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nonsensical-shitposting · 11 months

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Okay, trying to get my rough ideas for the Team Snakereverse AU onto the screen (and also test out my editing capabilities)- the original concept for the AU was just to reverse the initial positions of Vi, Kabbu, and Leif from canon, but then it snowballed immensely from there. Here’s our lovable protagonists, with descriptions of what they’re up to under the cut:

Sick of her job as an underpaid, overworked contractor scavenging from the Fallen Hive, Vi was exiled from the Bee Kingdom on the termite overseers’ orders after she tried to organize a strike. She’d barely arrived in Defiant Root when Astotheles’ Metal Island Mercenaries struck the settlement, during which Vi distinguished herself by helping fight off the mercenaries armed with nothing but a pair of hastily-repaired bayonets trashed by termite soldiers (which she refers to as her “Beeyonets”). Disillusioned by the mercenaries’ modus operandi and disgusted with the local termite garrison’s reluctance to properly defend Defiant Root during the raid, Vi took off in search of somewhere she could meet with like-minded bugs and help put an end to the Termite Kingdom’s imperialism and negligence, both in the Bee Kingdom and across the rest of Bugaria. At first, she thought she’d found a place like that in the Ant Kingdom’s Underground Haven, but quickly learned that the bugs there were more interested in debating minuscule details of theory rather than taking any kind of action and got herself kicked out for complaining about this too much. Upon finding the Explorers’ Association, she realized a job there would give her a perfect cover for traveling across Bugaria searching for other prospective revolutionaries... and, hey, if she’s being honest, the idea of getting to track down ancient treasures and making sure they end up in the hands of bugs who actually deserve them (such as herself) sounds pretty good too!

Already badly injured, Kabbu was left semi-conscious after being thrown into an ancient crystal early on in the battle with the Beast, resulting in Bit and his master dragging him into a hiding place and telling him to wait for an opening to flee, which he did only to watch both of them die as they tried to bait the Beast into following them away from where they’d left him. Realizing too late that being slammed into the crystal had given him control of earth magic, a furious Kabbu buried the Beast alive, tearing up vast tracts of the surrounding swamplands before coming to his senses. Fleeing in shame and fear, Kabbu blamed himself for his friends’ deaths, believing that if he hadn’t been there they would’ve been able to escape from the Beast and survived, and resolved that he would never explore or use his new powers ever again. Kabbu took a desk job at the Explorers’ Association upon arriving in the Ant Kingdom in an attempt to punish himself and continued holding himself to his vow to not explore. Unfortunately, seeing a bright, driven young bee on the verge of being rejected as an explorer weakened Kabbu’s resolve, and before he knew it he was volunteering to team up with Vi temporarily so she could get an Association permit. Kabbu privately promised himself that he’d quit and return to his old job the moment Vi found someone else who’d be willing to join her exploration team, but now that he’s getting attached to both of his new friends (especially considering how much more he’s been starting to feel like his old self after adventuring with Vi and Leif), he may end up asking for his temporary placement on Vi’s team to be made permanent.

Discovered by Vi and Kabbu in the upper levels of the sunken Rubber Stronghold, this blue-and-yellow moth is a unique case in that they’re actually two beings sharing one body. The first is Leif, a moth who died in the Stronghold after a flood cut him off from his team during a scouting mission, and the second is the cordyceps that crawled into his body and inadvertently got his brain working again, which Vi dubbed Corder upon learning that connecting to Leif’s brain had allowed the cordyceps to develop a mind of its own. Leif is not exactly happy with the circumstances of his resurrection (which Corder has been very apologetic about), but both recognize that they can’t currently survive without the other, so they’ve worked out a deal where they copilot Leif’s body until they figure out a more permanent solution. Due to Leif’s lack of combat abilities, Corder’s been trying to fill in there by letting out one of its sharper-edged tendrils and making it look like a whip, though for the sake of keeping up their cover it has to control one of Leif’s hands to hold the “whip” when other bugs are around. Yes, they do get a lot of questions about whether a whip is really a practical weapon- one thing Corder and Leif can agree on is to make a running gag out of responding with different, increasingly ridiculous answers every time.

#bug fables #bug fables spoilers #team snakereverse au #for clarity's sake: tsa!leif uses he/him and we/us pronouns while corder uses they/it and i/me pronouns #god. i just realized the fucking acronym makes it look like this leif works for the tsa #i promise you he does not. leif doesn't care what you bring on an airplane #mainly because he has no idea what an airplane is #anyway #keep in mind that this is a rough draft so the details here may change in the future

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secret-bug-pain-blog · 2 months

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Febuwhump Day 13 - "You weren't supposed to get hurt"

Part two of the We Forgot To Post Some Prompts Special. This one's family drama edition!

"...Kina?"

What.

Astotheles briefly abandoned his guard to glance to the side. Kina was frozen in the middle of moving into position, staring at the Royal Blade like she'd seen a ghost.

"...Maki?" Kina asked.

...did they know each other???

The Royal Blade- Maki, apparently, if that was his name. It was an odd trick of perspective to try and think of the mantis as the person who would have an informal name, considering that he had been half-certain the bug didn't have any sort of life outside of being Elizant's personal lap dog before now, but considering that Kina seemed to know him-

"I- Kina, what are you doing here? You- the mission- we thought you were dead!"

Kina reared up- breaking formation entirely, Astotheles noted somewhere in the back of his head, but considering whatever bundle of something she was bringing to light with the Royal Blade, he couldn't really bring himself to resent it. He could easily question it, though. What in Bugaria could have possibly given her the chance to build any sort of relationship with Elizant's top minion?

Kina took a step back as the Blade- Maki, advanced on her. The blade fell limp in his claw as he abandoned his guard almost entirely. "I-"

"You- you were missing for months! Were you here this whole time?" His scent muddled as he advanced further, a mix of emotions that Astotheles struggled to decipher- and that he really shouldn't be spending the time to decipher, in the middle of a battle. Kina continued to back up, driven by the Blade - a sight that would've been almost comedic, if it weren't for the situation at hand. He was barely half her size against a bug that towered over most of the battlefield - and she was still retreating, though she smelled more of shame than of fear.

"Didn't you think that I might still care?" the Blade asked, somewhere between accusatory and hurt, and Kina reacted, flinching back as if she'd been struck.

"I didn't want you to get hurt!" she cried, distress leaking into her scent- an Ant stumbled out of her path as she flared her wings, a cricket darting around her ankles. Astotheles was getting increasingly certain that this was not the time or the place, and yet...!

The battle still raged around them. With the Royal Blade distracted, the tide was changing, if slowly. Astotheles caught a handful of bugs slowing, shooting glances at the unfolding drama in their midst before dealing with the actual fight. Distracted. Off their game.

He didn't have time for this.

"Kina-"

Astotheles had heard enough.

The mantis saw him coming, but he didn't react quickly enough. A sharp blow to the back of the claw, and he was disarmed- another few blows to the head knocked him out before he could bring his guard back up. The Royal Blade crumpled to the sand like a puppet with its strings cut, taken down by a needle-hilt to the head, and Kina jolted to attention, raising her blades in preparation to...

To attack the bug who had downed her squadmate. A conditioned response. And one that Astotheles knew very, very well.

She stared at the bug on the ground like her whole world had abruptly been turned upside down, and all that Astotheles could think was that we don't have time for this.

"We will need to talk about this later," he told Kina. Her expression wavered, stress, worry, relief, and resignment mixing so closely that he struggled to tell where one scent ended and the next began. It was a concerningly long moment before she nodded.

There was history, there. But he didn't have time for whatever new surprise that Kina had been hiding in her back pocket, and right now, he had a battle to win.

#whump #emotional whump #febuwhump #febuwhump2024 #febuwhumpday13 #bug fables #maki #kina #writing #welcome to the most dysfunctional sibling relationship ever. there is so much context in this situation we Have Not Posted Yet #but for now all you need to know is that the specific universe this takes place in is a later date of horror hunger

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abombihoney · 3 years

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Hi I'm not dead!

Chapter 7 is up.

(Sorry about the delay.)

you don't have to apologize! what you do or dont do is totally up to you!

That said, is the narrator omniscient or third person limited? im too lazy to check the other chapters to look but it super looks like maki has crush on muze lol

#if its omniscient then u have a crush on muze my guy #ask #chit chat #thx for chapter it was my bribe to make me do some studying today #why does my prof think i need know how to translate machine code from binary to hex #and also know exactly what bits mean what in instruction code #like sir. i barely fucking understand assembly code and you want me to memorize what individual bits do????#SIR i am not a computer engineer and neither are you why do we need to know this #muze getting no information out of maki is fucking funny #he wont tell her that team snakemouth is chill and everything is probably? fine #but he will tell astotheles????#like yeah that was the plan ig but like... hawk and tod are with team snakemouth he knows this #maybe he wasnt ready to be released yet someone check this mantis for a concussion #ALSO its so funny that he thinks yin wouldnt immediately be swept up by the fucking swarm #frankly im surprised they havent taken vi lol #kina could probably actually help lol #team snakemouth: help we need some competent adult women. we have 3 confused dads. an artist. 1 teenager #and about 50 odd kids of various ages. pls help #the swarm: what vi's a kid too??? HOW COME SHE GETS TO DO STUFF AND NOT GET IN TROUBLE #vi: shut up i have a good thing going here. i'll teach you all how to fight if you don't bring up that i'm a kid too.

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feastfic · 3 years

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On my computer right now and I just spent like, I think maybe only an hour on this???

But hi!!! I wrote a thing! And I really want to say things about what inspired me to do this and why I thought of this, so if you wanna know please lmk! (Please I really wanna talk about this AU digjasobjn)

So since this took less than an hour and it’s currently almost two in the morning for me (and I took my sleeping meds) this is probably rushed and doesn’t have as much going for it as I wanted, so please keep that in mind!

This will be under the cut for spoilers, and tw in advance for implied/mentioned murder. Also wildly out of character behavior but it makes sense in the context of the AU I promise; but enough of me going on. Here it is!

He was just… mad these days. Well, not mad. But certainly unhappy. Upset, maybe, was the best word to use.

Ever since he and the rest of Team Snakemouth left the Swamps, he seemed a different bug. Ever since he’d killed The Beast- a rightful act of revenge, of vengeance for his previous friends- he was bitter.

He didn’t even quite know why he felt this way. Kabbu couldn’t tell if it was a new onset grief for losing his team, rage at The Beast, fear of losing the people he currently cared about. There was so much to feel about, and not enough of him to contain all of these feelings.

So he just decided not to contain it. Not around Leif or Vi, of course. There was no way he’d expressly show them how he felt. Not when these feelings were so destructive, so unlike how he normally was. Kabbu was not a bug to hate easily or quickly. But he had a feeling that that was what was going on. He hated- no, loathed; utterly despised this feeling. He wanted, needed to take it out somehow.

He didn’t seem to care about much anymore. His fighting skill wasn’t any better or worse off, but both Leif and Vi knew something was up. Other bugs that the team had previously encountered also could tell very easily that something was up with the typically gentle beetle.

Where he was once careful in battle, he was no longer. His caution was thrown to the wind, it felt like. More nicks and scratches collected themselves on his body, not out of the battles he’d won, but just out of his lack of self-preservation.

“What is up with you lately?” Vi popped the question as they took residence in the hotel underneath the termites’ dome. “Ever since we left that swamp you’ve been acting all weird.” Even her normally sarcastic tone was tinged with real and genuine concern. Not that she’d ever say that she cared any time soon, of course.

Kabbu gave her a side-eyed look, his arms held crossed as he leaned forward on the leaf bed he got when the room was rented out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stated bluntly, his gaze focusing on the bee on the bed right across from him. Behind her was Leif, silently watching the two of them talk. The moth had gotten quieter since the swamps, too.

“You’ve been all… all- I don’t know! You just haven’t been yourself and there’s no reason for it, Kabbu!”

“We agree with Vi. You’ve had a big change in character.” Leif said, quiet but as direct as ever.

With both of them on his case, there wasn’t a lot that Kabbu could say. He didn’t want their sympathy, he didn’t want them worrying about him. How could he ever tell them that he didn’t know if he even wanted to be part of the team anymore? Well, he didn’t have to. And, well… he could always just leave out of nowhere. Not that he was thinking of doing that.

He waited until the lights of the dome dimmed- the termites were going to rest as well now. To his side, he heard Vi’s soft snoring, but had to sit to make sure Leif was asleep too. It was a good thing he was, or else this would get awkward and stressful fast.

There was nothing he chose to bring along. Except for the explorer badge that he and Vi got on their first day as an official team. It’d be only Vi now, but she had Leif. They’d be like every other team- a party of two, instead of their devious three. And that was it- he was never the item carrier; the bag with all of their things always went to Vi, where she’d protect their belongings as valiantly as she could. So the badge was just another thing that she’d keep.

Well, that was basically it now. Bringing along nothing with his person, Kabbu slipped out of the room in silence. He took the elevator back down to the ground floor, leaving for the great doors that had welcomed him into the dome just yesterday. The guards there of course asked him about his intentions and why he was leaving- alone especially- but he just coated his answer with a white lie.

“I’m only going to take the ant tunnel. It isn’t far from these gates.”

The two termites glanced at each other, their antennae twitching between one another like they were exchanging a telepathic message.

“Well,” one began, before letting out a sigh; “alright, but just go to that tunnel, alright? We don’t need any of those Farland beasts coming through. I’m sure you understand.”

“I do; don’t you worry.”

The other guard worked the mechanism that opened the gate. Not all the way, only just enough to let Kabbu step through. When he entered the foggy abyss of the Forsaken Lands, the gate clanked shut behind him not long after. He nearly disappeared into the pressing grey surrounding him, so much so that he could barely even see the two termites standing watch outside their kingdom. That was certainly a good thing for him, at least.

He wasn’t going to the tunnels. What he needed was time to himself. Figure out what he was going to do now. Because leaving the team was sort of a big deal, even if he’d been considering it for a while.

In theory he could join something like the bandits, or stake off for himself somewhere out in the wilds. No, the bandit idea wouldn’t work- they’d recognize him, even if that Astotheles character gave them heed about his defeat to Team Snakemouth before his disappearance. And while he could just live off in nowhere, that wasn’t the life he wanted to live now.

What he wanted was to make a big change. Something that’d get the attention of everyone. With the Wasp King being under high pursuits and being a bigger threat, he could get away with many more things. But what? What was there that he could do? He just wanted to break something, really. He wanted to do something to take out the way he felt so crushed about everything that happened in the swampy grasslands. Let everyone know what The Beast did to him.

By doing the same thing to everyone else.

He looked down at his carapace in the deep fog, turning over his arms to look at all of the scratches that would remain on him either until he died, or until his next molt. But he was an aged man- he hadn’t molted in forever; not since he was much younger. These scars might as well be permanent, then. All of these would bear witness to whatever he decided on doing.

Oh, did he know it was wrong. He hated himself for it. Hurting innocent bugs was still something he didn’t want to do from the bottom of his heart. It wasn’t that he felt that it was all he could do though, but it was the thing he wanted to do most. He was scared. Both of the possibility of his actions, himself, and if he’d be caught.

Fear.

It was what he was going to make everyone else feel.

The same suffocating, horrible, gut-wrenching fear he once felt.

If he couldn’t bring himself to be the grand hero that everyone held Team Snakemouth up to be, then he simply wouldn’t. He was no team leader, he was no Green Ranger. He was Kabbu, damned.

If he was so sure of this course of action, he’d become someone like who he was once fighting against.

The wasps were the enemy, or perhaps once were. He’d start there. Keep the pretense of doing good.

Those troopers wouldn’t know what hit them, or any of the other damned… things he’d sparred with.

Oh, no. He wasn’t going to stop there. He just needed a gateway. Surely he wouldn’t feel bad about hurting a few of those folk. He’d work his way up; he just needed a way to get his initial anger out is all. It just so happened that a certain kingdom worked in his favor as a target.

He’d go from revered to hated, to where bugs would fear to speak his name for the things he’d done. Where exterminating a few wasps would first be looked up upon by other kingdoms, when the numbers began stacking higher and higher concerns would rise. Nobody would know it was him, not for a very, very long time.

From hero, to anti-hero, to villain.

He’d be a bad guy if it meant he didn’t have to live in guilt and sorrow for his own past.

Only he mattered to himself now, and he was going to make sure that nobody got in his way or tried to change this path he was choosing.

He walked further in the fog, until all he could make out of his surroundings were the cracks in the rock beneath his feet. This would be a long path for himself.

Many countless nights full of himself hating himself, nights where he thought this was the best idea he’d ever had. Nights where he cried, where he laughed to himself. Going from his past self to whatever he’d be called was nothing easy.

But time passed. Days turned to weeks, which turned to months. He was only a fraction of his former self. Down the line he’d forgotten most of what inspired him to go on this outburst, but there was no turning back now. He’d abandoned his humanity just a month ago- these past thirty days were the easiest he’d had in what felt like years.

And there was no telltale signs about Leif or Vi ever since he left. He’d heard of the talk when he first left; he entered towns from time to time cloaked in leaves and scraps of fabric bugs left about, shielding himself from observant eyes. People wondered what could’ve possibly happened.

They weren’t finding out any time soon.

At least, not from him. He was a little busy with… other things.

Which reminded him, as he sat alone in a small pub off the center of Defiant Root. The bar was a common ground for other bugs in shady business, so Kabbu fit right in. Ironic. But that was besides the point.

He didn’t like calling his craft murder. Nor assassination, or anything like that. But terms meant nothing when anyone else would know what it was called. What he was doing was never anything he’d thought he’d be able to do, but as it turned out, dealing with crippling survivor’s guilt and other feelings for so long made you numbed out to such things like death.

There was no joy out of it, but he didn’t do it just to do it. There was still the motive of fearmongering. He just didn’t know how far he’d take it.

Well, he’d find out in a week.

Because on his marks right now was a certain general. That’d surely get people to talk.

#i'm both proud of this and also not #because like i said im SLEEPY #but sorry ultimax :(#bug fables #bug fables kabbu #i don't even wanna tag the characters like this feels so OOC even if it's an AU LIKE HELP PLEASE RDIHYTRGYIERUEHU #tw ???#ask to tag #but yeah!!! give me your thoughts pwease :pleading:#bug fables spoilers

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secret-bug-pain-blog · 1 year

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FEBUWHUMP 2023 MASTERPOST

Key:

Day of origin - Prompt - Word Count - Universe - Summary [Links]

DAY 1 - Touch Starved - 2437 words - Canon/Canon Divergence - Vi hides an injury. Kabbu and Leif discover it. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 2 - Flinching - 988 words - Love Bites - Zasp encounters an old trigger while assisting with a volunteer job at the theatre. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 3 - Muzzled - 5146 words - Vampire Leif AU - Leif emerges from Snakemouth Den changed. The world is too loud, too bright, too overwhelming... but he needs to speak with the queen. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 4 - Knife to the Throat - 1855 words - Misc. Unreleased Outlines (Fifty-Two Pickup) - Carmina has a run-in with a hired kidnapper. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 5 - "That's gonna scar." - 1898 words - Unnamed Bodysharing Verse - Kina and Leif get in a bit too deep against the Wasp King. Leif tries some experimental emergency medicine. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 6 - Secrets Revealed - 2250 words - Unnamed Bodysharing Verse - Kina finds out something about the bug she's been sharing her body with. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 7 - Caged - 1483 words - Unnamed New Scars fill verse - Vi is captured and caged by those she once trusted. There's something she still desperately needs to tell them. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 8 - Panic - 3104 words - Canon Divergence/Postcanon - The Explorer's Association receives a visitor, Leif has something revealed about himself, and Zasp pays the price for something extremely impulsive. [TUMBLR] [AO3] (VERY ROUGH)

DAY 9 - Voice Loss - 3565 words - Mild Canon Divergence - A competitor plays a trick on Mothiva. Mothiva resorts to drastic measures. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 10 - Difficulty Breathing - 5685 words - Canon/Canon Divergence - Scarlet runs right into a trap he should've seen coming. [TUMBLR] [AO3]

DAY 11 - Fever - 1759 words and counting - Canon/Canon Divergence - Astotheles takes a trip to pick up some supplies. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 12 - "Can you hear me?" - 1857 words and counting - Bug Fables/Humans-B-Gone! Crossover (VERY beta) - Someone has taken a fall in Snakemouth Den. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 13 - Forced To Hurt A Loved One - 575 words and counting - Canon Divergence/Postcanon - A mission goes poorly, and something goes wrong with Leif. Muze is forced to find a way to take him down. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 14 - Captivity - 37 words and counting - Canon/Canon Divergence (extended from Day 10) - Scarlet paces his new cell. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 15 - Self-Sacrifice - 136 words and counting - Time Travel - Even if death doesn't stick for them, Kabbu can't stand to see his teammates fall. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 16 - Semi-Conscious - 1127 words and counting - ???/Humans-B-Gone! Crossover - Sophodra temporarily misplaces her exoskeleton. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 17 - Experimentation - 1897 words and counting - Canon/Precanon - Subject ZM-32 is a success in all the wrong ways. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 18 - Can't Stay Awake OR Immortality - 0 words and counting - Canon Divergence/Postcanon OR Canon/Precanon - Something's gone wrong. (NOTE: Whichever prompt ends up fitting better for this will be the one used, other becomes the Immortality Day) [UNFINISHED]

DAY 19 - "You deserve this." - 0 words and counting - Misc. AU Plots (Storm King AU) - Kabbu is dressed up as an offering. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 20 - Knife Wound - 0 words and counting - Misc. Unreleased Outlines (Fifty-Two Pickup) - Carmina doesn't know how she's still alive. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 21 - Shackled - 505 words and counting - False Convict (Alt. Version) - Astotheles raids an Ant Kingdom camp for prisoners. He ends up making an investment. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 22 - Can't Scream OR Immortality - 198 words and counting - Canon Divergence/Postcanon OR Canon/Precanon - Snakemouth Den's experiments will not die until they are killed. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 23 - "You'll have to go through me." - 0 words and counting - Misc. AU Plots (Tireless) - Riz guards his village. [UNFINISHED]]

DAY 24 - Bloody Clothes - 654 words and counting - Mild Canon Divergence - Kali finds someone half-dead in the desert. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 25 - Assumed Dead - 0 words and counting - Canon Divergence/Postcanon - There are, occasionally, advantages to lacking a pulse. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 26 - Time Loop - 1813 words and counting - Mild Canon Divergence - Monsieur Scarlet gets caught. He begs his case. Again, and again, and again. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 27 - Survivor's Guilt - 0 words and counting - Canon/Precanon - Kabbu copes in the aftermath of The Beast's rampage. [UNFINISHED]

DAY 28 - "You're safe now." - 0 words and counting - Time Travel - Vi has a nightmare. [UNFINISHED]

#febuwhump2023 #febuwhump #masterpost #whump #my posts #writing #my writing #v unfinished as u can see im pinning this to the top of a discord channel so i. remember it

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