#heartstabyul oc

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

Memes round 10, Yuusona and TWST OC edition!

I don't expect this to get many likes or reblogs or anything since this is relatively niche, but I'd appreciate them nonetheless :)

also sorry if I don't post consistently, i'm going through some stuff. hopefully it'll be sorted out soon enough

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

The coffin icons for Rhyme, Neptunia, June and Kore

And the icons for Carys and a secret OC who haven't been introduced yet

Junr and Kore will get their official introductions soon

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

Rhyme Meadows' Story

Rhyme Meadows was born in the Queendom of Roses, the only child of Louis and Elizabeth Meadows. They were nobles - one of their great, great ancestors had apparently served the Queen of Hearts herself, and had been recognised for their loyalty. But the reason they were nobles wasn't really important - all that mattered was that they were. That's just how it was.Rhyme's parents were very proud of their heritage, but in reality, they weren't all that financially better off than the average upper-middle-class working family. They lived in a large house in a countryside town, their garden full of rose bushes of every color. (Rhyme's favorites were always the pink ones.)

As the only heir of her family's legacy and fortune, Rhyme, naturally, received the best education money could buy. She received private tutoring by experts in each field every morning. If the lesson material was particularly easy to understand, Rhyme would have finished her work before noon. She would leave her study room and eat lunch in her private miniature dining room. When she was younger, Rhyme would often ask her parents why she couldn't eat with them - their answer was that their heir needed to focus on her future duties, and they had business to attend to. She had her every need attended to, so she could be a dear and entertain herself, couldn't she?

Her parents, as a matter of fact, were always busy with something or another, and so Rhyme was left alone each afternoon. She had free reign of her bedroom, study room, library and play room, but human interaction was scarce to none. You could only play so many games without a playmate. When she was five, Rhyme began creating her own playmates - developing imaginary friends with vivid and crazy personalities, whose endless antics could keep her entertained forever. Next, she created a world for her friends to inhabit when she was not with them - their own little Wonderland. Rhyme took up painting, and she would spend hour after hour drawing maps, defining landmarks and history, and painting evolving scenery of their world on her walls. Her parents were surprised when they first saw her playroom, with its walls painted top to bottom with bizarre landscapes, but they ultimately decided it caused no harm and left her to it.

Another aspect of her training to be a lady was her extensive etiquette lessons. Which spoon and fork was which? What county is this lord or duchess from? How should you curtsy to greet them? And, above all, a good lady and child is seen and not heard, never heard. When adults were in the room, she was to listen quietly. When adults were talking, she should not be noticed. She wouldn't want to distract them, would she? (Rhyme stopped talking for the most part at eight.)

There was one brief exception to her monotonous lifestyle. When she had just turned eight a few weeks prior, Rhyme's parents sat her down and explained something briefly to her. A good lady of the house needed a husband, and so they had been looking into potential candidates for her to one day wed. The first of the candidates would be visiting their home the next day with his mother, and they would visit each day for the next two weeks, to allow the children to get to know each other, and the parents to discuss the possibility presented. (Rhyme honestly couldn't care less about the marriage stuff, she was just excited to finally, finally have a playmate.)

Despite her excitement, Rhyme was beyond nervous when she actually met her playmate for the first time. She was just as polite and proper as she had been taught to be, but the boy seemed so serious. And that wasn't even to mention his mother - she was as stern as ice. The introduction was tense to begin with, but when Rhyme and the boy were allowed to talk in her playroom, they quickly found common interests to talk about. He seemed somewhat confused by her detailed descriptions of her Wonderland, but he quickly began asking her questions about the land's governing system and residents, genuinely interested.

The escape from Rhyme's lifelong boredom was deeply needed. For the first time, Rhyme had a real, genuine playmate - someone that she considered her best friend, despite how recently they had met. And yet, as with all good things, it ended far too quickly. On the second-to-last day of the two week period, Rhyme was interviewed individually by the mother. It began with predictable, standard questions - questions Rhyme was well prepared to answer. But when the lady began asking more specific questions, Rhyme had no rehearsed answers to fall back on, and thus, she answered honestly.

As a result of her inexperience in social interaction mixed with her excitement of finally having a friend, Rhyme rambled on in her answers, detailing every corner of her Wonderland. At the time, she didn't notice the woman's eyes narrowing, yet Rhyme could recollect her destain perfectly in hindsight. The interview concluded, and Rhyme waited in her library until dinner. She thought she would see her friend again when she went down for dinner, but she did not. The next morning, Rhyme's parents informed her that the arranged marriage would not proceed. The lady had deemed the match unfitting. She would not be seeing her friend again. (Rhyme did not participate in any arrangements for potential partnerships from then on. Her parents handled that as well, and Rhyme was left to herself in her play area more than ever before.)

Now that she knew what companionship was like, solitude was more painful than ever. Rhyme would lose herself in her Wonderland entirely in almost every moment she was alone. Slowly, yet not slow enough for Rhyme to not notice it, she began to struggle to separate reality from illusion. She would drift into her own world at inopportune moments, but it was a necessary enough ability that Rhyme did not fight against it. 

She was not surprised when she manifested her unique magic for the first time at age ten. Lost in a Daydream (It's Always Tea Time) allowed Rhyme to finally give her Wonderland a corporeal form, if only for a little while, if only for in small portions. The world she would pull into reality would 'loop' inside the small space where the spell was performed. To anyone inside it, the dream would seem infinite and inescapable. However, perhaps as an unconscious failsafe, each looping world contained a hidden puzzle - a secret riddle - that could be solved to be released from the dream's hold. (Ten, as her parents and other adults said, was remarkably young for a mage to master a signature spell. For all their amazement and praise, Rhyme did not consider her achievement to be anything impressive. It was born out of necessity, not of talent.)

As Rhyme grew older, she was given more responsibilities as the young lady of the house. Her new duties took up some of her free time, which was probably a good thing. Her efficiency in her work was hindered by her constant lapsing into fantasy, but even that was a positive for Rhyme. More time taken up by work meant less time to sit around and do nothing. (She had read every book in her library twenty times over. Half of them she had memorized from front to back. Her reading speed was remarkable, and she could finish five full length novels in one afternoon. They simply weren't meaningful time wasters anymore.)

By sixteen, Rhyme was outwardly the epitome of a graceful and demure young lady. With open ears, keen eyes and a closed mouth, and more booksmarts than most college students, she was admired by her parents' peers from all over the Queendom. Her only fault, it seemed, was her frankly odd mannerisms and ways of thinking, which seeped through the cracks at times. Sometimes, she would stare off into the distance, her eyes darting around as if she were in REM, and she would not hear her name being called. (Ultimately, it wasn't a substantial issue. Everyone had their faults. And a lady should be seen and not heard, after all.)

At seventeen, Rhyme received the second big break in her life. She was given the chance to study at the prestigious Night Raven College temporarily, as a representative for her country and family name. Yes, Night Raven was an all-boy's school, but she would not be the only one. A select few talented young women from across Twisted Wonderland were being given the same opportunity. And Rhyme took the opportunity, grabbing it quickly and holding it close. She would not let her second chance to form bonds of companionship go to waste.

Rhyme now stood among the other young women presented with this rare chance in the Mirror Chamber in the heart of NRC's main building. One the women was tall - taller than Rhyme thought a woman could be - with a playful smile and hair that fell in dark waves. One wore a white scarf, tight around her neck, with lifeless crimson eyes. One was pink-haired and bright, her mere presence bringing life to the room. There were more, too, and each of them was dressed in Night Raven College's famous ceremonial robes.

One by one, the young women's names were called, and they stood in front of the ominous Dark Mirror, which would look into their souls and place them in the best fitting dorm. Rhyme couldn't help speculate which she would be placed in (Octavinelle, maybe? Or perhaps Pomefiore?), but speculation did not help her nerves when her name was finally called. She stood before the Dark Mirror, and the face in the glass looked so intensely at her that she thought it could see through her.

"The nature of your soul is... Heartslabyul," the mirror decided, and Rhyme breathed a sigh of relief. There was a list of reasons she was happy to be in Heartslabyul, not least of which being the honor of being placed in the dorm inspired by the Queen of Hearts herself - the figure who gave her family their namesake and who every child in the Queendom admired from a young age. But she could also not deny that there was another, secret reason she was so pleased. She had been hoping to be in Heartslabyul since she had heard from her parents in passing conversation who Heartslabyul's remarkable housewarden was.

(Was it too much to hope that she may be able to reignite a friendship, even one that burned for just two weeks?)

--------------------------------

So, this is Rhyme's childhood. A few things to mention, yes, Rhyme is meant to be a love interest for Riddle. However, before that, she's just happy to have a friend. I don't imagine she'd even start developing romantic feelings for him until after Leona's overblot.

Rhyme's parents are certainly neglectful, at least emotionally. They don't intend to be, they're just very old fashioned and prioritise how outsiders view them more than they should. That plus them not really getting how children work led to Rhyme's ordeal.

She has some intentional parallels to Riddle, in of the sense that they were eight when things started a downward spiral, and ten when they developed their UN. (Mrs Rosehearts be out here ruining multiple children's childhoods.) Rhyme is aware that her accomplishment isn't as impressive as Riddle's, though, since Lost in a Daydream is a much less powerful spell than Off With Your Head.

Posted this on mobile so let me know if the formatting is off/something is wrong

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

Rhyme's UN

"Here's an opportunity to leave boredom behind. Let's amuse ourselves with food and games. Lost in a Daydream."

Inspired by egophiliac's unique magic posters