#down on deep river

[jt1674]

[uwhe-arts]

. . . | uwhe-arts

[lavellaned]

actually sickening that solas still calls you vhenan when he’s breaking up with you

[mattodore]

don’t worry about me when i’m away because i'm usually just doing this and going on walks

[being-somewhere-else]

I call this one: onion

[pinkfey]

𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐔𝐋𝐀. ┆ 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗, 𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗡-𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥, 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 ┆ 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫 ┆ 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰 ┆ ♡ 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧 "Let me say it plain: I loved someone and I failed at it. Let me say it another way: I like to call myself wound but I will answer to knife."

[funkiestmerman]

IS A DREAM A LIE IF IT DONT COME TRUE?OR IS IT SOMETHING WORSE????

[rxttenfish]

Is there even any infrastructure for humans visiting merfolk underwater settlements? Or are they too deep for humans to comfortably dive/swim in? Or maybe the merfolk just say, "of course we don't have any support for you under several hundred feet of water. literally why would you even try?"

there's not any infrastructure for human (or any other sophont besides gorgons that already live there, anyhow) visitation! mostly that's because this is a bit of a first contact situation, albeit one that was born more out of political isolationism and not necessarily caring about the land-based sophonts...

basically, the current political entity overseeing all existing or known merfolk settlement is a fairly old one, that slowly grew from a smaller polity into a more all-encompassing unit by swallowing up its neighbors. it's more of a complicated shell game than this necessarily makes it seem - like i said, a lot of time has passed, and significant cultural shifts have happened within that time, as well as shifts and establishment on how its government and policies would function, so it's a little bit more of a larger conglomerate containing within it many smaller governments, who are allowed independent control of the populations within their allotted territories, just so long as they take up the job of translating the broader governmental laws and taxes down onto that population. the details are rather vague, and so long as the results are what the larger governmental body asked, the intermediary areas are allowed a lot of different ways to interpret what that means.

however, one of the things that got lost in that shuffle of politic and history was the presence of merfolk inland. historically, merfolk have actually periodically spent time inland! usually it was still very tied to the water, being more like seasonal beachcombing using temporary shelters and housing, but they utilized the land a lot more for potential resources and ways to live. the nomadic families especially used to take advantage of these opportunities, and there was much more interaction with landfolk in these contexts.

the exact way it was lost varies, in that not everyone agrees what came first or what was the reason or who did what, but most of this was probably limited and then lost due to the larger governmental body, in the process of colonization, banning merfolk from going up onto the land in order to prevent political enemies and refugees from fleeing up and onto the land, using it as a base of operations, or otherwise using it as a means to escape to other bodies of saltwater. like i said, these periods inland were mostly seasonal, and merfolk did still majorly depend on the water, so what merfolk did make settlements inland mostly ended up vanishing over time anyways - either through simply vanishing into landfolk populations, or through dying out, it wasn't particularly sustainable.

but, time still went on, and this ban remained, and somehow it slowly disseminated into popular thought that the land was just not really very interesting in the first place. sure, merfolk knew there was stuff up there, and other animals and even fairly smart animals, but that doesn't necessarily make it worth investigating. travel over land is hard for them, and it's hard for them to live on land for long periods of time, and everything that they need and depend on is in the ocean anyways. there's a lot less space to the land, there's nothing that would interest merfolk, it would be uncomfortable and painful for them to visit (a lot of myths and legends about the land and what lived there got started in this time, with a lot of focus on undead monsters that had dried out and were lit from within by the hateful light of the sun, and a lot of merfolk made a habit of coming up with scary stories about the weird things that must've lived in such an extreme environment), and there was a lot more political movements and such focused on other merfolk to begin with.

even moreso because merfolk still, technically, did go out onto land? it just wasn't very large portions of land, that is. mostly they would set up on much smaller islands and atolls, which would mostly be used for manufacturing or more technical jobs that required being done in the air. they really just needed the space, not anything specific already on the land itself, and the space was all functional, very little exploration or relaxation areas. sometimes these were used specifically to produce novelty items or experiences, but usually this didn't go much further than exploring the uniqueness of being in open air for the first time, and wasn't really pursued as much more than that.

so merfolk still knew the land was important and needed for ecological functioning - something they had learned the hard way, after an earlier period in their history pre-unifying government became known for a particular and acute ecological disaster, felt even harder by all merfolk on account of the properties of water and everyone living in the ocean. they view the land as functional in its own right - a needed recycling facility that operates itself and helps keep them alive, and one in a place that they had no interest in and could set aside for such tasks.

they also knew there was life up there, even intelligent life, but considering the period in time when merfolk ceased interacting with land-based societies, and the predominant view that what makes something sapient for them being a multiplicity and plural nature to it, on top of the complex interweave of language and meaning, they basically just viewed it as "smart animals". i've compared it before to like if we actually discovered warrior cats was real and there was a population of feral cats in a national park that had their own tiny society. it's interesting, for sure, but it wouldn't be the kind of thing that they might feel too passionately about, and can easily pass it off as a curiosity and a thought experiment all of its own.

the fact that this has changed at all, and especially in such a small time frame and with such major turnaround and abrupt interest in the outer governing body is actually really odd, and a major question and mystery in what i'm writing! the starting interest happened only just in the previous generation, and now they're making major steps towards introducing themselves to land-based civilizations in just miranda's generation, even to the point of sending her inland as an ambassador and an active participant in this shift.

most people on the land already knew that someone was in the ocean and actively preventing anyone else from crossing it or even getting particularly close, but they had no context for this any more than anyone else, and thus they might not raise as many questions about why this is happening than they should, especially since they don't know merfolk history. even most merfolk don't necessarily have all of the details of this shift, but they do know more than nothing, and certainly can note how odd it is and how weird such a change is.

likewise, neither civilization has very much to accommodate for the other, given as they barely even knew of each other by the time they were already designing how it was laid out, so the issues humans have accessing merfolk spaces is at least mutual, if nothing else. it's also something very likely to change over time, depending on how said first contact goes.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i cannot overstate my father’s borderline saintly forbearance regarding my mother’s outrageous fuckery

because when he found out that my mother had literally lied to him about having terminal cancer for the sole purpose of tricking him into marrying her, this was not enough to make him leave her. they stayed married for nine years.

i wish i knew what the final straw was, honestly, because her starting gambit was already so bold. even all the other fabrications i found out about years later don’t quite stick that particular landing. was it when she claimed she was a michael stipe groupie? no, she was a keith richards groupie. no, she used to pall around with the talking heads. no it was michael stipe—

anyway this is why i don’t even bother asking my mother about any hereditary issues that i might have inherited from her side of the family, who knows what unhinged and entirely fictitious nonsense she will trot out.

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

Sam & Wes adding a 'lil Razzle-Dazzle™ for the recording of Chocolate Starfish and The Hot Dog Flavored Water

[arolesbianism]

Working more on the local group of Synchronized Light and hoo boy. There's smth wrong with these guys.

[zevrans-remade]

.

[izayoichan]

Vy: We’ll bring cakes and cookies, all the nice things! I’ll make sure everyone comes, well apart from one whom we can never guarantee, but I am sure he will find time to stop by. River: I’ll tell Flynn and Emil as well as my mom and Meadow. Lucas: Sounds good.

Vy smiled brightly at the two: And they will be a bright one. They already display empathy so they’ll develop well and quickly! Healthy and strong!

The rest of the day they spent just talking and caring for their little one, Lucas at first wondering if he was a copy of him after all, but as they looked closer they saw slight differences, although his sundragon side was clearly dominant. A few months later, they had both settled into parenthood, Liam thriving in his surroundings, loving all the animals spending almost all his awake time with pets. He also loves visiting Flynn and Emil, calling Flynn for Fynn and Emil for uncle Em. 

Emil had become his go to for dragon questions, and it made the bond between the two fairly strong. Emil loved whenever the little sunlight came over, knowing there would be a barrage of questions. The hardest thing, if he was honest, was to let him go home again, as a part wanted him to stay, so he could protect them. Keep the small burst of sunshine safe and sound.

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[lepetitfruit]

regarding your last post with the kayaking and fear of deep water: deep water is pretty much cool until you remember it's deep, then it's scary. but if you forget it's Deep Water then it's really cool and fun!

That's exactly how I survive! I actively ignore that fact that it's deep. What are you talking about, that water is CLEARLY 3 feet deep, Actually. Yes I am on the river. That's irrelevant.

[sunlessea]

FINALLY. AT LONG LAST. GODS TAG DROP. FREE ME.

[fivefeetfangirl]

why are they slow i ankle deep snow have these men never walked before???