[Archer]

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“Let's do this!” With a lift of his brow, bright blue eyes looked beyond the horizon toward what would be parents den, undoubtedly filled with the young bodies and minds of his baby siblings. “I mean, it’s right there.” The voice filled the air as the black and white boy continued to stand, staring down the task he had given himself today. “You gotta do it, you made a promise, Archer.” A low mutter to himself as he continued to have an audible conversation to no one. Then there was a pause, nothing with the gentle chirp of a morning bird and the quiet breeze of Gemini tickled at his coat.

“There is always tomorrow……” A lazy, nearly defeated look upon his face unfolded before a paw, firm and determined stomped at the ground, then he began shaking his head. “Right? Yeah.” Inhaling deep with a nod, Archer glanced around quickly to see that no one was nearby, as if he were about to do some embarrassing task that could not be seen by anyone. In fact it was quite the opposite.

There was another moment of hesitation before the wind uncharacteristically shifted around and managed to gust from behind, causing Archer to stumble forward nearly ungracefully as he groaned loudly. “FINE, OKAY!” His head raised to the sky as he looked at closely at the sun as he could without blinding himself, giving a scowl before it softened into a modest grin. His legs unplanted from the ground as he continued forward, giving himself a small shake and murmuring under his breath, “I AM going to love them, But kids are probably exhausting….” With a small exhale, "There is probably only like five." Yeah, right? That's a normal number.

Filling his lungs with air, Archer triumphantly strides into the den and bellows to wake any drowsy faces and sleepy heads. “AWWWOOOOOooooooGOOOOD morning!” Standing tall and with a wide grin, Archer looked down at the little bundles of fur that resembled his parents patterns. As his eyes continued to scan across them all he felt an inward panic at just how many he saw. How did mom have THIS MANY AGAIN???? Archer, struggling to maintain his composure, clearing his throat and continued.

“I am Archer, your wonderful big brother who is here to…. do what brothers should do!” Smooth. “Which… I will tell you about in a second.” As they all began to stir awake and hopefully look towards him, he continued to feel sweat running down his back. God, it’s like an army.

“So… first, tell me your names, ‘cause if you don’t I’m just going to give you one.” Jokes on you kids, he’ll do that anyway.

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ooc: finally I DID THE THING. For all the new HATE 3.0 kids, adopted and the like! Come tackle Archer who just wants to love his ginormous family even if he probably won't remember everyone but he's trying his best. Mom & Dad are welcome to come too, since he just like.... busted in. Hope you guys weren't sleeping! If you were, sorry!!!!

[Zesiro]

After years of shedding blood, sweat, and tears, the day had finally arrived—the day that he, Zesiro, First of his Name, would be crowned king. He stood tall, proudly looking upon the massive crowd before him, floating out as far as the eye could see. Each and every one of them watched him with admiration clear in their blank, captivated gazes. The sea cows, too, had been waiting long for this day to come.

Off to his right, an elderly sea cow with a long beard (made of what appeared to be seaweed) floated slowly towards him, carrying within its flippers the revered Jellyfish Crown. It took every ounce of strength within the young male not to break down at the sight. Words couldn't even begin to describe its beauty. Floating to a stop before him, the ancient creature gestured for him to bow his head, where the crown would soon be placed, cementing his status. Complying, Zesiro almost couldn't believe it. The crowd was mooing. The crown was being lowered. It all seemed almost too good to be true.

"AWWWOOOOOooooooGOOOOD morning!"

It was.

Jolting awake, Zesiro rolled onto his side and groaned, his curly fur sticking out every which way. Okay. That definitely didn't sound like mom or dad. Their morning calls almost never roused him from his dreams this easily. Looking towards the mouth of the den, he groggily regarded the dark figure standing there, slowly tilting his head. Huh. Didn't really look like either one of them, either. He stared blankly at Archer for a moment, seconds passing, before something in his mind suddenly seemed to click, and he bristled in surprise, quickly scrambling to his feet.

"OI!" he barked, "WHO'RE YOU?!"

He'd been sleeping near the back of the den, which meant that he was one of those placed farthest away from Archer. With a litter as large as theirs, reaching him without stepping on anyone would be almost impossible. Almost. Zesiro stared at Archer, before swivelling his gaze towards the daunting hoard of siblings slumbering between them. Right. Okay. He could do this. This would be a piece of steak. Easy peasy. Failure would not loom on his horizon today!

"Don't move!" he finally ordered, crouching, "I'll be there—"

His muscles tensed, and with one abrupt movement, the curly haired pup leapt, becoming airborne.

"Faster—"

He was almost there. He was really going to make it clear across his siblings in one single leap.

"Than you—"

Oooor maybe not. One paw suddenly landed in the slobbery maw of some poor sibling foolish enough to sleep with their mouth wide open.

"Can blink!"

Another paw landed hard on someone's vulnerable belly. And, oh, that definitely felt like someone's tail. Whoops. Okay. That was definitely his bad. He could have probably planned this out better. He could admit that. Squirming and crawling his way over the rest of the large puppy pile, it was clear that Zesiro, in the end, did not actually make that leap like he'd planned. In truth, he'd barely even made it halfway, but that was cool. No worries. He would just have to keep trying; after all, practice made perfect, right?

After what seemed like an eternity of trampling and crawling, the curly haired pup finally stood before his older brother (who he'd only been halfheartedly listening to until now). He squinted, scrutinizing him carefully. He'd said his name was Archer or something, right? The corner of his mouth slowly curled.

Well then.

"I," he intoned, very seriously, "am Archer."

ooc; hey 3.0 fam hope ya'll don't mind me using your bodies as landing cushions!!!

[sterling.]

S T E R L I N G

He left the den early that morning to check on his disciples. Three had died. Before, he was confused when his friends never woke up after playing his game. Angry. He hadn't told them they could quit yet! But he learned over time that when flies crawled out of their eyes and their bellies inflated like a balloon, the weren't playing the game anymore -- and there was nothing the young boy could do about it.

This didn't ease his anger, though. It may have fueled it more, driving him to spurs of violence onto the ones who haven't yet failed. At this rate, they'd all fail. And he'd let them. His friends were beginning to bore him, too unintelligent to get through his tests, his games... he needed more suitable candidates. Jerome, his promising friend from the very beginning, had managed his escape. He blinked through his silent anger, but was somewhat impressed the dull squirrel managed to run from his imminent death. Jerome, his shining disciple, the only creature to win his game so far.

He was almost sad to see him gone. Almost. Anger was more suitable. He took it out on the very last rat whose eyes teetered on death. " You all lose. You're all useless. " He crushed it's head with his paw until blood oozed from the place it's eyes once were.

He wiped his red stained paw onto the grass and kicked dirt over the entrance of his makeshift lab before returning to his family's den. He walked silently, his mind racing a thousand which ways. Their home was so boring. And today would likely be no different.

But someone was blocking the entrance of their den, an adult he hadn't seen before. Sterling noticed the boisterous Zero was already on the scene, barking and yipping and squirming his way through the obstacle course of siblings. Sterling approached apathetically. They both introduced themselves as Archer, and Sterling blinked. Once. Twice.

Twitch.

" I am Sterling. Sterling Archer. " Mismatched eyes glared at his older brother, but there was a hint of smugness behind his hardened facade. Mom really wasn't very creative when it came to naming her children, was she?

[Embsay]

"I am Archer, your wonderful big brother who is here to…. do what brothers should do! Which… I will tell you about in a second.” 

Embsay was laid on his back, stretched full length, paws in the air. A moment ago those paws had been twitching with his gentle dreams: bright flowers, swaying grasses, butterflies and bees... Always bees. His large ears crushed awkwardly as he rolled his head to blink drowsily at this loud interruption to his nap. One of his big brothers? He knew he had some brothers, some big-brothers, some big-big-brothers and some dead-brothers. The only thing he knew for certain was that this Archer did not fit in that first category nor the last one.

Some of those aforementioned brothers were already awake it seemed, Zero made that clear when he landed a foot squarely in Embsay's exposed belly. "Ooomph!" He instantly curled up protectively round his stomach like hedgehog, "Heeeey! What did you do that for?!" Right. That was it. He uncurled and stomped squarely up to Zero and went to smack him hard on the side. He levelled an accusatory paw at his assailant and held it there a long second along with a stern stare. "You deserve that!" Quick justice in these parts.

Sterling appeared too, though from a different direction, which might have struck him as odd except for the fact he and all his siblings were constantly wandering off. There were that many of them that their parents never stood a chance - It was like herding cats. He did notice there was a ever such a slight whiff of something in the air... Blood? Maybe? Was it his own, he rubbed his sore belly, had Zero cut him with his claws? Or was that coming from Archer and he was just new funny smelling? He sniffed a couple of times and looked about quizzically but nothing jumped out.

"I, am Archer."

"I am Sterling. Sterling Archer.

Whatever it was he quickly forgot about it. A slow smile crept across Embsay's face and his tail wagged as he listened to his brothers introduce themselves. He quickly stowed the smile when it was his turn and added his own deadly serious proclamation.

"No. I am Archer."

[Arkana]

ooc: I'll reply to this soon, but it won't be closed!