#otpoverboard

I've already done a whole rant about what I think about everyone's sexuality is so I'm just gonna skip over that bit and focus on the general stuff that I've been fixated on

everyone is touch starved and I will be taking zero arguments on that, am I projecting? Yes. But also I'm right. That being said I think some of them are going to have trouble adjusting to touching people

Basically everyone but Sylus and Rafayel struggle with physical touch at first, despite how desperately they all crave it Lyra didn't struggle with physical touch initially, she was always the first to initiate a hug and casual affection with friends. However, after Caleb and gran died she shut down. Her entire world (literally) exploded and collapsed around her, it only continued to unravel as she learned more about the woman that raised her and the truth about her life prior to living with Josephine. The more she learned, the more memories she recovered, the less she sought out the comfort of other people. Not just because she was focused on solving the mystery of her life and everything connected to it, but also an inherent lack of trust in other people now. The person who was supposed to take care of her turned out to be the reason behind the scars she couldn't remember getting and her fault heart. And the person who she shared everything with left her alone, it didn't matter his reasoning, he promised they would always be together... and yet he disappeared from her life with no intention of ever returning. How was she supposed to trust anyone? Caleb didn't struggle with physical touch when it came to Lyra and eventually Zayne. They were safety, home, always have been and always will be no matter what changed... but sometimes to keep home safe that meant never going back. Sometimes the danger to home is yourself. After being taken by the Farspace fleet and EVER he lost all sense of himself. Those memories of Gaia that he had buried in the recesses of his mind resurface in full force. Hands on his arms didn't mean a hug from a girl he loved like it was breathing or the boy who made his heart skip a beat, it meant someone was coming to cut him open again. Take him apart piece by piece to see what made him tick and what they could improve. A hand cupping his face wasn't with the guilt laced affection of a grandmother but the calculating callousness of another researcher trying to scramble his mind. No matter how soft his lovers are to him... he doesn't know if there will ever be a day where he doesn't flinch away from unexpected touch. God forbid one of them touches his false arm or the seamless transition from flesh to metal... Xavier struggles with physical touch only at first. He's spent so long only being allowed to observe. A voyeur in his own life. It was for the best, Philos was a place without emotions. There was no loving, no affection. Simply an empty forever to look forward to. Affection was something that brought only destruction and suffering. It was the sins of the past that drenched their history in blood, at least as it had been taught to him. His mother had loved him, held him so tight that she bruised him... or maybe that had been because they tore him from her arms when she tried to run away with him. He never had the chance to ask, they marched her to the planet's hungry core and no one spoke of her again. That was where affection of any kind brought people, let alone love. Absorbed into the planet's core and erased from history as if they had never existed at all... it's what happened to the Lemurians and the dragons. It happened to his playmates and his friends. So, he simply stopped. It was better this way. To be detached from everyone, even his little brother. Except being detached cost him his queen. It brought him to this world far away from his home teetering on destruction. And it showed him a world where his queen was brought to the core that ate everyone else he's ever loved. It only made sense that after everything he's endured, he's given up on being detached. He doesn't know how long this happiness will last, but he refused to sit bit and watch this time

I do plan to write various fics about everyone's first meetings so I'll keep this simple

On some capacity they all remember Lyra or at least feel compelled to take care of her. Usually with that lingering sorrow in the back of their minds that something very bad was going to happen to her Those who met Caleb before the explosion were mildly unnerved by him but couldn't place why. Those who met him after the explosion are outright hostile towards him at first. With the exceptions of Lyra and Zayne who are mostly coping with the horrors Everyone has a crush on Zayne. That's it, even without memories of those distant lives everyone has a crush on him. They think it's incredibly sexy of him to exist Rafayel unnerved everyone. Lemurians are predators and though they don't lure humans into the waves anymore it doesn't mean those functions no longer exist. His beauty is a lure finely crafted just like his voice, it isn't until you're staring for too long that you realize something is deeply unsettling about him, he undercuts it with his persona Sylus isn't liked by most of them at first, he got on their nerves or endangers their lives upon first meeting. He was so desperate to get his hoard back that it didn't click that his behavior was driving them away. With the sole exception of Rafayel, the two have a turbulent history in the current timeline messy exes my loves Xavier also set off people's alarm bells but for different reasons than being a threat or uncanny (though both of those things are true). He was just so fucking odd they couldn't figure him out

Cooking for them

Lyra doesn't love cooking, at best she's ambivalent towards more often than not. Cooking for herself was the first sign of independence after she moved out from gran's house, but when she wanted, she could always go home and get a homecooked meal... of course than that wasn't possible after the explosion. Sitting hungry in the kitchen after work craving Caleb's cooking was a humbling and isolating experience. Cooking at home for herself... it felt wrong and gross. She ate out instead, it wasn't as if she didn't have the money. People brought her food too, for the first few months after the explosion. Talia and Simone of course. Zayne would share his lunch whenever she visited the hospital. And Rafayel would cook for her whenever she was at his place. Funnily enough, it was Xavier who got her to start cooking at home again. They usually ate out together but during a bad thunderstorm he came to keep her company and cook her dinner. The experience while heartwarming made her take up cooking classes and cooking for herself again, though she prefers having someone cook for her cooking by herself doesn't feel so bad anymore Caleb loves cooking. He can't explain why exactly but cooking for Lyra felt more than right. It felt good. The first time he cooked for her everything fell into place, like it was something he's been doing for years. Providing for his other half, though that wasn't the phrasing he used at the time. He was just Caleb and he was taking care of his Lyra. From there his love of cooking evolved to extend beyond her, teaching his classmates at flight school and showing off his skills to Zayne whenever they met up. Sharing food that he made with people was the closest he's ever come to connecting to other people on a real level without having to divulge the truth about his life Zayne is a good cook and he enjoys being in the kitchen. When he was in med school his classmates taught him everything they knew about cooking (which was admittedly limited). Whenever he successfully completed a dish they rewarded with treats and sweets, he took to the task well. At the time he had been overjoyed not just at the treats but learning a new skill, from there he pursued cooking skills based on his needs. Meal prepping when he first started at Akso, how to use a slow cooker when he was overwhelmed with paperwork, fancy knife skills to impress his partners, and so on Rafayel can cook, he's good at it but doesn't really derive joy from it. That is until he began cooking for people he cared about, it was subtle at first. Like when he was small bringing fish to the king and queen, or when he'd bring food to offer up to his teacher. He'd puff his chest a little and watch eagerly as they ate what he brought to them. The feeling grew stronger as he got older, more so when he began cooking for Lyra. She had been grieving, needed care that he was more than willing to provide for her. Watching her eagerly devour every meal he cooked for her all but made him purr. He would've if he was capable, providing for her felt so good. Cooking with Caleb has become one of his favorite past times with the man, it just felt good Sylus is ambivalent towards cooking, why cook when you have the finest chefs in the N109 Zone at your disposal. The entire culinary world if he or his hoard ever saw fit to demand such a thing. There wasn't any point in cooking for himself when he has no lack of options when it came to meals. When he cooks it's for a purpose greater than feeding himself or his hoard. Sometimes it's to teach Luke and Kieran because, though he loathes to think about it, there will come a day where they'll leave the nest. And of course the excuse to spend time with the people he loves was always something he did with zeal

Xavier can't cook, dear god keep him out of the kitchen. He does his best, truly, he's not purposefully incompetent. It's just one of the few things he was bad at. For good reason at least, he was a prince. Cooking wasn't a task worthy of his time according to tutors. On the Traceback II they had their rations. then on earth there was no reason for him to cook, eating out served his needs just as well and took up less of his time. But just as she had done many times before, Lyra changed that. He wanted to help her in any way he could but at the time the closest he could get to her was through the guise of being a concern coworker and neighbor. When he saw Simone and Tara bringing her home cooked meals he figured he could do the same for her, since then he's taken great pleasure in attempting learning to cook

relationship experience, and I use the word relationship very loosely here (all prior to polycule forming)

Lyra had a sapphic situationship in college with her roommate. It destroyed her. Situation so emotionally scarring she started valuing herself as a person outside of relationships altogether and began a journey towards independence. Fuck a pros and cons chart she did a swot analysis and reconnected with nature. Then proceeded to cope with the aftermath of said situation through copious amounts partying and body shots for like three months. Poor Caleb came back that summer expecting to find his cheerful pipsqueak and instead found her blankly staring out the window with ruined makeup asking if love even exists (godspeed to sapphics surviving and recovering from their situationships you are our strongest soldiers (￣^￣)ゞ). Outside of that she hasn't dated anyone or had any situations, just a one nightstand here and there Caleb hasn't dated anyone. No flings, no hook ups, no situations. Nothing. He's been committed to spending the rest of his life with Lyra since she took his hand in those labs. Dating would take him away from her and that wasn't something he was ever going to let happen. If he had to, he would've spent the rest of his life following her around without any promise for a future with her. It would've destroyed him to watch her fall in love with someone else... but he would've helped her, better to help her fall in love with someone good and kind. Before the explosion he decided it would be best if she picked Zayne. Zayne was perfect in every way that mattered. He was smart, dependable, and attractive. A reliable person who would protect her... and who wouldn't mind him hanging around. It'd be like when the three of them were kids, spending every hour together and playing games. And he'd try his best not to think about the pout of Lyra's lips or the way Zayne's curved softly Zayne has gone on dates but never dated anyone consistently. Friends and colleagues used to try and set him up with women they thought suited him, it always fell through. He wasn't trying to be cold, truly he wasn't, but that didn't change his dates' perception. Some tried to set him up with a man to see if the result would be different, the result was always the same. They quickly gave up. With the excuse of his busy schedule and demanding workload he managed to avoid the topic whenever his parents brought the subject up. Though they always managed to tease him about how much time he would set aside for Lyra and Caleb. Claiming that if he paid even half that much attention to a date he would be married by now Rafayel had a handful of flings and hookups, it was more of an act of self-destruction than companionship. The same way he drove recklessly and chased down thrills that could get him killed. It was a way to finally feel something, feel anything that reminded him that he was a living breathing person. Feeling pain and sorrow and filthy and hurt and disgust was so much better than feeling nothing at all. When the anger ran too deep and he nearly suffocated in it, there were only two choices he ever made. Diving in deeper into the anger and vengeance or chasing a different sort of pain. It was the same cycle until he met Sylus while digging into EVER, and for awhile that was okay. Sylus didn't feel bad. He felt good... even after they split Rafayel didn't have flings or hookups anymore. Maybe it was spite or maybe it was so much anger and pain that no amount of meaningless sex could change it

Sylus is ranked highest purely because he's the only one that remembers the various lives they've all lived together. Countless lifetimes that whispered into his mind and took hold of his dreams in addition to the ones he remembers vividly gives him the most experience by default. In this lifetime the only person he was with before the polycule was Rafayel. Beautiful and cunning Rafayel who always managed to find himself in trouble, no matter how much he tried to dissuade him. It wasn't something he could bring himself to be part of... he has watched his lovers corrupt themselves too many times to willingly be part of it once again. He watched, protected, and loved from afar after Rafayel told him to leave. And he waited, he's spent more years than he can count waiting... it only hurt a little Xavier never dated anyone, even when he was "with" Lyra it wasn't as her boyfriend. There have been times where they were nothing more than friends, others when she was his wife for a short awhile, runaways, lovers, partners. Each time, every title, no matter what it was meant everything. Standing by her side as her equal, her friend and confidant. Supporting her decisions and following through with her requests no matter how much it pained him. And when she died... as she always did... he waited. It didn't matter how many times she died, how many times she came back with no memory of who he was or the lives they lived together. She was still her, still the girl he's loved for 112,238 days. There are others lives he knows, ones that he found himself entangled in during his voyages in deepspace. Lives where Sylus taunted him from a lavish bed of gold, ones where he traded blades and stolen kisses with Rafayel, lives where Caleb kneeled before him as loyal knight before his king, lives where the mysterious Foreseer brought prophecies to him, lives where he has them all. He waited for them patiently in this world. Every second without was worth the wait. After all was there anyone else as lucky as he to have his soul woven together with five people who love him so terribly

ethical versus immoral (let's face it none of them are the most moral people in the world so they're all pretty skewed towards immoral, they're not necessarily bad people but fucking hell)

Lyra is a fair middle ground of the group. Overall, her decisions align with the good of humanity and all that. She enjoys helping people and takes pride in knowing that she is making someone's life better. The picture-perfect hunter, prioritizing the safety of civilians over glory and thrill seeking. That is until her personal goals directly contradict with the best course of action. The good of all matters little when it interferes with her personal wants. She especially becomes cruel and selfish when it comes to her lovers It's not that Caleb doesn't have a sense of morality, he is acutely aware that the things he's doing are wrong and immoral. Lying and using the people who love him more than anything... loving them at all felt like something he wasn't allowed to do. Or the ugly feelings that whispered they were all going to die if he didn't do something, that they'd be better off if could just take control. Cameras, tracking devices, anything to clip the wings of the birds and keep them with him at all times, hidden away from all the evil things in the world. The fact that what he wants and does goes against all morality is part of what keeps him up at night. But in his mind, that's simply his role. To ruin his own soul (if he has one at all). So long as the people he loves are alright, he doesn't care about the price he has to pay. Zayne also has a strong sense of morality, the difference between him and Caleb is that he is (for the most part) uncompromising. Truly the only time he breaks his personal moral code is when things fall out of his realm of control, like when Dawnbreaker takes over. Outside of extenuating circumstances he keeps with his regimented morality, easier to keep himself in check this way. He didn't want to hurt anyone ever again Placing Rafayel on the spectrum of morality is difficult. He does horrible things to people who very much deserve it. He isn't a just killing people he's killing the people that organized the mass genocide of his people. The deaths that pile up belong to the ones that trafficked, murdered, and used his people so it feels wrong to pass moral judgement. That being said his methods border on cruel and inhumane, whether it's deserved or not isn't the point so he's towards of the immoral end of the spectrum Not at all shockingly the man who is a wanted criminal both in Linkon and across deepspace, leans more towards immoral. Sylus' morals center around his desires. Sometimes that means setting loose a planet of enslaved animals and allowing them to take their vengeance on their captors. Other time it's starting wars for resources or to undercut the power of someone who happened to get on his bad side. Xavier leans is more moral than most of them, save for Zayne of course. The reason for their difference being that Xavier's decisions are fixated around his goal. While overall he makes the better choice (seeking out alternative sources for Philos, preventing needless sacrifice protecting people from wanderers, etc.) there are times when the good choice is ignored in favor of the one that feels right. Arguably it would've been better to keep tabs on the Backtrackers than to let them wander off on their own at all, but they've all suffered enough so he made the call to let them live freely so long as they didn't give him reason to track them down. But he's consistently doing his best to make the right call, he's simply in a position where it's difficult to tell right from wrong. It's all so murky

building ikea versus watching, there's nothing that really needs to be elaborated on here. But please just sit with me and imagine this. Sylus and Caleb like working with their hands, assembling machinery is their shared love language. The others like to watch them work

The first time they assembled furniture together Zayne coming from work to see Caleb and Sylus assembling some complicated ass piece of furniture, while the rest of his spouses are perched on the nearby counter: do you want some help? Caleb looking up from the instructions with a big grin: welcome home Zaynie, don'tcha worry about us! We've got it under control Sylus: No need to doubt our skills, we're simply taking the scenic route. Besides... we can't risk you injuring these precious hands can we doc-tor? Zayne only being able to rapidly blink as Caleb uses his evol to place him on the kitchen counter and watch them get back to work: ??? Xavier leaning on Zayne's shoulder: welcome to the counter love Lyra sighing dreamily as she rests her head in her hands and watches them work: we should let them assemble furniture more often Rafayel: Shirtless next time, in the summer Lyra: please god yes Zayne: !?!?!? Xavier kissing his cheek: accept it

on the subject of children, they all want kids at some point but it's more of a vague desire rather than a plan. None of them are at a stable enough time in their personal or professional lives to even consider having a serious conversation about family planning, though that doesn't stop them from having conversations about their theoretical children or projecting any parental feelings onto the kids they already have

Lyra going to the shooting range with Luke and Kieran to keep their skills stay sharp and teach them gun safety: No, I know you guys know how to use your weapons very well... but I want just to make sure. Let's just go through it one more time okay? Then we can go play the claw machine I promise Caleb very affectionately cooing over Mephisto while he fixes a break in his one of his wings: you're doing such a good job buddy, you're real brave know that? If you keep being good I'll get ya something nice and shiny as a treat afterwards Zayne taking Luke and Kieran to get their shots, muttering over their incomplete medical record and mentally cursing everyone that's every hurt them: you'll likely experience some minor side effects after, it's not uncommon for people to get sick after being vaccinated. It's important to monitor your symptoms of course, but you'll be perfectly okay. I'll be monitoring your conditions personally to ensure that. Now where would you like to get lunch after your appointment?

Rafayel bringing Mephisto, Luke, and Kieran clothing shopping after seeing the woeful lack of colors in their wardrobe. Mephisto was dragged along on the insistence that he also deserved a nice charm or something similar. He made certain to rent out the entire store to allow the twins privacy and sits back and watches them gleefully try on various outfits, often asking his opinion on what suited them: take your time to learn what colors suit you best... not that though. That color doesn't suit any of you, it'd look horrible against Mephie's feathers. Try the darker one, much better Sylus spending hours painstakingly arranging the most precious room in his home. Not filled with weapons, protocores, or gems there was a plethora of places to keep those things. But the ones that truly mattered deserved their own safe spot. A room filled with all the gifts brought to him by Mephisto, Luke, Kieran, and his lovers. Rafayel's paintings line the walls alongside Xavier's old weapons framed, Caleb's various models and papercrafts neatly arranged on a shelf next to Zayne's ice creatures, Lyra's trinkets mingling with the ones the twins got him, and every gemstone from Mephisto shined in their case: perfect. Xavier makes a habit of introducing the twins to "old" videogames and teaching them how to play so they can team up to beat Sylus during their next family game night. Luke and Kieran take well to Mario Kart once they figure out how to use the wii controls: See that power up you just got? That's a blue shell, try it out

Lyra, Caleb, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Xavier

Favorite Activity

Resonance was something that drained Lyra in any other situation, it was difficult to level with someone so perfectly that she could achieve resonance with them. But when they were all like this, woven and slotted into place like a complicated puzzle everything felt right. Like her soul was missing pieces and part but like this they were whole. One inextricably messy and complicated soul split amongst six people. And also having five husbands take care of you or vice versa is sexy as hell. Losing sense of herself in them and simply letting them take care of her, or taking control of them? There hasn't been a single thing in her life that's been able to beat that type of high Caleb just likes being told he's a good boy. Situation can immediately be improved by calling him a good boy. He wants to make sure he's doing a good job, especially early on in their relationship. He doesn't know what he's doing, not like the rest of them do, and he's just so eager to please. Whether he's topping or bottoming doesn't matter, could be having the nastiest angry sex and he'll melt like putty if any of them call him a good boy. Astra forbid they praise him while calling him a good boy, he's gone before they can even finish their sentence. It absolutely has everything to do with the fact that he's convinced his presence in their lives is for the worst and he's not worth the effort they expend on him. A consequence of the suffering he endured at the hands of the Gaia Researchers and the Fleet. His lovers are all too eager to prove that's wrong

Zayne is a brat tamer at heart and he has so many of them. His lovers make habit of getting on his nerves in so many different ways it's almost dizzying. From the mundane of teasing him while he's at work or recklessly endangering their lives. Stubborn and frustrating though they may be, they are his, he's grown used to their attitudes and refined methods of dealing with them. Sex was one of his personal favorite ways in which he managed to take control and expel his frustration. There was also something... intoxicating about these people who are so inhumanely powerful begging him for release and answering him with moaned apologies Lemurians are aquatic predators. Their bodies and senses are built around hunting and living within the ocean. While their sense are better than the average humans, even on land, they are especially heightened within the water. Being in the ocean makes many things better for Rafayel, sex being incredibly high on the list. More than just feeling everything more, he's at his element when in the water. The mask of being human slips away with the tides, what is left is the instinct not just of Lemurians but of the Sea God claiming his lovers. And it is more than addicting to have them willingly walk into the tumultuous ocean, trusting him to not only keep them safe from the waves but to keep them safe from himself

Sylus is willing to try almost anything his hoard recommends at least once. So long as they're all there, he'll be more than happy. Not to say that he doesn't have favored positions, situations, and so on but all of that came second when compared to having all of his lovers with. He's spent so fucking long gathering his hoard. Entire lifetimes spent apart or having each other only to be ripped away from them. Now there is nothing that makes him happier than simply having all of them near here. No matter the situation or circumstance, if they're there then it's good. Whether it be mundane, sexual, or death all of it is made better with their mere presence Xavier has lived longer than he ever should've and may yet live longer. He's had the chance to try and experience all sorts of things, both now and in the many lives that are tangled in his mind due to his travels in deepspace. So, it's with absolute certainty that he can say favorite thing is sleepy sex. They all have such busy lives, rarely able to make time for each other when the horrors of their lives overwhelm them. There simply isn't always time for all six of them to be together no matter how much they schedule or plan. But when they are collapsed in bed either after their days have ended or before they can begin? When they sleepily exchange kisses, locked hands, and nuzzling against each other as they undress... it's perfect. It's everything

Would you believe me if said I cut this short? I fully intended to rant about all of it but decided to limit myself to the ones I had the most to say about. That being said I can and will happily yap about anything related or unrelated to the chart so ask away

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