#codename: iris

was thinking about Codename: IRIS again and felt like drawing a few Khalan expressions based on that story's version of him. I haven't really put as much work into this AU as I would like to, but every so often I'm reminded of it and feel the need to kinda revisit it a bit.

I rarely ever post anything from it tho because I can't seem to finish any art that I draw for it, so this is kind of a rarity. but I feel like these sketches turned out okay and I had to share ;o;;

aaa I saw this cute Hatsune Miku jacket and felt like Khalan would wear something like this, so of course I had to draw it! (*^▽^*)

tbh, Miku ends up being a big musical muse for Khalan in Codename: IRIS, since he eventually gets into music production/songwriting in the post-story and utilizes the Vocaloid software alongside the rest of his music :0 Aya was the one who initially introduced him to Vocaloid through her favorite rhythm game of all time (Project DIVA Future Tone), but she had no idea that simply sharing her favorite game would end up being the catalyst that eventually launched Khalan's entire future music career!

had a lot of fun with this one! haven't worked with the pink and blue neon colors in a long time, so it felt nice to revisit that again ;u;

Edit: Outdated information; will update with new post someday that explains the up-to-date story concepts ><;;

For anyone who wants a brief overview of the most common tags, stories, and characters that I tend to post about, I've compiled a list to hopefully make it a bit easier to follow along! Keep in mind that a lot of the content that has been posted about these stories is either outdated, or subject to change at any time.

Everything is below the cut, as it got rather long.

got some arts based on a concept that I can't fully explain, as it has to do with stuff that happens after the main story of Codename: IRIS. but I'm really having fun with this edgy Khalan design and I wanted to share it anyway ;o;

long story short, Khalan becomes a songwriter within this universe, originally writing music for Aya (who ends up being a pop idol of sorts; similar to Hatsune Miku lol), but he branches out into his own personal works that tend to be very angsty and dark - as he uses songwriting as a way to process and deal with his own grief and trauma. these songs naturally tend to be some of his best though, and Aya eventually convinces him to share this music publicly, so he creates a persona for himself in order to keep his identity a secret since he's too scared to be his true self in front of people;;

this persona is known as Hatif; a reference to a being in Arabic folklore that is a "voice with no visible speaker," as he used to sing backup for Aya's live performances without showing himself. as a boy's name, it means "praiser," "voice from heaven," or "guardian angel," which I thought was cool.

so yeah, just wanted to share these arts because they were fun to work on :'0 I've really just been craving some Edgy content lately so that's mostly the reason why this came to be lol

finally feel like I'm at a point where I can share this idea!!! so @cookieg122 and I have been working on an AU for a few months now that's a pretty big departure from the Minecraft stuff we've been working on, as it's more of a fully-original concept instead ;o;

this story has a proper name, as well!! titled Codename: IRIS, the plot centers around a younger Khalan, who gets into gaming as a form of escape from his abusive home life and the stress of moving to a new country/big city. but he quickly finds out that the game console he was gifted actually houses a seemingly-sentient AI - of which he names Aya.

the two go on adventures through various video games to stop a different, malevolent AI that's threatening to corrupt the virtual world; all while utilizing futuristic VR technology to do so. but they also take breaks sometimes with more typical PC gaming and meet Antony along the way, who ends up being a sort of "guide" for Khalan (as the kid is pretty new to video games as a whole) :'0

unfortunately, the virtual threat does end up spreading to the real world as well, which pushes Khalan and Aya (who can move freely between the game console and his phone) to solve challenges within the city itself in a race against the clock to stop the threat - just as long as Khalan manages to get back home in time before his dad finds out;;

there's so much more to this story that I can't really cover in just a single post, but I felt like it was finally time to at least reveal the basics of this concept to y'all!! it's been a lot of fun to re-imagine these characters within a "real life" setting (taking place in an alternate version of Earth in the year 203X), though it's still very sci-fi at its core, lol.

anyway! that's all I can really share for now! hope y'all like ;0;

Hand in hand oboete ite ne Zutto zutto Mirai made

another sketch of these cuties!!!! :D within the virtual reality that Aya resides in, Khalan is able to physically interact with her, since his consciousness is completely transported into the digital space. this also applies to the various VR games that they play - as the technology is incredibly advanced and fully immersive (for better or worse).

but because VR is the only way that he and Aya can actually interact with one another, she always takes this opportunity to give him lots of hugs and affection that he otherwise doesn't get in the real world;; he deserves it tho. the boy needs all the love he can get ;A;

(little fun fact: one of the games that's pre-installed onto the console is Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone, which is Aya's favorite game of all time xD so I felt it was appropriate to add the lyrics from a Vocaloid song to reflect that little piece of trivia haha)

some lil pencil sketches of both AI Aya and Khalan from the AU story I recently introduced! ;0; these are some older sketches, but I still like how they turned out and now I can actually share them!

sadly there's no real story content to discuss here with these sketches, since I just kinda drew them because I wanted to get myself used to the way the characters are portrayed in this AU :'0

but one thing I will share tho! is that Aya appears to be programmed to emulate the behavior and maturity of a 15 year-old girl, making her just a bit older than Khalan in this universe (the two of them meet on his 13th birthday)! it's a fun little change in their character dynamic compared to the other stories we're working on, since Khalan is usually always older than Aya by a considerable amount. so that change has been a lot of fun to work with! :'D