#hackhound au

I read a Hound Ruby fic recently called I can almost hear the Hounds that I really enjoyed and it got me thinking about these two again.

Something that's been on my mind since I last drew them was that I wanted to find ways to distinguish Penny's look more from her usual appearance; she has the red lights and the twisted ahoge and she was scraped up a bit but I wanted to go further.

So I'm leaning more into the cyberpunk nightmare that is Penny's existence. While with Salem she probably looks as I drew her previously but once they leave they lack the resources to keep her in top shape in the absence of Watts' or military funding.

A quick sketch of @abyranss hackhound au that has now completely taken over my brain

After posting that other picture yesterday, I drew a few more based around the same idea. A pair of brainwashing and mind-control victims, looking after each other and wrestling back their autonomy from an immortal witch together. It's sweet and sad. My favourite.

And to the person who responded to the other drawing wanting to read a fic about it all I have to say is, in the words of Mr. Incredible: "Me too, kid."

I also have one more picture of what I think Ruby's hood might look like when up. The skull doesn't exist when down because the outfit isn't actually an outfit, it's Hound Ruby shapeshifting into something from her recent memories.

Some villainous Nuts & Dolts.

Poor Ruby got hounded and Watts's hack kept Penny around to continue being useful to them. Those two things must've done a number on them but at least they have each other.

Seeing as Ruby's managed to shapeshift back into something resembling her old outfit maybe they've both managed to come some of the way back to their old selves again. I wonder if they're plotting an escape attempt.

I did some more drawings for this au. I've started calling it the HackHound au because I think it's going to stick around and I needed a shorter name than "Hacked Penny/Hound Ruby."

Salem knows of course, that Cinder wants all of the Maiden powers but Penny as she is is uniquely useful to keep around. Also putting all of those powers into one person feels to me like a bad idea. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. What'll you do when Cinder dies? Lose all four Maidens at once? Still, Cinder has dibs on the powers when they're done with Penny though.

I did not have a full-body reference but I have now drawn one. I think there's probably a level of involuntary shapeshifting depending on how much Ruby feels like herself on any given day, so what she looks like varies anywhere between her human and hound shapes, and that may also include her earlier outfits though I think it's primarily the recent one. Grimm goop has adverse effects on memory.

The silver eye is always glowing though, I think, because that's what's keeping her alive and close to herself. Unsure if it can still be used as a weapon though. If it could then doing so may hurt her anyway.

There's a fic about it!

To clarify, I'm not writing it, and I have no input, but BeaconbuttheEisa3 is writing a fic inspired by my Hackhound AU and I know I'm not the only person who wanted to read something like this, so here's the link.

Yeah, that's a cool idea.