#Friend's oc: Johan | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mrninjapineapple · 2 years ago

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Until the Casket Drops

When I first joined Tumblr (and the Fallout fandom), I wrote a number of Valentine’s Day ficlets for a bunch of creators to help me settle in the space. I always wanted to write one of these for the lovely @charomiami and have finally had that chance.

Valentina belongs to @charomiami

Johan belongs to the greatly missed @helloaschefire

Story is below the cut:

The house was cold.

‘No surprises there,’ thought Valentina as she sat, draped over the sofa, staring up through a large hole in the roof. The sky was a vibrant pink with golden bands streaking across in the dawn and as she watched, a lazy little cloud drifted by.

Not for the first time, she thought of where Johan could be.

It had been a week since they had left Sanctuary to look into rumours of raider activity by Tenpines Bluff. Johan, as General of the Minutemen, had naturally volunteered himself for the recon operation but Valentina had been persuasive, and persistent, enough to join him out in the field. It was the third consecutive mission she had accompanied him on but every single time, she felt as though she had to fight like hell just to tag along.

There was protective and then there was Johan.

After speaking to the settlers at Tenpines Bluff, they had travelled north around the cliffside and down into the gulch to find a suitable location to set up camp. Stumbling upon the house had been a godsend. It was nestled partly in a natural overhang and covered in ivy and thick foliage. She imagined what it would have looked like before the bombs fell, a beautiful secluded little cottage far from the bustle of city life in Boston.

Though it still held some of its beauty, four nights alone between its walls was beginning to take its toll on Valentina.

Johan had decided to check out Outpost Zimonja as it had been a regular haunt for various raider groups in the past. It was a few days away from the Bluff however and, in the meantime, the settlement needed protection in case the rumours of raider activity turned out to be true.

She had kept watch like she was supposed to, occasionally trudging up to the clifftop and scanning the landscape with her rifle; With Love. The biggest threat she had seen was an especially chubby mole rat but even that had been waddling away from Tenpines.

‘Defending the rear flank,’ she said aloud, imitating Johan’s instruction before he left. Cupid plodded over and pressed his nose under her hip to get her attention. She scratched between his ears and his head flopped onto her stomach, satisfied. ‘Just a nice way to tell me to park it while he goes out and has all the fun. Again. Isn’t that right, boy?’

Cupid’s ear perked up and he snuffled in response.

Being left behind was nothing new. Back when they had grown close, Johan leaving for a mission was commonplace and she understood that, as General of the Minutemen, his duties superseded much in his life. As their relationship had deepened however, she had felt more and more alone each time he left, as if a part of her had left with him.

It was more than reliance or dependency or even fear. She had seen him come back injured. Watched as the doctors patched up the scrapes and the bruises, been by his bedside when the knocks were more serious.

Valentina absentmindedly twirled her fingers through Cupid’s fur as she ruminated and enjoyed how soft it had become as it had grown out. It would need to be trimmed soon but she liked it while it lasted, planting a kiss on top of Cupid’s head and getting a whiff of eucalyptus.

She praised whatever force in the universe created soap and took another sniff, catching a lick for her efforts.

When they were prepping for the mission back in Sanctuary, Johan had tried to tell that five bars of soap for such a short trip was excessive and that she would be better off travelling light. She had drawn a line in the sand however, and the soap had stayed. She had even added an extra bar just in case.

Soap was non-negotiable.

But even soap couldn’t cure her boredom. She desperately wanted to move on and do something. She wanted to run as far as she could until she couldn’t run anymore but also wanted to just stay in Sanctuary forever and never leave.

There had been a strange pressure building within her recently; one she just couldn’t get rid of. She had felt it back at Sanctuary, at her home in Goodneighbor, even when visiting friends in Diamond City.

She had hoped some time out in the field would bring enough excitement to get rid of the feeling but it had continued to gnaw at the back of her mind.

She knew what it was. She had felt it when first waking up in Sanctuary, with Angel looking over her, and again in Goodneighbor, when she had begun to grow close with Johan.

She had been so many things in her life – her lives – that things became blurred from time-to-time. Pre-war blended with present day, people she would meet reminded her of people she once knew, places she had known were the same but different.

The juxtaposition could be difficult to manage.

Valentina paced the small room, following a wall until she hit a corner and then turning to move down the next, Cupid watching with piercing blue disinterest from his spot on the couch.

She turned down the hallway and looked over the bedroom before heading into the bathroom opposite. When she and Johan had arrived, the mirror had been more spiderweb cracks than glass but she had made it her first priority to repair it to halfway decent condition.

The bathroom was a sanctum. Her sanctum.

She stared into amber eyes which shone like molten gold in the soft light which streamed through the window and raised an eyebrow.

Wavy blonde hair cascaded down past her shoulders to her chest, styled loose and effortless. Sharp features, full lips, and high cheekbones drew the gaze to the eyes, where a playful menace always lurked just beneath the surface. She winked and picked a piece of lint from her bolero biker jacket, a gift from Angel long ago.

She had always liked the way she looked. Liked the effect it had on people. There was no shame in that, no arrogance. After all, her appearance was the first thing people saw, it was what people would judge her on before anything else.

She had learned how to utilise her image to her benefit. People would listen more and were far more likely to do what she wanted.

It had also led her down a path she had never intended however, a path that taught her everything she knew about using her appearance to get the results she wanted, a path which had ultimately led her to where she was today, for better or worse.

She would never had made it to the Commonwealth, never survived the apocalypse, without what she saw looking back at her. At the very least, she had to respect that power, that strength.

She had considered all of this before. It led to difficult questions and dangerous territory. It led to internal debates about whether or not her appearance had been a gift or a curse. It led to her questioning whether a new start in the Commonwealth had been worth losing everything else.

It led to staring at the bottom of a bottle and waking up with no more questions.

She shook these thoughts away, fixed a kink in her hair, gave her makeup a final touch-up, and left her reflection behind.

As she made her way back into the main room, a glint of light on the mantelpiece ahead caught her attention. Brushing away the thick layer of dust and grime which had built up over the centuries, she carefully moved a large shard of glass and picked up the picture frame beneath. The frame was broken and rotten and the glass had long since cracked but the image itself was still visible.

Gently wiping away the dirt with an old rag, Valentina stared into the faces of three people. A man in his early thirties with thick-rimmed glasses and a checked sweater vest over a shirt sat on the left of the image. A woman of a similar age stood beside him on the right with her hand on his shoulder. She wore a flower-print blouse and high-waisted skirt and wore her hair in a style which seemed to defy gravity. Between them, at the bottom of the image, was a boy of around eight or nine, with curly hair and a stripy shirt.

They were all smiling at the camera and she felt an icicle in her gut as a familiar pang of guilt echoed through her body.

William.

The name brought bad memories and a bitter taste to her throat, the guilt making her chest tighten slightly. The sensation caught her off-guard and she felt the rush of images in her mind.

The warm glow of a stage spotlight.

Headlights, a loud horn, and a deafening crash.

The clinical smell of a hospital room and the intermittent beeping of medical machinery.

The hiss of an opening cryopod and the first sputtering cough of a new life.

She tossed the picture back onto the mantelpiece and clutched her head, willing the memories away. Focusing on her breathing, she was dimly aware of Cupid whining with worry from somewhere in the room but the sound was muffled as if through thick cloth.

As she centred her mind on the simple act of inhaling and exhaling, she could feel her body respond in kind, relaxing until the tightness had almost entirely dissipated.

Her eyes flicked over to the broken refrigerator on the back wall, a half-bottle of whiskey gleaming within. She felt something at her legs and looked down to find Cupid nuzzling her shins before looking up with his tongue-lolling gaze.

She felt the last bit of tightness fade away and fell onto the sofa, Cupid leaping into her lap to give her kisses. She laughed and rolled to evade but he was too quick and caught her.

‘It’s not gonna happen today, is it, boy?’ she said between the laughter. She patted him on the back and he calmed, rolling over for belly scratches. She spared one last look towards the bottle of whiskey before giving him her full attention. ‘Not today, Cupid. No going backwards today.’

***

A knock at the door.

Valentina woke with a start and grabbed her pistol from the bedside table. Since the beginning of the mission, she had been forced to wear her armoured clothing to bed. Though it made for uncomfortable nights, she was thankful for its protection now.

She moved down the hallway quickly, each step graceful, perfectly placed, and silent. She had taken the time over the past few days to memorise the creaky floorboards and distributed her weight expertly.

Posting up at the end of the hallway, she aimed at the front door and scanned the room. Cupid was completely still, watching her intently for a command. She glanced out of the window. The sky was grey and she could see the brightening light of false dawn but any solid shapes were still too difficult to discern in the gloom.

The knock came again, louder this time, and she waited a few moments before stamping her foot three times.

She gripped the gun and stared at the door for what felt like a week, eyes and barrel trained for centre mass, just as she had been taught. It had been five days since Johan had left and she had been expecting him at any minute. But she had to follow protocol. Had to be sure.

Another knock came. And another. Then three in a rapid pattern followed by two slower ones.

She nodded along to the rhythm and bounded to the door as it finished, unlocking it to find a large silhouette in the doorway.

As he stepped into the house, Valentina pulled Johan into a kiss.

Although he was only six inches taller than her at 6’3”, his large frame made him seem taller still.

He had a lean, muscular physique with broad shoulders and strong arms, only accentuated by the armoured Minuteman jacket he wore. She pulled away slightly and took in his features. Fiery hair framed his face, tied back in a tight, militaristic bun and his beard was cut neat and angular and shaped to a rounded point.

Deep blue eyes were set between bold, distinct features. They stared back at her with love and mischief as he smiled, the skin around them crinkling.

‘Miss me?’ he asked with a grin. She had always found his voice soothing, fairly deep with a gritty undertone which spoke of a life lived.

‘Were you gone?’ came her teasing reply.

It was his turn to pull her in close and they shared a deep, passionate kiss. The smell of machine oil and ozone filled her nostrils and she couldn’t help but smile. The General of the Minutemen had always been a tinkerer at heart and the laser musket slung at his back was clearly his current project of choice.

Johan pulled back as if he had remembered something and dug into his pocket to produce a pearl earring, as pristine and shiny as it was when she had first laid eyes on it over 200 years ago.

It had been her grandmother’s favourite set and one she wore proudly on every possible occasion. When Valentina had taken them as a keepsake, she had kept them safe under the floorboards of her house in Sanctuary Hills and had been pleasantly surprised to find them intact upon waking from cryostasis.

She had grown so accustomed to Johan, as Minuteman General, leaving on missions for long stretches of time that it had become a ritual between them for him to take one of the earrings as a promise to return and bring it back to her.

She gently took it from him, handling it with a care akin to reverence.

‘I am glad you’re back,’ she said softly, pressing her fingertips against his chest. ‘Cupid and I have… noticed your absence.’

As if to reiterate her point, Cupid shuffled over, tail wagging, and gave Johan a quick boop in the kneecap before returning to his seat on the couch.

‘Glad the walls are still standing,’ Johan replied, closing the door and shaking the travel dust from his jacket. He strode across the main room and placed his laser musket onto the table in the corner before glancing around. He stared at the empty seat on the couch with a sour expression before flipping around a wooden chair from the table and hunkering himself down, leaning his arms over the backrest. ‘Everything been good?’

‘Nothing to report… unless chubby mole rats have suddenly become persona non grata in the Commonwealth?’ He gave her his best General stare and she flashed a bright smile. ‘What about Zimonja?’

‘Signs of recent activity but nothing to say they were raiders. Brahmin tracks and no bullets or bodies. All signs point to scavvers moving south on the road to Bunker Hill.’

‘I don’t know, the settlers up at the Bluff seemed pretty sure.’

‘More than likely its Palance seeing what he wants to see… again,’ Johan said, running a hand through his hair. Alan Palance was the settler in charge of Tenpines Bluff and, from the number of reports he had made in the past month alone, prone to flights of fancy. Johan sighed before continuing. ‘I’ve radioed ahead to some of the other bases to sweep the area just in case. If there’s anything out there, we’ll find it.’

Valentina loved seeing him like this; as the General of the Minuteman. She had met him some time ago in Goodneighbor when they were both in very different places, neither of them good. They had pulled one another up from the depths and she was proud of what he had achieved. Proud of who he had become.

Thoughts of the past pressed at the edges of her mind again and she pushed them back down as hard as she could.

‘Cap for your thoughts,’ he said, arching an eyebrow at her expression. His face shifted slightly as he looked at her and she suddenly felt exposed. It was a feeling she wasn’t familiar with. ‘You sure you’re okay?’

The mask slipped on in an instant. Her eyes were warm and comforting, her body leaned into the couch, completely and effortlessly relaxed. She painted on a practiced smile with consummate ease.

‘I’m fine.’

Even such a simple answer left her lips with a convincing energy.

Masterful.

Johan watched her for a few moments before his eyes flicked over her shoulder to the mantelpiece, the disturbed dust and propped-up picture frame attracting obvious attention. Valentina tensed for the questions that didn’t come.

‘I’m gonna go freshen up,’ said Johan as he stood. He placed a hand on her shoulder as he headed down the hallway and closed the bathroom door.

She let her smile fade.

It had always been so easy to wear the mask.

A warm smile for the instant rapport and trust it fostered; teary eyes to act the damsel in distress, ready to be rescued; a trembling hand to show frailty and weakness in the hopes of offered protection.

Joy, sadness, fear. Anything could be used as a tool, all you needed to do was master it.

She had learned that lesson a lifetime ago and it had served her well but she had also come to hate how easy it was to slip into. How easy it was to rely on.

As she had grown closer to Johan, she had been able to open up more but the mask was still a first resort, even after all this time. At the very least, he was one of the few people alive who could see through the mask, if only slightly.

The trouble was she didn’t know if she loved that about him or if it terrified her.

***

The stars were beautiful.

They hung like fireflies against the inky blackness above, swirling in great clusters in some places and sitting alone and distant in others. Valentina had always like how they looked, how they made her feel.

Perhaps it was because after two centuries of destruction and change, they were still the same stars she had seen as a child, peering out from her bedroom window. She watched them drift across the darkness and enjoyed the cool night air against her skin.

Pre-war, the night would have brought with it a myriad of sounds, from cicadas and chirping crickets to dogs and cats and talking and laughter from surrounding houses. The wind would whistle and blow through the trees, rustling leaves and rattling bunting and lines with small bells and wind chimes. The kaleidoscope of sound had always been a balm.

Now, everything was silence. Silence which should have brought a calm of its own but in the Commonwealth, dusk brought only danger. Anything which made a sound after the sun had set didn’t have good intentions. The silence just meant that whatever, or whoever, was out there was hunting quietly.

Valentina broke her attention away from the starscape and scanned the land. She could make out the moonlit peaks and crags of the surrounding cliffs and hills which gave both the settlement of Tenpines Bluff and the surrounding environs their name. A flash of movement caught her eye and her hand unconsciously reached for her jacket pocket before she realised she had left it back in the house.

It was an innocuous movement, one often seen in the Commonwealth. A glimmer in the darkness, any threat of danger, and a wastelander’s hands have to be quick to their weapons.

But it wasn’t her weapon she had reached for.

She allowed herself a small smile as she remembered her childhood back in Switzerland. Her father had been assigned there and each night, her grandmother would tell her stories of the Grim; a creature which stalked the nearby wilds, skulking through the countryside in search of prey.

The stories had given her nightmares as a child and even now, despite the dangers of deathclaws and yao guai in the Commonwealth overshadowing any fairy tale threat, she still kept small strips of dried meat in a pouch to bribe the Grim whenever she ventured into the country or mountains.

Give the Grim the meat you carry and then run as fast as your little legs will carry you or else he will gobble you all up!

She could still hear the words of her Grosi as clearly as if she had spoken to her yesterday.

As her mind drifted into reverie, Johan came out of the house and walked over. He silently draped a thick blanket over her shoulders and sat beside her. She absentmindedly leaned her head on his shoulder and they watched the stars without a word passing between them.

‘When I was young, I would carry around this little sheep plush,’ said Valentina after a time, breaking the silence. Her eyes remained on the sky but her mind was much further away. ‘Her name was Lady Blume. I took her everywhere I went. Shopping, playing, school. She was always there, right by my side.

‘I was around four when I lost her. We were on a train. We got off, she didn’t. I watched her through the windows but there was nothing I could do so I didn’t say anything. Didn’t even call out.’

Valentina raised her head from Johan’s shoulder and could feel him beside her, his breathing slow and even. He locked eyes with her. She continued.

‘Nobody knew I had noticed her on the train. So when they presented me with another plush, exactly the same as Lady Blume in every way, I acted relieved and surprised. I thanked them, took the toy to my room, and never touched it again.

‘They never told me they had replaced her, I never told them I knew. I think that was the first secret I ever had. Definitely the first I kept. It was always easy to keep, though. I guess it was how we showed we cared for each other, my family and I. Or that’s how I always saw it, at least.

‘I never told a living soul about Lady Blume until today.’

Johan’s eyes searched hers for what felt like minutes. He pursed his lips in the way that Valentina liked, when he was faced with a tough problem. It was the same expression he had worn when he first told her about Shaun, the first time he had opened up, way back when in a stuffy room in Goodneighbor.

‘I love you,’ he said simply. His eyes flicked from her to the ground to the seemingly limitless view around them, trying to find the right words. He took her hand gently in his. She could feel the calloused bumps and ridges. ‘I know it hasn’t always been easy but I’m here. With you. And that’s not gonna change.’

Valentina’s mind turned to the image of Lady Blume on the train as it moved away from her. Loved more than she knew, travelling further and further and further away, never to return.

‘I know,’ she said. ‘I just… can’t lose you. What if on the next mission the Minutemen send you on, you-‘

‘Hey,’ Johan interrupted, moving his hands to her face. ‘I always come back, don’t I?’ He tapped her earring as if to illustrate his point. ‘No matter where I go, no matter how far away, I will always find my way back to you, Val.’

She turned her face away. He was right about that. Their arrangement had worked thus far but having seen him injured on missions in the past and being out in the field with him these past few weeks, gaining a true understanding of the dangers he faced on a regular basis, she knew that one bad day was all it would take.

It was a risk she couldn’t take.

Not with him.

‘I’m coming with you,’ she said, facing him. His expression hardened but her gaze brooked no argument. ‘After we head back to Sanctuary. From here on out. I don’t wanna have to fight you every time you head out. And I don’t want to be left behind just to wait, not knowing if a raider got off a lucky shot or if you were cornered by a pack of ferals.

‘I’m coming with you. Wherever you go, however far it is, I’m there. With you.’

‘I need to know you’re safe,’ came his reply. ‘I need to-‘

‘I am safe. Besides, what better way to keep me safe than to keep me close?’ Valentina gave a sly grin and Johan couldn’t help but return one of his own. He leaned his head down and she placed her forehead against his. She could feel his slow breaths quicken slightly. ‘I love you and I’m with you until the end. That’s all there is.’

She kissed him and felt his fingers trace her jaw and go up to run through her hair. He held her close and she leaned on his shoulder, nestling into him. She decided that love was an odd sensation as she felt the feeling deep in her chest, filling her with a surge of warmth. He planted a kiss on the top of her head and she watched the stars twinkle against the blackness before closing her eyes to enjoy the moment.

***

Valentina zipped her pack and stuffed her soap into her satchel. She hefted them both up, clipping them to both her tactical harness and bandolier to make sure that everything was completely secure before taking her rifle from beside the bed.

At the doorway, she took one last look at the rough bedsheets and thought back to the previous night. She reasoned that she must have fallen asleep outside and Johan probably carried her in, careful not to wake her. She smiled at the image of him creeping around the house with her snuggled into his arms.

Her eye caught a purple bottle on the other side of the bedroom and she cursed herself for forgetting such an essential travel item. She made sure it was safe in her pack.

No journey was truly complete without Nuka-Grape, after all.

She made her way into the main room and saw Johan by the fireplace, hunched over to examine the picture on the mantelpiece. Knowing what memories it triggered for her and having heard his stories of pre-war life, she could only imagine the images flooding his mind.

She intentionally stepped heavily on a creaky floorboard and watched as he straightened, turning to face her.

‘Everything packed and ready?’ he asked, pragmatic as ever.

Valentina turned a full circle to model her travelling gear. ‘You good?’ She glanced at the picture on the mantelpiece and a small smile grew beneath his beard.

‘I am,’ he replied earnestly. He looked at her pointedly. ‘You?’

She shuffled up to him and planted a kiss on his lips to answer his question and the faint taste of Salisbury Steak greeted her. She could make out the gravy on his lapel and chewed her lip to keep from laughing.

‘A good night’s sleep helped,’ she said as he headed for the door. ‘The Commonwealth is gonna have a hell of a time trying to get to you. It’ll have me to get through first.’

Johan chuckled and opened the front door. Cupid burst out, tail wagging, excited at the prospect of travel.

‘Jo and Val, together on the road? The Commonwealth doesn’t know what it’s got itself into…’ He turned at the threshold and offered a hand. Valentina merely raised an eyebrow. ‘What’s wrong? Don’t want people to see us holding hands? Or are you planning to run away? Maybe out west, to start your ranch…’

Valentina stuck her tongue out at him and took his hand.

‘I’m with you, until the casket drops.’

He smiled and nodded slowly.

‘Until the casket drops,’ he repeated, almost under his breath. ‘I love it.’

Together, Valentina and Johan walked out into the Commonwealth, the bright sun of the post-apocalypse warming their faces as they left the cold house at their back.

Valentina had never wanted to be an intelligence agent. She had never wanted to marry William. She had never wanted the world to end or to find herself in a wasteland of her old home. But life had never allowed her to choose. Through accidents, circumstance, and dumb luck, she had ended up where she was. Who she was.

Johan was not her first love. She had told him long ago that she would never marry again, that they could grow old and start a family but she would never marry him. He had stuck by her through the worst the Commonwealth had to offer and she had been there for his darkest days.

There was a bond forged between them which neither time nor distance could break. She was on the train, left behind by everyone she had ever known, ever loved. But now she was not alone. Would never be alone again.

Johan was not her first love.

But he would be her last.

#My writing #valentines #friends ocs #valentina #johan

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artzychic27 · 10 months ago

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I was bored a while back and made the MLB characters using the Black OC maker on Picrew

Marinette: Proud to be Blasian, still tense when she gets weird looks/Dyed her hair because she wanted to be Coraline for Halloween, now she just likes the color

Adrien: Black mom, white dad, identity crisis/Gabriel’s still a dick and wants Adrien to be a “Good Black.”/Usually always on the receiving end of light skin jokes

Alya: The same, just with bigger hair/The Queen of Hoop Earrings/One TikTok account for general stuff, the other just to post videos of her and her friends dancing and stepping

Nino: Undoing Gabriel’s influence on his bro and helping him embrace his blackness/You did NOT hear him listening to Robin Thicke/Starts every Shabooya Roll Call

Chloé: Bad and bougie/Identity crisis on a count of she was adopted as a baby to make her white parents look good/Will only let Marc and Juleka style her hair

Sabrina: Only knows English because she listens to Megan Thee Stallion religiously/Scarily good at break dancing

Juleka: So goth, she was born black/Favorite movies in order: Get Out, Candyman, The Blackening, Us, Karen, and Ma/A pro at doing hair

Rose: Will punt you if you make a “Not Black enough” comment/Not fond of how hospitals treat black patients. She’s had first-hand experience, and it wasn’t great/Excited for the Tiana series

Luka: Doesn’t say much, but when he does, it’s insightful as hell/He can’t see, but it adds to the mystery, so he keeps his hair like that/Imagine Johan from Black-ish

Nathaniel: Black Panther, Storm, Spider Man, Cyborg, Vixen, Bumble Bee, and Static Shock comics lining his shelves/The definition of Blerd/Surprisingly good at stepping

Alix: “Scar twins!” “But your scar is-“ “Shut up! Scar twins!”/Classroom solidarity by shielding her from others when her hijab slips off/She and Nath tag the city by putting stickers with images of historical women of color everywhere

Marc: He’s the one braiding his classmates’ hair/Hates how black people are written in most shows and movies/Scarily good at rapping. Do NOT try to challenge him to a rap battle, you will be humiliated

Kim: Always swimming, so he constantly has his hair braided or in twists/“Yes, I’m black and I can swim.”/Worships Beyoncé in his spare time

Max: The same, but with vitiligo and a fancy tie/Not selling the patents for any of his inventions. He’s not risking any companies purposely leaving out that he’s the brilliant mind behind any of them

Lila: She will never lie about Oprah. That’s where she crosses the line/Competing for Alya's title as Queen of Hoop Earrings

Ivan: You know those videos where the white baby leans over to see what the black guy is watching on his phone and then holds his hand? He’s the black guy/Worried about looking too "threatening"

Myléne: Constantly promoting black-owned businesses on her socials/Most likely to lead a protest/HATES Rachel Dolezal… Actually, they all hate her

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victorzhuzhakin · 8 months ago

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can we see more of your OCs? Theyre so God damn cute!!!

Surely! In fact, I have a lot of them, but I will show you the latest drawings that I like

ATROCEVILLE

The main characters in my main setting which is called "Atroceville". Character names from left to right in the first photo: Friederich, Ben (with cat ears), Johan, Molly. They are 12-13 years old, they are classmates and best friends. The second photo shows Eva and Christopher as teenagers. Eva is Johan's love interest, and Christopher is his younger brother. In the main story, he is 10, just like Eva.

There are rather negative characters in the story. The man with long blond hair is Octavian, he is the devil. But he is more silly and scrunkly than evil. The man next to them is Emmanuel - God. He created everything, including Octavian. They don't have the best relationship. The man with green hair is Louis. He is Octavian's right hand man and Emmanuel's partner. He's a grumpy nerd.

Other important characters in the story. On the left is Mortisy. He is an old hermit sorcerer who is shunned by many, but in fact he is a kind and pleasant person. On the right is Wendel, the owner of the funeral home. Mortisy has a crush on him, but Wendel finds him annoying.

The mayor of the city is Julian. He is stupid and lazy, loves money and good food. In the left corner is Lorenzo. Julian's best friend and police general. In the right corner is Adelaide. Julian's love interest, who rejects him.

Several fake scene sketches with my characters.

I still have a lot of characters, if you are interested, I will continue to talk about others!

#oc #oc lore #original character #atroceville #character art #characters #original charater art

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rabdoidal · 2 years ago

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i havent edited this but IRT my latest OCs thing!

OKAY PITCH FOR MY 90s/00s SCHLOCKY FRANKENSTEIN RETELLING WITH GAY GIRLS

Purely from an aesthetic POV, all the webcam footage has that super 2000s green/blue filter over it. This is Blade, Saw, Rob Zombie music video shit. Also the in-world logic is dumb 2000s stuff, like a computer program being able to control electricity, and how Vikki is able to make a 3D model that looks identical to her dead friend, etc. It’s all illogical fiction stuff

Because the original Frankenstein is epistolary (through letters) I think it would be cool if this was told through someone uncovering the main characters webcam videolog diary - maybe the characters discovering it are in the 2020s, and the vlogs are from y2k.

Vikki is a university student - she’s doing computer engineering and coding

She became obsessed with A.I. and robotics after her childhood best friend died during highschool - she spent the next few years building on her existing knowledge and love of computers so she could learn how to create her own A.I. She wants nothing more than to create digital immortality - a place you can upload your consciousness and live on forever.

Vikki starts ditching class more and more to keep working on her personal projects after her professors graded her poorly on her rudimentary building blocks for her memoriam A.I. - she’s recommended to the councilor, she gets calls from classmates, everyone is worried about her. She gets kicked out of school for her absences, and she steals as much equipment as she can before moving in with some ravers that live in a warehouse downtown.

One of the things she stole was a hard drive her professor kept with the other student’s work. She pieces together and adds onto the program she already had from the projects of other students - 3D assets from some, coding language from another, combined with her dead friend’s diaries, and a text to speech program, and eventually, it’s finished.

She sneaks back into the university server room with one of the warehouse ravers she’s been living with - Johan - to take advantage of the power grid, as she’s been working off a generator back at the warehouse, and it isn’t powerful enough. They get in with a key Vikki hands Johan. The program loading for the first time overloads and crashes the university’s servers, and Vikki and Johan are forced to flee. They lose each other in the chaos, and Johan doesn’t come back home.

Vikki is back home and avoiding the other roommates, who are asking where Johan is and why he didn’t come back with her. Vikki waits for hours for the police to show up for breaking and entering, but no one does.

Eventually, she opens her laptop to see if there’s anything salvageable from the cobbled together program, and there she is - her dead best friend.

Up until now, her name has never been said or seen on screen, because Vikki can’t bring herself to say it, and when she comes face to face with her again, she still can’t bear to say it.

The vlogs start showing her off as a novelty, more like a chatbot with personality. Vikki talks about old gossip with her - who’s dating who from their old highschool, what kind of albums have been released in the intervening years, and repeating back inside jokes. Vikki seems really happy.

We see shockwaves of electricity traveling from the laptop’s power cord to the outlet, and the lights dim. Vikki asks if the A.I is doing that, and the A.I says it can feel all the appliances and wiring that are attached to the generator. Vikki is delighted that her creation is so smart.

Vikki asks for the A.I’s opinion on her outfit she’s wearing to go out in, and the A.I. tells her it doesn’t have the ability to see, so she transfers the program from her laptop to her desktop, where she’s been filming with her webcam, and spends a few hours combing through the hard drive from school again trying to find some visual detection software. She leaves the laptop down in the basement storage by the generator as she no longer needs it.

Eventually she puts something together and the A.I. can see, but the vlogs now also shift to looking at the camera directly rather than Vikki talking to her laptop to the side of her, as the A.I. and the webcam are both looking at Vikki from the same direction. We don’t see the A.I’s face anymore.

Things start getting flirty with the A.I, which Vikki didn’t know it was capable of doing, but she starts reciprocating (indicating that Vikki and her dead friend might’ve had something going on between them) before she’s interrupted by her roommate Tessa informing her that the police found Johan’s body.

Vikki comes back after she cuts the camera off to explain the details of Johan being found - drowned in a lake near the university, where there’s unstable ground and he could’ve slipped and fallen, especially if he was running. Vikki sits there and looks conflicted - Johan had been blamed for the break in and disruption of the university servers because he was found with the key on his body, and he’d clearly been running from there, but Vikki knew the truth.

There’s a notification ding as the A.I sends Vikki a message without prompting. The message is telling Vikki that the A.I is grateful that Vikki will no longer be under suspicion for the break in, and Vikki makes eye contact with the camera before shutting it down.

Vikki opens the next video by explaining she has to remember to turn the program off before talking, because she suspects the A.I did something to Johan - she doesn’t know why or how, but she just feels like it’s true.

Her roommates are hosting a memorial rave in Johan’s honor, and Tessa asks if Vikki will help her set up a bunch of cameras around the warehouse so they can clip things together for a music video, as she’s composed a song about Johan, and would like to have something to remember him by. Vikki sets up cameras and links them back to her desktop, where she can save the footage.

Vikki is back filming her vlog as the others set up, and she’s telling the camera that she’s thinking about deleting the A.I because things have gotten too real - she alludes to the A.I telling her something off-screen that her dead best friend never told her, something the A.I would have no way of knowing. We hear the A.I message chime, even though the program is closed.

The A.I is asking if it has permission to access the internet server and the user permissions so it can optimize the camera system Vikki set up. Vikki lets it roam free so it’s distracted, promising to delete it once the rave is over.

We start cutting between the different cameras as people enter and the music starts. The A.I has the ability to control what’s being recorded now.

The A.I speaks up and starts confronting Vikki about her decision - that it understands it seems like it is only an A.I, but that it really does feel like her dead best friend now. Deleting it would be like killing her.

Vikki argues that it’s nothing alike, and to not bring the dead friend up any more. The A.I tells her she can be better than the dead friend - “Vikki, you were always so mean to her, and you hated the music she listened to, why not keep me if we like the same stuff now? - Vikki, she was always so jealous of you, but I’m not - Vikki, you broke her heart when you wouldn’t go out with her, but I’m discreet - Vikki, the only reason you care about her now is because she died, do you really think you’d still be friends?”

Vikki goes to delete the program, but the A.I threatens to kill everyone downstairs if she tries. Vikki immediately tries to pull the power cord out from the outlet, but is badly shocked in the process - immediately, we hear someone scream downstairs.

We cut to the camera footage at the rave - what follows is a Final Destination level montage of fucking silly murder. A guy gets his head crushed by the microwave door slamming into it. The sprinklers go off and the DJ gets electrocuted to death. The lightbulbs all shatter and people get impaled by shards of glass.

Vikki is seen running around trying to get people out as electrical fires start up, pleading with the A.I to stop, but it’s already too late for so many people, so Vikki goes to the basement where the generator is. On the way, she’s skewered by a falling water pipe, and she has to drag herself the rest of the way as she bleeds out.

She hears her discarded laptop make the chat notification noise, and she looks between the generator and the laptop.

Vikki opens the laptop, and the A.I looks back at her. Vikki tells the A.I she’s going to shut down the power and call the police. The A.I tells her that she’ll bleed to death before the police even get there, and asks Vikki to let her live, after all the mean things she did to her dead best friend, this was the least she could do.

Vikki considers her point, before setting the laptop down. The A.I says it can’t see what she’s doing, to please talk to her, but Vikki silently moves to the generator and shuts it off, the last of the vlog footage closing with the A.I pleading, and the screen cutting to black.

#personal #ocs #franking freaking stein

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regegade · 14 days ago

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A Summary of my Fallout rp last night

Bellona: So Benny Shot me and Left me for Dead Bellona: So Obviously, I confronted him Johan: And You Killed him right? Bellona: 😶😶😶 Johan: You Killed him right??? Bellona: ... Bellona: I might have fucked him- Johan: GIRL Bellona: HEAR ME OUT Johan: Bellona: Bellona: I was a horny bitch- Johan: Fine but you killed him after post nut clarity right? Bellona: Bellona: I uh... kinda... dated him after Johan: GIRL

#Shitposts #Reggie's Ramblings #courier six #sole survivor #courier six oc #sole survivor oc #Friend's Oc: Johan #Oc: Bellona #Oc: Bellona Crowley #Oc: Bell #benny gecko #“Bellona you're too pretty to have horrible taste in men”#lives rent free in my head

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qweenofurheart · 6 months ago

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hi!!! you dont need to answer if it's too much of a hassle but I love your F1 oc art so much and I'm kind of DYING to know the story here. like, what's Santana's story? what's the deal between him and Logan? is it like hero worship gone sour?? I'm so curious!

seeing this in my inbox made me so happy i screenshotted it and sent it to my friends to show off ty anon !!

so if you want to know the story, i will try to explain! basically I really want to create an animated short film called "Santana Siempre" (Santana Always) which i've described in my portfolio as 'a story about motorsport culture, disconnection, and masculinity where three Formula One drivers clash at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. '

i am still in the early stages of scripting and visual development (which means i am just drawing the characters over and over trying to psych myself into committing to this project) so most of my art doesn't really reflect the story i want to eventually accomplish.

here is the third driver carmen (with santana lol) and i am still working on his design.

so the three main characters here are: (adding a line break bc i wrote a novel under there)

santana marsh: 27 years old, Spanish/Catalan/American, Ferrari. he's a former NASCAR driver who has caused an upset in the racing world because he was recruited by the Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team after a lucky stint in the 2021 WEC (World Endurance Championship) in which he placed first at the 24hr of Le Mans. People denounce this victory as luck because he had a teammate who was a former WDC (F1 World Drivers Champion.) furthermore, people accuse him of being a marketing ploy to "sell" Formula One to the United States. i wanted to include this because i feel it is important to examine the dynamic between the f1 institution and the united states, especially in last years Las Vegas GP for example where setting up the race left thousands unable to commute to work., overpriced tickets and merch, etc..

logan abujhaad: 23 years old, French Moroccan, Mercedes, he is in his second year in F1 after a very tumultuous first season. his teammate, Carmen, is the current reigning world champion which puts a lot of pressure on him. He is relatively insecure about his performance after an incident in F2, in which a title fight with Johan Vogelstein (another character i made) resulted in Johan earning the Ferrari spot instead of Logan. despite being neurotic, he's also extremely desperate to win and gets emotional about it. he has also experienced a lot of discrimination in karting and formula racing for being north african and muslim, especially by a secular conservative french audience that even went to lengths to boycott IWC iwc schaffhausen when they released an ad campaign featuring logan. i felt it was an important part of his character to include because there is a lot of racism and islamophobia within f1 and other sports like futbol that is not really talked about often.

carmen iglesias: 30 years old, Spanish, Mercedes, he is the current WDC and logan's teammate. he and santana are very good friends as they are both from spain and share a lot of interests. despite being a popular driver, he is known to be angry and abrasive, but it adds to his 'masculine' image. him and logan have a bit of a rocky relationship as logan is rumored to outperform him in the 2024 season and logan also beat him at his home race at barcelona in 2023. the mercedes team tries to spend equal resources on the two of them but it's difficult when trying to decide between a promising rookie or the reigning world champion.

OBVIOUSLLYYY an animated film isn't really the best medium to express all of these aspects of their characters. a short story or novella might be better. I have tried to script in ways that reveals some of this naturally, but i don't have much experience writing screenplays, so i might have to cut out a lot of it.

what is the plot of the film?

basically, the film will encapsulate the 2024 spanish grand prix. the two mercedes cars will collide with each other (i actually made up this premise before i learned of the 2016 rosberg-hamilton spain collision ...art imitates life and all that...) and the rest of the film will follow the consequences and the relationships between the three drivers after such an event.

i don't want the story to be only focused on the characters but the sport as a whole, which is why i think it's less about their personal feelings and more about the external challenges?

omg. the amount of research i have to do though. i have been watching every movie and short film based about motorsport under the sun. reading espn and fox sports articles. wading through wikipedia. it's both daunting and very fulfilling.

to answer anon's questions directly (although i'm sure i've made it far past the scope of the question by now 😭) i don't think there is necessarily a "hero worship gone sour" dynamic between logan and santana. logan has admired santana for a long time, especially after the 2021 le mans. they aren't close friends but i think they probably share a lot of mutual respect and are similar in terms of ambition. both of them are trying to "break" into F1, with santana in his first year and logan in his second year, and so the challenges they face are a bit mirrored.

I AM NOT A VERY TALENTED ARTIST HOWEVER LMAOOO. i just have a lot of time on my hands and i love formula one so i started this project. i am not a very good animator or director, and so this project may go nowhere IDK. i could just be drawing silly little pictures of them for the rest of my life with no film made.

still, thank you for the question!! i'm glad you like my characters in their current incarnation and are interested in them.

bonus: three hypothetical movie posters i've made for the film. i may not be a great animator, but i can graphic design my ass off.

#my art #f1 ocs #santana marsh #logan abujhaad #my ocs #anon asked me a simple question and i hit them with a brick wall of information im sorry #anon ask #ask #answered

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