Kilroy is me

it's so intimate in the least sexual way possible. Astra hates its mutations and hates being reminded of them. it hates when hot oil splashes on it and other cooks look concerned for a moment before visibly relaxing, remembering its hands are armored. it hates when people actively avoid looking it in the eyes. it hates being unable to hide its forelegs because it's so freakishly skinny and any attempt at wearing oversized clothing over them looks horrible and the outline is still always visible. and then they meet Mulder and Mulder is fascinated and showers them in questions about the function of their limbs and now they feel kinda insecure about being unable to do something Cool with them. if Mulder had these stupid appendages he'd make use of them so much better than Astra, they think. they can barely move them, physical therapy at BotCo didn't involve them, they were considered purely "cosmetic".

and Mulder offers to help, and Mulder helps!! he helps Astra slowly stretch the forelegs, bit by bit returning mobility to them, helps it figure out the ways it can use them — it's not much, mostly just hooking something soft and dragging it closer, but it's something. AND it scares Astra because it starts to gesture with its forelegs involuntarily, like it would with regular arms, and it drives more attention to them and it's so uncomfortable. but the more Astra uses them the less it can imagine ever living without them. it's way easier to carry bulky sacks and boxes with extra support at the bottom, it's really weird (but good weird) to discover the limited sensitivity, so different from what it can feel in its skin and arm carapace, it's so nice to hug Mulder with four arms instead of two. Astra starts rubbing the forelegs together when it thinks, like someone would twiddle their thumbs, and the low quiet trilling is soothing and helps it concentrate. they get startled and rise the forelegs while clutching their hands to their chest.

(left to right by head)

Fishery by @sharkchimedes

Jordane by me

Scout McGowan, Marrow Graves and Cherry Sweeny by @whatlizardry

Morgrim by @nextyrid

Mud by @broockksss

Skorp by @eskiinox

Arty Tailorson by @roki-roki-roll

Ellis Ward by @roguecanoe

Your friend by roki-roki-roll

Rue Rott by roguecanoe

Line art under cut

this is the Marolmar covenant, Mulder (he/they). he's a trans guy + wolf("kin"), about 28 post-timeskip; yes he got into the library as a young teen and it was about as good for his mental health as you can imagine. no he doesn't know his actual age he never really cared to and his parents had bigger fish to fry than birthdays. his paperwork is completely lost. they were the annoying younger schoolchild who imprinted on Victoria and bothered her relentlessly for a year or so before the library collapsed and they ran away to the woods. the bigger Hallowoods fauna "cared" for them (shared food, helped finding shelter, alerted them about people coming close etc) and they helped it in turn. Mulder lived in the woods for like six years before starting to show any interest in communicating with the Scoutpost/Scout City, for a couple more they only interacted with other humans occasionally and then finally moved into a small house on the outskirts. he's a groundskeeper, so spends most of his time in the woods with various creatures anyways. he has a friend, Bernard; Bernard is a goose(?) who was born with a wing deformity, Mulder nursed him to health and they are absolutely inseparable now. sometimes Mulder abuses his powers and pretends that it's Bernard insulting people, when he kinda feels bad but not enough to *not* insult someone. needless to say Bernard isn't very happy about it, but ultimately he doesn't care, he's a "goose".

this is Astra (they/it). they are agender, 25 and a BotCo refugee from one of the more affected boxes in the North America. Astra was dead set on leaving ever since they were 15 (they wanted to escape their... not exactly abusive, but really uncomfortable and controlling family), first disconnected at 18, got very scared of their mutations and immediately went back to the Prime Dream. Astra finally decided that it couldn't do that anymore at 21, disconnected for the second time, went through physical rehabilitation (not without some medical abuse and psychological trauma from being treated as a freak) and wandered the land for some time before finally stumbling onto Scout City and settling there. they are helping out at the community kitchen in one the poorer districts. it has chitinous carapace on its arms and legs, limiting its mobility and dexterity, bug-like eyes that make them horribly near-sighted and a third pair of limbs, which isn't really functional and which it keeps close to its torso. due to the bug physique they're also really thin, borderline sickly-looking and very tall (6'5"/195 cm). Astra is shy and reserved, very conscious of its appearance and a bookworm (a huge fan of Buck Silver's adventures, too).

Astra and Mulder have seen each other a couple of times when Mulder broke his arm and couldn't cook for himself, so he frequented the kitchen for a while. Astra immediately struck him as interesting because, well, they're kind of a bug and he gets along with bugs splendidly, unlike humans. the feeling wasn't mutual at first: Astra is kinda wary of people in general, and Mulder is really blunt and has horrible control over their face, so they were Staring intensely and it was afraid they would be rude to it on account of its mutation, but at some point Mukder finally decided that they have been in each other's general vicinity enough to stop being strangers and start being acquaintances and started talking to it. Astra was genuinely horrified the first time Mulder walked up to them and opened the conversation with "hey, your carapace is really cool. can you understand bugs too?" but came around when they figured out that he wasn't ill-intended and actually was just looking to chat, so they started being a bit more friendly with him. Mulder kept coming to the kitchen far past his arm healing, just hanging around and distracting Astra from work, before they caved in and invited him over. then they were horrified once again, this time because Mulder also brought a fucking moose with him as emotional support, though she didn't stick around for long, only making sure Mulder is safe and content before going back to the woods. they talked for the whole night and kept meeting up, Mulder talking about the wildlife and about his time at the library and Astra sometimes opening up about the Dreaming Boxes and their family.

this is the Marolmar covenant, Mulder (he/they). he's a trans guy + wolf("kin"), about 28 post-timeskip; yes he got into the library as a young teen and it was about as good for his mental health as you can imagine. no he doesn't know his actual age he never really cared to and his parents had bigger fish to fry than birthdays. his paperwork is completely lost. they were the annoying younger schoolchild who imprinted on Victoria and bothered her relentlessly for a year or so before the library collapsed and they ran away to the woods. the bigger Hallowoods fauna "cared" for them (shared food, helped finding shelter, alerted them about people coming close etc) and they helped it in turn. Mulder lived in the woods for like six years before starting to show any interest in communicating with the Scoutpost/Scout City, for a couple more they only interacted with other humans occasionally and then finally moved into a small house on the outskirts. he's a groundskeeper, so spends most of his time in the woods with various creatures anyways. he has a friend, Bernard; Bernard is a goose(?) who was born with a wing deformity, Mulder nursed him to health and they are absolutely inseparable now. sometimes Mulder abuses his powers and pretends that it's Bernard insulting people, when he kinda feels bad but not enough to *not* insult someone. needless to say Bernard isn't very happy about it, but ultimately he doesn't care, he's a "goose".

this is Astra (they/it). they are agender, 25 and a BotCo refugee from one of the more affected boxes in the North America. Astra was dead set on leaving ever since they were 15 (they wanted to escape their... not exactly abusive, but really uncomfortable and controlling family), first disconnected at 18, got very scared of their mutations and immediately went back to the Prime Dream. Astra finally decided that it couldn't do that anymore at 21, disconnected for the second time, went through physical rehabilitation (not without some medical abuse and psychological trauma from being treated as a freak) and wandered the land for some time before finally stumbling onto Scout City and settling there. they are helping out at the community kitchen in one the poorer districts. it has chitinous carapace on its arms and legs, limiting its mobility and dexterity, bug-like eyes that make them horribly near-sighted and a third pair of limbs, which isn't really functional and which it keeps close to its torso. due to the bug physique they're also really thin, borderline sickly-looking and very tall (6'5"/195 cm). Astra is shy and reserved, very conscious of its appearance and a bookworm (a huge fan of Buck Silver's adventures, too).

Astra and Mulder have seen each other a couple of times when Mulder broke his arm and couldn't cook for himself, so he frequented the kitchen for a while. Astra immediately struck him as interesting because, well, they're kind of a bug and he gets along with bugs splendidly, unlike humans. the feeling wasn't mutual at first: Astra is kinda wary of people in general, and Mulder is really blunt and has horrible control over their face, so they were Staring intensely and it was afraid they would be rude to it on account of its mutation, but at some point Mukder finally decided that they have been in each other's general vicinity enough to stop being strangers and start being acquaintances and started talking to it. Astra was genuinely horrified the first time Mulder walked up to them and opened the conversation with "hey, your carapace is really cool. can you understand bugs too?" but came around when they figured out that he wasn't ill-intended and actually was just looking to chat, so they started being a bit more friendly with him. Mulder kept coming to the kitchen far past his arm healing, just hanging around and distracting Astra from work, before they caved in and invited him over. then they were horrified once again, this time because Mulder also brought a fucking moose with him as emotional support, though she didn't stick around for long, only making sure Mulder is safe and content before going back to the woods. they talked for the whole night and kept meeting up, Mulder talking about the wildlife and about his time at the library and Astra sometimes opening up about the Dreaming Boxes and their family.