#ebis and marcus are submachine ocs

[lonely-shine]

You can ask about anyone, but I'm feeling like talking about Ebis, Marcus, Alira, or the Reborn kiddos the most :3

Red Emoji OC Asks ❤️‍🩹

❤️ (heart) - Who is the most important person to your character? To what lengths would they go to protect this person?

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

🍷 (wine) - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

🥀 (wilted flower) - How does your character deal with stressful situations? Is their fear response fight, flight, freeze or fawn?

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

💋 (kiss) - Is your oc a good kisser? Have they kissed anyone before? Do they even enjoy kissing? What was their first kiss like in comparison to their most recent?

🍒 (cherries) - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet?

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

💄 (lipstick) - What does your oc think of their face? Do they have a positive or negative opinion? Do they wear makeup? Do they have a skincare routine? What traits do they like most about their face?

🍎 (apple) - Does your oc go to school or take classes? Did they go to college? What was/is their favorite subject? Did/do they get good grades? Did/do they enjoy school?

🐞 (ladybug) - What does a perfect day look like for your oc? What do they do? Who do they see?

☎️ (telephone) - Does your character know anyone’s phone number by heart? Do they prefer calling or texting? Who’s their favorite person to call/text? Do they have any typing quirks?

🥊 (boxing glove) - Has your character ever been in a fight? Did they win? Do they fight often? Are they professionally trained or self taught? Do they enjoy fighting or only do so when necessary?

🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

👠 (heels) - How does your oc dress? Are they stylish or casual? Do they keep up with trends or do their own thing? Do they prefer designer clothes or going to the thrift store? Do they have a signature item of clothing?

🍄 (mushroom) - Does your character like being in nature or do they prefer the indoors? Do they have any outdoor hobbies like camping or fishing? If they prefer the indoors, why?

🩸 (blood) - Is your oc squeamish? Are they disturbed by the sight of blood? Have they ever been in a situation where they had to overcome being squeamish?

✂️ (scissors) - Has your character ever cut their own hair? What about someone else’s? How did it turn out?

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

🎒 (backpack) - What items does your oc usually carry? Do they have a bag or just keep everything in their pockets? Do they carry a lot or a little?

🪓 (axe) - Does your oc have survival skills? Have they ever had to use them? What would they do in an apocalypse? Could they survive?

[lonely-shine]

Okay, so. I have a very stupid dilemma and I'm about to annoy you all with it because I can.

So, lately I've been thinking of turning Ebis and Marcus, my Submachine OCs, into wholly original characters. That is, divorcing them from the fandom and giving them their own original story/universe. Sounds good enough, right?

Okay, problem: I really love the journey that I already wrote for Ebis and Marcus for the fanfic and would like to preserve it as is as much as possible, which I don't know if I can do without basically plagiarizing Submachine.

Like, I do need to have a bunch of scientists exploring a weird ass, dangerous place that has a lot of weird space-time shenanigans about it. Which means I could simply turn this into a space exploration story and immediately draw some distance from Submachine with the setting... Except I very much do not want to write a space exploration story for these characters.

Nothing wrong about space exploration, but what I'm craving for this is something way more obscure and weird. And I kinda need it to be about a world that is not really (just) a world but (also) a creature. (Oh, the fun I could have with this, I'm telling you).

Thing is, I'm worried about this being/turning too similar to Submachine. Like, the reason I want to (potentially) do this is because I want to do something different and explore stuff in my own way, but I am very aware that Submachine is currently my main source of inspiration, so yeah.

(also, to be completely clear, if I ended up doing this I would probably have, at most, a bunch of character sheets and a few disconnected scenes that I might share publicly, not anything full-fledged that I'd properly publish/commercialize (that requires more energy and focus than I currently have), so I'm not even sure if me stressing so much about this is even necessary, but welp. I'd rather be safe than sorry)

But anyway, let me know your thoughts about this if you have any. Also, I might add more info about the ideas slowly rotating inside my head like they're microwaving there in the reblogs if you're looking for that. (I will definitely add that info because the thoughts kept rotating in the time it took for me to draft this post lmao)

[lonely-shine]

*takes a big breath* fear and masks for ebis, marcus, requiem, and lullaby ifitsnottoomuchtoaskplease? 😇

(yes, i'm a sucker for cute couples infused in angst, why do you ask?)

Thanks for the ask! Let's dive in!

(this is gonna be long, and I did no proof read it, so sorry for that xD)

FEAR: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

Ebis: Okay, so, I don't know if I'd call it her "greatest fear", but she's actual-meaning-of-the-word triggered by darkness. She doesn't exactly remember it, but just before loosing her memories, she had an accident during an exploration mission. An ancient ladder gave out beneath her and she had a nasty fall in which she badly hit her head. Her torch broke in the fall, so it was pitch-black as she slowly bleeded out, unable to move or speak and convinced she was gonna die there where no one would ever find her. She doesn't remember exactly, but she has nightmares about being in the darkness, in pain, helpless and feeling doomed. She hates the darkness because it takes her back to a moment she can't remember, but her body does; she will feel that same doom and pain when she's in the dark.

She feels quite silly about this fear, and it takes Marcus directly asking her about it for her to share it. I don't think she would otherwise be open about it with others, as she doesn't want to be judged as childish or have to tell about her trauma to get taken seriously.

Marcus: To be abandoned, left alone, left behind. Marcus has always been a solitaire man who struggles to connect to other people, and he's had some bad experiences with getting close/working along other people. His fianceé died, which broke him, and when he started working in the Submachine, it only led to betrayal. Murtaugh never careed about him, Elizabeth couldn't save him, nobody came back for him. He has gone through so much isolation, both self-imposed and forced on him, but truth is man hates every second of it. So when he meets Ebis, the fear is there "what if I'm alone again?". He eventually voices this fear to her. I believe with time and lots of therapy he'd learn to manage this fear, even if not make it disappear completely. Make it not be this all consuming thing but this fucking annoyance he has to deal with. He'll be okay is what I'm saying.

MASK: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?

Ebis: She always puts on a cheerful, driven, optimistic front. This is not because she believes everything will resolve in the end, but because she cannot bear to think about the possibility of something going wrong. So she. keeps. moving. Always and no matter what. Even if that reckless path leads to a worse place, she cannot bear to stop because then she'd have to confront her fear. So instead, she pushes on, convinces herself that things will turn for the better if she just keeps going, no matter how reality doesn't match up with that. Awesome resilience, not so awesome avoidance. She will work on this once out of the Submachine tho (both Marcus and her have so much therapy to do), and she is open to Marcus about this.

Marcus: Not really, this man can't mask to save his life xD Closest thing I can think of is... not many people get to really know him. Not because he's actively avoiding it, but man's reserved and has a resting bitch face. So yeah, most people see him as this tol, serious man that looks like he hasn't slept in two weeks, and don't know he's actually a cinamon roll. Ahh, but that assumption fades as soon as they see him around Ebis. Can you see that? The man is capable of smiling! And he looks kinda cute all lovingly looking at his wife. Aww <3

As for Lullaby and Requiem, gosh I haven't thought about them in forever, they're son undeveloped, all aesthetics and like two random facts, halp xD I don't know if I'll be able to answer the questions, but I can talk a bit about them:

Okay, so, for those who don't know Requeim and Lullaby are characters from a word divided in two opposing factions, fighters and dancers. I will put more info under the cut but for now:

Lullaby is a dancer, very skilled from a young age, a gifted kid you could say, and she's one of the best dancer of her village. Kinda elite stuff. Dancer villages can be pretty hierarchic with their dancer: who's the best, who's a beginner, who's not even a dancer. Their communal dancing really reflects that in what role everyone has in the performance depending on at what skill they are.

I think she could be afraid of being told she's not worthy/skilled anough to perform anymore, or that she never actually was. To be rejected specifically becaue the one thing she's poured so much time and effort into perfecting is still not enough and she was just being humoured the whole time. So, gifted kid into adult with imposter syndrome huh.

Requiem is a fighter, a good and skilled fighter, but not particularly "gifted". Not that fighter communities work the same as dancer villages. Fighters aren't so hierarchic, you teach what you can and learn what you can and you're strong together. Their communal fighting is something anyone can join for a good time and to learn, you don't have to be skilled.

I'm... not sure what would be Requiem's greatest fear, to be honest. He grew ina pretty chill and healthy enironment, and as far as I know nothing terrible has happened to him? I mean I guess his fear would be something related to harm coming to his community? But also I don't see him contemplating and getting lost into that possibility. It's why he fights tho. So maybe more than a fear is a motivation? I don't even know man, I'm just thinking aloud at this point.

Okay, so, more lore about fighters and dancers:

Both fighting and dancing are, at the same time, a weapon and an art, something used to harm, but also something pretty to enjoy. Between just fighters, or between just dancers, they can fight/dance recreationally. But if a fighter and dancer fight/dance together, a brush of the skin is enough to cause injury whether they mean to or not. This is the one of the big reasons of why fighters and dancers are at war, believing their very natures to be opposing. It wasn't always like that, tho, there was a time were they were not at war with each other (but everything changed when the fire nation attacked xD).

Requiem and Lullaby first meet at the Battlefield of Lost sounds, a wasteland in a neutral zone where fighter/dancer have been waging wars for generations. I think they meet when the battle has already dissolved, they were sticking around taking a look at the aftermath (also I think the Battlefield has been used for so long and has so much history for both factions that it might be something akin to a sacred place by this point? Why is it still a place for war then? Well, because how you treat sacred looks different in this world, thing is there might have stayed behind for spiritual reflection or something).

Anyway, thing is the two of them meet, and they recognize the other as a dancer/fighter, so they do what they were taught to do. They engage in battle, but the battle is also a performance, and they connect. Rivals but not enemies. Can't help but hurt each other but not supposed to hate each other. So they start fighting/dancing without touching the other, to avoid injuries. And by the end, they come to a sort of understandment. Lullaby still belong to the dancer village, Requiem still belongs to the fighter community, but they will not engage in battle with each other anymore. And they want to learn from each other.

Eventually, they end up forming a team of sorts with just the two of them. I don't know how that pans out in the larger picture/what their relationship to their respective homes will be like after that, but yeah. This is about everything I know.

If you're still reading, here's an old drawing of the babies <3

[lonely-shine]

Lost in infinity

Submachine: *has no seen characters at all, the plot is told through notes left behind* Me: I'M GONNA MAKE OCs ABOUT THIS

So, I already posted the sketch of this in stories, but since I've decided to digitalize it, I'm taking the chance to officially introduce my Submachine OCs. Everyone say hi to Ebis (she/her) and Marcus (he/him) :D

They have their own story highlights on Insta if you want to check it, but basically Ebis is based on the player character and Marcus on the 'jumper' (but in my version Ebis comes just in time to stop him). After much shock on both parts at finding another person after so much time on their own, Marcus tells Ebis some information she's missing, and Ebis persuades Marcus to go with her, swearing that she will find a way out. They bond hard and fast during their journey through the subnet.

Btw, as a side note, I'm aware that I usually don't post in this more sketchy style, but would you like to see more of it, if I do similar stuff on the future?

[lonely-shine]

Alnair 🌂🧠 Atlas 🍎🎯 Shell 🎓🍀 Ebis ✨🥊🎯 Marcus 🌂

Thanks for all the questions!! :D Let's see...

*Alnair

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? Fantasy! She's an Arcana game OC, so fantasy all the way in.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC? They're the perfect mashup of self-insert to project into and character of its own to explore paths I myself would personally not walk through. I also love how she lets me rewrite canon events however I want xD

*Atlas

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? In short, pretty good! Atlas has two moms, Naith (they/them) and Irdred (she/her) (and the auntcle/biological father, Laith (she/he/they)) and loves them very much. Atlas picked many interests from them (art, gardening, etc), specially from Naith. And athough he travels far and often (he picked that from Laith), he still keeps in touch regularly and visits home once in a while.

...wow, me giving a character a perfectly healthy background/family. This is rare to happen. Quick, make a wish!

🎯 -What do they do best? All things plants. In magic? That means potions, charms, etc. In daily life? You got him gardening, cooking, brewing tea... If it involves working with plants one way or another, he has you covered.

*Shell

🎓 - How long have you had the OC? I wanna say May 2021? *goes check* Yeah, I posted about her in June 2021 for the first time, so maybe I had her for like. maybe a month before that. Which means I had her for almost three years already? And she's still so little developed? Gods. In my defence I don't choose what my brain fixates on and also my life went to shit in late 2021 and kept like that for two years, so yeah. I want to take better care of my OCs and stories now tho ^^

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC? At first I just needed someone to comfortably play Asra's and Julian's routes with because it didn't quite work with either Alnair nor Atlas. Then I started wondering if it was possible to have one character that fitted all six Arcana routes. So I gave her an angsty backstory by which her identity was stripped and to be reshaped by the route she takes, gave her the name 'Shell' solely so I could have the play on words "Shell is your name and that's what you shall become" as part of her 'curse', and ta-daa! Yet another OC for the collection was born xD

*Ebis

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name? Okay, bear with me. Ebis is a Submachine OC, loosely based on the Player. And I say 'loosely' because there isn't really any information about Player to base Ebis on. Anyway, in one of the games you get out a padded room and there's the patient number 2183. Which, in digital clock numbers, if mirrored, kinda read like 'Ebis' if you squint hard enough. That's the logic Ebis follows to choose her name, since she wakes up without memories and it's easier to think of herself as 'Ebis' than a 4 digit number anyway.

Maybe it's a dumb way to decide for a name but if it works it works.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do? She loves tinkering away with computer software, which is good for her because she makes a job out of it post-canon (I have not written about that, but it exists in my head), and also numeric games for when she wants to scratch that brain itch without dealing with the inevitable bugs. She also loves gardening and not only that but needs to get her hands into the dirt and feel the sun on her face regularly for optimal mental stability. As for hating... I can only think of anything that would involve her going underground? Trauma related thing, after Submachine she's had enough underground for the rest of her life. Otherwise I don't know, I haven't given much thought to it. Oh! But she's incapable of sitting still and doing nothing, if that counts.

🎯 -What do they do best? She's very good at computers and programming... and the less socially accepted side of it as well (by which I mean she knows how to hack stuff, but she doesn't do that post-canon, and in-canon she does by necessity).

*Marcus

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? As the other Submachine OC I guess sci-fi/fantasy? Adventure? There's some post-apocalypse vibes to much of the game as well. Post-canon this would turn to the fluffy slice-of-life this poor tired man (and Ebis as well) deserves.

And that's all!! I believe I have talked enough for the day, thank you so much for the questions, they made my day :D

[lonely-shine]

40 for Ebis and Marcus 👀

For those who didn't read my tags, Ebis and Marcus are not Arcana OCs (they're Submachine OCs), but since a lot of questions are not Arcana specific I'm letting people ask about anyone ^^

40. What's their love language? How do they respond to receiving affection? How do they show affection in return?

(Hahaha, this turned into an essay, sorry xD)

Okay, so, something about Ebis and Marcus is that they've spent a very, very long time completely alone, without anyone to be with or talk to. When they meet each other they're absolutely touchstarved and crave human connection, so physical touch would be a very strong one for both of them.

Ebis is more open/quick to show affection than Marcus. Marcus was always kind of a loner, he didn't have many meaningful relationships, and generally kept people at a distance, and even if when he meets Ebis he's desperate for connection, old habits die hard. Ebis, on the other hand, was always more open (even if she can't remember), and her severe memory loss also means she doesn't have a reference of what's 'normal' or 'acceptable', so she goes with her gut.

Marcus is always vaguely surprised, at the start, whenever Ebis shows him affection or simple kindness. She always was the one to initiate at first, with gestures so simple as holding his hand to lead him through, or for comfort. It always took a moment for Marcus to snap out of his shock and react, but when he does he responds in earnest. With time, he too takes to initiating small gestures, taking Ebis' hand, keeping her close, resting against her when they sit down to rest next to each other... A funny fact, whenever they stop to rest or sleep some part of them is always in contact: maybe they're holding hands, maybe Ebis is resting her head on his shoulder, but some part of them is always touching. It's a comfort for them both.

Another strong love language for them would be acts of service. They both are very scarred people, and that trauma doesn't magically disappear when they meet or later fall in love, so they still face their own struggles with daily live. But they learn to compensate for each other, balancing their strengths and weaknesses, taking care of what they can and trusting that the other's got their back for the rest.

They also spend a lot of time together and talk plenty to each other, of course, but I don't know if I would count that as quality time/words of affirmation. I guess Ebis could maybe fall a little into words of affirmation? She's good at putting Marcus at ease with her words. Marcus definitely wouldn't tho. Man's not that good with words, and relies better on actions to show his feelings. And about quality time, I don't think either of them considers it a love language, as spending time/being together is just so ingrained in who they are/their relationship that it's just how things are for them. Even after they escape the Submachine, when they could technically go separate ways, it's just an absurd thought for them, why would they.

And that's all, whew! Thanks for the ask and sorry if this got long xD

[lonely-shine]

Marcus Moodboard

Hello, yes, I know this is not my usual content but I'm obsessed with my Submachine OCs so I kind of put together a moodboard based on their time in the subnet.

So! Let's look at the images!

Dark corridors for the tunnels at the Edge where he spend so much time in

Lab materials/tools for his extensive stay at the lab before he was sent as an explorer

Books for his researcher work, he kept records

Bare bedroom for the makeshift room he had at the Edge

A model arguably similar to Marcus (I could have used my drawing, but I wanted to keep it all pictures)

Handwriting for the notes wrote and left behind in the Subnet

Machinery for I believe in the lab he was tasked to run tests and do readings on stuff

Cliffs for the cliffs at the Edge

Spider lilies (symbolizing death), Marcus' flowers in a cruel reference to the ones he lost and his suicide attempt

Unlike Ebis, Marcus didn't explore much of the Subnet and largely stayed at the lab before being stuck at the Edge, so his moodboard kind of reflects that.

[lonely-shine]

Ebis Moodboard

Hello, yes, I know this is not my usual content but I'm obsessed with my Submachine OCs so I kind of put together a moodboard based on their time in the subnet.

So! Let's look at the images!

Glowing mushrooms for the bioluminiscent flora of Submachine, just pretend they're cyan instead of yellow

Sand for the buried lighthouse, the ancient sections, and the tombs

Forget-me-nots, Ebis' flowers in a cruel reference to her severe memory loss (permanent retrograde amnesia)

Brick and stone buildings for the style of a lot of the buildings in the Subnet

A model arguably similar to Ebis (I could have used my drawing, but I wanted to keep it all pictures)

Lab flask for her relatively brief but important stay at the lab

Computer screen for her hacking of the system at the Edge

Lab/clinic stools for the iconic stools seen through the game

An abandoned building for the state of disrepair/abandonment many locations in the Subnet show

Unlike Marcus, Ebis explored much of the Subnet rather than staying in one place for too long, so her moodboard kind of reflects that.