#clock noises!

okay despite having them in the same order as the stats post to match i actually drew Timekeeper first so we're starting with her.

civilian Ruby is Ruby Corundum, and is basically just Ruby's default skin. i could've gone for Cherruby seeing as this is a SBK AU, but i felt like drawing your average rubert.

Timekeeper, meanwhile, is based heavily off tRuby (or, maybe more specifically, off Sapphire). was very much winging this and wanted something long and swooshy that wasnt a cape, so.. tRuby's coat! i was gonna have a completely new outfit under it, but nothing looked right so they get to keep the vest and pants. the undershirt is Cherruby's, though. i did fancy the coat up a bit with shoulder pads, a different.. lapel? ive forgotten the word for the folded bit. and while its not pictured in the cleaned-up sketch it has a crystal pattern and maybe some iridescence because i wanted to pull in Ruby's gemstone aesthetic

also Timekeeper has the crystal hair i normally draw Ruby with in a braid like tRuby / Sapphire. and pointy ears! Ruby's a normal human while civilian, but considering Ruby and Viking's... everything... i had fun with making them a little less that. this is helped by me picturing Ruby doing a whole-ass magical girl transformation into Timekeeper, lmao. ANYWAY. eyes change color because of time powers, and theyve got their clock as always

Wayfinder was designed after, so i was relying a lot on what i established for Timekeeper because i wanted them to match! Viking is just Summertime but with glasses because im still fiddling with the idea of drawing him with glasses anyway and its a fun tie to Ruby. he is also a normal human. no catboyism here.

visual similarities with Timekeeper: same undershirt, pants, gloves, and boots, core item on chain necklace, pointy ears, and the chevron design on his shoulders is similar to Timekeeper's shoulder pads and chain accents. and, although you cant see it because of his goggles, his eyes also change color to match his domain.

he was originally gonna be based more off Wanderer, but as much as i love the parka the aviator jacket is too iconic and the mask blended in with the goggles too much. he gets dViking's wispy bits though bc of his intangibility power and i wanted there to be some kind of change like Timekeeper's hair.

RUBYCO MY BELUBYCO.

ive had this idea for a tRuby art since first hearing the song earlier this year, when Ruby played it on stream and mentioned it being a tRuby song. the event was a perfect opportunity to finally make it a reality! out of all the jukeboxes i did this one might be my favorite because it came out exactly as i imagined :D

OKAY. NOT R.C. THIS TIME. EPIC. there's been instances before of Sapphire talking in Galactic on tumblr, although the initial post was in the Skyblock Kingdoms tag--

I forgot - they do not know do they... i am sorry to the ones who observe

COOL. OKAY. not R.C., but.. not Sapphire either! secret third thing???

We changed, you know me

...huh. not R.C., not Sapphire, but we know them.

there's been direct contact with various Rubys. obviously Cherruby, but also Rue, Sapphire (pre-SBK), R.C., and... someone else?

Have you ever met them?

..okay, so we haven't met Wanderer's Ruby yet. not officially, anyway. we know they exist, we know they're dead, and there was theorization that those messages from after the clip was posted were from them, but past that everything is a big question mark.

I wish i could tell, i do! but it isnt the time for it just yet

so... we know which Ruby this isn't. how many other Rubys are on the table?

not shown: Ruby reacted with a checkmark to Ace's message. WHICH IS... FASCINATING... AS THE LOCAL GUY WHO HAS BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT NAVIGATOR'S DEAL IS... but as usual thats its own cluster🔔. the relevant part here is, no, Navigator's Ruby is accounted for.

SURE WAS. (Ruby clarified that they forgot and had to ask, but i will gladly take any opportunity to start vibrating about HCYT again and the implications of having a Ruby involved.)

I like that one

WE HAVE A NAME! Corundum! which as a fun side note was a name suggested for Sapphire early on if i recall correctly, as well as one of the various "Co-" words when false-fullnaming Ruby (Rubidium Corundum).

...royal we, huh?

i'm pulling up the R.C. post again.

what’s interesting is that, in other instances of R.C. speaking to the viewers so far, they’ve referred to themselves as plural– “we”. this includes in the most recent video that started all this: the hidden messages include “This was the only one we could save”, and the description says “We are not sure of their location”. however, here we’re speaking to an individual, or at least someone speaking on behalf of themself and not as representative of the assumed greater whole. “I am always watching”. “Do not tell about my existence”.

at the time, we were assuming the second communication was R.C. due to the encounter earlier that day, as well as their appearance in chat when Solar was trying to cause a distraction for Rue.

i keep going back to what Corundum said: we changed, you know me. as usual, i'm made of red string, but i do feel like that establishes that we've definitely talked to Corundum before. it's just a matter of where. they're like Sapphire in that they're able to breach the fourth wall, but at this point we've been using Sapph as our benchmark because we don't have many other "awakened" (for lack of a better term) Rubys to compare with. i mean, there's tRuby, but he barely knows what's going on and is busy being used as Sapphire's conduit.