❛ ᵃᑫᵘᵃᵗᶦᶜˢ

   “STRANGE TIDES AND EVEN STRANGER EMOTIONS THROUGH EYES.”

           SHE’S THERE AGAIN and he keeps on looking at her, knees buried deep within ocean waters and hand gripping sword; she’s in the ocean -- but she’s far-off. He can’t see her eyes all too well, but he knows he’s looking at them and they’re just as dark as the depths of the ocean. They hold rich history and he keeps his gaze intense, a sudden rush of adolescence sweeping over him. The fish swim past his feet in hasty retreat, it seemed like it wasn’t only him who was afraid of the mysterious figure.

                                      He wills himself to not look away, enjoying the way their eyes seem to lock onto each other without a single hint of malice or hatred; perhaps there was an understanding. Perhaps she hated Homeworld too or maybe she just didn’t take too kindly to the stranger stepping on her waters. Then suddenly he hears calls from his friends from near the shore, he turns around to them then back at her; he isn’t ashamed to say he was a bit sad when all he saw were waves. Then, silently, he sheathes his sword in his gem and walks away.

Send in a word for a drabble of our muses based on it.

Sonder: The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.

Opia: The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.

Monachopsis: The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Énouement: The bittersweetness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self.

Vellichor: The strange wistfulness of used bookshops.

Rubatosis: The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.

Kenopsia: The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.

Mauerbauertraurigkeit: The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.

Jouska: A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.

Chrysalism: The amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm.

Vemödalen: The frustration of photographic something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist.

Anecdoche: A conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening

Ellipsism: A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out.

Kuebiko: A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence.

Lachesism: The desire to be struck by disaster – to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire.

Exulansis: The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it.

Adronitis: Frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone.

Rückkehrunruhe: The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness.

Nodus Tollens: The realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore.

Onism: The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time.

Liberosis: The desire to care less about things.

Altschmerz: Weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had – the same boring flaws and anxieties that you’ve been gnawing on for years.

❝ The average person is swallowed by eight spiders each year while sleeping. ❞

❝ Dance like the government is watching. ❞

❝ Good artists borrow. Great artists commit murder. ❞

❝ We hold these truths to be self evident, even though, historically and in practice, none of them have seemed to be. ❞

❝ Stars! They’re just like us… Fixed points of light against the void, arranged in contrived constellations of long-dead gods! ❞

❝ What’s the deal with airplane food? What’s the deal with human attachments in a mortal world? What’s the deal with those two things? ❞

❝ See? You never needed that wand or that cape. The power to feel unfocused shame and anxiety was within you this whole time. ❞

❝ On a long enough timeline, the unlikely event of an emergency is not only likely, but certain. The good news is that your timeline isn’t long. ❞

❝ Wanna feel old? Make comparative judgments based on how long you’ve been alive versus how long younger people have been alive. Wild. ❞

❝ You can tell me all your secrets. I mean, you absolutely shouldn’t. I’ll use them against you. But you technically can. ❞

❝ Every cloud has a silver, neurochemical lining. ❞

❝ Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite. Don’t let the bed birds peck your eyes. Don’t let the bed worms get into your mouth. ❞

❝ Ask your doctor if the moon belongs to you. ❞

❝ Today’s forecast is sunny with a chance of the false vacuum of the universe collapsing, instantly destroying everything that is. ❞

❝ I’m sure everything will be fine. I’m sure of lots of things that are wrong. I’m highly fallible. ❞

❝ Who’s a good boy? How can we be certain? Is a ‘good boy’ measured in action or intent? You are subjectively a good boy! Oh yes you are! ❞

❝ Good pairings for this wine include pasta, stone fruits, conversation with someone you distrust, and a sudden loss of cabin pressure. ❞

❝ If you’re happy and you know it, then the chemtrails are finally working. ❞

❝ Not really killing time so much as euthanizing it. ❞

❝ Have fun tonight pretending to be something or somebody you aren’t. In fact, have fun doing this every night of the year. ❞