#writing re-set

[amsomerville]

A Monday Morning Re-set

To be honest, I am starting to write this post on Friday evening, to give myself a head start. I have heard it said that if you are starting a new practice, discipline or tradition, like a diet, or quitting smoking, that you should not tell people that you are doing it, at least not for several weeks. The reason behind that is if you fail you are less likely to be embarrassed. At least I think…

[lucky-fy]

For the Laicion nation (aka, me and three other people)

I had this illustration commissioned (a big thank you to @lunehowls) for my werewolf AU Laicion fic (still a WIP).

The general pitch is as follows :

AU in which Laios never got to meet his sister again, putting his life on a whole other path, a more desperate one. A military deserter with barely a coin to his name, Laios hitches a ride on a boat to one of the elven continents, where he learns about magical tattoos that binds one’s soul to a wolf’s, effectively making them artificial werewolves. Illegal magic be damned, this feels like the answer to… everything.

In the process, he learns about the existence of an illegal fighting ring in one of the elven cities, where beastmen gladiators gather. Freshly tattooed and without anywhere else to go to, Laios decides to head there, where he meets Lycion, an elf and artificial werewolf gladiator. If they first bond over a simple shared meal, by spending time together (sharing the same room in the barracks, maybe the same bed? gasp) they find that they have a lot in common, notably a shared distaste for the body they were born in, a dysphoria partially remedied by becoming a werewolf.

They bond :)

NB: I commissioned another piece, go take a look :D

[greenconverses]

okay but percy should’ve gotten stretched a bit to cover the growth spurt THE JOKE IS RIGHT THERE

[spookygibberish]

Dogstock are typical of what are often deemed the ‘evil’ races in many other fantasy works. They were created by some higher force to be slaves, they are carnivorous by nature, they resemble animals other than human in dentition and build. They growl and bite and walk behind.

The Uhasr (a dogstock culture) are descendants of such slave-infantry that was abandoned when the empire that used them to capture the steppes decided the land wasn’t so profitable after all, and more pressing matters drew their attention elsewhere. Like tools left spent on the ground, the unneeded, excess dogstock were left to survive on their own in Hochkiskuph. The native peoples, of course, did not welcome them any more, or see them any less as oppressors when the hand released the lead. To the Hochkiskuph peoples, the Uhasr are a predatory ghost, an echo that consumes them even in absentia. To the Uhasr, one human is much like another, differing in number and equipment, but never in essence. Uhasr are a species of wild animal with a human face. Humans are prey on two legs. Humans smoke and poison uncovered dens on principle, Uhasr abduct and consume men and women and children all the same.

A common trend I have noticed in media which aims to humanize monsters, is that it often relies on passivity. Humanity is contingent upon kindness. The monster that is A Person only so long as they are a harmless thing at heart, something which can be understood and befriended. Their violence is reluctant, their hearts noble. Grace is a concession to the dominated. Only the toothless beast, declawed and pinioned and caged, is one which has earned its personhood. The ontological enemy supersedes the ontological man.

[total-drama-brainrot]

i just posted a silly impulsive headcanon in the discord off the top of my head, but now that i'm thinking about it...

let's say, during their stay in jamaica (or maybe in a later season/different show altogether?) the contestants are staying in hotel rooms for simplicities' sake. and due to the number of them, they're paired up. not an issue, right?

noah goes to join owen in his room, but he's already partnered up with tyler (or whomever), so noah's left with only alejandro as an option. great. again, it's whatever, it's only temporary. at least they'll be able to sleep in proper beds, so things are still looking up!

oh, they've been given the last available room? it's got the queen bed? oh sweet! so they've got bigger beds than the others? no?

wait. what do you mean "only one bed?"

oh shit oh fuck he's totally doomed.

well, they'll just have to make do. noah isn't about to cause a fuss about his sleeping arrangements, he's already tired enough from the plane crash itself and the challenges they competed in. what's the worst that could happen?

(he steadfastly ignores the Very Possible Outcome of his unfortunate sleeping habit, even when various headlines pertaining to a certain awake-a-thon incident race across his vision like spectres. because it's NOT going to happen again.)

alejandro also takes the news with his usual levels of grace and poise- all of that social training as the son of a diplomat has done him well- though noah can just tell by the tenseness in his shoulders and the stiffness of his posture that he's not as calm about the situation as he'd like the others to believe.

whatever. it's just a bed, who cares?

when they're getting ready to sleep- in an actual bed, what a luxury!- noah and alejandro gingerly climb into their respective sleep wears, both facing the opposite direction. this is the first time the whole season that they've been allowed the opportunity to sleep in their actual pyjamas. you know, since they haven't exactly had beds.

alejandro, dressed in his tank top and sleep shorts (he'd usually sleep in just the shorts, but the thought of doing so whilst sharing a sleep space seemed inappropriate), turns to climb into their queen bed only to see noah, who is already dressed in his own loose t-shirt and shorts, stepping into a pair of sweatpants and pulling a thick looking sweater over his sleepwear. what the fuck?

the room they're in isn't even cold, they're in jamaica?

even worse, noah's actively putting on a pair of fluffy socks. who wears socks to bed?

and then, then, the absolute mad lad reaches into his luggage and pulls out an equally fluffy dressing gown (or bathrobe/housecoat, same thing tbf), wrapping it around himself like a winter coat as if he's somehow cold in his two- now three- layers. it's almost 26°c out there! (80°f)

and the psycho smiles to himself, breathing out a sigh of contented air (and, alejandro notices, uncurling from his slightly hunched over posture, as if he'd been trying to conserve heat), as if he's not sweating his ass off under his three weather inappropriate layers!

so, as a concerned team leader, alejandro points out the obvious; he shouldn't be wearing so many layers to bed, he's going to get heat stroke.

but noah argues back; he naturally runs cold, especially when he's asleep.

and alejandro briefly recalls the amount of times he's noticed a napping noah shivering in his sleep despite wearing his usual three layers of clothing and the jet itself being kept a consistent room temperature for all it's faults, but his logic reasons that even so noah still doesn't need to wear socks to bed (it's immoral).

eventually noah gives up defending his (objectively wrong) decision to wear thick layered clothing and socks to bed and just climbs under the covers (discarding the dressing gown on the way, he's not completely insane), huffing in annoyance as he curls up at the edge of the mattress and makes a point of ignoring his company.

alejandro also sighs to himself, though whether it's in defeat or exasperation he isn't entirely sure, and carefully slots himself onto the opposite edge of the bed.

the two fall asleep in a tense silence with almost a meter of space between them.

which is why it's surprising when alejandro wakes up a few hours later, absolutely boiling under the heated weight practically glued to his side.

noah's iconic hair, softer in texture that it's usually neat waves would imply, tickles at his neck whilst the cynic's face is pressed firmly into his chest. his sweater-clad arms and wrapped almost possessively around his shoulders and his legs and tangled between the latino's own. whilst the added pressure is nice bearable, alejandro is sweating his life out beneath the warmth of another body.

when he tries to unpeel his clingy companion from his side, a sleeping noah seems to take that as a challenge and digs his hands into the taller's shoulders, which is when alejandro realises that despite everything noah's hands are freezing to the touch. how?! the two of them end up even further entwined than before, as his escape efforts only lead to noah wrapping his body even tighter around alejandro like a particularly stubborn boa constrictor until he had the shorter practically sleeping on top of him- as if alejandro himself was the mattress, or some oversized teddy bear.

it's... not an ideal situation.

alejandro kicks the duvet off of the pair, prompting a shiver from the wannabe koala attached to him, but the freedom from the oppressive heat outweighs any remorse he would've felt for depriving his companion from potential heat stroke. without the oven-like heat of the duvet, having the warmth of another curled up against him is actually pretty nice, and alejandro soon finds unconsciousness washing over him like the (comparatively) cool air of their room.

noah wakes up as sunlight filters into their suite, his face tucked firmly into alejandro's neck as the taller cradles him between his arms, deep slumbering breaths making his chest periodically rise and fall against noah's own. his arms are wrapped around the spaniard's waist, cold hands gripping loosely at the fabric of his tank top, and their legs are to tangled together that it takes the bookworm a few moments to figure out which ones are his.

he's warm, for once, and it's wonderful. he barely spares a thought at how awkward the situation is going to be when they're both awake and just presses himself further into alejandro's inviting warmth, mouth twitching into a smile, as he drifts back to sleep.

[hey-english]

i really just want to know what explanation there is for the transformation scene in catfa if peggy carter was supposed to be evil/a double agent/a hydra spy who genuinely never cared for him. why would she be so concerned over him she forgets she has to wait in the box upstairs because of the radiation exposure? why would she run back down screaming for them to stop when the vitarays start hurting him enough to scream and only back off when steve says so, even though howard and erskine were going to call it off? why does she jump into action the moment the hydra guy grabs the vial and starts shooting? surely if she were working for them, she’d want the process stopped because like schmidt tells zola it’s their only defense against the tesseract tech? and after its success she’d let him get away with it? i genuinely wanna know what people’s theories are for why she did this

[shallowspocketdimension]

FYI just want people to know that the abbreviation of Omegaverse with and without the slashes is a very real world derogatory slur that has been hurled towards Indigenous Aboriginal Australians for centuries. I obviously understand not everyone is fully aware of Australia's history of institutionalized racism, genocide of traditional land owners and the stolen generation etc., but seeing the Omegaverse abbreviation everywhere is genuinely frustrating especially when people are ignorant to the actual serious implications of the word when put into a different cultural context.

EDIT: it should be noted that is also frustrating that people outside of Australia don't really know much about it's racist history (which is no fault of their own, hell even my education on Australian history back in primary school was abysmal and never mentioned the countless genocides the English settlers caused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people during colonization), but that's a whole other wider conversation - and even then you should be looking for Indigenous Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander Voices if you want learn about Australia's history.

[velvet-vox]

And here it is, coming for you all, the ultimate master guide to all the things that Doll lost!

1: She lost her life. Better get this out of the way as soon as possible.

2: She lost her parents. Да.

3: She lost her sense of humour.

4: She lost her sanity.

5: She lost her youthful innocence.

6: She lost her position in the cheerleading team.

7: She lost all of her friends.

8: She lost Lizzie.

9: She lost all emotional support.

10: She lost against Uzi and N. Her plan failed. Got shot in the back of her head.

11: She lost all of the respect given to her.

12: She lost her home. Probably lived in the cold after the prom.

13: She lost her pu**y.

14: She lost her personality.

15: She lost herself.

16: She lost all allies.

17: She lost relevance in the plot and had to force herself back into it, which led to her demise.

18: She lost her eye.

19: She lost all chances at healing.

20: She lost all chances at redemption.

21: She lost the opportunity of personally getting revenge on V. V is probably coming back for the season finale making her trap in episode 6 whortless in the long run.

22: She lost her coolness factor.

23: She lost the fight against Cyn.

24: She lost the chance at future character development.

25: She lost the chance at making up for her mistakes.

26: She lost the opportunity of making her parents sacrifice worth it and couldn't honour their memory.

27: She lost the possibility of going to robo heaven. (Spoiler: it doesn't exist).

28: She lost the opportunity of dying a hero. Probably helped the main antagonist to destroy the planet without knowing it.

29: She lost the possibility of a happy ending.

30: She lost everything.

Want more?

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Because of the implication that Karlach didn't know any of the more devious shit Gortash was doing while she was employed by him, I HC that he sold her at a point where he couldn't be as covert in his private dealings. Like it was a point where she clearly was going to be a liability and she's good. Too good. Like to her core.

And there isn't a whole lot different between himself and the tiefling rascal he took in so she could support the parents she loves so much. I think that at a certain point he'd just be kinda aggravated because, to him, her view of the world is so idealistic. I like the idea of him having a little bit of petty jealousy, but I can't see that being the motivator for the sale. I think he really believed she was strong enough to handle it - because he was strong enough to withstand the hells - and wanted her to be humbled, in a way. he needed her to have a taste of the real world, so to speak, because his understanding is that it's a cutthroat world and all people are pawns, regardless of age or relation.

that's not a way karlach can live tho

and then she comes back, broken, sure. she has her whole thing where she can consume the soul coins, which ultimately has her viewing lost souls as tokens/pawns in the way gortash sees all people, but she clearly struggles with it and it wasn't a choice she made, but something zariel pushed on her so she could survive.

regardless, karlach's optimism is unwavering and she's still so vivacious. She's angry, understandably so, she has scars, she's done shit she isn't proud of, but she, herself, was never corrupted. when she escapes, she immediately goes full hero mode, she just has the burden of the soul coins to bear bc NO ONE can come out of that situation completely unscathed. and remember the types of friends she made in the hells!!! her one only helps her if it comes with a double-edged sword. despite that, she doesn't prevent it from allowing her to bond with the companions.

so she comes back proof that you can go through what Gortash did and come out mostly in tact. you may be hurt, she shouldn't have HAD to go through that, but she's fighting for a better future for herself (even if that means dying to not return to avernus). Unlike Gortash, she doesn't need to bring the world to heel to pay for the cruelty it showed her.

in fact, everything she went through just makes her appreciate the little good in her life even more and motivates her to aggressively protect her friends.

[trappedinmymind]

Re-reading your own writing is one awful thing, but re-reading your own writing specifically because you have to figure out if you already explained an important lore point or not somehow manages to make it worse

[thatonegayship]

I loved the cowboy comic so much that I wrote a oneshot for it. https://archiveofourown.org/works/50934235 🥺 your art is BEYOND amazing, ty for the food

INCREDIBLE!!!!!

[plzu]

the agonizing back and forth i have with myself when writing something like "no one's gonna want to read this one, dipshit, so just stop writing it" vs "but i really want to write it for self-indulgent reasons and also, like, one person's gotta like it, right? at least one."

[alexis-royce]

Out of character I just need the Warm Amber like everyone else, so it’s a normal grind. But in character I think The Ex-Disgraced Academic is just plain getting high on honey and music at Buckingham before crawling off to Helicon to cry on Leoidea’s shoulder and talk about paintings.

They’re just not doing well right now.

[hussyknee]

The very specific paralyzing fear as a person of colour with OCD, that you might be acting like a white person to other marginalized people.

[feverdreamsanddelusions]

15

inspo by @aliceinwhumperland

[tw prison setting, captivity, framed for a crime, betrayal]

"Dude, I am losing it in here."

Caretaker gave them a kicked puppy look, apologetic as always, as though any of this was their fault. "I know. I'm sorry."

Whumpee sighed loudly and dramatically into the stupid little police phone, wishing they could've just broken the glass that was separating them and shaken their friend by the shoulders. "What for? You didn't frame me for murder, nor were you the one who sentenced me for no fucking reason. I'm just complaining."

"I... I should've done something more."

Whumpee scoffed. "Oh, stop that. You also weren't my lawyer."

Caretaker averted their eyes and nodded, and Whumpee knew they'd spend another night tossing and turning and blaming themself. It was infuriating. Whumper should've been the one losing sleep over this.

"Let's talk about something happier," Whumpee said. "What have you been up to? Is the weather still nice? Lots of sunshine?"

The visiting hour flew by all too quickly. Whumpee was soon dragged away from the phone and back to their cell, doomed to listen to their cellmate prattle on and on about all the knife crimes they'd been involved in.

A few corridors away, Caretaker was escorted outside along with all the other friends and family members. They couldn't keep their tears at bay anymore.

Truth be told, they were the one that had framed Whumpee; prison seemed like the only place where Whumper wouldn't be able to reach them.

[sleepy-aletheas]

Haikaveh and their connection to Nabu Malikata and Deshret

Finally managed to write something down for my beloved Sumeru disasters. It’s a mess written over the course of 4+ hours, I have no idea if I lost the plot or not. My brain just kept going, and I’m not sure anymore if I’m actually putting in more info and explanations, or it’s edited into the text in my mind, but not physically. I’m deciding that it’s not my problem anymore.

Enjoy this mess of a word salad. Freshly picked and all.

Alhaitham is a character driven to take care of himself first before expanding any energy for someone else, not because he couldn’t care less, but because his idealism really is just a more blunt way of establishing boundaries, where to be the most efficient is to take care of his needs first before trying to help others (it does feel like a disconnect between social expectation of ‘over-politeness = good moral citizen��, and ‘straightforward boundary setting = rude selfishness’. Again, different topic for another time). He goes out of his way to help others, even to the possible detriment of himself, because it's the right thing to do, and if anything, Alhaitham very much adheres to deeds that are morally good (he saved Sumeru to keep his peaceful life, sure, but to achieve that everyone needs to have that peace too; he went out of his way to be a bargaining chip in a hostage situation when he really didn’t have to do that; he gives books to Paimon and Isak for them to learn from, and even tries to help Collei with giving select reading material for her to have an easier time with choosing a darshan — those aren’t the actions of someone who couldn’t care less about others or feels contempt at their existence). It is something that he and Kaveh very much have in common, and it’s one of the foundational pieces they mirror — that doesn’t mean they’re opposites / antonyms to each other, but they’re complimentary approaches from two directions to the same problem that need balance to work.

(And I wanna establish something really quickly here. All the God-Kings had their own idea of what Wisdom was; they had their own ways of conducting it and dealing with knowledge. Even as Nahida says that despite Alhaitham having vast knowledge, pushing others away as lesser for not reaching some ideal of genius is limiting himself and making it harder to reach true Wisdom, I do think this is Nahida’s type of Wisdom, and Kaveh fits hers specifically. That doesn’t necessarily mean he would fit with Nabu Malikata or Deshret, but it is a fun thought to entertain while cleaning dishes, that’s for sure)

To me for the longest time, Alhaitham has more in common with Nabu Malikata than he had with Deshret. Not in a visual sense (for all we know; the only thing we’re made aware of is that she had horns and was beautiful like all Seelie were), but more in the way he goes about everything.

I think people tend to fall into the preconception that him being calm and deadpan means he doesn’t care for anyone or anything. Alhaitham is called lazy and cruel too flippantly by too many people, when in-game him is very much not that (but I suppose that is a different conversation to be had for another time again), which really pushes people away from making any connection between him and NM, because she was revered and perceived as tender and sweet.

The thing with Hoyo’s narrative foil characters in Genshin is that they’re not meant to be 1:1 perfect copies that deviate because of the Traveler. It’s not just for plot reasons, but also because it’s an in-game character study and a self-critique of characters and plot development. How much of it is intentional doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes the curtain is blue because the color is neat, other times we can fish out reasons and metaphors; unless we’re directly told what the intention is, we can make all the theories to soothe our love for what the game is giving us.

Nabu Malikata was a being holding immense wisdom, something she carried from her time in the Heavens when she was a Seelie and presumably an envoy. She has a lot of names under her belt, and a benevolent perception for her desire to help and give reprieve to the ones that needed it. Her ability of premonition pushed her to create Simurgh for when the Cataclysm came around (even thought she couldn’t see past her own death, so there must have been other ways she knew that would happen, but again, different topic). She tried to bestow wisdom on her companions so they could lead their people safely and not provoke Celestia, but she did very much take a liking to Deshret’s desire to rebel against the Heavens. She did die for more than to just give Deshret a way to gain the knowledge he needed, she also made sure it was a lesson for his ambition and outright recklessness he was willing to undergo for his desires (I do wonder if she knew that it would cause Deshret to lose his mind, maybe she wouldn’t have done it this way otherwise; or maybe this had to happen so that someone further down the line, when neither of them lived anymore, would take up where they left off and actually do it right — a necessary sacrifice, so to speak).

What is most likely NM’s quote in Amethyst Crown artifact, this excerpt is fun to think about: “But ‘eternity’ is ultimately a lie. Intoxication and love could only grind memories down to broken dreams.”

Alhaitham is a very much in-the-present type of character. Lingering on the past ceaselessly won’t make the future better, and neither is running up ahead make the past less prone for regrets. Him being a rational person doesn’t mean he doesn’t take into account either past or future, but he knows that chasing either won’t solve anything. He has a very hands-on approach for external problems, and a delicate slower untangling of his inner workings; he tries to better himself from his past mistakes, but he won’t limit himself for a future what-if. NM had a lot of longing for the past, but went head-first into helping Deshret once his ambition started to sound good to her.

If anything, Alhaitham is the narrative foil of the two God-Kings that shows their recklessness, their passion and desires, and human brashness. The game keeps showing us how human the gods are, and Alhaitham is a funny mirror to put up to them, cause he’s the storyline deviation, where he is curious, but knows his limits. He helps when needed, guides people for them to find their own truths, but he wants to be just Some Guy. He probably won’t become the next Deshret or another Nabu Malikata, because his goal is a peaceful life, and unless he’s helping others, he won’t go out of his way to chase shadows of ideas that are nebulous in nature.

Then again, it would be a tragic story (or at least a very angst filled plot point) if Alhaitham became the Nabu Malikata of Kaveh’s character arc. Because he does have a penchant for demonstration of his ideas, and he is nowhere above being petty to show his point. He has a soft spot for his loved ones, sure, that doesn’t mean he won’t be more direct on showing them wrong when he deems it needed. (Really, Alhaitham is more a narrative foil to Kaveh who is a narrative foil to Deshret and Nabu Malikata. It's kinda funny to me how this works.)

Hmm, the longer I’m putting this into words, the more obvious it seems to me that he is the narrative opposite of them. He shares similarities of visual motifs (Deshret), and the relatonship dynamic NM and Deshret had (it’s interesting how it’s reflected with him and Kaveh). There is just something about Nabu Malikata that reflects in Alhaitham a lot, be it their more passive approach of situations, or them being big supports (or emotional detriments) to their close companions. It’s hard for me to directly point between their similarities, because it feels too vague to me; I just know that they’re reflected, but I’m not sure how to properly explain it so others can see what I mean.

Now the foil part of Deshret is easier to point out. There are a lot of visual motifs that tie Alhaitham to him; from the unique eyes, his best artifact set being Gilded Dreams, the falcoln/hawk/bird of prey symbolisms tied in the design and constellation. Alhaitham is well versed in many types of knowledge circles outside his primary niche (number 1 nerd of all Sumeru fr), and it wouldn’t be a shock if he let his curiosity win and toss him into a lot of trouble (if not directly overstepping a cardinal sin, deliberately or not). He has reflections of Deshret hidden in him, but the longer I think about it, Alhaitham truly is Nabu Malikata coded.

Maybe it’s also because Alhaitham’s first story quest has him dismantle a hivemind, and think it’s stupid to do to begin with, you know, something that Deshret tried to do (and kinda succeeded, but probably not how he intended). It really shows that just because some characters rhyme in the story doesn’t mean they’re one and the same.

Now Kaveh on the other hand is very much Deshret coded, and it’s fascinating to me.

Visually Kaveh fits the Deshret-inspired look. From being a visually similar (Liloupar thought the Traveler physically looked a lot like Deshret, and Kaveh also has similarities to the Traveler, so I give myself this leeway, thanks), his earrings just being a miniature of deshretian architecture motifs and colors.

Kaveh’s fiery personality could easily fit in too. He has his calm times, his depth, his guilt and self-destructive tendencies to achieve his ideals, but it also is a contrast to his more boisterous and energetic moments, his compassion and passion. He feels for others and tries to help where he can, regardless if it causes more harm to him than not. He holds steadfast to what he believes and refuses to compromise on it, even if he loses everything else in life.

Deshret had a lot of compassion and tried to make people not need gods, elevate them to become independent of divine judgment and law, and be free. He lost his companions, he lost his mind. But he believed he was chasing a good cause, his ideal where no one had to suffer and be separated ever again. He also wasn’t willing to compromise on his ideals.

Both Kaveh and Deshret are connected with the sun — Kaveh being the Light of Kshahrewar, and Deshret literally likened to the sun — and both of them had a hand with mechanisms and architecture (Kaveh created Mehrak — his little light — from an old deshretian core, and his darshan is overall more into mechanisms and technology, not just architecture; and Deshret didn’t only create the Primal Constructs, but he did try to build his ideal utopia that wouldn’t have any “worry, schemes, or slavery”, letting little kingdoms and city-states raise up, so really architecture was also related to him in a way).

With all of this, Kaveh falling down a rabbit hole of trying to help others and get into Trouble wouldn’t be weird or out of character down the line. Even if he mellowed out a bit after Parade of Providence, he is a firm follower of his ideals, and no matter how bad of an idea it would be, he most likely would jump headfirst into problems if it meant helping solve another problem entirely.

His connection to Nabu Malikata is also pretty obvious. His best artifact set is Flower of Paradise Lost, and him being connected to art makes it easy to connect him to her in that regard too. Of course then there is his constellation, Paradisaea (who could thematically fit both Nabu and Deshret, but shh), especially his c6: Pairidaeza’s Dreams, which is a direct call back to Nabu Malikata and her Orchard of Pairidaeza. It really shows that even if Kaveh has a lot in common with Deshret, NM’s dreams are more in direct reflection with Kaveh’s, who tries to make a lasting memory of himself even when he’s long gone, and to keep beauty in the world (a reoccuring theme with Nabu Malikata is the flourishing and dying of flowers, their endless cycle of life and death and rebirth; in the artifact Wilting Feast that could be linked to Kaveh’s vision story: “Dreams will always dissolve, their landscapes fated to collapse — this is the true meaning of the blooming flowers. Only by suffering through the destruction of a god’s delusions can humanity learn to rise against divine will…”, it connects the rise and fall of something precious, knowing that there will come a new one after that).

Well, I’m losing the plot now.

I wanted to dabble into some gods that connect to them from irl (Amun-Ra, Osiris, Thoth, Ma’at..) and that became a mess even to conceptualize for this, especially since it made me slip into dissecting Sumeru as a whole, and that’s a lot. I love myself, I’m not gonna do that at 4.50am, thanks.

Could I’ve been more detailed and explore it better? Yes. But I struggle with my head lately, and I’m teetering on the edge of madness, I should stop while it still makes a lick of sense. I might eventually revisit this and expand when I have the mental space, because this is fun and can go more detailed (read: unhinged), the potential is all there.