Om

Third year in a row drawing the same poster and also third year befriending the goat @moonami (along with fin.sca on Instagram) and developing these characters together..... Defective clone, outcast from a long lineage that rules over the whole town and a self proclaimed super-hero, and a brought-from-the-dead emo cyborg - and self proclaimed super-villain, fight for the destiny of the place.... When they're not busy ordering obnoxious cat themed milkshakes together

Originals under the cut

The Poll™ has shown me you guys wanted to see a lil OC thingy so now I shall provide, but worry not I will cover all your needs and also post a caked Rus when I have the time.

(https://crepe.cm/ @damong_cms/3l1f0lsm)

I saw a post where someone was confused about whether or not Sanya "changed" her name, so I decided to explain and talk about slavic names and exactly Sanya's situation and how it probably was intended to be. I got carried away and ended up writing several thousand characters, explaining how these names work, their abbreviations, and the peculiarities of the Russian language, using Kazarina's name and other characters as examples.

That made me realize that I had never really thought about how small cultural details can influence perception—but they do. So, I got the idea to create a Tumblr blog where I could explain these kinds of nuances and discuss how much character and plot perception changes when viewed from the perspective of the mentality of CIS countries. I could also answer questions about these topics.

Additionally, I could interview my friends and acquaintances from other CIS countries, at least Kazakhstan and Belarus, maybe Ukraine. I could even talk to adults from different age groups living here to get a broader picture of how people who share the same social and cultural reality as the PAFL characters interpret the events of the story—especially the relationships between characters. (The most interesting question for me so far is Nikita's actions towards Nadya.)

We can share our opinions and compare how different they are.

There MIGHT also be posts of a different kind because, in our Russian-speaking community, some people have created interesting headcanons about how the characters would live if they were born in different regions of Russia with distinct cultural features. For example, people have already made Buryatia and Chukotka AUs. I could offer a space for those who want to share cultural representation related to CIS countries, allowing them to publish their posts in this blog if they can translate them into English—or I could translate them myself and post with proper credit for the author. (I'm not sure about this part, since I’ve never asked those people if they’d be interested in sharing their AUs outside spaces where everyone speaks their language, or if they’d be open to collaborating. First of all, I need to find out if it makes sense to create this blog and if it will have readers.)

So, if someone wanted to publish for the English-speaking part of the fandom an AU with regional headcanons—even if it's not tied to PAFL's geography—but they wanted to explore how the characters might live in a different place, they’d be welcome to. This could also apply to anyone who wants to share aspects of their culture, as long as it relates to post-Soviet countries in some way, even if it’s an experience from a smaller ethnic group or a less typical cultural background.

That said, this is not the main idea, and it’s not set in stone. I haven’t discussed this with anyone yet, so it might happen, or not. Or I might simply change my mind about including that idea in the blog. The main focus should be on what I mentioned earlier, when you decide if you're interested in that or not. But this could be a possible bonus.

katya - heir of doom. she is empathetic and a 'listener', however she is surrounded by doom. her impending doom kicks off the narrative, as she participates in an experiment that would likely lead to her death, she, in a way, seeks out her own doom as she chooses to go alone rather than sticking with dima, resulting in her recapture. she 'inherited' her doom as her mutation resulted from one or both of her parents being affected by the zone. she surrounds herself with doom, surrounding herself by hopeless people who don't see their own future. she, ultimately, becomes doom as she haunts the narrative, becoming the motivation for yura to further make things worse and doom others.

sanya - maid of void. sanya's character is defined by her lack of narrative relevance, the inability to meaningfully change things or actively participate in its events. she is incredibly passive, kept in the dark about many things, deliberately uninvolved and sheltered. void players are often defined by disconnection and loneliness, the kind where they may be physically around, may have friends and such, but are largely alienated from the people around them, which sanya consistently experiences in her relationships with most people in her life - not being able to quite break down yura's facade, being kept at a distance by sergei, not even knowing katya is a mutant until she's taken away. furthermore, maids are often defined by a lack of agency, feeling 'locked' into a certain role, as sanya is both sheltered against her own will and 'locked' into going along with yura despite not being fully on board, and much of a maid's character arc is overcoming that lack of agency, which sanya is beginning to do.

yura - thief of breath. thieves are defined by a lack of their aspect in the beginning of their arc, as yura starts off lacking freedom, conviction and the will to act. eventually, however, yura gains that sense of need for action, gaining a sick and twisted sense of 'heroism' in which he's willing to rob others of their own freedom and agency for his own goals (literally sending olya to jail, coercing dima and anya into his plan). he gains the admiration of sanya without really trying, getting her so carried away in his life to the point of, in many ways, robbing her of her agency within her own narrative because of her care for him, being dismissive of her own wants and attachment to him.

anya - page of hope. anya is deeply concerned with her injustice, her opinions on society and being steadfast and confident, however in reality she's much more timid and lacks resolve compared to the facade she puts on. pages take the longest to realize their full potential, and often have to be pushed by others into doing it, generally being quite passive and getting bossed around in the beginning of their story. anya is generally still figuring out what her personal convictions are, having had one push by dima and taking a stand against what she perceived as olya trying to turn dima in, and currently having the push of yura using her and manipulating her into going along with her. pages are often naive, unaware of their own strength and insecure, all traits being ones anya displays at some point or another. she is also unknowingly a representation of hope for others - she represents the hope of a normal life for dima, and the hope of being able to get what he wants for yura.