#and apologies in advance of course

[cloudbends]

It's been rotating in my brain for a while, so I decided to compile my thoughts about the parallels between anaxa and sunday in terms of the way their writing, personality and themes align with one another. At this point, I don't believe this is coincidental.

Anaxa sees reason and emotion as coexisting concepts instead of opposing ends. he rejects himself but he doesn't reject his humanity. he rejects his life but doesn't reject his personhood. he debatably has more faith in his students than he does in himself, because he puts so much trust in them to continue his work. to question everything. to forsake everything. to prove everything he can because he has nothing to lose. he guards his theories with his life because its literally all he has left. and i just like how antideterministic it is. they're doomed but he proves its not humanity being doomed by the gods, its humanity's ability to both doom and save itself.

the parallels between sunday and anaxa are best summed up by these two quotes from their respective trailers:

sunday: knowing there were no gods who could save people unconditionally. to change anything, you can only rely on yourself.

anaxa: gods, decry it as blasphemy - if that is all you can do [...] we alone are the true gods of this world.

How can they believe there's such a thing as a god after all they've lost? A line that particularly stuck out to me in anaxa's stories was cerces's goading of anaxa, asking him if he prayed to the titans upon seeing his hometown ruined and his sister dead. It disclosed a deeper, more personal sentiment anaxa has towards the titans than a mere desire to erase their existence. For anaxa, forsaking the gods means to wrestle control back to humanity's hands, to his hands, in the face of an uncontrollably tragic fate.

In this sense, both anaxa and sunday must deal with a desire for control, doing so by getting their respective gods out of the equation. I think Sunday's words at the grand theatre are incredibly important to this point, and indicate just how similar (if, of course, different circumstantially) their characters and arcs are:

Sunday: My desire is not to resurrect a fallen Aeon, or become one myself... my sole objective is to create a paradise free from Aeons, where the Order ensures the dignity and happiness of all humanity. A paradise exclusive to us human beings".

Sunday, for all his religious theming and imagery, wishes to forsake the gods in favour of an order of safety, to be the sole person remaining awake to guard the dreaming. I think it's very interesting that thematically, anaxa is framed as chaotic, wishing to disrupt the status quo, a perceived opposite to sunday, who in fact shares many more similarities with his mindset than you'd imagine. They both want to liberate mankind from the gods, so their fates won't be inextricably tied to the gods' whims, having grown disillusioned with them. Here however, the stark difference in their methods comes into play: while sunday's desire for humanity's happiness is regrettably robbing it of agency, anaxa's desire for humanity to gain its agency back is knowingly robbing them of their faiths.

Sunday doesn't have faith in humanity's ability to overcome hardships, and in order to be their protector, he decided to usurp the role of a god - he saw horrors so severe, that he felt he had to shoulder their protection for himself. Sunday operates by his sense of anxiety which inadvertently disclosed his lack of faith, taking things into his own hands to ensure they will go as well as possible - he can ensure the success and happiness of humanity only if he takes the burden upon himself and sees it through with his own hands. He feels only he can, or really must, be the responsible person who can shoulder the burden of protecting humanity, which inadvertently strips them of agency. Meanwhile, anaxa's entire thesis is based on his own disillusionment with the gods and faith in humanity, that his plan and eventual usurping of the titan position was in service of proving humanity's agency over the titans by their being identical beings. Anaxa has so much faith in humanity, to the point of disregarding his life and physical existence and completely trusting his students to continue what he can't finish. The blasphemer is driven by faith in humanity, while the believer is driven by distrusting the gods.

To their respective ends, they both decide to pose themselves as antagonists in the eyes of the public in order to ascend to a higher position at the expense of their own lives and well being. They're both themed and viewed as performers of sorts (depicted in stage settings, the performer and the conductor), which on the surface level, epitomise sunday as an organizer, a puppeteering figure, a follower of Order, and anaxa as the wild stage performer, a soliloquy giver, disrupting the audience's understandings of the world into chaos. I contend, however, that the complete opposite is true, making these parallels all the more compelling. Sunday's performance is entirely puppeteered and driven by his sense of anxiety, desperation, and an urge to escape reality, not being able to withstand its horrors - the order hides personal chaos. On the other side of the coin, anaxa's performance is the epitome of calculated, an argument and theory decades in the making, meant to be his final proof so he can leave the world that pained him behind to his students to nourish and give a final sacrifice for his equivalent exchange - the chaos hides personal order.

These two opposing ideas disclose the paralleling approaches anaxa and sunday take in regards to their ideals, and their differences in mental fortitude and personality. Anaxa is very self assured that his method will lead to his desired outcomes, marches entirely to the beat of his own drum, passing his thoughts to his cherished students and trusting them to continue what he doesn't believe he can survive to accomplish. Sunday, on the other hand, is defined by his insecurity, being surrounded by the hostile environment of the family, the younger figure thrust into a position of power through manipulation, and being forced to conform to it. Anaxa's figure is that of a teacher, an authority, while Sunday was inherently stuck in the position of a novice political figure, forced to sway according to the authorities around him.

Probably one of the most dominant aspects paralleling anaxa to sunday is both of their incredibly meaningful and impactful bonds they share with their sisters. While in sunday's case his bond takes central stage and in anaxa's stage we can only infer based on the little that is mentioned about it, I think it is no less significant to a thorough understanding of his character and motivations.

In both cases, two young siblings are left to fend off for themselves as their parents either die at the hands of war (sunday and robin) or decide to abandon their children (anaxa and his sister). And as such, they're each other's most meaningful connections in the world. Sunday owes robin his dream of a utopia, her ever supporter because her happiness is his, cementing his dedicating his life for the sake of others. In a similar vein, anaxa owes his sister his education, his access to knowledge, to experiments, to what is going to shape his life ambitions. However, I think what ties these characters further together is this sense of debt towards their sisters, in a way that feeds their selflessness and becomes their central means to achieve their goals.

Anaxa, in what I can infer from his character stories, genuinely views his life as disposable after his sister's death. His philosophical emphasis on equivalent exchange is, in large part, a reflection of his guilt towards his sister and her sacrifice - allowing him to study at the grove, at the expense of her own life the moment he left. In order for him to be worthy of her sacrifice - or the exchange to be equivalent - he must give away everything in order to achieve his goal. He must continuously chip away at his body, and his spirit, while insisting on retaining his heart and person, in order to make her death have meaning, for the rules of the world to make sense.

They're both so riddled with guilt, to the point it becomes their driving force. Both of their most significant human connections were to their sisters, feeling such an intense amount of debt towards both of them, that this sense of owing encourages them to keep chipping away at themselves in a subconscious effort to live up to both of their sister's "sacrifices" (robin's is more metaphorical). The kindness they received makes them eager to sacrifice more and more of themselves, creating a core of guilt that serves as their motivation to keep losing themselves for their grander goal.

The following portion of anaxa's 'chrysos' volume drew more parallels between the two in a way I can only interpret as being intentional, at the foremost through the use of the songbird motif. While sunday's charmony dove allegory bears no need to repeat, and I could write about it for hours, the following quote by anaxa is meaningful:

anaxa: I once carved a songbird that miraculously flapped its wings and took to the sky, though it circled five times at low altitude before falling...

As it is explicitly told, sunday's turning point in his life and ideology was finding the charmony dove and having to confront the moral dilemma, a choice he viewed to be between freedom and security. His anxiety began to take root, as he had to watch the bird he nursed back to health attempt to fly again, and watch it plummet to its death, cementing in his minds that the weak, those he cherishes, are better kept secure than free. Ironically, he doesn't realise that he himself is stuck in such a cage, terrified of flying, and how his thought process ends up straining his relationship with the same person he so wishes to protect.

I don't think it's coincidental that anaxa chooses to emphasize the fact that the bird he manifested into life, also met its death a short amount of time after it was created by his hands. They're both left unsatisfied - they both must strive to do better, to either preserve life (sunday) or to create life (anaxa), so long as they can make sense of death. Both of these incidents end up solidifying and crystallizing their worldviews: they must sacrifice more of themselves in order to achieve their dreams. Be it a boundless utopia in sunday's case - posing himself as the sole guarding figure who shelters humanity from the terrors of existence regardless of the gods; or achieving transcendence and reaching an absolute truth in anaxa's case - by, similarly, posing himself as the one who must chip away at himself in order to prove, and give meaning, to humanity's existence regardless of the gods.

And perhaps most tragically, eventually, both sunday and anaxa were forced to sacrifice a part of themslves and lose the things they were most scared of losing. Anaxa, who was willing to sacrifice his physical well being, is forced to sacrifice his imprints on history and theory, sacrificing others memories of him, his legacy, his achievements. Sunday, whose drive for the betterment of others arose first and foremost from how much he cherished his only family, had to sacrifice his connection to her, the person closest to him, so he could protect her - they are torn apart, while ever present in each others' minds.

Something about these two, and their relationship to faith, the gods, their families, and worldviews, is deeply compelling in its similarity. They should meet up.

[orange-fresh]

Warning: OLD parkour Yaoi

10 likes and I might consider digitalizing this

[catboyidia]

hi!! Big fan of your hcs, could you do some more on maybe similar style to FFVII new years kisses, valentines gifts, those ones?

a suggestion: maybe like winter hot chocolate or drinking party or something (NOT THAT I ENCOURAGE DRINKING NOT AT ALL)

some of my ffvii ships cute little winter hot cocoa dates:

- zakkura: zack would take cloud to a convenience store to get the premade hot chocolate and cloud would still think its the pinnacle of romance, even when zack makes an absolute mess of the store

- asg: genesis would insist on making the hot cocoa from scratch because nothing could ever be as good what he makes, and he is actually right! angeal is ecstatic because it reminds him of when they were kids, and sephiroth is excited to know if it lives up to the hype, but even when it does sephiroth will still pretend like it doesn’t because he wants to (lovingly) tease and annoy genesis

- tsengru/renorude: rufus would have the perfect and fanciest hot chocolate made for them all while they’re all cozy and warm in his apartment, cuddled up together by the window to watch the snow fall. and then reno would bring cheap instant cocoa to force rufus to try! reno would take advantage of rufus’ expensive cocoa and get the most expensive one he can, rude would get the sweetest one possible which shocks everyone including reno, and tseng would opt for coffee in his cocoa, and rufus would fall in love with reno’s cheap “commoner” cocoa tamaki ohshc style

- aerti: aerith would suggest they make each other cocoa with (potentially strange for cocoa) ingredients they think the other would like and cozy up/cuddle together on the couch with a blanket wrapped around them both, enjoying each other’s weird concoctions happily

- tuestine: reeve would insist on making the perfect cocoa for vincent and he would be so proud of himself, and even if vincent isn’t fond of it, vincent will still compliment it and wouldn’t have the heart to risk breaking reeve’s proud excitement

and ships at a drinking party:

- zakkura: zack is having the time of his life, laughing and “dancing” with cloud, until poor cloud starts puking in which zack becomes the picture perfect boyfriend and holds cloud’s hair back and helps cloud in any way possible, basically waiting on cloud entirely until cloud starts to feel a bit better

- asg: sephiroth is the designated driver for both asg and zakkura, usually its angeal but sephiroth wanted to give angeal a break, and while genesis is moderately composed (aside from dancing promiscuously around angeal and sephiroth) angeal is an absolute drunken mess, behaving in ways that none of them have seen before, and that sephiroth and genesis will tease him about for the rest of their lives

- tsengru: they both have a few drinks, as rufus would convince tseng to let loose for once, but they would stop before either of them got too drunk because without each other knowing, they were both holding out in case either of them got too drunk and needed each other

- renorude: reno challenges anyone and everyone to a drinking contest, but he cant hold his liquor at all, and poor rude has to be dragged around all night by reno and make sure reno doesn’t get into too much trouble, plus rude is reno and tsengru’s designated driver so he can’t drink that night (poor dude has too put up with reno while sober… poor poor rude…)

- aerti: i like to think that the party is happening at 7th heaven so neither of them have to be the designated driver since neither of them have to leave, but i dont think either of them would get too wild, i think they’d have a few drinks but aerith can hold her liquor better then anyone else at the party, and even beats reno in a drinking competition, but then aerti both just get really lovey dovey with eachother and aerith tries to flirt with tifa in ways that make tifa laugh and they both know aerith will regret later

- tuestine: vincent doesn’t get very drunk at all, but he does loosen up at least a little bit around reeve, and reeve, despite initially wanting to be responsible and not drink much, he gets super wasted and starts being all over vincent, he’s just ultra clingy and all lovey dovey, but i also fully believe he’s an emotional drunk so he also gets all insecure about himself and whether he’s good enough for vincent, in which vincent actually handles it quite well and assuages all of reeve’s fears in his own way! and then they also probably hitch a ride back home with renorude/tsengru, where reeve ends up falling asleep on vincent and needing to be carried to bed

[tohruies]

i washed my hair, shaved, freshened up my bangs, did a face mask, curled my lashes, and plucked my brows … all in preparation of xiangli coming home in t-14 hours!!! i feel like this! 💅✨

[espy-heart]

I've been very busy! Here's something cute ive been slowly working on. I made two versions cause my brother thought glasses would be funny on em : )

[agerefandomstuff]

[mobius-m-mobius]

Thank you for posting all those gifs of Mobius being kind and supportive together. I've seen some takes about Mobius deserving it, but logically it doesn't make sense. He's already doing everything he can to save the timelines. He doesn't want to know his past, nor does he need to know to be motivated to save the timeliness, because he's already been doing since ep 1. Even if we make the argument he has no real free will until he sees his past, this argument is disingenuous because he's using his free will NOT to see it. From a narrative and character development standpoint, he will be forced to see it for the audience's entertainment, because he is a fictional character with no free will-- the screenwriters are the gods (Time Authors, if you will).

In-narrative, you could make a case he should see his timeline if he were actively trying to keep the TVA the way it was, but that's not the case with him. Sylvie's accusations this fall flat.

Mind, I'm not against Sylvie's proposition to start from scratch. Revolutions are important and serve that function. But the TVA is the only organization with people who know how the Loom and timespace work. It's not unreasonable for them to try to stabilize the situation, save the lives of as many timeliness as they can, and consider dismantling the TVA entirely and starting from scratch later.

Since we're dealing with time paradoxes, it's possible that the collapse of the Loom is what causes Loki to recruit Mobius, B-15, and Casey (I'm not sure what kind of entity OB is?) from their timelines. If they all accept, then Loki was the original creator of the Heart of the TVA. It's possible HWR took over at some point in the future and wiped everyone's memories then. The future influenced the past, thus closing the time loop. If this is the case, then Sylvie also contributed to the creation of the TVA, because killing HWR triggered the destruction of the Loom, which will force Loki to recruit, which will create the TVA, which will monitor the multiverse, which at some point will be taken over by HWR to create the Sacred Timeline, which become the multiverse one again after Sylvie kills him, which will destroy the Loom, which will cause Loki to recruit.

Of course!!! Always a delight to and on that note we're truly seeing eye to eye on every single point you raised so thank you for such an amazing ask! Exactly the conversation I was craving after making those gifs just to get some things off my chest about how Mobius gets treated since as you said, he's already been doing everything possible to protect the timelines while clearly under incomprehensible pressure yet has never hesitated to evaluate and change his worldview accordingly to better serve the whole.

Honestly confused by those insisting he HAS to see his past and is in the wrong for not having done so because isn't that up to him?? Doesn't matter what his reasons are, he's entitled to his choices and I can honestly say without hesitation if I were in his shoes my decision would be the same. He enjoys his job, he's incredibly good at the work (people seem to forget he's facilitated the progression of basically every plot point), and has recently built more connections he appreciates and wants to grow than in the entirety of his life combined so why is he not allowed to make a single decision in his own interest when neither his approach to changing the TVA nor any other person is being impacted? But you're exactly right about how regardless he'll be made to have the experience anyway and while I'd be perfectly happy with that never happening I accept the advancement of narrative as a given and can only hope whatever cards he's dealt are ones that only bring him peace of mind about the work he's done so far and in the future.

(adding a read more here because I've got a feeling this is gonna be a long one, lol)

Have also seen many people saying Sylvie blowing up at Mobius was necessary or that he needed to hear it but that logic is completely missed on me? For example Ravonna did the same but considering the amount of history between them her reaction is fully understandable even if I don't agree with the points she made about his compassion being a weakness. Mentioned this to a friend earlier but I truly wish it had been some random character besides Sylvie who yelled at him simply because she doesn't have the kind of personal connection to make judgements and because I don't want any ship war elements at play or anything when my take is solely based around wanting Mobius to be recognized as someone who has been good and kind from the start? Watching him be put down for that as if it's fact in basically every episode is getting exhausting 😔

To that point I also agree with the importance and necessity of revolution but not sure starting from scratch is necessary when the TVA does have a solid base and plenty of people willing to stay and help the cause? In reality there's no time for anyone there to stay currently focused on anything but stabilizing the situation when the alternative is the end of every timeline, burning things to the ground only really counts if there's any ground left to build on which is yet another reason Mobius and the others switched to preservation. For example, O.B's quip about Sylvie ruining his life by killing He Who Remains was complete fact and while I don't have any hate towards her character at all and certainly don't want any mirrored scene of someone yelling at her, etc, it's driving me crazy how she refuses to admit they've actively been saving lives and scrambling to accommodate these unexpected branches while she was at a MCDONALD'S.

My ep 5-6 theory matches yours regarding about the collapse of the Loom being the cause of Mobius, B-15, and Casey ending up at the TVA because their Nexus event technically isn't one, it's them choosing to leave with Loki of their own free will and the good of existence. I'm also not sure if O.B. was ever a variant so he could possibly be the key to figuring out where Loki can find everyone's original self? Psyched to learn more about him and how he ended up in such a vital position! Hundred percent think the series is ending with Loki as the founder and probable ruler of the TVA but can't quite figure out where the switch to He Who Remains entering the picture fits in, and your point about Sylvie also contributing to the creation of the TVA in an infinite loop is a fascinating one that's going to leave me thinking for a long while so thanks for that as well and of everything I have to admit the possibility of Loki and Mobius being their own ouroboros in creating just the right person to intrigue and change themselves into who they always wanted to be has been giving me life, them as timekeepers along with B-15 has been my hope since the first episode of season 2 and is probably the most incredible place I could imagine leaving everyone if we don't get another season.

[mrspockify]

I don’t really care for thanksgiving so I’m not gonna post much about it but I am gonna take a moment today to warn all of you that I am extremely annoying about Christmas. I will tag the posts accordingly so if you don’t like Christmas you can blacklist. But. Please be warned. I fucking love Christmas.

[psychopomp-namine]

you don't understand how much I felt the slow saline drip of gaining interest in a character, and instead of going, "oooh. interesting. new blorbo?" I instead went, "...really. that guy? oh. oh no."

<- guy with a li tianchen icon ends up blorbofying liu xiao. alas, I have played myself 😔

[oldestking]

/  If u deal with g.il u have to know that u will be constantly threading through the thin line between him deciding that u will die by his hands or u proving him that there’s something of worth in having u around

[shame-is-a-wasted-emotion]

Dear giftee,

I shouldn't be writing this post but here I am. I am working on a 2 part gift with 2 one shots for you and right now, I've stopped writing temporarily. Your list was challenging yet I found a way to fulfil atleast a small part. The thing is, I have exams that would burn me to death till Dec 16. So I may write In the middle. I'm not sure if I would complete. So apologies in advance for any mishaps that would happen. I would try to do it in advance so I can find a beta reader soon. But otherwise,my aim is to atleast gift one of the fics. So if I disappoint you in any way,apologies in advance!

Yours sincerely in burn out,

Secret Santa

Ps. @klainesecretsanta2023 pls reblog this. So my giftee would see. Thank you

[simplyabsurd]

I hate my french class cuz like all the reading compression shit is like "écrit dix mots que vous devez chercher afin de comprendre," and I'm like "j’ai seulement trouver deux mot que m’a donné la merde est ils ont pas des facile traduction anglais parceques les différence en 'slang'" and I can't put that cuz that's not the assignment but like what the fuck else am I supposed to write cuz that's the truth and I'm not putting my self on the same level as the guys who I watched snort kool-aid powder with a French level that has them unironically saying "mercy buckets"

Anyways get bitches

[fandomfuntimem]

Dp x dc: batshit crazy driver au.

Bruce hired a new personal driver for the Wayne's. He was a nice enough guy. His grades weren't great, but he was a great driver and very patient. Like, really patient. Like, he is so unbothered by traffic, stupid drivers, and villain attacks, its kinda scary. But all the background checks came back clean. Minus his mad scientists parents, of course.

Daniel (Danny) Fenton. He could relate to any of the Wayne kids and hold an intelligent conversation with Bruce. Bruce feels that he doesn't need to be all Brucie Wayne around the young man. He doesn't know about their nightly activities yet, though. They're not quite sure if he even needs to know.

The first sign there was something more to Danny happened when Tim was sitting in the passenger seat. Tim was struggling with a math problem. It was driving him nuts. It only took a quick glance for Daniel to solve it, though, "it's thirty-six"

"What?"

"The answer is Thirty-six. You forgot to carry the three."

"Huh..."

He was right, Tim made a simple mistake, sure. But that was advanced college level math. Danny was a straight c student and never went to college. It only took him a momentary glance to solve it. Tim, though suspicious, chalked it up to a simple case of gifted kid syndrome. He related to it and began to consult with Danny on some of his math problems. Danny was more than happy to help, for a price, of course.

Then, there was a villain attack. The villain's goons ran rampant through the city, terrorizing anyone unfortunate enough to be outside at the time. But not Danny, they'll tried, oooh they tried. But those goons swiftly found themselves zip tied, in the trunk of a car, and on their way to jail. All while Danny blasted some music by a small artist named 'Ember'.

Alright. He is in Gotham, and his mother was a black belt, so maybe he was just well trained. Its good to know how to deffend yourself.

Then, Damien was kidnapped. It was so fast they barely saw, but a white van sped by and grabbed Damien as he made his way tawords the car. Initially, Damien expected the chauffeur to panic and call the police. But when shouting and cursing were heard from the front seat, and the men in the back slipped the van door open to check behind them, it was revealed Danny had followed them and he had a gun.

What could only be described as an action movie chase scene ensued. Every corner they swerved, every shortcut they took, Danny was right behind them. Driving like a bat out of hell, he shouted and fired at the wheels of the van. Knocking one out, the van swerved and was forced to come to a stop.

A kidnapper grabbed Damien by the hair and held a gun to his head, but before the threat could even leave his mouth a bullet flew through his hand. He dropped Damien and fell to the ground screaming, clutching his hand.

The kidnapper in the van already took off running but was swiftly stopped by Redhood arriving just in time to see Danny helping Damien up and checking him over, profusely apologizing for "letting this happen."

When asked why he did all of it, his simply answered, "I don't think I would get paid if I let Mr. Wayne's kid die! I can't let a kid die in general!"

Bruce, of course, gave the young man a bonus and a few days off for the stunt. Accompanied wlth a few stern words about safety. What was truly remarkable was that there was not a single scratch on the car. Untouched, meaning he never hit anything during the whole ordeal. "I just learned what not to do from my dad!" He joked, but Bruce felt that, despite the clear joking tone, there was some truth to the statement.

The family is suspicious, very suspicious. The man they previously viewed as their simple and humble driver turned out to be a monster of a fighter, and they have no idea how or why.

----------------------‐------

A/N: Feel free to add onto this in any way you would like :3

[justaderivative]

As a derivative, what’s your opinion on integrals? I’m gonna start a war but I like integrals more since the teacher just let us use calculators for those. (My opinion might change next year tho idk if we’ll have to do it without calculators somehow.)

Also can I message you here or do you want to be left alone? If you say no I’ll still stalk support your blog :)

As a derivative, the integral (fuck that guy) is my mortal enemy whomst I shall slay with this really cool sword I pulled out from the stone of Calculus.

As a certified Envin, I barely use integrals and derivatives since maths (hallowed be its name) is not in my course - and I only use it for the occasional formula derivation in physics. I do not have any opinion on either and would really like for it to stay that way.

Also, yes - message me all you want girl. The dms are open for a reason (a downgrade from discord but 'twill do)

[ailithnight]

In fairness, water can have tastes and different waters (even different tap waters) can taste different. The tap where I live now tastes drastically different from the tap in Nashville where I grew up. Bottled water is the same. Both different brands and different localities of the same brand since most bottling places actually get their water local.

Interestingly, I hated the tap in Nashville. Although, there where other factors in my life at the time that steered me more often to sweet and caffeine, so... Anyway. The tap where I live now is tolerable. Don't love it, but I'll drink it when I'm thirsty. We didn't get much bottled water growing up (grandmother just didn't buy it often), so I don't really have a comparison there. But there's pretty much always bottled water here. And to my tastes, it's good water. Perfectly agreeable taste. And guess what! I drink a lot more water now than I ever did before.

Now before you say 'filter' at me like I'm dense. If I understand correctly, there are three primary factors (outside of an individuals plumbing situation) that affect how water tastes. Source, treatment, additives.

Even clean water can and usually does have trace minerals. Since water itself doesn't really have a flavor, what you are tasting is going to be that mineral profile.

It should come as no surprise that where exactly water comes from is going to affect what trace minerals are in it and how much of them there are.

Different localities also tend to have very slightly different treatment standards and processes. Which, again, will have different affects on that mineral composition. But the basics are the same. Disinfect and filter the water several times to remove impurities until it meets water purity standards.

The addition of things like chlorine and fluoride is once more going to add things which have a flavor to the otherwise flavorless water. And again, different places, slightly different practices. Additionally, bottled water companies like Dasani actually add trace minerals (after filtration) to try to keep a mostly consistent flavor around the world.

So; Source, Treatment, Additives. Now, an at home filter like a Brita is basically a secondary treatment process. So take a wild fuckin guess what running water through your filters is going to do.

(BTW, did you know that the chlorine added to water dissipates on it's own in an open container? That's why chlorine pools have to keep adding more. And also why my grandmother insisted on letting the water she watered her plants with sit in a pitcher for half an hour before dumping it on her flowers.)

All in all, water tastes like where it's from and what's been done to make it potable. Some people notice happen to notice this.

I wanna respect everyone’s preferences and I DO but there is a difference between Respecting and Understanding and that is where I am at with people who actively dislike Drinking Water. I know you exist. My brother is one of you. The Fuck do you mean “it tastes bad” it has the least amount of taste a thing can have. Fucking Air Scented LaCroix. “It tastes bad” fucking WINDEX tastes bad COW SHIT tastes bad. what the hell are you talking about

[meowdei]

morning routine — ft. sylus

before you read: established relationships ; gender neutral reader ; sleepy clingy sylus ; banter ; fluff and cheesiness i apologize in advance

“Here we go,” you hum to yourself, rolling your eyes with a knowing smile curled loosely on your lips as soon as Sylus starts to shift in his sleep. “Like a hermit crab,” you tease to his unconscious figure, “no wonder you’re so pale. Do you even remember what the sun looks like?”

“Do you always talk to sleeping people?”

You still at the sound of his voice, hand freezing in the middle of stroking through his hair. He doesn’t like that, either—his head presses up into your fingertips, a silent demand for more.

“You should be sleeping,” you scold gently, fingers returning to their earlier movements. You scratch lightly at his scalp and he shivers, humming in content. Like a cat, you think fondly, purring in your arms at the slightest show of affection.

Your morning routine starts with the same valiant effort every day: protecting Sylus from the sun. It’s honest work: he already doesn’t sleep very much through the night, and if he doesn’t sleep through the day because of a mild setback either, you think a number of poor victims would suffer the consequences of his tired, grouchy attitude.

So, you protect him as he falls asleep while the sun rises, beams of light slipping through the cracks of the blinds a little more with every minute. You watch him—with equal parts amusement and equal parts fondness, you watch every morning as he slowly shifts in his sleep. It starts with him inching closer and closer towards you, and ends with his head buried into your chest and his body curled around you like you’re a shield for the cruel light that disturbs him.

You like this routine, though. It’s the perfect chance to admire him, to bring a hand to trace over his relaxed features—the slightly crooked slant of his nose, the sharp angle of his cheekbones, the defined edge of his jawline. And, of course, your favorite part: the soft, plump curves of his lips. He never does anything to indicate he’s awake, either. Nothing to even hint that he feels you, breathing slow and soft puffs of air peacefully nestled against you.

He looks delicate in slumber. Vulnerable. So agonizingly soft and fragile in a way he normally doesn’t look. (Oh, but does he feel soft, you always think. Sylus always feels so inexplicably soft.)

“I would be sleeping,” he finally grumbles, but it’s playful as he shifts to hide his face deeper into your chest while his nose presses against your collarbone. “But someone disrupted my efforts.”

“No, I protect you,” you huff, “with the way you avoid the sun in your sleep, you’d think the vitamin D would poison you.”

“If it was poisonous, then I’d be dead,” he sighs dramatically, cracking a crimson eye open and looking at you like he’s wounded. “You do a terrible job at keeping me shielded.”

“Maybe I’m trying to kill you in your sleep,” you wink, “ever think of that?”

He chuckles, voice low and still laced with the evidence of sleep from the raspiness of it. You smile softly at the sound, pressing a chaste kiss to his head while he moves to bury it into the crook of your neck. There’s something oddly comforting about it—holding him like this. Holding him while he hides into your body, melts against your skin, sinks weight onto you because you take it and he can.

“Go back to sleep,” you murmur sweetly, rubbing a slow, soothing hand up and down his bare back and tracing his spine. “I’ll make sure the sun knows not to bother my big, sleepy, vitamin D deficient baby.”

“I’m not vitamin D deficient,” he huffs.

“So you agree you’re a big, sleepy baby?”

He snores dramatically, pulling a giggle from your lips. A kiss presses to the skin of your neck, and they come from a pair of lips that feel suspiciously curled—like they’re smiling. You wrap your arms around him a little tighter, because close just doesn’t feel close enough when it’s him.

“Let’s hope I wake up without being poisoned,” he hums, half-asleep once more as you trace a finger along the sharp, muscled curves of his back.

You press one more kiss to his head before murmuring, “I’ll see what I can do.”

He lets out a gentle snore again, real this time. He’s sound asleep with his body molded against yours, routine like it is every morning—you protecting him from the sun, and him falling into your arms.

I just want to hold him while he peacefully rests and hide him away from the sun so he can sleep well like he deserves because he’s a BABY

To me he’s a baby :(