bird-of-eternia

[bird-of-eternia]

a post-doc was doing a guest seminar at my institute and at the beginning of his presentation he was explaining why he chose birds for his evolutionary analysis - so he said "well first of all, because birds are the best and most interesting animals and it's fun to study them" and a few professors in the room gave him a very serious nod

[bird-of-eternia]

I know its infact only 2 of the skittles and marls and james but i was incredibly bored and colored it on a single layer u will live 🧎‍♂️

[bird-of-eternia]

"Simulate a love scene with a balrog."

[bird-of-eternia]

I once believed love would be black and white, but it’s golden

another huge thank you to Caspervi for this beautiful commission✨

[bird-of-eternia]

[bird-of-eternia]

The King of the Forest

... sees and hears everything.

[bird-of-eternia]

(x)

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Pandora (1896) and Circe Invidiosa (1892), by John William Waterhouse

[bird-of-eternia]

If the earth was on fire

Beasts pounded at the doors

And men held hot pokers to my vulnerable flesh,

If winged angels sang to me that the only way to save my eternal soul was to accept a life without you,

I would gladly let the earth burn

I would open the door for the beast and usher it in with full hospitality, lay on the table and let it feast up on my muscle

I would let the men pierce my weak body,

watch as my charred skin slid to the floor like a discarded costume.

I would shout back to the angels that an eternal life in paradise would be hell without you

That life with my love closed tightly in my arms is more paradise than heaven ever could be.

#writer #author #romance #poetry #writing #stories #poem

[bird-of-eternia]

There is no without

We don't live on without those who've gone.

They are broken up into little pieces,

Scattered through our lives.

Through our memories.

We live on with them right there beside us

In a smell that reminds us of them

In reruns of their favorite show

In their favorite song

They stay with us. Here. Not without

They stay with us in our memories

They live here in the present in moments of remembrance.

They live in the future...in stories.

There is no without

#writer #poetry #writing #stories #poem #memories #grief #tbh inspired by haunting of hill house

[bird-of-eternia]

Nobody understands the bond between a girl and the mediocre book she read when she was 13 years old.

[bird-of-eternia]

© Nona Limmen {via Instagram}

[bird-of-eternia]

Charlie, Leader of Nothing

---A short story of Jude Nikkels, a young person transported to the town of Nothing, Nowhere. A fantasy world filled with whimsy, charm, and mystery, led by Charlie, a young boy with an undiscernible nature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I woke up. The first thing I felt was the cold. Then the hard ground beneath me. I tried opening my eyes and groaned. A wave of nausea hit me like a freight train. Slowly, I sat up, every muscle screaming at me to lay back down. At my side was a tree sapling. I could literally see it growing, reaching its infant branches to the sky. I reached out a hand and the sapling raised me to my feet. 

“Thanks,” I whispered with a hoarse voice, brushing the dirt and leaves from my pants.

“No problem!” a squeaky voice responded.

 I whipped my head around to see who it could have been, but there was no one to be seen. Had the tree talked to me? Of course, they had talked in my grandfather's stories, but it couldn't be possible…I was just tired and lost.

I could feel my breath quicken as I looked around at the forest surrounding me. It was dusk, the sun setting through the trees. I could hear little critters scuttling through the underbrush. Nothing looked familiar, there was no way I could find my way home. How far into the forest was I? How long had I been out here? I couldn’t even remember how I had gotten into the forest.

I closed my eyes, taking three deep breaths, like my therapist had told me.

“In 1….2…3…4…5,” I raised my palms to the sky, “and out 1…2…3…4…5.” I pushed my palms out. Okay, just calm down and make some observations. I told myself.

So I slowly spun in a circle taking in everything I could see. A black squirrel eating walnuts, a purple butterfly fluttering near a blueberry bush, a path down the center of some pine trees. “Ah!” I yelped and stumbled back hitting a root with my heel and almost falling.

 I had thought the saplings were growing with branches stretched to the sky but they were reaching towards their parent trees. Oaks, Ash’s, walnuts, hickory, and pine all staring down at the saplings, a smile on their faces. Yes, faces. A closer look would show that each tree had intricate lines, almost as if the beatles and wood ants had carved the eyes, mouths, and noses. I was staring at a particularly defined tree face of an old oak tree when its eyes shifted to mine.

“Hello dear,” it called down to me. “What are you doing in the nursery?” The voice was calming and warm like a grandmother.

“Uh…” I searched for words, finding none, settled for a shrug.

“Ah, well…You’ve been sleeping for quite a long time dear.” The branches of the grandmother oak creaked as they lowered. There was a great wind as they swung past other trees, almost knocking a sleeping bird from its perch. The bird seemed not to notice. This happened often I guessed.

“Follow the mountain pines down the path and you’ll find Nothing dear.”

I nodded and started down the path. “Wait!” I shook my head. “Nothing? Why would I walk down the path to Nothing?”

Grandmother Oak chuckled, the sound like wind through the leaves, it made me smile.

“Nothing is truly constant in life!” said Grandmother Oak. “and everything does change for sure.”

An ash tree piped in “You just have to make an effort!”

“Oh!” said the mountain pine nearest me, a deep gravelly voice. “And you just have to know, that its…its a…” he trailed off, not sure of the next words. A sapling growing beside him tickled his bark gently, “courage papa!” it squeaked. The mountain pine laughed, showering me in pine needles. “Courage!” he exclaimed. “Courage that will take you too high.”

The sapling reached out, snagging my sweater as it grew. “So that you will reach the sky!”

I tugged my sweater from the sapling. “I dont understand?”

“You’ll reach the place that you wished for,” she soothed. “Have that courage to go so far, you know what you really are.”

“But what is Nothing? How do I know when I’ve reached it?” The trees began ushering me down the path. The leaves tickling my ears and twigs poking my back.

“Down the path dear! Thats it, on your way to Nothing!”

Eventually the trees stopped pushing me forward. I pulled the sweater tighter around myself.

“I guess its smart to follow a path…but what if its an animal path and not man-made?” I laughed at myself. “Who cares about that! There were talking trees!” I felt like I was losing my mind. “Where am I?!” I shouted to the darkening forest. The snoring trees startled awake, shushed me grumpily, and began to snore again.

“Nowhere!” A voice called in the distance.

It sounded far away and yet…like it was talking directly to me.

“Yes, you!” it called again.

I walked faster, squinting to see as far as my eyes would let me. There was something there. Something twinkling in the twilight of the forest.

“Come quickly!” it called, a bit louder now, a young man's voice.

I began jogging down the path, trying not to trip on the multitude of roots popping up haphazardly.

“Faster or the trees will fall on you!”

Just then a snoring tree in front of me wavered, tilted, and fell onto the path with an oddly soft thump. The trees were falling asleep!

I picked up the pace, sprinting around tilting trees and jumping over others that had fallen. I was nearly crushed by a falling birch tree as it swung down just as I hopped over its brother tree.

Finally I could see it. A small village up ahead. There were brightly colored lanterns spattering light of every color in every direction. At the end of the path I could see a young man anxiously bopping from foot to foot. He waved me on excitedly, cheering after every near miss.

“That’s it!”

“Oh! A close call!”

“Watch out!”

“Falling oak! Eleven o’clock!”

“Right on!”

I nearly fell to the ground at his feet, bent in half, hands on my knees, breathing like I had just run a thousand miles.

“Good on you!” He slapped my back a bit too hard. I tumbled forwards, catching myself just in time.

“Hey! Watch it buddy!” I gasped out. My eyes went wide once I got a better look at him. He was tall and lanky, no older than 17 and trying desperately to grow a sandy red beard. His clothes were mismatched and at first glance you may have thought he was wearing rags, however, the clothes were high quality and well taken care of, it was the amount of clothes and patterns he wore that was misleading. He looked like he was meant to be cosplaying David Bowie as the Goblin king but got messed up and added some Freddie Mercury with his yellow leather jacket.

The boy straightened his tricorne hat and many scarves, obviously noticing my wide eyed stare. I couldn’t help it. I knew exactly who he was. I just didn’t want to believe it.

“I’m trying something new.” He said smiling. The smile stretched his whole face. It was a smile, I thought, that would light up a room. It was welcoming but full of naivete and mischief.

“Jude is it?” he asked. His accent was strange, I couldn’t place it. At first it sounded like a strong brooklyn cadence, then a smooth southern twang before quickly becoming absurdly northern european.

“I’m going insane.” I rubbed a hand down my face.

“Well then,” he put out a hand to shake. “We’ll have none of that attitude! My name is Charlie!”

I chuckled, grabbing his hand and shaking. “How is this possible?” I motioned at the village. “I’am going insane.”

This time Charlie chuckled. “You’re not going insane! Not possible in such a lovely place eh bud?” Canadian this time. He patted me on the shoulder. I stared into his mismatched eyes, one green, one brown, and shook my head in disbelief.

“Welcome to the village of Nothing! Your grandfather said you’d be comin’,” He grabbed the edges of his yellow jacket, standing tall. “I’ve been personally directed to help you on your way!”

 “Where exactly is that?” I slumped.

“Nowhere of course!” He laughed standing on his tip toes, head thrown back to the night sky.

Charlie was real and I was really Nowhere….

Nowhere, the world my grandfather had written about in his journals…the world he had told bedtime stories about…The world I had played pretend in when I was a child. I used to dream about someday having adventures with Charlie, camping within the Talking Tree forest, swimming in the nether oceans, hunting down crocodile rats… This was kids stuff.

“I shouldn’t be here Charlie.” I sighed.

“Oh aye, your grandad said you’d say that. Ain’t true though, swear it, I do! Have a few adventures here an yer bound tah find the way home.”

Well, if I was truly stuck here for who knows how long…I might as well have some adventures with Charlie for now.

#writer #author #comedy #writing #stories #fantasy #whimsy #whimsical #talking trees #puns #fantasy worlds

[bird-of-eternia]

Vulture

Life flies by like a vulture

ready to devour the refuse of the past.

The beetles and maggots clean the bones,

ivory white

It is these bones on the side of the highway

with which we build our futures.

-J. Bird

#writer #storiesfromtheprophet #author #poetry #writing #stories #poem #life #nature #life cycle #novice #j bird

[bird-of-eternia]

op disabled reblogs so here

[bird-of-eternia]

Set Me Free

I' am stuck

I' am stuck inside this vessel

with all its aches and pains

This vessel that needs constant nurturing

How I wish to be set free

Set me free to feel the star dust on my ethereal form

flying through the milky way, headed towards everywhere

Set me free

Set me free

Set me free

#writer #storiesfromtheprophet #author #poetry #writing #poem #stars #space #set me free #stuck #humanity

[bird-of-eternia]

Persephone Anne- Parent Visit

Perry sat across the table from her mother. It was the obligatory parent visit of the week and she had driven 45 minutes to visit for hopefully only an hour.

As her mother talked about the same things she had talked about the last visit, Perry stared at the yellowed paint on the ceiling. The years of chain-smoking by her grandparents had congealed on the walls. In some spots you could see the accumulated cigarette smoke dripping like old molasses.

Perry's parents had tried remodeling but had only gotten half way done in the ten years since the grandparents passed.

"...I'm making her a baby basket. You know the ones made of diapers? I thought it'd be cute." Her mother sat back in her chair, hands folded around a coffee cup, smiling.

"Yeah, I think that's really nice of you." Perry tried. She really tried.

"Yup, I thought so....I love her so much," she chuckled. "Even though she's, you know....with a another girl. She was with a man but then she left him and got back with her ex girlfriend. Even though she's abusive...Liz knows I don't agree with that kinda stuff but she loves me." She took a sip of her coffee. "But oh well, I suppose. I almost made a joke the other day, because they both have the same name, you know Liz and Liz, she walked in and I wanted to say 'oh heres Lizzie the Lezzie.'"

Perry took a sip from the sprite, mildly uncomfortable with the conversation. She imagined the reason why her mother got so excited about her younger friends or employees having babies was because her youngest daughter Persephone Anne was still childless at 28.

She was searching for something to say or a subject to change to when her father interrupted. His most defined talent.

"Look at this for a minute." He tapped around on his tablet for what seemed like forever, then turned it to face Perry.

"Man, this would freak me the fuck out boy!" He pushed his glasses up his nose, readjusting the oxygen tube.

They sat there in silence, except the occasional commentary from her father, and watched a six minute video of a hiker backing away from a cougar.

"....just imagine."

"Suckin, right there man! I woulda freaked out!"

"That's crazy, wow."

Perry tried smiling and attempted to blink the fuzziness from her eyes. "Wow, that's pretty scary...cool though."

"Yeah it is!" He chuckled and brought the tablet back in front of himself.

.

On the drive back home Perry blasted the stuff she listened to in highschool. Bands like My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and some newer stuff like Yungblud. She yelled along to each song until she started to get a mild headache. The rest of the drive past corn fields, through small towns, and finally back into the city, she thought of Kristen Stewart in the Rolling Stones music video. The one where they danced around at a gas station. She thought about the music video and how crazy attracted to Kristen Stewart she was. What would she say if she met them? Probably choke and embarrass herself. There was no way someone like Kristen Stewart would date someone like Perry. What would her parents think?

'Oh hey, I like women and have a girlfriend now but don't worry she's rich!' Maybe that would ease their minds.

It was okay for Liz, her mother's coworker and 'adopted' daughter, to be gay but it would be a whole different story if Perry came out. An old anger rose up in her chest along with the resentment of Liz. It wasn't the girls fault but the fact Perry's mother gushed about her and her pregnancy made Perry jealous. Especially since she knew that if she came out as pansexual to her folks they would preach the Bible to her, pray for her, tell her she was going to hell...cry probably, but Liz got a free pass because she was kind and had a baby on the way.

She pulled into her usual parking spot in front of her apartment. The ending of Helena by MCR finishing up as she mentally prepared to hoist herself from the car.

Man...Kristen Stewart was fucking hot.

#writer #storiesfromtheprophet #author #comedy #stories #writing #kristen stewart #she is gorgeous #id let kristen stewart throttle me #slice of life #parents #difficult relationship #estranged #parents aren't always right