#and veran//dis....... where do i even start with him

[batrogers]

Civilized Or Not

So there’s some common Zelda fanon I wanna talk about, relating to civilization tropes I think some of y’all haven’t really thought about in detail before, and that’s Hyrule (Zelda 1 &2 Link), Wild (BOTW mostly), and Ravio (LbW).

I’m using the Linked Universe names, because that’s where most of it comes up, because these things happen most often where you can contrast the boys with each other. This is often done, quick and dirty, by people assigning “roles” to each without much thought. Ravio’s unfortunately tends to be extremely pervasive outside LU spaces, too.

But, in brief, there is a trend for people to craft these characters in a framework of innocent vs savagery vs trickery that can have some really unfortunate implications I’m not sure many are even aware of. Hopefully I can explain better where these ideas come from, why they’re so easy and appealing, and why we should try to avoid repeating them for more than just the sake of “easy” but also to stop repeating some really nasty historical tropes.

I would start from what’s probably the simplest one to address: the tendency towards a “feral” personification of Wild. This tends to come from two places: Wild’s amnesia, and the collapse of society around him and his lost place in it.

Now, brain damage is complicated. You can lose a range of things to any given injury because of the way information is encoded differently and in different places. You can lose memory and/or skills and/or coordination and/or balance, etc, because it all depends on what got damaged. But in-game a lot of stuff suggests that Link retains things like speech, reading/writing, coordination, and martial skills. None of the people who knew Link prior to his injury suggest he seems changed in any way not attributed to stress and anxiety...

And, more importantly, real people suffer memory loss just like that in the real world. Treating him like he’s become “feral” due to memory loss is cruel to actual people living with brain damage today, and if you go there you should have a good reason for it.

Social collapse is a wide-spread theme in basically every Zelda game. The threat that the Big Bad poses is almost always the destruction of society as it exists: Malladus literally vanishes the infrastructure of New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks; the Twilight turns people into spirits living lives they don’t realize are questionably real in Twilight Princess; Veran freezes the passage of time to force people to work forever in Oracle of Ages. King Daphnes and Ganondorf under the sea vie over the fate of the world above in Wind Waker: keep what’s been made, or start all over again?

In modern culture, people tell a lot of stories about the fragility of civilization and what happens in its absence. You get the range from Lord of the Flies, in which children wrecked on an island attempt (and fail) to recreate civilization on their own, Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” in which Mowgli is treated as reckless and innocent, and a much more obscure piece from the 18th century “Paul et Virginie” (and likely many more I don’t know offhand.) Essentially all of them play with the question of how do people become civilized, and what happens when they do? In Lord of the Flies, the children were civilized and failed to maintain it; in the Jungle Book, the boy wasn’t civilized and innocently interacts with it. In Paul et Virginie, the children were (relatively) uncivilized on the (French colonized) Mauritius, raised by their mothers but when the girl was sent away, she becomes civilized and dies tragically to preserve it.

The two Links most removed from civilization are Hyrule and Wild. Wild “lost” civilization, losing both his memories of it and the structure of it. Making him feral, without manners, and without a place to belong is that kind of Lord of the Flies savagery mixed with Mowgli’s innocent playfulness: there isn’t a structure to adhere to, so he’s a savage. Whereas Hyrule is more like the Paul eg Virginie side: innocent of civilization, he remains pure and sweet and kind, unable to conceive of big concepts like evil or money or so on. Neither position permits them to interact with the civilization that is right there in front of them! Wild can buy a house; he has people who know and care for him. He has social connections and social rights. The world exists, but the fandom does not seem to want him to interact with it in favour of remaining “wild.” In Zelda 2 – a game explicitly set within a decade of Zelda 1 – there are whole towns with trade and a castle and massive structures with on-going life in them... but very few fans seem to ever reach into that story or relate it back to the first. Hyrule, the character, does not exist within Hyrule, the country.

Strangely, Wind Waker does not fall prey to this, I think because the structures are presented as fait accompli: Link wakes up with his grandmother and his sister, he has a defined home, and a society in which you spend the entire game forced to engage with. Zelda 1 & 2 were not sophisticated enough to waste resources on going as in depth in social terms (although such interactions absolutely exist in Zelda 2!) and BOTW leaves such interactions as optional: you can survive the game with minimal social contact... but it’s a choice to play with it that way, not the default. The ways in which this edges onto the noble savage trope, in which “uncivilized” tribes are either innocent or brutish (rather than complex social systems in their own right) is fairly obvious.

There is one other character in Zelda who gets treated to the question of whether he is an innocent, free of civilization and all its rigour... or something else. Ravio, coming from the devastated world of Lorule, can often wind up slotted into the scared, innocent child trope and unfortunately that’s the better position people frequently take. The worse one evokes the Merchant of Venice: the deceitful, Jewish merchant who values money over people’s lives.

Lorule (and Nintedo’s approach towards their humanoid Zelda villains in general) is near-eastern-coded in many ways, down to the fact that Yuga’s outfit is the spitting image of Ottoman dress. Yuga being a depraved bisexual (a common historical trope about Muslim men towards Christian men and boys), and Hilda being deceitful and conspiring against everyone she was once allied to are a backdrop to the ways in which Ravio is a greedy coward. He’s not an evil character in the game; the mechanic of penalizing death without being too severe is interesting and works well! But that doesn’t take away the stereotype, just like it’s not okay Nabooru is pretty explicitly predatory towards child Link in Ocarina of Time, too.

Arab and Jewish stereotypes often converge, because both people's originate from the same region, and both are hostile "Others" to Christian Europe and Nintendo doesn’t have a great track record of their near-Eastern coding in Zelda. It crosses the whole gamut from harem and amazon tropes with the Gerudo to breath-takingly anti-semitic or anti-black (Ganondorf being green, eg. non-human, in various incarnations), all packaged neatly in the ideal of medieval fantasy Europe. The scale would be impressive if it wasn’t so damn awful, but we can at least stop repeating it in our fanworks.

Wild doesn’t have to be feral to be a playful little shit; Hyrule doesn’t have to be pure and innocent to be kind. Ravio doesn’t need to be innocent or scheming, and he shouldn’t place money over Link’s well-being (If you chose to respawn at home, he is consistently only ever concerned for Link! Once you buy the items outright, he promises he'll still be there to take care of you.)

Do better. It’s more interesting that way, and I want to see that variety grow!

[If any of y'all would like me to dig up better sources on any point, I can do so but I didn't want to bog this post down further. I have largely left the anti-arab stuff alone because it's not the biggest issue with Ravio's fanon presence, which is the focus here.]

#Zelda Meta #Linked Universe #Ravio #LU Wild #LU Hyrule #antisemitism in media #noble savage tropes #bad tropes #Unfortunate implications #LOZ meta #LU meta #Long post #like 1200 words #I'm having a week okay #brain damage #mental illness

[greyvvardenfell]

uh oh sisters it's 2am and I've gotten like three hours of sleep in the past two days and now I'm Scheming to have all of my new elder scrolls ocs be part of the same bloodline 😳

#listen i see a Tall Smart Man and i melt #that tag was about vera//ndis my beloved #and also so//tha sil 😳😳😳 #i have an inkling of an oc to ship with him and i regret nothing #singer who helps him with his tonal architecture and reminds him that he was a mortal man once 😌😌 #it's so mary-sue but guess what i want to fuck him so i don't care #consider yourselves lucky she'll be an actual character and not just me with elf ears #and veran//dis....... where do i even start with him #my og vestige fell head over heels during his first rivenspire quest like #she was *devastated* at the end of that plot #but eso has blessed me with the dark heart of skyrim storyline so all is forgiven #like do you know how rare it is for me to want my ocs to have kids #but i am immediately attached to this idea #resdayna is a vampire so conceivably still around to watch her distant relatives kick ass #over on the other side of tamriel 800-1000 years later #you go you funky kids #ignoring that more than one of them will become immortal 😳 #hhhhhhh i have so many ideas #but also i desperately need to fucking sleep #h e l p #at least three of them are more than just ideas. like they have names and Vibes too #I'll have to write them out tomorrow. someone hold me to that. #and by tomorrow i mean later today whoops #rey says words #rey's ocs #apparently i like elder scrolls again gang

[red-revival]

Because I'm hyperfixating, here's a little summary of my dnd campaign so far!

Session 1:

Party members Clink, Omega, and Veran are travelling together. They set up camp, Omega and Veran see a metal arm poking out of the riverbank. Clink hasn't noticed yet. Omega and Veran manage to pull the arm halfway out, revealing it to be a warforged. Clink, just not noticing the warforged but not recognizing what it is, grabs it and pulls it the rest of the way out. The warforged, named Banner, wakes up, and Omega at some point pushes him into the river. They all introduce themselves and travel together.

On the second night, robbers attck their camp. Banner accidentally cuts off one robber's arm while Veran and Omega attack from a distance. Clink almost sets the tree she's in on fire by dropping torches on the robber below her tree. After a while, they beat the robbers, the leader dies, and a big argument about it ensues. They bury the leader in an attempt to be at least a little nice and continue on their way, eventually finding a town.

In this town, they solve a mystery surrounding a murder. By solve a mystery, I mean they roll high and find the killer immediately, ruining our poor DM's story that he worked really hard on. They kill the murderer, a cursed scarecrow, and stay in the inn for the night. Banner gets drunk on oil and struck by lightning and Omega meets a shifty stranger.

Session 2:

They leave the small town and keep adventuring. Veran's food gets stolen, this will matter later. They keep moving and find an abandoned cart, which Clink steals from almost instantly. She steals a wand, which she hands to Banner, who is lawful good and just let her get away with this for some reason, and Banner gives it to Veran because nobody else in the party cares about magic. While Banner hands Veran the wand and isn't looking, Clink also steals letters from the cart, which she later finds out are unpaid tax letters from months ago, also known by sneaky untrustworthy rogues as blackmail.

They get toa town and find out everyone is getting their stuff stolen and holes are appearing everywhere. They find a hole in a shop, and Clink, being small, squeezes through into a mushroom cave, where she finds a kobold, Ved. After she gets the kobold to speak common, she finds out that kobolds have been stealing food and stuff to feed something, which explains Veran's food being stolen. They throw rocks at her, she gets the hell out of there, and explains this to the party. They go to a tow hall meeting, agree to help solve this mystery, and find a hold that they can all go in.

They go in the hole and kobolds believe Omega, a lizardfolk, is a dragonborn. So they trust the entire party and bring them to their king, who shows they what they've been feeding. A baby black acid dragon. Who they are raising for the purpose of gnome genocide. After a lot of complications with Omega being talked to exclusively by the kobolds and Banner gettingbit by the dragon, Clink tricks the 200+ kobolds into believing that she knows a big gnome city that would be perfect for the dsrgon to practice killing gnomes. The kobolds tell the partyto take the drgon, fully believing that they will in fact bring the dragon to practice killing gnomes. Clink, Veran, and Banner leave to go get a cage for this dragon whole Omega stays behind and keeps the dragon and kobolds calm.

Session 3:

They get their payment and leave town, now with a dragon. In the next verry small town, they buy a donkey. The keep traveling. Their dragon plays with a half dead bird, ripping it's wing off. Banner heals the bird and it stays with him, somehow making the first member of the party to get an animal not be the ranger. They camp and Omega hears a direwolf being hurt. He runs off to find it while the party is asleep and ends up in a fight with the three direwof who had attacked it, seemingly for having a defect causing a fur colour mutation.

For one turn, he fights alone, losing a large chunk of his leg. The party wakes up and hears him, so they start running. Clink rolls high as shit on initiative and dashes int the fight. She stabs her rapier right through one wolf and kills it in one hit. The partyall work together on the other two wolves and Omega keeps the differently coloured wolf. There are 4 animals with the party now.

The find the city they had originally went in serch of, the capital of the country. They leave the donkey and dragon at an inn and use the info given by the shifty stranger in s1 to get Banner into the city, as he's the only one in the party without any legal documents.

They get hired to find out a problem in the sewers. So they go in the sewers and find a bunch of crates. Clink reads the tieves cant and inspects the crated, finding out that the seemingly innocent Manticore cafe in town is actually a cover for a large thieves guild and an illegal smuggling buisness. Clink, who has proven herself to be a dumbss, steals 50g worth of things from the crates, also known as everything she legally can sell that she found. Nobody in the party notices her stealing mass amounts of stuff.

They enter the main part of the sewers. There are two visible giant spiders as well as two dead guards. Roll initiative. They fight and manage to kill one spider when an ethereal giant spider shows up. The ethereal giant spiders webs Clink to the ground, who, not realizing the gravity of this situation, just calls the apider rude and cuts her way out. Banner and Omega fight one spider, and the ethereal spider appears behind Veran and webs her to the floor.

It then lunges at Clink, bites her, and poisons her. The poison didn't matter though, because just the bite took her below 0 health. Clink is dying. First death save fails. Veran escapes the webs and kills the ethereal spider. Omega rushes over and managed to give Clink a potion. Clink gets up and tries to get across the water to help Banner fight, who is now fighting a giant spider alone, but she's still not doing so great, still very confused and panicked, she's shaking and it'shard to move but she's trying. She trips and falls into the water just as Banner hits the spider with his shield so hard it dies on the spot. The spiders are all gone.

They find a member of the Manticore thieves guild webbed up in the corner. He threatens them with a dagger, and in thieves cant, asks if he can trust the party. Clink, signs yes with thieves cant. The thief calms down and starts talking in friendly tone, offering to introduce them to his boss. This obviously can't go badly in any way whatsoever, nope, not even if his boss finds out Clink effectively stole 50g from them

___

that's the entire campaign so far. Next week friday is the nest session, can't wait to see who kicks ass and who almost dies next

#Red's dnd campaign #long post #very long post #te anima death #tw animal injury #tw spiders #tw aracnaphobia

[jadeender]

Fortress of Darkness and Light part 4

Ravio to be honest was terrified. He had figured at least he'd be with Legend for the rest of the adventure but of course the first thing to happen was then getting split up, just his usual luck. 

The room with the flashing lights, and the sounds have scared him more than he wanted to admit, he had even accidentally drawn on Curses power and pulled them into the shadows, deafening noises and dampening the light. Luckily he returned before any of the heroes realized it. 

He had watched as Hyrule had his panic attack, glad once again that his hood hide his face and hide his own fear and rapid breathing. Ravio had even fallen asleep at some point while they were waiting and was awoken with a light shake from Time, Eternal’s light if he remembered correctly.  

“We need to get moving, the others have probably encountered problems of their own, the sooner we get to the top, the sooner we can get out of here.” Time said as they passed through the doorway, as with before he and Hyrule were leading. Though the path ahead was still dark and dismal as the rest.

Time and the one with the scarves, Warriors, carried torches as they walked on. 

“Calm down bunny. After the last room we can handle whatever Veran throws at us.” Curse spoke inside his mind.  

“Of course, that's not what I’m worried about. We both know we can’t take them if a fight comes. Especially not if its four on one.” Ravio replied studying his companions. None of them had made any threatening actions but he was still on guard.

They didn't talk much as the group stalked down the dark hallways, up stairs, around precipes as they continued onward, eventually the floor gained a slant as they started going up. After a little while the dark hallway opened into another cavernous room.

The room had several beams of light shining from above onto five pillars interspaced across the room, each pillar didn’t look much larger than a shield, just enough space for a single person to stand. 

“Let's check for a way down or across, there may be hidden path.” Time offered. The other nodded and started doing everything they could think of. They fired arrows at the pillars, set fires, Time used a sort of odd looking glass in the shape of any eye. Ravio meanwhile searched the edge of the platform they were on for any staircases or ladders to find it lacking both. 

Carefully Ravio pulled a stone from his robe and dropped it off the side of the platform and waited for it to hit the bottom, when he still hadn’t heard anything after ten second he gave up.

“Wherever we are there's no way across except those pillars.” Ravio told the others who were trying to come up with ways to reveal a path. 

“How are we supposed to get across them though?” Wind asked. “I don't see anything to grapple onto.”

“Yeah, hookshot is out too, it won't cling to stone. Any my hover boots won't make that distance.” Time considered rubbing his face with one hand.

“What if they had a boost?” Wind asked his face lighting up. He pulled out what looked like a small baton. “I can use this to push your forward, if you can hover for long enough it should help you make it all the way.” 

“It's worth a try.” Warriors shrugged.

“What if you can't make it?” Ravio asked. “You’ll fall to your death.”

“We don't have an alternative. Once I make it across I might be able to find a way to send the rest of you.” Time said pulling out his bag and removing a pair of winged boots. He sat down to put them on while continuing. “If this doesn’t work do not jump down after me, we don’t need anyone else getting hurt.”

“What do we do if he can't make it?” Ravio asked Curse. “If all else falls we could always shadow travel and catch him before he goes down. However that would reveal us immediately.”

“That's our last resort, lets see how this plays out for now.” Curse agreed as they watched the insanity unfold. 

Time stood near the edge of the platform and Wind stood behind me holding up his baton. Slowly Wind began to conduct humming a melody to himself, around them wind began to swirl. 

“Go now.” Wind shouted still conducting and Time took off in a running start, with the currents of wind pushing him forward and the golden circles under his feet Time reached the first platform quickly and stopped.

“Go again!” Time shouted over the distance, so they repeated the process, and again, and again. Each time Time made it to the pillar just as he started to drop, sometimes having to grab onto the ledge and hoist himself up.

Finally when Time was one pillar away from the end he shouted back for Wind to go again where they could just barely here, but as Time stepped off the platform he took about five steps before he realized the wind hadn’t yet reached him, and began to fall. 

“No!” Wind screamed rushing to the edge of the platform as Warriors grabbed him back. 

Ravio looked around, does he risk them finding out, should he throw everything away to save this hero? Legend would be devastated if one of his friends died. As Ravio stood his mind racked with indecision Time disappeared and reappeared on the platform across the room.

“I knew Eternal wouldn’t let me fall to my death.” Time called out. 

“That doesn’t help us get across.” Ravio whispered, frustrated but glad he hadn’t needed to reveal himself. 

“I think I might be able to shadow travel across.” Wind spoke up, “Tempest is willing to try it. But I don't know if I can carry another person.”

“I can do it.” Hyrule said. Ravio and Warriors whipped around to look at him. The young hero still looked shaken from earlier but his face was set. Of all the darks they’d thought would be cooperative they’d never have expecting Callous. 

“Are you sure Hyrule? What if you lose control to Callous?” Warriors questioned. “We can try to find another way.”

Hyrule just shook his head. “Don’t need to worry about that. I can do it. I’ll take one of you then the other.” 

By that point Wind was already standing by Time’s side on the other side. Ravio took a deep breath. “Ok I’ll go first then.”

“Hmm I don't like this, Callous wouldn’t normally be this cooperative, unless he’s getting something out of it.” Curse commented as Ravio walked to stand next to Hyrule.

“He probably wants to get to Veran as much as we do.” Ravio postulated in response. “We’ll have to trust him for now.”

As Ravio finished his mental conversation Hyrule grabbed his hand and they vanished into the shadows before reappearing on one pillar, then the next, and the next, and the next. Soon they were on the opposite platform. As Hyrule let go of Ravio the later fell down his head spinning. Sure he’d shadow traveled plenty of times but before he had done it himself or with Curse and the feeling was not the same as being dragged along with Hyrule.

Hyrule wasted no time dropping him and going back for Warriors. When Warriors and Hyrule reappeared together on the other side Ravio quickly stood.

“Well that was unexpectedly cooperative.” Warriors said fixing his scarves. “Let's get going before any side effects of having to rely on the darks happen.” Warriors lead the way as they climbed a staircase past the doorway and started upward. 

They climbed upward for nearly an hour on the same steep staircase until finally they crested the stairs and saw at the top a set of heavy oak doors bearing a symbol Ravio could only assume was Verans. 

“Is it really that easy?” Wind asked, looking at the door. “Only two puzzles? And that's it?”

“No doubt veran has some trick or trap waiting for us beyond the door. But we should wait here for the others.” Time said as he noted the staircase in the opposite direction.

Ravio sat down on the wall across from the door tired from the long climb as they waited. He had done research on this Veran and only hoped they’d be able to take her down. Supposedly she only had weakness, a seed of some sort. Curse had been able to get his hands on some, at a hefty cost they hadn’t liked, but it was necessary. Naturally they had no idea how to use these seeds but perhaps Legend would. 

The sounds of talking arose from the other staircase and Ravio quickly came to his feet. Soon five other heroes appeared lead by Legend. They’d all made it through, now they just had to face this final task.

#linkeduniverse #merged #the final battle begins #rabbit boys by popular demand #watch out for hyrule and time #a weird idea actually works

[monkeymindscream]

I now want to imagine what it'd be like if the Dark Ones had somehow corrupted Gyrus Krinkle instead of the Alchemist as their Skeleton King... But I can't fathom how disturbing things would be. Though a SK fanboying the Hyper force would be the most terrifying thing ever. Probably ask them where they'd like their bodies to be mounted if he can't brainwash them into his minions (not thinking too hard about the timeline mess. It's all too scary).

I shit you not, from the moment I first got this ask(however long ago that was – my bad,sincerest apologies) this concept’s been stewing in my mind. I already have a ludicrously self-indulgent AUgoing I don’t need this.

ugh here we go again I guess Okay let’s set the scenehere, because for DO!Krinkle to happen, then our canon SK can’t. So let’s say that Captain Shuggazoom, instead of hurryingoff to save the city, stayed with the Alchemist as he went to shut down theNetherworld gate. He had a really skeevy feeling about the whole thing,whatever Al said about the grid being “impenetrable,” so even though his alarmstarted to go off he hung around a few more seconds just to make sure. Thusly,when Mandarin tried to jump up onto the grid, Cap was able to make a smooth-asssave and be like “c’mon little buddy listen to your dad he’s shutting it offnow” and held him back until everything was safely turned off.

(Mandarin sulked for the rest of the day, because being toldwhat to do by anyone other than his dad makes him insufferably cranky.Thankfully for dinner that night they had a noodle dish that happened to be hisfavorite, so his mood perked up considerably. And that’s the anti-climactic endto what would have been a horrible, life-altering evening otherwise.)

Years pass, and things progress pretty much how they did incanon in terms of the monkeys’ training, with a few key differences: Obviously,there was no need to wipe their memories, so even though the monkeys split upto learn their respective trades (Mandarin + Antauri and the Verans, Nova andOffay, etc.) they all still remember each other and would write and videochatand meet back up at their Dad’s for special occasions and stuff. (Also itshould be noted that they became robot monkeys and go off to train at a MUCHmore relaxed pace than in canon. Without demons breathing down their necksthey’re all allowed to move at a healthier pace towards things.) When they allget back to Shuggazoom, they work to help Captain Shuggazoom defend the cityfrom his assorted rogues gallery. TechnicallyCap’s in charge of the whole outfit, but Mandarin secured himself as leader ofthe Monkey Team “conditionally” (hepestered Cap and Al until they caved).

And then along comes Krinkle.

While he’s just as obsessed with the monkeys as he’s everbeen, the difference here is that he ends up coming into the monkey’s lives alittle earlier than he does in canon (Timeline? I FEAR NO TIMELINE). Since themonkeys are – at least – fifty years old by the time of the show, and I’d placeKrinkle anywhere from mid- to late-forties, let’s say he’d start stalking them here during his teens. ThinkSyndrome-from-Incredibles originstory: after pestering Cap to let him be his partner for an unspecified amountof time (and being repeatedly rebuffed; “Kid where the heck are your parents??”),he becomes bitter and disillusioned and decides to take matters into his ownhands. Krinkle’s selling point was that he could be the scientific/mechanicalgenius to Cap’s rough-and-tumble fighting style; he either hadn’t gatheredenough info on the monkeys themselves yet to know that the Team already has oneof each of those, or when Cap pointed this out he was like “yeah I know they couldhelp me it’ll be so cool!!” Cap eventually tries to shut the matter down forgood by saying he already has apartner that fills that role for him, and he’s worked with Al for years so hereally didn’t see a point in changing things now.

Baaaad move there.

So now Krinkle’s all indignant, because whatever this“Alchemist” guy can do, he’s positive he can do better. He manages to find outwhere Al lives (which is still out in the middle of nowhere, bless his oldhermit-y heart), and heads down there with the intent of having a gadget build-offor something to prove he’s the better mechanic. He gets there, breaks in, andstarts plodding around the place trying to find the Alchemist so he can makehis dramatic challenge. He gets distracted when he gets to the lab, because nowthat he’s found his competition’s invention stash he wants to have a look toget a feel for what he’s up against (he grudgingly admits that yeah, fine,these inventions are okay, but hecould still do better if only given thechance). There’s one thing whose function he can’t work out, though. It’s abig, ugly looking machine with a big, circular fixture on it. Kind of lookslike it might be a portal, actually… wonder where it leads to?

Y’ALL KNOW WHERE THIS IS HEADED.

The Hyperforce (who’re still located in the city, as percanon) get a really rude awakening in the middle of the night and have to goout to take care of the demons who’ve managed to escape. Since Cap has themonkeys and the Robot helping him out this time, they manage to wrap it up inwithout too much issue. But when they’re done they all panic a little becausethey only know of one place where demons could come from, and they’re scaredsomething happened to the Alchemist. Obviously, they rush over to his house tocheck on their friend/dad.

Back at the ranch, Al heard Krinkle screaming and ran tohelp (he had no idea who this kid was or whyhe was in his lab, but y’know what those are questions for later).Unfortunately, he’d come onto the scene justas demons were starting to crawl out. He really only caught a glimpse of whatwas happening to Krinkle before he was accosted by unholy netherbeings. He’sstill not corrupted, but by the time the Team get to his house to help he’sbeen plenty disfigured. His face doesn’t really even look like a face anymore, justa skull…

(Confession time: this bit is mostly just because I reallylike SK’s first design. Your skull has no reason to be that weird shape ya bigdoofus. Ya absolute dope. Ya feckin weirdo. God I love ya.)

At some point before Cap and the Team got there, Krinkle hadrun off. After assuring his worried family that he’s okay (all thingsconsidered, anyway), Al feels fucking AWFUL. Some poor child will have tosuffer a fate worse than deathbecause of his machine. Everyone tries to convince him it’s not his fault withlittle success. Sprx, though well-meaning, says something to the effect of“Better him than you, Pop,” which inadvertently makes Al feel worse. Mandarin is unapologetically ofthe mind that the little weasel deserved what he got, and it served him rightfor breaking into the lab in the first place. Not surprisingly, this viewdoesn’t exactly help either.

They don’t see or hear from Krinkle after that. They assumethe corruption was too much for him and he died sometime after running fartherinto the Zone of Wasted Years. Al is continually guilt-ridden.

Not too long after, unfortunately, whatever weird thing thatkonked the monkeys out in canon so Chiro could find them and wake them up stillexists here, so they have to go to sleep and Al and Cap are left alone for abit (I… STILL DO NOT FEAR THETIMELINE, BUT THIS MAKES IT A LITTLE BLURRIER).

Things progress kindanormally from this point, i.e. Chiro wakes the monkeys up, gets Power Primatepowers, and is on the Team. Only differences are that Mandarin’s still on theTeam (and still leader, both because Cap’s kinda old now so “conditionally”turned into “officially,” and I’m sorry but destiny or not if you think foreven a second that Mandarin would let some random human kid lead the Team overhim then you clearly don’t know this simian), and Cap and Al are around.Everything’s hunky-dory for maybe a month as everyone settles in to the newsituation, and then you get exactly one guess what happens next.

Some ways that having Krinkle take SK’s place in canon wouldchange things: Firstly, though he’s still obsessed with the Monkey Team andgunning to lead them, it’s ONLY the monkeys he wants now. Now that he’s gotSpecial Dark One Insights on things, he views Captain Shuggazoom as essentiallya pawn in the grand scheme of things (he don’tgot no special destiny) instead of worshipping him along with the monkeys likehe used to. Moreover, while he doesfixate particularly on Chiro like he does in canon, here it’s because he loathes Chiro. Not only because he’skinda against anything with a “Chosen One” label on it now (as per request ofthe Dark Ones), but he’s also supremely, viciouslyjealous of him. Oh, so he just wasn’t goodenough for the Team, is that it?? He was older than Chiro when he asked to be on the Team, and a mechanical genius! What’s this brat got that he didn’t?!

Next, Krinkle wouldn’t use formless as minions. I’ve alwayskind of headcanoned that the reason SK had the powers that he did was actuallymore because he’d been an Alchemist before rather than it solely being a resultof the Dark One’s corruption. They gave his powers an extraordinary boost, nomistake, but it was only because he’d known how to do magic prior that he wasable to do it as SK. Now Krinkle doesn’tknow a singular thing about magic, so while he has some dark powers now (mostly that he doesn’t need to eat or sleepand has the ability to corrupt other things to some extent), he’s nowhere nearas powerful as SK. So yeah none of that creating goopy-legions with the flickof a wrist for him. He’d fashion himself some mechanical mooks instead (formlessstill would exist in this AU, but I can get into that another time).

Can’t decide if the Skeletal Circle – or whatever theKrinkly-version of this would be – would exist here. On the one hand, I’m sureKrinkle would love to have a group ofpeople dedicated to kowtowing to him (if Krinklezoom’s any indicator, anyway,which I personally think it is). On the other hand… well, we just establishedthat Krinkle wouldn’t be as powerful as SK, so would he really be able toinspire enough awe or terror to justify a cult?

Anyway, if Krinklehas a cult to mirror SK’s, and if Valinahappens to be a thing in this AU, her relationship with Krinkle would be verydifferent than her relationship with SK. Again, Krinkle doesn’t have SK’spower, and one of the things Valina seemed most enamored with about SK was his power. Not to mention the factthat his main goal (possibly even more so than releasing the Dark Ones) seemsto be making himself leader of his enemies.She might have started out in his cult because her parents dragged her there,but I’m decently positive that all she’d see when she looked at him would be apathetic, whiny little man unworthy of the powers he was bestowed. So I can seeher either going “fuck this bullshit I’m out”and splitting to become a threat independent from him, or hanging around andstringing him along until she became his Dragon, and then stabbing him in theback once she’d decided he wasn’t useful to her anymore. So still technicallybecoming a threat independent from him, but just manipulating him and leechinghis power while she did it.

I’ve probably talked about this too much now, but I don’teven care. I love this. Hit me up for more on this any time.

#srmthfg #muttering about monkeys #Anonymous #Krinkle

[ladytauria]

That's true. I agree with your points about Antauri starting out distantly possibly effecting how Chiro views their dynamic later on. It's a pretty interesting reversal and shows how unique Chiro is. For all the child he still is, he's got this huge independant streak in him. He'll wander off to parts unknown w/o telling anyone (heck that's the first thing the intro tells us about him). He is a team player but he has to initially learn how to ask for help too. Considering how distant the -

2 monkeys were from the start (Thingy; they almost clawed each other out of suspicion and only Chiro showed worry for currupted Gibson. Dang they were savage back then), I’d say they didn’t become a family or even close friends until Chiro came into their lives. Chiro’s got this weird duality to him where he’s both a introverted mysterious loner and yet very good at creating/inspiring deep connections to everyone around him. He definitely had a warm effect on the monkeys. Afterall, Mandarin-

3 had done a huge number on them and I imagine, despite any doubt about it working out, taking care of Chiro and having to be personal made moving on easy. I hc Antauri was the one who had a hard time moving on (only he said nice things about Mandy). And he projected on Chiro. Alot. Also I don’t think Antauri is just very good at emotional talk like Sprx or Nova are. It’s as you’ve said, after Chiro learned about being the CO (S2), that’s when Antauri started warming up to him a lot more. -

4 so yeah little wonder Antauri’s more emotionally dependant on Chiro. Chiro is someone he Had to learn how to take care of. Not even as a student. But as a guardian looking after a kid. By the time S3 rolls around Antauri’s learned to invest a lot in Chiro’s wellbeing because he had to work harder on expressing it. Chiro’s his ray of sunshine in a bleak universe. That there’s someone incorruptible enough to scare the Dark Ones. I think Antauri would lose his hope if Chiro died.

You worded this so wonderfully that I don’t really have a lot to add. I’ll probably still babble a bunch, but mostly I’ll just be agreeing with you, I think xD

Chiro was marked as a latchkey kid in the old SRMTHFG website. Plus, we never see nor hear anything about a family in the show. Which strikes me as him being independent for quite a while, and suddenly having 5 guardian-monkeys definitely isn’t going to change that. Chiro doesn’t really need them per se. He wants them, but he can survive on his own, as is shown in multiple episodes.

And it’s always a nice thing to feel wanted.

He never needed Antauri the way the others do. He took over after Mandarin left, and was their leader while they waited for Chiro, and as Chiro grew used to being responsible for people other than himself. Because of that, Antauri didn’t understand what he was supposed to be, I don’t think. And so, as you said, he had to grow into his guardian role. But to his credit, once he finds it, he throws himself into it.

No, I agree. Antauri doesn’t know how to handle his emotions. He can maybe advise other people on theirs, but… even that he seems to prefer to stay out of. @youareshauni pointed out that the Verans in Antauri’s Masters seemed to be a lot like the Jedi Order of the prequels. Which ultimately faced their downfall because they preached a lack of emotion, and campaigned for peace without really looking at the root of the problem.

Ooooh—thought. Could Sprx be interpreting the switch in Antauri’s personality the same way Chiro is? Like, he thinks Antauri is only starting to care now because of the Chosen One thing, so he’s defensive on Chiro’s behalf? Which would be another black mark on their relationship?

Chiro as Antauri’s (and the rest of the monkey’s) hope is such a big deal to me!!! If something happens to him, they’ll all be crushed—and Antauri in particular would probably lose it. A friend of mine, formerly known as AnimeAdict202 and now known as Samatha Kristine or CrocsQueen on FFN & Discord, pointed out that in Ghosts of Shuggazoom, Antauri mentions that guy as. being the last man on Shuggazoom. She said that she believes that Antauri couldn’t even fathom Chiro falling. And I agree with her! Chiro is, as you said, incorruptible to them.

#srmthfg #super robot monkey team hyper force go #Chiro #Antauri #antauri + chiro #lovely anons #asks and answers

[ivorytowerblr]

NaNoWriMo 2017: Apr 10th

Hey, I stayed awake this time! Let’s see what’s on the board for distractions this week. ::spins wheel:: Warcraft III and FantasyAGE? Hmm...

Word Count: 932 Weekly Word Count: 1828 (of 10000) Previous: November (Masterpost); December (Masterpost); January (Masterpost); February (Masterpost); March (Masterpost); April: Week One(1st-7th) 8th. 9th.

“She introduced herself as Fenryr Lupin, and--”

“No one,” Leon spat, “has a name that ridiculous. Where did she go?”

“...out to the attack site, I believe.” Doctor Veran wrung his hands a little. “Marshal, please say that you’ll get to the bottom of this. It’s rare that we lose someone like this. A… an accident might occur once or twice a season, and that’s tragic enough, but this…”

“Doctor, I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise,” Leon said, nodding to him. “For now, keep this sealed and delay the burial. I might need to return here for evidence. Now, I have a hunter to hunt.”

“...the hunter shall become the hunted?” Doctor Veran suggested, and Leon rolled his eyes. “Apologies.”

~ * ~

The victim’s name was Boris Yellowstone, and he had died near the river that ran through Abin’s Brook. As he exited the village, Leon noted the way the villagers, so timid upon his arrival, were just starting to come out of their homes, watching him as he clucked to his horse, the metal buckles on his clothing producing a soft clinking sound as he road towards the village outskirts.

Hunt the hunter… indeed, Leon mused. There are any number of possibilities regarding who it could be. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

And yet… he couldn’t help but do so. Leon had been a marshal for some time, having been appointed by the local magistrate after years of loyal service as a deputy before then, and in his time, he had run into any number of hunters, persons of negotiable morals and the will and intent to hunt down their targets, whether they were beast or man or, more rarely, retrieved packages that had been stolen by even more unscrupulous individuals.

Leon had met only a handful of them before, but there was one that stood out above all others, and all he could do was hope that this new hunter was not her. It was all they had out here on the frontier, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Once outside of the village, Leon clucked to his horse and began to ride in earnest. The sun was low in the sky, and shadows had stretched out from the nearby trees, grasping for him even as he evaded their slender clutches. At night, the temperature dropped considerably, and all the world seemed colder.

I’ll just have to deal with this investigation before it gets that late, Leon thought, reasonably. I’ll need light to explore the attack site anyway.

The sun had sank a little further by the time he arrived at the scene of the crime, though which crime it had been remained to be seen. Leon slowed his horse further, barely stopping it before dismounting, and looped the long reins around the saddlehorn. Leon’s horse moved to the water to drink, while Leon examined the signs on the ground.

Something very large dragged the victim here, Leon thought, and moved slowly, following the heavy drag trail along the riverbank. By the throat, perhaps, or… no, there’s not quite enough blood for the corpse to have been killed and then moved. So, he was alive… and likely fighting.

Much of the trail had been obscured, and no one could expect dirt to stay in place forever, not with winds that danced along the open plains. He was simply fortunate that it hadn’t rained. Leon continued along the river’s edge as the shadows stole closer, stick-thin fingers flicking out at him, grasping at his most shadowed self.

The trail ended by a scattering of footprints, deep enough to realize that Boris Yellowstone had been heavily weighed down by something at the time of his untimely demise, which was not nearly as encouraging as it could have been.

Could he have been dumping something in the river when he died? Leon mused, letting his fingertips rest against the ground as he squatted down. Is that what caused his death? There could be nothing to this other than a smuggling operation gone wrong, or a partnership turned sour. A man with a dog trained to attack and kill is just as dangerous as some so-called monster. If that’s the case, surely the pot will get bigger.

It had been a long standing joke amongst the marshals who patrolled the wilderness between villages that for every supposed monster attack, not a single one had been perpetuated by something unnatural. Wolves or coyotes, mountain cats or feral dogs, or simply put, drunken men getting into brawls, vengeful women slashing each other to pieces with knives.

The question is, what did do this? Leon stood and stretched briefly, letting the metal buckles fall back into place. The wind rustled through the trees, and the river babbled along just behind him. His horse browsed on short, stiff grass, the scent of autumn in the air, in the cold that stole upon them both. The night was tranquil, as he expected.

Which was why the scrape of soft boot leather on hard packed ground was audible at all, really.

In a heartbeat, Leon drew his gun, a heavy, dark metal piece of a calibur to punch through the most stubborn of hides, but he was still too slow: the dark shape had leapt at him from the darkness, hitting him with a force that shook worlds down to their very bedrock.

It was a huge canine, more wolf than dog, with huge teeth, capable ripping his out his throat and rending his flesh.

It was to be a life-or-death struggle, and Leon swore.

#nanowrimo 2017 #wh20k #but seriously fantasyage seems really good #and i'm reinstalling wc3 right now #chronicle made me nostalgic for when i was actually happy with the warcraft lore