#fhr arbor

[seawardboundsammy]

me making a character: ok but what if their morals were entirely based on how it makes the object of their affection feel-

[seawardboundsammy]

arbor's a staunch Gone Soft sweetheart but i think they might have to kill someone in revelations... just cause i would love to see them pushed to the breaking point of their iron clad ideal of Being Good. cause there are a handful of things that supersede that and they will stoop to anything to protect (hint: its not ortega)

[seawardboundsammy]

assigning animals to my sidesteps :]]

arbor: water buffalo my friend water buffalo <333 ive had them as a water buffalo since rebirth i just love the stalwart and persistent energy and also big thing in vietnamese culture :]

pelican: .... obviously the name but theyre truly such a cuckoo with their parasitic way of interacting with ortega and how much a manipulative bastard they are

thistle: starving bobcat cub that someone took in thinking it was just a normal kitten/cat and he's SUPER trying to be just a cat

faruq: pretty basic but he's a lion. it fits with his very heroic and helpful nature and his pursuit of making the heroes better in preparation. as opposed to arbor's need for direction, he's comfortable leading and knowing what needs to get done.

rory: BUTCHERBIRD.

[seawardboundsammy]

If it’s not too much trouble, can I have 3 and 4 from the step asks game for all ur steps? (I like villain name rational LOL) Or just a couple of them!

of course you can!

3. what is their villain name? why did they choose it?

Arbor: Refutation. this one was purely self indulgent. I love the word refutation and the idea of being stalwart, refusing to budge even an inch. arbor chose it because theyre still doing what they think is right (anarchist) but refusing to do it in the way dictated by the rangers

Pelican: King. One of my fave of my step names, they chose this cause they wanted to force everyone, especially their enemies, to revere them whenever they spoke of them. Pelican is nonbinary but masc presenting so i went with king instead of regent or smth. Also they call their mob "The King's Knights" even though he thinks of them much more like pawns

Thistle: Briar. I originally thought about Thicket but that felt too close to his actual name. Briar fit the flower theme and also draws back to Sleeping Beauty which thistle definitely likes the pink of and also the fairytale princess. Also he thinks Briar fits how it feels to get close to him. just looking back at the stats and oh yeah his v name was originally Undertow! I was thinking of doing an ocean theme and then went all in on flowers (though im def still gonna use undertow as a name sometime)

Faruq: Rook. It's the second syllable of his name. He's the bluntest man alive and totally expects Steel to catch onto his shit and doesnt care. He acts like a rook (straight direct lines with a clean goal) and it also fits how he's still trying to support and help (train them herohunter)

Rory: Heartbreak. They want it to hurt. They want Ortega to know how much he failed every time he turns on the tv, every time he has to talk about the villain on the rise. They want people to be scared, to wonder if theyre gonna be just as bad, and prove that theyre going to be worse. I personally wanted to see the dialogue for if you choose that name.

Nayeli: Estoc. Now this one was by far the weakest. I knew i wanted to romance argent so i chose a sword name and i just. couldnt find anything more fitting. Nayeli is a tech thief and i never quite locked down her theme as much as the others (eg. regal, flower, knight) so i honestly want to give her a better name as some point.

4. what does their villain armor look like? what is their typical style of dress?

Arbor: I think im gonna switch their armor to functional with a cape cause they are really not terrifying. their armor is p agile (tele boost and jump jets) and their cape has an almost heroic flair. normally they wear a long sleeve shirt with a tee-shirt over top and a pair of army surplus green cargo pants. oh and their signature sunglasses!

Pelican: thats a king baby! conqueror with cape, its a bit bulkier to add to the intimidation (extra armor). it literally has a crown built into the helmet. he's such an egotistical bitch. on the day to day they wear expensive suits, typically in brown, and probably looks far to much like HG.

Thistle: pretty lithe mirror suit, built to slip into places unnoticed. He often wraps himself in his cape to conceal himself even more. he wears very cute pink clothes, typically a frilly white shirt with a pink cropped cardigan and a pain of light brown pants or a loose skirt. he and pelican are the most appearance conscious of my steps and thistle is by far the more neurotic about it.

Faruq: thats an armor suit. enhanced strength and armor, no cape. he is very much a parallel to steel and a practical guy so there's definitely a resemblance between their suits. he wears pretty standard second hard comfortable clothes but does take good care of his beard and locs (which on very rare occasions he will put cuffs in)

Rory: terrifying massive armor, shredded cape. you cant see their face obviously but in stillness it feels like they never blink. this thing cracks concrete just walking over it. rory wears a yellow shirt over an orange sweater and a long brown skirt with black boots. thats pretty much all they wear.

Nayeli: similar to thistle's mirror suit, her's is more black than mirror silver and tries to hide her frame but doesnt have a cape. she super doesnt like people looking at her so her standard style is pretty basic, just a woman who works in an office nothing to see here. her favorite part of her appearance is her long hair which she (tries) to take good care of.

[seawardboundsammy]

I think 'Partner in crime' from Madilyn Mei fits arbor and ortega :>

ooo this is a good song hmmm...

"I’m ‘bout to die Yet the only thing I find I'm worried about is you" is very arbor in the farm and they do act like this

"Something tells me you aren’t coming Guess that I’m truly doomed" but they could never think this about him. they had a momentary loss of faith in him when they had to break out of the farm but immediately replaced that with "if he knew you were here he would have saved you its not his fault" upon meeting him again. they are. completely incapable of seeing him as anything other than flawlessly divine.

thank you for the song though anon!! adding it to my general sidestep playlist cause it mayhaps apply to another step in the future :33

[seawardboundsammy]

14, 30 and 34 for Steps of choice? 👀

using a random number generator ill be answering these for arbor, rory, and my new girl nayeli!

14. are they more daring or more cautious?

rory is by FAR the most daring (78) nayeli is in the middle (58) and arbor is the most cautious (45). rory doesnt give a single shit about like, consequences or people hating them and arbor is like. if ortega is mad at me i Will put myself in the timeloop and suffer through my entire life again as to avoid this.

30. what is their love life like?

arbor and ortega's ship tag is "deify your lover". i often say "arbor didnt get religion under they imagined god as ortega". see earlier statement about timeloops. theyre terminally obsessed with him and will make any bad decision to make him happy (telling all the rangers theyre a regene). but they like each other a lot so its all fine :]

rory had a secret crush on ortega and never told him and now wants him to suffer for as long as possible and then die for leaving them to rot. they flirted with argent behind the mask but that was all for show. their thesis of "i want to walk into a room and have suffered the least, and im going to hurt everyone to make this happen" is not conducive to relationships (not even including the fact they feel. nothing. and dont consider themself a person at all)

nayeli... could not avoid a beautiful woman no matter how much she tries. she's pastflirt and dating ortega, dating mortum in the puppet (and confessed everything), and is dating argent (revealed to her as well). it is. terminally messy in there, she just cant avoid throwing herself at the feet of women she loves/wants to be like (transgenderisms)

[seawardboundsammy]

4 and 10 from the uncommon OC asks for Arbor? 👀

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

oh boy for a sidestep, too easy. this dumbass chose to TELL THE ALL THEIR RANGERS ABOUT THEM BEING A REGENE as their ending. once theyve cleared you as one of their guys and someone they trust, theyre all in. they want to be Good so they try to see the good in everyone around them, often to their own detriment

10. What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

"I'm not scared." "'Course I've done this before." "I'm right behind you." it haunts them, but they cant bring themself to regret it. it got them more time with them. they would say anything to scrape out just a few more moments of being Good.

thank you for the ask!!

[seawardboundsammy]

7 and 19 for all ur steps, if u wouldnt mind?

oh i would be delighted!

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

arbor: i thought they were normal and chill at first! i truly thought thy were like my "normal" step. i was wrong.

pelican: they stayed pretty consistent (awful) mainly just got worse and more insidious. also more masc!

thistle: i knew what i wanted from him (heraldmance) so he hasnt changed much, he's also one of the least developed

faruq: bolder than i expected! he pulled off some cool tricks while flying under the radar, i still gotta rerun his route

rory: being the newest they havent had much time to shift and change, i knew from the start i wanted to make the worst decisions possible and boy did i!

19. How does your OC behave when enraged?

arbor: all those precious morals and hangups? gone. when shit hits the fan and they need to defend what's theirs they are going to tear through whatever's in front of them with their goddamn teeth

pelican: this smarmy fucking prick. they remain in control even when angry, pushing buttons and mocking whoever their talking to

thistle: angry tears :( he's easily overwhelmed by emotions in general

faruq: CLENCHED jaw. he is grinding out a handful of words and seeing if kicking their ass is viable. he's able to check his anger if he needs to get something done though

rory: now rory is interesting cause well. they are past rage at this point. it is just black hole spiraling Drive. i would say their expression of rage is their normal state cause their state goal is "Make everyone else suffer so much that when I walk into a room, I am the LEAST hurt/have suffered the least"

[seawardboundsammy]

4, 22, & 23 for arbor =]?

4. When scared, does your OC fight, flee, freeze or fawn?

oh, definitely freeze. theyre a person who kinda needs someone else to tell them how to act (see the farm and ortega) so when they get really scared, they just hold in place until they can think. this got expressed as undaunted heroism back in the day as sidestep but now its more breathless terror

22. What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?

hmmm so Lawful Good. now you may think "hey, isnt sidestep becoming a villain and breaking the law contradictory to this?" well you see, theyre lawful to THEIR ideals of Good. if their ideals seem to be not solidly defined and based significantly on ortega's opinion dont even worry about it

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

wrath. they try so hard to be good all the time and to do good and they were trained to not be wrathful that it just. does not come easy. it takes very specific circumstances for it to arise and it doesnt last long. also betrayal! they cannot stomach the idea that ortega would betray them so hard that they believe he is coming until the moment they have to break themself out. they forgive him IMMEDIATELY after they meet again. its bad.

[seawardboundsammy]

16 also for arbor? :3c

hiiiii dearrrr :]]]

16. What makes their stomach turn?

they can weather the general populace perceiving them as a villain but the idea of ortega finding them out makes them want to turn inside out. for external things, people who betray/hurt their families and loved ones. yeah they did NOT like fighting ortega (but he was fineeeeeee they dont even think about that more than once a day.)

thank you for the ask love!

[seawardboundsammy]

🌿🔪🐁 for arbor :>?

🌿Do they like camping or road trips?

i don't think theyve ever been on one but they probably would as long as ortega's there :] also getting to explore little towns and tourist spots would be really fun for them. not sure they'd be super into camping (they like the city) but anything for you ortega baby <3

🔪Say they were put in a classic 80s slasher/horror setting, who would they be? {Example: The killer. The dude who dies first. Etc.}

ooo hmm... arbor's pretty LET ME BE GOOD so i think if ortega's there theyre kinda the scared tagalong sticking by his side that might get picked off. if theyre alone ((or if emery (partner's step who theyre siblings with)) is there then they are much more on the offensive and aggressive, might still die to protect emery

🐁Do they find a creature cute, that normal people don't? Such as spiders, rats, snakes, sharks, etc?

they've got a soft spot for tarantulas. theyre so fuzzy and fit in your palm and they really just like em. i should give them a tarantula as a pet actually that would be so cute

thank you for the ask!! :DD

[seawardboundsammy]

Alone, future, and midnight for the not-so-nice asks? For whichever OCs you want to answer for!!

i'll do all of these with Arbor, my sweetheart gone soft (has been soft) anarchist sidestep!

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

Arbor is constantly trying to be a good person and defined "good" by the people around them, specifically Ortega and Anathema (mainly ortega.) They work very well in a team so being completely alone is hell for them. Even though theoretically being alone should allow them to stop worrying about being good for a minute, it just makes them constantly check and wonder if theyre being good and it kinda makes things worse.

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility?

funny you should ask this! my first run of retribution i got the ortega broken trust but he breaks you out ending and i was so genuinely heartbroken about doing that to him that i replayed the game SEVEN TIMES to avoid hurting his feelings (and also explore). the worst possible outcome for arbor is ortega hating them, or being disappointed in them. they are extremely unhealthily obsessed with his opinion and um. they kinda super ignore most of his flaws/see them in a very rosy light

midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping?

they worry a lot about ortega finding them out, about anathema's death, about herald getting himself killed, about if theyre doing the right thing. They dont even really want to be a big bombastic villain, they would honestly love to be a hero again, just not a ranger, and just not what everyone might think of as a hero. When they can't sleep, theyre probably smoking on their balcony, a habit they picked up very quickly while people watching in LD after their escape.

[seawardboundsammy]

thank you @autumnfangirler for tagging me!! ive also been listening to my million fh playlists so most of this is from those

Mama Tried by Merle Haggard and The Strangers (#1 ortega song)

Reverse by Minimall (THE anathema song to me)

The Dreams of the Morning by Mischief Brew

Little White Lies by Aurelio Voltaire

Pslams 40:2 by The Mountain Goats (arbor's anthem)

Maneater by Nelly Furtado

Where Is My Bible by Blake Rouse

When I die by Pepper Coyote

Smooth by Santana

Twelve Hands High by The Extra Glenns (this is about getting attacked by a horse. it is on arbor's playlist.)

now people to tag.. @radioactive-mouse @chaotic-solutions and @aurrieattorney if you'd like to?

[seawardboundsammy]

secret for arbor perhaps?

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

well obviously the villainy cause like. they will do most anything to prevent that. but the thing hidden in that is they dont want anyone to know their capacity for violence. they try so hard to be good and kind and succeed often but beneath all of it is the ability to put all that away. to let morals and ideals fall to the way and see only what needs to be done. theyve only really gotten like this in the emery sibling au (the au where theyre siblings with @radioactive-mouse 's emery) when they thought emery was in danger and they got. Very defensive. the only thing they cared about in that moment was protecting emery (who is the main reason they ended up a hero at all)

[seawardboundsammy]

got possessed to write this before bed so have sidestep's (arbor's) pov

He is coming for me.

It is so cold down here.

He is coming for me.

You are so alone.

He is coming for me.

The pain sweeps over you like the tides. You cannot help but drown.

He is coming for me.

… How long will this last, songbird? 

Not forever. How long was last time?

You managed 3 weeks, 2 days, and 8 hours. 

Then I will wait for 4 weeks.

And what happens then? What happens when he never comes for you? When he has failed so thoroughly even you have to admit it?

You know just as well as I do that he searches for me still. It is in his nature just as it is in mine to die.

I know. 

Would you tell me a story? There is so much time left to wait for his arrival.

Once upon a time there was a princess in a tower…

Bile drips from your mouth. Each drop passes a week. Blood in your eyes. Where is he. 

You are waiting. You are hungry. Need scrapes you clean, flays you on your slab.

Where are you Orpheus.

How long must the dark be endured. 

Is patience not a virtue?

There is precious little virtue in this stainless steel hell. 

How long will you take this, songbird damsel, damned to sing in a cage till you drop?

No more. No more. No more.

Then it’s time to stop being the canary, and start being the wolf.

I swallowed my teeth into my belly. 

They linger still. They have made a maw of your innards. 

I will tear myself open and find them again. 

Go on hunter. Break your hands on the wall of this cage.

I will endure it no longer.

You refuse.

No more no more no more.

Orpheus,

I’M COMING. 

started writing in between classes and im deeply obsessed with orpheus parallels with ortega/chargestep so have this. warning for ortega being inebriated and wanting to die.

Time to rise Orpheus. The day breaks and you with it. 

(I don’t want to. Don’t make me.)

That’s not an option. Get up Orpheus. 

(I have no legs. I have no hands.)

You will be repaired, doll of lyres. 

(I don’t want to be. I want to lay here and die.) 

Scio, sweetheart. 

(Will I see her again?)

Only on her deathbed. 

(I don’t think I can do this anymore.)

You will. 

Get up Orpheus. 

Get up Orpheus.

Get up-

“Ortega! Get down from there!”

Chen pulls you off the ledge of the building you guess you were climbing over. You're not really sure. 

You’re downstairs now. Your arm is over Chen’s shoulders. 

“-tega! What did you drink? Can you even hear me?” 

You’re nauseous.

You’re not nauseous anymore. 

“Ok that’s. That can be someone else’s problem, come on.” 

He lifts you once more. He’s good at that. He does is a lot when you fuck up or do something stupid which is always cause you’re a poor excuse for man. 

You snuggle into the passenger seat of his car. It’s cozy, it smells like him. You don’t smell good. 

“Drink this.” He says. He tips your head back and water pours into your mouth.

You do your level best to not choke.

You’re on the wrong side of your couch. This is Eurydice’s spot, not your’s.

Sidestep. Sidestep’s spot.

You shake your head, the smallest bit of clarity returning to your vision and mind. Chen has pulled a chair from the kitchen to sit in front of you. His expression swims but you think he’s concerned. Not a clue why.

“So. ‘Never gonna drink again?’” You spit onto the carpet and he grimaces. 

“Don’t know what you expect from someone like me. When’s my word ever meant shit?” You wonder if you could get him to punch you.

“You- I’m not entertaining this. You need to get your shit together.” He doesn’t say ‘before you end up dead’, but you hear it anyway. Or maybe that’s you saying it.

You let your head tip back over the couch. He wants you to try. You don’t know how. 

Yes you do. Rise from your corner. 

But you’re already so far gone.

Then go all the way. Pursual when you cannot see your target is what you do best. Find them.

They’re not dead. 

No.

They’re dead.

Not to you. 

I already failed them.

Then fail again. 

Isn’t the definition of madness trying the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome?

No, that’s a misconception. And anyways, when has that ever stopped you before?

Fair. 

Now tell him something so he doesn’t send you to a madhouse. 

You look back at Chen. His clenched teeth twist his scars on his lips and his hands are clasped together so tight you swear you hear the creak of metal. You slump forward, uncoordinated, and put one of your hands on his. 

“I’ll tell my… therapist,” the word is still a rock in your mouth, “about. This.” You’re not sure if you mean the drinking or the climbing. 

That’s not true.

Yeah well fuck you I’m not getting sent to a madhouse. I’m not crazy.

Then what’s this?

“That’s good.” Chen breathes out in a long relieved sigh. “That’s good.” 

You tug him off the chair and into a hug. You know he can feel your heartbeat through your shirt, and you know he needs that. 

Out of his view you stare daggers into the wall. You’re determined (for now). You have to find them again.

Miles to walk Orpheus. 

And promises to keep.

And promises to keep.

[seawardboundsammy]

Skin and ghosts for thistle if you’re up for it!

oh well hi hi welcome back :]]

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

not at fucking all! his deepest fear as mentioned before is that there is just. nothing. that he's as hollow as the farm told him he was, that he'll never fill that hole in him. also relevant, he's a fem trans man which adds a whole nother layer. he is very aware of the weakest version of himself. thats just him, all of the time.

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

the hunger the hunger the hunger. the way ive made all my fhr steps is by choosing something that defines them wholly (eg. arbor being good, thistle being human.) and the weight of that hunger follows him through every breath. there's times where he lies awake at night, terrified that the hunger will open up beneath him and eat him whole.