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bg-brainrot · 9 months ago

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To start, I’m a huge fan of your writing! Seriously, I’ve been reading your stuff since maybe October or November? I always look forward to updates, and I genuinely think your writing is of top-notch quality. Thank you for sharing your stories with us on the internet. ❤️

I saw your post saying you were in game development, and I wanted to ask what are some good ways to network and work with game studios? I’m actually an artist working in the animation industry now (this is an alt account to save posts for my brainrot lmao), but would love to transition into games sooner or later, just not sure how to find good info or leads? There’s only so many animation studios producing major work so it’s easier to scout info, but the world of games is daunting to say the least, even if I’ve been a gamer my whole life.

Any insight helps, but totally understand if you don’t have a straightforward answer to this question lol. You rock, and hope you��re having a good day!

Ahhh first off, thank you so much for reading my fic <33 You best believe I recognize your username when you like my posts and I appreciate it every single time. C: Second, thank you for asking a question!!! I am unreasonably excited to answer it!

To answer your question, I have a few tips, but I will say it will definitely depend on where you live what resources are available to you (it sucks, and it's honestly a huge downside to this industry :') ). Some tips below, sorted by, like availability ~

Networking from anywhere:

Join Discords! There are a ton for general game developers, a ton for people in specific fields, a ton for specific demographics within gaming, a ton for recruiting or for connecting with mentors-- and honestly, it can seem like a lot, there are a ton of people, a lot of them might already know each other, etc. but everyone is super friendly and super willing to help.

Join GameJams! I cannot stress this enough, but one of the biggest things that will help someone transition into games from another field is experience making games (I know it sounds counterintuitive, but bear with me haha)-- but making games, even if they're small games you make with a group over a weekend, shows directly applicable experience and looks great on a portfolio! GameJams are an easy way to find a group, set aside time, and make a game before you even join a studio. Bonus note: animators are *always* in high demand for those.

Reach out to people whose work you like directly! This is by far the most nerve-wrecking (to me at least), but reaching out to people, like cold-emailing, cold-LinkedIn messaging, is just such a good way to get to know people. As awkward as it is for you, people who like what they do will always be excited to answer questions and help set you on a path forward (like me! I receive messages myself and each time I get excited that someone even bothered to reach out tbh). If you're super lucky, you may even get a mentor out of it!

From in-person locations:

Join local indie dev meetups! I've done this in my area, and each and every time everyone is so willing to talk, to connect, and to give each other advice. The best part of these meetups is that they tend to be very informal, and you may even find teams looking to expand.

(Disclaimer, this one is expensive and genuine connections can be difficult given the sheer number of participants, but it's not impossible) Attend conventions/game dev events! Even at GDC, people from all types of industries attend to try to get their foot in the door, speak with recruiters, get portfolio advice, and learn a bit more about how the industry works. A quick word of warning for this one: be wary of the type of convention! For example, GDC is great for growth and connections, but attend something more press-oriented like PAX or more creator-oriented like TwitchCon and you may be disappointed at the lack of opportunities to just sit and talk. Smaller conventions can sometimes be more helpful to actually network as well.

Attend any local universities/incubator programs game showcases! Again, hyper-specific to this being in your area, but often people will take time to show off their game, host in-person game jams, and more-- usually you'll find these around major universities, major companies, and even places like video game museums. All great places to meet and get to know some mentors or even recruiters.

and some general tips for animation specifically that you probably already know as an animator in another field but are always worth mentioning:

Make sure that you know what type(s) of animation you want to get into (Technical animator, rig specialist, gameplay animator, etc.), which studios rely on which animation types (some studios have one generalist, some split up their animation pipeline very thoroughly, some have only 2D animators, some 3D, some a mixture of both), and which game engines they use-- the more programs you know, the better, of course. I've seen 2D animators spend many a personal hour learning 3D animation for the sake of getting on a game they want to work on, so the sooner you learn the better :')

Again I want to stress the gamejam, but if you don't want to talk to other people or it's difficult to find one, I would recommend at least trying to make your own small game. The reason being that, while animators in general are super highly sought after in the industry, the more you know about game development itself the more sought after you will be! A good animator is fantastic, an animator who knows why their animation breaks as soon as it's in engine is even better (and the best way to figure that kind of debugging is really from trying, failing, iterating!)

Beyond just reaching out to people, find animators you like in the industry and see if they're involved in any mentorship programs, are giving any talks, maybe already have some talks online (old GDC talks end up on YouTube sometimes), or even have guides on how they got their start in the industry. It's definitely not a clear cut journey for anyone into gaming, so there's no one-size-fits-all, but it can give you a gauge for how others in your position got there!

PHEW, I think that's it! I hope some of this is helpful, feel free to like, ask for clarification as I know I can ramble, and thank you again for asking! You rock and hope your day is excellent :D

#anotherbrainrotsufferer #ask #i'm seeing that this might have been too much so im sorry i went overboard #i was very excited to read your question haha #ty again for asking c:

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ru5t · 13 hours ago

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KILLJOYS.

—symbols, reputations, crews, and more symbols

Shorthand and slang, nametags and insignias and signature colors. The definition of 'killjoy' can seemingly so easily be chalked up to a climb for flashy notoriety. A clamor for the fame that can come with spitting in the face of Better Living Industries sanitized sanction of Beauty™. The city loves to paint killjoys as empty, vainglorious monsters. The papers and the streets are riddled with PSAs and people who claim that a turn to the desert is nothing more than the self-serving desire for everyone to look your way, to walk the sands like something deified. And sometimes that's true. Sometimes a killjoy is in it for the fame, or else the infamy. Sometimes they aim to steal the legacies of others, rebrand the past into their origin.

These killjoys, of course, are widely regarded as absolute tools.

You can't fake your way to greatness, 'cause in the zones it's all about what you do. What path you run or newly make, and what it gives to those who you catch up to, or who come behind you. Your reputation will precede you. A lie might get you noticed, might make waves and people believe you're worth something for a moment, but without the guts to back up your claims you'll crash and burn just as fast. A mask, the kind of falsehood that you hide behind, only holds so long. Anyone well-known in the desert got that way for a reason, and it's not about appearances or pure aesthetics (though a flair for dramatics is, generally, encouraged.)

Being a killjoy means doing things in extremes. Answering insult with violence, happiness with hullabaloo, and aiming to destroy in a literal sense the corporation responsible for the loss of so many lives. It means fighting and killing and maiming and laughing at the trail of Better Living ruins you leave in your wake. Lighting the night with gunfire, but fireworks and neon and stage lights too. Blasting music and murders with equal fervor. And it also means clinging to your own. It means never compromising, never abandoning anyone. Even if, perhaps, things would turn out better if you did. Even if they ask you to. Even if they beg.

Subcultures Galore

Quite possibly the most important note to be made about killjoy culture: for almost every example of desert life, there's another that contradicts it. The subcultures are as varied as they are complex, ever-evolving as life in the desert shifts and more people escape the city, or flee back to it. In many ways, desert life is well established. In many others, the turnover rate of life and constant (re)development of threats has made it new and new and new, always something that must be discovered over again.

Precious few have dedicated themselves to recording the madness, and Better Living makes active efforts to control the narrative and what information goes around: historians and those who live through major events are regular targets. Much that comes to light is just as readily lost to the dark again. The past is quickly forgotten, and the cycle spins on for both sides of the wall.

The crews that killjoys gather into tend to create their own micro cultures. Some strongly resemble modern gangs, with heavy focus on territory, monetary exploits, and complex initiation rituals. Others represent more of an ambient counter-culture energy, where all it takes is one's presence to be considered part of the fold. Still others may turn their attention to rehabilitating their environment, or making the most of what's there, or pushing the boundaries of the known zones- On and on. Lists and lists. Better Living publications lump everyone beyond their city's walls into one category (vermin), and that if nothing else makes it true they share commonalities, but desert life is so varied it would take decades to study every available path.

The Big Four

As the years roll on, ways of living come and go. In this era of the desert, a few major ways of life have emerged that most crews can be at least vaguely categorized into: crash queens, motorbabies, settlements, and shrines.

Crash queens are, broadly speaking, any group leading proactive attacks against the city itself — or, at the very least, its walls. These groups or individuals are typically found in the inner zones, one and two, but there are larger crews with bases further out who make runs in. The city prefers -perhaps more accurately- to call these types extremists, as they're prone to targeting the city and not just the armed employees of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Unit. Many crash queens have taken out citizens as collateral for their aims. Some take out citizens on purpose. The most notorious or egregious of these killjoys end up on the top of the wanted lists – those that don't die as part of their plans, anyhow.

Motorbabies —while a word with a bit of an obfuscated definition that sometimes just means "mechanic obsessed with their car"— are typically the kind of killjoys one finds in convoys. Road warriors, the cavalry! They're usually nomadic, with groups following certain paths across the zones in a repeating pattern, or else totally mobile, with no set direction but whichever one gets them their next fight with a patrol. It's common for these crews to be associated with one or more of the more permanent settlements, even if only for the pay. They act as a front line and warning system, giving the grounded settlements time to prepare for or escape Better Living's regular raids into the desert. Motorbabies defend major roads and work in groups to detain or entirely derail patrols. In return, the settlements provide supplies and/or other pay to their mobile protectors. Quid pro quo, one way or another.

Some roving crews, however, aren't tied to the settlements at all, or lack the same road-warrior style that 'motorbaby' tends to go hand in hand with. These generally walk more of the line between killjoy and neutral, or outright declare themselves uninvolved. Electraphone, for instance, is a traveling entertainment troupe that has crossed the wall peacefully in the past (though the days when that was possible seem long distant now.) Directly counter, there's at least one of these moving groups who makes an enemy of everyone they cross, stealing and looting and presenting the idea that they can take whatever they like from whoever they like, Better Living and Zonerat alike.

Settlements generally come in one of two flavors: killjoy or neutral.

The killjoy settlements most often come into being when a roving crew slows down or has cause to settle. These places are known to fluctuate in size and severity of politics. As other killjoys move through or settle there, they take on piecemeal, patchwork energy. This car, that old strip mall. Not all of them have proper names, or banners, or even leaders, often just piling together more like odd little neighborhoods. They last anywhere from days to decades, depending on where they land and how lucky they are. Sometimes, it's just the one crew, and it's there until the last member turns to dust. For others, settling was never the long-term idea, and one day they pack up as entirely as if they were soldier's encampments, disbanded by command and call to march on. But for a time they're there. And some even stick.

The Haven best qualifies as a killjoy settlement, though it walks the line of being neutral in many ways. In the end, Jack's leadership is too inwardly focused. There's not much plan for long-term permanence, or the building of anything except his own home for his own family. The right push could make it a great place for a neutral town to unfold, though.

Neutral settlements are, when it can be managed, more permanent in nature than killjoy settlements. They tend to take names and go through pains to create something of a township, a place to really live beyond the city, and not just suffer and fight. They have leaders akin to mayoral positions, and many have law sets they expect anyone passing through to follow. The city, of course, regards these places as killjoy in nature, but neutral settlements are just that. Neutral in the greater conflict, striving to build something that isn't centered on war. Necessity dictates they're friendly(ish) with killjoys, but the culture in a neutral town is a different thing from the call to rebellion most killjoys espouse. Jasper is perhaps one of the better known and largest neutral settlements, and is one of few directly connected to the information network of zones 03 and 04. Its sister-settlement, Ashtap, is considered a killjoy settlement: fairly new in the grand scheme, and not expected to last forever, but a good ally for now.

In some ways, the Fabulous Four embody aspects of all of the above approaches to desert living. As things are, the boys are broadly responsible for the general attitudes and beliefs of most zone dwellers, even those that claim no such influence from the group. Their Diner (sometimes colloquially called the DIE-ner) stands as a sort-of settlement, while their run-and-gun guerilla style attacks on patrols paved the way for motorbabies and other aspects of the car culture at work, and the infamous dive into the heart of Battery City stands to this day as the ultimate example for crash queens everywhere. At the end of the day the desert's most unifying belief, which the boys fundamentally established when they broke free of the old desert's way, is that of bonds: Your crew is everything. You die together, or not at all.

Shrines are an odd, outlying beast. Most are found in the outer zones, and while their politics passingly resemble neutral ideals, the structures themselves aren't the same kind of future-focused establishments. Many shrines take up residence in old holy buildings, churches and synagogues. Some house small groups, shrine-tenders and followers, but they aren't usually places to remain. They're houses of worship and offering. Those who live in or near them typically dedicate all their time in service to whichever desert deity they claim and whoever may come in search of them whilst otherwise staying out of the day to day of the zones.

The Old Desert

Most people know there was a way of desert life before 'killjoy' became the word for it. And most people know that the Fabulous Four, along with the girl Sunny, were the ones to redefine what it all meant. Almost no one can tell you what, exactly, that different way was. Between the all-go-no-stop nature of the desert —the city's relentless drive for 'progress' and the dangerous shifting of the desert itself— there's not much that's long lived, so much of what ought to have been history was lost in the Collapse of 2014 (an unexplained mass casualty event that eliminated most of the 'old desert' figures). As well, a dark fate awaits those who are not careful with what they know. Ask enough questions, chase enough ghosts, and you just might hear a whisper of the Hall or find the rare soul who admits they once belonged to the Court, but not much else. And not without c̞͘ons̕͜e̲̕͘q̱̀̀u̢̢͡è̷̢̯n̡ç͏̛͝ȩ̶̧̛ͅ s͘͏̭̗̜̞̀͟͠ ̷̨̗́͘͠. . .

It's wise to remember, however crimson your heart, however dyed your hair, however free your feet and tight your ties to your crew, that a kingship is a thing either inherited or else usurped.

The Self as a Symbol

Individuality is a cornerstone of many zone philosophies. A person's unique traits —whether they were born with them or later acquired them— are celebrated and raised upon a pedestal. This includes physical attributes, clothing and hair styling, names, occupations, and distinguishing happenings such as major events in the zones and life-changing moments. It rarely goes so far as to say standing out is the only merit a person can have, rather focusing on differences as a thing to respect rather than seek to suppress. The unique constellation of things that have made you you ought to be acknowledged. Not that you're the only one to ever do something, but that you're the only one who has done everything you've done. You experiences don't have to be unique in all the world, the fact that you lived them is the novelty. Because living, really living, is itself an act of rebellion. And you, your thoughts and feelings and flair, are the best weapon against prepackaged, consumable oblivion. Become perfectly ugly, unruly, unmanageable, unduplicatable!

What's in a Name?

Killjoy's proclivity for renaming themselves began as a necessity. In the early days of rebellion, many who opposed Better Living had to do so in the utmost secrecy, at risk of being silenced. As the movement grew and changed over the years, code names and callsigns began to mean something different. For a time they even included rank-like systems that identified individuals as part of specific crews and ideologies. With time, names became more complex, and the bank of words expanded until it was unable to be cleanly kept.

In the current culture, naming stands as more a symbol, freedom from the strict standards of city life and a claiming of one's individuality. There's no specific template or be-all example of a name. Some are more lyrical or even poetic, some more descriptive of occupations or interests, while others are more cobbled together from seemingly random sets of words. There is, technically speaking, no way to have a killjoy name that is incorrect in structure. Some trends nevertheless persist, such as: rhymes, alliterations, puns, and subversions of familiar objects or phrases.

That said, many of the desert's denizens have strong opinions on names all the same. In fact, killjoys are incredibly likely to pass judgement on each other's callsigns, though these remarks are generally kept to oneself or only mentioned to close confidants. Directly insulting someone's name to their face is generally considered fighting words. Slanted commentary is fair game — the more off the wall the better. (e.g. replacing parts of the moniker, inventing a new version of it, or simply calling them a name that is not their name would be fair game, whereas commenting directly, "that's stupid" or to that effect, would be hugely offensive and is considered deserving of a physical fight to settle the matter.)

Nicknames are universal in the zones. Regardless of age, gender, chosen living style, or overall name length, nobody in the zones goes by their full name on the daily. Some killjoys accumulate more names and nicknames than others, but all will have long and short versions of what they are called. Nicknames, like killjoy names, have no set design, though they tend to be one or two syllables pulled directly or indirectly from the full name, while more unique nicknames may come from signature colors or other symbols a killjoy has adopted for themself.

Rainbow Reasoning

One of Better Living's more infamous bit of imagery is that of beautiful cleanliness. While color and colorful attire are not, strictly speaking, illegal in the city, the focus on neatness and order means that uniformity and simplicity rule as the presented ideal, and this includes color. Center City, the wealthy and famous, present tidy, well-ordered appearances in highly restrictive shades. Many city jobs have uniforms and designated palettes. Within the city's advertising and catalogues, he most frequently found colors are pastels and neutrals, colors dubbed gentle, neat, or serene. The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Unit in particular dresses exclusively in black and white, with only the red mouths of the desert-facing draculoid masks as exception.

Naturally, then, disorder and color plays an important part in killjoy culture.

Killjoys go for bright shades, bold choices. They usually have a single color or set of colors that they associate and become associated strongly with. For most, these signature colors, like their names, become a key part of their identity. They can change sometimes, or meander, but broadly speaking once a killjoy latches onto a color it's theirs. Many killjoys dye their hair or, less often, their clothing to create their looks. These are typically their most signature color(s), with the bright red shock of Party Poison's hair serving as perhaps the most iconic example: the Rat King's crown. Point of fact hair color is regularly given higher recognition than any other part of a killjoy's appearance. In light of this, hair dying in particular has taken on a language of significance and gesture all its own.

Using, again, Party Poison as an example, people tend to say that red is Poison's color even though the dominant color he wears in the form of his signature jacket and infamous Mousekat head is actually a cobalt blue, while his gun and badge are both yellow. The Kobra Kid's signature jacket, gun, and badge are all crimson, but his hair being blonde in combination with a taste for bright shirts associates him with the color yellow or gold.

There are, of course, a limited number of colors available for a person to don, and repeats or similarities are a promise, but sharing a color and trying to steal it are different things entirely. The latter, as you can expect, is intensely taboo. Emulation in the desert is only tolerated so far. It's one thing to paint a similar pattern on your gun or pick a synonym for poison as part of your moniker, it's entirely another to paint yourself in someone else's color and start going by their nickname.

The Best Worst-Dressed

Clothing, while sometimes dyed as mentioned above, is less leaned upon for identity. Though many killjoys happily decorate themselves and their deeds may then make their outfits iconic, the clothes themselves are not usually designed for any specific statement other than 'I like it'. Punk, grunge, and skater fashions are incredibly common, as the standing counter-culture to the city's businesslike pleats, collars, and coats. The city also heavily genders clothes, whereas the desert defies this regularly with cross dressing and androgynous styles both being popular. Clothing actually becomes more political inside the wall, in the outer city and Neon District, where wearing certain fashions can associate one to the gangs found there or identify someone as 'killjoy sympathetic' in the city's eyes. In the zones, clothing is more individual and expression-focused.

Some killjoy are more practical than others when it comes to dress. They'll favor layers and protective coverings. Others go all in on their aesthetics and take whatever environmental consequences result on the chin (or, as is most common, as sunburns on the face and shoulders.) It's more or less an even spread of function and fashion, with no clear winner as a dominant trend.

Now and then a killjoy will have a particularly noteworthy piece of clothing, such as a significant jacket, that becomes so associated with their image it gets labeled a nametag: instantly identifiable, and tells you exactly who you're talking to. This is more of an exception than a rule. Once again, the most clear examples are Poison's Dead Pegasus jacket and Kobra's customized jacket, which boasts his badge on the chest and his name down the left arm.

Badges and masks fall in and out of popularity with stunningly frequent irregularity. It's not uncommon for individuals to have one or both, but they aren't nearly as universal as signature names and colors. Most masks serve a more functional purpose, either hiding the identities of killjoys who have more precarious attachments to their physical appearance (e.g. those who cross the wall regularly, or work in secret) or whose movements through the zones necessitate travel through areas where the air must be filtered to be breathable. Badges -sometimes just called symbols- tend to serve more as calling cards. They tend to be simple in design, so that they can easily be painted or otherwise tagged onto surfaces to indicate territory, claim actions, or simply defy order.

Party Poison, Jet Star, Fun Ghoul and the Kobra Kid's respective badges.

Do It Now, Do It Loud Philosophy

Killjoy social culture is fast, loud, and frequently over the top. It rises in parallel to the daily risks of opposing the company and stark contrast to the hard work and extended silences of carving out an existence in a landscape as hostile as the zones. Fight hard, play harder. Because you can, you've made it this far and lived this long and tomorrow's never promised. And because the city hates it.

For all of these and many other reasons, it's arguable that violence is inherent not just to survival in the desert landscape, but to zone culture itself.

Games take on shapes of fighting and sometimes bloodshed, hobbies appear around knives and guns and driving too fast, too impaired. Many killjoys are thrill seekers who won't hesitate to experiment with illicit substances and risky endeavors. The Fuck You!!!! House is a venue of significant notoriety which promises bloodshed in some form every night – just attending an event there is to take your life into your own hands. Car jousting, fighting rings, drag races. Overpacked concerts and clubs. Douse it all in smuggled and homemade booze and remember that everyone carries matches or a gun and there will be fireworks and pyrotechnics and any moment could be the moment it all goes horribly wrong. Then take your shot and chase it with another and do it all anyway.

Even those who don't readily take part of the party scene end up as explorers, cleaners, and frontiersmen. Something as simple as a hobby hike can send you over a ravine or into a pit of smilers or wading into radiation so thick you can feel the air get heavy.

While all of this is true and life in the zones pretty much guarantees you'll bleed at least once a week, it remains true that the zones are first and foremost a survivalist community. Unified? Not in the least. But everyone outside the city's clutches -even neutrals- has at least one thing they can all agree on, and it's that the city is wrong, and the best way there is to deal with that right now is to stay out of its hands. Out of its systems, out of its practices, out of its rules and rigidity.

However rowdy things get, whether at work or play, killjoys (and most zoneside neutrals) are more likely to band together than they are to rip each other apart.

Even rival groups and feuding gangs will set aside their grudges when faced with a Better Living patrol or unprecedented perils from the sand itself. Survival is the ultimate defiance. Killing and turning on each other would only make things easier for the city. You see someone stumble, you cover them until they find their feet. You catch wind of a patrol, you let everyone know. Even when it's that radio host you can't stand to listen to the rants of, or someone who stabbed you once, or whose nose you broke. You go down together or not at all.

Talk the Talk

The high-octane way of life works its way into the words too. Killjoys' way of speaking, much like their ways of life, is as varied as it is simultaneously universal. These days there is an almost-dialect, "zonespeak". Riddled with slang and constantly evolving, it's impossible to keep up with entirely, but nevertheless remains so distinct it's usually clear to anyone from the zones when a person is new to the desert or faking their allegiances purely from the way they talk.

Zonespeak is fast paced and downright filthy, riddled with dropped consonants and prolific profanity. It takes sentiments like fuck you and I'll kill you from insultory to conversational with regular ease. Threats to life and limb are so common that, in many ways, these things have lost their punch. Frequently it's just the trade of talk, establishment of communication. True, things can come to blows if groups can't reach understanding, but mostly it's just the way the words go. If anything, the less loud and flagrant the insults, the closer to snapping someone actually is. Broadly speaking, silent stare downs are a lot more of a active problem than promising to take someone's various limbs or sensory organs. (e.g. "I'll saw your fuckin' ears off" is fairly conversational for 'knock it off, you're getting on my nerves', whereas something like "Enough." in a low voice is truly edging towards resorting to physical violence). Killjoys who can't recognize a (semi)friendly fuck you from legitimate insult generally aren't taken very seriously or are found suspicious, and will be mocked mercilessly either way. It betrays an ignorance to the culture — in killjoys' eyes, someone who can't handle a little rough housing must either be new, a liar, or soon to perish. Regardless, beating the dead horse helps speed things along.

Other zone slang, much like zone names, began as a necessity and spiraled over time. A majority of it is rooted in old turns of phrase that may or may not exist on their own anymore, and the rest results from plays on those terms and other filled niches. Suffice to say a rolling punchbuggy gathers no rust (but it might punch back.)

The dictionary can give you insight into existing terms, and perhaps hints to where and how desert words are likely to shape.

Know Your Enemy

Most killjoy vs. killjoy confrontations are vocal, or pure bluster. Those that aren't can typically be settled by individual showdowns, trade deals, or other arrangements. Despite the general inclination toward thrills and intensity of killjoy passions, desert law (though largely unspoken) maintains that the fight against the city, against extermination, is the most important thing. Infighting is inevitable, when the core tenants of your belief circle so often around the importance of expression and the self, but the desert doesn't support true individualism if only out of practicality. Cooperation outranks pride every time (at least when it comes to shedding actual blood. Feel free to argue until you turn purple.) Most killjoys do not lightly take the lives of other killjoys. Fighting to the point of bloodshed as a way to solve differences is a lot more common, but still reduced where possible. Boxing rings, where two conflicting groups select a single member to fight until their is a winner, are more common than all-out group brawls.

There are, of course, radicals in zones, and exceptions to this general rule. Some entire crews run on hair-trigger tempers, and will cut down any opposition or over slight disagreements, but these types are outliers and even outcasts. Consistently aggressive or hostile groups –crash queens being the most likely to fall into this– will find themselves cut off over time. For all the violence those in the zones are capable of, reaching for it too quickly when dealing with other killjoys breaks from that unspoken law of the desert and will get a group temporarily or, eventually, permanently shunned and excommunicated. And getting too cut-off in the desert is a death sentence. There's simply no way to generate everything you'll ever need to survive in the zones as a single group forever. Your crew might string things along for awhile, maybe even a long time, but if you can't find a trade group who will deal with you, your whole group will be out of the fight sooner rather than later.

Leave Nothing Behind But Dust

Killjoys don't abandon their own, and killjoys never die, but sometimes they fall. To BL/ind's crows, to sickness, to the desert's heartless whims. To pushing boundaries wherever they're found. It can happen any time, at any place.

Some killjoys might pass a mask or jacket (etc.) onto their loved ones, tokens and reminders, but for the most part killjoys don't do permanence. Standard practice sees pyres for the dead, not burials. There are no headstones to be found in the desert, no mausoleums or self-congratulating memorials, just the mailbox where the superstitious or long suffering leave their letters to the dead and, on occasion, the salvaged-stripped shells of the cars that could not be revived.

Ashes are thrown from peaks or left where they burned to scatter with the wind, and in that spirit the whole desert is the mausoleum. The very sand that you walk over, sleep on, that scratches your window and wears on your skin as a constant reminder. Every running step and drop of blood -your own or the enemy's- salutes the dead. The fight goes on.

Never let them take you alive.

#hi if this found its way to you this is purely for me n my friends headcanons and not an assertion of overall actual canon ty ♥#long post //#c:\\work>dir z:\ wld:bld* //.insp .stdy/#''and in this essay-'' meme except i actually wrote an essay (again)#so much of this could be elaborated on. i am so convinced i've left out important things somehow #despite this conviction i will be posting this post i hope you have the tag blocked i am not putting a read more xo xo ;sdlkfgj;sldkfgj

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thedeadthree · 4 months ago

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🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨

AIRIKA HI TY TYY DEAR this is the cutest thank youu and i hope ur well!! i adore yelling about tunes EEEK 🥀💌☺️

𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐍𝐎𝐖 — hozier, bear mcreary.

𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐄 — charli xcx.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐒 — cocteau twins.

𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐄𝐒 — the crane wives.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 — ramin djawadi.

#🦇: airika #carrionsflower #leg.asks #YOU SWEETEST SOUL YOUU ty tyy so much for the ask this was the cutest to do!! 🥀🥹#THE FIRSTT is soooo s/olas coded dragon game really YANKED me back in to thinking about it all the time 🥀🤡☺️#teehee 3 is for a new clown for x*men HEHE 🥀☺️#2 and 3 are also h*elaena hawke vibes too 🥀👁️#i mean i have yelled about the fourth for cy but *screams* ITS SOO VELAENE AND VELAENGWAYNE UGHH it makes me crazy kdjxhxh 🥀💀#i need to give her a formal introduction and her and her beloved (🥀🙄🥴) so soon !!!!!!#and lastly!! the fifth is the closest i think so far to what i think a theme song for irulanne would be?#raised a city elf until found by the sisters (a subset of the mourners!!)#she lost her network of fellow orphans and spies around but as she had magic she gained a new whisper network in the undead as her ‘birds’#its how i would say she learned of v*arric and feanorians interest in taking her on as the rook!!#she snuck out to the rendezvous sooo fast kxjxhxh #i mean they were preparing her to be the next arcane advisor/spymaster (she’s a two for one we love a multitalented girliee)#and maybe even to marry and or have a ‘legitimate’ heir with a monarch #or at least very close by to a/the throne yk? mourner mage with close ties to a throne was their goal 🥀💀😵‍💫#they were VERY into the idea of having a mage on a throne one way or another and so her leaving #is going to be SOO interesting for her to go back 🥀💀#i mean if they try to throw it in her face they gave her a life so many dreamed or something ->#they can take it up with her crow husband or something 🥀🥴☺️ good for her i think!!#but after things went sideways with the ritual i think she had begun to reconsider ditching the sisters oxjxjxh #that’s remedied when she meets luca though HEHE 🥀😌#prodigy orphan with gifted kid burnout meets scion of family prodigy with gifted kid burnout THEYRE SOO <3 #ANYWAY LZJXJXH i missed yelling in the tags so i took the opportunity if yall read that im baking u cookies rn 🥀🤧🥹!!!!!#also this almost would be just c*harli bc the way her album has been on a loop for me 🥀☺️😌

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anon-h3art · 7 months ago

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new gamblequake duo fanfics out.. yey! :DDDD

#dsmp quackity #dsmp #ninjago cole #ninjago #cole brookstone #c!quackity #c! quackity #gamblequake duo #raaaaa #ty to the beta reader who read this first though!

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satorugojoswiife · 1 year ago

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I mean it's best if Gojo stays dead because if he were to magically come back to life Gege would probably just shove him in with a female character at the end of the manga because that's apparently a typical thing in shonen. Let him subvert those expectations. It's no different than the people who think that he and Utahime have been banging behind the scenes for years or something. 🤷

You'd rather he stay dead just bc you don't want to see him with a female character? 😭 tbh even if that happened, if he ended up with a family and was happy, I would be happy for him. I don't think this would happen tho.

I read alot of shounen, like alot, and this isn't even that common. 😭 It sometimes happens, but usually it's just the mc that it happens to. People are probably just thinking about the infamous Naruto ending where everyone ever got paired up with someone. Although, funnily enough, one of the only characters that did stay single was Kakashi, who is the character that is often compared to gojo.

gege subverts expectations with nearly everything in the series, except for gojos death. Gojo dying is, imo, the most predictable outcome in the series.

#thank you for sharing your thoughts c: its alot different from my own #but i really like reading others opinions #guess we will have to see how things turn out ty and i hope you have a good day anon 💖🥰

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mondaymelon · 1 year ago

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it was 3am for me when u tagged me in those little picrew games i thought u shld know JAJAJKAJSHSH—

not a time better to do silly little picrews with silly little moots and typing silly little comments lmao!!

in all truth though whoever said sleep is for the weak is a liar. of course not lmao.

sleep is for the dead

#★ ˎˊ˗ melonrambles!#★ ˎˊ˗ inbox.#★ ˎˊ˗ moots~ lili!!#please.#p le a s e.#someone.#ANYONE #TELLL ME #THAT YOU UNDERSTOOD #THAT REFERENCE I MADE JUST THERE.#DOD.#HAS ANYONE #IN THIS GODFORSAKEN PLATFORM #READ THE DAMM THING #AHHH MOON PUPPY AHHH RAEBIN AHHH BAE SEIJIN I LOVE HTEM SM #EUNGENE???!?1 LOVE HIS SHIT EATING GRIN AND EVERYONE ELSE IN TESTAR #DONT EVEN GET ME STARTEED ON ____E D A C. T E D .#HES SOOOO PRE T TY TYTY YYT STDFJOIDJGLKSJHKJELKGJKEJGLKJGLKJWG

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oflostinfound · 1 year ago

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Old Wound- { EDIT: ADDED THEIR WINGS }

#{ stiffer poses this time b/c i wanted to figure out their burn scar properly }#|| ealy doodles ||#💛 || hax #{ also more tum b/c why not might as well practice }#{ also yes hax has no nips }#{ but a mutual (ty if ur reading this) did inform me they CAN have a belly button despite egg so they have that it's canon now }

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blackjackkent · 6 months ago

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By far the most annoying thing about the battle with the Avatar of Myrkul is this motherfucker:

Fundamentally what this means is that anyone near the big boy cannot get healed, which is a problem given that Rakha has the constitution, robustness, and mental stability of a single sheet of tissue paper.

Nevertheless we persist.

MVP status for this fight goes to Lae'zel, who landed a disarming attack on the first strike of the battle and knocked Myrkul's giant-ass scythe out of its hands, then action surged four attacks on it and dazed it with a pommel strike.

Aylin continues to eat shit repeatedly every time I do this fight, which I continue to blame on her having been a century out of practice, bc she always does a lot better in Act 3. :P

In the end, Rakha gets the final blow with a barrage of magic missiles that smash in the avatar's skull mask and send a shower of bone splinters raining down around them.

-----

The monstrous form fades. Ketheric collapses at Rakha's feet, a man again, mortal. His blood soaks him from head to foot, drips out in gory spatters on the rock.

The beast screams with glee in Rakha's head, watching him die. You mocked me, but you die like all the others, whimpering, pitiful. Who is the mad dog now?

"Impossible," he wheezes. "Death cannot take me... I am its master..."

He struggles to his knees, his eyes lifting again towards the cavern's ceiling. "My Lord! Hear me!"

Silence, but for the low slap of water against the rock around them. His shoulders slump. Blood drops through his beard, along the ridges of his armor.

"Nothing..." he whispers. "I am forsaken."

She steps forward, grips the front of his armor, gives a short, sharp jerk. "Answer me before you die, Chosen of Myrkul," she growls. "Tell me what I need to know. Who am I?"(*)

His eyes drift out of focus past her shoulder. "You... have no idea what you've done..." he whispers weakly.

"WHO AM I?!" she bellows, releasing him with a jerk. He nearly topples over, all the strength gone from his body. Light begins to pour from his eyes, his mouth.

"Isobel..." he whispers, and she watches and feels the deep shuddering pleasure of the beast as the life flows out of his body.

His corpse collapses in a heap at her feet.

Silence.

Rakha's head aches. She stares down at Ketheric's body. This has been her only goal for so long, almost since the crash, almost as long as she can remember, and now it is finished. She feels empty, drained - she waits for the feeling of fulfillment and it doesn't come.

What do I do now?

Before she can muster the energy to speak, a pale white glow streaks down from above them, an avenging angel homing in on the broken body before them.

"THE VILLAIN IS DEAD!"

The Nightsong. Aylin. She slams her boot into Ketheric's head and Rakha watches as his skull explodes, brain matter spattering in all directions, coated in black, corrupted blood.

"THE WRETCH!" she howls. "TOGETHER WE HAVE CRUSHED HIM, BODY AND BRAIN!"

Rakha watches, fascinated. Aylin's eyes are alight with her goddess's magic. Her movements are jerky and frantic, desperate. She pounds her boot again and again into Ketheric's head, flattening it into the ground, into a pile of shapeless meat.

She is just as majestic in this moment as she was in her flight out of the Shadowfell - but Rakha sees beneath that facade of light. Underneath is a river of rage, the fury of the prisoner released after a century of torment. Vengeance. Animal destruction.

This is what Rakha looks like when the beast overtakes her, reflected in the form of this creature of ostensible good. It is surreal to see it in another.

Eventually Aylin calms. Her eyes lift; the light has faded from them. Rakha recognizes that look on her face, too - the weary acknowledgement of her own violence, its mindlessness, its ultimate pointlessness.

"Now," the aasimar says softly. "Now we pick our way toward our fates... unleashed."

Rakha doesn't answer. What is my fate? she thinks bitterly. A lost animal, doomed to stagger forward forever, hoping only to sink her teeth into the 'right' prey.

To her astonishment, Aylin straightens and inclines her head with a sudden air of respect. "You have my sword - my fealty."

Fealty. Rakha blinks, bewildered. Why?

She draws a slow breath and lets it out. Because there is more ahead. Ketheric is dead, but the Absolutists still live. The tadpole still sits in her head. Her vengeance isn't complete.

And she realizes she is afraid. She is beginning to learn that there is nothing good for her in the memories that are lost to her - and also that following the trail of the cult will only lead her to more glimpses of whatever dark path she once walked. She will have no rest from the beast, from the war inside her head, because the path that lies ahead will be as soaked in blood as the path behind.

But the cult marches on the city. Rakha has never seen it - but Wyll has. It was his city, once. His father is still in the Absolute's clutches. She has to keep going - for Wyll, if not for herself.

She swallows. She doesn't feel able to speak. But she meets Aylin's eyes and she nods.

Aylin returns the nod, sober and serious as the grave. Perhaps she understands something of the turmoil that boils in Rakha's head, just as Rakha understood the rage that burns in hers. "Do what you must," she says softly. "Then we fly this foul place."

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #well this took forever to write lol #this is very much not the unqualified victory that it was for hector #rakha is very much in a bad place #the shadowfell -> almost-murder of wyll -> meat basement -> ketheric battle combination really beat her to hell #i'm not deeply in love with the writing i've done this weekend (minus the bit with lae'zel in the last post XD )#but act 2 denouement this week and then the big drama of act 3 begins #looking forward to seeing how we climb rakha out of this pit c:#ty all for reading as always <3

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