have some little doodles of THE BOY - UE Dust <3 because ue was my FIRST au of anything EVER, and predates me doing digital art! in fact, i literally got INTO digital art to try different colour variants of literally HIS outfits, because i didnt want to redraw him over and over and over again traditionally, to see what i liked best! its also the reason i started posting on tumblr, because i needed a host site to put my images on <3 im literally not even joking THIS FUCKER HERE is the reason im here, posting stuff, to this very day <3
for anyone concerned with my health, im doing well now! back on my old meds, as well as a strong painkiller, and am waiting for more results still! but im doing much better than i was before! which means more drawing! yaaaaay!
these are just some differnt lighting experiments, really. same image, just with a little editing to change the lighting and stuff! :) elf mn go brr
im debating on how ;high coverage' i want his clothing to be, really. hes gonna be more dragon-y, and im gonna doa big study and research into some anthro art to get it looking good, but any Cross fanatics out there - how MUCH should i give him? like, he not a character ive OBSESSED over, so im not AS sure what i want him to look like? cus ive changed it over and over again in my mind, and i cant PICK what i want. so if theres anyone out there who like, wants to help, be my guest haha!
thinking about UE!Cross and his dragon self. hes from Agùfdof - an icy, mostly mountainous territory, and many of the dragoneborne have wings so they can fly to the top of their hills and mountains to sunbathe. Cross doesnt HAVE wings, and spent a long time thinking they'd just 'grow in' except they never DID, and as such, he never got to go sunbathe, which as a dragonborne, and a as such, a coldblooded creature, meant he got sick very often. Xgaster always left him without proper food, or a healer, because he believed his Heir needed to 'toughen up and get over it' - which is something Cross internalised.
so, when he joins the party, and they get to Nightmares island and bond, and he eventually opens up about this all, his surprised one day, when hes brought to a turret on the castle, with steps circling up to the top of the roof, in the exact spot the sun falls on when it rises first thing in the morning; the perfect place for him to curl up and enjoy both the warm sun rays, and the cool sensation of dawn that his ice dragon self needs.
UE!Aliza! ive been going back and forth on her design SO MANY TIMES, and pretty much every time ive drawn her, ive drawn here differently, but, i THINK im happy with this design for her? i keep changing the 'accessories' of the dress and such, and where i put bows. i like this one the best, but like, if i draw here differently anytime...
anyway, yeah! Aliza! she was abandoned by her birth parents age 10 while they went out picking berries in the forests nearest to Nightmares Island, and the Party found her when they teleported onto the main land. Horror got attached to her quickly, after pretty much already adopting his younger sister and raising her like his child, so, he took her in!
Shes 4'3 and Human! She not officially part of the Party because shes a kid, and they dont want to drag her into it ll yet while shes still young, so shes an honorary member, along with Chu - (thats XChara in this world!) Horrors her 'dad' while Nightmare and Dust take over her education!
as shes not part of the part yet, no one knows her Element, but shes Earth. something Horror would be very happy to learn, as thats his element too.
under the cut is an alt version of the drawing without the lighting over her, and a screen shot of the very first drawing of her as a character, for a LOOONNGG time ago! hehe, look at the improvement!
heres where i got with Crossy! a similar, but updated version to his design! kept the same vibes, changed a few bits! im still not SUPER happy with it, but i think with some rendering, and some eventual bling that im gonna add, he'll look more what i had in mind!
TW: mentions of abuse, mentions of discrimination - hatred of a child who 'came out wrong'
"The Scourge Of The Night" - Nightmare - Dark type
Elven/ Aasimar God
Mystic
Age: over 5,000
height: 5'9
Gender: N/A
pronouns depend on presentation
HIs eye changes depending on the phase of the moon. Both eyes did this, but after his Falling, only the left changes, the right staying stuck on full - they day they were cast down
"The Blessing Of The Dawn" - Dream - Light Type
Elven/ Aasimar God
Cleric + Ranger
Age: over 5,000
height: 5'4
Gender: N/A
All Pronouns
Eyes change depending on emotion - The more intense the emotion, the brighter his eyes glow. When they're very sad, you can see small black pupils in the pale white.
Were thrown out of their realm due to then not listen to their mother's orders - to chop down the tree holding the balance- despite the fact that those orders would kill them and many others.
They rebelled by stealing one of each of the apples that held the balance of light and dark. Nightmare took a dark one, and Dream took a light. They did this so that even if the tree was destroyed, the balance would stay safe.
The blame for this is pinned on Nightmare, due to their mother liking Dream more, they were both equal in their rebellion.
While they were both equal in in, it was dreams idea, and Nightmare grabbed the apple first, and was stopped pretty quickly, which is why he's scarred and had his hair sheared while dream didn't. Dream then had both apples. Nightmare was imprisoned, their notes were uncovered that proved dream was on on it. They had to punish both of them, but Dream got away cleaner because he was favoued, he understands this. Nightmares a little salty about this, but doesn't hate Dream for it. Dream feels guilt about it, but they both understand why it happened the way it did, and neither hold it against the other Dream WILLINGLY jumped to to the planet, escaping punishment, and joining their brother. They weren't meant to be cast down, and he would have just had his heir cut and then be allowed to live in the realm after that, but he jumped down before any of that happened. Nightmare doesn't know this, and thinks Dream was cast down as well.
The apples both fell down into the world they landed on. Growing nature of all kind, its said that the reason they world has magic, is because if the fallen apples (they mostly only mention Dreams apple, but its know that one of each fell down.)
Nightmare was fallen and sent to sleep indefinitely, and dream was turned to stone, it's said that dream will defeat 'his evil brother' and return to the heavens. This will never happen on account of neither of them wanting to kill the other.
Nightmare was thrown onto the North of the word, and dream the South, their landing split the ground off into islands of of the main island.
They both blame themself and not the other for what happened. Nightmare feels so guilty he initially tries to hide from Dream when the meet up, while Dream feels guilty and feels like he must appologise to Night for what happened. They eventually get over this guilt when they talk it out, but it takes a while.
Nim hated Night so much because his ears point down, his high elf heritage means they should point up, like Dreams, but they point down like a drows ears. This makes her think that Nightmare is cursed as evil, and that if she pushes him enough, he'll bend to her mold, and be good. This obviously doesn't work.
Overtime, the plants, knowing their innocence, slowly began to build fortresses around their bodies, to keep them safe until it was time for them to be awoken.
Nightmare was abused by their mother, Dream didn't know this. Nim threatened to do the same to Dream of he told him. Dream happens to see some of the abuse one day, and starts to question everything he's ever known about his family. This is what triggered his change in predictability - and caused them to rebel against her orders. He never told Nightmare what they saw that day. And the rebellion and banishment happened very shortly after.
Upon being awoken by Ink, Dream insisted that he must find his brother. Ink ( knowing the myths after finding out who Dream was and doing some research) is very against it. Dream doesn't understand why, and once again insists they go, Ink - trusting Dream- begrudgingly, agrees, and they set out to find them. The problem is, they have no idea where Nightmare was thrown, they're on an island ( as is Night) and Nightmare has wards surrounding his island (he was woken up after dream was, but Dream and Ink stay on the island for a good while and get to know each other before Dream insists on leaving, and it takes them a good while to move over there.) They don't find the island on their own, they have help from an outside source. (Error)
Horror (and Honey) , Killer, Dust and Cross have all met before they meet Nightmare, they were the original party, and they went travelling as a group to try and get as far away from the lives as possible, coming from all different directions, the only way to go was up, into the forest surrounded, snowy Island, this is how they find Nightmare.
Nightmare presented as female during their banishment, while dream presented as male. Nowadays, more often than not, Nightmare presents as male, and Dream as ambiguous. This isn't important to their story, but is a random fact. They're both essentially Genderfluid, and will switch genders if they believe they need to, they are essentially genderless beings that choose shapes as they see fit.
Nightmare had been woken up before, by a group who essentially forced him to do spells for them, and if he refused, they'd abuse him. Luckily, this didn't last for long, because Night killed them as soon as he had enough strength to do do.
This took all his energy, and the sleeping curse fell over him again.
Their existence is what causes day and night to exist. If only one of them is awake, then only their time exists. For example, Dream was woken before Nightmare and there was a time where they were no nights until night woke up. When Night woke up that one time, there was a period where there was absolutely no sun for the 6 months he was awake.
To keep Dream and Nightmare awake, they require something specific each month. For, Night it's a type of berry that only blooms during a full moon. So, when they find one, they take as many as they can. They have them planted all around their settlement. He has to eat at least 5 of them during a month period to not fall asleep again.
For Dream, its water that has been infected with magic of a god/goddess (note Dream and Night CANNOT directly add magic to water, this doesn't work, they've tried). There's a stream that crosses through the island he landed on that is so infected with magic, and it's perfect. Every year, he and one or two of his party members travel over there and collect as much as possible. This normally brings them back around 8 litres, and as he has to take a half a litre a month this works out fine. They put the spare in a well they have, just in case they can't get any for whatever reason.
Small fun facts
dream really likes birds, small ones in particular, like robins and sparrows. People joke that its due to the fact he has wings, and they feel the need to correct them every time, stating that "my wings are that of a dragonflies, not bird wings!"
Nightmare likes bigger birds, in particular ravens and crows, but he secretly likes insects the most. He finds them fascinating.
