Oddtalk #1, YHaY: Buried above the Ground · 6:51pm Sep 25th, 2022
To kick off episode one of Oddtalk, we'll be talking about one of the oddest and most interesting stories I've read on this site, and quite possibly the most fascinating fanfic I've read period. That fanfic is none other than Your Human and You: Buried Above the Ground! But I warn you now...
BIG WARNING! THIS STORY IS SUPER FUCKED UP! IT IS RATED MATURE AND WHILE I WONT DISCUSS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS IN IT, READING IT MIGHT FUCK YOU UP! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
ok onwards!
Now I must admit that I've never read the original Your Human and You. It's... what... 600,000 words? I do not have the time for that. But I get the basic gist of how it works... or at least I believe I do.
Fortunately, no prior reading is required to read Buried Above the Ground, now titled BAG for convenience's sake. At the very least, it's not required to understand BAG, mostly because BAG can't be understood.
To try and understand BAG would be like trying speak a language that only dogs and psychopaths can hear. Sure it's possible, and one or two people would be able to do it, but the other 99.99% of the world would think them criminally insane. And that's due to the way BAG is written.
Throughout the story, BAG feels more like a series of separate events with an either loose or non existent correlation aside from the characters and setting. Characters do things, act certain ways, and find themselves subject to certain events, only for everything to apparently go back to "normal" within the next hundred words. It creates this odd, almost disassociative feeling that lasts throughout most of the story, especially the parts concerning Anon and Chrysalis.
But "most" is a generous term. In actuality, the scenes with Anon and Chrysalis make up only a small fraction of the entire fanfic. The bulk of the fanfic lies in a book written by Chrysalis, which Anon finds, that explains the history of this place... as best it can anyway.
This story tells of Alec, Robert Flint, and their foretelling of the end of Equestria as well as the death of the royal family. It's this section that really gives you whiplash, and not even when compared to the other chapters. Throughout the story, There are often little blurbs depicting Chrysalis' descent into insanity, though it might be more accurate to say they're displays of her long gone mental state.
And while these two separate parts of BAG might seem oddly placed and nonsensical, it actually ties in rather interestingly with the themes of the story.
During Anon and Chrysalis's time in the forest, many strange events occur, sometimes involving violence and pain, but oftentimes resulting in odd sexual encounters. In fact, sex is a very large part of the story of BAG. It's part of the foundation of the religion that Alec invented and Flint continued in his stead. Of course horrible, gruesome murder is also a part of their religion, but the question is why?
An idea that the story very heavily stresses is the idea that all living things are dead the moment they begin to exist, as the inevitability of death will never leave them as long as they are alive. This forms the basis of Alec's religion, and is the idea responsible for the many atrocities that follow suit. But this might leave one to wonder, what the hell does this dude's weird pornographic murder religion have to do with Anon and Chrysalis being lost in a forest somewhere? And how does that story explain all the weird shit that happens throughout? And why does Celestia show up at the end? What's that all about?
Well, another theme of this story, and one of the questions that Alec often asks anyone willing to listen is: What's the point in living if you're destined to die. This is where I believe that the forest comes into play. Near the end of Chrysalis' book, she rambles on about how ghosts are all around, never leaving and ever present. This makes me believe that, due to the nature of the forest, it is one of two things.
1. Purgatory placed upon select individuals. Though why Chrysalis and Anon would be chosen to stay in purgatory is beyond me.
2. The forest is the world after Alec and Flint's visions have come true. the royal family is dead, the world is lawless and the ghosts of all those who have died before wander the endless forest for the rest of time. This would better explain the events that happen during the forest, specifically the deer and the changeling swarm, as it could be reasoned that they are creatures that follow Alec's will, or, since basically every animal is sentient, at least believe in his views.
And the plethora of sex and violence in this story leads me to the conclusion that is: Death is inevitable, unavoidable, and as such, followers of Alec spend their time by indulging themselves in the most vile, painful, and unsightly activities. They decide to use their life as they see fit, knowing that their death lies unwavering ahead of them. And that kind of theme I'd say serves as the perfect introduction to the oddball series, and I'm interested to see any story try and top this one in terms of intrigue as well as absolute vileness. No joke the bit with the scissors had me like
Absolutely nasty.
Anyway, to the F.O.I.L. scale we go!
Fun=2. This story is one of the most uncomfortable and jarring things I've ever read. There are maybe two sentences in this entire story that didn't make me want to cry or throw up.
Oddness=10. This story is seventeen different levels of fucked up, and all of them in the worst possible way. yech.
Intrigue=7. Even when I read it the first time and had no fucking idea what it was talking about (and yes, i've read this thing multiple times. I wanna be a good analyst dangit.), I could sense that there was SOMETHING there. And even if there isn't, I still took something away from it. That, and it's absurdity kept me interested, so it gets a couple points.
Length=4. While the initial chapters are short and punchy concerning the events that happen, the longest chapter, A Dance With Death, is more than three times as long as the second largest chapter, and ends up being a bit of a slog to read. You can only read depraved and disgusting acts before it transitions from shocking and gross to boring and gross. Though I will admit, the scene with Cadance was intriguing, but that doesn't add points to length, so it stays as it is.
So that adds up to a total rating of 23/40, or a 57%. Overall, not bad for the first one, and I can definitely say that BAG had my attention. Read it if you want, but I warn you, it is VERRRRY fucked up. Like... yuck.
Anyway, that's it for now! Have a good one!
I absolutely loved this analysis of my story, I leave many of my stories up to interpretation, but I will say, you have made a very very accurate look into what the meaning of Buried Above Ground really is. There is no, one singular meaning that can be deduced, it's all a surrealistic fever dream all coated in violence and blood. That I wrote when I was extremely sleep deprived back in July and August of this Year. (and also made many test short stories of it before July, this took a while to make)
I applaud and thank you for taking the time to review it, thank you for everything you said, I really do appreciate it.
- Oh and one thing, if you are to translate and read the lyrics to the song that I link in the story, George Frideric Handel's - Lascia chi's pianga, you will see a very big inspiration, especially with one word in particular that starts with an M, :)
...You will put your hands together and blow the fire of life
Into the violent gentleness to the side of the silver vortex
What you see on the depths of the mirror?
An endless flame night
An angel of revenge opens the window and tells everything to you...
(Also sorry for the extremely late reply lol)