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johannesviii · 5 years ago

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So I guess I’m hyperfixating on Death Stranding at the moment

And since I’ve finally finished the story after playing it for like 100 hours over the course of seven months or so I guess I have Opinions(tm) about things I didn’t like in the game

They’re eating at my brain so I’m gonna put them all in a single post to get them out of my system once and for all so I can enjoy the rest in peace

Spoilers, obviously

Hi welcome back to ‘Johannes is obsessing over yet another video game with horror elements in it’! I guess!!

Our latest entry in that category was Until Dawn but since UD can be played in like 6/7 hours and I spent 100 hours of my life on DS, as you can guess we’re talking about a full-blown hyperfixation, the kind that physically hurts because I can’t focus on anything else even after having finished the storyline

But it was super gradual. Again, seven months. I barely made any progress from December to May because I was only doing side-deliveries at the beginning of Chapter 3 instead of... you know... advancing the plot. It became an honest-to-god special interest about two months ago, then 6 days ago while playing chapter 10 it reached hyperfixation levels and now I am in PAIN

I hate my brain

Anyhow

At first I wanted to list the good and the bad hings in it but there’s too many good things to list them all in full, excruciatingly long details, so

Very Quick And Very Incomplete List Of Good Things That I Love

It’s a post-apo game based on travel, logistics, and good will, and it straight up goes AGAINST the whole ‘survival of the fittest’ trope that SO MANY post-apo things try to push!! YES

I insist but it’s built on helping each other and keeping everyone alive, seriously that is my shit right there!

The online community is wholesome?? People leave stuff everywhere, you never see anyone but people put little helpful signs and send you likes, and in my game we almost managed to repair all the roads together

There’s so many new & strange allergies and disabilities and phobias in this post-apo world and? nobody is trying to ““fix”“ anyone?? Like Heartman with his padded floor and his little box that brings him back to life constantly. He’s just... living like that. Nobody’s going “hey maybe you should get another heart operation buddy”

The hero and his phobia of being touched. I. Loved. That. The quiet scenes when he was just talking with Fragile, sitting next to her. In any other context this would just be two people sitting next to each other and talking but it always feels so soft and intimate everytime he allows another human being to just. be next to him. I love it. I love them

Everyone crying constantly because of chiral allergy!!

I loved all the important characters bar one (Bridget/Amelie)!

Why is this walking simulator so enjoyable why am I enjoying the fact that holding L2 + R2 while walking feels like holding your backpack and that you have to relax at times just like you’d have to if you were actually holding a backpack

Seriously. Why

The atmosphere was so great, the music was fantastic and the visuals were on point. A E S T H E T I C

The ghosts!! The giant Beached Things!!! Chiral crystals look! like! creepy hands reaching for the SKY!!

THE RAIN DESTROYS THINGS AND KILLS PEOPLE BY ACCELERATING TIME THIS IS SO COOL SHUT UP

Everytime the game got surreal it was electrifying

THE SURREAL WAR SCENES ON CLIFF’S BEACH

Everyone is using emojis

There’s guys addicted to delivering packages in that game and they’re trying to steal our stuff and we’re like “haha they’re dumb” but we’re basically addicted to delivering packages as the player. So yeah that was pretty fun

Terrorists thinking humanity isn’t going extinct fast enough and wanting to just rip the bandaid and speed things up. Simple but effective concept

People ask for SUPER VITAL ITEMS right next to completely trivial stuff and I’m LIVING for it. “Please fetch my toy dinosaur”. I feel you dude

The most isolated characters are like "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS THING I LIKE" in your emails because they haven't had contact with other humans in years, it's super relatable

There’s a farm where people use the fact that Timefall rain accelerates time to grow food super quickly in one (1) Timefall and harvest everything just before it starts to die and I LOVE that detail of worldbuilding so much

YOU’RE FIGHTING BEACHED THINGS WITH YOUR OWN BODILY FLUIDS IT’S SO STUPID BUT ALSO SO COOL?? I love yeet-ing my own blood at eldritch entities

THE T W I S T S

All the fanservice (bar one detail that I’m gonna complain about later) is on dudes. This game reeeeeeally likes to show dudes naked or somewhat naked. Mostly the main character but this mocap also L O V E S Mads Mikkelsen and there’s a shit ton of homoerotic shots in there

I love Sam the antisocial papa wolf delivery man and if someone touches him or his baby again, I will cry

LOU. LOU LOU LOU PRECIOUS BABY I’D DIE FOR YOU. Wait I did

I love Fragile and how brave she is and how she keeps helping people even if most of them wrongly think she’s a terrorist and yes I will eat this cryptobiote thank you

I love soft science boi Heartman who keeps dying again and again and is a bit too much interested in bodily fluids

I love garbage man Higgs and how complex, funny and still somewhat tragic this memelord actually turned out to be in the end

Seriously I want to stop fixating on this character but you can’t give me YET ANOTHER character who wants to die but at the hands of someone else, that is unfair to do that right after my fixation on the new Doctor Who Master

So yeah Higgs is yet another character who makes me want to grab him by the lapels and shake him and yell WHY! ARE! YOU! LIKE! THIS! STOP! BEING! LIKE! THIS!!

Cliff broke all three of my feelings beautifully and in excruciatingly well-acted scenes that transcended the sometimes lackluster dialogue

John made me cry during That Scene

Mama your background was tragic and terrifying and you didn’t deserve any of this shit and I love you

Deadman was more funny than anything, really, but I still liked him even if he had no sense of personal space whatsoever and it clashed horribly with Sam’s phobias

The ending had some sad parts but was mostly positive, thank goodness

Now I’m gonna explain things I dislike and this looks long but it’s actually only 5 main things so I bolded them to avoid confusion

Things I really disliked (and could have been handled wayyyy better)

We all know it but Kojima isn’t a master of subtlety and some parts of the dialogue kept repeating the same informations again and again AND AGAIN and I was like “ok ok I get it”

The dialogue can be so bad at times seriously

Kojima is a bad writer there I said it

It was particularly annoying with Amelie/Bridget and the fact she’s a horrible person trying (and failing) to justify her actions wasn’t helping

Bridges protocols are incredibly intrusive. All of them. I know it’s framed as bad and Sam hates being spied on all the time and in the end he destroys the device that does that, but I wish someone else would openly criticise it in-game

I guess Deadman sort of did but still

Also I know the whole BB technology was Bridget’s idea, and since she’s the actual villain it’s framed as a twisted, evil thing during the ending, but I wish that had been framed like that much earlier ; a lot of Bridges employees just... seem to accept the idea that their employer is using premature babies and their dead mothers as useful, if disturbing, devices. They seem to justify it by “uh we stole that technology from terrorists” to try to cope with the idea but... yeah.

I mean, one of the points being made very early on is that Sam sees his BB as his child who must be protected at all costs instead of a detection device, but I really wish he wasn’t the only one to object to that thing

Again, the game DOES frame "using babies and their dead mothers as tools” as evil and twisted, I just wish it was given a lot more weight and way sooner

Now let’s talk about the Token Straight(tm) in this game

In any other kind of context it would be a joke! But Death Stranding literally has a Token Straight Guy!

I mean, there IS a few hetero couples among the Preppers. Not a lot, mind you. Like, there’s the Montaineer and his wife for instance. But they’re just there and it’s not what their side plot is about

No I’m talking about this piece of shit right there

This f█cking Junk Dealer guy complains the girl he loves is dead because of Bridges and emotionally blackmails us by sending us old holograms of her before her supposed death (somewhat disturbing holograms too because she looks... pretty young in them), then he sends us on what’s essentially a suicide mission in a BT infested zone, THEN when we give him proof she’s still alive and living in another bunker nearby, he won’t go there himself to check??

But SHE’s like “ok, bring me to him, then!”

He doesn’t deserve you, girl

I’ve already seen several people pointing out that carrying a woman as cargo on your back is... debatable at best and sexist at worst, but that part didn’t really bother me to be honest? She asked to be carried to him and it’s her choice. She was talking to us the entire way too, so that made things a lot less awkward. Also Sam has this phobia of being touched by other people so I bet carrying another human being on his back isn’t fun for him. It was also super stressful to do, to be honest.

And then there’s this EXTREMELY AWKWARD scene when they’re reunited and decide to get married, and thankfully Sam finds it just as awkward as we do because he’s standing super far away from the bunker in a “can’t they talk about this later - I’m right there” way. And I’m under the impression it was intended as cringy, in a “yeppp young people in love are Like That” sort of way, so I can accept that, to be honest. If you don’t take that scene seriously, it’s pretty fun in, again, a cringy sort of way

BUT

Then you receive more emails later and this piece of shit guy complains about her and he’s like “ugh WOMEN” or “marriage is the worst” and they end up divorced in record time and she goes back to her bunker

Which isn’t my problem with this subplot either, I promise I’m gonna explain myself eventually but this context is important. It’s okay to have characters who are pieces of shit like this guy who reeks of incel cologne. It’s alright. Not every character has to be a role-model. It’s good to have characters you can hate.

BUT THEN they get back together later to try to patch things up and you learn he was part of a gang who murdered her parents even though he protected her against the rest of the gang and that’s what I hated about that storyline. I guess if you squint it can be read as “this woman is making REALLY BAD life choices” but I read it as “he saved her so she owes him something, he can’t be entirely bad” and y i k e s this left such a bad taste in my mouth, good lord.

But yeah miss Chiral Artist you’re making really bad life choices please get away from this dude as soon as you can, thank you

Also don’t do this ‘sending Likes’ pose ever again, it was hilarious but also you made me use the word “cringy” several times in this paragraph even though I absolutely hate cringe culture, look what you made me do

Now I have to talk about a scene that was intentionally disturbing as hell but ONE (1) detail in it was disturbing for the wrong reasons

To be honest, I really don’t like the Metal Gear Solid games and one of the reasons is the rampant sexism in them so I... was kind of bracing myself for Death Stranding and expecting it to have at least SOME really bad fanservice with a woman at one point or another but to my surprise?? There was none? All the fanservice is on dudes??? Hello? I really liked that (well at some point Fragile takes a shower in our room but we see literally nothing except her shoulder and then Sam looks away)?? What a refreshing change

THAT BEING SAID

And if you played the game you know exactly what I’m about to talk about

Yep this is the part where Johannes complains about how the bomb flashback was shot

Ok so I guess I should also give some context in case someone is reading this but hasn’t played the game, but the deal with this scene is that our friend Fragile was betrayed by her colleague Higgs who used to be a porter but became a terrorist after meeting the “main“ villain of the game. First he secretly put a thermonuclear bomb in one of her deliveries so she’d nuke an entire city without even knowing it, and everyone after that thought she was a terrorist. And then he tried to do that shit A SECOND TIME, but she noticed and decided to toss the second nuke into a bottomless lake of tar. But he caught her just before she reached the lake and he decided to give her a sadistic choice, which was “teleport away and the bomb stays there and nukes the city, or carry it to the lake but only in your underwear under this rain that speeds up time and it will do enormous damage to your health and your body”

And of course being the hero she is, she decides to take the second option

And it’s an incredibly disturbing scene and it’s genuinely hard to watch

But it’s also the ONLY time a woman is in her underwear in this entire game and there’s A COUPLE of shots that were male-gaze-y at the beginning before she started to run and the really horrific part started.

So in a way I guess it could have been worse? way worse, even

But it still tarnishes an otherwise disturbing (and harrowing at times ; seriously I know I’m oversensitive but it was physically painful to watch) scene with unnecessary shots

We know Fragile had a young body before this happened, this isn’t the point of this scene, guys

Whoever decided to keep these shots (probably Kojima let’s face it), that is bad and you should feel bad

Idk how to do a visual transition for that next one because I do not want to screen that memo

So here’s a screenshot with a nice landscape instead

tw: acephobia

Now I have to talk about something I like the GENERAL IDEA of, but not how the IN-GAME MATERIAL ABOUT IT was written

Because I have to talk about that “asexual world” memo

First I have to say that I absolutely love the fact that a mainstream game openly says in-game “this future is full of asexual people" and?? it’s just that, it’s a part of this world. That’s just how things are. It’s normalised. I love it. For crying out loud this memo has the word demisexual in it. I can’t think of any other mainstream game that had this word in it so far.

It should have stopped there and let me enjoy that in peace but it didn’t

THE MEMO ITSELF WAS CLEARLY WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THESE CONCEPTS and there’s some really bad stuff there. I’d say it’s accidental acephobia but it’s still there. I’m not the best person to talk about this because I’m bi, but it still rubbed me the wrong way

The words this memo uses near the beginning are “"sexless lifestyle” among young people” and yikes, my dude. “Lifestyle”, uh? Really?

And then it goes on about how these new labels were already more and more common “among young people before the Death Stranding” and it also rubs me the wrong way, in a “wow young people and their weird labels lol” sort of queerphobic way?

However I’ve seen a post pointing out that the line “One theory posits that the Stranding accelerated the proliferation of these sexualities” was maybe a way of saying ‘yo asexuals are causing the end of the world’ but... I don’t see it, tbh? In the context of the game, society is extremely divided and a lot of people live in complete isolation and social norms have heavily shifted and it’s kind of normal that there’s queer people visible everywhere now, aces included obviously, because nobody’s bothering to hide it anymore. It’s a post-apocalyptic world! People are just being themselves! A lot of characters also seem to be bi/pan! They’re just vibing ok

At least that’s how I read that part, I can understand if someone had a problem with that bit but I didn’t

BUT! THAT’S NOT ALL because the memo concludes (I’m paraphrasing) “the birth rate has dropped, which might be a problem, but harassment and assault have also dropped, which is good, so idk it’s 50/50″ and. like. I get the intention. But it’s clumsy as hell and very bad. Please don’t confuse abuse of power and attraction. They don’t go hand in hand. Don’t do that. Please. And you know that aces can have kids if they want to, right. Come on. It’s 2020 my dude. This shit is harmful

Also. Like. It’s the end of the world in this game. People don’t want kids. It... has nothing to do with aces. Reality itself is crashing down. People are reluctant to have kids because reality.exe might f█cking crash down at any given moment!

Or a Beached Thing could VoidOut their city!

Or someone might send them a nuke, not naming names!!

Anyway!!!

It’s really badly written and whoever wrote it should educate themselves and maybe get an ace to re-read their stuff next time??

Again I’m not the right person to talk about acephobia and I bet an actual ace would have plenty more to say about this

Thankfully it’s a memo written in-game by a random Bridges councellor and NOT by any important character that we actually know

"I must preempt myself by admitting that I do not have any empirical data" yeah so, f█ck off maybe

So I’m just gonna call that guy “another piece of shit character” but it still doesn’t excuse the fact that the memo was written by someone who thought it was a good idea to put it in the game

Just let me enjoy my super queer post-apo world in peace and don’t write shit like that in your game thank you and goodbye

Minor stuff I also disliked but it wasn’t as awful

I get that Sam is upset at the end because Lou is dying but the way he said goodbye to Fragile broke my heart. It was abrupt and you KNOW he’s upset and wants to have nothing to do with Bridges anymore and that’s very understandable but it isn’t her fault

Seriously I want them to be friends again

I’m gonna pretend they’re friends again after Lou is saved and that Sam is a freelance porter again and sometimes their paths cross and they just talk together in the middle of nowhere and share cryptobiotes

The pacing is weird, there’s this deluge of plot in the beginning and the end but not much in the middle?

The BT boss fights could have been these epic Shadow of the Colossus showdowns but no, they were relatively standard boss fights. Wasted opportunity

The running on the Beach scene sdfghjhgfdsdfghjhgf that was... dumb

A lot of preppers are interesting in one way or another but some are just boring. Also I wish the design of their bunkers was more varied

Amelie/Bridget’s motivations are all over the place, both creating Bridges AND the Demens is... a lot? I know she both WANTS and DOESN’T want the actual, final end of the world to happen but that is a lot to take in and it’s all very confusing

Who the hell cares about ‘rebuilding America’ I just want to build a network where people can help each other

The ‘likes’ are fun but don’t make much sense

In conclusion

Death Stranding Good

Some stuff Bad

Some stuff Very Bad (but it’s just one memo out of 100+ memos, thank god)

I’m still hyperfixating

Send help

#death stranding #long post #eye contact tw #acephobia tw #from a minor unamed character but still it's there

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lucarioisinthevoid · 5 years ago

Note

sorry for the assumption henry, didn't mean it in an offensive way. however, with you mentioning eating three plates on occassion (even if rarely), william saying you cook something giant for you *both* afterwards, your general approach to your body and how most people feel after ending a fast, you have to admit that wasn't TOO unrealistic of an assumption to make.

(Anonymous said:

Okay but Henry 3 plates sounds like a lot, are you alright)(Anonymous said:

Henry: you mentioned that you're able to eat 'quite huge' portions on rare occassions. Do you end up in pain after that, or do you not feel your limit at those times?)

Okay, you got him.“Apology accepted, you are indeed correct on that front… I might have been harsh on you.”H o w e v e r . . .“It is VERY rare. Not to mention, I never overate in my life, the limit is simply gone. I eat and feel empty, so I eat some more until at some point I get bored with it, or have finished the food I have available. Before anyone speaks up: No, it is not alright to eat out of boredom or out of empty appetite. I know that. I do not do it often.”The fact that he had to point that out… preposterous.“Again, rarely. Not to mention, I do not even always react to the impulse. When I was a bit younger, I think it is understandable that I went onto minor binging sprees, as I tended to exhaust myself, do foolish, risky stunts, stress myself out, running off adrenaline… of course my body desired to replenish the lost energy.”Yes, it tended to only occur when he managed to get through something he considered difficult.Huh.“You people are far, FAR too concerned about my eating habits, considering I lost my body at this point anyhow and will never have to worry about it ever again. I literally cannot eat unhealthy anymore, because chances are either I vanish in here, or I possess a machine, who obviously cannot eat, OR I possess the undead vessel, who cannot be changed by food- or anything really.”Partially he appreciated the worry, partially he could only shake his head about it.“You people need to worry about your own eating habits more so than mine. Please, I know how to handle myself.”A bit unwilling Henry sighed.“… thank you however. I appreciate some Anons looking out for me.”NOT MANY DO AND WE’LL PROVE IT SOON, STAY TUNED-“Wait what-“

#henry miller

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schtroumpf-a-lunettes · 7 years ago

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The Smurfs That Canon Forgot, Chapter 10

Read this chapter on: AO3 | ff.net | DeviantART | This post!

Previous Chapters: Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9

Hi, everyone! After posting the previous chapter of this fic, I have since graduated from university and landed a full-time job! That's the main reason why this chapter is so late. Updates will be slower from now on, but I still aim to update every 2-3 weeks, although it may take longer than that at times - we'll see!

also I immediately noticed a typo within the first three lines after posting this rip.

“we might have learned some less-then-smurfy news today”. I’ve fixed it in all places except ff.net lol. okay on with the chapter now

“I just don’t understand it.”

Grandpa listened as Papa mulled over what they had learned today at the meeting aloud.

“Well, we might have learned some less-than-smurfy news today, but the overall takeaway isn’t all bad, you know.”

Papa looked at Grandpa curiously. “What do you mean…?” Surely he wasn’t talking about the fact that most of the smurfs’ enemies that had posed a threat to them had now largely been intimidated into leaving them alone?

Grandpa’s reply came as a pleasant surprise to him. “Well don’t ya see, Papa? There’s no smurf about it anymore after today: you’re in charge of this village.”

Papa had taken some time to himself, as he’d needed to. But now… Today, even if he hadn’t really noticed it consciously at the time, he’d really managed to assert himself as the prime decision-maker and head of the village once more.

Papa, however, wasn’t fully convinced, and went to brush off Grandpa’s assessment. “Oh, I don’t know about that. We were gone for an awful long time, and you know how I’ve been having a couple of difficulties lately when instructing the others, receiving that little bit of pushback…” Here and there, he’d needed to negotiate, as they’d been sustaining the village on their own for so long and had their own ways of going about it that weren’t necessarily the same as his. Even today, in the meeting, he had felt some pushback that had never been there before – before the time crystals got involved and messed everything up. How could he assume his position was the same? Even if it might look the same, there’s no telling how feelings were under the surface. What if they doubted him now, didn’t trust and accept him so readily?

But it was not that the smurfs hadn’t wanted Papa to take charge again. Rather, they’d needed some time to transition the duties back over to him, as well as allowing Papa some time to rest. Grandpa wished Papa would realise that, wished he wouldn’t doubt himself so much over this. He could see that the transition was just about complete, anyhow. The stage was set, and all Papa needed to do was walk onto it.

So he shook his head with a smile. “This is what every smurf wants. You, leading them, as you’ve been doing since they were all near-high to a grasshopper. It’s plain as day and any old smurf can see it – except you.” He let out a brief laugh at the end, causing Papa to smile. Grandpa continued, “I noticed it in the meeting hall today and I’m sure everyone else did too.”

Papa Smurf was stepping back into his full role again unopposed. Everysmurf was ready to embrace this return, this reversion to how things should be.

“Well… I suppose you could be right. I do still wish that things wouldn’t have smurfed out this way. Just... what happened with my little smurfs while we were all gone?” Papa said the latter part sadly, more to himself than anything else.

***

In the “past”…

Scaredy Smurf stood with his arms crossed, looking unimpressed. “F-Flighty.”

Flighty smiled nervously. “Hey, Scaredy…” For all intents and purposes, Scaredy was not an intimidating smurf, but he didn’t need to sound or look intimidating these days for everyone to be aware that he was not one to be smurfed at. Flighty soon found his mind wandering. When was the last time Scaredy had gotten a good night’s sleep? The bags under his eyes were-

Scaredy cut into his thoughts. “Do you know why I smurfed you out to speak with you today?” He gave a pause for Flighty to answer, but Flighty seemed to want him to continue, so he did. “When asked, you keep saying that maybe you want to help out, so then we include you and give you tasks to smurf, a-and then all of a sudden you change your mind! Y-you can’t just keep abandoning duties when you’re assigned them.”

“Ah… Sorry Scaredy. I’ll think it over.”

Scaredy threw up his hands in exasperation. “You’ve had plenty of time to think it over! You either want to help out or you don’t. But f-fine. This is the last time…”

Scaredy left him to his own devices as Flighty tried to figure out what it was that he wanted to do.

It was not long before he was approached once more, but this time not by Scaredy. Rather, by some of Scaredy’s close supporters.

“Why can’t you just commit to something just this once, Flighty? You don’t want to waste everysmurf’s time, your own included.”

“Just… pick a side.”

“Yeah, pick a side and smurf it over with so that we can know what side you’re smurfing on.”

“Uh, umm” Flighty wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t mean to waste anyone’s time…”

“The solution is simple, then: help work to smurf the village safe, with us. We could really smurf you on our side, Flighty!”

“Well I just think… maybe I’ll smurf in the middle? I-“

“You can’t smurf in the middle, Flighty, that’s what we’re saying. You either choose to help us protect the village or you don’t. And if you’re not doing anything to help, you might as well not be supporting us at all.”

Flighty was concerned that in such a situation as this where abstaining from a decision would fail to make anyone happy, he may just have to resign himself to leaving everyone unsatisfied.

***

Scaredy made his way through the smurf village. It was late morning. Everyone appeared to be busying themselves with something, except he could see the smurflings standing around a little idly. He decided to approach them.

“H-hello.” He gave a little wave. “What are you two up to today?”

“Hi Scaredy. Actually, we were just trying to figure that out for ourselves, but I’m sure we’ll think up something fun” Nat responded.

Scaredy hummed thoughtfully. “You know… I’ve an idea. What about if you helped out a little for our little village side-project? It could be fun, and I think you’d both be really wonderful additions to our team. I have a couple of small tasks that I think-“

“HEY!”

A jolt went through Scaredy at Tailor’s sudden shout. He turned to see him staring at him angrily. Stepped back in alarm as Tailor continued.

“You – You! Don’t drag the smurflings into your nonsense! Don’t even try!”

Scaredy held up his hands defensively. He couldn’t help the slight shake to them, but with great effort he was able to largely maintain his calm and respond. “I wa- I was j-just asking them, Tailor. Offering. Wasn’t “dragging” them into anything! There’s n-no need to be so upset!”

“I don’t care. Leave them alone. Let them do what they wish instead of trying to take them away from their games and do things for you.”

“Do things for me? You think I – you think all of this is just for me? It’s for the whole village. E-Even for the smurfs who don’t c-care, and don’t want to help out! It wasn’t like Nat and Slouchy had anything planned, I wasn’t trying to disrupt their day, I was only-“

“Scaredy. Step away and leave the smurflings be. Don’t try to co-opt them into your little “village defense” club again.”

Scaredy’s “little” club had more smurfs that were part of it as opposed to smurfs that were not. Maybe in the past it could have been called “little”, but things had changed when Gargamel had tried to attack the village just as Scaredy had been fearing all along, proving him right to have been so worried about Gargamel showing up. Suddenly, a lot of smurfs who had scoffed at him before had been a lot more interested in learning about how they could help guard against future threats.

By this point, many smurfs were observing and listening to Scaredy and Tailor’s exchange.

“What you s-said before: ‘Let them do what they wish’? Y-you’re r-r-right. Why don’t you let them decide? I-instead of deciding for them!”

“Don’t you know when to quit?!” Tailor snarled. He went to leap at Scaredy but was held back by some other smurfs. Scaredy had tripped over himself in his attempt to move back, and was now sitting firmly on the ground, Tailor looking down at him from above.

Slouchy spoke, reminding everyone of his and Nat’s presence. “Tailor. It’s fine. We’re just going to go off and play on our own, okay?”

Tailor continued on, still looking at Scaredy. “I won’t let you… won’t let them get taken in by your paranoid antics because they’re smurflings. They’re smurflings.”

“It’s fine, Tailor.” Slouchy reiterated flatly, “Don’t worry about it.”

Smurfs were also urging Scaredy to just drop it, to leave it alone, but he had a faraway look as he sat there and likely didn’t hear them. One that Dreamy, from the crowd, somehow felt that he, too, was familiar with. In that moment, he just looked so tired.

Scaredy spoke softly. “Yeah. They’re smurflings. But maybe you need to give them more credit. We’ve all had to do a lot of growing up ever since… Ever since…” his eyes came back into focus then. His words had not meant to inflame, but that was the effect they’d had on Tailor, who was struggling against the smurfs keeping him away from Scaredy, trying to take him further away.

“You’re a coward. You’d have children do your bidding.”

Scaredy frowned. “That’s not-“ he protested, but Tailor’s words continued to steamroll over his.

“Don’t you think we’ve all gone through – are going through enough, without you adding even more on top of it all? Especially the smurflings. Why would you-“

“Please, stop fighting!” Nat wailed.

His words, abruptly piercing through the air. It was finally enough to get Scaredy and Tailor to leave it alone, to leave the conversation. Everyone started picking the day back up again and continuing on with it. Slouchy and Nat went off and tried to come up with a game to play. They did not follow after or join Scaredy, just as Slouchy had told Tailor they wouldn't.

***

Dabbler appraised the smurfs sitting before him disapprovingly. “What were you thinking…?”

Neither Harmony nor Tuffy replied as they allowed Dabbler to fuss over them, Tuffy being the more reluctant of the two to have any of his wounds looked at.

“You know” Dabbler continued, shaking his head, “I’m busy enough as it is, without…”

Tuffy crossed his arms stubbornly. “Then stop wasting your time and just go and do the other things you need to do instead. You’re the one who insisted on looking us over, when it’s gotta be nothing but a coupl’a small bruises, that’s all. Nothing we can’t just walk off.”

Dabbler put his hands on his hips crossly. “Of course I’m going to insist. Any smurf gets hurt, I take care of it. That’s how it is. I wouldn’t be any sort of Doctor Smurf otherwise. Maybe you should have refrained from lashing out at each other.”

“We barely touched each other, there’s hardly anything to check over.”

“You’re still not getting it, are you? You’re still trying to minimise this. This village has enough going on. I’m here for the smurfs that get sick, injured accidentally, or the smurfs that get hurt by any of those who are actively trying to hurt us. And now I have to worry about smurfs hurting each other?!”

Harmony and Tuffy cast their eyes off to the two opposite sides of the room, not looking at Dabbler or each other.

“Now I don’t care if you might disagree on something like Scaredy’s ideas. Why don’t you act like smurfs about it instead of… whatever this is. I don’t want to see any of you back in here again from hurting one another.” Dabbler then let out an exasperated, pent-up sigh. His healing abilities were being tested much sooner, and more frequently than he would have liked. Yeah, now that he had decided to take on this responsibility fate seemed to want to readily send patients his way. It was just as well he had chosen to try and train himself up. And now… this. He had not anticipated violence in the village to ever be an issue. And by all accounts, he was going to do everything in his power to ensure it wouldn’t become an issue.

The village was becoming more and more at risk of simply smurfing into pieces at this rate.

#smurfs #the smurfs #Papa Smurf #Scaredy Smurf #I can barely keep my eyes open don't @ me lol #stayin up late postin this 4 y'all cause it's so damn late in posting (by my previous guidelines)

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clove-teasdale · 7 years ago

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appreciation post edition numero two

((ooc post))

HEY YALL IM BACK. unless u live under a rock (or fine, maybe this is your first selection), u would know i was @jynsongxvii during the dreaded obscurantism of ocnet selections, aka dom’s selection. back then, i posted a little thing to boost morale up when some anon stuff seemed to be getting hairy, so i’m doing it again. i should actually be writing my next crooks fic but,,, i mean,,, yeah, whatever. yall will live with the wait if you’re keeping up with that. let’s get started.

last time i think i did all the girls cause it was pretty early on in the selection, but considering levels of activity at the moment, the fact that the end is getting nearer and the other fact that i’m kinda busy + have fics to write, i will have to keep it brief. sorry if i get ur name wrong, but i tried to remember. this is based on personal interaction and what i’ve managed to get from your characters, so, yeh. if we haven’t talked much i will focus on oc. ALPHABETIC ORDER. no fights.

t h e - e l i t e

me ↠ i go first. i am water. i am also awesome. ALSO also, i suck. all the typos and CAPS. i will send u all the reaction pics i have compiled and u will realize i am a meme. decent-ish writing? crooks trash. i called froy gutierrez fort once because of auTOCORRECT HATING ME. never shuts up. probably should. my face is okay.

anna aka @ladyaadamaier ↠ german secret princess. lonely allegra that lived happily with the stars. tried her best to have two ocs and both reached elite so ayeee, u prevailed.

anya aka @camille-marshall ↠ tHE SARGENT. or lieutenant actually. i am bad with military and i am not going to do more research, okay? the appreciator of all my caps and typos. has an awkward bean as an oc that must learn to stop being elsa with the “conceal don’t feel” vibe and--JUST ACCEPT U LOVE THE PALACE MARSHALL. gave us the gift of drunk marshall as well. gOT INTO THE COLLEGE SHE WANTED YEET. ur face is lovely.

bethia aka @fleur-quinn ↠ seems really nice ooc. has hosted an oc birthday for the redhead star with a fake twin. it’s been interesting competing against u for the side prince so far. nice oc fights on the rp. A+

brianna aka @eloiseduval ↠ the ™ to my ™. i’m glad we’ve fINALLY been able to get close in this selection. u are the coolest of beans but need to actually talk to people more. anyhow. lovely fics, like, yes they are good sHUt uP. always has nice ocs and trying her best. also adamant crooks shipper, so thanks. please give her love. she’s just playing the game. ur face is lovely.

lena aka @claraeclair ↠ super nice ooc. her oc gave all the sweets. was a literal cinnamon roll in and out of character. also, ik u and u are a sNEAKY ONE. she knows what i’m talking about.

simone aka @victoria-seaberg ↠ cracked mal so she doesn’t hate her oc. very active. we haven’t talked much but you’re friends with lovely people ik and it’s pretty clear you’re a literal cinnamon roll bringing all the support. keep that up. her oc is not to be messed with.

skye aka @ladyvenusvale ↠ pInK hAiR for the beauty guru now. has hosted an oc party too! with taylor swift which i technically owe thE DUET ™ for, so thanks skye. also ZEDAYA. like, yes. thank you. if you want oc drama, ask her help. she will do what she can to deliver. ur face is lovely.

zara aka @mistylane059 ↠ wine ™ . has included guards like me! guards are always nice. put a lot of effort on including her maids in fics. also, was my secret santa wuu~

some people i will mention because ik them lol.

cass aka @memeselectionoc ↠ memes. must i say more? i mean, memes guys. mEMES. pretty sure she sends love to people because i am a detective and figure stuff like that out. wants meme not hate. ur face is lovely. oc maya got her bff to date her and was part of the awkward hand-gestures club with...

issy aka @evelyn-fenton ↠ yes part of that club (i broke alphabet cause i needed these two together). awkward writer bean that had brotp with maya. got herself a guy before leaving. DREW AWESOME CLOVE AS MY SS, LIKE? deserves all the acknowledgment. gOT INTO THE COLLEGE SHE WANTED TOO YEET. ur face is lovely.

chris aka @phaniecastello ↠ AWESOME. IMPROVEMENT IN WRITING ENGLISH. so prOUD. grandma that everyone should love. had a super nice oc and is super nice ooc. the sweetest bean. loretta was crazy. ur face is lovely.

I THINK SYL? aka @vaticancameos333 ↠ I BELIEVE YOUR OC WAS JORDAN? IF NOT I AM SORRY TO HAVE MISTAKEN YOU BUT,,, has been keeping up with my crooks fics even tho her character isn’t active anymore and I NEEDED U IN THE APPRECIATION POST BECAUSE THAT IS SO NICE OF YOU. THANKS. also i followed ur blog through clove and it’s one of the things that keeps my dash alive. A+

T H E - H O S T S

grace and claire aka... um, lets just tag @nathaniel-schreave & @brooks-schreave ↠ FICS. SHIPS. STORYLINES. PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT WHILE BEING IN SCHOOL. trying their best as anyone who is prince does and as all we do as contestants. lots of characters! H U G E improvement from dom the brick. one of them is the reason i will never forget the alamo. ur faces are lovely.

that has been my psa. ik there is stress sometimes guys, I BREATHE STRESS. but let’s be civil, not bitter. remember hannah montanna. see a vine compilation when u are upset. pray if u believe in God. IDK. even talk it out civilly. that’s cool too. but don’t throw blind jabs at each other cause that’s just gonna get us all upset and maybe you’ll make someone who isn’t at fault feel bad. sending love yet again, i will shut up now.

water.

#ooc #LONG AF #<3 <3 #lol this took a while to write #everyone else who participated and happnes to be active ooc #love to yall too #this is like 1k words so sorry if its long #everyone tag

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