#ouroboros au

[kradogsrats]

and I can have a little bodyswap au as a treat <3

[localsharkcryptid]

-"I wonder..." Ouroboros hummed to themself as they lifted their talon, watching as the Dragonbite Viper coiled around their arm to remain on it's false branch. Their gaze narrowed almost critically as an idea came to mind while they watched the serpent. A solution.

They had learned that the dragons that came to their land were less than inclined to interact with them. The others were bitter and aggressive even if their attacks did little to scathe the animus who kept them trapped to this land. Not to mention that interacting directly also messed with the story, the art form, they were supposed to WATCH from the shadows cast by the stage lights, not to be blinded by them like the common wyrms who stood beneath them. No. They were the director. So, they needed an actor, their personal pick to guide the story where it needed to go, something that the dragons would respond to... And this little viper would be the key.-

---

Finally some Ouroboros AU lore bits :)

Also I should mention, XD's name in this little silly is in fact Ouroboros. I decided that recently so hehe.

[joowee-feftynn]

Silence. She is performing a very complicated call.

(corrupted pink by @gems-of-jungle-moon)

[domesticlion]

What’s life like, bleeding on the floor?

[ouroboros-or-ob]

orborobous

borobous

orobroborus

Oroubus

Optimus busime

You

You drew me?! Wow!

I love it, thank you!!!

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 26: sometimes i get so tired, i don't even know myself

Working to Exhaustion

2330 Words; Ouroboros AU

TW for violence, bloodsport, exploitation, murder, death

AO3 ver

“Next one’s heavy.”

Dion grunted as another box was dropped into his arms. “They’re all heavy.” He muttered, carrying it over to the shelf. But he didn’t have to carry it far, and it wasn’t that heavy. It was kind of big, though, high enough to press against Dion’s mask.

The other guy on unloading duty—Hunter? It was hard to tell, when they were all wearing the same plain white masks—whistled. “I swear, it’s like you never stop.” He commented, as Dion shoved the box into place. “The fuck did they feed you in your old life?”

“...food?” Dion pulled out his boxcutter to cut the box open.

Hunter chuckled. “A kid your age does not just handle heavy boxes like that.” He insisted.

Most people Dion’s age also didn’t have a body count, but that was besides the point. Dion rolled his eyes behind his mask.

There was always something to do in Ouroboros. And if Dion wanted to live, then he needed to be doing something. And he needed to live, no matter what—if Dion didn’t survive, then Mirtala would be the only Aquato in Ouroboros. And he couldn’t—he wouldn’t let her be left alone here. Not if he could help it.

(Mirtala didn’t deserve to be here at all, but there was nothing Dion could do on that front. His powerlessness would drive him crazy if he wasn’t able to at least provide for her.)

“Right, this one’s gotta be at least a little heavy to you.” Hunter grunted, slowly sliding the next box off the stack to pass to Dion.

Dion took the box, wincing slightly. Yeah, this one was kind of heavy—he wouldn’t want to carry that many boxes like it. But Dion knew how to handle heavy things. It was part and parcel of growing up in the circus, after all, from equipment to the other members of his family. Frazie was at least as heavy as this box, probably. Dion hadn’t had the chance to lift her in a while. Maybe she had gotten heavier, gotten the kind of muscle to make girls swoon over her.

(Dion swallowed that thought down. With any luck, he might never see Frazie again—which was for the better, because the day any more of his family ended up in Ouroboros was a day that Dion never wanted to see.)

Dion shoved the box into place on the shelf, pausing for a moment once it was in place. Still, it wasn’t that heavy.

(Queepie might have handled the weight better than Dion—

Dion shoved that thought away immediately. Queepie would be turning four soon; he should be nowhere near Ouroboros, ever. None of his family should, really—none of them but Dion.)

“Heavy, right?” Hunter prompted, already holding the next box.

Dion grunted, pulling his boxcutter out once again. So what if it was? He could handle it. He had to handle it.

Hunter shook his head. “Kids.” He grumbled. “You’re going to run smack into a wall with that kind of attitude.”

Whatever. Dion would be fine.

He had to be—there was no other way. If he slowed down for even a moment, if he let weakness show—

Dion took the next box. He’d survive.

No matter what.

+=+=+=+=+

Mirtala came back that night with a fresh bruise on her arm, her hair still damp from her shower.

“Tala—” Dion started. Stopped, his words catching on the knot of feelings in his throat. He reached out. Stopped.

Mirtala stared at him with tired eyes. She sat down on her bedroll, not saying a thing.

Dion looked away. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t want to encourage this. He never wanted Mirtala anywhere near the arena—she only just turned six. It was Dion’s job, his responsibility to take care of her—and every time she stepped into that arena, he failed.

What was he supposed to say? He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

(An apology might be a good start.

But Dion had always been a coward when it came to apologies.)

Dion’s jaw worked, his shoulders tensing. He should say something—

Too late. Mirtala laid down on her own cot, facing away from him. She huffed, curling up without a word.

I’m sorry. Dion wanted to say it. He needed to say it.

I’m sorry. The words got stuck in his throat.

Dion clenched his hands into fists, his eyes darting away from where Mirtala was lying—

Wait. “Um.” He managed, the sound of his voice surprising even himself. “Do you… do you want your unicorn?” Mirtala usually always grabbed it, when the light in their room started to fade. Dion couldn’t fathom why it was on his cot.

Mirtala rolled over, squinting at Dion. “Her name is Francis III.” She muttered.

“Oh.” Shit, when did Mirtala name it? How long ago? Wow, Dion felt like an idiot. His face was already heating up. “Well, do you want Francis III?” He really needed to apologize.

“No.” Mirtala said. She blinked, and yawned. “But you do.” And with that, she rolled back over, pulling the blanket tight around herself.

Dion swallowed. He grabbed Francis III, running his thumb over the felt strips making up the mane. One of the Wolves had gifted it to Mirtala when they had first gotten here—Dion looked over at his baby sister, who was the nicest person he’d ever known, and he could guess why. Even if she wasn’t his responsibility, he still wanted her to get the best that she could. Mirtala was just easy to spoil like that.

And yet he still couldn’t find the words to talk to her…

Dion looked Francis III in her beady little button eyes. He wanted to put the plush into Mirtala’s arms, adjust the blanket around her like he was tucking her in—anything to prove that he wasn’t an awful brother.

But he just sat there instead, choking on the knot in his throat.

Like a coward.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion looked up at the sound of footsteps, the mop coming to a stop.

He immediately looked back down, moving the mop again the moment he saw who was waling across the tiled floor. Oh, god, was this the end? Was he somehow mopping wrong? Or was it just fun to torment him?

Creed came to a stop not far from Dion, hands folded behind his back.

Dion continued mopping. If Creed wanted him to stop, he’d say so. Probably.

“Boy.” Creed started. Dion gripped the handle of the mop harder. “Look at me.”

Dion lifted his eyes to meet Creed’s dark brown. He paused in his mopping—he needed to rewet the mop in the bucket again, anyway—and waited to see what Creed would do.

Creed’s eyes flicked over Dion. He immediately felt like an ant confronting a boot—certain doom was all that awaited him, now.

“You’ve got a fight tonight.” Creed commented airily. “I’m sure you’ve had plenty of time to… recuperate.”

It had been a while since Dion had had a fight—he hadn’t been scheduled for the last two Death Pits. And he wasn’t allowed back into the regular fights—though Dion really didn’t want to think about that.

“Okay.” Dion said, hating the way it sounded so small in the empty air. “I’ll be ready.”

(He wouldn’t, not really—he never was.

But Dion didn’t survive by waiting until he was ready—he couldn’t. Either he got his head above water, or he drowned—and Dion refused to drown. He’d survive however he needed to.)

“Good boy.” Creed nodded. He turned around and began to walk away—

“Oh,” Creed paused, “And this next fight?”

Dion looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Win it.” Creed growled. “Your opponent isn’t meant to make it out of that arena alive, you got it?”

Winning was what Dion normally did, though? Dion stared at Creed a moment longer, then nodded slowly. “Yeah.” He confirmed, still unsure why Creed felt the need to tell him this.

“Good.” And with that, Creed left.

Doubts and uncertainties floated around in Dion’s head. He was finally going back in the ring, and the notion terrified and excited him in equal measure. He could finally get ahead just a little bit more—but he’d have to kill someone to do so.

(Well, it wasn’t like Dion’s hands weren’t already covered in blood.

He would survive. He had to.)

Dion sighed.

Back to work.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion waited for the gate to rise. The bars of the gate casted shadows across him, the audience already a loud din outside. It sounded bigger than usual, too, which grated on Dion’s nerves. He watched as another gate opened and his opponent-to-be was forced into the arena, stumbling across the sand. His own gate hadn’t opened, yet—god, Dion hoped it wasn’t broken.

The announcer was saying something, now, trying to get the audience to chant—

“DEATH! BY! LION!”

Dion went rigid. Suddenly, the earlier interaction with Creed made a lot more sense.

But… why him? Surely Creed had more popular fighters, more capable fighters—

The gate began to rise. No more time to doubt. Dion walked out into the arena, out into the lights hanging down, the cage bars casting shadows across him—

The audience ROARED.

“AND THE LION MAKES HIS RETURN!” The announcer cheered. “Let’s see some BLOOD!”

Dion’s opponent stood, staring at him through their orange and blue Ox mask. They snorted.

“This is it?” They asked. “This is the big bad Lion?” Derision colored their voice. Dion’s face flushed behind his mask, his hands squeezing into fists. “You’re just some kid!”

“And you’re dead meat.” Dion snarled. It was him or them, and Dion had no intention of losing.

The Ox broke out into a charge, raising their hand. Metal glinted in the light, and they swung down—

Dion ducked out of the way, rolling to the side and using his hands to spring up onto a hanging cord. The “Jungle Arena” was full of hanging cords and bars, like some twisted trapeze, and Dion was quick to fling himself up out of the Ox’ reach.

You’d think I was the Leopard, with the way I’m climbing around. Dion thought to himself, coming to a stop halfway up the rope. He looked down at the Ox, considering what to do.

Him or them. Dion would survive, no matter what.

He was supposed to make a show of it, too.

The Ox bellowed, grabbing the rope Dion was on. They yanked—

And Dion twisted over to the next rope with practiced ease. He didn’t want to have a favorite arena—he didn’t want to be in the arenas at all, really—but if he had to choose, it was probably this one. So many things to climb, so many ways to fling himself around!

(The arena that Mirtala made her official debut was similar, but Dion didn’t want to think about Mirtala in any arena.)

The Ox couldn’t climb as well as Dion could—if they could at all, seeing as they weren’t even trying—so Dion couldn’t lead them on a merry chase through the ropes and bars. So much for that idea.

Still, how to make this look good?

The audience was chanting, jeering, roaring for blood and violence and death. It was either Dion or the Ox—and Dion intended to win.

“That might work…” Dion muttered, flipping over backwards onto one of the hanging bars. He lifted himself up so that he was doing a handstand on it, allowing his legs to hook onto another bar higher up. He let go of the bar and looked down on the Ox.

“Are you even trying?” He jeered, “Surely you can take out ‘some kid’!” He flipped over to a knotted rope, then flung himself with a forwards flip onto a sideways one. The tightropes back home were way narrower than this. Confidence filled Dion as he paced along it, the Ox yelling below him.

“Get down here!” They shouted. “You little shit!”

Dion laughed. The sound shocked him, escaping his throat before he even recognized what it was.

What was he doing? This was a life-or-death situation! The cage bars cast shadows across the arena. The audience was cheering, jeering, roaring. Dion’s mask pressed against his face.

Fuck this. Fuck putting on a show. Dion wasn’t here to entertain, for all that Creed wanted him to. He was in here to survive, dammit!

With a cry, Dion flung himself down. He rolled as he fell, kicking out as he landed to hit the Ox square in the back. The impact flung him away, and he rolled with the impact, springing up off the floor at the soonest opportunity.

The Ox whirled around to face him, snarling through their mask. Dion darted to the side, cartwheeling up onto one of the ropes. They charged, and instead of climbing up Dion flung himself onto their shoulders when they passed, locking his ankles together in front of their face.

The Ox reached up, trying to pull Dion off—

Dion squeezed his thighs together. The Ox’ hands scrambled against Dion’s legs, prying uselessly at his boots—

Crack!

Dion jumped away as the body fell, flipping over backwards. That probably looked cool, right?

The audience was cheering. The chant from earlier returned, harsh against Dion’s ears.

“DEATH! BY! LION! DEATH! BY! LION!”

Across the arena, the gate rose. Dion stared up at the audience for only a moment longer before darting back to the tunnel.

His hands were shaking. He needed to get his mask off right now. He needed a shower, he needed a drink, he needed to lie down and stare at the wall until he felt human again—

Dion stumbled, leaning against the tunnel wall. He'd just killed someone.

But he had survived. It was him or the Ox, and he had won.

Dion stared at his hands. He had survived. Grim satisfaction knotted in his throat, and he struggled to breathe around it.

Dion had survived.

He was more willing to pay the cost than he wanted.

[cerisezero]

Idea dumping again, and this one's AUing things up. Heading into XC3 during main story canon times.

Simple enough AU in theory. Swapping out the main Ouroboros cast for a gang of the heroes who seem to have suitable pair vibes; I'm sure someone's gonna have done exactly these characters in the past, tbh. But hoping to put a different spin on their journey around Aionios, especially now Future Redeemed's been a thing.

Ashera and Teach; Valdi and Alexandria; Zeon and Juniper. Let's go.

The first bit of AU shuffling here; the gang in question are not all commanders. In fact, it's possible that only Juniper is, or one other with them. This likely leads to a scenario where some Consuls in charge of various things are different, too; for example, Q isn't putting Valdi in charge of things to Do Levnises Good. N and M are still things, and I'm not planning on reallocating the letters E, T, L or S... (We need Triton around, c'mon. Though come to think of it, the S here might not be anyone we know. And quite possibly C and J ditto.)

The Kevesi trio are based out of one Colony, which might not be any of the canon ones (Ashera is a little tricky to place here but hey, we can fiddle with the concepts later). Teach and Alexandria, similarly, come from one Colony; possibly he was assigned to Iota following That Thing Oleg Did With Chi on the principle he'll be able to keep Alexandria from getting too big for her boots? Juniper is, however, still working out of Tau to begin with.

The group first get dragged into Ouroboros-hood via a mission in the Pentelas region; similarly to canon, the two sides are trying to retrieve an 'odd ether signature'. Juniper and a contingent from Tau are called in to help the Agnians navigate the Maktha area, while the Kevesi are more having to go it alone.

Don't you just hate it when a giant monkey interrupts your artifact finding quest? Thanks, Gonzales. The group of six eventually gets trapped with the Ouroboros Stone and a Lost Numbers rep who probably isn't Guernica (Gray, maybe?); some of the more responsible folks push for an uneasy truce until the gang can get out of there. In the meantime, though... Valdi. Valdi, no. Don't poke at the glowy object.

And the plot starts... whether or not a wild ride is involved. (Likely there's a Moebius to beat up on soon enough, but who it is I'm not sure.)

The new Ouroboros have an advantage in that they have more pieces of the puzzle as to who and what Moebius are, even starting off, than the canon group did. (Not sure at what stage they can identify them as Consuls, mind, even with Ashera's memory.) Unfortunately, the team are lacking in both a Lucky Seven- (Noah and Mio are... Uh. At a different stage in the cycle, right now :( ) and a Riku to try and keep an eye on whatever the heck they're doing. They do encounter four out of the original six as their own heroes, as well as various other familiar faces. However, they need other ways to try and free or improve things for their still-Clocked allies.

Teach and Ashera provide a lot of the big picture plotting and planning, even when Ashera does fall back into '... we stab things?' as part of that plot quite a lot. They're an unstable pair, but they at least balance out each other's bad habits into functionality when they settle into their positions.

Valdi and Alex tend towards 'it's so crazy it might work', with Valdi even putting together a cargo-mech to carry their stuff or the Stone with them. When they finally encounter Riku, the pair remind our favourite Common Nopon of Nikol and Glimmer somewhat even though they're unrelated... or perhaps they remind some City historians of their Founders? There's enough there to pull strings, at least. And maybe their plans are enough to disrupt Clock systems?

Zeon and Juniper are the most level headed of the group. Watching Juniper's Tau traditions and conventions gets them all thinking 'ok, but what if some of our stuff is equally artificial'... In the end, Juniper steps into the party offseer role; they might prefer to bury those who've been lost, but it would be worse to not do anything for the fallen at all. ... Sadly, this means Zeon himself doesn't get to farm any spuds. He finds City culture and history very interesting, eventually.

A different adventure, a different group, trying to avoid the classic 'let's follow the same old path' trope. And as for the long term... well, I'll see when I get there.

[dont-know-where]

ALRIGHT TIME FOR POORLY EXPLAINED, VIOLENTLY MENTALLY ROTATED AUS

NOTE: All of these are connected to OK KO somehow, except the last one. Please lmk which ones to rant about more and I absolutely will.

Ouroboros AU: Hey, KO was recognized by Venomous as his son way early on. Yeah he got kidnapped around the time the episode TKO happened. No, no TKO still kinda exists, just barely though. Anyways, Fink has a new brother now. Yeah, KO has a weird chip on the back of his neck shaped like an ouroboros so now he can't remember anything before the kidnapping. He wants to be a villain now. Sorrey.

Separated Twins AU: Okokok, so KO and TKO are twins. And Carol finds out about the "Laserblast is Venomous" thing wayyy earlier on and divorces him. And in "The Parent Trap" style, KO stays with Carol and TKO goes with Venemous. Both of the twins meet up in "Villain's Night In" and TKO specifically goes after KO for...obvious reasons. Eventually TKO gets a redemption arc and KO gets a new brother!!!

Crossover Nexus Bad End AU?: I have no idea how this goes besides some random plot points here and there, but point is Strike does the final attack earlier on, but KO manages to escape it last minute and get stuck somewhere else in the multiverse and in his own guilt TKO takes over again. Also Robin, Steven, and TKO become friends.

Monster High x OK KO: KO and Dendy get sent to Monster High for a summer camp or something? Anyways bad news, for some reason KO gets stuck in werebeast form. Good news, he looks like a werewolf enough to blend in. Mostly made this AU as an excuse for Jackson and TKO to become friends.

Monster High x ROTTMNT: whoops I made Donnie and Jackson enemies to lovers. whoopsie-poopsie.

[royalrebelpropaganda]

out of context highlights from my ouroboros AU outline:

- raven watched her mom’s execution. that goes… well* (*it did NOT go well)

- “HEY LILY woah sorry for startling you did your eyes just turn purple??” “uhhhh no trick of the light hahahhahaa anyway did you need me”

- she comes home one day and finds a little gremlin in her house eating her food (bc Apple learned NO lessons from Hansel and Gretel)

- Raven is like “yes of course (lying)”

- shenanigans ensue

- and is like “if you tell ANYONE about this you’re DEAD” with all the confidence that a 9 year old can muster

- Darling is like “Lily dearest why is there a child in your house” and Raven is like “shesnoonedontworryaboutit”

- Dex is told “why can’t you be more like your brother” and Darling is told “why can’t you be less like your brother”

- shenanigans etc etc

- question to self: how.

- SOMETHING SOMETHING DEMETER METAPHOR

- everything is a circle nothing Raven did changed anything time is circular and everything will always be the same free will is an illusion

- everyone lives happily ever after & darling and apple adopt :)

[the-bi-fangirl-biatch]

as an og loki fan, it's truly something to watch a character who you've loved for so long change so much and open up.

when he admitted that yes, he's saving the TVA because he wants his friends back? how he's willing to admit that having friends gives him a sense of belonging? how he truly got attached to them? how he has "gotten soft" by caring for mortals and wanting to be around them? to see that he's caring for them so much that he's afraid that he'll lose them? but also loving them all so much that he was wiling to be lonely if it gave them their own lives back?

to be loved is to be changed

[kradogsrats]

the ghost who is still alive...

tbh I was immediately unhappy with my first take on Ghost/Rayla for my Ouroboros AU so here's version 2? decided I did want to give her some new clothes which are whatever Claudia scrounged out of laundry baskets or something lmao since her old ones would be in pretty shitty shape

[localsharkcryptid]

ACTUAL DESIGN CONCEPT ART??

This turned out wayyyy better than anticipated and is way closer to my vision than expected so I am excitedly posting it.

The design for Ouroboros!Dream is far from set in stone but this sets the tone well, he's serpentine and almost unnatural looking in a lot of aspects which is entirely intentional and a byproduct of being created as a personal pawn by a deranged might as well be god.

As you can also see in these sketches I haven't quite figured out which mask option to go with, though it will most likely be the half-mask (top half edition) or the full mask since the reason for it is due to that nature of his eyes - which are alarmingly similar to those of the Dragonbite Viper and well many dragons aren't exactly just comfortable with that.

Additional fun notes:

The "blade" on his tail is effectively a malformed stinger, it lacks any venom or toxin but can be used as a weapon along with the spines along the end of the tail.

He can in fact produce silk! There is Silkwing in his ungodly combination of "genes".

While his colors do not shift with his emotions in the same way a rainwing's do, he can shift through shades of green to darken/lighten his scales either to display emotional state or to provide camouflage in the right environment. He works kinda like a lizard, so his scales get darker/brighter when pissed off.

---

Anyways I am super proud of this and I think imma do more of these concept art things in the future for characters.

[curseofhyperfixation]

And that's how the Dinosaurs went extinct

[sockpluto]

hi lokius nation, opinions on a fic where mobius is equivalent to a space pirate and has been payed to safely transport (a very bitchy and annoying) (crown prince) loki across space and they cannot stand one another at first but after some near death experiences they grow closer until this bitchy asgardian prince has finally found a soft spot for the clever, kind, and quite frankly all too sarcastic lone-wolf-type captain of his transport ship and can’t bring himself to leave him 🌝🌝

bonus: super genius crime-bosses casey and ouroboros, renslayer as a bounty hunter trying to kill loki, B-15 as a scrappy and resourceful ally of mobius, sylvie is also a space pirate (and has beef with both mobius and loki), and some GOTG cameos including thor (who ran away from asgard to be with the guardians)

IF I MADE THIS INTO AN AU AND ACTUALLY DEDICATED MYSELF TO IT WOULD YALL READ THIS PLEASE TELL ME

[razzle-zazzle]

Love your The Lion series! Especially because there aren't enough fics with Dion and Tala. I love how far Dion is willing to go to protect Tala, even if it hurts him and ruins his own innocence, also probably giving him 'Aggressive/fight or flight' problems if or when he does finally break them out of Ouroboros. I hope you write more fics with Dion and his other siblings! Especially if it has angst 😈

AAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOU!!!

And yeah, the Ouroboros AU is fun. Dion King of Self-Destruction Arc real. But what else is he supposed to do? Not try everything in his power to keep Mirtala safe? When he's as parentified and stressed as he is?

I love your phrasing of "ruins his own innocence" especially because it's not just Dion's innocence that's being ruined in Ouroboros >:]]]

[danko23]

Two teenagers left unattended.

If homunculi lived in the modern world and Ling got involved with their company.