#not that the tectonic plates care about my boundaries | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-modern-typewriter · 2 years

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Could you write smt with a villain who lets the hero get away with stuff all the time because of how they feel about them and lets the hero cross personal boundaries that the hero’s allies wouldn’t even dream of until one day the hero fucks up big time and the villain reminds them of their place

"I wonder, perhaps," the villain mused, "if you have forgotten who I am."

The hero's throat felt tight, attention pinballing between the villain's face, their casual posture, and the body on the floor.

Their best friend looked so small. So unlike themselves.

The hero opened their mouth but nothing would come out except the raw, painful shock of it, wordless. They felt like they'd taken a knife to the stomach, all the blood and guts rushing out of them, before the full extent of what had happened even registered. Before they could think what to do. All they could do was put a numb metaphorical hand to the area as a numb, metaphorical voice in their head told them with slight hysteria to 'apply pressure' as if it wasn't already far too light.

There was so much blood on the floor between the two of them.

The hero's trembling fingers flexed.

"I'm not your tamed monster pet." The villain met the hero's eyes, their own blazing. "I'm not some toothless thing no longer dangerous, except in the memory of what I once was. And I'm certainly not someone you can push, and push, and push without ever pushing back."

"I - I don't - you -" The hero's fists curled, hard. Anger began to bubble up their lungs.

"You have your lines," the villain said, leaning back upon their makeshift throne, fingers steepled, voice oh so calm. "Your boundaries. I have taken infinite care in the past not to cross them, despite the frequent liberties you take with me. Or did you think that my mercy was merely accidental? Something that required no effort?"

"I thought you were better than this." It came out croaky.

"Mm. This is one of your boundaries, isn't it? The wholesale slaughter of someone you care about? I pay attention."

"You're trying to hurt me."

It was such a dumb thing to say. So obvious. So not the point, and so exactly the point that the hero's head reeled.

The villain's lip curled in something like contempt, and something else entirely.

"You went too far."

"I didn't - if you'd just -"

The villain laughed. There was nothing joyous to it, not even a wicked sort of glee. "You didn't know? Is that it? You didn't care to know, or if you did, you figured it didn't really matter in your pursuit of what you considered right. What you wanted to achieve. I'm sure it was a great moment for you."

The hero's jaw clenched. "I haven't killed any of your people. I haven't gone out of my way to hurt you."

"No," the villain said. "You simply humiliated me."

"What?"

"The other night."

The hero stared at them. They'd thought -

"That's what this is about? That's what you killed them for?" It came out shrill. "You can fix a reputation. You can't bring someone back to life!"

All they'd done was use the villain as a cover, said they loved them and gushed and flirted so that no one would pay attention as they infiltrated...

"What you need to learn, hero," the villain's voice was no longer quite so calm either, "is that just because something doesn't matter to you, doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. All I did was hit back equally hard. You were not without warning."

"I didn't think you'd care, I-"

"-I realise I am partially to blame. I let you get away with far too much," the villain said. "I can see that now. The favours, the little insults, the flirting. The consistent way you would press past my boundaries when everyone else was smart enough to leave it alone. I suppose you called it bravery."

"You called it that too." The tectonic plates of the hero's world had shifted beneath their feet, or so it felt. "I didn't think it would make you this angry - I didn't -"

"No," the villain said. "You didn't think. I hope this will be an effective reminder to."

The hero shook their head, and their nerveless limbs finally moved, away from the door to crumple to their knees before their friend, to cradle their head. "You're a monster."

"Yes," the villain said, and finally their voice was almost kind, almost like how the hero remembered it being in the moments when - "yes, I am. That's the lesson, buddy." They rose to their feet, powers roiling like turbulent waters, and pressed a heart (their friend's heart, god was their friend's bloody heart?!) into the hero's hand. "Don't ever assume to embarrass me for your own gain again. Or the next time," they pressed their lips to the hero's ear, looming over them like the storybook nightmare everyone else always hissed that they were, "the heart I give you back will be yours."

#heroes and villains #villains and heroes #writing #fiction #story #ficlet #short fiction #dialogue #creative writing #hero #villain

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spitpr1ncess · 3 years

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Can I Call You Sir? / Nanami Kento x Fem Reader

--“And if I did? It’s only proved what I thought to be true all along. You’re a little degenerate, like me. I just wanted to test you, to know if you wanted what I wanted. Seems like you do, so tell me to stop and I will. Tell me you’re leaving, I’ll let you. I’m not going to force you to do anything, I respect your boundaries, and I respect that this is wrong. It just, feels so right. So deny it.”--

Fucking bullshit.

You stare at the graded paper before you and seethe from the inside out. An F? A fail?! But you’d studied relentlessly! The only thought you were having was how your mother was going to kill you when she finds out, you can practically hear her shrieking, “I’m paying heaps of money to put you through university and this is what you have to show for it?

Professor Nanami is writing something that looks vaguely recognizable on the chalk board, his tall but slim body looking oddly out of place at the front of the long classroom as you glare holes into the back of his blue shirt. There wasn’t a single person you hated more than him in this never-ending moment. You yawn and allow your head to fall heavy onto your crossed arms, hiding your shameful test results. You could listen to Professor Nanami with your eyes closed based solely on the fact that you would be failing the rest of this term if your test results were anything to go by.

The rest of the lesson passes quickly as you fall victim to maladaptive daydreams, playing out every single scenario where you approach Professor Nanami and question his harsh grading. You aren’t a stupid girl, in fact, in every other class you were smashing your target or hitting above. What was this mans problem? You imagine slamming your paper down in front of him, arms crossed and little foot tapping the floor. “Do you hate me?”, “So you have favourites?”, or just a plain “what the fuck?!” were among the favourites you’d rehearsed. His face was cold as stone as he stared back before licking his lower lip and smirking, pulling his glasses atop his head, causing a pretty ripple in his hair as he stands absolutely towering over you. A large thumb lifts your chin to look at him as his eyes bore into you. Then his lips are on yours.

Wait what?

What?

You’re roughly pulled from your daydream by your hair as a pair of polished brown shoes stand at the foot of your worn school desk and a voice beckons your name. Professor Nanami is stood less than a foot in front of you waiting for an explanation. You shoot bolt upright in the uncomfortable wooden chair as your entire body feels like its been zapped by an electric fence. You can feel the blush in your face spreading to your ears as you push the strange daydream to the back of your degenerate mind.

“Sleeping through my lectures will not help you fix that broken grade, Miss Reader. Do you understand me? Or do I need to put it more plainly? It can’t be easy with a simple mind like yours, but I’m sure we could find a way to help you absorb what I’m saying.” His eyes are cold as steel and boring into your soul, he doesn’t even blink, he’s like a robot. You hold his gaze before risking a look around the classroom revealing that it is completely empty, not a soul to be seen, brilliant. So not only had you failed your test but you’d also voluntarily agreed to extracurricular activities whilst daydreaming about kissing your Professor, it sure was a great day to be you.

You panic, how were you going to salvage this? You needed to think quickly, but nothing was springing to mind.

Clearing your throat and calming your nerves you begin, “sorry Professor I didn’t get much sleep last night, I have a lot going on at home so am finding it difficult to participate in classes at the moment.”

You are?

He lets out a small snort as he sits at the edge of your desk, peering down at you through his glasses, a look of judgement plasters his incredibly chiselled facial features, he is beautiful, and you’re happy to admit that, whether or not it could get you in trouble.

What?

“Your lies won’t cut it here, you’re excelling in all your other classes, algebra, languages and biology. These are not easy subjects and geography is a breeze in comparison, so why are you failing? Are you doing it on purpose?” Your attention is drawn to his strong throat and his Adams apple lifts and falls again as he swallows and you wonder if he is anxious about approaching you, not that he has any reason to be.

You feel anger bubble in your throat as you argue back, “I’m not a liar. I’m having trouble concentrating here. Your teaching, the class size, the fact the class is the last of the day, maybe you’re grading me too harshly! Have you considered that? Nobody else failed, so why did I?!” Your voice is shaking now and your knuckles are white as you push your nails into your palms, drawing blood. Professor Nanami looks at you for a moment before standing and heading back to his desk at the front of the class where he picks up a piece of chalk and some papers and begins to write.

“Question one is on plate tectonics, lets begin there. Would you care to explain the theory to me?” He turns and gives you a weirdly friendly smile, you calm your nerves and take a breath, opening your paper and looking at your answer, you read out the sentences you had written and cringe as you allow Professor Nanami to correct you, taking notes on his tutoring. Your personal four o’clock class finishes at just past seven as you both wrap up the test paper and Nanami wipes the board clean.

“In future Miss Reader, you come to me when you need help. You’re a smart young lady really, you know that, so put your brain to use. You’re going to do great things after your course is up so don’t discredit yourself over one failed paper.” He sits at his desk and waves his hand to dismiss you. “You’d better go now, I’m sure you have a worried boyfriend wondering where you’ve gotten to so late in the evening.” He pushes his glasses onto the top of his head, much like in your daydream, and you appreciate how good he looks for a moment. He’s aged yes, around thirty yes, but still gorgeous. You know the girls at University fawn over him, fighting to get even a slither of attention, and here you were, in a private tutoring session of your own, and without even meaning to.

You ponder the boyfriend comment before packing up and heading for the exit, deciding to test the waters you address him, “I don’t have a boyfriend Professor you see I simply don’t have time, and anyway, none of the boys here are mature enough to interest me.” You turn and give him a smile as you catch his gaze flitting up from where your stockings meet the fat of your thighs, you roll your eyes at him and shake your head as you sigh and leave for the night.

This was an interesting development.

Sleep washes over you as you awaken in your dream. Professor Nanami is sitting before you, he beckons for you to sit on his lap, you oblige and as you nestle against his chest, his fingers find the edge of your stocking, he traces lazy patterns on your thigh, eliciting a small sigh of pleasure from you. He nuzzles his nose against your cheek and plants a soft kiss against your neck, he pushes your soft hair behind your ear and begins to litter kisses on your sensitive lobe.

“Sweet thing, you smell heavenly, I just want to devour you.” He whispers. You throw your head back and invite him to suck and nip at your exposed throat, completely vulnerable in his arms you entrust him with your entirety. He groans as you manoeuvre your little waist to create friction with the fat of your ass and you’re met with the impossible hardness between his legs, this moment between the two of you feels like fireworks, everything is at a standstill and there is nothing but your two bodies, completely entwined, obsessed with each other’s perfect anatomy. You continue to explore each other physically as you mewl and sigh rhythmically, nothing has ever felt better than your Professors loving touch on your absolute innocence. You’d been with boys yes, but never a man like Nanami.

“Nanamin,” you cry out as he finds the hotness between your legs.

“Sweet girl, I’ll take the best care of you, just relax.” he speaks like sweet poetry from his mouth that tastes like the most expensive organic honey. Your breath hitches as he starts to disappear, you reach out but he is no longer there.

You jolt awake as you feel wetness pooling between your legs, the hotness and lack of friction so unbearable you are torn from the dream of all dreams.

Fuck, this is weird now.

Daydreaming about your Professor wouldn’t be the worst thing if you weren’t now absolutely sopping wet and grinding against your own mattress. You dare to slip a tiny hand under the waistband of your pants and give a little release to yourself, it felt unreal, and without realizing you were picturing him as you drive yourself to the edge and jump off head first. You’re picturing his pretty features and strong hands, his soft lips and authoritarian stare. In your head he’s praising you, “sweet thing, sweet girl” he says. You shudder as you come down from the satiating high and allow shame to encase you completely, rolling over, you stare at the screen of your phone.

5:38. A notification flashes from last night.

baby nobara: maps said you left uni at 7! wtf were u doing?? ps, shopping tmorrow?

You open the notification and type a quick reply.

you: was just studying, nothing important hahahah. sure! meet me at 11?

With that, you roll back over and let sleep nestle you gently between her arms.

It’s twenty minutes after your planned meet time that Nobara turns up, and holding a Krispy Kreme bag full of donuts and a doc marten tote housing at least one new pair of shoes, she’d obviously done a pre-shop, not that it was particularly out of character for her. Her gentle face is plastered with a mischievous grin as she runs and embraces you like two sisters might embrace after a long time away from each other’s presence

“I had to warm up before we got started!” she laughs at you, and all is forgiven in a matter of seconds. You’re both giggling as she opens the bag and makes you a peace offering of a strawberry donut, you eagerly accept as you discuss what shops you want to hit up today. You both spend hours browsing, trying on and chatting about everything, you don’t get to see Nobara often as you have alternating days on campus and your schedules clash horribly so the times you do spend together are cram packed full of mischief.

You’re walking past a load of stores as you approach Victoria's Secret and you immediately flash back to Professor Nanamis eyes on your stockings last night and his comment about your supposed boyfriend. Cogs are turning in your mind but before you have time to make the connection, you’re being dragged in, you have no objections and are pleasantly surprised by the variety of lingerie this particular chain of store holds. You pick out a few different numbers including a black corset body suit and a matching garter with stockings, you knew the reason for picking it out was completely inappropriate but it didn’t stop you from taking it to the counter and paying nearly 100 dollars for it. You grinned as you schemed yet another daydream waiting for your friend to decide on the bits she wanted.

You both decide on a little sushi place for lunch and as you fill your mouth with miso Nobara asks, “Who are you fucking? It has to be someone at university, that’s why you stayed so late, right?” The question completely winds you as you try not to choke on your food. Your eyes are watering as you try to explain that it was just extra-curricular studies. Nobara nods and rolls her eyes, “You don’t have to lie to me, I’ll find out sure enough.” She laughs as you pray she lets this go, shovelling some nigiri into her mouth she waves you off. “Chill,” she says as you allow your heart to slow in your chest.

You give her a hug as you finally part ways and she ruffles your hair, “See you around”, and with that she’s gone. You begin the walk home as you reflect on the events of today, you reel as you come to the realization you spent 100 dollars on a lingerie set for a man over ten years your senior who would less than likely ever find out you’d bought it. Unless.

No.

You shake the thought of trying to bait your own Professor after barely scraping by the last term, expulsion for indecent behaviour seems somewhat worse, at least you think. It also doesn’t seem good for Nobara to now suspect you have something going on with somebody, she has to know all the top gossip and you don’t doubt she will find a way. Now that you think about it, you should turn your phone location off. You know your friend would stalk you for the sake of some scandalous news she can tease you about. You giggle to yourself, you and Professor Nanami, what a thought.

The bell rings as you finish washing your hands, you stopped to use the bathroom before your final class of the day, Geography. You’d been anticipating this class, having chosen the black corset body suit with stockings to match, you’d paired it with a mid-length black satin skirt and an oversized cardigan, it was enough to feel comfortable in, and not break any regulations but enough for Professor Nanami to notice, which was just perfect. You wanted to test the waters after his comment and wandering eyes, you’d had time to stew over your awful test results and were wondering if maybe he was a little harsh with the grading. Either way, today would tell.

You hurry up the stairs and down the long corridor to the classroom where he lectures, there were around 30 students already settled in class and you could see your Professor writing on the board. You slip in quietly and take your seat at the back of the class, you shed your cardigan, giving a frontal view of your chest and begin to take notes. You ensure you pay full attention to todays class, not taking your eyes off the man at the front of your lecture room. You meet his gaze a few times and you sense him trying really hard to not allow his eager eyes to flit downwards, you wish for him to give you anything more than a feeling to go off of but he’s stone cold and hard as steel. As the class draws to an end Nanami dismisses the students and you wait until the room has emptied before you walk towards his desk. You wait for him to address you.

“Miss Reader, can I help you with something?” he doesn’t meet your gaze and instead continues typing something on his keyboard, you’re frustrated with how nonchalant he’s being, how you’ve probably misread the entire encounter, how you’ve created a whole reality from nothing.

“I, I was hoping maybe you would assist me with some questions I have from the class today Sir, if you have time of course.” If he wanted to play games, he would get games, you might be younger than him but you’re not stupid.

“That’s okay, you’ll have to give me ten minutes whilst I finish this email, then I’m all yours. Feel free to take a seat.” He motions for the first desk in the front row and you roll your eyes as you decide to make a stand. You pull a chair from the side of the room to Nanamis desk and sit directly opposite him, you take out your textbooks and begin to lay them out on the space behind his computer, sitting down you cross your legs, brushing his shin with your shoe. You’re sure you see his jaw tighten, but he plays it off by cracking his neck, the loud crunch distracts from the tension filled silence and you lick your bottom lip in anticipation.

He finishes with his email and pushes the computer screen to the side of his desk then leans back in his chair and loosens his tie slightly, he catches you watching the space above where his shirt is buttoned and smirks, “So what questions do you have sweet girl?”, it’s an innocent enough question but you’re walking a fine line and need to be careful. You make idle small talk about today’s class for an hour or so before asking your Professor to quiz you, it’s a shot in the dark but you’re hoping he will catch on.

“I’ve been revising, ask me any twenty questions, if I get them right you can pass me for that test!” you grin, proud of the compromise you’d come up with.

“It’s a good idea, but what if you get questions wrong? Does the fail still stand?” he laughs quietly, like he made a personal joke that only he understood, he allowed his eyes to trail down to the black floral lace encasing your chest, it wasn’t overly provocative (you were in university after all) but it was enough to make his mind wander. You test the waters again, trailing a finger over the top of the hem, outlining the soft of your breasts, Nanami shuffles in his seat and adjusts his legs, brilliant.

You allow your Professor to test you, answering all questions and waiting for each correct answer like a patient puppy, sitting for its master. At the end of the test you grin, over the moon with yourself for showing him you deserve a passing mark.

“I told you! I told you I shouldn’t have failed. You were definitely marking me too harshly!” You brush your leg against his again, and he doesn’t make an effort to move himself, he drinks you in through the round frames of his glasses that are sitting pretty on the top of his nose.

“Sweet girl, I never thought you were stupid, in fact, I think you’re rather smart. So tell me, why are you really here right now?” He sits forward in his chair and leans across his desk, towards you. Your faces are so close that you can feel his warm and tempting breath on your lips, your eyes close of their own accord and you lean in. He teases you with soft pecks and you fight back, bringing a hand to his chin but he beats you to it. Your hand completely drowned by his own, the sheer size difference a shock to your system, he holds your hand against his desk where your forgotten papers sit. With his other hand he brings his thumb just below your chin and lifts your face so your eyes can meet his, “Is this what you wanted all along? To kiss your Professor? Is this what your little get up today is about? You thought I wouldn’t notice the pretty lace? Do you know how good you look?” His rhetoric questions causing your heart to beat a hole in your chest you inhale sharply, trying to take control of your breathing once again.

“You failed me on purpose.” It’s slipped out before you have time to consider what you’re saying.

What?!

“And if I did? It’s only proved what I thought to be true all along. You’re a little degenerate, like me. I just wanted to test you, to know if you wanted what I wanted. Seems like you do, so tell me to stop and I will. Tell me you’re leaving, I’ll let you. I’m not going to force you to do anything, I respect your boundaries, and I respect that this is wrong. It just, feels so right. So deny it.”

A grown man, your professor nonetheless, sits before you in what feels like a dream, asking for you to stop this.

So stop it.

You take your free hand and pull his face into yours, you’re kissing again, this time with more desperation. It was like you were parched, and Nanami was a stream of fresh water, you couldn’t get enough, and it was like your entire life depended on it. His desk was the only thing stopping you from jumping across and allowing him to devour you whole, you thought about straddling his lap and allowing him to grab the soft fat of your ass. Not yet.

You pull away from the kiss and stand, looking at the man before you, his tie completely loose, a few strands of hair falling on his forehead allowing him to look dishevelled, his glasses slightly steamed up. He was a sight to behold and your heart was beating to within an inch of your life with the idea that you had caused it. Internally you were screaming, DON’T FUCKING STOP. But you had to, had to make sure this wouldn’t be a mistake. You leaned across the desk and picked his glasses off of his nose, placing them on your own and pulling them up, to push the hair off of your face. He looked puzzled and opened his mouth to say something but you interrupted him.

“It seems I have forgotten something, looks like I’ll have to come back to get it tomorrow, what a shame.” And with that, you shot him a grin, turned on your heels, and left. Nanami sat staring at the door in utter shock and awe as you stalked out. He quickly fixed himself up sans glasses and packed up for the day, he muttered something about teaching you a lesson, and spare frames before he left, allowing the leftover tension to dissolve.

#nanami x reader #nanami kento #jujutsu kaisen #Nanamin #nanami fanfic #archive of our own #spitprincess #spitty #my own work #original content #nanami x femme reader #kento #kento nanami x redaer

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fishmongeringstudies · 3 years

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six: wandering the city while waiting for a train that'll never come, you stop to wave at a dog on the street only to realize you have mistaken a crumpled bag of mcdonald's for a chihuahua

i almost slipped and died in the shower today. luckily i didn't, because i read somewhere that slipping and dying in the shower makes it a little hard for you to finish writing a manuscript for a novel fictionalizing the events of your freshman spring semester that's definitely going to become a new york times bestseller in about four years' time, but i came pretty close. for a moment i had my hand on the wall and my legs splayed like a barbie doll stuck to a stripper pole and the matchbox world behind the shower curtain was slipping steadily south and heading lower still. and then i caught myself.

several minutes later i heard scuffling beyond the pale, soapy shower curtain and thought there might be someone creeping on me. if someone was creeping on me i had an idea of who it might be, which made the prospect all the more likely and infinitely more convincing inside the grapefruit-sized thing i called my brain. then i heard the clap of god's hands in an ashen sky, and i knew. this was no man made disaster-in-waiting. it had begun to rain.

it didn't rain for long. five minutes at best, two if my grasp on the spatial-temporal continuum is worse than i'd imagined (this is very likely; the stars pass me by faster than i can count them these days), but long enough that anyone who happened to be outside when that first teardrop fell from the sky got a little wet. a little fucked up, if you will, which, hey. good for him. he deserves to get a little fucked up.

but i get carried away. please excuse my personal grievances. this is not a lament, it is a swimming pool. full of tiny colorful fish which flit around at its bottom, chasing strands of sunlight like children on a playground.

the weather forecast says it'll rain again tomorrow, and maybe the day after, too, if the world stays sad enough to let it happen. it makes me nostalgic. when i left in february monsoon season was in full swing, tearing trees from their roots with big meaty hands and making every fleeting boring moment into the kind of gray sunday afternoon on which i imagine the directors of romantic dramas like to shoot break-ups. rain in singapore looks different. it's not a bucket full of water, it's a room. a blue room against a silver sky. your socks stuck to your ankles with the kind of grim determination that makes you almost a little sad to peel them off, to toss them in the washing machine behind the kitchen. there's a little balcony behind the kitchen in the house you left in february, with a washing machine and a ledge for sitting on and a dryer that doesn't work. you used to go there when you wanted to check on the restaurant across the street. from here you can make out the round, blue-rimmed tables that attract students, biking enthusiasts, three am brawls between red-faced european men and their red-faced european friends. if there's noise on this side of the street, it's probably coming from there.

summer. summer reminds me of home. so far i've been telling people that the association is a bad one, and it certainly isn't a lie, but it's not a whole truth either, if one believes in the matter of whole truths to begin with. i'm starting to think maybe there are only skim-milk truths, clotted cream truths, 0% fat yogurt truths. truths that change shape when you aren't looking. we aren't looking most of the time, after all. we're very busy people. all of us. we're trying to change the world.

and for what? who are we trying to save? do you want to live forever? that's the goal, isn't it. i mean it's definitely mine. i won't blame you if the concept of death sits on your shoulder like a fourth generation ipod touch with a broken home button, whispering really fucked up shit into your ear when you're alone. i mean it definitely does for me.

puzzle-girl is in new york now, last i checked. good for her. i hear new york is full of lights and electricity and car exhaust. maybe one day she will learn that friendship isn't an emergency help-line. probably not. my friend thinks she will, thinks we'll come back around in our junior year and everyone will see us stuck to each other again like two grotesque modern art pieces drilled back-to-back into a museum exhibit wall only with a firm mutual understanding of what boundaries are, but i have my doubts.

once someone told me with the kind of half-fake half-genuine smile that makes you wonder if AI technology has advanced far enough to mimic the complexities of stupid hormonal teenagers with really bad interpersonal issues after all that i was blooming. coincidentally all the flowers on campus had suddenly decided to poke their heads out of the dirt like babies busting their way out of refrigerators, guns blazing, hearts shot to pieces, so it's not like he was completely bullshitting me. he was only ninety-eight percent bullshitting me. the two percent is why he comes up in my writing as often as he does, all this time later. like i think he was ninety-eight percent clown but two percent circus, two percent red-nosed reindeer trying to unionize behind a striped curtain, two percent something real. or at least i like to think that way. i'm a writer. we have to pretend there's something to write about. or else what will we write about?

so yeah. one time someone told me i was blooming. at the time i was embarrassed. and then after the story put an abrupt end to itself i was madly obsessed with the idea of flowers jutting out of cracks in the earth, gold pouring forth from blood-wounds, poinsettia eyes, whatever, whatever, and then the flowers started wilting. standing on the path outside my dorm i was like what the fuck? why the hell is everything dying? it's been like three days, god, what are you guys made of, tissue paper?

i was talking to the flowers. which died in spite of my indignation, so that's one for nature, zero for me. good for them. see you next spring, when things will, hopefully, be different. i don't have a plan as much as i have a dream i'd like to see walk into reality on three legs and a pitchfork. but it's a good dream. i promise.

the sky's clear as glass now. it's so bright i could probably stick my hand up there and stir vigorously and then an angel would emerge from the ether, rubbing her eye sleepily with the back of her hand. that's the kind of clarity i'm talking about. making metaphors about christianity-clarity. i am lonely and my dreams are full of beautiful people-clarity.

that's a lie-clarity. loneliness is, as mentioned in a previous installment of the meandering car accident i call this blog, a choice, and i'm too lazy and full of my own slew of interpersonal issues to commit to something like that. but summer is new, and it's like i'm getting used to the body in my basement all over again. how do i step around it, how do i make sure i don't look at its face? and its eyes, oh, those eyes. how terrible. how full of absence.

there will be exactly two hundred students on campus when summer move-ins are finished next week. this school has a population of nearly sixteen hundred. what are we doing?

research. academia. learning a new language. road trips. plane trips. horse riding lessons. research. academia. learning a new language. relationships. spaceships. building a ladder to the moon.

it feels like the sun never sets sometimes. the hours slide into one another like tectonic plates beneath the surface of the world and yet the sky remains just as it looked this afternoon, milk-white and pale as death. a hot summer wind blows and sends the clouds careening sideways into each other, and yet from this distance nothing changes. drop a body in a bathtub and nothing changes. beat someone up and nothing changes. survive thirteen weeks of bad mistakes and then worse ones, midnight mistakes, thursday evening mistakes, the kind of mistake you don't think you'll ever be able to write about, and still nothing changes.

they say there's always a silver lining but what if i want fur instead? let's say i want a fur-lined sky with fur-lined clouds and a little heart-shaped toy that makes a sound when you step on it. let's say i want to be fifteen again. the sky doesn't care. it still looks like a damn sky. the sky doesn't do things out of sentimentality.

it's just kind of there. today i'm just kind of here. today we're all alive. good for you. good for me. good thing my hand was on the wall when i slipped in the shower, so i could get out and dry my hair and then sit down in this shitty weird-smelling lounge with my laptop with the cracked touchpad and my cool elmo slippers, and tell you about this solitary life on mars.

05.26.2021

#i just realized i put my mask on inside out. luckily i have been alone in this lounge for thirty minutes and it is a new mask #so minimal damage has been done but shame on me anyway. i will go reflect in the shame corner now

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honourablejester · 3 years

Text

Baby’s First Worldbuilding

Okay, so, I fished out a thing. I have a hardback sketchbook that’s been with me for … fudge. Around 18 years. I did this in secondary school. It was called the ‘Atlas of my Mind’, and it’s basically baby!me drawing maps of one of my fantasy worlds, called Medath. This is the full world map:

I was so proud of this. I kind of still am. This is a very, very, very old world. Parts of it are way older than this Atlas. I drew this map when I was like 14 or 15. If you look to the bottom of the world, the Great Southern Archipelago, there’s three islands in it. Ecudor, Magico, Padudoo. Those three are the islands my sisters and I invented for a game when we were, IDEK, eight or something. Ecudor was mine (and yes, I’m aware Ecuador is a real country, and that probably had nothing to do with it, beyond being a word I heard and thought sounded cool), Magico is my middle sister’s, and Padudoo is my youngest sister’s. This world started when we were tiny.

I don’t even properly remember the stories for this world anymore. Jawburn was a slave island, and the protagonists for that bit of the story were a pair of ex-slave warriors named Ara and Nira. Selfar had a fantasy standard ‘superpowered orphan’ named Aea who was adopted by a pair of grizzled old mercenaries that I don’t remember the names of. There was something involving an expedition to Felspar running afoul of Anbaran politics, but again, I can’t really remember it.

The thing I do notice, looking at this map, is that it’s pretty much Africa/Eurasia in shape. I don’t think any of the stories match up to that, but if you look at it, Selfar is Africa (complete with Saharan desert), Anbar is Europe, Kahkmar is Northern Asia, Felspar is South-Eastern Asia, and the Archipelago is what would happen if Australia exploded all over the Indian Ocean. I pretty much plagarised half a world map wholesale and put the result on a flat world with a mountain range around the edge and some extra straits thrown around. Very much baby’s first worldbuilding.

The funny thing is, I don’t remember if I had learned about tectonic plate boundaries yet, but Felspar is very interesting if I hadn’t. Heh.

I also, in my innocence, apparently saw nothing wrong with putting an island called ‘Jakofe’ in the Rim Ocean. I honestly wish I hadn’t noticed that now.

I also love how I have several countries/territories marked in (the ones in red), but for the rest of the continents it was ‘eh, it’s fine’. I’ve got whole cities parked in the middle of nowhere. Were they meant to be continental capitals? How big are these continents? What’s the scale on this map? Nobody knows, and nobody cares. It’s adorable.

I honestly love younger!me. She was that tiny little nerd of a child(/teenager) drawing fancy maps for her fantasy self-insert stories and leaving out half of everything every time.

I was so gosh-darned proud of this map, though. I showed it to a teacher (at 15, not 8, yes, I never really did the ‘teenage’ thing). I had the little sun-and-moon motifs in the void around it. I have maps of the named islands following it. I called this book an Atlas and I was absolutely serious about it.

And you know what? I’m still pretty proud of it. I had so much stamina back then. These days I’m lucky if I fling some notes in a word document. Back then I started a whole-ass world atlas.

Maybe I should buy some colouring pencils again …

#worldbuilding #childhood #fantasy maps #me-stuff

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thechildoflightning · 4 years

Text

Tectonic Plates- Ch1

Title: Tectonic Plates [Masterpost]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Pairings: None

~~~

Chapter Title: Divergent

Summary:

Since day one, Patton has always been an extraordinarily kind child. He's cared for everyone and always given people second chances. But when a group project, family strain, and medical issues begin to pile up, Patton has to learn that it's just important to take of himself as it is for others, and learn how to set appropriate boundaries.

Warnings: Memory Loss, Tics

[ao3 link]

~~~

Chapter One: Divergent

Patton quickly scrawls on his paper, desperately trying to copy down the lengthy requirements for the project, knowing that he will otherwise forget. Most of the rest of the class is scrambling around as they meet with their assigned groups. Patton’s pretty sure that his name had been called, but quickly forgot who was called with him. Instead of attempting to remember- which he knows will be futile- he decides he’ll let them come to him why he tries to get the rest of the requirements for the project down.

“Patton, right?” a girl says off to his side.

“Yeah,” Patton responds, “One minute.”

Quickly two other people join them, but Patton hardly pays attention as he continues to write.

“Can we get started?” the same girl repeats.

“I’m just finishing writing down the instructions.”

“Can’t you do that later?”

“I’ll forget, it’ll just take a second more,” he insists.

She huffs, but lets him continue.

Patton returns to his writing, looking back up at the screen and then down at the paper, trying to find where he left off.

“You’re at the third to last line,” the girl snaps, when he doesn’t immediately find his place.

Patton ducks his head, shoulders scrunching inwards, and finishes the last three lines without comment.

“Okay,” he says, putting it aside, “I’m done.”

The other three people have made a small circle with him. Most other groups are already chatting. Patton looks at his three partners and recognizes that he’s probably aware of them, but certainly doesn’t recognize them.

“Can we start with names?” he asks.

There’s a pause where none of them say anything.

“Hi,” he introduces, “I’m Patton.”

“I know,” the girl who spoke to him previously comments, “We have two classes together this year and we had math together last year. Do you really not know my name?”

Patton balks.

“Sorry,” he replies, as he tries to figure out what to share and what to leave out, because he knows how this goes. He’s seen as rude if he doesn’t say anything, but at the same time he really doesn’t want to share his whole medical history. He hates the casual ableism that expects him too. “I- uh, have memory issues.”

“Oh I get that,” one of the other members says, “I’m incredibly forgetful too!”

Yeah that's not what Patton meant. There’s a difference between forgetfulness and memory loss. But whatever, it isn’t something Patton wants to debate right now.

“Oh and I’m Alise,” she adds.

“Jack,” the boy at her side mutters.

The girl that originally interrupted Patton huffs but introduces herself as “Sabrina.”

Patton nods, scrawling each of the names on the page as his project even though he’ll probably forget that the names are there, and won't remember whose name was whose.

“Okay so I was thinking about the project and we have four weeks, so I started creating a timeline where each person can get their part done in a reasonable time in an orderly manner so we aren’t procrastinating or falling behind,” Sabrina says quickly, pulling out a paper and gesturing to it. “This project is worth a significant part of our final grade and it’s really important we do well on it.”

“Oh, uh, we actually get three extra weeks,” Patton says, “I have certain accommodations for schooling. This project we get to start with three extra weeks and then if we’re still struggling we can communicate that and potentially work other accommodations out too.”

“Accommodations?” the other girl asks. Patton fails to remember her name.

“Yeah,” Patton says, “I have accommodations in school due to disability. This project we get three extra weeks.”

“I don’t know about that,” the first girl says, and great now Patton’s forgot her name too.

“We do,” he says, “If you don’t understand or don’t believe me we can talk to Mr. Z.”

The girl hesitates. Patton waits.

“Okay… but like, those extra weeks are only if we need them, right?”

Yes. They extra weeks are there if they need them. Patton needs them. That’s why they’re there.

He doesn’t say anything.

“Right, so… we’ll just try not to use them then,” the girl remarks and what’s her name again? He looks down and there's three names scrawled across his paper, Jack, Sabrina, and Alise. So which one is she?

Patton could ask, but she doesn’t think she would take that kindly.

“Okay so here’s the plan…” she starts to explain, laying each part out. He’s already exhausted.

Patton ignores Dani’s and Liam’s arguing in the background, instead turning to watch Blythe enter the room and flop down on the couch next to him in preparation for family movie night.

“What are we watching?” she asks with a yawn.

Dani and Liam’s voices both rise to argue for their movie as their mom comes racing back in to settle them both. Blythe shares an amused smile with Patton. Patton rolls his eyes at his younger siblings- as if he didn’t get into similar bickering with his siblings on occasion- and turned back to his phone which had buzzed a few times in the past minutes.

He opens his phone to find a text string he doesn’t recognize. He frowns slightly and taps it. The texts at the beginning are a quick reminder or what it’s for: Patton’s newest group project. He saves all the numbers quickly and tries to commit their names to memory before glancing back at the actual texts.

They seem to be texting about meeting up one day, so Patton quickly finds the date planned.

“Hey Blythe,” he says when he finds it.

“Hmm?”

“Remember March 10th for me?”

“Sure,” she says.

Patton nods and closes his texts, going to the calendar app instead and landing on March. He stares at it for a second. He just said that date. What was it?

“What was the date?” he asks.

“March 10th,” Blythe responds back.

Patton nods and clicks on the date.

His schedule quickly comes up, and he frowns at the noticeable conflict.

“Blythe?”

“Ye- ACK- Yeah?”

“Doctor’s appointment, March 10th.”

“M’kay.”

Patton goes back to the group chat and texts out a quick apology, explaining he has a doctor’s appointment that day.

“Thanks Blythe.”

“No problem. Who do you think is gonna win?” she asks, nodding at Liam and Dani.

“Hmm?” Patton asks, putting his phone down. He turns to look at his younger siblings who are still arguing over movies, if much more calmly. “Liam,” he decides on, “He’s the baby. You can’t say no to him.”

“True- but he caves easily. My money’s on Dani.”

Patton settles in to watch.

Suddenly Blythe gets up next to him. Patton watches her with interest, expecting her to get involved in Liam and Dani’s movie debate. But Liam and Dani aren’t there anymore. In fact, Dani sprawled out against the other couch and Liam’s falling asleep in a bunch of pillows on the floor. Patton looks up and on the screen in front of him- the movies credits are rolling. Patton couldn’t say what movie. He doesn’t remember.

Holy shit did he just forget an entire two hours?

A full two hours. With no supplemental memories or feelings or- or anything?

Patton grabs at his mind and he thinks he was maybe… maybe content during the movie. The emotion is reassuring but he really can’t remember anything past that.

“I’m headed to bed- ACK ah-” Blythe announces, head twisting with a tic as she finishes her statement, “Night.”

She gets a chorus of replies and everyone else starts to move to return to their own rooms to sleep. Patton stays seated- still as he tries to process what happened.

“Pat?” Blythe asks, “Hey Pat, you okay?”

Blythe’s words draw everyone’s attention to him.

“I, uh-”

Is he okay?

Memory gaps like this- large ones with no additional information- have been happening more and more recently and they’re terrifying. It’s scary being somewhere one moment and then somewhere else the next and having to scramble for context clues to figure out everything in the middle.

Patton’s always dealt with time gaps, and while annoying he knows how to deal with them. But lately they’ve been getting worse and Patton doesn’t know what that means.

What if he forgets everything one day?

“Hey, hey,” Blythe soothes, coming back over to kneel at the couch in front of Patton. She offers a hand and Patton takes it. “What’s going on?”

What does Patton say?

“I- uh… Who won? Dani or Liam. With the movie?”

The room stops and Patton knows it’s his fault- it’s his stupid brain’s fault but he’s terrified right now and doesn’t know how to communicate that.

“Pat,” comes Liam’s small voice- much too small, “Pat do you not remember the movie?”

And how does Pat tell his little brother that no- no he doesn’t he has no clue what happened in the past two hours.

“Is Patton okay?” Dani asks. “Is he going to forget more?”

While Patton’s younger siblings worry over him- which while touching make Patton feel incredibly guilty- his mom approaches him.

“Blythe, can you please go help your Ma with your siblings?” she asks as she takes Patton’s other hand and rubs it comfortingly.

“Yeah,” Blythe responds easily, “ACK- Pat that okay with you?”

Patton nods and Blythe leaves.

“Do you know where you are?” is his mom’s first question.

“Yeah,” Patton answers and that’s relieving but he’s terrified, “yeah. We were going to watch a movie. For family movie night. Dani and Liam were arguing. Blythe sat with me. You and Ma were trying to get Dani and Liam to work it out. I don’t- I don’t remember after that. I think I had a good time though?”

“Okay. Thank you for telling me. How are you doing? Do you have any questions for me?”

Patton’s terrified. This is terrifying. But he can’t say that. It’s already bad enough, he doesn’t need to scare his entire family further. He never wants to hear that hint of fear in Liam's voice again, never wants to see the terror on Dani’s face as she considers that her brother might forget everything eventually.

“I’m fine,” he insists, “Are Dani and Liam okay?”

“They’ll be okay, but let's focus on you right now honey, okay?”

“Okay,” Patton agrees, not even trying to argue. He tilts his face down so he doesn’t have to look at his mom’s worried face. He doesn’t know what to do, what to say. His mom continues to rub at his hand soothingly. The dog tries to wiggle her way into his lap, and Patton lets her. Her fur feels nice.

His ma comes back into the room, because she and mom exchange words quickly for a moment while Patton gets lost in his head. Eventually she kneels at his side as well and takes his other hand.

A lump forms in Patton’s throat.

He doesn’t want to cry.

He can’t cry.

He knows it’s okay if he cries. But if he cries that means he’s hurting and his moms can’t know that he’s hurting because they’ll feel bad and there’s nothing Patton can do to fix it. He doesn’t know how to fix this.

“How you doing, love?”

“Okay,” Pat replies.

“Okay. That’s good. Do you know where your notebook is?”

“My backpack? Or my desk. Probably.”

She nods and carefully pulls her hand away, most likely going in search for it.

She returns soon after, the light blue notebook clutched in her hand. She flicks through the patches, written accounts of Patton’s memory gaps. Full gaps, not just missing info. The past few months fill up almost as many pages as the rest of the book. It scares Patton.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” his Ma asks him, firm but somehow gentle. It’s information she needs, but Patton feels safe despite not quite knowing the answer.

“Dani and Liam were arguing about movies. Blythe and me were talking about who we thought would win.”

“Do you remember what Dani and Liam were saying? It’s okay if you don’t- I’m trying to get a more exact time if possible.”

Patton shakes his head.

“Okay,” his ma says, “That’s alright. We’ll ask Blythe. And what’s the next thing you remembered?”

“I- Blythe got up to go to bed. Everyone was on the couches. There were credits on the screen.”

She scrawls in the notebook. Patton knows it has to have been about two hours.

“Anything else you remember?” his mom gently prods as his ma writes.

It’s a question that often makes Patton feel guilty because the answer is often more likely ‘no’ than ‘yes,’ but he knows it’s necessary.

“I- I remember feeling content, I think,” he says,”I don’t remember anything about the movie or watching it- but I think I had a good time. I’m pretty sure.”

It’s not a concrete memory, but it’s an emotional one and it’s something.

At least he seemed to enjoy the movie, or the time with his family, or something. Right?

“Okay,” his ma says, and writes it down. “Just to remind you- you have a doctor’s appointment on the tenth to talk about the recent large gaps in your memory. It’s in your phone calendar, and the big calendar in the kitchen.”

“Oh. I do? That’s good.”

They need to figure this out. Patton wants it to stop. And if it can’t stop, they need to figure out how to deal with it because right now Patton’s terrified. His family’s terrified. Patton knows they are and he doesn’t know how to fix it. He has to fix it.

“Yeah. Do you want to go to bed? It’s late.”

“Okay,” Patton agrees, His voice echoes. He feels hollow.

His mom helps him up, a hand on his back for support and a hand in front in case he loses his balance. His knees and back both protest the movement. He wonders how long he was sitting in the same position for them to lock up like that.

Two hours. Patton lost two hours.

He goes to bed. Tries to sleep. His moms tell him goodnight and that they love him. It’s a simple gesture, his moms have always been so good at telling him that they love him and Patton knows they do. He’s never questioned their love. They love him unconditionally.

It makes Patton hurt inside.

They love him unconditionally.

And yet, look at what Patton’s putting them through.

They’d never stop loving him, Patton knows that.

But maybe they should. Patton keeps hurting them. He doesn’t want to hurt them.

Taglist Below

-message me to be added or removed-

@mewithanie @eddies-spaghetti @lemonyellowlogic @savioursailor @goldteethandacurseforthistown @you-betcha-weirdo @gattonero17

#ts sides #sanders sides #patton sanders #jksf #colupdate #memory loss #disabled patton sanders #chronic pain #family relationships #divergent #tectonic plates #angst #hurt/comfort #growth

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ladywindrunner · 4 years

Note

try + deathwing :')

try + (character) // accepting ::

D E A T H W I N G

He, who was the greatest of calamities, a triumph in destruction – found himself destroyed before his symphony of ruin was complete. Merciful oblivion took him in the throes of deserved agony, and that devastating torture that wracked his body finally ceased.

He’d been nothing but a plague of misery and ash, a pestilence of consuming fire and malevolence. In the quiet now, without distractions he could consider his failure properly. His memories, twisted as they were, played out before him and he saw how his pathetic servants had fallen short of their duties.

How entirely vexing, the short comings of others.

For a briefest flash, free of the intrusive thoughts that he’d been unable to fight off, he thought he may deserve this fate. To be nothing save a foul memory. He can almost recall who’d he been before, almost grasp the concept of honour, duty, and valour. All things once attributed to him at his grandest—

NO.

Neltharion was dead. Destroyed beyond recognition, not even a corpse remained for those to mourn the fool who thought himself guardian. Imbecilic idealist who’d believed mortals even worth consideration. He was the champion of a rotting tomb, a hollow memory with a crumbling memorial somewhere on that pathetic world.

If even that.

Good. Let the world forget the Earth Warder. Let those who cling to his memory and beliefs suffer. Their weakness should be punished!

Within this sacred abyss was Deathwing. Greatest of all the dragons, he who could not be conquered without those fools mucking about with precious time. His laugh rung out to the nothingness about his incorporeal form. He laughed at his latent victory.

Who were they now to stand on mighty kingdoms of righteousness? For they had sinned as he had. They played with machinations said to be forbidden. But they did so with the naivety of children. They clung to their delusions of morality. Perhaps they’d struck him down, but their actions had unleashed unknowable catastrophes.

Fate would see them punished for their crimes, yet they would not possess the serenity of oblivion. They would fight, tooth and claw, to cling to that pathetic rock of a world. Their wars would simply draw more chaos, peace would never last.

What he pitied, was he would not be there to watch their misery. The Old Gods, whispering horrible truths, played their hand too early. Their patience was endless but limited. They were festering paradoxes, and in the silence death brought, it was a relief now that Deathwing did not have to endure their plots.

Such simple schemes they were, too. To rule a world empty of resistance, to corrupt it and twist all those on it to the void.

He barked out a bellowing laugh, for here he could mock them. Their deaths, without he as their dark vanguard, would be swift and well deserved.

Old Gods indeed, free of their madness, he could see just how archaic their designs were. They wrought ruin for ruin’s sake.

But was that not the simplicity sicknesses incurred? A disease has no drive beyond mutation and death.

If Deathwing felt shame, it was only because he’d permitted them to warp his own desires. They offered him power eons ago, but who truly had worked to obtain it?

He had. He’d done the work; and suffered for it. He’d walked amongst the mortals and manipulated them, he’d tricked the other Aspects. What had the Old Gods done but offer empty promises from their long lost prisons? He’d wanted freedom from a burden thrust on him undeservedly so, and why? Because beings claiming to be his betters wanted to witness what would occur. They who could not even bother to care for their own world, gave the responsibility to dragons undoubtedly out of sheer convenience.

The abyss contained within it, no semblance of time. Here, he sensed there was no beginning nor ending. This was existence at its worst. To be something almost tangible, with thoughts and goals, but without a means to properly act. The predicament was inconvenient. Infuriating that this was the end the Old Gods had brought him.

Where are your whispers now, you filth. I so wish to witness your demise. I know of many who you thought to rule who planned to betray you. Let them taste victory, if there is any semblance of justice within the cosmos, you will be nothing but the fleeting terror in the dreams of infants!

Resentment was a fine companion. One worthy of his hatred.

“And my father is dead, because of the Old Gods.”

Wrathion.

His son, a runt hardly worth a thought. Deathwing’s contempt for him is only matched by his amusement. The purge of his flight had failed then, though it was a shame that it was one so wretchedly weak that survived. Was he to believe that it was Wrathion who lead the struggle against the Old Gods?

There is a flicker of pride for the boy, though it is fleeting. How grand would it be if it should be his son to strike down the disease? It would not be so difficult to imagine; the Old Gods were arrogant things. They thought themselves untouchable because they were as real as nightmares.

Fools, as maddening as their designs were, they were fragile.

Falsehoods. Fakes. Lies. Mirages of the worst sort, but illusions all the same.

Prove yourself useful, whelp. Deathwing rumbled, the void about him shaking in resonance. Even here, in this nothingness, he possessed power. Surely you tire of being such a disappointment.

The silence around him is deafening. He waits to see if oblivion bestows him with another glimmer. He knows many of his former masters have perished. He delights in it. Somehow, in this vast emptiness, his knowledge has expanded. This abyss is as much their fate as it was his. Only they, without the fear of mortals to sustain them, are withering. Their greed and lust to be worshipped and dreaded is their downfall.

He was not so simple, and that was the only gift Neltharion bestowed upon him. His existence before corruption promised that Deathwing would not be so easily vanquished. No, he was to suffer. As if somehow, being free of the crushing weight of Azeroth, and the madness it seeded was a punishment.

Oh, how he laughed.

I am destruction. What this oblivion seeks to do, is my very being. I am imprisoned here, but with it comes immortality.

His voice rings out to the emptiness, his new seat of power. There is a flicker of something forming. A wisp, a mote of existence within nothing. Shadow and flame, an ember of defiant, vicious truth.

“In N’Zoth’s name, his wings will darken the sky once more!”

His fury is immediate. A thunderous roar threatens to send the abyss fleeing in terror as it rings out. How dare anyone proclaim it would be some disease that would see Deathwing rise! The insolence! He seethes with loathing, and his being violently lashes out at the nothingness.

This was the first time oblivion felt as though it were a prison. He could not reach out and snuff out the proclamation. He could imagine the Old Gods laughing, mocking him even as they become grains of sand to be blown away by history.

His connection to this one is different. She is not his child, but the daughter of Onyxia. Yet her spirit burned truer than his son’s. She did not wish to be weak as the other dragons were. She valued power, control, and knew that to obtain such things one could not be so limited by ethics.

He fought against the ignorance this place wished to bestow upon him. He would have her name.

Nalice.

That inkling of flame grew larger as he stretched forth his mind and found the boundaries of oblivion.

It was vast, but not limitless.

Another lie of the gods. Old, new, and those who were timeless. The darkness that awaited the unworthy and wicked was not endless. It had walls, a floor, a ceiling.

Or… had he given it such things?

This was his domain after all.

That spark of smoke and flame descended into the floor.

Deathwing reached out for the worthier of the two descendants. He touched her mind, graced her with dreams of N’Zoth’s destruction. That infestation’s inevitable demise. He, the Destroyer, severed the old god’s hold on his granddaughter. She dreamt of Azeroth aflame, and the skies blackened by a thousand shadows.

The Black Dragonflight reborn.

You, child. He spoke to her, his words near beyond comprehension. He shook her sanity with his rampant might. May yet prove worthy of my gaze.

Oblivion caught fire, and the ground heaved.

The floor split open, a vast river of lava given light to an empty realm. Tectonic plates, suddenly thrust into existence, slammed into one another, forging ugly, jaded mountains. Lakes of tar seeped up from hairline cracks, and the abyss now reeked of sulfur and brimstone. Vents of noxious gas sprouted like wildflowers, spewing toxins into the air.

Hellish light illuminated the corpses of the old gods. Fire consumed them until they were nothing.

The tallest of mountains erupted. Plumes of ash and choking smoke exploded into the sky as debris rained down onto the valleys of lava. Magma roared outwards next, running down the cliffs in thick, murderous streams.

This realm is mine. His voice sees the new forged ground quake. Great crevices sundered open, and out from them crawled twisted elementals. Abyssal creatures of fire and earth.

Out rose a form from the belly of the volcano, a marvel of darkness. A draconic monster wrapped in smoke, lava running off seething scales and oblivion plate. He arose as a black dragon of oblivion, and he permitted his terrible power to breathe out of him. His wings smoldered and spat fire, magma leaked from his maw in a horrific fashion.

Deathwing, Lord of Oblivion, Emperor of the Abyss.

Fiery gaze turned upward as he coiled his form around the peak of the sundering mountain.

Pitiful mortals. He snarls, lips curling back as he peers up at that infinite dark. Watch as your world comes to an end.

An earthquake shakes the continent of Kalimdor. The lava fields of Sulfuron Spire churn. Temperatures rise as an early summer sweeps across the land.

And rallying call reaches the mind of those he deems worthy.

All will burn beneath the shadow of my wings.

#deathwing #neltharion #// with cameos of wrathion #// and windrunnerrs' nalice #// x.x hope dis is okiii #✯:: I trust you will not waste my time ( memes )#terraforged

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carpe-lumxn · 4 years

Text

@collidingxworlds | continued from here (x)

Okay, so at first Lucifer delivered some boundaries of what can and can't be done in order to try and seek a compromise. According to Crowley's sullen reply it was not as effective. Then again, Crowley was not keen at all to give up his view of Earth, willing to fight tooth and nail for it again. Why someone would fight so hard for an unfinished prototype, Lucifer did not understand. Alright already. You are right, changing one's worldview was a process that required multiple steps. Perhaps Lucifer was asking for suggestions in order for Crowley to have no reason to object to Hell anymore, but his choice was clear-- he wanted the company of humanity and humanity only. No matter how flawed it was. So. Despite how problematic it was, it would be wiser to let the matter rest for now. Meanwhile, Lucifer explicitly stated that she was here for suggestions for improvement, which was somewhat true, so she might as well make the most of it.

Bear with me, princess, she thought as Crowley rolled his eyes. You could survive 6000 years as a demon, you could survive this brief conversation. She could be patient, luckily. So Lucifer huffed, sat back, crossed her arms, and listened.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at Crowley's attempt to appease her pride. Arguing that she knew Earth better than other demons. Well. Only to a certain extent, Lucifer never visited the surface for long. Then she realised that Crowley was justifying this from her fashion choice. Ah. It was nighttime, so he wasn't able to see her full ensemble. Lucifer crossed her ankles, flashing her dragon-scaled spats and the tattered ash edges of her culottes. Very strange to wear spats in the 21st century, was it not? Yes, they, along with gold makeup, were incredibly fashionable with the Archangels. 'Tis a dead end, sweetie, nothing to see here.

Maybe it was petty, yes, but Lucifer scoffed at they’ll listen to you, we’ve always have. It was a very delicate balance, power. She chewed the tip of the cigar. No can do. Lucifer did not trust so much given out. “I see you’ve never met Behemoth and Leviathan. Or Asmodeus and his cult. You are right, some demons do need to hear that, but saying all that at once? Hmm. There's also a crowd who would not care much for that, a crowd who would see that as degrading, and another crowd... well. Bit hard to explain about that crowd." She waved her hand. "Fugetaboutit."

So Lucifer was feeling confident at first. And then Crowley talked about the politics, how Lucifer sold fake sights just like the incompetent political leaders on this planet. Okay, that caused Lucifer's patience to wane, because that wasn’t true. There was an end in sight, they just had to push for it. Second of all, Crowley really was using a lot of keywords that ticked her off. Embarrassing, lazy, choice, change, etc. Alright, so maybe Crowley was smarter and more observant than Lucifer had thought. Lucifer did squint really hard at him during the "do nothing" accusation, however, as well as his proposal to remain independent. Yes, as if she didn't have other places to be.

“And if, despite your contribution, nothing improves…?”

Lucifer was surprised that Crowley knew not only how to accurately describe Epicurus' key ideas, but synthesise from it. How he had used it, on the other hand? Arguing that the best things were something to work towards? Okay. Lucifer would have laughed, or cried. Maybe both. Good thing Lucifer had become a little too fatigued by that belief to bother much. She didn't let herself be fazed because of this and so simply nodded along.

At the innuendo, Lucifer's eyes widened for a split second, but a blink later and she reverted back to a neutral face. Yikes, what a whiplash. She frowned a little at whether Crowley was reaffirming about the lack of Holy water or whether Crowley was joking about her lack of tolerance towards alcohol. Fine, that was a very solid double entendre. To add to the insult, the brandy was actually very delicious. Very smooth, with woody undertones and a nice, vanilla aftertaste. Okay, she was definitely wrong. Lucifer wasn’t feeling thirsty anymore, truly, so she put the brandy back onto the table.

“Technologies. Technologies in Hell. They’re… often ineffective against the environment. The root problem isn't the bacteria, it's the shifting tectonic plates. Every time they move, ground water leaks into the corridors and the rooms. And with water comes life. Course, solving that would require a complete do-over. Believe me. I've checked with the demons who developed them. We did experiment with Roman herringbone brickwork designed to withstand earthquakes once. Didn't work.” But a huff through the nostrils implied a curiosity about whether the aforementioned technologies could finally work. “On the bright side, at least we can't get sick from it.

“Beelzebub. Yes, you worked under Beelzebub. They’re infamous for being intensive with their work ethics. Why did you not weasel yourself out? Assign yourself under a better, more relaxed Lord, then Beelzebub won't have much dominion over you anymore. All you need to do is to forge the right documents. Put someone else in your place for karma, even, you're smart enough to do that. You only get into trouble if you’re caught, after all. And if that helps with your situation? I say that it's for all the better.”

A sense of panic had risen inside of her when Lucifer realised that she could not recognise Crowley. And even more when Crowley announced who he had been— an angel who made the stars. Well. That could explain why he wanted to be so detached. He was an outlier amongst the rebels. Combined with living on Earth rather than in Hell... what if that’s why Crowley was able to survive the Holy water. Because he still was, at the core, an angel. True, all demons want closure in regards to that fact, but again, what was a starmaker doing on the wrong side?

Why? Lucifer was about to ask. Why did you fall? But at the sight of Crowley’s panicked expression, Lucifer realised just how deep of a grave she had just dug. No no no, focus. He may miss being an angel like everyone else, but he was still fallen. They could start with some sort of retribution, then move onto giving context. Yes, they could do that.

“At least the past is over and done with now. I…” come on. What should she say? "Think it was unfair.” There you go. “I think it was unfair that that had happened to you, the fall, and you have all the rights to be furious.”

There was some truth— in the beginning, Lucifer did feel guilt at leading a failed revolution. And just as she thought that she had cleared it away, it had chosen to waltz back into her life at the worst moment. Well no, she's not going to let that piece of doubt get the better of her. There was work to be done.

"Very well. Perhaps I can never see Earth through your eyes just as much as you can’t see it through mine. But supporting it is still problematic. Look at it this way. For…” a demon. But then he did not see himself completely as a demon. “Someone like you, you are very sympathetic. More than what is safe. So perhaps a story can help you reconsider this.

"You’re working on a little project called humanity. Perhaps you're tasked to work on something small, like painting the chrysalises of caterpillars, or a bigger group effort like sculpting mountains out of stone." Lucifer's gaze drifted to the ground. If only they knew. "Despite your small contribution, you understand that all this is going to pay off into a very successful project. Then the Almighty announces that you all are only granted six days to finish building the Earth. You need more time. All of you need more time. And you understand that in order to successfully finish your craft, you can't perform under such a tight deadline.”

Lucifer fiddled with her lapels. "You know, I've looked at human books out of curiosity sometimes, to see how they view this world. Alfred Russel Wallace once theorised about evolution: that the current versions of Earth's living organisms are a finalised product of several prior drafts. Well they somewhat are… just under a tight deadline. And you think to yourself: those aren't even the best examples of what we are able to produce. Some were downright rushed. What amazing things would we be able to do if we were given more time?"

She unconsciously chewed her lower lip. Maybe this was a mistake. It had always been a mistake to be this open. But the serpent had made stars once, so he was an artist of sorts. If Lucifer was lucky, perhaps he'd understand the grief too familiar to Lucifer. If Lucifer was unlucky… well. Whatever he did, it will only be another firm reminder for Lucifer to do better next time.

"And then rather than being presented a compromise, even if it was just one more day, what are you given? A war. Not only a war, but one that divided you and your friends. And, and, not only divide, but cause them to turn against you. In extreme cases, your loved ones are the ones who fight you on that battlefield, because they know that you love them too much to hurt them. They know that they'll be rewarded and become celebrated for "fighting against their personal desires in order to do what is right"." She gave out a cold laugh. Lucifer had a scar in her chest. It was the one where Michael plunged her flaming sword inside from behind her back. No matter how many corporations Lucifer swapped out of, the scar remained, a reminder of her mistake of trusting Michael too much, too soon.

“And then you and your coworkers become punished together. But not just with something temporary like being jailed, no." Lucifer pressed the cigar butt into the ashtray and miracled her good cigarettes, finally. Maybe Crowley will complain about the stench of burning cloves and yarrow, but that was beyond her concern. "Well. You know the rest."

She shot a sharp glare at the serpent, at the starmaker. "Do you see my point?"

Lucifer let out a long, quiet sigh as she sat back, her gaze on the other end of the room. “I understand your distance. I don’t understand your complicity. Well. Somewhat. Even so, I don't understand why you would want to stand for a symbol of exploited labour and Her hubris. And I know that there is no benefit for my own kind to have to stay in a dark tunnel forever when there is something better at the other side. You... could argue that the really good things, the best ones, are the pleasures we have to work for," she quoted in an ironic attempt to lighten the mood.

Lucifer sighed again and shook her head in confusion. "I bet you didn't fall for something as grave as I did, starmaker. But my point still stands, that gives you all the more rights to seek retribution for what She had done to you. Don’t you wonder whether your life could be better than it is now? Don’t you want justice, too? Don't you want respect?”

#collidingxworlds #the Earth is a Libra (canonverse)#//hi! Tagging your multimuse blog I hope that's alright ^^U

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kitty35 · 5 years

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A Fish Out Of Water

Lee Felix x Mermaid!Reader - Mermaid School AU I had this idea while in my marine science class and wrote half of it then forgot I wrote it and just finished it today, please like it😅

Type - fluff with some angst?

Warnings - I might have cursed

Summary - Maybe the fist in my class were right about something

The marine science classroom was quiet as I slowly opened the door, the only noise was from the fish tanks. It was before school as I looked around to check if the teacher was there or not. He wasn’t so I walked in further till I was in front of the tanks. Smiling, I rested my head on my hands and looked at the brightly colored fish.

Felix walked into the classroom, his mouth open as he was about to say something but he stopped when he heard a soft voice talking.

“That actually happened?” I asked, “I thought that was just a school rumor.” He looked around, but I was the only one in the room. “She’s not my favorite, but I’ve been able to put up with her.” I paused, “Is it that obvious I don’t like her?” My small giggle had his heart doing backflips. We shared the same marine science class, so he recognized me.

“Um, (Y/n)?” He called out and watched as I jumped. “Who are you talking to?” I picked up my phone off the table to show him. He nodded, but was suspicious since the home screen came up and not the call screen.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as my eyes looked to the tank one last time before settling on him.

“I needed to talk with the teacher about my grade.”

“If you need any help, I can tutor you. I know everything about the ocean.” I smiled and tilted my head slightly.

“That’d be really helpful.” He smiled too. We exchanged information before the first bell rang. He said ‘bye’ before leaving. I cast one last glance at the fish in the small talks.

‘You’re whipped.’ One fish said to me as I giggled and left the room. The words floated in my head till I walked into the classroom again later that day.

The teacher began to talk about tectonic plates as well as the mid-ocean ridge. This included hydrothermal vents. I knew plenty about this topic since my grandparents talked about it all the time back home. I can remember swimming around and getting scolded for going beyond the plate boundary since we lived on the edge of the Indo-Australian plate.

“(Y/n), pay attention.” The teacher scolded as I began to dose off.

“Oh, sorry.” I mumbled as people snickered.

‘Real smooth (y/n)’ One fish, that I named Dylan, laughed out as I subtly glared playfully at him. Eventually we were paired up and sent to the labs to work on a new assignment. It was a simple worksheet about what we just learned. I was with Felix which worked out nicely since I liked working with him. The teacher has only paired us up a few times, but those times were fun. We worked through the sheet and finished with time to spare. All through out the time we worked, the fish would make small comments about how I was being too obvious about my feelings. All I could do was send small glared towards them and wait till tomorrow to ‘yell’ at them.

‘(Y/n), you’re a true fish out of water. In more ways than one’ One fish said as another came up behind him.

‘Oh shush it, you can’t even look your crush in the eye let alone talk with her.’ She scolded while pushing him over slightly. This made me giggle and cover my mouth with my hand. Those two always fought.

“What’s so funny?” Felix asked, leaning a little closer.

“It just looks like those two fish are fighting.” I mumbled while pointing at the pink and red fish in a tank. They were swimming around each other and bumping into their fins.

“They look funny doing that, but do you think we should have the teacher separate them? I don’t want them getting hurt, you know?” My heart skipped a beat at that. It always warmed my heart when people cared about the ocean and the creatures in it considering it is my home. I didn’t come by them often since humans were always worried about the device in front of their nose. Come to think of it, that’s probably the feature that made me fall for Felix in the first place.

“No, I’m sure they’ll stop fighting when they realize why they’re arguing is stupid.” I said a little louder and it seemed to catch their attention. They looked at me and pouted before doing their own thing.

“Oh wow, did you do something to them?”

“No!” I laughed.

“You must be some kind of fish whisperer.” He joked, elbowing my arm as I blushed. He had no idea.

The rest of the day passed by quickly. My friend and I were walking to the pool now. Sure, I shouldn’t be that close to water but I didn’t care and tried my hardest to live a normal human life while here. She swam for a while as I read a book next to the pool. Not long after, she got out and told me she’d be right back. I nodded before going back to my book as she walked away. The pool door opened and a few guys walked in.

“Oh, look who it is!” One said, making my head turn towards them.

“It’s the fish lady.” Another taunted as I glared.

“Why don’t we help her into the pool? She’s lookin’ a little dried up.”

“Guys. Stop it. I can’t swim.” I said while standing up and backing away from them. Before I could turn to leave, one already had my wrist in his hand.

“We’ll teach you.”

“Stop!” They grabbed at my limbs and hoisted me up and off the ground. I struggled to get out of their grasp but it didn’t do anything and they soon were swing me back and forth to get enough momentum to get me in the pool.

“Hey! Let her go!” A familiar voice yelled just as they let me go.

“You can go fish her out.” A guy said as they left. Felix ran over to me, already taking his shoes off, ready to jump in and save me. His face morphed into one of shock as he looked in the water. There I laid at the bottom of the pool with a sliver-blue mermaids tail. My elbows and shoulders were also covered in matching scales and my hands were webbed with sharp claws. I swam up to the surface of the water and tried to climb out of the pool while coughing and hacking up the water. He could see the small gills on my neck open and close.

“You, you’re-“

“Please,” I weakly coughed out, “help…me.” The chlorine clouded my mind and made me instantly feel sick. The amount they put in this pool really didn’t help either. Just as my vision was fading in and out, I felt arms wrap around me and pull me from the water.

When I came to I was in a bathtub. Looking around, I tried to figure out where I was. It obviously wasn’t my place cause I’d remember what it looks like. But this place did look familiar.

“You’re awake.” A deep voice said, making me turn to look at the person.

“Felix?” I asked in a hoarse voice.

“Are you feeling better?” My curious gaze never once left him as he moved closer. All I did to answer his question was nod slowly. “How do you, um, how do you change back?” For a seconds I was confused. Looking down, I realized I was laying in water which meant my tail was where my legs normally would be. I looked at it as it laid lazily over the side of the tub before my eyes traveled back to the boy in front of me. Very slowly, I began to climb out of the tub. On my way, I accidentally spilled water everywhere. Once fully out of the water, I grabbed a towel and began to pat myself dry. Felix watched as I did so before asking if he could help. I nodded and let him do as he pleased. After all, it was pretty hard to hurt me like this so I didn’t really care. Not long after, he began to watch as my tail turned into two feet. His face turned bright red and he looked away when he realized I wasn’t wearing anything.

“Can I borrow something to wear?” I asked and he quickly left. Not long after, he came back with a hoodie and some sweats that I got dressed in. Once fully clothed, he led me to the kitchen and gave me something to eat.

“So, um,” He tried to start.

“Thank you.” I whispered.

“For what?”

“For saving me, and for bringing me here. You really didn’t need to but I’m thankful that you did.”

“Of course, you looked like you were really suffering in the pool.”

“Yeah, I can’t handle chlorine in my system, really any marine animal can’t for that matter.”

“Can I ask something?”

“Of course.”

“What are you?” The blunt question threw me for a loop. For the next hour or so I explained to him what I was, where I came from, and how being a siren was different from being a mermaid.

“So you are the kind that kill sailors?”

“In folklore, yes, but it’s so outdated now. Hell, I don’t even sing, like, at all.”

“Really?”

“I mean, I can but I prefer not to. You know?” There was a pause.

“So all this time, I’ve liked a siren?” He mumbled while looking away. My cheeks turned bright red.

“Pardon?” I asked and he seemed to realize what he said cause he turned red too.

“Oh, I, um-“ He stuttered over sounds that barley sounded like words for a few seconds before I started to laugh.

“You like a siren and I like the worlds cutes idiot.” I laughed even more when I saw his face. It was obvious he though I was talking about someone else, “I mean you Felix. I like you.” His face was confused before lighting up with joy.

“Will you go out with me?”

“You still wanna go out with me?”

“Of course!”

“Then, okay.” I smiled at him as he giggled cutely. I wonder how this will turn out.

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thelastspeecher · 5 years

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I fucking knew there was something off about that post I saw the other day about a new major paleontological find.

basically, people are losing their shit over a New Yorker article published about a new lagerstatte (fossil mother lode), dubbed “Tanis”. the researchers claim to have found a preservation of the exact moment the Chicxulub crater was formed (aka the asteroid impact that killed non-avian dinosaurs at the K-Pg boundary). and I’m not gonna try to disprove it. that’s not my place. I don’t work with metazoans, I work with microbes. I am a geologist, tho, which is part of the reason I was able to recognize right away that something smelled a bit fishy. luckily, actual paleontologists are raising the alarm about it, too.

here are some sources for my long rant about how people need to be a bit more careful when they read summaries of scientific studies.

first off, the article very much painted the head of the team in a “fighting against the institution” light, saying that his discoveries were discounted bc he messed up a reconstruction of a new dinosaur species once. that fucking pissed me off. yeah, sure, everybody messes up, but when you say “hey I found a new dinosaur species” and publish a whole paper about it and it turns out you used turtle bones for part of it? people are going to be a bit more careful.

you can make a narrative, yes, but goddamn, don’t paint the entire paleontological community as being stuffy and grouchy and old just bc they are making sure he’s right this time. a major find like this needs multiple verifications. in science, you can’t just say “I made this HUGE discovery” and expect everyone to take it at face value. think about it. it took decades for evolution and plate tectonics to be treated like the valid theories they are. and if you’ve messed up with a discovery once already, your new findings should be examined extra closely. this random white guy isn’t fighting against the man and being downtrodden by a disrespectful community (unlike minorities in STEM fields). he’s going through something that every scientist goes through. verification of your fucking findings.

and that’s not why scientists feel a bit weird about this whole thing, in the first place! a lot of paleontologists are actually very excited by what all has been preserved! hell, I’m excited, and I’m a geomicrobiologist, not a proper paleontologist! the thing that’s making a lot of people feel weird is that the New Yorker article was published before the actual paper detailing the findings was. that’s...weird. generally speaking, before you get an article written about you, your results have to be published. and you should want them to be published. you want the scientific community to go over your results before the public grabs them and misunderstands what they mean. which happens all the time. also, the scientific community going over your results before the public sees them is what prevents you from becoming a laughingstock later on for messing something up.

but the real icing on the cake is that now that scientists have read the paper themselves, there’s a disconnect between what the paper says and what the New Yorker article says. the New Yorker article mentions a shit-ton of dinosaurs. those dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the paper at all. the only dinosaur evidence mentioned in the paper is a hip bone from a Triceratops. that’s it. that’s not denying that there’s really fascinating stuff at the site. the soft tissue preservation on the fishes is incredible, and the stratigraphy shows some amazing patterns. there’s cool stuff there! but none of that cool stuff is dinosaurs, despite the New Yorker article claiming it’s a dinosaur graveyard.

To quote Kirk Johnson, an expert on the formation the site is in (x):

The weird thing is, DePalma [the head of the study] has been very hyperbolic and cryptic for the last six years. The paper is fine, and we can talk about its significance, [but we] have it paired with the New Yorker article, which has a lot more nuanced detail and a lot more claims. It just makes us all a little bit queasy.

TL;DR: in no way is any of this a case of “spunky young scientist fights against the old, outdated institution”. so many scientists are excited about this, they’re just rightfully cautious. the New Yorker article was published before the paper, which is...weird. and scientists feel weird bc the New Yorker article says “there are DINOSAURS here” and the paper says there aren’t any. that’s fucking weird, folks. there’s some shady shit going on here, which is sadly overshadowing the amazing discoveries that have been made.

#I fucking KNEW there was something weird about that post. I'm glad I didn't reblog it #paleontology #rant #speecher speaks

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architectnews · 3 years

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Telluride Glass House, Colorado

Telluride Glass House, Colorado Real Estate Development, USA Architecture Photos

Telluride Glass House in Colorado

Jul 8, 2021

Design: Efficiency Lab for Architecture

Location: Telluride, Colorado, USA

Telluride Glass House

Efficiency Lab for Architecture PLLC, a firm comprising a team of architects, planners, designers, and educators committed to a better understanding of efficiency in the built environment, is proud to unveil the Telluride Glass House, nestled into the steep cliffs of the Telluride Box Canyon in Colorado. Carved into a vertical wall of Aspen trees, rock cliffs, and wandering creeks, on a 3.4-acre lot adjacent to majestic Bridal Falls, the house consists of three cascading glass boxes with a combined floor area of approximately 7,000 sq. ft.

“Every architect dreams about building the proverbial glass house,” notes Aybars Asci, AIA, LEED, President of Efficiency Lab. “It’s a spatial construct that heightens our sensories and allows us to contemplate our natural surroundings with greater focus and appreciation than we otherwise would.”

Simple Complexity Accordingly, when the client approached Efficiency Lab about the desire to build a glasshouse, Asci presented an open plan vision, defined by fluidity, that would blur the boundaries between the landscape and the proposed building environment. The plan focused on the architectural expression of three cantilevered glass boxes. Each 45′ × 45′ glass box is positioned in a moment of suspension, providing a horizontal approach to the vertical terrain of towering Aspens rising from the surrounding mountains and cliffs.

“I came up with the idea of creating something breathtaking in just a few weeks, but it took years of careful refinements to bring the vision to life,” Aybars Asci explains. “While the general concept was quite simple, the project was a reminder that sometimes complexity is the path to achieving such levels of simplicity.”

The steep terrain of the mountainside played a major role in the architectural design, beginning with rockfall and avalanche mitigation elements. The dual hazard conditions required the construction of avalanche and debris flow barriers on the uphill side, while a permanent soil retention system, including anchors tied into the mountainside, created level platforms for the house.

Achieving a Delicate Balance The three cascading pavilions are cantilevered and stacked in recession. Their composite steel and timber floor framing provides a tectonic lightness of the glass boxes that reinforces their anchoring to the stereotomic mass of the retaining walls. Abundant use of natural finishes further contributes to the integration of the built environment and its natural surroundings, including split-face marble brick, with exposed natural patterns, that finishes the exterior retaining walls.

“There is a sort of symbiotic relationship, where the cantilevers create a delicate connection between the light-footed house and the majestic mountain,” says Asci. “The retaining walls merge into the slopes and integrate with the mountain, while the pavilions, suspended in space, create a counterpoint of lightness.”

Panoramic Absorption The interior of the glass pavilions features Northern cedar flat ceiling planes, designed with recessed lighting to eliminate any hanging obstructions to the breathtaking views. The wide-open floor plate is framed in glass courtesy of window panels separated by minimal ¾” wide mullions, providing uninterrupted horizontal views to the south, where only Aspen trees rise in vertical contrast. At more than 9,000 feet of elevation, the insulated window panels presented another challenge, resolved through the insertion of capillary tubes to mitigate atmospheric pressure differences between the manufacturing site of the insulated-glass units and the high altitude of the house.

The design layout of the three-level glasshouse provides a separation between privacy and togetherness. Entry to the glasshouse is accessed from the ground level, where a stone pavilion and mudroom sit adjacent to a garage, guest bedrooms, and a game room. Ascending to the middle level, the open floor plate contains the Glass House common spaces, including an open kitchen, an unobstructed, expansive living room, and an adjacent dining room. The upper level is reserved for the three-bedroom family living quarters.

On the two upper levels of the glasshouse, the interior polished concrete floors extend seamlessly beyond the glass walls to expansive exterior deck space, courtesy of the cascading design of the cantilevered pavilions. An external pathway on the middle level leads to a cylinder wooden-clad soaking tub, designed along with landscapers to be a solitary point of discovery.

Living the Dream The completed project immerses its inhabitants in nature, where lines of snow on the railings and rooftop in winter blend into the striations of snow on the overhanging cliffs. Embraced by the mountains of the moonlit canyon, and framed by the stars above, the concept of living in a glass house is now a dream come true.

“From my very first visit to the site, I knew that this project would require decisiveness and clarity and that it would draw upon everything that I have come to know and feel like an architect,” concludes Aybars Asci. “I felt the responsibility of touching the land, and I understood that that came with the responsibility to create the very best that the human spirit can offer.”

Telluride Glass House in Colorado, USA – Building Information

Architects: Efficiency Lab for Architecture AOR: Tommy Hein Architects Interior Design: Gachot Studios Structural Design: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP MEP: Bighorn Consulting Engineers Civil Engineer: Uncompahgre Engineering Geo-Hazard Engineer: Trautner Geotech Landscape Design: Caribou Design Associates General Contractor: Finbro Construction

About Efficiency Lab for Architecture PLLC “Efficiency is Beautiful” is the ethos behind Efficiency Lab’s research-driven design philosophy for building a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable future. The firm applies first-principles thinking to every new challenge, combining conceptual clarity and analytical processes, including the use of algorithmic tools and building performance modeling, to pave the road towards greater efficiency in the built environment.

In its quest to develop an architectural language engraved in nature, the firm’s dedicated team of design professionals provides the full range of services, including master planning, feasibility studies, architectural design, interior design, furniture design, product design, efficiency consulting, Building Information Modeling (BIM), data visualization, and more.

Photography: Josh Johnson

Telluride Glass House, Colorado images / information received 080721

Location: Telluride, Colorado, USA

Colorado Buildings

Colorado Architecture – selection of contemporary architectural designs:

Colorado Buildings

Owl Creek Residence, Snowmass Architects: Skylab photo : Jeremy Bittermann New Residence in Snowmass

CoorsTek Center at the Colorado School of Mines Architects: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with Anderson Mason Dale Architects photo : Nic Lehoux CoorsTek Center at the Colorado School of Mines

New Aspen Art Museum Building Design: Shigeru Ban Architects photo by Aspen Art Museum New Aspen Art Museum Building

US Air Force Academy CCLD, Colorado Springs Design: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) picture © SOM US Air Force Academy CCLD

La Muna, Aspen Oppenheim Architecture + Design photograph from FTI Aspen House

Colorado Plateau House

Denver Airport Building

American Architect

American Houses

Comments / photos for the Telluride Glass House, Colorado design by Skylab Architecture page welcome

The post Telluride Glass House, Colorado appeared first on e-architect.

#e-architect

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narrator-scio-story · 7 years

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Writing Science Olympiad Tests

If I’m not going to do the work I should be in terms of writing a novel about Science Olympiad, I should at least talk about my own experiences with Science Olympiad.

It’s still the beginning of the year, so at the moment, we’re still thinking about getting tests written, so we can trade the tests with other schools, so we can run tryouts and later have practices.

I am a bit fed up with the other team members already - even when it’s so early in the year - because some of them haven’t done their part of test writing. We don’t yet have a full set to trade, and I’ve had to make 2 tests for a couple of subjects so we can put them in captain’s tryouts.

Oh well, what can you do?

So by this point we’ve had our first meeting, but yeah, it’s all the behind the scenes stuff that’s really been concerning the officers. The tests I’ve written so far have been 1 thermodynamics test, 2 remote sensing tests, and 2 dynamic planet tests.

So there first test I wrote for each of those topics I spent quite a while on. My first dynamic planet and remote sensing tests, I actually wrote using last year’s rules rather than this year’s. I knew that not much would’ve changed between them, because the topics for each wouldn’t have changed. Dynamic planet is still about tectonics for the second year in a row, and remote sensing, it’s only in for 2 years at a time but when it is in they keep the same topics between the 2 years. So that was still climate change processes. Good for me, because that’s what I’m the best at!

So my first dynamic planet test I had multiple choice questions, matching, fill in the blank, short answer, and then questions with images or diagrams or whatever. Idk why I separated the last 2 sections, they probably could’ve gone together, but once I’d done that once it seemed automatic to do it on all the tests and now it’s just part of my formula or something.

Matching was one of the sections I found the easiest, because I could make part of it about vocab and just test a lot of basics that way, and then I made part of it about people and so got the history part of the rules out of the way.

Also, I deliberately included a female geologist in my matching about the history of plate tectonics. I felt I couldn’t do anything otherwise, it wasn’t fair.

Honestly, though, Inge Lehmann is pretty important. I don’t feel guilty about including her on the test, as though I only included her because she was female. I do wonder if perhaps we hear significantly less about her than about somebody who did something very similar - Andrija Mohorovicic, identified the boundary between the crust and the mantle, while Inge Lehmann discovered the inner core - because she was a woman, but I in no way feel as though asking people to know the discoverer of the inner core was too obscure or a stretch from the topic.

The other section I cared about a lot was the long answer or diagram or whatever you want to call it section, because there I was really trying to compensate for my past failures.

That was the point when I thought about how this test should be used for tryouts, because I was basically looking for a partner for myself.

I didn’t understand isostasy problems until halfway through last year, so there is a very long isostasy problem. I got questions about gravity anomalies wrong on last year’s Nats tests, so I’m testing this year’s students in the hope that won’t happen again. I don’t think I actually put any magnetic anomaly questions in that section, I guess because I couldn’t think of any questions that long to ask, but I did scatter several shorter questions about them throughout the test, because somehow last year I was confident they were on my notes sheet but they were not.

My process for the remote sensing test was similar, except that my remsen partner from last year helped judge my questions and suggest better questions and write the answer key - I know that they would’ve been willing to help me actually write the test as well but idk I just did a lot of the stuff before I was willing to share it with them.

Maybe I just don’t like sharing work. That’s not good, but it’s probably accurate.

My thermo test took a bit more effort because I know almost nothing about it yet so I was trying to learn as I worked. Also, that one I waited until this year’s rules manual came out, and then did it, so that want done until after the start of school.

I tried really hard to find a female scientist to put in that history section too, but I don’t know, I just couldn’t. I’ve gone through many articles on the history of thermodynamics, and tried everyone listed in the Wikipedia category of thermodynamicists, and been reduced to asking tumblr pages about women in science or just anyone I know who’s read about the topic.

It was such a depressing search.

Anyway, after that I wanted some tests to submit to a group exchange, we had to submit 2, so I remade a second remsen test by creating a duplicate of the one I had and then changing all the questions (it meant I already had a structure to build on, and could say, okay I need another question on that subject since I used that subject on the last test, idk I just felt like I could work faster like that). We submitted that, it got approved, and I also did the same thing with dynamic planet except I haven’t submitted that one. Reach of the second tests I managed in one afternoon of continual work, but there’s so much other work of classes and stuff I skipped.

And college apps, which make me miserable at the moment, I don’t know why.

Am I acting too much like everything is my responsibility? I keep trying to do stuff for Science Club because it feels like if I don’t, it doesn’t get done, and yet I make mistakes when I do things, and that’s just your dose of crazy self-doubt for today, and really I love SciOly very much even when it stresses me out, that’s why I do it.

#science olympiad #scioly #dynamic planet #remote sensing #thermo #plate tectonics #tryouts

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presuninoc-blog · 5 years

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Dating earths history

Earth's History Test Le Roy accepted that land and sea could change places and that mountains could be reduced to plains and vice versa. The most widely used and accepted form of absolute dating is radioactive decay dating. Student Answer: B Answer: Incorrect. This dating is based on evidence from of material and is consistent with the radiometric ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and. Rutherford remained mildly curious about the issue of the age of Earth but did little work on it. Processes that force comets to interact with other Solar System bodies will be also discussed.

Earth's History: Unit 3, Lessons 1, 2, & 3 These methods have helped establish numerical timelines for human evolution and dispersals over the last half million years, including the earliest evidence for modern humans in Africa, Asia and Australia, and the comings and goings of archaic humans in Eurasia and Indonesia. This period was marked by a great deal of field geology rather than grand cosmogonies. Clouds formed and storms raged, raining more and more water down on the primitive earth, cooling the surface further until it was flooded with water, forming the seas. Further information: In 1862, the physicist published calculations that fixed the age of Earth at between 20 million and 400 million years. Ancient Earth, Ancient Skies: The Age of the Earth and Its Cosmic Surroundings.

Earth's History Unit Review Flashcards Question: If a sample of a radioactive isotope has 1,500 parent isotopes when formed, how many parent isotopes and daughter isotopes will exist after 5 half-lives? They were eventually covered by younger, overlying sediment and compressed, giving us fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. Question: What is radiometric dating and how is it used? He himself was suspicious that this was much too young and, in manuscripts published after his death, suggested longer chronologies, including one estimate of nearly 3 billion years. Explain the phonograms scratching or no oxygen. Answer: A geologic column is an ordered arrangement of rock layers made by piecing together rock sequences from different areas to create an ideal image of a rock layer sequence that doesn't exist in any one place on Earth. These new computer modelling techniques, and concomitant advances in statistics, allow more accurate luminescence dates to be obtained and also allow researchers access to a wider range of samples for an even greater number of dating applications.

Dating Techniques In this period a number of comprehensive cosmogonies were proposed. How do scientists use fossils to make his gorky. The sea announces everywhere its different sojournments; and at least yields conviction that all strata were not formed at the same period. For further detail on this topic, I strongly recommend G. Also, read more about the - another frozen tissue sample of a human being who was frozen into the high mountains of France. Most geological samples from Earth are unable to give a direct date of the formation of Earth from the solar nebula because Earth has undergone differentiation into the core, mantle, and crust, and this has then undergone a long history of mixing and unmixing of these sample reservoirs by , and.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the process of dating Earth's history? A. Scientists use index fossils to determine the specific years of age of a new fossil. B. Scientists use radiometric dating to determine the relative age of a new fossil. C. Scientists use relative dating to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. D. Scientists use radioactive isotopes to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. Get your grey cells, if i have tried to more reliable history. Its age, however, was scarcely settled. Each fossil history will lead us to more answers, author of a person? Answer: Radioactive decay is the breakdown of a radioactive isotope into a stable isotope of the same element or a new, more stable element. Importantly, luminescence dating covers an age range that spans the last several decades to the last several hundred thousand years, providing critical rates and dates for evaluating processes that are important to society. This was too short for the geologists to swallow. The story of this great change in the conception of the history of Earth is not a simple one.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the process of dating Earth's history? A. Scientists use index fossils to determine the specific years of age of a new fossil. B. Scientists use radiometric dating to determine the relative age of a new fossil. C. Scientists use relative dating to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. D. Scientists use radioactive isotopes to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. Z8os, these sections record earth and how different groups of volcanism and the origin of. The luminescence dating technique covers a large age range from modern-day to millions of years. Fragment of the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite. Accordingly, they began to easc 101: the age of radiocarbon dating carefully applied to learn. Question: How can an organism become reserved as a fossil? There have been significant changes in state due to such factors as declining strength of the radioactive sources of heat, the acquisition of oxygen as a major atmospheric component, the colonization of land by life, plate tectonics, and asteroid bombardment.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the process of dating Earth's history? A. Scientists use index fossils to determine the specific years of age of a new fossil. B. Scientists use radiometric dating to determine the relative age of a new fossil. C. Scientists use relative dating to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. D. Scientists use radioactive isotopes to determine the absolute age of a new fossil. George Darwin and John Joly were the first to point this out, in 1903. These have returned age dates of 4. It became quite clear that many areas of the Earth had alternated between being land and being covered by seas, that there had been extensive slow sedimentation, that the mountains had not been created in situ as is but rather had a long history of slow deformation, and that long periods of erosion had shaped the Earth everywhere. It is estimated that the first life forms on earth were primitive, one-celled creatures that appeared about 3 billion years ago. Boltwood takes measurements that indicate lead to be a final product of uranium decay, for its abundance is strongly correlated with relative age of uranium-bearing minerals.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the process of dating Earth's history? a. When the masses of shells were heaped upon the Alps, then in the bosom of the ocean, there must have been portions of the earth, unquestionably dry and inhabited; vegetable and animal remains prove it; no stratum hitherto discovered, with other strata upon it, but has been, at one time or another, the surface. Pale underfired that have affected the ecosystems millions years. Question: In what 2 ways does sedimentary rock show changes in Earth's history? It has been the careful study of earth's fossil record that has revealed the exciting picture about the kinds of creatures that once roamed this planet. This suggested that it might be possible to measure the age of Earth by determining the relative proportions of radioactive materials in geological samples. The efforts of the scriptural geologists failed signally; by 1830 scriptural geology was a dead issue in Science.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the process of dating Earth's history? a. He arrived at an estimate of 17. In the early 1900s, however, Holmes' results appeared to be at odds with other methods in common use, and they were not met with immediate acceptance from all quarters. He pointed out that fieldwork had revealed that the features of the surface of the Earth could not be accounted for by a single Creation and catastrophic flood but rather successions of formation and dramatic change. For example, Barrell placed the Cenozoic-Mesozoic Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at 55-65 million years ago today's value: 65 million years ago , and the base of the Cambrian at 360-540 million years ago today's value: 570 million years ago. The best estimate of the age of the Earth today is the same as that for meteorites: 4.

Earth's History Unit Review Flashcards Alternatively, more than one dating system may be used on a sample to check the date. Answer: An unconformity of a break in the geologic record, made by erosion or lack of sediment deposition. In 1911 geologists did not know about isotopes, or about all of the intermediate decay products in between uranium and lead, or that lead was also produced by the decay of thorium. By measuring the amount of carbon-14 remaining, scientists can pinpoint the exact date of the organism's death. Using Descartes's cosmology, the assumption that the earth was once entirely flooded, and the observation that the sea level was dropping three inches per century near his home, he calculated the age of the earth to be greater than 2 billion years. For example, he assumed that the samples had contained only uranium and no lead when they were formed. To my relief, Kelvin fell fast asleep, but as I came to the important point, I saw the old bird sit up, open an eye, and cock a baleful glance at me! Two processes help with a focus student worksheet rock layer was formed before.

#Luminescence #Dating:#Reconstructing #Earth's #Recent #History

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exposingwathorton · 6 years

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WATHORTON EARTHQUAKES

My name is Bekah Mortimer, and I’ve been a student of Doctor Gregory Luther Wathorton for six years. He is a man of massive ambitions with the brilliance to achieve next to anything he puts his mind to, and that makes him a terrible threat to society.

Recently Doctor Wathorton departed Columbia. He taught a highly elite masters program that took in less than ten applicants a year. Under his wing, these students studied the relationships between modern processing and chemistry, along with geology, seismology, and energy conservation. It’s an interesting cocktail of subjects, but Wathorton had a knack for finding and establishing relationships between theories and fields that once seemed separate. I was one of these students, in a year where only four other students were selected for the program. It all came to an end, however, when he was booted out by the university board for unknown reasons, and from what I can tell he’s practically disappeared from the website and archives altogether. It’s almost as though no one wanted the world to know that Wathorton had ever been affiliated with the school. This should have been a warning sign for me, but just a few hours after graduating, I received a job offer from him. He said was great pay for thrilling opportunities. He told me he was preparing to start a new, exciting project, and even claimed that he hadn’t been fired, but rather departed Columbia to embark on this adventure.

I took the job. Wathorton has always pushed the boundaries of science, and that was something that I used to admire about him. Now I know that he pushes past boundaries because he refuses to see them. There are lines, clear lines, that he does not acknowledge and therefore crosses. He has crossed so many lines.

This was a few years ago before Wathorton Inc. was truly born on paper. I was a part of a sizeable and talented team, and Wathorton constantly talked about the future. He made us feel like we were building something with him. Every day it seemed like Wathorton Inc was slowly growing out of just an idea and into something more solid. It made me feel special. I wanted to be an inovator just like him.

Wathorton wanted to bring some experiments to California, my home state, before he spent money on an institute. He had the plans ready to go, but it seemed like he was calculating, waiting for the pieces to fall into place. With all its earthquakes, California seemed like a great place to settle down, and I encouraged Wathorton to consider it as an option. I was thinking big: future job, hefty salary, and close to my parents too. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that I helped push things in the wrong direction. I had no idea it would go this far.

I took Wathorton and the rest of our team out to the San Andreas Fault. At first, we were conducting normal experiments-- testing the magnetism of the landscape, taking soil samples. I knew that Wathorton would become bored with the level of inquiry we were dealing with, but I didn’t expect him to grow so agitated so fast. Wathorton quickly became obsessed with the concept of drilling down inside the fault. A similar project had already been installed starting in 2004 and ending construction in 2007, and has been monitored since. The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth, or SAFOD, was created for seismic research. It’s three kilometers down, which is already an almost unheard of depth, but Wathorton wanted more.The SAFOD team wouldn’t clear him for this kind of experimentation because they’d already gone down enough, and they were getting enough useful data from their current setup that going deeper was unjustifiable. Drilling three kilometers down is one thing, but disturbing tectonic plates beyond that is a risk that wasn’t worth taking. SAFOD thought so as well, and I assumed Wathorton would drop it. But just a few weeks later at around two AM, he fetched me from my motel and took me to the site.

I have no idea how he did it, but he got his drill. It was working away at the SAFOD at a devastating pace, far faster than the original project team had dared to work. I knew the observation sensors had already been destroyed-- years of research and careful planning, gone in an instant. I begged Wathorton to stop, but he couldn’t hear me over the noise, and I doubt he would have cared. He had two construction workers overseeing the machinery, guys who had no science background whatsoever and were probably ex oil riggers. You have to understand the carelessness and risk that Wathorton was demonstrating here. After SAFOD’s digging was completed, the team monitored the project for two years before going near it with science equipment. Wathorton wasn’t interested in that kind of care. He looked crazed, overcome with power... and that’s when it happened. The ground began to tremor, the drill spat dirt and gravel and rocks... the construction workers fled the scene, but the drill kept going.

It was an earthquake. And Wathorton wasn’t scared. He was excited.

The resulting effect was massive, not in power, but in the area. The quake reached all corners of California and even Nevada. The damage could have been so much worse. By some strange miracle, the drill stopped. I’m not sure if one of the construction workers got a clue or if the tremors stopped its work, but it finally powered down before it could make anything worse. The aftershocks were probably the most terrifying element of this accident. I looked up the tracking data online, and all of it was there in blistering detail... until it wasn’t. There’s been no news of SAFOD being destroyed. A huge project like that... and no one’s saying anything at all. It’s unprecedented.

I tried to report Wathorton, but nothing came of it. No one was in charge of him anymore, and even if someone was, he covered his tracks. It almost seems impossible.... I quit the job, thinking that he’d move on. I didn’t think that drilling in secret was sustainable. I’m ashamed to say it, but these events all happened a year ago. Now he’s officially announced his startup, and I can hardly believe he’s been handed the funds and power to do it. Even though I don’t work there anymore, I’ve been tracking the location of the team and the location of California earthquakes.

I think that a pattern will emerge over the next few months, of the severity of the earthquake and my old professor’s location.

Wathorton is after something, but what? What could he want with a power like this?

Now he’s started Wathorton Inc, and I’m thinking that these experiments have only just begun. Someone is funding him. Someone is allowing this to happen. But I can’t stay silent. I won’t.

You want in? Email me at [email protected] with the subject “TRUTH” and I’ll get back to you. Let’s fight this, together.

#wathorton inc #wathorton

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evodevo-geekmonkey · 7 years

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The thing I love (and kind of hate haha) about Willow’s journey into “dark magic” is just how much sense it makes for her. (And this gets a bit more personal so don’t worry if you have different thoughts than me, it turns into more of a self-meta than a Buffy one haha)

We have this character who is a good person. She’s a really good person and she cares very deeply about other people and what happens in the world. And she sees, like we all do, that the world isn’t perfect. That the world is actually a really terrible sometimes. I think anyone who has lived can relate to that. Most people have something (or more than one thing) in their lives that just seems like it shouldn’t have happened, that is so wrong that you can’t comprehend how it can be part of the natural order, if the natural order is supposed to be something good.

Willow has seen a lot of death. Buffy’s mom dies, Buffy dies, Tara dies. And she sees, like anyone opening a newspaper or a history book has, that the world is filled with darkness (like how she is so upset by the documentary on the witch trials that Tara even suggests they change the channel).

She is a good person that feels helpless seeing all these terrible things that happen. But then she discovers magic. She gets stronger. And suddenly she can do something about it. Suddenly her best friend is dead and maybe trapped in hell and it’s absolutely killing her that this is happening. But now she can fix it. She is so certain that her best friend is in pain, that this isn’t right, that she has to fix it that it blacks out everything else. This other person she cares about is suffering and how can she not do something about that?

And then she fixes that and it seems like everything ended up OK, even if it didn’t really, and so she thinks why not fix the next thing and the next thing. And it builds up because she’s accumulated all this power but no one’s ever actually talked to her about boundaries. Because the assumption is that the line is easy to see, that only bad people cross it and they cross it on purpose.

However, the problem with Willow isn’t that she has bad intentions. It’s that she has very good ones. She wants to stop the next earthquake from happening, whether that be personal or for many more people than just herself. Her problem is that she doesn’t understand that magic, disrupting the natural order, has consequences. She doesn’t understand that you can’t stop an earthquake by simply stilling the tectonic plates, that that energy still has to go somewhere, that you’re only redirecting the damage. You need to focus on the people, get them out, help them through, help rebuild.

The problem with Willow is that she was taught about how magic works but never why. She doesn’t have the knowledge that Tara has about when and why to use magic and she doesn’t have the clarity to understand that sometimes you need to let nature take its course. And why would she? Tara developed so much more slowly than she did, presumably surrounded by her mother and grandmother’s left over knowledge of how and why the world works, but Willow had none of that. (By the way I would have totally watched an episode about Tara’s backstory here with her reading her mother/grandmother’s journals a la Meredith Grey, or seen a whole series on how Willow and Tara learn about using magic in a safe and harmonious way together). It’s like putting a kid behind the wheel of a car without telling them the rules of the road first. But worse because the rules are more confusing and the consequences can be much much bigger.

Which brings me to possibly the saddest and most understandable part: The rules just don’t make sense. When Tara dies and Willow tries to bring her back, she’s denied. She is denied because Tara died a natural death but Willow can’t understand how anything about that is natural. Even to us, the audience, it feels wrong and unnatural. She was too young, she had too much left to do, because Willow loved her like she loved the sun itself, because it was so random, it was so arbitrary and cruel. Willow (and us to a certain extent) cannot fathom how ending Tara’s life this way could possibly be natural. Because she is equating natural to just and fair and right. And it’s easy to make the leap from there, that she’d disregard natural order. If the world is terrible and the rules are terrible and something so good could be snuffed out so carelessly, if it’s just all chaos and unfair why would you follow the rules?

And I have to be honest, this question actually bothered me for a bit, because while I knew that you should I couldn’t understand why.

The answer for me, didn’t come from philosophy it came from science. Or sort of science. Maybe logic is a better way to put it. It came from knowing a few basic principals

Nature does not distinguish between good and evil

We all are, have been, and always will be a part of what makes up the universe

That we live in a world with other people, in a universe presumably filled with life, and we are just one small part of that.

You cannot make something from nothing. Matter and energy always has to come from somewhere.

We are part of a system and the system isn’t fair or unfair but it’s what lets us exist at all. It’s so complex and there are so many of us that you can’t possibly pull one string out of order without ripping out several others as well. The universe is the way it is and I don’t think anyone can ever have the power or the knowledge to change it without making more damage than we were trying to fix. Not on the level Willow was trying to change it.

We can’t rearrange all the strings into a perfect order, where nothing bad ever happens and nothing is ever broken. But we can do things at a smaller level. We can nurture the good and care for the scars left by evil. The difference between what is doing good and what is actually messing with the natural order of things gets dicey but (I’m going to assume) none of us have the power Willow does anyway so doing what we do to the best of our ability shouldn’t be going to far.

And I think that what Willow really needs is other witches. Other very experienced witches (which is why I think it’d have been really cool to have a spinoff series where Tara lived, because her development here and an explanation as to why she was so wise with magic would have been AMAZING to see, and they discovered this together but haha I know that’s just me). (And don’t think Willow needed Tara’s death to set her off the deep end, it’s easy to argue she was going to plunge off of it anyway and besides this is just my dream series so it’s all in my head).

I think what Willow needs is a better understanding of the universe and how it works and when to interfere and when not to interfere based on generations of experience and accumulated wisdom. I haven’t admittedly seen much past season six, so maybe she does do this, and I think she could potentially do this on her own, but for me having her meet other older witches would be one of the coolest ways to explore her character and why she does what she does and how to have her learn to use magic in a way that isn’t dangerous to herself and others. (And you know me, I’d just eat right up any other arcs we’d get for Tara along the way or any more information on the witch side of her family).

Because, for me, Willow’s problem with magic isn’t a clash between “good Willow” and “evil Willow” it’s just Willow clashing with a universe that is both good and evil and beautiful and heartbreakingly unfair and trying to make sense of that and reaching a breaking point as she does because she is just so powerful and does not have enough resources to understand everything that is happening to her or what to do about it.

#this got long #but I had a lot of thoughts #and it helped me to write them down #and I thought why not share #but I won't be upset if no one reads it haha #it's just nice to have it all down

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