#I'm just being extremely diligent about labeling them now

[drowxiv]

Then Vs. Now

2019 - The first screenshot Viedyn was created to ensure I had a connection to FFXIV that would make me want to play. He was the older brother of another OC, Durafein, who was a Drow from a TTRPG.

Viedyn was originally a ranger type character who used a bow/arrow as well as a sword. In the "lore" I made for him he held a choke point during the fall of his noble house but he was eventually slain. FFXIV was meant to be some "other life, after life, reincarnation, whatever" but that incident was always going to be his past and his face was scarred to reflect that.

2021 - Timeline split I switched to DNC and moved to a "friends only" FC that wanted to interact with Viedyn's character. So he sort of got his own "What If?" episode where he escaped the fall of his house. I tried to force "dancer" to fit his lore. It was a huge stretch and a big part of me regrets it. However it works for AU purposes, my FC needed a "softer" version of him.

2024 - What then should have been He's been reverted to his "canon/living" state. To better reflect his protective role within his house he wears heavy black armor and fights with a sword and shield. He wears a silver circlet to mark his position as the right hand of the Matron as well as (essentially) Captain of the house guard/troops.

The scars on his face have been removed, his hair has been cut short for combat, and his eyes have been changed to an "icy" blue to reflect the descriptions I've written of him as well as his canon personality. Thank you @vmbral for tagging me!

Tagging @cosmicharm , @il-mhegs , @ornerykarakul , @displaykitkats , @thedarknesssings , @houserosaire and anyone else who wants to create a "Then vs. Now"! You have my official permission! Be as detailed or not detailed as you like! (some just simply post two pics with dates!)

[sharpedgedfool]

Hello I was just wondering if we could get some more stuff and ideas about the sonadow future museum au (im just going to call it that cuz thats shorter)

heres a quick sketch cuz I really liked the designs👍

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES YOU CAN AND IL OVE UR STYLE WITH IT???? I love how uncle-chuck-esc Sonic looks it's the exact vibe I wanted him to have 10/10

I'm in the process of writing this au as an actual story but I'm barely a chapter in yet, but I'll give some more snippets about Shadow and a page of sketches! (its a long read im so sorry but thank you for the ask!!)

Shadow goes by 'Oliver' as his fake name, he took it from a book he read once and liked the cover. They use He/They pronouns and identifies as something non-binary, he's not in a rush to label himself (they joke they've enough to label around the museum)

He lived as a vagabond until settling in Rainmeadow Town, and being taken in by the museum's solo-curator Beatrice, who's a field mouse with a physical disability and was unable to fully access the museum after she took it over from the previous owners.

Shadow adored museums as it was one of the only places he could visit freely so he has a soft spot, and Beatrice was so nice to him so he stayed to help restore it and got too attached he ended up settling down there. He was anxious at first, but its been five years and he's comfortable living there now

He lived with Beatrice for two years, before managing to earn enough from odd-jobs to buy out the small apartment above the local B&B

He has a stray cat he's taken in who wanders around town when he's at work. The cat is known to be vicious but is a sweetheart around Shadow, somewhat mimicking Shadows own demeaner

He dresses himself as unassuming as possible, and that sometimes makes himself a target for any outsiders of the village He gets tired out easily, due to them restricting their energy so much, but they can still fight viciously (almost feral after so many years outside of civilisation) for a short amount of time though would prefer to run. Shadow also needs rest throughout the day

Due to his tight inhibitor rings, Shadows red stripes and eyes have all dimed to a dull grey, his blood however remains a harsh green so he has to be diligent to ensure he doesn't injure himself in front of anyone. If he loosened his rings they would rapidly shift back to a red and he would regain energy to use his abilities, but he hides them and is extremely paranoid about his true identity

He likes to read and cook, and has a habit of reading while walking around even in the dark. He cooks meals for his cat and refuses to give them cat food from a can

He's a huge coffee fan, and loves brewing it himself with the manual machines at home (but also will still absolutely eat the beans straight if it's been a long day)

They haven't 'aged' but they've 'grown bigger' through mutation, their spines and fur are longer so they appear more mature even if internally he hasn't changed much.

He's always wanted a motorbike, but couldn't travel with one and can't afford the upkeep

Their glasses are generic reading glasses that he doesn't really need, but he finds it grounding to have them in his vision (he feels hidden behind them)

Rainmeadow is a known queer-safe town, despite it's remoteness, and the museum has a hall they regularly hold events in (Shadow is fond of the rollerskate hang-outs they schedule)

He has frequent panic attacks and extreme anxiety, they're selectively mute and uses sign (I use BSL when I'm drawing it out) and can't be around large groups of people for too long. He lets Beatrice work at the front of the museum and he lurks around in the back, people jokingly call him a 'shadow' often (and he's gotten used to the fear that shoots down his spine at the mention of his name)

No one knows of his origins, though Beatrice knows some of his vagabond experiences and topics that makes him uneasy

Shadow has met Rouge a handful of times. When he was saving money, he was contacted by her due to his experience in the museum. Due to his lack of background information, she assumed he had been involved in criminal activity and needed his knowledge on artefacts and assistance in restoring something. Shadow agreed reluctantly, but despite his uncertainty he enjoyed working on the things she brought and Rouge found his genuine interest in history and lack of concern for her intentions to be good company. Shadow became her main contact for these things (though she rarely needs his help) and the two are on good terms despite not being close

Rouge has worked with Team Sonic on occasion, and never worked with GUN. She's infamous but her identity is unknown to the public, except her name on her calling card. A few of Sonic's gang know what she looks like as eventually after knowing them for so long she doesn't wear the spy gear around them all the time, but felt strangely comfortable around Shadow rather quickly so he's seen her face

[busyfish]

Two things: i feel like acceptance a lot of the time has become this "we're not weird we're different" sort of thing but i have noticed a lot what's been in the lgbt community that an overwhelming amount of people are really into reclamation of stuff (which is cool) so like i have been thinking like, i have so heavily identified as "weird" at the worst of times and "quirky" at the best of times that it is now difficult for me as an adult to see stuff like on sesame street and go like "oh it's okay, julia is just different" i think it's super solid for like autistic kids now but for me personal i guess i just identify as weird. so like i have been thinking to myself i have disliked a lot in the past when people will sort of halfheartedly be like "oh no you're not weird..." and try to like pass me off as someone i'm not.

i am weird. at times i am off-putting. and i sort of do not want people to tell me that i am not out of obligation. i would much rather to have someone know i am weird and like me because i am weird (not despite. i sort of see that as being like again, seen as a flaw)

i feel like i have met too many people in life who have like been the despite my disposition fail completely to understand me as a person and more or less turn a blind eye in their mind to how i am and then eventually get fed up with it. i do not want people to not call me out if i am being too much for them or whatever but i would like it to be out of understanding and not frustration or just "putting up with me".

but i would also like to be me. i feel like despite a lot of people's best attempts, they always want to fix me in some way. and i am just sort of tired of this.

so like i guess my main thing is i would like to have more people in my life understand how i am, accept that, not try to coddle me and pretend i am not who i am, and work with me on those terms instead of like letting things slide until they just get frustrated eventually (which is inevitable)

so i guess secondly, i suppose i just do not have the kind of support i would like to have in life most of the time.

when i was really little i was extremely feral. i make a few jokes here and there, that i think makes some NT or just non-autistic people sort of flinch when i say things like, "my more feral brothers on the spectrum" or things like that; (i think "functioning" labels are so stupid and pointless and do nothing but harm because they absolutely do not in any shape or fashion paint a picture at all about what life on the spectrum is like)

because i was one of those people as a kid.

so like my mom was very diligent in like basically putting me in every kind of therapy and stuff to make sure i would not be like non verbal my entire life and basically not in what they viewed as a total menace and problem child.

i was as a child, nearly a model of what like a$ wants to "cure".

anyway i guess like as an adult now, basically right out of highschool when my mom sort of just felt like she failed me completely has sort of just thrown her hands up and went "i guess what a lot of what i put your through is totally abuse, you just do whatever you need to do now" (me getting disability probably helped in this decision tbh)

so like i guess to a degree i have sort of become feral again. i was completely non verbal for about 15 months in my adult life, which was very trying for my mother but she eventually got into the habit of helping me more but i can tell that the experience was very trying for her.

i think she hates having to do my hair and help me dress.

but i think she's been scared into what the alternatives would be if she pushed me at this point. but i also guess like i have never acquired the means of like being in society really??? and now most people just go "just go to therapy forehead" or "just act NT forehead" without knowing anything about me and my experiences and just sort of expect me to just "figure it out" i have even kind of gotten that from people who are ND who i guess sort of buy into the whole "i talk therefore high functioning" and basically think that it's just small obstacles and it's super easy to like rearrange your life if you follow a few easy steps. So a lot of the time i feel really ignored and basically like people just do not want to deal with me and hope that my problems will go away. i am not high functioning. i find it extremely difficult to speak. i have a hard time dressing myself. i do not manage my own finances. i cannot make my own appointments.

i am totally an completely reliant and dependent on another adult to continue my existence. i think that some people need to know this. there's a lot of that missing i think when people interact with me. Everyone in IRL has just been "oh they're just weird" without realizing how difficult my day to day life is. And like online, i feel like a lot of people have said things to me without really understanding what they would be getting themselves into. It has made me really distant with a lot of people because i feel like it is just surface level attraction or interest without understanding that i am an extremely difficult person to be around. People all the time will be like "i cannot believe you find it so hard to make friends or for people to fall for you!" and i am like "the people who understand run away immediately"

This was such a long way of saying like, i just wish i had someone who sort of knew all of this, truly understood it, and maybe felt some-what compelled to maybe like, support me. i have good friends who are very caring and lovely and wonderful to me and i am not discounting them at all or saying anything about them. they are very understanding. but what i am saying is i wish i had someone a bit more like constant? like, i don't know, not a romantic partner or anything like that but someone who is like more there for me when i really need something. i don't mean like a shoulder to cry on, or a willing ear to listen to me.

i mean someone like, i don't know, someone who knows how to keep me from falling over. someone who can see me at my limit before i can and like help me down off the edge. someone who can like just truly accept me for who i am instead of pretending i'm not weird or ugly to be around sometimes and can like deal with it. i don't know. i guess i just feel very lonely in a certain way that i'm worried will be a constant in my life. i feel like i am going to go my whole life with just like friends i play a few video games with here and there or watch some stuff with and maybe like share creative ideas with but not have someone like who can really stick by me when i have real difficult stuff going on.

anyway sorry for such a long post on your dash. i know most people have long posts like shortened now and stuff but like if anyone read this all the way, i want to say i at least appreicate you hearing me out.

this has been something on ym mind a lot for the past few days because i watched some like stuff on like modern autistic discourse in the public sphere and it has just made me realize how much i am missing out in life.