#small lessons

[blue-kyber]

Yune explaining the concept of a scapegoat to Will.

“A scapegoat.” A bitter taste formed in Yune’s mouth.

“What do goats have to do with this?” Will wondered.

He rested his arm on the kid’s head. Will might have a broad vocabulary, but there were still a ton of words he didn't understand. After all, he'd been brainwashed, and he was still ten even if he vehemently denied it. “It means picking someone or something to punish in place of the actual reason, even if the one they choose has nothing to do with it, did nothing to deserve it, and did nothing wrong.”

“That's garbage. Why?”

“A physical thing is easier to attack than a concept, idea, or force. People need something tangible to focus their aggression on. It gives them the illusion of power that they can do something about it, when they’re actually powerless. Or they’re afraid of something they don’t understand and don't have control over and they feel threatened by it. They believe getting rid of the scapegoat will get rid of the problem. They’ll also use it to shift blame to someone else so they won’t have to suffer the consequences of their actions. They'll lie to make other people believe them. Blaming someone else makes the blamer feel justified in beating them up. Politicians are masters at this.”

Will scrunched his nose up in disgust. What a horrible, evil, unfair thing to do to someone.

“Yeah, I hear ya.” Yune agreed with the kids' sentiment.

Will didn’t shove his arm away. Having that pressure and touch helped support him in absorbing all this information without feeling like he was processing it alone.

Tag list: @muddshadow @cedar-west @athenixrose @penspiration-writing @runningoutofbooks @tobiornottobithatisthequestion @roll-top-writing @subject-2-change @dreaming-in-seams @mismatchingart @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @thewriteflame @writingventriloquist @ren-c-leyn @asher-orion-writes @aninkwellofnectar @winterandwords @raevenlywrites @nanashi23 @athenaannarose @the-tired-writer @space-cadead@cljordan-imperium

[melverie]

Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE how ever since they all found out that MC is human and was brought here against their will, it was Lucifer who kept insisting that they shouldn't be the ones to trap MC in the Devildom. That whether they want to stay or not is a decision MC has to make themself and that the brothers should support them no matter what they end up choosing

And now that the moment is finally here, now that MC has confirmed that they indeed plan on heading home, and now that all of his brothers agreed on helping them get back, having forged a pact and lending their powers to do so—

Now that he knows that he's the final piece needed to send them back; that the lingering idea of the yet to be forged pact between them is what's stopping MC from potentially leaving their side for good, leaving his side for good—

Now that they have finally gotten to this point, he realizes something. And he's unable to live with it

And so, he goes back on his word.

He's taking that choice from them.

"I don't want to."

Lucifer's pride is what keeps his voice leveled and neutral, as if it were just another day. As if he everything was completely fine. As if he didn't feel this pain in his heart, almost as if someone had rammed a dagger through his chest over and over and over again

To most people, he'd appear to be in perfect control of his emotions—if only his gaze wouldn't completely obliterated that frail façade of his. The way his beautiful dark eyes shimmering with a hint of blood red silently plead, beg MC to stay...

Internally, he is breaking apart because he knows what he is doing isn't right. He knows that he shouldn't trap them like a bird in a cage, and yet he can't help himself. Not in this situation. Not when it comes to MC

'No'

He—Lucifer, Avatar of Pride himself—is the last thing trapping the very person that finally made him realize what his sister had meant forever ago

'I won't let you go'

How one day, someone would stumble their way into his life, and how he'd love them so wholeheartedly and so deeply that everything else would become trivial as long as he'd get to hold them in his arms

'I can't let you go'

Someone that he'd happily throw away everything for, not even considering any alternatives if only for the shred of a chance at just one last tomorrow with them

'Please stay with us. Please stay with me'

Everything.

'I cannot lose you, MC'

Even if they'll never forgive him for it.

"I'm not going to forge a pact with MC."

[zu-is-here]

easy prey | hidden & leviathan

LeviathanTale by skumhuu

Error by loverofpiggies

Ink by comyet

[commander-goo]

[guhit]

ep 4 magprotocol: a summary

[selfhealingmoments]

[primal-con]

Here’s how Earthspark Jazzwave can still win!! Aka I haven’t been able to stop thinking about girl Jazz in ES since @fanficmaniatic’s post about her and now I’ve got brainrot for she/her bisexual Jazz and he/him lesbian Soundwave (is delusional) :’//

[winteroceangalaxies]

Look, say what you will about kids books being silly or whatever, but genuinely one of the most important lessons I’ve learned and used in academics is the concept of “use the test to take the test” from The Mysterious Benedict Society.

There’s a scene in the beginning of that book with an intentionally wildly difficult test for the kids, but the trick of the test is that the answers are “hidden” in different questions (the answer for one question is in the introduction/description of another question).

Now, I haven’t had any trick tests like that, but the principle absolutely works in normal tests. Every single time I am not sure of an answer, I go through the rest of the test to see if there are any other questions that hold hints that I can (at least try to) logic out the answer to the initial question. This is why I always double-check my answers.

I am in university and I am pretty sure that extra time to compare information between questions just saved me a couple of points. It sure has countless times in the past.

Thank you reading! thank you lessons from kid’s books! thank you Mysterious Benedict Society!

[monstermonger]

Hello! Will your piece with the dragon painted on the side of the mountain be available as a print at some point? I would love to get that one :D (It's from the series you did of interpretation of Friedritchs work)

This one? :)

I went ahead and added it :D thank you so much!!!

[roomy-ghosted]

My feelings towards ao3 this morning.

[isalabells]

I don't care what people think of me. I know what I did in the past, and why I did it. And I know why I'm doing this now. That's all that matters.

[sweeteastart]

Pitch Sketch dump ⌛

[w0rds-unspoken]

Send them that text when you think of them. Show them that you care. Don’t leave it for another day… because one day it will be a day too late.

[asimpletable]

Based on the the dev's post stating that Kuras 'doesn't need to eat and pretends to eat food' in the Touchstarved Fan Discord we started questioning if Kuras can even eat food or if he doesn't like eating and then it escalated into this and I thought it would be a good idea to draw it for Kuras's birthday:

Then we ended up theorizing how Kuras's physiology worked cause he's not human. And we debated if he even has a skeleton and as you can see below:

Was racing the clock to get this posted, but I made it!

Happy Birthday Kuras!

These chaotic scenarios are brought to you by the Touchstarved Fan Discord: https://discord.gg/9hZ4rjjvGQ

Feel free to join in on the fun! :)

[whatimdoing-here]

"But when she opened it, her heart nearly stopped. Inside was a small blue box. And inside that's the biggest small diamond she'd ever seen."

Lessons in Chemistry | 1.03, pg. 103

[ryan-sometimes]

Not to flex but I just found out that the inventor of the Brazilian Happy Birthday song was not only from Pindamonhangaba, the niche rural Brazilian town I’m from, but that my family KNEW HER!!!

The happy birthday song was originally in English. It started getting popular in other countries, and when it reached Brazil, most people either tried singing the English or made their own Portuguese versions at home. There was no widespread Brazilian version of the happy birthday song.

So there was a radio contest in 1942. People all sent in their own Portuguese versions of the song and the song that won would become the official happy birthday song in Brazil. The contest was won by a lady called Bertha Celeste in… *drumroll* Pindamonhangaba, which is in the outskirts of São Paulo state.. and where I’m from! Pindamonhangaba is a town so niche that most Brazilians haven’t heard of it and even fewer know where it is. It’s a town so boring it’s often described by saying it’s close to the more interesting surrounding towns.

Because Pindamonhangaba was such a small town (back then especially), I immediately knew that our families were somehow entwined. I texted our groupchat like “hey y’all, anyone know anything about a lady called Bertha Celeste from our town” and then proceeded to get an entire biography and town lore about the Celeste family from my grandma