Scaffold Settings

Presenting : Noah

Noah the Twunk

Noah the gymnast, wrestler, dancer, scholar, artist, actor, all around amazing bro. Noah the performer.

"For real this time" the spectators want to believe. Rumor or promises, who knows. So many gathered around the scaffold for a real scene. But this has been done before, and Noah is still actually Noah, and he's presenting ...

He loves showing off, and many here have seen how good he is on the scaffold stage, every instant worthy of a snapshot. Even if the story of a prince at the terminus of a royal succession is trite and hokey, it's theater that gets the guys to unzip in the scaffold yard.

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Most gathered here have already seen how it ends. The subject is pushed onto the block, guided firmly by the headsman himself.

The princely chopping block is worthy of some extra description

The event I'm going to is cowboy-themed. This part of the country there is a lot of that, but no actual cowboys.

What exactly does finishing mean? And the answer, no less: "a terminal education, up or out"

The premise is that, in early adulthood, the academic proposition is very much in doubt for a variety of reasons. And yet there remains this gap of several years for young adult men to fully form all the graces of good judgment and responsibility. A good deal of that comes from bonding.

This is a better system, like the early days where the fitness of character was held in higher esteem than any particular score or skill.

The scaffold is rather active in this institution, rivaling the penitentiary in carrying out the dispositions. The superintendent of the finishing school really believes in early capital disposition by selecting out those who will end up having the same fate. A bit much predestination perhaps?

The town square part of this amusement park -- I mean "rodeo" -- is what really sells tickets. And Jack is such a great actor. Don't know if that's his real name or not. It's called a public dangling because it's just a show. Jack is perfectly fine afterwards and he's gonna do what he does so well again and again.

Of course it's not just Jack doing the show. That handsome tall cowboy is also great in his role doing the ropes. There are several other men who dangle in the series - newer actors trying out for a spot. There are rumors, however, that these men might include someone from the penitentiary who is getting their sentence carried out.

Analyzing the allure of this show, it helps to explore the fantasies individually, ask what is it about this public spectacle that makes you... whatever. It seems to be the intersection of several tribes:

Cowboy and Frontier guys

Rope subs / Rope doms

Execution freaks

Jeans, Leather, Boots

Hoods and Masks

Inmate stuff

Re-enactment nerds

Writing some fiction

But only jotted down some notes so far

Team/Gym scenarios. Frosh initiation

Last night chatted about rodeo/western scenes

My buddy likes the dangle. Hoping he likes the chop too.

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I've been trying to write about a pair of gloves for about a month now. Its about the gloves that the headsman pulls onto his hands, almost showing off, when he will do his job for real.

It's so difficult to write to completion because, as part of the writer's block, all those little details add substance. So what's starts out as focus and framing around some hand gloves expands to an exposition about the full ceremony of execution.

It seems like it's easier to write about writing than writing about the story itself.

It would be more doable, probably, to make this a "Glove Series" - each aspect of this particular execution highlighted in its own post.

Here's an incomplete list:

the subject, hoping for mercy, offers some favor to the headsman, and he accepts without any obligation in return

the waiting subject is pushed into his final position

The block is made of wood, and choosing the right kind of wood is important, but let's dwell on those details later.

This is a note about conditioning the block with oil every so often so that the wood does not dry out and split.

There are 5 basic materials of the scaffold.

Wood - most of the scaffold itself

Metal - fasteners, chains, etc

Straw - loose straw, basket, rope

Cloth - clothing, pillow

Leather - belts, clothing, mask, gloves

Of these materials, leather could be the most expensive. Production is a foul process even with the most traditional and considerate use of tanning agents, so my civil authority the amount produced is rationed. Fortunately, well-crafted leather should last a long time.

While there is not much leather to be seen on the scaffold, its presence is rather prominent. The headsman's head and face covering, his codpiece, his boots of course...

The subject of execution, while typically having all clothing removed upon the scaffold, could still be restrained by leather. There is an assortment of belts, cuffs, collars, even a hood for situations where these items could be wanted.