uses it, but actually he speaks at a fairly normal pace in my ears (? at least), so it might be to emphasize his childishness. Voyager from FGO also uses this, and he does speak slowly, but he's also an anthropomorphized form of the Voyager space probe launched by NASA, so it might be because he's both in the form of a child and doesn't originate from Japan.

Japan does have a huge number of pronouns to use, though they may not all be appropriate for use in a given context. Like watashi is neutral, but also formal and is commonly expected to be used in workplace settings. Actually the level of formalities to use in a workplace setting is kind of like a whole course in itself I hear, and it gives learners a really hard time. Boku is considered masculine, but more humble and there are plenty of females/feminine presenting people who use it. There's also setsu, which is similar-ish to boku but more formal/archaic? Watashi also has derivatives like waga, which is more archaic, or washi, which is a dialect pronunciation. Kohaku uses washi, and one distinction between Kohaku and Mika is that Kohaku uses "han" instead of "san". Mika keeps the s sound in things like oshi-san, but Kohaku uses an h sound in place of s, which is really common in kyoto dialect. Though they both use ookini, which I dont think is common in like...tokyo dialect? (I'm not actually sure what the "standard" dialect is called)

- 🐶

I´m sorry but the personified voyager space probe was a gut punch I have yet to recover from dnfjdnfl

And yeah, there really does seem to be a lot of nuance in the japanese language that really isn´t that easy to grasp for learners! I think even in enstars a lot of people refer to themselves in a different way. I thin Rei uses waga? At least I often hear him say something like that after a live but it would make sense with how he tries to present himself as an old man

[forbidden-sorcery]

As the Celts declared certain sites a nemeton, they also named a goddess Nemetona. Hardly anything is known of her, apart from a couple of inscriptions from occupied Gaul, Germany and Britain. They show that she was important and widely known, just as the nemetons were, but with regard to her iconography, mythology and ritual, nothing survived. Was the goddess worshipped in an anthropomorphic shape? Or did she appear laughing in the screech of the crows, the flapping of dark wings, the gentle touch of somber evergreens, the gurgling of a brook or the gusts of the ghostwind in the shaking, trembling trees? Imagine eyes that glare like amberfire rowan berries, the pupils tiny, focused, opening up, glowing dark and shiny with deadly nightshade sweetness, then pale, the sightless gaze of a dead fish turning slowly in a pool, unblinking, the steady gaze of the viper in morningmoist heather, then lighting up in chiming starlight, a song returning to its source. Imagine skin of roots and bark, tangle and lichens, fur and scales, feathers and raw earth. Imagine teeth like gleaming quartz, like sharpened flint, bent cruelly like bramble thorns to grasp and hold and tear. Imagine faces, glaring, wild, a-swoon, delirious with lust that appear and disappear, materializing out of whatever is handy in the scenery. And remember the quality of awareness that makes all this possible. Some of the joy and passion of these experiences has gone into the drawings of this book. Many of the more fantastic pictures were inspired by evocations and obsession trances with Nemetona, who proved a very elusive and enchanting ancient deity. But perhaps the concept deity is misleading here. Nemetona personifies the quality of sacredness itself, the matrix of consciousness which permits the gods and spirits to manifest. Not an easy entity - the concept of sacredness can verge on sheer horror, shock or madness on occasion - but one that may be worth encountering if you really wish to dream your way into Celtic magick, and bring back something new and worthwhile from the foaming cauldron. Nemetona opened the way for other deities. Artio of the mountains of the beginning appeared, breaking open the gates of the deep realm. Cernunnos dancing in the moonbright, darknight forest. Nantosuelta leading the souls along the long, flowing river of stars to the four cornered fortress in the center of the sky. Sucellos brewing the ingredients of enchantment in his cauldron, striking the earth to make the seasons change. The Celts had many gods as their concept of the divine had many faces.

Jan Fries - Cauldron of the Gods: A Manual of Celtic Magick

[fatehbaz]

In the English language, if we want to speak of that sugar maple or that salamander, the only grammar that we have to do so is to call those beings an “it.” And if I called my grandmother or the person sitting across the room from me an “it,” that would be so rude, right? And we wouldn’t tolerate that for members of our own species, but we not only tolerate it, but it’s the only way we have in the English language to speak of other beings, is as “it.” In Potawatomi, the cases that we have are animate and inanimate, and it is impossible in our language to speak of other living beings as “it”s. 

-------------------

[W]hen we name something, often with a scientific name, this name becomes almost an end to inquiry. We sort of say, well, we know it now. We’re able to systematize it and put a Latin binomial on it, so it’s ours. We know what we need to know. [...] It’s such a mechanical, wooden representation of what a plant really is. And we reduce them tremendously if we just think about them [solely] as physical elements of the ecosystem. [...]

This comes back to what I think of as the innocent or childlike way of knowing. Actually, that’s a terrible thing to call it. We say it’s an innocent way of knowing, and, in fact, it’s a very worldly and wise way of knowing.

That kind of deep attention that we pay as children is something that I cherish, that I think we all can cherish and reclaim, because attention is that doorway to gratitude, the doorway to wonder, the doorway to reciprocity. And it worries me greatly that [...] children can recognize 100 corporate logos and fewer than ten plants. [...]

Scientists are [...] eager to say that we oughtn’t to personify elements in nature for fear of anthropomorphizing. And what I mean when I talk about the personhood of all beings, plants included, is not that I am attributing human characteristics to them, not at all. I’m attributing plant characteristics to plants. Just as it would be disrespectful to try and put plants in the same category through the lens of anthropomorphism, I think it’s also deeply disrespectful to say that they have no consciousness, no awareness, no being-ness at all. And this denial of personhood to all other beings is increasingly being refuted by science itself. [...] And the language of “it,” which distances, disrespects, and objectifies, I can’t help but think is at the root of a worldview that allows us to exploit [...].

-----------

Robin Wall Kimmerer interviewed by Krista Tippett. “On Being with Krista Tippett - Robin Wall Kimmerer: The Intelligence in All Kinds of Life.” February 2016.