#interspace oc world

[whatifitwasgttho]

can we know more about omen & star? they’re so cute :3

OF COURSE?!?? ILL expand to the world (my fav btw) as well!!

Omen and Star are apart of the World Preservation organization Interspace, which is known as the last beacon of humanity in their post apocalyptic world!!

Their unit, Group 0NE (previously known as ZERO) was sort of the organizations beta testing group, composed of five members; Omen, Phase, Stitch, Nightowl, and their leader, Riddle!

Stitch, their hacker, has a small relationship chart if you’d like an idea of their members even outside the first group!

The planet Earth is in the 2800s, where the air and sea has polluted to a point where a mechanical organ known as "Cores" had to be invented. Cores are implanted at birth, and link to all major organs through blood and veins. They take the shape of an orb outside of the skin, and can be kept anywhere on your person after reaching the age of Ten.

These Cores keep humans alive against the dangerous environment, serving as a built in immune booster and healing regimen. Thanks to Cores, humanity is still able to thrive and live full lives.

A great catastrophe hit the technology of Cores, a bug in the system that was hacked by a villainous organization known as AGONI, to which gave them the ability to render humans as mind-controlled zombies, by finding the link between the brain and core.

Yet, as Interspace founded its safe dome, everyone soon came to discover there was one group of people immune to control.

Kids and Teenagers. With no fully developed brain, the link between the core and mind is far too thin to take control of without cutting off the link completely. No matter how cruel, if they wanted to ever leave the confines of Interspace again, they’d need to send child soldiers to complete that goal.

That is where the defensive unit comes in!! Deprived of a Computer Specialist, Mechanical Specialist, 3 Front-Lines Soldiers, and One Supportive Soldiers— these groups could, in theory, save our world.

So how did Star come in?

Star, unlike most of humanity, refused to find sanctuary in Interspace, and instead stayed within the dangerous polluted city, exactly the one Team 0NE was investigating. Omen preferred doing his work in the darkest hours, keeping a secret of being not from Earth at all from his teammates.

He had crashed on Earths’ plains, and was rescued by the leaders of Interspace and nursed back to health despite being far too tall for any of their supplies. Feeling protective over the small people that decided to save him, he promised to do whatever he could to protect whatever of their world they had left.

This led him to be gifted a wristband by their Mechanics Specialist, Riddle, one that could alter his stature to that of a regular human being. On one of his outings as dutiful member of Team 0NE, he encountered Star, working as some sort of reckless vigilante.

She ran away whenever he spotted her, and for months, thats how they continued to run into one another. At some point, Omen was able to finally catch her, and after getting over her initial fear— they began to do their rounds together.

Omen wanted to help her, and despite her stubborn protests, she agreed to join Interspace under one condition, she could stay by Omen’s side.

Luckily, she was the perfect person to fill the spot of their 6th member, and Star joined their ranks.

Her and Omen bicker and argue like any siblings would, yet value and trust eachother with far more than eachothers lives <3 I love them so much

[catboymoments]

Are there some "rules to follow" if it wants to create a Lupus Automata OCs? I wanna create a self insert to hug yours!

UMMMM UHHH I’d say go crazy!!! The story takes place 1000 years in the future during the era of interspace life and travel being a normal thing, and while there are Established alien species and worlds I don’t see an issue with making your own haha

[takiisieju]

The Interspace (IRV Leviathan world) species assignment quiz

If you do it for your OC, tag me and give me references, I can re-design your OC for the verse. No idea why anybody'd want that, but I can do it. Need to practice drawing these anyways.

Don't be upset if the result says you're Terran, that means you're winning at being a human.

taglist: @roofgeese @icecutioner @theelderhazelnut @spacestephh @vivilovespink

@chewbokachoi

(I won't do infodumps for this world for a while, but I can tell you more if you ask/dm me)

[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

[thereluctantinquisitor]

I Dub Thee, “Lucky”

A little not-surprise for the lovely @laskulls, featuring the wonderful Mahalen Lavellan and my OC Darren Miller! 

In which Darren arrives at Haven as a fresh recruit and has no idea the young elf he is speaking to is the Herald of Andraste himself... (Approx 3000 words, most under the cut) <3

“You wait right here, boy. Don’t go wandering off, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

Darren snapped into an awkward salute that earned him a tired roll of the eyes from Talden. The grizzled recruitment officer did not waste any time on further words as he shook his head and stalked through the main gate of Haven, his silver armour catching the light of the midday sun and flashing brightly beneath its touch. The town itself was small, barely home to two-dozen houses, but already Darren could clearly see that it served a higher purpose. Soldiers milled about, jostling past one another in their haste. Many rushed towards the stables, where the metallic ringing of hammer and anvil signalled the presence of a smithy, however makeshift and undermanned. Other uniformed men and women peeled off in the opposite direction towards rows of pitched tents, interspaced with training dummies and archery targets, not a single one unoccupied.

Darren stood between the two hives of activity and tried his best not to look completely out of place. In his ruddy clothing and well-worn boots, he probably would have fit in far more comfortably among the refugees than the soldiers. He shifted uneasily, silently hoping that Talden, as miserable and grumpy as he was, would come back soon and point him in some kind of direction. Already he was drawing absent attention from the busy recruits, their arms laden with either weapons or sacks of food to be moved behind the tall stone walls of Haven. None of them said anything to him, but a part of Darren couldn’t help but feel judged. Sized up. Most of them looked so much older than him; so much more experienced. They handled swords and daggers with the same care a child showed to a willow switch, while just the thought of sharpened steel in his hands left Darren in a nervous sweat. 

What am I doing? he thought for what felt like the hundredth time that day alone. Claire was right. I can’t do this. I shouldn’t be here. I…

A figure shifted by the large outer wall, standing in the shadow of what appeared to be a tall nug statue seated on a stone pedestal. Darren hadn’t noticed the person before, but was surprised to find he looked… well… young. Possibly even as young as Darren himself. Swallowing, Darren glanced back towards the main gate, however saw no sign of Talden’s return. Odds were he would hear the man grunting and grumbling in his miserly fashion well before he saw him, anyway. So, heart fluttering about like a drunk bird, Darren swallowed and began to move towards the young man. He’d barely taken two paces in the appropriate direction before the stranger’s bright eyes flicked up, flashing with first surprise, then uncertainty, as they came to rest on him.

The young man wasn’t tall, but then again, neither was Darren. Leaning against the cool stone of Haven’s wall, his red hair stood out impressively against the grey backdrop, and as Darren got closer he noticed that delicate lines spread like branches across his face, framing his eyes and unfurling upon his forehead. It was at that precise moment that Darren also saw the shape of his ears and blinked in surprise, pulling up short. He hadn’t really seen any elves before, and there he was, faced with one not even a minute after arriving at Haven. Then again, Darren supposed he’d also never really seen any dwarves or Qunari either, or even anyone more than a few day’s ride from his hometown, so that wasn’t really saying much. He’d never considered himself sheltered before, but that was probably because he’d never really known anything different.

Aware that he was being eyed with a degree of wariness, Darren stopped his approach and reached up, running a hand anxiously through his own mess of blonde hair, hoping to casually smother it into a decent shape beneath the palm of his hand.

“Uh… hi there,” he said, flashing what he hoped was a friendly smile. The elven man regarded him quietly for a long moment, which of course prompted an already nervous Darren to prattle on. “I-I just got here – I’m a new recruit – so I figured I’d come and say hello. Everyone seems so busy but then I saw… w-well, I mean, I’m sure you’re busy too, of course! I wasn’t trying to… uh…”

Horrified, Darren trailed off, his cheeks replaced by what felt like a pair of hot coals burning on either side of his face. In that moment he knew that whatever he had hoped to gain from approaching the only person who seemed remotely friendly had just gone fluttering out the window along. Groaning softly, Darren slid his hand from his hair down to his face and shook his head in dismay. Great. This is just… great.

“Sorry...”

“It’s all right.”

Darren, startled, looked up from where he had hidden behind his hand. It was with no small measure of relief that he discovered the elven man he thought he had insulted was, in fact, smiling. Just a little bit, as though he had measured the exact amount needed to set Darren’s mind at ease and found it wouldn’t take much. A little less tight-chested, Darren released a breathy laugh and slipped back into his usual boyish grin.

“Ah, I’m a little out of my depth here, aren’t I? What I meant was that I saw someone else who looked about my age and figured it would be polite to introduce myself. If you’re not busy, that is.”

The elven man, clearly curious, nodded. A beat of silence followed, and Darren’s smile slowly grew more awkward the longer he held it. The elf continued to lean against the wall, eying him with a kind of mute expectation. Eventually, a bemused expression coaxed one of his brows into an arch and he cocked his head to the side.

“… I thought you were going to introduce yourself?”

Heat rushed back to Darren’s face. “O-Oh, right, sure! I’m Darren.” He wiped his palms hastily on his tunic and took a hurried step forward, offering an apologetic smile along with his extended hand. “Darren Miller. From Glendess. Not that you would’ve heard of it or anything. It’s a pretty small place, I mean.” He punctuated the sentence with a self-deprecating laugh, quietly praying to whoever would listen that he hadn’t managed to ramble his way straight back into humiliation. Fortunately, the elven man seemed to relax a little, that bright-eyed stare softening until it was no longer cut as sharply as a gemstone set for a crown.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Mahalen Lavellan, from… well, somewhere you’ve probably never heard of either, actually. The rest of my clan is up north in the Free Marches.” He reached out and accepted Darren’s hand with a firm grip. They shook and Darren did his best to not look too surprised.

“Wow. You’re all the way from the Free Marches?” he repeated in awe. “That’s a long way, isn’t it? I mean, to come down here to Haven. That must have been a big trip.”

Mahalen made a soft sound that was more a huff than a laugh, as though Darren had told a subtly humorous joke. “Yeah, you could say it was. I didn’t really expect, well…” He released Darren’s hand and gestured vaguely to their surroundings, taking in the smithy, the soldiers, the refugees, and Haven itself. “… this. So I guess we’re both a little surprised, huh? I just had a head start.”

Grinning, Darren felt a small piece of his earlier tension melt away. Just speaking to someone – anyone – made it all feel a little more… well, real. “It’s sure nice to know I’m not the only one feeling a bit overwhelmed! So, have you been here for a while, or…?”

“Well when the Conclave… you know… I’ve been here since then.” Mahalen paused, then continued. “Unless you mean right here, standing behind this statue. In which case ah, less time. Maybe half an hour.”

They both shared a small laugh, and Darren reached out to place a hand on the statue, its golden surface smooth beneath his touch. “A bit of a funny thing to have though, isn’t it? It’s not really what I expected. The Inquisition just sounds so official and scary, but then there’s this big old nug statue out the front.” He grinned and glanced across, happy to see that Mahalen had found his own smile and was shining it up towards the tall statue in agreement. He looked so much lighter when he smiled, like the world wasn’t cracked and bleeding somewhere above their heads.

Not many people smiled anymore.

“Hmm… he needs a name, I think,” Mahalen said, eyes sweeping the length of the statue then flicking across to catch Darren’s. “Any ideas?”

“A name, huh…” Tapping his pursed lips with his finger, Darren paced around and regarded the statue from its front. The nug was positioned on its hind legs, one of its front paws raised as though waving to a distant friend. With a snort, Darren reached out and touched his palm to it, letting his hand linger there. “I’m not sure, honestly. Why do you think it’s posed like this? I mean, it doesn’t really make much sense, does it? Do nugs stand up like that?”

“I don’t think so,” Mahalen confessed as he came out from his little sanctuary and rounded to the front of the statue. He seemed less comfortable out in the open with all the soldiers constantly flowing past, but now they moved around the pair at a respectable distance that Darren certainly hadn’t enjoyed when he had been standing alone. “Maybe you’re meant to touch it like you did,” Mahalen continued thoughtfully, reaching out for himself to repeat Darren’s gesture, “for luck or something?”

Darren nodded thoughtfully, eying where Mahalen’s hand rested against the golden nug’s. Then, without warning, an idea struck him so quickly that he actually gasped.

“Lucky!”

Mahalen blinked in surprise, taking a cautious half-step back as Darren turned to him eagerly for his opinion. “What?”

“You said that maybe you touch its hand for luck, right?” Darren explained with the rapid excitement of a child hurrying to the punchline of a joke. “So… it’s lucky! Get it? Lucky.”

It took Mahalen a few moments to absorb what Darren was saying, but it was less because he didn’t understand and more because of Darren’s sudden and explosive enthusiasm rendering him speechless. But, after only a few short beats, Mahalen cocked his head and smiled, eyes sparkling as he rose onto his toes to touch the nug statue atop its head.

“Very well, then!” He declared, then cleared his throat solemnly. “I dub thee… Lucky. First of his name. May he serve the Inquisition well in the coming days!”

Laughing brightly, Darren offered the statue a mock bow, then straightened quickly, cheeks flushing as he glanced around, clearly forgetting the fact that he was in the midst of armed, stern troops. Thankfully, no one seemed to take much interest in him, although he did notice a few lingering gazes on Mahalen’s back as he stepped away from the statue, his smile still present but softening into something more private than before, like he was entertaining a new thought that had wandered to the forefront of his mind. There was something almost peaceful about the expression, and it left Darren feeling oddly satisfied. Unwilling to ruin the moment, he waited patiently until Mahalen blinked and returned to the present.

“I suppose that was my first official act,” he murmured with a quiet chuckle. “I think it was worthy enough, don’t you?”

Darren gave a wavering smile, a small flicker of confusion dancing across his face, but nodded regardless, happy to just have found someone willing to speak to him. Before the silence could stretch into awkwardness, he cleared his throat.

“So uh… are you a recruit too, then? A soldier?”

Mahalen’s stared at him for a moment, then his features slackened slightly in disbelief. He turned to face Darren fully, eyebrows raised. “Wait… you mean you don’t—?”

“—Herald! T… There you are!”

The interruption startled both Darren and Mahalen as a scout came rushing from the main gate, puffing in deep, billowing heaves. He was softer around the edges than most, and clearly not accustomed to racing up and down Haven’s many slopes and steps. He scuttled to a halt then doubled forward, sweat dripping down his nose and onto the dirt in steady beads.

“Is something wrong?” Mahalen asked, alarmed as he turned away from Darren to face the scout. Still catching his breath, the man started to nod rapidly, then seemed to think better of it and shook his head with equal vigor. When Mahalen spoke again Darren swore he could hear the bemused frown on his face. “Well then... what’s the matter?”

“Herald… the S-Seeker… she… oh Andraste’s… mercy…” As the scout continued to try and huff out his message, the world around Darren seemed to slowly slip out of clarity, growing muffled as though he had plunged his head into a barrel of water.

H… Herald?

Darren stared dumbly at the back of Mahalen’s head as the scout slowly delivered something about mages and Templars and the advisors waiting on a decision. Realisation swept over him and his jaw fell slack like an unhinged door. When Mahalen finally turned back to face him, Darren immediately bristled, his spine shooting straight as an arrow as he snapped to attention.

“H-Herald! I mean, Y-Your Worship! I’m so sorry, I didn’t…!” he broke off, mind racing. He should do something - something official? Bow? Salute? Which one? His mind, rattled by the sudden realisation that he had wasted the Herald of Andraste’s time naming a nug statue, somehow managed to combine the two, and Darren performed an awkward half-bow-half-salute reminiscent of a woodpecker head-butting a tree. He cringed in horror as he straightened from the disastrous mess his panic had created then left him with. “I apologise, really! If I’d know, I wouldn’t have—”

“It’s all right,” Mahalen said quickly, raising his hands, seeming almost alarmed by Darren’s… well… alarm. “Really, it’s okay. I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you!”

“Of course, sir—Y-Your Worship!” Darren corrected himself hastily then bowed again, this time properly, right hand palm-down against his chest. He stayed that way for Maker knows how long, tipped forward with a nervous sweat gathering on his brow, until he heard the sound of twin footsteps recede into the low hum of activity that constantly filled Haven’s streets. Slowly, almost timidly, he straightened again...

… and saw old Talden standing right before him, fixing him with a flat, steady look. His greying brows were drawn so low and tight above his eyes that it cast them in a menacing shadow. The expression alone left Darren’s knees trembling like autumn leaves and he snapped from his stooped bow to attention fast enough to give himself whiplash.

“T-Talden, sir!”

“What did I say, boy?” Talden demanded through clenched teeth, the tightness of his tone causing Darren to wince. “Don’t. Move. So either you’ve got shit in your ears, or you’re as dumb as you look.”

Nearby, some of the bustling soldiers and recruits paused to enjoy the spectacle, clearly pleased to not be the focus of the older man’s ire. A low snigger rose up from some of them, while others just looked on with an air of amused pity. In that precise moment, Darren wished he could sink into the stone and vanish.

“N-No, sir! I’m sorry, sir, I just—”

“Didn’t ask for an excuse, now did I?” Talden interrupted with a sharp jerk of his hand, as if to quite literally cut Darren off. Then he frowned, his grey gaze flicking across to the nug statue then back to the now fully shaking Darren who could already feel the traitorous sting of tears building behind his eyes. Don’t do it, he repeated in his head frantically, trying to distract himself with small things like the detailing on Talden’s lapel. Please, Maker, don’t cry. Not here. Not in front of…

“You like the statue, boy?”

The way Talden asked the question made it seem so offhanded. So innocent. Darren immediately felt a wash of dread claim him like the grasping waters of the sea, pulling him under with a sharp jerk. He gulped, terrified, then nodded. What else could he do?

“Well… good.” Talden took a step closer and loomed over Darren. A slow, thin smile spread across his face like it had been slit by an invisible knife. “Because you’re going to be cleaning every speck of dust and bird shit off it all afternoon as punishment for failing to follow your first and only set of bloody orders.”

Darren’s reply was little more than a squeaked yes sir, but Talden seemed satisfied with the degree of fear he had struck deep within the core of Darren’s soul. He nodded once and stepped back, then paused. Suddenly, like an owl locking on to a scuttling mouse, his head snapped to the side and the small crowd of uniformed men and woman gathered there dispersed like ants before a falling boot, scampering off in all directions. Talden sighed gruffly then glanced back towards Darren, who was still holding his stiff, knee-knocking salute. Clearly too tired to admonish him further, Talden just shook his head.

“Come on then. You’re off to see the Commander first.” He paused, then grunted, turning away. Darren only just caught the words he muttered next, and they left a painful knot in his gut, heavy as a stone.

“Maker help you, boy. You’re going to need it.”

[obsidianmute]

It’s 2am and I realized I never talk about any of my fan characters/ocs from over the years. So here they are, put into context by their potential Onion headlines:

Ruamee Makara: Purple troll girl uses rage and gymnastics to succeed at whatever life throws her Luci: Will-o-the-wisp crossbreed sent to boarding school after eating entire village is kicked out of school for dating teacher Mariah Ocenta/ Octux: Timeline-jumping alien god tries to settle down with musician boyfriend, Annoying family and succubus tendencies have other plans Zephryna: Flaming snake lady cut in half after teaming up with potential boy band to spite father Ayame Ikeda: Woman's bubbly personality a striking contrast to her association with swords and poison Umeki Ijiri: Ninja woman makes the most of abduction, Learns to melt metal with her mind Mina Kazunari: Sleep deprived stagehand discovers her inner psyche is a violent anime girl 54RA "Sara" Togi: Mutant teen with literal hawk eyes finds love only after the world ends Susie: Bird girl's insecurities eventually cause her to develop superpowers __undecided__:Preteen bit by zombie, Survives and gains telepathy Cherelle Myung Sook: Death obsessed highschool student creates hit list to take down uncle after being possessed by metaverse god Noctura Nyx/ Tyto Albus: Orphan woman gets betrayed by immortal daemoness, Decides to switch sides after burning in hell _undecided_: Unaware goddess incarnate dies twice of aneurysm in pursuit of horses and friendship _undecided__: Local girl makes pact with sins Pokemon style only to start national war in attempt to kill parents' murderer 

Calico: Universal constant takes form of many girls with mood ring eyes

Jade Shiba: Dog girl insists she’s much more interested in playing video games than wielding railgun chainsaw

Janika Tranvalta: Space marine forgets training when confronted with hot alien trying to survive a hostile planet

Rose- Smiling girl refuses to go home, Kills father to prove it

Saint 12: Vulgar man commits violent acts to gain mute girl’s approval

Ottfried Vogt: Soldier struggling with long hair and inner silence takes up smoking to ignore Fascists

Roygas: Three eyed wolf tries to escape reincarnation, Ends up at bottom of candy volcano

Rebecca Heeley: Girl unintentionally starts school-wide social reform and finds best friends after refusing to remove hat

Void knight: Ex-cultist defects after gaining interspace powers, Chooses to pursue god and an asexual relationship

Sami Anavrin: Aspiring technologist with ties to local gangs becomes involved with solving the occult after dating crow boy __undecided_: Blood bending lesbian has child with straight man to be closer to straight best friend bearing prince's child Constantina Apocaria: Girl becomes child soldier possessed by crystal obsessed cross-dressing alien after fatal wound to the head Amelia: Princess escapes afterlife in dead of winter only to turn into tree "Flying" Zulia: Acrobat descends into the big bad danger pit while covered in rope in the name of science Shinini: Chibi grim reaper alien discovers she’s not that big into genocidic invasion

Dr. Bones- Skeleton man’s constant womanizing drives swamp fire wife to set house ablaze