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

bel has gone full hooah.

 

oh, he's not mad at her for stonefacing him, her rival just died at his hands, it's only fair. he's mad at erskin for making him even consider the morality of the situation, instead of coming at it like he's informing the lusus of a trainee that their charge died in a training accident.

 

i think bel is feeling a little like a vietnam draftee who came home with ptsd and got called baby-killer. except that he doesn't have that analogy handy, because anti-war protests aren't a thing in troll culture, so he just feels empty and persecuted and alone. also he's being a sulky bitch, so feel free to have ppl get annoyed with that. :D

 

Oh yeah, he's totally not afraid of getting dirty. I think he'll actually find it a huge relief. Erskin's willingness to get dirty is one of the things bel likes about him, because most space types it's like

 

naw, he knows erskin does mucky jobs without complaint, so he won't assume it's punishment. he may get grumpy about it if it keeps him from doing what he sees as his REAL job, though -- that is, finding out what makes the Sunslammer tick, detecting the reasons it fails to tock, and getting the gears turning smoothly.

 

oh btw -- i've had bel saying 'crewman' where earth reality navy protocol would have him saying 'sailor' or 'airman' or whatever. i think he is really, really weirded out by people not addressing each other correctly. not so much in a stuck-up or authoritrian way but in an autistic way; that is the sound that is supposed to come out of your mouth, why are you making a different sound.

 

heh, i've just been googling them, i'll probably make any number of embarrassing mistakes.

 

i wish military!bel wasnt so reticent, i keep wanting to have him say stuff like "but don't you have bags of filthy lucre?" but he just won't do it.

 

i suspect that same "oh here we murdered some random jackass, now you should be satisfied" bull got pulled on bel a few times, but he was a ruthless and very angry young man who deeply enjoyed making his problems personal for the kind of people who would do that, and also sincerely didn't care if he died. so it didn't work on him.

it'd probably have to work on him now, though, because erskin probably wouldn't let him just murder the guy who picked out the scapegoat.

edit: in fact, erskin's really pulled bel's teeth, in terms of getting things done in the alternian military. bel will eventually start to kick at that, i think.

 

oooh, i really LIKE that. if bel is like "no trust me i know how to keep supply guys from dicking me around" and shoots the scapegoat-picking guy, and then he and erskin get in a big fight over it while everyone shouts NOW KISS at them.

also i was talking to luka and he said he lacks the spoons to play galley and requests you do it, as this verse's galley is an interpretation and can differ. and i threw kind of a joy tantrum because oh wow i would love to see your take on galley.

 

probably one part general insecurity, one part bitter self-awareness (this bel is not v loveable, he's much less of a sweet doofus than teen bel), one part trying to convince himself not to hit on his boss because whoa buddy that's a terrible idea, and 592 parts 'no but he legitimately is motherfuckin royalty, he could bend the whole fleet over a desk if he just got his act together'.