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kuroppiii · 4 years

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how middle blockers and setters would be if you played minecraft with them !

creeper? aww man ᵕ̈ haikyuu ( setters + middle blockers ) x gn reader ˎˊ˗

⋮⋮ ˒ ₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎ 𖥻 ⿻ : everyone loves minecraft , ⋮⋮ but everyone has a different way they ⋮⋮ play it !

📋 content ♡ # 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘧𝘧 🐮 ♡ # 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴 🥛 ♡ # 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦 🥛 ♡ # 3.9𝘬 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴

🧸 directory ‹ ✩ like what you read ? check out more of my blog ! •ᴗ•

💬 kuroppiii ─ “ this is c*te . i got a bit carried away with it so it took a while , sorry about that ! thanks for the dream machine request again ~ ”

، ミドルブ ✧ ロッカー 🌱 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 ...

︴𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗞𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗠𝗔 𝗞𝗘𝗜 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

you had to convince him to sit down and play with you

he never got the hype

but he’s a sucker for you so he said he’ll only try it “for a few minutes”

you two ended up playing for 4 hours

you had to explain a lot of things to him

guess who fought off the mobs when night fell? hint: it was you.

he probably accidentally hit you a lot when trying to play

wants to start a new world whenever he dies

when you finally manage to establish a base, you literally sigh because it took soooo long

tsuki basically turned vanilla minecraft into educational edition

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

"if you build eight units that way, and I build six units that way— ”

“units??? tsuki you can just call them blocks.”

“yeah, yeah whatever,” tsukishima waved you off from where he sat at his bedroom desk.

so you two went through with tsukishima’s plan and finally, you had a shelter. you let out a breath of relief and allowed yourself to fall back onto his bed before gluing your eyes back to your phone screen. you placed down some torches, a crafting table, a furnace, some chests–the base essentials. when it came to the beds (you had both of your beds because you didn’t trust tsukishima’s in his inventory since he died so much), you placed them right next to each other.

you laughed to yourself at your witty sense of humor. tsukishima suspiciously side-glanced at you and you put your phone down temporarily to touch your two pointer fingers together.

“what if we keep our minecraft beds next to each other? ah hah hah, jkjk... unless?”

tsukishima just gave you a look, definitely a judging look, “what are you doing?”

dejected, you immediately sighed and dropped your hands, sulking that he didn’t get your reference as you picked your phone back up, “you’ll get it soon enough.”

“okay...?”

you both put your characters to sleep, with you still being giddy in your head that your minecraft beds were still next to each other.

“ugh, finally. i think I'm done for today, too,” says tsukishima. he sets down his phone and stretches.

“do you want to play again tomorrow?” you quickly ask.

“tomorrow? again?”

“well, yes... please?”

‘curse you and your cute pouty face,’ he thinks to himself as you try to persuade him with your bottom lip jutted out.

“... fine, but change the setting so that those blocky enemies stop bothering us.”

︴𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗬𝗢 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

will gladly play minecraft with you!

he’s definitely played with tanaka and noya before, so you’re all set to start playing the rest of the day away!

his inventory end up so messy it takes a moment to find whatever he’s looking for

like, have you ever seen that one meme of that horrendous hotbar? yeah that kind of vibe

sometimes he forgets to make his character eat something until he’s literally losing HP

“wait what? what’s hitting me? y/n is that you? there’s no enemies around...”

“what’s your hunger bar at?”

“... oh, hehe”

other than that, you work together as a great team

he’s not that bad at combat, he’ll make sure yall have enough food and resources...

mining though,,,, yeah good luck

the ambience sounds scare him sometimes

you know, the sounds that go ‘eeEEEOUUH’

if he hears any rattling of bones, undead groans, or hisses of a green ticking bomb ready to go off rIGHT AROUND THE CORNER—

he’s running to find wherever your character is right away to feel safer

but after all the effort, you two get so excited about finding diamonds! omg the cutest bonding moment ever

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“maybe we’re not deep enough,” you sigh.

“but there’s lava? aren’t diamonds usually near lava?” hinata sighs back.

the search for diamods is nearing a real-world hour yet both of you are still empty-handed. you branch off to a little molten orange puddle and start mining around its perimeter. alas, still nothi—

“Y/N! COME HERE COME HERE I THINK I FOUND ONE!” hinata yells and your character immediately darts to find his.

you move the screen’s line of vision and then you see it: that gorgeous diamond blue, with hinata’s character jumping for joy beside it.

finding diamonds in this game never gets old.

“AHHH!! SHOYO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? MINE IT!” you yell back. the smiles on your faces grow bigger and bigger for every blue gem hinata manages to get from the small bunch of blocks in the cave wall.

“eight! i got eight!” he announces.

you clutch your phone in your hands, satisfaction running through your veins, “that’s enough for a sword for the both of us! and a pickaxe!”

the both of you put down your phones for a moment to give each other a high five. it was a solid high five, too— you two were feeling ecstatic!

“do you think there’s more around here?” you ask. your voice resonated pure delight and excitement and hinata’s response reciprocated nothing but.

“maybe! let’s go find out!”

︴𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗕𝗔 𝗟𝗘𝗩 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

he’s played a couple of times, but the times he played his “friends” just griefed his world to death

can we get an F in the chat

but lev trusts you, and he finds minecraft genuinely entertaining besides the fact, so yes, he will play with you

he makes you stop and look at how pretty minecraft’s sunsets and sunrises and basically the whole environment is

you two name all of your animals

“who should i shear? willy or maria?”

“greggory hasn’t been sheared for a few days, maybe he feels left out :(((”

“you’re right maybe he does :(((”

he’ll laugh like so much when you two get out of a fight with a skeleton so the arrows all over you are sticking out and “they make you look like a porcupine!!”

frames all “firsts” i.e. first notch apple, first diamond, first emerald, first enderpearl rest in peace all the cows that get killed to make those item frames

wasn’t really aware of the nether or the end so he’s very excited to make it there with you!

very helpful 2nd player and you two get there in no time!

but whenever you get there, the atmospheres of the nether and the end catch him off guard since the overworld is so like.... chill

then it’s like you get there, and a ghast is over here like ‘scrREEEEEEEEE’

you both know you’ve got each other’s backs though!

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

you two stare at the activated end portal in front of you, lava bubling beneath it, equipped to the brim. you always wondered why that lava was there.

“okay, ready?” you ask lev. you look up and he gives you a determined nod.

“let’s go wreck that ender dragon!”

and with that, you two jump in and your screens say the terrain is being loaded. then there you are, in the end—a snotty beige island of rock in the middle of a purple void.

“cool, huh?” you ask lev, but his eyes are only wide and focused on the screen. it was a whole new world to him. literally.

you go through the normal end procedure, finding your way to where all the enderman are walking around. it takes a little while but soon you’re surrounded in a crowd of the lanky mobs.

“THERE’S SO MANY OF THEM?” screams lev, who has only seen a few in the course you two have been playing that night.

“because this is their home, lev—”

“WHY ARE THEY ALL SO TALL,” he shrieks.

you can’t help but snicker, “now you know what it feels like hanging around you—”

suddenly, you hear the roar.

︴𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗢 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

kenma first got him to play minecraft yeaaaars ago, no surprise there

when he plays now, he’s usually on servers a lot

if you ask to play minecraft with him he’d probably suggest going onto a server like hypixel or the hive first and foremost

if you also like playing on servers, you’ll soon find out he’s a pvp king ahh scary

i’ll be damned if he doesn’t have those og minecraft pro gamer boy skins– you know the ones, you know what i’m talking about, i know you do

but, if you just want to make a world with him, first he’ll be so soft inside thinking about you two having a minecraft world all of your own

second, he’ll yell “OF COURSE Y/N!”

he tries really hard to tame cats if you ever come by them and gets super happy when he succeeds

he probably will tame a horse and dog too tho but that’s not relevant at the moment–

prefers strip mining than going through cave systems

calls gold “butter” he was a skydoesminecraft fan i’m convinced he was

ends up finding emerald before diamonds and you both get completely perplexed on how or why

hates silverfish with every fiber of his being

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“GODDAMMIT!” kuro yells as silverfish slithered and spread out from the stone black he had just broken.

“what? what happened?” you ask him, your eyes not leaving your screen. you run your character through the winding stronghold you two have stumbled upon in the last hour of strip mining.

and then you see them: silverfish.

“AH!” you yelp as before you know it, the little things are going after you, too.

you and kuro start aggressively tapping your screens trying to get rid of the small pests on-screen, annoyingly hissing and wiggling around. there was much at stake, since your spawn point was god knows how far and kuroo had some precious diamonds and emeralds in his inventory. you were sure you wouldn’t be able to save it all either, having some pretty good loot already filling up your own inventory.

with only a few hearts left each, all the silverfish manage to be killed, rising up into the air as puffs of pixelated smoke.

“that was,” you sigh with a low laugh, “thrilling.”

“why are those things even in the game? all they’re good at is being annoying anyway,” kuro shakes his head grumbles while healing up his HP. you’re pretty sure he doesn’t realize it, but he’s cutely pouting as he makes his character drink a potion of healing. he’s acting like a little kid.

“okay, mister. after you’re done with your little hissy fit, let’s head back up to the surface!”

︴𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗢 𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

will he play minecraft with you?

is that even a question? YES

warning though, he isn’t against griefing

but he likes you, so you get a pass

but don’t be suprised if you find the gate to your sheep pen “accidentally” left open, or your crops “happen to” get trampled over

he doesn’t spare you his little troublemaking antics

but you like him, so he gets a pass

ok but his favorite wood is aca— sorry, acaci— guys i can’t even say it—

his favorite wood is ac*cia because “y/n, it matches my hair!”

i mean the man’s not wrong there, but still,

“no”

he prefers having donkeys as his steed instead of horses

he builds little novelties and small machines around your base, like cobblestone generators

or a minecart with a sheep in it that goes around a neverending track next to the nether portal

but the details aren’t all that important to discuss, right?

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“tendo, why is there a horse bouncing up and down from that fence post in the air?” you ask. your character is standing still in front of the contraption, just looking up at the... thing. just, staring.

shortly, satori has his character join you and he stifles a little laugh, finding what he made a few minutes ago as funny as when he left it.

“oh, y’know. because it’s forever just bouncing around there like that,” he shrugs.

“did you seriously have us get a lead for that?”

“of course i did.”

“did you really have to put it there?”

“yeah—”

“OVER A LAKE?”

، セッ ✧ ター 🌱 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 ...

︴𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗔 𝗞𝗢𝗦𝗛𝗜 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

he hasn’t been able to play minecraft for a while, so he gladly installs it on his phone to play with you.

doesn’t like using violence that much, even if for mobs and bosses

with this mindset, it means he always goes mining immediately in a new world so he can find iron for shears.

he doesn’t want to kill any sheep to make you two beds in order to sleep through the mob-filled night.

the base he ends up building for the two of you is cute and has literal 8-bit cottage core vibes with the all game’s flowers planted around the place

he thinks the flowers that have come with the newer updates are fascinating and on top of that, spawn was in the middle of a flower forest

he got caught off guard by the bees though

“they put in bees but there still isn’t a cave update?”

makes a farm so you two don’t have to kill animals for food

if you get a brewing stand, he is full-on the potion and builder type player

replants the crops he harvests from villager farms if you happen to cross by one earlier on in-game

if it comes down to it, he will not hesitate fighting off the mobs for you

also will not hesitate to drop some food for you if you forgot to bring enough

very chill minecraft session, arguably one of the best kinds of minecraft sessions!

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

you two are comfortably lounging on the couch opposite of each other. you can barely sit still from the excitement of getting to play the best game ever your favorite game with sugawara.

“y/n, i’ve played a few times, but i’m far from what’s probably considered ‘good’,” sugawara admitted as you loaded up the world.

“suga, minecraft with you will be fine whether we’re playing like pros or beginners!” you reassure him.

“i guess,” he replies with a shy smile, “you might have to teach me the ropes of the newer things, though.”

“of course i will!” you almost shout back, very determined to have good-hearted fun with suga with nothing but good vibes.

the world finally generates on your screen and you’re in the middle of a bunch of flowers. you could never deny that although it was just pixels, it was truly so very pretty. besides that, your eyes were locked onto your phone, anticipating sugawara arrival. you’re pleased to see his character pop into the environment.

“okay! let’s get some wood, then we can start mining!” you say, uncontrollably smiling up at sugawara. he smiles back and soon you two fall into a comfortable silence as you gather resources.

after a few minutes, you see his character run up to yours. confused, you stop moving your character but then a flower of the valley is dropped in between your characters. you can’t help but ‘awwwe’ out loud and sugawara lightly laughs because of that,

“i don’t remember these being in the game, but i thought you’d like it. it’s pretty, like you..”

“AWWWWWWEEE”

︴𝗞𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗬𝗔𝗠𝗔 𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗢 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

he doesn’t play many video games, but he knows how much you love this block game so he complies if you ask him nicely

it takes a bit for you to teach him what he needs to know, but soon you find it’s really fun playing with kageyama!

he does get pretty mad when he dies though........ ok but it’s funny

enderman and baby zombies make him angry as fuck

accidentally hits pigmen in the nether but still tries to fend them off

he inevitably fails and gets mad

it’s still funny

has one of those houses where you can see the different layers of just the crap blocks he didn’t need anymore that he used to build it

always wants to tame a dog as soon as possible when you told him he was able to do that

likes mining the most, but sometimes you two get lost

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

it’s been about half an hour when you and kageyama find yourselves lost in a minecraft cave. the torches you two had been placing weren’t doing you any favors, as none of them signalled any kind of distinct path back up to the overworld.

“maybe this way?” you suggest for the upteenth time.

kageyama shook his head, his expression blatantly frustrated, “let’s just dig up. we’re never going to find are way out like this.”

“but kageyama, ‘don’t dig straight up or down’! that’s literally one of the most important rules in minecraft, we went over this!” you whined to try and stop him. you had the urge to just punch his character.

“that’s a stupid rule then, because how else are we going to get out of here?” kageyama just shoots back at you. you really wanted to act on that urge now. curse his stubbornness.

as you predicted, those ended up being his famous last words, because after breaking a few blocks above him kageyama was greeted by the molten orange glow of pixelated lava.

“shitshitshitshitshitshit—” kageyama panicked as the slowly cascaded down.

you watched in twisted satisfaction as his character ran around trying to distinguish the fire that spread on him. eventually, you took out the water bucket saved in your inventory and put him out.

“the rules aren’t so stupid now, are they.”

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE LAVA RIGHT THERE?”

︴𝗞𝗢𝗭𝗨𝗠𝗘 𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗠𝗔 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

when you asked him if he wanted to spend the afternoon playing minecraft, he may not have looked like it when he calmly said “sure,” but he was happy as hell!

he finds diamonds effortlessly and concerningly quickly when you start up a world, he even has the coordinates for finding diamonds memorized

also has the most efficient way to reach the ender dragon memorized

you find out he’s a good builder too

he even kind of gets redstone, which is impressive in itself

while chatting a bit as you’re absentmindedly mining for resources, you find out he had all the guide books ugh yes gotta love our gamer boyfriend

on servers, mc hunger games made him nervous :((((

bedwars tho? AHAHAH WATCH OUT he does the thing where he builds from really up high then drops a bunch of tnt on you then drops down to destroy your bed sly mf

hints at wanting to play a build battle game with you in the future

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“kenma! look at the greenhouse i made! we can grow crops and stuff now,” you tug a little at his shirt sleeve to get his attention. he hums and briefly side-glances at your phone before having his character move so he can see it on his screen for himself.

you look back at your own screen and his character is circling the small structure filled with crops and flowers. you hope he likes it. he built a great base for you two so fast, before the sun even went down in-game, and seemingly with such ease. it was the least you could do to repay him, albeit your skills definitely aren’t as honed as his.

“it looks good, y/n,” he says after a moment that felt like forever. you let out a breath you weren’t even aware you were holding. he continues crafting tools and armor inside your main base while you sit there next to him for a second, giddy from just that small compliment.

“really?” you ask, a big smile on your face. it ended up being more of a hypothetical question since he didn’t respond, focused on making his supplies. but you could see the small smile on his face.

“... maybe we can compare our building skills sometime,” kenma suddenly adds.

you gasp, “kENMA DO YOU MEAN,,, A BUILD BATTLE?!”

kenma lightly laughs, the sound making your heart do somersaults, “yeah, that.”

︴𝗞𝗘𝗜𝗝𝗜 𝗔𝗞𝗔𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗜 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

goes on servers the most out of anyone here, bokuto’s most likely to blame

good at pvp and detroying them beds in bedwats and all that

but personal worlds? baby needs a little help

you had to reassure him bees and fish were peaceful

mans was literally spinning around in a boat for a solid five minutes because he didn’t know how to control it

absolutely despises the drowned but i mean who doesn’t

“where did that one even come from?? we’re in the middle of a fucking pond????”

he’s enamoured by your building skills

“i can... build a wall.. around our base? will that help?”

of course it will sweetie

his favorite wood probably ends up being dark oak

oh, and he didn’t know hitting an iron golem makes them mad

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“PFFFT,” you were dying. no, not as in your HP was running low, you were just laughing at akaashi.

“Y/N? AREN’T YOU GOING TO HELP ME?” akaashi shouted as his character sprinted across the grassy plain. the iron golem ‘clunk, clunk, clunk’-ed with its big arms waving about as it chased after akaashi’s poor character.

“and what? put myself in danger? no! that thing will beat me to a pulp and i can not afford that!” you argue. akaashi can only let out a distressed whine in protest as he tries to swim across a river to escape the golem.

“haha! can’t catch me now... oh shit-”

the iron golem swims across.

︴𝗢𝗜𝗞𝗔𝗪𝗔 𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗨 ․﹒∗*○․﹒✧∘° ︴

he’s only ever played it when the other team members invite beg him to play in their minecraft world

so you’re just lucky he has a soft spot for you so he agreed to play it with you

was definitely self conscious about his minecraft abilities

you tell him it’s fine but soon you learn he has some... quirks.

likes gold armor bc it’s gold

will enchant everything to make up for the fact it’s not diamond

HE KIDNAPS VILLAGERS THERE I SAID IT

when he first heard of herobrine he legit got scared and the other boys definitely clowned him for it

his favorite music disc is strad and you have to try and get it for him because he doesn’t know how to get the discs by himself

builds a giant pillar to mark where your base is

enough of a fool to spawn the wither right near the base

⇩ ⇩ ⇩

“TORU OH MY GOD I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPAWN IT YET”

“I DIDN’T KNOW IT EXPLODES EVERYTHING”

what did tooru just get you into?

you moved your character outside of the base to see the big bad wither flying overhead. the three-headed enemy begins to launch its explosove heads at everything in its path. items flew out of chests, small dirt and wood blocks lay helplessly on the ground, and both you and tooru are yelling from excitement, hysteria, and fear all mixed into one.

ah, the gifts minecraft brings to everyday life.

you end up luring it away to the nearby forest, but you realize quickly that you are way under-equipped for this boss battle. you and tooru both try your best, but you expectedly end up staring at red phone screens sporting a passive ‘you died’.

silence.

“are you mad at me, y/n?” toru asks and you can hear the guilt in his voice. you feel like throwing a nearby pillow at him, yet that tone he speaks in absolutely shoots through your little heart like a minecraft skeleton’s arrow.

you take a deep breath, “no, i’m not mad at you toru. we can always try again another time. but please listen to me next time.”

“i will! you call the shots for now on, as long as it keeps us from dying!” he laughed, and you couldn’t help but join him after the hectic experience you two just shared.

︴𝘽𝙊𝙉𝙐𝙎 :: 𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗨𝗣 ︴

tsukishima , hinata , sugawara , kenma , akaashi

︴𝘽𝙊𝙉𝙐𝙎 :: 𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗨𝗣 ⁽ᵉᵘᵉᵍʰ⁾ ︴

lev , kuro , satori , kageyama

︴𝘽𝙊𝙉𝙐𝙎 :: 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙎 𝙏𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙎 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙏𝙊𝙋 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙈 𝙄– ︴

TORU WHY

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elecman108 · 3 years

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Man, I forgot to post 90% of my art here for the past while. I’m gonna do an art dump in this post under the cut. Enjoy the bonk emoji if you don’t click the read more, and man am I dumb and forgetful lmao.

Includes: OCs getting names, a Sonic impression, a D&D map, homosexual energies, a sheep floating in the astral sea, a birthday drawing I already posted, Hex Maniac Ender, D&D Characters, D&D Characters as Miis in Miitopia, Little Hater Axel, local Demon in the consciousness of my D&D character yelling at him, illegal plants, a necromancer being cute, an actual event that happened in a D&D game two days ago, and Mermay drawing.

That’s everything in here as a TL;DR, I guess. Enjoy your day!

I’m gonna try and sort of have them in chronological order, oldest first, but I may end up putting them in the wrong order. If I do... Whoops, I guess?

[04/14/21] - This isn’t really new art, but I started to work on giving the four OCs of mine without a full name full names... I have not finished this bit, though. So Hunter and Akira have full names, and Warlock and Assassin only have temporary names. This may end up like Seven where I put in their names as a temporary name (7th OC I’d made at that time) and it just kind of... sticks. Lmao.

[04/20/21] - Alone on a Friday Night? God, you’re pathetic. I didn’t colour this one because it was a half-attempt at a meme image I still like it, though, so I might end up colouring it. It’s gonna appear again whenever I do my “unfinished drawings art dump” at some point probably in... June? I know I said I’d post them last month but forget it, lmao, it’ll happen eventually.

[04/20/21] - A D&D Map! This was to help me visualize the layout of my D&D character’s ship he used to be on. Also for my DM if they ever put us aboard the ship. The little fella in the corner is just there to vibe. This map is made of free to use assets from This Website, so while I’m gonna say DONT USE MY MAP WITHOUT PERMISSION, feel free to make your own!

[04/26/21] - Lesbian Day of Visibility drawing of yours truly, the disapointment! That’s... really all I have to say about this, honestly. It was just for that one day and that was it, lmao. I mean, I accidentally lined it in dark pink, so.. .That’s different, I guess?

[04/30/21] - Do Astral Seas dream of Ensorcled Sheep? Does the City know what Sheepleb is going to do? What crimes he may commit? Who knows! This was fan art of Critical Role ep. 134 if I remember correctly, right at the end when they jumped into the portal into the astral sea and Caleb was a sheep. Using my knowledge of the German language, I knew the word for “shit”, and had to use it.

[05/07/21] - This was already posted, but it’s going in here to dilinuate that it was drawn at this point. Also, aside from playing Miitopia, this is all I have to show for myself until the 12th.

[05/12/21] - Hex Maniac Ender challenges you to a Pokemon Battle! WIll you win against my team? My sis, who loves fairy types, pointed out to me that there’s a fairy girl and hex maniac duo, so I’d be the hex maniac. I spent... Over a week drawing this, because I basically had to redraw the Hex Maniac art from scratch in a higher quality size, and then draw myself over it. So... You can excuse the low-effort background for once. It was basically this, and then my birthday doodle from May 1st to May 12th, and then I took a break to draw up several D&D characters quickly for fullbody references.

[05/12/21] - Remember this art I made several months ago? I finally added my other two completed characters! I have three more named but without character sheet D&D characters, so for now this is just Kara, Axel, Golden Shadow, Kau, Cecillia, and Miri. Kress, Tempest, and Melia will have to wait until I make character sheets for them to be posted, and... For when I probably make more D&D characters. I have at least 9 additional, incomplete character ideas floating around, so... I’m never gonna be done this art, huh?

[05/12/21] - Speaking of D&D characters, did you know I’ve been making them as Miis in Miitopia? So here is their finished full body art next to their Miitopia self! Some of them look a little off (Golden Shadow, Cecillia) because of limitations of the editor and shading issues, some of them look a little off (Kau, Kress) because this is a human face canvas that I’m using to make a non-human face, and some of them (Melia, Axel) look REALLY GOOD. Common traits among my D&D characters include green eyes and tall. You wanna know why? Because I am tall and... despite having red eyes, I do have green eyes under the coloured contacts.

[05/15/21] - More D&D stuff! This is based around my D&D group’s current Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign where our Goliath Fighter, Nioh, ends up getting a little bit of hate for being cocky, and our little (well over 6′) hater, Axel, is just a man full of irritation. These are the tallest two characters of the group at the moment. Someone send help. Nioh belongs to one of the other D&D players, Axel (and his stupid additude) belongs to me.

[05/15/21] - This is what me playing D&D feels like. Me, the demon entity trapped inside the head of my D&D character, yelling at them to do things while the dice decide that they’re gonna get bopped a hundred times by a yeti and somehow still survive. This is also a reference to our first or second game where I just ran off like sixty feet to one side of the battle map to fight a Crag Cat and was just in Gay Baby Jail until like two turns later when I could run back to the others. I also drew him not in his winter gear even though this is a bit from when we were atop Kelvin’s Carin in an icy cave, so maybe that’s why he’s at low HP.

[05/15/21] - Melia has good gardening tips, such as Use A Mars Mii Trap To Hide A Body Because They Are Endangered And It Is Illegal To Dig Them Up. I love her a lot, because she’s the youngest of four, all four sisters based around the different seasons. She’s based around Autumn, so she’s all orange and yellow and brown and is so cute. Also she’s Chaotic Neutral, as if she didn’t need to be mildly more threatening.

[05/15/21] - Cecillia is my Tiefling gal who lived in a very northern town plagued by cold weather and snow, and Axel is my Pirate guy who spent most of his time further south on the high seas and warmer weather. So, naturally... I’ll use the guy more acclimatized to the hotter weather in the campaign where we spend 99% of it in the snow. She uses Tarot Cards as her spell focus, and I decided to sneak my other D&D characters onto her Tarot cards so naturally, Axel is The Hanged Man, given his backstory and personality. She’s a very cheerful and friendly Tiefling Necromancer of the Hexblade, so she’d for sure take care of those around her to ensure their success. Especially if they’re on her Tarot Cards, and their spirit comes to her aid when she asks for them.

[05/16/21] - Content Warning; Ryma thinks too much into local stupid moron’s lack of knowing how to answer a question and thinks too much into the reputation of Pirates. Poor Axel, man doesn’t know how to socialize with people who aren’t pirates and is used to being hostile towards everyone, so when he’s asked a question that his answer to is “uhh... no?”, he panics and ends up making a mistake that leads him to think that Ryma can read his mind. Ryma belongs to another of the D&D players. I guess me drawing all those spicy Cow Costumed OCs earlier just brought me to drawing Axel being a bottom in this, huh?

[05/16/21] - It’s Mermay, which means more OC drawings! Here’s Theo after drinking some potion that turned him into a mermaid, and Seven, tiredly, collecting his stupid boyfriend so that Lailah can fix the fact he’s turned into a mermaid. Mer!Theo is based around his sword’s colours of indigo-purple with red accents, which looks a little weird since Theo is the Blue one of the group, but... it looks cool, I guess. Seven’s just the same outfit as always, just no gloves this time.

And that’s it for the art dump! This was, frankly, MASSIVE. I’ll try and remember to upload both on Twitter and Tumblr at the same time, but... Ah... I have been drawing a fair bit. Just mostly sketches and linework that I haven’t finished and may not actually finish. If they’re not completed, I’ll dump them all into something at the end of the month or whatever. Maybe you’ll get the old sketch of the Axel face in panel 3 because in the sketch phase it was an Ahegao face, in the clean sketch it was a lip bite, and in the linework and final it’s just horny face. lmao.

Top ten things I have to remember for drawing: AXEL HAS A SCAR AND GREEN EYES. I remember his eye colour now, but if you look at his fullbody ref, he’s got brown eyes. And, naturally, I keep forgetting to put in his scar. He has more, but most of them are located in areas covered by his clothes. So if I ever draw him shirtless I guess I’ll have to place them somewhere.

Also maybe finish the reference sheets I have left to finish so I can post more of them, since I have two “Pets” completed (Roko and Mona’s nameless pet), but I have to do up Hunter, Warlock, Assassin, Akira, Myuut, and Stella. I’m betting when I do complete two more, it’ll be Hunter and Akira. Those two are the most fun to draw, at least.

#the disappointment speaks #drawings by me #OCs #D&D #art dump #Miitopia #of all of these drawings I gotta say the most cursed is censored bottom!Axel and the most blessed is Cecillia's lap nap #I drew a lot of D&D stuff lately! Most of my OC stuff has stayed in the sketch stage so #I guess that says something about what I've been prioritizing in my drawings?#Also that drawing a twunk as a twink is incredibly funny and cursed. love my pirate boy

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beenjen · 4 years

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Deep thoughts with Jen - mainly, is it that I just don’t want to tackle folding this mountain?

But really, busy morning here. Cleaned the house - I even took the swifter under Jamis’ bed and he put all the flotsam up.... that feels like such an accomplishment! Too, was able to do a masked grocery run and it feels great to have loaded up on fresh veggies

I feel like one of those memes where people say ‘could you live like this for a year?’ Haha except I still love cheese and the meats.

On a more serious note, and capitalizing on Lilith’s nap time, I’ve done a lot of thinking over some posts I’ve seen lately, and have had some deep conversations of late, that lead me to considering about the mental health aspect of weight loss, poor eating habits, unhealthy choices, etc. and I’ll admit, for a long time, I didn’t think I really had any holdover emotions to why I was overweight and the steps that got me there? And not just once, but this is the second time I’ve come back from 200 pounds....

What I epihonied, was that from a very young age, I’ve been surrounded by either using food to cope; in times of sadness, or to celebrate, or anything, being based solely on foods, v being told eating was bad. Some key moments I’ve been able to finger;

1) my moms mom lived through the Great Depression, she lost a baby brother who had a cows milk allergy, and he starved to death because the neighbor wouldn’t share their goats milk, and her mom was so sick after having him, she wasn’t making milk. There’s so much there, but the point I’m aiming for, is that she spent her life trying to feed everyone. If we didn’t eat when we went to her house, she pushed and pushed, and it was from a place of love, but developed unhealthy habits of eating to please others, eating when I wasn’t hungry, etc.

2) my mother has been overweight, and not just overweight, but morbidly obese, throughout my whole life. I watched her yo-yo diet, dropping weight, then gaining it back, justifying fast food, overindulgences, etc. and my fathers family would say things such as ‘are you sure you want to eat that? You’ll get fat like your momma’ and my great-grandmother telling me at 7, that my butt was big and ‘you need to watch what you eat, you’re already getting a fat ass’ - I realize now, the women on that side of the family, saw that my grandfather was a serial cheater, and they attributed that to my dads mom no longer being a size 5 after 4 kids.

3) as a teenager, my brother telling my mom he didn’t want her around his friends in a bathing suit because she looked like a ‘beached whale’ and it upsetting her, and me internalizing that weight and what you looked like, was how people would see you, not the person you were. Too, as a mom myself, having a fear of my kids being ashamed of me, or my husband being embarrassed if I wasn’t a certain size, et al.

4) a guy I dated in high school, telling me I had a weird fat roll behind my left knee and that I should ‘work on it’ - and I was a super thin teen, size 2, was an avid gymnist, ran, swam, worked out 2 hours a day for training, and have never been fitter, that’s just my body. Mainly he was a dick, which I later learned, and this wasn’t so much a pivotal moment as much as an example of how people can build you up or break you down with words.

5) my overvisceral reaction to comments made to my kids about their weight - telling my 2 y/o she has a ‘fat tummy’ or random other comments about my son. Also I want to note here, my kids are absolutely healthy, even on the leaner side, so never has there been a worry about them being overweight, and I realize it’s meant as a joking haha moment, but I completely lashed out that children shouldn’t be taunted about their weight, and everyone thought I was nuts, but now I know why I responded as harshly as I did.

So, all the above being said, I feel like I completely had been geared to have an unhealthy relationship with food. There was never an understanding of healthful habits, portion control, that food was nutrition and part of life, that our bodies and the shape of them garnered us affection and worth. I have come so far about recognizing when I’m full and not having to clean my plate because it’s there, not having something I really don’t want so as to not upset someone, that it’s really ok not to eat, or to eat, and that it’s important to have a balanced diet moving forward, for my health and my families health, not just to look a certain way. Too, I want my kids to not have these hang ups, I want them to be active, and healthfully eat and not be obsessive regarding food/weight and I want them to learn this seeing us make good decisions, being comfortable with our bodies, eating real and nutritious meals. Not eschewing certain things out of fear to gain wait, what have you.

This was such a powerful thing for me to associate. Not because I want to be thin, not because the scale defines me, but because I notice how harmful a weight bias can be and because though weight is important health wise, it is not end all be all, too, because breaking and keeping broken, bad habits, so often stems from events in our past that we may not even realize. And I want to break the cycle.

Also, I want to recognize, that I completely have a life outside of my weight, food choices and exercise routine. Though a lot of what I say relates to this, I also am a mom of 2 amazing flipping kids. I have an adoring husband that is the balancing center of my universe, he is super supportive (obviously if you’ve followed my blog you’ll know we have our moments of poor communication and overall crankiness as well), I have a full family, extended family, friends, pets.... I work full time, and have an accomplished career. I am a part of a team that helps people. I work with my kids schools/daycare on projects and demonstrations. There is so much more to me than this one issue, it just happens to be a focus at the moment, and that’s ok too.

I guess that’s it. I really need to go fold those damn clothes and finish putting away the rest of the groceries. So that I can sit on the couch and snug my Jamis until little sister wakes up and we all head out for a family walk. Then I really need to think about the delicious tuna steaks I have seasoning and if I should go with roasted asparagus, roasted green beans or a salad as a side.....

That being said, we all struggle. Struggling is part of the process, it’s what you do after, that defines you xx

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alexkablob · 4 years

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9, 12, 18, and 30 for the ask meme, please :D

Do you prefer to write AUs, canon divergence, or canon-compliant fic?

Depends on the fandom, really. For RWBY I usually do canon-compliant, for Star Wars I usually do canon divergence. AUs are a lot of fun when I do them though, because in order to write an AU and make it work you have to fully understand the characters.

Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

Oh that’s hard. I’d really like to experiment more with horror, though that’s more genre than trope. There’s a one-shot I’ve been thinking of writing soon...

What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Robyn vs Ashe in history class in Away to Me. Specifically, this bit:

Robyn’s hand shot up, and thank the gods it had, because if Ashe kept talking then Fiona’s eyes were liable to roll out of her skull. “Oh, no, I know I sound cynical, but I actually do think the CCT is a beautiful symbol. Less as a sign of Atlesian generosity and more of much-needed humility.”

Ashe’s smile got even sweeter. Ignoring the hand-raising rule, she asked, “How do you mean?”

“Interconnectedness,” Robyn responded. “Interdependency. Atlas made itself vulnerable with the CCT net. That took courage. No one kingdom holds absolute power; if one suffers, the others suffer. If we’re discussing symbolism, that’s a very complicated and impressive statement to make to the world. All I’m saying is that because of that, the CCT is also an incredibly potent form of soft power, isn’t it? It was constructed with Atlesian resources, and it continues to be operated and maintained by Atlesian mechanics. Repairs are conducted by us and, as a result, those repairs are a very powerful bargaining chip in other negotiations. Even idealistically—in saying ‘we understand now that we depend on each other,’ Atlas was also saying ‘you depend on us’ and avoiding further sanctions or reprisals for their crimes during the Great War.”

Ashe maintained her pleasant expression, but sitting next to her Fiona could see her tail curled tight around a chair leg. “Atlas didn’t actually exist during the Great War, did it?”

“Yes Ashe,” Robyn said with only the barest hint of condescension. “At the time it was known as the Kingdom of Mantle. But I don’t see how that bit of semantics actually changes—”

Look, Robyn Hill is a very good character for expressing the author’s pent-up leftist anger. Even in this fic where she’s a teenager and more unrefined compared to the hardened charismatic leader we see in the series itself, she’s incredibly eloquent and full of a righteous fury at injustice that’s just infectious.

Other than, just, the general experience of an American history class, this little speech was about the concept of philanthropy and how, at the end of the day, it’s inherently self-serving—more about cultivating soft power and the image of noblesse oblige than it is about actually helping people.

Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

Eat my entire fucking ass, Shannon, you know what I’m going to talk about.

Alright, so, some of you know about this because I’ve teased bits of it to some of you before, but I have this idea for a story that’s been bouncing around my head for years now. It’s a longform canon-divergence RWBY fic called the Odyssey AU which, as the name implies, is based on Homer’s Odyssey. It focuses on Pyrrha (exchanging her role as one Homeric protagonist for another), along with Emerald and Mercury.

It’s about healing, it’s about yearning, it’s about trauma, it’s about super awkward reunions, it’s about getting in trouble because Mercury ate the sacred cows. I’ve got all of the character allusions mapped out—this is a goddamn RWBY fic and it’s being plotted like a goddamn RWBY fic, Pyrrha is Odysseus and Emerald is Athena and Mercury is, uh, himself—and the whole story just stems from that core.

It would be a lot of fun to write but it would also be a lot of work and that’s very intimidating, but if people are interested I might finally do it.

#kablob writing #any followers who already know plot details of the odyssey au please do not comment them on this post #kaen-ace-of-ravenclaw

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sunsetnest · 4 years

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Kacey is a Hellcat that uses he/him pronouns! He’s beginner friendly! They are a fast track spirit which means they will be taken down September 15th! Learn more about fast track spirits here!

Appearance: Kacey is a small black cat, similar in appearance to a Devon Rex. He is a small cat, reaching 10 inches in length, not including his tails. Knobly, appearing to be all skin and bones. He has four eyes, two gold on either side. First set are where a normal cat’s eyes are and below that and slightly offset are two smaller golden eyes. He has a soft, round face, however there is another secret. While not noticeable while talking and living life, when he opens his mouth to attack, his teeth are easily 8 inches long and 2 inches thick. Somehow, like an animator who was going for drama rather than realism, they all appear to fit inside of his mouth, even though we all know that there is no way in hell they should, those teeth are bigger than his head. Still, they exist the way that they are.

Thankfully, all 6 of Kacey’s paws have regular sized claws. Yes, you read that right, 6 paws, for Kacey has an extra set of legs. They are built like his front legs, lanky and without the large haunches of the hind legs. Kacey’s rear is slightly wider than that of a normal cat’s, but for good reason: he also has three tails. The two on the edges are that of a normal cat’s, soft and sleek. However the middle tail is thickly scaled and tipped with a scorpion’s stinger.

Personality: Kacey is the fursona of most books “dark and brooding” type characters. Despite being 17 inches long, and 8 inches tall, Kacey has the appearance and aura of a much larger creature, one that demands the attention of the room. He carries himself with such dignity that despite his small stature, I often find myself moving out of his way physically, without even realising that he was there to begin with. At heart he is a softie, but he would never show it. He likes it when things work out as planned and get easily annoyed when people don’t follow through on what they say they will do. He holds great pride for himself and those he places trust in and thus comes off as nagging and a harsh critic. But at the end of the day, as long as everyone tries their best, he truly enjoys spending time with people. You’d never guess but he loves jokes, puns and memes. He may never respond to them, but in his heart, he really enjoys them. Of course, much in the same way your dad might, he will always use memes in the wrong way at the worst times, but unlike your dad, he knows what he’s doing and is doing it on purpose. Despite all that I’ve said about him, when using telepathy, though he does not speak any real language, Kacey has a really delicate way of speaking. Almost as though he were constantly talking in italics and speaking of flowers, constantly.

Species Info: Technically a demon and not related to “true” hellcats at all, Kacey prefers the term “hellcat” as it has cooler connotations than “demon” does. Each member of this race bears a unique appearance unlike any other, so it is hard to find family resemblance. Each child is born with the knowledge of a human 2-3 year old. They know how to communicate, survive, and basic skills that also can include anything from art to music to swordplay to althectisicm skills. As such, you’d think that family ties aren’t that strong since they are born being able to live on their own. However, this just makes family ties stronger as it’s a choice to stay and live and grow with the demons you are related to.

Past: He grew up in a family of 5, each member taking a different form. His mother is an elephant-esc creature, his father that of a grotesque centaur, and his two younger brothers a dragon/roc/cow creature and a snake. Despite their far differing appearances, this was fairly normal for many of the same species and had no problems living together. When Kacey was around the equivalent of 19 years old, he took a strong interest in fire and chaos based energy work and witchcraft. He spent the next 15 years studying and exploring the world to meet people and learn their opinions and expertise. Though he may be 31 in human year equivalent, he still has several hundred years laid out ahead of him, with a couple hundred behind him.

Current Lifestyle: Kacey spends his morning offering his assistance and expertise to those who teach witchcraft. While the craft as a whole does not interest him, he still tries to offer help where he can. He has no place to stay, but often retires to Fox’s fireplace which is lit in the winter, and warm in the summer. He is not entirely fireproof, but human fires won’t leave a scratch on him and is just warm enough to remind him of home.

Companionship: Kacey is most interested in helping out his companion in their life endeavors, though mostly teach them about what he’s learned about chaos magic, energy work, and the strength of fire. If he bonds with someone who has no interest in such fields, it is their loss, but he won’t turn down companionship for differing interests.

Communication: Telepathy, astral speaking, tarot Kacey does not speak english or any other spoken language, but uses a very complicated series of emotions, intent, meaning and images to get his point across.

From Kacey: “Greetings. I look forward to meeting you all and getting to know you over the next month.”

Likes: Chemicals that make fire fun colors, perfect circles made on the first try, fresh made bread, pies, when all goes according to plan

Dislikes: Bathing, raw meat (some fish is okay), being coddled for being a small cat, trying to clean his teeth

Hobbies: Creating things (be it robots, businesses, or writing a book), working on his own craft, hanging out with friends, video games

Magic: Chaos, fire based, loose energy work

Songs: Powerwolf - Incense and Iron Mia Valie - American Dream Beast in Black - Beast in Black Sabaton - Night Witches

Friends You Might Know: Fook the Brimstone Elf Scorpio the Scorp Man Ru the Hell Griffin

Vessel: “Up to you”

Vetted Since: June 2017 Posted: 8/1/2020

If you are interested in getting to know Kacey better, feel free to send an ask or talk to him in our discord! You can find other posts and asks about Kacey under this tag! Interested in applying for Kacey? Here’s how to write a good app! You can apply here or here! New here? Here’s out FAQ, shop info, mod info, and our reviews! Not feelin’ Kacey? Here are our other spirits currently up for adoption! Got further questions? Shoot us an ask! Lorelei’s Spirit Shop - The Perfect Place to find your Perfect Metaphysical Friend! website | discord | tumblr | instagram | twitter

#Kacey the Hellcat #spirit work #spirit for adoption #spirit companionship #spirit portraits

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suarkl-blog · 4 years

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prismarine-parrots · 5 years

Text

Tree of Life Pt. 1

Originally posted: 25 Feb. 2019

Ahahahahhaha

This five part-story earned me the title Thanos of Hermitcraft and created the first fanart and meme of any of my content. Send help for us all.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 3.5

Part 4

Part 5 (1)

Part 5 (2)

No one had seen Grian in three weeks.

Normally, it wouldn't be too surprising for people to be quiet for a while. Everyone working on their own projects and maybe not in the right area to see the person in question.

But something was different with this case. The player list said that Grian was online, not AFK, so not outside the server in the community hub or working on a different project on his channel. In this case, SOMEONE would normally at least see him restocking his traveling-cart-that-never-travels, or flying around his base wasting rockets, or at the very least bothering Mumbo Jumbo, his closest neighbor.

Mumbo himself had not been too worried at first. When it had been a couple days since Grian has visited he had sent a letter though their mail system to make sure that 1. The mail system might actually be used and 2. Make sure Grian was alright. Not twenty minutes later Grian had responded that he was fine, just busy at his base.

The next red flag was when Zedaph realized that the only reason his Quartz, Warts, and Shorts shop was making sales was because Grian's cheaper traveling cart next door hadn't been restocked in weeks. While at first he was a little miffed at this fact, this started to get him worried. Grian was normally fairly good about restocking his cart, sometimes with his own supplies instead of getting extra, even if not shown on camera he still made sales. With the mining desert and gravel pit nearly out of both materials, people had started regularly going to Grian's shop, hoping for more of those grindy blocks in which he specialized.

When Iskall had private messaged Grian asking if he wanted to help prank DocM for the heck of it, Grian had declined, saying that he had been grinding blaze powder in the Nether. This has confused Iskall. Why did Grian need blaze powder? The only thing it was good for was eyes of Ender and potions. They had already beat the dragon and turned the End into a farm for shulkers and elytra, so needing eyes of Enders was off the list. But why did Grian need potions? Iskall has assumed a prank and asked if Grian wanted help with other potion ingredients, but he had declined in a rather cold "no," saying that the strawberry blonde didn't need any more stress right now.

It wasn't until someone not even on the Hermitcraft server, PearlescentMoon, messaged someone she knew was in the server to check on Grian, as he hadn't posted anything online in nearly three weeks, and hadn't given any explanation to where he may have gone.

When Iskall finally heard that he had called Mumbo, Xisuma, and False, hoping that maybe one of them could help.

"Heeeeyy Iskall!" X greeted as he swooped I'm in front of Grian's cart, where Iskall has thought to ironically meet because it was in the middle of the shopping district and an easy place to meet, not actually because they were here to talk about Grian.

"What's up?" False asked, using an ender pearl to warp into the side of the cart and bouncing off casually.

"Show off," Iskall muttered, recognizing the subtle PVP tactics. False grinned but before she could retort, Mumbo landed with a little stumble, grumbling about lag and elytra not working properly still.

"Hey Mumbo!" Iskall greeted cheerfully. Mumbo nodded silently as the others waved.

"Why have you called us, Iskall?" X asked curiously.

"Right, right," the Swede started, glancing around the small group, "now that we're all here, I'm going to get straight to the point. Has anyone seen Grian recently?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"I've been by his base a couple of times, but he's never there. He's replied to my texts at least, but hasn't shown up around my base in a while," Mumbo immediately recalled with a frown.

Xisuma was on his phone, a tool that everyone had for chat, inventory, surfing the web outside the server, everything. "It says he's online," he noted, turning the screen the other way and showing the online player list.

"He's been online for weeks," False informed, "Every time I've looked he's been on anyway."

"And yet no one has seen him? I was hoping that maybe you had seen him on another part of the server, like your fantasy district, False." Iskall sighed. The blonde girl shook her head.

"I think we should check on him. This usually isn't like him," X decided, prepping a rocket.

"I was wondering if there might be a glitch somewhere, and that's why he's been so weird. That's why I called you, X," Iskall explained as he took out a stack of rockets from his backpack.

"And I'm here because I'm closest to him I'm assuming, not because of my redstone or that I'm a spoon," Mumbo sighed jokingly. Everyone got a quick laugh out of that before Iskall patted Mumbo's back rather hard, making him stumble, before they all took off over the shoulder of the Statue of Hermity.

Within minutes the group was circling the massive tower in the middle of the ocean, an insane project for the newest member of Hermitcraft.

"See anything?" False called to anyone nearby.

"Nothing! Looks empty to me!" X replied.

Iskall blasted out of the bottom floor entrances. "The towers are mob traps, don't go in there!" he screeched, sounding thoroughly spooked.

"What about the basement? Or the upper floors?" Mumbo asked.

"He has a basement?" False questioned.

Iskall nodded. "I'll check there. False, want to come with? Mumbo and X, you go check upstairs. Sound good?"

With a quick confirmation from everyone, the pairs split to search the futuristic wedding cake.

Iskall had been down to the basement a few times before, if only in the first few weeks of Hermitcraft Season 6 when Grian actually USED his basement. There were chests down there that were collecting dust, and some poor cows trapped in a nano farm the NHO apparently never discovered.

"Oh my gosh, Iskall! Look at this!" False called from somewhere ahead.

"Coming!" Iskall replied and tried to find where False had gone off to.

He skidded to a halt when he found her on the edge of an opening in the shoddy basement, facing a massive opening in the rock.

"Woah," Iskall breathed. The cave was huge and clearly manmade, and the Swede wondered how long it must have taken for Grian to dig and terraform and decorate the cavern.

No to mention the large egg-shaped build floating in the air in the center of the cave.

"I think we found Poultry Man," False smirked.

"So calling G our on it when we find him," Iskall laughed. Then both his and False's phone buzzed.

<xisumavoid> come to the top of of the tower

"Let's go then!" False cheered.

They shot out of the bubble columns through the body of water underneath Grian's base and launched through the holes in the middle of each layer to the top.

"Too far guys!" Mumbo's voice called as they flew through the top layer.

"Oops!" Iskall chuckled.

"Coming right back down!" False called and they two glided into the smallest layer.

Xisuma and Mumbo were inside a vibrant garden that was in the top layer. There were vines growing up the sides of the cyan glass and parrots that squawked warily from a distance.

But the most eye-catching thing was the tree that grew to the side.

"What in the world?" False breathed when she landed.

"Don't know, but it doesn't look great," Xisuma said shortly, already on his phone and tapping at controls and Admin commands.

Iskall landed beside Mumbo, who was examining the tree intently with a concerned frown and creased eyebrows.

Every hermit on the server's life force was tied to a special tree. It was something new that they were trying, to prevent less deaths and item losses by being more careful and to fix a few issues that had happened on the technical side from previous seasons. A lot of the trees were unique to look like each Hermit, such as DocM's being rather sharply split between green and grey or Scar's currently being a palm tree. Most of the time they were no big deal. Each time a hermit died, the tree would take some damage in some way, such as a leaf dropping to the ground. Unless it was several deaths in a row, you couldn't even notice the difference in the tree. And even if you did die a lot, if you played it safe for a couple days your tree would be back to normal again in no time.

But this was different.

Grian's tree here in his aviary looked half-dead. It was normally a fairly simple oak tree, but with autumn red leaves instead of green. But half the leaves were fallen, dry on the ground, and the ones still on the tree were either brown or purple. A limb had even fallen, splintered and leaning against the trunk of the tree itself.

"Grian..." Mumbo murmured. He couldn't imagine what had happened for this to be the cause, or how Grian must be feeling if his tree was like this.

"What happened?” Iskall wondered, he started to approach the tree, but Xisuma called him back.

"It doesn't look like the tree has been healing over time properly," X muttered under his breath, his expression serious as he analyzed the details coming up on the server monitoring screen of his phone.

"We all know Grian dies a lot, could that be the cause?" False suggested nervously. X shook his head.

"This is over a long span of time, probably since the start of the season even."

"And Grian hasn't died since he's gone silent. It's not hard to miss a death message in the chat," Mumbo recalled, also pulling up the server chat on his own phone, "It's been three weeks, that should be plenty of time for the tree to have healed without any interruptions."

The sound of a firework going off and a rush of air as elytra closed up. The four hermits jumped as a newcomer stumbled into the garden, losing his balance and catching the broken branch to hold himself up as he landed.

"Guys?" A very pale- and sick-looking Grian breathed, before coughing into his arm and sliding to the ground.

"I think something's wrong..."

------------------------

Word Count: 1830

#hermitcraft #grian #mumbo jumbo #iskall85 #xisumavoid #falsesymmetry #tree of life au #ToL #this is just the beginning #glhf #becca writes

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comicteaparty · 4 years

Text

February 24th-March 1st, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 24th, 2020 to March 1st, 2020. The chat focused on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Whispers of the Past by Crona J.~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 1st, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

FeatheryJustice

So far, first impressions, holy cow the art is amazing.

Ash🦀

1. My favorite part about the beginning was the style. It immediately drew me in how everything was lovingly rendered in color that made me feel like I was seeing the world for the first time. It made me want to paint, too! 2. When we first see the man. Whoo buddy. Whoooooooo buddy. That was... a finely sculpted painting there. I could’ve framed him and hung him on my wall if the artist would let me. WHOOOO BUDDY. 3. My favorite character so far is Martel. I don’t write them often, but I love seeing kids in media, and I love the design of her hair. I know it’s a random thing to make me like her but I just... really like her hairstyle. She’s cute, and I’d guess she’ll be a breath of much-needed light air later in the story. 4. Mystery man and Martel are precious. 5. I point to answer 2 here. That lovingly sculpted chest? My heart was a-flutter I tell you what. 6. The art style is just... SO LOVINGLY RENDERED. The quiet moments of baking bread juxtaposed against a chaotic battle was SO. GOOD. Aaaaaah Could also be that that particular part is my favorite part of making bread so it was extra special aaaaaaah 7-8 I haven’t seen enough of the story to answer these yet! But the art is banging and I can’t wait to read more. Subscribed.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've read this before and the art and story aren't really my thing. Since critique is allowed I could give art comments if CronaJ would find that kind of thing helpful? But even though I won't be following the story I was still impressed by how much care the author puts into it. Both from looking at their comic and from reading their comments on this discord and on the tap forum it's clear they've put a ton of effort into the art and story, and haven't cut any corner.s And all the panels are so rendered. I wonder how long it takes to draw a page?(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hey everyone! I'm the artist and writer of Whispers of the Past. I want to thank you all for your kind comments and observations so far. It really means a lot to me to hear what others think of this heartfelt project. I know that the story is in the beginning stages right now. But I'm looking to post the end of the first chapter this week, so hopefully a bit more will be revealed soon. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything, or (to answer @Eightfish (Puppeteer)'s question), to offer critiques for how I can improve what I'm doing.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice & @Ash🦀 I'm glad you enjoy the artwork. The painting process is probably what takes me the longest when it comes to pages. In response to @Eightfish (Puppeteer)... It takes me around 30-40 hours per page, and I try to post 2-3 page updates. Obviously, the amount of time spent per page varies depending on several factors, such as: the number of panels, the level of complication of poses, how many characters/background elements there are, and sometimes just whatever weird reason my brain isn't working that day ^^; So for my average 5-7 panel pages, they typically take longer than, say, a full-page spread. @Ash🦀 I'm so happy that the first few pages pulled you in! I spent a lot of time deciding on how I wanted to draw those panels, and what style to use, etc. I actually redrew the first 3 pages at least 5 times before settling on them as they are. And, you can hang and frame the image of our male MC if you want, haha, I actually don't have prints of it, but it is something to consider That particular panel was a one-page spread, so I was able to dedicate a bit more detail to it. Maret is a worthy favorite character. She is too pure and precious, and she just wants to make friends with everybody. Even when the "strange man" is kind of curt and unfriendly to her, she wants to befriend him. Also, I am SO unbelievably glad that you picked up on the juxtaposition in the bread-making scene! Ahhhh! I had a lot of fun with that one

FeatheryJustice

1. The Pacing, I love slow starts to comics because I get to absorb it and learn more. 2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD 3. Mysterious dude from the water of course. He has pointed ears, you know something is up. 4. I like Maret and the mysterious man, it seems like a child being like 'this is new and I want to learn more' Also thank you for not writing a grating child character. They sometimes turn up too pure to be real, or too grating because they are too real. Maret at least has that nice balance of a healthy child will not acted spoiled but still want things because child like the scene where she was shoo'ed out of the room. 5. I think we talked about htis a long time ago, but I love the way you draw hands and feet! 6. Nothing so far, not sure where the story will head so I can't answer this. 7. I like the start of the mystery and the slow ramp up. We are just getting comfortable and I'm sure we are going to get rocky soon! 8. Art, from seeing Cronaj spend so much time on it, it's freaking amazing. I can almost feel the characters come to life.

Also on a side note, I want Maret to hear from the Conch shell (As a memey joke) "Under the sea, under the sea" XD

(Mysterious man has red hair, I wouldn't be surprised he turned out to be a mermaid XD Sorry I'm just on slight crack theory mode right now. He didn't sell his voice though)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

When I was first writing and planning this comic, I was a little scared about how slow the start was, but I'm glad that it has been interesting despite the slow nature of the exposition.

2. Favourite Moment? Dude trying to climb out the window and failing. That was really funny XD

@FeatheryJustice Accurate! He's kind of an idiot, and he panics over nothing. For Maret... I actually based her character partially off of my two younger sisters, so that might be a lot of what contributes to her personality and realism. We did talk about hands and feet before! I love drawing hands, because they are so expressive and complex, but hate drawing feet because they are complicated. But I did study from life to draw Maret's feet, because I felt like I would mess it up otherwise ^^;

Hahahaha! I could definitely make an edit of that, tbh.

FeatheryJustice

That would be a funny joke panel if you ever want to do one. XD It's like replace the diaolgue memes XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

And I was partially making a mermaid joke when I had the reference to mermaids in the comic because he is a redhead

Definitely an idea....

I would title the episode "Whispers of the Crack"

FeatheryJustice

OMG YES I would love to see that XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I have a WotP meme folder on my computer already

carcarchu

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Mystery man pretty 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? i liked the part where maret was listening to the conch for mermaids, had a lovely magical charm to it 3. Who is your favorite character? mystery man 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? not too many interactions so far but maret and the mystery man were cute 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! the sunset scenery had a nice vibe

also i can see why people were saying it reminded them of ruroni kenshin, mystery guy especially with his hair up and on the cover image is reminiscent of kenshin but storywise doesn't remind me of it at all

carcarchu

I have some critiques that i'll cover in case you don't want to see them. SPOILER The anime-ish emotes (the blush and the anger vein) to me clash against the realistic artsyle and detracts from the moments, some more subtlety with them would be appreciated. And Maret doesn't really look like a child to me, her face is very mature so it makes her look older than she is. Moreover the 3 characters that have been introduced thus far have very similar facial features. For maret and agatha they are siblings so it makes sense but the mystery man is (presumably?) not related to them so i'm not sure if that's intentional. In any case more facial diversity would be appreciated going forward (if it's just your style that's fine too). And this is a really small nit-pick but the first panel of chapter 6 has horse hooves with the sfx thump thump thump. In my opinion this sfx should be clip clop clip clop END SPOILER

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@carcarchu Thanks for the notes! I actually had a hard time deciding how to portray blush noticeably in a more realistic style, haha, but I can definitely see why it's jarring. Do you have any tips for how to depict blushing without anime emotes? I would just make it more reddish/pink, but it always looks weird to me (or too unnoticeable). As for Maret... She looks like a child to me? She's six, so she isn't quite a toddler, so I don't know if that changes your perception of her. She actually resembles my youngest sister a great deal, and my youngest sister was 5, almost six, when I designed her. (I just looked through the pages again, and there's maybe one panel that I think she looks slightly older in, so if anything, I'll try to fix that panel.) So yes, obviously Agatha and Maret look very similar, hahaha. They are biological sisters, so that makes sense. There will be at least two more characters introduced that are also related to them (and look fairly similar as well) and one character who will be mentioned who is also related and looks just like Agatha. Other than that, Izrekiel does look somewhat similar, I suppose, but it might also be partially that he canonically has a very feminine face as opposed to other male characters to be introduced later. It could be that and also a bit as a result of my style. I'm not sure. Ahhhh, sound effects! I also struggled with deciding what to do here. I wanted to do something different than "clip clop," mostly for a stupid personal hang-up. (I don't know why, but "clip clop" always looks so comical to me.) But if it helps translate the sound better, I might just have to bite the bullet and change it. Thanks for your feedback! Even if I don't agree with all of it, it does help me to take a closer look at what I've done with some different eyes. (edited)

carcarchu

That's fair! You don't have to accept anything just my thoughts (i hope nothing i said was too harsh) for me thump thump is a dull sound whereas clip clop or clippity clop is a sharper and harsher sound

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

yeah, I think you're right about that

thump is more like a heartbeat

or someone falling on carpet or something

carcarchu

and as for the blush question i think there are ways to depict a similar emotion without relying on the blush itself as a short hand like the softening of the eyes, the shape of the eyebrows, looking down and heck even body language can help with this. expression is more than what is shown on just the face

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thank you. I always feel like my characters look too stiff, like mannequins. ^^; I'm probably not going to completely redraw any old panels at this point, but I might make a few alterations to these panels to make it more consistent with later panels down the line.

carcarchu

i also noticed that a lot of your panels are the characters looking straight towards the "camera" and i would appreciate more varied angles and perspectives

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Particularly with the first ten pages, that is certainly true

I got that note before, but I didn't redraw every panel, only some which looked particularly bad.

carcarchu

personally i never edit old chapters unless i 1. forgot to draw something important 2. there's a huge typo 3. it's missing a panel

any critique you can just keep in your heart and implement if you choose to do so moving forward

keii'ii (Heart of Keol)

2. I really liked "what if it's mama?" - a lot of hints condensed there: family history, how the topic of deaths/ disappearances are handled around children (either in that family specifically, or in that culture), and also a moment that shows a glimpse of Agatha's sisterly love instead of having the readers assume it.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Really loving the comic so far! Right now, I'm most interested to learn about this family situation. I'm guessing their mother is dead or missing, but what about their father? I suppose his clothes were still in the house so maybe he just went out? Or maybe they're both missing and it was just fairly recent?

Also, the paint-y style of this comic is just incredible

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

https://media.tenor.com/images/878a64d90a1139bcb1e863ee29bfa929/tenor.gif

I'm so happy that you guys picked up on the clues about their mother. It alludes to some pretty plot heavy stuff that very few people have really commented on so far.

eli [a winged tale]

Oooh I’m so excited for your story Cronaj! Here are my answers~ 1) I love the beach scene! Maret with the shell is adorable and you established their relationship right away 2) Fav moment is probably the scene transition to our lad waking up with Agatha going about her day. It’s very peaceful and I’m a sucker for slice of life stuff. 3) Can’t pick just yet~ I like Agatha as a solid protagonist though. 4) More Agatha x mystery man please 5) I loooove the illustration aesthetics. Bold colours! 6) haven’t gotten to the core theme yet I’m sure but first impressions/meeting are always exciting. 7) I’m excited for what is to come. Can’t wait for the call to adventure. 8) Strength is definitely the art - beautiful and bold. Keep up the wonderful work!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@eli [a winged tale] Woah!!! You're the first person I've heard say that they like Agatha! She's mah girl! (And don't you worry, there will definitely be a lot more Agatha x Mystery Man ) Thanks for participating

eli [a winged tale]

she’s a solid sister!

sagaholmgaard

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I like how the intro had a nice balance between art and text. Usually if there’s a lot of text on the first page I can get deterred from heading a comic, but here I think it worked really well! And the loverly painting of the ocean sunset also reeled me in and fit really well with the poetic text! 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? ”He’s the prettiest man I’ve ever seen!” LOL (and she’s right too…) 3. Who is your favorite character? I like the kid! But I’m excited to learn more about the other characters as the story goes on! 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? I liked Agatha and Mystery Man interacting, it felt very natural and I’m curious to see what comes of it. But the dialogue felt pretty strong which I gotta applaud 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! The beautiful shot of Mystery Man on the beach of course, lol! I love the way the hair is rendered, it really feels like it’s has weight and is spread out in the sand, if that makes sense? 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? It seems like it will explore a lot of interesting themes in the future, such as grief and finding where you belong, so again I’m interested to see what the story brings! I’m sure it’ll be good no matter what :D Overall I like what I’ve read so far! It’s not the type of art style I usually gravitate towards, but I can tell a lot of love is going into rendering and I think we’ll be seeing Crona’s art improve a lot as the story goes on, which is always exciting to see!

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning of the comic, which also goes for what I like about the art in general, is the attention to detail in the background colors and lighting. I've never seen such a beautifully rendered (what I assume is) a sunset. It really makes everything have this great almost mystical atmosphere to it. In general, though, the art so far is definitely the comic's strength because you can see the sheer passion in every drop of it. My favorite moment so far is when Maret gives Izrekiel some flowers and then drags him off and he's just meekly protesting. It was both cute and comedic and the preciousness hurt my heart. This is also why this is my favorite pair of characters interacting so far. I think the age gap combined with the context of Izrekiel's situation is gonna lead to lots of awkwardness that I look forward to. As for fave character, though, I would have to go with Agatha right now. I don't know what it is about her, but everytime I see her I feel like I'm looking at an old soul. Like maybe someone who still has a lot to learn about the world, but is wise beyond her years in other regards. And it makes her a captivating character for me.

While I'm not sure if this will be an overall theme throughout, I like that the comic starts to deal with the theme of loss and hope. On one side you have Agatha who just kind of accepts loss and deals with it, and then you have Maret who just lives on in hope. And I kind of feel they represent two dynamic sides to the issue about whether its better to cling to hope or just move on and deal and how both can be harmful if not expressed in the correct way. As for overall story content, while we're not that deep in, I do like it starts with a multitude of mysteries cause mysteries are always great for making ppl want answers

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Since Crona said they were good with art critique: The main thing I noticed when I first saw the art was that, though lovingly rendered, the characters' faces and bodies are kind of stiff. They don't really scrunch up their eyes and faces when they emote- it's mostly just the eyebrows (this was especially noticable when Maret was crying, or on the latest page, first panel, where Agatha's face doesn't really match her body language or words). And characters often don't seem to twist their bodies as much as they should. Oh- also the same camera angles of faces and bodies are repeated a lot. Front, 3/4, and profile. It'd be cool to see some shots with foreshortening from above or below the characters. Also the lighting is pretty diffuse- the characters seem to be shaded about the same way, and with the same colors, regardless of the lighting situation. I can still tell where the light is coming from, because there are those strong bright highlights in the direction of the light, but other than the bright highlights everything else seems to be shaded as if there was another light source coming from straight ahead. Also, sometimes characters seem to lose their shadows? Like on this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-3/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=4 where Agatha doesn't cast a shadow on the man, or this page https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/ch-1-what-the-waves-left-behind-pt-8/viewer?title_no=191366&episode_no=10 where they're running.

Those things being said though, I was still very impressed by the sheer amount of effort put into this comic. 100 hours/ update is absolutely insane. And you pay so much attention to the inanimate objects of this world. It makes the story feel grounded. About what someone else said: I agree that the cartoonish blush looks out of place. But I disagree about Maret- I think she does look like a child. 5. Favorite illustration? Definitely Agatha's hands when making dough. Not a critique but just a question: I was confused on the location of the story. Where is this?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ooof. Finally got a chance to sit down and respond to all these comments. I keep rereading them over and over again, so thank you so much for sharing your thoughts everyone! I've noticed a few themes with what people have commented so far: Maret is most people's favorite character, the panel of Izrekiel on the beach is also very popular, and the theme of loss/grief is apparent to the readers (which I'm very happy about.)

@sagaholmgaard I'm glad that you mentioned the theme of "finding where you belong" too, because it is and will be a very prevalent theme in the comic. And reading your comment about how the dialogue seems natural made my day. I used to worry about how the dialogue came off constantly, and to hear that it's strong is so encouraging.

@RebelVampire As is expected, your comments are very thought-out. The interaction between Izrekiel and Maret after he falls from the window is one of my favorite moments so far as well. I'm happy that Izrekiel's behavior came off as meek in this scene, because that is one of the defining traits of his personality. I'm glad for another Agatha fan! She is such a fun (and difficult) character for me to portray. There are so many layers about her that even I am still discovering. She is definitely an old soul, and he experiences growing up have definitely matured her beyond her years. As I mentioned before, the theme of loss is definitely a major theme of the comic overall. And hope as well, since I think the two are very connected.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Thank you for offering your critiques! Character stiffness is definitely one of my major problems that I'm working at. I definitely see what you mean about Agatha's face in the latest update. Her eyebrows look painted on (pun not intended). I have been looking forward to having some more dynamic poses, especially foreshortening, but I do find it somewhat difficult when most of what the characters are doing so far are standing, sitting, talking, and maybe doing something with their hands. ^^; Hopefully, in the future, when more "action" happens, it will be easier to do this. As for bird's eye or worm's eye shots, I'm not gonna lie, I struggle with them so much. I had two bird's eye panels, and those took so much time, and I still don't know how I feel about them. If you have any tips for exercises, I would be so grateful. (Finding reference isn't always possible.) I also would love some tips/resources on how to get better at lighting. Again, lighting reference isn't always possible for specific panels, so it would help me a lot to learn how light works in general. OOOOOOF! I don't know how I missed the lack of shadow on Izrekiel in that panel. That was 100% a stupid oversight on my part. The scene with Agatha making dough had some of my personal favorite illustrations for a while. :) Also, your question about the location, I'm not entirely sure how to answer it?(edited)

It's a high fantasy story, so the location is entirely fictional.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

The best I can answer that is to say that the story takes place in a country called Shai-Ryam, consisting of four major "districts" in a semi-tropical temperate peninsula called "The Aka Peninsula," named after the native people who originally lived there. As of right now, they are in a city called Gon Atam, a seaside village on the western shore of the Nuata District, near the Ocean of Saturuna. It is a city heavy in trade and with a long history, yet quaint and small due to a disaster several hundred years ago. It is only now being repopulated.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Where do you think Izrekiel comes from, and what is his past history that seems to haunt him? Additionally, how do you think he wound up with amnesia and seemingly abandoned by the sea?

10. How will Izrekiel’s past history affect events of the story? In particular, how will revelations about his past affect his relationship with Agatha and other characters?

11. How do you think Agatha’s life will change from her encounter with Izrekiel? Will it somehow lead her to a more exciting life? If so, will it make her miss her simpler life with her family?

12. What are the biggest questions you have so far and are hoping to see answered over the course of the story? Also, what do you think will happen in the story in general?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ash🦀

9. Okay, so, here’s my theory. Just a guess. So Izrekiel is from a very war-friendly people up north who need land. Izzy just isn’t all about that life, but feels like he has no choice. Then he gets hurt fighting someone close to him (I’m putting money on brother or cousin who lives on the “wrong” side of things, hurt because he just couldn’t fight them at full strength. And then he realizes he can’t do it, while on the ship bound for new fight zones. His captain gets wind of it and is like “oh no I can’t let Mutiny Happen” so HeS all long ike “either fall in line or get off my ship” and Izzy is like “no I don’t wanna fight anymore heck you guys” and the captain proceeds to yeet him off the ship, leading him to the island, which, unbeknownst to him, is the next target. That’s my guess. Might be wildly off. He might be part mermaid. (Merman? Is mermaid gender neutral?) 10. Izzy or his bros probably killed one of Agatha’s family members, possibly the mom? Possibly violently? Which is why she never told babygirl what’s up. It’s probably going to be remembered in the buds of their relationship, hes going to try to hide it but it’ll come to light and she’s gonna be like “Izzy I hate you” and it’s going to make me cry. 11. She’s going to have a bread making partner in the end. They’re going to have adventures and go back to a domestic bread making existence, I speak it into being now /smacks table That may just be what I want to happen, though, as I very much enjoy bread making and wish others the same simple joy of giving dough a good smacking. 12. IS THE MOTHER REALLY A MERMAID OR WHAT Is Agatha a mermaid Are they like Selkies where they can come onto land a little Is babygirl a mermaid too(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Omg... I love reading these theories. I won't say you're wrong or right, but this is a riot. I'm thoroughly enjoying this.

FeatheryJustice

9. Pulls out my Crack Theory brain Okay, so Iz is actually not a very hot man, but actually a really hot princess, transformed into a man since she was exciled from her country but their rules are to give the exiled a new life so they shape shift them into something else. Iz got shifted into a man, and the lovely wide bare chest was because their top was lost to the ocean like how someone would lose their bathing suit top to the sea. Anyways, knowing nothing about themselves, Iz now lives their life as a man never remembering they were a princess in the first place. Ends Crack Theory 10. Don't know, can't say for now. 11. She could always politely kick him out later, so I can't say for now. XD 12. I want to know if there are monsters in this story or just like different species warring it out.

RT|NitghVision

^ I like this theory

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) Oh! I missed that it was high fantasy. I thought the story was historical fiction. No wonder mystery man has pointed ears. I was so confused- I kept thinking, oh, she looks Polynesian and lives by the ocean. But wait, her name is Agatha and she makes bread? And the houses look Japanese? What culture are her clothes from? The world being completely fictional explains all that. I think I was confused by the real names in a high fantasy story- you don't really see that a lot. Finding the right reference for lighting or pose is impossible for me. I have no tips. The only way I've found is to make my own references. I will sit in front of a window, or take a lamp into a dark room or something, and prop my phone up and take photos of myself in the poses and lighting direction I need. But hey, at least that way I don't have to worry about stealing someone else's work?

(i also like feathery's theory)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@FeatheryJustice Crack theories are best theories.

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh! I had no idea you thought it was historical fiction No wonder you were confused! There's a lot of weird cultural-mixing shenanigans going on in the setting, and it's a bit confusing.

I should try that, for now the lighting has been primarily sunlight, or diffused sunlight (which I don't think I depicted correctly).

RebelVampire

Time to crack story theory. I don't know enough about the world to guess a name to where Izrekiel is from. However, wherever it's from, I get the impression its embroiled in a bloody war that is suffering heavy casualties. I imagine that Izrekiel mightve been in a battle and just wound up in the sea by circumstance - like maybe was taken as a prisoner of war and jumped overboard to escape. Something like that. As for the amnesia, well, Imma chock that up to PTSD cause the brief flashbacks we got don't look pleasant. However, I definitely think someone will come looking for him, and that these someone's will make trouble with the people he's just met - perhaps even forcing them to abandon their home with people in pursuit. And I'm sure as Izrekiel remembers more, others are going to really view him as potentially dangerous and blame him (but then get over it cause he's pretty O_O) Given that, I do think Agatha is gonna leave home because of Izrekiel's past running after them. I do think she's inevitably gonna miss the simpler life. Not to the point she won't rise to the challenge, but to the point that she's gonna be like "wait theres danger out here and i didnt even get a sword from an old man in a cave!" As for biggest questions, right now I'm just kind of hoping to see more of the world cause current world events really are gonna dictate a lot where the story could go.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dude I was literally googling the names to see what country they were from because I thought they were from some obscure real island with a history of cultural mixing that I hadn't heard about before.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Hahaha! Yeah, Agatha is an English name. Maret and Kelan (a character that hasn't been introduced yet) are Irish names. Aalia (another character that isn't introduced yet) is an Arabic name. Kehhasan (another character) is a made-up name. Izrekiel is a made-up name inspired by the biblical names Israel and Ezekiel (although technically it is often spelled in their alphabet as "Isarikieru," which has a particular meaning and pronunciation in an even older—fictional—language). Ryukou (another character), is a real-ish name, based off of the Japanese names "Ryu" and "Kou," which mean "dragon" and "peace/light" respectively. Four other characters have fictional names: Ia, Tammamori, Soro, Ghita (although technically it's a Greek name, that wasn't my inspiration). And of course there are hundreds of side characters with a combination of weird names and name origins.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Deo101 [Millennium]

So! I don't really do so well with answering questions, but I do want to say it's inspiring to me to see just how much WORK is put into this comic. It's really lovely to see so clearly how much you care for it. Just want to give some general words of encouragement, keep it up!

Ash🦀

I’m most looking forward to seeing more of Izzy how the story develops along with your painting. There are so many hints and peeks at the world, and I can’t really guess where it’s going. I feel like I already care for these characters, and I can’t wait to see their journey. I am also not good at encouragement, as generally I’m fueled by spite. But I just wanted to say, keep going! You got this! We believe in you!

eli [a winged tale]

Keep up the good work Cronaj! Your art is beautiful and I can’t wait till we start rolling into act 2!

FeatheryJustice

I'm excited to see what else comes up next!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement everyone! I'm so happy to know that you are enjoying the story so far!

RebelVampire

I'm most looking to learning a bit more about the world structure I think. Since I think current events are really gonna hint at a lot what's going on. As for final words, this is an artistically wonderful comic with a lot of love put in, and I can only imagine how things will improve in the future!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'm just really looking forward to seeing these characters grow! This is a beautiful comic, and I can't wait to get more of it!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Before the book club ends, I just wanted to pop back in and say thank you to everyone for their participation. Your kindness, insight, and critiques will stay with me for years to come. I'm so happy to have found a supportive community of readers and fellow creators!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Whispers of the Past this week! Please also give a special thank you to Crona J. for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Whispers of the Past, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366

Crona J.’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cronasonlyfriend

Crona J.’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/cronaj

Crona J.’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CronajArt

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #whispers of the past #crona j.

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crimethinc · 5 years

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Against the Logic of the Guillotine: Why the Paris Commune Burned the Guillotine—and We Should Too

148 years ago this week, on April 6, 1871, armed participants in the revolutionary Paris Commune seized the guillotine that was stored near the prison in Paris. They brought it to the foot of the statue of Voltaire, where they smashed it into pieces and burned it in a bonfire, to the applause of an immense crowd.1 This was a popular action arising from the grassroots, not a spectacle coordinated by politicians. At the time, the Commune controlled Paris, which was still inhabited by people of all classes; the French and Prussian armies surrounded the city and were preparing to invade it in order to impose the conservative Republican government of Adolphe Thiers. In these conditions, burning the guillotine was a brave gesture repudiating the Reign of Terror and the idea that positive social change can be achieved by slaughtering people.

“What?” you say, in shock, “The Communards burned the guillotine? Why on earth would they do that? I thought the guillotine was a symbol of liberation!”

Why indeed? If the guillotine is not a symbol of liberation, then why has it become such a standard motif for the radical left over the past few years? Why is the internet replete with guillotine memes? Why does The Coup sing “We got the guillotine, you better run”? The most popular socialist periodical is named Jacobin, after the original proponents of the guillotine. Surely this can’t all be just an ironic sendup of lingering right-wing anxieties about the original French Revolution.

The guillotine has come to occupy our collective imagination. In a time when the rifts in our society are widening towards civil war, it represents uncompromising bloody revenge.

Those who take their own powerlessness for granted assume that they can promote gruesome revenge fantasies without consequences. But if we are serious about changing the world, we owe it to ourselves to make sure that our proposals are not equally gruesome.

A poster in Seattle, Washington. The quotation is from Karl Marx.

Vengeance

It’s not surprising that people want bloody revenge today. Capitalist profiteering is rapidly rendering the planet uninhabitable. US Border Patrol is kidnapping, drugging, and imprisoning children. Individual acts of racist and misogynist violence occur regularly. For many people, daily life is increasingly humiliating and disempowering.

Those who don’t desire revenge because they are not compassionate enough to be outraged about injustice or because they are simply not paying attention deserve no credit for this. There is less virtue in apathy than in the worst excesses of vengefulness.

Do I want to take revenge on the police officers who murder people with impunity, on the billionaires who cash in on exploitation and gentrification, on the bigots who harass and dox people? Yes, of course I do. They have killed people I knew; they are trying to destroy everything I love. When I think about the harm that they are causing, I feel ready to break their bones, to kill them with my bare hands.

But that desire is distinct from my politics. I can want something without having to reverse-engineer a political justification for it. I can want something and choose not to pursue it, if I want something else even more—in this case, an anarchist revolution that is not based in revenge. I don’t judge other people for wanting revenge, especially if they have been through worse than I have. But I also don’t confuse that desire with a proposal for liberation.

If the sort of bloodlust I describe scares you, or if it simply seems unseemly, then you absolutely have no business joking about other people carrying out industrialized murder on your behalf.

For this is what distinguishes the fantasy of the guillotine: it is all about efficiency and distance. Those who fetishize the guillotine don’t want to kill people with their bare hands; they aren’t prepared to rend anyone’s flesh with their teeth. They want their revenge automated and carried out for them. They are like the consumers who blithely eat Chicken McNuggets but could never personally butcher a cow or cut down a rainforest. They prefer for bloodshed to take place in an orderly manner, with all the paperwork filled out properly, according to the example set by the Jacobins and the Bolsheviks in imitation of the impersonal functioning of the capitalist state.

And one more thing: they don’t want to have to take responsibility for it. They prefer to express their fantasy ironically, retaining plausible deniability. Yet anyone who has ever participated actively in social upheaval knows how narrow the line can be between fantasy and reality. Let’s look at the “revolutionary” role the guillotine has played in the past.

“But revenge is unworthy of an anarchist! The dawn, our dawn, claims no quarrels, no crimes, no lies; it affirms life, love, knowledge; we work to hasten that day.”

-Kurt Gustav Wilckens—anarchist, pacifist, and assassin of Colonel Héctor Varela, the Argentine official who had overseen the slaughter of approximately 1500 striking workers in Patagonia.

A Very Brief History of the Guillotine

The guillotine is associated with radical politics because it was used in the original French Revolution to behead monarch Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, several months after his arrest. But once you open the Pandora’s box of exterminatory force, it’s difficult to close it again.

Having gotten started using the guillotine as an instrument of social change, Maximilien de Robespierre, sometime President of the Jacobin Club, continued employing it to consolidate power for his faction of the Republican government. As is customary for demagogues, Robespierre, Georges Danton, and other radicals availed themselves of the assistance of the sans-culottes, the angry poor, to oust the more moderate faction, the Girondists, in June 1793. (The Girondists, too, were Jacobins; if you love a Jacobin, the best thing you can do for him is to prevent his party from coming to power, since he is certain to be next up against the wall after you.) After guillotining the Girondists en masse, Robespierre set about consolidating power at the expense of Danton, the sans-culottes, and everyone else.

“The revolutionary government has nothing in common with anarchy. On the contrary, its goal is to suppress it in order to ensure and solidify the reign of law.”

-Maximilien Robespierre, distinguishing his autocratic government from the more radical grassroots movements that helped to create the French Revolution.2

By early 1794, Robespierre and his allies had sent a great number of people at least as radical as themselves to the guillotine, including Anaxagoras Chaumette and the so-called Enragés, Jacques Hébert and the so-called Hébertists, proto-feminist and abolitionist Olympe de Gouges, Camille Desmoulins (who had had the gall to suggest to his childhood friend Robespierre that “love is stronger and more lasting than fear”)—and Desmoulins’s wife, for good measure, despite her sister having been Robespierre’s fiancée. They also arranged for the guillotining of Georges Danton and Danton’s supporters, alongside various other former allies. To celebrate all this bloodletting, Robespierre organized the Festival of the Supreme Being, a mandatory public ceremony inaugurating an invented state religion.3

“Here lies all of France,” reads the inscription on the tomb behind Robespierre in this political cartoon referencing all the executions he helped arrange.

After this, it was only a month and a half before Robespierre himself was guillotined, having exterminated too many of those who might have fought beside him against the counterrevolution. This set the stage for a period of reaction that culminated with Napoleon Bonaparte seizing power and crowning himself Emperor. According to the French Republican Calendar (an innovation that did not catch on, but was briefly reintroduced during the Paris Commune), Robespierre’s execution took place during the month of Thermidor. Consequently, the name Thermidor is forever associated with the onset of the counterrevolution.

“Robespierre killed the Revolution in three blows: the execution of Hébert, the execution of Danton, the Cult of the Supreme Being… The victory of Robespierre, far from saving it, would have meant only a more profound and irreparable fall.”

-Louis-Auguste Blanqui, himself hardly an opponent of authoritarian violence.

But it is a mistake to focus on Robespierre. Robespierre himself was not a superhuman tyrant. At best, he was a zealous apparatchik who filled a role that countless revolutionaries were vying for, a role that another man would have played if he had not. The issue was systemic—the competition for centralized dictatorial power—not a matter of individual wrongdoing.

The tragedy of 1793-1795 confirms that whatever tool you use to bring about a revolution will surely be used against you. But the problem is not just the tool, it’s the logic behind it. Rather than demonizing Robespierre—or Lenin, Stalin, or Pol Pot—we have to examine the logic of the guillotine.

To a certain extent, we can understand why Robespierre and his contemporaries ended up relying on mass murder as a political tool. They were threatened by foreign invasion, internal conspiracies, and counterrevolutionary uprisings; they were making decisions in an extremely high-stress environment. But if it is possible to understand how they came to embrace the guillotine, it is impossible to argue that all the killings were necessary to secure their position. Their own executions refute that argument eloquently enough.

Likewise, it is wrong to imagine that the guillotine was employed chiefly against the ruling class, even at the height of Jacobin rule. Being consummate bureaucrats, the Jacobins kept detailed records. Between June 1793 and the end of July 1794, 16,594 people were officially sentenced to death in France, including 2639 people in Paris. Of the formal death sentences passed under the Terror, only 8 percent were doled out to aristocrats and 6 percent to members of the clergy; the rest were divided between the middle class and the poor, with the vast majority of the victims coming from the lower classes.

The execution of Robespierre and his colleagues. Robespierre is identified by the number 10; sitting in the cart, he holds a handkerchief to his mouth, having been shot in the jaw during his capture.

The story that played out in the first French revolution was not a fluke. Half a century later, the French Revolution of 1848 followed a similar trajectory. In February, a revolution led by angry poor people gave Republican politicians state power; in June, when life under the new government turned out to be little better than life under the king, the people of Paris revolted once again and the politicians ordered the army to massacre them in the name of the revolution. This set the stage for the nephew of the original Napoleon to win the presidential election of December 1848, promising to “restore order.” Three years later, having exiled all the Republican politicians, Napoleon III abolished the Republic and crowned himself Emperor—prompting Marx’s famous quip that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Likewise, after the French revolution of 1870 put Adolphe Thiers in power, he ruthlessly butchered the Paris Commune, but this only paved the way for even more reactionary politicians to supplant him in 1873. In all three of these cases, we see how revolutionaries who are intent on wielding state power must embrace the logic of the guillotine to acquire it, and then, having brutally crushed other revolutionaries in hopes of consolidating control, are inevitably defeated by more reactionary forces.

In the 20th century, Lenin described Robespierre as a Bolshevik avant la lettre, affirming the Terror as an antecedent of the Bolshevik project. He was not the only person to draw that comparison.

“We’ll be our own Thermidor,” Bolshevik apologist Victor Serge recalls Lenin proclaiming as he prepared to butcher the rebels of Kronstadt. In other words, having crushed the anarchists and everyone else to the left of them, the Bolsheviks would survive the reaction by becoming the counterrevolution themselves. They had already reintroduced fixed hierarchies into the Red Army in order to recruit former Tsarist officers to join it; alongside their victory over the insurgents in Kronstadt, they reintroduced the free market and capitalism, albeit under state control. Eventually Stalin assumed the position once occupied by Napoleon.

So the guillotine is not an instrument of liberation. This was already clear in 1795, well over a century before the Bolsheviks initiated their own Terror, nearly two centuries before the Khmer Rouge exterminated almost a quarter of the population of Cambodia.

Why, then, has the guillotine come back into fashion as a symbol of resistance to tyranny? The answer to this will tell us something the psychology of our time.

Fetishizing the Violence of the State

It is shocking that even today, radicals would associate themselves with the Jacobins, a tendency that was reactionary by the end of 1793. But the explanation isn’t hard to work out. Then, as now, there are people who want to think of themselves as radical without having to actually make a radical break with the institutions and practices that are familiar to them. “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” as Marx said.

If—to use Max Weber’s famous definition—an aspiring government qualifies as representing the state by achieving a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory, then one of the most persuasive ways it can demonstrate its sovereignty is to wield lethal force with impunity. This explains the various reports to the effect that public beheadings were observed as festive or even religious occasions during the French Revolution. Before the Revolution, beheadings were affirmations of the sacred authority of the monarch; during the Revolution, when the representatives of the Republic presided over executions, this confirmed that they held sovereignty—in the name of The People, of course. “Louis must die so that the nation may live,” Robespierre had proclaimed, seeking to sanctify the birth of bourgeois nationalism by literally baptizing it in the blood of the previous social order. Once the Republic was inaugurated on these grounds, it required continuous sacrifices to affirm its authority.

Here we see the essence of the state: it can kill, but it cannot give life. As the concentration of political legitimacy and coercive force, it can do harm, but it cannot establish the kind of positive freedom that individuals experience when they are grounded in mutually supportive communities. It cannot create the kind of solidarity that gives rise to harmony between people. What we use the state to do to others, others can use the state to do to us—as Robespierre experienced—but no one can use the coercive apparatus of the state for the cause of liberation.

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.”

Punishing the Guilty

“Trust visions that don’t feature buckets of blood.”

-Jenny Holzer

By and large, we tend to be more aware of the wrongs committed against us than we are of the wrongs we commit against others. We are most dangerous when we feel most wronged, because we feel most entitled to pass judgment, to be cruel. The more justified we feel, the more careful we ought to be not to replicate the patterns of the justice industry, the assumptions of the carceral state, the logic of the guillotine. Again, this does not justify inaction; it is simply to say that we must proceed most critically precisely when we feel most righteous, lest we assume the role of our oppressors.

When we see ourselves as fighting against specific human beings rather than social phenomena, it becomes more difficult to recognize the ways that we ourselves participate in those phenomena. We externalize the problem as something outside ourselves, personifying it as an enemy that can be sacrificed to symbolically cleanse ourselves. Yet what we do to the worst of us will eventually be done to the rest of us.

As a symbol of vengeance, the guillotine tempts us to imagine ourselves standing in judgment, anointed with the blood of the wicked. The Christian economics of righteousness and damnation is essential to this tableau. On the contrary, if we use it to symbolize anything, the guillotine should remind us of the danger of becoming what we hate. The best thing would be to be able to fight without hatred, out of an optimistic belief in the tremendous potential of humanity.

Often, all it takes to be able to cease to hate a person is to succeed in making it impossible for him to pose any kind of threat to you. When someone is already in your power, it is contemptible to kill him. This is the crucial moment for any revolution, the moment when the revolutionaries have the opportunity to take gratuitous revenge, to exterminate rather than simply to defeat. If they do not pass this test, their victory will be more ignominious than any failure.

The worst punishment anyone could inflict on those who govern and police us today would be to compel them to live in a society in which everything they’ve done is regarded as embarrassing—for them to have to sit in assemblies in which no one listens to them, to go on living among us without any special privileges in full awareness of the harm they have done. If we fantasize about anything, let us fantasize about making our movements so strong that we will hardly have to kill anyone to overthrow the state and abolish capitalism. This is more becoming of our dignity as partisans of liberation.

It is possible to be committed to revolutionary struggle by all means necessary without holding life cheap. It is possible to eschew the sanctimonious moralism of pacifism without thereby developing a cynical lust for blood. We need to develop the ability to wield force without ever mistaking power over others for our true objective, which is to collectively create the conditions for the freedom of all.

“That humanity might be redeemed from revenge: that is for me the bridge to the highest hope and a rainbow after lashing storms.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche (not himself a partisan of liberation, but one of the foremost theorists of the hazards of vengefulness)

Communards burning the guillotine as a “servile instrument of monarchist domination” at the foot of the statue of Voltaire in Paris on April 6, 1871.

Instead of the Guillotine

Of course, it’s pointless to appeal to the better nature of our oppressors until we have succeeded in making it impossible for them to benefit from oppressing us. The question is how to accomplish that.

Apologists for the Jacobins will protest that, under the circumstances, at least some bloodletting was necessary to advance the revolutionary cause. Practically all of the revolutionary massacres in history have been justified on the grounds of necessity—that’s how people always justify massacres. Even if some bloodletting were necessary, that it is still no excuse to cultivate bloodlust and entitlement as revolutionary values. If we wish to wield coercive force responsibly when there is no other choice, we should cultivate a distaste for it.

Have mass killings ever helped us advance our cause? Certainly, reactionaries throughout history have disingenuously held revolutionaries to a double standard, forgiving the state for murdering civilians by the million while taking insurgents to task for so much as breaking a window. But as we seek transformation rather than conquest, we should appraise our victories according to a different logic than the police and militaries we confront.

This is not an argument against the use of force. Rather, it is a question about how to employ it without creating new hierarchies, new forms of systematic oppression.

A taxonomy of revolutionary violence.

The image of the guillotine is propaganda for the kind of authoritarian organization that can avail itself of that particular tool. Every tool implies the forms of social organization that are necessary to employ it. In his memoir, Bash the Rich, Class War veteran Ian Bone quotes Angry Brigade member John Barker to the effect that “petrol bombs are far more democratic than dynamite,” suggesting that we should analyze every tool of resistance in terms of how it structures power. Critiquing the armed struggle model adopted by hierarchical authoritarian groups in Italy in the 1970s, Alfredo Bonanno and other insurrectionists emphasized that liberation could only be achieved via horizontal, decentralized, and participatory methods of resistance.

“It is impossible to make the revolution with the guillotine alone. Revenge is the antechamber of power. Anyone who wants to avenge themselves requires a leader. A leader to take them to victory and restore wounded justice.”

-Alfredo Bonanno, Armed Joy

Together, a rioting crowd can defend an autonomous zone or exert pressure on authorities without need of hierarchical centralized leadership. Where this becomes impossible—when society has broken up into two distinct sides that are fully prepared to slaughter each other via military means—one may no longer speak of revolution, but only of war. The premise of revolution is that subversion can spread across the lines of enmity, destabilizing fixed positions, undermining the allegiances and assumptions that underpin authority. We should never hurry to make the transition from revolutionary ferment to warfare. Doing so usually forecloses possibilities rather than expanding them.

As a tool, the guillotine takes for granted that it is impossible to transform one’s relations with the enemy, only to abolish them. What’s more, the guillotine assumes that the victim is already completely within the power of the people who employ it. By contrast with the feats of collective courage we have seen people achieve against tremendous odds in popular uprisings, the guillotine is a weapon for cowards.

By refusing to slaughter our enemies wholesale, we hold open the possibility that they might one day join us in our project of transforming the world. Self-defense is necessary, but wherever we can, we should take the risk of leaving our adversaries alive. Not doing so guarantees that we will be no better than the worst of them. From a military perspective, this is a handicap; but if we truly aspire to revolution, it is the only way.

Liberate, not Exterminate

“To give hope to the many oppressed and fear to the few oppressors, that is our business; if we do the first and give hope to the many, the few must be frightened by their hope. Otherwise, we do not want to frighten them; it is not revenge we want for poor people, but happiness; indeed, what revenge can be taken for all the thousands of years of the sufferings of the poor?”

-William Morris, “How We Live and How We Might Live”

So we repudiate the logic of the guillotine. We don’t want to exterminate our enemies. We don’t think the way to create harmony is to subtract everyone who does not share our ideology from the world. Our vision is a world in which many worlds fit, as Subcomandante Marcos put it—a world in which the only thing that is impossible is to dominate and oppress.

Anarchism is a proposal for everyone regarding how we might go about improving our lives—workers and unemployed people, people of all ethnicities and genders and nationalities or lack thereof, paupers and billionaires alike. The anarchist proposal is not in the interests of one currently existing group against another: it is not a way to enrich the poor at the expense of the rich, or to empower one ethnicity, nationality, or religion at others’ expense. That entire way of thinking is part of what we are trying to escape. All of the “interests” that supposedly characterize different categories of people are products of the prevailing order and must be transformed along with it, not preserved or pandered to.

From our perspective, even the topmost positions of wealth and power that are available in the existing order are worthless. Nothing that capitalism and the state have to offer are of any value to us. We propose anarchist revolution on the grounds that it could finally fulfill longings that the prevailing social order will never satisfy: the desire to be able to provide for oneself and one’s loved ones without doing so at anyone else’s expense, the wish to be valued for one’s creativity and character rather than for how much profit one can generate, the longing to structure one’s life around what is profoundly joyous rather than according to the imperatives of competition.

We propose that everyone now living could get along—if not well, then at least better—if we were not forced to compete for power and resources in the zero-sum games of politics and economics.

Leave it to anti-Semites and other bigots to describe the enemy as a type of people, to personify everything they fear as the Other. Our adversary is not a kind of human being, but the form of social relations that imposes antagonism between people as the fundamental model for politics and economics. Abolishing the ruling class does not mean guillotining everyone who currently owns a yacht or penthouse; it means making it impossible for anyone to systematically wield coercive power over anyone else. As soon as that is impossible, no yacht or penthouse will sit empty long.

As for our immediate adversaries—the specific human beings who are determined to maintain the prevailing order at all costs—we aspire to fight against them without seeking to exterminate them. However selfish and rapacious they appear, at least some of their values are similar to ours, and most of their errors—like our own—arise from their fears and weaknesses. In many cases, they oppose our proposals precisely because of what is internally inconsistent in them—for example, the idea of bringing about the fellowship of humanity by means of violent coercion. Were it not for the genuinely egregious things that have been done in the name of liberation, our enemies would have much weaker arguments against it.

Even when we are engaged in pitched physical struggles with our adversaries, we ought to maintain a profound faith in their potential, for we hope to live in different relations with them one day. As aspiring revolutionaries, this hope is our most precious resource, the foundation of everything we do. If revolutionary transformation is to spread throughout society and across the world, those we fight today will have to be fighting alongside us tomorrow. We do not preach conversion by the sword, nor do we imagine that we will persuade our adversaries in some abstract marketplace of ideas; rather, we aim to interrupt the ways that capitalism and the state currently reproduce themselves while demonstrating the virtues of our alternative inclusively and contagiously. There are no shortcuts when it comes to revolution.

Precisely because it is sometimes necessary to employ force in our conflicts with those who preserve the prevailing order, it is especially important that we never lose sight of our aspirations, our compassion, and our optimism. When we are compelled to use coercive force in the struggle, the only possible justification for doing so is that it is a necessary step towards creating a better world for everyone—including our enemies, or at least their children. Otherwise, we risk becoming the next ones to operate the guillotine.

“The only real revenge we could possibly have would be by our own efforts to bring ourselves to happiness.”

-William Morris, in response to calls for revenge for police attacks on demonstrations in Trafalgar Square

Voltaire applauding the burning the guillotine during the Paris Commune.

Appendix: The Beheaded

The guillotine did not end its career with the conclusion of the first French Revolution, nor when it was burned during the Paris Commune. In fact, it was used in France as a means for the state to carry out capital punishment right up to 1977. One of the last women guillotined in France was executed for providing abortions. The Nazis guillotined about 16,500 people between 1933 and 1945—the same number of people killed during the peak of the Terror in France.

A few victims of the guillotine:

Ravachol (born François Claudius Koenigstein), anarchist

Auguste Vaillant, anarchist

Emile Henry, anarchist

Sante Geronimo Caserio, anarchist

Raymond Caillemin, Étienne Monier and André Soudy, all anarchist participants in the so-called Bonnot Gang

Mécislas Charrier, anarchist

Felice Orsini, who attempted to assassinate Napoleon III

Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst—members of Die Weisse Rose, an underground anti-Nazi youth organization active in Munich 1942-1943.

Emile Henry.

Sante Geronimo Caserio.

André Soudy, Edouard Carouy, Octave Garnier, Etienne Monier.

Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst.

“I am an anarchist. We have been hanged in Chicago, electrocuted in New York, guillotined in Paris and strangled in Italy, and I will go with my comrades. I am opposed to your Government and to your authority. Down with them. Do your worst. Long live Anarchy.”

-Chummy Fleming