#The stuff of my being is matter

[bygone]

Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness...

“Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. I do not choose to admit weakness. I accept the challenge of responsibility. Life, as it is, does not frighten me, since I have made my peace with the universe as I find it, and bow to its laws. The ever-sleepless sea in its bed, crying out “how long?” to Time; million-formed and never motionless flame; the contemplation of these two aspects alone, affords me sufficient food for ten spans of my expected lifetime. It seems to me that organized creeds are collections of words around a wish. I feel no need for such. However, I would not, by word or deed, attempt to deprive another of the consolation it affords. It is simply not for me. Somebody else may have my rapturous glance at the archangels. The springing of the yellow line of morning out of the misty deep of dawn, is glory enough for me. I know that nothing is destructible; things merely change forms. When the consciousness we know as life ceases, I know that I shall still be part and parcel of the world. I was a part before the sun rolled into shape and burst forth in the glory of change. I was, when the earth was hurled out from its fiery rim. I shall return with the earth to Father Sun, and still exist in substance when the sun has lost its fire, and disintegrated into infinity to perhaps become a part of the whirling rubble of space. Why fear? The stuff of my being is matter, ever changing, ever moving, but never lost; so what need of denominations and creeds to deny myself the comfort of all my fellow men? The wide belt of the universe has no need for finger-rings. I am one with the infinite and need no other assurance.” ― Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road

[trekkerac]

Wuh oh did they forget that Bill is a threat 👻💀All Frankenghost drawings💀👻

[buttercupshands]

small purefount comic bc I really liked the idea of drawing them

(totally didn't fill this one with codes)

[vaguely-concerned]

thinking about not only the specific people lucanis pulls in to represent the 'locks' in his psyche, but the storytelling that happens in the structure/order of them. the underlying ideas are presented something like:

the lucanis who went into the ossuary never came back out again; he died down there (the boy caterina raised is gone forever) -> you're putting yourself in danger doing this (by being close to me), you should leave because I can't bear it if you get hurt because of me -> it doesn't matter even if we do try this, it won't work anyway (again because of me) ('you know what he's like, you can open the door but he won't walk through it' :'( oofie doofie) -> what if the real secret is that there was never anything but the monster in here from the beginning. you should leave, there was never anything here worth saving in the first place. (implicitly: what if I deserved what happened, all along.)

it runs pretty cleanly from outward-oriented attachment anxiety ('caterina won't even want me back like this, she won't recognize me (the same way I no longer recognize myself)) and gradually deeper inwards until we reach self-image and self worth. or you know, the harrowing basic lack of it lol.

"careful -- they'll know we're not right," spite says in one of their first scenes... but clearly, some very deep part of lucanis has feared or suspected for much longer than that that there's something inherently not right at the core of him, way before any demon entered the picture. and the voice he gives those lines to is the person who should know him better than anyone in the world, who he has loved more than anyone in the world -- and who deliberately chose to hurt him so horrifically anyway. 'It's better if I'm just a monster and deserved what happened than it is to allow for the idea that the brother I love doesn't really exist and maybe never did'. it's better if he's fundamentally flawed in some way that needed fixing to help him survive, and that's why caterina chose to hurt him again and again -- out of love. (this one I think he might have a very sad wakeup call on one day if he ever ends up with the responsibility and care of a child of his own in some way and realizes just how alien the idea of ever intentionally hurting them for any reason is to him. oh buddy. also interesting that he keeps caterina as the outermost lock -- there IS a distance he keeps there that he hasn't with illario. he doesn't resent her 'anymore' he says, but he also keeps her carefully further away from his deepest self.)

as far as I could tell the only note in the mind prison that's fully hidden and needs to be uncovered is the sad painful helpless stupid little truth that even after all this, even knowing what happened... he still loves his brother. is there anything illario could ever do that would make lucanis completely stop loving him, do you think? sometimes the trouble with unconditional love is that it is, well. unconditional, even when some terms and conditions probably would have been in order haha.

that's the pattern you see there again and again; he would rather destroy and abandon and imprison himself at every turn than let go of love, even when it's just scraps, even when there's only ever enough of it to hurt him. it's only when rook shows up and as it were takes his hand and walks along with him that he can entertain the idea of changing the story of what walking out the door might mean in the end.

[screwpinecaprice]

Alternate timeline where she didn't meet Steven. I may be exaggerating lmao

Yapping under the cut because I'm waiting on a line rn

Okey, so. Entertaining the thought: An introverted feral kid and a girl who gets a sort of high off adrenaline; but was taught to be polite and proper. You know, all that perfect girl stuff. We would also consider how her empathy level is questionable, based on how she just casually suggested cutting off his arm when it got stuck. (Still not sure if immediately being excited seeing swords is just amazement or 'OOH How convenient!') So perhaps she would learn to understand empathy in a practical (not sure if that's the word I'm looking for) way rather than in an emotional way.

Thankfully she was coaxed out of her shell and she had outlet early on. Also, to have genuinely learned friendship power! 😊

But what if she never got that outlet. 🤔 I mean, she could have gotten out of her shell in a different way. But, like. Imagine if she had to bottle it up all these years. It could go south or she'll be able to manage it because it ain't as bad. Just fun to think about the former.

She would be like: This thing I'm reading is SO morbidly interesting! I wonder what it feels like in a personal level though? Could I do it? Could I do it better now that I have the knowledge of foresight? But what if I still mess up? I can't have a negative record! And the curiosity and the adrenaline just mixes up together. Lol

Haha I'm not really seriously headcanoning that is exactly what's gonna happen. I mean at least not to an intense extent. It's so fun to think about.

[alexander-norkat]

Spears! because people wanted to see my progress, tho the start only shows that i have no clue what I'm doing half of the time, I'm just balling

The whole thing took like an hour and a half but I stopped to play games midway so I have absolutely no idea on how long it actually took. Still experimenting tho

[scramratz]

I keep having weird dreams and intrusive thoughts about dying lately. Y’all think I’m gonna kick the bucket soon?

[luna-loveboop]

I find it funny that Wild, who has basically a couple years ish of full life experience, comes up with the most insane theories for everything

He assumed that the only other explanation to Four being able to split in Four was. That he was quadruplets who'd been hiding this whole time???

Also apparently he believed that his wolf companion Twilight in botw was a diety (and felt very uhh shocked upon finding out that he was not)

Malon made things worse, telling him about her aliens theory

What's even FUNNIER is that every time Wild expresses any sort of confusion at magic stuff that he's never seen before, everyone else in the chain acts like it's crazy for him to be weirded out by it

Honestly maybe Wild's the only one with his head on straight, rather than everyone else who are just like 'it's magic bro' like no he's right this is weird

I appreciate this because it's very considerate of the fact that he woke up with no memories not too long ago, so he doesn't have much experience to explain the stuff that's 'normal' for the chain. Plus the explanations he comes up with are funny.

:)

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Art and comic and adorable character by Jojo @linkeduniverse au :D

[your-unfriendlyghost]

my friend keeps joking that I should make a replica of Marko’s jacket in Lost Boys (cos the gang’s talking about visiting Santa Cruz this summer and she already dresses just like Star) and she better stop because I legitimately will do that atp

[arodykeism]

all you ever need is to be nice and friendly

[ruporas]

chapter 90 vash

[sengenism]

What's the moment you started shipping Sengen? Mine is definitely when Gen and Senku agreed they'll condemn their soul together to hell, it's small but it's the moment I started loving this ship.

I know there's the Gen asking for cola while injured scene but idk... They condemning their soul together to hell stirred something deep inside my heart...

- 🧅

the "senku ishigami and asagiri gen will be condemning themselves to an eternity of hell" scene is so insane i think about it all the time

funny thing about this scene is that the only other time they used such phrasing was in the light novel, where it narrates homura's loyalty to hyouga

Even then, Homura had no regrets. She had offered her very own future to the other prisoner, Hyouga. Even if the future was pitch black, if it was to fall to hell with him she did not mind in the least.

homura... who is in love with hyouga... hmm interesting

btw loved them ever since the observatory scene in the anime!! the anime, specifically, because i read the manga first. but only when the anime came out in 2019 did i realise how romantic the observatory scene actually was... like... it hit me that this was the most perfect gift one could present to senku then. how much thought gen put behind it all, to the point of manipulating senku into giving him a hint to calculate senku's birthday.

it's such a lovely scene and gen orchestrating the whole thing with the help of the villagers truly speaks volume for his love and care for senku. and i don't necessarily mean love in a romantic way– well, could be– but no matter the form of love the reader interprets this scene as, it's undeniable that gen genuinely loves senku for being senku. it is the purest kind of love, for he admits he likes senku regardless of the gain he gets from it.

and this scene is so so so so gen. there's manipulation, sure, but there is also kindness hidden behind it– that's the core of gen's personality. he is a good man who hides his kindness behind layers of manipulation. similarly, he manipulated chrome into picking the card that would allow chrome to ride the parachute first because he knew how baaaadly chrome wanted to.

and one of the best parts about the observatory scene? inagaki-sensei had revealed in a Q&A session that the saturn that senku saw through the telescope was merely his own mental imagery. with gen's limited science knowledge on making a telescope, the telescope made by him and the villagers wasn't advanced enough to see a planet. which means senku was so touched, he had lied about the telescope being good.

anyways, i've talked about how important gifts are to the ishigamis here and i'd like to point out that this makes the gift mean so much more to senku than a simple (maybe useless) telescope. thanks for coming to my ted talk~

[icewindandboringhorror]

Little bright colored outfit with a fun vest ~

(shoes from ebay like 10 years ago. everything else is thrifted)

[z0mbzii]

t girl apollo I love you 2 the ends of the earth ♡

(Click 4 quality as per routine)

[bakasara]

yay to the ol' ~let's run away together~ and a somber nod to the gritty realism of an open-secret relationship between hans and henry that will perennially leave jitka as the rejected wife-- but enough of that for a second. i've been to both clubs and i know all the songs!

the funniest and by far most compelling option for fanfic exploration TO ME is that jitka simply arrives with a personal handmaid who follows her everywhere. that's it.

she corrects everyone who calls her a servant to "my job is to tend to my Lady and ensure my Lady's safety", and always claims to be, idk, something like a poison expert and master embroider in the same breath -- but she never further elaborates, making anybody who'll deign to listen terrified to wonder just what exactly she is capable of doing.

naturally, Henry "Isterik Truther" of Skalitz is the first one to go 🤔 but it doesn't take long for all four of them to be squinting at each other two by two. they are all correct in their assumptions.

rosa loves visiting because she wouldn't miss the chance to be around other smart and willful women in a place where female independence of thought is valued. katherine is likely the wariest of the few in the know for a world of reasons but comes around as soon as she realizes this is two women who feel just as alienated as her in their own way.

and hans and jitka both agree to have a child for the sake of peace -- but then they realize they've gotten this far anyway, so... which is how the four of them band together with a selected few from henry and hans's ragtag team of people to fake a pregnancy in the longest-running and craziest con any of them's ever run. zizka does not dare compare it to the italian court heist because he fully believes this is crazier.

bozhena gets involved because someone trusted has to "deliver" the "baby", which is definitely not some child she relieved some other, slightly older child of (with her knowledge, so henry can get his beauty sleep at night).

at this point it's not even 'cause jitka and hans having to have a child would be that much of an imposition, it's just that this is far more in the realm of the kind of insane schemes all these people get into.

sam is really confused how he figures in all this at first but eventually he gets involved on priciple. "aww, 'cause of henry~!" yes sure but he also decides the whole thing is an incredibly funny way to stick it to a cruel world and he should do more of that in his free time.

i just know godwin has to run so much background interference he's coming out of it looking 10 years older. it is still most definitely the early 1400s and not everyone of the allies who end up knowing is necessary unfazed by the hansry of it all, even among those trusted enough for hans and henry to lower their guards, but godwin is officially the first one not to give a shit -- nor be especially surprised -- that hans and henry are now smooching.

i have 20/10 vision on this it's a whole thing

[luna-loveboop]

I want. Four to get appreciation. Because

Four gave a ton of unnoticed help when Twilight was injured

The fight with Wild was difficult, and I know we're all concerned about his negative view of the shadow crystal

But Four did something that no one else really thought of to help- He took care of Twi's stuff

From the beginning he told Twilight to not worry about them

So Four took care of pretty much everything but the others (that Sky and Wars handled)

He took care of Epona

Which is so very important- he took care of Twilight's horse. After her arrival at the stable Four followed up on her

And for Epona, a horse so attached to her human, having some company can help so much for reassurance

He took care of Twilight's stuff

He got Twi's shield- his bags and equipment, and organized it into one place

And he was worried. He obviously found the shadow crystal while handling Twi's stuff, but his negative reactions to it were out of concern.

Also- because of his placement in this scene

I'm fairly convinced Four was ready to start cooking before Wild showed up (since he's beside the counter with food supplies). At the very least he had the basket of fruit out for everyone -but he was literally standing with food behind him- he thought of everything

And he did housekeeping!

Wars payed for the inn, so Four took care of the inn

Realistically these boys were probably not too concerned with tidyness. Four got all of Twi's things on one table, and took care of the room they stayed in

Organizing tables and Twi's things, having food supplies ready, and opening the curtains- overall he was the one tidying up the inn

Four helped in a huge way! He took care of Twi's horse (Epona is so important), his equipment and shield and bag, as well as the other rooms in the inn

Four filled in all the little tasks that others didn't think of. He helped in ways that were needed, but not obvious

There's a lot of problems with the shadow crystal and with Wild, and I don't know what's gonna happen in the future

But don't forget this- don't forget that Four was one who stepped up in an almost unnoticeable way

Don't forget that when everyone was barely holding it together, Four visited Twilight's horse and took care of his things

No matter what develops in the future- this amount of care shown is important ya know?

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Art and comic from Jojo @linkeduniverse au :)))