23-punnybee

[23-punnybee]

when it comes to their immediate family, what are your OC’s relationships like? how do they feel about their parents or guardians? what are qualities their parents or guardians have that they hate or admire? do they hope to be like them someday? or does the idea of mirroring their parents/guardian in even a small way make them uncomfortable? was there one they spent more time with than the other? do they have siblings? are they close with their siblings, or is there distance or tension? if they’re no longer in contact or separated from their biological or home family, do they have people they’ve chosen as family? do they have chosen family in addition to their biological/home family? who would they reach out to first in case of an emergency?

BUCKLE UP THIS IS GONNA BE LONG BECAUSE I LOVE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Brooke has a few guardians: her grandparents on her mother’s side, and her mother (her father is also sometimes included but he differs a lot based on each iteration so i won’t include him. all you need to know is he’s absent, not dead).

brooke’s grandparents (Maliah and Juan Ramirez) are definitely the best positive influence she had growing up, and the reason she’s not… worse. but they were also dealing with a little weird girl with Big Emotions and while they had the best intentions, some of their tactics weren’t the best. i.e. they’d try to get her to calm down before she’d fully felt and expressed her emotions, they’d also give her waaaay more responsibility than her age warranted. she's got mostly positive feelings toward them. she got their intelligence, diligence, compassion, and passion from them, and hopes to one day do her part. mirroring them is a conscious thing brooke tries to do.

neither is inherently closer to brooke, i'd say, they just play different roles. abuela was usually the one deciding and dishing out discipline, but also recognized brooke was quick to pick up on things and gave brooke confidence by entrusting her with responsibility (like the feeding and caring of the animals). abuelo tended to just indulge brooke so long as it seemed safe—he’s the one who went to the store to pick up lab equipment and helped brooke put together chemical bombs in their driveway before abuela yelled at them haha. he's also the one who encouraged her to learn to bake (so he could "test out" her baked goods—which to be fair, he earned, given the first several times were really bad, but he faked enjoyment just so brooke would keep going)

brooke loves them to death but they’re also very religious. and brooke being a werewolf—which is associated with darkness, evil, witchcraft, curses—makes for a bit of a tense relationship now. they do not know, to be clear. brooke keeps it from them since she’s terrified they’ll disown her (or worse) if they find out. her grandparents also are very, very adamant about brooke bonding with her mother, which isn’t something brooke wants...

julia… was/is absent emotionally. brooke doesn’t even really think of her or refer to her as her “mom” except around julia (to avoid a shitstorm) and with people she doesn’t wanna explain this to (like her grandparents, and strangers). brooke has a lot of her mother’s traits which reeeeeally fuels the fear and hatred she feels toward herself, like her emotionally avoidant tendencies, big emotions, pride in self-sufficiency (that feels like she’ll be punished for asking for help), bad habits she’s picked up… not to mention the fact she looks so much like her mother—oh my godddd all the comments she gets. staring at herself in the mirror feels like a bitter reminder that she’s destined to become like her mother. and brooke hates it. some days she thinks "what would julia do?" and then does the opposite just to spite her.

it’s a toss-up on if tommy is brooke’s “little brother” or “son”—they tow the line, sorta like a huge age gap for siblings where the older “raises” the younger. the two are like peas in a pod though, joined at the hip most of the time. this causes some codependency, though, and makes it hard for tommy to spread his wings since brooke is so protective. she's trying to mimic what her grandparents did, with a little more emphasis on being emotionally supportive. it's a struggle, though, since her mother's habits run deep.

after getting rescued by and adopted into the turtles’ crew, brooke considers them family (oftentimes, she feels closer to the turtles’ crew than her biological family). they are the ones she’s called in the case of an emergency.

i’d classify splinter as a guardian/mentor to a degree, seeing as it’s his meditation techniques and teachings that have helped brooke “tame” her wolf side enough to function. splinter also reminds brooke of abuela so they get along fairly well.

—

tommy ofc has brooke, who he adores and would literally travel to hell and back for. but she’s also incredibly protective to the point it’s suffocating sometimes. and i’d be lying if i said her overprotective nature didn’t contribute to his anxiety. but she’s also gone through some shit by this point, and is fairly ok at not squashing tommy’s emotions. she’s not the best with herself, but if it’s tommy, she's significantly more supportive and gracious.

she’s headstrong and stubborn, but also denser than osmium, holy shit. tommy, by contrast, is very observant and picks up small cues really quickly. he’s also less stubborn and more likely to take a following position than a leading one. he looks up to her, and doesn’t mind the traits he shares with her like their big emotions, but he also recognizes that their differences make them a better team. being like her isn’t the goal, but it’s not something he’d hate. comparisons mostly make him nod and go “yeah, that makes sense,” but there’s no positive or negative connotation to it—it’s just a fact. of course he’s like brooke.

tommy also considers splinter and the turtles (and casey and april) his guardians, siblings, family. they have many dynamics and roles they fit into.

you remember how in 2003, splinter dressed up as santa in the christmas aliens? i’m picturing splinter loves kids. wants kids/grandkids. two comments in rottmnt also confirm this headcanon for me but part of that lore is that splinter was human once. anyway. splinter already raised some turtle boys, so what’s one more? he tends to dote on tommy a bit, and enjoys tommy’s questions. tommy is very low energy and a nice change of pace from the four teens who seem to find trouble wherever they go lol. tommy also loved snuggling up into splinter’s fur and hearing stories before bedtime when he was teeny tiny, and it was splinter’s favorite part of the day to put tommy down for a nap.

they are both quiet/low-energy and observant. splinter’s very attuned to the spiritual side of things whereas tommy is best attuned with his emotions (and sometimes others’ as well). tommy also loves to just sit and observe splinter in the dojo, occasionally asking questions. it’s always a treat for splinter to mediate with him.

similar to splinter, don and leo carry that quieter energy that tommy just gravitated toward early on. they’re the first ones tommy openly directs questions to, usually after silently observing for 3 days straight. it takes a bit for the two to get used to it since tommy isn’t asking the beginner questions (he already figured out most of that stuff) and typically hits them with a “how can you tell the difference between solar plexus and sacral chakra blockage?” or “what's the difference between java and python coding?” (note: this is mostly for 2003–in other iterations, the order of which turtle/s tommy warms up to first varies. it’s a safe bet it’s probably leo though)

mikey and tommy both get gold stars for being observant of others and how the dynamics typically work. they’re also probably the most attuned to their own emotions, except in specific circumstances. tommy knows this so when the comparisons are made, he’s happy to take it as a compliment. it did take him a while to warm up to mikey (though not quite as long as raph).

once he warms up to raph, tommy’s hanging with raph almost as much as he’s with brooke. raph’s also protective and makes tommy feel safe, but raph doesn’t have the baggage and guilt brooke carries about tommy getting mutated, so he’s a bit more chill and less suffocating. raph also adores tommy since the kid’s got a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. they share many high-threes after one gives off a good zinger, usually at the expense of casey or mikey. and of course, splinter can get a good zinger in as well.

they’re both loyal to a fault, protective (it shows up differently), and emotional. tommy tends to get loud when anxious, which comes across as angry sometimes. they’ve both got snark and tend to call it like it is, no reason to beat around the bush.

tommy is pretty confident in who he is and while he will mimic small things, generally he recognizes that the differences between himself and others makes for a stronger team, a better friendship. he’s not actively looking to become like anyone, but when comparisons are made, he beams about it for the next two days straight. obviously he’s also happy to have positive traits compared to the others, too, but he has a lot of respect and admiration for raph in particular.

—

t’ytian has four parental figures/guardians—his (biological) mother and father (k’ythka and t’bakka, respectfully), G’Throkka his mentor, and his step-father, g’byvak (name may change).

he’s also got eight siblings: five full-siblings and three half-siblings.

t’ytian kiiiiinda idolizes his dad—mainly because all his memories of dad are pleasant and dad died when t’ytian was like 8. t’ytian gets his big emotions from t’bakka (his mom says), and he was intelligent, charismatic, welcoming, constantly curious and open-minded, which t’ytian also picked up. his dad was also a bit odd with his hobbies, and liked to mold clay and whittle wood, which t’ytian remembers his dad showing him and has continued the tradition. he loves the idea of being like t’bakka and revels in all the comparisons, but it feels somewhat unattainable and hollow, given his dad is gone.

t’ytian gets his pride from his mother, k’ythka, who leads a squadron to protect the city from the various kaiju-like monsters roaming salamandria. she’s also incredibly loyal and caring to those who have earned her loyalty, which t’ytian learned from her. he adores his mama and wants to make her proud, and she makes it clear she believes he could change the world. which he does. with the rebellion.

G’Throkka taught t’ytian almost everything he knows about combat, and has been his mentor for years. they’re both escorts/bodyguards and share traits like extreme loyalty and a willingness to self-sacrifice being etched in their blood. t’ytian considers G’Throkka to be close to a father-figure given that role needed filling in his life. t’ytian’s whole deal is to become more like G’Throkka, and he often asks himself what G'Throkka would do in a given situation.

with t’ytian’s step-dad, t’y felt… averse to it (idolizing your dead dad will do that). g’byvak is more strict and less charming than his father, so listening and obeying didn’t come as naturally. they also argue since t’ytian’s time spent on earth gave him a new appreciation for things salamandrians take for granted or straight-up abuse. it also doesn’t help that g’byvak is a fairly high ranking officer for the salamandrian armies. if a similaritywere to be pointed out, t'ytian would politely nod and thank the commenter before changing the subject. internally, he's rolling his eyes and rationalizing how much he isn't like g'byvak.

out of all his siblings, t’ytian is emotionally closest to t’vekyl—his twin sister. she’s a rebellious girl, as opposed to t’ytian who grew up as a major people-pleaser. they share the same big emotions but the way those emotions come out differs drastically. while t’ytian tends to be optimistic, give people the benefit of the doubt, and internalize unwanted/unpleasant emotions, t’vekyl is abrasive and pessimistic, and unafraid to speak her mind. t’ytian is ready to throw down because he thinks you wanna spar for the love of the game, t’vekyl would honestly rather chew you out verbally than raise a weapon, but she will if needed. she’s training to be a medic, which is a very under appreciated career in their culture, and is constantly being bombarded with expectations others have for her that she’s not meeting—like her career, but also how she needs to settle down and start a clutch of eggs soon. the salamandrian conquest needs soldiers, after all. t’ytian, by contrast, has hidden the traits he has that his society deemed “undesirable.” only his immediate family know of his wood carving/clay sculpting (and after he gets back from earth, his music). none of them really support him in it, except t’vekyl.

next closest is the brother who was born after his dad died, the last of his full-siblings—t’bakkok. he’s quiet and intelligent, preferring to work on his inventions or test something out over sparring or hiking around in the wilderness. t’ytian loves to sit quietly next to him as the two work on their projects, occasionally holding it up for the other to wordlessly nod approval over. t’ytian tends to match the energy of whoever he’s around so when it’s with t’bakkok it’s a chill quiet afternoon. fun fact! t’bakkok is named after his father, t’bakka, and is almost exactly the same in looks :)

he’s got three older siblings that he’s less close to. the oldest, his sister v’klyst, and then the twin second oldests t’vonis and t’kyptych. v’klyst is a high ranking guard for the Capital and she is friendly, quiet, and strategic. t’vonis is a pilot, sometimes to deliver soldiers or supplies, sometimes he scouts out nearby planets for salamandria to conquer. he’s arrogant and impulsive and loves teasing t’ytian (t’vonis also thinks he’s charismatic). t’kyptych is an enforcer (sort of like their version of the police) and is quiet and stoic. t’ytian shares the friendliness of v’klyst, the arrogance and impulsiveness of t’vonis (though not to the degree of t’vonis), and shares loyalty and strictness for rules with t’kyptych. t’ytian has no real opinion on whether sharing traits with any of them is “good” or “bad” (although he finds t’vonis’s antics to be annoying and would rather not be compared to him). uhh… there’s some tension after the rebellion, seeing as they worked against the rebellion that t'ytian helped.

then there’s the triplets, his half-siblings, who are all very young and still figuring themselves out. t’ytian enjoys chucking them into the nearby lake and playing with them. their names are a wip but my notes says they’re called t’byvrak, k’ythkak, and g’byva (names are meant to be combos of dad, mom, and step-dad's names).

—

cam had a more “traditional” family (more than the above characters haha). except... she leaves earth.

cam was born with a heart defect and partial deafness which caused the family a lot of strife early on (both emotional and financial—they’re still recovering).

unfortunately, her mother has a lot of resentment built up from the tension, so cam tended to get blamed for things and held to a higher standard by her mother. to her mother, alex could do no wrong, and cam could do nothing right. so cam has stopped trying to please her mother and hates when comparisons are made. unfortunately, they are a lot alike—stubborn, passionate, introverted, emotional... and with a built-up resentment toward each other, they tend to step on each others' toes.

by contrast, cam’s father went the complete opposite direction, instead treating cam as a delicate butterfly and constantly advocating for cam against her mother (this does not help their marriage…). she’s daddy’s girl (and knows it) but tries not to abuse the power too much. she loves her father to the moon and back, but feels like he’s patronizing at times. she loves him, but also doesn't put him on a pedestal.

alex kinda grew up with cam getting a lot of the attention, due to her medical needs, but was old enough (and his father explained) that it's necessary and not indicative of cam being the favorite and that they love him too. his father also explained that because of these needs, alex needs to be a good brother and protect cam whenever he can. this thankfully kept them still pretty close even after both becoming adults. alex is the one to tell cam to do what she wants when it's time to choose.

and she chooses to go into space, with the bots—her found, chosen family.

nebula is in a very unique place with cam. one that would take too long to explain since it goes back so far. but she's always been there for cam. even before cam was cam, nebula was there for her. so cam trusts her, inherently, instinctively, unconsciously. cam doesn't consciously try to be like nebula, but it's definitely there. they're both curious and diligent to find answers, a bit socially dense (though nebula exceeds cam by miles—amnesia will do that to you). despite being so close emotionally, cam doesn't actually spend a ton of time with nebula after meeting the rest of the bots.

bulkhead, endeavor, and bumblebee take those spots.

bulkhead is cam's unofficial guardian, typically taking the initiative to protect cam when they get into dangerous situations. he's also the very first bot cam formed a real friendship with, and easily the one cam trusts the most consciously. both of them are sensitive and careful to think things through, and typically anxious at bumblebee's antics.

cam and bee... have a bit of a rocky start. bee's pretty abrasive at the newcomer, and cam picks this up and assumes he hates her. it's a misunderstanding of course, that gets resolved and leads them to grow closer. this is a terrible thing for everyone else, because bee will easily convince cam to join him in adrenaline-pumping, daredevilish situations. though cam tries to play the straight man, she would never admit it, but being treated as normal instead of a fragile butterfly feels so good. she starts picking up his sassier attitude and cockiness later on, without realizing it. this is upsetting to cam's best friend, who hates bee with a passion—endeavor.

endeavor and cam are like twins, two peas in a pod, platonic soulmates from the get-go. they're best friends, they're ride or die. endeavor and cam are both part machine and part organic, literally on the same (eye) level. they're both very sensitive, emotional, but endeavor seems to have figured out how to deal with it by this point. cam looks up to endeavor in so many ways, trying to be like her. which is great, endeavor always wanted a twin to agree with her. unlike her own twin. but that's another story.

[23-punnybee]

Carry On - Falling in Reverse

[23-punnybee]

kind of branching off a previous question: how literate is/are your OC(s)? are they a strong reader in their first language (assuming their first language can be written)? can they read languages other than their first language and, if so, how well? do they enjoy reading as a hobby or past-time, or is it something they only do as day to day life requires it? if they enjoy reading as a hobby, what sorts of things do they enjoy reading?

bonus: can they write? if so, i repeat all previous questions, but for writing ability. and how good is their penmanship (if they write with a utensil and not a keyboard)?

oooh

brooke is bilingual and fluent in both english and spanish. spanish is moreso verbal for her but she can read, too--she just prefers to read in english since her schooling revolved more around english reading. when it comes to english, she has a very firm understanding of what she reads and how to write exactly what she means (although if you ask her to define a specific word on the spot, she might get a little tongue tied. but she does know what the word means). she writes her own stories in english as well.

tommy is also bilingual in spanish and english, but he has a firmer grasp on spanish than english (mostly because brooke usually spoke spanish with her grandparents and that's mainly where tommy lived--down in florida). he can't read or write either until brooke starts teaching him, but he picks it up fairly quickly.

t’ytian… can’t read. or write. salamandrians mainly document things via videography, or for their more ancient/old school stuff, it’s carved into walls and is similar to how hieroglyphics work—mainly focusing on telling the story through pictures and having most symbols be literal with what they symbolize. he knows the verbal language of his people, and while on earth, he has practiced learning bits of english, but usually relies on his translator.

cam, despite having jewish heritage, has made it her mission to be the disappointment and not learn the language. she is averagely literate, but prefers movies and shows over books. she does write occasionally, but it’s small bits and pieces and if you ask her to talk about it, she’ll sound like she’s talking about a movie that only exists in her head (which… it is).

finn is fluent is several languages, but they depend on the iteration/origin story. some include english, italian, the common languages used in the hidden city or battle nexus, and a few others.

[23-punnybee]

do your OCs have a preferred weather or climate? do they have a weather or climate that they despise? or one that they actually struggle to experience? this question can, obviously, include non-Earth climates/alien and otherworldly environments! are there weather conditions they’ve never experienced before? would they like to, or are they glad to have been without it? do they experience any physical changes with the weather or shifting seasons?

this might come across as boring but somehow almost all my OCs wound up having a preference for warmer weather. and i’m a winter baby!!!

brooke since she grew up in florida and it reminds her of home.

tommy for the same reasons as brooke but also because he is a turtle.

t’ytian because salamandria is actually a very warm, very moist planet. he can deal with earth fairly well but does have to put on layers and drink extra water at times. salamandria has a fairly similar climate to earth, just on the more warm and humid side.

finn might be the most tolerant out of all of them given her family traveled a lot so she got used to a lot of different types.

cam is the outlier, being from the midwest and used to colder weather naturally. and then, y’know, becoming part robot made it even less significant to her.

[23-punnybee]

Wrote up the origin of Brooke's first encounter with the turtles (technically just Donnie). you can read it here on ao3 :]

more to come!

[23-punnybee]

YOUR TURN. 🫵 !!!!!

first oc that comes to your mind (or the last one you drew/wrote about) is stuck in the world of the last video game you played. T-T!!! how they doin'? if the answer is Not Well™, is there a different game you've played recently that they’d thrive in?

ok i have had t’ytian brainrot the last like 3 days and uh. i last played overcooked (i think)

i wanna say he… he’s not a cook, so???? i don’t think he’d do too well lmao. the guy was raised for combat. salamandrians usually think of food only as nourishment, not art or something to genuinely enjoy. he can follow tasks and is SO eager to please so he’d strive to do His Very Best to get meals out on time but his brain just isn’t geared toward cooking. so even His Very Best would be a mediocre job. he’d hate that he’s not “pulling his weight” and the stress of not being able to help more would make him panic and do worse :( he’d rather be fighting the unbread or the meatball guy head-on than cooking all this stuff.

as far as a different game that he’d thrive in… listen. i am not a gamer. my gaming portfolio is very small. so i’m gonna go with super smash bros. he’d love it. you just duke it out with a bunch of other people??? tournament style??? he loves sparring. look at all the new friends to spar with!!

my brother has been playing subnautica which inspired a lot of the ideas i have for fauna on salamandria, so that might work too? but t’ytian likes being around people. he’s very much an extravert. so a survival game like subnautica or minecraft where you’re alone would make him very sad. it would get to his mental health :(

[23-punnybee]

obligatory valentunes oc ask, with a bit of a twist! for any OC you might want to talk about, note their closest relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, whatever) and assign each a number. roll a dice (any dice will do; the mighty dice app or an online randomizer if this is easier!). whatever result you get, share something about that OC's relationship with the other character that you might not have gotten to talk about yet! doesn't have to be about valentines specifically, just. anything about their relationship, how they interact, their dynamic--whatever you like to share when it comes to a valuable person in their life.

(i.e. for cassia, i might write 1-oliver, 2-esme, 3-don, 4-leo, 5-mikey, 6-raph, and roll a 6 sided dice. i roll a 6, so i share something about cassia and raph's relationship!)

omg a dice game! i love dice games!! <- outing myself as a d&d nerd

Brooke: grandparents-1, Tommy-2, Mikey-3, Donnie-4, mom-5, Lilith-6

Tommy: Brooke-1, Raph-2, Angel-3, April-4, Casey-5, Rey-6

T’Ytian: T’Vekyl-1, Brooke-2, T’Bactaon-3, mom-4, dad-5, stepdad-6

Tommy and Raph, literally my favorite duo. i’m mainly talking about 03 here but this is applicable to rise and my personal iteration, with some tweaks.

when tommy first gets mutated, he’s like—a tiny baby but rapidly grows. this is mostly because i wanted the Turtles to interact with a baby at some point and play older brother/uncle. tommy’s growth is significantly faster than “normal”—in the first year he’s mutated, he goes from a baby to the size and cognitive maturity of a 7-year-old. year two is a bit slower and he grows from 7-12ish, and by then fast forward whisks people away. this is sorta important for later.

anyway

when he’s still young, he’s terrified of raph. raph isn’t trying to be scary—he’s actually consciously trying to be more approachable when tommy gets dropped off at the lair (brooke has classes and a job by this point). tommy warms up to leo and don relatively quickly because of their quieter energy, and learns fairly soon just how soft splinter is so he seeks snuggles from him and likes listening to splinter’s stories at bedtime on the rare occasion brooke works late. mikey basically says “you need a playmate. i shall be your playmate” and encourages him to play (mikey has to adjust his play-style since tommy is very much not into scary things like superheroes).

mikey tends to drag tommy into pranking his bros while they’re goofing off and playing—something that raph gets loud and yells about out of habit, which doesn’t exactly help tommy feel comfortable around him. raph’s more mad at mikey cuz raph’s trying to get this kid to stop shaking and clinging to the nearest safe person whenever he walks in.

there’s a few small moments that help tommy slowly open up more—but it’s the fateful day that don and raph go out to get snacks and bring tommy along that really changes tommy’s tune toward raph.

see, on their way there, they get cornered by purple dragons. raph—already hungry and frustrated cuz this is like the first time tommy actually came to him with something, and now he’s been interrupted by these goons—takes his anger out on them. after they’ve run off, he realizes this isn’t a good look (fighting with extreme prejudice?? this kid doesn’t even like fake violence!) and asks how tommy is, expecting the 5ish yo to cower behind donnie.

instead, tommy clings to raph’s leg. raph is now safety. he got rid of the bad guys, for tommy.

their interests don’t often align, but raph slowly loosens up more and feels like he doesn’t have to censor himself or his demeanor since tommy has it in his head that raph only hurts bad guys. tommy loves just observing, which now applies to when the guys practice ninjutsu. and he eventually asks to learn how to flip, how to block, how to throw a punch.

raph’s also the only one who never really,,, i don’t wanna say “used a baby voice,” but like—kids can kinda tell when you talk down on them. the others all have their moments, and it’s not meant to be condescending, but raph’s the only one who doesn’t do that. raph gives it to tommy straight, every time. sometimes it’s slightly censored for young ears, but it’s still truth.

so when the guys get whisked away to the future and it’s just tom, april, casey (and an OC my sister made that i don’t have time to get into dhshdsh)… tom takes it hard.

after they get back, though, tom’s a preteen. he’s not a kid anymore! and nobody seems to see it!…

except raph.

everyone else is still stuck in the mindset of tom being a child. brooke has an entire arc of accepting it, since that’s her baby. but raph? raph gets home and notices right away and says “thank god. i can swear around you now, right? we can watch pg-13 movies at movie night again??” and tom appreciates it.

—

Brooke: ok i’m not gonna lie i got very excited to share how her and Mikey’s dynamic works because ive had brainrot for the both of them for... literal years. mind you, i ship them, but to me they’re both on the aro- and ace- spectrums. there’s definitely some projecting here.

Brooke was extremely sheltered, didn’t have a lot of friendships. she meets the turtles very briefly and gets excited because HELLO ALIEN MUTATIONS THATS SICK AF but the turtles are busy saving the world!!! so.,.,, she gets lonely, gets in with a bad crowd, becomes a werewolf, yadda yadda… anyway, after all that happens, she’s been rescued by the turtles and mikey is ecstatic. i like to think since he’s so interested with connecting with humans, anyone he has a remotely neutral or positive interaction with, he’s pushing for more. he wants friends. and, let’s be honest, he probably wants a friend his age. as soon as they rescued brooke, he was like “i will make her my friend.”

part of it is the challenge—she’s very quiet and very shy, so getting her to open up is like—what kind of jokes makes her laugh? how do i get her to talk? (there’s a very brief time when brooke’s got her Resting Bitch Face on and mikey wonders if he’s annoying her) but he accidentally stumbles across those Autism Infodump Unskippable Cutscenes and he’s like “finally!!” she explains chemistry and biology to him and when he asks questions, instead of being annoyed, she’s so so excited to explain. so he’s like “wait a sec. i’m not The Stupid One™ to her. i like this feeling.” (not that his bros always reduce him to that, but he has sort of backed himself into a corner playing the role of class clown to lighten the mood for them, and they do sorta enable him to do it more).

so he just dives straight in. “we’re friends now. deal with it.” which is very very good for brooke who’s always needed a literal verbal confirmation for that sort of thing. he treats her like a friend, and she’s never had a good friend role model before, so she assumes mikey’s doing it right and just copies him. oh, he made her some art? she wrote a short fic for him. he asks her about her interests, she asks about his. he treats her as smart, so she treats him the same.

best of all, mikey doesn’t have to fit into a specific perceived role with her. she, in turn, had been playing the role of Perfect Student, Perfect Daughter, So Mature For Your Age, So Smart, Such Potential, and gets to loosen up around mike… it’s more like he literally shakes it out of her. endorses her “cringe” or “stupid” behaviors and interests. he gets her into superheroes and now she’s up all night writing fanfic. basically just helps her be less repressed and more indulgent (to everyone else, they think he’s corrupting her. no. he is helping. and she does help him learn to be a bit more responsible). he calls on her a lot while galavanting as Turtle Titan with his superhero buddies. this doesn’t have to do with anything, i just needed to mention it.

i have like this whole arc planned for a fast forward rewrite that gets… deeper into their relationship and individual characters but it would take too much to write here, haha. i guess the long story short would be: they both go through a bad mental health season in 2105 and lean on each other so much that leo sets them up on a date. and. that’s it. not a lot changes (they do have a brief crisis cuz “how do you relationship??” but also. “do we need to relationship like that or can we do it our own way?”)

and of course, they both bring home every single stray they can find. it drives everyone else nuts.

—

T’Ytian and his MAMA (this is gonna be so fun to write—)

first off—his mama is a well regarded and respected warrior. but she’s also got a strong sense of family—something salamandrians don’t typically have. in their culture, you drop your eggs off to the axolotl-like designated caretakers, and then pick a youngling that shows promise in your particular field of expertise. she didn’t do that. she said “i will let you care for my children until they’re of age to join me on land and then i want my babies back.”

she still takes care to notice what her children are proficient in and has a “tutor” of sorts to help them perfect their technique for whatever career they take. but she also teaches them herself.

she’s always been very encouraging, telling T’Ytian he’s meant to do great things and he can accomplish anything he sets his mind to. she has big expectations for him—of course, he’s her son. T’Ytian is a total mama’s boy in that it’s one of his greatest motivators: make mom proud. (don’t ever make a yo mama joke in his vicinity he’ll tear you apart)

she adores her children to the ends of the earth—all 9 of ‘em. three are older than T’Ytian and have already shown INCREDIBLE precision and expertise in their designated fields (a pilot, a capital guard, and a black-ops soldier). T’Ytian and his twin T’Vekyl are next—so how will they impress her?

the expectations are a bit… heavy, though.

there’s a point when a young t’ytian is upset after hearing his dad died in action, runs off into the wilderness and runs into a particular creature*. he gets cornered in a cave, the thing attacks and he barely makes it out alive, covered in blood from both his own injuries and the creature’s. he goes home and just sobs into mama’s embrace and explains what happens.

and. his mama cannot understand why her boy is crying if he won the fight.

*that particular creature, no one really expected a youngling t’ytian’s age to… survive. so he graduates as a protégée to the next level because everyone, but mostly mom, was so impressed he took it out.

she does specify that his emotions are likely inherited from his father, and that while she has no issues with him expressing himself… the rest of the salamandrians probably won’t understand. and a lack of understanding in their culture usually means being ostracized. so she “encourages” him to keep them in check.

T’Ytian is in training to become an escort—a job consisting of having the skills to protect whomever you’re escorting, as well as basic piloting and a tiny bit of engineering just in case the ship malfunctions. but an escort’s primary purpose is keep the other person alive, even if it means sacrificing yourself. it’s one of the most difficult professions to train since it goes against basic instincts and has so many moving pieces to it. T’Ytian, thankfully, is paired with his best friend. it’s easier to sacrifice yourself for someone you already care about than a total stranger (of course, this ties back to his emotions—the driving force of why he’s so protective of his best friend).

so he’s in the most difficult profession and nailing it? that’s impressive. surely her boy will do great things and help salamandrian society advance in big ways!…

after t’ytian is on earth for a short time and learns from brooke and the other mutanimals, he gets home and everything seems… off. he can’t unsee and unlearn how his mind got opened while on earth. questions start popping up that he digs into and suddenly the answers make him sickened. but the rest of his people don’t seem to care…

including mama.

she always taught him to be true to himself. granted, the “truth” she was talking of was still under the acceptable umbrella of salamandrian culture. but now her boy has been tainted by those filthy terrans from earth.

and t’ytian… he used to go to her with everything. but now some of the things she’s said in the past aren’t making sense—or they’re making a little too much sense, in the worst way possible.

[23-punnybee]

are there any themes or motifs that you associate with your OC or/and their story? if so, would you explain why and your thought process behind them? how they tie back to the character or to the story? does your OC’s name reflect aspects of that theme, or the character themselves? is there anything–whether it has to do directly with your OC and their story or not–that immediately makes you think of them? this last one doesn’t really NEED to be relevant to anything, just… hey i saw a cool rock today. my OC would have loved that–picked it up and put it in their pocket.

i am literally never not thinking about my OCs ok. i need you to understand i got certified to go scuba diving because of brooke. she got me through chemistry. i bought a bow and arrows because of tommy. i’d buy a goddamn halberd because of t’ytian if i had the money lmfao there is nothing i wouldn’t do to feel closer to my OCs

well…….. i probably won’t join the mafia for Finn :/

probably

OK SO REGARDING THEMES AND MOTIFS… i’m not sure much of this was intentional, haha. most of it was just me toying around with ideas and stumbling across the puzzle pieces that match perfectly (at least, to me). fun fact i actually searched a lot of this up cuz i was curious and whaddya know, its actually pretty fitting lol

—

brooke:

originally i didn’t intend for her arc to go this way. the werewolf thing was supposed to be a crack au, but it actually goes really well with her character??? she’s intelligent and values social relationships but had accidentally become a “lone wolf.” i didn’t realize it fit so well until the crack au turned into a full-fledged iteration and her story expanded. now she’s a werewolf in almost everything.

she wasn’t originally meant to be a lone wolf. she was sorta supposed to be “nerdy girl next door” and relatively normal (actually, she was originally created out of spite. it just sorta spiraled out of control in the best way possible).

her werewolf form is a few metaphors to me—the repression of her true self (pushing down all her emotions, including her sexuality), mental health and menstruation (PMDD in particular and being borderline suicidal), being a girl the “wrong” way (not nurturing, emotionally repressed, hairy, violent when pushed too far).

she wears more earthy tones since she’s a nature girl, green in particular because it’s associated with nature, growth, and money. turtles are a recurring theme because she needs to “come out of her shell,” tommy is very important to her, and the TMNT like. literally save her from a cult. sharks are her favorite animal and Frankenstein is her favorite book because she feels monstrous but also misunderstood (this was even before the werewolf thing happened). darkness/nighttime for the same reasons—misunderstood. the moon mostly because wolf but also because she’s so so easily pulled in, and has intense different phases.

anyway.

her name is brooklyn for 3 reasons:

1) i’m a fan of androgynous names you can make a nickname out of,

2) “brooke” was as close as i could get to “book” (which was her main trait when i first made her), and

if it helps you to understand how i name characters, my oc cam (cameron) is into photography. it’s a silly thing that makes me smile. never underestimate my willingness to pun.

3) the in-universe explanation sort of tells you how invested her mom is in her. which is to say—not at all. her mom saw “Brooklyn Hospital” on the birth certificate and slapped that name in.

4) forgot about this but also “hey she likes the marshlands. that has brooks and streams.” i could probably argue about how water/rivers symbolize great change because of erosion or something but it’s 11pm

uhhh fun fact i’m taking a food safety certification course for work reasons and just realized it’s something she’d take/know for a particular mission she’s tryna help the turtles with lol

—

tommy:

yellow is often the color used for anxiety/fear, caution, youth, creativity, but it’s also a warning. like yellow caution signs, or the bright yellow on a bee or wasp tells you to stay the fuck away. tommy is very much my cornered prey animal. trap him with no way out and blood will be spilt—yours or his, who’s to say?

also green. for basically the same reasons as brooke <3

archers symbolize skill and personal growth in a lot of cultures. arrows in particular are metaphors for like—a very big leap/victory toward a goal. i also always think of archers as preventative—in medieval times, you’d have archers patrol your castle to prevent enemies from getting close. and having the prey guy have a tool for a hunter scratches an itch in my brain. also i’m a sagittarius and just think they’re sick af

he’s also into animals, like brooke, but to a significantly smaller degree. he mostly likes the “normal” animals (i.e. cats and dogs, birds, etc. (not that he hates the weird ones brooke loves, he just. doesn’t really feel as great of a connection to them as she does)).

cats are sorta a motif because of the whole scaredy-cat/cowardly lion thing. also the fact that often with cats, people misunderstand how to treat them or misunderstand their signals, get scratched, and yell about how much they hate cats. tommy takes a lot of getting used to and also takes a while to get used to other people before feeling remotely comfortable.

originally his name was Timatello, named after the pet softshell turtle i actually had for a short time. i changed it because tomatillo has yellow flowers and it’s a mexican spice often used in salsa (also! the salsa is green, and he’s a turtle).

whenever i’m in the grocery store and see tomatillo salsa i gotta point it out to my siblings and be like “how could they do this? :(“ as if they crushed up my ninja turtle oc for a chip dip

—

T’Ytian’s name is very very loosely meant to resemble Tiziano Vecellio (i just googled italian renaissance painters for the tmnt oc, go figure) but the pronunciation isn’t “tish-uhn,” it wound up being “t-eye-shen.” he was SUPPOSED to be a one time background-esque oc but that quickly spiraled out of control so now he’s got his own spinoff in my head. let that be a lesson to everyone making OCs—they will grab you in a chokehold when you least expect it and then you’ll have to research dystopian government politics and figure out how to write a revolution.

(i’m getting off track)

he’s a dark gray (neutrality, authority in china) with orange spots (energy, enthusiasm, fun, creativity… but also arrogance which is fitting because salamandrians are kinda really racist in a very arrogant way). the guy comes from a pretty well-regarded family on his home planet (gray’s authority). he’s got armor that’s cyan (vitality and clarity—for when he finally unlearns the stuff he grew up on).

his entire story arc is just about removing the wool from over his eyes and finally seeing the truth about salamandrian society. and eventually helping the resistance overthrow it. i was, uh, reading the hunger games books and listening to a lot of The Score while developing him so that might have something to do with it.

i haven’t exactly thought much about the recurring themes or motifs for him? he’s still relatively new and i tend to stumble across that stuff more the longer the OC has been in development.

anyway

whenever i see pottery, woodcarving/carpentry, and salamanders i think of him <3 also whenever i read dystopian stuff. whoops

—

Finn is named Finn because she’s a shark and. she’s got a fin. i thought it was a cute name. it’s apparently from ireland and means “fair” (she’s a very pretty shark)

pink is associated with femininity, charm, politeness, and companionship; white is new beginnings, honesty, and hope; gray is neutrality, wisdom, and balance.

she’s actually a side character who i haven’t made a fully fleshed out story for and i am sorta hoping it stays that way at least until i can catch up and write tue others’ stories first.

[23-punnybee]

a potentially simple, potentially not-so-simple question to kick off the year! ☝✨

how good is your oc/are your ocs at lying? do they have a steady poker face, or do they struggle to maintain eye contact? do they have any 'tells' that they're lying that are specific to them (i.e. chewing the inside of their cheek, scratching under an ear, a nervous chuckle, etc)? and how comfortable--regardless of skill level--are they with lying? is it something that really bothers them or haunts them for days? or, does it come and go as easily as breathing? do they have someone they'll NEVER lie to? or a subject they'll NEVER lie about?

ooooh i have some fun stuff with this actually

starting off with t’ytian: he has so far found no need to lie, really. like, salamandrians speak of honor and part of honor is integrity and honesty. they don’t really get the concept of white lies either, if something sucks or needs addressing, they bring it up. which is great because he’d be bad at it anyway, he’s VERY readable. a bright neon sign stating what he’s thinking would somehow be more subtle. it’s the fidgeting with his claws, the rapid darting around of his eyes, the quick expression changes that give him away. but like, he rarely does that because he doesn’t need to lie. he doesn’t want to lie. if he does, he breaks out in cold sweats at night, feeling his integrity has been shattered (it doesn’t matter the subject—any lie makes him feel like he’s got radioactive goo bubbling up in his stomach). even with bad guys, he just says “i will not tell you.” he won’t even lie to them.

but he has no problem omitting the truth a little, or changing the subject, or coming up with a red herring to distract them. that’s not really lying, that’s giving them as much information as they need at that point!

—

finn actually has a great poker face - given her family actually plays poker pretty often lol. but it helps when she’s with patients to not let them freak out. she’s very intentional about the facial expressions and sounds she makes and practices in the mirror. and after a few sessions, she picks up what her client responds to best - sometimes it’s a more casual “oh, no she didn’t,” sometimes it’s to keep a blank expression until the client prompts a question, etc. — as far as lying goes, she could lie, and has lied, but generally tries not to. her relationship with her patients is super important, so unless she thinks it’s dangerous or it would break patient-therapist confidentiality, she tries to be very upfront with everyone. she does lie regularly to her family (technically she’s low contact with them—i don’t even think they know she’s a therapist).

—

brooke unfortunately has been cursed with “suspicious expression” - whether or not she’s lying, people just assume she is (it’s just a smile! why does everyone seem to think it’s mischievous??? not making eye contact doesn’t mean she’s lying, maybe she’s just uncomfortable! how come everyone assumes when she fidgets with her hair, it means she’s lying?? curls are fun to play with!). she’s not readable per se, but people just tend to think she’s hiding things. and she’s not! if they ask her a direct question, they immediately assume her answer is wrong or a red herring. she generally tries to tell the truth and once people get to know her, they know she’s honest and start relying on that, rather than reading her expression. during games that require lying, she just leans into the “suspicious” role every time, so people expect it and pay her no mind. she’s got no issues with lying, she wouldn’t bat an eye at it. except she can’t, because people suck at reading her >:[

the only thing she’s sometimes able to get away with lying about is her feelings. she’s got a resting bitch face and it comes in handy. if you somehow manage to see past the mask (tight jaw, slight wrinkle on her forehead, unusually quiet, her tiny wolf hairs growing) and ask her “hey, are you doing ok?” there’s a 50/50 chance she’ll break down in front of you OR turn up the Bitch Face™ to 100 and mask it with anger. it, uh, depends on the time of month 🐺🌕 (you kinda have to be good at reading people in the first place, and then also spend a lot of time with her to learn her ticks—mikey and tommy are fighting for first place in the “who can read brooke best?” olympics. sometimes they get dumb and overthink it and raph swoops in with a piece of wisdom that really makes you realize he and brooke are cut from the same cloth).

tommy is one of the few who can see past brooke’s mask. which is good because she lies to him a lot (she doesn’t like it when he worries about her! it’s her job to worry about him!). it’s annoying to both of them—brooke will do anything to keep tommy blissfully ignorant of bad things (and the secret stash of pistachios she has to keep moving), and tommy wants to know when bad things happen so he can do something to stop it (and wants those pistachios, dammit. stop hogging them!)

—

tommy, on the other hand, can lie decently if he’s not comfortable with whoever he’s lying to. he doesn’t like letting people know things about him (knowledge is power, y’know?), so he’s only really open and honest with those he trusts. it’s an unfortunate involuntary reflex—he even sometimes lies to those he knows (cognitively) he can trust, but his gut keeps giving warning pangs. so he does a lot of confessing and explaining, and re-explaining, and reiterating…

but he cannot lie to brooke. he’s tried, but the truth nearly threw up in his mouth. when he starts trying to, his mouth gets dry so he smacks his lips more and can’t make eye contact. he scratches his arms and neck a lot.

he has found a lot of comfort in raph and with time has come to realize there’s literally no reason to lie to raph. raph is the only one who knows the only lie he successfully told brooke (“i wasn’t scared! i knew exactly how to handle a werewolf”). she still doesn’t know about it.

[23-punnybee]

in light of the holiday season, are there any holidays your oc recognizes or enjoys? this could be any of ''the big'' earth holidays (idk what else to call them jfklds), or maybe something more regional/specific to their culture? or in the case of alien/otherworldly ocs, where they originate, be it a different planet, alternate universe or something else?

if they do partake in a holiday, how do they go about celebrating it? are there decorations? traditions? important meals, clothing, jewelry, or rituals? does it span over a few days or just one? how often does it occur? annually? seasonally? share anything you'd like!

and if they DON'T partake in certain holidays--or any holidays at all, why not? (i.e. in the case of a religious-based holiday, have they grown away from that religion? or maybe the holiday is more tainted with bad memories than good ones)

oooooh, excellent question as always!

brooke:

- she celebrates Shark Week, legitimately. whatever free time she has left in the day, she puts on all kinds of shark documentaries, wears her shark slippers and cuddles her shark plushie.

- halloween was pretty… normal for her as a kid. it wasn’t her favorite but it was fun to dress up and get candy. after the Incident of becoming a werewolf, she avoided it for a while as it was a little,,, triggering? but as time went on and she learned to embrace her wolf side, she started leaning into it a little. nowadays she’s more about decorating the house to be spooky, making playlists, and baking spooky treats. and of course, the silliest costumes in existence.

- she celebrates christmas and new years more out of obligation than anything, until mikey in particular manages to infect her with his holiday cheer. even still, it’s not her favorite holiday. getting dragged to a church christmas eve and only ever receiving presents that align with who your parents want you to be, rather than who you are, will do that to you. she definitely embraces the ugly christmas sweaters, though.

tommy:

- he and brooke have a tradition to buy lots of discount chocolate on the day after valentine’s day and watch a shitty romcom while bingeing chocolate. it’s one of his favorite days of the year. they build up a big pillow fort on the couch and throw snacks at the tv when the characters are being dumb.

- he joins brooke for her Shark Week celebrations—it’s good to know about the sort of creature that can and will eat you in one bite (he wears a shark onesie for this ofc)

- you’d think with his anxiety that halloween would cause a bigger emotional reaction from him, but… honestly, he could take it or leave it. brooke always makes it fun for their little parties, but outside of that, he really doesn’t care. going trick-or-treating as himself and having humans see him is a little nerve-wracking, he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth for candy, and all the scary stuff just isn’t his thing. BUT if you happen to have something Bad happen on halloween, you’d best seek him out since he does so much research on monsters and the supernatural, he’s like a walking encyclopedia. y’know, know thine enemy and all that. he carries salt, holy water, and has silver- and wooden-tipped arrows just in case.

- he likes christmas but hates the concept of santa claus. being stalked day and night all year ‘round and getting judged just isn’t his idea of a benevolent immortal cryptid. naturally, that’s why he knows everything there is to know about santa. everything else is very cute but pointless to him—why wrap a present in pretty paper if someone’s just gonna tear it up?? that’s why all his presents come in bags (you can reuse those).

t’ytian:

- salamandrian holidays often have a great hunting party going out to kill for their giant feast, a reenactment of whatever history they’re celebrating, and some kind of competition—a race, a tier bracket of battles, etc. and takes multiple days to go through the whole process.

• celebrating when space travel was first invented (there’s space ship race on their moon - winner gets a medallion made of a rare material that can charge their ship). not everyone can celebrate, though, so their government sort of draws names on who gets the day off and can participate. this is one of their shorter holidays and only takes about a weekend.

• celebrating when salamandrians drove out the other hostile sapient species (a reenactment of sorts but everyone gets a role as either “salamandrian” or “hostile” - it’s similar to capture the flag. the winning team enjoys a feast that is prepared by the losing team). all in all, it takes about a week.

• memorial for the great admiral T’Vektar, who risked and gave up his life driving his spaceship into a Triceraton battleship, thus protecting his people from the oncoming attack (mostly a day of quiet solitude to reflect and remember that T’Vektar’s valor should be something to strive toward. they also fast this day). there are others similar to this one and they range from 3 days to 15 days, depending on how valiant a deed or great the sacrifice was.

• coming of age ceremonies generally involve sending the younglings out into the wilderness until they kill a trophy of their specific level. they have a couple of these throughout their lives (similar to how we have different names for different ages; i.e. toddler, kid, tween, teen, adult). they usually happen whenever the mentor of said youngling feels the youngling is ready for that level. they usually celebrate a success with a feast but only invite the birth parents (who don’t always show up), mentor, and a few close friends of the successful youngling. fun fact, t’ytian killed a trophy at the next level up and accidentally skipped the first tier (don’t ask him, though. he’ll zone out and get jittery before giving a quick explanation and changing the subject).

• a tier bracket battle to find the champion amongst the youngest who have been training. these happen once every 3-4ish years (about when the youngling would move to the next tier). most everyone available goes to these, but especially the mentors of the younglings, and the Council members and War Generals. the mentor is awarded as much as the winner of the tournament. often, the younglings that didn’t make it very far will get… more training (and sometimes… punishment). they’re sorted by whatever “job” they have—warriors, “nerds” (inventors, engineers, scientists, medic), diplomats, escorts (a warrior specifically trained to protect another salamandrian with their life, usually a diplomat or council member), scout, pilot, guard (who guards the outer walls against the megafauna that eat salamandrians) etc. this whole ordeal easily takes a month to get through, if not longer depending on how many younglings there are, and there’s sometimes competition nuances that take up time.

- t’ytian was very confused when he heard about all the earth holidays and how so many of them are barely acknowledged and only last a day—specifically all the ones celebrating a historical figure’s birth or a memorial for their death (those are the closest to salamandrian holidays).

- he also loves valentine’s day but would never admit it’s because he’s a hopeless romantic. he just says he enjoys the chocolate and colors (don’t ever let him watch a romantic movie, salamandrian tears stain so easily).

- they have nothing at all like halloween though, and since he can walk about as himself without fear of humanity being startled, he loves it. and the candy (brooke has taken it upon herself to ration his candy to avoid a repeat of his first Halloween—let’s just say that salamandrian fluids aren’t easy to clean out of a carpet…)

- he also thinks that christmas should last for 12 days since there’s an actual song about it, what do you mean you don’t celebrate it that way?? where are all the gifts of birds to your true love???? this holiday celebrates the birth of a famous historical person as well as an immortal cryptid bringing you gifts and you only celebrate for one, maybe two days??????

[23-punnybee]

another one!

[23-punnybee]

i am now officially a year older :]

[23-punnybee]

back at it again with another one that could be either really difficult or really easy!

what does your oc's personal space look like? this could be their bedroom (or favorite room) in a home, could be the tool shed outside they've refurbished into an art studio, their section of a community greenhouse, the upper level of a barn they've turned into a hideaway, a treehouse, etc. a space they've deemed "safe"; somewhere they might go to recharge, relax or find some peace.

does it tend to be clean, a mess, or a bit of organized chaos (looks like a mess, but they know where everything is)? if someone comes in without their knowledge, how likely are they to notice items may have been moved?

does their space have an 'aesthetic' to it, or is it more function over appearances?

how willing are they to share that space with others? are 'guests' welcome to make themselves at home, or is the space more 'look, don't touch'?

and lastly, what are three items or objects that will absolutely be in this space? (i.e. books, action figures, spell jars, art prints, a headphone set, stuffed animals, etc)

oooooh ok ok i gotchu (only doing three cuz these are the ocs i have brainrot over right now)

brooklyn

has a few due to moving back and forth a lot!

FL - her bedroom at her grandparents is in the loft of their house so it’s got a slanted ceiling and a cozy vibe to it. there’s a windowsill to sit on that overlooks the surrounding marshlands. there’s also an old cabinet where tommy’s tank used to sit but surprise! it’s not needed anymore. she stores snacks in it now (mostly for guests).

NY - back at her mom’s apartment, she’s got a bunk bed with a desk as the lower bunk, and a tiny walk in closet (curtain instead of a door). her walls are also covered in art from mikey (she writes and he draws, so sometimes they inspire each other and she puts it all up - its mostly superheroes but sometimes it’s random doodles he does (and he’s gotten a few notebooks filled with some first drafts from her)).

both her spaces are very organized with lots of books and bookshelves - most of the books are related to biology or chemistry, but she’s got a few classics like Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde, The Martian (mostly science fiction). notebooks for things she’s studying or writing ideas she has. also, tons of bags. a bag for every occasion.

i’d classify her as “organized, but a little haphazardly,” and she might not notice immediately if someone had been through her stuff. she wouldn’t necessarily invite people in unless she’s really close to them (but if they waltz in, she’s just gonna grit her teeth and find an excuse to get them to go somewhere else).

like… an “academia” aesthetic, but very loosely organized, and most of the stuff is themed after biology. especially turtles (she just leaned into it).

-

tomatillo

after getting mutated, his spot was deemed brooke’s closet and she got rid of a bunch of stuff so he could have space in there. his stuff is mostly puzzles and puzzle books, and shoes (do you know what could be on the sidewalk??) along with all his archery gear, except for his target. that goes in a nearby tunnel close to the turtles’ lair for practice. he’s also got his own music player and headphones (the model varies based on which iteration) and enjoys dancing while brooke’s at school.

he is definitely a “don’t even think about coming into my space” (except brooke, obviously) and would know immediately if someone had messed with his carefully set up system. things have a place and should stay in their place, dammit!

no aesthetics here, what’s the point if it’s not functional?

-

t’ytian

salamandrians tend to live in hollowed out logs or dirt mounds and think of possessions very lightly. your weapon breaks, get a new one. he does like to mould clay and carve wood when he has time, so he has a bunch of little statues/trinkets. without much stuff to have, it never gets cluttered.

until he gets to earth.

t’ytian joins the mutanimals after a few adventures, and i have a headcanon they have their own abandoned warehouse as a sort of home base. most of them don’t live there, they just stop in to get food, or rest, or check to see if anyone can help with this mission, etc.

t’ytian sorta claims a corner on the upper level and has all his fascinating earth things, like, scattered around the area - did you know the earthlings have a thing called a paper clip to help them keep their papers organized?? how quaint! they also seem to decorate their city with things like traffic cones, so to make his space more earth-like, he found one. they also seem make stuffed caricatures of the various beasts on their planet, perhaps as a way of proving their superiority? he has several of these plushies of his favorite earth creatures. he’s learning about earthling culture!

he doesn’t know how to organize because back home, he didn’t have to. but everyone is welcome in his space and free to make themselves feel at home - hell, if they wanna borrow or even take something, he doesn’t mind (except for the stuff he brought from home, then he minds. you’ll have to duel him for it).

no aesthetics, just a lot of chaos. he wouldn’t even notice if someone went through or took something.

[23-punnybee]

depending on your music tastes, this oc question might be hard (or incredibly easy lmao).

is there a score or instrumental piece of music you associate with your oc(s)? if so, why? what about the music makes you think of them or feels like them? if you don't know enough scores/instrumentals to feel confident answering, then maybe a song where the lyrics may not match your oc/their story, but the energy, sound or vibes of the song does.

and if you earnestly don't have answers for the previous requests, throw any oc-relevant song at me. slap me with it like a mackerel.

ooh, thanks for the ask!!

i don’t really associate instrumental pieces with specific characters. i have a couple writing playlists dedicated to mood (i.e. heroic, action, soft/slow, and creepy) to help me maintain what i’m going for. or, for my transformers playlist, slap a bunch of techno music in it lol

i like listening to music with lyrics while doodling though! and i definitely add literally any song that could remotely be related to their playlist, haha.

brooke - Daydreaming by Paramore. if i were making a 90s/2000s-style movie about her, this is the song i’d toss in with scenes panning over her doing stuff to showcase what kinda person she is. also, she’d totally listen to this.

tommy - Last To Fall by STARSET. you know when you listen to a song and it creates such a vivid picture in your head that you have to draw it???? that’s what happened here. it also spawned an alternate universe ending in my head that’s more canon than the original ending i had planned (whoops)

t’ytian - Bulletproof (feat. XYLØ) by The Score. it just has a fun beat that i can imagine an animatic to. also, a lot of The Score’s music wound up in his playlist because i was searching for songs to add and. i think the songs shaped him??? i don’t know how to explain it. i went thru them to see if i should add them and as i went thru, his story unfolded in my mind. whoops! now he has a rebellion to fight for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

cameron - What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club. i have chronic Imagine The OCs To Animatics With Music disease and this is one of those cases. its the catchy pop beat mixed with more sad lyrics that really sells it.

and here’s some OC anthems because i love sharing music:

brooke - Brave by Sara Bareilles

tommy - Ninja Archer by Luke Cyrus

t’ytian - Big Dreams (feat. FITZ) by The Score

cameron - Cracked by Echosmith

[23-punnybee]

are any of your OCs multi-lingual (able to speak/understand a language outside of their first or household language)? if so, what languages can they understand and how fluent are they? if they know fantastical/non-earth languages, is there an earth language you could compare it to with similar sounds/rules? can the language be written, or is it only 'spoken', if spoken at all?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED :D

Brooklyn is bilingual - English and Spanish. and since she raised Tommy, he has an odd mixture of the two where he swaps between them (he knows certain words in English and certain ones in Spanish, but couldn’t translate until later).

Finn has English/whatever common language as well as her Family’s specific code they use (which isn’t spoken).

T’Ytian (salamandrian) knows a few of his planet’s more common languages, like their classic “RAKKA RAKKA” dialect as well as their version of Sign (which utilizes their tails) and Morse Code (which they use underwater if it’s sound-based)

[23-punnybee]

next for oc questions! what type of discipline was your character subjected to at home/growing up? strict? lenient? were they overprotected as a child? sheltered? how has this effected them as they've gotten older or gone out on their own?

my main two who go hand-in-hand are brooke and tommy :]

brooke is in an odd situation since she spent her earliest years with her grandparents, and then switched to moving in with her mom during the school year and returning to her grandparents every summer. her grandparents had older fashioned values for discipline, but brooke was so eager to please that a stern scolding was always enough to get her to change her behavior. her mom, on the other hand, hardly did anything in terms of discipline, and was significantly more lenient as long as the apartment wasn't burned down at the end of the day.

bouncing back-and-forth between her mom's in new york and her grandparents in florida made it hard to make and keep human friends, though, so she wound up being a wallflower in class. social situations make her twitchy as she'd much rather go find a log with moss to study or listen for the last frog of the season.

(this actually makes a fun dynamic with the turtles, since they're more sheltered than she was but in very different ways. they're definitely her first sapient friends she's kept for longer than a school year).

tommy's a funny case since brooke raised him, and she was very much more of a helicopter parent than any of her caretakers. she rescued him as a normal turtle down in florida and nursed him back to health, and he wouldn't leave to get released into the wild, so she's always had the idea in the back of her head that he needs her to watch over him. tommy was fine with it at first... but eventually they had to realize it was codependent and adjust their roles in each others' lives.

[23-punnybee]

spooky season question 👻 your ocs. do any of them believe in ghosts? are they at all superstitious? or do they tend to be skeptics? is there a difference between ghosts and demons, or are they one and the same? any other spooky details you'd like to share?

ooh ok ok i’m gonna go through each of my main OCs (dw there’s only like. 4)

(i’m including pictures because i wanna show them off)

Tommy - DEFINITELY believes in it all, has researched the differences to know their weaknesses and ways to stay on their good side (or at least to not provoke anything). the others have to stop him from reading into it and thinking about it too much or he’ll think himself into a panicked state.

Brooke - used to be a hardcore skeptic, woulda said “oh, that’s just sleep deprivation/gas poisoning making you hallucinate.” now she’s a werewolf so like,,, anything is possible (she’s tired)

(Brooke on the left, Tommy on the right)

T’Ytian - unfamiliar with earth culture but he’s open-minded so it’s not hard to convince him. he’d probably adopt the viewpoint of whoever explains it to him first.

cam - never really gave it any thought, but since she hasn’t had any run-ins with anything like that (except one person pretending to be a vengeful spirit), she’s on the skeptic side. but like, she’s part alien robot, so,,, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched?