#the guild conspiracy

[the-guild-codex-and-other-things]

Hunting a Bounty

Kai: When we get our payout, you can burn money to keep you warm.

Ezra: I'm going to pay someone to burn my money for me.

Kai: Why don't you pay someone else to pay someone to burn your money for you? That's what the big players do.

Ezra: You know what the really big bosses do? They pay someone to pay someone to-

[kruinka]

young master! isagi and escort guard! kurona but the setting is chinese historical drama

[sternenhimmel-mond]

Totally forgot that a dialogue option for Enthir involved him calling himself an Altmer. Babe you're a Bosmer.

"So they were like your kind?" (Very racist of our LDB)

"Like the Altmer? Yes, I would say their culture quite possibly rivaled out own." Said the Bosmer.

Clearly Bethesda had other plans for him originally.

[freakurodani]

I've been playing skyrim again, and i spent today just playing through the thieves guild plotline, but i did take a break from it to adopt lucia in whiterun and we played... so much tag together <333 i love my daughter im going to make so much money so she can have a lavish life also maybe ill find her a sibling and also i gave her a knife <33

[nightingaletrash]

Raminus, Dagail and J’Skar are probably the only people that absolutely believe in Iriana’s innocence wrt what happened with Traven. Dagail knows she is because of her visions, J’Skar essentially kinda trauma-bonded onto her when she saved him in the Bruma Guildhall, and Raminus interacted with her more than anyone else in the guild so he has a decent grasp of her character and what drives her, so he just knows better.

The rest mostly see her as this haughty altmer who was driven by ambition to reach ever greater heights within the guild despite having been there such a short time. Throw in Caranya’s betrayal, and some wonder just how good a judge of character Traven really is; he meant well, but was ultimately naive enough to unwittingly harbour a necromancer within his inner circle, is it such a stretch to think he’d have chosen to trust someone that was prepared to resort to murder in order to oust him? And ofc this all began to escalate the moment she reached the University, so what if this was all part of her grand plan? Could a single mage really have killed Mannimarco? Was he ever really in Cyrodiil? Did she orchestrate the attack on the Bruma Guild Hall herself?

Raminus does his best to try and keep the conspiracy theories from spiralling out of control, but people really will believe anything they hear if it matches with what they think they know. Once she’s summoned to appear before the Emperor and then is abruptly imprisoned, it suddenly becomes accepted as fact that, yep, she killed Traven, and Raminus isn’t able to ignore the calls for her to be stripped of her position and expelled from the Guild.

So imagine the drama it causes when she walks back in a few weeks later with some books in need of studying and with a fancy new title to replace the old one: the Hero of Kvatch.

[xtruss]

The Freemasons Have Inspired Centuries of Conspiracy—This Is Their Real History

The Story of How a Stonemasons’ Guild Became the World's Largest Secret Society is Less about Conspiracy and More About Enlightenment Thinking.

— September 19, 2023 | By Erin Blakemore

The Title Page of the Freemason Constitution at the Museum of Freemasonry in Paris. Freemasonry traces its roots to medieval stonemason guilds, though its modern iteration dates to the 18th century. Photograph By Godong, Universal Images Group/Getty Images

What do Rev. Jesse Jackson, George Washington, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Duke Ellington, and Buzz Aldrin have in common? All are members of the world’s largest secret society, the Freemasons—a group whose members include some of the world’s most influential people and whose secretive rituals have persisted for centuries.

Conspiracy theorists speculate the group pulls the strings of international power and finance and is responsible for high-profile murders—some even claim its members worship Satan.

Where is the line between fact and fiction within this secretive society? Read on to learn more.

18th Century Italian-Austrian Artist Ignaz Unterberger Painted this Initiation Ceremony in a Viennese Masonic Lodge in 1789. Photograph By Deagostini, Getty Images

The Origins of Freemasonry

Though the Freemasonry movement has roots in medieval guilds of stonemasons, the vast majority of the movement’s members are not masters of stonework. It’s believed that as stonemason membership decreased, the group began accepting “speculative,” or honorary, members to bolster their numbers. Freemasonry’s modern incarnation dates to the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, when educated Englishmen aimed to commune with others and discuss issues of philosophy, religion, and life in an organized setting.

Fraternal organizations had existed for centuries, but in the 18th century, a variety of men’s groups named after the English pubs at which they met joined together in what they called a “Grand Lodge,” an association that would meet to hold rituals and ceremonies and induct new members. Now known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England, the group was the first of its kind, and as membership expanded so did its list of secret rituals and ceremonies and its membership requirements.

According to the Masonic Service Association of North America, there were about 898,000 Freemasons in the U.S. as of 2020, and there are an estimated 6 million Freemasons worldwide.

Freemasons hold a Lodge meeting in Bordeaux, France, in 2008. Photographs By Regis Duvignau, Reuters/Redux

Who Can Be a Freemason?

Today, membership requirements are relatively simple: Though each group, or Lodge, of Freemasons has its own rules, in general a Freemason must be a male who is recommended by other members of the Lodge, believe in a “Supreme Being,” be of good moral character, and pledge to learn the ways of the fraternity and conform to what Freemasons call their “ancient uses and customs.”

Those customs include a strict hierarchy and a variety of ceremonies and rituals. After they are initiated into their lodge, members go through a series of “degrees” of membership, rising from Entered Apprentice to Fellowcraft to Master Mason. Along the way, they learn the language, rites, and beliefs of the “craft,” engaging in rituals that harken to Biblical beliefs . They also adopt emblems that range from the square and compass, which represents morality, the beehive, which is said to represent cooperation and work among members, and the “Eye of Providence” or “All-seeing Eye,” which represents God’s eternal watchfulness. Some of these symbols are so well known that they are familiar to non-Masons—for example, the Eye of Providence can be found on U.S. one dollar bills.

The masonic symbols of a square (virtue) and compass (wisdom) are placed atop a Bible, which is open to the Gospel of St. John, during a Freemason ceremony. Photograph By Raquel Clausi Rochina, Cordon Press/Redux

Why Catholicism Forbids Freemasonry

When they’re not holding elaborate membership rituals, Freemasons often engage in community service and philanthropy, provide mutual support to members, or work with associated organizations. But despite this charitable focus and the fact that it is not a formal religion, Freemasonry isn’t universally accepted. In fact, Freemasonry is banned by Roman Catholicism, which forbids Catholics from joining and encourages them to associate with Catholic organizations like the Knights of Columbus instead.

“Their principles have always been considered undesirable by the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden,” the Church declared in 1983. “The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.” As Catholic Herald’s Ed Condon explains, the Church opposes Freemasonry because of its secular focus and its role as a sanctuary for “those with heterodox ideas and agendas.”

Power and Panic

Those agendas have long spurred controversy because of the political power wielded by some Freemasons. Though the rules of most lodges discourage members from discussing politics, many of its members are active in political parties and government and the organization’s secrecy and vows of brotherhood have spawned conspiracy theories about its members’ political agendas.

Most conspiracy theories speculate that all Freemasons have the same beliefs and act as a body, tying in with modern anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that associate the group with a shady “New World Order” which controls international finance and relations.

Left: Seats for high-status members are seen in the Freemasons Hall of the United Grand Lodge of England in London. Photograph By Peter Dazeley, Getty Images

Right: A statue of George Washington in a Masonic apron stands inside the New York Grand Lodge Headquarters. Photograph By Fred R. Conrad, The New York Times/Redux

As a result, Freemasonry has become iconic in popular culture and among non-members who are intrigued by its shady rituals. Yet membership has dwindled for years. Why the decline? Some connect it to a larger trend among fraternal organizations and service clubs like the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which have seen steep declines over the decades. Others attribute falling membership to the movement’s refusal to recognize women despite the existence of some all-female lodges.

Or perhaps the fall is due to growing public awareness of the movement’s once-secret rituals, historian John Dickie told NPR in 2020. “I think possibly actually the issue is that secrecy has lost something of its magic," Dickie said. “In an age when it can take two minutes or less on Google to find out what the Freemasons' secrets really are, I'm not sure that they can really hold that much mystique for members anymore.”

Despite controversy and condemnation, the movement persists—but only time can tell whether Freemasonry can remain relevant in the 21st century. Meanwhile, its members say they see Freemasonry as everything from a powerful brotherhood to a chance to give back to the community to what one English member calls “an avenue for personal growth and development.” For now, Freemasonry’s secretive rituals and symbols live on—along with the influence of its best-known members.

[musicshelfwithmustard]

Escape Container City with Mass Lines

Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with Great Britain's Mass Lines. Together we discussed their band name, politics within the United Kingdom, their relationship with Zack Sabre Jr, and so much more!

Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with Great Britain’s Mass Lines. Together we discussed their band name, politics within the United Kingdom, their relationship with Zack Sabre Jr, and so much more! 1. Mustard is thankful to have Mass Lines join them at Music Shelf. How is everyone?  Not bad, thanks for asking. We’re as good as you can be in the UK right now. 2. Humans love origin stories.…

[journalismjpg]

The 109-page indictment paints the movement to oppose the construction of a massive police training center in the Atlanta area’s Weelaunee Forest as a criminal conspiracy, and it goes back to the Minneapolis police department’s killing of George Floyd, which took place almost a year before Cop City was announced.

By doing so, the National Lawyers Guild said in a press statement, the indictment “attempts to render all mass protest against police violence and racism—including the killing of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta police—an ‘unlawful conspiracy’ or ‘racketeering.’ ”

Read more here.

[fairygodsystem]

Do you have any system names for just the grouping that aren't system or collective?

We are really wanting a one worded collective name

♡ Alternatives to "system" or "collective" Master-list ♡

Association　　Assembly　　Aggregation　　Assemblage　　Assortment　　Array　　Alliance

Band　　Body　　Batch　　Battery　　Bunch　　Bundle　　Battalion　　Bracket　　Brigade

Class　　Club　　Chain　　Circle　　Crew　　Collection　　Cluster　　Clutch　　Clique　　Clump　　Clot　　Combine　　Conglomerate　　Congregation　　Crew　　Crowd　　Company　　Collaborative　　Communal　　Cooperative　　Common　　Corporation　　Compilation　　Collation　　Caboodle　　Convocation　　Cumulation　　Constellation　　Clan　　Consort　　Crop　　Coalition　　Classification　　Conspiracy　　Cabal　　Coven　　Corps

Division

Establishment　　Enterprise

Faction　　Function　　Formation　　Foundation　　Fellows　　Fellowship　　Family　　Force

Group　　Gathering　　Grade　　Gaggle　　Grouping　　Gild　　Guild　　Genus　　Generation

Herd　　Horde　　Hoard　　Heap　　Huddle　　Hodgepodge

Institute　　Institution

Lot　　League　　Legion　　Layout　　Lads

Mass　　Medley　　Mess　　Miscellany　　Mobilization　　Muster　　Mess　　Melt　　Mutual　　Mob

Number　　Network

Operation　　Outfit　　Order

Platoon　　Party　　Parcel　　Posse　　Phalanx　　Pack　　Personnel　　Pile

Round　　Ring

School　　Squad　　Squadron　　Set　　Species　　Syndicate　　Staff　　Stack　　Stock　　Suite

Team　　Troop　　Trust

Union

Variety

[evilwickedme]

I said I'd never do jumblr content again and yet here I am because this keeps coming up and it's like the only thing I can think about. That said I will not hesitate to turn off reblogs if y'all are horrible in the notes again, and be warned that I will be blocking anybody who supports any of the theories I mention immediately

There is no such thing as a conspiracy theory that isn't antisemitic. There is no such animal

Antisemitic conspiracy theories go back thousands of years. The ones that still have the most hold on culture to this day are the blood libel, and the protocols of the elders of zion

The blood libel was an accusation that would be brought against Jewish populations in Europe often but especially around Passover claiming that we were killing Christian children for ritual purposes, usually to use their blood for baking matza or other nonsense (it is important to me that you know that this is nonsense. It is horrible and damaging but also to the core a ridiculous lie that never at any point made any sense. They just didn't care). Debatably this trope is present in the merchant of Venice. Undebatably Jews were killed because people did and still do sincerely believe this

The protocols of the elders of zion is a fictitious document published in Russia at the very beginning of the 20th century, supposedly detailing the meetings of the Jewish people who secretly run the world. The protocols were almost immediately proven to be a rip off of another document - ah, plagiarism - but that hasn't stopped antisemites from embracing it wholeheartedly (special thanks fuck you to Henry Ford for publishing them in his newspaper, spreading it across the USA). It built on previous antisemitic tropes, from the greedy banker trope (Jews were forced to be money lenders in medieval Europe as it was forbidden in Christianity and Jews weren't allowed to join any guilds, preventing them from making money in any other capacity - the reason why there are so many Jews in Hollywood is identical, but in the early 20th century) to the concept of dual loyalty (i.e. Jewish are loyal to ourselves above all else and cannot be trusted to be loyal to the country where we live, see: modern trope that every Jew is probably loyal to Israel and the subsequent idea that it's okay to ask every single diaspora Jew how they feel about Israel immediately upon meeting them). It's also worth noting that the word cabal, used to denote the shadowy organizations that supposedly control the world, comes from kabbala, which is Jewish mysticism

The idea of lizard people, created by a guy literally named Icke because he is a gross human being, was designed to repackage the antisemitic shadow cabal concept to be supposedly more palatable

Most qanon theories also build on all of this, such as world leaders preying on children (remember pizzagate?)

But more importantly conspiratorial thinking always positions you as the good guy standing against a mysterious "them", an other which is influencing things behind the scenes. The Jew is the ultimate other, and specifically an other that supposedly forms a shadowy world government, controlling everything and yet somehow not managing to get rid of antisemitism (see: protocols of Zion, lizard people, we control Hollywood and the government which is of course conspiring against you). There is no way to decouple the idea of an evil shadowy organization (usually also referred to as a cabal to really hammer it in) from antisemitism and antisemitic tropes

And this means that even supposedly "harmless" conspiracy theories attract antisemites and train people who aren't necessarily rabid antisemites to confirm those kinds of biases. Obviously Qanon and lizard people are antisemitic, but what does the moon landing have to do with Jews? Well, it was Hollywood and the government that faked it, obviously. Hell, even the conspiracy that Taylor Swift is secretly a lesbian and is either still secretly dating or is exes with Karlie Kloss is riddled with antisemitism -

Okay so I need to explain my position on this because I fucking hate this conspiracy theory, and the fact that most people simply won't acknowledge that that's what it is. Firstly, Taylor Swift has stated that she is not gay or considers herself an ally at least three times off the top of my head, and specifically denied that she was dating Karlie Kloss. Secondly, outing people is wrong. Thirdly, the conspiracy theory hinges on the idea that she would be risking her career by coming out, except that she's proven that basically no controversy can come in the way of her career, she's already "come out" as an ally, donated to glaad and the equality act, promoted queer musicians & artists & designers (there was a song in the reputation tour that was dedicated to a gay designer every single night of the tour). So what's stopping her from coming out at this point? Mysterious forces, clearly. The antisemitism in that I've already explained, but also the virulent antisemitism among Kaylor shippers aimed at her husband and at the fact that she converted to Judaism is fucking disgusting

Again: even a supposedly harmless conspiracy theory leads to antisemitism and attracts antisemites

A few years ago I tried to rewatch white collar cause I remembered really enjoying that show as a preteen and after around a season I just couldn't stand it anymore, because all I wanted to do was jump into the universe and yell at Mozzie to shut the fuck up because these conspiracy theories were barely presented as a joke and never challenged even once by any of the characters. When I rewatched that 70s show it also fucking sucked, but at least it wasn't showing up in every single episode. The blacklist focuses entirely on a literal Cabal, that's what they're called

This stuff is so normalized and it's fucking everywhere and it's exhausting. Jews are to this day being murdered over this. I can't change the world by myself, unfortunately, but if you don't have a specific person to blame for your troubles, shut the fuck up. Just shut up. There is no conspiracy against you. Sometimes life just sucks. Or definitely does for the Jews who get shot at over this shit

Again, I'll be blocking anybody who parrots this bullshit in the comments but especially fucking gaylors y'all are one of the main reasons that being a fan of Taylor Swift's music is fucking unbearable. Just accept you can connect to music made by somebody different than yourself it's not that difficult of a concept

[visenyaism]

love that the years-long conspiracy to take down paul atreides that represents a union between irulan, the spice guild, the bene gesserit, and the tleilaxu working for fifteen years create and condition a clone of duncan idaho to destroy paul’s mind or whatever is immediately corkscrewed because the training they gave that clone made him be like HI PAUL IM HERE TO DESTROY YOU. YOU SHOULD SEND ME AWAY within their first 30 seconds of conversation

[crepes-suzette-373]

Not really a theory, I suppose, it could be just a one-off reference, but you know Sanji's nickname from Zeff being "little eggplant" (chibinasu)?

I was reminded of this saying in Japan, that goes 一富士二鷹���茄子 (ichi Fuji, ni taka, san nasubi - one, Fuji; two, hawk; three, eggplant)

Sometimes the 123 is followed by 456: 四扇五煙草六座頭 (shi sen, go tabako, roku zatou - four, folding fan; five, tobacco; six, the blind men's guild)

These are "lucky things" that supposedly indicates good fortune to come if you see them in your first dream in the New Year. It doesn't have to be all of them, but to my knowledge, supposedly the more items you see the bigger your luck will be.

Eggplant is "number three", so Sanji you know? Plus "five" being tobacco and Sanji is identified as "the fifth crew member"...

I don't think the rest of it is relevant, though. Unless there's really something to the Wano conspiracy theory that I have been having, haha.

[akisunlovesnalu]

Every Witch Way

A fic that I wrote inspired by this photo. Originally I wanted it to become a detective fic but my brain spiraled and I ended up with this. It became an adventure mystery story and of course, the government hates them :) I liked the idea of them traveling through the desert and I'm not too sure where the guild fit in this but just know that all Magicians (Witches) are in hiding because society believes they are evil. Most normal people do not have magic so someone spread a theory that the only reason witches have magic is because of human sacrifices etc. It's important to note that witches want to keep their powers under wraps or else they will get reported to the authorities and sent to the hier-ups in the capital. Nobody knows what happens to the witches who are caught but they don't want to find out.

That might be some unnecessary background information so skip over that if you wish and enjoy!

When Lucy finds herself kidnapped by a ruthless group of bandits, the last thing she expects is to be saved by a witch with Pink hair and his talking blue cat. And she most certainly didn't expect to become their good friend and travel companion. Who knew evil sorcerers and government conspiracies can lead to unexpected friendships.

As the blond girl dragged herself, hands tied together in front of her, and sand covered bare feet weakly trailing after her, she realized how fast camels might actually be. You see, in all of the stories she had read so far, none of them did the four legged beast's speed any justice. They never quite described how hard it was to keep up with them. It was always “The creature was big” or “The creature was furry” but never “When kidnapped by a group of bandits, tied to and forced to stumble behind a literal camel, it may be hard to keep up.”

See if any of the books had written that in, maybe Lucy Hearfillia might be faring better in her situation. But alas, she was not.

“Stop lagging behind, blondie!” One of the men snarled, pulling on the rope to further demonstrate his annoyance. Lucy stumbled forward, struggling to stay upright. She hung her head low, very aware of the menacingly bright sun and quietly sighed.

Oh what she would do to somehow get out of this unfortunate turn of events.

She has probably been traveling together with these no good thieves for about 3 hours. After being abducted from the only good town in this godforsaken desert, the men forced her to follow them, ignoring her cries of where she was and demands to let her go. She gave up eventually of course. Not even her vocal cords could handle the immense heat that came with the dry deserted area.

“Hey boss.” The big one said, glancing over at her with furrowed brows. He had been the one to capture her in the first place. Of course Lucy could have easily taken him on but… a moment's hesitation was all they needed to successfully tie her up and steal her ring of keys. Aquarius was going to kill her!

 “Not that I really want to, but... Should we give the chick some water?” 

The man in front of the big one grunted, his blueish hair blowing with the small breeze and clearly showing off his strange X-like tattoo. Lucy watched on with little interest as a bead of sweat traveled down his forehead.

“I wouldn’t bother.” He scoffed. “Every time we’ve tried, she just spits it back up. Plus, earlier she tried to bite off Javier’s finger, do you really want to risk it?” He raised an eyebrow.

The man in question made a whining noise, clutching his injured hand to his chest and glaring at their prisoner with watery eyes. He mockingly raised the water bottle to his mouth, chugging it in an attempt to get a rise out of her. Lucy rolled her eyes, instead looking back down at the smooth sand beneath her feet.

The big one made a noise of understanding. “Even after we lied about it not being drugged too-”

Javier spit up the water that he was previously chugging, shakily putting the top back on and storing it back inside of the camel's holding bag.

“You idiot!” ‘Boss’ hissed, turning a piercing glare unto the man beside him. “She still didn’t know-” He paused, glancing over at their very interested prisoner and forced himself to  take a deep breath. “You know what, it doesn't matter, she'll be fine.”

“But, Bora-”

“She’ll be fine!” The man who Lucy now knew as Bora raised a fist threateningly. He smirked in sick pleasure as his henchmen coward away. Before she even had time to pull a face of disgust, he turned to Lucy, eyeing her hungrily. “Now, let's get a move on. The employer is expecting us by sundown and I'd rather not have the sun beating down on me any longer than necessary.”

The rest of his men tiredly murmured in agreement, picking up the pace and forcing the blond girl to — once again —trudge through the slippery sand. She hissed as her feet pricked on some sort of stick-like plant. Oh Mavis if she could just reach into the pouch hanging off of Bora’s belt-

“I don’t see the issue, it’s not even that hot.” A new voice said, startling the crew of 14 bandits plus Lucy herself. Her head snapped up for the first time in a while. Ignoring the ache in her neck, the girl rapidly searched the area until settling upon a man with… pink hair. 

He didn’t look too shocked to see a kidnapped girl tied to a Camel. Nor did he bat an eye at the blue cat that sat on his head, lazily playing with the goggles that held his hair out of his face (Did she mention that it was pink!?). And his attire looked so incredibly… bold that Lucy was sure she would faint. Seriously, who was stupid enough to travel through the desert in a black long sleeve shirt, a tan vest and a literal scarf. It was like the guy was begging to get a heat stroke.

She had immediately decided that whoever this man was, he was insane.

“Now.” He grinned, getting into a fighting stance. “What was it you said about an employer?”

Oh look now he wanted to fight off an entire group of bandits. Lucy scoffed. Definitely insane.

Where did he even come from?

Bora snarled, holding up a hand and signaling his guys to pounce on the man wearing freaking cargo pants. Once again, the pink haired freak didn’t even flinch. He stayed rooted to his spot, grinning a wide smile and daring one of them to come at him.

They did, of course, and to Lucy’s surprise were blasted back by a large ring of— 

“Fire!”

Well that certainly explains a lot.

Even after that big scare, the men were back on “Mr. cargo pants” as soon as Bora sent each and every one of them a snarl. The blond snorted as soon enough, all 14 men were on the floor, some of them even halfway in the sand and halfway not.

Bora’s horrified face soon turned back into a scowl as he fully processed Lucy’s teasing. He jumped off of the Camel, ignoring a curious looking “Mr. cargo pants” and stomping over to her. 

“Something Funny?” He said.

“Yeah, actually.” She chuckled some more, tugging on the rope in silent frustration. “Looks like you're about to get your ass handed to you.”

Bora growled, raising his hand in an attempt to threaten her. Lucy eye’d it wearily, but made no attempt to move out of its path. To her pleasure that seemed to aggravate the man even more.

“I’ll show you!” He cried and Lucy's breath hitched as he brought his hand down to strike her across the face… 

The sound of skin hitting skin somehow echoed throughout the desert and Lucy was sure her face was stinging a bright red…

Except it wasn’t… to be honest she felt no pain. Almost as if she hadn’t been hit at all… Cracking her eyes open she realized that a figure stood in front of her, effectively blocking both the sun and her view of Bora. At this, the girl was finally able to piece together what happened.

Bora had aimed for her face, only for his wrist to be caught by “Mr. cargo pants” himself. 

What an interesting turn of events indeed. 

Lucy was quite surprised by how calm she was in this type of situation. No other girl would be able to keep a straight face as they were surrounded in an alleyway, tied up, and forced onto a camel, only to be saved by a strange man (who was definitely insane) that kicked ass and breathed fire. Though if anything she’d have to blame it on experience.

The silence was interrupted by a snarl, one almost inhuman. Bora shrieked, snatching his hand away and forcibly putting a distance between him and this insane man.

“H-how dare you!” Bora shrieked, reaching into his belt and pulling out a knife. Lucy’s eyes flashed onto the leather pouch before giving the man a hard glare.

“You’re one of those demons aren't you!” His voice shook but was filled with so much venom. “The horrible bastards that turn to rituals and blood sacrifices in favor of magical powers!?”

Mr. Cargo pants made no attempt to move, only stared Bora straight in the eyes with an unreadable expression. 

“So what if I am?” He answered.

Lucy felt her lips turn into a frown.

“Then you’re worse than me!” The man laughed maniacally, waving his knife around as he spoke. “Why bother saving this chick with magic earned by bloodlust? Wait…” He gasped dramatically looking at Lucy and then back at Mr. Cargo pants. 

“Oh…” he cackled this time, using a shaky hand to clutch his side. “You probably need her right? For another sacrifice?”

As he continued with his dumb speach Lucy felt her patience slipping. She bit her lip, tugging on the rope once again with no success. She growled, now desperate enough to be pulling against the weight of a freaking Camel.

“Let’s make a deal, hm?” Bora held the knife to his mouth in thought. “I’ll let you take her for just a bit of cash. I’m sure you and your demon friends would love such delicate, pure hearted prey right? Blah Blah Blah Blah-”

Lucy tuned him out and her pink-haired savior still made no move to attack, only balling his fists and taking deep breaths. She understood… the need to prove him wrong… to just shut him up! Which was what she was planning on doing! As soon as she got rid of this stupid rope-

Her savior lunged, slapping the knife out of the bandit's hand and catching him by the neck so quickly that Lucy had to blink, just to make sure she had actually witnessed that.

Bora struggled against his grip, clawing at his arm as he gasped for breath. “Y-you…” He coughed. “You monster!”

The pink haired boy dropped him, cracking his knuckles as Bora attempted to crawl away.

“Hit me with your best shot!” He screeched. “Monster!” 

And that’s when Lucy’s attention was directed towards a flying blue blob. It took her a minute to realize that the blue blob was the cat previously perched atop her savior's head. She couldn’t help the small shriek that erupted from her throat as the cat landed directly in front of her, a look of pride overtaking its face.

“Hold on!” It cried, using its claws to slowly cut away at the thick rope. Lucy stood stock still, mouth wide as she watched a cat! a talking cat, free her from her ‘Camel Prison’... 

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. 

She felt the rope loosen up and took that moment to slip her hands free.

She rubbed her wrists, absentmindedly thanking the (blue, flying, taking-) cat and zoning back in on the fight. Well… what she thought would be a fight. Instead, Lucy saw Mr. Cargo Pants kneeling by a tied up and unconscious Bora, checking his pulse with a bored look in his eyes.

The girl wanted to laugh at how quickly that ‘battle’ had ended. In fact, she did laugh! How could she not? Here was Bora, big bandit leader with unquestionable power over his 14 lakey’s, beaten black and blue after a fight that had barely even lasted a minute.

Pathetic.

Lucy was almost ashamed to have put her morals over her own safety. Taking on this guy would have been a sinch, the rest would have probably run away with their tails between their legs. 

The girl released a breath, finally finished with her laughing fit. She wiped a tear from beneath her eye, grinning wide at her two saviors.

“You’ve got guts!” The cat… the blue, flying, talking cat.. Spoke. It spoke… Lucy felt her face twist in confusion.

“Thank you…?”

Mr. Cargo pants finished tying up the rest of the men and strode over to them, his arms crossed over his chest as he gave her a somewhat proud look. “Happy’s right y’know. I’ve never seen another girl in your situation stand up to their captor…” He paused before quietly adding. “Well maybe Erza but I doubt she’d get captured in the first place…”

“Happy’s?” Lucy questioned, raising her brow. “What do you mean?”

“That’s Happy.” He stated matter factly, pointing over to the flying cat- Holy Mavis, this would take some getting used to. It waved. Lucy numbly waved back.

Mr. Cargo Pants held out his hand in greeting. “And I’m Natsu!” Oh well that’s good, he’s got a name. Mr. Cargo Pants was starting to seem a bit bland based on his earlier performance. Maybe she’d just call him Fire Freak, pyromaniac for short?

“Hey Natsu.” The girl smiled kindly, getting over her initial shock and shaking his hand. He held onto her hand for longer than necessary, his grip strong. The pink-haired traveler held her gaze, dark onyx eyes practically burning into her soul. His calloused hand gave her own one last squeeze before he let go, looking around as if nothing just happened.

“What're you doing this far out in the desert anyways?”

Lucy blinked, her brain taking a minute to compute after his strange display of… comradery? “I was… Traveling.” She admitted.

“With them?” Natsu and Happy blinked, looking back at the pile of motionless body’s. Finally the boy turned back to her, shaking his head and clicking his teeth. “Man, you need to get yourself some better travel companions.”

“N-no!” She barked. “I was kidnapped while traveling! Are you an idiot!”

“Well why didn’t you just say so?”

Lucy ground her teeth in frustration. One more word out of this man’s mouth and she’d be wanted for murder. She rolled her eyes. What a scatter brain.

“Well, thank you for saving me.” She settled with, surveying the litter of body’s decorating the wide desert floor. “Can I ask you to direct me towards the closest town?”

Natsu nodded his head, pointing in a direction. “We’re actually headed to one right now. Care to join?”

“... Sure!” Lucy agreed after a bit of hesitation. She turned around and untied her very important pouch from her precious Camel Captor. 

“Thanks for keeping these safe, I guess.” She said to it. The camel snorted out a noise of disinterest as Lucy stroked it’s neck. 

Natsu let out a snort, turning away and whistling casually as Lucy sent him a hard glare. She may have been forcefully tied to and painfully dragged across the desert by this Camel, but still, she felt a sense of comradery between them. She was going to miss him…

As Lucy turned to leave, the camel let out a large glob of spit, barely missing her head. The girl shrieked and ran to catch up to a curious Natsu.

She takes it back. That damn animal won't be missed. Not one bit.

[paragonrobits]

so one thing I’ve come to realize after watching a fair number of reactions to Hunter the Parenting by people who specifically not old school fans of the World of Darkness setting, or have only been introduced to it THROUGh HtP, is that every single fucking things Big D says and does is a MASSIVE flag that he is something extremely weird even by the standards of the setting

but

in order to actually know this, you need to have some fairly in-depth knowledge of the setting.

so I’m watching these reactions growing continuously baffled at how people don’t react that much to, say, Big D talking about how time is an odious concept, or randomly screaming that Louis Pasteur was a fascist, or that him knowing WHY werewolves are vulnerable to silver is actually a huge deal, and it took me a while to realize: Big D is always rambling and saying weird things, so to these viewers a lot of what he does and says is comedic non sequiters.

But here’s the thing; a lot of the stuff he says MIGHT be non sequiters, or him being accidentally correct about something he doesn’t know shit about... but the thing about it is that he sounds like someone who knows the horrible secrets in the world of darkness that you DON’T know, that you CAN’T know, unless you’re one of the strange things in the dark, or have done the impossible task of learning all about them and actually have accurate information.

So, for some context on my examples:

When Big D says time is a concept, he’s not speaking metaphorically. This is BIG TIME, EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, REALITY-DEFINING MIND BREAKING SECRETS OF ALL COSMOS HERE. In the World of Darkness, reality is not objective. The laws of physics don’t really exist; reality is whatever the majority of people THINK exists, and the laws of science only apply specifically because scientific worldview is the norm among most of the world; because so many people believe that up is up, down is down, gravity keeps you on the ground and so on, that’s how it all works. BELIEF defines reality. Consequently, every aspect of existence is a concept, and when Big D says time is an odious concept, he’s not speaking metaphorically. This is an actual, inarguable truth of the setting.

In the same way, Louis Pasteur is likely a reference to the Technocracy, a secretive conspiracy founded by a number of mage guilds from Europe that banded together to further thier vision of an Enlightened world, but whom gradually succumbed to the evils of colonization, Eurocentric perspectives, abuse of power, and obsessively wanting to control all humantiy for its own good; through their work scientific reason has become the primary paradigm. In a lot of ways the mundane evils of the setting are at least implicitly their fault, and a lot of big names and historical figures are named as being part of the Technocracy; thus its not hard to assume Pasteur is thought to be one of these. (He was actually a vampire. He made himself a vampire with serums. It’s complicated, but the Technocracy assumption lines up with what Big D believes.) This also accounts for his apparent phobia of computers; while it MIGHT be him just being superstitious and weird, it also lines up extremely well with someone who knows the origin of advanced electronics as being literal magic.

And finally, werewolves. Everyone knows werewolves are vulnerable to silver, but not everyone knows why. Big D does; he outright tells Kitten it is because they have a compact with the moon. Put simply, THIS IS NOT COMMON KNOWLEDGE. AT ALL. Werewolves in general are tremendously secretive, though not as murderous about it as vampires are, and preventing humans from learning about them is important enough to be in their solemn oaths. To know about the nature of their bond with the moon requires you to ALSO know about the spirit world; that spirits are real, that werewolves are very heavily linked to the spirits, and THAT is why werewolves are vulnerable to silver. Again, this is not common knowledge, not even among those who are learned in the supernatural. (At least, I don’t think it is.)

So while Big D sounds like he’s yelling in gibberish, almost every single thing he says is massively loaded with context to the greater world of darkness, and it might be him being right on accident... or that he knows more than he’s telling, or IS something more than he seems to be.

[ariaste]

I bought Running Close to the Wind after seeing it advertised on Tumblr and I *LOVED* it. This book actually, literally, had me laughing out loud and kicking my feet. There were no times where I felt like I was slogging through the reading or feeling like I couldn't figure out what was happening. Thank you so much for an excellent story!

Thank you so much!!! That is delightful to hear! <3

FYI all of my books are set in the same world, so if you want to know more about what happened with the Shipbuilder's Guild, I'd recommend A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON next. If you want to know about the Chants and Xing Fe Hua, go for A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS. And if you want more scrungly, difficult gremlins falling in love, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION, coming out in two weeks! Also there is an official discord server if you need other folks to talk about the book with!

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 11 January 1908, blacklisted US actor Lionel Stander was born. Most famous in recent years for playing the chauffeur in 1980s hit TV show Hart-to-Hart, Stander was a popular Hollywood actor, and active in supporting strikes and anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigns and was blacklisted during the anti-communist hysteria of the 1940s and 50s. Early in his career he helped organise actors in the Screen Actors Guild, raised money for anti-fascists in Spain during the civil war of 1936-9 and campaigned against racist miscarriages of justice like the Scottsboro boys case. Stander later became one of the most defiant actors pulled in front of the anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee. Not only did he refuse to inform on any of his colleagues, he exasperated the committee by speaking over senators and lawyers, ignoring their questions and instead testifying about the committee itself: "I know of some subversion, and can help the committee if it is really interested… I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine the Constitution of the United States by depriving artists and others of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without due process of the law. If you are interested in that, I would like to tell you about it. I can tell names, I can cite instances, and I am one of the first victims of it, and… these people are engaged in the conspiracy outside all the legal processes to undermine our very fundamental American concepts upon which our entire system of jurisprudence [legal system] exists". Pictured: Stander testifying before the Committee If you value our work researching and promoting people's history like this, please consider supporting us on patreon and getting access to exclusive content and benefits: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2184058215112650/?type=3