#topic: humanity

[araekni]

If you drive past horses and don't say horses, you're a psychopath. If you see an airplane but don't point it out. A rainbow, a cardinal, a butterfly. If you don't whisper-shout albino squirrel! Deer! Red fox! If you ever heard a woodpecker and don't shush everyone around you into silence. If you find an unbroken sand dollar in a tide pool. If you see a dorsal fin breaking the water. If you see the moon and don't say oh my god look at the moon. If you smell smoke and don't search for fire. If you feel yourself receding, receding, and don't tell anyone until you're gone.

Maggie Smith, Poem Beginning With A Retweet

[araekni]

[ID:

Sawing a Lady in Half they want it to be true and don't want it to be true that they want it to be true

End ID.]

— NICKY BEER, from Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes.

[corviiids]

(more persona 5 / persona 5 royal spoilers again)

(this one has art by dotdotdotukno on twitter please view)

compilation of specifically my obsession with ryuji and goro being terrible... friends??

[fumifooms]

Rin, smiling, and nagging

Rinsha Fana’s character is summarized in a couple facts thrown here and there. Because she worries for him, she follows Kabru to help his cause and protect him, and to nag him. She’s a grumpy angry tsundere, but it seems not only rooted in her attitude but on a deep rooted physical level, to the point where any intense emotion she feels will make her frown and scowl even if it’s genuine joy. Her childhood was half spent ostracized in the tallman community her family lived in and half with the elves, where she’s said to have been treated like an animal.

We don’t know how she was raised exactly or who it even was, but knowing she was "treated like an animal" by the elves taking care of her…

Elves are shown to have a highly hierarchical society, not only with their concern with status such as nobility and the purity of bloodlines but also reflected by its social culture imo. They have high society and etiquette, upmost devotion to the queen, very role-oriented, like cogs in a machine, and as such, it’s a bit skewed since most of what we see of the elves is in a military context with military people but they seem to value having emotions under lock and key to be efficient and not bring dishonor, Flamela is an interesting character on this. Don’t be a bother and do your job until you’re called on, fulfill your role, everything else is extra at best inconvenient at worst.

Personally I do think the canaries kept Rin, it’d make sense that whichever canaries got stuck with the job at the headquarters would be barebones with her and treat her like an ‘impounded article’, they couldn’t find another place for her and this way they can get her report on the events whenever she can speak again in however many years, and this way it makes sense that she could keep in touch with Kabru too. They’re used to prisoners, not kids. Being raised in a military context rather than at some orphanage would shape her further.

All of this to say…

She’d already seen the world’s harshness to those who don’t conform in her hometown, but with the elves? Her disdain for those who had formal education at a magic school?

Wouldn’t she become very concerned with proving she is not an animal, proving that she’s smart and skilled in her own right on her own merit, even without schooling. And to do this she nitpicks and nitpicks, because even being pristine isn’t enough to be respected, but at least it’s not giving others reasons to disrespect and dehumanize her. Learning to school her emotions, to scowl as a defense mechanism because anything else makes her vulnerable, because they don’t care about her as a person with feelings, because showing other expressions was dangerous or punished in some way: because it was fit in or don’t fit in and that’s the difference between having your house burnt down and being tolerated, between getting her food or having her questions answered and being yelled at to shut up… Because all her life she’s been surviving in hostile social environments and at the mercy of others, but unlike Kabru she doesn’t become a people pleaser but becomes very self-reliant and wary of socializing.

So she nitpicks and nitpicks and nags, because she’s worried. Because flaws are dangerous. So she has a hard time smiling and laughing, because it’s dangerous to allow yourself to feel safe in being authentic.

It would be nice…

Is my red, red enough? I'm waiting for your teeth at my throat. It’s only good manners. -Stephanie Valente 

[st-hedge]

MGSV sketch dump. The brainrot is thriving

[genericpuff]

I made this comic back in 2020. It is, unfortunately, even more relevant today than it was back then, and it's only been 4 years.

[an-ivy-covered-summer]

i know this will be a controversial statement for some people on this website, but you guys need to understand that being a radical communist with zero awareness of the nuance of living on planet earth is really not very different from being an alt-right extremist.

if you’re past the point of using logical thinking and understanding that societies and politics are complex and can be wildly different from one place to another, you’re just a fanatic, in spite of the place in the spectrum you place yourself on. you’re too swayed and brainwashed by propaganda. you’re just a blind fanatic, and your agenda becomes dangerous for real people living in the real world.

[starcrashedsatellite]

Tried to draw Shu in the style of Crymachina's ingame portraits

[that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick]

They made Souta a chair for 97% of the movie because they knew we'd all pass away from his beauty if they didn't

[stuckinapril]

One of my most ridiculous character traits is having week long breakdowns about so many things in my life only to go to therapy and be like “umm not sure what to talk about today! :)” Girl if you don’t get your money’s worth

[ruporas]

hello there, angel

[ID: Digital illustration in color of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. Vash is sitting facing the viewer and holds a rose between his clasped together hands, but he’s looking to the left, upwards, at Wolfwood, with an awed expression. Wolfwood hovers over him with wings sprouting from his back. He has a cigarette lit between his lips, his arms and legs are crossed, and he looks back at Vash with a neutral expression. The both of them are covered in a blue shadow, casted by Wolfwood and his hovering form, while warm light hits the back of his wings and over Vash’s legs. Small feathers sits next to Vash. End ID]

[pumpkster]

jumpscare

[ID: A cartoon drawing of Slimecicle and Juanaflippa, she's on Slime's arms as she has a blank stare at his shoulder, her body is loose as Slime has one hand on the top of her head (the other arm holding her by the side of her torso) he has a disturbed / scared / shocked expression, looking up, not at her, his brows furrowed, his pupils are unfocused. There's blood that has the color of a TV glitch, it's coming from Juana's head, and is on Slime's hand, that is holding her close to him. The TV glitch colours are on Juana's pupils as well. Juana has a human appareance, brown hair tied in 2 pigtails, she has glasses, a yellow t-shirt, a red shirt under, she has some dark green shoes, combining with a skirt of the same color, white baggy socks. She has red horns, wings and tail dragon-like. The background is black, a TV-static texture coming from Slime's head. There are 2 lines resembling their heart's pulse, first one is white, it's from Slime, its a quick one, going up and down, agitated, and the second is from Flippa, a pink line with no sign of life. The drawing is a reference to a painting called "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan". ]

[renthedevil]

kind of obsessed with shapeshifter mumbo ngl

[crimson-nail]

GIVE ME CONTROL OF S2 DONT BE SHY I DONT BITE PUT YOUR FINGERS IN MY ENCLOSURE I DONT BITE

[maeamian]

Back in college, during my first lab job, my cubiclemate Bill, who was like 50 or 60, asked me what my favorite theory of moon formation was. We had a nice little chat about it, he was a fan of the Giant Impact theory. No one really asks that one anymore, it is not really up for much of a debate, but I hope wherever he is, Bill's happy that he won.

[carionto]

What Humans call the "Thousand Yard Stare"

As more and more Humans interact with and integrate within Coalition stations, reports, closer to hushed whispers really, began to circulate of some Humans being... discomforting... to be around.

Initially we thought it was just rudeness or passive aggressive behavior or any number of subtle actions or choice of words, no matter how advanced or civilized there will always be some assholes.

However, when some of these "offenders" were presented to us peacekeepers, we found them to be perfectly polite and reasonable. As our conversation continued and shifted topics, whenever there was a lull or the focus was on another speaker for a longer time, the Human's gaze drifted somewhat.

Sometimes she would look to the side and it was harder to tell what her exact expression was, but every so often she would be looking at one of us, but... not. It was as if she was staring at something behind us, through us even. Beyond the walls of the station, it even felt as though beyond space and time itself.

It was one of the most unnerving and chitin-chilling feelings we've ever felt, but then the Human seemed to notice our change and became that friendly and cheerful person once again:

"Sorry, my mind drifted there for a bit. What were you saying?"

And the conversation continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary for the Human.

Upon our return to our office, one of the Human peacekeepers heard about our impromptu assignment and offered this explanation after we told him what happened:

"Oh yeah, I think that person was a retired firefighter or rescue worker of some kind. Professions like that can be dangerous and you'll eventually encounter something horrible at a disaster site or crime scene. Probably saw someone die, or a person they rescued later didn't make it, or it was a kid... It's the toughest when you're the last one a child sees before..."

There it is again. That look, but with a tinge of sadness this time. We didn't know he was carrying such memories. The untimely death of anyone is a difficult time for those that survive, especially when it is the young whose life was still just starting. It seems Humans with their heightened senses and sensitivity to the feelings of others these kind of experiences imprint a far stronger memory than for most.

"Anyway, we've got a bunch of names for such things, but typically we call it the thousand yard stare. It's an old measurement unit, don't worry about it. I think the meaning may have changed a bit over the years, but basically some people go through traumatic stuff and they decide, consciously or not, to sort of... detach themselves from reality. It's a coping mechanism.

A few people thrive on horrible things, but they're the exception. Most of us would go crazy or depressed or any other infinite bad possibilities our brains can go in if we don't find a way to separate ourselves from certain realities. It can get real bad otherwise. It's rare, but a few go truly nuts and try to inflict their pain unto others. Most end up suffering alone for a long time. And some can't take it anymore and decide to end it themselves.

Thankfully therapists and support options are widely available, so those kind of scenarios are really rare, like... suicide accounts for about three out of a hundred thousand deaths last time I saw those charts. Plus drones and automation take care of most of the dangerous tasks, leaving the vast majority of cases to be caused by interpersonal relations actually. A broken heart is one of those traumas we'll never get rid of it seems. That's just life, I guess."