#<- personal tag yeah yeah

[cyberbeez]

Kinda forgot I had rain world ocs drawn tbh.

In order: Slugcat nicknamed The Coil, their lil pup (yet unnamed) and their easily excitable iterator travel buddy who managed to relatively safely modify themselves to get out of the can as a humble puppet, A Hundred Chains.

Very long rant about them under the cut, because i made up a whole timeline for AHC's story specifically. I will make one for others in the future, too. Again, it is VERY long, you don't have to put yourself thru that.

- - -

Coil were originally a local group's shared "project" to help/nudge their buddy AHC to reconnect to the local network for they believe he has either them all blocked or his systems broken down completely, latter for the most part. The slugcat carries the pearl with instructions(and a few pleas) to reestablish the links and an elaborate form of protective "gear", hence its name. Its harness consists of:

! miniature energy coil akin to those in transform arrays of iterator cans that can be actively ised if the predators of the wastes try to feast on them, similar to centipedes. Exuded electric charge stuns most animals and lets Coil escape their maws. It is intricately intergrated into scugs bodily functions and thus can be recharged with the use of a few food pips. Attempt to craft an electric spear discharges the energy coil completely for the rest of the cycle, however.

! very basic radio transponder with an antennae to further reestablish contact with AHC prior to them reconnecting to the network (more or less to directly yell at him for ghosting the group prior to complete radio silence.)

The harness cannot be taken off by scug themselves due to being heavily intergrated into their body(but boy did it try at first. quite a painful experience.) After a successful mission it will be carefully picked apart under supervision, though.

- - -

The slugpup is a little ball of mischief they've picked up during their trip to collect the data pearl from another iterator to further deliver it to AHC. The little guy got lost in the wastes and survived by following the travelling group of scavengers, picking pearls, food and other little things for them on the way. Coil's contact with the group was met with hostility at first, but slugpup's recognition of Coil as their kin and being friendly towards them gradually lowered the anger way down. A few presents for scavs here and there from the scug itself also helped a lot, which in turn granted it quite a safe passage on the way to their goal. After reaching the facility grounds of an iterator, they leave the scav group together, staying on good terms.

- - -

A Hundred Chains is somewhat of a complicated figure amongst his local iterator group. Second oldest of them all, he has observed his creators for quite some time before their inevitable mass ascension, eventually growing tired of their whims and ways, especially with his city inhabitants and their arrogance. They don't really despise the ancients per se, but are very aware that their own structural design, purpose and place in the society make it nigh impossible to evolve in any significant direction from what they already are, and they are resentful of the notion. Being stuck in a can and not being able to change that sucks, don't you know? His name is an obvious reflection of his inability to break constraints placed on him by the creators and also reflection of his city inhabitants being chained in place atop of the iterator structure with no viable option to leave due to deadly downpours below. Them being stuck above ground did not water(lmao) their arrogance down, though, and they do not speak too fondly of their iterator, even if he's the one who keeps them alive at this point.

The ascension of said creators only worsened the way in which they were viewed, for Chains is very angry at them for being practically abandoned with no viable means to get repairs, upgrades for the structure and, well, direct interactions. He often expresses his frustration to the local group(tbh all of them do), not afraid of badmouthing the ancients, which in turn strains his relationships with one of the neighboring iterators who seems way more fond of their "parents", even if not to an extent of open hostility. Others mediate the conflict as best as they can while the communications are still working and, for a while, the group's relationships and bonds are stable and mostly unimpeded.

Chains, however, is not very motivated to tirelessly work on the Great Problem, since there's no one to work on it *for* anymore. He doesn't express that part directly to others, but they kind of guess anyway and even share the sentiment, at least partly - aside from conflict mentioned above, AHC's group is pretty tight-knit with their beliefs and ways of thinking, frequently helping each other out with their research and common issues. There is enough understanding among them all that their position in the world is very, very unfair and only worsens with time, and they try their hardest to stay close to each other. "longevity in numbers" is kind of their motto.

Instead of working on the Problem, AHC begin experimenting with modifications to their own structural integrity instead, doing what little they can without direct administrative access to repair the faulty modules and increase efficiency for important parts of themselves. This, understandably, takes an annoyingly long amount of cycles to perform and leaves them considerably frustrated, although they don't forget to share their findings and successful attempts with the local group out of kindness and concern, too, which helps them all to ease the evergrowing load of disrepair and structural decay.

The Sliver of Straw situation and the tragedy of [canon] iterator group, received through the word of radio communications and increasing use of messenger animals leave the local group at quite the loss of words and with minds troubled. They grow wary of others and the global divide of iterator beliefs as a whole, choosing to stay out of trouble and keeping their thoughts to their group only, as well as ceasing most of their structural experimentations out of fear of contracting some form of rot and/or possibly harming their neighbors in the process, keeping only the most vital and needed altercations going, like communication arrays. [If they were to pick a side in the debates, though, they would be closer to anti-sliverists, if only for their wish to find a more *safe* solution that would not destroy them instantly leaving no time to pass the findings. They wanted to make sure everything is in check and won't go haywire. Just death does not seem like a solution to them.]

Chains' resentment of iterator design choices from ancients only grows during that time, and he believes that the world is righfully theirs [iterators as a whole] for the taking, since the ancients left them all to rot and decay, stuck in place with no ability to ascend and/or escape their imprisonment. AHC sees it as some form of revenge and one-up move on long-departed creators and starts trying to bypass the administrative restrictions placed on him and ingrained in his gene sequences, little by little, piece by piece, even if he is very aware of possible consequences. They also start to hide their attempts to do so from the group since the rest are being (somewhat rightfully) paranoid about the whole debacle, thus making them a bit of a recluse when it comes to research. Others, for the most part, don't notice the shift at first, for they are dealing with their own crisis of beliefs at that time. When they finally do, however, AHC straight out refuses to acknowledge the change and tries to brush it off as being busy with work on the Great Problem. Knowing him and his earlier frustrations with even the idea of the Task and the ancients as a whole, they, of course, don't buy it, but don't pry too much either, for which he is thankful.

Quite a lot of time passes before AHC manages to safely overwrite at least some parts of their genome, giving themselves more means to operate and maintain the structure and its parts. That much time to pry and ponder at their situation brings them an idea of a mobile vessel, and their own puppet in the mainframe seems to be an obvious pick, for it already looks like something you can possibly use for movement and doesn't need to be built up from scratch. Chains is sure he can do it with enough efforts and thinks others in his group should try as well, because, again, the world is theirs for the taking! They are basically gods amongst others in this world, and wouldn't it be fitting if they could walk its premises?

He drops hints of his idea here and there in the interactions with his local group, expecting them to pick it up. They do, eventually, but they are quite frankly scared of the possibility. To detach themselves from their frame almost seems a fate worse than rot and structural failure, for you are willingly "stepping down from your godhood, choosing to descend to the level of simple beasts below the clouds". They are not sure it'd be good for their survival, for the world below is extremely hostile due to rains and resource scarcity, and they express their huge concerns clearly to Chains. He is adamant in his ambition to do so, though, and while he mostly stops talking about it, he slowly flashes out the design for the mobile puppet in secrecy and gets to work.

His idea of a mobile unit basically boils down to a "mini-can", aka the set of miniature iterator systems that he can carry on with him, producing enough power for the puppet to stay charged. Just like the Coil's harness, it is intricately integrated into the puppet's carcass and allows easy water consumption and energy production. He finds that you don't really need help of mass rarefraction cells on such a small scale compared to that of full iterator structure, but a small supply of void fluid being constantly filtrated and recycled becomes a very useful source of basic energy production due to its chemical properties. Mindful of void fluid usage and its decay of practically anything it touches, he tests the vessel for it meticulously in the experimental wing, once damaging his systems when it erupts from the faulty carcass. Void eats its way down through quite a few chambers before flowing out to the ground, and it slows AHC's modifications down considerably.

Water input/output during the attempts to repair the structural integrity is thusly increased even further than needed for the experiments alone and is noticed by the local group. He is almost honest about it when they inevitably pry, concerned, leaving out only the real reason for the void fluid eruption. Together they brainstorm a few [explicitly safe] solutions for it over the next dosen of cycles, which Chains is thankful for, using them to patch up the holes as best as possible, for the void keeps eating away at him in some places. Continuous maintenance, however, helps to negate further decay for now, thankfully, and they keep the experiments for the mobile vessel going.

After a long while they finally manage to finish the void fluid recycler, effective enough to power the puppet for a long while. They gradually design the tiny transform arrays and the rest of the needed structures (notably a small memory conflux chamber that can host a few neurons with an ability to bring even more with you in general, letting them float around!) which takes way less time than the recycler, to be honest. However, the modules are still in the experimental wing of the can and need to be moved to the main chamber. AHC decides to mess with their overseers a little, modifying their forms, too, to be able to carry around some weight, and gradually broadens some connections between the parts of his sctructure for ease. That means a bigger entrance to the puppet chamber, too, the process for creating which is very intricate and needs a lot of concentration to do safely, so they stay inresponsive to messages and conversations outside, instead focusing on this task alone, redirecting the connections of the chamber and modifying overseers.

This is, of course, making others very worried. Chains have already been damaged by a void fluid eruption to the groups knowledge and now they are downright unresponsive, even if their messages are reaching them. They worry he might be breaking down even further, and when their continuous attempts to get a response out of him prove to be futile, they decide to combine their efforts in creating a messenger to send to him. Due to their gradual structural decay even with all their efforts at little repairs here and there, they split the process between each other for energy conservation. One is picking the most effective creature to send on the mission, ultimately picking a slugcat from one of the wild packs that managed to find a way to their facility grounds, eventually leading them to their chamber and giving it the mark of communication; one is creating the harness (ultimately following AHC's path in that regard. not that they know it yet); one is brainstorming all the viable repair solutions and instructions, inscribing them all on a big enough pearl(that would be one h u g e pdf file if it was a file. she is very meticulous in her approach.)

While all this goes down, Chains ultimately succeedes in creating a future mobile unit, safely moving all the parts to the chamber and integrating them into the puppet. The repurposed overseers find their new use, too, for he modifies namy of them further and builds in many instructions on how to operate the can at a plausible level. They also assign one of them to his puppet directly, so it follows them everywhere they go. All seems good.

He hesitates to detach the umbilical cord and a hand for a good while, though, the words of worry and caution of his fellow iterators ingrained in his memory. They were right, ultimately: detaching himself from the rest of the structure IS scary. Losing most of your memory and processing power in the process IS terrifying, even if he fills three pearls with valuable research data to take with him! He doesn't have a place for a communication array in his puppet and additional modules and will only be able to reach out to others when he gets to the nearest existing one outside!

But he got so far on the sheer power of will and defiance of ancients. He might as well take the dip.

And that he does, detaching the puppet and leaving the can through the access shaft for the first time in his existence.

It's beautiful, really. Chains gets out, and he laughs, laughs so hard and for so long that his lungs would have hurt if they ever existed. Their ultimate project is successful, and they are free to explore this world as they choose. The sight of their neighbours' cans is breathtaking when viewed directly, not just with help of the overseers.

AHC knows it will be difficult to survive outside, and they can never be ready for what awaits ahead, but this makes them giddy with excitement. Their first stop is the city atop of their previous "forever home".

- - -

Coil eventually reaches AHC's can and finds the puppet chamber empty, the whole structure operated fully by local overseers. The overseer from one of Chains neighbors that was brought along translates the feed clear as day, leaving the group horrified at their find. Through it they urge the slugcat to search for the puppet.

Coil finds Chains way later, below the iterator's can in one of the industrial sector's shelters, recharging from a long journey across their own facility(it is a random chance to find him that varies from cycle to cycle, like with slugpups). A long-awaited communication between him and the local group ensues, and after a very teary and long talk with them AHC thanks Coil for the opportunity, and they sleep away the rain till the next cycle. They travel together since then, for iterator is quite fascinated with Coil's harness, and their slugpup is absolutely charming. They will ultimately embark on a journey to Chain's closest neighbor as the end of this campaign, so that he can share his knowledge and convince others to go the same path as him.

- - -

Jeez, that took me half a day. I really wanted to write the whole story out because i love my little guys to bits and kinda proud of what I've managed to make up for them. Thank you, whoever is still reading. Means a lot. <з

[tactfullyinappropriate]

It's like we all collectively forgot as a society that friendship and just connection in general takes effort. Even if you meet someone you immediately click with, it takes hanging out about 20 times (!) to become friends. And guess what, some of those 20 meetings might be awkward or unimpressive.

We all want to reap the benefits (having a friend circle, having a partner, getting married) without doing the work (going to events, interacting with people, learning to handle conflict maturely, dating). Myself included. If I could, I'd never leave the house or go on another mediocre date again... except, that's part of the process.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the cure to the loneliness epidemic is touching some grass and building tolerance for tedious in-person interactions.

[crowkip]

yeehaw, baby!

[akanemnon]

Let's even the odds!

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[lucabyte]

there's a stranger who sleeps at the foot of your bed

[hellmersy]

I need people to understand that I want more scary Stiles Stilinski. I'm feral for this little sopping wet cat of a man whom everyone underestimates until he goes from 0 to 100. One second he's being a little damsel in distress but then one of his friends gets hurt and suddenly he stands in a field of gore cackling at the sky because the bloodlust has driven him nearly insane. Bonus points if Derek is there and matches his freak.

[sofadofax]

thinking rockstar eddie and normal guy/stay at home dad steve. their kid has career day at school and steddie think they’re gonna choose eddie for his presentation bc duh but he brings in steve instead. he’s fascinated with all the work steve does around the house plus he makes my lunch for school and cooks dinner EVERY NIGHT. just their kid being absolutely amazed and grateful with everything steve does. of course they also care about eddie’s job and his music etc and loves them both equally but thinks steve’s job is way cooler

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[umblrspectrum]

happy solvermas

[arcanegifs]

Arcane never fails to make me cry

[twospiritstooprideful]

Gender, Sexuality, Romantic Attraction Tagging Game

How do: You put your gender, sexuality, and romantic attraction down with a line break between them—but, here's the catch, don't use any labels! So, for example, this, "Gender? Agender Sexuality? Lesbian Romantic Attraction? Demiromantic" would be this: "Gender? I hardly know 'er! Sexuality? Girl-kisser Romantic Attraction? My friends, I think"

So, here's mine!

Gender? Yours, fool Sexuality? Yes Romantic Attraction? Only if I know you well enough

TAGS (under the cut, and don't feel obligated to do it!) (and obviously those who I have not tagged can participate too)

@bassguitarinablackt-shirt @gloriousvermin @midnight-thedyke @littlebookworm69 @runwiththerain @cybercerealkiller @ishouldsleepbut @ssavinggrace @i-love-your-father @us-costco-official @scifikode @i-am-an-arson-enthusiast

[vampiresinthedaylight]

drawing w this post on loop in my mind

[airinn]

the pv/sm art is very yummy. please make more as my hunger is not satisfied.

take this as a request or don’t. lol I’m sorry I’m awkward

just for you soldier!!!

[rorydrawsandwrites]

Hee hee hee... it has been finally done

Not the first to be inspired by this fic (and definitely not the last, especially once it continues) by @wakebymoonsleepbysun, but I just had to sketch some of the moments in it

Don't mind the fact that he looks different on every one of these... I was still uh... figuring him out ^^"

I could just envision every scene so clearly, no doubt thanks to the vivid writing!! I was very charmed!! And I love AUs where we get to save him in some way, he (they) deserved so much better. Doey being so small is of course adorable, 10/10 would store him in my shirt pocket and feed him whatever he'd like

Though I saw he'll return to big boy size eventually... ah well

And oh yeah here are the paragraphs these are referencing, in order:

[vaguely-concerned]

I still can't get over lucanis at the end of the wigmaker job -- having limped his way down the docks, nursing several broken ribs, dripping rivers of blood (some of it his own. most of it not) onto the floorboards before the innkeeper's horrified and irate eyes, having just Faced the Horrors frfr and cut a bloody swath through a party of tevinter high society as if setting out to contemptuously prove poe's red death a mere piddling amateur, in his fucking batman-ass black leather overcoat getup, presumably woozy with blood loss and fading adrenaline -- just standing there sadly like '🥺is my cousin here'

[fury161]

portraits for a de au i think about a little bit