#Machinations

[drakomachina]

wait what. what do you mean it’s only been a month since my last ratha ref. “mach you can’t just remake an entire ref every time you feel like it” And? it’s Fun. Taste the wrath of my Razewing Ratha

[craneum]

when I die I'm gonna have my family and friends elect someone to be the new me, taking my name, job, education, and experience. this election will be treated with the seriousness of electing a pope, will be as petty as mean girls, and anyone may be elected. watch out, you could one day wake up and find yourself to be me.

[olameni]

So my study of SQL is going slower than anticipated. That said I do feel reasonably confident and comfortable with the platform and how to use it to do basic things.Looking forward to having a certification or two under my belt by Summer 2025.

I have to get stronger at Excel and learn python. I need datasets to practice with. I also need to figure out what I need to read to improve my domain knowledge.

[lustrumlane]

I Know How the Flowers Felt

With everyone confined to the house, the desolation of half of those who arrived can truly be felt. The halls offer plenty of space to hide and cloister, but the closed space means when an investigation begins, everyone is quick to notice.

The garden shed has an unexpected visitor courteous enough to warn before tearing the place apart— the Lightkeeper has determined, perhaps expectedly, that this place would be where the witch is hiding.

The fog coalesces around the bare tree in the gardens, waiting for a worthy offering: with the former lead on that front now dead, others must carry the torch and find both effigy and offering.

All the while, a cold wind stirs in the Lane and the Tourists seem livelier than ever.

There are things to be done: trails to follow and tails to catch.

[unsalted-thoughts]

He was a Wilhelm boy,

She was a Femur Breaker girl.

[creekfiend]

hee :3

[daily-cool-words]

Today's word of the day is...

Machinations

[Noun]

Definition: A plot or scheme.

Example Sentence: Thanks to the machinations of his father, Leo was excused from gym class.

[jbfly46]

“We definitely don’t practice a convoluted version of human/child sacrifice through the machinations of our war machine and medical industry that allows for plausible deniability. Only uncivilized cultures would do such a thing.”

- The United States of America

[beefshaker]

all these people on this website talking about the divine and gods and angels and machines and mortals and the flesh like cheap poets.

but then again poetry is never devalued by sharing, but doubled through collaboration

[drakomachina]

the mhs protagonists need to get a little bit more creative next go around methinks

[literallymechanical]

FISH DELOUSING LASER????

[sexypeople-contests-2025]

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Dᴏɪɴɢ ᴡʜᴀᴛ I ᴄᴀɴ, ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴏғ ʜᴇʟᴘ Aɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴛɪᴍᴇ I sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ, ʙᴀʙʏ, I ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇ sᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏғ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴅᴏᴡɴ

[lustrumlane]

Architect's Recourse

"For once, you stand divided; a few threads fray in the tapestry."

"We hear the loudest bell toll for Edith Davis. Is she the cause of all this suffering?"

They begin to pace as they speak, preparing to explain.

Part I

"This story begins with a pair that thought they could defy the moons and seek their own salvation."

"This story begins with two men, in the wake of a rotten fruit, trying to escape encroaching blight."

"This house is a home to things, and in these halls they found a book from the past. It detailed forbidden rituals, steep costs: a spell of transference, of translocation."

"A vile witch-rite intended to defy the Kings' wishes— to leave this place, to return home."

"Who was Dante Monterya?"

"He was a comet set in the orbit of a liege he could not stand. He could not see the parts of himself he left behind."

"He could not learn from such mistakes. He can only move forward."

One emissary grabs the other by the arm and pulls them close, dipping them backwards and stretching their arm straight up.

"'There's no time to spare', the cutting board said to the cutter, 'drop by drop by drop by drop you'll empty me and we'll see this night through'."

"Blade sharpened with sweetness, the cutter saw it done. You’re too quick to dismiss your poor recluse, seekers— he'd walk this line to the bitter end."

"Who is your Curator, who stands for another?"

"We do not have an answer. For this tale, he was a small thing drawn into this comet's orbit; he would crash with it so long as the touch was soft and kind."

They pull the other to stand again.

"Their plan was expedited by the offering from their upstart moon, an entrenched regent rising. Its tears are a thing that entices."

"It was a blessing and curse alike that the quaint cove became poisoned: its tears are a thing that kills."

One kneels, head down, while the other steps forward, both arms raised.

"With this, with bottle and with blade, the cutter performed a test on his own: the translocation of a humble torch from one Glimpse to another."

"We had not known then, but now we see: a trip between realms with results that could be seen through Lustrum's looking glass."

"This is when the evidently invited tourists arrived. We do not know if he called them alone, or if the offering made at the shore called them, or if this dance was, too, made in tandem."

Part II

The one kneeling rises to look over the other's head as they now kneel in turn.

"Their den was left unattended— this is where their plan began to unravel."

"This is where the archon saw what they were planning. A horrifying sight, every surface lined with bottles of fresh blood."

"She was aghast. She stole proof of what she saw— a small bottle of blood she was seen escaping with, still dripping."

"She trusted these men, she thought well of them; she wanted to show them kindness. She stayed her hand, for now."

They face away from one another, folding their hands in front of them as if praying.

"A few slumbers later, a dream would haunt three of those assembled, including the archon. A warning or a promise?"

"A bloody birth should this witch-rite be completed. Two of those visited by prophecy did not know the source, but Edith Davis, who knew where blood ran freely, knew it was warning of them."

They turn to face one another.

"She sought out the living font, the weak Dante Monterya. She tried, with all of her wisdom, to convince him of his hubris."

"She told him what would happen if he concluded this rite: the birth of a Child, not one of life, one of blood and death."

"A thing that had haunted her for years, that had taken much from her."

"'There's more than you to save', she begs: 'those that wish to stay, would you doom them for your freedom?'"

One sets their hands on the other's shoulders, pleading in their voice.

"'It's not too late to stop'."

They pause for a moment. Then, the other turns away, the hands falling off of their shoulders.

"The thaumaturge could not be convinced. All doors can be opened with division: there is no end he cannot meet with the blade."

"Who was Dante Monterya?"

"A man ruled by fear. Every day he grew weaker. It had to be soon."

"This is where a fate was decided. The archon was left alone with her own fear, her own terror."

Part III

The Emissaries stand side by side, each with arms folded.

"It was fate that brought those in the kitchen together this night."

"The frightened archon became the architect in that moment as she stirred the idle complaints to a gathering."

One raises an arm up, admonishing with a motion.

"The Mercury Nightwalker was not on her mind as she placed the barbital into that mix."

"No, she prayed the corrupted thaumaturge would fall into a deep sleep, then she could hollow his den and postpone his wicked plan."

The other repeats the gesture, parallelly.

"He did not eat enough, nor did his disciple. So long as his body moved, he would carry on."

"Regrettably, she continues, each move on the board more aggressive than the last."

They turn away from one another, taking a few steps as they separate.

"Entrenched in mysteries, a master of her craft, the steps come naturally to her: every step in her plan needed to look impossible."

One spins on one foot, flourishing a hand up to its face while folding the other behind its back, as if putting on a mask.

"A costume is constructed in the museum to resemble the bird she saw flitting away with mirror in hand."

"A risk, to wear something without proper blessing— this is the time for risks, this is the last chance."

"Tools of her trade are assembled, and her first plan is still not that of a murderess."

The other now spins, outstretched leg tracing along the ground with both shoulders raised, arms up and fingers clenched into figurative claws.

"No, first, she hoped to use these replica tourists to both distract interlopers and to scare the men from their cave just long enough to interrupt."

Then they step back together smoothly, joining hands and stepping to the right together.

"She did not anticipate, high on the aged vista walls, that the doomed couple were tempting fate."

Then they step to the left together, one flitting their free hand in the air.

"The trap to entice the moles from the earth instead attracted them and the bird and the bear, the sight of which kept the moles very far away."

Then one twirls the other underarm, and they stop to face each other, planting their feet.

"As well, she did not anticipate a live beast to approach the pair below and for them to separate as they did."

"'You finish things, please', the disciple insists, 'I can handle this'."

"He had long grown reliant on the disciple. He leaves, their plan continues: the cutter is left with the hunter."

"Confused thing indeed, trying to take the cutter's very own face. We will not pretend to understand the minds of these wretches."

Then the one that had been twirled takes the other's arm to turn them around, grabbing their arms as they walk forward together.

"Further askew: a replica mistaken for her quarry, the desperate huntress above lashes out at a trap. Its eruption shakes the wall, dislodges the grand cannons— the weight of it all causes the stairs to crumble."

They push them forward and they fall elegantly yet limply to the ground.

"The fallen prince tumbles, bathed in the blood of the ritual, crushed by the debris of the wall; no sane mind would think he had lived."

The one on the ground rolls over to rest on its knees, one hand flat on the ground.

"He laid next to the conscious thaumaturge, drugged and bleeding, half-conscious as he continued his ritual, leaned over the impious circle, hardly able to move."

"This would not deter him: nothing would now."

"The would-be huntress flees, mind clouded with uncertainty and malaise. This offered the architect a path down."

The one still standing walks towards the other slowly.

"Hours ago, she had decided it may come to this. Now, the ritual moments from completion, with a tremble to her hand, there could be no mercy."

Then the standing one takes the other by the shoulder, pushes them down, and kneels, stabbing towards their chest with an empty hand.

The pair then stop, still and quiet for a few moments.

“This is how it happened. We give you this truth.”

“Your judgement is correct. Edith Davis did the deed.”

Only then do they begin to stand side by side again, rigidly still.