cruiser is cruising

They’re my specialest little group of OCs at this point, intended as original antagonists for Kuzaku, accompanying his thematic arc.

Thaddeus “Teddy” Gardner: an unfortunate survivor of the color out of space. As his family died horribly, he — perhaps because of his blindness — happened to unknowingly store the cosmic radiation inside of his own body, thus becoming a kind of prison and a kind of bomb. A certain two members of the Anticross took on a role of his guardians, so that the bomb wouldn’t blow up on them, and gave some certainty and care to his miserable existence without ever intending to.

After the time loop reset, since there’s no one to come for him and save him, he grows up bitter and even less sane that you would’ve expected from a walking talking nuclear threat. The only thing about his condition that he knows for sure is that somehow, somewhere he was supposed to live a different sort of life, and that’s the worst part of it.

Eltdown Shards: a single genuine clay tablet from the Triassic era and eight copies, translations and other kinds of fakes of eight other tablets. A grimoire composed like that was never supposed to have a soul, but Teddy’s uncontrollable cosmic powers forcibly brought them into existence to be his guide dog. They don’t have a grasp on their own identity, as a composite being, and exist in a state of constant torment. However, this is the only kind of partner that would fit Teddy.

Della Kline: in her occult group, she was supposed to be the priestess of Dagon. That way, she would have been consumed by something so much larger that herself, at the peak of her youth and beauty, and her will would have shaped the world. However, the summoning rite was thwarted. Now she’s an office clerk at a publishing company, just an ordinary middle-aged woman, but she still dreams of the sea every time she closes her eyes.

Not a descendant of Deep Ones from Innsmouth — she checked it.

Confessions of Clithanus: a grimoire born of both Christian humility and Lovecraftian resignation to one’s helplessness before the unnameable, she denies her own will. To her, there’s no point in doing — or even wanting — anything, since nothing will matter in the end. That’s what makes the ambitious Della, her accidental owner, despise her apathy and despondency; and that’s what makes her love Della dearly. As she amplifies Della’s unfulfilled ambitions and deep-seated dreams, she grows into a terrifying creature who enables Della to act upon her worst impulses.

Ogawa Haru: an immigrant princess and the spoiled daughter of the famous Ogawa Shinjiro, the second most important business man of Arkham-city after Hadou Kouzo. She claims to be seventeen, a high-schooler in the prime of her youth, but she’s actually twenty two. Her father always took on responsibility for her, wanting to shield her from the horrors of the world, and the mere idea of having agency terrifies her. As she grows older, she becomes fixated on the idea of magic that can stop her physical growth for good, and she’s ready to do anything — and kill anyone — for this power. Overall, a hopelessly shallow girl with an affinity for murder.

Dhôl Chants: a complete failure of a spell book. Her benevolent spells don’t work nine times out of ten, and malevolent ones activate only after the caster’s death. However, she is at peace with her own uselessness — if your entire existence is an arcane joke, what more do you have to lose? All in all, she’s the jester to Haru’s queen, as she freely tells her the truths she doesn’t like pointed out. Whenever Haru isn’t hurling her at the wall, she’s dressing her up in neat girly outfits.

Ambrose Hicks: the owner of Hicks Antique Shop, as was his mother and her mother before her. He’s the only man in an ages-old dynasty of conjure women and female magic practitioners and had to crossdress as a child so that he could be taught properly. He still feels some lingering fondness for his “Rose Hicks” persona, as it’s forever interlinked with his mother being content and happy with him. As he inherited the shop, he attempted to reform it and put its reputation as a rundown hoodoo shop full of fake magical knickknacks to rest, but for some reason that didn’t work out. The only employee of the shop besides him is Teddy (he’s not particularly good, but it’s easier to keep an eye on him that way).

He’s unmarried but considers his grimoire his life partner. He claims that she allowed him to look at the world in an entirely new way — which is a sentence that never brings about anything good.

Book of Thoth: a heavily flawed translation of the original Book of Thoth into Ancient Greek, which — due to a translation error — implores people to look beyond the Ultimate Gate instead of warning them of its dangers. Full of internal inconsistencies, she thinks that the only way for people to go on is to destroy their civilization itself and build everything anew. She is Ambrose’s lover and partner of more than twenty years, manipulating him with the promise of unconditional love and convincing him that Arkham-city has to burn for its people to be happy. To prove their bond, she took one of his eyes and gave him in return the power to glimpse beyond the Ultimate Gate and see other worlds every now and again.