#first contract

[ddarker-dreams]

oh the first contract, i’m actually a pretty big fan!

while reading it in 2023 i was very fond of the mc, and wanted to try and draw some stuff for her. i never sent it i believe, but i still have this thing for her

i even wanted to draw for her a genshin-like model, created vision boards and everything

or was she the catalyst??? i remember trying to draw this version too

(i went ahead and included the art from your other ask as well!!!!)

SCREAMIN.................. both of these designs are gorgeous wtf??? i'm gonna go ahead and consider the first design canonical, you depicted the polearm exactly how i envisioned it!!! the seashells, pearl, golden color scheme 🥺 i am in awe!!!! the second is lovely as well, it feels like it could be closely tied to before morax took god darling away from yaoguang shoal. and you're correct that they use a polearm!! a catalyst would be interesting too though 👀

thank you so much for sharing 💖💖 that MC is very precious to me, so knowing others feel the same warms my heart!!!

[pastille13]

Eleni ☆★☆

contract demon/first contract

cr: NomnomNami

[rabbitcruiser]

Samuel Colt obtained his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government on January 6, 1847.

[the-girl-who-didnt-make-anysense]

"No one from House Dellamorte kneels" -Dragon Age: The Veilguard

[mrsthunderkin]

While we're in a sharing mood~♡

[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.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I feel that often, people really disregard bivalves (and other sessile animals absolutely) as just a little more than background objects, somewhere between a plant and a rock, when they’re fellow animals just like us. I mean I get it, a mussel siphoning in water all day is less engaging than like a songbird darting about the woods or a sheep that walks around and that you can pet. But they really aren’t at all just machines!

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting adult freshwater pearl mussels, who were being showcased to raise awareness about their endangerment and ecosystem services. They had a few mussels in these small tanks to show how quickly they can clean the water — I’m sure you’ve seen the setup, there’s one really cloudy tank and a clear tank that used to be cloudy a few hours ago, but is now clear thanks to the filtering made by the mussels! One of the tanks had a strange sight in it: two still mussels and one… flailing one. Its light leg was fully out and waving about, and its shell was sort of lodged in the corner, upside down. When my friends and I asked what the matter with the mussel was, it had apparently been unsatisfied with its place in the sand that the scientists had put it in, and while trying to figure out a nicer position it had accidentally flipped itself over! Poor guy couldn’t quite get out from the corner for a while ToT

[buckme]

so like i KNOW this show is technically a drama and whatever but if they let me write it i would make season 9 the most farcical shit ever re: buddie getting together. buck being a poor little meow meow on maddie and chimneys couch because he’s so in love with eddie but he can’t ask him out because eddie’s straight and a renter and whatever

meanwhile eddie (and chris) have been cooking up these big huge immediate marriage proposals that keep getting destroyed phineas and ferb style right before buck sees them

[f0point5]

[nanihirunkits]

The Heart Killers - “He hired me to flirt with a killer.”

[nomnomnamiart]

icons for my site

[ddarker-dreams]

I was going through your first contract hashtag and I was wondering what would happen to God Darling if they were to break their contract between them and Zhongli?

😰...

well. certainly nothing good will come of it.

zhongli's modus operandi centers around upholding contracts more so than 'fairness.' fairness is subjective, breaching the black and white terms of a contract agreed upon by both parties is not. at least from his perspective. still, he isn't heartless, even if he's given his heart to god darling. possessing such an object is a heavy burden. fracturing beneath its weight feels inevitable. if not today, then tomorrow, or the day after that.

however! zhongli considers himself reasonable. he laid everything out plainly, without using deceptive language or any other underhanded techniques. he could've, because having his beloved quite literally chained to his side is a tantalizing idea, but the archaic lord does value his spouse's well-being. he made concessions where he didn't have to. this was back when he wasn't renowned for his benevolence either. in his earlier days, yanwang dijun possessed far more sharp edges that have been sanded down by the time he adopted the alias zhongli.

owing to this, he'd feel profoundly hurt. it wouldn't show on his face or conduct. there'd just be this somber aura as he informs his spouse that they've breached the terms of their contract, and in doing so, incurred a predetermined punishment. this would be depriving them of the outside world — and its inhabitants — that they love so dearly. zhongli would create a domain where only he can come and go as he pleases. they wouldn't want for anything or be in squalid conditions. regardless, a cage is a cage, no matter how pretty it's decorated.

how long they have to remain in there depends on a few factors, such as how long they left liyue for, if they returned of their own volition or had to be dragged back, etc. one century is the sentence they're most likely to receive.

the sands of liyue's shores feel hard and cold in their absence.

[clumsypuppy]

silhouette

[rabbitcruiser]

Samuel Colt obtained his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government on January 6, 1847.

[sabh0]

Read right to left!

.

For the non-polish folks:

This completely random thing is an insane polish pick-up line, where you throw a chestnut at the person you like and then ask them if it's theirs (dw, i also have no idea how this came into being) (that's literally it) (there's no pun to it, no smart word play) (just. a chestnut.)

[scuderiaspringsteen]

circular narratives, passing the gauntlet, and boy kings // inspired by @mnyd 's tags on @drivestraight 's post