#tongues of serpents

[fearcutsdeeper]

Oh hey, Tharkay has a first name now? Tharkay has a first name that Laurence uses now?

[amemoryofwot]

HES A HELIUM BALLOON

HELP HIM HES FLOATING AWAY

[dreadbirate]

Temeraire being so excited while commissioning a robe to spoil Laurence that you just know he will find incredibly embarrassing is very funny

[sarcasticbeanie]

“Temeraire could no longer complain at all whenever Tharkay wished them to stop again, and neither could Iskierka; instead they peered over his shoulder, at whatever speck of dirt or dust he might be inspecting, and tried to work out whatever traces he had found.”

Little guys under the cut

[star-temeraire]

man temeraire was straight up not having a good time in tongues of serpents

[lindseybyrd]

This is the exact appropriate reaction to Rankin. Fuck this guy, how dare he not die in the war.

[wildtornado-o]

Part 2 (Part 1 here Part 3 here) of the character descriptions in the Temeraire books I've remembered to snatch pictures of.

In order: Black Powder War (1806-7), Tongues of Serpents (1809), Tongues of Serpents, Tongues of Serpents, Tongues of Serpents, Tongues of Serpents, Crucible of Gold (1810-1811), Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Crucible of Gold, Blood of Tyrants (1812), Blood of Tyrants, Blood of Tyrants, Blood of Tyrants.

Under a cut because there are a lot.

Note: Based off of the math I've done with Granby's ages throughout the books he would actually be 32 in the last picture, since it is 1812

[grumpyoldsnake]

I am inordinately delighted by all the hatchlings of eggs that Temeraire has managed to talk to being, just. FIRMLY opinionated slskdjfh

(Reading Tongues of Serpents; the first hatchling hatched all of 60 seconds ago in my audiobook and I have no idea how this will play out in even just the next few paragraphs. But. For the moment? Yes. Delighted 😂)

[captainlaurence]

Jack Telly: They say you can make it all the way up the coast line and get work on a merchantman to China!

Tenzing side eyeing Laurence: A charming notion👀…. Don’t you think. 👀

[fearcutsdeeper]

Imagine being in charge of convicts in Australia and a convicted traitor shows up and his twenty ton killing machine bestie says that if you make him serve his sentence of labor he'll throw you in the ocean. And then insults your herding ability (herding is not your job)

[amemoryofwot]

“And the captain wasn’t looking to save it for himself, was he? Only he’ll go through fire if he thinks he ought to; he’s churchy.”

Emily stop Edith already killed poor Will last book

[v-sanguine]

Tentacles

[chiropteracupola]

Martín Macuilmazatl, a young gentleman of the Ciudad de México.

[sssssaarn]

Characters through Stories

Why I don't call myself 'plural' -- despite 'fitting' the experiences.

A sort of reflection on when I thought I was a system/plural.

All the way back in (around) 2022 to 2023, I referred to myself as a system. I had been questioning for a long time before that, but eventually came to that conclusion after talking to numerous other systems about their experiences.

Nowadays though, I do not call myself a system, or even plural at all. Why is that? The short answer is this: it simply doesn't fit.

The long answer is this: my experiences with being 'plural' mostly came down to characters and, specifically, their stories. When I get particularly attached to a character, and especially for a long time (think, 1-2 years at minimum) I would then feel like I could 'know' those characters thoughts. I labeled these experiences as 'alters' in 2022 -- because that was the closest thing I could use to describe them.

But, this was forgetting another key aspect of myself: I love writing, and I especially love writing characters. I could only 'know' these characters' thoughts after extensively writing about them. I could not just think, and they would be there. There had to be some element of narrative or story to them. Otherwise, they wouldn't come across as strongly. This might be a normal experience for some systems, as there have been weirder ways that systems had to get alters to front. But I still feel like I diverge heavily from the typical 'fronting' examples. The characters never took over my body or mind, I would only act as a sort of 'vessel' for them.

Take, for example, two characters I thought had been 'alters' of mine: the SCPs 049 and 035. These 'alters' had come up after I had read a ton of tales focused around Alagadda (which serves as a sort of backstory for both of them) as well as after I had already spent years writing fan-fiction about them (around two years straight, of fan-fiction focused solely on them). After that point where they 'cropped up' (labeled myself as a system, labeled them as alters), I could only 'front' as them when I was writing as them. I could not act in real life, if I had not been writing as them (think of it as roleplaying, or maybe even more accurately: larping).

This is where experiences of most typical plurals and my 'plural' experience diverged heavily. I did not realize that I could only 'front'/'access' these 'alters' through writing/'roleplaying', because I was trying to force a system that just did not work with me and my brain. (Not to say that the plural framework was or is useless, it just doesn't work for me.) These characters were me; or maybe it would be more accurate to say they were extensions of me. They were extensions of my writing and stories, two things that have become a central point in my life.

Writing and stories have always been there for me, and it's also the best method I have to connect with 'myself'. I started this blog specifically because writing about my experiences, thoughts, and feelings was a great way for me to understand myself more! In short: I have a way of making myself feel less lonely, of understanding myself better, but I labeled this way incorrectly, and repressed for a long time after I realized it was wrong (because no one else understood, or thought it had been labeled correctly the first time).

Recently, I've begun having this same experience with two different characters. This time however, I'm not going to force myself to act plural or like a system, or to make these two characters 'front' like alters in a system. Because they aren't, and that simply won't work for me.

I'm writing this specifically because I don't see experiences like this written about a lot. Some beings aren't and will never be plural, but will have experiences and stories like this (that they still will not want to label as plural), and so I think it's something important to talk about!

The mind is an interesting and varied thing, and I think trying to lump any and every experience under a specific label (no matter how broad its definition) will inevitably drive beings away from that community; not towards it. This is a problem I've come across repeatedly; a lot of folks are just jumping at the gun to label every person they come across as 'plural' or 'nonhuman' -- which I can understand, after all, I would love to know more plural and nonhuman beings as well! But trying to force someone to identify as something, or use a system that simply… Doesn't work for that person? It's a pitfall I think (unfortunately) a lot of alterhuman beings fall into.

There's also the fact that someone can use a label or term for a very long time -- but then after a while, discover that it just doesn't work anymore. And that's perfectly fine as well! Change is a normal part of being, and it should be normalized more in alterhuman and adjacent communities!

If I had to give a label to my experiences now, I'd probably use something more like non-plural soulbonding, or perhaps it's something connected to my daemon. But again: minds are confusing and varied, and I'm not even sure if I'll ever have a clear label or answer on 'what' I am in this regard. And you know what? That's just fine with me.

[lindseybyrd]

GOOD FOR YOU LAURENCE

FINALLY.

Deciding enough is enough.

Took six books, but we're there.

Laurence finally putting boundaries down and demanding his right to self respect.

We love it for him.

This is such a good point to end on, and it shows so much character development for them both.

I'm so happy for them.

[kheprriverse]

Ko’jin being a pest in dragon-form is one of my favorite things to think about. And I’m going to share with y’all part of this au-branch and why he’s a total nuisance below.

Everything about this au is completely the same as my main one (the best abbreviation i can give rn for the main one is “COTS”) except at some point near or after the end, Ko’jin offers to ascend Ballad. Theres a lot of events and decision making that spurs this kinda offer, and I promise it makes sense for him. Thats where it splits into the wargod au.

Ballad ends up with a lot of free time over the years adjusting to the new life. It takes a very long time (I’m not exaggerating when i say at least a couple hundred years) where he’s able to fully accept his new role in the world and finally be able to solidify himself as one of the very few deities currently alive. (I can imagine it was very hard for him to make the decision in the first place, knowing how important his family and original life is to him. And that in of itself is a whole other deep dive.)

It becomes kind of routine for him to meet Ko’jin in certain “touchdown points” where the moon serpent is taking time to rest. Ko’jin has had to spend years catching up on so much that he missed since his original falling, the battle against Majora that left him on the edge of death. These touchdown spots serves as a moment of peace for him to rest and regain what energy he had used up and are usually places of interest relating to the moon serpent specifically (shrines and springs primarily).

Eventually though, Ballad caves into an idea Ko’jin offhandedly suggested in the past; “if you want to be so busy you should just start a new ranch in Termina”. Because yk what? He does need to be busy! He misses his animals and he misses working. So why tf not?

I also imagine ko’jin returns home at the most inopportune times; always when Ballad is busy working or napping. Which also makes him out to be somewhat annoying, but what’re you gonna do when a gargantuan dragon god decides its cuddle time? Cuddle with em, obviously.

Basically slow ranch life simulator with two deities who bask in the sun with their farm animals and sometimes get into fights with other giant world-destroying forces. Very normal.