#starfalcon555

idk all the details about her previous owners, my mom and godmother actually know them while i don't, but what basically happened is that she was rescued by my godmother's friend from her previous owners because he was "going to put her into a pillow case and smash her against the wall." all because he was annoyed by her? like okay don't let your fucking cat get pregnant if you can't deal with kittens???? idrk what's happened to the mother but i hope to god she's with his ex-partner (who i still don't trust to be responsible from what i've heard but at least i don't think she'll physically harm her like her ex might). afaik the rest of the litter have been rehomed so i hope they're in safe hands.

😫 = How does your muse handle a family member being stressed out? What about sick?

Fun chance to show the contrast between them, using their child Sakura Jade being frequently ill growing up (combined with the trauma of losing their son):

Cheri sorta shuts down and goes into autopilot, she does what she needs to do to keep Sakura's temperature at a good rate, gets them the food they need, watches them... though after some time she needs to go out into the dungeons to recollect herself and do some stress relief. Huge part of Cheri's character is that she doesn't really do well with emotions, so sadly Sakura tended to think she was indifferent when really she was trying to keep from falling apart. (Though as Sakura grew up, he understood her better and they talked it through, so no ill will there)

Maya's the opposite in that she frets and overthinks and tends to freeze up. Because of her upbringing, she tends to overcompensate in trying to make Sakura happy, which sortaaa resulted in Sakura being as... prissy as he is. But she gets very stressed out and was very distressed over Sakura's illness, blaming herself for it even. That being said, she tried her best to try and hide those feelings from Sakura and just try to be there for him and coddle him. She used to sleep by his side during his worst days, willing him to get better.

Unrelated to Sakura and more related to "stressed family member", gotta speak on her having grown up in a volatile household of course. Prime fawn response girlie. Most of her childhood consisted of her trying to suck up to her father and sister as much as she could, placating Odin whenever she lost a battle and comforting Pyre when she cried and said that Maya didn't have the right to grieve their mother. For a long time, she was used to just trying to find the "right" thing to say to calm them down and accepting their ire... Though after getting out of there and having her character arc, she's better about standing up for herself.

⚰️ = How would the loss of a family member affect them? Does it vary based on type of family member?

Rubs my hands together. Oh this one's good.

Okay so Cheri... I won't spoil her deal too much so all I'll say is that she is a compartmentalizing queen. She buries herself in her work and tries to keep busy. Again, awful horrible with emotions. This is something I really wanna get into on Bugs of Petalroot because she does come across as uncaring as a result but she really can't help it.

When she lost her son, she spent days searching for him. She had to stop because Sakura needed her too. She's stewed in guilt for years and years that she just can't process...

Also fun fact, in an earlier draft of her backstory, Shuca was created to die, and she was going to be closed off and cold because she'd lost her "other half". She even evolved just to stop seeing him when she looked in the mirror. So avoidance was always going to be her thing. I changed my mind on that fairly early though because I like Cheri having someone from her old life around who she can confide in, one person she feels comfortable being a little vulnerable to, as much as she can physically allow herself to.

(Also on BOP, I wanted to have like a half-joke referencing the old backstory where Cheri implied that Shuca had died before the events of the blog, saying things like "he's not with us anymore" or "he's in a better place". Only to casually reveal via calling him on the phone that he's fine, she's just REALLY sad about him leaving their team to become a florist. Kinda to show how Cheri isn't really good at communicating things and also to show how genuinely hurt and sad she is that he left and is living a better life without her, like to her it really is as if he left a hole in her life. I actually tried to set this up on the blog's existing posts referencing him, but I don't think I conveyed it all that well, no one really picked up on it. And honestly I couldn't figure out how to naturally convey it anyways. When I reboot it I'm probably just gonna say he's alive to begin with)

Aaaand I'll say how she feels about her biological dad just for fun. When she's about ten, she's told that he walked up to her swarm one day, terminally ill and carrying her and Shuca's egg, gave the egg to the swarm, they refused to take him in because of his illness and because he'd evolved, and so he walked away to presumably die. Shuca is torn up over this and cries and is sad he never got to meet his father, but Cheri just... rolls over to go to sleep. It's sad, but she didn't know the guy. She's grateful he at least gave her a sturdy community before he left. But she just doesn't know the guy. It feels awkward, even invasive to grieve him. So she just... doesn't. It's one of the few times she and Shuca had a really bad fight because he thought she just didn't care...

Okay now for Maya. Uhm. Well... girl's been grieving family since the day she hatched. As I alluded to earlier, she feels like she's not allowed to grieve her mom because she died when Maya was too small to remember her. She even goes as far as calling her by her name instead of "Mom" because she doesn't think she has the right. Can't say too much on that right now but yeah...

And then when Pyre and Odin both eventually go, she's so conflicted. In Odin's case, she's actually relieved because now she can stop worrying about him finding her and hurting her again. She can sleep easier. But he was also good to her sometimes, and a part of her always wished he could just... have an epiphany and become the father she needed. He was certainly capable of it. But he refused, and now he'll never have that epiphany, there's no chance their relationship can get better.