#MC: Twila Mahalana

[justpreciousotomebabies]

Julian: I don't need to go to sleep, I'm not tired, I'm fine.

Twila [MC]: But darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again.

Julian:...Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns?

Twila: Is it working?

[iamapoopmuffin]

MC: Truth or dare?

Julian: Truth.

MC: When was the last time you slept?

Julian: Dare

MC: Go to sleep.

Julian: I don't like this game.

[ecoamerica]

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[justpreciousotomebabies]

Julian: Expresses fear of large spiders

Me, knowing my Apprentice ends up getting a huge tarantula familiar:

[justpreciousotomebabies]

My apprentice, Twila, is the sort of person who would just grab Julian’s chest without warning and say ‘honk’.

[iamapoopmuffin]

MC: My boyfriend is too tall for me to kiss him on the lips, what do I do?

Nadia: Punch him in the stomach. When he doubles over in pain, kiss him.

Asra: Tackle him.

Muriel: Dump him.

Portia: Kick him in the shin.

Julian: No to all of those! Just ask me to bend down!

[iamapoopmuffin]

A small piece written for @lovelikeyoursfest with the prompt ‘Day To Day’ Stars Julian and my MC, Twila, who is 4′10 and can benchpress Julian any day.

When ending up with someone half his height, Julian thought if anyone would be lifting their partner up to reach things on higher shelves, or spinning them excitedly with their feet clear of the floor, it would be him. Heck, in the early days of knowing each other, that's exactly how it was. Well, he would pick her up and twirl her around, at least. Often in the heat of the moment, out of joy or excitement, and the look on her face would either be surprise or amusement. Since getting to know her a little better, however, Julian had learnt that Twila was far stronger than she appeared. Just as he would spin her in the air, she quickly picked up the courage to do the same, lifting him as though he weighed no more than a leech. When they danced together, she would always find the perfect opportunity to dip him low and hold him there long enough to place a tender kiss on his lips. Now and then, when she couldn't reach something on an upper shelf, she would call him over to help, and though he would be able to reach it without any help, he would allow her to lift him. Their shared habit of sweeping one another off their feet was a fond ritual between the two of them, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

[ecoamerica]

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[iamapoopmuffin]

Okay, important distinction: Is this waist deep for MC or waist deep for Julian?

Because waist deep on my MC is thigh deep on Julian, but waist deep on Julian is collarbone deep on my MC.

[iamapoopmuffin]

Talking with Asra about whether or not getting close to Julian is a good idea:

[iamapoopmuffin]

If there’s one thing Heart Hunter has taught me, it’s that my first MC is a great singer and dancer. My second, however, is apparently tone deaf and cursed with two left feet.

[iamapoopmuffin]

MC: JULIAN, NO!

Julian, standing right next to them: What?

MC: Oh, sorry, force of habit.

MC: ASRA, NO!

[iamapoopmuffin]

Right. I’m giving my magicians familiars.

One of them’s getting a tarantula.

Since Portia has a cat called Pepi, the magician for her path gets a skunk named Penelope.

The one for Lucio’s path? She gets a goat. “Look, Lucio! He’s just like you!” *Indignant bleating*

[justpreciousotomebabies]

Welp, I’ve designed outfits for my apprentices for every single costume change in The Arcana (including a couple getting extra outfits here and there for the sake of practicality) apart from the winter solstice tale, I can’t come up with anything for that. God damn it.

[justpreciousotomebabies]

These are my main six magicians (made on rinmarugames.com’s mega anime avatar creator) in the order that I did, and still am, using them - Twila, Baku, Rama, Cerulean, Jivanta and Esmeralda.

I created all six and decided little bits about their personalities, then matched them each to one of the six characters you could date by what little I learned of them during the introductory chapters by personality. My kids then developed more as I played each individual route, of course.

Since she has to date and deal with Lucio’s bullshit, Merry gets to look more grumpy. (I played the routes round in a circle - Julian, Nadia, Asra, Muriel, Portia, Lucio)

Though obviously I can’t replicate their actual outfits (I’m not very good at drawing them either, sadly) I have put them all in their own little signature colours. These colours also make up most of their masquerade outfit - Rama’s is fire themed because his sig. colour is red, for example. The two girls also commonly wear their hair in ponytails.

Twila and Rama are apprenticed to Asra (though Rama was also previously taught by his aunt) while the other four were taught and resurrected by others.

Bonus:

Allianora - the magician made for the short where you can go date Nahara. She isn’t nearly as well developed as the others, though, so she’s not included in my main magicians.

[justpreciousotomebabies]

So, in regards to my Arcana magicians, when I first created them I gave them signature colours. At the beginning, this was done purely for aesthetic purposes, as I developed their appearance they were designed with a primary colour for their outfit and it became part of them. Today, because the characters have all been through at least half a route or romance tale, I’m looking at the signature colours they have, the meanings of those colours and whether they match who those characters have become as I developed them over the course of the story.

Let’s start with Twila, since she was the first and is technically the main. Twila’s signature colour is purple. Purple is often associated with royalty, magic, luxury, nobility, power, ambition, creativity, dignity, devotion, peace, independence, mystery and pride. I’ll be honest, straight off I think her colour fits the least in terms of who she ended up being. If I look at each association I listed, I can say Twila is one of my characters who is made uncomfortable by the idea of living a life of luxury, the idea of Nadia spoiling her at the beginning of the story, that sort of thing. Dignity and ambition come in there, as does independence. She wants to earn things herself, make her own way through the world and create a life for herself. She dislikes having things handed to her or made overly easy. She develops after meeting Julian post-plague, in that she starts off far more shy and withdrawn, the type to run from danger every time. At the end, she is far more willing to fight for herself, to face danger. She knows what she wants and is more willing to reach out and take it. In a way, being with Julian helps her have more confidence in herself and in her own power, to carry herself with more dignity than she did before. Though she’s still as clumsy as ever, so that dignified look won’t last forever.

Baku’s signature colour is blue. Blue is associated with faith, trust, loyalty, intelligence, truth, confidence, calmness and tranquillity, First impression of Baku from how they look and how they carry themselves would definitely tell you they are a calm and confident person, and it wouldn’t be wrong. Baku has a bit of a ‘one with nature’ kind of feel to them. They strongly believe and trust in what cannot be seen, but what can be sensed, magic and fate and aura. They tend not to hesitate, but have been known to get flustered, especially when flirted with. Baku is probably the least likely of the lot to make impulsive decisions, and will often think things through carefully and consider all possibilities. Blue turned out to be a very good colour for them, and may well be a big contributing factor to why I made them so calm and serene.

Rama’s signature colour is red. Red is associated with passion, war, danger, strength, determination, desire and love. Being the smallest of my magicians, and clearly having social anxiety, most who look at him probably wouldn’t associate Rama with strength, but he also has the strongest magical ability of the lot, and though he seems nervous and anxious much of the time, his emotional strength is still one of his more prominent traits. New problems do not phase him - he knows his strength, he knows his ability, though he sometimes needs that reassurance, he knows he can do it. His defence of what he has, what he loves and the people around him is the clearest show of his passion as well. When he opens up to you, that passion is clear. In terms of platonic love, Rama has shown to be a very loving person. He may be hesitant to be physically affectionate with most people, but he shows his feelings in other ways.

Cerulean’s signature colour is grey. Grey is commonly associated with loneliness, loss, depression, poverty, sophistication, formality, dullness, balance, emotionlessness, and practicality. Cerulean was the first of my magicians to receive a full backstory, which helps me explain the association of grey with them. Their backstory is one that puts them as part of a persecuted culture, so they have been taught to fade into the background, to be uninteresting, hidden, a nothing. The things they have been taught, the way they have lived, they highly value things that are practical and useful. The ability to be dull and uninteresting, a person people won’t look twice at, is their most honed skill, moreso than their magic. The childhood memories Rue has lost would definitely be worthy of the depressing grey. As they develop during the story, their colour may change to a more lively silver.

Jivanta’s signature colour is white. White is associated with innocence, purity, virginity, goodness, light, safety and cleanliness. Innocence is there in one way, but not in another - from a virginity point of view, he’s a very innocent person. He has no memory of ever being flirted with or of anyone showing interest in him. It’s never been a priority for him either. On the other hand, Jivanta’s backstory details him as being homeless, and he’ll likely have seen things out there in the past three years since his resurrection that would help take down the walls of childlike innocence. Being the only one not apprenticed to anyone, Vanta doesn’t really have anyone to rely on or teach him about the world, so his view of things can be a bit naive or confused at times, which again gives the illusion of childlike innocence. He is definitely the most sensitive of the seven, if something is amiss he’ll be the one to notice first, one step into the palace and he’s like ‘yup, this place is haunted’. Cleanliness is quite funny to me, though, considering Vanta’s status as a homeless wandering magician who conducts business out of a handmade tent - sure, he has no intention of tricking you or pulling anything unsavoury, so in that sense he’s a clean person, but in the more physical and literal sense, he’s covered in more than a year of grime and sores. He doesn’t wear shoes, so the soles of his feet are the worst. He’s gotten sick frequently due to injuries on his feet becoming infected. (His new friends at the palace are most likely going to fix this)

Esmeralda’s signature colour is green, most likely because of the name association. The colour is associated with greed, jealousy, ambition, nature, life, renewal, energy, growth and harmony. Merry is one of the characters who enjoys being spoiled and spoiling others, but I wouldn’t call her greedy. I’d certainly describe her as someone who would love to live the high life, though. She comes from a farming family, and has an intense love of animals. Renewal and growth seem important due to the MC’s role in Lucio’s path, helping him return to physical form but also helping him grow to become a better person. I think she is the kind of person who wants to help others grow and develop as people, not just Lucio, but anyone looking to become a better person or learning to change themselves in some way.

Allianora’s signature colour is pink. It’s not shown on the avatar I made of her, though her skirt is pink. Pink is a colour of love, femininity, affection, friendship and approachability. Though Allianora isn’t as well developed as the others as a character, I feel like this is a good match. She is a feminine and sweet person, very friendly and easy to get on with, but no pushover, and not weak, as some may associate more girly and sweet types with. She’s intended to be someone bubbly and someone you can trust.