#isn't that basically canon for Jonny | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ziipzeepzop-eez · 4 months

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OKAY SO-

I had an idea for a silly goofy au where Damian, Jon, and reader are like the scooby gang and go around solving mysteries.

Reader is like a magic user, and they're job is to keep the evil entities away from everyday people, (Like Supernatural! But kid friendly🩷)

Damian has been stalking them as Robin and that's how the supersons get involved in the mystery gang.

It's just wholesome crime solving amongst the baby heros, and they have fun adventures (that sometimes end in sleepovers).

It think it would be funny too if paranormal assistance was needed and Dickie walks in on the three of them performing a seance in the theater room-

"What the hell is happening right now?"

"Magic."

"..."

"Why."

"Because, Richard. It is important for our investigation."

"Okay." *Turns to leave*

"No, no, no. You have to stay until I close the ritual so the spirit doesn't attatch to you. :D"

"WHAT-"

But he can't complain, because at least little wing is making friends...?

Bonus if Bruce has no idea where Damian is going almost every night. Like he just dissapears for a few hours then just returns wuth Jon and no explaination.

Clark and Lois know obvi because Jon is just so excited to tell his parents all about the latest mystery.

I know this isn't alot but I have more but I think imma go take another nap rq-

Imma sleepy-

NORMIEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Nono because--

I'm-

How'd you know that my absolute weakness is the Supersons with a same age reader completing the baby hero trinity??

I'M NOT JOKING IT'S SERIOUSLY ONE OF MY FORGOTTEN SOFT SPOTS FOR THESE GOOBERS!!!! I remember a long time ago when I read this headcanon post about the Supersons with a reader who was the child of Wonder Woman and they were basically the Big Three next gen!! 🥹🥹 I have no clue where it's at now :sobs: BUT IT WAS REALLY GOOD AND FUELED MY LOVE FOR DC CIRCA 2015-2017!!!!

Now. As for YOU, my dear boba bubble.........

*deeeep breath in-*

FRICK YEEEEAAAAAAHHHH

THEM!!! THE KIDS EVER!!!!!!!! BEING A LIL SCOOBY DOO GANG!!!

I ain't gonna tell no tall man's tale, as SOON as I got this gist for this - the Scooby Doo theme song was playing in my head and now I can't stop imagining it with them getting into funny dramatic thematic situations:

It's just-

🎶 WHAT'S NEW SCOOBY DOO? COMIN' AFTER YOU ✨🏃🏽‍♀️💨 WE'RE GONNA SOLVEEE THAT MYSTERY!!🎶 and it's all a rush of cutscenes of the Big Little Three getting into all kinds of fun supernatural filled shenanigans — crazy and wild and sometimes very scary, but they've all got each other's backs.

Point being: yes yes, 100% yes.

Magic user?!??!!?!?!!! THAT MEANS.... MAGIQUE~~~ (◠‿・)—☆

let's say bro (you) can fly - maybe not as often nor as naturally as Jonny boy, but hell you can levitate for more than a few minutes at a time, it's something!

you both take turns carrying Damian - the only non-flyer of the group lmaoooo

you're all the "middle man" between you all at one point or another. sometimes dami leads with his head and instincts; you and jon reel him in. sometimes jon leads with his heart and just finally fudging snaps because even the sweethearts go apeshit sometimes - you and dami do damage control and console the poor boy in the emotional aftermath. sometimes, you either lose yourself to the supernatural aspect of it all: it's either a overflowing, overwhelming rush of magic that zaps you dry and you're withered to a delicate, fragile thing in your own destructive aftermath or you go full on Avatar (tla) State and become something just shy of not human and need to be tethered back to the ground by your boys.

whatever the case may be, you all work around and through it all. you adapt to each other's needs. you're all there for each other, no matter what.

The bit with Dick and the seance. In the Manor, no less. I applaud you - it's too canon not to be.

You, hands glowing and a little too cheerful - like this is normal (it is. to you, at least) but still wary: "WAIT DON'T LEAVE YOU'RE NOW A LIABILITY TO THE DEMONS!!"

Dick:

Yoooooo, imagine pulling up to the function while Dami's at school LMFAOOOOOOO

HE'S IN A LAB OR ART CLASS JUST VIBING AND HAPPENS TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW TO SEE YOU: LEVITATING AND WAVING FRANTICALLY TO HIM AND JON RIGHT BESIDE YOU, LOOKING EXTREMELY SHEEPISH AND WAVES INNOCENTLY:

Damian: Oh, Grandfather's head on a stick.

Classmate: Woah! What happened? *sees Damian looking right past them to the window, also looking like he's about to have an aneurysm*

Classmate: Bro, what-? *goes to turn*

Damian: *grabs them by the shoulders and turns them around* AH YA- YOU- YOUUuuuknow, what? It's nothing at all. Nothing of the sort. It was . . . a bird. Yes. A bird. It flew away. But I must leave now.

Classmate: *stunned* I-uh- okay-?

Damian: *gathering his things while retaining intense eye contact* Yes.

Classmate: ......... Bro you good? Seriously-

Damian, interrupts: It would seem I have a . . . Previous engagement. I'll tend to the bird on my way.

Classmate: Oh-

Damian, already out the door because you just deactivated your levitation spell and just, went right parallel downwards without a word and Jon panicked and flew down after you to try and catch you and the both of y'all disappear from his view and most likely ate absolute shit in the school's compost bin outside the window: Your understanding is appreciated.

Classmate: .......................

Classmate: It's first period??

LMFAOOOOO AND AS FOR CLASSMATE, bro's weirded out but probably unaffected nonetheless because Dami has a rep for being a little weird and disappearing out of the blue from time to time but is a relatively pleasant classmate nonetheless!

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Damian, Jon, and you being the next Big Little Three.......

But there's magic and ghosts involved!!! 👻✨

Idea: maybe you end up being Zatanna's apprentice/family member and inherited your magic through that! Orrrrr, you're just a freelance magic user, a bit of a vagabond of sorts, a total enigma and have it under your belt, no mentor, just doin' your own thing. (Miles Morales ref. 🙌)

Either way, you're a well-meaning kid with a good heart and have an absolute time hassling all these spirits like cattle back to the netherworld that nobody else can see.

Kinda like Danny Phantom!! (I loveeee dc x dp) or somethin' to that effect haha.

Wouldn't it be even funnier if reader has like, no known records? At all? They just showed up one day and came to clean out the supernatural aspects of the city ('ole goth here's messed up enough without all the vengeful ghosts in it! just doin' a little favor, no? *blows a kiss*') and gets roped into the adventure- and friendship/found family circle- of a lifetime.

Stakeouts that turn into sleepovers at the Manor. Very rarely down at the farm in Metropolis, but sometimes!! Big open cornfields, it's a hotpot for Prime Supernatural Activity. You make insufferable jokes (even tho they're like, true) and Damian scolds you for scaring Jon. Tt.

But you save his favorite cow Betsy from getting attacked by some random ghost demon and Jon nearly crushes your ribs in a hug.

As for Damiiiii, bro- I came up w/ something--

You pop up at some Wayne gala inexplicably at first.

Damian spots you for the first time (y'know, before y'all all become friends hueheuhueuhue *chokes, coughs*), completely out in the open, and spews his drink.

He'd immediately stomp over to you, aghast, because what in all the names of the Lazarus Pit are you doing here?! He'd been stalking you for weeks from afar! He was a master of stealth!! How did you even manage--

I- what? No, he does not like your outfit! It's rather spiffy, you say? HE DOESN'T CARE! THAT'S THE LAST THING HE'S THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?? How did you even GET IN??

He's steaming and flustered while also trying to not make a scene because the place is crawling with socialites and high society aristocrats whereas you're cool, calm, charming, blending in too well as you down your own drink. [It's icy apple juice.] and just, bamboozles him further.

'Excellent year,' you suddenly say rather seriously, peering down into your glass of icy apple juice with an impressed expression, effectively cutting off Damian, who was in the middle of a hushed, barely watered down tirade.

Y'all stare at each other for all of two nanoseconds and the events happen as follows:

you turn a bottle of iced apple cider to Damian (where did you even manage to nab one?), pointedly at the label to further explain your comment,

he slaps it out of your hand in a rush of overwhelming emotion and thereby catches the attention of everyone within y'all's general vicinity,

BOOM - you're both circled out and being stared down from all sides.

Damian wants to crawl in a hole and die, maybe.

You raise your hand and twiddle your fingers in a sweet wave and- you- that's when he sees it-

Sparkles. Real, genuine, sparkles. Come right out from your fingertips.

Damian is at a loss while you suddenly garner an audience!! An applauding audience!!! What the hell is going on-?

You disappear in a puff of smoke! Oh my!!

And in a grandiose puff of sparkles and thematic smoke (it's like regular smoke but cooler), you reappear with a flourish on the stage on the other side of the room! Thereby catching everyone's attention.

"Good eveninggggg, my fellow Gothamites! Wowza, I see some sexy faces here tonight! *twirls magician's hat and releases an entire army of butterflies* Enchanted to see you all! I'm (Name) and I'm your prime rib for the night! (cue pulling a whole ass pig, cute and with a bowtie, out from the inside of your coat) Or so to speak!"

Gasps and claps arise from the audience!

Damian is terse, a little terrified, and a little impressed. And he watches the entire time as you pull off a literal magic show! An interactive one, too!

Afterwards, you stand in front of an enchanted crowd and bow with a proper flourish; when you peek out over the rim of your hat, you make direct eye contact with Damian, a mischievous smile playing at your lips.

A proper introduction for you, your Highness? - echoes in his mind. Magic.

That's when he knows. He knows, he's in for a wild ride.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'VE STARTED AND NOW I CANT GET ENOUGHHHHHH OMGGGGGGGG

(Also! Dick would totally be gushing over y'all all the time. His baby wing made friends! And such Good Ones too!! Awwwww! <33)

(And Damian just snaps at him to be quiet, orrrr frowns from where he's trapped in between you and Jon in a group hug. He secretly, not-so-secretly loves it.)

#"૮₍ •⤙•˶|✉️ beep! inbox! ˎˊ˗#my normie nomzie ࣪🪻 ִֶָ☾.#zeepie beep : fandom! ⭒๋࣭ ⭑🖋˚𔓘｡#ping pong with the shawties ᝰ.ᐟ #i'm a sucker for the big little three #little big three??#the next gen trinity bro they're all so wholesome and fun #childhood whimsy and REAL whimsy because reader can do magic!!! =D #your idea is so boss level dude i can't begin to fathom #YET ANOTHER AU FOR THE BOOKS!!!!!!#what should we call this one?#the magic league?#scooby gang 2.0?#the skittles squad? (LMAFAFAOOOOO)#the superkids??#the big little league but make it ✧･ﾟ:* yk?#THE TRIFLING TRINITY cuz even tho y'all stand on bidness y'all be giving everyone gray hairs sometimes ☠✋#it can be smthn super silly and lighthearted or something edgy and cool #either way it retains to be y'all's thing *well* into adulthood bc y'all still kick it together and /that's/ what makes it meaningful #gimme more #this why i'm obsessed w you lowkey (/plat + /hj)#i was wholly inspired by fizzarolli's for that lil magic show bit can you tell?? lolllll #btw i had What's New Scooby Doo by Simple Plan on LOOP while writing this out #absolute BANGER #zeepie beep and her music rolodex 📇🎤🎼🎹🎶#highly recommend #but anyways back to subject #FRICK YEAH SUPERKIDS MYSTERY INC WOOOOOOOOOO

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stowaway-society · 1 year

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Mechs & Torchwood Crossover AU dump!

So, a few days ago I came up with this very silly niche little crossover AU of The Mechanisms meets Torchwood (essentially human/mortal Mechs & they work for Torchwood Cardiff instead of the Canon team) and I've been yelling about it since because it's my two biggest Special Interests in one so here's a list of what I think everyone's role on the team would be and how they'd do-

-Carmilla was the 'original' team leader and the one who hired everyone (with the exception of Marius, Raphaella and Lyf). 'Mysteriously' dissappeared one day, everyone has their own little theories about the where and how. Until her disappearance she also functioned as the team's doctor/medic

-Jonny was the first she hired, probably because she saw him fist fight a weevil or something. Originally Second-in-command but since the Docs disappeared he's officially in charge now. He has no clue what he's doing, he doesn't know how to properly lead, but still refuses to give up being in charge

-Nastya was hired for her technological knowledge and engineering skills but ends up doing most of the actual leading after Jonny was put in charge (she's their braincell /lh). She also developed and installed a fully sentient AI, Aurora, into the Hub (think Hera from Wolf 359).

-Aurora is,, just taking care of her silly little humans blocking off their PCs if they work on them for too long, ordering food online if they haven't eaten in a while etc, because yes, those are her silly little humans and they keep forgetting their self care or basic human needs

-Ashes was hired for Hub security and finances (aka copious safety hazards and tax fraud the first months, no one knows what Carmilla was thinking when hiring them or keeping them around, but Jonny and Nastya were fond of them enough not to question it too much) but eventually ended up mostly being a field agent

-Ivy naturally works as their archivist and along with Raphaella does most of the research. She's also in charge of the Hubs artifact storage and typing up reports

-Brian didn't actually get hired, he came through the rift (like in "Out Of Time") from the past (very far past), where he worked as a sort-of "witch" doctor. Carmilla decided to let him stay at the Hub for a while as they didn't know where he could go and she decided retconning him might be too risky (as he doesn't know anything about the modern age and retcon wouldn't change that). Eventually he ended up being an actual part of the team, mostly as a field agent. Somehow he ends up driving (he does not know how to properly drive, but their captain can't captain and their doctor can't doctor so he thinks it's fair enough, no one's died *yet* it's fine /lh). Despite having worked as a doctor before he doesn't on the team, as his knowledge in modern medicine is near non-existent for the first while, and they still had Carmilla

-The Toy Soldier isn't officially part of the team, it's more like. That One Alien-Or-Whatever-It-Is (None of them are really sure) that everyone just looked at and went "Yea OK so it's not dangerous so it doesn't need to be locked up or neutralized and it DOES need a place to stay so let's just keep it". While not being an official employee, it does do work around the Hub, which mostly consists of bringing people tea or food while they work or tidying up after the ADHD Gremlins that is most of the team (it finds a lot of joy in both, truly, it's just happy to be involved /lh)

-Tim got hired for his knowledge and experience with weapons, mostly by Jonny's request, after he saw Tim and his best friend Bertie handle themselves in a gunfight against an alien. Bertie died in the gunfight and Tim blames Jonny for not helping sooner (Cue them recreating that one scene from Fragments where Owen just tries to beat the living shit out of Jack) but they eventually manage to get along

-Marius was the first to be hired after Carmillas disappearance, originally to replace her as medic, though Jonny didn't really care about proper procedure or professionalism enough at the time to notice that his medical degree was entirely forged (nor did he care too much after it was discovered by Ivy). He does have medical experience, but it's just barely enough to patch someone up in case of emergency. While he does officially function as the team's medic, he more often works as a field agent working with Raph on the experimenting part of research (like the Rat Jam thing, because I can very very much see him have the exact same delighted reaction as Owen /lh)

-Raphaella was hired out of a UNIT cell (similar to Tosh), that she was in for a history of highly unethical experiments, including on human and alien subjects. Jonny mostly hired her for that, having gotten the recommendation from Ivy after she found Raphs file and being fascinated by it. Also because they were very much in need of an actual scientist.

-Lyfrassir pretty much get hired the same way Gwen did, still working as a cop when they run into Torchwood. They run into Marius, Ivy and Raphaella while those three are on a field research mission, and the trio takes quick liking to them after they help catch an alien specimen with surprising casuallity. They end up getting dragged back to the hub and Marius pesters and convinces Jonny that the team could really use their abilities and contacts until he actually hires them. They are more or less the least fucked up (morals wise) person on the team and much like Gwen help to "humanize" the team a bit more

(if this does well or people actually wanna hear more about this silly little crossover AU I have a lot more thoughts about it and am currently trying to write this into a fanfiction /lh)

#Is there a target audience for this?#Gods I hope so #torchwood #the mechanisms #i am being so normal about this #I spent so much time thinking about this send help #marius von raum #ivy alexandria #the aurora #jonny d'ville #gunpowder tim #drumbot brian #lyfrassir edda #raphaella la cognizi #ashes o'reilly #toy soldier #nastya rasputina #i wrote this at 3am

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itchyeye · 1 year

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Now I feel like I overpromised it a little since those are headcanons from a while ago, but I'll try my best! But before that, yes, that is the fic I meant! And I liked how they had Jon use an Artifact for the eye removal, since presumably, a regular one wouldn't have done the trick. Basically, and with the caveat that these headcanons are primarily built on the first 3.5 seasons and that they still didn't quite manage to capture every avatar experience, I had the impression that most avatars had to undergo a moment of death/rebirth to truly become avatars. Jon is basically the best example for it: He has the aptitude, and he's introduced to his position as an avatar for the Eye. Slowly, he develops powers, but he's still human enough, and it's only after the explosion, after explicitly choosing the Eye and coming back from the dead, that he truly became the Archivist. Sure, in the end, the rebirth element he shared with many other avatars was more thematic than an actual requirement (iirc Jonny also mentioned that at one point), but I also saw it as this life then basically being "borrowed" from the power they serve. We saw that with Daisy for example, who started wasting away in season 4.

Back then, I also assumed that the reason Gertrude died was because she chose death instead of the Eye, because I thought Elias's plan involved marking her as a "complete" Archivist for the Watcher's Crown (RIP to the Watcher's Crown as a concept, I thought it was a really cool name and I wish season 4 had delved more into it as a semi-red herring instead of having the characters assume it was off the table because Elias was in jail (I can't remember, did they assume that? I just felt like it only really came up once or twice, in Smirke's letter and maybe the finale where it's skipped over entirely as "yeah I tried that, it gave me near-omniscience, let's move on")). But I do love that the marking part was something specifically for Jon, that's very sexy.

Overall, I will admit that I fell a bit into the trappings of extrapolating things a little too narrowly, so that when canon followed up with specifics, my headcanons fell apart (for example, I was also pretty interested in how Orsinov's partner, whose granddaughter gave a statement about the Calliope, managed to escape the Stranger and thought there'd be a big reveal, but that never came. Which is fine, because apparently it's possible to escape your avatarhood and we don't need a specific statement for that), but I guess my general assumption still remains that before passing a certain Threshold, you can still escape that power, but once someone becomes an Avatar, there's no turning back and their existence will forever be bound to the power they chose to serve. It just feels less impactful to me if you can just "change your mind", even if "technically" you'd have to pay a high price.

yesss i also liked that jon had to use an artifact for eye removal. and i like that it still didn't work 🥰 also this fic isn't normally a flavor i go for in the sliding scale of dub/noncon but i love the concept sm, i love annabelle being cunty in the front row, and i love love love love love jon seeing the adoration in elias' face when he gets his eyes back. it's a good fic!! i enjoyed it nwn

i thought you were right about rebirth not being necessary because it jogged my memory for the s4 q+a so i went digging to find the word of god on the matter and:

ALEX You’ve mentioned that previously that in order to assume their full powers as an avatar, a death seems to be required. Does it make a difference that the death used to the fuel The Archivist’s transformation? Was that of another avatar? JONNY I don’t feel that a death is necessarily required to become an avatar? What is required to become an avatar is always active choice. ALEX Yes. JONNY You need to make an active decision to finally cross that threshold. ALEX (whispers) Because drama. JONNY And death is a very good motivator for that sort of decision. You know, that prospect of death is very scary and it’s such a… powerful categorical thing that… in the many cases, it is going to be the catalyst.

MAG 160.02 - Season 4 Q&A Part II

but i agree with you actually i think jonny contradicts his own lore?? death and rebirth is pretty obviously a necessary factor in becoming an avatar of fear. i think you're right on the money, i just posted a little collection of the "feed what feeds you" theme and it is made very clear in canon across all the entities that if you serve a fear, you need to feed it, or else it feeds on you instead of feeding you. daisy is a great example of this! jon is as well. so yes, i totally agree with your interpretation of their life being "borrowed" from their patron. that's exactly how i've always understood it to work as well.

re: the watcher's crown. it is mentioned in smirke's letter, but none of the details are mentioned. only the resulting sky that can look back:

I have been dreaming again, Jonah. The same every night for months, now. I imagine myself a boy again at Aspley. I awake, cold and alone in the dormitory. The sky outside is dark, and I see no stars. I light a candle, to better see my way, and step down the silent corridor. The master’s rooms are empty, the fire in the kitchen is dead. Eventually my steps lead out into the courtyard. It is so quiet that the sound of my feet upon the grass is painful to my ears. I stop, and look up at the sky, that empty black nothing, and I see the edges of the horizon becoming a dull white. I cannot understand what I am looking at. And then the sky blinks. And I awake. I am not a fool. I know well enough what this dream is likely to mean, and I warn you again, that if you have any remaining ambitions to use our work, to try and wear the Watcher’s Crown, you must abandon them! Not simply for the sake of your own soul, but for that of the world! I have always had the utmost respect for you as a man of dignity and learning. Do not allow yourself to fall to this madness.

MAG 138 The Architecture of Fear

from how this is phrased, it sounds to me like smirke knows the mechanics of the ritual. "to wear the watcher's crown" sounds to me like marking yourself with all of the fears. but what i don't think smirke knows is that it must be The Archivist who does this, because of their function as an avatar. they are already a catalog of fear. i see a lot of talk about how elias was a coward for not marking himself but he is not The Archivist. he is a servant of beholding (arguably its most powerful) but he is not The Archivist and he could never be. that is not his role to fill. he needed his Archivist to fulfill the watcher's crown, he couldn't do it himself.

sorry that's irrelevant to your point i just have strong opinions on elias-related things.

back to the red herring tho, i personally think that keeping all the details of the ritual a secret until 160 was perfect. 160 is my favorite episode and i think the reveal could not have been better. personally on my first list i figured out about halfway through s3 that jon was being marked by every single fear but i had no idea it was a ritual. it never crossed my mind. so i'm a huge fan of the fact that the watcher's crown was lowkey and under the radar for all of s4, i think the payoff was incredible. YMMV ofc!

but yes i agree it's extremely sexy that the marking was especially for jon 🥰 elias couldn't do it himself. he needed jon to do it. he needed to craft him into a god and he did. he honed him as a tool to bring the ceaseless watcher forth into the world and rip apart its weft. that's so 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

overall tho i agree with your assessment of there being a threshold/point of no return. i think that there are basically five (5) categories of alignmet/association with the fears:

Witness

this is ofc the most common category for people in general who have ever interacted with the fears but specifically for statement givers. lots of statement givers had something terrible happen to a loved one or a coworker or a friend and they come to tell the institute about it. their lives are touched by the entities of fear but they are not directly eaten by them. witnessing these events could lead them to being marked and they can become victims eventually after their initial escape.

Victim

self explanatory i think! you have a run in with an entity of fear and it gobbles you right up.

Monster

this is where the tier system breaks down a bit but basically there are things like the distortion, the creature that lives in the ming vase, the man upon the stair, who are all more than victims but less than avatars. leitner describes them really beautifully in MAG 80:

The books are, I think, their essences in a purer form. The other things that stalk us, from what I know of them, they have varying wills of their own. All in service of the thing they’re a part of, but not directly controlled by the mind beneath them. At least, inasmuch as these entities have something we could recognise as a mind.

Avatars

these are fully realized avatars that have consciously chosen their alignment with their patrons! simon, peter, elias, jude, arthur, etc.

Entity-Aligned

this is the loosest category and one that includes many of my favorite characters. mary, gerry, basira, gertrude. they're all marked by the fears, their lives are really quite controlled by them, but they have not made the conscious decision to become avatars. gertrude sort of straddles the Avatar and Aligned category because she was, of course, the archivist.... but she wasn't really. she had the formal position and she got the powers that come with it but she didn't serve the eye the way that the position really warranted. tumblr user sm0kebreaks has a great post talking about how gertrude was a crap archivist.

so i think that if you are entity-aligned but have not yet passed the point of no return and decided to become an avatar, you can break your alignment

melanie, for example, had her alignment with the slaughter broken when jon removed her cursed bullet and she broke her alignment with beholding when she gouged out her eyes. personally i think that cutting the bullet out of her shouldn't have worked tho, since she was making the conscious choice to keep it inside of her and she wanted the slaughter to continue to give her its power so like. to me that makes her an avatar, not aligned.

but maybe she was saved by her beholding alignment! maybe because she had a contract with the institute, another power couldn't fully claim her. wow. that would be like the tenth way jon saved her stupid life.

#anonymous #[💌] asks and replies

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berrymoos · 2 years

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i know summer’a coming to an end but i just love everyone going over to steve’s house for a end of summer pool party sleepover (≧∇≦)/

steve’s on the grill making hamburgers, nancy is in charge of making sure everyone has sunscreen on, little robin and eddie are having a canon ball contest, little jonny and max are playing with bubbles in the yard, el and will are just chillin in the water, and mike lucas and dustin are having a water gun fight(>▽<)

then after everybody eats and waits the 30 minutes(the littles don’t really like waiting) everyone gets in the pool and plays marco polo while steve and nancy tan(obvi)

then everyone goes inside and change into jammie’s and they have a movie marathon with movies steve “borrowed” from the store until they all just fall asleep on one another, jonny or eddie waking up from fireworks from time to time:>

i just love this idea sm *happy dance*

"summer's coming to an end" HOTLINE IT'S JULY 13TH??? WDYM /lh

but no to the concept at hand ... (〃∀〃)ゞ NO WAIT I LOOOOOVE THAT ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)♡ end of the summer pool party sleepover combo is a go <3

steve on the grill making hamburgers like a whole DAD & nancy lathering everyone up in sunscreen like a whole MOM LDMSKDK ,, mike starts making it a game of dodging his sister's attempts at putting sunscreen on him (bc little shit — Affectionate Connotation — mike is so funny) & somehow gets her drenched & in on his friends' water gun game after she manages to do so

eddie & robin's canonballs keep sloshing around el & will, but they have their floaties so it's basically the equivalent of a wave pool — el's is a waffle (ofc) & will's is a donut, & they r just CHILLIN man, sunglasses n all ... btw eddie & robin r tied on the biggest cannonball rn 👀

waaaait max & jonny taking turns blowing bubbles for the other to chase around!! but jonny isn't very good at blowing bubbles, so he has a bubble blowing gun (*´˘`*)♡ max is a little weirdo & tries catching bubbles in her mouth even tho jonny goes "noo maxie, bubbies tay out. out!!". newsflash: bubbles Do Not taste good! (she does it again five minutes later)

ooo & the waiting 3:< makes them all grunpy grunpy >:~( they start playing with the bubble & water guns & a few games of hide n seek, but the MOMENT those 30 minutes are up they're SPLASHING in the water to play those several rounds of marco polo. they splash nance & steve a few times while they tan but that's so okay, the sprinkles of water help keep them a little cool, anyway <3

oooo they have votes on what movies they wanna watch first, second, third ... steve made sure to get a few from every genre (yes, even horror, but they end up forgoing it bc of the little ones) so they had a wiiiide array of choices. it's not like they got through all of them tho bc all the snacks & drinks lulled them asleep. first dustin, then jonny, followed by lucas, max (curled up next to him), el, eddie and robin (sprawled on top of each other), will, mike, nancy, & finally — seeing everyone else safe, sound, & asleep — steve (*´︶`*)ฅ♡

and the fireworks (≡^∇^≡) eddie & jonny waking up due to the loud bangs but pretty colors & bein all sleeepyyy .. eddie walks to the window to look at them for a little bit, blanket trailing behind him as he rubs his eyes, then jonny wakes up a little bit later, a bit startled by loud noises, but he recognizes them as fireworks after a sec & toddles next to eddie, paci in his mouth & stuffed duck in his arms so they can watch them together <33

eddie shares his blanket w him & jonny lets him pet ducky & they talk quietly abt which ones are their faves so they don't wake up anyone else. if there's a firework that's particularly loud & startles jonny, eddie moves closer to him & gives his arm a little hug (he's learning abt personal space omg...) ,,, it's just a sweet quiet moment between them that ends when they start getting too sleepy to hold their eyes open & go back to the cuddle pile to snuggle w each other waaaa 💖(╥﹏╥)

#OOO this is so cute #eddie / jonny friendship lesgooo #🍓．berry n friends <3 #loserhotline friend <3 #stranger things agere #fandom agere #sfw agere #agere concept #agere asks

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orangezinnia · 2 years

Text

So: Who's really in charge aboard the Starship Aurora?

spoiler: Jonny d'Ville has three (3) different chances to be in charge. his rank fails each one.

maybe, like me, you've deigned to feel a modicum of pity for Jonny, wondering, "hey, even if the crew won't let him be Captian, doesn't being second-in-command as First Mate put him in charge?" or maybe you're already aware of how, in pirate rankings, the Quartermaster is actually in second-in-command, as Jonny's First Mate role didn't exist on pirate ships- but then, hey, what are those two other chances?

well, luckily, i've gone on a multi-day research spree to answer those exact questions! though, for the majority of this post, my purpose isn't to analyze their potential duties for role assignment- just to see where the names of their canonical roles would land on the various rankings.

so, say, if a named role doesn't seem fit well with their known / canonical duties, or if a separate role would match up better, but has a different name, then i'm ignoring it. this is mostly to avoid a too-biased speculative ranking, especially because a lot of similar or same tasks in these systems tend to be assigned to roles that rank far apart from each other. (all up until the last section, at least, where i will be very, very biased!)

with that being said! 8.6k words and 4 distinct Sections under the cut!

Sections-

Pirate Ranking: the Three Realities of the First Mate role, labelled as such

Common Maritime Ranking: departments, officers and ratings - Chief Mate vs Chief Engineer - the Quartermaster role, and preparing for our lack thereof

Royal Navy Raanking: surmising the First Mate role from its historical equivalents - the terrible, no good, muddy reality of Warrant Officers - We're Not Over Yet

Final Verdicts: guesstimated ranking of all 3 systems - the part where i actually analyze their duties as per canon - a personal mishmash ranking that combines all three systems

so, Pirate Rankings! like i said up there, the Quartermaster was actually second-in-command instead of the First Mate, but that's not the entire story! see, there's three (3) different situations that Jonny could find himself in as First Mate, and those are as such-

1) The Same Rank As Quartermaster: this one is easy, but mostly a matter of opinion, and one that i haven't found in a lot of official-seeming or extensive sources. what it says is just that First Mate is an alternative name for the Quartermaster role, seemingly banking on the assumption that First Mate automatically equals "next in line after the Captain". if we instead treat it as a separate role entirely, that would bring us to our second (and more based in fact) circumstance-

2) Equivalent to, but contested by, Ashes as Quartermaster: remember what i also-also said up there, about the First Mate role not existing in Pirate Ranking? well, i lied. it's certainly a role that these seafarers had, but not in the context that most would imagine.

see, here's where i get to explain the ranks a bit! at the top, we understandably have the Captain, followed by the Quartermaster, and then we have a group that i'm going to refer to as the Officers. these are basically all the high ranking roles, in charge of the major duties, and they would be the Navigator (alternatively, the Pilot or Sailingmaster), Boatswain, Master Gunner, Carpenter, and Surgeon.

the Mate, then, would be these officers' assistant, and since each officer could potentially take on an assistant, leading to multiple mates, that's where "First" mate comes in! it's telling us which Mate has priority over the rest. but Jonny's role, if it's going to be anything of priority, would need a clarification as to exactly what officer he is the Mate under.

and, while the Captains didn't typically take Mates, since they had their Quartermasters, as well as other officers like the Boatswain, let's pretend that it isn't out of the picture. Carmilla, as Captain, takes Jonny as her First Mate. with this, he might be able to rise above the low status befalling most Mates, and fight for second-in-command... though, i'm not too sure that he'd be able to get it.

and, you know, originally while planning this, i thought that i could finangle a situation wherein Jonny, as the Surgeon's Mate to Carmilla instead of Captain's Mate, would end up at equal ranking with Ashes (not that i quite understand how). i've since realized that all this would do is put him at nearly the very bottom of the ranks. which is a nice segue into our third reality-

3) His rank is below practically everybody: this is the reason why i'm not so sure that Jonny has a good chance to gain second-in-command in Reality 2. the Mates, while they may (emphasis on may) have a higher importance depending on who they're assisting, especially on if they're deemed the First Mate, i've typically seen them grouped under one collective rank, situated below all of the officers.

these officers, in order of rank priority, would be Ashes, Brian, Ivy, Tim, Nastya, and Marius. but, hey, why did i put Ivy there, you may ask? it's because she's not just their archivist- as per Port Mahon 2011, their "The Crew" page, and beta "The Aurora Strikes" lyrics, she's their navigator! it's also Brian's role, as per A Bedtime Story, which makes their merging into a Singular Role a phenomenon that you'll see crop up again!

(since, you know, most ships aren't host to a crew of Tragedy Parasites that go around documenting bloodshed and horror and catastrophe, rendering the role of Archivist one that i couldn't find hide nor hair of. also, like, where's our Brian and Ivy bonding content?! they have the same roles, dang it! they have backstories that they can't remember! they both have a machine brain! they deserve to be friends! am i just looking in the wrong places-)

ah, hm. anyways! in this scenario, even if Jonny found himself at the top of the Mates (easily, since no other crewmate would qualify as a mate), he'd still be ranked below 7 / 9 members of his crew, with Raphaella ranking next as an ABS (Able-Bodied Sailor, which i'll... dubiously explain at the very end) and the Toy Soldier last, as a Musician (yes, this is a real role. and finally, one that fits it!)

regardless, this just about wraps up the Pirate Ranking section! unless you'd like to consider the fact that his First Mate role, in the way Jonny treats it, just Does Not Exist here, which would be a fourth and secret reality. but that's about all the substance it has, so, on we go!

Common Maritime isn't actually the official name for this next ranking system. that would be "Merchant Navy," but these types of ships- which cargo ships, container ships, cruise ships, etcetera would fall under- don't have any connection to the Navy. and, since i'll be talking about the Royal Navy (ew) later, i don't want too much confusion.

i did mention cruise ships there, but because cruise ships have a bit of variance from common merchant ships in terms of extra roles, (i.e. Chief Pursers, Hotel Directors, Casino Managers, Staff Captains), i won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. so, most of my research here has been based on cargo ships!

Jonny d'Ville apparently thinks of the First Mate role as being automatic second-in-command, and this ranking system is where that idea comes from. it actually seems to be very clear-cut, in that the person in charge of the ship is a Captain, and- sorry, hold on, let me look through my 27 different research bookmarks to make sure- and the Chief Mate, also called Chief Officer, or our preferred First Mate, is properly next in line to be in command if the Captain is indisposed!

though, he isn't alone here, because Nastya as Chief Engineer would have an equivalent rank to him (aw!). the Chief Engineer reports directly to the Captain, in a selfsame fashion as the Chief Mate, and is the senior officer of their respective department!

to explain what that means- in Common Maritime, the crew is typically split into three departments, and each of those is split into two hierarchies, Officers and Ratings. Officers are licensed mariners that operate with the more specialization-demanding jobs, and Ratings are mariners without a certificate of competence, who usually work on tasks that require considerable physical labor.

those three departments are the Deck, Engineering, and Catering, with their respetive chiefs being the Chief Mate, Chief Engineer, and the Chief Steward, who commands the kitchen. (i can't think of any mech that would fit this role, though i know some people headcanon Brian as the crew's cook, so if you'd like to make him more important than currently he is, be my guest. Pilots don't get a lot of recognition on merchant ships, since they've got all this new fangled technology that largely makes hand-to-helm roles irrelevant.)

either way, despite Nastya standing beside him in rank, it looks like Jonny has a pretty solid claim to being in charge! wow, he's finally won! and, you know what? i think we can call that a wrap! we probably don't need to explain the Royal Navy ranks, thank god for that, because they give me suuuch a headache to even think about, and-

...wait, what's this? on page 85 of 91 in a publication about Seafarer Accomodation in Contemporary Cargo Ships...

ah. so. the Chief Engineer seems to not only be payed on par with the Captain, but as head of the Engineering department, much like the Captain is head of the Deck department, they're considered a "captain's rank mate". meaning that, although she isn't a part of the Deck department, and still below the Captain... Nastya ranks higher than Jonny.

does Jonny still assume full command in the event that the Captain is missing? yes! would it remain a massive blow to his ego, and also a leverage by which Nastya can (and has) go behind his back on decisions for the ship? absolutely! that's all that we need, really, to make sure Jonny knows his place. i'm actually not too sure if i'm rooting for or against him anymore, but that's the least of our worries.

(consider a timeline where Ivy tells Nastya about the ranking situation, and Nastya decides not to go Out because no-fucking-way is she going to risk Jonny getting any sort of ego boost from her departure-)

anyway, speaking of the structural differences within ships- in the Accommodation area of most cargo / merchant ships, each crew member has a cabin that they live in. for about 98 percent of the crew, this cabin is a one-room living situation, with their beds, study desks, couches, TV stands, food counters, and mini fridge's packed all into the same space, with (if they're lucky) a tiny restroom appendaged onto it.

but for the Captain, not only would they get an entire floor (floor!) of the Accomodation area to themself, but their cabin is usually considerably larger, being broken into a two-room ordeal, with the living room fitted out in large study desks and in-built shelves, wide TV stands and plenty of counterspace, and a long corner-hugging couch with a coffee table. the bedroom, then, is simpler, with a queen-sized bed, a sizeable wardrobe, and sometimes enough room for a nightstand, or in one instance that i've seen, a clothes line.

and from what i can gather, if no other high-ranked officer (i.e. Chief Mate, 1st engineer, 2nd mates) can have a similar layout, then the Chief Engineer's room is the only other officer who can claim a larger cabin space. sometimes, they're even an exact mirror-flip of the Captain's room! so, it seems that the Chief Engineer really is prioritized over the Chief Mate.

(take note, though, that not all ships are the same, and some ships have crewmates share a room, with the top officers only getting the luxury of a non-shared room, and lots of other little variations)

but that's just a bunch of hemming and hawing about the rivalry between two roles, so i wanted to touch on a little tidbit that i spent too much time researching to not mention- maybe you're wondering what happened to Ashes's role as Quartermaster. they seemed to be pretty high up in Pirate Ranking, after all. are they 2nd Mate? Third Officer? does that cursed Chief Purser come back into play?

i was honestly pretty certain that i'd find at least Some amount of information on a potential Quartermaster role in Common Maritime. except, as far as i've seen- and trust me, that is very, very far- it practically doesn't exist.

okay, i lied again. it does exist! ...on cruise ships... as a derivative of an Able-Bodied Sailor role, which is below the Boatswain, which is in the Ratings section of the Deck department (meaning, if you'll recall, that they aren't amongst the officers). even claiming this can be considered a stretch, because it's not the official name for the role, which is 'helmsman'. the best info that i could get said that Quartermaster was just an alternative title for helmsman. a.k.a, Brian.

truthfully, outside of the Pirate Ranking, the Quartermaster role isn't one that holds much respect, or significance. even the Royal Navy doesn't utilize it the same way, despite having plenty of practically copy-pasted roles, like the Gunner, Carpenter, Sailingmaster, etcetera. i think this is also a good example of what i said up there, about not analyzing role duties until the very end- like, Chief Steward would honestly fit Ashes's role better.

but so would Captain, and Chief Mate, maybe Boastswain, and hell, Chief Purser. admittedly, at my Final Verdicts ranking, i will have to do some hackjob placements, but those are mostly for the people whose roles have exactly Zero equivalents. after all, cargo ships don't need a Gunner, and pirate ships wouldn't have a Science Officer. until then, so long as i can find something that resembles their canonically named roles, they're getting stuck there.

unfortunately, we're going to have nearly the exact opposite problem with our next ranking system.

Royal Navy ranking is... hm. you'll forgive me if i'm a bit generous with the accuracy here, right? see, these roles actually span several decades, and they shift their Specialty Branches and ranks and names the entire time- some of these titles are completely ridiculous, too, because there'll be lieutenants and sub-lieutenants and lieutenants that are beside regular lieutenants but also below them, and warrant officers that are commissioned but aren't, but they not only become commissioned later, but they're SENIOR commissioned, and-

hee hee! sorry, i thought i'd try my hand at a little joke. because, i'm not going to be generous, and i certainly won't be merciful. you're coming on this little hell-trip right along with me! by the end of it, i'm hoping that you hate the Royal Navy ranks just as much as i do! don't worry, though. i'll try to explain it as clearly as i can.

specifically, the Royal Navy era that we're going to be looking at spans between the early 1800's and mid 1900's. after that time, most of these roles had been completely abolished, or their rank-systems redone in a way that makes them incomparable to each other.

our first step is to identy whatever role the First Mate would be equivalent to, because there's no exact "First Mate" label in the way we've taken for granted. this, however, is easy, as the only reasonably privileged role with "mate" in the title is that of the Master's Mate.

the Master, a now extinct title, was basically the captian of the ship, being in charge of its navigation, overall voyage, cargo, provisions, rigging, the log book, the safety of their sailors, etcetera. title-wise, however, they technically weren't the Captains. see, in the Royal Navy, the top ranking officers hail their status from the military, and though they know how to work a ship, are mostly there to spout orders and strut around.

in order of highest to lowest ranks, these roles are Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander and Lieutenant. sometimes Midshipmen are included at the bottom, but they're more like trainees, and they actually rank as senior chief petty officers, above the Master-At-Arms (yes, this is also Tim's role, but he's been called their Gunner as per Port Mahon 2011, their "The Crew" page, his personal Crew Page, and A Bedtime Story, so they seem to think of it as a synonym) and Carpenter's or Surgeon's mates.

ah, i'm getting a bit ahead of myself. so, these top officers were called Wardroom Officers, because the "wardroom" is a mess cabin (a rumpus room) where the Navy's commissioned officers hang out. "commissioned" basically means that, after passing some sort of special military exams, they're awared a Royal Commission by The Queen Herself to go on toward Navy service.

the Master, then, was not a Wardroom Officer, but in the rank grouping below them, as a part of what was called the Warrant Officers, who were specialists in their respective fields, holding a Royal Warrant signed by Somebody Important I Guess. and, if this were a video essay, this is the part where i'd put in a dramatic music change, with a title card in a serious-looking font. thankfully, this isn't a video essay, because i haven't seriously used a video editor a day in my life.

you know who else has never used a video editor? Warrant Officers in 1810, who at the time, were broken into three groups. again in respective high to low ranking, these were the Wardroom Warrant officers, Standing Warrant officers, and Junior Warrant officers. the Wardroom Warrant is the rank that would hold the Master role, Junior Warrant back then was for those Midshipmen and Master-At-Arms, but the Standing Officers are where we're going to focus our attention, because they're currently our main contestants to overtake Jonny's rank.

this is where i'll start having to take us on little time-travel trips. remember how i said that the Master role is gone? well, that's because its duties were eventually assimilated into the Lieutenant rank, which meant that the Master's Mates consequently became Sub-Lieutenants in 1861, which is 5 years before Jonny died. so, Jonny as First Mate would be a Sub-Lieutenant, and stay that way for the rest of forseeable history.

but, how did the Master become a Lieutenant? it's because in 1843 (i won't always be able to supply dates, so don't get too comfy), there was a shift in the rankings amongst the Warrant officers. the Wardroom Warrants became official Commissioned Officers, cementing their place in the wardroom where they'd previously mingled with those military ranks, and adorning them with the new rank of Lieutenant. the Junior Warrants became the Chief Petty Officers that i first mentioned, and the Standing Warrants were broken into two hierarchies.

those would be the Chief Warrant officer, and regular Warrant Officer, the former being rewarded to regular Warrants after 8 or 10 years of service. the Chief Warrant was also known as the Commissioned Warrant, or "Commissioned Officer from the rank of Warrant", though they weren't actually commissioned, and were below the actual Commissioned Officers coming from Wardroom Warrant rank, so i'll just be calling them Chief Warrant.

in case you're staring to lose track, here's a little refresh-

Wardroom Officers > we don't pay attention to these guys. ignore 'em.

Wardroom Warrant Officers > become Commissioned Officers, Lieutenant rank, joining the actual Wardroom Officers.

Standing Warrant Officers > become Chief Warrant and regular Warrant Officers, currently ranking between Sub-Lieutenant and Midshipmen.

Junior Warrant Officers > become Chief Petty Officers, top of the Petty Officer ranks.

this effectively eliminates the Wardroom Warrants and Junior Warrants from being actual, you know, warrant roles, so we're thankfully moving into less confusing territory.

now, who exactly would be in the shifted Warrant Officer ranks? Nastya and Tim, of course, back to reprise their renowned roles as Carpenter and Gunner! there's a third Warrant role there too, the Boastswain, which might just count under Nastya's role, since the Boatswains are charge of the sails and rigging material. oh, uh, this does bring me to discussing a little something about Nastya's role, however.

maybe you've noticed by now, but Carpenters were woodworkers, and that doesn't exactly spell out a promotion to working with ship engines. but i've given her this mishmashed Carpenter / Engineer role because... well, it's a bit muddy, since Carpenters eventually phased out, and Engineers basically took their place in the Warrants as something else entirely, but they have a bit of a path to merging, with the Carpenters becoming known as "Shipwrights" in 1918 (technically those had been the on-shore carpenters, but oh well), then Marine Engineering Artificers, who finally fell under the Engineering Technician rank.

that's not a big issue, by the way, since the engineers came into being in 1837, which is well before any of this warrant officer mess, but i still thought it was worth mentioning. anyway, because these two have been aboard Aurora for several millennia, i'm sure they both qualify for a Chief Warrant officer role.

that particular specification matters because, in 1949, these roles were upgraded in a bid to abolish the Warrant rank, which brought up the regular Warrant Officers to "Commissioned Officers" (but not quite the ones that the Wardroom Warrants became, as those individual roles went separate paths to either being promoted, renamed entirely, or abolished), and the Chief Warrants became "Senior Commissioned Officers".

then finally, in 1957, the Commissioned Officers became Sub-Lieutenants, and the Senior Commissioned Officers, which would be our beloved Nastya and Tim, became Lieutenants, as a part of an overhaul that the Royal Navy was doing to merge all of these roles into a "Special Duties" list, that gives everyone equal chance for promotion. but that kind of ruins the fun, so let's treat these roles with the status that Senior Commissioned Officer had, which was ranking with-but-listed-after official Lieutenants.

(and the Engineer's Branch did seem to have its own rocky past with promotions and subordinations and equivalencies, but in 1903, Nastya's Engineer rank would settle as Engineer Lieutenant. so, still no issue here!)

though, that with-but-after stuff hardly matters, since as Lieutenant equivalents, they would already be above Jonny's Sub-Lieutenant rank. from what i've read, the Engineers seemed to have a bit better social status than the Gunners, so the current ranking seems to go Nastya, Tim, then Jonny. yet...

hey, i know i keep asking if you remember, but i also know how forgettable the Royal Navy ranks are, so, remember those Masters i mentioned, that Jonny would be the Mate of? i drew a comparison between them and Captains, but i didn't offer the full story. they're in charge of mostly everything that a Captain would be, yes, but their specialty was... navigation. their name actually hails from the same Navigation role in the Pirate Ranking, the Sailingmaster.

in fact, two decades after their Wardroom Warrants ranking became Commissioned Officers (Lieutenant flavor) in 1843, the Royal Navy started to phase out the Master title, and the top navigating officer that would've been called Master, by 1867, was now called the Navigating Lieutenant, which technically labels Jonny as the Navigating Sub-Lieutenant, even if i'm certain that he hasn't sat at the helm a day in his life. maybe once, when Brian wasn't looking.

speaking of Brian, this now brings our current Royal Navy ranking to Brian, Ivy, Nastya, Tim, then Jonny. for the other two rank systems, i've mostly been saving these Final Verdicts for the end, but the Royal Navy ranking is confusing in a way that makes me think this is more favorable than holding off. to emphasize that point, i'm humbly pleased to inform you-

We're Not Over Yet. there's something i've been neglecting to share, thoughout all of this. i offered a rough idea of who was in the Junior Warrant ranks, as well as the Standing Warrants, but i've only ever mentioned the Master for the Wardroom Warrants (who became Lieutenants), even though there's two others beside them.

the first of those would be the Purser, who, again, might fit Ashes, but again-again, no cheatsies! the Quartermaster role is something else entirely, and as far as i've seen, hasn't really crossed with any role besides the Boatswain's mate, who the Quartermaster supervises when in harbour. don't worry, Ashes is going to get their due recognition eventually- even if it isn't by the Royal Navy or Common Maritime. they just don't know what they're missing, you know?

the second is... the Surgeon. the Ship's Doctor. the Medical Officer. the Surgeon who, alongside the Master, got promoted to Commissioned Officer as a Lieutenant.

now, plausibly, there might be some salvage here- some way for the Surgeon to not be in command, because, hey, doesn't the Master still carry priority?- but, unfortunately, another time-travel trip has come upon us. in 1892, the title of Navigating Lieutenant falls out of use, as all of the Lieutenants in the Navy begin to require the same exams and degrees to pass, meaning that all would be proficient in navigation. the Surgeon, however?

in 1855, it became subordinate to the newly created title of "Staff Surgeon", though it was promptly rewarded to senior Surgeons with over 20 years of experience. that specific title is then abolished in 1918, in favor of a different one- a better one. higher in the ranks. they become Surgeon Lieutenant-Commanders, ranked below the Commanders, but firmly above the Lieutenant ranks of Brian, Ivy, Nastya, and Tim, who all stand ahead of Jonny's Sub-Lieutenant placement.

therefore, in the Royal Navy Ranking, Marius is in charge.

i think this brings us nicely into our long overdue 4th and last section- the Final Verdicts.

to start us off, and in my last act of relatively unbiased judgement, i'll be listing the roles in descending order of seniority and command, as they pertain to their respective system. for some crewmates, as i've said, i'll have to kind of puzzle and pinch them into roles that don't quite fit, but i really have tried my best to situate them appropriately according to the names and professions that they've canonically been stated to have. i'll also be annotating them as i see fit, so, with that being said- here we go!

Pirate Ranking

- Ashes as Quartermaster (1st Reality, Jonny as First Mate)

- (2nd Reality, Jonny as First Mate)

- Brian and Ivy as Sailingmaster

(with Brian as the Pilot and Ivy as Navigator)

- Tim as Master Gunner

(alternatively, below Marius as Master-At-Arms)

- Nastya as Carpenter

- Marius as Surgeon

(apparently, the Carpenter and Surgeon were often the same person! fucked up, huh? but nice try, Marius. we all know who's truthfully skilled, here.)

- (3rd Reality, Jonny as First Mate)

- Raphaella as Able-Bodied Sailor

(i know, i know, it's pretty low for someone who's canonically an Officer, but it's the closest equivalent i could find- supposedly, they needed to know how to read the skies and weather and such, which isn't too far from science, right?)

- The Toy Soldier as Musician

Common Maritime

- Nastya as Chief Engineer

- Jonny as Chief Mate

- Ivy and Marius as Second Officer

(Second Officer is both in charge of navigation plotting, and for filling in as the Medical Officer)

- Tim and Raphaella as Third Officer

(they handle the life support and fire-fighting equipment, which for Tim, is kind of similar to explosions? and they're required to have a degree in Nautical Science, which is honestly the best equivalent that i could find for Raphaella.)

- Brian and Ashes as Quartermaster / Helmsman (Able-Bodied Sailor)

(i put Brian as helmsman instead of alongside Ivy as navigator, mostly because his main job as Pilot seems to be more about physically steering the ship, whereas and the whole plotting / charting bit seems like it'd be Ivy's main ordeal. anyway, there's no single "Navigation Officer" role for them to share- it's instead called Officer On Watch, and it's a task that kind of gets hot potato'd across the Deck department's Officers.)

- The Toy Soldier as Ordinary Sailor

Royal Navy

- Marius as Surgeon (Lieutenant-Commander)

- Brian and Ivy as Navigational Lieutenant (Lieutenant)

- Nastya as Carpenter / Engineer (With but after Lieutenant)

- Tim as Gunner (With but after Lieutenant)

- Jonny as Master's Mate (Sub-Lieutenant)

- Raphaella as Assistant Engineer (With but after Sub-Lieutenant)

(science and engineering kind of go hand-in-hand, right? women of STEM, or something. look, i'm desperate-)

- Ashes as Quartermaster (Chief Petty Officer)

- The Toy Soldier as OS (Ordinary Sailor)

now, with all of that finished- it's time for me to get very, very biased, as like a snake in molt, we shed the labels of all three systems, henceforth used only as a suggestive framework with which we step into a fresh anew! to start this off, i'll like to share this renowned line, from the official The Aurora Strikes lyrics-

"And this bothered Nastya, engineer of the Aurora, so she went to the closest thing the ship had to a captain. Myself - Jonny d'Ville."

i said earlier that i wasn't sure if i was rooting for or against Jonny, but a few thousand words and some character growth later, i'm starting to feel that modicum of pity again. i think i'd like it if he was truly second-in-command, despite all wiseness and common sense. to argue my case, i unfortunately can't present any obvious evidence of proficiency or skill in all that a First Mate should have- knowledge of navigation, the workings of the ship's hull and appliances, cargo monitoring, or even quite the safety of the crew.

but what i can present is the unavoidable, rank-defying fact that, for most of the "Mate" roles that he gets demoted to, their main purpose is to aid the offciers that they find themselves working under. and Jonny d'Ville seems far from the type of person to help anybody. a "Mate" he likely isn't, and now that we finally (finally!) get to analyze the crew's ranks based on their duties, i think this firmly removes him from the underling / assistant roles of the Pirate's and Royal Navy's mates.

oh, but, i do have a smidge of evidence to present in favor of one of the First Mate's (relating him strongly here to the Chief Mate) typical obligations. though Jonny may shoot his crewmates between the eyes, at their kneecaps, in the stomach, threaten them all with airlocking, and endlessly taunt Nastya with a gun to her face, he still seems at least marginally concerned with watching over them.

honestly, i have a ton of lore bits that show Jonny actively caring for (imagine that in heavy, but not untrue, quotes) or watching out for his crew, but i'll only stick to that last one, because it reads as more duty-esque. here's a couple of 'em!

(from Homesick)

[JONNY] (with fear) ALRIGHT ALRIGHT- Stop stop stop stop stop, whoa whoa whoa okay okay okay- I can’t take it anymore! Are you going to kill us or not? Cause I’m (stuttering)- It’s lovely when we’re playing songs, and it's great. But we shot- well, one of us, shot you out of an airlock, and I wanna know. What are you going to do to us? Other than killing me?

[DOC C] Now is not the time, Jonny, I’m feeling a bit tetchy.

[JONNY] Watch it. You’re- you’re planning something. Something.

shady Carmilla antics aside, Jonny seems to be watching out for his crew at large here! that's from a liveshow, though, and i don't tend to use those as set-in-stone characterization sources. so, from the fictions-

(from Out)

"Uh-uh. That’s not a good enough answer. It’s not really an answer at all, and I’m going to need a whole explanation before I give you this…hunk of junk back. Come on. Where are you going?"

wowie, oh boy! i really do love completely innocent lines from completely innocent fictions! hahah... ah... hrngk...

(from Drive The Cold Winter Away)

But the ghost has vanished. Jonny sighs and presses on, Ashes close by his side, but she does not reappear. He quickens his pace. Still he cannot see her: they have passed two intersections where she could have turned off already. "Shit."

There is a dull rattle behind them, but it is only a bulkhead sagging with age. "Shit," Jonny says again. He kicks at the rain.

aaand that's my all my "sibling agenda per essay" allotment used up! look at how they both take off after her... almost as if they c... ca..... car-

(from Eskhatos)

"You’re sure we can’t take any of this?” she asked, gesturing at the vast expanses of brain matter. "A few minds from the Acheron would make fine specimens."

"Nope," Jonny called from the back, waving what looked like a large ham at them for emphasis, "this one is Ashes’ playground, and they like to make a clean break when they grow out of their toys. Besides, I reckon picking the right ones would be a bit of a mindfield."

pun aside, Jonny takes initiative in shutting down Raphaella's request in a... well, a normal human way, but if we collectively squint and tilt out heads like a dog, it can seem like a senior officer's orders.

finally, and what i think is most important to note, is that though the crew may not want Jonny to be in charge, it seems that they still really need him to front the band, and wrangle the crew, as per Lashings. (this is after she's exasperatedly tried to get Ivy and the Toy Soldier to stop reciting poems.)

[NASTYA] (resigned) We need to get Jonny, don’t we?

[ASHES] We need to tool up and break him out of there.

this brings me to my next subject of analysis, Nastya! needless to say, she's consistently gotten a very high rank with her Engineer / Carpenter role. although it was lower than the Quartermaster, Sailingmaster and Gunner in the Pirate Ranking, and the Master and Surgeon in the Royal Navy, in my final verdict, i'd like to argue that aboard Aurora, her role's status is closer to that of the Common Maritime's Chief Engineer.

in fact, she seems to have taken it upon herself to be the Only engineer on Aurora. canon-wise, to my recollection, we've only seen two other mechs dabble in engineer work before, with those being Brian and Tim. Brian's work is mentioned exactly once in Out, as Nastya lists out the changes that the crew have made to Aurora, saying "Brian to her engines".

Tim has two examples from different tweets, one of them explicitly stating that Tim's aerial mechanics "aren't that good" after Marius's fighter jet explodes, and the other being the first in a series of 4 tweets, wherein Tim states that he's supercharged the Artillery, optimised the Loading Bay, and upgraded the engines.

all of that had been done while Nastya was gone- and without her permission, apparently, as she goes on to kill him violently enough that Jonny, upon seeing what's left of Tim, says "even I'm disturbed". to put it simply, she doesn't like anyone besides herself doing repair / engine work on Aurora, of course meaning that she has no competition in her rank.

also, in a way that could just be explained as the crew's collective insubordination, but that i would like to draw as a parallel to her status in Common Maritime, Nastya makes orders to Brian behind Jonny's back, even as he claims to be the closest thing to a Captain- notice that he doesn't exactly claim to be Captain there, so, i'm a bit more willing to believe him- and he doesn't seem at all surprised, just incensed that Brian obeyed her.

to tie in Lashings, i think it's notable that Nastya takes the duty of fronting the band when Jonny is absent! she complains about it, definitely, bemoaning that it would have been much simpler if they hadn't gotten rid of Carmilla (though she seems upset when Carmilla actually does arrive- hypocrite, much?), and she realizes at the end that they need to get back Jonny, but the progression of Carmilla as their leader, to Jonny, to Nastya seems to spell it simply enough. (i imagine that Gender Rebels happens after Nastya realizes she hates being second-second-in-command.)

this leads us to our third crewmate- Ashes! our dear Quartermaster! at last, we can analyze their role properly! in Pirate Ranking, the Quartermaster's job was to counterbalance the Captain's authority, settle any inter-crew disputes, and take stock / distribute any shares or looted prizes amongst the crewmates, all of which we've canonically seen Ashes take some responsibility in.

in Out, right after the mention of how Brian has changed Aurora's engines, it says "Ashes to her storage", which suggests that storge control is Ashes's duty. then, in Dr. Pilchard, we get the infamous lines "Yeah… Why do you have all that gold?" "Oh, it’s uh. It’s for tax purposes." and, in relation with settling disputes, they seem to be a bit of a mediator when things start to get heated-

(from Folly Bridge blog post)

Jonny threw his hands up in despair. "I don’t care what you say, Nastya, this ship is deliberately trying to drive me fucking crazy."

Nastya’s eyes darkened. Ashes stepped in before she could drive Jonny into drawing his pistol. Again. Or worse, turning to the also depleting whisky. "At least she’s telling us before we actually run out," they said. "Now, floating in deep space for centuries would definitely drive you crazy."

(both from Breakup)

"It’s a bloody big ship," Jonny said.

They put up their hands to pacify him. "Hey hey, it’s not that big a ship. All of us together, won’t take so long. Better than doing nothin’. We can get the bots to help."

"Sure," Ashes said. Jonny did not look like he believed them. "Same as always. Wait it out, it’ll blow over. They’ll work it out in the end."

i've mentioned before that the Royal Navy's Purser may be a good match for Ashes, and this is because it's basically a modernized Quartermaster role, at least in terms of being in charge of supplies and cargo, and tracking the ship's money spendage. there's also a Purser for Common Maritime, but since most (U.S. ships, at least) don't have one, and they also have no equatable rank, those inter-ship duties would fall as a secondary task with the Chief Steward, whose main job is cooking.

now, while the Chief Steward's pay grade seems to fall amongst the ratings, their placement as head of the Catering department brings them to an equivalence with the Second Officer, a.k.a., below the First Mate. combining this with Ashes's status as the Royal Navy's Purser, who would rank alongside the Master, and the Pirate's Quartmaster as second-in-command, i don't have any qualms about placing them in line after Jonny.

but, considering Nastya's already notably high rank, i'm hesitant to knock her down to a third-technically-fourth rank. as well as because i don't want to separate her and Jonny, but, like i said, this is My playground now. my compromise is as thus- they both share the rank after Jonny in a manner similar to how the Chief Engineer and Chief Mate are after the Captain, but each operate as the command of their respective departments. Ashes presides a seniority over the crew, and Nastya does too, but in that detached-engineer way that she'd probably enjoy.

there was a joke i saw on a seafarer's forum when researching the social status of Chief Engineers vs Captains, that goes something like "Captain, why wasn't I informed that the ETA changed?" "Because engineers are like mushrooms. Feed 'em shit and keep them in the dark." it reminded me of Nastya, but i couldn't think of any other time to mention it until now.

anyway, next crewmate! Ivy! the analysis of her ranking is going to be a bit special, considering that apart from her common role as co-navigator with Brian, she's the crew's archivist! like i said, it isn't a job that i've been able to draw any decent parallels with in regards to ship duties, aside from how the Chief Mates keep a logbook of onboard incidents and destinations, but we don't need to worry about that anymore.

in her own words as per the Archive Footage fiction, she's "search engine, encyclopaedia, almanac, index." which, knowing how important it would be for people this focused on sharing stories to have somebody keeping exact accounts of them, (even if we never get to hear the happy stories. or if they purposefully smuge some details for us), is a facet that i imagine would paint her role as particularly crucial.

in regards to their advertisment and presentation, whether they're labelled as steampunk or dieselpunk or cyber-dystopia, in nearly all instances, the mechs are ultimately a "musical storytelling cabaret". and, in the words of Marius's actor, their extant purpose is as "unnatural parasites who feed off (and sometimes create) real tragedy so that they can shape that pain and heartbreak into a ripping yarn."

when we factor in the case that her and Brian as Sailingmaster and Master claim high ranks in both the Pirate and Royal Navy ranking, i don't think it'd be a stretch to place Ivy in line after Nastya and Ashes's cohabitated second-(third)-in-command.

though, i think i'll have to put her role above Brian's, not unlike how i separated her and Brian in the Common Maritime ranking. if not because of how the statistical aspect of navigation seems to be regarded higher than actually manning the helm, (which, we can't confirm is her focus, but would be a really good guess when we consider that she's Ms. Percentage), then because her Archivist role gives her a substantial boost.

here's those lyrics from the beta "The Aurora Strikes" that i mentioned, by the way. alongside the two lines that mention her as Navigator, in case you were curious. the lyrics can just be found on their bandcamp page for the song, and i've already sourced the other two-

Nastya: It is too late for objections, anyway, Ivy has already laid a course.

Jonny: Ivy? That insubordinate… Fine. You do realise that by taking down the grid we may end this war.

Ivy Alexandria, Archivist/Navigator: Flute, recorder, euphonium, trumpet

We have the Toy Soldier, our... mascot? Ivy Alexandria, our archivist and navigator, Drumbot Brian, our pilot, and Gunpowder Tim, our gunner.

that being said, i think it's only natural that we rank Brian right after her, with how closely their roles have been tied. there's not much that i can say to argue his authority, and as we're now four down in the ranking, we're shedding the imperative necessity for that. i'm at least prone to believe that his role isn't just for show, as in Ghost In The Machine, "the navigation of a supernova becomes trickier than it had been", paired with several here-and-there references to Brian piloting them into port for shows.

that, and if Out is to be taken as truth on Brian's perhaps more-than-occasional changes to Aurora's engines, whether with Nastya's permission or not, he might have a secondhand say in what goes on with aspects of the ship's physical status, which isn't something to take lightly. (imagine me staring very hard and pointedly at each mech.)

speaking of changes made to Aurora, i think it's about time that we found a placement for Tim! most of his retrofits to Aurora, at least outside of where he reigns authority over her guns / artillery, was done very pointedly behind Nastya's back, and seeing that his aerial mechanics are canonically shit, i don't think this is where he'd get any sort of high status.

however, Aurora is a Cyberian Navy battleship (as per the officers that previously owned her being from the Cyberian Navy, her Crew Page classifying her as a Cruiser, and a couple references to her being a "battleship"), much like the Royal Navy ships, and with the mechs being as violent as they are, having someone to handle their artillery would be a very important job indeed- a bit less important than actually flying the fucking ship, but necessary all the same.

i still want to touch on his duality as Gunner and Master-At-Arms a bit, so- we already know that Gunner consistently ranks higher, and although Tim seems to be called Master-At-Arms more often than the other, these instances being within Revenge of Spaceport, DTTM, the TBI Debut, HNOC Live (Jonny accidentally calls Ivy 'pilot' in that one), and UDAD live, i don't think it'd be too disagreeable to have given him his higher title.

the Master-At-Arms's main duties were instating discipline amongst the crew, as well as keeping the small weaponry in check, and teaching others how to use them. i can't confirm this last fact with the several sources that i typically prefer, but apparently, his weaponry duties were eventually taken up by the Chief Gunner. so, the path lines up somewhat nicely.

you know, i'm starting to realize that the entire crew is comprised of senior officers. i'm not seeing a single role that would qualify as rating, or a mate, or a petty officer. unless you count the Toy Soldier, who- ...actually, we'll get back to that. for right now, i find myself in the repeated dilemma of ranking Raphaella.

oh, canonically lovely Raphaella (as per Revenge Of Spaceport)... it's been extraordinarily hard for me to find any role equivalents for her. Pirates obviously wouldn't have a use for science, the Royal Navy would just try to stick her amongst the chemical weapon specialists, and Common Maritime just... doesn't require her, besides that stray mention of Third Officers needing "Nautical Science" degrees.

several times, i contemplated the possibility of just giving her Marius's role as doctor, or perhaps as an assistant to him, but personally, that might do her an even bigger disservice, seeing as the whole "unlawful human testing" ordeal is pretty antithetical to the nature of surgeons and doctors. which is to Keep Your Flesh Normal.

yet, besides any engineering collaboration or surgery sub-specialization that i can theorize on, there's already something working in her favour to rank her above Marius. and i think we all know what it is. from Revenge of Spaceport-

Two new members of our crew: Baron Marius von Raum, our ship’s doctor, neither a baron nor a doctor, and Raphaella la Cognizi, our science officer, as cruel and brutal as she is science.

Marius's psychiatry is unliscensed! any potential baron-ing would be too! and the crew doesn't Need a doctor or a surgeon! they're immortal! that's the whole point! Raphaella, meanwhile, is genuinely proficient in her field of expertise! maybe it isn't a pressing necessity to the overall funcionality of a battleship, but knowing that the crew are more than likely to stumble across weird interspacial or cosmic phenomenon, her role does seem like it would prove its usefulness.

we could try making the case for Marius that their mechanisms might occasionally glitch, and they'd need somebody who understands how they operate for repairs, except, in the one instance where their mechanisms actually Do glitch, in Drive The Cold Winter Away, not only does Jonny seem relatively unworried, but their mechanisms actually activate a measure to keep themselves safe.

anyway, if anybody was going to have an idea of how their mechanisms worked, it certainly wouldn't be Mr. Psychoanalyze Inanimate Objects. (i can't quite blame him there, though. it seems fun, and maybe he's just got a raging case of synaesthesia.)

well! now that i've ranked Raphaella and Marius in a two-for-one analysis bargain, we're left with only one crewmate remaining to slot into the ranking. the Toy Soldier.

the Toy Soldier is... well, it... so it doesn't really... and that's the whole joke, kind of-

...the Toy Soldier is just happy to be involved.

anyway! this wraps up our- i LIED! again! We're Not Over Yet, Two!

let's say, for a moment- hypothetically, just for fun- that we were to analyze it "fairly". where would the Toy Soldier potentially rank? wouldn't it still be at the bottom, from its singularly accurate Musician role in the Pirate Ranking?

for this, i think it's time for a small story. it is March 2021. as i try desperately to figure out if the insignia pips on Nastya's greatcoat collars have any sort of meaning via the all-seeing and all-knowing Google Images (it's a Royal Engineer's 9 Flame Grenade badge), the suggested images show me something odd- an exact replica of the Toy Soldier's coat. i spare it two glances and forget about it, knowing i will never need that knowledge.

cut back to right now. times have changed, and i need that knowledge very much. i dig up a screenshot with the name of the division it belonged to- the Royal Army Ordinance Corps- and find it again. officially, it's an "Officer's Evening / Mess Dress Uniform", and the triple stars of its epaulette's insignia pips have badged it to a Captain, exactly how it is on the Toy Soldier's costume.

of course! of course the Toy Soldier wouldn't hold rank on a battleship- it fought in land armies! then, according to a very cartoonish pamphlet about rank equivalencies between military branches from what i believe is the official UK Military, the Captain of a Royal Army is comparable to a Lieutenant within the Royal Navy.

even armed with this new knowledge, and assuming that this was a uniform it earned fairly, i don't imagine that it could plausibly find itself ranked above Nastya and Tim's "With-but-after (official) Lieutenants" placement in regards to skill. as an army Captain, it wouldn't have much knowledge of the workings on a Royal Navy ship. socially, however, noting that Gunners are below Engineers in the first place because they were used to a "less refined atmosphere than was to be found in a Wardroom", it might be seen with more seniority than, at least, Tim.

carrying this over to its status aboard Aurora- again, thinking with fairness in our hearts- its lack of any known or important duties still keeps it low in the ranks.

but, if we incorperate the fact that in GPTvsTMK, it had ranks as a Corporal, Colonel, and Field Marshal (below Royal Navy's Petty Officers, equal to Captain, and above Admiral respectively), as well as Old Rosie calling it Colonel as per "In The Army" fiction, and we mush all of this into one massive conglomeration of "oh my god how did you get that role", it might be able to rank after... say, Brian, who seems like the last bastion of any real authority aboard Aurora.

finally, with all of my points now laid out and my lore-backed arguments made, i present with pride, my personal Mishmash Ranking!

- Carmilla as Captain and Creator (Obviously)

- Jonny as First Mate (Second-in-command)

- Nastya as Engineer, Ashes as Quartermaster (Senior Officers)

- Ivy as Archivist and Navigator (Specialist)

- Brian as Navigator and Pilot (Specialist)

- The Toy Soldier as Army Captain (Hypothetical)

- Tim as Gunner (Weapons Authority)

- Raphaella as Science Officer (Science Authority)

- Marius as Ship's Doctor (Mischief Exudence)

- The Toy Soldier as ??? and Mascot (Thetically)

...huh. you know, for some reason, that list looks a bit familiar... ah, but, i can't seem to place my finger on it. oh well, it's probably nothing!

anyway! for real this time, that concludes my historical and personal ranking of who's in charge aboard the Starship Aurora! i was actually going to link my main sources, buuut tumblr has this weird thing about shadowbanning posts (and maybe even blogs?) if they use links, so, sorry. there's way too many of them, anyway- 37, on my last current count. which is 10 more than when i started writing this!

so, if you've read this far, i hope it was enjoyable, and i'm really grateful for your time! i'd also suuuper appreciate a reblog, since i did spend some days writing this, but i've been researching and gathering sources since early October!

#the mechanisms #jonny d'ville #nastya rasputina #ashes o'reilly #lore #nastya #oz.txt #i don't know who in the world would spend time reading an 8k essay on ship ranks but if you do <3 it means a ton #addition: Ivy is also called Navigator in their TV tropes page #oz.essay

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