Thoughts on my sona (it can be a stand in for a reader if you wish) and DN!Tenna under the spell of TV magic, making a world unlike the busy and dark one he's used to. Rambles pulled directly from a discord server, atm less directly about him being dragonlike and more about him protecting her like one in a setting unlike any he's played a role in before.
cw for references to past trauma. The sona dislikes her body.
She wakes up and there's morning light streaming in through the window-- alien to her for a while now since his realm seems to be eternally dark. She wakes up in a fluffy bed in a spacious nook in a tower. Flowers grow in the cracks of the stone and the windows are open, fluttering pale curtains as butterflies wander in and out at their leisure. She walks out to the balcony as a shadow begins to cast in despite no clouds in the sky. It's Null, leaning as he stands tall-- taller than usual-- with his back to the building and his arms crossed. There's something on his head that she can't quite make out with this angle and shadowing light
"Tenna?"
He turns around, smiling at the sight of her-- much more freely than she's used to. "There she is. The princess is awake. How was your sleep?"
She walks closer, realizing that the window is actually to the floor-- openable like doors to a balcony. She steps onto it; it's perfect height for him to curl his clawed fingers over the railing and rest his chin level with her
She gets a better look at his head. He still has the curved amplifiers, but his regular antenna have been replaced with horns. "What happened…?" she asks, neglecting his question. His teeth look especially sharp as he answers eagerly.
"Every princess in a tower needs a dragon, don't they?"
They both remember last night. A lot had happened. She had finally let go, screamed and flailed her arms and been angry. It was wonderful to him…and it was terrifying. It was a catalyst for a change of pace, even if it wouldn't last forever.
Just the two of them, where the only appearances they have to keep up are the ones they choose for each other.
She's still getting used to the role, however, half asleep and just waking up into it. The princess's frilled nightgown sleeves raise to hold her hands to her chest, and he observes her observing the new world. Bright…quiet but not silent, chirping of birds and the soft chorus of bugs. It wasn't quite his style, but he can tolerate it-- if it's for her. My, what beautiful eyes she has, a perfect curve to her nose as it turns in profile to look up her new walls and towards the sun. He could stare forever.
…Her lashes flutter a few blinks…and she gives him a rarity: an unconscious smile. "I missed this." Nature, that is. "You really did all this…for me?"
"As any princess deserves," he replies. She's so sweet it's predictable; he's had that answer in his pocket waiting and ready to go since he came up with the whole thing. "Return at your leisure, my lady." He turns back around. Underneath the arms behind his back is his tail, normally tied and hidden but now flicking with a relaxed pace. "There's nowhere to be except where you wish to go."
more thing. I picked out your clothes this morning. Better suited for you than the rags from yesterday." As if she's worn anything that hasn't crossed under his nose first.
Cautious but excited, she closes the door and looks around. It really is like the daydream of a storybook princess. Flowerpots and vines crawl around vintage furniture embellished with fainted paintings. The smell of candlesmoke wafts to her as they're snuffed, as if by the magic of the sunrise. She takes a few steps forward and looks down past her toes; a spiraling staircase leads down to another room, and all the smells coming from it-- bread, fruit, flowers, juice-- remind her of the color orange, same one that glistened into her window. It looked so beautiful against his horns.
She looks over her shoulder to him, and he's gone. Right…she has to get ready, too.
Null can see the shape of her, the shadow cast against the rocky slope beside him, as she finds the clothes laid out for her and undresses.
─── ⊹˙₊˚ ˚⋆˙・。゚.☆. ゚. ⋆˙₊˚ ₊˚⊹───
The dragon walks alongside the princess wherever she goes. He sits next to her in the grass as she lays down in it, looking at the sunshine that he made with his own magic. She smiles in ways he hasn't seen before, yes…but he's changing too. He hasn't had time to himself, not like this. vulnerable and able to be off guard. His shoulders relax more and more each day, and he begins to feel like his old self-- before everything went wrong and he had to change lest the cruel world change him first. It scares him, and he wants to retreat, and in a way he does. He spends more moments with his back to her, guarding against an evil that logically will never come and yet he wishes it would. It's easier to fight things you can see. He watches the sun set on her tower, orange light cast over his sitting knees, and he begins to understand why someone could enjoy it as she does. Mister Midnight has met his match.
Morning… His morning…
─── ⊹˙₊˚ ˚⋆˙・。゚.☆. ゚. ⋆˙₊˚ ₊˚⊹───
She loves feeling beautiful, but it scares her, too. She's not pretty; she knows she isn't. She carries herself as two different people. The first is the one who doesn't think. She's a little girl dressed in clothes only princesses get to wear, silks and laces and and frills in different colors and shapes. But then she sees herself-- or simply feels her own body against the seams of the fabric around her-- and she remembers that these are not meant for someone like her. She appreciates his kindness-- they are all very gorgeous clothes--…but it's hard to appreciate it fully when it feels like it's on the wrong body.
One day, it's raining. It's just a little gray outside, and the drops are thin and light as not to frighten but refresh. This is of Null's own design; he needs to figure this out.
"Is your wardrobe uncomfortable, my princess?"
She looks up from the recipe book in her hands. The ceiling is low so even shrunken, Null's horns nearly touch it as he crouches and holds his legs. He recognizes now the manner in which her eyes blink and look down; she's thinking, in that corner of her brain that makes her sugarcoat whatever is wrong. Instead of saying what he wants (that he can take the insult) he decides to practice his restraint. He's rewarded, as she gradually begins to turn her head side to side.
"No… They're all lovely."
"What is it then? It isn't nothing."
Her hands unconsciously grip the apron covering her pale skirt. "I…I just…" A smile, big and forced and sad. "I'm not used to things like this."
His lip purses ever so slightly at the unsettling answer. He takes advantage of her looking at him, a faint spiral and hum emanating from his screen. "Tell me why."
Her smile remains, straining, and a tear falls from one eye. "I'm not pretty enough."
The dishes on the table rattle as he hits his fist on the floor, his chest rising and falling as he tries to contain himself. It's too late. Her expression is scared and she's looking at the floor. "Sorry-- just--" He swallows, and his voice is smoother. "Look at me. Please."
…She obeys, hesitant but obedient. "Good girl. There's my princess."
There's nothing subtle about his hypnosis anymore. It's his whole screen, not even a mouth to move as he speaks. His hands reach out, palms and claws up, and after a long second, she rests her hands on them. It's a touch so gentle it nearly makes him want to cry.
"There's not a single inch of you inside and out that doesn't radiate," he says, and it goes straight into her mind and settles at the seat of her soul. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met." The tears begin to get thick at the corners of her eyes, but he's not done. "You are so much more than what you think you are. You're sweet…thoughtful…special beyond compare." He visibly swallows, reaching in to a space of his heart he normally avoids. "I look at you and I think that's what sight is for. You…that's what life is about."
His thumbs stroke the back of her hands, comforting the shaking lightner.
"I won't accept you thinking so little of my greatest treasure," the dragon says. "You've tamed me, and I'm too hard to get rid of."
─── ⊹˙₊˚ ˚⋆˙・。゚.☆. ゚. ⋆˙₊˚ ₊˚⊹───
That night, or perhaps another, she's preparing for bed and he's standing there, just a bit taller than an average man's height. He's folded his arms and watching the window, keeping watch just like he's promised this whole time. A thought passes her mind. "You can shrink, too? Smaller than your usual size?"
…
He eventually concedes. "Yeah." His tail flicks. "I don't usually need to."
"So you can get so small you could--" She imagines it, her hands cupping an invisible shape not bigger than a softball. He snorts, teeth poking out of the corner of a small smirk.
"Silly, yeah."
"I bet it'd feel so nice to be that small. You know…when I'm that small against you…it feels so good."
There's a bit of a rainbow on his cheeks and a quarter of an inch more air above his head than there was a second ago.
"I…like being held like that," she continues. "It's still…raining outside. Can I-- return the favor?"
"…You really want it that bad?" he asks under his breath, vulnerable again.
"If that's okay."
He snorts again. "Well now I have to," he jokes.
Before she knows it, he's shrinking the closer he gets, until he's standing on the end of her bed, the size difference comparable to when he's his usual size, just in reverse.
She holds him to her chest like a teddy bear, so soft and warm and loving…and the stiff man begins to melt.
Blink. Blink. Blink…
…
He wakes up, tiny monitor on a big pillow, blanket heavy across his chest. His brow furrows and unfurrows, and then he turns to the side and sees her-- back to him, leaning against the mattress as she sits on the floor, standing guard just like he has for her all these days and nights.
He stares a long moment before feeling compelled to get up, his shape growing as he crawls up and sits next to her on the floorboards, about her size. She's asleep. He half chuckles; shitty job keeping watch.
…
His smile grows fond. He's not used to quiet moments yet, but they've begin to infect him. Make him feel…fuller than he'd be without them. He reaches forward to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, and her eyes open.
She's silent with disbelief and something else as she stares at what she wakes up to, an adoring expression and an ease he's always lacked.
"My morning…" he whispers under his breath, and he leans forward and rests his cheek on hers before turning…to kiss it.
It's not the first time a kiss has happened. He's taken her hand while kneeling before and done so, as one often does for royalty. But then she took his hand in turn and kissed it as if it was an exchange, and something's changed in him ever since.
Her sleepy mind drags worries along, not full thoughts but feelings. Worries of disappointment. Of not being what she'd like to be to him. Of being pitied. But…they all melt away.
Nothing more happens than he takes her into his arms and holds her close for the rest of the night.
Over time, it happens again. He finds himself close, his hands on her body, and so much in his heart all he can do is press his lips wherever they first reach. Her fear begins to melt. He's not asking anything of her. There's no bravado, teasing, taunting. It dawns on her that he just feels…safe.
“And if you’ll give me 40% of the MOST POPULAR VOTE, I’ll give you my SPECIAL REWARD... A year’s supply of NON-GLOOBY SLIME!!! Never or BARELY used!!!” Tenna concluded his speech with a huge smile, jetting his hands up in double peace signs.
The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.
Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.
He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.
“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”
The crowd murmured with embarrassment.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.
“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.
“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”
Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”
--
Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.
“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”
Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.
“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”
THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.
“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.
Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.
“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”
Laios and Marcille held their breath.
“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”
Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.
Everyone turned to him.
Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.
“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.
“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.
--
Meanwhile, in outer space somewhere, some guy was making out with a rock.
well, since I don't have any new art, I realized I've been sitting on some AU stuff for god knows how long
Freakshow in Spiritual Syndication that I co-own with @tvgoop. I won't get into the nitty gritty details unless people really wanna know the story cause it's basically just me exploring my religious trauma in a safe way
Also Spamton is here and he's a priest turned incubus who can't get laid (and represents K's repressed sexuality)
whwhwhwhat if……… so we know how some people draw Tenna with a plug tail……… what if him like…… wrapping you up in it… just a lil… tangled up, arms pinned to your sides…….. him smiling, whining that he wishes it was longer so he could coil you up like a little gift…
DON’T LOOK AT ME SHDHFHSJDFHFJD
tenna hugging you with his [COMPLETELY CANON] plug tail....😳😳😳