#trying to finish all the midbloods

[chrisrin]

nepeta!! :3

[mysterioushistorian]

and finally, the last redesigns are here! as always, headcanons are under the cut :)

Lowbloods

Midbloods

Ardata Carmia

been getting a lot better due to her moirallegiance with marsti

doing what her heart desires

still kind of bloodthirsty though

lynera's crazy matesprit (crazy just like her)

the mediiia adores me

marsti may be immune to her psychic powers, but she's not immune to her charm

amazing video editor

?????? Elwurd

irdc abt her so whatever

is over her ex

is there even much to say about her?

has been getting into music too. she plays the guitar.

Mallek Adalov

hackerman sk8erboy, obviously

has a blog for coding advice

nerdier than ever

loves diemen

can play ping-pong pretty well.

Remele Namaaq

buy her arte

great friends with charun and is on good terms with amisia

has been getting into acting as of late

can take someone in a fight

is that a pirate?

aside from acting, also knows a lot about movie directing and illumination

just loves art in general

Amisia Erdehn

still makes her own paint. yep.

actually finishes her projects now. no empty canvas or half done paintings

likes to hide in chahut's hair

been trying out digital art too

aint you too young to use chittr?

Galekh Xigisi

aspiring writer

hates tagora's bullshit, but loves him anyways

please cite an entire wikipedia article

a teacher! finally

reading is great for you, young wrigglers.

wears an expensive watch

Nihkee Moolah

still a muscular theater champion and master of muscular arts!

during her free time, she records videos for grub tube. she does workout exercises for women

WE CAN DO IT SISTERS!

is that a nike shoe

Zebruh Codakk

still the same, that's all you need to know.

Marvus Xoloto

engaged to fozzer velyes. he loves that man.

there are hidden messages about troll marxism in his songs now

welcome to clown town, motherfuckers. honk honk :o)

treats karako like his son

chixie's moirail. he cares a lot about her and hates it when other highbloods take credit for her songs

Chahut Maenad

still loves to scrapbook

might need a bigger room for all those heads she collect

praise the mirthful messias, motherfuckers

whoever invades skylla's ranch has messed with her

big fan of moolah's grubtube channel

Karako Pierot

HONK!!!

bronya is his adoptive mother, marsti is his grubsitter (as much as she hates it)

marvus is like a father figure to him

just a sweet, sweet soul in this cruel world

can juggle now!

Barzum & Baizli

still share everything

still are the same

are circus ballerinas now,

culling tactics didn't change

[cloudbattrolls]

Terrible, Wonderful

Jameth Abnale | Takami Estate | Present Night

Jamie sighed as he waited on his heated couch at the Takami estate, waiting for Jikiro to finish working and come hive. Loathe as he was to admit it, he needed advice, and there was no one else he could ask. Viltau was not an option; the indigo would be far too smug, and he had enough ammunition on the topic already. 

Not that said bullet was anything Velour didn’t already know. 

How stupid he’d been, admitting all that. He had let himself slip so far, being all affectionate and open…

Well, enough of that. Finally, a reason to rise from the fog he’d slipped into. As if he hadn’t already had enough good reasons! But this had finally gotten through to him. Two obvious pieces of proof that Velour was…

He gritted his teeth as he shifted on the cushions. He couldn’t simply write the lower-caste blueblood off as a waste of time, much as he’d like to. Much as he’d tried to tell himself so before.

He’d been happy. Too idiotically happy for it to have all been a waste.

In truth he was condemning Velour for something so many trolls thought anyway, something so ordinary and commonplace he might as well condemn the man for breathing. Petty, in a sense. But he’d thought…no, he’d been delusional. Why hope? It was his own stupid fault, thinking someone that materialistic and shallow would be any different from everyone else.

Yes, it had been fun. But there was no point in caring. There never was.

“Oh, hey Jamie.” 

His kismesis walked in, yawning. He was preparing his business to function in his absence when he went to make his bargain, and had brought some papers with him in binders to bring the cobalt up to speed.

“Jiji. Mind if we forestall work a moment? I need to ask you something.”

The tealblood blinked. 

“Yeah, sure.”

The tanuki troll sat dutifully on the other couch, leaning with his head in hands and his elbows on his knees as he waited, dark eyes attentive.

Jamie took a breath.

“I really…should stop trying with Velour. It’s not going to go anywhere good. But I don’t want him hurt. I mean, he won’t notice anyway, right? All I have to do is…stop. Just be casual, normal. That will work, won’t it?”

Jikiro stared.

“The fuck, Jamie. You really like him, where did this come from?”

“Never you mind.” snapped the kookaburra troll, then sighed. “Look, it’s unimportant. Just - “

“No fucking way do I believe that.” Interrupted the midblood, crossing his arms. “What did he say? Did he say something dumb by accident that you didn’t bother to point out? Be willing to bet a million caegers that’s it.”

Jamie gritted his teeth. “What good would it have done, Jiji? It is nothing he will ever care about, because he doesn’t have to, because people like him don’t - look. I know I’m being petty, but it’s not something I can stop caring about either.”

“What. Did he say.” Said Jikiro calmly but insistently.

“Flat out said anyone who’s not pretty isn’t marketable.” Answered the bird troll flatly. “That oh, wouldn’t it be nice if romantic movies showed more variety, but really, who can blame them for not doing so? That’s how it’s always been. Familiar faces are better.”

Jikiro paused. “Okay, that’s…not great, but you know Velour. He couldn’t hurt a fly. I’m sure he didn’t realize what he was saying.”

The shorter man’s eyes narrowed and his ears went down.

“Stop fucking giving him the benefit of the doubt! You know what he’s like, you have the receipts in your bank account to prove it! All he will ever do to people like you and me is want to exploit us! We’re not like him and Viltau! All his platitudes about friendship are as fake as he is!

Oh, I know he believes his own words, but only because he doesn’t understand what friendship really is. Only because he will never, ever treat someone different from him as an equal in a way that costs him anything. You think he wouldn’t ditch either of us if we suddenly looked bad for his image? Come on. Tell me that’s not true.” The blueblood demanded.

Jikiro hesitated. “I dunno. Maybe? He still needs me to teach him magic.” The ink maker shrugged. “Plus I don’t think he’s gonna do that, Jamie. He likes it here, I know he does. He wouldn’t keep coming back if he didn’t.”

The tealblood sighed. “And leave Viltau out of it. He’s not like Velour and you know it.”

Jamie grudgingly nodded. 

“All right, fair enough. At least with him all I have to worry about is him being a damn busybody.” Grumbled the kookaburra troll. 

Jikiro grinned. “Mad cause he’s the only person more stubborn than you, huh?”

His kismesis sniffed. “I have no comment on the matter.”

Snickering filled the air as the highblood threw a crumpled up piece of paper at his spade. Then the tanuki troll frowned.

“So why the fuck didn’t you just tell Velour you were upset?”

“I’m not upset.” Jamie snapped. “Upset implies I expected better, which I did not. Doing so would be breathtakingly stupid. No, if anything I’m thankful! It gives me the motivation to do what I already should have done, had Viltau not maneuvered me into weakening.”

Silence filled the room like a leaden shroud.

“Jamie.” Said Jikiro, firm but gentle. “For the love of fuck. Don’t drop a guy because he made one mistake. He WOULD notice you being more distant and you know goddamn well it’d bother him.”

“Oh yes, god forbid someone not have the opinion of him he wants them to.” retorted the blueblood, deathly serious. “Jiji, we both know I’d wind up hurting him anyway, it’s what I do. It’s better this way.”

“No, it’s just easier this way.” Shot back the teal, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Goddamn, Jamie. You’re a lot of things but I never took you for a guy who took the easy way out.”

“Easy?” cried the smaller man. “What the hell do you think is easy about this? You - you think - “

“I think you’re scared as hell of being hurt.” cut in Jikiro bluntly. “I get it. No shame for that, Jamie. You’ve been hurt enough, I won’t deny it. But that’s life, freckles. We all hurt sometimes. Especially when it’s people we love.”

The cobalt paused. Then laughed.

“Please. As if I ever would. I didn’t miss your little tease the other night…but there is none of that.”

Jikiro examined his spade, then nodded.

“Okay, fair. But you can still love him platonically.” He added gently. 

“No point, Jiji, no point.” Said Jamie, waving his hand. “Such suffering to set myself up for. So unfulfilling. He is who he is, and he shall never be anything else. It’s none of my business anyway. He reminded me I don’t actually know him well, and he’s right. Nor should I try.”

Jikiro blinked. “I guess that’s true, I mean, I don’t blame him if that’s how he feels, he knows himself best.” 

He looked at Jamie in concern.

The cobalt stared back, expression unreadable.

“He does not want to be known, Jiji. He does not want to make his own life better, or anyone else’s, not beyond it making him look good. We both know what he wants. May it bring him happiness.”

Jikiro leaned back, blowing out a bit of air. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

“It is true.” Said Jamie simply. “I know he isn’t like that on purpose. He really thinks he’s helping people, that he’s doing the best for himself that he can. Who am I to ruin his innocence? I would only hurt him.”

The tealblood looked at his spade, his oldest friend, and marveled.

“You’d do a lot for him, wouldn’t you.”

“That’s why I can’t keep on like this.” Said Jamie quietly. “It’s too much. It makes me want…want to be numb again, because I know how badly it will end.”

Jikiro immediately rose and walked over to give the kookaburra troll a hug. 

Jamie, for once, didn’t argue. 

He only buried his face in his quadrant’s chest, ashamed at his weakness, but unable to stop.

[11-of-quills]

Anette had just finished cleaning up the deep purple stains on her face and hands when she heard a raspy, harsh voice from behind her.

"Well, sorry your little 'project' didn't pan out the way you wanted." Cypres had somehow made their way into the captains quarters without Anette noticing, but that was nothing new. If anything, it was a comfort for at least that familiarity to remain.

"Well, what is done's done." Anette inspected her fins closely, looking for any remaining stains against her deep grey scales, shimmering under the fluorescent light. "Besides, the Condence's weapon spinestabbing those revolutionaries is so satisfying that nothing could cull my mood. It's about time Serdia learned his fucking place. He always thought he was so smart...." She picked at a stain, scratching gently with one chitonous claw to wear it away.

"Oh, sure, sure, but i doubt the sopor tasted any good. It seemed like he was made more of the stuff than anything else." Cypres shifted, dangling their head off of the chair and kicking their legs in the air as they watched Anette with disinterest.

"I have consumed enough secondhand sopor slime for even the Condense's lifetime, that is for sure. But I-"

"Hate to waste good meat" Cypres said in unison with Anette. Seadwellers are nothing if not predictable. Maybe it was the longer lifespan- to do the same thing for sweeps and sweeps on end, twice or three times as long as Cypres could even dream of living, even if they survived conscription. Maybe it's the stuffy nature of being that high up in the hemospectrum. Really, who's to say? Either way this officially should net Cypres as Anette's number one companion- maybe they'll even fill a quadrant. Terrors know she's too ambitious to stay that close to another highblood for long before trying to do something. Better to stay nice and safe as a midblood. Nobody pokes too much because you're just high enough to not be an easy target, but anyone truly dangerous is already above your pay grade already.

"So, now what? Your nemesis is gone and left a power vacuum, you've lost your project.... it's not like you're short on options." Cypres inspected their claws as if that was the most important thing in the world, attempting to hide their interest in her next move.

"Who is to say?" She fixes Cypres with an intense gaze that made them shift with discomfort, as if she was trying to pry out why a midblood who is so otherwise unconcerned with what her ship does would care. "I've enough options, but I've time to decide, too. I am in no rush, after all." That wasn't entirely true, but Anette didn't think that a fucking midblood deserved to know the finer details anyways. That's how your information gets 'found' by every other captain in the sector and with the Condense's mood in the wake of everything, well.... no need to stir the pot with infighting if it could be helped.

[ask-them-bois]

Time Flies When You're Having Rum

TLDR: Ruthless and his quads go out for a fun night. Chaos ensues.

Tw: Drinking, fighting, murder, blood (but in a fun way)

.

Lucina slammed her empty mug down at the same time as Cody, letting out a belch before she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

"Ready to give in, you piss colored fuck? Ain't much of you left to fucking take this shit. You even got a liver?" She taunted the wasted cyborg.

"Fuckin' try me, leech!" Cody swore, before he hiccupped so bad he looked like he might be sick.

"Ru, are you not going to stop them?" Amadri asked anxiously from the next table, where the seadweller and limeblood were watching the contest.

Erimus shrugged, his cheek on his fist and a dreamy look in his eyes as he watched his wife wave down the bartender. "Cody's the one that challenged 'er. He's gonna learn one way or another that I wasn't kiddin' when I said she could drink the whole crew under th' table." He chuckled, before taking a swig of his whiskey.

"Erim! What's our fucking score?!" Lucina demanded as two more icy mugs of alcohol were set between her and Incoding.

"Yer tied at nine drinks, love." Erimus informed her, before he indicated his swaying, goldblooded morail, "Get his ass."

"Oi! No encouragement for me?" Cody spluttered.

"Why would I wish luck on a bastard that signed his own death warrant?" Erimus shrugged.

"'Cause-" Incoding began, hiccuped, and continued, "-this shit's straight weak sauce, bro."

"Shut your trap, and drink!" Lucina shoved a mug into Cody's hand. They toasted, before they began to drink.

Cody kept stopping, gasping for a breath, and going back to it, as Lucina just chugged, chugged, chugged-

"She married a seadweller, all right." Amadri mumbled. Erimus snorted beside him.

Finally, they slammed their drinks down, Cody's a second behind Lucina's. Cody groaned, and Lucina raised a sharp eyebrow at him.

"You giving in, boltbucket?"

"Yeah, okay, fuck-" Cody hiccuped, "Okay, you win, Lucy. I think I'm gonna be sick. I gotta-" He lurched to his feet, his face pinched in pain.

Amadri was immediately at his side, helping the goldblood towards the ablutionsblock at the back of the bar.

Lucina sat back and watched them go, smug, before she glanced at Erimus. "Ten. I ain't even buzzed."

"I know, love. Wanna have a round wit' me?"

"Aye." Lucina bared her teeth and went to fetch more drinks. She came back, pressing a heavy rum bottle into the seadweller's hand. "Cheers, love."

They clanked their bottles together, uncorked them with their teeth, and drank. Lucina slowly lowered her bottle after a few gulps, though.

"He isn't going to die, is he?" She asked.

"Nah. Ain't nothin' can kill Cody." Erimus waved her concerns away, "He does drugs an' goes breakin' inta highblood hives on the weekends, pretty sure he ain't ever gonna die again at this rate."

Lucina laughed, and Erimus glanced over in time to see his morails returning from the ablutionsblock. "There, see? The fucker lives." He added, waving at his morails.

Both waved back, Incoding looking a little better. He still leaned on Amadri, too full of booze to stand upright. Erimus was watching them approach, when a large blueblood stood up in time to be smacked by Incoding's huge horns.

"Hey!" The highblood yelled, shocked. The two midbloods paused.

"Oh, shit, sorry, man." Incoding said, slurring only a little, "I didn'-" He broke off with a yelp as the cobalt seized his vest.

"That hurt, you pissblooded fuck, I aughta-"

He got no further, as Lucina moved. Faster than the rest of the patrons could track, she was at the colbalt's throat, the knife from her boot pressed to his neck.

"Drop him. I'm the only one who gets to call him that." She snarled. Erimus rose to his feet at the same time the blueblood's party did.

"Lads, you don't want this fight." He called, ready to be the ashen mediator for both groups. "My woman can start and finish a bar fight, I promise ye."

The blueblood looked between him, Cody, Lucina, and his own crew of all highbloods.

"I think we do, act-"

Blood was spurting from his throat before he could finish that sentence, and Erimus just rolled his eyes as the bar descended into madness.

Not one to be left out, or leave his quads to defend themselves, though, he downed the rest of his drink, smashed it, and dove into the fray. His knuckles smashed through noses, his claws ripped through fins and flesh, and he reminded everyone why he was called Deepbite when he sank his massive shark teeth into a purpleblood's jugular.

Screaming, yelling, bottles and furniture breaking, and the stench of booze and blood quickly filled the small tavern. Glancing up from the carnage, Ruthless watched Lucina smash a full wine bottle over another violet's head.

She glanced up, then, and met his eyes, her own glittering like emeralds imbued with bloodlust.

"Ru, I think we should go!" Amadri shouted to be heard from his post by the door, "Drones!"

That word made the whole bar leap into action, scattering for the door and busted windows. Incoding cackled. "Oh, oh! My turn to ssshhow off! Time ta run!" He declared, before he took off, too.

Laughing, the other three bolted after him.

[stuckstucktrolls]

Veridi: Do your Q+A stream

“Hey everyone! I’m sure that hiatus I took felt a lot longer for you guys than it did for me, so I’m going to try and jump right into the questions as quickly as possible! I’m sorry if I don’t get to everyone’s questions, but I had a few repeats and a few I wouldn’t be able to answer in the context  of a quick paced stream like this. So all that said! Lets get to our first question!

“An anonymous viewer asks: ‘What are your dreams like? Do you have any recurring dreams/daymares?’ Well aside from one reoccurring waking daymare, my dreams are actually pretty pleasant! Of course, they wouldn’t really make a lot of sense to other trolls, but I have a lot of dreams about trolls I’ve met while doing colabs and just things I enjoy.

“Another anonymous asker, and quite a few others, asks: ‘Do you wear perfume/cologne? If so what scents do you prefer?’ So legally I have to say this isn’t an advertisement, but I really love the Fresh and Fruity line from Essence Beetle. They’re all natural, smell great all night and are right in the price range for a little splurge buy for most rusts and a regular purchase for midbloods on the go. I really like their Cherry Limeaid scent currently, and in the past have used Blu Razberry and Mystery Berry.

“Another anon asks if I could share a grubhood memory with everyone. Uh well, I actually had a pretty boring life growing up. I mean I guess there was that time I thought Beetleope Mom was going to migrate with a wild herd that passed by. But then she charged the lead male when he got too close to me for her liking and ran him off.

“And our final question for the stream, ‘hypothetically, if you had to choose between painting your nails One colour for the rest of your life, or never painting them again, what would you choose?’ I thought I’d finish off on a more silly question but it’s actually a pretty hard choice! I guess I just wouldn’t paint them though. Cuz I’d be so tempted to change them when I had new makeup ideas to match things, or for my quads, you know? So it would be better to just leave them unpainted so I wouldn’t be sad about not being able to change them. Or maybe it doesn’t matter at that point. I don’t even know what color I’d want to keep them I guess?

“So that was the Q+A for tonight! I’ll have a makeup review video up in a few days and then really get back into the swing of things by next week! Feel free to send more questions and I’ll try to do another stream vid when I can!”

[ardenttheories]

. 

istrige-namuose

replied to your post:

“Honestly I should go back do filling all those classpect requests in...”

:

#AddressedTheElephantInTheRoom

If the elephant in the room is “John is not okay” then I’ve got you entirely covered. If it’s not then you’re about to be deeply disappointed about my thesis on “why John is not okay”.

I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but from the very beginning John is at an incredible disadvantage when it comes to SBURB. Compared to all the other kids, trolls and our dear cherubs included, John is the only one with a significant amount to lose, and almost nothing to gain: Dave is being physically abused by his older brother, and has repressed himself to such a point that he sees no value in his life; Rose lives with a functioning alcoholic who she is convinced engages in passive-aggressive warfare with her, unable to tell who actually loves her and who does not; Jade lives with a dog, a dead grandpa she has never truly accepted the loss of at the beginning of the comic, and is almost completely isolated from society with no true way to enter it at her current age; Dirk and Roxy have never seen their parents, with Dirk’s isolation causing a severe negative impact on his mental health and Roxy’s causing her to partake in heavy drinking, and both live with the constant threat of death at the hands of HIC; Jane, while having a loving father, is under constant threat of assassination; Jake, sharing a similar situation to Jade, actually buried his dead grandmother’s body and was left to fend for himself on an island inhabited by creatures made to raise a species entirely more violent than he; the lowblood trolls live in a society that sees them as playthings, and wishes for them to be dead more than anything else; the midbloods hang on by a thread; the highbloods face constant instability, with Gamzee having to self medicate with sopor, Eridan struggling to find his place in a society that wants him to be brutal and a friend group that didn’t let his loves flourish, and Feferi living with the knowledge that her lusus could kill everyone should she not feed it correctly, as well as with the knowledge that her duty is to fight HIC, and either win or die trying; and Calliope, isolated in one room her whole life, lives reading a book that becomes what she wishes she could be part of, trapped in eternal, lonely war with her brother. None of these characters have the most optimal of lives; all live in fear of something, all struggle with and suffer from things that affect them deeply enough to continue well into the game itself. They are things each player needs to learn from, to grow out of and to move past in the process of growing up that SBURB facilitates in its challenges throughout the course of a session. This is, ironically, how you know the trolls’ game is not finished; they are not, for lack of a better term, “grown up” yet when they reach their door. 

When we consider what each surviving player gains at the end of the game in Earth C, we can see that they have achieved true growth, as well as the happiness, safety and content that did not exist pre-game. Dave has Dirk, Rose has Roxy, Jade has Jake; each gains that which they had lost, or never had, in the form of their guardians’ younger selves, giving them what is essentially a fresh slate to build upon in a manner that is beneficial to them all. Dave no longer lives in fear, has found love, acceptance of himself, and is moving past his abuse to begin healing. Rose has a mother she knows loves her, the ability to love herself, to love her wife, and a much more stable homelife that allows her to heal from years of neglect and uncertainty. Jade and Jake no longer live in isolation, no longer live in danger; they integrate into a society built for them, a society which loves them unconditionally, near friends that remind them that they are no longer alone. Dirk and Roxy are no longer in danger of HIC, have moved on past the negative coping habits and the accidental neglect they suffered in youth, and Dirk particularly is making an effort to grow from the toxic habits he picked up as he struggled with severe mental health issues alone - both with lovers that, for two isolated children who initially never had a single human within any sort of distance to them, represent everything they never thought they could have, and a step into actual life with people who are in their same time. Calliope is no longer bound to a tiny room with a brother who wishes to kill her, and has found a love which, initially, was never meant to be something she could have. Jane has her father, the only surviving guardian of the entire game, the business she was always meant to run, a love that she struggled to gain so desperately at the beginning of her session, and a chance to live without complete fear of assassination. Karkat no longer lives in fear of a society which wishes to kill him for his blood; Kanaya gets to live the life she chooses, not the path that is chosen for her; Terezi is no longer at a potential threat due to her blindness, and similarly is not under societal pressures to be who she thinks she should have been on Alternia; and Vriska, freed from the confines of what feeding her mother required, is able, when she returns, to be who she wishes to be, to achieve the enlightenment that (Vriska) did. All of the kids began with nothing, with situations that were, to say the least, less than ideal, and grew to a place where they were finally free.

John is the exact opposite of every other child in the game.

John begins with a loving father, one he does not entirely understand, but who plays to his son’s interests in an attempt to form a closer bond. From what we see of Poppop, he had a rather good future ahead of him; a wife, child, and a job that made him a fairly wealthy man, and if nothing else a very happy and kindly one. He had a perfect home in the suburbs, an education, a hobby that was in and of itself profitable should he have attempted to put any merit to being a professional pianist, and he suffered from no sort of trauma during his first thirteen years of life. There was nothing inherently wrong with John’s life, unlike the other kids.

This is where everything goes horribly wrong.

The other kids have suffered hardships. They have faced monsters day in and day out throughout their lives; fighting is no issue to Dave, who has fought his Bro his whole life; it is no issue to Jade, who takes her gun with her wherever she goes, and has essentially raised herself; it is certainly no issues to the trolls, quite literally tailor made to win the game by Doc Scratch. John has no ability to cope. He has had no reason to develop coping mechanisms, or to learn how to defend himself, or to learn how to handle the trauma that comes with death, war, and a daily struggle to survive. 

This is likely why we never see John react. He simply doesn’t know how to. 

He doesn’t know how to handle waking up to see, for his first interaction with her, Jade’s dead body, when they had promised to spend so much time together before. He doesn’t know how to handle seeing his father’s dead body, covered in blood, only seconds before being killed himself. They are not a situations he has ever had to deal with, situations unlike anything he has ever struggled with - and thus, he buries it. Focuses on the game, shoves it all to one side, focuses on the struggles of his friends and attempting to ensure they win the game when all else fails - because John is, essentially, a failsafe. 

Think of his classpect. John is the Heir of Breath; freedom inherited, under his control. He is the epitome of his aspect. John’s role in SBURB is to free those who are trapped; to free his friends from abuse and neglect, to free all their players from the doomed timelines of the game itself, to free the session from its barren state so a new universe can emerge at the end. John is made simply to ensure that their session wins, no matter how much they have to fight for it to begin with. It’s why, without John, the session is doomed from the start, with no potential to go on; it’s why Dave has to become Davesprite to ensure he survives. As the inheritor of freedom, John has a duty to ensure he similarly frees everyone he possibly can from whatever may be chaining them down. Think, for instance, how in the retconned timeline Vriska stops Rose from drinking; how Karkat and Dave’s relationship allows Dave to open up more clearly to himself about who he is and how he feels. John’s actions as a Heir of Breath are inherently linked to the freedom of his friends, whether he realises it or not. It’s why, ultimately, he needs to be someone who comes from such a stable background; he is free when he begins the game, and in an adequate place to free those around him as he has no prior baggage to deal with.

However, this puts him in a place to gain it as the game progresses. Whereas his friends are allowed time to heal from what which they suffer from, John himself simply loses things throughout the session. He loses his life, his home, his dad, his future, his stability - he sees things which he is unable to cope with, losing his innocence and naivety - with no true understanding of how he is meant to handle the stress and trauma. John, in essence, regresses to the same place his friends began at, as they continue to grow to the place he once knew well. 

Why is his classpect so vital to this? I have mentioned this before, but as the Heir of Breath, the freedom that John inherits is all-encompassing. With an inability to cope, he is unable to control what he frees people - including himself - from, and takes on the role of a True Heir of Breath. He frees unknowingly, without proper direction, and suffers deeply for it - because in the end, what he frees himself from most is his friends.

John frees himself from all the bonds he once had through all of his efforts to free his friends from their doomed timelines; once reaching Earth C, they are in a position to live the lives they never had, to evolve into the people they should have been. John is not. John’s position is weak, is regressive; it is a position in which the only way is down from the pedestal that he, very long ago, began the game on. Distanced from his friends - who likely do not realise that there is an issue, as the post-credit scenes would seem to imply (because why would they? They have won the game after years of struggle and have entered into a better world; why would they, for a moment, think that John does not share the same sentiment?) - John does not have anything to truly tie him to Earth C. It is not a world that holds anything for him; yes, his friends are there, but they are friends who do not remember the same things that he does due to the retcon, friends who have developed and matured and progressed without him, friends who no longer need him now that they do not need freeing, do not need a leader, do not need that failsafe to rely on. He has Jane, yes, but she is only his Nanna, and she has her Dad, as well as Roxy and Calliope, as well as a business; she has no reason to pursue the same bond with John as the other kids have with their young guardians. Worse still, he does not have his Dad. Yes, he has Jane’s Dad, but he is quite simply that; Jane’s Dad. He does not remember raising John, he does not remember things that John and his Dad did, he is not even the same man due to having to save Jane frequently from assassination attempts. 

I have seen people mention multiple times that John does not reveal his struggles because he doesn’t like to burden his friends, and in this case, this is simply another way that his classpect is freeing him from everything. Without an ability to tell them that something is wrong, they have no reason to be concerned for him; they have no reason to assume that he is struggling, that they need to keep an eye on him, to help him. This is why, I think, we got such a surge of “John is depressed” headcanons post-credits; he is in the perfect position to suffer from severe, perhaps chronic, depression, as well as (at least in my mind) PTSD, insomnia, and dissociation - and he has absolutely nobody to rely on. 

John, at the end of the game, is not in a good place. 

And this is almost entirely because of his classpect, what he began with, and what he has lost throughout the game’s progression.

[chuckling-chemist]

A Request To Ask

((I swear I have like 3 other half-finished pieces but I became obsessed with Thomas Dolby and couldn’t stop))

“Okay, according to our recordings from the NMR spectra here, we’re likely looking at...hey Dontoc can you hand me the molecular weights chart?”

She heard a chuckle from the body next to her. “You do not have these memorized by now?”

Pallia snorted. “Do you?”

“Of course not. I am not the one who does this regularly. Rather, I have been merely helping you with your ah...my apologies but what did you say we were doing?” He let out another laugh, more sheepish than before. “I understand we are identifying proteins and bashing together electrons, however it has been so long since we started, it is slipping from my memory.”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before turning up to face him. Since he still didn’t quite have a lab coat of his own, he instead swam in Glacin’s spare one. The sleeves were folded up several times over, and even then it was hard to see where his hands actually began. At least the goggles fit, even if she had to help finangle them around his fins so nothing pinched. “I’ve been trying to identify various genomic properties in those of the tyrian pink caste so I can compare them to other castes known for violent tendencies and see if I can find some sort of biological component to their competition towards each other. But so far all I’ve gotten is...nothing.”

Dontoc craned his neck to get a better look at the papers laid out. “That does not look like nothing.”

She shook her head, pencil tapping against the table sharply. “Well this much wouldn’t indicate anything. I still need to do all the math to determine which amino acids are in this specific protein and all the other ones we did tonight still sitting there.”

“And what about those we already ran?”

“Well…” she inhaled sharply, “we’ve done wonderfully making long, complex amino acid chains. But as far as any possible chains that I know function to inspire higher competition responses than cooperation in comparison to other trolls?” She groaned. “Nothing. And I’m easily halfway through at this point with the math alone.”

Dontoc hummed in understanding. He shifted closer to her with the chart, not enough so they were touching, but nevertheless still  enough she could feel the colder seadweller body temperature chill her own skin. “I hardly think there is any harm in dropping a false lead, so to speak,” he said.

“I’ve gotten so far though!” She groaned. “And who knows, I could still use this information. Do you realize how little information we have have on fuschias? Really seadwellers in general, but it’s especially hard to get information on an exclusive caste with all of maybe five trolls at a time in it.”

“Fair, fair. Perhaps another night then? Place a raincheck on this endeavor.” Dontoc raised an eyebrow, glancing at her curiously. “We can parse this out in the future after a well-deserved break.”

“We?” Pallia met his gaze, a sly smile on her face. “You are aware all I’ll be doing for who knows how long is math right?”

“You are the one who has called me pleasant company, dear.” He tapped the image of the spectra. “Also, if you could perhaps show me during our next set of NMR experimentation how to calculate this, I could always assist. Mathematics is a strong suit of mine.”

“You’re pleasant, distracting company,” she retorted. At the sight of his fins shrinking, she hurriedly added, “That’sss not a problem! Just a statement. And a distraction might be good, anyway.”

“No-no...you’re ah...you are fine.” He head and fins shook, almost as if to erase the surprise from his face. He didn’t speak until his composure had mostly returned. “I have never been called a distraction before.”

“And now you have. You’ve moved on up in Alternia.” She grinned and slid the printouts closer to him so he could look at them if he wanted.. “Who knows, maybe we’ll actually get something done. Figure something out about fuchsias that might contradict what we think we know. If we’re really lucky, it’ll explain something and it’ll make dealing with them all the easier.”

 “‘Dealing?” he asked in amusement. “Seems like a harsh term.”

“You aren’t the one stitching up Mayola’s FLARP members. And now that I think about it, you are never here for when Mayola and Aisral start to go at it like hopbeasts. You always seem to manage to escape over to Careen’s for the worst of it. Speaking of, honestly…oh.” She dug her fangs into her lip, using it to ignore the heat rushing to her face. A laugh eventually escaped out of her throat in a pitiful attempt to ease the growing awkwardness in her mind. “Wait. Right. You guys are matesprits. Very different dynamic than what we have. Ignore me.”

Dontoc shrugged, giving her a half-hearted wave. “Pallia, please do not worry about it. With how little you see of the two of us together, and how little I talk about it, I would say it is an honest mistake.”

“I still feel bad because like...you have talked about her and I have seen you two together. Especially since every time I see you both together, it’s uh...a lot to take in. No offense.” She scrunched up her face. “Actually I might have forgotten because I try to erase those scenes from memory.” Truthfully, Pallia constantly forgot the two were matesprits because they were such an odd couple. Sure, they weren’t an odd couple in the traditional Alternian sense - the type you could see on in romantic comedies and sitcoms where a dopey, shabby lowblood ends up with a pristine, hyper-intelligent landdwelling highblood - but once you knew even an inkling of their personalities it started to show. Careen was, in every sense of the word, condescending, arrogant and stuck-up. And Dontoc...wasn’t. Or if he was, he at least had the good sense to not act that way around Pallia. 

Then again, maybe it didn’t. Pallia had a massively negative experience with Careen, and certainly Aisral couldn’t stand her, but who knows. She might be nicer to true blues and purples. Plenty of trolls behaved like that, and with Careen at the top, it’s not like such was an impossibility. And that’s ignoring how Alternia certainly held extra a unique disdain when midbloods acted out, where highbloods could do whatever they wanted without repercussions and the right troll might find the lowblood feisty if they were lucky.

Yeah, that was probably it.

“I assure you, that is more her than myself. It really was quite the adjustment when we entered a matespritship,” he said. He ran a hand through his hair. “I still am not sure I am used to it myself, to be honest.”

“It’s been a solid sweep at this point.” She pursed her lips in thought, grabbing the NMR printouts and the molecular weight chart to shove into a folder. Lab work seemed to wrap up for the day. Considering she couldn’t remember fully when they started, it was probably for the best. “I think.”

“It is going to be a sweep, yes. She will holding a whole party about it.” He took a slow, long breath. His fins shook, not violently, just seemed to vibrate for some reason.  “Which I suppose brings me to a question I have wished to ask for a while.”

“Whaddya need?” A weight managed to settle somewhere in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it. Dontoc asking her something he meant to ask for “a while” could be literally anything. That’s partly how he ended up knocking on Pallia’s door in the middle of the day asking about where he could get more clothes.

“I was ah...well...hoping you could possibly go?” She stopped putting papers away to look up at him with a wide, puzzled expression. He swallowed thickly. “Not-not with me, of course, we cannot exactly go as a duo, but truthfully she has held a few parties since we have began our relationship and for much of it I just feel uncomfortable. Careen’s off having to be a hostess, which I understand completely, however I would greatly appreciate some familiar company that aren’t her friends for once.” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a complete mess, so much so that Pallia was surprised he didn’t trip on them the way it completely tripped up her thoughts.

She blinked owlishly, throat dry despite everything. Of all the questions she expected, a request to meet him at a glorified highblooded gala was not it. 

“I...um...well…” She felt her breath catch in her throat. Such a simple question should not make her feel this unsure. By all logic, the answer should be a hard no. She didn’t want to see Careen, didn’t want to think about her if she didn’t want to and moreover, if she had to, didn’t want to possibly experience another blow-up like the last one she had when the two were together. She had no drive to interact with her more than necessary unless it somehow involved shoving an acid gun into her face and pulling the trigger.

But it wouldn’t be to see Careen or to try and upset her. It was to give Dontoc a face he recognized and could talk to consistently. She’d have to check with Aisral, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Aisral wouldn’t mind making her a cute dress for it. And if Careen stole him away, she could just retreat into those ridiculous gardens. Back when the two were in contact with each other, she never got the chance to investigate the suspiciously waxy coating on the red roses, and a part of Pallia still wanted to confirm that Careen was, in fact, using her servants to paint her roses.

She didn’t realize just how long she stood there in silence, until Dontoc cleared his throat. She looked up to him, his own gaze averted in a poor attempt to hide the growing violet that overtook his face. “If you don’t wish to I understand completely. You two have a history and I’m not trying to repair that. I just thought perhaps some company would be beneficial? I realize how selfish that sounds.”

“No, you uh...caught me off guard. Funny how that one happenssss.” She took a slow, steadying breath calm herself and pushed her glasses up. “I’m hardly upset or anything you asked. Just really surprised.”

“True as that may be, I should not have put you off guard.” He looked over at her. Most of the blush had faded, but the slight tint alongside the fin twitch was still unmistakable.

Pallia shrugged. It was hard to get mad at him for something she accidentally did herself not long ago. “Weren’t you the one telling me not to worry earlier?”

“I suppose I might have, or well, I did said something to that effect, yes, however…such was...” he said slowly, voice trailing off the longer he went. Eventually he stopped, shaking his head. “No, no, the more I think about it, it is not that different.”

She slid closer to him, just close enough they could be touching if either one moved even a little bit closer. “Anyway, it’s not the first time you’ve invited me out somewhere.” She nudged his arm with her elbow. “If I remember correctly, it was you who dragged me to dinner last week?”

“We had not eaten for hours and I swear, you never keep food in this whole hive unless someone is ill,” he pointed out.

“Okay, fair. Fair.” She turned around and crossed her arms, using the table to lean comfortably. Dontoc followed suit, though his arms merely fell at his sides. “But weren’t you also the one who set up the next date where we work? Together? Not even thirty minutes ago?”

Silence. “So I did.” His fins twitched, betraying his increasingly calm composure. “As such, I concede you might have a point.”

She chuckled.  “Only might? I think that was a pretty excellent point.”

His lips curled up into a playful smirk. “Well, yes. Generally one would say requesting we get food together for the purposes of survival, or finishing research two started together, is different than the request of meeting up at what boils down to an over extravagant anniversary party.”

“They’re both satisfying a need, aren’t they?” she asked nonchalantly. “Socialization’s kind of important, you know.”

“Well, I would imagine if it is only of slight importance, you would not bring it up,” he said cheekily.

Well someone’s certainly not nervous anymore. She put a hand over her mouth, attempting to hide her snickers, but it only succeeded in making it harder to hold back. “You assssss.”

“An ass who you are apparently actually considering assisting,” he said. “I believe that says more about you this time than myself.”

She shrugged. “I’d say I owe you one for all the times you’ve helped out with the experiments. Volcor missing a frond isn’t exactly the most effective at helping out sometimes. Just, you know, lemme talk to Aisral first. Get something set up. Or see if I should just go buy a new outfit.”

His cheerful expression dropped. “Pallia, you do not owe me anything for willingly --”

“Dontoc, if I tell myself it’s because I owe you, I’ll be more to actually go and not try to flake out last minute,” she said.

His face brightened right back up, fins perking and everything. “Of course, of course. Thank you, truly.”

“No need to thank me. We do stuff together. We’re friends. Speaking of…” She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket, glancing up at him slyly. “Dinner?”

“I was starting to think you would never ask.”

[paragonrobits]

Amisia YOU SCARY

‘have you finally found someone who is not a total fucking maniac?’ im sorry reader but the answer is NOPE

had a fairly difficult time with her routes since, like i’ve mentioned before, I don’t easily get character stuff unless i have a roadmap and a lot of hints. It’s obvious, in retrospect once you finish the routes, but that’s only because the golden endings are giving you more of an impression on what the characters are actually like, so you get a better feel for them

and i had to try on purpose to lose at the get go by telling her that you are also an artist; a highblood leaving in a huff is a good thing! BEST SCENARIO WHEN YOU ARE RANDOMLY APPROACHED BY A HIGHBLOOD

Amisia’s hobby, with all the rampant murder, reinforces a thing that Ardata solified for me and I’m surrprised fandom hasn’t picked up on this little detail: all highbloods have done horrific or unspeakable things to survive, or out of social expectation. If not for glimpses of some deeper parts of them you, almost all highbloods would be objectively terrible people. Amisia murders people for their blood and she doesn’t even feel inspired to do it, she has lowbloods and midbloods brought to her, possibly via kidnapping or convicted trolls are given to people like her for this purpose

a highblood that isn’t a terrifyingly messed up, horrible person is astoundingly rare and really weird on Alternia, i guess

but Amisia is downright adorable, in spite of all that; I’m not sure how young she is? Like her size makes me think that she’s supposed to be one of the younger trolls seen on-screen, unless she’s just really short. She also doesn’t really have different ‘points’ where she goes from adorable small art friend to ‘oh yeah she MURDERS OTHER KIDS AND DRAINS THEIR BLOOD TO MAKE ART’, she just does it with the same small smile.

of note, highbloods apparently have access to medical stuf that heals them fast, but it really hurts. kind of fits Alternia, doesn’t it? Only the highbloods have access to it, and it hurts to use it, only the strong can deal with them (because Aternia is objectively horrible to live in)

the first ending i got for her was when you accidentally get killed with the midblood, that was SO BLOODy, IT JUST GOT EVERYWHERE

amisia how do you even hold that axe, HOW STRONG ARE YOU.. wait, you’re a blueblood. you’re strong like equius. she is stronk but smoll

of note, she’s really quite friendly despite her murdering kids for their blood to make art that she also isn’t inspired to do, until YOU came along! You are her muse! ...you and your inexplicable red blood. you should probably be terrified and already leave, please

But an interesting detail is that she doesn’t initially react to the use of ‘red’ for your blood color. She assumes you mean burgundy, and its not until she sees your blood color that she freaks out over it; to her credit, she doesn’t try to report you to the drones or kill you as an abomination, but it looks like red as a color was folded up into burgundy, which might explain why EVERYONE uses ‘candy red’ specifically to describe Karkat’s blood

[mycrappyrpsideblog]

The Killer is you Weasel Dad

One of my kills huh? Well that’s sort of a long list. I am a subjug, not to mention a mercenary. Both are pretty well known for killing. Add to that my age and I’ve lost count a LONG time ago.Suppose I can tell you a fun one though. So, I’m at my typical dive, where I tend to get some of my best targets. Like high paying stuff. The one I get doesn’t sound like anything too fancy, just some midblood who’d been poking their nose in places they shouldn’t and pissed someone off enough to put a bounty on them. But hell, it was a pretty good price for something so easy sounding.Well I do my research, figure out their typical hangouts, routes, where they live all that good shit, and I’m heading over to seal the deal. Turns out though that the idiot who placed the bounty put it down in more than one pub. I figure this out when I’m sneaking up behind the dude and a bullet wizzes past both of our heads. Of course that gets the target to turn around and he catches me with a knife damn close to his back and bolts for it. I spare a glance to see where the bullet came from and this scrawny ass kid with a rifle comes running towards me in a dead sprint. I’m thinking shit, they’re totally going to catch him before I do and just react, punching em square between the eyes. Their legs keep the momentum and they end up on their back while I’m taking after the target.Two blocks over this dude ended up making it into a crowd and I’m busting a lung from running. Out of the corner of my eye I see the kid, now with this big blue bruise forming on their forehead. Lucky for me they’re too short too see the target through the crowd and I start making my way over. I’m like two people away and gunshots ring out causing most of the crowd to scatter and the target to try and bolt again. This time though the kid doesn’t miss nearly as bad and ends up shooting them in the leg. I of course take the opportunity to finish the job. And well, the rest after that is pretty boring. Me and the kid fought over who gets the bounty, me cause I got there first and killed em or them cause they’re the one who caught him. We argued about it for a while as I dragged the body back and finally settled on 70/30 in my favor.