#iwatex noctilucent

[ppenguinpperson]

[kitthenameless]

Did someone ask for fanart of Vace x Noctilucent? No? Just me? Well, too bad, I drew some, and I'm making it everyone else's problem because that's what they would do 😈

I have no explanation for why I went so hard on this of all drawings, but no regrets. This is simultaneously the best and worst thing I've ever drawn. This is a masterpiece and a curse.

Also, I just need everyone to know I listened to "Baby One More Time" a lot while making this. It came on while I was working and had the perfect vibes. Do with that info what you will.

A close-up, another version with slightly different lighting that prob no one can see but me because I can't decide, and the original sketch.

[barttrvk]

im here to say it. not enough noctilucent fuckers out here guys. must i do everything myself

[alienglowgarden]

[Text Transcript: "Big brother, // yesterday I had a dream // that everything changed. // The sky was the color of blood, // and everywhere I looked, // I could not see a single sight // I recognized, // Including this body."]

[kingtepui]

can it be said how much i love the implications made if sol fails any of the glow 19 negotiations for peace? because i love this exchange.

a couple things:

- noctilucent LIKES a human?? and admits to it even if dys doesn't become a gardener??? ig all it takes is knowing a shit ton about vertumna and also having immovable beliefs that subscribe neatly with noctilucent's in almost every way. interesting that noctilucent characterizes dys as sad- do they like that about dys too, or was it just what stuck out to them most?

- this confirms rhett's accusations; sym and noctilucent were going after children, they were using them to infiltrate humanity, and they were trying to "turn" them

- i say this also adds credence to any theory about dys giving noctilucent data drives too (how did they learn esperanto so fast?)

- the "little spy" thing is probably referring to the data drives sol gave sym. let's give sym the benefit of the doubt and say the request was innocent. maybe sym was just trying to "turn" sol into a peacemaker, buuut.. it does make sym's offer to become a gardener more sinister. because when you really think about it

- one of the only ways the colony is defeated after arriving on vertumna (barring 'colony destroyed' & maybe if the ships arrive) is if sol joins the gardeners. dys joining the gardeners bears no relevance to if the colony is destroyed, but with sol's combined intel "any plans [the colonists] had for combating the Gardeners were quickly stomped out". it's hard to believe sym didn't know this would happen—what else is going to happen if the only human the gardeners ever communicated with about peace joins their side? surely not peace

- ik this sounds very critical of sym and while i do think hes less wholesome than he wants to be, there is a certain innocence in that he can only act in service to what he was made for. but the parts of sym that are for himself, he uses to love humanity and vertumna, sol and dys

then there's the whole sym-getting-permanently-reassimilated-into-the-gardeners-consciousness thing. i can't even begin to unpack that

[catchitori]

Little guy…..just a lil guy

[theloverboy27]

Bro Orpheus and Eurydice I was a Teenage Exocolonist au… Sol as Orpheus and Dys as Eurydice…

Keeping the time loop theme as well and Sol never being able to stop themself from turning around…

[asbestieos]

i think all the time about Sym and Dys like the AI-construct alien who loves humanity so much but is bound by his system’s desires, and the human who absolutely despises himself and his species but would do anything to become part of Sym, one of the Gardeners…….

[restlessreveries]

It's still a little bit funny to me how, even though the Iwatex fandom celebrates diversity, pretty much everyone seems to forget that the game only ever refers to Noctilucent as "they" or "them" and goes with standard male pronouns for them instead.

Though granted I doubt Nocti would care very much. If anything I reckon that their response to a human asking about their pronouns would be "whatever upsets you the most".

[neuro-stasis]

re: that post about how Sym should a Tumblr sexyman

i actually believe that if iwatex got more popular Sym wouldn't be the one to get the sexyman title

it would be Noctilucent

i mean i can already picture people drawing them as a sharp-dressed man in a tux, they're basically halfway there already

[nordictwin]

talk to me about your iwatex headcanons and your big brain au i am b e g g i n g

My friend, I would love to.

General headcanons:

I know it's a commonly used pattern on clothing in the game, but I headcanon that teen!Sol adds that little diamond-shaped pattern to their clothes, because they want to match with Flulu as they grow. Because this is a "Flulu and Sol love each other very much" corner of the fandom.

If Noctilucent was less genocidal, they'd be the reluctant supervisor of all the kids, whenever they venture outside the colony. They'd be Tang's favorite Gardener, and they'd help her realize that Instance probably isn't the best role model.

This may as well be canon, but Utopia is up there with Kom in being loved by the kids - no matter the time-line or universe. They think she's the coolest. (Nem had a little crush on her, once upon a time).

The Overseer, while duty-bound to follow their instructions, is actually bored with the status quo of things. If the humans can learn to co-exist on Vertumna and repeat their past mistakes, then they're actually delighted to see new, intelligent life on the planet. I feel like a lot of those little "Sol vibes with nature" moments in the game? That's the Overseer joining them, feeling their connection to the Wormhole.

Sol and Dys are the Overseer's favorite children, no matter their choices. They don't know, but they've got a god-like grandparent following their every step on the planet.

This is related to another AU I have, and not so much a headcanon as it is canon to that AU, which I've called the Solution AU, where Sol and the Overseer do some ✨✨ space magic ✨✨ and send Sol's soul back to before the Convergent Domain and make Sol a part of Vertumna itself in preparation for the Statros and Helios to arrive, but: in that universe, where there's no Sol among the Stratos, Flulu and Geranium adopt Tang and Dys, and because Flulu isn't afraid of calling Instance out on her unhealthier mindset and the like, they end up as happier children and more open-minded.

Okay, Everyone Knows AU lore time:

Because Tang is already aware that Instance, though having good intentions, is in fact not a Good Person. This means she's also a lot more critical of Instance's methods. This results in Instance gaining herself a tiny rival - annoying at best, when Tang is still pint-sized, but much more of a threat to her position when she's grown and learned more from the Gardeners. There's mutual respect between them, and Instance is proud as a teacher, but a part of her also despises having a child, of all people, question and counter her every move.

Let's talk Governor Eudicot. Eudicot knows there's something up with the kids. She doesn't know what, but she knows there's something with them. All the adults do, but most chalk it up to trauma from the crash or an extreme reaction to suddenly being planet-side. She's particularly baffled by the almost complete 180 from Marz, but... she can't say she isn't pleased with it. I dare say Marz ends up as an unexpected favorite amongst the children, right alongside helpful and cheerful Sol.

As stated numerous times before, Sol is living their best life. Just always so happy and relaxed, it'd driven Vace up the wall, if he hadn't also changed. It's to the point where the Helios think their augment is just "always being happy". Nope, they have Calm Temperament (because that's my favorite augment for them). They just suddenly have nothing to stress about, and their friends are just getting along so much better now? Wow!

Truth is, of course Sol can tell something is up, much like Eudicot. They're a little oblivious, but not stupid. Noct has never been around like this before, Sym is always on the verge of collapsing from laughter, and Vace hasn't broken Rex's arm. They know that for this many things to change, something seriously big must've happened while they were out cold. But at this point... who can blame them for not wanting to question anything? This time around, Sol can get to be a child and grow at their own pace. Nap in the sun, goof off in class, roll in the dirt and all the things they haven't got to do in a long, long time.

As stated before, but even more so for this AU, the Overseer loves Sol to pieces. Truly grandpa's favorite little star child.

[barttrvk]

WHY DID VACE GET TO CUT OFF NOCTILUCENT'S HEAD. THIS DOESNT HELP FEED INTO MY HOMOEROTIC FANATSY

[restlessreveries]

Alright. Disconnect the Array path without meeting Sym.

I’m never doing this again.

Because when you do meet him, it’s so damn heartwrenching.

Lots of screenshots from the second fight with Noctilucent in the swamp, spoilers for this path obviously.

After this point the path continues much like it usually does. There might be a slight variation in the dialogue options with Sym at the very end but it’s been s long since I did my first run of this path that I couldn’t tell.

Also I want to fucking strangle Vace. YOU ABSOLUTE DUMBFUCK, CAN YOU NOT INTERRUPT? THIS IS KIND OF IMPORTANT STUFF!

Gonna have to treat myself to a particularly wholesome Peace on Vertumna path after this...

[cannot-kill-the-sun]

Hello yes i also have a lot of thoughts about this and the very not cold war Dys is living in

Regardless of how early Sol meets Sym, including "no just take me to your leader" past life jumps, Dys knows about the Gardeners before Sol tells him about Sym. Theres also the fact that the colony is busy enough they don't noice Sol and Dys camping out at age <13 when they've snuck out, weren't planning on staying overnight, and at the very least Sol has parents that are physically present/alive (while busy trying to get food set up... but also like... your child???). Things slip through the cracks and its very clear that Dys in particular slips through the cracks even before landing on the planet.

Its also very easy as a player to want to side with the Gardeners? Because the player knows the real world history of colonisation and is likely going to think "yeah the sentient sapient indigenous life should get priority/preference over the humans that Just Showed Up". Because of that, and how the game introduces Sym, its easy to miss that Lum was factually correct. The planet is actively at war with humanity. Gloom and the Shimmer and the destruction of specific buildings (geoponics, engineering, command) are not a series of accidents but the planned calculated destruction of the most important buildings.

And Dys likes exporing. Has no fear and will happily go into forbidden areas with Sol if Sol is brave enough. Dys could very well be feeding that information to the Gardeners because he's an incredibly isolated teenager - he doesn't have anyone else to talk to but here are real aliens who really care what he thinks and believe he's good for something, he's useful. We know Dys has a hobby of snagged broken tech and trying to fix it (the radio jumps to mind) so intentionally getting data drives isn't a big leap. Also from the radio scene its very clear that Dys wants to believe in something, is trying to find a place and a purpose in a colony that doesn't seem to know what to do with him. That is the psychological jackpot for following a dangerous rabbit hole that says "yes you get to have secret knowledge (aliens are real) if you just help us do..."

But being useful means keeping more secrets and being more isolated, and the Gardeners being the people he trusts first. See also how anti-telling Utopia/adults about the Gardeners spy/observation capabilities Dys is.

And thats also why Dys becoming a Gardener pre-Y10 doesn't affect the survival of the colony they way Dys+Sol being Gardener does. As an isolated teenager Dys was able to provide information on structures the make up of the colony but is missing the social/political details that Sol gets just because Sol isn't isolated. I also think its really telling that Gardener!Dys doesn't visit the colony in any epilogue unless he also became a Gardener in the epilogue? Sol is the one to check in on the colony if they both become Gardeners.

I also have thoughts about how setting Noctilucent up as the extremest-anti-human and Sym as the moderate-pro-human means that there is more opportunity to push Dys and Sol into doing things. Its very striking to me that Noctilucent is the one who tells Dys to set the bomb is he wants to be a Gardener, but its Sym that comforts Dys in the aftermath and is the one who actually makes Dys(/and Sol) a Gardener.

can it be said how much i love the implications made if sol fails any of the glow 19 negotiations for peace? because i love this exchange.

a couple things:

- noctilucent LIKES a human?? and admits to it even if dys doesn't become a gardener??? ig all it takes is knowing a shit ton about vertumna and also having immovable beliefs that subscribe neatly with noctilucent's in almost every way. interesting that noctilucent characterizes dys as sad- do they like that about dys too, or was it just what stuck out to them most?

- this confirms rhett's accusations; sym and noctilucent were going after children, they were using them to infiltrate humanity, and they were trying to "turn" them

- i say this also adds credence to any theory about dys giving noctilucent data drives too (how did they learn esperanto so fast?)

- the "little spy" thing is probably referring to the data drives sol gave sym. let's give sym the benefit of the doubt and say the request was innocent. maybe sym was just trying to "turn" sol into a peacemaker, buuut.. it does make sym's offer to become a gardener more sinister. because when you really think about it

- one of the only ways the colony is defeated after arriving on vertumna (barring 'colony destroyed' & maybe if the ships arrive) is if sol joins the gardeners. dys joining the gardeners bears no relevance to if the colony is destroyed, but with sol's combined intel "any plans [the colonists] had for combating the Gardeners were quickly stomped out". it's hard to believe sym didn't know this would happen—what else is going to happen if the only human the gardeners ever communicated with about peace joins their side? surely not peace

- ik this sounds very critical of sym and while i do think hes less wholesome than he wants to be, there is a certain innocence in that he can only act in service to what he was made for. but the parts of sym that are for himself, he uses to love humanity and vertumna, sol and dys

then there's the whole sym-getting-permanently-reassimilated-into-the-gardeners-consciousness thing. i can't even begin to unpack that

[kitthenameless]

Yes! Making it make sense, I love this 😁

Weirdly, the more I think about this, the more it feels like a good thing? Because if Vace is dating a gardener, then he isn't going to go around killing all the native life. And if Noctilucent is dating a human, then he isn't going to go around killing all the humans. Obviously this would be the peace ending, so they're just sort of on the lookout for anyone or anything messing up the balance. And fostering good relations between humans and gardeners. And perhaps quelling their violent urges with each other in a more consensual way.

Of course, the real concern is, what happens if they break up? Does all of Vertumna go to war? Probably. Everyone in the colony is really invested in keeping these two happy together lol.

Did someone ask for fanart of Vace x Noctilucent? No? Just me? Well, too bad, I drew some, and I'm making it everyone else's problem because that's what they would do 😈

I have no explanation for why I went so hard on this of all drawings, but no regrets. This is simultaneously the best and worst thing I've ever drawn. This is a masterpiece and a curse.

Also, I just need everyone to know I listened to "Baby One More Time" a lot while making this. It came on while I was working and had the perfect vibes. Do with that info what you will.

A close-up, another version with slightly different lighting that prob no one can see but me because I can't decide, and the original sketch.