#betta.exe

[ask-the-riders]

Some possible shots of different areas within Nep's lake

Anteros lives with the lake dwellers, but because he can't be underwater as much as them, he probably stays in the underground bunker

[lover-of-skellies]

Ok ok since it crossed my mind again;;

Poppy the panther: varying shades of purple (and possibly grey or blue, but idk for sure)

Buddy the badger: varying shades of blue and grey

Wynter the wolf: mostly white, maybe with some dark blue and/or red accents here and there

Rascal the raccoon: varying shades of green, possibly with some brown accents

Betta the bunny: varying shades of pink and purple (but mostly pink)

Havoc the husky: uhhhhhh black and white, maybe with red and/or blue accents. Maybe some yellow in there too, idk yet

Buster the bunny: varying shades of red and/or blue

-----

Poppy is the animatronic version of my Riderverse Reaper Sans variant, and Buddy is the animatronic version of Famine (my Riderverse Horror Sans variant)

Wynter is the robo wolf version of War, and then Rascal is the robo raccoon version of Pestilence. Betta is... Betta, and then Havoc is Error and Buster is Geno

I just keep imagining Rascal as this green raccoon and Poppy as some sort of purple panther, and my brain won't let go of that, so I wanted to post something about it before I forgot

[ask-the-riders]

Alrighty,, so I went through and looked at some of the interactive story things that I started a while back, and it looks like I have four that are unfinished

If we were to continue any of those at some point, which would you be most interested in?

Choose whichever ones you're most interested in | StrawPoll.com

What's your opinion? Vote now: CYOP2/Betta's Route, The Riders' Room Exploration series, Never Speak To Strangers, Cobalt's House Exploratio

((if a refresher is needed for any of these, I included some summarized stuff under the cut))

We've got Cobalt's house exploration, and we left off at a point when Anteros caught us snooping and reading a letter that Cobalt had left for Connie. Our options were to apologize or run

Up next, we have "Never Speak To Strangers", which was a thing I started with the intention of using it to introduce Kali. We left off at a point when we find her in some greenhouse that's attached to a home in the woods, in the middle of nowhere (in winter, of all things). With that one, we had the option to either leave or confront her

The third unfinished interactive story series thing is the riders room exploration stuff. Each section is written differently and they're not attached, but I was having you pick random doors that I designed, in order to decide whose room to enter. The rooms we have left are Death's, Famine's, Connie's, and Abrael's

The lastly, we've got the Choose Your Own Path 2 (or CYOP2 for short) that I started on my main skeleton blog. It's similar to the first one that I did with Nep, except this time around, it's with Betta. We, the reader, are part of some research group, and we've decide to check out the forest where the lake dwellers live, since a lot of people have disappeared there. Weird stuff starts happening, and after the team decides to stick together instead of separating, we get to choose whether the team heads back to the spot where the weirdness started, or if we go further into the woods

[ask-the-riders]

Some other Halloween costume stuff:

Geno/Error -> they don't dress up. They probably wouldn't even if their life depended on it

Anteros -> sexy cupid, because it just feels right

Betta -> a school girl. Probably one of the more uh,, *coughs* adult ones, though. As long as she's not straight up naked or anything, then Anteros and Nep don't really care enough to stop her

Glo -> she's a dork, so I wanna say she'd either be a firefighter or a campfire, just for the ironic humor that'd come with it

Mortem -> no idea, tbh. I feel like he'd probably be some kind of superhero though, or even Darth Vader (he knows nothing about Star Wars. He just saw the costume and thought it was cool)

Cobalt -> if he was still around, he might just wear his royal guard/soldier uniform. If he was out to impress Connie anyone, then he might consider being a knight

Draug -> himself. He thinks it'd be demeaning if he put any kind of costume on. Though,, he doesn't really need to dress up either, since he already looks like something that came out of the walking dead

Nyx (if she dressed up at all) -> a greek goddess, or maybe Cleopatra. Because y'know, royalty aspects paired with mythological and historical references

Kali -> normally she wouldn't dress up, but if Nyx had asked her to, she'd very begrudgingly do it. Knowing Nyx, she'd probably want her favorite staff member to be something that paired with whatever she was going as. As long as the outfits not revealing and it doesn't involve any restraints being placed on her, I don't think Kali would complain too much

Othni -> if he knew what Halloween was all about, he'd probably be a little shit and go as Beetlejuice

Roulette -> a playboy bunny, because it'd be cute and relatively simple, and she'd probably think it was fitting

Val -> Dr. Facilier from the princess and the frog, because he thinks he'd look good in that outfit and that it'd be perfect for him

[lover-of-skellies]

So it wasn't that long ago when I was drawn for second place (which,, lemme say, I wasn't expecting at all) in an art raffle thing that was being done by @zirkkun, and just LOOK what they doodled for me!!

It's my girl Betta (Nep and Lust's daughter), and I swear, she's never looked cuter :D

[ask-the-riders]

Alternate take on the "Savages" thing:

It's just like in Pocahontas, but this time around, it's Nep, Anteros, Gill, and all of Nep and Anteros' kids (Betta included) against monster-fearing humans who start trying to take over the forest

Gill is a pacifist and doesn't wanna fight since he's a Papyrus, but he does believe in protecting the children, so there's that bit. Charm would wanna step in to protect all of them, too

Nep isn't as nice, though. He does most of the violent stuff to protect his family. Betta can be just as violent and dangerous, but her main concern is her numerous little brothers and sisters. Anteros doesn't like fighting, but he's doing everything in his power to protect his family, too

God forbid War finds out that her best friend is in danger, because you can bet your ass that War's gonna pop in to break things up. I feel like she might tote Draug along with her, since he's very strong, scary looking, and would literally kill to protect children. Once both of them get involved, the fighting doesn't last much longer. It ends pretty quickly, and it's because the humans are vanishing one by one and being drowned in the lake, mauled in the bushes by Nep, or tied up in string cocoons by War. For once in her life, War's being as nonviolent as possible, and she's actively trying not to hurt the people who are attacking her

The same cannot be said for any of the lake dwellers, though. They exist to eat people (minus Anteros, Charm, and most of the younger children), so they're in their glory

Nep is a feral monster and functions a lot like an animal. The forest is his territory, and he doesn't appreciate the uninvited guests a single bit. Especially not when these guests are getting too close to his kids and his mate

[ask-the-riders]

A Chance Reunion

While out on a job, War hears a familiar song being sung, and she decides to follow it. That decision leads to an attack, a reunion with her best friend, and a reboot caused by immense embarrassment

The glitch made a face and paused what she was doing, the wind carrying some unknown medley in her direction. She knew she had a job to do here, but at the same time... What was that song?

As she began to follow the sound, doing her best to avoid the pricker plants and thorny brush, War gained a sense of familiarity. She'd heard that song before, but she couldn't pinpoint from where. The tune grew louder and louder until the song was crystal clear, and as the rider emerged from the bushes that lined a long forgotten path, she spotted the singer. The mystery person was perched on the edge of a dock, singing to themselves with their feet in the water. They seemed unaware of her presence, and she furrowed her brow bones. 

That sense of familiarity grew stronger, but before War had the chance to call out to the singer, a guttural growl was heard. Immediately following the growl, War was slammed into the side of a tree by the force of someone's full weight. She cried out in shock and instinctively reached for her sockets, but as if the attacker had seen this move before, one of his hands snatched both of her wrists, pinning them above her head. She screeched and began thrashing, her figure glitching heavily, "H-Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Let me go, jackass!" 

Her attacker tilted his head and chuckled, his voice low and husky, "I don't think so, Glitchy. Not when I've already put you on the menu for tonight's dinner." Her sockets widened and she continued thrashing, "You can't eat me! I'll turn to dust the second my soul shatters!" The monster before her leaned closer, the stench of death and decay on his breath as he spoke, intentionally flashing his sharp, serrated teeth at her, "I know." He lifted his free hand, entirely too content as he tugged off her scarf, eyeing the fabric for a moment, "Huh. This might be somethin' my kid would like. Guess I'll have to hold onto it and ask her." 

With her neck vertebrae now exposed and vulnerable, War scrunched up her shoulders. Watching the futile attempt to hide her neck from him, the elder of the two skeletons laughed, "Cute, but I can still see your neck." He paused, leaning even closer and grinning as she squirmed. The instant she tilted her head again and he saw an opening, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and mumbled, "If you were anyone else, you'd be dead by now. You're funny though, so you should count yourself as lucky." As the glitch felt a grand total of four rows of jagged teeth graze over her neck, she whimpered, tightly squeezing her eyes shut.

A voice called out to her attacker and he let out a sigh, pulling back to look at a second monster. Hesitantly cracking an eye open to peek at her incidental savior, War frowned; That posturing, the clothing style, and those violet eye lights... Memories began to resurface and the rider narrowed her eyes in confusion, "......Betta?" The smaller of the pair before her blinked, her attention now focused solely on the glitch. With some prodding, her attacker released her wrists and took a step back, allowing his daughter to move closer. War's face became flushed as the other female skeleton began to sniff at her, starting at her face. As she continued sniffing around the glitch's body, she made a face, promptly deciding to step back and nonchalantly check her out, her violet, heart shaped eye lights roaming over War. As the realization finally clicked into place, she seemed to perk up, her eyes wide with excitement as a piranha-like grin stretched across her face, "MALLY! IT'S REALLY YOU!"

War yelped as she was tackled, nearly losing her balance. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, War made a sound of confirmation, awkwardly wrapping her arms around the lake dweller, "Yeah, it's me. I'm glad you finally recognized me, Weirdo." Betta giggled, visibly giddy at being reunited with her old friend. She shared a look with the elder lake dweller, "Dad, look! It's Mal! It's my best friend!" Her father rolled his false eye lights, disappointment flickering in his gaze at having lost his prey, "I can see that, Betta. I'll leave now so you guys can catch up, or whatever." Betta made a sound in acknowledgment, and with that, her father dismissed himself, vanishing into the forest. As soon as he was gone, War let out another breath, flooded by even more relief than before, "Oh, thank god. I thought he was gonna kill me. As much as I hate existing sometimes, I really don't wanna be someone's dinner." 

Betta continued grinning excitedly at her, "He would've done it too, if I hadn't shown up in time." War offered her a slight smile, "I don't doubt that at all. Thanks to you and your impeccable timing, I get to live another day." Betta beamed at her, "Mmhm! Once again, I've saved the day with only minimal effort." The glitch couldn't help the amused chuckle that left her; She'd forgotten just how much she missed this dweeb. Her body froze up and glitched in surprise, her entire face flushing bright blue as she felt teeth press against her own. It wasn't the first time Betta had kissed her like this, but it'd been so long that War had forgotten the way it felt. Her body began to relax and for a moment, she began to cave, melting into the kiss. 

Remembering her current circumstances, she placed her hands on Betta's shoulders, nudging the lake dweller and lightly pushing her away. Betta tilted her head in confusion, and War sighed, visibly flustered, "I know you're excited to see me, and I know it's been a while, but you can't do that anymore. I found my soulmate, and he probably wouldn't appreciate you kissing me." The lake dweller pouted, "Sorry about that. It's just been way, way too long, and I missed getting to kiss you... I'll try not to do it again." War's blush became a bit brighter and she looked away from her friend, "Thank you. At least you're listening to me, this time." Betta made a face and huffed, "Well, it's not my fault that you always smelled like chocolate! Pardon me for thinking you smelled nice." 

Memories of previous times the lake dweller had kissed her began to invade the glitch's mind, and her figure fizzled as she recalled the other's hands wandering on more than one occasion. War's face burned even brighter, and before she could snap at her friend to shut up, Betta smiled again as if nothing was wrong, completely casual as she chirped, "So you finally found your soulmate, huh? What's he like?" War shrunk back a little in embarrassment, avoiding eye contact, "He's... He's uh... He's great. Funny, unbelievably smart, good with animals, and absurdly charming." Betta hummed, "What's his name? Is he hot?" 

War's body glitched again and she glanced around, needing to remind herself that Pestilence wasn't there with her before answering, "His name's Pestilence... Wasn't always that, though. Mine got changed too. It's 'War' now. But yeah......... He's hot." Her face grew even brighter at the admission and she mentally cursed at herself. If Pest had heard her admit that she thought he was attractive, there'd be no way he'd ever let her live it down. The lake dweller remained completely casual, her brow bones lifting as she noticed War's scarf on the ground; Her dad must've dropped it when he left to go off and pout somewhere. She leaned down to pick it up, before offering the item to the rider, "You guys got your names changed, huh? That's cool." She paused as War reached out to take back her scarf.

As War busied herself with putting it on again and looping it around her neck, Betta watched her, tilting her head in curiosity, "Is he good in the sack, too?" As expected, the glitch's sockets widened, almost the size of small saucers as she stared at the lake dweller in disbelief, "...Are you seriously asking me that right now, Betta?" The lake dweller shrugged, entirely unashamed, "Yeah, I am. I'm just curious, y'know? I wanna make sure he's good at pleasing my bestie, in every sense of the word." War made a face, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm not answering that. That is extremely personal, and I won't be discussing it with you today." 

Knowing her friend all too well, Betta arched a brow bone and smirked, "So in other words, yes, he's amazing. I gotcha, Grumpy Butt." To finish off her statement, she teasingly winked, and War's sockets began to cloud over. Reaching maximum embarrassment, a dial tone sound could be heard, and War's body went limp. Acting fast, Betta was able to catch her, lifting the glitch into her arms and sighing as a reboot bar appeared above her head. Unbelievable; They hadn't seen each other in years, and after not even an hour of finally speaking again, War had already shorted out on her. The lake dweller couldn't help the way her expression softened as she looked at the rider, and she shook her head, smiling slightly. 

It was unbelievable, but at the same time, it was exactly like War to do this sort of thing. Despite all the time that had passed, the glitch really hadn't changed at all.

[lover-of-skellies]

I'm just now starting to think about Nep again (one of the lake dwellers I made a while ago), and y'know something?

Since he's a feral monster, he and Lust could very well end up having like,, 12 kids. Their odds of having more multiple births are a bit higher too, since the feral ones are a bit different in their build than the ones you'd normally see (the ones living in houses and mingling with humans that have jobs and are going to school and whatnot)

Rip Nep. He's gonna end up like the werewolf dad from Hotel Transylvania, without a doubt

Since Gill (his bro that's a Papyrus type) is also a feral monster, he'd probably wind up with a bigger family too. Betta (Nep and Lust's daughter), I'm not so sure about. She was raised in a more "normal", civilized manner, but also,, as soon as she decided she wanted to be living in the lake with her dad and uncle, she turned entirely feral, like she was Nep's little mini me or something