11. What does your OC carry around in their pockets? What about their bag?
In his pockets, Rook mostly just has his coin pouch and his thieves' tools. In his bag he usually has a healing potion or two, a couple of daggers, and various bits of adventuring gear (rope, his bedroll, a tinderbox, some water, a bit of food he never remembers to eat, etc.).
There's also some more unique things he's picked up during his adventures. (Notable items from his character sheet include "Circus ruby", "Creepy temple booze" (he did end up drinking that one and it caused a lot of problems, and a knock-off MtG deck (given to him by a child).
He also has a small wooden ship and miniature figure of himself wearing a captain's hat that was carved for him by the bard at the request of Cherry after he passed out in Torsek. And, it's not in his bag right now (it's currently locked in a hidden drawer in his desk on the Tide Breaker) but he also has a book he found at Sigmar's house with the margins absolutely full of notes Sigmar made of how to be a better mentor for Rook.
[putting the rest under the cut]
(tw for mentions of self-harm (both intentional and accidental) under the cut)
17. What are some of your OC's coping mechanisms during stressful or overwhelming periods in their life?
Nothing good! Currently his preferred options are 1) become increasingly reckless with his own life, 2) drink, or 3) punch a mirror.
18. What are your OC's bad habits?
Well, the biggest one would be the aforementioned borderline suicidal recklessness and self-sacrificial tendencies. Other than that, he tends to forget to eat unless prompted / food is placed in front of him. (It's partially a side-effect of his anti-exhaustion meds, and partially because he's not super used to having food available on-demand.) It's very much not his fault, but he also doesn't get nearly enough sleep (only about 2 hours per night) thanks to a curse from a demon lord.
Oh, I suppose we should count "taunting or otherwise pissing off extremely powerful people and entities that could easily kill him" to the list. It's quite uncanny how many times it's happened.
Carrion
11. What does your OC carry around in their pockets? What about their bag?
Answered here!
17. What are some of your OC's coping mechanisms during stressful or overwhelming periods in their life?
Punching things (or people) and/or getting the shit beat out of him.
18. What are your OC's bad habits?
Speaking without thinking / saying very tactless things. Also transforming into a giant rage monster when frightened or upset. Oh, and (accidentally) hurting his best friends.
Thank you again for asking about my beloved boys!!! 💖💖
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Hi Quinn!! Thank you for the ask!! I shall do Ronald for these
6. How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they like who they are? What would they want to change about themself?
Ronald is deeply uncomfortable in his skin. He makes a very conscious effort not to think about who he is because it freaks him out, but if he ever did he wouldn't like it very much. I don't think being trans would fix him, necessarily, but I do think it'd bring about a whole different group of problems and it'd be fun. He's spent most of his life as a miserable old man he can be a miserable old woman instead it'd be fun. Shooting the transgenderification ray at the characters
27. What is the most recurring theme in your OC's nightmares?
Ronald's nightmares are mostly about Donovan's dying, or Amelia & Alex dying. Before Donovan died they were mostly about his dad or about Amelia/Alex dying and him having to watch.
38. What are some assumptions others make about your OC? Are any of them true?
People assume Ronald is rude (true, mostly), doesn't care (completely wrong), and that he's very, very lonely (extremely true).
50. How does your OC die, eventually?
Ronald dies of lung cancer/smth similar, caused by 20+ years of daily smoking. Either the cancer kills him directly or it weakens his immune system enough that the latent TB he's had since his mother died becomes active and kills him. I think, even if he knew he had cancer and this had happened a few decades later when he could reasonably get treatment for it, Ronald would've probably refused. He's got problems.
It happens during the worst snowstorm the city's had in years, and everyone got trapped at home for 3 days and no one could call to check on him (Alex spent the entire time very, very worried. She tried to hide this, it did not work, that her fears were proven true doesn't help at all). He's the first death in the 18 month chain that goes him, Mary, and then finally Alex, all in 1956-57. I wrote his obituary a little while ago :)
RONALD FREDERICK WILKES
by Alexandrina McLelland
RONALD WILKES died on October 16, 1956, aged 65 years. He will be missed.
A member of the Herald’s staff for 46 years, Ronald was born on March 4, 1891 in Baltimore, Maryland. Though not initially present, Ronald’s love for sports blossomed after taking the job of junior sportswriter at the Herald in 1910. Ronald never married, but was godfather to the children of his best friend, Donovan Gates. He covered such events as the 1924 World Series, 8 Triple Crown winning seasons, and the highest scoring game in baseball history. After the death of his best friend in 1929, Ronald continued to work at the Herald.
Ronald is proceeded in death by his parents, Frederick & Helena Jane Wilkes. Also preceding him is Donovan Gates. He is survived by his goddaughters, Amelia & Alexandrina Gates, and their mother, Mary Gates. His memorial will be private.
[id: a digital drawing of a deep green rodian in profile with a gold mullet, gold jewelry, and gold epauletted jacket with the sleeves torn off. she has gold freckles, and is in front of a lavender background with gold lines radiating out from behind their head /end id]
meet aurum (she/they)!! she was raised by loving parents in a tight knit community who were sad to see her leave, but happy to support her dreams as she joined a spaceship crew, wanting to see the galaxy. unfortunately, this ship was run by an ex-military shitheel who took great pride in his military coat and great pleasure in belittling all of those who worked under him. when aurum took her leave, she also took his coat and tore off its sleeves, petty revenge that made her feel alive.
they bounced from ship to ship for a bit until meeting up with xylem, a friend and eventually a partner who was working as a cargo pilot. the two of them saved up to buy a small ship that was theirs, and began to do cargo runs while smuggling identity chips for anyone in the rebellion who needed them. despite having a crew of two (and, once screech was acquired, three), they take pride in being the captain of the Myriad.
Happy worldbuilding Wednesday! What was the most interesting or obscure thing you researched to create your world? Or, what was the piece you had the most fun making?
- @zinabug-writes :D
Happy wbw!! It is not wednesday but that's not important.
For herald, I think the most interesting thing was The Manual of Occupations (1929) by Rutherford Hayes Platt (not the US president also named Rutherford [B] Hayes, different guy)! I don't really remember what search specifically led me to it but it was really fun to go through looking for newspaper jobs & then also at all the other things. Most obscure was probably "1940s radio shows", which led me to my favorite historical radio show of all time, "Murder at Midnight". It's absolutely wild and I love it dearly. Wikipedia has summaries for a couple of the episodes and it's great, and more importantly archive.org has all of the episodes.
ep 1:
[ID: Summary for episode 1, "The Dead Hand", produced April 30, 1946, aired September 16, 1946, and written by Robert Newman. A concert pianist loses his left hand in an accident. He meets a pickpocket with very nimble hands and once the pickpocket is dead, he won't need them anymore. End ID]
ep 7:
[ID: Summary for episode 7, "The Heavy Death", produced May 23, 1946, aired November 4, 1946, and written by Robert Newman. A mad scientist makes himself "heavy" (as in heavy water, or uranium.) His might crushes men's skulls! he also has a death ray! But the ghost of a man with a crushed skull comes for revenge! End ID]
Pandora's space story hasn't really had time to get a "most obscure" entry yet, but most interesting was I found out all of the basic varieties of tea (green tea, black tea, white tea, etc) come from the same plant! They're just processed differently! Which is neat I think.
HI HELLO here's so many OC questions!! I would love answers for Alex and/or Ronald and/or whoever else you're feeling in the moment. Maybe also Leo. Mix and match or everyone for everything. ANyway.
15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?
24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?
44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most?
46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves?
49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?
50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?
HI THANK YOU there's so many questions I love questions. the plane was very long so you get everyone for everything!!
15: Ronald's cooking is solidly mediocre. Makes abysmal coffee though. His coffee is bad enough that it's a (minor) plot point. When he's living with Donovan & Mary, they (lovingly) banned him from making coffee. His tea is also bad. Really, any beverage other than water made by him is horrible. He just. Doesn't know how to use a coffee maker. He either puts too much water in, pours the grounds in WITH the water, or doesn't put enough water in and it's super bitter.
Leo's cooking is alright! Better than Ronald or Alex's. He makes the best coffee out of the main cast, which is also a minor plot point. His tea is decent too, but James makes better tea than him. He can bake, though. On occasion.
Alex can cook for herself, but not really other people. She knows how to cook basic stuff, and she can follow recipes, but she's not really a cooking for others kind of person if that makes sense. Her coffee is alright, not super good but it's not super bad either.
24: Ronald doesn't sleep nearly enough, and he has nightmares a lot. He probably snores. Sometimes he'll go on walks around the city instead of sleeping, or sit up and read. ~4 hqours of a sleep on a really good day. Much like with therapy, a lot of his life would be improved if he slept better. Unfortunately, his trauma.
Leo has a really regular sleep schedule, which is impressive considering his job and that he lives with James, who has a fucking horrible sleep schedule and wakes up at random hours to wander around their apartment before going back to bed.
Alex does sleep! But she wakes up at 5 in the goddamn morning, because she's absolutely batshit. Occasionally, she goes to bed at 2 in the morning. If she gets seven hours of sleep it's a goddamn miracle and her average is probably about 5 or 6.
44: Ronald's favorite season is the spring. He likes all the flowers, but he doesn't like hot weather that much. Hates cold more, though.
Leo's favorite season is summer, and he loves hot weather. Absolutely despises cold weather.
Alex's favorite season is fall, I think. She likes that it's colder, but not too cold, and she doesn't have to deal with snow & ice, but it also isn't horrifically sunny out.
46: Ronald's first impression generally consists of ''oh he's a grumpy old man''. Which is. Not inaccurate! But it's also so wildly inaccurate. Because his actual personality, which is buried under approximately 17000 layers of regret and bitterness and unprocessed trauma, is really fucking different. It was more obvious when Donovan was alive, and it gets more obvious after Leo almost dies and Ronald gives James that lecture in the supply closet about not being an idiot.
Leo tends to make a really good first impression, especially on strangers. He's good at socializing and being charasmatic & shit. That first impression isn't nessecarily accurate, he's a lot more of a sarcastic little shit (affectionate) than first impressions of him might lead you to believe, but in terms of the face he puts on when he's doing newspaper stuff it's accurate. In private he's quieter.
Alex's first impression depends on the context, but generally it's of being 1) absolutely batshit about her job 2) fairly intense and highly dedicated to whatever she's doing and 3) absolutely batshit in general (affectionate). Second impressions of her normally amount to "why is she breaking into a government office". All of those are extremely accurate. She introduces herself as Alexandrina McLelland, journalist for The Clockwork Herald, unless she's doing something with her family. Then and only then is she Alexandrina Gates. Otherwise, she's too scared of backlash from the amount of people she's pissed off hitting Amelia or her mom to use her actual name.
49: Ronald's most valued object is easy, it's the photographs he keeps in his desk. If I had to pick one, probably the photo of him and Donovan together, rather than the photo of Mary, but both of them honestly. He's sentimental as all hell.
Leo's also sentimental, but not as sentimental as Ronald. It took me a while to think of what would be his most valued object but I think it would be a copy of N or M? by Agatha Christie, because of course the guy who almost gets murdered likes spy murder mysteries. James gave it to him for Christmas in 1942.
Alex, too, is fairly sentimental. Not as much, though, as the other two. Well. She's not as obviously sentimental as the other two, but she still definitely is. The cast of herald is sentiments georg. She has a fountain pen that she really likes. It was a present from her mom when she was in her late teens/early 20s.
50 (for this one I'm skipping essential things like clothes, etc, and just doing the other stuff): Ronald would bring the photographs of Donovan and Mary that he has in his desk, and a cut out of Donovan's obituary. Which he hasn't looked at in 20 years, but he still has a copy of it. He'd also take-- so Ronald kept a copy of Alex's first article, which was also, technically, Donovan's last article. He kept it because, you know, he's her godfather! he's proud of her!! and then he saw the 'and Donovan McLelland' in the byline and almost started crying in the middle of the office.
Leo would bring his cane, the book James gave him, and the photo he has of him and James in 1942-ish. Also, he has a photo of his family (his parents + his sisters & him) and he'd take that, also.
Alex would take the pen from her mom, a cut-out photo she has of her dad (it's the one from donovan's obituary), and her notebook. she refuses to go anywhere without her notebook.
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👽- What do you think is the weirdest thing about your WIP is?
🕳️- Talk about a research rabbit hole you fell down!
🏡- Would you live in the world you created? Why or why not?
:D
🫂 What was your inspiration for your WIP?
short answer: I watched too many murder mystery shows. Longer answer: many different things! miss fisher's murder mysteries, a fanfic by bee_4 called ''the last days of the free angel of carrows'' , a much older wip of mine called ''vampire hunter steampunk story'' that I didn't like the plot of but then went ''what if there were murders murders are fun'' and a two part book series (book 1 is called spectacle, book 2 is called sensational) about a newspaper writer in 1890s france who 1) writes obituaries for anonymous bodies at the morgue 2) has vaguely sci-fi powers related to those dead bodies that she didn't know she had 3) solves two different murder spree cases about it
👽 What do you think the weirdest thing about your WIP is?
The villian in Herald gets her plans/her entire understanding of how crime works from a radio drama about murder. Specifically her murder outfit, but honestly the entirety of her plan in general is so fucking weird. She is absolutely convinced that if you don't wear a trench coat you'll get caught murdering, because she wasn't wearing a trenchcoat the first time. This is. extremely faulty logic at best but it does lead to some amazing outfits.
🕳️ Talk about a research rabbit hole you fell down!
Very pretty old buildings and, spefifically, the MOTHERFUCKING TRAIN STATIONS. god. I googled, quote ''very cool train stations''. I get a list claiming to be the ''22 most beautiful train stations in the world''.
1) it's only train stations in the us, which. famously! the us is not the entire world that's just one country, there's a couple hundred other countries that list is missing even any vague reference of.
2) these train stations are all FUCKING HIDEOUS
these are what they listed as the most beautiful train stations. THESE.
have some better train stations:
also, and this was a really weird part of a similar rabbit hole for me: city halls during the early to mid 20th century, and what hours one could expect them to be open, etc. more pretty building pictures, this time of misc city halls:
in terms of opening hours, it appears that the answer is roughly 9-5 ish.
🏡 Would you live in the world you created? Why or why not?
Probably not, honestly. I do like that passenger pigeons aren't extinct (they are my favorite animal. They have been extinct since 1914 and I am very sad about it), but I don't think I would like living in the 1940s, even the late 1940s. I would miss my friends too much. Also, the 40s are a famously rough decade where some absolutely terrible things happen. Maybe temporarily, like for 3-6 months or whatever, but not forever.
Though. Watching the space race unfold in real time would be fucking cool.
OC not so nice ask game if you’re taking asks for that!! I would love to know about wound + alone for anyone from Herald
hello!! i'll do these for amelia (alex's sister who has suddenly made herself much more plot relevant) (selected via wheel spin)!
wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?
Amelia's wounds are pretty much entirely emotional. her father got sent off to fight a war when she was 6, almost died, came back as an entirely different person when she was 8, partially vanished from her life when she was 18 and then up and fucking got murdered when she was barely 20. her mother retreated, cut off her only support system (amelia's biological father and her dad's best friend), and focused more on amelia's younger sister than on amelia herself because amelia was an adult (which is understandable, because alex was 11, but also amelia's a little fucked up about it) which is. all of that taken together is probably the worst wound she's ever experienced.
alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?
Amelia has spent a lot of her life partially alone. She absolutely hates it. When she's not around anyone she gets very quiet, which she's not normally a loud person but she gets even quieter than normal. She also relaxes, a little bit, because she's not putting up the facade of being the normal, well adjusted, put together older sister without a death wish (Alex doesn't have a death wish either, but given what happened to her father she might as well have one. pissing off powerful/rich people & getting in major trouble about it is genetic, apparently! (joking) ).
Okay I like to think about this with characters so: what are the houses/living spaces of the main characters in herald like. Do you think they like/suit them. I would love to know!
hello!!!! i love thinking about character's living situations
alex, until very recently, lived with her mother! now she lives in an apartment with one of her sort-of friends from school, Diane (i did just make up this name but it works). They get along fine but they're not super close. Alex's living space doesn't suit her that well, but it works. It's very plain, because she hasn't lived there that long, but some parts of her bedroom suit her! she has a corner with a bookshelf that has a bunch of books she got from her dad, and that part suits her. It would probably suit her more (& she would've personalized it more) if she spent more time there, but she doesn't.
leo & james live together! they also live in an apartment. it's pretty small but i feel like it suits them. they've lived there for a while, so they've been able to decorate it over time & such, and they like it a lot. they've got a couple of really silly knicknacks. I cannot think of any of them at this exact moment because I spent five hours of hell in a train station today but they have them and its silly.
ronald lives alone, in a very small room he rents from. someone idk who. its very dark and a little bit depressing, which suits him well! he spends 90% of his time at the newspaper and his living space reflects that. there is a bed, and a dresser, and that's about it. he absolutely hates it but keeps telling himself he doesn't.
honorary mention to the herald's office because they all spend 70% of their time there (none of them know what the phrase work-life balance means): its very messy and it suits them well! there's a lot of typewriters. I found this picture online which just about sums up what it looks like:
oooo0-00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000gg <- amelia has decided to say hello!!
also i have fantastic news, i am home and released from my train prision which means you get extra cat pictures because there's actually a cat next to me now.
