now & always

As for my reasoning, it's actually based on the reason why my cousins call me Nene. My extended family calls my mom 'Nena', and since I look the most like my mom, they call me 'Nene'. A little inside joke for the family.

For Nene (Selena), her cousins call her Nene for the same reason. When she came to Golden Grove, she thought people might have an easier time with the name 'Nene' because it was shorter. Also, she thought it sounded more 'American', so she stuck to it. Kid logic, but also flawed logic. Her classmates had more trouble saying 'Nene' than she thought. As she got older (into Step 2 territory), she kept asking people to call her 'Nene' to distance herself more from who she used to be. Once she got a little older (around 16) and began to embrace more of her old identity, she started introducing herself as 'Selena' rather than 'Nene'. People who have known her for a long time (like her neighbors and cousins) occasionally do call her Nene, but typically just call her 'Selena' to respect her wishes. (Also, a little fun fact, I chose the name 'Selena' since it has to do with the moon, which is a nice reference to her love of astronomy.)

As for Selena's outfit, I used references of 2000s Latina fashion, and I loved the frilly tops and baggy jeans. So, Nene dresses in a similar way to embrace more of her roots. Also, I choose to expose more skin as a way to show that she's more comfortable in her own skin. I went for brighter colors in her outfit to show how much more comfortable she is being seen.

I mentioned it once, and I'll just reiterate now. I really do believe OLNF MCs can teach lessons about growing up and battling your own identity, intentionally or not. In Selena's case, I gave more of a focus on her battle with identity and balancing who she wants to be v. what others want her to be. In her formative years, she assimilated and attempted to fit the labels/boxes her peers wanted to put her in because she just wanted people to get rid of the image of her as an outcast. She wanted to show that she could fit in, and she was willing to change for others. A very bad mindset to have, but an unfortunate one that a lot of children and teens fall into. She avoided speaking Spanish and practically buried herself in the English dictionary and other English media. Not because she wanted to but because she felt like she had to.

In step 3, she chooses to speak more Spanish outside of her home and is more willing to teach others how to speak it as well. She eats all of her favorite foods again and even starts bringing her own lunch without caring if people think it's strange.

At the end of the day, what I want people to see from Nene is that you don't have to fit into the labels and boxes people place you in for the world to hold space for you. Just as you are, there is a place in the world for you.

Anyways, onto the non life lesson part, the romance and friendships. I don't want to give too many details since this is such a long post already, so here's a few tidbits. At this point, Selena and Qiu aren't dating, but they are still best friends. Selena's confidence has gotten better over the years, but she's scared that Qiu might like the old her rather than the present her. She's not as reliant on them as she used to be, and she thinks they might take her confidence as cockiness. She's not going to change herself to fit their tastes, if that was true (which it isn't), so she's kinda stuck at the moment with furthering their relationship.

As for Tammy, I know you're only allowed to have one best friend in OLNF, but after all they've been through together, Tammy deserves to share the title with Qiu (at least, in Selena's eyes). They like having sleepovers where they just talk about whatever's on their mind (the positives and the negatives). Selena's extremely supportive of Tammy even as they get older. Concerts, competitions, anything at all: Nene's in the front row giving her subtle thumbs up and smiles. I'll pause here, but if you have questions about their relationships, I'm happy to answer :D

Hopefully, I didn't ramble too much this time around. The next post is definitely the relationship charts. (Smack me through the screen, if it isn't). I love writing character relationships, but I'm always scared of portraying characters incorrectly, especially ones as beloved as the ones in OLNF. But, don't worry, I'm taking my time and actually thinking through them. Step 1 and Step 2 will be included, but I won't include Step 3 since there's not that much information (at least, that I know of) for Step 3's characters. I'll leave it there. Thank you for reading this far! Have a wonderful day/afternoon/night, and here's a silly photo for your trouble <3