#rook.

[aeritus]

also have a portrait of my DnD character, done to use as initiative card he turned out more sexy than expected but who cares

the injured arm is a consequence of me trying to hold a cursed blade because yeah

[caedescorvirpg]

ROOK. DELILAH KWON   —   28,  W.

Emotional Manipulation: can manipulate the emotions a person is already feeling (+) can determine how strongly they feel the emotion (-) cannot introduce new emotions (-) only works for three minutes at a time

HISTORY

cw: death

THE REALIZATION TAKES YOU BY SURPRISE. HAD IT ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY? Has the sky always tasted of salt: thick and heavy on your tongue? A brooch lays flat on your chest and you’re told it symbolizes the pride of your family’s estate. You allow it to adorn your chest if only for the sake of propriety. A funeral may be on its way but the sad truth is this: your family is dead long before they are buried. It’s a slow decay, and in the years after the truth is revealed you take note of all the ways a person can fabricate a lie. In public, there is nothing remiss about the machinations of your life. You smile delicately as daughters ought to do, and look fondly at the figure who praises your accomplishments as feats of his own. Your mother sits in perfect solitude, and you catalog the peculiar smile she wears that belongs more to a museum than the body she inhabits. The woman is fine in all the ways that matter, and until the day she dies, she remains to be just so. The details of your private life are of no consequence, so when your estranged uncle takes your hand in his, introduces you to a new family, it is easy to pretend you don’t share the same fate as the woman who raised you.

Resentment is found at the bottom of a drawer. It sits atop a pile of miscellaneous documents, and its existence surmises your fears. Hands tremble and you cannot disguise the malice you wear so honestly on your face. In the spot where your name should be printed in dark ink is the name of another less worthy than you; whose only important quality is the matter of her heritage. You leave the office silent as the shadow you’ve been made to become, and you do not forget the way betrayal tastes. You understand now that the quiet cultivation of your upbringing was made in accession. Made parallel to someone of minor talent, you were a gambit that fell out of promotion. Still, there is a gnawing at your side that compels you to be reticent, to comply with the orders of another. It is a lesson learned from days of brighter yesterdays, and it reminds you that all great and mysterious things must one day be overcome. You regret having loved them, having saved them with the invisible hand of desire, but in this renewal you will not make the same mistake. They will fall until they can fall no further.

CONNECTIONS

ROBIN﹒ AND YOU ARE NOT THERE AT ALL

She is your cousin and there is only one way to love her. She’ll think you cruel and unyielding, but a delicate hand does not destroy her in the way she needs to survive. ROBIN does not know what she would be without you, could not fathom a future of ambition, and so you take it upon yourself to give her a purpose. Her hatred is a pyre and it’s one you stoke with great care. You know what happens to girls like her, hidden and tucked away where prying eyes cannot see. They grow up and become someone like your mother, a ghost to be used and manipulated. Your love was cruel, but it tempered her apathy into something worthy of your admiration. But betrayal has a name and it calls out to her indefinitely. In a way, you’re proud of what she’s become — in another, you understand it as something to destroy. There is no one who understands her better than you, the creator of all her rage.

ALBATROSS ﹒ I AM WHAT I CHOOSE TO BECOME

It’s easy to understand your feelings for her when looked under a microscope. She saved you that spring night and for it you have made her a pawn in your game. You move her with precision and with the deftness of one who does not have time; and while it is the fault of all good people to fall to the hands of another, ALBATROSS knows exactly what you are. Her devotion to you does not have a name, nor a reason for its existence, but it acts as a soft place to land when things fall pitifully. When your best laid out plans do not go as intended it is she who shields you from blame and recompense, using her position as a means of canon fodder. You are using her, this is a fact known to everyone, but she allows it to happen. So why do you feel so guilty, why does it feel like you already have her blood on your hands?

THE CORVIDS : MAGPIE & BLUE JAY﹒   AND I AM A WITNESS WATCHING IT

The crown you wear is heavy with the burden of some other man’s sins. CROW disappears and the rest turn to you for instruction, not because they want to, but because there is no other choice. You had dreamed of power of your own before, but never in the context of this thing that made you. MAGPIE stands solemnly next to you, one foot in the abyss and the other planted firmly by your side. You watch as he follows his heart into ruin, chasing after some fairytale no one can persuade to stay, and so you do the only thing you know how: you dig your nails into his flesh and wait for him to notice the blood. Meanwhile BLUE JAY sits quietly to your left, eyes flickering back and forth between the misery of MAGPIE and your self-fulfilling prophecy. You want to reach out to him, tell him all the things you admire about his work, but you stop yourself just short of doing so. He must learn to take the things that he wants or else he will always be left empty. Your love, your devotion, it hurts because you care.

This skeleton is TAKEN by HONEY and is portrayed by JEON JONG-SEO. Their highest stat is INTELLIGENCE and their specialty is LANGUAGES. Click HERE for the family tree.

[wienners]

!?@#!?

[cybcrbully]

[ plot ] ghosts of the past

Like a rat, Jabberwocky was scavenging for parts. Any parts would do. Infected or not. It didn’t matter. They just needed new ones. Shoulder parts-- welding tools… There’s a deep, steadying breath as they grabbed a hunk of metal that seemed… salvageable. 

Until they saw him. 

Their eyes widened and they punched their temple a little. This had to be a visual glitch with their memory. It had to be. They skittered quickly behind a pile and peeked out, blinking hard.

He was still there. Ginger locks cascading down his person, top hat, red tears under his eyes. He seemed lost in thought, looking for something. He knelt down, and lifted a piece of metal of his own, inspecting it. Gloved fingers gently felt the metal, and then he set it aside.

A visual hallucination can’t do that. 

He had to be real.

But how?

Who. Repaired. Him?

There was a moment of silence. And then a sigh. Perhaps Jabber could quickly shut him down with a quick hack and then get away. But at the same time… Perhaps it was a good thing, that he was still alive. Right now. He wasn’t a combat robot either, they knew that much. 

They steeled their nerves a bit, looking at this logically. 

And they stepped out.

“Long time no see,” Jabber called out, parts at their side, eyes narrowed. Fins raised.

The other man stiffened. There was a rush of emotions on his face. Surprise, fear, sadness, rage. His eyes were wide, his brow was furrowed, nostrils flared. His fists balled up. He began to shake, before he turned and faced Jabberwocky. His jaw was tight, stiff, teeth grinding against each other. 

“You.” Was all he said in response.

“Me! Did’ja miss me, little buddy? I know I missed you.”

They sashayed over to him, a smug little smile on their face.

“If I never saw you again, it’d be too soon.”

“That’s a shame.” 

They slinked around him, resting their head on his shoulders. 

The other reploid tensed more, his gaze cast downward.

"Jabberwocky, leave me alone. Go back to… wherever you've been."

"'S that any way to treat your older sibling, King? C'mon, now, respect goes a long way!" They chimed, nudging him with a claw.

"Respect was thrown out the window the day you tried-- and failed, mind you, to get rid of us."

"Mm… I'm inclined to disagree, loverboy. I came back because I respected you and the others too much to see you be treated like tools."

"It doesn't matter, Jabberwocky!" His voice became sharp. Full of contempt. "I don't want the respect of a murderer. Which you are!"

A wry smile appeared on Jabberwocky's face. 

"Ever the lovesick puppy, I see. She ruined all your potential. I'm sorry for you."

"You're wrong--"

The ginger reploid spun around, lifting a larger piece of scrap and holding it imposingly. 

"I was happy. We were all going to be so happy, but you! You ruined it for all of us! Now Alice is gone. Everyone is gone."

"Rook isn't gone. I know that because someone activated him," Jabberwocky replied rather boredly, bridging their fingers. Much as they couldn't do anything physically, they knew very well that his combat capabilities weren't much better. Thanks to that, Rook was in their clutches! Wonderful.

And a good hit to the head could very easily damage their quarantine and they would both get infected. 

It was not a risk that King was willing to take, but Jabberwocky did not bother to call his bluff.

Either way, watching King's expression twitch at mention of Rook made Jabberwocky's grin grow. He was always so poor at hiding his feelings. If he were human he might have paled.

They tilted their head, fins inclining, tail swishing predatorily. They could feel the hatred resonating, but also the fear, the guilt. The gears turning as King contemplated what to do. What to say.

It gave them ample time to disable his arms.

The hunk of metal crashed to the ground as his arms went limp. Panic surged through the other reploid's face. And Jabber only smiled nonchalantly. It was nice to be back in their comfort zone. In a place of control, for once. It's been too long…

"You know, I find it real fortunate that you managed to survive. You know where the others are. I'd like to find out."

"As if I'd ever tell you."

"You could tell me, or I could extract it from your memory as we speak. Your choice."

His choice…?

He chose to flee.

King took off, running. 

And Jabberwocky let him. They had what they needed at bare minimum. His electric signature. Oh, he would be so easy to keep an eye on now.

Him choosing to flee now only meant Jabberwocky could get a friend involved to detain him later.

But ah… back to parts. Time to work... on replacing these pauldrons.

They felt eyes on their back as their reprogrammed cat stepped out of the shadows. Free from the Maverick virus, but still subservient.

“Isn’t it awful what he did to you, Rook?”

No response.

“He activated you before you could’ve even been finished. Awful. I bet it’s nice to be complete.” 

Still nothing. 

They picked up small spare parts and put them in their bag.

“We’ve been here too long. We need to go.” 

Finally, Rook’s hand raised, and that blue portal was made, and they resigned themselves to returning to Sigma’s lab.

[wolvenstark]

R O O K. || @winters-rook

     The sharp tang of iron stained his mouth. Fangs, snared within a crimson maw, had elongated his own pristine canines. He’d felt the sink of pointed teeth, their snarling daggers lacerating a mauled elk deep within the Wolfswood. Frost adhered to dark shards, his cranium tipped back against torchlit masonry. His irises were stark, their prisms devoid of all but slated white. The temperature plummeted as twilight sunk, shadows pranced between suspended flame. Encroachment awoke the untrained warg, mouth exhaling frozen tundra with each frigid breath. Bane’s lip curled, a growl erupting from hollow esophagus. The Warring Wolf’s palm steered from his blade’s biting pommel, and rested upon his beast’s shoulder. The emerging figure’s procured identity silenced his Direwolf, the brute content in his master’s security.

[xbornhungry]

⭐️

⭐️okay so i lovvvee the idea of maybe ellis & rook having a history of finding abandoned ruins to explore. this applies to all points in their timeline, no matter where they end up it feels like the sort of mischief they would be up to. is it often dangerous? yes! absolutely! but it feels like the sort of thrill they would seek out together. i also love the idea of them trading pieces of the history of the places they explore. ellis is a high intelligence low wisdom character & he tends to pick up a lot of extra bits & pieces of information about the places they go... even if he doesn't treat that information w a whole lot of sense LMAO. i also think there is just something fun about the mental image of them sneaking off to explore a place that only they know, it feels like an expression of ' i want to spend time with you, lets get out of here ' in a way.

[rooksnst]

rook in-game appearance.