I struggled with the shading on this one a LOT, as the lighting was kind of complicated. The HaySil version of this old piece with Cyberpunk Hayden's other BF (the previous piece has Hayden's old hairstyle still)
They're at the main hangout place for Basil's gang, probably. Figuring out what to put on the BG apart from Hayden's spirit buddy Yoruga was difficult as well.
There's a lot of small details I'd still probably want to fix, but at this point I'm too exhausted, and at some point I gotta stop or else it's never done lol
UPDATE: Finally went and fixed Hayden's hairdo + added story context.
Hayden often dozes off like this when close proximity with Kuromoya or Basil, which does also lead to Hayden's Hex Spirit Yoruga plotting murder because he's protective over his human. (Okay not really, but he tends to keep an eye on both 'just in case')
Kuro doesn't really mind that Yoruga does that, which often leads to a conversation of: "Wanna join?" "No, I'm watching you." "Alright, have fun."
UPDATE: I finished the full body looks for these two, and decided to just add it to Hayden's cyberpunk AU post. Ava is after all very central for this storyline, if this was an actual visual novel, she'd be your main guide/companion.
More info on this AU below:
The setting is a Cyberpunk style city, but its not pure sci-fi, in that there's some fantasy style magic involved - namely Hexes. Special abilities some people are naturally born with/attain somehow at some point in their lives. They have a tattoo somewhere in their body to symbolize this power, though it might not always be visible until activated.
Some rare hexes include a consciousness within it, a spirit that becomes a companion for the person, the relationship can be anything from friendship, to familial, to romantic bond. This type of Hex is difficult to handle however, given you really, truly need to share trust with the spirit, something that can be incredibly hard to do.
Often times Spirit Hex owners just end up taken over and possessed by the spirit, and eventually killed. The trust level is measured with what they call "comparability," and Hayden has an unusually high level of it and has had since birth, close to 95 % which is almost unheard of. (The highest on record is 84 %)
The main point of the AU is Hayden getting involved by accident in some crazy conspiracy situation, by preventing an unknown kid from being kidnapped with Yoruga's help. He's then forced to flee and go into hiding as the bad guys come to him too now for his Hex spirit. He gets help from his old friend Avane, who always knows what is going on in the city.
Hayden also gets to meet the criminal syndicate Foxglove's leaders who seem to know what's going on with that mystery kid, as well as some of Ava's underground fighter friends, one of whom takes a liking to Hayden. It also turns out Hayden's mentor whom he was doing an apprenticeship is involved, and in fact central to the mystery of this kid he helped....
Tis the tweaking season, in this case I mean I'm going through my cast and seeing if there are ones whose design needs adjustment. In Yoruga's case I realized that his design had too much going on with the main outfit? The eye coat was a fun idea, but given how detailed his wings are....it was too much.
Bio below:
Name: Yoruga Avara (Yoruga translates to Night Moth, Avara is the surname of the guardians of the tree he manifested from, that are still listed as his next-of-kin)
Nicknames: Yoru-chan/Yoru (Hayden, Alois) Mothy (Youko) Koi (Roman, it means moth in Italian as he's from Italy) Nephew (Iris), Stick-bug/bugstick (Claude)
Age: He died around the age of 20-21, but is now 25, so he has existed in his new form for 4-5 years
Height: 164 cm
Family: He stayed with the keepers of his birth tree for a while (The Avara family), then moved to the Capital once he was emotionally and mentally stable enough to go and start his new life properly. Since he's still listed under their guardianship, Yoruga continues to use their surname.
Friends: Hayden (his absolute bestie), Alois (his boss) Roman, Bianca (his coworkers) Caelan (the BF of Hayden's brother) Youko (A kid he sometimes babysits) Miriam (His boss in his primary job/his honorary aunt Iris' best friend)
Love interest: None (he’s Aro-ace)
Occupation: Arcane Library Keeper assistant/part time Cafeteria employee in charge of the freakshake specials. (He works at the cafe from Thursday to Saturday)
Personality:
Yoruga comes off like a goofy weirdo who everyone accepts just Does Things, and nobody questions it. Be it painting smileyfaces on random things and calling them “friends” or vibrating so rapidly he breaks whatever he’s sitting on. He's often compared to a cat with his mannerism and good stealth.
Beneath this childlike exterior however, exists a serious, cautious and always prepared fighting spirit, who also enjoys taunting his opponents and make them think they have the upper hand on him, before getting the rug pulled from under them so to speak. This readiness for trouble is likely due to his past life meddling into paranormal hauntings, which could be quite dangerous.
He’s very protective over his best friend Hayden and basically anyone he's close with, to the point when he switches to his more serious self, he can even come off scary. (he's good with stabby things after all)
Abilities:
WINGS: His wings are fire- and stab-attack proof, and he can poof into hundreds of tiny black moths and reform himself back. Yoruga can also use these butterflies to blanket large areas into complete darkness
VOICE: He has a supersonic scream that can shatter glass and rupture eardrums. Can even cause a heart-attack on weaker people
STEALTH: He’s very good at blending into shadows, and he can use his little butterflies to spy on people. Generally he's super stealthy, to the point he has to warn his coworker Roman beforehand about his presence, or the former mobster might accidentally attack him when startled.
POCKET DIMENSION: Yoruga, like other moth spirits, has a pocket dimension to store things in. His is particularly big even among his kin, allowing him to store objects bigger than himself, and even engulf an area into his pocket dimension. He uses this both for transporting things (sometimes even people)
SPEED: Yoruga's speed at utilizing his pocket is also unusually fast; normally when a moth spirit summons something from there, it forms out of glowing butterflies matching the spirit's colors. In Yoruga's case, it looks like he just pulls things out from inside his robes. (without them, it looks like he just pulls them from his body somehow)
STAB: Yoruga is excellent in using short bladed weapons in fights, and can even recognize what type of enchanted blade one has/what materials it is made of and how durable it is.
WEAKNESSES:
Due to his oddball behavior, he's not good at making friends, hence he tends to be a bit clingy to Hayden when he's in need of social interactions.
Since it is likely that Yoruga died in a building collapse, he tends to be uncomfortable and anxious in tight, constrained spaces, to the point he prefers using his own wings as a blanket over actual ones.
FUN FACTS:
His foster family surname he still uses for official documents and such - Avara - is Finnish and means "open/spacious"
His name translates to Night Moth, which is likely the name of the place he died at; old abandoned theater, a nightclub, he's not sure what the place was exactly as he can't remember.
Iris is another honorary family member who was fostered by the family, and she considers Yoruga a honorary nephew, which is why she refers to him as such usually. She was also the one who got Yoruga his job under Miriam.
Yoruga likes chin scratches and might randomly ask some from people, typically his best friend Hayden, Roman, or Youko's adoptive parents Shura and Shika. (Roman was weirded out at first, but is now used to his weird cat-like behavior)
Yoruga works in two places because he's not always needed at the library, and started to get bored; he's the type that tends to always need something to do as his mind is a tad hyperactive.
Both of his bosses make sure he remembers to rest as well, because he has the tendency to forget sometimes.
Yoruga makes really excellent freak-shakes (over-the-top milkshakes) though he's banned from making one for Youko before dinner, as the kid will get a massive sugar rush. His shakes are one of the specialties of the cafeteria.
Some people can see through his goofy facade, but react to it somewhat differently; his boss Alois, his boss' LI Jurou and Alois' niece Avane find it amusing, whereas Hayden's brother Claude finds him spooky and weird.
He and Hayden often get up to Shenanigans in their free time, especially during Halloween; they might go to the human world to spook people, as both are good at it.
His style is basically "Weird funky details mixed with cutesy childlike vibes or spoooooooky"
