Welcome to my corner of the internet, you glorious nerds, itās over halfway through a new year and as usual you know what that means! (I forgot to post this in January) A re-introduction for the old, the new, and the i-stumbled-across-your-blog-at-3am-and-forgot-to-leave folks! Thereās once again more of you than last year which is a surprise that youāre all this invested in the nonsense I spew or you find me entertaining. Iāve been in fandom since the Wild West (of the internet) where anime was on Youtube and FF(dot)Net and Ao3 were brand spankinā new. So youād better strap on your seatbelts because youāre about to go on a wild ride. Iām not afraid of shit and I will remind you all of the true essence of fandom. (Itās chaos, the true essence is chaos.)Ā
If you enjoy my work and want a commission/ to leave a tip please feel free to buy me a ko-fi, but do not in any way feel pressured to do so! Commission slots are open for the first month in each quarter (January, April, July, October) and I absolutely love working with OCs. If you want to support me in a free way, consider sharing a link to my page: https://ko-fi.com/songofscreams
My fandoms vary in number and strength and you WILL find them all on this blog at some point but the main one is Dr. Stone. Apparently you guys like my meta, whoādāve thunked it? But if you also enjoy my art and fic here are some of the tropes you can expect to find:Ā
Strong platonic and familial relationships
natural disasters
person v. nature and person v. self
tending to each otherās wounds
extensive world building (dependent on the fic)
multi-faceted charactersĀ
Angst with a happy/hopeful ending (This is an always thing. If you go into one of my angst fics expecting it to end badly you will be disappointed)
Now with 50% more ships, comedy, and fluff (I'm a multishipper)
Being able to analyze something to death
It always makes my day to see your comments and trust me, I read every. Single. One. (And try to respond/remember to respond to them too!)Ā
Note: I am a fan from the ye olden days of the internet. The fics I write are often dark and gritty, sometimes gritty and dark so BE SURE TO READ THE TAGS FOR EACH FIC. Some fics do have updating tags, that will be noted IN THE TAGS. I always try to give an additional heads up before chapters if thereās something difficult in the prose ahead, but I am human at the end of the day. This is your general reminder to read the tags and be aware that I have fics that contain varying degrees of gore (canāt go too in depth because I canāt do gore either!), death, and mental health related things. You curate your online experience, not me and what I write may not necessarily reflect my views on a given topic.
Fics:Ā
Please note that only multi chapter fics are listed as I have a lot of one-shots!Ā
This Too Shall Pass: Dr. Stone fic that focuses on the events post chapter 160(ish) and runs with the events that happened in the N.America arc. Grew legs and turned into a canon-divergence fic. This is the first installment which is complete.
Status: Complete
Words: 50k+
Rating: T+
Silver and Blood: Second installment which is going through a second drafting phase as itās being posted. Runs with the events of what happened in the N. America arc and grew legsā¦ trying to come to terms with the fact that Iām going to need a third installment to wrap it upā¦ send help.
Status: In progress (On posting hiatus)
Words: 70k+
Rating: M
The Tiger and the Moon: Dr. Stone fic that started out as a what if Oak an OC mentor of Senku met Byakuya before petrification. A very sad attempt at rom-com with some balanced angst.Ā I'm having a great time though, Oak's dumb as hell.
Status: Complete
Words: 23K+
Rating: T+
You may be wondering what happened to my Genshin fics. I am no longer associating with the fandom due to the overall behavior of fans.Ā Please also note that my fics are now locked to provide some protection from AI.
Meta/Ask Answers:
Byakuya: Byakuya wasn't rich... at first, In Defense of Parenting, Pidgin and Language in Dr. Stone
Senku: Senku's Relationships (His Pillars), A brief word on his relationships, A perspective of what 3,700 years looks like, Senku and Conflict, A brief word on his mental health
Add-Ons to Other's Posts: How the record got to Ishigami Village, Dresses in Dr. Stone and brief word on textiles, Senku and Taiju and Yuzuriha, In Defense of Ryusui and Currency in Dr. Stone
Dr. Stone World Building: Weather and Climate, Introduction of Mega Fauna/ Escaped Zoo Animals, The Political and Cultural Impact of the KoS on the Post-Petrification World, The Culture of Xeno's Group, Your Guide to Writing In Universe of Dr. Stone (All 3 parts), Horses in Dr. Stone and Beyond (pt. 1) (pt. 2) (pt. 3)
Asks: Thoughts on Stanley and Xeno's relationship, No Petrification Au Thoughts, What if Someone other than Taiju woke up? , Thoughts on Genres and Settings, ATLA AU, What Would I Change In Dr. Stone?, Favorite Weather, DnD Class, Favorite Soups, GoT AU, Favorite Anime, Which fic adapted as film? Fic Ideas
Just in general I have noticed over the years that I've enjoyed this series that there is just a lot of amazing stuff in specifically the relationships that are written for the characters. Not just romantic relationships but friendships, siblings, coworkers, parent-child (or maybe even grandparent-grandchild in Kaseki's case), etc. Just this really strong sense of community that I've noticed all the factions share. (I'll get to Treasure Island in a second because they're a special case)
Pretty much although the series fails to show a wide range of people succeeding in STEM from different backgrounds, it does succeed in showing how a strong community is the backbone of, well, success. Sure you can do things by yourself, but one of the things that I really love about this series is how it shows that it's okay to ask for help and to rely on other people.
Treasure Island is an interesting case because it takes this idea of community and puts it in a dire situation and also twists it. It turns community on itself and shows how that can lead to a lot of discord and chaos. It's easy to see that even if the KoS hadn't shown up that Treasure Island likely would have eventually had multiple factions vying for power, resulting in wars and famine. I do wish we could see how this concept could be taken and pushed and pulled in a variety of directions.
You guys know how much I love my factions, I'll have to add this to the list of stories to explore! (I'll do an introduction of my OC factions and characters soon! Some characters like Oak, Ismael, and Sarah you guys already know, but I have so many more!)
This week's chapter has got some very nice SenGenSen in it! I love writing the subtle emotionally charged relationships and these two make it so much fun to analyze since they're so indirect with EVERYTHING.
Read more (Ao3)
also if you're wondering why the OCs.... I accidentally took out a majority of the KoS in the first installment so everyone's kinda recovering from their injuries right now (oops) and I needed to flesh out this city. Things are going to start getting intense soon but next week we're going to go on break so be on the lookout for a poll!
This chapter is a really sweet one to balance all the bitter angst from the last two chapters! As always enjoy this excerpt and check out the full fic (and series) only on Ao3!
Senku shoved the door open to the boarding house with his shoulder as he pulled down his mask, eyes wide in the hopes of seeing Yuzuriha once again, not caring that he smelled of horse and smoke and wine. Not like sheād care anyway. He scanned the room, eyes falling on her where she stood with Taiju. For a moment she was startled by the intruder before her eyes went to his petrification scars and trailed down to his eyes.Ā
āSenku?ā She asked, approaching him with her hand outstretched.
Ā
āYeahā¦ā He breathed, āItās me.āĀ
Her finger tips brushed Senkuās cheek as she touched his hair, āYou dyed it.ā
Ā
āHad to in order to escape Stanley.āĀ
āIt suits you.āĀ
āThanks.ā He said before wincing as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.Ā
As always check the tags! This is a pretty emotion-heavy chapter and I'm quite pleased to finally be able to share this snippet with you all!
āThen whatās the point of all of this?ā Senku snapped, turning to face Oak, his eyes burning with tears.
She glanced over her shoulder at him before turning her gaze to the sky where the arm of the Milky Way was just barely visible with the light of the fire. āThereās an old story, of someone long ago who died on the shore of a great lake only for one of his descendants to find his remains. Time was not kind to his bones and they lay scattered in the sands. His skull was painstakingly put back together, piece by piece, so he could feel the sun on his face once again. Humanity is capable of great cruelty but weāre also capable of great compassion. It might be hitting you now that you canāt save everyone but donāt mourn them. Honor their memory; protect the living.ā
āS. tchadensis was a nice touch.ā Senku said before the forced lightness to his tone faded, āIs that why you fight? To protect the living?ā
Please remember to read the tags and the warning at the beginning of the chapter!
As always, enjoy the weekly excerpt!
Senkuās head swam with the mental image and he desperately hoped that Gen hadnāt been able to make it over to Imani in the chaos. He quickly realized his hopes were for naught when he saw a flash of purple on Imaniās other side as Gen brought up his hands to cover his mouth, eyes shining with unshed tears. Their gazes met, both thinking of the same thing. Of what would have happened if Suika had run into Ismael that day when Ryusui had sent her to get help and not Ash.
Chapter 18 of Silver and Blood is now live only on Ao3!
And not only does Sterling learn about math this chapter, but there's a fun excerpt in store for you all too! (plus a mini rant in the author's notes that I think we can all get behind)
Senku closed his eyes, letting Suika decide if she wanted to stay or leave. He had just about settled back into a deep sleep when the elk bugled again and not long after his door burst open. It bounced off the wall behind it, leaving a dent, nearly bouncing back and hitting Kohaku in the face.
āSenku!ā Kohaku exclaimed, blocking the door as she rushed into the room. āThereās strange noises coming from outside, could it be one of Stanleyās tricks?āĀ
āFor the last time, itās an elk.ā Ā He said, exasperated.Ā
āIt could be working with Stanley.āĀ
āWhy would an elk work with Stanley?ā Ā
Kohaku took a moment, narrowing her eyes before she said simply, āIāll get back to you on that one.āĀ
Glancing over at Oak, Senku could see her watching him, clearly amused. Scowling, he used a little more pressure and immediately stiffened when the horse quickly went from a walk into a trot, her head raising as she transitioned to the bumpy gait, startling Senku in the process.Ā
The next thing he knew, he was on the frozen ground, his shoulder and hip aching from impact and Oak was laughing at him. His horse slowed to a walk and then looked back at him as though confused as to why he wasnāt still in the saddle. The mare walked over and gave him a cursory sniff which only wounded Senkuās pride further.Ā
āThat didnāt feel good, did it?ā Oak asked, āHeard the groundās hard in winter.āĀ
āReally? I hadnāt noticed.ā Senku grumbled as he shakily got to his feet.
What's this? Sterling having brief thoughts (whatever THAT word count is going to look like) on Ishigami Village? A topic they're WELL known among friends for having A LOT of thoughts on? Well, you're in luck! This is a new weekly challenge in the server (which is 18+) and our first prompt was "Ishigami Village" which is interesting enough by itself, but I'll be addressing some follow-up questions related to the prompt! So sit down, buckle up, and get ready for a 'brief thought' to surpass 5k! (Please keep my joints in your thoughts, there's a reason I'm a retired meta writer LOL)
(update: it was 1.4k!)
Follow-up Questions
whoās your favourite ishigami villager?
what customs do you think ishigami village has?
what changes do you think happened to their culture when senku came along?
what cultural aspects of their group are you drawn to?
any headcanons about the village?
I know, very strange to list the follow-up questions at the beginning, but this is going to give us structure and remind me to not go overboard.
Who is your favorite villager? Any Headcanons about the village?
The first one is pretty easy for me as it's a 3-way tie with Kohaku, Ruri, and Suika. They almost feel representative of different aspects of the same person (and is very heavily implied that Lillian is a direct ancestor so my HC is they're three of Lillian's "faces" if you will. Her diligence and hardworking attitude, her willingness to fight/protective nature (hers looks different than Kohaku's, it's not a physical manifestation, but a mental one), and her loyalty and sense of duty.
I do have a fair number of headcanons especially one related to the Grand Bout that seems to have gained some popularity as a way to explain how the headstone was brought over. (The Grand Bout being a way to determine who would go on the voyage. You can read more about my addition here)
Additionally, it is also important to remember that smaller groups of people, generally speaking, mean that everyone is in everyone's business. People who come from or live in close-knit communities would know that it just feels like everyone is your aunt/uncle, your grandparent, parent, and so on and so forth. I am not even getting into the headache that is the fact that everyone is literally cousins, though I do theorize that since it is possible for people to break out of stone from mental fortitude alone it is an issue, but they aren't dying from 3,718 years of 6 people intermarrying.
Senku did the math and confirmed that it seemed as though the brain being active+nitric acid helped to speed the process. There is an implication that, say, someone with racing thoughts could have awoken from the stone possibly earlier if in an acidic environment... and Japan does have acidic soil where as Sacramento does not generally have acidic soil... I need to write meta on that.) This is naturally going to have a HUGE impact on dynamics and politics in a group. (But also kind of makes the existing worldbuilding fall apart, it's okay, we'll just fix it with duct tape later.)
BUT I DIGRESS, This is supposed to be BRIEF.
What Changes do you Think Happened When Senku Came Along?
I am AAAAAAAAA, I could write a whole meta on this topic alone. Senku is not exactly the best person, we've established this. Even in the series itself he has mentioned he's not a saint when it comes to his emotions (which he does have... SO MANY). You can be an overall genuine person and have good intentions (which he does) but still not be a good person. He's an incredibly messy character who does view the villagers as people, yes, but as a means to an end. It's an additional benefit for him to make sure they're happy and bribe them to help but there was a HUGE cultural shift that's going to deal irreparable damage when you suddenly introduce things such as the Agricultural Revolution Pt. 2 to society. Generally speaking it didn't end well for women. And considering Japan doesn't have large animals that live there (and would be okay there for almost 4,000 years) it's very likely that the gathering and farming (reliance also on a single crop... which totally doesn't have a history of ever going wrong) would have slowly phased out women from the table. Not to mention things such as processing textiles, hides (from what I have found, plant materials was more common to use in Japan throughout history), dyeing, spinning and weaving were all typically done by women and men. However dyeing with natural plants is anything but an exact science and often times those dye recipes are passed down from one generation to the next. That would likely be one of the areas that Senku would "improve" with synthetic dyes (not all natural dyes are toxic, a lot of times they're just not colorfast or lightfast, lightfastness is a main one because of sunlight. But you can get a wide breadth of colors from just plants and metals (be careful, because that part CAN be toxic, don't just pour copper water down the drain!)
It seemed from the beginning when Senku first joined it was more egalitarian. There were gender roles, but no one really thought twice about Kohaku being a warrior, they were more irritated that she caused trouble and caused her father more worry when he already had one child dying of an unknown illness, the same one that killed his wife. Even Jasper himself mentioned that Senku came and made a mockery of their traditions because Senku is ~15-16 years old, he's still of the mindset of "I have a problem, I need to fix it" and just sort of blunders through life as teenagers are wont to do. For him, his problem is he needs to save humanity so he can find Byakuya, he's not thinking of the implications of destroying thousands of years of cultural traditions. Often times, I've read papers about the invisible elderly or how in archeology it is easy to gloss over the contributions of older folks in society due to older bones not exactly preserving well. This tends to be the reason behind the incorrect assumption that everyone lived to 35-40. In Senku's mind the "best" way is unchecked progress without considering the other areas due to his general lack of wisdom.
After Senku has taken over the village through a marriage and divorce (which I have in my Kos Meta and will include in citation below, but divorce is not a new topic for the villagers, they were just shocked over his audacity and his overall lack of respect for their culture). There is a shift for more men taking active roles. Ruri, it is implied, holds a lot of power as the priestess, but her role and Kohaku's role as what appears to be leader of the village guard, are overlooked for Chrome who was technically banished from the village for "Sorcery". It was meant to show that Senku did it all without one of his generals being a fighter, HOWEVER, it also sends a pretty clear message when ALL of the antagonist factions have women in positions of authority except for the KoS. (Kirisame, Charlotte, Minami, and technically Kohaku in the beginning since it's uncertain if the village will be on Senku's side at first.)
In order to understand how the other groups in the series may view the KoS we have to look at it from their perspective. Starting with the Ishigami villagers. From their perspective they are having some random man come into their village, make a mockery of their traditions which are then voided because outside help (remember he doped everyone so technically the bout was void from the start and he was able to divorce Ruri so easily because he legally didn't win), and then saved the priestess' life.
-The Perception, Ishigami Village
From these changes we can now make deductions for some of how Ishigami village was BEFORE Senku (remember, he's likely considered a god in the religion) showed up.
Customs of Ishigami Village
From how it seems, there's a variety of customs with Ishigami Village, such as the Grand Bout (which may no longer continue after Senku's arrival). Fish is a main protein staple, though it would make sense for the village of that size to move around every so often so they don't exhaust their resources. They likely did practice a form of agriculture, but also supplemented with gathering and hunting. Everyone knows how to sew (not that big of a surprise, sewing is an incredibly useful skill that everyone should know) so it wouldn't surprise me if there were customs around making new ships, I would also not be surprised if there were coming of age ceremonies and ceremonies for early childhood (once you pass through childhood, you are in the clear for living a relatively normal life). I tend to have Kohaku a little more "eh" about privacy as a Kohaku thing, but I generally feel like the village being small with possibly multigenerational houses means that everyone's once again, aware of everyone else's business. Kohaku is just Kohaku.
What Cultural Aspects of the Group are you Drawn to?
All of it. Just. All of it.
Thank you for coming to my brief.... only 1.4k word meta talk with sources on Ishigami Village! Very brief! Under 5k! It was a lot of fun and I had to really hold myself back from doing a deep dive (which I will absolutely do in server omg)
Continuing on with my horse AU I have Gen as an American Paint horse plus some horse nettle (in the nightshade family). I have plans on making Senku facing the other direction so we can have some subtle SenGenSen. Will be having more information to come soon!
Join our 18+ choose your own spice level DCST Discord server and help us vote on our next event taking place at the end of March/beginning of April! We are currently deciding between an OC/AU mini zine/digital convention, an RP event set up like a reality TV show, and a server-wide scavenger hunt!
This is an OC/AU-positive and no ship hate tolerated zone!
We also just got starboard so you can watch the entire server descend into chaos in real time!
