1: Origins! How did you come up with the concept for your OC?

Ruth

Ruth is actually an incredibly old character of mine- originating all the way from the depths of my middle school years. At the beginning, she was a violinist who raised the dead, and looked like this. (She was also named ‘Necropolis’ generally attending by Necro; I didn’t have a tendency to name my characters after the aesthetics of a metal album, I guess it was just her)

She’s been Ruth for a long time and her aesthetics sort of gradually progressed from gothic fantasy to punk and now we have present Ruth who’s invested in as many frills and cute flouncy things as can be coordinated with serviceable jeans and sturdy boots.

While I can’t begin to recall what in particular led me to create my original draft of Necro, I will say that the most recent incarnation of Ruth came from this vocaloid song [link is to youtube, might autoplay], “Panda Hero” and a lot of throwaway lines from the song worked their way into Ruth’s character. “A black and white hero with a metal bat in their left hand” led to Ruth being a lefty, her signature weapon, and, most recently, her very distinctive premature white hair contrasting with particularly dark skin. 

The consistent core of the character that’s stayed with her all this time is that Ruth is a hero. She’s a laconic, strong-willed and good-intentioned person who wants to venture into whatever darkness she sees in the world and help people. 

That song really is a formative influence that can’t be understated, as a lot of it has crept into Twofaced! in the form of certain ongoing motifs, especially radios which have significance for Ruth, her brother, and their respective power sets. Conceptualizing the city of Boundary as a complex urban jungle full of hidden pockets and memories of the past, and the shift from the more straightforwards action genres of my youth to something that’s much more introspective, mysterious, and at times a little scary. 

Scion

Since Scion is a far newer character, I have a much clearer idea of where Scion came from, and they sort of formed like a tumbleweed after a lot of my frustrations with the post-apocalyptic genre and some of the things I’ve been encouraged to think about and analyze in my discussions of Peridot from Steven Universe and the attitude about technology in narratives.

So Scion is partially inspired by Peridot- green as a character color, moving from a clinical/sterile environment to a nature-oriented one, a blend of a smart/perceptive character with a somewhat sheltered one trying to get their feet under them in a foreign world- and partially by 9, the titular protagonist of a post-apocalyptic movie that I had a special interest in for a long time in high school. (And one of the first works that drew my eye to the post-apocalyptic genre in general). Somewhere in the process the aesthetics of Portal- specifically the early, ‘overgrown’ segment of Portal 2, got in there. (This is what I blame for most of Scion’s sass. The Portal series more or less drips sarcasm from its every instant of dialogue)

I wanted to showcase a character where their ability to get “back to nature” and survive in a dangerous environment is facilitated and, in a way, reliant on, technology. Science is present in their life as something that gave Scion back control of their life, and lets them open their eyes to a whole new world. New growth and recovery is a big theme in Rekindled and in Scion’s case, none of that would have been possible without their very extensive assistive technology. 

At least I feel like that’s a better way to frame it than saying that Scion’s character is more or less an express telegram full of expletives to the concept of “technology is evil you must renounce your sinful science and come live in Good Supportive Nature what do you mean disabled people exist”

4: How do you get into your OC’s mindset to write for them? How do you find the muse for them?

Something consistent for both of them: Music! I have specific character songs I associate with them (in the case of newer characters, I often have to pick out new character music.)

Ruth

Ruth is actually a particular character, since music had so much to do with her inspiration, that she’s got such a strong character song that I can’t hear that song without Ruth coming to mind. In general, Ruth is a very cooperative character to write- even without the song, I can piece together her mentality nicely. (That’s the other part- just giving some thought to how they tick and trying to see the world as they see it)

In Twofaced!, characters’ personalities sort them into one of two camps: powers that are about direct action, and powers that are about information gathering. Ruth is a kinetic power- her focus is extroverted and active.

Her response to stress is to try and push back. She has spent her entire life being someone who wants to make safety for others- she wants to save people. At her best, this makes her wonderfully caring and compassionate- she’s a builder of safe spaces. Her power is the ability to radiate energy, sound, light and information. Ruth is a provider, a generator, and this is exactly where she wants to be.

At her worst, standing in the spotlight can blind you to the people around you. It’s sometimes hard for Ruth to understand that there are people that don’t want to be swept off their feet and ‘rescued’ and it’s not always her business to intercede. Sometimes there are things Ruth can’t do on her own, and her tendency to sling herself headlong into danger like a knight in shining armor comes with some serious practical problems as she’s a car mechanic, not a knight, and that doesn’t come with the full plate.

Scion

Scion is one of those people I’m still figuring out at this point, and I think they’re someone who’s trying to figure out themselves. Before encountering Project Rekindling and getting a new lease on life they were basically shut down and had lost motivation or really thinking in the big picture. As much as they wanted to get back into the world that they felt was running past them, they hadn’t quite thought out what they wanted to do once they got there.

And now here they are in a demanding world but also one where they have a lot of influence, and a pretty darn radical cyborg body to boot, and it takes a while to dawn on them that their interest in just toddling along and poking at things that look neat doesn’t work as a long term life plan (as various people who care about them have to play the game of “SCION NO THAT’S DANGEROUS”)

And it’s also incredibly hard to deter someone who’s been bedridden for years and is now put at the helm of a perfectly healthy verging on superhuman body, and Scion also occasionally needs to be reminded that they do, in fact, have something to lose now and the “fuck it, doing it anyway” attitude that got them into this situation might not carry them further.

6: What is your OC’s family situation? Do they get along? Do they fight? Or are they alone?

Ruth

Ruth lives with her brother Lawrence. She adores her brother dearly, but their relationship is occasionally a little strained since Ruth feels like she wants to ‘take care’ of Lawrence, and Lawrence, an ambitious individual itching to beat his own trail, isn’t quite content in the role of “dearest baby brother” that Ruth sometimes puts him in. 

The siblings live near to, and frequently check in with, their mother Mariella and their stepmother Rook. There was a dad somewhere but Mariella doesn’t talk about him much and he exited the picture when Lawrence was way young. Ruth’s relationship with her dad is mostly “I can do better than you did.”

10: How do they deal with strangers?

Ruth

Ruth will politely make eye contact with strangers, nod at them, and then go back to what she was doing most times. In general she will make occasional small talk and, if they’re in her house, offer them food (Ruth has a thing about offering people food).

Pretty much Ruth will respect your space, keep the silence comfortable, and intervene if your hair is on fire.

Scion

Scion is a little worse at acknowledging strangers. They often tend to be cooped up in their own thoughts, they forget names, their ideal social structure is having the same five friends for years and not talking to other people all that much. Nothing is more awkward to Scion than sitting at ‘acquaintance’ with people; they don’t really know how much to share or how little to share and it’s frustrating for them, as Scion is more or less a twenty-four-hour nightblogger (they’re just really used to thinking of weird things) but they are very uncomfortable at the feeling of being judged.

(This is part of why they continue to wear clothing after becoming a cyborg. They hate how much they stick out even though they’re super fond of the actual being a cyborg thing)

21: Name an embarrassing situation that your muse has been in.

Ruth

Ruth is a little hard to catch wrongfooted because part of her charisma as a person is that she’ll take a lot of things in good humor. Being in a job with as many hard knocks as ghostbusting, especially the kind of ghostbusting where the philosophy is “let’s gather information and try to go about this peacefully if we can rather than running in guns blazing” you kind of need to be able to at least make fun of yourself.

Things like a sudden succession of crashing noises, followed by Ruth’s voice distinctly going “Found the stairs!” are pretty common. That said, she is rather sheepish about the “souffle incident”.

Scion

Sometimes binging a bunch of horror movies while you were recovering from chemo doesn’t prepare you for hypothetical apocalypse as much as you think it will.