thinking about anastasia trusova paintings again

CAN ANYONE HEAR ME

Can I buy like prints of these?

Found their website! Looks like you can order prints of pretty much everything there!!

Oh no… there are thousands of dollars of paintings I’d want to buy on that site.

thinking about anastasia trusova paintings again

CAN ANYONE HEAR ME

Can I buy like prints of these?

The divine right of kings but it's a curse

You will wear the crown, you have no choice, the spikes growing on your head have a metal sheen to them and coalesce into a mock halo. You will command, for your voice is a terrible thing, you are a terrible thing. You will be just, and you will be fair, for any grievances you cause to your people scar your body and leave lasting pain and false promises sizzle on your tongue like hot oil. Your god is watching and it won't forget what your ancestor did and it won't let you go

There is no justice in the revolution. You cannot step down, you are bound to the throne, but each moment you remain there is an affront to the project so many in your realm are trying to build. You cannot help them, the words die in your throat, the god above you holding you to the promise it made. You do not wish to stop it, the injustice of your place in trying to keep the country running through this turmoil already has you screaming each moment no one watches. You try to make a compromise, an advisory council. You watch it fill with the rich and the powerful and can do nothing to defy it through the pain that has brought you low. You watch it burn, and fail to give your thanks to the headsman as the guillotine falls.

-@gingiekittycat, We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

It wasn't the day the pain began. It was the day the pain learned to escape, to be made free, to go into the world and find that even though it was never meant to be like this it was still, somehow, somewhere, wanted.

Kronos Dawnbringer will often say he was the first being ever to cry. The first to have a reason to. This is not a lie, but neither is it entirely the truth. The devastation was certainly his, foremost among the Fallen. He was not the one, however, to discover the way that tears falling can lessen the burning of the guilt and recrimination and failure that has built up behind the eyes. That was Dreiel, and cier grief was not for cierself, but for the angel that had been their shining leader before his condemnation.

With cier tears came many things. Kronos and the others were driven to tears as well. Each one clamored to kiss their leader before their power failed and he slipped from their grasp into the depths of Tartarus forever. Dreiel knew this well, and yet the sin of Envy fell perfectly onto cier shoulders, the knowledge that no amount of cier own grief could sway the others feom Kronos smarting on cier soul.

The mantle of Demeter followed swiftly after the deadly sin, as was happening to each of the fallen angels. As had already happened to Kronos. Demeter found for a moment she could remember when Kronos had just been Lucifer, and then she could not. She also found that all of her together was no longer just an angel, no longer just a goddess, but that it suited just fine being a woman.

Kronos slipped away from the reeling angels, and Demeter’s despair was renewed. For the first time ever, Eden knew winter.

painting brief lives again i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wouldn't look down at my hands.

There was nothing there to see. No point in shifting my mortal gaze from the indistinct line between sea and sky, still blushing with a faint... red...

I would not look at my hands

My immortal gaze also rested there, on that junction that seemed a cliff, or a veil, hiding monsters, possibilities, far off lands. It was easy to see at as a portal of dreams, of sorts. A way to new life, to reinvention, perhaps. Or a source of malevolent change, interrupting an otherwise serene morning.

I would not be made to look at my hands

The morning fog had not been intense, and was already beginning to burn off. The heat of the day was coming, I could feel it fail to touch my constructed body. I had not been able to bring myself to let it warm, yet, even as they had looked at me with such heartfelt concern every time I let them touch me.

I couldn't look

The heat was touching it, though. I could feel it beginning to dry, even in the last humid reminder of fog. It was his blood.

I looked at my hands.

marred with his drying blood for which he claimed I had already been forgiven

i lifted my hands closer to my chest, to keep the rising tide from washing it away

no matter who else did, i would not forget this

Monster by JIN LH

You’ll rewrite it later anyway, so stop staring at the blank page like it owes you money. Just start.

this is some of the best advice I’ve ever come across when it comes to writing - it’s so much easier to write if you don’t constantly try to edit or write like it’s the finally product. The thinking of just putting it all on a page and polishing it later is what’s rescued several of my stories ngl

Not to say this advice isn’t helpful, but I think following it has made writing less fun for me (personally). Much of the joy of a writing session is being able to look back with satisfaction at what I’ve written, which is much nicer when I’ve already given it a few do-overs as I write. Looking back and seeing my “just get it on the page make it exist doesn’t have to be good” level prose makes me want to never write ever again.

[Link]

Under the "has cleared its orbital neighborhood" and "fuses hydrogen into helium" definitions, thanks to human activities Earth technically no longer qualifies as a planet but DOES count as a star.

Also wasn’t the whole point of dividing dwarf planets from other planets whether they were gravitationally round? So the simplistic definition would be 9, with the modern planets plus the sun?

Luminiferous Aether Earth: History

(Or: A guide to the divergent history in which my WIP novelette When In Erebus is set. The first part of this guide, an explanation of the physics of aether and EM radiation, can be found here.)

Antiquity: The starscape visible from Earth is a bit different in this universe, owing to neutron stars being much more luminous due to their effects on aether (and therefore light).

9th century AD: The second most luminous star in the sky is first officially referred to with the name that will be used in star catalogues for centuries to come: Najm-Ul-Wahaj, the Blazing Star. (In our world, it is known as RX J1856.5-3754.)

Most of the 19th century: As in our world, various experiments are conducted to test the luminiferous aether hypothesis. They are inconclusive because the measuring equipment is not sufficiently sensitive and / or they operate on incorrect assumptions about the properties of aether.

April - July 1887: The Michelson-Morley experiment gives a positive result. In the following years, more experiments following similar principles do as well, and aether captures the public imagination.

July 1898: When Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie isolate polonium from pitchblende, they notice that it glows. It is hypothesized that radioactivity strongly excites the aether — accurate, but only in certain cases.

(Note: Real-life polonium does emit light even in small quantities, but in this universe the glow is brighter and its mechanism is different.)

(Note 2: While uranium and thorium were discovered before polonium, both in real life and here, the known isotopes weren't radioactive enough / had half-lives too long to produce an observable effect regarding aether.)

1899: Ernest Rutherford figures out there is a difference between alpha and beta radiation. He hypothesizes that a sufficiently radioactive beta emitter (stronger than the uranium he used in his experiment, which has a very long half-life and therefore no visible glow) will glow more brightly than any alpha emitter.

1900s: Much research is done regarding aether and radioactivity. The knowledge of the latter progresses much faster than it did in our world. (A bonus is that its dangers were discovered earlier. The radium paint fad is short-lived.)

1910: Neutrons are discovered during an experiment with polonium and lithium (similar to what happened in real life, just earlier and by different people). The discovery of gamma rays is initially taken as proof of Rutherford's hypothesis, with them being misinterpreted as the extra-aether-exciting effect of beta radiation he predicted.

1912: The first nuclear reactor is built in New York (state). Its operators kind of just test samples of all the elements they can get their hands on. They notice something strange: some of the irradiated samples don't glow, but rather seem to suck light away around them. This is soon found out to be the actual effect of beta radiation on aether, posing a scientific mystery until the weak force is discovered decades later.

An American scientist first effectively isolates aether from the air, using a mass of strontium-90 to create a small lightless space. This is the precursor to the deaetherizing apparatus.

1913: A German scientist reads the article on the strontium-90 experiment and gets the idea of using aether instead of hydrogen to fill zeppelins. Being lighter than hydrogen, it should provide increased lifting power, and as it isn't flammable its use should eliminate the risk of explosion. However, there is no method of actually transporting aether (yet).

1914: At the start of World War I, Germany builds its own nuclear reactor and sets to isolating aether. (Thankfully, no one gets the idea of making nuclear weapons. All the focus on radioactivity in this time period pertains to its interactions with aether.)

1915: A way to effectively transport aether through pipes / hoses is figured out. Basically, when aetherons are clumped around a beta emitter, they become liable to move like regular matter. All you have to do is blow a little air (or other gas) on them to get them moving. With this, the first aether zeppelins are built. It's discovered that they have an issue of deflating quite rapidly through diffusion, but their speed and carrying capacity makes up for it.

The Allies catch wind of this and start working on defences. A plan is devised: create a series of massive deaetherizing apparatuses, large and powerful enough to collectively suck the light out of an entire city. When engaged, they will make navigation impossible (except through sonar), as well as accelerating the diffusion of the aether from the balloons.

Early 1916: A series of large-scale deaetherizing apparatuses are built. Some are installed throughout New York City, and some are shipped out to other major cities in the Allied countries. This is all kept top secret, of course.

June 1916: First official use of the apparatuses. The Central Powers launch an aerial assault on New York City and arrive to primordial darkness. The planned battle ends quickly with no casualties. This becomes a major point of American national pride.

1916-1918: Deaetherizing apparatuses are deployed several more times in various cities. Though the aether zeppelins are soon retired altogether, the impenetrable darkness effect is still very useful for confusing and deterring attackers. Some advances in sonar tech are made on both sides before the war ends and the apparatuses are closed.

1918-1932: The American government leans hard into promoting the country’s scientific achievements. Aether control is particularly celebrated, not only for saving the country some very nasty battles but also for the whole “we’ve learned how to control a basic part of nature on a large scale” factor.

1923: A group of scientists and politicians come up with the Erebus Project. All of New York City’s deaetherizing apparatuses will be turned on, and whatever changes need to be made from that point on will be made. This includes the building of aether transport infrastructure underground and throughout all the buildings, as well as special vehicles equipped with sonar devices. This is agreed to on the grounds that it will a) be “the ultimate show of scientific progress” b) serve as a ground for more study and c) provide more impetus for the construction of large buildings. Much advertising material showing a glamorous eternal nightlife is made. The populace generally agrees, and construction begins.

December 16, 1926: The Erebus Project is launched, to general applause from the American populace. The tops of the apparatuses are opened once more, and all of the aether is sucked out of the air and rerouted into buildings.

Late December 1926: The project quickly stops seeming cool to any of NYC's inhabitants who aren't involved in the Erebus Project. Humans generally are not made for a lack of sunlight, and only the people who profit from it have anything to gain from toughing out the discomfort.

The heads of Erebusian Management promise it won’t be forever. The project will end after the strontium-90 in the apparatuses undergoes a half-life… in, uh, 1944.

Spring 1927: Coordinated groups of protestors gain access to the pipes near the largest deaetherizing apparatuses and damage them. For a brief period of time, some light seeps back into the sky of Erebus. Most of the protestors are swiftly arrested and imprisoned, and guards are employed around the apparatuses.

1928: Further crackdowns on protesting, and placement of limits on travel out of the city.

December 16, 1929: On the third anniversary of the Erebus Project, New York City is officially renamed after it.

1930: Dielism, an artistic movement focusing on day and night imagery, officially comes to be. The "Dielism Evening" becomes a popular gathering.

March - December 1932: The events of When In Erebus take place.

I don't have concrete ideas for anything that happens after WIE. I will repeat that despite the more rapid advancement of nuclear science, the eventual situation around the development of nuclear weapons is not worse than it was in our world because of the focus on its use for aether control. (In other words, the Axis powers do not get atom bombs, nor does the Cold War end in a nuclear apocalypse. I'm not interested in writing stuff like that.)

And here's the second part of the When In Erebus worldbuilding post!

Holy well-thought-out worldbuilding batman! I really like the imagery, the steampunk meets mana of aether.

In Search of Flight

David spent a long time drawing his sister before he’d met her. He hadn’t been told her name, then. Sometimes he called her Anne, which was the name he had been given before he’d realized he was a boy. It made sense that his parents would still get to have a daughter with the name they picked out, since he wasn’t using it anymore. He had never seen her face, had only scrounged up the barest facts from Hera, who even if she rarely wanted to talk to him except to chastise could be swayed by wide eyes and the reminder that David was a twin separated at birth. So Hera had confirmed they weren’t identical. Not only was he mortal and she not, their hair, their eyes, their facial features would all be wholly different, because of the particularities of the way she had been sealed. Artemis had said that his sister’s hair was white, but then she hadn’t seen her since the sealing either.

So David usually drew his sister facing away. She’d have white hair that was long or short, in braids and pigtails and different kinds of pins and hats. No one had ever told him where she’d been taken, so he’d draw her in the clothes of every culture he could convince one of the gods to describe for him. Most of his drawings included her, riding flame-footed horses, perking out from the folds of a landscape, leaning out from the window of a building.

As he got older, he began to study more of his own volition. Anatomy, for one, building out his drawings of Anne to be more and more accurate, with even proportions, increasing detail and dynamic poses. Secondly, he began to study magic. The first of the two was encouraged with much more ardor than the second by his parents and guardians. Evidence of his interest in magic was often confiscated as he was gently pushed back towards art.

These confiscations grew less and less frequent. In the same timeframe, much of David’s art grew more and more fantastical, with runic details holding a fact he wished to remember behind a cipher, the correlation between energies made clear by the symbolism of a piece, and thousands of aspirational drawings of the results of spells featuring Anne as the subject.

He’d drawn her so often the new art was only distinguishable from the old by the evolution of his technique. One by one each of the other methods fell, as Hera or Logos discovered the codes and confiscated his drawings, but never the drawings of Anne. He stopped writing down what he was learning, and only drew magic by letting its results cover Anne’s image.

It was almost too easy, when he heard Ares’s rants for the thousandth time, to remember that Anne wasn’t human. That maybe she could make the spells he had drawn over her body work. He could give her wings, and claws, and anything else he would need, to be able to stop the bad things. For real.

In Search of Flight

David spent a long time drawing his sister before he’d met her. He hadn’t been told her name, then. Sometimes he called her Anne, which was the name he had been given before he’d realized he was a boy. It made sense that his parents would still get to have a daughter with the name they picked out, since he wasn’t using it anymore. He had never seen her face, had only scrounged up the barest facts from Hera, who even if she rarely wanted to talk to him except to chastise could be swayed by wide eyes and the reminder that David was a twin separated at birth. So Hera had confirmed they weren’t identical. Not only was he mortal and she not, their hair, their eyes, their facial features would all be wholly different, because of the particularities of the way she had been sealed. Artemis had said that his sister’s hair was white, but then she hadn’t seen her since the sealing either.

So David usually drew his sister facing away. She’d have white hair that was long or short, in braids and pigtails and different kinds of pins and hats. No one had ever told him where she’d been taken, so he’d draw her in the clothes of every culture he could convince one of the gods to describe for him. Most of his drawings included her, riding flame-footed horses, perking out from the folds of a landscape, leaning out from the window of a building.

As he got older, he began to study more of his own volition. Anatomy, for one, building out his drawings of Anne to be more and more accurate, with even proportions, increasing detail and dynamic poses. Secondly, he began to study magic. The first of the two was encouraged with much more ardor than the second by his parents and guardians. Evidence of his interest in magic was often confiscated as he was gently pushed back towards art.

These confiscations grew less and less frequent. In the same timeframe, much of David’s art grew more and more fantastical, with runic details holding a fact he wished to remember behind a cipher, the correlation between energies made clear by the symbolism of a piece, and thousands of aspirational drawings of the results of spells featuring Anne as the subject.

He’d drawn her so often the new art was only distinguishable from the old by the evolution of his technique. One by one each of the other methods fell, as Hera or Logos discovered the codes and confiscated his drawings, but never the drawings of Anne. He stopped writing down what he was learning, and only drew magic by letting its results cover Anne’s image.

It was almost too easy, when he heard Ares’s rants for the thousandth time, to remember that Anne wasn’t human. That maybe she could make the spells he had drawn over her body work. He could give her wings, and claws, and anything else he would need, to be able to stop the bad things. For real.

Very fitting of me to have a randomass .docx file in my documents folder named PLAN A with nothing in it. No I do not remember the context

I have a .docx file named "Mary Sue", and the first bullet says: "As I am writing this for nefarious purposes, I will use familiar years." HElppp what does this mean???????

I don’t know but it goes hard. It also (as all things do) reminds me of Elise.