#living airplane

[vees-strangeworld-omniverse]

THE ARGONIAN MYTHOS: a basic overview pt 2- seasons, aeronoid creation, and other bits of mythos

(NOTE: description copy-pasted from DA where i normally post my works. any context that is missing here on tumblr can be found on my DA [linked here and on pinned post] )

Alright, now that we got the religion out of the way, we can now continue on to the other major mythos….

THE TALE OF SEASONS AND THE MOVEMENT OF THE SUN AND MOON

Now, a good deal of mythologies seem to have a reason as to how and why the sun, moon and stars work the way they do. Back then, the elkinets did know that the planet was round, but they wouldn't be able to go any farther until the advent of space travel. So, they came up with their own reason on why the sun and moon move, where stars came from, and in the process also gave reason to why there were seasons as well.

Before there were stars, seasons and the consistent cycle of the sun and moon, the only real indicator of day and night was whether it was light or dark out. However, the plants and animals still needed duzliv and magmor to do their job. Duzliv was needed to give plants the sunlight they need, while magmor was vital to the animal for giving them a rhythm to follow. Thus, the two gigantic birds had specific spots they’d stay, and every week they’d switch to a different spot to keep the planet in shape.

The spots that duzliv stood on became parched and dry due to the heat of his body. Because of the heat and the lack of any water, those areas have become the hot, arid lands of the deserts, savannas and chaparrals. While many animals avoided where he stood, a good deal of them were able to not only survive, but actually thrive off of the dry and hot lands. Conversely, the places magmor stood were cold and barren, and almost always snowed. These places were close to the poles, though the highest of mountain tops were also a favorite of hers. Like with duzliv, there were some animals that were able to thrive in her conditions, while most other avoided these places.

But overtime, things were starting to brew between the sun crow and the moon owl. There was a disagreement going on between the birds. Magmor was getting upset at the fact that most of the animals under her wings always slept when the snow came. On the contrary, Duzliv couldn't understand why all of his animals were hiding under the ground during the day. Either way, none of them realized the other had similar issues with their animals hiding from them.

Now, which bird started the fight depends on the religion. In most versions, magmor was the one to start the argument first, telling him how much she hated him for always having the win over all of the animals. Before long, she threw the first scratch, and then began to fight. However, in the dhetotistic and omyistic version, it was duzliv that started the argument and subsequent fight.

Either way, the fight was brutal. Feathers flew all over the place, mites and fleas clinging onto dear life on top of those feathers. Ogrin, Dhetos and Xortan had to step in to desperately stop the battle before they destroyed the planet. Eventually, they got them to stop just long enough for magmor to run off, duzliv breaking free and following suit. For the next 190 years, the chase around the planet was out of pure hatred of each other, duzliv wanting to kill magmor, and magmor wanting to kill duzliv.

However, as time went on it became less of an angry chase and more of a playful game. They actually loved the chasing of each other, and it reformed the bond between them. It wasn't until one of them (the one that hit first) caught up to the other to apologize for the fight, and that from now on this game of chase will be the way they keep the planet in shape. It was here, at this moment, that the first eclipse happened.

From then on, they playfully chased each other around the planet, taking turns between who’s chasing who. In the summer, duzliv was the one chasing magmor, while the winters was when went magmor was in the lead. The moon’s phases where magmor slowly cloaking herself in darkness to make it harder for duzliv to see where she was. Every so often, one of them will catch up to the other so they can renew their love. When magmor catches up to duzliv, they create a solar eclipse, while the vise-versa creates the lunar eclipse.

And all those feathers and mites? Well, the ones that landed on earth became the animals of dawn and dusk, while the feathers that flew off from the planet became the stars in the night sky. Some of these feathers hit other pebbles in the dark void, and it is believed that those feathers and the mites on it became those pebbles’s plants and animals. This is also why some elkinets call extraterrestrial and idertimensional beings “Mites”, since it’s been used to describe any being outside of argonus.

At first the new cycles threw the animals off-balance, but they eventually got used to these new day & night cycles and adapted perfectly, and they forgave the gods for the fight they had. However, there were two animals that never forgave them: the crows and owls. The crows hated magmor for starting the fight, and vice versa for the version where duzliv started it. Thus, that is why crows and owls are enemies to eachother, and strictly stick to their respective times of the day.

After duzliv and magmor made peace with each other, the next major myth started right afterwards, which involves clay, sticks and the creation of a certain group of animals..

THE CREATION OF THE AERONOIDS

Like with every mythology, there’s always a story on how and why the sentient species of a planet came to be. Argonus is no exception, with a well-known story on how the elkinets were created. Not just that, but it also encompasses the other aeronoids as well.

After the very first eclipse, magmor and duzliv decided to test their children by dropping a lump of clay and sticks and telling them to try and make something good between the three of them. The things they made vary not by religion, but by region. However, the eroonian-sonian version is the most common version of the story, since in that area is where all five major aerinoids can naturally be found.

Here, Dhetos was the first to create something out of the materials, that is several small, featherless birds using the sticks as bones and the clay as flesh. However, neither ogrin nor xortan were pleased with the fact that these birds couldn't fly, so they took the birds and some more sticks and clay to fix them.

The two gods messed around with the birds before they got something they liked: a bird with engines on its wings and face of a lizard, that is the first theropects. Dhetos, despite being suddenly one-upped by her two brothers, was actually impressed. It was here that things got competitive between the siblings.

Xortan believed that, since it had both wings and engines, that it didn't need wings, and thus took some of the theropects, tore the wings off and put the engine on the back, effectively making the stunnits. Ogrin got so angry at his brother for tearing off the wings that he just had to show it. He took another theropect and ripped off the engines and forearms, and flattened the wings into a more bird-like shape, creating a featherless bird that CAN fly normally, the first avibels. Xortan, even more angry now, decided some of his new stunnits didn't need engines or wings, so he tore them off and even gave the creature whiskers to put spite, and created the rodads.

Now, ogrin was really, REALLY angry that his brother created the "flightless" abomination, so the two went into an utter frenzied fight of creating creatures and tossing them at each other like snowballs. Many of the creatures they made in this fight didn't survive, as they were tossed so hard they splattered on impact with the gods or ground. They were so concentrated on the fight, they weren't even paying attention to what they were creating. It wasn't until dhetos screamed their names that they stopped their fighting. They were fully expecting her to destroy all that they’ve created, but instead found her kneeled over next to a bush.

Immediately they went over to see what she was looking at. Hiding inside of the bush was a small airplane, terrified of the deities that just created them. It made the gods realize that, during their entire fight, they accidentally created the first elkinet who, alongside the other four previous aeronoids they made, were hiding from the destruction the two siblings caused.

The three gods, not knowing exactly what to do next, decided to create a couple more elkinets, so they can prove that they’re just as capable of creating life as they are destroying it. However, the brother for the life of them could not figure out how they did it, so dhetos steps in and sculpts out the other elkinet since she was the only one who was paying attention.

Dhetos not only created the new elkinets, but also gave them the ability to make tools and later on use fire so that they can survive in this new world. As soon as those new elkinets were created, all of the aerinoids went off into the world to call home. Duzliv and magmor were impressed not just by the fact they created new life, but the fact that they created an animal unlike anything they’ve seen thus far. However, because the fight had left many creations killed, their parents left it to dhetos to create new life from now on since she seemed to be the only one who wasn't in the battle to begin with.

Now, this is the commonly told version of the creation myth, however there are a couple other versions as well. All of them start with duzliv and magmor giving the children clay, dhetos makes a featherless bird, ogrin and xortan getting too caught up with creating things, and then ends with a small population of aeronoids and dhetos being in charge of creation. Such variations include the following:

Indus islands:

In the indus islands, the only other aeronoids beside the elkinets were the stunnits and avibels that they kept as pets and food. Here, it started much like how the eroonian-sonian version, where dhetos created a featherless bird that ogrin and xortan build upon. However, they struggled to come up with anything together, so they did them separately. Xortan made the stunnit, ogrin made the elkinets. However, while sculpting the beings a huge snake slowly stalked up to them in the anticipation of catching whatever food they had. Dhetos, seeing this go down, tried warning the brothers but they were too focused on their creations. It wasn't until the elkinets and stunnits jumped into the air and flew off that the brothers turned around and saw a (now disappointed) snake, who slithered back into the wilderness before dhetos could scold the reptile. Just like with the eroonian-sonian version, their parents decided dhetos was in control of making new beings from now on. The first thing dhetos creates is an avibel, which goes off to find the other two aeronoids.

Southest and northest amerigia:

This plays out very much like the indus island version, where dhetos creates the featherless bird and her brother becomes too focused to see the animal stalking them for their creation. The animal in question can vary; In southest amerigia, it was a jaguar, alligator or anteater, while in the northest amerigian version it was either a coyote, moose or cougar. Either way, instead of wanting to eat them, the animals thought that they were the god’s favorite, and feared that the new creature would replace them. So, they waited until the siblings were done with there creations so that they could ambush them and kill them. However, dhetos saw this and knew that her brothers were too occupied to take notice. So, she grabs a huge branch and swung it at the offending animal who flew into the air. When the animal hit the ground, the elkinet and stunnit flew off in a panic. Of course, after that their parents let dhetos be in charge of creating new life, this time because she bravely defended them from the animals. Legend has it that sometimes those animals act out aggressively because they’re jealous that they’re no longer the gods’s favorites.

Southern / middle nylus:

Once again, it plays out much like the previous two were dhetos created the featherless birds and her brothers being too focused making the aeronoids. However, this time it wasnt an animal that threatened the aeronoids, but instead the aircrafts themselves. Ogrin and xortan were making so many different creatures that they all fought against each other. Dhetos left to find more clay and sticks, so it wasn't until ogrin and xortan noticed how much they’ve created, but by that point it was already too late. Most of their creations got killed by one another, that was except for the elkinets, stunnits and avibells, who managed to survive by just avoiding the fight all together and running away. When dhetos came back, duzliv and magmor filled her in on what happened and told her she was in charge of creation of life now.

These are some of the major examples, there are also plenty of versions with some smaller details here and there that make it different. This can range from what order the aeronoids where made, to who created what, to even the circumstances for why the aeronoids left.

Now, there is one more major myth to the mythos, but first i’d like to bring up some of the smaller ones that seem to be commonplace throughout the mythos.

THE MANY STORIES WITH A REOCCURRING THEME

In the mythos to this day, there are a plethora of stories that, while differing heavily, have a recurring theme to them. From the hows and whys of life, to the stories of the gods, and much more. Here are just some of these examples:

-how elkinets got fire:

A rather common story not just on argonus but also here on earth is how the elkinets got their paws on fire. The reason why in these stories is primarily for food, warmth and light, just like in our world. In practically all these stories, either dhetos, duzliv or both of them had some major involvement in these stories. For example, some say that dhetos tricked her parents into giving one of his feathers so that the elkinets could use that to make fire. In some stories, However, a piece of duzliv’s feathers just randomly falls from the sky, of which all the other animals were unable to use or create it, say for, of course, the elkinets.

In other stories, dhetos was drilling a stick against a stripped log out of boredom and by sheer accident created a hot coal, while similarly, some story replace the stick and log part with her just randomly picking up rocks and striking them together until a certain combination created sparks. And, in one particular story, it was the eagles who figured out how to create and use fire, but they were being destructive with it so dhetos got rid of their fire privileges and gave it to the elkinets.

-dhetos helps elkinets with their food issues:

There seems to be a rather common story about how dhetos created a plant or animal for the elkinets because other animals were depleting their food supply, whether by eating crops or hunting livestock. What was made for what purpose? Of course it depends on the story itself.

For example, when it comes to plants and crops, dhetos will make it so only the elkinets are able to eat them but other animals aren't. one of the most common variations of these tales is that dhetos creates a plant that is almost entirely edible, but tastes pretty bad unless prepared/eaten a certain way. Often the reason for the bad taste was because dhetos convinced all other animals that the plant was poisonous to them, and the horrible taste was just an added measure. It’s a common explanation as to why dandelions and white pines were bitter. However, sometimes just tricking the animals into thinking a plant is poisonous isn't enough, and dhetos sometimes would instead just make it plain difficult to get the food, like putting thorns on blackberry bushes or having the foods grow high on a tree like coconuts and bananas. Howvers, making it taste bad or upping the difficulty of getting the food wasn't foolproof, and animals would eventually figure out how to eat the food. So she’ll create a plant that is genuinely poisonous if consumed in the wrong manner. Perhaps only a specific part of it is edible like the fruit of a tomato plant, or that a plant must be prepared a certain way in order for it to be safely eaten like boiling raw beans.

While most stories have dhetos make a new plant, there are alot of stories of her making new animals for the elkinets as well. Perhaps a perfect example is the many stories throughout the old world where the land goddess created an animal that’ll fight back against the predators that’ll eat them. In l’russ, it was the goat that would ram it’s head against wolves to protect it’s ewes. In another story in upper nylus, dhetos made the elkinets donkeys, who were so good at protecting themselves and other livestock that they were often spared from being made into food and instead became great mounts and guard animals. There are also stories where she makes an animal specifically for keeping the food safe, like the Ben Ital tale of her creating cats to help the elkinets with their rodent problem.

-the many children of the three gods

No surprise, like many other mythos, there are plenty of stories about ogrin, dhetos and xortan having children with mortals, whether they wanted to or not. Of course, when it comes to the children and which god had who is different depending on religion and region.

For example, like said with ogrin in the beginning, he’s often the father of many different demigods and beasts because he, as the humans put it “can't keep his dick in his pants”. One of the more commonly told children were the giants/titans, which happened when ogrin got busy with mortal elkinets. However, although ogrin seems to have all the children, the other gods also got their fair share of offspring as well.

For example, dhetos has had a few run-ins with love and ending in having a child, though half the time the father either dies or runs off before or shortly after the child is born/hatched. In any case, due to her status as the land goddess and ruler of the animals, the children are often part animal and part elkinet. The children get free roam of dhetos’s land and are allowed in and out whenever they pleased. They also help their mother in keeping her land in order, and some even guard the entrance.

Xortan, on the other hand, has a less than good lovelife. All of his children were the result of a pregnant or egg-laid elkinet who was sent to the underabyss. For some reason or another, depending the the religion or story, the unborn/unhatched child would never be fit for whatever afterlife/punishment it’s mother would get since it wasn't even born/hatched yet to be considered a proper soul. Thus xortan adopts the children and raises them. Usually, he’ll keep them until they’re old enough to fend for themselves, but sometimes they either stay or come back for various reasons. The ones that do stay will often help xortan with his duties, from choosing one’s fate to gathering materials from outside the underabyss, to just about anything xortan needs.

-the mites from the stars

Perhaps one of the weirdest yet interesting trends across the argonian mythos is the many stories of “ancient aliens”, where mites and fleas from the different feathers of the night sky end up on argonus one way or another. It’s not specific to any religion, area or person; seemingly every culture has an ancient alien story of some kind.

Typically, the mites are portrayed as strange-looking animals, often of unnatural colors or being a chimera of different native species. In many stories, the mites were banished from their own homelands and ended up on argonus. In some stories, they were unfairly banished and argonus was the only option for them. Other stories, however, had the mites banished as a punishment for a crime, and when they escaped they ended up on argonus by accident.

Whether the mites were genuine stories of ancient aliens or not is highly debated even to this day. Some say that it would’ve been impossible, since these stories were told long before the pukanis discovered the planet and the humans came, and long before the scientific revolution and discovery of other planets. Others, however, say that it’s entirely possible that some interdimensional being came to the planet before all the others.

Again, these are just some of the stories, there are plenty which follow tropes similar, if not exactly like many of our mythos.

join me next time were i discuss the end of the world and holidays....two things that shouldn't be that close to each other but are.

[cathartes-aura-shitposting]

tiny F-22. what crimes will he commit?

[baltharino]

Airplane! (1980)

[scumvillainess]

another post of me cooking on twitter (i refuse to call it x)

[gazkamurocho]

Goromi will be your hostess wherever you go~

[shrimpchipsss]

read Living With a Tiger by x_los !

[lingrimmart]

Lazy and Roui are two music nerds who love talking about their favorite genres and arguing about music history.

But neither of them had any talent for playing or making music. If they did, they would start their own band, for sure.

A release from our Patreon! ☆

[dumbfucksystem]

i keep thinking about the fact that unlike sy (who never even thought about how his family might feel about him dying), airplane actually had the option to go back to his family and ultimately decided not to.

like imagine being a parent and finding out that your child chose a life that didn’t have you in it.

just think about the guilt that his parents must have felt when they heard the news. each of them are enjoying time with their new families, but they haven’t spoken to their son in a while. he’s in college though so he’s probably fine. he’s not reaching out saying that he needs help or money or anything though he never asked for much when he was home either.

then they get the call. and they find out that he died alone in his apartment. he was electrocuted while trying to salvage his laptop. and they think he didn’t have to die this way. he never asked them for anything, and now they know that he desperately needed them. he never mentioned how much he struggled, and maybe he would have if they had been in contact more often. but they were too caught up in their own lives to pay attention to him.

no parent should have to out-live their child, but they distanced themselves so much from him that they couldn’t even be there for him when he died.

cough your child could have lived a long, happy, & healthy life and eventually die of old age surrounded by people they love. but instead he died when he was young and alone because he didn’t feel comfortable sharing his problems with you cough cough

[airplanetxt]

kiss

[cavesalamander]

Scum Villain fic where Shen Yuan wakes up out of a coma and realizes that he just had a very, very vibrant dream about his boy and that web novel he hatereads.

When he gets back home after observation it's so... surreal. He feels so much older now. He's practically lived a lifetime in that dream, even if only a few months have passed.

His room is so... cringe is the word he wants to use, but he can't help but find his past self endearing about it all. Except that line of thought makes... no sense at all. His past self is just him from a couple months ago.

He decides to check up on the story he'd been dreaming about and finds out that, though there were a dozen more chapters, they had stopped updating completely without warning just a few weeks after his own coma.

(The comments after his coma, a few mention him, calling him out or cheering for him finally giving up on the story. Some people even speculate he might have died.)

His old comments were so embarrassing to read, but there's a part of him that... sees his love for Luo Binghe even in these.

Wait, why is he suddenly okay being gay for this protag??

He thinks he probably shouldn't be quite so chill about it.

He wonders what happened to Airplane. He stops himself from thinking too hard on the possibility it could all have been real. That was ridiculous!!

Meanwhile in the world of the system....

Luo Binghe is flipping OUT. His husband his shizun his beloved just up and went POOF. No trace of him, no clue left behind.

(Or is it worse if he dies? The original goods died that night he qi deviated and was replaced by Shen Yuan, so there's no soul there to replace him. Luo Binghe has had to deal with dead Shizun before but this time it's... different.)

Either way, after a whole lot of everyone flipping out, Shang Qinghua seems to know a little too much about... something.

The truth comes out. Luo Binghe admits he's suspected something like that for a while now, but thats not important. He needs his shizun back, so how..?

Cue dimension hopping shenanigans.

[incorrectly-quoting-mxtx]

Luo Binghe: What’s something Shizun would know that no one else knows?

Shang Qinghua, immediately: The Earth goes around the Sun.

Luo Binghe: It…it what??

[vees-strangeworld-omniverse]

THE ARGONIAN MYTHOS: a basic overview pt 3-end of the world and bonus holidays

(NOTE: description copy-pasted from DA where i normally post my works. any context that is missing here on tumblr can be found on my DA [linked here and on pinned post] )

Now, here’s the final myth, not just for this post, but for argonus itself…(in terms of, ya know, THE END)

REPENEARA: THE GREAT DEATH AND REBIRTH

A Lot of mythologies seem to have an end-of-the-world scenario, where some kind of cataclysmic event leads to the death and destruction of life on the planet, only sparring a few to repopulate the planet. The argonian mythos is not different: it is called the repeneara, where the planet’s lifeforms die off to make way for new life. There is very little that differs between tellings when it comes to the story.

It technically starts when the elkinets gains tools and fire. Both duzliv and magmor told the three gods that, at some point, their creations are going to reach a point where they’ll end up destroying their own homelands, and that they will need to take action and purge the planet of most life before the elkinets do. It was also around that time that their parents realized that all those feathers that flew into the void still had mites on them, and they’ve made a promise that they’ll take the mites and fleas and put them on argonus to continue the planet’s legacy and a life-filled planet.

We skip forward, in the many, many, many eras into the future, where the elkinets have reached that point where they’re close to destroying themselves. This is where the beginning of the end begins…

Its starts when magmor leaves during her new moon stage to search for the mites, fleas and plants to repopulate argonus. While magmor is gone, the three gods pick out the plants and animals that they’ll keep. Ogrin takes all domesticated animals to give to the new beings, dhetos takes all cultivated plants for the same reasons as ogrin, and xortan takes a handful of only the most widespread, resistant and powerful animals of each landmass (which varied depending on the culture). The two giant birds allowed them to keep the other aeronoids they made, in the hopes of teaching the newcomers what the previous inhabitants were.

The three gods, their animals and plants they took, as well as their immediate children they’ve had over the eras, all hide down in a specific spot in the underabyss where they’ll be safe from the burning heat of duzliv’s body. Meanwhile, up above land, duzliv is burning everything with his wings, by bringing a burst of fire that instantaneously turns everything into ash and dust (including the elkinets). While it’s a violent way to go out, it is quick, simple and there’s little suffering on the elkinet’s end.

In about a week’s time, magmor comes back with all of the mites from the neighboring feathers of the night sky, and drops both her feathers and the mites onto the now cold and empty lands. Like in the beginning, the feathers turn into plant life and the mites become the new fauna of the land.

Once all is said and done, the gods, their children and the animals come out to greet their newcomers. The gods now look different; instead of having the bodies of an elkinet, they now instead have the bodies of other surviving aeronoids (And the children change into the other aeronoids as well).

All of the elkinets that died get reborn as the next generations of the new fauna. What new animals become the next dominant species varies depending on the culture; in nylus, for example, it’s tese “gem-colored” hyenas and nylunian wild dogs (african wild dogs to us) become the next race to take over. Others up more north in sonias say it’s a hybrid between a wolf and a lion/tiger that will continue on the planet’s legacy, while in northest amerigia the new rulers are part stunnit, part crow, part rat. Either way, they all call argonus home now, and began to continue life on the planet.

Magmor and duzliv, satisfied with what they’ve done, went back to their game of chase, and the planet goes back into the new normal.

The repeneara has been the point of many different extremist beliefs and cults. As technology advances and more, said beliefs have become greater and greater. This argonian version of ragnarok has also been used in many works of fiction, ranging from apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic settings, to fantasy works and even a couple speculative pieces of media as well.

THE ARGONIAN HOLIDAYS

While this final one might not seem to fit here, I think it is important to mention the major holidays of argonus throughout the planet while we’re at it.

Like on earth, there are LOTS of holidays, spanning between region, culture, religion, and historical events. Perhaps one of the more major ones are the seasonals, which basically consists of the planet’s equinoxes. The planet’s rotation around the sun is practically identical, with the only difference being that there’s no real leap year and it’s a constant 366 days in a year. Most of the major seasonal holidays also seem to have some kind of creature tied to it, whether just a normal animal or some kind of folkloric beast. There are five major holidays:

-turning year’s days:

Essentially the planet’s new years holiday, where in between december and january, they celebrate the new year through a three-day period: the day before, the day of the new year, and the day after. The celebration is not unlike our new years; lots of fireworks, countdown to the new year, lots of food, ect. Though, there are some specifics to it.

For example, it is a household tradition to cook food over an outdoor fire, whether that be the patio fire pit or a bonfire in the backyard. This is primarily done in the middle of the day, during the three-day period of the turning year. Anything can be cooked over the fire, such as meats, plants, and even desserts. However, with fire comes the risk of an unnecessary house fire, so it’s not uncommon for one to see a plethora of PSAs on television, talking about fire safety and how to safely practice fire-cooking.

Another tradition more specific to western eroon is very similar to that of earth’s Mari Lwyd, known as “beasty head”, which occurs the day before the new year. The story here is that beasty head is a bit of a boogeyman, a demonic creature who has the body reminiscent of either a horse or bull, except it has the legs of an elkinet or stunnit. Beasty head comes out during winter nights and looks for any misbehaving aerolings caught alone. If he finds them, he’d either eat them right then and there, or more commonly steal things of high value to the child/family to eat instead. The reason why the elkinets do this tradition is primarily to keep beasty head at bay, as well as scare some aerolings into behaving. It’s also a way to kick start a new year for the people.

At the break of dawn, a bunch of elkinets will gather up in groups. Each group has two elkinets dressed up as beasty head, with one in the front controlling the head and forelimbs and one in the back being the hind limbs. The costume consisted of a horse/cattle head with a moving jaw, a pole to hold the head as well as move the jaw, and a large cloth that covered the two elkinets. This costume is absolutely adorned with many decorations, like tassels, bells, spikes, paint, ect. The head of the costume is often made of clay or wood, or even the actual skull of a horse or cattle if you really wanted it to be scary. The group will also carry a bag of sweets and goodies. What kind of sweets and goodies you may ask? Well, traditionally the sweets were candied foods like fruits, ginger and carrots, while the goodies were often tiny, hand-carved toys. In modern day the traditional goodies are still used, but many also use fun-sized candies or cheap, plastic toys.

The group roams the neighborhood, going door to door with bags of sweets (candy, cookies, brownies, etc), where participating families await. The group starts by having beasty head as “oh one oh thing, how are thy aerolings?”. The family would respond “oh hello oh bread, they’re not here beasty head!”. From there on, the two would go back and forth in rhymes, beasty head asking where’s their children, and the family giving an excuse as to why they’re not there. Eventually, one of two things happens: either the beast head gives up and the group gives some sweets for the children, or the families give up and the children give the group their sweets. Sometimes beasty heads will also try to scare the aerolings after they hand out their goods.

It’s always a game between families and beasty heads to see who could get more sweets and toys. Usually, if you gained more stuff than you lost, it’s then considered good luck. And, of course, the opposite happens and it’s bad luck if you lost more sweets than you gained.

-Newleaf day’s

It is the easter of argonus, where they celebrate the spring equinox. Typically, a lot of the springtime tradition involves growing new crops, though exactly what goes on depends on how the weather is during this time.

For example, in l’russ where it’s more than likely still snowing during this time, it was tradition for farmers to trade surplus seeds they had with each other. This, traditionally speaking, was to help eachother out by giving away the extra seed while getting some seeds for crops they either had little of or didnt have. However, this tradition has become a nearly worldwide thing, where during parties elkinets would get little seeds packet to plant their own veggies, fruits and herbs.

Another, more common type of tradition revolved around the newleaf horse. Yes, like our easter, they had rabbit/hares, lambs and chicks that represented the beginning of spring. However, while we have the easter bunny that lays eggs and hides candy, the elkinets have the newleaf horse that can grow chocolate tulips with its hooves and eats unsupervised deviled eggs. Plenty of newleaf horse candy, toys, decorations, ect. Are made during this time. Elkinets dress up in horse costumes to act as the newleaf horse during parties. Sometimes parties will even use a real horse, though this has been on the decline due to people buying horses and abandoning them once the novelty had worn off (Much like us with bunnies during Easter).

However, not everybody uses a horse as the main focus mascot of spring. In astra, for example, there’s the newleaf wallaby, while in southest amerigia it’s instead a bearmule.

-summer’s turning

Summer’s turning celebrates the summer solstice, and with the newer, warmer weather you’d find plenty of the same summer activities as we have; swimming, bbq, concerts, ect. However, like all other things on argonus, there are plenty of more elkinet-specific things that mark the first day of summer.

For example, in many parts of argonus elkinets will shoot fireworks into the night sky, release floating lanterns, or even in modern times have lazer shows. The reason why can vary depending on the religion, but it always seems to be about giving the gods they worship a good show. It is also during this time that the elkinets will often have music performances, whether that be massive concerts or small local bands. Regardless of who’s singing, they will always have a song all about the first day of summer, whether that’d be about personal affairs, historical events or about the gods and mythos itself.

In another common and widespread western tradition, there’s often a festival or fair that spans the first week of summer. These festivals coincide with the previously mentioned light shows and music performances, but they’re not always connected. In any case, these festivals will often consist of many rides, food, games, shows, crafts, and anything you’d get out of fairs and carnivals. People selling their crafts and items in tents, cooks making deep-fried foods of any kind (most popularly deep-fried cookies, dandelions and bananas), younger elkinet playing games to win prizes, ect.

A rather popular figure of summer, particularly in amerigia, are the vultures. Nobody knows why, but new world vultures (and sometimes classic old world vultures as well) are often representative of summertime. It may be due to them being at their most widespread in summer, or the fact they use heat thermals to glide on, but in any case these scavengers are often seen on celebratory decorations alongside other summer-loving animals like flamingos, turtles, dolphins, seagulls, ect.

-Autumn's falling

Autumn's falling is considered the argonian equivalent of halloween, and looking at it it’s no shock as to why. Candy, treats, and a bunch of elkinets dressed up in costume. However, of course there are some things that set it apart from our halloween.

While we dress up on Halloween to ward off bad ghosts and spirits, the elkinets dress up on autumn's fall to attract the good ghosts and spirits. Apparently, according to some myths autumn is the time when all the good spirits are at their most active, and these entities love nothing more than to see the living start the fall on the right foot. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that there’s even a bit of a story about it: Basically, these spirits were the souls of loved ones who were able to send themselves to aethorna, but still dearly missed their family and friends. So, the three gods allowed them to have an entire season where they can visit the overworld if they wish. However, of course they must come back to Aethorna on the final day of fall.

Now, in addition to costumes, they also do a reverse trick-or-treat, where instead of groups going door to door getting treats, it’s the opposite and it’s groups that go door to door GIVING treats. Much like turning year’s beasty head, they traditionally gave out candied food and hand-carved toys, but they also gave out the usual candy, toys and foods one would give out in our halloween.

Unlike most other holidays listed here, there is no holiday-specific animal or beast that’s used to represent autumn’s turning besides the usual animals we’d associate with halloween (wolves, black cats, bats, ect).

Winter’s day

Winter’s day is the final major holiday, and seeing the trend with all these seasonal holidays, you can easily guess this is celebrating the first day of winter. This, like with some of the other listed ones, is a sort of analog for our winter holidays, more specifically christmas.

This holiday specifically is about the creation of the seasons, since it was believed this was the day seasons were accidentally created by the sun and moon. Like with our Christmas, the holiday’s split into two parts: winter’s eve (the day before) and winter’s day. Winter’s eve is celebrated with parties, foods and drinks, whereas the next day is celebrated with gifts and crafts. However, there are some differences between winter’s day and christmas.

For example, in place of our santa is “pony-head”, said to be the wife of a beasty head. She’s more commonly part of western culture, and looks very similar to him; an equine-like creature with the limbs of an elkinet. However, unlike her child-eating jump-scaring husband, she's actually a really friendly being who loves kids. A common misconception is that she's the one who delivers presents since she’s the Santa analog, but that can't be further from the truth. Pony-head, while representing generosity, also loves to make sure that aerolings are behaving much like her husband. However, instead of outright scaring/killing/eating the elkinets, she instead just mildly inconveniences them (taking away toys, hiding stuff,etc). She’ll even steal presents from previous years and won't give them back until they apologize, to which she’ll gladly bring them back on winter’s day morning. Because of this, the elkinets will often place pony-head dolls/figurines around the house, and if the child ever complains about missing toys, the parents will point to the figurine and say it was the pony-head who did it.

Another thing that’s interestingly similar yet different is that, instead of presents around a pine tree, presents are placed under the home’s table or furniture. Originating in sonias and eroon, it has become widespread across the planet, and it’s believed that placing gifts under the furniture will deter evil spirits from taking it away.

Aaand that’s the very long basics of the mythos, religion and a few holidays. of course, this is more of just the basics. and, like any of my long-winded posts on lore, things that i haven't mentioned or will add will be in other future posts as well.

[cathartes-aura-shitposting]

THE ARGONIAN MYTHOS: a basic overview pt 1- in the beginning, the three gods & airplane religions

(NOTE: description copy-pasted from DA where i normally post my works. any context that is missing here on tumblr can be found on my DA [linked here and on pinned post] )

[and an additional note: i'm not a particularly religious person and their may be some bias, so please feel free to scream at me in tags or whatever if i accidentally make a genuinely offensive remark]

So…

Argonus now officially has religion and mythology to it. I mean, I've been worldbuilding on the actual fauna and the elkinets themselves for a while. What better way to expand upon this universe than to give out the mythos they believe and worship? I think it’s time for it. And oh dear lord, it is LOOOOOOONG!!! Why? Because I wanted to get rid of some of the major myths which most mythologies/religions have, plus it’s really fun to worldbuild an entire mythos...

So, without further ado, here’s [PT1] the mythos in its entirety (or at least the somewhat “basics” of it…),

IN THE VERY BEGINNING…

So, like all other mythologies, there’s a story about how the world and universe was created. Our planet argonus is no exception here, having the creation of the planet, sun and moon.

Once up many, many, many eras ago, argonus started off as nothing more than a smooth, round pebble floating in the pitch black void. Then, all of a sudden, the pebble started to form and shape the mountains, valleys and hills, and cracks began to form, releasing out all of the water and lava on that planet. From the cracks, two beings appeared: out of the lava came a bright, blazing crow named duzliv (The sun), and from the waters came a blue, swirling owl named magmor (the moon).

From there, the two birds immediately got to work, dumping some of their feathers onto the planet. The shaft and veins of the feathers became the trees and shrubs, and the fluffy afterfeather became the grass and flowers. It wasn't just feathers that shaped life on the planet, either. On every single feathers were mites, fleas and ticks. Those tiny, insignificant creatures would become all of the fauna of the planet: wolves, deer, birds, fish, and snakes. The mites that came from duzliv became the beings of the day while the ones from magmor became the creatures of the night. The only animals absent where the aeronoids (don't worry, they’re coming soon).

Once argonus had all of the life it needed, magmor and duzliv took a well-deserved break, before figuring out what to do next. Since they had all of these newly-created beings, they needed a way to control them all. Not only that, but they needed a place for the animal’s souls once they died.

It was duzliv who suggested they have children. Magmor, whilst not too keen on creating more life, knew that their children will have their parent’s god-like abilities. So, the owl and the crow had three children, and each of them controlled a specific role: one for the sky and the newly-created afterlife, one for the ground and the life that lived on it, and one for the waterways and the underworld. It would be here that this is where we meet the three major deities….

THE THREE BIG GODS OF ARGONUS

(and their worshipers)

After laying her eggs, all three of them hatch out, and immediately go to work, fulfilling their roles on argonus. The three gods, all of which had the head of a bird that fairly represented them, went along as as followed:

OGRIN:

the first and strongest of the children to hatch. He’s represented as an white airliner with the head of a brown-colored eagle or hawk (commonly the former), and he’s the sort of zeus analog. He not only is in control of the weather, but he’s also in control of “Aethorna”, the heavenly places where all the “good souls” go.

Aethorna is held up by clouds that only the souls of the deceased can see. This afterlife looks similar to the overworld of argonus, except that all plants grow lush green all year around, and the stars are visible regardless of daylight or not. The souls don't just include elkinets, but also all the animals as well.

Ogrin himself is a rather happy, carefree person who absolutely loves to eat, party and drink. However, like all other deities, if he's angry he often creates havoc in the forms of tornados, lightning and floods. He’s also often a total casanova, and like Zeus he goes after various beings to make sweet, sweet love too and have children with. These beings were often either other deities, mythical creatures or even just a regular elkinet. However on rare occasions during thunderstorms ogrin will accidentally (or purposely) strike an animal which will create a monstrous being, either the animal itself turning into one or later giving birth to the beast.

DHETOS:

Dhetos was the second to hatch out of the clutch. Depicted as a green or camo prop aircraft with the head of a chicken, she’s the land goddess that's in control of the overworld as well as the ground and the life that lives there (both of air, land and sea). She lives in a lush land under the mountains (often just called dheto’s land) where you can find any animal living there in peace.

Dhetos is a more stern person that takes her job seriously. She not only is capable of controlling the plants and animals around her, but can also create lifeforms of her own. This not only includes normal animals, but also the beasts and monsters that roam the planet. While she is commonly praised for the upkeep of creating new life, she’s also capable of taking it as well. As such, it’s not uncommon for stories to have the hero call upon her to take care of a dangerous beast the hero themselves are incapable of defeating.

Dhetos, despite being an all-serious person, does have a soft side when it comes to cooking and music. If one can please her with their music or food, then she’ll let them into her home.

XORTAN:

The final child to hatch, Xortan is depicted as a black seaplane with the head of a waterfowl (Most commonly a mallard or some kind of duck), and is the god of all waterways as well as the Underabyss, which is essentially the argonian version of hell or the underworld. This underabyss is located in only the deepest, darkest pits of the ocean, where all of the “bad souls” would go.

[tumblr edit: in much of the mythos, xortan is often depicted as a "regular' aircraft with webbed/lobed feet, though in modern times he'll also be depicted as a true seaplane. regardless, he always has a waterfowl head]

Despite being the ruler of the underworld, xortan himselfs is not a horrible tourture-loving person, or at least in most versions. In his satchel he carries all of the destinies and fates of every soul presently on the planet, which are often in the shape of gemstones or orbs. What he does with the orbs once the soul has died will be the outcome. For example, if he destroys the rob, that soul goes to aethorna. Another outcome for one’s soul is for the orb to be tossed onto land so one can be reborn as an animal (note: not always Xortan’s doing, sometimes it’s Dhetos that’s in control of reincarnation). Reincarnation, in argonus, is often likened to purgatory, except it give the soul another chance to end up in aethorna. However, he can also come up with unique punishments for each and every person that has done things too horribly to be given second chances.

Xortan as a person is somewhere in between that of dhetos and ogrin. He’s not a super carefree person, but not a super serious one at that. If anything, he’s depicted as a rather apathetic but reasonable person.

While all elkinets believe in these three gods and most of the big mythos surrounding them, who they choose to worship can depend. In this case, there are five major “religions” on argonus. Here are these religion, in order by popularity/commonness:

Ogrinism:

one of the most popular of the religions, it has its roots in Ben Ital in eastern eroon, were it spread and became a mainstay in most of eroon, l’russ and the planet’s western/orthidox culture.

considered the christianinty of argonus, ogrinism is the worshiping of ogrin himself, and is very similar to christianity: above-cloud afterlife god good, below-earth underworld god bad. Therefore, you worship Ogrin so you have the chance to go to aethorna and avoid Xortan as much as possible. Dhetos, on the other hand, is more of a neutral character that’s neither 100% good nor 100% bad, but just does what she needs to do. Ogrinism has two major version: Light and Solid.

Light ogrinism:

the most common and widespread version, is the idea the ogrin, whilst a powerful being, is a flawed character. he makes frequent mistakes; sometimes he recognizes it almost immediately, othertimes he only realizes it later either on his own or whenever his sibling point it out. light ogrinist still sees Xortan as an important person when it comes to death and were the souls go. Thus, while nobody likes him, the light ogrinists still respect him for the job he does. in some stories, Xortan has even helped his brother out in fixing the mistakes he has made.

airplanes that are into light ogrinism tend to understand that everyone is flawed, but as long as one is able to fix the mistakes and let ogrin into their lives, they'll let said flaws and mistakes go by. they give some care to the animals, as they know that they could be the souls of the ones who messed up and must retry life. They believe that the most common animals are often wild animals like deer and bears, as well as common pets like stunnits, dogs and cats. They believe that most major crimes like murder, arson and buglury are sins. However, like mentioned, you can still end up in aethorna if you change your ways and let ogrin in your life. Even if he doesn't let you in, he’ll still have his brother reincarnate you to give you a second chance.

Solid ogrinism:

on the other hand, solid ogrinism is the older, more extremist version of ogrinism. here, ogrin is viewed as "flawless, perfect and all-knowing". instead of being viewed as being no better than a mortal, he is instead viewed as the idealistic being to look up to. And of course, because of this, anyone who DOESN'T follow that path is considered "unholy" and "a heathen". not surprisingly, in solid ogrinism Xortan is 100% bad guy, and all who ends up in the underabyss are all sinners that 100% deserved it.

What is considered a sin varies depending on the era and who you ask. A common joke/theme [in modern times] is “anything can be a sin if you try hard enough”, which can range from something major to something so small and trivial. The more common sins are some of the same as what we would expect from our world’s conservitive extremists: abortion, premarital sex, anything NOT heterosexual (gay marrage and such), and basically all other religion that aint ogrinism. Many have even claimed that things like veganism and animal right/welfare are against the religion because, of course, even just being reincarnated as an animal means you sinned, and therefore animal right/veganism is just giving sinners what they want. Solid ogrinist also believe that all sinner that get reincarnated turn into livestock and any other animals that are killed for their body parts. Solid ogrinism is often what gives the entire religion as a whole a bad reputation, which may also be the reason why few elkinets are solid ogrinist in modern times.

Omnyism:

while ogrinism is often touted as the most popular, omnism comes very close second, having almost the same amount of people if not possibly more due to how widespread it is. It is primarily practiced in most of northest amerigia, nylus and sonias (excluding l’russ). It’s believed to be the first religion, as it encopasess all three aspects of the argonian afterlife, that is aethorna, reincarnation and the underabyss.

Omnyist worship all three of the gods, because to them they are all important and vital to their ways of life. All three of them not only give you land, food, water and all other natural resources, but they also tend to choose how you spend your afterlife depending on what you did wrong in your living years. Examples for each god include the following:

-Dhetos: the goddess dhetos was in charge of reincarnation in this religion, and people were reborn into animals that she saw fit for what they did in life. People would often be reincarnated because they committed a crime against the natural world. Examples of said crimes include things like wasting resources (commonly food), bringing unnecessary harm to animals, destroying land for pure greed, ect. However, not all the time was a complete punishment; sometimes she’d take pity on certain individuals and reincarnate them into animals close to home like pets. In many of these stories, these people were often forced to do the crimes and in reality were actually good people.

-Ogrin: not surprisingly, if you were a very good person, it was ogrin who’d take your soul in. This is most commonly relegated to people who proved themselves to be worthy of a good ending. The gods can tell whether you’re genuine or just acting good, so simply just doing good things isn't enough. You need to show kindness, great leadership, compassion, empathy, and basically show that you are a good plane all around. If you succeed, ogrin will let you in into aethorna.

-xortan: if you ended up on xortan’s doorstep, you’ve obviously messed up in life. And by mess up, you REALLY did. Elkinets who ended up in the underabyss have done nothing but the most horrible of things, like murder, warcrimes, genocide, ect. However, people who weren't good nor bad also would go to the underabyss, and they can appease him by singing a song, giving him food/goods, or just making him a little happy. However, often this is just to make sure he’ll send you to aethorna, as xortan already knows you’re not guilty of anything and he just wants you to humor him.

When it comes to the hatred of non-ogrinistic religions, solid ogrinist sometimes consider omnyism the one true exceptions to this rule, since omyist do technically still worship ogrin and therefore are at least “on the right track”.

Dhetosism:

Dhetosism is the third most common religion on argonus. It is commonly worshiped throughout southest amerigia, astra and the amerigia-navaloon gulf.

Dhetosism, as the name would suggest, is the worship of the land goddess Dhetos. It is often confused for omnyism, mainly because of the similar beliefs for one’s outcome in the afterlife. Here, the goodest of elkinets go to aethorna and the worst of elkinets go to the underabyss. However, only the worst and best of people go to their respective places. The people who weren't those two extremes? Well, they’re in Dhetos’s hands [paws] now.

Like omyism, dhetos is the one in control of reincarnations, and not just that but is their ruler once reincarnated. Here, dhetosist believe that one starts their life as an elkinet, but when they pass on they begin the process of reincarnation after reincarnation. They go through several cycles of rebirth until eventually they become that very best/worst being and end up in aethorna or the underabyss. Every time they die and have to be reborn, they end up in Dheto’s land for a bit, often no more than a day.

Sometimes the souls get to choose what animal they get reborn as, others believe it’s up to Dhetos and her helpers to choose what animal one becomes. In either case, all animals are under the ruling wings of the bird-headed goddess, and must worship and respect her. Dhetotists believe that worshiping her while one’s still an elkinet gives them a headstart in the reincarnation process by being on her good side, and thus possibly being allowed to choose what animal they become. It’s often cited that, whether by your choice or Dhetos’s, the good (but not best) planes get to become wild birds so they still fly like they could when they were elkinets. Meanwhile the bad (but not worst) will get reincarnated into aquatic animals like fish and leeches.

It’s a common misconception that all dhetotists are vegetarian or vegan since to them, most if not all animals are the souls of elkinets. While true to some extent, whether dhetosist eat meat or not depends on the ability to obtain more plants than animals for food (aka where they’re living).

In places that make it difficult or impossible to grow or obtain sufficient amounts of plants, for example, dhetotists will still eat animals for food with the exception of birds. However, if they DO live in areas where they can gather/grow enough plants to sustain themselves, then they will avoid meat with the exception of certain holidays as well as scenarios where it’s unavoidable. In any case, all dhetotist will refuse to kill and eat any wild birds since those are the souls of good people on the path to reaching aethorna. They are, however, allowed to use poultry birds for their eggs since it’s a common belief throughout the argonian mythos that a life doesn't start until the egg hatches (though nowadays some dhetotist will also refuse to consume eggs or milk if they can).

A key thing people forget, particularly some of the more troublesome humans, is that simply going vegan isn't gonna appease dhetos (because like said, dhetotist do eat meat a whole lot). It is, instead, just simple common courtesy towards the reincarnated souls to abstain from meat whenever possible, allowing the soul a chance of dying from more natural causes. As a matter of fact, it’s considered an even worse crime against dhetos to go vegan for nothing more than personal gain and superiority (I can name a few of them on twitter and a certain former tiktok user). Dhetotist believe that if you’re horrible towards your own kind, you’re most likely horrible towards the animals you’re so called “protecting”.

Xortanism:

A much smaller religion, xortanism’s origins come from the islands of the indus island ocean, including the indus islands themselves.

Given that the underabyss is set in the deepest of oceans, it would make sense that in islands surrounded by water they’d worship the underabyss god himself. More accurately, though, xortanist believe that everybody is pre-destined to end up in the underabyss, as very few can really get up to aethornia. That is, unless you’re an animal, in which case ogrin will more than likely accept you in. Thus, instead of appeasing ogrin, they instead focus on xortan and making sure that he instead, give them that second chance in the form of rebirth so that they have a higher chance of going to aethorna when they die again.

It’s not just any animal that the elkinets get reincarnated as, though. Specifically, it’s the waterfowl or galliformes that xortanist believe to be the souls of the reincarnated. A Lot of people think that xortanist sacrifice these birds species just to get them to aethornia quicker, however that isn't true. Instead, the elkinets have a specific bird called the “rebirther”, as well as a male to make sure. They believe that, If a member of the village dies, the first chick to hatch from the rebirther is the soul of the deceased. Once the chick grows up, they get sent to the families of the deceased, where they are treated just like family, and are kept from being killed for food.

[tumblr edit: this act of avian rebirth is commonly done by the native villages of the indus islands. with xortanist outside of the indus island (and especially in first-world countries) it is not unheard of for the disease's family to be given a waterfowl-shaped object, such as a plushie, statue or figurine.]

This is also the only version where xortan doesn't have the head of a duck, but rather it's that of the xortan goose (aka xortan swan), a species of swan native to guinea centura.

Nullinism:

nullinism is a rather new kind of religion that’s particularly become evident in groups affected by religious extremism. It’s kinda unclear where or when it originates, but some suggest it comes from south n’gola from elkinet that have become exiled from their villages.

Nullinism can often be likened to agnosticism or sometimes atheisms, in that no one god is truly responsible for your outcome after death, and you're in control of your own destiny. It’s the opposite of omnyism, and that you don't worship any god, rather you go about life the best way possible and see what happens afterwards. After all, you don't know what happens until you’re dead. Most often, nullinist believe that life is nothing but a constant cycle of death and rebirth, until you eventually end up on either Ogrin’s or Xortan's doorstep. All that the gods do is make sure the planet is functioning so life can continue.

Although humans tend to call it the argonian version of atheism, it’s not actually that since, unlike atheism, they still do believe in the afterlife, just not in the ways others see it.

join me on pt2, were we discuss other facets of the argonian mythos..

[baltharino]

Airplane! (1980)

[patheticpeoplesupreme]

TW// Panic Attack// Derealisation /Derealization //

Multiple names used interchangeably// ambiguous ending

read the side notes at the end!//

Sometimes, this world feels fake. Sometimes, he doesn’t feel like he lives in it.

When he was Houhua, he tries wave the fog away and picks up his brush and does his duties. He makes way too many mistakes in those days but no one pays any mind to him. No one pays any mind to his bruises anyway.

No one would care to find out. Why would they?

He was just a pathetic, puny little mouse, scurrying to survive. Canon fodder destined to die and return to the earth below for his sins.

This was his world. His story brought to life.

When the sun glimmers through his window, he wonders if the glow is artificial, like the failing bulbs he used to change when he was falling behind in his rent.

He opens his eyes, trying to blink away the fog, trying to bring back clarity , but to no avail, time slips by again. It’s warmer now, so he forces his limbs to move.

Stumbling into the bathroom, he takes a deep breath and reaches out for a hair tie before locking eyes with himself in the mirror.

Distantly he thinks, ‘this isn’t who I am.’

The colour of his hair was as bright as a chestnut, different from what it should be, shorter dark curls floating in the wind instead of being in a bun. His eyes glaze over— his bright amber compared to the hazelnut shade— scanning himself in the mirror.

His height—the body’s height was shorter by a few inches. He tries to breathe. It only serves to tighten the space in his chest. Finally, with his clumsy fingers, he wrangles his messy, unbrushed hair into a low bun, having no energy to do his usual high bun.

He wished he could cut it.

His hand lifts up to touch the body’s face . Shang Qinghua’s face. Shang… Houhua…?

He tries to think about true name.

He remembers projecting himself into his story, the story that he loved so much, even if it devolved into horrible cliché plots that never went anywhere. Even if the stories were left buried under, he still loved this world.

洛梅花

Luò Méihuā

A plum blossom. Blooming in the midst of winter.

Haa…

He feels like he’s wilting. He steps outside of his room, dizzily fumbling with his accessories, the buttons, the sashes messily wrapped around him

He thinks he smells smoke, a Pringly feeling rubbing against his fingers. He remembers the day he dies, the currents and volts electrocuting him. The sound of thunder never used to scare him.

Now he trembles at the sight of a storm. The percentage of getting hit by lighting is low, but it still terrifies him. To die. To feel that excruciating pain, to feel that excruciating loneliness at the same time, it was unbearable.

~~

Feiji blinks, suddenly standing right infront of his office door, a disciple of his holding the side of his shoulder. He remembers watching her stumble around as a young student, her name being on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t write her, he knew this, yet he couldn’t stop the wave of unease.

“Shizun?” She frowned in concern. He tries to smile and pat her head. Her frown doesn’t disappear, but she does scatter out the front gate.

Feiji wonders if Gua-xiong (Cucumber bro) feels like this sometimes. Like the world is floating away against his will.

“Shang-shidi?” He blinks again. A different person steadying the body— he didn’t even know the body was swaying.

Hm… Yue Qingyuan should be pretty and likeable… but no one likes a one-dimensional character. Though, they really don’t care as long as the protag gets their wives huh… hm…

Maybe I can scrap the Xiao Jiu storyline? The sect leader is gonna die anyway… it’ll be super bittersweet.



Yue Qingyuan’s brow was furrowed as he stared at the body. Shang—Hua flinched, remembering the descriptions that he’d thought of to make the pair suffer even more.

“All you do is apologise, and for what!? You left me behind!” Meihua laughed slightly as he wrote Xiao Jiu’s lines, thinking to himself, this will surely satisfy the readers angsty desires!

Meihua grinned with the artist he had commissioned to make official art of the peak lords, “this is exactly what i think they look like in my head, thanks!”

Shang Qinghua opens his mouth—

and chokes on a sob, “S—“

he gasps as his knees buckle beneath him, “Sorry.”

Fortunately, Yue Qingyuan jumps in quickly and reaches out to steady him, lowering him slowly instead of plunging to the ground. “Shang-shidi? What’s wrong? Your disciple ran into me and told me that you were acting weird—“

His eyes go wide though he’s not quite sure why and his hearing suddenly shuts down, muffling everything the worried man is saying.

Feiji is sorry, Yue Qingyuan— he’s sorry—he’s so incredibly sorry—!

—

“Are you sure there’s nothing that could’ve possibly sent him into such a severe qi deviation?” Mu Qifang questioned once more, desperate to get any answers on how to help his patient.

Yue Qingyuan shakes his head, grimacing, “No, the disciple I saw told me that he’s been that quiet since the start of the day.”

He paused thinking for a little longer before sighing, “She did not mention if Lord Mobei had visited either… there was nothing that could have triggered it. And nothing is calming him down.”

Mu Qingfang gazed over to the sobbing man boy, “I wish I knew how to help him.”

“Perhaps we should ask Shen-shidi for assistance. He…”

Yue Qingyuan’s expression closed as he thinks about it, “The two of them has been quite close in the recent years.” He reminds himself to calm down.

Shang Qinghua to him, is like having a younger brother, he could feel totally at ease with the oddly anxious peak lord. Despite that, it’s hard to let go of one’s protective instincts. One day, he hopes his instincts will protect the younger as well.

—

“Hey,” a familiar voice called out from the darkness, “Bro?”

Feiji opens his eyes—he didn’t even know he had closed them— and sees the Scum Villain he had created. His breath hitched, thoughts running at a million miles per hour.

The—The backstory that he had scrapped in order to chase the trends and feed into popular tropes—

“Sh—Shen—“ Feiji stuttered out. Shen Qingqiu softened (!???) his expression, before holding his hand out.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s just me, Shang Qinghua. Mu-shixiong told me that you were—“

shangshidishangshidishangshidi

In a burst of weird emotions, He swats his hand away from him, his voice almost going to a shrieking level, shocking everyone in the room.

“STOP—! That’s not my name—! Please! Shen—Shen—shixiong.”

The two names were fluttering in his mind.

Yuan. Jiu.

He didn’t know what to do anymore. He didn’t understand what was happening anymore.

“Yu—Yuan—xiong please—! That’s— that’s not my name!” He pleaded, “N—Not Shang Qinghua, not Houhua! That’s not me!”

He remembers vaguely the destiny of the body he’s residing in. “He’s not me—“

The two peak lords behind him blink in shock and panic, both frozen, not knowing what to do or say. ‘Yuan…?’

“Okay, I’m sorry, I know you’re not, you’re not him,” Shen Qingqiu nodded comfortingly, “It’s okay, Feiji—ge Gua—xiong is here.”

Feiji shudders at the nickname, one that would usually make him feel safe when it’s Shen Yuan uttering it, yet— all the name does is remind him that he had written all of these characters, all of their suffering, caused by him.

He shakes his head desperately.

Luckily, the man understands. “Alright, this master won’t call you by that name, it’s okay. Can you tell me what you want me to call you?”

It takes a very long time for his mind to catch on, for his mind to send signals on how to respond, he shivers, bowing his head, he grasps at the strings, pulling the cord that would finally make his voice work.

“Meihua— L—Luo Meihua! That’s—“ He sobbed, cutting himself off and desperately clinging to the one person he knew was real. “Gua—Xiong.”

Despite not being good with physical touch, Shen Qingqiu allows the mousy man to grab on as a crutch, he nods along to his mumbles, gesturing Mu Qingfang to help put the panicked and stressed man to rest. “Okay, thank you for telling me Luo Meihua, This one won’t leave you.”

—

“Please. We will explain it all, but please just trust us.” Shen Yuan whispers as the author in his arms falls quiet with his breathing at ease.

—

Blue =Airplane(Feiji)/Meihua(my Airplane’s original name) / & Shen Yuan / Gua-Xiong (cucumber bro)

Green=Shang Qinghua /Shang Houhua( Sqh’s original name?)’s body and original self (or what he perceives to be the original)

also, green refers to SVSSS characters in general and differentiates from real people

It’s honestly super cool I can do this on tumblr

Also side note:

PIDW to Shen yuan feels like Miraculous Ladybug to a lot of fans

it’s so funny

In general, a lot of mlb fans absolutely hate the way Chat and Ladybug is written and I just can’t help but think of Shen Yuan. But at least here, Airplane is likeable haha

[iforgotwhaticalledthis]

Do you think Rae ever feels angry? That Centross was the straw that broke the camels back? That it wasn't him, that HE wasn't important enough to Icarus to get them to realise... anything? That the straw was Fable saying they wouldn't have brought back Centross, not, i dont know, the fact that Fable HIT him as a child?

It shouldn't bother him, he knows that. It doesn't have to mean much after all. But don't you think it would just... HURT? I mean, your sibling, who youve tried again and again to reach, and its not anything you say or do that helps them. I mean, its almost like you don't matter to them, at all. And beyond that, beyond the anger, do you think Rae feels guilty? That he didnt do or say enough, that he wasn't enough, to stop Icarus from hurting people?

Its not like it matters anymore though, right? Icarus did do whats right in the end, besides, its not like Rae has the time to be angry, Icarus, and all his memories of them disappear not too much later than the act. And when Icarus comes back, will Rae even want to bring up old wounds? I mean, Rae will remember that Icarus wasn't there for so long, so why ruin the time they have left with useless anger from the past? Better to just let past grievances die, silent.