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Not really parasitic, in my eyes. Maat and isfet exist for one another, you cannot have order without chaos providing meaning to it. They are opposing, but also essential; to have one, and not the other, would unmake the world.
[ curious though ]
Very old. I precede humanity, for starters.
And I do. Still want the list. I enjoy recommendations, and learning new things is... a personal pleasure.
[ curious though ]
Very old. I precede humanity, for starters.
And I do. Still want the list. I enjoy recommendations, and learning new things is... a personal pleasure.
Parasitic is too harsh, I guess. Complimentary? Mutually beneficial? I'm not sure. Whatever it is, I don't believe the Balfours are innocent victims here.
What do those words mean?
Really? Then why are you
Like you are? [Deeply offensive, Kobert.]
I'll bring you them. Guns, Germs and Steel is good, a good overview, but The Wretched of the Earth was pretty eye-opening too. About this world, at least.
What do those words mean?
Really? Then why are you
Like you are? [Deeply offensive, Kobert.]
I'll bring you them. Guns, Germs and Steel is good, a good overview, but The Wretched of the Earth was pretty eye-opening too. About this world, at least.
Well, yeah.
There have been gatherings made to elicit shock and awe and theatrics from us. Think of the feast from before. And then in this last vote, Jonty said: "The house loves parties." It seems to have preferences, thus I feel it wants to be entertained.
I made myself into a spectacle!
There have been gatherings made to elicit shock and awe and theatrics from us. Think of the feast from before. And then in this last vote, Jonty said: "The house loves parties." It seems to have preferences, thus I feel it wants to be entertained.
I made myself into a spectacle!
I named Alina out of the generosity of my heart!
Since she was repeatedly targeted, I thought to save us all the boring drama of it. AND! She and Paul wasted the safety and livelihood of every other individual playing this game who died to wolves. "Oh Paul! Oh! Alina! I will never let you fall to the wolves, damn the others! Damn the others and let them perish, and it is Set who brings attention to the matter who will suffer for our love."
Like a soap opera reusing story lines. How is that entertaining?
Anyways, it is fine. I want the prize, and that has always been my goal. Winning as a team was one way of obtaining it, perhaps! Being voted out will not restrict my attempts. ♡
Since she was repeatedly targeted, I thought to save us all the boring drama of it. AND! She and Paul wasted the safety and livelihood of every other individual playing this game who died to wolves. "Oh Paul! Oh! Alina! I will never let you fall to the wolves, damn the others! Damn the others and let them perish, and it is Set who brings attention to the matter who will suffer for our love."
Like a soap opera reusing story lines. How is that entertaining?
Anyways, it is fine. I want the prize, and that has always been my goal. Winning as a team was one way of obtaining it, perhaps! Being voted out will not restrict my attempts. ♡
[ That framing — the idea of mastering their circumstances — is at least one that Homelander better understands. Of course, he thinks. He shouldn't have been worried. They understand each other, don't they? ]
i get it. can't kill something unless you know how to.
i get it. can't kill something unless you know how to.
[ There's a bright blankness in Armand's eyes, like water pooled in beaten copper bowls, reflecting back the merciless heat of Set's regard. His throat vibrates with a moan that has nowhere to go, choked around the god's cock, pleasure and pain intermingled and running in cold and bloody lines down the sides of his cheeks. He takes each thrust, hands tightening on his wrists behind his back but otherwise passive, his own body responding in kind, making him lift his hips a little, longing, leaning into each slide of Set's cock into his throat.
A deep, black silence rises up in his mind, a brackish tide that tugs at him as his body takes over, aware only of Set. Each thin breath he manages to pull in is thick with the god's musky scent, sweat and sun-baked stone. Fat thick cock jamming his jaw open, hand fisted in his hair, the ancient power that thrums through the desert god's veins. The pounding of Set's heart, like the clashing of swords, the great drum that blocks out the rest of the world. His own body is a vessel, empty, waiting to be filled, and that's okay. He knows the emptiness. Has long since forgotten how to fight it. Now it brings him comfort, to be gone for a while. To remember what it was like, the fractured times. Younger, softer, more pliable. Before he died and became Armand.
Armand closes his eyes as Set fucks him, lashes fluttering, the renaissance curves of his cheeks wet with joyous tears. ]
A deep, black silence rises up in his mind, a brackish tide that tugs at him as his body takes over, aware only of Set. Each thin breath he manages to pull in is thick with the god's musky scent, sweat and sun-baked stone. Fat thick cock jamming his jaw open, hand fisted in his hair, the ancient power that thrums through the desert god's veins. The pounding of Set's heart, like the clashing of swords, the great drum that blocks out the rest of the world. His own body is a vessel, empty, waiting to be filled, and that's okay. He knows the emptiness. Has long since forgotten how to fight it. Now it brings him comfort, to be gone for a while. To remember what it was like, the fractured times. Younger, softer, more pliable. Before he died and became Armand.
Armand closes his eyes as Set fucks him, lashes fluttering, the renaissance curves of his cheeks wet with joyous tears. ]
[ Set is willing to do anything, become anything, scrape, claw, connive, deal-make, cheat and beg if he has to. Not necessarily in that order ( though begging is at the bottom of the list ), but he has no pride, no dignity to get in his way.
The others were lucky that he just wanted to win at Werewolf, because he would happily have burnt and slaughtered if his goal called upon such extremism. ]
Exactly! You understand.
If it can keep gods here, it must be a power worth investigating.
The others were lucky that he just wanted to win at Werewolf, because he would happily have burnt and slaughtered if his goal called upon such extremism. ]
Exactly! You understand.
If it can keep gods here, it must be a power worth investigating.
[ That's the difference between the two of them, even if they don't know it yet — dignity is one thing, but pride is the poison in Homelander's ear. ]
have you ever had anything like this happen before?
i've never
[ He hits send before he means to, just stares at the words for a moment before managing to regroup. He can share this, he thinks, with Set. ]
i hate that it makes me weak.
have you ever had anything like this happen before?
i've never
[ He hits send before he means to, just stares at the words for a moment before managing to regroup. He can share this, he thinks, with Set. ]
i hate that it makes me weak.
The simple answer would be "no, I have never been trapped in another world". The more complex one would be... "yes, I feel as though I must have".
Is that what you mean?
[ Ironically, Set might be one of the best people to share that with. Simply because he acknowledges it, understands it, and simmers with a loathing that might resonate in the same frequency as Homelander's. ]
I hate it, too. For all the power I hold, I am still a thing encaged. It makes a mockery of gods, to be trapped alongside powerless others.
Is that what you mean?
[ Ironically, Set might be one of the best people to share that with. Simply because he acknowledges it, understands it, and simmers with a loathing that might resonate in the same frequency as Homelander's. ]
I hate it, too. For all the power I hold, I am still a thing encaged. It makes a mockery of gods, to be trapped alongside powerless others.
[ Something like relief floods through him — relief at being understood (at not being alone). He's spent this entire time trying to pretend that it hasn't bothered him as much as it has, that it's his choice not to use his powers as much as he'd like. How can he profess to be strong when the house can string him up as easily as anyone else?
(How is he, once ever exempt, supposed to conform to the rules?) ]
exactly. the fact that it treats us like them.
we're not like them.
and they'll fucking see it.
(How is he, once ever exempt, supposed to conform to the rules?) ]
exactly. the fact that it treats us like them.
we're not like them.
and they'll fucking see it.
][ What happens, when the monsters can sympathize with one another? When the sympathy is not fixated upon a mutual trauma, a chink in the venerable armor, a nice and pleasing parallel that means a gentleness will find their environment.
When it is based on power, the loss of it, and identities that have been shaped by the possession of it. ]
No, we are not like them at all. It is insulting to be kept among them, as they look upon us with pity and laughter and mockery while imagining themselves secure in one another's arms.
[ He'll hold no grudge for those who voted him out, of course. They're foolish for it, drunk on their own perception of power and the execution of it.
What happens when they cannot vote someone like him ( or Homelander ) into a cell, though? What happens when it is no longer a silly little game? He is happy to see who digs their own grave. ]
You see it, right?
When it is based on power, the loss of it, and identities that have been shaped by the possession of it. ]
No, we are not like them at all. It is insulting to be kept among them, as they look upon us with pity and laughter and mockery while imagining themselves secure in one another's arms.
[ He'll hold no grudge for those who voted him out, of course. They're foolish for it, drunk on their own perception of power and the execution of it.
What happens when they cannot vote someone like him ( or Homelander ) into a cell, though? What happens when it is no longer a silly little game? He is happy to see who digs their own grave. ]
You see it, right?
[ (Something he hasn't really talked about with anyone is the great disappointment — betrayal, even — that he felt when Maeve first began to pull away. She was the closest thing he'd ever had to an equal; she'd been supposed to understand their lot, to understand him. But she hates him, now. He knows that, even if he isn't fully willing to accept it.
But Set is like him, too.) ]
of course i see it. i can smell it. the fear. it's why they take the game so seriously.
i don't know what they're going to do when it's over.
But Set is like him, too.) ]
of course i see it. i can smell it. the fear. it's why they take the game so seriously.
i don't know what they're going to do when it's over.
Yes, you do. [ He knows that you do, Homelander! ] They are going to forget.
Mortals have short memories, after all. They are going to forget that what they could do now is not forever. Watch, Homelander. When I finally leave this cell, not one of them will take me seriously. They will remember themselves as those who held enough power to — what? to vote me into a cell?
It's not as if they could do it with their own hands.
But, they'll forget. And they'll continue to think they accomplished something, the way they would think the same of you you the moment they forget that your power continues on after the game.
Mortals have short memories, after all. They are going to forget that what they could do now is not forever. Watch, Homelander. When I finally leave this cell, not one of them will take me seriously. They will remember themselves as those who held enough power to — what? to vote me into a cell?
It's not as if they could do it with their own hands.
But, they'll forget. And they'll continue to think they accomplished something, the way they would think the same of you you the moment they forget that your power continues on after the game.
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