#to the guillotine with us I guess

[notasapleasure]

Kay, thanks for this link, reading the essay was almost quasi-religious to this lifelong atheist. It's an absurdly optimistic piece and all the more rebellious for it, I think.

I could quote so much more from it, but perhaps this is the most relevant bit right now...

For radicals, fetishizing the guillotine is just like fetishizing the state: it means celebrating an instrument of murder that will always be used chiefly against us.

Those who have been stripped of a positive relationship to their own agency often look around for a surrogate to identify with—a leader whose violence can stand in for the revenge they desire as a consequence of their own powerlessness. In the Trump era, we are all well aware of what this looks like among disenfranchised proponents of far-right politics. But there are also people who feel powerless and angry on the left, people who desire revenge, people who want to see the state that has crushed them turned against their enemies.

Reminding “tankies” of the atrocities and betrayals state socialists perpetrated from 1917 on is like calling Trump racist and sexist. Publicizing the fact that Trump is a serial sexual assaulter only made him more popular with his misogynistic base; likewise, the blood-drenched history of authoritarian party socialism can only make it more appealing to those who are chiefly motivated by the desire to identify with something powerful.

-Anarchists in the Trump Era

Now that the Soviet Union has been defunct for almost 30 years—and owing to the difficulty of receiving firsthand perspectives from the exploited Chinese working class—many people in North America experience authoritarian socialism as an entirely abstract concept, as distant from their lived experience as mass executions by guillotine. Desiring not only revenge but also a deus ex machina to rescue them from both the nightmare of capitalism and the responsibility to create an alternative to it themselves, they imagine the authoritarian state as a champion that could fight on their behalf. Recall what George Orwell said of the comfortable British Stalinist writers of the 1930s in his essay “Inside the Whale”:

“To people of that kind such things as purges, secret police, summary executions, imprisonment without trial etc., etc., are too remote to be terrifying. They can swallow totalitarianism because they have no experience of anything except liberalism.”

[unbearable-lightness-of-ink]

friends who bookbind, what's the best way to cut/smooth the text block without spending my month's grocery budget on a book plough??

[etakeh]

Yeah so let's not decapitate the people who are making $60,000 a year, especially when they could conceivably be paying more than $4,000 a month for rent.

Okay, so, friends. Occasionally I see an American post on here about “guillotine the rich,” and it turns out that “rich” means “anyone making over $50k.”

We need to clear this shit up REAL fast, because otherwise it’s gonna wind up like the French Revolution, where more middle class and poor people were killed for being “class traitors” than actual nobles. (Did you know that France has more nobles today than during the French Revolution? While there were a few showy executions, many nobles did just fine or experienced minor setbacks.)

If someone makes $60,000 a year, they are making about twice as much as a full time worker making minimum wage in California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, or Washington State.

Brian Thompson, the CEO of United HealthCare who was just assassinated in New York City, earned $10 million a year, which means he earned 333 times minimum wage in those states. Basically, he cleared an annual minimum wage salary in just over a day. And that “rich” person making $60k/year that you want to guillotine? He made their salary in a bit over two days of a year.

So he was rich, right?

Well. Tesla is trying to give Elon Musk a pay package of $101 billion. That is 10,100 times what Brian Thompson earned and 3,366,667 times more than a minimum wage worker. (Tesla hasn’t been successful yet because of a complicated lawsuit from a shareholder, but they’ll get there.) If you are a minimum wage worker, Elon Musk makes more every SECOND than you do in a year. And that “rich” person who you want to guillotine? He makes their salary in about 1.6 seconds. Even when he’s sleeping.

Now, remember. The Muskrat also is the head of SpaceX, the Boring Company, X.ai, and X.com, so this is just ONE pay package for him.

What I’m saying is — you have much more in common when it comes to economic grievances with someone earning $60,000 (or even $200,000) than the ultra wealthy that have real power. They are not the people you should expend your energy on.

[protector-utahime-miku]

59 56 79 everyone!

//lol

TW: IMPLIED BULLYING AND SA, AND (STATED) DEATH

(plain text: trigger warning: implied bullying and sexual assault, and (stated) death. end plain text)

and also probably mischaracterization of kitsune because of reasons in the tags.

59. how different are you from the little kid you used to be?

🎶: quite a bit!! i've seen a lot more stuff in the past two millenniums... but i still love to sing! ♪( ´▽｀)

🎀: aha... ummm... i'm much cuter now! and... i'm... not the same happy kid i was before.

🤖: similarly, i'm happier about myself... in some aspects. however...

⭐️: ... very different... aha, d- don't worry about it though! i'm... a star! yeah! that's all that changed...

🦊: i'm pretty similar! but also not the same, aha! it hasn't been the same since...

56. when's a time when you felt real genuine fear?

🎶: it was looong ago, before i became who i am now. when i slipped into that lake and almost drowned... another time is when i saw... what was beyond reality. it's dark and lonely...

🎀: ... it was... when they... m- my middle school classmates, that is... they... th- ... i can't say it. i just can't. s- sorry, aha...

🤖: ... ah... i... i'm not sure i could answer this one, even if i wanted to... i- i was just trying to make friends...

⭐️: e- eh?! what k-kind of a question is that?! a- a true star ne- never feels fear!!! ... i... but i can't be a star. not anymore. after that..?! how... could i be one?

🦊: ... when i learned about about what she had. i was scared she'd die... and... i was right. obasan... i miss you...

79. what's something you wish you could change about yourself?

🎶: i mean, if i want to do that, i can just change at will! in fact... hehe, most of the time i'm not even in my original form, but instead a slightly modified version! guess what i changed! (⌒▽⌒)

🎀: uh... i wish i could change my body, like utahime can. unfortunately she can't give me that ability now. i can turn into animals, though! [briefly, they turn into a pink ragdoll cat. and after letting out a small meow, they turn back.] ehe, see? but... i also wish i could get rid of... the lingering feeling of their touch...

🤖: it's the same answer as kokoro, that being my body. although i can turn into animals, just like they can~! sometimes, we spend time meowing at each other as cats, fufu~ it's quite fun! although... getting rid of the feelings of their hands... does sound nice...

⭐️: SO many things!! my hair is too long!! but i'm a girl, so- I- I MEAN- NOT THAT GIRLS CAN'T HAVE SHORT HAIR, OF COURSE!!!!! it's just... aha... it's hard to explain!! and my chest is too big, too!! i hate it!! but again, i'm a girl! and just my body in general!! and... a.. aha... i... i want... to be innocent again i mean- what? i said nothing...!!!

🦊: there's only really one thing i want to change! but... it is kind of personal information. and besides, i've learned to live with it!

[hauntingblue]

I cant believe I am already on fem law... this happened like 2 days ago I cannot do it....

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Danny the Guy Who Won't Die

He lives in Gotham, and he is just A Guy. Nothing weird about him, he's just there to study/work/help Lady Gotham to lift her curse/on vacation with Sam. Point is, he is not there to cause trouble and there's no GIW on his tail. Just a dude living his (after)life.

And Gotham, being Gotham, still finds a way to be annoying. There are mugging attempts, robbery, Rogues running around. Only Danny really doesn't want to deal with any of it.

Now there's a dilemma. If he uses his powers to fight, it will sooner or later come to Bats' attention. And if he fights as a human, it will also alert some of the Bats since he doesn't really do a great job at keeping his power levels low. Not to mention the fact he is really not enthusiastic about accidentally punching someone hard enough he sends them to a hospital.

What does he do instead? He pulls the 'I guess I'll die' act.

So every time he is attacked, he just plays dead. The mugger shot him in the chest? He falls down and stops breathing. Caught up in the middle of a Poison Ivy attack? Skewers himself on the vine and goes lax. Scarecrow's Fear Gas? Very dramatically chokes himself and plays a corpse. He makes sure to disappear before any ambulances arrive later, and it all goes well for a few months - he is just a casualty, who cares, really - until one day, he runs into that same mugger who shot him in the chest a while ago.

The man does a double take. Danny doesn't notice - he's been mugged so many times, who has the brain capacity to remember all of those fuckers. But the rumor goes out anyway.

A guy-who-won't-die. It's more of a city legend, really, and the Bats don't give it much thought since, well, it sounds stupid and not very important. A rumor of some man who was shot dead and then showed up like nothing happened? Yeah, it's probably because the mugger didn't check if he was actually dead. That happens. Maybe it wasn't even the same man, Gotham is a big city. If anything, hey, at least that was one less casualty? That's a good thing.

That is, until one day, they show up to Joker's hostage situation and witness the clown screaming at one of the hostages. He is so enraged he is shaking, spit flying out of his mouth, and, contrary to the usual Joker's evil sneers and maniacal laughter, he seems just... furious. But, like, the normal-human-level furious. The 'I just lost the last ounce of patience with you' furious.

"Don't you look away from me, you think I don't remember you?! Na-ah, I do. You were the one I drowned in the shark tank last week! And you were the one run through the chainsaw trap two weeks before that! And you were in the guillotine!!! I saw your fucking head get deattached from your body, how the fuck are you here again?!"

And the guy he is screaming at just looks at him, confused and incomprehensive.

"Um, I'm pretty sure I'd remember getting my head cut off, you know? So, err, wrong guy."

"Wrong guy my fucking ass-"

Joker is so distracted by his screaming match that it makes it almost too easy for the Bats to fight him down and drag to Arkham. Yet, a few of them get just a bit suspicious.

Now, imagine all the shenanigans when they try keeping a watch on Danny the Won't Die Guy.

[nishicchikouchi]

The only thing I could say to this is well... I think it's more of the views and circumstances.

I see people compare the situation more with Childe, but what about Lyudochka? Lyney, Lynette and her are both from the House of Hearth.

(Also, I know traveler didn't know their Identity but wow is being saved by a fatui a recurring occurance when they first meet lmao)

In Childe's case, when they first met, Traveler was really distrustful of him. He was really cautious because he knew that Childe is a Fatui, at the same time, a Harbinger. I have not played since release but I do know based on history that it took quite some time for Traveler to actually trust Childe. I dont think he even completely trusts Childe but Traveler respects the fact that Childe will do everything for family. There's understanding between them. Its hard to out into words but they're like a right person, wrong time in terms of friendship I think.

For Lyudochka's case, even if she was in House of Hearth, she had misgivings about the work they do. The Traveler can see that, which is why they went through lengths to help her.

Now for Lyney's case. Oh gosh, I absolutely love him, but at the same time, I was so suspicious of him the entire time doing the AQ. In their first meeting, he showed goodwill to the traveler, which is why the Traveler even though he just arrived, accepted Lyney's request to give out the magic pockets. Lyneh then proceeds to monologue about how magicians works. The line between truth and deception kind of things when the Traveler was with them.

So now comes the trial, where Lyney was accused. Traveler vouches for him. Then it was revealed that Lyney and Lynette are from house of hearth, which the Traveler knows to concoct plans that will seriously harm others. Note that before this trial, the Traveler met Childe and asked him why he was on fontaine. Childe reasons that he's here due to personal reasons. But still, a harbinger is in fontaine. Then, this case it appears to the Traveler there is a possibility that an operation is actually happening. At this pont. The Traveler is overloaded, but they are a rational person, so they ask to adjourn to get the information straight.

Now the talk happens, and Lyney admits they are from the House of Hearth. Im not saying they should've started with this introduction when they first met, but to the Traveler this was probably a significant introduction. In another scenario on which the Traveler never met Lyudochka and Childe, the knowledge of them being fatui might not be relevant, but it becomes relevant in this because the Traveler is defending them in a trial that they know the twins did not commit, but with Childe and House of Hearth in the picture, it becomes a possibility in Traveler's mind that there is something there, and there is a current ploy to gain Traveler's trust.

So then, they're conflicted on trusting the twins, but the traveler is someone who sees everything to the end, and isn't one to turn back on people who they feel they need to return a favor to for their help. They see through the trial, and defend the twins. Then win the case.

After that comes the disappearing act. Where the Traveler tries to leave quietly. Well, emphasis on the tries because the twins did catch up to him, trying to regain his trust and explain their situation. Their situation is really f—d up and the Traveler sympathise with that. However, they also say that they can't completely trust the twins yet and leave without saying another word to them. I think them leaving without a word is not sign of coldness but more need of some time to absorb everything. In the end, what happened what something like the parting with Childe. The traveler sympathised and bid goodbye.

so about that fontaine archon quest huh

[magicalmanhattanproject]

man im just like. thinking about egg signs and how they've evolved over the course of the qsmp and how the qsmp has evolved over the course of the qsmp and just feeling so much love and affection for every part of the project. i dont have any grand overarching point with this just. like. here's a history of egg comms bc of the kind of person that i am

so wayyyy back ten months ago now at the start of the short and sweet egg event that was planned to last maybe a month at most, the eggs had their own custom, decorated signs!

[ID: Leo with a pink sign with an egg on the bottom corner that reads "hello" in all caps. Her nametag reads Leonardo. End ID]

They were extremely simple, single word signs. There was hello, hola, story, feed, sleep, and maybe one or two more and each was its own separate sign. The eggs could only communicate the most basic needs in words and everything else was through minecraft body language or just hoping their parents guessed right.

But obviously, there was a lot more that parents wanted to hear from their children. I'm not sure who was actually first, but the earliest departure from this system I know about is BadBoyHalo giving Dapper a simple oak sign so he could name his pet slime. (Screenshot from @/lxrd-ren)

[ID: Dapper wearing a diver's helmet standing next to a tiny slime in a boat with an oak sign reading "Bouncy (slmecicle but better)" End ID]

Parents quickly realized how much more convenient this was and pretty soon every single egg had stacks of signs to communicate with.

The next innovation came from Vegetta, who was the resident mod knower at the time. He knew about colored canvas signs and gave Leo signs in her favorite color purple because he loved her and gave her everything she wanted.

[ID: Leo's bed in her room under some Fooligetta fanart with a purple sign reading "<3" End ID]

Colored signs obviously had a lot of advantages. Being able to tell at a glance which egg placed which sign was a huge step forward in eggs being able to have long, complicated conversations as well as leaving obvious marks of their personality everywhere they went. It took a little while for them to be standard for every egg though. Bobby never stopped using oak signs even after Richas and Pomme both showed up with colored signs.

[ID: Two signs reading from right to left a red Pomme sign reading "we already started working on a guillotine factory" and a dark grey Dapper sign reading "thats the most french u have said so far pomme" End ID]

And this was the system for a while! And it worked pretty well for most people! The biggest struggle most people had was egg signs not being translated, but streamers adjusted to that by reading signs out loud so the translators would pick up on them. This also lead to adorable and fascinating dynamics like Richas swearing in signs he wrote for Bad and then warning Bad not to read them out. There was also the genuinely phenomenal development of Leolingo where Leo writes only in Spanish to Foolish because it's easier for her to write and he takes his time to puzzle his way through it and learn in a way that's super cool to watch someone else do onscreen.

Then Tubbo joined the server. And Tubbo himself had no problems at all with the system, but he is dyslexic and he casually mentioned offhand that it was getting kind of annoying to read signs after a ten hour long stream and the admin team Fucking Cooked.

Within 24 hours, they had TTS working on the signs. Within 48 hours, it was working on books too. I can't remember how long it took to get translation working, but it was definitely under a week.

And this opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the entire QSMP. The admin team has been on top of capitalizing on it for story purposes, but also just allowing the egg admins to speak in their native languages to everyone whenever they want has been so enriching for everyone involved. Leolingo is awesome but Foolish has been learning Spanish insanely fast and his process is a lot slower and more frustrating than most people can do in front of an audience of thousands of people without feeling discouraged. That's also one language. We've had everything from Foolish being able to check his work a bit more faster to Phil insisting on his eggs taking a day to speak to him in their native languages to Ramón writing a book for Fit in Cantonese, a language we haven't even seen on the server in any other context!

And all of it is fully understood and fully communicated! Sometimes the translators mess up but no one expects them to be perfect and people ask for clarification if the translator says something that doesn't sound right. It's not only a massive step forward in communication technology, but it's a great demonstration of how to use it and when you can and can't rely on it.

And finally, the most recent innovation! One of BBH's viewers sent him a dono saying they had trouble reading certain signs because they were too low-contrast. Bad, Richas, and Pomme just. Took it upon themselves to fix the problem right there and then. Based on One (1) bringing up their own personal struggle, those three came up with new signs that innovate tremendously on the originals.

[ID: Two separate images of the before and after. The first is the egg signs in their original colors with the corresponding egg's name written on them to demonstrate the font color and the second is in the new, higher contrast colors with the same text. The new signs also have custom decorations for each egg. The second picture also has two signs from Pomme in all caps that read "Send all the love to Richas he spent a whole night making this he's the best <3" End ID]

There are three main innovations visible in the above pictures

1: Obviously, the colors are higher contrast. The signs with white text have darker colors and the signs with black text have lighter colors.

2: The colors themselves are lower saturation. Richas said this made it easier for him personally to read them so he corrected that way, but that's open to change if it causes difficulties for more people than it helps

3: The decorations are for accessibility reasons! People with various different forms of colorblindness will find different sets of colors easier or harder to distinguish, but any of them can look at the decorations and use them to identify whose sign is whose instead.

But! Those innovations are not why I made this post! It's these ones!

[ID: The backs of the new signs when placed on the ground. Most visible are Chayanne's with vines and a hardcore heart, Sunny's with shining sunglasses, and Pomme's with an apple and the Eiffel Tower. End ID]

Richas added distinguishing marks to the backs of the signs too! This is something that Bad brought up specifically as something he wanted because it was hard for him to tell who was talking when he was using TTS from behind signs and couldn't see the colors at all.

We went from custom egg signs (a hotbar or so of words and nothing else to communicate with) through a long journey of expanding communication and expanding who we're bringing along on the communication and how easily they can join in and we've circled all the way back around to custom egg signs (they can say anything they want in any language they want and anyone will know it's them saying it from any angle)

and i guess i have enough feelings abotu that to write All This about it

[takusan-no-ai]

Can’t Fix Her

PAIRING: Aura x Male Reader (Romantic) (Fluff)

SUMMARY: Aura never would’ve guessed she’d fall for a powerful mage human.

(Y/N) was fast asleep in his tent, having placed a protective barrier around himself. The cold air kept him in a deep slumber, so deep he didn’t realize until it was too late what had happened.

Bandits. They were barely average mages, but they still clearly knew a thing or two. They removed the barried surrounding (Y/N)’s tent, and tried to rob him. He awoke immediately, already pointing his finger towards the trespassers.

“What? Are we supposed to be scared of a little finger?” One of them had said, not bothering to quiet down his voice. (Y/N) moved his finger towards his own lips, shushing the group.

They all looked at him bewildered. “Unlike mine, your mana is quite small. The barrier was hiding my mana so I could sleep peacefully.” (Y/N) spoke in a just barely audible whisper. “I have to work tomorrow morning…killing demons that is.”

It was like a sudden dread had befallen the group of bandits as they put two and two together; he was here to kill demons and had to hide his mana, meaning they were right next to a demon camp. The moment they opened the tent door, hundreds of figures stood before them. All headless soldiers armored from the ground and up.

And at the center of it all stood the infamous Aura The Guillotine. She had her usual smirk with her Scales of Obedience in hand. The bandits cowered behind (Y/N) as he stood before her, staff in hand.

Aura’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance, her face losing its color, and her hands shaking in a cold sweat. His mana was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It was even comparable to that woman; Serie.

“Kill—?!” Aura couldn’t even finish her command. Her troops were dwindling right before her eyes, all of them falling immobile. She fell to her knees. The distraught was plain to see on her face. (Y/N) had finished killing them all and strode up towards her.

“You’re not the demon I was after, but I can use you to make them all surrender as I execute them. You’ll be making my job a whole lot easier.”

She snarled, “I’ll never help a worthless human!” (Y/N) sighed. He pointed his staff at her, the light gone from his eyes. The only thing reflected in them was Aura herself. And what she saw pissed her off; she was scared…and blushing.

“Wait! What do you mean you weren’t after her?” One of the bandits asked. (Y/N) slowly turned around to face him while keeping a firm grip on Aura.

“She was following you. She would have eaten you the moment you went to sleep. You’re too weak to join her army, so your only worth is being her dinner.” He answered coldly. The bandits shifted their gaze warily towards Aura. She smiled at them. The fear they felt reached an all time high as they all collectively booked it out of there.

Now alone, (Y/N) crouched down towards Aura. “Either help me or die. Your choice.” Aura couldn’t believe she was considering helping him. But his power was undeniably greater than hers, or any demon she knows for that matter. Plus, she couldn’t deny how attractive that power seemed; to be even stronger than their dead king, and just a human at that?

Aura blushed. “With you by my side, I’d have every demon and human alike cowering before me.” She boldly stated. (Y/N) frowned.

“I’m your master. Get it wrong again and I’ll amputate you.”

Despite saying that, he still gave Aura a hand and lifted her up. Immediately he put a binding spell on her and walked towards his mission.

…

…

Some months had passed since their first meeting, and Aura had been a headache. Every. Single. Day. Trying to eat humans, biting constantly on (Y/N), and an attitude problem. Yet (Y/N) still put up with it.

The duo were currently relaxing in an old shack outside of town; (Y/N) would have gotten a room at a bar, but Aura being a well known demon made that impossible.

“Aura, get off.” (Y/N) could feel his blood vessel ready to pop. Aura was siting in his lap as he read a grimoire. Her horns kept almost poking him in the eyes, and for a small woman she was heavy.

“But I’m sooooo bored! If only some totally not heartless human would spare a moment to entertain his minion.” She was blatantly telling him to pay attention to her.

He smirked. “I didn’t realize a demon could be so damn needy.” Aura glared at him, scales in hand.

“Don’t tempt me.”

“What? You’d lose and be even more of a servant to me.”

“Hmph!” Aura grew increasingly annoyed with (Y/N). “Is it so wrong for me to want to be the focus of my favorite human?” She mumbled. “Power like yours is rare to come by. And I want to make it and its owner mine.”

“Make me yours?” He leaned over Aura, pining her between the table and himself. “But you’re mine.” He eyed her down, smiling all the while. Aura blushed ever so slightly and leaned forward.

“Prove it.”

- Fin

[glassedplanets]

i cannot believe it's taken me this long to do a destiny AU but wow better late than never

playing very fast and loose with both canons here - pirate crews = renegade clans, marines/world gov't = vanguard (sorry actual vanguard whomst i love). the one piece is the traveler??? who knows. anyways:

luffy, human lightbearer

subclass: yippee!

loadout: wahoo!

ghost: mugi, one-of-a-kind shell given to him by shanks as a kinderguardian. the shell seems to change when he supers. What's Up With That!

all prismatic all the time, basically a dark age guardian. zero boundaries between class and subclass. just does whatever is fun. doesn't care until he Does and then you're fucked.

regularly wears (steals) class items from clanmates, it was a little alarming at first but they all feel whatever about it now

should not be trusted with raid mechanics.

zoro, awoken titan

subclass: strand

primary: breakneck (OG roll)

secondary: ergo sum (void/caster/wolfpack)

heavy: falling guillotine (OG godroll, WWB/relentless)

exotic: stoicism (inmost/star-eater or inmost/synthos)

ghost: wado, received from kuina after her death (don't think about this too hard. jaren ward/shin malphur situation. whatever). wado's shell was cloven by mihawk in a duel.

wears sanji's old bond looped into his mark, will not answer questions about this

specced hard into banner for a fuckoff insane melee loop, rotates melee buffs with luffy and sanji

mostly DPS/add clear, uses that ergo roll so that sanji/luffy/franky (haz prop) can get wolfpack, if the boss can't be meleed then Why Is He Even Here

flat-out banned from participating in the mechanics of several raid encounters on account of going to the wrong fucking place (vault, gatekeeper, sol inherent, totems, etc.), if he gets torn between dimensions or anything but first in queenswalk then everyone just has to desperately pray for the best.

ran vanguard bounties regularly until he eventually refused to cooperate with the then-head of the cosmodrome's operations; luffy found him with kuina's ghost bound and freed them both. The Rest Is History.

distributary-born but doesn't know (or care), kept being greeted weirdly by people in the dreaming city (which i guess is where we have wano's events......... kaido is literally a dragon, so)

VJ-G-66-03 sanji, human (?) warlock

subclass: prismatic, solar super

primary: fatebringer (OG fatebringer roll™)

secondary: tarrabah

heavy: apex predator (recon/B&S)

exotic: solipsism (assassin/synthos)

ghost: mignon, received from zeff after voluntarily giving up his light for sanji

wears zoro's old mark tied below his bond, will not answer questions about this

specced into Burn Motherfucker Burn, solar buddy + snaps, frontline add clear alongside luffy and zoro, also part of the "if the boss can't be meleed/snapped then why am i even here" gang

CAN be trusted with raid mechanics but is often better utilized keeping adds off the other half of the fireteam

sanji's body is riddled with vintech implants that don't seem to do anything. they're most definitely new, and sanji wasn't rezzed that long ago, but vintech was lost in the collapse along with everything else and the only thing that really survived is a bunch of muddled records found at old vega collective sites.

sanji was the vintech patriarch's one failed experiment; his consciousness refused transfer to an exo body and after many attempts, he was discarded but managed to survive through the kindness of dark-age guardians until he was taken in by zeff.

he has three vertical black facial markings; each experiment has a number of markings corresponding to their order (and color) in the sequence.

and other straw hats! i have a little less about them, but:

nami, human hunter

subclass: arcstaff (Throw Stick/well of bad/i don't remember its actual name)

primary: patron of lost causes

secondary: riskrunner

heavy: stormchaser

exotic: liar's handshake

ghost: zeus, stolen from big mom (tangerine shell)

(was tempted to do stormcaller unlimited power but arcstaff is... you know)

usopp, human hunter

subclass: solar, precision goldie

primary: succession

secondary: trinity ghoul

heavy: scintillation

exotic: nighthawk

ghost: merry (sheepshead shell)

can and should be trusted with raid mechanics along w/ nami

and the rest of the crew i'm not 100% set on buuuuut:

chopper: exo warlock (well of radiance)

robin: awoken warlock (strand? void?)

franky: exo titan (thundercrash)

brook: exo hunter (stasis)

jinbei: awoken titan (stasis? arc?)

misc others:

law: awoken prismatic hunter, blinky knife

reiju-0: exo void hunter, tether + smoke bomb, le monarque

ichiji-1: exo solar hunter, blade barrage

niji-2: exo arc titan, striker, ACD/0

yonji-4: exo strand titan

and textless, glow-less versions if you got this far!

[nerdygaymormon]

I hear so many people hating on the Olympics for showing drag queens reenacting the Last Supper. That does seem pretty blasphemous. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about that

The morning after the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, my mom expressed her disgust at drag queens recreating da Vinci’s "Last Supper" and said it’s fine if they don’t believe but they shouldn’t mock others. I had no idea what she was talking about, I watched the opening ceremonies but I missed that. She admitted she didn't notice it either but it was all over her morning news.

Tbh, I figured if she was going to be offended by anything, it would be the multi-racial ménage à trois

Or possibly the guillotined Marie Antoinette holding her head

I found online that what she was referring to is what took place on a bridge over the river Seine. There was a table with a red carpet down the middle which served as a catwalk. At the center of the table was seated a woman wearing a silver headdress, surrounded by some drag queens and dozens of dancers and artists. Models featuring fashions from France's most promising young designers walked the runway.

The specific part of the ceremony that caused the offense was a closeup of the people at the table. The tableau was reportedly based on a painting by Dutch artist Jan Harmensz van Biljert called "Feast of the Gods," painted in 1635, and is housed in the Musée Magnin in Dijon, France. In the painting, the Greek gods on Mount Olympus have a banquet to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus.

The figure seated at the center of the table is Apollo, being the sun god he has a halo of light around his head.

One thing I liked is they updated the idea of Apollo with his lute to be portrayed by French DJ Barbara Butch with her equipment. Barbara advocates for several causes, such as acceptance of obese people and lesbian rights. She says her "aim is to unite people, gather humans & share love through music for all of Us to dance & make our hearts beat at unisson! Music sounds better with all of Us!"

They also had a blue Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, fruit, vegetation, and festivities.

All that meaning wasn't explained during the broadcast and went over my head, but I guess it makes sense to have a scene in the Olympics that gives a nod to the Greek gods, where the Olympics began, and which is meant to convey celebratory festivities, and is based on a painting housed in a French museum.

Even though there was no iconography like bread, wine, or even a bag of gold coins, having a bunch of folks on one side of the table reminded some people of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" painting.

The ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly has said it was meant to celebrate diversity and pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy. "The idea was to create a big pagan party in link with the God of Mount Olympus — and you will never find in me, or in my work, any desire of mocking anyone," Jolly said.

My guess is that if drag queens wanted to portray the Last Supper, they're talented enough that it would've been clear that was the intent.

Even if they meant to portray the "Last Supper," that painting has been recreated in many creative ways and I've never heard anyone upset about it, but maybe in this case they're upset because there were queer people involved. They forget that it is a queer painting, having been done by one of the most famous gay men in history, with one of the characters at the table being modeled on da Vinci's own lover Salaì.

Let's say the Olympic organizers did intend for this scene to be reminiscent of the "Last Supper," I'm good with it. Jesus would invite everyone to have a seat at the table, which is a good message for the Olympics to convey, all are welcome. No person at that table would be excluded from Jesus' table, but there's a number of Christians who would exclude themselves if it meant not having to sit with queer people and others they perceive as sinners, which is ironic since Christianity teaches that we're all sinners.

In summary, I think some people misinterpreted the intention of what was presented, and a group of conservative media types promoted that misinterpretation to cause outrage because that would generate views and clicks. Most people who are angry by this weren't upset when they saw it originally aired, they are furious because they were told that they should be upset about it.

[that-starlight-prince]

I guess there's some lines of thinking surrounding retributive justice, crime and punishment, etc. that argue that those things aren't bad in and of themselves, they're bad because of who's carrying them out. In other words it's wrong for the US government to imprison people but it's ok for the Chinese government to do so. Similarly the death penalty is wrong when a capitalist state does it, but it's ok for an angry mob to guillotine Jeff Bezos.

And I guess that explains why I find myself disagreeing with those sorts of arguments because I think retributive justice is bad in and of itself; it can't become good because the "right people" are carrying it out.

[feriks]

discrod statuses

been told ppl like the silly things I write so here they are (to be clear not all are original. if you get a reference DM me for a free pickled cherry). CN for mental health stuff idk im as depressed as anyone should be. to be continued. the felix referenced is me

destroying yourself is too accessible

behind my eyes, it's you

mon genre, mon genre, un royaume pour mon genre

sexy conventient quasi-prankster

extremely brave insane mega-party dude

I won't always be here, but I'll always be there for you.

OKAY I PULL UP

I ain't exactly a guy, but I ain't exactly not a guy.

positively sisyphean

fuck a felix

casual drug user? I find myself quite competetive

staticcc

guillotine therapy

I let the voices cook

a place to overshadow the allure of death

arms, body, legs, flesh, skin, bones, sinew, good luck

[ONE I FORGOT OOPS]

bone marrow melting into broth

vage dröge

#1 source of vegan kidneys

concepts are mid at best

feed me your broken dreams

which way is tomorrow?

Tingle-Tingle, Kooloo-LIMPAH!! type beat

LF actors for my new play "The King In Yellow"

presuppose intent, impose meaning

missionary masturbation purely for reproductive purposes

if you can not see The Truth singed into your retinas and are not planning to forsake everything before Their Coming, please DNI

pass me the bong milk

currently moonlighting as a meatball on your plate of spaghetti

think the queen listened to weezer?

fire emblem is fake

high off that gay heroin

a whore for the four on the floor

transition goal: planck length

afterlife boywife

crosswords? why, what did anyone do to them?

professional carnivorous sea snail

stacking up green (peeling pistachios)

chasin my future self

Who's doing this? Who's killing us […]?

[another I FORGOT nice one]

luffy could fix the tyranids

my rantsona is Martin Luther

call me a dog the way a drive to please has been bred into me

just a diseased appliance

real cowboy here, dad was a cow, mom was a boy

¿GUESS?

the goodness you see in other people is just a reflection of you

embroiled in a neverending war against the twin beligerents of entropy and felix

idk, like tag yourself I guess?

[sinfulslytherin]

Summary: Draco finds out that your future husband uses you for money at a dinner party at Malfoy Manor.

Warning: mature content

_________________________________

"He made a deal with my father. He gets money for marrying me, I won't be my fathers problem anymore and our bloodline will be kept pure."

Dracos features soften.

"So that's why you said that he doesn't love you." He says.

"Yes. And that's why Daphne is on his dick 24/7." I explain further.

Draco falls silent. He probably tries to progress what I just said.

Draco suddenly grabs two new drinks, hands me one and faces the crowd of people in front of us.

"You'll spend the night here. I don't want Graham to touch you ever again."

I fall silent as I look at the blonde boy next to me. He doesn't spare me a single glance.

"We'll get into trouble sooner or later, Draco." I say as I look at the drink in my hand.

Draco taks two steps and stands right in front of me.

"What makes you think that I'd let you go back to Graham after the things he did to you?" He growls as he looks down at me.

My eyes drift over to Graham. He talks with my father, a few other men that I don't recognize and Daphne. His hand is placed around her waist.

"For fuck's sake, Amara. Look at me."

My eyes spot the smile on Grahams face. It's the same smile he used to put on to convince me that he is in love with me.

"Amara."

I can't believe that I gave him my trust when he said that he didn't enjoy punishing me or that he actually loved me.

"Amara! Look at me."

Draco repeats as he grabs my chin and turns my head.

My eyes drift over to Draco.

"You are staying here tonight. In my room." And with that Draco grabs my hand and drags me towards the huge dinner table.

My eyes lock with Narcissas.

"The dinner will be served shortly. You two have a perfect timing." Says Narcissa as she smiles at us.

"Amara, my dear. Where dou want to be seated. Next to Draco?"

A light smirk appears on my lips.

"I'd prefer to sit next to you, Mrs. Malfoy." I answer.

Narcissa smiles.

"How many times did I tell you to not call me that. Of course you can sit next to me, sweetheart." She answers.

Narcissa places herself on the chair next ti the head of the table where I guess Mr. Malfoy will be seated.

I walk over to the chair next to Narcissa as a hand on my waist stops me.

"I got a saying in this too, you know? I'll sit right next to you wether you like it or not." Whispers Draco in my ear.

A light smile displays on my lips as I seat myself between Narcissa and Draco.

I have to admit that an uneasy feeling creeps up as I think about the fact that I sit with the Malfoys instead of my father and my future husbands family.

It doesn't take long for the guests to place themselves at the table.

Graham, his family and my father sit right in front of us.

I feel their disgusted stares lingering on my skin.

I ignore their presence and concentrate myself on the food that is served.

A plate with some of the most expensive and finest food is placed right in front of me.

My eyes drool st the sight.

I can't remember the last time I ate properly.

"Enjoy your meal."  Says Mr.Malfoy, signaling everyone to start eating.

I lift the fork as my eyes lock with Grahams.

He shakes his head as his eyes shift down to the meat on my fork and back to my eyes.

I get nervous and start to lower the fork again.

A hand stops my movement. I look to my right to see Draco holding my arm. He takes the fork from my hand and shoves the it directly into my mouth.

He doesn't make a big fuss about it and places his attention right back to his own plate of food after sending Graham one last warning glare.

I shyly chew down the meat as I try to ignore the looks from the few people who watched the scene.

The dinner passes quite quickly as I only concentrated on eating my food and drinking some wine.

The dinner party seems to slowly end as more and more people say their goodbyes and leave.

Draco and I stand at a corner, waiting for everyone to leave. Mrs. and Mr. Malfoy are infront of us, saying their goodbyes to the guests.

Graham approaches as he thanks the Malfoys for the dinner. He looks between Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and our eyes meet.

"We are leaving, Amara."

"Excuse me, Montague. But I think you mistook my date for yours. Your date is already outside waiting for you." Answers Draco, refering to Daphne.

"That's still my wife you are talking about." says Graham through gritted teeth.

"You are not yet married." Answers Draco dryly.

Graham falls silent as he sends me one last glare before leaving.

Only a few seconds later my father approaches us as he thank the Malfoys, just like Graham did.

"Amara. Think about the conseqences there'll be if you don't follow through with the deal."

My lips are sealed as I don't know what to answer my father.

"Mr. Caddel. I'd appreciate it if you and Mr. Montague would stop bothering my guests. Thank you for your visit. Goodbye." Suddenly answers Mr. Malfoy.

Draco seems just as shocked as I am. We didn't expect Dracos father to stand up for me. He's probably fed up with their behavior as well.

My father leaves.

The last guests leave a few minutes later and the door finally closes.

"Amara, you can already go upstairs. I' ll be there shortly." Draco exclaims as I nod and do as he says.

I try to walk upstairs but my feet hurt due to these freaking heels. I stop after a few stairs and try to free my hurting feet from these horrible shoes.

I suddenly hear voices.

Draco and Mr. Malfoy probably can't tell that I am still here due to the thin wall that seperates us.

"I hope she's worth it, Draco."  Says Malfoys father.

"What do you mean?" Asks Draco.

"I hope she's worth all of this trouble you're getting yourself into, boy."

"She is."

"I have nothing against this girl. It's actually quite the opposite. I know for a fact that your mother loves her as well." Says Mr. Malfoy before I can hear his foot steps fainting.

What is he trying to achieve?

I quickly make my way upstairs to the guest room. I leave the door open as I sit down on the bed.

I hear footsteps approaching as I see Draco taking a quick glance into his room (which is on the opposite side of the guest room I sit in) before looking into the room I sit in.

We lock eyes.

"You are sleeping in my room tonight, Amara."

"What?" I ask as a blush creeps up my cheeks.

"You are sleeping in my room. With me. In my bed."

Chapter 15 of Guillotine~ <3

Spice ahead :)

[edelgarfield]

why are y'all so allergic to acknowledging that Ludinus makes an extremely good point. sometimes people can be factually correct but still bad people, or they can have a logically sound argument even if you don't agree with it.

ludinus is pointing at a giant crushing a person beneath their heel and saying "hey they shouldn't be able to just kill someone like that" and y'all are responding "my neighbor punched his brother so actually we're the same ☝️🤓"

if a group of people said "our current rulers are exploiting us, we want them gone" and those same rulers came in and indiscriminately slaughtered the resistance y'all would say to bring out the fucking guillotine. this is the same situation except the rulers are gods and the subjects are mortals. ludinus & the cast have all but said "the gods' control of Exandria/mortals is an allegory for colonialism/imperialism" in fact I'm pretty sure on an episode of 4SD they straight up SAID that and y'all are saying "hmmm the colonizers have a point." what about this isn't clicking.

"they're just like us" "they're family" dude, if my brother started a religion where the purpose was to worship him, and he made people go out and start killing on his behalf, I would be like "what the fuck is wrong with you" not "hmmm good idea, let me get a piece of that pie"

if my brother killed thousands of people I wouldn't be like "aw, i forgive you, why can't we be a family anymore 🥺" I would be like "holy shit you're fucking disgusting. die." Imogen got so much shit from the party & the fandom for wanting to save her mom, AND she's always been willing to kill her mom if liliana won't see reason but when it's the gods they're allowed to kill as many people as they want bc they love each other? the fuck?

"they're just like us" except if a character had a body count anywhere close to that of the gods they would understandably be considered irredeemable. like it's fine to sympathize with the gods, I very much do, but the absolute refusal to recognize that their presence on Exandria is inherently exploitative & that Ludinus has every right to want them gone is fucking mind-boggling.

so which is it, are they "just like us" and should be held accountable for their actions the same way and held to the same moral standard? or are they different and all the "mortals and gods are the exact same actually" is a load of horseshit?

"but they love us" cool my mom loves me, doesn't mean she has the right to control me for the rest of my life. it's not about whether the gods are good or bad, it's about the fact that no civilization should exist to be exploited by another & mortals have the right to self-determination. but fuck all that I guess bc God forbid Ludinus have a point.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Putting this thought re s2 under the cut for later, it’s something I discussed with @inkyblotposts but I guess it’s triggering (though, tbh, I think s2 will have a LOT of triggers):

I think that they will use guillotines in the last trial performance, in front of live audience, and I think the yellow dress that’s handed to Lestat after will instead be Claudia‘s head.

I said it before, I don’t think they’ll pull their punches and that live performance to judge Claudia and Madeleine… will definitely be one.