seiko yume

OMG I love your changeling guy!! He’s so cute and sillay!!! Thanks for the unofficial official thumbs up! Also, I didn’t realize that thing on the changeling’s backs are wing covers. I thought it was really like extra body covering like how on some bugs the upper exoskeleton is harder or a different color from the soft underbody. Maybe I’ll change it later on to look more like the upper body segments. As much as I do enjoy making terrifying amalgamations of creatures, Salix isn’t like royalty or a god, so he’ll have to unfortunately stay a lowly un-winged scorpion. I’ll also take the shape language thing to heart and try and see what I can do to make him a bit more distinctive to show he’s a lithe, trained bug warrior (I am a character design fanatic and I like designing and redesigning things)

A/N: This one's a rewrite of that fic I was referring to in this post. The OG fic was much, much shorter and very lighthearted and written in an unserious manner. I don't think I even built up the scene or anything, I just jumped right into the dialogue, since it was meant to accompany an image that built the bickering sibling dynamic of Salix and Willow. I'm a bit better at writing now, but I still kind of forgot how to write due to being out of the fanfic practice for over a year, so please go into this with low standards. Title: Hug Me Like This Is The Last Time You'll See Me The familiar archways and chambers of his old clusterhome invited him like a haunted house, incense and clay marked the territory of the arachnid changelings. Salix inhaled the scent, but found less comfort in it than he liked to imagine. It was nostalgic, marking his childhood, though all the nostalgia in the world could not shield him from the guilt that bore deep into his shell, for he was useless to his kingdom. Salix's steps came to a halt outside a web-adorned den, contemplating if he should go in, or turn back. After all, no news was good news, right? He could save his only living family from the stress and heartbreak of the truth. His heart caught in his throat. Perhaps it would be better to turn back, and head back to his guild. The Marrow Eaters were good to him, and he'd hate to miss out on their next raid or ambush. It seemed, however, fate had made the former decision for him when the den's door swung open and he was swept into a tangle of limbs and silk. "Salix! I knew that was your scent and not my next meal! Unless... you're really a changeling from another kingdom posing as my brother that died on the front lines? Yes... you don't smell exactly like my brother." The large spider-changeling chittered, turning Salix over in a blanket of webs. Salix growled, raising his stinger with a defensive hiss. "Try to eat me and I'll make sure your insides turn to liquid, Willow." Willow instantly dropped him on the floor, untangling him from the webbings with a spin. "Nope! Not a meal, just my normal, cranky brother." She sing-songed with a giggle. "Ugh... could you have let me down in a more graceful manner?" Salix groaned as he slowly rose on his hooves. Willow hummed, and tapped a hoof to her chin. Oh man, was she actually starting to think for once? "That was the best manner possible, I'm afraid. You get to be let down, and I get to see that look on your face when you fall." She replied. False alarm, she wasn't really thinking that far. "Of course..." Salix sighed. "Anyways, I was just stopping by. I'll take my leave, now." Just as Salix turned back to the door, he was barricaded by a cage of spidery hind-limbs pouncing down in his path. "What?! You're leaving already? But we haven't seen each other in ages! You can't seriously be that busy with knighthood!" Willow argued. Salix's heart dropped. This was exactly why he wanted to turn back. "I-I just... thought you weren't interested in such... serious... knightly matters." He stammered, trying to move around her, but she only blocked him further. "I have all the time in the world for the juicy details. Come on, spare your elder sister more than a few minutes of your time, oh gracious knight." She replied. Salix cringed. He was undeserving of that phrase. Willow seemed to have caught on to his reaction, much to his dismay as well. He thought his training had made him more stoic to where his subconscious reactions wouldn't outwardly express themselves. She tilted her head, her calculating attitude falling for a more worried one. God, he hated that look. He hated the disappointment and shame he surely expected from others when they found out he failed to become a knight. "Salix...? Is everything okay?" She asked gently, as though one may talk to a nymph. Salix turned his head. He knew he could lie no longer, as his sister was far too wizened to let anything slip by her. Though, his tongue still remained in his mouth. "Salix... if there's some thing you need to tell me, please do so." Willow pressed. He took in a deep breath, "I... did not become a knight. They said my shell was too fragile, and that they could not allow me to be on the front lines, or even as royal guard." Willow lowered her front body, taking a less guarded stance. "I figured." She responded. "Then please, tell me why you've been gone for so long. I mean, you didn't even write. I thought you became a knight and was instantly deployed, or if you were a guard, they had you working double-shifts with no break to even send a simple letter." Salix didn't respond, prompting Willow's worried expression to turn more stern. "Salix. We are not doing this whole silent thing again. Tell me where you have been. Now." She demanded. "You will not be happy." He said. "I will be even less happy if you keep me in the dark like this! I'm your family, can't you even tell me a vague idea?" Willow retorted. Salix shook his head, his mouth pressing into a thin line as he turned his expression to the ground. Willow's snout scrunched up. "All this time, I've been worried sick about you! You didn't even give me an inkling of evidence you were even alive until now, and now you won't even give me a slightest clue as to what reason you had to keep me up at night, wondering if you were okay, praying to the ancients and our ancestors that you hadn't died?! Don't you feel even a bit of remorse for--" "I'm not a hatching anymore, Willow!" Salix snapped. Willow's eyes widened and her body reared back, as though he had just struck her, and her gaze turned away from him. Why did she have to know exactly how to instantly make him feel bad? She was silent for a time, making Salix instantly regret his remark. "Willow--" "Forgive me for caring about you." She said in a hushed tone. "No-- Willow, I'm sorry I just... I'm in this situation." "Then tell me, what in all of the clusterhome could possibly be so riveting, that you can't tell your own sister?" Salix took a sharp inhale. "I joined a guild involved with the bone trade." He said. "From enemy territories, and lesser beings, right?" Willow inquired, knowing her brother was roped in much the opposite. A shake of the head confirmed that fear. "Oh... oh, brother. Please, please quit. I can help you become a weaver, even if you don't have your own silk. This could get you killed, if not from your fragile shell, then absolutely from rival guilds and gangs, even the guards." "I know what I signed up for." Salix responded, "I know. I can't quit now. I'm bound to the Marrow Carvers. I wouldn't thrive as a weaver, and it's not fair to you to have to take care of me because I'm too aggressive to hold a normal job. I have a bloodlust that I can't control, beyond the primal need for hunting. I wanted to use it for good, I really did, but... that's not a possibility right now." Willow grimaced, seeming like she would start sobbing. Salix let out an exhale, knowing nothing of what he said would calm her nerves. "They're good to me. The Marrow Carvers. They're like the cousins I never had, or... just family in general. We live rough, but we look out for each other. I didn't want to disappoint, or put shame on our bloodline." He added. Willow didn't respond, didn't react. Salix saw how wet her eyes were. She sniffed, and finally moved slowly, carefully to pull him into an embrace as though he would be snatched away from her just like the rest of their family members. "Salix... my little brother... please, please promise me one thing. If something awry happens with your guild, or a bounty is placed upon your head, you run. Quit immediately, and flee to another kingdom and hide. Create a new name and identity, and never speak a word of your past life. I will find a way to follow suit. It will be no burden to me, because a greater one would be continuing to live after you draw your final breath." Her voice wavered. Feeling as though her brother would argue, she continued, "Don't reject this promise. Please... promise it to me now. It is the only thing I ask..." Salix nodded, a slight motion, but Willow could feel it beneath her hooves. Silent confirmation. Willow drew out a shaky breath, holding her little brother tighter, drawing in his scent and the unfamiliar musk from the other changelings and bugs that had rubbed off on him. She nuzzled her cheek glands into his mane, to replenish that odor that hopefully reminded him of home. "Thank you... please stay a fortnight too-- even a month's worth if you can. I'll set up a spare web in the canopy." She replied, drawing back to climb up into the many webs that decorated the den. "I will. I can write to my guild to let them know I'm taking leave for longer than I expected. They may need me for work again sooner, though." Salix said. "I understand. Please look after yourself." Willow responded, unfurling a soft woven hammock in one of the netted platforms that served as a room. "I'll go out hunting for dinner too. I'm not sure if you're still unable to eat fruit." Salix gagged in response, earning a melancholy chuckle from his sister. "I'll take that as a no. Even the thought is enough to make your stomach lurch, hm?" "When did you start to eat plants, anyway?" Salix interrogated. "I like the juice. It's also a nice break to buy from the ponies that come to trade at the market from time to time instead of having to constantly put time aside to hunt fresher meats." Willow said, her tone lighter now. "Disgusting..." Salix muttered. Willow let out another giggle. "Get up here, dummy. Your web is ready. Oh! And don't mess around with my system again. It's organized for me, not for thee." "I can see several baskets of the same type of beads. scattered in different areas." "I need them in those areas! Now get up here and take a nap or I'll wrap you like prey again." Salix groaned, begrudgingly ascending the webs as Willow made her way towards the exit, ready for a hunt. Perhaps things would be okay after all.

OK OK I wasn't going to finish these designs tonight, but I found my old MLP amino profile while searching "MLP changeling Hollow Knight" and the first image result were some old MLPxHK fanarts I made in 2018 along with the character profile for Salix (formerly named Moonseed.) Willow (formerly named Marquis) unfortunately never got her own character profile during that time. I think it was because I was going through a phase where I was struggling to write and create a lot, so I would just mash together a bunch of random junk and call it a night. I took one look at Salix's profile and the short story with him and his sister interacting and went "I gotta make 17 year old me proud." Yes, I know half of Willow's legs are missing in the first and 2nd drawing. Whoops! I couldn't resist redesigning Willow first, especially since I've been super spiderpilled from playing Silksong. Her design was actually a custom horror-themed adopt I paid someone else in amino coins to do, but since she was designed about 7 years ago, I'm certain her original designer wouldn't mind if I tweaked her up. I did unfortunately get rid of her fur to help her fit more into the changeling species I altered her and her brother to, but it was a necessity so I could spend more energy to draw all those limbs and eyes. I never wound up giving her much of a personality other than basing her off of the midwife from Hollow Knight, and Homestuck's Rose Lalonde. Hell, I never even gave her the parentified older sibling trope! (Not that I would ever do that to the poor girl now.) Now that I have a chance to revisit her, I like to think of her as a chaotic older sister with the creative mind of an ambush predator, seeing pathways or solutions that others might not see, and striking on opportunities the moment they arise. This can be both figurative and literal, as she does hunt for her food, but has hobbies like crafting and weaving. She refuses to organize her canopy of webs and woven creations, claiming she has her own system and that if it works for her, it's perfectly find. When interacting with others, Willow likes gaining the trust of others, making them think she's actually quite chill, but then unleashing her chaotic, borderline feral quirks when they least expect it, like making them think she's actually going to eat them. Willow spent most of her years studying traditional arachnid changeling artworks and cultures from neighboring kingdoms. Despite having no parents, Willow did not have to raise her little brother, as the spider changelings had a socially organized community to raise any hatchlings left behind by their ancestors. She has a special interest in dendrology and identifying different trees, and which trees are best for creating a den. Salix, on the other hand, was once given an actual personality, but it was very "word salad" esque with no correlation to anything other than making him a feral mothman vampire thing. I'll drop a quote here to have y'all be the judge... Oh yeah... I cringe looking back at this, but that was how I got writings done back in the day... or anything done, for the matter. Just meme the life out of it until it looked like something. Didn't have to be good or anything. After all, those delusions of becoming a super popular internet artist were just that-- delusions. Anyhoo, Salix's new personality is quite the opposite. Being a scorpion changeling, he's more likely to be a lot more moody than the communal arachnid that are spiders, and prefer to be left alone, lest he threatens you with his stinger. He took up martial training and discipline to help control his urges to sting anybody and everybody. He tried to become knighted, but was disqualified due to a disorder that gave him a fragile shell. This devastated him, since he wanted to use his bloodlust for something good for once. The revelation led to him taking up warriorhood in third party, and sometimes illegal guilds, which caused him to spend a lot of time away from his home. His training makes him a much more organized hunter than his older sister, but his younger age makes him inexperienced and unable to use more primal methods when needed. Salix doesn't like to admit it, but he does appreciate the warmth and comfort of having others to fall back on, even if their background isn't the cleanest. That counts the members of his current coven, the Marrow Carvers. Which, as you could guess, harvests the bones of other intelligent beings for underground bone trade. Oh, and one quirky trait he originally had that I'm totally gonna keep is that he HATES bananas. Smelling them will make him react like those cats that gag when they smell broccoli. Most fruits make his stomach turn, but bananas are a "danger food" to him. As you can also see, theses changelings also don't have horns, preventing them from changing at all. This kind of defeats the purpose of making their species "changelings," instead of some pony-bug monster hybrid, but there's a reason, I swear. With the existence of prismatic changelings being half-reformed changelings, there are also the subrace of "static" changelings, who evolved past the need to shapeshift at all. These usually count changelings that have traits similar to predators in the animal kingdom, such as arachnids, odonates, vespids, aphids, and phasmids. Sometimes, prey-bug changelings who live in the same kingdoms or territories as these changelings may also loose the ability to shapeshift, especially if the society is particularly advanced. The first old drawing/reference in the left corner was also something meant to accompany a very short story I once wrote about Salix meeting up with his sister in her den. I wonder if I should rewrite that...

I LOVE THIS DESIGN!!! The monochrome body with the rainbow hair scratches my brain so good!! The eternal teardrop eye shape is so CUUUTE!!

Thank you!! OMG I used to love Tinker Belle and Pixie Hollow, but I never watched any of the movies! Maybe this is my sign to start watching them.

I redrew another pony OC I originally designed while I was active on amino. I can't remember how far past Void Prism I drew him, but I know it was definitely during my Moomins era cause I got heavily obsessed with the passage of seasons after that. The old design was giving me heavy Onceler vibes. Maybe it's the emo fringe and scarf? Idk... and the old accessories didn't really give much insight into his personality or character, so I changed it up! Back in my amino days I also had a really bad habit of getting lazy with hair or coat patterns, so I would just make it ombre. I think over half of my old OCs and sonas have ombre hair lol. Oh god, I thought I grew out of it, but I just realized Chiyo has ombre hair!! AAAGH I'LL NEVER BE FREE!!! Freyr is a non-royal alicorn who originally started out as an Earth pony with extensive knowledge on how the seasons in Equestria affect the flora and fauna. Like the animals and plants he cares for, he too is affected by the seasons, with his horn and wings changing which plants bloom, or shedding entirely. His "feathers" are made of leaves, which turn in the autumn and fall off in the Winter. Waiting for his wings and horn to regrow is inconvenient, so Freyr tends to travel to warmer climates during this time, where the winter season does not get as cold. I didn't write "south" on the little chart cause I remembered this one post how people in the North Hemisphere tend to default that going south means hotter, and going north means colder, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere, it's totally different. I wonder if people in Australia celebrate Christmas by going to the pool or the beach. A beach party would make a really awesome year-end celebration! Enough side-tracking, let's get into Freyr's character! Freyr is a widely patient, and nurturing alicorn that doesn't like to stick around in one place for too long. He isn't keen on being treated like most alicorns, which is royalty or a deity, and even less so for material possessions. If he does keep anything that isn't absolutely necessary, the item must serve some sort of sentimental value, or leisure to him. He definitely holds the simple things in life much more highly than using his powers for significant cause, like good or evil. Freyr mainly uses his power to manipulate nature, and change the seasons in places where ponies either aren't doing it, or can not. He doesn't let this power tie him down or give him hard responsibility, as that would mean giving up his nomadic lifestyle. He hopes when he does change seasons in certain places, like helping wrap up winter in times where ponies were too unorganized to do it themselves, those ponies see it as a merciful warning to work better together next time, or they may not see the next year.