#But Boothill has been through all that and it sucked and he already really likes and relates to Dan Heng.

[feroluce]

NO OK BUT I'M STILL NOT OVER BOOTHILL AND DAN HENG AND THE JADE ABACUS IN ENA'S DREAM!!!!!

For some extra context, I have a whole henghill manifesto I wrote over here, but the tl;dr is that Dan Heng decides to use the Jade Abacus of Allying Oath to save the Express Crew the first time. Boothill urges him to think it over carefully, but he doesn't stop him. And then, the second time Dan Heng decides to use it, we get this instead:

And just! That's so!! so!!!

Because like. We see in the first battle against Sunday that that Jade Abacus is effective, like we really do just get an entire army lead by a whole-ass Emanator of The Hunt right to our location and ready to fuck shit up. It's important. It's incredibly valuable. That is a huge amount of power to hold in the palm of one's hand.

But Tiernan's relic works the same way.

Galaxy Rangers are terribly dangerous. Boothill comments on this when discussing Acheron's motives, because he can't believe anyone would be stupid enough to get The Hunt on their asses. They're considered to be on a level even above The Annihilation Gang.

And now, with the burial relic, he has a way to get thousands of them, almost immediately, and all in one place.

And you can't tell me that wouldn't be something extremely useful to Boothill, like literally life-saving. He's wanted by the IPC. He makes his living as a bounty hunter. His whole driving motivation in life right now is to do whatever he can, up to and including throwing away his own human body, to ruthlessly hunt down one man and kill him in revenge. Like that has to be dangerous, the IPC is a massive entity with far-reaching influence and money and power and weaponry. He surely must have already had some close calls.

Like can you imagine it? Galaxy Rangers are solitary creatures. If Boothill were to find himself near death, he would probably be all alone. Do you think he had regrets? Did he wonder if anyone would find his own burial relic? Did it feel the same way it did when they melted his flesh, replaced it with metal? Did he lay there with his vision slowly blacking out until he thought of home, and family, and the little daughter who he never even got to hear her first word, until he was so full of fury that he could prop himself up on his rage like a crutch and find help?

Tiernan's relic would have been like a get-out-of-jail-free card. Just for one time, no matter where Boothill was, someone would find him. The Galaxy Rangers aren't sociable or organized between themselves, but they help their own. Someone would save him.

He chooses to give all of that up to help Dan Heng.

And I just cannot get over it, especially the wording of it, the pause before he speaks, the gentle way he tells him to hold onto his once-in-a-lifetime treasure...!! He wants Dan Heng to leave this to him! He wants him to keep this precious item that will help him save his companions again in the future! And maybe it's just...wishful thinking, me reading too much into it? But I mean. Just the way he says it...

I really do think it comes from a place of deep kinship and respect. That there's a lot of thought and feeling behind that statement. Something from one Pathstrider of The Hunt to another. Boothill fought for his home and his family, he fought really really hard! But. Sometimes that just doesn't matter. And now he's watching Dan Heng fight for his, too.

When he made that decision the first time, Dan Heng was in the parlor car of the Astral Express. He was completely removed from any danger. He could have chosen to get the hell out of Dodge and not look back. Obviously we know he would never even consider such a thing, but it was technically an option, and Boothill watched him decide to go back into the proverbial lion's den for his friends anyway. And I'm sure that was part of what sealed his decision, to later use Tiernan's relic instead of the Jade Abacus to summon enough people to disrupt Ena's Dream. Because he greatly values ideas like righteousness and justice and saving people, and Dan Heng so beautifully embodies all of that and then some.

Boothill doesn't have people to protect anymore, only ghosts to avenge.

And there is just something so endlessly endearing about him wanting to help Dan Heng, to make sure his friend doesn't go through that the way he did.

[tearsofcalamity]

lowkey! don't know what it means to transfer to a bachelor's program i googled it and still couldn't connect the dots to my country's educational system so the clown nose for me! but whatever it means i wish luck & courage the only 2 things you need in uni really. as for me, end of the semester means Shit, I've Been Bullshitting Around For A Whole 5 Months, And Now I Kinda Need To Get 4 Assignments Done, Pick Up The Textbooks I Should've Gotten 3 Months Ago, And Figure Out What Fucking Classes I'm Even Enrolled In For Exams. so double clown nose.

btw i think i might rlly need to get back to hsr bc who is boothill!!! why are we fucking a robot (?)!! why's his name that!!???

ooh sorry!! lemme explain a bit!! I'm american and we and some other countries use a degree program so like it goes associate's degree which usually takes like 2 years, bachelor's degree which takes like 4, and master's which can take a varying amount of years depending on what subject it's for!

I'm currently in community college which usually focuses on associate's degrees. I've been in my program for 2 years so I'm graduating with a business administration and economics degree in just a week after finals :) then I'll be transferring to a new college that has bachelor's degrees available, because my current one doesn't have bachelor's only associate's. but I'll only be going to the new college for 2 years because technically I already "completed" the requirements for the first 2 years. it's a little weird/complex sorry for the rant!! I hope that kinda made sense!

I AM WISHING YOU LUCK & COURAGE AS WELL!! I'm also wishing you ease in all those tasks ;;; that sounds like a lot but I'm sure you can get through it!! final stretch!!!

ALSO YESSS!!! PLEASE get back into hsr I'll go and put an image of him down here but boothill's a galaxy ranger which is a faction in hsr that follows the hunt and is basically a vigilante group. he's a dashing cyborg cowboy w a silky smooth voice <3 <3 <3 his backstory is VERY sad too. he just appeared in the recent update BUT he's been leaked for a while I think since back in like january ish (?) I ADORE HIM AND I DIDNT THINK I WOULD SOOOO IT SUCKS CAUSE IM GONNA NEED TO SPEND MONEY ON PULLING HIM LOL

also I should note he cant swear LOL he got his translation implant fucked with so every curse word is replaced w something safe like fuck = fudge, son of a bitch = son of a nice lady etc.

also also! his name is a reference to cemeteries made for gunslingers in the 19th/20th centuries of western america. it's a reference to how they "died with their boots on" hence the name boot hill

here he is oughghghghgh <3 <3 <3