#ignored like many lore drops that have come before it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

harocat · 6 months ago

Text

I always imagined that Dongfang Qingcang only read non-fiction; war manuals, battle tactics, history books on the three realms, etc. before his emotions returned. Could you even really be interested in stories without an emotional connection to them? The very purpose of fiction is to connect with our hearts, and without them, there really wouldn't be a reason for stories to even exist.

Reading non-fiction is a way to pass the time for him; a way to learn so he can be a better leader. I wonder if he even loved to read as a child, and the habit, almost reflexively stayed with him.

Then when his emotions start returning, maybe even as soon as while he's still at Arbiter's Hall with Xiao Lanhua, he starts picking up stories. At the beginning he goes to Xiao Lanhua's personal library of books with the excuse that perhaps reading the things she likes will help him learn more about that pesky little flower demon so he can make her happy (for his own convenience, of course). He judges the stories a bit; finding them trite and pointless. However, the more he reads, the more he actually starts growing invested.

Like his other early expressions of emotion, he brushes these off as just an echo of Xiao Lanhua's feelings.

He finds some of the stories frustrating at first. His logical mind is irritated at the tales of tragic love; 'if they'd just been less foolish and done this instead of this, they would have been fine' and 'how trite to give up security and success for something as nebulous as true love.' Of course Xiaohuayao likes such silly books!

But as time goes on, and as his emotions return more and more, he finds himself---- against his better judgment, he starts maybe not feeling (of course not!), but understanding the characters and their decisions more, and even rooting for them.

When they get back to Cangyan Sea, he spends most of his reading time catching up on what has occurred the past thirty thousand years, as is the responsible thing to do. Plus, he does legitimately enjoy learning, he's discovering. He remembers how well read Xiao Lanhua appeared to be on the lore of the three realms, even knowing about the Xilan Holy Seal and the Eternal Flame, and he wonders if she likes reading to learn as well.

But then he finds himself going back to stories, and he tries not to dwell on why he's doing so. After all, these are from Silent Moon Palace's library, not Xiao Lanhua's. When he's confronted with the fact that his love tree is blooming again, he understands why, but he's, as we know, angry and scared. He sets aside his stories for a while.

When he returns from the Realm of Return to Ruin, while recovering, he rereads some of the old Cangyan Sea stories his auntie told him, and even some his father read him when he was very young. A curious Xiao Lanhua asks him to share, and he does. This is the first time they read together, and it will be far from the last.

Later that day, she asks Shangque to procure some of her all time favorite stories and books from when she was young (many are not in Silent Moon Palace, as they are of course from Shuiyuntian), and she leaves them on Dongfang Qingcang's bedstand with a note gifting them to him.

They are good stories, if one ignores the fact that in most cases, the heroes are fairies, warriors, and lords of Shuiyuntian. He is touched by her gesture, and loses the urge to tease her about their origins.

She also gives him poetry. He likes that as well. Perhaps, in those words, he can even begin to find a way to describe what she has come to mean to him.

One day Shangque drops a stack of books by as well. He does not leave a note, but it's clear who they are from. Most are adventure stories; tales of unbreakable friendship and journeys to faraway lands. A few are even from the mortal realm. There are of course, tales of dragons as well. He begins to understand what Shangque means when he talks about the importance of friendship, how he would never betray Dongfang Qingcang, how he is his closest kin despite not being related.

He is discovering that when he reads a very good book, he can empathize with the characters even if he himself would not make the same decisions. Empathy is the strangest of emotions. He struggles to parse it, and he doesn't even fully know what to call it at first. Those stories will stick in his head, and he thinks of them often, even finding himself occasionally distracted mulling on them. He scoffs less at decisions characters make that he would have found foolish months ago, because now he isn't entirely sure he wouldn't do the same. He is not quite sure how much he likes this, but he accepts it as the person he has become.

Xiao Lanhua does love to read, and he often runs into her at the library. He reads the romance books that she suggests. She borrows the copy of The Art of War he picked up in the mortal realm and pretends it didn't bore her to tears because she is kind. He sits down with her once they're together, and he shows her the poetry he's come across that reminds him of her. He does not have much time to do such things, but he carves out what he can. There's nowhere else he'd rather be.

When he falls into a dream, five hundred years in the making, they read so many stories together; whole novels. They laugh at the ridiculous parts, and he squeezes her tighter when she gets teary eyed at the sad parts. They spend hours upon hours like this.

Someday, he tells himself when he wakes up, the piece of Xiao Lanhua's primordial spirit cherished in his heart, he will be able to do this for real with her. It gives him strength to move forward.

(Someday, he does.)

#love between fairy and devil #cang lan jue #hey how did this post that was supposed to just be headcanons about DFQC's reading habits turn into this

63 notes · View notes

lethesbeastie · 2 months ago

Text

Day 6 of bweirdOCtober feat. Wraith! Thought it'd be a fun prompt to drop some lore writing I have for them, so enjoy! :3

The Wraith of the Merchant's Seas

The first thing I remember was the way the light glimmered from beneath the waves.

I don't know how long I'd been there— floating aimlessly through the open sea. I do know that when I woke up then, for the very first time, I was hungry.

I was small then— no larger than the captain's compass, able to fit in the palm of one hand.

I don't recall what I ate. Probably plankton or some other microscopic prey, whatever was drifting along with me in the open sea. I do know that I did not try to surface for a very long time.

It was a storm that brought me up eventually. I had no sense of how frightening they were above the water; beneath the waves, it's not much different from the sea at night. Just with worse currents and brighter lights. But well, that time there was a ship nearby.

The storm killed it.

Sent its crew and cargo sinking down, down, down into the depths below. Sent it down to me.

I like light. Not. Not a lot of it— hurts my eyes a bit— but I think it's rather pretty. Especially when it catches on something shiny. And that ship, I guess it must've been something rather important, because it sent so many glittering things into the water.

Took forever for me to collect them all— I've still got a few. Brought em’ to the captain after I decided to stay, though I didn't really understand money at the time. Sold most of it off to buy myself stuff at the markets the first time the crew took me to land. Kept these pearls though. They're pretty. And soft.

The sparkling things made me curious about where they'd come from. I didn't really understand ships— I thought they were like whales, some sort of great beast that lived its life above the waves. (I wasn't entirely wrong about that either, though Captain says the Wanderer is a rather unusual case.)

Eventually I decided I wanted to learn more about them, these beasts of wood and metal. I understood the whims of sharks and eels and birds. It was only these ships that remained such a stubborn mystery.

I began to follow them on their routes across the sea. First from beneath the waves, then as I got bigger and a bit more bold, from the shadows of their great wooden hulls.

I learned that ships carried many things. Some held shiny treasures like those I'd found that first night. Others had paper or fabrics, though those didn't tend to do well in the sea. All of them held people

I don't really know what I thought before I saw other people for the first time. For some reason I'd assumed I was alone. I knew fish could think and feel, but most of the little ones didn't seem to plan, and even the bigger ones weren't too keen on anything that didn't get them food.

The people on the boats were different. They weren't simple like fish. They made noises and touched one another, wore strange colors and moved in stranger ways.

I thought they were beautiful.

They did not feel the same.

The first time I got spotted by a sailor, I think they thought I was a baby kraken— some sort of little sea beast, still too small to do harm. They threw things into the water at me, pointed and made strange sounds. I didn't like it, so I dove away.

The next sailors that saw me threw spears.

After that, I decided that no matter how curious I was, I'd never let the sailors see me. It was too dangerous, too frightening to face them and the metal claws they might toss into the depths.

Still, as I waited for my wounds to heal, I could not ignore the way my curiosity continued to burn.

I wanted to understand them, these strangers and their wooden beasts and their metal claws. I wanted to know why they feared me so much as to try and take my life.

I started leaving the water. Climbing up anchor chains and slithering between the rails in the dark.

It was strange, moving out of the water. Sound traveled differently, struck me like a knife between the eyes if I wasn't ready for it. And the lights were so brilliant, so bright.

I can't say that I really liked it. But I became accustomed to the change.

Got good at sneaking about and hiding, at following and learning people's routines, how and where they moved, where they looked.

I learned more about the sorts of things the people kept on the ships. Paper and fabric, though useless beneath the waves, were luxurious when kept dry. The metal claws they used against me before came in many more shapes and sizes, and were used to compensate for their lack of proper teeth or claws. Cooked food was my favorite early discovery, a bowl of half eaten fish soup left cold on the edge of a deck becoming my first forray into the wonderful world of culinary arts.

There were things the ships helped me learn about myself too.

The first time I stowed away on a ship, I came across a mirror.

It was dark in the hold, surrounded by boxes, and I'd been using my bioluminescence to try and sneak a peak when I saw something brilliantly glimmering. I drew closer, then closer, until I hit my head on the glass with a wet smack.

Once I got a handle on my startled squeak of pain, I turned to face my assailant and saw… me.

Took me a while to understand that that was what I was looking at.

I didn't look like any of the sailors I'd seen. I didn't look like any of the fish either. I looked... strange. Half formed. Like half eaten bait. I sat there for a long while, examining myself, learning the curves of my face, trying to piece together why I was the way I was.

After I saw my own face, I came back down to the mirror every night for many weeks, comparing myself in the dim light to people I'd seen.

That's where I learned how to change.

I've always known how to do it— it's instinct more often than not, an unconscious reaction to the thought that I should hide. Most of the time I'd just mimic rocks or animals, trying to blend in. But there, beneath the deck, I thought of people's faces. And I tried to make their features all my own. It was never quite perfect— I couldn't seem to shake my need for gills and fins— but it made it easier to creep about. Easier to pretend I was something I was not.

It was dark the night I crept onto the Wanderer's Jaws.

The night's eye— or the moon rather, as I later learned— was in one of those thinner stages. Like a shark had taken a bite and the flesh had come away clean. Nights like that were always best for creeping onto new ships. Made it harder for the night watch to notice me. I climbed up using the anchor chain, which was hanging low near the water, and slithered across the deck until I found a place to hide.

I remember being confused at the time why there weren't any people on watch. Most boats with any size to em take a lot of hands to man, and while the Wanderer wasn't a particularly grande size, it was still a decently large ship. I don't know what I chalked it up to. Experienced crew or something like that. But eventually I dismissed the emptiness and set to sneaking into the hold.

I was looking for something interesting in the cargo. I've made a habit over the years of collecting things from the ships I snuck onto. My own sort of treasures. I'd seen a sailor recently using a sparkling gold compass, and decided I wanted one of my own. I hadn't seen one when I decided to board the ship— I just thought that if there were people, it'd be a good place to start.

I didn't end up finding one. I know now that at the time, they'd just left one of their usual markets, which meant most of their cargo was either gold from being paid or other items they planned to sell at their home port. Plus, they weren't the trinket collecting sort. Least, not till I came along. So there wasn't much chance of me stumbling across anything small and sturdy enough for me to keep.

The food on board was good though. Better than any I'd had before. One of the crew members— a tall, slender thing— had some pets on board.

I'd never seen a goat or a chicken before, since I'd never gone out onto land, but at the time I remember thinking it was rather odd. The goat's milk and chicken's eggs helped supplement the usual sailor’s diet of hardtack and gruel, and they'd gotten several exotic foods in Port, so when I came aboard the cook had taken to crafting up a feast each night. It was wonderful, and I remember wishing very badly that I could somehow eat more than the scraps I'd snatched from the waste buckets when no one was looking.

I hid on board the ship for two weeks before I was caught. At some point in that first week I'd decided I liked the ship enough to stay till they hit portside, and took to memorizing the crew's shifts and routines so I could avoid them.

I didn't think much of how few there were aboard till they started to get suspicious of a few stolen things. I thought the trinkets I took were small— shiny bits of metal and glass, things that no one would miss.

Turns out though that a navigator losing their tools is actually a rather significant cause for alarm.

I ended up returning them, put em’ back close to where they'd been found. But the damage was done. The crew knew there was someone else on board, and while I was sneaky, I was still lacking in experience with the wider world. It had never occurred to me that I could be tricked and trapped just as easily as the fish I'd learned to catch.

They ended up setting a trap for me. Left a plate of food unattended in a quiet part of the hull, and ended up finding me tangled in the ship's living rigging, holding a broken shard of the plate as a makeshift knife.

The crew seemed to freeze at the sight. I don't think they really knew what to make of me. Captain told me later that it's not completely unheard of to find orphaned children on the sea. Usually they're found closer to port though, or sulking about on deck after dark. And those children never look like me.

I'd never really thought about the different kinds of people before then. To me, if it spoke and moved and thought, it was as much of a person as me. I learned later that there were categories though. That people who looked certain ways came from different groups than others. And that some people didn't belong to any group at all.

Hybrid. That's what I was. That's why I didn't look like anyone else I'd ever know. I was something that shouldn't exist, that didn't, couldn't, wouldn't belong anywhere, or with anyone at all.

I remember being very, very scared when they caught me. I don't know why, since aside from those sailors in the past with the rocks and harpoons, I'd never really been found before. I didn't have any reason to believe that they'd hurt me. But for some reason, something in my head thought they would.

It didn't really help that the first thing Captain did upon discovering me there was to chortle out a deep, booming laugh. He was the only one to do so— the rest of the crew were still trying to make sense of my odd assortment of limbs.

Captain was the first person to try and speak to me. I don't know why, perhaps the other's were too unnerved, too unsure of what I was. By then I'd learned enough language to catch the gist of things, though I wasn't good at talking myself, but it was still hard for me to understand.

In the end I decided to trust him because of his tone I think. He's a big man, broad shouldered and strong, and while I know now he's got gentle hands, back then they were simply large. He looked like a predatory thing, like the type of fish that had tried to make a meal of me back before I learned to leave the water.

But his voice. It was hard to be afraid of that voice.

It was raspy, yet full, and it reminded me of the distant bellows of whalesong. I'd heard him speak before, heard him bellow at the crew and the sea, heard him laugh and roar and howl.

But here, with me, he was so very quiet. His voice was soft, and warm, and calm.

I don't know why, but I felt like I could trust him. And when he held out his hand, so large compared to mine, I decided to take it.

It's been years since then, that first frightening night. The crew taught me common, how to read and write and speak. Told me the tales the sailors told of the wraith of the merchant's seas— tales about me. They gave me my meals, and my bed, and my name.

I've learned a lot since then, about the world and about myself.

It is more dangerous for me than I'd realized, to travel as a hybrid on the sea. We have to be careful no matter where we go to port.

There are powerful people that hate us, who speak with silver tongues and set the masses on our kind like a frenzy of sharks. It's safer to hide what we are when we aren't among friends.

I'm especially good at hiding.

Half changeling, Captain says. He'd never met one himself, but he'd heard of them before I'd come aboard. He went out looking for a few after the crew decided to keep me, wanted to find someone to teach me how to shift. He didn't end up finding one, but he did bring back a few books. I'm good at changing now, good at making myself look like something I'm not. It's sort of like a game of shells and cups. Under one of these figures is a secret. Most people don't find the right one.

I miss my crew. They've done so much for me since they found me. Raised me up on the shifting sea. They love me too, I know it.

That's why I have to bring them home.

#artists on tumblr #bweirdoctober #Waters Rising #WR: Wraith #WR: Nautilus #character art #character lore #digital art #dnd art #I've got some more art of Wraith and their crew on the way akfhskfhskf #nice to finally share this bit of writing!

50 notes · View notes

genjispeace · 1 year ago

Text

Bandage My Wounds - Part 1 (?)

In which you bandage Bi-han's wounds for him.

tags (this part): bi-han x reader, gender neutral reader, you both kinda have feelings, it's complicated, sfw, tending to wounds, sooo soft and fluffy, tenderness, bi-han just wants somebody to take care of him

a/n: this just kinda happened, but i hope you enjoy it!! i may write another part, but we will see. also, this is not meant to be lore accurate

Living across the hall from Bi-han has its ups and downs. On one hand, you would never have to worry about anybody trying to rob you with him next door. On the other hand, he has a habit of slamming his apartment door when he’s frustrated, which is more often than not. Your bed seems to shake as he slams it again, and you drop the book you were reading. A sigh escapes your lips as you flip your blankets off of your bed and step into a soft pair of slippers. You’ve made a habit of checking on him whenever this happens, which usually involves him waving you off. Still, you refuse to give up on it.

You pull a hoodie over your head and step to your door, closing it and rasping your knuckles on the door on the other side of the hall. There’s no answer, there hardly ever is, but you still wrap your hand around the handle and push the door open. He never locks his door. This is a dance the two of you have done countless times, so you aren’t surprised to find him leaning against the countertop in his kitchen, staring at the door. He’s still in his uniform, his strong arms bare and crossing over his chest.

“Bi-han,” you start to say something, but your voice catches in your throat when you meet his eyes. A bruise surrounds one of his eyes, a few cuts litter his face. One of them is particularly long, going along his cheek and dipping under his mask.

“What happened?” You cross the distance between you as you speak, his dark eyes following you.

“Nothing,” he says. His face is like a mask, and it never falls. It’s always hard to see past, so you hardly ever have any idea what he is thinking.

“Bullshit,” you say, finally reaching where he stands. He towers over you. It’s not hard to imagine how so many people fear him.

“Go home,” he says. His voice is slightly muffled from his mask, but the words are clear. Still, you shake your head.

“You’re hurt,” you say. He sighs, uncrossing his arms, which reveals his hands that are covered in more small and jagged cuts. Your brows furrow. “Were you even planning on cleaning these?”

“No,” he says honestly, and you fully believe him. He doesn’t take care of his injuries, to the point that it is dangerous. The amount of times you’ve seen bruises and cuts, seen the scars covering parts of his body. He’s not going to ignore these injuries. Not this time.

“Fine, then I’ll do it,” you say. You catch the way his eyes widen, just barely, before he regains his composure.

“I don’t need your help,” he replies, pushing off of the counter.

“Too bad.” You stand your ground, and his eyes lock onto yours. His are dark, like a swirling abyss. You could get lost in them, and you know it. You can’t be sure, but it looks like a muscle in his jaw ticks as he looks down at you. Neither of you make a move, locked in a staredown, waiting to see who will give in first.

“Do you even have a first aid kit?” Your voice comes out sterner than you meant, but Bi-han doesn’t seem to notice.

“No.” He confirms what you already knew. You sigh again, then wrap your hand around his wrist. The movement takes both of you off-guard. It’s strange to think that you have never touched despite being in close quarters, but it’s true. The fact shocks you as you realize it, his skin cold under your touch. Something seems to flick through his eyes at the contact, but it’s gone as fast as it came, and is replaced by the cold and barren stare.

Still, you refuse to back down. You turn on your heel, pulling him behind you. Part of you knows that he could stop this, that he could yank his wrist away. It would take nothing for him to overpower you, but he doesn’t. You lead him in silence, through the hallway, into your apartment, straight to your bathroom.

“Sit,” you say, releasing your grasp on him and pointing to the lid of the toilet. He glances at you, then thankfully listens and sits down. He’s still silent, but his gaze is on you the whole time you pull out your first aid kit. You run some warm water onto a cloth and ring it out, sitting it on the counter next to everything else. You decide to section off his injuries, working on each of them separately. First, the deep bruise around his eye.

“Is it possible for you to get freezer burn?” You ask, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub.

“What?” His dark eyes widen.

“You need to ice that bruise. Normally, you would need to wrap a towel around ice, but I don’t…” Your voice starts to waver. Are you in above your own head?

“No,” he answers quickly, and you don’t miss the way his eyes softened when you started panicking. “I can’t get burned by ice.”

“Good. I can go grab an ice pack, or you can make one? I’m not really sure how it works, to be honest,” you say softly. You know about his powers, but have never seen them up close enough to know.

“I can make one.” He pulls his hands together, his skin turning a shade that mimics icebergs. The cold goes up his arms it seems, before he holds a chunk in his hands. A smile washes over your face as you watch him. It’s fascinating, beautiful even.

“Wow,” you think? Say? You look up at him and see for the first time the most clear emotion on his face. Pride. The normal color of his skin creeps back, but his eyes never leave your face. Your gaze drops, your ears turning red at his gaze on you.

“It has its perks,” he says, and you have to fight dropping your jaw. Did Bi-han just…make a joke?

“I see that,” you reply, hoping your face isn’t as red as it feels. You need to get his attention off of you, fast. “Hold it against your face until the swelling goes down.”

He does as you told him, holding it to the side of his face with the bruise. You grab the still warm cloth and start to dab the other side of his face. He looks down at you, his eyes flicking across your entire face. You try to focus on your task and ignore how his gaze gives you butterflies.

You lean forward to get a better look, and almost regret the move, as it brings you close enough to smell his cologne, to feel each breath he takes. He smells like pine trees and the chill of winter air. It brings goosebumps on your arms, but you ignore the feeling.

“Does this hurt?” You ask, trying to focus on anything else.

“Hardly.”

“Really? This one is pretty deep,” you say, tracing the cloth softly over the longest cut. “Can you take your mask off so I can clean the rest of this?”

He doesn’t reply, but he drops the ice block, now that the swelling is down, and reaches up behind his ears. His dark hair has a few loose strands that move as he does. He undoes the mask, sitting it on your counter and then turning to face you again.

Those butterflies you were trying to ignore? Their wings beat against your rib cage as he looks down at you. You’ve seen him here and there in passing without his mask, but never this close. His angular face is dotted with scars, some small and some bigger. Despite that, his skin looks soft and you ache to run your fingers along his face. That same shimmer as when he showed you his powers flicks through his dark eyes. Pride, pride, pride.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” You choke out, hoping your voice doesn’t sound as breathless as you think it does.

“Like what?” He tilts his head. You shake it off, recentering yourself and focusing on cleaning the rest of the large cut. It nearly reaches down to his jawline, and it’s fairly deep. He’s lucky he doesn’t need stitches. He does still need some bandages on it, though.

You grab a few out of the first aid kit, and lean towards him again. You have to push a few strands of his hair out of the way and you swear you hear a soft sigh as your hands touch him. No, surely you imagined that. You carefully place the bandages over some spots, angling his face to get a better look. You have to lean even closer until you are practically in his lap to place a few of them, and it’s not until you’re almost done that you notice one of his hands on your hips. It’s steadying you as you lean over him, the cold of his skin suddenly burning through your clothes. His hand feels strong against you, and your mind immediately goes to places it shouldn’t. You freeze, bandage in your hand, when he drums his fingers where he’s holding you. It’s a small motion, one you probably wouldn’t recognize had it been anybody else, but Bi-han doesn’t take physical touch lightly.

You place the final bandage against his face. Your work isn’t the most tidy, but it’s better than nothing. Though, you can hardly focus as he holds onto your hip. You back away, and his touch falls away. Your brows furrow and you feel a frown on your face. The absence of his touch leaves your skin feeling electric. For something you have never felt before, you sure seem to notice it now that it’s gone.

The two of you don’t speak. You know that if you tried, it would come out breathless. Instead, you pull the first aid kit back into your lap and pull out a few more small bandages for his hands. He watches each motion you take intently.

“Hands,” you say softly. Despite the time since he last touched you, you still sound breathless. You hope he doesn’t notice that. He nods, reaching out to you, his knuckles up. You pull his hands closer to you, resting them by your lap. He makes the move to rest his hands against your thighs, and you shudder at the feeling.

“Are my hands cold?” He asks, a furrow in his brows.

“What?” You shuddered, like you were cold. “Oh, no. That’s not it. I-”

You cut yourself off. Why did you shudder? Why do you keep reacting to the smallest touches from him? You shake your head, pushing the question away. A muscle in Bi-han jaw ticks, but he doesn't push the question any further.

The two of you fall back into silence as you meticulously clean and bandage his hands. Most of the cuts on his knuckles are small, reminiscent of injuries from fist fighting. He flexes his hands slightly, allowing you to wrap them tightly. He lets you turn his hands over, checking for more injuries on each of them. Once you’re done, you let go of his hands. He stares down at your handiwork, looking at the bandages for the first time instead of watching you.

“You do a nice job,” he says, curling his fingers and testing the bandage’s flexibility. The praise warms your cheeks more than it should.

“Thank you.” You start to pack up the first aid kit before you stop. You only took care of the injuries you could see.

“Bi-han, are there any more injuries I can’t see?” You ask. His dark eyes snap to you, and his lips twitch, as if he is deciding what to say.

“I think I may have a fractured rib,” he shrugs with the words.

“That’s not a ‘may have’ injury,” you scold, but shrug it away. That’s a fight for another day. “I can’t do anything for that, but please take it easy.”

“Easier said than done,” he whispers, but still nods. He rises from his seat, but doesn’t walk away yet. He turns to you, his eyes full of a near-tenderness. His fingers twitch, but he doesn’t reach out to you.

“Thank you,” he says. You nod, a slight smile on your lips. You would do it again in a heartbeat, but you don’t need to say that. He moves closer to you, as if he’s apart to reach out to you, but he frowns and backs away.

He turns on his heel, leaving you standing alone in your bathroom breathless.

#bi han sub zero #bi han mk #bi han x reader #mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #sub zero #bi han

166 notes · View notes

comradeboyhalo · 1 year ago

Text

I had wrote a post a month ago about q!Bad's role in the narrative, and I want to revisit it. (Full disclaimer, this is just Not Real. I'm analyzing mcrp like a conventional narrative for fun. There are no actual "roles": every character is a main character.)

The analysis had come after months of Bad being a large part of lore, but not a major player. The mysteries and missions he went on were never his own. He was known as a strong fighter, until the codes directed their attention at Etoiles. He was second place in the election. Characters would get kidnapped or given enigmas, and q!Bad always played support. At the time, we were all impatient that he had no special Federation plotline after months of arriving on the island (no shade to the admins here - we're not talking meta).

But that brings us to present day, and suddenly Bad has become a very proactive character. His kids are gone, he has a motive, and suddenly he's the one changing the story. In literature, there is the trope of a "passive character": one that is affected by the story, one who is led by the plot. q!Bad is certainly not this character anymore. Instead of letting the Federation set the scene, he takes a page out of their book. He kidnaps one of theirs. Instead of theorizing about a spy like he did months ago, he's now actively feeding information to others to find a puppet. His skin is deteriorating due to his self-inflicted punishment. There has been a spike in posts and tweets about how Bad did [x] to [y] character. And that's what I'm talking about: Bad is moving his own plot. He is now what others react to.

And still. This is not Federation-designed. This is all on his hands. It's very rare that QSMP characters are so untouched by the Federation. Many characters are punished by the Federation. Many characters discover a storyline tied to the Federation. Many characters are experiments of the Federation. Bad has none of this. And I'm not at all saying this is unique to Bad, or that Bad is the only one who's actively moving his own plot, I just think that this provides a really interesting insight to Bad's character. (Again: this is a NON-META analysis! Every creator writes/helps writes their own storylines).

He is an extremely insular character. The Federation only investigated him when he made himself too hard to ignore. Aside from that? They do nothing. Secret shulker boxes? They were tied to Cellbit's lore. The tickets? Everyone ended up getting one. Imprisonment? Okay, but only for 15 minutes. He remembers his backstory, he remembers his life before the island. While the Federation could have interfered anytime in his lifetime, he's over 11,000 years old. His core trauma stems from (presumably) Atlantis. None of that is connected at all to the Federation. Drop q!Bad in another server, and nothing about his backstory changes. The more I think about it, the more odd it strikes me that Bad is an original islander, and he is so untouched by the Federation.

So this brings us to Bad's biggest Federation tie, which are the emails from before the server started. And even then, it implies that Bad is not a worker or an experiment, but a guest. And a special one, at that. It's very hard to take the emails as any definitive evidence, but what stands out to me is this quote:

"We are seeking quotes for the purchase of 1393 muffins to satisfy the extra demand of our special guest."

Each word here is the Federation catering to the special guest. The Federation has been given a demand, and they are fulfilling it. They are the reactionary party here. They are not the ones pulling the strings. They are not penning this story. It is the guest who is doing so, and, in theory, q!Bad.

So we come back to the same conclusion. Perhaps this has always been Bad's "role" - the special guest of Quesadilla Island. Invited to sit at the table, but not to give a speech. Perhaps he just never is going to get that Federation-tailored storyline because he is not meant to. His story started in Atlantis and he will always be pushing forward his own already-established plot. The Federation is just another antagonist in an already long, long tale. Everything he does is self-inflicted. Doesn't it make sense if this applies to the narrative as well?

#qsmp #badboyhalo #analysis

171 notes · View notes

riptidesblog · 9 months ago

Text

Theory about Lilly

In MotM there is a statue of Lilly present in Heart of the Mountain.Now let's take a closer look at it:

Markings.Does it remind you of anything?Here's a clue:who else was close to their elements and has/had markings on their face(and body)?

These two:

There are two explanations for the markings on her statue:

1.Artistic choice of munce and geckles that built it,maybe the face markings are meant to be hair strands and other markings are details like armor and clothing.

2.Lilly almost merged with the earth and markings on the statue are referencing that.

First of all,her statue does not resemble others in the temple:

Their markings are armor/clothing details and are identical,but unlike Lilly's.Not to mention that spinjitsu burst and merging look similar:

Doesn't that look like a spinjitsu?

So,I think Lilly almost merged with the earth. The reason she didn't lose herself?My options are:

1.Gleck,who was her friend,saw that something was wrong and interfered before the transformation was complete,likely using Lilly's medallion to remind her of her family.She snapped out of it and later left the medallion with Gleck as a thank you gift.

2.She wasn't supposed to/can't merge with the earth.This comes from my hc that only those with direct ties to the source of power(water and wind elementals&technically Lloyd but only bc he's just the first to have energy and grandson of FSM) and tame elements have changed hosts many times over the course of history(The hc is in my Wojira lore theory post).Therefore,her mortal body couldn't handle all that power and the connection was cut off.

3.Both of the previous options combined in some way.

Now,as to how it might have affected her.She died from an illness right?The one we never learned anything about.Don't you find it strange that a young,powerful and perfectly healthy elemental master(who are seemingly stronger than a regular human in many ways as we've seen ninja recover from things that would leave a normal person seriously injured if not dead( Cole even had a car drop on him in s5, recovered from concussion in Crystallized and his fall in Oni trilogy)) suddenly fell sick?(that is not to say that I think em can't get sick,they are still only human after all)And doesn't a forcefully and/or abruptly cut off connection between an elemental and their element sound like something that might have negative effects on one's health?

(There are many reasons why Cole and Nya didn't have similar experiences.Earth may not have called to Cole as strongly due to being filled with vengestone/Cole was too busy fighting to listen to it's call/he ignored it/whatever you think.Nya didn't have health problems bc she didn't have the 'can't merge with element' limitation,was already merged and Aspheera draining her powers cut off the link enough for her body to have time to adjust before restoring that elemental connection.)

#ninjago #ninjago cole #cole ninjago #cole brookstone #ninjago lilly #lilly ninjago

78 notes · View notes

gaybae1021 · 1 year ago

Text

Day 12: Is this love?

Aka, a Garrance lore dump!

Garroth was assigned to help Laurance get acquainted with Phoenix Drop during his recovery from the nether. Aph thought it would be good for Laurance to have someone else to talk to aside from her and Zoey, and thought him and Garroth would get along due to their shared guard experience.

Laurance is pretty down during their first few meetings, but he starts to perk up as his health improves, and he grows more trusting of Garroth guiding him through the village. It doesn’t take long for Laurance to start flirting with him, though Garroth writes it off as him just being friendly, even as he’s lowkey reciprocating the advances.

During one of their “totally platonic outings” Laurance opens up about his past: He was born in O’Khasis, and had no memories of his birth parents because they were arrested when he was a baby. He spent a few years in an O’Khasis orphanage, but quickly transitioned to living on the streets, experiencing first-hand the struggles and cruelty O’Khasis hid from the rest of the region. It’s why he’s so slow to trust; after having no one to rely on but himself for so many years, it’s difficult to be so reliant on others while he adjusts to blindness.

Garroth, while not revealing everything (for obvious reasons), also opens up; he had run away from home because he didn’t like the person his family was pushing him to be, and he’s still struggling to be his own person.

When Garroth drops him back off at his home, Laurance kisses him on the cheek before going inside.

(Old art, didn’t feel like redrawing the scene)

Garroth.exe has stopped working.

Garroth avoids Laurance the next few days. He feels awful about it, but he can’t pin down how he’s feeling, and he feels talking to Laurance would just make it more confusing. Eventually, he gets frustrated enough to go and talk with Aphra:

G: I need to ask you a question.

A: Sure? Go for it.

G: Hypothetically, if someone kissed you, and afterwards you felt like you were gonna throw up, what does that mean?

A: …like throw up from disgust, anxiety, or butterflies?

Garroth shrugs.

A: Irene help us. Come inside.

It takes a long conversation with some input from Zoey (Aroace Aph is somewhat limited in the advice she can give), but they eventually get to the root of the issue:

G: I didn’t have a say in anything growing up. Everyone just told me what to do, told me what I wanted, and I went along with it. I thought I was finally getting better, but it’s like I’m still waiting for an approval that doesn’t exist anymore! I’m so confused, I can’t even tell what I want.

A: Well, that might be a good thing to tell Laurance. It’s okay to be confused, but it’s not okay to just ignore him while you work through this. You should let him know how you’re feeling, even if you’re not sure the feelings match.

Garroth goes home to think a bit more before leaving to find Laurance. When he opens his door, Laurance is already standing there, about to knock.

L: I just wanted to say sorry for the other day. I feel like I crossed a boundary, I should have asked before trying that.

He talks faster, clearly flustered.

L: I thought we were on the same page, but I guess I’ve never done this without being able to see so maybe I misjudged how comfortable you were, and either way I’ve really liked talking to you and I don’t want things to be awkward so if you just want to pretend it never happened I’d be fine with that-

…

G: Please? For real? I need to know.

#aphmau #aphblr #aphverse #garrance #aphtober #aphtober 2023 #mcd #minecraft diaries #mcd rewrite #aphmau mcd #mcd garroth #mcd laurance #aphmau garroth #aphmau laurance #garroth ro'meave #laurance zvhal #garroth x laurance

86 notes · View notes

another-lost-mc · 6 months ago

Note

thoughts on obey me as an actual game? anything u wan a change if given the chance?

it honestly makes me mad everytime i think about the obvious lack of effort for world building but specifically for the nobility plotline... sooooo underutilized it's upsetting. like i've read isekai manhwas with better use/grasp of the nobility and political climate... also (can't remember if it's from swd or nb) the fact that lucifer and the brothers' are basically living off an allowance/salary set for them by diavolo is just... ugh. they couldn't have given them actual positions with titles ??? they couldn't have brought their title as princes/lords of the underworld into play ??? like i get they did it for the game, for shits and giggles and idk maybe it's just me lawl

sorry for ranting lmao i've sent asks a couple times and i quite like your insights and takes on things. was wondering if you'd have anything to say 🫡

I love talking about this stuff! I know it's a dating game and the lore/world building is basically an afterthought because the game's focus is on MC's relationships with the characters now, and not necessarily on the world/characters before MC existed or became involved.

I've mentioned before that the world feels really empty to me at times because they don't really talk about characters that exist (in a meaningful way) unless they're the established dateables (or soon-to-be dateables) for MC. Many of them are nameless demons/angels (the demon lords, the owner of The Fall that's been mentioned more than once by his title but not name), generic sorcerers and angels we know exist in the other realms. (For some reason, Uriel has been name-dropped twice with very little info besides that.)

Part of my motivation for developing the angel/demon OCs is to give more context and depth to the world that MC interacts with, even if they don't necessarily interact with MC in their own day to day lives. There are countless Devildom businesses that keep the realm running – who owns them? Who are the demons that develop their technology and vehicles? Who are the demons that acquire the raw materials used to build these items, or design/build the Devildom's architecture and homes? Who are the professsors at RAD and the other students? They're probably not all demons born from nobility, so where did they come from? What do the parts of hell outside the Devildom metropolis look like? Do they live on other levels? Rings? How easy can you travel between them, or why would you want to (or not want to)? Who are the demons that make up the demon armies and where do they live? Also, how in the world did Solomon end up in pacts with so many powerful demon lords, and now that he's not a power-hungry king, how do those pacts serve him (and the demons he's bound to)?

So yeah, maybe I think about the game world a lot because there's so much potential that goes ignored. I understand that the game isn't meant to be an in-depth look at the Devildom or Celestial Realm outside of what's relevant for character development or plot purposes, but it would be nice to have answers for some of the obvious questions that come up over time. Some of the information we're given in Nightbringer feels incomplete or doesn't match the tone/characterization we were presented with in the OG game either which makes me worry about continuity issues and retconning going forward.

(This got long so the rest is going behind a read-more link. lol)

When I started developing/outlining The Fall, it was meant to be a personal interpretation of the game's lore and my own creative spin on filling in all the gaps. At the heart of it, it's a love story between two angels-turned-demons. But the worlds they live in change over time, and there's a lot of nuance and deeper insights to explain how and why those things happen.

Some of the topics I wanted to explore in this project include:

Rank/power structures in the Celestial Realm. Basically, how do the various ranks of angels interact with each other, and how do they view angels with ranks higher or lower than their own?

Xenophobia. How angels and demons interact and perceive the other races/species. Metatron is an angel that was originally born as a human and ascended to the Celestial Realm after being chosen by Father to do so. Knowing that, how does his former human life impact what other angels think of him, if it does at all? (Spoiler: It does.) There's also significant issues that come up with the arrival of fallen angels, although Meta and Azra falling has very different reactions compared to Lucifer and the others later.

The role of the Seraphim. This story begins before the Celestial War with Lucifer, so he and Michael are still the two primary beacons of power in the Celestial Realm. How often do they agree or disagree on handling disputes, and how do they resolve their differences of opinion? I also wanted to explain the role of other Seraphim – basically, it's not just Michael or Lucifer calling the shots, and the other Seraphim are expected to lend their voices to discussions/debates about serious matters and it's treated almost like a council where majority vote wins if they can't all agree on something.

Side note: I really don't like the idea that Michael (or any of the other Seraphs) are free to do whatever they want without any sort of accountability or repercussions. I think the things Michael might want to do (ex. sneaking into the Devildom in disguise) and what he should do (literally anything but that) are two completely different things, and being emotional/grief-stricken isn't a good excuse for a leader that wants to YOLO his way through his problems when he has an entire realm of citizens he is responsible for. Gabriel is my solution to some of Michael's emotional impulses and rash decision making. He's the angel OC that acts as Michael's voice of reason when he struggles to separate logic and reason from emotions. He keeps Michael in-check when he wants to do things that are too erratic or personal, but he whole-heartedly supports Michael's plans or ideas that benefit the Celestial Realm. I like to imagine Gabriel and Barbatos are similar in that way and have the potential to be good friends as they bond and commiserate over their loyalties to leaders that sometimes act like spoiled children.

Fallen angels in general. There are a lot of fallen angels besides Lucifer and his brothers. Meta and Azra are two angels that go through the process of falling together and I had a lot of ideas about how I think that looks on a physical and spiritual level. There are differences for angels that are cast out by the Seraphim for breaking the rules/putting the Celestial Realm at risk vs. angels that choose to fall vs. angels that are punished by Father for defying him regardless of what the Seraphim choose. Azra and Meta's motivations and reasons for how/why they fall are slightly different, and how that plays out (and the impact on the angels left behind) are different too. They don't have a pre-existing relationship with Diavolo to pave the way for their new lives in the Devildom either, so how do they cope? Who helps them start their new lives, and how do they navigate being strangers in a foreign land while undergoing the physical and emotional changes of becoming demons? Diavolo's father is still the Demon King when they fall and it's only Belial's involvement that keeps things from completely going off the rails after their arrival. The fact that Belial himself is a former angel has its own significance. There isn't a manual or one-size-fits-all approach to this either, and Azra and Meta demonstrate how the Devildom's negligence of their newest citizens can lead to disastrous results sooner or later.

Navigating tension and conflict between the Celestial Realm and Devildom. There is violence that breaks out between the two realms, so how does the Celestial Realm respond to that sort of crisis? Once in the Devildom, there's a glimpse of how the Demon King (Diavolo's father) handles these developments and why the conflict happened at all. (Spoiler alert: Belial is an antagonist in this part of the story for a reason.)

What is Solomon up to? He has all these pacts with powerful demons and he's no stranger to the Devildom, so of course he's going to be interested to meet some new fallen angels – especially one with as much power and common interests as Metatron. Solomon is very human in this story too. He has his own selfish motivations for getting involved, but he also shows genuine care and concern for those he considers friends. He gets involved maybe more than he should, but for good reasons. He's a useful bridge to help the demons understand some of the obvious implications of having ex-angels living in their world. He also manipulates things a bit behind the scenes because of his connection to Barbatos (and therefore Diavolo) but there's no immature feud souring their relationship in this story. (Gonna be honest, I do not think Barbatos's problem with Solomon had anything to do with his place on Solomon's list of demons.)

Lesser demons and the nobility. I wanted to explore the lives of lesser demons versus the lives of noble demons. Where they live, what they do for a living, how they view demons of higher/lower ranks than themselves and other races. Zee's an example of a lesser demon who does whatever he needs to do to earn a living for himself, and Azra doesn't have much clout behind him so they almost meet each other as equals. It's an interesting look at their friendship and the way connections to more powerful demons (like Belial) help them both make better lives for themselves in the central Devildom where they eventually grow their business and social reputations. Meta, despite being a fallen Seraph, has practically no motivation or reputation to speak of and this has its own consequences later. But Zee's not the only lesser demons in this story, and if you thought the nobility in Nightbringer had problems with fallen angels, the lesser demons are far more hostile towards them – they're the ones on the front lines whenever war with the Celestial Realm breaks out, so its understandable they might not be very welcoming. For the demon nobility, the ones that aren't actively criticising fallen angels are mostly indifferent to them, but that's not such a great thing either.

There are other areas I wonder about that I don't explore in The Fall, but I hope to do so for the various OCs and their stories. The Devildom's power hierarchy/use of titles is one of them. The demons of the Ars Goetia all of their own armies at their disposal, and some are dukes while others are kings. That doesn't seem to have any meaning or impact in the game world, but surely there are ways that can affect how the demon nobility interacts with each other? It certainly made a difference to Solomon, I doubt he would've wanted so many pacts if the demons didn't have anything to offer him at the time. The how and why of Solomon's pacts is it's own area of exploration, which I hope to do with Belial and Bathin.

#I have SO MANY THOUGHTS #can you tell that I studied history #I want to know ALL THE THINGS #jes.replies #jes.world building

22 notes · View notes

smytherines · 8 months ago

Text

What we have as canon for Spies Are Forever is sparse. It's a spy comedy parody musical, it's ambiguous because that's all they have room for, leading to a lot of different readings that all have their arguments for or against. None of those are "correct" they're just interpretations.

So, keeping that in mind, we know Owen Carvour for around 10 minutes before the banana incident. A few minutes of that is him pretending to be another person, so I'll set that aside for now. Here are things Owen does in A1P1 in order of how I remember them:

Saves captured boyfriend from goon

Shoots goon in knees

Beats up a lot of goons

Reassures Curt's boss that the mission will be completed successfully, gets mildly insulted by a jealous Curt

Pushes Curt out of the way to shoot an armed guard that was aiming at him

Mildly chastises Curt for drinking on the job

Takes one swig after being teased and makes a face

Mildly chastises Curt for leaving a banana peel on the staircase

Agrees to four minutes on the timer

Attempts to re-lock the safety barricades to limit the explosion (I think?)

Gets cornered by goons

Building starts to explode, he finds out Curt set the timers for 3 minutes, they run

Slips, "dies"

Building explodes on him

The first part is the most ambiguous- when he's pretending to be a goon and Curt is being tortured. My personal read on it is that either Owen was already there for his own spy-related reasons and rescued Curt, or he somehow found out that Curt had been captured and went on a rescue mission. He does tell the goon to crush Curt's testicles, but I dunno immediately before that the goon tries to break Curt's fingers and gets his own fingers broken instead, so it feels like Owen is reasonably confident in Curt's ability to take care of himself? The worst thing that happens to Curt is that he gets tickled.

I do love the thought of Owen finding out Curt has been captured and packing a feather just in case he gets a chance to fuck with him. They don't establish who brought the explosives I don't think, but given that Barb doesn't say "use the explosives you already have" and that Owen spends so much time setting them, it was probably Owen?

Here's a list of things Agent Curt Mega does in A1P1:

Admittedly cool spy guy shit (breaking fingers, whatever was supposed to have happened with the pipe- its unclear to me)

Gets spotted by guard who hits the alarm

Talks to boss

gets annoyed that his boss likes Owen better, drinks, makes fun of Owen

Beats up goons

Eats a banana, leaves peel on stairs

Didn't wear rocket shoes because they didn't match his outfit

Ignores Barb explaining how the camera works to take the pictures they need

Suggests blowing the whole facility instead

Convinces Owen to try to beat their record of 6 minutes (Owen says to set for 4, I think)

Sets the timer for 3 minutes

Tells Owen they don't have time to do the safety barricade thing

Building starts to explode, tells Owen he lied, he set the timer for 3 minutes and they need to run

Tries to reach Owen when he falls, fails

Runs away before building explodes

What I'm saying here is that my read on A1P1 is that Curt sucks. Owen comes across as a decent enough guy, he comes off as a guy who cares about his partner and is looking out for him, and Curt is kinda the bad influence on him. Curt comes across as jealous and petty and egotistical, which is interesting because in so many pre-canon fanfics Curt is the pure precious babygirl and Owen is already a monster. I'm not saying it's wrong, I've read and enjoyed a lot of those stories and theories. It's just very interesting to me to see how the post-banana and pre-banana versions of Owen and Curt are sort of meshed together in a lot of fan imagination? I don't see it that way, but that's totally fine.

I wrote everything but this paragraph before the Mega bastards lore dropped. I already made a big big post about that, and it does sort of change my perception of Curt in some ways, but just on a basic level this is where I'm at

#cleaning out my drafts #spies are forever #tin can bros #agent curt mega #owen carvour #curtwen

23 notes · View notes

tomahawthorne · 3 months ago

Text

Gotta love the energy around rw//by fans. "What do you mean?! Valid criticism is totally allowed!" and then another comes and drops ad hominems like fucking atom bombs at the most mild fucking opinions. The irony of seeing a username and IMMEDIATELY jumping to conclusions about that person's opinions and calling them media illiterate... that's the cherry on top. Actually, scratch that. The real irony is going "Ironwood's arc was one of the best in the series!" as if that contradicts the ableism, and then talking about media literacy. Ignoring the fact that the quality of his arc is subjective (I liked most of it and still think they absolutely fumbled several parts, and I'm talking before he went all Saturday morning cartoon villain), in-universe reasoning or internal consistency doesn't automatically make something not fucking bigoted. Half the time I don't think the writers even think through the implications of their work—I doubt they intended to make Qrow sound ableist for calling him the Tin Man as an insult—but unintentional bigotry is still fucking bigotry and it doesn't matter that it's playing into the lore or allusions or whatever. (As an aside, maybe it's a hot take that I find the use of Tin Man as an insult at least a little ableist, but I feel justified in that belief considering the rest of the show's awfulness about disability.)

The whipped cream under the cherry is ignoring all the black voices that spoke about the Faunus/Adam's arc to make the most obtuse reading of both, and as a black man who's gotten shouted down whenever I bring up the many ways the writers and their biases ruined it, I'm fucking tired. Because too many of these piss-poor attempts at """"exploring"""" the "harm racist attitudes do" boil down to surface level white comfort bullshit, and rw//by is a prime example. The heroes are more preoccupied fighting the villainized minorities struggling for their rights than they are with the actual structure of racism. The so-called cautionary tale of "don't be racist or terrorism will happen!" is fucking insidious because 1) it implies that you should only care about racism when it could bite you in the ass personally, 2) the primary focus of the arc is almost always the terrorism and not the structure of racism that fucking drove them to it, and 3), my biggest issue, it pushes the blame onto the minority, for having the audacity to protest too loudly, for being hurt and reflecting the fact that you were hurt.

The harm of the so-called cautionary tale is two-fold, because while it's telling majority viewers the oh-so thought-provoking message of "don't do a racism," it's quietly reinforcing to its minority viewers that the only "good" way to protest for your rights is by playing nice, not threatening the structure, carrying yourself like a damn saint just so your abuser might treat you with a shred of humanity. I could write a damn essay on this, and how much this show and its fandom plays into white fragility, but that would require going back and rewatching for research and this show as it is doesn't deserve that level of effort. To put it simply, the Faunus arc (and yes, its handling of Adam) are both pretty damn racist because in its middle school furry fanfic-tier retelling of the Civil Rights movement, it perpetuates ideas that harm real fucking people (friendly reminder many of the sentiments the fndm shares about the White Fang "taking it too far" parrot white moderate/outright racist opinions about BLM and the Civil Rights movement :D) while convincing its viewers that "no, you totally don't need to examine racism as an institution and the ways you contribute to it. Look! Ex-heiress and totally-reformed racist Weiss threw a guy in the dumpster because the actual civil rights activist was suddenly incapable of defending herself".

This shit isn't a uniquely rw//by problem, but the difference is that I don't get 16-year-olds calling me some kind of slur or -phobe when I criticize the writing/fan opinions of the Flag Smashers or Killmonger. Imagine having a more insufferable fandom than the MCU.

#rwde #further radicalized by this fandom at an alarming speed #as someone who hated Adam since his introduction #all the way until he fuckin' died #listening to the fndm talk about him was infinitely more frustrating #grabs you by the shoulders and and shakes you #bc wHY DID THEY WRITE THE TRAUMATIZED MEMBER OF THE MINORITY GROUP INSPIRED BY THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AS AN ANGRY ABUSIVE EX #WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO THE WHITEWASHED ALLEGORY OF A BLACK EX-CHILD SLAVE #LOOK BEYOND THE TEXT DAMN YOU

9 notes · View notes

eddygoldarm · 3 months ago

Note

(･.･ﾉʰⁱⁱ

Could you just do like a headcannon drop? About any character I don't mind!

Okay I'm gonna use this post to HC drop about the general lore I built myself since I started playing the game in 2018. It deviates a bit from the Starr Park/arg stuff, there are some things that I don't personally like and that "destroyed" my view of this world so I'm willingly ignoring some of it, in favor of my own little narrative. It's just me taking bricks and making a fun little house, don't be mean about it. If you find things that could be interesting feel free to share them.

Okay so, in my head, BS takes place in some kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland in the future. It's not as bad as in fallout lol, but something happened that made most of the land dry and hostile. It's now inhabited by a small number of communities, but also by criminals, robots and strange creatures, mutated by the radiation emitted by the purple gems.

The gems are probably what caused the event in the past, most people were affectes by this, and are mutants to some degree. Some humans gained subhuman abilities : better strengh, perception, regeneration, intelligence, or even powers like invisibility or shooting lasers. And some robots, plants or animals gained intelligence, making them human-like. This turned the land into a melting-pot of many creatures and cultures, most of them trying to emulate what was before them (that's why we have places like Oldtown and Retropolis).

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, this being an hostile environnement, there were many tensions between the people of the land. And many fights were held over ressources, mostly the gems, who were an invaluable source of energy. In order to solve the tensions, and to protect the innocent, two main things were done :

Some people stood up as mediators in order to limit the conflicts and arrest criminals. They later united and founded the Park Rangers. They're now the ones who keep order in the land and protect the innocent.

Some others, with the hopes of uniting the people, opened a modest but colorful fair, right in the middle of the desert. This surprisingly worked, the fair quickly becoming a beacon of union and harmony in the lonely badlands, were no conflict was allowed, only fun and friendship. Understanding their common goal, the fair and the rangers partnered together to make the frontier a better place.

Eventually, the fair was bought by a powerful family of the land, and started to develop even more, and taking inspiration from the environnement to create more and more impressive attractions. It's become what we know today at Starr Park. While it is a place of fun and joy, few people know what's really going on behind the scenes, and what their final goal is. Sadly, it has become so powerful today, that everyone who tries to fight it gets pinned down as an ennemy.

Today, while it is still hostile, the frontier is a way better place than it was before thanks to the efforts of its inhabitants. But who knows for how long?

So that's about it. Now I'll list most of the factions (trios) of the world and were I think they belong to. It's basically divided between the people who work at Starr Park and the rest of the frontier, so :

-The frontier/Oldtown: It's the smallest city of the frontier, it's very isolated, and has kept the charm of and old desert town. Because of this, many criminals lurk around, and a lot of people leave, attracted by the bigger cities. The Rangers, Townsfolk, Junkers, Mystics, Miners, and Goldarm gang hang around here. The stuntshow and mexican entertainers (wtf is this name) also live around here but they also do shows for Starr Park.

-The jungle : Far removed from the civilisation, it is a wild and luxurious, but even more dangerous place than the desert. They say if you go too deep, you will come back cursed. The Shaman tribe, Enchanted forest and Biologists hang around here. The biodome, at the limit of the forest, is a research laboratory dedicated to preserving and observing the mutated wildlife of the area, they are partly financed by Starr Park.

-Retropolis : A more developed city in the desert, it has a dark 50's aesthetic. It is a safer place than Oldtown, but it is still riddled by gangs. The Arcade and Retropolis gang hang around here.

-Super City : A big city with skyscrappers, a bit removed from the desert, most of the people have moved here now, but it is still often attacked by kaijus. The Superheroes hang around here, and most of the people who work at Starr Park live here (Starr theater, Brawlywood, Gift Shop, Candyland...)

-The BAD badlands, very creepy and dark place, were mutants are numerous. The Undeads and Swamp creatures, and bizarre circus live around here.

-Starr Park : A place of joy and fun, throning in the middle of the frontier! A lot of the brawlers work/live here. The Starr Park hub bots reside here permanently.

-The sea : There is a beach, it's one of the only safe places in the frontier. If you don't mind the pirates and mutant fish of course, the pirates and deep sea trios hang around here.

-There is a train connecting all these parts of the lands, but they say not to stay too long in it, or you might end up lost forever!! The ghost train people hang around here.

Edit : I forgot about Starr Force, they live in space but sometimes the ship lands in the desert which causes a lot of mayhem.

The distinction between who works at SP and who doesn't isn't really clear so maybe I should make a tier list or something idk 😭😭 In the actual lore I think they all work more or less for it but I prefer them all to be seperated, they feel more independant this way idk.

Anyway that's about it, I hope you enjoyed my stupide lore soup?

#brawl stars

9 notes · View notes

gizm0-gadgetz · 5 months ago

Text

Ok so

This is a thing I wrote. Its outdated now with Gadgets lore I think. Merchant Jerico is owned by @voidselfshipp (shes in an established relationship with jonny) story under the cut. How gadget joins the mechs (not really im changing it but I like how this turned out and I need to get better at sharing my stuff)

“I think you should join us.” The offer hung in the air, neither of them responding right away. Gadget stayed focused on cleaning up their supplies, taking a moment to move the coals with their tail before stomping the traces of the fire away. Jer was watching them, not wanting to rush them into responding.

“You are lovely company Merchant,” They started as they began cleaning the dishes. “However, I'm not. Besides, I don't really do group work.” She took a moment to consider what they had said.

“But you have worked with me?” It was a simple enough point that it took them a bit to figure out a response. Their fingers tapped against the pot they were cleaning, dinging softly with each touch.

“Yes but we know each other, at least somewhat.” They signed, closing their eyes for a moment. “Why should I join?”

“I think you'd fit in! It's good to have people who understand.” She hopped off the log she was sitting on and began helping them clean up. “You don't have to stay for long, but just give it a shot? We can drop you off at the next place if you really want.” They took a moment to consider the option. It wasn't like there was any reason they couldn't besides their own reluctance for closeness. “Its not like we can lose each other…so I think its worth getting to know them.”

“...tell me about your crew again.” They spoke softly as they focused on cleaning, well aware of how her face lit up. She began to list each member of the group, naming everything she could think of. Some of them sounded interesting; they couldn't deny that. “So, hypothetically, if I joined you-” They casually glanced up from the last dish they were cleaning and packing away. She watched them intensely, clearly invested in the next words they'd say. “What would happen?”

“Well you'd have to properly meet with everyone. We'd have to set up a room for you and figure out your place on the ship. There aren't too many rules to go over which helps things go faster.” She took a moment to think it over properly. “Maybe a new outfit? Thats not too much is it?”

“What could I even bring to the table? You already have a pilot who seems to be just fine at navigating. I don't think a second navigator would be very helpful.”

“You could cook!”

“We don't need to eat.”

“Yeah but its nice.” They sighed, thinking it over. What else was in the way?

“What about your captain? The small creature.”

“You mean Johnny?”

“Yeah. The small creature.” She snickered as they finished packing up. “Feisty man.” They shrugged before brushing dirt off their knees. “Wouldn't he have reservations? It's not like we hit it off.”

“Don't you worry about him. I'll take care of it. Does this mean you'll come with us?” Her eyes sparkled with joy. “Please say this means you'll come with us.” They didn't answer right away, staring up at the sky with a slight tilt of their head.

“Aren't you a group of…what's it called?” They frowned, snapping their fingers a few times. “BARDS! A group of bards. Storytelling performers.” She blinked a few times, staring at them curiously.

“I mean technically yeah. I don't see how that matters though?”

“I'm not a performer. I stick to myself and do my own things. I can't sing-”

“Oh don't lie!” She cuts them off, ignoring the look they gave her. “I know you can sing. I've seen it! Admit it or not but you move to your own melody, it just comes out most when your alone.”

“Right. Sure. Let's say I do sing, which I don't, even if I did, why would I perform with others? I don't work well with others.”

“Well you don't have to perform at all. I think it's just a hobby of theirs.” She shrugged. “It's fun to play with them but you shouldn't have to. If anything ill make sure they don't say anything!” She had a mischievous smirk that they couldn't help but roll their eyes at. They grabbed their flask and took a swig of water, thinking over all the information they'd been given. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. If anything it meant more time to hang out with Jerico and she was lovely company, really their only friend in this life. Besides she had mentioned that they would be in a similar boat as themself.

“Fine.” She shot up like a rocket with an ecstatic look on her face. “For one trip. Okay?” She just smiled at them with a mischievous expression before taking their hand.

“Let's go then!”

“Hold on! Let me grab my stuff before you start pulling me places-” She just groaned and gestured for them to hurry up. They couldn't help but snicker as they picked everything up. Once they had everything packed away in their bag she grabbed onto them and began pulling them away. It was easy enough to not stumble on the rough terrain but as it got smoother they found themselves struggling a bit more. They entered a clearing where the crew was waiting, presumably their ship must be nearby.

“Johnny dear!” Jericho called out as they entered the area. The small man perked up immediately upon hearing his name, looking over with a tilt of his head and tail practically wagging upon seeing her although he seemes conflicted by Gadgets presence. “I need to talk to you, kay?” She gestured away from the group. He frowned slightly, thinking it over before one of the others elbowed him. He glared at them before quickly joining her away from the group, just far enough away so they couldn't be heard.

It left Gadget stood alone with the entire group staring at them. It wasn't the first time they'd seen these people, but it was the first time without Jer next to them. They weren't exactly scared nor intimidated by the group, but it made them feel uncomfortable even if they couldn't pinpoint why. There was a wide variety of body shapes and sizes making up the group, each radiating off a different type of energy. Counting them it seemed like there were two missing from what Jerico had told them so many times. Without knowing the names to the faces they couldn't figure out who was missing though. They began to mindlessly bite their lip until it bled, cursing softly when it did so.

After a few minutes of painfully awkward silence between the group the duo returned. Johnny was avoiding eye contact, grumbling to himself with a flustered expression. Meanwhile Jer seemed quite content, almost smug about it. She joined Gadget again as Johnny went to talk to the crew.

“What did you do?” They asked immediately, eyeing her with suspicion.

“Don’t worry about it. You get to come with us!” She grinned, pulling them into a hug. Their spikes shot up for a moment but she knew to keep her hands away from the spine so nothing happened before they slotted back into place. They took a deep breath before giving a half hearted hug back and pushing her off.

“Right. Cool.” Maybe part of them had been hoping that he'd say no so they could have backed out with no hard feelings but now they were in too deep. Some of the Mechanisms were looking at them as Johnny presumably explained the situation. “This is happening i guess…” Really they didn't know how to feel. They hadn't worked with a group in centuries and these people would be so different from what they had known. At least they were good at hiding their nervousness as the ship landed and she led them in.

They passed a large bronze man inside and Gadget swore they saw him fiddle with his hat as he watched them go past. She hummed happily as they walked, clearly knowing the layout by heart. It was obvious to them how out of place they were. They fit in the group in theory, but in practice they could see just how out of place they were by the movements they saw out of the corner of their eye. Clearly everyone here knew each other quite well and they were suddenly in the way.

“Where are you leading me exactly?” They asked after a bit.

“Just to my room for now.” She hummed, not missing a beat. They frowned slightly before just nodding. At least it would be somewhere less alien to them as they knew her quite well. “I'll give you a tour and stuff when we're all the way up. There's no rush.”

“Alright…if you say so.” They decide not to question it. The Merchant was someone they could trust, they had collaborated many times. There wasn't anything to be worried about. Keeping quiet wasn't too hard, they weren't much of a talker in the first place and it seemed Jer knew they were trying to process everything. They did try to take in all the details they could as they traveled through the ship but it didn't tell them much.

“Here we are! C'mon in!” She smiled, gently pulling them into a room and shutting the door behind them. It was a decent amount of space for a one person room, certainly much better than some of the places they had stayed. There were various projects sitting around and they could see a few boxes of yarn in the corner. She took a seat on the bed and looked up at them. “See? Not so bad.”

“This place is massive.” They finally say after a minute of silence. “This whole ship I mean. It can't be easy to keep this all up.”

“Well yeah that's why we each have our own jobs.” She shrugged, moving to sit fully on the bed and crossing her legs. “Its like chores.”

“Right…that would take some getting used to.” They sighed and moved to sit down when the door suddenly burst open. They startled and ended up stumbling right into her bed, rolling over quickly before their spikes pierced the blankets. “What the hell!?”

“Hullo Merchant!” They looked to the door to see one of the band members with a smile on its…oddly wooden face. “I saw we have a new friend! Who's this chap?” They did not like when it looked right at them, fully aware of how their tail flicking revealed that feeling. Jerico just laughed.

“Hi Soldy!” She smiled at it as it turned its attention back to her with a tilt of its head. “This is Gadget, they'll be staying with us for a little bit.”

“Oh goodie!” It clapped its hands a few times, clearly more excited than the others had seemed.

“Gadget, this is Toy Soldier.” She smiled, gesturing to it.

“Right. The wooden one. Thats really its name? You guys can't think of anything else?”

“It likes its name.” She shrugged and looked over to it again. “Was there something you needed?”

“Nope! I just wanted to say hullo! So hullo!” It smiled, certainly quite expressive for being made out of wood. “Jonny seemed a bit peeved you wouldn't happen to know why would you?”

“Ah he's probably just jealous he might lose some of my attention.” She snickered, elbowing Gadget with a smirk. “Why don't you tell him to come here?”

“Oki doki!” It saluted before turning around and walking off, leaving the door wide open. Gadget stared at the door for a bit before looking at Jer again as their spines clicked back into place.

“What's bringing him here gonna do?”

“You'll see!” She just giggled before laying back on her bed. They hesitated for a moment before following suit, staring up at the ceiling. This whole experience was so odd and it was only just beginning. After a few minutes she sat up again and looked to the door.

“You called?” They shifted slightly so they could see Johnny was leaning on the doorframe, clearly attempting to look cool despite the fact his tail was wagging. Jerico got off the bed and pulled him into a hug, running her fingers through his hair. He seemed to lean into it, very quietly purring as his hair was played with. They couldn't help but snicker. He immediately shot up with a red face. “Oi! When did you get here!?”

“Been here the whole time hoss.” They just shrugged, sitting up and leaning against the bed frame. “Is there a problem with that Captain?” They said it sarcastically but he didn't seem to pick up on it as he perked up upon hearing the word captain.

“Finally some-Hey! Stop that!!” He tried to glare at jer as she scratched his ears.

“Why? You're so soft!” She pouted, continuing to mess with him anyways.

“I…” He forced himself to look away before grumbling something about a reputation. She just smiled and kissed him on the head before stepping back. Once he finally managed to stop being so red he turned his attention back to Gadget, studying them with a slight tilt of his head. “What is it you do exactly?”

“Depends if people hire me.” They shrugged. “For the most part I'm just a nomad. Sometimes I make maps and sell those. Once or twice I've been asked to lead groups through dangerous terrain. If anything bad happened to them…well I had nothing to do with it. Probably.” They couldn't help but grin at the way he shifted at the information. It was hard to read his body language considering how good he was at making himself look bigger. “Other than that…I'm a chef.”

“A chef. How helpful.” He grumbled, rolling his eyes before sighing. “Right, well this isn't a taxi service so guest or not you will have to help with stuff.”

“I'm hurt you would think so little of me.” They bit back with a smirk. His eyes narrowed, staring at them with a bitter expression before shaking his head with another sigh.

“I'll speak with Ashes about getting you a room. We should have something that'll work.” He grumbled to himself as he turned around and left the room, once again leaving the door wide open.

“Does nobody here know how to close a door?” They laugh, getting up to close the door themself. “I don't think he likes me very much.”

“He's just like that. He'll warm up, promise.” They just shrugged and took a seat on the bed. Might as well learn about the people they were going to be staying with.

■□■□■□■□■□■

A room was set up surprisingly fast, it made them wonder if Jerico had been pushing for this for a while. They didn't bother to think about it too much as they shrugged their bag off and started digging through the few personal things they did have. It wasn't a lot and the room was quite simple but the thought was very nice. It wasn't very often that they slept in a proper nice bed.

The covers were soft, that was for sure. The whole place was quite clean and it made them feel significantly more dirty. There wasn't much for them to do in their room which meant they would have to go out and converse with the other residents; it just wasn't something they were looking forward to. Ashes had been nice, not that they had spoken for too long, just long enough to get situated. They weren't particularly looking forward to getting to know Jonny, he seemed a little full of himself. The Toy Soldier had seemed nice if a little clueless on personal space and boundaries. Everyone here seemed like they had so much energy and they weren't sure they could keep up with it.

Jerico had shown them around a bit and they remember seeing a kitchen that clearly didn't get too much use. Honestly it wasn't that surprising, these people didn't seem like they knew how to cook much. Maybe that would be a good way to show that they could be helpful. Really there was no reason that they had to prove themself, they were just here because Jer had been so nice. With a sigh they picked up their cooking supplies and headed to the kitchen.

They didn't have much in terms of supplies, mostly pantry goods but that was fine. Preserves were easy enough to work with and even if they couldn't make a proper meal everyone enjoyed snacks. Thinking about it they weren't sure all these people could eat but that didn't matter too much. It just meant more for them.

Really it was easy to fall back into a groove even though it had been a while since they'd worked in a proper kitchen. It gave them a lot of time to think about everything they had been told about the crew and what they had seen with their own two eyes. After deciding to make simple cookies everything just kind of fell into place and they worked with a simple rhythm.

The most interesting thing about the group seemed to be the ship itself. A sentient ship didn't seem that crazy of an idea, but they weren't sure how it worked. For now it seemed the best idea was to just be respectful to everyone they ran into and of the place they were staying. Yes, that was a good idea. They took a deep breath and put the cookies in the oven, setting a mental timer before closing their eyes for a moment to focus on their other senses. All they could really hear was faint chattering between groups and the occasional pair of footsteps.

“Hey.” They couldn't help but jump at the sudden voice. There hadn't been loud enough footsteps to suggest that someone had entered the room. They took a moment to calm themself, making their spines lock back into place before turning around to face the owner of the voice. She was shorter than they were, not by too much but just enough that it was noticeable. “Jumpy?” She asks with a tilt of her head.

“No,” They answered after a moment. “Not quite.” It was hard to pinpoint who they were staring at as it wasn't one of the members they'd already run into. “Is it Natasha?” She blinked a few times and looked at them curiously.

“Nastya.”

“Oh. I'm not sure how I messed that up frankly…” They sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose. “Never been particularly good at names i guess. Yknow what it doesn't matter. Do you need something?” Trying to study her face proved difficult.

“No. Just thought I smelled burning and wanted to make sure Toy Soldier isn't lighting things on fire in here again.” They just raised an eyebrow while she responded with a shrug. “It doesn't know how to cook. I overheard that you do though, a good change of pace really.”

“I do know how to cook, yes.” Using their tail they pulled the pan out of the oven, carefully balancing it as they made sure there was a spot to set it down. Nastya was peering over their shoulder, they could feel it.

“Baking huh? Where'd you get all this stuff?”

“Some of it was here already, most of it came out of my stash though. I don't have much left though, just a few jars of preserves.” They sighed as they set the tray down, positioning it to ease cooling. “It's really not that interesting. You can leave now.” She didn't answer right away, taking a seat on a barstool and leaning over the counter.

“I'm tired of hanging with the boys so if you don't mind I'd like to sit with you.” It wasn't a crazy request and they knew they should at least try to be nice since they were just a guest. They sighed as they started cleaning up what little mess they had made.

“I mean…fine. It's not like you're going to get anything all that entertaining.” They decided to focus on what they were doing instead of looking back at Nastya. Silence filled the air for a good few minutes as they focused on cleaning. She seemed content just watching them for the moment.

“What type of cookies did you make?” She asks after a while causing them to stop what they were doing. It wasn't easy to describe as they had just made the basic cookie recipe they'd used for so long now.

“Simple ones…easy to top with various things or enjoy plain.”

“What kind of stuff do you like on them?” They groaned quietly, really regretting saying that she could stay nearby.

“Typically I use jam since I almost always have some on me. Preserves are quite easy to make and keep well. If I'm in the right area I will pick up some chocolate.” Following her out of the corner of their eye they watched as she hopped off the stool and grabbed a cookie. It was still warm but cool enough to enjoy. She said nothing as she took a seat again. “Sure you want to eat that? Might be kind of bland.” All they got in response was a shrug. With a sigh they reached into their bag and pulled out three jars, the last of the jam from their prior batch. “Apple, blackberry and strawberry,” They explained with a gesture to each. “I don't have anything else unfortunately since I was convinced to stay when I really should have been going to restock.”

Deep down they knew rambling like this was a bad idea but for some reason they couldn't bring themself to stop. Maybe it was just because Jer had described Nastya as a good listener. She smiled and hopped off the stool once more to grab a few utensils for the jam. They continued to watch her every move as she put a little bit of each jam on the single cookie, presumably to try each one at once.

“Strawberry will be the sweetest and blackberry the most tart. Apple sits in the middle with a slight cinnamon flavor.” They pointed out as she took a bite. There wasn't much else to say about it all. “How often do people join your crew?”

“Not all that often.” She shrugged once she had finished her cookie. “I'd say before you Jerico was our last member.”

“I'm not staying,” They corrected with a slight frown. “Just visiting. Merchant is a good friend of mine and I want to make her happy.” Nastya just stared at them with a slight tilt of their head before smirking.

“Right, of course.” After a moment she hopped off the stool, brushing crumbs off her shirt. “I quite liked the blackberry.” They decided to ignore her almost mischievous expression and just nod instead.

“Thanks…”

“Would you like me to tell the others about these?” She gestured to the tray with a smile. It took them a moment to decide if they wanted to explain it all again before sighing.

“Yeah sure. Might as well. Can't eat these all myself.” Nastya said nothing else as she left the kitchen, leaving them alone with their thoughts. Mostly about why she had seemed so certain that they would be joining the group. It was just a visit, they didn't plan on staying any longer.

There wasn't much time to think it over as some of them filtered in to try the cookies. They didn't bother explaining it too in depth this time, letting a few of them know before leaving the kitchen before they could be bugged too much. There was much to think about and for the first time in a while it felt like they could actually rest around people. At the very least this would be an interesting endeavor.

#gizm0 #gizm0 writing #the mechanisms #the mechanisms oc #explorer gadget #im not gonna tag more then this

12 notes · View notes

winns-stuff · 1 year ago

Text

LO RANT:

Can we just talk about how incredibly insensitive and blissfully ignorant some fans are about trigger warnings for these very heavy and touchy subjects? Listen I’ve never been so disappointed in my damn life about this stuff, how are you going to read a comic about all of this heavy stuff that happens to people in real life yet also want people who’ve been affected by said topics to shut up or disengage from the comic completely. Y’all are giving this grown woman too much coddling at this point and it’s distressing, Rachel is a grown woman and it’s not like anyone forced her to put these topics into her story she understands (I hope but I say this loosely) that these discussions can be harder to experience for some people rather than others which is why trigger warnings exist and why you give your millions of fans who all come from very DIFFERING experiences than your own a trigger warning to warn them so their day won’t be demolished.

People have a right to call that shit out and if you don’t need the trigger warning good for you, stop acting like these people are insulting the comic by asking for one. It’s not like people are asking her to make a whole around the world trip in one day they are simply just asking for a damn trigger warning. I’m getting so extremely tired of Lore Olympus fans still not getting or even trying to understand this, these people understand that this comic handles serious things but just because Rachel has been “forgetting” the trigger warnings and they don’t want her allowing her fans to go head first into disturbing content doesn’t mean they want their hand held. Also, for the people saying that they should know when those scenes come up you make no sense anyways because you really can barely tell when scenes like these are coming without a trigger warning. The Demeter thing took me by surprise, so did Hera’s story, so did Demeter’s backstory, so did Hades’ shitty apology, etc. The amount of times that I got blindsided by serious topics such as those being dropped into the comic is way too fucking many to count so please don’t try and hide behind that excuse. There’s millions of fans out there who don’t expect shit like this just because you’ve been studying Lore Olympus and got down the mannerisms of the characters before something disturbing or traumatic is coming up doesn’t mean others do.

I’m sorry if I come off rash or meaner in this post I’m just extremely over this whole thing. I am a person that needs trigger warnings as well and last night I watched a video, thinking it would be funny, that ended up harming me. It was a “health” video and it was basically someone telling the viewers that regular human things happening to you is a sign of a painful death, I remember being so mortified that I felt my blood running cold and my heart pounding in my ears. If you didn’t know I’m very anxious, paranoid, and an overall hypochondriac so I don’t do well with shit like that coming up and randomly making itself known. I know many people probably wouldn’t care but I just wanted to let you guys know why trigger warnings are so useful and important to those that need them. Last night my body entered flight or fight mode just by that video alone and I was absolutely panicked, I was in so much distress and it was all because of one video. It only takes one chapter without a trigger warning to trigger worser things than that and we should all be mindful of that fact.

Again, sorry if all of this is aggressive or mean I didn’t mean anything by it I just wish that fans did better. It’s sad seeing them put down others for genuine concerns and it’s even sadder that Rachel does not do anything about it. There’s only so much toxic positivity you can fill up before there’s no real community left and there’s way too many fans who deserve at least a trigger warning with these things it really doesn’t take long to make and it could genuinely save people from these experiences such as mine.

Moral of the story is if you don’t need trigger warnings don’t bag on people who do, they’re not sensitive you just don’t share the same experiences as them and you don’t know what their background is at all. Be mindful that everyone isn’t you, respectfully.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical

54 notes · View notes

saltydkdan · 1 year ago

Note

Pleasant tidings Salty, here to say your iceberg videos where one of the main things that actually got into jojo’s, incredible series, and now i’m caught up on everything i’d be interested to hear your opinion on (as a ultra based jojoer) the end of JoJolion. Personally i loved it, from the connections to part 7 and Gappy’s development through the part, but i know some people found it rushed or confusing, and i’m wondering what your thoughts were?

(ignore the fact i’m a dead weezer gimmick blog)

I’m EXTREMELY MIXED on Jojolion. There’s a lot I love, but also a lot I dislike.

WARNING: JOJO RAMBLE INCOMING

My opinion is very fresh, as I dropped off of modern Jojo back in college. It was only recently that I decided to finally catch back up, and do a weekly book club for Jojolion with a few friends.

My personal recommendation for reading it:

Do it weekly with other friends if possible. Have discussions with them about it. There is so much that I either didn’t pick up on while reading, or completely didn’t register at the time. And trying to extrapolate what Araki was trying to say with his story was very fun. It’s clear he tried to pack a LOT into every chapter. Which has it’s pros and cons. Binge reading doesn’t hit the same for me for Jojolion. I gained a far bigger appreciation reading in batches with other fans :)

The way I like to think about it, is that it had the ingredients, but I feel like the cake didn’t come out right. Although it tastes just as delicious as I would have wanted.

I just feel like Jojolion had a bit too many moving parts that even Araki couldn’t keep track of. There’s plenty of early Jojolion stuff that feels very tonally different with later Jojolion stuff. It’s clear that Araki had to course correct and change the plot several times throughout it’s run. And it’s because of Jojolion that I just feel like Jojo isn’t built for longer stories/publication. I think its length caused a lot of issues long term. It’s because of how long it took to make that there seems to be much more room for Araki to have second thoughts, or flat out change his mind on the story several times. (Josefumi having the Joestar birthmark and having it later removed in the volume releases, the characterization of Norisuke, etc)

Plenty of things go outright unexplained or elaborated on. I know it’s parroted a lot, but the “Flashback Man” from the first arc is the biggest example of this issue. If I had more time I’m sure I could type up a more definite list (how the Wall Eyes work is another example, as well as why the fuck Josuke and Kei Ninimura never really interacted past her stand fight, given that they are siblings and JOSUKE IS LITERALLY SEARCHING FOR FAMILY. HE LITERALLY SAYS THAT HE “HAS NO ONE” MULTIPLE TIMES LIKE, BRO, TALK TO YOUR SIBLING)

Now, I’m not saying that EVERYTHING needs explanation, but for 70% of the story, Jojolion posits itself as a MYSTERY. So to have so many pieces of that be unaddressed just feels… strange.

I also just feel like Jojolion has SO MANY AMAZING IDEAS, and has plenty of time to explore them and just… doesn’t.

Tooru is an incredible villain, probably one of my favorites in the entire series, but his presence in the story is soured because of how late he’s introduced into the plot. He’s amazing, but he feels like a very last minute inclusion, especially when Araki wants us to believe that he was totally a part of Yasuho’s life before and we’ve never even heard a rumbling of that before.

Anyway that’s enough complaining, let me hush about what I love about it real quick.

This is the case with everything he writes, but when Araki nails it with Jojolion he REALLY nails it. The Vitamin C arc is incredible, and ties Josuke’s story together so well and has some incredible lore drops. Not to mention that I think that Jojolion has some of his best written characters. Yasuho is one of the most deep and complex female characters in the entire series (didn’t stop Araki from writing that she gets sexually assaulted once or twice, but that’s just an issue I have with his writing overall)

He also goes really strange with the stands and designs, and I love it so much. When Araki gets weird, he really goes wild, it’s crazy fun. Blue Hawaii is such a fantastic arc, and really highlights his mastery of art and choreography in manga. Josuke’s combat is the best in the series imho.

And although the final arc stumbles in a few places, Wonder of U sticks the landing for me regardless, and in a way that didn’t feel cheap. Araki has come a long way from him writing that “Star Platinum can ALSO stop time”

At first, I thought that Josuke gaining the power of the spin last minute was cheap. However the more I reflected on it, the more it made sense. It isn’t outright confirmed, but I feel like Johnny’s spin was passed down to Josuke through his fusion in the wall eyes. Much like how Autumn Leaves absorbed some power from Johnny’s spin, I think that Josuke being in the wall eyes allowed him to absorb the power in the same way. I can’t tell if that was Araki’s intent, but if it was, dude is a genius. It makes complete sense, and in a roundabout way, directly connects Johnny and Josuke in a final battle.

Anyway yeah, I’ll stop the rambling here.

Believe me, I could go on for hours about Jojolion, and especially Jojo in general. I have so many things I can gush and complain about, it’s why I love it so much.

So yeah, I’m mixed on Jojolion, but overall I enjoy it a lot!!

#saltydkdan #salty asks #jojos bizarre adventure

37 notes · View notes

randomsloredrops · 6 months ago

Text

Random's Lore Drops - Sand Under Table (FR this time)

Alright, so basically, i hate my shitty sans lore drop so i'm making a real one. Ready? Because it's time for...

Cursive, Cursive the Skeleton. Wait what do you mean it's not Cursive? Oh, Sans? sorry. Sans, Sans the Skeleton.

Time to rant. Like, REALLY rant. So, Sans The Skeleton. You know him, you love him, or you hate him. I'm in the middle-ground. I don't give a fUCK about that twat. He's the face of Undertale (but most definitely not what defines it), as well as the first person you meet in Snowdin, excluding Mister Camera which people usually miss (it's in the bush right as you exit). He's a comedian skeleton who likes to play pranks, and also tells over half as many puns as Papyrus (wild ain't it?). His first introduction is not at the gate, but instead the walk to it, where you get to watch his shadow move around as you walk, and also watch as he snaps a stick with ease (don't ask how). As you might know, he's completely nihilistic, and refuses to fight you until you actually end up being a threat. That's right, first degree murder on everybody except those two Froggits you forgot about in the Ruins makes you not a threat, but a Genocide route does. Why? Well, it's simple. You become a threat to the timeline. Now, it's to note he DOESN'T remember resets, only being able to tell by Frisk's expression (which is not related to your input). He also doesn't have the deja vu that others have, instead noting down things during resets, like Frisk turning around before he tells them to, and them acting like they did everything before. He DOES, however, state that there are reports of timelines shifting left and right, which means he has some sort of machine to tell. It's pretty known, but the reason he doesn't kill you isn't out of laziness, but instead, having a promise. He outright tells you that he'd kill you in a paci/neutral route during the "date" with him. He is CANONICALLY only friends with Toriel, and even then, he never knows her name until the pacifist pre-ending cutscene, before Asriel. sans.™ literally could not give any less of a shit, but because he knew Toriel for a while, albeit due to the power of knock-knock jokes, he ended up accepting. He also states that he HATES making promises. His attitude really tells a lot, as, even in his boss fight in the Genocide route, he does not give a SHIT about it. He constantly looks like he's joking, and he does NOT act overly emotional in any situation, with the most emotional that he gets being to tell yourself to politely go fuck thyself by telling you to burn in hell, and calling you a dirty brother killer. He still CARES about people, he just rarely shows it. That "dirty brother killer" line really shows it. After all, how would YOU feel if broke into YOUR planet, into YOUR country, into YOUR town/city, and killed your only family member and then said I was above consequences for that. ...Ignore the "your planet" line. Trust me I come from Earth. It's also shown based by his room that he is NOT a clean person. His first stand stinks of condiments, he sells hotdogs at his own stand, and it's assumed that he LITERALLY has the exact same stand everywhere, based on the snow on the roof, which never disappears in any instance of his stand (stand, IS THAT A JOJO REFERENCE?!?!?). His only role, aside from comedic relief, is the final Genocide boss (which he is known as), and the guy to judge you before you go to Asgore, since that is his only role. Now, onto personal hate. People DON'T realize that he's not fucking FIGHTING you because you're a threat to the kingdom, but because you're going to ERASE the timeline, and when something's erased, it usually never comes back. It's because of the timeline possibly being erased forever, in which he fights you and tries to off you. He doesn't know about the "deal" that the Player makes with Chara, in which you trade your SOUL to recreate the timeline from square one. (my personal headcanon for if Sans ever remembers you're genocides is to go fuck off elsewhere, since there's no reason to fight, right? After all, you're not permanently erasing the timeline, he has no reason to fight. It may be erased, but it keeps coming back, even if YOU don't recreate it, because another Player will.)

#undertale #utdr #sans undertale #HERE IT IS FELLAS. SANS V2.#and my own personal headcanon for sans remembering you're genocides.#after all. why the everliving FUCK would he give a shit about you when you're not a permanent threat to the timeline?#sure. it's going to piss him off when you kill everybody AND him for the five-hundred-thousandth time #but it's better him and everybody else dying than the timeline being erased by a higher entity.

8 notes · View notes