kwillow

[kwillow]

BOY 💝 TOY

[ Comm by Yellowopossum on FA! ]

[kwillow]

The promised Amaranthine Au designs/Lore post! @chocodile thank you for letting me play in your sandbox!

Once a family of lesser Mage nobility who's spark of magic fizzled out not long after the emergence of the Shadow, the Ambrose line fell into obscurity for centuries. Despite of this, these Peacocks (And Peahens) never lost their pride in what they once had been. Sure, they were now common, but they had a Coat of Arms! Family History! Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma was a Witch! The Ambrose family has left some somewhat fascinating minor historical Footnotes, you know!

The new age had allowed this fowl family to flutter back to the ranks of the wealthy with the (brief) Automobile industry boom with some clever and early investments. Joan and Micheal's Grandparents* were able to buy back an ancestral manor, and style themselves as Old (well, returning) money. It truly depended on the other noble families if they welcomed the Ambroses with open arms or as some kind nouveau riche upstarts that just happened to share a name with an extinct Mage family, without even a spark of magic to uphold their claim.

As for Grandpa and Grandma Ambrose*? Haters be damned, they were overjoyed at being able to dust off their old Coat of Arms, send their kids to rich people schools and attend fancy parties, until the increasingly bitter winters snuffed out most of the market for four wheeled automobiles. The crops on the farmlands they purchased blighted, and the shops and businesses they had stakes in shuttered.

The 1920s has the Ambrose family once again sliding down the social ladder, their Manor mostly rented out, furniture and lands sold. Micheal and Joan remember a childhood of fancy evening wear, boarding school and dress balls. How did everything go down hill so fast?

Perhaps to cope, Micheal has gotten the archaic (and somewhat fanciful) idea of himself as the "Noble Protector" of "Their Town" (Featherfall is not the Ambrose family's in the least). The locals think of him as a harmless Don Quixote figure. While not quite aware of the nature of it, Micheal is certain there is "Some Foulness" out there blighting the crops, killing people and "making the world go mad!". He will be ready for it, with his hunting rifle and rapier! (It will be a miracle if he does not get himself killed or corrupted).

Joan as always, is the more rational one. She sees more and more of the people of Featherfall leave for Ironfrost each year. She knows that something is wrong, and tries to research as much as she can about the mysterious Shadow (finding little success, as she is far too careful to pry to deeply into such a forbidden subject.) Joan is fascinated by magic and loves reading stories of the Old Kingdom. She is split between "It is for the best that magic is a thing of the past, look at all the awful things people did with it" and "Damn, it would be really awesome to have magic. Just for me, of course. I can be trusted."

She is ready to try to take what little of the family money there is left and flee to warmer climes, but where could they go? It would break her brother's heart to leave and her own to finally declare her family's dream to return to nobility dead.

*Or just parents if I got the timeline wrong

[kwillow]

I'm so sorry if this is a common sentiment you oft recieve - but whenever come across images of Dmitri Shostakovich & his work, i cannot help but think of your little Theo. I wonder, how must he feel about the art of music composition and performance, if anything?

The phrase "your little Theo" made me smile...

I cannot say that many people have said that Theo reminds them of Soviet-era Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, no! I see the resemblance -- the glasses, obviously, and his face is on the softer, rounded side.

Theo is not nearly so talented as Mr. Shostakovich, though. Jocosa taught him how to play the piano, though his skill is limited by his lack of passion for music-making and (though he his reluctant to admit this) his small hands making some complex compositions difficult to execute. He is a competent player, he can read sheet music and play a few favorite songs from memory, but never had the creative spark to write his own music.

Despite not being driven to make music himself, Theo still appreciates it as an art form; as he appreciates all manner of things both beautiful and transcendent. That said, his tastes are ludicrously traditional and he will dismiss new forms of music and innovations on beloved genres out of hand. Anything invented after he turned 16 will fall under the label of "unlistenable modern trash" or "an auditory assault on the concept of proper music."

[kwillow]

Quiet, please: mad scientist at work.

[ Comm by Igoo on FA! ]

[kwillow]

All of my con commissions at AWU this weekend! I haven't done in-person sketches in a hot minute so it was nice to realize I can still draw on paper 😅

[kwillow]

I hope you don't mind me drawing this comparison, I know some artists get annoyed by "your thing reminds me of xyz other thing", but Theo reminds me a bit of Tabitha Scarlet from the game Scarlet Hollow. I was playing it the other day and all I could think was "this girl is so Theo-coded lol". I guess misanthropic, poorly socialized endlings of once-important bloodlines is a hyper-niche character type that really appeals to me XD

The biggest differences in the two that I can see are that Tabitha still has a surviving family member to commiserate with, and that Theo's mom actually liked him lmao

Oh damn, I've been meaning to play this game regardless but now I REALLY need to.

I LOVE an dickish endling of a once-important bloodline and when I've seen bits and pieces of Tabitha here and there and my thought was always "oh she looks like she's hard to get along with, I wanna see more of her."

[kwillow]

Another revenge, this time for Kritto on Art Fight, which I got a little carried away with because the concept of Ambroys trying to pick up a no-nonsense warmaiden (war cleric) tickled me so.

[kwillow]

Revenge for @echinacea-art, who drew her character in Amaranthine's setting, so I flipped it and made poor Michael and Joan deal with Tudor-ized versions of my awful aristocrats.

Lord Ambrose has made a no-doubt well-intentioned but perhaps not so well-executed remark that Lord North took poorly (which could be anything, given his ill temper), and their respective Lady Jos must step in to negotiate for their male relatives who are, perhaps, not very well suited for this whole delicate court politicking thing.

[kwillow]

Amaranthine Au Joan having an awkward moment of eye contact with the elegant but chilly hostess, @kwillow 's Lady Jocosa. Turns out Victorian dresses are way harder for me to draw then Tudor for some reason!

Joan is a scruffy 16-17 year old here, please forgive her scruffy plumage (Or don't it was hilarious to draw her like this). I'm sure the drink is age appropriate. (It seemed wrong to draw someone at a fancy rich person event sans wine.)

[kwillow]

Amaranthine Au Joan having an awkward moment of eye contact with the elegant but chilly hostess, @kwillow 's Lady Jocosa. Turns out Victorian dresses are way harder for me to draw then Tudor for some reason!

Joan is a scruffy 16-17 year old here, please forgive her scruffy plumage (Or don't it was hilarious to draw her like this). I'm sure the drink is age appropriate. (It seemed wrong to draw someone at a fancy rich person event sans wine.)

[kwillow]

What's Theo's original story! I'm so used to him as a lil opossum guy, that I'm really rather intrigued what happened for him to be a lil (non?) human freak! Did he turn into a vampire? Some other such haunting creature? ( Also; his peers are incredible I love this odd little rat man )

Ah well it's not much of a story, really, I've never been very good with "plots" or "coherent narratives." Jack and Theo's original setting was in 1930s America, in a city on the Eastern seaboard. A lot of Theo's backstory for Amaranthine was taken from this setting, actually -- Theo was a paranoid and unstable outcast from an Old Money family fallen on hard times, sent into self-isolation from grieving his mother. Jack was a drifter on the wrong side of the mob, which is never a good place to be and why hiding behind a deranged freak who's idea of saying hello was putting a knife to his throat seemed like a pretty good idea to him.

Theo wasn't a vampire (though I've made an AU where he IS a vampire because of course I did), just a human guy who's got a thirty-car-pile-up of congenital disorders and physical quirks. His unusual appearance was a key part of his character and his angst about not fitting in with other people (and it is in Amaranthine, also, but I think his deformities aren't as clear in that design because they get kind of overwritten by the furry thing...) though admittedly his terrible personality didn't help matters.

Like I said, I never had a real narrative in place for them, I just liked imagining them in situations and writing disconnected drabbles, a weird mix of wacky odd-couple shenanigans, melodrama and bloody violence (that Theo found himself enjoying far too much).

Then I started sharing my characters with my artist friends, we joined a Fallout RP community and I made versions of my guys to fit in there, and since then I had discovered the joy and addictive power of making hundreds of AUs of your characters to play with. I never did much with their old setting beyond going on mind journeys, but obviously I still love writing these guys, no matter what world I've decided to plunk them into.

...And I still like to write wacky odd-couple shenanigans, melodrama and bloody violence. Some things never change.

[kwillow]

rude awakening / meet cute

[kwillow]

I would love to know more about Jack. He is such an enigma to me and seems to want to keep it that way. He is so lazy but keeps an effort to keep others from getting closer. He seems to always be running away from something. How does Theo even meet someone like this? How does he grow fond of someone who i know his mother would have an aneurysm if she knew he was present?

Aw I'm happy you want to hear about Jack! He hasn't been out of the stable in a while, poor guy, but I'm still very fond of him (and I write him regularly for Wishbone scenes so he's often on my mind regardless).

In their original story (RIP), Jack's a drifter who breaks into this creepy abandoned mansion for shelter overnight, and wakes up to a scary little freak holding a knife over his face. Other AUs have a similar situation, where they cross paths by happenstance, Jack is clearly in need, and Theo feels responsible for him. It's like the cat distribution system except Theo winds up with some guy with a criminal record instead of a kitten.

In settings where Jack and Theo become best buddies, Jo has passed on, so Theo is extremely lonely and open to glomming onto someone who seems to need him. Sort of like how having a pet can help a depressed person by giving them a reason to get up, Theo gets a sense of purpose out of keeping Jack from dying in a ditch. You're right that Jo would not be thrilled about Jack if she were around, haha. She would not find him as charming as Theo does.

In any case, Jack doesn't think Theo's violent tendencies are enough to outweigh the benefits of mooching (or the free entertainment). Jack may be a dumbass but he's also more guileful than he lets on, and he gets quite good at outsmarting Theo without either of them realizing that's what he's doing. But by the time Theo figures out Jack isn't quite the hapless innocent he thought he was, he's already grown attached to him (and vice-versa, though Jack is cagier about admitting that).

[kwillow]

Obscure character development questions:

How does your character react when tracking shows their package has gone on a detour to the other side of the country?

Do they park close to the building or far away from other cars?

How eagerly would your character respect a loved one's DNR?

[kwillow]

😇 😈

[kwillow]

Ambroys, but a mortal human in a nebulously modern time period, with no special powers beyond nepotism, daddy's credit card, and an indefatigably terrible personality that persists no matter how many lectures, mild punishments or psychiatric appointments his parents throw at him.

Too rich to be a gold digger, too much trouble to be a trophy husband, so he has to settle for being an annoying clingy attention-seeking fuckboy instead.

[kwillow]

Though Jocosa was often content to have her son trailing behind her as a small, wheezy, slightly unstable shadow, there were times when she had to attend to a situation that his lack of social acumen (and tendency to bite) were particularly ill-suited for.

Unfortunately, Theo never grew out of his separation anxiety. He couldn't stand being in a swarm of people, even three was a crowd -- but despite his loner tendencies, being a two-person rat king could work for him. He always found it difficult to let her go.