#for clarity's sake: tsa!leif uses he/him and we/us pronouns while corder uses they/it and i/me pronouns

[nonsensical-shitposting]

Okay, trying to get my rough ideas for the Team Snakereverse AU onto the screen (and also test out my editing capabilities)- the original concept for the AU was just to reverse the initial positions of Vi, Kabbu, and Leif from canon, but then it snowballed immensely from there. Here’s our lovable protagonists, with descriptions of what they’re up to under the cut:

Sick of her job as an underpaid, overworked contractor scavenging from the Fallen Hive, Vi was exiled from the Bee Kingdom on the termite overseers’ orders after she tried to organize a strike. She’d barely arrived in Defiant Root when Astotheles’ Metal Island Mercenaries struck the settlement, during which Vi distinguished herself by helping fight off the mercenaries armed with nothing but a pair of hastily-repaired bayonets trashed by termite soldiers (which she refers to as her “Beeyonets”). Disillusioned by the mercenaries’ modus operandi and disgusted with the local termite garrison’s reluctance to properly defend Defiant Root during the raid, Vi took off in search of somewhere she could meet with like-minded bugs and help put an end to the Termite Kingdom’s imperialism and negligence, both in the Bee Kingdom and across the rest of Bugaria. At first, she thought she’d found a place like that in the Ant Kingdom’s Underground Haven, but quickly learned that the bugs there were more interested in debating minuscule details of theory rather than taking any kind of action and got herself kicked out for complaining about this too much. Upon finding the Explorers’ Association, she realized a job there would give her a perfect cover for traveling across Bugaria searching for other prospective revolutionaries... and, hey, if she’s being honest, the idea of getting to track down ancient treasures and making sure they end up in the hands of bugs who actually deserve them (such as herself) sounds pretty good too!

Already badly injured, Kabbu was left semi-conscious after being thrown into an ancient crystal early on in the battle with the Beast, resulting in Bit and his master dragging him into a hiding place and telling him to wait for an opening to flee, which he did only to watch both of them die as they tried to bait the Beast into following them away from where they’d left him. Realizing too late that being slammed into the crystal had given him control of earth magic, a furious Kabbu buried the Beast alive, tearing up vast tracts of the surrounding swamplands before coming to his senses. Fleeing in shame and fear, Kabbu blamed himself for his friends’ deaths, believing that if he hadn’t been there they would’ve been able to escape from the Beast and survived, and resolved that he would never explore or use his new powers ever again. Kabbu took a desk job at the Explorers’ Association upon arriving in the Ant Kingdom in an attempt to punish himself and continued holding himself to his vow to not explore. Unfortunately, seeing a bright, driven young bee on the verge of being rejected as an explorer weakened Kabbu’s resolve, and before he knew it he was volunteering to team up with Vi temporarily so she could get an Association permit. Kabbu privately promised himself that he’d quit and return to his old job the moment Vi found someone else who’d be willing to join her exploration team, but now that he’s getting attached to both of his new friends (especially considering how much more he’s been starting to feel like his old self after adventuring with Vi and Leif), he may end up asking for his temporary placement on Vi’s team to be made permanent.

Discovered by Vi and Kabbu in the upper levels of the sunken Rubber Stronghold, this blue-and-yellow moth is a unique case in that they’re actually two beings sharing one body. The first is Leif, a moth who died in the Stronghold after a flood cut him off from his team during a scouting mission, and the second is the cordyceps that crawled into his body and inadvertently got his brain working again, which Vi dubbed Corder upon learning that connecting to Leif’s brain had allowed the cordyceps to develop a mind of its own. Leif is not exactly happy with the circumstances of his resurrection (which Corder has been very apologetic about), but both recognize that they can’t currently survive without the other, so they’ve worked out a deal where they copilot Leif’s body until they figure out a more permanent solution. Due to Leif’s lack of combat abilities, Corder’s been trying to fill in there by letting out one of its sharper-edged tendrils and making it look like a whip, though for the sake of keeping up their cover it has to control one of Leif’s hands to hold the “whip” when other bugs are around. Yes, they do get a lot of questions about whether a whip is really a practical weapon- one thing Corder and Leif can agree on is to make a running gag out of responding with different, increasingly ridiculous answers every time.