some blurbs about Coco and Zatounin, the god of vengeance that resides in her soul~
(Zatounin technically serves different purposes and roles depending on which universe Coco is in, this is specifically for MKverse and goes with the info that already exists in her character bio! (altho at the very end i’ll mention how Zatounin works in YYHverse lmao))
-his lore as a deity is that he resides in the Andromede society’s version of the Underworld, not as the operator of it(that’s a different deity), but a denizen. he was once a god of a different aspect, but he fell in love with a human woman and brought her to live with him after she returned his affections, but the trickster god of their pantheon, named Lindosen, tricked and killed her, jealous of her affection toward Zatounin, since he coveted her. after finding this out, he became the god of vengeance, and Lindosen became his sworn rival.
-the process that Coco’s people go through to draw the gods into their form is extremely taxing and painful, and takes training to do properly merge and de-merge, hence why they don’t typically allow the merging to happen before the age of 15. Coco unwittingly merging with Zatounin at the age of 11 with no preparation caused his essence as a god to become essentially “trapped” inside her soul, merging him with it, and causes her immense pain. she barely remembers the actual pain of the initial merger, as she was already close to death and floating in and out of consciousness, but she has dealt with it every day since. she hides it well, but it feels like a constant and intense burning or ripping sensation inside of her. she’s very good at hiding the pain, as it’s a constant in her life at this point, but it’s always there.
-she was floating in and out of consciousness when he came to her initially, and he had to work hard to pull her from the brink of death. he called to her, over and over in her mind, and in her mind she saw a large hand, coated in darkness, reaching out to her. he begged her to take his hand, promising his protection. she reached out, and as their hands touched, the darkness began to wrap around her hand, until it covered her entirely. that and a flash of immense pain was the last thing she remembered before she passed out completely, and Zatounin took full control of her body to protect her and kill her abusers.
-his magic appears as a sort of black and purple smoke-like energy, although it moves oddly like ink in a water suspension, almost haphazard and appearing to “bloom”, with small tendrils curling away from it. Coco can use this magic to grab people, like an extension of a hand, and she can also envelope people in it, draining their life force. the purple parts of it glow.
-Zatounin himself has his own design, though i’m still working on it(and need to get a commission at some point but FUCK IM BROKE LMAO). he is almost humanoid in appearance, but much larger, with a broad chest, a head, two arms, and two legs. however, his skin tone appears to be ink-black, with a reflective purple sheen in the light. he also has giant bat-like wings, smaller wings where his ears would be, horns that curve straight up, sharp teeth, and claws. as well, his movement is very inhuman: when not using his wings to fly, he moves in an almost animalistic way, on all fours, in a very jittery and unnatural manner. his eyes aren’t black either, like Coco’s become when she uses his magic, but instead it’s the same bright, glowing purple that exists in his magic.
-Coco can fully allow him to take over her body in emergency situations, but it’s very taxing and painful, plus it takes a while to fully recover from, so she only ever uses it as a last resort. she tends to use a form that i’ve been calling her Possessed Form for lack of a better term yet, where she partially allows him to take over. (here’s a picrew i made of it!) it’s quite an interesting transformation to watch from start to finish: first her eyes will change color, becoming fully black as though she’s wearing large sclera lenses. then, her hands will grow claws and become covered in the same blackness as they were the first time she and Zatounin merged, with wisps and blooms of blackness traveling up her arm, though not all the way. she also grows his fangs, horns, and both sets of wings(the ear wings give help her hearing exponentially as well!). in this form, she can use a lot of his powers, including increased strength and speed, extra control over how his magic moves and works, and the use of portals of darkness that she can transport herself and others through, though the range these portals have is limited to small distances.
-Coco is able to use his magic without transforming fully or partially, but this has taken much practice and effort on her part. if she doesn’t want to fight someone but she does want to intimidate them, she’ll typically stay in human form(or very partially transform ie eyes teeth and claws with nothing else changing) and threaten them with the magic.
-because of the merger, Zatounin is always with her. she talks to him a lot in her head, or occasionally out loud. if he wants to make himself known to others, he will show himself as a black wisp of smokey/inky magic with only his eyes visible otherwise. he can communicate with others without taking over Coco’s body, although that is because of a lot of practice of mastery over the ability to do so on Coco’s part.
-very rarely, if Zatounin thinks its necessary, or if his ire as a deity of vengeance has been activated, he will take over Coco’s body himself to either protect her or enact his own revenge. He tries to not do this, as he respects Coco’s autonomy as much as he can, but it does slip out. Coco’s managed to stop him exactly once during these kinds of moments.
-despite his terrifying appearance, immense power, and obsession with revenge as the deity of such, Zatounin himself is a very reasonable being. he is very protective of his human charge, helping her often with words of advice and reassurance in hard moments. many people with no understanding of the people of Andromede’s pantheon assume he’s a demon who’s possessed Coco’s body, and worked out some kind of deal with her. She usually doesn’t correct these false assumptions, unless it’s someone she knows and respects.
-Coco’s fiance-turned-sworn-enemy, Aten Vela, was given his powers by Lindosen, the trickster god who kills Zatounin’s human lover. He keeps this information from her while they are engaged, knowing Zatounin would never allow his manipulation of her if he knew the truth.
-in YYH verse, Coco is in fact a hybrid demon/human, and Zatounin is her ancestor and took over her body during a similar moment as he did in MKverse(the backstory is mostly the same with some slight changes, i’ll get into it eventually lmao). because of that, she awakened her demon energy much earlier than Yusuke did, but like Yusuke, she didn’t meet him(or any of her demon family) until the Three Kings arc. she starts the series much stronger than the main four boys, but doesn’t work with them until at least the Chapter Black arc, and by the time the Three Kings arc rolls around, they all begin to outrank her.
-Calli still has trouble concentrating on academic work if Coco’s not around. She associates study time with Coco’s singing while doing housework, from their childhood/teenagerhood. she’ll sometimes listen to old recordings of her singing if she’s not around and Calli can’t focus on her work.
-Sascha and Coco are both little feral goblins who are always ready to throw down at any given moment, so they constantly start fights in the house that cause a huge mess. Sometimes Calli gets included in the battle, but only if both of them know she’s ready for it, and if it’s not over a personal matter. in the Nova household, you’re always battle-ready.
-Calli plays pranks on both of them. She likes to scare Coco when she’s not expecting it, although she usually also has to dodge an instinctive punch, since Coco is fight in the fight-or-flight argument. With Sascha, her favorite prank is putting her barrier magic in a doorway he’s about to walk through. He never doesn’t fall for it. He has not learned in a decade, and honestly bless his heart for that.
-Coco and Sascha always end up butting heads when they have guests over, bc she was always taught in her upbringing that Guests are The Most Important Thing Ever™️(it’s a big thing in her culture since, being on a hidden-away island, people didn’t often have guests), and Sascha is apathetic at best with other people in the house. He pretty much behaves the same way he always does, which is relaxed, non-talkative, and casual. She, meanwhile, is extra respectful, and always offering things like water and food and the like. She gets mad at him for not being more reverent about the whole thing.
-Despite all their fighting, both physically and otherwise, Coco and Sascha are very close. Sascha is the first one to notice that something’s really wrong with Coco after her and Aten split up, and actually comfort her for it instead of just staying out of her way like most everyone else. Much like Calli, Coco didn’t tell Sascha about any of their relationship(under Aten’s advice, of course), but he knew she needed her big brother and went to help her.
-and of course, Calli and Sascha are incredibly close. he was the one to help her after she and Coco were separated, he helped her learn how to fight in ways that Coco couldn’t teach her, and he’s usually who she goes to when Coco’s being unreasonable. they all tend to end up being mediators between each other, bc between the three of them, there’s a fuckton of trauma. They do love each other very much though, and even though Sascha isn’t related to Calli and Coco by blood, they both consider him just as much of family as each other.
-in some universes where it’d make more sense for there to be an actual adult in the house, Astrid, who’s the one remaining Village Elder in Andromede(Coco and Calli’s ancestral homeland) adopts all three. It’s usually Calli and Sascha at first, with Coco finding her way in eventually. despite the fact that she’s not super hands-on, she cares dearly for all three of them, and is always willing to help then with whatever they need. Also, they call her "Grandma", not "Mom," even though she's technically their adoptive mother.
i fully believe that one day Calli came home from high school to find that Coco and Sascha completely trashed the house in the World’s Greatest Paper Towel Roll Swordfight to ever happen.
