#zelay

So after some chits and chats, we’ve come to the idea that Layer is secretly one of if not the strongest hunter in the crew, but similar to X she has doubts on why mavericks/irregulars hurt others and why violence is the first choice they take. She isn’t naive, she understands that in order to stop the suffering of others that one must sacrifice the one committing the crime in one way or another. But that doesn’t stop her from feeling overwhelmed sometimes. We happily think that she is GA level, her use of more precision like weapons make her accuracy and overall outcomes very deadly and perfect. She’s one of the few to actually get above 90% in the training rooms [the ones you see in Day of Sigma wink wink]. So anyway due to her extensive knowledge of reploid and mechaniloid development she’s able to pinpoint weaknesses and the like, therefore her accuracy and precision are her best qualities. However, due to how overwhelming the hunter missions can be, she decided to primarily be a navigator and use her knowledge in a guiding way. 

Out on the field, Layer is still the calm and reserve lady we all know and love, and she navigates well even in combat. One thing I’ve noticed is that most fans tend to draw her left eye when she speaks as we see such in X8, so I thought a nice visual to her two sides would work through her eyes. When her left eye is visible, she’s happy and relaxed, perhaps shy or bashful and overall soft and sweet. But if her right eye is showing, buddy you have a weapon of mass destruction on your side. Layer we headcanon as one who while as stated doesn’t adore fighting, she finds the movement of battle and disarming of mavericks for the sake of the people to be in some regards exhilarating. If she focuses enough in battle, her energy starts to build up [the cause of her hair poofing up a la her concept art bc I LOVE HER CONCEPT ART AND WILL USE IT SHAMELESSLY DAMMIT] and she becomes more fierce and quick in both her decisions and actions. Still, level-headed but much easier to work off of in terms of split-second decisions. It’s a side of her that she knows isn’t wrong at its core but it’s such a contrast to her regular gentle demeanor that she doesn’t like showing it often, trying to hide it when possible. Both sides are filled with elegance and finesse~

I love the fact that she can use Zero’s weapons in X8 but at the same time, I thought to give her her own set of weapons that while similar in concept is more centered on precision so mav and I decided to go through tons of weapons to match with her. You can see a few sketches already of the replacements, but the rest of the list will be drawn eventually, so no worries. We just thought it would give her something more unique to use and help her stand out against Zero. If you guys have any ideas on other weapons she could potentially use, send me an ask and I’ll sketch it out to see!

Some fanart of the new wallpaper released thanks to the legacy collection, I love her zero straw it’s so cute~ I couldn’t resist! I’ll probably redraw and colour it at some point :3

And in case you couldn’t tell, Zero and Layer is a ship I am CAPTAIN OF! And no that doesn’t mean I don’t ship XZero, that shit is canon to me as far as I’m concerned haha but in all seriousness.... x and zero both have 2 hands Y'all, OT3/4 and polyshipping is all an option and one we both adore to explore. So there’s that! I’ve done xzero fanart but I’ll post that another day 

Also with Axl, I don’t ship them romantically but while drawing I realized how extra his hair is and then I’m like ‘omg... layer and zero also have extra[tm] hair’ and now they’re part of the beautiful and extra hair club. Axl just finds her really pretty and really nice, I imagine the first time he saw her hair go wild he was like YOOOO THAT IS AWESOME HOW YOU DO THAT I WANT THAT and Layer hides her head in the ground bc oH NO ZERO SAW

but he likes the hair :3 so there’s that[trust me I have plenty of scenarios for those 2, you don’t even kNOW]