In all seriousness I took a death and dying course in college for fun and that’s when I fell in love with, and began to seriously study, spontaneous or “street shrines”. These are the organic, unplanned placements of items when someone is killed, generally, and the community almost descends on a spot. I am fascinated by that interfaith, inter-spirit moment of connection fostered. What drives someone to leave the first item? Who guides them there? What do we, as humans, seek from the leaving of a memorial on a place that now hallowed? And we know it is, to some extent, even if we’re not spirit-workers. We have this human need to bear witness, no matter who we are, and over and over again it manifests as this need to build some space, some monument that says “they were here, and now they aren’t here, and we, collectively, of all faiths and walks of life, strangers to each other, will remember them”
We take comfort in, and protect to some measure, that space we create with tea-light candles and stuffed bears and flowers and it just feels like the Right Thing to Do. We rebuild these spaces when they are torn down by authority and we keep building them up and that’s beautiful
Street shrines are TRULY universal, too. They are largely non-verbal but it’s like we just KNOW what to do, like something moves inside all of us and it doesn’t fucking matter if we can’t understand anyone else standing at the site, it’s just a Knowing. It’s phenomenal
Art by John Stone
Ok ok ok I knowwwwwwww I won't shut up about Stray but I just realized that the Slums was my favorite part of the game and lot of other players favorite part
Because that was the lowest tier of society, both robots and humans, and it's dirty and poor, and it's where all the trash from the upper levels gets tossed
BUT it's the most beautiful in that both societies formed a community despite the horrible conditions and dreaming of it all someday being better
Both robots and humans filled the darkness with light and songs, they nutured plants that would never see sunlight, and they loved each other 😭💕💕
The robots remembered the good things about humans and adopted that as part of their worldview, and all that love was passed on. It was never wasted and it was never in vain.
Despite the horrible conditions down there, they found a way to still continue on with hope, they found meaning in each other and making the best of what they had, and that makes the Slums more beautiful that the upper city
Ephlisa Yun—She of Little Faith. She who would see a promise unsworn.
My lvl 20 Oathbreaker for a one-shot!
The characterization in the last episode that I'm still the most excited about a day later, is Regular Guy Orym using all of the espionage and fieldcraft knowledge at his disposal to keep himself and Laudna safe and support the mission. Liam can be a powerhouse but he's so understated 90% of the time. He emotes lightly, says what he means in a few words, and as Orym he prioritizes asking everyone else questions over volunteering info himself. He's not secretive, just subtle.
Orym's been out on his own for several years after the attack, moving on deep and principled impulse along a storyline that, to him, must feel like it's flowing in the opposite direction of anything he can remember wanting. This little dude is an exercise in love as endurance and he sleeps draped over his friends and checks in on them in quiet moments, but he's ALSO a capital-E Elite soldier who earned a place alongside magical powerhouses with nothing but 3 ft of pure, concentrated whoop-ass. Orym wakes up at 5am every day and rolls over for pushups. He gets in front of you when he's rocking 3hp. He worked at the peak of his discipline for years and has travelled the world and he's still in his physical prime.
Orym texts you good luck right before your big exam even though you only mentioned what class period it was in once. I really like to see that guy take charge when the world comes after his non-negotiables. Unmovable object, making flower crowns, standing between one of strongest CR characters of all time and whatever threatens her... yeah, we're here for it, Liam. Can't wait to have my skull split open by 6 words of dialogue 100 episodes from now. When the Hells go to the moon, my vote for mission commander is cast.
gotta love the 70s
the impossible return
for real once you realize that you can actually wear whatever you want and call yourself whatever name and pronouns you want and have whatever interests you want and be whatever gender you want your life gets so much better and more fun
do you think haunting is requited?
In the right stories, the house and the haunting are the same. It's requited in the same way self-love is requited. Or perhaps more accurately, self-hate
he's got a bus, he's got a bike 🎵
[this took me weeks pls rb]