#I may be a Communist

[coockie8]

Yeah if you need an entire board of doctors and advocates to tell the difference between two things, then the distinctions between said things are not "obvious". If they were, you'd be able to tell the difference on your own, regardless of your knowledge base, as that is sort of what "obvious" means :/

#''there's an obvious distinction between disabled people who need benefits and able-bodied people who are lazy'' #''but we'd need a board of doctors and disability advocates to tell the difference between those two things'' #yeah you might just be stupid and super ableist actually :/ #like my lactose intolerance is *obvious* #regardless of my lack of a medical degree I don't need a doctor to tell me I can't tolerate dairy #I figured that out pretty quick when I get gassy and sick every time I drink milk #''lazy'' vs. disabled is simply not something you can tell visually #hell a non-insignificant chunk of *doctors* can't even fucking tell half the time #how about if someone doesn't wanna piss away their limited amount of time on Earth making someone else rich #we fucking let them just not do that? #capitalist pigs #people who don't understand how we'd be able to survive without money *baffle* me #how do you think we did it *before* money? #How do you think literally every other species on the planet survives without money? #any ''rules'' are made up #humans invented them and we can fucking un-invent them too #I may be a Communist #we're not gonna get into it

[mihotose]

before i start a new game heres my Reading Goblin save. harry has nothing to his name (which he doesnt remember) besides seventy reál his disco pants and four fifths of dick mullen and the mistaken identity which he reads in the fishing shack for fourteen hours a day until he can sleep. he hasnt seen kim in a month

#for all kim knows the shack may well have eaten him #if i turned this harry into a communist the book club would love him #gemitus #disco elysium

[pantherknight]

I am not going to talk about "low morale" because I really don't care, but the tags are extremely wrong.

Source: I spent the last two years in a city in 45 kilometres away from the frontlines (Zaporizhzhia). Air strikes and air defense sound different. While I can't say for sure that there was no time Ukrainian air defense misfired into a residential building ever anywhere, I can guarantee that the most notorious destructions of residential buildings here were all air strikes.

This is what I am direct witness of, but what I saw from destruction of Kharkiw doesn't resemble air defense misfire either. I didn't pay close attention to other cities, but I can believe in situation there being the same.

#it's really funny how i can't voice my opinions irl because they are considered so unpatriotic that are (borderline) illegal #but only is no better either #if you want to be anticommunist on my post - my understanding of the world politics is mostly communist and people irl more or less agree #and the people who have the most nuanced takes are also communists while everyone else tells some fantasy story #there are just clowns in every movement who but into propaganda of any major power #(though it's a little surprising to see such a take from a russian queer - they are usually uncritically pro-ukrainian #(okay i may allow anarchists i am not 100% decided on theoretical foundations) #politics #ukraine #txt

[ikeameatballspoisonedme]

Brianna Wu is such a vile zionist. Accusing Palestine protesters of being paid when people are literally being blacklisted or killed for the slightest support of Palestine. Social media are shadowbanning Palestine posts, including TikTok! This article is literally an opinion piece with 0 evidence and she tweeted it like it's a fact. I hope she rots in hell.

#I'm an Indonesian so I know very well about antisemitism here #But does it excuse Israel killing Palestinians and stealing their land? Fuck no! #US killed our leftists and helped a fascist rise to power for 30 years along with spreading racist anti communist propaganda #And she wanted to blame Qatar for 'funding pro palestine supporters'??? #How about blaming filthy yankees for killing our leftist Muslims and helping the fascists one???? #Fuck you Brianna Wu. Rot in hell. May Allah torture you in Jahannam #Btw Israel wasn't invited to KAA because Soekarno knew it was a colonizer puppet country lol.

[revacholianpizzaagenda]

Steban doesn't idolize Uli but I think that as someone who has also alienated everyone else in his social circles and managed to hold on to this one guy, he is keenly aware that by luck of the roll this gottwaldian molotov is HIS gottwaldian molotov and cares for him accordingly. Uli's a good friend, loyal to a fault, with an enviable encyclopedic knowledge of theory, and they get each other when they feel like rambling about the finer details of hope and despair for the world at 3AM.

Also clearly he trusts him enough that if Uli says get slapped he goes and gets himself slapped and enjoys it so uuuuh there's that. I'm sure it counts as SOMETHING. what kind of thing precisely is up for debate.

#steban #uli #I wholeheartedly believe that Steban has the potential to be a charismatic figure somewhere down the line #and that'll take some adjusting if they ever get there #but - and this is key - he really REALLY isn't there yet. that's a sopping wet kitten meowing dialectics. #he may also never get there for uh a wide array of reasons. from 'never got out of his ivory tower' #to the old 'shot in the head' classic that's coming back in style soon enough #disco elysium #steban the student communist #echo maker

[birdmenmanga]

@raventhekittycat

hi okay so I've been mulling this one over for the past day or two and I think I have the answer. not to be using hamburger to explain anything to an american but you're my detco mutual so I'm going to try and explain it in detco terms

There's a post going around recently about how if you've read detco and only detco, the first time hakuba shows up you're going to be totally flummoxed, because damn this guy is clearly important, he gets to be even cooler than Shinichi, he's got a half-page shot of him (in such a panel-dense series such as Detective Conan, no less!!) and he's got a fucking hawk. he's CLEARLY important. everything about the narrative is indicating that you need to PAY ATTENTION to hakuba and that he's the coolest guy and he's important!!!! and then he dies in the case lol (not for real. but still.)!! and you're like huh??? what was that. why did aoyama do that.

But with the context of magic kaito this totally makes sense. He's a beloved character that people have been waiting decades to see again. Of course Aoyama is going to hype him up!! It's his big moment after years of being locked in the backrooms!!!

Anyways reading birdmen for me was kind of like that. The author's previous series, Kekkaishi, was pretty one-dimensional at the beginning, and even after the main plot started picking up at around volume 6, it still felt quite understandable. I knew what she was trying to get at, and the spectacular job she did with the anthropocene and climate change metaphor towards the end of that series really made me interested in the rest of her works. That and the way she writes familial relationships is absolutely DEVASTATING. (I mean this with the highest of praise)

But when I read BIRDMEN for the first time, I was probably in... middle school, maybe? And I read it, sure, but I didn't get it. I could see what was literally happening on the page but the narrative choices were absolutely baffling at times. Why skip over the entire part of the plot where they figure out who the birdman that saved them was? She blatantly doesn't care about that. What does she care about then?? I knew I didn't get it, I knew there were parts of it that were important and I couldn't figure out why and THAT'S how it dug its pretty little claws into me. Even after I finished catching up it nagged at me a little bit, not often at all, but enough that every once in a while I go, huh, right, that was a thing, let me go read it again.

For the record this type of story haunting has happened to me twice. First time was the Heart of Thomas, second time was BIRDMEN. I think the thing is that these are both stories which are not what other people say they are and I think I came into both of these stories with a misconception, trying to look too hard for things that weren't important and therefore missing the things that were.

Because sure, BIRDMEN is about mental illness. Yeah, it's about an evil scientific organization growing mutants in a lab. Yeah, it's about what it means to leave your humanity behind. That's all technically correct, on a surface level, and the fandom at large likely agrees with these takes for the most part, but in my opinion none of that really delves into what the thematic messaging of the story is about.

There are cryptic conversations about authority and human extinction and peculiar outfit and ability choices. You can tell these choices weren't made to serve the purpose of "writing exciting shonen manga" because that was what she did for the most part in Kekkaishi and you can tell she wasn't putting her whole pussy into doing that here. So what was she doing? What's like. All of this. Waves my hands at this.

The short answer is that it's really about the interplay between capitalism (represented by humanity) and communism (represented by birdmen), and explores the role institutional white supremacy (EDEN) plays in enforcing capitalism. It is ALSO about queer liberation and the importance of community, but hey, that double-stacks conveniently with the communism metaphor.

But also take this opinion of mine with a grain of salt. As far as I know I'm the only one who really truly deeply believes that it is not only AN interpretation of the work, but one that was fully intended by the author.

So basically, I like it, because I think it says something true and beautiful that I also believe in, even if I didn't have the words for it the first time I read it. But I don't really think that's what people really look for in a media recommendation.

Do I like it? Yes, I love it. Will I recommend it to others? Yeah, sure. But do I think it's deeply flawed? Yeah, absolutely. It's flawed in the same ways as The Witch from Mercury— a rushed ending, too many threads that were opened and never tied together. The pacing and characterization is perfect in the beginning, and too rushed at the end. There are prerequisites you basically HAVE to read in order to understand the story (tempest for G-Witch and the communist manifesto for birdmen). I think a truly good story wouldn't have any of these things so if people don't like it I never blame them.

It's my personal experiences that make birdmen so profound to me. If you are not queer I just don't think Eishi coming out as a birdman to his mom will hit the same, just as an example. Sorry that I wasn't the kid you wanted me to be. I know you love me and you just want the best for me and that's why you're so controlling, because you think I can be saved by conforming to societal expectations. But I can't live like that. I can't be like that. And that's why I must go. etc.

Aesthetically I do love birdmen a lot. If I had to describe it in a few words it would probably be "chilling", "beautiful", and "powerful", which nicely coincides with the type of things I personally like to draw. It's also silly to a small degree but it's so serious and I know Tanabe can be way way way funnier (read kekkaishi for this. kekkaishi and hanazakari no kimitachi he were foundational to my sense of sequential art humor) so that's not really the standout trait of this series.

I can't let it go because I'm chewing this series like a bone. And it's taking me years but I am getting that sweet sweet marrow. By god. We are on year 3 of this shit and I am GOING to understand this series. and I'm going to make 3 video essays about it

#just thinking thoughts... #stray bird thoughts #so it's like... I don't like it because birdmen is good #I think I like it because I am a certain type of person and the author was trying to say something specifically to the type of person I am #OH #I'M THE TARGETED AUDIENCE THATS WHY I LIKE IT. #YEAH THATS REALLY IT!!! #A long time ago I said that birdmen wasn't written for the people who read it at the time it serialized. #it was written for the people they would become. #and I stand by that 100% #if it really stays with you there is going to be a reason even if you can't articulate it yet #and it may APPEAR sloppy to someone who doesn't see the queer or communist metaphor #like 'what is she doing what is she saying here she's not saying anything meaningful and emphasizing the wrong things' #but that sort of presumes she is gunning to make 'the best shonen manga ever' #which she clearly isn't. #I remember when I was reading fma with a bunch of my classmates and I'd lend them a volume or two every day #and a piece of feedback I received that has stuck with me was 'volume 15 was so boring' #(that was the volume recounting the ishval civil war. it was boring because we were middle schoolers and didn't REALLY get it.) #and like. I think to people who are looking for something like kks. the whole thing is going to feel like fma volume 15 #like WHAT is she going on about? ? ? #like witch hat and dunmesh I think are similar types of stories but I think these two are just executed way better than bm #but because of that it is just not as compelling to me you know. #like yeah yeah it's well constructed. we all see it's well constructed. #the metaphor is so well constructed that I don't feel the need to point it out. everyone is saying it already you know #but bm is cryptic enough and just slightly missed that execution enough that I feel like I'm pulling the analysis out of a smoking wreckage #recently I've been watching mentourpilot videos about airplane accidents and like. that's exactly it. #there's nothing to say about a perfectly executed flight. #it's the ones that failed. and in particular the ones that just barely failed by a little bit. that compels people the most. #cue my de communism is failure post. bc that bm sure did fail.

[juicyfacefuckingartandshit]

Live footage of disco Elysium coming into my life

I was doing a little bit of the hashtag suffering and then the most fucked up man ever fell into my lap and j was like NK WAYnnnn!!!! HES JUSG LIKE ME FKR REAL!!!! And then disco Elysium was like yeah you see this most fucked up guy ever??? He’s so fucked but guess what he’s fucking disco hes fucking KILLING IT!!

If Harry can work it in his putrid state then GOD DAMMIT SO CAN I!!!!

Now I get sad in a cool way PARTY ROCKERS ARE IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT!!!!

#I also suffer from terminal jean and Kim rot #Kim and jean rot is like one of the many side effects you get listed to you on those medication commercials #disco Elysium side effects may include but is not lmited to #kim rot jean rot listening to The Bee Gees becoming a lesbian becoming a communist putting the bourgeoisie in meat grinders and diarrhea #I have a crush on Titus hardie #something about his maga hat does it for me

[vv-ispy]

also also I know everyone likes to talk about how good of an archon Venti is because he left mondstadt to do its own thing and hey look Zhongli's doing the same now with his retirement but I also like how the story shows it isn't without flaws, with so much freedom in the city it's all too easy to take control with power, Mondstadt's people may be free but they also don't have a god to actually uphold the ideal they stand for and how personal freedoms conflict, discrimination(eg. against Eula and her clan) is allowed because the people are free to do whatever they want, the fatui really wormed their way into mondstadt during the webtoon + nearly did with Davalin bc the people of mondstadt do whatever they want so Jean is overworked and the knights are ineffective(according to Diluc), and how mondstadt might have been the least free place for the common people during the Lawrences rule despite being the region governed by the archon of freedom

Zhongli at least first tested his people were ready before retiring, Venti kinda acended, organized a bunch of celebrations for his people, then left them to have fun with their newfound freedom only interveining when things get really bad

#to be fair zhongli's only left his people for a couple of years so who knows maybe if he left them for long enough #despite honing his nation on honesty and contracts things would delve into chaos too #or a capitalistic mess and we all know what it's like to live in one of those #now if liyue didn't have plot-armour-due-to-chinese-region-in-a-chinese-game............ #my thoughts on liyue are 'god i wish its story was actually about the common folk common folk #but what i know of the chinese government is the communist party represents the common folk #so in reality it's more like common-folk-party-does-so-good-for-the-common-folk see????' #i really like liyue and its environment too! #wish they explored its flaws too and didn't present it as perfect due to china-chinese-media-relationship! #all of liyue's plots are like 'it's the time of the common folk i want to tell stories about the common people' #'(but also hold on to tradition and respect the traditions which are represented by the adepti)' #can we pls have some actual flaws like the rigidity of contracts and lack of change and rule of tradition #instead of 'contracts are good and honest and also change as the times change for the good of the people' #like yes zhongli at least tested his people before implementing that big change of stepping down #but also if the game didn't have to put china in a positive light tbh idk if he would have done that #as it might be more interesting to explore his archonhood ideal in both its good and its bad #and may have focused more on liyue's difficulting in changing and adapting to the modern tiemes #if venti is the god of freedom and is too free at times then zhongli the god of contracts is too stagnant at times #i have. complicated feelings about liyue due to my complicated feelings about being raised chinese #so mondstadt my fav for representing and giving people freedom #genshin talk

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Sometimes I get a bit ticked about the whole "invisible Canada" thing, but I went to a visiting scholar lecture about the Battle of the North Atlantic in WW2 from a British academic this morning, and he verbatim said: "Canada isn't involved enough it makes a difference." And the friend I went with pats my shoulder like, "I'm sure you guys did everything that you could do."

If that isn't the most concise summation of general opinions of Atlantic history I've ever seen, I'll never see a better one.

#christ alive #canadian Norwegian Brazilian french portuguese icelandic etc all played a fricken part!!!! #like on a lot of levels it doesn't matter the past is another country so on and so forth we are independent but /fuck/ #truly no professionally gutting feeling than spending your professional life preserving your country's history #especially maritime history #and seeing the remnants of all that suffering #all the ways it fucked up my life decades before I was born #and hearing it wasn't enough involvement that it make a difference which like ngl itsn't accurate we may not have made the largest factor #but it was A variable...but hey #at least Americans who aren't calling us communists will give a pat on the shoulder

[compacflt]

What does Ice (or Mav) think about the Obama gay rumors? Will they be tuning in to hear the story of the man who allegedly fucked Obama? Are they bi Obama truthers? Is Rooster? Is Hangman? Any other Icebama interactions you're hiding from us? His cameo cracked me up and I need to know more...

the obama gay rumors

first im hearing about this

#‘why would you ask me; a top gun blog; this’ #r u talking about the guy who’s claiming to be Obamas brother on Twitter #is malik obama now claiming his brother barack is gay ? #i may be a zoomer but im not sure im quite that terminally online #ice would probably think something diasapproving like #‘it’s just like when those damn republicans said he was born in kenya or that his wife is a man. ppl say shit just to say shit 👎’ #mav would probably be like ‘hell yeah obama join the club!!! 😎😎😎 you me and everyone else on earth!!’ #though mav (thinks democrats take too much of his income in taxes) would still be registered Republican #were it not for his liberal husband threatening divorce and the gop’s recurring threats to send the military to invade mexico #would he??? i CANNOT get a political read on tgm mav #1986 mav definitely believes Bill Clinton is an affront to god #2020 mav I’m not sure #‘ok fine higher taxes is the price i will pay for marriage equality’ #does this have anything to do with Obama saying he only was a communist in college just to pull mad pussy? (relatable af ngl) #read the authors note on wwgattai ch 9. i am not up to date on my obama discourse clearly

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

As of tonight we're starting to get Gremlin into Digimon, because he's been getting very into Bakugan lately and the cartoon for that one annoys the shit out of us. Not that it's an effort, I just had to tell him the premise and then put on the first episode and he was immediately hooked. So am I, honestly, I've never watched this show before.

#dangerous communist propaganda #he's already a big fan of pokemon so this was kind of a shoo-in #bakugan toys are neat mechanically but i don't much like the aesthetic #and the dub of the cartoon is awful #i may get digivices for the household

[someonesspring]

#AS I WAS SAYING #they may have ****** young karl marx #but cassian has is communist manifesto now #time for some direct action #star wars #andor #cassian andor #mon mothma #andor spoilers

[ehlnofay]

I like to think that disability of all kinds is very accepted and accommodated in much of orcish society, given their cultural emphasis on acceptance of the outcast and the socially excluded. Strength is valued, yes, but not only physically or in combat; strength of all kinds is prized, and not at the expense of the weak. Ostracising those with physical or mental limitations is entirely counter-intuitive (making them more vulnerable and so weakening the group) – by accommodating those limitations and supporting the individuals with them, the group as a whole is strengthened.

#there is very little social exclusion in orcish society because for the most part they already view themselves as excluded #either by choice or by necessity #so the reaction to things that may elsewhere be met with rejection is focusing on how that individual can best be supported #so they can contribute the most they can to the group #a lot of focus on community and mutual assistance #(it's MY fantasy game franchise and I can decide that certain groups have great attitudes toward disability if I WANT TO) #(orsimer are communists. confirmed) #(that's a joke I don't know enough about communism to actually make that statement) #fay talks #the elder srolls #tes #headcanon #orcs #orsimer #tes headcanon #tesblr

[weepylucifer]

steban and uli. prompt 17

17. “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…”

They're squeezed inside a broom closet, uncomfortably close to each other, where Cindy pushed them in, locked the door and ran away, vowing not to open said door until they "deal with their feelings", whatever that means. Naturally, Ulixes isn't going to take that lying down, and is searching the door for anything - structural weaknesses, a way to force the lock open.

"The cleaning lady has a second key," Steban supplies. "And she comes here every day when her shift starts and ends."

Ulixes pauses running his fingers down the edge of the door and says, "This is good news."

"Yes, well, the bad news is that she probably already turned in for the night." Steban scrunches up his face in silent apology, as if this situation is his fault. "Maybe we should just... do what Cindy says and discuss 'our feelings', whatever that means?"

Panicking, drowning on dry land, Ulixes says, "I have no idea what she might have been referring to."

"Then we best get comfortable... looks like we'll be trapped for a while..."

---

They're hunkered down with their backs to a barricade that's not even really meant to be A Barricade writ large, just a few apartment buildings' worth of people - it's becoming increasingly en vogue to think of them in terms of 'civilians' - who have banded together to block off their street by haphazardly piling up furniture in a desperate bid to defend their doorsteps from the roving mobs of all political persuasions, the burnings, the break-ins, the random violence. But to Coalition ground response, a barricade is a barricade: a sign of resistance. They are under orders to dismantle barricades as they find them. Slowly but surely, the defenders are being hemmed in. What at first looked like a refuge to the people here is turning into a kettle.

Uli knows that Steban knew that this would happen. They're here anyway. The alternative would have been abandoning these people to their fates.

"How's that radio coming along, Ulixes?" Steban asks as he peers out beyond the barricade through the scope of a rifle. (His fingers have grown disturbingly steady on the gun and Uli doesn't like it at all.)

He sighs. "I don't exactly know how this thing works, Steban." If he sounds a little snippy, surely the circumstances will excuse it. "I just saw a comrade handle one at the aid station."

"There we go, you're practically an expert." Steban pats his shoulder. "Look, if you can't get this thing to transmit, there'll be no way to call on the unions for help."

"I..." Ulixes begins, but is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot tearing through the air. It comes from outside.

Steban scrambles to his feet, hissing what is undoubtedly a curse in Mesque. "Shit, they're starting to breach." He turns to his squadron, grabbing their weapons, and the locals cowering in fear. In that beauteous and disturbing new command voice he acquired when they were separated, Steban shouts, "Alright, everyone who has a gun to the front here, please! Children and the elderly in the back! Ulixes, you can grab your medical stuff and set up a field hospital behind the bombed-out car over there and keep at readiness. Vamonos!"

Ulixes grabs his crutch and rises, groping for his bag of scavenged medical supplies. Who knew it would turn out like this? He doesn't even have a weapon on him apart from the knife he uses, mostly, to cut bandages. "What about the radio?" he asks.

"Work on it whenever you find the time, but prioritise the wounded." Steban is already trying to affix his bayonet. He seems to be anticipating close combat.

"But if we can't signal for reinforcements..."

"Yeah. Looks like we'll be trapped for a while."

---

They're sitting at the kitchen table of an apartment that's still cramped by most standards, but leagues larger than what they used to have - they have a kitchen now, and enough space to put a table in it. There's even a bathroom, and a tiny balcony. Accomplished men, they are.

"If I manage to get elected, apparently there will be a small salary," Steban is saying.

It has astonished Ulixes somewhat that, after finishing their degrees together, Steban hasn't wanted to stick around and lecture like Ulixes is doing. That he'd get this embroiled in political work that is, quite obviously, not going to be leading much of anywhere. Sure, a part of Steban is very fond of quibbling over ideological minutiae, but to make a career out of that...?

"I know what you're thinking of our new parliament... I wholeheartedly concur," Steban says now. "But this'll be a decent enough recruiting ground for the next coup attempt."

"Do you think there will be one?" Ulixes asks.

"If no new attempt at revolution is forthcoming, we shall manufacture one," Steban replies like it's self-evident, like the war didn't suck any desire for violence out of him (Ulixes fears it didn't, but rather added desire where there used to be none). Steban looks good now, with his sleek hair and crisp shirt and neatly trimmed beard, but Ulixes perceives his eyes and knows he can become what he became in the Return again.

"This new so-called independence is nominal only, and people will realize that," Steban continues. "We exchanged a foreign occupant for a domestic one, that's all. Sure, we can form political parties, even communist ones, but there's no real power to them. People will see. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually."

"So we go back to hiding." Ulixes sighs. How disappointing.

"For now. Best if people think we've settled down. I'll take a small, meaningless post in parliament, and let our friends in the RCM believe I've given up on real revolution. It happens all the time, people grow older, they start to compromise, they start to let reaction take hold and abandon their radical ideas. It'll look convincing. Once they believe us to be harmless, we'll make new plans."

It's probably good to tread carefully for now - there had been voices in the new security oversight council, staffed with ranking RCM members and their friends, calling for putting them both in prison. Still, a part of Ulixes, the one that was louder before his injury, clamors in frustration. "And there's nothing else to do right now."

"Not right now, not anytime soon," Steban says glumly. "Looks like we'll be trapped for a while..."

---

"It looks like," Steban begins, "we'll be..."

"Don't say it," Uli interrupts him. "There is absolutely no need to say it."

"We are on the Western Plain, Ulixes, and life as we know it has ended. Grant me this one affectation."

"I need grant you nothing," Ulixes says. As he nests in middle age, makes himself comfortable in it, he finds curmudgeonliness suits him. Their conversations have, after two decades of quasi-married life, a levity to them that they didn't have at the start. Back then, Ulixes would have never imagined they'd bicker one day. They're fonder of each other than ever.

In less harmonious news: everything else.

A patch of... well, of what? Of matter, of being, of reality extends outwards from them. To their knowledge, this is the last speck of real world that is left. The pale is diffuse, but Ulixes could swear he can physically feel it, pressing against their little sanctuary, threatening to squash it into nothing, into itself. The perimeter holds, for now, but there is no guarantee - no guarantee at all - that it will continue to. Will he be feeling that pressure forever from now on, every passing moment, until he dies or the perimeter collapses, or the world, through some miracle, changes again? For a moment, fear almost chokes him.

How can they possibly presume to be strong enough to keep this up? Who are they to entertain such hubris? They're just some guys. How can they possibly be able to beat back entropy?

Steban squeezes his hand. "It's okay," he murmurs. "It'll be okay. As long as we stick together."

He turns to the small group of people huddling behind them, frightened, grieving, untethered. Friends, comrades, followers and whoever they managed to grab and pull along.

The remnants of the world.

And the last people in it.

Steban doesn't give a speech, not really. He just says, in his soft voice that always manages to sound like he's talking to everyone here confidentially, "Alright, we knew this day would come. We practiced for this. We cultivated our plasm. I know you're scared, I know you're asking yourselves where we can go from here, if we have what it takes to keep this up, if we can make the communal effort. And I know that we can try, and we have to try."

"What now?" someone pipes up from the back.

"Now we will build a tower." Suddenly, quickly, Steban leans in and whispers in Uli's ear, "Because it looks like we'll be trapped for a while."

He smirks and dodges as Ulixes bats at him with his cane and an inarticulate shout of indignance and, Ulixes thinks, maybe with Steban, even the pale will be bearable.

They roll up their sleeves, and get to work once more.

#answer'd #i had several ideas for this and couldn't decide on which one to do #so 'small vignettes for each one' was the solution! #speculations on how steban and uli's lives may go #writings by me #steban the student communist #ulixes #disco elysium

[falinscloaca]

why are so many of the "blogs like this one" for my own post like, joking-stalinist-urls-from-ML's-2/3rds-of-whom-reclaim-tankie-at-least-as-a-joke blogs

#not even complaining. i don't TRUST the more 'auth-y' governmental communists but i agree with their beliefs mostly. but just. why.sdflklggs #it doesn't feel like i follow that many people or say very much Like That....... #('believe their beliefs' insofar as central planning may very well be necessary for 'true communism' and shit. and not all of their #strategies for doing so are terrible or anything. as i've commented wayyyyy long ago - feels like yesterday- i'm like. #equal parts mutually-exclusive-communist-anarchist-and-anarchocommunist all three approaches when treated as distinct have their uses #zealous bipartisan in the realm of leftist infighting)

[theinnermeyoullneverknow]

I fucking hate "wealth management" companies.

#Like I know our current economic system pretty much requires them #But I can't help feeling that they shouldn't exist #A family member set up an account for me #And I appreciate the thought but #I'm just reading the terms and conditions and I keep going #Fucking bourgeoisie bullshit #I'm not even a communist or actually solid socialist #But goddam #Every bulletpoint is like “we may do this but we don't have to” #Fuck man wtf kind of client agreement is that #I have half a mind to liquidate this account immediately after getting it officially opened but I feel like that would be hurtful #The account managers or whatever there seem nice enough but I honestly don't want them handling money connected to me #They're part of the “shareholders' proffits are the priority” structure and from what little I've seen seem to hold that value #Which I really don't jive with #And like I said their ~contract~ is more about what they're ALLOWED to do that what they are OBLIGATED to do which just seems sketchy #Drunk tumblring #Yes I'm drinking while reviewing legally-binding documents #It didn't start out that way. This bullshit drove me to it. #At least my drinking decent whiskey like the people who actually use these companies. Lol #Fml #Why couldn't you just open a CD at a normal bank ffs #Tbh another reason not to completely close out everything and tell them to fuck off is #that I have aspirations of setting up like a trust fund (or something?) for my disabled friend in case I die #I should get on that #And I figure that's something these people could help with #In spite of what I said before #Idk man #I am just straight-up not having a good time bro #first world problems