#might finally draw my OC for this AU at some point

[cinnamon-galaxies]

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐎𝐓𝐏 - 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

I’ve been shipping my OC Mara with Alastor ever since I joined the Hazbin fandom, and over time, their story has grown into a detailed lore.

There are two AUs where I ship them. The first is a Human AU, which covers their full story from life to afterlife. The second is a Hell AU, where they meet for the first time after their deaths. I mostly use the Hell AU for short stories and drabbles that often contradict each other. It's just for fun and doesn’t have lore as developed as the Human AU. Everything I post about this ship or my OC takes place in one of these two AUs.

Mara and Alastor first met while they were alive. Mara was a singer at a local jazz club in New Orleans, which drew the attention of Alastor, the city’s most popular and renowned radio host. Long story short, they fell in love, got "married"*, and after dying some time apart, both were dragged to Hell. They spent a long time searching for each other until they finally reunited. Not only defying the concept of ’Til death do us part’ but also to make their marriage finally officially on paper*, they remarried soon after and since then spend their afterlives together.

Mara and Alastor are both similar and completely different from each other, balancing each other out perfectly. You can imagine the shocked faces when Alastor introduced her to the other hotel residents. The Radio Demon? Married? To such a beautiful and kind woman? What sounds like a bad joke at first soon develops into a surprising dynamic, with Mara keeping Alastor at bay while she supports the Princess of Hell in her ambitious project. At the hotel, she finds a new home where she shares a space not only with her beloved husband (who's been away for seven long years) but also with a group of chaotic sinners who quickly take a special place in her heart.

Mara means a lot to me. She isn’t a self-insert, but she’s a multifaceted character with traits that might surprise you but that also reflect some of my own. May it be hobbies, personality traits, quirks or music taste...

Given how much her and Alastor’s story has evolved, I’m considering creating a long-fic that portrays their love story from life to death.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

*Due to Louisiana’s anti-miscegenation laws, interracial marriages were illegal until 1967, meaning couples faced severe legal and social consequences: criminal charges, fines, imprisonment, or forced annulments. The only way for a non-white person to avoid these discriminatory laws was to "pass as white," which besides having a "white" appearance, also means hiding their background to present a white public image. But I don’t want that for Alastor.

While we know little about his human life or appearance, I don’t want him to "pass as white", as it would erase the significance of his Creole heritage, reducing it to a convenient plot point without truly honoring his cultural identity. I don't want his identity as Creole to feel like an excuse to explain away a privileged existence, while still allowing him to draw on specific cultural ties. Instead, I like to imagine him with dark brown, wavy hair, brown eyes, and naturally tanned skin – especially since nothing is canon yet.

This means that Mara and Alastor, as an interracial couple, either had to marry out of state or informally within Alastor’s Creole community. But since these unions weren't recognized by Louisiana law, I refer to them as "married" rather than legally married. In Hell, they re-enacted their wedding not only to defy the standard of "til death do us part" but to finally make it official on paper. Even if that means exchanging rings a second time.

[mellybabbles]

If KOSA pases and tumblr explodes, I'll leave this here.

Thank you all. Seriously, I've managed to pick myself up, and finally become the person I want to be, because of you all. Mutuals, followers, or maybe just some random that popped by and thought "cool, have a like/reblog" You have all helped me recover and actually take that step into becoming a better person. I'm happy, and I can say that with full confidence. You've all given me an unfathomable amount of joy, and let me meet the love of my life, and people I thought I'd never be able to interact with. For my mutuals:

Thank you @italic-doing-random-shit for inadverately helping me take that first step into trying out tumblr properly again, instead of running away. Thank for you being an amazing friend and always being there for me. Thank you @largefound for giving me the pushes I need to get confident on my art, and branch out and try new things. Thank you for being one of the best friends I could've asked for. Thank you @tundra116 for being a mood booster every time I see soem crack fuckin post or ask in my inbox. You motivated me to keep going and give others the same joy you give me, even if for a split moment. Thank you @still-got-no-idea for fulling up my notifs and giving me a big smile every time you begin to like my posts. We don't talk much, but I'm glad we're mutuals. Thank you @panda-of-the-trash for motivating me to actually be creative with my ideas, and inspiring me to properly write. Thank you @godofautism for accidentally teaching me to be more aware of what those around me are feeling, and allowing me to take a step into treatment for my alexithymia. Thank you @systematic-err0r for being the mutual I always really wanted to get to know. You're always giving comments, reblogs and likes to the point the support can be mindbogling at times. Thank you @c00kietin for motivating me to give new people a chance, and to finally work on the relationships I have now. Thank you @phymarsh for giving me that first boost of excitement of an inspiration of mine following me and interacting with me. For giving me a smile every time I see you on my dash. Thank you @switchthedragon for always remaining strong, inspiring me to do so despite all the hate and threats I was receiving. Thank you @liliallowed for inspiring me to try new artstyles and finally figuring out the one I love the most. Thank you @inka-boi for being one of the biggest beams of light, helping me to learn how to sympathize again and love myself and others. For helping me to go back to my roots and mend what was broken. Thank you @juno-punk for inspiring me to make my own OC's and AU's, instead of locking myself up with shame in fear of what others would think if I made them. Thank you @mikerooksi @lust-sans-vios-rpaccount @wonkus-bonkus @doodlenovaa @killersansofficial @dustsansm1 for showing me back to the joys of interacting with new people and finding joy in it, instead of forcing myself into uncomfortable situations. Thank you @safwunnz for making me feel noticed and big in the grand scheme of everything. Allowing me, even if this might all be gone, to feel like I've made enough of an impact to reach out to artists that inspired of me in the first place. Thank you @elizakai for the first step in art. You're the reason I draw and enjoy it, allowing me to actually have something to do when I'm in a pit or rut of depression. Thank you @/swiftmitsu @/artpepkin for making my month by a simple button click. For all the smiles and laughs your art and animations have given me. The joy I once never got to experience. (Too nervous to ping) Thank you @ant1quarian for allowing me to read stories that actually make me feel like I'm there, and escape how horrible reality can be sometimes.

Thank you all for giving me the love and life I'd lost from being beat down. For those who weren't pinged, I was too nervous. Thank you all so much. For all my friends outside of tumblr that are mutuals on here, you all know how much I care for you and I'm happy to have you all in my life. Thank you for everything.

[ppenguinpperson]

cardiomyocytes and connective tissue @nopanamaman

I’ve wanted to do a fic like this for some time now, a ‘thank you’ letter to PAFL and its community of sorts. I’m happy I finally got around to writing it:) 

I wasn’t sure whether I should do this or not, but, hey! It might make someone feel a bit better!! Or, reading the fic will. That’s enough reason, I think, and you don’t have to read this, of course, no matter who you are.

First of all, I want to talk about PAFL a bit.

The first PAFL song I listened to was PiP. I saw its thumbnail when listening to some other music youtube, and so, I listened to it. Oh boy am I glad I did:) I remember thinking how cool it is that someone's making songs for their OCs and that people are interested in them. I could see so much love for the characters in it. I was so happy when I discovered there were more songs like that!! This was around when Comfort Zone had first come out, a week or two after at most. That was two years ago. I’ve been obsessed ever since.

I love PAFL. I genuinely love that songs haven’t been coming out much lately. Like, there’s media that comes out weekly and sucks shit. I’m glad Ferry is taking their time with this!!! Even if all we get each year is one song, that’s cool, because the community is wonderful and we also get doodles and art and now patreon stuff.. yippee yay… !!! And even if we didn’t. who the fuck caressss!!!!! I love coming up with AUs and OCs and theorizing with my friends!!! the time between songs gives us time to do all that:)

The characters are so charming. Every member of the cast has been a fave of mine at some point or another. They’re all so, real! I love them! I love how they fuck up and I love how they get fucked over and I love how they get exploded and killed and shot and hugged and saved and helped!!! They’re human… might not make sense, but i rlly do like them…

It’s so neat looking back at older songs and seeing how stuff’s changed. The art style, the music, it’s all so nice to look back on. Even if I wasn’t there for it.

And don’t even get me started on the worldbuilding..  Everyone say thank you to Boris Strugackij and Arkadij Strugackij for making roadside picnic and inspiring Ferry to make this… so lovely and neat. wonderful. I have not read it myself, but I might, just to be able to make my own pafl OCs more swagger..

So. This fic.

I can’t mention two years ago without at least mentioning my depression.

I can’t remember most of last year, speaking truthfully. Parts of 2021 are also fuzzy. Depression and anxiety are terrible, would not recommend. This feels cheesy to say, but it does get better!!! Slowly, unsteadily, it gets better!!! I don’t mean for this part of the post to be a ‘feel bad for me’ thing at all. Do not. I am safe and healthy now and I couldn’t be happier to be here right now.

Is life good now?? Sorta, but what matters to me right now is, I’m happy!!! It feels so surreal. I never thought I’d be like this. A part of me wants to be angry, to get depressed again about how I could have been happy all this time. But I won’t!!! Because then I’d spiral and forget another year, and, I don’t want that!

Which is so cool!!! I can like, fucking, do stuff now!! I can throw away the bad thoughts, embrace the good ones, encourage myself!!! I do things!!! I go outside and goddd dude that’s so good!! I go outside!!!

I’m doing stuff! I’m drawing, writing, cleaning my room, taking care of myself!!! If I didn’t stay alive to enjoy these small joys, what am I even here for?? 

And I’m alive!!! I’m here!!! I made it, I’m here, writing this on 10th november, 2023, and I’m ALIVE!!!! How cool is that??? 

And yea, the world is shitty, it sucks ass, but, my friends don’t!!!:3 and that’s more than enough for me… SHOUT OUT TO MY FRIENDS!!! I LOVE YOU DUDES!!!

Moving on:

It doesn’t feel right to say that I’m here now only to PAFL. But, what I can say is that it’s been a wonderful crutch for me!! It’s been something to focus on, something silly, but also something I can relate to, and something that inspires me to make my own stuff! I’d most likely still be here, were it not for these silly songs.. but, not sure I’d be as alive as I am now! Unsure if my heart would feel right in my chest! And I wouldn’t have met my amazing friends!!!! Everyone here is so nice.

Dima may be a bit OOC in this fic, and that's because! This fic is based on my own experiences, which, i don’t think is bad…

I could talk here forever about how it gets better. Butttt to be quite honest I don’t wanna lol. I just wanna say, Thank you! to Parties are for Losers, for being cool. 

(Though I also wanna say, don’t put Ferry on a pedestal, they’re human, we all make mistakes, all that stuff.)

Ok time to go back to my manly Sergei ways and never talk about emotions ever again. or as anya would say: FUCK IT WE BALL!!!!!

[aqua-the-smiter]

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦୨୧✦•······················•✦•······················•✦ ℑ𝔯𝔬𝔫 ℌ𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 Ferrus Manus x female oc (Argena Seeva) Other parts in the reblogs Ferrus, in a bid to one up his pain-in-the-ass brother Fulgrim, takes up drawing. Gets some reference help from his long suffering friend and senechal, Argena. Part of my AU I have cleverly called the Primarch Wife AU. Happy endings, the boys get the help they need, Big E is a good dad and, most importantly, everybody gets a wife. Because big husband and small wife makes brain go brr

Sexual content/NSFW after the cut - Very lewd-but-not-lewd touching, Ferrus jacking off to his future wife while trying to get work done, idiots in love. @thevoidscreams @pringles-plaguehaus ✦•······················•✦•······················•✦୨୧✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊ “Gena?” Ferrus asked, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. “I have a…strange favor to ask of you.” Argena put down the loop of silver she’d been polishing and turned around on her stool to face him as she heard him out. Throne, he even looked uncomfortable, and she wondered what exactly he needed that he was looking so hot under the collar. Ferrus Manus was many things, but wavering was not one of them. Actually he was kind of cute like that. She mentally slapped herself almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind. HE. IS. YOUR. BOSS. She’d been with him for over a year and half at this point. It felt like it should have been longer. Falling into the role of his senechal had been so easy after a while. Especially after they’d started spending more time simply enjoying each other’s company. He was a surprisingly layered man once he opened up enough to show it. And, she heavily suspected, a lonely one too. So they’d gotten close more easily than she would have first thought. It even showed in the way he addressed her. Gena, a more tender nickname than her given. “Does it have anything to do with your ongoing attempts to one up your brother?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It does, yes. Look, I can’t help it. Fulgrim has been driving me mad recently, so I want to pay him back in kind.” “I know, I know. And if you pull it off you’ll make him absolutely seethe.” “It” in question was Ferrus putting a serious effort into learning how to draw. He could already, but it was an entirely different kind. Technical drawings, machine blueprints, weapon schematics. Nothing really artistic, although it could be counted as a form of art in its own right if you asked her. Watching him work was hypnotic, the movement of the pencil or stylus in his metal hands impossibly graceful. Elegant even. But most people didn’t see it that way. Resident artsy fuck, Fulgrim, certainly didn’t. Constantly making little jabs and jokes at his best friend’s inability to produce anything else than purely practical drawings. Finally, Ferrus had enough and announced to her in private that he was going to produce a piece of actual art better than anything Fulgrim could do (and he wasn’t as good as everyone thought he was, including himself) out of pure brotherly spite. The early results were rough, but promising. Argena herself had quite a bit of skill, picked up from her goldsmithing hobby, and he’d come to her with practice sketches, rudimentary shapes and simple three dimensional objects. It took him a while, but he was definitely getting it. His talent for technical drawings was beginning to shine through with the clean linework. In short, it seemed he might actually do it. “That is the goal.” He said, just a little smug. “So what do you need me for, pray tell my lord?” She prompted. The Primarch seemed to steel himself for a moment. “Well…I feel I’m ready to move on to…organic materials now. I can only draw my own tools so much before I cease to learn any more from the exercise. I was going to ask if I could study you. Your anatomy, I mean.” And it already sounded like that would involve less clothes than she started with that day. “...Study my anatomy? How so? Moreover, why?”

“Feel up your body. Your muscles, skeletal structure, general build. How everything connects and moves together. I find that I learn best when I am up to the elbows in it so to speak, so being able to touch it would be the best thing. You are the only person I feel comfortable coming to with this. It is, ultimately, quite a petty thing I’m after. You have been very understanding of me. More than I thought would be possible.” Ferrus paused for a moment, wondering if what he had to say next was even a good idea before deciding he’d take that chance. “Also, you are objectively a very beautiful woman. Whatever someone’s personal tastes may be, nobody could look at you and deny it. And subjectively, I think you are a beautiful woman. For those reasons you’d make the best subject for what I’m trying to accomplish. If the goal of art is to create something pleasing to the eye, something that captures the beauty of the world and the enthusiasm of the creator in a still image, you would be a perfect basis. Not like the mess of colors and lines Fulgrim throws on his canvases.” He spoke so frankly. Ferrus was always a very no-nonsense type of person, but to have that direct, blunt nature used in such a glowing description of her was something else entirely. Because you knew for a fact when he said something, he meant it. It made her feel very warm inside. “And this is purely for research, right?” She asked tentatively. “Purely objective.” He swore. “And I won’t go any farther than you want or touch you anywhere you don’t want to be touched. I’ll fill in any gaps in my knowledge with an anatomy book. Just tell me where to stop, and I will.” Somehow a Primarch who’d grown up in the wilderness eating sand had a better concept of boundaries than many people. “Well...I trust you, so I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” She said after a moment, rubbing her upper arm. “I’m willing. Let’s do it.” He gave her one of his rare smiles (that seemed to be becoming less rare nowadays come to think of it), genuinely grateful. It made her feel more at ease with the agreement. Who knows, it might even be fun. ₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

[waywardsou2]

I just finished Arcane

SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

I have spent the last 20 minutes laying on my bed and visibly shaking and violently sobbing.

Did anyone else have a visceral and physical reaction to watching that finale?

I don't even know where to begin I'm kinda just writing whatever comes to my mind first (which is kinda hard because my hands are shaking)

That...I was all over the place whilst watching that ending. I mean I couldn't tell who was dead, who was alive. I couldn't even tell who the fuck was winning at some points.

I loved the alternate realities. The dramatic juxtaposition between the two realities and their original onces was insane.

Ekko's life with Jinx and them building the machine it took Jayce and Viktor fucking years to build and making it even better?! LIke how the fuck did they do that?!?1

And then...how Vi died in that universe and Jinx had a bit of her hair in her own Thor and Loki style was...it hurt my heart

AND FUCKING POWDER AND EKKO. My god everyone was winning with their ships today. I ship it so much I fucking love them

And then Jayce falling down that fucking ravine and then having to bUILD THE SAME FUCKING LEG BRACE VIKTOR HAD

LIKE CMON DO YOU WANT TO DIE OF HEART FAILURE?!?!?

I mean did he help Viktor make a new brace?! Or did he study the notes Viktor had on his own leg brace and commit them to memory? LIKE HOW IN THE NAME OF FUCK did he remember how to build that because it was almost exactly the same.

And then fucking climb out of that ravine and then all the way to the top of the academy

AND I FUCKING KNEW THAT MAGE GUY WAS VIKTOR FROM SEASON 1 I FUCKING KNEW IT

And everything made sense in the end. Like the writers did so well at tying up every important loose end. Every character had an answer of some sort and every plot point linked up again

They did so well

I want to marry the entire crew.

But the fact that Jayce kept fighting for Viktor. I hated how he smashed Viktor in episode 4 (and not in the way I would have liked, if you catch my drift)

But it made sense in the end.

And the fact that he saved Viktor, how gay could these two get seriously. Honestly if anyone want's to might me that Jayvik isn't canon come and get me. Because that is a confession if I have ever seen one and I will fucking fight anyone who agrees otherwise. You people are blind

SPEAKING OF SHIPS

FUCKING VI AND CAIT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. A WAR WAS ABOUT TO BREAK OUT AND THEY DECIDED TO FUCK?!?!?

I mean good for them I wasn't complaining. Finally, we got another amazing ship even more confirmed. Double confirmed even

(I am still shaking so fucking bad right now)

Literally everyone one here.

Viktor x Sky, Viktor x Jayce, Jayce x Mel, Ekko x Jinx, Vi x Cait, Vander x Felicia, Vander x Silco

Fucking everyone won here I would say. There is enough content for all of these ships to argue about them being canon in some capicty

Props to the fucking writers for how amazing this was

This was good fucking media

Strong female characters without making the male characters incopetend

LGBT representation for Lesbians, Trans people, Gay people, Bi people and gender non conforming people

Almost everyone won here

We got fantasy, sci-fi, redemption, good villains, villains you love to hate. Literally every character was hot. We got allies to lovers to enemies to lovers. We had so much fucking whump and angst

Literally everything was right there

Are you fucking kidding me

This was made by the people for the people

And the fight scenes and the art and the juxtapose of all the characters stories plus all of the overlapping similarities.

I just...I can't get over it. I am still. fucking. shaking.

I have so much to write and draw about now. I was working on an OC of mine and now I have so many one-shots I want to write. I almost don't want to do any canon divergence or AUs because it is so good with how it is. Honestly I think this is the only peice of media I have no descrepincies with.

I literally wouldn't change a thing

Despite having many characters gone I would like back. I just wouldn't change it

OMFG AND JINX'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (i ALMOST FORGOT) ARE YOU KIDDING ME. HER WHOLE ARC THROUGHOUT THE SERIES WAS AMAING!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'll probably make another post after this is if I think of anything else but for now this is it.

(If I make a pt 2 you can find it here)

[sherryrowen]

Update on Hoston (OC)!!

I’ve been working lately on my boy and made a couple of ref sheets for myself for the future. I’ll hit two birds with one stone here and give a little bit of background on who he is and what he does, so keep reading if you’re curious about him!

Here are the reference sheets (they’re still WIPs but I still wanted to share them anyway)

About the reference sheets:

Why I made two references sheets? Well the first one I made was in my regular art style; when I was almost done with the Lineart, I realized that I should have drawn him in a different art style in order for his backstory to make more sense (I’ll explain more in moment), I don’t see why I shouldn’t post it though, since there are some details in this ref sheet that aren’t seen in the other one, like his Mettaton-like arms, and his exposed voice box (more on that later).

The second reference sheet (which is his Official design and art style), is in a “cartoon” art style (which isn’t what I usually do btw), there are two reasons why I decided to go with this style, first: is backstory, you see, he is supposed to come from an AU that is based on cartoons and cartoon-logic, so it just makes sense that he would be cartoonist-looking. The second reason is that it makes him easier for me to draw him (since I have plans on drawing him quite a lot for a certain future project).

About Hoston:

He is a version of Spamton that escaped the Dark world by sending himself to the nearest unsuspecting “computer” that was the most likely to open his spam email, and it just so happened to be Mettaton. Spamton and Mettaton ended up sharing a body for the meantime while Alphys was building Spamton his own body, during that time Spamton learned a lot from Mettaton which made him reevaluate his life, to the point were he admired Mettaton, considered him a mentor, and even mentioned wanting to be a Show host like him, to which Mettaton laughed thinking he was joking.

About his body: he specifically requested Alphys for his face to have a long nose. Before he was transferred to his body he was sent to Alphys’ computer so she could help him fix his um… [spam moments](?), she was able to fix it to a certain extent, he still gets them from time to time especially and specifically when he gets “emotional”, example: when he gets really excited or very angry. When he was finally transferred to his new body and heard his voice, he HATED it, because, to him, it didn’t sounded like his old voice back in the Dark World; so he asked Alphys to change it multiple times, and some times when he thought he had found a voice that he liked after some time he’d end up hating that voice too; he does eventually finds one that he likes but Alphys decided to leave his neck without a cover plate, exposing his voice box, in case he changed his mind and came back for another voice box, that way she could change it faster; because of this he always covers his neck with a huge neckerchief, so in the case of him getting in a battle, the opponent doesn’t take away his voice, since that’s the most important thing to him.

So, things happen, and he eventually changes his name to Hoston and becomes the host of a show (I know, a terrible name, I did mention in my Meet the Artist that I was bad with names).

“What is his show?” You might ask? Well it’s the “Hoston Show”! (Again, I’m bad at names). What is his show about? Well, that we’ll see.

Does he have any powers or special abilities? He does! Because he comes from an AU with cartoon logic, he’s got any cartoon related powers you could think of, he’s got hammerspace, he can create things (like a stage for example) out of nothing, and he’s even got the delayed fall (though idk if he’d consider that an ability), he’s got more stuff but I can’t recall anything else rn, just think of the “Looney Tunes” and ‘Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner”, those pretty much the sums of what he can do.

Despite what you might think he doesn’t do much fighting and uses his abilities for the purposes that benefit his show, though if he’d feel threatened, he with no doubt will defend himself, but that usually depends entirely on if he puts himself in a vulnerable position, which rarely happens.

That’s all for now, here, as a bonus have some Hoston Doodles!

(I kinda feel a little dumb saying this but:) Hoston belongs to me.

[renae-the-turtle]

I saw your trolls au where Branch raises Coooer and I wanted to know.......could you please info dump on it??? I'm all ears! :3

OK first of all I'm sorry it took me so long to get to this, it's been literal months lol

I'd be happy to infodump about it, and I finally have time!!!

Putting it under the cut just in case this gets really long lol

So I got the idea for this AU because of a fanart I saw on pinterest. It seemed to be concept art for a Broppy au with the pairing trope of kindergarten teacher × single parent, with Poppy as the teacher, obviously, since that's canon, and Branch as the single parent. I couldn't tell who the kid under Branch's arm was, and assumed it was an OC (I later figured out it was probably Keith from the TV show).

But this made me think about how I would do such an AU, because I like to try and avoid using OCs in fanfiction, especially for any major role in the story. It's just more fun to think about which canon characters, no matter how minor, could fill the roles I need.

Anyway, somehow I came to the conclusion that I would take one of the main cast from the first movie and de-age them. At first I considered Biggie for some reason, but then I realized that Cooper already has a very childlike personality, so he's easier to imagine as a child... and then I recalled his backstory that was revealed in the second movie...

See, Cooper's egg fell from the sky and landed amongst the pop trolls, and I get the distinct impression that this was after the escape from the Troll Tree, both because of the forest-looking background in the flashback, and just sorta from the way Cooper tells the story. And since the first movie takes place on the twentieth anniversary of their escape from the Bergens, this means that Cooper is less than 20 years old, and is therefore a teenager in the first movie. Which honestly makes so much sense for how he acts.

I also headcanon that he as ADHD, though. With the way he frequently seems to space out and miss parts of conversations, or just doesn't follow along with what someone said, the way he makes weird connections between what's going on and something random... and he's pretty easily distracted... as someone who actually has ADHD, it seems pretty obvious once I thought to look for it! And I will be writing this headcanon into my comic.

I might as well get into the little bit of plot I've got for the movies, though it's just vague ideas, really.

For the first movie, I'm actually not certain what I'm gonna do... should Cooper be one of the ones taken or not? It would make Branch way more fired up to go get them back, and just generally more emotional and snappy throughout the whole thing, but on the other hand I've still gotta get through how actually raising Cooper changes Branch... like, technically the point of this is to force him to interact with Poppy more prior to canon events because she's Cooper's teacher lol. So idk about the first movie.

But the second one! Branch is either more or less paranoid and I'm not sure which is better lol, but he'll be a lot more prepared before leaving with Poppy on her impulsive quest, because he's gotta make sure his son is taken care of while he's gone. Cooper is only 5 and obviously isn't gonna come with them, that'd be stupid!!! ...unfortunately for Branch, Cooper listened in on the meeting, and snuck out of bed to follow his dad, heard him talking to Poppy, and since he both doesn't want his dad to leave him (trauma from the first movie????) and wants to find out where he came from... Cooper sneaks onto the balloon lol. Biggie might not even come with them, idk. Or maybe I'd have DJ Suki come with just cuz I like her and it's a shame she wasn't in the second and third movies. Idk.

Anyway this means I get to draw baby Prince D as well!!! Cooper doesn't get to the funk trolls before Branch and Poppy because he's traveling with them! The King and Queen haven't been searching for as long as in canon, and oooo boy there's gonna be drama lol. Because technically the funk trolls have a right to keep Cooper??? And Cooper isn't an adult or mostly-adult who can make his own decisions about where to live??? I mean, at the time, Cooper and D are just excited to meet each other. And there's a rock apocalypse to stop. And Cooper wasn't supposed to be along in the first place because this quest is no place for a small child.

Anyway yeah, the second movie is gonna be so fun to write with an adhd five year old along for the ride lol.

Third movie, Cooper might not even be in it, or he might take the place of Tiny, idk yet. I think I'm leaning more towards Cooper staying with the funk trolls for the duration of the movie events as some sort of split custody thing so Cooper can get to know his twin and bio parents??? But. This means that Bruce is not the only Brozone member to have become a dad during the split. ;3

And I think it'd be so funny if Branch and Poppy don't mention Cooper, or at least don't refer to him as Branch's son, until they get to Vacay Island, and Bruce mentions how becoming a father really changed him, and Branch can say something like, yeah, I know what you mean. And John Dory gets a double shock because what???? Spru– Bruce is a father??? And SO IS BRANCH???? WHAT??? Hahahahahaha!!!! It's gonna be hilarious >:3

Anyway, cue Branch and Bruce gushing over their kids, Branch showing photos of Cooper, someone asking if/implying that Cooper is Branch and Poppy's kid, the silly flustered denials because they may be dating but they are NOT ready to have that talk yet lol (it's an understandable assumption tho bc Poppy and Cooper are a similar shade of pink and Cooper does have that bright blue hair and at this point Branch and Poppy are obviously together so???)

OK so that was in fact a long rant as I expected, hope you enjoyed, and thanks for the ask!! I won't be working on the comic until after Christmas because it's gift-making time and I have. Two months. To make at least 6 presents. Aaahhh.

[frayed-symphony]

Once upon a time I had a Tales of Symphonia OC called Reimi.

It was the early noughties. I was a teenager obsessed with 2 things - Tales of Symphonia and Full Metal Alchemist. I had seen on my favourite website at the time; DeviantART, that people would sometimes self-insert themselves into their favourite shows/games and even though I'd thought about it before, I loved these two things so much I finally decided to do the same and 'Reimi' was born.

She was my ideal version of how I looked and because I was being bullied almost every day at school, the world of Symphonia in particular was a great comfort to me. Anytime I had a particularly bad day I started to draw Reimi.

I did have one real life friend, my best friend from primary school and we'd chat on the phone every night. I convinced her to play ToS with me and the two of us fell down this rabbit hole and I made her an OC too. We called her Beatrix and she was Reimi's older sister. It was your typical 'human girls fall into fantasy world and crush on their favourite character' story. I liked Lloyd and my friend liked Kratos. We would roleplay them together and write stories for each others birthdays and Christmases. It got me through the horrible things happening at school.

In time we started to make other characters. I decided I wanted Reimi to have a summon spirit - a polar bear called Meikai who could change between human and bear form. My friend had a similar 'devil' summon, Kainashi and I started to draw them as well. (Totally stole this from Sheena but it was very fun)

The final character we designed was Harvey - he was the only one we tried to give a canonical link to Symphonia. He was the Prince of the Tethe'allan royal family and Hilda's brother. The reason you never saw him in the game, we reasoned, was because he didn't want to be a Prince and left to travel the world in secret. He runs into our heroines and becomes a part of the group. I also wanted to write some love triangle stories at that point so he has a crush on Reimi.

For a long time these characters were my whole life. They filled my brain and I would always be thinking of stories for them. The ToS characters always factored into these stories but I was too embarrassed to draw them or have anything romantic happening and that might have been because of the backlash I saw a lot of self-insert authors get. I kept my stories mostly off the internet.

But I kept drawing them as the years went on, even designing bosses and creatures for them to fight, this was one such creature - 'Malcolm' the robot. One of Rodyle's machines.

In time life got in the way. My friend and I didn't get to speak as much so the drawing motivation started to fizzle out.

I still thought and cared about these characters but there was no fresh ideas forming for them. As I got older I started to have less time for them.

This is the last drawing I ever made of them and though you might still see me draw Reimi from time to time, its been years since I drew any of the others.

I did use them for animation practise on my University course though

So that's where we are today. I had a lot of AUs for Reimi. You may have seen this potion shop picture before, it's one of my favourite ideas where Reimi is living in the slums in Meltokio, working to keep her family's store open by selling potions. It even got a Daily Deviation on deviantART! I'm sure most people didn't know it was a self-insert drawing.

Another idea I liked was Reimi being the daughter of Kvar. She's grown up in the human ranches (though largely away from their brutality) and Lloyd's group visit is a wake-up call to her that what her father and Cruxis are doing may be wrong.

I came up with way too many stories to list here.. but uh... maybe I did draw some Reimi/Lloyd art occassionally...

and thats all you're gonna see!!

Anyway I just wanted to revisit these characters since I've been doing that with my books this month. Maybe you already knew about this, maybe you didn't!! It's just a fun look into my teenage self. I am trying to draw a new outfit for Reimi now, to see how much I've improved drawing her. I hope I can post it soon.

Thanks for reading!

[flamedraco]

Day 3 of Writing a Minecraft Diaries AU

I made an attempt to use lore forge to help me keep track of things but my brain recoiled so hard at information overload that I decided I'm going to stick to my tried and true method of just writing shit down in a notebook and hoping for the best. It'll help visualize family trees better if I can actually draw diagrams.

Finally finished the outline for the plot of season one, now it's just a matter of figuring out relevant information and outlining chapters, then starting to write them. Also most of the characters have been decided and their stand ins accounted for. So I'll include the cast list down below tho do be aware this could change later once I actually get around to the chapters. Again, if you don't recognize the names listed it's probably either a really obscure member of the DSMP lore, an OC, or a name I came up with for an obscure member of the lore.

If I'm going to do this I'll probably break up the seasons into their own books unless I manage to reduce season 1 down into fewer chapters. But I don't think that's going to happen since I'm already working on the outline for the seventh chapter and we haven't even gotten to the part where the werewolves are supposed to be involved. And I cut the werewolves out for fucks sake.

I'm still debating on if I even want to continue into season 2 or not. Diaries lore is massive and has a lot of moving parts, things set up in season 1 specifically for season 2 and things that I might need to remove or add. I have the plot summary but depending on what I decide to do regarding season 2 and the potential of another book...I guess that really depends on how the chapters are received and if my brain decides to stay DSMP hyperfocused for another year or so. Because if I'm trying to convert the ENTIRETY of Diaries into an AU that's probably going to be three multichapter books just on it's own and I'd probably rewrite the entirety of Season 3 since it was never finished and only had 37 episodes. This kind of project could take me an entire year, probably longer.

I do know that I want to try and do this first book tho. That's the only reason why I rewrote major plot points, have an overview, am creating chapter outlines, and have the series pulled up on my phone, two tabs of the wiki, and my doc open as I take notes with my notebook close by for if I need a new name for an OC.

There's a lot going into this planning right now. Converting Diaries into an AU is proving difficult. Especially with how certain characters change the plot and characters I'm having to cut out (if you see a certain handful of characters not mentioned I probably cut them out due to story changes). I've already had to rewrite a lot of things regarding the finale due to how I've changed the plot and the characters that are involved. Because keep in mind, just because these characters take on the role of another does not make them the same character. Wilbur is going to act as a completely different protagonist from Aphmau. Quackity is not the same type of person that Garroth is. Also if you don't see your favorite DSMP character mentioned, don't worry. There are places for them to show up if I continue into the next season with another book. And if they aren't here it's probably due to them not fitting into the roles that I needed. My choices aren't meant to offend anyone, they were made for the sake of the story and who I feel fits better where.

Take the cast list with a pinch of salt because this could always change later as I work on the chapters. And the lists themselves are taken directly from the Season 1 Character List from the Minecraft Diaries Wiki. If someone important isn't mentioned here than they'll probably still show up in the fic it's just for some reason they're missing from the Wiki. Unless I cut them. Because I did cut some characters. There's also the chance that the character mentioned in the list was NOT mentioned in the overview on the Wiki so they're a minor enough character for me to not have included them here due to not having a stand in yet. Some characters might also just be listed as unnamed because I feel like I might not mention their name.

Again: List is subject to change in the future.

ALSO: Relationships between characters may be changed due to the characters now standing in their place, for example: Kenmur and Emmalyn are a ship in Diaries, but I am not shipping Phil and Techno together in any form other than PLATONIC.

WARNING: Some characters in the cast list placement below may contain spoilers for both MC Diaries and, as such, the fic I am going to write, specifically in regards to the Shadow Knights section. Proceed at your own risk!

Cast List: MC Diaries Character Name - DSMP/OC Name

Phoenix Drop Aphmau - Wilbur Garroth - Quackity Laurence - Sapnap Nicole - Karl Emmalyn - Techno Lucinda - Hannah Brendan - Foolish Zoey - Nox Cadenza - Ena Kawaii~chan - Tina Donna - Tiffany Brian - Darius Kyle - Tristan Logan - Elderic Dale - Frankie Emma - Rosella Molly - Lydia Levin - Miriam Alexis - Alanna Zenix - Purpled Dante - Puffy

Scaleswind The Lord of Scaleswind - Unnamed Matilda - Lethia

O'khasis Zane - Dream Katelyn - Niki Jeffory - Ciaran Garte - Unamed

Bright Port Lord Burt - Lord Dawn Azura - Aliara Visher - Caradoc Paul - Johnson

Meteli Hayden - BadBoyHalo Kenmur - Phil

Wyverns Ungrth - Sgaeyl Raven - Crow

Shadow Knights Zenix - Purpled Gene - Schlatt Sasha - Samantha Vylad - Tommy Laurence - Sapnap

Other The Stranger/Aaron - Sally

If I missed someone there might be a reason for it, or I just missed them. Either way, this is the general cast you can expect to see in the book at some point or the other. Some of these are minor characters, some of them are major characters, and some are just side characters.

I think I might start work on the first chapter soon but I'll try to get more chapters outlined before I start working on the first. I want to try and get a picture in my mind of how many chapters this beast will have and how many things I can cut.

[the-commonplace-book]

I've been wanting to draw the masquerade scene from chapter 17 of @sasusquatch’s AU scaralumi fic Destined For More since reading it and finally had the time to (hopefully) do it justice.

That moment near the end when all the playful banter slips away and in its place is an apology a warning not to trust him. Right before shit hits the fan. I am in love with this chapter and plot beat. It's such a pivotal point in the story.

Venti was mentioned earlier to be by the refreshments table getting drunk, so by now he's on the refreshments table and sloshed. Extra poofy sleeves for the occasion and, of course, his delightful big ol' mage hat.

Zhongli is always dressed to the nines, so no special outfit for him. For Nahida I wanted to give her a special party dress while still taking inspiration from her normal outfit. The line about them dancing with her feet on his was so cute I couldn't not put in the background.

With Scaramouche, I ended up going with his Wanderer palette both for the color scheme and because he is an anemo mage. (and also because I know how to draw the hat and didn't want to learn how to draw the scaramouche hat haha). It's basically just his normal outfit but a bit more formal. While he wanted to wear his ordinary clothes, it's a royally hosted formal event so I doubt he could get away with it. So instead we have his normal outfit but with a slightly more formal shirt and a fancy belt.

I had the most fun with Lumine's dress, mask, and tiara. The descriptions of it in the previous chapter were so lovely I just had to draw it. She was looking very Abyss Sibling in this chapter and I'm living for it. I might draw Aether with his white, red, and gold getup later because that " brilliant gold cape that trailed behind him" would have some very fun shapes.

For this whole piece I wanted to experiment with doing a style that's just lines and flats, but like.. in an intentional way. Not in the "I did the flats and got lazy" way haha. Trying to stretch myself as an artist.

Anyway enjoy! If you haven't read this fic and you like scaralumi / wanderlumi I highly recommend!

(Also if anyone would like to commission me for art you can find my rates here. I draw illustrations, character designs, profile pictures, ocs, ship art, etc.)

[siiversans]

OwO‽ I don't believe it, you really answered me QwQ and I thought you didn't have much time, and you think I'm sweet? What a beautiful person you are. Q u e e m o c i o n ! ! Well, sorry if these questions are bothering you a bit, but I didn't leave them to you before because I didn't know if you would be okay or available, plus the text was already long enough, Even I would be too lazy to read. Finally, here I leave you the following questions:

1) What exactly is that necklace that Hotaru! Frisk and Gin! Sans have for? Since when Gin! Sans died supposedly I would have to respawn with that at least, but I think I missed a part and didn't understand xd.

2) Are you ever going to do the story or you have no ideas and are you going to postpone it for the moment? I didn't see that movie, it looks nice so I might look for it at some point, But I would like to know what the story that you propose in your AU would be like, I think it would be great.

3) Why Tonbo! Chara is inside Kin! Papyrus? I think that was never explained or I don't know, maybe it didn't appear to me.

4) Do you like or dislike errorink? I like Frans, I don't care if he's gay, but I also like sanscest (I think it's written like that xd).

5) Is it confirmed that the Frisk of your AU is male? Or is it still a mystery and you just joke with its gender? It doesn't matter to me but I ask out of curiosity owo.

6) If I ask you for a drawing, would you do it? Or only for commissions?.

7) Who is Goatgurt (or yogurt) Asriel? I thought it was Tandoku! Asriel until I saw that he came out of the giant flower xD I felt so stupid jsjsjjssjs.

8) Why can't you leave comments on posts? Or does it only appear that way to me? Because I see that they are all deactivated.

9) What do Silveredge and Silverware mean? I know they are shipps but the names make me curious, also that of the children. Well, I think that was it. Wow that's a lot of text x,p sorry TwT I write too much almost what I think sometimes. I'm not one to edit things, I don't understand much of it, that's why I don't translate comics for others, I can barely manage jsjsjsjs. Bueno, Saravade linda😘

Ah sí, I almost forgot, won't you show me an OC of you? Since every artist has one and I would like to know how you look like x³

1) What exactly is that necklace that Hotaru! Frisk and Gin! Sans have for? Since when Gin! Sans died supposedly I would have to respawn with that at least, but I think I missed a part and didn't understand xd.

that will come into play soon :)

like. SUPER soon. like when we get back to hotaru soon!

2) Are you ever going to do the story or you have no ideas and are you going to postpone it for the moment? I didn't see that movie, it looks nice so I might look for it at some point, But I would like to know what the story that you propose in your AU would be like, I think it would be great.

if you mean gin's pre-outcode story, actually, yes! yes i will :)

it's a secret as to how or why right now but i'll probably reveal it properly when we get to that point in the plot (i'm busy with school right now!)

3) Why Tonbo! Chara is inside Kin! Papyrus? I think that was never explained or I don't know, maybe it didn't appear to me.

please imagine him as a combo of cross!sans and killer!sans!

bonus info: kin is mostly based on disbelief and handplates papyrus!

this is their dynamic! (apologies if theyre hard to translate)

as for how they both ended up this way, you can either ask about it to them or wait :)

4) Do you like or dislike errorink? I like Frans, I don't care if he's gay, but I also like sanscest (I think it's written like that xd).

i love errorink. it's in no way canon to this story or au but my current au fic is all about errink and i also run @errinkgarbagedump!

5) Is it confirmed that the Frisk of your AU is male? Or is it still a mystery and you just joke with its gender? It doesn't matter to me but I ask out of curiosity owo.

hotaru is amab (assigned male at birth) non-binary!

their pronouns are they/them, prefer presenting masc/androgynous (only a lot of the time! there are exceptions)

6) If I ask you for a drawing, would you do it? Or only for commissions?.

right now, i take little requests with tips on my ko-fi!

i can be a bit slow at responding and finishing the requests though <:)

7) Who is Goatgurt (or yogurt) Asriel? I thought it was Tandoku! Asriel until I saw that he came out of the giant flower xD I felt so stupid jsjsjjssjs.

goatgurt is the asriel from @asktheamalgamategoat! his story is concluded on the blog and i got the honor of taking care of little yogurt boy for the rest of time on my blog and story ^-^ <3

8) Why can't you leave comments on posts? Or does it only appear that way to me? Because I see that they are all deactivated.

i'll have to check on that! i changed the blog's tumblr settings some time back :p

9) What do Silveredge and Silverware mean? I know they are shipps but the names make me curious, also that of the children.

silveredge is just the ship name for gin x fell! it was just the name that came naturally and i felt fit them :)

silverware specifically was because me and my friends were joking around that "lol cross has knives. gink cutlery animatic. silverware, get it?" and there it is LOL

the names for the ship kids (im assuming sterling and rust specifically) was just because i thought it fit them and the ship :p

that's all!!! thank you so much for sending so many questions!!! i love writing these and answering them, im really honored someone finds these many details and has so many questions about it 😭💖

[livewireprojects]

Lost Prince AU

I had another post setup but I felt it was getting pretty long & needed more organizing so I made this to be the master post. I'll try to edit it occasionally when needed to add posts to this.

-

So basically this is my version of the Sonic, I call it the "Lost Prince AU" cause I needed to call it something & it is kind of that.

Pretty much (a rewritten version) Sonic Underground happened long ago but when they celebrated the final defeat of Robotnik, Sonic disappeared. Everyone searched for him but failed to find his body but knew in some way he was out there. Four decades later Knuckles(who was put in stasis as my excuse) meets Sonic & Tails, there were some slight changes(Sonic now having green eyes & some other stuff) but Knuckles knows enough details to know in some way Sonic is the one he use to know.

Another problem though is that Sonic doesn't remember much of his past but remembers a couple things that match with the missing prince. There are moments over time were something manages to help him regain missing parts of his memories but the effects of it scare everyone.

So pretty much Sonic going about his current life while occasionally wondering what he lost while moving forward. There's people out there that know very well who he is but there's complications with this from not knowing who these people are & also worrying about Sonic's amnesia having weird conditions that scare his friends.

Just a prince lost to time slowly finding himself as stuff happens in the background.

-

I'm not entirely sure how to type this post out.

This version of Sonic is an amalgamation of Sonic Underground, some of the Sonic games, Sonic X & a couple things I found from interesting in the comics & decided to add it. I don't read the comics the only comic I read was the Sonic Universe one were it was just Shadow doing stuff for his job then showing a preview of Lara(Knuckles's daughter) at the end. Any bits from the comics are stuff I found at some point & worked into this.(I at one point added Zonic & made implications to Scourge but took them out cause it wasn't working out)

Some stuff is getting reworked/edited, a lot of this is a work in progress at points.

Feel free to ask about stuff involving this AU, I might not be fully able to answer stuff but I can try

Previews of Sonic; Sonic during Sonic Underground, Sonic near the end of Sonic Underground & modern Sonic(outfit inspired by Miku Hatsune's Sonic outfit)

I'm not good at drawing Sonic characters in more mobian proportions unless I draw a human next to them

-

Links for stuff

Just stuff tagged for this on my blog - LINK

Posts about parts of the AU - Sonic Underground | Sonic 06(Post game) | Sonic's mask | Sonic's adventure/memento room | About Venice & Silver's Parents

Sketch refs (These are in not in order past when I decide to upload them to Tumblr)

Sonic(I rambled WAY too much in this) | Shadow | Royal Triplets | Queen Aleena | Jules & Chuck(Slight spoilers) | Big the cat | Cake(OC) & Vanilla | Cream, Cheese & Chocola | Cosmo | Maria | Blaze(More rambling) | Flare(OC & rambling) | Nicole | Gadget/Buddy/Newbie | Younger Venice & Silver | Amy Rose

Scrapped ideas - Zonic | Scourge

Old stuff - Old Silver & Venice refs(with a side of old designs & old vers of fankids) | Solaris Twins(Mephiles & Iblis) | Sally & Sally Jr Acorn(Slight spoilers & so much rambling) | All my old Lara the Echidna Bat Sketches | Comics/sketches from the predecessor to the Lost Prince AU(Contains content from when I was in middle school & high school, spoilers for the original version that are slight spoilers to the current/update version & questioning what I was on at the time)

[nightmare1m-creates]

Hi guys, I bring more art (some with references)

Finally a post with Maize, Oleander, and Primrose art.

In order these are drawings of

-versions of Reina (an oc I might yap about some day) and Nate for an au

-Reference of my friend @hazyy-comets 's Roblox avatar followed by a drawing of them

-mannequin Mark from regretevator

-Oleander as the undertale mirror quote stuff

-A drawing of me and @hazyy-comets 's Roblox avatars followed by the reference I made in studio (Pix is meant to be dragging Raz but I'm shit at perspective, I'll probably redraw that at some point)

-Maize with a quote I really liked when I found it wrapping around her

-Primrose, freaked out by an ability she just discovered

This'll probably have proper OC tags later today, which means I'll have to fix my old posts...

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

🟦🟧

thank you so much for the ask!!

I decided to answer the second one first since talking about OCs might take a while…

Rambles (and art!!) under the cut :)

I have a few different answers to this one! I definitely draw Legend from linked universe the most, but my favorite to draw is Link from Skyward Sword (both his normal design and his linked universe one)! But that is just when it comes to faces! My favorite outfit to draw at the moment is ALTTP Zelda’s!

and now on to the dreaded topic of OCs… I have a LOT. Some are connected to a loz au I’m sort of working on every once in a while and the other’s are from an original story that’s been fermenting in my brain since middle school… their designs aren’t finalized and neither are their personalities for the most part. I guess I’ll tell you about some from each?

ok! Here are Zelda and Link from my au! (These designs are months old and I’ll probably redo them completely at some point)

I don’t have much of the plot and personalities determined yet, with the exception of Zelda’s. She is pretty young and naive at the beginning, and is pretty timid too! She has to grow out of herself a lot and once she moves past her shyness she has a fiery spirit and a strong sense of joy at discovering the world around her. She is also a menace. You’d almost think she’d have the triforce of courage, but she still wields wisdom, though in a more decisive, instinctual way (almost like she is just following her gut) Sheik is a disguise she uses partly to hide from Ganondorf, and partly because she wants Link to think of her as someone more than the scared little girl he rescued a year earlier. Link, on the other hand, I have no idea how to portray. Much like Ganondorf in this au, his personality eludes me. I do know he is a bit grumpier and pretty serious, and has travelled all his life.

I don’t want to write too much, but I do have a lot of ✨thoughts✨ about them, if anyone is curious!

and as for my actually original OCs, I don’t have any good examples of their designs…

I don’t want to describe the entire plot, so I can’t explain most of the characters at all XD

my main villain however (tho he’s not exactly a villain), I can talk about! So the story is set in a sort of fantasy sort of medieval setting but the poor guy (I haven’t figured out a name for him yet) got sealed away for centuries… he used to be the chieftain of the nomadic tribe that dominated the island they live on, but centuries later with a king on the throne he is a bit out of place! (and also furious about losing everything he knew and loved) His main motivation is revenge against those who (to him) usurped his power and killed his wife and their yet to be born son. He is not at all aware that he is in the future and the very usurpers he seeks to destroy are his own descendants.

personality-wise, he’s a little out of his mind, and has a very sharp wit. He is very barbaric and a bit wild, but carries himself like a king. He has a lot of traits of the classic cool and calculating villain, but his main motivation is the love for his family twisted into a primal rage. When he’s angry he becomes hysterical and tends to speak almost softly, almost laughing, before exploding into anger.

oh, and he’s not exactly human anymore. He’s at this point, and through no fault of his own, basically sentient black mist that can talk and change form. He chooses to stay in the form of his human self however, but looks less so the more he gives up what humanity he has left.

he’s probably my favorite part of the story tbh.

ok! That’s it!! Hope I didn’t dump to much info about my OCs; I wasn’t sure how much to share…

[ikeromantic]

Another Skein

This is for my dear friend @scruffymctee a gift to celebrate her. Featuring her OC Tomoyo in a red string of fate AU story. TW for major character death, violence and general scary stuff. 6K words. Much love to you, my dear!

Kenshin stood between the burned-out husks of what was once a village. The blackened buildings sank into the char and mud, slumping toward their final resting place beside the bodies of those that lived there. The empty eyes of the dead followed him as he walked through the narrow streets, the white of his cloak almost obscene in this dark place. 

The scouts told him no one survived the mystery attack. No one could tell him who his enemy was, or where to point his sword. He felt his jaw clench. What good to be the God of War if your enemy would not go to battle against you?

Some innate sense drew his hand to his hilt as he turned onto another of the narrow streets. A feeling of threat the rest of this dead place did not possess. And then, from the wreckage of a teahouse, some wild thing leapt. It screamed with rage and loss, a spirit of vengeance. It was only his instinct that let him draw in time. 

Himetsuru-Ichimonji shrieked as it collided with the rust-pitted blade of his enemy. Kenshin’s blood sang. A fight. A battle. A foe to destroy. Finally. 

The demon jumped back, surprised by his defense. 

Kenshin tried to make out the features of the thing he fought. All he could see in the dim shadows of this alley was long, dark hair and ragged grey clothing in the general shape of a human. If it had a face, the features were hidden, though he could see the gleam of a jade-green eye as the spirit came for him again.

“What are you?” The warlord side-stepped the blow. His own blade flickered forward, drawing across the thing’s arm. The edge came away stained scarlet. It was a creature of flesh then. “Who are you,” he asked this time.

It did not answer, but attacked again. Despite the wound on its arm or perhaps because of it, the spirit’s attacks came faster. A brutal onslaught. For several breaths, Kenshin could only defend. Ichimonji was too long to wield in such narrow confines, and there was little room to maneuver. He needed to end this quickly. 

Through the next exchange of blows, he watched carefully for an opportunity. It came a moment later, as the spirit swung its sword. Kenshin blocked with his tsuba and slipped the hardened wood under the creature’s grip. With the strength and skill of a practiced swordsman, he used the leverage to knock the blade from his opponent’s hand. 

Before the spirit could materialize another sword or dissipate or whatever it might do, Kenshin pinned it against the wall. He dropped Ichimonji to pull his small belt knife and held it to the thing’s throat. “Why did you attack me?”

The spirit tilted its head to regard him. The tangled mess of dark hair fell back to reveal burning green eyes staring out of an angelic face, a cupid’s bow mouth twisted in a snarl, silken skin smeared with ash and dirt that could still not disguise the beauty beneath them. That jade gaze was unfocused, distant. She did not see him, but fought in some other battle made real in her mind. 

Kenshin almost drew back from the fight, but he could not release her. She would attack again, and there was something else about her. Something that pulled at the lonely vastness in his soul. “Look at me, woman. Answer me.”

She struggled in his grip as if to escape and resume the fight.

He held her tight, pressing her back against the wall. “What did you see here? What happened?” Kenshin forced her gaze to meet his, emerald fires met his mismatched eyes.

She started, a sudden recognition lighting in her eyes. Her mouth moved as if to speak, a word forming on her lips. Then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed back against the wall. 

Kenshin caught her in his free hand before she hit the ground. Frustration boiled up in his chest. He needed to know who was responsible for this and she was his only witness. This wild, fierce, woman, driven mad by whatever she'd experienced. He stared down at her face in consternation. In her present state, with the anger gone from her expression, she was even more beautiful. And he felt a strange sense of knowing. As if they’d met before. Which was impossible, of course. He knew few women, and none of them warriors.

He put away his knife and picked up Himetsuru-Ichimonji, apologizing silently for his treatment. He also took the rusted blade she wielded and tucked that into his belt. Then he lifted her up and carried her back to his camp. 

The field doctor he traveled with was only a soldier who once apprenticed for an herbalist, but he knew his way around wounds and could mix and apply most basic tinctures and salves. Kenshin brought the woman to him, parading past the stares of his surprised troops. 

In the light of the medical tent, he could see the girl was covered in bruises beneath the tattered fabric of her kimono. The doctor cut the fabric open, and Kenshin turned away. He did not want to strip her of her dignity. Behind him, he could hear the steady flow of commentary from the field doctor. 

“These wounds are a few days old. Yes. Ragged cuts. Interesting. This one. Ah. Infected. Well, well.” 

Kenshin was curious, but he distracted himself from temptation by taking out her sword. It was well made but had not been well cared for. With some work, it could be restored. But it was odd. Short and light, as if made for a woman. And there was no proper maker’s mark. Only, on the kashira, an impression of a rabbit was embossed into the metal cap. 

He set it on a table, out of her reach but close enough that she could see it when she woke. Kenshin turned his head enough to see the field doctor from the corner of his eye. “Will she live?”

“She will. The girl has several wounds as if she fought for days, maybe longer. One is infected, which I believe caused her current condition. Fever and lack of proper food and water.” He sighed. “It will take some time, but I think she will be fine.”

“Then see to it. She is the only witness to this attack. The only one who knows the face of my enemy.” And there is something about her, he did not add. Something that made him want her to live.

The field doctor gave a short nod. “Of course.” He turned back to his work. “Who do you suppose she is, anyway? She’s too pretty to be a farmer. But there’s no daimyo near here. A merchant, maybe?”

“Perhaps.” Kenshin did not think any merchant girl could wield a sword as this one had. “Let me know when she wakes.”

He left the tent and the mystery woman, though he could not put her from his mind. Kenshin let his troops know they would be camping there for a few days, and sent out some of his men to forage. They were nervous here, so close to the village ruins, but since their warlord gave no sign of discomfort, neither did they. 

Kenshin did not hold with foolish superstition. The dead were dead. If they should curse anyone, it would be the one that took their lives from them. Still, he understood why the soldiers were quiet and wary as the sun set and the light of day faded into the gloom of night.

The foraging scouts brought back little to supplement rations. They said the land was empty for miles around, with barely so much as a bird or a mouse stirring in the brush. This set the soldiers muttering again as they bent over their dinners, huddled even closer around their fires as if the light would ward them.

He took his meal in the medical tent, sitting across from the lone survivor. Kenshin studied her face, relaxed now as she slept peacefully. The familiarity of her face only grew the longer he looked at her. The feeling disturbed him, of knowing and not-knowing, as if he’d lost some part of himself and had not even realized it. 

“Who are you,” he asked, letting the back of his hand brush against her cheek. The answer felt as if it was close, as if his mind were just one step away from recalling her. 

A scream split the night, sudden and horrible. The sound of a man dying. Kenshin knew it well. He rushed from the tent and toward the chaos. That first scream was joined by others. He found one of his men on the ground, his face frozen in fear. There was no visible wound on him, but he was dead. 

The soldiers were experienced men, and they knew what to do in a raid. But their tactics didn’t appear to be helping. Kenshin found a knot of soldiers carrying torches and joined them. They moved slowly, going from tent to tent, searching for survivors or some sign of the attackers. None of the men saw anything, only their own comrades lying dead. 

The torchlight swayed and guttered with the evening wind, dimming and flaring unexpectedly. Kenshin’s eyes strained to see into the darkness between the tents, hoping for a glimpse of steel or the white of an eye, or to hear the whisper of stealthy movement. Anything that would give his enemy away. 

The moment came when one of the torches guttered out for good. The flame popped, flared, and then fizzled, plunging Kenshin and two others into darkness. His soldier scrambled to light another. That was when it came. The stirring of shadows. They shifted and congealed into a shape vaguely human, a hand reaching for them. 

Kenshin did not think, he only reacted. His body moved before he considered the motion, drawn sword slicing through the limb. But Himetsuru-Ichimonji’s edge met no resistance and that horrid arm stretched closer, brushing against the soldier beside him. 

The man let out a howl of pain and fear. His back arched, his face contorted. He gasped for air, his body drawing as tense as a bowstring. And then he collapsed.

The other soldier finally got a new torch lit, just in time to see his companion fall. He made a strangled sound of fear as the shadow-arm pulled away from the dead man, recoiling into the darkness. 

Kenshin did not let it retreat though. He cut at it again, and this time, in the nascent torch-light, his blade met the resistance of some sinewy flesh. Stringy and tough as old meat, but not too tough for the razor edge of his sword. The severed limb turned to ash as it fell, while the rest of the blighted darkness disappeared into the gloom. 

“D-did you see -” the torch-bearing soldier trembled. 

“I saw an enemy that can be killed when in the light.” He gazed at the man, his disparate eyes as calm as a snow-swept plain. “We need to surround the camp with fires. Come.” They spread the word to the remaining men, and those soldiers began the work of lighting a ring of campfires. They stayed in pairs, each bearing a torch or lantern. No one wanted to be caught without a light.

While his men worked, Kenshin stalked between tents. His roving gaze searched for any sign of a deeper shadow. Of movement. That liquid oily slide of blackness. He wanted to fight it - to destroy it - whatever it was. Spirit or demon, the specter could be cut and if he could cut it, he could kill it. 

A flutter of tent fabric caught his attention. The waxed fabric floated for a moment, caught in an unnatural current of air. The movement of something unseen. Kenshin brought the flame to bear, Ichimonji lashing out a heartbeat later. He felt the edge catch in flesh, and then pass through. He stabbed again into the roiling dark revealed by the flickering torchlight. But then, the unexpected - with a snap, the tent-ropes came loose and the fabric smothered the flame. 

The soldier carrying it quickly untangled the singed fabric, and tried to relight the torch. The flicker of sparks from the flint and steel threw the shadowy shape into sharp relief. A gloom that boiled and rolled into itself, flowing into tendrils with the shape of human limbs. 

With each sputtering strike, Kenshin slashed at the shape and it hit at him. The light made it too solid to reach beneath his skin. Instead, it left bruises and sometimes cuts, drawing blood to the skin with its cold touch. The feel of it was like oil and ice, sharp and hard as stone. Neither could get an advantage so long as the light only flickered.

Through the camp, another chorus of screams erupted as the shadows extinguished the light. Lamps fell to the ground and lost their wicks, campfires dimmed from otherworldly cold, and torches died. Without the light to fight back, they were helpless in the face of this threat. Kenshin needed to win, and fast. Every second cost him another life. 

“Light the torch,” he rasped, but he knew even as he gave the order that his soldier was doing his best. The creature they fought killed the flame each time it sparked. Kenshin had to face the possibility that he would die here tonight. Such an unexpected end for the God of War. If so, he vowed to die fighting. 

His lips curled in a feral snarl as he went on the attack. Light or no, he would do his best to make the specter pay for every ounce of blood it took. Just as he lunged, his world erupted into bright, white light and from that light came an avenging angel. 

A green-eyed banshee with a rusted blade. The onslaught of light seemed to catch the shadows by surprise as well. It boiled and twitched but did not have time to flee as she drove the point of her sword into the central mass of darkness. There was a sound then, somewhere between a scream and the hiss of a tea pot and the rustling of wind through trees. Then it was gone. The light faded too, as suddenly as it came. 

The woman shook her sword off and took a deep breath. She shut her eyes for a moment, but opened them again when Kenshin took a step closer. “Thank you,” she said, her voice unexpectedly soft. 

“What?” Kenshin raised an eyebrow. He was still wrapping his mind around the horrors of this night and she was speaking in gibberish.

“You brought me back. You helped me. And I am no one to you.” She sounded almost sad as she said this. Then she shrugged it off, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. She turned to speak with the field doctor. 

It was only as she did that Kenshin noticed the man was carrying a lamp and an oddly shaped bit of glass. A mirror, angled, he noted. The source of that bright light. Now, without the glass, it was only lamp light again. Mellow and less focused. 

“You are injured. You should be resting.” Kenshin reached for her arm and was surprised when she moved faster than him to step out of reach. 

She gave him an even look, challenging and full of an inner fire. “I’m fine. I heal fast.” After a moment of silence, she sighed and gestured at the surrounding camp. “I’ll explain later. We need to destroy the rest right now. If they didn’t run already.”

Her directness and her calm were intriguing. Kenshin let her lead him, along with the doctor and the two soldiers. The torch-bearer was finally able to light his torch, and so the four of them walked in a warm circle of light. They paced through the remains of the camp, but found no more sign of the specters. 

None of the other soldiers survived the attack. To a man, they lay dead, faces twisted by the fear they felt in their last moments. The woman stopped at each and said a prayer. 

Kenshin watched her movements, graceful and strong. She spoke with an educated voice too, sweet without a note of falseness. The sound of her prayers stirred some deep memory in him. He needed to know who she was. Her name. Her family. Where she was from. The sense of familiarity grew the longer he was in her presence.

“Lady,” he said, as she paused before another dead man. “What is your name?”

“Tomoyo.” She glanced at him from beneath a fall of dark, tangled hair. 

“Tomoyo.” He tasted the word, let it sit on his lips. He felt as if he’d spoken it a thousand times before. It rolled so naturally over his tongue, sweeter than fine wine. “I am Kenshin.”

“Yes. Uesugi. I know.” She smiled for a moment, the expression transforming her from angelic to divine. 

He blinked. “So you know me? Where did we meet? I would not have forgotten -”

The woman opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut again. Then she dropped to the ground and slid beneath a torn scrap of tent fabric. “Put out the light,” she hissed. “And hide!”

Both of the soldiers obeyed with alacrity. Somehow, in the space between dusk and midnight, she’d become an authority to them. But she had that quality in her voice that brooked no disobedience. Kenshin followed suit, and tucked himself away beside her.

Tomoyo gave him a brief, amused glance before she turned her attention back to the night. 

Kenshin did not have long to wait to see why. Only a few breaths passed before the gloom began to lighten with a fey glow. Barely a light, the strange blued flickers came from the skin of a pale man who now paced between the tents. He wore an Uesugi tabard, the clan’s mark displayed proudly on his breast. But Kenshin did not recognize him. 

The man knelt beside each body and slid his hands over the cooling flesh. He whispered into the corpse’s ear and wrote a symbol with his finger on their head. From some of the dead, a darkness rose, coiling from their mouth in an ethereal sigh. From others, there was nothing. The man seemed to take both results with uncaring equanimity. 

Kenshin realized the dead Tomoyo blessed gave the stranger nothing. Only the unblessed released a shadow. He eyed her with renewed interest. She’d given him a name, but little else. He wanted - needed - to know more. She knew what was happening here, or she knew more than he did. “Why are we not attacking that man? He is human. He can die.”

Tomoyo nodded. “He is a sorcerer. I tried to kill him twice and nearly died for it.” She shivered. “Or worse.”

“I am the God of War. I am not afraid of a man who hides behind spirits and incantations.” This was mostly true. In his experience, these men were usually frauds. This magic was more real and more terrible than anything he faced before. 

She wrinkled her nose. “You need to be patient. I didn’t say we would not attack. If you let me finish?” Her eyebrow rose imperiously and Kenshin felt a strange, sudden wave of affection for her. As if she’d made this face before, in a better time and place. At his silence, she continued. “We will go after him at dawn, when the sun is up. He’s more powerful at night but I think together we can take him in the light.”

“I don’t fight beside women. You are too distracting. And weak. I will attack him when the sun rises. You stay hidden.” She was distracting, he thought. Lying here under the tent fabric, where the ground was cold and the dead lay nearby, all he could think of was the warm press of her body against his side. How close she was to him, how lovely her features. Foolish thoughts to have in a dangerous place.

“Pffft. You didn’t seem to mind my help earlier. When I saved your life? Or did you forget already?” She tilted her head, observing him.

Kenshin stifled a reply, realizing she was right. Instead, he asked, “How do you know these things?”

Tomoyo shrugged. “I have been fighting this one for awhile now. Following him. He and I . . . let’s say I have some scores to settle.”

“You . . . followed him?” Kenshin could not hide his surprise. 

“Of course. How else does one fight a demon or lift a curse? It’s not as if they come to your shop looking to be slain.” Her smile was wide and bright and sharp. “Technically he isn’t a demon. But he summons them so . . .” Another shrug.

Kenshin felt that tug of familiarity again. The way she moved, the way she smiled, he knew those motions better than he knew his own reflection. “I feel as if I have seen you before,” he admitted, surprising himself with this vulnerability.

“Do you? Hm.” Something in her gaze shifted and she glanced away. “It won’t be long now. An hour or two and the sun will crest.” She yawned. 

“You can sleep, if you want. I will keep watch.” He shrugged his cloak off and set it on her. “I am not tired. Or cold.” 

Tomoyo wrapped herself in the cloak with a sigh. “I won’t say no to that kind of chivalry. It’s rare enough. But you better not try to leave me here at dawn. Because I will hunt you down for lying.”

Kenshin frowned. “You have my word. I will wake you when the time comes.”

This seemed to mollify her. She settled beside him and fell almost immediately to sleep. 

He kept alert through the watch. It wasn’t hard to stay awake when things moved in the night, just beyond vision and sounds floated over the camp that came from no human throat. He couldn’t imagine how she could sleep. Kenshin could make out the lines of her face, relaxed now, the shape of her lips in a small smile. 

The memory of kissing that gentle mouth came to him the way warmth comes from the hearth, slow and filled with as much pain as pleasure when your limbs wake from the cold. Kenshin knew the taste of her, the feel. And he ached for that touch again. Was this madness born of the same magic that haunted the night? He wondered it even as his fingers reached to stroke her cheek. 

He could not remember the last time he felt this way about a woman. It was different than the unchecked passion of his youth. His heart felt heavier, bittersweet with this unexpected affection. The desire to make love to her was there, yes, but the need to hold her was just as strong. And this woman was no fragile flower. Nothing like the ladies that came to his castle in hopes of catching his eye. 

Tomoyo was a beauty, but also a fighter. Intelligent and resilient - a survivor. She had scars from the battles of her past - he’d seen a hint of them in the medical tent - but those only served to enhance her beauty. As if every fire she passed through only refined her. Kenshin wanted to know the story of every mark, to be entrusted with the secrets of her heart. 

These feelings were new to him. New, and yet with her, they felt natural. He wondered what she felt, what thoughts and dreams swam behind her flickering eyelids.

Dawn came on them with inexorable slowness. The first hint of gold simmered along the eastern horizon, staining the clouds gold and pink. Light spilled over the barren fields and across the camp. The terrors in the dark fled, leaving only the dead in stark relief. The carnage of fallen tents and corpses.

Kenshin woke Tomoyo. 

Her eyes opened, brilliant jade and vibrant with life. She met his dichromatic gaze with an untroubled smile. “Morning, beautiful.”

He blinked. “What did you call me?”

“Beautiful. I mean, I could have said lovely or gorgeous but I think Beautiful is the best. Do you disagree?” Her eyebrow went up. “Should I catalog your features? Tell you how pretty you are in detail?”

“Please don’t.” He felt heat creep into his cheeks. What manner of woman was this, to make him blush? He forced his lips to a thin frown. “This is no time for idle flirtation.”

Tomoyo reached up to cup his cheek. Her fingers were warm and he felt himself leaning into the touch. “Now is exactly the time. We might die today, and these could be our last moments. I could lose you aga - ah - or you could lose me. Or worse. So why should we not?”

Kenshin laid his hand over hers and closed his eyes. “I barely know you,” he said, but even as the words left his mouth, he felt they were not true.

She gave a soft laugh. “Is that so? Hm.” 

He opened his eyes again to regard her mysterious smile. “I feel as if I have known you all my life.”

“Maybe you have.” She pulled her hand away and untangled herself from his cloak. Then the two of them stood. 

Kenshin wanted to ask her more, but they had a duty first. “Do you have an idea of where the sorcerer spends his days?”

“I do. There is a house in town that only scorched. The roof and walls are still up, and it is there that he spends his days. I don’t think he will have moved from it yet.” She rolled her shoulders back, a determined fire lighting her gaze. 

“Then I will gather the last of my soldiers and we will go.”

A short while later, the four of them made their way into the dead village. The two soldiers did their best to look brave, but Kenshin could see the slight tremble in their hands and the way the whites of their eyes flashed at every sound. He judged it better to leave them hanging back aways. They were competent swordsmen, but today they faced a different kind of foe. He would not expend their lives without a purpose and he saw none in having two extra blades for this fight.

Tomoyo stopped them as they neared the center of the village. “There is the house he was in before.”

Kenshin looked at the soldiers gravely. “Guard the path. Make sure we are not interrupted.” 

The two men looked relieved to not be going in, and hid it badly. “I-If that’s your order, sir. Yes sir.”

When the two of them were in position, Kenshin turned to Tomoyo. “You have been inside this place?”

“Yes, once.” She grimaced. “I could not counter both his physical and spiritual attacks. Somehow, he wields both at the same time. But with the two of us there, I think we can defeat him. You can keep me safe while I dispel his magic.”

Kenshin nodded. “Will the shadows be there? Or is he alone?”

“The spirits of the dead are always around him, but in the daylight they cannot harm us. Just . . . don’t go into any places the sun does not reach.” Tomoyo patted his arm. She looked as if she wanted to say more. 

Kenshin felt a sudden compulsion, and despite himself, he gave in to it. He pulled her close and kissed her. It was not the deep, sweet, languorous kiss of his memories, but a passionate, unexpected flare too brief to satisfy and impossible to justify. 

She stared up at him in surprise. Then her fingers tangled in his hair as she pulled him down for another kiss. This one was deep and intense. It made his body ache with desire for her, and his heart race. Her lips were as sweet as he remembered, her tongue like silk. 

He did not want to let go, but the two of them stepped apart. Tomoyo cleared her throat. “So. Are you ready?”

“I hope this is a good fight.” Kenshin gave her a fierce look. “That man must pay for what he has done.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” She grinned at him. “And after. I have questions.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I might answer them after I question you.Thoroughly.” Kenshin thought he saw a blush rise in her cheeks. Good. He turned to look at the abandoned house. “Let’s go.”

They did not slip into the house like thieves. They walked in as if they were fearless, Kenshin and Tomoyo side by side. Their swords were drawn, faces set with grim determination. 

The sorcerer was waiting for them. The moment they crossed the threshold, the air became cold and thick. Pressing forward was like moving through wet sand. When he saw that they were slowed, he began to chant, calling up some other horror.

Kenshin pushed toward him, his muscles bunching and burning in his legs and back. He felt a cold anger burning in his chest. He wanted vengeance for his slain soldiers, justice for the dead of this village. He was their lord, and this was his duty.

Tomoyo cut a symbol into the air with her rusted blade. Sweat pearled her forehead as she moved the edge in careful arcs, as if carving the gelid air. The room shivered. Dust flew up from the corners, and the wooden walls creaked. The tension in the air burst apart, shattering by whatever power she wielded.

They didn’t have time to celebrate the momentary success. Just as Kenshin rushed forward, freed to move, the falling motes of dust moved as one toward him. Tiny specks of nothing, they flew into his face, clogging his nose and eyes, and filling his mouth with the taste of ash and mud. 

“Why are you here, cursed one? Did you follow me from the hell I left you in?” The sorcerer looked past the choking warlord to Tomoyo, his dark eyes cold and remote. There was nothing in his voice to say what he thought of this, whether he was surprised or angry or disappointed.

She bared her teeth in a grin of challenge. “There is no hell you can lock me in that will hold me.”

“Then I will kill you.” The sorcerer bent his fingers into an impossible shape, as if the bones of his hand were formed from some other, less rigid matter. As he did, the wood beneath Tomoyo split open like a maw, the splinters jagged teeth that hooked and bit at her legs. 

“You will try to kill me. Again.” She blocked the chewing hole in the floor with her sword and kicked away from it. Her leg bled from where it caught her and as she landed, she flung droplets of scarlet at him. They turned diamond-hard and sharp as razors in the air, piercing him each place they hit.

Kenshin, still choking, rushed toward the sound of the sorcerer’s voice. He did not need to see to kill. His blade rose and fell, finding flesh. His eyes burned from the invading grit and his nose and mouth felt raw. He coughed and spat and rubbed at his face, trying to see what he’d wrought.

The sorcerer made no sound as the sword cleaved through his raised arm. He only glanced at the bleeding wound as if it mattered not at all. A pool of crimson formed around him.

“Step back,” Tomoyo shouted as the blood edged toward Kenshin. 

He heard the warning in her voice. Though Kenshin did not understand, he stumbled away. 

Tomoyo moved closer, slow and wary. She brushed a hand down Kenshin’s back and at her touch, he felt the dust fall away. 

The sorcerer did not look impressed. “You think because he lives in this world, you will too?” He gave her no time to answer. The thickened blood coiled like a nest of serpents, striking at them.

Kenshin reacted out of instinct, cutting them down as they moved toward him. But the severed ends splashed to the floor, the runnels forming smaller serpents. 

“Focus on the man, not the magic.” Tomoyo’s emerald eyes flashed, still confident and strong. “He’s getting desperate to use such children’s tricks.”

“You are desperate. Afraid I will win again and you will be caught out, alone. With nothing to show for all your efforts, all your imagined strength.” He laughed, the sound full of scorn and anger. The first emotion he’d shown in this fight. “What use to stand up after every fight when you know I will knock you down again?” His laughter seemed to echo through the room, growing in volume. “I am never desperate.” 

“Perhaps not,” she mused, her expression fierce. “Maybe the word I’m looking for is pathetic. A vulture, picking at the dead, stealing from those too far gone to defend themselves.” She jabbed her blade toward him. “I am not defenseless. And you will not win this time.”

Kenshin wondered how she knew this man, another question for another time. He took advantage of the distraction to lunge forward. A sweeping slash that gouged a trench in the sorcerer’s chest. 

This wound he noticed. The reaction was immediate. He screamed, a high pitched and inhuman sound. Like the cry of a wounded bird. From the cut, a darkness boiled. Bloodless and black as midnight. An oily smoke that roiled and hissed in the light. The sorcerer gestured at Kenshin with his remaining hand, and the shadows within him leapt at that command.

In a heartbeat, Kenshin found himself surrounded by the cold, pressing gloom. Sharp edges and hard planes cut and beat at him from all sides. He could not see the room, could not see Tomoyo. The only sound was his own heartbeat and the dull rasp of torn and battered flesh. He fought however he could, twisting in their grasp. Biting and kicking, using every part of himself to refuse them. 

In the distance, as if she spoke from a mountain top, he heard Tomoyo’s cry. A wordless anger. He felt the sudden shift around him. As if all the air were sucked out, and then it all came rushing back. The shadows released him. They writhed and withered until there was nothing left of them at all. 

Kenshin blinked as his world tilted and the floor rushed up to meet his cheek. He could see the slumped body of the sorcerer. Then all he could see was Tomoyo’s face. 

“No, no, no, no. Kenshin. Stay with me. Oh my god, please. Don’t - don’t die. Not again.” She began tearing his clothes to strips, wrapping them around the worst of his cuts. “I didn’t come all the way here - I didn’t chase that bastard just to see him - to see you -”

Hot tears fell onto his skin. He felt them soak into his clothes and hair, like a summer rain. He closed his eyes.

“Oh!” Tomoyo’s pained gasp brought his eyes open again, though his eyelids felt so heavy.

“I . . . won’t die.” He smiled up at her, not understanding the movements of his heart nor the strange and sudden affection he bore this woman. A thin, red bit of gossamer hung from her wrist above him. His eyes followed the spiral of the string to where it met his chest, disappearing beneath his skin. A crimson skein that bound them. And then he understood. 

His lips parted to tell her - to say the words that burned in his soul. But the breath would not come, his lips felt cold and frozen in place. His eyelids were leaden and the darkness behind them was so peaceful. It pulled at him as the tides move the sea.

Tomoyo pressed her lips to his forehead. “I’ll find you again,” she wept. “I’ll find you if I must cross a thousand worlds, and live a thousand more lives.” I’ll find you, he swore, in the depths of his stilled heart. Don’t cry for what is lost. There is no expanse of time or space, no world exists in which I will not find you.

[unsettlingcreature]

5, 7, 9, 13, 25 for the oc ask for Perseus 🫡 💖

5) how far is your oc willing to go yo get what they want?

So Perseus tends to make impulsive decisions that have large consequences. Typically his first reaction is self-sacrifice (like his life or his soul That One Time) but it's always something that only he's giving up. While he would rather find options other than violence, killing or the sacrifice of someone other than himself, that's probably where he draws the line - at least in pursuit of a bigger cause or to help someone else. For his own ambitions, he won't go very far at all partially because he is a very unambitious character overall.

7) what's one way your oc has changed since you first came up with them?

Honestly so much addjdhsksjddd. When I first made him, he was actually pretty bare bones because I was nervous about the (new) group I'd be playing with and wasn't sure how much backstory to give. A lot of the stuff that's now core to his character were things that were discovered through playing him.

If I had to pick one thing, it'd probably be his love life/sex life LMAO. Originally, I had him envisioned as a disaster bisexual and yeah, he definitely was in the end LMAO but I kind of viewed him as the kind of person to just end up stalling when it came to romance or sex. He was definitely awkward when flirted with and he was going to just pine uselessly when he realised Oh No I Have Feelings For An Idiot. And yet? The PPZG threesome happened so easily?? Good for him. Was a ménage-à-trois a sexual awakening for Persy? Yeagh. Good for him.

9) do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your oc?

Lyrics are hard because I have a full playlist of songs that I think are Perseus coded and ordered according to his character arc/the campaign plot. Am I allowed to use a quote from my own writing?? Because I'm gonna. Also it's kind of long 😳

Once, he would have questioned where he fit in and what his value was. The templars would have made him a bishop. Caedis, a pawn. But Perseus knew who he was now, with his family - because that's what the Last Flame were - fighting alongside him. He was a Rook, one of the strongest pieces on the board and he’d stand between them and Unity for as long as he could.

13) if you met your oc, would the two of you get along?

I like to think so! Perseus is definitely one of my least abrasive characters despite his low Charisma and I think we could at least be on friendly terms if not become actual friends.

25) what is your favourite thing about your oc?

I think maybe his growth or just how through him, I've made some wonderful friends and created wonderful things with them. With Perseus, I got to meet all the players in the Last Flame and I think it helped me become good friends with Jojo (who played Aegis, Persy's brother, and is overall a really cool dude) and Rachel (who played Yesriel, aka the third honorary Rook sibling, and is really fun to play with at Empire) in particular. All of the players were awesome for that game tbh! Last Flame i miss u. Reunion tour when.

Not just that, but he really became a creative outlet for me - I drew and wrote so many things that I'm really proud of. I'll always throw Rook, Bishop, Pawn at people wanting to understand more about Perseus as a character because I think it's really well written (to toot my own horn) but having that fic be referenced in-game before the final fight was... it legit brought my to tears, I love my DM/brother so much sometimes.

It didn't even end once the campaign came to a close. Me and Lotus endlessly spawned AUs for that campaign, including the Velseus AU which we both loved so much (and that one day will definitely become more than scattered notes). There was the Modern/High School/Coffee Shop AU that became such a big point of collaboration between everyone and that is now the setting for my current big fic I'm working on!

I just ooouuurrgghhhhhhhhhh I love Perseus so much. He might be my roman empire.