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Hi, I'm feeling restless and decided that the best way to deal with that would be to get some of my writing out in the wild! No idea why. Maybe it'll motivate me to well, continue writing please Spirit of Writing but hey, one can only hope to get lucky.

So here's the prologue of my WIP about the video game In Stars and Time, yes you will most likely only understand, uh, a very small part of what I wrote, but honestly who cares! (please don't care. and ask me if needed!)

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, was nestled a small castle against the hills of a nameless land.

Castle so small and foreign to all that even wanderers ignored its existence before they one day stumbled at the doors anyway like it was always meant to be. The masters made sure of it; while no maps may bear the castle’s name, the threshold always revealed itself for the weary and the needy. Always spurred the newcomers to step forward and meat their destination.

Small castle, for it shrunk under the nocturnal light of expectations. Under the setting sun, its short towers still stood proudly, a last remnant of its past glory, casting deep shadows, blankets just for the castle’s inhabitants. The blooming stars above benevolently joined in the weaving of the nascent night’s dark cloak, basking the people of the castle in the light of their burn. The walls covered in moss never were to stop whoever wished to enter, but simply acted as the castle’s foundations as much as the living’s, protectors and witnesses to the unfolding of the countless stories that circled in the air. 

You could hear them laugh, if you ever pricked up your ears. Laugh as the building’s tints grew fuller, heavier. Laugh as hues returned home, after leeching the time they had true ownership onto.

The well lived-in rooms were not grand nor imposing; but warmth made its home into each one of them, fire crackling and casting darkless flashes on the bones of the castle. The palace children’s laughter was as much of a music as the occasional bards’ ballads (always staying and never only for a night or two), or the servants’ lively chatter (often chasing the kids in the spiral staircase, with trembling laughs and eyes flashing too bright). Always joining in the youths’ mischiefs, much to the residents’ amusement. 

Outside, the luscious gardens were traversed by a flowing river that each day reflected the sparkling sky, the trees peacefully swinging in the morning breeze with the loveliest chirruping one could ever hear. A lullaby to comfort those who rested under the earth, and those who should be. A melody that carved its name into the smallest heart of the castle. And, mistaken by all for the sole recipient of the fragile sound, a single grave laid on the blessed land, among the fallen leaves, the sketch of a name caressed every night by the distant gaze of the celestial beings and every day by the hand who was meant to be under it. And entre chien et loup¹ by the gaze of someone who existed between the two. 

But never by the one with the hand covered in rightful blood.

As such, the unassuming castle was more than a building. It was a palace of time lost and regained, of roses blooming in always fertile soils, of darkness and lives that came and went all the same in the land; it was the palace of a loving monarch who forgot the taste of starless skies.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a child was locked inside of a tower.  Word is that their name had been the last gift of a bleeding heart  before time swallowed it Word is that the night they were born marked a new reign blessed by the stars themselves  in all their holiness

maybe they adopt other people’s practices as ~cool quirky aesthetics~ that come and go like fads. because they love sharing and expressing their own faith in personalized ways! they love trying new things! how could it possibly be disrespectful? things fall in and out of fashion. they have traditions and rituals and symbols but they’re never cemented in place as immutable fixtures of the faith. and that’s a sign of growth, flexibility, and individuality! it seems so strange to just do ONE THING forever, right??

but maybe things that are rich and meaningful in another culture/religion get swallowed up, stripped of the depth of their history and context, decoupled from their origins as they’re passed around, until they’re absorbed into the miasma of “different ways to express your faith in the Change God” that ~someone, somewhere~ came up with.

i think most Vaugardians would ACT like that’s the case. this can't be a REAL problem, can it? everyone is free to choose how and when they change! of course we support people who don't change in these specific ways, too :) isn't that obvious? oh dear, we thought that was obvious! thank you for telling us, so sorry for the misunderstanding, but well, now you know you have nothing to worry about (you were worrying about nothing)!

i think, always, about how Bonnie said they HAD to get their ears pierced when they were younger. how the Vaugardians in the party didn't even consider that earrings might be so standard in their cultural fashion norms BECAUSE earrings are directly linked to their bonding customs. which of course just about everyone does eventually, and even if they don't, it's just fashion, right? :) it doesn't really mean anything nasty or insidious. (if earrings were really just accessories, why wouldn't children be given the choice of what to do with their bodies? why would they have to get them?)

Mirabelle is neither sheltered nor naive. she has the biggest social network out of the entire party, she has taken over a hundred classes, she loves reading and studying and learning. but she didn't even know that other people like her existed. their voices aren't heard, their stories aren't known. that's pretty telling!!!

how many other customs, turns of phrase, story tropes, etc. are constantly and subtly reinforcing the pressures that Mirabelle was feeling, just in ways that are invisible to people who are raised into them? people who have the privilege to be supported and validated by them instead of minimized and dismissed?

i think Vaugardians would be plenty eager to change things and accommodate the Savior of Vaugarde on a surface level, but they would struggle to identify deeper structural causes that need addressing in the long term. the relaxed and lackadaisical attitude resulting in not taking people's concerns seriously, or seeing it as an individual problem rather than a collective issue that's worth spending the time and effort to thoroughly understand. (obviously people can just choose not to wear earrings anymore when they grow up! but isn't it still easier to just give everyone piercings when they're young?) even followers of a religion that prides itself on its capacity for Change aren't immune to stubbornness or being stuck in their limited worldview. we see that with how the party treats Siffrin and his beliefs, and that's certainly not resolved the second they become aware of a problem existing.

Tagged by: @thanatos-zagreus-shagreus

@saturntheloxian @melonhead10

needless to say tysm for the tag! this was super fun :)

@redfinch-newsies @extra-extra-unhinged @logicalucy @davey-the-brains @noxexistant

Murder. Thanks you.

Being a weird looking guy's sometimes unforgiving TvT

Anywho, Thank you @burnininhell for the tag! 🩵

@comradestrawberry @confusedfroggirl @rine091 @sweetpea-sky @dreamyy-wisterias @lucuma2004 @entsian

Thanks for the tag @linope

UwU Try it, moots ⸜( ˙˘˙)⸝

Thankx @lucuma2004silly that was fun

me as a silly lil guy

Tags (or tag** since it’s only one silly person): @bubbles-knight + whoever sees this, thinks its silly and wants to join, DO IT, JOIN

Anyways...

Mes nuits blanches ne sont pas blanches, à peine clairsemée d'étoiles (My sleepless nights aren't sleepless, just barely light)

Petits trous dans la toile étanche (Small holes in the waterproof fabric) Tristes strass sur le voile (Sad rhinestones on the veil)

Et moi, envoutée de ténèbres, je passe des heures infinies (And I, captivated by darkness, spend endless hours)

À compter les moutons funèbres, qui tapissent mes insomnies (Counting the funerary sheep that fill my sleepless nights) Ah... minuit est là (Ah... it's midnight)

Ah je ne dors pas (Ah I'm not sleeping) Et moins je dors et plus je pense. Et plus je pense et moins j'oublie (And the less I sleep, the more I think. And the more I think, the less I forget)

L'immense impasse, l'espace immense. Qui s'étendent au fond de mon lit (The vast dead end, the vast space. Stretching out at the foot of my bed)

C'est inouï tous ces silences (It's unbelievable, all this silence) Qu'il est cosmique cet ennui (How cosmic is this boredom)

Dois-je recourir à la science? Anesthésier l'insomnie?(Should I turn to science? Should I numb my insomnia?)

Ah... minuit est là (Ah... it's midnight) Ah... je ne dors pas (Ah... I'm not sleeping)

Et puis passé minuit je danse, au rythme des tachycardies (And then, after midnight, I dance to the beat of my tachycardia)

Et tout s'emballe et tout balance. Et tout m'étale et tout me fuit(And everything speeds up and everything balances . And everything falls apart around me and everything slips from me)

La lune est un fruit un peu rance (The moon is a somewhat rancid fruit) La vie est une maladie (Life is an disease)

Ceux qui rêvent ont bien de la chance .Et les autres ont des insomnies (Those who dream are lucky. And the rest suffer from insomnia)

Ceux qui rêvent ont bien de la chance. Et les autres ont des insomnies (Those who dream are lucky. And the rest suffer from insomnia)

Ceux qui rêvent ont bien de la chance. Quant à moi j'ai des insomniess (Those who dream are lucky. As for me, I have insomnia)

Ah... minuit est là (Ah... it's midnight) Ah je ne dors pas (Ah I'm not sleeping)

Ah... minuit est là (Ah... it's midnight) Ah... je ne dors pas (Ah... I'm not sleeping)

je ne dors pas ( I'm not sleeping) je ne dors pas ( I'm not sleeping)