I am Here To Chill

[comicaurora]

Is a troll any more definable than a dragon?

Traditionally, folkloric trolls are unhelpful/antagonistic supernatural entities with a habit of becoming recognizable local landmarks after they get turned to stone. They're basically a Norse-only folktale concept so they cover a lot less ground than dragons, which are pretty much global. In the greater fantasy zeitgeist they've lost some of their already-limited specificity, sometimes allowed to retain their magical powers but frequently just being framed as large dangerous monsters with an optional healing factor.

In Aurora, trolls are Stone-influenced humans with a lot of natural armor.

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

@comicaurora Since metal-caste are also stone-influenced humans with natural armor, is the difference that metal-caste have the metal skin while trolls have more rock-like skin, or straight up rock armor fused to their skin? Something else? What’s the difference? Or do metal-caste count as like, a sub-species of troll?

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

It is finally here!!!! Blue’s Veneziad finally arrived! (Four days early!) Can’t wait to dive in!

[trigona-necrophaga]

Ohhhh this one hurts

[mango-mush]

Can someone please hold my hand and explain what this means? I read the books a few times but I'm also dumb 😭

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

The SecUnits have buffer phrases built in because they are required to answer when questioned directly, so the phrases jump out in certain situations. Since Three and Murderbot are free, they don’t need them anymore. To still use them would remind them of certain traumatic moments or just bad slave times.

I found some examples of Murderbot’s buffer phrases:

As you can see, both times Murderbot’s buffer phrases came through when it was badly damaged/near death. As far as we know, Murderbot had a worse time of it than Three, so the buffer phrases may be especially traumatizing for it. And unlearning the habit of using them was probably part of the healing process.

[comicaurora]

2.7.31 - Aurora

tbh I find I also get a lot less chatty when there are sharp things near my eyeballs

👀

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Me, wondering if Falst will free himself or if Tess will swoop in with the steel chair. The comic:

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Is your sole purpose in this hellsite to interact with anything and everything aurora

For the most part…yes. Aurora is the reason I got back on tumblr after at least a decade of silence.

[artemisiamasterofnone]

...

Damn

So do you spend your time just stalking the tag, or.

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

No, I just check in when a new page uploads and, because I’m not following very many people and I follow and like mostly Aurora based stuff, the algorithm just keeps giving me more. Sometimes, when I see one I like, I’ll scroll to the “more like this” bit and just leap frog around, then fall into an Aurora rabbit hole. Then I close the app and read a book or something until the next page is up. Rinse, repeat. It’s quite fun.

(I also have a job and other stuff, so tumblr is basically my “let’s see if there’s more fun Aurora stuff while I have some free time”)

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Is your sole purpose in this hellsite to interact with anything and everything aurora

For the most part…yes. Aurora is the reason I got back on tumblr after at least a decade of silence.

[xwindboundxmagic]

Show of hands who thought the kick to the face Falst did to Rahkn picked up the time of getting the hell out of dodge?

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

I don’t think he’d shorten the time frame, because that gives the Ignans less time to take cover. Also, his “protector” refers to Kendal.

[chaos-incarnate-xd]

look at the guy's face

also

ok then...

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Same energy.

[comicaurora]

Ah so we're back to the "how can I make this bad situation worse?/but what about the second third fourth crisis?" school of writing!

WHO would be satisfied if I set a storyline on a volcano and it DIDN'T explode

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

[dandeliondestroyer]

Phrases added to my vocabulary due to OSP and its extended universe

I want that fanart on my desk by Monday

The (blank) of it all

Mysterious colors unlike any seen on earth

My local crepery

Metal

The prophecy™

Unorthodox display of Hubris but very well

Oh no! My hubris!

I will continue to add more as I remember them, feel free to add your own suggestions!

[new-nintendo-2ds-xl]

“Archetypical” (as opposed to archetypal)

[the-dumbest-of-dragons]

I've never heard anything more legit in my entire life, let's go!

OSP condones sending a message

Well this'll be cheery

What circle of hell am I in to deserve this?

Worth it!

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

I’d like to add, “And that is not allowed to be how I die.”

[ifinallymadeonehappynow]

If i had a nickel for every time dainix bonded with someone by being trapped below sea level in a confined space, id have two nickles, which isnt a lot but its wierd it happen twice

[anaurorafanblog]

This is the third time he's been in a confined space with another member of the floof squad and bonded with them. It's like life-changing field trips with Zuko except it's emotionally revealing involuntary confinement with Dainix

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Guess whose preorder incentive finally arrived!!! I think I’m going to make a collage with them and some posters, or something else, haven’t decided.

Tess and Dainix looking unstoppable! Tynan looking ready to ruin everyone’s day and have a great time doing it!

@comicaurora

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

Yes, I already preordered it, but it’s on the shelf and I’m impatient, so I’ll have two until I convert more people to this series and can give it as a gift!

[chaos-incarnate-xd]

So, I did a thing.

being the change i want to see on the quiz website

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

…Well then…at least I got the ace character! Also funny that I get “please take a nap I beg of you” while I’m in the middle of a near ten day span of little sleep due to stress.

[mossdftba]

Who's the dumbest smartboy?

Odysseus (Odyssey canon if you've read it, Epic canon if you must)

Erin Ruunaser

Voting ended onApr 3

(If anyone wants to make a Dumbest Smartboy tournament, PLEASE do so and tag me so I can participate!)

[mossdftba]

Propaganda!

From @spellbound-storyteller

#erin ALSO gave his name to an antagonist when he shouldn't have and is CURRENTLY paying for it so #he is also possessed by an entity that is trying to use him to end the world #and that was only possible because of his own hubris #he causes himself so many problems #and he blames himself for the ones he didn't cause too. i love him so much <3 #he is so smart and yet so dumb #his (author-given!) fandom nickname is "SickTats McHubris" for a reason #two hubristic smart-yet-dumb boys have been pitted against each other... i love that #i think erin causes more of his own problems than odysseus though (the crew's a lot of the trouble with him) #and thev're generally bigger problems in terms of worldly implications

From @saurekin-the-gillicuttin

#I do have reasoning for voting odysseus here #that reasoning basically boils down to "erin ruunaser is 19 years old" #and more elaborately it's that erin checks himself and actively seeks to learn a whole bunch of shit while odysseus really doesn't #ody ain't out here to figure shit out he's out here to get his ass home and he still doxxed himself to polyphemus and listened to the siren #Erin got into this mess through scientific pursuit and he'll get through it with scientific pursuit #he's fucking around and finding out all the way down and #finding out is priority numero 1.5

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

What’s priority number 1? And is there a priority number 0.5?

[comicaurora]

2.6.26 - Aurora

studio audience cheers (it’s me I’m the studio audience)

we'd be the cavalry

[kaelor0409]

[traversingthegalaxytopigfarts]

I will be riding the high of this narrative payoff forever!

[marichild]

thinking aloud + saying the same things again. but. god. the fact that xie lian tried his best. the fact xie lian did everything he could at the expense of his own safety; he tried to help the people who his people saw as the ones in the wrong (and!! very crucially!! the yong'an were his people, too!!) and he tried to mediate and when that wasn't enough he intervened and led a war (accidentally!!) he did not truly have the heart to fight in. he cared about anyone he could on an individual level and he was kind to anyone and everyone because he believed everyone deserved it even when it was destroying him. he genuinely truly tried his best to be a good god and help people because no one, no one was beneath his aid to him, because godhood is his ultimate goal in the sense that he did not care about the status it afforded him but rather about how the power and strength it afforded him could serve as a tool to be of aid to the common people and achieve his dream. and the thing is— god or not, no one should expect anyone, especially not a twenty-year-old boy, to fix systemic issues like poverty and inequal distribution of wealth, all by himself (which were not issues most people even recognized as existing! but which xie lian knew to be true!) especially when there is no one willing to help him on that. it's true that xie lian was slightly naive in the sense he was not aware of how difficult it could be to do literally anything about all of this, but: the way he treats little hong'er, the grace he constantly affords mu qing, the way he doesn't think for a minute before saying lang ying deserves to have the offering coins, etc. it's so, so much more than most people could say for themselves. but understanding, and indeed, active efforts, can only go so far, especially in that situation.

xianle was always going to be doomed, but it did not have to be that way. it did not have to be that bloody and violent and disastrous. while it's true that xie lian could not have fixed everything, his efforts weren't for nothing. they did yield good results. it's just that systemic issues aren't so easily fixed— and that bai wuxiang hated that xie lian refused to lose sight of himself and kept trying. for as much as xie lian tried so hard, and fought back at every turn, he only failed on such a massive scale because bai wuxiang kept going to farther and farther lengths and engineering the situation to have things go from bad to worse, all to prove that xie lian would snap and turn to cruelty just like him— only to constantly be undone by the fact that xie lian, even at his lowest and most cruel moment, refused to give up hope in the inherent goodness and kindness of people, and was in fact proven right on that matter.

and that is why hua cheng loves him: not just because he caught him when he fell off the wall, but because he continually chooses to be the way he is, even when he falters. kind, even when the world doesn't deserve his kindess, but who is the judge of that, to decide that the world doesn't? he loves xie lian because xie lian taught him that happiness can be found, because xie lian taught him how to be kind to others even when he is hurt; he is shaped into the person he is because of that. because he is in love, yes, but also because that love changed him for the better. from a little boy who was intent on committing suicide in order to curse the kingdom that only gave him so much pain and end his pitiful life to a ghost king ruling a city for those like him who don't fit in anywhere.