I like to think Mud and Orla met when they were younger. Maybe 6,000 - 7,000 years ago? Their backstory is 100% subjective to any lore revelations in future episodes. But Mud was less liquified back then and he was even more of a looker than he is today.
Orla and Mud have been on and off for the majority of their time together. Orla’s got her own issues, but she just can’t help going back to this goopy weirdo. They’ve survived a lot of stuff, including Diligence putting Orla on ice for being a danger to society. Which means exactly what you think it means.
This was originally just supposed to be me having fun exploring what Ephemer would be like as a teacher but it got a bit out of hand in a good way (but I think I spent way too long on this lol)
Notes:
I wholeheartedly believe that teaching is Eph’s true passion. While writing Overmorrow, I came to realize that his role as a teacher/master is necessary in ensuring that light and the will of the keyblade lives on, but it’s also something he would just genuinely enjoy doing on a personal level. Aside from being able to infodump to his heart’s content (that’s a big deal! 😄), he can also help, inspire, and lead as a teacher! I think if he does actually establish the Keyblade order/academy in canon, it would be his pride and joy
Eph’s actual classroom may not have looked like kh3/dr’s, but I like to believe it was probably similarly designed. (He learned a lot about teaching from Hestia 🥰)
Lyra first appeared here :) the rest of the students are new, I made them up on the spot
my ass could not have handled making Overmorrow as a webcomic
it’s about damn time I wrote about these two. I can’t give much on the way of their history, considering this is the pilot and we have very minimal lore even with all the codes hidden about. These two are definitely one of the more…unhealthy dynamics I’ve written up, but they’re in one of the better places by the time of the pilot.
WARNINGS: toxic codependency(?), canon-typical violence, obsessive behavior, smoking, interspecies couple, mentions of past abuse, angst and fluff, minor crack, Mud is his own warning
As previously stated, Mud and Orla met a VERY long time ago. Orla is something the Rotlings call a “swimmer” - an offshoot of humans that evolved to live underwater and are closely related to whales. I’m not quite sure how they met yet, but my best bet is that Mud and Joshua went on a fishing trip together about six or seven thousand years ago and accidentally reeled her in. Just the kind of silly shenanigans two best buds would get into.
Mud took one look at Orla and that was it. The monsterfucker genes activated and he was determined to get her on his hook if you know what I mean. Unfortunately(?), it took Orla a VERY long time to warm up to the idea of breathing Mud’s air. What started melting the ice, however, was when Orla decided to place a bet with him. She declared that she wouldn’t go out with him unless he quit smoking cold turkey for two months and our muddy buddy absolutely delivered. Tossed his cig in the ocean and went through two long, excruciatingly painful months of withdrawal to possibly get a chance with this girl.
Good god. Mud is obsessed. So much so he may as well have invented the concept of obsession. He lives and breathes for the moments of even the most fleeting physical contact, takes every moment he can to talk her up and show her off. He took everything Orla’s internalized xenophobia put him through, from emotional absence to actual abuse, with a sleazy smile and a toothpick in his mouth. If one can get him wasted enough, he’ll start blabbering about how the Black Hand came to this earth to facilitate his meeting Orla and provide them with an eternity together.
Mud desperately, desperately wants Orla to move to the island permanently. Yes, he’s aware of the risks. Yes, he knows there are some crazy swimmerphiles who can and will attempt to grab her if they learn about her. But all of the fear is outweighed by an obsessive, all-consuming need to have his missus in his corner. I mean, the shit he does to swimmers, the shit he does to other Rotlings, the shit he does to himself — it’s some Courage the Cowardly Dog levels of devotion.
Mud has an arsenal of nicknames for her. His favorites are “darl” and “my little mermaid”. Specifically because Orla HATES being called a mermaid. (Mostly because her species is biologically similar to whales and not fish.) Orla doesn’t really…do nicknames? At least ones that can be seen as affectionate. Mainly just descriptors of Mud’s personality and appearance. So while Mud is calling her a bunch of sappy and/or dirty terms of endearment, Orla is over here calling him “green” or “rotted” or “red-eyes”.
All and all Mud is very go-with-the-flow, doesn’t push her into things as much as he tries to lead her through them, and is like…almost affectionately sleazy. There’s this strange underlying sweetness in it. When he says she’s a hot piece of ass who can ride him into the sunset, he means it in the nicest possible way. But of course, he’s still a degenerate. He very blatantly checks her out, feels her up, and is ready to make out at any given moment.
I feel like Orla would need to sleep in water to keep herself from drying out. It's usually a tiny bathtub. Mud doesn't like that they can't snuggle and constantly tries to find a way around it. He's he's tried sleeping next to the tub, he's tried taking off his head and sleeping on the rim of the tub, he’s tried waterbeds not fully remembering what they are. It’s like a revolving door of attempted snuggles that usually ends with Mud just saying “fuck it” and sleeping in the tub with her — only to slowly sink under the water, drown in his sleep, and wake them both up when he revives moments later.
I definitely stole this from a post by @shrimpswritingblog, but Mud has set scarab/stolen goods/whatever aside to build up a life with Orla several times over the millennia. Everything is unpredictable, the slightest provocation can send their relationship toppling down into the void. Better to have the scarab and not need it than need it and not have it. (At least that's what he tells himself at the casino.) I think his biggest hope is that one day he can get them a trailer and pay for it in full.
Ken knows about them, and so does Jack. I’m having some trouble deciding whether Mel and Breadhead know yet. But Ken has definitely caught them screwing around in various places in the butcher shop — freezer included. Joshua also knew, and he helped cover for Mud while he was still in the Virtue Corps.
Pro tip before we end the post: screwing around with a species that can be considered an enemy to the Gaslight District is not advisable when one of your seven Rotling-hating bosses is named Chasity.
