#LOVE UR TANGO DESIGN OP

[auriidae]

THIS IS SO SO REAL i have Thoughts about this ok!! i have thoughts!!! i was going to ramble abt this to myself in the tags but it got too long so hopefully no one minds me putting it here instead. :p

in the actual song, the first section of lyrics: “hearts don't wither‚ hearts don't break / but mine is tired‚ mine still aches” — well i'm not saying last life tangotekcore. but this is so very last life tangotekcore. something something the difference between having lives (represented by hearts) in last life, and actually living. i haven't seen his pov but ohh man the presentation of lives as a commodity‚ a currency that tango has so much of... but by the twisted nature of the series this wealth in hearts‚ in lives, rather than giving him more time with his friends it — well it gives him more time, sure, but it also isolates him, turns him into a target, an asset rather than a friend. so whether he's actually living with these lives is questionable. "hearts don't wither, hearts don't break" and it's the literal number of lives he holds, has given away — a direct contrast to his actual own heart ("but mine is tired, mine still aches"), figurative but capable of being broken over and over all the same.

i think this first part can apply to skizz too!! i haven't seen much of his own story either but the "there's no more best team!" line jumps to my mind immediately. he tries so hard, and it all still falls apart. and then — and then they all moved on so quickly after his death (that's where the chorus comes in, i think). maybe i should watch his pov sometime actually oooo

and then the second section of lyrics hnsjhfgnshfnsf this is the other half of the team. etho in particular. "i think i might learn to linger, but not now." a lot of etho's characterization (to me) comes from the fact that Boy does this man have issues with commitment when it comes to sentiment, or anything other than a favor to repay. i mean heck half of everything he says is framed like a joke so it can't be used against him. i think team best... and teaming with bdubs at the beginning, and sticking with him through All That... it got close. it got close! maybe he was fighting for someone other than himself, for something other than debt repayment, for a little while. not that he's selfish for the sake of it (a survivor...?) — he cares, he does, but — what was i talking about? ahem. "i think you'll have a ring on your finger, but not now—" this is etho at bdubs i think. "i think your habit of attaching yourself to someone entirely with no reserve or hesitation will lead you to someone who is capable of caring for you equally in the same regard, but it's not going to be me. not now, not yet." (which is VERY VISIBLE when bdubs turns red and asks him to come with him ("jump off this wall twice, ...die twice, be red— we're together"). and it would be fun (it would be fun, and not just a show of commitment) but it's something irreversible and too much of a bond and he can't. ("yeah, no, i don't think so," and "you have lost your mind, bdubs, you have— fallen too far from the sky").) the next line "i won't bargain, i won't break / my mind's made up, though my head still aches" is etho + bdubs again To Me because i don't know enough about tango or skizz lol and either their not-killing-each-other-boogey pact, or the agreement that leads to bdubs's death at the end.

and the very last bit is all of them, of course. the repeated "you can't have it all"... and then "you won't find me where you left me / no, i'm long gone." funny how it could be said that skizz, tango, and bdubs gave the team everything and came out with nothing, while etho was the most reserved but the final survivor. (...maybe he suffered equally, being alone at the end? maybe they all did. tango wanted to make it to the end but gave all his lives to others and died unnecessarily by his own hand, skizz wanted to have his team together but they all left him, bdubs wanted etho but was abandoned, and etho (half turned towards the finish line but half towards his friends) couldn't kill anyone when red and died alone.) and none of them will find each other where they left them because both they don't really know each other + what they were going through and also they've all moved on.

sad! anyways <last life best team3

[2/75] Team B.E.S.T. - Can’t Have It All

“All my love you tried to take, but you can't have it all”

[doodle-scrapyard]

i am knocking on your window PLEASE do tell us more abt the demon au it looks so epic,,

watch out bro u hav unlocked: a lot of talking (stolen directly from me rambling to andy in dms w/some additions & edits)

Basic concept behind it is that demons will form pacts w/people to get stuff/favors/stronger/just for fun/really depends on who you're asking 

There's 3 main distinctions of demon with a bunch of subclasses that are self explanatory once u hear em so I won't really elaborate on individual powers w/exceptions. ANYWAYS 3 main distinctions are elementals(your lights, your fires, your waters, your winds etc), animalistics(birds, dogs, cats, sheep, etc) and our lovely exception, the Unmentionable(who's only got 2 subtypes: void, who are unstable and usually violent, and undead, who are bad to be around bc they're breaking nature more than everyone else). Generally labelled as unmentionables bc you're Not Supposed To Make Pacts With Them, reason being that they usually have dangerous tradeoffs no matter what you're looking for. 

That's not to say that animalistics and elementals are exempt from asking for some serious stuffs in their pacts, it's just that unmentionables have a high kill rate on whatever human they make deals with. 

Then??? The benefits??? You get to borrow powers from your pacted demon (and take on some of their characteristics temporarily) nd go wild. I'll figure out the logistics of this later just know it's a thing mostly fr me going hoghgoghgohgo design....

OKAY NOW FOR HERMITS. I haven't written about everyone but so far so far, stress is an ice elemental who partially wanted a bestie and partially wanted to get stronger so she traded iskall an literal eye-for-an-eye so they could travel together and do sparring w/hermits. They're like the model elemental example djvdksbdkdg 

Mumbo is a birdie animalistic boyo. Grian won't say why he pacted w/mumbo but says mumbo is a big fat liar bc mumbo always says it's bc grian needed a smart person around. Grian doesn't call up mumbo often to use his abilities but when he does it's for flying. We love these idiots. 

REN. Ren. First problem child. He found Doc one day on the verge of turning into stardust and made an impulse decision pact. Here's the catch: Doc is an unmentionable. Specifically a voidy* boy. Doc wasn't always an unmentionable, he was caught up in a whole mess and (of course it's nho backstory) lost the rest of his friends. Doc asked ren to help him find the nho again, and ren gets to have cursed forbidden powers. Hooray for severely unfair trade offs! *void unmentionables are extremely unstable and prone just, falling apart completely. v powerful but basically held together by duct tape & staples without an anchor point (like how doc has ren)

Joe is also a problem child. He likes collecting things and undead unmentionables tend to bind themselves to objects and spring a pact on whoever picks them up. So of course Joe finds cleo in a shipwreck and she's like "pact motherfucker" expecting him to be japed into doing crazy shit and he's like "only if you help me with writing" and so now Joe just casually has access to one of the most dangerous form of demon magic and uses it to make narrative poems.

now onto new stuffs I didn't ramble about to andy!

zedaph is fully aware that youre not supposed to pact w/2 demons at once bc uh, the toll it takes on ur body in relation to energy output+having to deal with 2 promises hanging over you is Kind Of A Thing. zedaph said “okay but now I have TWO friends” and he only regularly passes out. impulse is an elemental electic boyo & tango is a fire elemental. impulse has cool dragon wings and zedaph borrows that OFTEN for funsies. zedaph is barred from formal sparring because he double dipped on pacts and is frankly kind of op

 wels… welsy also double dipped on pacts . its rly funny tho? for him its actually hilarious. he wants to become this really epic fighter who has a bunch of power & clout but hes more like a glass cannon who immediately just drops the moment a fight is over. it also doesn't help that jevin(who is a lovely water elemental) is viciously apathetic abt fighting. like yeah sure dude I will lend u my power but ur not gonna be able to do anything cool about it. biffa on the other hand wels almost never wants to ask for bc 1 biffa b koala animalistic & is asleep 90% of the time and 2 he goes ham cazy cazy and tends to destroy everyone in a 5 meter radius even if they were an ally. of course this isn't biffas default but how would YOU feel if you were sleeping and someone was loudly shouting for you to start being violent . I would make wels go sicko mode as a revenge. that's what you get for not letting me nap motherfucker

xisuma. xisuma never pacted with any demon according to everyone, but false kinda knew a bit more? xisuma was obsessed with trying to CREATE a demon. of course, what ended up happening was him doing a lot of dangerous deals with unmentionables, before disappearing completely. falsie kinda watched him spiral into nothing but a demon himself. who knows where he is now

anyways false is pacted w/python and theyre an exploring duo & false always comes back to home base w/a bunch of cool shit to trade with the others

uhhhhhh (does a lil dance) yeah yhats what I got