I was dreading finishing it because I have no idea what people are gonna think about this pairing that started out as a joke but I eventually grew to love
Can you tell me a little bit about Radlynn in your AU? Like her backstory? I’m very curious(the statement about her not having a childhood makes me wonder: is she an experiment?)
I WAS PREPARED FOR THIS MOMENT.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO :D
In the name of not spoiling too much for the sake of planned projects, I won't give TOO much information. Just enough to answer your questions. :)
Short answer: Yes and no.
Long answer:
So, in a sense, very technically, she did have some sort of childhood. She was raised in the large Loulean city of Frigidare within my worldbuilding -- a large city known for its population of Tierkno (TYAIR - knah) of an unknown species, a shapeshifting creature in this world with a large diversity of species. However, very early on in her life was when she was unfortunate enough to be blinded - something that would affect her quality of life significantly … very unfortunately.
She would long for her ability to see every day -- she was very young and finding it difficult to adapt to her situation. Nobody would tell her what happened ... all she remembered was her brother pointing at something on the way to school on a dark winter morning. Then everything sort of went black on her ... permanently. Seemingly permanently.
She would need to be homeschooled, for losing sight so early in her life was something incredibly difficult to adapt to. And every moment of spare time Radlynn got she'd spent outside on the front porch, longing for the sight she once had... and desperately holding onto all the slowly fading memories of sight she still had. All she had memory of was her brother's face... and even that had become a mess of unintelligible geometric shapes in her head.
Meanwhile, Radley, the sole survivor of the mass freeze on the Avidran moon of Calyx sent by the a goddess named Oblivion to keep his aggressive family of Radishes known for the life of a god they had claimed at bay, was able to come to Avidra after finding one of Oblivion's dropped feathers, which had a hidden ability to open portals to both Avidra and its moons. He had found the other two sole survivors of freezes on the other two moons of Apica and Cocillion -- Sarge and Luau LePunch, respectively. They came up with a plan: they'd observe human and tierkno civillizations while wearing disguises that made them appear more human-like and find a way to scare them into submission and turn them against the gods.
They began to recreate the organized collaboration that their families would take on against the gods. Because Radley was so intelligent and had access to so much important information, the other two trusted him to be the one in charge... and he was very successful in doing so. He was able to find ways for them to steal important resources from the civilization and benefit their plan's progress as a whole. In doing so, they learned about the main ability of tierkno: shapeshifting. And that made them realize that if they could get some in their possession and train them... perhaps modify them, they would be extremely powerful.And so, they each researched extensively to make sure they had a clear understanding of how to care for tierkno and keep them happy. And they all agreed to choose a tierkno that was younger -- for they were easier to train from a young age. This phase of their plan would take a few years, but they were dedicated.
While Sarge and Luau were rather quick to find young tierkno to take under their wing (who had also been in tricky situations), Sarge Fan and LePete respectively, Radley wasn't afraid to take his time. He supposed that finding the optimal individual for their plans was more important than the time he spent doing so... and for a good few days, he had an eye on Radlynn ... who eventually ventured further from her porch and hung out near some crates Radley intended to take back to Calyx. She was clearly blind and seemingly lonely and depressed... something that, of course, was painful for him to see. But he had an idea... curing blindness was a simple breeze based on the resources available to him in the lab his family left behind on Calyx. He could simply help her get her sight back... and just like that, he'd have the trust of this intelligent girl who had already figured out navigating the world around her without sight.
He approached Radlynn, and he told her that if she could just sit and guard the crates for just a few more hours, he'd cure her blindness. The girl, whose life had seemingly crumbled apart since she went blind, took on the request without question. Soon, Radley took this young tierkno back to Calyx to give her what he promised... and to take her under his wing.
He cured her blindness using some methods he found in his family's resources, and she was crying tears of joy when she could see again. She became extremely loyal to him, and he felt some sort of connection to her... a familiar one. He treated her like a daughter of his own, and together, they agreed that her name would be Radlynn from then on.
The three raised and educated their adopted children with determination to give them the best they could while simultaneously continuing their business in Avidra and claiming territory-- adjusting the three to this kind of life. Sarge Fan learned to communicate and cooperate with Sarge’s army onions effectively, especially in his rottweiler form, which allowed for more efficiency in herding the little things. LePete gained a deep understanding of how to take advantage of both human/tierkno psychological and physiological weaknesses to become a fierce opponent in combat… sometimes without needing to lay a finger on anyone. However, he was already a natural fighter as a spectacled bear tierkno, so he was just as good at dealing physical damage.
And Radley had trained Radlynn in weapon combat… and she became so enthusiastic for it that she learned much of it – and an impressive amount more – on her own. She was a horrifying opponent when it came to fighting with a sickle. But one day, when Radlynn accidentally cut her arm on her sickle, leaving a deep gash without her noticing, Radley realized that there was a side effect to the curing-of-blindness method he didn't consider. Testing his theories, he took her in to stitch up the wounds without any form of numbing or something of the likes. While she was really scared about it, she... wasn't feeling any pain. This was pretty dangerous for her... but at the same time, it would make some ideas in the back of his head significantly easier. He figured that if he watched her very closely to make sure she didn't get hurt, he could keep her safe while still keeping that side effect.
From that point on, Radley began to take a fascination with her. It began with some smaller experiments to slowly funnel into the main one he had planned-- Radlynn was scared but not unwilling. It started with him applying small genetic samples of a certain Tierkno species he had managed to get his hands on, and she grew scenting glands on her neck and arms that she could use to recreate just about any scent-- a unique ability of this species that had piqued his interest. He was fascinated. He trained her to control it. And she, too, loved it.
When they began to train the three to start putting their new learned skills to use so they could commence with their plan, Radley was shocked by how quickly Radlynn was able to catch on. She discovered that she could feel pain if she wore a blindfold, and so she learned to pretty accurately fight without sight. She also learned to use her new scenting abilities to her advantage to distract people as she stole things or something of the likes, and she was extremely creative in completing tasks, something he was impressed by.
She pointed out that if they targeted the people who were dissatisfied with the government and tried to initiate them into their little group, they would be advantaged pretty well. And he was amazed by her reasoning.
As more targets were initiated on a seemingly life-or-death basis, they formed an entire mob of rebellious individuals who hated the government with a burning passion, and were destined to burn it to the ground. The people of the city were terrified of this mob -- to demonstrate their power, they would severely wound, if not kill, anyone who tried to cross paths or stop them. As they claimed more lives and even began to threaten government officials, even the government became scared of them, and many people started to believe that they had some control over it.
The gods were not pleased, and they knew they had to put a stop to this... somehow. Oblivion knew that if Radley, the mastermind behind this all, was to be gone, it would all fall apart. And so she commanded Poltergeist, a lower god who could easily interact with the world, to try and bring him to her. However, when he tried to grab him somewhere on Calyx, Radlynn ended up pushing him out of the way and being grabbed instead. Noticing she was being grabbed by the arm, she was quick to escape in a rather risky manner: she ripped off her blindfold and cut her own arm off with her sickle, freeing herself. Enraged, Radley ended up attacking him and managing to kill him... proving that he was just as dangerous to the gods as his family was.
Quick to do something about her missing arm, he performed another experiment on her. This next experiment was definitely more stressful for Radlynn--, but again, she was determined to push through for him. He replaced her now, missing left forearm with a bionic one - something else left behind by his family. It could easily be disguised as a real one and functioned just like one, even being able to experience touch, except it was bionic and had extremely sharp claws. Radlynn adapted quickly and was even able to teach herself some interesting strategies with it, something he was very impressed by. She enjoyed her new modifications... unlike the typical person would.
As much as she liked her modifications... that experience… it stuck with her. She couldn’t feel the pain, no… but she could definitely see what was happening, and it made her feel incredibly horrified. She would often find herself reliving the experience in her dreams, and every time, it just got worse and worse… but she tried to just ignore it: because she knew she was helping Madish, and she wanted to help him. He saved her.
Seeing how everything seemed to be going well, a few days later, he finally decided to perform the main experiment on her. When he applied his own DnA to give her a radish form, it worked... to extents beyond his intentions. The cambiregen (tierkno hormones giving them ability to shapeshift) had combined with this DnA aggressively, and he accidentally created a reckless, 10-foot-tall beast that tried to attack him. He was quick to corner her, but he still started to panic. But then he got an idea. He was able to gain control over the beast by tricking it into falling into obedience any time he said [her original name] to it. And it worked. He had turned a dangerous mistake around to his favor. He spent weeks training Radlynn and her new form, eventually being able to split into two: an 'antrhopomorphic' form more reminiscent of his own kind and then a 'feral' form closer to a werebeast, and everything was pointing in his favor.
The latter experiment traumatized her even more. She couldn’t see it that time, which only made it even more stressful for her… because she knew he was doing something to her cambiregen gland… and to her, that felt like something was being taken from her. And on top of that, she could tell he felt bad for it… and that look in his eye never left her. She had no idea what to do with herself. She was afraid of this new form she had. When she went into it, she couldn’t remember anything that she had done in it, and she knew that she could easily kill people in it. It felt like she was in the back seat of her own body sometimes.
But she was fine with it…
…for Radley.
If it hadn’t been for him, she’d probably have died somehow.
WHEW, THAT WAS A LOT.... But this is just the background context/base I plan to build a fic on... stay tuned guys. ;)
And also as a bonus treat, have the characters that inspired my representations of her and Radley:
Lynette Guycott from Scott Pilgrim (comics specifically)
C.A Rotwang and (Human) Maria from Metropolis (1927)
And the AU is named after and overall based on this song:
