#Dzhiya answers

[skegulium]

❄️ + Dzhiya my sweet child

Dzhiya is currently at the ball! She tried to go with her little brother Corbin, however Corbin is a rural boy at heart and frightened of large crowds, so he got cold feet at the last minute and stayed hive with their lusus.

So! She's gone stag! She loves socializing and frankly, she does have FLARPing clients of her own there that she can meet up with and socialize. Not to mention, Kuanfu's there, isn't he? If anything, she can just hang out with her weird psuedo-dad and whatever Weird Jesters he's hanging out with.

She's gone dressed as the titular character from Vampire Hunter D because, well. She DOES hunt vampires in her free time!

Frankly, she's having a lot of fun.

[ladytrollfishes]

Jouska. >:)c

Daginy Chamae | 9 sweeps, 19 years | A Camp Somewhere In the Outskirts of Town | 1111 words

---

JOUSKA:  A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.                                                              -- To be perfectly honest, you don’t think much about Ptolem. 

You’re building your own life now, which has turned out pretty much unlike anything you'd have thought. Dzhiya's stuck by your side much longer than you really expected someone like her would. You would absolutely not have seen the young, hemofaking peltshifter (peltshifter!) coming. Things weren't easy, no, but they were looking up. You spend more time on paperwork and research than stakeouts, and some days, you're almost content. 

Ptolem was the flagpole in a time way past, a person you weren't anymore. It had been sweeps since you'd seen him. His opinion was totally, utterly irrelevant to you. 

Burying yourself in work has always been the easiest way to handle rough times, and this fight with Matcha was no exception. There were reports to read, figures to keep, information to sort- Alnica was sending a lot of bookkeeping to you now, since you had taken a step away from field work, and you were starting to get a bigger picture of how the network was working. She'd be on the Ascension schedule soon enough, and you'd have to be ready for a change with your leader heading straight for the heart of the empire. 

It'd be easier if you could cover some of her work- and you were probably the best choice to do it. 

You're sorting through another group of reports, accounts of hacking attempts into a secure imperial network, when it occurs to you that you might have an answer to that. Ptolem's harddrive- you'd never tossed it, despite the limited room you had. You had it checked, you had examined the contents, and it was actually pretty portable and convenient. You’d take any tool you could use. The programs he had put on there had been the exact sort of thing you'd find useful- he did know the work as well as you did. Probably better, really.

You wonder if he'd proud of where you are now. 

Quick as the question comes, you push it away. It doesn't matter. You're not a part of his crew anymore, you're not a part of his anything, no matter what part of your life he wanted in on. You take a few deep breaths and give your temples a quick rub before plugging in his drive into your husktop.

He’d organized it like he used to- it’s easy to find the program you’re looking for and start the encryption and compression process.  

Ptolem had run into you in Temasek, right? That's how he had found you for those brief conversations. They weren’t exactly pleasant. One day, you'd bump into each other again. Rebel circles didn't run that wide. 

What would you say to him if that happened? 

"Ptolem," you could say. "I'm not one of your kids anymore. I'm a force to be reckoned with so don't mess with me or we'll have to get into it." 

You can imagine him laughing at you, or reaching out to ruffle your hair like you're still a kid, or just simply shrugging and saying, "Sure, kid, whatever you say." 

You get underestimated all the time. Your apparent age and stature makes it way easy for any stranger to assume you're a scrawny wriggler, but you're nearing Ascension age now, if you were ever to ascend. Being underestimated wasn't exactly bad either. It let you get away with a lot more than you might otherwise, just because no one expects a runty wriggler to be behind anything particularly nefarious. 

Being underestimated by your allies though, that was always grating. Every ounce of respect you had to earn, you'd now have to scrap twice as hard for with the eyepatch and the stutter and the inability to look people in the eye for long periods of time. 

"Ptolem," you could say, "I'm not a kid anymore. I've been through shit, and I'm not as young as I look, so you don't treat me like a child who doesn't know what they're doing." 

It sounds defensive, even in your head. Defensive people always stunk of lies and deception. If someone told you that, you wouldn't believe them either. 

You don’t even know why you want to explain yourself to fake imaginary Ptolem or get his fake imaginary approval. Last you heard, he was kidnapping people anyway. You’d always known he was shady. There was so much you never really knew about him. You always figured there was a second agenda behind everything he did. 

You still don’t know the reasons behind everything you did for him. But you trusted him to look after you, him and the other kids, and for a time it was like growing up in a creche again. But you had always had other plans, so fond or not, you had left. 

Matcha asked you where your priorities were if you didn’t keep your promises. It wasn’t so long ago you had thought exactly like she did- maybe you were unfair about it. You wonder if Ptolem kept all his promises. Somehow you doubt it. 

“Ptolem,” you could say. “I think I’m starting to think more like you, and that scares me. How did you end up where you are now? Why are you kidnapping people? What’s so important you’d do this? Where do you draw the line? Where should I?” 

Your husktop pings. The compression is done. You pull the machine into your lap and with a few clicks and a couple of words, you send it off to where it’s needed.

You glance to where Dzhiya and Luckie are chatting by the fire. Bobcat Mom sleeps, curled up next to the flames, and there’s food roasting on the fire.  You can take a bit of a break.

You close your husktop, unplug Ptolem’s hard drive, wrap the wires around it neatly, and put it in its pouch so it won’t get knocked around so hard. You hesitate before you stow it back away where you don’t have to think about it. 

You can imagine Ptolem’s masked face hovering above you- he had always been so dang tall. In one of those cyber masks, his expressions were completely unreadable. 

“Ptolem,” you whisper aloud. “I-I’m-” 

The words catch in your throat, too full of- of something. Some feeling too impossible to fit into the curve of your mouth, the tips of your thoughts somewhere far from your tongue. Another failed attempt to speak. Your gaze falls, unable to keep eye contact with even a fake, imaginary version of him. 

With a sigh, you slide the drive back into your bag. 

Ptolem was a flagpole in a time way past. It’s not something you need to think about anyway. 

[skegulium]

Dzhiya, Of the things that yoou have hunted, Can you tell us some of the more Fearsome ones? Yknow what scared you the most, if you were ever scared hunting things

"Oh, well! I mean I'm always scared! Wouldn't you be, when you're facing down creatures faster, stronger and more durable than you are? And every time I fight one, I always feel like I'm one wrong move away from being culled myself... Like, I'm sure every troll in a life or death fight has felt that but I feel like I can almost see in detail how badly something will go. I guess that's precognition for you, huh?"

"Uhm, well. I"m not dead yet! So no need to worry about that, right? Haha heh.. hm."

"Anyway! I've fought a lot of things. Shadow droppers, rainbow drinkers, seed eaters, odd rumblings and whisperings in cave holes that haven't been touched in sweeps - I think I even went toe to toe with an alien once? But they weren't scary, I think they were more scared of me than I was of them and I was really scared of them. It was something out of a scary story you find online - a thin, small, pale creature that looks just like you, but it's not like you? Like a little changling, or an imposter, that bleeds unnatural colors and can dart around in the day. It skittered away before I could do anything though, and sometimes I still have dreams that I'll find it clinging to the ceiling of my respite block if I wake up in the middle of the day."

"Sometimes if the nightmares get too bad, I'll lock myself in a closet and sleep there. Less chances to be found, less room for something to hide in! Plus, it's cozy!"

[skegulium]

17, 18, 29, 35, and 40 for Dzhiya too

How well can your oc keep secrets? Is there a difference between how they handle their own vs someone else’s? To what lengths would they go to keep something hidden?

Dzhiya is fucking BALLER at keeping secrets. She's one of the best secret keepers you could give a secret keeper to. She's not a fucking snitch. Even if she's scared out of her wits by the situation, she's not going to squeal about anything - ESPECIALLY if it's a friend. Hell, she'd hold up to torture and threat of death if need be. Even if it's just work stuff - like a FLARPing group trying to keep their found treasure secret - she'd never tell a soul what she was paid to keep quiet. In fact, before i did a soft reset on her, she was actively friends with and supported a hemorebel. Their secrets are her secrets! She doesn't have much of her own, but she doesn't need to have any!

I think it would be more interesting to ask about the situations in which she WOULD snitch - and the answer to that is that she'd only do it if she felt like keeping the secret would harm her friends more than it would help them.

How does your oc fare in an emergency situation? Do they panic, do they freeze, do they take charge?

She's quite excellent at handling emergencies! As a FLARPing guide for hire, she has to be! She does everything she can to keep her teams alive, whether that's some basic patchwork first aid, or springing to action to fight back against an ambush. As I've joked before, her fight or flight response has been twisted so hard to fight that it's broken the dial. She's terrified, but by god will she stab a bitch to neutralize the scary thing. It also helps that her psionic power allows her to sense when danger is approaching and as long as she trusts her instincts, she won't be harmed. Usually.

How empathetic is your oc? Or are they closer to being a sociopath? Any reason why?

oh she is the FARTHEST thing from a sociopath. Dzhiya is empathetic to a fault! I think she'd be very easy to RP as a pale floozy, because she's easy to gain pity from! I don't think there's a specific reason for it - i think she's just got a big heart and naturally is just a people pleaser. She's a worry wart and in the toxic, high-octane survivalist culture of Alternia, Dzhiya is determined to survive and make as little waves as she can. She's also pretty fearful - so I suppose that's where a lot of her empathy comes from? The knowledge that even people who act like assholes could just be lashing out in fear.

However, her empathy does have a limit. She's no saint - and while she can easily hand out pity like candy, she knows toxic behavior when she sees it. She knows not to make herself into a punching bag for someone who does not and would never pity her back. She wants to be a friend, not a lusus, to people.

Is your oc a workaholic, or do they find it hard to be busy at all? Do they find it easy to relax, or must they have something to do at all times? Why?

Oho - A good question! Thinking on it... I don't think she's a workaholic? She works a lot, of course - her line of work isn't exactly one where you have frequent breaks. Being a FLARP guide means that you have to be available 24/7 on your campaigns. Once it's over, she does like to sit back and relax with other FLARP guides in their designated FLARP villages where they rest, recoup, and solicit more employment. She's quite good at compartmentalizing so even if things get pretty traumatic, she can focus on taking care of herself instead of wallowing in despair.

How humble is your oc? Or are they closer to royal in their self-perception? Why? Is this obvious to others?

She's very humble! She's quite aware of her own place in the hemospectrum and she's very aware of her own mortality. Watching a lot of your friends get slaughtered in front of you by a rainbow drinker will do that to someone, lol. She doesn't think she's particularly special as a person, nor does she thinks he's exceptionally skilled. Clarivoyants (as she thinks she is one, lol) are dime a dozen, and hers only works on an instinctual, 3 second ruleset. Really not the most interesting or useful power for anyone but herself! She doesn't believe she'd be the type of person who gets singled out as exceptional by anyone.

That being said, Dzhiya does think her greatest strengths are her own downfall. Her loyalty is one she's accepted could kill her one day, and her hobbies may get her into a situation she won't be able to get herself out of. Her brilliant mind that has her studying rainbow drinkers in her free time plagues her with nightmares, as she's well aware that her own obsession is dangerous and has killed her friends in the past. Her fears in life are that she's not enough. Not enough to save herself, or others. She has quite a crippling fear of loss and death!

I feel like this is pretty obvious to others.

[skegulium]

Dzhiya ❄️

Answered in a previous ask!!

[skegulium]

Dzhiya, Read any interesting books lately?

"Haha, is there something you're asking after? I've been checking out some local libraries to read some books about cave systems in a new region I'm running a module in." "Why? Is there something you're looking for? Do you have questions?"

[skegulium]

those ARE cute! sorry, yknow, since u cant grow them anymore. were they always brittle, and once they started breaking it didnt stop, or did something onset the brittleness?

"Haha, aw, thank you! You're so sweet, aren'tcha? But don't be sorry, it's something I choose to do! They're cute, but the headaches from snapping a horn mid-fight - ohhhhh, it sucks. It really throws you off your groove, you know? Especially when it snaps in a way that's TOO close to the skull, and you're just dizzy and out of it. It's not ideal in a fight!"

"They've always been brittle though! Maybe it's because I didn't get good nutrition as a kid? My lusus, brother and I all had to get acclimated to living on land really, really fast after we got separated from our ship we were living on, soooooo things were a bit touch and go for awhile. I was so used to just diving for breakfast, but you can't do that on land! Ooooor if you just walk into someone's fields and pick their potatoes, they're reaaaally not kind to what they saw as thieving. But, anyway - I guess they never really cracked until I started getting into FLARPing and they'd break during fights."

"So I dunno! It's not that hard to just saw them off and grind down the stumps though, and it's a lot easier to find hats, or do my hair, and fight without them in the way! I guess it's just how I am now!"

[skegulium]

Dzhiya do you know what your horns would look like if you were able to grow them out?

"Oh yeah, definitely! I used to have them grown out when I was young! Just a wee little grub, still clinging to mama's fur."

"They're kind of tall, very curly and... I guess you could call them delicate? Juuuuuust a bit on the thin side, very pointy! If i'm not careful, someone could get nicked!"

Hold on, let me draw it -"

Dzhiya takes a small book out of her side pocket and scribbles into it before showing you the picture

[skegulium]

Dzhiya whats your FLARP class!!!

"Haha, oh, well -"

"I actually haven't flarped as a player in awhile, y'know? It's kinda hard to participate in campaigns when you're leading them!"

"When I was younger though, I did like doing the moreeeee dexterity based classes? I dabbled in rogue training, ranger training - that's been the most helpful one. I use a lot of ranger training now as a guide - and I've picked up a few classes in being a fighter and a monk before I quit. I tried doing druid once buuuuut...."

"Well, my psionics never really meshed well, huh? Clarivoyance isn't the same as beastspeaking after all!"

"At least I can aim a bow and crossbow, use a knife, and a sword! And I can do some hand to hand combat."

[skegulium]

Dzhiya your life sounds so wild and cool! Do you have any favorite modules to run? Do you keep "trophies" of the scary cryptids you hunt, or prefer to leave the creepy things to rot?

"Awh, hey, thanks! That's real sweet of you to say that. It IS a real fun job to have, you know? When you get to FLARP every day and get paid for it really is the dream job, especially when people really look to you to guide them proper."

"I had to think about it a bit, but I think my favorite modules to run right now is that new one that got sponsored by the planetary FLARPing association, y'know, the one where they made a whole city for it? Like, any module that goes through there is great because it's really easy to scoot out of trouble when the other team is about to do a TPK. Lots of alleys and buildings to hide in, y'know?"

"Oh! There's also the one in the Riokkek mountain, with the vampire and the reincarnated ancestor plotline, and it's like super dark and stuff! That's fun. I like fake vampires and magic."

"Uhm, but with the cryptids..."

"Yes."

"I have to."

"Usually the monsters I kill are the ones that cause trouble and kill people, and I HAVE to learn how they work, so it's less... trophies? as much as it's research material."

"It's actually really awful. You have no idea what they've got inside of them, and neither do I. And I have to take my time to write it all down and preserve it to take it back to my lab so I can study it."

"It's horrifying. I found worms inside one of them and not parasite worms."

"I have so many nightmares."

[skegulium]

📰 for the dags dzh combo uwu

What is their name? “Oh, I know this! Their name is Donlan! I don’t really, uh, know their last name though?”

Relationship with them? “We’re friends, of course! We’ve beeeeeen travelling together for a few perigrees now? You know, after the whole um. The whole...”“...”“I guess we’re accomplices now, huh? Wow, that’s crazy to think about.”

What do you view them as? “Uhh, family? Friend? Someone I just sort of... really want to keep close and keep them safe?? They get into so much trouble and I just want to make sure that they don’t die! That’s pretty indicative of something, right?”

Do you feel attracted to them in any way? “Oh wow! Oh, um, wow. I - I don’t know? I’ve never really looked at them like that! I don’t even think they like that sort of thing?”

What’s one thing you’d like to do with them? “ Oh man, okay, so like, I know they’re not really good at acting outside of like, life or death stuff but I think it’d be fun if we went to the Ren faire together! Or like, did a LARPing campaign! I think that would be like, so cool.”

Tell us one memory you have with them. “Oh, hm, I think a really fun one was the one where we went exploring some caves through the bottom of the Riokkek mountains? It was so neat, and they were so excited! We found that one tomb system near the dragon village thing and when we went exploring, we found all those skeletons.... I still can’t believe they stole that book though! I’m still worried someone’s going to notice we took it...”

Anything you’d like to ask them or state to them? If so, say it now, please! “Um, hey Don? Don? Have you considered like, um.”“Nnnnot getting involved in all of those super dangerous things that could get you killed?”

[skegulium]

♫ + dzhiya and dags

Send me a ♫ + a character’s name and I will respond with a song that reminds me of them. Send a ♫ + a ship and I will do the same. WHITE STRIPES - WE’RE GONNA BE FRIENDS

We don't notice any time passwe don't notice anythingwe sit side by side in every classteacher thinks that I sound funnybut she likes the way you sing Tonight I'll dream while I'm in bedwhen silly thoughts go through my headabout the bugs and alphabetand when I wake tomorrow I'll betthat you and I will walk together againI can tell that we are gonna be friendsYes I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

THIS ONE WAS HARD. Dzhiya doesn’t actually have a genre I go to for her so it took a lot of searching to find something that matched her sort of aesthetic AND something that fully grasps her current mindset about Daginy. She’s a bit oblivious about their feelings so it felt a bit like I was jumping ahead if I used any actually romantic songs, BUT NO ONE WRITES SWEET SONGS ABOUT FRIENDS.Or at least, none I can find easily.ANYWAY, i guess you can call this a sort of AU song? Clearly they never met while they were little kids and school doesn’t exist in trolls, but it’d be a good grasp on a little them friendship. I think it’s cute and sweet for the two of them!

[skegulium]

📂 and then one for a muse of your choosing!

stares at my list of trolls

1) Dzhiya is VERY well versed in the outdoors and hunting! In fact, she utilizes those skills as much as she can while hunting down cryptids and monsters like vampires.

For instance, in order to overload their senses and make them unable to track her by scent, she utilizes strong smelling scents such as animal musk... and pee.

She straight up will use jars of animal urine to keep monsters away, like they think there's predators in the area, or to draw them in using various musks.

(This is partially because during her conception, i wanted a vampire hunter crossed with Sniper from TF2. JARATE! Do NOT be a drinker who's hunting her. she WILL throw her jars.)

[skegulium]

Blueblood, 13 sweeps. Owns his own business selling jewelry, armor, weapons, pretty much anything metal crafted or made with gems. On the hemoist side, but he'd rather deal with lowbloods than anons. Enjoys a good night's work and a hive made meal, but he's pretty lowkey and most of his life is his work closely related. Open in all quads but could use a moirail or kismesis to get him out of his comfort zone.

Ooh, now this is fun! I might have two?

Dzhiya might be interesting to toss at him! 9 sweeps old, brownblood, but has heavy ties in the FLARPing community as a GM to guide them through the latest expansions. Very reliable, but always comes out alive even if her paying team ends up getting themselves killed due to her psionics that she believes is clairvoyance that let's her navigate through danger. She's very bright and excitable with a touch of anxiousness as she does have a very strong fear of death and loss, which leads to some cognitive wires getting crossed with her line of work. Also, she moonlights as a vampire/monster killer because she's so terrified of them she cranked her fight or flight so hard she's chasing them across the continents.

Dzhiya would definitely go and visit for weapons, but would be pretty leery of Highbloods who were a bit hemoist. It'd definitely take awhile for her to warm up, but she'd enjoy someone homey and kind to sit down with and actually have some less stressful conversations with. Maybe flush, maybe pale? I feel like it'd take some close scrutiny of their chemistry to see which quad they'd fall into, if they do get along.

Secondly, I'd have Orivar! This would probably land more on the antagonistic side, or even the antagonistic hate-friend side. She's 12 sweeps, rustblood with folks that she hides and passes as a regular rust. Very fond of the arts that you do with your hands, even MORE fond of weapons. She's got a pissy personality though and she's quick to insult and belittle Highbloods for their caste, especially if they're hemoist. Does it mean she won't interact with them? Definitely not! She takes a lot of joy out of picking fights.

The only thing he'd have to watch out for is rolling his eyes and going "highbloods amirite" as she'll absolutely latch into that with loathing to point out the crimes of his caste.

[skegulium]

Going to work on some art for the evening, but if anyone would like to send me some asks to answer while I work, I'd love that! Could be ic, or ooc, or just talking about trolls. I've got a lot of a muse and story for Orivar, Tomie, Dzhiya and Nekrah!

[skegulium]

To continue

DZHIYA WEEK

I've finally finished making and sorting out Dzhiya's profile!

I've got her rough summaries, backstory, important people - the whole dealio!

Feel free to take a look at it and send her asks! i'm still working on sprites for Dzhiya and once i finish them before the week ends, I'll answer them all with her shiny new sprites!