I was falling asleep last night thinking about how elves are always pure of skin and soft of complexion and completely unmarked ethereal beings of light
(and while that’s chill and all, I love me some gorgeous Tolkien elves)
I was just thinking about why don’t we ever see any other kind of elves??? Like they live for hundreds if not thousands of years why don’t they express themselves more??
Long story short I think the TREE elves are going to have a whole culture built around tattoos
Tattoos of vines that curl around limbs and the natural curves of a person.
Tattoos that change with the phases of the moon or the changing of the seasons.
Older elves with silver hair and crows feet around their eyes and are covered in tattoos, built up over a lifetime.
Young elves spending years agonizing over their first tattoo—it has to be perfect.
Elves without visible tattoos being seen as strange or even freakish. Elves without tattoos are practically unheard of. These uninked elves are usually used as ambassadors to humans.
Elven ink coming in all sorts of styles: shimmery, holographic, black light, only showing up under the light of a moon, etc.
Elves who show their style by only getting black and white tattoos, or decorating themselves with formless splashed of color.
There was a hot trend for a while to only get black and white tattoos until you got married, and then you start getting tattoos in color or only getting matching tattoos.
Ear tattoos are painful, but always the most beautiful.
Yes! This sounds fantastic!!
Does the same hold true for things like piercings? Do they ever do temporary tattoos, like with henna or a similar material? Does their placement mean anything special, or is it mostly for The Aesthetic?
I hadn’t even thought about piercings, but their ears are very sensitive so conventional ear piercings are not really a thing. Other places can be pierced, but they only started doing it when they discovered the humans habit of piercings. So it’s possible to see pierced elves, but it’s not to the same degree as tattoos are.
I don’t know much about henna, but I’m like 70% sure it’s made from natural ingredients, right? So it wouldn’t offend the elves, but they also have magic to reverse any tattoos that don’t work the way they want them to.
Placement can be very symbolic. Elves who value intelligence can get forehead or cranium/skull tattoos, married elves get matching tattoos over their hearts, pretty much any symbolism you can think of.
But also, yeah, some people just make choices for The Aesthetic.
OMG South Asian elves with mehndi :O
(Henna is natural yes and also temporary btw just in case you didn’t know! BUT that means it can be fun if your elves sort of go in every few weeks to get mehndi done sort of the way people get those fancy manicures!)
Magic to make it permanent too :O
But yessssss I love the idea of them sort of collecting these things over the centuries and being able to sort of point at em like “oh yeah I got this one when THAT was a thing” or even like the tattoos people regret getting with their exes like “oh yeah that was from my boyfriend in the Middle Ages and he was the WORST and he like died in a war or something”
I would die for Elves with full body ink.
Don’t you just love it when you’re editing and you find a sentence where you forgot a word and have a verb-tense typo and have a regular old typo and have a word that’s just entirely wrong, and it all compiles to create a sentence so nonsensical that you have no idea what it was meant to say in the first place and therefore can’t fix it? 8D
1. QUEST - the plot involves the Protagonist’s search for a person, place or thing, tangible or intangible (but must be quantifiable, so think of this as a noun; i.e., immortality).
2. ADVENTURE - this plot involves the Protagonist going in search of their fortune, and since fortune is never found at home, the Protagonist goes to search for it somewhere over the rainbow.
3. PURSUIT - this plot literally involves hide-and-seek, one person chasing another.
4. RESCUE - this plot involves the Protagonist searching for someone or something, usually consisting of three main characters - the Protagonist, the Victim & the Antagonist.
5. ESCAPE - plot involves a Protagonist confined against their will who wants to escape (does not include some one trying to escape their personal demons).
6. REVENGE - retaliation by Protagonist or Antagonist against the other for real or imagined injury.
7. THE RIDDLE - plot involves the Protagonist’s search for clues to find the hidden meaning of something in question that is deliberately enigmatic or ambiguous.
8. RIVALRY - plot involves Protagonist competing for same object or goal as another person (their rival).
9. UNDERDOG - plot involves a Protagonist competing for an object or goal that is at a great disadvantage and is faced with overwhelming odds.
10. TEMPTATION - plot involves a Protagonist that for one reason or another is induced or persuaded to do something that is unwise, wrong or immoral.
11. METAMORPHOSIS - this plot involves the physical characteristics of the Protagonist actually changing from one form to another (reflecting their inner psychological identity).
12. TRANSFORMATION - plot involves the process of change in the Protagonist as they journey through a stage of life that moves them from one significant character state to another.
13. MATURATION - plot involves the Protagonist facing a problem that is part of growing up, and from dealing with it, emerging into a state of adulthood (going from innocence to experience).
14. LOVE - plot involves the Protagonist overcoming the obstacles to love that keeps them from consummating (engaging in) true love.
15. FORBIDDEN LOVE - plot involves Protagonist(s) overcoming obstacles created by social mores and taboos to consummate their relationship (and sometimes finding it at too high a price to live with).
16. SACRIFICE - plot involves the Protagonist taking action(s) that is motivated by a higher purpose (concept) such as love, honor, charity or for the sake of humanity.
17. DISCOVERY - plot that is the most character-centered of all, involves the Protagonist having to overcome an upheavel(s) in their life, and thereby discovering something important (and buried) within them a better understanding of life (i.e., better appreciation of their life, a clearer purpose in their life, etc.)
18. WRETCHED EXCESS - plot involves a Protagonist who, either by choice or by accident, pushes the limits of acceptable behavior to the extreme and is forced to deal with the consequences (generally deals with the psychological decline of the character).
19. ASCENSION - rags-to-riches plot deals with the rise (success) of Protagonist due to a dominating character trait that helps them to succeed.
20. DECISION - riches-to-rags plot deals with the fall
(destruction) of Protagonist due to dominating character trait that
eventually destroys their success.
A Winter Portal
riverwindphotography, December 2018
Happy Christmas!
Wolves enjoy a treat-covered Christmas tree at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Ind.
Pictures by Monty Sloan
adjective + curse word + noun
i see no one has reblogged my post. is it because you undeserving fuck llamas are afraid of the truth
