Actually there was a programme about phlogiston, the Chemical Revolution, pre-enlightenment era chemistry and its poetic names for elements tonight on TV (I only caught the tail end of it). Zinc oxide (ZnO) was called 'Philosophical Wool'.
They chopped off Lavoisier's head, just like that. Bloody ideologists.
Ice
Encases and wraps itself entirely around whatever it was on in its previous form. Unmoving and at times harder than stone it represents purity and transparency of my goals through its appearance. Only able to survive in conditions that are inhospitable to others. Slowly chilling it's aggressors and people that tend to it, the effects seem minimal at first, but the numbness and loss of entire limbs follow soon enough.
Enjoying your posts lately. I'm glad you ceased ripping apart every comment.
Question for you: Do you take much time (longer than others in your opinion) when typing out responses? Yours are rather long compared to most. Something you posted about reading comprehension got me interested.
Anyway, I'd like to just be light. But I think of myself as that light so intense it's unseen. That black hole type shit.
I never really knew how to answer the question, but from hanging out with people who played video games and watched Avatar it naturally came up a lot. The consensus among multiple groups seems to be something between water and ice, so I'm just going to call it "Water". If not for it having come up with the same answer more than once (one person posed electricity and another earth, but they ended up dropping the notion from parts not fitting), I'd not have really thought about it as much since it was picked from the whole "each person can only be one element" notion.
Water came up for me related to temperament, the ability to adapt, and one referenced how it's ability to turn into ice is like my snapping into rigid views, while I thought to myself that the vapor state is like when I'm dissociating really badly. I also keep dating "fire types", chilling rage and fear and turning it into something useful while their passions meanwhile keep me in check, but they seem to see me closer to "ice" than "water".
I associate darkness as the shade which hides what lies within it, an illusion. Others might say that I'm noticeably polite, likable, and very intelligent. Below the shallow exterior might be cold and void. While I might present myself to others in a manner most appealing to them, I only do so for my own self interests. As the light of others move towards me my shadows bend and reshape to suit their perception of an acceptable reality. As far as they're concerned, there is nothing hiding behind the smile.
