Apricoteaa - ApricoTea

hai dhmisers im back do you think the main three are constantly sedated. do you think everything is bright and blurry to them. do you think lights flash in their faces and they dont know what they are and they talk all night but everything is hazy and they dont remember the conversation. do you think they have to fight the urge to stumble over because theyre dizzy and a bit confused but theyre so used to it that theyve gotten good at ignoring it. do you think duck had to ask red guy if he noticed the darkness because their surroundings are already so confusing and blurry that they have to confirm with each other what theyre seeing is what they think it is. do you think duck genuinely cant tell if its a bee or not. do you think yellow guy fell and broke the computer orb because he constantly feels drowsy and dizzy. do you think duck says the pain of his finger being cut or his organs being literally removed doesnt bother him at all because hes so out of it he doesnt register the pain. do you think red guy barely reacts to blood loss because it doesnt feel that different than normal. do you think lesley is also up there zooted out her damn mind and the words she says dont truly mean much because shes loopy as hell. all four of them tripping for eternity because they all have roles to fill and working minds dont make great puppets.

idk this is just how i assume the characters see the world. dizzy and blurry like waking up after a car crash. maybe a little ringing in the ears too. also the stage lights kind of blind them but when they look up its too bright and smudged to understand theres no ceiling. im not sure what or who would be doing this to them (im a firm believer lesley is one of them and not controlling them ive made this very clear through like seven different rants) but idk i just dont think theyd view things clearly i never really thought they would

ive always liked this idea more than the idea of them just seeing a regular house. i feel like thats not whats happening, i think they can see whats there but not fully comprehend or make out all of it. idk its 5am im tired as hell forgive me if im rusty on the dhmis lore and forgot some bullshit cuz knowing becky and joe they probably confirmed 13 years ago in a random lost media facebook post that the puppets see in ps2 graphics and im stupid and wrong rn

Hendrik, teaching Sylv Zwaardsrustian, holding up an apple: Appel. Sylv: Okay, that's easy. Hendrik, swapping the apple for a potato: Aardappel. Sylv:

DQXI Mini-playlists <3

Collection of different songs that I personally relate to some of the characters :) If you have any questions, suggestions, or want an explanation for any of these feel free to send me an ask!

DQXI as a whole

Soldier, Poet, King - The Oh Hellos

Words of the Wise - Truslow

Go Big or Go Home - American Authors

Sons of Thunder - Owl City

Everything Goes On - Porter Robinson

The Luminary

What’s wrong - half-alive

Superman - American Authors

Fate of the Stars - Tally Hall

A Little Bit of Love - Weezer

Erik

I Don’t Like Who I Was Then - The Wonder Years, feat Origami Angel

Go to hell - Bayside

Rolled Down Window - John the Ghost

1 Last Cigarette - The Band Camino

Candy Eyes - Jack Stauber

Veronica

If You Say So - Vinyl Theatre

Talk - Winona Fighter

Blurt - Mega Mango

Habitual - Honey Revenge

Growing Up - The Linda Lindas

Serena

Musician - Porter Robinson

Alive - Dabin, RUNN

Days move slow - Bully

Look at the Sky - Porter Robinson

Spark - the bird and the bee

Angry - Mars Argo

Sylvando

Pink Pony Club - Chappel Roan

Trampoline - The Unlikely Candidates

Pride - American Authors

We are Golden - MIKA

Technicolor - Montaigne

Jade

Buttercup - Hippo campus

Happy Trees - Grumpy Plum

Subaru - Winona Fighter

Attention - Winona Fighter

Rab

Violet - Wild Party

Pocket full of gold - American Authors

The Implication - Parrotfish

Homage - Mile High Club

Unconditional I - Arcade Fire

Hendrik

Overboard - Stay Outside

The Fire - Vincent Lima

Tornado - Owl City

Figure Eight - Trophy Eyes

Still feel - half-alive

Gold - Eden

Jasper

Moderation - Eric William Morris

It starts with Indigo, Orange and Green - Drew Danburry

My ugly - cloudfodder

Something Comforting - Porter Robinson

Dqxi had the right idea. If you're gonna make a character in your story have their natural hair color being some kind of bright unnatural color, it should be the huge fighter man that's inarguably masc. Dqxi could've given the long, pretty lavender hair to any of the other main party members. They could've given it to Serena. Or Jade. But they didn't. They gave it to Hendrik. Absolutely unparalleled move.

DQXI Characters’ Niche Talents

This was an ask from @valeriewarrior137 but I accidentally posted it without fully answering and then deleted it 😭

Erik

He can guesstimate most measurements just by eyeballing them. Height, weight, distance, circumference. When you’re a thief, you’ve gotta know if your loot can follow you through the escape route.

Veronica

She’s an excellent climber, even with her shorter stature. She can scale trees, ledges, and even hop fences like nobody’s business.

Serena

She’s got a knack for learning new languages very quickly, and it helps out with how much traveling the party does. Her musical talents give her the ear for it!

Sylvando

With a stage presence like his? How could there ever be a talent the Great Sylvando hasn’t— it’s hunting. His father taught him. He can hit a target with a crooked crossbow from further away than any man should be able to.

Jade

She can forge someone’s signature to the point where it’s indiscernible. She’s never used this talent, despite how much Erik tries to convince her to

Rab

He can finish a sewing job with a good amount of competency! He taught himself how to when his daughter’s teddy bear ripped, and he was always there to help Jade out if she needed something hemmed!

Hendrik

He really enjoys gardening. He doesn’t get many opportunities to do it, but he’s read several books about botany, foraging, etc. and would love to keep his own plants one day

Jasper

He’s a very good singer! And he’s horribly embarrassed about it, surprising no one. It’s nothing professional, but it helps lift his mood when he’s feeling down

Redrew a couple of card illustrations of Eleven from DQ Rivals

I'm trying to get back into the drawing for fun mindset

USA and Ouran High School Host Club//Hetalia

That post about death note being "everyone's first anime" (untrue statement) made me curious and now I want to gather data for science

Can you reblog this and tell me where are you from and what was your starter anime?

How to begin a sustainable way of life

This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.

Do not tell people what to do—help them do it! 

Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life. 

“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts. 

“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes. 

“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes

“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own. 

“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden. 

“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial. 

“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?” 

You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled. 

If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it? 

Do not act alone—act with others! 

Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?” 

“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”

You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors  

            Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel. 

            Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other. 

Simply spending time with someone influences them for good 

Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media. 

            Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful. 

A garden is the source of many gifts 

If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects. 

More on gift-giving

            Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them. 

            It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else. 

When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you. 

When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press. 

If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade. 

Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things 

Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits. 

Use the front yard for gardening

Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community. 

Grow staple foods 

Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.

Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew 

Be sure to send them home with leftovers.  

Grow plants for baskets 

Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets. 

If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves  

If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree. 

Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line 

In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space. 

Give others the freedom to wander 

Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.  

The power of the hand-made sign 

If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?  

Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you? 

So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you? 

Someone has to do it for society to change  

Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you. 

my secret to art happiness is it's not about how many notes what you draw is likely to get. t's about how many times you're going to go back to it, to your own art, and think "this FUCKS actually and caters to me entirely, specifically, fully. i love this artist (me) (me who i drew this) (myself)"