Boat Trolls planning thread! (full of spoilers, non-players enter at your own risk)

i did the thing

 

i don't really have a good reason why erskin didn't just think of giving them to a cafeteria for gumbo or chowder in the first place... maybe he's still trollish enough that when you've got fancy treats, you give them to your quadrantmates first and try to turn a profit second. altruistically offering highblood snacks to lowbloods for free is kind of different than like 'i grow a lot of potatoes so my crew can stay fed', i guess.

 

very important realization: erskin keeps his hair trimmed short at the sides because he doesn't like it brushing against his fins— it would feel like hair tickling his nose and eyelids, or worse. but like it's gotten out of control while he was sick and everything, and is now in 'irritating mop' territory which is also probably like the 'trollywood tousled sex hair' gold standard.

how charming would bel find it that erskin keeps cursing at his hair and trying to claw it off his twitchy fins while being too tired and distracted to actually set a proper appointment for a haircut?

 

if you're going to be up for while it would be fun to play RPs, but don't push yourself if you're not into it. also, when i'm stressed i don't want fluff, i want action/adventure and intricate evildoings: i'd be much happier writing the woofs having a little adventure, or captain aspera having to deal with the stress of a visiting asshole captain, than cuddles.

i think i like fluff times because you like fluff times and it makes me happy to give you things you like, plus i'm happy whenever i observe my friends are happy. but as for myself i find it too straightforward, low-action, and emotionally stable to be inherently fun to write.

 

one plot i've really wanted to get to in the space navy is for a really dangerous indigo (maybe subjugglator) captain to need to be carrier-ed off to some sort of battlefront. the kind erskin mentioned having black flings with because it kept them occupied and fatalities to a minimum because this captain really likes killing lowbloods that get in his way. and so bel has to deal with like, watching is still-clearly-not-well captain and this big new guy tearing into each other like they've always done, and maybe there's jealousy, because erskin and bel entirely skipped the violent part of a black relationship. or he's just horrified and protective, because he's the only dude who should be messing with erskin.

but like, the captain is an important frontline commanding officer with his own ship and probably the full endorsement of wavebane, so bel's ass is grass to cross him, and it's only by playing his blood for all it's worth that erskin can even barely match him, so anything bel would do to the guy would have to be really sneaky.

it could also be a good opportunity for jethro to be super worried too?

 

yeah, i was thinking bel could come up with some kind of clever plan— like to fuck the guy up or humiliate him or to lure him into a situation bel can kick his ass? it would be cool if bel or jethro could be the hero and rescue erskin again (though HE wouldn't find that much fun haha)

 

we could just write the murfey threesome

 

i honestly think trolls are too quarrelsome to STICK to a formal duel system, if there even is one. their base level of politeness is 'ongoing squabble'... equius seemed to act like bluebloods have some kinds of codes and conventions they thought were noble to stick to, though.

i like the compounding social factor of the guy outranking him in position and importance, not just blood, though. like— bel is used to working within a military system, he has superiors. but it seems like being pretty much disgraced and irrelevant hasn't quite caught up with him? so like 'kill him and make it look like an accident' is suspicious, especially when bel only just squeaked out of a conviction the last time. and 'punch him in the nose and see how he likes it' invites a really disproportionate response. 'take over from erskin as object of black fixation' is probably no good because bel isn't much of an actor and is an even poorer flirt, though that could be kind of hot.

HMMMM clever plan, clever plan... i feel like i just thought of something great and promptly forgot it. dang.

 

haha that could be cute. erskin would be like 'i can do those too >:T' and everyone would be like, 'erskin. no. honey. sit the fuck down.'

hey what if the casino ends up working as intended? they drag him off there and let him be whitey's problem. and whitey (who has also been observing the erskin mauling with dismay) fucking hangs him out to dry.

 

also ok i can just see this scene, erskin is like 'okay this captain is difficult, leave him to me' and bel is like 'hmmmmm' and then the captain comes storming down the gangplank, dragging some hapless mechanic by the neck while bellowing threats. and erskin's like 'excuse me' and headbutts him square in the face.

and bel is like 'oh'

 

we could also say that that whitey had fucked off while his casino was being built and erskin was unreachable. i think after lainey bedded him a couple times and was confident it could happen again she'd want him out from underfoot. also, she's not going to share any of erskin's especially vulnerable periods with someone like whitey, who erskin's already kind of fucked up over.

so maybe whitey's heard second or thirdhand that erskin's back up and has zipped back to CHECK OUT HIS CASINO, REALLY and maybe also see how the captain's fairing.

i'm sorry whitey's kind of hard to play for you, because i think his developing relationship with erskin, as well as the whole manipulative control/seduction thing lainey's pulling, is super fun to me. lainey's turned into a really interesting lady, it's fun to have a power-hungry self-interested posessive schemer around to try and collect important people....

you really should read temeraire. the dragons in that book have such a cool intelligence and priority system. lainey isn't exactly like them, but she's not very different.