#we speak

[mantisgodiveblog]

(Part 15 is here)

Well, back at it again. And we're starting with the star dog.

This thing is paper type - which we'll note down to question with Loop, later, though the manual does say they have no type.

And this is the thing that dissolves Tears, if we remember correctly. We remember being very confused about it, in the demo playthrough, considering there really wasn't much indication of what it DID - and then we got prompted to maybe use it on the wall of Tears, and we were like "yeah, okay, this might as well be happening". Is that noted strange feeling related to Time craft? Like the recurring motif of that tug in your stomach?

We also remember this from the demo. Will this be relevant later? Is it how the star dog got in? What's this here all about? We don't see a way to interact with it now, but maybe later...?

#we speak #liveblog #in stars and time #act 2 #loop 2

[mantisgodsdomain]

"Hornet is Void" theory, not in any sort of intentional, engineering-your-other-babies or whatever way, but in a "PK had awful policy with Void cross-contamination and it meant that Hornet came out with a handful of VERY conspicuously void-y characteristics that everyone tries to ignore because no one actually knows for sure where they came from and acknowledging them in any formal way could lead t a political shitshow" way.

#we speak #hollow knight #listen theyre not saying that shes *not* void but if anyone acknowledges the void features itll open a can of worms that cant be closed #it was 100% unintentional but people still Gossip #and now the lubricating membrane over her eyes is the pitch black darkness of the abyss #and markings that would otherwise be so subtle as to be invisible are now light-absorbing DARK #she doesnt actually get void powers or anything from it it just means that every time she bleeds it leaves stains on every fucking thing

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

The fun part about stress is that when you're under a particularly large amount of stress from a single source, it's really hard to actually buckle under that One Thing. Even if it's a really, really big thing, that is threatening to ruin your entire life in one fell swoop, it's hard to fully get yourself to wrap your head around it. Big Things, in our experience, almost always take a good chunk of time to chew on and fully digest. You don't give way under the weight, you simply have to chew on it. Work through it. Maybe not directly work on it, but you don't really shatter from it. It just sort of hangs over your head, like a single massive weight.

The thing about these sorts of weights, of course, is that this adds to the stress from other things. You don't break down about the Big Things directly. When it happens, it won't be the Big Weight of, say, that cloying medical problem. It'll be the little things. That big weight is too big to really wrap your head around, too heavy to comprehend in one piece - so what gets you is, instead, the little things. The stuff that reminds you of it, in a way that's ever so more tangible.

Because you don't just think about, say, your future potential inability to financially support yourself. You go on with your life. You keep acting as normal. You work as you are, for as long as you can. And then that straw comes along.

You go out to a club with your friends. You think of buying drinks together. All of a sudden, you remember your bank account. Every penny spent on gin feels like a risk, a waste. You're irresponsible. You're wasting your savings away. How long can you sustain this? Everything you buy, and everything your friends buy, feels like abrasions on an invisible plane. Thinking about it makes you feel sick, and the more you stay, the worse you feel.

It's not spending two dollars on a beer, realistically, that's causing you the stress. It's the looming spectre behind it. The problem, showing itself in symptoms, so much more easily grasped. Your phone slips from your hands, and you think of the nerve problems that will only compound, and all of a sudden the mere idea of picking it up and dropping it again makes you feel sick. Your friend texts you something just north of warm, and all of a sudden you're spiralling worrying if your continuing problems have finally alienated them.

It's easier to grasp the smaller things, you see. It's easier to have one little thing happen and realize that you'll have to grapple with that for the rest of your life than it is to go through the symptoms list, because it's simple and immediate. Thinking of your future is too big to wrap your head around, but thinking of having to rely on someone to hold your hand just to walk you to the bathroom, over and over for the rest of your life - that thought scares you, more than any thought of the underlying cause ever would. It's not she's dead, it's how will i water the roses without her? or what will i do on tuesday now that she's gone? or how do i ever care for her pets?

Small is easy to grasp. Easy to think about. Easy to worry about. Easy to have happen, and have the horrible, bleeding spectre of its underlying cause crash into you, and leave you shaking and struggling to pull yourself together on the floor. A forced windows update might not scare you, but the looming fear of forced obsolescence will, the horror of not even being able to choose to opt out on a should-be-optional update.

Which is to say: it's not being forcibly turned into a werebeast that really gets you. Not the blades at your heels, or the blood on the floor, or the immediate knot of emotions when you realize your teammate's just seen you behead someone without even meaning to do it. It's not the injury, or the inability to walk, or the burning like boiling oil trickling down your muscles hours afterwards. What really gets you, once everything's over and done with, is sitting down and realizing that your only pair of shoes has been slashed to ribbons because of your own cursed body's spur blades.

Because it might not be the boots, on their own, causing the problem. But that, in and of itself, makes it worse. Because even if it's not the core of the problem, it's still the part that you'll fixate on, because it's faster, because it's simpler, because it's so much easier to grasp than wrapping your head around all that's been done to you, and crying over something as horribly, horribly trivial as boots makes you sound - well, it makes you sound like an immature fool, doesn't it?

A cruelty, perhaps, that the emotional state at which you'll cry over boots isn't one where you can put the source of the problem together. But really, knowing that it's the werebeast thing doesn't make you feel any less stupid. Because now you're the kind of person who cries over boots, and stupid, material possessions, when you have so many more problems, when a slip of your sleeve could get you arrested. And that, more than anything, makes you feel a tiny bit more helpless than before.

They were good boots, too.

#we speak #whump #stress #writing #context: we are writing cool and fun and normal content for werebeast chilchuck #although this isn't necessarily Part Of A Fic on its own we think it stands alone nicely as short fiction :3 #we are simply tinkering around with alt povs and such of scenes we want to write later #something something. we feel like this will appeal to the chil aios gang based on Generally Appreciated Themes but its more general stuff #welcome to god's most normal situation. we're the god and we say put that guy in situations

[mantisgodsart]

Hello, we've run into Circumstances, and so we're opening cheap commissions for a bit. Criminally cheap, even. Starting at $5 for a sketch. We're linking the toyhou.se thread here since that's the platform we have it on most readily and we don't want to copy-paste all that text into Tumblr. We've got five slots for now, so come get 'em while they're hot - we might open more later, but it's not a sure thing, and this is DEFINITELY the cheapest you'll ever get our commissions, so come get 'em while they're hot.

(1/5 slots remaining)

#commissions #commissions open #open commissions #art commisions #furry art #not art #we speak #thats a good set of tags right? probably a good set. this isnt TECHNICALLY necessary we just want money #our current pair of Walking Shoes have just sprung a leak so unless we want to commit to wearing Fashionable Boots and Dress Shoes #we're going to have to pay for a new set #worst comes to worst if all of these slots are $5 ones we'll probably dip down to the thrift store for it #it's where we get most of our clothes anyways so it wont be anything out of the ordinary #we wish to stress that this isnt an actual emergency #its just a “our feet are wet and we don't want to walk around in dress shoes all day” thing #it'll take a chunk out of our Monthly Alotted Money to get good new shoes #and we won't actually get the Monthly Unemployed And Disabled Check for a few days esp since its prone to delays #hopefully this explains the situation well enough

[mantisgodsaus]

Hello, wereweevil appreciators. Today, we're here for cool worldbuilding. More specifically: the difference between a wereweevil and a primal weevil.

(NOTE: While the Primal Weevil model here is the Colosseum one you may already be familiar with, the Wereweevil is a guest from the kingdoms the curse originates from. Normally an orchid mantis.

Primal weevils can vary from gray to gold to tan, with the occasional dull green. They are bugs in the superorder dictyoptera, shared with mantids and roaches, known by their cohabitation with Bugarian weevils, a mutualistic relationship formed in aid of allowing both to hunt down their primary prey - Seedlings, as well as especially tough-shelled plants. Commonly known as "moth mantises" or "grazing mantises" in more south-bound kingdoms, they are one of the handful of species who evolved post-awakening, and tend to have significantly lower rates of mutation than pre-awakening lineages as a result.

Although a wereweevil's weevil form is derived from a primal weevil, it isn't a 1:1 match. While a primal weevil is a naturally-evolved bug, a wereweevil is a cursed beast - and one specifically designed to be capable of causing damage to the bugs around them.

A wereweevil takes their pigmentation from their normal bug form, with a few notable differences. While in wereweevil form, a wereweevil's tusks and claws will turn a rusty red and gleam iridescent blue when exposed to moonlight - notably, though all scars show a similar color while the wereweevil is transformed, the only scar which will show a similar property in their usual bug form is their turning bite. The blue iridescence is only seen in moonlight, and grows stronger closer to the full moon.

(NOTE: While a wereweevil's eyes are a similar shade of red-shining-blue, this isn't exclusive to the transformation - rather, it's a gradual change that generally completes itself in the first year or so after turning. Those who were bitten, but cured of the curse before their first full moon, do not demonstrate this iridescence in any part of their bodies - the scar stays red.)

A wereweevil's tusks - the most notable part of their appearance, generally - replace the second "tooth" on the outsides of a weevil's mouth. They grow outwards and up from the upper jaw, generally curling into an "arc" sort of shape, and tend to be sharper than they reasonably should be - a wereweevil, should they choose to charge, is generally easily capable of either goring or slashing a bug with them. The older that the wereweevil is, and the more transformations they've undergone, the longer their tusks will be. These function as one of the primary infection vectors for the wereweevil curse, as a slash from a tusk is fully capable of passing it on.

As with most other "toothed" bugs, a primal weevil's "teeth" are an outgrowth of the carapace of what we see as the "lips" of a given bug. The muzzle of a primal weevil has no mechanism to conceal these, and they are for all purposes a part of the external structure of their shell - generally used to either cut through things such as roots or crush open acornling shells and similar substances.

A wereweevil's tusks, on the other hand, root on the inside of their shell, curling out through the gap left by the missing second tooth. They "root" into the jaw, supported on the entire upper cranial case - the top of a wereweevil's head shell is considerably thicker than that of a primal weevil, both to allow the tusks to root in and to reduce damage from charging opponents. Anywhere that a wereweevil's head can reach, you're in danger of being gored.

Despite this, the point where a wereweevil's tusks root into their head is a weak point - though a wereweevil is resistant to most forms of non-magical attack, the curse lays thick enough in their tusks that it's possible to partially subvert their general resistance to damage by using their own tusks against them - either by clawing along the roots so as to try to "coat" your claws in enough magic to use their own curse against them, or by simply using the tooth itself as a weapon.

Though a wereweevil's tusks are a melee weapon, it will still hurt if you try to tear one out - and depending on the age of the weevil, you may get more leverage on a tusk than on any other part of the body. To actually get one out, you will need to snap it off of its roots, something easier said than done - generally speaking, you'd be better off going at it with a crystal-bladed buzzsaw than relying on strength.

(FUN FACT: A wereweevil's tusks are among the traits most likely to "leak" into their normal form after long enough transforming. Though position may vary based on the bug's base form, and they'll likely be too small to see easily, it's a fairly surefire way of telling apart untransformed wereweevils. Do note, though, that any wereweevil sporting tusks in normal form has likely spent long enough transforming that mundane weaponry won't do much.

Potentially more important, albeit less noticeable unless one's already familiar with primal weevils, is the foreclaws. While a primal weevil's raptorial foreclaws have a foldable tarsal claw on the inside, used to walk or manipulate objects, a wereweevil's foreclaws have no such thing. They are significantly elongated compared to a normal primal weevil, with an additional "walking" surface - when folded, this hooks behind the elbow, while a primal weevil's foreclaws fold like any other mantid.

Wereweevils are an average of 50-100% larger than an actual primal weevil, though this varies on individual - a larger bug will yield a larger wereweevil. Vi, specifically, is... still below average (height shown as line in picture). She's a little bit smaller than your average primal weevil - though she's slightly taller than her average version of herself, thanks to the wereweevil influence seeping through, she's significantly more stunted, having been functionally starved for a good chunk of her developmental years thanks to the curse altering what diet she actually needs. If she were sufficiently well-fed, then it would average out to slightly shorter than your average bee and roughly primal weevil sized.

#we speak #bf aus #wereweevil vi #art

[aro-culture-is]

aro culture is watching someone basically destroy their life in the name of a romantic relationship and thinking thank god that will never be me. How embarrassing

(I do want to note - it isn't embarrassing, or anything that blames that person. It's sad. amatonormativity is so strong that people feel desperately scared of not having The One True Romantic Relationship in their life, and that is sad.)

#Anonymous #aro culture is #aro #aromantic #actually aro #actually aromantic #ask #mod axel #we speak

[mopugust]

WHAT IS UP MY BROSKIS!!!!!! WE ARE AUGUST AND FELIX/MOP (mop stand for mother-of-pearl) AND WE ARE THE OWNERS OF THIS BLOG 😎

we're super kool n stuffses-- to know more about us find our blogs at @augisaurus n @m0ther-of-p3arl :3c

but jsut the basic rundown for ya: we are two irl friends and will probs be posting collab art and shitposts on this acc!! we also don't share the interest of mcyt so expect less of that than on mop's blog.

(also felix is a system and so different members of said system may post at different times- to get up to speed on who the members are check out the pinned post on its blog)

AUGUST IS COOL OK THATS IT BUH BY

-felix n august B)

(post written by felix and approved by august)

#introductory post #☔felix #WE SPEAK

[uss-exile-ncc-440548]

We are Cube 440548. Lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated. This Cube's function is the creation and finding of memes and shitposts for the collective.

We are 1 of 2 and 2 of 2.

Do not attempt to disrupt the collective or its functions. Resistance is futile.

((Actual About))

#We speak #april fools

[dirtytransmasc]

the men and boys are innocent too.

we cry "the innocent women and children" to appeal to the masses, to try and force their sympathy, but the men and boys are innocent too.

I have seen sons crying out for their mothers, their fathers, their siblings. I have seen them break down at the loss of their families. I have seen them cling to their dead and grieve.

I have seen fathers cradle their dead children, seen them kiss their faces and hold their little hands. I have seen them faint with grief when asked to identify the dead. I have seen them carry their sons and daughters. I have seen them fasting to provide what little they can for their families.

I have seen men and boys digging through the rubble with just their bare hands, I have seen them comforting strangers, playing with children, rocking them, hushing them, even if the face of such imminent danger. I have seen them cry, seen them grieve, seen them break down into each other's arms, seen them be selfless, beyond selfless, becoming something I don't have a word for.

I have seen the men who are doctors refuse to leave their patients, even when they have no medicine or supplies to give them, even when they're threatened with bombings. I have seen fathers who have lost all their children pick orphans up into their arms and proclaim them their child so they are not alone. I have seen men and boys digging pets out of the rubble.

the men are innocent too. the men and boys are being hurt and killed too. the men and boys are grieving too. the men and boys are scared too. the men and boys are fighting to save their people too. the men and boys deserve to be fought for too.

#I don't have words to describe how I feel for the men of Palestine #the things I have seen them do after everything they have been through goes so far beyond selfless #what do you call this? this prevailing goodness and willingness to give everything they have and more? what word even touches it? #I don't think there is one #islamophobia has conditioned us to see these men and boys as evil and dangerous #we see this in how we speak about Palestine #and we need to uncondition ourselves #they're just as innocent and of value and good as the women and children #so fight for them #they don't deserve this any more than the women and children #free palestine #palestine

[apollos-boyfriend]

we have GOT to kill tiktok/twitter self-censorship i just witnessed a grown adult say the word “smex” out loud to our professor

#icarus speaks #JUST SAY SEX!!! #my proof professor was SO confused too #because she had said sex. other students had said sex. IT IS NOT WRONG TO DISCUSS THAT!!! #WE WERE WATCHING A MOVIE ON FRIDA KAHLO. THIS IS INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT

[astraystayyh]

i dont think there is a word yet that can describe how absolutely vile israel is. they killed thirsty children by targeting a water tank.

how inhumane do you have to be to support this, to fund this, to excuse this, to ignore this and pretend as if it isn’t going on?

* news was originally shared by Ramy Abdul, chairman of Euromed Human Rights Monitor

it is also not the first time Israel has targeted water tanks . this is how some Palestinians in Gaza get water supplies since the IDF threatens to shoot them.

#palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #jerusalem #current events #just because you are seeing less news about palestine #doesnt mean that the genocide has stopped #this is why we shouldn’t stop speaking up about palestine

[mantisgodiveblog]

In this very specific liveblog universe we've created, Siffrin is being haunted by two entire cosmic beings, and one of them knows everything about him, and the other knows fucking nothing about him, and they're both insufferable, and they both keep passive aggressively sniping at each other through the venue of His Own Head, and also he's in a time loop but he's being kinda sorta possessed by an entity that's making him check pillars until Isabeau spontaneously gains knowledge of the future to give him a Memory Of Pillars and that kind of takes priority over most other things in his life right now just because of how one of them keeps commandeering his teammate for unknown means at unknown and potentially random intervals which is very concerning and also not great

#we speak #not liveblog #interludes #in stars and time #due to our lack of singular body of our own we're just piloting odile down to fistfight loop btw #coming down there with a fish scaler and a grandma body. come out here time loop dracula you fucking loser we want our money back #we are making things worse but in our defense it is funny

[mantisgodsdomain]

Falling victim to madness in the Chilaios Discord part one (with a link to the post mentioned at the end). Part 2 linked here (note: slightly more nsfw text). Transcript below cut.

A Discord conversation between three discord users - us, nicknamed Speculative Vore Cookbook, Cup of Chilaios Soup, and Oh Kay! (wormlette).

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Experiencing the impulse to rewrite the changeling chapters for fun and profit. Do you think that considering that half-foots apparently see dwarves as Extremely Attractive Laios sparks some kind of Thing in Chilchuck as a dwarf

Cup of Chilaios soup: GRABS YOU PLEASE CONTINUE

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Listen considering Us there will be spec bio about this but. Listen. Since we've been doing the species as "uncanny-valley-type not quite Like You" for the most part with just a little bit of increased compatibility within "families". Do you think that it would be fun if he can suddenly see all of Laios's features in this new light of this particular species. Where all of the tallman features abruptly come into focus in a format far more recognizable and all of a sudden he can draw some Very Certain Lines to someone who is abruptly several times more recognizably attractive rather than, like, would be very attractive if it weren't for the subtle distortion of species.

Cup of Chilaios soup: my third eye has opened

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Do you think being a tallman himself would help with that? An abrupt distortion of the brain. Do you think he would be able to draw back those memories to abruptly have the uncanny-valley barrier splinter under the force of, y'know, he knows precisely what that translates to, and with the added perspective it seems much less alien, and much more "for the love of god he's not supposed to be getting crushes on the job"

Speculative Vore Cookbook: We need to make elves Weirder for this also. They're like the only race on the chart right now that Doesn't have a close-relation group where things like attraction translate more easily we need to make them more fucked up Absently rotating the idea of dwarves having an excellent sense of smell compared to their other close relatives both for enhancing their appreciation for Good Food (a surprising amount of taste is tied up in your sense of smell) and for underground navigation & communication And Laios will absolutely be Weird About It

Cup of Chilaios soup: Laios: wow Chilchuck why do you smell so breedable (gets crushed by a rock)

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Walks up to Chilchuck and starts sniffing him unprompted so he can deliver a food-critic review of his scent Breedable waits for whenever we actually get ourself to do sex pollen heatfic and can also do cool spec bio stuff but like with reproductive cycles Still rotating the idea of making DM tallmen Weirder. We already know they're taller than IRL humans we need to add like some extra fuckshit in there We've got to do the speculative biology first you see. Make it more fucked up. We've already set it up so they're fairly closely related to orcs we might as well add some fantasy bullshit in there.

Cup of Chilaios soup: Tallmen have slower metabolisms maybe? And they need to at A Lot to support their mass? You are so correct eat A Lot*

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (replying to initial message): wait hold on holy fuck man.

Speculative Vore Cookbook: So far what we have for them as their Thing They're Known for is like. Endurance. Tallmen Specifically are known to be able to walk for hours without growing too tired. Not quite as strong as orcs or ogres, of course, but they're tall enough that they practically eat up ground with every stride, and they just don't stop moving.

Cup of Chilaios soup: passing the braincell around like it's a joint KINGS OF TIRING THEIR PREY OUT

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Orcs and ogres are ofc known for their brutal strength, which is Significantly Less Pronounced in humans - but all that strength burns energy, and they'll tire out far faster. Humans just keep going, far beyond what they really should be capable of.

Cup of Chilaios soup: guys who will climb a fcking mountain and be like ":D wanna walk back to town on foot"

Speculative Vore Cookbook: We think that the Big Thing People Know for elves would be their magic but we think that the magic thing is less about being naturally predisposed to it or whatever and more on the fact that enough of their society circles around it that pretty much any elf you meet's been deliberately raised to cultivate their magic, We think that their actual primary feature, like, physically, would be like. We're basing them on ungulates, right? Elves have long, willowy limbs, especially compared to their bodies. Look very graceful as adults who have had centuries of experience walking around and like wretched ganglebeasts at any point when they haven't gotten the hang of it yet. ABSURDLY fast in a sprint, because those long-ass legs are useful for Something, and that Something is being on runnable stilts. Not much stamina, though. (we are returning to this because we are fond of Marcille and we want her to be, like, Weird but in a way where they pass it off as Normal Elf Weird until the Changeling Thing happens and they have to cope with the fact that actually, elves are way weirder, and Marcille is weird in how close she is to other races as opposed to. Uhh. That Fucking Setup

Speculative Vore Cookbook (replying to Cup of Chilaios soup": "guys who will climb a fcking mountain"): Tallmen will climb a mountain carrying equipment on their back and need like a thirty minute breather tops before they're back up and at it like "okay now time to go down the other side" We think it's fun if it's a thing like the half-foot/dwarf/gnome cluster's enhanced senses, where the Absurd Stamina is part of what their other close relations have going for them, but whereas orcs and ogres have it to a Reasonable degree, Tallmen specialize really hard into doing this One Thing and get it in spades. Much like how half-foots spent all of their stat points in their ridiculously sensitive senses, to the detriment of things like strength and durability, tallmen have stupid amounts of stamina. Don't have to be as strong as your close relatives when you can simply outlast them!

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (replying to Speculative Vore Cookbook "returning to this because we are fond of Marcille): really like learning abt elf weirdness in the context of marcille, specifically as a half elf. really liked how that reveal was handled, since fionil is also a half-elf i didnt notice for a LONG time that she was perhaps different than other elves. i really like that!!! tall-men just have a lot of stamina. basically canon re: how much shit laios carries around. particularly in a good dog RIP they're like. alaskan mal specced. they just keep going and going forever

Speculative Vore Cookbook: We think that her, like, subtly softer features and such get Very Fun especially with the potential familiarity aspect vs what full elves have going on if we go full weird on elves because we fucking love how Absolutely Fucked ungulate anatomy is and it scratches a little itch in the back of our brain to let the Graceful Forest People overlap with, like. You Know The Specific Flavor Of Creepypasta Beast

Oh Kay! (wormlette): ^forever comparing everything to dog breeds

Speculative Vore Cookbook: We casually mention that Falin's wrist bones are shorter than elf wrist bones in Drain Your Well Dry and we really need to elaborate on that some day Marcille is like the shetland pony of elves in that she's got like WAY more just… bulk, compared to an elf that's normally like 98% gangle 2% meat And she's still, like, insanely boney compared to human standards. We like to think she has the build of a greyhound. Insanely long for no reason.

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (quoting Speculative Vore Cookbook "casually mentioned Falin's wrist bones are shorter): I NOTICED!!! I LUV THAT… marcille studying ennervation and everything… it kills me… i always thought of her as so carefree looking in her little spellbook and walking around and now im haunted by like. how much of it was her studying human anatomy for what she feared was inevitable!

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (quoting "like to think she has the build of a greyhound"): oh yeaaaag sighthound build would be GOOD for elves.

Speculative Vore Cookbook: But she still looks… More Similar To Other Races, y'know. You can see the similarities to her and other races and it makes it a tiny bit easier to slowly feel more at ease around her. Elves are weird and you don't see them often, but y'know, you've been around This One Elf long enough to start picking up on stuff, y'know? She's not that different from you, when it comes down to it, and sure she's a bit childish but that's probably normal for longer-lived races who're in the first halves of their lives, honestly. Aging slower and all. You can draw the lines if you pay enough attention, you've spent enough time socializing with other species that you can figure out the basic key, and though there are some things in there that really throw you off, as with any other race, it's not like you're handling an entirely new skull structure like with kobolds, right? It's readable, with enough time. Similar enough to tallmen that you can use your experience there and then fill in the gaps. And then you meet full-blooded elves when the Canaries come knocking and these guys are WAY more offputting than you thought actually. What the fuck is up with them? What the hell?

Cup of Chilaios soup: They have the reflective deer eyes from those horror edits

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Putting elves as a weird isolated branch in the humanoid evolution tree was a galaxy brain decision for us tbh. Their whole Weird Superiority Thing very much gets worse when they're the only people who don't have close relatives they can reference from. The other long-lived races seem to mingle FAR easier than them, and though we know it's The Attitude and such, it's fun to make them just… offputting.

Oh Kay! (wormlette): your miiiind

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (quoting "not like reading an entirely new skull structure like kobolds): btw dont you love the thingie about kobolds having a vocal chord structure that doesnt realy support them speaking common. so no matter how smart they are they seem "animalistic" to humans. i love that a lot it's like. hmm. i really like when it's not body horror by itself but put into a societal context, it BECOMES horrifying. u know? it would be fine. except the dehumanization it leads to

Speculative Vore Cookbook: YESSSS it slaps so hard. We think that there should be more bonus subtle differences with just random other races we think it's SO fun when biology fucks you over just as firmly as society.

Cup of Chilaios soup: SO TRUE KAY Rotating all these thoughts in my mind

Speculative Vore Cookbook: It's not that something is wrong with you. It's that you weren't built for this world the same way that everyone else was.

Cup of Chilaios soup: The parallels,,,,, the themes,,,,, Biting my leg

Speculative Vore Cookbook: Anyways do you think that part of the reason Kabru is so Like That is because he went from normal human body language to a bunch of elves with the same general bauplan but next to no shared body language vocabulary, Do you think he had to like manually learn how elves express social emotions with a race so isolated that they're probably developing whole separate methods of socialization completely divorced from anything the short-lived races even do and then had to relearn how to act like a Human when he went back into the world.

Cup of Chilaios soup: OH MY GOD Also sorry but Idk how far some of the peeps reading the manga are, perhaps it would be nice to spoiler the Kabru thing:0 BUT I AGREE THIS IS SCRATCHING MY BRAIN KABRU MY BELOVED THIS HEADCANON IS SUCH GOOD BRAIN FOOD

Speculative Vore Cookbook: We love making fantasy races like just a little bit more fucked up

Cup of Chilaios soup: As you should!!!!!!!

Speculative Vore Cookbook: TBH it widens the gap between species if they're, like, similar enough that you think you Should be able to interpret the signals they're giving off because they look Just Similar Enough that they should emote and socialize and such like you, right? But the similarity is, as they say, mostly just skin-deep, because it does so much more to widen cultural differences when the cultures also work on different biology. Anyways we think half-foot communities should be really dense in population because they descended from an ancestor with the Meerkat Strategy of having a fuckton of people with very sharp senses all looking out for the same colony in such a way where there's always at least one person awake to raise the alarm and we think it's fun if half-foots are set up for a significantly more tactile & densely-populated community than most other species.

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (quoting Speculative Vore Cookbook "part of the reason Kabru is so Like That): I DO. I DO THINK THAT. DO YOU THINK THAT tallman socialization feels so coarse and simple and easy-to-read by comparison.

Speculative Vore Cookbook: It's cool & fun if Chilchuck has to deliberately avoid almost all forms of touch to avoid being demeaned and seen as Lesser And Childish while also being wired to have like minimum five hours of skin contact with colony members per day tbh. Touch starve that man in ways that are difficult to understand for his party that he will actively have to muffle if he wants to be taken Seriously because most other races see it as Childish to cling

Speculative Vore Cookbook (quoting Oh Kay "I DO THINK THAT"): YES and we think it's very fun if him having to manually relearn tallman socialization also makes it so he finds it easier to interpret other races because he already has to like work out what Everyone's thinking from a pre-prepped body language dictionary and it's just so much easier to interpret when he doesn't have to re-invent the wheel every time

Oh Kay! (wormlette) (quoting Speculative Vore Cookbook "childish to cling": @_@ im so FUCKING normal

Speculative Vore Cookbook: :333 The changeling chapter constantly lives rent-free in our brain we think it's fun if like anyone who gets half-footed starts experiencing the intense skin hunger cravings like less than an hour in and have no idea what the Fuck it is because they've never lived in a body made to be that Social before and Chilchuck has to like take over to offer a bit of touch even if it's undignified since. Y'know. He knows how it feels. No reason to subject them to that, even if it's gonna cost a bit of dignity. It'll cost them more dignity if they start freaking out over it. It's efficient :333 Dealing with senses cranked up so high that you can tell when someone's moving around clear on the other side of the building probably makes it a whole lot harder to handle even More stimuli in a normal and dignified manner Something something we're grabbing a cool post we made

#we speak #dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #chilaios #admittedly little of it. we go fully into the madness here #fantasy biology #changelings #marcille donato #kabru of utaya #chilchuck tims #headcanons #speculative biology #also like. one mention of heat in here but not enough to merit a tag

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

@febuwhump Day 14 - Bloody Tiles

Crack.

"It seems to be responding well to the trials, despite initial hiccups. This might be the one to..."

The moth snarls wordlessly at the roaches, barely an inch away. It knows that they can't hear it, not through the wall, but it feels cathartic to imagine that they can. The throb of broken chitin is thankfully absent, despite the rift splintered in their thorax, the flesh reweaving its way between it numb but painless. There is little that it truly feels nowadays, but the exchange was worth it, in its eyes. Rot worms beneath its skin, and it lets it work, directing the repurposed biomass of its opponent to repairing its wounds.

More combat tests. More bugs dead by its claws. It is beginning to grow sick and tired of so much as seeing something thrown into the ring with it, but it endures. The mouthful of mass that it can snatch from each opponent is more valuable than any other resource it has.

They still haven't realized that its healing is more than an effect of the Blight they pumped into it. They still haven't realized it thinks, more than the crystal network in its thorax is programmed to do. They still haven't realized it can plot, it can plan, it can prepare.

Every day it is stuck in testing is another day its siblings suffer. It can feel them even now, their pain echoing through the lines of the network. The crystals imbedded within their bodies are both blessing and curse, a lifeline and a horrible reminder of just how much those around it are suffering. Connection is a double-edged sword, a blade both necessary and painful.

Another sibling cries out in agony. Another light dims, pain jolting through the bond before it abruptly shuts off forever. It sharpens its claws, digging them into the wall between it and the roach scientists.

"...should run a few more tests before calling it in for the night.

Its claws split on the walls. It can see yellow-green hemolymph drip from the cracks, feel the slight loss of mass as its bodily fluids drip out of it. Its rotting blood pools in the cracks between the tiles, leaves long streaks on the walls where it came. The Blight in them still roils in it, damaging the linoleum as it decays at a pace a thousandfold beyond what should be.

It merely watches, claws still fixed into the grooves it's worn in the wall.

The lab reports roll into its head as it prepares to fight again. Progression. Prediction of future progress, refined and redone again. A handful of roaches talk about the potential of its future as a lab guardian. A few more drops of rotten blood spatter on the tile floor.

With every battle, it gets a tiny bit closer. With every life, its Blight gets a tiny bit stronger. With every bug it kills, the rolling, writhing pool of biomass in its chest grows just the slightest bit louder.

Some day, it'll get out. Some day, it'll be free. And when that day comes, then it'll take pleasure in spilling a drop of roach-white for every single drop of yellow-green that its siblings have bled.

#we speak #whump #my posts #writing #bug fables #zommoth #kjdrira #bloody tiles #blood #injury #minor character death (mentioned) #blight magic #the beast wishes to kill #and that is a Feature #febuwhump #febuwhumpday14 #febuwhump2024

[mantisgodsart]

(via @cordycepsbian)

We can answer this actually we love talking about Cool Art Stuff.

Despite what one may assume, sharp edges in watercolor is actually quite easy! Come, sit, allow us to share our secrets. It's like 50% "materials" and 50% "we spent a long-ass time figuring out how to do sharp edges in watercolor and now we're really good at figuring out the exact combos of consistency and brush stroke required to make those really hard edges"

The first trick is, of course, to not try and do it at the beginning of the painting. When you're just starting to block shapes in to your watercolor, pursuing sharp edges is a fool's ordeal, and you can only really get those sharp edges in as finishing touches near the end of the work.

The second trick is to work wet-on-dry - this limits the spread of the watercolor and allows you to prevent bleeding, but you have to make sure your painting is COMPLETELY dry before painting, or you'll risk having some ill-defined lines and bleeding.

The third trick is to work with... cake watercolors? There's a tern for it, we just can't remember it - dry pan watercolors, where you have to wet the paint to "activate" it, offer you a LOT more control over the consistency of your paint, and using a relatively thick paint will allow you some REALLY sharp lines! Fair warning, your mileage may vary based on the specific paints you use just because pigment is Expensive and cheaper brands of watercolor will almost definitely be, like, cutting out as much pigment as they can manage in order to cut corners, and the sharp edges will be less obvious the more transparent they are.

As a general rule of thumb when you pay for Fancy watercolor you're paying for the insane amount of pigment that they put in their Fancy Stuff and that lends itself a lot more to Sharp Lines (plus one thing of it will last Fucking Forever). The black we use Specifically is an Artisanal Fancy Brand that we don't remember the name of and we've been using the same ~$10 thing for more than a year without even using up half of it, but honestly the actual paints you use are the Least important part of doing watercolor, you can do like the exact same thing with dollar store paints it'll just be a bit less pigmented.

The fourth trick is to just, like, practice a TON. You WILL have to spend time getting it right. It will take a Long-Ass Time. You will have So Much Trouble. Unfortunately this step cannot be avoided but we can still warn you that you'll be trying to make really sharp lines for like an hour and it still won't quite work.

The last trick is to uhh

#we speak #not art #unfortunately the people saying to invest in Good Materials are sometimes correct and good brushes are like #the number one reason that we can manage the sort of really sharp edges that we can without muddling #for context this is a fancy-ass semi-stiff lining brush that we've found allows for VERY sharp edges #it's VERY nice and it holds its shape INCREDIBLY well allowing for some very nicely defined edges without stray brush strands #however it's also like fifteen bucks for one brush so you kinda have to like. Decide If It's Worth It #we got like two brushes from the same brand from a watercolor technique workshop for free and we shelled out bc the other brushes were like #Really Good #total cost of this is like uhhh fucking twenty bucks. if you have that to spare we 100% recommend it #but if you dont then you can obtain it illegally from your local art store if youre fast enough #for legal reasons that advice is a joke tho. stealing from local businesses is bad. go after a bigger store instead. #like 60% of watercolors is having Good Technique but the really defined edges that we pull here are like purely possible bc of Good Brush #and Good Brush really makes a fucking difference tho we'll still bring in our older dollar store brushes for shit like texture #beyond that its just ignoring common wisdom for watercolor tho we do A LOT of drybrushing bc we like the texture #we like deliberately fucking up our washes to make the background look more interesting we think its Cool #every watercolor person who speaks of a flat wash being the very basis of All Of Watercolor wishes to kill us personally

[mantisgodsaus]

Some cool fonts that have absolutely no bearing on anything we may or may not be writing.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

Entanglement

Roman New Times

Zirconian Semi-Italic

Alpha Centauri

Now's Time To Run

Time Stop

#mantis mystery dungeon #hbg aus #we speak #resources #pmd aus #fonts