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Beauty at The End of All Things

The people who had once lived in this world had died long ago. Their bodies have rotted years ago, yielding to the elements and feeding the nature that now lives in their homes.  Soon after mankind left this world, animals would as well.  The birds took their last flight, fish left the shallows for the deep oceans, and land creatures found new homes in caves until they slowly went extinct. Yet even in this, a single, small creature endures.  Having been born into a dilapidated fort's dark and lonely halls, it spends much of its life searching for others like it.

Part 1: The Fort

What remained of the fortress was covered with vines and grass.  The towers had crumbled years before, the debris embedding into the soft dirt.  The courtyard was populated almost exclusively by bushes and trees that had taken over the area.  Inside was pitch black, as the torches that once lined the halls now rotted in their sconces.  What little light poured through the windows revealed musty halls leading to rooms of rotting furniture and untouched items.  Peering through one of these windows, one could see the visage of a small creature.  One that has lived its entire, lonely existence within the confines of these empty halls. With no need to leave for food, it feeds off the growth that has consumed the walls. 

The sounds of its lonely squeaks echo throughout the fort as it searches desperately for any other of its kind.  Every day, they travel further and further around the fort to look for a companion.  But every day, all it can find are the bones of its kind or the rusted armor of those who lived here before.  On a particular day, as it began its daily search, the creature could hear a ringing throughout the halls.  The sound, much akin to the sound of a single strike of a glockenspiel, encouraged the creature to find its source somewhere within the fort’s walls. 

The sound of tiny paws hitting the stone floor could scarcely be heard over the sound of the ringing.  As the creature got closer, the sound grew louder and louder until it was deafening.  The sound led the creature to a large wooden door that it had never dared enter until now. It reeked of death and decay, but now its curiosity got the better of the critter. Finding a small crack within the rotting door, the creature wormed into the room.  

The room reeked of rot and disease, and the air was thick with moisture, causing the creature to feel as though it had stepped into a swamp. The room was lit by a pale, majestic blue light emanating from a fire on a podium center. Using that light, the creature could see that the room was mostly empty aside from a collapsed table with old, rotting paper on it and the still rotting corpse of a human clad in long robes with a pointed hat. Beside him was a long, twisted wooden staff with a crystal embedded at the top. His face had rotted to the point that any distinguishing features were gone. All that remained was a luscious grey beard and green, rotting flesh. The creature, ignoring the decaying body, realized that the ringing was coming from the fire. Its eyes shone with curiosity; it inched closer and closer to the blue flame. With each step the creature took, a feeling of dread and excitement coursed through its veins. Feelings that it had never felt until now. 

Part 2: Memories

The flame created no warmth for the creature, so it slowly put its nose against the burning torch to investigate it.  As soon as its nose touched the flame, the creature felt a shock through its small body and was shown a vivid scene.

Once again, the critter was in the room with the blue flame, but there was no fire. The creature was taller, and it could be seen that it had become a man. He was wearing long, flowing robes and could feel the light weight of a beard on his face. The creature recognized that the room was practically brand new; the wood of the furniture was still brown, and the stone around him had yet to crack.  In his hand was the twisted staff, and the crystal at the tip glowed with a magic aura. 

Another man entered the room, clad in iron armor without a helmet. He was a rugged-looking knight with stern features and short, cropped hair.  The creature felt its mouth move as it turned to look at the knight, 

“What have you brought for me today, Felix?” The knight reached into a pouch on his belt and brought a handful of mushrooms and herbs. 

“Just some small scraps that Glenda picked today. I know it isn’t much, but it should help get your project working, yes?” 

The creature laughed heartily before taking the offering, 

“Of course, Felix! It seems your little Glenda has an eye for gathering ingredients; she could be a talented alchemist in the future. Should you wish as much?” 

“Well, that depends on whether you can find a cure, Edric. Are you…any closer?”

The creature put the herbs on the desk and his hand on the knight's shoulder. 

“I promised you, Felix, that I would find a cure for Glenda’s ailment. I am growing closer by the day. I can feel it in my soul. I will save your daughter, but it will take longer. Just focus on being the same excellent father and noble knight you always are.”

The knight looked somewhat relieved at the creature’s words, but a hint of worry was still noticeable in his eyes. With a smile, the creature gently urged the knight out of the room and closed the door behind himself. 

“Come, grab a drink with me, and enjoy the day the gods have gifted us.”

The pair left the room for the day and spent the day drinking and being merry with the other knights in the town near the fort. It was a lively place with a jaunty feeling in the air. The people all wore smiles, and there seemed to be little to dampen their moods. The creature and the knight enjoyed themselves fully before returning to the fort. They went their separate ways once they entered the interior, the knight to the barracks and the creature to the wizard’s study. 

After returning, the creature grabbed his staff and made a strange motion. Within moments, a blue flame appeared on the podium at the center of the room.  The creature grabbed the herbs from the table, a strand of his hair, and a scrap of paper and threw them into the flame. It flickered as each ingredient was added before turning blood red.  The creature muttered a few words to the flame, “Warmth, hearth, orange.” 

The flame became blue again, and the creature became weary.  He sat on the floor next to his desk, unable to return to his room. There, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Part 3: After

After a while, the creature awoke again, but it was as small as before. He was back in the room, and the corpse was once again lifeless. The flame was gone, and the ringing was with it. Confused and alone again, the creature began to wail. For a moment, it had seen what it was like to be around others, around those it could call friends. But it was lonely once more, the last of anything. It desperately began searching the castle grounds for the herbs that the knight had brought. 

But as it searched and searched, but to no avail.  Whatever ingredients the knight’s daughter had found had gone missing long ago.  Unphased by this, the creature searched day and night for days on end until its final days approached. As it grew older and more weary, the creature could only go so much further and see very little. But as it was near death, it finally found what it had been searching for. The last of the herbs and mushrooms are found underneath the corpse.  The creature excitedly put the ingredients on the podium and tried to move the staff in the same way that the wizard had. It tried and tried to move it but to no avail. It was nearing death and was about to collapse before it managed to summon the last of its strength to move it. The flame reappeared and turned blood red. With what energy remained in its frail, tiny body, the creature touched the flame once more. 

But it saw nothing. Not the wizard, the knight, the town, or its people. Just darkness. It felt cold, colder than any night within the castle’s walls. The creature felt crushed; it had wasted its life searching for nothing. 

Then, without warning, the creature was bombarded with memories. Memories of everything that lived in the town, everything that had ever lived within the world. It saw the highest peaks in the mountains and the lowest depths of the seas.  It felt pain, sorrow, and anger while recognizing the world's joy, love, and wonder. In a fraction of a second, that creature lived every life that had ever been experienced in the world.  That warmth it had been chasing all its life was here; that companionship was finally in its grasp.

The creature closed its eyes for a moment before seeing nothing but darkness. But there was no cold, no loneliness. The creature was finally at peace.

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Is me :D

I haven't seen this version anywhere so I made one!

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Zoro proud dad

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*tiny mooing* 🐮🌻

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Fair warning: this post is in regards to the recent Assassin’s Creed: Shadows trailer. I will talk about my thoughts and feelings regarding race. Thank you.

I’ve been a massive fan of Assassin’s creed (AC) since I first saw my uncle playing it at 7 or 8 years old. I’m a massive history buff and the idea of being able to experience the past through the eyes of an ancestor is such a brilliant idea. Not mention the concept of a secret war being fought through out the centuries is always fun. But as of late, I haven’t been really excited for a new entry. Odyssey was the last game I really played and it was alright, but I’m personally not a huge fan of the new RPG mechanics (although I do understand why they were implemented).

Valhalla looked interesting, but didn’t really feel like an AC game to me. So I put it on my “to play later” list. Mirage looked far better and I definitely do want to play it, but I honestly just haven’t felt a super big pull to pick it up. But when I saw that AC was finally going to Japan, I was ecstatic. I adore Japanese history in general and the Sengoku period is full of interesting conflicts and characters that would fit perfectly with the assassin’s and the templars.

Although they went with some pretty standard people to showcase, such as Oda Nobunaga, I still think they have a chance to do something really interesting story wise (of course, reserve all real judgement for the gameplay reveal. But I’m mainly just talking about the story). Especially with the portrayal of Yasuke. From what I could tell, it seems like his story will be one of disillusionment, possibly betrayal, and redemption. Certainly a story we’ve seen before, but it’s still interesting to see Yasuke in something as big as AC.

Before I get into the more unfortunate discourse regarding Yasuke, I absolutely have to talk about Naoe. See, what caught my eye about her was how she and my OWN AC OC have very similar stories. Well, I don’t know for sure. But they certainly share a similar experience, which is watching their families be butchered by Oda Nobunaga’s armies. It’s not much, but by the gods does it make me pretty happy. My OC’s name is Minori Kishimoto and she’s one of my favorites, so seeing a canon character with some similar traits is kind of exciting for me (okay, very exciting).

Anyhow, back to Yasuke. As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I was going to see people saying something stupid. So I checked both the comments on the video and twitter. And I was certainly not mistaken. So so so many bad takes and ridiculous arguments that, honestly, only go to show either mild racism or straight up hatred toward African people. Not to mention the fact that they completely ignore Naoe as a protagonist. I guess she must be the greatest assassin of all time.

From what I understand, a lot of people are upset that for a Japan centered AC game, there is a black protagonist. Which, again, ignores Naoe entirely. The biggest argument I have heared against Yasuke being one of the protagonists is that he wasn’t actually a samurai. To which I say: False. Incorrect. Mistaken. Wrong. Factually incorrect.

The primary issue here is the fact that many people refer to him as a retainer. A title that he never officially held, as far as I’m aware, but even so that still makes him Samurai! Looking just at the facts of his life, he was respected by arguably the most powerful Daimyo of that time, earned his trust, received a pension, received a sword, and received property. So then the question becomes: what exactly makes a person a samurai at this time? Because I can tell you one thing, it isn’t noble blood.

A peasant man was once hired by Nobunaga to do a multitude of tasks, one of which was to hold his sandals. This man would soon prove himself to be capable of all of his tasks as well as in the art of war. He would become a powerful man and rise through the ranks until he held the rank of Taiko at the end of his life . That man was Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

If Hideyoshi’s story proves one thing, it’s that at this time anyone could rise to become a daimyo. So then, why wouldn’t Yasuke also be considered a samurai? We’re not even trying to claim he was a daimyo, just that he was a samurai. Retainer, bodyguard, slave, whatever. The fact is that the man was 10000% a samurai and was a respected one at that. To claim otherwise is to prove yourself ignorant in the history you claim to be proficient in, and incompetent at backing up your argument.

Not to mention that from a writing point of view, it’s a brilliant move. Yasuke was not super well recorded and thus is relatively unknown to others. Which makes him perfect for being a:

1. Fish out of water character

2. Real person, that can be treated written like a fictional one

All of this to say, I think that this newest Assassin’s Creed has a chance to become one of my personal favorites. As well as putting the series back on the map for many. But, with no gameplay and an already worrying pre-order package, I’m worried to say the least. Only time will tell, but I look forward to it.

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Gee, I thought these people were the ones who were like “If you don’t like it, you can just move to a blue state.”

And now they’re mad the guy is doing just that?

You can’t oppress and discriminate against someone then be mad when they take their highly useful skill elsewhere.

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the desire to pronounce words as they are said in their source language for the sake of accuracy vs the desire to not sound like a complete tool

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With the announcement that Rooster Teeth will be shutting down, I just want to rant about the series they made and the way they contributed to my childhood and life overall.

I actually know what first introduced me to Rooster Teeth, in fact I remember my first video I watched. It was back in 2012 or 2013, around the time I was first getting into Halo. My dad had downloaded a Halo fan app on the family iPad. It just so happened to also include a series of videos called “Fails of the Weak”, by Achievement Hunter. I still revisit that series every now and then just for nostalgia. But after I finished watching everything that they had come out with, I decided to look for more things from them. And that started my love for Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter.

I watched Let’s Play for a few years before I discovered Red Vs Blue which instantly became one of my favorites. Not long after, I discovered RWBY. And the latter became my absolute favorite show ever. Both shows brought me joy and even taught me some things about myself that I hold close to me.

RvB showed me so many flawed and stupid characters that worked together, willingly or not, to do something to better the world and galaxy around them. It made me yearn for a group of people in my life, which I’ve found since then. Something about the freelancer arc specifically connected with me. Maybe it was Carolina and her father, maybe it was Epislon’s search for identity, or maybe it everything mixed together. Regardless, the show did a lot to make me realize how much I wanted a community. And further, that to be a part of a good community, I need to be a better person.

RWBY did even more than that. It gave me my favorite character, yet another group of idiots, and easily one of my favorite storylines ever. RWBY helped me discover my identity, it brought me to tears numerous times, and so so so much more. The show holds a special place in my heart as one of my favorite pieces of art ever. The idea that it could possibly end without a proper ending makes me scared, nervous, and melancholic. Ruby Rose specifically became my comfort character and is honestly the kind of person that I want to be.

Aside from their IPs, I really do wish the best for the employees that will be losing their jobs with RT's shutdown. I hope that they can find another, more stable place to support themselves and/or their families. They've worked so hard all these years to bring different ideas and visons to life for the public and created so many wonderful things.

While RT has certainly had its ups and downs over the years, and certainly no stranger to controversy, I'm still deeply saddened by the announcement of their shutdown. I wish everyone at RT luck in finding new places to work and hope that their IPs receive the endings they deserve.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to rewatch RWBY for the 30th time. Or is the 40th?

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US state borders but they are based off rivers and mountains

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"what does international law mean for Palestinian children in Gaza today? It has protected neither them nor their parents. It has not protected their families or communities, it has not protected their lives or limbs, it has not protected their hopes or homes. We are a proud and resilient people that has endured more than its share of agony.

It is so painful to be Palestinian today. "

Today at the international court of justice hearing on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, held back tears as he appealed to the judges to uphold international law in the Palestinian territories and help secure a two-state solution 'in which the two-states live side by side in peace and security'.

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My helpol advice for all of us chronically ill witches & pagans is that you can ask for punishment of the doctor/nurse that hurt you, deny you, and make your life harder. Healthcare workers often swear oaths—from Hippocrates—which falls under the gods, particularly renege-avenging Helios. If a doctor/nurse is awful, and breaks their oath in caring for you, go to him with honey or any sort of offering and seek the retribution you deserve. Lord Helios does not permit oaths to be broken under his divine light.

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Athena in Peacetime💙

Not entirely happy with it, especially the wobbliness of some of the lines, but it's probably finished to the best of my ability right now, and it's close enough to what I was picturing that I'm pleased! 😊

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Dear fellow pagans:

Take your Greek mythology with a grain of salt.

The ancient Greek writers were horribly misogynistic, and they never missed an opportunity to make the Goddess or woman out to be evil or sneaky. Note anything by Hesiod alone. They even turned Gaia, the literal earth and mother of creation itself, into a cruel and rebellious bitch. Athena punished a rape victim and then aided her assailants for fun. Aphrodite was vain and selfish. The entire story of Persephone.

Hera. Just...Hera.

I'm not saying ignore the past, what I'm saying is if you want to work with these Goddesses, you don't have to stick to the ancient script created by men who hated them. You can, in fact, modernize and worship in how you connect personally. Religion should be about having fun.

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y'all ever be so frustrated that you don't live in Greece or you don't have access to an actual temple... like dude I just wanna go down the street and see a Hellenic temple.

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Stupid questions asked in the emergency light

inspo X

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3 year old vs 5 month old