#spk au

[monebula-art]

What's your Soldier, Poet, King AU all about? Your recent piece for it is amazing!

Oho?

OHOHOHOHO?!

I thought you would NEVER ASK!!

@kurithedweeb Thank you. You shall be justly rewarded with an infodump:

The Soldier Poet King AU, or SPK: Cries of Edo is a full blast AU, set in Usagi’s world. Which is an anthro-animal Edo Japan.

The Clan Hamato is their own thing and have been for many generations, and they are attacked by an invasion of a new clan of ruthless ninja known as the Foot.

The castle Kameshiro is buried under a landslide and Leonardo, the clan heir is the apparent only survivor. (the turtles may or may not get different names in this but for the moment they’re the same.)

He sets out on a journey to reconnect with a childhood friend, Usagi, now a Ronin, who after the tragic loss of his own master has fallen in to dismay and shame and sees little reason to live aside from surviving long enough to take the next job.

They are approached then, by Hazuki(Harley) ,a kitsune with ties to the Foot Clan and in fact she was an apprentice magician/healer of Lady Shiho (The Kitsune) but after her compassion leads her to aiding an enemy of the Foot that was their prisoner at the time, Hazuki is punished with a terrible curse (the details of which I don’t know yet, but she’s dying)

And so she finds out the Clan Hamato heir is alive and seeks to systematically hunt down the Foot Clan as vengeance for his family

And Hazuki wants to help because she seeks an end to her curse.

(The thing about the revenge tho, is because I can never truly commit to tragedy so it’s really just a Sengoku Era version of the Prodigal Son episode where it SEEMS like all his brothers and father are dead but they are not 😏)

Except Raph. Who is alive. But at what cost??? 👀

Raphael is the only one of the brothers who is struck down in front of Leo.

But the Shredder, under Karai’s reminder that The Kitsune hoped to use one of the heirs for something, takes the wounded Raphael back with them, pulls an IDW and brainwashes Raphael into serving the Foot Clan

It’s as devastating as you’d imagine

The euphoria of realizing your brother is alive simultaneously clashing with the heartbreak that he is now a loyal retainer of your enemy and does not recognize you.

And eventually it’s Kindof an Ot3 😏

I like to think of Usagi as the most straightforward of the 3 of them. Hazuki is reserved, and Leo is oblivious to the affections of them both

His and Leo’s history is cute, because his master and Splinter were good friends, and so the boys played and trained together when they were really young. And once when nursing an injury, Usagi and his master stayed in Kameshiro as guests for half a year. And after that visited often over the course of several years.

But when they were like… I wanna say Usagi was 12 or 13 when his Master was killed, the shadow of grief blanketed him as a person and her fell into despair and stopped visiting. But he and Leonardo still wrote to eachother occasionally.

Idk if I’d call Usagi the picture of a ‘ronin’ or honorable when Leonardo comes to him with his vengeance plot. Hes really more of a vagabond? And while he’s not completely lost his sense, he’s kinda just taking odd jobs.

Hazuki Kindof becomes the team’s like moral compass, which is ironic given her former league in with the Foot. This irony is intentional 😈

She is very much this voice of like…. You both claim to be samurai/warriors and behave this way? Where is your honor?! What would your family say?!’ And often scolds them, or at one point, keeps Leo from crossing the line into just being a merciless killer asking him to show mercy

So she’s someone who helps Usagi rediscover why he was fighting in the first place, and reclaim his honor. Helping him to regain himself by supporting him— he then discovers the strength of stance to see how LEO is staggering towards that same emotional and moral pitfall that he was stuck in for so long. And that gives him the perspective to reach for Leo as well. She is also serving as this additional tether to keep Leo from completely sinking into the vengeful mindset so deeply he can’t come back from it.

This role is then utterly *shattered* when they are so very close to their goal and then are ambushed— and Karai reveals that it was Hazuki who had guided them to them in the first place. That it was all an elaborate plan to serve herself and get Kitsune to undo her curse; turning over the wayward Hamato heir and troublesome ronin.

And when they accuse her of lying, Hazuki appears from the brush and confirms her treachery. Only it isn’t her, it’s Kitsune, using an illusion to appear like Hazuki.

Meanwhile she’s already been captured by Raphael

Here’s a fun moment I have planned later with a ‘which one is the real one, which one will you spare and which will you condemn?’ Moment where they have to choose. 😈

What will be decided? Who will live and who will die? How will they survive?! Find out next time on SPK: Cries of Edo!

[he1ian]

these are like almost a year old but vio told me to post them so I do :3c

[noxx-33i]

spk swocket angst bc i need to draw them more

[beansismyreligion]

:) ★ ?

Dewey measured twelve inches with the ruler, Huey lifted the medallion to the correct height, and Louie held the lantern. Three seemed to be the perfect number to get the job done, and Huey smiled. He could’ve done it by himself, probably, but he didn’t have to, and that was the beauty of it.

Immediately, little points of light shone down onto the map, traveling through the total six gems.

“Cool,” Dewey whispered, and Huey smiled wider.

Fanart of chapter 15 of Solider, Poet, King by @stargaze-sunflower !! go give it a read !!

“Look!” Dewey exclaimed excitedly, leaning forward and bumping Huey’s shoulder in the process. “It’s all lined up!”

And he was right; five of the gem lights were dancing above existing villages, but one of Dewey’s blue dots was swaying out in the middle of nowhere.

“Mark it down!” Huey urged.

Dewey scrambled for the pencil and drew a smiley face right under his blue light.

[whumpsday]

Since @whumpshaped has been making these, its fair if you're not taking part in it, but I was thinking about bad end/game over spk Kane ?

otherwise known as the "bellamy never finds them" au. credit to @whumpshaped for seth ("sir") and some of the dialogue here (because we have discussed this scenario in dms before)

literally cried writing this btw. good thing i am also working on the rescue chapter of spk and that'll be posted today to even it all out :)

masterlist

cw: death wish, major character death, pet whump, unhappy ending

It had been decades alone in the basement, decades since Sir had accidentally killed Pumpkin. He wasn't sure how many, but Kane could tell that Sir was getting up there in age. He must have been in his sixties by now, which while a long way from the average human lifespan, was still approaching it.

He remembered being in his sixties, a lifetime ago. He hadn't known pain, then.

Kane was scared. Sir had always threatened to send him back to the hunters when he got old. As horrible as it was here, and as much worse as it had gotten after Pumpkin died, it was still better here. If only by the slightest margin. Anything was better than the hunters.

Kane looked up at the ceiling, the chain connected to his collar jingling slightly with the movement. "I'm scared, Pumpkin."

He always looked up to talk to them. Pumpkin had told him about their human religion, and he knew that's where Pumpkin would go. Even if they had thought otherwise.

"I want to go too." he whispered.

Sir was approaching the basement. Kane resigned himself to another day of endless torment.

But when Sir opened the door, they were holding a stake.

Kane's heart surged with hope, eyes flitting between Sir's face and his potential salvation. "Sir...?"

"Okay Leech, I think I'm retiring." he said, approaching with the stake.

Tears of joy came to Kane's eyes. It was over. Sir wasn't sending him back to the hunters. He was finally, finally going to be allowed to die.

He righted himself into a kneeling position, baring his chest readily. "Thank you, Sir."

Sir did not make a fuss of it. No final words were exchanged.

Kane died smiling.

[thespookiestteacup]

Another piece of fanart for “Soldier, Poet, King” by @stargaze-sunflower

This didn’t turn out quite like I pictured it but nonetheless I’m very proud of it :D

[mintreeea]

Happy Anniversary to Soldier Poet King!

I'm sorry I couldn't draw anything big for the occasion, but here's a small drawing I did from a scene in Chapter 12!

Soldier Poet King is a DuckTales AU written by @stargaze-sunflower.

[staarshiine]

I’ve been reading Soldier, Poet, King by @stargaze-sunflower and it’s so good!! I drew a scene from Chapter 14 when they’re researching a map in a library :]