#coranda/oc

[cometcon]

THE PRICE OF DUTY

- Chapter 1

Summary:

The expectations of a Royal can be stressful. Coranda Akroahm, Queen-In-Waiting of Akiridion-5, is no exception to this rule, and she wants to party. Luckily, her two closest friends know exactly where all the best spots are.

Coranda expects a fun night out. What she does not expect is for the presence of a mysterious club performer to change her life - and the future of the entire Akiridion System - forever.

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Notes:

This is rated M on A03 and will be raised to Explicit once I get to those chapters. 18 AND OVER ONLY PLEASE.

So I've been getting back into 3Below again lately, especially with Vexando as a ship. I've been writing that one for a bit and finally finished it today and decided I wanted to share it on here too, but thought I'd share this one first because it has a lot of the worldbuilding explanations in the notes and delves a little more into my playing around with the world than The Price of Honour does.

When writing this, I was exploring taylon cultural things and playing around with a lot of stuff. One of the things I explore in this is culturally using their names the way we use multi-pronouns for people or fictional characters with multi-pronouns. They're changed up as you go with the understanding (hopefully) that it is the same person based on context. So if you meet Veyla Varda, then see her called Veyla one moment and Varda the next, hopefully it's clear from the fact she introduced herself as Veyla Varda that they're both the same person and Coranda is just used to respecting the name culture I'm playing around with. (That is also an undercover name so that will change in the next chapter to her actual name. Sorry lol. Just remember context is your best friend and hopefully that'll help keeping up with this thing.)

Also keep in mind critical consumption as always, and that Coranda is 100% intended to be the villain of this story.

More explained in the end notes but the short version is:

Expect a lot of things presented in here that have nothing to do with the show and everything to do with me going "hmm, I see your under-developed/scrapped concept ideas the corporate people at Netflix wouldn't let you go into, and raise you actually spending time having fun with your outer space society concept and removing the sanitization required for a PG-aged audience because I'm not writing for a kids show."

Basically, if it's casually stated but you've never seen it in the show, figure it out from the context or expect that it will be explained/covered further at some point if I continue. This is very much an experimental piece for the funsies, and because my brain wouldn't leave me alone about it, an actual chapter exists now with plans for subsequent chapters in the works. :D

Longer notes at the end if you're interested in more writer waffle about why this thing came to be and more detail about wtf is going on in my head. XD

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Rise and fall, spin and sway. The taylon's stunning form held Coranda in a trance as she watched her move gracefully to the rhythm pulsing through the room. Time had lost all meaning around the eighth glass and she was beginning to regret listening to her friends' encouragement. 

Where were they?

She had half a mind to peer around for them, but that would require tearing her eyes off the dancer, which most certainly wouldn't do. Not when it seemed she might be approaching, the space between them growing ever shorter as a mekron passed. Then another. And another. 

Coranda wished she would hurry up already, wondering if it would risk her own cover too much to ask for a name, once she came close enough. Did people even do that in places like this, or was everyone supposed to remain anonymous? Her hidden pair of arms twitched restlessly in their bindings, wishing to reach out and touch, though she knew that would instantly bring the whole night to a frustrating conclusion. 

The three akiron had snuck out on Vasilica's suggestion to take part in the nightlife on Akiridion-8's most far flung lunar settlements. The excitement and risk of being caught mingling with the common masses was giddying, and they weren't the only ones seeking such forbidden revelry. Nobles from all branches of major and minor houses alike ventured into these areas for a bit of merrymaking whenever it suited them. Any who recognised one usually knew better than to cause genuine trouble, though the danger of being noticed by the wrong people was never completely absent. Others were all too eager in handing them back over to their families, in exchange for a tidy sum of crestons to keep their mouths shut.

Back and forth the dancer went, as though intentionally taunting Coranda, ever so slowly creeping toward her.

Just a little more. Please. 

"Come on," she muttered before she could stop herself, then froze as four breathtaking eyes flickered down to meet hers. Oh no. 

"Eager are we?"

A broad face with glowing stripes filled her vision for several sectons and part of Coranda instinctively tried to flinch away. Another wondered how it would feel to- 

One massive hand encased her wrist - and half her forearm - halting the thought in its tracks. She hadn't meant to act on it. An apology bubbled up in her mind, but she was released before she could say it aloud. The taylon gave her a knowing smile, then called something to a server nearby. Coranda vaguely recognised the language, her tutor's lessons in other native Akridion tongues labouring through the mire of intoxication. 'No more' was in there somewhere, she was certain. The server's quick nod and aboutface practically confirmed it. Well that was rude. She was here to escape people making decisions on her behalf. How dare-

"So where are you coming from tonight?" 

The platform lifted a fraction beneath her hand as the dancer stepped off, landing much more lightly than Coranda had expected from a being so large, she still towered over the Royal even on equal ground. Coranda wasn't sure how to answer, thoroughly distracted by the way her new companion looked leaning casually against the stage. 

"What's your name?" she blurted, instantly hoping it had been drowned out by the environment. No such luck, of course; taylon audial slits could often pick up the smallest of things in the noisiest of soundscapes. 

"Veyla Varda," she said with a laugh, "You?"

Her strong voice carried easily to Coranda, who awkwardly tried to copy the relaxed pose and immediately missed the edge she'd aimed to put her weight on.  

"I'm Cor- ah!"

She was caught before she face-planted, though embarrassment warmed her cheeks all the same. Veyla's deceptively gentle grip made something equally warm creep through her lower region and she desperately prayed it wouldn't show.

"Cora, huh? You don't look like a Cora, though I suppose that's hardly my business. Are you here with company?" 

"Friends, somewhere," Coranda mumbled, most of her attention a little pre-occupied with how the light struck Veyla's muscular chest. She wanted to trace the creases in that flimsy shirt, perhaps even take a fistful and hope Varda let herself be drawn down for-

"Maybe buy me a drink first, eh?"

A playful chuckle accompanied Coranda's fingers being patiently extracted from the fabric and placed back at her own side. Seklos and Gaylen, she'd done it again! 

"Sorry," she managed this time, glaring at the offending appendage, "They keep doing that." 

"Tell you what: I promise I won't hold it against them, providing they do something for me." 

This was followed by an expectant tilt of her head and Coranda's knees almost buckled at the indescribably filthy implication, even as she mentally flopped in confusion. Veyla Varda had rejected her but was still flirting? Her mind tried and failed to decisively identify what it all meant together, giving up about three sectons in to simply nod instead. Things would be clarified soon enough and the longer she delayed, the more likely it was she'd be banished to the faceless crowd. 

Varda's fingers enveloped her arm and drew her along, patrons parting before the Queen-in-waiting's enormous chaperone as she navigated toward the bar. Coranda could see glimpses of it through the bodies still ahead, though not much else. Her arm felt secure in the taylon's grasp and she took comfort from its reassuring presence. Her mind had just visited her with a tantalising image of that hand going far less appropriate places when they finally reached their destination.

A grizzled old voltarian pottered around behind the bar, pouring drinks and wiping up a particularly broad spill while scowling at the patron whose careless gesturing had caused the mess. Veyla caught his attention and spoke to him in the same language again, accepting the small vial he passed to her with an appreciative smile. Gaylen's Blade, how far did her lips spread? Coranda stared for over a mekron, before she realised those lips were moving in speech patterns she recognised better. 

"Cora? You with me?" 

"Ah, yes! Sorry! What were you saying?" 

Two eyes rolled so quickly she almost missed it, while the other pair dropped to the bottle, Veyla popping the lid with a flick and holding it out to her charge. Coranda blinked stupidly, unsure what to make of the situation. Was it safe to accept drinks from random strangers if they were employees? She had been told not to accept from just anyone, but this seemed different somehow. 

"Come on. You'll feel better. Here."

Veyla pressed the bottle into her hand and Coranda decided she didn't care, the barely concealed strength in that touch teasing her imagination until she haphazardly threw the drink back and chugged. The taste was… definitely like nothing she had ever imbibed before, and she made a vow on the spot never to repeat this mistake. 

"I can see how you got lost so fast. Slow down there," Veyla laughed, raising a browridge when she glanced downward and noticed the bottle was nearly empty, "Alright then. Why don't you sit tight while we wait for it to kick in." 

"Wait for what?" Coranda asked, surprised by how much easier her words were forming now. 

"That. Heh, lightweight." 

"What is this?" she asked as the room around her came into better focus. 

"Rapid-Grade Detox Formula. Good to have in a pinch, in case someone has clearly overestimated their resilience. You probably should have gone slower with it though." 

Coranda bristled, her steadily clearing head now capable of retrieving prior grudges. 

"I'll thank you not to decide what I should or should not be doing," she thumped the decanter onto the bartop, not bothering to catch it as its sideways position lent it the ability to roll off the edge. Unfortunately, it didn't smash, though the konk as it hit the floor was satisfying enough. "I get plenty of that at-" 

Her abdomen tensing sharply cut her off mid-rant and she groaned, clutching her waist. 

"I think you'll want to be heading for the purge-room now. But far be it from me to tell you what to do." 

Her self-appointed guardian was smirking and Coranda wanted nothing more than to punch her square in her unfairly solid jawline.

"Where?" she forced through gritted teeth, sliding off the stool and staggering toward the door the moment it was pointed out to her. 

It opened automatically and she silently praised the foresight of whoever had taken pity on the desperate when choosing that function, allowing her to make a beeline straight for the nearest purging pool unhindered. The fourth wave of nausea relieved her of her stomach's contents, her sides beginning to ache from the involuntary contractions. A clear fluid flowed through the pool, washing it all away down a drain hole hidden beneath the edging. She dunked her two free hands into the stream, scooping up enough to splash her face before swishing a mouthful around and spitting it out. 

Coranda didn't even notice anyone had followed her in, until a heavy warm touch she was quickly growing familiar with settled on her head. It took everything she had not to lean into it like an overly enthusiastic fugu-dog, reminding herself she was very annoyed right now and not remotely in the mood for-

Those huge fingers shifted her dangling hair over her neck, trailing briefly across the skin there and causing a delightful shiver and a soft sigh she immediately regretted. There was no way anyone looking directly at her could miss her darkening cheeks now. She wanted Veyla to do so much more, to take every thought away and make her forget what awaited upon her return tomorrow. She had arched upward without realising and was met with a deep rumble of amusement. 

"Feeling better then? Good. Maybe next time you'll pace yourself and not wander off on your own." 

Coranda groaned, her miffed tone somewhat dulled by a sudden wave of drowsiness.

"I didn't wander. I'm not a child, Varda, and for your information, I stayed exactly where we were supposed to be. They left." 

"I see," Veyla's voice had grown colder and Coranda instinctively drew into herself. A moment later however, she relaxed again, soothed by the deliciously rhythmic movements of the hand on her neck and primary shoulder set as they were gently massaged. "Do these 'friends' have names? I could send someone to collect them." 

"Oh no no, I wouldn't want to be a bother." 

"To us or to them?" she thought she heard Varda mutter, but it was lost under the door sliding open and the muted sounds of the club suddenly increasing in volume.

"There you are! We could-oof!" 

Patrizia stopped dead in her tracks and stumbled forward as someone ran into her.

"What in Gaylen's name- Move!" She was shoved aside, leaving Vasilica standing in her place. The taller akiron righted her own clothing with an aggravated expression, until she also noticed Coranda's unexpected companion and paused. "Who is this? Should I be calling Security?" 

Coranda winced at the pompous tone, thanking her fortune she wasn't in any actual danger while simultaneously cursing her friend's idiocy. If the taylon were a real threat, she was well and truly close enough to snap Coranda's neck with a flick, and it would take even less effort to crush her core within the next secton. 

"And how would I be assisting you today?" Veyla stood slowly, reminding Coranda again just how much bigger she was than the three Royals in the room as she reached her full imposing height. Patrizia gulped and edged a little closer to the exit. Vasilica's face had turned a delightfully paler shade of blue, tilting upward to follow Varda's rising eyes with increasing dismay. "Have you lost someone, perhaps?"

"It's fine. They're here now. I'll be alright." Coranda tried getting to her own feet as she spoke, only to find her legs refused to work. Her fall was arrested once more as Varda's hand whipped out to catch her arm, then gently lowered her to the ground. Seklos, she had extremely good reflexes, even by normal taylon standards.

"Sit down before you hurt yourself."

"What did you do to her?" Patrizia asked, the concern in her words almost sounding genuine. She hid herself behind her sister when Veyla gave them both a withering look, stepping toward the two and driving them ahead of her as they backed away.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear. We all need a break sometimes. But there are responsibilities we do not shirk, at any point, under any circumstances. One of those is not leaving a first timer alone in a loud enclosed space, completely incapacitated and barely aware of what's happening. Considering you've clearly been to places like this before, I'd have thought you'd know that."

The door sensor activated, allowing them an escape into the crowd if they wished. Yet Vasilica stopped, likely regaining confidence with a room full of witnesses at her disposal. "How dare you?" she said angrily, her voice even more shrill and grating than usual. Patrizia was tugging her arm, but she shook her off. "Do you have any idea who we are?"

"I do not," the taylon replied, and while Coranda could no longer see her expression, something about her air seemed to shift. A jovially challenging tone accompanied her next words as her head performed that delightful little tilt again, though in a considerably less friendly manner than earlier, and Coranda felt a flash of excitement imagining what having that directed at her might be like. "Would you care to enlighten me?"

Vasilica's mouth hung open, staring helplessly. Coranda couldn't recall a time she'd ever seen the bossy noble actually struck speechless. There was nothing to be said, unless they were ready to meet with an unpleasant end to their fun little jaunt. 

She knows we're not supposed to be here. Don't take the bait, you fool. Walk away. Please. 

Loud screaming and the shatter of multiple glass objects breaking at once cut through the moment, Vasilica falling to the floor as Veyla immediately barged past her toward the source. The patrons near the bar were scrambling to vacate the area, leaving Coranda a clear view of what they were fleeing from. 

A large family of foo-foo, two voltarians, one kaygon and possibly a dozen or more gaalahni had stolen the attention of the entire club, poised in a threatening formation around the bar. On the other side, the old voltarion barkeep stood braced for further violence. Behind him, a particularly lanky akiron pushed himself away from the destruction his body had made, glass tinkling to the floor as he staggered upright, clothing drenched in a variety of imbibements. 

Veyla Varda halted, clearly noticing the numerous blasters now trained on her companion, who calmly raised his hands. The newcomers hadn't spotted her yet, too focused on the target of their ire, but she couldn't just attack outright without putting her friend at risk. To Coranda's surprise, the dancer suddenly pressed a finger to her temple, activating an ionic earpiece and speaking in a disapproving murmur. 

“Mernos. We talked about this.” 

“You disappeared. And Ceylen insulted my hredni mix. The young these days have no respect for their elders. He was practically begging for a toss,” the barkeep replied to the air, tail waving lazily at his dripping victim, who drew his own gun with a look of barely contained fury.

“You crazy- All you needed to do… the one thing he asked from you…” the akiron caught himself and inhaled slowly, releasing it on a mirthless chuckle, his blaster making an ominous whine as he clicked its settings to fatal, “‘Accept the payment and get out.’ That was it. One simple little task, and you could've been gone, free to roam and richer than some lower Houses! Everyone else knew what was good for them. But the soolian here? Noooo. He just had to be difficult.”

Coranda had been glancing at the dancing platform throughout the altercation, a glimmer of a definitely terrible, but potentially necessary idea forming in her mind. Veyla and Mernos were both unarmed, out-numbered and outgunned. The odds now were surely far worse than any half-baked plan to tip them could be. She made up her mind and began creeping toward her goal the moment she heard Ceylen’s blaster escalate its intent, screaming at herself the entire way, yet determined to see it through. They may be mere acquaintances, but they’d taken care of a complete stranger in her time of need. It was only right to return the favour.

“The Councillor has no say here and your behaviour is disrupting the peace. Do yourself a favour and lower those weapons. Now. I will not warn you again.”

Varda's carefully even tone and more than significant body mass stepping forward would have made a sharper group think twice about their next decision. Unfortunately, this did not appear to be an altogether bright collection of individuals. They turned to regard her, their initial fearful reaction quickly replaced by a ripple of laughter once they realised she was alone.

Meanwhile, Coranda had managed to use a nearby chair to reach the dance platform, hauling herself up and creeping to the end nearest the bar. The height was a little dizzying and she planted her feet to steady herself, shakily reaching around to begin unclipping the bindings hiding her true identity.

“And who might you be? The floor sweep?” Ceylen snorted, his blaster’s muzzle dropping as his focus switched from Mernos to Veyla.

“Something like that.” The joviality from earlier had entered her voice again, this time with a much deadlier edge, and Coranda couldn't help the thrill it sent through her upon hearing it. Varda took another slow step, then another, every eye riveted on her gradual approach, her stripes seeming to pulse brighter in the dim lighting. “Though it looks like you've done most of my work for me. All the space trash neatly gathered in one corner.”

Ceylen squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as though to clear it, natural akiron resistance breaking Veyla's hypnotic hold far more quickly than his less fortunate followers, his blaster raising to point at her head. 

Time for a new distraction. 

"By order of the Fifth Akiridion Throne," Coranda called as she wrenched the final clip away, tossing her bindings to the side and finally allowing her secondary arms to stretch happily into their newfound freedom, "Drop your weapons and kneel!"

It had the desired effect, every eye in the room turning to look straight at the Royal in full view on stage, Veyla’s exasperated mutter the only sound cutting through the stunned silence.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." 

Laughter broke out among the gang and the kaygon started toward Coranda, the leer on his face as he spoke making her hand itch for a weapon of her own.

“Looks like our payment’s about to get a whole lot fatter. Why don't you come down here so we can get acquainted, princ-!”

Veyla moved, her form a blur as she launched the kaygon horizontally, kindly acquainting him with the solid base of the dance platform instead. The goon closest to him found himself locked to her front as a gaalahnian shield before anyone else could react, Varda sending another flying into a nearby table with a kick when he hesitated to shoot. The rest opened fire on her, forcing her to take cover behind the overturned table and the unfortunate gaalahni. Mernos took advantage of their surprise to repeat his earlier action, seizing Ceylen and hurling him back over the bartop. Then he bent to retrieve something from beneath the counter, throwing two objects to his ally.

"Zi- Veyla!"

She prioritised the catching of one, allowing the other to clatter to the ground beside her. The next secton, Coranda understood why, as Veyla Varda slapped the item in her hand to her chest and activated an armour module. Its articulated flexi-plate enveloped her massive form, swiftly rendering both the table and dead gaalahni unnecessary. She let him slip from her grasp, ignoring the petering blasts absorbed by her new plating as she picked up the serrator from the floor and faced her surprised opponents. 

Coranda couldn't believe her eyes. Apparently she wasn't the only one here under false pretences. 

A fully armoured officer of the Talyon Phalanx stood before them, rolling her powerful shoulders and neck in readiness to dish out their inevitable demise. There was no question now who possessed the upper hand as terrifying reality began to dawn on the gang members.

"Those of you who wish to leave in one piece, kindly exit in an orderly fashion. Anyone who craves death…" Veyla grinned and manifested a broad-sabre, its ionic edge humming a deadly drone beneath her words, "Feel free to linger. I've been suffering the lack of a good dance partner." 

The extra-curious patrons still observing regained their senses then, fleeing in a decidedly less than orderly fashion and stumbling over each other in their bid to escape. Coranda looked around for her companions, spotting them still huddled against the wall where she'd left them. She slipped down off the platform again, gesturing to them from the shadows to follow her. If they could move fast enough, they might be able to- 

Patrizia shook her head, face contorted with fear. She wasn't moving any time soon. Vasilica was in no better shape, clutching tight to her sister, wide eyes staring at the stand-off barely a stone's throw away.

Kleb!

She glanced back at the unfolding scene behind her. Would it escalate into a full on battle? One stray blaster beam could spell the end for any of them. Luckily, the group of extortionists didn't seem all that eager to take a trained soldier up on her challenge, self-preservation finally making an appearance.

Albeit far too late. 

“It's one guard and an ancient lizard! Just kill them!” Ceylen barked, firing on Mernos and forcing the voltarion to create a shield with his own serrator. 

Chaos descended quickly, Varda trusting her friend to take care of himself while she charged the thugs. They parted before her, some barely avoiding her swings, others who weren't so lucky shredded to flexel and staining the club grounds with a gory rainbow of diverse innards. Those who survived her opening attack spread out, desperately trying to stay clear of her range and develop a strategy against her on the fly. The voltarion pair ignored the panicked yells of their team, launching a series of ruthless electrical attacks, then phasing out and retreating into the energy grids before she could counter. Veyla stumbled and slowed, emboldening the rest to try a united assault, half-burying her under a writhing pile-on of foo-foo and the remaining few gaalahni. The voltarions reformed and raced to join in, but Mernos zapped himself between them and the struggling taylon, wrapping his tail around the neck of one and seizing the other in a headlock. All three vanished, leaving Veyla to finish the fight alone.

Without the damage the voltarions had provided, that proved a lot easier. Caught mid-reckless attack at close range and faltering, her assailants had even less leeway than before to elude her. Many more fell to her vicious blows as she bucked them off and struck, crushing and slicing her way to freedom and an ever nearing victory.

A handful of the wilier foo-foo had hung back, noticing Patrizia and Vasilica and breaking off from the main pack to bound toward them with desperation in their eyes. Coranda dove for the nearest corpse, snatching up a weapon. Unwilling to risk hitting her friends, she fired at the ground ahead of the threat to get their attention. It worked a little too well, reminding them of her higher hostage value the moment they saw her. She had just started for the door in the hope of drawing them away enough to aim properly, when an enormous mass of gleaming phalanx armour cut off her view of the oncoming foo-foo, scattering them as they abruptly changed direction. The one foolish enough to try again for their initial plan was swiftly decapitated, while the rest leapt for the stage to gain the high ground.

"Get down before you get hurt, your highness," Veyla snarled, snatching Coranda by the wrist to haul her swiftly across the space and smack into Patrizia, the taylon warrior using her body and serrator both to shield the three akiron nobles in the nick of time as the foo-foo turned their weapons on them. Her glowing face offset the blinding light of the beams pelting ionic barrier and exposed form alike, double sets of eyes glaring directly at Coranda while she steeled herself against the onslaught with a grimace. Armour or no, those blasters were nothing to scoff at and the Queen-In-Waiting felt a twinge of sympathy for each grunt punched from Veyla's throat.

It seemed like an eternity went by before the blasterfire abruptly ended, a powerful electric current frying the foo-foos where they stood as Mernos returned in a flash of crackling energy. Their blackened corpses slumped around him and he dropped gracefully to the floor without so much as another glance toward his handiwork. He seemed more concerned about Varda's, scowling at the gore coating nearly every surface of his club.

"What a mess."

“Apologies. In future I'll do my best to massacre your enemies with more focus on preserving the upholstery,” she retorted, though there was a distinct note of genuine humour underpinning her tone. Rising from her protective position, she deactivated her serrator, magnetising the circular hilt and releasing it to rest in its proper position on her hip.

Mernos let out a dry chuckle, stretching his neck and shaking off some extra sparks as he approached a long groaning lump sprawled in front of the bar. Ceylen struggled weakly, the sudden firm grip on his collar allowing him no room for escape. Mernos hauled him into a sitting position, examining the burns over the akiron's arms and chest with a cold expression.

“Someone really should teach these pests not to bring a blaster to a lightning-fight.” 

“You left him alive? Generous of you,” Veyla commented, detatching a set of cuffs from her other side and tossing them to the barkeep. "Watch him. I'll be back to clean things up. I have an unexpected wrinkle to deal with first."

Coranda did her best to glare at Veyla when she returned to them, having noticed her secondary shoulderblade was aching from how roughly the guard had manoeuvred her.

"I do not appreciate being dragged around."

"I don't appreciate Royals interfering with my job,” Varda snapped, the disdain and authority colouring her words surprising Coranda into subdued silence. There was no trace left of the exasperated but kind employee who’d been caring for her not fifteen mekrons earlier. “Who brought you here? Call them."

"He's already coming. I pinged him when that awful gang showed up." Patrizia sounded thoroughly rattled and Coranda could hardly blame her.

"Whatever for? It's fine now! I need a drink." Vasilica, on the other hand, seemed ready to pretend nothing had happened. She made toward an intact table, ignoring the morbid tableau surrounding them, but stopped as a huge armoured limb barred her way.

"With all due respect, my lady, you are fully aware it's illegal for this establishment to knowingly host people of your status." 

"Your families would have our heads, and I've had enough excitement for one night," Mernos chimed in, grabbing a surviving bottle of something bright purple and pouring himself a glass. 

"I strongly suggest you return to whichever palace you reside in. I will escort you to your vehicle," Veyla said firmly, and began herding them toward the door, giving them no room to argue or try to move past her. 

Vasilica put on her best outraged face but did as she was told, Patrizia following with her arms folded around her and shoulders hunched. Coranda silently walked ahead of them, scanning the docking bay for their driver. He was just pulling in when they arrived and looked highly concerned, rushing to open the doors and usher them inside. He bowed to the nobles, then dipped his head to their unsolicited protector. She gave a curt nod and turned, leaving without another word or a single glance back at them as they departed.

“I cannot believe the nerve of those waitstaff!” Vasilica started mere sectons after the door was closed on them, “First they try to cut us off, then that taylon dragged you into a purge room to do who knows what to you! We should report them. Have them shut down and exiled, servers decommissioned, the whole procedure! I'll need your statements of course and-” 

Patrizia just put her slitbuds in and curled up under her travel blanket, pulling the edge over her head. The glow of her sound-ball generated a soft light to banish a little of the darkness, though its reflection against Coranda’s window was too weak to challenge the star clusters outside their pod. She tuned out both the orb and the rest of Vasilica’s whining prattle, a single thought sticking in her mind. 

‘Who knew what’ indeed? What incredible delights might she have experienced, had they not been so rudely interrupted? Had she not been required to reveal the truth. Would Veyla have reacted the same way once the binding came off while undressing her, without the presence of danger? Perhaps those hands would have stroked further down her back, hopefully pausing only long enough to recognize she was touching royalty, before deciding to take her chances regardless and venture lower…

The lunar settlements of Akiridion-8 dropped quickly away in their wake, leaving only the vast reaches of space, and the yearning ache filled by her increasingly depraved fantasies.

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So I was writing a Vexando fic because my brain was going brrrrrrrr on them, and I wanted to flesh out and play around more with the Taylon and two-armed/four-armed Akiridions (which I gave the separate species name 'akiron' for) as two different but similar species, because why not? Which led to thinking about reproductive processes for them to understand smutt options better.

Then I remembered the Steve-preg situation in that awful Rise of the Titans movie hinted at Akiridions being like seahorses which, on its own has some cool potential, but I decided to do away with the kiss thing and human m-preg (human m-preg people are valid there are just perfectly good unexplored alien species right there in this universe and I'd rather do it with them) and play around with alien reproduction systems more.

And that also led to an interest in trying out writing a matriarchal society and how that might look and be experienced by and effect the interactions of the characters.

Which led to my best friends asking me "ok but how would two female akiridions do things together/how would you write that?" which of course required actual characters to pair together. So we had a light-hearted, mostly joking (at first) chat about Coranda in her stupid college-age-equivalent years sneaking out to a bar, getting drunk and hitting on a dancer there.

"Ok so who is the dancer?"

"Ooh you know what? Fuck it. Let's grab that random female taylon OC from my Vexando wip and make her also a dancer in a club."

"Ok, why is she there? Does she just enjoy dancing? Does she need it as a night job?"

"Ooh how about she's under cover doing a personal favour for the bar owner who has had a local gang harassing him for money" and then because I've watched a lot of shows with corporate bullshittery redevelopment projects as plot points on Netflix recently, that turned into "rich powerful bastard wants to own the moon these clubs are on/monopolize them himself so he's paying people off to get them to leave, but the OC's friend is an old stubborn voltarion who refuses to sell his club" etc etc and then my brain gave me words for an actual start to the opening scene and uh...

Now I'm writing a story about Queen Coranda and her bodyguard back in her earlier years when things were easy and she didn't have an entire planetry system under her leadership to fuck up. XD

I was also curious about how they had two houses of Akiridion warring and then coming together to form the Royals from the show. Also it's called Akiridion-5, hinting at other planets also part of a wider Akiridion empire type thing and the concept of four-armed Royal Akiridions seemed like something to be fleshed out more so I thought "ok why not have multiple major and minor Houses, not just Ventis and Akraohm" and "what if there were minor Houses marrying into major Houses and different families greasing up to more powerful ones seeking political marriages and deals etc etc."

You get the point. Basically it rabbit-holed really fast like all these things do when my brain latches onto them. XD

I do intend to address things associated with more serious themes properly in the narrative, so feel free to talk to me if I do a tone-deaf while trying to do a subversion or other explorations of things by the way.

[the-gateway-to-madness]

3Below and Thoughts on Akiridions

Okay so it's mentioned in episode 2 of 3Below that Akiridions learn through "thermogenic cosmosis" or "thermogenic osmosis" it's not entirely clear which. Total technobabble, but if we go for the latter, we can discern what it means through the roots of the words (which is actually backed up by the little gesture Krel makes when he says the term!)

"Thermo"= of or relating to heat

"Genic"= generation or production

If we're bothering to break down the actual meanings, "thermogenic" means "heat producing" and osmosis is the process of a substance moving from an area of higher concentration of that substance to an area of lower concentration of that substance.

This would suggest that Akiridions learn by directly absorbing an amount of energy and by extension knowledge from each other.

My theory is that in the last episode of Season 1, when there's that flashback and Coranda and Fialkov make Aja's and Krel's cores glow, that's what they were doing. Trying to directly communicate part of their experience that they couldn't quite put into words.

Anyway, it's never brought up again, and in order for the audience to keep up the exposition has to happen externally, so- I guess we'll never really know. But this makes sense to me and also could make for cute accidental love confessions where one Akiridion is just trying to teach another something and one of them accidentally lets slip the ✨️feelings✨️

Also the way they portrayed Akiridion reproduction is bs and doesn't line up with any of the established canon in 3Below. If kissing was so risky why would Aja go for it all the time? It's clearly retconned in and it's not well done.

Going by the idea that Akiridions can share parts of their energy with each other, I choose to believe (because in this household there Is No Movie) that either person in the relationship can get pregnant regardless of their sex, and that impregnation involves voluntarily pushing a much larger amount of energy than usual to the one that's going to carry the baby. Life is delicate and an immensely serious decision and creating it should take more effort than "whoops, we kissed too many times". Also Akiridions deserve to be able to make out.

If they want to crossbreed with a species from another planet, theoretically the other species has to carry it (because most of 'em can't do the energy transfer it requires to get the Akiridion pregnant).

here's a bonus picture of my oc if you made it through all that!

And a post compiling all my analyses of Akiridions:

[aritheunfortunate]

Hot girl shiz

[helis97]

A genealogical tree of my AU. Some extra content to better comprehend some parts of it. Alkètius used to be an akirdion, but was cursed and turned into a demon. None of his family discovered that and they all believed that he was killed. 

Alkètius then traded his demonic knowledge with Hans in exchange of Anemone. When presenting herself Anemone says "Anemone of Alkètius" (as she stopped being part of House Akram when she was given to the demon), that goes the same with Andro since Morando and Anemone never married.

Previous to adopting Anemone, Alkètius struck a deal with a Troll and made a troll/demon hybrid, Teleya.

[thekingofthenameless]

Daylight’s Redemption Masterlist!

(This’ll be edited as time goes on, like most masterlists are.)

Journey by Daylight is a prequel to Emerald Embers, and details Merlin’s backstory right up to Chapter One of Emerald Embers.

Things That Apply to Both Fics:

DR!Merlin:

His rp blog @merlin-caledonensis-ambrosius

His characterization

His backstory

His sister

His trauma and how it affects him

His [redacted] #1

His [redacted] #2

How he feels about his body

What calms him down

How vigilant he is

Character bingo

Some random things about him

Ten headcanons

More headcanons

Emerald Embers:

Fic summary:

I’m so funny

Fic link:

A look into how it’s developed!

Help

Random Things:

My first comment!

A compliment from a friend

Compliments that I hoard like a dragon

Favorite scene(s)

Spelling problems

A poll about what redesign I should commission next

Worldbuilding:

1

2

Timeline

Claire and school

Dragons!!!!

Major Storyline Changes Across Canon:

Trollhunters:

Jim’s helmet

The trolls aren’t racist towards the changelings

Morgana’s death

3Below:

Wizards:

If I rewrite R*TT

Character Designs:

Jim

Toby

Barbara

Mama and Papa Casperan

Arthur and Gwen

Darci

Mary

Steve

Zadra

Eli

Krel

Fialkov

Coranda

Ganieda

Strickler

Nomura

Character Redesigns:

Aja

Zoe

The entire Nuñez family

Compilation of everyone

The Titans

Morgana, Barbara, and Ophelia’s body types

Morgana’s redesign

Character Expansion/Development /Revamps:

Galahad

Barbara

Douxie

Ophelia and Javier

Original Characters:

Hildred Cooke

Egbert Kendrick

Rachel Rogers

Lord Asheworthe

Mantis the dragon

Troll adoptables

Troll adoptables #2

Dragon adoptable

Several more adoptables

My first oc

Location Designs/Redesigns:

Writing blurbs!

🌹 wip ask game: two different scenes

Wip tag game #1

🌹 wip ask game: Blinky and Dictatious

Wip tag game #2

Wip word ask game: Candles (Merlin and young!Douxie)

🌹 wip ask game: three different scenes

🌹 wip ask game: Merlin starting to have a breakdown

wip:

Random snippet: Merlin reflecting on mortal humans’ fear of magic

Send me a sentence and I’ll write the next five ask game: Jimmy Jam angst

Send me a sentence and I’ll write the next five ask game: Jim and the clones

🌹 wip ask game: Merlin and Archie

Fanfiction work in progress guessing game: treason

Fanfic work in progress guessing game: book

Random snippet: Barbara observing Merlin

🌹 wip ask game: Merlin is ✨stressed out✨

🌹 wip ask game: Merlin with a sad, scared child.

🌹 wip ask game: Merlin is ✨stressed out✨ (Again.)

Chapter introduction!!!

Tag game: Merlin’s C-PTSD

Memes!

EE summary: meme edition

Figuring out Merlin’s backstory

Fanart!!!

✨Gorgeous Merlin sketches✨ by @rule-number-3

Merlin pondering™️ by @rule-number-3

Merlin’s character sheets by @undeadchestnut!

Journey by Daylight:

Old Ideas for Both:

DR!Merlin’s redesign

Last sentence of your wip in the tags

In the tags

Claire’s redesign

Morgana’s redesign

Charlie’s redesign

[taags-old-account]

Krel Tarron is the Tales Of Arcadia version of Tony Stark in this essay I will-

@honeyxmonkey

---

OK I BINGED THE FIRST TWO IRON MAN MOVIES LAST NIGHT AND NOW I HAVE THOUGHTS

GUARDIANS OF ARCADIA AU:

So I'm not entirely sure how Krel gets to earth or if he's still Akaridion. I have some ideas for that I'll list below but I haven't thought out that part entirely yet

Morando attacks Akaridion-5 a lot sooner (like Aja and Krel are babies). King Fialkov and Queen Coranda are in a rush trying to get both Aja and Krel to earth. Aja wanting to be the warrior she is manages to sneak away during the chaos leaving Krel on earth alone.

Maybe there is some semi/permanent transduction kind of but IDK

either way somebody finds baby Krel. Meanwhile, The King and Queen manage to fend off Morando. But no longer know where Krel is due to the transductions and being taken in by humans.

So they presume Krel dead when he's actually fine

BUT ONTO THE PARTS I THOUGHT OUT MORE

Krel basically becomes the Tony Stark of TOA.

Though he's not a playboy. (Krel is aroace and I'll fight anybody who denies it.)

Mary is the Pepper Potts and they are basically besties. IDK who could be Rhodey because I already have ideas for Eli so *INSERT OC HERE*

Who is Obediah Stane? IDK. (I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HIS NAME AUTOCORRECT IS NO HELP)

Krel does get kidnapped and finds out that he's an alien. His core is damaged and somehow the kidnappers manage to keep him semi alive (IN COMES THE ARC REACTOR HEHEHHEHEHEHE)

So he breaks out etc. And manages to put back on the human transduction again.

*creates suit blah blah blah* (Though much more A-5 themed with the black and blue.)

Just for fun I think Krel should get a spear. (He lasted a decent amount of time using a spear against Varvatos. And it's also aesthetically pleasing so...)

In the end, he reveals that he's Iron Man (Though is he? Is there a different name we could use?)

And Mary find out he's alien.

THAT'S JUST MOVIE 1

MOVIE 2 BELOW:

Fury's Busiest Week TM

I'm going to go with palladium poisoning cause it works

Aja comes down with the serrator that she just CANNOT pull out of the rock.

She meets Steve and Eli. Two scientists and she gets together with Steve.

The reason she came down in the first place was that Morando had found a way to knock her down into a ship and send her off. So now she's on earth

Omen = Destroyer

Shall we create an OC for Loki's place or do we use Varvatos or Morando...?

Claire is Natasha, IDK who Fury or Coulson would be...

But the same events happen in both movies (Thor and Iron Man 2)

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS

[aidendh]

3Below! OC! Krys Tarron (P2)

He often forms his Serrator as a Spear, Shield and Knife

He is capable of wielding a blaster but prefers more precise weapons

Coranda and Fialkov had to keep him from killing Morando

Krys has dabbled in his own bounty hunting once before

(His own bounty is higher because of this, his Unique Core and Ability)

He is an 'old friend' of the Zerons

Though he he easily turns on them when they turned down his offer to side with him against Morando

(Mainly because of his bounty)

He is slightly shorter than Coranda, though this is enhanced by her boots and head garment

(He is quite spiteful of this)

Mother specifically made his Human form a few cm shorter than him, to discourage his outings

He didn't take his sister's and brother-in-law's sacrifice well, but for the safety of Aja/Krel and Mothers strict orders, he doesn't engage Morando until he enters Earth

Unlike most Akiridions, because of his Core, he was born with Purple eyes

He is close with Zandra and Vavatos Vex, though the three don't always 'see eye to eye'

Vavatos is the only one that agrees with his violent tendencies

(Even if Vavatos prefers Physical over Krys's Psychological)

Any of Krys's orders have to go through either Coranda, Fialkov or Zandra because of his Villainess tendencies

"I'd trust you with my Core Krys, just not with leading the Army or fleets."-Coranda

"Why not? I'd easily be able to help them succeed in an invasion?"-Krys

"And that my point, we don't want to invade others."-Coranda

He finds it downgrading to use 2 arms, as 4 is a sign of Akiridion Royalty

Though he surpriseingly adapts to them fast

Finds the word Alien offensive

His Human form takes after Krel's, though his hair is made up of thin braids and is quite darker

In both forms, his hair is barely long enough for him to tie up

(He prefers it tied)

His Akiridion hair is similar to Aja's

(Gacha Clubs's braided ponytail is too long, so pretend the Gacha is braided)

(Also, Gacha Club doesn't have a 4 arm option)

The hair on his cape is based on a strange substance from his Memories, he later learns it is known as fur to the Humans

He used his Serrator to reprogram his Human clothing from what Mother gave him

He finds trainers/sneakers strangely comfortable

He is the only one, who's Human form needs Glasses

Like Aja, he also has a Hover-board

Mother ends up giving in when he chooses to start working as a Teaching Assistant

He is able to keep watch of his charges and gain 'money'

His Human for also has freckles like Aja's

He often stands with his hand resting behind his back, in either form

Morando would have a special force field to counteract Punishment

-

After Morando's defeat, and choosing to stay on Earth with Krel

He'd ask Zandra to go into his Memories to help him find his origins from before his Core's construction

He tells her to focus on 3 Humans of strange hair colors, one with Blue, one with White and one with Red

-

He would be there to see 'DJ Kleb's' performance (Krel's battle of the bands)

Krys Akraohm

-

--

An Akiridion Royal and Queen Coranda's younger brother

Ability: Punishment and Crime

The Tarron's lead strategist

--

Krys Tarron

-

--

A TA that claims to be Russian and Aja/Krel's Uncle

Ability: Punishment and Crime

His 'Moral Compass' is nonexistent

--

[porchtart]

I have a couple of ideas (sorry if I spelled anything wrong, I had a pretty intense cry earlier and my eyes hurt)

• Jerin wanted to fuck the Tarrons Sr and viewed Morando as kind of a rival

• Kalir and/or Jerin had a bit of a thing for one or both or their fathers

• Vex’s grandkid is the lovechild of Jerin and Tarrons Sr but they wanted to cover that up so that’s why they went to live with Urale instead of Vex

• Kalir is pretty nervous and a bit of a push over while Jerin is more competitive and acts like a younger Vex

(I hope you're feeling okay anon!! Sending you good vibes!!)

Here's my first pass at them. Jerin (she/her) on the left, Kalir (he/him) on the right.

I am really into all of these ideas tbh, they all have The Vibe. If i were to have one of them have feelings for one of their dads, I'd pick Jerin and Vex because that seems like a combo rife with tragedy. I very much can see her having misguided feelings for her dad, since she's always had a lot more in common with him than Kauris and they just always got on a lot better. Her family line (read: Joro) is also prone to Inappropriate Attractions, but having it not be Joro Directed is unusual. I can also see her being Interested in the serratius lifestyle, since she was never permitted to be trained as a Taylon, but Kauris and Vex both put a stop to that early on.

Kalir ended up being a lot more like Kauris in a lot of ways, but he's a lot more soft spoken and awkward. Unlike Jerin, he did not bend to his parents' wants, and he went and trained at the Valtres under Urale to become a dexiethan. He and Urale ended up having an affair and it all ended up going very poorly for him, but he got very attached to his uncle and was very fixated on trying to make him proud and stuck around for years. Eventually he accepted that Urale is bad news, and ended up leaving and meeting the partners that he ended up having Raelle (my boyfriend's OC uwu) with.

The relationship between Jerin, Kalir, and Kauris was very bad for a long time, and they ended up reconciling pretty shortly before their deaths. They started having regular days out on Satellite-9 to try to spend more time together and lowercase bond more, which is part of what made it easy to pick the spot to have the hit on them take place.

I am definitely very intrigued by there being Some Kids happening with Jerin and Coranda tbh, generally in my headcanon Akiridions do not sexually reproduce, but I am intrigued by some sort of weird coding in Jerin's biology causing another core to develop inside of her, leading to her running off and never speaking to the Tarrons again, and perhaps finding a way to transfer the core to a vustal to develop an actual kid.

Oh!!! And I actually already have a character design that I think would work for that hypothetical kid!!! Hell yeah!!!

[nerv-s]

Character: morando

favorite thing about them

Absolutely boundless bastardry. Also most of his actual character design, even though he’s really fucking hard to draw. There are few things about him that I don’t love.

least favorite thing about them

He’s pretty boring in canon beyond his extremely sexy menacing, but that’s okay because my approach to canon is “my city now.”

favorite line

“Oh, I am far more formidable than an OMEN.”

brOTP

Don’t really have one! I guess the closest is maybe him with my OC Urale, but that’s not really a platonic relationship most of the time.

OTP

Moraja..... 🙈 I also really like Morel/Morajel, and Vexando. And of course I ship him with Urale too.

nOTP

Don’t really have one! I’m picky about shippy content between him and Coranda and Stricklander, but I can get into them in the right contexts.

random headcanon

Morando wasn’t originally on track to become an officer because he was determined to be excessively violent and unpredictable while he was still in the dyinent, but he was later fast tracked to becoming an officer since they figured it was fairly pointless due to the fact that Akiridion was in an active conflict at the time and expected that he’d die on the battlefield. Obviously he didn’t and continued to climb the ranks, but he never got proper social training which is why he’s not very good at diplomacy. 

unpopular opinion

Morando isn’t a man. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In general I don’t HC Akiridians as having a gender binary at all similar to what we see in humans, but even in AUs where he’s human/groks human gender, he identifies as agender, maybe genderfluid. I also HC him as very dysphoric.

song i associate with them

Blood Hunter by Varien. I really like listening to aggressive and borderline horny EDM while writing and drawing him lmao.

favorite picture of them

It’s hard to pick a fave because I love pretty much every picture of him, but I picked this one because Teefs.

[etheriumart]

-leans forwards- so dont take this as a threat but if you dont tell me more about your 3 below oc i might break your knees in a loving way

ffdskljsdfklj aaaa I love these kinds of asks!!

Because you just reblogged my ref of Athalia, I assume you mean her and not Andy, so I’m gonna go with her!

Okay so!

Princess Athalia Ventis is the daughter of Princess Liora Ventis and Prince Alphard Ventis. Liora is King Fialkov’s younger sister, and Alphard is not a royal (he’s a nobleman!) Athalia has two siblings, a younger sister (about 13) named Halia, and a younger brother (about 10) named Areighn. Athalia herself is about the human equivalent of 17, about a year older than the Tarron twins, her cousins. 

Liora and Alphard oversee Satellite-9, the residential area that Varvatos Vex’s family lived on. In fact, Athalia was dating Vex’s son before they were killed by the Zerons. 

She’s third in line for the throne if anything happened to the Tarron twins. First in line is Liora, then Coranda’s younger brother, then Athalia. She’s an ambassador and a diplomat, and was about to embark on her first solo affair ever before Morando’s coup. 

During the coup, she manages to escape in a B-Class Mothership and make it out of A-5. She gets out into open space before realizing she’d been shot, and has to go into stasis.

In stasis, Fialkov manages to contact her for a very short period of time to deliver her a message, that his kids are alive, and to seek Arcadia. She does not know what Arcadia means. 

When she wakes up, she comes across an unmoving striker. inside is an unconscious Raal Akroahm, the only child of Coranda’s younger brother and the last member of the Akroahm line. He’s like, a year younger than the Tarron twins, so he’s two years younger than Athalia. He wakes up crying, seeing as he just watched his parents get discorporated and then their cores get smashed. 

The two of them make it to earth and find arcadia, but attend Arcadia Oaks Academy, not Arcadia Oaks High. They meet Douxie and get involved in all the Wizard shenanigans! 

Ive got more on her if you have any specific questions!

[the-gateway-to-madness]

never give me a reason to info dump-

*cough* okay SO let's start at the very beginning with the family lore. She's from a house of Akiridion nobility called House Okhrana; rare members of the family had an ability called Summoning, allowing them to create small tools or art pieces (for tools think knives, grappling hooks, small drills, measuring tapes, etc.) on the undersides of their wrists. It can't be anything too large, they can't Summon for very long, and they cannot Summon different tools on each wrist- it's strictly one tool at a time. They can also make the tool/art piece more solid and detach it from their wrist, but it takes a lot of energy. House Okhrana discouraged recreational/artistic use of Summoning, as they thought it was a distraction from their oath.

You may have noticed I referred to House Okhrana in the past tense so let's talk INEVITABLE OC TRAUMA!

House Okhrana were sworn by blood and trained, cradle to grave, to protect House Tarron; each member has a specific assigned member of the royal family, as well. Cara's is Krel, and as such, her family allowed her to befriend him as a kid. They were very close from about ages 3-6. By Cara's generation, the oath had become so strict that Okhranas were put through resilience and combat training starting extremely young (Varvatos was Cara's first teacher), and expected to die for House Tarron without question. As such, Cara is disconcertingly unbothered by the concept of dying to protect House Tarron, which is something she works on in any given story I write for her. Additionally, Krel releasing her from House Okhrana's oath to House Tarron is a major point in her arc.

At that point, when she was 6, a group of monsters called the Talons of the Void (I'll put a reference below) began demanding information from House Okhrana, since they were so trusted by the Royals. Specifically, they wanted Gaylen's Core as a way to leap to other dimensions- their reasoning for this remains unknown. House Okhrana values the security of House Tarron above their own lives at any and all costs, and as such, the entire House opted to fight instead.

Knowing the Talons would massacre them, Cara's mother, Madera (a close friend of Queen Coranda), hid Cara on Earth- specifically in Arcadia, near Gaylen's Core, in the hopes that someday someone would return for the Core and find Cara as well. All she left Cara was two serrators (just in case), a transduction band (which she wears on her upper left arm but I always forget to draw), and a digital library of Akiridion literature.

With that, House Okhrana disappeared from Akiridion, going off together to fight the Talons; and Cara was left marooned in Arcadia.

This is by no means the end of her lore. Not long after landing, she was found in the woods by a young woman named Irene Hall, who brought her home to her family. Said family consists of a sorcerer father (Jordan), a siren mother (Sofia), Irene (who's about 900, same as Douxie. Couple years younger, as I recall; she's my lifelong best friend's oc), and a brother two and a half years younger than Cara, named Aiden.

The Halls adopted Cara, and have been a massive source of healing for her.

Not long after (within a couple months), she was briefly transported several centuries in the past by Merlin to help lift a curse placed on past-Irene; in the process, Cara lost any potential she may have had to do magic (which would have been either luxmancy or pyromancy). She has no memories of this incident.

By the time of 3Below, Cara's been away from Akiridion about nine years; I generally write at a point where she and Krel are 18 or 19, which makes it more like 12 or 13 years since she's been home. The deep-rooted devotion to House Tarron and sense of honor that House Okhrana instilled in her have slowly turned to shame over the years- Cara sees herself as failing her oath by failing to find a way to return to Akiridion and protect the royals.

She sees herself as even more of a failure when Krel shows up on Earth and she begins developing romantic inclinations towards him, which is strictly forbidden by her oath.

As for her physical design, Cara's hair has a lot of meaning to it. First and foremost, Okhranas are supposed to keep their hair very short for combat; over time, as she realized how messed up some of their requirements were, Cara grew out her hair as a quiet way of pushing those traditions away. Second, when she's a little kid her hair is brushed straight back, or parted in the middle; as she gets older her part shifts to the left (the right, for someone looking at her head-on), symbolizing the distance that has grown between her and the very symmetrical style of Akiridion. Also, Cara is one of those Summoners I mentioned at the very beginning; as such, her hair is in strands like humans' hair instead of chunks like a normal Akiridion's, and her surface/skin? i don't think akiridions have skin- and hair are more green than normal. This is because green light takes less energy to produce, passively saving energy for their Summoning ability.

To end on a wholesome note- Cara is a little younger than Krel. It's the Akiridion equivalent of maybe a four-month gap, but he teases her about it constantly. She only pretends to care, because if she didn't act bothered he'd stop doing it and she thinks it's cute and funny when he teases.

ALRIGHT LIFE STORY (UP TO THE TOA ERA) COMPLETE here's resources:

The Oath: "By the light of my core and the right of my birth, I am bound to the protection and upholding of the righteous and rightful rulers of Akiridion-5, to set aside personal attachments for the sake of the throne, and to give myself entirely, in life, in sickness, in injury, and in death, to my Royals. I will live, walk, and breathe as a sacrifice upon the altar of the Royals' future.  Let my bones be broken, my coreslick spilled, and my core splintered for the sake of their call; let my body, my mind, and my soul be torn from me in service to the upholding of Akiridion. Such is my vow and such shall I be."

2. Cara's parents, Madera and Korin:

3. The main Talons of the Void:

4. Cara refs:

okay i need to get ready for class now wheeeee

@slightartist

gIRLS NIGHT GIRLS NIGHT cara's bag is full of aluminum foil for them to eat

also now i remember why I don't do steady lineart. or colored lineart. because i forget to deal with basic bodily needs for hours on end-

ANYWAY. GIRLS NIGHT GIRLS NIGHT

[helis97]

-After years spent planning his future as the new ruler of Akiridion-5, this thing is monopolizing his attention. Anemone :"So we agreed that I have 100% authority over this thing." Morando :"Yeah... No, wait-what did you say?!"

-Morando fails to dethrone the Tarron, and an angry Coranda accuses her sister to have conspired against her family. Anemone is actually free of blame, but has a hard time proving it. Coranda's biggest fear is that, despite the fact that Anemone was given to a demon and lost pretty much any right to the throne, Morando could use the kid as a way to directly connect himself to the royal family. Coranda wants both Anemone and Andro to go back to Akiridion-5, but Alkètius isn't letting go of her daughter, so why not give the Queen just the problem? aka Andro?

-Anemone decides to escape with her kid on a far away planet named Earth and discovers a community of Trolls lead by two alpha trolls: Timòti and Teleya. Teleya takes a liking of Anemone and the kid, and decides to let them live with them.

[aidendh]

3Below! OC! Krys Akraohm (P1)

An oc/ Incarnate of Fyodor Hinata

The 'brother' of Coranda and the 'devil on your shoulder' sibling

He is an Akiridion royal know for being caring yet 'insane' in the head

Is casual of their villain thoughts

Was born a female Akiridion but reformed his own body to match a male

Despite his open insanity, he is easily capable of gaining people's favor

Would put his life on the line to save his Nephew and Niece

His hair is like Aja's but tied back

He knows Akiridion, Russian, English and French

(And a bonus 'code' which he taught his sister and Aja/Krel (Fialkov is Jealous))

He has a Russian accents just like his Sister Coranda and Niece Aja

His speciality is in programing/hacking like Krel

He gave 'Mother'(the mother ship) sass in her programming

He isn't often trusted around Humans because of his more subtle way of bringing people's demise

He stays with the Royal Children when escaping for Earth

His is more suited for manipulation than combat

He has his own Serrator that he often fiddles with the coding

Mother is the type to give him a Human form he dislikes, just to get him to stay in the house

(He is not alowd to design his own)

He acts as the Terron's Uncle that took the kids in after being split off from their parents

His Human form is based off of Krel's despite others assuming he is Russian

He often helped Aja sneak out of the Palace

His name is a play on the name Kris but just Krysa(Rat in Russian) without the 'A'

He is the kingdom's head strategist and has worked closely with Zandra and Vavatos Vex

Despite being of the Akraohm family, he took on the name Tarron after arriving on Earth

His core is surprisingly purple

His Ability is considered strange among Akiridions but is accepted as a Royal secret

Ability: Punishment and Crime

(His memories are a bit scrabbled)

His Ability works more as a projection and can delve within the minds of others

(The main part is now more of a 'kill switch')

He has a surprisingly high bounty, even before Marando's siege

He find enjoyment when messing with and observing others

He ends up with a quick liking and fascination to an Earth thing called 'cooking'

He helped forge the family's Human documentation

(He is officially know as Krys Tarron)

He is banned from many of Mother's functions and weaponry

His Sister is the reason he has only destroyed one planet

(' ' = Italics)

"You are restricted from editing my coding and accessing any of my weaponry."-Mother

"It was 'one' planet, Mother."-Krys

"And if it was not for your Sister, it would of been many more."-Mother

He is insane and villainous compared to many standards, even if Coranda and Fialkov kept him in check

He is the type to get a teaching job just the keep an eye on the kids

(If Mother even alowd him out of the Mother Ship)

"*sigh* This is imprisonment."-Krys

"The Humans would call this 'House Arrest'"-Mother

He also knew of Vavatos's betrayal but could easily tell it was 'eating him alive'

His Core can inhabit both himself and his Ability, though the latter is less corporeal

He often nicked Coranda's and Fialkov's capes until they chose to give him his own one birthday

One thing that Mother let's him access is the internet

(Though she always monitors and filters his searches)

The Tarron's are his only Moral hold

He is over 300 years old, though has the Human appearance of a mid aged adult

(Officially 32)

He often calls Coranda 'Sestra' and is the 'overprotective younger brother' stereotype

(Russian for Sister)

Calls Fialkov, Brat

(Russian for Brother and the English word)

Often interchanges the meaning

Chaotic Good

(Held on by a thread of the Tarrons)

He also gains great fascination with 'Human tomes' (books)

He was not trusted with the information of Galends Core (though he had his theories)

Aja and Krel call him Dyadya

(Uncle in Russian)

Though after coming to earth, they adopted the term 'Boomer'

(It surprisingly catches him off guard, he doesn't like it)

He sometimes uses a memory chamber to look at his strange 'Human' memories

[Continued in part 2]

[porchtart]

*Holds a live rat up to you like it's a microphone* The rats would like to hear your controversial opinions on Aja and Krel

Controversial as in like unpopular opinions on interpretations of their personality/motivations/relationships/etc., if that makes sense. If not, consider this instead an opportunity to rant about your OCs

hello rats (and anon,) thanks so much for your ask!! you win the award for best framing device to ever grace my inbox!!

as far as my Controversial Opinions, i honestly don’t know a whole lot about how the fandom sees them since i engage with it very little, especially because no one other than myself and my partner really make content for either of them that are relevant to my evil interests afaik (if you know of any good good fucked up content with them though please let me know! always looking for recs because god damn it i can’t do everything myself.) i do know a lot of how the fandom was when i first got into toa though, so extrapolating from that i’m going to assume that the way i view both of them is probably Not Popular lol.

i interpret both of them as pretty toxic tbh. especially considering the worldbuilding that my partner and i have done and how the royalty system/empire shit works. i think that they both mean well and genuinely are trying in their own ways to connect with folks (especially aja) but the isolation of growing up as royalty in a fucked up civilization makes it kind of super difficult. they also don’t seem to have any connections on a-5 with folks their own age other than each other (which is probably partly because the actual plot and time spent on a-5 is very limited in canon, but it feels Weird that we don’t really see them with any friends or have them mention friends back home AT ALL) which tingles my codependent (and potentially incesty) senses.

much of my interpretation of aja in particular is based around how my partner writes her which is, in essence, aja being a little bastard and a contrarian. aja clearly cares very little about The Rules and her way of responding to that seems to be to just become Mr. Problems. krel is also bastardly, but more on the unfriendly and sometimes mean end of things - which is also is very fun.

i also am very fixated on the “aja being afraid of but fascinated by morando” concept, and it’s a big part of my work about them. also her absolutely HATING him lmao, thank you canon for this beautiful hateship.

i think both aja and krel are extremely sheltered, and thus aren’t really prepared for the world they were born into. fialkov and coranda were ready to really move them into Being Royalty, but i don’t think either aja or krel really have any interest in that and i don’t think they were REALLY prepared by their parents. i’m very into aja in particular being radicalized into being extremely anti-empire and defecting from akiridion completely, which is a big plot point in me and my partner’s “betrayal au” where aja is the one who helps morando with the coup.

that’s what i’ve got for now, but if you have any other specific questions i’m always happy to get them!!

[nerv-s]

003 with Varvatos Vex

How I feel about this character: I like him well enough! He’s not My Fave, but I do like him and enjoy watching him. I like my headcanon version of him more tho lol.

Any/all the people I ship romantically non-platonically with this character: Morando, Aja, Krel, my OCs Kauris and Urale, Coranda, Fialkov.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Nothing particularly comes to mind?

My unpopular opinion about this character: His entire plotline with Nana was the worst part of 3below. Also I don’t think that Nick Offerman was a good VA for him.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Would have loved for his plotline to be more about coming to terms with himself and what he’s done rather than yet shoving him into yet another completely intolerable straight ship in a franchise that is already overflowing with them, but alas.

Favorite friendship for this character: Morando, because that relationship is fucked up in all dimensions lmao.

[aritheunfortunate]

Separated ver.

Hot girl shiz