Hello, Peoples~!!

Phos and Empathy

This new chapter is interesting for a lot of reasons, not least of which that Ichikawa is no longer dancing around the parallels between Sensei-Antarc and Assmea-Cairn and is instead showing us OUTRIGHT, but today I think I’d like to talk about Phos (and the gems) and empathy.

I see a lot of people say that the gems don’t have empathy, but I don’t think that’s quite true. The gems HAVE empathy. We’ve seen it over and over again, even near the very beginning of the manga. Rutile tells Phos how tragic Cinnabar’s life is, exiled to the edges of gem society due to their toxins. Rutile demonstrates empathy by describing Cinna’s pain from Cinna’s perspective.

Rutile isn’t the only gem we see display empathy! We see plenty of others display empathy, the most notable being Euclase. Phos, meanwhile, struggles pretty severely with empathy. Often it seems like they can only understand the suffering of others through the lens of their own suffering. They could understand Cinna’s feelings because they too felt useless, and they could understand how gems who lost their partners felt after they too lost Antarc. Phos displays sympathy rather than empathy.

The real difference is that Phos is still kind- they have a need to act on their feelings of sympathy. This is what truly separates Phos from the other gems. It’s most obvious in Euclase, since Euclase is incredibly, passively empathetic. When Phos was broken and buried in the ground, Euclase asked Sensei every day to pray- but that’s the most they did. AT the moment, I can’t think of a single time we’ve seen Euclase act on their feelings of empathy in any constructive capacity.

It’s interesting, because I truly think a lot of the series as it stands wouldn’t have happened if Phos had gotten Euc’s head instead of Lapis’. Empathy combined with Phos’ inherent kindness? We may have seen actual, helpful actions on an individual level.

Now, though, Phos is having empathy (the ability to understand another’s experiences) literally and agonizingly injected into their consciousness over and over again. Will Phos come out of this with a capacity for empathy…? I don’t know. But I will say that, while it is heartening to see a gem- any gem- have sympathy for Phos, this doesn’t give me much hope. None of the (former) gems are any kinder than they used to be, and so far Euclase has proven to be all talk and no action, as we’ve always seen.

The real question here is what will Phos gain from Sensei’s memories. I truly hope it’s empathy, if only so that they can understand others enough to help fully understand themself and perhaps no longer feel like they’re flailing in a cruel, unloving world.

List of Possible Denizens for each Aspect

Finally! Made a nice cleaned up list that’s organized by Aspect most likely associated with each God, Goddess, Spirit, Titan, Personification or Gnostic Aeon!

and there’s like at least 14-15 Denizens for each Aspect if not more, so it’s quite a list!

Enjoy!

Keep reading

The Extended Zodiac as Horns Part One: Lowbloods - Rust, Bronze, Gold, Lime

Every one of these horns is free to use! I ask only for credit! <3

The extended zodiac pixels were made by quixotican on dA.

I’m in my joan of arc fangirl era again

Oho boyyyy

Rebecca Perry, Beauty/Beauty; from 'Kintsugi 金継ぎ'

Omg it me

Sylphs, holding all their feelings in a very beaten up cardboard box: Okay. This is fine. I just have to make it to the safe and then I’ll be good. No one will be around to see these and then I can suppress them! It’ll be okay! We’re all good!

A minor inconvenience, fluttering onto the top of their feelings pile and making the bottom of the box cave in and spill shit all over the floor: (:

Sylphs: Oh shit. Oh fuck. *scrambling to pick everything up and whipping their heads around to make sure no one’s looking, then hiding away in their room for 3 days out of embarrassment*

I know this account is for my own stories, but I really wanted to share this fanart I did on here. I absolutely love Tales From The Gas Station and I wanted to draw Spencer, so I did.

jane austen was right!!!!! i AM half agony half hope!!!!! if i loved you less i COULD talk about it more!!!!!!!! i WAS in the middle before i knew i had begun!!!!!!!

Would you mind doing a sort of.. Masterpost if you will of all the aspects? Like the listings of the classes of each aspects on one big post? It is really hard to sift through all your tags so if you wouldn't mind..?

Yeah no problem lol

Life: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/75520350475

Doom: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/60038012745

Void: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/59321860527

Light: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/58602037584

Space: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/57780866364

Time: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/57746528548

Blood: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/106759222357

Breath: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/106754259377

Mind: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/101397160032

Heart: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/96603638742

Rage: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/88348295767

Hope: http://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/84244830302

Kill The Lights

The Birthday Massacre - “Kill the Lights”