kafkaguy - Tumblr blog

[kafkaguy]

if you're following me on this blog im sorry for the confusion but my main is actually @brucequeensteen 😁

[kafkaguy]

www.deathtraitors.com

[kafkaguy]

whats the term for those who aren't a starshine/earthshine/lunshine? i can't remember it and I don't want to cry a whole bunch to find one word.

fd;lksjf don’t worry anon here��s a quick and handy breakdown of Zero’s Patented Zone Lingo ™ (it is not really patented):

sunshine - gender-neutral catch-all term, used in the same way you might call someone “hey buddy” or “hey dude.” generally a safe word to go with if u don’t know someone’s preferred set of pronouns, but not everyone will vibe with it

starshine - someone who goes by he/him pronouns

earthshine - someone who goes by she/her pronouns

luneshine - someone who goes by they/them pronouns

ringshine - someone who goes by alternate or neopronouns

people who mix and match any of those things or go by multiples will usually default to “sunshine” for ease but that’s just a rule of thumb, not always a given!

hope that helped

[kafkaguy]

First thing you learn in the Zones, is that there's more than one type of fire.

The first one, you know well— it's the fire you've felt in your chest ever since you were a kid, somewhat more subdued by the rules and routine that kept you complacent, but ever since you've come out into the Zones it's become a real shiner; a burning star. You've seen it in other's eyes as well, in the pit of a concert or between the shelves at Tommy Chow Mein's, and you both exchange a grin and a nod in a sign of courtesy before you go your own ways. There is plenty of those who've lost their spark as well, and it's their eyes that haunt you on the nights the desert is too quiet and you can't sleep, blaster clutched to your chest as you shiver under threadbare covers, trying to disappear. It seems a fate worse then death, because their eyes while hold a kindness you've never come even close to seeing before, they are drowned in sorrow like the pews of an abandoned chapel in the morning lights, and quietly you swear to yourself you'll get shot before ever ending up like that.

The second is more literal, made up of a masterful displays of pyrotechnics sponsored by boastful candy atoms and motorbabies, but also stories told late at night outside resting spots by crews who like lingering after sunset for just a little too long just in order to feel more alive. It's the warmth that keeps you company on lonely nights, when even the desert you've grown to call home seems to be out to get you, and the light guiding you as you explore the hidden nooks and crannies leading deep below the cool earth with a reassurance no LED light ever could. This is your favourite type of fire, you idly muse as orange flames hiss and crackle away seemingly unaware of their own short lifespan, and there's a sense of kinship you find in the prospect— although, perhaps your conclusion defeats the whole purpose of it existing in the first place.

The last kind of fire you only hear of in the Zones— a cruel and twisted combination of the two you already knew, dancing along to the sound of gunshots and leaving in its wake a trail of ashen feathers that never fully disappear into the smothering summer air, leaving marks with those old enough to remember them. You were one of the fortunate many that arrived into the Zones long after the rain washed away sooth piles that once were trees and ruins that once were childhood homes, but you got curious and went looking for the Witch until she answered in the form of your crewmate, looking you dead in the eyes and telling you the truth. No longer did you have to wonder about the barren Zone 1 and 2, or strangers with cathedral eyes, or the voices wailing inside the static that seem to get loud whenever you try to sleep, or the lengths at which BL/i will go to make sure you know your place.

You used to envy the Fabulous Killjoys— all coy looks and crooked smiles, painted in strokes of youthful madness— but not anymore

[kafkaguy]

James Hunt’s 1976 Bell Helmet

[kafkaguy]

[kafkaguy]

Siobhán Hapaska, Robot, 2001 // Pang Maokun, Destiny 命运; Hand in Hand 牵手, 2019 // Shorra, Death of a Cyborg (after The First Mourning by William-Adolphe Bouguereau), 2015

[kafkaguy]

I saw sunshine , earthshine and luneshine all through your ficbut i can't figure them out, do you mind explaining them?

sure! i tried to lay out those terms in the fic but i don’t think i did a super good job of explaining them lol

basically it’s my understanding that in the world of the zones, gender canonically means fuck all. vaya and vamos are genderfluid, “crash queen” is a gender-neutral term, and gerard way has given their blessing to anyone who wants to read party poison as nonbinary (which i do, happily). i fully believe that most killjoys will have a generally fluid relationship with gender - presentation and identity will be all over the map for a variety of reasons. first of all, because fuck BLI’s very likely imposition of a false binary, and second of all because that’s just another freedom of expression that Battery City would have very likely repressed.

that got me thinking about in-universe zone slang and the easiest way to convey that kind of thing. we hear several characters use “sunshine” as an offhand phrase to refer to people, most recognizably dr. death defying. at no point does the use of it suggest that it’s an inherently gendered term, so that was my cornerstone of creating active slang that would be short for “yo what pronouns do you use”

the shorthand i use is this - not all of it was explained or even explored in the fic, and hopefully i’ll get more chances to do so in the future, but you could consider it all “canon” to the universe of “pray for destruction” fic series:

sunshine: gender-neutral catch-all term. can essentially refer to anyone the same way “dude” or “you guys” is regarded as a gender-neutral term. not everyone will relate to it, but most will take it as a nonspecific blanket term.

starshine: someone who uses he/him pronouns

earthshine: someone who uses she/her pronouns

luneshine: someone who uses they/them pronouns

ringshine: someone who uses neopronouns or alternate pronouns

these are all actual astronomy terms that i repurposed to keep in line with the “sunshine” theme.

hope that helps!

[kafkaguy]

He's a cis man. He's transfem. He's nonbinary. He has 35 genders. He's a cis woman. He's a trans man. Gender, he barely knows her. He's transmasc. He's gnc. He doesn't know what a pronoun is. I didn't say his name but he popped into your head didn't he

[kafkaguy]

Hi! Do you know if there's like a guide to the killjoy universe? Because there are many concepts i dont understand lmao. Thanks! :D

Uh, not as far as i am aware, no, but this is the best "Danger Days lore (disambiguation)" post i can provide with links i've gathered over the years:

starting off strong, there is this post on where to starting looking into Danger Days (most of the comic links are mostly busted, but i figure they were meant redirect to content found here)

comic links for National Anthem

the original Better Living Industries website

the big bad doc of twitter canon and the addendum of videos featured in the original tweets from said doc if you want to have them separate

the band discussing merch designs, the American flag and bad luck beads

Angesagt! interview(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) where they discuss the influences of Danger Days, and somewhat delve into the creative process and creation of the album

you can consult @killjoyhistory and @killjoyhistoryarchive for additional material

and here are some older (before 2019) killjoys/danger days dictionaries

It seems more intimidating than it actually is, but if you need to ask any questions or just a quick answer for something then my inbox is always open!

[kafkaguy]

ok so thinking about the killjoys again, specifically how young they are / how they never really get to grow old. and do you think they... even realize how young they are? do they realize how young they're all dying?

thx to vaya and vamos' offhand comments we can gather 40 is *old* for a killjoy. between that fact and general lore, I think its safe to say 20s-30s is the average killjoy life expectancy. now I don't think battery city really cares enough about the average citizen to help them live as long as possible or anything like that, but they're surely living much longer than 30s (and I'd bet in most cases bat city citizens die in less outright violent ways too).

so imagine being a desert born killjoy, and all your life you've conceptualized that the human lifespan as "40 at most", and you live in the moment cause as far as you're concerned you're already past mid-life. and then one day an undergrad from the city shows up and tells you, no, people in the city can live well into their 80s, or even 90s sometimes. you're still a kid.

the real world equivalent would be someone coming up to u irl and claiming a certain city allows you to live to 180 on the regular, and 50 year olds r practically teens there. what reason would you have to believe them? especially when the city in question is well known for being saturated in propaganda?

or better yet, imagine having this warped concept of age your whole life, and then meeting someone who *is* way older than nearly all other killjoys. like, meeting someone who didn't escape the city until their 50s or 60s (or higher?). imagine living in a society of exclusively young adults and teens, who are dying as young adults and teens, and then meeting someone more than twice your age. they'd be visibility older, they'd be smarter and more mature, and they'd be happy. imagine realizing that under better circumstances you'd be able to live that long too.

shout out to jordan for posting about this topic this morning and making me start thinking bout it hfhdgdjf wanted to jot down a few of my thoughts real quick

[kafkaguy]

they/she party poison, he/they kobra kid, he/him jet star, they/he/she + neopronouns fun ghoul BTW IF U EVEN CARE

[kafkaguy]

thinking about the dynamic between the self-made cynic and the bleeding heart

[kafkaguy]

[kafkaguy]

Please tell us about the desert.

So like. The desert is freezing at night and boiling at day. The elements are just about as savage as they can be and as a result it looks like a whole lot of nothing but dead, unforgiving, hostile emptiness. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, deserts have a biodiversity matched only by rainforests and much like rainforest most of it is unique to that specific desert. Most deserts formed from ancient lakes or oceans that dried out, leaving the remaining creatures to adapt to a rapidly changing and ever more hostile environment. It’s similar to those endothermic vents miles under the water any niche you can fill or make in a desert is extremely valuable but you can like, realistically go there. A desert is so very alive, despite looking as it does, despite everyone thinking otherwise. If you have never heard all the calls and sounds fill the cooling air as the sun sets as if to say ‘I’m here, despite everything, I’m still here and I’m alive’ it’s an S tier experience.