Lance’s eldest daughter, Noelle, was now adopted, rather than being the daughter of Lance and his late wife. Him being previously married just wasn’t working for me as his story developed, so now Noelle was an orphan who he took in and raised as a single father. Her story from that point is the same aka she dies young and there’s an adult faller version of her, just her backstory and relationship to Lance is different.
Of the characters listed in the “OC Adults & Historical Characters” section on my directory, everyone starting from Sir Aaron is a historical character, with most of them being the past lives of certain fankids or adults who are reincarnations. Seamus is an original Team Plasma member and Cress’s ex-boyfriend, you can just picture him looking like the generic grunt with orange hair and blue eyes.
Agnar, Dimitriy, and Jeremiah are all OCs that are related! The three of them are brothers, despite the different surnames, and are all the same kind of immortal being. In fact, they’re actually the younger brothers of Solomon (who currently is the adopted son and youngest child of Cynthia & Diantha). Their kind used to serve the deities that Arceus and Giratina were created from (that is, Ellam and Jeshir) and these four, in particular, are all the direct creations of Jeshir, making them basically his sons (and Tanith’s older siblings!)
Due to events that took place thousands of years ago when Jeshir became Giratina, they and a number of their kin lost a lot of their powers and ended up stuck in the mortal plane, though they retained their immortality. Basically, the way it works is that their bodies can be killed, but if that happens they’ll simply regenerate in the form of a child (like a phoenix), weakened, and will regain their powers as they grow, eventually ceasing to age once they’re fully grown and living on until they end up with another fatal injury and regenerate again, over and over.
Over time, the brothers all went their separate ways and all have lived many different lives over the course of history, so these are just their current identities! Agnar lives in poké!Scandinavia in a remote cabin as an outdoorsman, Dimitriy travels the world as a hitchhiker and sightseer, and Jeremiah is currently a wealthy Kalosian playboy just living it up. Solomon was a scholar until he ended up regenerating in Sinnoh after an unexpected accident (or was it an accident…) and was mistaken as an abandoned child by some hikers who found him by chance, which eventually led to his adoption by Cynthia and Diantha. He’s aware of Jeshir though and his original father being in Sinnoh is the main reason he sticks with his new family. His brothers are also aware of how their father and uncle have reverted to their original forms, as well as how they now have a new baby sister, and the three of them will play a role in Tanith, Solomon & Balthazar’s story as well as the main plot.
There’s more to this backstory, involving a fifth brother who they don’t talk about and more lore about their kind but this is getting long enough as it is so I’ll save it for a later post!
who is more likely to get injured doing small tasks – Draco, while trying to show off. “I can do this with my eyes closed, see? Easy!”
who worries more about the other – Cypress worries about Draco a lot since he knows Draco doesn’t worry enough about himself. Or rather, he knows that Draco will put himself down and beat himself up and not take care of himself, so he wants to be the person who can help him focus on his own wellbeing. Years of being the eldest brother showing.
who is more afraid about the other leaving them – Draco. He’s afraid of pretty much all his loved ones leaving him and Cypress is no exception. It’s the reason he tries to keep their relationship purely physical at first, not wanting to admit he’s catching feelings since he knows it will make any future rejection all the more painful.
who is more likely to leave (for any reason) – Both of them. Draco because he’s afraid of commitment and isn’t sure he can handle a relationship, Cypress because he struggles to picture himself settling down, not when there’s still so much of the world to see and when he’s still trying to find his parents. Better not to get too attached to spare himself those bonds fraying with time and distance.
who is more likely to drunkenly confess – DRACO
who is more likely to push the other away (for any reason) – Draco. He constantly pushes Cypress’s attempts to be more emotionally intimate away for fear of growing too attached.
who picks fights more often – Both of them. They’re both hotheaded and easily get into arguments. They bicker almost constantly, but most of the time it’s just banter and is how they flirt.
who usually apologizes first – Cypress. Draco will apologize for smaller things, but getting him to apologize for bigger incidents is like pulling teeth.
who is more likely to withhold their feelings for the other – BOTH OF THEM. Denial denial denial is where their relationship is at for a long time.
who is more likely to lash out at the other – Draco. Cypress tends to bicker more and is overall grumpier, but Draco has the worse temper.
who gets more jealous – Draco. He has a nasty possessive streak that he does his best to ignore, but it’s there. He doesn’t like to talk about it, but seeing other people making Cypress happy makes him feel like a failure. He should be the one making him happy, Cypress should have eyes only for him, since he’s so important to Draco.
who is more likely to support the other in a relationship with someone else “as long as they’re happy” – Cypress. It’d be very bittersweet for him. Draco was someone he could imagine having a future with, sometimes, but above all he was someone he wanted to be happy, so he’ll support him and try not to think about what-ifs. Maybe one day someone else will come along, but Cypress can’t imagine that happening anytime soon. Draco really is someone he’ll never forget meeting.
who is more likely to get injured doing small tasks – Whitney. She has a bit of a clumsy streak in the sense that she often doesn’t pay attention to her environment while focusing on something else, so she’s the type to trip while walking and looking at her phone, or cut her finger when her favorite song comes on the radio while she’s cooking and she’s too busy jamming out to pay attention to the knife.
who worries more about the other – Whitney and Ethan both worry about Lance a lot. He’s the type who will bury his own struggles and focus on helping others and his duties as Champion. They often have to remind him that it’s ok to talk about things that are bothering him or his own insecurities. Actually, worrying about Lance and wanting to help him out after Noelle’s death is half the reason the couple ended up spending so much time with him that led to them eventually being together in the first place.
who is more afraid about the other leaving them – Lance. He has a complicated relationship with relationships. For a long time, he felt like he couldn’t trust anyone, and was only out for himself. Then he got married, and it was arranged, but he grew to care a lot about his wife, then he lost her. Then he lost their daughter and he worries that he won’t be able to protect his son after this happens. Ethan and Whitney becoming a part of his life is something he’s so grateful for. They helped him through the lowest point in his life, and continue to support him and love him and keep him going through each day. He cherishes them and their children so much and knows that losing any of them would probably break him.
who is more likely to leave (for any reason) – Lance. Because he cares about his family so much, he’s the one who’d leave them behind if he thought they’d be better off or safer without him. It’d hurt him terribly to do so, but if it came down to it it would be the choice he’d make.
who is more likely to drunkenly confess – Ethan. Whitney would as well, but she’s the type who’d declare her love for anyone while drunk – a very affectionate drunk. Ethan’s drunk confession would be the type where he wasn’t ready to say it sober but now that he’s tipsy it all comes spilling out.
who is more likely to push the other away (for any reason) – Lance, for similar reasons to the reasons he would leave. He also might feel like he’s imposing on Ethan and Whitney and want to keep his distance. Messing up their perfect relationship and family with his own issues. This was more so in the earlier days of their relationship however.
who picks fights more often – Whitney. She gets easily frustrated and can lash out when that happens, but it’s usually over petty things and never lasts. She always apologizes after. Lance might also get snappy when he’s stressed, but he’s more just standoffish rather than picking a fight. He and Whitney probably butt heads the most of the trio, with Ethan mediating and trying not to get dragged into one or the other side of the argument. When Ethan picks fights though… he’s the one who will drag them out for a long time since he doesn’t want to back down. Basically shorter tempers that burn out quicker vs a milder temper that will simmer for a while.
who usually apologizes first – Both Whitney and Lance! They always feel really bad if their frustration or bad mood ended up causing a fight, especially with each other since they know it upsets Ethan a lot to see them argue, so once they’ve calmed down they’ll apologize to him and/or each other. Ethan on the other hand usually takes a while to properly apologize since he’s a bit stubborn about things like that, but will go above and beyond when he does since is pretty sheepish about being that stubborn. Date night and home cooked dinner on him type stuff.
who is more likely to withhold their feelings for the other – Depends on when in the relationship. Earlier on, Ethan for Lance, since he felt like Lance probably wouldn’t reciprocate and that he was betraying Whitney (this would be before he told her and she said she liked Lance too so what was the problem if they both like him?). Later on, Lance for both Ethan and Whitney. He would be in denial about any feelings and try to suppress them, not wanting to get hurt if he was rejected, reading too much into things, or worrying that getting attached to someone would just end in tragedy again.
who is more likely to lash out at the other – Whitney, over some frustration or other. Usually just getting snappy or shouting if someone talks to her while she’s upset, which then will often lead to an apology and maybe some tears.
who gets more jealous – Lance. Less by others showing interest in Ethan or Whitney, and more in seeing them having a moment together without him. He hates that he feels this way, but he sometimes feels like a third wheel. They’re the two that are married, live together, are more domestic. Sort of the “ideal couple” in his eyes, and he can get jealous of that, wanting that life but feeling like he’s lost his chance, doesn’t deserve it, etc. Ethan and Whitney will always assure him otherwise in a heartbeat though and shower him in extra affection so he knows he’s loved!
who is more likely to support the other in a relationship with someone else “as long as they’re happy” – All of them, in a way? Lance, for the reasons said above, but also Ethan and Whitney since what they want, ultimately, is Lance to be happy, and if it’s with someone else, then so be it. They know that they’ll still all be important to each other no matter what happens and they’d wish him all the best. (Ngl Whitney would probably not see what the huge problem was since can’t they still keep seeing each other even if Lance gets another partner? And Ethan has to remind her that not everyone is necessarily ok with open relationships.)
As I mentioned in the post I made about the switch, it was mainly just since I really wanted to hammer in the parallels those two have with Red and Leaf! I do like both configurations, but I think having the male protags be in similar roles and the female protags in similar roles just worked a little bit better for me, in terms of meeting that goal. Plus, in terms of looks and design, Chase is really more similar to Red and Elaine to Leaf, from hair color to outfit color, and even hairstyle. So, it just felt more fitting, after I thought about it for a while, to have Chase end up with his rival/childhood friend and Elaine be involved with Team Rocket and end up with someone she connects with through that association (as Leaf and Yellow really bonded while investigating Mewtwo together, something that Leaf had discovered while working with TR’s science department.) Like I said, I do hc Chase and Elaine to be similar enough in personality that the ship dynamics and fankids won’t change too much, plus they weren’t super developed to begin with, so hopefully the switch will help! Changing around parent ships is something I might do when I have creative block after all!
14. What is something that never fails to make them excited? The final, decisive moment, in a Gym or Contest battle! Tanith is competitive at heart, and nothing gets her blood pumping than having victory in sight. When things are down to the wire, there’s nothing in front of her but her pokémon and her opponent and their pokémon, she’s laser-focused, and she loves it. Whether she wins or loses (well, tbh mostly if she wins), nothing beats the thrill of knowing that everything comes down to this move, who knows what counter her opponent will have, how things will go… all she can do is rely on her instincts and her bond with her pokémon. Basically the thing that the music does in BW/SwSh/etc where it gets all intense on a Gym Leader’s last pokémon but it’s her brain.
19. How do they feel about public displays of affection? He’s pretty neutral on it! His parents are all pretty PDA heavy, so it’s something he just got used to. It never really embarrassed him even when he got older, though when he was younger he always wanted his parents to hug him as well if he saw them being affectionate in public, haha. When traveling with Glenn and Myka he likes to comment on any PDA he sees from others since he knows it (romance) annoys the both of them. In general he playfully flirts a lot, sometimes getting clingy all “Awww look how cute that couple is… we should hold hands too ~!”. He tones it down a bit after Myka snaps at him about it though, not realizing that romance was such a sore spot for him.
24. What do they think they’re good at, but aren’t? Being normal. Or more accurately, Hymnia thinks she’s a very good actor and can easily convince others that she’s perfectly innocent and mild mannered but she really isn’t. It’s hard for her to hide her general suspicious vibes and people are often put on edge a bit when talking to her despite her best efforts. While Hymnia is a good actor in some ways, like being a good liar, blending in with the crowd or trying to be a “Plain Jane” forgettable ordinary citizen is definitely not her strong suit.
25. What is something they think they’re bad at, but are actually pretty competent at? Being a big sister! Hymnia loves her brothers, but even she has to admit she’s not the best role model and not the best at being “sisterly” and affectionate. Despite usually being good at reading people, Hymnia isn’t actually aware of just how much her brothers admire her – Vesper especially. Even knowing about her less savory side, they’re happy she takes time to spend with them, even after leaving home. She’s taught them some (questionable) life skills, gives good advice, and would bail them out of trouble without question. She’d be pleasantly surprised to find out how much they care.
26. What is something they’re legitimately bad at? Self-restraint. Ultimately, Hymnia is ruled by her whims, even to her own detriment. She has a lot of trouble stopping herself from trying out every idea that comes to her mind, which usually involves sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, some kind of criminal activity, or a dangerous experiment “just to see if she can”. While she’s certainly very smart and is great at seeing through other people’s plans, figuring out patterns and personalities, and solving mysteries… when it comes to her own actions she’s more of the “look before you leap” type, with said quick wits being the only thing saving her more often than not. She admits it’s a flaw, but she can’t help but enjoy the danger. It does make her life rather difficult though when she makes someone angry at her or gets on someone’s bad side just because her brain said “what if you insulted them/stole from them/poked them just to see what would happen”.
Also cooking. She can follow a recipe, sure, but somehow her food always ends up tasting a bit… off. And while she can follow a recipe… she often doesn’t since wants to see what will happen (see above). And that never ends well. She enjoys a good meal but just can’t seem to make them herself! Not for lack of disastrous trying though.
Tristan and @pokemon-legends-and-legacies’ fankid Draco! We were discussing how there are a bunch of spooky coincidental parallels between them, so I couldn’t resist drawing them… just two chaotic guys doing their best.
Pokémon Legends & Legacies 