This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
And that's the end of this year's Johann Appreciation Week! Thank you to everyone who participated!
Now I have an announcement: I, @lute-strings, will no longer be the one running this blog. I have really enjoyed being the mod for Johann Appreciation Week these past few years, but I'm unfortunately just not as much of a fan of The Adventure Zone as I used to be. I'll be passing ownership to @crystallizedkingdoms, who has made incredible submissions for this week in the past and who I know will be the perfect person to be running the show from here on out.
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
This year's theme, going from the 17th to the 23rd of March as usual, will be: Passing the torch! Write of times when Johann gave or received different responsibilities, traditions, etc, to or from other people.
I hope you all have fun with this year's prompt, and I can't wait to see what everybody does!
Johann Appreciation Week part three letās goooooooooooooooo
The Lover: The Animus Bell
Bells are signals of beginnings and ends. They ring for births, weddings, and funerals. Strike the hours and call people to meetings. At least thatās what they were used for on their home world. It seemed to change, like most things, from place to place. One plane they would be symbols of good luck and in the next they were dark omens.
At the conservatory they were really only ever used for music. Itās where this whole idea started. Johann was (unfortunately) going through a percussion phase. He learned that the act of creating a bell was far harder than it seems. Such a delicate sound is made by smithing or casted metal. What he found while he hammered silver in a hot smithy was a pair of love. Had he had more time, more then a year, he would have learned to make many other types of instruments. Ideally at least some sort of luthier experience.
There is something particular about creating the very thing you use to make music. It becomes an extension of you. It becomes an expression of love. Every hammer stroke on silver, every shaving etched out for a design, blood sweat and tears combined. You do not create without feeling. You create what you feel. Of course not everything you create will be good but neither is everything you feel.
A creation of love, to be used to lovingly create. What could go wrong?
Johann appreciation week pt 2 baby. There is no overarching canon between these Iām just having fun shaking this sad man like a dog toy.
The Twins Part 2: The Philosophers Stone
Honestly this was a flagrant misuse of The Light of Creation but Johann really did not care. This was his fragment to do with what he liked and if he wanted to ever so slightly tweak the make up of his violin bow then that was his right. The materials that make up an instrument mattered to the sound just as much as the musician. Yes it was possible to make beautiful music with subpar materials but why would he settle.
The horse hair on every other plain just does not compare with the stuff from back home. Normally this wouldnāt be an issue as most things restarted at the beginning of the cycle but this time they hoped they wouldnāt have to start again. That plus he had been using the bow so enthusiastically it had already worn itself out.
Ideally this is how everyone would use the Philosophers stone, to transform petty little things to make life a little bit better. Change a dress from blue to pink. Tweak the wood of a chair from oak to cherry. Restring a guitar with catgut to nylon to steel. Transformation was just another form of creation. Although that might not be how Fisher felt about things but who wants to argue with a picky eater.
He pulled the rehaired bow across the strings and relaxed to its perfected sound. Little consistency kept him sane. He bowed out a few scales mostly just warming up. He had a lot of time now to practice. All the time in the world.
Iām late to Johann appreciation week. Iāve not kept up with general Johann fanon. I am going to make up some egregious head canons. Enjoy.
The Twins Part 1 - The Phoenix Fire Guantlet
Johann stood infront of the charred figure of a woman. He placed his hand against hers as if touching a mirror, but touching ash and char instead. He knew what did this.
This was his fault.
Why did he make it?
The others had put so much thought into their relics. This was simply his fourth pass at a shoddy idea. (He could hear her voice in the back of his head āYou are too hard on your creations.ā) He tried to go against his natural instinct. He wanted to make something serious. Protective. He had always needed to be protected. He was always the lackadaisical one. So he made a flame gauntlet. It was a ridiculous thing and the only good itās done was burn his original drafts.
He crumpled to the ground and looked down to the perfect obsidian beneath him. Instead of his own face looking back at him, the only thing he saw was his sister he left behind. The one who encouraged him to apply with his theory of audio resonance on a planar level. The one who always listened to his music and saved his notations from the trash. More than half his soul, his heart. His twin.
He needed to find it and soon. He couldnāt let this be his legacy in this world. He would be back soon enough. At least thatās what he said in his note, the one he left on the music stand.
Thank you @crystallizedkingdoms for giving me an excuse to participate. Read their accompanying fic here:
Lucas doesnāt know why Johannās memory is affected differently. He swears.
wc: 2,027
The Birds in this fic are: āāāā & āāā (Twins), āā (Love
Lucas doesnāt know why Johannās memory is affected differently. He swears.
wc: 2,027
The Birds in this fic are: āāāā & āāā (Twins), āā (Lover), āāāā (Protector), Lucas Miller (Lonely Journal-Keeper), āāāā (Peacemaker)
day 7 of @johann-appreciation-week! thank you to @avijohann for the amazing art. I canāt believe itās the final day! Iām so glad I could participate this year. canāt wait for the next :ā)
I donāt know what happened, I swear.
Please, trust me when I say I really donāt know what happened. There are a million reasons that I cannot possibly calculate that can explain why Johann is having such an adverse reaction to Fisherās erasure when the others arenāt. There are a million reasons why he hasnāt spoken a single word since I found him lying next to āāāā after the erasure. Thereās a million reasons I canāt find him a home like I have with the others. Thereāsā¦ thereāsā¦
Oh, I donāt know. I hate it just as much as anyone else would that I donāt know why this is happening to him. I wish it wasnāt. Johann was never the loudest person, his voice never filled the room incessantly like āāāāās did, but it is so fucking weird that he doesnāt say a single thing anymore. Not even when I prod and poke at him, or when I bother him with all the little arguments I used to bug him with. Landing procedures, retrieval missions, how to file paperwork, how to brew the best coffee, who should clean our desks, worst musical composers across the planes weāve visited nothing nothing nothing gets him to talk.
Itās hard enough, having āā on the loose while also having to take care of Johann. Itās a suffocating rock and hard place to be between. Of course it had to be those two. Theyāre the inseparable pairs that I have separated. Have to continue to separate, because I know āā is going to figure out that I havenāt placed Johann anywhere and heās going to come crawling back to me. A highly annoying block in my road to saving the world.
Would itā¦ would it be easier to leave Johann off somewhere? Even if he canāt speak, heā he can still walk. He eats when I tell him to. Heās not as dexterous as he used to be, he moves slow and heās tripped enough times on his Robe that Iāve had to hide it away, butā¦ itās still survivable. Andā and heāll be off my hands! āā will find him, but he doesnāt have access to Fisher. He couldnāt fix whateverās happening to Johannā¦ but he would take care of him. Better than I can do.
Itāsā¦ unnervingly cruel. Looking at him as I write this down, I donāt know how well this can go. Johann is barely moving, his ears flop down more than a half-elfās normally should, and though Iāve found no evidence of a fever, he keeps holding his hand up to his forehead. I donāt know if I can be sure someone else doesnāt get to him before āā. Maybe I can attach some tracking device to Johann, something to keep tabs on him, make sure he doesnāt get hurt.
Yeahā¦ yeah, yeah. That sounds good. Iāll get to working on that right away.
ā
I couldn't do it.Ā
How could I have done it? I tried, I did, and I hate that I even tried it. I didnāt even leave Johann for a whole five hours before I rushed back to pick him up. Nothing happened to him. Some people looked at him weird, some guy got in his face when Johann stared at him for too long, but he didnāt get hurt. It was me, I just couldnāt keep my eyes off of his little point in my tracker, I couldnāt stop worrying about what would happen to him, Iā
I couldnāt stop thinking about how I could fix him.
Itās notā It is wrong. Itās wrong itās wrong itās wrong I know exactly what Iām doing. I know why Iām fretting about him when Iām not fretting about āāāā, āāāāāā, even āāāāāā, my own mother. Itās not that Iām not worried about them, I have visited my mom, I have visited āāāā, but I canāt just visit Johann. Especially if āā gets to him.
I need to figure out if I can fix Johann. I canāt leave a project of mine, failed.
Iām notā Iām not saying that Johannās a project, no, no no. Heās not an experiment, thatās not what this is. I just want to right the single fixable wrong in this mess Iāve made. I donāt want to prove anything else. Thatās not what this is. I wonāt let myself turn it into that, I promise.
ā¦Right now, Johann is attempting to clean my desk. I donāt know why, I swear. I didnāt tell him to. I didnātā I didnāt tell him, I donāt know why that has his attention, I donāt know. Hold on.
ā
Nothingās working.
Not a single fucking thing is working.
I have run multiple tests on Johann, as much as I can with these limited amounts of resources, and there is nothing physically wrong with him. He can make noisesā I found out he can say his name when prompted, but absolutely nothing elseā heās eating well, his sleep schedule is actually better than it was when he was normal. His balance is still a little off, and he keeps picking at his fingers, but otherwise heās in perfect health.
I thought I had fixed it all when I realized it couldnāt have been physical. When I started trying to jog Johannās memory, the ones I was so sure I hadnāt touched. I made him repeat his name, over and over and over, using it to communicate. Heās still monotonous, as he usually was, but heās starting to use tone again and thatās all I can hope for when it comes to speaking. So I tried something else. Something that should have been easier.
I gave Johann his violin. I watched as he held it in a way I would never have expected him to. Limp in his hands, his grip awkward and strained, I couldnāt even get him to hold it in the proper position. It got to a point I couldnāt leave it in his arms in good faith. I took it from his hands carefully, and he stared at me with empty eyes.
I tried again. Multiple times throughout multiple days. I brought out his other instruments. Johann acted even more clueless around them, looking over them so clumsily and inquisitively that he almost snapped the strings of his lyre. If he canāt figure out his music, the thing he dedicated his entire life to, what he loved more than leading our mission (he barely even wanted to be called Captain, he much preferred being called Maestro despite the entire āāā hating that their star astronaut wanted to be called that stupid unique title), thenā¦ fuck, whatās left of him?
Iā¦ I donāt know what happened, I swear. I donāt know where to go from here. I canāt just stop, but if itās impossible to figure outā¦
I need a drink.
ā
āā knows.
I knew I should have put up that ward earlier. I didnāt know he would use my own creations against meā I need to adjust the mechanism of the fusebox, so a soul can only be taken in and not voluntarily joined. What a flaw in my blueprints, I shouldāve accounted for the undead using it againstā
That doesnāt matter right now, Lucas, holy shit! āā knows.
I saw him, in that shitty prototype body, somehow my detection didnāt go off and he was kneeling hovering right in front of Johann, who only stared blankly at the strange robot in front of him. I heard āā plead, his voice staticky from my terrible audio system I made on the fly, trying to communicate with Johann, and quickly realizing he wasnāt understanding. Wasnāt even responding.
āā only realized I was there when Johann got up from his bed and ran to hide behind me.
I tried to subdue him, I swear. I grabbed the metal pipe on the nearby desk and swung it hard on the robot I had spent so long making to keep him there. So I could talk to him. But no, heās the one who blew his own fuse to eject himself from the body. Heās the one who attacked me. I donāt think he wanted to kill me. I donāt think heās like that. But, I mean, he got so so so close untilā¦
Until Johann swung at him with my pipe.
It didnāt hit. Of course it didnāt, a lich isnāt affected by blunt attacks like that. But it made āā stop moving and get off of me. He stared at Johann, and though he had no eyes to speak of, I justā¦ I just know what they wouldāve looked like. Confused. Scared. Pained.
I shouldāve captured him. I shouldāve gotten him trapped, hurt, anything, but I was too late. He reached to try and take Johannās hand, but when Johann backed up behind me again, he didnāt waste a second. He mustāve seen me reaching for my device because he left without a single word.
āā knows, and that leaves me a dead man walking.
ā
Iā¦ lie. A lot.
Even when nobody's watching. Even when nobodyās hearing. Even when nobodyās reading.
Itās a habit Iāve gained even before joining the āāā. I lied more than I should have even during the mission. I got a lot better, but near the end, when we landed in this world and I saw the horrible damage we were doing with our own creationsā¦
Well, I picked it up again.
Iāve been lying to myself. And by extension, Iāve been lying to Johann. I realized this when I chided Johann for staring at the new bard Seekerās violin and trying to grab it. I said I didnāt know what got into him as I apologized to the Seeker.Ā
I thought maybe if I lied to myself, I would forget. Like the memory of my own horrible mishap would melt into Fisherās galaxy eventually. It never did. And reading back on my old notes, I recognize how insanely stupid I sound. Itās embarrassing, really, how I thought that was convincing. I even added āI swearā to every single lie I told. What loser does that?
ā¦How was I supposed to know, though? How was I supposed to sort through the dozens of papers on our shared desk? How was I supposed to know that, mixed in with my journals of our mission, Johann had stored all his musical compositions? Every single one, even the ones from back home, because even when we initially thought it was just two months, he couldnāt bear the thought of going to a whole new planar system without his music. āThey are me, and I am them,ā he told me once. I laughed in his face when he said that.
But he was right. Somehow, in some way, every composition held pieces of him. Johann spread his entire existence throughout his compositions. And when we shared our desk, the late nights doused in black coffee and brainstorming, our lifeās work were intertwined. They were cluttered on our desk. Desperately needing some reorganizing.
And I threw it all in Fisher the Voidfishās tank, hurried and rushed, because I could hear my mom coming down the hall when I only had the main journal in.
Now look at him. Johann isā¦ empty. He helps around the Bureau, leading people to the Voidfish. He sits near the Voidfish all the time now. At first, it would sing to him, prod at his location in its tank, begging for the food he could lovingly create for it back during the mission. But eventually, it gave up, once it noticed it was going nowhere. Johann looked at it with tired eyes all the same, the awe that once filled him when looking at its beautiful structure all but gone.
Andā¦ now itās gone. All because of me. But I have the Bureau now. A whole organization to myself, dedicated to finding our Relics. When I have them all, my plan will finally be put into place, and the world will be safe. Then, the chase will be over. I can gather everyone back, āā included, and we could be together. Johann will get his memories back. Itāll all be okay.
