#⧉ musings

[maeriiberii]

I will say that i do enjoy the 'merry is yukari' theory - and i will be all for it if it is true. but as far as this blog goes, if zun does wind up confirming this somehow in the upcoming album, i will still be sticking with the 'they are not the same person' theory for this blog. tldr: this blog follows a 'merry is yukari 2.0' theory, where she's following yukari's footsteps, letting me play with her bungling through the first steps as a youkai while leaving her future a blank slate. Im doing this purely for the fact that it gives me more options in terms of routes i can explore, while not making me feel like i'm portraying two separate characters on the same blog, and making me feel like i'm locked into eventually portraying yukari. So like... i enjoy the theory! i'm not against it! but i like the freedom not following it gives me. so that's whats up.

#⧉ ooc #⧉ musings

[corvidmagicae]

Has Bri (or SIBYL as an organisation) ever tried to stop someone from evolving into a witch before?

It really depends on the danger presented by the individual, and the time period such evolutions may be taking place. For the most part, newcomers interested in accessing what's basically been considered ancient, taboo knowledge for the past 3,000 years or so are completely are welcomed by the community at large. Especially since birth rates among evolved individuals are rare for biological reasons, and have been even rarer in the aftermath of what became known as the witch hunts. of course, many more regular humans died in that particular snowballing clusterfuck than their evolved counterparts, but it did drastically cut down their numbers, as well as create a very long-lasting moral panic that scared away potential newcomers for a long time. so any possible new face is seen as another way to pass on the torch. On the other.... if the newcomer shows any signs of posing a potential danger to their peers, they may be forced to intervene. Especially if that danger is the risk of exposing their kind's continued existence to humanity at large, as they fear they won't survive another full scale witch hunt after they've barely recovered their numbers from the last one. They don't think they're ready to deal with any potential mishap caused by loose nail, and aren't willing to risk another injury so soon after patching up the last one. So it all depends on the possible evolvee's motives for evolving, and their plans of what they'll be doing afterwards. If they think it's something that can be glossed over or patched up, they'll send someone to intervene. If the person poses a true hazard and may (or outright plans to) put the lives of others in their community at risk? They'll outright cull the problem, preferably before it gets the chance to occur. But that's a last resort - they don't want to risk the lives of their own operatives in a confrontation if they don't have to. For the most part, Bri hasn't been assigned any assassinations or interventions. She has been assigned to teams tracking the movements of such individuals, but for the most part her higher-ups recognize that her skill set is best suited for reconnaissance rather than confrontation. Those that they have sent her to 'remove' are she risks little injury in confronting, and generally are individuals they wish to keep alive, albeit in temporary alternate forms. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean she's never assisted with evolutions, or been called in specifically regarding them! In fact, given her particular skill set, she's uniquely more capable in intervening in the act of transformation, than dealing with it before it happens. Given that evolution can be physically dangerous for individuals who aren't mentally prepared or ready for it, she is at times called in to help assist the transformation or manage the energy during it, so that individual doesn't accidentally destroy themselves by trying to fight off the evolution. Sometimes she can stop it, if she intervenes early enough in the process, but not always. Evolution is a one way street - once it happens, it's happened. Even if she were to physically transform an entity to look the way before it evolved, it's still evolved. She can't turn a mightyena truly back into a poochyena - it's still a mightyena in ability and power, albeit in the form of a poochyena. The same goes for an evolved human. The new extents and limitations of their biology does not truly revert to the way they were before, even if she makes it look that way. She can meddle with appearances and trick the eye. But she can't meddle with things beyond her control. Or anyone's control. That starts meddling with life forces, and that is not her expertise. If a potential evolvee unintentionally (or intentionally) taps into the life force to trigger an evolution, then all she can do is hope she can mitigate the flow of power long enough for the evolvee to figure out how to turn off the tap. If they can't, well, all they - and she - can do is try and make the evolution as smooth and painless as possible.

#Anonymous #⧉ musings #oh hey look activity! #i say as i answer a single ask and then disappear without doing drafts

[afterlifetango]

Touhou Muse Ages (youngest -> oldest)

BABIES

mid-late teens

early-mid 20s

CENTURIES (100-999)

hell if i know any of their actual ages but they aren't in the lower tiers. Rumia's probably roughly younger than 500, probably closer to 400. satori and seija are older than 600 - probably closer to 800-1000 range for both.

OLD LADIES.

All three of these ladies date back to the heian era - each of them roughly 1200 - Parsee's lore dates back to the 7th century, so the 600s ad. The arm used to be part of Ibaraki-douji, making her at least present around 1000 ad, if not older. Hilariously, the arm itself is only as old as when it was separated from the original Ibaraki-douji, making her only as old as when it was first severed. Meanwhile Aya is old enough to remember Shuten's reign, making her at least equally as old as the original Ibaraki-douji.

ANCIENT

Nature Spirit, Old as Dirt Moonlight

#⧉ musings

[strikelip]

Pictured: Lailah’s patience growing ever thinner

Not pictured: Shamsiel, angel of day and her ‘twin brother’ in some degree of terminology since they spawned at the same time, who literally fell because he Did Desire To Kiss The Monsterfucker And Did.... hides somewhere off in the background, egging on to Kiss The Mortals.

#⧉ musings #lailah vc: 'you literally fucked around and found out why that is a bad idea' #also inner lailah vc: 'i would like to kiss the mortal but the consequences...'

[fluffghostrp]

now you got me thinking how loaded is bri in terms of witch money. are you the 1% bri

Who needs witch money when you can use the good old barter system? Bri keeps cash around purely for interacting with human society. But in terms of how wealthy she is, well... she's a witch of transformation. Beyond having a hoard of shiny objects thanks to her Murkrow (most of which is completely worthless, mind you), then if she needs nuggets, pearls, or whatever else of value to sell, she can just make it. She's not the 1%. She's a philosopher's stone.

#⧉ musings #⧉ answered #angelofasclepius

[falsewolf]

Important crown notes, for scenarios where it’s relevant:

Crown is NOT HUMAN. Her species - Ancients - are her world’s versions of humanity, but they are not human as humans are known. In fact, the one time actual proper humans have been seen in the series, they’ve been regarded as an alien/unknown/unique existence. As such, she has many more traits in common with the animals that her kind seem to resemble - wolves or canines specifically, since that’s what her subspecies of Ancient seems to be - that can be picked up on by other characters or muses who have the senses to do so.

She has a very keen sense of smell - a trait that is likely universal among Lupo, given the wolf’s association with scent tracking and pack behaviors. It is likely she also has a sharp sense of hearing to match. These are senses that differ from human limitations - and anything else with similar senses is going to pick up that she doesn’t match human parameters.

As such, Crown is. Quite literally. A wolf. Even if she looks human, it’s superficial - humans are an entirely separate creature type to her. They smell different, they act different. As an ancient, she has human-grade intelligence and sapience, they have a very human-esque society. She’s human in that regard. But it’s still clear from basic biology that she’s not human. She smells like a wolf, she acts like a wolf, a DNA test is likely going to come back with ‘wolf’ - albeit potentially a subspecies that doesn’t exist on earth, or at most parallel to a subspecies that does exist but not quite the same. An animal that senses her is going to treat her as they would if they were being confronted with an actual wolf or similarly large canine predator. If she gets placed in the Sarcophagus for healing, like Mephisto did to himself to try to revert himself to a completely blank slate, then she’s going to be transformed into an animal. Not a human.

So yeah, while this girl is very much a human-looking wolfgirl, she’s not a case of ‘human with animal ears attached’. It’s clear that the creatures living in her world are sapient animals who have gained human traits, not the other way around.

#⧉ musings #arknights spoilers technically #though they're old spoilers at this point #i'd joke about zootopia but anthropomorphic variants of their species also exist #so it basically IS zootopia #but some of the animals have gained human appearances #i still want to know the biology that makes the human-faced ancients different from the anthropomorphic ones and how that wORKS #it's not like it's a gender difference there's just plain a difference in the genes or sOMETHING that allows it to happen #yostar give me the lore i want to kNOW

[septemberkisses]

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

#was rereading the hunger games series when this thought hit me like a truck #it beautiful #its haunting #its heartbreaking #its melancholic #quotes #dark academia #books and reading #books & libraries #books #young adult #ya books #young adult books #movies #coming of age #the hunger games #the divergent series #the maze runner #the fault in our stars #musings #midnight musings #thoughts #mine

[katy-l-wood]

Don't get me wrong, I don't give two shits about the English Royal Family, but this PR crisis they're in right now is just wild. Every time you think they're done digging themselves deeper, they haul another bucket of shit up from the bottom of the well they're in.

#Musings

[movietonight]

My friend Alicia made an ATLA meme

#Atla #avatar the last airbender #macks musings #avatar #kyoshi #avatar kyoshi #Game changer #Dropout #make some noise

[maeriiberii]

Interesting tidbits about Merry, and a couple about the future she lives in, from the Old Adam Bar short story that live rent-free in my head: (under the cut because long)

These snippets regarding alcohol:

“New-style liquor is what's commonly and widely drunk; it's designed so that you can't get horribly drunk from it. The chance of becoming dependent on it is low, and it's relatively harmless to the body. Old-style liquor is the kind that's been drunk since a long time ago, made by natural yeasts. Most such liquors include alcohol, but none contain enzymes or such things that help break down the alcohol. You drink it, you get sloshed.“

"Because this is an old-style liquor bar, I suppose... But with this, you can get more drunk than with usual, cheap liquor." "Hm, I wonder if you can actually get drunk and stay healthy at the same time." "Healthy? Reeeaally think about it. Liquor, oil, salt, sugar, caffeine, gluten... we're actually overly conscious of eating healthily, even though medicine has advanced so much that people won't actually die easily nowadays. Rather it's because of that that planned life expectancy is being put into effect, no? Like this you can't tell if society wants to keep people alive or to kill them, can you? People who spend so much to drink old-liquor are just realists."

This rumor regarding snakes on Mount Miwa:

“Snakes. Snakes! A giant mass of them, all squirming around... I figure they can't do anything about them, since snakes are one of Mount Miwa's gods and all. Just what could they be eating for there to be so many of them there? I'll bet you it's got nothing to do with how Nara prefecture's lifespan regulations are proceeding the smoothest in the country...“

Drunk Merry is apparently bashful, and Renko is a dunce.

"This'll probably sound rude, but we're watching a bunch of grown adults tell stories in this bar like it's a secret clubhouse..." "My, really? You're going to be sharing your story afterwards too, Merry." "Augh. I knew this was coming..." Merry knew that her own mysterious experiences were undoubtedly truth. However, she was somehow unable to believe these other extravagant stories. They just seemed like they were trying to con people. She briefly wondered why Renko believed her accounts. 'It must be because I'm such a good storyteller, after all,' Merry thought bashfully. "---Faith in hair has been around since ancient times, just like with snakes. Regeneration's got to have some involvement in the processes of human faith, huh?" Apparently Renko believed nearly everyone's stories.

This Neat Trick Merry Has Learned With Her Abilities:

Renko took out a hand mirror and passed it to Merry, who showed it to each person in turn. Thanks to Merry's ability, that same mirror began displaying the scenery of those other worlds.

The entire ending scene and confirmation that Merry Can Tell If You Are Lying To Her:

"How'd it go?" "Mmm. About half of the stories were just made-up." "It went really well, though. My plan to have you show each of them the other side of the barrier through the mirror, and at the same time make contact with them to figure out if they really had been to another world." Merry was deeply impressed by how Renko had come up with all that on the spot. Yes, Renko truly was intelligent and a quick thinker. "The stories about the snakes and hair cult were true, by the way." "Really? I knew it! Those two stories weren't told anywhere near skillfully enough to be lies. It's decided, then!" "What is?" "What do you mean, what? We're headed to Mount Miwa!" Merry, still hung over from the old-style liquor, immediately refused.

tl;dr, in conclusion:

Medicine and food science advancing so much that they’ve fundamentally changed the natural diets of the human population into ‘healthier’ synthetic parallels really puts into perspective exactly what sort of food culture she comes from, and what exactly she experiences with her sense of taste and how it differs to what we ourselves are used to. Also confirmation that Merry is so unused to Actual Alcohol that she can’t even handle hard cider.

If alcohol loosens one’s inhibitions, then Drunk Merry’s thoughts regarding Renko are probably her most pure of heart, honest, and true feelings... and if you’re drunkenly having bashful thoughts about why your partner in crime wholeheartedly believes you no matter what bullshit you tell her doesn’t read as gay, then i don’t know what does.

Seriously the sheer adoration in this girl’s thoughts and introspection regarding Renko. Girl. You are crushing hard.

Confirmed Weird Shit in ‘The Real World’ regarding a hidden mass of snakes on Mount MIwa and a hair cult of all things, huh?

What the hell is this about lifespan regulations and planned lifespan expectancy that are mentioned and then never elaborated on?

#⧉ musings #official snippets from the stories and just little bits of commentary #because they Need To Be Addressed

[corvidmagicae]

#⧉ musings #death tw #frozen brought up a really good point and it's now made me wonder how often this does happen

[afterlifetango]

Lunachild: the smartest of the three Light fairies Also Lunachild: 'proper intelligence installed on wrong software, Fairy.exe has stopped working, please reboot'

#⧉ musings #⧉ ᵐᵘˢᵉ lunachild #who put youkai intelligence on this fairy she's Crashing every five seconds

[humunanunga]

You can believe in magic, but watch out.

#magic #mysticism #life advice #musings #serious

[st-just]

Always very funny to go from tumblr culture (Harry Potter basically, like, anathemized) to coworkers or relatives just casually bringing it up with zero idea about why the franchise would even be controversial. Unironically one of the bigger bubbles I forget I'm in.

#musing

[curecriticalwounds]

Can Linette sing? Does she like music in general?

She's never really tried nor been trained in it. But she'd at least hit a DC 10 on a sing check on anything but a nat 1. So she's average, if not decent on a good attempt? But she's hardly trained to do such a thing.

She likes music though - she doesn't have any specific preferences, but there is a nagging part of her that makes her pay attention to musical sounds.

She blames her bird blood.

#⧉ musings #⧉ ᵐᵘˢᵉ linette #female phoenixes in pathfinder do infact have more musical cries #as their like... only noticeable gender difference #so i'd imagine linette's charisma lends well towards singing but it's not something she excels in

[werewolfbarista]

i play a dangerous game every time a friend is having a hard time.................................

#musings