#dx-tr

“Call the navigator, set the course and go —” MR-SN belted out, off-key and half-slurred with drunken fervor. He gestured widely, wine bottle in hand as he sang, his voice clashing with the raucous music from the tavern below them. “We've stars and planescapes to explore, my wild heart tells me so —”

DX-TR plucked the bottle out of MR-SN's grip before his wild, half dancing, half staggering steps could send the contents sloshing over the floor.

“Beneath the wooden decking, I can hear the engines sigh.” MR-SN continued, his crescent eyes overbright with joy, his permanent smile even more ebullient than usual. “All I need is a mighty ship and — oh.”

He stumbled in his tune, hand half raised to take a swig from a bottle that was no longer there.

"Dex, where —"

"i have it." DX-TR sighed, tone annoyed but heatless in its ire.

He glanced at the bottle in his hand — a fine Baatorian red, if memory served — and the many more empty ones scattered around their cramped rented room in one of Sigil's many inns. An empty bottle sat proudly on the nightstand, another guarding the door, a few more clustered around one of the bedposts. Even still, a small stash of various liquors from across the planescape lingered, yet unopened, beneath MR-SN's favorite chair.

"If you want us to be able to afford that ship any time soon, Em, you might consider not spending all our hard-earned gold on alcohol." Despite his words, he took a deep drink and finished the bottle, setting it down beside the door.

"Ah, but this a celebration, my friend!" MR-SN stumbled forward, shaking DX-TR lightly by the shoulders. "We have a lead! An excellent navigator — and dearly devoted cleric — soon to join our cause."

MR-SN gestured loosely with a finger as he staggered towards and fell heavily into his armchair by the bedside.

"The talented and faithful AS-TR. The first step towards filling out the crew for that ship you speak of, my dear DX-TR. And all because of you!"

He snagged the last of the wine bottles from beside him, opening it clumsily and taking a long swig.

"Surely that deserves some celebration, doesn't it?"

"i doubt she'll be inclined to join us if you show up on her doorstep in Elysium as a stumbling drunk."

"Ah, I suppose you'll just have to help me finish this all off tonight then," A flick of the hand as MR-SN gestured to the pile of bottles around his feet. "Ensure I'm not tempted to indulge on the voyage over."

"Well," MR-SN's voice settled low and sultry, "not tempted by the alcohol, at least."

One of his eyes flashed in a cheeky wink.

Scoffing, DX-TR shook his head in fond disbelief. "Now I know you've had too much."

Still, he strode across the room in two quick and graceful steps — careful as it always was with him — and plucked a willowy bottle of Feywild gin from the pile, opening it in a single fluid movement.

It burned as it hit his throat, but not harshly. A warmth like candlelight or a hearthfire. The flavor seemed to shift, one moment light and floral, the next tart and almost acerbic, and then crisp and clean as it changed even further still. He gulped it down easily, draining half the bottle.

A deep, satisfied hum rose from MR-SN's chest.

DX-TR took another long drink and pointedly did not let himself feel the way that sound settled low and buzzing at the base of his skull. A side effect of MR-SN's psionics run amok, nothing more.

Surely.

"Is it truly such a perprosp — perposip — perpopserop — ugh." MR-SN spat a sharp bleat of static, washing away the sparks with another gulp of wine. "Is it truly so hard to believe that I might you tempting?

"I've designed myself to be inconspicuous and occasionally intimidating, MR-SN, not appealing. I've found the former to be much more efficient than the latter."

With final deceive swig, DX-TR finished off the bottle of gin and reached for another — a heavy bottle of Ysgardian rum this time. More to MR-SN's tastes than his own, but smooth and strong. Perhaps it would be strong enough to help him forget the heat curling in the depths of his gut.

"Hmmm, intimidating not appealing." MR-SN leaned his head back against the upholstery, eyes dim and half-lidded as he looked at DX-TR. "I'm afraid, my friend, I've always found one to be intimately linked with the other."

DX-TR choked around the next sip of his drink. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh yes," His voice was light, but his eyes were still fixed and heavy on DX-TR as he waved the bottle about in punctuation to his words. "It's true. I've seen plenty of people be appealing without being intimidating — the sweet and innocent types are always so fun to tease and toy with — but intimidating and yet not appealing? I don't think that exists, my friend."

"I think," DX-TR said carefully, lowering the bottle from his mouth, "that says far more about your tastes than anyone else."

"Perhaps." His forever smiling eyes brightened in a grin. "Perhaps not."

This was foolish. Reckless and rash and utterly pointless but —

DX-TR took a considered step back, leaning against the bedpost in a deliberately casual pose he knew showed off the lines of his hips and shoulders to excellent effect.

"Alright, go on then." He raised an eyebrow in friendly challenge. "Tell what exactly it is you find oh so appealing about me."

The sharp hiss of static and grind of gears as MR-SN chuckled into his drink sent DX-TR's dazed heart sinking. But when he looked up, his gaze was soft and warm.

"Is it terribly cliche of me to say everything?"

Yes. No. Please.

Warring impulses wracked DX-TR's mind, his gears grating in his chest, the pulse of his powercore racing. Say nothing, ignore it, he's your friend and your captain and he’s drunk and you shouldn't —

He took another long pull from his drink, his head starting to spin. From the liquor or from MR-SN's words, he wasn't sure.

One of them was far more intoxicating than the other and it didn't come in a bottle.

The music from the tavern below them shifted, the roaring dance tune melting into something slower, softer. A ballad.

MR-SN tilted his bottle in time to the beat, eyes drifting as hummed a few idle notes. “Oh, I know this one.”

Relief and disappointment sparked and flared in DX-TR’s chest. This was better. Better to let MR-SN’s drunken mind float away on to the next thing and forget this, forget how close he’d come to shattering DX-TR’s composure and the fragile distance between them.

Then MR-SN’s eyes locked on to DX-TR as he began to sing and knew he’d misjudged.

He was so, so screwed.

“I wonder if you’ll love me tonight — ”

His voice was still rough and off-key with drunkness, but before where it had been a lively belt, now it had settled into a low croon. Soft and warm and intimate.

MR-SN’s gaze was much the same. Crescent eyes forever fixed in a smile — but softer, rounder, glowing with a gentle smirk.

“So delicate and lovely, I wonder if you love me —”

DX-TR snorted a laugh around the pressure building in his throat. “I don’t think delicate or lovely are words anyone would use to describe —”

MR-SN ignored him, continuing to sing louder over his interjection. “Are you on my side? My dark and lonely side?”

And oh, if that wasn’t what DX-TR was, what he longed to be. The shadow to MR-SN’s light, the hidden dagger to MR-SN’s open palms, the cold ruthless reason to MR-SN’s ever-burning optimism. His second in command, his other half, the one forever at and on his side.

The words burst from his throat without thought, too fast to have any chance of stopping them.

“Tell me. You said you want everything about me, so —” His voice box spat static. “Tell me everything.”

What answered him was not words but images. Ghosts of sensation and memory flashed across DX-TR's mind, all of himself but seen from another's point of view. The glint of his dagger as he felled an imp, a spray of blood dusting his cheeks, the flames of Avernus setting the sharp angles of his face into stark relief. His own voice calling out a warning, his firm grip on MR-SN's shoulder as he pulled him out harm's way. A flash of amusement at the edge of MR-SN's empathic awareness as he cracked a joke, as he dragged DX-TR once again out of dark of despair and into the light of hope. The stern set of his jaw as he studied their next course of action, the near-silent scrape of his footsteps on stone, the canny glint of his eyes as he caught just the detail they needed in a villager's story. So skilled, so clever, devoted and determined and deadly, but safe to me, so good to me — useless without you-want you-need you —

MINE

The snap of DX-TR's cooling systems activating was loud in the silence between them, audible over even the dull roar of the tavern below their room.

His hand trembled in its tight grip around the bottle in his hand.

"Again." His voice was rough, choked by the heat clouding his head. "That last bit, again."

Want you-need you — MINE

That last word lanced through DX-TR's mind like lightning, setting him aflame. The want in it, the sharp hunger and the passionate claim. Mine not as an object to be owned but as someone chosen, someone prized, someone wanted. My ship, my crew, my first mate — extensions of MR-SN's will. Vessels for the completion of his dream.

There was nothing in this world or any other than DX-TR wouldn't do, wouldn't be, for the sake of MR-SN's dreams.

DX-TR finished the bottle of rum in a single long gulp and dropped it to the floor, heedless of the way it shattered on impact. Two strides and he had crossed the space between them, pressing MR-SN into the chair with a clutching hand at his shoulder.

"Tell me what you need. I'm yours."

"Just you. That's all I need." MR-SN cupped DX-TR's cheek, his eyes bright and wanting despite the soft haze of his voice. "Just you. And well, the bed I suppose."

He polished off his own bottle with a final smug swig, setting to the side as he rose and walked past DX-TR to flop inelegantly onto the bed. It shouldn't have been appealing, all MR-SN's usual confident grace and easy appeal lost to the clumsy stride of drunkenness, but DX-TR couldn't help but be drawn by it. It was MR-SN, after all. What else did he need?

He half-crawled onto the bed, fumbling with the buckles of his boots as he tried to kick them off. His usually deft fingers felt thick and slow, his mind clouded by drink and want. Finally, MR-SN noticed his plight and lent his aid, countless psionic hands making light work of the many buckles and straps.

"This too," MR-SN said, slipping another pair of invisible hands beneath DX-TR's jacket, the skate of psionic force against metal sending sparks up his spine.

MR-SN pushed the jacket off his shoulders and DX-TR obliged, shrugging it off and tossing it towards the chair. Some distant part of his mind chided him, warned him to be more careful, more observant — what did he think he was doing letting himself become so impaired in a public house such as this — but he pushed those thoughts away. All that mattered now was MR-SN.

MR-SN, whose drink-clumsy hands were already skimming over the seams of DX-TR’s waist, thumbing along sensitive plate edges and dipping beneath to stroke at wires and gears. MR-SN, whose psionic presence teased at the edge of DX-TR’s mind with flashes of thought — flickers of want and command — already heavy with heat and intention. MR-SN, who stared up at him with hunger and admiration, who knew him and wanted him — needed him.

DX-TR buried his face MR-SN’s neck and let him in. Gave himself over to the heavy, hungry presence on the edge of his mind until it flowed in and filled him, until every want and need was known, until command was as easy as thought. Until he was what he had always been and always would be — the perfect vessel for MR-SN’s wildest dreams.

***

I wonder if you'll love me tonight

So delicate and lovely

I wonder if you love me

Are you on my side

My dark and lonely side

I'll make it worth your while

I'll give you every reason why

All we'll remember

The simple surrender just in time

Alright! The things right at the top that i wanted to keep in mind were things in the series that are distinct to mechanites vs things warforged have.

As far as I remember, there are only two notable ones. Mechanites have jaws that cannot move, instead they have face plates that can open up. And while the other isn't stated in canon, warforged have crystals in their eyes, and mechanites are never pictured or described in that way.

I almost broke the first rule on purpose with DX-TR, seeing as he's described as human-like and the negotiator, but as I was going through the series again, he was explicitly stated to have the same stiff jaw.

The only heights (I think) we have were that VR-LA got the haha funny meme number at 6'9", MR-SN was a few inches taller, and C-RA is at least as tall as Finbar (7'2"). From there, I wanted DX-TR to be nearly as tall as VR-LA, so he's around 6'6"/6'7". E-DN is about the same height as him because I feel like with her satyr legs, her being taller made sense. I put K-LB around 6'2" because I was originally going to have a slight joke that this height was after he'd already made mods to himself with heels and his mohawk. I didn't like how the heels came out, so I left it out. AS-TR is the shortest at the bare minimum height for warforged at 5'10". I'll get into that in the section discussing her design.

While it didn't really come up in these designs, since VR-LA has been pictured with yellow eyes, and described with blue, I've headcanoned that mechanites eyes change color based on how much processing they're doing. So the default would be blue, when they're calm and just hanging out. Their eyes switch to yellow when they're concentrating or focused on something specific. Orange is when they're flustered or upset. Red is the dramatic color for when they're really angy. I'd imagine someone like DX-TR can deliberately control it to avoid giving away some tell, but I don't think it's common for mechanites to do it.

The designs are mostly based on the same shapes and pieces that VR-LA has, rather than Vice/He-11, as those feel like they're kind of unusual in that regard. And even if they're not, I'd still chalk it up as a difference in their plane of origin. Onto individual character notes!

C-RA was described as being large, having a sort of knights templar, aesthetic, somewhat like living armor but more organic. Mostly what I referenced was plate armor, so pretty straight-forward. That being said, I feel like her design's a little plain. I wanted to add something to her head to help distinguish her head silhouette more. Plus I feel like her colors are too desaturated, and she just doesn't really have a shape that carries throughout her design. Idk, it's fine, but it just doesn't feel striking.

MR-SN was described as being slender, regal, and with a permanent smile in his eyes. I feel like I had a similar issue with him that I had with C-RA where there doesn't seem to be anything that carries through his design. I feel like I captured the face pretty well at least where he looks kind and kind of like a dad who's just proud of you. He's one I kind of feel like with clothes, his design might work better. I had no clue what color to go for, so it's just a color that I thought would be unique enough to the group.

VR-LA is just based on his season 1 art. The only thing I changed from how I drew him before, was mostly just proportions, like around the joints. I wanted him to be a thin, scrawny nerd, so he's also more narrow than before. My goal was half of C-RA's size, and I think C-RA's about 1 1/2 VR-LA's, so it's close enough.

DX-TR was described as human-like and bald with a flesh tone color. He was honestly really easy. As a joke, I referenced Seth Everman for his face sculpt, and I think it came out well. Mostly I referenced human muscles for his sculpt. I considered giving him tattoos, but didn't really have any ideas for that. He's got two notably unique traits from the rest of the group. He's the only one without shoulder pauldrons, which I kinda want to change, but idk there, and the light in his eyes is round rather than the cross design I treated as baseline. I wanted a less human saturation in skin, and I don't think I achieved that, but I'm not sure it'd look as good. I kinda want him more uncanny valley, but idk what to do there.

E-DN was described as a similar mechanite design as VR-LA, but with satyr legs. I gave her horns and horizontal pupils, mostly just for variety. I gave her a little more of just a round shape compared to VR-LA's more angular shapes. Her design I like over all. I like the colors, and I think the mint accents help her stand out. She's got good shapes and a good silhouette. And everything feels like it came out pretty well with her.

K-LB I'm torn on. I almost feel like he stands out too much. As far as what's described, I had the hardest time figuring out his design. He's described as a standard mechanite that's gold with fine gold filigree that looks like wire mesh, as well as a blue glow from his arms. I was going for somewhere around a punk-ish Rodney Copperbottom from Robots kind of idea. The filigree mesh I just used a nonsense text brush because i didn't have any specific ideas there. I like how the yellows/blues look together. I like the hexagon shape that carries throughout. His silhouette's mostly different enough from everyone else. I don't think he's too saturated. Yet I just don't feel like his design fits him, and I don't know what to do. He's the one I feel like scrapping and redoing the most.

AS-TR was described with long hair, and a slight glow, but didn't have much of a description as far as I remember otherwise. She had two notable design inspirations. Selûne and my cat who coincidentally has the same name (mostly my cat lol). One of Selûne's avatar's is described as long limbed (which is kind of how I just drew the mechanites), with pale hair, dusty skin, and green eyes. The pattern around her eyes is a less exaggerated version of some of her iconography. Her eyes are tinted green with her holy symbol as the shape of the lights. If I were smart, I'd actually have put all seven of the stars that are a part of Selûne's holy symbol (and I might change that later). Aster (my cat) is a tiny little black cat with a grey undercoat and two tiny lil white spots. So from there, I made AS-TR the smallest mechanite, she's two different shades of grey, and she has two little white spots on her chest in a similar size, shape, and location as Aster's. As a result of the name coincidence, and from what we've seen, similar personality, AS-TR is required to be my favorite, lol. Even excluding that though, I do like how her design came out too. Like I said, I might change the design slightly to have the seven stars across her, and I might change the greys to have more contrast because they're too similar, but the whole design came close to what I had in mind.

Outside adding some gear and some clothes to their designs, I changed a couple things here and there. If you wnat to look at the old designs, you can find them here.

C-RA's saturation was cranked up, as well as light orange and purple accents to give her extra colors. I changed her pauldrons and leg guards to match, and changed the shapes on the elbows, chest, and knees. Weapons and shield styled after the shape used on the map.

MR-SN's colors were shifted from more yellow to blue, and was given more saturated accents in a dark and light blue. While we don't have much gear for him, cape was added for dramatic swooshes during storytelling.

VR-LA's design I don't think I changed any? I just added his staff and clothes from his Season 1 design. Technically he also has his spell book attached like a messenger bag, but I just left it off for this.

DX-TR had some armor integrated on him. Pauldrons were styled to match the shape Austin used on the map.

E-DN's colors might have changed slightly? I forget if I did. Wasn't sure what the shapes were in her map icon. I think they're swords, but I just left it, and mirrored the shapes in her bag.

K-LB's design I changed less than I thought I would. I changed the blue I used, and changed his chest thing into a gear shape.

AS-TR I added more armor on, and slightly changed some shapes so she'd have the seven compasses/stars that are a part of Selûne's iconography (attached to pauldrons, hands, chest, and eyes).