#cw execution

Don't think about kyle getting caught up in life, then the military, then price. Suddenly his soulmark doesn't matter when innocent lives can be saved.

Don't think about kyle using you as leverage to get answers out of your father. About how terrified you are when he doesn't say a word to you, speaks over and about you like you are nothing more than a bartering chip.

Don't think about kyle shooting your father, and your scream echoing around the room. "I will never forgive you for this!" No words could possibly ease your suffering "I hate you! I will never forgive you! Never!"

Don't think about the horror on kyles face, or how price rips the gun from his sergeants hand. He can't handle a weak thread, there's too much at steak. Kyle will forgive price eventually, but he'll never forget your brain matter splattering the back wall.

And definitely don't think about kyle desperately searching the arms on your corpse for a soulmark, only to find none. You we're going to die in this room, there is no other version of this story.

Jinu making the pact with Gwi-Ma for his family is such an important aspect as the motivation for his character (that certain members of the fandom tend to conveniently overlook).

Just look at Jinu's expression in the third panel (shown above). He's contemplating what Gwi-Ma is saying to him because of his family's dire circumstances - feeling like no matter how hard he tries to provide for them, it isn't enough.

They are a family who are starving.

So he accepts.

The fact he made this pact for his family meant that Jinu believed even though one day he knew he would become a demon forced under the servitude of Gwi-Ma, at least his family would still live a comfortable life in the palace, never to go hungry again, even after he was inevitably gone from their lives one day. To him, it would be worth it because his family would still be living a life where they were sheltered and fed.

Look at his dialogue here:

"My family was extremely poor and miserable." - not, "me and my family were extremely poor and miserable", just, "my family." Jinu is always thinking about his family - his mother and sister - above everything else. Its the very core of his character.

Jinu literally took his family to the palace with him, so them living a comfortable life after he disappears one day had to have been his whole mindset. His family's happiness was all that mattered.

What would be the point in Jinu making a deal with Gwi-Ma for only himself to live a short time in the palace to be fed and sheltered when he would inevitably be forced into the demon realm at some point? That doesn't make much sense. For a family man like Jinu, it was always supposed to be about all of their survival.

Jinu is literally holding his sister's hand, guiding her into the castle before the guards stopped his family in their tracks with the threat of their weapons should they attempt enter.

And this is what I refer to as the "true" memory as it only plays when Gwi-Ma mentions Jinu's past.

Gwi-Ma, who would remember exactly what happened.

Guess what Jinu remembers regarding his past?

That's right. Jinu only remembers the horror of "leaving" his family. The weapons stopping his family from entering is completely forgotten from his mind during all his flashbacks.

Also, this is not the face of a man who is like, "well kek bye" to his family as he walks into the palace - he looks horrified as he realizes whats happening.

Gwi-Ma had completely tricked him.

Gwi-Ma knew his family wouldn't actually be able to go through the gates with him - it was all just one giant setup.

Jinu couldn't exactly refuse the King. In the Joseon Dynasty era, those of Jinu's status, cheonmin, basically became servants to royalty should they somehow ever be chosen. No matter the fact he was still allowed into the palace, Jinu was still classed as a lowborn in their eyes, and was there to perform - nothing more.

The problem with that is the king only required Jinu, not his family. Therefore, they were not permitted in with him in any circumstances. Should Jinu have then decided to return to his family instead of play for the king, both himself and his family would have been executed.

As sad as it is, I genuinely believe that if the punishment of death was just Jinu's and Jinu's alone, then he would have taken it. But the fact that his whole family would die should he refuse the king is something he simply could not accept.

Jinu's shame and guilt literally stems from the idea that he believed he killed his family due to leaving them at the palace gates - a manipulation tactic by Gwi-Ma.

His family were the most important people in his life - he'd never want anything bad to happen to them.

Gwi-Ma was feasting on a man's desperation that whole time - a son and a brother who would sacrifice anything to save his family, even his own soul.

To say its tragic is an understatement.

Its part of the reason I love Jinu's entrance/Jinu's Lament so much. Jinu is essentially showing Gwi-Ma the middle finger and, behind clever lyrics, singing, "how does it feel to be in the same situation you used to manipulate me, you ass?"

This is not the face of a selfish man who left his family-

Its the face of a selfless man who sacrificed everything for his family but got left with nothing but misery and despair for doing so.

Now, is Jinu perfect? No.

Has Jinu made mistakes. Yes.

Does Jinu deserve a second chance? Abso-freaking-utely.

"You seem upset, Your Highness."

You sigh as you consider telling him your troubles - though, you suppose the news will spread to the servants quarters soon enough anyway.

"My father wishes to marry me to an Earl twice my age. He is the sort of man that will suit the royal family, he says."

You'd stormed out of the room minutes earlier when you'd been told the news.

"Then your father is cruel," Tendou laughs dryly, "Or perhaps blind, to think you would be happy with a man like that."

"Careful, jester. You're not working now, someone might overhear and take you seriously."

You smile wryly as you say it, and he knows you won't tell on him - he wonders if its the first time you've genuinely smiled today. Some cruel part of him hopes it is, that he's the one thing that can bring you some semblance of happiness right now.

"Being taken seriously might be nice for a change," he muses, leaning against the wall next to him - you join him, back against the cold stone. "You could always run away, I suppose."

"I wouldn't last a day. My face is printed on silver coins, I would be caught and returned."

"Then go further, to the next kingdom. They may know your name, but I doubt the common people there would recognise your face so quickly."

You chuckle as you consider it. It's tempting - any escape, however crazy, sounds tempting in comparison to this. This duty you were always aware of but had never had to really face until now.

"It would be exciting, I suppose," you humour the idea, "But I've hardly stepped outside the castle grounds. I'm not so sure I'd know how to fend for myself."

"I'd go with you, if you wished it."

He says it too quickly, and you turn to look at him, but his eyes are fixed on a flickering candle on the opposite wall. You imagine it - a life where no one expects anything of you, a cottage in a foreign land with this boy who always knows how to make you laugh.

"We'd still be caught. They'd charge you with kidnapping me and behead you before you could defend yourself."

1. Where the shit is that story about Hébert's execution actually from?

I mean the one from Wikipedia about the executioner playing with him:

I'm thinking about the drama around someone supposedly slapping Charlotte Corday after her execution, which makes it seem like they took their business quite seriously and treated it with at least a minimum of respect [I suppose you could argue over the amount of respect involved in executions to begin with, but] this seems like such a weird deviation from that. And why Hébert? They didn't feel like torturing Brissot et al? [I mean, more on them later...] Or Cecil Renault? Or any of the ci-devant nobles who came through their hands? It's fucking weird. I've heard [source: assorted internet commentary] that sometimes the guillotine malfunctioned, which seems like a plausible explanation for an 18th-century machine. But I went looking for the reference...

...and was kind of surprised that it's from an article by Marisa Linton, who generally knows what she's talking about, in this article (issue link) (the relevant article is paywalled, but you can read it if you turn off javascript). And she doesn't usually seem to get things out of thin air, but in this case, there's no reference to the original source of the description.

2. Also, in that same article is this horrifying anecdote about the Girondins' execution:

"The executioners worked so rapidly that the actual killings took only 36 minutes, and so vigorously that several of the heads flew through the air to land at the base of the scaffold. After the first few executions people in the crowd began to move away, horrified at what they were seeing – the reality of the guillotine in action."

Esther is basically just going around rescuing less fortunate versions of the Freeling kids, so now there's more than just Abby lol

Details under the cut :3

[TW: mentions of h#nging, ab#se, and death. Spoilers for all of Haunted Hotel.]

This is actually from the same exact doodle page as that other one I posted around a week ago. This is specifically a doodle from their execution so, yk, fun stuff.

Reminder that DMAU is an open au based on a discord server that’s open invite! It’s a COTL server and we love new people. Want in? Just message me!

He looks down at them.. and feels a flashback jolt through his mind again.