#vasquelley

[gnomey22]

Camila and Grace

I don't talk about my Miitopia OCs often (I intend to make an individual profile for each of them eventually) but they've been on the brain recently, so I may as well get some of my thoughts out.

Specifically, on two of my very favourites - Camila Shelley, and Grace Vasquez. They both originated from my own personal Miitopia play through, but I want to do something with them in the future, because I've invested myself so far into their relationship.

Profiles for both of them, and my long personal thoughts on their dynamic, are under the cut.

To cut a long story short, she's a former pirate who got attacked by the Kraken after a month of sailing, was saved by a mad scientist named Lim (another OC) through being mechanically combined with one of her cannons, and is now going around Miitopia battling things to prove she's still got the fight in her, despite her new Tank body.

To cut another long story short, she's a former entomologist, fascinated by nature to the point where she took a deal with a shady water company that stole her face and put it on a volcano. She escaped with help from the greenery around her, forming a new Flower body, and now she's trying her best to put that to use by going around Miitopia fighting things.

As you've surely already connected, they have some very striking similarities. Both of them are in awe of the world around them, and while Grace is a lot more reserved in her exploration of it, and Camila a lot more vengeful, they both aim to understand things as best they can, after their lives were equally thrown into disarray by a tragic incident they sort of blame themselves for, and now believe they have to put their power to good use because of it.

Camila's unhinged, no two ways about it, she'll lick orange juice off the floor and pull all the random levers she wants, but only because she wants the rush of doing it, not because she thinks it's a good idea. Same logic as why she became a pirate without a crew she could even remember the names of, she's never really cared about the long-term effects of her decisions. She acts on raw emotion, and she's well aware of it, she places a lot of value in emotion!

Grace, however, is clinging onto her hinges. She'll initially chastise Camila for her recklessness and lack of direction, seeing her as illogical and a bit of a hindrance, but she also feels the pull towards the stupid shit Camila does without hesitation - and when Camila's largely unscathed from it all, why not try it out for herself? Grace doesn't hesitate because she fears danger, she hesitates because she's unfamiliar, she's perfectly willing to do all the stupid shit once someone's tested it out for her. Leaving Camila as the concerned one! There's no real reason for Grace to continue her own nonsense, but her curiosity needed to be satiated, she's not nearly as reasonable as her demeanour makes her seem like.

Camila quickly gets a crush on her. She was attracted from the beginning, but seeing Grace's passion for bugs and plants be revealed, seeing Grace constantly try to heal with her flower powers despite not really knowing how, seeing Grace lick the orange juice off the floor and pull the lever - That switches up her perspective real quick. She's not the distant, cold scientist who fact-checks everyone out of hubris, she's a fairly easily excitable nature fanatic who's desperately trying to look professional in a situation where she is anything but. Camila finds that adorable, and as they become closer and closer friends, that becomes more and more unbearable for her.

She confesses, as they guard the camp together on a late night, and Grace is silent for too long. As much as she loves and appreciates Camila's presence in her life, showing her endless kindness, and making her feel the safest she ever has in her new body, she's not attracted to her. And she never will be, that's not really how she works. There's nothing that draws her towards Camila, it's just that once she's there, however close she may be, she's "absolutely wonderful", in her words. Someone she could easily spend her life with. Maybe not even in a friend way, but not really romantically.

They both berate themselves in their heads for what happens in this interaction. Camila thinks she made Grace completely uncomfortable, that her impulse decisions may have genuinely wounded someone. Grace thinks she's been leading Camila on, writing her into a story she was never going to finish. But there are no actual hard feelings on either side, and they come out of it with an agreement on a queerplatonic relationship.

Even that doesn't truly work, though. Camila's romantic feelings are really, really obvious, and while Grace still appreciates how dedicated Camila is to her, how nice it is to have someone see her in such a positive light after a lot of years of shutting herself away buried in research papers and cute bug pictures, she can't return the affection, no matter how badly she wants to.

Camila only falls harder for Grace over time. She finds beauty in cracking through someone's walls, finding out more and more of their life story and motivating them to move it forward. It's such an awkward position for her, being in a relationship with the person you're downright obsessed with, but at the same time, having such a disconnect with them over what you want from the relationship.

It all comes to a head when, for a reason even she can't quite decipher, Grace is jealous when Camila starts hanging out with Lim more often. She knows that they have every right to it, and Camila's told her so much about how Lim saved her life and how kind and creative they are, and she likes them. She considers Lim a friend. Hell, she doesn't even consider Camila her girlfriend, per se. So why on the Guardian Spirit's green earth, is there a burning sinking feeling in her stomach, bubbling up every time they hang out? She talks to Camila about it. And by "talks", she means shouting "What are we, Camila?" after a frantic monologue Camila barely talked through.

Camila's not much of a listener. She's always thought she needed to get her perspective out there, and tear down everyone and anyone who stands in the way of her mostly very simple and harmless goals. And yet, every word that comes out of Grace Vasquez's mouth, means an endless amount to her. The woman not only has an incredible way with words developed from dozens of entomology essays, but an amazingly interesting perspective on the world around her, developed from the very same curiosity that pushed past her caution and always surfaced after Camila did the stupid shit first, and made her feel safe to continue. She hardly says a word when Grace needs to go on a monologue, even if it's at her expense.

With a few months since then, they've settled into a new routine together. Calling themselves a QPR only really muddied things further, it made Grace feel like she needed to commit, and made Camila feel like her feelings were out of the question. So, instead of that, they just say they're in a "relationship", and call each other their "partner". Occasionally "girlfriend" if Grace feels up to it, she does it more than Camila does. It's completely vague by design, no-one really knows what their deal is, least of all them, but all that really matters is the love. They take each other on the wildest adventures, and take up the partner-shielding responsibilities equally, because neither of them are at all willing to let the other take the fall, for any of the nonsense their lives fire at them from afar - and it really says something that the metaphor constantly turning into reality is a more accurate summary of their relationship than any actual title.