#RIPYark

[subakuryu]

Nido ducked beneath one final prickly bough before his eyes laid upon his quarry.

A rock!

A lone, white rock laid nestled in the verdant clearing before him, inviting the needlix to take the weight off his feet. And without much thought, he obliged! Onward he lumbered to his craggy throne, his eyes meandering across the canopy hoping to catch glimpse of small acquaintances he’d made previously.

No one seemed brave enough to peek out just yet, but all the same! A tilted grin knew that the etiquette was for him to sit first before any meet and greet could begin.

The stone now just beneath his nose, Nido quickly turned about-face and plopped his heft down as his legs splayed out before him – the heels of his boots caught the earth as his weight settled between the points of contact.

Nido braced his hands on either side against the stone and leaned back as he drew in deep the amber scent of pine, humus, and morning dew with a pause. And soon the atmosphere returned warmly through his teeth in a contented huff.

Straightening up with hands on his knees, he drew his heels closer to him letting his boots press flat on the ground as he took a deeper scan at the stillness around him. The sentient rags on either side of his head also began flagging down any signs of life calling through the forest air.

Still no visuals on any natives making themselves known, Nido peeked over his shoulder to check in on the space behind him where his tail rested. As expected, new blades of grass had long bandaged up the previous wound in the ground he’d made some weeks ago.

The needlix’s ears fluttered with anticipation as he leaned forward up off the log, positioning the four-pronged tip of his tail ready to strike into the earth… and with a schuff, his ornery pitchfork drove well into it.

He closed his eyes.

---

Seems like two nests became three! Two of them still abandoned, and the new one was a good few meters higher? Ambitious! Or… perhaps there’d been new dangers afoot as of late. None that the needlix could sense at that point in time. Nido looked up at where the new nest felt like it was situated and he swayed his head back and forth to help pinpoint any visual. Nope, couldn’t really see it. With a slight grin he nodded approvingly, silently congratulating the parents on choosing a fine property.

The trees also felt… heavier. Made sense! It’s spring, so they’d been growing and it did rain in the area a couple days ago. Nido took another deep breath as to further confirm the smell of a well-watered forest when he closed his eyes again and took a moment to really focus and make sure he was clear of any civilized life encroaching on his evergreen sanctum.

A string of very distant caws prompted Nido to mark his survey clear within a half mile as he leaned forward taking a look at the ground beneath his boots. He began tamping the leg space around him being sure to level any grassy protrusions. And once he was sure the area was leveled, Nido began to shed his boots and socks.

Placing his footwear off to his right, he planted his freed stompers into the indentations his boots had left. Nido flinched for a moment as his face fended off a throaty titter as some rogue blades of grass brushed against his soles in the process.

His legs then firmly coupled with the ground, he pulled his headset free of his skull and perched it askew over his boots. And with that he closed his eyes and leaned his weight forward, his elbows anchored atop his knees. His mossy mane fell forward in its natural state obscuring his sight. However, his seismic vision was ever clearer – his spirit now wove freely through the trees and delved ever deeper into the depths below.

Being grounded, for him, was to fly! _______

_______

Hope ya enjoyed the picture and lil story that I wrote above!  As a courtesy, I’m reiterating some lore/design tidbits regarding Nido’s keen senses below:  -Nido is highly attentive to sound and vibration

-This is part of the reason why he’s always wearing his headset as a passive filter to surrounding noise. His clarity of hearing with it on is above average, and with it off is downright sharp!

-He’s developed a tendency averting his gaze/closing his eyes when listening to someone because he can get distracted with watching how mouthsounds are being produced instead of actually comprehending a sentence/thought. This has made him look rude/uninvested to people who don’t know him very well.

-he has legitimate TREMOR SENSE but he doesn’t do the stomping technique a la Toph from AtLA. Instead he tends to simply remain still to hone in on his surroundings.

-His clarity and breadth of tremor sense is highest when planted barefoot and tail fork is nestled in the ground

-If he’s busy with physical or interesting work, it’s easy for his mind to not pay attention to listening through his feet.

-While he legitimately likes rocking them, he wears cushy closed-toe boots and thick socks because it also helps dampen any tremor noise.

__________

Thanks for stopping by! Till next post!

[subakuryu]

Nido’s Ears

So I decided to take the afternoon/evening working on sketching out lots of EARS. This time without the troublesome mane and headset just so we can see them sentient head flaps of his more clearly. 

Nido’s ears are very, very active/expressive. In their relaxed state, they’ll usually sit perched with slight arch before draping over the earcups of his ever-present headset. If Nido is actively listening or there’s a sudden loud noise, the ears often lurch towards the source before Nido’s eyes/head follow. 

The base of the ears sit at level of the brow-line instead of eye level as compared with typical needlix depictions. They also are a bit longer and floppier. I’ve decided that he now has tufts of hair that creep down the midline on the backside his ears. I’ll admit that I’ve lifted that lil design aesthetic off a certain fellow’s style.  

And the idea that I like the most is that Nido on the rare occasions he’s embarrassed/flustered is terrible at keeping a poker face. What’s worse is that his ears are very prone to blush before his face ever does.

[subakuryu]

On the few remarks I’ve gotten regarding Nido, a common one was how he’s got very thick brows.

So... Uh. Here he is! Puttin them powerful brows to use by crackin open some walnuts to snack on! *Shrugs* 

I’ve half a mind to make this a canonical useless talent of his, XD. What do ya’ll think?

5 - second rule, Nido! Hurry up n nab em!

[subakuryu]

In honor of the canonical birthday for Yark's main villain for Team Prototype - Ezskar (Dec 24), I had drawn the traditional sketch yesterday of my character Nido being briefed on a future project of Ezskar's. And I also felt compelled to write a lil something to accompany the picture, which turned out to go way, WAY further than I had intended. So enjoy this currently untitled brainspew.

Oh... And the digital sketch came way before the pencil sketch that was originally an attempt to work on a grumpy expression... which then became a full body sketch that required full made up context for the annoyed expression. And now it's sorta woven into this crack story that I finished some minutes ago before the 24th ends.

Again... Enjoy the madness below!

____(Start)_____

*Phew-!*

A needlix exhales in relief as he pulls himself up off the floor from beneath a block of pipes, gears and wires galore. Now on his feet, his arms sit akimbo as he assesses his handiwork - a cantankerous engine had landed itself in his corner of the station two days ago, and rightly so with the mileage on Techkanis-9 it had tallied up for well over a decade. Satisfied, he steps up on the front bumper and grabs the hood to lock it down in place.

"Well... I think that's about as much as ya need from me this mornin, eh clunker?" he grins, punctuating with a couple knocks on the hood. "S'bout time you retired, but your owners... Well they're bout as stubborn as I am" he chuckles.

Taking a moment to straighten a slouch and undoing stiffness in his neck with a crunch that'd make a chiropractor blush, he stares up at the clock above his workbench. 11:17.

"Ah... Good timin'" he mused aloud.

Lunchtime! Scanning his workspace, he stoops down to pick up the rest of his tools and proceeds to wipe them down with a towel and put them in their place one by one. He was buffing a wrench when a familiar rhythm came through the garage door.

*Tok Tok t-Tok tok*

His eyebrows sunk, while his pupils came up to meet them in a bonafide scowl. If the wall he was staring at had wallpaper, it'd peel.

"Ah... Good timin'" he repeats coated with equal parts annoyance and resignation.

A nostril whistles as he takes a deep breath and a louder knock returns to fill in that gap of silence.

"Yeah I'll be right there. Gimme a moment," he announces plainly exercising restraint on his grumpiness as he tosses a dirtied rag onto the bench and makes his way to the garage door panel.

A magnetic key hangs attached to the controls as he thumbs the button to raise the sliding door and up it rises with a hum.

Slowly the brighter light of the hall begins to flood in from beneath the metal curtain, and a shadow starts to print onto the workshop floor. Just as the door clears 3 feet, a bulbous, spiky silhouette streaks in from underneath and launches at the needlix - maw open and *hungry*!

"Wha-!" the needlix barely gets out through clenched teeth before his arms reach out to grapple the chitinous assailant as his weight rocked back onto his tail - his legs losing purchase of the floor. His left shoulder and head checked against the wall, his spiny headset dislodged askew.

Eyes wide in shock at all that had transpired in a blink of an eye, the needlix's mind sprinted to catch up with the situation after a few ragged breaths. Familiar gurgling noises arose from the form wriggling in his stranglehold.

"...h-hey, Chompski..." he manages to sputter as he frees one arm to realign his headset.

"rrrRrRRRrRghh~"

"Yeah? Can y'not though?" he pleads with nervous laughter while patting the overgrown mutant clam.

The semi-sentient appendage seems to click apologetically as it begins to withdraw in a rising motion allowing the needlix's boots to reunite with the floor.

With Chompski clearing his line of sight, it unveils a grinning silhouette half-ducked underneath the partially open entry, the emerald green glow of a synthetic swirl-eyed lense making for an easy focal point of attention. Unnervingly so.

"Ezskar," the needlix flatly addressed the imp of an employer.

"As expected of a pro muck warfare player! Impeccable reflexes, Nido!" the shadow sung through his smile as he gave a polite golf clap. "I'd apologize about the 'forced entry' but IT decided to wake up as I got close. I'd blame the fact that it positively reeks of productivity in here. And by productivity, I mean stale coffee" he snickers, gesturing with a hand as if he was whiffing a fine fragrance.

"RrrRrwryyyeargh!" vocalized Chompski as it wriggled in seeming agreement, before all of a sudden it froze in place - its eyeless gaze staring at Nido's right side.

Both Ezskar and Nido pause in anxious silence and in unison traced the line to Nido's right hand, still clutching a newly buffed wrench despite the short altercation.

Marveling at that detail, Nido absentmindedly brings the wrench in front of him to stare at it in disbelief, which Chompski follows with uncanny, locked-on precision. Nido now noticing this, starts slowly waving the wrench around. Still entranced.

Nido blinks, and looks to Ezskar who returns the gaze with a furrowed brow. Nido's tail tip begins to sway, a wicked grin steadily twists onto his cheeks showing rows of sharp crooked teeth, as his eyebrows near float up to the ceiling with diabolical delight.

"N-Ni... Don't you dare," Ezskar's composure flounders. "If you like your pay, you better stay as smart as you usually are" he threatens all the while tugging on his prodigal tether to wrestle it back under his control.

Nido takes another deep breath through what was probably the smuggest his face ever contorted in his lifetime as the metaphorical devil horns receded back into his skull.

"Hahhhh... I guess I do like my pay," he smirks as he tucks his right hand behind his back. "Well? What can I do for ya, Ezskar?"

Ezskar let's go of his tail as he straightens his attire and sweeps back his hair. "Ehem... The new project. The one I left a voicemail about this morning?"

"This morning?" Nido scratches his head as he gazes up at the ceiling for his memories. He ruminates for a moment before realizing he could just check his cell logs. Pulling the unit from his vest, he finds a call from Ezskar... At 3:49AM.

"...Ah. This morning," Nido mutters as he vaguely remembers being interrupted during his morning ritual of downing multiple pots of coffee to function for the rest of the day.

"I missed it. Sorry bout that."

"I'll let it slide,"  Ezskar dismisses with a wave of his arm producing a tablet in hand which he begins fanning himself with. He strolls up to the inner garage door control panel and restarts opening the door.

"I'm here with a lot more details about it all since I left the message anyway..."

Ezskar turns on the makeshift fan, and takes a moment to peruse the screen, before tossing it at Nido.

"Alleyoop!"

Nido catches it with his left hand and begins taking a look.

Ezskar chuckles as he starts heading out the now gaping garage entrance. "There's a lot to discuss, so let's walk n talk to the mess hall, hmm? It is lunchtime afterall."

Nido doesn't answer but absentmindedly follows Ezskar out. Pulling his inner garage panel key out with his teeth and deftly dropping it into an open vest pocket, he lumbers out into the hall hunched over the plans, his eyes already taking in and considering the logistics of a new large scale multi-layered containment field with lots of bells and whistles. His body on autopilot, he fumbles with his wrench toting right hand to get the garage door closed while he's already planning on how to approach and lead this new project.

"And you want this done... In a month? I may 'reek of productivity,' Ezskar, but I think you've whiffed those fumes too deeply," Nido states with skepticism plastered on his grizzly mug - his lower jaw waggling as if he was discreetly cleaning his teeth.

"I'm willing to haggle, Nido. I got big plans. BIIIG plans! And you're going to help me. That I can assure you..." Ezskar smirked tossing quick glance back before facing forward again. "And...! I'll be sure to pay you very, very well!" Ezskar rubs his fingers together signing the many dollar signs of to be expected.

Nido's chin waggles again for a few moments before he speaks again.

"So you're gonna pay me very well for this new containment project, huh? How much are we talkin?" he says in a very probing manner.

"Hmmmm... I think maybe even triple your current pay? ...yes, triple. If you do as good a job I expect you to do," Ezskar muses aloud.

Nido snorts a bit. "Triple my pay you say?" he inquires louder.

At this point, the two are just now reaching the entrance to the mess hall as Ezskar turns around to address Nido.

"Triple guaranteed! So long as you make this project run on schedule" Ezskar states as he holds a suction-cupped hand out. "Deal?"

Nido locks eyes with Ezskar for a moment as he hands over the tablet into the open palm, but not letting go of the unit.

"Deal," Nido says with an overly warm, beaming smile.

An inexplicable chill runs down Ezskar's spine about that answer. "Wonderful," he utters cautiously. "You can let go of the tablet now, Nido."

"Oh! I will, but before I do..."

Ezskar's brow furrows as he reiterates what was said, "Before you do...?"

Nido's grin grows wider - reminiscent of a grin Ezskar saw back at the workshop. Nido leans closer to Ezskar's height looking past Ezskar's right shoulder.

Ezskar for a moment is about to push the question stepping back to look at Nido's face when his eyes catch a gleam past Nido's leaning right shoulder.

Behind his back... a wrench waves threateningly and Ezskar's eyes widen in sheer terror.

"N-no. NO. NIDO DON'T Y--"

"Chompskiii!" Nido calls as he let's go of the tablet and winds up for a pitch...

Chompski at full attention locks-on already yanking Ezskar around at the wild flailing motions...

"NIDO. NIDO STOP. I WILL F..."

"FETCH!!!" Nido bellows with a wild look in his eye

And in a blur, Nido's right hand is empty while a flash of pink streaks into the mess hall as a commotion erupts.

For a moment, Nido takes in the chaos that has begun past the swinging doors, before giving a satisfied huff as he starts strolling back to his workshop, blueprints and schematics in mind.

"Down payment received! The month starts now!"

---(END)----

Now... Barring the smiling betrayal at the mess hall which all started because the wrench and Chompski wanted to stay relevant for story continuity sake, I feel like I'm satisfied with the characterization I've got goin for Nido. I'm also wondering if this version of Ezskar that my brain produced feels on brand with him being a proper villain.

Bless his mutant, quasisentient tail!

[subakuryu]

Eyo! Been a bit. I’ve been doin a lot of drawing that I have not shared here, but I wanted to upload some bits of lore on Nido the Needlix!

Roughly depicted above is Nido taking a cherished moment sitting in his favorite secluded area deep in a forest that he tends to unwind in particularly making deliberate use of a very key trait of his: incredible sensitivity to sound and vibration

-Nido is highly attentive to sound and vibration

-This is part of the reason why he’s always wearing his headset as a passive filter to surrounding noise. His clarity of hearing with it on is above average, and with it off is downright sharp!

-He’s developed a tendency averting his gaze/closing his eyes when listening to someone because he can get distracted with watching how mouthsounds are being produced instead of actually comprehending a sentence/thought. This has made him look rude/uninvested to people who don’t know him very well.

-he has legitimate TREMOR SENSE but he doesn’t do the stomping technique a la Toph from AtLA. Instead he tends to simply remain still to hone in on his surroundings.

-His clarity and breadth of tremor sense is highest when planted barefoot and tail fork is nestled in the ground

-If he’s busy with physical or interesting work, it’s easy for his mind to not pay attention to listening through his feet.

-While he legitimately likes rocking them, he wears cushy closed-toe boots and thick socks because it also helps dampen any tremor noise.

[subakuryu]

Pocket Sketchbook - Ep1

So! In an effort to constantly work on my drawing skills, I’ve bought myself a little pocket sketchbook that I keep in my vest now! And I’m glad I did! There’s more opportunity to draw in the downtime instead of scroll through the twitterverse or veg on youtube.

This here Needlix I’ve tentatively named Nidogu’an “Bulwark” Reichnstyn! Yes I know, it doesn’t flow off the tongue, but there’s a whole lotta meaning and references behind the name. I’m sure some of ya’ll can figure out a bit on your own. For now, just call’m “Nido” for short.

This is probably the best “normal” depiction of the fella that I’ll probably make in a long while. I think I got his head maybe a bit small for the usual YarkWark proportions, but hey... I can’t be bothered to erase a decently depicted mug. XD

A lazy attempt to do a turn around of Nido’s headset! He always wears this thing when he’s out n about. As far as modern alien tech stylings is concerned, it’s considered rather retro/tacky but hey, he loves this style and its excellent functionality! For one, he’s a pretty big audiophile and is always keen on having a track to sample from all sorts of genres. Secondly, he’s actually got rather keen hearing and actually hears near perfectly well with the headphones masking his eardrums. And thirdly...  it also gives him a reason to not try too hard in combing his naturally unruly mane. Speaking of...

A little bird friend caught him outside without the head set and well, this ALWAYS happens. Luckily there’s never been any “accidents” when it’s occurred. At least not as far as he ever recollects or admits.:3

He doesn’t really mind though! He may be a lil unkempt n gruff, but there’s a bit of Disney princess in him when it comes to critters.

And here’s an attempt at just playing with an expression. Goin for a sorta “da heck”/”eugh” feel! First time I think I really tried pressin them donkeh lips together and adding some eye wrinkles to sorta push that effect! The table he’s veerin back from is empty since I didn’t really know what he was reactin to at first.

I have since placed a aerospray from splatoon 2 as a stand in, because he hates that weapon’s counterpart in muck warfare. He finds it to be a skilless and therefore boring loadout to run and openly voices his scorn about it even with a teammate he often pairs up with who uses it. The speed and intensity at which his eyes roll in annoyance would put any dualie-type weapon user to shame.

----

Alright! I hope ya’ll enjoy the further development of Nido! If you’ve got any questions regarding him, I’m very keen on seein if I got answers for ya!