Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

Don't worry, folks. The next generation has learned from our mistakes... and when called upon to do so, they should be able to repeat them quite skillfully.

I don't like people* anymore. I should probably try to do something about this. I could kind of stand to like people again. I have no idea where I would even start, and none of the methods I have seen suggested appeal to me in the slightest.

*You folks aren't people. Not even the humans. I'm talking about THE PEOPLE. It probably makes more sense in the original Procyonid/Feline terms. I hate the people. ❤️​

@Leucrotta I mean, I still want a fucking apology for those Iraqi WMDs never showing up. And for claiming cannabis legalization and gay marriage would make society collapse. >___<

@Leucrotta One possibly reassuring counterpoint: Trump's crisis bump was all of 5 percentage points and lasted for, what, a week?

It's terrifying to contemplate that even if "we" win, we'll still have a shitty, sketchy neoliberal in office and a nation full of rabid, radicalized conspiracy kooks.

But we've already passed the first hurdle of preserving a democracy in the face of a proto-fascist: the majority of us, however scant, just plain haven't bought into it. Whatever happens with Trump, there's going to be a pretty loud chorus of "What? No. Fuck you."

I was also fascinated to read today that roughly 30% of Republicans either want someone other than Trump as their candidate or are indifferent.

I am DEFINITELY not trying to be dismissive of your fears, I too am shit scared of what could happen in the next six months alone. It's horrifying that the following of such an amoral fuckbeast like Trump could even be TEN percent of America, let alone forty-five. But with COVID-19 about to hit the heartland (and me really torn on whether to cheer, smirk, or weep over it), I think the odds are at least good that it could get worse for him.

But then, how many times have we said that. Nobody knows how thick that bastard's teflon coating is. *sigh*

I wanna fight.

I wanna fight them.

I wanna win.

I think we might.

And if we can't, I'm ready to prepare for that world, too. Because all things crumble and break eventually.

That is all I have to say.

@hystericempress Good, because it's already SO MUCH FUN riffing on Artanis's sterling assholery.

@hystericempress *Artanis shrugs and goes back to drinking, in his closest known equivalent to patience* "Hey, you. God Lady. Not to rush you, but... we're all getting sabbatical pay for this. Right?" *chugs the rest of the bottle*

<3

@chimerror I love Sino-Japanese nomenclatural stuff. ^_____^ Just a couple of weeks ago I got to learn about the Heavenly Stem ordinals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Stems)... because they're used in the Taiwanese highway numbering system, for crying out loud...

@chandra This is a REAL tiny one, too, barely a paper cut. If Shemp were an indoor cat or had regular vet visits (sigh, we really gotta take care of that as soon as the epidemic's manageable), I wouldn't worry at all. He seems pretty tidy for a semi-stray that we're just buddies with, though. I checked under his claws, and for the feline equivalent of a 16-year-old boy, they look immaculate. Which is to say, he hasn't tracked through anything too gross lately. :3 Thanks for the tip!

@hystericempress augh i love you so much sis and this is why

Artist's conception: me in queer furry fandom, 2002-2020.

#EggWithNoBirdInside
#ThisISMyFinalForm

@frameacloud At this point I'm just grateful nobody can yet measure their wealth in up-arrow notation. *sigh*

On the other hand... now you've given me a great idea for a one-off transhumanist SF satire.

Yikes. Horde Prime might be the one who finally puts my mind-control/assimilation kink down for good. Kudos to Noelle for making the most genuinely chilling, empty, soul-smothering sort of hive mind and inflicting it so skillfully on people that I actually liked BETTER as people (for once)... It's going to be a good while before I can have fun with this notion again. *shudder*

As some of you might have seen on Peg's account, we had to boot Shemp out in the pouring rain and scary thunder last night because we were just not equipped to shelter a kitty for the night. :(

Our debt to Bast was lavishly repaid this morning--we invited Shemp and his sisters in for like an hour and gave them lavish petting, food, and entertainment. They seem pretty happy.

But in the process, Shemp gave me a tiny little scratch across the pinky, and now I can't get the prospect of cat scratch fever -- and the 7-14 day incubation period to leave me in suspense.

Cat folks? How concerned should I *actually* be, given Shemp's an outdoor cat but his paws and claws look fairly clean? It's really *not* a deep scratch at all, and I dressed it as soon as I noticed it.

@Phorm I'm sorry. I just don't know what else to say at this point. Giving up on either the world or you is just not an option.

@Phorm Well-played, geniefox. I had to look Mr. Spirograph there up. Touché. *hug*

@Phorm I love ya, fox, but...

Fuck, trollbots and propagandists make me see red. I don't have much on my ethical scorecard, but dammit, intellectual integrity is something I've fought for tooth and claw since I was old enough to read.

Well, at least, old enough to read the Illuminatus! Trilogy. So, around eleven. XD

I have been having a lot of fun exposing these people and their tactics. It's been the best thing about going back to Birdsite, honestly. But it's not enough.

What the fuck are we going to do, folks? Traditionally most of my friends have been of the "don't feed the trolls" mentality, but that's clearly not stopping them from reproducing.

You know what I really want to do? Up our cultural production quotas. Dramatically. Get real fucking weird real fucking fast. You Neptunian types and identity hackers are on the right track. It might be time to fight fringe culture with fringe culture.

There are no limits now. I don't see any further reason to be nice. Our culture SCARES people like Vladimir Putin and Mitch McConnell. It's something they can't understand and can't control. And I want to weaponize that into something so radically, existentially queer it makes their hearts explode.

So where do we go from here? How do we gaslight the gaslighters? What can we crapflood the QAnons with that's so bizarre even they won't have a dismissal tactic for it?

@Balinares It's far, far better than anything based on a Filmation property has any right to be. :) It's not without flaws, but it's a VERY solid science-fantasy adventure with worldbuilding and character development on par with Faust-era MLP. Also, Catra in a tuxedo is the hottest single entity to have ever existed in any universe.

#HeyAdora

Honestly? I really hope Catradora does NOT happen. I really frown on cartoons teaching people friendship is magic and all you have to do is put your heart in the right place and everyone will be friends. That's not how it works.

I love Catra. Catra is right about many things. Catra has also completely lost her shit. Even if she regains her shit*, she probably won't ever be a healthy partner for Adora.

They can be friends--and it's probably better that they PART as friends for a few years while Catra gets her footing and attends some School For Bad Kitties, somewhere ELSE, with NEW friends. I'd love to see Catra go back to the Crimson Wasteland with Scorpia, where her fury can have *valid* targets and do some good, and wreck shop together for a couple years.

(*For you Disco Elysium fans, this will of course require a Fecal Retrieval Algorithm.)

Weirdly, though, the Entrapdak ship doesn't rub me the same way. I guess it's kinda for the same reasons ultimately Peg and I get along where Kristy and I couldn't. Peg just isn't fazed at all by my own Catra side. Speaking as a junior at the New Orleans School For Bad Kitties myself... Entrapta would probably be a good, calm influence on Hordak; the same could probably NOT be said for Adora and Catra.

Scorpia, though? Maybe. I think I might actually be rooting for Scorpatra. Or whatever the kids are calling it.