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#capital rotunda
master-gatherer · 9 months
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Also forget those who learn history are doomed to repeat it, some of y'all can't even remember what happened two years ago 🤨
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reality-detective · 10 months
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Capitol Police Stopped Children’s Choir From Singing National Anthem In Rotunda: ‘It Might Offend Someone’ 👇
Article: 👇
This is where we're not allowed to sing and be proud of our country in our own national capital building? 🤔
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phoenixyfriend · 1 year
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the senator of serrenno leia AU?
send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it
This ask meme is from over a year ago. Please don't send new prompts.
Anon is referring to Leia Antilles, Senator of Serenno.
Conspiracy theories run rampant about why Leia keeps interacting so much with the Junior Senator for Alderaan.
Leia runs into new padawan Anakin at one point (he is digging into a cleaning droid while Obi-Wan is off doing Things in the Senate and has not yet been able to excuse himself to FIND HIS KID) and very awkwardly entertains him for an hour or two, mostly by giving him a political lecture after he mentions Padme (whom he adores and whom Leia is aware of due to Bail in the future-past) and a questionable political opinion (Hutt stuff overlaid on a Republic setting) in quick succession.
Obi-Wan ends up losing his padawan to the Serenno senatorial offices at least once a month when he's got politics duties.
Leia finds herself with the political capital (Serreno is incredibly rich and Dooku has swayed a lot of planetary leaders to his faction, which means a lot of those planetary leaders are pressuring their Senators to side with Leia on Coruscant), and that means that if Leia starts loudly and aggressively making speeches against corporate interests in the rotunda, she gets a lot more mileage out of it than she had in the Imperial Senate thirty years into the future.
Dooku barely manages to talk Leia into learning how to lightsaber. She then, entirely by accident, finds Ventress and hands her to Dooku like "here, have a traumatized girl my age to teach that actually WANTS to sword and needs a lot of help to be Less Angry, stop trying to Jedi Master at me."
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saywhat-politics · 1 month
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          WASHINGTON – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced today on a felony charge related to his conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
           Cameron Edward Hess, 27, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to nine months in prison and 36 months of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Hess pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder on Oct. 6, 2023.
           According to court documents, Hess traveled from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., and was identified in closed-circuit television (CCTV) and open-source video illegally entering the U.S. Capitol building via the East Rotunda Doors at approximately 3:24 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.
           Court documents say that Hess pushed his way inside while police officers were attempting to direct the rioters out of the doors. At about 3:25 p.m., Hess pushed further into the Capitol building, separated by just a few rioters from the line of police officers trying to clear the building of the mob.
           At about 3:30 p.m., officers regained control of the doorway, and Hess was pushed out the East Rotunda Doors. Hess then approached the officers from the outside and, in an attempt to breach the Capitol again, pushed a law enforcement officer attempting to close the doors. The officer instructed Hess to “stop” multiple times, but Hess physically engaged the officer with his right arm while holding the door open with his left. After this confrontation, the police successfully closed the East Rotunda Doors, but Hess remained outside the doors for at least ten more minutes.
           Court records say that on January 6, Hess sent text messages saying, in part, “people storming the Capitol” and that he was “in the thick of it. Got pepper sprayed and teargassed.” That evening, Hess bragged about his assault on police in a message, writing, “I was brawling at the door.” Several days later, Hess sent another message saying, “Don’t tell anyone I was there.”
           The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted this case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania provided valuable assistance.
           The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office’s Capital Area Resident Agency and the Washington Field Office investigated this case. The Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police provided valuable assistance.
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baheret · 10 months
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[image ID: a two-page illustration in black pen and oil paint. on the left page, the lyrics to Leonard Cohen's 'Why Don't You Try', inside a rectangular frame. the title opens with an illuminated letter W, then continues in a script made of mostly straight lines, with letter-size variance such that it fills a rectangle. the rest of the lyrics are in approximated times new roman. on the right page, a painting of a piece od raw meat inside a round-top frame. the painting is vibrant, the backgrounds is blacked out. underneath the painting, mirrored blackletter text reads "you climb into bed and recover the flesh", after an illuminated initial Y. the borders are embellished with rounded decorative elements. /.End ID]
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[image ID: a one-page illustration in black and magenta pen. at the centre of the page, in a black frame, is a loose drawing of Leonard Cohen from the back, sitting in a bathtub. he holds a notebook in his hands. the drawing is split down the middle, with the left half done in black and the right done in magenta. over the magenta half, the lyrics for "A Singer Must Die" are written in loose handwriting, all in capital letters. above the frame, in a square script, the song's title is written in capital letters. beneath the frame is a composition of rectangles, titled in mirrored lowercase text as "n-choreographies". inside three of the rectangles are three different stable 4-body orbits. /.End ID]
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[image ID: a one-page watercolor and black-pen illustration. on the left of the page, in a long rectangular panel, is a watercolor illustrations of a nude figure from the back. the colours are bright, mostly shades of blue and orange. to the right of the panel, in loose handwriting, all capital letters, is the text of the song 'Leaving Green Sleeves'. at the bottom of thr page, in large capitals, the name of the song is written. there are no spaces between words, but the first letter of every word is thicker than the rest. /.End ID]
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[image ID: a one-page illustration in black pen and oil paint. the painting is contained within a rectangular frame, slightly decorated with simple leaf drawings. within the frame, over the oil painting, is a second rectangle. inside that rectangle, the lyrics to the chorus of 'Is This What You Wanted' are written in an approximation of rotunda script. the initial letters of the title's words are illuminated. the rest of the frame contains an oil painting of a hand, with its thumb pressing into a tub of vaseline. the background is blacked out entirely.
outside the frame, the rest of the song's text is written in an approximation of rotunda script. the edges of the page are decorated. /.End ID]
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[image ID: a two-page illustration in black and magenta pen. on the left page, the right of the page is enclosed in an elongated rectangular frame. inside it, a medieval illustration of two armoured and crowned figures meeting. behind them is a tower, and the background is blocked in in magenta. on the right page, another elongated rectangular frame at page right. in it, a medieval illustration of courtly love. two figures, one of them resting in the other's lap. behind the figures, the background is blocked in magenta. outside the frames is the text for 'Take This Longing' in approximated rotunda script. the first letter of every page is illuminated, as are the initial letters of every chorus. /.End ID]
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[image ID: a one-page illustration in oil paint and black pen. at the centre of the page is a rectangular frame, which contains an oil painting of a seated nude figure in grey-scale, its head and limbs broken off. it somewhat resembles Venus de Milo in pose. from the end of every limb, two thin lines extend. all except the lines of the right arm terminate at the edge of the frame. that arm's lines end in a small, black mask. the left corner of the frame is covered by a different frame. two simple drawings of hands point toward the text in the centre, which is the chorus to 'Lover Lover Lover', written in a blackletter script. the initial and final letters of the word "lover" are capitalised. the rest of the song's verses are written outside the frames, in loose, slanted, vaguely-cursive handwriting. /.End ID]
some pages from an illustration project for leonard cohen's new skin for the old ceremony.
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nordleuchten · 4 months
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24 Days of La Fayette - Day 2
After beginning with one of my favourite portraits, let us continue with one of La Fayette’s favourite portraits of himself. This one:
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Lafayette by Ary Scheffer, 1822-1823 via Wikipedia (12/02/2023)
It was a painted by the Dutch-French artist Ary Scheffer around 1822. The portrait was intended as a commemoration and present for La Fayette final visit to America - his Triumphant Tour in 1824/25. This was not the only work done by Scheffer for La Fayette, neither prior nor after the Tour.
The portrait accompanied him on this tour and La Fayette and Scheffer gifted it to the House of Representatives in 1824 when La Fayette was the first foreign visitor to address both the Senate and the House of Representatives in a joint meeting. To this day, it still hangs in the House Chamber (it was first displayed in the Capital Rotunda). The portrait was very well received by the people of the day. The newspapers wrote how close it resembled General La Fayette and no less than 27 state-banks featured the portrait on their currency. Many artists wanted to paint La Fayette during this momentous event but he neither had the time, nor the patience to sit for every single one of them. Instead, they copied this painting and made numerous engravings and prints. That is the reason why you see a number of copies and variations of this painting on the internet.
There is also an hilarious anecdote connected to this painting.
When Ary Scheffer was painting his portrait, someone asked the General how he was posed. He said:
“I am taking a walk - my hat and cane in my hand - like this.” “And the other hand?” “It is in my pocket, which is much better than having it in somebody else’s”
American friends of Lafayette, Gazette of the American Friends of Lafayette, No. 03, p. 3, May 1944. (12/02/2023)
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uwmspeccoll · 1 year
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Typography Tuesday
ITALIAN ROTUNDA GOTHIC
One of the few incunables we hold that have all the initials rubricated (i.e., initials completed in red manuscript) is a 1481 printing of Nicolas De Lyra’s biblical commentary Moralia super totam Bibliam, printed in Mantua by Paulus de Butzbach. It uses a typeface modelled after a rounded Gothic manuscript hand known as Rotunda. 
The Italian version of the Rotunda, that this typeface is based on, was developed for copying manuscripts at the University of Bologna in the 13th century, and is sometimes referred to as littera bononiensis. This rounded form seems to have developed to accommodate more rapid copying to provide materials for a voracious academic clientele. However, this also increased the amount of space letterforms would occupy, so a series of abbreviation conventions were developed to save space that are especially associated with the Italian Rotunda.
These can be seen throughout the examples shown here, but they are especially vivid in the colophonic text of the last image. For example, the lowercase q with a line beneath the bow signifying the word "qui," or the r rotunda (ꝛ) which follows a letter with a rounded stroke on the right side, such as the one following the o in the word ordine in the second paragraph, following the underlined name of “Nicolaus de Lyra.” You can also see the use of the visually-related Tironian et ⟨⁊⟩ used to signify etcetera. The rubricator has not only completed all the initials, but has also highlighted capital letters in red, marked paragraph openings, and underlined certain words or phrases for emphasis. The humorous artery-like illustration around the rubricated n in the second to last image was likely added much later, perhaps after William Harvey published his findings on the circulation of blood in 1628!
Not much is known about the printer Paulus de Butzbach, although he is quite well-noted as a printer for one of the first three editions of Dante’s Commedia, all three of which appeared in 1472. However, using the raw data in the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC) we can say that he seems to have had  a relatively short career from 1471/2 to 1481, when our book was printed. A German printer (as most early printers in Italy were), he appears to have begun his career with another German printer Georgius de Augusta at Verona in 1471 or 72. After printing a handful of classical titles in Verona, they moved operations to Mantua in 1472 where the Commedia was printed. They continued to work together and for others there until 1475, when Butzbach’s name begins to appear in colophons by itself, and he continues to print alone until about 1481. In those ten years, Butzbach participated in the printing of some 30 editions. Our copy of Moralia super totam Bibliam is one of only 95 worldwide noted in ISTC.
View other posts on 15th-century types.
View more Typography Tuesday posts.
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silvy-onthemoon · 3 months
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Some more Rotunda Capitals!
I am slowly mastering this alphabet yey! Still need to work on the spacing between letters and words, but I am getting there and very happy with how this turned out!
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madi2112 · 2 months
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Pride at the Capital 2024
Two awesome days with Team Cher
Day Two:
Up bright and early today to partake in an 8am committee meeting about yet another silly pointless bill the hate mongering Majority Party is trying to get passed.
This one banning anything they define as a "political" flag or even picture or reproduction of a flag anywhere in a government area. This includes schools, airports. Etc.
They have labeled the rainbow 🌈 flag "political" and want to ban it. The real goal of the bill.
The meeting was filled with right wing rhetoric and lies (as usual) and when it was finally time for public comments the vastly overwhelming majority were against the bill.
So many people spoke out against the bill that the time per speaker kept getting reduced. From 3 minutes to 1 minute then 30 seconds to none at all. Dozens of people (including me, but luckily 2 of my team members did get to speak) never got to add thier thoughts to those already opposing the bill.
Didn't matter.
The bill passed the committee along party lines. No surprise there.
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<Team Cher member speaking to deaf ears>
More delivered more bill information sheets and attempts at walk up appointments until our next meeting. Which was an interesting one.
A very interesting one.
We were meeting with a film crew who would be our companions for the rest of the day.
Yep, I (and Team Cher) are part of a documentary to air later this year (on Prime and Hulu) about those of us combating the horrible things happening in Florida. We are just a segment in the program along with a look at an Openly LGBT Senator candidate and Equality Florida in general.
They filmed our pre-meeting game plan session, one meeting with a wonderfully supportive Senator, our post meeting thoughts with both Senators, including the meeting with a someone from the opposition party.
Then lastly they filmed our overall thoughts and reflections on the two days of work we put in.
Can't wait to see how it's all put together!
Lunch was provided by the Florida Democratic Party in there conference room and media center.
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We left just enough time to run down to the rotunda again (the stairs were faster then the wait for an elevator) to support another Equality Florida press conference.
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<I'm just over the speakers left shoulder >
Our afternoon meeting was with Senator Torres from Orlando.
He's a terrific ally and has a grand daughter who is a transwoman.
Needless to say the 22 bills introduced already this session by the Majority Party is something he loudly opposes.
He did welcome the film crew so you will be able to see and hear his words of profound wisdom. Truly inspiring.
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<Senator Torres, in the tie, being an inspiration >
The last meeting of the day was with a Senator from the oppressors (sorry. I mean opposition) party.
He was less the enthusiastic about our meeting.
Still we agreed in our strategy meeting (being filmed) we would be friendly, respectful and professional.
We were the only ones.
The senator first limited our group to only two of us, claiming his office was too small.
To bad there were couches and chairs for at least 6 in the office and an empty meeting room next door.
Then took a phone call during the alloted 15 minutes. Which didn't go even a second longer despite the call mid meeting.
He was also dismissive, confrontational and rude.
All of which we let the film crew and Democratic House leaders know about.
They weren't surprised.
The whole encounter brought on the feelings that we are fighting the evil Galactic Empire.
Enhanced by the string of 9 straight middle age (and older) white men in nearly matching suits, white shirts and ties marching into the Republican office as we arrived.
The next coming of stormtroopers.
Then I looked at the 8 of us. Diverse, colorful, full of conviction and belief in what's right.
Like a band of rebel fighters.
Hopefully we can fight them off before they takeover completely.
I felt like I was part of the solution. Part of fighting the good fight against those wanting a facist theocracy run by heartless, evil wanna be dictators.
The last bit of business was the wrap up interviews for the film crew. We all chipped in with our feelings about the event, the real struggles we faced and how we bonded as a group. This was filmed outdoors in front of the capital where just hours ago we took the group photo.
Saying goodbye was all that was left and more then a few tears were shed.
Along with a group hug.
Even our captain, who has done these teams many times before, said this group was special and one of a kind in how we bonded.
We agreed to try to reunite next year and I hope it happens.
If not, it was a life changing, inspiring and emotional 2 days.
So to Devon, Charles, Stephanie, Marissa Katie, Corey and Tanya, I'll never forget this and will always be part of #TeamCher4life.
~Madison
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balkanturksblog · 1 year
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“   Salonica ceased to be an Ottoman city in November 1912. The capital city of Macedonia had been annexed by the Kingdom of Greece at a time when most of its population was non-Greek. Here, then, the main assignment was to obliterate the Ottoman heritage and to reinvent the Greek antecedents of the city.
   In Salonica, various events facilitated the task of the Greek administration. One major factor of urban reorganization was the big fire of August 1917 which destroyed 9,500 buildings, or approximately two thirds of the city. When the reconstruction process came to an end in the 1930s, nothing much remained of the urban pattern as it had been shaped during the last decades of Ottoman presence. Many Jews had lost their property in downtown Salonica and had been forced to move to suburban quarters. When one looks at photos of the 1930s, one easily remarks that the city had lost, by then, its Oriental character. No minarets in view. No intricate streets. A rigid grid of avenues and lanes arranged following a chequered pattern had replaced the playful Ottoman city.
   While the reconstruction process was going on, efforts were also made to resuscitate the Greek and Christian heritage of Salonica. The Hébrard plan foresaw highlighting of the main monuments of the city through a strategy of destruction of environing constructions and isolation of edifices of historical interest. Thus, small Byzantine churches, which had survived thanks to their invisibility, were transformed into major landmarks. In parallel, public squares were populated with  statues of Greek national heroes and the façades of the buildings all around were covered with typically 'Greek' ornamental motifs, although remaining faithful to Hamidian neoclassicism.
    After the departure of the Turks, the new image of Salonica drew mainly on the Christian and neo-Hellenic past of the city. But, like in other places in Greece, antiquity was also considered a major component of the city's memory. Although not much was done to revive ancient Salonica, subsequent to pioneering archaeological research by the French 'Armée d'Orient' between 1916 and 1919,24 some attention was nevertheless given to prominent late-Roman monuments such as the Rotunda, the Palace and Arch of Galerius, and the Agora.”
Source: Durmont, Paul. Salonica and Beirut: The Reshaping of Two Ottoman Cities of the Eastern Mediterranean, p. 195, 196, 197
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indyfilmlibrary · 7 months
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Bray Wyatt saw the monster in you
In an environment where he was no doubt aware if you weren’t built like Hulk Hogan or John Cena, you wouldn’t be a ‘top guy’, Wyatt's best work deconstructed exactly what the ‘top guy’ within American capitalism really embodies. #wwe #braywyatt
On August 24th 2023, Windham Lawrence Rotunda – best known as his wrestling alter-ego Bray Wyatt – passed away at the age of 36. A master of re-invention, his horror-infused ring-personal struck a chord with fans around the world, calling out the euphemised nightmares of modern life for what they were, while offering a way to address the darkness in the world around us. To that end, I think it’s…
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atotaltaitaitale · 11 months
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Wednesday Wanderings and Wonderings - The Passage Edition
Passage des Panoramas (11-13, boulevard Montmartre, 75002 Paris)
-> The oldest passage (1799) and site of testing for gas lighting (1816)
It's the oldest covered passage of Paris (1799) with decoration made of old signs and period lights which makes it one of the prettiest of the capital. Backyard of the Hôtel des ventes Drouot, it still attracts some collectors' stores.
In 1799, the American shipowner Thayer had two towers built on the Boulevard Montmartre in which he installed his panoramas (A panorama is a rotunda with lighting in which is installed a fresco painted in trompe l'oeil). In order to facilitate access from the Palais Royal to the Boulevard and to attract customers, he opened the Passage des Panoramas which would protect passers-by from rain and mud on the site of the former Hôtel de Montmorency.  The success of the passage was immediate thanks to the enthusiasm of the Parisians for the panoramas, to its exceptional location on the boulevard, near the Bourse, and especially to the Théâtre des Variétés which was built against it in 1807.  The rotundas of the boulevard Montmartre were demolished in 1831. But if the vogue of the panoramas died out, that of the passage continued. (source)
Also In 1816, gas lighting was tested in the passage.
*** But what is a passage?  It is a private road open to the public, a shortcut between several roads, whether covered or not. As a pedestrian space, the passage can house both commerce and housing. Only the abundant decoration and the luxury of the stores differentiate a gallery from a passage. It’s the ancestor of today's shopping malls, the unique charm of Parisian covered passages will immediately transport you to the 19th century (Previous Posts)***
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Locations:
Greifellen
A country to the West of Yythengol.
The Bastion of Nettlespaugh: A Dwarven ruin from the time of the Blood Wars, location of a portal to the Nether
The North Mountains: Houses the revolutionaries
The Ruins of Castle Plagmonech: A large castle ruin was home to an ancient King of a much smaller kingdom that succumbed to invasion.
The inner sanctum a rotunda underground with an oculus accessing the gardens above, home to a dead guy.
Strægaard: Capital of Greifellen and the hometown of Drake.
Castle Strægaard home to Knuvengel King of Greifellen
Vømelth: a small town nestled in the woods along a river.  It’s the town Tumblr headed to first.
Farmhouse the farmhouse Tumblr inherited
Temple L’Grei vo Melth a temple in which Tumblr sucked a dick
Abandoned House overgrown with blackberries, and a cellar full of wine, a mysterious well in the cellar as well
Yythengol
A country to the East of Greifellen
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perkamperin · 2 years
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Architecture — Stockholm Public Library
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The Stadsbiblioteket, the main branch of the Stockholm Public Library System, is one of the most distinctive buildings in the Swedish capital. The 360-degree tower of books at the top is a bibliophile’s temple to reading in-the-round. The graceful rotunda is open to the public, who can climb to the top of the stacks and peer down on the collections below. The City Library in Stockholm was created by world-famous architect Gunnar Asplund and is a great example of the style called Swedish Grace.
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apluseffort · 1 year
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[FIC] To Call Home
Rating: G
Characters: Kuro The Divine Heir, Dark Sun Gwyndolin
Fandom: Dark Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Chapter: 2/?
[AO3 Link]
Kuro closes his eyes, attempting to use his other senses to take in the world around him. His feet ache, trying to avert his focus, but he opens his eyes again and pushes forward knowing that rest is coming soon. It’s been months of traveling at this point. He’s walked through fields of reeds, muddy swamps, and dense forests. His thick, woven shoes are now nearly worn through. However, he’s saved a little coin and abandoned armaments so he could make do with trading for a new pair.
This city called Anor Londo is incredible. It is a huge expansive place with massive architecture and confusing walkways. He would have gotten lost if not for making sure he made note of points of interest as he made his way further into the capital. Everything was beautiful, empty and sterile. If this had been a bustling area, that time had long since ended.
This whole city reminds Kuro of how small he is. He walks into a rotunda, statues gazing overhead into the center. He had seen them so many times before amongst those castle. They had to have been the rulers of this city and quite likely, this land. He’s heard the stories from villagers and travelers alike, but also read from books and scrolls he had come across during his travels. Lordran’s story is a sad one. It comes as less of a surprise to him when it’s just something he could sense. This land and it’s people were slowly succumbing to an end; allowing corruption to blanket all that had been good. Power can only be sustained for so long and here, in Lordran, it had been likely decades since this land's ruler had been able to manage it well.
The further into Anor Londo he goes, the more exhausted he starts to feel. It’s when he steps around the coffin-sized stones looping around the inner rotunda that he spots a hall in the corner of his eye where a statue should be. It doesn’t make much sense given the surrounding architecture, but he determines that this may be a good chance of finding a safe place to rest.
Thankfully, this area seems to be secluded enough to be safe. Only one entrance led to the outside and, as far as Kuro can tell, the other side led down the odd hall further into the castle. He walks into the hallway looking at his surroundings, trying to spot any sort of inconsistency. He stops when he finds a threadbare red rug in the center of the hallway. It piques his interest enough. An indication of life that was completely out of the ordinary in this city of stone and death. A lesson his Wolf had helped him identify so many years ago.
Thankfully, there was nothing he could suspect to be a trap. Nothing outside of the oddity of this ragged rug covering the ground. Kuro sighs, exhaling the stress and exhaustion from his body. He succumbs to the pull of his body relaxing. Closing his eyes, he allows the heavy fog in his mind to bring him into a deep sleep
“Wake up.”
A voice calls to him, stern and commanding. Kuro does not recognize this voice. A smooth, but strong voice that does not frighten him so much as slowly rouses him from his sleep.
“Wake up.”
The voice calls again. It takes Kuro a minute to realize that this voice was not coming from any certain person standing nearby. Instead, he can sense that the echoes of the voice surround him in every which way. His mind is suddenly on alert as the fog of sleep lifts. His mind slowly caught up to remember he was still in a highly hostile foreign land. He sits up quickly looking around rapidly to find that he is in the same empty area of the hallway he was in before… but he saw no origin of the voice.
“How have thoust come here? How have thoust come to make it here on your own?”
The voice, youthful and strong, demands his attention. Kuro sits up properly and leans forward to bow politely.
“I apologize for my intrusion. I was merely seeking to rest for the night. This place seemed safe, but I now understand that this may have been the wrong decision. I can take my leave as soon as possible.”
Kuro’s voice echoes deep down the hall. He stays frozen still in his bow while waiting for a reply.
“Art thou not one of the undead who roams this land?”
Kuro shakes his head. Wondering how this being could see him.
“No, I am not. I have come from far away for my own personal travels.”
It’s not a lie. He was not prepared to say more to a faceless voice. Not when he had no idea how they would respond and certainly not if he did not know who he was talking to.
His response was met with a short silence.
“Art thou here to pledge thyself as one of the Blades of the Darkmoon?”
Kuro pauses, unsure of how to answer. He definitely does not mean anyone harm, but he feels so intrinsically outside of this realm that he can’t wholeheartedly know what he wants to answer with.
The owner of the disembodied voice seems to notice his hesitation. “Art thou afraid to speak? It is hard to imagine such a person as thee to have made it to this point whilst being afraid.”
“I am not quite sure how to answer,” Kuro states and he positions his body back to a proper seiza. He tries to show his respect in his stance and posture. He meant no threat and wants to prove that. “I’ve traveled from a land far away. And while various circumstances have seemed to lead me here, there was no other purpose for me to have used this place as shelter for the night. I see now that I have encroached upon your domain and I apologize for my rudeness.”
He ends his explanation with a deep bow forward.
There is a pause and then, as if a veil is lifted from his eyes, as he sits up, Kuro sees what seems to be an ever-stretching hallway with a person coming towards him. He had seen many odd beings long his journey but nothing like this person; that despite walking on what seems to be legs made of long snakes they hold their body up high with an air of grace and power.
They stop before him staring down at him through the gold mask that resembles the sun.
“Thou may rise.” They say, the once demanding voice now a soft facsimile. “Thou shall find sanctuary here for as long as thou needst.”
“Thank you-“
“Gwyndolin.”
“Thank you, Gwyndolin.” The name feels foreign on Kuro’s tongue, but he does his best with it. He bows again, trying to be as respectful as possible. “I am Kuro.”
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What bothers me about the passage of time is that there will come a day when I am no longer guaranteed to outlive the horrible politicians in charge. I'm young, and almost every person in a position of power today is a dinosaur who will die in my lifetime. I am almost certainly going to live to see Bush's and Trump's and McConnell's funerals, but then you have the relatively young ones, the ones in their 40s and 50s today, who very well could outlive me just by the luck of the draw. If I die at 70, they could still be alive in their 90s, and that's just not fair.
I mean, nobody is "guaranteed" a single second. I could have a stroke right now and die within the hour, but barring that minute possibility, it's likely I have several decades left in me. The Old Guard will soon be gone, but what bothers me are all the up-and-comers, the next generation of leaders, the New Guard. They're all my age now; the children and grandchildren of the powers that be; legacies coasting their way to the tops off their family names; students who will soon become lawyers or businessmen at their daddy's firm, then handpicked by the party leaders for safe seats they're guaranteed to win; the next rungs on the self-perpetuating dynastic ladder. They will eventually replace the dinosaurs, and I'll probably die at the same time as- or more likely, before- any of them (I'm dirt poor, but they'll have the best insurance our taxdollars can buy).
I don't know if I'll live to see Ted Cruz or Ron DeSantis or Marjorie Taylor Green lie in rot in the Capital Rotunda on national television for a week before being buried six feet deep, and that bothers me. I am motivated to live a long life out of spite and spite alone, just so they don't win! They don't even know I exist, I mean nothing to them, never have, never will, but I can't let them win!
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