Tag: long post

For the question thing, Carmen with 4, 7, 18, 27, 32?

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4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?

Carmen was old enough when her birth parents died to have some memories of them, but the memories are bittersweet. Her parents were pokémon researchers who were killed by wild pokémon in the field, so a lot of her memories of them are of them taking her out on trips to see wild pokémon. She treasures the memory of spending time with them, but the memories also remind her of how they died.
As for Whitney and Ethan, Carmen has a great relationship with them – especially with Ethan. Due to the nature of her parents’ death, Carmen was initially very frightened of pokémon, but Ethan helped her slowly grow accustomed to them by letting her stay with him while he worked at the Daycare. Over time, Carmen grew attached to all the pokémon that stayed there, eventually growing to love them. She now wants to be a researcher like her parents and work to find ways to help people coexist better with pokémon so that less people will get hurt like them. She still loves to help out at the Daycare, essentially working their part time while she goes to school to study environmental science and biology.
While she is closer with Ethan, Carmen also loves to spend time with Whitney. Whitney was the one who gave Carmen her starter pokémon, Edna the teddiursa and helped her decide whether or not she wanted to be a trainer. After she got more used to being around pokémon, Carmen loved to spend time at the Goldenrod Gym with Whitney, especially watching the battles. Whitney and Carmen also love to just hang out together, like having a ‘girls night’ where they watch a movie, paint each other’s nails, do face masks, and just chat about what’s going on in their lives. In general, when Carmen has a question related to raising pokémon, she asks Ethan, but if it’s a question about being a trainer or general life problems, she’ll ask Whitney.

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?

Carmen had a small but tight-knit group of friends as a child that she still keeps in touch with. In particular, she’s very close with Rosemary (one of Cress and Jasmine’s triplets) and Luna (Bugsy and Aaron’s daughter). These three formed a very close friend group as children. There was some drama when Luna suddenly decided to move to Kanto, but the three still keep in touch with messaging and video chats, and Luna visits home fairly frequently. With Luna living further away, Carmen mainly hangs out with Rosemary now, but she’s also tentatively befriended Sage, since she admires him for his relation to two generations of Professor Oak’s, but right now it’s more of a fangirl-type deal than an actual friendship.

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else?

Carmen’s favorite genres are nonfiction – especially nature documentaries and books, and mystery. She loves watching nature documentaries in particular and all the ones she’s seen has inspired her to travel the world one day. She loves mystery novels since she likes to solve problems, being a very logical sort of person. She always tries to figure out the solution to the mystery before she finishes reading, doing the same thing with mystery movies as well. In fact, she has a bit of a bad habit of making predictions while watching movies and, since she tends to be good at solving puzzles, often gets them right, much to the annoyance of the people watching with her. As for music, she likes a wide range of genres depending on what she’s doing. For studying, she always listens to classical, for working out, she loves upbeat modern pop music, and for just hanging out, she prefers indie music – especially if it has acoustic guitar in it. She tried learning how to play when she was younger but it never stuck, so now she settles to listening to the instrument. Carmen doesn’t really play video games, but she does have a few puzzle games on her phone she enjoys when she has spare time or is waiting for something. Rosemary keeps trying to get her to play games like Ace Attorney though, since she’s convinced Carmen would love mystery-solving games like that.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

Though it’s been about 10 years since her parents died, Carmen still has moments where she’s hit by grief. Often, she’ll find herself reading something that she thinks her father would have liked, or hear a song her mother would have liked and the realization she can’t share it with them just hits her all at once. When she’s at home, she’ll tend to shut herself in her room when she’s feeling upset and cry to herself, usually putting on music or a tv show to try and distract herself. Ethan and Whitney always try to cheer her up while also giving her space – bringing her herbal tea or a hot meal or just letting her know that they’re there if she wants to talk. Carmen does sometimes just vent all her sadness with her adoptive parents as well, being hugged and just being able to say all the things bothering her. When she’s not at home, Carmen will usually call her parents or one of her friends, just to have someone there. These moments are less frequent as time passes, but she still gets sad occasionally, so knowing that her friends and family are there for her makes all the difference.

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?

Carmen likes clothes with fun patterns on them that are also practical and comfortable for travelling. She usually wears patterned cardigans over plain t-shirts with jeans and comfortable sneakers or boots. When it comes to buying clothes, she likes to shop with Whitney, and they go to a variety of stores, from modern fashion to second hand vintage shops. Carmen likes to look both cute and professional with her wardrobe. She tends to wear matching pajama sets to bed – something that Rosemary teases her endlessly about, but Carmen is steadfast in her opinion that matching jammies are adorable. As for hair and makeup, Carmen likes to wear her hair loose with a headband keeping it back, but will put it up into a ponytail if it gets in the way. She wears a bit of makeup, foundation, mascara, and lipgloss mainly, since, while she likes wearing makeup, she hates taking forever to get ready in the morning. 

DragonHeart Family Part 2

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As a bit of a follow-up to my previous post about Iris and Benga’s family, I’ll go into a bit more detail here about all their kids and the family dynamic. Warning – this gets really long.

For starters, Iris and Benga certainly didn’t plan on having six kids. When they first discussed starting a family, they decided that two was a good number. Both of them are fairly busy people, Iris especially since she’s the Champion. Benga is also somewhat often away from home due to his work as a Pokémon Ranger (the wildlife/parks kind, not the capture styler kind). Neither of them wanted to create the stressful situation of trying to balance a busy work life and a large family, since it wouldn’t be fair to the kids. 

Acacia was born first and all in all, everything went well. The pregnancy was smooth and there were few complications in the whole process. She was quite the boisterous baby, which was just a hint of how wild she’d be as she grew up, but between the two of them, her parents were able to lead her through all her milestones, from first steps to first day of preschool. With everything going so well with Acacia, Iris and Benga decided to try for their second, and in theory final, kid. Acacia was just about to turn four when Iris discovered she was pregnant and the whole family was elated. What was unexpected, however, was when they later found out that Iris was going to be having twins. She and Benga were nervous about having three kids, but they both knew they could make it work and promised each other that, when it came down to it, family was more important that work. Acacia went around telling all her preschool classmates that she was going to be a ‘double big sister’, while Iris spent large amounts of time trying to come up with matching names and Benga got very emotional about matching baby outfits.

When Iris was about seven and a half months pregnant, the second unexpected addition to the family occurred. Benga was on a longer assignment to a more secluded area of a national park in northern Unova, when he returned to his camp one morning to find a wild-looking kid and a young deino doing their very best to bite their way through the wrapper of some of his granola bars. Both parties were very surprised, to say the least. Luckily, being dragonblood himself, Benga can naturally understand dragontongue and was able to communicate with the two (or at least understand them, being unable to actually speak dragontongue himself). After some back and forth, and with some help from his haxorous as a translator, Benga was able to figure out the the boy had been adopted and raised by the deino’s parents after being abandoned. He was able to convince the two youngsters to take him to their parents, which then led to a very long conversation that ended with Benga agreeing to take the boy and his dragon sister to be raised among humans, which his parents agreed was what was best for him. By the time the trio made it back to the nearest town, the boy and dragon had both grown quite attached to Benga and protested quite loudly when the authorities tried to separate them in any way. Benga had to admit he’d grown fond of the two kids as well, and agreed to look after them ‘temporarily’. This was how Iris, nearing the end of her pregnancy, tired and stressed from both that and the demanding job of being Champion, not to mention looking after her excitable daughter, went to greet her husband returned from a weekend away for work to find he had brought back a feral child and a wild dragon with him. Needless to say, she was not impressed.

While things definitely got off to a rocky start, Iris, and especially Acacia and her axew companion, warmed up quickly to the latest additions to the family. Iris and Benga decided to name the boy Cypress, as it was a male name they had wanted for a child, but since Acacia and Iris’ upcoming twins were girls, had never had the chance to use. It was originally intended to be a temporary name, but Cypress grew attached to it quickly and it’s stuck ever since. After his first checkup, the family pediatrician discovered that while Cypress was half dragonblood, he had significant heritage from an unknown supernatural source as well. Since in some areas, such unions are stigmatized, it brought up the theory that Cypress had been abandoned due to his heritage. Since Benga’s father had been an unknown being his mother, Kino, had had a one night stand with, and he grew up somewhat ostracized for not being fully human, Cypress’ plight resonated with him, and he was all the more determined to take care of the boy.

Cypress was a quick learner, in no small part thanks to his hatred of being left out, so he devoted as much effort as an eight year old could spare to learning how speak League Standard and Unovan, as well as read and write in those languages. Jasmine and Clementine were born not long after Cypress joined the family, and for a while after that things went as smoothly as they could in this boisterous household. Acacia started kindergarten, Cypress was well on his way to catching up enough to start school in a couple years, the twins were growing from babies into toddlers with all the joy and tears that come with, and Iris and Benga were settling into the routine of being working parents with a large family. Benga was taking more time off from work and eventually got a job in the Parks Service that let him be closer to Opelucid all the time. And then, seemingly out of the blue, Iris discovered that she was pregnant again. 

It took her a while to realize the symptoms, and the discovery caught her and Benga completely off guard. They did consider terminating the pregnancy, but ultimately decided that they would go through with it, as they were both willing to handle the responsibility. Cypress and Acacia were both excited when they found out, since they both liked being older siblings to the twins. Jasmine and Clementine were a bit too young to understand, but the energy of their siblings got them excited for their new sibling as well. Things got a bit tense, however, when Iris found out she was, yet again, having twins. There was a point where she speculated that she must be cursed, or that her family must be cursed when she considered that her cousin/adoptive sister Phoebe had had triplets. On top of it all, the second set of twins were a rough pregnancy that led to a difficult delivery, culminating in Iris needing a c-section after a painfully long labor. Laurel and Poppy were finally born in the early morning of December 25, which led to plenty of comments on how they were special holiday gifts. Iris was not particularly amused. 

Following the stress of the second set of twins, Iris and Benga both decided to have their ability to have children removed, just to be double sure there would be no more accidents in the future. Laurel and Poppy proved to be fairly well behaved babies, and thanks to the help of friends and family, Iris and Benga managed to raise them and the four other kids into productive adults and ambitious teens. Iris managed to continue her Champion work with the energy and passion she’s famous for, leading to her gaining even more of a reputation as someone not to mess with consider she makes time to be a mother as well as lead a region. Benga started working part-time and being a stay-at-home dad for the most part, which he loved and the kids appreciated. All in all, Iris and Benga certainly never planned on such a large family, but looking at the kids now and all their memories, the couple wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

Multiples of five for Oliver and Nika please! :D

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20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

These are a bit shorter than normal due to there being so many questions, sorry.

5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

Oliver: As the youngest, Oliver was certainly doted on by his older siblings, who tend to be protective. However, thanks to being a reincarnation, Oliver is actually the oldest mentally of his family, which led to him being the responsible one most of the time. His parents wanted him to have as good a childhood as possible, but it’s hard to coddle a grown man in a child’s body who had lived through war. Oliver certainly doesn’t complain about being spoiled though!

Nika: Nika was spoiled rotten by their parents! In terms of being sheltered however, since they are a reincarnation just like Oliver, they had already seen a lot of the bad sides of life. While Nika would have enjoyed to run wild in their youth just as they had in their first childhood, Marlon and Caitlin certainly tried to keep them on a short leash, so to speak. As such, Nika can be rather restless at times, and tends to act out when left unsupervised.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

Oliver: Oliver is quite book-smart and a quick thinker. However, he suffers from indecision frequently, and only in the heat of the moment does his true innovation shine. He enjoys reading and history as a hobby and has quite the wealth of knowledge.

Nika: Nika is certainly quite street smart. They learned to think and act quick in order to run away from home frequently as a child. They are also quite charismatic and skilled at talking their way out of trouble.

15. Did they graduate? High-School? College? Do they have a PHD? A GED?

Oliver: Currently, Oliver is a sophomore in high-school. He will go on his year study next year and plans on taking on the Unova League challenge like his parents and siblings did.

Nika: Nika graduated high-school in 3637 and chose to enter medical school in the hopes of perhaps helping their currently comatose old lover, Aldus. University is soul crushing but Nika is soldiering through.

20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

Oliver: In his past life as Farran Harmonia, Oliver was the younger brother of Unova’s twin heroes. When his siblings’ conflict threatened the entire kingdom, he sealed them into the light and dark stones along with their dragons, then inherited the throne. 

Nika: In their past life as Yasha Ilyin, Nika was the lover of Prince Aldus of a Unova even more ancient than the era of the twin heroes. After Aldus was deified as the original dragon, Nika went on to marry Aldus’ twin sister, Queen Rohesia, though the marriage was one of convenience rather than love as Yasha – and Nika are loyal to Aldus to this day.

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Oliver: Oliver enjoys reading, writing, studying history, and taking long walks or runs in nature.

Nika: Nika enjoys swimming, rebelling against their parents, showing off their magic, and camping.

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can they forgive?

Oliver: Oliver is still haunted by his older siblings’ war and is terrified that his new siblings will also end up fighting. Any conflict in his family, even petty arguments sets him on edge. He has yet to forgive Albin and Ciara, but perhaps one day he will as family is something he values more than anything.

Nika: Nika is rather obsessed with finding a way to wake Aldus up after he returns to his human form in 3620 along with the rest of the legendaries. Since Aldus’ dragon body was split in twain by the twin heroes, his soul no longer resides in his body and the original Aldus, rather like the husk of Kyurem he turned back from. Nika vows to one day bring Aldus back and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?

Oliver: Despite his years of experience, Oliver does not do well with failure. Being faced with any decently large error or bad situation can lead him to freeze up, though when he does get going he’s quite a quick thinker under pressure.

Nika: Nika tends to well even when faced with mistakes. Their charisma lets them bluff their way through many things. However, this leads to them having a habit of being in denial of wrongdoing or mistakes made.

40. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

Oliver: Oliver’s sense of humor is rather….. stilted. He tries is best bless him but what he finds amusing most others find charmingly awkward.

Nika: Nika has a great sense of humor. They adore wordplay and riddles and tend to throw them into their daily conversation, which is rather irksome to some.

45. Is your character pragmatic? Think first? Responsible? All action? A visionary? Passionate? Quixotic?

Oliver: Oliver tends to be very rational to his approach on life. He has a habit of overthinking his problems, and often ends up unable to choose a course of action. He’s quite a strategist however, and excels in leadership positions.

Nika: Nika is a very quick thinker and while pragmatic, also mainly looks out for themselves. They often come up with plans of action on the fly and rely on instinct to back them up in a pinch.

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

Oliver: Oliver has a very serious resting expression that doesn’t really reflect his true mood most of the time. He is constantly being told to smile or lighten up, though he has yet to train himself to look more content.

Nika: Nika shifts between moods and is a very good actor. They’ll play up their expressions to garner sympathy or strike fear though their neutral face is one of light boredom.