The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

I have been thinking about the blackening (as one does)…

…and it’s so interesting to me, the penalty Shen Qingqiu is faced with should he not decide to yeet his disciple into hell.

Account termination. Instant death. Sent directly home to his already-long-dead body, and that’s it for the villain of the piece who outright refuses his villainy. The protagonist needs a blackening for the story to continue, and Shen Qingqiu is going to provide it or get written out of the narrative. Either way, Luo Binghe is going to lose him. Either way, this is a turning point.

I wouldn’t claim that this is the intent of the penalty, but it fascinates me that the System has, potentially, backed the plotline into a corner - because Binghe still stands to be blackened even if Shen Qingqiu took the other choice.

Think about what that would look like, to him. He’s at the Immortal Alliance Conference, and everything is going wrong. He’s been outed as a demon, and not just a demon - the top tier of demon, as bad as it gets from the perspective of a righteous cultivator. His beloved teacher, the person who has been kindest to him and opened his home and heart to him, is standing there with his sword in hand, deciding what he’s going to do about what must look, to him, like a horrific betrayal. Binghe is apologizing. Binghe is begging for his life.

Shen Qingqiu hears him. Maybe it shows on his face, or in his voice, that he already knew; maybe there’s no hint at all, but Shen Qingqiu is suddenly talking quickly with an abrupt sense of urgency that Luo Binghe is having a hard time keeping up with. Telling him he’ll be wonderful - telling him he’s the best. Telling him the world will be his, with emotions cracking through that aloof mask that Binghe has never seen on Shizun’s face before, and it’s terrifying for reasons that Binghe cannot identify.

(He will, later. When he has time to think, he’ll realize it sounded like a goodbye.)

And then Shen Qingqiu is bleeding. And then Shen Qingqiu is on the ground. And then Shen Qingqiu is dead. There’s no countdown for Binghe - there’s no System, there’s no warning, there’s no answers.

Luo Binghe is a heavenly demon in the middle of a conference sabotaged by demons. Luo Binghe is alone. His fellow competing disciples are scattered, some dead or injured. The Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak, the second in command of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, maybe the only person he loved and who loved him back, is dead at his feet. No one will believe him if he says it isn’t his fault.

(He can’t believe it isn’t his fault.)

What choice does he have but to run? The last heavenly demon the cultivation world went up against has been sealed under a mountain for years, and one of the people responsible for that is probably looking for Shen Qingqiu already. They’ll be looking for him, too. There isn’t anywhere to hide; there isn’t any time to mourn.

There isn’t even enough time to ask why. Why again.

There is no closure waiting for him, because there is nothing to explain what happened. It just is.

It would be a different kind of blackening, certainly - less intense, probably, less of a warping, desperate thing. But how many times can one person have all the love and safety in their world torn out from under them before it starts to show? Before they just don’t allow things like love and safety to touch them, because that’s the better option?

Interesting to consider that, simply by offering the choices it did, the System rigged the story to guarantee that Luo Binghe would end up in hell (deliberate or not).

Interesting to consider that, even if Shen Qingqiu made what might have seemed like a kinder choice, there was every chance it wouldn’t have been.

find me in my cave going insane over the design potential of a half-formed human-hive godling. the way her mouth moves makes me think she can open the plates and really honestly she deserves a proboscis. and bug wings. and the concept of metamorphosis

weight gain as healing is a very good trope but i thought of an offshoot which is just as good, maybe even better

may i present to you: weight gain as re-establishing bodily autonomy

That “Billy physically switches bodies with Captain Marvel whenever he transforms” AU where Billy’s mortal body ends up at the Rock of Eternity whenever he’s running around as Captain Marvel. Except Billy never visits the Rock as Captain Marvel so he had NO idea his mortal body went anywhere, he thought he was shape shifting or something.

Captain Marvel has to bring the Justice League to the Rock for [insert plot-related magic reason here] and he is just as caught off guard as the rest of them to see an apparently dead nine year old lying on the Rock. He has no explanation for his own “dead” body hanging out at his home base. Cue Wisdom of Solomon.

“Oh, he’s a… human sacrifice?”

CHILDREN OF BHAAL

I adore the vibe of redeemed durge your sister killed your mind and took your place - it was the greatest gift she ever gave you

witchsona commission for @/reallygoodcake character is their oc

divine / horror / haruspex witch

more colorways/process on patreon

Oh shit.

Just looked at the Reincarnate spell, and it's a 5th Level.

Fearne could cast it.

They just need to get the spell components and Fearne can try to bring FCG back. And I'd say the Exandrian Alliance easily owes Bells Hells 1,000 gp worth of rare oils and unguents. Especially for the soul that killed General of the Ruby Vanguard Otothan Thull.

Bestie Deficiency

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Behind the build ~

The chaos ball:

The idea behind this ever-evolving build is to utilize as many of the elements of Hajime Kinoko's web shibari techniques that I can currently digest (his thoughtfulness and inventiveness will make for life-long studying for me) and other principles of chaotic builds I have studied, to progressively encapsulate and compact my grounded partner in toward themselves; utilizing a network of ropes to distribute their weight across their form. Finally, I suspend them on a single upline. The entire process is probably my favorite labbing playground currently - we are learning so much and having so much fun. This chaos ball is made of ~ 250' of jute rope and took a little over an hour to tie.

Ropes and photos by me ~

Rope ball bottom: @sacrificethelamb

funniest and most heartwarming thing i rediscovered on my rewatch is when karin roasts sakura about poisoning naruto and then kakashi, who loves all of his kids very much and understands their behavior and isn’t upset with them about their choices but has also been under ABSURD amounts of stress for all of season 10, just bursts out laughing ❤️

Everyone is entitled to their own interps but I think ignoring the tomorrow's tea is lame

if i could be bothered. a fucked up horses of antiquity bracket contest would be funny

Okay, so the poll reached about 70% on this one and I jumped on it because I'm ADHD...Seriously, thank you for those who voted!! Going for a Lucretia type of martyr! I am obsessed with the stomach currently because the original painting is so fleshy! Also: from far away this looks like a spicy novel cover

Gale approves

you know, we talk a lot about characters and/or relationships (of all kinds) being 'doomed by the narrative' around here, and how haunting and gut-wrenching that can be, especially when it so often takes the form of death and destruction and tragedy.

and we should keep doing that, obviously. death and destruction and tragedy kick total ass.

however. can we please spare a thought for the clowns trapped in that same (burning) room?

after all, what is a comic relief character if not doomed by the narrative to always act like a buffoon despite any and all circumstances, all for the sake of relieving narrative tension?

how must it feel, to have everyone around you dropping dead, losing limbs, losing loved ones, and otherwise being on the receiving end of unending torment - and all you can do is stand there and prattle off another zinger at your allotted time?

and what if you lose a loved one yourself, o jester mine? what if - hear me out - you lose multiple loved ones? what if it never ends? what will you do then?

well, if you're lucky, you'll get to mourn for all five of the seconds you're allowed to before the size thirty shoes go back on and the narrative moves on to other, more plot-central characters.

if you're not - well. it's a good thing clown makeup is waterproof, isn't it?

anyway, shout out to all my comedy kings out there doomed to play perpetual funnyman to their more plot-central counterparts despite being in undeniably comparable pain. you may be doomed by the narrative, but you are beloved by me <3

you know how it is with spaghetti .