grimm-tales-gamer

[grimm-tales-gamer]

FHR: Animal instincts Pairing: Chargestep Warnings: Canon typical violence and suicide ideation, and Sidestep is not in a great frame of mind fresh out of the Farm Word Count: 1103 Summary: Just a little bit of "Sidestep was found by Ortega shortly after escaping the Farm the second time" AU, Riley is having a great time lol

"Riley?" 

Flinch and freeze and no, keep going, don't falter, don't react, keep walking. Just a twitch you can smooth over feigning ignorance. No one knows you by that name anymore, and if they think they do, you'll fix them. It doesn't take much, you know that now. A tweak, a twist, a pull, you unravel the threads and become less than a memory. Less than a ghost. 

Lower your shield, open your mind, find that spark of recognition and cut the memory loose. It's just a tumor on their recollection, to be excised and—

Hand on your shoulder. 

Static-walled brain. 

Scream. 

Yours. Turn on your heel, throw a fist, soft flesh, startled grunt, pivot and run run run run. They can't catch you again, can’t trap you again. You won't let them, all you have to do is run! 

“Riley!” 

Heavy footsteps run behind you, but you're no rabbit now, you're the fox. You duck into an alley, throw a garbage can, hear the crash and stumble and swear. Good, like that, you'll escape, and if they corner you, well, you still have the gun. 

Use it on them or use it on yourself, either way you get away. 

“Riley, wait!” 

The name makes you flinch again. You, not, not you, you're nameless, name forgotten, number shucked. Riley plummeted to her death, forgotten, betrayed, alone. You're not her. Just no one. You need to be no one, no one at all, nothing, nothing of import, nothing worth perceiving. You need to not be, not until you're ready. 

But your pursuer won't let you go. 

They're gaining again, fuck, they're fast, the footsteps almost loud enough to drown the wet thuds of your own heartbeat in your ears. Your breath wheezes loud in your chest. Your muscles burn as you push through crowds that can't see you because you won't let them. You're a visage of your former self. Not yet fully recovered from years of isolation and wasting misery. The only thing sharp about you is your mind, and your pursuer is immune. 

You dart down another alley, trying to get away from the crowds so you can move and—

FUCK. 

Bouncing off a fresh and new brick wall, instinct recognizes your fatal blunder just soon enough to stop you from concussing yourself on it. You land on your ass, breathless, arms aching from taking most of the impact for your skull. What was a throughway four years ago is a deadend now. 

And now, you are too. Dead. Worse. Trapped. 

You shake your head to clear it, scrabbling around, backed up against the brick like if you pressed hard enough, you could phase through it. You fumble through your disheveled clothes, your hand seeking and closing on cold metal as you fight to free the gun from the holster hidden beneath layers of loose fabric. You're such an idiot. 

A shadow looms over you, features darkened by the blinding halo of the sun slowly sinking into the cityscape behind it. “Jesus, Riley, what's—” 

The voice mercifully stops, as does the approaching figure, as you finally, finally, train the gun on them. Your hands are shaking, unsteady as you feel, but you know where the heart is, and you won't miss it. You can't. 

“Hey. Hey, c'mon. Put that thing down. It's me, Riley.”

The voice is low and soft, like someone trying to soothe and cajole a dog on the verge of biting. Something familiar wiggles in your hindbrain like a parasite, and you refuse to let it latch on. Your hands shake harder as the figure tries to subtly inch forward. Too hyper aware of everything to let it slip by, you cock the gun. 

The hands are quick to come up, open and empty, placating and pleading. “Whoa, easy, easy…” He—your brain admits that now— he says softly, his voice raw like an exposed nerve. “It's just me, c'mon Riley…”

You know that voice. You know that stance. You know him. You lo—  no. You hate him. You pulse thuds louder and wetter in your ears, drowning out his attempt to soothe and de-escalate. Your eyes flood with burning salt, blurring your vision, but you can't wipe or blink it away. You should shoot him. You want to. He didn't try to save you, him or Steel, the other Rangers, the other vigilantes, all the rest of this fucking city. They all left you to rot and scream and suffer in the obscurity of the lab that made you just so it could eat you alive and spit out your bones. 

But he keeps inching forward, talking in that low and familiar tone that was always like novocaine to your fractious mind. Knees bending, he lowers himself down in front of you where you sprawl against the cold unforgiving brick. You train the barrel on his skull with a choked animal noise of distress, unable to put any more distance between you. And he just lets you do it, looking over your clenched and shaking hands with that heavy familiar hound-brown gaze. 

“What happened to you? Dios mio, you're a wreck,” he says, his soft voice cracking as he takes in your sorry state. He doesn't flinch as you press the cold metal to his forehead, cocked and loaded and ready to blow whatever brains he has out onto the street. 

You should. You should put a final nail in the coffin of your past. You see the weight of the last few years in the bags under his eyes and the harder plains of his face, smell it on the heavy alcohol in his breath. Your index finger strokes the trigger. Your hands shake so hard that you just might depress it by accident. Maybe you should just put you both out of your sad sorry miseries.

He just looks at you, that same way he always did. Like he has all the faith in the world you'll make the right call. Like you can do no wrong in his eyes. Like you hold his heart between your sweating quivering palms, and he'd let you… he'd let you… 

The realization makes you recoil like you'd been struck across the face, and the gun clatters to the asphalt. By some miracle, it doesn't misfire from the impact. He swipes it away, out of both your reaches. Before you can scramble away from him like the feral animal you are, he pulls you in tight against his chest. Caught in the trap of him, exhausted and weak, all you can do is bury your face in his shoulder and howl.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

I’m back

Incase anyone cares!

So, I stopped making any of my sidestep profiles because I started replaying my sidesteps and they changed during my replays. Some by quite a bit! So instead I’m going to make new profiles but as I replay the sidesteps. Get better notes, and so on.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 8

I missed a day, but I’m back baby!

Name: Jesse Schmidt

Gender: non-binary they/them

Villain name: Heartbreak

Villainous role: hero trainer

Motivation: justice

Scar: puppet master

Reason for gala: fight the rangers

Where are they now?: broken legs at Ortega’s apartment

   Jesse was molded by their experience as a hero. They mattered, they could save people, they were thanked, looked up to. They see it as the best time of their life, it formed them into a person rather than a regene who spent their entire life in a lab. Then it didn’t matter, Jesse was recaptured, and everyone moved on. The camaraderie that Jesse still felt after heartbreak burned away. Did they matter to those “heroes”?

   Speaking of Heartbreak, Jesse’s scar effect the way they saw their abandonment. The way they see it, it’s okay to use people as long as it’s for the greater good. They are just humans after all. Same as Jesse is just a regene. They don’t kill, Jesse will even save people if they can. But, the whole sanctity of “free choice” and “free will” matters little to them. They will prepare the heroes for what’s to come, even if it hurts them. They have gotten far too complacent.

   In terms of relationships, Jesse has relit old ones and formed new ones. Jesse having a face in and out of the armor is important to them and their plans. Easier to see different angles when the heroes trust you or even care about you. Easier to push them in the direction you want them to head in. Try to nudge Argent from what Jesse sees as borderline villainy and train Herald. What they didn’t plan for were Chen and Ricardo. They didn’t plan to still have a crush on Ricardo and develop feelings for Chen. That being said Jesse and Chen are on thin ice, knowing about the autopsy pictures. And you never truly plan for Ortega’s reactions, not anymore. Another fight might be necessary, after all he did not perform at the gala.

How about some fun facts?:

Jesse started a betting pool where you could bet on anything with the rangers back in the sidestep days.

Jesse’s nose was broken so many times that there was a betting pool to see how long before it got broken again.

Ricardo used to joke that he and Jesse should date. “After all, we get along really well and laugh at the same bad jokes…” meanwhile Anathema who knows about the crush is rubbing their temples in the background.

Despite being short, Jesse was probably the best technical fighter in the rangers at the time of the sidestep days.

Jesse has a problem with alcohol. They’ll admit it in their head but never out loud.

Now to end with stats, armor, and appearance:

Jesse has a slight preference for arrogance than anonymity, sitting at around 55%. That’s more the villain persona than anything else. Then they prefer empathy to ruthless at around 65% and daring at 91%!

Armor appearance and type: scary. Looking like something out of alien, Heartbreak’s armor is black, orange, and white. Resembling a skeletal monster with claws and the cape being flesh that hangs off the body.

Add ons: speed and telepathy

Extras: definitely the retractable claws in the armor, I can’t imagine Heartbreak without them.

Jesse’s appearance:

Race: mixed

Height: short, about 5ft 3in (1.6m)

Hair: curly dark brown hair that sort of goes everywhere, they have little control over it. It reaches the shoulders.

Eyes: hazel

Style: fashionable street wear. They are rather androgynous in their style and regularly mix masculine and feminine styles. They always were fashionable in their sidestep days, now that their confidence is returning they are reclaiming that.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

a little nostalgia for today

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 7

already at 7, been doing this for a straight week and I am not even half way lol. I play this game too much. Anyway:

Name: Wu Mei

Gender: female she/her

Villain name: Entity

Villainous role: hero hunter

Motivation: justice

Scar: outsider

Reason for gala: money

Where is she now?: free, innocent, and planing

   Mei is probably my most put together sidestep. She definitely has her stuff put together a lot more than the others I’ve gone over! Not saying she doesn’t have problems because she certainly does. As sidestep she never felt that she truly belonged, she was a vigilante, could never show her face, and could never become a ranger; as Chen was so quick to remind her. After heartbreak though it got worse. She felt abandoned, inhuman, like an “other”. I think she’s working through the trauma of heartbreak though, so there is hope of her feeling “human” again.

   Wu Mei wants justice for what happened to her. What is happening to regenes like her. However, due to the enemy being essentially the US government, she doesn’t believe the heroes would ever side with her. They would prefer to side with their own kind. So, she deals with them; however, she rarely kills. She never kills civilians and will usually only kill villains and enemy agents when absolutely necessary. She even saves people when she can. She doesn’t understand why she still feels the need to save others, they’re humans. Humans would never help her, humans would never save her. So why does she feel like she still needs to be a hero?

   Anyway, in terms of relationships Mei keeps her distance.. or tries to. Mortum is simply a business associate, Herald is her student (MUCH to her chagrin), and Argent and her tolerate each other (buuuuut Argent gets along great with Entity). The problems arise with Ortega and Chen. Ortega (Ricardo in this run) is her best friend. Her first friend, her brother, her only family. She tried to stay away, but whenever Ricardo asks for help she comes. She really can’t say no to him, I don’t think Ortega knows the power he has over her. Then there’s Chen, despite how they were during the sidestep days Chen and Mei started to become friends. It was slow, but it seemed that time had made these two compatible for a strong bond. Then Chen told Mei that he had pictures of an “autopsy”. Mei ran, she felt like every fear she had of humans were being proven true. They knew, they knew and they didn’t save her; because she wasn’t worth it. She isn’t human.

   After what happened with Chen all of Mei’s relationships are pending. The future of all of them, including her and Ortega, are dependent on how Revelations go. It could reinforce Mei’s scar and fears or Mei could open up. Actually let someone in and tell them the truth… about being a regene, good god, she’s never telling them she’s Entity.

Fun facts!:

Mei only chain smokes when anxious. People around her might say that she always chain smokes around them. That’s her secret captain… she’s always anxious around humans.

Back when Mei was homeless in the sidestep days she would sleep in particular parks that people didn’t go to as often so the thoughts of pigeons and other birds would wake her up rather than humans.

Even though she has tons of money, Mei lives at her base at the electronic repair shop. She even tries to live within the income of what business she actually gets from business. She thinks that buying “luxuries” makes her feel that she’s “trying too hard to be human.”

There are only a few vibe quotes I have for Mei, if I share one though it’s very simple: “Dreaming is free.”

No romance for her yet, but after reading the lore post with Mortum and Sky-Raider (which I highly recommend reading if you haven’t) I think Sky-Raider may be the one for her!

Now for stats, armor, and appearance:

Mei prefers anonymity at 75%, empathy at 80%, and caution at 89%! She prefers power of mind at 80, though I remember her subtle manipulation not being far off either.

Armor and appearance: scary. Eldritch looking, all black with white pinprick eyes. Actually seeing the details of the armor doesn’t help it be less scary, tentacles like attachments burst from the face and others look like they are wrapping around the arms and legs with what looks like a maw of teeth and eyes on the torso.

Add ons: armor and telepathy

Extra: the voice modulator is made to look sound like multiple voices.

Wu Mei’s appearance:

Race: Asian

Height: medium. I’m imagining around 5ft 6in (1.67m)

Hair: straight black hair that is shoulder length

Eyes: black

Style: edgy military. Pretty much only black and other dark colors, lots of oversized coats and jackets with heavy duty clothes. She can show no one.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Chargestep song

listened to Teeth by 5 seconds of summer and uh.. I get Chargestep vibes from it. Read it from Charge’s perspective:

Some days, you're the only thing I know Only thing that's burning when the nights grow cold Can't look away, can't look away Beg you to stay, beg you to stay, yeah Sometimes, you're a stranger in my bed Don't know if you love me or you want me dead Push me away, push me away Then beg me to stay, beg me to stay, yeah

[Pre-Chorus: Luke] Call me in the morning to apologize Every little lie gives me butterflies Something in the way you're looking through my eyes Don't know if I'm gonna make it out alive

[Chorus: Luke & All] Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go

[Verse 2: Luke] Some days, you're the best thing in my life Sometimes when I look at you, I see my wife Then you turn into somebody I don't know And you push me away, push me away, yeah

[Pre-Chorus: Luke] Call me in the morning to apologize Every little lie gives me butterflies Something in the way you're looking through my eyes Don't know if I'm gonna make it out alive

[Chorus: Luke & All] Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go

[Bridge: Luke] Blood on my shirt, rose in my hand You're looking at me like you don't know who I am Blood on my shirt, heart in my hand Still beating

[Chorus: Luke & All] Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth Late night devil, put your hands on me And never, never, never ever let go

[Outro: All] Teeth Teeth Teeth Never, never, never ever let go

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 6

This one is definitely one close to my heart due to how differently the route went compared to how I thought it was going to go. Went a completely different direction.

Name: Riley Rivers

Gender: none ya… none ya business. They/them work fine as pronouns

Villain name: Retribution

Villainous role: anarchist

Motivation: revenge

Scar: friendless

Reason for gala: fight the rangers

Where are they now?: broken in both spirit and body. Left at the rangers hospital.

   I know I say this for a lot of my sidesteps but, Riley in particular is a mess. I originally made them to be one of my “softsteps” but they made poor decision after poor decision. Not to mention them slowly loosing control due to them constantly opening gates (think they are at 4 or 5 now?). Riley is definitely one my more tragic sidesteps. They tried so hard to be the “vigilante on the wrong side of the law” but they tripped and fell on their face.

   Riley’s reason for doing this is essentially: I’m going to be the hero that I never had. Now, does that clash with their revenge motivation? Maybe, possibly, but they just want to make sure what happened to them never happens again. To anyone. They are willing to kill, but they made a promise to 1. Always save people who are grave danger 2. Never kill unless necessary. They broke the second promise at the casino, with the amount of gates open they killed some people there and became known as a murderer. It did not end well for Riley.

   Before we continue, we should talk about Riley’s relationships. Riley helps the rangers out as much as they can, using the knowledge and street contacts to get the rangers what they need. They feel guilty over not being able to connect with their old friends due to their scar and see helping out as a way to make them feel less guilty. They get along best with Ortega (Julia) and Herald. Julia and Riley were an item back in the day and reignited their relationship early in Retribution. I don’t think Riley’s love for Julia is healthy. They saw Julia as their rival until after the gala. Realizing that Julia really didn’t know that Riley was alive and didn’t abandon them, Riley decided to give into what they wanted and start over again; now seeing their former self as their rival. Steel and Riley are complicated sort of… friendship? They still don’t get along but they don’t argue as much anymore.. maybe they are both just too tired to argue like they used to. Riley gets along with the other rangers, they basically have no relationship with Argent other then “oh, they’re here.” And they are Herald’s coach, they don’t really have an interest in a friendship with either of them.

   Everything changed after the meeting with Hollowground. Riley went themself and decided to work with Hollowground while secretly releasing information to the rangers. They left and got into the wreck. While they didn’t admit to being Retribution; Riley had accidentally left enough clues for Ortega to piece it together and confront Riley about being the villain. It didn’t end well. Ortega thinks that Riley is a regene clone and Riley being both angry and scared told Ortega to go away. Argent then clawed their eye out and argued with both Herald and Steel. Riley doesn’t see any of those relationships as salvageable. Ortega’s reaction to them really broke their heart and Riley is diving head first into their scar and motivation.

Alright, how about some fun facts huh?:

According to canon, sidestep is fairly prickly about their appearance. Riley is doubly so. While they always went by they/them, they were very self conscious about how they were perceived and dysphoria in general wearing them down. Anathema was the one who convinced them to go get hormone treatment to try and deal with the dysphoria.

Riley only ever lost 2 games of chess against Chen back in the sidestep days.

Riley used to make their own mead back in the sidestep days.

They used to have an small collection of cheesy off brand figurines of the different ranger members. Riley wonders occasionally what happened to it.

Riley refused to go to Halloween parties after one particular Halloween party Julia scared them so bad once they punched her in the face.

Riley is my tallest sidestep!

Last one, I have vibe quotes for each character. And one for Riley and Ortega gets me right in the heart every time: in a parallel or another world. Or a different life. We sit across from each other at the kitchen table and go over the grocery list.

Every time it gets me choked up.

Alright, let’s go over Riley’s stats, armor, and appearance:

Riley prefers anonymity at around 60%, empathy at 70%, and is cautious at 85%. She prefers power of mind over subtlety, the score being over 80.

Armor appearance: scary. Small parts of armor protrude from the suit like broken bones and others are made to look like growths and protrusions. The helmet is made to look humanoid but with something plant or fungal like growing from its missing jaw. The armor is dark in color with lots of dark greens, grays, and black.

Add ons: speed and telepathy

Extra: the voice modulator adds a creak or strain to Riley’s voice. As if something is crawling or scurrying in the armor itself as they speak.

Riley’s appearance:

Race: mixed

Height: tall. Around 6ft 8in (a little over 2m)

Hair: wavy brown hair. It’s parted in the middle and reaches their shoulders. But, due to the wreck and needing stitches, some was shaven off.

Eyes: green. They used to be brown. Thanks Void.

Style: nondescript casual. Lots of hoodies, large jackets over long sleeve t-shirts and sweats or jeans. Always wears boots though.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 5

1/4 of the way through my sidesteps so far lol, let’s go!

Name: Cynthia “Cyn” Graves

Gender: female she/her

Villain name: Hades

Villainous role: mob boss

Motivation: anger.. but that might change soon

Scar: outsider

Reason for gala: money

Where is she now?: whole, innocent, and free.

   Oh Cyn, she is a handful. In a good way. An absolute little shit that uses teasing, pranks, and jokes as a love language. She attaches herself to people quickly and yet likes to keep them at arms length. Almost like grabbing onto people at full arm extension, not letting them get closer but also not letting them go away.. but there are two people in particular who have gotten past that guard of hers. Her best friend Ricardo and recently Argent.

   There is an internet term that (unfortunately) can describe Cyn’s attraction compass, “battle sexual”. She likes feisty people who can keep up with her, both in a fight, as well as with her jabbing. Despite him being her best friend, Ricardo is attractive to her and they decided to give it a go romantically and see what happens (I swear I have sidesteps who aren’t in Ortega’s pants, please believe me, I am just weak). Eventually, as Hades, she flirted with Argent and when realizing she was flirting back pretty much went, “oh no! I didn’t plan this far!” But hey, it worked out during the auction just fine.

   She gets along with everyone at worst. She isn’t particularly prickly when compared to other sidesteps as long as the other can handle her jabbing and teasing. Steel though, he can really get under her skin. And she hates how much he’s right; she really wants to punch him in his face. They seem to have gotten on common ground now though.

   Cyn’s scar is healing up quite nicely I think. A mixture of therapy from being forced to interact with her coworker at the electronic store, Rosie, the rest of the mob crew, as well as actual therapy are letting her feel that she can belong again. She’s opening up in a big way she didn’t even as sidestep.

   Cyn does kill. However, it isn’t that often. When she kills it’s either: during a battle with other combatants or someone who “deserves” it (like a corrupt politician). This has lead to Ortega being afraid of her villain persona and even though she saves people, Chen believing she needs to be brought in. Argent tried to talk to her about her killing, but Cyn sort of shut down. Stating that “some people deserve to die”. However, she is willing to try to kill less. At least for Argent’s sake.

   Cyn’s end goal is to become powerful enough to be untouchable. To never be caught by the farm again. To do this, she needs to grow her villainous empire! She has to take Hollowground down and replace them with herself. After that, who knows. When she finally feels safe, she might change, feel less angry, less like a cornered animal. Her motivation, anger (or more appropriately fear), might change to life instead.

That was probably the happiest one so far. Let’s go over some fun facts:

Cynthia and Ortega really bonded and became friends over doing innocent pranks to Anathema.

Cyn wants to go to a carnival but is concerned over how her telepathy will react.

I could see her and Herald becoming really good friends with Herald due to Herald liking a bit of back and forth jabbing.

Cynthia also wants to replace Hollowground and become a… “softer” kingpin. She believes there have been a lot of unnecessary death and destruction under Hollowground’s rule of the city. Also, Cyn believes that the kingpin should take a more active role in keeping the city secure and profitable by fighting against the more violent and destructive villains.

Total head-canon but: Ricardo has a picture in his locker of Anathema giving Cynthia a piggyback ride while Cyn has a ballon sword. Both are in their hero outfits.

There’s a little rumor I heard that mob bosses will be naming their organization in book 3. So if we do, Cynthia’s organization is called “The Underworld”. Because of course it is.

Now to end with stats, armor, and appearance:

Cynthia is quite arrogant, sitting at around a 65%. She is more empathetic than ruthless, sitting around 55%. And she is daring, at around 75%. She prefers strength of mind over subtlety. Sitting at around the high 70s.

Type and appearance: imposing. Tall and built. The look resembles a blend of Ancient Greek with medieval plate armor. Engravings in the shape of battle scars are all over the armor in no exact pattern. The cloak is torn and battered looking (and Argent has it). The helmet resembles a hoplite helmet.

Add ons: armor and strength

Extra: she has a long sword to go with the armor.

Cynthia’s appearance:

Race: white

Height: medium, at around 5ft 8in (1.7m)

Hair: wavy black hair that used to be neat and styled in a part but now is chin length and is a bit wild due to her hair’s wavy nature.

Eyes: blue

Style: fashionable suits, slacks or skirts, usually no tie. She will wear different colored shirts but she usually wears the classic white shirt and black slacks/skirt and black blazer.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Pretty much how I always images Julia Ortega

(borat voice) my wife

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 4

I find it funny that this sidestep has the same motivation and scar as Iconoclast, yet they couldn’t be more different.

Name: Clara Dubois

Gender: female she/they

Villain name: Icarus

Villainous role: hero hunter (prepare them)

Motivation: fate

Scar: suicide (third in a row? Geez)

Reason for gala: destroy the sidestep exhibit

Where is she now?: hanging out. Innocent and free.

   Clara is a really fun sidestep to play. She (besides *maybe* sidestep 2 aka Daniel) is my most heroic sidestep. She believes that it’s eventual that the heroes of Los Diablos will clash with the farm and the threat that is coming. The city and its people will not suffer on account of her inaction. So she fights the heroes, never kills, helps civilians, donates to charity (what need does she have for that much money), and even robs from villains to have a flush fund if ever she needs it.

   She has a pretty good relationship with everyone, except maybe Argent and Mortum, and has a huge crush on Julia Ortega while also dating Herald. She told Julia though.. with a kiss as well as words. A conversation that Clara, Herald, and Ortega are going to need to have.

   Despite love being in the air Clara is not doing hot. She has issues she isn’t properly working through and believes it’s probably her fate to die during this “war”. She doesn’t believe she is a good person and worries about hurting the ones she loves.. more than she already has. She hurt Mortum when admitting the truth. She is afraid of hurting Ortega and Herald both physically in a fight (again) and emotionally for having feelings for both of them. I’m actually worried for her; her scar keeps getting worse and her motivation is dropping little by little. We’ll have to see what happens.

Man, another downer. How about some fun facts?:

Clara speaks several languages and actually enjoys learning new ones and keeping up with the ones she already knows.

There is only one language she tried to learn and dropped. Vietnamese. All those tenses and slight changes in tone meaning a thousand things drove her mad. She won’t touch it again.

Loves Vietnamese food though.

Learned how to cook after her second escape. Ortega may not believe her though.. Clara did almost burn her apartment down last time so.

Loves the color red, and will try to always wear something red.

Teases a lot. And is actually funny. She tries to never be straight up mean with it.

Used to play a lot of poker for actual money. She’s good and not just because of her telepathy.

She has used her telepathy to cheat though and was banned from playing with the other rangers. She took is as good fun and laughed when they realized.

Now the end with stats, armor stuff, and appearance:

Clara prefers anonymity at around 55%, she *can* be a know it all or it’d be a higher score. High empathy, sitting at about an 80%. And daring, at about 80% again. Clara prefers strength of mind over subtlety, strength sitting at around 80.

Armor:

Type and appearance: practical. Blocky and built. Thick militaristic armor plates with an equally blocky helmet. There are no easy angles on this armor, no subtlety. The armor plates are black, the armor underneath is red with gold accents at the joints and neck.

Add ons: armor and speed

Extra: I always imagined Clara using a collapsible staff that she usually carries on her hip.

Clara’s appearance:

Race: white

Height: medium, maybe 5ft 7in (1.7m)

Hair: straight thick blond hair. Shaved on sides and back. The rest is usually in a messy bun.

Eyes: green. They were always green. Just maybe not THAT green. Thanks Void.

Style: fashionable street wear. Casual and colorful. Wears a lot of different things but always wears something in red.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

every single piece ive done this past two weeks for this little project

i put it to music on instagram here

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[grimm-tales-gamer]

Fallen Hero: Sidestep 3

for my 3rd sidestep we have one of my wilder sidesteps. He’s a joy to play but, well you’ll see Name: William “Will” Vance

Gender: male he/him

Villain name: Iconoclast

Villainous Role: hero hunter (beat them)

Motivation: fate

Scar: suicide

Reason for gala: blow it up

Where is he now?: hanging out at Ricardo Ortega’s apartment. With (say it with me) broken legs.

   William is.. wow. He is an absolute delight to play but I wouldn’t want to be in a room with him. I’ve had a friend describe him as my “joker” sidestep or my “darkstep”. And while he certainly isn’t someone you’d wanna meet in a dark alley I wouldn’t call him my darkstep. I can think of 4 others who better fit that bill. Sure he’s a murderous psycho with an obsession with what he sees as “fate”. Sure he’s the only sidestep I have that massacred the gala. But he is fun! He happily whistles to himself while loading a missile launcher. He laughs while using telepathy and violence to cause chaos at the casino. He’s having the time of his life being a villain, not exactly the image of a “darkstep”. He’s probably the happiest of my sidesteps.

   “Happiest of my sidesteps” even with his scar. The way he sees it is: “it’s all going to happen anyway.” At least the way I see it is that Will’s scar is his inevitable death, whatever causes it doesn’t matter. Not necessarily he himself wants to end it all, though if “the joke” was good enough he might. He’s a bit nutty. Essentially he is fine, emotionally, with his own death. He’s nihilistic, but he’s decided he’ll “just have fun with it. Because it doesn’t matter in the end.”

   Somehow this goober has managed not only to spark his old flame with Ricardo but has become friends with literally everyone. I’m not sure how. This isn’t like with sidestep 1 (Nicole) where it’s a part of their story to be friends with everyone, William just became buddies with all the rangers and Mortum. Even William isn’t sure how all of that happened.

Fun facts I guess?:

William isn’t a huge fan of “Will” as a nickname but let’s people call him that anyway because William can be a mouthful.

I could see a “reality check” by someone William cares about pulling him back down to earth and away from his “goals”. However, that would require someone to realize that Will is Iconoclast and understand something is deeply wrong with him.

William plays the piano and is quite good with it.

When he wants to mess with someone, which is often, sometimes William will only respond to messages with gifs and memes.

He’s tall, but William has such little shit energy that I almost changed him to being short. But I’m terrified of what he’ll be able to accomplish being that small. “He’s in the walls! He’s in the goddamn walls!”

He turns into an absolute drama queen after putting on the helmet. He dances when entering a room, monologues, and does big gestures before breaking someone’s neck.

He’ll kill someone just for a joke’s punchline.

Despite his murderous ways, William is actually quite pleasant and polite, even in the armor.

William is very lanky. He is tall with long limbs and is dangerously thin. Despite his vice being sweets he forgets to eat unless he over uses his telepathy.

The big question is: would/will he kill the rangers? As of right now, I’m leaning on no.. okay, a soft maybe. If he did kill a ranger it would be split second decision I’m not sure he’d be happy about. Killing random rich people, villains, random heroes, and henchmen is one thing. Killing someone he knows, even cares about, is another beast.

Dude is not doing well in terms of mental health either. Obviously. But he’s opened like 8 gates and almost opened the 9th. Not great.

Alright stats, armor, and appearance time:

I think it should be no surprise William is arrogant, about 70%. I was surprised by his ruthlessness, only about a 65%-70%! I thought it’d be higher. Finally, he is daring, at about 90%! It’s about the drama! He prefers power over subtle with his telepathy but not by much. His power is 85ish and his subtle is 78

Armor:

Type and appearance: imposing, built shoulders with a cape resembling a torn up banner. Grey armor with blood red gloves, boots, and helmet. Where the eyes are are tiny black pinpoints, the rest of the “face” is blank. The overall design is reminiscent of old “golden age” superhero costumes but perverted to be scary and unsettling.

Add ons: armor and telepathy

Extra: he always has explosives with him. Whether it’s just standard grenades, bomb(s), or a whole missile launcher

William’s appearance:

Race: white

Height: tall, around 6ft 2in (about 1.9m)

Hair: curly blond hair. Long and loose. Sometimes if the outfit calls for it, he’ll do it up in a bun.

Eyes: gray

Style: nondescript street wear. Basic stuff, not bad just basic. Long sleeve button up over a tshirt and jeans kind of thing.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

sharing this to use myself later!

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[grimm-tales-gamer]

hey remember when i said yesterday that valerie was a freak and i don't endorse her actions? chargestep murder-suicide fic. enjoy!

[grimm-tales-gamer]

new issue of "TOO MANY STEPS" featuring their villain suits

[grimm-tales-gamer]

Ooh! So what does Daniel think of Herald? Does he know they share a name?

Daniel does know Herald and him share a name. He thinks it’s funny that Herald was cautious about telling him.

Overall Daniel likes Herald but he’s just Herald’s coach right now. “Because the boy is going to get himself killed” definitely comes to mind when I think of Herald and Daniel. Daniel looks at Herald and Argent and sees the “next generation of sacrifices”. The next generation of people who are going to be asked to throw away their lives for the image of the city.