#bit naph

[naphthu]

heard u freaky shits like tranny noise

⚠️!!VOLUME WARNING!!⚠️

more on bandcamp

[maluron]

you know how last week @snowflakechallenge had us make a list of fandom stuff we'd like to see happen? well yesterday it was "create a fanwork" and

here's my take on "Machine Herald deals with Naph coming down with a cough", untitled little genfic that'll probably need editing later (also if someone else still wants to spin their own take on that prompt please please please please do so?)

Naph interrupts his work to cough into his sleeve. Again.

Everyone down there coughs now and then; it's a fact of life in Zaun. Everyone, even the chembarons who use breathing masks like the pilties they've all but became. The only exception is those who have entirely replaced their respiratory system as a last resort--being the only one to offer such services, the Machine Herald is well-aware of the fact, and there are not many of them. The air is cleaner now than it's been up to a decade ago, thanks to filters more performants, more numerous, better maintained. At least, the air less aggressive than it was, but it's still a far shout from clean. Infections are still common even if thankfully outright Sump Rot and Lung Blight are on the decrease.

Still. With Naph today it's happened already too much in too little time. More than the boy usually does. A persistent cough, coupled with glassy eyes and a slight slowness in his work... Viktor fires up a thermal sensor and checks: and there's a moderate fever. A minor infection then; no need to fret.

As he's suppressed his fear response he does not worry anyway, whatever the situation, only takes in facts and acts on them. But even if he still could worry there would be no cause here and now.

Naph tries to hide the affliction, of course. That's children of Zaun for you. They learn very young, way too young, to hide weakness. When asking for help goes unanswered, you rely on ourself only. Naph is no different. Viktor himself, so long ago, wasn't either. It doesn't mean that they should keep on that way.

Why does Viktor care about this one more than others? He cares about the nebulous concept of "the children of Zaun should live in better conditions". What makes this one different is that he's not afraid of him. Well... back when they first met he was afraid of The Machine Herald but willing to see for himself the rumors' basis and to learn more. And also, to get rid of his fear when it impeded him. Clever boy. That was a good start. Naph came back time and again. He does want to learn. And so... Viktor admits that he got used to his presence. Having no emotions he can't say that he enjoys sharing knowledge and encouraging learning. But it's logical to want to form apt minds to do the good work.

Also, he's built a sense of familiarity out of Naph. Even though he's only one out of many street urchins. Having no emotions, again, he's not afraid he'll die, he would not be upset should he die. Not more upset than at any other failure--every and any preventable death is a failure. So why would this one be worse? ...maybe because of the personal investment he's been making in his education, should it go to waste.

Still. This cough. It's not nothing but it's not dire. And it still needs adressing.

When Naph coughs again, Viktor puts a stop on whatever he was doing. "That's it. No workshop for you today." "What! But..." "I won't have you coughing all over this prototype, spray particules on delicate circuitry and mess up soldering whenever a fit interrupts you."

One could hold up a finger from any hand to emphasize a point and of course The Machine Herald does so with his freakng Hexclaw from extra emphasis. That's final.

Naph does not want to be sent home, that's obvious. Viktor never asked what home was for the boy, if home existed at all, if anyone will take care of him there. Naph is also afraid of being confined to bed, deemed uselss. Neither will happen. Viktor put a stop on the working and even the learning but prefers to keep him close as long as needed.

The bits he was tinkering with are swept away and replaced byt a hot drink--not sweetmilk this time but some nasty tea, heaped with honey that doesn't entirely mask its bitterness. A cold compress os offered--fever is the body's natural response against illness--Viktor is no medical doctor but opines it's better to let it run its course and to suppress it only if too high or gets too uncomfortable. There is no use in feeling crappy if one can help it after all, there's no glory in suffering--after all he offers time and again to anyone wulling to evolve past the possibilities of suffering!

So Naph has to rest even if he doesn't take well the idea of staying idle under his mentor's watchful eye. On different circumstances he would gladly take the oportunity to slack off... if there were no immediate consequences at least. But letting down The Machine Herald by not being up to... whatever expectations he had? There is no expectation on you, at least not today, except for you to get better. And that's out of your hands anyway. Defeated, Naph agrees he won't be able to do anything too hard. Light reading it is then, something that even looks merely recreational--yet Viktor assures him that no no there are history and life lessons in it and swears it is educational. That it's not slacking off.

Naph won't even ask how comes The Machine Herald ever got less-educational reading materials in the first place. After making faces at his tea however he finds the never to ask, "And so, you won't give a copper head for that?" "I won't." He will not give him even wire mesh lungs. At least not yet. Hopefully never. As he did on himself to replace his own failing lungs back in the days. Luckily Naph shouldn't need that. This is only a cold. And sure chest colds can get nasty, but it's not chem lung. (Not yet.) And even if, caught early there are ways to slow the progress down, and when it's progressed too far, to graft replacements. But with more luck, by the time Naph grows up chem lung won't even happen anymore?

"Now, we've had this conversation already and we can have it again when you're better ('cause he will get better--the odds are all in his favour) if you want me to give you copper-plated cranial augments..." Naph snorts, laughs, coughs again and laughs some more and manages to cut Viktor's speech short.

[beebleees]

- ⏳ 🫓 ⏳ - - 🫓 ⏳ 🫓 - -⏳* 🫓 ⏳-

Stimboard for Naph, my chupacabra kiddo. He’s sorta like- a reformed hunter if that makes sense. Much trauma, and a bit closed off, but honestly really soft. Took way too long to find material my brain would accept but I finally did. and made some of my own because it didn’t exist anywhere. His color palette is black with purple/blue undertones, and pinkish red with orange undertones.

*I filmed and edited the one with the spines, please credit ;)

[goddessofroyalty]

So that ask about Viktor coming back to the lanes in tears after an argument with Jayce has absolutely not left my head since last night.

Like. It's just a random occasion here and there to separate and cool off before Naphs born and they reconcile easily. But the more the conversation leans away from heated arguments about Hextech, it tilts into war and hex weaponry. He goes home to the lanes more frequently and more hysterical. Coming to a point where he's ran away/left completely with Naph after Jayce overrides his word/work is stolen. And his family's reaction, I just, the drama.

I think part of what makes it interesting to me is Silco at least does more side with Jayce's position in the argument (most of the family does), he absolutely is team "sometimes violence is necessary to protect your family/home". So while it won't stop him from being mad at Jayce for making his son cry he also isn't so un-self-aware to not realise that he was one of the voices encouraging them to at least explore the weapons capability of their work. And while he understands why his son might be reluctant to go down that path he also... still thinks they should. And, hell, he's probably slightly hypocritical for being mad at Jayce for going behind Viktor's back because I think Vander doesn't know as much as Silco does about the non-medicinal uses of Shimmer (partially because Silco has never had cause to use it which is exactly what Jayce is saying he had hoped would happen when not telling Viktor about weaponising Hextech).

At least until Jayce does override Viktor's say in Hextech in order to go down the weaponizing path fully. Because then he's no longer treating it like a partnership. Of course for it to reach that point the looming threat is probably... looming large. And Silco and the family are not so stupid to threaten civil war then because that'd basically be a green light for whatever threat is looming to attack what would become a massively destablised nation.

So it becomes a really tense political atmosphere between them where they have to work somewhat together to handle the greater threat while also being pretty salty (Vi at least gets a punch in at Jayce in a very "I had to do it, you deserved it, now we can actually deal with the problem at hand" way).

On the other hand I do like the split being an only temporary thing but it happens to line up when Viktor's illness gets bad enough that he's pushed to explore Hextech's more magical side and somewhat mechanicalise his body. So when they do reconcile Jayce gets to have the fun-surprise of in the however long they were separated Viktor now has purple limbs, and rune-scars and some definitively enhanced strength.

[atissi]

inventor apprentices :)

silly little design thoughts:

so i'm not really a fan of making kids look like carbon copies of their parents. i tried to go more the angle of "narrative foil/parallel" than anything else. this is a little difficult considering naph and amaranthine's characters are basically nonexistent, but i took a lot of inspiration from @drtechmaturgics naph and @caspercryptid's amaranthine respectively :)

i loved the concept of naph working in a slaughterhouse — it's a bit depressing, it adds some severity to a rather soft design, it plays off of viktor's obsession with cutting away flesh, and naph would also be capable of helping out with amputations or dissections as needed. you know. fun parent-child bonding activities. aside from the apron and cleaver, i also gave him some oversized hand-me-down clothes to emphasize his smallness. the big watery eyes, wispy hair, and large forehead are to make him look more pathetic and scared. kind of like a sopping wet dog. but then the metallic belt buckles and his tools add back the more cold, fearless mindset that viktor wants to teach him. naph wears a lot of black and grey like viktor does, but also lots of white, which adds even more vunerability to him. symbolically i wanted naph to represent viktor's mushy emotional core, in all it's delicacy and malformation.

amaranthine ended up looking less like a steampunk apprentice and more like a character from a cartoon science show, but i am content with that. mostly i just wanted to do some fun braids and accessories with her hair. she has some of jayce's fussiness and rude behaviour, but also much less depression, and doesn't seem the type to listen to him 90% of the time. if you compare her design to my jayce design (which you can't see, because i find him really difficult to draw and still haven't done a proper fullbody of his outfit, but it's out there in theoretical terms) she echoes him in the bowties and the scientific equipment, but puts her own spin on them. the flower goggles and strawberry gloves are very "science" without being "boring". her apron is integrated into her dress, with petticoats coming out at the sides. the boots are extremely ahistorical and i mostly just wanted the pink soles. her expression is some mix of "cute little girl who can do no harm" and "willing to cause so much harm if you give her the right push". the pink/purple/yellow/white colour palette was an obvious choice and requires no comment from me.

[caspercryptid]

AU where viktor adopts a werewolf baby after he and jayce break up or a scenario where jayce keeps randomly flinching in the middle of viktors lab and viktors like “…are you okay” and then jayce catches the hint of naphs eye from the bottom of the table and goes “y-yeah” (naph bit him seven times before viktor arrived). or both! you rock

Okay we lost the Viktor's lab part BUT! PT 2 OF THIS. Jayce gets bit by Viktor's were-kid. woop.

----

Naph thought that actually, he’d done pretty fucking well, all things considered. After that bloody and blurry month of tearing through everything he could get his teeth on, he’d had a whole month of complete calm. Viktor had picked him up, and he hadn’t had a single lapse or shift since. He was better fed than he’d ever been in his life, happy and comfortable.

Unfortunately, being happy and comfortable meant that when there’d been a form to go on a field trip, Naph had realized that for once in his life he’d...actually be able to go. So he’d asked viktor to sign off.

Without checking the calender.

And then he’d missed the bus.

He’d managed to break back into the Air and Space museum, that was the good news. It was closed and– mostly. Mostly empty.

Footsteps.

Shit.

Naph takes a deep breath, shoving his hands and his lockpicks into his pocket as a man rounds the corner. It’s the– guide from the earlier part of the tour. The retired TV star a couple of the school chaperones had been really excited to see. Naph had seen a couple of his videos in science class. He was lame.

He is looking at Naph without aggression, though, so that’s a good start.

“Uh.” he says. “HI... you. You were with the tour group. What are you doing here?”

“Nothing.” Naph says, nonsensically, and then he catches sight of the moon rising in one of the windows. Shit.

“Sorry.” Naph says.

“What?”

Naph lunges.

____

Viktor had set out as soon as the bus got back without Naph on it, but he knew he was running late. The moon was already well above by the time he got to the museum, biting down a frustrated noise himself. He’s proud to note that the door is already open- That’s my boy- but he’s surprised to see someone else as he walks into the museum.

There is a very familiar face at the information desk, leaning on it, posed as though he’s just....welcoming guests at a normal hour.

“....Jayce.” Viktor says.

Jayce starts, a little. “Viktor.” he says, voice strained. “What are you doing here? You really shouldn’t be here.”

“What are you doing here?” Viktor challenges. This is not good. This is the worst place to run into him-

“I work here.” Jayce says, through his teeth. “I give tours.”

“Cushy retirement job.” Viktor deadpans.

“It’s a sweet gig, yeah. Love the little...kidlets.”

“Oh, now you can stand children.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not–” Jayce winces. “–Fair. I was just too young. I’ve got a girl now, actually.”

“You adopted your child costar, I know.” Viktor says. “Are you so emotionally constipated that your poor little heart is causing you physical pain, or is something...happening back there.”

“– you paid attention to the news about me?”

“Jayce.”

“Right.” Jayce says. “There’s a wolf. Biting my leg. You may want to run.”

“Ah.” Viktor says. “No, that’s my son. Hold still, I need to feed him.”

Jayce stares at Viktor as Viktor gets meat out of his bag. It takes them both a second for it to process, but as Viktor pulls the meat out, they make eye contact, and Viktor grimaces.

“Don’t say it.” Jayce says.

“I may need to tranq you.” Viktor says.

“–Yeah, I can feel it. Make it quick.”

Viktor pulls out a dart gun and shoots him in the neck, and then tosses Naph the meat before he can get any ideas about an unconscious Jayce.

Well, he reflects, as he gets out zipties. The night certainly could have gone worse.

[the-glorious-evolution-fanart]

What are your least favorite parts of the 2016 lore rework? And if you had the power to remove/change those parts, how would you go about doing so?

The parts I like the least are those which alter Viktor's personality either without good reason or to illogical behaviour!

Maybe someone thinks it's cool to give Viktor an amazing wunderkind status by having him revolutionize Zaun's industry before he even enters college. Before age 19. In my opinion that's an overkill because it does nothing to hype up his actual achievements. Guess what, his inventions becoming apparently widespread in Zaun are never mentioned again in 2016. lore. Which means that bit was added just for flair and instantly forgotten. And it was added for only one other reason:

To show how Viktor apparently since birth didn't like human errors and viewed them as inferior for some reason. This was never present in his original characterisation. Why did the writers put this in 2016. lore? Did they think that was a logical reason to *explain* why Viktor turned himself into a machine? But not only does this undermine Viktor's original character, it also forgets that he actually had a very well defined reasons why he originally became the Machine Herald - it was a means to an end for him. He built his inventions into himself to prove his brilliance and to ensure credit for them could not be stolen again. Was this deemed too complex of a reason for average League player to understand by the 2016. writers? I don't know and I have no insight. I can only speculate.

2016. lore takes every opportunity to show how strange Viktor was, how he detested human involvement in systems and avoided "uncertainty". This in my fully honest opinion is a very poor reason why he would turn into the Machine Herald. Blitzcrank gained sentience, something characteristic for humans, the very thing which Viktor is supposed to dislike in 2016. lore. Yet he tries to replicate Blitzcrank's sentience (and fails.) Remember, in 2016. lore he didn't even create it, it arose from a Brackern crystal. Remember his wunderkind status? Yeah I guess that's out the window. The character handling is lopsided and it doesn't move into good development for Viktor.

It moves him into a full villain with good intentions, depending on how you'd define his intentions.

2016. lore has him consider removing free will from humans a good thing for them. He doesn't experiment on himself first; he experiments on dying patients (granted to try to save them, but giving this reason still clashes with his overall depiction making it feel like it's just what the narrator is insisting.) And in the end he gives kill orders and sends drugged thugs and robots to ransack Jayce's lab with disregard for human life. Then this is contradicted by how well mannered he is towards Naph, the kid in his colour story. But I'd like to point out how Silco in Arcane also acted nice to little Powder when he found her, viewing her as a tool for future use. The fact that he ended up viewing her as his daughter is another thing.

It's a mystery if Viktor can catch feelings in 2016. lore and that's touted as the prime angst target. What do we see in original lore Viktor however? Anger, frustration, pride, happiness. He never removed his own emotions, that's a false reading in my opinion. He was rid of what he perceived as his emotional weaknesses - he was no longer shaken, depressed to the point of self-isolation and so on.

And lastly there's Jayce. A character so irrelevant to Viktor's own story that he didn't even exist when Viktor was made x) I personally am not a fan of friends to bitter enemies as it's overdone in media I consume, but more importantly it eats away precious focus. It drags the reader into wondering about "will they won't they" about Jayce and Viktor, and kicks all the fundamental characteristics of Viktor's person somewhere into a dark corner. This is not good.

~

In essence, if I could I would just stick to original lore. 2016. lore merged Piltover and Zaun and forced Zaun to just be Piltover’s slums. As consequence I think most of their champions suffered to become vessels just to support this worldbuilding. But if I had to salvage the 2016. lore, I’d remove any descriptions saying Viktor viewed human involvement as problematic. I’d remove him obsessively working as a child. I’d have him still attend Zaun’s college of techmaturgy then as a transfer student meet Jayce in Piltover. Later as a PhD student back in Zaun create Blitzcrank, suffer a mental breakdown because Pididly stole credit and none of Viktor’s colleagues stood on his side to verify. In the end Viktor would become the Machine Herald and then start helping unfortunate Zaunites. I would remove his patients dying, his technology being described as only for the desperate. He would enter conflict with Jayce because Jayce refused to give him the arcane crystal.

[miss-writes-a-lot]

Jayvik kids (Disclaimer: This is just for fun. Nothing too serious.)

So, I had meant to draw designs or root through my things and find designs for these kiddos, but I got sick at the time of writing this (April 23rd), so I just made a shit ton of picrews of them and I'll just describe them to you here in this post. This is the picrew I used for them: picrew link -> https://picrew.me/image_maker/1414503

Storyline is kinda jank,. mainly because I didn't totally think this through before I wrote this, so don't be too hard on me or my characterization of Naph and Amaranthine.

Naph (he/him) and Amaranthine (she/her)

These two are a pair and cannot be separated. These are not *my* kids of course. They are the two children introduced in LoL Jayce and Viktor's respective short stories. I can't say much on how they come into this family in my au at least, but in a certain angsty au that I am working on, it pretty much falls in line with canon. Naph gains a lot of confidence from working with Viktor and being around kids just like him (orphaned, picked on, etc.) And I think he gets along fairly well with Jayce (eventually). He's intelligent, kind hearted, but can reveal a tough side of himself that others hardly ever see.

Amaranthine is a ball of sass and style, likes to mess around but can get serious when occasion calls for it. Blunt as shit and isn't afraid to tell you that you're doing a terrible job at something. Also incredibly intelligent and witty.

They are the same age (12).

Eleanor 'Nell' Vallis (she/her)

Nell was adopted at age 7 after the unexpected death of her parents left her orphaned on the streets for some time. She is meant to be a trio with her two other sisters, their powers representing the heart, body, and mind. Nell is the body but, in terms of powers, I'm still unsure on what those powers should be.

She is a kind soul, always looking for the best in others, and enjoys helping out in anyway she can. She doesn't like to think about her past and anytime death is brought up, she has a tendency to shut down or become visibly uncomfortable by the mere word.

She is 16 years old in most aus.

Reynard Rossi (she/they)

(see how I made them color coordinated.)

Reynard was found at age 15 after running away from home. She represents the mind, having the ability of telekinesis and the ability to enter one's mindscape. Despite representing the mind, they don't often think before they act and would much rather fight first, ask questions later.

They're tough, fiercely protective of the people they care about, and they are Latinx coded.

She is 17, being the oldest of the siblings.

Viola Pizzelle (she/he/they)

(technically she doesn't count but I'll explain.)

So, if you know me or Viola from my sorta dead art blog or from AO3 (MissWritesALot55), this is my oc Viola. I just started writing them into situations after watching Arcane for comfort and they just worked their way into being the Heart. As the heart, she has the ability of pathokinesis, the manipulation of emotions. She can use them offensively and can also take other's emotions (whether she means to or not)

She started out as an apprenta, working on a way to produce Hextech's own synthetic hex crystals to beat House Ferros and stop the added pollution they are producing. She's anxious about everything, constantly down on herself, and a bit pessimistic.

But she also caring and compassionate, and despite not being as intelligent, she does what she can to help out with the knowledge she does have.

They are 15 years old. The picture to the right is for a sort of Divorce Era Au I'm working on.

I have a few ideas for them, but I'll need to work on them more to execute them properly but if you're interested in them and their stories, feel free to ask and I'll answer the best I can and maybe I'll work on actually drawing them for things.

[naphthu]

one for all the mechanical girls gettin freaky with it in B&Q 💕

[kenway]

reread jayce’s color story the other day and it’s still so endearing how his story and viktor’s parallel each other in opposite ways :’) viktor teaching naph to stand up to his bullies and dispelling the myth that he’s just some whacked-out scientist who robot-ifies people... amaranthine asking jayce to help her because she’s under the impression that he’s some gentleman hero and finding out that he’s actually a bit of a dickhead (epic canon jayce moment: telling a little girl that she’s stupid).. tbh i need more stories of them helping out weird little kids and then i need a story about those weird little kids parent trapping them back together 

[ash-trash]

💗💥☀️🌙🌺 for all your ACTIVE RP charr.

Oh my! To keep this from going overboard, I’m going to keep this to Charr that are participating in active guild or open RP! Let’s get started...

Sela Lunarstep:

💗 Ramble a bit about this character!

Oh gosh, there’s so much to ramble about! Sela’s actually not my oldest EU character, she’s younger than Kurra by a smidge, but she’s definitely my favorite! She’s currently having a pretty rough go of it, but I really love thinking about her “private” life outside of Warband stuff - she gets into tussles, makes jewelry, all sorts of exciting things! :3c Sela’s name comes from, shocker, the Greek moon goddess Selene, while Lunarstep has changed a bit over the years. Originally, she was a shadowstep thief build, which is where the Lunarstep came from, but now it’s more of a... she’s always at the front of the pack, leading the charge, sort of deal. :p

💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?

Sela is garbage at dealing with anything related to her own vulnerabilities and weaknesses, aha. She’s built up this huge facade of bravado that fixates on her being the perfect soldier and the best Legionnaire and so she has a huuuuge amount of trouble asking for (or accepting) help, or admitting that she can’t do something. Vulnerability is a big no-no and so naturally, although she does well with the more maternal relationships within her Warband, she really struggles with anything that veers towards the romantic. As far as hating to feel something, she hates to be embarrassed or humiliated, again related to her own pride and confidence.

☀️ How well does your OC take care of themself? Do they tend to put others before their own wellbeing and if so how often? What is their favourite way to pamper themself?

I’d say that she does a pretty good job of taking care of herself, but she absolutely puts others before herself. She prides herself on taking care of her warband and spoiling them and that often translates to making sure they get the lion’s share of the goodies while she scrimps. That said, she does have enough of an ego to feel that she “deserves” the good stuff, so she generally takes care of her own needs pretty well. Except sleep.

🌙 What are some of your OC’s favourites? Favourite food, colour, season, stuff like that! Give some general simple facts that tend to get overlooked!

Hmmm, stuff that’s overlooked... well, her favourite colour would be purple, season would be fall (she likes the milder weather and really enjoys the autumn leaves), flavorwise she loves spicy things (honestly, just because she’s trying to show off and be tough) as well as deep rich flavours... More obscure stuff might be: Her favourite time of day is late night, favourite bunk is the bottom one, favourite horn is her upper right one, favourite instrument would be the flute (she tends to prefer her music in the higher ranges - piccolo’s up there too!), and favourite cheese would be a nice heady parmesan.

🌺 What additions would your OC make to their body if they could? Lets say, if they don’t have a tail would they want one? Wings? Horns? Do they wish they could shapeshift?

Sela’s pretty happy with her body as it is, but there’s definitely a few changes she’d make. As much as they’d get in the way, she kinda wants bigger horns, and definitely bigger teeth. She’d love to be even more flexible than she is, and she’d like some extra muscle and definition to her legs. Wings would be nice, but definitely not all the time. Shapeshifting, of course! That would come in so handy!

Graf Towercleave (Yes, he still counts >.> ):

💗 Ramble a bit about this character!

Ah, Graf, my old man... Graf is definitely one of those characters with the most fleshed-out backstories, especially in how it affects him nowadays, and all the traumas and memories that come with it. I don’t remember the inspiration for his first name, but the second part was because he was originally designed to be a WvW Firebrand in his off-time (which... never came to fruition, oops), so Towercleave. I’m really excited to see the next step in his journey, though it coincides with my own journey in such a way that I do find myself getting emotional about the good-byes... ;w;

💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?

I’d say that Graf doesn’t really do well with a lot of the “non-Charr” emotions/feelings: any sort of romance, faith, or selfishness. He’s learned to deal with them in others, to be sure, but they’re still fairly alien to him. I’d say that as far as things he experiences that he struggles with, it would be the trauma of his past - whether it’s something that he experienced in the Sieges, or in his time with the Vigil, he... doesn’t do well with being “scared”, or not in control.

☀️ How well does your OC take care of themself? Do they tend to put others before their own wellbeing and if so how often? What is their favourite way to pamper themself?

He does good at taking care of himself, though perhaps a bit more spartan than is strictly necessary, because that’s what he’s used to. He’s been a soldier his whole life, through and through, and he knows how important maintaining his equipment, including his body, is. He does a good job at keeping himself in shape and healthy, though perhaps to a detriment of not allowing himself many luxuries (except for warm baths, those are always welcome). Although he does consider others, he usually tends to leave them to their own devices, except when he decides they’re too young/naive/bullheaded to do it properly, such as a certain blue-haired warbandmate.

🌙 What are some of your OC’s favourites? Favourite food, colour, season, stuff like that! Give some general simple facts that tend to get overlooked!

Favourite food would be some good old traditional charr chow. Grilled meat, lots of special sauce, no fancy frou-frou to mess with it. Maybe some cheese. As far as colours, although most of his life tends to be filled with red, he’ll admit to liking a nice deep dark navy blue the best. The sea has been a rare treat for him, and he enjoys it when he can. Favourite season would have to be winter. Although he doesn’t care for the snow and cold and slush, he likes the way it makes the world slow down. He likes that everyone hates it together, I suppose. Some more obscure ones... his favourite flavour of pie is strawberry, his favourite place was a small grove in what is now the Dragonbrand - nowadays, it’s probably the Hero’s Canton, because it has the most nice memories without bad ones to taint it.

🌺 What additions would your OC make to their body if they could? Lets say, if they don’t have a tail would they want one? Wings? Horns? Do they wish they could shapeshift?

Honestly, he’d mostly just... fix his current one. Make it less old, less achy, less stiff. Shapeshifting and the rest of it sounds like a lot of faff. He wishes he had a third set of ears so he could hear humans better. Maybe another pair of arms to hold more things.

Naphtha Seizetar:

💗 Ramble a bit about this character!

But I ramble about her so muuuuch, FINE. For any newcomers, Naphtha was originally a villain in a Lunar plot that met a gruesome end, but I loved the concept so much that I had to remake her (a sort of AU, what-if-her-life-turned-out-different) as a good girl. I’ve actually got a sort of spooky story in the works with her (and at the rate I’m going it might be spooky season before it’s ever finished) that’s going to give her a bit of development with her magic because right now the poor girl is a dummy and would rather play with pressure cookers.

💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?

A lot of them, probably. Naph is a sweetie but she doesn’t do well with a lot of “serious” things. She likes being left alone to her own devices and is still getting the hang of the much-more teamwork oriented Seize group. So I guess emotionally, uh, things like teamwork and codependence and responsibility, whatever emotions those are. As far as hates feeling, she really doesn’t like feeling like she’s wrong (ironically). She doesn’t like feeling like she’s being irrational, or that she’s not justified in what she’s doing.

☀️ How well does your OC take care of themself? Do they tend to put others before their own wellbeing and if so how often? What is their favourite way to pamper themself?

She does not. Naph is the kind of gal that would go weeks without showering, live off of corn chips and stale marshmallows she found under the couch, and develop a 12 coffee a day habit so she only has to sleep once a month. Naph does not take very good care of herself at all, and she takes care of others even less. She’s not necessarily inconsiderate, she just... as above, doesn’t do well with the whole teamwork thing and kind of figures that she can take care of herself, so everyone else can too. As far as pampering herself, she rarely goes above what’s “necessary” as far as self-care, but on the rare occasion that she did decide to treat herself, she’d get a lot of fancy soaps and oils and just... go to town on her fur and spend like a whole day grooming and scrubbing and getting the years of grime out of there until she’s as soft and fluffy as can be.

🌙 What are some of your OC’s favourites? Favourite food, colour, season, stuff like that! Give some general simple facts that tend to get overlooked!

Favourite food would be mushroom anything. Probably her favorite ever is something she had in Lion’s Arch one time, some sort of pasta dish with mushrooms and squid ink - it was salty and savory and rich... Her favourite colour would be brown (well, she’d say black but as far as actual COLOURS), and her favourite season would be fall. She likes the spoopy season, and enjoys cronching the leaves. More uncommon things, her favourite shape is octagon, her favorite simple machine is the screw, and her favorite animal is the carrion devourer.

🌺 What additions would your OC make to their body if they could? Lets say, if they don’t have a tail would they want one? Wings? Horns? Do they wish they could shapeshift?

She would absolutely go all out and give herself big ol’ bat wings and like 3 more sets of horns and huuuuge fangs and way bigger claws and a pointy tail and SPIKES and probably a third eye on her forehead... heck yeah.

Elda Throatchop:

💗 Ramble a bit about this character!

Ahhh, Elda. I included her mostly because I wanted to talk about her and also she’s sort of gotten sucked into a few open-ish things lately so she totally counts >.> She’s another NPC-turned-character from Lunar’s Drizzlewood plot, this time a generic helper NPC that was supposed to get killed off but Lunar actually did well enough that she survived, and helped them through the final fight. Aesthetically, she’s actually based off of the Pokemon Obstagoon, which is where her last name comes from as well. Sort of. I’ve honestly had the idea for a Blood engineer in the back of my mind for years now and Elda is absolutely not that! She’s not at all what I would have made had I set out originally to make a Blood engineer, but I love her anyways and I’m really enjoying her.

💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?

Elda hates feeling loneliness. She doesn’t mind being alone, and she can handle that just fine - she likes her private time to tinker or work on projects or test the latest whatever, and she probably does better on her own anyways, but she... needs to know that there’s people there for her if she wants/needs. She doesn’t like being isolated. As far as stuff that she doesn’t know how to deal with, probably regret? She’s so far operated on a kind of “live hard die young” sort of deal (and she almost did, dohohoho) and so when missed opportunities or regrets jump out at her, she’s not really sure what to do about it. It never spurs her to action so she’s kind of just left there staring at it like “so... what now?” and it kind of shuts down her whole mojo for a long time.

☀️ How well does your OC take care of themself? Do they tend to put others before their own wellbeing and if so how often? What is their favourite way to pamper themself?

Elda takes decent enough care of herself. Not exemplary (she’s not out here practicing yoga or getting enough fiber) but well enough! She eats regularly and gets enough sleep and bathes often, so she’s doing pretty good! Although she doesn’t regularly put anyone above herself, she would do it for certain people, like her friends or family. She values them and their role in her life enough that she’s willing to self-sacrifice to make them happy and keep them around. When she does want to treat herself, she tends to splurge a little on some shiny new tool or toy, often with the excuse that it’s for work and it’ll help her be more productive, but she knows that it’s just because it’s bigger and shinier and has an extra spanner or something.

🌙 What are some of your OC’s favourites? Favourite food, colour, season, stuff like that! Give some general simple facts that tend to get overlooked!

Her favourite food would probably be things that are kind of finicky and interactive, so poultry wings, or artichoke, or shellfish. She’s not really picky about flavours, though of course she likes things meaty. Her favourite colour is obviously red, though she’ll admit to a fondness for pink as well. She never understood why humans attach so much meaning to it - pink’s cool. Her favourite season is definitely summer - she likes the clear skies, the bright weather... More random stuff! Her favourite Bop-It command is Twist It, her favourite style of soda pop (if such a thing exists in Tyria, I dunno) is Dr. Pepper, her favourite sport is wrestling, and her favorite piece of clothing is her belt buckle, which is made from the melted down remains of her first gun.

🌺 What additions would your OC make to their body if they could? Lets say, if they don’t have a tail would they want one? Wings? Horns? Do they wish they could shapeshift?

Elda’s pretty happy with how she is, but given her choices, she’d like to be quite a bit taller and a bit bulkier. She wishes her teeth were a bit pointier, and she always wished she could grow a longer mane - she wants to have a big spiky mohawk too. As nice as wings or shapeshifting would be, it seems like having too many things would just get in the way.

[guildwarsstartrekskyrim]

✿ : A friend

The three had set up camp for the night, well past the bandit hideaways and near the Seraph camp tot he north east of the Wildlands.  They weren’t expecting a visitor, even one with questions.  Even more, they weren’t expecting one that they thought was still in Lake Doric.

“Ya always come at the most interestin’ o’ times, Monty,” Shani said as she set up a cooking pot over the fire.  In a small pan, thick strips of bacon sizzled away. “An’ often with the most interestin’ o’ questions.”

“And a friend,” Sywyn said as he took a seat by the fire, stoking the flames just a bit. “That’s a hard thing ta pin down at times.” Sywyn seemed a tad more refined than Shani was, but the family accent still was there. “I suppose we have those who we’d call friends.”

“There’s that fella who runs the pub in Ebonhawke,” Wren piped up.  “Though, he is a tad aloof an’ such.  He hung out with that asura doc, Naph, I think.”

“It’s been a while since we seen them,” Shani remarked as she began scooping up beans onto plates and adding bacon and corn bread. “I’d consider Adri a friend. She’s got a decent way ‘bout ‘er.”

Sywyn took his plate and settled in to eat. “I think we’ve been travellin’ too much ta actually have made a whole lotta friends.”

“Plus Dry Top ain’t the most hospitable place,” Wren added as she sat down with a cup of coffee.  “The Refuge is better, an’ it opens things up for us.” Wren’s voice was much softer than Shani’s, her accent less abrasive, but one could still tell through their mannerisms and speech to two women were sisters.

“I suppose, Monty,” Shani said as she handed over a plate of food to him. “We would consider you a friend. An’ it goes b’yond the fact ya show Flintlock a kindness.”

Wren chuckled lightly as she took her own plate. “Anyone who shows Flintlock a kindness often b’comes a friend ta Shani.”

[barbiesandkens]

new desktop theme!

[goddessofroyalty]

As mentioned in this post here’s Naph’s three grandparents waiting in the hospital for him to be born.

So this kind of ended up a bit of an exploration of how Vander and Silco work together before at the end honing in on Ximena with her grandchild. Oh well.

Warnings: omegaverse, mpreg, hints of ableism on Ximena’s part

 ----------------

Ximena watches  Silco braids the long blue hair of his youngest daughter as he and Vander sit across from her in the hospital waiting room.

Ximena thought Powder’s hair looked lovely when she had showed up like it always did. But Silco had deemed it needing to be redone and the girl had sat in front of him to let him undo her hair and start again. Powder fiddling with some toy in her hands as he did.

Jayce had once told her that Viktor had a habit of fiddling with things when he was anxious or unsettled. Nervous fingers he had called it.

Clearly it was a trait shared by the other omegas in her son’s mate’s family.

Ximena wouldn’t judge them for it. Modern medicine had done wonders but there was still stories of those lost in birth. And Viktor was frailer than most for all he had never let it stop him.

Ximena was worried about him and she was neither his parent nor sibling.

“Where are you going?” Silco asks when Vander suddenly stands up. Both his and Powder’s heads shooting to the alpha as he does.

“For a smoke,” Vander says. “Do you want to join me?”

“No. I’ll stay.”

“Ximena?” Vander asks.

“Ah, no. I don’t smoke. Thank you for the offer though.”

Vander seems to shrug at it before heading for the side door that leads to the courtyard filling the middle of the hospital. Silco watching his mate until he is outside before returning to his daughter’s braids, clipping the gold bands into place when he’s finished.

“Better?” Powder asks when Silco gently tucks her hair down so it isn’t in the way of her hands.

Silco hums in response. Sitting back in the chair and reaching into his coat pocket.

If Ximena had to guess she would say there is something in there he is now fiddling with.

Vander returns after another minute looking clearly unhappy.

“The Kirammans are here.”

“What?” Silco snaps, already up on his feet.

“I saw them coming in through the windows to the front. None of them looked like they needed a hospital visit,” Vander explains. The implication of why they are here clear to even Ximena.

“How did they find out?” Ximena liked Cassandra well enough and is grateful for all the Councilor has done for her son. But Jayce and Viktor had wanted a couple days with their child themselves before letting the world know. And Cassandra tended to publicize things throughout her social circles if she thought they were worthy of publicity.

“Vi must have told her girlfriend, who told her mom,” Powder says, her tone surprisingly vicious.

The fact one of Viktor’s sisters is apparently dating Caitlyn is something Ximena will process later.

“I can see if I can convince her to come back later,” Ximena suggests. Not that she knows how. Cassandra is hard to deter once she has made up her mind.

“No,” Silco says, his tone not offering room for argument. “I will go tell the Councilor her presence is unneeded and unwanted. And later Vander can have a discussion with Violet about what she’s sharing with the woman’s daughter.”

Vander doesn’t say anything about his apparent future task, just steps out of his mate’s way as Silco heads towards the main entrance like he is going to war.

Ximena would feel sorry for Cassandra but really her presence was, as Silco put it, unneeded and unwanted.

Vander sits back down and Powder settles next to him. Leaning against her father as she continues to play with the toy she had been fiddling with. Vander watching her out of the corner of his eye.

“Why is it taking so long?” Powder says, dropping the toy into her lap and leaning more into her father. “I want to see my new nephew!”

“These things take time,” Vander says causing Powder to snort.

“I know, I know. It took Dam two days to push Claggor out but it’s so boring just waiting,” Jinx says, twisting and collapsing into her father’s lap.

Vander gives Ximena a sheepish look at it. Not that she knows if it is over his daughter’s actions or words. It did answer her brief wondering over how Silco had been with his children considering the difference between him and his mate’s frame and explained even more his concerns over his slighter son.

“You should go back home,” Vander tells his daughter. “We will come get you all when Viktor is ready for guests.”

“No!” Powder says sitting up. “I want to see them when they’re all fresh and gross looking.”

“Powder,” Vander says with clear alpha authority in his tone.

“Dad,” Jinx says with playful teasing in her tone.

Vander just raises an eyebrow at it.

“Alright, fine. Jeeze,” Powder says, making a big deal of dragging herself to standing. “Just don’t let anyone like the Kiramman’s see the baby before we do.”

“Wouldn’t dare,” Vander says earning him a grin from her daughter before she heads off.

“She always seems to have unlimited energy,” Ximena says once the gone is girl. Every time she’s met Viktor’s youngest sister the girl seems to almost bounce around her family with endless enthusiasm.

It earns her a laugh.

“She can be a handful when she wants to be,” Vander says. “But her hearts in the right place.”

“Where’s Powder?” Silco asks as he returns. Carrying himself like he has been in heavy negotiations.

Knowing Cassandra he likely has been.

“I sent her home,” Vander says.

“Probably for the best,” Silco says with a sigh and a slump of his shoulders. The Zaun Representative giving way to a tired parent.

“You got rid of the Councilor?” Vander asks.

“For now,” Silco says, sitting next to his mate. “She wants to know as soon as we do that the baby’s born.”

“Honestly, that woman.” The boys’ need privacy and their families’ support as they adjust to being parents. Not every person in Piltover in their space like their child is some public commodity.

“I take it you won’t tell her until they want us to either?” Silco asks.

“Of course not.” Cassandra can wait with everyone else who isn’t family.

“Good.”

They spend a couple more hours waiting in silence before Jayce hurries into the hallway. All of them up on their feed when he does.

“He’s perfect,” Jayce says. “I’m a dad!”

“And Viktor?” Silco snaps. Harshly in Ximena’s mind even if she understands where it is coming from.

Jayce just takes it in his stride.

“He’s great as well. I mean, he’s tired but good. You can come see them both.”

Silco clearly doesn’t need to be told twice. Heading into the hospital suite immediately. Vander gesturing for Ximena to go next before following last.

Ximena isn’t surprised that Silco is immediately at the bed’s side checking on Viktor with hushed tones clearly not meant to be overheard. Despite his intimidating presence she has seen how much he cares about his children.

She will give them their moment while she checks on her son.

Jayce practically collapses on her when she offers him a hug. His strong arms squeezing her so tightly it makes it almost hard to breathe. Not that she dares tell him because he clearly needs it.

“I’m a dad,” he tells her again, like he can’t believe it’s true. “You’re a grandma.”

“You are. I am.” Ximena gently pulls away to look up at his face. To look up at her boy all grown up. Who has already achieved so much and she just knows will be a great father like his own had been in the time he had with Jayce. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Viktor did all the work,” Jayce says with a nervous laugh and a glance back at his mate and child. The baby now cradled in Silco’s arms as he and Vander no doubt are telling him how proud they are. The boy’s working so hard to get where they are. “Do you want to meet him?”

“Only if Viktor is comfortable with it.” Ximena remembers when Jayce was born. The mix or hormones making one irrationally protective of the tiny defenseless human they had created.

“He wants you too as well,” Jayce says, guiding her towards the bed.

Silco gives the baby back to Viktor as they approach. His expression the softest Ximena thinks she’s ever seen it as he traces his finger down his grandchild’s face before pulling away.

“How are you feeling Viktor?” Ximena asks because while the answer is obvious it is still polite to ask.

“Glad it is over,” Viktor jokes. “But I am, ah, happy with the results of all the effort.”

Ximena turns her attention to her grandchild. Still pink and soft and so delicate.

She knows all too well how quickly he will grow up but also knows she will never forget this moment.

“What’s his name?”

“Naph Talis,” Jayce answers. It isn’t the name she would have predicted for her grandchild but it is still a good one. And fair enough considering Viktor has no house name to give despite the power his family has gained. “Do you want to hold him?”

“If Viktor is okay with it.”

“Please do. I would like to eat something,” Viktor says handing his baby over to her easily. His parents and Jayce helping him adjust and settle with the food the hospital provided in his lap.

It gives Ximena time alone with her grandson.

His parents are right to be proud of him. Naph is a healthy adorable baby boy who right now seems to be taking more after Viktor just as Jayce had hoped.

She wishes her mate and Jayce’s father would have met him. But that is a wound she has long carried as she watched Jayce grow up and thrive without him.

At least Naph has three grandparents to spoil him as he deserves. Her son and his mate lucky in that as well.

[pistols-and-pastries]

✿ : A friend

"I’ve got lots of friends,” Flintlock said with a grin.  “Friends at the tea shoppe, friends at the Refuge.” She was still nursing her arm after the incident previously.  She had gotten off lucky, one would suppose.

“Lux, Adri, Alexandra, Dom, Yang, Liz, Naph, Victoire, Nikki, Alley, Victoria, Dawn, Elessar... “ she paused as she thought on it for a bit. “I’m probably forgetting some people.  You.  You’re my friend, Monty.” She merely shrugged and offered a grin. “I have lots of friends.”

[caspercryptid]

hello! you're the coolest moth i know! as a counterpart to the viktor naph ferret slap bracelet fic would you be willing to write a fic where jayce gifts amaranthine squallet (squirrel wallet) for her birthday? in the same universe? i think she could use a new pencil case or something

Tws for more taxidermy but also animal death more generally. First part here

---

Dad is weird.

Amaranthine tells him that all the time, though she leaves off the dad. Well. Sometimes she does. Unless it’s funny. She plays innocent when he asks about it, though. Hm? What? I said bad. Idiot. She isn’t sure he believes her, but he seems to accept it.

It’s not that he isn’t her dad, now. Or at least in every way that matters. She’d been stranded in a strange limbo of network tv shows, shoved into the child-star spotlight doing roles she hated with every single fiber of her being, until she’d scored the role of Kid Assistant on Science Showcase With Jayce.

It wasn’t, objectively, a very good role. Her manager (for a bit there, her legal guardian), had wanted better for her. But it was something to do and Jayce apparently had some kind of influence. People kept asking him to be in bigger movies. He kept refusing,

So that’s one reason why Jayce is weird.

There are a lot more. Like the fact that Jayce had met her twice and been a complete asshole and then started asking her why she never went home. Why her parents never visited. He’d informed her, after he saw her manager yell at her, that he was going to make that stop. And then he did. He’d made it easy. She got to stay with him.

So she’d accept just about anything, because her dad was weird, but that was fine, because it meant that she had one. And he did care, she knew he did, even when he said absolutely stupid things. Or careless ones. Mostly when he got stressed. “Only idiots touch hot stoves” was a frequent contender. It made sense after a while, when he got mean it meant that he was worried, if he actually hurt her feelings she could just cry and he would usually find a way to apologize.

This is new, though.

“Hey, Jayce?” She says, looking into the box he’s just given her. It’s a very nice box. It was wrapped in shiny red paper and had a happy birthday tag on it in Jayce’s precise, curly handwriting.

“Yes?”

“What the fuck?”

“Language.” Jayce scolds. He actually looks a little hurt, which would be slightly more compelling, if the offending object in the box were not what looks to be the husk of a squirrel with a zipper down its back. She shakes it at him.

“You said I could only swear when it was appropriate. It’s appropriate. What is this.”

“It’s a pencil case.” He says, sounding mortally offended. “Or a wallet.”

“A-- squirrel wallet.”

“A squallet.”

Amaranthine does not ask if he is serious, because it’s pretty clear from his facial expression that he is, in fact, serious. She sighs and pulls her legs up onto the couch, setting the box aside and taking a second to unzip the squirrel. It was-- well, it was weird looking. But it was sanitary and clearly done by someone who knew what they were doing. Okay.

“Did you buy this?” she asks, keeping her tone neutral.

“No.” Jayce says, sitting down next to her. “I made it.”

She looks at him. “You... made it.”

Jayce nods, like this is completely normal, and she takes a second to squint at him to confirm that he is in fact still Jayce. Okay. Same silvery streaks in his hair. He’s still wearing slacks and a button down despite the fact that they’re going nowhere and doing nothing today, and the fact that it’s hotter than the ass end of mercury outside and he has to be frying.

She struggles for a way to make that make sense, to fit into the paradigm of Jayce remember-your-mace, and she stares up towards the fireplace of their grand stupid living room and... her eyes rest on the bright pink snake skeleton in a glass jar. He’d told her it was called a diaphonized snake. He’d looked weirdly fond. She’d never asked about it again.

“So are you into... this stuff?” She asks, using the squirrel to gesture at the jar of snake.

“Used to be.” Jayce looks a little sad. “Not that good at it. He was always better.”

“He?” Amaranthine prompts, even though she knows that’s pulling a pin on the grenade. A fucked up story was a much better birthday present than this stupid thing, anyway.

Not that she really needed a birthday present. Jayce bought or made her everything she wanted as soon as she so much as implied wanting it. It kind of made sense that her birthday would need to be something weird. She tugs a blanket around herself, because dammit the air conditioning is blasting to make up for jayce’s stupid habit of wearing layers indoors, and tucks against his side. He looks a little amused.

“Have you ever been in love?” He asks.

She blanches, and he laughs. “Yeah, I don’t recommend it. It sucks.”

“So you used to be into a guy who made... taxidermy?”

“It was a hobby.” He says. “We both liked... science. And sometimes science means gross stuff. Like learning about decay and preservation. It was just something we could both do. He was really into biology. I was... more into mechanics.”

“Mechanics?” She asks, looking slightly confused. “But most of your show stuff’s life science now.”

“Yeah.” He says. “--we kinda switched fields. He was into biology when he got really sick and then I think he realized that it wasn’t helping him at all. Nature wasn’t helping him. So he turned to technology and biotechnology, that kind of thing. I got more into the stuff I could teach people about. Physics and mechanics are fun, but they’re inaccessible. You can’t sell them.”

“Sell them?” Amaranthine asks, unimpressed. “I thought you were teaching.”

He snorts and tousles her hair. “It’s the same thing, kiddo. To get science to the general public, you have to con some suckers into thinking they’re interested in things that they don’t care about. Sometimes that means putting on a show, smiling really big, and lying. A whole lot.”

“Lying?”

“Life science is bullshit. Everything that isn’t numbers is fake. Fish aren’t real. You wanna go get ice cream?”

“...sure.” she says. “Let's go get ice cream.”

Maybe some questions were better left unanswered.