#lumpywrites

[lumpy-veev]

Sometimes (with regards to the Shooting Star ending) I think about the inherent tragedy that surrounds the myths tied to Yi's and Kuafu's names.

An archer that shot down nine of the ten suns. What happens if he's one of the suns? There can't be two suns in the sky. Only one sun can be left and it can't—it won't—be him. The archer shoots himself down and leaves the final, most loyal sun, left to light the cold sky.

A giant that chased the sun until he died. What happens if the sun he's chasing dies instead? It leaves him alive and listless, with nothing to lead him, no one to follow except the shadow that's been left behind. He's the sun now, and he is the one being followed instead.

One thing is certain. The archer will shoot nine suns down and the giant will never, ever catch his sun.

[lumpy-veev]

A loose thought in my head about our dear, sweet Lady Ethereal. Spoilers for Nine Sols ahead!

Okay. So. Eigong was definitely the one who did this, right?

If any of the Dusk Guardians could tell that Lady Ethereal had life support unhooked from her Vital Sanctum, at the very least they'd hook it back in, right? Bar that, they'd find a way to wake her up, right?? They'd have no reason to stick her in a jar, they're just here to work until they're discharged. So it wasn't them.

None of the other sols had reason to do it.

Goumang had complicated plans to make her greenhouse adhere to, and while she knew that solarian brains could be used for the neural network, she didn't seem interested doing so.

I'd wager Yanlao has exactly zero knowledge about anatomy and biology, he was too busy kissing up to the rich.

Jiequan wouldn't have done it unless there was transmutational value in it, and though he probably would've found Lady E's suffering interesting, he probably wouldn't have gone with the jarred brain method.

Fuxi was dealing with Tianhuo, and Nuwa's a rich, traumatized brat who's more worried about her brother than anyone else.

Kuafu just straight up wouldn't do something like that.

Yi was dead!

In the final boss battle, Eigong has this to say to Yi.

And...

She tried to trap Yi in her Soulscape. She was expecting it to last longer. She knew how to make her Soulscape something other than pleasant dreams and a gallery of memories.

I'm not saying this is concrete evidence. But it's something.

But why would she do that? Why would Eigong subject Lady Ethereal to an utter loss of autonomy and 500 years of horrifying nightmares? The whole thing's excessively cruel, even for her.

Maybe Lady Ethereal discovered something.

My thought is that Lady Ethereal caught a glimpse of the truth, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Not only were her colleagues and her beloved partner dead, the system they died for was going to be used by the person that created the Tianhuo, that doomed solarian-kind.

So right before she put herself in her Vital Sanctum minus the life support, she sabotaged the Soulscape system, planning to die with its secrets.

But Eigong found her. Pried open her mind to find out how to fix it, and then made her a part of her life's work.

Made sure she didn't die, for good measure.

[lumpy-veev]

The Kind Of Guy I Think Fuxi Was

Just my take on the young head of the Feng Clan! Such an important figure, but so interestingly voiceless throughout the game...

Very good at pretending to be the Everyguy, just a regular ol' rich kid, an easy-going dude with all this money to blow.

Actually incredibly sharp, business-wise, surprisingly ruthless, very capable as head of the Feng Clan.

Keeps a tally of every single favor he is owed.

Had his finger on the pulse of the media. So good at pulling strings.

Tended to play the contrary voice to whatever their parents said, whenever it came to Nuwa. He did it with the intent to protect her from their criticisms, but that just lead to her seeing him as the Sole Source Of Good Things in her life.

Aware of his sister's feelings, but doesn't reciprocate. Nuwa is his darling baby sister, and getting her the best therapists on Penglai was on his To-Do List before he contracted Disease. (HE SWEARS HE WAS GONNA GET HER HELP IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN BUT THEN WORLD WENT TO SHIT AND HE NEEDED TO MONETIZE THAT—) Imagine for me, if you will, a scenario:

Let's say you're a competitor with the Feng Clan in moth silk production. You have a meeting set up with Fuxi. He'll come in there, dressed all formal but with a sheepish grin because he's a bit late. He forgot his coat, you see! So he had to go back and grab it, and then his adorable baby sister, have you heard of her? Nuwa? The amazing actress? His adorable baby sister caught him at the door begging him to go see the first screening of her newest play with him later, so he'll actually need to leave this meaning a bit early too, sorryyyy!! And you're like. This fucking guy. The business talks happen, and, okay, he's competent enough with that, but with the way he's treating your time so disrespectfully, no way you're actually agreeing to anything after just one meeting. Besides! You have a new plantation of mulberry trees on the coast to raise your new batch of specially bred silk moths on. You don't need this deal with the Fengs. You don't need to take this! After the meeting, you go home and look at your news feed. You're still a bit miffed about how things went, though, so when the first article you see is an article raving about how great the newest play STARRING NUWA is, you don't even keep scrolling. You throw your device down in a huff. Why waste anymore brain space on those nepo babies? A few days later, your plantation is destroyed by a freak storm ravaging the coast. Your second meeting with the young head of the Feng Clan was scheduled a few days later. When you go, Fuxi offers you his condolences. Really nothing you could've done, after all, seeing as, even with a few days of warning, you can't stop the *weather*. You don't know what he means by that. But he offers you a deal. A great deal, even. To allow the Feng Clan to purchase your company at its original worth, before the storm tanked its stocks, so you can recover your losses. You just need to work under the Feng Brand. You take the deal. It's that, or let what you've built collapse. When you go home that day, you discover there was an article warning people who lived along the coast about the storm. It was published a few days ago, minutes before the review article about that play came out. (The elders aren't happy with how much money Fuxi spent to bribe the news company. But he just snorts. They'll be singing a different tune when the profits from their fashion branches triple over the next few years.) 

[lumpy-veev]

Penglai FuTuber rbomberguy releasing a 5 hour 20 minute long video essay on why Nuwa and Fuxi's latest movie isn't the groundbreaking masterpiece that critics are making it out to be and how the Feng Clan practice so much nepotism when it comes to the arts, but about an hour in it mentions how the Feng Clan funded some unnamed scientist to try and discover the secret to immortality, and oh yeah said scientist is LEADER OF THE TIANDAO COUNCIL, THE NEW GOVERNMENT THAT KIND OF SWOOPED IN? Also the council may have disappeared a noble's son-in-law???

At hour three rbomberguy reveals that he discovered where the Tianhuo came from.

[lumpy-veev]

You're an intern for the Tiandao Council, bringing coffee in for the remaining Sols after the Yi Incident. But you only brought eight cups of coffee because you forgot Fuxi and Nuwa are two separate entities. How do the Sols react to being the coffee-less one?

(I know Yi got murdered like two seconds before launch shhhhh I know just pretend there were like, a few extra weeks between that or smthn)

Kuafu: Chill about it. He prefers bubble tea anyways, he doesn't hold it against you.

Goumang: She's seething. How dare you. She's plotting exactly what experiment she'll use you for as we speak. (Not that she'll actually act on it, she's just tired.)

Yanlao: Will go on a tirade about how disrespectful you are to your elders, despite the fact that, at this point, coffee might send him directly into cardiac arrest. He wouldn't have finished the cup anyways.

Jiequan: Is disappointed, but the disappointment is only PAIN he will USE to make himself a MORE WHOLE PERSON—

Lady Ethereal: She's so sad about it, man. But she doesn't show it or begrudge you for it. It doesn't matter whether or not she wants coffee, she doesn't deserve coffee for her sins...

Ji: He has a cup of tea. There was never a problem to begin with.

Nuwa: How dare you?? She is the PRINCESS of the FENG CLAN. You'd better be prepared to get a job as a convenience store cashier and never work in this field ever again, because she is ABSOLUTELY getting you blacklisted with her connections. (Until Fuxi gives her his coffee. And then she remembers she doesn't like coffee.)

Fuxi: Chill about it! But he will keep this little episode in mind to use as fodder to get you to do something for him down the line. He's doing you a favor being so chill about it, after all.

Eigong: Great job! You've secured yourself a position on New Kunlun! All you need to do is finish a set amount of shifts as a Dusk Guardian, and then you'll be set to sleep until everything's okay again!

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: Kuafu, Yi, Shuanshuan

Summary: Kuafu thinks about his relationship with Yi while he helps Shuanshuan build that lounge chair on the balcony.

With HIS multi-tool. (He's not even really that peeved.)

[lumpy-veev]

Sunchaser - Veevwjw123 - 九日 | Nine Sols (Video Game 2024) [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization of Transformative Works ARCHIVEOFOUROWN.ORG

——————————————————————————

Chapter 2: Golden Hour (Dawn)

For a hot second I was worried I was gonna run outta steam before I even left the station! But I didn't! Hooray!!

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: Ji, Jietong (mentioned), Lear (mentioned)

Summary: The seer that calls themselves Ji has lived a long, storied life.

But it's a unique pain, even to them, to see those stories get twisted by time.

(Or, Ji's name, and how it came to be so.)

surprise guys i'm still fuckign ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lumpy-veev]

Kickshot

Y'know, I might make a habit of writing these short little fic bits. Less commitment than a full fanfic, but still fun!

Anyways, here's a Shelly x Fang bit, because I think they're more fun than people give them credit for.

— — —

"You should teach me how to kick like you do," Shelly says one day, after a heated sparring match had both of them staying down for a bit longer as Shelly's bones re-set themselves and Fang's muscles knit themselves back together.

"Yeah?" He replies, flicking a bullet he'd just dug out of his shoulder aside.

"Yeah, you make it look fun." She flexes her leg, no longer skewed at an uncomfortable angle about the knee. "And easy, but Barley makes it look easy to toss a bottle around and Poco makes it look easy to twirl around onstage with his guitarra, so maybe I'm asking too much, eh?"

"Nah," Fang says, without much thought. "It's mostly just stance and technique. Once you get the hang of a couple moves you just gotta chain 'em together. The rest is all experience."

"Doesn't sound too far off from getting good with a gun," Shelly grins. "S'that a yes, then, Colmillo?"

"Huh? Yyy—uh...Yeah! Definitely!" is what tumbles out of his mouth. Fang's gonna eat his shoes.

"Then it's a date!" She bumps her shoulder against Fang's. "Hopefully a better one than the one Willow and Angelo interrupted."

"Oh, gods, don't even remind me about that," he groans, flopping back onto the ground, throwing an arm over his eyes.

Shelly only laughs, clear and bright.

"I think I'm gonna lie here for a bit longer, don't wait up for me," Fang sighs, waving his other free hand at her.

"You good?" he hears her ask.

"Yeah, just tired. I can start teaching you this weekend?" He replies, peeking at her from behind his arm.

"Fine with me." She says, stealing Fang's visor, pecking him on the forehead, before dropping it on his stomach and standing up to leave.

Fang stays like that for a bit, watching as Shelly leaves his field of view.

"Hgggh..." He covers his eyes again, his heart fluttering in his chest as he thinks about her. He's doomed.

[lumpy-veev]

YI — "..."

YI — He just... looks at you.

SUNCHASER — His eyes bore into your soul.

LIKE-MIND [Medium: Success] — There's no anger. No resentment. Just resolve.

LIKE-MIND [Heroic: Success] — And a vacuous, starved-gnawing desire for vengeance. It might be all that's keeping him from thinking about unnecessary things right now.

YOU — Like what?

LIKE-MIND [Impossible: Failure] — If you knew, you would've been able to save him.

逻辑 [Trivial: Success] — If you say yes to this, you'll be in more danger than you've ever been in since the start of the Tianhuo pandemic. You won't be spared if he fails.

INFO BANK [Medium: Success] — There are countless uses for a sapient brain. Countless more for a fresh body.

BLEEDING-HEART [Challenging: Failure]— If you say yes to this, you might finally be able to breathe again, without your lungs catching on the grief-broken splinters you call your ribcage.

STALWART — It would have a purpose again, the decommissioned engine of your mind, the inactive machine that is you. He has always done that for you.

WILLPOWER — You can't. You can't say yes to him. Don't do this to yourself. If you lose him again, it will kill you, in every way that matters.

WILLPOWER — Haven't you learned anything?

1. - [Willpower — Impossible 20] Refuse to help him. +1 Please. -10 When have you ever been able to? 2. - [Sunchaser — Easy 9] Join him. -1 He'll doom you. +10 Since when has he not?

[lumpy-veev]

Sleep Mode (Without the Buttons)

Happy (late TvT) birthday to @starrysupercell! I wrote a Barley x Ash ficlet for my wonderful tumblr pal, but it's a bit short for ao3, so I figured I'd post it here!

Context: I have a little story brewing in my head, about Barley accidentally making a wish around Gene and becoming human for a bit! This is the first time he ever goes to sleep as a human. (I might post more about human Barley sometime in the future, but for now, this is all I have XD).

Enjoy!

— — —

Ash knows what it's like to share a bed with a warm body.

Several warm bodies, even, what with the way his parents crammed him and his siblings into one room back when he was a wee lad.

But none of them were Barley.

And none of them were as fidgety as Barley.

"Bon?" he finally says as Barley rolls over for the fourth time in just as many minutes. "If ye ain't comfy I can sleep on the couch."

"Ah, no. It's fine," comes the hushed reply. From the sound of Barley's voice, he's facing away from him again.

Ash gives a non-committal hum in response, sliding an arm under his pillow as he gets settled again.

"I just feel like I'm doing it wrong."

"Hn?" It takes a moment for his bleary mind to process. "...Sleepin'?"

"Yes! I don't know what I could be missing. I'm worn out from the workday, I'm wearing comfortable sleepwear, I've even been trying to close my eyes and keep still." Ash feels a shift in the bed as Barley adjusts himself. "But I still don't feel any closer to falling asleep."

"Yeah? Well—" Ash stifles a yawn. "You're nae doin' anythin' wrong, f'that's all yer worried aboot."

"No?"

"No. Sometimes ye just dinnae fall asleep." Ash sighs.

"Oh," Barley whispers. "That's..."

"Bloody annoyin'? A pain in the arse?" He snorts.

"I was going to say inconvenient. But I suppose you're correct as well," Barley chuckles quietly.

"Hm."

The two of them fall silent for a moment.

"Is that something that happens to you often?" Barley pipes up again.

"Hm?"

"Not being able to sleep."

"Ah. Well." It's something Ash is all too familiar with. "Depends on how ye mean it. Sometimes I dinnae sleep till late coz I have more mess t'clean up than usual. Sometimes I dinnae sleep coz I just can't. Like you, right now. So, somewhat, I guess."

"Oh."

Ash can't tell what Barley's thinking. "S'not terrible. I make do with what I get."

"I suppose you do."

"...Mm." The bed creaks as Ash rolls over to stare at the ceiling. "But don't use me as an example of how ye should be taking care of yerself. I'm a terrible example."

Barley doesn't respond.

Ash turns his head.

In the darkness, he can just barely make out the outline of Barley's narrow shoulders.

If Ash really looked, he'd probably be able to see them rise and fall as he breathes. He'd probably be able to feel it, if he pressed a hand against his back. But the warmth settling under the covers with them is already more than enough, so Ash looks away, and settles for pulling his sheets a bit snugger around himself.

"You're not so terrible," Barley says, just as Ash thinks the conversation must have ended. "It's not as simple as I thought it'd be."

Ash blinks. "...Falling asleep?"

"Taking care of yourself, I mean. Being human at all is— it's—" Barley seems to cut himself off. "I'm sorry, I must be keeping you up, maybe I should move to the couch instead—"

"Bon."

Barley stops.

"C'mere." Ash rolls over, scooting over to loop his arms around his waist and pull him close. Barley makes a soft, surprised noise as he does. "S'this alright, Bon?"

He shifts a bit, but settles quick.

"Um, I— this... yes. Yes, more than alright."

Ash feels a hand cover his.

"Mm. Good." Barley smells like his soap. It suits him, because everything does. "Bein' human's a right chore sometimes. But it's not so bad. We're good at chores, you n' I."

"...We are, aren't we?" This close, Ash can hear the smile in his voice.

"We are," he affirms. "Now stop thinkin' so hard. I can hear it from out here."

That gets a snicker out of Barley, and Ash can feel the tension bleed from his shoulders as he finally relaxes.

"You ask the impossible of me, dear," Barley sighs. "But for you I will try. Goodnight, Ash."

"G'night, Bon. Sleep well."

[lumpy-veev]

All of the brawlers probably have phones. Except for the robots, that stuff's built in! They do have specially-engineered phone cases to protect them, but that doesn't mean they stay pristine. It's also an unspoken rule that phones stay IN THE POCKET during a brawl.

Brawler texting headcanons les go:

WILD WEST TRIO:

Shelly: Pretty standard as far as texting and replying goes. If she happens to forget to reply to a text, she'll send something back no matter how long it's been sitting. Doesn't really bother with grammar and punctuation. A bit dry but will sometimes send one (1) emoticon. And maybe pictures of her cat.

(Blue-grey phone case with purple and yellow accents and a worn cat sticker. A few thin cracks on the screen.)

Colt: Replies back always!! No more than five minutes between replies!! He's one of those guys who, whenever he wants to tell someone about a Situation he's in, always takes a picture of the situation as a selfie, no matter what said situation is. Also uses emojis! Big fan of 'em.

(Blue phone case with red accents and a sheriff star pop-socket, screen un-cracked.)

Spike: If you text this boy, do not expect a timely, or coherent, reply back. Will respond with funny little keyboard smashes and emojis! A few understandable (if misspelled) words, if you're asking a question. He mostly uses his phone to play Starr Park-Flavoured Candy Crush.

(Green phone case with one big purple stripe with a Starr Park Spike Merch pop-socket, screen somehow un-cracked???)

SHAMAN TRIO:

Bo: He's! Not a very good texter! He leaves his phone at home for the day because wrastling Leon and Nita is a full-time job with many risks. If you text him, expect responses in the morning or the evening. Or not at all, because sometimes he forgets while trying to get Nita to come down from the rafters of their tree-house. You'd have better luck telling him things in person or texting Leon and/or Nita. Very formal when he does text! An occasional emoticon man.

(White phone case with dark red and mint green stripes with an eagle sticker from his kids, screen a bit cracked.)

Nita: ALL CAPS! ALWAYS!! Sends many motion-blurred photos of her and Bruce to any group-chats she's in! She keeps her phone on her, so she's a bit better at responding to texts than her dear old dad, but only a bit because sometimes she's doing something LOUD and misses the text notification. The way she texts is very blunt and to the point!

(Bear phone case!! Screen definitely cracked, a very gnawed pop-socket on the back.)

Leon: The most tech-literate of his trio! Uses emojis and slang like a champ. Responds the most reliably! He has a very casual texting style. Will send selfies of places he has snuck into to Nita and Friends.

(Chameleon phone case!! Screen un-cracked, with a lollipop sticker pop-socket on the back.)

BIO-DOME TRIO:

Rosa: Morning-Evening texter, but she keeps her phone on her at all times in case of emergencies, so she will sometimes respond to texts in the middle of the day when her hands are not covered in Chemicals. A pretty jovial texter! Sticks to grammar and punctuation. Uses emoticons a lot, and occasionally emojis.

(Purple phone case with green and accents and pink flower decals, un-cracked screen)

Bea: Mostly like Rosa, except she also takes photos of their experiments because her hands are free more often than Rosa's. Will send them to friends for her as well! Emoji user, with the occasional emoticon thrown into the mix. Probably uses kaomojis as well!

(Purple and Yellow striped phone case, with many bee stickers! Un-cracked phone screen.)

Sprout: Uses kaomojis consistently! Otherwise, a bit of a stiff texter. Still getting used to sentience! Will send photos of a Thing he found neat to friends and family.

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: Edgar, Colette, Bibi, Sandy, Emz, Poco

Summary: You ever have a braindead/super cancellable/weirdly horny conversation with your closest friends? No? Well, I have!

And so has the closest knit teen friend-group/polycule/it's-something-but-they-haven't-really-talked-about-it in Starr Park.

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: Belle, Edgar, Tara, Sam, Shelly, Rico, Crow (mentioned)

Summary: Not that anyone's looking to make it a pattern. Doesn't matter, though, Edgar's getting his answer today.

(Inspired by @sillyrumko on Twitter!)

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: R-T, Barley, Piper, Byron, Gray, (The Alleycat gang are in the bg for the most part)

Summary: Barley's was a delightful bar, a hotspot for humans and bots alike to relax and mingle.

A prime piece of territory for a would-be gang.

Barley won't take this takeover lying down.

[lumpy-veev]

Characters: Belle, Edgar, Tara, Sam, Crow (mentioned)

Summary: Shame on Belle. But maybe this one isn't looking to fool her.

(Inspired by @sillyrumko on Twitter!)