anyways.....lately i've been feeling cluttered and uncomfortable on this blog, psds have been a mess, i've been in a bad mental space, none of my promos and such show in the tags and writing's been tough, so i'm gonna continue writing skekTek bUt i'm gonna be archiving and moving him to a new blog with a different url and redoing my icons and aesthetics too. unless any rp partners say otherwise i'll also be selectively moving threads but dropping starters that i never replied to or partners never replied to
it's been counting the days, counting it's footsteps, counting every little tool and small - enough - to - fit book in those messy old bags with each day. it's habitual; compulsive, but it keeps the scientist sane. a wandering mind is a festering one. presently, it's counting the hours until the second brother wakes, because while the early hours were favored in the castle's blackened halls, it finds that it sparks a rather ... antsy feeling out here, even if the noise and smells of active life are nothing short of a sensorial nightmare. at least comfort can be taken in the moss and wet sod being a much more yielding surface than gnarled stone, despite the comparative alien - ness.
skekTek's beak moves with mute murmurs, both talons busy with sorting through one of the aforementioned nebrie - leather bags, remaining eye narrowed. it's trying to stay focused, because it swears it keeps hearing something repetitive and close, the occasional twig snapping or two. ' it's nothing, just an animal ' says logic / ' it's something, keep your eyes open ' says frayed nerves. it doesn't help that the little green ball of feathers it successfully smuggled away keeps fussing — but either way, the scientist stubbornly refuses to budge. even when there's another snap and — no — no, it has to say or do something. even if logic also says a rasped, ' WHAT ' barked without even looking over the shoulder isn't the proper way to go about it.
skekLach chooses to ignore their elder’s disbelief. an error in judgement, that they could concede, but discoveries could not properly be made without some level of risk. surely, they of all skeksis knew that. besides, they are young, hardier than most. after some more bed rest, they’d be out in the wilds of Thra again, searching for new specimens to add to their impossibly large collection.
“I have,” they answer, head canting to the side as they continue to study the strange plant. it was unspoken that the Scientist keep it. if it meant that they would finally figure out this mystery, they did not mind, and besides, they trust skekTek. it is one of the few they can trust nowadays.
“a monocarboxylic acid amide was one of my first guesses, but it seems a bit more… concentrated and aggressive.” they reaffirm eye contact with the Scientist, their own golden hues all but aglow. “the gelfling don’t even know what this is,” they breathe. “it’s–it’s something new, or at the very least, an undiscovered hybrid. how exciting!”
an unfortunate phenomenon the two share these days; having to scan courtiers' beaked faces for something ugly. skekTek's unsure of it's origin, but assumes that it has something to do with more and more grey tufts being found in their ever thinning fluff, even if saying it out loud makes it sound so much more ... silly than it does in their head. but either way, the hypothesis still nags them and it's interactions like this that remind the scientist why they still trust and value skekLach's companionship in these strange times.
stained with soot their face may be, but anyone could see it warp into something prideful under all that grime; smug. skekTek, in their usual fashion, is the one breaking eye contact once the collector says their part — but ah, it's not out of foulness, no. it's the precursor to the engineer pulling themself to their feet, popping back their back, and drawing the earthen pot up in arms / and immediately readjusting to be hold in a more outward fashion. right, leaves, delicate. " well, collector, you may label it that way for now. but with the specimen in my care it will require a much more specific classification soon. very soon. "
a weighty statement, but one they throw with ease. the youngest of the avians has done nothing to bleed their pride, in fact the elder of the pair firmly believes they have no reason to ever worry about such a thing. not from skekLach.
" and, if i may share a sentiment just between the two of us ? " it continues, carefully stepping around the shorter skeksis and scanning the shelves, the desks — where oh where is it to place this oddity ?
" this is far more interesting than the engine model his majesty has requested of me, i thank you. "
or, maybe it's that the model would be stimulating if it wasn't so obviously a flippant thing most likely to keep them busy, because what else should they be ? but as said earlier, either way, the laboratory's host is here with a new fixation just as aggresive as they, and a fellow who will gladly listen to it babble.
the rules are simple: for each of the below items, fill in three to five things that your character might be identified by. After that, repost and tag away !
tagged by : kept seeing it on the dash so naturally i did what i always do and ganked it
tagging : idk man i started filling this out at 5 am and have no idea who hasn't done it or not yet
Kitchen:
What is the character’s favourite food?: doesn't have a true ' favorite, ' so to speak, just a few dishes it favors with a big emphasis on few; skekTek's a terribly picky eater, bordering on meticulous. greens along the lines of tuber plants i.e merkeep — cooked throughly — are high on the short list. it will eat meat and eat it regularly but only really if it's chewy or kinda stringy, armalig is definitely high on the list due it's texture, something skekTek is also meticulous about. oh, and those little grub / wormlike creatures we see here and there. those are delicacies to them and they'll eat ' em raw and by the dozen, especially the bigger and chunky ones.
Are they good at cooking? How good/bad?: definitely not good at it. it has only cooked once in it's life and it was essentially just them holding a chunk of landstrider thigh over an open flame in the laboratory and hating every second of it. never again.
Do they leave the dishes out?: the skeksis eat as a group in the dining hall and leave the dishes to podling servants each and every time, but skekTek doesn't exactly get to dine with fellow lords often. most of it's meals are leftovers gleamed from the kitchen when it's supposed to be closed, and there's usually small stacks of plates and soup bowls here or there in the lab when they're really in the zone and can't be bothered to move them right at that moment, but skekTek values it's organized clutter and will never leave something unwanted out for long. again, meticulous.
What kind of food is in their refrigerator?: no refrigerator, but as i mentioned above, skekTek takes leftovers for itself and nurses off of those as it works, too caught - up to properly eat. there's a few boxes in a room towards the back of the lab that store greens, nebrie cheese, the aforementioned grubby creatures, and sometimes live crawlies.
Do they cook, eat out or get take-away/delivered food?: see above.
Living Room:
How does the character spend weekends?: breaks are rare and far-between for the scientist, and they're nothing grand when they do happen. just skekTek with the books it knows to be unvandilzed by the scroll-keeper ( luckily that's most scientific accounts ) and the company of it's beasitary. to tell the truth, they don't exactly ... know how to spend time casually. skekTek's brain is an odd machine constantly firing on all cylinders, and they have no patience for things more ... fiddly. if it doesn't have a purpose, there's no point basically. though in the golden age, it would venture out of the lab more often and visist ha'rar's library. and if skekTek ever got a true break it'd probably, realistically, just sleep for hours and hours on end.
What do they do with friends?: do animals kept as lab rats it bonded to out of loneliness and frustration with the others count as friends, and does idly babbling to them about it's projects or day or problems count as spending time with friends.
What’s their favorite pastime?: sitting away from anyone who can bother them, working on a pet project that's entirely their own, no demanding emperor or sly chamberlain. just skekTek.
Bathroom:
How does the character prepare in the morning?: skekTek awakes usually a full hour before the greater sun rises ( when it actually sleeps ) as to get an early start and beat any of it's kin to the spa, as skeksis share bathchambers and it has a strong dislike for bathing — let alone disrobing — in another's presence. really the only reason it bathes is just because the grime starts to feel uncomfortable after a while, even by skekTek's standards.
in fact bathing is a strong word actually, what skekTek does is more akin to a once-over with a soapy rag, then leaving immediately after. it may share the hedonistic streak all castle skeksis do, but has no time to soak or care about things like flower petals in the water or fancy smells. from there on, it's tidying up yesterday's mess and making sure everything in the workstation is in it's proper place — as it has to be for the scientist to work without stress. it's a very simple morning routine really, especially when compared to the others.
Do they sing in the shower?: no. and if it's unlucky enough to end up sharing the baths with another, and they do such a thing, it'll be Miserable.
What kind of hair product/make-up do they use?: sure skekTek has an ego and considered itself rather handsome in it's youth, but it doesn't value beauty the same way other courtiers do and has no definition of self - care. things like perfumes or make - up would eventually end up masked or smeared or sent running by the heat and fumes of the laboratory anyways, as i mentioned above skekTek only really cares about things if it considers them to have a point. in it's youth, it still didn't care very much but was more begrudgingly obliged to allow the ornamentalist to gussy up those blue feathers for a special occasion. the maudras' don't like smelling chemicals and oil at meetings or dinners.
How clean is this character?: ^^^ nasty.
Does the character have thousands of shampoo/shower gel bottles by the shower, or do they use only the bare essentials?: ^^^^^^^^^^ is dull, scent - less soap a bare essential.
Bedroom:
How do they sleep? (Position, sleeping habits, bedtime routines): usually it just falls asleep at it's desk with a workbook as a pillow, but, when it can make it to it's chambers, it just shambles to bed grime and all and collapses. it's a noisy sleeper, grunts and various birdy sounds, and sleeps either curled in on itself or sprawled every which way — limbs and tail hanging over edges, on it's belly, on it's back, sometimes sagging off the side usually. it's a light sleeper and woken easily. on that note, it's also rather restless and tossed and turns. in it's younger days, when trying to properly sleep, it would just stare at the ceiling for hours before eventually hauling itself up to go to the lab.
What are their pajamas like?: again, either falls asleep in it's regular robes, or a simple silk nightgown; similar to the emperor's but not as decorative. there's a few sewn designs and frills here and there, but there all victim to skekTek's fidgeting habit, plucked at excessively.
What do they dream about usually?: like all skeksis at the castle save for the emperor, skekTek is incapable of dreaming,
How neat/tidy are they?: organized clutter. to anyone else, it's messy and roundabout, to skekTek everything is order and if you mess it up they'll stress out.
How affectionate are they?: in the negatives. loathes giving it, gets uncomfortable upon receiving, and generally doesn't like thinking about it. the closest it's gotten to it is petting sidetic's head through the bars, as it's the one lab animal not scared of them.
Attic:
What is the character afraid of?: hm.
the emperor, losing worth, being thrown away by the emperor, anything happening to it's good eye, being forgotten ... it's also developed a form of claustrophobia and can't handle not being able to move it's head or having it's face covered.
How do they deal with bad memories?: it doesn't. it internalizes, stews in them and becomes more and more angry over it all until inevitably lashing out at the world. or it just represses them.
What is this character’s role in a horror movie?: the monster.
How do they hide their secrets?: very well, though the emperor and chamberlain see through it clearly.
‘ 𝙾𝙷 𝙽𝙾 – you found me. i’m shhhhhaking. can you see me shaking , skektek ? ’ skekgra perhaps has never sounded more bored in his entire , quite lengthy life. with his abhorant flare for dramatics , however , even bored sounded a bit too… exciting. ‘ i’m still banished. see ? me ? in this tastefully decorated cave ? banished ! so either you are very lost , or you need something. and if it’s the latter , i have one thing to say to you , my old friend. tough noogies ! ’
skektek & skekgra go to white castle @vliya
a bit too exciting, especially if you're a creature as PARTICULAR as skekTek. as if it was a mollusk and that wooden / decorative carapace perched atop it's back a shell, the scientist draws in, in, and further inward on itself; scowling as usual. it's annoyance voiced as a drawn - out, nasal whine. " oh i can see that CLEARLY, thank you. "
well, it wasn't exactly what the skeksis would call tasteful — but what did it know about decor ? it wore an ensemble of tubes and wires for thra's sake. but skekTek's the fault - finding sort, especially when so ... out of its element; LOST the heretic dubs them, and while true, it loathes to admit anything to a being that causes it's very skin to crawl, so it won't. " don't call me your friend, and don't make assumptions of me. " it'll hiss, cautiously taking one curious step forward to crane it's head and look about the very ... skekGra space. " as if i'd need anything from you. to tell the truth, i assumed you were dead. "
If the Scientist has developed a sickly obsequiousness in order to survive the frayed nerves and non-existent camaraderie of the court, then time spent away from it has caused Snow to develop– re-develop– the pride SoSu once lovingly fostered within her. Her gaze hardens at her old friend’s horror, but not because she is angry with them. Oh no, she’s still debating whether or not it is worth it to teach the remaining courtiers a far over-due lesson. skekSil might have slunk away after the hakskeekah, but the general’s pompous blustering and skekZok’s baleful, calculating eyes in that corpse-like skull pick at phantom wounds, still festering even after all this time.
“And jussst wat is haf done?” she hisses, curls physically flaring along with her aura– once habitually ashen, now the same ethereal ivory she bore during the golden age. “Control de sunsss, you cannot. Listenink to corrupt foolsss for too lonk.”
Yet her reignited anger is just a mask to hide her deep-rooted anguish. She remembered a time in another age when mistakes and miscalculations were welcomed as learning experiences– the vague sensation of a hand upon her shoulder and a slow, patient smile whenever she apologized– But once the Emperor grew desperate to build his empire, that all faded. Science was merely a means to an end for weaponry, transportation, and engineered soldiers. If the Emperor was not pleased, if he did not hear what he wished, the Scientist was punished, often for things outside their realm of control.
It seems skekUng is little different in that regard.
“Lossst patience haf I. Hate me, you may, put will always pe my friend. Haf peen way-layed by skekSil’s whispers too many timesss. Will not stand py if tat Kakofrontesss harms you.”
She knows her words are vain and unwelcome as soon as they leave her lips, but she cannot help but voice them. Some things she has learned to let lie, but the sight of skekTek lurching down the hall, clutching a cloth to a bloodied socket will always be seared into her mind– a brand reminding her of how she has terribly and utterly failed them.
TekTih, forgive me, she prays. That is, perhaps, vain, too, but a habit she has donned again now that the suns are close to alignment. It keeps her sane, at least. Focused on hope rather than the despair that crouches at the door of her soul, like a peeper-beetle ready to devour the soft bits.
" DON'T ACT STUPID ! " skekTek yells, startling nearby caged animals. it's frantic edges grow ever sharper, fists going white-knuckled as it rips itself away and stumbles back, back, back, thumping against the desk and both hands fumbling to grip the splintered wood edge. " control the suns ? NO, NOT YET, but this ? " it snaps, mechanical eye traveling up and down as it focuses in on the once-councilor. " ' COULD'VE AVOIDED THIS. "
it could've and it didn't, for it's own inane reasons. this isn't the first time the scientist broke a sacred rule, but it always had clever reasons and excuses, the chamberlain to back up any odd claims. but now ? now it has none. it has no excuse skekUng will understand, no reason skekZok shouldn't point or accuse, no chamberlain to stand just behind it's shoulder and croon — well, it's not like that toxic solidarity didn't fade trine ago, when skekTek was given the chance to show their support to a potential emperor skekSil and practically spit in his eye in every way but literal. it's not foolish enough to take comfort in empty sweet words anymore, it's just disappointed at how little time the new emperor gave it to tear into him, but to digress; the support has never been needed more than in this moment.
with a ragged breath, the scientist's eye now falls to the floor, spots it's cane, and shakily stoops down to retrieve it before speaking again. " if you were smart, ' WOULD STAY OUT OF IT. any ... any harm, as councilor puts it, could be avoided if just let me handle it. "
this isn't too new. in the early days of the drainings, it had vehemently denied any aid or sanctuary offered by snow. not because it didn't so desperately need a brother - in - arms then, it just couldn't afford the weakness, the punishment. not much has changed in that regard. with a huff, the scientist gathers scrolls and notes in it's free arm — not that they'll want to see, merely a formality, and begins to limp to the stairwell. " ' don't need a friend, ' need to talk to khrokon alone. "
“ Life is sacred !! Because of what you’ve done , they can’t return to Thra ! ”
Both sickened && saddened by the words she spoke , the smaller Gelfling wrapped her arms around herself in a feeble attempt to fend of the chills she got from being in the skesis’ threatening presence .
the click of serpentine tongue, it's own spindly arms cross. words so heavy leave the grottan, but to the reptile they weigh just the same as a formula it hasn't fully deciphered, or — no — lighter than that. in fact it's not even sure such a thing had been considered upon the first experiment, even back when shreds of normalcy clung like burrowing bugs.
" i was never one for matters so ... sacramental. " it'll state, simply, coldly, and yet not without underlying nerves. ' never liked discussion of afterlifes this one. " it's all neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. YOU CAN'T EVEN PROVE SUCH A CONCEPT. "
❝ you’re not a lord at all . ❞ / age of resistance 1x06.
raw, raw, RAW nerves, blinding white hot ! shrieking upon something as soft as a spring ninet breeze barely grazing the shredded bundle; all cut up like something delicate a fizzgig caught in it's too many teeth. you'd think this would spawn an AVERSION, mold more bricks for the particularly scrawny skeksis' walls, but you'd be surprised.
if anything, skekTek's waiting to snap it's tooth-cluttered jaws, and the stonewood's small hand came too close.
" WHAT AM I THEN ? " a statement of their collective / malignant gluttony, it's sure, or at least a little subconscious piece of it is sure. but here, in the heat, it's just so much more personal. is that the light voice of a gelfling the scientist hears ? or one much more guttural ? " i would just adore a lecture from an EXILE. "
HIS FOOTSTEPS echoed along the empty castle halls, slow but with a consistent stride, mind lost, wondering within himself on this quiet night. thoughts of his other half, his mira, swam across. the bellflowers that she loves so much bloomed brightly around this time. ‘ although not as bright as she does. ‘ he found himself musing ; no, not even great sun of the three brothers could be as bright as she was. quickly as that thought emerged an idea struck to accompany it, perhaps if given the chance he would quickly pluck one that laid in the dark woods ; his father had laid to rest for the night and the guards at the castle gates were good friends of his. ( and if not a small bribe never hurt to sway. )
❝ that settles it, watch out bellflowers i come for you. ❞
as he turned towards the hall leading to the gates rian stopped as a large shadowed figure walked about. years of training drew his hand to reach for the blade strapped to his side before slowly making way towards whatever walked in the shadows. once the distance shorten the stonewood gelfling found that he recognized the shape. hand falling from the handle of his sword he cleared his throat to make himself known to one of the great lords of the crystal, ❝ m’lord, are you alright? ❞ upon close inspection he realized this was the great scientist, one he had only seen once or twice.
starter for @vliya
to put a long story short : the laboratory just needed to air out. to put it in a way that'd satisfy nosy brethren — which was most of them — the latest prototype had met a rather ... explosive end, and the laboratory needed to air out. to put it the way skekTek prefers, the whole fiasco would be skipped entirely despite the ash smears and the reptile would simply say it needed air. and to visit the great library, and maybe eat, but especially visit the library. which wasn't a lie, in fact the incident finally spurned it to do so.
the night air is certainly a refreshing change, and with its fellows tucked away, quiet too ! really, it's all too easy to take a metaphorical step back and become lost in it's own mind, the cluttered labyrinth it is. always thinking, thinking, thinking, also all too easily swept away from the world. the scientist could let it's ironclad guard down just for once, visibly so to those who know it, else the tiptap of gelfling feet would have been as loud as a thunderclap. no, it's the unfortunate act of being outright addressed that settles reality into place.
a grunt leaves the beak — now habitually, softly grinding side-to-side — as heavily-layered form sharply turns, curled talons raised to it's chest. a beat of silence as skekTek looks left, then right, confirming that there was no one else the guard could be referring to, and drew a breath. " just fine, thank you very much. " oh, hopefully not too snappish there. " nightly duties, same as ... you, i assume ? "
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