Gosh Your Style Is So Smooth And Delicate! It's A Bit Similar To The Original Game's Style, But With

* . . * * . . . * ..* I wish I could hold your hand. * . . * * . . . * ..*

I spent a lot more time on this sketch than it really deserved, tbh.

late attack on @wormteeth2004!

revenge, actually

Absolutely...

Oh my, what a lore.

I should definitely update this design… The idea with the red shibari pattern on the tail is fun, but it's so painful to draw ;_ ;

Please check out my bestie's blog, we do a lot of projects together! Sometimes there are sketches I'm too shy to show on my own blog… ahah!

Your questions matter most!

Amashinsai yōkai! AU: Hebi's biology and psychology.

I decide to finish this post especially in honour of Korekiyo's birthday! HBD, my sweet lovely snake boy! 💚

...When I wrote my first post about Yōkai! AU, I mentioned that I could go into more detail about the Hebi's nature (as, at the moment, these are the most elaborate yōkais in my AU)... And although there have been no direct requests for it – I have recently been inspired again, which means here we go again! 😂

TW: In the hcs below, there will be repeated mentions to all kinds of violence, cannibalism and killing, because, let's not forget that the Yōkais are Japanese evil spirits, demons. The process of hebi's procreation and conception (reproduction) will be described in some detail, with mention of animal reproductive organs, so if you're disgusted by that sort of thing, you'd better skip this post or not read the paragraph dedicated to it. I suggest you treat it like a paragraph in a biology textbook :'D

Have a little look at the officially-approved hebi!Kiyo's design (I remind you that my bestie, who doesn't have active blogs in English, draws things for me)

and I'll start!!

𓆓 Kiyo came to the human world in part to understand why the yōkai, being creatures of a more ancient and independent nature, are mostly partially human-like. His theory is that previously all hebi and yōkai in general had a different (more animal-like) appearance, but after numerous encounters and promiscuous liaisons with humans, decided to take on their appearance (to make it easier to deceive / use for their own purposes, which in turn also doesn't exclude the possibility that hebi are partly human = descendants of these unions human + ancient hebi).

𓆓 A reminder that Korekiyo has a couple of powers: hypnosis, emotional healing and small wounds treatment (+ he can anticipate changes in the weather as he's very sensitive to temperatures; can hide his presence even from gifted people and teleport over short distances). He could have done more and/or developed what he already had if he had wanted to, but given the path he chose, it wasn't necessary. Nevertheless, the Hebi, as a separate species, have their own Progenitors – the serpent deities who embody everything that is attributed to the image of the snakes in folklore [life and death, malehood and femalehood, wisdom and blind passion, healing and poison, etc. – in fact, this is why a normal hebi chooses between two ways of "enlightenment"]. Progenitors are enormous and wrap their tails around the entire serpentine otherworldly dimension. They can control the weather, time and space, bend other yōkais to their will, possess infinite knowledge, but also care their little half-human Hebis, giving them freedom of action and peace of mind.

𓆓 The "Serpentine Otherworldly Dimension" – is a nest which looks like a deep cave with chaotically swirling hebis. It's a dark and "crowded" place, as there REALLY are a lot of snakes mixed in there, doing whatever they want. The hebi who have chosen the path of intellectual enrichment almost never leave it, and remain isolated even from some of their relatives, preferring to gain knowledge from the Progenitors. And the hebi who want to build up their power by eating anything and everything, first being played back at their relatives by endlessly competing for energy and physical dignity, and then go to the otherworld for other yōkai / to the human world for mortals.

𓆓 A "little bit" about the Hebi's birth and reproduction. Like descendant snakes, they have a division into females and males = different reproductive body structure. Nevertheless, it's worth remembering that they are primarily spiritual beings – bodies are just conventions, shells, vessels for holding energy reserves (their main food) – which means that, at a basic level, they are still genderfluid. With some effort, the male can "grow" the necessary organ to temporarily hold the foetus in his body, if he wishes to give birth himself. The female, in turn, will also be able to "acquire" a fertilising organ for herself. Another thing is that it's not socially acceptable to do this, or rather no one thinks about it, because in principle there is rarely any love for one's partner/offspring = there is no self-conscious desire to necessarily reproduce (It's only intensified by instinct during the 'mating season' after molting, which is essentially the work of the Progenitors).  The reproductive anatomy of females and males is a mixture of snake's + human's anatomy. Males have no nipples and navel, but two hemipenises – its appearance can vary depending on the "enlightenment way" chosen, but generally it resemble tentacles that narrow towards the end (the male can move them almost as deftly as his tail). The location is inside the tail, in the human groin area. Females have breasts (which are more the result of mutation or desire, i.e. their function is accessory), two clitoris + the semblance of a uterus, so yes, Hebis are viviparous. However, they don't carry a foetus – fertilisation occurs when a piece of the male's energy is injected into the uterine zone through the hemipenis and this piece is formed into one or more life forms that grow to the size of a baby in a matter of minutes and burst out of the mother's womb (* the mother doesn't die from it – she can heal such a wound). The process of such an express birth, and the fact of pregnancy itself – is very undesirable for any parent, so females use all possible contraceptive methods (for example, by forming a barrier inside themselves to prevent the long hemipenis from reaching the "danger zone").  Another thing is that hebis mating is always a wild and aggressive process. A female may be attacked by several males with the sole purpose of taking as much of her life energy as possible – and not always the surrounded individual have time to fight back and react appropriately.

𓆓 It goes without saying that baby-snakes are very unwelcome "guests" in the Hebi's world, given the circumstances of their birth as described above. Once they are born, their parents don't hesitate to abandon them to their fate, while other hebis are ready to crush the cubs with their multi-kilogram tails at any time, or devour them as a snack. In other words, the first minutes of a Hebi's life are spent trying to survive. And getting back to Korekiyo... He survived, in fact, thanks to his slightly stronger, more active and eldest only for a few seconds sister :D Contrary to all the laws of yōkai's empathy, Miyadera was born with a protective instinct and took great care of her little brother, realising from the first seconds that in this world you can only exist in peace if you become "stronger, harder, faster" (so, she ate... other baby-snakes that she met along the way). In one day, she and Kiyo heard of the existence of other dimensions of Yōkai (and not only), found a way to move to one of those "inter-worlds", and grew there until their views abruptly diverged. They didn't squabble – it was just that Miyadera had let Kiyo go to the human world, figuring that he would want to sate not their knowledge, but their flesh, roughly speaking :'D But as I have written before, although future conflict is inevitable, they will eventually come to some understanding, thanks to a deeper and healthier sibling bond. I wanted it to be like that, at least in this universe. Also, without straying too far from the subject of baby-snakes, I think it's worth mentioning that the Hebi don't age visually, as they are "immortal until killed". Or to be more precise, born in the form of a baby, they change for a while, but as soon as the outward appearance takes on the characteristics of a young man/woman – "ageing" stops and the actual age is only reflected in the volume and length of the tail. If a Hebi wants to become a giant snake in every sense of the word, he is more likely to abandon anything human in his appearance.

𓆓 I mentioned in passing above that the main food for the hebi is a soul energy, as they are (again) spiritual beings and all the magic available to them is the result of what they have previously accumulated. If in the case of the "path of knowledge" everything is generally transparent (knowledge is an immaterial, conscious product; the more knowledge — the sooner the otherworldly being develops), then it's worth clarifying something about nutrition in the usual sense of this word. At first I assumed that the Hebi had a snake stomach that ran the length of their body, and that their jaw expanded to absorb food many times its own size.... But then I thought: why do we need all this fuss and convention for? 😆 All the Hebi have left of the snakes (which, I remind you, are their descendants — the same creations of the Progenitors) is the ability to expand their jaws to the size of at least a human head. After such a powerful yawn, the characteristic cracks in their cheeks remain for a while, but then smooth out again for a more naturalistic human appearance. The function of such a jaw is simple — to hold as much as possible... And the "food" will be digested / broken down to the state of the much needed energy substance directly in the mouth. A very environmentally friendly way to get rid of "leftovers" ;) With this body structure, hebi are omnivorous: animals, humans, human food, and other yokai. However, it is logical that they will get no energy from food that doesn't have some sort of soul, which means that eating anything "human" (other than animal carcasses) is completely useless. And yes, "digesting in the mouth" doesn't mean that if a human puts their hand in the mouth of a hebi — they will lose that hand. If the snake realises that you're not trying to feed them lavishly, it will end happily — touch the fangs as much as you like! 😂 Oh, and also, despite the specificity of their diet, they are able to taste and smell quietly. And no hebi performs the act of defecation, urination and sweating.

𓆓 The appearance, as well as the abilities of the hebi, can be completely unique. Thus, horns are a reminder of their connection to dragons (although, as proud, self-loving and self-sufficient creatures, they prefer not to draw such a parallel); essentially don't affect any characteristics, but there are some individuals who consciously use those horns as an indicator of their own strength, status, and age. Sometimes the horns are artificially enlarged and this "crown" can exceed the volume of the head (which generally doesn't prevent such a hebi from moving)... Kiyo doesn't care about such things and even treats it as some kind of teenage mischief :'D But the tail colouring is more interesting topic. There may even be some gene pooling at work here, producing an infinite variety of colours and patterns on them, but there are variants that are considered VERY attractive to individuals of both sexes — and this is vividly expressed during the mating season. In my AU, the owner of such colouring would be Shuichi Saihara after his amazing rebirth :D In his case, literally all EP are pumped into attractiveness, and from that point of view, he is very lucky not to have been born in the "Hebi dimension" ;)

𓆓 The species division of humanworld snakes is, to some extent, a result of what is going on in their Hebi-creators. For example, Kiyo isn't venomous because he didn't need such an ability, but other relatives who chose "development by eating" could acquire various venoms just to "take it easy". It should be understood that "human poisons", the venom of ordinary snakes, and other vicious substances are nothing compared to the paranormal venom of the Hebi. Accordingly, all of the above will not apply to them. The best way to kill a venomous yokai is to sic an equally venomous one to them. Another known power of snakes is constriction. In battles, Korekiyo will use the abilities of his tail + the agility and cunning gained by teleporting short distances. And the imagination doesn't stop there — hebies can even sail the seas if they want to, and it's not for nothing that there's such a strong connection in folklore between snakes-werewolves and something aquatic!

𓆓 And the last thing I'd like to point out for understanding these creatures — is the spectrum of feelings. Hebi's can't crying — and it's not just their physiology. Feelings of sadness, longing, despair are, if not atrophied, buried very, very deeply in their souls. In other words, they are not deprived of the ability to experience this full range of feelings - there are simply no external circumstances that would allow them to express them in any way. Yokai's temperament will always be about something negative in human terms — irritation, rage, pride, cunning, temper, lying... But understandably, there are exceptions. For example, when the hebi do feel sympathy for each other — it becomes possible to trace their own "snake love language". Kissing, active tactile types of caresses like patting/scratching "it's something for human". But weaving, rubbing, squeezing, various tail sliding — this is what we need. At most, they can clasp each other in a hug or intertwine their fingers... Which overall looks gentle ~

That's it for now!! I hope I've satisfied someone's curiosity, or just fascinated with unconventional biology, ahah! 😜🐍

I'm not a fan myself, but all of my friends are playing BG3 now, so I asked one of them to make a dr characters for me. Here's a rough Shinsai sketch then.

The result is charming!

Korekiyo is a half-elf wizard, Shuichi is a halfling ranger. And yes, the two date.

🎉!!!HBD, SHUSH!!! 🎊

I'd love to draw something great for the best boy's birthday, but studying is killing me, so here's a '21 meme redraw.

Oh, you have no idea how much.

If the skies are cloudless, maybe I'll post more of my fanart with them ahah

Like or reblog if you ship Shinsai!

When @aivadit and I were discussing the v3 cast and assigning blue blood to Angie, I suddenly thought that this massive piece of blue stone jewelry on Himiko's head could be interpreted as a sort of gift to celebrate acceptance into the cult and a sign of belonging at the same time. Our crossover doesn't have a plot as such, but sometimes spontaneous ideas like this come up. Tenko got a little emotional about it. Her crush has fallen completely under the influence of psychopathic blue caste. My poor girl.

D'aww, Kiyo's cute in a ways I couldn't even imagine! ୭ ˚.⁺⊹ .ᐟ

I'm flustered that I might have had a tiny bit of an impact on your art. It turned out so awesome!

Babey Kiyo is my source of serotonin <3

Slightly inspired by @happy6machine

Oh my, oh my, what do we have here? A Homestuck star has risen! I absolutely adore every single pixel of this artwork, but I'm especially laughing at Kibo's annoyed face here. He really needs a break from those two jerks.

Who would make a good auspisice for them? Hm...

Danganronpa? Great. Danganronpa and Homestuck? Perfect! Their black dynamics are beautiful. But there is definitely a lack of good auspisice…