#now you mentioned it.

[hoshioyoo]

let me tell you a story…

[starii-void]

going to chb must be crazy like imagine sharing a camp with

-one of the strongest demigods ever who's saved the world like at least 3 times, fought multiple gods & titans and WON (and is a tartarus survivor)

-the literal main architect of OLYMPUS who's also saved the world multiple times (also tartarus survivor)

-THE lord of the wild who's also close friends with the first two (and has helped save the world multiple times)

-an emo kid from the 1930s who again helped save the world and is also a tartarus survivor (TWICE)

-a son of apollo who survived tartarus with nothing but cargo shorts and sheer will (pun intended)

-the main designer and builder for the argo II, also the first hephaestus kid to have fire powers since hundreds of years ago (did i mention killed gaea? no? yeah he did that too)

-a girl who somehow charmspeak-ed gaea into falling back asleep (also side note daughter of super famous actor because why not)

-pretty much everybody is a two-time war veteran

-THE GOD APOLLO who just sometimes comes down to visit in the form of a teenage boy

-did i mention dionysus, god of wine madness and theatre

-also chiron, trainer of pretty much every greek hero ever

[setaflow]

Gay pride happens in June and gay wrath happens whenever hbomberguy drops a 3+ hour video essay about a specific topic

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Phone guy was wild for saying that to Michael..

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Liam was a boy, and then a man, who suffered so much trauma and pain. He was bullied as a child and then lived a nightmare that I think none of us can really imagine of having that triggering experience replicated on a literally global public scale. He became a man who inflicted trauma on others. He was an addict who was unable to find a way out of that disease, and now never will, but who was open and vulnerable about his struggles. He was an incredibly talented musician and artist and an absolutely integral part of one of the most important bands of a generation; his voice and songwriting and skill in the studio shaped every aspect of what One Direction became at their best. He loved that band and being a part of that experience with his whole being and would never have stopped celebrating what they meant to us and to the world. He had problems and did bad things; that doesn't mean he was a bad person who didn't deserve to be loved and helped to heal- everyone deserves that- and the fact that that's not something that can ever happen now is devastating. I was very distressed by many of his actions; and I cared deeply about this man I didn't know and wished for better for him than this outcome.

I'm so deeply, deeply SAD tonight. I'm sad for Liam, who will never now have the chance to look back on this hard time and reflect on how far he's come, and for Liam's family, for his parents and his sisters who loved and supported him so much, and for everyone in the 1D band family and circles. And I'm sad for us. It feels like nothing will ever be quite the same, and that's hard and sad and shocking. It's a special kind of doubled grief, to mourn the loss of the person, and also of what he meant to us in this strange world of parasocial fanning, for the real him and also for the version of him that we made up and attached so much meaning to and for the escape that brought us. For him, and also for the easy uncomplicated joy of listening to those beautiful songs from happier times, which might never feel the same again. For the other boys, who we love so much and wish we could shield from suffering and loss and pain. For our fellow fans, who we also worry about the impact of this on. Everything about this is terrible, and I am sending so much love out to all of you. We are not alone, and it's okay to feel complicated emotions and it's okay to mourn and it's okay to care about how it effects you and your life, whatever you're feeling- it's okay. We are here with you. We are 1D family.

[sciderman]

well - webtoons is over, gang

[claraoswalds]

The Giggle // The Devil's Chord

+bonus

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

take my rpf quiz boy

[martyfive]

may i offer you some of the dishonored/cyberpunk’77 stuff that still isn’t leaving me in peace? i’m not sure where this is all going but at least it feels nice to daydream about

(please use the # martyfive dhc77 to see the other post about them if you’re interested thankss)

[yashley]

As you all step out, what do you see?  (episode 111 spoiler:)

[velvetwyrme]

damn those conses do quence (/j /j, unfortunately[...?] no bug mpreg took place here)

anyway, woe, grub be upon ye. tbc... whenever i finish the many other things i need to do lol.

i did this instead of making an ask blog because i dont have the time or energy to upkeep that atm, but honestly?? it probably wouldve just be easier to make an ask blog instead of... doing whatever this is LMAO,,, but i had fun so its ok sklvfjbfkbdb,,

prev // next

[the-original-skipps]

on this installment of skipps imagines I got mydei and phainon 👀

Taking slow deliberate steps, Phainon backs you up against the wall.

Once cornered, he places a hand on your waist pulling your body to his. Feeling flustered at the sudden action, your eyes immediately flicker downwards. Unable to meet his alluring gaze but not a moment too soon - his other large hand cups your jaw. Phainon forces you look meet his eyes, yearning swirling within his blue orbs. His thumb caressing the smooth skin of your cheek.

“May I? I don’t think I can hold back much longer…” His whispers to you in a silent plea, his patience moments away from snapping. His face inches closer and closer to yours till you could feel his radiating warmth. Your eyes instinctively fluttering closed as his breath ghosts against your lips. When he’s just about to seal his lips with yours, a sharp voice cuts through the air.

“Hey, deliverer..! Just what do you think you’re doing with what’s mine?”

[kajenus]

Re: Sovereignship (and the whole thing with Ixlel mentioning "lost colleagues in rulership") I think it's pretty much implied that Natlanese dragons had some kind of polycentricism. Besides Xiuhcoatl (Aztec origin), the rest of dragons we know have Mayan names (Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, Och-Kan, Ajaw are all real names and characters from Mayan mythology and Ixlel's name is taken directly from Mayan language); as far as I'm concerned, unlike Aztec or Inca people, Maya people also had polycentricism going on.

Maya cities tended to be more dispersed than cities in other societies, even within Mesoamerica, as a result of adaptation to a lowland tropical environment that allowed food production amidst areas dedicated to other activities.[1]

Maya cities were not formally planned like the cities of highland Mexico and were subject to irregular expansion, with the haphazard addition to all of the palaces, temples and other buildings.[7] Most Maya cities tended to grow outwards from the core, and upwards as new structures were superimposed upon preceding architecture.[8] Maya cities usually had a ceremonial and administrative centre surrounded by a vast irregular sprawl of residential complexes.[7]

(both via Wikipedia page on Mayan cities)

There also goes origin and etymology of Great Volcano of Tollan, which is a mythical place existing both in records of Aztecs and K'iche' people. In Genshin, it's said at least three times that there was a city here and that's where Xiuhcoatl used to reside.

Thus, passing through searing flame and raging wind, [Waxaklahun Ubah Kan] took as-yet unextinguished primordial kindling from the ancient palace beneath the magma. Bearing the hopes of another race, the wisest of dragons bid farewell to the splendorous city ineffable.

(Obsidian Codex artifact set; that's probably the most unbiased and reliable source we are going to get so far (unless the Sage himself decides to tell us somehow), as the other two sources I'm going to cite are outrightly said to be badly written fanfics in-universe lol)

Our story unfolds in a time when great beasts withdrew from this land, and when the empty Great Volcano of Tollan was occupied by the dark Volcano Lord. The Great Volcano was once the dwelling of great dragons, and on this matter little further need be said. But when they fled amidst the flames, their dwelling was seized by the devious Volcano Lord.

(The Volcano Lord and the Shadow Pins book collection, Vol. 1)

Legends tell us that long, long ago, in the red and black lands, there lived a winged dragon. That dragon was the scion of the great lord of the volcano, Xiuhcoatl. In some versions of the story, it is said he was none other than Xiuhcoatl himself, but the gods only know what kind of storyteller would make such a mistake. After all, who could forget that the one who defeated Xiuhcoatl was the very first Pyro Archon, Xbalanque himself. How could things have been resolved at a point so early in the story? Anyway, when the great lord of the volcano fell into deep slumber, this vain winged dragon claimed the treasures that once belonged to the former, and proclaimed itself to be the lone king.

(Records of Hanan Pacha book collection, Vol. 1; on another note, I'd highly recommend anyone to read the whole thing because it's fucking hilarious and reads just like badly written fanfic from ff.net posted in 2011)

And now, onto the actual, mythological Tollan from irl records.

Tollan is a word in Nahuatl used in Spanish colonial documents. Traditionally, tollan was interpreted as a Nahuatl toponym for Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico. More recent scholarship suggests some kind of broader meaning, such as a place of the reeds. Instead of a toponym for a specific settlement, it is also used as a qualifier to denote a category of densely populated cities.[1]

The epithet "Tollan" was also sometimes applied to any great metropolis or capital. Cholula, for example, was sometimes called "Tollan Cholula", and the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán was likewise given the title "Tollan". The Mixtec translation of this, Ñuu Co'yo is still the Mixtec name for Mexico City to this day.

Tollan is the name given to the mythical place of origin in many Mesoamerican traditions, including those of the Aztecs and the K'iche' Maya.[2] In the K'iche' epic Popol Vuh, the first people created are gathered at Tollan, the place of seven caves, where they receive their languages and their gods.[3]

(all via Tōllān on Wikipedia)

The place of seven caves. There are also seven elements in Teyvat. Given we have two confirmed Dragonlords now (Ajaw, Dendro, and Ixlel... Well. Someone suggested she could've been Hydro, but dunno), it'd make sense there be more, no? That + Ixlel's words and the meaning of name Ajaw took, like you mentioned... I think it's safe to assume there were more elemental dragonlords and they all had their own kingdoms/smaller civilizations, while Xiuhcoatl was the one to govern Tollan and everything else.

Also an interesting thing about Ixlel's own kingdom - Chichen Ucotah is possibly derived from Chichen Itza, a pre-Columbian Maya city. So I think that other dragon civilizations in Natlan also had names starting with Chichen (which also would make sense, once again, looking at the etymology of the word and dragons dwelling in the depths or smth). And Chichen Itza also might have been a thing in Genshin that way?? Which is also interesting thing because its main deity was K'uk'ulkan, another name for Waxaklahun Ubah Kan...., well. I surely have high demands from any new dragon lore drops we get.

Ixlel and Ajaw

Last night I did the Ochkanatlan World Quest Open Your Heart to Me, I want to talk about my thoughts on Ixlel as a character and all the thoughts that I had about Ajaw during this quest.

Tumblr broke my rubytext so I'm just going to use {curly brackets} to indicate what was original ruby'd.

If you don't recognise "rubytext" as a term, it's supposed to look like this: Little words hovering over the normal text.

The words K'uhul and Ajaw

Before I did this quest, as an Ajaw simp, the information that the words K'uhul and Ajaw appear in this quest was already something I knew about. Even back then, when I saw the screenshots, I guessed that it was a whole lot of nothing, and now that I've seen them in context, I feel that even more strongly.

If you don't remember, K'uhul and Ajaw appear over words in Ixlel's dialogue as rubytext:

Ixlel: For you are the noble one, the Chosen of Dragons. Apart from our lost colleagues in rulership {Ajaw}, you alone have the right to give unto me release befitting of my rank. Ixlel: This is a step of self-protection, and only by this may I not violate the destined {K'uhul}, sacred law.

We know from Kinich Story 5 that K'uhul Ajaw is just a title and not an actual, real name:

It may seem strange that Kinich, loner that he is, goes nowhere without a certain self-proclaimed "K'uhul Ajaw" — meaning "Divine Lord" — hanging around him.

In these rubytexts, Genshin is doing what it usually does with ruby text, it is just providing an alternative word in the relevant dialect. Anyone who is even vaguely interested in Mayan history will know what Ajaw means. It is not actually about Ajaw The Character.

Ajaw The Character rotted in a cave for like, 10 thousand years, or something. Unlike Ixlel he is crazy and eroded by time (in the sense that Zhongli talked about in that one quest ages ago). I don't think he knows his own name anymore, so the title K'uhul Ajaw is all that he offers as part of his weird chuunibyou fantasy. Do I think that The Character Ajaw DID used to be a ruler of some sort? Yes, it's likely. But he's so weird about it that I'm going to keep bullying him.

Even the wiki page about Ixlel seems to have taken the "Ajaw" thing at face value.

In the past, she may have been acquainted with Ajaw, as she refers to him as a "lost colleague in rulership."

While I do feel that it is likely that these dragons knew each other, I do not like how they reached that conclusion. It's also likely that The Character Ajaw IS one of her lost colleagues in rulership, I just wanted to make it really clear that she is not namedropping him or speaking of him explicitly.

The horror and revulsion of draconic evil

While I was playing through this world quest, I couldn't stop thinking about the horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The way we progress further and further underground with no easy way of return, the way that all the pieces of paper you pick up tell such bleak stories of death, decay, cruelty, and some sort of deep, eldritch evil as the human characters uncover an ancient artifact that is beyond their comprehension. Ixlel's sealed self seems to radiate a dark, unknowable curse that torments the people who are digging, and she appears in Manqu's vision in a terrifying way. (Artisan's Memo (II))

Back when it happened, beneath that giant, grotesque statue, I met a young woman within Och-Kan's fire. Slowly and calmly she walked towards me, as if the fire were nothing more than a gentle spring breeze. Her face… I have never seen anything like it. Even the purest of crystals could not be fashioned into the likeness of such skin, nor could the purest of turquoise be carved into such eyes. Yet for reasons I cannot explain, that face, which should have been the very picture of beauty, was… so nauseatingly repulsive. I did not know who — nor even what — she was. I opened my mouth and wanted to beg her, beg her to save me, yet my lips… had been burned beyond all recognition, and I could not utter even a single word. She smiled, a smile laced with a cruel and arrogant malice. She held my face in her hand, and from those turquoise eyes, golden tears fell into mine. And then I saw it. A colossal creation, far larger than the rolling mountains, shining with a brilliance more dazzling than obsidian, floating in the sky like a volcanic cloud. Around it circled countless giant metal birds, greedily sucking away at its dark blood. I saw shadows driven by flowing flames, climbing high from distant horizons to the moon up in the sky, from which tremors and sighs were sent out unimaginable distances via but a single string woven from gold and white copper. She sneered by my ear, as if all humanity had achieved up to this point was nothing more than child's play, as utterly inconsequential as the doings of ants, of beings capable only of crawling around beneath the heavens, trembling away while seeking their inglorious graves. And what they fought, what they were pitted up against, was an inveterate foe as formidable as an entire world. Through those turquoise eyes, those pupils whose beauty was almost terrifying, I saw naught but endless, unfathomable darkness and void; a space that no language could describe, unlike anything I have ever seen in the brief few decades of my transient life. So it was that I began to scream, stumbling as I crawled along that path, but even my blood-curdling screams were drowned out by her laughter, and dissipated without a trace. When I next woke, I was lying here alone. I did not dare look back, lest those profane, forbidden things, those things that no person should ever know, might catch and tear me to pieces. The others must all have died, perishing in the flames of Och-Kan's fire. Perhaps those were not her tears. Perhaps they were simply drops of water that fell from that giant, grotesque stone statue behind her. Perhaps there was nothing in the fire, and that woman was just an illusion of my delirium, something I imagined as I stood on the precipice of death. But now, none of that matters; for I am still alive, and that is all that counts.

I'm going to keep referring back to that passage.

This... evil, grotesque uncovering of a sealed dragon forms a parallel to the discovery of Ajaw in Kinich's Character Story 5.

All this goes back to an ancient dragon ruin that was rumored to contain a "secret draconic treasure." It was unearthed due to an earthquake, and before long, had attracted much attention. After more than a few initial surveying parties were lost, however, any interested parties that were still remaining began to wise up. At this time, Kinich was already a Saurian Hunter of some repute, and thus was invited by one such team to join. It was only after they had entered that they found the place teeming with monsters and mechanisms, discovering that it was far more perilous than the rumors had suggested. Some died, others were wounded, and others still fell back, until at last only Kinich reached the ruin's depths. And that was where he encountered the ancient being, K'uhul Ajaw, who had been sealed away. He immediately sensed the wickedness in the other party's voice, but also realized that its power might be useful even so.

They gloss over it but man, people died, lol.

I don't know, I just think it's interesting that these dragons are supposed to be nauseatingly horrifying to an average human. And then you meet them and they're just kind of cringe little guys. The way they are spoken about makes them feel like they're some type of Keter SCP.

I like the little crumb that apparently ritualistic killing is more normal than corn in dragon society.

Ixlel: Cut my chest open as you would peel Grainfruit leaves, and dig my heart out. Paimon: Sure... Uh, wait a minute. You just said something super scary so casually... Ixlel: Scary? You mean the Grainfruit? How chicken-hearted you are, elemental floating object... Paimon: What? What are you talking about? Who'd be afraid of Grainfruit anyway? Paimon's talking about that last part, with the whole "dig out your heart" thing! Ixlel: Hmm? Is that not a more pedestrian thing than Grainfruit? Ah, Noble (Traveler), do you not have your servants attend you as you partake in sacrifices?

Parallels with Ajaw

I guess my above section already starts to go into how Ixlel and Ajaw have a lot of parallels with each other. There are a lot of things we can extrapolate about Ajaw now that we have met Ixlel.

Human form: In Manqu's vision (I pasted almost the whole thing higher up), Ixlel appears as a disgustingly beautiful human woman. I think it's safe to assume that Ajaw likely had his own human form back in the day, though whether he remembers what it looks like or if we will ever be able to see it is something that I do not know.

Entrapment: It's pretty obvious that the nature of their entrapment is similar. Ixlel's full name is even Ix Uxul Tz'ib Bolon Ch'ule-L {Type-L Self-Regulating Overseer Array Integrated Processing Unit}, as you can see from the rubytext, those fuckers gave her a name as if she is just some fancy model of computer! When I first met her, I assumed she was some ancient dragon AI module, not a real dragon who got trapped in a statue. In the quest it is shown that she has limited "life force" in this state and by the end she uses it all up and dies. It makes me feel like Ajaw got really lucky getting imprisoned the way that he was. Whether he too has a limited life force is unknown but the way that he has a human form lined up (Kinich) makes me think that he has an ever-evolving life ahead of him. He is fortunate to be able to project himself with phlogiston, unlike Ixlel who at best can appear in the sick delirious burning visions of humans, something that we don't get to see for ourselves.

Outlook on life: Ixlel is still quite level headed and tormented by her memories, explaining to us that they are a curse to her (and the mechanism by which she was imprisoned?). The whole quest is about her asking to die in a dignified manner, for she knows she is slowly dying anyway. Compare to Ajaw who is kind of delusional, seems to have forgotten a whole lot of shit, and is generally bent on staying alive and making it everyone else's problem.

Sovereignship: This is something I am very hazy about, but whenever Ajaw would call himself a sovereign I had thought that he was trying to pass himself off as the literal Pyro Sovereign. Perhaps he Was trying to lie about that, or maybe I'm just fucking stupid, because Ixlel introduces herself as the sovereign of Chichen Uctokah which according to the wiki is the original dragon civilization in the area of Ochkanatlan. I'm not going to fact check that myself so I just hope it's true. So yeah I'm... hmm I can't reach a coherent conclusion with this information but it's something I will chew on. It just recontextualised to me what a dragon could mean when they say Sovereign.

Thoughts on the Chosen of Dragons: I like how Ixlel recognises Lumine as the Chosen of Dragons and immediately thinks highly of her. I think this is partially why the human character Manqu has such a hostile encounter with her, whilst we get to have a fairly wholesome conversation with her instead. I don't think Ajaw knows Lumine is Chosen of Dragons and I'm unsure as to if he is able to do anything with the information, but as someone who is obsessed with Ajaw's relationship with the traveler it gives me another thing to think about.

Ajaw death flag?:

Ixlel: Hehe... It seems you have yet to meet my colleagues of old. Ixlel: Otherwise, they would have told you that destruction is our destined {K'uhul} path. There is no need for another, nor is it possible to find one.

(I don't actually think it's that serious, I'm sure all the "erosion" that Ajaw has gone through is probably destruction enough.)

My thoughts on Ixlel as a character

Ix Uxul Tz'ib Bolon Ch'ule-L {Type-L Self-Regulating Overseer Array Integrated Processing Unit}... When Paimon takes her long name and just decides to call her Ixlel instead, I thought that was so rude, but as usual I immediately took it on and started using it myself.

Side note about Paimon:

It's my headcanon that Paimon knows all of the dialects in Teyvat (for there isn't just Teyvatian, there are MANY real world languages that are in Teyvat, most obvious example is how Yun Jin always sings in Chinese no matter the dub) and that is why we are able to "read" all the papers we pick up, because it feels unrealistic to me that they would ALL be written in Teyvatian instead of the regional dialect. Anyway, according to the wiki, Ixlel is a Mayan Tzeltal word that means "little sister". This choice of nickname kind of intensifies my headcanon about Paimon knowing all the languages. It also makes it a very cute nickname.

Hmm... You know, if her full name just translates to that rubytext computer name... I just realised that her original name must have been lost as well. Do dragons even have names at all, do they just go by different titles throughout their lives in the same way that their physical form is constantly changing? Or are Ixlel and Ajaw just specific cases... Unsure if Ixlel is also 'eroded' or if her name was overwritten when she was imprisoned, it's probably the latter.

When I did the quest, I actually did the entire thing thinking that Ixlel was male. Only when I was reading more scraps of paper in the final room did it click for me that the evil woman in Manqu's vision and the stammery dragon statue were one and the same.

I LOVE her. She has overthrown Apep in my mind as the sexiest dragon waifu (lol). And I miss her so much already...

She has that same dusty old haughty way of speaking that Ajaw does, but she's much nicer to us and stammers when she gets flustered...

And she got enslaved so bad

Wasn't going to drink tonight but I'm missing Ixlel like a motherfucker

[just-null]

Do you ever do requests? If so, do you ever plan on drawing some Yandere with the Hantengu clones? :D hope you have a good day/night!!!

Mentioning an unfamiliar name

yes!! I love yanderes.. and these guys.. these guys are such good material...... nods nods..

I'm not sure about requests..I assume you mean drawing requests? I suppose if it REALLY catches my interest enough, I'd do it, but it'd probably just be line art/sketches.

[chloesimaginationthings]

The secret good ending for FNAF ruin,,

[bacchuschucklefuck]

january month of yuugi