#neon life au

[hauntingseashells]

Late Night Bar Talk

An Imp and Skizz Neon White AU Oneshot, 1.9k words.

It was a quiet hour at the Neon Bar, and Skizz was bored out of his mind. He had cleaned all his glasses three times already, there was no dusty spot left in the entire bar, and there was nobody to talk to yet. The Neons were all still out on their assignments — of course they were, it had only been two hours since the first Neons left for their assignments — and while, yes, Skizz knew assignments were important, he’d wish Neons could spend more time here.

Alright. Maybe he was just missing one Neon in specific. Can you blame him though? The Neon had been participating in almost every competition he could remember. How he hadn’t won yet, Skizz wasn’t sure. Was he losing on purpose? Was he very unlucky? Who knows, really. He didn’t talk much about himself. Not about the more serious, hidden stuff at least. 

With all his experience, he would’ve been back already by now, right? Did Skizz overestimate him? Did something happen? Did he d-... Skizz needed a distraction, this wasn’t helping. Surely his Neon buddy would be fine. 

—

One demon, two demons, three demons, one by one the amount of demons he had left to kill decreased. He had done this hundreds, maybe even thousands of times before, he knew the drill.

Or so he thought. He’d gotten distracted, and now there was a sharp pain in his leg. Not a sharp pain from accidentally jumping into a ledge, like he had done many times back when he was still a new Neon. No, a sharp pain that felt like he was about to lose his entire leg. And that wasn’t far off.

As he’d gotten distracted, he accidentally jumped into a tripwire. Of course he did. Of course it was a tripwire of all things he hadn’t noticed. He was lucky to make it out alive from that at all, he had seen Neons get killed by those demons, which look so innocent, yet do so much harm. That, however, did not lessen the pain, nor did it make the Neon feel better.

He let out a sharp hiss as he sat down in a safe spot to inspect his leg better. At the very least, there was no physical wound, though he knew it’d leave a bruise. At the very least he didn’t have to explain to Skizz why his leg was half open, or why his pants were bloody, or any of that. He’d let that happen once, after a close encounter with a guardian. The Angel was so worried, the Neon thought he was going to pass out. After that, he swore to be more careful. And to not visit the Neon Bar if he failed to be more careful.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat in his safe spot, but once the pain had lessened a bit, he went back to getting rid of the last few remaining demons, which was proving to be quite hard. The pain had lessened, sure. While he was sitting down. Once he got up and at it again, the pain returned, a harsh reminder that he should really get distracted less. Right, as if that was ever going to happen.

—

Assignment done. By the time he returned to Central Heaven, most of the more experienced Neons had made it back already too. He was late, and he was going to get a massive scolding from Skizz. Probably. With a sigh he resigned himself to his fate and made his way over to the Neon Bar, mentally preparing himself for the Angel. On the other hand, after such a rough assignment, he could use the change of scenery — while Heaven wasn’t ugly or unpleasant by any means, the Neon Bar felt more comfortable. Was that because of the Angel running it? Maybe, maybe not.

—

As time went by, the Neon Bar started getting its first customers of the day, all were Neons Skizz had seen several times before. They’d make some small talk with him, maybe ask for advice on something, and then be on their merry way again to who knows where. But he hadn’t seen the Neon he was looking for yet, and if he wasn’t worried before, he definitely was now. He should be back by now. He always is. What if something really did happen? What if he really was eliminated? What if Skizz was never going to see him again and he never got to say goodbye and-.

Skizz’s train of thought was stopped at the sound of footsteps. Most footsteps sounded the same, yet these somehow felt more familiar.

“Dippledop! There you are!” he happily exclaimed, his past worries gone. He waved the Neon over, scanning him from head to toe as the Neon approached. He had to make sure he was okay, he hadn’t forgotten that one time so many competitions ago where half his leg was exposed. Skizz did not want to see Neon bones again.

Of course, the Neon noticed, and waved him off. “I’m fine, Skizz, I still have all my body parts.” he said, faking annoyance, which the Angel was more than used to. “Just wanna make sure my buddy’s okay!” the Angel smiled, before remembering that he ran the bar they were in. “What can I getcha? The usual?” With a simple nod from the Neon he went to work. Not like ‘the usual’ was any special, the most he could serve was water with lemon due to the restrictions in Heaven. Once he finished the drink he handed it to Impulse. “Here you go Dippledop.”

Impulse muttered a thanks before downing most of his drink in one go. While the drink was simple and nothing special really, it was refreshing. Especially after such a stressful assignment. Before he could say or do anything else, Skizz spoke up.

“Alright, I can tell something went wrong today, and while I won’t force you to say anything, you can tell me about it. If you want.”

Of course Skizz noticed. It was Skizz, he noticed everything, at least when it came to Impulse. Whether it was because Impulse had been in the competition for a long time, because Skizz was insanely good at reading people or because the two were pretty close, Impulse wasn’t sure, but it was both a blessing and a curse. He didn’t want to dump it on Skizz. Or, well, maybe he did need to talk about it. Not just the fact he hurt his leg today, no. He needed to unleash some of his frustration about the competition in general. 

But he wasn’t going to talk about any of that while other Neons were here. Nope, he wouldn’t hear the end of it if the wrong Neons heard any of it. Some Neons were cruel. So he just told Skizz everything was fine, for now. Maybe later he’d tell him.

Skizz, of course, didn’t believe Impulse when he said he was fine. The Neon was very strict on his schedule, always wanting to be back as soon as possible. But he wasn’t going to pressure Impulse into telling him anything, that wouldn’t do any good. So, he just went back to serving Neons their drinks, occasionally shooting a glance at Impulse to see if he was holding up alright.

—

Eventually, most of the Neons had left to get rest, or do whatever Neons did in Heaven outside of their assignments. Skizz was extremely aware of the fact Impulse was still in the Bar, however, and walked over to the Neon. Skizz wasn’t sure just how aware of his surroundings he still was, so he whispered a quiet “Impulse?” to get his attention without scaring him. He had to repeat that a few times, but eventually, Impulse looked up from his now fully empty glass, responding with a small “hm?”

“You okay bud?”

“..Just tired.”

Skizz gave him a look of doubt, before sitting down next to him. He didn’t want to invade the Neons personal space, he knew Impulse valued that a lot. But he still wanted to be close to the Neon, and standing around wasn’t very comfortable.

One of Skizz’s wings reached out to behind Impulse’s back, simply resting there. Skizz’s wings weren’t big by any means, but Impulse appreciated the gesture nonetheless. He instinctively rested his head on Skizz’s shoulder and they simply sat like that in silence for a few minutes, before Impulse let out a sigh, letting words leave his mouth without much thought.

“..it’s tiring, Skizz. This whole competition. I know you probably hear it a lot and you’re sick of Neons complaining about their one job here, but it’s tiring. I’ve seen so many Neons die, and I was almost one of them.”

Impulse paused for a bit, and Skizz remained silent. The Angel had assumed Impulse was talking about that one time his leg was almost severed from his body, but he was proven wrong when Impulse started talking again.

“I wasn’t paying attention during my mission today and a tripwire got me. It only got my leg, thankfully, but I’ve watched Neons die to these things before. I don’t want to die a meaningless death here, especially after being here so long! It’s frustrating! Every time I end up back here again, I can’t win but I’m not dying either! I don’t even get why I’m still here, I’m over my death! I’m not desperate for a second chance anymore and yet..!” the Neon ranted, his voice breaking near the end. He wasn’t crying exactly, though if he spoke any more he would be. 

“Oh Dippledop..” Skizz sighed, before pulling the Neon into a hug. After a few seconds he could feel the Neon tremble, and if it wasn’t for the mask Impulse was forced to wear, Skizz was sure his clothes would be wet. It was fine though, he knew the Neon had to let this out. He almost always kept to himself, so the fact he was vulnerable right now meant the world to Skizz. Impulse trusted him enough to be so vulnerable. He had waited for hours until the Bar was empty just so he could let his emotions out for once.

They simply sat there like that for a while, Skizz loosely hugging Impulse so as to not cross his boundaries, while Impulse clung onto Skizz for dear life. His trembling slowly but surely calmed down again, his grip slowly became less desperate and more relaxed, leaning against Skizz a bit more as to position himself more comfortably into the hug.

“..thanks Skizz.” the Neon muttered into the Angels shoulder, which got a simple “anytime, Impulse.” in return. The two remained like that the whole evening, occasionally shifting slightly. Not shifting away from each other though, if anything the two shifted more together, and by the time it was around midnight the two were full on cuddling. It wasn’t comfortable, cuddling on some bar seats, but they didn’t care. For they had each other and that’s all that mattered at that moment. And if any more experienced Neon were to walk in now they wouldn’t even be surprised to find the two like that, for it was known amongst longer-time Neons that Impulse and Skizz were almost inseparable. And if it wasn’t for one being an Angel and the other being a Neon that was here as ‘visitor’, they’d be basically one. Because they’re Impulse and Skizz and they’ve been together for longer than anyone can remember.

[mossy-paws]

Get in the fucking biograft, Shuriken. (EVANGELION/PHIGHTING!)

(og screenshot’s/cover under text!) Why hello there to my tumblr followers, it’s been a awhile /silly

ANYWAYS!!! Guess who recently finished the EVA franchise minus the rebuilds and has been in a horrible chokehold over it, this anime ruined my life but hey at least its intro theme is nice……

Well, I wanted to draw some stuff for it! All together these pieces took exactly 48 hours and 20 minutes… with the cover-piece taking ~35(?) of those hours. These were… very, VERY time costly safe to say LOL,,, I am super, SUPER proud of how the cover came out though, everything on it was drawn, colored, rendered, edited, whatever, BY HAND stroke by stroke (as you can see below)

The text, the lineart, the shadows, the colors, the snowflakes on the bio and Shuri, EVERYTHING was done by hand, it was horribly time costly but it did come out very, VERY well in the end I would say (fun fact! I also didn’t originally have the textless version of the cover, and I had to trace all of the lineart for bio’s tophalf by just guessing what line when where and what the hell was going on /silly)

this was a very, very hard project to do all together, but it was also a really nice learning experience too, I’m happy i did it that’s for sure :3!

(og screenies + cover)

[musicalyeetreblr]

Liir: lady Glinda can you please help me find Nor

Glinda:

[jacks347]

I have fluffy brainrot so y'all get a treat in what high school tropes I think fit the Escaped romances

Crow and Raven - Transfer student and hesitant assigned helper (heartbreak comes not from death but from him moving back across the world)

Ivan and Raven - Delinquent and tutor (Paloma is his niece rather than daughter, Michelle is still his bitchy ex)

Jean and Intern - Student council president and vice president (Bing and Boom are class representatives that stress Jean out)

Alfonso and Guest - Uptight Catholic boy and chill party girl (Alfonso having a heart attack as he sneaks out for the first time while Guest is like "lol just jump down you dork")

Jager and Schafer - Tenured professor and new teacher (not teacher and student, that's illegal ya nasties)

Benji and Future Wife - "Cutest Couple" superlative (no I will not elaborate)

Ash and Dennys - Detention buddies ("What are you in for this week?" "I set the chemistry lab on fire" "...nice")

Yes I do have more of these if y'all wanna see my ideas for GB, Redacted, or Nomad

[solgemn]

The way i just realized we actually only got to see silco and powder together the one time because we have put SO much silco and powder content into the fandom 😭

[rwac96]

Ask Crossover

I am property of (blank)

Jaune but he has many names which he knows to well.

Jaune: *blushing* "Oh, Gods!" *covers his face* "This is too embarrassing."

Ruby: "Jaune, buddy, Vomit Boy, it can't be that bad." *she lifts up his hoodie* "Oh..."

*Jaune's abdomen has the words 'I AM THE PROPERTY OF' and underneath it is a list of names*

Ruby: *squints* "Pyrrha, Bleiss, Neon, Neo, Velvet--Huh? YANG?!"

Jaune: *blush becomes redder* "I'm sorry! I am so sorry!!"

Ruby: "Oh, my Gods." *reads another name* "Hold on...'Willow'? WEISS' MOM!?"

--ELSEWHERE--

Weiss: *spits out her coffee* "Ugh!"

Winter: *unamused* "Do you have to spit like a savage?"

Weiss: "Sorry, Winter, I just had a disturbing thought enter my mind."

[reinln29]

Cute guy

Neon Virus → @fateswind0wseat

[nicomoon69]

gunna be honest there’s 80% chance she’ll never appear again but here’s 荷龙 or Lotus (not a one to one translation btw)

I might go back in and add some more jewelry but I’m way too sleepy to try to make that work rn

here’s also a bunch of sketches I’m doing for the NGE au I’m working on lmao

I got rlly stuck on the idea of Tim being a shinnie even tho it makes no sense at all and then the whole ass au just kinda appeared in my head. so there’s Tim as Shinji, Steph as Asuka, Cass as Rei, Bruce as Gendo, Dick as Misato, Roy as Kaji, Wally as Ritsuko, Kon as Toji, Bart as Kensuke, Bernard as Kaworu etc etc

also will be annoying certain parts of canon and changing it up so there’s no weird incest going on 🧍🧍

but yea designs :3 am gonna be personalizing the suits and also the EVA units which requires me to actually learn how to draw an EVA so yeaaa

[lunamiuna-the-curious-fella]

Meet my parasite OC, Neon!

They prefer to possess skeletons cause it's easier and hurts the host less, wear deep dark blue with lots of colorful glow in the dark neon accents clothes, the tail being part of clothing just like the cat ears hoodie, though it can act like the real thing because magic, just like their star sunglasses can display text or simple shapes.

They're a parasite akin to Fresh Sans, here's their true form:

-except they were born with a mutation that caused them to experience full set of emotions and high empathy, and thus had to figure out a more peaceful approach when it comes to hosts in order to keep their emotions at bay, which took some time throughout their life. Yeahh, they've dealt with a lot of self hatred and guilt due to what they had to do to survive. Eventually though, they figured out a working methodology, as well as mastered understanding and working with their emotions, instead of against them. Sometimes they can still have relapses of self hatred and guilt, especially if something or someone causes it, but they're doing much better now that they actually got their shit together. They switch hosts frequently in order to leave them in a somewhat recoverable state, as well as treat them with incredible understanding, accommodate them to the best of their ability, comfort them in their pain, take their thoughts and desires into consideration, even going as far as sharing control occasionally. When they're not desperate, they prefer to gain hosts by first befriending them and gaining their trust, so that they're more likely to hear them out when they reveal themselves and explain their situation, and after the person understands and feels sympathetic towards them, they ask if they could possess them for a few months or so, before they leave them so they can recover. And a lot of the time, it works! It works, because they tend to wriggle their way into people's hearts with their adorable, kind hearted, a little bit mischievous, but still caring nature, which causes people to feel bad for them when they hear how much they struggle with the inherent tragedy of their existence, and how much they care. Thus, that someone may just agree to it, maybe in the future if they're not ready at the moment, even when Neon makes sure they know what they're getting into, just because they want to help their dear friend. That kinda play style is surprisingly effective for Neon, even if time consuming and requiring some effort. It's impressive how they can just befriend and convince someone to let them possess them, just by being themselves. I think they'd be an interesting foil to Fresh, just because of that.

Of course, they can't always have time and afford to take no for an answer, when their host is in a really bad condition for example. That's when they instead choose someone with an already utterly miserable and awful lonely life, so they have nothing to go back to, and either offer them a deal to give them a break from all that in exchange for agreeing to possession, or once they got them pinned down so they can't escape, give them time to process, explain the situation and why they have to do this, answer their questions, reassure them it'll only be for a few months and they'll treat them good, list the bright sides of the situation, like at least they'll have a break from their miserable awful lonely life, and hey, maybe they can be of company!, trying to coerce them into agreeing and accepting their fate, giving them as much time as they need. And once they're somewhat ready, they possess them, trying to be as gentle as possible even though it doesn't do much, comforting them in their pain by for example hugging them in the mindscape and rubbing circles onto their back, saying comforting words, trying to get them to relax a bit and let go so they can take over control without causing them further pain.

Some more information about them:

They do put up a friendly funky chaotic over the top nonchalant slang induced persona akin to what Fresh does, when they do not feel safe enough to reveal themselves, or they just want to mess with people.

They share with Fresh the distaste for smoking, alcohol, drugs, and other intoxicants, though the same doesn't go for swearing. They are mostly chill with swears and not family friendly stuff as long as it isn't harmful, though they have the ability to censor in their arsenal, if they so wish. They also happen to be immune to Fresh censoring, which makes for some good quality chaos ngl xd.

They are Aroace, sex and romance positive/neutral as long as anyone doesn't hold any expectations over them or wishes they would feel the same way, either Agender or Nonbinary and using they/them pronouns, Infp personality type, and some degree of neurodivergence.

They can be quite mischievous, with them liking to playfully freak people out or scare them, though they wouldn't want to go too far, so they make sure to reassure the person they're messing with that they are in fact, just messing with them.

Over the years they've grown to understand their own emotions and emotions in general very well, so they're pretty wise when it comes to that. Heh, if faced with Fresh starting to gain emotions and freaking out about it they would be like: First time? They would be willing to give him tips if he's willing to listen, even if just so he can be a tinge of a better person.

Speaking of Fresh, I think they would feel unease towards him, and intense distaste when it comes to his uncaring approach. He's like a dark reflection of them, reminding them that no matter how much suffering their emotions have caused them over the years, they wouldn't actually want to be like him. When first meeting him, they would crank up their over the top persona to the max, with them not feeling safe around him, though quickly drop it and act more real after he assumes they're just like him, because his uncaring approach towards his hosts fills them with so much distaste, they can't stand him assuming they're the same.

[didyoutrydynamite]

Read a funny post recently that gave me Jaune x Neon Knightlife vibes for some reason.

"My wife just pulled me into the other room and I thought she wanted to have a serious talk, but she just wanted to give me m&m's without the kids seeing."

[neon-entity]

Trying to figure out what a prosthetic tentacle would look like for Douglas. This is a personal AU I have where he survives the encounter with BH (Mulder finds him and helps him out)

He's in a coma for a good bit though

[hauntingseashells]

Warm Memories, Just Out Of Reach.

A Rancher Neon White AU oneshot, 1.4k words

Tango found himself unable to remember anything when he arrived in Hell, after what he can only assume was his death. Not that he cared, really, it made his newly assigned job in the afterlife way easier. He was able to carry out assassinations without feeling guilty about it or worrying about what someone might’ve thought of him if they saw him like this. It made him one of the best assassins in Hell, even.

And yet, ever since he arrived in Heaven for the Ten Days of Judgement, something (someone?) felt missing. He’d looked around the areas of Heaven he was allowed in as a “lowly Neon”, and yet nothing (nobody?) seemed to fill the hole in his chest that had been there ever since he rose from the Glass Ocean. It was weird. Surely if something (someone?) was so important to him, he’d remember?

The most he could remember was a vague feeling at best. A feeling of freedom, but different from the “freedom” he had in Hell. In Hell, all the freedom he had existed only if he carried out his job without being found out. He was good at his job, yet he was always just slightly paranoid that someone could be watching him. After all, you never know.

This vague feeling of freedom, even if he could barely remember it, felt.. warm. Different from the heat of Hell. It was a welcoming warmth, the kind that makes you want to cherish it forever, not the kind that makes you want to back off and stay far, far away. It makes you want to stay for eternity. What caused such warmth was unknown to Tango. Maybe he knew once, back when he was alive.

Despite the Ten Days of Judgement being in Heaven, the believers rarely, if ever, spoke of God. Tango had only heard some angels mention God, and for some reason, it filled him with the same warmth the vague feeling of freedom gave him. It was barely noticeable, so minor he could easily mistake it for a breeze, but after the third time it happened, Tango decided it wasn’t a coincidence nor a breeze. 

He missed God. But why? He ended up in Hell for a reason, surely if he worshipped God he would’ve remembered? Surely if he worshipped God he wouldn’t have done the things he apparently did in life that landed him in hell? So Tango brushed the feeling off. How absurd. Why would an assassin from Hell miss God?

—

God — no, Jimmy, had a lot of time to think. There wasn’t much else to do, sealed out of Heaven, with only his hands still inside of The Firmament, the walls of Heaven.

He was aware it was at least partially his fault he ended up this way. Sheol was only meant as a waiting room, and the believers didn’t like that. Maybe that was what got him into this mess. He didn’t feel guilty about that however, Sheol was only meant as a waiting room for the final judgement; it wasn’t supposed to be “Heaven, the ultimate, final reward”.

Maybe the fact he decided to live a mortal life just once was the final straw for the believers. But can you really blame him? He had to enact judgement on every mortal that had passed, not knowing what living was truly like. Descending and living a normal life just once seemed like a good plan to him.

And for Jimmy, a good plan it was indeed. Sure, his teenage years were awkward, but that seemed to be the case for everyone! After that, however, oh, after the awkward teenage years, he got to experience what it truly felt like, being alive. Sure, he’d made some friends, but once he was done with school, trying to find a job that felt right for him, that’s when he started feeling alive.

Not because of the jobs, no, that was the part Jimmy hated. It was the person he met during the eternal job hunt. The slightly strange yet kind man that had introduced himself as Tango Tek. They worked together in some odd jobs for a while, before Jimmy decided he wanted to try working on a ranch. Tango had offered to join him, something Jimmy wasn’t going to turn down.

Tango was like the sun to him, shining brightly even when Jimmy wasn’t doing well, he made Jimmy feel more alive. He didn’t mind Jimmy’s clumsiness, and sometimes he’d even match said clumsiness. They were a clumsy duo, but they were happy to have each other. Tango was a great friend, and Jimmy cherished him every day. The two appreciated each other even when they were covered in dirt, grass and other things they could be covered in at their ranch.

Jimmy didn’t know when it happened, but at some point they had started calling each other ranchers, and eventually that just naturally evolved into my rancher. They’d cuddle during cold nights, something Jimmy always appreciated. He was sensitive to the cold, and Tango was always warm. A nice, welcoming warmth. They could cuddle like that for the rest of eternity and it would be just as nice as it was the first night.

Yet, nothing lasts an eternity. One day, Tango was no longer warm, or slightly strange, or kind, or covered in dirt. He was no longer anything but a body, now cold in Jimmy’s arms, his clothes wet from Jimmy’s tears. Tango had left this world, and Jimmy didn’t know how to live with that. He saw dead people all the time back in Sheol, but this was different. Tango was different.

Jimmy tried continuing his life, he really did. He had sold the ranch — too many painful memories — and tried to find a different job, one that didn’t remind him of Tango. Yet he saw Tango in everything. Tango was his world, his everything.

And now his everything was gone.

He never felt that same warmth again. He never met someone as kind, clumsy, strange, warm as Tango ever again. Sure, Jimmy met some nice people, but none of them were Tango.

So he returned to Sheol earlier than he expected to. Something he will never be sure if it was the right thing to do or not.

Upon his return, he had found the believers pissed. They were done with Jimmy and wanted to overthrow him. They declared war on him, a war he was doomed to lose, and he was sealed away without a second thought. The believers redesigned Sheol into Heaven, and turned his Ten Days of Judgement into a competition for fake forgiveness.

The Days were supposed to give souls in the afterlife their final destination. Now they were for the sick amusement of believers, and to rid Heaven of their demon infestation for a little while — something that wasn't a problem before the believers started messing with Sheol. And yet, the competition gave Jimmy something positive, despite it all.

The most recent competition came with warmth. The same welcoming warmth Jimmy once felt on Earth. It felt so close, yet so far away.

Jimmy had a lot of time to think. He could think about Tango, his smile, his rambles about things Jimmy would never understand, his warmth. All the memories Jimmy had of Tango, that he cherished with every cell of his body.

He could think about the fact that Tango was so close to him. And yet so, so far. It was soul-crushing. The person he cared about more than anyone in the universe was just out of reach.

He could think about whether or not Tango remembered him, and if he could feel the warmth too.

He could think about whether Tango was aware of Jimmy’s identity or not. Jimmy never told him, but would he maybe sense it, now that he was in Heaven too?

Or did he forget Jimmy? Was Jimmy not as important to Tango, as Tango was to Jimmy? What if he was just pretending, what if the ranch meant nothing to Tango?

Jimmy wouldn’t know the answer. Not now, maybe ever. He couldn’t reach Tango, and nobody had reached Jimmy in a long time. How long had it been since he was sealed? It could’ve been centuries by now. All those centuries..

Jimmy had a lot of time to think about his soulmate, his rancher.

[hirookouji]

a picture of aomine playing in the nba w his nails painted black blows up on twitter. and, among all the discourse it causes, there is kise, who almost immediately quote retweets it and calls him a coward and a loser for painting his nails such a boring and basic color

[heroofashesnot]

Indulging in some of Murderdock and Cinnamon being affectionate towards each other despite the clusterfuck that is going on in this AU (and also be not writing it)

[erigold13261]

Wait… if Neon J keeps his head… is he still married to Martha? (Failed Revolution AU ask)

No, unfortunately he is not. Even OG Neon still had his head when he got divorced by Martha. In both versions of their relationship Martha cheats on Neon and have a kid out of the affair. The difference is how they deal with the aftermath. [Trigger warning for child death, implied child abuse, and talks of alcohol abuse]

The OG versions of them have Neon spending more time with the navy and inadvertently neglecting Martha, Aria (their daughter), and the 1010 dolls. This is just a trauma response to bad things happening where he tries to work a lot and keep his mind away from the bad things. Trying to push bad thoughts away and pretending to be happy.

This just causes Martha to keep seeking out other men for comfort and love, and taking her anger and frustration out on the 1010 dolls whenever Neon is not home. Eventually leading her to divorce him, taking full custody of Aria, and asking for a pretty high child support price from him.

It is this fact that Neon is giving child support that causes him to get the radar head. It helped him get his life together enough to make more money and keep paying child support, and even other things Martha requests (they are still in contact but not face to face, and Neon has barely ever seen Aria other than the occasional picture Martha will send in a letter or something).

With the Failed Revolution, Neon reacts differently to the affair. He still stays with Martha, but realizes that he needs to be there for her more (this is because he has a different relationship with his parents). He takes more time off from the Navy whenever he can to spend time with his family. Martha does not continue to cheat, she is actually quite loyal now to Neon, and does not hurt or abuse the 1010 dolls. She doesn't fully love them as she still sees them as machines, but she is not bad to them.

The difference here is, BECAUSE their relationship is good, instead of sleeping on the couch like the OG Neon was, Failed Revolution Neon was asleep in his bed with Martha. So when a fire started because Martha left the stove on, Failed Revolution Neon was not close enough to stop it before it got out of hand.

Martha and Neon were able to get out fine enough, but Aria breathed in a lot of smoke, while the dolls were trapped in the basement. The dolls were fully destroyed and Aria ended up dying later on from smoke inhalation. This is what lead to Neon and Martha's divorce, why Neon is trying his best to not get attached to 1010, and why 1010 do not have any memories of Martha or a childhood.

Understandably, this Neon is not as happy as OG Neon, and without the pressure of supporting a daughter and ex-wife, Failed Revolution Neon had no pressure to get the full cyborgification surgery. He did get upgraded limbs and internal organs, but was adamant about keeping his head.

And unlike OG Neon, who used to drink a lot as a teen and in the navy then later become a full addict after the divorce but forced to go sober because of his cybernetics, Failed Revolution Neon was the type to never drink, only started drinking after the death of his kids and the divorce, and he still drinks up to the present day with no real sign of slowing down (at least not while working with NSR).

This is actually why he and Mama don't get along. Mama just sees him as a bad influence, and later on doesn't trust him because of the cybernetics/1010. And Neon can't form a real bond with Yinu like OG Neon can because whenever he sees bits of Aria in Yinu, he is hit by a wave of grief, regret, and sadness, causing him to try and keep his distance from Yinu and Mama (and later on that day probably drink more than he can handle, causing 1010 to deal with the burden of caring for their shitfaced captain).

I will say this, I don't think there is a single AU I have that has Neon and Martha work out. Depending on the AU, whether it be Martha as the biological mother of that AUs version of 1010 or Neon as the creator of 1010, they almost all have Martha as a bad mother (either from abuse, neglect, or straight up abandonment). Martha is just not the type of person who should be having kids. She is decent to Aria, but not as good of a mother as she should have been (and the men she does date after Neon are not very good, again, this applies to almost all AUs of Martha).

[rwac96]

Neon: *wraps her arms around Jaune's neck* "Definitely~."

Jaune: *lowers his book* "Now, Neon.."

Neon: *tugs Jaune away* "Yoink!"

Jaune: *Reading a book on humans dating faunus*

Jaune: Shattered pelvis... Extreme dehydration... litters...

Jaune: Is it really worth it?

(Imagine your Jaune OTP, faunus edition)