#WHAT IS LEIF'S ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP TO MUZE

[flecks-of-stardust]

bug fables fic writers, how do you look at the absolute shitshow of the worldbuilding of this game and not start foaming at the mouth

[aquilamage]

Please do ramble, we are very interested.

SO, [starting from the beginning because my posting on this has been sporadic and from what I can tell not the most comprehensive] I had a funny joke theory when the game first brought up the idea of Leif having descendants that it was gonna involve Mothiva, which I accidentally got attached to even though it's obviously not a thing.

But anyway my thoughts are: Grandpa canonically mentions that he has brothers [which I get why they don't have Leif chase that mention in canon but also. ?!?] so obviously Mothiva is the child of one of them. I very consistently go back and forth on whether I want/think it's logistically/thematically sensible for Grandpa to be Leif and Muse's only child with the other siblings being from a later relationship/Muse wanting more kids or if they're all related to Leif.

What I am sure on is that I like to think Mothiva had a close relationship and a lot of admiration for her grandma Muse when she was growing up, and that her stories about her time scouting for Elizant I were a good part of Mothiva's motivation to eventually become an explorer. (Also I know I've mentioned this bit at least once probably more but my brain goes insane every time I think about Mothiva's kick attack combined with Leif's one mention of Muse's fighting capabilities being that she had "pretty strong kicks" so you know where I think she learned that one from).

Although by close I mean emotionally, not physically. For Mothiva's immediate family situation, she grew up in Bugaria but outside of the ant kingdom proper [dont' ask me where that's part's not my problem], so while Muse did come visit it wasn't exactly a super regular thing. Generally I think her parents were decent and did their best with her, she was also the younger middle of a large pack of siblings so I think she dealt with some issues with needing more attention/affection than she felt like she got. And while Muse definitely gave time to all her kids and grandkids I think she got along most with Mothiva among her siblings so for Mothiva that additional attention also had an effect on her.

Which leads into my thoughts on Mothiva's feelings on Muze. Which are that she fucking hates her so much. Her cousin is an only child, never having to fight with siblings for attention. Who gets to live in the Ant Kingdom, far more interesting than her middle-of-nowhere home, and where she sees their grandmother all the time. Who takes almost perfectly after Muse in looks. Who's literally named after her. Years of compounded childhood jealousy combined with Mothiva's anger issues, and it's so fucking delicious to think about.

Don't know exactly when Muse dies but I think it's when Mothiva's about 12-15, and not too long after that is when Mothiva decides to run off to the ant kingdom on her own, change her name, and bank everything on becoming an idol both for its own sake and as a way to eventually become an explorer.

[two big sidetrack notes: 1) the whole thing of Mothiva's feelings on Muze kind of developed out of me tossing around the idea of Mothiva's father big resenting Muse and Grandpa especially because he felt like Grandpa was obviously the favorite child because of his parenthood situation (95% sibling jealously 5% yes there was a difference to the feelings dynamic even though Muse didn't actually like him better and tried not to make it a thing in general). and the idea of that translating even better onto Muze and Mothiva. and 2) it also comes from a thought about in my "mothiva gets fired "au,"" she at some point going out and about with Leif (disguised) and them running into Muze. Mothiva recognizes Muze instantly of course and is pissed off about being reminded of her everything about her (especially now that she's doing just fine while Mothiva's having a crisis). And then on top of that, since Leif has no reason to try and conceal it, it gets dropped that Leif and Muze are 'cousins or whatever' which has Mothiva all WHAT and internally freaking out now]

[zecoritheweirdone]

*pulls out spoon* kindly asking u to share knowledge of epic bench bugs au <3

:DD!!

(aight dsmpblr if you don’t know bug fables i Highly recommend checking it out it do be good.)

okay so i haven’t actually shared too much of it over here on tumblr(or anywhere really,, fkdmdkdmr) but the basic idea that i have said before is that it’s a dream smp bug fables au,,, with the bench trio taking the place of team snakemouth. none of them quite fill the roles Exactly,, but they are based vaguely on each member,, tubbo being kabbu, tommy being vi, and ranboo being leif. only ranboo keeps the bug type of the original role(if you’d played the game you’d know why(technically speaking bc this is an au i Could change that,,, but i don’t wanna,, dkdmdkdmdk. ‘sides, i like mothboo,,)),, while tubbo becomes a bee and tommy becomes a damselfly. originally i called him a dragonfly,, but turns out!! the npc i was referencing for his design(riz) was not, in fact, a dragonfly,,,, and i do Not wanna redesign him i Just got used to his design. so. he be damselfly now <3.

and speaking of designs,,, art (and a lot more infodumping) below!

color theory my beloathed <3

yes tubbo has a bazooka. he deserves it. also it ain’t shown here but tommy gets knives.

i also thought about who other characters would be,,,, thinking queen elizant ii would maybe be eret? with maki being foolish bc eternal duo? i also wanna say karl be neolith bc of his whole library thing,, but i think someone close to tubbo might make more sense,, since kabbu and neolith are pretty close in the game (read: gay bugs).

thinking mothiva and zasp would be wilbur and techno respectively? except wilbur is a lot less toxic(more teasing),,, and they are actually friends.

oh also micheal is here too!! (the piglin not the mcchill) he be chompy ^v^,,, thinking he might be a little rotten,, since he is a zombie piglin,,,

now back to the bench trio,, attack styles!!! i thought out some attack styles for them,, kinda like how kabbu is a tank,, vi focuses on long range,, and leif uses ice powers. thinking tubbo might be a hard hitter with his bazooka,, but as a consequence he might have a low hp or it takes a long while for him to attack. tommy hits fast,, and a lot,, might be able to take a lot hits,,, but his attacks alone don’t do a lot of damage. despite being the one i think about the most, i don’t actually have a lot of ideas for ranboo’s attacks. all i know is that he’s got powers kind of like an enderman. i Was thinking he could be a healer of sorts? but that does not relate to enderman at all so. wh. might be able to blast some sort of orb thing? like the enderdragon?? shrugs???

speaking of enderman powers,, he can also teleport! and i’m debating whether or not to keep the water allergy,,,, bc like. the bugs in the game already have an aversion to water, because. bugs. and not to mention,, uh. [stares at the end of chapter 1]. yeah. yeah no if he was allergic to water he would either be Dead or need medical attention fkfmdkfmfknff.

anyway switching topics once again (look at me so good at transitions),, muze!!! thinking niki could take the place of muze. niki is also muse. also also instead of it being a marriage it’s more of a sibling relationship. if you know what i’m talking about,, ;D! if you don’t, suffer <3. ash and zachary both take the place of tod, and no one really replaces the father(wiki calls him grandpa),, he is Nerfed. no longer exists. instead there is awkward cousin john john. yes i am bringing the tales from the smp characters into this, otherwise this would be Weird.

wilbur and niki are friends that is importent to note for me. also jack is,,, somewhere, idk.

the captain and crumb are also here!!! heck yeah!!!!!! they are both beetles(or crumb might be a fruity bug),, and they are tubbo’s (adoptive) family. i would also like to reemphasize the fact that tubbo replaces kabbu. :D!!!!!!!!

unrelated to that last point. the beast. the beast is relatively the same but it’s coloring is more like the enderdragon. why? idk man i just thought it’d be Neat.

oh,, and the wasp king? dream,, 100% dream. (and puffy is(was?) the wasp queen,,)

and phil,,, thinking he could take the place of acolyte aria? and kristen could be venus!!! don’t know if i wanna fully replace the harvest part of her godly status, or add that to it,,, but either way she is also thought to be in charge of death :D! and maybe also primes idk jfmfkdmd. do i know what being the god of primes entails? absolutely not.

also,, this ain’t related to anything from the game,, but i was thinking phil might have been a warrior back in the day? the angel of death :DD!! was teamed with techno,, mayhaps,, before phil retired and tech teamed with wil.

and,,, that’s pretty much it, in terms of characters, i think? aside from a small idea of bad being The Wizard,,,, and also skeppy just. Being There. you simply cannot separate them.

and simply because my brain is hyperfixated on them at the moment,, and i already added tftsmp characters here,,, ran and jackie. they are just. Here. ran might be some sort of thief,, either with whoever replaces astotheles(maybe ponk??? only really thinking that because of,, well. [gestures vaguely]. yeah.),, a separate group,, or just on his own. and jackie. jackie is just There. to cause problems on purpose.

and uh,,, okay Now that’s all i got. aside from doodles during school but that would require me getting Up and taking pictures of them, and. no <3. that being said i Do have pictures of some of em.

if you don’t know bug fables lore simply ignore the two niki’s you don’t need to know about that ;DDD!!!

also idk if i’ll actually add enderwalking in here,,, but like. bogos binted, am i right, folks?