#raau notes: ranchers

[hybbart]

Sorry if this has been explained, but in RAAU, why do they panic when they find new sculk on somebody (like when Tango had to remove some of Jimmy’s feathers) but nobody is panicking over half of Grian’s face (and some of his wing?) being covered in sculk?

confuzzed

-Juniper

P.S: it does look really cool tho he’s such a cutie <3

Bold to assume Scar is not constantly in a state of mild panic over it.

Grian's sculk, much like Revy's was, is mostly dormant. Unlike Revy's, Grian's was much farther spread and consumed his eye and part of his wing. They don't have a surgeon who could remove his infection- if it's even possible to safely remove it. Almost certainly if they tried he would lose his wing at least, and Grian would rather die than not be able to fly. In fact it probably wouldn't have gotten as bad as it has if he'd been willing to lose the wing earlier on, but that's basically unthinkable to him.

It's not an uncommon sentiment among avians, sadly. Even just someone like Jimmy is pitied and treated with "it must be awful to be you" type ableism. You would be shocked at how much understanding and sympathy Hels would get for his actions from other avians. False E. only turned on him when he went to remove wings from another living avian who would also have to live with being wingless.

Jimmy's better about it than most, but it's not a coincidence that he finally fought back once it was clear what Hels wanted from him, or that despite not being able to fly much he still had a breakdown at having his wings clipped when they got sculk in them.

But yeah, removing the sculk from Grain would involve removing his wings and a huge chunk of his skull at this point, and in their environment with the tools and skills they have, with the sculk being dormant, they've decided it's a safer bet to just keep an eye on him.

[hybbart]

Could we get an updated relationship web for raau? Since the Ranchers moved out to the coast I'm having trouble keeping track of everybody.

That's understandable, since there's been 40 characters so far.

Also I have no idea how to make these I think I spent a full hour alone just trying to... organize it in a way where not too many wires have gotten crossed. I also simplified the descriptions.

If it isn't clear, left side is Tango's opinions of individuals and right side is Jimmy's.

[hybbart]

Do you have any close ups of Tangos arm prothesis? 👀 Love all your designs so much

I presume you mean the one he has in raau. It's based off his steampunk skin. The design isn't, like, super jotted down to the fine details but these are their general designs. His second one is made of much more reflective material so its colours change with the environment more. It's definitely the most fantastical piece of medical equipment in the au, but I wanted to have some fun with it.

The first one couldn't really be worn without an undershirt, and though the second one really shouldn't be it's not as bad if he has to go without. They also had less say int he materials they got to work with for the second.

[hybbart]

I was going to warn you to not hurt Jimmy… but then again… many things have happened to Tango… it needs to be even.

Tango:

Sliced his ear

Zombie Infection & flu

Lost his arm (flesh)

Kidnapped

Lost his arm (prosthetic)

Nearly torn apart by zombies

Jimmy:

Trapped in a mine

Severe lung damage

Glass through his wing

Pneumonia

Sculk infection & wing clipping

Current events

It's pretty even number of things that have happened to them individually, IMO.

I do tend to have Things happen to Tango that involve other people, because Jimmy's much less trusting and has a one strike attitude to people who've crossed him and would rather walk away. Tango holds much deeper grudges but he just grumbles under his breath unless it's something big cause he's not so bold and he's more of a homebody, so he'll put up with bad company for safety.

Meanwhile Jimmy has a lot more passive Things that happen to him, since his health is much worse off and Tango tends to coddle him by doing stuff for him (He's was getting a bit better about it). Jimmy's also much less likely to stick his hand in a hole or push an unknown button out of curiosity.

[hybbart]

It's interesting how even though it seems the sculk is taking over revy, his innate instinct is to protect jimmy. If we can safely assume revy is losing his sense of "self" and just relying on mostly instinct as the sculk takes over further, it is absolutely heartbreaking that his core instinct is "protect" and if that isn't one of the purest forms of love I don't know what is.

Well, they specifically trained him to make a fuss when Jimmy is having trouble breathing and to detect zombies and sculk.

He's been doing all that and guarding for over 2 straight months now. It's become something like his default to be on edge and protect Jimmy. With the sculk taking over his face I imagine his smell and taste are also compromized so he's deprived of most of his senses. I think even without the sculk Revy would be the one that came out of the situation the worst off. He can't really make sense of anyone else's behaviour. Protecting Jimmy is as much for the sake of actually protecting Jimmy as it is being close to him and making sure he's okay is Revy's only source of comfort. It's the same as not letting go of Jimmy's hand.

[hybbart]

So in the Apocalypse AU, Jimmy can fly since he’s an avian, but i think I remember that he just doesn’t do it too often. Does Tango have any abilities that us humans don’t have?

Jimmy can fly in theory, in practice he's a bit of a ground bird comapred to someone like Grian even before the apocalypse, and after his lung damage makes it very difficult. He'd fly more if he could.

Tango as a blazeborn has a very high internal temp, and he can set things on fire with his... well, fire. The high temp protects him from a lot of illnesses, he can't really get infected by sculk for example, it burns away. He also doesn't need as much water and can eat and drink things a bit more safely. And then, of course, fire doesn't really burn him (it can burn his clothes though).

The tradeoff is his body is awful at insulating itself so he doesn't handle winter well at all, and the temps his body increases to to fight off the cold can get a bit dangerous to others and burn himself out energywise. Water doesn't hurt him but it does suck the heat right out of him and he can end up turning it into steam that could hurt other people, so he has to be similarly careful.

He also has pretty good balance because of his tail and he's super light from his internal heat, kinda like the effect of a hot air balloon but lesser. Not enough to float but enough that he can be lifted pretty easy and is less likely to get hurt when he falls.

[hybbart]

Was Revy’s death something planned long before or a more recent development?

Tl;dr it was an idea I had in the back of my mind for a while now that it could happen, but when and where weren't set in stone until circumstances naturally fell that way and I was literally drawing the pages.

It's something that came about naturally. I knew once I did the more time-skippy years Revy would probably die eventually, just because he was getting older, but how and why came about as events happened. It was just 'this thing happened and here's the logistics of it based on everything'.

There was a chance Revy would die protecting Jimmy the same way there was a chance Jimmy would lose his wings or Hels would die- I don't decide anything for certain until it's down on a page and published- but it wasn't something I wanted to happen off screen at the very least. The way events played out and what I wanted to draw that's how the cookie crumbled that he survived, but the sculk was something that would be a problem and it happened that by the time they saved Jimmy it was mid-fall.

I thought also after so many bad days the ranchers ought to have a few good days before all the consequences caught up, it might be too depressing if they didn't get at least a small moment to breathe.

I go back and forth on whether the sculk should have started being visible on the outside, but I thought it might be Too Much on top of everything to have that stress when Jimmy was kidnapped and it's completely possible for it to have not been visible. It had thr side effect of probably feeling out of nowherr maybe, that's the give and take of the options.

I also debated whether the ranchers would leave him to turn, try to prolonge things, or put him down. The first option was eliminated pretty quickly, but I decided it probably would be again Too Much afyer this arc to have another full winter's worth of pages where Revy is either slowly dying in the bg or not present at all? Either way I knew by that point Revy just wouldn't make it through the winter if it was infecting his brain already. He'd only get more unpredictable and violent and need lots of care and focus, and that seemed like both for the sake of the readers and the ranchers not a great choice.

It might have been the choice Tango made if he was on his own, though. I don't think he has the constitution to put a pet to sleep, even if E False could provide the medicine to do it painlessly. But with Jimmy there I think it's the most believable and realistic choice for them.

[hybbart]

The picture with Revy is so soft. But I think what gets me the most is the gentle little kiss Jimmy is giving him on the head. I know its hard for both but it must be really hard for Tango. Not to mention how the cats will take their big compainon suddenly being gone

It's difficult for everyone. And this is definitely one of the few arcs primarily written from personal experience.

I think Tango's never really had a pet before and he's the sort that gets stressed and protective of things. So to lose Revy because in his mind he wasn't observant enough to stop them from leaving or fast enough in rescuing them, it's making something already difficult even worse. (In this case I can relate to him more based on my own experience with a pet of mine, especially cause my current cat has the same issue but we caught it early enough he was saved instead.)

He also just isn't good at handling loss at all, he has a lot of emotions and he doesn't know how to deal with them in ways that don't involve literally exploding. His arm, the ranch, and now Revy, he's never been good at handling them. I think it ptobably also isn't lost of him that it's because of something that can't ever affect him but can and has infected many of his loved ones, Jimmy's gotten sculk before too. He's an overthinker and can fall into bad thoughts easily, it probably feels like everyone is going to get taken from him at the moment.

Jimmy is much more emotionally mature and he's been around animals his whole life. He's the one who likely slaughtered most of the cows and chickens back on the ranch and owned pets before, so he knows how to handle it better and focus on Revy. Not that he's any less upset he just is better about handlign it.

The hardest part of everything, though, is going to be the fact that Revy was basically his assistance dog. Without him, even with his machines, Jimmy's likely to have a lot rougher time of things. Norman isn't useless for this, he visibly acts up if somethings wrong, but he doesn't make a bunch of noise when Jimmy stops breathing in his sleep or protect him when he's having a bad day. Revy really was a big part of why the ranchers could be independant and especially travel where they currently are.

As for Norman, they weren't attached at the hip and he still has the chickens, but it certainly is a difficult change in dynamics for him, especially separated from Flick.

Bullseye is probably more affected than Norman tbh. I guess I never really showed it but Revy was a big help with keeping the horses calm by walking with them and hearing threats that might spook them. Now it's really only Jimmy's hearing that can help. Bullseye's become of the more resilient horses which is why they picked them to bring but it's still a big adjustment to deal with.

[hybbart]

for the raau, could you go over everyone’s relationships rq? Just like who’s in what group or even who’s related/dating

you’ve probably posted it somewhere but I can’t find it, sorry if you have already

I've never made one of these before but I tried... These actually take a long time to make... I probably forgot someone. Also made one for the ranchers specifically.

As for locations, you can find that near the bottom of the raau directory pinned to the top of my blog and also linked in my description.

Also obviously this is the current situation as of day 1485.

[hybbart]

What kind of music do you think raau Tango and Jimmy like to listen to? Do you feel like they have the same or different music tastes? 🤔

Tango's a rock/metal and noise/ambient sorta guy and Jimmy isn't super picky as long as there's fun lyrics to sing. That said the thing they listen to most and enjoy together the most is country, especially the sorta stuff you find at like a pub karoake night, cause that's most of what they have and feels good to listen to on the ranch and road.

The mix I made for their road trips is a lot of the chicks, Reba, Toby Keith, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash. Specific songs not from those guys are Mud on the tires, truck got stuck, all my exes live in texas, ten rounds with jose cuervo, whiskey lullaby, I like it I love it, my front porch looking in, and she's in love with the boy.

Some non country stuff is a couple of duran duran, rem, barenaked ladies, mariana's trench, and train songs, gods gonna cut em down, the impression that I get, adventure of a lifetime, sweet summer samba, and shotgun.

I think the only think they disagree on is probably metal and such that has harsh noises, cause Jimmy can't mimic it without hurting his throat and it's a bit too much for his ears. Tango isn't a big fan of musical tracks either probably.

[hybbart]

Been thinking about Jimmy helping with the large amount of livestock, and I wonder if there's any kind of animals (chickens maybe?) that reeeally like hanging around him? The ranch didn't have much livestock as it only really provided for a couple people, but Dogwarts is much bigger which means a LOT more animals.

Same question goes for tango, though he helped more on the machinery side of things rather than the with the livestock like Jimmy.

Actually! The chickens hate Jimmy. Big Chicky especially likes to attack him. Tango was the one who cared for the chicken, and they adore him like Jimmy does (he has that effect on birbs).

Also the rancher's cattle herd was probably about the same size as the kingdom's sheep herd. They started off with a lot of cattle and they were providing meat and dairy for the entire network, including False and Etho's band. Dogwarts has more people within it all living together but the population is about the same overall, so its more of a mass thing since a sheep provides less meat but they also breed and grow faster so they can be slaughtered more often.

Cows and cats seem to like Jimmy the most, along with any bovines. Horses, dogs, and sheep seem good around him, but he just causes a specific reaction in chickens and goats that make them hate him and vice versa.

[hybbart]

I Decided to make paper dolls for raau, because I love designing outfits.

Tango’s wardrobe is smaller than Jimmy’s as he needs insulated clothing. Because of that, a lot of his outfits are just different combos of the same few (thankfully durable) pieces.

Once they start trading with the downtowners he gets a few more options. They have access to specialty shops that are relatively untouched and overlooked, whether that’s already made clothing or raw fabrics for Jimmy and Lizzie to work with.

[hybbart]

The other half!

Jimmy has a lot more clothing variety. Sewing is kinda a basic necessity skill for hybrids but he learned a lot from Lizzie on how to sew and knit, so he can also make and fix clothes with the right resources.

[hybbart]

Wait did tango arm oxidize already or is that just color reflection

His new arm is made of different material, something darker and more iridescent based off his dungeon master skin which has some sort of thing with the hand going on. Don't ask me what, it wasnt even gonna be iridescent at first but i was flipflopping on the colour and i liked it. Maybe its some netherite alloy who knows

[hybbart]

Me knowing with them having the kittens one night one of the ranchers are going to wake up to this. (Yes this is my kitty her name is Mable)

Mable is very cute!

As for the ranchers... Well, Jimmy already lives like this every night.

Jimmy doesn't sleep very well...

[hybbart]

Heya! I was wondering how medication and medical devices work in the ranchers au. Most devices need replacing quite often and after five years, many medications would be out of date and useless or even dangerous.

I definitely get if it's just a case of, they don't go off, since medicine is confusing but I was curious since it could lead to plot.

I should say that I specifically don't get into this stuff much just because I don't know much about it and I would rather keep things vague than accidentally impart incorrect information. As well as the fact that it is ultimately a biopunk setting with differences to our world. That said, have more rambles than I expected.

Right you are, there's in fact not a lot of medication left. People hoard anything they find but most is long expired. The hospital is lucky to have two doctors and Scar who know a bit more about medicine than the average person, but a lot of whats kept is just praying it still works.

Cleo thanks to being a gorgon is also in the drug development business, though she specialized in developing antivenom, but she not only knows but can help develop certain medicines. She and Scott have made quite a thing of their inn and I kinda wanna touch on it in the future.

Shubble, Katherine, Gem, Impulse, and Pearl know home remidies for a lot of things and have specifically been growing and creating them. These aren't going to replace complex modern drugs for specific conditions obviously, but they work and its easy to pass it around with the help of the radio station.

Overall, on bad days, Tango generally has to grin and bear it with homemade pain killers at most. It's rough and it contributed to the second wave of population decline after the first wave of zombie deaths. It's Scar's goal to specifically help survivors with this sort of thing, though.

As for medical equipment, it's a bit grim but since there's such a small population now and the hospitals were the first to go there was a lot of spare equipment from storage and patients left behind. In part because of Scar's own medical needs and in part for their desire to help others, Scar and Cub, and later Grian, collected what they could from abandoned hospitals and care homes.

It's obviously not going to cover everything, materials break down and as far as replacing them or things that need customization there isn't a factory just down the road that makes it all in house.

This is where I take the most artistic liberties, but Tango, with Doc and Zed, is the one to maintain Jimmy and Scar's equipment as well as his arm. Whether that's patching the existing, altering replacement, or crafting new parts. He knew a good bit from his job and hobbies but he's spent the past 5 years learning specifically how to diy for Jimmy and himself. It's not perfect but it's the best they have.

This is still a bit of a soft biopunk setting at the end of the day with mutliple species and genetic modification, I imagine it might be a little bit easier to get hold of certain things than it would be in real life. I also think they live in a very different economy, and its probably easier to find sturdier and custom made items due to the variety of their society making mass production more difficult. This leaves the problem of certain species not responding to certain medicines though and needing more specialized treatment.

The degredation of materials is something I do try to take into account, which is the reason gas power is nearly nonexistent, but it's hard to take everything into account and sometimes I would rather not, simply because it allows more stories to be told if something is available but difficult to get rather than impossible. I'm not great with drawing or knowing technology so it's easier to just say something is jerryrigged than it is to actively illustrate how they did it. If it seems it might be possible I allow it.

The important thing to me is to consider the types of people who would think about these things first and if anyone might be that person. You know, someone with asthma is going to think of medication and figure out how to get it, a truck driver might know where to go for storages of specific supplies instead of raiding malls, and a historical reenactor might think of how to get and create sustainable materials. Everyone leads a life that puts certain things at the forefront of their mind that other people probably wouldn't think of at all. Especially going from a modern specialist society collapsing into a society that requires generalized knowledge. And the saved knowledge of these things didn't turn to dust the second the apocalypse hit.

Life's not as rough as it might be in other apocalypse media, just because I guess I generally don't really care for the unrralistically cynical outlook a lot of american apocalypse stories are made in for drama's sake. This is a story about people caring about and helping one another, and developing a new life for themselves. If they don't have access to something, people work together to make due with what they have.