#oc: lydia the storyweaver

[forthedancingandthethriving]

I don't exactly.. remember when it happened. It was so long ago.

Walking down the long hall was Cosmos, her face a mix between somber and resigned. The grand walls were reflective, a dark marble with purple linings throughout. The rings on her body were providing a glow alongside lanterns.

Despite the narration clearly being her voice, her mouth wasn't moving.

I was still young back then. I was just barely a teen when it all went down.

She stops in front of a mirror and looks at herself. Her face scrunches up before she closes her eyes and rests a paw on the mirror.

It fades, and everything changes to a younger Cosmos walking through another hall. She didn't have nearly as many rings as she did before, with the only one being on her tail. The hall was much more futuristic, and she looked much happier.

It was just a normal day, if not an exciting one for me. I was finally going to get myself a mentor. Learn how our world worked. Until.. they came.

Cosmos's ear flicked, and a panicked look crossed her face as she quickly dived down and away from the windows. Just a fraction of a second later, a loud explosion rang out, and the windows shattered.

I had no clue what was happening. All I knew was that.. something was attacking us.

Cosmos stumbled with getting up before rushing over to one of the shattered windows. Her tail gently brushed away the glass shards, and she peered out.

Only to see another explosion, followed two more.

It all happened so quickly. One moment, the explosions were hundreds of feet away. The next, the building was crumbling beneath my feet.

Smoke flooded the area. It was impossible to see until it cleared. Everything was blurry, but two silhouettes were visible.

"Is she dead?" One asked, the sharp metal of a weapon poking her cheek.

"Barely." Another answered, tone almost disappointed. "Her life force will give in an hour or so."

They were talking so casually about my life, like it was a toy to them. Something to be messed with before turning their backs on it.

"These guys really didn't put up a fight!" The second voiced huffed. "You said they would!"

"Now, now, girls," a silky smooth voice spoke, though it sent shivers down Cosmos's spine. "There's still plenty of more fun to be had."

"Why'd you even want these guys gone?" The first asked. "Some of 'em were really cute, would've loved to have kept one of them."

"Star Neons are able to control electromagnetic waves." The third voice hummed, as if casually talking about the weather. "That, and they can put subliminal messages in their songs. I couldn't have them getting in the way of fate."

The other two let put hums.

"Now, let's get a move on before some other Storyweavers show up."

Three pairs of footsteps faded away, and soon after,

I don't know how long it was until I hauled myself out of that debris, but when I did..

Cosmos hauled herself put from the small crack she was stuck under, and her ears fell and her tail went limp as she stared at the utter destruction.

I wished that I had just stayed under there.

It wasn't long until the young Star Neon collapsed to her knees and let out a heart-wrenching scream. It sooner devolved into sobs as she hugged herself.

I couldn't stay there. I needed a way out.

Soon, she was walking through the crumbled cities, narrowly avoiding debris and the bodies all around.

Some were cut cleanly, others without a care.

Cosmos swallowed back another sob.

As she passed a wall of broken glass, soon she was in front of a large building. Dark in appearance, with stone bricks.

I don't remember how I got to my home. A ship or a portal, maybe. But it was my home, it is my home.

As she began to walk through, a slow transition began, showing Cosmos growing and slowly becoming more jaded looking.

And over time, I decided - I was going to make sure that never again could I lose something on such a grand scale.

A flash of her performing a concert on planet.

Never again will I have to remember the cold eyes and bodies.

A flash of her greeting fans on another.

Never again will I be alone or forgotten.

The shattering of a mirror came, and everything came back to current Cosmos, who was glaring at herself in a shattered mirror.

Never again will I not be surrounded by people. Never again will I not always have all eyes on me.

Shaking her paw and walking off, a glass shard falls. As it spins, the scene changes.

In a cave, two women were bickering over something, shoving each other. Higher up, on a ledge, a spider-esque woman was carefully weaving golden strings.

A specific string caught her eyes, and she peered into it.

"Well now.." She cooes, her face illuminated by the golden glow. "What do we have here?" She turns her head. "Radiant! Spirit! Come here!"

The two quickly stop arguing and make their way over to the older woman, their heads tilted.

"What is it, ma?" Spirit asks, furrowing her brows.

"I'm sure you remember that little genocide from all those years ago," the woman hums.

"Isn't that the one you did after you got from the Realm of the Weavers?" Radiant frowns. "The Star Neons' genocide?"

"Perciesly. It was all 'Lydia, you can't take on assitants!' and 'Lydia, this violates the rules!' Damn IMBECILES!" Lydia snarls before calming down. "But, yes, my dears."

She smiles dangerously. "And it seems like a sole survivor has gotten herself tangled in my little web. I think, soon enough.."

Her and her daughters' eyes all glowed dangerously. "We'll pay her a little visit."

[duckapus]

Mr. L: I mean, look at what I've just accomplished!

Mr. L: Do you think a depressed person could make this!? *holds up Rhythmi*

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Kelsie: *unsheathing sword* I'm a healer, but...

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Etna: So do I have a boyfriend or a girlfriend today?

Laharl: Since you ate the last slice of pizza you have an enemy.

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Lydia: Rhythmi sent me a "Get Well Soon" card.

Spirit: I didn't know you were sick, mom.

Lydia: I'm not, she just thinks I could do better.

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*Mario and the Haltmann kids show up at the castle in the middle of the night*

Mario: Can we stay here tonight?

SMG4: All of you? What happened?

Mario: The girls were playing with a ouija board and cursed the whole house.

Hex: Uncle Luigi wasn't any help. His Poltergust was broken and he doesn't actually know how to banish spirits so he's just throwing salt at them and yelling "does this look like a hotel to you!?"

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Sora: ARE YOU-

Arle: Fucking.

Sora: KIDDING ME?! YOU-

Arle: Fucking.

Sora: IDIOT!

Irene: ...What's going on?

Arle: Sora's Disney Swear Sensor got jammed and I owed him a favor so I'm helping.

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Mario: *ominously rises up behind Luigi, brandishing a cardboard tube*

Luigi, not looking up from what he's doing: I hope no one is about to attack me from behind because I'm thinking of making cookies later.

Mario:

Mario: What kind?

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Swag: .. .----. -- / ... --- .-. .-. -.--

Chris: What's that?

Swag: Remorse Code.

Chris: I'm even angrier now.

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Wario: *rolls down window* What seems to be the problem, officer?

FM: Get the fuck out of my car.

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SMG4: What time is it?

Juliano: I don't know, let me check.

Juliano: *pulls out a tuba and starts playing it really badly*

Toad: WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING A TUBA AT TWO IN THE MORNING?

Juliano: It's around 2 AM.

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(so the raging riptides confrontation stuff will probably be much more serious than this but i had to okay?)

Lily, slightly hysterical: Anyone else here leading a bizarre double life!?

Tari: *...starts to raise her hand-*

Lily, not looking away from glaring at Root: Put your hand down, Aunt Tari.

(no i will not elaborate)

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(Tune decides to do a No Hit run of TCS's main campaign (as any good Mega Man actalike would) and Lumiere is straight up not having a good time)

Lumiere: Stop memorizing my attack patterns. That's fucked up. Who let you do that. Mother fucker. You know what? I'm entering my second phase. Have fun with the choir arrangement of my theme ass hole.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Had some thoughts about this post, and came up with a few ideas for what the parody trio might be like. Feel free to disregard if you've already got stuff for them figured out on your end.

Alyssa's parody is Lydia the Storyweaver. Storyweavers are spider-like cosmic entities that spin the literal strings of fate into webs, then feast on the energy of those who get ensnared in the narrative. They're also able to create characters to fit into their stories in whatever role may be needed, and Lydia's favorites by far are the twin villains she created for the story that resulted in the extinction of the Star Neons. Not because of the fact that they did that, just because she let herself get attached. So, she elevated them up to her level to act as her assistants, which violated the Laws of the Storyweavers and got her banished from wherever it is Storyweavers are from. The three of them see each other as a family...albeit a highly dysfunctional one, because even though Lydia genuinely loves her kids and really is trying to be a good mom She Really Should Not Be A Parent.

Also she's super thin with long, spindly limbs, partly Because Spider Person but mostly as a dig at Alyssa's current appearance because Jayin would absolutely Go There.

For the Twins' parodies, I snatched up their scrapped names, Spirit and Radiant, with the justification that both sets of twins are recycled concepts from an old scrapped game idea from before Jayin went control freak and Alyssa got booted, and the Celestial Twins got new names while the Parody Twins got the old placeholders.

Spirit has power over Darkness and Death, while Radiant has power over Light and Life. They both used to be Star Neons but between the events of their story and their elevation into cosmic beings they've become almost completely unrecognizable from what they once were. Not that they mind much, since they don't really remember their old lives all that well. Visually, they're both basically genderbent (to make it less obvious who they're based on), vaguely feline versions of the Twins.

For Spirit, Jayin took Tartarus's Trinity-related antics and ran with it, turning her into a wannabe Casanova who flirts with anything that moves, and also a bit flighty. Interestingly, thanks to her powers she actually runs cold unlike most Programs.

Meanwhile Radiant's an absolute Blood Knight. She will fight anyone, anytime, at the slightest provocation, and have the biggest, brightest, most...well, radiant... smile on her face the whole time. In contrast, she also really enjoys reading, so depending on when you encounter her she'll either be tearing through a battlefield while covered in other people's blood and giggling like a schoolgirl or curled up all warm and cozy and lost in a book, with no in-between.

Jayin's probably going to regret giving the three of them such extreme personalities and over-the-top powers once they inevitably start coming to life, because they seem like they'd be significantly less likely to take her bullshit lying down than her other victims.

I was actually really struggling with coming up with parodies, so these guys are great!! I love how they're all twisted versions of the originals, yet there's just enough of the original there to make those in the know go, "wait, are those based off of..?"

But I really love the dig at Alyssa's appearance with Lydia because that would no doubt absolutely kill her. She's definitely self-conscious of her current look, and seeing Jayin drag her through the mud like that would probably hurt bad.

[duckapus]

(So, most Storyweavers are just as terrible as Lydia, some even more-so, and I thought of a funny way to show that. Don't worry about when exactly this would take place, it's probably just part of one of CCC's Cosmos-based promotional videos so technically it doesn't happen in-universe of the AU at all.)

Lydia's wandered out from her and the girls' hideout, looking for a good hook for her next meal, when she hears one of her least favorite sounds in the world.

"Yoo~hoooo! Ly~di~aaaaa!"

"Fucking hell," Well, so much for the one benefit she thought her banishment had.

As she resigns herself to her inevitable torment, a comically small and cutesy Storyweaver with green twintails and a blindingly bright yellow dress comes up to her, "Oh my dear sweet Lydia, I'm so delighted to see you again!"

"Hello, Rhythmi..."

"It's been quite a long while since we've seen one another, hasn't it?" several decades, not that that was really all that long for a Storyweaver, and horribly short compared to the 'rest of forever' that she'd been hoping for, "It was before your banishment, wasn't it. I could scarcely believe it when I heard the news. Hm, then again, you always did love playing with your food growing up. Where are the delectable little morsels you threw your life away for, anyway?"

She doesn't even try masking her contempt, "What do you want, Rhythmi?"

"Mmm, sore subject?" A wince and pout never looked so smug, "Very well, I did have something I wanted to show you." she begins leading her much taller 'friend' along, their casual stroll crossing hundreds of lightyears in seconds, "See, I've just created a true work of art, and exile or no I just had to show it to my oldest, dearest friend before anyone else."

They come to a stop at a universe bustling with activity, "And here we are! Please, take a peek darling."

Lydia rolls her three functional eyes and kneels to take a look, only to gape in astonishment at what she sees, "No way..."

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She looks inside as well, reveling at the sight of what the audience will recognize as the setting of Connected Cosmos: The Game, "Nine worlds snared in my web at once, with plenty of room -and time- for more. That's a record, if I'm not mistaken."

Indeed it was. Lydia would know, seeing as she'd been the previous holder with a count of four.

"I'll admit that The Twilight's not the most complex antagonist -especially compared to yours, you really do have such a way with words, my dear- but it's ever so versatile."

After a few more moments watching the narrative below play out, Rhythmi stands up and makes a show of brushing the stardust off her dress, "Well, it's been lovely catching up with you, but I'm afraid I must be off," translation; I've had my fill of rubbing my successes in your face and proving my superiority, again.

She opens up a portal to wherever it is she's staying while maintaining her current web, waving demurely to her 'dear friend,' "do tell your adorable little pets their auntie Rhythmi said 'hello,' darling! Ta~taaaa!"

"...Fucking condescending bitch."