#heysu

Tomiv - old faded leather, sunrises, soft whispers, careful footsteps, smooth polished wood, sandstone, distant hoofbeats, autumn air, silences full of meaning, delicate stitches, delicate strikes

Ilem-jie - blazing fire, scarves in vibrant colors, sharp knives, clear midday skies, quick punches, glitter, scorching summers, sand dunes, shouting at the world, angry kittens

Reas - the wind in your face, heart pounding, hair blowing back, early morning mist, billowy blue cloth, clear gemstones, silver moonlight, rushing rivers of words

Heysu-tev - dark black earth, moss-covered stones, sunlight through green leaves, loose comfortable sweaters, combat boots, a warm cup in your hand, determined stride, power metal

I'm supposed to be outlining on [working title 12] so I'll talk about these OCs.

Tomiv is just really not bothered. She doesn't mind being alone. She can talk to a couple people with her mind. She can have some time to work on her projects. It's fine. Spends a lot of time sewing masks.

Ilem can't stand it. Goes for a run most days to get out her energy. Most likely to make questionable social distancing decisions. Feels cool wearing a mask. Tries cutting her own hair. She is banned from social media by anyone else living with her for getting into too many fights on Facebook. Also banned from getting groceries.

Reas says "this is a great time to catch up on my projects!" starts a dozen new projects and doesn't finish any of them. Takes a lot of long walks/jogs - she also hates being stuck inside. She has binged so many shows.

Heysu stays of social media completely because she's tired of the drama, and makes effort to keep up with her friends outside of it. Might punch through a wall if she sees/hears another coronavirus themed commercial. Plants a garden.

Juq shares informative articles and donates to relief funds. He tries to get people to sing on the balconies with him. Keeps making really dumb tik toks out of boredom.

If Zeg Amyu is with his family, he locks himself in his room as much as possible because he's going crazy stuck in such close quarters with them. If he's not... he still probably hides in his room a lot. Doesn't get in fights on social media but complains about what other people say to his friends.

 *cracks knuckles*

Aderin

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have? -  Aderin comes from a large, loving family, which she’s quite close to. I admit I have very little previously established on her father, but that’s what this is for, no? He’s perhaps more ambitious, more driven, but she gets some determination from him. And she admires his focus on family and community. Is there anything she hates about him? Hate seems too strong. But of course all parents and children have disagreements. 

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have? -  Aderin gets her work ethic from her mother, I think, and maybe some of her tough love. Maybe not in the same form - I’m envisioning her mother as a firm but warm household manager. I know she had quite a few kids to wrangle. (spoiler, one day Aderin will as well. so undoubtedly there’s a good bit of influence there as well.) I think her father’s more smarts and her mother’s more common sense, and Aderin got a nice blend of the two.

9. What about political beliefs? - Aderin is Not A Fan of the Emperor, and has mixed feelings on the empire her homeland has become a part of. On the one hand, it offers protections and privileges Alefor has never enjoyed before, and holds their historical enemies at bay. But she really wishes they had the capabilities to take care of their own affairs, and fears the Empire wishes to erode their culture in the name of hegemony.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate? -  Aderin can sometimes be a bit blunt but on the whole she does her best to be considerate of others. She likes local or national folk heroes, but her hero would be… those who stand up for what’s right even if they aren’t the ones being hurt. Someone who listens to others, and cares. Someone like… well, like someone. ;)  And she hates those who exploit others.

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating? - Determined, I’d say. She’s got a good determined look. A get to work, take on the world if needed look. But she’s also got a playful side, so plenty of smiles too.

Dommil

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child? - Yes. But, to elaborate. His mother is very affectionate. Very busy, and depended on him a lot as he’s the oldest, but never let him doubt she appreciates him, and loves on her boys well into adulthood. Maybe he felt some affection from his father as a young child. Maybe his father liked that he was big and strong, or that he was responsible, or that he was a good kid. Maybe he never appreciated him enough. I have, by conscious choice, never developed him as a character. But Dommil certainly felt rejection when his father left the family when he was thirteen.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations? - Dommil isn’t unintelligent. And he isn’t uneducated - he’s literate, he can do enough math to do business, he knows some of the history of his kingdom and its religious teachings. But he didn’t take his education any further than he needed to (he stopped going to the local chapel school after his father left.) Anyway, all this to say his manner of speech is certainly what would be considered ‘common.’ Not country bumpkin, he’s a city kid, but certainly no refinement to it. That said, he’s also a soldier - an officer - so he does know how to be… professional, I guess. 

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now? - His father leaving, of course, kind of shattered his world - he was used to having someone to depend on, and now his brothers depended on him. I think he might be a little disillusioned with the military. He joined to provide for his family and keep his kingdom safe, and now all of a sudden they’re conquering and maintaining an empire. (and he doesn’t believe for a moment his promotion to officer is on his own merits.) But he’ll keep doing his duty.

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories? - He’s more of a straightforward guy. The past is in the past dwelling on it won’t help - what are we going to do now? That’s what you need to think about. That’s his mindset. 

Heysu

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient? -  Heysu’s a farm girl, so they can’t be too lenient of course because they have a farm to run. There’s got to be a certain amount of discipline to get the work done. So strict, maybe, but reasonable.

17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When? - the very first time she has traveled any real distance is to enroll in Edefana and learn how to be a soldier. 

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling? - Heysu is none of these things. Her biggest weakness is probably a severe lack of self-confidence, but she’s working on it. She doesn’t trust to her own strengths, so when people have an accurate read on them she fears they’re asking too much. She’ll undersell herself. 

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures? -  no, she’s pretty irrational about errors, more willing to take blame than she should be. But she doesn’t let those feelings just keep her down in despair. She has to keep trying, has to do something, no matter how bad the situation seems. She’s a lot braver than she realizes.

Zeg Amyu

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings? - He has only half-siblings, and he despises all of them, largely because they despise him, which in turn is because their father (his stepfather) despises him. And his mother certainly prefers them, her trueborn, fullblooded, children she can be proud of. It’s not a great family situation. When his oldest half-brother got old enough for his bounty to wake, he spent a lot of time putting curses on him, even though it’s generally considered petty and mean-spirited to go after those so much younger than you, so that fueled the hate. Basically, he hates them because they had what he wanted. He wants different things now. Maybe.

14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected? - in Edefana, the student body is too small for clubs. There are six of them. okay to be honest by the time he comes there are probably more but he’s still part of and trains, studies & works with the core 6. With Tomiv he’s part of the two with the Something, training for the Twelve, so that’s a group. When he was with his mother’s people, though, he was mostly a loner. Not entirely by choice.

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous? -  All of these things. Everyone else, they just don’t see, he’s better than all of them! He’s better than the clans, better than the People, better than the Twelve, blessed with double measure. They’ll see, they’ll have to respect him when they realize what they can do, how great he is! They’ll pay for the way he looked at him! They’ll step aside for him, all of them, those wide inferior masses will bow before his might. How dare they think they can equal him! Don’t they know what he is? Well, they will, oh, they will. 

38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic? - Not enthusiastic, exactly, but… undaunted. He’s always prepared to rise to new challenges.

He’s also quite perplexed, while he’s getting used to the culture of the People. What do you mean you can just change my name by public consensus at the drop of a hat?