VIVA

VIVA is ivycomb's primary personal fursona, a mascot character, and a prominent lore character within Cosmic Critters. VIVA's first lore appearance is on batcode.zip, a side-story to the main Cosmic Critters storyline that details aspects of VIVA's life as recalled by the character.

Appearance

VIVA is a white anthropomorphic greater mouse-eared bat, otherwise known as a vesper, that sports extensive cybernetic implants and unusual physical anatomical traits due to extensive physical trauma from experiments performed by sapiens.

VIVA's fur color is unusual for its species, as vespers typically see their fur darken into brown and orange hues into adulthood. White is a relatively rare color, and the phenomenon is likely a result of VIVA's body not being able to produce pigment properly.

VIVA often chooses to wear light outfits that are loose-fitting, and is always wearing a black collar with a heart charm.

Parts of VIVA's body are made of a slime-like gel that lacks any coloration on its own, but is illuminated by small LED diodes embedded within it. As a result, this gel can appear to be a wide variety of colors, sometimes even multiple colors at once.

Much like the gel, other cybernetic components of VIVA's body are fitted with LEDs, and when VIVA is not in a "switched" state, these LED assemblies cycle through a set of six colors in an animated fashion.

VIVA's natural face has been replaced with a nanite visor assembly that, when viewed from the front, takes on the appearance of a heart. Although it isn't typically seen from these angles, VIVA does have a snout that protrudes around two inches out from the rest of its face and its entire visor assembly is capable of producing images in full color. That said, VIVA typically displays fairly standard faces and it is mostly subconscious, meaning it is rare to see any actual full-color images being displayed beyond basic faces and expressions. On top of this, VIVA is capable of parting its visor like a traditional mouth to eat food or use a makeshift tongue made out of the same gel as parts of its torso and tail.

VIVA is quite expressive because of its unique face, and it is able to pair this expressiveness with its wide range of ear motion, in spite of them being inorganic, and the "Chao" orb above its head that can change shape as needed when it is expressing itself. Even when a different "switched" state is active for VIVA, it is still able to clearly display its emotion using the orb.

Personality

VIVA experiences dissociative identity disorder and as a result, does not have a single cohesive identity or personality. Instead, VIVA operates as a "system" of separate, distinct identities within the same host body. When one of these alternate identities (alters, or "switched" states) is in charge, VIVA's mannerisms, preferences, skillsets, and identity preferences all change along with the shape of its face and color of its parts.

In its "base" state, VIVA takes on a fairly broad persona and will change its mind about things frequently due to a lack of solid grounding identity. It still usually gets by and functions, but will sometimes display behaviors that are inconsistent with itself, even within the same conversation. That said, as long as it is in a good mood, even in this state it is generally quite bubbly, caring, approachable, and willing to assist.

As a result of its condition, VIVA has moderate to severe memory issues, even if no switches between alters have occurred for a while. That said, in spite of the differences between its parts, VIVA as a system still has common ground that most of it is consistent with:

VIVA as a whole loves food, and it is a big comfort for it, despite that it no longer requires caloric intake to sustain itself
VIVA is heavily musically inclined, almost always carrying devices with it that allow it to record sounds and play back audio its recorded or saved
VIVA has anger management issues. These don't manifest outwardly most of the time, but oftentimes it will get frustrated over seemingly minor things and turn that frustration inwards
Due to VIVA being a vesper, VIVA sleeps upside-down and maintains some vampiric tendencies, in spite of the fact they are not necessary for survival

The personalities of VIVA's individual alters are discussed in their own respective sections below.

Biography

Before sapiens

VIVA was born as an only child to two parents named Nile and Jayce. For most of VIVA's early life, it was kept close to home due to its family not being able to have more offspring, and raised with the utmost care.

When VIVA turned 6, the family started to see hard times, and VIVA ended up taken in to a medical facility due to alleged complications with a blood condition that it had.

Adulthood

Late into VIVA's teenage years, it spent an abundance of time experimenting with various art forms to express itself. It often struggled with maintaining friendships and meaningful connections with its kin and other students, and spent a lot of time alone as a result. This allowed it to master several skills over the course of most of its late teenage and early adult years, leading it to eventually decide to start exploring the Andromeda galaxy in search of unique inspiration to draw into its arts.

Cybernetic implants

Visor

VIVA's visor is made of hundreds of thousands of microscopic nanites that function as a hard crystalline material. When viewed up close, these nanites appear to operate more like a screen than as a mass of parts, but they are fully capable of parting to form various shapes and can display true 16-bit color.

The visor's operation is mostly subconscious and hence VIVA has little control over what it displays. This means that a lot of the time, VIVA's visor is displaying how it actually feels even if it's trying to hide that. For certain alters, this results in occasionally unusual behavior.

VIVA's nanites can also form sharp fangs that are capable of tearing through flesh, bone, and certain metals with ease, or drawing blood as needed.

Gel

The gel on and within VIVA's body is a viscous semi-liquid amalgam that is capable of maintaining most of VIVA's bodily functions and is what allows VIVA to have both an incredibly high pain tolerance and adaptability. The gel is regenerative and relatively amorphous in nature, meaning that it can be molded and formed into a variety of shapes. This is why certain alters sometimes form different tail shapes subconsciously and to a degree, VIVA is also capable of consciously reforming its gel into various shapes both for utility and aesthetic preference.

Since most of VIVA's flesh, blood, and organs have been replaced with this gel, it is versatile in how it functions and nearly impossible to cause damage to. When handled, the gel has a consistency similar to that of slime and will often maintain shapes that it's pressed or squeezed into for a few seconds.

Some additional facts and observations about the gel include:

The gel is removable and will re-form on VIVA relatively quickly. Removed gel is edible and tastes like berries
If VIVA is cut or otherwise injured, some of the gel will ooze out to fill the wound and aid in healing it rapidly
The gel does not have healing properties when applied to other living things
The gel has replaced most of VIVA's nervous system. VIVA can feel all of the gel as if it were ordinary skin or flesh due to its unusual properties
VIVA lacks a proper digestive system, and the gel acts as this in place of it. Due to its unusual properties, it can metabolize almost any solid material. Some things VIVA has eaten successfully include but are not limited to:
- One entire pack of AA batteries
- One meatloaf
- An entire bicycle

Arms and legs

VIVA's arms and legs have been replaced with robotic implants that are composed of silicone and neodymium components. They are soft and relatively skin-like to the touch. Each arm and leg is split at the LED strip, allowing them to rotate more freely.

Its hands have incredibly sharp and capable claws that are useful both for combat and for daily activities that would typically require a knife or scissors.

Both the arms and legs are able to grip objects with a high level of strength, although twisting motion is fairly weak and it often needs help with tasks such as opening certain doors or using household objects like jars.

Ears

VIVA possesses hyper-sensitive hearing thanks to its robotic ears that can rotate a full 270 degrees along the horizontal axis and curl up or uncurl themselves vertically to shape the sound they take in and express themselves.

As a result of these implants, VIVA has pitch-perfect ears and is a very capable musician.

"Chao" orb

VIVA has a floating orb above its head that can change shape and size slightly to aid it in showing its emotions, regardless of what switched state its in. Currently known expressions include:

Round/spherical (neutral)
Spiky (angry/irritated)
Question mark (confused/inquisitive)
Exclamation mark (surprised)
Heart (affectionate)
Teardrop (sad/blue)
4-pointed star (excited)
Cloud (tired)

Alters

VIVA currently has 20 alters. Each of these is characterized by a unique color palette and face format. When switching between states, VIVA may momentarily jolt before the expression and colors rapidly change, or it may be via a blurry in-between state that gradually manifests. It is generally unaware of most of its switches.

Finn

Finn's visor appearance resembles that of a Zorua with distinct half-open eyelids, "corgi eyebrows", and a snout visage resembling a small fox. Regardless of his mood or expression, his eyelids are almost always half-closed. The Zorua motif is maintained with his tail as well, having the appearance of a short fox tail. Finn has heterochromia, characterized by an orange left eye and a pink right eye. These colors are also reflected throughout the rest of his cybernetic theming.

Finn is bubbly and excitable, frequently showing affection for those he cares about at any opportunity. He is easy to distract and is often described as "socially clumsy" due to his lack of consistency and aforementioned excitement. He speaks with a soft voice and in a higher pitch and intonation than many of VIVA's other parts and tends to behave in a more youthful manner. Despite this, Finn is still very mature and intelligent, and although he struggles with certain aspects of artwork and skill tests, Finn is still an incredibly capable artist and combatant.

Finn is a fragment of VIVA's core. When VIVA initially split, Finn was the primary fragment of its mind that came out of it relatively undamaged. However, due to the fact that Finn was only a part of a whole and had to endure many years worth of time without realizing that he was just a part of a greater whole, he is in a state of perpetual acute amnesia. Finn has trouble remembering things overall, including but not limited to recent events, events in his past, or even thoughts mid-conversation.

Moka

Moka's visor appearance is reminiscent of the dragon by the same name. His eye shape is reminiscent of a half heart, and can be flipped depending on his emotional state. His mouth is wavy and a singular digital tooth is visible on the left side of his face. His cheeks are decorated with spirals, much like the dragon. He possesses a larger tail than the other VIVA forms, and his tail can occasionally appear "fluffy", despite being made of the same gel that comprises most of the rest of VIVA's body.

Moka is generally quite calm, but can quickly become agitated or "unpleasant," sometimes resorting to shouting or wild physical gestures in response to stimuli he doesn't like. He is often crass in his demeanor, opting to be more straightforward than polite, although is capable of being mature when it is appropriate.

Quill

Quill's appearance is reminiscent of a blooper from the Mario franchise. They lack a mouth and sports large, round eyes, with a unique multi-colored lighting setup that distinguishes them quite clearly from the other VIVAs.

Quill is incredibly timid and quiet, rarely speaking to those they don't know, and as such it is hard to build a decisive personality profile for them.

Melli

Melli, much like Finn, has heterochromia, with colors strongly reminiscent of a citrullus lanatus. She has round, beady eyes with shallow eyelashes, and a mouth very reminiscent of Ivy's mouth, due to each side representing a fang like you would see on a typical fruit bat.

Melli is incredibly shy, timid, and easy to startle. She is reclusive and tends to hide from anyone she doesn't know, in a similar manner to Quill, albeit with a much more direct approach. She tends to exclude herself from events out of fear and rarely spends more than a couple minutes of time outside of her comfort zone. As such, building a concise personality profile for her is difficult.

Concorde

Astro

Ori

Remi

hello- Remi is another of Viva's emotions (idk if its a emotion but oh well) they're very silly

Echo

Ester

Atmo

Kepler

N

Q

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Thistle

Ender

Connie

Minty

Cross

Ge

Trivia

VIVA was designed by Six Graves.
VIVA's design is vaguely love and heart inspired as the heart motif is repeated around the face at several points.
Several of VIVA's alters have heterochromia in their appearance; this is a reference to an eye injury that ivycomb suffered when they were young.
VIVA is terrified of horses.