Water Lilies Painted By Claude Monet (1840 - 1926)

Now I'm entirely into Attack on Titan, have a Annie from the OVA Manga

every single day I think about how american black vultures are known for engaging in interspecific allopreening (preening between different species)

and they have a specific relationship with crested caracaras, in which the black vultures assist them by not only preening them after meals but also leading them to food in the first place, while the caracaras assist the black vultures by acting as a warning signal in case of danger

and while this is more typical of black vultures, this is not common at all for any member of the falconidae family— it’s a special bond!

yet another post in favor of vultures everyone , hope you enjoy:) and I implore you to do some more research on these incredible birds !!

EDIT: I meant interspecific allopreening! excuse my typo!

EDIT 2: black vultures do not have a superior sense of smell to caracaras, sorry for the misunderstanding!

Thinking about Buddhism as it relates to Madoka Magica, sadly for the first time as I have no personal frame of reference surrounding the religion as a white Canadian.

I think just as much as Madoka criticizes aspects of Christianity, it is also criticizing Buddhism. Namely that the salvation Buddhists seek in the pursuit of nirvana can rob us of our inherent human experience.

“According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught that attachment or clinging causes dukkha (often translated as "suffering"), but that there is a path of development which leads to awakening and full liberation from dukkha”.

Huh. Attachment and clinging causes suffering… where have we seen-

Homura is the fairly straightforward unideal person in Buddhism. Attachment and clinging in Buddhism is called ‘tanha’, and there are three main pillars of it, each of which Homura represents in Rebellion (and the girls all represent with their wishes):

1. Kama-Tanha: Craving for sensory pleasures. These are usually material things and mostly associated with our base desires, like food, sex, wealth even, etc.

2. Bhava-Tanha: Craving to be something, to exist, to unite with an experience. This one is more difficult to understand; but it seems to relate to the idea of wanting to be important and exist in others’ lives and thoughts.

3. Vibha-Tanha: Craving for non-existence. The desire to not experience unpleasant things, and also the desire for self-annihilation (suicide). Homura exemplifies this one strongly.

Buddhists seek to distance themselves from these things in order to seek nirvana, the cessation of desire and thus of suffering. But when you are left without this ‘suffering’, you are also left without the beautiful things in life.

What is a life worth living without desires? What is life for a god who has no attachments? Madoka Magica through Homura, the antithesis to Buddhist ideals, asks this question blatantly in the Concept Movie Trailer.

What is happiness without delicious food and sunbeams (sensory kama pleasures) or connections and existence (bhava)?

Madoka’s existence as a so called enlightened being in heaven (nirvana) goes against what makes us human beings, and her own happiness in turn.

The cessation of desire, a driving force for basic human emotions, does little but make you emotionless and numb. It disconnects you from relationships. What then is to differentiate you from emotionless Incubators?

Attachment and clinging can bring despair to people like Homura in Rebellion. But in the right circumstances, attachment, desire - it brings happiness and love. It is happiness and love. Without suffering, there is no joy. Is an existence without joy worthwhile?

Eren Jaeger’s Final Words

So there are many people unimpressed with the final statement given by Eren’s character, either finding it inconsistent with the build up to this point, or too ambiguous a motivation for trampling all over the world. I’m not really here to talk about the quality of the story, whether it was good or bad, because I don’t really care. However, I think it’s fascinating what the text is trying to say about Eren’s character and his motivation. 

This is why, “I don’t know, shrug” is both an answer and not an answer to why Eren did what he did in the end. For making my point in this analysis, I’ll be talking about Eren’s character from Marley on showing both the Eren that appeared before Reiner, the one that talked to Zeke, and finally the one Armin saw are all the same person. 

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on that day, humanity recieved a grim reminder...

“Lan Zhan! Let me ask you, back then, under the Xuanwu cave in Dusk-Creek Mountain, the song that you sang me, what was its name?”

“Why do you suddenly remember to ask about this?”

“Just say it. What was its name? I think I might’ve guessed how you recognized me.”

SNK S4 EP13: CHILDREN OF THE FOREST

wine x blood

Meta on "Thank you" and "Sorry" in MDZS

Inspired out of spite by a post where someone said Lan Wangji not wanting to hear thank you and sorry from Wei Wuxian in the novel is stupid because healthy couples need communication and this is why CQL is better. LMAOO

OK. Before starting I want to point out that one of the themes of the novel and Wei Wuxian's characterisation is the concept of indebtedness and owings . It is one of the reasons why he is so dutiful towards the Jiangs and why he sacrifices his golden core and the reason he resurrects Wen Ning.

The words Thank you and Sorry are very significant in the story and are very explicitly tied to the above mentioned themes. They are the words Wen Qing says to Wei Wuxian in her parting because she feels indebted towards Wei Wuxian as he has protected her and the rest of Wen remnants and even resurrected Wen Ning on her request. Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian have a cycle of debts where they both believe they owe each other. [Just to clarify I don't think it's just indebtedness that defines their relationship but it's definitely there ].In the next life Wei Wuxian uses the exact pair of words on Jin Ling as he owes him for insulting his parents whose deaths are caused by him.

As you can see these words are explicitly associated with indebtedness and owing.

Lan Wangji loves Wei Wuxian unconditionally. He obviously wants Wei Wuxian to return his feelings BUT he does not want Wei Wuxian to do so out of indebtedness or gratitude. Whenever Wei Wuxian says thank you to him, the narration describes as him being tense and sad, the cause of this is as I described earlier and also because in the past whenever they have exchanged these words they have parted on bad terms.

The text is very explicit about this.

"Lan Zhan you're really scared of me telling you 'thank you', aren't you? I suddenly remembered many of the times we parted ways in my past life, I said 'thank you' to you right before. And every time we separated, I worsened the next time we met"

The time they killed Wen Chao and Wen ZhuLiu at the courier station, the time they met each other through the flowers at the towers in Yunmeng, the time they parted at Yiling's Burial Mound. Every time, he used that word to mark a clear line between him and Lan Wangji, stretching out the distance between them.

The word that finally breaks their makeout session in the inn is one thank you from Wei Wuxian where Lan Wangji snaps as he believes Wei Wuxian is only doing this out of gratitude towards him and not because he returns his feelings. It is insulting and heartbreaking to him and he is angry because of this.

When the conflict is resolved with Wei Wuxian's confession that includes :

"... I swear it's not the heat of the moment or joking around like I have done in the past. I'm not doing it out of gratitude either. Anyways, it's not because of anything else. I really just like you so much."

He deliberately clarifies that there are no feelings of gratitude or indebtedness involved in reciprocating Lan Wangji's feelings.

"Between you and me, there is no need for 'thank you' and 'sorry'."

This line by Lan Wangji defines how he views their relationship i.e without indebtedness or owings. So far all the relationships that Wei Wuxian had been a part of have the feeling of obligation and indebtedness, the Jiangs for raising him and Wen siblings for rescuing him and helping him out . Ofcourse he loves them but indebtedness and his sense of duty to repay them are also his major motivations. He takes drastic steps because of this and we all know how they turned out. Lan Wangji doesn't want this kind of relationship with him, the one he had with others in the past. He wants him to be free of ever feeling like that he owes Lan Wangji something.

Thank you and sorry are not just courtesy words here but carry a hurtful baggage and choosing not to use them isn't a miscommunication but freeing from the feeling of obligations.

stormbringers fucking insane for using rimlaine as a contrast to skk. these two couldnt trust each other fully and rimbaud only believed he could help verlaine feel human, not truly be so, and still considered him Other, however much he believed them to be equals, verlaines humanity only existed in rimbauds eyes because he gave it to him. verlaines inability to accept his own humanity or even really that rimbauds feelings for him were genuine because he, alone, singular, monstrously set apart from humanity, should be incapable of receiving anything resembling affection or genuine understanding, such that it left him betraying his partner. and then they cannot exist as two beings working seamlessly together. rimbaud and verlaine in fact cannot exist as two beings at all, only as one conjoined entity. verlaine kept alive with rimbauds skill, and rimbaud, long dead and refusing that reality until he can find his partner, existing only as an extension of verlaine. while skk who do trust each other blindly, who do see humanity in each other enough to look past when they doubt it in themselves, who see humanity not as a defined be or be not, but as a set of values, as a do or do not. they are able to exist as one act in two parts. interdependent, always, even down to their skills, but still functioning as one unit in two separate cogs made to fit together.