#nemasks

Speedran a Purplepal for this... I think he's like a big slug/spider. Very slippery and skittery he's an absolute nightmare to catch. More thoughts below the cut.

Oughhhh that's a really good question with a really painful answer... tldr, he doesn't take it well at all.

I tend to see Noli as someone who can't handle permanent change- He can cope with change itself, but always with the caveat that it can be undone. Even a decade after 007n7 quits hacking, he still comforts himself with the idea that he COULD return, if he wanted to- it's kinda his only way to deal with it. The idea that choices aren't permanent, that every mistake can be fixed, is his only comfort.

But he knows as well as 007 does that his horns won't grow back. There's nothing he can do to fix that. It's a decision that can't be unmade. And then, of course, there comes the doubt- Noli's more of a monster than 007 ever was, he's got barely any human left in him. So if 007 hates the idea of being a monster that much, then how must he feel about Noli?

(Once again, 007 runs into the problem a lot of self-loathing people have- eventually, your loved ones are going to realise that the traits you hate in yourself are mirrored in them. And they're going to wonder what makes them worthy of love if you're not.)

Mostly, though, he's disgusted at himself for not being there. He had no way of knowing what 007 was going through, of course- but it's a sharp slap to the face to spend so long imagining your partner being happy and thriving without you, only to realise that he was putting himself through hell the entire time. 007n7's always been the master at claiming that he's fine (he was a prideful little bastard when he was in college) and Noli let himself believe that he really was.

I have 2 main timelines for my Forsaken stuff... It's different for each!

In my version of the canonical timeline (Noli meets c00lkidd in purgatory) it's probably hacking-related... maybe he's desperate to befriend his classmates so he steals the c00lgui and blows up something in the schoolyard to impress them. 007 covers it up by claiming that ck used his own demonic powers, which stops them both from being banned but also makes the other kids see ck as inherently volatile and dangerous.

Thank you so much, and excellent catch! Yeah, I have quite a few headcanon species, and avians are one of them!

(Apologies, this really was supposed to be a quick response, but my bastard mind decided it wanted to write an essay about Elliot and then 007n7 materialized. Who could have predicted this /silly 😔)

Avians get a much better deal than demons- they struggle a lot less to fit into human society, but they do still have to deal with the familar trauma of not being entirely human. In their case, they're treated less like walking timebombs and more like exotic pets. It's that creeping kind of unease where someone is complimenting you, talking about how pretty and unique you look, but they're not talking about you like a person.

A full avian has a visibly birdlike face, with headwings big enough to cover their whole head (like an angel) and a wingspan of around 12ft. They're very light, and have taloned feet- essentially, imagine a stereotypical bird person lmao.

Elliot is half-human, half-avian. He has quite a lot of internalized hatred about it- I've drawn his wings in one post about him, but he keeps them tucked into his shirt 99% of the time. It's why I write him as rather clumsy! Half-avians already have poor balance from trying to account for wings that aren't the size they should be, and keeping them tucked so close to his back both hurts like hell and throws off his center of gravity terribly.

He has relatively few avian traits, to be honest. His headwings and stunted back wings are pretty much it- he meticulously removes any feathers that grow anywhere else, and he's even more careful about not doing anything too birdlike. 007n7 remains one of the only people who have managed to startle Elliot into a threat response, back in his hacking era. It did successfuly make 007 go away, but only because he saw how distressed Elliot was at his own loss of control and decided that this was above his emotional paygrade. (He sucks so bad)((Love him tho))

Elliot's whole 'Golden Boy of the pizzeria' shtick is very well deserved, he's employee of the decade for a reason, but he can't help the way his skin prickles when he's talked about like he's just a face on a billboard. It's this awful conflict in him where he simultaneously loves the praise, loves his job, loves making people's day just a little better- but in the back of his mind he'll always wonder if he's really seen as a person, or just a mascot with pretty feathers.

(His internalized hatred of his own hybrid traits is, unfortunately, just another reason to hate 007n7. He can't stand the fact that as only a quarter demon, 007 is actually more human than he is. :) )

On Pr3tty's side, she's half-demon, half-avian! It's... not a great combination. Avians are still apex predators, even with their softer reputations, and mixing that with another apex predator (demons) makes Pr3tty have to suffer through a lot of very violent conflicting impulses. I have a LOT of thoughts about her, and how she fits into the family dynamic I've hallucinated- if y'all are interested I'll type it out later :3

The TLDR is that she has no morals. She's not evil, in the same way that a tiger isn't evil- it's just following the only rules it knows. She tries so, so hard to wrap her head around why it's wrong to hurt strangers, but she comes up blank every time, and it drives a really painful wedge in her and 007's dynamic at first. He's unwilling to leave a child behind, post-Forsaken, but he's also never dealt with this kind of parenting challenge before. I won't go too far into it for now, but Noli Locks The Fuck In to help raise her. (He has 0 morals too. Girldad Noli win?)

She breaks my heart, honestly. I swerve deep into headcanon territory for her, which is why I'm a little hesitant to loredump- I have precious little canon basis for most of my headcanons, but she takes it to a new level lol.

Also, bonus-

Preening remains one of my top favourite things to write and you knowwww I had to put it in here. (Very important disclaimer- I see it as either romantic or platonic depending on the dynamics of the people involved. Either way, it takes a lot of trust.)

Elliot has wayyy too much self-hatred to let anyone preen him pre-Forsaken. It's just another reason to hide his wings- in his mind, they look 'unprofessional' since they're kinda scraggly.

Depending on how pizzaburgerpilled I'm feeling at that particular moment, I think during Forsaken he might warm up a bit to the idea of 007 preening him. He justifies it by telling himself that 007 is also not fully human, so he can't judge him- Also Elliot doesn't respect him so the idea of dissapointing him doesn't hurt as much lmao. He resolutely does not think about how almost comically careful 007 is with his wings, or how nice his claws feel. Or how he's never once mocked Elliot for being so twitchy about his hybrid traits.

(007 is So Incredibly Stressed btw he acts like he's defusing a bomb everytime he touches Elliot's wings. Idiot (affectionate))

Pr3tty initially tries to preen herself. It doesn't go well at all- she can only reach her primary feathers, and she just gets more and more frustrated until she's on the edge of bursting into tears.

She's got a little bit of a parallel with Elliot in that she thinks she must look professional at all times- or rather, she must look like a princess. C00lkidd and Bluududd do try to help, but they are. Really bad at it. Bless both of their hearts but their dexterity is nowhere near 007's and they just end up ruining her wings further with their claws.

1x1x1x1 is the one who steps in to help her. It's horribly tense at first- they're allergic to explaining shit so while Pr3tty is pretty (ha) sure that 1x1x1x1 won't hurt her, she also has no idea what they're doing. Preening takes a level of trust that damn near declares you as family, so having an almost-stranger do it makes her hackles rise. 1x1x1x1's intentions are kind, though- their own wings are tattered beyond repair, and the thought of another avian suffering the same fate fills them with enough grief to briefly overpower their hatred.

Given that I'm getting more attached to them now I think it's be the perfect time to answer this :D Thank you for the question!

(My most concrete thoughts are of how they fit into the family, so I'll be talking about that here- don't worry, she has plenty of characterisation that doesn't involve them, I'm just still ironing that part out! :) ) I briefly spoke of it in my tags, but I'll elaborate on it here- 1x1x1x1 is c00lkidds reality check. My 007n7 is a bit of a helicopter parent. He's incredibly protective over c00lkidd and he's terrified of him hating himself like 007 does, so he overcorrects into spoiling him. He will NEVER say that something is c00lkidds fault (even when it really, really is) because he can't handle seeing him cry or feel guilty.

Noli is a little different- he's never been beaten by another God before except for 1x1x1x1 herself (which is mostly friendly sparring, they go way back and trying to kill eachother is the equivalent of an affectionate greeting for them)

His ego is through the roof and he doesn't think there's anything that could hurt his family while he's around. So why teach c00lkidd about danger? He doesn't really get stuff like that anyways, being immortal, and he sees no reason to make 007 teach c00lkidd something that he doesn't need to learn.

So c00lkidd doesn't know pain, or fear, or danger, because his parents never taught him. They either couldn't bear seeing him afraid or didn't think he needed the lesson.

1x1x1x1 knows better. She's the one who teaches c00lkidd how to fight, both with a sword and the GUI. Every time 007 or Noli complain that she's pushing him too hard, that he's just a kid, she wordlessly stretches their broken wings behind them and they let her go. Even she was bested once, after all.

She's the one who teaches ck what death is too and it's a painful lesson but SOMEONE has to play the bad cop here and neither 007 or Noli are willing to. She'd love to be gentle with him but it's his parents job to keep ck happy, it's their job as his godmother to keep him alive.

They struggle a lot with tenderness. She's so focused on keeping ck breathing that they don't even realise he looks at her like she's hung the moon, that he chases after every little scrap of praise she gives him. He idolizes them and they're completely blind to it.

A bit of both! (Disclaimer- All of the following lore is purely headcanon. I've deviated from the canon so far I feel the need to say that lol)

In my lore, demons are a fully seperate species to humans, and they get ridiculously huge. Usually around 10ft for males, 12ft for females. I've been meaning to get around to a fullbody reference for them- closest I've got is this post on my twitter here. (Warning for some blood.)

However, despite getting big eventually, a newborn demon is no bigger than a kitten. They stay pretty small up until ~13, then throw every scrap of energy they have into an excruciatingly painful growth spurt. Even when experienced over the course of a year, it's awful- in the good end AU where they don't get Forsakened, it's a year of c00lkidd eating 007n7 out of house and home and taking enough painkillers to put down a horse.

In the normal timeline, though, the Spectre not only triggers ck's growth spurt early, but the entire year's worth of pain is condensed into a few seconds at the start of every round.

(It would be easy to assume that ck keeping his normal form outside of rounds is a mercy. It isn't. It just means he has to go through it again every time.)

In rounds, none of ck's bones sit right. His skin is stretched too tightly and torn in places it couldn't grow fast enough, and there's blood in his eyes from his horns forcing their way out of his skull- He is, quite frankly, a mess. He's a little kid that got forced into an fully-grown demons body in the blink of an eye. It's no wonder he acts so violent and disorientated.

- observer non

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