玉根は、さまざまな怪の近くにふわふわと浮いていたり、毛の間や足の裏など、怪の体のどこかにくっついていることが多い。玉根は、取りついた怪の情報を栄養として蓄える。付かれた怪にとっては多少くすぐったいくらいで、特に害はない。取り付く怪を次々と変えて移動し、情報が増えるにつれて体の中央の模様が複雑に変化してゆく。刻まれる模様が細密になり、遠目には単色に見えるほど成長すると、やがて土や水や火の中へ飛び込み、これまでに取り込んだ情報から選んだ別の怪の姿に変化して現れ、その怪の性質のままで死ぬまで過ごす。油に入った場合は、2匹に分裂して玉根として増える。玉根から変化した怪は完全な変容を遂げ、普通の観察で判別するのは困難だが、他の玉根を近づけると避けることでのみそれとわかる。玉根はすべての怪の卵のようなもの。卵が先か鶏が先かは人間の命題だが、怪は玉根が先である。美しい文様。2枚貝のような形状。通常の大きさは2cm～10cmだが、1mを超える巨大なものも数例発見された。両面同じ柄だが、稀にオッドアイあり。玉根から生えている細い触手は、1本でも切れると情報がリセットされて文様も消えてしまうので、手に取って見る時はそっと扱うように注意すること。



Tamane often float gently near various Ayakashi or attach themselves somewhere on the Ayakashi’s body, such as between fur or underfoot. They absorb information from the Ayakashi they attach to, storing it as nourishment. For the host Ayakashi, this causes a slight tickling sensation but poses no particular harm. As Tamane move from one host to another, accumulating information, the patterns at their center become increasingly intricate. When these patterns become so detailed that they appear monochromatic from a distance, the Tamane eventually plunge into earth, water, or fire, reemerging transformed into another Ayakashi form selected from the information they have gathered, and live out their existence with the characteristics of that Ayakashi until death. If they enter oil, they split into two, increasing their numbers as Tamane. Ayakashi that have transformed from Tamane undergo a complete metamorphosis, making them difficult to distinguish through ordinary observation; however, they can be identified by their tendency to avoid other Tamane. Tamane are akin to the eggs of all Ayakashi. While the question of which came first—the egg or the chicken—is a human dilemma, for Ayakashi, it is the Tamane that precedes. They possess beautiful patterns and have a shape resembling bivalve shells. Their usual size ranges from 2cm to 10cm, but some specimens exceeding 1 meter have been discovered. Both sides display the same pattern, though rare cases exhibit heterochromia. The thin tentacles extending from Tamane, if even one is severed, cause a reset of the stored information and the disappearance of their patterns. Therefore, when handling them, care should be taken to do so gently.

Kwai 怪 Sound track Part1

Marla Every Day

Journey

Lifegaurd - King Chaos 1of1

“Ah, yeah, this one’s about being absolutely knackered but still forcing yourself through the nonsense of the day—grinding, binging, popping whatever keeps you moving, even if it’s all fake as hell. It’s that cycle of telling yourself, ‘Alright, today’s the day I break out of it,’ and then immediately hitting snooze again. There’s a sort of dumb comedy in it too, y’know? Like, life’s just this loop of trying and failing and trying again, and at some point, you just have to scream ‘WAKE UP!’ at yourself… or don’t. Either way, it’s all a bit pathetic and a bit funny, which is kind of our thing.”

Journey

Rene Peter Tiefenthaler