I have done too many character aesthetics lately, so it's time to go back to basic and do shippy ones. Featuring my favorite tropes in order: Enemies to lovers (or lovers to enemies?), rivals to lovers, friends to lovers and love at first sight.
I'm pretty neutral on most ships which sucks because I keep coming up with cool symbolism for thing will never write.
I don't ship Gibson and Nova in the slightest but talking through the process of nuclear fusion (the way starts generate light and heat) would be an amazing way to describe feelings during like a first kiss or something
Talk about how no machine is 100% efficient, there will always be energy lost to heat in terms of Otto crushing on Nova and messing up on work.
Antauri and Sparx? A delightful contrast between the reason clouds fly and planes fly, yet both connecting in the same place.
A illustration of my Ottova fic. Because if I’m taking teddy bear lore from Cardcaptor Sakura, I might as well also be inspired by the accompanying art as well.
Now that this is done, pray for me as I try to upload the fic on AO3 with this pic. I am still trying to figure out to work the site.
Summary: [Pre-series but after Chiro joins the team] Nova has a teddy bear and punching bag in her room. The story how that came to be, as well as the promise that she and Otto made. Ottova
A/N: Another fic that was originally for rarepair week that got delayed. Because I’m re watching the series with my little cousins and remembering what a cute relationship Otto and Nova have. And if any of the things said about teddy bears sounds similar to things said in Cardcaptor Sakura, that’s because it totally is from there.
Nova looked at her punching bag, or what was supposed to be her punching bag. It had only been a little punch that had caused it to collapse into a pile of stuffing and duct tape. She doubted she would be able to patch it up with just tape anymore, so it was time to throw in the towel and go the expert.
She scooped up the remains and walked from her room to another. “Otto,” She knocked on his door, “You got a minute?”
“Coming,” His voice was muffled and then a clacking of something metal falling to the floor before the green monkey opened the door. “Hey Nova! What’s up?”
“Hey Otto, I’m afraid that my punching bag has meet its end and was wondering if you could help me make a new one but,” She glanced over his shoulder to the piles of machine bits and tools scattered around, some of them stacked haphazardly. “It seems that you already got your hands full.”
“Nah, this is just stuff from before we went to sleep!” Otto held out his hands, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement, “I need some new projects to work, so come on in!”
Nova handed the remains to him and followed him inside. Using his tail, Otto pushed a pile to the floor so there was a cleared spot on his work bench.
“Geez, you really did a number on it,” Otto held up some of the stuffing. “I don’t even think I can reuse this, so you’re going to replace the inside as well.”
“I figured,” Nova said with a sigh. “I had it since before-”Before Chiro, before going to sleep, before Mandarin “-when I was training on Galaxia. And I did notice that it seemed to be getting softer.”
“Hm,” Otto rubbed his chin in thought, “I think I have some material that should holds its shape better. But this,” He grabbed a pile of stuffing and rubbed his face in it. “Is so nice and soft! Not good for punching, but great for snuggling!”
“If you want it, you can have it. Least I can do since you’re helping me with this.”
“Thanks Nova!” Otto put the fluff to the side and began rummaging through the shelves and drawers of his room, throwing the occasional nick-knack that Nova had to dodge, “You want it to be the same size?”
“Yeah, I have an anchor for it that it needs to fit into.”
“And can I add the Formless to it again?”
Nova winced as she remembered the mess of scribbles. “Yeah, you’d probably do a better job than I did.”
Alright, let’s see,” Otto dumped another pile of things onto the workbench, “I think I can get it done for you by tomorrow.”
“You’re the best Otto, but you don’t have to rush.”
“Nah, it’s no trouble! And this is going to be fun! I never made a punching bag before!”
Nova smiled as she shook her head. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same and it was great to see that Otto was the same as ever.
(He worried her, about how he would be affect in the aftermath of everything.)
True to his word, it was after Chiro’s lessons and training were done the next day when Nova heard a knock at the door.
“Nova~ I got a surprise for you!”
“Is it a punching bag?” Nova chuckled as she opened the door, where indeed Otto was there with her new one.
“Ta-dah! Told you I could get it done by tonight!” He eagerly pushed it into her hands. “Here, feel it! Feel how nice and firm it is? This should stand up to you much better than your previous bag ever could!”
She tightened her arms around it in a facsimile of a hug to feel that it was just as he said. The visage of a Formless, much better than anything she could produce, was painted on the center of it. And when she went to put it into the anchor, it fit seamlessly. “It’s perfect! Thanks Otto!”
“I’m glad you like it!” And somehow his grin got even bigger. “Now are you ready for your surprise?”
She stared at him and then back at the punching bag. “But isn’t it-”
He kept grinning, bouncing in place with excitement as he held his hands behind his back. “I never said the bag was the surprise!” He pulled his hands out, producing two teddy bears. “These are your surprise!”
She froze, because they were too cute! They were practically begging her to hug them and she couldn’t. “W-What? W-Why?”
“Remember the stuffing from your old bag you said I could use? I told you that it was great for snuggling, so I made you a teddy bear! And then I had enough left over, so I then made him a friend!”
He held them out to her and she still hesitated to grab them, feeling like this had to be trap somehow. “I, uh, they’re great but-”
“I just thought that you might like something to cuddle after you got done punching!” Then he gave her a smaller smile, not as wide or goofy-looking as his previous one, but it seemed to cut into her. “You don’t have to punch thing all the time, so I thought you might like them, as a change of pace.”
That made Nova freeze again (and she hated the chill that went down her spine) because how did he know? She thought she did such a good job hiding her love of all things cute and soft, especially stuffed animals. Did he maybe see how her eyes lingered on displays of them when they went into the city? Did he pick up on how gentle she was around the cuter animals that they encountered on their patrols? Oh, what must he think of her, the supposedly battle-harden combat expert who had such a girly and sentimental weakness.
But…Otto wasn’t making fun of her or demining her because of it. He was still looking at her with that smile that seemed so knowing, yet so full of respect and affection for her. And then she thought about what he said, about how she might need a change from just punching and fighting things.
Was he…was he fine with her having such a side to her? Was he even trying to encourage it?
(Otto was more perceptive than they gave him credit for.)
No matter, she wasn’t going to cry, even if her eyes watered as she hugged her first ever teddy bear. “Thank you Otto.”
“You just gotta give them a birthday!”
“A birthday?” She looked up from cuddling them. “Wouldn’t that be when you made them?”
“Nah, because what if I didn’t tell you? Or what if you bought something? Then you wouldn’t know when that was.” Otto giggled and flailed his hands. “Its birthday is when you give it a name! That’s why none of my inventions are done until I name them! So you gotta give them a name!”
“A name, huh?” Nova looked down at the two teddy bears in her arms, an old folk’s tale she heard coming to mind. She never shared it before, because it was kind of mushy, but with him…“Hey Otto, do you know what happens if people name something after each other?”
He tilted his head. “Uh, no.”
“Well, it’s something I heard a long time ago. If two people exchange the same thing and name it after each other, they’ll stay together forever.” She held out one of the bears to him, “So I want you to take Nova and I’ll keep Otto.”
“But Nova-”
“I know, you made both of them so I don’t think it’ll really count, but it can be a promise to each other.” Now she looked at him straight in the eye with a small, but telling smile. “No matter what happens, no matter what changes, we’ll be friends no matter what.”
“D-Do you mean that Nova?” And he was looking at her with such large puppy-dog eyes.
“I do. So,” She held out one of the bears, holding the other tight. “Will you take good care of Nova?”
“Of course I will!” He took the Nova-bear and gave it a big hug. “And you take care of Otto?”
“Yep!” She held her Otto-bear tight, still smiling with wet eyes. “I promise.”
