Headcanon #1

Guess what - I'm not dead!

I've just been too ashamed to show my face on dA for the lack of writing I've done. Doodles? Sure. I've done a few I'm quite proud of, and I've given myself a major style overhaul which may or may not show here. But writing? A few paragraphs, tops...

Call it writer's block if you will, but instead of writing and editing, I've suddenly got spin-offs coming out of my ears, with side stories for pretty much every major or semi-major character! It's ridiculous, especially considering that most of these I could never write into the main plot. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

So I guess I might be drawing a few of the images I have in my head. Think of them as teaser trailers for the real thing - the novel that I have permanently open in a word document for fear of inspiration striking and dying before I can get it open. But you know, I actually really enjoyed this. I got to explore my characters in a new setting, and establish their dynamics, and even put more focus on a character who I don't expect to even introduce in the first book.

Looking at it as an art piece, I know it's not perfect. Looking at the shading, especially on their skin, it's kind of a combination of my lazy, 3-tone, smack-it-on-and-smoosh-it-around-until-it-looks-kinda-right shading and some style that reminds me suspiciously of Attack on Titan. I guess I've been influenced, haha.

The perspective is kind of off, especially on the forward figure's leg, and the shading sucks on the fly traps, but I guess it gets the message across. I was going to try a motion blur (which I might still do later), but I quite like it like this.

I went kind of nuts with the overlays...bokehs courtesy of
regularjane.deviantart.com/art…
and
sirius-sdz.deviantart.com/art/…

As for that side story thing I've been rambling about:

Something which may or may not have been made clear is that Storytellers are separated into groups according to what stories they are able to manage. More often than not, this is based on the genre of story they originally came from. Squads are made of 5 people (two field partnerships and an administration staff). The main two squads of my story comprise of what is tactfully called the 'all-purpose squad' (not so tactfully, the powerless squad), and the combat squad. The latter is sent into stories that may be considered dangerous. For example, stories where manipulating the storyline may involve poking a dragon a few too many times, or snipping a loose wire in the brain of a killer robot. Call me cliche, but I think they're actually quite useful....(or maybe I just read too much manga). Min and Cato belong to the former - they have no powers to speak of, and may actually be physically weaker than the average human being (cough cough Min).

Anyway, members of the combat squad can take a few hits, and dish them back out as well. The forward figure in this picture is River, who was introduced briefly in chapter 6 currently posted on dA. The back figure is Rose, who I don't expect to introduce at all, but still exists. River has the inbuilt ability to simply pick up an object and immediately know how to use it as a weapon. You could hand him a goldfish and he could still knock you out with it (although he makes no promises as to the condition of the goldfish afterwards). River is partnered with Rose, who is (for lack of a better phrase) plant-pathic. Aside from simple communication, if the plant gives her permission she can accelerate its natural processes (such as growth speed, size, spore release). Rose's plants do not often have any notable attack power, and River's ability does not give him instant knowledge of how to DEFEND, so they are quite well matched. Rose will confuse the opponent and try to incapacitate him until River is able to get in a few good hits.

Their relationship is mostly business. River has a (one-sided) crush on another girl in his squad, and an (also completely one-sided, not to mention self-appointed) rivalry with the squad's unofficial leader/mascot. Thus, he spends most of his off-duty time either chasing after them, or commiserating with Min (his best friend, due to the fact that it was River who pulled Min out of the Void when the latter was born). Despite the Storyteller's lack of need to eat, Rose is a passionate vegetarian cook, and her kitchen is often a gathering point for anyone looking for a place to just sit.

Rose fun fact: Rose started off as a deconstruction of anime stereotypes (note her pink hair and elfin ears), which has led her to become the only one of my original Storytelllers to have flat out magical powers (Sage and Rowan excluded. They're not mine originally). She is about 26.

River fun fact: as a result of his Imagination level, River's mohawk is actually permanent. No matter how many times he shaves it or dyes it, it will return to the exact same manner within a few days, which he is consistently teased about. He is around 24.

....If that's not a wall of text, then I don't know what is...

Ah well. It was fun to write, anyway.

Thanks!



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