#think I’ve typed it enough times?

[queen-scribbles]

I have Tighe/Cass and Trinne/Lann ficlets to type up and then maybe, maybe the muses will free me to work on OWaP xD

[right-there-ride-on]

Gyro’s Just as Bad: A Gyjo Essay

its generally understood that gyjo is important to each other, but since sbr is from Johnny’s pov we get his thoughts on the ‘why’ more than gyro’s. Johnny’s side of things also tends to get more emphasis in fanon, which I just wanted to try and illustrate the development of their relationship from Gyro’s pov since I think that’s the part of gyjo that seems the most underexplored.

First thing to note, and something that’s pretty funny, is that Gyro is an asshole to everyone at the start of the race. Through the first stage hes basically this ‘lone rider’ character. Before the race starts, Gyro helps Johnny out by helping him get on the horse, but during the race itself he’s pretty brutal to his competitors. It’s Johnny who chooses to chase him, which Gyro didn’t ask for. But by the end of the stage Johnny’s proved his grit and Gyro allows him to accompany him. It’s cute how quickly he takes Johnny under his wing, especially since he’s still so hostile to everyone else.

Gyro presents himself as this very confident figure, and carries them through the attacks of Mrs. Robinson, Strohiem, and Oyecomova. The Boom-Boom family was more of a team effort between Gyro, Johnny and Tim, and they mostly won thanks to Tusk awakening. It isn’t until Pork Pie Hat Kid attacks and Gyro gets taken out of commission that Johnny is forced to be the one doing the quick thinking and rescuing. I think both Johnny being the one to rescue him and his newfound determination to collect the corpse tickles Gyro, similar to how he was interested in Johnny at the starting line because of Johnny’s stubbornness with Slow Dancer.

I think a big part of the reason Gyro is initially attracted to Johnny is because Johnny has the fortitude to go after what he really wants; unlike Gyro, who, as revealed in True Man’s World, remains to some extent paralyzed by his family’s traditions. So far the only thing Gyro has ever done to differentiate himself from his given role as executioner and eldest son is join the race, supposedly for Marco. Yet as demonstrated with his continued correspondence with Naples and their delivery of the Zombie Horse thread, Gyro did not cut himself off from his country and family entirely. He doesn’t know how to exist without it. Johnny meanwhile is fiercely independent; by contrast Gyro is still dependent on his tradition, country and family to guide his decisions. That’s why I think Marco was only an excuse / smaller factor in Gyro’s choice to join the race than what was initially presented. Gyro left to join the race because he’d never had a chance to develop himself as a person outside of his role as eldest son and executioner. That’s why his question about Marco’s death is about ‘consent’. Marco was supposed to be Gyro’s first solo execution. Marco was imprisoned as a traitor to the crown and by law would need to die. As a prisoner he has no consent to give, and Gyro knows that. The consent Gyro needs is his own. Gyro needs to understand, for himself, who he is and what his actual values are before he ‘consents’ to being the executioner.

In the Third Stage, Gyro admits to himself that “maybe the corpse hunt will help me grow a little.” Like I said, I think that to an extent Marco’s unjust execution was not necessarily the entire reason Gyro came to the race. Gyro may not have recognized it himself, but what he’s looking for is an opportunity to define himself outside of what he knows. Marco isnt what he’s thinking about when he loses the Third Stage; Gyro is thinking about how much he himself is pissed off by the loss. Unconsciously, Gyro recognizes that he’s not just racing for Marco, but to prove something to himself. Moreover, easily winning would prove that he’s fine as he is, and he can back to Naples, ignorant but having in a sense ‘gotten it out of his system’. But losing forces him to reflect, not just on the loss, but on what he’s racing for. That’s why Johnny’s advice is for him ‘to hunger’. Because Gyro still doesn’t really understand his own motivations for racing.

That’s why Ringo’s words about his being a conformist in True Man’s World bother him so badly. Because Gyro knows that, up until that point, he has been a conformist. He still relies on Naples for guidance and Gregorio’s teachings still echo in his head. But his friendship with Johnny is what allows him to break the first of the family traditions he’d so strictly adhered to, and give in to ‘sentimentality’. This is the first ‘new’ value he explicitly chooses to define himself by, and the first part of himself he discovers outside of his ‘conformity’. Gyro risks a lot by going back to confront Ringo. He’s challenging not just Ringo, but himself. Only a ‘true man’, or someone fighting for ‘something’ that they desire for themselves, would have the ‘dark determination’ necessary to beat Ringo. And Gyro finds it. Ringo welcomes him to the true man’s world because he recognizes that Gyro has found something to fight for.

In Catch the Rainbow, Gyro takes Johnny’s advice from the Third Stage and creates another value to define himself by - a hunger to win, for himself. That’s why he tells Diego to gtfo of the way; Gyro’s chasing himself on the Golden Path. Supposedly it’s a path for him alone. Ironically, it’s Johnny who interrupts Gyro and Diego’s battle on the Golden Path. Textually, Johnny realizes Diego is cheating but Gyro is so desperate to win that he doesn’t realize it. Metaphorically, Johnny interrupts to demonstrate that Gyro isn’t done growing yet, and is not yet ready to truly walk the ‘golden path’ of the True Man’s World. He doesn’t yet have the self-definition or subsequent selfish hunger necessary to do it. Only together are Gyro and Johnny able to defeat Diego and continue their pursuit of self-improvement (the corpse parts). However, afterwards Gyro lashes out at Johnny for interrupting, further demonstrating that in many areas he is still immature, childishly taking his feelings out on Johnny instead of waiting for an explanation of why Johnny interfered, and not really listening when he does.

In A Silent Way, Johnny is again what enables Gyro to find his second area of self-definition: mentorship. It’s heavily implied that Gyro is the first one to break Zeppeli tradition and teach the Golden Ratio to someone outside the family; however, he won’t teach Johnny any other way but the Zeppeli family way (‘I can’t do it’ four times), demonstrating his continued struggle between tradition and independence.

Sugar Mountain is iconic, but just as a refresh: at the end of the arc Gyro sees again how much Johnny is willing to give up for him. I think that this shapes his approach to Johnny afterwards; he’s much softer, and more protective. Because of Johnny’s actions in Sugar Mountain, he’s realized that finding his ‘golden path’ isn’t something he can do alone; and that he really does need Johnny as much as Johnny needs him. As noted before, Johnny gave up everything for Gyro. This is the impetus for Gyro to really embrace his role as friend and mentor, no longer afraid that his newly discovered ‘sentimentality’ is a weakness, but embracing Johnny as a trusted companion and deciding that he doesn’t need to be a ‘lone rider’ to win and find the independence and self-definition he’d been looking for. Johnny, not the race, is what pushes Gyro into reflection, soul-searching, and adaptation, embracing the world as it comes instead of adhering to everything he’s been taught.

Gyro defeats his narrative foil in Wekapipo. Wekapipo has abandoned his homeland entirely, and been abandoned by it. He hopes to find a new beginning in America. He too is looking to define himself anew. However, Gyro, now having reconciled what he’s been taught with what he’s learning with Johnny, is able to pull off a miracle. He doesn’t need to be someone new entirely or abandon who he was; he just needed to understand himself. Note that this is also the arc where he finds the golden rectangle in Johnny’s eyes - literally melding where he came from (Golden Ratio, Zeppeli traditions) with what he’s chasing now (self-improvement, alongside Johnny). That’s why Gyro’s allowed to win this stage, and he and Johnny get their one-two finish. Gyro earned his victory against Wekapipo and he earned first place in the stage, he and Johnny finding the best path forward (the golden path) by combining Tusk and a Steel Ball to create their own. Furthermore, Gyro reconnects Wekapipo with Naples by revealing his sister is still alive; thus Wekapipo too is allowed to live and try to reconcile where he came from with where he’s going, starting the journey Gyro now realizes he’s been on.

Frankly I’m tired so I’m not going to get into D4C arc but by the time sbr reaches its climax most of the heavy relationship work for gyjo is done anyway. I hope anyone who questions Gyro’s side of things finds this essay helpful!

[kristiliqua]

i dont think i’ve ever been so genuinely obsessed with how well put-together a piece of media is ever since the adventure zone: balance , until now . i fucking love ultrakill holy SHIT

[sockdooe]

FUCK YOU VOLTRON LEGENDARY DEFENDER!!!!!!!!!!!! I SHOULD NOT BE CRYING AT DAMN NEAR MIDNIGHT CAUSE OF YOUR FAILURE OF A SHOW ASS 🖕

[uhzuku]

so y’all remember how i was saving for sunday and fugue …

[creativity-deficient]

Soooo what are y’all’s hcs on the Tweak family 🤔🤔🤔

[thefleshyougoveggie]

we as a society need to talk more about platonic love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND HOW WONDERFUL IT IS!!!!!!

[literaturebf]

i don’t think i have done enough or experienced that much in my life. i am so young and there is so much time but it feels like im very behind and i have no real experiences or memories that have any value. but also that’s not true. but to me it is

[pitconfirm]

watched adolescence today…. gosh… i mean. yeah

[kristiliqua]

me every time i think about taz balance again: holy fuck i need to die

(warning …. essay in tags …)

[charmedcleric]

Now that I’ve had some sleep after my break down this morning I think I’m just gonna spend today relaxing, might play some bg3 or continue on with my trevelyan run on dai

[carsickcrow]

i need to make more art (serious original kind) and also more fanart and also more oc art. and also keep knitting. and do everything when am i gonna find the time.

[otterdoesart]

Hey hey hey mate! ‘S been a while but I’ve just kinda scrolled through your art tag from the last three years (TIME MOVING REAL!?) and it’s crazy to see how much you’ve done in that time XD! Real fond of your splatoon ocs (manta and Ray was it?) and that one love letter fanart you made (BLEW MY MIND!? THE LYRICS FIT THEM SO WELL!! I WAS IN AWE) X) really do love spending time on this app n’ yappin, makes me wish I spend more than like five minutes a week here ,, BUT gonna do my bestest to see what you’ve been up to/ going to get up to 💚 - Z (ALSO DO YOU HAVE A LIIKR A TAG FOR YOUR OC WORLD CUZ I SAW A FEW POSTS MENTION IT BUT I COULDNT FIND IT RAAARGHHH I would love to see it I am so sorry for yelling byebyebeybeye)

HII Z

Im literally at work rn crying at your kind words 🫶🫶🫶

It really is crazy it’s been so long 😭 I feel like I’ve improved in my art but stayed the same at the same time hehe

Thank you for loving my boys! I created them with my homie from high school and they consume my brain,,They’re just goofy little guys who fight and love each other :) Ray is dating Callie (gross🙄(affectionate)) and manta is dating Dove hehe

Thank you for saying so!!! About the letter fanart guehrhe I killed myself doing that last year on the midst of art fight 💀💀

A lot of my OC stuff is in my head and scattered across sites eughejehe I could ramble about them but it wouldn’t be coherent ! The story changes every 2 months jdhddndh

Oughhh i loveghsj themmm just some more silly guys

Anywho thank you for saying all that I really appreciate it and our friendship although we don’t talk as much anymore 🫶🫶🫶

[cuteniarose]

Yet another set of incorrect quotes, this time featuring the Most Fucked Up Siblings, because @katkastrofa is having a hard day and I’m trying my best to be a good friend <3

(And some notes, because I love yapping about them)

She wouldn’t say it out loud since she knows when to keep her mouth shut, but you just know she’s thought it on many, many occasions while being reprimanded

These two have… rather differing opinions on poetry. Zaheer is very particular about writing style and word choice and tempo and grammar. Aiza likes funky words thrown onto a page :P She’s more into prose anyway, especially of the.. inappropriate variety 🤭

It recently occurred to me that part of Summiya and Aiza’s education would absolutely be something music related, like playing a few fancy instruments, so new HC, Aiza is crazy good at recognising notes by ear and the only reason she was rarely praised in her lessons is because unlike Summiya, she wasn’t content with sticking to pre-written pieces and wanted to experiment more. Luckily, there are no rules when it comes to playing instruments at the Air Temple, therefore he’s free to go wild :D

Yes, a huge part of the reason they didn’t get along as kids (on the rare occasions they got to interact) was because Summiya was a stuck up nag, but have we considered that Zaheer being a little shit played just as much of a role in that?

I feel like there’s no need for further commentary on this one, the quote says it all

Priorities, man… (also I’ve had this one quote in mind since like.. August, so I’m glad I’m finally posting it lmao)

Brothel gang mentioned!! Featuring low empathy Summiya not knowing how to handle having friends for the first time in her life 🫠

If younger Summiya was even a tiny bit self aware:

Underappreciated part of Summiya reuniting with her siblings – she still has no idea how to act like an actual human being. Emran absolutely takes the piss out of her for it every single day they’re together

More of Summiya being completely socially inept, this time with a horny undertone because this wouldn’t be a post on tumblr.com/cuteniarose without at least one innuendo 😁

[pipskippy]

reading dungeon meshi for the first time wheeeeeeee!!!!