Arpy

I am in the Russians fandom and I ain't even mad.

"Perhaps we should make a fort or something," Sumiki said. "For protection!"Using protection sounded like a good idea. On the other hand, you really wanted the fort to be made out of blankets and couch cushions. You wallowed in internal conflict for a bit before realizing that blankets and couch cushions would be hard to come by here.Your leaves would do just fine for roofing material, and you proclaimed as much to your team. Bfahome and Makaru seemed to be making precursory wall-gathering runs, and materials were all very good, but you knew that real estate was all about location, location, location. To save construction time and to provide excellent protection, you hopped up on top of a small rock and indicated some rather larger ones."You know what we should do?" you said to your fellow Supertramps. "We should build our fort into these rocks. Then we can call it Fort Rocks. And we can say that Fort Rocks rocks."

You shed a single tear of manliness at Sisen's eviction. One was enough. Two would have been a waste of precious water (and yes, you could cry on cue; you weren't Lindsay Bluth, for crying out loud).You trudged off to your campsite and grabbed some more of your favorite leaves on the way. You were all about green housing materials, and dangnabbit if these leaves weren't some of the only green things on the island apart from xccj's wardrobe.You jumped to the left, took a step to the right, put your hands on your hips, and in this way navigated around a small creek before arriving at your campsite. Several posts' worth of general neglect had reduced it to a pretty shabby state, but you were eager to rebuild it in true Supertramp style. You knew from your extensive study of pop culture that to make camp, your team needed something that was kind of ridiculously over-the-top, kitschy, and extravagant."Hey," you said to your surrounding team members, "Does anyone know how to make an Adam West Batman costume?"

CAKE OR DEATH!?

Even this early in the game, you had to wonder if Janus and Hahli Husky would try to pull a Hunger Games, manage to end up as the last two contestants, and use the power of love to avoid having either one be voted off. You knew they weren't feigning a relationship just to win the audience's sympathy, so that was good, but you were curious to know how Tufi might feel about the possibility of bi-winning.You were also curious as to which of your team would be leaving the island. When there were only six of you, you'd have to work harder to make up for the missing Supertramp, and you'd have to do your work faster to get the same amount of work done in the same timespan. It might have been daft, but you still believed that working harder would make it better, and doing it faster would make you stronger.

Totally this. They have banners and everything. Those are some hoopy froods right there.

You fell to your knees in disappointment, then to the beach. Team I'd Settle for That (Seriously? you thought. They should have settled for something else. Like Catan.) had beaten your 'it' clique of superb tramps by scant minutes, and now one of you would be leaving the island.As you rocked back and forth in a fetal ball of denial, working sand into your 'fro, you were consoled by one small thought: your team may not have burned first, but you burned brightest. Especially Eeko's eyebrows."Look, it's an impossibly big robot!" Tufi said, pointing towards the ocean.You sat up and immediately swiveled to look out to the bay. You were really, really hoping for a Jaeger, but then you realized that Voya-Nui was apparently inside a giant robot of its own as of 2009 or sometime and that you were probably in Mata-Nui's kneecap or something and that pointing pretty much anywhere would have led to an impossibly big robot. Also that you needed coffee.Momentarily tuckered out from all this realization, you turned to debating just how earnest Tufi had been when she'd said that now would be a great time to suck up to the members.For your part, you trusted that any distant observers would hold and subscribe to some kind of idealistic prime directive against interfering with primitive cultures--which your lot definitely was, fire, DVDs and shoe polish notwithstanding. You didn't have warp travel. That was the main thing.

You were kind of ridiculously excited to find your fellow Clikit Supertramps hard at work on building a fire. Fire meant hot water for a bath. Maybe even a shower. You smelled like Blocking Lava Ape, but you were thinking more along the lines of Old Spice. If only someone would drop a convenient little deodorant parachute in a calculated act of sponsorship...In light of the need to generate light (and heat, you supposed), you decided to save your special sleepover tale for later and focus on the task at hand."Hey everybody," you said as you rummaged through a burlap sack Hahli Husky had found somewhere, "Shoe polish is flammable, isn't it?"You started sticking sticks into sticky shoe shine with gusto because you were just that much of a team player.

Ludo had vanished into the local fog like a gorilla in the mist, if a gorilla were three times bigger. You’d dug around and discovered that Bfahome was far too distracted by shiny things—and not even the right kind of shiny things. 2003 gold was the best gold, and everything that came afterwards was a pale imitation. Including that mask. You had an okay tale and maybe a new (if reclusive) friend, which you figured were good enough to bring back to camp. You had no idea how to go off the sun’s position in the sky, but your afro was keenly attuned to the island’s wind patterns, so you were able to follow the breezes back to the disturbance caused by the rocks where your team had settled. They’d considerately scarpered off without so much as a note, leaving only some shoe polish, some Crazy Taxi DVDs, and a book of Keats’s poetry. You guessed your group hadn’t won the least-sucky name competition. You nabbed the poetry book, because Keats and Yeats were definitely on your side, and thought on how to find your team. More light-scattering shattered DVDs glittered and littered the ground in trails away from camp—clearly false paths meant to distract those overly susceptible to shininess. Speaking of whom-- "Avert your eyes!" you commanded Bfahome, who had already gone scampering along the rainbow road. "The trail's a fake!" He looked forlorn, so you decided to make it up to him somewhat. You gathered a handful of the fragments and tossed them in front of you as you followed the cunningly disguised trail of shorn flower stems and stick drawings that you'd found weaving across the island. “She told me to walk this way!” you screamed in your best Steven Tyler. “Walk this way!”

As exploding fruit dropped all around you, your teammate dropped directly onto of you, and your leaf and stick went flying. The two of you scrambled to another, less volatile tree as the ape advanced. It backed you up against the trunk and opened its mouth to display some seriously beefy molars, any two of which (diametrically opposed) could have crushed your head to the thickness of a wafer-thin mint. Spicy lava ape breath blasted both of you at full force. It was blessedly free of spittle--a small but important mercy, considering you were undoubtedly going to die.You cringed, awaiting the inevitable end to your existence and sad on some level that you were about to pass on after not even two days on this island. And the worst part was...you never learned to read."LUDO LONELY," the ape groaned.Oh no. That thing did not just talk to you. Who would have taught it your language? This island was seriously sketch."LUDO...FRIEND?" it snuffled."I caught you a delicious bass?" you squeaked. Your brain was misfiring on all cylinders.The Blocking Lava Ape swept you and Bfahome up in its fighter-jet sized biceps and lumbered off to a hollow log, where it curled up and promptly fell asleep, a beatific smile on its crude face.You didn't know if being this thing's friend was a good thing, or if you were even its friend yet. Maybe this was a trial period. Maybe the exploding fruit juice had driven you temporarily insane. Whatever the case, you weren't likely to go anywhere tonight. You tried to make yourself comfortable under the beast's arm, and you actually managed to get to sleep after a while.Its snoring wasn't bad, really. Certainly no worse than that of your fellow Supertramps.

Twilight settled in as you and bfahome trekked through the forest. Fortunately, there were no sparkly vampires to be seen--those were so last decade. You had armed yourself with a long pointy stick which might have been a spear if it had had a spearhead and not a mere point.You seemed to recall that the Blocking Lava Ape (there was only one, which clearly made it super special, like a Questing Beast or white stag or something) resided in hollow logs, so you went around knocking on all the hollow logs with your spear stick and without regard for the size of the log.Maybe you'd find a baby. Or something to eat. The two were not necessarily mutually exclusive.You and bfahomeslice reached a clearing to behold the largest log you'd seen yet. The two of you clambered up on top, you tapped on the log most daintily--and it fairly exploded, sending you tumbling back several feet. You brushed off the rotten splinters, got to your feet shakily, and beheld the singular Blocking Lava Ape. It was very old, very grizzled, and still very, very built. Stacked. Ripped. Whatever. It was huge, and the sight of its incredible bulk made your questing enthusiasm vanish faster than a ghost blasted with rock salt.It had seemed a lot smaller in the picture books."Don't move any closer," you told Bfahome. "If we don't get within range, it won't--"The ape roared an unholy Chewbacca-esque roar and pounded its fists. You barely kept your footing as it sent minor earthquakes through the ground. The ape lunged towards you, and you turned and ran like the dickens, in short serialized installments with regular pauses to catch your breath before plunging on. Bfahome was running wilde, so he had considerably more flair.You clutched your stick awkwardly between your teeth and held your leaf above your head in the hopes that a stray gust of wind would pick you up and carry you away from this quest which, you realized in retrospect, was no Gafna-braining.Was that a tree ahead of you? And would it block a Blocking Lava Ape?

Saying that you woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated would have meant lying to yourself, which you did often enough, but as you saw no reason to start so early in the day you settled for just freshed and juvenated.You gravely rubbed the sand from your eyes and stood up and stretched. Actual sand had crept into camp, but your trusty leaf had kept it at bay, so this was just figurative sand--eyeboogers didn't set the same tone, somehow.You pushed your leaf aside and went down to survey the main campsite. You were pleased to see that your leaves had collected some water overnight and that other team members had taken some of the extras for your own use.Most of the crew was milling about. Makaru was skinning and prepping a small Gafna, and Bfahome was picking the choicest ribs to go with a nice bow he had fashioned.You admired their initiative, but you had a feeling going on short trips out for leaves and sticks and waiting for Gafna to stumble upon your camp just wouldn't cut it. The island had undoubtedly changed since Bionicle ended, and it was anyone's guess as to what was out there--maybe it was the cannons, or lack thereof. You wanted to go farther afield, and you had the entire day ahead of you--and for that matter, the day after that. And after that. And after that. You decided to think of it as an extended weekend--a forced wilderness retreat."You see, Scott?" you murmured under your breath. "Wilderness!" You clambered up onto a rock and used your finely honed diaphragm to project across the camp."Friends, BZ-Koronans, Clikit Supertramps, what time is it?"Blank stares. Nobody had a timepiece. Fortunately, you weren't thinking of a time that was on the clock."It's adventure time! Ladies, gentlemen, sundry others, I propose to you...an expedition! One lasting at least a day, with the express goal of hunting the legendary, the elusive, the utterly massive Stone Blocking Lava Ape!"There were gasps from the crowd, many to the effect that its HP was ridiculous and that they weren't even sure it was still on the island. Things had changed, as you said."I know, our chances may seem slim. But if Makaru can brain a Gafna without so much as an ice claw, imagine how much easier the Stone Ape might be, how much greater the victory!""Truly, it would be the stuff of legends, or if not the stuff of legends, a high point in an obscure and specific historical chain of events! One that the bards will sing of! And I studied Old English to the point of having decent reading fluency, so I can translate for them. Also!" You said, struggling to keep your train of thought, "We would most certainly show up the other team."Some approving nods this time."Who's with me?" you shouted. Bfahome jumped right up to join you, clearly unsatisfied with his progress so far this morning and eager to test his bow."Splendid! Let's not waste any time, then. We shall find our lunch as we go," you say grandly. You tore a couple small strips off your leaf and folded them into cups, which you filled with water from one of the collector leaves and stopped with small rocks. You handed one to bfahome."Drink whenever you're thirsty," you told him, "or else every time someone makes a Hunger Games reference."You strode out of camp and further to the east, resolving not to look back and see if anyone else was following you for at least thirty seconds.It was probably best to do this sort of thing before things got really nasty, you thought. Maybe they would write a chronicle about it, though. A biological chronicle.

This site needs more Supernatural like Dean needs Cas pie.

You wandered into the eastern rocks with everyone except Eeko and Sumiki, who were still out looking for wood. The only wood you'd seen had been unreservedly part of the trees scattered around the area, and nobody had an axe. Still, there might have been some dead wood closer to the volcano--victim of past lava flows. If you didn't get a fire going tonight, well, your leaf would trap some of your body heat. You thought your tribe might need to move even further east if the other team tried anything tricky, but that lot was still bumming around on the beach last you'd seen."Arpy," Hahli Husky asked you, "are there more of those freakishly large leaves?""Leaf it to me!" you punned horribly, producing more leaves for each of the team plus a couple extra. However, producing them took some time, because you had to go back to the grove where you'd found the first one, and the breezes were tugging at your large pile of leaves all the way back. Of course, if you had had your subspace suitcase with you, you could have put an entire leafy tree inside and carried it around no problem, but it was being held hostage on the boat...so you scarpered off to get the leaves. Hahli Husky was too busy sucking on a rock to take much notice, and everyone else there was surely pondering tribal names. You were fine with Clikit Supertramps, honestly, though you also liked Glitterglau, because it reminded you of both glitter (which you liked) and Summer Glau (who was okay, but mainly notable in your mind as part of the crew of Serenity)."Don't you look at my Clikits," you hummed as you yanked more leaves down, "They're the only ones I've got." By the time you got back, it was definitely dark and probably pretty darn late. Strange noises had been coming at you from all over the island--some of them from this very campsite, you found. Hopefully the snoring would deter any predators in the area.They had eaten but neglected to leave you any leftovers. Moreover, there were no coconut shells in sight, which was a pity, because you could have totally used some if you ever needed to simulate the sound of a hooved steed. You were pleased to see that Eeko and Sumiki were sprawled on the ground, looking only a little worse for wear.The lot had forgotten to look for a clean water source, but that was all right. You'd brought back a couple extra leaves, and you thought you might be able to use them to collect dew or any rainwater that might fall. You scurried around for a while, collecting enough stones to weigh down the thick and springy leaves. Once you'd laid the leaves down in the tall grass to let them do their stuff, you wedged the remainders in between two rocks so everyone else could strengthen their shelters come morning and went deeper into the rocks to make one of your own.Truly, this was real Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, James Fenimore Cooper type stuff.You found a rock alcove just large enough to fit you, though your fro would have to scrunch up. Three walls were already there ready-made, and you just needed to supply a fourth--which your giant leaf did without any problems. You leaned on the fourth wall, testing its integrity, but you weren't able to break through it. Those leaves were tough stuff.As you tried to drift off to sleep, your stomach twinged and brought you back. You'd had a good breakfast and second breakfast before leaving BZ-Koro for this Tohuforsaken island, but right about then an after-hours snack would have hit the spot, most assuredly. A wave of nostalgia shook you as you recalled fond memories of the Pixy Stix in old BZ-Koro and then you twitched as you realized that that was over ten years ago. Food, currency, and stimulants all in one...those were the days. But this was Voya-Nui, and Pixy Stix were thin on the ground. You tried drifting off again and this time succeeded, sad that you weren't drifting inside a Jaeger.

EMZEE IS THE TRUTH Arpy is love, Arpy is life.(Arpy has never RPed before, but don't let that stop you. He sure didn't.) but it's practically in your name (like seriously) Would you believe I only made the connection between my name (which is based off a different RP) and RPing this afternoon during a dull period at work?

But I don't want to be mistaken for one of the GaliGee snowclones that were running around back in the day. Remember that lot? Heh.

A bout of excitement seized you as you remembered a totally excellent movie you saw the other week. It had some excellent artistic choices, no franchise history to contend with, a female lead who more than held her own and had no romantic subplot, and giant robots fighting giant monsters through the power of friendship. Besides, it was just plain fun. Kind of how you'd have liked this survivor thing to turn out (And even as you thought this, a sinking foreboding settled upon your soul to the effect that this could never be the case in such a twisted world, but you're an ameliorist, so you opted to plunge on regardless). It amounted to base plagiarism, but Jaeger names are just so epic, how could one not? "In the event that Clikit Supertramps fails to win out," you said... "The Eureka Strikers!" you shouted. "The Tango Coyotes!" you frothed. "...The Hannibal Chaus?" you wondered. While you let your tribe mull these exciting options over, you made to head east a bit more and were pleased to find an unbelievably large leaf that would serve in a pinch as an umbrella, tent, and shield. So at least you had shelter. "Save my life, I'm goin' down for the last time," you sang as you meandered under your leaf. "Woman with the sweet lovin', better than a white lie."

I mean, it's nowhere near that point yet (though when it is I hope Jensen Ackles makes an appearance), but check this out! Arpy is RPing for the first time ever and it's actually kind of fun.

EMZEE IS THE TRUTH Arpy is love, Arpy is life.(Arpy has never RPed before, but don't let that stop you. He sure didn't.)

At least part of your name suggestion seemed to go over well with the group--when you mentioned Bryan and the Supertramps, you were thinking of Bryan Adams, of course. Makaru was Makaru. You actually really liked Makaru's suggestion of 'Clikit Supertramps,' though maybe with a 'the' appended to the front, so you said "And do absolutely nothing!" with fervor, then wheeled and headed for the east.As you tromped off towards the curious rock formation, your mind wandered to the topic of tribal leadership. Reflections in the waves sparked your memories--some happy, some sad. You thought of childhood friends and the dreams we shared, then you thought about your first exposure to Monty Python at the tender age of 14."How about an anarcho-syndicalist commune?"You turned and realized that your team was still dithering on the beach, having moved an average of thirty-one feet east, never mind that it was getting on with sunset. You trotted back and asked the question again."We could take it in turns to act as a sort of executive leader for the week," you continued. "I'd be fine with Makaru or HH to start off with."Eeko and Sumiki had already taken off to look for wood, and as you arrived back at the group Bfahome appeared from somewhere. He was no doubt sneaking around to gain some advantage--you brought yourself up short. Unjustly accusing Bfahome? Pandering to Tufi? Giving Sisen the sideeye? That wasn't you. Cover letters of ages past flashed through your mind. 'Team player,' they said. 'people-oriented.' What was up with you now? You remembered hearing how mental instability had been a tradition, a duty, and a care on this island the first time around, but hadn't that been due to a mutagen? You wondered if there was some kind of airborne agent and contemplated breathing through your shirt to filter it out, but your v-neck would have made that even more awkward than usual. Instead, you resolved to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until such time as they proved themselves deserving of the malefit of the doubt. Your tribe needed to pull together like the Constructicons or fall divided, so any irrational suspicions would be saved for after you decisively beat--whatever the other team was calling themselves.Of course, your team needed a name, too. Tuesday afternoon could technically be 12:01pm, and Tohu knew what time zone that would be--did Voya Nui even have time zones?"And do absolutely nothing," you reaffirmed.You hoped Eeko and Sumiki weren't doing anything rash.

You'd been out of the loop for a while, trying to get back on your feet after being prematurely ejected from an ivory tower where you'd had a great time analyzing literature, learning far too many languages for your own good, and hacking watermelons apart with broadswords. When you heard murmurs about cannons being fired off against this indie pop band with inane lyrics about lips building castles (seriously, how do lips build castles), you thought it sounded like a lark--just the thing to distract you from your post-undergrad ennui. You weren't expecting to be caught in the middle. Next thing you knew you were bundled off to a tropical island in the cramped hold of a boat, spat out into the water, and spontaneously thanking Bob (or whomever) for those swim lessons in second grade. You breaststroked magnificently to shore, shook out your waterlogged 'fro, and shared a brief cuddle with TMD for a moment before realizing you weren't on the same team. You entertained the possibility that you might actually be star-crossed lovers from rival families in fair Voya-Nui where this story lay, but that had pretty much already been done before, and better. As you stood up and moved to stand with your tribe, you realized a familiar weight on your shoulder was missing. You only had soggy clothes, squishy boots, and your burnt orange Kanohi. No strap on your shoulder connected to your subspace suitcase. Your bag was still in the ship's hold. And you really wanted your bag back. You eyed the rest of your team, who was all eyeing you and each other as well. Distrust seemed to be the mode du jour here, which was unfortunate for you, because your naturally trusting nature would almost certainly come back to bite you in the rear. Or ankle. Wherever. At 4'20", you weren't the tallest member of your team, but you'd be darned if you were going to let an arbitrary 12-inch delimiter stop you from representing your height however you wanted. "Your first challenge is to come up with tribe names," Tufi proclaimed. "Whoever can come up with the least sucky name by Tuesday afternoon wins their luxury items back." So. The solution to recovering your subspace suitcase. "Least sucky" was a vague qualifier, to say the least. Somehow you didn't think Team Anti-Vacuum or Team Leafblower would cut it. You heard Sisen mumbling something about setting up camp, which admittedly needed to be done before nightfall, but he was wandering off in a western sort of direction--betraying his sympathies for the other tribe? You turned him to face east and decided to keep an eye on him in particular. Eeko mentioned looking for wood in the forest, which struck you as an excellent idea given how cold it was. Splitting up to gather camp supplies would be more efficient, but on the other hand, you have no idea what's out there and no camp to meet at. You search for a landmark to the east where your team could rendezvous. "Eeko," you say, "why don't you take Sumiki with you and look for firewood? The rest of us will head for that curiously shaped rock formation in the east and meet you there. Sound good?" Everyone nods, or at least makes some kind of noncommittal grunt. "Makaru, HH," you asked as your tribe headed east, "You two are fairly well attuned to the Canadian zeitgeist, aren't you? Is there any way we can pander to the Empress's tastes to come up with something totally excellent for our name? My only thought at this point is Bryan and the Supertramps."

Linguistics is the best, though. Tell me, which IPA characters do you ship most?

Actually anime in general is the worst Second only to Homestuck SpongeBob SquarePants is the epitome of animation

He really is! It was a splendid time had by all. bby plz, Delirium/Death 4 lyfe

Kveikur is great. I have yet to get sick of listening to Ísjaki. I've most recently come into possession of Delhi 2 Dublin's Planet Electric (bouncy fun fusion), Of Montreal's Sunlandic Twins (some great lyrical twists and mindworms), and singles by Genesis, REO Speedwagon, and Tom Petty (classic, all of them).