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

ok i was thinking more about erskin going and having a one day stand with whatever rainbowdrinkers... would it change things if erskin made the rainbowdrinkers take him back to the hotel? as in, erskin straight up told them 'my deranged war-machine kismesis brutally murdered my matesprit because he didn't like how she was treating me, imagine what he'd do if you guys injured or abducted me' and the drinkers were like 'yeah we're not idiots we'll treat you nice'

so when erskin wobbles in the door it would still be very upsetting, but if erskin is like 'no of course i wasn't in danger, you idiot, everyone knows by now who killed cloris' maybe bel wouldn't feel so overwhelmed by erskin's apparent death wish?

'well obviously you'd avenge me' isn't great life insurance, but it's... something, at least.

 

oh man erskin would be so baffled and embarrassed if bel made those guys do that— and angry and scared? he prefers to scoot out of rough situations instead of escalating anything or retaliating against anyone, so if bel went and forced more violence into the situation, especially after how many times erskin has told him not to, he'd probably blow up at bel.

that could be a pretty interesting plot point / fight, come to think of it. bel might be proud of himself for dispensing justice and defending erskin's honor, but erskin would definitely be furious that bel went did the very last thing erskin wanted him to do, against erskin's own protests, and then expected erskin to be grateful. we should do it if you want!

as for small dad, hm. more food adventures? taking him down to the hotel kitchens? ordering more room service? offering toys? the fluffcheep needing a bath because he is covered in food and dust and stuff? the fluffcheep declaring war on the other two lusii?

i figure that the night after the hatching erskin's just going to have hit the 'achy and queasy and twitchy and cranky' stage of vampire withdrawls and will probably alternate between lurking in the pillow pile, lurking at the bottom of the pool, lurking out on the balcony, pacing around the apartment/balcony/pool, and drinking. also, probably being a huge irritable pain in the butt. jethro and bel are more than welcome to leave him to his jittery assholish devices and play with the fluffcheep instead.

 

haha of course the night you're down to play i have a lot to do! when will our stars align??? but i'll have my phone on me tomorrow so we can bounce stuff around if you're up for it.

anyway yeah np i'll take care of lainey.

 

awww. maybe there's some interesting lowblood hangouts lainey knows about? an arcade or a show or an underground slam poetry ring. maybe someone can make fun of bel for having a small cottonball for a lusus.

 

of course when i settle down to sleep i think of some cool shit. but ok. here's an example of a typical rap battlefield— or, if you're a lowblood, the slam poetry combat plane.


say it's generated and projected randomly, but it's basically a chaotic checkerboard maze of items and creatures. two to four trolls start at different corners and need to make it to the opposite ones, lower right to upper left, lower left to upper right, etc. first one to the other side wins, generally. you proceed across the field by stepping from one subject to the next (of your shade)— but you can only proceed once you name it in your verse. you get a set time for your turn— ten seconds, thirty, whatever— to proceed as far as you can. the beat is set beforehand, you get style points for smooth transitions and solid rhymes, you get booed back a space for clunky nonsequiters and for going off the beat. if you navigate to a space adjacent to your opponent, you get to strife.

your strategies are: take the straightest route to the other side, or curve towards your opponent as they travel to win by knock-out. you get your opponent's turn to asses your adjacent subjects and compose ahead of time, but you also have to keep an eye on what they're up to. both short-turn and long-turn games would be quick and slow in different ways. short turns would produce less forethought in moves and verse, leading to more frequent fouls and strifes, and risks a game being over in a minute or two by both players heading right for each other's throats. long turns would produce more calculated verse and thoughtful moves, but risks a game being over in a minute or two by one player clearing the whole board in a single turn.

i can't rap worth a damn but i'd love to watch this played.

 

URRFFGHFFGHP OKAY, we dragged the last box into the new place! Ive been hauling things up to a third floor walk-up for three days now and I am so incredibly pooped, but we're in. Fantrolling can resume in a bit.

 

Huh, its been interesting to kind of click together a coherent thesis of What Is Wrong With Erskin. Like, Lainey's a bit off because she's only really seen him at his raw worst, and he's not so much prey as a very small predator. But his specific trauma set revolves around the horror of being consumed-- eaten by a beast, cut up for parts by trolls, used up as a toy by bel-- while his regular nature still wants the challenge and pride of being of use. He likes helping, he's interpreted his whole caste function in terms of caretaking. But he's been used badly, and he's so scared of pain and betrayal...

Then along comes Cloris and turns his worst-case nightnare scenario-- being used up, devoured-- into a kink. Surrendering. Giving up, letting go, and suddenly the endless fearful struggle to protect himself is over. That'd be a hell of an incentive even if it wasn't compounded with sex 'n drugs.

Poor kid. He's pretty fucked. I'm not actually sure how to get him out of this corner I painted him into!

 

Hmm well I think kismesises sticking up for each other is more couched as 'no one fucks with you but me', and maybe a jealous 'why are you waisting your time on those lesser challenges when WE could be going at it?' And maybe even a taunting, 'ha ha, these things that are problems for YOU are no match for ME'.

'You can't take care of your own shit so i guess I gotta' sounds pretty ashen, 'even pale, and 'you poor thing, i'll be your champion' sounds distinctly red.

Probably Jethro and Bel need to sit down and actually coordinate what emotional bits their relationships with erskin cover, instead of just making out with him a lot and hoping it all works out.

 

Also come to think of it erskins already uncomfortably anxious that he has nothing much to offer bel, so if bel went from 'im not going to let you give up on yourself, youre cool and tough' to 'ok yeah you were right about being such a mess, ill be your protector now' erskin would be pretty stung.

Also like, i dont know if erskin would have any confidence that bel COULD take care of him anymore. Bel and erskin have such wildly different solutions for troll aggression erskin isnt at all okay letting bel handle situations for him.Plus they also consider such different stuff a problem! bel flares up at challenges to his pride that erskin doesnt give a fuck about --that party video-- and erskin starts getting jittery at challenges to his safety -- psionics, being trapped or exposed, particular kinds of attention, admitting to injury-- that bel doesn't even register.

Plus erskin's flighty impulsiveness and history of free wandering is going to make him feel confined by a protector's rules whenever he isn't deliberately gone to ground. Even with cloris he didnt comprehend 'obedience' and bel's already figured out erskin gets contrary just to assert himself. Its probably the half-catdad influence, haha.

(I am increasingly liking the idea that erskin responds to pancho with immediate and unquestioning deference and it exasperates everyone.)

 

Yeah that seems like a good route? Erskins already shown willing to stop and recalibrate their fights rather than calling the whole thing off, so maybe if bel tries one tack and it doesn't work, bel can be confident enough to try a new angle. It be cool if it was /bel/ that reminded erskin that he's still a predator, you know?

Also re: killing other trolls, erskin doesnt like murder and unfair fights but also is really wary of revenge cycles and quadrant/clade retaliation. Beat a guy and leave and youre probably fine! Kill them and you have fuck knows how many trolls out after you for revenge... Its always better just to skip town fast.