#THEY'RE ALL NON HUMAN

[whenuwishuponastar]

I liked you right from the start

[thepersonperson]

Sukuna's Loneliness Part 1

(Thoughts on Sukuna's Dehumanization as of JJK 261.)

Part 2

Some things to keep in mind...

1) This analysis deals with topics of ableism, racism, and discrimination. (Very brief suicidal ideation mention.)

2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans because of their accessibility. 

3) There are a lot of links so you know I'm not making stuff up. The sources are both formal and informal. Please do research on some of the discussed topics to gain a better understanding of them.

(Click pictures for captions/citations.)

The Name Ryomen Sukuna

Before we start this needs to be made clear. Ryomen Sukuna is not a first and last name. Ryomen is a title. Sukuna is a name.

Ryomen uses the kanji 両面 which can be translated as "two-faced".

Sukuna uses the kanji 宿儺 which can be translated as "specter". Individually the kanji can be read as "lodging, inn" (宿, suku) and "exorcism" (儺, na).

Two-faced specter is not a nice name to put it lightly. It's such a mean spirited name that the JP fanbase suspects he was called something else before becoming The Disgraced One.

Normally I would assume his parents did not name him this, however, Sukuna himself had this to say about his birth.

In the original Japanese, Sukuna calls himself 忌み子 (Imigo) which can be translated as "Abominable Child", "Unwanted Child", or "Shunned Child." None of these translations in my opinion get across how severe Imigo is. It's closer to meaning "child who should've never been born". Like the child's very existence is an affront to god. (If you play Elden Ring the Omen are called Imigo in Japanese for this reason.)

You combine this fact with his name and it starts to paint a nasty picture. Sukuna straight up may not have a last name in part from what is implied to be disownment from birth.

Sukuna's Trauma

(Even if he won't acknowledge it as something that has deeply affected him.)

As a Basketball American (aka one of those people with a unique skeletal structure and muscles as Mr. Gojo Satoru would say), I consider myself a professional experiencer of discrimination. This means when a character has likely experienced something similar to me, I can sniff it out like a bloodhound. Though what Sukuna experiences is much closer to ableism than racism. (Discrimination across the board is pretty similar in a lot of ways you know.)

Sukuna is disabled—not as in he lacks an able body (my goodness he is too ablebodied), but as society is not built with any consideration for him. He’s a massive conjoined twin with 4 eyes and 4 arms and 2 mouths. If you know anything about being tall in Japan, it's that it’s a nightmare. Doorways, showers, bathrooms, and buildings are built for small people which leads to the very infrastructure causing problems for anyone big. But Sukuna’s size is just the start of those kinds of problems. He canonically wears women’s kimonos to accommodate his arms since they have larger sleeves. He often goes shirtless or wears a shawl simply because clothing isn’t made for him.

If you’ve known or read anything by people with mobility issues or missing limbs, a major complaint is clothing. For example someone with a missing leg can either pay for expensive customized pants, or they can purchase regular pants and tie off the extra pant leg. They can have trouble buying one shoe since they almost always come in pairs. (To rectify this sometimes they find a mirror twin called a Sole Mate who they share the extra shoe with.) 

Now if I’ve learned anything from people with mobility issues, it’s that ablebodied people are really fudging annoying and rude. They will grab mobility aids unprompted and even move people around in wheelchairs without permission. In this treatment, the ablebodied dehumanize the disabled and treat them like objects in their way.

Sukuna also experiences objectification in a similar manner. People see him as an obstacle to conquer, a means to test their strength, a helpless thing that needs curing, a test subject to study, and a symbol for their own use. All of these things are extremely dehumanizing and things disabled people may have to deal with.

We’ve got Yuji and co seeing him as a curse to exorcize.

Kashimo and others using Sukuna to test their strength.

Yorozu seeing Sukuna’s lack of interest in romantic/sexual love as a thing to be cured. (Your honor, he is aroace.)

Kenjaku using Sukuna as a test subject and insurance for The Plan.

Heian era society revering him as a god to use him in rituals for their benefit.

The last example is a very interesting form of discrimination. If you aren’t familiar with the term, there is one called benevolent prejudice. This is when discriminatory beliefs are flattering instead of malicious. (Examples: Black people are athletic, Asian people are smart, etc.)

Benevolent prejudice still results in negative outcomes for the group affected, but to me personally, some of them are kind of hilarious in isolation. Here are some of my favorites:

I’m pretty sure this is why Gojo apologizes so readily to Miguel and without resistance. He realizes “oh crap I’m doing to Miguel what everyone does to me”. 

And yes this belief had a negative outcome for Miguel—it’s likely the reason Gojo beat him so hard compared to other characters in the JJK 0 movie. (Remember Gege has direct involvement in the anime.) This is canonically a racially motivated beatdown, trauma response from the black ropes mimicking Toji notwithstanding.

On the ableism side of things this benevolent prejudice can manifest as turning people with deformities or atypical features into objects for worship, fetishization, or sacrifice.

As an aside, I suspect Uraume’s gender is ambiguous because they’re intersex. And boy howdy do intersex people experience dehumanization as objects of worship (fetishization and religious symbols) or as a problem that needs to be corrected (forced surgical procedures/mutilation and erasure). This, in my opinion, might be the reason Sukuna likes them more than anyone else. Uraume may not fully understand the isolation of strength, but they do get the dehumanizing way in which society treats them both.

My point here is that Sukuna experiences regular prejudice and the benevolent type. All of which are dehumanizing from every single angle, leaving him in a state of near constant objectification. (Uraume puts Sukuna on a pedestal as their master which is emotionally isolating but they still see him as an individual on his own merits.)

What constant systemic discrimination does to a motherfudger...

So now that we've established how Sukuna's dehumanization happened, I can rant about how this is probably a major reason behind his disconnect from his humanity and a source of his loneliness.

Gege has stated that Sukuna and other people don’t really know how to categorize his personhood. He's so strong he's more like a natural disaster than anything else.

Sukuna says things like this about himself.

"If I was a cursed spirit…"

"...that's the sort of human I was."

He doesn’t see himself as a human or a curse. At one point he did consider himself human but stopped. He sees himself as this third thing which is highly likely to be a “living creature” as Gojo would put it. 

Gojo also experienced benevolent prejudice that lead to his dehumanization and subsequent objectification (thanks JJK 261 for making me realize it was much worse than I assumed). And from birth too. I think this is why they’re able to connect so well during their fight. Especially since this prejudice leads to them becoming sinks for everyone's burdens while being scorned in the same breath. (It's like how people adore "my kind's" athletic/manual labor abilities but then don't want us in their neighborhoods.) The world isn't made for them but it's going to exploit the very thing it hates them for.

The difference between those two is probably the stares of disgust and day to day inconveniences from the extra parts. Gojo can effectively blend in with other humans if he really tries. Sukuna cannot. (Maybe that’s why he says this too.)

Sukuna to me, feels like a manifestation of this rage against constant systemic discrimination. You look at him funny? He kills you. You treat him like a thing that serves you? He kills you.

I know I'm projecting but hear me out!

I don't think Sukuna was aggressively abused by others for his appearance to get to this point by the way. It's more of a death by 1,000 cuts scenario. Someone crossing the street to avoid you, a flash of revulsion when they look at you, backhanded compliments, name-calling in whispers, gentle reminders you don't belong in infrastructure and accessibility to resources. On their own they feel like paper cuts, but if you experience them constantly without time to recover, one day you look down and realize there's a massive rotting gash.

Thankfully I have friends and spaces where I can exist without being subject to discrimination. I can treat these wounds and keep going relatively ok. When I was a child, I didn't have a proper outlet for that and it ate me alive. I flip flopped between wanting to magically wake up fully white or disappearing entirely and wanting everything to explode. Sometimes I wanted all of these thing at the same time. These old wounds reopen on occasion but I know how to deal with that now.

In Sukuna's behavior and attitude, I see that kind of hurt. And his coping strategy appears to be making everything explode since violence is all he knows. Maybe cannibalism wasn't the healthiest way to deal with this but you know it's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Speaking of cannibalism, the definition of a cannibal is an individual that eats members of their own species. Sukuna is regarded as a non-human by everyone around him in every instance except when he is called a cannibal. He’s not human enough to be a part of society but just human enough to be a cannibal. His status as a human changes in what makes it easiest to disregard him as an individual worthy of respect or consideration. (Think of how conservatives misgender gender non-conforming cis people and then turn around and misgender trans people for hypocritical reasons.) 

Sukuna’s acknowledgement of both Jogo and Gojo is bittersweet with this lens. Jogo is a curse fighting on behalf of curses’ humanity. He wants curses to live as humans after being born lowly and unwanted in a world that wants him erased. Gojo is a human forced into godhood by circumstances he couldn’t control. He’s someone who became isolated and rejected by others until he stopped seeing himself as a human. Sukuna has lived both of these experiences and connects with them in a way no one else can. 

Unfortunately, because Sukuna only knows how to love through violence, he kills them. (Great job, Sukuna, you did this to yourself. You could've had friends.)

I also suspect this is why Sukuna believes this.

This type of society is one in which Sukuna can exist. He can relentlessly pursue the strength through which he builds his self-esteem and be acknowledged as something. However, that is still isolating. And Sukuna is a human, which means he’s a social creature that needs companionship. (Not necessarily romantic or sexual mind you.)

I find Sukuna’s vague suicidal ideation and refusal to die extremely relatable for all these reasons. Much like Gojo, he seems to be convinced the world will never treat him the way he wants to be treated and wants out.

There’s also something to be said about the unique loneliness aromantic and asexual people experience from wanting deep and fulfilling relationships without romance or sex in a world that only values relationships with both of those things.

So why is Sukuna like that?

Despite knowing how much it sucks to be dehumanized, Sukuna still participates in dehumanization himself, referring to humans as insects/animals or things for him to play with. 

And in a Kenjaku parallel, food for him to enjoy as well.

I predict this attitude he has towards humans is the direct result of his dehumanization and objectification for his appearance and strength. It’s all one big unhealthy coping mechanism.

I think this is why Yuji ideologically pisses him off so much. Imagine truly believing all this isolation and suffering for innate characteristics made you stronger, only to find someone who experienced none of that starts rising to your level and shatters your entire world view.

Trauma isn’t something that makes people stronger, but Sukuna likely believes it does as a cope. In my last analysis I called Gojo a sopping-wet pathetic cat who pretends everything is ok. Sukuna is no different if you ask me.

[owl-bones]

I mean, in defense of people who are hesitant about trusting fae dream... he did turn someone into an exotic pet before.

that didn't actually happen, that was just a drabble i developed and people asked for elaboration on sldfjlsfjs. it's technically a non-canon event, it's just on the blog and tagged and all that because it's still a (hypothetical) part of the story and there's some characterisation stuff in there. but the MC wasn't his pet, they were just a bird for the deal to work. he still treated them like a member of his court.

and i get where people are coming from, but if you're hesitant about trusting Dream you should extend that hesitancy to all the fae. especially Nightmare. between the two of them Nightmare is far more likely to trick you into a deal that you don't like, or that causes you to lose something of importance. it's just that nobody's asked about anything like that, so all they've seen is Dream being the poster-child for fae shenanigans lskdfjlsdsljfkd

like. Blue is the 'nicest' fae out of all of them when it comes to avoiding deals and giving humans leeway and helping them out, but that doesn't make Dream the worst (that'd be Killer)

tricks and wordplay are a major part of fae stories, and to ignore them completely to sanitise the characters and make them more approachable is disingenuous. Dream's a nice, friendly guy, yes, but he's still a fae and will trick you. Nightmare is cold and aloof but fair, and he will also trick you. Dream's not the bad guy, there is no bad guy, that is just their nature ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ )✧

[wulvercazz]

👻Spooky💀

They're all out having fun, pretending to be normal teens because what else are they to do after having fought in multiple spirit-world wars? They're still just teenagers to some extent. Except they're also not. Ichigo less than any of them. Someone's taking pictures and suddenly they're all freaking out over the otherworldly glow on Ichigo's eyes.

What the vizards had never bothered to tell him (and he'd never experienced with the arrancar either) was that all hollow eyes reflect light like animals. No matter how human they looked and- well, it seems like Ichigo's got one more thing to hide from his human classmates on top of the fangs and the pointy ears 🫠.

Extra: Ichigo staring in disbelief at yet another inhuman bodily feature he wasn't aware of. =_=

Ichigo now hides from all cameras, afraid the flash will make him look like more of a freak... too bad his friends are fckn insane and now it's become a game to see who can present more and better "cryptid Ichigo" pictures to the group. 🥴✨

[sysig]

Some highlights from a tense but still very Winterkov-y scene (Patreon)

[yardsards]

clint mcelroy creating a dnd character: oh yeah, this bad boy can fit so much simple zest for life in him

[uncanny-tranny]

I was always enraged at the way capitalism has devalued some of the most important labour in human history, but now I'm even more angry since I have started getting more into crafts.

So many people are alienated from the world to such an extent they don't realize how fucking important textiles and construction and art and culinary labour is, because its all ubiquitous under capitalism: it is all profit, and if it isn't profit, then it is worthless. People don't realize just how revolutionary all of the labour was, how important it is, and was, to our survival. And that enrages me.

[moghedien]

"Women who could channel were dangerous animals rather than people."

honestly cracking up laughing at this thought from Egeanin because like, famous last words for someone about to get Wondergirled

like she is so deep in her Seanchan indoctrination even like up to the moment that she met Elayne and Nynaeve, and they really just broke her by being nice to her and treating her like a person, all while openly claiming to be Aes Sedai

[marietheran]

thinking how actual nuns and monks irl will often attend university, habits and all, and now I'm imagining that it's not uncommon to just have a jedi in your classes in star wars, especially on coruscant.

[featherymainffins]

You know the fact Larian did have "fucked up elves" in their creative vision once shows that they can and want to do it, so I'm wondering why BG3 elves look like humans with pointy ears and half-elves like humans with slightly less pointy ears. Like, was WotC threatening them with a gun like "If you make these elves even slightly 3e we will kill you and your entire family."?

[gate-of-the-archer]

Screenshot redraw (from Sav on YouTube) :33

[oca-rinn-a]

in this world where so many members of our species, with supposed moral agency, are killing small things for nothing but the crime of existing, and so many are blind to the value of any species which does not benefit them in a way they can personally measure... do you ever feel so so panicked and suffocated?

[shiraishi--kanade]

A controversial opinion perhaps, but I actually don't enjoy ethical AI art either.

Sure, if an artist wants to draw like 200 pictures and then train an AI to reproduce their style, they can do whatever they want. If they want to sell that and are upfront about it being ethically made AI art, whatever.

But the entire notion of automating art, something that makes humans uniquely us, something we've been at for millennia, for the sake of capitalism or production or time-cost saving or whatever, makes me sick.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Lineup of all of the characters that appear long enough to need a visual representation of them in the game lol

[wulvercazz]

🍭And So, It Begins🦇

~ October 3rd - Candy, Pole Dancing/Stripping ( Ichigo x Grimmjow ) ~ Extra tags; food play, food insertion/unsafe insertion

The Prompt List

(fic part 1 under the cut)

Ichigo has to have been staring at the rundown lot for about an hour. Or perhaps a minute.

All he's wanted as a young adult looking to get away from his homereef and out from under his father's fin - claw - is to find a decent enough job. This was supposed to be his bout of good luck- not,,, the beginning of a bad horror story.

The secretary who contacted him was real, he gave him accurate and detailed information, he heard his voice. And for what? The carcass of a school who in no reality would have ever been looking to "urgently fill a teaching position". And there was no mistaking the address he was given either. There was no other school in all of Aquacity.

He should've never come here. It's almost dark, the seabus back to Karaura reef is another six hours of travel and not even available again til morning. He feels played with, obviously  frustrated, and so incredibly tired.

And the small apartment he made arrangements for prior to his travel is so lackluster and just plain sad-looking he simply doesn't feel like going there to sleep this horrible night off either.

His feet drage little clouds of sand with every step. He doesn't want to think about it, about how much of a loser he is, about how come morning he'll have to go back home with his tail between his legs and say "hey dad, missed me on the single day I was gone?"

What he could do, is get ahold of a drink, sit on a crowded bar, and perhaps find a warm body to flirt his depression away to.

He doesn't expect to find himself lost to the view of this place. People had looked at him weird at the bus central whenever they heard where he was moving; but no one ever said much of anything about the place. It looked... well, like a city. With a good few large coral buildings towering above, fancy looking roads and lots of businesses; all dark and mostly quiet as night settled above the water. The curious sight of it was all the orange and plack and purple dressing it all. The jack-o-lanterns and the star-like decorations on the doors. Everything set for Halloween like he's never seen anyone do back home, or anywhere ever. It might've looked even cheery and bright earlier... except- where's everybody?

He's not really one for holidays, barely celebrates his birthday at all even, but he knows for a fact that Halloween is supposed to happen.. at night. It's late, but not quite midnight, not so late that a place so meticulously decorated like this would be barren before the ring o the bell. Where is everybody?

As he walks, what little people had been walking by in the distance have all scurried away into their homes or simply out of sight, and more than a little mystifying,,, he's started to get a little freaked.

Ichigo quickens his steps, his one claw clicking anxiously and creating little air bubbles amidst the water, his antenna jittery as he turns about for any sign of life. And... and suddenly there is. Muffled and uninteligible, but it's the sound of music; that must be it surely... everyone's celebrating indoors and here he is... worrying over nothing.

He really hopes it is a bar, he really needs that drink now.

The light trembling of the soundspeakers reaches his body when he finds the place. "Las Noches" it reads and now he's positive it's got to be at least something like a bar. The sound grows louder with each step, and finally the last of his worries start to ease into quiet sort of defeat. He came here to forget his troubles, right? Not to investigate some sort of ghosttown mystery bullshit, even made up by his own sleep-deprived mind.

The bouncer, because there is a bouncer — a blowfish that looks just about ready to get pointier at any wrong look, asks him for a rather outrageous cover charge (like he hasn't lost enough by coming to this city in the first place) that he reluctantly pays anyway. Because anything is better than walking back through that cold street back to his sad apartment right now, if he has to do it, at least he wants to do it with a couple drinks on him. And it all looks normal, with music just loud enough to sort of drown the laughter of a few other fish, here and there, but not enough to deafen, and dim colorful lights giving more of a nightclub ambiance to the establishment, right until someone shoves a bag of halloween decorated candy in his hands and looks at him with tired disappoinment when he meets the second bouncer's face with utter confusion.

"Keep it moving," the guy says tiredly and rushes him in to move on to someone else coming in behind him.

A truly odd fucking city.

But he gets his drink, and a second drink, and he stares at the odd bag of candy from the little table he settled onto somewhere in the middle of the place. Truly, truly, odd.

He's nursing his drink, sadly staring at the funny candy inside his bag and wondering weird things about this city and whether studying medicine like his father had encouraged him to do instead of literature like he wanted would've made any difference, when a sudden burst of light and an excited disenbodied voice announces it's finally midnight.

Fish around him cheer and suddenly he's more and more lost than he was before he came into the nightclub. That is, until the music goes from contented ambiance to sultry and the colored lights reflect on what are very clearly dancing poles arranged along the front of the dark stage he'd somewhat noticed when he first sat. Oh... so it's that kind of place,,, right— huh, he's... never been good in this sort of place.

He's been to strip clubs before, back in college and only when Keigo insisted; but he's not sure he'll ever enjoy it. Not when all he ever does is give the dancers awkward half-stares and wish for sudden death when they make eye contact.

So he's not at all excited when a single dancer makes their appearance on-stage, swaying their hips up to the stage to the beat of the music and the excited cheering of everyone in the club; some dog-whistling earning other fish in the crowd a flirty wink or suggestive little shake of a pretty curled tail.

Fuck, fuck, it's not that he's a prude. Keigo teases him about his supposed virginity enough to know he thinks he is; it's just that... well, pretty people showing off their pretty bits... it gets him all flustered and weird.

Ok, perhaps he is a bit of a prude. But can you judge him? Can anyone in this weird city judge him when those wide hips in those frilly clothes sway and twist so nice along that pole? When that pretty face smiles and bites his lip so cute when perking his ass so lewd?

Pieces of the outfit start to fly and at the first peek of a rosy plush slit he starts to wish he could flee without calling too much attention to himself. But everyone around him just keeps cheering, clearly enjoying the night's entertainment; some even shout of the dancer's name, "Grimmjow~!" to call his attention, or perhaps to encourage him and his perfectly studied dance moves.

It's a rather small city in the end, everyone's bound to know each other.

And just as expected, the shouts and the cheering only bring more confident little grins to the seahorse's face; put a little more oomf to his twists, more curl to his tail. The music still sultry but somewhat more intense as he's bared himself almost fully exposed to his welcoming public. Long legs opening wide for his audience, tail wrapping sinfuly around the pole to balance himself a little more teasingly; and then people are scooching closer, leaning in to playfuly tuck...

Huh —

Fucking candy on his underwear's frilly elastic, and no one seems to mind when it falls onto the stage under its own weight.

What the fuck?

And, oh, oh shit, oh fuck. The newbie look of bewilderment in his face must be so clear from up there, that "Grimmjow" can't hide his cheeky grin when he makes his way right over to the pole standing right in front of his table.

He does as best as he can not to tremble like a little teen when he teasingly curls around the pole, and dances pretty much for him. The audience hooting and whistling for him to do something about it. And then Grimmjow slinks down the pole, all pretty teal skin and curled tail and pretty pink slit, his legs falling open in a flexible squat, back curled and grin just as much, and reaches out with his bare foot to keep teasing him further. And the sight and the foot on his neck, send shivers down his neck and right up his tail; disheveling his clothes and heating him up from his very core until he feels the water around him boil.

"Gimme a treat~" he speaks like hot velvet, voice much deeper than he expected, and that alone startles him with a hot spark right down to his crotch. Everything about him so distracting, that he doesn't quite notice when he went and curled his tail right around his claw, pulling him in right to the edge of his chair, "won't you, stranger?💕"

The only other option would've been to struggle and run like a little coward, and he wanted to, fuck he really wanted to... but somehow, the ache to see more, touch more, had him shily pulling a lollipop out the troublesome little candy bag. Grimmjow's darkened blue eyes following his every move, a quietly amused noice leaving his lips before he pulled again on his arm.

He wishes he could've stopped the scaredy little jolt of his hand when Grimmjow let go of the pole only to reach in too; unwrapping the little jack-o-lantern lollipop and canting his hips with a rather obvious request.

Fuck. Oh, fuck. Fuckfuckfuck.

And his soft hand only guided his when it was obvious he'd need the push; guiding the candy to his puffy pink lips. Making him slick the hard caramel along his entrance and encouraging Ichigo to push it inside.

He might have blacked out for a second there. Quite possibly. When he felt his body give and suck the lollipop in, only the little white stick poking out of him.

And just like that, his tail maneuvered his claw and dumped it half across his lap, making a fool of him while he made a fool of himself; watching entranced as he crossed his leg over and showed off his filled slit. Everyone's hoots and screams suddenly registering back to his brain as they laughed and cheered both of them on; more dog whistles about when Grimmjow reached for the candy and fucked himself with it a couple cheeky strokes. Only to pull it out and bring it up to his lips, to suck his own slick off the treat.

Ichigo's been to strip clubs before, but nothing quite like this had ever happened to him at any of them. Not that he'd ever stayed long.

He's so dazed and tingly all over with the experience, drowned in more music and renewed screams as Grimmjow moves on with his show... that he could've sworn those little wings on his costume had no straps at all.

Find the uncensored version, as well as early access and wips to Aquacity as I draw/write it, on SubStar (link on pinned intro post)✨

[summertimemusician]

Linktober Day 8

Constructs

Way too late if ya ask me because Nayru and Hylia have decided to forsake me but it's done. *Collapses* This one did NOT want to write itself no matter how hard I tried even if I have so many feelings about constructs, in the end Hozier, the SS and TOTK soundtrack carried this to the final stretch even if it's just a small drabble lol.

Mostly referenced this time though, something soft and nice about Sky and Reader and Constructs, can be interpreted as platonic or romantic. Day 9 and 10 prompts will be released on the same day if it all possible though depending if I actually get some darn rest and have the time (because Legend is being a bit difficult on the Linktober Shadow one in contrast to how deity is going and I have irl stuff to get done, hopefully this is good enough until then.).

Wild’s Sky Archipelagos couldn’t be different from Skyloft, though no less breathtaking. The eternal beauty of the sky ringing true and everlasting over the cloud barrier enforced by Hylia, though if the sky found in your favorite Godslayer’s was beautiful due to the life that thrived in the loneliness in spite of it all, of creating a community that would outlast the wish for entropy Demise attempted to enforce into the world with the black hole heart of his greed, then Wild’s was because of the echoes of what once was there, that it was lovely and beautiful even in ruin as nature reclaimed what belonged to it by right. That even if the people were gone they existed, they thrived and lived and loved and even in tragedy, that mattered.

And nothing reflected that better than the Constructs which of outlasted the civilization. Made out of now decayed copper and sturdy ceramic, made cute, so the people would remember to treat their new helpers kindly, and made sturdy so they’d remember the people who loved adored them and their built in sense of duty and kindness to aid any guest of friend in need and given voices so they could listen to them speak, to make them just a little closer to humanity.

‘Many of them are deactivated now,’ Wild had told you, the first time you’d all stepped foot onto the main island, it was disorienting for you and most of the Chain (except for Sky, because of course your heavenly, cloud trailblazing boy would have taken to the abandoned, atmosphere cold and echoing sun gold clear beauty of the sky island the quickest like a fish whom was questioned on their ability to swim or a falcon on their ability to hunt, you were almost jealous if not for the fact you or Four always made lunges for his collar – Crimson didn’t come with through the portal after all, nor First’s Russet’- when he attempted to follow Wild’s lead and in consequence give you heart attacks), the little beings of ceramic and old bronze completely non hostile, going about tending to the islands with their faint whirs of gears and whistles of self sustaining magic batteries, voices cold but calm, almost comforting and the first pieces of technology far away from Sky’s them that weren’t immediately hostile towards your boys, ‘Mostly the soldier ones, the Stewards have remained though. Carrying on with their duty, making the place homey even if the people are gone.’

Something about that gave you pause, lagging behind your group in a long abandoned garden, the scent of Sundelions and lavender tickling your nose and a deactivate Soldier Construct coiled up in slumber. Remembering the ancient robots in Sky’s Era, carrying on in their little pockets of time, unaware that the people they were created to aid have long since gone, that their time had long gone, of Fi, everlasting, ever sleeping Fi, bound to duty, always remembering the one’s who created her, of Sky who treated her as a friend, and always watching as people so very unlike him but achingly similar came and went, unable to do anything. Loving like a ghost.

“Guest?”, came a little mechanical chirp, you blink yourself back into awareness, a Steward floating over with a tilted head, jade ceramic earrings clinking, “If I may, you look troubled. May I offer unsolicited aid?”

You can’t help but chuckle, shaking your head gently, an idea stitching yourself in your mind like threads of silk upon a gown, “No no, sorry, I’m alright, I was just wondering. Is it alright if I come on by to pick some flowers? They’re lovely, you did a great job caring for them.”

It inclines their head, chiming, something close to delight, as much as it can express as a machine, “Ah, I see you were admiring them. If I may offer a bit of trivia, Sundelions were the queen's favorite, you may. Will you take care of them?”

You smile, gently reaching a hand to pat it’s head with a nod, it clicks and whistles, surprised, but doesn’t pull away, “Of course, may I ask you a few questions as well? I’d like to know how many Soldier Constructs are resting now.”

You should also ask Sky what Fi’s opinion is on flowers, as well.

It might be a bit silly, but they deserve it after so long.

(Later, much later, when the Chain notices you’re gone after talking to Zelda in the Temple of Time high up in the. Sky finds you in the garden, gently weaving blossoms into a crown, the construct from before amicably chatting with you as it tends to the Sundelions with a ring of flowers around it's long, long neck.

He joins you, and when asked what his and Fi’s opinion is on flowers, he tells you she won’t mind, much less him.

Later that day, Fi’s gains a crown of yarrow, bluebells and morning glories

It’s not much, but it makes Sky smile, you hope she likes them.)