#implicit demand for proof

[thechatsmeouch]

hear me out. implicit demand for proof by twenty one pilots edit for zuko

[the-hometown-boy]

ᶦ ᵃᵐ ᶜᵃˡˡᶦⁿᵍ ʸᵒᵘʳ ˡᶦᵍʰᵗᵉⁿᶦⁿᵍ

ᵈᵒʷⁿ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵈᵃʳᵏ ʰᶦᵈᶦⁿᵍ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉ

ᵍᵒ ᵃʰᵉᵃᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ˢʰᵒʷ ᵐᵉ

ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶠᵃᶜᵉ

[ethan-elliott]

STRIKE ME DOWN I AM CALLING YOUR LIGHTNING DOWN FROM YOUR DARK HIDING PLACE

[burning-thistle]

I can't believe it took me THIS long to realize Implicit Demand for Proof is about the Christian god.

[synthskeptic]

HI i thought i’d share another little clip on here since my song’s been out for a bit!!

sorry for the format LOL but i have my carrd in my bio and it has everything on there!! and so much information!!

[serinadun]

i can’t. like seriously i cannot right now

[akitchensinktome]

Implicit Demand for Proof

The first song of the self-titled album, twenty one pilots. It has a long intro before the song actually begins, and I think that it’s an intro to not only the song itself, but also to the first album, and to this band. The piano. The beginning of everything, how Tyler used to sing everything all out with just this piano. It kind of is like “a normal day in my mind”. Alone. Being weak. Melancholy. (I can imagine one sitting in front of a piano, playing notes mindlessly, without really knowing where this music goes. At least that’s what I do as well when I’m down. Sometimes I just play randomly on the piano, maybe hoping to at least let something out.)

But then in the song “I” started to shift the blame to “you”, which is generally acknowledged as God. “I” starts to feel anger building up inside, feeling that this is not right – and questioning why God still hasn’t shown up. God should be able to do anything. Yet during this battle against my demons, I don’t see His power. 

In the song, the persona asked God sarcastically to “go ahead and make [him] look away” and “show [him His] face”. These two demands might sound weird at first. Now, I imagine that the person is yelling at the sky. He asks God to make him look away from his Lord, and to show him God’s face. Both are almost like punishments to a sufferer, with the former essentially meaning “to lose faith”, and the latter being an actual cause of death (according to the Bible, “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)), as well as striking him down with lightning. When I question why God hasn’t shown up, shouldn’t I ask for Him to save me, instead of asking for a death sentence?

Well, to think about it, maybe that’s why it’s an “implicit” demand. It’s like asking to be killed, when in fact wanting to be saved. But at the same time, “I” probably thinks that he deserves to die, because he was doubting God. He was doubting God, teasing him, and moreover, telling God to do as he wished. Demanding God. Deciding what God should do for him. And that’s not a good attitude, as we are not the ones to tell what God should do. Thinking that these are all sins he has commited, “I” wishes to be destroyed. And this is where it’s left to the listener's interpretation. “Reign down, and destroy me”, or “Rain down, and destroy me”. Destroy me as a being, as “I” am guilty of so many things, or destroy me with water, and wash away the bad parts of me. Kill me, or save me by destroying my sinful thoughts. And I believe the latter is what the person truly wants/needs. That is the implicit part. While I plead to be destroyed and taken away from life, I actually just want God to destroy the dark thoughts in my head.

I do like how the music gets very quiet during the chorus. It’s as if Tyler is tired of searching for proof. And he just lets out five words. Just take me already. He knows that God is capable of saving him, forgiving him although he has left him so many times. This chorus is really him getting closer with God. It’s like those moments after having a fight with our best friends, when we decide that we don’t want to hurt our loved ones anymore. We might sit together with each other, calmly expressing our feelings, and at the end we get along again, because we’re important to each other, and we know that we don’t want this relationship to end.

After the second chorus, the music gets louder again, while Tyler is still pleading for God to destroy him. The crashes and cymbals to me sound like rain. I’d like to interpret it as God responding to his calls. Although Tyler is still having an emotional breakdown towards the end, now God is with him, and he knows that he can let it all out with God beside him. And then, the piano solo again. Peace, being stable, order. Just like how God created order out of chaos when He created the world. 

It is also interesting to note the weather-related terms in this song. Bad weather, to be exact. Raining, lightning, a dark hiding place (like how the sky gets dark during extreme weather). It’s possible that this is not the sky in reality, but the sky in the singer’s heart. For me, when my mood is so low, everything seems to be so gray. The world should be filled with colours, yet in my eyes I only see darkness. And I guess that’s how the persona sees the world as well. So dark, colourless, raining. And “I” don’t even wish for it to turn sunny anymore. Just rain down, and destroy me. But God answered with a slight twist – the rain doesn’t destroy, it calms. Just like how we’re able to sleep soundly in our bed while hearing the raindrops on the rooftop.

As a Christian myself, I do resonate a lot with the doubt and perplexity expressed in this song. I might keep asking for proof, but the truth is, the proof comes from my faith in God. Or, if you’re an atheist, the proof comes from your faith in your loved ones, be it your family, your friends, or people you trust. Believe that they’ll always be by your side, and at the end they’ll always show up with the exact right support you (might or might not know you) needed. |-/

[patch404]

The things i would do to have an instrumental version of implicit demand for proof available on Spotify. This could single-handedly save my soul and send me straight to god’s doorstep no fucking joke.

[bxsmxx]

i am be concerneding my way out of this one

[pilotstreets]

may this album be the album where they bring back long song titles that are never said in the song 🙏🙏

[emma-frxst]

Hey I just found TIDFP not too long ago and I honestly love it so much. When do you think Chapter 14 will be put up?

Hey!!! I’m so glad you like it!!! I’m working on it currently, but I’ve hit a snag and re wrote the chapter and broke it into 2 parts cause it was just getting too long and too much was happening in one chapter. So 14 will be up soon! I know I said 14 would be the last chapter but I think it’s going to end up being 15 chapters total!

Thanks for checking in❤️

[gouinisme]

i've started playing music i printed back in middle school cuz now that i'm not at the conservatoire i can do whatever i want. problem's back in middle school most of what i wanted to play was twenty one pilots.

really liked one of the pieces i found so i looked up the actual song. it's about god. that happened one more time and now i'm realising. i probably would've stopped believing in god way earlier if i fully undestood english back in my twenty one pilots phase

[prince-steele]

my new years wish is for everyone who likeys me and thinks I have good opinions to try 1 twenty øne piløts song of their choice and see if they like it

[nefastidies]

Inspired by "Implicit Demand for Proof" by imperialhuxness

-1-

“I need you on the ground,” Ren says instead, measured, but tight-strung as a grappling cable. Apparently sensing the retort on the tip of Hux’s tongue, he continues, “But I’m not taking you into the thick of combat.”

Hux thins his lips, keeps up the patient tone. “That’s where this team and I will be most effective.”

“At too high a risk.”

Since when do you care about risks? Hux barely bites back, instead manages, level, “Nothing we do is without risk.”

Ren’s gaze flashes with an insistence that isn’t anger. His eyes are like coals, waiting for a spark. “I’m not taking you into that firefight.”

Really.

Fucking really.

“So you won’t take me into a firefight,” Hux lowers his voice to a hiss, but it still reverbs under the high ceiling, “yet you dragged me ten klicks below the surface of Coruscant.”

“Well, maybe I--” Ren hesitates, gnawing his lips. His gaze drops to the mosaic tile between their boots, then flickers back to Hux’s face. “I shouldn’t have.”

Hux is too pissed off to bask in the near-admission of wrong. “Well, you can compensate by bringing me this time, when it makes actual, tactical sense.”

“You’re not going into a combat zone.”

“I was born and raised in a--”

Ren’s voice drops to a whisper. “That’s an order,” he says, invoking it almost gently, below earshot of the men.

Hux purses his lips, aware of his surroundings again. Of the absolute indecorum of this argument.

Around himself and Ren, three officers stare at their feet, four tap too aggressively at their datapads. The two trooper commanders confer in whispers about a new blaster model. Mitaka seems interested in the mosaic on the floor.

“Yes, sir,” Hux forces out, Academy pert, and the gathered staff returns more or less to professional attention.

--- -2-

Hux whirls toward the sound as a massive shape bursts through the treeline, scattering leaves. Some sort of megafauna. Some sort of monster.

The creature’s smooth skin glistens livid green, its underbelly sickly pale. Its mouth opens wide, baring short, sharp teeth like a Rodian fly-trap’s. It has six legs, each ending in a crustacean pincer, which stab the ground with each step. It reeks of rot and salt, as if it just crawled out of brackish water.

Hux’s pulse skyrockets, and he jumps back on adrenaline. Why do you ever leave the ship, every time you leave the ship it’s some shit like this, every goddamn time—

He yells to Ren that they should run, even as the creature screeches again, lunges toward them.

But Ren stays put. “You should run.”

And Hux would. He would, but he’s already several meters back, and the soles of his boots weigh a kiloton. He’s rooted to the ground. The blood pounds in his ears, and he can’t move, can’t think.

The thing screeches. It’s high-pitched. It rends the air. Its movements ruffle the foliage around it. Its pincers break the damp earth.

Ren steps in front of Hux. Into its path.

--- -3-

But Yago’s lips still twist into something unbearably self-satisfied. “General Armitage Hux,” he says, “was executed six months ago on a charge of high treason. So even if Hux were alive, it would be my sworn duty to have him shot in the back of the head.”

It hits like a blow. Phantom pain lances through his leg, between his ribs. Yago’s right. There’s no defense when he’s--

Before Hux can formulate one, Ren’s gaze kindles. “I’m Supreme Leader,” he returns, typical thoughtless clapback. “I hereby pardon him.”

(Typical thoughtless clapback.)

Everyone knows traitors receive no mercy.

--- -4-

A humanoid figure emerges from the shadows like he’s been waiting there. In two strides, he closes the distance to Hux and Ren. It’s clear he’s part alien, skin teal-tinged and marked with pale striations. His voice is somewhat rough with drink, but his movements are smooth, purposeful, eyes trained on Hux.

“Thought you could just slip out with your date?” he spits.

There are far bigger concerns than correcting the assumption.

“What?” Hux returns, elegantly.

“The bartender told me you were coming this way,” the man says, ill-concealed rage contorting his mouth. “Got a lot more nerve than I’d give you credit for, showing your face like this.”

Shit. Hux’s pulse picks up, and for a second the alley takes on the sharp edges of panic. You knew this would happen eventually, you knew -- Stop.

“I’m sorry,” he says, tamping down the worst case scenario, “what are you--” 

But it’s like he doesn’t even hear it. 

“Kind of man that’ll pull a trigger from a thousand lightyears away. Not even the guts to look at what you’d done.” The man’s eyes flash with the sort of hatred Hux actually recognizes. “My wife was on Courtsilius, General Hux .”

The man takes a step closer, and Hux is about to spread his hands and explain with a baffled simper that he’s got the wrong person. That the Hosnian ‘Cataclysm’ was an unspeakable tragedy and a monstrous war crime.

But before he can speak, sulfurous green ignites in his periphery. The air hums, cracks with the sudden whiff of ozone. The blade of the antique saber impales the man’s chest.

--- -5-

Ren shakes his head. “But I still need you,” he says, eyes glittering, desperate, searching. “What about weapons dev? And you can actually conduct diplomacy--”

Hux cracks a smile. “That’s going a bit far.”

Ren huffs a laugh, but doesn’t indulge him. “You balance me,” he continues. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I love you.”

Hux’s pulse drops into his stomach. His spine stiffens, more from surprise than actual discomfort. It isn’t a concept with which he’s familiar. But it’s right, somehow. As Ren’s eyes search his face, curious but unshrinking, he can’t deny it.