OC Challenge - Day 6-9

Because I missed a few days. And there’s no Day 8, so…

6. Have you ever changed anything about your characters? Are there any characters you’ve “abandoned”?

Abandoned? A few, though I think they came back in other forms. Changed? Yes. The Itsubishi twins went through a lot of transformations. Actually, the Itsubishi twins fulfill both requirements about change and abandoned. Obviously they came back. xD

…I was gonna make a picture to accompany this post but I changed my mind. I don’t want the embarrassment of showing old designs. -_-;

The original Itsubishi twins were ninjas. Jeremy used to have superhuman strength and Teremy never talked about himself.

They came back in high school. Jeremy was the lonely kid who made a wish to the goddess to make a friend. She took half of his lifespan to resurrect his dead brother, Teremy. In this incarnation, Jeremy used twin ninjaken, shuriken and wind-based powers. Teremy used kunai and lightning-based powers. They lived at Aunt Jocelyn’s costume shop.

The one constant was that Jeremy was always eager to tell his story while Teremy remained an enigma. Teremy was fine being a smartass and keeping to himself.

During this time, I had a few dreams about the twins in modern society. Jeremy was from a rich neighbourhood and had a beautiful girlfriend named Amanda. Teremy was estranged at birth and was raised by his Aunt Jocelyn in the ghetto side of town. In the dreams, Teremy came to live with his brother and his parents. But even in this incarnation, Teremy remained an enigma.

When I campaigned to Abeat about Strength & Justice, I resurrected the twins back from the character graveyard and campaigned to her to write a story about them. We decided to write a story from two points of views. Abeat was more interested in Jeremy and Amanda’s relationship while I was interested in enigmatic Teremy’s life in the ghetto. When I asked whether the story would take place in the slice of life version or the super powered version, Abeat suggested to merge both universes into one. Then Geminate was born.

Giving away one of your original characters to someone else is kinda like adopting an animal or a child to someone else. You just have to hope for the best. I’m happy that Abeat gave life to Jeremy and Amanda/Mandy. Meanwhile, I learned a lot more about enigmatic Teremy than I could have imagined. He’s not such a rude smartass as much as that’s the exterior he developed to deal with his life in the bad side of town…

7. Which character do you feel is most like you, friends, and/or family? Have they inspired you to create these characters, or did it just happen that way?

Me? Probably Joey because of his short temper, extreme stubbornness, ability to turn people off by his bad choice of words, and general moodiness. I get told by others that I’m mostly like Christian and Graham because they’re both friendly, Gray is funny (I’m funny?) and super talkative, and Christian is quiet. I can safely say that I’m least like Terrence/Nate.

As for family, Aunt Jocelyn was inspired by my real-life Aunt Jocelyn in name only. Though to be honest, I think things I remember about my family seep into whenever I write for someone’s parents. *cough*

9. Have any books, video games, movies and/or artists helped inspire you? Have they helped develop your impregnation into what it is now?

Plenty! The plot of Strength & Justice was inspired by a movie. Unfortunately I can’t say which one or I’d spoil the entire story. It’s a movie that probably no one suspects.

Umm…embarrassingly enough, I was greatly inspired by CLAMP, their plot twists from nowhere, and their imaginative worlds.

I take inspiration from everywhere! Mostly movies but sometimes anime and video games. I love to analyze plots and story narratives.

Oh, and Ragnarok Online. The main reason why I’m so addicted to RO is because I learn a lot about my chars that way, whether it’s through the gameplay or how they interact. Yep, I’m one of those people who act in-character sometimes. Mwahaha.