#secret Mantis backstory

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

Mantis lords headcanons~

First things first, the mantis lords names! We have..

Oriana (eldest)

Siara (eldest middle)

Biana (youngest middle)

Timono (youngest)

And additionally~

Tulian (Traitors child)

Mia (Traitor Lord's wife)

The mantis lords~

The sisters are triplets all a few years older than their brother.

Oriana is the eldest, the leader of the four. She is practical and stern, very composed and calculating. She is the face of the mantis lord council and tribe.

Siara is a bit more relaxed than.. all of her siblings. Probably the most open-minded and least stubborn. She is usually the one sent beyond the tribe to deal with outside affairs.

Biana is quiet and a bit secretive. More of a follower than the others. She enjoys working on traps, weapons, and leads the technological advancements within the tribe.

Timono was of lower rank than the other Lord's. (To gain higher rank one must prove to be as strong of a warrior as the elder Lord's. Something he, despite years of effort, had never proven.) Still Timono was a fierce warrior, who wanted more than anything to finally grant his tribe freedom from Hallownest.

(In case anyone missed this bit of lore- The pale king made a deal with the tribe that they must keep the spiders of Deepnest from gaining access into his kingdom and in turn allowed them to keep all their territory. The mantis lords all agreed though they still begrudged Hallownest and it's rulers. None more so than the eventual Traitor lord.) He wanted to put a permanent end to the war with Deepnest and their contract with Hallownest.

It was always the tribes intent to expand their territory into the West, And after the queen took all of the territory that would become queen's garden, while the mantises fought endlessly to keep the small area of land they had, Lord Timono became especially intent on standing against Hallownest.

Timono was angry, optimistic, and overzealous. He genuinely wanted what was best for his people, And would go to any lengths to achieve that. His more pessimistic and calculating sisters, while in agreement with his motivations, did not agree with his plans for action.

They knew they did not stand a chance taking up arms against Hallownest. He was angry with them, believing them to be cowards. They would very often butt heads over this, and Timono was of course always outnumbered by his sisters so his plans were never put into action.

That is until he began a rebellion against them. Another important aspect of his character, is that he was an excellent leader and motivator. He was the most extroverted of the four by far, incredibly passionate and optimistic as I've said, and after ascending to the rank of lord, he easily gained the favor of a large portion of the tribe.

Traitor Lord's family~

He was married to a war leader, named Mia. Mia had spent almost all her life fighting and dreamt of a peaceful era for the tribe. The two of them bonded over their dreams and ideals.

His wife died shortly after their child was born. (She died in battle against Deepnest.)

Tulian, the name that we've given the traitor's child, was similar to both parents, an idealist who longed for a better future, though much more gentle and patient than her father, And of course eventually becoming much more sympathetic toward Hallownest. Coming to believe that they should find a more peaceful end to the conflict between the lands. Timono loved his child more than anything, and was extremely protective of her, Though her sympathy toward Hallownest did create a rift between them. (The more complex the parent-child relationship, the more obsessed we become, or so go the written legends)

The rebellion and the infection~

Now.. exactly how this plays out in our story, may not be exactly what was implied in game and I acknowledge that. The Hunter's notes about the traitor lord seem to imply that he took in the infection and was then banished from the tribe. But in the backstory we've written it happens the other way around. (Our excuse is that the hunter probably isn't aware of the exact details of the mantis tribes affairs haha)

Anyway this made more sense to our characters,

Basically eventually after attempting for years to get his sisters to agree to expanding their territory into the garden, Timono finally decided to take matters into his own hands and lead a rebellion against his sisters. (He was hopeful that if the tribe would strike during the spread of the infection when their enemy was most vulnerable, they would be able to conquer. his sisters did not agree, civil conflict ensues) He had many followers and the conflict was devastating to the tribe.

He and his followers were defeated and driven from the village. They were branded traitors, and were left to fight for the garden without any support.

Now Tulian wanted to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution with the Queen. This attempt did not end well. Upon being refused his demands the traitor lord lead an attack against the queen, and in the conflict Tulian was killed.

The traitor lord and his warriors retreated into the lower garden, now more devasted and desperate than ever before.

The traitor lord had heard much about the infection over the years. He knew that it was dangerous, but that it granted any bug greater strength, At the cost of their minds. He believed that, as mantises (higher minded beings) that the infection would not be as devastating to their minds as to the common bug. That they would be able to attain some control, And it would be worth it to obtain that strength.

He was also incredibly desperate, and grieving the loss of the last of his family. He believed there was no other option. They were surrounded by enemies on all sides, Hallownest, Deepnest, even their own tribe. So he lead all of his followers in taking in the infection to gain the power of the radiance.

And from there on things are pretty self explanatory..

The future of the mantis tribe~

In our new hallownest happy ending au, the lands of hallownest are all brought together in rebuilding the kingdom and the mantis tribe does get to expand. There are eventually three main villages. The capitol village in the fungal waste, The battleground village in what was once north eastern deepest, And the garden village in what was once northern Queen's garden. As well as roadways between them. Each village is ruled by one of the mantis lords.

A little extra stuff about the whole mantis family and their relationships with each other~

The sisters are all incredibly close, and have been since birth. Siara and Biana are especially in sync with one another in most areas.

They did love their brother, though there has always been some distance between them and him. He looked up to them greatly in his youth and wanted more than anything to be treated equally with them. Something, he felt, never came to be. (The more dramatic the sibling relationship the more obsessed we become, or so go the written legends)

He was closest with Biana out of the three. But her eagerness to please her sisters stood between her siding with him on most matters.

The Lords also all deeply cared for Tulian. Timono was protective, but his sisters were all equally protective aunts. This made the banishment of the traitors all the more devastating to them.

They held much respect for the sister they gained through their brother's marriage as well. A most honorable defender of the tribe, who had been involved in many battles.

Timono loved his wife dearly of course. She was as inspiring to him as he was to her. (The more in love the married couple are with each other, the more obsessed we become, or so go th-)

And Tulian did not get much of chance to know her mother, but was told very many inspiring tales.

This is just the basics and I'll probably add more to it later. We have lots of smaller headcanons about this family as well.

[yellowmasque]

Okay, you guys need to stop

People are actually trying to defend the contradictory, underdeveloped backstory of The Chameleon in Kung Fu Panda by thinking up of every (made up) excuse under the sun. The biggest theory people are using is that Mantis and Shifu are exceptions. Where was that ever said or even implied? In the first movie, it's obvious that people made fun of Po for his fatness, not size. The closest I got with smallness being a thing was Mantis saying something like, "Who am I to judge a warrior based on their size? I mean, look at me." However, did anyone make fun of Mantis, even the villains, for his size? You know Secrets of the Scrolls? You know, the shorts that cover every member of the Furious Five and their struggles before they joined the Furious Five? You want to know what Mantis' struggle was? If you guessed his size, BZRT! You are wrong! It was his patience. His size was NEVER brought up!

Notice how I never mentioned Shifu? Yeah, no one cared about his size, and that was never brought up. Once. Again, not even by the villains, who are supposed to act prejudiced at least a little. It's almost like the writers never cared about his size because size never mattered to them. Ever. Crazy theory, right?

It's a big, giant fact that the writers thought up of her backstory in the last minute. They had ideas, but were scrapped because the director never wanted one in the first place. You want proof? Here you go! Just go to Q14! See? Isn't it great that you have proof for something instead of just mere speculation?! We should do that more!

The. Writing. Is. Bad. Stop trying to pretend that it ever was. It never tried to make sense. It only tried to be a funny panda movie. The fact people are trying to defend a movie franchise that lost its heart (what made it so loved in the first place) is sad.

[merpdaberp]

I disagree with people defending the Chameleon's Backstory

So when Kung Fu Panda 4 came out there was a lot of mixed reception from fans. Some hated it, some liked it or loved it, and others found it fine.

Personally, I think it's fine, I don't hate but I don't like it either. It could've been worse and could've been better.

One thing that always bugs me about fans defending the chameleon's backstory is that keep mentioning the shorts and one animator saying not all dojos were as excepting. Which I have several issues.

1. We don't know if the shorts are canon or not. The shorts are character backstories. Especially in the secrets of the Furious Five and secrets of the scrolls. Fans would mention how some of the dojos didn't accept or respect certain species. They bring up Crane not being accepted because he is skinny and looks weak. That sure is fair enough. But the thing is in the same short we have Mantis kicking ass! Now we don't know much about how Mantis learned Kung Fu. This is another thing I'm skeptical of in the shorts especially Secrets of the Furious Five, as it was Po telling the stories as lessons to kids. So we don't know how accurate they are.

Then we have the secrets of the scrolls. People also brought up but it doesn't make sense as an argument. Like Shifu is a master and he's also small. We even see other Red Panda masters. People say when he gets mad at the five as an example. But people missed the point, He was not mad because they were different species, he's mad because they weren't the people he asked for.

My rule is if it ain't in the actual movie then it ain't canon or brought up at all. Unless DreamWorks actually says they are canon but they haven't. Btw I like the shorts but I wouldn't take them too seriously.

2. People keep bringing up one animator on Twitter who says that not all dojos are as accepting as the Jade Palace. That would've been fine but like, the issue is that it's one animator.

We haven't heard from the others and not even the writers. Also, they said that Secrets of the Scrolls is canon. But my criticism is that she only worked on the fourth movie and not the previous ones. Unless it's her personal opinion or headcanon. But like I said if it ain't in the movie it dosnet count. I wouldn't mind it if we saw a flashback to see it happen, but we never did.

Edit: I should also mention that there might be biases, as it is an actual animator, so of course they would defend their work but there is also a Kung Fu Panda fan. I do not hate Abbey btw, I just think we shouldn't take their word for it. The context was someone asking who would defeat Death from The Last Wish and the Chameleon, Abbey tried to explain it and gave a backstory that was never in the film. As a KFP fan, she used the shorts to explain it.

Now, as I said, there's nothing wrong with that; I just have an issue with certain fans using it to explain the chameleons' backstory. Especially since it's only one person saying it.

3. Even if the dojos were rejected just because of her size. It still doesn't make sense because we already have canonically small masters. Like we literally have a Master Rat that leads an army. We knew this because we the army's battle helmet at the Jade Palace in the third movie.

Heck, even in 4 Po mentions a Master Chipmunk. So how unlucky does the Chameleon to find the right dojo? There are probably dojos out there who specifically train small animals. Heck we even saw them in Secrets of the Scrolls of red panda masters (I know I just repeated myself)

So that's why I disagree with some fans. I feel like there trying to make it sense in their heads which is fine, but they acted as if were in the movie? Like in the film Chameleons just said she was rejected because was small and lowly. Nothing else to flesh it.

So that was my rant and stuff. I gotta go to bed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.

[love-for-faeries-go-burrrr]

Backstory for Rose / Info on Her

taglist: @raccoonfallsharder @saaandy (if y'all want to read it no pressure just some insights into my gal)

Rose's full name is Rose, her people don't do last names

She is a Princess of the Faerie people, but will never be Queen due to having 6 older siblings.

Rose's birth year was close to 1975 Earth years.

Is Peter & Mantis's half-sister through Celestial Ego.

Rose's mother is Queen Belladonna married to King Consort Fern who was a previous war general. They gave birth to 6 healthy children almost back to back.

Rose has a 15-year age gap between her and her closest royal sibling.

Her gem on her forehead? All her people have one, it does a fun thing where it can show memories, basically can make a hologram of past people/memories. Memoires cannot be altered or forgotten. So her people perfectly remember things as least the way they saw them. (Imagine having this power for toxic people, oh you didn't say that?? HAHA I GOT THE HOLOGRAM TO PROVE IT)

Her mother committed adultery with Ego, and when Yondu showed up to collect Rose she stated the child was her husbands, and used her money and power to advantage to keep her daughter from Ego's hands.

King Consort Fern confronted Yondu and Queen Belladonna during this and stated Rose was his blood, knowing that wasn't the case, saying he would stand by his wife if Yondu was willing to fight over this.

Rose's father was very loving but very strict, her birth only stressed her parent's relationship, and she blamed herself for the downfall of their marriage. The worse the relationship became, the harder her father was on her, if he ever were to be gone she needed to be able to fight back.

Rose excels in dance. Every princess/prince is issued a talent on her planet and her talent was being the 'Princess of Dance'

Her father was poisoned when she was around 20 years old, by the 'trusted chef' and a 'duke' although it is speculated Queen Belladonna had something to do with it.

Her mother's abuse was only emotional before this, but brutal training where Rose had no chance of winning and beatings would take place, with her older siblings married off and her father now dead she had no one to protect her.

The first people she confided her abuse in truly were Mantis and Rocket on separate occasions. Coming clean to her older siblings or her people was never an option, because the abuse must've had a reason, must've been a duty she was born to carry.

She is canonically around 40 years old when she meets the Guardians, though she is still a young adult in her people's view, they live to be around 125-150 years old.

When her kind die their body becomes energy that depletes to the surroundings, only the gem from their forehead is left, and there is no burial of bodies.

She was betrothed to a King from a nearby kingdom, he was kind but Rose only saw friendship with him and was carrying out a secret relationship with a female peasant.

The night before her wedding, the peasant broke it off with Rose stating they couldn't risk their future to be with Rose, unknowingly to Rose, they had just taken a bribe from Queen Belladonna to break up with Rose so Rose would carry out with the marriage.

Rose would have carried out with the marriage and force herself to be happy, King Alador was kind and she did care for him as a dear friend. But when she saw her mother's slight smug smile, she ran from the alter, running away with a faerie intergalactic band that had just landed (to perform at her reception).

Met the guardians when she held a small performance with the band, Groot adored Rose right off the bat, but trouble happened when guards showed up to drag Rose back home, by any means necessary as long as she lives. And of course, Rocket has got to help a pretty princess ;) which happens shortly after Vol. 1.

Is a people pleaser and good at reading people a little too good due to a life of walking on eggshells.

Her antennas glow when humming or singing, and can change colors depending on the mood of what she is singing.

Not as skilled as Gamora in hand-to-hand combat but becomes close after training with her.

Rose's wings are usually a disadvantage in fights, unless she is using them for flights they act like a cape, and as Edna Mode said NO CAPES.

Very feminine, adores dresses and high heels, but does get seen as just a 'pretty princess' who is a damsel in distress which does cause headaches sometimes.

Does suffer from episodes of being a perfectionist, it's the way she was raised she must do everything right and perfect and be perfect. Had a panic attack once and Rocket comforted her by sitting there and just letting her pet him.

Rose's powers are similar to Poison Ivy from DC + Isabella from Encanto, she can grow flowers and vines at will but usually needs to use her hands which can be a problem when she is handcuffed.

High intelligence in combat skills due to her father's past experience passed down & high people skills knowing what to say and when. (Can be used to manipulate in the right scenario)

Can feel auras slightly, as I said very good at reading people. Would like Nebula right off the bat after meeting her. Would send her off with a ripe Yaro Root at the end of Vol 2.

Good at herbalism and can in a way grow fruits, can technically grow the vines to grow grapes, but can't just poof grapes out of nowhere if you can get my drift.

Mother Figure to Groot, Friends with Drax, Close Friends with Peter, Friends with OG Gamora, Close Friends with Mantis, Friends with Kraglin, and Friends to Lovers with the one and only Rocket.

Slow burn with Rocket, don't confess to each other until around 2 years of knowing each other, she fears he fears commitment, while he fears he isn't good enough for her / what she is looking for. (Comic Rocket would've bagged her in less than 2 months or more like 2 hours lmao)

Does NOT out her mother's adultery ever in her life, but does hint to her mother she knows the truth and to back off on forcing Rose to marry off someone after she met the guardians. But overall wants her true father's image to remain intact.

If you have any specific questions for my girl feel free to comment I adore when people ask me questions about her.

Art sketches done by: @glow-autumz & @pompompoyo

[nochi-quinn]

candela obscura chapter 3 episode 1: oh god everybody's fucked up

I'm here, I fell asleep and missed the start but I'm here

lmao the immediate note-taking

ur really committing to that voice huh liam

marisha made an older character and liam said hold my dentures

STEAMPUNK JAZZY

heyyyy someone else makes the joke I picked up from a stargate episode 20 years ago

liam what was that look

absolutely love ashly's wig

sam looking like he got hit with a cattle prod

what's a sam reigel

why are we getting oscar's CV

"are they hot"

listen I saw the trailer he 100% uses that chain to beat people with

"no one calls you carey, oscar"

oh no he's hot

oh he's kotallo, that's why

the flat cap does look good on sam, I can't lie

y'all that's gay

I like cordelia's little halo

eloise best character

(maybe that's the look liam was giving ashly, eloise vs elsie)

elsie's a werewolf calling it

yesss the old people guilt trip

liam

oscar: I'm gonna punch a ghost

"you're wearing a ball gown. it's the morning."

the maw??

haha it took me until literally this moment to remember ashly is aloy, my ship is reunited

"I'm using my bullshit detector" did you get that cleared with the gm

I like the term "blood and guts doctor"

I've been watching S1G play Slay the Princess and the more they describe her the more she sounds like a Princess variant

oh no lights

liam you did that on purpose

oh Aadtika (?) is a very pretty name

"lung, heart" liver, nerves

"you have an extra house?" "you don't?"

rajan

"you slick son of a bitch"

he IS a slick son of a bitch

oh sam's being THAT character

prepared to spend three episodes threatening to punch oscar in the head and throw him in the pool

("nochi nobody read your free! livetweets" well maybe they should have)

sam doesn't watch the product

liam always wants to roleplay fish and chips

[picks elsie and raj up and shakes them until backstory falls out]

"I'll be as subtle as I can be" smash cut to him beating someone to death with a chain

the docks seems like a terrible place to play baseball

sam

did they do a dndbeyond for candela?

they did!

sam forgot he was short

"high stakes not for harm" but bc it's funny

rajan: oh I am NOT involved, you made that VERY clear

"don't waste that on me" "I agree"

I'm being gaslit bc I've always pronounced "copse" like "cope" with an "s" in it

shades of the old man at my previous psych office yelling about obama's secret weather machine

"I help by SCREAMING"

grandpa's making a wheel for it

[mabel pines voice] grappling hook!

the way sam rolls dice STILL kills me

oh good, everyone else also thinks they should fuck

"why can't we just be friends? oh right, because I don't like you."

what the fuck's a flashlight

"yeah! temperature play! :D" aabria

"do you go down my little hole" "of course!" aren't y'all divorced

oh no an ot3

don't say degloved that means something else

oh I dig that

werewolf!

lights!

were….thing!

oh no aabria's doing the voice

everything goes black, and you die

l…lights?

breathing?

how could crcw not have prepared me for this

immortal asshole oscar grimm

EXCUSE

oh he's an asshole because he gave up the non-asshole bits to bargain with death

hey sam what the fuck

oh hey ashly. ow.

thump thumps? why?

loud??

imagine if oscar coming back just freaked elsie right back into beast mode

there's another hour left of this wtf happens

yessssss "I'd take a bullet for him but I wouldn't go drinking with him" my beloved

local woman realizing that everyone around her is an absolute freak

liam's startled old man noise

"ohhh I'm not good at that"

ACTION GLASSES

wait I don't understand what he just did

oh he did a drug

little bird ;-;

his WHAT

chairsword!

it glows blue when there are nuns nearby

where's that one digital devil saga monster

I desperately need an artist's rendition of this orca-mantis-thing

excuse me

I keep missing the spelling of his sister's name

"oh god everybody's fucked up"

A WHAT built in his WHAT

augh eye stuff no quiero

is noshir lefthanded?

I kind of half-called that

"that felt like twenty. that was a season."

BEEKEEPER

"do you know you're covered in bees?"

I like my women like I like my coffee

"because yours is super chill"

liam you can uncommit to the voice

(he will not)

"drop the skincare routine"

[raccoonfallsharder]

rose -ˋˏ ༻ʚ𑁍ɞ༺ ˎˊ-

is such a fuckin delightful oc, created by @love-for-faeries-go-burrrr ♡♡♡ who is kind enough to let me draw rose whenever i just wanna paint a woman with cotton candy curls (which is all the time)

look at this sweetie. LOOK AT HER she is a glorious faerie princess, very sweet with nebula, lover to rocket, half-sister to pete & mantis, secret badass with a heart of gold who almost everyone underestimates. she’s the princess of dancing on her home planet and her people have the power to grow various flora and vines — a talent which she uses in battle (along with just being a badass who can hand-to-hand just fine). she also like. ran away from home && left some royal at the altar because her abusive mom was trying to marry her off… with a fuckin intergalactic girl band, if im remembering right. seriously this girl has a complex and rad-as-hell backstory and you should go read it ♡

anyway her beautiful wings were ripped off by thanos in the infinity war battle, but the goddess of her planet’s people eventually gifted them back to her — and ever since reading that story, i couldn’t get it out of my head. i just wanted to draw rose getting her wings back

so anyway here she is. i love her and am always greedy for more of her story

thank you for letting me draw her again, my dear friend ♡♡♡ she’s just too fucken pretty

let me love your OCs masterlist ♡

original rose appreciation post

let me love your OCs masterlist

(more versions behind the cut)

[uhhhyaenbyjade]

Star Wars OC

Here is my Star Wars OC y’all; Jade Onyx! She is a near-human female Gray Jedi! Because no, I cannot help myself from doing all the tropes. Okay? Leave me alone. Also, I added her lightsaber! Constructed with ancient artifacts discovered in the Unknown Regions! Her backstory is under the cut!

Also yes I know the boots aren’t practical. I don’t really care though, since robes are not a good idea for sword fights, and there’s bigger issues in Star Wars that we could be worrying about, like the broken physics of lightsabers and the Force itself 🤣 also i am completely unable to draw different OCs without fishnets and collars/chokers, and I don’t know why I can never do it, lmao

Originally a force sensitive near-human child who was unknown to the Jedi Order, Jade was therefore untargeted during the massacres of Order 66. Living on Coruscant as a merchant, Jade was eventually discovered in 20 BBY, and taken into the custody of the Inquisitors. Out of fear, Jade complied with their demands and answered questions about her past and heritage, and as a reward experiences a marginally smaller amount of torture compared to most prisoners. After months of interrogation, the Inquisitors then tormented her into becoming an Inquisitor.

Becoming the Thirteenth Sister, Jade was constantly competing with the other Inquisitors, most notably the Second Sister; Trilla. However, despite this rivalry, they quickly became fond of each other, and eventually they formed a physical relationship to help alleviate the pain and stress of their lives. When this was discovered by the Grand Inquisitor, both Jade and Trilla were severely punished. Afterwards, Jade decided to commit to leaving the Inquisitorius, and attempted to convince Trilla to leave with her after one last secret night. Failing to do so, Jade escaped Nur by herself, and went deep into the Unknown Regions.

Eventually, Jade landed on an unidentified planet, and discovered ancient ruins of the Zeffo race, who had fled the Known Regions after their culture had collapsed due to their own dogma after they fell to Dark Side. With her powerful yet untrained Force abilities, Jade was thrown into many visions of the remnants of the Zeffo race, and even had brief communications with the last Zeffo Sage, Iefra, and Jade was able to break the hold the Dark Side had on her, and embraced the Light Side of the Force. However, still feeling the pull of the Dark, Jade learned to balance herself as she traveled the Unknown Regions, becoming a Balanced Force User in the process by using both Light and Dark powers.

After losing her Inquisitor Lightsaber during a fight on Jedha, Jade then decided to head for Ilum to obtain a new Kyber Crystal to make her own Lightsaber. There, she met Cal Kestis after his Master’s lightsaber was destroyed on Dathomir, and they assisted each other in finding the Kyber Crystals that called out to them. Using materials that Cal brought with him, as well as artifacts collected by Jade in her adventures, the two craft their sabers; Jade’s being a jagged gray blade due to her not being completely of the Light, but also refusing to let the Dark hold her.

Upon returning to the Mantis, Jade learns about their journey to reestablish the Jedi Order, as well as the obstacles they have been facing in their way. Deciding to trust them, Jade willingly told them her own history with the Trilla, the Inquisitorius, and her subsequent healing, shocking the crew. Afterwards, Jade joins the crew and they head to Dathomir. 

Cal and Jade prepared to head to the Tomb of Kujet, but Jade was bombarded with visions of the Zeffo and their lingering spirits sensing her connection with their descendants. Merrin arrived and helped Jade recover, before listening to Cal explain Taron Malicos’ treachery and deceit, leading Merrin to join them in their mission. The trio fought and defeated Malicos, with Merrin burying him alive. While searching the Tomb, Jade once again is afflicted by visions and spirits, but they help lead the way to the Astrium they were searching for.

When the crew returned to Bogano they find it infiltrated by the Imperials. Cal brought the Astrium to the Vault, and discovered the Holocron, before Trilla revealed herself to fight him. Having a bad feeling, Jade enters the Vault right as Cal grabs Trilla’s lightsaber, becoming incapacitated. Showing herself to Trilla, Jade once again tries to bond with Trilla and convince her to leave the Inquisitorius. However, rightfully angered by Jade’s perceived betrayal, Trilla attacks her former lover, and the two have a brief hand-to-hand battle until Cal returns to consciousness, Trilla escaping as the two recover.

After being knighted by Cere, Cal leads the crew of the Mantis to the moon Nur, where Cere, Jade, and Cal head inside Fortress Inquisitorius to retrieve the Holocron. Jade and Cere fought their way through to access the records of where the Holocron would be stored, while Cal snuck his way following their directions. As Jade and Cere finally reconcile with their past in the Fortress, Cal comes across Trilla in the interrogation chamber. By the time Jade and Cere arrive, Cal has defeated Trilla, and the former two were able to convince Trilla to give up her hate, as they did. 

However, Darth Vader then arrived, and seeing her betrayal, attempted to kill Trilla for her insubordination. However, Jade blasted him with Force Lightning, the power of it making him stumble back. Sadly, when Cere leapt at him to continue the attack, Vader had recovered, and easily sent her flying to her presumed death. While Cal helped Trilla escape, Jade held Vader off for several minutes, only able to do so with her unorthodox blade and her Dark and Light Side abilities. Being able to disorient the Sith Lord enough, Jade quickly followed after the others, fleeing through the Fortress to an underwater tunnel, where Vader once again confronted them. Cere and Jade held Vader off again, as Merrin began teleporting Cal and Trilla back to the Mantis. Seeing no other option, Jade then broke the glass of the tunnel, flooding it and leaving Vader preoccupied so that Merrin could teleport her safely.

With the Holocron now in their possession, Cal decided to destroy it to keep the Force-Sensitive children safe from the Empire. The crew then traveled around the galaxy again, even returning to Ilum so that Trilla could obtain her own Kyber Crystal, and therefore make her own Lightsaber. Jade became a Gray Jedi, and helped Trilla heal from her experiences, the two eventually reforming their relationship. Merrin and Cal also end up in a relationship together, and the crew started their new journey to rebel against the Empire.

--------------------------------

Hope you all enjoyed! Btw, I used several different reference images for my art, editing them once the basic shapes were down. I mainly just got inspired by making a custom LEGO Jedi (as seen with the design of the Lightsaber, with the dragon head hilt and the blade being official LEGO Ninjago pieces), and I really love the lore of Fallen Order!So I figured why not just shove myself into the story? I’m already ruining canon, so lets try it out! Also Trilla be my wife please. 

[catnerdenby]

Whirl

I was planning to do Skyfire or Optimus Prime first but Whirl has consumed my brain now.

So. Whirl, huh? Gotta say, it broke tradition by scanning a mammal, not an insect. And I know it would've made SO much sense for them to be a praying mantis, but like...bat Whirl.

So. They use it/its and they/them pronouns, though they used to use he/him instead of it/its before it was empuranta-ed(?).

They're pretty similar to its MTMTE counterpart personality wise, though they're a bit less intense. Mainly because it's a parent/guardian/responsible figure now.

This is their little scraplet, its reason to keep fighting, just to make a peaceful future for them. Inside it knows though, that it's already too late.

It could rarely be home, since it was one of the few flying Autobots and was often needed in the field, but that didn't mean that they and their sparkling were distant. The opposite really.

Their backstory is very similar to IDW Whirl's but it never became a part of enforcer forces, but isolated themselves from society. There they took up carving, since it couldn't craft clocks no more thanks to those cursed clunky claws.

In order to relieve their frustration, they began carving the people they hated out of metal, and then destroyed the statues. That resulted in the surroundings of their home being littered in destroyed metal statues, which could be mistaken for real corpses.

He was arrested for attacking and killing an officer that came to investigate the reported bodies, and spent a good while in prison. There he became a punching bag, who always punched back.

After that it's again similar to IDW. Recuited by the Autopods (who promised to relieve it of its prison sentence), they became well-known for their su*cidal recklessness, and soon enough was made a part of the Wreckers.

Out on a mission,it accidentally came across a sparkling, who had not yet developed any features, and without being sure why, took the bitlet in. The full name of Red Rust came from the injury Whirl obtained from rescuing them and left untreated for quite a while. Before that they were often called little scrap and scrapling. The nicknames remained after the official name, as Red Rust was very small compared to Whirl (my Bumblebee sized).

Whirl left the Wreckers, as it had found a reason to live again, but as one of the few flyers, he still had to go out on missions.

They kept Red Rust a secret from everyone, until the fateful mission where he went MIA. As it was usual that they were away for long periods of time, the sparkling was fine for quite a while. Then another unfortunate event occurred. A battle happened very near to the place where the two of them lived.

They were found under the rubble (luckily by Autopods) and made a trainee. Unfortunately, Red Rust was slightly scared of heights, due to not having the proper flight training.

Back to Whirl. It was on the Autopod ship that crashed on Earth and thus had no way of getting back to their charge, as it was in stasis with the rest of the Autopods.

Once the crew awakened, they were more aggressive than they used to be. It lashed out at the smallest of things and caused the other Autpods to avoid it, adding to its isolatedness.

That is until the arrival of additional firepower is announced. At first they are furious about the news, but as the date inches closer, it gets excited, which worries the others, as they suspect that they might attempt to sabotage the arrival of the ship.

They are put in the brig, to its anger and frustration, but breaks out and rushes to the landing pad, just in time to witness the landing. It is attempted to be detained again, until they start desperately yelling out:"Red Rust, Red Rust!" Its captors step away in shock, but a shuffle begins among the people and Whirl kneels. A tiny dark bot bursts out from the crowd and into its arms.

After that, Whirl becomes calmer and friendlier, though it's very protective of its sparkling, and will not hesitate to attack anyone who dares to hurt them.

They become closer with the rest of the crew and the new additions as well.

Whirl and Red Rust have synchronised clocks on their chestplates, which will always tick in sync, until one of them dies in which case, the other's clock will stop.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #26: What Is Scorpio?

November, 1987

ZODIAC ATTACK!

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh ZODIAC bluh

Maybe this time will be better. And slash or not as bad.

Its just they’re always so borrrring.

They’re a bunch of astrology obsessed crime bosses, why are they so boring? Or, wait, are they a bunch of LMDs who aren’t even life model decoying anyone because they’re dressed in silly costumes?

What’s the deal?

So last time in West Coast Avengers... uh, I don’t know that anything is relevant that I can’t just explain as I go. Let’s just say that at some recent point, Mockingbird killed someone who kind of deserved it but she didn’t tell Hawkeye because he wouldn’t agree.

Cancer: “All right! The room’s secure, and the full moon’s rising -- and Cancer rules this conjunction of the Zodiac Cartel!”

OH MY GOD YOU HUGE ASTROLOGY NERD.

Also, this conference room looks crowded. It makes me uncomfortable imagining having to sit at that table with all the elbow jostling.

So this issue starts with a lot of contextualizing that I actually really appreciate because what’s the deal with Zodiac? Sometimes they’re crimelords and sometimes they’re robots!

Thankfully, everyone is going to exposit about that until I sort of understand.

Cancer called this meeting to discuss the problem of LMDs.

The LMDs were created by the original Scorpio, Jake Fury, using the Zodiac Key. He wanted to make his own Zodiac group for the express purpose of killing Nick Fury because people that have to interact with Nick Fury tend to want to kill him. All those Christmases of Nick chomping a cigar and yelling ‘goldbricker’ at no one in particular. Terrible.

When the Defenders thwarted Jake Fury’s plan, he killed himself. SHIELD picked up the Zodiac Key and four of the LMDs. The Taurus LMD came after human guy Taurus but Iron Man wound up destroying the LMD. 

But then there was that whole Avengers/West Coast Avengers linked pair of annuals where Quicksilver showed up with a whole new team of Zodiac LMDs from who knows where. The Zodiac Cartel is worried about this because even though the Avengers captured this new LMD team, they escaped recently and are in the wild.

Taurus: “Well, I say we circle our wagons and be prepared for anything they may try!”

Scorpio, with an out-raaageous French accent: “I am veree afraid zat eet ees too late for zat, mon ami!”

Then Scorpio pulls off his mask to reveal... JACQUES LAPOINT! But then he pulls off his JACQUEST LAPOINT MASK TO REVEAL JAKE FURY OH NO!

AND HE BROUGHT A NEW TEAM OF LMD ZODIAC GODDAMMIT!

Cancer calls for guards but oops the All-New All-Different LMD Zodiac team killed all the guards.

And then they kill the whole Zodiac Cartel.

Wow, glad I didn’t bother to care about these guys.

Although... I don’t care about the Zodiac Cartel but... Libra is Mantis’ dad. It was a whole thing. You’d think it’d be more of a thing that he was just killed off. Especially since Steve Englehart is writing this and he’s the one who created Mantis and established all of her backstory and is using her in his Silver Surfer book.

It’s just weird that Libra is killed without fanfare. Apparently, more than ten years later, it’s going to be revealed he just faked his death. By ragdolling and holding really still, I guess.

Anyway, even counting Libra playing dead, the LMD Zodiac missed a spot. Taurus, Cornelius van Lunt, is alive and yells at Scorpio for destroying this astrology-enthusiast cartel he’d put his life into creating.

Scorpio claims he left Taurus alive on purpose, so he could kill him last. But Taurus dodges the blast from the Zodiac Key, falls through the damaged floor, and down into the mall below.

Wait. The Zodiac Cartel met in a secret conference room above a mall??

Scorpio chases after Taurus but Taurus manages to escape into the Houston Tunnels. Scorpio is reluctant to give chase because he’s worried the Marlboro Men will grab him. Iiiiii don’t know what that’s about. But point being, there’s a bull loose in a mall.

Also in the area, civvies Mockingbird is meeting an old SHIELD friend named Josyane to get the dirt on how Nick Fury is doing recently.

He’s still in a holding pattern of dealing with SHIELD internal issues because I think the Nick Fury vs SHIELD book was still delayed but the hints about what was coming have already been seeded so he’s just. Stuck in that pre-book state forever.

Josyane also has an outrageous French accent.

She asks Mockingbird if she wants to help Nick but Mockingbird says she wants to but Nick is a dumb idiot macho man and won’t accept her help because she’s an ‘outsider.’

Although, Mockingbird was really more interested in getting Nick to help her. She was hoping he’d have sorted out his shit by now so he’d have time to listen to her problems. She wants his spy advice because she had to lie to Hawkeye to his face about Phantom Rider.

Because of how she let him die for drugging her into being his girlfriend and how she doesn’t think Hawkeye will understand. But also she doesn’t like lying to him.

I guess she was hoping Nick Fury would tell her not to feel bad about it?

Mockingbird meets civvies Moon Knight and Hawkeye.

Moon Knight Marc Spector is giving Hawkeye a “crook’s eye tour of L.A.” since Moon Knight’s first case was infiltrating the L.A. underworld.

AND THAT is why Moon Knight’s first appearance was as a one-off Werewolf by Night villain who was hired to murder a werewolf. It was all part of him infiltrating werewolf hating crime.

Anyway, civvies Moon Knight Marc Spector means he’s appearing without his mask and he’s told the Avengers his name.

Mockingbird tells him he didn’t have to tell them his name. Avengers are allowed to have secret identities. Sure, none of the rest of the West Coast Avengers have a secret identity so it’d be awkward if Marc was the- well, actually, Iron Man probably won’t hang out without his mask around Marc. He only hangs out of armor because he knows and trusts the rest of the team.

ANYWAY.

Moon Knight: “Keeping secrets screwed up my life royally once! Besides, if we’re all Avengers, we need to be straight with each other!”

Mockingbird: “Well, we’re not all Avengers yet! You’re a provisional member, officially, until the rest of us vote otherwise!”

Moon Knight: “Oh sure, officially! But I’ll be accepted -- I’m certain of that!”

Hawkeye: “Good! A chairman likes to hear confidence in his troopers!”

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Iron Man and Dr Pym in his floating self-aware ant airship have a little practice spare to polish up Hank’s skills so he can rejoin the team.

Which you just can tell Tony is super excited about. He wants to be on a superhero team with one of his oldest friends again! He’s felt so weird with Hank hanging around managing the Compound.

But as soon as they finish their spar and land what do you know its a bull market.

Wait. Uh... no I don’t have a better joke. Taurus is there with his Star-Blazer gun.

But even though he has a gun(?) pulled, he quickly says he’s not here to fight the Avengers. He needs their help.

I guess Iron Man and Dr Pym are intrigued by this because we see the rest of the team receiving a message from Iron Man telling them to meet at the West Coast Avengers Compound ASAP to meet “a very strange visitor.”

Mockingbird, Hawkeye, and Moon Knight are still cruising around town and swing the car around as soon as they get the message.

Adorably(?), Tigra is chasing a squirrel around. Not to eat. Just for enrichment reasons. I like to believe that specific squirrel is one of Squirrel Girl’s squirrel friends and this story got back to Squirrel Girl at one point and misled her for a while into thinking that Tigra could ALSO speak to squirrels.

Also, I think one of the decorative teeth(?) on her superhero panties are a communication device?

Last up to receive the alert is Simon Williams Wonder Man, who is in a meeting at a restaurant on the Sunshine Strip about a three picture movie deal. WITH a cut from the gross and script approval.

That’s what Simon is asking for but the people he’s meeting are reluctant to agree to it. Sure, Arkon IV has early buzz but its only just got released. How do they know that Simon is such a hot commodity.

But Simon gets the alert and takes off because he’s committed wholeheartedly to the Avengers.

He leaves his agent Mike behind to finish the deal and Mike points out, after Simon leaves, that Simon is totally going to be on the news tonight hint hint.

The movie men get the hint hint about a celebrity superhero movie actor getting free publicity and agree to the three picture deal.

Congrats, Simon!

Everyone arrives at the West Coast Avengers Compound and Taurus explains that the LMD Zodiac destroyed the Zodiac Cartel that he worked so hard for so dammit he wants the Avengers to help take them down.

Hawkeye is like yeah, no doubt we’ll do something about the LMDs but not for you, jerk.

And narrates for the Avengers who weren’t around at the time what a dick Cornelius van Lunt is.

Remember the time he hired the Avengers to work for him after putting money man Tony Stark in a bind? Insidious.

Okay, but also he and Zodiac built a giant Star-Blaster that would kill every Gemini in Manhattan. Because the Zodiac Cartel are astrology obsessed and also monsters.

Zodiac also messed with Rhodey Iron Man when Stark Industries or whatever was moving out to California.

Taurus: “I don’t deny it, Hawkeye! It was because of my recent encounter with Iron Man that I went to him for help! But the LMDs are a far greater foe! Unlike the human Zodiac members, who were chosen by their birth signs but were, like all humans, fully rounded -- the androids act precisely like their signs! They represent twelve pure forces! And yet -- that is also their greatest weakness!”

Taurus promises that he’ll use his astrology know how to help the Avengers figure out where the LMD Zodiac will strike.

Moon Knight raises the point, uh, then won’t you just go and create a new Zodiac Cartel after you use the Avengers to clear the competition? Doesn’t sound great for the heroes.

So Moon Knight uses his own astrology knowledge from his interest in the MOON. The Moon is, apparently, in Taurus right now. That’s significant, probably. Astrology. So Moon Knight tells Taurus to swear “by all you hold dear” that if the Avengers help him, he’ll go straight and never to crime again.

Taurus agrees but asks why Moon Knight would take him at his word if he does promise. Which the Avengers (West Coast) area also wondering. They might also be wondering why the provisional member is leading this interrogation. Overstepping a little, Moon Knight!

Moon Knight: “I’ll take his word because the Moon’s in Taurus -- and he and I both understand the power of the night sphere --!”

... Yup. That’s the answer I expected from Moon Knight who joined the Avengers because he thinks god wants him to.

Taurus: “Well, I’m a hard-headed businessman, Avenger, and I must confess, I’m a little disappointed that you’d base your decision on such ephemera as faith -- but as I say, I swear I’ll tread the straight and narrow if you destroy the LMDs!”

But

Taurus’ thoughts: What an idiot! These idealistic heroes will never understand the hard realities of life -- but perhaps they’ll learn a little something by how fast I recreate Zodiac once they’ve done my work for me!

Moon Knight is going to be so disappointed in him.

Anyway, Taurus predicts, based on the Moon being in Taurus and local events that would be tempting...

SCENE CUT TO THE LMD ZODIAC ATTACKING A BREEDER’S CATTLE AUCTION IN WHICHITA!

Huh. So. The Moon’s in Taurus so they’re pulling a cattle heist.

That should be endearingly goofy but yet I still hate Zodiac.

Scorpio kills one of the cattle with the Zodiac Key to establish that he can and will kill things with the Zodiac Key. Then he tells all the “good ol’ boys” to hand over all their bidding money. LMDs have expenses. Cartel rebuilding expenses.

See, if you hadn’t wiped out the whole Zodiac Cartel, you could have taken it over. That was shortsighted. You’d already infiltrated it as Scorpio, ya dingus.

Anyway, Avengers show up and assemble.

Iron Man and Wonder Man go right for Scorpio but he’s able to use the Zodiac Key to ward them off.

Wonder Man apparently still has a chip on his shoulder about Iron Man. So I guess that needs to be addressed eventually.

When Iron Man shoots a repulsor at Scorpio and the Zodiac Key blocks it:

Wonder Man: “I knew beams wouldn’t stop anything -- but now that I’m committed to the Avengers, I’m not going to worry about Iron Man’s mistakes! I’m just going to make sure the team comes out on top!”

I mean. Its a step in the right direction.

Because there’s a lot more Zodiac LMDs than there are Avengers, Zodiac is able, in many cases, to gang up on the Avengers.

Tigra gets to have a catfight with the Leo and Virgo LMDs. ‘Cause, see, she’s fighting a cat and a woman. The two things she is. Oh, the chaos of combat. You sure are random.

Tigra for her part tells Virgo to fuck off. She only wants to have a catfight with Leo.

Moon Knight fights.... uh... I guess Cancer. He has claws. But MK also muses that van Lunt steered (ha cattle pun) them right. But he would, wouldn’t he? His sudden, yet inevitable betrayal would only come after you finished the LMDs. Which Moon Knight even realizes, that it’d be dumb to trust van Lunt without further proof.

Pisces and... Aquarius attack Dr Hank Pym. Hank notes that some of the LMD designs have been changed.

Pisces: “With LMDs, human, you can always refine the essence toward greater purity!”

Aquarius: “Spoken like a Pisces -- .”

Dr Pym: “Well, speaking like a Pym, I’m refining my essence without rebuilding my body -- like this!”

And he pulls out a doohickey that redirects Aquarius’ gun blast to blast Pisces instead.

Hank’s pockets of holding sure are handy.

Hawkeye fights... LMD Taurus annnnnd Sagittarius. Firing a gas or some arrow at them, for some reason. Although, Vision has demonstrated that drugs sometimes work on mechanical lifeforms.

Libra and Gemini fight Mockingbird and try to flank her so she can’t use her pole on both of them. So she breaks the pole into two staves and bonks them. It’s basically her secret move to attach or detach her staves.

Iron Man has broken off from fighting Scorpio since Wonder Man has that covered and has used his repulsors to pin down Aries, Virgo, and Capricorn.

Tony references settling scores with Virgo since when they met in West Coast Avengers Annual #1, she took him out of the fight pretty easily by draining his armor of energy.

I hate the Zodiac because I have to keep referencing the wiki to figure out who is who. Twelve is ridiculous for a villain team! Especially since they barely have any exciting powers! Capricorn’s power is that she climbs good! NOTICE HOW ITS NOT USEFUL IN THIS FIGHT??

Sigh.

Back over at Hawkeye, he’s met a match in Sagittarius, who he says is almost as good as he is.

But Taurus tackles Hawkeye and throws off his aim. The arrow that he intended to not hit Sagittarius right in the robot heart hits Sagittarius right in the heart.

And he dies. Robot dies.

Uh oh, fervent anti-murder guy Hawkeye manslaughtered another man. Robot man.

While the West Coast Avengers are briefly distracted by a robot death rattle, Leo capitalizes on the moment to get the upper hand on Tigra. But Mockingbird and Moon Knight take advantage of Leo’s focus on Tigra to simultaneously bonk him from behind.

Pisces exclaims that she foresaw Sagittarius’ death in a PROPHETIC DREAM and they gotta bug out now or it’ll mean disaster!

She freaks out and runs, then Cancer decides ‘hey why not’ and jumps on the bandwagon.

An annoyed Scorpio decides to order a retreat rather than fight on three LMDs (or more?) down. He busts a corral to distract the West Coast Avengers with a stampede and the LMD Zodiac run awayyy.

After the Avengers off-screen re-corral the cows, Hawkeye has time to feel feelings about killing a robot man.

Hawkeye: “I didn’t mean to kill the guy -- !”

Dr Pym: “It wasn’t real Hawkeye! Just like Ultron -- not real!”

Geez, Hank. Is that how you’ve coped with your robot son Mark the Ultron dying? You’ve decided he wasn’t a real boy and you don’t need to feel anything about it?

That’s cold.

Is Vision real to you, you monster??

Jokes aside, I think by the standards of when robots are real boys in comics, the Zodiac LMDs are. They may be monomaniacally obsessed with astrology but they still fear death and can express complex, stupid ideas.

Anyway, Hawkeye being sad about manslaughtering a robot man makes Mockingbird worry anew how Hawkeye will react if he learns about Phantom Rider.

It being brought up so often makes me think we’re going to find out soon.

The narration even teases “someday we’ll find that out, but not this day!”

Anyway, in the secret base of the LMD Zodiac, Scorpio lambasts Pisces for causing a panic. He accuses her of causing the disaster she foretold. Self-fulfilling prophecy! He also calls her wimpy, watery, and washed-up because alliteration is keen.

Pisces defends herself saying that she was just acting according to her nature.

I dunno know more than the bare minimum about astrology but sure, that sounds reasonable.

Scorpio doesn’t take it a fitting excuse but he gets the yelling out of his system by yelling at Leo when he steps in to defend Pisces.

And he tells them that the loss of Sagittarius doesn’t matter because any of the LMDs (except Scorpio, one presumes) can be easily replaced using the Zodiac Key.

And as soon as the ten other LMDs do leave, he does make a new Sagittarius.

Scorpio: “There! There, high in the sky at this moment, is the sign of Sagittarius -- ! From it I draw the energy I need to form a new LMD -- a most ingenious LMD -- for who but I am the master of the Key?!!”

To Scorpio, this seems as good a time as any to recap his backstory.

Villains love exposition. They love captive audiences for it and if they don’t have an audience they love to announce it to thin air.

So the Scorpio story summarized: He tried to kill brother Nick Fury at the SHIELD field office in Las Vegas but he failed and was presumed dead when his escape ship blew up.

But Scorpio Jake Fury found himself standing over the Zodiac Key and the original Scorpio. So I guess the one that died was the meat Jake Fury. Anyway, LMD Scorpio used the key to try to kill Nick Fury again but failed and lost the key. But then got it back.He decided to go after Nick Fury again again and created his first team of Zodiac LMDs. But the Defenders and Moon Knight helped thwart him. So Jake Fury Scorpio shot himself. But then he standing over a dead Scorpio so I dunno what’s going on anymore but Scorpio declares that the answer to “Who is Scorpio?” is “The one who died -- over and over!”

And the Zodiac Key talks to him. Whudda thunk?

Zodiac Key: “Yes, Jacob Fury -- because you were the first to hold me in this realm! You and I are inescapably linked -- and your spirit will live as long as mine, even with your flesh lost to artificial substance! Your mind could not initially hold the idea that you had died and been reformulated, so it was enough that you believed yourself a different human -- until you could accept what I had done for you!”

Okay, so that explains that. Probably.

Probably. I’m not wasting brain cells trying to untangle the continuity of Jake Fury of all characters.

Anyway.

THE NEW SAGITTARIUS!

Finally, an LMD that’s actually life model decoying!

Was that so hard, comic?

Next time... Avengers. Both books are finally synchronized at December, 1987. Gotta let the East Coast team shine too.

Follow @essential-avengers​ for reasons. Like and reblog if you too don’t like Jake Fury Scorpio. If you do like him, like and reblog to confuse me.

[chevvy-yates]

How about beloved Ryder!

Oh, I'm always ready to talk about my black sheep of the family <3 Since I saw no number, I'll just do all of them, so this is probably going to be super long. I'll set a cut somewhere.

01. Full name:

Ryder's full name is Gilbert von Scharfenberg. He hates his real name for a good reason: his family – wealthy pure German Corpo blood. Basically no one knows that he's a Scharfenberg either – except for Vijay, because he was the one who deleted all of Ryder's data soon after he left his old life behind. So, basically if you scan him it would only show 'Ryder' and nothing else (I still write it out here on tblr completely bc it sounds so damn good <3). As soon as the family moved to the NUSA, Ry started calling himself 'Ryder' using it as his nickname from now on. It comes from the German surname 'Reiter' (rider, horseman), which was his first love's surname (who sadly died, getting shot by a Cyberpsycho during a rave in a club in Berlin).

02. Best friend:

Ryder's bestie is Vijay Steyr. They know each other since 2071. Vijay is the guy who helped Ryder out of his old life (mentioned above). They didn't met in person back then but their paths crossed a while later again: they ran into each other at a Depeche Mode party, talked, became buddies, then also lovers shortly after. The relationship lasted about a year and they parted for reasons everyone understood and accepted. Ryder rarely saw V the following year, because he needed a bit time and was busy with his own life/job, but Vijay eventually began to contact him again in 2074 when he got into buisness with Jackie doing merc jobs. They needed someone on the front and Ryder was the best guy Vijay could think of since he has mantis blades and a good know how about Militech and Corpo things as well. After Jackie died on a secret job neither V nor Ry knew about, the bond between the two got stronger again and today (2077/78) they are best friends. If you listen to their talking you could also say they sound like an old married couple. Ryder would protect V with his own life and it's vice versa. Vijay was there for him in his worst times, helped him to settle into his new 'street kid' life and most of all: pep talked Ry all the time tearing that wall down he had built up for years. Vijay is defnitely the reason why Ryder feels content with himself and smiles so often now.

03. Sexuality:

Ryder is openly gay. He doesn't look a lot like one in the first place, but he is. He's always been gay because he never had any sexual interest in women since he can think. Only the opposite gender doesn't seem to notice and he had to refuse a lot of times giving him a hard time to express it in words. He also feels kinda awkward when a woman shows a bit more affection towards him than the usual (he's better with friends after a while), so forgive him for behaving like a douchebag. Sadly he couldn't live out his sexuality for many years because of his family. But since he got away he was finally free to do what he wanted. He's no go-getter though. It's the contrary – he's too shy to make the first move. And that's probably why he's been single a long while as well after the relationship with V (who's the go-getter ofc).

04. Favorite color:

Ryder loves black. He knows there are people who don't accept black as a color. For that phrase he's got another answer: purple and green. Besides black, it's these colors he loves (he just won't wear anything purple nor green). Purple like amethysts he collects and (dark) green like the mysterious German forests he misses a lot.

The rest is under the cut for those who are interested in reading more about him. Beware, it really has gotten long!

05. Relationship status:

Ryder is off the single market. After I created him back in Sep 2022, I already had Vijay flirting with @nervouswizardcycle's Arki (<3), so my original idea of V and Ry together couldn't last and was made into a backstory part instead since I still like that ship that formed in my head when Ryder was only an idea. However, I couldn't imagine him with any official npc and looking for some possible other oc over here didn't bring me much further, and also with no one making a real move either (I waited for it like Ryder would do), I decided just a few weeks back that my boy shouldn't be lonely for so long. It made me sad having to look at him knowing his profile still said 'single', so I sat down and created another oc for him: So, yes! His love interest is Thyjs De Wit.

06. Ideal mate:

Ryder's ideal mate is @nervouswizardcycle's Arki. Arki turns out to be his best gay buddy. There's just ideas existing right now but I'm loving it! The two literally don't like each other at first — well it's more Ryder who has a grudge against Arki, but he will find out soon enough that the two are much alike in many things I don't wanna name now bc it could be possible spoilers for some future fanfiction. However, Arki will be a good mate for Ryder: giving tips in training for battle, trying to control his anger, but also the guy to go shopping with (bc Arki is fashionista, baby!). And the two may have many evenings where they get drunk, laughing over stupid anti-jokes (where V just shakes his head and Thyjs also doesn't find it laughable) and watching a shit ton of anime if they don't do stupid stuff in the city. They are both Scorpios and this is a certain vibe you can't turn off easily once they come together.

07. Turn-ons:

Bottom lip biting. It seriously turns Ryder on when you go from casual busses to biting down onto his bottom lip. He sees that as an invitation to get more passionated. Hard lollipops. The meaty kind. He likes a man's best piece a lot. Especially when they have a beautiful shape and tint. Loud, hard rave beats. Eespecially when it has some naughty lyrics it kind of turns him on. If the right person is with him, this may be a chance for making out on the dancefloor, vanishing into a darkroom or just go somewhere else to get dirty.

08. Favorite food:

Pistachio ice cream. In generall he loves pistachios: salted or not, in combination with chocolate, ice cream – everything pistachio – give it to him. You'll make him be a happy pistachio.

09. Crushes:

Thjys De Wit. He's going to crush on him the first time he meets that Dutch pale soldier boy — Thyjs literally zapped him. There's a lot of pining from Ryder's side. Vijay, however will notice and tries to encourage him to make the first move since Thyjs is not a go-getter either (and has to cope with his own feelings for Ry as well at first). It's gonna be interesting. Don't wanna tell too much, though.

10. Favorite music:

Ryder is a true Raver. <3 He lives for hard and dark techno beats. There's nothing better than that ever enduring repeating bass under his feat. It keeps him going, helps him to vent off his never ending anger for a while, keeps the beast within at bay, while he moves to those amazing loud eletronic beats combined with unreal but also beautiful accompaning melodies. Ryder also listens to Industrial and New (German) Wave.

11. Biggest fear:

His biggest is facing his superior again. He fears nothing more than is father: Wilhelm von Scharfenberg — now CEO of Militech HQ in Night City. There is another one: He's afraid of losing control over the beast within him completely, hurting those close to him. He doesn't know where it came from, it was there one day, accompanying him ever since. It lusts for blood mostly so the chance it takes over in a heavy fight during a job is pretty high. Once he's in a killstreak for too long, he's unable to stop and literally goes berserk. Therfore he has asked his best friend Vijay to take control and stop him if the situation gets tricky. He's got a special mod installed that allows Vijay to hack into Ryder's Berserk Operating System making him able to reset it since the beast seems to feed heavily from this system. Ryder's Mantis Blades will receive an order to retract and he gets unconscious for a short amount of time to make sure he's gonna be stopped. If that case happens and the situation is tricky, someone must be right there to protect Ryder for that time since he will be unable to defend himself. Before every job V double checks the mod and renews the codes to make sure everything works. Ryder isn't exactly proud to always leave a mess of blood puddles, organs and dead bodies behind. It scares him as well since it has gotten worser over time. It's his greatest wish that the beast within vanishes one day the same way like it showed up.

12. Biggest fantasy:

To fly to the moon. Ryder loves space and the universe since he was a small boy. He dreamed to be a space pilot one day, flying people or cargo to the moon. He would love to walk on it as well, feel the lack of gravitiy when he jumps. The moon is very fascinating to him. He's amazed by the surface, all the pattern the craters made, the grey tones. And he very much would love to see how earth looks seen from up there. If you suspected something sexual instead: To have hot, dirty, greasy sex in a tank. Specifially in a retro WWII model.

13. Bad habits:

Ryder has a obsessive-compulsive disorder. He sees himself forced to align everything neatly and symmetrically. He will do it all the time: at home, during shopping, sitting at the table in the Afterlife, aligning billard balls in the Coyjote Cojo, staple Vijay's vinyls in his apartment (he even tidies up V's apartment at times bc Vijay is a bit chaotic). His own apartment is clean and simple, every bottle in the shelf faces with the ettiket, books are placed ordely and even pillows on his bed sit how they should and so on. Besides that Ry is still super fidgety. He can't sit still. It mainly has to do with background music everywhere, so he's bobbing e.g. his leg all the time. But he also constantly needs to play around with something in his hands. He can't sit still longer than five minutes and then repositions. The only times he's not fidgety is when he's sleepy or in fact sleeping. Once he falls asleep he likely won't turn around much and stay in the position he feell asleep in.

14. Biggest regret:

The missed oportunity to run away earlier. His decicion to leave his Corpo life happend when he was already 21. If he had left earlier, he would probably live in Italy now together with Tommy Reiter, his first love, who would probably still be alive as well. Tommy wanted to go away with him, but Ryder was too scared to do it back then, still being a teen.

15. Best kept secrets:

That he's Corpo – a von Scharfenberg. As already mentioned, only Vijay knows about that. Ryder did literally everything for not looking like a Corpo anymore: changed visually completely with adding cyberware, new eyes, getting tattoos including scarifications (to cover own scars), changed his hairstlye, grew a messy beard, trained like a mad-man to gain some muscles for not having to watch the thin useless Corpo boy in the mirror he once was. Starting the life of a so called street kid. His Corpo attitude sadly comes trough at times (and can be extremely helpful for some missions as well). In some cases he sees himself on the high horse thinking he's better than anyone else (but Vijay reminds him of that).

16. Last thought:

Maybe 'Bitte ein Bit'? Idk man, but I have the feeling that Ryder's last thought ever will definitely have something to do with beer.

17. Worst romantic experience:

When he decided to try out bottoming for once in his life. It was a good experience at first but it ended with something unexpected: receiving an exceptionally good fuck that caused him to feel like a supernova seeing stars all over brought some negative connotaion with it: he entirely lost control over his body making him have his mantis blades spring out ready for action. Nobody died though, but it was Vijay who topped him and V has a huge trauma concerning blades … So once both finally relized what actually happened, Vijay got off and fell into a shock he was unable to explain to him. And Ryder ofc was shocked by the thought that he can lose control that hard by just getting railed (the beast within was just evolving and a minor problem btw). The situation could have turned out much worse that night. And this situation is also the cause for their break-up in the end, with both really feeling bad about it: Vijay because he wasn't able to tell him why and Ryder for losing control that hard in such a situation. Since then Ryder never bottomed again, because he can't allow himself to let it happen again.

18. Biggest insecurity:

Ryder has had a lot of insecurities — still has. His biggest besides him not being able to live up to his father's Corpo ideals is probably that he (still) feels he is/was not good enough for anything or anybody. This situation started early in his childhood and reached the worst high as soon as he had to start working at Militech unable to do anything right (he hated this work and it wasn't what he wanted to do), nonetheless he tried hard to make his superior satisfied, but it was quite the contrary in the end. He was treated by his family like ballast they had to carry through, got bullied by co-workers and therefore fell into a huge hole of depression. It took him a long time (and quiet a lot of Vijay's patience) to accept that he's good enough in what he does. Vijay told Ryder more than once, that he is valued, that he is thankfull for Ry's support, and that people appreciate him and that he is a good person. He still does and it is impotant to reward Ryder constantly with nice and cheering words otherwise he's prone to worry about it again. Ryder still has a lot of trust issues towards new people to this day.

19. Weapon of choice:

answered here.

20. Role Model:

Vijay of course. Ryder looks up a lot to his best friend. He wishes he could be more like him. Capable of leading, always having an answer to everything, understand the realm of netrunning, his entire positive character and warm personality, looking forward and not back, the ability to stay friendly towards literally everyone (Vijay is good in hiding his disgust for someone if he want's to, but most of the time he lets people know when he doesn't like them).

[naughtygirl286]

So yes we finally went to see Guardians of the galaxy Vol.3 and yes there was some collectable goodies for this one too which you can of course see here.

Now as for the movie itself I though it was amazing! it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters and for one they will be missed. but I'm sure they will appear again in future MCU movies but of course just not as the Guardians of the Galaxy of course and at the very end it says Star-Lord will return. So we will see him again as for the other I'm not sure but we'll have to wait and see

but anyway yes the movie was excellent The acting, the visuals, the action and the emotion was all amazing, I would say I loved pretty much everything minute of it.

The story is basically this Knowhere is attacked by Adam Warlock who was sent by none other then the High Evolutionary Who wants Rocket Raccoon. The Guardians fight him him but Rocket is seriously injured and the Guardians of the Galaxy set off on a daring mission across the cosmos in order to save Rocket and confront the High Evolutionary over his nefarious plans and learn the secret ties between him and the creation of Rocket Raccoon.

like I said the movie is excellent and I would say partly do to the writing and directing it was funny when it needed to be dramatic and serious when it needed to be and emotionally charged when it needed to be.

I was happy to finally see Adam Warlock on the big screen but I didn't think he got as much screen time as I thought he would have and I thought. The person playing him Will Poulter I thought he did a great job, I have always seen the character as kind of serious but this version is a bit more comedic in a way I felt and I think he kind of balances that so I thought he did a great job also I thought the introduction of the High Evolutionary as the movies villain was good as well and I thought Chukwudi Iwuji who plays the character did a great job as well and I am enjoying them bringing some of these huge "cosmic" characters like Ego the Living Planet, Kang the Conqueror,Eternity,The Celestial to name a few. but everyone who reprised their roles did and excellent job.

The movie is funny when it needs to be there is quite a few jokes and gags and you have to laugh at the bickering between Drax and Mantis that is hilarious all on its own and of Nebula gets pulled into it at times too which makes it even more funny

The action and stunt work is awesome too watching this is just pure fun and the visuals are I thought were a bit mind blowing the movie is truly a visual spectacle you have to probably see it just for that All the production design is amazing I'm also happy that they finally got to wear their comic book uniforms in this one too but yeah all the creatures and aliens are imaginative and all the visuals involving Rocket/Groot and any other character was perfect, I feel the work they did on Rocket was turly amazing to the point where he looked, acted and felt like a real live creature that was onset with everyone else

The music for this was perfect too each song just fit were it should and work perfectly in the frame of the movie and yes this was a very emotional ride of a movie especially concerning Rocket and his backstory truth be told I did tear up through all that, it was very very sad at points so I couldn't help it

but yeah like I said the movie is amazingly excellent it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters so if you love the other stuff they were in and enjoyed these characters I would highly recommend going to see this last chapter.

also yes there is some credit scenes there is one mid and one end for this

[man--eater]

Hello! I’m loving Daphne’s Goetia design, her wings are beautiful. I’m curious about her paternal heritage, how did a Goetia fall in love (or at least in lust) with a Hellborn/Demon?

Thank you so much for the ask! It makes my day to know someone is interested in my writing 😭 I’m glad you like her design, it was fun to puzzle out. We meet Daph’s dad in a few chapters!

Daphne’s father is an orchid mantis sinner demon named Orpheus. He is a talented musician, particularly with string instruments (the extra pair of limbs—his raptorial claws—are a big advantage here). He was a wandering starving artist for several years after arriving in Hell, honing his skills and building up some mystique around himself, though he was never near being a household name. Handsome, charming, and utterly unreliable, Orpheus left a trail of no-show gigs and broken hearts in his wake—he could never settle down, and would slip away quietly to the next city, the next gig, the next muse. He was hired to perform at several Goetia events and ceremonies, and even managed to show up to most of them. Orpheus happened to be playing the harp at a lavish royal birthday party that the Goetia princess Alstroemeria (and granddaughter of Paimon) was attending. It was immediately electric between them—he found his Muse, the one whose beauty and grace would inspire his music forever, and she was swept off her feet by the forbidden romance of it all. They courted in secret and fell in love, and when Alstroemeria’s mother found out, she effectively disowned her daughter. But instead of being forced to never see Orpheus again, Alstroemeria’s punishment was to marry him and be cast out of her House, to live in a small, forgotten estate in the Pride ring. They thought they had gotten away relatively unscathed, all things considered, and they had Daphne. But the intense, consuming passion that had driven them began to fade. Alstroemeria began to realize just what she had given up by leaving her family to marry a penniless sinner demon—love could not put clothes on her back, or food in her child’s belly, and Orpheus was too inconstant to hold down a steady job. He grew distant from both Alstroemeria and Daphne, longing for the road and the freedom to follow his passion for music. Resentment festered between Orpheus and Alstroemeria, and they were both too self-absorbed to care that their little daughter was watching them fight. One day Orpheus said he was leaving for work and did not come back. He mailed Daphne postcards at first, but they grew less and less frequent before finally stopping altogether. Alstroemeria was not permitted to petition for divorce, but she took control of her house and her life. She grew more critical of and harsh on Daphne in an attempt to force her to be stoic and strong enough to handle life as a half-breed Goetia exile. On the rare occasions that Orpheus came to visit, he always seemed slightly surprised that were not overjoyed to see him. He does love them both, in his way, and is doting and affectionate with Daphne, but she knows she never was his priority and never will be. It is no surprise, therefore, that Daphne has a dim view of love and romance, and has never sought either.

Well this turned into more of an essay than i meant it to, but it was fun brainstorming his backstory with my friends in discord <3 Thanks again for the ask, this helped me hammer a lot of things out!!

[tarnishedxknight]

Thank you for sharing so much about your writing process with us, Silence 🖤 Have, in exchange, Mantis and Drax sharing a bear hug!

Years ago a friend of mine who is also a mun (they had a few MCU muses amazingly written) realized that I would stop writing for weeks or months when I wasn’t doing great, but I would always go back to writing. And this friend would tell me that “if you’ve tried to quit writing many times and you always come back to it, that’s because there is something in you that needs to write”. That’s what makes you a writer. Not being able to write novels anymore? That’s understandable. But you keep writing and therefore you are a writer. I hope this makes you feel better.

I’ve already told you I think your writing is amazing but I want to remind you, because I genuinely believe so! You disappear behind your muses even when they have very different personalities and that’s not easy. Watching you, I learn, and incorporate that when I’m writing Mantis but also Rocket, for example. I try to make sure they have completely different ‘voices’, vibes, body language, choice of words, etc. I learn so much from you.

I think you should be proud of yourself because regardless of how people responded to it, you wrote a book and held it in your hands. That is my dream. I don’t expect to become a professional writer, but my dream is to hold my own book in my hands. Now… I would love to become a horror writer, so… I’m pretty sure my grandpa won’t love what I wrote the same way your grandpa did, but that’s okay. That’s also why Mantis is one of my favorite muses; her backstory is something straight out of a horror film. The amount of literal skeletons on Ego’s closet creeps even Nebula out. I love my bug daughter so much because she’s a ray of sunshine, but not enough people realize the secrets of her past. One of the biggest untold stories of the MCU. This ladybug has seen some horrors so of course I’m like LET ME ADOPT HER.

I think if you’re struggling to write novels, you could write a bunch of short stories and possibly even publish them as an anthology. It’s what I want to do. I don’t have the focus, mental health or energy I need to write a novel right now, it’s a process that takes so much from you. Writing short stories is much easier, like really short, you write 4-5 pages and move on to the next story. That’s easy. I plan to write many short stories, all of them horror, and eventually they’ll be enough to fill a book. I want to write a novel someday but for now this is good, just wanted to share that idea with you. You don’t need to write a novel to publish a book.

I do have some questions since you said it’s okay to ask. How did you pick names for your characters? How do you disappear behind your characters? Do you use music, maybe you listen to songs that remind you of them? Do you use visual stuff as well, like aesthetics? What do you think readers like and dislike the most? What was the easiest and the hardest part of the process before the book was published? You don’t have to answer everything if you don’t want to/don’t have time!

I know you said you wrote a fanfic for Game of Thrones that was very well received and fans didn’t even suspect that you hated one of the characters so… see? You write so well! You write characters properly, actually in character, even when you despise them. I was happy to learn about that even though I… I haven’t watched Game of Thrones. But I have watched Vikings. Like 4 times.

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to respond to your post about writing because it’s not easy to share something so personal, and I wanted to show support. Writing clearly means a lot to you, you love to write and that’s what matters. You are a good writer, I’m not the only one who believes this and like I said I learn from you and I thank you for it. Have a good day/night!

__________

{out of dalmasca} (This post refers to this one here.)

OMG YOU READ THAT BEHEMOTH OF A RANT. Thank you for spending the time reading that, I can’t believe you did, hahaha. And I will always accept pics of Mantis hugging her friends and looking happy, the world needs more of that. XD I... I’m probably going to rant again, I’m so sorry, hahaha...

Oh yes, your friend is definitely right! The difference between someone who occasionally writes, or even someone who is merely able to write, and an actual writer is that writers need to write. It’s a part of their lives, their hearts, and their identities as people. I began writing when I was around 17 and I’ve written at least something almost every day since then, and I’m now 43. Writing is absolutely a need of mine and a huge part of my life. The only time in my life where I really stopped was after my mother died. I went through a period of several months where I wrote absolutely nothing. I just didn’t feel like I had the desire anymore, but it eventually came back.

But thank you for mentioning that not being able to write novels anymore doesn’t mean I’m not a writer, because that’s something I’ve struggled a lot with. For some reason when I was younger, I had this idea that to be a “writer,” you had to 1) be a professional one or it didn’t matter, and 2) write novels, novellas, poetry, or some other “respected” form of writing. Fanfiction and rp don’t count. And over the years I’ve realized... no they absolutely do count. Writing is writing! There isn’t “respected” or “real” writing and then... everything else, heh. There’s just writing and writers. That’s something I’ve had to really teach myself in order to feel better about myself and to feel pride as a writer again after losing the ability to write novels and short stories. And everyone on here who thinks “well I rp but that’s not real writing,” nope you’re writing! You’re doing the thing! A thing not everyone else can do! So be proud of yourself for that! =D

So... I should clarify that writing words, actual volume, many pages... has never been a problem for me. What I lost was the ability to create something from nothing. I lost the ability to make characters from scratch, to plan and structure unique original plots, to design the biology and ecology of my own fictional creatures, to develop the languages and culture and aesthetics of original races, and to world-build. That’s what I lost. Writing still happens, heh. I just... for whatever reason, I can’t write original writing anymore. Without that scaffold in place of what someone else has already done that I can simply build upon, I just can’t do it anymore. *shrugs* I don’t know why, but it’s something I deeply mourn, because I really loved doing it. 

I actually tend to have the opposite problem of being too verbose and writing too much, heh. And after you brought this up, I got super curious as to like... the statistics of what in my mind were the most memorable or important things I’ve written as far as their effect on me or if they were published or just what they meant to me overall. I got curious about just how much I’ve written, whether I completed it or not, and in what category I placed them in as far as novel or short story, etc. I put together a little list for my own knowledge, but you know what, I’ll share it, because why not, heh. This isn’t everything, but they’re the most important/influential works to me. The two books marked with an (*) are the ones that I was discussing in my previous “writing process” post:

SERIES

*Book 1 – 66 pages; 33,144 words (completed, self-published)

*Book 2 – 175 pages; 79,959 words (completed, self-published)

Book 3 – 141 pages; 79,889 words (unfinished)

SERIES

Book 1 – 180 pages; 107,373 words (completed, edited/prepped for publishing, but unpublished)

Book 2 – 224 pages; 137,586 words (completed, edited/prepped for publishing, but unpublished)

Book 3 – 114 pages; 65,495 words (completed, edited/prepped for publishing, but unpublished)

Book 4 – 145 pages; 87,357 words (completed)

Book 5 – 100 pages; 60,910 words (unfinished)

Book 6 – 24 pages; 15,943 words (unfinished)

COLLECTION

Main Book – 374 pages, 244,524 words (unfinished)

Short Story – 14 pages; 8,762 words (completed)

Short Story – 64 pages; 38,136 words (completed)

Short Story – 53 pages; 33,277 words (completed)

Short Story – 8 pages, 4,278 (completed)

STANDALONE NOVEL – 875 pages; 550,141 words (completed) STANDALONE NOVEL – 637 pages; 366,771 words (unfinished) STANDALONE NOVEL – 399 pages; 224,752 words (completed) STANDALONE NOVEL – 145 pages; 84,877 words (completed, edited/prepped for publishing, but unpublished) STANDALONE NOVEL – 101 pages; 59,858 words (completed, edited/prepped for publishing, but unpublished)

FANFICTION

Game of Thrones fandom, first – 58 pages; 35,576 words (completed)

Game of Thrones fandom, sequel – 48 pages; 28,170 words (completed)

Metal Gear Solid/Rising fandom – 12 pages; 6,335 words (completed)

The reason I wanted to share this list was to illustrate what a hard stop my losing my ability to write original things really was. Everything in the list above was written between 2005 and the beginning of 2017. Regardless of the quality of the writing (which wasn’t that great, haha), I was writing a lot during that time... and then... it all just stopped. There were a couple more fanfictions that I wrote after that which were even shorter than the 12-page one I have listed there that really didn’t have much substance, and I made numerous attempts at finishing WIPs or starting new ones, but... it just didn’t work, and eventually I accepted it and stopped trying. I guess something really just changed in my brain, and whatever it was, I haven’t been able to get it back.

Your suggesting about publishing a collection of short stories is... really interesting. I’ve never thought about doing that before. One of my most developed worlds is that “collection” I’ve got listed up there, which is incidentally the world that Channe, Jix, Strychthia, and Aurelien come from over on my multi, heh. Aryx on that same blog comes from the second “series” listed up there, the longer one, book 5. But anyway... with my one collection, I do already have several short stories and other “files” written from the p.o.v.s of various characters, and even the main book itself is a collection of stories in a way.

The frame story is a young girl who is surrounded by many people in her family, her home city, her country, etc. that are kindof epic, heh. They’ve been through wars, lived through incredible circumstances, seen and done many things... but there are secrets and reasons why they don’t always talk about those things, or why stories told by multiple people don’t seem to add up. So, as a budding young writer herself, the girl decides to interview many of these people to get their stories from their point of view. So each for “interview,” I end up going into a separate story about the life of that character. Many of them are linked or overlap in various ways, and as the girl begins to have questions and starts investigating things, skeletons are revealed, wounds are opened up, and secrets get exposed. But, and if I’d finished the book this would’ve happened, she eventually ends up facilitating a lot of healing, processes, forgiveness, and reconciliation through her actions as well.

So that collection... might actually work as an anthology collection... somehow. I’d have to complete restructure it and it needs to be rewritten anyway because that was begun back in 2005 and the writing needs improvement, but... I could see where that might be a thing. If only I could work on original writing again... but you’ve definitely given me something to think about.

The series Aryx was from... I actually wanted to publish as a collection of books, structured similarly to something like the books of Narnia. But I was told by the self-publisher I was using at the time told me that the file size would be too large (my books were all digital) and I couldn’t do that. I had to leave them and publish them all as separate books. And then that just... never happened, heh, after my first two books did really poorly.

But another thing you’ve made me think about it... how do you write a story in 5 pages?! Hahaha, like I said, I have a problem with being WAY too verbose, so writing a 5-page completed story would be a serious challenge for me. I really respect people who can write completed things that are that concise because it’s definitely a skill I don’t have, lol. BUT... maybe to start getting back into writing original works again, I should try to write some small things. Because I used to write these epic (not epic as in awesome but epic as in lengthwise) novels all the time, I have in my head that that’s what I have to keep doing. But maybe that’s not true. Again, thank you so much, you’ve given me food for thought! =D

As for genres... that’s awesome that you want to write in the horror genre! Horror and fantasy are my go-to genres for writing, for movies and books I like, for just about everything, heh. My comfort genre is high fantasy, usually in “medieval” time periods (think LotR or GoT-style stories and characters). That’s what I love, what I’m most comfortable with, and what flows out of me most effortlessly. And then I do like horror, crime, drama stories, etc. that are more in present-day, whether they contain fantasy elements or not. All except the two standalone novels that I had tried to get published were in that same high fantasy genre. Those other two novels... one was a non-fantasy, present day murder mystery, and the other one was a modern fantasy/supernatural horror story. I absolutely encourage you to write a horror anthology if that’s what you want to do, omg. I bet it would be amazing! 

I love hearing about the interests and processes of other writers, so thank you so much for sharing this with me! I encourage you to write all the things, you write an amazing Mantis AND Rocket, and I can’t believe you say you’ve learned things from me because I’ve been learning from you! Your writing is Goals to me sometimes because I’ll read it and be like... damn. This is excellent. =) And then that pushes me to step up my game as well, which is a great feeling as a writer. There is no perfect writing or writer, we’re all improving all the time, so I’m honored to have been part of your growth as a writer, as you were part of mine as well. ^_^

Now! As for your questions! I think I’m going to answer them in a new post because this... is becoming five years long. Did I mention that I’m verbose? Haha... x_x So yeah, look for another post after this where I answer your questions! =)

[aggravateddurian]

I just found a bunch of my early 2077 fanfics, like opening an ancient library.

Most of them are barely started, mostly concepts that I later scrapped, but I think these are the best ones:

'The Voices in My Head' (2020)- The year is 2079, V (my first ever V, a nomad) wakes up confused in a Biotechnica lab, surrounded by Arasaka and Biotechnica officials standing around gawking, confused as to why a woman was produced from their secret cloning facility, where they're growing an army using Biotechnica dark corpo science and the Relic's memory transfer technology to grow an army of trained clones, Palpatine style.

V's last memory was jacking into Mikoshi, so she is justifiably weirded out by why she's naked on an examination table being stared at by a bunch of confused suits.

'Subject 9' (2021) - a pair of Solos, I can only describe as proto-Val and Trey (not Val or Trey, but there's definitely the roots of their characters here), are hired to take out an Arasaka transport in the Badlands. They capture it, and find the cargo is a single human in a cryo tube. I think this one may have inspired my first Cyberpunk RED campaign, which also features a woman in a tube on an Arasaka transport, copious amounts of Militech nonsense (including the first mention of Aaron Donoghue, Dorian's boss) and Anders Hellman getting a Mantis Blade run through his gut (which, I think, we can all agree was a long time coming).

'Sniper NC' (2021) - Corie is a NUS Army vet with one of the steadiest hands and sharpest eyes in Night City, a common customer of the Afterlife, and Night City's most dangerous bounty hunter. I'm pretty sure I based her off Linda-058 from Halo, because she's a badass sniper with a tragic backstory that involves being trained as a sniper by Militech as a kid.

(I'm thinking that Corie might fit in Brother's Shadow)

'Cyberpunk Fanfic 5' (that's what I called it) (2021) - an alternate universe where V (a streetkid V) can't stop seeing and hearing Johnny Silverhand, even after the Relic is removed. It turns out that there is a fragment of Johnny still in her psyche subtly affecting her decision making, fashion choices and her overall personality.

'2080' (2021) - V finds the cure to her brain problem on the Crystal Palace, but returns to NC essentially a puppet for Mr Blue Eyes and his shady scheme. Johnny is... Johnny is somehow in this... with a cloned body... supplied by MBE, and is with Rogue? I don't know how many glasses into the rum bottle I was, but it was a whole thing.

I like 'Voices in My Head' the most, so I'm going to get that started. Should tide me over until I am able to look at wolvenkit again.

After a string of invective that a Marine Corps Drill Instructor would blush at, directed towards Wolvenkit, I have elected to organise my documents folder, and finally centralise the 10+ documents and like 10000 words' worth of lore, fanfic and homebrew Cyberpunk RED stuff.

It feels like spring cleaning.

[a-happy-disappointment]

Secrets of the Scroll for the win cuz: • happy Tigress • playful Tigress • Tigress smiling • the Furious Five woohoo • Alive Oogway • marketing and franchising by Mr Ping • backstory yessss • humor 100/10

[5ammi90]

Rewatching Kung Fu Panda and I just realised the rhino guards are idiots because they didn’t take into account that their prisoner is a cat and has a tail. Which they can move like a fifth limb.

Rude fat shaming. Mean Shifu. Man the five are dicks in the beginning. I really forgot about that because of how they are in the 2nd film. Well I kinda forgive Tigress because of how much she’s trained and how much she wanted to be the dragon warrior.

Oh shit he free. They were very unprepared for Tai Lung ever attempting to escape. Dude took them out in under 10 minutes.

I absolutely love Po’s optimism because of how much it hurts Shifu.

Po has been yeeted out of the palace. Okay Mantis isn’t that bad.

Backstory of Tai Lung. Poor Shifu.

I take it back, I think Mantis just tried attempted murder.

‘There is no bad news’ ‘that is bad news’ make up your mind my dude.

Oogway is legit like ‘peace out bitches’

Po used smoke bomb.

Po tries to leave and Shifu uses uno reverse card. He fails.

Tigress’s turn to stop Tai Lung.

Okay the five of them jumping off the roof and their shadows in front of the moon is pretty cool.

I relate to Po so much because I also eat when I’m sad or stressed.

Food as a motivator. That’ll work. Epic training montage.

I love how even though he does all this training and become amazing at Kung Fu, his body doesn’t change showing that he isn’t fat, he’s a panda. They aren’t supposed to be skinny. As well as how he doesn’t change who he is even though he’s now brilliant at Kung Fu. This movie is brilliant.

Tai Lung looking forward to fight a worthy opponent. 🤣🤣🤣

Nice idea guys gives the ropes to mantis. You know the dude smaller than the ropes themselves.

Oh dang he flies.

The dragon scrolls is like the secret ingredient for the krabby patty. It’s hilarious.

It’s blank, we’re screwed.

I love this Po is having a minor breakdown and his dad decides this is the perfect time to tell him there is no secret ingredient. Run Po.

Tai Lung can teleport. When did he master the dark arts.

Tai Lung is out for blood. Poor Shifu.

Oh dang he broke the stick. Now Shifu is gonna cut a hoe.

The blue fire is amazing to look at this. This movie is gorgeous. I mean so is the 2nd one but this film has nostalgia goggles.

Here comes Po. Give him a second. Maybe two seconds.

‘He’s a panda, you’re a panda’ very astute observation there Tai Ling. Glad to know you have working eyes my dude.

Bounce back.

I love this fight because it ends with Tai Lung being in such a state of disbelief. It’s perfectly done. Also Po just using everything he learned, even his mistakes is brilliant.

Tai Lung is like ‘woo I won’ to ‘is this a prank’ to ‘bullshit’

The nerve thing is awesome because he’s a panda it’s difficult to locate the proper never points. Dang Po you made him bite his own tail, harsh.

Aww poor Tai Lung got bested by a big fat panda.

I love how they try to lift Po and then just give up immediately. Also we forgot about Shifu. How many times has this poor dude run up all those steps. I mean damn.

Two bro chilling after a battle and then getting food cause they burned a bunch of energy.

David Cross. I can’t believe I forgot he was in this. My ears betrayed me. Also the end credits are art. I love them.

I’m gonna watch the 2nd and 3rd later today, you know when it isn’t 3am.

Night hellsite.