#zyvv

[mistfallengw2]

This time I brought Zyvv to the VSArtParty! Didn't do much because I'm tired, but that's the norm at this point

Glitch glitched and had no cup to sip from 😔

I have no explanation for this other than "it was funny"

Asura collection because why not? Näppylä's intense stare kinda jumpscared me when I looked back at the screen

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Tag time! Okami Whitewings - me! Pictomancer Glitch - @glitchgw2 Cassia Burnshade - @foxmallow Näppylä - @tastethepaper Pëlkk - @the-skrool Zmeffi - @glints-legacy

[mistfallengw2]

inquest asks 7, 10, and 14 for zyvv? :) @kerra-and-company (also i saw you said you were doing this *again*, so if you've answered any of these already feel free to pick other ones!)

Complex Inquest Character Asks [No worries! I already answered with other Inquest OCs of mine, but Zyvv was only recently made for my ongoing Adventurer Challenge attempt, so they're new to this!]

7. What's their uniform like? Is it a generic-issued uniform, or custom tailored? Are there any features built into it that assist with their job?

Zyvv was perfectly fine with any generic-issued uniform available. With the promotion to senior researcher they COULD have asked for an rank signifier or upgrade of any kind, but they intentionally went with nothing that would stand out. Just a cog in the machine and all that.

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10. How do they feel towards Inquest leadership? (Optional: How do they feel towards Kudu and Kuda?)

It's not something they ever really wanted to think about, as it wasn't their place to question higher-ups' motives and such. Granted, some things they learned about them were... questionable at the very best, but they didn't want to risk upsetting anyone so they rigorously kept their head down. (They joined without knowing much about the Inquest, and from the moment it clicked it was just survival)

Zyvv saw Kudu come and go fairly regularly during the year and a half they worked at Terraneum B-10, a small facility that he personally made pivot to observing and studying dragon minions (various krewes there later moved to the Crucible of Eternity, at the time still mostly just a project), not that long before Zyvv was put to work as an intern there. They also know of Kudu visiting the Assay Pen to get updates on projects related to his own, but the facility's overseer and the krewe leaders handled him, so Zyvv wasn't around to see him. Their entire opinion of the guy was based on hearsay of him being "a genius you don't want to cross", followed by the suggestion to "look busy when he's around and you won't be bothered" their "mentor" gave them early on.

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14. It is said that the Inquest view the Eternal Alchemy as "a thing to be mastered and used, rather than merely understood, for the ultimate purpose of establishing asuran dominion over other species". Do they believe this-- is there a psuedo-religious/philosophical element to their Inquest loyalty? How do they feel towards other races?

They fully believe in the Eternal Alchemy, but it had no bearing on them joining the Inquest If anything, the Eternal Alchemy did give Zyvv a bit of strength to keep working in the Inquest, as there was probably a reason for it beyond bad timing and worse luck. They do find the goal of mastering it admirable, but they can't shake off the feeling that the very idea of doing that is a tad scary and likely "profane" in some bad way.

As for other races, they were fairly ignorant and a product of their environment, never having really interfaced with any non-asura directly. Everyone made fun of other races and called them names and slurs, especially in the Inquest, so that's what they were used to and tried to fit into. It all gets quickly dismantled as they're forced on the run. Sure, many are not that better than what they knew before, but so many of other races helped them out just because and offered kindness they were not used to. [and who knows what will happen going forward]

The ONE exception to their ignorance is skritt, because as progeny they were almost kidnapped by them. In reality, it was all an accident. Little Zyvv just hanging just outside the lab and met some young skritt that had wandered too far from their scratch (very likely Skrittsburgh, never confirmed). The mutual curiosity led to them playing for a time, like kids do, and it was all fun and fine. Then, when an adult skritt came to bring the runaway kids back to the scratch, they tried to take Zyvv with them, genuinely mistaking them for one of the skrittlings and grabbing them. The prickly situation was resolved when one of Zyvv's mom's krewe noticed the progeny's cries for help as the big skritt was carrying them away, and managed to make the skritt scatter. Zyvv was quite traumatized by the event (and subsequent overblown scolding from their mother), and they were particularly adamant about openly despising them. They only reconsidered their opinion after going on the run from the Inquest, forcing them interact with skritt quite more than they ever wanted, including accidentally helping them and being helped by them.

[mistfallengw2]

Mmm gimme 3 and 8 for Zyvv! @ratasum

oc ask game: song lyric edition

3. a song lyric to describe their family life

Two songs because their parents weren't a family (not even attempting to tl;dr the drama here)

🎶 I Can't Hear It Now - Freya Ridings

And there is a silence so soft it's only memory Like the way your voice always sounds when you sing to me But I can't hear it now Just tell me how to keep breathing while pretending I'm not drowning I don't know if I could I watched a door close for good 'Cause I couldn't keep it open

Zyvv was pretty close to their father, Pliff, and had a pretty nice life growing up with him, at least until it was upturned when he and half of his krewe got killed while out on a job. They were written off as casualties in a lab break-in unrelated to them, and Zyvv found out what happened only after joining the Inquest over a decade later, when one of his superiors casually mentioned the Arcane Eye as the culprit. Knowing did nothing but make Zyvv hurt more. With the rest of the krewe disbanding and no mentor lined up for them, little Zyvv was sent to their mother, angry and heartbroken that his family was taken away from them for no reason and that they had to leave all they knew behind.

Nowadays, Zyvv barely remembers their father's voice and face, and they feel terrible about it.

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🎶 Waiting In The Wings (Reprise) from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Guess by now I oughta know my place Do your humble duty with a smile on your face Mother knows how much I love her But she's always doing other things So I'll keep waiting in the wings I crave so much And yet I kept on waiting One glance, one touch And I just kept on waiting And when it came, it came with strings So I kept waiting in the wings

Nijji, Zyvv's mother, had wanted nothing to do with them since before their birth. She had to be pretty much forced to take in that 7 years old she didn't even consider as her son [before puberty kicked in, Zyvv still presented as a boy], and only agreed to it because some of her krewe promised to look after them as well. Nijji was extremely controlling and abusive towards Zyvv, treating them as a browbeaten apprentice, but was also extremely controlling and rarely let them out of her sight, even interjecting when someone of her krewe did more than the bare minimum for them.

Zyvv took that reunion pretty badly, but was still too hurt to really process it until much later, and with the little support they got as they mourned their father and the krewe that was like family to them, they ended up becoming quiet, shy and pretty much invisible. Still, even after giving up on hoping Nijji could be a mother to them, they kept trying to win at least her approval in any way possible. The only way to interact with her in a vaguely positive manner was to ask her to teach them biology (she was a botanist/plant biologist), and when she did that, she was almost nice to them, but it still did nothing in the long run.

3 years later Zyvv found a mentor and left, returning to Rata Sum. Their mother barely aknowledged them even then, and that jumpstarted a full rejection of everything she taught them, pushing them to pursue a career in magic-related studies, at least until someone in the Inquest pushed them back into it and they specialized in magibiology.

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8. a song lyric that would make them feel Seen

🎶 Better Version of Me by Autoheart

A broken heart, a broken soul, a broken everything My inability to mend is at the root of it If I could find a fix If I could find a fix To be a better me I've got a feeling that I'm losing my mind Cannot deny this is a difficult time (Time) And yet I'm telling everybody I love That I'm fine (That I'm fine) I have to pull myself back together again - I wanna be a better version of me I have a vision that one day I'll be free I'm gonna prove that I'm not already gone

Zyvv never tried to be anything more than what expected of them, never really finding their place, just trying to be useful instead of a nuissance. Taking the blame for the incident at the lab was in their nature, but overhearing something pushed them to run instead, as it had made them afraid for their life for the first time ever. Managing to survive as long as they did in their journey was already proof they could be something more, and now Zyvv has an objective beyond just survival: finding out what was done to Mardis, the pet that allowed them to escape in the first place and survive that far.