#melanophobia

[craftsbugextraordinaire]

Axel arrives in the Abyss, courtesy of a long-time friend.

Look, Hiro... I appreciate your help -- I really do -- but there was nothing forcing you to get out of bed this late in the morning!

... You're... welcome... There's... no need... to worry... about me...

Are you sure? You genuinely look like you're about to pass out!

I said... it's fine...!

Alright, as long as y- ooOH-! That-... that's a big drop...!

The two stood over the edge of a branched tunnel, with a path going a long way down.

Oh... yes... that would be... a long fall... We'd best... descend carefully...

Descend carefully they did. Hiro stayed up top while Axel descended, tying the loose end of one of Hiro's silk spools around his pin. Hiro then used that silk to lower Axel.

With their half-mite traits, Hiro descended with Axel.

Now hold on -- couldn't you-

Before you ask... no... my body is... light enough... for my Mite legs... to carry me... The weight... of your body... would be too much...

Ah, right, I forgot. Those legs are less sturdy than toothpicks.

Excuse me?!

Hiro flung his Mite legs and kicked Axel in the shin.

Axel takes 1 mask of damage!

OW-!

How's that for toothpick legs, Axel the "My Knees Are So Very Sensitive" Craftsbug Extraordinaire?!

Okay, okay! I'm sorry!

Thank you...

Both came to the ground.

The two came to another tunnel... but Hiro was looking at something else.

And who might that be...?

Ah. The Gargants. Look away, or they'll start hunting us down.

Alas, it was too late. The Gargant had already noticed, unbeknownst to the two.

@gloom-gargant if you're not busy :3

The two made their way down the next tunnel. They then made it to a passageway with an ocean of void below.

My, oh my... I have never seen void in it's purest form before...

Amazing, is it not? That so many shapes can be made from this one hivemind-like organism.

Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.

Oh... do I hear one now?

...

OOC: Surprise! New side character!

So, get this: Hiro is a half-Mite Dregcatcher (technically you could call him Child of Moor and Mite lmao) originally from Greymoor -- specifically under the watchful eye of Yarnaby! After they began showing signs of true emotion, Yarn got sad and decided to let them free -- like a wholesome version of Frankenstein. Now, living as a real bug, they reside in Seanest's deepest rooms. They're basically nocturnal (even though nobody in Pharloom has a sense of day or night...) and only wake during the quietest hours in Seanest.

Anybody want some art of him?

[tyrannoninja]

I've seen a lot of recent discourse on social media calling out people of East Asian descent perpetuating anti-Black racism over the past week. Partly this is due to Rick Chow getting acquitted for murdering Cyrus Carmack-Belton, and partly this is due to a recent spate of short videos showing people in China abusing a Black doll they have there called "Natasha". Both of these are sickening.

As someone who spent a large proportion of his formative years overseas in Singapore and Hong Kong, both of which have predominantly Han Chinese populations, I can't say I've observed a lot of interpersonal interactions in which the locals were racist toward Black people. But I do remember that, almost every time we went to the movies in Hong Kong, they would show these commercials for skin-bleaching creams before the movie started. The message was that women would become more desirable to men if they lightened their skin. Even as a White male teenager, I found that messaging racist and abhorrent.

I also remember finding a golliwog doll on display in a Hong Kong marketplace (a golliwog is basically a blackface minstrel caricature in doll form, if you don't know). At the time, I laughed it off for how brazenly ignorant it was to have that out in public, but now I wonder how a Black person who stumbled upon that would feel.

While the roots of this anti-Black sentiment in East Asia must lie in the global exportation of Western colonial prejudices, I believe what keeps it alive is a desire on the part of Asian people to distance themselves from Blackness and then place themselves as close in proximity to Whiteness as they can. They perceive Black people as the bottom of this racial hierarchy and White people as the top, and they'd rather be associated with Whiteness than Blackness. I have also observed this to be true for Arabs and other Middle Easterners, South Asians, Mediterranean people, and really anyone else whom we would racialize as neither Black nor White.

Even Black Africans aren't immune to this bullshit. If you've ever seen a Northeast African person (e.g. Somali, Ethiopian, or northern Sudanese) insist they're not really Black and hype up whatever Arabian or other Eurasian ancestry they may have, you know what I mean. I've even seen a Hausa dude on Twitter insist he was somehow less Black than other West Africans, even though your average Hausa does not look visibly different from other Sahelian Africans.

It all goes to show how globalized anti-Blackness (or melanophobia as I like to call it) has become.

[thewinedarksea]

Grey, Kitten, Beach.

thank you!

gray

Sajaa was suddenly very aware ofhow close Rin stood, of how Sajaa’s fingers still rested on her cheek, thumbbrushing the corner of her mouth. In the half-light Rin’s eyes were a gray sodark they looked almost black, –

kitten

none

beach

She found him down on the beach, staring out at the waves, strange shadows dancing around his feet.

The dying light had turned his blue hair almost black, and he looked younger, almost vulnerable, the cool sea breeze filing the sharp planes of his face down into something resembling human.

send me a word, and if it’s in one of my WIPs I’ll answer with the sentence the word appears in.

[craftsbugextraordinaire]

Where are you going,

Axel jolts out of his bed, awoken and in a cold sweat.

WHO WAS THAT AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW WHERE-?!

There is a slight reverberation when he yelps.

Ah, fuck... I've woken them up, haven't I.

AXEL! SEANEST WERE SLEEPIN' ALL PEACEFUL! WHY'D YA HAVE TA YELL LIKE THAT FO'?! Not ta mention this is tha fou'th time now!

GGURGAGA! GAGURAGGARA GAGARA! GAAA!

Ah, save yer voice, Pike -- Pop-pop's goddit.

Gagu...

(sigh). Sorry, Shelldon. Sorry, Pike.

THAT'S BETTER! NOW GIT TA YER FO'TY WINKS AND WE CAN ALL GIT TA OU'S!

Alright.

Shelldon walks away, with Pike dragging himself along with his flippers. Axel returns to his bed, basically unable to properly sleep after that... voice... appeared.

He decided that he would go to the Abyss tomorrow -- once and for all -- and uncover what was behind that ear-splitting cry of what he assumed was terror and disdain.

[craftsbugextraordinaire]

... *cough*...

... Fuck... right when my children are about to see me for the first time... this happens...

He promptly cleans up the black spill.

[craftsbugextraordinaire]

Wow people are getting voided left and right aren't they??

Here! This should help!

[Takes a délicate flower out of my pocket.]

[As I walk towards you I trip and fall on my face.]

[The flower shatters on the ground.]

(mod. Jake) I WAS GENUINELY NOT EXPECTING YOU TO FALL LMFAO

... Why. Why did you have to trip over that rock. It was tiny.

[craftsbugextraordinaire]

Do you know what’s in the Abyss?

Legend says that theres a gigantic “bug” that lives beneath the the void sea’s surface (talking about @void-wrym-siringet)

I've heard precepts -- no, none of 57 of that fool of a bug Zote's -- describing that creature and how it looks. The descriptions I have discovered are massively variant.

Though, 'tis funny you ask -- I'm planning on heading down there. I'm investigating what may have made such a noise as the ear-splitting, blood-curdling cry we heard some time ago. On behalf my beloved, of course. How about you join me?

New Arc: Melanophobia

We should meet up with Forge Daughter and Forge Sister. They should have a diving bell that we may use to descend.

[harvestglitch]

Day 14 of Goretober

Couldn’t put much effort into today’s prompt, as I have a lot of work to do and can’t spend as much time as I would like to on it