#porphyria

I originally made this for make a terrible comic day but I think it was too polished and also kind of not a comic??

Me to my therapist: I’m looking for someone who can help me come to terms with dying.

Therapist: well we’re ALL dying 🙄

Me: if you talk like that to me again imma hang up on you. This isn’t about WE, it’s about MY ACTUAL DEATH WHICH IS PENDING. It’s not some abstract “someday we’ll all die” crap. If you don’t have the empathy understand that this is life-and-death serious, we will not be working together.

The blisters ruptured and crusted,

healed with enough of a mark to

remind me that yes, I (too) am human.

I remembered today why I don't wear

my black Starter sweat pants in public

anymore. They make me look like a hijabi.

(Deadly in a Louisiana grocery store.)

But we must eat to live, and so I plucked

pasta from a shelf, its bag so cellophane

so shiny, pulled my eyes like a scarab

to a beer bottle. I try not to think about

that -- my failing body, the lay of my clothes,

bugs trying to make babies with bottles,

the storm churning in the Gulf --

I should have taken pictures of the blisters,

thin, ghost-like, jellyfish of the flesh.

The Scientific Research Notes Of S. Sunkavally. Printed Part, Page 351.

Rats - Ghost

There is this one city I’m excited about; Porphyria

Porphyria used to be this big thriving city filled with mages, wizards, warlocks, etc. It was a beautiful land where people of more magical origins were able to practice their spells and would document their knowledge in the Great Library

But one day, the spellcasters got too bold with their craft; they ended up summoning a powerful entity known as the Fallow, which began to lay waste to Porphyria, the city withering away under its power. The spellcasters worked together and were able to successfully defeat the Fallow, but the damage was done; Porphyria was forever doomed to be nothing but a barren wasteland, the lost civilisation buried beneath the sands of the cursed desert

No plant life or vegetation is capable of growing there - except for these strange and disastrous flowers called fallow roses. These dark flowers are imbued with the Fallow’s magic, a sign of the curse. It saps the life from around it, and touching it is enough to invoke dizziness, nausea, tunnel vision, loss of balance and lightheadedness. These flowers can be harvested only with the right equipment and protection

Considering my name is PhoenixIsAZebra, I figured I would explain what the significance of the zebra is to me and why I have them all over the place since I've been asked a number of times in my life now. 😆 I copied and pasted this from the Ehler's Danlos Society's website since they say really do say it best:

Why the zebra?

People with the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) often identify themselves as zebras.

Medical students have been taught for decades that, “When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra.” In other words, look for the more common and usual, not the surprising, diagnosis.

People with rare and chronic diseases spend years searching for answers:

“But you look normal”

“You’re too young to have so many problems”

“You’re too old”

“You can’t have that, it’s too rare”

“No one knows what that is”

The zebra became our symbol because those with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorder are the unexpected. “Sometimes when you hear hoofbeats, it really is a zebra.”

When you see a zebra, you know it’s a zebra—but no two zebras have identical stripes just as no two people with an Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or HSD are identical [and] we have different symptoms, different types, and different experiences."

So there you have it! As someone who suffers from Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and a vast number of comorbidities, that is why this Phoenix is a Zebra!

Zebra hand drawn by Phoenix on iPad app, Procreate.

Your Blood In My Veins -

‼️ALCINA ORIGIN STORY ALERT‼️

Deep into the heart of 1950s New York City, follow Alcina’s fall from fame as the most famous jazz singer of the age through the eyes of her estranged friend, a brilliant medical doctor whose passion is discovering the answer to infectious disease. After Alcina returns to your life for the first time in over 10 years pleading for help with her declining health, together you embark on a journey to save her that digs up long lost feelings and irrevocably changes both of your lives forever. Such a tale becomes Alcina’s darkest secret for decades to come.