Anne

“[B]efore the Chinese figured out what gunpowder was for, they'd thought it could be used as an immortality elixir. How did they found out they were wrong? she asked me. The most logical way possible: it blew up in their faces, and ever since then they've used it for fireworks. And the truth is that when I see particularly beautiful fireworks, I really do feel immortal.”
― Mariana Enriquez, Our Share of Night