#after making them a few times people gave him Looks™ LOL

[darehearts]

Jim as a 90-year-old on his deathbed probably  :  haha it's okay don't worry.  i've done this before  😊

[astra-ryuusei]

"Awakening the Sleeping Giant"

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flings my creation into the unknown

the brain worms have gotten too powerful and I’m simultaneously dying of skystar disease of so have this 1400-ish-word Fucking Thing™ based on @keferon's mecha AU featuring human!starscream as the the little bastard you can't live with but also can't live without, and skyfire/jetfire as the unfortunate victim of Fate Being a Real Bitch Sometimes and accidentally deciding the outcome of the Space Race

"ulchtar" as a name for human!Starscream was borrowed from starscream's early name (and also Skybound)

also i don’t remember if the corporation that produces mechs in this au was ever properly given a name so i just kinda. gave them a generic one lol

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Ulchtar is a mechanical engineer working on developing spacefaring mecha. He’s climbed through the ranks based on his expertise (and, occasionally by sabotaging other peoples’ work). Nobody really likes working with him; he’s kind of an ass at the best of times. But his experience with these systems makes him a danger if the company ever lets him go. He could sell his knowledge to anyone else in the world, creating new competition in a sector they’ve more-or-less monopolized. This keeps him from being kicked out…up until Mecha-Corp’s first voyage into the stars goes horribly wrong. After the disappearance of Jazz, the fingers are pointed at him, even though—for once in his life—he’s actually not to blame. It’s decided that he’s no longer useful, and he needs to be disposed of.

Ulchtar doesn’t know this, of course. Not until—after being called into a meeting in one of the downstairs labs—the door to go back upstairs locks itself, and he hears the telltale, unholy screeches of alien beasts around him. The beasts he has helped contain for years.

“…shit. Shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshitshit—”

He starts running. Not upstairs, that’s not an option, but maybe there’s another way out of here. He finds that the door upstairs is locked, but not the way down, and that means there’s still a chance, because if there’s anything the higher-ups here right about, it was the fact that Ulchtar knows way too much.

In a last, desperate attempt to survive (or at least go down swinging) Ulchtar decides to unleash his final gambit. He runs down long-forgotten halls, hurls himself downstairs until he reaches the lowest floor of the facility—a floor where nobody goes. It’s down here that he’ll make his stand and wake up an old “friend.”

The few who know it exists call it the “Sleeping Giant.” Corny name, but it made sense, given it's…well, fucking gigantic, maybe even bigger than Vortex. It was found buried in the Arctic in the mid-1950’s—what looked to be an ancient, alien shuttle, lost under the ice for perhaps millions of years. It was all kept hush-hush, but in secret, its discovery had turned the tides of the Space Race…and when it fell into the hands of what would soon become Mecha-Corp, they quickly learned it was much more than a vessel. It was alive.

Some of the earliest mechs? The huge, bulky ones that never ended up getting mass-produced because it wasn’t economical enough? They owed their design to the Giant. They owed their existence to the many times it had been torn apart and put back together to see how it worked, to the many years it had laid on a table inert, unaware of what humanity had done to it. It was their greatest trade secret.

And the Giant owes its currently-intact state to Ulchtar, who’d thought studying it as a whole was more useful than research on individual parts. Which is the only reason he knows, at least in theory, how to power it on. Hell, he’d even done some refurbishments when nobody was looking. He runs across a table far too big for him, pulling out cables and unlocking restraints. He doesn’t have time for final checks, not with a horde of kaiju bearing down on him. He just has to hope, to scream until he makes the stars hear his name—or he dies trying.

"COME ON!" He shouts. "WAKE UP, YOU OVERSIZED SUNOVA--"

At that moment, the stars respond.

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He can’t move.

He’s freezing cold.

Is he dead?

How did he get here?

He’s…he was…looking for something, he’s pretty sure. Something very important.

Something so important he’d risk getting trapped under an ice sheet over it.

Who is he? He's not sure.

He wants to go home, but he can’t remember where that’s supposed to be.

Trying to remember hurts too much.

It’s hard to think like this, when he’s so cold and everything hurts and he’s so tired.

He lets himself drift, fluttering in and out of death-dreams that he can barely recall.

Eventually, after he’s lost count of the cycles, something happens. The dim light filtering through the ice gets brighter. Small creatures—the lifeforms of this planet, he thinks—peer down at him, pointing, shouting, but he is too weak to respond.

He has hope, for a brief moment, when he sees the sun again, but those hopes are quickly dashed—once more he’s trapped in walls and ceilings of white and gray. This time, the prison is own body. He’s escaped the glacier, only to find himself paralyzed and comatose. Occasionally he laspses into consciousness just long enough to steal a few kliks of awareness before he falls back into darkness.

At some point, he feels himself revert to ‘bot mode, which is something he'd forgotten he even had until then. He’s vaguely aware that he is being picked apart and put back together by the scavengers, again and again and again. The dull ache of not being whole is the only reason he knows he’s still alive, if this can still be called living.

And then…something changes. Everything goes dark for a very long time. The next time he’s aware of anything, his first realization is that he doesn’t hurt. He doesn’t feel broken. His arms respond when he tries to move.

What?

He sits up, still in something of a daze, taking in the surroundings. It’s a room seemingly sized for mechs, and yet the furniture strewn about is far too small—maybe meant for the scavengers? He has little time to wonder about the whole situation, because he soon hears them—the distant, telltale sounds of Quintessons approaching. He remembers what those are, in a way that’s almost instinctive.

To his right, though, he hears a small screaming noise. A lone organic is shouting something at him almost hysterically, pointing at the entrance before gesturing wildly, and then pointing up at the ceiling. It runs over to a set of controls, pushing at buttons furiously until the ceiling begins to open up. Once again, he sees the sky and feels something like hope.

Then tentacles lash out from behind the entrance, and he remembers this is no time for sentiment. He picks the organic up, deciding to just plop the creature inside his cockpit where’s it’s relatively safe and jump for it. He doesn’t trust the creature, not for a second, but he needs someone to explain what’s going on. Engines flare to life for the first time in millions of years, and he hears horrific screeches as Quintesson flesh is cooked under the heat from his thrusters.

They sail up and up and up until there’s no walls anymore and that feeling of suffocating is gone and it’s warmer than anything he’s felt in millions of cycles and he’s alive.

He lets himself spin a few times in the air. He’s above the clouds and the sun feels like fire on his still-frigid wings but somehow that’s good, it feels right. He wants to just hover here and bask in it forever.

He realizes why the creature is kicking him when gunfire whizzes past his face, followed by a pair of aircraft piloted by the scavengers.

Are the scavengers after him? Or the one he’s holding onto? He’s not really sure, but he also really doesn’t want to find out.

He transforms, looking for any way to shake them off. It becomes a mad, spiraling dance as he tries to avoid getting shot, to mixed results.

He considers the enemy’s design—these aircraft don’t look like they’re meant for spaceflight. Knowing that, he climbs higher and higher, looking to get above these things’ maximum operating altitude. He flinches as a few bullets scratch and tear at him, but doesn’t stop. This eventually pays off, as he sees his pursuers begin to stall out, dropping away behind him.

He hopes his scavenger didn’t get too sick in the cockpit. That’d be a mess to clean up…

…Primus, why am I worrying about that at a time like this? He laughs to himself, though this high up, the air is so thin that it’s barely audible.

He looked down at the planet below—dusk was soon to fall on this side of the world, and he needed to find somewhere to hide.

“…where do I even go from here?”

A knock from the organic, who held up what looked like a tiny datapad with a nervous grin.

Maybe they had an idea?

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part 2

[a-lonely-dunedain]

1, 6, 9, 10 , 12 and 35 for any oc you’d like!! Mix and match if you want!

oh! I missed one! ok let's see...

1. are they associated with a certain color? what color do they wear the most?

I try to color code of my OCs! There isn't any sort of symbolism behind them besides just Vibes™, but Ethedis is green, Tossdir is red, Margim is dark red, and Celeair is blue.

my less developed OCs don't have a suuuuper solidified colors yet tho, but currently I'm thinking that Ceriondil is red, Rodigrin is turquoise, and Elwar is a dark steel blue. I'm actually still not sure who the 4th member of their group will be besides the fact that they're a dwarf, so I don't have a color for them yet.

6. "how do they wear their hair? do they care a lot how their hair looks?"

hmmm I'll answer this for Ethedis bc she's one of my only characters who actually styles it lol. She keeps is pulled back pretty simply, but lets her bangs loose to just do whatever. She's not super concerned with keeping it looking neat all the time, but she likes to keep the long parts out of her way, and if it can look pretty at the same time then that's always a nice bonus! she also likes to accessorize with those little silver leaf decorations

also, I don't know where I saw this headcanon or how commonplace it is, but I've heard some people go with this idea that for elves braiding each other's hair is kind of like an intimate thing that couples do? Idk if I'll go with this angle, but at some point in the 4th age it might be cute to add a little braid somewhere in her hairstyle, bc she's started to let Corunir help style it <3 (another one of those little things that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is to her)

9. "favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?"

hmmm I'll answer this one for Tossdir!

Tossdir really can't be a picky eater, he's a Ranger and sometimes just has to take whatever he can find, so he's developed a tolerance for basically anything that could be considered edible. and some not. I think he ate a stick once.

As for his favorite, he really liked carrot cake! But being the sentimental guy that he is, can't eat it anymore without thinking about Tadan and some measure of guilt, seeing as he partially blames himself for his death. It was the last thing Tadan ever gave him, after all.

He is now deeply conflicted about carrot cake.

10. "if they wear jewelry, what kind? do they prefer silver or gold? do they have a favorite gem?"

Ethedis wears silver jewellery mostly! More when she's at home in Rivendell, but when she's traveling she usually goes without, besides the little silver leafs in her hair of course (mostly because I don't want to draw any more jewellery lmao)

I never really gave much thought to what her favorite gem would be, hmmm... first thing that came to mind was something pale and green, perhaps beryls? elves are said to be fond of them after all. I guess that makes her basic lmao

12. "how long have they been around? do you know their birthday? is their birthday the day you made them or another day? what do they think of celebrating birthdays?"

Oh gosh, how long has Ethedis been around? I guess I created her when I started playing lotro. according to my account, it was created in...

2016! which was... hey, lotro owes me a gift box! that was 8 years ago but my account only has year 7 gifts >:(

anyway I guess that makes Ethedis roughly 8 years old, but I couldn't tell you exactly when she went from player character to capital C Character™

Tossdir was created when Before the Shadow came out, around November of 2022, but I guess his concept of "weird Ranger who sleeps in bushes named Shrub Man" goes back a little bit further, but not much.

now I did actually work out some of their birthdays in-universe by rolling some dice for funsies. let's see if I can find where I wrote that down... ok so Ethedis - May 19th (she's 350 someodd years old) Tossdir - September 18th, just a few days before Sarn Ford and everything else in Cardolan, that sure is a fun coincidence huh! (he's the Dunedain equivalent of being in his early 20s) Celeair - March 31st (probably late 20s? maybe like 30 by the time he gets to Trum Dreng but that's subject to change) Margim - I thought about rolling dice for her, but no one remembers when she was born in-universe anyway, and she has no idea how old she is.

35. "do they ever return home?"

I like to think they all make it there, in some fashion or another. But for many of them what "home" looks like is different at the end of their stories than it was at the beginning.

For Ethedis it isn't Rivendell anymore, but wherever Corunir and Tossdir are, both in this life and the next.

For Tossdir I don't think it's Tornhad at the end, so much as the North in general might be what he considers home, so long as his friends and family are there with him. I do think he still has a lot of fondness for the Trollshaws though.

For Celeair it's wherever Margim is safe and happy, and for Margim that ends up being Lhan Tarren.

For Elwar the current plan is that she's going to Gondor with Ciriondil, where she'll take some levels in Mariner and her home will be on the ocean, with the family those chose to love her.

(now that I type it out, it almost seems a little sappy that all their ideas of what home is aren't really places so much as wherever the people they love are, but hey I'm allowed to be a little sappy right?)

[myreygn]

never rambling too long girl 😭❤️

honestly i have very conflicting feelings about renkaza because i like it but i couldn't make it work in the regular kny setting - but a modern au? sign me up! (also i love him with koyuki but having them date in a modern setting would feel kinda weird, idk why so renkaza it is lol)

he'd have the hair and the tattoos, just not on his face hands and feet but he gets cool piercings and earrings instead :D (also the stripes are still extra ticklish that's canon in every universe and rengoku loves to take advantage of that knowledge)

yes exactly! akaza lights a cigarette and rumor has it he blew up the local church - and the boys, just like most people, buy into that completely! obanai is new in town, he just moved there for university and he's suspicious of everything anyway, akaza especially because he's rengoku's boyfriend and obanai loves that guy but he's a bit of an idiot sometimes. sanemi clings to these rumors so desperately because i know you people don't like me but hey look, there's someone who's even worse than me! and tengen, well he's working on himself but he's still a bit stuck in that rich person mindset where people are entertainment first, human second and yeah the akaza that burned down his school and was a gang leader might be harmful to kyojuro but also really interesting, tengen almost wants all of it to be true.

so when rengoku snaps their first reaction is "hey what did WE do??" but then they see akaza on the verge of tears and rengoku dragging him out and also rengoku just fucking walked out on them and it gets them all into this state of reluctant guilt settling in. and all of them have to be confronted about how hypocritical they're being - mitsuri reminds obanai of all of the crazy stuff people say about his mask and snake and the cult thing, which gets obanai to apologize almost immediately and mitsuri just goes "don't say that to me, say that to akaza", meanwhile tengen gets one look from his girlfriends and groans "fuck i did it again" (they've had this talk before. they will have it again. it's a process.) sanemi gets the harshest reality check tho, he's so stubborn about it and doesn't even realize, he won't even hear kanae out until;

"-don't interrupt- i'm- no, i'm talking, i don't fucking care, people say he's an arsonist!" - "people say you're a murderer, sanemi."

honestly after that, sanemi probably needs a few days before he musters up the courage to apologize to kanae and then him, obanai and tengen go and apologize to akaza and rengoku together. hey kyo, sorry for not trusting you and then they turn to akaza and tell him sorry, so sorry for everything, sorry for judging you and being mean to you and treating you like shit, we understand if you don't wanna see us anymore but we'd be so happy if you gave us a second chance (akaza is on the verge of tears again and he's so happy to give them the second chance because that's legitimately the first time in years people aside from rengoku and his adoptive family even try to like him)

(see this? THIS is rambling too long 😅😭)

also akaza becoming an honorary member of the girls™? YES PLEASE 😭😭❤️

i think the modern au renkaza thing sent on anon idk why 💀

Tumblr antics am I right? Okay back to our scheduled screaming:

AHZNNANZNAMZMAMSM AHHHH I FREAKING LOVE THIS HELP WHZNANSNNAMSMS 😍😍😍😍😍😍

First of all- Rengoku and Akaza dating in this AU? Perfection. I freaking love it ajznwnnsns also Akaza having a bit of a delinquent past but working to change it? He’d have the dyed pink hair and arm/chest tattoos and everything??? (No face tattoos though- I honestly don’t think he’d go for them in this AU but that’s just me.)

The thing is- Akaza has a rough past; but it’s not nearly as awful as the rumors paint him out to be. Yes he got kicked out of his old school- but it wasn’t because of some arson kick, and sure- he used to hang out with a gang (if you count like- three people him included a gang) but he wasn’t in association with them anymore. The ties might have been cut but the string still follows.

And Rengoku knows all this- Akaza had been frankly very upfront about it all. Still- he can see who he really is beneath all the rumors and rough patches and that’s why he loves him.

It’s also why he can’t stand his friends being so cold and harsh to Akaza. It’s based off heavily altered rumors and personal prejudice, not facts or the growth Akaza made as a person. They might not love him how he did- but that didn’t mean they had to constantly demean and berate him either.

Akaza might be willing to tank it cause he hates the idea of Rengoku fighting with his friends over him, but Rengoku isn’t gonna sit by and let them carry on like this.

And the breaking point is vicious! Rengoku- always so loud and fun, is suddenly icy with a low flat toned as he rips their little arguments to pieces. The warmth he usually has is sniffed out as he finally tells him off. It’s scary and different and uncomfortable and just enough to finally get those idiots to understand that they weren’t just hurting Akaza- but they were hurting Rengoku too.

He’s breathing hard and staring them down before getting up and taking Akaza with him, far away from them as the girls try to figure out what the hell just happened. Akaza’s barely holding back tears as he goes: “You didn’t have to do that for me…”

And when Rengoku looks at him, his eyes are wet with angry tears but his smile is small and genuine. “Yes. I did.”

Sorry I rambled way too long Rey your brain is freaking amazing! This AU is beyond delightful and I love the head canons you bring about! This was angsty and delightful and just- AHHH!😍😍😍😍 I’m not even that big of a Renkaza shipper (tbh I don’t even know who I ship Ren with hshznanznsjs) but girl you are CONVERTING ME! 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you for sharing- this is genuinely so good! 😍😍😍😍