My friend @jakearison drew some really banger art of my rarepair and I think it deserves to be seen by everyone! A day late for Valentine's is still technically Valentine's, right?

Soooo so so happy with how their work turned out <3 They're an amazing artist and y'all should 100% commission them!

Context for this all is my Captain Martlet AU and the corresponding fic, though it's not quite at that point of romance yet :p Anyway I'm normal about this bird and this fish.

Mo was positively sweltering, his fur so utterly drenched with sweat that it felt as if he’d just taken a shower—or, heck, as if he was presently in the process of showering, really. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of this whole business venture that he’d gotten into, but money was money, so what little protests his weaker side had voiced were quickly tuned out. If nothing else, being back in the Steamworks now, with the human vanquished, actually gave Mo the opportunity to properly reminisce over his now gloriously derelict former place of employment. Not that he’d ever actually been all that good at chemistry. He’d liked the fancy words, sure, and throwing things together and seeing what stuck, or exploded, or imploded, had been a rare joy, but when it came to formulas and precise weights and actually being accurate with the science-y language, Mo had always felt lost. Even in spite of his unstoppably obvious incompetence that had only ever been masked by his immovable musk of self-assuredness, he’d somehow avoided getting fired or sued or worse for a few years. However, his standing within the Steamworks (or lack thereof) had meant nothing when the whole place had suddenly shut down, with the whole complex having been deemed as an archaic relic of a bygone era, now that Hotland proper had become the new hot spot (literally) for science of all kinds.

[Image Description: Martlet looking over a table with her “elbow” parts of her wings resting on it. The room is dim, with the main light coming from the yellow SOUL in Martlet’s chest as well as from a set of matches lit in her left hand. Her head is rested on her right palm, and her eyes are intensely focused on the matches. Art by @jakearison.]

Martlet had never been a particularly superstitious monster. Even so, the first thing she did after getting acquainted with King Asgore’s sparsely-decorated guest room and lying down on the soft bed for a bit (a bit of an effort given that she had to curl up lest her talons were hanging in mid-air) was to ask for some letter writing paper. And a few minutes after returning to the room, Asgore politely knocked on the door and handed her a few sheets as well as an envelope with the Delta Rune printed onto it. So. Letter writing. Martlet suspiciously eyed the empty paper and inkwell on her desk. It had been a while since she’d written her last letter—being able to fly places made the UGPS a bit less necessary than for your usual monster. Even so, she’d always been excited by the process of putting the ink on the paper. With a somewhat practiced motion she plucked a quill from her right wing and contorted herself so she could make a series of cuts with her talons to turn it into a proper pen. The quill felt heavier in her grip than she was used to. Of course it did, given how much larger it was. Maybe she had expected it to feel normal given how much she herself had grown? Martlet wasn’t sure. She held the quill steadily in her grasp, breathing heavily to get a feel for it, concentrating, focusing, only shaken out of it when a teardrop landed on the page. With an inconsolable feeling of shame, Martlet wound up asking Asgore for one of his pens instead. A colorful floral pattern stretched across it, each of the individual flowers grinning at Martlet. She couldn’t help but feel herself be judged by the firm plastic of the pen.

[Image Description: Martlet kneeling over golden flowers in the throne room. In her arms is Clover’s corpse, hat covering their face. There is blood on Martlet’s wings as well as on her talons, some of which has gotten on the flowers. Art by @possiblycringe.]

^ Story outlining the events in more detail.

Decided to finally share this AU that's been bouncing around in my head for the last few days! The crux of the Captain Martlet AU is the following: what if Martlet succeeded in killing Clover during that final confrontation and ending their crusade? What if she got hold of Clover's SOUL while her body was rapidly decomposing due to Determination and ready to meld with anything?

When Martlet came to again, everything was dark, in a way that even the most remote corners of the Underground never could have been. The first thing she did was look down at herself, but to her dismay everything was still as it had been just before. Same black feathers, same stupid armor, same yellow SOUL on her breastplate. Same accursed form.

* (… It’s powerful. Sounds like a good deal.)