#an independent, selective, friends-only multimuse ( . . . ) a collection of muses spanning across countless worlds and genres. every portrayal is wholly canon-divergent, written according to original lore, personal interpretation, and the tales that refuse to let go. as penned by pandora 🕊
CURRENT PRIORITY MUSES * ㅤanaxa, coco, pantalone!
𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘 𝐈𝐍 : mistaking dreams for destiny, chasing them until they bury the person you once were; carrying hope with bloodied hands long after reason has abandoned you; and discovering that the greatest act of defiance was never bringing down the gods but refusing to become like them.
⤷ 𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙺𝚂: ⁰¹ carrd. ⁰² roster. ⁰³ aes
the star ♡ the moon ♡ death ♡ wheel of fortune ♡ tower ♡ justice ♡ the sun
𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍, 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈-𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐒 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐋𝐄 with mirth, a hand coming up to rest against pinkette's lips shielding her reaction a little from view, a weak attempt at ' modesty ' as she had seen other ladies do. ❛ people have . . been mostly different, but in good ways. afterall, just knowing someone from far away, never able to speak to the person yourself . . it doesn't really getting to know someone any justice. ❜ words carry a certain vulnerability, letting the man see the sensitive soul 'neath it all, offering a piece of herself up ; letting him see one of many fragments. walking a little slower, she takes in the sight of people around them on their ways around the city & the grove, a stream of travelers chatting & enjoying their day to day life with the fear banished for good.
❛ it is really nice to be able to talk to people. not everyone can . . well, see me yet, but it's getting better. it helps that the heirs could see me. phainon encouraged me to . . talk more with everyone, we figured it'd help me getting accepted by the cosmos entirely. ❜ giving him a little glance, something shy was written all over mien ; the contrast to her usual confidence glaring. ❛ he's told me a lot about everyone, truth be told. it made me find the courage to make friends of my own, well slowly. he spoke a great deal about you. i can see why. ❜ nothing further was added, no explanation given as she simply walks with more gusto once again, cheekily offering her elbow for him to hold onto navigating them through the crowds towards the gardens.
❛ say . . you remember it all, don't you ? he . . he worries about the things he's done. had to do. a lot. so do i. but he got the worst of it with . . obviously. how did you cope with knowing ? i try to help khaslana with it, but . . ❜ trailing off, her smile has dropped entirely now, a sad / faraway touch to face as brows draw together. revealing an inner conflict as she chewed on her inner cheek, hoping she got her question across as best as she could.
❛❛ it does not do it any justice, no. ❜❜ watching people from afar is not the same as knowing them. there is a difference between understanding a person and meeting them. still, she has seen enough of them: their triumphs, their failures, and the moments they wished no one had witnessed. and now finally she can speak to them rather than haunt the edges of their story.
the sudden shyness catches him off guard. it feels strangely at odds with the person standing before him. ❛❛ you are agreeable to be around. i do not see why people would not take a liking to you. ❜❜ anaxagoras does not offer reassurance carelessly, nor is he fond of telling comforting lies. it is a compliment delivered with complete sincerity. for everything he has seen thus far and considering phainon counts her among his friends, that alone speaks volumes.
❛❛ phainon talking about me can mean so many things. ❜❜ he faintly narrows his eyes, though not out of fear but resignation instead. because he knows phainon. he does not doubt for a second that whatever was said had been complimentary. the issue is that phainon possesses an unfortunate tendency toward enthusiasm.
when she offers her arm, he accepts it without protest. though rather than simply following along, he hooks their arms together. this way, neither of them risks getting lost. there is no point in making things more difficult than necessary.
❛❛ i do remember everything, ❜❜ his gaze remains fixed ahead. ❛❛ i saw all their memories, ❜❜ when he lived in lygus' head like a parasite hidden within the system. ❛❛ i have never been one to hide from the things that made me angry, sad or even scared. ❜❜ because many people assume that courage means the absence of fear. but fear exists regardless. ignoring it changes nothing. in truth, anaxagoras is terrified of death. a contradiction that some might find amusing. a man who repeatedly destroys himself in pursuit of knowledge and understanding while simultaneously fearing the thing waiting at the end of that path. but are contradictions not merely evidence that a person is alive ?
❛❛ i approach all of this with the same mindset as the grave i prepared for myself. ❜❜ how morbid. it is an acceptance that it would come regardless of his wishes. ❛❛ i did not want people, as little as they were, to be saddened by my death, but rather rejoice that i lived. in a way this is the same. ❜❜ his eye briefly shifts towards her. the past cannot be undone, and everything that has happened, happened. denial will not change anything. ❛❛ i accept what happened as the truth, and only i decide what will happen from this day on. it does not need to be perfect. ❜❜ his stubborn refusal to surrender agency. there will be good days, and there will be bad ones as long as he takes one step after another.
❛❛ as for phainon — ❜❜ he stops himself then corrects the name. ❛❛ khaslana. ❜❜ anaxagoras shakes his head lightly. ❛❛ for the things he had to do and now living with it. ❜❜ he does not hold any negative feelings towards him. not for any of it. khaslana remains khaslana in his eyes, and no amount of blood or tragedy could rewrite that fact. ❛❛ there is simply no right answer. there is no right answer to what he must be feeling. saying everything will be alright might be true, but it will diminish how he currently feels. ❜❜ both his grief and pain deserve acknowledgement. ❛❛ the best we can do is support him during his bad days and encourage good days. ❜❜ and then his attention shifts fully towards her.
now with all replies done across all blogs and them added to the queue i suppose it is a good time to announce my hiatus until the end of my vacation (10th of august). i'm giving myself a break from writing and a chance to catch up with stuff i've been meaning to catch up on.
in the meantime i'll also be updating the carrds a bit and roster to reflect more what i still want to get out of this hobby.
coworker is officially coming back on tuesday but i'm semi-free now. i have a lot to catch up on across all the blogs, and the weather isn't exactly helping either. ill be saving up replies so i can drop them in the queue.
ok so let me take a deep breath
✍️ + ALHAITHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
❛❛ one cannot save everyone. that is a truth people seem unwilling to accept. ❜❜ alhaitham leans back in his chair, arms folding across his chest. the gesture is not defensive, it is a way to create distance from the incessant noise threatening to derail the conversation. there is a tendency among people to confuse reason with indifference. ❛❛ haven't i told you ? i am merely a feeble scholar. ❜❜ the claim is, of course, untrue.
people hear what they expect to hear. a harmless scholar, a scribe buried beneath stacks of records. someone content to remain in the background whilst others argue. the position suits him well. it grants access to information without requiring participation in every tedious discussion the akademiya insists on holding. others circling for hours around the same point just from different angles. it is a comfortable occupation and a comfortable life. there is very little change about it.
it is why the accusation gets corrected. correcting people is often more exhausting than allowing them to persist in their assumption. ❛❛ if you could refrain from putting words in my mouth for a moment, ❜❜ he says flatly, ❛❛ you would realize i never said such a thing. ❜❜ though his voice is calm, there is a lingering sharpness in his tone. they are arguing against a statement he never made, nor did he ever claim saving the person was impossible. the problem is that people are so eager to act that they often neglect the most important step: thinking.
a poorly conveyed rescue helps no one. ❛❛ i do have an idea of getting them out of there. ❜❜
✉ — @deathsmaidens left a prompted letter, still accepting.
a soft sigh escapes the yama as the plea reaches her ears. the familiar insistence of innocence spoken with the same desperation she has heard countless times before. it makes her close her eyes for a brief moment and then raises the rod of remorse and points it toward the soul before her. ❛❛ there is no such thing as innocent. ❜❜
❛❛ not a single person has ever stood before this court without sin. ❜❜ there is no one without fault. no human nor youkai.
she descends the steps of the tribunal. ❛❛ rather than dwelling upon the impossible, one should focus on what remains within their power. ❜❜ her steps come to a halt. ❛❛ do not lose sight of the good you are capable of, even when sin becomes unavoidable. ❜❜ because it is unavoidable. a life without sin does not exist, but neither does a life that is incapable of virtue. choices matter.
eiki straightens as she casts one final look across the entirety of their history. she has seen enough. ❛❛ having weighed both your past and your potential, i judge that you shall be reincarnated. ❜❜
❛❛ may you never kneel before all things that are evil. ❜❜
✉ — @remauriel left a prompted letter, still accepting.
"You know very well that I can't rest. Of all the people you probably know, I'm not the one who needs it. On the contrary, I should be working even harder. There are too many patients here now. It's all my fault."
The woman slapped herself loudly. Anaxagoras is always like that, thoug. Worrying about her even though he doesn't really have to. And she does exactly the same to him. They both are so stubborn, especially when it comes to neglect their well-being and their own health.
"These failed hypotheses of yours will be your grave. It's sad to watch… I told you so many times to be more careful, attentive. Don't make any big moves right away." She sighed deeply, gently patting his wound, which was already well-bandaged. She had taken care of it so quickly.
"Funny, Professor. You have a very strange sense of humor. I wonder if you'd still joke like that if one of your arms really fell off."
❛❛ people get hurt all the time. ❜❜ the words leave him with his characteristic bluntness. suffering is not an anomaly. people bleed and fall ill. ❛❛ you're not to blame if they get hurt or fall ill. ❜❜ his gaze settles on her for a moment. she cannot prevent every wound, no one can. if such a thing were possible, the world would not be crumbling around them piece by piece.
❛❛ what you're responsible for is taking enough care of yourself so you can heal others and i ... ❜❜ the sentence falters before a long and reluctant sigh escapes him. ❛❛ shall try to be a good patient to you. ❜❜ spoken with the enthusiasm that is expected of him having to slow down. still, he owes her that much, especially after hearing her admit that watching him can be sad sometimes. he has spent so long accepting his own self-destructive tendencies that he occasionally forgets how they appear from the outside.
❛❛ i don't need my arm to laugh. ❜❜ technically speaking, it is true. however, perhaps a touch macabre. yet anaxagoras is finally sitting down and resting instead.
✍️ + evanescia hueheuhe (not particularly a pandora muse tbh but u know what im getting at)
❛❛ wow, people sure didn't waste any time speedrunning those cosplay outfits, ❜❜ the observation leaves her lips threaded with amusement as she drifts toward the nearby clothing rack. rows 'pon rows of costumes and props hang neatly before them, each modelled after one of the current supplicants. her gaze wanders from item to item. there is even a replica of sparxie's staff.
a quiet sound of delight escapes her. tucked among the collection are pieces unmistakably meant to resemble her. she reaches for them. ❛❛ i've been here for so long, ❜❜ she murmurs, turning it over in her hands, ❛❛ but never did i think i'd live to see the day someone would make cosplay props of me too. ❜❜ perhaps the secret to becoming cosplayable was not fame at all. perhaps it is simply to be seen alongside someone else. ah, this must be what people call shipbait.
the realization of this causes her to nod at herself, but at the same moment yao guang's voice snaps her back to reality, the accessory slips from her fingers. ❛❛ ah — ! ❜❜ her hand darts out, catching it just before it hits the floor.
when she looks back up, the tips of her ears twitch, faintly betraying her embarassment. ❛❛ i could definitely see people trying to cosplay you, miss guang. ❜❜ a small smile tugs at the corner of her lips as she recovers what remains of her dignity in that moment. then after a moment of consideration, she reaches towards the rack again and retrieves an accessory that bears a resemblance to yao guang's. holding it up beside her face, she tilts her head. ❛❛ see ? ❜❜ the smile brightens. ❛❛ now we match. ❜❜
✉ — @deathsmaidens left a prompted letter, still accepting.
long overdue but i need to ramble about matty's 2nd birthday letter.
i'll be going from top to bottom, starting with the name holloway. it's interesting that both a family friend of the czernins and the nursing home anne stayed in share the same surname. especially since they're both czech. it could be a coincidence, of course, but my mattanne heart is happy.
another interesting detail is that the family left czechia despite their old money status and family reputation because they couldn't live comfortably there. they instead moved to france and despite their socialite lifestyle, the family appears to have been wealthy enough to own and operate their own theatre.
the play le roi soleil is interesting because its a reference to the musical with the same name.
the musical centres on king louis xiv. beyond sharing the same name as the puppet, there are several parallels between the king and both louis & matthias. in the story, louis (the king) has his authority stripped away because others believe he cannot rule alone, which kind of mirrors how his father began doubting matthias' puppeteering abilities. additionally, louis after the war is treated as dead and forgotten, eventually rising to become the sun king which feels like a subtle nod to matthias' release s-tier costume KING h1
regarding the theatre fire, it appears that the stampede caused most of the deaths rather than the flames themselves. the fire was largely contained to the second floor and lasted for about 10 minutes. but the burning rosin produced an immense amount of smoke that spread quickly and caused a panic. the situation worsened because the doors had been locked because matthias' father did not want patrons to leave without paying. with no accessible exit beside the backstage route, people rushed toward the stage, which eventually collapsed under the weight because it wasn't designed to carry so many at once.
the fire
the report says the following about the cause of fire: distinct traces were found of spilt wax beneath the stand, and in the vicinity remained numerous signs of burning upon the puppet's outer garments, most of which were made of taffeta and lace, being dry and readily combustible.
within the room were stored approximately sixty-seven pounds of rosin, divided among six wooden barrels. the labels bore the words "For New Season," indicating that these were articles the company had recently procured.
some evidence suggests that the fire was well planned in advance, while other evidence (such as the trailer) implies it may have been an impulsive act.
the argument for premeditation is that matthias had the opportunity. he knew about his father's practice of locking the theatre doors, having previously been made to report fare evasion incidents to the district police on his father's behalf. he also knew what materials were stored inside the theatre.
what counters, or at least complicates things, is matthias' behaviour once the fire began to spread.
the first to raise the alarm was matthias czernin, the only son of mr. czernin. his loud cries for help prompted an immediate response from the theatre staff, who were resting on the second floor, and rushed to fight the flames.
matthias knew the theatre better than anyone. since he was already backstage, he could have escaped immediately through the exit available to him. instead, i think it's highly plausible that he attempted to help others get out.
after all, his goal was never to kill anyone. he wanted to get rid of louis forever, not cause a mass casualty event. i don't believe he intended for his parents to die nor for anyone else to be killed. his father likely would have been blamed for negligence, but matthias' actions feel far more impulsive than calculated. if the fire had truly been planned from the beginning, then too many aspects of it have gone wrong and been executed poorly.
the company of others and the burden of small talk are things kamisato ayato often finds himself disliking. not because he shuns human connection, quite the opposite, actually. idle conversation is a luxury rarely afforded to him. perhaps that is precisely why he treasures them when the opportunity does appear.
his thumb and forefinger come to rest against his chin, accompanying the faint curiosity that flickers across his features. his gaze settles 'pon them and the cup in their hands. ❛❛ i am curious what you think of the taste. ❜❜ the question itself is innocent enough. perhaps a little too innocent. he watches their expression change before he laughs softly. he raises the sleeve of his kimono to conceal part of his smile. after all, openly laughing at another's person's suffering, regardless of how minor it is, would be terribly rude. even though it is rather amusing.
❛❛ not to your liking, then ? ❜❜ to be fair, the outcome had been somewhat predictable. some of the ingredients were rather unconventional, especially by his standards. ❛❛ i shall remove that one from the list. here. ❜❜ allowing a thoughtful hum to pass, he offers another cup to them: a proper bubble tea this time.
✉ — @deathsmaidens left a prompted letter, still accepting.
