#tsmp ruby

[rainy-daze1]

夢見てる？　なにも見てない？

Is what I'm seeing a dream? Or am I seeing nothing at all?

my first @mcyt-jukebox-bonanza piece! ignore the fact that it's the second to last day of the posting period and my second one isn't quite done yet (it'll be fiiiiiiine)

anyway shout-out Bad Apple!! absolutely one of the songs of all time and also one of the tsmp sapphire songs of all time

[rubycowashere]

Oh we cookin- ||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ't ᓭℸ ̣ 𝙹!¡ ᒲᒷ ⎓𝙹∷ ꖎ𝙹リ⊣

[autisticlalna]

i'm having bad dreams, and nothing you can do will keep the bad things away from me until i fall asleep, bad dreams! despite your good intentions, that girl is like an architect--

[thatonewannabedragon]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE SIBLINGS???

[rainy-daze1]

indecisive about some design stuff so might as well just draw all of it

[autisticlalna]

outside context problem

[autisticlalna]

Ruby: “...to be able to do that, or broken mental—” You know what, at this point I don’t even know. I don’t know what’s right anymore. [ Navigator breaks the signs. one of them falls off the ledge. both of them lean over to watch it fall. ] Ruby: Oh. [sigh] Listen, I—

Navigator: < MY SIGN T^T > Ruby: [sympathetic] Yeah, I know, I’m sorry.

[autisticlalna]

following up on what i posted last night: how would Leontids have gotten along with the other members of Aquarium Gravel?

a general theme i picked up with aquagrav was the idea of everyone is Pretending to be a normal human person. the closest to that baseline is tJay, but he's got his own localized disaster going on. unmodified, tLeontids would fit into that pretty well-- his core "gimmick" is that despite looking close-to-human, the actual part of Leontids that is Leontids is the mask. the body is who he used to be, and it's who he's still trying to be, but at the end of the day he's a sapient mask that possesses people.

i adore tViking but tLeo would have such a bad time with him. he's easy to manipulate, he's used to being dehumanized, and once he realizes tViking views him as a tool he would be upset but wouldn't really know what to do about it. plus he'd probably already owe tViking something by then, so if something is hanging over his head then he might as well make himself as useful as possible so it won't have to be called in. vibes of "get along well on surface-level but things get less than ideal whenever they're one-on-one while tViking is in business mode". i love tViking. tLeo would not.

i have no idea what tLeo would be like around Navigator, or if they'd even interact at all seeing as Nav is pretty focused on only talking to tRuby and Sapphire and otherwise making himself scarce. if they did run into each other somehow (eg tLeo walking in on a scene and having no context to what's happening), he might think it's just tViking having a nonverbal moment and would also start writing on signs to help him feel better about it :D <- clueless. cue tRuby awkwardly ushering him out of the room or something lmao. Nav is such a big unknown that it's hard to figure out anything more than that because oh my god nav what is your DEAL.

SPEAKING OF tRUBY! despite how rocky things are between tLeo and tViking, he would've been friends with tRuby i think. also awkward moments of tRuby trying to reassure him about tViking while meanwhile tViking is also using tRuby to accomplish his goals. considering her paranoia i doubt tRuby would open up to tLeo much, especially when it became clearer that something is Wrong with him, but tLeo would try to encourage zem to talk to him... while also hiding things about himself because of being afraid how ze would react to finding out what he really is. AND THEN SAPPHIRE GETS INVOLVED AND THAT KINDA FALLS APART,

i wrote a thing with him and Sapphire (linked above) that can be summed up as "Sapphire has no idea what he's doing here or how he got here and tLeo would like to not be around Sapphire at all, thanks". like with Navigator he wouldn't put together the "this is someone else" thing, so from his pov tRuby would be creepy and ominous towards him and then not remember why afterwards. if it happened enough, tLeo would start feeling like he's playing russian roulette with "is this my friend or is this someone im scared of" and that would not help tRuby's fears of turning into Sapphire. :,D

my notes for tJay are "has a 50/50 of either helping or harming his constant anxiety". lmao. sorry buddy, your new neighbor is a bodysnatcher. although the possession thing was gonna be more relevant to tLeo's Situation (possessing his own empty shell) rather than him actually hijacking anybody else. considering what the rest of aquagrav is like tJay mightve been the only one tLeo could possess without exploding LMAO. anyway: tJay and tLeo hanging out in the trees going "everyone else here is insane" while one of them talks to scarecrows and the other one is a frisbee with ambition. although seeing as tLeo is Literally Also An Animate Object i don't think he'd find the scarecrow thing all that weird. and then also they beat each other up because offie would tell me to kill and i would /silly

while tLeo would've been put off by tFiv if he was still keeping up the tough guy act, once he realized what tFiv is actually like he would've started trying to make a connection. a fun thing with tFiv is that they're a fallen star that's homesick and likes sculk because it reminds him of home, and that's pretty similar to Leontids! in my solo series he's from space, and on the Dominionerds s1 server he had a whole plotline about sculk that's going to get referenced in some form with other stuff i do. i had a line written down for tLeo talking to tFiv about sculk and describing it as "If I get deep down enough, sometimes it feels like I'm looking down at the night sky instead of up." plus my idea for a base was an observatory, so him and tFiv could hang out there at night and talk about constellations and stuff. Leontids is named after a meteor shower :D

tVintage's love of learning about humans and what life is like outside of her duties as an angel would've continued to be the accidental comedy of "90% of AquaGrav isn't human". tLeo would've been awkward in a silly way about it and leaned in hard to the HAHA YEP I'M COMPLETELY NORMAL. YEP. I'M HUMAN FOR SURE thing to avoid suspicion. endearingly cringe. depending on what i settled on for his life pre-aquagrav, though, he might've joined in on the excitement and discovery of a new world.

the other aquagrav member he'd click with besides tFiv would potentially be tBox, which is really funny considering the huge amount of tension between tFiv and tBox. although in tBox's case, it would be because of miscommunication-- tLeo would be unphased by tBox's thing about "not having a face" because. well, tLeo. and would think that the box is a situation like his mask where tBox Literally Needs It To Exist and not "box is a horrorterror trying to not scare people with whatever the hell he actually looks like under there". as friendly as he would be to tBox himself, though, tLeo would be scared shitless of the eyes and avoid going to tBox's corner of Aquarium Gravel as much as possible. he doesn't like feeling like he's being watched.

or, in less words, my original notes:

viking: sees him as a tool, leontids is a bit :( about it but figures if he's an asset he might as well be a useful one ruby: grabs him after like "hey. dont let him be like that to you" <- also lets him be like that to them sapphire: scares the shit out of him, as seen in the comic/fic navigator: they have no idea what to make of each other. leontids thinks viking is being Weird and starts writing on signs back bc "maybe he doesnt feel talky today???", nav is also "hey. youre not supposed to be here. the heck" jay: leontids listens to him talk about the scarecrows, enamored by the snails, says some weird shit that makes jay Nervous fiv: bond over "sculk kinda looks like the stars, doenst it?" vintage: thinks hes Interesting. "humans are neat" "HAHA YEAH IM. DEFINITELY HUMAN. AWESOME" box: handshake on "always hiding their face", friendly introduction, box walks off and leontids quietly freaks out at all the eyes staring at him

bonus round thoughts: his sign color would be either warped (blue!) or acacia (he is very orange). also there was a joke about tLeo being elected aquagrav's therapist bc Everyone Has So Many Problems but uh. that probably would not survive contact with the enemy. i didn't really have plans for what his whole storyline would be, because Leontids in general has a lot of elements i would pick-and-choose from depending on what fit the overall vibe, but he's got his own brand of issues:

leontids: hi! turns out [MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BEAT THE GAME] and im about to start crying! viking: bro im literally just standing here

i say as if leontids isnt the type of person to put his problems in the backseat when he sees what the rest of aquagrav is dealing with. guy who is so so niceys until someone finds a crack in his facade and he has a sobbing breakdown in his government mandated murder basement

UH. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK. BYE

[autisticlalna]

logically i know navigator is a character we will see very little of because his whole gimmick is being a mysterious messenger and he has to be careful about who he reveals himself to because once tviking finds out, everything gets called into question (including "hey ruby how long did you know about this and why did you hide it from me") and he doesn't even really like being here because he hates talking to sapphire and outright told her they will not speak again. plus theres a lot of other things about tviking we barely know anything about and hes one big puzzlebox we need to figure out how to open because this man contains so many mysteries and navigator is only one of them. where did he come from? what did he do that caused nav and sapph to be here? is he actually able to break the loop? why is he running? does he actually not remember where he came from? why cant he go to the nether? how did he lose his arm? will he be successful in his empire and what will he sacrifice to reach it? is it too late for him to change course?

but also nav is my special little guy and every time hes mentioned or theres a potential of a nav appearance i transmute into an exclamation point

[autisticlalna]

finished viking solo skyblock. NOOO HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT TORCH FELL INTO THE VOID

(i choose to believe that the torch fell into limbo and is now limbovid's emotional support torch)

FUN FACT! we were so devastated by torchy's death that we did decide it fell somewhere and got found by somebody!

...and that's why tRuby has a named torch in an item frame in his house on twitch smp.

[autisticlalna]

OH FUCK VIKING'S PERSPECTIVE OF THE CLOCKTOWER IS NOW UP

[autisticlalna]

Viking: Maybe… [sigh] Maybe it’s time to give in to the fear. Right? You’re afraid. You’re scared. Ruby: It’s just— I— You don’t know what it feels like. D-do you? [scoffs] I hate that I know how it feels like. That the fact that… At this point, I don’t even think my dreams are dreams, anymore? What if I died. All my dreams- all my dreams in this stupid journal. I died. This time was the only time… it was this bad. What if… I don’t want to die. Viking: [muted] You won’t die. I won’t let you. It’ll be fine. Ruby: I cannot give in to this fear, I— I don’t wanna… lose you. Not like this. [pause] Not again. Viking: [muted] Well, unless you have a better answer… I think it’s time. I think we need to move- move forward with whatever we’re gonna do, ‘cause we can’t just keep sitting on the bank of the river. [small laugh] Even if it is made of lava, it’s time to jump in.

this is maybe my fav tRuby & tViking conversation so far and it kills me that viking was muted during this. goddamnit

[autisticlalna]

Viking: Okay. Siblings… especially older siblings, generally. Um, they protect. Their instincts should be to protect, to help. Now of course, there’s some fun to be had. You know what I mean? There’s some fun to be had, you can- you can mess around a little bit. But there is fun to be had. Siblings- siblings, you know, when push come to shove, have your back. They should not be the ones… knocking you into a pit, so to say. So to say. You know. Blindsiding you, leaving you in the dark. [clears throat] But siblings are on your side.

augh.

[autisticlalna]

i think. what gets me so bad about "ruby and viking taking care of each other". is the emphasis before on tviking being selfish. he's an anomaly, and what makes him an anomaly is that he doesnt care about anyone else.

but.. he does. he can say everybody around him is tools and assets, but ruby is the one exception. even when in pain and freaking out, viking literally goes across all of aquarium gravel to get them a remedy. he's awkward at interpersonal interactions that arent centered around getting leverage, but he tries for ruby's sake. even before clocktower, he tried to comfort ruby when ze first had a breakdown in front of him.

viking very much does not want to admit this. everything is supposed to go according to plan, everything is charted out, everything is just another stepping stone on the way to his success. but ruby has always been the exception from the very start.

and the real kicker here is tviking is not ruby's viking. or, at least, xe wants to think he is, but theres this doubt that keeps coming back.

theyre both displaced. neither of them are supposed to be here. but theyre here anyway, making clumsy connections, and any of it could break at any moment.

[autisticlalna]

i keep having an internal struggle with myself on "okay SHOULD i mention this outside of dnerds??? i dont think it was supposed to be seen yet?????? should i wait until it DOES get directly acknowledged???????" but . yall. please understand that i spotted something on ruby's stream today when they were showing off the clocktower to nom and i have been losing my mind over it since.

i am still getting used to the concept of "people will acknowledge things i say and do and will sometimes even incorporate them". so i am very overwhelmed in a positive way. because while it is a relatively small thing it was also something that meant the world to me in that moment. oh my god.

[autisticlalna]

Ruby: [quiet] But she’ll hurt me, wouldn’t she? And you don’t care. Navigator: [confused] She’ll hurt you? No, no no no. Ruby: How- how— Navigator: She shouldn’t.

evidence that either a) VP is unaware of the consequences of extended Sapphire possession or b) Nav and/or VP just straight up does not give a shit and is fine with lying to Ruby's face . im going to hit him with hammers