Meet Willow

So, uh, I didn't get my Willow introductory posts up last Tuesday like I demanded myself to do. In fact, the more I worked on it, the more involved it became. By the time I finished writing/editing the posts it was Thursday. So I figured I'd just hold off until Sunday, and have my Meet My OCs series update every OTHER Sunday. That way I have two weeks to organize, write, and edit each character's introduction.

In the end, the document to introduce Willow was about 45pgs long! That doesn't include the space that would be taken up with pictures. The final info-dump - and it was indeed a DUMP as I flooded my poor followers' dashes - was SIX POSTS long, and the first 5 posts were each between 6 and 10 pages long in the master word document.

If you want to learn more about Willow - although, I think I have already shared pretty much all of it on here in some shape or form - you can check out my Meet Willow mini-series over on Tumblr.

• Part 1 introduces who Willow is, gives some of her family history/backstory, and explains her powers.
• Part 2 gets a bit more in-depth with her major relationships throughout X-Future, as well as how I'm planning on adapting those relationships in my rework for Glitches.
• Part 3 turned out MASSIVE as I recapped every major event Willow went through in the X-Future plot line, as well as explain how much of her story is going to be brought over to Glitches.
• Part 4 gave ALL the visuals I have for Willow.... And... it's- it's a lot.
• Part 5 actually has 5 different scene samples of Willow.
  As I was going back through the X-Future role play for research for Part 3, I was amused by some of Willow's interactions. I truly did forget some key bits about her since I haven't role played her for 2yrs. I wanted to showcase those bits via narrative prose.
  Samples include:
  • The one-shot "Mutual Teasing" to showcase Young Willow and her early dynamic with Devon
  • A snippet of the X-Men detention cells scene from "Please, Let Me Explain." Mainly the interaction of:
    Devon: "I'm innocent and never meant to hurt you."
    Willow: "Well, you being innocent makes my life worse; could you just admit to being the bad guy for me?"
  • The one-shot "It Is So On!" to showcase Snarky Willow, her interactions with Nyssa, and her attitude towards Devon post-Brotherhood return.
  • A prose adaptation of Willow's Astral Plane fight with Agony in X-Future, specifically showing off how powerful she is compared to her foil.
  • A prose adaptation of my role playing of Willow confronting Lia's tendency to overburden herself. Namely, the final interaction where Lia: "All of my friends die, and I'm useless to prevent it; why do I even exist?" is responded to by Willow: "Their deaths aren't about you! God, your ego! Get over yourself."
  She's a comfort, that one...
• Finally, after overwhelming everyone, I finished up with a bit of fun by showing off the two main Custom Wrestler entrances Hubby and I created for Willow.

Actually, since this is the first time I tried to film them, I'm cool with showing off the entrances here too. Sorry for the video quality, though. I don't have any recording hardware for the Xbox, so I had to resort to using my phone to record the video... Meh, it works....

This is Willow's individual wrestler entrance. She's donning her Cheshire Cat illusion, and wearing the closest thing I could get to her X-Men uniform. Her entrance music is also her unofficial theme song: "I Get Off" by Halestorm.

 This is Willow's Mixed-Gender Tag Team entrance for her and Chayse. I had Chayse in his casual, everyday clothes, and I had Willow in the closest to her "everyday clothes" that I created: a Slutty School Girl outfit. Their entrance music is "My Goddess" by The Exies.

So... yeah... if it's not obvious, that was what took up most of my week. Well, that and more reading, which I'll get to in a minute.

Next on the docket? Lia.

I was going to bounce over to Jolene, since I probably know her about as well as Willow, and she has a lot of visual aids too. However, that's the problem. I had originally saved a bunch of picture references for my own purpose, so I never noted the artists. I'm going to need time to try to track them down, but it will also be a bit of an uphill battle. Especially since I can't even re-find the image I had used for Jolene herself. She may need more than 2 weeks to be good to go.

Alternatively, I was thinking of writing about Amara, simply because she's my oldest-existing OC, and I THOUGHT I knew her inside and out.

However, ever since I started using Tumblr, I've really picked up on how "stand-offish female lead with a wounded heart that just wants to be loved" cliche Amara actually is. When I first created her, I had her physically abused by her father's side of the family, and then emotionally abused by her mother's side of the family. Giving up on her relatives, Amara went to a Human town to learn how to become an adventurer, but Something Vague happens, and she retreats to the wild. Then, upon near starvation during a particularly harsh winter, Amara is saved by a hermit who trains her on crucial survival skills. He becomes one of the first people to ever show her kindness - outside of her mother - and proves to her that Humans aren't entirely unbearable. At the very least, they can be useful allies/companions. With a renewed outlook on society, she becomes an Adventurer.

It was good, but I needed to figure out that Something Vague portion to figure out what drove Amara to the wild; giving up on society as completely useless to her. I also needed a reason for her to be so stand-offish around men, and why she purposely tried to make herself as unattractive to them as possible. About 5 or 6 years ago, I thought I figured out my solution: 16yo Amara, having traveled to the closest Human city outside of her family's woods, gets kidnapped off the streets, drugged, and forced into prostitution. When she finally breaks out of the brothel, she's so disgusted with Humans, and males in general, that she runs to the woods to live among the "more civilized" animals.

Fast forward to a year or two ago, and that "solution" to Amara's attitude left a foul taste in my mouth. I was basically using repetitive rape as a plot device for character development. Also, if Human males were that evil towards her - the physical abuse was also from her Human male relatives - then why the hell would she trust a Human male hermit, even if he did provide her food and shelter? She also wasn't showcasing nearly enough PTSD and other such symptoms of such a harsh trauma as sex trafficking.

And, on a MUCH more minor note, I couldn't figure out how she was able to break out of the brothel, especially when she was chained to her room. The only solution I could think of was a "good-natured" patron took pity on her and released her, and I hated that a man had to rescue her and set her free...

Still, the forced prostitution stayed in her backstory, because I couldn't think of an alternative.

Until recently, that is.

While reading "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore, I did NOT get a "Legend of Zelda" vibe from the story, as I've mentioned last week, but I DID see Amara a great deal in Cashore's lead Katsa. Both leading females are deadly warriors that no one wishes to mess with. A simple glare was enough to clear the room. Even with this harsh reputation, both women actually find the violence exhausting and disagreeable. Neither woman truly wants to be seen as attractive by men, even though they can't hide how conventionally beautiful they are. Katsa counters this by refusing to wear dresses whenever possible, and chopping her hair close to her scalp. A decision that was mostly functional, as long curly hair is a major pain to maintain and difficult to fight with, but it had the added benefit of making her more masculine looking. Amara, on the other hand, purposely kept herself filthy - covered in dirt and her hair tangled in unruly dreadlocks - and wore men's clothing whenever possible to hide her curves. Both women just wish to be free of criticism and obligation. Katsa wants to be her own woman, instead of the muscle of her king, and Amara wishes for her mother's family - and Elves in general - to just accept her.

I had originally created a love interest for Amara; a Human fighter who falls for her, warts and all. He knows she's broken, and he doesn't demand she give him affection in return. All he asks is that she accepts HIS affection, and finally believe herself worthy of being loved. A task that proves trying, since even Amara's mother was a bit distant from her, emotionally. Eventually, Amara not only accepts his love, and the realization that she DESERVES love, but she also falls for him in return. She doesn't necessarily soften due to his love, but she does finally show her existing soft spots to others; now feeling safe to do so.

For Katsa, Cashore had her also believe she wasn't suited for love. Katsa is actually surprised to discover how many of her companions have fallen in love with her. It's a pretty amusing scene as she races to her cousin and demands to know if HE has also fallen in love with her. To which the cousin just kind of chuckles before admitting that he does love her, but he certainly isn't IN love with her. Katsa is determined to remain unmarried and childless, something I'll touch upon more as I fully talk about this book. She then meets Po, a fellow Graceling, who is very nearly her match in hand-to-hand combat. They agree to train together while secretly gathering information on who would want to kidnap Po's grandfather. There is a hiccup in their relationship and trust...

...when Katsa figures out Po's true Grace, however, his encouragement sticks with her, and Katsa decides to officially free herself from her uncle's service. After threatening the king into submission, Katsa decides to forgive Po's deception and travel with him to find the answers he needs about his grandfather's kidnapping.

While on a quest - which takes months to complete - Po and Katsa re-connect. Then Po apologizes to Katsa. Despite his efforts, and despite his knowledge that she doesn't want a relationship, Po has fallen in love with Katsa. She is equally distressed as she realizes she loves Po in return. However, she still wants to remain unmarried and childless. A decision Po doesn't bother attempting to push. He lets her know that he is hers, and it is up to her to decide what to do with that information.

Much like Amara, Katsa doesn't exactly "soften" with Po's love, but she does find the courage to finally showcase the kindness and mercy she had to keep hidden for most of her life. Po also helped her realize what her true Grace is, and how she wasn't meant to be the weapon her uncle, the king, forced her to become.

The more I read about Katsa, the more the wheels spun in my head, and the more I tried to figure out how to use Katsa as a blueprint for Amara's backstory rework. I don't know if I'll have her become a forced assassin like Katsa was, but I now know of much preferred alternatives for Amara's "Tragic Past," things that can still force her to hate humanity.

Likewise, Hubby, Omnibladestrike, and I just finished up watching How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord during our weekly anime-watching meet-ups. In the show, a character is revealed to be a Demon Lord sympathizer, wishing for the Demon Lord Krebskulm to be revived so she can exterminate the mortal races. While we don't have MUCH on this character's backstory, we do get some hints as to why they want all mortal races to be erased from the planet. Not a kind childhood, that one had.

The Netflix season of Lucifer - which Hubby and I just finished last night - even had a Generic Cop Brutality Towards PoC/Gang Violence episode that had Amenadiel question the value of staying on Earth, and how safe life is among humans. That could also kinda sorta maybe work for Amara pulling away from Humanity....

In truth, it doesn't take much to make someone lose faith in Humanity. It doesn't need to be as violent, traumatizing, triggering, and/or invasive as rape. I don't need - and, in fact, I should avoid - the "old, white, male writer shortcut to tragic female character development" trope. It's gross. It's insulting. It's insensitive. I'm better than that. All writers SHOULD be better than that.

I need to find more characters like Katsa, Amenadiel, and the demon worshiper in HNTSADL. That way I can find a reason to hate Humanity that fits Amara's world, backstory, and personality. I also need to determine if I still want to lean so hard into my InuYasha obsession when I first created Amara, making her goal in life be a quest to find some magical artifact that could dispel her human half and make her fully Elven.

With so much I need to rework for Amara, I probably won't write up her intro until nearly all of the others are done.

Which brings me back to where this all started: Lia being my next OC introduction in 2 weeks. Who knows what I might unearth as I start writing up her intro, considering Willow's intro was supposed to be ONE post. As of right now, though? I think the only thing I need to "sort out" is her Glitches last name since her father is no longer going to be the X-Men canonical character Jamie Madrox. As of right now, the leading option is Mordeaux, mainly because I kept mispronouncing Jamie's last name as that, so Lia's basically been Lia Mordeaux in my head the whole time anyway....

As I mentioned above, working on Willow's write-up wasn't the only thing I did this week, although it was pretty darn close to being so....

This past weekend, EdenDaphne surprised everyone with a second epilogue to her and Maerynn's story "Under Lock and Key." Eden was commissioned to draw the Adrienette Halloween costume teased at the end of the story. After drawing the commission, Eden had an itch to write a small companion piece, so she added the scene as an epilogue chapter, and it was so sweet.

Now, I was busy working on finishing my Willow posts this weekend, but I did finally get around to reading the new chapter yesterday. Of course, I'd recommend it. If you haven't yet, go check out ULAK, especially with this new chapter.

Also, released yesterday, and promptly consumed by me, was the latest chapter of Taurus Pixie's story "Chat Vert". And, yes, it IS another mini-Lukanette chapter. So of COURSE I was sitting on my front porch squealing at a pitch only the neighbor dogs could hear.

I'm calling all fanartists here. If you ever feel inclined to draw fanart for Pixie's story, could you PLEASE do a comic-style side-by-side of Marinette and Luka's phone conversation? Because seeing his side of the conversation would look ADORABLE, and I would love it, and Pixie's stories deserve more fanart.

I'd do it myself, but it might take me 3 months to get it nice enough for anyone to recognize what exactly is even going on in the image...

Anyway, along with reading fanfiction, yesterday I caught up on my re-read of "Fruits Basket." At least, I'm caught up in re-reading volume 3 of the manga, which is where the anime is up to now. This Friday's episode will be the start of volume 4 of the manga, so I should get started on my re-read of that...

Not enough reading for you? Well hold on, because I still have more! I've actually been quite the busy girl this week....

"Graceling" was due back at the library on the 13th, so I rushed to get through the final 100 pages of the story. I still think the second half of Part II in the story is my favorite part; the most intense. However, I did enjoy the conclusion of the story. My only real complaint is about Google's auto-fill feature.

See, about half-way through the book, the descriptions of Po's cocky, intense, but somehow still playful look, and his constant style of undoing the top of his shirt and rolling up his sleeves, just kept making me think of this image:

This is Addison, an OC of windyautumnmoon, and drawn by CrystalCurtisArt. Addison is a were-fox and king of thieves, so it makes sense that he'd give off the same energy as Po. However, without fully remembering this image while I was reading, I couldn't recall if it was actually fanart for "Graceling," especially since I hadn't heard of the book prior to that Tumblr post a month ago. We'll ignore that the series premiered in 2008. Anyway, I didn't think to look up who the artist is via an old Rogue's Scribe post, and instead tried to just search for generic Po fanart.

This, was a TERRIBLE idea. Because all I had to do was write "Graceling Po" in the Google search bar, and the first auto-fill hit turned out to be a major spoiler.

So, here's your warning. DO NOT SEARCH FOR PO WITHIN THE GRACELING FANDOM UNLESS YOU HAVE FULLY READ "GRACELING" OR YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS.

Going into the third part of the book, I kept trying to forget the spoiler I saw. I could not, and the reveal wasn't nearly as impactful because of it. I mean, obviously, that's why the scene was "spoiled." I do have to say the emotion was still there, and it still hit me, but it didn't hit AS hard as it could have because I saw it coming. Plus side though, at least I know that scene has re-readability if it still hit me even after knowing what was going to happen.

Oh geez, I was going to go into more depth about my overall thoughts on "Graceling" but I've already rambled for quite a bit about my characters, so I guess I'll have to postpone again until next week.

Generated by Bitmoji

For now, I'll leave you with this: the writing style Cashore uses, her voice, the language utilized, isn't really "me." I didn't find it nearly as engaging as the more conversational writing voices of say Rick Riordan, or any of the fanfiction writers I follow. I just wasn't as emotionally invested. But, that could just be me and my desire to read more conversational writing. All-in-all, language aside, I did enjoy the plot and characters immensely, and did instantly talk about the book with both Hubby and Omni.

I am planning on picking up the next book in the series "Bitterblue" when I hit up the library for my writing group tonight. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.

Now, to go work on Lia's write-up so I can actually get it done by my deadline of Sunday, June 30th. An interesting task, considering I should be visiting my mom that weekend; assuming my car is finally out of the shop by then.

Wish me luck!