#I also wanted to show that her human form has vitiligo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shlubbyart · 3 months

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May I see the disabled rep lore?

Absolutely!

I'll keep this to disability rep in Suit-Nami specifically, but if you want my thoughts on canon Splatoon characters and disabled representation I'd be happy to delve into my headcanons in a separate post.

This is gonna be a long one so check under the cut if you wanna read my ramblings:

As someone who is disabled/neurodivergent myself, having disabled representation is pretty important to me. It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Suit-Nami has become a way for me to represent myself, as well as simply exploring the kinds of disabilities I could imagine existing in the Splatooniverse.

I'll start off by going into more detail about Tide's physical disability that I referenced in my previous post.

#1. Developmental Deformities in Inklings/Octolings

In short: Tide has a misshapen ear due to a hiccup in his ability to shapeshift.

I always thought it would be interesting to explore the idea of the squid to kid transformation not always working as intended, and for that to be used in the context of disability.

Here's a little graph to show what I mean:

For Tide, his left ear (or fin, however you want to define it) isn't able to fully morph in his human form, so he's left with a blueish translucent fin/ear malformation.

Being an idol, as well as previous experiences with ableist discrimination, Tide opts to cover his ear by hiding it between his two hair tentacles. He's quite sensitive to having his hair being lifted or his ear being touched without permission, so doing either of those things is a big no-no.

Tide could be partially deaf in his left ear as a result, but that would really depend if you think he'd be partially deaf in squid form too. I think either interpretation is interesting.

#2. Crash and Hereditary Mutations

Similar to exploring the hiccups of shapeshifting, I also found the concept of Inklings/Octolings having disorders that affect their abilities to change colour as something that would be worth diving into. It technically has already been explored in canon too! Yoko from Ink Theory/Gold Bazookas is implied to have some sort of mutation that makes her tentacles split into different colours.

On that note, have you ever noticed that the ends of Crash's tentacles are always red? It isn't just to look cool (even though it does look very cool), Crash can't actually physically change the ends of his tentacles to any colour outside of a red to dark pink pigment.

The reason? Well I'll have to briefly explain how adaptive camoflage in real life squids actually works:

In simple terms, squids and other animals have these special skin molecules called chromophores. They are able to control the pigments of these chromophores through special multicellular organs in their bodies. Think of it as like having a second nervous system for changing the colour of your skin.

So what if the chromophores or multicellular organs were to not function in the way that they should? Like for instance, chromophores not having enough pigments to shift to certain colours. What are the implications of inkfish being unable to change colour in the context of things like Turf War?

Crash's red ends serve as a sort of base-level exploration into the idea of inkfish having some kind of hereditary complication that effects their abilities to change colour. The reason why I chose hereditary specifically is because he has another mutation that is also genetic: his heterochromia.

I think instances of discolouration in the Splatooniverse could be easily explained through how heterochromia and vitiligo occur in the body. I know for certain there are other Splatoon fans who have OCs with vitiligo or other instances of unique colouration, so maybe it would be comforting for them to know that there is theoretically a grounded explanation as to why it would exist. Not that I think representation has to necessarily be grounded in reality to justify existing.

#3. Tide and the Autism Spectrum

While Tide's lucky ear has been a pretty recent addition, what hasn't been a recent addition is the fact that he is also canonically autistic. Just as a handful of examples, he...

Sometimes misunderstands or doesn't pick up on certain social cues (namely sarcasm and flirting)

Is very passionate and knowledgeable about cats (ie: a very common special interest for people on the spectrum; including me)

Did not start speaking until he was in his preschool years (a common sign of autism in young children; also including me :P)

Has a unique speech pattern and uses a lot of uncommon phrases and words.

Stamps his feet or plays with his hair when he is in a good mood (ie: stimming)

Tide being autistic is 100% a self-indulgent decision on my part, even if I don't completely relate to his experiences. I do play up some of his quirks for jokes, but he is nonetheless an earnest representation of the fun and frustrations that come from being on the spectrum.

#4. Tide and far-sightedness

I'll keep this one short. Tide wears glasses when reading, which while it may be pretty innocuous, is still technically a disability.

I also wanted to share Tide wearing his glasses because he looks like a dork (affectionate) when he has them on.

I'd love to keep exploring disability representation in Splatoon, be it through my fan characters or through headcanons. I think with such a weird and wacky world that Splatoon exists in, it serves as a great canvas for portraying disability in a positive light, and even in ways not fully applicable to humans. If nothing else it is a ton of fun to write about. :P

Sidenote, but despite my position as a disabled person, I don't consider myself an expert in disability. So if I got anything wrong or said something misleading or offensive please let me know!

Thank you for reading ☆

#ask shlubby #shlubb’s journal #long post (sorry)#splatoon #disability #Suit-Nami #squid scribbles

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mavratt · 11 months

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MK HEADCANONS!!!!

WOO!!!

(all of these are for my design of MK, which will be at the bottom, though many of them also apply to not just my design)

- Uses He/They pronouns

- Transmasc

- ADHD/Autism (both)

- Goes non-verbal occasionally, mostly after long work days or tedious tasks that require lots of focus

- Favorite stim is repeating words/phrases that they find funny

- They sleeps on their back in human form but when in monkey form he sleeps either on his stomach or on his side due to his tails getting uncomfortable after a while

- Keeps all of his limited edition/collectable figures in the boxes

- One time he dropped one of their collectable Monkey King figures and dented the box, he then cried about it on the phone with Red Son for an hour, who was not amused

- Stays up way to late drawing/painting

- Staying up that late doesn’t help with their already poor work effort

- Likes to show off their drawing/paintings to his friends, Mei will occasionally commission them for art for her streams and will gawk about it to her fans

- Mei’s fans are where most of his commissions come from

- Dabbled in other art mediums like clay and lino but made such a mess that Pigsy banned him from these mediums (”How did you even get lino scraps in the noodles!?”)

- Got bullied in school but Mei would always be there to punch any of them if she saw it

- This got them both in trouble lots at school

- One time Mei punched one of MK’s bullies so hard it knocked them out, the school called Pigsy and his response was “Served them right, shouldn’t mess with my son. Or his crazy dragon friend.” He then promptly hung up before they could say anything else

- Their vitiligo is caused by stress

- Started developing their vitiligo around the age of 15 due to the bullying and failing a couple of classes at school

- After getting out of school their vitiligo practically stopped expanding but started up again after he gained Monkey Kings staff

- The vitiligo used to just be around the corners of their eyes but after gaining his monkey form it suddenly expanded into a monkey mask looking splotch

- He doesn’t like his vitiligo very much and tries his best to cover most of it with clothing but both Mei and Red Son absolutely adore it so his jacket often comes off when it’s just them alone

- Loves spicy foods (Thank you to PittedPeaches’s fic “From Three Thirty to Four” (On Ao3) for this one)

- Has a fear of mayors because of LBD’s disciple

- Has sensitive hearing and loves wearing headphones, which eventually leads them to ask Macaque how he deals with it, Macaque just shrugged and said “I suffer, I guess.” and MK immediately took him to buy some good headphones. Macaque will deny using them but he definitely does and is very grateful to MK for buying them for him

- Will clean anyone's house but his own, Macaque, Sandy and Wukong have all come home to find it spotless because MK was procrastinating something

- Will sometimes let Porty MK out to run around because people really liked his skill after S1 Ep 2 and have made him a kind of “extreme party night” location

- Red Son has come across Porty out in the wild and was extremely confused but never brought it up to MK (Red thinks it might be some sort of secret identity and doesn’t want to pry)

- Doodles Red Son whenever they are at a movie night/hangout, it’s practically a stim by now

Designs (old MK, new Monkey MK):

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moony7drac · 3 months

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So, I finally finished the other 4 Koopalings! (Well, technically 3 + Junior, but I often call them 8 Koopalings to keep it easy)

But, I present to you

Roy Koopa

(His shoes/boots are a sort of work in progress, since I'm not sure if I want to keep em like this, but I couldn't find/think of anything better for him.)

Roy is the strong and tough one. I feel like he would love to show off his muscles, and what better way to do so by plainly displaying them? The camouflage printed pants fitted his brash and rough personality. We cannot forget that Roy is also amongst the coolest of the crew, for which I used the pattern on his shoes. Flames, yet in more of his pink and purple colouring scheme.

Wendy Koopa

Wendy is the fashionista, unfortunately I am not, so I hope I worked out well enough. (It's also partly why I had trouble coming up with clothing ideas for her).

First and foremost, I gave her hair. The games really did her dirty by not giving her any. I thought her bow would fit perfectly for her to use it to set her hair in a ponytail. Of course, we couldn't forget her bracelets, necklace and heels either. I eventually went with giving her a shirt with bell sleeves, and an airy skirt to go with it. (And a gold belt for over its overflow).

Morton Koopa

Morton is the only one in much darker colouring than his siblings, so my headcanon is that he has some form of Melanism (Albinism is the lack of melanin to give colours, turning it white, he has the opposite, as Melanism is the overabundance of this, turning it black). Due to having some form of Melanism, he has 'reverse' Vitiligo.

I remembered his as a boss of Dessert land, assigning his the colour yellow to work with. He also wears sandals because of this. But to also still keep with his original black white colour scheme (+ a little bit of brown), it's where the colouring of his shirt comes in.

(Bowser) Junior Koopa

The youngest and one of the most wild ones of the group. I feel like he would not have the patience to tie his shoes, so his dad got him velcro strap shoes. Of course his famous Bandana around his neck could not be forgotten. The rest of his clothes are inspired by what I often see small(er) kids wearing. Just some loose-ish clothes, of course in Juniors colours.

Like said in my other/first half of posting my human form for these kids, this is placed in order of oldest to youngest. It's just that Larry is supposed to be in between Morton and Junior. But due to already having been revealed in the other part, he isn't shown here.

Talking about the other part, I have decided to change Ludwig's eye colour. He has the same brown grayish eyes as Morton on that drawing, but I will be drawing him with Dark blue eyes from now on. (Due to my now headcanon, which is an extension of Mortons, is that Ludwig kinda has Melanism too. He was supposed to be Larry's blue, but due to this condition, he became a much darker shade of blue).

#moony7draco #moony7dracoart #koopalings #roy koopa #wendy koopa #morton koopa jr #morton koopa #bowser junior

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anxious-ace · 2 years

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TMNT/Half-mutant au:

!HM=half-mutant!

The boys are the sons of a mutant father and a human mom (hence half-mutant) and they are both master ninjas and Splinter's friends

I don't exactly know what happens to their parents but I know something happens to allow Splinter to adopt and train the boys

This isn't a strictly "2012!TMNT but make them half-mutant" au, there are bits and pieces of Rise!TMNT mixed in there as well, like the boys harnessing their mystic powers (at some point between 10-15 years ago)

(this is so there's room to discover what else they can be used for while giving them time to use them properly)

On top of Rise!Leo's powers, HM!Leo can also use telepathy and foresight/visions/precognition because of a "connection to the old masters" he has (as the leader, he trained the most to better use his Katanas and meditated to help reduce overreactions/emotional outbursts during missions)

(those 2 things somehow fostered the connection)

He also has Melasma instead of the Vitiligo people give human Rise!Leo

(this is a reference to red-eared sliders but if he's one, that means they all are and I don't know what species the dad would be)

(instead of giving myself a headache with this I'm just going to say that the Melasma is present in both forms)

The April in this is pretty much strictly Rise!April

I know how people treat 2012!April (and frankly, I too am a little annoyed with her, but more so with the writers, they shouldn't have included human + mutant relationships, especially if they're technically siblings because that shit definitely needs to stop)

I think that is why I made Leo aroace in this au because he would not want to go near that shit (he thinks romance, in general, gets in the way of missions but he has let his brothers do what they want as long as it doesn't get in the way)

(he knows that they are old enough to do their own thing in that regard)

Leo does have the Usagi chronicles guy (whichever one's closest to being 25, the one everyone ships Rise!Leo with, I can't with names right now)

Oh, and this Donnie and April are just friends but I might give Donnie his own love interest (who will probably be an oc or maybe even Casey if I feel like it)

Ralph has Mona Lisa so they're good (they're still aroace like Leo though, they're also nonbinary)

(Donnie is a demisexual bi-romantic guy, Leo is an aroace trans guy and Mikey is pansexual and gender fluid)

Donnie and Leo are twins, which makes them the cool (color) twins (name courtesy of 10-year-old Mikey), at 25 (currently)

(they were 15 when Leo made the connection with the masters)

Raph and Mikey are 23 and 22 respectively (they were 13 and 12, again respectively, when the connection happened)

As for the "mystic awakening", this was probably not too long after the connection happened (the connection actually helped the boys get these powers in the first place)

Since 2012!Leo canonically had a psychotic episode at some point, HM!Leo has them too, he can't tell if they're visions or not so he's a bit on edge

(Donnie knows this and tries his best to help him)

The boys are all neurospicy/neurodivergent or have other physical and mental issues

Donnie is autistic with sensory issues

Mikey has hyperactive ADHD and dyslexia

Raph has trouble regulating emotions and his roach/bug phobia

Leo (as seen above) is a paranoid schizophrenic (schizophrenia characterized by predominantly positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including delusions and hallucinations which include auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations/hallucinations dealing with touch) with an anxiety disorder, sensory issues, stuttering, body shakes/aches, a touch of narcolepsy or insomnia depending on the time of day, vision problems (all thanks to the three-month coma, his throat heals though) as well as his leadership trauma

(although all of the boys have trauma because Jesus christ these shows are just trying to kill them at this point)

(Splinter and Donnie were the first to notice everything, in this au he's an excellent sensei and he's actually trying to be their dad too)

(it's a balancing act between moments when their sensei is needed and when they need him to be their dad)

Splinter only started color-coding them and what they owned when they were old enough to tell him their favorite color, before that he either wrote their names on everything or just let them have a free for all

As for clothes, they were color-coded from the beginning, so the boys just picked the color they were wearing as their favorite to make things easier

(I'm trying to find the perfect balance of their personalities from 2012! and Rise! so that's going to be a bit later, it's probably a situational thing like they act differently at home than they do on missions)

Actually, that might be exactly it, and going even further they act differently in front of Splinter as opposed to how they act with each other (when he's not in the room because can you imagine if he heard the conversations they have with each other, holy shit)

Leo is described as "confident but not egotistical" (he has to be a confident leader but he's not as "egotistical" as Rise!Leo), Donnie is smart but caring, Raph may seem to just be a hothead but that's because of something he can't control, however, a more accurate way to describe him is "emotional but still an honorable fighter", Mickey has Dr. Delicate touch and Dr. Feelings so his description would be "goofy but not without room for reality and scaring his brothers sometimes"

Casey isn't a time traveler (like Rise!Casey) but he still has his "pull yourself together" moments with the brothers (April and the boys have to do the same with him)

Besides that, he's mostly based on 2012!Casey

The reason their eyes go white (for lack of a better phrase) is that turtles have a protective membrane over their eyes, although it's clear for normal turtles, their mutant DNA made them white

Donnie's suit is a reference to Rise!Donnie being a soft-shell turtle (in this au it's him being a smart protective boy)

Their "dyed" hair is actually because of their mystic abilities, they used them more when they were teens (because they weren't as good with their weapons as they are now) and it made a higher portion of their hair glow

They still use them (as seen in the presence of the "dye") but not as much because they got better with their weapons (and they are now using them in perfect balance)

The green markings on their skin are supposed to be a reference to them being half turtle-mutant (they also glow when the boys use their mystic powers)

There are these things called "Krang clones"- a subspecies of Krang that can clone/transform into pretty much anyone if they have a sample of their DNA (they usually get this through the person's blood)

(at some point the Foot Clan works with the Krang to make clones of Battle Nexus Champions, including Leo, for their army or whatever)

There are documented alternate dimensions that the boys have gone to at some point (Donnie is, of course, writing all of their findings down)

(the ability to write the certain things that happen in these dimensions requires me to be able to remember what the different series contain)

I do know that D-(20)22 is where HM! takes place with D-(20)12 being 2012!TMNT, D-(20)18 being Rise! and D-(20)03 being the 2003 series

The format basically is: D-*year a certain TMNT! series came out/dimension number*

They only say the last 2 digits (so they'd say D-12, D-18, or D-22 instead of the full-dimension number)

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt au

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dragonheartftherpays · 4 years

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Twi’lek Skin Color Genetics

Hello naughty children, a few weeks ago I spent five hours or so hashing out how Twi’lek skin color works genetically, and now I’m here to make that everyone’s problem. This is going to be a very long post, so I do apologize for that, feel free to hit J on desktop to skip. But it’s interesting, and it’s actually worked for every canon Twi’lek family I’ve tried it for so far (not that there are many to try), so here we go!

And yes, I made APA citations for this. Because I’m a nerd.

How Does Twi’lek Skin Pigmentation Work, Anyway?

Because it’s not as simple as humans. After all, Twi’leks come in a huge range of colors. The first challenge I had to deal with was figuring out how exactly Twi’lek skin coloration works in terms of pigmentation, before I could even start to figure out the genetics behind that.

See, in Earth mammals, most if not all pigmentation comes from melanin. Melanin comes in two forms, eumelanin (black/dark brown) and pheomelanin (reddish), and between the two of them in various concentrations melanin can produce colors ranging between black, brown, gray, red, yellow, and tan (Douma 2008).

Problem: Twi’leks, obviously, come in a lot more colors than that. See, mammals don’t generally produce blue or green pigments. However, you know what does produce green and blue colors? Reptiles and amphibians.

(No, I’m not suggesting Twi’leks are reptiles or amphibians, put that pitchfork down. They can hybridize with Humans, I think it’s pretty solidly canon that they’re mammals.)

So how do reptiles and amphibians produce blue and green colors? Well, instead of their coloration being based solely on melanin like us, many reptiles and amphibians have cells called chromatophores, cells containing certain types of pigments. Chromatophores generally come in three layers, from top to bottom: xanthophores, which contain yellow pigments called pteridines, iridophores, which don’t contain a true pigment but instead contain platelets which reflect mostly bluish light through physical structure and thus act as a blue “pigment,” and melanophores, which produce melanin. The topmost layer can also contain erythrophores, which contain reddish-orange/orange pigments called carotenoids (aka the reason you’re always told that if you eat enough carrots you can turn orange). Between differing amounts of each of these cells and their respective pigments, the three layers of chromatophores can produce a wide array of colors (Douma 2008).

Wide enough to cover all known wild type (naturally occurring, without mutation or intentional genetic manipulation via breeding) Twi’lek skin colors? Let’s find out.

Thanks to Wookieepedia, we do have a list of canon colors Twi’leks can come in, although I take issue with some of them (Twi’lek 2020).

Known wild-type colors: blue, green, tan/pale, orange, pink, purple, teal, yellow Known mutations: Albinism, leucism, red (erythrism?), vitiligo

Cosdra seems to have vitiligo, but it might be paint - it’s hard to tell (Cosdra 2019). Technically, since pink/red eyes do exist as a wild type in Twi’leks, it’s possible Bib Fortuna isn’t actually albino and just happens to have white skin and red eyes, but given how rare white skin seems to be and how he’s portrayed, I’m assuming him to be albino (Bib Fortuna 2020). Leucism, partial loss of pigmentation that most often results in white skin/hair/fur and dark eyes, is also a guess, technically speaking. We see what appears to be leucism in Lyn Me, with “true white” skin and dark eyes, but it’s not confirmed officially; however, due to how rare white skin seems to be, I am comfortable assuming Lyn Me to be an example of a leucistic Twi’lek (if she isn’t, she may instead be an EnEnii genotype with very little melanin production, as discussed later) (Lyn Me 2020).

Wookieepedia claims Twi’leks can have black skin, but it doesn’t have a citation, and I took the time to click through the entire list of canon Twi’lek characters and didn’t find a single black-skinned Twi’lek (”true black,” not dark-skinned). If a Legends character exists with “true black” skin, I feel comfortable assuming that to be an example of a melanism mutation or something similar, rather than a wild type color morph, due to its rarity.

Red being labeled a mutation is interesting, and I believe it’s technically Legends instead of strictly canon material, but I also didn’t find any counterexamples in canon, which leads me to believe it may as well be considered canon (Lethan 2020). I’ll talk more about the “true red” color mutation later in this post.

For now, we have a list of wild type skin colors. Can chromatophores, with variation between the various pigment cells, account for all the different colors Twi’lek skin can take on?

The answer is yes.

I didn’t take the time to chart out a hypothetical melanophore variation chart, since in most phenotypes how much of each type of melanin is present merely affects the saturation and brightness of the dominant color. Anyway, I imagine melanophore genetics would be more similar to human skin color genetics to begin with.

But Dragon, I hear you ask, I don’t see teal on this chart! Patience. We’re getting there. Because in order to talk about teal skin color, we have to talk about the actual genetics - teal comes from two incompletely dominant alleles being expressed together, rather than being a trait with its own allele.

So let’s get into the genetics, then!

The Genetics Behind It All

I’m going to put the Punnett square hell I went through beneath a cut at the bottom of this post for anyone who’s interested in seeing my evidence for this conclusion, and for everyone else I’m just going to put my conclusions.

I’ve assigned each allele an abbreviation, although they don’t display properly on Tumblr because I don’t know how to do subscript and superscript or if Tumblr supports that in the first place:

Ex: Xanthophores (yellow pigment) present. Ee: Erythrophores (reddish-orange/orange pigment) present. En: Neither xanthophores nor erythrophores present/both nonfunctional.

I: Iridophores (blue “pigment”) present. i: Iridophores not present/nonfunctional.

For the purposes of figuring out this system, I actually used a hybrid family, the Lawquanes.

Wait, hold on, why a hybrid family? Well, first off because they’re the ones who started all this, because someone pointed out how the hell did a pink mom and Human dad end up with a teal-and-tan child and an orangey-tan child? So I wanted to answer that question in a way that also fit any other canon Twi’lek families.

However, using this family had another advantage, as I quickly realized: because Cut Lawquane, the father of the children, is Human, we know his genotype for the purposes of the relevant first two layers of chromatophores: he doesn’t have them. He’s homozygous for both non-expression traits: EnEnii. That simplified figuring out the genotypes of the children and his wife a ton - in fact, I’m not sure it would have been possible to extrapolate those answers, if not for the fact that we know his genotype for these traits 100% for certain.

So without putting you through the whole process, this is what I came to:

Suu Lawquane (mother): EeExIi (pink phenotype) Cut Lawquane (father): EnEnii (tan/melanin-only phenotype) Shaeeah Lawquane (daughter): ExEnIi (teal phenotype*) Jek Lawquane (son): EeEnii (orange/tan phenotype**)

* I’m not dealing with the patching Shaeeah has going on because I’m assuming that’s an effect of hybridization on her phenotype, since we haven’t seen markings like that on any canon full-blood Twi’leks. I’m assuming teal to be her “base” phenotype as far as Twi’lek genes go, since teal obviously isn’t a color we see in Humans. ** I’m genuinely not sure whether to call that skin color orange or tan, nor do I know whether Ee or En is dominant or if they even have a simple dominance relationship - more on that in a moment - so I’m leaving that be. The point stands.

So these are the rules of dominance we end up with:

1. I (iridophores present) is dominant over i (no iridophores present/functional). Evidence: Suu Lawquane must be heterozygous Ii in order to have produced both a teal (I phenotype) and tan/orange (i phenotype) child with her homozygous ii husband. Furthermore, Shaeeah would be yellowish-tan if i were dominant over I, since she must be heterozygous due to having a homozygous ii father and yet displaying the I trait as her phenotype.

2. Ex and En are incompletely dominant with each other. Evidence: this is how you get teal children, a mix between blue (EnEn) and green (ExEx). An EeEx x EnEn pairing is capable of producing an ExEn child (Shaeeah), which tracks with this logic.

3. Ee (erythrophores present) is dominant over Ex (xanthophores present). Evidence: Suu Lawquane must be heterozygous EeEx in order to have produced both a teal (ExEn phenotype) and an orange/tan (Ee and/or En phenotype) child with an EnEn husband while still displaying the Ee phenotype (pink) herself. Since she displays a strong Ee phenotype and must also have an Ex allele, the Ee allele must therefore be dominant over the Ex allele.

These rules can be applied to other Twi’lek families, as well - for instance, the Syndullas (not counting Jacen Syndulla, both because he wouldn’t be an interesting addition due to his Twi’lek influence being Also A Green Phenotype and because I will never forgive Rebels for that horrible boring hybrid design) work out to:

Cham Syndulla: EeExii (orange phenotype) Tislera Syndulla: ExExIi or ExExII (green phenotype, not enough data to prove conclusively whether she’s heterozygous Ii or homozygous II) Hera Syndulla: ExExIi (green phenotype)

Because En and Ex are incompletely dominant, neither Tislera nor Hera can be ExEn, and they must be homozygous ExEx because Ee is dominant over Ex. Because Ee is dominant over Ex and his daughter must be homozygous Ex, Cham must therefore be EeEx, showing the Ee phenotype but carrying the recessive Ex allele which he passed on to his daughter.

There is one small problem: We still don’t know for sure the relationship between Ee and En. I just don’t have enough data to figure it out. I went through the entire list of canon Twi’lek characters on Wookieepedia and didn’t find a single family with the right color combinations and enough data to figure it out. I even went through some Clone Wars crowd shots in hopes of finding some, only to discover that apparently the Clone Wars series doesn’t really use child models in their crowd shots, only adults. Maybe someday I’ll go through the entire list of Legends Twi’lek characters in hopes of finding a family with the right genetics to solidify my guesses, but for now, all I have to go on is how common various phenotypes are. Which isn’t perfect, because how common a trait is doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with whether it’s dominant or recessive if it’s an advantageous trait, but it’s all we have. My current hypothesis is that En is dominant over Ee, because blue and tan are both more common phenotypes than purple and orange, but that wouldn’t hold up to the standards of biology by any stretch of the imagination. I simply don’t have enough data to give you a better answer, unfortunately. Maybe some of the new media coming out, like the High Republic series, will give me that - I don’t know. They might not even have a simple dominance relationship; they might be incompletely dominant with each other like Ex and En are, producing bluish-purple, though I find this unlikely given the phenotypes we’ve seen in Star Wars media thus far.

So Why is Red Skin a Mutation?

It’s an oddly specific thing to be labeled a mutation, because you’d think it would just be a variation of the Ee-i phenotype, which normally produces orange or reddish-orange. In order for this to make sense, we have to assume one of two scenarios:

a) Erythrophores in Twi’leks are typically more orange than red, or b) The melanin produced in orange Twi’leks (the Ee-i phenotype) prevents a “true red” from showing as the final skin tone.

In the first option:

1) True red is produced by an erythrophore mutation that causes the carotenoids produced to be more red than normal.

In the second option:

2) True red is produced by a lack of melanin, leaving the final visual color completely dependent on the red/reddish-orange carotenoids rather than mellowing it to orange, or 3) True red is produced by a mutation in the melanophores that cause them to produce only a very red pheomelanin with no eumelanin to balance it out.

Alternatively to both of these:

4) True red is produced by a mutation in the xanthophores in a Twi’lek lacking iridophores (the Ex-i phenotype), causing them to produce a true red pigmentation rather than the yellow pteridines they would normally produce.

Even in Legends, as far as I could find, we don’t have any families of Lethan Twi’leks (Twi’leks with the true red mutation), so I have no evidence to support any of these possibilities (Lethan 2020). However, in any of these cases, the mutation would be rare, not only because the genetic mutation itself is rare, but also because it must occur simultaneously with a specific set of other conditions to produce the true red coloration: 1) and 2) must occur in conjunction with the Ee-i phenotype (and in the case of 1, presumably with melanin that’s light enough to not obscure the true red coloration), 3) must occur either with the Ee-i or En-i phenotype, and 4) must occur in conjunction with the Ex-i phenotype. Since I is dominant over i and seems to be the more common trait, that helps explain why the true red mutation(s) is/are so rare.

Bonus: Why Do Twi’leks Come In So Many Colors, Anyway?

(This section is entirely conjecture and headcanon on my part.)

Because, really, most species tend to consolidate until they’re almost identical color-wise, because the environment tends to select for a given color scheme. However, there are instances in which this is not the case. Personally, my headcanon explanation for this is that Twi’leks as a species tend to have a preference for the unique - if you’re the only person in a group with your skin color (or some other notable physical characteristic), you’re more likely to be found attractive than if you’re in a group of people with the same skin color (or other physical characteristic). This is a form of negative frequency-dependent selection, in which the fitness of a given trait or genotype decreases as it becomes more common (Frequency-Dependent Selection 2020). Negative frequency-dependent selection is itself a form of balancing selection, which serves to actively maintain multiple alleles in a population rather than selecting preferentially for one trait (Balancing Selection 2020).

(What’s the evolutionary advantage behind finding the unique attractive? Who knows. But the point is, it is feasible, and negative frequency-dependent selection is something we see out in the real world.)

In Conclusion

In conclusion, it turns out there actually is a system that works consistently to predict the genotypes and phenotypes of Twi’lek families, with the small exception of not having enough data to determine the dominance relationship in one out of the four allele pair relationships yet. If you know of a canon or Legends Twi’lek family, feel free to try to apply this! If it doesn’t seem to work, feel free to poke me about it, and I’ll see if I can make it work - if I can’t, I’ll have to take another look at the system. (Heck, apply it to your own OCs and see if it works, if you want - or use it to predict offspring traits of various pairings, if you like.) I learned a good bit about chromatophores and pigmentation in animal biology while doing this, and I hope you enjoyed the ride and maybe learned something too. Reblogs are always appreciated if you enjoyed yourself, found this interesting, or learned something! Thank you for reading! (And don’t forget, if you’re interested in reading about the process of how I figured all this out, the screenshots of that are below the cut!)

References

Bib Fortuna. (2020, April 4). In Wookieepedia: the Star Wars Wiki. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bib_Fortuna.

Balancing Selection. (2020, April 18). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balancing_selection.

Cosdra. (2019, September 9). In Wookieepedia: the Star Wars Wiki. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Cosdra.

Douma, M., curator. (2008). Biological Pigments. In Cause of Color. Retrieved 30 March 2020 from http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7I.html.

Frequency-Dependent Selection. (2020, April 15). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-dependent_selection.

Lethan. (2020, April 13). In Wookieepedia: the Star Wars Wiki. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lethan

Lyn Me. (2020, April 4). In Wookieepedia: the Star Wars Wiki. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lyn_Me.

Twi'lek. (2020, April 20). In Wookieepedia: the Star Wars Wiki. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Twi%27lek.

Bonus: The Process

Because y’all deserve to see my screaming in full. This was a five-hour process, do remember. Everything from hereonout has been just copy-pasted from the Discord server where I liveblogged the process of figuring this system out. Some things I said at various points were wrong, because that’s how the process works. Please note that I was also using different notation for the top-layer alleles at this point: E instead of Ee, X instead of Ex, and e instead of En. This did get confusing at one point because I forgot that it was X (Ex) and e (En) that had the more complicated dominance relationship and not E (Ee) and e (En), which was my fault.

#star wars #swtor #clone wars #star wars the clone wars #twi'lek #track this #this has been such a passion project for me y'all #this is not how i expected to use my biology degree but here we are #and i have actually really enjoyed myself i'm very proud of this #i kind of don't expect it to get more than a handful of notes but i wanted to put it out there anyway

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thethistlegirlwrites · 3 years

Note

👁 What is your OC’s eye color? Do they have any eye-related habits, like winking or rubbing their eyes? Do other people tend to notice their eyes? - for Jesse, Aspen and John

👤 What is your OC’s skin like? Is it unblemished, or are they prone to breakouts? Do they have any scars, tattoos, or other skin markings? Does their skin tend to be sensitive to things that get on it (lotions, cleaning products, etc.)? - this is for all of your OCs

💇 What is your OC’s hairstyle? How do they maintain their hair? Do they wash it and/or cut it regularly? Have they ever dyed their hair? - for Tina

👖 What type of clothing does your OC generally wear? Why? Do they have any “signature” accessories? - I know that I have asked about Robin numerous times, now it's time for John

👀 What is the first physical feature people notice when they see your OC? Why? - for all of them

🪞 How does your OC perceive themself? Do they believe themself to be attractive, unattractive, or average? Does their view of themself affect their self-esteem, or are they unbothered by their physical appearance? (If your OC does have things they’re confident or insecure about, what are they?) - for John and Will

Buckle up folks this is a long one so answers are below the cut!

👁 What is your OC’s eye color? Do they have any eye-related habits, like winking or rubbing their eyes? Do other people tend to notice their eyes? - for Jesse, Aspen and John Jesse has vivid blue eyes, which change color with his moods like all fae. His follow a pattern similar to ocean coloring, and the normal bright blue is when he is alert, a darker blue means he's calm and at ease, and a green-tinged grey means he's upset. He tends to look down when he encounters someone. He might meet their eyes for a moment, but then he'll drop his gaze and move past in a deferential kind of action. It's instinctive, one of the few things that hasn't changed since he was kidnapped. While he rarely shows any other traits that mark him as a submissive member of the pack, dropping eye contact is something he's never been able to fully change. Aspen has blue-grey eyes, and after he's changed by the Mist and gets his powers, his eyes turn green when he's actively using those powers. While people may not pay much attention to his eyes normally, they definitely notice when they change colors. John has dark brown eyes, that sometimes look a little bit gold if the light hits them right. His Abuela Rosa says that the golden shade is he result of his having Second Sight, the ability to see through fae glamour and occasionally, glimpses of the future. He has a small scar in the eyebrow on the left, which he tends to rub subconsciously when he's thinking. 👤 What is your OC’s skin like? Is it unblemished, or are they prone to breakouts? Do they have any scars, tattoos, or other skin markings? Does their skin tend to be sensitive to things that get on it (lotions, cleaning products, etc.)? - this is for all of your OCs John - John has copper-colored skin like his mother's, and he tends to get dark-colored scars after injuries. The most noticeable ones are a set of deep lines across the side of his neck, the aftermath of vampire claws. Robin - Robin has pale skin that scars fairly easily. He gets freckles if he spends much time in the sun, across his face and his arms. His skin is sensitive to a lot of human-made dyes and chemicals in soaps and other things, so he tends to avoid anything that isn't made with all natural ingredients. Kira - Kira has tawny brown skin that has a tendency to be dry. She has a tattoo of a sunflower on the back of her neck, and one of her nervous habits is rubbing her tattoo. Maira - Maira has pale skin, with several scars from her childhood surgeries for scoliosis and a heart defect. She also has a brownish-purple birthmark on the inside of her left arm. Cody - Cody has dark brown skin that was prone to breakouts when he was a teenager, and still has some small acne scars along his hairline and his upper lip, as well as a permanent impression of his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Emma - Emma has pale skin with a bluish undertone because of her vampirism. She tends to cover the blueness of her lips with a vivid red lipstick, but aside from that she uses very little makeup. Her only scar is the bite mark on her neck from her turning. Arion - Arion has pale white skin with the same blue undertone as Emma. He has no scars aside from the one that formed when he became a vampire, which resembles an electrical shock wound. Brooke - Brooke has dark brown skin, and because she has vitiligo, her skin has pale patches that are especially light on her face and hands. The condition made her an outcast in her village and at one point, when it was only just starting, she tried to conceal it. Aspen - Aspen has pale skin, with a tan and freckles in the summer from working in his garden. He's allergic to down, and he can't sleep on a pillow made with feathers without breaking out in an itchy rash. Will - Will has tan skin, with much of it on his left side covered in old burn scars. The scars often ache, and are more easily irritated, especially by damp clothing chafing them, than the rest of his skin. Amy - Amy has pale skin that often develops a small scattering of acne spots across her shoulders and on her back, as well as sometimes across her cheeks. She has a visible vampire bite mark on her neck, although the scar appears healed, it is tender to the touch and easily irritated.

Jesse - Jesse has light tan skin, which will develop a darker bronze shade if he spends a lot of time in the sun, like he did when he worked on the family fishing boat. He has light freckles on his nose and cheeks, and four black tattooed marks beside and below his left eye. Tina - Tina has brown skin that generally has some level of garden dirt embedded into her knees and elbows. She has the five tattoos by her left eye that denote adulthood, as well as a mark on her left arm that identifies her as a healer, and the beginnings of the tattoos that will tell her life story on her upper left arm, her collarbones, and her neck. 💇 What is your OC’s hairstyle? How do they maintain their hair? Do they wash it and/or cut it regularly? Have they ever dyed their hair? - for Tina Like her tattoos, Tina's hair tells a story of who she is and what she's done. The patterns cut into the shaved half of it, and the particular arrangement, placement, and color of thread used in the braids that are done on the other side, indicate at a glance her role as a healer, her proficiency in her craft, and her family of origin. These are all traditions of her father Eden's Dominican fae family, and she wears them proudly just like the tattoos from her mother's wolf side. Eden is the one who shaves the designs into her hair and redoes the braids when they come loose, and she does the same for him. 👖 What type of clothing does your OC generally wear? Why? Do they have any “signature” accessories? - I know that I have asked about Robin numerous times, now it's time for John John tends to wear clothing that is utilitarian and functional. Dark t-shirts and jeans make it easy to hide blood, and he tends to wear heavy tactical-style boots that lace up. His jacket is well-loved, and has been repaired several times. It has both the insignia of the Amarillo agency and Chimera on it. His most ubiquitous accessories are his silver-laced bullwhip and the Bowie knife that he inherited from his ancestor, the real man behind the fictional Quincey Morris. 👀 What is the first physical feature people notice when they see your OC? Why? - for all of them John - The scars on his neck. Robin - His eyes, because they change color with his moods Kira - Her curly hair, or if she's signing, her hands. Maira - Her height. She's shorter than most other people, and she also has one shoulder that's slightly higher than the other due to her spinal curve. Cody - His glasses Emma - The fact that she looks too perfect to be real. There's something unsettling about looking at a vampire. Arion - His fangs. Often because that's the only thing his victims have TIME to notice. Brooke - Her vitiligo. Aspen - The fact that he watches people closely, to try and read their lips Will - His burn scars and his limp. Amy - Her hair. She has short, raven-black hair that's constantly swishing around her chin when she walks. Jesse - the tattoos by his eye. They stand out vividly from his pale skin and catch attention. Tina - Her hairstyle. The combination of the shaved side and the braids tends to be the thing to draw people's attention, despite her many tattoos. 🪞 How does your OC perceive themself? Do they believe themself to be attractive, unattractive, or average? Does their view of themself affect their self-esteem, or are they unbothered by their physical appearance? (If your OC does have things they’re confident or insecure about, what are they?) - for John and Will John sees himself first and foremost as someone who gets the job done. As long as he's physically capable of doing his job, he doesn't particularly care what his body looks like. He's not exactly self-conscious about the massive scars on his neck, but he doesn't like to look at them often because he doesn't like the memories that go with them. John considers himself attractive enough in an average way, and he's

been known to flirt with his marks to try and get information from them.

Will tends to see his scars as a reminder of his past. They bother him most for the fact that they are still painful, years later, and also that if he happens to notice them they bring back bad memories. He used to consider himself pretty attractive, but now he's more concerned with wanting to blend in than stand out, and the fact that his scars make that almost impossible does frustrate him.

#magic & silver #between the trees #written in ink #John stoker #robin #kira burke #Cody dayton #maira lawson #Emma cole #arion #brooke #aspen #will #Jesse baumgartner #Amy sherwin #tina baumgartner

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meteor752 · 4 years

Text

The Lotr cast in my universe/I do what I want here’s some headcanons

Aragorn

Mom

The ultimate mom

Likes swords more than people

Likes horses more than swords

If you can beat him in a duel then he’s attracted to you

Marries Legolas

Doesn’t fully understand all this human stuff

An elf to the core

Sometimes just eats rocks

Has never heard of a bath ever

Loves hugs

What is sleep?

Legolas

Drama queen to the max

Kind of a slut

Ultimate big brother

Lightweight in elven standards

Priorities his hair over his life

Probs eats dirt

Do it for the aesthetic™

A diva

What are these feelings??

Marries Aragorn

Likes to show off his husband

Gimli

Smol

Even in dwarves standards he’s smol

Full of rage

Will fight everyone

Especially that fancy elf

Accidentally became BFF with that fancy elf

Loves food more than anything

Is really a softy

Wants loooooove

Boromir

Bisexual bitch

What am I doing here

Talks about his brother non stop

Was kinda in love with Aragorn

Dad

The ultimate dad

Is always concerned for the hobbits

Dad jokes to the max

What is going on

Is always scared

Would do anything to protect his people

Name puns

Is just done with everything

Sass queen

Frodo

Someone come pick me up I’m scared

Gay af

Wide eyed little bean

Kinda ugly in hobbit standards

It was considered odd that Sam, aka a total hottie when it comes to hobbits, fell for him

Really good writer

Really good story teller

So much trauma tucked into one small boi

Anxiety

Really loves to dance

Sam

So soft

Too soft for his own good

Cries when he sees something pretty

Way too loyal for his own good

Half of the shire is in love with him

He’s really devoted to his Frodo though

Never mess with a shire gardener

Would die for every member of the fellowship

Kinda clueless but he means well

Merry

Chaotic child #1

Smarter than he looks

Is actually one of the smartest people in the shire

Really bad at riddles and stuff though

Doesn’t really understand jokes either

Transgender

Oblivious af

Has no idea his best friend as been in love with him for years

Guys what’s happening

Barely knows why the fellowship was formed in the first place, he just followed along

Always has hair in his face

Thinks hair clips are the best invention in the world

Pippin

Chaotic child #2

His mind is just constant elevator music

In love with Merry

Is really obvious about that fact as well

Crushes on everyone though

And with everyone I mean everyone

Emotional bby

Would probs jump off a cliff if someone told him to

Is always cold

He’s baby

Faramir

Someone give him a hug please

The second most traumatized person on this list

Has a real problem coming out of his shell

Wants to become a healer

Is an apprentice under Sigrid

Is constantly given affection by his brother

Has a fear of fire

Loves to have his hair stroked

Éomer is more than happy to do that

Please hug him I beg you

Éowyn

Will fight you

Will fight everyone

Female rights activists

Bff with Tilda

In love with Arwen

Has a Sword fight with Aragorn every time they meet in an attempt to finally beat him

Cut her hair short because it was annoying

Butch af

Doesn’t mind dresses though

Total lightweight

Éomer

Gay

So very gay

A real flirt too

A bit of a dick

Is doing his best to be better

Loves his horse more than anyone

Except Faramir

But his horse is a close second

Tries his best to calm his sister down

But he’s also kind of proud of her

Stands by her side in her fight for equality

Is really guilty over his cousin’s and uncle’s deaths

Has a bit of a drinking problem

Arwen

The purest being in all of Middle Earth

Loves her siblings

Despite that one is adopted

She doesn’t care

She loves him

A really soft singing voice

Loves her horse

And her cat

She has a cat

It’s a white fluffy one named Brithil

Is actually really fucking strong

And stubborn

Loves her butch gf

Sigrid

Is always either tired, angry, or done

Sometimes it’s all three when she’s around Tilda

Has Vitiligo

One of the best healers in middle earth

Loves dwarves culture

Dyed her hair blue for a while, just because

“I can break every bone in your body while naming them” is basically her life quote

Hates elves

Has had crushes on multiple elves

Loves stories and fairytales

Misses her mom a lot

Is a rather good musician

Never sleeps ever

Would kill for a pastry

Bain

A Sweetheart!!

Lost his ability to see in the Battle Of The Five Armies

Has a problem when it comes to pets

He adopts too many

Loves to sleep

Just tries to calm his sisters’ constant arguing down

Fell in love with two elves

Had a half elf child named Brand who became the lord of Dale after Sigrid died

Captain of the Dale guard

Loves to swim

Is honestly just the sweetest boy

Tilda

A bitch

Just a straight up bitch

Loves elves culture

Will never wear anything that isn’t green

Slutty af

Loves fire

Has an as bitchy elk as pet

Bff with Èowyn

Has no idea what to do with her life

Climbs everything

Is smol

Wants to be tol

Is not allowed to meet Merry and Pippin, because Middle Earth would be doomed

Has been trying to get Aragorn and Legolas together since she was fifteen

Can’t say no to dares because she ain’t no pussy

Never met her mom, and hates the very thought of her

Is really insecure and depressed, someone help

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fullyfunctionalapprentice · 3 years

Text

Arcana MC: Aleis (they/them)

“The self-contained storm-mage with a determination to make the world kinder."

Bio Info

Favorite Food: Sashimi

Favorite Drink: Stout

Favorite Flower: Crocus

Birth Date: Lmfao

Favorite Season: Autumn/Winter

Favorite Ice Cream: Sweet cream with honey and cayenne

Favorite Fruit: Red bell pepper

Misc Info:

- Languages: Vesuvian, fluent; in-world equivalent of Mexican Spanish, fluent; in-world equivalent of Scots Gaelic, conversational; in-world equivalent of Hebrew, basic

- Musical inclinations: They have an acceptable singing voice for an amateur with a decent ear, but an excellent sense of rhythm and the strength, flexibility, and coordination to back it up.

- Age: Early- to mid-40s; somewhat older than Lucio, slightly younger than Nadia

Misc Info

- Can they cook?: They're a decent cook, though their aversion to heat discourages them from progressing beyond that; however, they're quite a good baker, provided an ample audience to both dispose of and give feedback on their goods, as they have little to no sweet tooth.

- How do they do with spicy food?: They prefer a medium level of spice in most cases, though with sweets, alcohol, and raw fish dishes, the fiery depths of hell are the limit. Their emphasis is more on flavour than on capsaicin, though, so as long as it has an interesting complexity, they'll enjoy it even if it makes their eyes water.

- Do they like alcohol? What kind of drinks do they like?: Aleis doesn't give a flying fuck about alcohol content, but they dearly love beer - the darker and more complex the better. Other favourites are crisp clean water, unsweetened tart juices, and smokey peaty whiskies.

- How well do they hold their drinks?: Very. They're tall, buff, fat, and drink a couple pints of stout a day. Good luck.

- Sweet tooth? Sour fiend?: They like baked goods, but haven't much of a sweet tooth. They do, however, adore fruit - especially tangy fruit. Citrus is a sure winner for them, and their primary feeling upon discovering Muriel's love of lemons is delicious vindication.

- Can they swim? Fuck yeah. They were pretty much amphibious as a kid, and this only increased when they met Lua as an adolescent and started learning shapeshifting.

- Can they Sail?: They certainly can, and spent a not insubstantial portion of their teens and twenties sailing with Lua. Their talent and skill in weather-magic, combined with Lua's innate shapeshifting, made the two formidable sailors.

- Can they read? Do they like to read? Write?: They love to read and they love to tell stories, but, due to pressure during their formative years, they fucking hate writing.

- How do they feel about science/the scientific method?: They're a very pragmatic person who enjoys finding out why things work and exploring the extent of *how* they might work; as far as they are concerned, the scientific method applies as much to magic as it does to physics or chemistry or anything else, in that it is a Way of Thinking About Things. It also, on a practical level, expands their magical abilities - at their core, they are a storm-mage. Storms involve things like air currents, heat, electricity, water...so do human beings, and plants, and...you get the idea.

- Name meaning, provenance?: I wanted a name that sounds like a name without evoking a specific culture and thus making me feel like I have to represent that culture properly, since I had no idea what they were like to begin with.

- What might their Major Arcana be if not the Fool?: Death or the High Priestess

- What Minor Arcana would they choose to represent themselves in a conventional reading (if not the previous)? Idk enough to say

- Nicknames? Are they ok with them?: No nicknames, since theirs is short; pet names are entirely context dependent.

- Height: 6'2, give or taje

- Are they thin? Fat? Strong? Weak? How would you describe their build?: Aleis is tall, fat, and well muscled, with broad shoulders, deep chest, ample belly, wide hips, and long, thick limbs; their wrists and ankles taper elegantly into narrow, callused feet and long-fingered, broad-palmed hands whose nails are not so much human nails as retractable claws, darkly iridescent as rainbow moonstone and tapered to exquisite points. Their face is a long oval with a beaky nose, full lips over a narrow mouth, strong cheekbones, hard-cornered jaw, and deep-set black eyes. They have fairly symmetrical vitiligo over the bony parts of their face and body, almost giving the effect of skeletal tattoos on their warm olive skin. Aside from shaving the sides of their head, they wear their hair as long as it will grow - about waist length, very slightly wavy, and blue-black with bone-white vitilogo streaks, and strands of silver showing in the black.

- Do they run cold or warm?: They run EXTREMELY warm, nearly 100° F, meaning that while they consider 60° F uncomfortably warm, they're alarmingly hardy against cold.

- Feelings on caffeine/coffee?: To put it delicately, their feelings are Fuck Yes. Unfortunately, their tolerance for acid has not kept up with their caffeine cravings, and they are not exactly unlikely to give themselves indigestion due to too much coffee. No tea, though; tannins Do Not Agree with them!

- How do they think/learn? Visual? Auditory? Written?: They learn best by observation and logic - their weakest point is auditory, due to auditory processing problems and just plain losing track.

More to come! Template courtesy of my wife @featherwurm for her MC, Lua, who is Aleis's spouse

#aleis the storm mage

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nikatyler · 4 years

Photo

Vatore-Nova Household

Storytime: Once upon a time, I had a sim called Caleb, who was abducted by aliens. You can imagine how that went. Fast forward to when I started my NSB and Caleb Vatore wouldn’t stop showing up every night. I told him, hey this is annoying and if you don’t stop, you’ll follow the first Caleb’s fate, I’m not kidding. Guess what, he didn’t stop, I kept my promise and thus, Stella was born. Yeah and then it also kinda happened that Caleb actually married my gen 2 heir and then I felt bad for abducting him, but that’s off topic. Oh and then he was abducted once more, but I had nothing to do with that.

Anyway, as Stella was growing up, it was clear that she inherited nothing vampire-like from her father. She decided to follow the calling of the universe and became an astronaut...and she travelled to the stars...and had an accident...and she would’ve died if it wasn’t for Elara. You can probably see where this is going: The two fell in love, decided to return to Earth and a few years later, they got married and had a daughter named Clarissa.

Nowadays, I don’t show them as much in my NSB, so I thought I could share them with the world and let them get some more love.

she/her, lesbian

athletic | hot-headed | bro

probably shares one braincell with her best friend Valentine

lowkey shipped her father with her best friend’s older brother for years (yes it’s weird and yes she knows but they couldn’t help it)

writes fanfiction in her free time

almost always wears her human form

CC: Hair | Eyes

she/her, lesbian

outgoing | cheerful | good

born on a planet far away, but has always been interested in Earth

a little too straightforward sometimes

prefers to not wear a human disguise

CC: Vitiligo

she/her or they/them, demigirl, “screw labels but I’m not straight by any means”

lazy | evil

mischievous little shit who just wants to have fun

keep scissors away from her

CC: Eyes | Nose Ring

Feel free to change their outfits, hair, makeup or give them some skin details. All I’m asking for is that you don’t change their features or use them as base sims.

Please, respect their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Let me know if you use them! I would love to see it. Feel free to use them in your stories, legacies, challenges, anything.

Just please be nice to them and don’t just kill them off for funsies or something, thanks.

Don’t claim as your own and don’t reupload.

If that quick recap of how this household came to be didn’t convince you to follow, I don’t know what will. I’m funny sometimes, give me a chance.

Download (sfs) | Gallery (veronika2212)

#sim download #household download #s4cc #ts4cc #my cc #breeze nsb legacy extra

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avaquet · 5 years

Text

Ev’s Family

Well, here is Evelyn Lavellan and how she looks before the Conclave is destroyed. But, I talk a lot about her, so why not her family? Especially since her father makes an appearance in my long-fic, and will play a big role later.

Sometimes it helps to know more about the author before delving into these things, don’t worry, you won’t get my life story, far from that. But, I know how things might look, especially here on tumblr and I’m Paranoid.

TL;DR - I am the first one from my father’s side to be born on the mainland. My father, who’s Hawaiian, does have darker skin than both my mother and I. My mother is basically transparent. I came out looking like a copy of my mother because genetics are really fehking weird. Ev’s family line exhibits similar features in that regard, as in Ev looks quite similar to her own mother, which y’all will see shortly.

Also! Fair warning, there are mentions of abuse (because for some sadistic reason I can’t let my OCs have a normal happy childhood)

Here is Evelyn’s mother; Valonna Lavellan. Valonna came from the Kirkwall alienage in search of a better life. She changed her last name and got her vallaslin soon after Clan Lavellan accepted her as part of the family. Valonna has skills in duel-wielding daggers and knows how to keep them hidden from prying eyes, her own parents taught her how to do that. She escaped from the alienage with the help of a human named Evelyn, which inspired her to name her own child down the line.

Valonna found peace in Lavellan, she was good at helping trade with the humans that often came by. Sometimes dwarves. But, she was excellent at bargaining and got to work closely with other members of the clan in doing so. Valonna found herself getting attached to someone who checked in frequently, not a trader himself, but the First of clan Lavellan in training, Taelhen. They became close friends after a while, sharing stories about childhood or the troubles they got into, well Valonna was more of a rebellious child then Taelhen.

Soon, that friendship blossomed another seed in the pot of their relationship. Attraction and romance. They were a cute couple, and many deemed their romance as successful and beautiful. And it was. They shared many laughs and many stories, and were together for about half a decade before finally becoming bond mates. Valonna felt amazing that day, she thought the tradition was beautiful, poetic, symbolic. It was probably the happiest day in her life.

(WARNING)Later, well, Evelyn was born. Though, there was a shift in dynamic. Valonna became more easily irritated, and though Evelyn was planned, it was like Valonna didn’t want to be a mother anymore. She missed Ev’s first steps, first words, first book, first...everything pretty much. And most seconds, too. Valonna focused more and more on her work within the clan as if to escape from home. She became less and less patient and more and more annoyed with her own child. Of course Taelhen had to work, he was First to the clan and had an extremely symbolic and vital role. But he still put more time into raising Ev and caring for her than Valonna did when she was supposed to be watching Ev.

(W)It started off small. The first few months when Ev was an infant, Valonna seemed so much different than what she grew into. She was so happy to be a mother. But then, she started dreading the responsibility. She became irritated, grouchy, angry when Ev cried, though she would still do the responsibility, just not in a kind way. Then she began to ignore Ev for periods of time. Then she left the house more and more. Then came the emotional quips and jabs. Then when Evelyn was about five years old, Valonna got physical. But only once, as Taelhen walked in the moment Valonna struck Ev, and from that moment on Valonna was not welcome around either Ev or Taelhen and later on the Keeper exiled her. Though, Valonna found another clan, even if they were reluctant to accept her.

(W)She does regret what she did, she didn’t realize how far she had fallen. But the damage she caused, was unforgivable to Taelhen, and would drastically affect Evelyn down the line. With one hit, Valonna caused much physical damage but a shit ton more emotional. It was a backhanded swing in the form of a fist, over something so small as Ev accidentally looking in a sweets jar. Ev was betrayed, severely hurt and afraid, bleeding from the lip and back of her head as the force of the blow caused her head to knock a corner. A bruised jawbone, a black eye, welts, and a concussion. Not to mention the absolute hole in Ev’s heart, where Ev said to Taelhen, “Paba, my heart is crying.”

Valonna was never seen by Clan Lavellan again. Or heard from. Though, she does live in another clan far, far away.

And here is Evelyn’s father, Taelhen Lavellan. A direct descendant of Lavellan themselves. A mage, the First to clan Lavellan when he came of age. He is the child of Lavellan and an island clan, bringing the two clans closer together and sharing more of traditions. The two clans visited each other quite often as well. As one may notice three prominent features of Taelhen, he has vitiligo, heterochromia, and a Mallen streak in his hair. (A/N: this was photoshopped, I am unaware of any mods that allow these, also that dark spot in his ear I just noticed and might’ve been an accident during the photoshop process)

See, now we must go into Clan history. (HC) Before Taelhen was of age, or old enough to remember, his father was the Keeper of the clan. Father, came from Lavellan, while the mother came from the island clan (A/N: I’m still trying to figure out a name for the clan please be patient with me). Though, his father wasn’t a very good leader to say the least, and after a while realized this and left the clan without a trace. Which was irresponsible to say the least. Taelhen’s mother was not a mage, but a clan hunter, and so Deshanna as she was First, became Keeper. When Taelhen got older, his magical prowess became more and more defined. He also had an eagerness to learn, and is extremely patient. Meditative one might say. So, when he came of age, he was announced as First. His mother, sadly, passed away during a hunting accident about a year after Ev was born.

His demeanor is calm and sympathetic. He is in love with life and the world and he can find beauty in the smallest of creatures, like an ant. He is also in gratitude of said creatures and plants. He’s nurturing, caring, and also powerful. Because of his collectiveness, he doesn’t often panic, but he does think fast. His patience rewarded him as he reached the pinnacle of his magical power, being as strong as his personal connection to the Fade allows. In battle, he seems to show no emotion, but being hit by his magic would be akin to a dragon falling on your face. Of course, his judgment, despite thinking fast, might not be the best at times. Especially when he has to think fast.

He fell in love with Valonna after spending much time together, as he caught himself gazing into her eyes and internal thoughts being just how wonderful of a person she is. He would describe it as a fairy-tale. Though, Valonna was the one the initiated the relationship because he can be quite shy. They got bonded and he would say that it was one of the happiest days in his life.

the happiest day of his life was when he held Ev for the first time in his arms. He did his best to be there for her when Valonna refused to. Taelhen was so concerned with Ev, that he didn’t quite see what was happening to Valonna. Though, after a while he did seem to fall out of love with Valonna due to her not helping and distance. It was the most stressful time of his life, juggling parenthood and his role in the clan. The only reason he kept Valonna around was for the minuscule help she did give, though he didn’t know exactly what she was doing. He had a gut feeling. And he followed that gut feeling which led him to walking in on Valonna striking Ev.

He was filled with rage and was actually about to strike Valonna down, but his concern for Ev was much more. Taelhen forced Valonna out of the house and went straight to work on caring for Ev. Using magic to bring potions and poultices, bandages and ointments from around the home. Using magic to heat and cool the wet rag he offered. Using magic to make Ev laugh. Consoling her, calming her down. Talking to her and repeating over and over again, “It’s not your fault, Ev.” Though, he would feel guilty for not seeing things sooner for a long time.

He needed help raising Ev because of how demanding things could be, but Ev was getting older now so she actually accompanied him when he was doing his work. Which got Ev close to Deshanna and she became more of a mother to her. They got to help and watch her grow, they got to witness her magic. They even got to see her Dreamer abilities come out, which surprised both of them because Dreamers are exceptionally rare. Ev’s magic grew and grew over the years, and she had an affinity to learning, puzzles, and adventure. Ev loved nature, and art, and general romanticism. Which, sounded familiar. Though, she had a stronger connection to the Fade and could be more powerful than pretty much everyone else in the clan. That’s when both Taelhen and Deshanna decided that Ev would be First, Taelhen had happily accepted the position of Second. Though, when Ev joined the Inquisition, he would return to his position as First. A lot of jumbling happened.

Well, that’s Ev’s family! Blood family anyways, tis quite small as she’s an only child and never really got to meet her grandparents. But her chosen family and Clan Family well...is quite large. I like to HC that Lavellan is over 100 strong with over 50 mages. And despite the trauma she had when she was five, she did end up living a pretty wonderful childhood. Though, the trauma still bleeds into her daily life, just not as bad as when she was younger. Ev is recovering! And she was loved and supported in her clan just as much as she gave love and support to them.

#Evelyn Lavellan #Taelhen lavellan #valonna lavellan

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vivilice · 5 years

Text

Regret (1)

No warnings

Genre: romance, Otherworldy, fantasy, LGBT+

A wind swept paper petals up towards the sky. A grand castle surrounded by a red sky lay in silence. The servants and stewards of this place all have a fabricated hearts. Only three residents carry a body of flesh and blood. A human with eyes of God and one arm. Who carries a promise with the two others. A dragon who has been around the longest and watches the other two from afar. Who carries his hobbies with vigor. A demon born from resentment which took a paper rose as his vessel. Who keeps the title of Devil and would rather spend time with the two others than those from outside.

The living room was dimly lit. Rosell sat on the windowsill one foot dangling down and with crossed arms. He looked outside at the rain. Hell was soaking with sound of roaring thunder in the distance. It was pleasant to hear. Really making the comforts of home more cozy.

“Wow, it’s thundering like crazy out there. I wonder if it’ll come closer.” A bright young woman sat down beside the Devil. Her peach skin illuminated every time a bolt of lightning lit the sky. Her long unruly blond hair fell nicely on her shoulders. Her smile warmed the Devil who she called brother everytime he looked at it.

A nice scent came sneaking in on them. It came directly from the kitchen which was placed beside the living room. A young looking man came strolling in. He wore a blue dress with a nice fluffy jacket, an apron and oven mittens while carrying stew. A long blue and white tail closed the kitchen door behind him. His slitted eyes screamed mischievous and his grin was painted a bright red.

“Food’s served.” He sang. The young woman, who was named Dina Ravenwood, who sat beside the Devil got up and darted to the dinning table. The man with the dragon’s tail, named Ikle Raveice sat down beside her and served her a portion of his cooking. He looked at his younger brother who still sat at the window. “Come eat with us already! I made your fav stew, you know.” Rosell Chartam Ibaraki, the Devil of the Fabricated Hell, stood up and sat down beside Ikle.

The little family sat and ate. Chatting about Dina’s school, about demonic affairs, about fashion and then. Dina,“Oh yeah! Today in religion I got in a heated discussion with two of the boys from the other class.” Ikle sniggered, “Wow, pro’lly ‘cause they had their own version of the Devil and such, huh? Not like anyone know the right answer right?” Ikle said, elbowing the Devil. Dina laughed and stuck her tongue out for her dragon brother. “Why are you booing me I’m right!” Ikle’s use of an old meme earned him another elbow.

“Actually,” Dina began after she had stopped laughing. “We were talking about resentment toward God and how The Devil...is driven by only that, hate.” Hearing Dina say that Rosell could only keep eating.

A shadow fell over Rosell’s features and he stared out of the window again. Ikle gulped loudly and gestured for Dina to change subject. Dina however, was quite nosy.

“Rosell? I argued against them because I know better, right.” She continued. Without hesitating Rosell answered, “Nah, they’re pretty much right. But you know that too. If it wasn’t for that god-for-nothing, i’d-“ Dina, “You’d what?” Silence feel over the room. “Isn’t that quite dumb?” Rosell turned his head, seething anger started to rise. he clenched his fists.

Dina’s face was stern and Ikle could only sigh. “Dina.” Rosell began, trying to keep his voice calm. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You know what he did.” Dina was relentless, “I know he killed them. But didn’t you kill his forces too?” Rosell became angrier, he almost said something until Dina said, “Didn’t you want to be able to be left unrestrained? Is this your anger? You didn’t know any of them! Neither the circumstances surrounding why God saw it as a necessity to... ok I won’t defend mass murder. But... you hate a guy you never really met. And for what? The resentment your predessecors formed you from?”

Silence filled the room after Dina spoke. Suddenly, a loud humm broke out. Rosell turned his head and was met with the biggest “I told you bro!” Face from Ikle.

All the anger which had been built up suddenly dissapeared as if a witch had swung her staff. It dawned on Rosell.

She was right.

Ikle looked at Dina who returned the look. Then back to Rosell who stared at his plate Suddenly, Dina couldnt take her brother’s silence anymore.

“Uhh, Rosell? Sorry, I just wanted-“ Dina didn’t get the chance to finish. “You’re right.” “Huh?” It blurted from Ikle. Rosell rested his chin in his hand and looked troubled.

Rosell, “You’re absolutely right.”

Footsteps rang out throughout the Heavens. A colorful seraph darted around God’s abode to try and find the lord. Finally, after opening the absolute last door in the whole palace the angel found God.

A big white coat, with splotches of dried paint, floated around a being with a dimmed aura. With colorless hair tied loosely by the neck, held by a huge bead. A young man rotated his body to show a patchwork of vitiligo on his skin. Big round glasses surrounded his eyes which were two differen colors, one blue one and one purple. He broke into a smile, “Miza!! What is it?” The seraph stood straight and answered, “Young lord Bell, I-I believe I found Strezia’s daughter!!!!”

Colorful eyes widened and the smile became bigger. The God jumped into his angel’s embrace and celebrated with gusto, jumping up and down. “Are you for real?! Then what are we waiting for? Hurry and let’s go already!!!”

The seraph staggered and tried to readjust themselves, “Bell,uh Bell. Remember. It’s the human realm we are going to. You need to hide your aura!” Baltazar, the God of The World of Allure smiled, “Well, I think I will need your help... you know. My art block and all.” The seraph called Miza didn’t answer. Only giving a knowing nodd and then the two were on their way.

“What do you mean you can’t tell me?!” Baltazar almost started crying. The lady behind the counter couldn’t help but fidget while Baltazar got closer and closer up in her face.

“Bell... calm down. They can’t just give out the information like that.” Baltazar turned to look at Miza, “But, but. Then how will we...” “Excuse me, sirs?” Both turned to the lady, who was in charge of the orphanage register. “Like I said.” She began. “I can’t just give out addresses at random. And since you can’t prove that you’re related to this woman, then it doesn’t look good for your search...”

Baltazar’s face turned gloom. It was like all the color around him died out and became grey.

“But there might just be a way.”

Instantly, Baltazar’s face brightened up. The woman behind the counter turned in her seat and began pressing keys on her computer and click around with her mouse.

“You see... five years ago. A woman related to miss Ravenwood came to search for her as well. She left her business card. It’s all I can give you as of now.” She reached for a file and pulled out a small dull business card.

Baltazar took the card and thanked the lady profusely. Then he darted out the door with Miza dangling behind him.

“So... huff, huff what now?” Miza inquired. Baltazar stopped on a sidewalk and turned to Miza, “Hold out your hands. I need some inspiration.” Miza held out her hands and they both closed their eyes. After minute standing like that, earning the two weird looks from pedestrians they knew where to go.

Penelope power walked down the lane in centrum. She kept looking at her watch and walked faster and faster. She had done it so many times that even her stilettos gnawing at her heels wasn’t a bother anymore. Just slap on some patches and then she would be fine! Oh well, she also had to call Dina and wish her luck on her test and then there was that new apartment opening and then. Umpf!

Penelope, “watch were you’re going!” Staggering back from the impact Penelope surveyed the person in front of her. Messy, oversized coat, bleached hair, smudged glasses, and ... heterochromia? Without noticing Penelope had begun to sneer at the jaywalker. “Uh... I’m! I’m so sorry.” The man begun to bow up and down. So much that Penelope felt nauseous just looking at the other, she asked him or was it a her? To stop.

After the person stopped Penelope made her way to leave until her wrist was grabbed.

Big mistake.

Penelope had practiced martial arts since grade school. She was quite proud of her hand palm block and wrestled the attacker’s hand backwards. A pitiful scream was released and people around the two stared in disbelief. This attacker had to be a man. In Penelope’s opinion it was always men who gave the most ear-piercing scream.

While Baltazar’s soul was about to leave his body, a new guy appeared. “Wait, ms Ravenwood!” Penelope looked at the newcomer. With disdain she said, “Who are you and why do you know my name?” The new guy straightened his back and answered with a slight tremble, “Please, we uh, we wish to speak to you. About Dina.” With those words Penelope let Baltazar go.

“You’re Dina’s father’s acquaintance?” Penelope asked and sipped her free coffee, the two others had brought for her.

The attacker was named Baltazar and the other one, who Penelope had thought to be man, Miza. Both sat opposite from her inside a coffee shop.

The two nodded and Baltazar began, “Yeah, we got your business card at the register. We really didn’t want to bother you... or maybe, just bother you about Dina.” He shrugged helplessly.

Penelope sighed, “I see. Next time don’t jolt me like that. I nearly got a heart attack, you know!”

Both bowed their head to apologize.

“Well, never mind anymore.” She said to make them stop. “I just need to know if you have any proof of your relations. You must know I just can’t send any stranger over to my niece.”

Miza had an aha moment and rummaged around in her purse. “Is the person on the right familiar in any way?” She asked, while pointing to a picture of two people she pulled out of her purse.

Penelope’s face dropped.

She asked for the photo and studied it close.

“It really... is her. Marie...” Penelope said, caressing the picture with her free hand. Her eyes got glassy.

“I see. Only two copies exist of this one. That’s what Marie told me... very well then. Tell me what you want with Dina and then I’ll tell you we’re to find her. But i warn you!” She said, pointing with a stern finger. “If i hear you tried anything fishy, i’ll find some means to drag you two through Hell! If not Dina’s brothers does it first!”

Baltazar held up his hands and broke into a big happy but nervous smile, “We! just wanted her to know about her father and maybe get closure to questions she may have...”

Penelopepaused. then she smiled and then wrote down an address. “She lives with her adoptive brothers. Get along with them and then you’ll get along with Dina.”

The building in front of God and his seraph were quite foreboding. Vines crawled up the walls and held the building in a tight embrace. The leaves were so dense it was hard to know which color the house originally held.

Baltazar started to sweat. He strolled nervously up to the entrance and was about to knock when he heard incoming footsteps.

“I’ll be back later dolls, I just need to...” a young blondie opened the door and was met by Baltazar’s stupefied look. Miza straightened her uniform and looked directly at Dina.

Baltazar, “May you be... miss Dina Ravenwood?”

Dina closed the door somewhat and hid behind it to shield her. “That depends on... What business you two may have...”

Baltazar fretted And didn’t know what to say. His divine power revealed her identity, however he couldn’t just reveal his true form to her. She may be the daughter of a seraph but she shouldn’t get scared.

“Ah! I’m so sorry. Let me introduce me and my companion. I’m Baltazar Farver and this is Miza.” Miza bowed slightly to Dina, “How do you do.” She said.

Dina opened the door some more to look better at the two oddballs on front of her.

“We! Uh, we are acquainted with you dad and we wish to tell you about him and maybe get to know...you?” Dina’s eyes lit up, then she became more apprehensive.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth.” Baltazar looked at Miza in defeat. Miza took the hint and coughed slightly, “Miss Ravenwood. We only have this picture of your mother together with your father.” She gave Dina the picture. Dina’s blue eyes shone like small stars and she looked at the two more brightly.

“Thank you so much!!! Please, come in come in. I’ll be happy to know you! My brothers are not home yet but they’ll be home soon!” Miza and Baltazar breathed out in relief. They began to step into the small house.

An array of demonic aura appeared on the floor inside the hall the moment the two divine beings stepped inside. It forced God and the seraph to reveal their true selves. Baltazar looked at Miza in horror. The array and the sudden change in atmosphere revealed that they were no longer in the second realm. They had entered Hell, the third realm.

Baltazar had a look of horror spread out on his face. Slowly, he looked at Dina who had sprung back after the array had activated. It held Baltazar and Miza in an iron grip making the two unable to move.

Dina was frozen to the ground. She looked at the God and the angel for a long while. Unable to say anything.

Meanwhile, piles of questions weighed down on God’s mind. Why was a human child living in Hell? No, why i Strezia’s child living in Hell? Does her aunt know? Is she a prisoner to an evil demon? Will demons gather now that two from the first realm had appeared?

Baltazar’s train of thought stopped abruptly. He was let down along with Miza and the two looked with surprise at Dina. Dina stood still. And then she lifted a finger to her lips. She then gestured to the two to follow her.

Dina poured three cups of tea with an apologetic look. The two heavenly beings were astounded. Dina had been adopted by two demons who now acted as her guardians. She was apparently also dating another demon and was quite happy with her life.

“And that’s really it.” She finished, “Look, I don’t want to hurt you and I’ll be more than willing to hear about my father. I’ve always wondered what happened.”

Miza had on a face of grave seriousness, “Miss Dina. Our presence here... It might cause some... people. To find rather... what do you say? Complicated. We don’t wish to engage in any hostility with your brothers.”

Dina smiled with relief, “That’s good to hear. I’ll make sure you’ll get out of here safely. But please, meanwhile. Make yourself comfortable.” Baltazar quickly took her up on her words an munched on a cookie he had been offered. Miza shot him a menacing look and Baltazar realized he probably took it a little too well. being in Hell and all.

He sighed and smiled. He’d better get on with it, “You see your father-“

“WHATSUP SLUTS! BIG BRO’S BAAAA.....aaaack.” A boisterous woman kicked open the door to the living room. Her voice was as dark as a man’s. She stopped immediately when she saw the angel and the other divine who sat with Dina.

Everybody turned to look at the newcomer.

Sweat began to form on the lady’s forehead and she cleared her throat, “Haha, welcome dearies.” she had completely changed her tone to a more fairer one.

“Oh Dina, I didn’t know we would have guests. I would’ve dressed for the occasion.”

Dina abruptly stood up, “Ah! Sis! Eh, these two know about my dad!” The lady blinked, “Really?” Suddenly her demeanor changed and she slowly got over and sat beside Miza. “Well, if you have something to tell about Dina that I don’t know. Then I would like to hear as well. The names iklea.” She held up her hand for Baltazar to shake.

“Hello there, the names Baltazar.” Miza quickly shot Baltazar another look. And he retracted his hand. While giving the sister an apologetic look.

Wait. didn’t Dina only have brothers? Balthazar thought.

Iklea looked like she tried to hide her displeasure. Looking thoughtful she sat with crosses arms. “Well, anyways. Didn’t you want to talk about Dina’s dad?” She asked, quite annoyed.

Baltazar cleared his throat, “Yeah! uh, yeah. Sorry.” He then began to tell about Strezia.

“Your dad’s name was Strezia. She was one of the most creative seraphs in my court. Oh, I have a picture.” Baltazar procured a picture of a beautiful fair-skinned lady. Her body was totally covered in a white uniform, with dried paint on. Her hair was even longer than Dina’s and her eyes were piercing as if she was looking directly at the viewer. Her eyes were the same as Dina’s.

“Uhh. Mr, Baltazar?” Dina asked hesitantly. “Isn’t this a picture of a woman?”

Baltazar blinked, not once but twice before Miza shot him another glare. “Oh yeah, you father was actually a woman.”

Dina looked slightly surprised. She looked at Iklea then back at Baltazar. “My father? Was a woman? And an angel at that?” She was sounding rather sceptical. Balthazar didnt blame her. But the God did wonder. hadn’t she been living with demons!

Baltazar, “Well, its not hard to change gender when you’re an angel. Or a demon for that matter. And I know for a fact that Strezia loved to explore the nuances of existence.”

Iklea smiled and put an arm around Dina, “Reminds me of someone i know.” She winked. “Excluding the shapeshifting part.” The siblings grinned at each other.

Miza looked at the picture and sighed, “Strezia was like an elder sister to all of us.”

Balthazar looked fondly at thepicture too, “When she told me she had fallen in love with a human woman I tried to warn her.”

Dina, “Warn her? About what?”

Baltazar looked down, “Humans don’t live forever... I was afraid she would get hurt and then... Look, Strezia wasn’t aware that your mother was pregnant. If she knew...” Baltazar could feel tears forming. He quickly wiped them away.

Dina’s face was frozen, “Mr, Baltazar? Sorry I’m asking but... my father, you address him in past tense could it be that...”

Dina didn’t say anymore. Baltazar lip quivered. He tried to pull himself together. Miza put a hand on Baltazar’s back. Dina took Iklea’s hand and Iklea squeezed it back.

Shadows swept the halls of the Fabricated Castle. The light from the mosaic windows danced around and found a silhouette which appeared at the end of the stairs leading to the main hall.

Red eyes surveyed the foyer and the gaze went towards the living room.

Hearing unfamiliar voices the silhouette took on a more human appearance with a nice blazer and matching pants.

He opened the door and first saw his sister Dina and then Ikle, “I’m back.” He said, then stopped in the doorway. When the guy opposite of Dina turned around something deep inside of Rosell sank.

Voices. Voices which had been hidden away since he met Dina returned.

Kill. Kill. Revenge. Chance. Take it!

“Ross-!” Dina yelled and got up. Iklea, who really was Ikle, hurried to make Dina stop before she finished the name.

Rosell’s eyes were fixated on Baltazar.

The God he had spent centuries getting to. He now sat in his living room. Free from his court’s protection.

He had never been this close. So close yet...

Balthazar, “Hello, you must be Dina’s brother. I’m Dina’s father’s Uh... acquaintance.” The God got up from his seat, turned to Rosell and smiled.

The dread dissipated.

Rosell, “Dina’s?”

Rosell looked at Dina and Ikle who were about to burst.

He then took a looked at the seraph, who was also present in the room.

It seems like... there was some explaining to do.

Dina’s elder brother took off his coat. A small smile formed on rosell’s lips.

“Where are my manners. You can call me Ross.”

“Ross” held out a hand for God to sake. Baltazar returned the smile and shook the other man’s hand, “I’m Baltazar.”

Ross, “I know.”

Baltazar felt dread roll down his body.

Rosell, “You hurt me, my lord. I may be a common demon. as you might have guessed from the array at the entrance. Currently disguised as a human for Dina’s sake. But I know my way in this world. And the people one has to know about” He looked directly through Baltazar.

“Surely, you must have been aware that this is Hell when you arrived, right.”

Baltazar nodded. Unable to say much more.

Ross let go of Baltazar’s hand, “Now, tell me. What have I been missing?”

Ross, “I see, that explains a lot.”

Dina, “It does?”

Ross, “It explains why you got the eyes of God.”

Baltazar almost spilled his tea, “She’s got my eyes???” This statement prompted a facepalm from Miza.

Rosell shook his head, “Not yours per see. More like, what priestess in the old world prayed to be able to see through you. To see things that normal people wouldn’t.”

Miza took a sip from a teacup. “You mean she can see magic beings?”

Rosell scoffed, “No, not at all. She still believes my tail is some weird furry statement i have going. Dina turned to Ross, “Ross please!” She then turned to the divine pair and confirmed, “I’ve always been able to, since I was small.”

Miza sighed and tried not to show her disdain for the demon, “That must’ve been difficult. Your peers must have found you rather peculiar. We are terribly sorry we did not know of your existence earlier. We should’ve been able to help you.” SHe glanced at “Iklea” and “Ross”, “Much earlier.”

Ross glared at the seraph who gladly returned the gesture. It was so intense that Miza could only try to drink from an empty cup and act like she didn’t notice the cup was empty.

Dina, “Not at all! My childhood was... but then I met Ross and Iklea. Since then.. I’ve been rather content. I even decided when my business in the human world is finished. I’d actually like to stay permanently here with my boyfriend... if he still likes me in the future that is.”

Iklea broke into laughter, “HAH! He better. ‘Else I know of a few heartbreaking words to tell him.”

Nobody in the room liked the obvious wink Iklea sent towards the group.

“But back to my dad....” Dina tried.

Baltazar’s face dropped, “Yeah! Right!”

“As I said, Strezia fell in love with a woman named Marie Ravenwood. She stayed together with Marie for some human years until one day... She came home. Locked herself in her room and didn’t show her face for quite some time... Miza.” Balthazar gestured to the seraph, “Found out that ms. Ravenwood had cut ties to her. And then thirteen years ago... you mother. You probably know know what happened.”

Dina gulped and looked down. Ross sat beside her and watched her every move.

Dina’s mother had died giving birth to her. Her mother had cut all ties to her family because of improper conduct. She would rather give Dina up for adoption than let her parents know of her daughter’s existence. As Dina had been told by her aunt.

“I felt it when you mother died.” Balthazar continued when DIna confirmed she knew.

“Her connection to Strezia made all of Strezia’s closest feel it too. I knew something would happen so I... I forced myself into Strezia’s room. But she was gone. A few days later. Strezia’s light disappeared from this existence...” Dina felt cold.

“Nobody knew what had happened to her as she had thrown away her halo.”

Dina sat frozen. Her shoulders trembled. Dina got up and went out the door. Ross got up too and followed after her. Balthazar could only stare as he was at a loss at what to do. It had been twentyfive years ago and he still remembered the day as if it was today it had happened.

Iklea sighed, “Don’t worry, she... just have to swallow it. They’ll be back. After she gets it out.”

Baltazar felt her pain. A girl who had never met her parents.. and for both of them to wind up dead. Truly sad.

Baltazar closed his eyes. His empathy gave birth to an inkling of inspiration. He used it to see where the two had gone. ‘

A gentle hand calmly patted a young weeping maiden while rocking her back and forth. A good man consoling his little sister. Whispering reassuring words to her.

After a while Iklea went too and the three of them soon got back.

Baltazar got up from his seat, “I’m sorry that you and Strezia never got to meet. But I’m happy nonetheless to finally being able to meet you. I-“ “Wait a moment.” Ross said.

Baltazar stopped.

Ross, “I think I know what happened to Strezia.”

Miza got up instantly.

“You do??? What happened? What do you mean?”

Baltazar looked hopeful at Ross. However, Strezia’s soul had moved on. She wouldnt turn up alive, even if balthazar wanted it. Still, Baltazar wanted closure so he prompted Ross to tell what he knew.

“Some time back. An angel went on a rampage throughout some shopping districts in Hell’s capital. Many high demons came to stop her but her attacks were relentless. She didn’t even try to protect herself. Charging head on.”

They all listened attentively. Nobody were sitting anymore, holding their breaths.

Ross, “She stirred up such a huge incident that the Devil himself showed up.”

Baltazar felt stiffened. He always got trembling fits every time the Devil was mentioned. he tried to gulp down the unease.

“He tried to subdue her.” Ross continued. “But when he went for the killing strike she suddenly threw her sword and met the attack with open arms. He refused her the kill and stopped immediately. But, something in her eyes drove her to steal away his sword, Redwoo, and then she... ended it herself.”

The atmosphere which surrounded the room lay heavily on the people inside.

Baltazar felt weak and wanted to scream and cry. He blamed himself. His inefficiency. He was supposed to be God but he couldn’t even help one who had been so close to him.

The loss of Marie was so big that Strezia didn’t even want to be in a world where Marie wasn’t there. A tragedy befitting of such a beautiful love. If this had been a tragedy.

Baltazar flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head to see Dina with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for coming today.” Her voice was weak and trembling. She fought hard to keep the tears at bay. Baltazar only felt worse when he saw her. He then embraced the girl. And thanked her too. Holding back tears.

She never knew them. But she wished she had. Still, she couldn’t help but feel sad for two people who had loved each other and tried to protect each other. Angels’ life span far surpasses that of a human. With a baby on the way, Miza concluded it must’ve been because Marie wanted to spare Strezia the heartbreak of outliving her child and wife. Nobody knew for sure.

“Thanks for having us!” Baltazar beamed. He stood outside of Ross, Iklea and Dina’s house. Miza and him were preparing to go back.

“I’m so happy I came to meet you Dina! And your nice elder siblings of course. Even though I thought that you had two brother to start with... but well, it’s really been fun! Though, maybe a tad bit sad.” Iklea stood and supressed a laugh. Ross only elbowed her.

Baltazar clasped Dina’s hands, “I might be God and have business other places but I would really like it if we kept in contact with each other! You’re really bright and I’m sure Strezia would’ve been so proud of you. So I hope that I can come and visit again. You know, to tell you more and stuff!”

With a returned beaming smile Dina answered, “Yes of course! I really want to know more as well. And you’re really interesting my lord. Even Ross and Ikle- I mean Iklea liked you. And I’m sure they don’t mind.” Dina looked back at her siblings they both nodded in agreement.

“I’m just... I’m just sad that my dad didn’t know about me...” Baltazar patted Dina’s head, “Yeah, it could’ve been different.”

Dina shook her head, “It could’ve. However, I’m happy as is.” She then turned to look at her siblings. Baltazar was truly happy for her.

Miza and Baltazar then said goodbye and disappeared towards the first realm.

“I’m sorry Rosell.” Dina said sheepishly. “I didn’t realize he was God until later...”

“It’s ok. I’m glad you made him stay.”

“You... are?”

“Yeah.”

#original content #writing #God and Devil #World of Alurre #Romance #Fantasy #otherworldly #lgbt #lgbtq community

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susancry77 · 3 years

Text

Melanotan 2 Tanning Injections Tutorial

Content

No One Recognizes If The Medication Is Doing Long.

Melanotan 2 Tanning Shots Tutorial.

Any Type Of One Gone As Far As To Use Melanotan Ii For Getting A Tan Before Wedding Celebration?

The Deadly Tan Stab.

Just How Can I Inject Sensible Melanotan.

How Preferred Are Melanin Injections?

Not enough is found out about making use of melanotan-II while pregnant as well as breast-feeding. A spokesperson for the Government's Medicines and also Medical care items Regulatory Firm cautioned versus making use of tanning shots and associated products consisting of melanotan. ' I can currently do 15 minutes at a time on the relax beds, and also don't melt,' she claimed, although her tanning spray means she has cut down to just one sunbed session a week. ' This is startling, as the evidence suggests the results of tanning accelerators can last much longer than individuals anticipate,' he states. ' It is worrying that individuals appear to be overlooking all the health warnings about tanning injections,' claims Bevis Man, of the British Skin Structure. Dr Maini is specifically worried concerning the long-acting impacts of tan-accelerating substances. ' They remain in individuals's skin far much longer than they assume,' he says.

Like psoralen, it can be bought on net sites as a pharmaceutical drug or as an ingredient in tanning accelerators. The dangers of psoralen prompted the EU to ban its use as a tanning activator in sun blocks in 1996. It's best to not utilize either of the melanotan peptides (melanotan-1 "afamelanotide/Scenesse" or melanotan II) when you are mosting likely to be undertaking a potentially scar creating procedure. As a matter of fact the suitable situation would certainly be that you are as pale as you naturally would be entering into the procedure. However scars that form while pigmentation is developing in the body can come to be blemished. If they are well qualified experts they'll be able to give you good recommendations on just how to limit the risk of developing tarnished scars. Don't utilize these peptides till your scars have totally recovered and also created to assist prevent this problem.

No Person Recognizes If The Drug Is Doing Long.

The British Organization of Dermatologists are concerned concerning the long term damage infusing Melanotan can do to the body. There are currently no statistics or figures as to the number of have actually used or are making use of the Barbie medicine. The medicine can either be infused or inhaled with a nasal spray. " When we went to Mexico I did obtain a tan a lot more conveniently however I really felt continuously lightheaded and also sick. " I carried on, yet after a couple of weeks under my skin near where I had actually infused was melting and felt alive with scratches. The human resources director, who resides in Ilminister, Somerset, with child Lyla, 5, and account manager partner Curt Hicks, 27, claims she wanted a tan for a wedding event in Mexico in 2015. " I was ill of looking pale and disliked the odor and also streakiness of phony tan.

Also do not use tanning beds/salons rather use tan-in-a-can or spray tan in the meanwhile. just questioning, iv been using tanning injections for a year now, so they are fairly completely in my system now anyways.

Melanotan 2 Tanning Shots Tutorial.

Suggested dosages differ depending on the source-- some sellers will certainly urge higher use! • Remove the needle from the skin and also release the skin fold. • Remain to hold the skin and push the syringe plunger to inject the medication while counting to 10 gradually. Melanotan can be used to mask skin problem such as Vitiligo, Psoriasis and Rosaccea by partially or absolutely masking their problem. If you have followed this tutorial the photo below shows the regular 0.5 mg dose 0.1 mark on the syringe. There will certainly be a minimum of 10 doses or a suggested 20 doses in a vail. • Gradually lower on the bettor allowing the sterilized water to get in down the sides of the vial and also right into the service.

Gold Coast needle exchange boss says roided-up gym junkies his biggest clientelle - Gold Coast Bulletin

Gold Coast needle exchange boss says roided-up gym junkies his biggest clientelle.

Posted: Sat, 28 Jan 2017 08:00:00 GMT [source]

" I never went as dark as my pals naturally and when I read about injections on Facebook I researched them. Yet individuals still appear to be unconcerned by the wellness threats with some infusing the medication ON A DAILY BASIS. " However the negative effects I have seen in some people have actually been longterm nausea or vomiting and vomiting, suppression of your hunger and also sexual dysfunction. " It triggers the body to make more of a pigment called eumelanin. It additionally quotes study carried out at the College of Arizona on recommending Melanotan 2 might secure you from skin cancer. Research has actually found that taking melatonin in reduced doses is the most reliable method to promote rest if you are experiencing restlessness or sleeplessness. Advised dosages of melatonin are from 0.5 mg up to 3 mg, which suffice to promote rest or deal with jet lag.

Any Kind Of One Gone As Far As To Utilize Melanotan Ii For Obtaining A Tan Prior To Wedding?

Buy a specialist spray tan for special occasions. St Tropez is the initial and also taken into consideration the best by many, as it adapts to your skin tone, giving you a natural shade (from ₤ 20, st-tropez. com for hair salons). click here to read the full report. (from ₤ 20, ), is liked by Rachel Stevens as well as Lisa Snowden as it doesn't scent and also the tan is adjusted to your complexion. Another medicine found in tanning accelerators is tyrosine, which is additionally utilized for its evident capacity to stimulate melatonin.

youtube

will certainly it hurt me to have a couple of a week before surgical procedure just so i can maintain my colour topped up withought any kind of sunbeds. ' By the time he collapsed his skin was nearly black and also he seemed he had been baked in the sunlight. She recovered from her collapse and also went on to complete the course of three shots as well as 10 days of sunbed brows through. After using Melanotan, a cut rejected to recover as well as started to ulcerate.

article .

Try a spray tan instead." The MHRA claimed it has actually repetitively acted to eliminate Melanotan products from the marketplace for the previous ten years. " If you are somebody considering these injections, do not do it. You are putting yourself at risk as we just don't understand the long-term consequences. " We require to quit pressuring individuals to look by doing this when it's not all-natural. " I understood there were feasible adverse effects yet had not been too concerned.

• The purpose is to include every one of the water from the ampoule till thevial of Melanotanwhite powder. While taking precaution, place the needle right into your ampoule of clean and sterile water for injections, withdraw on the syringe and also enable it to load to the maximum reading of 1ML.

#melanotan eu #melanotan europe #melanotan products #melanotan for sale

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anactualhyena · 7 years

Note

Answer literally all the OC questions pls

HOO BOY THANK YOU ANON

1. Your first OC ever?

That would be Seren! She started out as my Warriors OC in sixth grade - Dragonclaw, a neon green, red, and orange cat with spike collars and bat wings. I called her the leader of Blood Clan and made her Scourge’s mate and oh lord it was a nightmare. She’s gone through a lot of redesigning through the years and now she has a feral cat form and a human form? As a cat she’s like a partially albino Norwegian forest cat with moss growing on her back and bits of fur matted with blood and an old torn dog collar she probably found on the streets and thought looked cool. As a human, she’s a muscular tribal woman bearing a large spear of sorts and clothing made from torn fabric and a tiger pelt. I like her human rendition a lot better tbh.

 2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Answered!

 3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

I have! One of my old cat characters, Mandy, was a black cat with rainbow accents that I adopted years ago on DeviantART for like 5 points. Then my friend gave me her old Hetalia OC…I believe it was D.C.? As in Washington D.C.? But I don’t use my Hetalia characters anymore now that I left the fandom.

 4. A character you rarely talk about?

That would definitely be Flint. Flint is a steampunk pirate character made for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I had with a couple buddies last year. I’ve hardly talked about him at all but I love him too.

 5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be?

Iagan!!! Iagan is my little ball of fluff and happiness that would love to brighten anyone’s day. Plus I’m pretty sure he’s the most likely of all my OCs to become popular if any of them did.

 6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

YES. Flint and Feuhorbe (as a human) look a lot alike because Flint’s design was based off of Feuhorbe’s. The difference between them is that Flint is thicker than Feuhorbe and their hair, eye, and skin colors are different. That and Flint has scars and is more Spanish-based whereas Feuhorbe has vitiligo and is Brazilian.

 7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?

Well…Iagan is (and I cringe when I say this) an Undertale OC, and Rev is a part of a story/universe that Griffin created. Carlisle and Vincent used to follow this sort of post-apocalyptic storyline I had going for an RPG my buddy Roman was making, but the idea got scrapped and I kept the characters, so now they aren’t exactly a part of anything. And then…there’s my old Hetalia OCs…Riccione (originally Sparta), Toronto, and D.C.

 8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here!

I don’t actually RP as my characters anymore, but I used to RP with Riccione all the time in middle school. She’s a chubby professional dancer who runs a night club in Italy and maybe plays the violin? I can hardly remember.

 9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else?

I mean, their old designs? Absolutely. I’m slowly selling those on my DeviantART - mostly ones I don’t use anymore, like Warriors cats and my old fursona and a few others.

 10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?

FEUHORBE MY LORD. He’s actually not that complicated, but his vitiligo can be difficult to draw and as a furry, he’s a horse piñata whose colors follow a specific pattern based on an actual piñata I stole from one of my friends in the dorm room across from mine after their birthday. But there’s also Zane, a genderless dog dragon demon thing that someone gifted me as an avatar on the website Whirled, who I turned into my own character. I’m not sure if they were originally someone else’s OC that was given away or what, but I can’t find any other pictures of them or their species anywhere, so I’m keeping them as my own until further notice. Their design features horns and blue to black gradients and wings with holes in them and various scars.

 11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”?

IAGAN!!! I can’t explain it enough, he’s literally a ray of sunshine.

 12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot.

Oh man…there are these animators on youtube who I watch all the time and I’m in love with their characters/fursonas. There’s Mystery, who belongs to Sleepykinq, Puppers(?), who belongs to kittydog, and Yagi, who belongs to Scotch.

 13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?

Sonni is my little troublemaker. He’s a jokester and also a Dungeons and Dragons character, and his only purpose is to mess with my buddy’s characters and mess up their quests.

 14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory

Carlisle had his arm blown off in an explosion, which also claimed his vision, but Vincent was able to build him a robotic prosthetic arm and these special goggles with LEDs that allow him to see again. That’s as tragic as it gets, really.

 15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

I do! But I rather people ask me about my characters because if people don’t show initial interest, I just think I’m annoying them. A lot of times, that’s how I further develop or redesign my characters.

 16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

That would have to be…Seren and Roc, honestly. Because they are “”“warriors,”“” they know things like how the body reacts to certain toxins and which vital organ, if impaled, causes the most suffering before death. But that’s more like anatomy.

 17. Any OC OTPs?

Answered!

 18. Any OC crackships?

I high key ship Iagan with Scotch’s character Yagi? I have no real reasoning behind it. But that’s about it.

 19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

Geez…that’s kinda hard to pick. I’d probably have to say Donovan, because I’ve projected a lot of my own traits and issues onto him (being a trans guy, having depression, letting him to do all kinds of things I wanted to do but couldn’t, etc.) and he helped me cope with a lot of shit until I just relied on my persona and let Donny have his own life.

 20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Axwell actually was a choir kid growing up and can sing pretty dang well. My headcanon for his voice would be some sort of mix between Brendon Urie and David Bowie’s voices? His taste in music actually heavily varies and he doesn’t have a set favorite genre or anything - just anything with vocals. Feuhorbe love to hear him sing.

Iagan can kinda sing as well? He’s partially based off of a Samoyed, which are known as singing dogs, but it’s not one of his prominent talents. Although he can freely manipulate the sound of his voice as he pleases, his standard voice is that of JonTron’s. He’ll sing and listen to everything upbeat and cheerful.

 21. Your most artistic OC

That would be Piper. Piper is a male Lolita, a ferret, sounds like cr1tikal, and is about four feet and ten inches tall. He does a lot of art, mostly of Lolita fashion and mainly uses watercolor paint.

 22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

No one mischaracterizes my OCs because they aren’t popular enough for other people to even notice.

 23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

Since I already talked about Seren, I’ll talk about Carlisle. He started out as my original fursona, which was a generic twinky fox with long ears and black circles around his eyes and a MLP jacket. Then he was a feral fox that became my mascot? Now he’s my bara babe (other than Vincent) and had his metal arm and LED goggles And a way better color scheme.

 24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

I would absolutely love to meet either Iagan or Feuhorbe because I know I would have a really great time with either of them???? Hanging out with either of them would literally make me 10 times happier.

 25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

That would have to be Donovan. He’s only two inches shorter than me (not counting his ears), about 10 pounds heavier than me, huge into music, and a trans guy.

 26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will?

Nope. I made all changes to my characters freely.

 27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song?

No, but I do like to think of what my characters’ theme songs would be. I’m still making that list.

 28. Your most dangerous OC?

Answered!

 29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going?

That would probably be Feuhorbe and Sonni. In it for the adventure but will not tell anyone specifically to potentially cause trouble.

 30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

I would say Iagan, but it wouldn’t be a secret. So I’d have to say either Skyler (a dragon character of mine) or Carlisle.

 31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

Piper would try to run a pastel aesthetic blog but it’d be riddled with too many memes and shitposts and videos of him just saying and doing stupid shit.

 32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why?

Alcatraz. He’s a lawyer but has a huge secret passion for ghosts and ghost hunting and all things paranormal, so he’d fit right into a game revolving around those things.

 33. Your shyest OC?

Lukas! Lukas is a small quetzal that’s big into Harajuku fashion and he is the shyest little guy alive. But he’d probably get along well with Piper.

 34. Do you have any twin characters?

Nope.

 35. Any sibling characters?

Yes!!! Donovan, Carlisle, and Alcatraz are my three fox brothers. Donny is the youngest and Alcatraz is the oldest.

 36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)?

Yes! But they’re only with my boyfriend because I haven’t found anyone else who wants to ship their characters with mine.

 37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human

I mean,,,the only set human characters I have are Flint and Axwell and my Hetalia characters, unless you count the human designs for my furry and feral characters. None of them are really a mix and could be considered not quite human except for Sonni, who is the most humanlike out of my non human OCs. He’s very lanky and appears malnourished and has three eyes and is covered in short, dark hair/fur. He has a short stubby tail and tall “ears” and has six arachnid-like appendages protruding from his back that he can crawl on.

 38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

That would be Riccione and Donovan, who are actually dancers! Riccione is a professional dancer, whereas Donovan shuffles and such as a hobby.

 39. Introduce any character you want

Bow Echo is a griffin that’s a mix between a bobcat and a peregrine falcon. She can fly super fast and I need to develop her more.

 40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! 41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!)

A few people have! They’re on my ArtFight profile under Defenses!

http://artfight.net/~CyberFoxFire 

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods?

That would be Rev. The universe he’s from revolves around many entities similar to those found in Greek and Roman mythology, with him being basically the embodiment of the Ragnarök.

 43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

Ok…I love making them around six feet tall or taller and giving them facial hair and choppy short hair that can be pulled back in low ponytails. But I’m trying to stop that and make them more diverse.

 44. Something you like about your OCs in general

They all represent different aspects of my personality and I make really deep connections with them because of that.

 45. A character you no longer use?

Jacobi. He’s just some Scottish guy that wears flannels. I’m selling him on DeviantART eventually.

 46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly?

Nah. It’s mostly anons that tell me things about my OCs, like how they look like internet cancer. Not that I mind, I mean, come on. They all look like hell lmao

 47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child?

I think? When I first joined the Osomatsu-San Network, one of the first things I did was talk about my OCs with some other the other members. One might’ve claimed Iagan or someone else, I can’t really remember.

 48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure

IAGAN!!!! And also Lukas!!

 49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes

That would be Piper, Sonni, Donovan, Feuhorbe, and Iagan.

 50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

Uh…I think I’ve talked about literally everything I can think of off the top of my head. Feel free to message me though if you want to talk about OCs!

#cybernetic rambling #ky's ocs #griff's ocs #long post sorry #yetanotherocmeme

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rhetoricandlogic · 7 years

Photo

NIGERIANS IN SPACE BY DEJI BRYCE OLUKOTUN

reviewed by AISHWARYA SUBRAMANIAN

“Yeah, but what does that snowglobe mean?”

Deji Bryce Olukotun’s Nigerians in Space begins in 1990s America, where Wale Olufunmi, a lunar geologist, is attempting to steal a sample of moon rock from the NASA laboratory where he works. The sample is insurance, proof of his commitment to “brain gain” (the return of Nigerian academics to their home country as a corrective to the intellectual exodus to the West colloquially termed “brain drain,” about which so many countries worried during those years), and to a Nigerian space programme organised by the politician Nurudeen Bello to achieve it. Wale steals the rock—a contingency sample collected during the first moon landing, scientifically worthless but symbolically valuable—and smuggles it out of the country in the base of a snow globe. His plans rapidly fall apart, however, and Bello is mysteriously uncontactable. He finds himself stuck in limbo with his family, neither able to return to his American job, nor to enter Nigeria without a visa, witness to a murder, and in danger of arrest.

The bulk of the novel’s action takes place twenty years later. Wale, with his now-grown son Dayo, has settled in South Africa, where he runs a bamboo business out of his home, gives tours at the Royal Observatory, and has developed an obsession with finding Bello. Dayo has taken his father’s snow globe as the inspiration for a lamp which recreates natural moonlight. The two men’s lives intersect at various points with those of Thursday, a hapless abalone poacher of Malaysian descent, and Melissa, later Melle, a Zimbabwean girl with an unusual form of vitiligo that makes her skin glow with moonlight. Melle’s father is another of Bello’s victims and it is through her attempts to find out what has happened to him that we learn that most of those associated with the Brain Gain project have mysteriously died.

If all of this makes Nigerians in Space sound more like a thriller, all secret societies and high body counts, than a work of SF, that is probably accurate. None of its Nigerian characters gets to go into space. Within this sprawling, international, pan-African plot, few of them seem even to make it to Nigeria. And yet.

In September of last year, India (and if this feels like a bit of a geographical detour, such a thing is entirely in keeping with the events of this book) successfully sent a probe into orbit around Mars. The New York Times responded with a cartoon of a skinny man in a dhoti and turban, leading a cow, knocking on the door of a building marked “Elite Space Club,” with large, tuxedoed men seated inside. The paper later apologised for the offense caused, and offered a more flattering interpretation of this cartoon, but even here the humour was supposed to come from the incongruity of it all—the notion that a nation that could be represented by underfed farmers might have any place in what had been “the domain of rich, Western countries.”[1]

It’s an incongruity of which Nigerians in Space is well aware. The title is deliberately ludicrous (that “ . . . in SPAAAACE!” is what does it), and this is the book’s big challenge to the reader. What is being raised here, in the title as well as the text itself, is the whole question of who gets to imagine space, who gets to imagine themselves in space. In reality Nigeria does have a space programme, and has done for some years now (as do Egypt, Tunisia, and South Africa, among others). Olukotun, who is Nigerian-American, has claimed that one reason he did not know this when he started writing the book was that “it seemed too ridiculous to even be worth researching—I had made the idea up!”[2]

In late 2014 Africa2Moon, a crowdfunding campaign, was set up to facilitate the first phase of a pan-African mission to the moon. The campaign faced some criticism online over whether this should be a priority at all—surely there were other, more immediately useful things that such money could be spent on. But, in addition to the practical uses of a space programme that might be trotted out to counter this argument, explained the project manager, Jonathan Weltman, the moon had tremendous symbolic value. “You can walk outside and there it is [. . .] Kids across Africa can pull out a telescope and see it.”[3]

Wale also has to justify his interest in space travel in general, even to his wife. “It’s not the moon that’s important: it’s what that trip to the moon will produce. We’ll have communications satellites, improved crop yields, accurate population censuses. Nigeria doesn’t need weapons. We need innovation.” But it is the moon that is important (you can walk outside and there it is)—and it’s no accident that Dayo’s invention later in the book is tied more closely to the idea of the moon in its abstract form than to the space programme that, in the world of the book, seems not to have happened after all. This sense of the moon as a concretised symbol for a larger ideal (or several ideals) is one that recurs throughout Nigerians in Space. In Wale’s first conversations with Bello, the possibility of a Nigerian mission to the moon is presented as a form of reverse colonisation—both a satisfying response to the historical fact of colonialism and a kind of perpetuation of it.

“He said [the moon rock] didn’t belong to America but all humanity. He said we would return it to the moon when we landed our first mission as a symbol of ‘the colonized returning the cultural patrimony of all mankind.’ He wants us to plant a Nigerian flag.”

Science and symbol, science and story. In an episode later in the book, Dayo reports yet another failure to sell his lamps. “What story do you tell them about the lamp?” asks Wale:

Dayo went through his routine, trying to emphasize the technical parts. He used the words “luminosity” and “umbra” and “aqueous medium” with what he hoped was familiarity.

Wale then shows his son a part of the observatory where he works as a tour guide—a manhole once partly filled with mercury, used as a mirror to observe the sky.

“Can you imagine looking into a pool of mercury? Gauging the stars in a pool of quicksilver like an alchemist? It would be like floating in space [. . .] This is a popular part of my full-moon tour. It has nothing to do with selenometry anymore. No practical value. But this is where I get my repeat customers [. . .] You’ve got to come up with a story. Put some tension in it.”

You’ve got to come up with a story, and Nigerians in Space contains several. There’s the thriller plot, the SF plot. There’s a novel of exile and loss set in a fundamentally diasporic world (“No one knows what happened and I can’t go to Nigeria anymore . . . Because I’m a refugee”). There’s also an entire reading of the novel, one that appeals to me very much, which ignores all else and focuses on Wale’s personal relationship with the moon; his movement from scientist to priest (though even at the beginning of the book he “couldn’t defile a piece of the moon”). Wale becomes the moon’s chief storyteller, simultaneously narrating humankind’s historical relationship with it and inviting tourists to “look into the telescope and see your future.” If you (the reader) could fish around in the thick soup of meanings Wale ascribes to the moon and pick one, could make the moon a single, stable symbol to build on, perhaps the whole thing would begin to make sense.

Because the moon is what ties together the various strands of Nigerians in Space, Thursday’s abalone and Dayo’s lamp both feed off it, in different ways—as does the luminescence in Melissa’s skin. But is it the physical moon or the symbolic? What is the quality that the abalone (surely among the most SFnal of earthly creatures) recognise in Dayo’s lamps? Are we to read the “purity” of the light from the lamps as scientific innovation or as being somehow connected to the moon rock, on whose hiding place their design is based? Is Melle’s condition a biological one? Science or symbol: it’s partly in these questions that the novel’s claims to being science fictional, rather than science fiction-adjacent or even fantastic, rest. Unusual skin conditions and superior forms of solar energy may be less spectacular than the space travel promised by the title, but they deserve some attention.

In a different (and far more trite) book this constant referral back to the moon could work as a sort of levelling force—characters of Malaysian and Nigerian and Zimbabwean descent living in South Africa and France, and America, all seeing the same moon. Late in the novel, in what would in other circumstances be a climactic scene, Dayo’s lamps are strung up in the streets and they work, and the soft light from the lamps briefly erases all difference. But it’s not allowed to be a triumphant moment.

You’ve got to come up with a story, and Nigerians in Space, frustratingly, won’t let you. There’s no neat tying up of ends here. The mystery is unsolved, the thriller plot peters out. There’s so much meaning here and stories are, after all, only stories. If the novel does have a climactic scene it’s a confrontation between two of its protagonists, fittingly in the observatory, that ends in tragedy and leaves both with all their questions left unanswered. It’s a powerful scene, and a moving one, and it tells us nothing.

And of all the stories the book doesn’t tell, perhaps the most important is the one in which Nigerians go into space. In an article in Slate the author speaks about travelling to Nigeria and meeting a scientist at the National Space Research and Development Agency, whose real endeavours and successes are so easily erased by this book’s narrative of failure. “I had also learned the perverse burden of responsibility placed on an author who writes speculative fiction,” says Olukotun, but also: “Would you have read that story?”[2] I return to that title, and the story it tells about science and science fiction and who they’re for and whose triumphant journeys into the cosmos our collective imaginations allow. How much easier to imagine Nigerians on earth.

Endnotes

Source: "India Mars Mission: New York Times Apologises for Cartoon", BBC News, 6 October 2014 (accessed 12 October 2015). [return]

Source: "Meeting My Protagonist" by Deji Bryce Olukotun, Slate, September 2014 (accessed 12 October 2015). [return]

Source: "Africans Urged to Back Continent's First Moon Mission", The Guardian, 5 January 2015 (accessed 12 October 2015). [return]

#Deji Bryce Olukotun #Nigerians in Space #mahreviews

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