STRAYBIRDS AU!!! (plus some smaller aus further down)

THIS AU IS A MODERN AU!!! there is no demon realm. However, unfortunately Belos still exists and surprise he's running a cult again.

They live in a very isolated cult, in which Peril had been in since she was small. UHMM i don't want to type it all out right now, but this cult is Really!! Horrible!! Something something child sacrifice and raising children as angels its Bad. I will be back to this

Most of the children in the cult are sacrificed in their teens, but Peril is a bit older. Like canon, she is in fact The Golden Child and has spent a lot of time being personally taught by Belos, moreso than some of the other guards. She's also been given the task of training Rue (Who is a Human and not an Owl here.) I'm still trying to figure out Rue's purpose in all of this, but she was intended for a different purpose, a different ritual than the others (the others being the golden guards who aren't quite golden guards in this universe and are also being sacrificed)

Peril knows Rue is likely destined to die from the start (most of the guards are). But it's for a purpose, surely, and so she does her best to fufill her duty. She also gets horribly attached. Peril has always felt isolated, something something too much time with belos, but Rue has been even more isolated and blinded to the world and trusts Peril because who else could she believe in. She trusts her and she's going to die and i think they both find out some horrible things about belos in this time that at least shakes their views a bit.

(There's a timeline where peril and rue decide to run away. But this is not this au, and Rue was always meant to be killed.)

The ritual was meant to be done by Peril's own hand (an honour, coming from belos) but instead she either tries to stop it or falters. This is where she gets her scar

Belos is disappointed. Her hesitance ruined the ritual, rue's death was meaningless and it was all her fault.

She's swiftly demoted, a punishment, and is in charge of training the guards instead. She's too old to join them now, to ascend like how they will, so she's one of the failures instead. Belos still talks kindly to her, despite everything. it makes her sick.

Almost immediately upon Rue's death, she's assigned to Nicholas instead.

Rue and Cole fill very similar spots in Peril's life. And you could make some fun grimwalker parallels with this! Her sister was replaced and she's supposed to just continue like everything is fine. Cole isn't rue, they don't act like her, of course they don't! he's his own person, a different person! She wouldn't want him to act like her, that would be worse. But at the same time, it's similar enough to be painful and different enough to hurt. (He's a worse version of her). She feels bad for him, can see he's struggling (she's supposed to help with that). But she also wants Nothing to do with him. Her faith has been shook, she doesn't know what will happen when he ascends. What if she fucks it up again (what if it's not real) She doesn't want to get close to him can't do it again. Can't care about him, love him and then lose him.

So she's cold and distant and does her best not to care. Nothing they ever do is good enough.

And yet, at some point, she finds herself intentionally taking the blame for something Cole did and figures out that her method Did Not Work at all because she actually does care about them. Cole is very confused by this, they thought she hated them, and after this happens Peril continues acting how she did before because she's Scared.

She puts them in this really weird and unfair inbetween space, which makes it really hard for them to interact with her, to judge how she will react because it seems to change so randomly every time. (in her efforts to not act like belos, to manipulate him, get in his head. she infact does the opposite and acts even mor elike him).

Somewhere after she realises she cares, they end up running away along with hope (another golden guard oc). There's probably additional reasons for them leaving when they do, hope leanring things BUT WE ARE STILL. FIGURING THIS OUT. they are very brainwashed. To be fair, Peril probabaly does know some horrible things (worse than most) about the cult. Not only because of what happened to Rue, but also because like canon she still acts as belos' eyes.

When they first leave, things at first are very Bad. they don't actually know eachother that well and are walking on eggshells around eachother, just trying to get as far away from the cult as possible. then at some point someone takes pity on them and they're able to get terrible jobs... and eventually a terrible apartment. MOST OF THIS AU is them just trying to learn how to Live. All three of them have so many issues that they need to deal with which none of them are really equipped to deal with. they're very codependant. its bad. BUT ITS OKAY BECASUE IT DOES GET BETTER FOR THEM!! They also manage to get Belos arrested. unsure how. They're very untrustful and also have been trained to avoid the authorities. BUT IT HAPPENS!!!

I was about to say long peril ramble incoming but. that's just this entire page. uhm analysis of peril's mental state time!!!

in all aus peril has a tricky relationship with words (I'm sure its mentioned above somewhere. but she talks a lot like belos) but sb!peril has the biggest issues. This is partly because she doesn't have the escape of expressing herself as a bird (she wishes she is one though), and also because Cole and Hope are there. And she is Very Scared of messing up with them, especially cole.

peril knows exactly how to get what she (...belos) wants out of people. she knows how to interrogate, how to be scary, and how to manipulate someone to tell say what she wants. She's very analytical in a um cold detatched people way, rather than like Cole who can break down and figure out a stitution without snapping some guy's fingers!! These are skills that Belos taught her specifically and she hates it because it makes her feel like him everytime she speaks. like her voice isn't really her own. She does use her learnt ability to lie incredibly well back at him though so. yay for her. This leads her into saying very little, even before they leave.

She also has big issues contolling her anger (always angry. at herself, at belos, at the titan, at herself for thinking that, at belos for making her angry at herself. at the titan for his silence. around and around in circles forever). As in the cult she was very quiet unless she had to be, her anger would just kind of build up inside of her. and so, whilst usually she prided herself on her efficency, she still knew how to be cruel and sometimes was. having power over people made her feel like she had control over her life!!! yay! Before she ran away with them, both of them would have been on the recieving end of this. Her anger is more Cold and Vicious than explosive (although it can be). she knows how to say things that will Hurt.

Peril really struggles to adapt and is still more of the old peril sometimes. quiet. but a cold, icy kind of quiet that makes you feel like you fucked up. she can get angry but this time its because shes scared of loosing control, of her siblings getting hurt. cole's talking too loud and she snaps at him or smth... ERM LIKE THAT ONESHOT I WROTE!!! and whereas before that would have kept them safe. here it does not.

even so its not until the time they get their terrible apartment, when they finally have some sembalance of safety, that she she starts to fall apart even more. Now that they're not actively fighting to survive on the streets, and belos isn't there to tell her what to do anymore, she really struggles to see the point in doing much of anything. She helped Cole and Hope get out but now what. (she doesnt think she deserves to be free) (she's just as bad as belos) (shes so scared of fucking up. of scaring them even slightly, that she thinks they'll be better off if they just forget her)

and its not like she doesn't Try to get better either. part of her knows that she thinks that she's worse than she Actually is. but she just has no energy to do anything anymore. most days its a struggle to get up. she'll get halfway through a task and just. sit. on the floor. runs out of energy. (and distantly it scares her because this Never Used To Happen. but now she's trying to do things for herself and not belos it's sudenly impossible) she tries to hide that this happens from her siblings though because she thinks should be the one looking out for them (she owes them, owes cole, that much at least) and they have plenty of their own issues to work through without her being a problem. to be fair they're not really equipped to deal with her issues. and she's not equipped for theirs either but all of them isolating themselves emotionally from eachother doesnt help.

Even so, cole and Hope are enough to get her to try to care about herself at least.

The bird sanctuary is the second thing that saves her. At some point, peril finds an injuried owl fledgling, injured and abandoned, and not really knowing what to do tries to take it home to heal her. This doesn't go well obviously and she instead takes her to the bird sanctuary where she visits the little owl so often that bat queen (who owns the places and is not. a ginat bat in this au) offers her a job there. Bat queen scares her at first because she's never really had to listen to someone other than belos. but it goes well and gives her a reason to leave the house. it doesn't pay that well but hope and cole convince her to continue with it because its so obvious to see the improvement in her.

The owl reminds her of Rue, and so she names it after her. This is very important because she had been so focused on survival that she hadn't really had a chance to grieve, didn't want to. She doesn't really have anything else to remember her sister by. She feels a kinship to the other birds as well, not just Rue, (bird therian peril real) and they like her in return. its more of a rescue, rehabilition place. helping injuried birds and if possible returning them to the wild. it does have a vistor side to it but she more does cleaning and supplies and stuff (erm she was fired from her previosu job for scaring the customers)

Music is the third thing. I don't know if she'd exactly be a part of a specific sub-culture but she is constantly listening to stuff. She doesn't really start playing anything until a bit later, (maybe bq has an electric guitar laying around that she lets her mess around with) and even then it takes her A Very Long Time to learn, but it gives her a new way to express herself, to be loud? in a way that she can be sure won't hurt anyone. im trying to decide if she'd sing anything. because at first i was like no. but now im not so sure. she definately wouldn't want to in front of an audience but hm. ill come back to this.

even if later she does start to talk a bit more, be more open, she's still very quiet and she likes it that way. quiet but not invisbile. her presences is always acknowleged even if she doesn't want to say a word. listening to cole yap about space or something. big on the stars that guy. ends up working as a space musuem tour guide

Fun details about this au which I can't fit chronologicallly!!!!

• Back with Belos, the only person she had to listen to was Him (and being terrible was encouraged and part of the job). So she'll follow Belos'every word without question, but everyone else. she just struggles to see the point in respecting their authority or even being particularly nice to them. LIKE SHE'S CIVIL but not particularly welcoming (even more so to those she's not close with)
  
  
• She'd like merlin bird ID app
  
  
• She knows how to rollerskate, and iceskate by associaton. I also think she'd be big on climbing (she likes heights). She'd Hate Swimming. this is back to music but she would like the electic guitar a lot. she's not too creative but she likes customising her clothes and has perfected her realistic bird portraits.
  
  
  
• I don't imagine sb!peril is the Biggest Video Game Fan but she has a ds she carries around and plays pokemon on. Big Pokemon Enjoyer. They also probably have a group Straybirds minecarft server.
  
  

STRAYBIRDS DIVERGENT TIMELINE!!!!!!!!!!

SO I also have another au where Peril and Rue run away before she gets killed. From here it probaly mostly plays out like canon, and tehy still end up being killed. but. i love them so maybe ILL MAKE ANOTHER. TIMELINE. where they survive.

This au is definately where the belos, caleb and rue, peril parallels shine through a lot more. I think i said this more in the rue section somehwere, but I think rue is quite similar to how belos was as a kid and. yeah

PERIL LIVES AU!!!!!

SHE GETS TO LIVE! giggling okay so everything is the same in this au except instead of killing her, Belos traps her in her wooden palisman form for like 80 years!!! and then maybe forgets about her. AND THEN SHE GETS FOUND AFTER THE EVENTS OF SEASON 3 (they find her around 5 or 6 months? after watching and dreaming) and she gets to meet everyone. and also heal, learn to accept both parts of herself.

I HAVE ACTUALLY WROTE THE START OF THIS AS A FIC!!! the first bit is all in Darius' pov WHICH IT WASNT'T MEANT TO BE? no idea how that happened. I don't think peril would even interact with him much so it makes not Much sense but IM REALLY PROUD OF IT SOOOO eveyrthing is fine. There is currently a chapter and a half which I think is as far as I will get. at least for a While

Anyway. so shes found and magiced back to normal (the cage she's found in is Rues old one, by the way) but she's still extremely injured (meaning she can't just go fly off into the wilderness because thats 100% what she'd do) and is forced to interact with people. she hates this but she does start to bond with people and, by Hunter's presence, is convinced to not just Disappear. Although as soon as she's well enough to be a palisman, she stays in that form as frequently as possible, at the start.

She'd be very lost on what to do for a while (even if she had time Before where she was free from belos, a lot of her energy back then was going into survival, to not being found out by the Bat Queen or working with various rebellions). Peril is An Adult, she can live on her own (which she does do eventually!) but even after she recovers from her injuries, she has so much healing to do and so I don't think it would go very well. Rue is gone, she's in a different era, she can't go back to the Bat Queen and she also has No Idea how to look after herself as a witch after living as a bird for so long. And she needs to do that!! its very bad for her to stay in one for too long!! She does not know how to be a Person. she does try to disappear into the woods but. she can't just neglect half of herself. shes not actually just a bird she needs food and shelter. so they convince her to come back to the owl house. she'd stay there for a bit but I think it would be a little overwhelming for her for a long period of time. I mighttt let her stay with raine for a bit. She'd like that I think. whilst she figures out how to.. do. normal activities.

Eventually though, she'd end up a place of her own, not too far away, but not too close, in the woods. She'd assist with the rebuilding efforts for a bit and then would help with the replanting of the palistrom trees. dell ends up with another grimwalker apprentice I guess. AND THEN... im not really sure. maybe something with palismen... but as much as she Is One of them. and that they're easier to understand than witches. that doesnt mean she's really socaible and good friends with them.. she's too guilty... I do know that she wouldn't actually properly bond with one as a witch ever.

She of course bonds with Hunter. It's also a harpy hunter au, and she sees glimpses of flapjack in him (a palisman she met but never quite got the chance to properly befriend) She likes to hang out whilst he's carving palismen. She still hates speaking (although its less of a problem than in stray birds au as, whilst when she's upset she does talk like belos, most of the time her thoughts and speech are more palisman like, so thats the learning curve she's fighting in this one.) But yeah she's still good at lying and manipulating and also has anger issues which she knows and hates and thinks is worse than it actually is. This leads her into staying as a palisman more (also she feels safer in that form and kind of hates hersef as a witch) and saying as little as possible. Hunter eventually pins her down about this, talks aboout how he feels the same after belos possessed him and sometimes gets scared that he's not in control.

RAINE WHISPERS!!! she's friends with raine (maybeee lives with them for a bit). They're the right level of energy for her. THEY ALSO TEACH HER AN INSTRUMENT!!! (still deciding which) But this really helps her express herself, despite her lack of words. she can't hurt people with music like she thinks she will with words (WELL SHE COULD WITH BARD MAGIC but she can't do that. this is Just Music)

(continuing this later prehaps)

GHOST??? AU???

OKAY WITH THE GOLDEN GUARDS theres various ways to do this. there's full ghosts who act as they did in life, but ive also read fics where the ghosts are more like echoes? that hunter glimpses throughout his life in the castle and i've also read a few where they're in his mindscape which was very fun. I DONT REALLY AHVE A PROPER IDEA ON HOW THE GHOST GUARDS WORK but it doenst matter too much I just want to write random thoughts about my dead daughter.

In life, Peril was very very angry especially towards the end. But in death I think she'd just be tired. Apathetic. Because for all her anger she didn't manage to stop Belos, she didn't manage to change anything (she just got Rue killed). She'd been fighting and been angry for so so long and now that's gone she's just tired. She doesn't really know who she is without the anger

I also think this is fun because Hope's ghost would is very vengeful and angry in death and I think this is a fun switch around.

If the other guards were there she'd make friends with Hope, or Hope would make friends with her. maybe they'd teach her sign language. She'd probably be quite taken aback by Hope at first because they're kind but so qucikly turn angry and vengeful when Belos is mentioned. Peril's already been angry. Now she's just tired, wants to sleep.

For a ghost au if she appeared to hunter. I think the guards would be more like the first option i said where theyre more like echoes... they wouldn't be able to talk and i also really like the idea that the ghost guards can't take off their masks because. peril would Hate This. or maybe she'd be too tired to care. She'd also be in her golden guard uniform, even though she didn't die in it and all the guards would probably have the wounds that killed them. Her wings can be unbound, but they're really damaged and broken becuase of how belos killed her.

SONIC AU

THIS AU has a few of me and my friends other ocs in it. so if you don't know about them. this will probably be even harder to follow

Originally I thought Peril would like shadow WHICH SHE WOULD but my friend showed me this metal comic (idw metal virus one) and compared metal to Peril. WHICH WAS SO REAL AND TRUE and was also the thing that kickstarted my sonic phase. its embarrasingly easy to get me into things if Peril is involved its so bad. SHES SO NEO METAL SONIC CORE.

SO YEAH she would relate to metal sonic a lot so au where she's a badnik. RUE would be a flicky, chao or also a badnik and I can see versions of all of these working. Somewhere along the line she defects, or gets too damaged to return and gets found by hit oc skorp hfth who takes her to mud hfth where she gets enough repairs to be functional again (maybeee one of my ocs crayon did this, removed some of the coding tying her to eggman).

When she's repaired enough (enough to move, she would not wait around there and so would not get fully repaired) she would leave with rue. I'm not sure if she would be driven by revenge much in this au. I Think instead she's a lot more like how I imagine her ghost (I've written a bunch about this in another section) tired, apathetic. Not really sure what she is, who she is, especially without her coding which filled her with so much burning anger and hate and not much else.

Her programming still gets in the way of a lot of things though, reminding her of a purpose uncompleted, which does still make her angry, along with thoughts about eggman probably, but. I don't know, I can just imagine her lying with rue in a forest for days on end slowly getting more overgrown. She and Rue wouldn't be terribly social, maybe occasionally seeing skorp and friends, but not really having the energy for much else. Maybe she grows more over time, maybe not. I wouldn't say she's unhappy watching the world go by. She really likes nature.

Like metal, she can't talk, although her design does take a lot of neo metal sonic's elements.

TEH OTHER SONIC AU IDEA I HAVE IS, i saw this omega drawing where he fused with a flicky, and become half bird. and. yeah peril I would like to do something with this.

POKEMON AU YAY!!!!!!!!1

Peril's teams would be different depending on how a pokemon au would work. If she had a choice, i think she would just have one or two partner pokemon who she would be very close with, perhaps a flying or dragon type pokemon she could ride. But i'm going to talk about a potential team she could have anyway. (I ALSO think it would be fun in a pokemon au to make her a zoroark (literally gave sb!peril the hair), maybe she was raised human or is pretending to be human to fit in. sort of like N, though i can't remember too much black and white lore right now. ALTERNATIVELY ALTERNATIVELY, maybe a Pokemon au set in the boiling isles, where all palismen are pokemon)

• Talonflame - I also considered staraptor and corviknight as also options, although I don't think she'd own a corviknight natuarlly, unless she had it in her golden guard days, escaped with it ?
  
  
• Noivern - Definately can see her with a Noivern. Thought about gliscor too, but probably only going to give her one bat pokemon
  
  
• Type: Null / Silvally - unsure as she also wouldn't have one of these naturally, but could have done a gladion and stole one.
  
  
• Mawile / Mega Mawile - I just think they'd get on.
  
  
• Houndoom or Mightyena - THEY VERY MUCH FIT HER VIBE, especially mightyena. However Houndoom's pokedex entry, "If you are burned by the flames it shoots from its mouth, the pain will never go away." IS. YEAH.
  
  
• Shaymin - POSSIBLY RUE? she could also be a noctowl or maybe even a trapinch and later flygon. BUT i think cool lore stuff could be done with shaymin.
  
  

  Bounus note that Ace would be a fennekin, but she probably wouldn't have them on her team. ALSO the galarian zigzagoon line is so her core, but I don't think she'd have one.

  (xy pokemon sprites by Smogon XY Sprite Project!!!)

OTHER TINY AUS and me assigning her stuff

• HER WARRIOR CAT NAME IS GOLDENFLIGHT!!! it used to be Hawkflight. The first part changes instead of the last part because i liked it better but also something about giving up her identity. Giggling and hunter's name is Goldenheart and later when he runs away he changes it to wildheart....
  
  
• IF SHE WAS A DRAGON (wings of fire) SHE'D BE AN ICEWING!!! she'd like being all spiky and the cold... and the like. miserable heirarchy thing the icewing nobility have going on is erm familiar... giggling fun fact in the fun facts section she was actually named after peril wof. THEY HAVE SIMILARITIES but i chose it before I made her backstory. I just think its an awesome name for a golden guard.
  
  
• HUNT/WEB AVATAR. suffocating in cobwebs my daughter :heart:
  
  
• WOLFWALKERS AU. caleb fell in love with eveyln who was a wolfwalker. she turns him into one so he can join her pack and philip Does Not Love This!!! this au isnt set in the boiling isles and philip isnt emperor, he's a witch, or wolfwalker, hunter - travelling around and killing magical creatures. still not sure how peril is related to him, she still might be a clone. but either way in this au belos uses her to hunt down and kill other wolfwalkers. yay!!!
  
  
• Mlp Peril is a griffon. I also considered a pegasus who had their cutie mark removed and replaced with a coven sygil. but she is so griffon.
  
  
• If she was a moshi monster moshling she would be White Fang... the moshling that bit Dr Strangeglove's hand off. ALSO THEY JUST LOOK LIKE HER