After execution she’s sent to the deepest depths of the Dream Realm, busted up and her plating falling apart. Since she’s partially made with Dream magic, she starts to reflect her new hellish environment and her form becomes unstable over her time there. Don’t have a definitive design for this yet, but I imagine it’d be fluid and fluctuate anyway so WHATEVA have these concepts
While she is eventually retrieved and Chihiro repairs her, she still has visible cracks in her mask, and her right eye has trouble seeing outside of DR. We’re thinking of her joining up and assisting Makoto and others in protecting DR from being used negatively like that again, learning more from Chihiro and tinkering a bit herself on top of her other research.
Haunted her family dojo for a long time in isolation, now abandoned by the living and left to overgrown ruin. She normally protects it from trespassers, but when Aoi shows up one day she let’s her hang around for the company. She still does her usual training, tho it’s more for the comforting routine than anything else. Over time, she starts finding the motivation to fix the grounds up a bit, finding that she still wants to use her knowledge to teach and help others become strong. Her dream is to help someone take her old title as strongest person alive.
She’s a bit standoffish and intimidating to newly met people, more out of awkwardness than malice due to her years of self isolated training. But after so much time spent with a hypersocial fish wife, she’s mostly gotten over that and has a much warmer, comforting social presence (except for with Hiro, but she’s mostly just playing it up bc she likes how easy he is to scare)
While on the search for a young Maki, Aoi came back with a lost kid that she thought was her, but sadly was not. This kid had no other family, so Aoi and Sakura took her in as their own, naming her Tenko.
Sakura became her daughter’s mentor, and ended up being the one to keep her out of trouble and channel her chaotic energy with martial arts while Aoi worked on her new bakery business.
AOI
Friendly water elemental that wound up in Sakura’s dojo pond on her travels, and liked it so much she never really went away.
Very social, if she sees folks she’ll come right up and say hello, decide they’re friends and they have very little say in it.
Maintains the large pond on the dojo grounds, filling it with all sorts of fish and aquatic life she finds or rescues, mostly different breeds of carp and amphibians.
Never put much focus on keeping a humanoid form, relying on her loose jacket to do most of the work when that’s necessary. Sakura just carries her in a bucket most of the time anyway, so she never felt the need. However, when Tenko came to them she found herself wanting to do things for her that were difficult with fins, and so she started working on it, eventually doing a pretty passable job..
Realizes hands can also make donuts!! Woah!! So she goes and opens her own bakery, a family business in a quaint village not far from the dojo. It often serves as a hub for their various friends to come pay visits, and they host an occasional holiday there.
Baby Tenko’s! She had alotta tantrums as a kid (some devolving into her going a bit demon mode) but watching her mom’s carp always calmed her down :’^)
For context: Chiaki loves talking with Ibuki but god bless her magic robo brain not understand half of the words that come out of her mouth. She relies on Hajime and Komaeda to help her out so she doesn’t embarrass herself in front of her (ft. extra panel from @/shslstraws)
Also, drew out some of Ibuki’s freetime activities that I thought were quaint heh :^)
also check out @drtenebres for all au art + eventually character docs!
I’m doing a couple characters in it!! Slowly but surely getting refs together for them :^)
First up is Chiaki and Ibuki!
Chiaki and Monomi were created to live in an ancient dream realm, to act as guides helping travelers there navigate it.
Their creation is,, idk Not necessarily SPECIFIC to the hijinks that take place in this au, i maybe headcanon the dream realm is something ancient and Pre-Junko, she just figured out how to manipulate it and it all goes to dooky from there.
Monomi was the first, a reanimated stuffed animal that has a mixture of dreamworld juice™ and magic robotics (to tie in w/ Chihiro lightning elemental teehee) I feel maybeeee Chihiro came across the dream realm on their own and dinked around with it.
Monomi got kinda Janky and worn down over time, so next Chihiro made Chiaki. She’s more advanced than Monomi, possessing a soul tied to her mask, but despite this is less emotive as Monomi, less outwardly friendly, and more oblivious at times, tending to zone out and be cryptic when spoken to. Unclear whether that’s due to faults in her creation process or if she’s just Like This.
She serves the same purpose as a guide and companion for travelers, and helps fix Monomi when she needs repair.
Ibuki is just a funky little vampire traveling bard, plays very discordant Lute music that’s hard for most to listen to, let alone play along with, so she remains without a troupe. Pretty popular with elementals however. Very friendly, very outgoing, but puts off alot of people with her constant lute trivia and wanting to taste everyones blood to compare them (its ok she’ll ask for consent first).
The only one besides Hajime and maybe Sonia that really talks to Chiaki, or rather talks At. Chiaki is content to sit and listen, even asks questions here and there. Ibuki just has to shake her out of her dazing now and then. Chiaki is also the only person to like Ibuki’s Lute playing, something about it Hits Different to her possessed magic mask ears. And Ibuki is glad to finally have someone to play with :’^)
Through them hanging out (and maybe plot stuff thats unclear 2 me still) Chiaki slowly has her Pinocchio Moment and kinda gets a better sense of self, more awake and emotionally open.
After the whole thing is over, everyone wakes from the dream realm they were stuck in, leaving Chiaki behind. But she still reaches out to her friends in their dreams, and is particularly fond of visiting Ibuki.
‘Cause I can’t develop one thing at a time and I bounce all over like a maniac in this AU. Was working on concepts for Maki and Shuichi’s kids when they’re older and together and happy and domestic;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
The eldest they name after Kaito and the youngest is Kaede because Saimaki as a ship is built upon Misery!!! Original Kaede is Actually Dead in the AU, original Kaito is presumed dead but is actually off being Big Gay with Kokichi!!! They end up referring to little Kaito as “Junior” when they’re finally reunited with original Kaito many years after his disappearance.
Kaede Kirigiri is the Ultimate Detective, continuing on the Kirigiri family tradition. Kaede was quite the wildcard in all circumstances of the word. Being both a werewolf and able to use magic, her parents struggled comparatively between parenting both children. Her father taught her to play the piano at a young age and it is one of her favorite hobbies. She’s quiet and collected, but has a very scary side when her loved ones are threatened, especially her older brother who she idolizes.
Kaito Kirigiri is the Ultimate Paranormal Investigator. Although he was born with neither magic nor the ability to become a werewolf, Kaito was born with a unique talent that allows him to see supernatural entities invisible to the human eye. Overall he’s very cheery and delight and takes great joy in talking to the dead as they tend to have the most endearing stories. While optimistic in practice, he can’t help but feel powerless at times in comparison to his younger sister, but he cherishes her regardless.
Maki Kirigiri later in life has stepped into her role as the Ultimate Child Caregiver, conclusively giving up her title as the Ultimate Assassin in order to start a family with Shuichi. Despite her intimidating and scarred appearance, children are drawn to her and she’s become much more comfortable around them over what has become years of practice with her own.
Some more DR Tenebres AU for my soul specifically;;; <33333
I’d been sitting on a half-finished bust of Miu for a while + was waiting for @snellyfish to finish designing her she is SO SPLENDID. OMNOMNOMNOM. And I also got a Hiyoko ref out of @senvurii2 my beloved (derogatory) SO I WANTED TO DRAW HER I LOVE HER COLORS SO MUCH HRGHRGRHRGH.
Understandably they have most of these characters’ lore. But to briefly summarize: Miu is the adoptive daughter of Souda and Nekomaru, surrogated by Mikan. She’s a mage excelling in electricity-based magic and invention. Hiyoko in our AU is significantly younger than the rest of the DR2 cast (Closer to DRV3 age, but still older) and is the adoptive daughter of Mahiru and Yasuhiro. She’s a mage with a unique set of horns she sprouted from her time being a Remnant of Despair.
I also just wanted to doodle some interactions of Hiyoko and her younger sister Himiko. They have beautifully polarizing personalities and I love them. :)
After execution she’s sent to the deepest depths of the Dream Realm, busted up and her plating falling apart. Since she’s partially made with Dream magic, she starts to reflect her new hellish environment and her form becomes unstable over her time there. Don’t have a definitive design for this yet, but I imagine it’d be fluid and fluctuate anyway so WHATEVA have these concepts
While she is eventually retrieved and Chihiro repairs her, she still has visible cracks in her mask, and her right eye has trouble seeing outside of DR. We’re thinking of her joining up and assisting Makoto and others in protecting DR from being used negatively like that again, learning more from Chihiro and tinkering a bit herself on top of her other research.
Kyoko and Kaede refs for our Tenebres AU. :) They aren’t super associated with each other as characters. It was mainly just that I was developing both of them at the same time. Their one connection is through Shuichi.
Kyoko Kirigiri:
Kyoko’s hands are cursed rather than scarred, leaving them incapable of using magic. When she attempts to use magic, the void swirls extend further up her arms. Her gloves are enchanted and inhibit her from attempting to use magic. Additionally, she’s picked up the habit of using a wand, though she’s not particularly well-versed in its usage yet. Rather than wearing her hair in a braid when she’s older, she ties one of her ribbons to her wand.
She also retains the poison scars she receives and almost dies from in the Future Arc. Although in our AU given that it takes place in everyone’s dreams, the scars leave her with a unique, almost otherworldly scar that extends down the entirety of the left side of her body. While it doesn’t hinder in any noticeable way, it’s a visible reminder and is substantially more difficult for her to hide. Over the years she’s become less self-conscious of it.
While she is raised under a family tradition of doing detective work for the Basilica, she doesn’t remain under the entity for long. Mainly due to the fact that over time she finds her ivory tower approach to detective work to be impractical, but also because it is commonly considered to be taboo for a mage to marry a familiar, which Makoto is. Kyoko eventually retires and takes up the occupation of being a private investigator for magic-related incidents.
Kaede Akamatsu:
Kaede is commonfolk and lives a pretty normal life. She attends a university for music as a pianist and shares a flat with Kaito (Attending a space academy) before she meets Shuichi. When the two domeet Shuichi, he becomes a rent-free roommate as he has no money to his name. Kaede insists on paying for his expenses.
She is very independent and insists on helping those in need regardless of circumstances. Kaede has a concerningly large amount of strength and endurance for how short and stout she is.
Despite having a myriad of loud, extroverted guy friends (Of note are Kaito and Rantaro), Kaede is curiously drawn to Shuichi for his quiet and even-tempered nature. Their relationship is harmonic and blissful, having only ever had disagreements over Shuichi’s reluctance to introduce Kaede to his family.
In the AU she’s a 300+ year old Tenebroso werewolf who aids her sister in feeding upon others’ dreams. Where Junko keeps herself alive by consuming despair, Mukuro has a drastically slowed aging process from being a Tenebroso. Typically she is seen posing as her younger self due to Junko’s demands (She doesn’t enjoy thinking about aging). Her natural appearance has begun showing its wear after having lived for over several centuries.
She does still “die” in this AU but her death only sends her deeper into the Dream Realm where she finds another recently “killed” victim, Sayaka.
I have been curdling over the idea that in our AU, Future Arc!Yasuhiro brings little Himiko along into the Dream Realm with him to go save Hiyoko (Adoptive daughter) and Mahiru (Beloved wife) whilst they’re still Remnants of Despair. Then in the anime it shows him fishing in the apocalypse so that’s like THE PREMISE for these.
