#lumberlove

[tannertbosas]

these spot the differences games are getting harder..

[starsofatlantis]

in a constant state of nostalgia for december 2023 at the peak of the tbosas fandom when i was desperate for content and kept the lamina tab on ao3 open on my phone, checking it maybe 13 times a day, and the scene of treech pulling lamina away from the bullets was my lifeline, when they were little people on my screen who i didn’t really have personalities for but was obsessed with anyway

[moreespressoformydepresso]

A TreeMina Percy Jackson AU where Lamina is a dryad and Treech is a son of Demeter. When Treech first came to camp he got lost in the forest while exploring. He came across the tree Lamina resides in and she helped him find his way back to camp. From that day on he made it a point to come see her on a regular basis.

Treech will disappear for hours at a time to hang out with Lamina and during capture the flag she takes great pleasure in helping her boyfriend’s team win.

It works the other way around too (make Treech a literal Tree Boy lol) but dryads are typically female nymphs soooo yeah. I have more mythology/Percy Jackson AU’s because I’m a ✨nerd✨ so expect more of those? Maybe?

[moreespressoformydepresso]

So to expand upon this TreeMina post since I have my computer... @crazycriter

I am now officially using lore I've thought up for a potential book of mine. In case Hannah reads this, no it's not the one I told you about. That's a different thing entirely.

Lets start with my (probably disastrous) attempt at explaining the world and magic in short fashion. As stated, the magic society is a hidden one. It exists in plain sight, but only those who are a part of it can see it. This hidden society has two subcultures: Order and Chaos. They are, naturally, in a constant conflict with one another since they're polar opposites and all that. Order's hidden city has very grandiose buildings with a very structured general layout that doesn't vary much between buildings. Walk into one and you have a pretty solid idea of what all the others look like. They have personal touches but everything is very, well... orderly. Symmetry is key in everything for them. They call themselves reglarians and use order magic. As you may expect, they believe that order is the correct way to be and are very much lawful on the alignment chart. What kind of lawful depends on the person. In terms of clothing they certainly have similar outfits. You can tell someone's a reglarian if you know what you're looking for, even though the clothes themselves are very different. It's a similar, recognizable theme rather than a uniform. It's about patterns and styles, and they tend to stick with light color schemes and very much consider themselves the "light side" in general. Because order is good, and chaos is bad. Their buildings are higher up in every city they reside in, some are even in the sky and hidden by magic. Very divine-esque aesthetic, like they're trying to literally be above chaos. For some extra spice you can go with my version where the two sides actively call themselves Light and Dark, to feed into the conflict you may start to see growing here already.

Meanwhile, Chaos (they call themselves warlings) lives mostly in the actual, literal underground of the city. In a complete opposite to Order, their buildings are all very different and openly uniquee, often making no sense in layout on purpose. Honestly everything about them is the complete opposite of Order. Generally darker color schemes and a very nonsensical... everything, really. That's not to say that there's nothing homey about them though, because they know how to make places cozy. If dizzying, given how they will use their magic to actively confuse anyone who comes into the house. It's a go down the steps into the basement to enter the upstairs bedroom kind of situation. Their clothing is alike in how different it is. Some like very practical clothes, some wear the most extravagant nightmare to move in you've ever seen. The only consistency is that their main color is almost always dark, but even that has exceptions. Really, the only common theme that holds true for every single warling is mayhem. They are, well, chaos. Gotta give it to them, they are dedicated to their brand. Rules are made to be broken and their whole culture is built around causing as much mayhem as possible. Not in a way that hurts people, but they've been designated the bad guys by their magic so why not follow their nature? It's not like they can change how they're perceived. Warlings have their strong opinions on the good vs evil debate and they don't necessarily like being seen as "evil" for something they had no control over, but it's not something they actively oppose. They do cause mischief on the regular for kicks, so it's not like they're helping their image.

Ykw I'll save the actual history and conflicts between these groups for a later post and stay focused on the worldbuilding for now. The magic system! Order is pretty straightforward. Their magic is very structured, with rules on what they can and can't do and explanations for why those rules exist. It's something you can study and understand completely if you take the time. Most of their magic comes down to rules, actually. Changing the rules of nature to some extent. They call upon the world and make it do what they want, working within the limits of whatever they're working with. Water can turn to ice, but it cannot naturally turn into wine. So order cannot turn water into wine because that's not how nature works. Those are against the rules. Chaos, on the other hand, works pretty much the exact opposite way. There are limitations but there aren't. They can't do absolutely everything except sometimes they can. Does this make sense? No. That's the point. The magic system is that there is no magic system. In a sense it's more worldly, because it changes with the moon. Metaphorically, because no order is allowed here. That's actually a conflict between Treech and Lamina. Mostly it's a problem for Lamina, though. She's been raised with order drilled into her head from the day she was born. The world works on order, she was told, and that's what makes them better than chaos. They are the world, and chaos tries to destroy them. Good vs Evil. But Chaos magic is a direct refutation of that, because it's entirely natural and there isn't a single semblance of order involved. Yet it exists just fine. She was taught chaos only destroys, yet it's existed for years.

She and Treech fight several times because he "refuses to explain" his magic to her, but the thing is that he can't. It makes no sense. That's all there is to it. You can try all you want to figure out how it works but you'll only drive yourself insane because the whole point is that it doesn't make sense. There is nothing logical about it. It's disorganized and chaotic, because that's its nature. A direct opposite of Lamina's entire life and worldview. By the end, the resolution to the conflict is her finally realizing that maybe her people don't know everything. It ends with her finally accepting that sometimes, things just don't make sense, and sometimes you just gotta live with that. Yes, there are parallels to psychology there that I may explain later.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

Continuation of this post:

Lets get into what happens in the arena! I don’t have a solid plotline and I might actually write this so I won’t focus too much on the events and instead focus more on my ideas for the games as a whole. I’ll add right now I think these games would be more like the 74th/75th than like the 10th because Snow’s been involved for 15 years by this point. After the initial 3 or so years the biggest changes made to the games were likely the level of technology available to make them more horrifying. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it already but my Treech is a theater nerd. Keep this in mind.

The token Treech takes into the games is a small shawl Lamina gave him. It’s not warming enough for the gamemakers to feel it gives him a big advantage in terms of hypothermia and it isn’t strong enough to be uses as a noose on someone, so they allow it. The shawl is red like Lamina’s hair, and it makes Treech feel safe to have it with him. He keeps it in the pocket of his arena wear for camouflage reasons but it’s there and he can touch it and that’s what matters. Speaking of arena wear, the tributes get dark gray pants with black shoes, a shirt that’s somewhere around oakmoss green, and a vest that’s so dark gray it may as well be black. It’s perfect for blending in as well as one can with the arena’s color scheme.

This year’s arena is village-themed. In the centre, there’s a collection of simple clay huts and simple, one-story buildings. Only two buildings really stick out: a small tower and a building reminiscent of the justice buildings in all districts. The middle of the village is a large square completely empty aside from the cornucopia in the middle (made to look like an actual cornucopia, with the material looking a lot like twine) and the starting spots with the launch pads. Surrounding the village are 8 other kinds of villages like a compass. The houses sometimes contain supplies like food, but in very hidden secret spots. For example, in one village there may be one single, random hut that has a trapdoor to the only basement in that village hidden by a bookcase. To the north is a frozen tundra with iglo’s and other buildings made out of ice. The entire northeast to southeast part of the arena is a forest, very reminiscent of district 7 to Treech. Tundra goes over into a mountain in the northeast, covered in pine trees and snow. The village has two-story houses with pointed roofs scattered over the side of the mountain. In the east, the forest is mostly made up of oak trees. Only at the edges are the trees a normal size. Unnaturally large oak trees make up most of the area, and they’re where the village is located. It’s a collection of tree houses of various sizes connected by rope bridges. Very rickety, unstable rope bridges. Because they’re all so high up and hidden from view by branches, these buildings are hard to find and most tributes miss them completely.

The southeast part of the forest consists almost entirely of dead trees. These dried out trees are as big as most of the east forest, and the houses are inside the trunks. Water can be found in “pockets” underground, but those can only be found by following the rodent-like mutts that have poisonous bites. They only attack when provoked, so tributes must be careful when following them as they dig up the water. Meanwhile, the south of the arena is a desert. The buildings in its village area are either caves hidden in the dunes or made of clay and straw. Mostly huts with only one room. The climate is dry and miserable, but at least you can spot other tributes from a mile away because of the dirth of actual stuff aside from the village. I mean, they can also see you from a mile away, but still.

The northwest to the southwest is entirely made up of jungle. Unlike the forest, where the hot areas are very dry, the jungle is unbearably humid. The northwest is the worst, because it’s so close to the desert. The village is found entirely underground in an elaborate system of caves that actually extends underneath the village in the middle of the arena. Only a few of the caves contain houses, but the whole cave system is a fantastic hiding place. Also a horrible one, because only the village has torches on the walls and it’s very easy to get lost down there. As for the west village, while the western side of the arena has jungle, most of the middle of this area is taken up by a gigantic lake. Where the east village is found up in the trees, the west village is found at the bottom of the lake. The houses have air in them, and the walls hold hidden pumps that keep up the oxygen level. These are all connected to one system of pipes. Finally, the northwest. It’s very cold and windy here, and the village just like the northeast the village is high up. But differently. Instead of one big mountain with a village on it, this is a set of very high rock peaks with mist obscuring most of the area below. These rock peaks have buildings on them, connected by rope bridges just like the treehouse village, but with the added danger of strong gusts of wind that make the entire village unsafe. Only inside the sturdy houses can tributes be sure they won’t be thrown off their perch, into the misty abyss below. Aside from the north and the south, this is the only area where the weather is the biggest threat to tributes. Everywhere else is predominantly dangerous because of mutts and traps set off by the gamemakers.

With all the technicalities out of the way, time for the actual events taking place in the arena. In accordance with his defensive, sneaky strategy and lack of alliance, Treech looks for the best place to run as soon as he gets lifted into the arena. It’s not hard to deduce the careers will pillage all nearby houses as soon as the bloodbath’s over, so that’s not a great option. Aaanndd already I have three different ways this could go. One of them relies on a stupid amount of luck, though, and when I created this AU months ago my main idea was that Treech wins predominantly because everyone thinks he’s completely reliant on luck, which makes them underestimate how capable he is. So yeah that one’s out. Vote on the other two, I guess? They lead to the same outcome.

Option one: Treech sprints around the other tributes and snags a couple of backpacks on the outer rim of the bloodbath. He’s a very fast runner so he’s gone before anyone can truly attack him. Of course, he keeps running until he reaches the edge of the village and finds himself in the desert.

Option two: his beginning strategy is still the same, the difference is how successful his escape attempt is. While running around the edge of the bloodbath, his path his blocked by one of the other tributes. Another one attacks him from behind, and while the backpack in his hands saves him from getting speared by a spear it doesn’t stop the second person from slashing him across the stomach. They miss everything important because Treech dodged it quickly, but he knows if he gets up he’ll be skewered. So instead he makes use of the fact that the canons for the bloodbath only go off after every living being has left the premises. He stays down and plays dead. Because he’s an incredibly good actor, it’s very convincing. Ascaia isn’t around to tell anyone he’s an actor so the tributes take his wide open eyes and completely unmoving body as a sign that he’s dead. Also the blood currently seeping through his shirt. If this is the version you go with, Pup sends him a new shirt so he can avoid infection. Once everyone’s left the scene of the bloodbath and he’s sure everyone’s gone, he stands up and goes the exact opposite direction as the careers and is a lot sneakier because who knows where other tributes are hiding. He, of course, ends up in the desert again. In this version the two tributes who thought they killed him don’t see his face in the sky and realize he may not be as helpless as he’d convinced everyone he is. So he’s a little less under the radar for the other tributes this time. Also, he might start off with more supplies like food and possibly knives (though the other weapons still at the cornucopia aren’t ones he can use well enough for them to be worth taking). In this version, Lamina breaks down completely upon seeing his “death” and then cries of happiness when it turns out he’s still alive.

Since district 7 is very cold this is not his scene and he realizes that if he stays there, he’s fucked. If you’re not used to hot weather no amount of water is gonna save you from the constant discomfort, which will distract you. Being distracted is, obviously, a very bad thing in the games. So he bounces right off of the idea of going in there and instead starts moving along the outskirts of the city. If he successfully ran from the bloodbath, this is where he dumps all his supplies into one backback and ditches the empty ones. Pack light and all that. It’s just like sneaking around town back home, which he’s used to, so he doesn’t come across anyone aside from one near-miss with a tribute hiding out in a house Treech has to sneak past. If he has the knives, he decides not to attack them because he’s trying to avoid unnecessary fights even with the element of surprise. If they don’t attack him, he won’t attack them. If he doesn’t have the knives he has no choice but to stay unnoticed. Once he reaches the forest, he decides it’s safer than the main village and dives between the trees. He comes across the southeast village first and explores it for a bit, deciding it’s best to stay there until it’s dark and the temperature has lowered before moving again. When he keeps seeing little mutts going back and forth, looking better every time they come back, he decides to track them and finds the water. He waits for the mutts to leave again before filling some of the empty flasks so he has a supply of water to quench his thirst for at least a few days if he’s careful with it. Some tributes may possibly pass by, but Treech has found the least conspicuous house in the village and hides out in the top of the dead, hollow tree, so they never find him.

When it’s finally dark and he can move without being seen or succumbing to the unbearable heat, he keeps moving. When he’s in the alive part of the arena, he climbs into the trees and moves by walking over the sturdier branches to avoid being ambushed. Since he works in the trees back in 7, he’s a very good climber and also an expert at jumping from tree to tree silently. This post is already stupidly long, so I’ll cut it off now and see whether I keep going lol we’ll see how well received these posts are? Anyways yeah there’s the continuation of the big AU @crazycriter now gimme my coffee