#i don’t think they’re too similar outside of physical traits… they’re even the same height apparently!! even though i swore ko was taller | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

weevil-wallflower · 3 years

Text

I just created an entire demon family...pt1

(aka my demon OCs. All are full demons so only gonna mention it once 👀)

My Demon Lore:

My understanding regarding demons is that not all demons are evil and thus not all tempt human beings to sin. Many simply live their lives peacefully, sometimes even among humans. Many even follow different religions much similar to humans. And of course due to that, the many good ones don’t align themselves with Satan which means they can neither be banished to hell nor does Satan has any jurisdiction over them. These demons are also not repelled by religious artefacts or places of religious worship or just religion in general, especially if they happened to be religious themselves. But no need to worry; these kinds of demons are peaceful for the most part and do not mean anyone any harm unless provoked or threatened. (This understanding comes from the knowledge I have about my religion uwu)

≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦

Winfryd Wright

General:

Full name: Winfryd Wright

Nickname(s): Winnie (by Zinnia), Win

Age: 37

Birthdate: 30th January, Aquarius

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British-American

Religion: Islam

Relationship status: Single (for now (・ω<) hint: it’s Zinnia, my very first oc)

Occupation: MD / Military Psychiatrist; Medic (previously)

Title/Rank: Doctor / Major

Physical appearance:

Complexion: White

Eyes: Light blue

Hair: Blonde

Height: 6′ 3″

Build/body type: Muscular and well-built

Weight: ~210 lbs / 95 kg

Unique trait(s): Polydactyly; 6 fingers on each hand with the 6th one, the pinky finger, being fully functional

Voice Claim: Jason Isaacs

Family:

Oliver Wright (son)

Zinnia Frost (girlfriend for now >:3)

Peter Wright (paternal uncle)

Wilhelmina “Mina” Wright (paternal aunt)

Anthony Winters (cousin)

Emma Winters (cousin-in-law)

Jody Winters (nephew)

His aunt and uncle don’t have children of their own. They raised Winfryd when his parents passed away when he was a child.

Psychology:

Moral alignment: Chaotic Good

Personality: Ambivert, benevolent, kind, sympathetic, open-minded, patient, polite.

Likes: His family, helping people, keeping a strict doctor-patient confidentiality, terrifying his enemies to death.

Dislikes: Those who harm others especially his family & friends, disorderliness, injustice, inequality.

Demonic Characteristics:

Physical appearance: (Since no one knows what demons really look like, my headcanon is that demons have two natural forms; their human form and their demon form. And they can willingly switch between those two forms)

Winfryd’s demonic form consists of:

Tough, pale skin.

Black sclera.

A third eye 👁️ - The ones on his hands aren’t always there. They are a product of his shape-shifting abilities.

Extremely sharp teeth; Unfortunately, his teeth remain same even in his human form.

Forked tongue.

Four long tentacle-like appendages protruding from his upper back. (Inspired by one of my favourite characters in MGS4, Laughing Octopus. I just love her design and how she moves :3).

Two black horns (Can’t have a demon without horns uwu).

Claws.

Powers & Abilities:

A very capable psychiatrist.

Proficient at close-quarters combat.

Knowledge in firearms.

Superhuman strength (not superhuman to the extent of superman. imagine Captain America).

Supernatural Durability.

Is religious himself so not repelled by artefacts or places of religion.

Sharper senses.

Accelerated healing.

Pyrokinesis.

Razor-sharp teeth.

Telescopic vision via third eye.

Human possession.

Can use his tentacles to bludgeon, impale, grab and smash or wrap and crush enemies easily. He can use them to climb and hold on to structures, even walls, ceilings etc and even use them for locomotion.

Claws sharp & strong enough to tear apart bodies without breaking or snapping off.

Umbrakinesis: He can generate and manipulate darkness and travel through shadows and phase through matter. Thus he’s untouchable as a shadowy. Can also draw the shadows to him if in dire need of healing,

Very acidic blood. Not exactly a power though... It’s said demons bleed fire since they are created from fire but that felt too over the top so I’ll stick with acidic blood.

Shape-shifting: It’s said that all demons can shape-shift to a limit, being able to take form of other humans & animals but Winfryd takes it to a whole other level. He can shape-shift into anything & when he wants to scare his enemies to death, he either appears in their room at night as a shadow figure or turns into eldritch things like these (an expert in body horror >:3):

All in all, Winfryd is a pretty powerful demon, not invincible but more powerful than most. And many things people use, for example the bible, the cross etc don’t work on him because he’s not a “Satanic demon” so to speak. He’s not repelled by religious things. He can even go inside the church and other places of worship.

Weaknesses/Limitations: Now, he may be powerful but that doesn’t mean he has no weaknesses:

Can be forced to reveal his demonic form by those who have knowledge on the occult.

Weak against ultrasonic weapons: Since demons have sharper senses than humans, these weapons would affect them more readily and would do a pretty good job of incapacitating them.

Extremely limited shadow manipulation in both total darkness and total light.

Intangible in his shadow form so can’t deal out any physical damage to his oponent.

No wings so can’t fly.

His pyrokinetic abilities weak against water.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD): a personality disorder that’s characterized by extreme perfectionism, order, and neatness. People with OCPD will also feel a severe need to impose their own standards on their outside environment.

≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦

Oliver Wright

General:

Full name: Oliver Wright

Nickname(s): Ollie (by Zinnia)

Age: 3

Birthdate: 30th March, Aries

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British-American

Occupation: He’s a baby! >:O

Physical appearance:

Complexion: White; with freckles (cause freckles are cute uwu)

Eyes: Light blue

Hair: Blonde

Height: 2′ 11″

Build/body type: Small toddler

Weight: ~30 lbs / 14 kg

Family:

Winfryd Wright (father)

Zinnia Frost (stepmother; later on uwu)

Peter Wright (great uncle)

Wilhelmina “Mina” Wright (great aunt)

Anthony Winters (uncle)

Emma Winters (aunt-in-law)

Jody Winters (second cousin)

Unknown mother: His mother (also a demon) abandoned him so to speak. When he was born, she wanted to give him away but Winfryd said that he’ll look after the child. That didn’t sit well with her because she never wanted kids and so she made him choose between her and the baby. (Later on, this would be one of the reasons Winfryd will come to love Zinnia so much. That she treats his child, that’s not even her biological child, like her own.)

Psychology:

Moral alignment: Just a smol bebey.

Personality: A very sweet & well behaved little kid, albeit a bit possessive of his stepmom.

Likes: His stepmom i.e. Zinnia, his dad, his great aunt & great uncle, his cousin Jody, playing with building blocks, candies, cartoons, hugs. Definitely also gonna develop a liking for video games cause of his stepmom :3

Dislikes: Mean people, being yelled at - it scares him qwq, other people hugging or kissing his stepmom even if one of those people happens to be his dad.

Demonic Characteristics:

Physical appearance:

A third eye 👁️, just like his dad.

Yellow eyes.

Tiny lil razor-sharp baby teeth.

Cute lil bat-like wings.

Pointed ears.

Forked tongue.

Two horns (seems to be the right height to ram a person in a certain delicate spot 👀).

Powers & Abilities: Practically a baby so there aren’t much & those that he has aren’t fully developed yet & thus has no control over them:

Pyrokinesis: Ability to create, shape and manipulate fire. However, since Oliver is so young, he’s unable to control it. For now, it’s affected by his emotions for e.g. if he happens to be feeling frustrated, something nearby will spontaneously light on fire.

Adhesion Manipulation: basically can stick to surfaces, walk on walls, ceilings etc. But doesn’t have full control over it either.

Sharper senses.

Accelerated healing.

Very sharp teeth: Will resort to biting anyone who provokes/threatens him.

Acidic blood.

Telescopic vision via third eye.

Not repelled by artefacts or places of religion.

Weaknesses/Limitations:

Physically, he’s as strong as a normal human child so no superhuman strength.

Weak against ultrasonic weapons.

Can be trapped by those who have occult knowledge/practice. (But seriously, who would want to trap this cute lil kid? :’3).

Powers not yet fully developed.

Wings aren’t big enough to enable him to fly. Can only glide for now.

No claws yet.

His pyrokinetic abilities weak against water.

Is a baby so can’t possess.

Can’t pronounce Rs and Ls very well

Is a lil, innocent baby and must be protected at all costs.

≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦

Peter and Mina Wright

General:

Full names: Peter Wright (left) & Wilhelmina “Mina” Wright (right)

Ages: Peter: 65 & Mina: 60

Birthdates: Peter: 21st March & Mina: 23rd March, Aries

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Genders: Peter: Male & Mina: Female

Pronouns: Peter: He/Him & Mina: She/Her

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British-American

Relationship status: Married to eachother ;3

Occupation: Dentists/Farmers (They met at dental school :3)

Physical appearance:

Complexion: Peter: White & Mina: Light Olive

Eyes: Peter: Light blue & Mina: Green

Hair: Peter: Grey & Mina: Blonde

Height: Peter: 6′ 0″ & Mina: 5′ 6″

Build/body type: Thin but lean, I guess? They’re getting old but they’re demons so still fit

Weight: Peter: ~159 lbs/72 kg & Mina: 117 lbs/53 kg

Voice Claims: (TBD)

Family:

Winfryd Wright (nephew): took him in after his parents’ death when he was a child. Treat him more like a son than a nephew.

Zinnia Frost (niece-in-law later on. Think of her as more like a daughter tbh)

Oliver Wright (grandnephew)

Anthony Winters (nephew)

Emma Winters (niece-in-law)

Jody Winters (grandnephew)

Psychology:

Moral alignments: Neutral Good.

Personality: kind, sympathetic, open-minded, patient, polite.

Likes: Their family, showing kindness, helping people, their jobs.

Dislikes: Cruelty, rudeness, inequality.

Demonic Characteristics:

Physical appearance:

Peter: Black wings, two horns, sharp teeth.

Mina: Red wings, red horns, sharp teeth.

Powers & Abilities:

Superhuman strength.

Supernatural Durability.

Sharper senses.

Accelerated healing.

Sharp claws & teeth.

Flight.

Acidic blood.

Human possession.

Weaknesses/Limitations:

Weak against ultrasonic weapons.

Can be trapped by those who have occult knowledge/practice.

Lack telescopic vision.

≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦ ω ≧ω≦

#oc's #original characters #my characters #demons #one smol babey #bio #character bio #tw demons #tw body horror #tw religion #picrew #used #long post

12 notes · View notes

dallonm-archive · 3 years

Note

Hi! I love ur WIP oh revelations revelations, and I was wondering if you could give ur characters physical descriptions?

hi thank you so much!!! not gonna lie i ~suck~ at character descriptions (really I’m just not confident in them) and the ones I do aren’t overtly detailed and feed a lot more into showing their personality combines with appearance. Plus as a reader I will create my own image in my head if I don’t get something from the author lmao. So this will just be some rambles with some picrews and IRL photos (I don’t do official faceclaims and will get into that, but I do use some to help visualise what’s in my head), and also fashion because I love fashion and I love 80s fashion and I have to stop myself from writing 389424 outfit descriptions <3 feat. some barely edited prose!!

only doing the “main five” (are they truly the only main characters? I have no self control <3) because I lose track of which characters I’ve talked about so this is far from all the cast! And picrew/photo limitations mean these aren’t how exactly they look but it gives you an idea! Also I wrote this out and then lost it t w i c e :) Here are the two picrews I used: x x

Beau

My KING. It’s kinda funny to me because his description comes from the POV of a man who’s going to fall in love with him so whilst it’s not like “oh my god he’s so hot” I feel like you can DEFINITELY tell there’s something there. Beau and Felix aren’t exactly a slow burn couple lmao

Beau mirrors his mother. Same complexion, same smile, the only difference is his eyes are lighter and his curls are wilder, one absentmindedly coiled around his index. He wears a pistachio coloured button up with palm tree prints, oversized. A necklace with a shell charm, a brown beaded bracelet. He still grins at Felix, charmingly, as he continues to ramble about the music. Beau is effortless. He swims in the San Francisco colours.

This picrew captures him pretty well although I wish they had a facial hair option as he does have a bit of stubble

It’s all about the curls! He has a head full of them and they’re my favourite thing about him. This is a good example of where I don’t have a faceclaim but I do have pictures of a model that help visualise what I see: these pictures of Miles Frank were the first that resembled what I saw in my head, but only these two resemble him lmao. He’s not his faceclaim. Again, it’s all about the curls! (and the leather jacket)

He kinda has an athletic build not not overtly? Like he’s not muscular but he used to do a lot of sport as a teenager and he’s 100% the type of person who wakes with the sunrise to go on runs. Cannot relate but good for him! He’s around 5′10/5′11

Style is definitely important for his self expression but he also values comfort over fashion. It’s all about the oversized printed button ups (I found one in a thrift store that looks EXACTLY like the one in the description and I didn’t buy it I’m so mad!!! I failed both Beau and the queer community in that moment). He will wear All The Colours but he especially likes greens and pinks/reds. Leather jacket is a staple when the weather allows it.

He also loves jewellery, especially bracelets, especially homemade bracelets. 100% makes friendship bracelets.

Dorothy and Felix

I’ll put these two together because they’re not identical but like, they are twins lmao. Life hack: if you hate description for the POV character give them a twin and make them lowkey hate each other so you can ~compare~

Brother and sister. Born minutes apart on a dreary January night that wheezed rain. Bundled in identical bloodstained blankets, porcelain limbs and faces indistinguishable - but as they grow, the mirror their reflections share starts to crack. Dorothy grows taller, then Felix overtakes at 16. Dorothy’s features soften, but she grows a glare that digs deeper than Felix’s ever could. Dorothy aims for the moon; Felix accepts that he’ll never leave. Dorothy maps out a survival plan for the outside world; Felix maps out how he’ll work for the Church. But they still share the cinnamon hair, the freckles peppering their nose and cheeks, the grey-blue irises and heavy eyelids. They grew into different people with the same face made of different stitching, the same blood infected with different sin.

Dorothy is the only one who kinda has a faceclaim but not really? I struggle with faceclaims beyond inspo/resemblance because like I said, I don’t have the most exact image in my head but I am still very picky so I can look at a pic and immediately be like YES or NO lmao. But also, an issue I have is that a lot of faceclaims come from models/actors; I have no issue with pretty characters (I would call mine pretty lmao but it’s never like. a character trait), but there is that element of conventional attractiveness as well as editing/posing/lighting for professionally shot photos. That’s just me personally though, love them for helping visualise ideas! Since Dorothy was really difficult to get an image of, a “faceclaim” really helped. I made her after Felix so her only descriptor was “brown hair like her brother, similar facial features”, until I saw these pictures of Jane Birkin from the 60s. Again, not an official faceclaim (Dorothy isn’t as skinny as her), but that was where I first got an image of her as an individual character and was definitely the foundation. Her hair looks exactly like that!

She doesn’t really wear makeup, it’s not a statement or anything I just don’t think it suits her haha. 100% wears astronomy themed jewellery though

Her favourite colours to wear are red and violet. I’d describe her fashion as quite casual and flowy? She loves blouses, especially ones with floral prints. 100% rocks double denim (we are pro double denim here). I’d say her style is also more 70s inspired than 80s

She’s 5′9 which makes me 😳

I first made Felix because of a picture of Luke Powell, and I have to laugh because he is SUCH a common faceclaim on Pinterest but also suddenly I was just like ??? NO???? I held onto him as a FC for way too long when they don’t really look alike

Fluffy hair! Floppy hair! This isn’t canon in the book yet because I’m not sure how to present it beyond a bunch of hair descriptions, but I can see his hair being much shorter whilst he’s still in the cult and then he slowly grows its out (not much longer, just messier and unkept until its like the picrew) - again I have no idea how to show it in prose but I think in a movie/TV Series that’d be a cool way to show passing of time but also him settling into his identity. If he wasn’t a coward he’d grow it to mullet length

He and Beau are similar heights - 5′10/5′11. I love height differences in couples but I don’t think that suits them? They’re more likely to argue over who’s the taller one because the inch or so difference is so subtle they can’t even tell LMAO

I know this man just has the ugliest fashion taste but like in good way? Like you know when you see a sweater in the store and you’re like that’s so UGLY I need it? 100% owns both of these:

I think he’d wear a lot of yellows/oranges/browns but also blues. Would love a brown corduroy or bomber jacket, or dark/moss green??

Jolie

The way she was LITERALLY meant to be the main antagonist and then I was like wait but she’s hot lol. Jolie is a very interesting character to me - she won’t be in the next update but she’ll be talked about a lot in the one after 👁️ (Not obvious in the excerpt but the idea is Dorothy’s listing the “colours” of Jolie)

High waisted, baggy jeans distressed at the knee; matching denim jacket rolled up to the elbow. Faded blue. Cheap band print shirt. Blondie. Kitchen scissor-cut fringe. Bleached – originally chestnut. Chipped nails. Cherry lacquer. Round glasses with scotch tape around the bridge. Silver. Triangular face, straight nose. Pale. No makeup besides red lips. Whatever the cheapest red shade at the drugstore was in 1984. Combat boots with heels nobody else would travel in, but Jolie would. Leather black. 5’2. She smiles at Dorothy with her teeth. Lipstick stains her incisors.

Jolie’s been the hardest to nail appearance wise and it honestly this picrew is the only thing that visualises what’s in my head.

At 5′3 she’s the shortest out of these five. She’s plus sized, which is another thing I find a lot of picrews don’t show very well unfortunately

She bleaches her hair just before we meet her in the book, and later on we see her cut her hair into a messy mullet style, before that it was shoulder-length. Would never pay for a haircut because hairdressers cannot give her what she wants

A lot of her style is a blend between masculine and feminine. She has a very complicated relationship with her gender identity which she navigates through her expression but she does embrace some elements of femininity, although to her it’s redefined to suit her perception of it. Her style is very similar to Jamie’s from Bly Manor. I think she’d also be influenced by punk and rock fashion.

She’s a gardener and it shows, definitely the type to tuck a little flower behind her ear.

Isaias

No character description for him because I scrapped and am currently rewriting the whole chapter where he’s introduced so :( but I will make sure to include it in the next writing update! I love him, he has such pleasant vibes

There is one picture that is very similar to how I see him, especially because the person in it is wearing a denim jacket and an oversized denim jacket is an Isaias STAPLE. The only problem is the photo is in black and white, also I’d like to see him smile.

I’ve been struggling to nail his hair but the picrew shows it quite well, albeit in a cartoon style. It’s all about the long side part

Besides the denim jacket he wears a lot of turtlenecks when the weather allows it, otherwise he’s a big fan of dress shirts. Loves to wear deep blues and purples. Depending on the weather, he’d also layer up with two jackets over a dress shirt. On the flip side I can see him wearing a pastel coloured blazer as well, like lavender? LOVE that.

He’s a pretty average height, not short and not very tall. Around 5′8?

Pretty much always has some kind of bag/backpack with him because he likes to have his notebook on him at All Times.

I’ll stop myself there because this is getting long! Like I said, I don’t have exact images in my head but I do have well, an image lmao. I do like the idea that people can develop their own image in their head too based on what I’ve described so I hope that was interesting! I’d also love to do some art of these guys so I can show better what I see, but unfortunately my tablet is at my dorm and I’m at home and we are on strict lockdown for the foreseeable future :( someday!

#Anonymous #revelations revelations #omg i have to change the tag on all the posts ive made #thank god for xkit

6 notes · View notes

a-damn-good-medic · 4 years

Text

Really Long Character Survey

RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good luck !

TAGGED. Stolen from: @cromwellharvests

BASICS.

FULL NAME : Charlotte Beatrice Samaritan NICKNAME : Lottie, Trixie (older brother only), Samaritan, Samari AGE : 21 (1915 – She turns 22 after the Promised Day) BIRTHDAY : 17th August 1893 NATIONALITY : Amestrian-Aerugian – though born and raised in Amestris LANGUAGE / S : Amestrian, conversational Aerugian SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Heterosexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Single HOME TOWN / AREA : Limoux (based off of this map), South Region, small town roughly 25-30 miles east-north-east of Fotset CURRENT HOME : lives in military barracks near to where she’s stationed, she’ll often say she’s “going home” when visiting her family PROFESSION : a medic to her core

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Black, 2a/2b wavy/curly hair, down to mid-back/the bottom of shoulder blades; pulled into a pony tail or bun for work reasons EYES : Honey brown – her father’s FACE : heart-shaped, light freckles across bridge of nose and cheek bones; somewhat baby-faced; fresh-faced LIPS : slightly thinner than average, upwards tilt on either side COMPLEXION : warm skin tone, freckles as mentioned above, skin tends to go through patches of dryness every few months BLEMISHES/SCARS : medium sized one on her left temple acquired from injury during active duty, but it’s mostly covered by her hair; a few smaller ones on other parts of her body acquired in a similar manner including one in the middle of her left pinkie finger TATTOOS : I have been toying with the idea of having a red cross (like the medical symbol) on the side of her left shoulder HEIGHT : 5′2″ WEIGHT : 112lbs. BUILD : neat hourglass shape, toned arms and legs, well built FEATURES : none particularly stand out ALLERGIES : None USUAL HAIR STYLE : Whilst at work, pulled back into a ponytail or a bun; outside of work tends to leave it down unless doing something where it needs to be/it’s better to keep it out of the way USUAL FACE LOOK : looks either busy in thought or bored, there is no in-between; she’s also an occasional victim of resting b!tch face; however will brighten up when approached by someone USUAL CLOTHING : military uniform is worn regularly; she loves her boots and will often wear them with other pairs of trousers; relatively simple clothing, rarely goes shopping for clothes, if she’s wearing something new most likely her mother sent it to her; dislikes long-sleeved shirts and prefers no sleeves altogether, tends to stick to three or four outfits which she cycles through; favours trousers, saves skirts and dresses for special occasions or good weather

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEARS : despite her profession death is a big one; emetophobia (fear of vomiting, especially in a public place/away from home); despite loving the appearance of lightning, thunder during storms triggers varying levels of anxiety ASPIRATIONS : to help as many people as she can, to improve awareness and treatment of mental illness which are often overlooked (especially the effects military service has on individuals) even if it’s just on an individual basis, to settle down with someone and raise a family POSITIVE TRAITS : sweet, charming, protective, compassionate, level-headed, genuine, dedicated, perceptive, ballsy, cheeky, forward NEGATIVE TRAITS : overemotional; gets attached too easily; unforgiving or (depending on circumstance) holds a long-standing grudge; unsure of her position when in a new place so feels she has to justify herself and her abilities/work, leading to her being very short with some people; can be rash and impulsive when it comes to her patients, would rather throw herself into danger with them than leave them on their own MBTI : ISFJ-A – the Defender ZODIAC : Leo TEMPERAMENT : phlegmatic SOUL TYPES : server, priest ANIMALS : turtle, dog, snake VICE / HABITS : losing track of time and taking very long showers; staying up too late; shakes her head side to side when she yawns, as if waking herself up; chewing on the end of a pen; repeatably pops on/off snap poppers on clothing, especially if they’re on the end of her sleeves FAITH : agnostic though will often fall back on religion when she can’t do anything to help a situation (e.g. she’ll resort to praying if a situation is dire) GHOSTS ? : nope AFTERLIFE ? : wants to believe in the afterlife but can’t quite bring herself to REINCARNATION ? : wants to believe in reincarnation more than the afterlife but again, can’t quite bring herself to ALIENS ? : probably, but accepts that that question won’t be answered in her lifetime POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : wish-washy; goes through periods of being furious with the political climate (often when issues arise) whilst remaining up to date, and times of just ignoring it/not being too involved; however, stands (and somewhat fights) for equality across the board as well as protesting to protect the freedom of choice EDUCATION LEVEL : due to growing up in the middle of nowhere, she only attended a small school which obviously limited her education to the point where I argue that she probably left school at 14 (due to context of schooling in the early 1900s) like everyone else who lived in the area; received specific training when she enlisted to become a medic; spends time reading up on other medical techniques/treatments that she wasn’t taught at the academy; some basic knowledge on how the family business is run, but she never expected to inherit it and therefore didn’t spend much time considering it

FAMILY.

FATHER : Lucian Samaritan MOTHER : Silvia Violetta Fontana SIBLINGS : she’s the second eldest of seven with six brothers, Andrew, Samuel, Seth, Kent, Isaac, and Wyatt EXTENDED FAMILY : Henrik and Eleanor (paternal grandparents) NAME MEANING / S : Charlotte – female version of Charles – meaning “man, army, warrior”; Samaritan – following Arakawa’s lead, she’s named after the FV104 Samaritan, which is an armoured ambulance.

FAVORITES.

BOOK : fiction, often books from her childhood which are mainly coming-of-age stories; she does also have a soft spot for biographies or journals of people who have similarities to her (whether that be type of job, favourite hobbies, Southern region background/childhood, etc.); keen to read any medical journals that she can get her hands on 5 SONGS : her favourites tend to be country or folk-songs, songs with a story or meaning; she also holds a soft spot for swing DEITY : although she relies on religion in dire situations, she doesn’t believe in the afterlife because she doesn’t believe in a supreme being/creator HOLIDAY : tries to get time off to go home to visit family on holidays, but will conspire with her older brother to make sure that they are either both home or both away; because of this, holidays get ‘postponed’ in the Samaritan household until the two can find time to get away; tends to be a busy household due to numbers, with Lottie being liable to drag a couple of friends with her if they have nowhere to go MONTH : September SEASON : Autumn PLACE : the large barn at Willowbranch Acres, the family home; the narrow top floor was claimed by the kids soon after it was built, with it being full of cushions, blankets, rugs, as well as a couple of hobby items; it’s always there when you need time to think and space away from the likeable chaos WEATHER : sunny, clear skies but with a mild cooling breeze, not too hot, not too cold; lightning on a dark, cloudy night, despite dislike of thunder that is too close SOUND : humming from down the hall; light playing of a piano; muffled voices and music of a tavern/pub as you walk by; crunching of leaves and heavy footsteps as you run through the woods SCENTS : warm bread, lilies, apple blossom, TASTES : chocolate, orange juice, apple cider, well-done buttered toast FEELINGS : long hot shower, the first gust of wind after a stifling train journey, a dog curled up beside you, forehead kisses and touches ANIMALS : love dogs with a passion, wanted one desperately as a kid before she received Sven on her 16th birthday, has a soft spot for donkeys, cows, and horses as well due to their present back in her hometown NUMBER : 8 COLORS : white, beige, black, all kinds of blue and fall colours (specifically the oranges)

EXTRA.

TALENTS : deescalating or delaying conflicts; decent with a pistol; scarily good with a bow and arrow; telling when someone is lying or telling a half-truth; coincidentally getting away with only telling half-truths instead of outright lying whilst having the same effect BAD AT : keeping herself healthy (well-fed, good sleep schedule, enough liquids); going to bed at a decent time when she doesn’t have to get up at a particular time the next morning; taking out someone in order to ensure her safety; shutting up when someone is threatening her; remaining impartial; cooking or baking more than the three dishes she has down; keeping a straight face after saying something that she thinks is ~hilarious~ TURN ONS : really enthusiastic about a hobby; susceptible to gingers/redheads for some reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯; also susceptible to short beards, van dykes and goatees; confidence; good sense of humour; ideally intelligent (not necessarily academically though, can be on a very niche topic) TURN OFFS : when they won’t take a hint that she’s not interested; people who insult the person they were just hitting on because they got rejected; shallow but if they’re shorter than her; honest to god, bad mustaches (the roystache I’m looking at you (≖ ‿ ≖ ) ); HOBBIES : Soapbox/Baby cart races; swing dancing; violin; piano; running; sparring; singing; walking in the countryside; archery TROPES : Girl Next Door, Loyalist, Farmer’s Daughter, The Reliable One, Big Brother Instinct, Good is Not Soft, The Heart, Technical Pacifist

#Getting to know [About]#They see me scrolling [Dash Memes]

1 note · View note

laughingpinecone · 4 years

Text

Press Start letter

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

It’s a long list of character combos so the specific requests aren’t overly detailed, please draw at will from my general likes and general fandom likes in addition or as an alternative to any of those!

All requests are art or fic - for art, the stuff I like is the kind that depicts the characters doing something. I’ll always be happier with a very simple drawing of two characters walking together or sharing a cup of coffee than with an ambitious composition that looks like an Avengers poster. I also enjoy seeing them wear different clothes, getting a feel of what their fashion sense is like beyond their canon outfit(s).

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (especially if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, resolved UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, maps, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night, emphasis on non-human traits of non-human characters (gen-wise, but also a hearty yes xeno for applicable ships)

Cool with: any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, IF, nerdy canon references, unrequested characters popping up

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, focus on children, unrequested ships (background established canon couples are okay, mentions of parents are okay), canon retellings, consent issues

Dark Souls

I’m only familiar with the first game+DLC! It’s probably relevant to mention that I think that linking the fire is kind of a dumbass move and Gwyn is an ass, but on the other hand Kaathe has his own agenda and there’s no winning move in this world, or at least no obvious one. Feel free to deviate from anyone’s canon endings, to make things happen that’ll stave off their hollowing. I am interested in any of these people meeting and possibly striking up a friendship, and also in exploring Lordran’s temporal/dimensional fuckery, where it’s possible to meet people who have been gone for ages…

Group: Solaire of Astora & Siegmeyer of Catarina: so much fanart of Sun Bro & Onion Bro being bros, so little fic. And yet, the potential! How’d they bounce off each other, what about the fact that Siegmeyer is apparently a proper Catarina knight after all while Solaire just painted his self-made insignia and left, what would Sieg think of Solaire’s quest?

Group: Alvina the Cat & Sieglinde of Catarina: dunno, kitty. I love them both and I want everyone cool to go on adventure with each other. What’s left for Alvina now that Sif is gone, Artorias’ grave desecrated? For her part, did Sieglinde, you know, (mimics Ash Lake)?

Ghost Trick

I am very interested in various characters finding about the erased timeline, but not getting their memories back, and having to live with being told about what they did but never remembering it. Exploring the ghost lore is great. All what-ifs welcome (what if they managed an acceptable happy ending but didn’t reset the timeline, what if a different party went back to the past and kept their memories, what if Alma’s ghost stuck around…) Also open to AUs here, especially for generic fantasy or sci-fi settings or the Final Fantasy ones I prompted last Yuletide.

For the non-canon sides of Jowd/Alma/Cabanela, please no infidelity? I’d be good with either setting the fic during the game timeline or some what-if thereof when the other spouse is dead or unavailable, or simply keeping them offscreen and not mentioning them (eg Alma/Cabanela beach day, Jowd/Cabanela precinct shenanigans)

For Jowd in general, I do love my big boy and enjoy milking that size difference for all it’s worth. In gen contexts too, it’s neat. him big.

Group: Jowd & Yomiel: I’d love to read about the intimate understanding that comes from their shared memories and the horrors they’ve mutually forgiven (and a penchant for morbidity they’ve gained from such horrors probably). Cat dads things welcome.

Group: Alma/Jowd/Cabanela: maybe once Alma and Jowd have figured out he’s smitten and that they do in fact reciprocate... they tease him to death, slowly and deliberately? Is it even a Jowd romance if there’s not an exhausting amount of teasing involved, I ask?

Group: Alma/Jowd & Cabanela: Cabs’ life is wild; his best friends’ home is a safe haven...

Group: Emma & Pigeon Man: Emma’s unsuspected beta reader...

Group: Alma/Cabanela: (taps mic) legs. And fashion!

Group: Cabanela/Jowd: a recent tumblr post made a convincing argument for Cabs liking to be in charge (the argument is just pointing at Cabanela, honestly). Jowd is... agreeable, by his own admission. But is it that simple?

Kentucky Route Zero

I love the ending and I’d love to see its themes and setting explored. I’m all for exploration of any of the game’s themes and for including any staples from adjacent genres - wanna go full-on American Gothic? Dip into surrealism? Take a leaf from Twin Peaks with tulpa / split narratives to explore the characters’ issues? I love AUs so that’s an option too. Or of course there’s Xanadu at the height of its glory, an infinite what-ifs generator. Were the requested characters part of it, what were their digital counterparts up to? A Xanadu narrative would be great! I’d also love to hear about any new spot along the Zero or the Echo river, or an expansion of some place that’s only mentioned by Will in HATATE or only gets a few paragraphs of text. Mostly, I just love all these characters so much and I’m going through the tagset’s options like a hyperactive cat. Any fragment of their lives will make me happy.

Group: Shannon Márquez & Conway & Conway's Dog: does Shannon get to see them after the ending? Even for a moment?

Group: Lula Chamberlain/Joseph Wheattree/Donald: so Lula went back to Mexico. Joseph is pensive. Did the events of the night shake up Donald, or what will it take?

Group: Junebug & Lula Chamberlain: artists! Outspoken... artists... with a complicated personality. Put them in the same room and...?

Group: Junebug & Johnny: where’s the strangest place they played in, and what did Johnny find there?

Group: Conway & Johnny & Junebug (Kentucky Route Zero): their story is about finding individuality, his is about succumbing and losing it. Would any of them pick up on this mid-Act IV? Or just... talking about limbs and stuff?

Group: Cate & Will & Shannon Márquez (Kentucky Route Zero): a few months later, Shannon finds herself on the Mucky Mammoth again...

Group: Carrington & Weaver Márquez & Shannon Márquez (Kentucky Route Zero): maybe the cousins were trying to bond or reminisce or whatever and Carrington dive-bombed into the conversation, but in the end it was an enriching experience... of sorts?

Group: Carrington & Lula Chamberlain (Kentucky Route Zero): I don’t usually look for college shenanigans but this may be the exception? Or Art Opinions?

Group: Carrington & Clara (Kentucky Route Zero): would she even... get a word in? Maybe with the right topic?

Group: Carrington & Cate & Will (Kentucky Route Zero): Mammoth life! ...what does theater have to say about mushrooms again?

Group: Shannon Marquez & Weaver Marquez (Kentucky Route Zero): at the end of it all, Weaver was waiting. After this end, they can stand side by side again...

Group: Emily & Ben & Bob (Kentucky Route Zero): so what does it mean, like, poetically, that they were temporally displaced and Act I is in their future from Act V? Is it possible they were not aware of it?

Mutazione

The island, the sense of community, newcomers joining the community, gardens and music... I love the mood of this little game. Got ideas for some part of the island we haven’t seen? What stories do they tell each other about Moon Dragon and the first days of the new life it brought? The plants encyclopaedia was great - do Yoké’s archives hide some other cool tome? Please, if Graubert is mentioned, I would much prefer a sympathetic portrayal - he’s got his issues but I felt that the game was much harder on him than anyone else.

Group: Yoké & Karoo: I love the friendship between Yoké and Nonno and filtering it through Karoo feels even cooler to me. When did the big spooky bird first visit, did Yoké know or perceive what was going on?

Group: Yoké & Claire: book club book club book club!

Group: Spike/Claire: they’re so cute! Dinner at Mori’s? Swimming together?

Group: Nonno & Spike: I love Nonno’s role in the community and Spike’s role in the community, and they’re the two people who landed there and decided to stay. Could they bond over this?

Group: Dennis & Nonno: Important Tree Health Business!

Group: Bopek & Jell-A: Jell-A is the absolute coolest and Bopek grew on me a lot. Their friendship is adorable! What could they do together? As a side note, Jell-A’s place has the tightest interior decor in the whole game. How’d that happen, and does Bopek get a flair for vintage shapes and volumes in his weaving?

Group: Mori & Nonno & Yoké: FRIENDS. Friends for a long time, through so much pain. An evening together while The Youths (tm) are at Spike’s bar?

Yoké: catch-all Yoké request because he’s my fave! Doing Yoké things, being a big nerd, caring for books and plants and stuff

Pyre

The burning found family feelings, the revolutionary passion, the tension between topside social constraints and the kind of freedom allowed by the Downside! Thoughts about finding oneself at the end of an age, as everything crumbles down to form something new. I love all the themes, the solemnity, the heart of this game. I adore everyone in that Blackwagon+Dalbert+Celeste, so if you want to add a Nightwing or two to any prompt, please do! I also love all the Scribes and find Erisa a compelling tragic figure. Out of the other triumvirates, I’m “love to hate them” for Manley, Brighton, Udmildhe and Deluge and would not like to see them featured in sympathetic roles. My main interest usually lies in post-canon exploration when applicable, but I’m also into various adventures during canon. Pick a location or a place outside the map and see what happens? As for the ending variables, I’d ask for a peaceful revolution and Oralech alive, but no preferences for who’s up and who’s down, pick whatever works best for any given plot bunny.

Group: Tariq & Soliam: what were Tariq and Celeste like in their earliest days? Were they made or summoned from some sort of preexisting star consciousness? They’re wildly different scenarios! I’m good with either. Does Soliam then see Tariq as a child of sorts, someone he made, or something greater than himself? Did he mean to do that, to have these two immortals around? What does Tariq learn from the First Scribe?

Group: Tariq & Dalbert Oldheart: Any excuse for Tariq to hang out with the Fates for a little while, and treasure and be treasured by dear Dalbert...

Group: Oralech & Vagabond Girl: after all is said and done, Oralech’s view of the Scribes is probably... understandably... dire. So of course I want to see him talk it out with ae!

Group: Celeste & Ignarius: look, listen, if the various triumvirates just camped out near their respective Scribe’s place during the Nightwings’ years-long absence (not the only possible explanation for how you find them all neatly lined up before the first lib rite, but an explanation nonetheless, I think. just let me have my crack), that means Iggy was Celeste’s neighbor for a long time. Neighborly hijinks please?

Group: Bertrude/Pamitha: Pam returning from her travels, again and again, and finding a home in Bertrude’s lab, finding an understanding there... Bertrude’s attitude being thorny in a way that’s just what Pam needs to allow herself to open up... also: snake kisses.

Group: Volfred Sandalwood/Oralech: waking up and remembering that the mourning that’s set deep in your roots is for someone who never died, waking up and remembering that the bitterness that consumed you had made up a betrayal that never was, finding each other through these crumbling walls...

Molten Milithe: that’s the pov for a love letter to the Downside, right? And/or which Scribe did she bond with the most? Or the least for that matter?

Volfred Sandalwood: catch-all Volf’n’anyone request. I want to see our tree interact with any friend and foe you might fancy! Arguing for his beliefs, being a history professor through and through, finding himself in a tight spot and getting unexpected help, verbally tearing Brighton a new one if they ever cross each other’s path again...

group: Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq | The Lone Minstrel: Volfred’s zodiac sign is Cancer and Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so there’s that. I love how they both hold the other in the highest esteem, especially on Tariq’s part since he’s the immortal Herald of the Scribes and Volfred is, all in all, a history teacher, but listen to him and you’d think the roles were inverted. I love my nonviolent canon but could anything happen to either of them that may require a rescue, and/or some good old-fashioned h/c? What’s something that could make Tariq of all people lose it? How’s life 100 years on?

Shenmue

This game cares for the little things. I’d love to see fanworks that try to out-slice-of-life canon...

Group: Qiu Hsu & Xianzi Bei: cormorant kung fu adventure! Do they hang out sometimes?

Group: Hazuki Ryo & Shenhua Ling: any moment, discussion, small adventure from their travels together! I love their bond! For all its waifufication of Shenhua, S3 really sold me on their friendship and a shared brand of dorkiness. Alternatively, sometimes I remember that they’d be 50ish in the present day - how and where do you picture them?

The Silver Case

I‘m all for the surrealism, big things being introduced and never picked up again, Rashomon’ing it up with six explanations for the same thing where no single one can be true, people dying and then popping up again like nbd... maybe the thing I like the most is characters transcending their humanity and looming over the dystopian world like ominous avatars. Correctness’ first ending had me swooning, that kind of mood is unparalleled. I have played TSC, FSR and 25W so far and have vague memories of K7. I’m aware of the “everything’s connected” readings but that’s not my main interest in these games. For FSR-focused requests, I see Lospass as a real island but also a metaphysical place of transformation first and foremost, where strange things happen that don’t make sense elsewhere.

Group: Toriko Kusabi & Remy Fawzil: What’s Toriko up to when she’s not chasing Chris? I think it could be fun to throw her at Remy and see the island from their point of view!

Group: Tokio Morishima & Edo Macalister: since Tokio stayed at the Flower Sun and Rain... I’m interested in peculiar happenings on Lospass that are not centered on Sumio...

Group: Tetsugorou Kusabi/Sumio Kodai: Tetsu picked one hell of a crush, huh! What’s it like in the aftermath of the games, when Sumio is Like That? How does Tetsu grapple with Parade? Is Tetsu an anchor of sorts for Correctness Sumio, who seems (at best) to be existing on a slightly different plane of existence at any given time and could disappear if you blink too hard?

Group: Tetsugorou Kusabi & Shinko Kuroyanagi: I’m joining the “let these two be foulmouthed friends” masses - who’d be more fed up with the other’s nonsense, and in which ways would they be an unstoppable team?

Group: Shinkai Tsuki & Tetsugorou Kusabi: Both of them end their stories in the shadows one way or another, and defending their protégé may have had a hand in their misfortune one way or another. What kind of understanding could they reach? What IS Tsuki up to anyway?

Group: Christina & Catherine: anthro Catherine, as per the Placebo bonus chapter Yami, was unexpectedly charming. What was Chris before reaching Lospass, and did he also have a chat with her on the plane or on the island?

#letter

1 note · View note

askquillakuzco · 5 years

Text

Task 001: About Me

Basics.

What is your full name?

“Quilla Malina Kuzco. Princess, Empress-To-Be.”

What is the meaning/story behind your name?

“I am named after the Inca goddess of the Moon—a significant contrast to the patron god of my people, the sun god Inti, who is also the ancestor of Sapa Inca like myself. I like to think this means I’m the embodiment of balance—a little ironic, though, considering how much I struggle with that.”

Do you have any nicknames?

“Q, Qi, Quills (Keys and sometimes Keels), Qui-Chain, QiQi, Shortcake.”

When and where were you born?

“April 1st in Cusco, Peru. Aries Sun, Sagittarius Moon, and Libra Ascendant, in case you’re curious.”

Current age?

“Sixteen years.”

Physical.

What is your eye color?

“Dark Brown.”

Do you ever wear glasses/contacts?

“Nope. Never needed ‘em, but those large-framed glasses do look super cute on me.”

Hair color?

“Black, with curls for days.”

Have you ever dyed your hair?

“Never completely. I do get highlights every now and then. Usually brown or blonde, sometimes purples, reds, or pinks.”

Height and body type?

“Five feet tall, stout. Fat, yes. Been trying to reclaim the word as something positive, or at least neutral. It’s difficult, sometimes, dealing with people’s reactions to the way I look, especially being a public figure, but I remind myself not to blame my body for their toxicity. I’m not most people’s idea of what a princess should look like, but honestly—eff your beauty standards.”

Do you have any birthmarks?

“A few little moles here and there. Beauty marks, I guess? One on the left side of my upper lip, one near my left collarbone, one on my upper back...I may have more I haven’t yet noticed, I guess?”

Any scars or other markings?

“No scars, but I do have a sun tattoo on my left upper arm. The mark of Inti, again, patron god of my people.”

What is your favorite and least favorite feature?

“I got gorgeous hair and a great as-...err...legs. I suppose I’m most self-conscious about my neck? Some days I’ll be okay with it, even like it, and other days...not so much.”

How would you describe your style?

“Flashy, fabulous, regal...mostly red. People are gonna stare, anyway. I figure I should give ‘em something to look at.”

Personality.

Positive traits?

“Brilliant, fashionable, connected, caring, and when angry...A force to be reckoned with.”

Negative traits?

“I’ve had people tell me I’m short-tempered—I swear to Inti, if any of you make a short joke right now, I’m gonna—ahem. I also tend to be a little...okay, a lot nosy. I’m a curious person, I can’t really help that! I’ve also been told I’m a bit of a spoiled brat, which I can’t completely disagree with. Daddy’s little girl, guilty as charged! I guess one trait I’d like to change in myself is all this insecurity and self-doubt I have in me. Folks have also told me that I can be petty, but sometimes I feel like I’m allowed to be, okay? Or maybe that’s the insecurity talking...maybe I am really petty.”

“Yeah...self-doubt. Boom. There it is.”

Are you more introverted or extroverted?

“Definitely extroverted. Talking to people, in general, gives me life. A few people can be draining, sure, but generally I draw energy from socializing.”

Do you have any talents?

“I excel at the sciences. Chemistry, in particular. I’m also pretty great at networking!”

Do you have a good memory?

“I like to think so, but I occasionally find myself worrying that I’m mis-remembering something. Ties back into the self-doubt thing. Something I still need to work through.”

Any fears/phobias?

“Letting myself succumb to my weakness. Allowing someone else to have me by the throat in every decision I need to make. I won’t let that happen again.”

What do you have a soft spot for?

My family and my friends, without a doubt...

Other than that, well...people who haven’t had a fair shot in life.

Any pet peeves?

I tend to take issue with any terms often used to put someone’s sanity into question. I used to use words like these a lot myself, so flippantly...without knowing just how much power they hold. It wasn’t until such words were used against me, to the point of my doubting my own reality, that I realized how dangerous they can be. I still find myself flinching anytime I hear them. Occasionally, I’ll disassociate, or have flashbacks...it’s kind of terrifying. I’ve given up on telling people to stop using these words around me, though. They’re so common in everyday language and I can’t exactly provide people with a strong enough argument for it, apparently.

Okay, so maybe it’s more than just a...pet peeve.

Does being annoyed at short jokes count as a pet peeve? Or people using me as an armrest?

Are you a good student?

I’m an honor roll student, honey.

What is your favorite/least favorite subject?

Favorite, definitely chemistry. I’ve had an affinity for it from a young age. Least? Cooking. You’d think having all this chemistry knowledge would help with that, but it really doesn’t. Cooking is a bit too vague and loose for my taste. I prefer exact measurements and consistency in method. I guess that’s why cooking is considered more of an art than a science? No disrespect to all you amaze chefs out there. It just ain’t my thing.

Family and Relationships.

Who are your parents?

Emperor Kuzco and Empress Malina.

How would you describe them?

My father, Kuzco, is dramatic, cocksure, and a bit self-centered. At the same time, he’s loyal and willing to learn and do better. He’s also great fun at parties! My mother, Malina, is a hard-working, loving, and ambitious woman. However, she can be pretty demanding, overbearing, and critical from time to time. Both of my folks are pretty overprotective, too, so there’s that. It wasn’t until this past year that they finally let me out of the palace for a long period of time. And the first time they didn’t have any guards accompany me outside the palace walls.

Who is your best friend/Who are some of your close friends?

Kaja Birdwell. I’m not sure what I did to deserve such a beautiful, generous, and kind soul as a best friend. She’s been there for me, through so much. She was there for me when others weren’t. I trust her even more than I trust my own parents.

I’ve made some friends here in Auradon, as well, who I’ve become pretty close to. Among them, Cora, Cole, and Erika. I was hesitant in making new friends when I first came here. I was in a weird place, out of my parent’s palace on my own for the first time, and getting over a really bad relationship in which I had lost quite a few people in my life who I thought were my friends. Still, these few individuals managed to worm their way into my heart somehow. I’m still hesitant to let down my walls completely—they’re not Kaja—but I do feel like I can trust them.

What do you look for in a friend?

Just...see me as a person. Not just as a...a connection, or an advice-machine. Not as something to toy with and manipulate...just...see me as a person—with feelings and fears, anger and doubts. See me at my best and my worst and take it all. I’ll surely do the same for you.

If you’re comfortable answering, what is your orientation?

Upside-down. Kidding!

I think the best way to describe it is that...I’m attracted to people, not genders. Pansexual is the term, I think.

Have you ever been in a relationship?

Yes. Tragically, yes. If I could undo it all, I would.

Have you ever been in love?

...Also yes. Also tragic.

What do you look for in a partner?

What I look for in a partner is kind of similar to what I look for in a friend. All of that, plus good chemistry, of course.

Do you believe in love at first sight or soulmates?

I believe in love at first impression. Say you love certain aspects of someone you initially see in them, not necessarily the whole person, but parts of them. As for the whole person, I don’t think that would go beyond infatuation. As for soulmates...no clue. It’s a cute thought, but it’s unfair to those who don’t find theirs. Why would some people have soulmates and others not? Sounds like some kind of cruel, cosmic joke meant to only benefit a few.

Do you see getting married and/or having children in the future?

I did think of it before, with my ex. Everytime I try to think of any of that now, I just...I keep seeing his face. He managed to opaquely paint over every rose-tinted fantasy I’ve ever had for the future, unfortunately. I’m sure it’ll pass someday, but for now I’m...pretty discouraged about it any of it actually happening. Or at least, happening in a way that I’d end up happy.

Favorites.

Top 3 Books:

“The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements” by Sam Kean.

“The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Chrichton

“A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler

Top 3 Movies:

“The Andromeda Strain" based on the novel by Michael Chrichton

“Arrival”

“Young Frankenstein“

Top 3 Foods:

CandyCorn

Ceviche

Causa

Gingersnaps

#{ confessions of a teenage llama queen (muse) }#atnbtask001 #askthenewbadtask #//bout time I got one of these done

3 notes · View notes

creative-type · 7 years

Text

Queen Otohime: The Nuanced Idealist

Every story has a message. Good stories usually have a central theme that lies at the core of the narrative with any number of secondary themes to support it. Even if a creator claims that there is no specific idea that they’re trying to communicate (the “it’s just entertainment” defense) they are still sending a message to their audience, and the lack of point becomes the point..

As the entertainment industry grows to unprecedented heights, so does their influence on their audience. There are a couple of different theories on the exact relationship between media and culture, but it is plainly evident that there’s an endless cycle of culture influencing media which in turn influences culture.

Which is why I want to talk about One Piece’s Queen Otohime

Before I get started, I want to make it clear that I don’t think Oda is obligated to write his story in any particular way for the sake of his audience. He has the freedom to put whatever he wants in his manga, whether I or anyone else agree with him or not. It’s the reader’s responsibility (or perhaps their parents, in the case of younger children) to discern for themselves what media they consume.

I do, however, think that a writer has a responsibility to be aware of what ideas they’re presenting. Oda’s audience happens to be huger than most, and to paraphrase Dumbledore that means his influence is greater than, say, a random upstart on tumblr.

*Cough*

For most, the Fishman Island arc is an inauspicious beginning to the second half of the series and a major let-down after the peak that was the Marineford War. I think that Oda would have had a difficult time satisfying fans no matter what, if only because Fishman Island had been such a long time coming. But while the meat of the arc falls flat, the backstory is excellent.

Now I write this as a white American, so keep in mind stones and glass houses, but Japan has a problem with xenophobia and racism. Oda has also tends to write his female characters - especially if they’re royalty - in a way that can be seen as problematic. Shirahoshi from this same arc irritated the crap out of me, and she shares a lot of traits with her mother.

So what’s the difference?

A Multiplicity of Ideologies

Considering the subject matter and Oda’s past history with female characters, it would it have been really easy to screw up the backstory for Fishman Island. I commend Oda for presenting the issues of slavery and racism in the first place. It’s not something he had to do, and I’m sure he wrote the Fishman Island arc fully aware of what he was getting himself into.

What I think helps us buy what Oda’s trying to sell is that Otohime’s view isn’t the only ideology presented. Her greatest foil Fisher Tiger has similar goals, but approaches the problem in an opposite manner. Jimbe ends up representing the middle ground, and says he doesn’t know which one of them was right

We’re also given a whole spectrum of characters that fall between these two opposites. There’s Aladdin, a former slave and soldier who never showed any hatred towards humans. There’s Arlong - who starts off rebuking Jimbe for his brutality and ends up enslaving entire islands in the East Blue - and Macro, who seems to turn over a new leaf before returning to the slave trade in the present day.

On Otohime’s side of things, her own husband doesn’t agree with what she preaches, but lets her continue as she wants because he loves her

And that’s not even looking at the human characters. I think the only viewpoint we don’t get within the flashback is one of a “good” Celestial Dragon, and Oda covers that during the Dressrosa arc. To this day Koala is the only flashback character I wish was the protagonist in her own manga. (If you didn’t feel something here, you’re either lying or have no soul)

It also helps that Oda does his research and is well-informed on the issues at hand. While it’s not been confirmed (to my knowledge, anyway) I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Oda based Otohime and Fisher in part on Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X.

On the other hand Oda does have just about every “good” character say that Otohime is right, so it’s obvious that he’s presenting one ideology as superior to another. I remember reading some criticism when these chapters first came out saying Oda was getting too preachy, and there is some merit to that. I think as an reader outside of the intended demographic it’s important to remember that One Piece is written for young boys whose worldviews are still being shaped and whose critical thinking skills aren’t completely developed. Some anvils do need to be dropped.

At the same time, by including the story of Fisher Tiger Oda is showing that these other ideas exist, which is more than can be said about a lot of media written for this age group. Otohime’s way of doing things has its flaws, namely that it’s gonna take a loooong time to work while there are untold number of fishmen (and humans) suffering under the unjust rule of the Celestial Dragons.

Which brings me to point number two

Suffering and Selfishness

In some ways Otohime is a parody of the all-loving hero archetype. In her introductory scene she slaps a thief into repentance (breaking her hand doing so) and is commended by her subjects for her compassion. Her unique brand of Observation Haki gives her super human (merman?) empathy that she uses to better understand and serve her people. Everyone except the villains agree that she was the ideal mother, wife, and queen.

And boy oh boy does she suffer for it.

The timeline for the Fishman Island flashback is confusing, but it does cover at least four years in which Otohime starts her petition, sees little success, and then actually goes backwards as the people withdraw their names before finally getting the support that she needs to make her motion to attend the Reverie.

The implication is that she was working on her goals long before the flashback begins, but we’ll just look at what we’re explicitly told. In the grand scheme of things, four years isn’t that long of a time, but the daily grind clearly has an effect on Otohime’s emotional well-being.

Queen Otohime, presented thus far as a paragon of motherhood and virtue, gets so drunk that she calls out her entire nation over speakerphone. What resilience and polite discourse can’t do, she achieves through inebriation XD

It’s here we see Otohime’s true character. Yes, teaching the children, organizing sea rescues, preaching peace with humanity are all things Otohime believes in and wants to see happen. She wouldn’t have continued so long with so little support otherwise. But really, when you get down to it, her reasoning is just a little bit selfish

Otohime’s drunken rant is was solidifies her as a character instead of a caricature. She’s a mother who wants her children to have a better future than what she’s experienced, but she wants to do it the right way, the hard way, because she wants her kid’s future to be a peaceful one. Otohime is always looking forward, which brings me to my last, but perhaps most important, point

Nuance

One of the things I found most annoying about Dressrosa was King Riku - and by extension Rebecca’s - pacifism. I don’t have a problem with pacifism in and of itself, but when a murderous sociopath comes a knockin’ on your doorstep then you might need to rethink your priorities. It was the same difficulty I had with Shirahoshi not telling anyone who really murdered her mother. There is literally no justification for her to stay silent in that instance, I don’t care what anyone says. Oda chose Ideology over common sense.

That’s the problem when writing idealists. No one ideology is going to have an answer for every situation, and it gives rise to situations like Shirahoshi and Rebecca.

There are people who will never get over their irrational hatred.This is true to both the world of One Piece and Real Life. What Otohime wants for the future can’t exist in the same space as hatred. They are mutually exclusive.

Nor can she sidestep the fact that the hurt and the pain her people have suffered. The injustice is real, and Otohime knows it. Heck, because of her Haki she probably knows it better than the people themselves because what they feel, she feels, and she has taken all of their burdens upon herself.

Chapter 625 gave me chills when I read it for the first time. Volume 63, which contains the vast majority of the Fishman Island flashback, is the only volume of One Piece that I own a physical copy of largely because of this moment.

The title of the chapter 625 is “Uninherited Will”. Passing on one’s will is one of the major themes of the series. It’s no accident that chapter 145, best known for Hiliruk’s speech, is literally called “Inherited Will”. Characters don’t die in One Piece unless they’ve achieved their dreams or passed them onto someone else, so for there to be something that needs to be uninherited - or to put it another way, abandoned and left behind - is a pretty big deal.

Otohime isn’t saying that the former slave’s pain is to be forgotten or left unpunished. She’s not even asking them to forgive the Celestial Dragons for what they’ve done. What she asks is for is the chance for their children - who know nothing of humans whatsoever - the opportunity to grow up and form their own opinions free of the hateful bias of their parents. What Otohime is looking for is a chance to end the cycle of revenge that will only lead to more death and misery and pain, and start over again. What happens after that...well, that’s up to the next generation.

Note that despite saving his life, Saint Mysogard’s views don’t change, nor does Otohime expect them to. Also note that Hody, despite never suffering at the hands of humans and hearing Otohime’s words, still grows up to be one of the most racist (specist?) characters in the series. She dies before seeing her dreams come to fruition, and ten years later Fishman Island is on the brink of a hostile takeover by fishman supremacists.

She did, however, pass on what was most important to those who matter most. What Otohime couldn’t do, Fukaboshi, Manboshi, Ryuboshi, and Shirahoshi will. And I think if she were real, Otohime would have been happy with that.

(I promise I’m not crying. I’ve just got dust in my eyes)

#One Piece #Eiichiro Oda #Fishman Island #Otohime #Queen Otohime #Writing #Manga #analysis #creative-type analyzes

95 notes · View notes

shinneth · 5 years

Text

Gem Ascension Tropes (5XF-specific: L - Q)

Primary General Post ✦ Full Article ✦ Primary Peri Post ✦ Primary 5XF Post

Leave Me Alone!: In Chapter 4 of This is Who I Am, 5XF decides she wants nothing to do with Steven and Peridot and would rather face the dangers of Earth by herself rather than go back to them. She has no plan for where to go or what to do, but 5XF is resolved to be the only one who has a say in where life takes her and who she really is. She isn’t of sound mind at this point, and when Steven and Peridot are very close to reclaiming her (after putting the pair through hell trying to find her), 5XF is desperate enough to let the spirit of a disembodied voice possess her so that she’ll have the power to truly ward them away and make them pay for making her so mentally unhinged. By the end of Chapter 5, she gets over this thanks to Sphalerite coming into her life.

Literal-Minded: Shares this trope with her sister, though currently downplayed.

Little Big Sister: Originally, 5XF and Peridot were the same height. However, by the time the two formally met, Peridot (junior to 5XF by 6 seconds) underwent her post-ascension growth spurt. This leaves 5XF as the shorter of the pair by a few inches.

Locked Out of the Loop: After the events of Act I, White Diamond goes out of her way to keep 5XF and all other Homeworld gems oblivious to the causes of the drastic changes occurring in Homeworld, including the fates of Yellow and Blue. By Act III, she and her fellow Peridots are rounded up and held in various pocket dimensions for the sole purpose of stalling the Crystal Gems, but the most even 5XF knows by that point is that she’s being mandated to pretend she’s 5XG.

Loner-Turned-Friend: Thanks to Sphalerite, 5XF has learned to open up to others and dare to trust someone other than herself. While she still has a very low opinion of Steven and Peridot specifically, 5XF is open and willing to get to know the other Crystal Gems and hopes to befriend them.

Love Redeems: Even Garnet believes by the end of This is Who I Am that 5XF wouldn’t have progressed as much as she had if Sphalerite hadn’t been there to pick up the pieces after 5XF’s little meltdown in Chapter 5. She can see that Steven and Peridot wouldn’t have been able to help 5XF understand Earth or her new life any better. Even more, Sphalerite’s support has helped 5XF find the courage to own up to her mistakes and wrongdoings and is willing to face the consequences. Additionally, 5XF is driven to atone for what she put Steven and Peridot through and is consequently very cooperative with the other Crystal Gems. Without a doubt, Sphalerite and their abrupt love affair helped 5XF make great leaps in her Character Development.

Loves My Alter Ego: Both exaggerated and (somewhat) justified: 5XF at best is just very unimpressed with Steven and Peridot, both as individuals and collectively… usually she holds a great deal of contempt for them, though. Their fusion, Sphalerite, on the other hand… 5XF is completely obsessed with her. Her love is absolute for this fusion, and the feeling is mutual on Sphalerite’s end. Steven and Peridot, of course… they’re not fans of this at all (especially when their affair started by taking advantage of their comatose states within their fusion).

Loving Details: While waiting for Sphalerite to wake up from her Deep Sleep (which goes on for more than half a day), 5XF is compelled to write up a preliminary profile for Sphalerite to add to the Crystal Gem database on Peridot’s tablet at a later date (when the fusion is properly introduced to everyone). Despite only knowing Sphalerite for a few hours at this point, 5XF manages to write about her for twelve pages. It’s heavily implied that 5XF has fallen for Sphalerite by this point, as the narrative points out how often she’s thinking of the fusion and is inexplicably overjoyed to see her not defuse despite so much time having passed since Steven and Peridot formed her.

Moment Killer: One of the reasons 5XF is being released from her bubble at the start of This is Who I Am. Steven and Peridot have had a good number of days alone together, but now they’re getting a little too eager for each other and moving a bit too fast. Both are aware of this, and know that with 5XF around, her presence will prevent them from going too far. Chapter 3 has her become this without actually being there, but rather through Steven mentioning that they haven’t checked on her in a while, just as he and Peridot were about to indulge in each other. Peridot’s pretty peeved but concedes without complaint.

Mood-Swinger: Evident in This is Who I Am when you compare 5XF’s behavior in Chapter 3 to how she acts in Chapter 4: she’s basically on opposite ends of the spectrum in more ways than one. Sphalerite even lampshades this in Chapter 6.

5XF: “Sphalerite, I don’t know why I’m feeling this way! I swear I don’t! It feels ridiculous that I could feel like this at all, let alone so quickly!”

Sphalerite: “You’ve, uh… nearly gone through the entire emotional spectrum at this point.”

Ms. Exposition: Similar to Peridot, 5XF offers quite a lot of insight on Homeworld life in This is Who I Am. In many ways, she trumps her little sister in this role due to her abnormally sharp perceptive skills and insatiable curiosity. In Chapter 2, she explains to Steven in detail what it meant to be a Peridot on Homeworld, revealing they have next to no personal rights; not even to defend themselves when assaulted. She reveals details that strongly suggest Peridot is still holding a major secret from Steven, which turns out to be true in the next chapter (though 5XF’s overall suspicions were only partially accurate, ultimately). As a character, she represents how badly Peridot affected her fellow kind during her Manipulative Bastard days, even indirectly (as they never crossed paths back then). In Chapter 7, she backs up Peridot when talking about a gem’s capability for reproduction and even supplies information her sister lacks, such as why gems can reproduce naturally despite it always being illegal on Homeworld.

Must Make Amends: It is 5XF’s fault that Gypsum has become a threat to Earth, and being bonded to her crystal is a clear sign that she’ll unwittingly put the Crystal Gems through hell when they do directly confront the corrupted gem. However, 5XF is not only needed to accomplish this mission of neutralizing Gypsum as a threat, but would be coming along regardless because she does feel driven to make up for the potential catastrophe her poor decision-making caused.

My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but evident in 5XF’s expression when she watches Steven and Peridot sob in each other’s arms after barely surviving being forced to fight each other to the death… which was her doing. When 5XF realizes she’s not feeling the least bit good about seeing the couple suffer what she previously claimed was a just punishment, the guilt quickly seeps in. It isn’t long before 5XF is resolved to do whatever she can to make up for what she did.

Narrating the Obvious: Attempts to defy this many times throughout This is Who I Am starting with Chapter 2. More often than not, she lampshades it.

(After Steven mends Peridot’s gemstone with his Super Spit)

5XF: “I-I would say you healed her, but that’s blatantly obvious!”

Nervous Wreck: Justified in the first half of This is Who I Am; 5XF has every reason to fear and doubt everyone and everything she sees now that she’s suddenly been permanently immigrated from Homeworld to Earth. Pretty much everything about her old life has vanished in an instant, and now she’s understandably overwhelmed after learning what exactly happened after Ruby poofed and bubbled her in Act III and what to do from here on out.

Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: While 5XF did dreadful things to Steven and Peridot in This is Who I Am, there are a myriad of outside influences that forcibly drove her off the deep end. She not only struggled with a great power influencing and exaggerating her mental and physical woes that she only accepted when it became apparent 5XF had no choice than to “be captured” by Steven and Peridot, but Steven and especially Peridot in their own right did a subpar job adjusting her to Earth and helping 5XF adjust to her new life. Their inability to foster a long-term trusting relationship with 5XF led to the chain of events that resulted in 5XF getting possessed by a corrupt gem’s spirit, as 5XF legitimately only wanted to take control of her life back and adhere to no one’s terms but her own. She wanted nothing to do with Peridot and Steven and only attacked them when they pursued her. After regaining her senses and having time to relax and recover with Sphalerite, 5XF legitimately regretted what she put Steven and Peridot through; it wasn’t just because she fell in love with their fusion. In Chapter 7, 5XF makes it clear that the last thing she wants to be is “another 5XG” – in other words, she wanted to repent for her crimes rather than get away with them. 5XF is rough around the edges, but there’s nothing inherently evil about her.

Not So Different: Steven silently takes note of this between her and Peridot in Chapter 2 of This is Who I Am. 5XF often comes off as a Tsundere when Steven points out her being sentimental and concerned for Peridot and himself. Coincidentally, much like Peridot during the early phases of her redemption arc, 5XF always refers to others with a “the” preceding their name. The Amethyst, The Steven, The Jasper, and so on. Peridot’s the only exception; she is always addressed as 5XG. Her general manner of speaking is also fairly similar to Peridot’s, though notably toned down. As 5XF further develops, she continues to acquire traits or make decisions eerily similar to her sister’s without meaning to – Steven’s comments of certain tropes “running in the family” might be more on the nose than he realizes.

Ocean Awe: When Sphalerite tours her through Millennium Island, 5XF is awestruck when she sees the ocean for the first time in her life. Considering she lived in a world that had virtually no water whatsoever, seeing this much at once leaves a major impression on her. The sight of the ocean quickly becomes a visual 5XF associates with her own comfort, and she was absolutely thrilled to learn her new home would also be on a beach with a full view of an ocean.

Official Couple: With Sphalerite, as of This is Who I Am Chapter 6.

Only Sane Gem: When Steven and Peridot are her only company, 5XF believes herself to be this wholeheartedly. Played fairly straight for the first half of This is Who I Am. Even after her major breakdown, 5XF refuses to acknowledge either of her caretakers’ competence and still thinks they’re both crazy.

Overcome with Desire: 5XF falls in love with Sphalerite within a day of meeting her. While she has enough of an understanding of relationships to be self-aware of how absurd it is for her to fall for someone this quickly and want to act on it, 5XF lacks the experience to do anything more than hold back on her urges… until she finds out that Sphalerite reciprocates her feelings. Within mere minutes, the pair instantly teleport to their vacation home (only doing so because both don’t feel like dealing with the consequences of doing this in sand), and a marathon of Coitus Ensues.

Power Incontinence: At first 5XF seems to adapt well to the mysterious power that is naturally attracted to her, as she makes good use of them eluding Steven and Peridot and incapacitating the pair in This is Who I Am Chapter 4. With Gypsum’s help, 5XF even manages to fragment the couple’s very identities and set up two deathmatches where they’re forced to fight each other’s dark counterpart – even keeping the two battles isolated in different dimensions to prevent the light combatants from helping each other – creating an elaborate and sadistic game where only one of them would ultimately survive. Once Light Peridot finds a loophole to make both matches end in a No Contest, 5XF finds she can’t do anything about it and has no way of reliably controlling her own powers. It’s worth noting 5XF never really knows or understands what these powers truly are; the last thing she manages to do is put Steven and Peridot back together (after being intimidated into it via 5XG/Dark Peridot). By that point, 5XF finds herself regretting ever becoming Gypsum’s power vessel, and said powers are completely dormant once she and Sphalerite leave Gypsum’s domain. They’re guaranteed to make a comeback when the Crystal Gems properly confront Gypsum, but everyone is aware 5XF is going to be a major liability in the power department, as she still has no concept of the nature of the power she wields.

Powers via Possession: 5XF’s powers are not her own; they are merely on loan from Gypsum, and she can’t use them to their full potential until she agrees to a binding contract with the corrupted gem. While she was able to utilize these powers for minor feats before the contract, that was largely due to her fragile emotional state being receptive to Gypsum’s influence.

Quest for Identity: Her new life on Earth revolves around this goal and is greatly emphasized in This is Who I Am.

The Quiet One: In contrast to Peridot, 5XF survived her hellish work environment on Homeworld by simply doing her work, minding her own business, and refusing to socialize with any other gems. While she remains much more reserved than Peridot after being relocated to Earth, this trait of 5XF’s becomes massively downplayed to the point where it’s barely in effect after the changes she experienced with her new life.

0 notes

woodelf68 · 7 years

Text

The Way Forward

Movie night prompt for @a-monthly-rumbelling. Adult!Gideon fluff, and a way to fix the fact that (in this ‘verse) Rumbelle never got a chance to raise their own baby. Rated G, 3085 words.

“Gideon, this is your nephew Henry.”

They’d run into each other after leaving Granny’s for their first meal out with Gideon. It had been an uncomfortable hour, as Gideon was subject to the stares of everyone who had been in the diner -- some merely curious, but others openly suspicious or even hostile. Gideon had alternately tried to hunch himself into invisibility or met the stares with a look of cold aloofness on his face that Gold had found eerily similar to the one that he knew he wore on his own face sometimes. It was meant to convey that you didn’t care in the least what the other person was thinking of you, when in fact you felt completely differently inside. Belle had kept up a steady stream of chatter, trying to distract Gideon, but Gold knew that if Gideon were to be accepted by Storybrooke, and hopefully find some friends, then he needed to be seen in the company of someone other than the Dark One and his wife. Seeing Henry coming towards them on the sidewalk had seemed too fortuitous an opportunity to pass up.

Henry, bless his soul, smiled and stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

Gideon shook it awkwardly, having learned this custom already. “Hi, Henry. Look, I’m sorry that I tried to kill your mother, I -- “

“I know, you were being controlled by the Black Fairy; she had your heart,” Henry said with far more understanding and acceptance than Gideon felt he had any right to. “It’s okay; it’s over now.”

Gideon smiled uncertainly. “If you’re sure…”

“Trust me, everyone in this family has done some pretty bad things, even when they weren’t being cursed or controlled.” Henry shot a glance at first Belle, then Rumpelstiltskin. He still felt ashamed that he hadn’t thought about Belle being trapped in a sleeping curse when he had attempted to destroy all magic. He had apologised, and both his grandparents had said they’d forgiven him, but it was not something he liked remembering. He wouldn’t hold Gideon’s past against him.

Belle looked sideways at Rumpelstiltskin, and found him looking back at her. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “Yeah, we have. And we make amends the best we can, and we try to move on.”

Rumpelstiltskin squeezed back.

“It’s weird,” Henry told Gideon. “If you hadn’t gotten magically screwed over, you wouldn’t even have been born yet. But I think I’ll like having an uncle who’s older than me, like most uncles are.” He glanced at Gold. “Have you told him about Neal?”

“We haven’t had time yet, what with everything that’s been going on.” Rumpelstiltskin said. It had been less than a week since the Black Fairy had been destroyed and he’d been able to return Gideon’s heart to him, and it had seemed more important to learn about Gideon’s life than to bring up his own painful past. He could tell that it was tough on Gideon, transitioning into this new life, in a town where he had tried to kill the woman everyone knew as the Savior.

“Neal was my dad,” Henry explained softly, his own eyes echoing the sudden sadness in his grandfather’s. “Your half-brother, from my grandpa’s marriage to his first wife Milah. Who ran off with Captain Hook who just married my mother.” An odd look crossed his face as he recited the facts. “That will never get any less weird when I stop to think about it. We’ve had a lot of timey-wimey stuff happen in this family, your growing up in a different realm is par for the course, really.”

“‘Was’?” Gideon had to ask, knowing what the answer would be. He would have known if he had a brother around.

“Yeah. He died.” Henry swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat. “I never even knew him until a few years ago, either. He never knew I existed until then.”

“I’m sorry,” Gideon said gently. “You’ll have to tell me about him.”

“We all will,” said Belle, firmly. “He died a hero.”

“I have pictures,” Henry offered. “You can look through my photo album.” He cocked his head. “You don’t look like him, you look like your dad. I guess my dad took after his mother more.”

“He did,” confirmed Rumpelstiltskin.

“I’d like that,” Gideon told Henry. “What was that other thing you said, though -- ‘timey-wimey’?”

“Oh, that’s from a TV series.” Henry brightened up. “I’ll have to introduce you to some good TV series. And movies! We’ll have to have a movie night, no, lots of movie nights, there’s a lot you need to catch up on, because certain movies have become part of popular culture, and people will refer to them, and you won’t know what they’re talking about. But I’ll help get you up to speed. That is, if you want,” he added uncertainly, when Gideon didn’t reply right away.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed, and somewhat taken aback by Henry’s friendliness in a town where he had not found any yet so far, Gideon hastened to reassure him. “Yes, I would. Thank you. I don’t know anything about how to be an uncle, but I could use a friend.”

“Uncles take their nephews to the movies and buy them ice cream afterwards,” said Henry mischievously.

“Ah, about that --” Gideon began, then noticed his father pulling his wallet out of his pocket and extracting several bills, which he held out.

“Here. You now have money. Go take your nephew to the movies and buy him ice cream afterwards.” Rumpelstiltskin smiled.

Gideon stuffed the money into his pocket. “All right. Right now?” he asked, uncertainly.

“Well, we’ll have to check what’s playing and at what times first,” said Henry. “I could show you around town, and we could do that, if you like. I mean, you must have seen something of the place, poofing around, but you haven’t had a proper tour. I could introduce you to people, too. He looked Gideon up and down critically. “Do you want to go home and change first?”

“Change what?”

“Into something more comfortable.”

“This is comfortable.” Gideon looked down at his new black suit, liking the way it looked on him, the way it made him feel closer to his father. He’d spent the last few days spending mornings with his mother in the library, helping out and reading voraciously about the history and customs of this world and afternoons with his father in the shop, slowly getting acquainted and forging a relationship. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, of course not,” both Belle and Rumpelstiltskin assured him at nearly the same time.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Henry agreed, “But most people don’t wear three piece suits outside of work hours. They come home and change into something more casual.” He glanced at Gold. “Your dad’s an exception. But maybe you haven’t had time to go shopping yet?”

“Henry has a point,” Rumpelstiltskin admitted. “I spent 28 years wearing a suit thanks to the original curse that created Storybrooke and my Mr. Gold persona. It’s what I’m used to, here in this land. I feel strange wearing anything else. But -- the curse was designed to isolate me, to set me apart from everyone else. The expensive suits reminded everyone else that I was richer than they were, that I was someone to be feared. People might find you less threatening if they saw you in more casual clothes when you’re not working. You don’t have to wear anything you don’t want to, of course -- but why don’t you try out some of the things that Henry suggests? Jeans, t-shirts, sweaters -- whatever you find comfortable, go ahead and buy it. You can use the credit card I gave you for larger purchases like that.”

“Okay, we’ll head down to the movie theatre first, see what’s playing,” Henry decided. “And then we’ll go shopping, get you some basic stuff. Sound good?”

Gideon looked rather helplessly at his parents.

“That’s a good idea,” Belle said encouragingly. “Everybody likes Henry; you’ll be in safe hands.”

“I...all right.” Left to himself, Gideon knew he’d rather stay holed up in the house, or in the quiet shop, or in a corner of the library reading, but he supposed he would have to face the townspeople sooner or later. Best to get it over with, when he had a friendly guide with him.

“Great! We can stop for ice cream after that. And popcorn! Have you ever had popcorn? If we go to the movies we’ll get some popcorn; you’ll like it.” Henry turned away and started walking even as he was still speaking.

With one last glance over his shoulder at his parents, Gideon hurried after.

In the weeks that followed, it became apparent that Henry had made acclimatising Gideon to Storybrooke his own personal mission.

“He probably has a name for it,” Belle observed, rinsing off the last of the supper dishes and passing it to Rumpel to dry. There had been no question about her not moving back into the salmon house with Gideon’s return. They had missed 28 years of their son’s life, 28 years of being a family. She didn’t want to miss a single second more, nor would she have asked it of Rumpel by making Gideon choose only one parent to live with. This was her home; this was their home. They belonged together.

“Operation: Uncle,” Rumpelstiltskin suggested with a grin. Gideon had come home from his first day out with Henry with a modest collection of casual clothing that Belle had had to be dissuaded from making him try on then and there to model for her.

“Operation: Giraffe,” countered Belle, thinking of their son’s height.

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head with an amused smile. “I will never be able to understand how he ended up that tall with us for parents.”

“They say physical traits can skip a generation,” said Belle. “He must get it from my father.”

Belle felt a pang for all the years they had never had, watching Gideon grow from a baby to a toddler, and then a sturdy child heading off to school. Had he been tall for his age early on, or had he shot up all at once as a teenager? She’d have to ask him; it seemed important to know, along with so many other myriad details. But asking things like what were his favourite foods as a child was fraught with the possibility of the answer being that he hadn’t had a choice in the matter; he’d eaten what he had been provided with. She forced her mind away from that channel of thought back to Henry, and how Gideon already seemed to relax and become more open whenever he was around Henry -- they’d already had one movie night at home, and Belle smiled at the memory of Henry enthusiastically explaining everything in the movies to Gideon. It had been a good night, full of laughter and the warmth of being surrounded by family.

“I think Henry has needed someone like Gideon as much as Gideon needs someone like Henry,” she observed, thinking about it.

“You mean a father figure?” Rumpelstiltskin hazarded doubtfully. Despite being older, Gideon was in many ways more immature than Henry, thanks to his sheltered upbringing in the Dark Realm.

“That’s part of it, maybe, but more...a link to his father?” suggested Belle.

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, feeling slightly guilty. He’d kept his distance from Henry for a variety of reasons -- first there had been the prophecy about a boy who would be his undoing, and then it had been out of a feeling that Henry would be safer if he wasn’t seen as someone who could be used as a way to hurt the Dark One. Although considering the other side of Henry’s family had seen no problem in taking him down to the Underworld with them, perhaps he shouldn’t leave Henry’s welfare entirely in their hands. For all that Henry was mature for his age, he was still a child and needed to be protected, not dragged along on every adventure. And then, for a while, he had simply been gone. Dead, for all intents and purposes, the Dark One’s essence trapped in the vault in the Enchanted Forest. And after that, enslaved by Zelena for a year. But now -- now he vowed that he would be more a part of his grandson’s life.

“I’m glad he’s hit it off with Gideon,” he said. “If there’s one thing Henry likes, it’s helping people.” He thought of Henry showing up earlier with an invitation to another movie night, this one at Emma’s house. Gideon had been obviously reticent, but Henry had refused to take no for an answer.

“I get that it’ll be awkward at first, but you can’t avoid each other forever,” he had insisted. “She knows you were being controlled, and she’s willing to put it in the past. She wouldn’t have allowed me to invite you if she wasn’t.”

“Do the brave thing,” Belle had encouraged.

Gideon had shot her a withering look. “Thanks, Mother. It’s not you who’s been invited to have dinner with someone you tried to kill.”

“It’ll be okay,” Henry persisted, and Gideon had taken a deep breath and given in, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on over the off-white button-down shirt he was wearing along with a pair of jeans and boots.

“All right, Nephew, but this had better be worth it.”

The last dish done, Belle drained the water from the sink and dried her hands. “Shall we have a movie night of our own tonight?”

“Anything you like, sweetheart.”

They settled on the couch, Belle kicking her shoes off and curling her feet up beneath her as she picked up the remote control and flipped through the channels, looking for something good to watch. She stopped on a show where a baby was pulling itself up by the bars of its crib, making happy babbling noises until its mother came over, smiling, and leaned down to pick the baby up, kissing its forehead. Belle’s heart clenched at the sight, a sharp, fierce ache that made her want to cry. She could have had that, but she had thrown it away. She spoke before she even realised what she was saying.

“I want a baby.”

“What?” Gold half-turned to face her, although he had heard her perfectly well.

“I want a baby, Rumpel. Not right away, Gideon needs us now, and I don’t want him thinking that we don’t love him just as he is. But maybe in a year or so -- do you think we could try again? To have a baby to raise and to love, and to do it right this time? Together?”

Rumpelstiltskin swallowed hard, and raised a shaking hand to cup Belle’s face. She was asking about more than a baby, she was confirming that she wanted a life with him, and a proper marriage. He nodded, a tremulous smile appearing on his face. “I can’t think of anything that I’d like more.” He leaned forward, and Belle met him, their lips meeting as they kissed. Her hand came up to cup the back of his head, her fingers sliding into his hair, and she pulled back with a huff of laughter after a moment, trying to tug on the short strands.

“There’s nothing left for me to grab onto,” she complained. “You are letting it grow out again, aren’t you?” It was already a little longer than it had been, just brushing the top of his collar, but still too short for her preference.

“Do you want me to?” he teased, threading his own fingers into her long hair.

“Yes, please,” she said meekly, her dimples appearing. “You know I always liked burying my hands in your hair.”

“As you wish,” he promised with a grin. “I shall put it on my to-do list.” He claimed another kiss, and Belle smiled at him brightly when he pulled back, before shifting and wriggling back so that she could lean back against him as she faced the TV again. Carefully, he put an arm around her, and relaxed when she covered his hand with her, keeping his pressed firmly in place.

Belle murmured in contentment as she felt Rumpelstiltskin press a kiss to the top of her head, returning her attention to the television program. The mother was settling the baby into a high chair at the kitchen table, where it promptly began banging happily on the tray. Belle smiled wistfully, but it was now a scene she could look forward to one day, instead of only something that she had recklessly thrown away. She would not make the same mistake twice. If they had another child, she would hold onto it as fiercely as she should have held onto Gideon. As if on cue, the door to the kitchen on screen banged open and a little boy came charging into the kitchen, closely followed by what was obviously the children’s father, who greeted his wife and baby with a kiss. The little boy climbed up onto a chair and began making faces at the baby, making it laugh in delight.

“Do you think Gideon would like being a big brother?” Belle asked.

Rumpel’s arm tightened around her. “I think Gideon has a lot of guilt over not being able to protect the other children in the mines with him. So yes, I think he would be a wonderful big brother. Quite possible overprotective, but I can’t see that as a bad thing.”

“Not around here, no,” Belle agreed, trying to envision a scene in her head, Gideon playing with a baby, a small toddler lovingly following him around. In her mind’s eye, Gideon was smiling and happy, knowing he was loved, that he had a family. “Do you think he’s having a good time at Emma’s?”

“Well, if not, he’s perfectly capable of leaving, so I’m hoping things are going okay at least.”

“It’d be nice to have a little girl,” Belle mused. “To balance things out.”

“It would,” Rumpelstiltskin agreed, his own mind filling with sudden images. “It’s been a while since a girl’s been born into this family. About time for a change.”

A change sounded good, Belle thought, a change for the better. They would learn from the past and move on, not forgetting it but not dwelling on it. They would find the way forward.

#a-monthly-rumbelling #ficwoodelf #rumbelle fic #rumbelle #gideon gold #gideon fic #the way forward

72 notes · View notes

dreadhaus-literature · 5 years

Text

{Research} Who...or What am I?

I know, that title is like...totes dramatic and probably a little out of character for myself since I’m the queen of chill, but it’s a question I’ve been asking for the last couple years, in terms of fantasy life and where I, Dot Dreadful, fit in with everything. My family are a family of Shapeshifters, but they all know what they are whereas I do not.

And it’s about time I figure it out.

I’ve mentioned it a few times, but the idea of just being a human with alter-egos doesn’t sit well with me. I’m fine being taken care of and being 100% submissive but I still don’t want to feel...plain in a Family of Supers. So at the risk of being a Sue with this, I decided the only way to really be 100% happy is to just bite the bullet and let my Alters be whatever I want them to be, even if that makes me five different types of supernatural, or a Shapeshifter with five forms, I suppose is a better way of wording that.

I have five Alters that make me whole, and I’ll list them in terms of Dominance and strength:

Maîtresse/Dame

Anadrette

Sione

Tiny

Misi

If I added myself to that list I’d go right between Anadrette and Sione. And there’s a lot I don’t really talk about in terms of myself, because I don’t like doing things for myself, but...the flip-side of that, is I get to enjoy things I can’t IRL if I do this. I mean, that’s the beauty of FL to begin with, right? To do things I can’t, and to have things I can’t IRL.

My Alters exist to fill an emotional need. Meaning, like, Misi came to be because I wanted to feel completely dependent on the Family. Sie’s incapable of taking care of hirself, and sie allows me to be 100% submissive. That’s an emotional need sie fulfills for me. Same as like with Sione, wanting to explore a male perspective, or Drette, allowing myself to feel whatever I want to feel no matter how “crazy” it might seem.

So it seemed...a logical step that they fill a physical need for me, too. i have supernatural types I gravitate towards or that I like, so my Alters can take those forms, filling the physical need just as they do the emotional. Make sense? ...I sure hope it does, lol.

Essentially, each of my Alters will be a different supernatural being, and I shift into them, and when we’re all sharing one body, I can use those forms at will. The only exception to this is if the Alter’s body type is different from me, then I won’t assume their traits.

I.E. - Dame is taller than Dot is, so Dot will remain her same height and will not get Dame’s height advantage when using Her Shifted form.

If I explain this dumbly and it doesn’t make sense, haha, just ask. It uh, it makes sense in my head, so hopefully I’m putting it down on paper properly.

I went through and assigned a supernatural being to each of my Alters, and I...think I’m happy with it. It feels...right, finally. I’ll still remain a Shapeshifter, and if there’s a need to be specific I’ll even call myself a Skinwalker. I simply trade out abilities with my Altered forms, like how my brothers can shift into their Altered form--which, for most of them, is a wolf. I simply have more cards in my deck.

They get to be 17 feet tall, I get to have more forms. It all works out.

Once I run through all the forms, I’ll try and tie this up in a pretty bow at the end, and make sure I don’t miss any loose ends. I feel kind of...out of my element talking about myself so it’s making me nervous. 😗

Anyway, let’s start with the top of the food chain.

Maîtresse / Dame | Gorgon

Overview

Maîtresse represents my Dominant side; She is a Domme, 100% of the time, and She is also the strongest part of me. She was the Protector of all of us before W/we merged with the Family, and out of all the Alters She is the strongest, emotionally and physically--yes, even stronger than Sione. I like to think of Her as my powerhouse. My heavy hitter.

Maîtresse has my IRL height, standing at 6′2 barefoot in Her resting form. She makes no attempt to shrink; in fact, She displays Her height proudly and even to Her advantage. She will not shy away from wearing high heels and there is no shame in Her for Her height. She cares very little if it makes anyone uncomfortable.

Unlike Anadrette, Maîtresse is not mean, She is simply strict. She expects and demands respect and is used to getting it, but She is Motherly and protective; She is used to taking care of others and does so happily, willingly, day after day as any good Domme should.

Shifter Form

Maîtresse is a Gorgon; which is essentially half-woman, half-snake. She has a full head of writhing, sentient snakes that serve as Her hair. There are smaller snakes at the top of her head, serving as her bangs, and then longer snakes trail down Her back to Her waist. Each serpent is capable of independent thought and personality, however they are in tune with Her moods and Her thoughts. They do not speak, but communicate with Her through hissing or telepathy, and will grow back if cut off.

Maîtresse is 20 feet in length from the top of Her head to the tip of Her tail; when She sits up using Her long form to balance, She usually “sits” at about seven feet tall, but due to Her length She can rise up higher if need be. Her torso is still the same height as Her resting form, with her additional height all coming from Her tail. Maîtresse’s snake tail begins below Her navel, where Her flesh begins to blacken at Her hips to meet Her scales. The scales themselves are black and gold; black on top, gold underneath, and Her tail ends in a gold rattle with a vicious black stinger at the tip.

Maîtresse is bare from the waist up when She shifts, and even Her upper torso resembles the black and gold of Her scales, only to a much lesser degree. Her hair serpents share the same coloring as She does.

Normally, in this form, Maîtresse’s face doesn’t appear much different, with the exception of slitted snake eyes and a forked tongue. However, when angered, threatened, or when using Her Gorgon Vision, Her features will become more bestial, and She will resemble a serpent with a prominent brow ridge, the faint appearance of scales along her forehead, cheeks, and jaw, and inches long fangs that drip with venom.

Like other Gorgons, Maîtresse has a gaze that’s meant to be feared, but She doesn’t turn people to stone. As a Domme, Maîtresse needs the ability to be able to know those beneath Her. She has the natural ability to read others, and this is further amplified by Her Gorgon Vision, or Seeking Vision. It’s similar to telepathy but much harder to avoid; while some can train to put mental blocks in place to stop telepaths from reading their minds, most wouldn’t be able to stop Her from reading every single thing inside their head once She’s staring directly into their eyes. She uses this to manipulate others, to read their truest intentions and desires and can then, of course, use them again them. It’s how She can either earn or force submission, blackmail, or simply rot the person’s mind from the inside out, using their own fear against them. This vision operates in two forms; either She will stare into Her victim’s eyes and read their thoughts, or She can force them to say aloud whatever they’re thinking.

Additionally, as with most snakes, Maîtresse is venomous, both Herself and Her hair serpents, and the strength of Her venom will either (temporarily or permanently) paralyze or kill Her victims. The sting from Her tail is also venomous, but because of it’s size, victims usually bleed out before any ill effects from the venom itself.

Maîtresse has supernatural strength in Her arms and Her bite, but Her real strength and speed come from Her tail. Not only can it make Her impressively tall, but it can propel Her forward either on land or in water with incredible speed, and She can most certainly constrict or crush someone to death with it. It’s also advised to not be on the receiving end of a smack from it.

Maîtresse also has a tell that She can’t control; like with rattlesnakes, if She’s beginning to lose Her temper or about to strike, Her tail will rattle. It’s a good way for others to know they’ve crossed a line and should probably...get back on the other side of it.

Anadrette | Banshee

Overview

Anadrette, or Drette as she’s more commonly known, is the manifestation of all my extreme personality traits. She’s unstable, homicidal, maniacal--whatever you wanna label it as, she’s not all there and she’s completely fine with that. Like me, she’s a S/switch, but only recently began submitting for the Family; she was purely a Dominant before. That explains why she sometimes...struggles with authority--that, and she likes a fight.

It’s no surprise or secret that Drette isn’t very nice--at least, to the other Alters or anyone she isn’t in love with. She’s almost black and white; she’s obsessively devoted to Family and would do anything for anyone she loves, but if you fall outside of that bracket...well, as the meme goes. {Chuckles.} You’re in danger.

Drette is taller than me, but only by an inch; she’s 5′10 barefoot, but is almost always in heels. Like Dame, she enjoys being taller than outsiders and using that to make them uncomfortable...and you can pretty much bet she likes making anyone uncomfortable. She is unapologetically who she is, with all her quirks, kinks, and obsessive tendencies on full display. She stalks, she devours, she kills, she claims--Drette plays for keeps. Always.

Shifter Form

Drette is not a Banshee in the traditional sense of the word; she’s not a ghost, but she is a manifestation of evil or malicious intent. She is the feral aspect of my personality, something that walks the line right between life and death. She consumes fear hand over fist just like she does flesh, and the longer she’s alive, the worse her “condition” gets because she thrives on possession in all forms--like one might assume a demonic spirit or ghost would.

It remains something of a mystery, a point of confusion as to how Drette walks the line she does; she seems to exist right in the middle between the corporeal and incorporeal dimensions, so that she can teleport or hop locations using the same paths that ghosts do, she knows things she shouldn’t, and her body seems built to withstand even lethal injury so she can snap back like a doll popping it’s joints back into place.

Drette can sustain insane amounts of damage without succumbing to her injuries. Her body is almost like that of a voodoo doll, because while the damage is being done, she doesn’t seem to notice it, almost as if it’s happening to someone else, and yet the more pain she’s in, the more powerful, the worse she gets. Because of her toeing the line between the corporeal and incorporeal dimensions, her body will keep going even against seemingly lethal wounds; broken bones? She’ll walk on broken ankles, she’ll still stab with broken wrists. Snap her neck? She’ll still dismember you with her head at that awful, twisted angle. Load her up with bullets? Watch her laugh through bloodied teeth as the bullets are pushed out of open wounds and she’s still chasing you down with that meat cleaver.

Drette’s Shifter or Banshee form is different from her resting form, beginning with her skin. Her skin loses all pigment and goes paper white (haha, throwback to my monochrome days on IMVU); her eyes also lose all color. They go feral black, and she moves with more obvious, bone-wrenching tic’cing than she normally does. Her nails and teeth elongate, she no longer gives off a scent, and her body heat cannot be registered through thermal means. In this form, she’s harder to track, or trace, to see, and thus she has a much easier time stalking without being discovered.

One common trait that Drette shares with other Banshees is their shrieking voice. Her voice is powerful, and if used against a person with a weak constitution or heart, she can actually shriek a person to death as the sound is so terrifying their heart stops. Her shriek can manifest damage on it’s own--for example, if she were to shriek in a person’s direction, if she’s at full strength her voice can knock them over. It’s meant to induce fear--seemingly everything about Drette is meant to incite fear. To her, it’s all a means to an end; if she hates you and you’re afraid of her, she can torment you to death. If she loves you and you’re afraid of her, you’ll be too afraid to leave her and she’ll keep you forever.

Unsurprisingly, Drette is extremely skilled in fear manipulation. It’s another common trait she shares with Banshees; she isn’t heralding a bad omen, she is the bad omen. She’ll stalk you, follow your every move, get inside your life, your head, and learn what you fear the most--and then she’ll use it to destroy you or own you. Whichever she prefers to do on that particular day.

Sione | Werecat

Overview

Sione is, out of all my Alters, the most like me. The only difference between the two of us is that he’s a male, and I’m female. We’re literally just gender-swapped; he’s a S/switch, he shares in the same personality traits that I do, and if I’m the Mom friend, he’s the Dad friend.

Sione is the tallest of all my Alters at 6′5″ barefoot, and he does have some muscle mass on him. He’s nowhere near the other Dreadful men (sadly, because he comes from a female, he can only bulk up so much) but he could still own the title Daddy if he (or someone else) wants to call him that. Sione carries his height with an easy-going smile and a head full of dreadlocks.

While Dame is the Protector of all the Alters, Sione more closely looks after Misi. As Misi straddles the gender line, Sione acts as a guiding “big brother” to the weak Alter, but given his size if he needs to step in and take over for Dame he’s more than happy to do so. He’s pretty happy, pretty much all the time.

Shifter Form

Sione, like the other men in the Dreadful line, is an animal Shifter, a Were with an affinity for cats. Unlike Atamu, who is a pureblood Werelion, Sione has mixed genes and can shift between any of the large jungle cats; lion, tiger, panther, jaguar, and cheetah.

Sione’s height doubles in size in his Were form; he goes from 6′5″ to 8′5″, and like other animal Shifters he does have three forms; his resting form, his Were form (bipedal, anthropomorphic form) or his animal form (four-legged form that is larger than the wild cat counterparts). He makes use of these forms liberally, as he went through the same training the rest of the Shifters did when he was younger and has full control over his forms.

Like all Shifters, Sione has exceptional gifts in all of his forms, but each Cat specializes in different things, similar to their wild counterparts. Sione can use a panther for stealth, cheetah for speed, lion for power, etc. Sione is as most Shifters are expected to be; he has lifemates and needs to be with them often to prevent Shifter Sickness, and if he hasn’t fed on flesh recently he does tend to lean on the more feral side--something the other Alters are more resistant to. Sione is most susceptible thanks to the testosterone.

Similar to other Weres, Sione shares personality traits with the animals he can embody--these traits come out stronger when he’s in his shifted forms. He will display territorial behavior, extreme possessiveness, or even be more playful depending on the form he’s in and which Big Cat he’s embodying. Sione also actively enjoys Pet Play in all his forms, and will engage in it readily with anyone willing to participate with him; that means collars, leashes, or being on the submissive end and being openly stalked by the leopard with hazel eyes.

Tiny | Pixie

Overview

Tiny is my submissive side--however, she’s not 100% submissive. Well, she is, but she’s a brat. If Misi is 100% submissive, then Tiny is 97%; there’s that 3% of her that’s gonna need a swat on the ass to do what she’s told, but hey, that’s part of the fun of being a sub, a little, a brat, right?

Tiny is exactly what her name says. She’s much shorter than me, and she’s fine to use that to her advantage, in whatever way she can. Underestimate her? She’ll walk all over you. Want to treat her like she’s a doll? She’ll cling to you. Tiny’s a bratty submissive and with that comes knowing exactly how to get what you want, and she’s a girl who knows what she wants.

Tiny’s a brat, but she’s a sensitive brat. She knows to be nice, and she knows to be respectful. She’s been taught well by the Family’s Bigs, and she knows her place and is happiest when she’s in it.

Shifter Form

Tiny is a Pixie, a cheerful, mischievous sprite who admittedly has some Nymph tendencies thrown in for good measure. Like the rest of her kind she can vary her size, but usually is fine to stay her natural height--unless she’s wanting to be really little, in which case she might drop down to a foot or two...or if she’s up to no good, in which case you might want to be on the lookout for a winged brat less than 12 inches tall.

Appearance-wise, as a Pixie Tiny has short, pointed ears, her sharpened teeth, and thin, delicate wings reminiscent of butterflies. They’re fanned, with three separate wing tips on each side (one pointed up, one pointed slightly horizontal, and one pointed down), and they’re amethyst in color to match Tiny’s birthstone. To match her wings, her eyes change from hazel to amethyst, and they fairly sparkle with mischief, especially when she’s really up to no good.

Tiny can retract her wings if she’d like, and when she’s in flight they glitter and yes, she does have pixie dust. Though her wings are good for hovering, and flitting from short distance to short distance, she’s not really built for extended flight or long distances, and she can only carry someone thanks to her natural strength as a supernatural creature. She really isn’t designed for it, though.

Due to her zodiac and her affinity for water, Tiny is technically a water pixie, and thus her wings can be use in water same as air--and unlike her short flights in air, she’s an exceptional swimmer and can use her wings to swim for near as much as she’d like. She has a heavy preference for saltwater, though, and likely won’t much enjoy freshwater, and may even pout if she’s taken there instead of the ocean.

Tiny is a Pixie, and Pixies are known for magic, but really what Tiny is known for is just trying to make others happy. Her Pixie Dust brings good luck and can incite smiles and laughter, and her “pranks” are usually not pranks at all, but little shows of helpfulness because she much prefers others around her to be happy...unless of course you mean outside the Family, and then it’s a little different. But, Tiny just wants to be happy, and she wants her loved ones to be happy, too.

Misi | Mermaid

Overview

Misi is the weakest part of me, and we’re going to talk about hir a little more than the others as there’s a lot more to unpack about hir. Sie was created for that purpose, to be weak, and in the Family the creation story or, as superheroes might say, Misi’s “origin story” came when the other Alters and I decided to try and get rid of anything we perceived as “weak” or that made us “vulnerable”. Drette wanted to be able to do whatever she wanted without these traits, Dame didn’t think the traits suited Her as a Domme, and I thought I’d be better off without them. We created Misi with the intent to kill hir as soon as sie was “born”...but we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it once sie was here. And so, here sie is.

Misi is androgynous, straddling the gender line right down the middle. Sie has both male and female genitalia, with small, perky little breasts that you might miss if you’re not actually looking for them. Hir features won’t tip one way or the other in terms of gender, and sie answers to both male and female pronouns, and terms of endearments. Really, sie’ll answer to anything you call hir; sie’s literally the most people-pleasing person on the planet because sie’ll never tell you no.

Sie is incredibly small, both height-wise (think Tiny) and body weight-wise. Because sie was created with everything we Alters perceived as weak, sie’s often sick as hir immune system is extremely compromised, and thus sie’s extremely thin. Hir left arm barely has any motor function in it, as that is our cutting arm and we transferred all scars and damage done to hir as we thought we’d get rid of it when we got rid of hir. Since that didn’t happen, sie lives with the bum limb either by putting it in a sling...or others remove it, and keep it, as it does eventually grow back.

Personality-wise, Misi is 100% submissive. Sie never acts out, sie never defies or says no, and sie will literally go along with anything. Sie has no backbone, no defenses; sie’s extremely vulnerable and that leads to one of two things; either someone wants to protect hir, or they want to take advantage of hir--and Misi is designed to enjoy it either way. Sie’s fully masochistic, enjoying any and all treatment as sie perceives it to be love no matter how it’s shown, and sie craves it, like a wilted flower in need of constant sunlight.

Shifter Form

Misi is a mermaid...or merman, or merperson? Haha. Well, sie’s a Mer. Like most aquatic animals outside of water, sie’s not exceptionally graceful on land. Sie only has three working limbs, after all, and gravity’s kinda tough on you when you weigh 90 pounds soaking wet with bricks in your pocket--but in the water, Misi is incredibly agile, and it becomes pretty apparent that’s hir element when sie’s in it.

Because of Misi’s modest endowments, sie doesn’t wear a top when sie’s in hir Mer form; like all mermaids hir tail starts at hir hips, and...for those curious, like other aquatic animals hir “parts” are tucked neatly into a little fold on the underside of hir tail--so yes, sie still has all hir working parts in this form.

Misi’s tail is a rainbow in an ombre pattern that simply repeats itself from hir hip scales down to the feathery tip of hir tail. Hir gills are the same color as hir tail and flutter visibly along hir neck, and sie has finned ears in the same color pattern. Sie also has webbed fingers for swimming, and fins that run up from hir wrist to hir elbow, to help hir move easily in water. Hir rainbow scales bridge along hir cheekbones and over hir forehead, and in this form sie is able to breathe both air and in water.

Like Tiny, Misi prefers the ocean, and won’t be very happy in freshwater unless it’s a pool, or an in-land lagoon or waterfall. Ponds are icky and sie’s afraid of them. Despite hir bum arm sie excels at swimming simply because of hir tail, and feels most at home when sie is in water. Sie can see clearly in all water types, and sie can see in the dark when in water as well.

While the majority of mermaids are known for their mystical voices, Misi is too timid for singing. Sie has an awful stammer from being so fearful of so many things (happens when nearly everything is a threat) and so instead of a mystical voice, Misi’s “power” comes in hir eyes. Sie wears hir heart visibly in hir gaze, which is often full of love or longing for love, and same as mermaids often lure sailors to their deaths with beautiful songs, Misi can entice hir desired one into the water with a forlorn glance. It isn’t coming from a place of seduction, Misi’s too shy for that, but sie’s open and honest about what sie wants and if it’s you, you’ll know it, and sie’ll show you open devotion if it means you’ll come play for a little while.

That all leads you back to me, to Dot. And I hope it’s clear now, what I said above; when we are all sharing a body I can shift into any of these forms, be it Gorgon, Banshee, Werecat, Pixie, or Mermaid. I simply shift into them as myself, as Dot, rather than my Alter egos. I’m still Dot, I’m just a Shapeshifter, a Skinwalker with Alters that can separate from me and they take their Shifter form when they go.

I.E. - If Sione is independent from my body, I cannot shift into a Werecat or Sione until he merges with me again.

Despite Dame being my Domme side, I am the dominant personality. The Alters are just physical manifestations of my persona, which I suppose can circle to me being a specific type of Skinwalker. I can’t shift to look like other people, like Markus can, I shift internally, using facets of my own personality.

And I’m sorry if this is all confusing, or even if this is doing the most, and not in a good way, haha. i just...well, I guess I don’t need to make excuses for myself. We do this FL stuff so we can have fun with it, so we can enjoy things we’ll never have IRL and this is a rare show of something for me.

This...is me. After two years, I finally know who Dot Dreadful is in New Senzannini.

So there you have it. You now know, and I now know, who and what I am.

#{theme} : writing research #{character} : dot dreadful

0 notes

amorremanet · 7 years

Note

OC asks/questions: 8, 15, 21, 25, 32? Also if that's not already too much: finish the sentence meme for Lucy?

Okay, I did intend to do the finish the sentence meme, but as it stands, it’s almost 4AM and I’ve been binge-watching old Outside X-Box list videos to stay awake, so…… I’ll get back to that one

8: What’s the most common physical characteristic of your OCs? What about personality trait?

Physically, a lot of my OCs are ridiculously tall. I blame having my concept of average human heights skewed when I was a child, due to having several ridiculously tall relatives, and then having my ideas further skewed in my adolescence by a mix of shoujo and magical girl anime/manga (where the hottest characters, like Tenou Haruka, or designated love interest characters, like Chiba Mamoru and Kashino Rei, the “troubled but cute” pretty boy from MARS, are tall), and the Vampire Chronicles (where most of the vampires are tall, beautiful, and incredibly gay or bisexual)

Personality-wise, “troubled but cute” is probably my most overused character type. Even more specifically, “troubled, but cute, and they have a good heart, they’re trying their best, but they’re still troubled and sometimes (often) make incredibly bad decisions because I felt like it would be a fun time to make them do so”

15: Do you have any AUs? — Short answer: yes. Longer answer: yes, and some of them are going to be canon, because I have the self-restraint of a magpie, and figured that…… eh, whatever, screw it, I’m nixing several of the other more credulity-straining and ridiculous elements of the by-its-very-nature ridiculous and credulity-straining superhero genre, so I can have a canon multiverse if I please. Which I do, because it’s fun. For me. Anyway, some of the canon AUs are:

The AU where most of the major points are still the same, but also, Silent Hill. Not that it will actually be called, “Silent Hill” because of blah blah copyright, but I primarily got the idea of, “horrible demonic monsters conjured out of people’s guilt and psychological issues” from the Silent Hill series, and I’m not going to pretend I didn’t.

Also, unlike Silent Hill proper, the nasty pieces of work in this universe do not have the decency to just stay confined to one small town in Middle of Nowhere, Maine. They’re everywhere.

Anyway, some of the characters from this AU get dragged into the prime timeline (tentatively) in book three, as part of a Totally Brilliant (not really) scheme by a handful of the fascist supervillain douchebags to distract that annoying ragtag band of misfit anti-fascist heroes from the actual evil plan going on. Nobody is happy about this.

Especially not when some of the monsters decide to join in on the universe-hopping fun-times. Whoops.

The AU where a lot of the major points are more or less the same, but human technology is more advanced and, in keeping with some of the more idealistic mid-20th century sci-fi concepts, while our cast in the prime timeline are dealing with neo-fascism and shit, humans in this AU are getting welcomed into It’s Not The Federation From Star Trek Because I Don’t Want to Get Sued, But It Is Basically The Same Idea, and dating aliens.

Pete’s AU counterpart got into what is basically an alien university’s MFA program in theatre. He’s the first Terran to do so, period. He has an alien boyfriend, he has never been to rehab (though, uh. He’s still an addict. And still using. So, there’s that), and his prime-timeline counterpart is going to initially think he’s pretty awesome, and progressively get super sick of basically everything about him.

The AU where Seb, Pete, Stephen, Josie, and Todd are essentially a boy band. Because of reasons. Anyone who gets dragged into the prime timeline from this AU is going to be really confused by literally everything else, because this AU is probably the closest one to how our own universe works, so like…… Imagine that you abruptly get yanked into [pick a superhero comic book universe], after a lifetime of believing that it’s all, “just stories.” It would be confusing and more than a bit alienating.

Which is not to say that this AU is all rainbows and kittens or whatever, but the problems facing the main cast are things like, “Everyone in the band has to be closeted because there’s still homophobia and transphobia,”

“Pete and Josie have probably never gotten treatment for their respective eating disorders, and Stephen may well have developed one from the fact that, boy bands are generally not allowed to have fat members, which would also mean that he’s ridiculously unhealthy since his body’s happy, healthy place? Just so happens to be fat,”

“On one hand, Todd and maybe Pete have probably never had substance abuse problems. But on the other hand, Seb still has and it’s probably very seriously exacerbated by several factors,” and so on.

Which isn’t to say that those things aren’t important and complicated problems, or that the prime timeline characters DON’T have to deal with similar things just because they’re in a superhero world (since…… they DO have to deal with those things or at least very similar ones)

But there’s a pretty significant difference between things like, “trying to stay clean” and, “trying to prevent a bunch of neo-fascist supervillain douchebags from staging a bullshit fake attack at a debate between potential Republican nominees for the US presidency, which will probably end up killing a bunch of people if it’s allowed to go on, and is part of a longer-running, slow-burn scheme to essentially make this dickbag senator from Virginia the President-in-All-But-Name”

And the boy band AU characters are super-unprepared to deal with the latter sort of problem

The AU where it’s a vaguely cyberpunk dystopia because I felt like it, that’s why.

The AU where instead of superpowers, everyone has magic

Which is going to frustrate Lucy to no end, when she has to meet her AU self from this universe, because sure, this AU has different systems and rules for how the magic works, but no one can tell her what the Hell makes it go aside from, “idk, it’s magic” and that’s not an acceptable explanation to her

—But, as she’s going to hear from someone, this isn’t actually any different from how superpowers work in the main timeline, like? They know that the superpowers are caused by genetic mutations. They can figure out different ways of handling said superpowers and systems of how to approach and understand them……

But if we look at Josie’s telepathy/empathy, Lucy’s hemokinesis, Sara Grace’s super-speed and neato super-voice tricks, Seb’s “they don’t call it lycanthropy but only because that’s already a thing; it’s essentially lycanthropy with a shot of therianthropy, animal empathy, and a healing factor that would make Deadpool jealous,” Yael’s ferrokinesis and magnetism powers, All-Star Doctor Delphi’s status as the resident flying brick with heat vision, Elizabeth’s telepathy/telekinesis, Conrad’s telepathy/mental manipulation, Julian’s empathic abilities and emotional manipulation that can be a super-effective Jedi Mind Trick and then some when used effectively, Sylvia and Vince’s essentially omni-shapeshifting, the fact that Annie can turn her own tears, saliva, and blood into all kinds of fun chemicals (from toxins and acids, to myriad medicines), ET CETERA?

……Yeah, uh. In the end, the best explanation that anyone has for why any of that works, in-universe, is essentially, “Because it just does.”

So… essentially the same explanation as, “A wizard did it,” but it’s pretending to be scientific.

Lucy does not like being confronted with this hypocrisy, but she’s just gonna need to put on her big girl shoes and deal with it.

The AU where I don’t actually have most of the details about it worked out, but in the prime timeline’s December 2007, it abruptly became the new home of All-Stars member Penumbra (nee Victoria Brandt) and supervillains Dr. Neutron and Necrotara. They all got dumped in it when Penumbra stopped them from unleashing a super-plague on New York City… by opening up a rift in space-time, throwing them into it, and plunging after them because that was the only way she knew to seal it before it ate New York.

This AU will also get dragged into the prime timeline, though: 1. that’s more of an accident because Titus, Dezi, Eddie, and Tamsin have no goddamn idea what they’re doing and are meddling with forces they can’t control (especially not Dezi and Eddie, who have no powers to speak of and are miserably inept at pretty much everything);

and 2. It’s a bigger deal to the All-Stars than to the main cast, especially to Ruby Marvel (Penumbra’s on-off girlfriend), Zephyr Haze (who really looked up to Penumbra, and she was one of the few team members who believed that he was ready to be anything more than Doctor Delphi’s sidekick), and Slingshot (her on-off boyfriend, who has totally failed to move on from what happened, and if not for Captain Firebrand and Platinum Man revoking his ability to get into R&D without a babysitter, he likely would’ve broken space-time to get Penumbra back years ago)

Like, I’m not saying, “He has handled this like Silver Age Spiderman trying to kill the Green Goblin as vengeance for Norman Osborne murdering Gwen Stacy.”

I’m saying, “Slingshot has handled Penumbra’s effective death like that thing I just said magnified by a power of ten because, as far as he knows, getting her back into the prime timeline could potentially be cataclysmic, and he does not care. He has also spectacularly failed to listen to any and all attempts at getting him to respect her choice here, and the only reason he hasn’t gone full grimdark like a mid-90’s to mid-2000’s Dark Age drama-bomb of toxic masculinity and manpain? Is that he isn’t allowed into R&D at All-Stars Tower without a babysitter.”

However this AU works, Adelaide’s AU counterpart is going to be kind of a mess at getting dragged into the prime timeline, on one hand because her prime timeline self doesn’t have powers but decided to affiliate herself with a bunch of heroes anyway (while dumpster fire AU!Adelaide has superpowers and has been a hero and it’s gone Other Than Well for her), and on the other because her prime timeline brothers are alive and haven’t gotten killed by her supervillain nemeses

Dumpster fire AU!Adelaide is going to be more of a mess over a lot of things like, “On one hand, her little brother lived past 20 and swears he’s got a good life and his boyfriend is nice (yay!), but on the other, he’s a mentally ill recovering addict and also a superhero and for some reason, her prime timeline self is, as far as dumpster fire AU!Adelaide can tell, just okay with this”

And, “Her prime timeline self has a niece who actually knows what it’s like to have a father in her life, because dumpster fire AU!Adelaide’s Max got killed off while Linda was pregnant and Linda is probably a great single mom, but dumpster fire AU!Adelaide wouldn’t know because after Seb and Ambrose had both gotten killed (albeit by different villains), the common theme that emerged was the boys getting killed by supervillains and having a superhero sister, and okay, Linda did not explicitly blame Adelaide (Linda’s feelings about all of this are conflicted and messy)

“—but dumpster fire!Adelaide decided that the best thing to do was to basically cut herself off from friends, family, and loved ones, barring her AU’s Pete, who has become her co-hero, and a dog, because like her baby brother, Adelaide loves dogs and sometimes uses them as a substitute for interpersonal contact and connections”

Prime timeline Addie is seriously weirded out by her AU self’s complete lack of chill. Which says a lot, because Addie-prime actively repels anything that even vaguely resembles chill.

The AU where Margot and Seb didn’t get to be friends in undergrad, and her parents never disowned her, and she wound up filthy rich in her own right and having far fewer near brushes with death…… but also wound up: closeted and basically leading a double-life to keep from getting outed; very lonely; more miserable than she would like to think; and taking more than a few cues from Adrian “Ozymandias” Veidt of Watchmen

—Which is to say that, while she still doesn’t have any literal superpowers, she is deeply closeted and convinced that the only way to save humanity from itself might just need to involve doing something extreme that successfully makes humanity put aside their differences and unite against a perceived larger threat (and also distracts them so that Margot and her loosely affiliated AU associates can, “solve the underlying problems” unimpeded)

As prime timeline Margot will definitely point out: ideas like that literally only work on paper or in theory. In practice, humans are chaotic and messy and impossible to predict with any real accuracy, so there is no possible way to guarantee that killing a bunch of people and blaming it on aliens or whatever will make everyone decide to get along and sing songs underneath of a rainbow like some vintage Coca-Cola commercial.

Oh, and if Ozymandias AU!Margot actually thinks that nobody will notice if she and her cohorts, what, like…… use the world banks to redistribute the world’s wealth and make sure that the 1% can’t get it back (which would include AU!Margot herself and her cohorts, even though most of them don’t know she’s planning to do that), change a bunch of laws and policies they don’t agree with, and institute some kind of secret shadow government over the entire world?

Here’s a hint, Ozymandias AU!Margot: people will definitely notice that, and a lot of them won’t be too keen on letting you get away with it.

Furthermore, not only will people definitely notice that, but it won’t actually fix things as much as you want it to do. It would have some benefits, sure, and some of the ideas you’re trying to put into practice here are not inherently bad — like redistributing the wealth and putting hella restrictions on the same patterns of capitalist exploitation that made you rich in the first place — but one of the underlying flaws in AU!Margot’s approach is that, again, she’s ignoring the human element of everything

In other words: sure, redistributing the wealth is a nice idea and it would definitely have some positive benefits, but you cannot magic away the scars of aforementioned capitalist exploitation by throwing money at them, nor should you expect people who have been exploited, dehumanized, murdered, etc. under said patterns to not be upset about their suffering just because they now have money.

More generally, expecting people to always react in predictable ways is a bad idea. Expecting people to be okay with things that you erroneously think you would totally be okay with, if you were in their position is a bad idea. Behaving like a supervillain, even if you think you’re doing it for the right reasons and even if there might be some temporary short-term benefits? Is a BAD IDEA (especially when your plans have some major, egregious oversights).

Also, ew, Ozymandias AU!self, but out of all the ladies with whom you could be having a secret affair, why the fuck are you having it with your AU’s Melanie Drake (the firstborn daughter of the guy who the prime timeline Biggest Bad wants to put in power as his puppet, who is, herself, an active and enthusiastic participant in fascist supervillain hijinks).

In Ozymandias AU!Margot’s defense, her universe’s Melanie still has the conviction that everything she’s doing is for the Greater Good, but although she hasn’t gotten away from her nuclear reactor meltdown of an abusive shit-show family, she did come to believe in a different vision of, “the Greater Good.”

I mean. The nicest thing that can be said about it is that her vision of, “the Greater Good” isn’t a fascistic one and is, much like Ozymandias AU!Margot’s entire scheme, largely born out of good or at least okay-ish intentions, but really fucked up wrt the execution. But it’s not like Ozymandias AU!Margot is having a secret sexy affair with a neo-fascist supervillain.

She’s…… uh. Having a secret sexy affair with someone else who, in their AU, considers herself to be, “one of the heroes that this world needs but won’t accept,” and both of them are pretty fucked up, morally and ethically speaking, though not so much so that they wouldn’t be horrified by the Melanie of the prime timeline (who is, in fairness, pretty horrific. She’s also engaged to Titus, who is equally horrible but for some different reasons)

Anyway, the point is that Margot-prime super doesn’t expect any Melanie to be the secret girlfriend for any of her AU selves, and she’s really not happy about it, but also biased due to shit like, “Melanie-prime is an actual facts fascist supervillain”

And shit like, “Melanie-prime has hurt Margot-prime’s friends, and no, she doesn’t care that it was always in a superhero vs. supervillain fight, or that Seb has a healing factor, or that Pete accidentally made shit get violent on at least one occasion by running his mouth when he knew that he should have shut up, or that Lucy has run headlong into situations where a little bit of chill could’ve gone a long way and then people started throwing punches, la la la, go away context, Margot can’t hear you, Melanie has hurt her friends And That’s Terrible”

The mundane AU where, in addition to not being superheroes, Seb and Stephen met each other about ten years earlier and were a lot less gun-shy about being super into each other, not least because neither of them had been burned too badly in romance before (even given that they’d both had some negative experiences with it), and while both of them still had some big deal underlying issues with self-esteem, neither of them played any weird little head-games with himself to the tune of, “Oh, I shouldn’t voice my interest because he’s probably not interested in me because reasons, he’s probably just being nice”

On one hand, this AU wound up sparing both of them certain shitty experiences that their prime-timeline counterparts dealt with in their 20’s (not all of them, granted, and like — this AU’s Seb is still a recovering addict, and this AU’s Stephen has still dealt with a ton of bullshit about body image and fatphobia).

But on the other, they broke up and it’s…… amicable? Mostly? But still kind of emotionally tense for several reasons, not least of which is how instead of playing any, “he’s probably not really interested” head-games with themselves at the outset of their relationship and working through it, they were together for a long time, and danced around the idea of getting married…

…but neither of them told the other about wanting to get married because each of them thought that the other would never be into that idea because Reasons. Presumptions were made, miscommunication ensued, they eventually split up, each of them took it as a definite sign of, “I was right, he never would’ve been into getting married,” and they’ve mostly moved on and repaired the non-romantic friendship parts here.

Until they get dragged into the prime timeline and find that their counterparts are significantly more messed up as individuals but actually making a relationship work, but also at a point of, “They’ve been having some issues that have nothing to do with the superhero thing, and each of them is kind of seriously thinking about proposing but keeps getting cold feet about it”

Watching your alternate universe selves get engaged in the middle of a drag show on one of their birthdays is…… special.

Doing so after telling one or the other of them why you ever broke up is…… uh. Let’s just call it, “double special” and move on.

Also, powerless AU!Seb…… will be really conflicted about his prime timeline self being a superhero, partly out of concern (since this hero business seems to be working out okay, but it all sounds stressful and dangerous, and yes, Seb-prime literally can’t get intoxicated anymore — at least, not on any of the, “normal stuff,” i.e., “psychoactive substances that were not created by other mutants” — but…… how is being a superhero NOT a relapse trigger waiting to happen. To paraphrase Joan Watson, how is being a superhero NOT a giant gun filled with drugs and alcohol, pointed right at Seb-prime)

…partly out admiration (because the superhero stuff actually is working out decently, and powerless AU!Seb has to respect his prime timeline counterpart’s hijinks and dedication to helping people)

……and partly out of jealousy and getting kicked in the, “you’re kind of a worthless fuck-up, aren’t you?” feelings

because yes, powerless!Seb has found his own bliss in academia, and he is more or less at peace with it, most of the time……

but he’s torn because he wants to be helping people, and he largely went down the academic track to help himself

—which, in this case, means, “to something to work on and do with himself that wouldn’t feel like a complete waste of time, even if it didn’t exactly make him feel fulfilled, because he needed something to do other than, ‘try to find peace and sobriety by isolating himself from as much of life as possible,’” so it’s not like he is being selfish in a way that actively screws over anyone else; he is being selfish in a way that displays self-preservation—

—and okay, powerless!Seb has a list of things that he tries to tell himself about how this life-choice isn’t antithetical to the idea of helping people because he mentors students, and his research helps in X or Y or Z convoluted fashion, and he uses his access to academic databases to get around paywalls for other people who don’t have that access and to then hook them up with what they need……

But that’s still not the kind of helping people that he wanted to get into and it doesn’t really feel like he’s helping anyone, and it’s a pretty big kick in the stomach for him to get yanked into the prime timeline and see Seb-prime… actively helping other people as a superhero and ostensibly doing better at staying sober because of the superhero thing, rather than in spite of it, and what the fuck, how is this FAIR, how come he can do that and powerless!Seb CAN’T)

Even without the part where Seb-prime literally can’t get intoxicated on, “the normal stuff” anymore, the situation is a lot more complicated than powerless!Seb thinks it is, but in fairness to him, he’s probably only been stuck in this unfamiliar timeline for two weeks, max, when he has this little jealousy-induced meltdown

He probably ends up getting helped to chill out by Stephen-prime, which is its own messy and confusing kettle of monkeys for both parties because of intricate, complicated ontological questions like, “Is it cheating if I don’t actually do anything with my (ex-)boyfriend’s alternate universe counterpart, but feel attracted to him and definitely THINK about doing things with him?”

……The sad part is that all four of these losers WOULD actually make that complicated question, but it would be less because of the actual thorny issues about being and the nature of existence, and more because all of them would have a mental double-standard like, “Well, if I did it, then it would definitely be wrong, but it wouldn’t be wrong if my boyfriend did it because of reasons”

Seb and Stephen-prime may not need to deal with that specific question but the whole underlying, “Things that other people are allowed to do are wrong when I do them because of reasons” business is something they have to suck it up and work on, as individuals and in the context of their relationship

The AU where Josie actually got to go into fashion design, because they didn’t have their entire career ruined before it began by a mix of a douchebag ex-boyfriend whose parents were in good with Anna Wintour, and an abrupt, stress-triggered anorexic relapse that led to an even more stressful superpower awakening

Keeping with the, “mirror mirror on the wall, it’s fuck with my characters o’clock, let’s go…… all” theme among a lot of these AUs and the different respective versions of the characters, fashionista AU!Josie has a lot of things that Josie-prime wants and a lot of aspects of their life make Josie-prime jealous, but they are actually a huge mess in their own right

I’m still working out how, exactly, they are a huge mess, and so far, all I’ve really thought of is that it would amuse me if they were dating their AU’s Todd, but I’m not sure where I want to go with that and it’s also not actually going to be an issue for a while yet, so the idea has time to percolate

and the canonical coffee-shop AU.

The canonical coffee-shop AU is a horrifying dystopia where the bad guys won before most of the main cast were even ten years old — like, that AU’s Lucy and Sara Grace literally have no conscious memories of life ever being any different, they were that young when everything went to Hell — and that AU’s version of Senator Huntington (R-Virginia), the aforementioned Biggest Bad, took a lot of cues from Brave New World about how to run his dystopia

Like, there are several things that he would nix

e.g., the ostensible sex-positivity and alleged sexual equality of Aldous Huxley’s dystopia that is, in its own way, just another way of creating sex/gender-based INequality and blah blah blah

That would go right out the window because as far as dystopias go, wrt sex and the (im)morality thereof? Huntington thinks that Margaret Atwood’s Republic of Gideon from The Handmaid’s Tale had more or less the right idea, though he would also acquiesce that, if you want it to work, you’d need to build up to that, rather than dumping it on everyone all at once

He would also nix some of the more scientific aspects of the BNW dystopia, because he realizes that they’re not actually as likely to work out decently as Huxley seems to have thought in the novel

Like, Huntington would definitely still want there to be several strata of social inequalities that all serve to support a big pyramid that he can be on top of

……but he wouldn’t want to have those things artificially created in a lab because he thinks that sex is the best way to control a lot of the people under his power because even the ones who aren’t “perverts” — which, to him, means basically everyone who isn’t a heterosexual who only ever wants to have sex in the missionary position for the express purpose of procreation — are still “weakened” by their dependence on human connections (read: any desire to have meaningful human connections), and all of them inevitably want those connections to be expressed through sex because they’re all idiots in the end

For the record: Huntington’s attitude about sex is derived from the attitudes of real-world right-wing Christians in the States who love to play the game of shaming anyone who has any sexual desires, ever, because even though they also say that said desires come from God because they’re expressions of love and whatnot, they could just as easily come from Satan if the preacher in question doesn’t approve of them, personally.

The religious aspect only seems pasted-on whenever Huntington talks about any of this because…… Well, for him? It is. He doesn’t actually believe in God, or Jesus, or much of anything beyond his own power and his own right to have whatever he wants because he showed up and decided he deserves it.

Any time he talks about God or religion, he’s merely catering to his constituents by playing a version of himself who DOES believe in God because he’s reasonably certain he would never hold any elected office if he didn’t project the image of being a righteous, God-fearing man who is filled with the love of Jesus. But I digress.

So, yeah. Brave New!Huntington wouldn’t want to have all of his social inequalities baked into the population due to how people are grown in laboratories, but the general idea of, “keep the populace medicated into submission, throw them some bread and circuses and maybe a bit of pasted-on happiness, don’t let them think for themselves but give them the illusion of thinking for themselves, etc.”? Huntington is all about that.

Another reason why he vetoes the, “let’s grow all humans in laboratory test tubes lmao” idea is that he figures he can better play into the idea of all people being essentially equal, which helps keep the populace docile as long as they believe in it, if he lets them handle their own relationships and procreation. Like, regulate it in certain ways, and only give The Gay Agenda (i.e., everyone who isn’t straight) as much wiggle room as will keep them from noticing that equality is a lie, but don’t interfere too much because getting hung up on all that interpersonal drama keeps them from noticing the actual problems

Either way, the canonical coffee-shop AU is a horrid, dystopian hellscape and the main cast’s counterparts in that AU are okay with their lots in life — where, for example, Conrad actually is just a wacky eccentric uncle and not using that façade to try and teach Marie a kiddie version of Why Fascism Is Totally Cool, just in case she ends up being a mutant too, and Julian is a provocateur in that he argues with anyone who tries to sit in His Spot at the coffee-shop, rather than because he uses his platform and charisma to pick at prejudices and stir the pot in ways that incite violence — because they’re all drugged, they’re all being lied to, some of them don’t remember life ever being anything else, and when some of them get yanked into the prime timeline, uh.

Well.

That will be interesting to me, personally, because there’s going to be a lot of disagreement among all involved parties about all of this and what it all means

But ngl, this canonical AU literally started because I was reading coffee-shop AU superhero fics, looking at my own ragtag bunch of superheroic misfits, and going, “God, what WOULD it take for them to actually exist in a coffee-shop AU? Because the conventional coffee-shop AU set-up wouldn’t even allow for any of them to be recovering addicts or abuse survivors, much less actively upset about any injustices in the world (beyond maybe being a Soapbox Sadie type for a scene or two before getting swept up in the inevitable romance that will dominate literally everything about the fic) or affected by shit like homophobia, racism, ableism, sexism, etc. (because if we dealt with those issues, it might not be sexy or romantic, or at the very least, it would seriously distract from the OTP and their amazing love story). The most anyone is ever allowed to be in a coffee-shop AU is pleasantly eccentric or Troubled But Cute With The Emphasis On Cute”

Which is all a long-form way of saying that I came up with an entire canonical dystopian coffee-shop AU in a thought exercise that came out of being tolerant of coffee-shop AUs but also really bored with them and low-key frustrated about their dominance of fanfiction things for the past few years because while I understand the appeal of the escapism that’s inherent in most of them (and there are some that I even enjoy), I find it kind of depressing that so many of them end up being such that you could probably find and replace the names of one fandom’s characters with another fandom’s characters and it would essentially be the same story, and all of the things that drew people to the original stories will be gone while almost none of the problems of the original stories will actually be fixed (—and at that, the most likely, “fixing” is probably going to be, “a white cis M/M otp is injected into things where, in their respective canon, they are Just Dudes Bein’ Bros”)

……Which is a long-form way of saying that I did the thing out of frustration with coffee-shop AUs (and probably a bit because rereading all the classic dystopian lit pieces at once isn’t really the best idea ever, whoops)

21: Describe each of your OCs as shittily as possible.

okay, I did these all out of order, and after going in so hard on the AUs and polyships questions, it’s 3:15 in the morning and I’m just going to phone this in

Sebastian: yes, he’s a human disaster and a serious mess, but at least he’s trying, okay

Pete: local man delivers scathing verbal smackdown and makes you say, “thanks” for the honor

Margot: the mean chain-smoking lesbian with a heart of gold that your parents didn’t warn you about but should have, probably

Josie: local goth makes everyone else look under-dressed, feels bad about things

Todd: hipster garbage who isn’t nearly as underground as he thinks

Lucy: okay but have you guys considered how superpowers could be used to address public health crises

Stephen: the human embodiment of that moment when you get so excited about the punchline of the joke you’re telling that you laugh at it preemptively and can’t finish the joke but hey, at least everyone is smiling now, right

Sara Grace: local ballerina princess will probably never get over her physical inability to cuddle every cat on the planet

Conrad: “hey why are you getting upset i’m just trying to deny your right to be considered fully human unless you fit my specific ideas about what that is lmao”

Julian: sinnamon roll that you bought at a backwoods gas station at three in the morning, then lost on the floor of your car for two years, and now it’s all grody and probably a biohazard

Annie: perpetually screaming, just at life in general

Adelaide: she’s not telling you what to do, she’s just saying that her way is probably better even when it likely isn’t

Yael: is probably your favorite Jewish lesbian grandma, unless you think that she should chill, in which case not so much

Max: had his younger sister be his best man when he got married, out of his depth with most things, *glinting glasses of intimidation*

25: What sorts of symbols/items/~aesthetics~/colours represent each OC?

and it is now 3:30 and I’ve got absolutely nothing for this one beyond the fact that Margot, Josie, and Pete all wear a lot of black

Josie because they’re still something of a teenage goth queen at heart despite being a responsible adult

Margot because it’s both professional and somewhat intimidating, which she likes because she’s compensating for only being 4’11”

and Pete says it’s because he works in the theatre, which isn’t wrong, but even if he didn’t, he’d still wear a lot of black because he thinks it looks good on him (which is fair enough because it does)

Conrad and Max are associated with gray (though Conrad is also associated with white and “that annoying shade of blonde that is very nearly white but not exactly; the Draco Malfoy or Any Given Member Of House Targaryen shade of blonde”)

Sebastian gets a lot of dog associations (partly because he has six of them and partly because he is, as mentioned, essentially a werewolf though that does slightly depend on your definition of, “werewolf”)

and Stephen loves hot pink and eye-searing acid green, sometimes simultaneously

32: Do you have any polyam ships with your OCs?

Well, I already sort of went there in the AUs question, but personally, I would love Seb-prime/powerless!Seb/powerless!Stephen/Stephen-prime — but in general, I always love any and all ships that involve selfcest, whether they’re polyships or not, so I don’t really think this one counts

The polyship that I’ve probably given the most thought to so far is Seb/Stephen/Todd, and ngl, I’ve given it said thought largely due to the fact that……… well.

I wouldn’t call them a love triangle, exactly, but let’s be real: SMeyer and SCollins didn’t want to call Bella/Edward/Jacob and Gale/Katniss/Peeta, “love triangles” either, and while I’d agree that the latter case is a bit more complicated due to how Katniss spends the majority of the series having no interest in either one of the boys involved, the Twilight example is definitely a love triangle, and anyway, my point is that I’m no better than SMeyer and SCollins about going, “Oh, it’s not a love triangle!” because I fear the messy associations that come with accusations of writing love triangles even when I am blatantly doing so

And in general, I do believe in the sentiment of, “Less love triangles, more functional polyamory” — but the, “functional” part of that is a big reason why Seb/Stephen/Todd is not going to canonically go in the polyamory direction. It could, and given the canonical multiverse, there are definitely a few universes where it does

But in the prime timeline, a polyamorous relationship with those three would probably be a disaster — and frankly, a lot of it would be on Todd because Seb and Stephen both also have issues with communicating, self-esteem, honesty (with Stephen’s issue being more that he encourages everyone else to be honest while also trying to at least partially censor his own feelings in the interests of keeping the peace, while Seb’s issue is that he constantly lies to himself to try and convince himself that everything is fine because he feels like he’d just muck up everything for everyone by ever being Not Fine), and a laundry list of other things

But they’re also trying to work on those things.

Stephen is at a better place, wrt self-awareness and working on things, than Seb is, but he’s also been working on it longer and, for all the missteps he’s admittedly had in it because that’s just a part of this process for everyone, he didn’t have to deal with things like, “the aftermath of being kidnapped and shot by ecoterrorist ex-boyfriend who was not happy about getting dumped by a junky”

Or things like, “help, my brother’s unctuous brother-in-law keeps trying to befriend me after I drunkenly sucked his dick at my brother’s wedding reception and unwittingly broke up the marriage that I didn’t know the brother-in-law had, he keeps trying to befriend me despite my vocal lack of interest in being friends with him, also he’s been telepathically fucking with me for about eleven years”

Todd, on the other hand, has the self-awareness of a toothbrush, and that is a massive insult to toothbrushes.

He has worked on SOME things about himself, but usually only to the extent that he needs to work on them in order to feel like he’s doing an okay job on his own sobriety (which, in fairness, he is, but acting like sobriety is his only problem ever is disingenuous as Hell), and he isn’t working on most of his non-sobriety-related problems because, bless his heart, he doesn’t realize that they are problems.

I mean, this is a guy who is going to crash Seb and Stephen’s first morning after by showing up on Seb’s doorstep on a Sunday morning with a bunch of junk from his apartment, going, “Hey, so, I don’t mean to be a buzzkill when you look weirdly happy for once because it’s good that you look happy, I support you being happy, but also I might be getting kicked out of my place tomorrow and may also have been lying to you for several months about whether or not I needed money because I was totally sure that I could get everything figured out and then I didn’t but I didn’t want you to worry or try to pay for everything like a sugar daddy just because you CAN pay for it, and anyway, is one of your spare rooms open and…… oh. Hi, Stephen. ……He’s pretty shirtless for coming over for breakfast, isn’t he. Why are you wearing a shirt and he’s not.”

“Because he wasn’t cooking bacon and I was?”

“…………*slowly puts two and two together and realizes what he’s crashing* Ohhhh. Um. ……I can go bug Pete or Margot—”

“They don’t have room for you at their places—”

“So, can I stay?”

“Yes, obviously, but can we also talk about this? Like, maybe not right now, but in general, there are a lot of things that I’d like to talk about here???”

“………Why? Do you want to, like, charge rent or something?”

“No, god, why would I want to do that to you, but????”

So, yeah.

In fairness, Todd has a lot of good points. But he is also really bad at a lot of the things that you NEED if you don’t want a polyamorous relationship to completely implode — like communication, honesty, self-awareness, etc. — and he’s only going to start working on any of this when he finally realizes that…… oh. He’s jealous of Stephen and has been jealous of all of Seb’s previous boyfriends too, but in most of those cases, he also had some other reason to dislike them

For example: Harry was cheating on Seb with a Julliard violinist (who knew that Harry was also sleeping with Seb, but Seb had no idea that Harry’s violinist friend was his “real boyfriend”);

Francis was an ecoterrorist and admitted as much on their first date (though, as Seb has pointed out to several people, what kind of ecoterrorist actually admits to being one on a first date, so he feels he was justified in not believing Francis here), then shot Seb in the back, after kidnapping him and holding him for ransom in a basement in Ossining, all because Francis didn’t appreciate being dumped, especially not by a junky;

Josh didn’t really see the difference between rough sex and domestic violence, and was inadvertently responsible for Seb being the first family member to show up for the birth of his niece…… because he took Seb to the ER after giving him a concussion that made him seem to lose consciousness during sex (not that Josh stopped fucking him during), and then left him there “because he had something big to handle for work” (i.e., because he didn’t want to be there in case anyone called the cops), and while Seb was going to leave, he happened to see Max and Linda checking in and decided to just stay;

Rémy liked erotic asphyxiation but did not like asking for consent, and also had a thing for giving his partners rohypnol (again, without their consent), and he got away with it with Seb because, by the time they dated, Seb was no stranger to having intoxication-induced blackouts, and it was easy to tell him that he must’ve had too much to drink (and because of the way his half-latent healing factor and toxin filtering handled rohypnol, it was basically impossible for him to tell the difference between that and any of his more usual mixes of intoxicants);

Byron was a supervillain henchman-for-hire and also had a stunning lack of boundaries;

and Julian was mostly just annoying when he and Seb dated, and the worst part, at the time, was that they both tried to be helpful and supportive for each other but actually wound up exacerbating a lot of their respective issues, and now, he’s one of the less-bad exes but only because, “sends drunk texts to a recovering addict and unsolicited dick pics” is clearly on a very different level from, “gave Seb a concussion and ditched him at the ER” and, “literally shot him in the back”

(and then, when his involvement with the baddies comes out, he sort of skyrockets up the list of bad idea exes, but in fairness to Seb here, Julian didn’t get recruited by said baddies until after the second time that they broke up).

So, yeah, Todd has not been short on legitimate reasons to hate a lot of Seb’s boyfriends, and said legitimate reasons have allowed him to avoid dealing with his own jealousy for a while.

The fact that he and Seb have full-on dated before also helped for a while, as did the standing friends with benefits/“it’s complicated” that they’re in at the start of the story…… but see, Todd has always kind of been hoping that this would turn back into romance at some point

See, for all he isn’t self-aware about most things, he’s done enough work on himself to know that he is still in love with Seb (who does reciprocate but has an easier time reading Latin, or Proust in the original French, than he does of knowing what his feelings are doing and being able to verbalize it effectively)

So, Todd’s been leaving their relationship open-ended so he won’t have to feel like he’s tying Seb down to something Seb might not want. The idea that Seb might actually want it does occur to Todd, but he also dismisses the idea as completely ridiculous and silly, all out of some ridiculous idea that of course Seb wouldn’t want to be with him again for real, not until he perfectly self-actualizes in some completely unattainable way (which he doesn’t realize is completely unattainable because, bless his heart, Todd doesn’t get that he will never be satisfied with his ridiculous and ill-defined goalposts on the path to becoming his idea of what Seb’s perfect version of him is)

This is made all the worse by the fact that all Seb wants Todd to be, and all that he has ever wanted Todd to be, is himself.

He has said so practically since their first ever conversation, and the romantic subtext was there for him from the start of it all because when he went up to the cute bespectacled chubby guy in the Pink Flamingos t-shirt after the freshman orientation week meeting of the campus LGBTQ student union, Seb totally meant to ask Todd out.

Unfortunately, he got nervous, excited, an odd and potent mix of tongue-tied and rambling, and overwhelmed by how starved he was to make more friends (seeing as his only friend, at that time, was Pete, who was about an hour or so north, once you factor in getting to Grand Central, taking the Metro North to the right stop, and then either meeting him at the station or getting to his campus)

So, the romantic intentions got rather garbled and turned into a platonic-sounding coffee invitation, and as much as Seb had wanted to ask Todd out, he was okay with this at the time because he was en eighteen-year-old extrovert who’d spent his last two years of high school with only one real friend, who wasn’t even at his school because Pete was already in college, and in a school environment that was so emotionally shitty that his parents saw facilitating his trips down to see Pete and all their weird misadventures in the City not as a special treat but as what they needed to do for the sake of their son’s wellbeing

Either way, Todd misses the, “be yourself, that’s it, that’s all he has ever wanted, you colossal tool” point by a long-shot

So, by the time the story starts, Todd is working (he thinks) on his amazing and totally foolproof plan to become exactly what Seb deserves even if (he maintains) Seb doesn’t realize that he deserves it, Seb feels like there’s no way that Todd is still into him and feels like Todd is probably only hooking up with him until someone better comes along and is a hopeless romantic who’s pessimistic about love but also about most things in general, and their lack of talking about things is a Problem

It’s a Problem that Pete calls Seb out on, though in fairness, he brings that up less as a dig at the relationship and more because it’s part of Seb’s larger problems

But then, as part of his, “I am totally going to get my shit together, yeah!” “““plan””” (read: half-baked notion that he is at least really committed to), Seb decides to ask Stephen out (because Pete was just going down a list of things Seb could work on and one of them was, “Figure out your shit with Todd and either work things out with him or move the fuck on instead of mooning over him like you’re fucking twelve,” and Seb did the impulsive thing to go, “Oooh, look, not mooning over Todd now, am I”)

Seb doesn’t expect it to go anywhere because he doesn’t think Stephen could actually be interested in him literally ever, so he’s trying not to get his hopes up or end up feeling anything — except he does both of those things AND, due to how the events play out leading up to things, Seb’s just realized that he does still have feelings for Todd, and now, he’s not sure what to do and has to figure out his shit

The final nail in the coffin is that Todd, after several weeks of blowing off Seb’s attempts to talk about things (because you don’t need to talk about things if you just pretend they’re fine and stay the course, right?), gives him what is essentially an, “It’s not you, it’s me” line, and because, “It’s not you, it’s me” is so often used to break up with someone gently (including by Seb in different previous relationships), Seb takes it as them being done romantically and decides that they should stop having sex, too, so he can get serious with Stephen.

So, Todd has to live with the fact that he’s the one who opened the door to let Seb get serious with Stephen, and deal with his jealousy, which he can’t get out of at least recognizing because he can’t find a single thing about Stephen that indicates that he isn’t as kind and good as he seems. It’ll be good for him. He gets to grow as a person thanks to fucking this up for himself and unwittingly getting one of his best friends to commit to an actual decent relationship.

Then there’s the issue of Todd and Stephen’s leg of the relationship, but once Todd sorts his shit out about being a jealous little turd, they will actually get along just fine

They will probably end up having a bonding moment where they get laughing about weird or mildly irksome but not troublesome things that Sebastian does, because I love scenes like that

But, still. As a poly ship, I don’t actually see them working out in the prime timeline.

4 notes · View notes

silver-wields-a-pen · 5 years

Note

Your stories have more than one ship in them. Can you tell us what your favorite part of each coupling is and how to build believable chemistry between characters?

Thanks for the ask ^=^ I hope this is what you were after. This is gonna get long, so Imma put it under a cut.

In Thaw I’m going along with the canon couples from Illthdar: Nyima/Tundra, Vyxen/Date, Seth/Scyanatha & Zercey/Lerki and I’ve also added my own new pairing: Belias/Eren.

Brotherhood: Divinely Volatile has Ji-hoon/Yueliang & Ndiaye/Anna so far, but the rest of the series has other couples that would take me hours to go into.

I’ll add my romantic chemistry tips at the end for anyone who wants to skip over me gushing about my ocs.

Nyima/Tundra: The thing I love most about these two is there’s a sense they want to be together, even though they’ve both got other goals to work towards. Individually they’re both warrior types who have a strong work ethic and if one has a fault or a weakness, the other can pick up the slack, so they work together as a pair which I think is important for their dynamic. They’re not just a couple, but when they are being a couple, it’s super satisfying.Vyxen/Date: I like how respectful Date is towards Vyxen. He’s like a lead in a romance novel: bit of an ass, but he eventually wins the heart of the woman who changes him for the better. I love how Vyxen is the least likely partner for someone so stuck in his ways. Date is buttoned up, proper and Vyxen is a ball of glitter candy. She’s fun and fancy free and you never quite know what she’s going to do next, so their dynamic always ends up being cute, no matter what happens.Seth/Scyanatha: This is a straight up cougar/pretty boy pairing and I love how Seth has to try not to swallow his tongue every time Scy teases him. She’s very much in control of their partnership, but she’s not the “better half”. She’s the one who struck lucky when she started flirting with him and with them separated, it’s slowly dawning on Seth that he’s a catch, so hopefully their relationship will be more balanced.Zercey/Lerki: These two are problematic, but I love that Zercey isn’t flinging herself into a relationship just because a boy likes her. She’s the youngest oc in the story, and hasn’t really had a partner before, so it’d be easy for her to get swept up in the romance of a long distance love. The fact they’re separated for most of the story means she’s got plenty of time to long for him and figure out what she wants from their relationship. Lerki’s a free spirit and a pretty selfish guy for the most part, so it’s been fun seeing him grow as a person and realise that other people have feelings that he should consider too.Belias/Eren: Started the story as an established pair, although a bit secretive about their relationship due to them being opposing species (he’s a fire demon and Eren’s an ice elemental). I like that Belias is this big, gruff guy who takes no shit from anyone, apart from Eren, who is a young, slender thing who looks like he’d get knocked across the room by a stiff wind.

Ji-hoon/Yueliang: Are still pretty new and I’ve not got much further than their intros and some random scenes, but the thing I like about them is the sense that Yueliang is someone Ji-hoon wants to be redeemed by. He wants to prove to her that he’s still a decent person inside. He sees that she’s good and wants to be seen that way too. Yueliang isn’t responsible for Ji-hoon, but she likes the idea that he’d want to become a better person because he saw someone he wanted to be a better person for; even if they don’t end up together in a romantic sense.Ndiaye/Anna: What I like best about these two is that they’re so different personality wise, but there’s a thread of deep, mutual respect for those differences. They look at each other and know they’re both good people, who have similar values and can find a way to work things out.

Writing Chemistry

There’s plenty of tips about for creating believable chemistry between two characters, and I use plenty of it, too. I think it comes down to the character’s personalities more than anything. You can have two characters that you want to ship, but if they don’t have the type of personality that complements the other person then they’re just going to fall flat. I’m going to stick with Tundra & Nyima for this because favouritism (yeah, I said it, they’re my fave #noregrets) and I bet you thought you escaped me talking about them ^=^By complementing personality I don’t mean they have to be cookie cutter made for each other where they have the same strengths, weaknesses and they never argue. Having chemistry is more than about pasting together the right phrases and key words that get across these two are “gonna do it”. I think it’s more than them wanting to get physical with each other. Good chemistry is something that is outside of your control as the writer. You have these characters and you’ve put them in a place and they just click. Whether it’s as friends, lovers or enemies, they just have something that sparks off each other and your fingers fly across the keyboard trying to get everything they’re doing down on a page. They’re living and you’re documenting it and there’s nothing you can say or do to change it — besides edit the mess you just pounded out so it makes better sense. There are some things writers can do, but that comes from character creation. You bring them to life and then let them live.

Background: It’s easy to get caught up in making oc’s backgrounds either too similar or so different they’re from different worlds. The trick isn’t the surroundings, but how they dealt with it. Two characters could have identical backgrounds, but because of their personalities they’ve ended up with completely different outlooks. This gives characters the attitude that makes them sympathetic or antagonistic towards each other. Sympathy creates a softer edge to their chemistry — they have something in common they can discuss and bond over. If it’s something that gets their backs up then they fight or argue about it, but either way you’ve got two characters who are bouncing off each other and building a relationship. They connect and they’ll always have that connection.

Tundra/Nyima: Both warriors who’ve done some dark shit in their lives and have issues getting close to people. On the surface this makes them sound like they’re the same, but Tundra had about 2 years of his life that was decent and the rest was filled with torture and misery. He didn’t have any kind of support or anyone who cared for him until he arrived in Illthdar and met his teammates. Nyima’s tribe loved and protected her until she was at least 11 and their slaughter caused her to shut down. She was in a slightly better place emotionally before she arrived in Illthdar, but it’s the love and support of her friends that’s really helped her.Their backgrounds are similar enough that they can empathise with one another, but how they view their history and what they learned from it is the deciding factor. I think this is a key part in creating good chemistry in a relationship as it gives each of them a different perspective. When these two talk about their pasts they understand each other and how they turned out, and it brings them closer together.

Physical attraction: Is a pretty obvious one, but something I think gets easily messed up. I think the focus gets caught on making each half of the couple the perfect partner for the other, so they’ve got the ideal hair/eye colour, height/weight, ethnicity and so on. It then gets worse when the interactions paint each other as loving every single thing about the other person. I think the point of physical attraction is that there doesn’t have to be everything about the person that caught the other’s eye, but there’s something that they found attractive at first and then when they got to know them it accented the other traits that developed from the attraction. Like how some people prefer boobs > butt. There’s nothing wrong with either, but if asked they’re going to say what they prefer first.

Tundra/Nyima: 5′9/5′8, Chinese/Vaosynlrian, Black hair&blue eyes/Blue everything, muscular/slender.Tundra’s not terribly fussy about how his partners look — as long as they’re female. The first physical thing he noticed about Nyima was her butt, and it’s still the thing about her he likes the most. Sometimes he’ll annoy her just so he can watch her walking away from him.Nyima first noticed how similar Tundra looked to her own people — who all have black hair and blue eyes. Once she got past that, the most physically attractive trait she liked about him is his arms and shoulders — which she still likes best. Typically Nyima prefers taller men — over 6′0 — and much more built. I’d definitely argue that if Tundra didn’t have a similar look to her race that she wouldn’t have been as open to pursuing a relationship with him, but that leads me to my next point.

Emotional/mental attraction: Your ocs can be the most gorgeous creatures ever, but if there’s no emotional or mental chemistry between them then they’re never going to get together. This is where personality and values come in, and they’re the thing that will keep ocs coming back together when they’re looking for someone to rely on because they know that person is someone they can talk to who will understand them. They need to like each other as people for attraction to really work. They need to want to go to this person. It shouldn’t be an unwilling attraction; they think about the person and they want to be next to them.

Tundra: I’d say his biggest emotional/mental attractor to Nyima is that no matter what awful thing he admits to having done she accepts him for who he is. Because of their similar mental outlooks he can say and do things that would horrify other people and she’ll be okay with it (a weird attractive trait for her is that he can literally rip someone’s spine out and she thinks that’s sexy, so that’s where they’re at.) I’d say it’s comforting for him knowing that she’s in his corner and won’t reject him.Nyima: Is more basic than Tundra. She finds his teasing the most attractive thing. This goes back to her background and upbringing. Her people are incredibly serious and the Aetumuh are also serious, so she’s spent her entire life surrounded by people who don’t joke. Tundra messes around and still gets the job done, so that’s something very different to what she’s used to. The fact he uses that to flirt with her is a source of never ending amusement.

Once you have your building blocks then you can mess around with your ocs and put them in situations and see what they do. I like doing micro prompts and letting them run wild — although Nyima’s quite traditional so usually it ends up being cute and fluffy. It’s a good idea to keep a list of “chemistry” words close or try this baby out for size. It’s a reverse dictionary that’ll give you plenty of synonyms for whatever you need.Other useful tips are to include at least 3/5 senses whenever you’re writing a couple-y interaction — I usually focus on touch as my main one because that’s a big thing for Nyima.Try not to throw away your build up to get to the nitty gritty; anticipation is the cornerstone of chemistry, but don’t wait too long or it’ll fizzle out. I like having Tundra/Nyima standing too close to each other because it gives them the excuse for accidental touches and makes them very aware of each other. Tropes are your friend — there’s nothing wrong with the romantic trope of two people looking at each other for too long, smiling goofily and then realising at the same moment they want to kiss each other. IT’S CUTE!! Don’t be afraid to throw down some tropes, just pick a couple and try to come at it from a new angle. It’s a trope, but your ocs are doing it their way, so it’s still new.

0 notes