#askitchy

If he was going to do just one thing right in his life, it may as well be that. lol

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

They are cuties! I'm not sure they're in the right age range to be dating eachother though. At this point in the series, Tomato is 13 and Azadora is 10. This gap won't matter when they're older, but right now they are in pretty different stages of life. Tomato is starting to deal with teenager problems and Azadora is still just a kid, they can't relate to eachother very much. I think they just play together because frankly, there aren't a lot of kids in the Hollow and they don't have much choice.

But let's say a few years pass. Azadora is 18 and Tomato is 21, and they've decided to date eachother. How would their parents react?

In short...not well. At least not at first.

Balthazaar just doesn't want his precious Dory dating anyone, period. He doesn't trust that any boy is good enough for her. He thinks they're all horny little scumbags who will only break her heart, or worse, trap her in a crummy marriage. He does want her to marry someday, but in reality, her suitors would have to move mountains to earn his approval.

Balthazaar likes Ginger and Tomato well enough (He hates Itchy, but so does everyone, so...) but the notion of a satyr boy dating his daughter would sting him. He wouldn't like it at all. He's a bit prejudiced and believes male satyrs are only after sex, that they're hopeless drunks who can't hold a job or be responsible. He doesn't dislike Tomato, but he doesn't want him as a son-in-law.

Itchy, meanwhile, is hootin' and hollerin' with pride because his son is dating a cute girl! A cute human girl! He believes all humans have lots of money, and because they don't face discrimination that satyrs do, life is always easy for them. He encourages Tomato to put a ring on that girl's finger as soon as possible so he can reap all those social benefits a human wife would give him.

Ginger is much more reluctant about this. She worries that because Azadora is human, this means she will never have grandchildren. She also worries that their species differences will cause drama in the relationship. But she likes Balthazaar and Azadora; they are her friends and she knows they're good people. Ultimately she just wants Tomato to be happy, so she gives her blessing, even if she's not 100% on board with the idea.

Cinnamon's just like, "You want to marry my brother? GROSS. He sucks lol"

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

I think this Anon is correct!

Flora watches over all the kids in the Hollow and refuses to let anything bad happen to them. Other nymphs prefer to "let nature take its course", but Flora actually goes out of her way to protect them from harm.

She's a little less forgiving to the adults, but she loves the kids too much to let them get hurt. In "A Mage in the Making", Ginger leaves Cinnamon in the care of Mr. Ocean. Flora saw this and knew it could only end in disaster, so she kept an eye on the situation and found Cinnamon when Mr. Ocean inevitably lost her.

In "Sugar and Shine", Flora notices Itchy and Tomato foraging together in the forest. She knows Itchy's an irresponsible parent, so she kept an eye on them too, and helped them get some bird eggs for Ginger.

Unfortunately she couldn't protect Isaac when he was attacked by Red Orchid, but she did take revenge on Red Orchid in the end for hurting him.

In "Dirty Animal", it was shown that she frequently babysitted young Frederick while Olof was working.

I imagine she has also babysitted Tomato, Cinnamon, and Azadora on various occasions. Flora is just the right combination of sweet and powerful that makes parents trust her with their kids. She also has a mischievous streak, so I'm sure the kids love her too because she lets them get away with stuff that their parents don't.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

If this doesn't end in 100% Itchy, those pollsters are lying. XD

niittinaatti

I'm gonna go with Morbus, putting your crush's wife in a coma and trying to persuade him into having her euthanized is pretty hard to forgive

kid-az

Boy do I regret not picking Morbus after remembering just what happened in Love Poison….. Skel is an ass but atleast he wouldn’t do THAT!

aveture

Ah I forgot about morbus and the love poison. Can I change my answer to that?

kid-az asked:

No joke I actually really loved Morbus as a character until Love Potion. After that all I want is for her cats to leave her and be adopted by better people and her being unable to find a cure for her outwards appearance being (Half) as nasty as she is on the inside.

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These are all good points! I think in the name of fairness, we should have a break down of each candidate's most punch-worthy actions...

Itchy: "Allegedly" fucked a goat, burglarized homes, mugged people at knife-point, calls people slurs, assaulted an elderly person unprovoked, various peeping-tom behaviors, straight up murdered a dryad once, stole a horse from a soldier.

COUNTERPOINT: He has poor impulse control due to brain damage, some of these behaviors are not really his fault. Once he understands what he's done wrong, he usually feels bad and tries to make up for it. Usually. He's very capable of love and empathy for others, he just doesn't show it at the appropriate times.

Lukas: Murdered his own mother, is verbally and sometimes physically abusive to his crewmen, almost axe-murdered his best friend while drunk, victim-blamed a crewman who was sexually assaulted, tried to goad Zeffer into suicide and then hired an assassin to take him out when he refused.

COUNTERPOINT: Lukas acts the way he does due to immense trauma, and he's fully aware that his behavior is unacceptable. Recently in the series he has expressed remorse and taken steps to become a nicer, more empathetic person. He takes full responsibility for the pain he's caused others and doesn't make excuses for it. He is ashamed of his nasty behavior and is trying to understand why he acts the way he does, so that he doesn't keep repeating his mistakes.

Gwyneth: Cheats on, takes advantage of, and abuses her "husband" Brogan, extremely greedy and miserly, regularly insults people for no reason, flirts with married women and tries to break up marriages.

COUNTERPOINT: Gwyneth has endured the horrors of retail for decades. 'Nuff said. (Just kidding...In reality, she was kidnapped by slavers and quickly learned that the world is brutal and unforgiving, so she fears showing any sign of weakness or tenderness towards others. Bad experiences in her life have hardened her. She was probably aloof to begin with, but the experience of being kidnapped kind of "broke" her emotionally.)

Skel: Racist, misogynistic, classist, arguably transphobic, almost abandoned his crewman Jeimos in a hostile territory, verbally abusive to his crew and everyone around him, general asshole behavior.

COUNTERPOINT: Much of Skel's bigotry is hypocritical, and it's apparent by his contradictory thoughts and behaviors that he's quite mentally ill. His actions are much kinder than his words, and he performs these kind actions in secrecy, as if afraid to show any kind of "weakness" in front of others. Much of his hostile behavior is due to untreated mental problems.

Frederick: Literally stole candy from a baby, physically assaults people (including his own father) to get what he wants, acts arrogant and defiant, bullies others for fun.

COUNTERPOINT: Frederick is young and most of these behaviors are a result of bad parenting on his father's part. As he grew into his teens, Frederick started realizing this behavior wasn't getting him anywhere in life and promised to change. He has shown gradual positive changes ever since, though he does still slip back into his bullying ways from time to time.

Morbus: Neglected her son in favor of her career, abandoned her family, sold harmful drugs for decades, fetishizes and sexually harasses male satyrs, acts sexually aggressive towards Che, verbally abuses just about everyone, poisoned Philippa into a coma out of jealousy, forces her pets to live in her nasty hoard, generally snotty, selfish, and rude behavior.

COUNTERPOINT: I think it's obvious that Morbus is very, very mentally ill. This woman has been spiraling into Hell for over a century, completely untreated, and all the fumes from her alchemy career probably didn't help. I think some of her behavior is just due to her shitty upbringing, and she probably is a bit of a selfish bitch at her healthiest. But I also think her more extreme behaviors are the result of sickness and trauma that were left unchecked for way too long. To her credit--and this is a big deal imo--she does display some empathy and usually rights her wrongs eventually...granted, she'll reach the point of nearly killing someone before she does, but tends to shape up at the very last minute and save them from herself. She also apologizes for her actions once her conscience beats her over the head hard enough, showing that she's not a total psychopath. Morbus is undoubtedly a despicable individual, but it's hard to say how much of that behavior is really within her control. She gives the impression that she's been fighting a horde of personal demons all her life...and she's not winning.

With all that said, if you haven't voted yet, you still have 6 days to do so! ---> Poll Here <---

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Good questions! I will say that while most satyrs are slaves to their lustful hormones, this doesn't apply to every single individual. Every satyr is unique in their own right, and some of them are more lustful than others. Just like anyone else, some satyrs are also able to control their impulses better than others. It is harder for them in general, but not impossible.

It's tempting to say that Ginger just isn't a very lusty satyr, but that actually isn't true. Throughout the series we see that she is, in fact, pretty horny a lot of the time (pun totally intended)...it's just that her horniness is directed towards Itchy specifically.

Yes, she feels attracted to other people too. Don't think she's not having impure thoughts about Olof, Javaan, Evan, or any of the other chadly men in her village, because she definitely is!

But her lust for those guys is only superficial. Meanwhile her lust for Itchy is stacked on top of her deep love for him, and a shallow attraction will never overpower her feelings for him, as we saw in "Coins for Clowns".

Monogamous satyrs like Itchy and Ginger are quite rare. But that's one of the reasons they're in Drifter's Hollow, living with all the other misfits who don't quite fit in with their kind.

Ginger is faithful to Itchy because she has strong impulse control and she was raised by an uncommonly "civilized" mother, who instilled different values in her than most satyrs have. She's only cheated on Itchy once, and it was a deliberate act to "get back at him" because she thought he cheated on her first. The whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding, and she felt horrible, confessed, and apologized to him afterwards.

She has no plans to ever be unfaithful to him again, because she betrayed her own values and disappointed herself. She doesn't like the concept of polygamy due to the values her mother instilled in her.

Meanwhile, for all his faults, Itchy has never cheated on Ginger and I don't think he ever would. His faithfulness isn't necessarily built on personal values like hers, but on fear. He worked his ass off to get Ginger in his life and continues to work his ass off to keep her there. He's incredibly proud to be a married family man and subvert expectations for his species. The last thing he wants to do is screw it all up just for a dumb fling.

Itchy fucks up basically everything he does, but his relationship with Ginger is the one thing he takes very seriously and wouldn't dare compromise. His family is the only thing he cares about in his life, everything else can go to hell as far as he's concerned.

Unlike Ginger, the concept of polygamy doesn't offend Itchy's values. He's down to have a big crazy orgy whenever. But he doesn't, because he knows it goes against Ginger's values, and disappointing her would ruin his relationship. Cheating on her is not worth it to him, he enjoys what he has with her too much.

Basically what I'm saying is: if Ginger suddenly decided she was cool with an "open" relationship, Itchy would be cool with it too, because he's already cool with it. He just doesn't act on it out of respect for her.

As long as whatever they're doing is based on honesty and respect, they're both okay with it. Ginger fooling around with Javaan behind Itchy's back was not honest or respectful, that's the part that upsets him. He wasn't mad because she fucked another guy, he was mad because she didn't ask him beforehand if it was okay. Because god knows he would have said "yes" if she simply asked! Then again, it was her intention to disrespect him in that case, so...

Anyway, Itchy and Ginger are both pretty unique specimens of their species!

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Basically everyone in Drifters Hollow be like:

Another glorious meme for the vault! Excellent!!

Erasmos is certainly related to Itchy! The relation is very distant though. Like, many, many generations have passed between them. The bloodline is faint, but it's there!

Erasmos would be so freaking salty if he met Itchy. He'd feel so burned that this dumpy, slobby old satyr somehow snagged himself a hot loving wife, a quaint little house, two nice kids, and genuine happiness.

He wouldn't understand how Itchy could have these things but he himself can't, and it would really piss him off. Erasmos puts so much stock into appearance, he can't understand the concept of falling in love with someone's personality. No one has ever loved him before, nor has he ever loved anyone else. He's only known sexual attraction, so he assumes that's all there is in life.

Itchy might be an ugly old slob, but he won Ginger's heart by demonstrating selflessness, loyalty, tenacity, and courage. Erasmos lacks these qualities. He has poor social skills because he thinks only of himself and his own needs. He never puts himself in another person's shoes, nor does he empathize with anyone, because he just doesn't care about how other people feel. He doesn't see the value in that, and doesn't understand that it's the main reason he's so lonely.

Erasmos lives entirely in his own miserable head and he's too afraid to step out of it. That's the true reason why no one wants to be around him. He can blame his deformed face all he wants, but in reality it's his horrendous vibes and shitty personality that keep people away.

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Questions/Comments?

At this point in the series, very little is known about Tomato's father. We don't even know his name. Ginger has only revealed three things about him:

He was apparently an asshole.

Tomato looks a lot like him.

He got Ginger pregnant while she was working at a brothel, meaning he may have been her client.

That's all we know. If he suddenly showed up in Drifter's Hollow, I'm sure Ginger would tell him to get the hell out of her village the moment she saw him. If he refused, she'd kick him in the balls and swing on him until he got the hint. She would keep Tomato away from him at all cost because she doesn't want Tomato to know what a worthless turd his bio-dad was. She thinks it would hurt his self-esteem.

Itchy's a coward, so as much as he'd like to kick the guy's ass, I doubt he really would. He'd pull something more underhanded than that, like steal his wallet, throw spiders on him, sucker punch him in the back of the neck and run like hell, or ask one of the Freelance Good Guys to kick his ass for him.

One way or another, this guy would be run out of town as soon as he showed up.

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Questions/Comments?

Yep! I would say that the satyr in that first illustration was a proto-Itchy and the nymph was a proto-Flora. So I guess Itchy and Flora were technically the first characters I designed. Let me pull up some other images from the set...

This was the second illustration I did, with two characters who would obviously become Itchy and Ginger.

This cecaelia looks very similar to Mr. Ocean, and the mermaid kind of looks like Alaine.

This centaur's design obviously evolved into Elska, and her annoying jockey there looks like an older Tomato.

These two male satyrs were like proto-Che and proto-Brogan.

These original illustrations were a lot cartoonier and sillier than later Looming Gaia content, but I still try to maintain that light-heartedness wherever I can.

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Questions/Comments?