#Mirage in the mirror

[animalb0y]

Stevie Nicks, 1981.

[jichulichu]

another fanart dump

[gaoau]

Mirror Mirage

Dive, sink, drown back in time.

pairing — Lu Guang x gn!reader word count — 1.6k

Sand slipping through the minimal space between the fingers; bricks replacing the marrow of the bones; madness and sanity, coherence and nonsense. People exist chained to numbers going in circles endlessly, round and round and round. Those who obey the passage of time, and those who rebel against its confinements. Citizens and criminals—or rather, regulars and murderers. Time is a fleeting permanence.

Rules are created to keep order, balance, peace, life. To disrupt them, ignore them, forget them means to end harmony and wreck existence. Do not change events in the past, for it shall destroy the present. Simple, incomprehensible; either way, the most important rule of life. Allow things to flow however nature properly dictates it, intervene as little as possible or not at all.

Time is incredibly fragile, yet so unbelievably sturdy. In study halls and waiting rooms, it becomes thick, hefty; it is present, it takes the lead, time keeps everything and everyone grounded in a locked box. Lu Guang witnesses first-hand the way it weighs on [Name]. They're paying close attention to their teacher as she rambles on and on and on. He isn't, he's watching them.

The sands of time seem to blow against their eyes, blinding them with haze and tiredness. The seconds carve themselves onto their skin, filling in the gestures when they struggle to understand. Their gaze flickers briefly towards him; a mere moment, yet so lengthy. Lu Guang sees it all.

He's one to follow the rules presented by the universe—he knows of their existence, he knows of their purpose, he knows not to break them. He reminds Xiaoshi to not disrupt them with stupid impulses in his emotions. He is careful and responsible as he holds delicate life between his fingers.

Unlike him, time is a responsibility [Name] doesn't assume—he figures that's why it hits them a billion times harder.

Rarely, however not impossibly, there exist places where time thins out into nothing but an insignificant strand of hair. Anywhere from empty parking lots to 24-hour convenience stores. [Name] takes advantage of these cracks, these openings, these flickering phenomenons where the past overlaps with the present. They slip right into them to destroy all they know as it is today.

They're one to dance around the rules imposed on them—they know of their existence, they care not about their purpose, they ignore their importance. It's fun, it's thrilling, and it puts food on their plate every time another clock shatters. They choose who to ruin while remaining unharmed as they cut the cord for others.

Lu Guang catches sight of their sparkling gaze and radiant complexion in the night. When there are too many stars to keep track of, time holds the least amount of power. It doesn't hit [Name] at all.

He glares as they leap back and forth between the now and the yesterday. One second they're gone for an entire two weeks and a half, the next hour they return within five days of a minute. Every time, they greet Lu Guang with a childlike grin.

"You shouldn't play with time so carelessly," he advises. It falls on deaf ears, for they're gone to December of a decade ago.

They reappear to his left, behind a pillar in an abandoned construction site. They hand him a souvenir—discontinued in this day and age. He frowns. Before he can reinforce his scolding, [Name] retorts, "Who says I'm playing?" A chuckle sounds as it flutters towards the moon. "Sports are a game, but still a job."

On the news, reports of happy lives turning upside down in an instant, overnight, without sense flood the channels. Lu Guang downs his coffee as he considers calculating the impossible, reaching results of two plus two summing up to a billion and five. Successful men reduced to bankruptcy, powerful women thrown off their throne, people left and right losing a realized existence to an inexplicable car crash. Events that shouldn't happen, but they do.

Disrupting the past means obliterating the present. Most commonly known as the butterfly effect: a mere ant changing its course may bring empires to their doom. He wonders if [Name] knows what they're doing—of course they do, and that is why they continue to do it.

When they meet him for coffee—hours after class but before they can slip into the past through a malfunction in the frame—Lu Guang doesn't want to believe they are the cause of all these misfortunes. Time breaks where it's forcefully torn apart. "So this is your job?" he begins, stare deadpan and inexpressive. [Name] freezes at his sharp words stabbing through their chest and crushing their lungs. Lu Guang continues in a flat sentence, "Messing up the pa—No. Destroying the present is your job?"

They force out a bitter chuckle. They pretend to not be burning up inside and outside. Their reflection in their drink distorts itself with the quivering of their hand. "It's more than that; it's worse than that."

Lu Guang leans into the table to try and find their gaze. They refuse to meet him as they turn their head away from him. "What do you do, [Name]?" he speaks between a sigh and dreadful firmness. He emphasizes his syllables too much for comfort.

With their cup pressed against their lips, [Name] manages an excuse in the shape of a mumble, "I play God." Lu Guang scrutinizes their rotten words through narrowed eyes. "I'm the ant that destroys empires." They finish their coffee before he decides to give up on glaring into their soul. He doesn't understand what they mean and they aren't willing to admit their criminal deeds. The issue is dropped by the time they flee for summer of half a century ago.

Time breaks where it's forcefully torn apart. Time requires constant stimulation in the proper places to continue its cycle of opening up and overlapping wherever chance dictates it. [Name] slips through a gap they find by coincidence or by fate, then they slice the same gap wide open once more to ensure their return to their present. If the space sews itself back up, the stitches shall forever remain closed. Although [Name] can't confirm any of their hypotheses, they aren't willing to test them out. As long as they can set off the events that shall satisfy their clients and later find their place where they rightfully belong, all is fine.

An ant may turn left to allow an empire to thrive. It may also turn right to bring it to its knees. It may as well march forward to let it exist in mediocrity. Whichever path the ant may choose, they can all be overwritten if so it's desired. [Name] plays with the cause and effect of events already set in stone; they carve new engravings on pieces of brick to replace what has already been decided. Dangerous gambles produce disastrous outcomes.

Time is thin in bathrooms in the middle of the night. Lu Guang flicks the light on at something past three in the morning. There's a haze of thick tiredness hanging over his eyes, but he cannot get a wink of sleep no matter how hard he tries. He splashes water over his face to give his mind a chance to find clarity somewhere in a refreshment. When he stares at the mirror above the sink, he's wide awake with energy of alert spiking his every nerve. Eyes closed, breaths even, basking in the sleep that has long escaped his grasp, his reflection slumbers peacefully in [Name]'s arms. He shoots a fleeting glance behind his shoulder to make sure they haven't broken into his place. He turns back to his dormant reflection and can't distinguish whether the droplets trailing down his face are the water from earlier or a nervous sweat.

He glares into their downcast eyes. The smile they wear blurs the line between painful and comforting. Their hands settle on his shoulders and Lu Guang can almost feel their touch through the reversed image the mirror offers back. His reflection is safe in their hold and [Name] is there, but not with him on this side—on the right side.

"If anything," they begin unprompted, "I did it because of you."

Lu Guang frowns on defensive instinct. "I didn't ask you to do anything."

They chuckle. It sounds so distorted, travelling through solid time and space and not through the air like it's supposed to. "I know, but I couldn't help myself. I can't imagine a present without you again." Their choice of words tears him apart.

"Do you think I can imagine one without you?"

"You won't have to put in that effort. You'll just have to get used to it."

Lu Guang falls silent. Sorrow shall morph into indifference overtime. At the same time a scar fades, the body grows closer to death. Time heals all wounds but it also makes it so no more wounds may happen. What a cursed thing the tick-tock of the numbers truly is.

Ever-so-softly, they speak up again with a trembling tone, "You always look so tired." The touch of their thumbs ghosts underneath the closed eyes of his reflection. He thinks he can feel their warmth breaking up through his skin. "Get some rest, yeah?" He closes his own eyes, knowing the most he can do is nod along with their demands.

By the time he dares open them up again, all that's left of [Name] is a whisper of their words in the form of resilience. His reflection blinks back at him. He decides not to find them.

—あごす (agosu) • 2021

[rozecrest]

corrective poem intro palisade soon i’m manifesting that right now

[daily-spanish-word]

to look at, to watch mirar

Think of looking into the mirror, the only way to look at yourself.

Most things you see are also really there, excepts for mirages.

The cat is watching the fish. El gato está mirando el pez.

Picture by Chase Elliott Clark on Flickr

[machifuwa]

【MIRAGE】 World's Most Beautiful Mirror

Description:

2wink receives a offer to appear on Volcano Island once more. But when the brothers are requested to appear together, Yuuta comes up with a certain little "prank." ✱

Written by:

Akira (日日日)

Episodes:

EP1 - EP2 - EP3 - EP4 - EP5 - EP6 - EP7

Epilogues:

Epilogue 1 - Epilogue 2 - Epilogue 3

Characters:

Yuuta Aoi, Shinobu Sengoku, Hinata Aoi & Koga Oogami

TL Masterlists:

ensemble stars | carrd/overall | project sekai

[uniquezombiedestiny]

actually fuck it. i need to ramble more

thinks about the snow queen and bella. ive recently delved into her story and some of the of fairytale (dubious from some webbed site but. yknow lmao) and wound up with lots of think of... based on her ruina dialogue + appearance, the queen like to challenge the brave. in the fairytale, kai and gerda's childike hearts are still there at the end. bella is someone with a kind heart and not much bravery. (really, she polarizes, but her bravery is more around the alternate alone. she can be brave!! but usually and - especially as she declines - she loses that aspect, likely trading it for simple anger, red-shoes-y desire, etc.) she was also forced to grow up - she is still that lonely kid she was years ago. she is still in t-589, still in c-127. she has a lot to learn, still, and to discover.

the snow queen is.. an interesting figure to me when it comes to her relationship with bella. she is cold, silent, only watching bella as she simply speaks into basically nothingness. she may, sometimes, give her a cruel smile. what a childlike, brave little soul; one who chose to bear the cold. one who enjoys her presence.

"kai saw things he didn't need or want to see." / "he felt like what he knew amounted to so little."

to bella, the queen is a respite. friendcorp has shown her so many new things, good and bad. on the bad side, her mental issues have been unraveling. her unhealthy mindset isn't going to work indefinitely like it used to. but, with the snow queen, it's familiar. it's not even that cold anymore, you know? she's long been used to cold, quiet, endless hallways. talking into the silence - like her words are simply carried away by the wind - is a relief, because noone can hear them. for once, she can speak, and there will be no consequences. and if the queen does hear, well, that's alright. she trusts her, now.

the cold isn't so bitter anymore. it's homely. familiar. it's lively, biting into her skin, sending shivers down her spine. she feels real.

and, ofc, i'll talk about her suicide attempt too. especially her own views on it... eventually, it becomes like a knightly duty to her. she must do this to save everyone else - surely, we'll all be happier this way. yes, you'll have to face this loss. but beyond it is a better ending for everyone here. this is the most logical choice... isn't it?

the snow queen gave kai a kiss - one to no longer feel the cold, and one to forget everything. his family, friends, etc etc. that way, he would stay with the snow queen. she would show him the truth of the world - the shattered mirror shards, his knowledge being so little, the mirror of reason.

"what a shame... all your friends who could help you are gone." really, it's like she pities bella and her kind, lonely heart. she pitites most people, i think, like when she laughed at lee during their duel, or gave merry a sickening smile shortly before being frozen. where her heart should be is empty - she is a cold and calculating being.

in ruina, the mirror is surrounded with frozen people, with the throne being the head of the circle. really, both her and bella have done this time and time again. bella has endured loss after loss, leaving entire worlds behind. the snow queen has killed person after person, snuffing flame after flame. her suicidd isn't much different. it's just, this time. it's a calm, slow end. bella puts up no fight or front of bravery, now. she just wants to return to her dreams of a better world. the queen will gladly show her this, in a place made only for themselves, where bella can finally be completely and utterly herself, in all it's flaws, without consequence. with all of her emotions overtaken by freezing cold, she can finally smile.

and she'll be preserved as an angel. she'll look beautiful, perfect, in this ice, like a bug in amber. she will always be the perfect kid.

also, in the og story, the shattered mirror wound up being made into things like glasses and windows. that fits well with bella's glasses. when kai's eye gets a tiny, tiny shard in it, he sees everything as distorted and ugly. but he sees perfection in snowflakes. the snow queen is made of them, the queen to the "snow bees" that are snowflakes. (they're actually described as snow bees in the story!)

[paradoxsoar]

@she_is_lie

[master-hekates-ceremonials]

The Street Thief

[dougielombax]

*ominous distant ocean wave noises and pulsating sounds*

*mirrors lie twice*

I don’t know what to do and I’m always in the dark…

[thewildbelladonna]

For @menace2-sobriety: Stevie with books and/or reading.

There aren’t very many pics of her with books, so I included magazines, sheet music, lyrics, etc.

[jichulichu]

superkrill

[magicalrobodokiofficial]

Roxanne Mirage core

[soldier-poet-king]

Halfway thru gkcs st Francis book and like. Extremely mixed feelings. Chestertons whole ch 2 historical set up is BIZZARE, I feel like I'm forever cursed to chafe against ahistorical mirages, and yeah maybe he's simplifying for rhetorical effect, but it's not very effective rhetorically and it's just. Bad???? But the actual chapters on my #1 main saint and name sake and tbh just life model???? Are so good???? Chesterton is one of the few ppl I'd trust, tbh, to get Francesco right, to balance the acesticism and joy without falling into Gnosticism 2.0 self flagellation or secular humanism that Misses the Point. Gkc is right when he says you can only understand Francis as a man madly in love. That he is a man broken and humiliated by God to be built up into smthn that takes joy in the absurd miraculous gift of the everyday. Chestertons one of the only ppl I'd trust with that. But his historical framing is just so BIZZARE and also???? Wrong?????

I shouldn't be this up in arms about it but I'm also extremely possessive of Francesco. He's MINE. He's so Personal! My namesake. I hated him so passionately as a child. So violently and aggressively. And it turned into being broken in turn. And a complete 360 flip. A flip, 1x1, where nothing has changed but an undeniable process has occurred. It is about being wildly in love and in hope and not out of ignorance but out of a stubbornness. A grasping with both hands the absurd awe-ful nature of creation. It's about joy deliberately sought.

A Troubadour and a Fool and my whole entire heart and I'm supposed to be calming myself down and doing my practical responsible job (and also taking care of my very uh. health rn.) but instead! I am singing

[gayemeralds]

mikey: i was thinking about making a comic series :)

splinter, who is trying so hard to encourage mikey for who he is after constantly trying to push him into being someone he isn’t: oh what’s it about

mikey: it was gonna be about all of our experiences, kind of like a biography! except im gonna change a few things- no one likes the same story twice after all

splinter: what are you going to call it?

mikey: teenage mutant ninja turtles!

splinter:

splinter, who fucking hates that name but does not want to discourage mikey because the bridge they built between each other is made of cracking glass:

splinter:

raph: that name fucking sucks man

splinter: thank god

[narashikari]

People: You need two people for a duet

Wataru Hyuga: BET

(Aka: MIRAGE MIRROR IS SO GOOOOOOD)