#DQXI OC week

[omgitsaddyc]

DQXI OC Week!!

Hi friends!! Last year I wrote a little fic called Begin Again. Fic spoilers (and major in-game spoilers for the end of Act 2/Act3) and Lumi ramblings below the cut!

HERE HE IS! Okay stay with me because I’m almost to the point of confusing myself with my own lore.

Lumi is half of El’s soul. When he failed and Yggdrasil fell (and he died. oop.) Yggdrasil split his soul in two. Half woke back up in Cobblestone ala time loop, while the other half (who ends up being Lumi) was stored in Time’s Sphere.

Blah blah fic lore, the crack in Time’s Sphere from when Serenica broke it is what allowed El’s time loops in the first place. So when they venture to the Tower of Lost Time to seal that crack with El’s power, Lumi appeared after they left, finally released from the Time Sphere. Poor thing just woke up with the Timekeeper like “um. excuse me???”

But I digress.

Fast forward to where they come face-to-face in Phnom Nonh. Canon El is a little taller, a little older. He’s seen some Shit, right? So after discovering that there is another him running around and that they are indeed the same person, everyone has questions. I imagine El being like “Well. this might as well happen.”

To differentiate between the two identical Luminaries, they name the newbie “Lumi”, and they decide he needs a convincing disguise since there’s only one Luminary to the public’s knowledge, and they’d rather keep it that way for simplicity’s sake. 

And lo, my son is born! I stole this child and adopted the crap out of him.

I still really like the scene where he cuts and dyes his hair. His internal monologue in the story mentions wanting to distance himself from his past and turn over a new leaf in this timeline, and changing his name and how he presented himself was one way to do that. It was also a good way to show him becoming his own person.

It took a bit of a meltdown for Lumi to feel truly accepted. He felt like an outsider while everyone else had an extra year or so together that he’d missed. He struggles with his anger over being locked away in the time sphere, but with the help of the others (mostly Jasper!!) he’s able to work past it.

He’s a little sassier and more sarcastic than El. He’s a gremlin, kinda. I love him.

At the end of the fic he merges back with El into one person, souls recombined. As much of a nice, tie-it-all-up ending that is, what if Lumi could have stayed his own person? Maybe I’ll make a follow-up to this post with some ideas, or if you have any, feel free to jump into my ask box, or yell at me on discord! :D Let’s build an oc lol

[romijuli]

DQXI OC and NPC Week: February 1st to February 7th

Alright, look. We all have some sweet ideas about who could (or should) join the DQXI party, or even some cool ideas you can’t apply to an existing character! So why not encourage folks to write it down?

A Very Quick Summary of this little event: put together your idea for a Sweet New Character, or promote an NPC to party member, from the usual suspects (Gemma, Jasper, ya know) to your wildest flights of fancy (Golden Boy...actually if you can get a plot goin for Golden Boy you are my personal hero)!

The sky is your limit; we don’t do cringe culture in THIS house (and also one of my choices is going to be balls-to-the-wall Every Bad OC Cliche In History because I think it’ll be funny). Long-lost siblings, Cool Magical Powers, torrid romances with another party member...seriously, go ham. It’s fun.

There aren’t many specific rules beyond Enjoy Yourself, but I do have like one general request under the cut and some guidelines if you need a lil nudge!

Okay the request: please...don’t do like incest or anything like that. I really like interacting with the results of these little events and that stuff makes me pretty uncomfy. (Also pls no character hate, not that i think it’ll come up) ANYWAY

So, if you’re not sure how you wanna go about it, I have a little schematic I’m gonna be following that you’re welcome to follow as well! :3

First Impression: what it says on the tin: what were they up to when they met the party, and what were their initial impressions?

Tagging Along: your character of choice officially joins the party! how does that go down?

Bonding: Who do they grow closest to? (Platonic or romantic; your choice!)

Wandering: What are they up to between Yggdrasil’s fall and their reuniting with the party?

Personal Arc: Everyone grows in Act 2; how does your focal character?

Act 3: How do they fare with the whole time travel business?

Tor Cutscene: I mean. Everyone gets one, right? Why shouldn’t the newbie?

If you want me to reblog/interact with your stuff, tag it “dqxi oc npc week”! :3

[leyartser]

I would’ve made a drawing for every party member, but I only have so much time

I didn’t turn out to have time to write out how Evelyn gets along with each and every party member either, and some things I’d like to think about more, but oh well, this is quite some stuff already, I think.

Here goes!

Both Erik and Evelyn distrusted each other somewhat when Evelyn first joined the group. Erik was skeptical of Evelyn since she joined the group very suddenly and forcefully, unwilling to take her explanation at face value. Evelyn didn’t trust Erik because he’s a thief, and despite knowing he must’ve had his reasons, for a while she didn’t take her eyes off her belongings for long if he was around. Over time, the mutual distrust slowly disappeared as neither did the things the other worried they would. They also end up bonding over the similarities in their fighting styles and their skepticism, even teaching each other some stuff from time to time (Erik teaches her to use the Rubblerouser-type spells and gives her advice on how to wield daggers, Evelyn teaches him about some of the monsters’ weak points she discovered, and how to set various types of traps)

When it comes to Serena, Evelyn initially didn’t hold her in high regard. She certainly liked Serena, but she saw how much she followed after Veronica. In battle, she’d mostly provide healing as well, which made Evelyn assume she wouldn’t be able to hold her own if there weren’t others fighting for her. However, after an extremely dire situation in which Evelyn was forced to fight side-by-side with her, she realized she’d underestimated Serena. They didn’t become extremely close afterwards, but Evelyn did respect her a whole lot more.

Evelyn started off with mixed feelings about Jade, stemming from envy and admiration. She admires Jade’s strength, both physical and mental, how she managed to keep going after everything that happened to her and even managed to make something of herself, to an extent. On the other hand, she’s somewhat envious of her, because she always had Rab with her as she grew up, while Evelyn from a young age had no one to rely on but herself. At times she ended up talking with Jade about their experiences on the road, however, which made Evelyn’s envy fade, and the two of them grew closer because of it.

[error707-thatdude]

Decided to give Lena's fits a quick update! They turned out better then I thought they would honestly lol

Still having trouble truly figuring out her armor but at least for now I think its okay?

[monotoned-p]

Dragon Quest IX OC Week (Feb. 1-7)

(I don’t usually write in first person so this is new for me! There should be eight parts to this and if they don’t get all posted in a week EVENTUALLY they’ll be posted)

My older brother was one of Heliodor’s finest knights. He wasn’t as revered as Sir Hendrik or Jasper. But to me he was the world.

My brother always loved history, he always told me stories growing up about the world. About the luminary of legend, about the monsters of the world . About what home was like before it was destroyed. But I never understood why he was so troubled when he talked about there being a new luminary, about the prospect of him being out there. And frankly, he never told me why.

The last time I saw my brother was when I left Heliodor. I was going to study abroad, and eventually my journeys led me to Arboria. I’ve grown a love for it here. Recently, two girls left the village. They’re going out to find the luminary. That’s what got me thinking about my brother, really. He always spoke about Erdwin with such respect, but whenever the new luminary was brought up, he never wanted to continue the conversation.

So, I’ve decided to head back to Heliodor.

I had forgotten how rocky the road was out of Arboria. The townspeople seemed sad to let me go, they said I was one of the most exciting things to happen since the twins were born. I promised I would come back, and that I wasn’t done studying the history of the Luminary. As I write I’ve almost made it to Heliodor, I’ve stopped in the foothills and taken refuge in a small church. And as I’ve settled down to sleep for the night, the strangest thing has happened.

You see, there’s a man who’s just walked in. He’s soaking wet, and he’s carrying somebody else on his shoulders. He’s talking to the priestess right now, and she’s offering him to stay the night. And as he walks into my room, it seems my chances of a peaceful night have all but ended. He sets his companion on the bed and grabs a towel, drying himself. I feel like all I can do is stare, I’m not sure what’s more unusual about the pair. The stranger's blue hair or the strange gleam in his eyes. Looking at his partner I saw that he’s out cold, he has a strange jewel draped around his neck, and a birthmark on his hand.

I had taken my glasses and stared at it clearer, and I realize what’s so strange about the pair. It’s the luminary and his companion. His companion noticed my staring and stared straight back,

“Something to see?” He said, his tone was cold towards me, but in fairness. I was staring.

“Not at all, I was just wondering why you two were wet.” I said.

“Ah well, we just escaped prison,” he grinned “things got a little hairy out there.”

I laughed, but I wasn’t sure if it was a joke. But the good people of Heliodor wouldn’t lock up the luminary would they? That was ridiculous. But then again, I don’t think my brother would’ve ever been opposed to it.

“Are you from Heliodor?” I pondered,

“Nope, I’m not from anywhere.” Replied the stranger,

“You must be from somewhere”

“Nope, not from anywhere. Are YOU from Heliodor?” He asked.

Really I wasn’t sure how to reply, I was from Heliodor, but at the same time I wasn’t.

“Well, I was born in Dundrasil, but I don’t remember much of it. I grew up in Heliodor for most of my life”

“Dundrasil, huh?”

I tried to answer but he seemed to brush me off, his mind had gone somewhere else. Leaving me alone in a room with a criminal, and the luminary. The room was quiet, and the sun was about to set, and the rain stared to fall. All I felt like I could do was stare at the pair. The ink from my quill slowly accumulating in a puddle on my page as my mine drew a blank.

All I could do was sleep until morning, really.

NEXT

[icyhotheartwritings]

DQXI OC Week, Day 1: First Impressions

Aha! It’s still within the week so it still counts! Enjoy the origins of Esja, my sabrecat-obsessed OC! This got way away from me. It was supposed to be 300 words and somehow contains an A3 reference!

Word count: 2748

Content warnings: Animal injury

Esja sighed as she secured a bandage around the paw of a young sabrecat that was currently curled up in her lap. Various other bandages adorned the poor cub’s body, more of a protection to keep things out rather than holding anything together. She wished she could help more, but this recent string of injuries had depleted her magic so she couldn’t completely seal the wounds.

“You poor darlin’,” she cooed when the cub let out a small noise. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’re safe now.” She picked the cub up off her lap and carried it over to her bed, setting it at the bottom of her mattress where it began to purr and knead at her sheets. She needed new ones anyway. “Here, ya can stay with me tonight. I can fix ya up better in the mornin’.” She took one more look around the room, making sure the other cats scattered around the room were alright, before crawling under the covers. When she found out who was doing this to her babies, in the middle of the night no less, she was going to make them regret it.

She awoke the next morning to a gentle tapping on her cheek. She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, before realizing it was the cub from the night before that was trying to get her attention.

“Mornin’, cubby,” she mumbled, voice heavy with sleep. “Ya hungry?” she asked as she sat up in bed. “If you let me up I’ll getcha some breakfast.” The cub squeaked in reply, but moved back down to the foot of the bed to let Esja swing her legs over the side of the bed.

“Mornin’, everyone!” she called to the rest of the sabrecats scattered around the cave. “Wakey wakey kitties, it’s time for brekky!” She picked the cub up off the bed and set it gently on the ground so it wouldn’t attempt to jump off. Then, she made her way to her food stores and picked up a few slabs of meat. She frowned at the stack as she began passing out the food, turning her attention to a group of three adults sitting near the front door. “Can ya bring back some more meat next time ya hunt? We’re runnin’ low.” The frontmost cat chirped in reply before digging into the meat Esja laid in front of them. “Thanks, girls. I’ll owe ya some extra pets next time ya visit us.”

As soon as all the sabrecats were settled with their food, she began to prepare her own breakfast in her makeshift kitchen. As she pulled ingredients off the shelves, she felt a warm body rub against her legs.

“Hey, Sindri,” she greeted without looking. “I know, I just gotta eat and heal some more wounds and we can go out. I know how pent up ya get.” Sindri purred and nuzzled against her leg before moving to lay on his bed. “What do ya wanna do today? We just went to town last week, and we might wanna take that cub back to its mama, so do ya wanna go fishin’ or somethin’ after we return the little cubby?” 

Sindri let out a chirp in reply, flicking his tail in excitement. 

“Alright, fishin’ it is! Don’t let me forget my bait this time, alright?” She smiled as she moved her food to her small table, sitting on the floor next to one of the adult sabrecats. 

“Dandelion, scoot,” she mumbled as he leaned hard into her leg. “Dandy, you’re heavy!” She sighed as he rolled over, setting his head in her lap upside down. “Fine, fine, I’ll scratch your chin.” She moved her right hand down to scratch under his chin while she continued to eat, earning a loud purr from the creature as he began kneading the air. “You’re lucky you’re so damn cute…”

“Alright, is this gonna be everyone?” Esja called out into the cave, glancing over all the cats. “Looks like it’s just you, little one,” she muttered to the cub from the night before, who was curled up in her lap once again. “Alright, just gotta take these bandages off ya.” She gently unwrapped the bandages, starting from the cub’s ear and moving backwards on its body. “It’s okay, I’ve got ya,” she reassured, letting one hand pet the cub soothingly as she took a bandage off a particularly bad injury. She smiled and kissed its soft forehead after she removed the last bandage. “There ya go, that’s all the bandages. Now hold still for me, okay?” She laid her hands on the cub gently and chanted a spell, watching as the wounds closed completely. 

“There ya go, darlin’. All fixed up. Do ya wanna go back now or stay here another night?” In response, the cub rolled off her lap and bounced over to an unoccupied mat, flopping down and rolling back and forth. Esja let out a laugh, but was quickly interrupted by a large head rubbing against her shoulder.

“Alright, Sindri. Gimme a few minutes to get dressed, yeah? We get some extra fishin’ time today anyway.” She pushed up on the ground and gave Sindri a pat on the head before shuffling towards her dresser. From the air that slipped past her dilapidated door, she guessed that she’d need to dress extra warm. Sindri would be fine, of course, but she was only human. 

“Remind me why I brought my wand,” Esja grumbled to Sindri as she shifted the weapon on her back. Sindri chirped in reply, and she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, in case I find someone injured, I know. It’s just so heavy.” Sindri rubbed up against her legs again, and she scratched his head fondly. “Yes, I know you’re carryin’ all the fish and my pole, plus all the berries I managed to resist eating. And I appreciate it. Just let me whine.” Sindri purred, and she smiled down at the sabrecat.

“How about we go to the library in the next few days? I’m just about done with the books we borrowed last time, and I know how much ya like sneaking’ past the monsters with me.” Sindri pushed into her roughly, and Esja had to use him to pull herself back upright. “Alright, alright, library it is. It has been a while, hasn’t it?” she asked with a laugh. Suddenly, Sindri leapt in front of her protectively and started growling at something in the distance.

“What is it, Sin-sin?” Esja asked, squinting in the direction of Sindri’s growling. A group of figures moved in the distance, directly towards them. Were those… people? She signaled Sindri to lay down behind a large rock so the strangers wouldn’t notice him by the equipment strapped to his back. She knelt down behind a bit of snow, leaving her head exposed just enough so she could watch. Were they headed to the Royal Library?

As the figures got closer, she was able to discern more about them. There were eight of them, and the one in front with the short hair and purple clothes appeared to be the leader of the group. Each of them held at least one weapon on their person, from simple knives to large whips. They looked dangerous. She cursed as they walked ever closer. Maybe she and Sindri could escape without them noticing, or at least hide until they passed...

“Hey, you!” the short blonde girl suddenly shouted across the snow. “What are you doing out here?” 

“Sindri, hup!” Esja yelled as she jumped to her feet, alarmed at being spotted. Sindri came sprinting towards her, and she hopped on his back and held on to his mane tightly. “Time to go home!” Sindri immediately started running back in the direction of their cave, and Esja buried her face in his neck as he sprinted, to both save her face from the cold air and catch the tears that were falling. 

“Are these the monsters that have been hurtin’ everyone?” she mumbled into Sindri’s fur. Sindri let out a low, comforting rumble, a promise of protection against these strangers. Whatever happened, she and Sindri wouldn’t go down easily. They had a family to protect, after all.

The moment she and Sindri were through the door, she slammed it shut and barricaded it with all the furniture she could comfortably move. As soon as she knew it wasn’t going to budge, she kneeled down and uncinched the strap around Sindri’s middle.

“Watch the door, Sindri,” she ordered as she took the pack and quickly set about putting away the fish they had caught and plants they gathered before anything could spoil. “It’s okay, kitties. I’ll protect you,” she promised as she glanced back to the dozen or so cats watching her intently. “Me and Sindri, we’ve got ya.” She let out a quick laugh as Dandelion began growling lightly in the direction of the door. “Yes, Dandelion, you’ll help protect everyone. I know ya will.”

“Hello? Is anyone home?” An uncomfortably familiar voice called. Dandelion and Sindri brought themselves lower to the ground, growling at the door loudly.

“Shit, you weren’t just being overprotective,” she whispered to herself as she pulled her staff from her back and walked closer to the door, gripping the shaft like her life depended on it. For all she knew, it would.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” a second, softer voice reassured.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Esja called back, flinching at the volume and tone of her own voice.

“We would be willing to leave our weapons outside,” a third voice offered. Was that… a Heliodorian accent? Who were these people?

“Leave all your weapons outside. I keep mine, and my sabrecats will be watching your every move.” Esja moved closer towards the door as she heard the sounds of weapons being dropped haphazardly into the snow.

“Alright, we’re unarmed,” the third voice called out again. Esja began moving the furniture out of the way, hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake by allowing them in. Sindri and Dandelion stood on either side of her as she took a deep breath and opened the door, revealing the eight travellers. 

“Come in before ya let the cold in,” she lightly scolded. The group shuffled in, and Esja shut the door behind them. “Are you the ones who hurt all my babies?” she accused, gesturing to the various sabrecats scattered around the cave. A few members of the group turned away awkwardly, looking anywhere but towards her.

“We apologize, but they attacked us first,” the tall woman with black hair spoke. Esja recognized her as the third voice that had spoken outside her door.

“That doesn’t sound like my babies,” she replied, skeptical.

“They may have been riled up by the soldiers,” the man wearing a Sniflheim scholar’s outfit supplied.

“Soldiers?” Esja asked. “As of last week, Sniflheim was still frozen solid.”

“Heliodorian soldiers,” the man with blue hair clarified. “Including Sir Hendrik himself,” he muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“Ya sound like you’ve got history,” Esja accused. “Who are you guys, anyways?”

“I’m Veronica,” the short blonde girl introduced. “And this is my younger sister, Serena.”

“We’re twins,” Serena gently corrected. It sounded like she was the second voice she heard behind the door. But… twins? Esja blinked a couple of times, she’d have to get that story out of them before they left.

“Erik,” the man with the spiked up hair finally offered after a look from one of his companions.

“Jade,” the black haired woman spoke with a tone that invited no questions, which only made Esja all the more curious about her. The rest of the group introduced themselves in turn, until there was only one member left.

“And this is Eleven,” Erik gestured to the person Esja had pegged as the leader of the group, who gave a small wave in greeting. “They’re the Luminary.”

“The Luminary of legend, eh?” she asked somewhat skeptically. “I’m Esja. Just Esja,” she introduced. “And this,” she gestured to Sindri, “is Sindri Bartholomew Squidzilla the Fourth, Esquire.” As if on cue, Sindri stepped forward and sniffed Erik’s hand softly. “He likes you, Erik. You can pet him,” she offered, trying to hide her surprise. Dandelion was usually the friendly one. Erik moved his hand to the top of Sindri’s head, gently scratching at it. Esja softened as Sindri began purring loudly at the touch. If Sindri trusted them, so could she. At least until they gave her a reason not to.

“We’ll get right to the point,” Jade spoke. “How familiar are you with the Royal Library?”

“Very familiar. There’s not much else for me to do out here while the town’s frozen, after all.” She looked over the group, sighing at their excitement. “Were ya lookin’ for a guide?”

“We are, if you would be willing. We need to find an enchanted grimoire in order to thaw the city, but none of us know where to look,” Snorri explained. Eleven quickly signed something to Erik, who turned his attention back to Esja.

“They said that you don’t have to worry about fighting if you don’t want to, we can take care of it if you just show us where to go.” Esja sighed and nodded, sparing a glance at her normally standoffish Sindri turning into a cub at Erik’s touch.

“Alright, I’ll take ya. But first, let’s get you warmed up. Some of ya look like you’re about to freeze to death,” she said, looking pointedly at Eleven and Sylvando as she moved towards her dresser to retrieve blankets.

“Thank you, darling!” Sylvando exclaimed, immediately perking up even more.

“It’s about to get dark out, anyway. If you’re all comfortable sleepin’ on the floor, ya can stay the night and we can leave in the mornin’. I’ve got plenty of blankets,” she offered.

“Would that really be alright?” Serena asked.

“If ya think ya can get Sniflheim back to normal, I’ll do what I can to help. But I wouldn’t be opposed if ya had some spare food, with town frozen over there’s no way I can buy anythin’ to eat, and I’ve already taken most of the food that wasn’t frozen.” She began passing out blankets as she spoke, Dandelion following her wherever she walked while Sindri stayed by Erik. “Feel free to set up wherever you’d like, and ya can go get your weapons so they don’t get damaged.”

“Thank you, Esja,” Serena spoke genuinely. “Is there anywhere you’d like me to set them when I bring them inside?” she asked as she set her blanket down next to where Veronica sat and moved towards the door. 

“Anywhere’s fine. If my babies trust ya, so will I,” she said, gesturing to Sindri laying his head in Erik’s lap. “I’m going to feed the kids and get some rest myself, you’re welcome to stay up as long as ya like, and my kitchen is free to use if you have anythin’ ya want to cook. I probably have enough food to make breakfast for everyone in the mornin’ if ya like fish,” she offered as she began passing out food to her cats.

“Ah, thank you, lassie,” Rab said from his spot on the floor, a sabrecub sniffing at his leg.

“We will repay you as soon as we can,” Jade promised. Esja hummed noncommittally. She forgot how exhausting being around people could be. Maybe it was better that the town was frozen… She shook her head lightly to herself as she laid down the last piece of food. She could be around people if it meant not starving to death. 

“Alright, just make yourselves comfortable. Move anythin’ around, it won’t take too long for me to move back.” She retreated towards her bed, thankful she had set it up in an alcove so she wouldn’t feel like they were watching her sleep. “I’m callin’ it a night. Make sure ya get plenty of rest, the monsters in the library aren’t to be trifled with.” Before anyone could reply, she slipped under the covers, cringing as she felt her outerwear press against her. She could live with this for just one night. 

She smiled to herself as a now-familiar presence jumped onto the bed, the warmth of the little cub curled up at her feet helping to soothe her to sleep. Just a bit longer, and everything would be back to normal. 

[midnight-marimba]

Mar’s DQXI Fic OCs

It’s Dragon Quest OC And NPC Week, and I’m going to approach it from the other direction than what’s described in the event proposal, because I rarely end up inventing a detailed character without context, but I often find a specific need for a character in a piece of fanfiction and build them up out of that prompt into something better than a footnote. So I’m going to take the opportunity to talk about some of my fics and the original characters and NPCs who wandered into them and made themselves interesting enough that I’m eager to share a little extra detail or commentary about them.  (Under the cut)

Hair Tie That Binds

A comedic story about Hendrik recruiting Erik for a heist to help fix his own mistake. (9k words)

I needed a minor villain, so I invented Lady Druzy (named off of an obscure corner of a gem list, so as to suit a minor Heliodoran noble).  She is petty, spiteful, vengeful, and apparently my favorite archetype of OC to write.  She is awful and I loved writing her.

After Rain, The Sun Will Shine

A Sylv/Hendrik one-shot involving Hendrik’s memories of Sylv’s mother. (8k words)

When I wrote this, I had not yet heard the detail from the voice drama (please somebody translate the whole thing?? <3) that Sylv's mom's given name was Gerbera and her stage name was Sylvia (that is, exactly the same stage name Sylv took in the Japanese version of the game).  I had only heard a broader rumor about the drama and Sylv choosing a stage name in honor of their mother.

So when I went to write a story about her, I looked at a list of Dutch names (to match Arnout and Hendrik — Zwaardsrust is Dutch) and hunted for one a name with a "Syl" sound.  I landed on Silke, which is also satisfying from a word association perspective (since it looks like "silk" which sounds highly appropriate for a "famous Zwaardsrustian beauty" — one of the few canon details we get for her).

I tried to make her stubborn and determined, inspiring and willfully optimistic for the sake of the people she had under her leadership.  Sylv-like, but with a slightly more intense philosophical flavor than canon Sylv, as she’s walking out of an arguably even greater tragedy (or at least more personal at a larger scale?)

Silk and Swagger

Faris/Reader, from the point of view of a Heliodor guard. (1.7k words)

The guard is nameless and the fic is relatively short, but my goodness it was fun inventing someone who is instantly smitten with Faris and believes the best of him at all times.

When Home Isn't Marked on the Map

A Sylv/Erik longfic set a couple years after the end of the game, in which Erik is coming out of a period of self-imposed isolation after a disastrous attempt at confessing his one-sided romantic feelings for the Luminary, and he begins by going looking for Sylv, the one old companion he dares hope won’t yell at him for his absence.  (74k words)

Since the ultimate seed of the idea behind this fic was "Erik would be protective towards orphans and Sylv would like that about him" I needed some kids to put in the story.  There are two sets of four that I named and included. 

First is the group from the rural area near Puerto Valor, and thus they have Spanish names: Isabella, Serafito, Paz, Ana.  I'm pretty sure I named the younger ones with shorter names to help myself keep them straight.  In my head, they have a darker complexion than the rest of the kids in the story, since I always wish the DQ world was a little more diverse on that front, but I fear that I forgot to actually write that detail in.  (Room for improvement...)

The second group is an expansion of the four child NPCs you can find playing hide-and-seek in downtown Heliodor.  I could only find a canon name for Cammo (the King of Hide-and-Seek) so I gave the rest of them stone related names, figuring the pattern from Cobblestone might extend around Heliodor into the poorer and less formal areas of the kingdom (Ruby the innkeeper notwithstanding). So they are Flint, Crystal, and Mica.

There are so many of them that it was tough to give all of them a lot of characterization, but I tried to distinguish each of them at least a little.  Isabella, the leader of her group, blunt in a way that reminds Erik of Mia and Veronica.  Serafito, a little bit of a self-sacrificing caretaker. Paz, young but outgoing, and Ana, even younger and a little shy.  Flint, the canny, cautious, and slightly manipulative leader of the Heliodor gang.  Cammo, sneaky and adventurous and clever.  Crystal, strong and brave and protective.  Mica unfortunately ended up being most notable for the ordeals he goes through.

My favorite among them ended up being Crystal, from the instant she decided she was after Hendrik's job.

Diamond

A Sylv/Serena and Sylv/Dave fic, from Serena’s point of view.  Set after Act 3 as Serena chooses a mission to research and perform healing around the world, travels alongside Sylv’s new circus troupe, and they both get to pursue some missing character development.  (118k words, technically 1 chapter short of an intended ending but may not be continued.)

Mind the tags and content advisory if you go into the fic itself, because (1) for reasons of 2020, a story about a doctor-hero was simply not an ideal story to begin in the year 2019, and (2) it is NOT a utopian style world — many characters have prejudices, others are closeted in some major ways, and not all of that is gone by the end of the story.  I 100% understand many folks not wanting to go roll around in that kind of fiction, and while there’s a discussion about Representation I could shoehorn in here, I’m going to set it aside for the sake of on-topic rambling about fun OC development.

For this fic, I wanted Sylv and Serena to be traveling the world together.  Serena was to be motivated in part by the allure of getting to meet more new people, and also, I think it’s useful for her personal growth to spend a little time away from her blood family and most of the people from whom she would naturally take direction.  I also wanted to explore Sylv as a leader in a way that’s not so easy within the canon party, and in general, I imagine Sylv both being friendly to every stranger and also having old friends pop up everywhere he goes.

Between the two of them, I ended up needing to plop in OC's left and right, both for Sylv’s new Act 3 circus troupe, and in every town they visited.  Because I’m a nerd, I expanded lore for some of the regions too, and I will mention some of those details here with the characters.

Sylv’s troupe:

Chill, a contortionist from Sniflheim, where people get kind of uncomfy about magic, especially when it looks too close to evil witchery.  Like, say, Zing.

Samir, a short, round bard from Gallopolis who can do amazing things with a variety of instruments, and his partner Grey, once a guard from Heliodor until he decided that job was even more bland than his name, and he ran off to Gallopolis to join the circus.

Maria and Mateo, a couple of quiet, short and slender dancers from Puerto Valor (in my head, Mateo is about 5 feet and Maria’s a couple inches shorter, though I keep gravitating away from talking in Modern Earth units of measurement when writing for this fandom).  Their kids, teenaged Leo and toddler Lena, aren’t (yet) performers, but are present because I thought it was interesting to plug some kids into a story about a traveling circus troupe, and because I wanted to give Sylv an excuse to interact with kids.

Francine. A classically beautiful acrobat from Octagonia, where the only work she could find was being a bunny girl handing out flyers.  She’s had a crush on Sylv, which didn’t work out, and in the aftermath she’s a little bitter and is predisposed to dislike anyone else getting too close to Sylv.  She is rude and spiteful when she does not like someone (though she may do so in an overly-sweet tone), and she awkwardly overcompensates when she wants to prove she’s moved on from something, and she ended up being my favorite OC here.

Some other notable OCs in the world:

In Sniflheim: Healer Heather, the doctor who would really rather not have any magic in her house, so she doesn’t get a mob coming after her next time the tide of public opinion turns against witches.

In Lonalulu: Nohea, the charming and handsome hula dancer who isn’t quite as nice as he seems, and Pika, the shy, plain, and clumsy but kind-hearted net weaver.  Both are there as potential love interests for Serena (and for contrast against Sylv, of course).

In the Inner Sea: Coral the mermaid, a singer.  She's here for advancing Serena's character development, but it was fun to have other OCs react to a mermaid, and trying to write plot-advancing mermaid dialogue raised my respect for the localization team 1000%.

In Gallopolis: Doctor Zel, who is very scientific and good at her job, never makes eye contact, and lacks a comforting bedside presence.  (Happily they have Faris to help with public relations during a health crisis…?)

This is only about half of the OCs and NPCs named in the story, but they’re most of the ones with the most screen time, and most of the ones that stand out in my mind.  But the outgoing and friendly Sylv and Serena I was trying to write, both of whom wanted to engage with the people of the world at large, just spawned new characters around them as they went.  You know those stories about mythical people where flowers bloom after them everywhere they go?  This pair was like that, only with OC’s instead of flowers.

[goldheartedthief-a]

———  BASICS! ♡

NAME! ♡   Lynn PRONOUNS! ♡     She / her ZODIAC SIGN! ♡     Gemini / Taurus TAKEN OR SINGLE! ♡     Taken.

———  THREE  FACTS! ♡

1! ♡     I know interesting and somewhat obscure facts about most mythologies and deities most wouldn’t know about.

2! ♡     I have watched a lot of animes out there -- you mention it, I’ve at least either heard of it or watched it.

3! ♡     If I decide to pick up a canon character to RP as, I do every kind of research I can into them -- what they’re like, height, weight, favorite things, least favorite things, you name it. (Erik is probably the only exception to that rule because I picked him up immediately after I finished playing DQXI, which was like a week after it came out, and there wasn’t much information on him to begin with.)

———  EXPERIENCE! ♡

PLATFORMS USED! ♡     I’ve used a lot of different platforms over the years -- everything from AIM to Yahoo Messenger to Chatango to Skype and RP sites to Discord and Tumblr. I have quite the variety under my belt. xD

———  MUSE  PREFERENCE! ♡

GENDER! ♡     I usually write male muses, primarily because I am more used to them, though I do have some female OCs as well as male OCs.

LEAST FAVOURITE FACE(S)! ♡   I generally prefer not to use real life FC’s, mainly because that’s someone’s face and it makes me uncomfortable doing things like that.

MULTI OR SINGLE! ♡     Single muse blogs, I tried running a multi muse blog once and couldn’t keep my head straight enough. Seriously, props to the guys that run those, especially Pom.

FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡    Honestly I write angst the best, I practically feed on angst like some kind of vampire and end up tormenting my friends with it, but I am willing to do fluff as well, I love fluff. Smut, especially with the way Tumblr is now, I would rather leave on Discord if I do RP it out.

PLOT / MEMES! ♡    Memes are always good, I may not immediately reply to them but I generally try to reply to them if I remember. Feel free to plot with me, too, I looooove plotting, tossing ideas back and forth and everything else.

TAGGED  BY: @timidplum TAGGING: Anyone who wants to do the thing.

[romijuli]

Purple, Cinnamon, Blush and Plum! ＼(´▽｀*)

Talking through asks counts as chatting imo!!!

[leyartser]

I don’t actually know what Evelyn’s Tor scene would be like aside from this, I’ve only gotten the Switch version recently, but I like it being nice and simple and peaceful.

[leyartser]

To be perfectly honest, I don’t like act 3, and its start just makes me sad (also writing Evelyn’s act 2 arc took a lot out of me), so here’s some misc. drawings of Evelyn

[leyartser]

I’m participating in the DQXI OC and NPC week, sounded fun and I’m always up for creating new characters and putting too much thought into them.

So, here’s Evelyn! 

Evelyn’s a huntress. She hunts animals and monsters, whatever she can sell to make a living. She’s usually out camping on her own, and only visits cities when she needs to sell what she hunted and stock up. Occasionally, she hops on a boat to somewhere else, when she's had enough of her current hunting grounds or the people living nearby.

Eventually she ends hunting in the Gondolia region. One day she heads to the city to stock up like usual, when she notices a kid running past, clutching a staff she knew couldn’t be his. Her curiosity piqued, she catches him and returns the staff to its owner. This is how she first meets the Luminary and his friends. When she hears why Veronica’s staff was stolen, she decides to help the group get the ingredients for birdsong nectar.

While on the expedition to the Grotta della Fonte, she ends up figuring out the party isn’t some random group of travelers, and that what she got involved in is merely the beginning of a whole lot of trouble.

[romijuli]

DQXI OC/NPC WEEK: Day 7: Tor Cutscene

It is FINISHED! Thank you all for sticking with me through this week~ today’s entry is very late, because Mister Chel was here and I was also just...not having the best week, tbh. But it’s fine, it’s cool.

BIG BIG BIG spoilers for basically everything in the game, as well as illusions to [the tree thing] and a heaping dose of gay babies with an OC/Canon flavor.

I love Goswin (and you should too) so I was delighted to get to flesh him out in the canon universe! Maybe I’ll do a little bonus entry or two for fun, since there are a few things left undiscussed in this universe!

“So, what was it?” Goswin asks, once they’ve taken a moment to appreciate the view from the Tor. “You know, the…thing that caused my rages.”

Eleven freezes, hoping to Yggdrasil that Goswin doesn’t catch on. “I wish I knew,” he replies, “but we can go search for it when we’re done here. I think Calasmos is just waiting for us to come to him.”

Goswin shakes his head, fixing him with an alarmingly-confident look. “Are you sure? I figured out how to control it when the Watchers gave us that weird power boost, and that doesn’t seem right at all. So, I thought, maybe, something you did when you bolted on us at the temple had something to do with that.” He frowns, seemingly searching his mind for something. “Plus, the way you reacted when the Seer mentioned the Tower…”

Eleven panics. He thought this was going to be a nice maybe-date, but this is not the path that it should be taking. No one was supposed to know about the Tower, about the Time Sphere, about the timeline he’d left behind.

Goswin casts a nervous glance in his direction before staring out over the horizon. “Seems like it would be pretty lonely, if you really did travel back in time…” He leans closer (well, Eleven is now probably about as red as Goswin’s hair is), idly picking at the stray threads surrounding the very conspicuous patch on Eleven’s jacket, right over where Mordegon had…well, done his Mordegon thing. “Looking at this right here…well, I don’t remember what happened, but looking at it breaks my heart, so I don’t think it was an ordinary monster. I can’t imagine what it was like to live through that.”

Something inside of Eleven breaks, this wall he’d built up when the Time Sphere shattered, and he finds himself telling Goswin the whole story: Yggdrasil’s fall, his time wandering the world in search of his friends, what little he had managed to get the rest of his friends to tell him about their own travels, Veronica’s passing…

“No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I had failed. Even after we beat Mordegon…so when I saw a chance to make up for that and give everyone a happy ending, I told myself that it would be better if no one knew about the pain they’d gone through.” Eleven sighs, and it feels as though a weight has been lifted off his chest. Maybe keeping it to himself wasn’t a healthy course of action after all…

Goswin stares at him slack-jawed through the entire story. “Gosh, El, that’s horrible. But I…I don’t think that was your fault. And I don’t think that’s something you should bear alone.”

Eleven nods reluctantly. He’s right, really, as much as Eleven hates the idea of telling anyone about that timeline. (Are there consequences to people knowing?)

“Could we, maybe, go to wherever it was that you fixed my curse problem? I’d really like to know.” Goswin’s hands fell from Eleven’s jacket a while back, but he’s still alarmingly close.

“Oh, um, you fixed it yourself, actually. We just found out what caused it.”

Goswin blinks, as though that hadn’t been even a passing thought in his head. “Oh.”

Eleven smiles. “You really ought to be more confident in yourself, you know. You’re plenty capable.”

Goswin shakes his head. “Yeah, like you’re one to talk.” He seems as though he wants to say more, but his gaze is focused on Eleven’s still very red face, and whatever it is he wanted to say seems to die before he can even think of verbalizing it. (It must be an interesting place, in his head.)

A moment passes, another, yet another, before Goswin sighs and finally says whatever’s on his mind. “Cobblestone doesn’t seem like a bad place at all. I know I’ll be happy settling down here, once that thing is taken care of.” He points at the scar Calasmos has etched into the sky. “Assuming I’m, understanding your offer correctly, I mean.”

Eleven goes rigid for a moment, because Goswin is understanding his offer correctly, but verbalizing that is a whole different matter. “I don’t just offer my spare room to anyone. I mean, I won’t turn anyone else down, if they need a place to stay, but…” Oh, Spirit of the Land, his hands are shaking. He’s fought monsters and demons and the source of his trauma and this is what trips him up? “Well, you’re the first person I thought of when Gem brought up the idea. And I’d like it a lot if you did, um, settle down here.”

For the first time Eleven can really remember, Goswin’s smile is genuine, and bright, and the nervousness in his stomach suddenly settles down. “Sounds perfect.”

[romijuli]

DQXI OC/NPC Week: Day 1: First Impressions

HELLO!!! Kicking it off with best boy Goswin!!! This got a bit...off-the-rails, hehe.

If you’ve seen Goswin’s intro post before, you might notice a discrepancy between that and what’s written here; I realized I was being dumb.

Okay, so this probably isn’t going to help him figure out what’s up with his weird rages, but hey, if this mural really does have the power to grant wishes, maybe it can get rid of the problem entirely? Or, at least, that’s how Goswin justifies it to himself. At the very least, it’ll give him something to keep him busy until he has to leave this place, too.

He sits beside the ruins, sketching every symbol he can see, sigils and swirls of every sort, and with everyone he cross-references previous sketches, of other ruins, of the marks that weave their way up his arms every time his anger gets the best of him. And yet, nothing. It was a pie-in-the-sky hope, of course, but it would have been nice.

“You know,” a childish voice calls, right next to his ear, “I was like you, when I was smaller.”

He springs to his feet, arms scrambling for his axe, only to find himself glancing down at a little girl.

She doesn’t seem offended, thank the goddess, merely laughs at his panic. “Not like that, but the whole…” She gestures, one hand carving familiar swirls into the air. “You know, that whole business. My parents thought I wasn’t going to be able to be out in public. What if I hurt someone?”

This conversation is hitting a little closer to home than Goswin cares to admit, but before he can stammer out a response, the girl continues, paying no mind to his mental anguish. “But then they took me to this mural, and now? Rage-free. I get to live a normal life!” She runs towards the mural, grinning, before turning back to him once more. “Worth a shot, right?”

The thought is honestly so tempting that he almost forgets another mystery of the mural: that out of the people he’s seen visit the mural, very few come back out.

-

“Um, excuse me…”

Goswin barely hears whoever’s addressing him now, too focused on scrawling theories in his notes.

“Oy, do you have ears? We’re trying to speak to you.”

Yet again, he jumps nearly sky-high, grasping his axe again…and it’s yet another child, though this one seems to be surrounded by friends (companions? caretakers?), at the very least.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” he mumbles in reply, releasing the axe and grabbing his notebook before someone (himself, probably) steps on it, ruins it and triggers a rage that gets him kicked out of here in record time. “I tend to, um, get lost in my work from time to time.”

The kid casts him a strange look, but he doesn’t really pay attention; honestly, his gaze is drawn past most of the gathered group, towards a young man who seems to be hiding behind just about everyone he can. Huh, maybe a kindred spirit, someone else who finds himself a bit lacking when it comes to conversing with people.

It’s another of their group (a young woman with long black hair) that brings his attention back. “Pardon our distraction, but we’ve been searching for a little girl. We’ve been looking for her parents since yesterday, but she seems to have vanished while we were sleeping.”

Goswin frowns. “Oh, uh, yeah, I think I saw her not too long ago? She headed to look at the mural….” Which, now that he thinks about it, is a bit concerning, considering…well, he’s rarely seen anyone come back out. But it has been a while since he saw anyone else go in…and it’s not like the kid didn’t know his secret, somehow. “If she’s not in there, then I can help you look, I guess…”

Another of these strangers—an alarmingly-tall individual who looks more fit for the circus than for the adventuring life—gasps, grabbing Goswin’s hand in delight. “Well, then, let’s look, darling!”

Goswin can already tell it’s going to be an interesting few minutes.

-

Apparently the mural was far less decorated the previous day, not that Goswin would know. And apparently the mural is capable of sucking people inside and making them mindless slaves, in some sort of monster-infested hellscape.

Goswin has never been so thankful for his axe.

“So, you can fight, huh, nerd boy?” The kid (Veronica, apparently not a child, which could be the subject of a thousand research papers) shouts, awe-struck, as a batch of unnerving mannequins fades into dust by his hand.

He nods, voice wavering as he replies, “I’d rather not, but with how many monsters have been lurking on the roads, I had to pick up a weapon at some point.”

The black-haired woman—Jade, apparently the Heliodorian princess, which is a subject Goswin wants every ounce of information on (once they’re free from this bizarre other world) considering she is supposed to be dead—eyes him with amusement. “An axe, hm…reminds me of an old friend.”

They continue on, stopping only when faced with a horrifying wall of thorns. Goswin shudders, axe in hand, but there’s only so much he can do…

His gaze turns toward the quiet one from earlier. Eleven, he’d called himself with a smile, keeping his left hand firmly out of sight…Eleven sighs, grimacing as he holds out his left hand, which glows with a strangely holy light that leaves the thorns almost recoiling in its wake.

As the group rushes towards freedom, Goswin reckons with what he just saw. It seems his quiet new friend has been the Luminary all the time?

Well, considering that this whole mural thing was a bust, maybe it’s good that a new research subject found its way to him.

[monotoned-p]

Dragon Quest OC Week (Feb. 1-7)

(Today’s post contains end of act 1 spoilers, baybey!)

The journey to Yggdrasil was supposed to go well. But things are never simple. As the luminary fell to the ground I heard the laughter of Sir Jasper. Darkness surrounded him, it was a darkness I knew that darkness, it was the power of Mordegon. It was the darkness I had been running away from my entire life. But right now it was right here, right in front of me. Shadow’s consumed Jasper, all stemming from an orb he held in his hands. He grins a wicked grin as he starts to speak.

“Do you know there is a traitor among you?” Says Jasper, grinning. “Your party has been traveling with an agent of Mordegon, yet you were all too stupid to realize it.”

Jasper grins a sick grin as he points directly at me. “Low and behold, the monster in your midst. He’s so close to mordegon he can barely hide the darkness that controls him.”

I looked down at my hands, but my hands were now claws. Slowly my skin turned grey and my hair lost it’s color.

The party looked at me, I could see pain and betrayal in their eyes.

“How could you?!” Yelled Veronica.

“He led me right to you, but, my lord has no use for him anymore” replied Jasper.

Before I could speak I felt a pain in my chest as I collapsed to the floor. I couldn’t move, I could only watch as the lord of shadows stole the Luminary’s power. As he killed the world tree. I could only watch as I began to fall from the world tree’s branches. As I fell I felt a darkness take over me. I passed out from the pain I felt.

And when I woke up, I was in a cage.

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[romijuli]

DQXI OC/NPC WEEK: Day 4: Wandering

OOP. Warnings for: DQXI Spoilers, minor self-loathing, incredibly minor self-harm (done for “self-control” purposes rather than the typical reasons), mentions of loss of control, and generally nihilistic worldview as one might see given the situation.

Goswin’s not having a good time.

Everything is wrong, very wrong. The Luminary was supposed to save Erdrea, but now Yggdrasil is gone and Goswin’s friends are gone, or so he thinks, and the rages are just getting worse.

He watches Sylv start a small army of performers (thank the goddess he got out, at least) and lead them out of Gondolia, but he doesn’t dare join them. He just keeps to himself, hood flipped over his head, trying to help the few remaining fisherfolk in the city figure out what exactly happened to their livelihood.

It’s for the best, he tells himself. Sylv’s recruits are kids, and it’d eat Goswin up if he hurt them. At least the fisherfolk seem to interpret the rages as frustration at the state of the world; Sylv knows better, knows that he’s dangerous, and even if Goswin was foolish enough to think that he could tag along, Sylv is smart enough to turn him down. (And, as much as Goswin hates to admit it, that rejection would tear him up inside almost as much as Yggdrasil’s fall had.)

The sky grows ever darker, Erdwin’s Lantern shines with an almost sinister light, and Goswin just bides his time until the bitter end. Because this is the end, isn’t it, now that Eleven is gone (snuffed out by Mordegon’s own hand from the looks of it) and the Lord of Shadows reigns supreme? Even as he hears the faint call of the Soldiers of Smile, spreading their words of happiness and peace as they set out to help others, he can’t bring himself to believe it.

A month passes. Two, three, four, five. He can take out his rages on the few monsters that find their way into town, but it’s only a matter of time before it consumes him entirely, isn’t it? Even if he’s among the most skilled fighters remaining, he’s growing more and more aware that he won’t live to see the end of the world, or at the very least he won’t be in control of himself enough.

He sits by the dock, watching the sunrise as an eerily familiar boat pulls into port. So the Soldiers of Smile return, he thinks, until he sees a familiar purple coat. Eleven?! How did he pull through, Goswin had seen him…seen Mordegon…

The thought sends a wave of that familiar loss of control over him, and he has but a moment to find a hiding spot where he can’t hurt anyone.

“Laddie?” Fuck, he’s been spotted. “Ye don’t need to hide, we’re nae beasties.”

Goswin digs his nails into his arm in an attempt to get a grip on himself; it only barely works, just enough for him to hiss, “No! Stay away, please…