#sure there are bad female dress history researchers. just like bad researchers in any field

[marzipanandminutiae]

What on earth is a 'corset apologist'? Like, because you acknowledge corsets were perfectly functional supportive undergarments, you're an agent of the patriarchy??

Yep, that's it exactly.

As with all the other red flags in the post, it's not a guaranteed t*rf signal. I've known plenty of non-t*rfs who expressed similar views (including the person who claimed Abby Cox was "looking down her perfectly powdered nose" at Mary Wollstonecraft for daring to [checks notes] point out that Wollstonecraft was rather judgmental about her fellow women's interest in dress). But...it's definitely a "check blog for t*rf leanings" tip-off for me.

And yes, to clarify: some people (t*rfs or otherwise) think female dress history researchers/historical costumers/vintage fashion enthusiasts who don't believe that corsets were The Root of All Evil when commonly worn are just brainwashed patriarchal shills and we can't possibly know what we're talking about.

Because that's way easier than thinking critically about the history you've been taught, and not vaguely misogynistic at all! </s>

[courtlyharlequin]

Hellooo!! I'd like to request HCs as to how Riddle, Lilia, and Epel would react to their female s/o who acts cute and clumsy most of the time?? :o

Cutesy

Warning (s): spoilers for Heartslabyul’s chapter!

A/N: I’m sure that when you say “act” you mean that’s just how she is? As in she’s not pretending to be that way for their attention or to get something from them? Maybe I’m reading into this too much…

Riddle Rosehearts:

You. Are. Adorable.

Your cute dresses match the Heartslabyul aesthetic and his own to a T. Riddle often overthinks and frets over his own attire to match yours, analyzing your tastes and what you tend to wear.

Did he really borrow a dozen copies of fashion books from the library? Yes, but when questioned, he says: “it’s for research for his history class project!”

He isn’t a tsun in my opinion. He’s just flat out embarrassed. The poor boy just wants to match so badly with you, his darling.

Riddle wants to be cute too! You often fawn over dolls with matching clothes so he figured he might give you the opportunity in real life.

He’s a simp, okay? He just doesn’t know it... yet. 

The fact that you melt his heart just by doing something so simple is an addictive feeling, something he cannot have enough of even though it’s bad for him.

Your clumsiness wrecks havoc upon the rose gardens. One time, you tripped and accidentally let the flamingos loose. At first, Riddle giggles at you. But after seeing the flamingos fly ago like that… his soul left his body.

He often scolds you, telling you to be more careful, that he’s worried.

Riddle will most certainly catch you if you fall, but he won’t pardon you if you make a mess and especially if you ruin his tea parties or violate any rules.

Whether you’re his girlfriend or not, rules are still rules. He’s more lenient compared to before his overblot fiasco, but for his whole life, he followed and enforced the Queen of Heart’s rules. It’s not something he drops so easily but he does acknowledge that some are ridiculous.

Even if he does chide, Riddle hopes that this quirky trait of yours will always be there. It compliments your cuteness, after all.

Lilia Vanrouge:

*insert his signature chuckle*

Since Lilia was a caretaker for Malleus and Silver, he’s a natural at handling klutzy people. Albeit, you aren’t as oblivious as a certain crown prince so that was a plus.

You’re interesting and amusing too.

Lilia purposefully speaks in fae language, telling you that he’s actually speaking in English (or whatever language the characters at NRC speak).

He adores the pouts you give him when you finally realize that he was messing with you.

While Lilia does think you’re a source of entertainment, as living forever is quite boring, he truly cares for you in his own way.

And I do mean, his own way. 

He cooks you something!! 

When you spilled it, he couldn’t tell if you did it on purpose or not. 

Humans aren’t fond of his food for some reason and it’s quite disheartening. 

He keeps an eye on you and guides you away from things he deems hazardous so you’re never in harm’s way.

You assume that you’re finally overcoming your clumsiness and Lilia just never had the heart to tell you otherwise.

If you’re into cute clothing, he would be overjoyed!

He’s cute. You’re cute. You’re both cute.

A power couple. A cute couple.

He’s thriving, flourishing and relishing.

“Are you into traditional clothing?” he wonders.

Fufu~

Epel Felmier:

If you trip over your own feet, Epel is somehow always there to catch you like a prince on a white horse.

His hold on you is soft like a cloud and he lets go of you before you know it, not wanting to be scolded by his dorm leader or just, in general, hold a girl in such an awkward position for too long.

He may act cool about it and tell you to watch your step, but internally, he’s screaming and freaking out about it.

“Again?! What is she tripping over?! What if I didn’t catch her?!”

This first year makes sure to hold your hand whenever he can so he can pull you back if you trip or direct you somewhere before you slam against a wall. 

Epel doesn’t think much of your physical appearance even if you look doll-like and “cute” to the other students. 

He’s been called cute ever since he got here and he doesn’t like throwing that word around too much.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have to say much because Vil is having a field day with you two, dressing you both up in matching outfits and calling you both dolls.

While Epel crumbles at this, your radiant smile and genuine interest in dressing up in this “cute” attire makes it worthwhile.

At least he has someone to suffer with him now even if you accept and embrace the fact that people do call you cute.

Of course, this bliss is temporary.

Vil went on a rampage after you spilled one of the perfume bottles in the spa on accident.

Epel covers for you. You’re worth it... but agh Vil!!!

[candlelight27]

Chapter 1: The Call Of Yesterday

Summary: Sylvain has been ignoring you since you met him. You had been in love with him since you met him. College is about to offer you a fresh start. New academic year, new life. You were ready to forget him. But fate seems to have other plans... (COLLEGE AU)

Series: Seeking Your Warmth If Only For A Day

Warnings: Not so unrequited love, Sylvain being an asshole, curse words

Pairings: Sylvain Jose Gautier x Female Reader

Word Count: 3617

AO3: The Call Of Yesterday

A/N:  Okay, my aim is not for this College AU to be faithful to reality, but to incarnate my own college fantasy. I’m tring to use a lot of characters to make it interesting. Anyways, come talk to me! Send me your suggestions, your comments, your thoughts... And enjoy this fic!

“This is going to be my year”, you told yourself as you got ready for your first day of university. You were brushing your hair and styling it the way Dorothea suggested, since she always knew what would suit everyone’s features. You wanted to be perfect because that was going to be a special day.

Your mind wandered off into the days you spent in Garreg Mach High School. You smiled softly at the reminiscence, since some of the most beautiful memories you harboured took place there, between those cherished halls. Prom night, summer c88uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

amps, the sports club... You were going to miss that time, but you had to move on.

For that matter, it was about time you moved on from a certain thorn in your heart. One that had been bothering you for years. Of course, that thorn had a name, a middle name, and a surname, all too well known to everyone at Garreg Mach.

Sylvain Jose Gautier.

Your own particular unrequited love story.

Your crush on him was kept a secret throughout all high school, naturally. How could it not be? You had fell for the most renowned womanizer of your year – probably the most renowned womanizer of the whole history of your school. He was handsome, he was intelligent, he was nonchalant and carefree, yes, but he also was an asshole, and you didn’t want your friends acknowledging the fact that you had fell fully for his tricks. However, there was something quite worse than falling for the corny clichés and shameless lines Sylvain constantly used. Something far worse than melting with his every word and dying to be the girls whose cheeks he made blush. And infinitely worse than spending all your breaks trying to catch a glance of his fiery hair around the corners of the building.

The thing is that Sylvain had never spared a second glance to you. He hadn’t even tried to flirt you, unlike he did with the whole female community.

That complete banishment was what mortified you the most in your romantic ordeal.

You remembered that time Ingrid introduced you to her childhood friends, Dimitri, Felix and Sylvain. They had gone to the field to cheer her during a football match of your high school team. You had heard of them before and saw them often on the corridors, but you had never crossed a word with any of them, as they were in Ingrid’s class and not yours. You were quite excited to finally talk to Sylvain, for you had been looking at him in the distance ever since Ingrid started telling you stories about him. Yet while your heart pounced like a runaway horse, he only muttered a ‘hi’ and disappeared into thin air.

“Apologise our friend. He’s always off to chase skirts, it’s nothing personal”, tried to explain Dimitri, ever the gentleman.

The next few times you met him, he merely pronounced monosyllables to your efforts of striking up a conversation. Even Ingrid commented on how dry his behaviour was when you were there. How could love appear out of nowhere? It was probably the stupidity of puberty. But your desire was out of control and you couldn’t help going back to him. To those light brown eyes that seemed to melt your heart…

But it was all water under the bridge. You grew up. That silly attraction ongoing for years was going to meet its end with your fresh start at university. Your teenage love was gone with the wind.

You had all summer to psych yourself up and forget him. So far so good. No nigh-time fantasies to keep suffering, no fateful encounters to revive the forgotten flame, nothing to remind you of Sylvain.

You even went on a date with Ferdinand, something completely new for you. It was Dorothea, always meddling in your love life, who had set you up with him when she wormed out of you that you liked redheads. She was convinced your lifelong crush was Ferdinand, because you had been on the same class since you were kids. After such a pompous announce of your date with him, you almost felt bad for your brunette friend as you told her how horribly wrong your date was, but in the end you both laughed about it.

So, yes. You were indeed free from the fetters that Sylvain had bounded without realizing. Or so you thought. You didn’t want to think about that small trace of doubt that told you it would all be in vain the second you see him again after summer break.

“This is going to be my year…”, you repeated out loud as a chant while you gathered your things for your lessons.

“Are you ready?”, asked Ingrid from another room. She was now your flatmate, on one hand because a sudden friendship had bloomed during the holidays, on the other hand because Dorothea was stuck with a new exchange student, Petra, and Mercedes couldn’t be separated from Annette, so you both ended up alone and it seemed the obvious solution. You didn’t complain, you liked her company and things were working just fine.

“Yes!”, you answered and joined her in the entrance, rucksack on your back and phone on your hand.

Her blonde hair was tied neatly in a long braid and her clothes were comfortable yet formal, just like her usual self. She seemed excited for the fresh start, too, as she rushed to talk about the upcoming lessons.

You left the student’s residence, following a couple of groups of people you didn’t know. It was a sunny morning, thus the beams of light shone right though the leaves, already changing their colours at autumn’s pace. While you walked, Ingrid was checking her phone for new messages.

“Are you talking to the guys?”, you asked as you wondered about Sylvain’s schedule in silence – not that you were interested, you wanted to make sure you avoided him –. You didn’t want to be too straightforward, because even the most oblivious person, Ingrid in this case, would notice there was something going on if you were too invested in his affairs, so you were cautious.

“Oh, right now I’m talking to Ashe.” She smiled, still typing. You raised your eyebrows.

“I thought you weren’t that close to him.”

“He’s attending all my lessons so I’m checking a few things with him”, she answered. You nodded and checked your own phone.

Dorothea (08:45): I’m waiting for you on Anna’s Café.

Dorothea (08:45): HURRY UP YOU ARE SLOWER THAN MY GRANNY

“Dorothea’s waiting ahead for us”, you commented.

“Who are you sharing lessons with?”, Ingrid questioned, putting her phone away in her pocket. You hadn’t seen her so interested in the machine ever – you’d have to figure out if it was Ashe’s fault.

“I’m not sure!”, you said. “I think I’m sharing subjects with some of the Golden Deers… Marianne, Lysithea, Claude… Also, Mercedes and Bernadetta.” You weren’t that close to any of them in particular. You sometimes hoped you had closer friends with you, but at least it was a good opportunity to become closer to new people.

“That’s quite the group! All the houses of Garreg Mach mixed!”, the blonde exclaimed. She was right, it was going to be quite the sight – and an exciting adventure, too, you supposed. “Yesterday Sylvain told me he’s going to be in my first lesson today along with Felix, and on some other ones. But the ones who got the same itinerary as me are Dimitry and Ashe, so I’m going to see them often.” She made a pause, as if imagining the future. You, on the other hand, were delighted to hear you weren’t going to share classes with Sylvain. “Leonie and Edelgard have chosen that itinerary too –”

“Hello!” Dorothea sprang to you, dressed in the latest trend, as always. Her smile was radiant.

“Hi, Dorothea! We were talking about who’s on our classes”, commented Ingrid.

“I’m with Hilda! I was hoping some handsome boys would be on my classes but Hilda said she did the research and was quite disappointed.” Dorothea sighed but suddenly called your name. “Claude is in your class, right?” You nodded with caution. “Didn’t you get along with Claude?” You nodded again, furrowing your brows in suspicion. “You could ask him out!”

Ingrid started laughing while Dorothea’s voice was a sweet giggle.

“Playing the matchmaker again, Dorothea?” Ingrid tried to calm herself. “Last time, it was a disaster.”

“Yes, sorry for that”, offered Dorothea.

“Don’t sweat it”, you said, shaking your head humorously.

“But”, the singer wasn’t one to let things go, “he’s actually very hot. Everyone with eyes can see that. And he’s really easy going, unlike Ferdinand. And smart! You must have a lot in common –”

“I’m fine.” You had repeated the same many times. Your friends were trying to set you up on dates lately. “I can manage myself pretty well.”

“You could use a little stress relief though…” Ingrid blushed this time hearing Dorothea’s words. Noticing the silence, the brunette continued. “This goes for you too, Ingrid!”

“That’s not true!”

“Anyways, where’s Petra?” You tried to divert her attention as you were approaching your building.

“She had to sign some documents, so she must be in the main office,” informed Dorothea with a bright smile, her good mood contagious.

“I want to meet her”, said Ingrid, who hadn’t moved yet when you all were acquainted with the student from Brigid. You hadn’t shared more than a few greetings, but she was getting really close to her flatmate.

“We are going to throw a party at my house next week or the other!”, Dorothea announced with excitement. “If you don’t bump into her before, you’ll get to know here there.”

Even though you knew Dorothea’s parties tended to get out of hand, they were always fun, and it could be a great start for something new. You would have to work hard to convince Ingrid, who didn’t like going out that much.

And like that, you reached your destination and parted from them.

The halls of the place where you’d spend your next course studying were filled with students. All seemed to be trying to find the right way to their new classrooms. Chatter filled the air as you read the indications on your phone. It was confusing finding your way in the intricate web of corridors and doors.

“Where is room 122?”, you muttered and chewed your lip.

You found the room 121, but room 122 wasn’t nowhere in sight. You looked at the map, and figured it had to be around the next corner, so you kept walking to the direction you thought was right. You saw your phone, and it was almost 9 a.m., so you increased your rhythm. Then, you turned left.

Only to bump into someone. More specifically, someone’s chest.

You were quite confused as you fell on your butt and your backpack flew. Your bottom ached. Disoriented, you let out a faint ‘sorry’, but you were not sure to who it was directed. When you processed the situation, and that you were indeed going to be late on your very first day of university, you lifted your glance with the intention of getting up fast and entering your classroom.

Yet light brown eyes that seemed to melt your heart stared back at you.

“Are you all right?” The question was announced by a smooth, rich voice.

It was Sylvain.

Shit.

You felt a rush of nervousness that run all over your body. You tried articulating a sentence, a word, anything to play it off cool, but your tongue didn’t respond, so you simply nodded. You weren’t okay, but he didn’t need to know that. Sylvain seemed quite surprised. His luscious lips were parted slightly, his pupils were fixed on you, and he remained as still as a statue, which only added to your agitation. At last, as if he was awakened from a trance, he rose his eyebrows and extended his hand.

“Sorry, let me help you.”

You grabbed your rucksack and took his hand. It was warm, soft, and strong. Sylvain helped you up and you could see you were right in front of your classroom.

“I have to… go to my first lesson”, you said as you pointed at the door.

“Oh, yes. Me too”, he flashed you an award-winning smile of his, totally recomposed of the mishap. “I think we share itineraries.”

“I thought you were… with Felix. And Ingrid,” you said. Inside of you, your thoughts were rioting. This couldn’t be true, you repeated yourself over and over. Half of you was trying to stay calm and affirm yourself that your stupid crush was over. The other half was sheltering some kind of hope you didn’t have time to identify. What was clear was that the redhead managed to break all of your expectations once again and you didn’t like it one bit. Of course, you put on a blank face, totally disconnected from your real feelings.

“Yes, right. I switched itineraries this morning”, he extended his hand and hold the doorknob. “My father signed me up for the one he wanted without any kind of regard to what I wanted in life… So, yeah, thankfully I had time to change everything before it was too late.” He opened the door for you.

“That’s… nice”, you smiled timidly.

“We’ll see each other often, then.” You entered the lecture room and Sylvain walked behind. It was big and spacious, and it was full of students. But at that time, it was as if only Sylvain existed. You’d have to get used to his presence in your lessons. A new challenge, but you were going to ignore him anyways.

Sylvain bid you farewell with a ‘see you’ and took a seat next to Mercedes.

You looked around to see where you could see. You saw a smiling Claude waving at you, right next to Lysithea and Marianne, and making gestures for you to come closer. “Sit with us!”, you barely understood what he said with all the chatter in the room, but his body language left no doubt.

“Hi!”, exclaimed Lysithea, looking cheerful and determined as always. Marianne looked collected and waved her hand. They both seemed much more mature after summer break.

“I’m glad to see you here! Just in time.” Claude moved his books in order to make some room for you at his side. You took the seat and settled there.

“Nice to see some familiar faces here”, you told the Almyran.

“I wonder what this year has in store for us…”, he continued, but he couldn’t finish the rest.

A young professor appeared. He looked like another student, but you could sense the authoritarian aura around him. His short hair was dark blue, and he wore black clothes. This new face sparked your curiosity, and although you were dying to turn your head and see what Sylvain was doing, you forced yourself our of your own trap. ‘Focus! You’re here to study, dammit!’, you chastised yourself.

“My name is Byleth and I’m going to teach ‘Fódlan’s history and culture’”, started the new professor.

Then, Byleth proceeded to give a long, detailed, and boring speech about the bureaucratic minutiae related his subject. It was completely tedious. He went over percentages, grading systems, schedules, credits and so on. He was really testing your will at not being distracted.

Rather than yielding to temptation, you turned around to see what Claude was doing. He was stretching like a cat and yawning. When he realised you were looking at him, he winked at you. You weren’t expecting it, so you nervously smirked and looked elsewhere. You swore it was a coincidence that your glance just happened to fall upon the infamous womanizer of Garreg Mach.

Unexpectedly, your eyes met with Sylvain’s. You decided your safest option was looking at your professor and finally paying attention.

What was happening that disastrous day? The Goddess herself must have been punishing you. You felt like you lost a war to your heart. You thought you had finished the chapter where all you did was thinking about Sylvain, you were going to date someone else, maybe fall in love and, above all, you were going to avoid returning to those years head over heels for someone who didn’t even know your name – or at least you supposed so, since he had never said it. Instead of the sensible thing, your whole being decided to betray your will, and you were all flushed and flustered with a single look of that man. It didn’t matter it was the first time he paid attention to you or that your longest conversation had been held that very same day. It didn’t matter to your dumb heart, which-

“This project will be done in pairs and it’s about the 25-30% of the final grade.” Oh, you might have wanted to pay attention to that, now that Byleth was saying something quite important.

“What did he say?”, you asked Claude.

“Too busy giving Sylvain the eye?”, he remarked, a satisfied smirk on the side of his face.

“Claude!”, you tried to scold him, but as you were whispering, it sounded like a high-pitched yell of guilt. Just like your feelings.

“Okay, okay. No need to get your knickers in a twist”, he couldn’t resist teasing you. “There’s this big project, 30% of the final grade or so. We have to research a topic he will give.” He sighed. “The professor also added that he’s going to assign the partners. I know it’s for our own good, for the sake of team working and all that boring paraphernalia, but it kind of sucks.”

“Maybe we’ll be lucky and we will be able to work together”, you tried to look at the bright side.

“As much as I’d love that, I think it’d be far more interesting if you got paired with someone else we know…”, he trailed off, testing the waters.

“I don’t know what you are talking about”, you sentenced.

“I’m not a fool. I know you’ve liked him since high school”. That, you weren’t expecting it. You hadn’t been exactly secretive with your longing staring, but you hadn’t been expecting the master of gossip to be after your very own secret. “Don’t make that face. I didn’t tell anyone, but you can’t fool me.”

“Just don’t tell Dorothea or I’m not going to hear the end of it”, you surrendered and pleaded. What was the use of hiding it longer? Besided, Claude made you feel comfortable and you though that he might be the right person to help you.

“Don’t worry. Just, why him?”, he wondered.

“I… It’s something beyond my control. It’s like I was condemned to love him and I can’t escape by any means. Like a force of fate is controlling me.” Now that you got to put it to word… it was the perfect description to how you felt. And you wondered how that could be.

“And how come you haven’t hooked up yet?” He laughed again at your expression of shame. “He’s Sylvain! Come on!”

“He ignored me. As in, he had never talked to me in high school”, it actually felt better than you imagined having someone to talk to. And Claude always kept quiet about other’s matters. He knew everyone’s secrets, but he never told any.

“That’s… weird. I will investigate that.” He placed his hand on his chin and his expression turned meditative. “He seems interested in you now, tough.”

“What do you mean?”, you couldn’t believe him. But something told you that it must be true if it was Claude who noticed it.

“He’s been looking at you for 40 minutes.”

You turned around and, in effect, Sylvain was looking at you. This time, it was him who moved away his gaze, a bit embarrassed to have been caught.

“So, from what I’ve seen,” Claude started to sum up, “you are trying to ignore him – don’t deny it, I’ve seen you stealing glances – because he had rejected you all high school. But now he’s flirty and charming, so you are on square one.”

“Yes, you could say so.” You were ashamed, but eager to see where he was going.

“There’s only one solution.” He moved his head closer to you, as if it was a conspiration.

“What is it?” He decidedly had captured you then, and you moved your head closer to hear him better.

“Play it along. See what happens. Don’t implicate yourself too much, but find out what changed.”

Right before you could answer, Lysithea shushed you. The professor was beginning to announce the pairs. As expected, most of your friends ended up with an unknown partner. Marianne was lucky and was set to work with Mercedes, one of the sweetest girls you knew. Bernadetta, who you hadn’t noticed until that moment, was paired with a girl called Monica, who seemed eerily familiar. Your name hadn’t been said, and neither did Sylvain’s, much to Claude’s delight.

After a long list of surnames, you didn’t recognise, it was your turn. While your name left your professors lips, your eyes widened. You raised your hand so Byleth could identify you with the name.

“Okay. There. Your partner will be…”, he was scanning the remaining names, for the list was almost finished. “Sylvain Jose Gautier.”

“Fate has decided for you”, Claude commented. You looked at Sylvain, and he had the audacity to smirk and wink at you. Outrageous.

You were then sure of it. Sothis was laughing at you. How were you supposed to survive this year?

[girlforlorn]

taissa farmiga + cis female + she/her.┊ ❛ ━ hey, is it just me or do you hear “goodbye mr. a” by the hoosiers playing in the distance ? oh, that’s just melanie “molly” watson, a twenty-three year old assistant research scientist working with the sector of humanity. according to my sources, i heard she can be neutral good and is meticulous, but also desperate. that’s probably why they remind everyone of a thrift shop cardigan two sizes too big, cooking shoplifted hot dogs over a burning garbage can, & a light at the end of the tunnel bright enough to damage your eyes. anyway, make sure to keep an eye out, the doves are more powerful with them on their side ! ( nina, 21, est, she/her )

howdy everybody! my name’s nina and i’ve been thirsting to join this rp ever since lis reblogged one of the first pre-opening promos onto my dashboard! this is my very depressed and shy child molly, who is going to be quietly watching and taking notes as your mutant muses scream in the experimentation lab. 🤠

BIOGRAPHY !

Melanie Watson was born to a very poor and very dysfunctional family, in a rural town in Sapphire state, where supervillains knew there was plenty of land to set up a base secluded from Crystalline. The majority of the population’s tax dollars went not to the school systems, but to reparations on the destruction caused by the supervillains hiding out on the outskirts of the town, the local mutants with no control over their abilities, and the hot-shot superhero who made monthly rounds to the town to bust villain operations. 

While raising their daughters in a town with the lowest life expectancy in the state, the Watsons always did what they could to make sure Molly and her twin sister, Valerie, would have a way out. So they pushed their kids to work toward scholarships, and when Molly was revealed to be a particularly bright student, they cut critical corners to help pay her tuition to a private school one town over, in their only chance to give her an education that could compete with kids from more affluent neighborhoods in Sapphire.

Economic strain from paying for schooling caused the kind of stress that would send the twins’ parents to an early grave--- two deadly strokes within one year of each other--- but by the time they passed away, Molly had earned her scholarship to Staurolite College, and Valerie insisted that she didn’t let all of their parents’ sacrifices go to waste. They shipped off to Crystalline together, and saved money on Molly’s boarding by renting a cheap apartment above a rowdy pub in the Jade District.

Things went well for most of Molly’s schooling, with grief over the loss of their parents quelled by a change in scenery and a sense that they had a bright future ahead of them. Molly majored in biophysics with a minor in engineering, and worked a year-round part-time job shelving books at Crystalline Library, while picking up an additional jobs waitressing during the summers. When she started to feel more comfortable, she’d abandoned most of her anti-mutant politics in favor of keeping her head down and staying out of trouble.

--

Tragedy struck again shortly before Molly’s graduation, when a superhero’s pursuit of a villain escalated to a destructive brawl across rooftops in the Jade District, and the hero’s desperate outburst of power led to the complete decimation of Molly and Valerie’s apartment, with a hungover and housebound Valerie being fatally crushed in the rubble.

An uninsured Molly was left without a home, without a family, and without a purpose in life; powerless and hopeless. The end of the school year meant that she couldn’t even couch surf in her friends’ dorms for long, and after exhausting her savings and local resources in under a month, she was left on the streets in a near-catatonically traumatized state. 

--

After months passed with no response to his emails, a former professor of biophysics looked into whatever happened to the student of his who lost her apartment days before receiving her diploma, and he spread the harrowing results of his investigation to his colleagues. Word of Molly’s story eventually piqued the interest of politicians looking for anecdotes about the devastating downsides of letting mutants walk the streets of Crystalline, and it wasn’t long before Molly Watson became a person of major interest for the movement. 

With Autumn creeping in, cold nights and shivering skin shook Molly out of her depressed stupor, and the pressure to escape her situation started to weigh on her. So when she was tracked down by a scientist with the Sector of Humanity who had done extensive research into her history, she didn’t have enough endurance or dignity in her to turn down his proposition. In exchange for her to share her story with their journalists and make a few public appearances, he offered her his guest room, a guiding hand to get her education back on track, and an opportunity for her to work as an assistant research scientist in the Sector’s labs while she earned her Master’s degree at Staurolite.

While the gesture seemed nothing short of charitable and empathetic to a girl who fell through the cracks, more wisely cynical eyes would immediately realize that she was recruited to the doves for PR purposes. Her story was easily exploitable for anti-mutant hit pieces (a pretty, white, bookish, doe-eyed and angelic orphan who worked so hard to pull herself up by her bootstraps and pursue the American Dream™, only to have her future #RIPPED #AWAY by these ReCkLEsS mONsTErS!!!), and she already had a small grassroots following in the news cycles from other working-class non-mutant people who could relate to the plight of living at the mercy of superheroes, who made insurance unattainable and had no accountability behind their anonymity.

Though she is exceptionally bright, and a fast learner in STEM fields, the doves didn’t recruit a 22-year-old because she was the most qualified candidate for the position, but because the philanthropic act of “rescuing” fallen angel and giving her a cinderella story would be good for their image; it softened their reputation among skeptical humanists who thought their organization was too focused on tearing down the mutants and not concerned with uplifting the common people. She’s being used in marketing to bring in a younger generation of Doves, and they’re making sure her name and face is becoming more public than any allegedly brutal scientists on board, who may have some controversial scandals under their belts.

PERSONALITY !

Molly before she became an only child, a.k.a. Molly for her first four years in Crystalline, as a student at Staurolite and a part-time page at the Crystalline Public Library:

Molly was a sweet girl-next-door type, with a quaint small town charm that made her shy in a big city. A studious mom friend and perfectionist. She was used to being the voice of reason to keep her wild child of a sister from doing anything too dangerous, and that carried over into her friendships.

Because of her bashful nature, the strange and dry sense of humor that comes out when she gets comfortable ends to catch new friends off guard. She’s had a few people in her life that she’s been close enough to to playfully bicker with, and she holds her own in a way you wouldn’t expect. She has a taste for weird kitsch and earnestly terrible movies and pulp fiction, and always tried to make it to the Uptown Cinema’s weird midnight screenings of Ed Wood movies.

Always aspired to be a librarian, but never thought it was an ambitious enough career path when she expected she would have to make enough money to support her whole family and all of their massive debts. She’s always gravitated to working part-time jobs at libraries to make some extra cash, and used to shelve books at Crystaline Public Library for four years while she was an undergrad. She has a big affinity for genre-bro fiction; authors like Bradbury, Salinger, Faulker, Gaiman, Pratchett, Palahniuk, Alan Moore, and especially Vonnegut. Veered into more pretentious russian authors for the sake of conversational fluency when she hung around literature majors, but she’s always preferred her boyish fiction.

She never had a car, and always tried to save money on public transportation by riding her longboard to get from place to place whenever possible. More interested in the utility of skating than the #Thrasher culture. Came off as a bit of a spectacle when she was shredding across the city in a turtleneck dress and stockings.

Molly among the monsters, a.k.a. Molly as a Dove:

After she lost her home, an already timid Molly had completely retreated into herself, and the girl who could a least smile and laugh and go out to parties seemed to abandoned any range of emotion beyond numb absence and melancholic despair--- and that's the narrative the Doves try to push, to both the public and to Molly, erasing any history of wholesome hijinks or moments of genuine joy and solace she may have had while travelling in the same circle as plucky street urchin and jokester magician Jett Hawkins.

Since finding shelter and making her way back into academia, she’s at least made the appearance of coming back out of her shell. 

While her mental health is recovering from the toll that the streets’ harsh physical conditions were taking on her, she may not be healing properly. A mind left vulnerable and weathered is, of course, the easiest to mold and manipulate. And as her surface levels personality traits of calm smiles and composure come back, there’s something fundamentally different about her at her core.

Molly always had political leanings toward a preference for regulation of superheroes, and agreed with some canvasing her more radical sister did for government-enforced superpower blocking medication, but she never got too involved, for fear of getting on the bad side of gods walking among tiny mortals. 

With a lack of research into the fringe opposition to the Doves, she was too naive to truly understand what she was getting into in this organization, and it was easy for her to let her guard down when the scientists who saved her life were subtly priming her for the human rights atrocities she was about to witness in the labs.

Now, there is still a part of her core humanity and nuturing personality that may have survived her roughest days, and it still screams out in moral objection to what she's seen done to the mutants, but the survival instinct she developed knows that she's locked in with the Doves, and it knows that she doesn't exactly have anywhere else to go, and especially wouldn't be able to make it anywhere else if her betrayal of the anti-mutant scientific community gets her blacklisted from future job opportunities in Crystalline, or compromises her ability to finish her Master's degree.

She considers herself trapped in enabling inhumanity and doesn't have the emotional fortitude or stability to take a stand, still disturbed at heart, still waiting on a moment to exhale and truly mourn her sister. She holds it together on a surface level, and lets her shyness come off as icy silence, but anyone who can pay close enough attention might notice that she's the only scientist in the lab who flinches or has to subtly avert her eyes when one of the "test subjects" is being electrocuted. Fortunately for her, most of them seem to distracted by unimaginable agony to notice the wallflower in the back of the room.

WANTED CONNECTIONS!

THE SCIENTIST WHO TOOK HER IN TO HIS/HER/THEIR HOUSE!!!!!! I might send in an official wanted connection for this, but the gist is someone who's very tied to the anti-mutant cause and sees Molly either as a genuinely sympathetic victim of the mutants, or as a very useful prop to use to political pathos (possibly both!). This would be her closest contact in life, since they saved her from the darkest moment in her life, and she probably sees them as a surrogate family while her brain tries to cope with the realization that she has no biological kin left.

People who may have encountered her while she was bouncing between shelters or sleeping in playground tunnels. At the time, she was basically catatonic from the trauma, and probably easy prey for the thieves and the cretins lurking the streets. There’s definitely room for someone who picked up on that and either exploited it or tried to help her out. (The only condition is that it’s important that she wasn’t assisted by anyone who would actually help her get a permanent shelter, since it’s crucial to her story that she was a vagrant at the time that the Doves found her.)

People! Who! Knew! Valerie! Maybe Val’s former coworkers? Someone who traveled in the same anti-mutant activist circles as her? I haven’t decided what she did for a living yet, but I can tell you that she worked at least two jobs and was the more wild and outgoing of the twins, and definitely hung out in harder party scenes, so this could be any connection to Val, from a short-lived fling, to a best friend, to a coworker would work. I’m thinking Val might have worked at the dive bar below their apartment? 

And speaking of that dive bar, someone who used to frequent that pub in the run-down Jade district and might recognize Molly or Valerie from there would be cool, too! Maybe someone who got into a fight on the street in front of the place that Molly had to break up to get back inside, or even someone who got her to stop and smoke a cigarette outside the pub with them after a particularly stressful day.

CLASSMATES!!! CURRENT (Staurolite grad students) OR FORMER (undergrad Staurolute students)! Or just people in her age group who would hang around the same places the college students would chill at, like the bowling alley or The Neon Room. I think most characters went to Crystalline University while Molly went to Staurolite College, but maybe there’s an area between Staurolite and Crystal U where students from both campuses used to coalesce for housing and hanging out. People she used to tutor! People who used to drag her out of her shell and bring her to parties! People she used to stay in with to drink tea and study together! People who helped her rural ass assimilate to city life; and the flipside: people she would drag out of the city to go pumpkin picking every autumn!

She’s very inexperienced in the field of romance, so I can picture her having maybe one serious romantic relationship in her life, that she probably still thinks about a lot. So maybe someone who dated her a few years ago? Any gender ~

A N Y T H I N G there’s such a range of unique characters in this group, i feel like i can’t even begin to touch on all the possibilities in one WC section, so just shoot me a message and i’ll write up a list of ideas for your character to be connected to Molly, either through history together or a future plot!

[simplyoriginalcharacters]

Mikaela Silvina

Age: 30

Gender: Female

Orientation: Unknown (Is comfortable with anyone though)

Nationality: Filipino

Appearance: Mikaela has long waist length hair that she has dyed blue at the tips. Her eye color had changed from a dark brown to a bright amber after the Portal accident. She’s not very tall, around 5"3, but pretty fit as she spent her training on running and improving her speed. She wears crystal bracelets, each crystal turns into a throwing knife when it is needed. She just wears the dress and rose for aesthetic reasons but also likes the feel of the dress as she runs around. The rose can change color to indicate wether she’s healing or damage boosting a teammate. She doesn’t like to wear heavy armor as it is too heavy for her to run around, she dodges enemy attacks instead.

Personality: (Strength = Resilient) + (Weakness = Sensitive) x (Strength > Weakness) =

This girl is one to break easily but worry not, for she will get back up and continue on.

Mikaela is rather prone to overthink and that may be bad for her health. But because of that also, it’s the reason why she can come back up. She knows that she still can and will do it over and over again.

She has these coping mechanisms that she retreats to a lot. She’s a person who isn’t very comfortable hanging around too many people since she’s scared that she’ll get hurt. And because of this, she tends to daydream a lot and is very imaginative. Instead of being around a group of people, she’s rather read her books and write her own stories. She’s considered a Bibliophile, as she’s usually seen reading a book or writing one.

Her attention span isn’t the best either and along with her memory. As Paradox (Overwatch), she hasn’t mastered her abilities yet as it requires the utmost focus and can’t use firearms to save her life.

This girl prefers to be as truthful as she can and may be blunt with her words but means no harm. Unfortunately, most people don’t trust her with secrets.

She may tend to display a lack of attraction or any desire of romantic interaction. She will tend to show slight disgust toward social interaction in general.

Bio (Overwatch Paradox):

Mikaela Silvina was the only child of Ammon and Leticia Silvina, a rich couple who worked very hard during the Omnic Crisis. But in her youth, she felt neglected by her parents and was closer to her aunt and uncle-in-law. She was sheltered during then to keep her safe. She was homeschooled by her aunt and turned out to be rather intelligent with her hyperactive mind. Unfortunately, that caused problems in her later years.

During High school, she didn’t exactly know how to properly interact with people. She used to have many fake friends because of her status. They had her treat them to a lot of things like food, etc. Her aunt had realised what they were doing and told Mikaela. Once she had found out, she felt angry and shut everyone out, making sure that she doesn’t get any more of these fake friends.

Most of her time was spent alone, doing her studies and reading. She took Engineering since her parents wanted to hand down the family business to her. Although, her aunt did teach her some etiquette and all those essentials for when she was required to attend parties with other families that they did business with.

She met a woman named Althea Torres that she had grown very close to and was her best friend, then her girlfriend, and then her wife. They worked together as partners in Silvus Tech and Thea supported Mika’s career in writing. She was able to create international best-selling books that had inspired many people.

Unfortunately, a storm hit and they were both caught up in it. A tree had collided with Mikaela, impaling her heart. Althea found her and immediately brought her to the hospital. She had to get an artificial heart. And, interestingly enough, Dr. Angela Ziegler had been there to offer her a recruitment to Overwatch. They’ve heard of her skill in Engineering.

Mikaela had talked to Althea about this. She had handed Silvus Tech to her, the person she trusts the most (who isn’t her aunt or uncle or cat), and joined Overwatch.

During her Overwatch years, she has continued with her work as an engineer. One day, she created a portal that could rip holes in the fabric of reality. It was inspired by Satya’s Teleporter, but taken to another level. Unfortunately, she had been sucked in the portal and got trapped in a different layer of reality.

After a while, an omnic had to rescue her from the portal once Overwatch realised her absence. The toxins in the layer had affected her DNA and gave her the ability to create portals (3 second cooldown), reverse the way gravity reacts to her body (will continuously float up for 8 seconds/cooldown: 8 seconds), regeneration (like Mercy’s), charming (can heal 3 people close by, only in line of sight), and Reality Warp (Ultimate: freezes enemies in place to take their hp and transfer it to teammates and self, lasts for 4 seconds, enemies can’t be killed during this ult, not invulnerable).

When Overwatch was disbanded, Mikaela found out that Althea died in a car crash. This took a huge impact on Mikaela and her heart was broken (despite not having one anymore). She shut down Silvus Tech and isolated herself in an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean.

Hi! This is D, and I’ll be reviewing your submitted profile. I think you’ve got a decent base with Mikaela, but her profile could be expanded on and rounded out better to further establish her character.

Starting with her Appearance section, I think some reformatting would help most to streamline the information as it’s presented to readers. As is, all the details are just clumped together into one single paragraph. Breaking up this section into individual aspects (Height, Weight, Eye Color, Hair Color, etc.) would allow for more focus as well as making sure the basic aspects of Mikaela’s appearance aren’t lost within a jumble. This would also allow you to focus the actual Appearance section on more characterizing things, like her build, what types of clothes she wears, and her posture (as well as things like identifying marks). While you’ve got touches of this included already, spreading things out and expanding a little more would help give a clearer written depiction of Mikaela. I’d also suggest including her Overwatch callsign (Paradox) under an ‘Alias’ entry here as well.

The same advice goes for Mikaela’s Personality section. Streamlining the information and using more direct phrasing would help focus on the key aspects of her character. Also, the trait equation in the beginning isn’t needed if you’re going into detail about Mikaela’s personality immediately afterwords. I’d suggest removing that and keeping the focus in the rest of the description. Like the Appearance section, adding in more subsections would help keep focus on the various aspects of Mikaela’s character in a more easily readable format. Breaking it up into sections such as Likes, Dislikes, Hobbies, etc. would give a more direct way of highlight that information, while also providing space to emphasize Mikaela’s other traits (such as her Goals, Hobbies, and Skills). A fair amount of this information is already included – Mikaela enjoying reading, her desire to be an engineer, and her dislike of crowds – but having specific sections would allow for additional detail while leaving the Personality section more room to highlight Mikaela herself.

Regarding Mikaela’s Background, it could also be streamlined and some sections might benefit from being reconsidered. The general gist of her home-schooled upbringing and poorly socialized high school years are important, but could be condensed into a single section rather than spaced out as much. Conversely, Mikaela’s involvement with Althea could be focused on a little more. As is the progression of their relationship is mostly glossed over and their status at Silvus Tech isn’t explained very well. Do they own the company or just work for it? Mikaela ‘handing’ the company to Althea and later shutting it down implies a high degree of control, but their actual positions at Silvus Tech are never pointed out. Also, inclusions like Althea being the person Mikaela trusts the most to handle the company are good, while the added parenthetical comment ‘who isn’t her aunt, uncle, or cat’ is just distracting. I’d suggest removing asides like this as they break the focus away from Mikaela’s history.

Moving on to the storm, I think that Mikaela’s injury should be reconsidered. Being impaled through the heart by a tree branch (not to mention also being hit by the tree itself) seems like an instantly fatal situation. Beyond that, if the storm is severe enough that it’s uprooting trees, why are Mikaela and Althea out in it to begin with? If the objective is for Mikaela to get an artificial heart and meet Dr. Ziegler, I’d suggest something more recoverable like an illness or genetic issue. I’d also suggest highlighting Mikaela’s engineering skills more beforehand to better explain Dr. Ziegler’s interest in her. What has she made that particularly stands out? What field does she specialize in? If it’s supposed to tie into the 'artificial heart’ thing, having Mikaela engineer her own artificial heart seems like it could work very well given Dr. Ziegler’s focus on medical technology (perhaps she even used some of  Mercy’s research to do it, which would segue nicely into her using Symmetra’s teleporter). Making this a more active part of Mikaela’s story would go a long way to helping establish her not only as an engineer, but an asset to Overwatch as a whole.

Regarding the mishap with the teleporter and Mikaela being lost between sections of reality – it seems a bit too convenient of a way to give her powers. It also seems a bit too reminiscent of Tracer being unstuck in time. If you’re determined to keep it as part of Mikaela’s history I’d suggest explaining it more thoroughly. How did her time in this alternate reality affect her personality? What kind of 'toxins’ gave her these abilities? How is she able to use them in the normal layer of reality if they only affected her on the other layer? Personally, I’d suggest having Mikaela’s abilities stem from her own engineering achievements. This would do a lot to keep focus on her skills, as well as serving as a good way to highlight what exactly Mikaela did while working at Overwatch. As is, her two main ‘accomplishments’ were actually accidents that don’t add anything to her agency within the story.

Moving on, given that the game is an first-person shooter I find it surprising that Mikaela’s own weapons aren’t emphasized very much. The only mention in her profile is that she can create throwing knives in her Appearance section (which is a little out of place). I’d suggest making a separate 'Powers’ section to emphasize all of Mikaela’s different abilities, how they work, as well as her Fighting Style and specific Weapons. Also, while it’s great that the profile explains what these abilities do, having explicit cool-downs and individual time durations isn’t necessary. Think of how the Overwatch characters are presented in the animated shorts. While they might use the same powers and weapons as they do in the game, they aren’t beholden to the game’s rules and regulations. Instead, how their abilities work is determined by the narrative rather than numbers.

Also the final section of Mikaela’s background doesn’t do very much to explain her having a presence in the current events of the game. Mikaela’s reaction to Althea’s death seems rather extreme, especially for a relationship that the profile only provides a general overview of. Also her choice to isolate herself on an island in the Pacific runs completely counter to the idea of Mikaela showing up when the game itself is taking place. I’d suggest revising this aspect of her history so it’s not as final and leaving it more open. All of the current characters are involved in Overwatch out of personal interest and had their backstories left open-ended to explain why they are present in the game itself.

Beyond all of that, I’d also suggest adding in a Relationships section. Moving past all of the individual background bits, this is a big part of what makes Overwatch characters so interesting – their interactions and relationships with one another. Mikaela’s profile gives an overview of her different relationships, but doesn’t go into specifics aside from a bit about Althea. Giving more specific details about Mikaela’s relationships with her various family members (especially her aunt and uncle) as well as a specific section to highlight how things progressed between her and Althea would help a lot. Similarly, sections about Mikaela’s relationships with various canon Overwatch characters would help too. Mercy and Symmetra have already been mentioned as fellow scientists – did Mikaela get along with them, or did they disagree about certain things? Would she have kept mostly to Overwatch’s science-types (Winston, Mei, Torbjorn) or would she have gotten involved with the other departments as well? Does Mikaela have any bias against the Omnic members of Overwatch, given the Omnic Crisis’ lingering effects on her childhood? Going by Mikaela’s age, she would have joined Overwatch during its waning years when Blackwatch’s clandestine and illegal activities were beginning to come to light. Did she support Blackwatch’s efforts or did she not know about them at all? What were her thoughts on the conflict between Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison? Where was she when the Overwatch headquarters was destroyed? Overwatch has a lot of history behind it, almost all of which is tied up in the interpersonal relationships between various characters. Highlighting that more would help explain Mikaela’s place in that world as well as add that much more detail to her character.

All in all, I think you’ve got a decent base for Mikaela, her profile just needs some reformatting and expanded sections. Being specific and using more direct language would help to maintain focus as well, keeping the progression on Mikaela herself rather than potentially distracting the reader.

I hope this helps!

-D