#around the queueniverse

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Starting OCtober with the protagonist of Real Toys, Nathanael

Nathanael Drosselmeyer is the oldest sibling out of five.  He’s into indie bands, horses, and rock climbing.  He’s got a lot of anxiety, and covers that anxiety up with sarcasm most of the time.  He’s training as a watchmaker to take over his uncle’s clock repair business.  As a trans guy, he feels stifled in his small Oregon town of Berylia, and can’t wait to live in Sacramento full time.

Nathanael sort of appears in the story three ways, so I drew him three times: Human form, Prince form, and Toy form.

Yeah this is the nutcracker.  As a human kid in Sacramento, he’s not too confident of himself yet, and tries to hide with a lot of grays and blacks.  He’s also into wolves and cheetahs, but cheetahs are way too bright to put on clothing.  He tends to stoop.

In The Land of Eternal Starlight, toys tend to look just as their children imagined their characters.  Nathanael is sort of his own character, so he pretty just looks like himself but stuck in a silly outfit.  And he’s got a beard, which he digs.  He soon gets mistaken for a long lost prince, though, and goes through with the ruse in a bid to get home.  Pictured is him being lauded by crowds of toys and secretly screaming.

The last Nathanael is Nathanael when he tries to go back to the big world after being cursed by the Turquoise Lady.  He’s absolutely a toy and he doesn’t recognize himself- at all.  It’s a bit nerve-racking.

[whiteteaandlily]

Internal Battle That Nobody Else Can See (2019)

Making mistakes left and right; lost a friend, struggling to fight. Hoping I'll make it; maybe I might. Breaking down a little each and every night.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

So it’s called the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, right?

Well, here’s the Mouse King.

But, not really.  I suppose e is a ‘mouse king’ in the sense of being a the gross product of a bunch of mice stuck together.

You see, eir mom is my absolute favorite character in the story, so I didn’t want to kill her off.  In rt present, she’s alive and still ruling.  This is more the mouse Prince.  Or, Princet.

HEPTAGR, which stands for Hugo, Emile, Pierre, Theo, Andre, Gabrielle and Romane, is the forced fusion of seven mouse siblings from the same litter.  The litter happened to be Queen Marguerite’s royal brood, so HEPTAGR is still the rightful heir,  The Land of Eternal Starlight being a place without aging, though, HEPTAGR has been waiting for almost two hundred years.

Since e’s a fusion of mouse men and women, e chooses to identify as agender.

E doesn’t have polycephaphy so much as diprosopus- that is, e’s got one skull with seven faces.  E’s got seven noses, and seven eyes which are so far set between the muzzles to be functionally useless.  So, HEPTAGR is blind.  E does have a great sense of hearing, though, and eir sense of smell is so good e can tell when people are lying.  E has an abnormally long neck and it actually can swivel eir head 360 degrees like e’s a doll or in the Exorcist.  Spoop!

There’s not much else I can say about HEPTAGR without giving a lot away.  All of their personalities have fused into one, so e’s kind of a new being, separate from the Royal Brood.  E suffers from depression bc of what eir mom did.  After the accident that created em, their mom kind of banished them to a forbidden island to get forgotten about.  So, that’s super nice.  

HEPTAGR was the character I dreaded drawing the most but I saw e came out rather well.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Going through the characters who have counterparts in tnatmk before I move on to my other original original characters.  

Every Nutcracker adaptation needs a Marie/Clara.  Well, this is 13yo Maria.

Maria Acero is her full name, Acero being the spanish word for steel.  Not to sound like a nerd, but Stahlbaum translates to Steel Tree which is supposed to refer to the rigidity of social norms and her family...Real Toys is not going to have the same themes, but I had Maria’s last name mirror that for fun.

Yes, Maria has Mexican heritage.

Maria is what’s known as a halfae.  A halfae is a person sort ‘half possessed’ by a demon or- as Real Toys refers to them- dords.  The dords possess the person before they’re born and then they live an entire lifetime as a single entity.  Depending on how they die, the human and dord souls might fuse for all eternity, or split off again at the end of this life.

Maria’s dord is purple and, as such, she has hair that’s naturally dark purple.  She has the power to make solid rainbow constructs.  Think like the green lantern, but gayer.  

She also can bring a sort of “raise” inanimate objects that look like living things.  Anything from toys to store mannequins and even two-dimensional pictures.  The things she raises are like zombies- moving without will, following Maria’s suggestions to a fault(and even her unconscious desires).

This phenomenon happens automatically, without her noticing.  As such, she has to wear gloves every day of her life.  This is especially vexing to her parents, who are terrified of their daughter being found out.  As such, she’s homeschooled, and not allowed to go to social events or even have friends face to face.  It’s a lonely life, and not fair for a little girl.  

Maria is also autistic because I’m a sucker for autistic characters.  She’s diagnosed and, with her home life, has not had to mask so much as Hilda.  As you can see, she a dyed-in-wool barefooter(her foot has never touched a boot!) and a member of the Raptor Arms Squad.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

It’s the 7th(if my queue works correctly) and my second OC!

This is Hilda, the other main/POV character of Real Toys.  It’s been established that this world has talking toys, sentient mice and demons, but why does that all work?  Well, with Hilda, we explore the nitty gritty of that.  

Her full name is Swanhilde Franziska Drosselmeyer, and she’s Nathanael’s little sister.  She’s a 14yo high school freshman who, despite mostly getting B+’s and A-’s, is very hard on herself for her academics.  She’s a huge bookworm and has a hard time making friends face to face.  

Her dream is to be a webcomic artist but, in reality, she wants to go to Narnia or get on the Hogwarts Express.  That is, she wants to go to a magical world.  That’s not quite in the cards for her.  Her story ends up looking more like urban-fantasy.

When her brother disappears, Hilda finds out that she is a ‘Duckback’- a person who cannot be affected by magic.  Magic bounces off of her like ‘water off a duck’s back’.  She is recruited by her fellow duckback uncle into the demon-hunting business, to train and stop dangerous spirits from harming people.  She is also investigating what happened to her brother, hoping to bring him home.

As you’ve probably guessed, Hilda is the cutest little lesbian, although she doesn’t realize right away.  She’s also the character most blatantly based on me so...yep.  She’s autistic/ADHD, too.  Again, undiagnosed.  But said autism feeds into her social shortcomings and anxiety, and a nice scoop of impostor and gifted child syndrome, to boot.

Ultimately, she is a positive character to write, especially when she figures out how cool she is.  But she’s passionate and wants the best for people, and gets so, so excited about her SIs.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Best Man

I just wrote this.�� Pushed what I had planned to pub Thursday ahead a week :p

It is...very self-indulgent.  But I had sort of a Long Day last Monday and I wanted to write a situation where someone comes out, and the people come out to are actually really thrilled.

This scene mirrors a flashback in Dolls and Duckbacks where Nathanael *tries* to come out to his parents.  

“It’s just a hypothetical,” the boy settled back into the chair, “nothing to get upset about.”

“Honey,” Christian said, “we’re not upset.  This is wonderful!”

The boy sort of cringed into his hands but said, “R-really?  You think it’d be good thing if I were a boy?”

“Of course!  That’s who you really are, isn’t it?  If you’re living as who you really are it’s a good thing.”

The words made him smile, because they echoed so much with his inner monologue, “Yeah, I think it is who I really am?”

Astor clapped his hands, “Oh, I’m so excited!  I’m so excited!”  He smacked his head, “Wait!  I have to-” he checked his watch, “just enough time if I take the Saab.”

“Astor,” Christian chuckled, “what?”

Astor kissed Christian on the cheek, “I’ll be right back!” he ran out the door.

The boy cocked his head, watching him go, “What was that about?”

“I have no idea, honestly,” Christian said, and came around the table, “Get up and hug u your uncle.”

The boy laughed nervously, “Uncle.”

“Come on.  Please?”

The boy stood up to hug the old man.  It was a hardy bear squeeze.  Christian took a look at his face, “I have a nephew!”

“Oh shit,” said the boy.

“Don’t swear,” said Christian.

“Sorry.  But, nephew,” he grinned, “yeah!  I’m a nephew?  I guess.  That’s cool.”

Christian pat him on the shoulder, “I guess this means I’ll have to do more man-centric activities with you.  Uh.  What do nephews do with their uncles?  Fly-fishing?”

The boy wrinkled his nose, “I hate fishing.  I think I’d hate fly-fishing even more.”

“Forget the fly fishing,” he looked him dead in the face, “I’ll take you to the barber.”

The boy touched his hair.  It hung in a braid down the center of his back.  “Mom and Dad will probably kill me if I cut my hair short.”

“Oh!” Christian said, “Right.  They don’t know yet, do they?”

The boy looked away, ashamed.  Before Christian could press, his cell phone rang.

“Yes?  Dear?  Oh!  Oh!  Yes!  Of course!” his eyes slid sideways to the boy, “Honey!  I mean, pal, what’s your name?”

“Uh,” the boy couldn’t help a smile, “what?”

“What’s your name!  You’re not going by Clara anymore, right?”  With a grimace he said, “Not that you can’t!  You can still be Clara if you want to!”

“Oh!” the boy said, “oh uh, Clark?”  There was a tinge, “No, no, no, no.  Not Clark.  Definitely not Clark.”

“Not Clark, got it.  Astor?” Christian spoke to the phone, “I’m putting you on speakerphone.”

He set the phone one the counter and Astor’s voice came through, “Whatever name you’re comfortable with.  You can change your mind later.”

The boy nodded, “Definitely not Clarence, though.  I don’t want an old-man name.”

“Wow, excuse you,” Christian said.

“How about Clair?” Astor asked, “With an I?”

“I dunno.  Can I do my middle name instead?  Can I be like Nathan or something?”

“Nathan is great!” Astor said.

“No wait!  Nate!” said the boy.

“Nate it is!  Thanks, Nate!” Astor hung up.

The boy put his hands over his face.  “What’s wrong, Nate?” Christian asked.

“He’s so happy.”

“Well, of course,” Christian frowned, “you have to understand, Nate, it was different for our generation.  I spent way too many years buried in a closet.  So seeing you, as a kid, knowing who you are and declaring it- it gives me hope.”

The boy peaked between his fingers, “I’m not gay, though.”

“No.  But you’re letting yourself be who you really are.  Do you know what a great gift that is?”

The boy hugged himself, frowning.

“Buddy.  What’s wrong?”

“What if I’m like- what if I’m making it up?”

“Making it up?”

The boy frowned, and swung his arms, trying to get rid of some toxic energy that was building, “I mean.  I dunno.  Just.  I did come out to my parents.  I mean I tried to.”

Christian frowned, “Tried to, huh?”

The boy nodded.

“And what did they say?” Christian’s tone is disappointed.

The boy says, “Just that- that I’m wrong.  That I’m a girl and,” he tucked some hair behind his ear, “I guess kind of implied that the reason I think different is because I’m ugly?  And then mom turned around and said transexual people were sick.”

“Transgender,” Christian corrected, then shook his head, “Oh, Jen.  And what did Ezra say?”

The boy shrugged; looked at the floor.  Christian inhaled sharply, “Goddamnit, Ezra.”

“It doesn’t really matter, Uncle.”

“It does.  You deserved more from your parents when you came out to them,” he hugged him again, “I know I’m not your Dad, but I’ll be the best gay uncle I can be,” his face lit up, “I know!  You’ll be my best man!”

With Prop 8 history, Astor and Christian were, of course, legally married.  They still intended to have a ceremony, though.  They had it planned for the end of August so the kids could come.  

“What about my Dad?”

“Eh,” Christian said, “I haven’t actually asked him yet.  And now I’m sour at him.  What do you say?”

“But I’ll have to be out, and in public front of my parents?  With my dad wondering why his daughter is the best man instead of him?”

“Oh,” Christian put his hands down, “well, maybe not.”

“Sorry, Uncle.”

“It’s OK,” Christian smiled, “the closet is safer, sometimes.  You’ll be my best man in spirit.  You’ll definitely not be a flower girl, though.”

“Jeez, aren’t I a too old for that, anyway?”

“You’re right.  We’ll save that for the triplets.  And Hilda too, if she wants.”

“I think she’s too old, too,” the boy smiled, “but, it’s a deal, anyway.  If you call it a casual wedding, I can wear a suit and my parents won’t freak out a lot.”

“Noted,” Christian said.

The boy sighed, and felt himself settle- finally- into his own bones.  It was as if he’d been dragging along skin all this time that didn’t fit right, and finally he had made the right alterations for it to be comfortable.  His uncle calling him stuff like ‘buddy’ and ‘nephew’ and ‘Nate’, the boy couldn’t think of a time he felt better.

“Listen,” Christian said, “if your Mom and Dad give you a hard time, come here, OK?”

“As in?”

“Live here.”

Nate blinked several times, “You mean that?”

“Absolutely.  You deserve to be surrounded by people who let you be who you are.”

Nate felt his eyes fill up with water, “Jeezum.”

“Awww,” Christian hugged him, “cry it out, young man.  Men aren’t afraid of tears.”

Nate sniffled, “Shut up.”

Hilda came into the kitchen in her zebra onesie and her puffy socks, grinning, but frowned when she saw the boy in tears, “Clara?  Why you crying?”

Nate wiped his tears, “I’m just happy,” he blew his nose, “how was your finale?”

“Oh man,” Hilda sat at one of the stools, “I’m gonna miss her so much.”

“So what happened?” asked Christian.

“Well, Amelia went back to her own time, of course, which is good for her.  But Ricky the Robot went with her and now they’ve opened up a flight school for girls in the 1930s?  And it’s like,” she sighed, “why can’t I just keep following her adventures as an instructor?” she groaned, “I’m glad everybody’s happy, though.”

“Probably because Amelia Airhart is more interesting when she’s dogfighting aliens and stuff?” said Nate.

Hilda sighed, “I guess.  So what have you guys been doing?”

Christian smiled, “Hey Hilda, guess what?”

“What?”

Christian looked to Nate, though, “Can I tell her?”

Nate laughed, “She already knows, dude.”

“I know what?”

“That you have a big brother instead of a big sister,” Christian said.

Hilda turned to Nate, “You came out to him?  Without me being there?”

“Uh,” Nate tried to measure her tone, “Sorry?  It just sort of happened.  I didn’t know you were supposed to be there.”

“Astor knows, too,” Christian said, and smiled slyly, “he’ll be right back.”

“Oh man,” Hilda said, “how’d they take it?”

“Honestly?  Thrilled,” Nate said.

“That’s great!” Hilda ran into a hug with him, “He came out to me first,” she said to Christian.  This was clearly a point of pride for her, “sorry the name I suggested didn’t go down well, though.”

“It’s OK,” the boy said, “I think I’m gonna be Nate now.”

“Oh, that’s cool!”

“Yeah!”

The front door opened, revealing Astor.  He had a very uncharacteristic grin all over his long face.  He put a cake down on the counter.

We Love You, Nate! was icinged into the top.

Astor hugged Nate, “Happy coming out!”

“Wahhh,” Nate was just glad he hadn’t been eating anything at the time, “a whole cake?  Because I came out to you?”

“Yeah!  Consider this a coming out party!”

“Eh,” Christian waved his hands, “bad terminology.  In this country, a coming out party is for a rich young woman.”  Astor had a slight accent because he was an immigrant- a refugee, actually, forced out of his old country by war.

Astor frowned, “Well, that’s stupid.  I think English needs to evolve in that area.”

“I can dig,” said Nate.  

“Anyway,” said Astor, “when I came out as bisexual to my family, I got cake, so Nate deserves a cake, too,” he blushed, visibly, “I got really excited, though.  Rushed out the door before I knew what name to put on it.”

Hilda laughed.  Nate looked at the cake.  It sure did give him a glowy feeling inside.  But-

“Guys?  What if I’m wrong?  But if I think I’m a- a trans guy today, but then I realize like, I dunno, I’m just a lesbian or like, one of those people with five genders, or something?” he spidered his fingers.  He felt guilty, now, to be making his uncles do all this stuff, especially if this wasn’t real.

Christian grinned, “Well, it doesn’t hurt to have more than one cake.”

“I dunno about that,” Astor said, “your doctor did tell you need to watch your sugar intake.”

Christian’s arms drooped, “Oh, come on.”

“Sorry,” Astor petted him on the back, “maybe the next time one of you kids figures out you’re queer, we’ll go bowling instead?”

“You old dictator,” Christian growls at Astor, but smiles at Nate, “but, I say, go with the flow.  Nate, do you feel like a boy?”

Nate smiled, “Well, I know I really like it when you call me that.”

Christian smiled, “Well that’s a good hint.  But at the end of the day, it’s up to you,” he squeezed his shoulder, “if you think you’re a boy, Nate, then you’re a boy, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Prompt: your OC meets the character(s) that inspired them. How are they alike, and how are they different? Do they notice their similarities, or do they clash immediately?

I bet Maria and tnp Clara would get along just great. Both are very emotional, empathetic kids who still like ‘childish’ things.  Maria might get a bit nervous around Clara’s dolls and probs would def not touch them, but would enjoy exploring the woods with her.  I feel like Clara would be pretty open and accepting of Maria’s magic shit, too.  She seems cool that way.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Prompt: your OC meets the character(s) that inspired them. How are they alike, and how are they different? Do they notice their similarities, or do they clash immediately?

Turquoise would probably love Ursula but also get REALLY competitive with her as far as size and magical ability.  And Ursula is, yanno, way smarter,and she’d play Turquoise like a fucking fiddle.  That would...actually be a lot of fun to see!  But Ursula would probs lose control or Turquoise’s temper would go off for no reason and she’d turn Ursula into some driftwood or something.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Prompt: your OC meets the character(s) that inspired them. How are they alike, and how are they different? Do they notice their similarities, or do they clash immediately?

I bet Hussar and Pearl would stress each other out.  That’s just their personalities.  Pearl might have the wisdom to see that the Prince was fucking evil, but good luck explaining that to the horse.  If she did see how much he has in common with her, it would be painful, bc he does not appear in a good light.  He might have some awareness but mostly he would see her relationship with Steven which would make him kind of jealous.  

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Prompt: your OC meets the character(s) that inspired them. How are they alike, and how are they different? Do they notice their similarities, or do they clash immediately?

uh lesse...Hilda was supposed to be a clone of my middle school bff but then she just sort of, absorbed all of my shit traits instead.  But anyhoo...I think Hilda would def like hanging with the two of us, even if we are in our 30s at this point. She’d see us as cool/weird surrogate auncles.  I’d be the weird queer relative and my friend would be the cool one with animals skillz.   We’d all give each other book recs.  It would be awkward for me, tho...

[goosefightrobinmayor]

I didn’t draw him specifically for OCtober, but I did draw him recently enough to count.

This is The Prince of Dolls, the original ruler of the Kingdom of the Dolls...huh, naming’s a little off, isn’t it?

He’s dead now.  Or still falling off a bottomless cliff.  All up to your headcanon.

According to Hussar he was the most awesome guy.  Louisie didn’t like him much, though.

He’s really only interesting bc he looks almost exactly like Nathanael.  Or Nathanael looks like him.  Except for the hair color.  They look so similar, in fact, that Nathanael takes The Prince’s place and Hussar buys it.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

A twofer for today’s OC october!

Tripolini and Lanterne Null are a couple of human characters, twins.  Trip is a cis dude and Lanterne is genderfluid.  They are loosely based of Billy Mischief and Nick Cipher from way back.

Lanterne is a halfae like Maria and Astor.  They have powers over cold and inky shadows, and have the ability to teleport with said shadows.  Lanterne runs a gemstone and jewelry shop somewhere in the mountains in Canada.  

Like the Drosselhusbands, they also have a secret occupation.  They infuse their gems with small dords for the dorders to use in their hunting.  Duckbacks can’t be affected by magic, but they can use dord magic so long as it’s trapped in a doodad.  The most common of said doodads are jewelry made with amethyst that can alter a person’s memories.

Lanterne’s dord keeps them from putting any emotion in their voice, so people find them hard to read.  Even their jokes usually get taken with all seriousness.  They like to be elegant and put together.

Which is pretty much the exact opposite of Trip, who probably lets goblin rats choose his outfit everyday.  He’s just a spellable or- person who’s neither a halfae or a duckback.  He knows all about Lanterne’s life, though, and he’s their biggest fan.

Trip is the lead singer of a band called The Innocents I’ve Known, which happens to be Nathanael’s favorite band.

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Huh.  I’ve been writing a lot of fanfic lately, haven’t I?  I’ve also been writing about a lot of trans characters.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the podcast Story Break did a take on Bowsette that ended up being a combination coming out movie/redemption arc. If you don’t know what Story Break is, it’s a podcast where the guys behind Anime Crimes Division come together and try to come with a five act outline for a script in one hour.  The subjects of the stories can be anything from Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds to Hungry Hungry Hippos to something completely original about robbing heaven’s banks.

I decided to write a scene.  You might want to listen to episode first, bc it sort of relates directly to the scenario they pitched...with a few editorial changes, I guess.

My fav part:

Bowsette turns to a mirror.  She studies it.

BOWSETTE

I finally like the person I see when I look in the mirror.  Now I just wanna figure out how to like the person I see when I look inside.

Peach crosses to her, puts her hand on her shoulder in a supporting way.  Bowsette knocks it off.

BOWSETTE

If I stay away from everybody who I can hurt for long enough, maybe I can figure out how to stop being a shitty person.

Peach drops her hands to her side.

PEACH

That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say, and we’ve known each other for years.

BOWSETTE

Well that’s not very encouraging.

PEACH

Bowsette, you are never going to be a good person if you run away from your responsibilities.  It doesn’t work that way.  It’s not going on to the top of some mountain and meditating a lot and coming back and someone without flaws.  Good is doing.  You said it- you put people in danger.  So?  Be a good person by helping me to get them *out* of danger.

Bowsette plays with her bracelet.

BOWSETTE

But what if I do all that, and they never like me anyway?

PEACH

But if you save them, won’t you like you?

[goosefightrobinmayor]

I figured I should do a day for Christian even though I haven’t drawn him recently.  This is picture of him and Hilda from 2016 and their designs have been tweaked since then.

Christian being Christian Elias Drosselmeyer, the spoopy wizard/inventor/mentor from tnatmk.  Since this is a modern retell, tho, he’s traded in his yellow tailcoat for a host of yellow flower shirts.  He just, has so many.  His niblings don’t know where they all come from.  Also he just, doesn’t have a glass wig at all.  His baldness is exposed for all to see.

Fun fact!  Hoffman’s Drosselmeyer was short and bald.  Dumas was the guy to popularize the tall Drosselmeyer with a full set of hair, and this sort of became cemented in everyone’s consciousness.  This in mind, I’ve since decided to model my Christian after Alexandre Dumas.  Just imagine jolly Alexandre Dumas but with less hair a slightly darker tone and wearing yellow flower shirts.

I also don’t like that he looks so grumpy in the drawing.  Christian is not a grump guy.  But he has reason to not be in a good mood.  This is just after a scary demon took his eye but importantly, made his nephew disappear.  Inside that music box is said scary demon.  Also he’s wearing a medical eye-patch instead of a cool eye patch bc he just had surgery.

Anyway!  In Real Toys, Christian is an ‘on call clock repairman’.  So, if your clock is broken, he will rush to your place to fix it in a jiffy.  Sounds- suspicious, isn’t it?  Almost like it’s a cover for something else?  Because it is!

His real job is ‘Professional Dorder’, that is, a person who helps and sometimes captures demons, or dords.  A lot of dords have a weakness to gears and metal, and as such, being a tinker is a boon in the industry.  

Christian himself has the duckback trait, which means that he cannot be directly affected by demon magic.  When Nathanael disappears, he initiates his also duckback niece as a fellow dorder.  

[goosefightrobinmayor]

Time for a change of pace

Some more Night of Full Moon nonsense

I little more details about how this curse would work if it worked this way

Also, my favorite character, Croc Dad! 

The Tin Man does look back at the crystal palace with some concern, but shrugs to himself.  This feels right- helping a man get some closure with his son.  Hmm, that son.  “What is your son like?” he asks.

“Dedicated lad.  Creative, a bit too much of a dreamer, though.  Name’s-”

The Tin Man steps on his snout.

The Crocodile roars with closed mouth and lashes about in the snow.  He pulls himself from under the metal foot and displays his teeth, “What was that for??!”

“Don’t say his name, idiot!” The Tin Man crouches to be eye to eye with him.

“Why the hell not?  I’m proud of him!”

“Because that’s how people get cursed.  You want your kid having scales like you got?”

“His name?” The Crocodile blinks, “But I don’t even remember my own name.”

“Exactly.  It’s how the curse operates- becomes aware of your name and just- eliminates it.  When you got no name, you’re not you anymore,” he shrugs and bangs his chest, making a hollow noise, “so, you get to be not you anymore.”

“That’s a stupid way of putting it,” the Crocodile snaps, but sighs, “but maybe you’re right, for all I know.  I don’t want this for him.”

“The good thing is, if you remember his name, he’s not been cursed yet,” the Tin Man throws him some coals and they start walking again.

“I thought I forgot my name and the names of half of my friends because I was suffering from depression,” the crocodile bites a branch and pulls it back for the Tin Man.  

“Wow, you have a lot of cursed friends.”

“Apparently,” the Crocodile waddles ahead of the Tin Man again, “but how am I going to recognize them, now?  They don’t look themselves and they won’t answer to- well, nothing, because no one knows their names.”

“I dunno.  Describe them in detail?  ‘Hey, did you used to have red hair and buck teeth?  No?  That wasn’t you?  Ok, how ‘bout you, Rage Bear?’”

The Crocodile laughs, “Jeez, that sounds exhausting.  I think I’ll just ask what their profession was.”

“Probably quicker.”

“How ‘bout yours?”

The Tin Man plows into a rock with a loud clang.  The Crocodile cringes, “Are you alright?”

“Probably,” he walks around the rock.

“Didn’t that hurt?”

“No.  Bard.”

“What?”

“Bard.  Bard, I’m a bard.”

“Seriously?  A wandering layabout who plays bad songs for coins and stale bread?”

“Damn buddy, don’t describe me in such glowing terms.”

“It’s such a nice axe, too.  I thought you were the other lumberjack.”

“It’s such a what?”  Eyes roll rightward and down.  In his right hand is metal axe with a fine blade.  “Not again!”  He says, and wedges the axe into the trunk of a tree.

“What the heck?  What did you do that for?”

The Tin Man stomps away from the damned tree.  The Crocodile, with maw open, looks from him to the axe.  He bounds after the Tin Man, “You’re lucky I need your coals to move or I’d take that.”

“You can have it when it comes back.”

“Your axe will come back?”

“Your collar came back, didn’t it?”

The crocodile puts his stubby claws on his neck and his eyes widen.  Indeed, the spiky metal collar’s back on his neck.  The Tin Man doesn’t know when it showed up, it’s just there now.

“My collar?  But the fairy shattered this!  Didn’t you see her shatter this?”

“Yes.  And she’s an elf, not a fairy.”

“Then why am I wearing a collar again?”

The Tin Man shrugs “I dunno!  Curse!  I guess!”

The Crocodile growls, and nudges the Tin Man’s leg for some more coals, “You get a fine axe, and I get a collar.  This is so unfair.”

[goosefightrobinmayor]

A bit from the DaD draft I dug up recently

Nathanael seeing his toy form in the mirror for the first time

ofc, before then he has to meet a my wicked witch oc

In a perfect world, Wickedella is voiced by Diamanda Hagan

"Welcome, fools, to AWFUL AND TERRIBLE FURNITURE!"

The words were nigh roared in a terrifying Irish accent.  They came from the woman behind the counter.  She was in a long black dress with sleeves that hung to the ground.  She was purple, with her black hair tightly up on her head.  She smiled evily, leaning on a gnarled staff.

"And how can I help you vermin today?"

"Hey Wickedella!" Louisie said, "We just want to look at some enchanted mirrors.  Got any in stock?"

"Ah, Louisie Ana.  Yes, of course, for you, I have just what you need.  Follow me," she raised her arms dramatically, "to your doom!" she cackled, long and hard. 

Great, not even the antics of Wickedella the Awful and Terrible Sorceress could cheer Nathanael up.  He wondered how a sorceress went from stealing the literal beating heart of the king to running a furniture store, though.  Maybe when you were a toy instead of a real thing, you had to set more reasonable conquests.

Whatever.  He had to focus on this.

The large room was better lit than the saloon or the tunnels.  Instead of greenish lighting the place had bright white pentagons set into the ceiling.  They showered the store in light almost like midday, which, of course, made the merchandise look better.  If only the styles didn't clash so much.  There were nicely finished hardwood bureaus, but also bright pink bed frames that looked like they belonged in Barbie's house, and footstools carved out of marble cake.  Though Nathanael didn't know what a skysil was worth, he couldn't have noticing that the confectionary furniture was worth only double digits in the currency, while wood and plastic furniture could range to a thousand skysils in price. 

"So, Louisie, who is this, a knight?" Wickedella was walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Louisie in front of him.

"He's as much of a knight as you're a cute little kitten, Wick."

Wickedella lead them to a wardrobe.  A nice wardrobe it was too, though Nathanael certainly didn't need one.  "What's this?  My minions left this in front of the mirror?  This is unacceptable!"  She raised her staff to the ceiling and purple lightening sparkled around the tip, "heads will roll for this!  MAGGOT!" A pound, and a drag.  A pound, and a drag.  A white sail moved from behind a purple couch.  It emerged from the other side, and there was a white reptile head under it.  "It's pronounced Margret, actually."  The creature's voice was like a bunch of stones in a bag being jumbled. 

"Oh, of course.  I mean!"  Wickedella extended her arm, gesturing with he staff, "Move this hideous thing at once, Margret!"

The albino dimetrodon dragged it's tail the rest of the way out from behind the couch, with her legs splayed, like an alligator.  She put her head against the side of the hardwood wardrobe.  She then walked into it, pushing it slowly.  It scooted against the graham cracker floor and Nathanael expected it to snap.  But no- it kept it's shape- even the little holes stayed the same.  Now Margret's sail was in front of the mirror

Louisie gave Nathanael a push in the back, "Go on, Blockhead."

He walked up to the mirror, though Margret was still in front of it.  Already, he could see it's enchantment- or maybe anti enchantment at work.  Though Margret had beady hard scales, ivory teeth and pink eyes, in the mirror she was just semitransparent white plastic, her mouth frozen open in a permanent snarl.  She was- one solid piece.  How could she even move?

She finally pulled herself from in front of the mirror, and Nathanael steeled himself to meet his own eyes in it.  He'd always, always hated mirrors.  But he needed this.  Needed to look like himself and, and not a-

Whatever that in the mirror was.

Nathanael found his mind rushing.  Maybe it- wasn't him?  Yeah- yeah!  Someone else had hopped in front of the mirror- some seriously hideous guy.  He reached an arm out to push around the guy but- he couldn't touch him.  He couldn't touch him- glass got in his way.  On the other side of the glass, the man was trying to push a fingerless mound of a hand into his, to shake, or something. 

Glass got in his way.

Nathanael stared at the excuse for a hand in the mirror.  Oh, how familiar it looked.  Spiders crept up his body.  He looked quickly behind himself.  No such luck.  No one was behind him but for the two fantastically dressed women. His fingertips touched the glass again, and this time he heard the ting, like wood against glass.

He finally met his own eyes.

The face was new, but the dysphoria wasn't.  Still, not his face.  Nathanael's face shoudn't have bulging eyes like that.  It didn't have a nose made from a single sliver of wood.  It shouldn't have a huge, scowling, lipless mouth full of teeth.  And his eyes and teeth and gums shouldn't have been literally painted on his face.  The man in front of him wasn't a person.  It wasn't even a doll.  It was a thing. 

"No, no, no.  Not this, not this," he shook his head and so did his reflection.  Somehow, seeing the fear in those monstrous, painted green eyes just scared him more.  He raised his hand and so did the monster.  He put both arms over his head- and the thing did that too!

There was a big black hat affixed to the thing's head, with a high shape, like some kind of weird helmet.  The symbol on it was like the symbol on the flags in the alley, but silver on black.  Black hair stuck out at the sides of his head, and from under his teeth in a beard.  Instead of a body the thing had a series of tubes.  A tube for a torso on top of two more tube legs, with tube arms on the side that ended with unpainted wood orbs instead of hands.  And everything, everything was painted!  His skin, his eyes, his clothes, the buttons on his clothes, just paint!

Nathanael gasped several times, trying desperately to fill lungs that weren't there.  His hands came to his heart.  He breathed back and forth and the monster's mouth came open a little.  There was no tongue within. 

He tried to press his tongue to the top of his mouth but- he couldn't find it!  His tongue wasn't in his mouth.  Nathanael pushed his lower jaw back up, his beard brushing his gloves.  Now that reflection's beard was pushed aside Nathanael could see the gaping hole where his neck should have been.  Moving his hands toward his body, he could feel it.

Nathanael shut his eyes and, when he opened them again, he could see it.  His own body was paint and wood and nothing else, his hands and his limbs hideously deformed.  He shut his eyes and opened them again, and his clothes and his proportions were back the right way.  But Nathanael knew the truth, now. He turned around, and marched back to the woman, who looked like they had just seen heaven part and let a bunch of angels fly down.  Wickedella was clutching her chest, paled to a lavender color, and Louisie was smiling wide.

"Blockhead!  You didn't tell me you were a nutcracker!"

Nathanael froze.  The store spun around him, so he stared at his feet.  How deceptively normal they looked.

"Tragically ugly," he said.

Louisie snorted, "Well ugly's for certain, but I wouldn't call you tragic.  No, no, you're more like- fortuitous," she grinned.

"Toil and trouble!  He really is him, isn't he?" said Wickedella.

"Of course not," Louisie scoffed, "he had white hair!  Still, Blockhead's a convincing fake, huh?"

"I'm not a fake," Nathanael said it raspily, then louder, grabbing Louisie's poncho, "I'm not a fake!  I'm the real me!"  He spun around.  That hideous thing was still staring at him.  "Nutcracker," he said, "no, I'm not!"