For any OC you feel like!
Pencil, paintbrush, Copics, graphite, pastels, palette, and creative!
Ohohoh an OC randomizer round! Sweet :D
I've already gotten some of these for a specific OC of mine, so I'll just answer them for another if that's the case. I'm most likely to stick with my LoZ OCs FYI, since they are most on my mind right now :D
Writer/OC meme source
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Pencil- Does this character have any âsketchyâ habits? Have they ever broken the law? Do they regret it?
Answering this one for Link and Aryll's father, Arwel...
Arwel's biggest vice is that he often treats sword/spear/bow training with his son Link like it's a real battle. There's an inherent intensity to their spars that... should any neighbors or family members happen to notice... one might very well think they were trying to kill each other. They're not, of course- he loves his son very much- but especially after Link pulls the Master Sword, there's a part of him that almost becomes fixated on the challenge of training the "perfect hero," to the point that he's not always thinking of what's best for his teen child. I'd call that pretty "sketchy," lol. Training your child in the art of swordplay is one thing, but Arwel's training style is bordering on "child boot camp" at times. Of course, he's also a father caught in an incredibly unusual situation... having to raise a boy who's been chosen as this era's hero, having to grapple with the reality that he very well MAY die in the oncoming Calamity, desperate to train him well enough that maybe... just maybe... he'll find a way to win and survive.
Given the time period and the fact that this training is officially mandated by the royal family, it's not illegal- but it does border on the edge of child endangerment.
I feel like Arwel regrets his methods on the few occasions that Link is hurt as a result of it, but not enough to soften his approach. He worries that anything less than these methods won't properly prepare Link for the horrors ahead.
On a lighter note, I feel like Arwel probably got arrested for public indecency after drinking too much in his early twenties. That's about the only official scrape with the law he's dealt with.
Paintbrush- How often does your character âbrush overâ conflict instead of facing it head on? Is there something specific they donât like to face, or do they avoid conflict as a whole?
Answering this one for Link and Aryll's mother, Kelra...
Kelra is most definitely a "break inwards" sort of person. She is capable of addressing emotional conflict head on to an extent, but should the weight of said conflict grow too heavy and personal to bear she will fall to despair. Specifically, one of the largest struggles she failed to address or face for many years was her husband's sudden death- she slipped into a deep, almost catatonic depression for a long time, and was only able to push her way through thanks to the support of her daughter and mother, and others in their community.
When her husband was still alive, she served as like... an emotional anchor to him, though. Arwel was always the more "hard, cold logic" fueled one, and he very often benefited from her perspective in times where his actions could easily shake the foundations of their family... whether that be related to a job position, the education/discipline of their children, or... later on... Calamity related matters. She had no qualms against overtly telling him when she thought his stance was flawed. It's this level of transparency in their relationship that allowed them to have a strong marriage for the years they were together.
Copics- What is this characterâs most expensive habit or hobby? Do they ever feel guilty about the money they spend on it?
Answering for Kelra- she quite likes woodworking. She doesn't get to engage with this hobby too often just due to having low spoons, but over the years she's constructed a whole set of wooden chimes much like the sort that hang across the streets in Kakariko. It cost a good deal of money to source quality wood for this project. She's also made her own hunting bows, using traditional Sheikah techniques passed down through her father's side of the family.
She doesn't feel shame for spending money on this, as the stipend the royal treasury provides to her husband for his duties to the crown is more than enough to pay for the essentials. (They continue to pay out this stipend after he dies, too.) She uses the extra money earned from her cheese making business to pay for this hobby.
Graphite- Whatâs something decently common that your character does in a unique or different way? (like how graphite is present in all pencils, but not everyone uses pure graphite)
Answering for Aryll!
This was actually a really hard question to find an answer for. Ultimately, I decided to pick a detail that's more focused on like... one of the things Aryll considers normal that has since phased out of fashion 100 years beyond the Calamity.
And that lil detail is... the fact that surnames for Hylians are incredibly rare now. There's gonna be some scenes coming up in the fic where Aryll starts inquiring about her mother... trying to find information on what happened to her after the Calamity... and she'll use her surname (Haywood), hoping it might help other pinpoint who's she's talking about. But the thing is, after the loss of such a huge chunk of Hyrule's population, the necessity of surnames to differentiate between people has dropped significantly. You'll more often see folks refer to another as "Reede of Hateno Village" than use a surname. There's some who still have them for sentimental purposes, but they're not as necessary for census reasons as they used to be.
(Non-Hylian denizens of Hyrule rarely used surnames to begin with. The one exception is the Gerudo, some who still use them for ceremonial purposes.)
Just for fun, Aryll and Link's full names in my headcanons-
Aryll Jae Haywood
Link Ordonia Haywood
Jae was the name of one of their great-great grandmothers on their mother's side, and Ordonia was a middle name that had been passed down along the men for centuries on end on their father's side.
Pastels- Give me three colors that best represent your OC. Now give me three colors that your OC likes best. Is there an overlap?
Answering for Kelra-
I wanted to give her one color in common with Aryll, and chose the shade of red for that! Like Aryll, her mixed heritage is very important to her- and this red, significant to both the Hylian and Sheikah crests- represents that importance.
The cool olive green is representative of her connection with the natural world around her (she's basically as close as you get to a farmer in a city! She keeps goats and cucoos, is the hunter and horse girl of her family, loves to spend time outside... etc etc.) and also her cool, quieter demeanor. It felt like a really grounding color, which is the sort of presence she brings to her family.
The golden yellow... amusingly enough... I mostly chose because so much of her character revolves around cheese, ahahahahah. But also, I feel like I associate her design with a lot of gold embellishments, plus her husband and Link's hair is closer to this sort of darker blonde.
Palette- List four of your characterâs primary skills, then share at least two ways these skills might blend or overlap
Answering for Aryll-
She's a decent navigator for her age, having good understanding of topography and local landmarks. If she can align herself with a landmark she recognizes and the directionality of the sun, she can pretty quickly figure out what directions north, west, south, and east are in, and approximately how far she is from the nearest town.
She's got a creative side. Mostly she's content to sketch with graphite, but she's been playing around with stone carving as well. Her portraiture isn't like... super detailed, but her doodles are stylized enough that one can generally recognize the people she's drawing.
She has a strong set of knowledge about medicinal herbs... which ones can be mixed for beneficial effects, which ones could be mistaken for poisonous plants and need to be carefully identified, and how best to prepare a few types of basic ointments and elixirs. This knowledge comes from her mother, who raised a few species of medicinal herbs in their backyard.
Whether Link likes it or not, Aryll ends up taking to the basic footwork of Gerudo swordplay techniques very quickly. It's a skill that she continues to nurture as she grows older.
I think the navigation and drawing skills have a natural overlap- Aryll could probably make a basic but useable map if she or Link ever needed one. I also feel like the medicinal herb and navigation have a potential overlap... certain herbs are bound to have specific growing regions, of course. Over time, I bet Aryll has to keep in mind which ones are easiest to find where, and backtrack to certain landmarks to find those clearings where those herbs grow again.
Creative- Free space! Share something youâve been dying to share about your writing! Could be an OC that never gets the limelight, a moment you were proud of, or anything else youâd like to share.
This has already started to crop up a few times in what I've posted with my Aryll longfic, but a detail I haven't seen anyone notice yet-
Aryll refers to her father as "Papa" in her internal narration, but refers to her mother as the slightly more formal "Mother." This is pointing towards how Aryll's internal image of her deceased father is locked in the past, in a time when she was still calling her parents "Papa and Mama." But she's grown up with her mother ever since, and had to mature so much faster after her father's death out of sheer necessity, so the way she refers to Mother matured along with everything else.
