Character Question 21

Character Question 21

How do they deal with stress?

Bella: She'll read and read and read. She loves it and it's a perfect distraction. However, she also tends to repress, but she has less control. She won't have any outbursts, but she'll be quieter than usual and may swallow sobs during an intense conversation or if she's tired. She'll pause more frequently, but her voice won't crack, her words won't waver. Very few people can tell when she's stressed, and it takes a lot to coax it out of her and to sort through the issues.

Freddie: He will make and experiment to distract himself. He might come out of his lab with scorched eyebrows and blue fingertips, it wouldn't be surprising. You've seen this done before - when he heard Zach was coming, he immediately went to work on Cap's shield.

Zach: He'll practice whatever sport he's focusing on at that point. He will do it until his fingers are bloody and he's almost worn through his shoes unless the stress stops. He also loses control more often - he feels obligated to be cheerful, so he tries to repress the negativity, leading to bigger outbursts.

Character Question 19

What is in their pockets?

Bella: she has a mini toolkit and a Swiss army knife. She also has a photo of her family by the beach. This is only applicable on the rare occasion she doesn't have her toolbelt on her.

Freddie: a periodic table from his first science fair that he went to with his parents. He also has the gold block from his element blocks.

Zach: the smallest stuffed animal (a blue sheep) from his collection and one of his dad's old badges.

I'm going to edit this later to include the morning routine for my characters, cos this is a brilliant idea for character development.

morning routines

nyx and juni wake up relatively early every day (usually, nyx wakes up first and just cuddles with juni for a bit to wake her up,, couple goals) and they make a Healthy breakfast together. nyx is pretty hopeless at cooking in the beginning, but juni is a very good teacher

lynn also wakes up early, but she does not love social interaction first thing in the morning, so she usually just reads while eating a piece of toast or something simple

violetta would wake up slightly early, but it’s still too late for her to eat breakfast since she spends a lot of time finding a cute outfit and putting on makeup. so usually, she just makes herself an iced coffee that she drinks during her first class (“all part of a complete breakfast!”)

aster goes to sleep very late and would like to sleep in. unfortunately, she is a light sleeper and shares a room with dawn (who wakes up early). as a result, aster is forced awake pretty early as well. she eats a simple breakfast (she doesn’t like to skip meals as a general rule) and makes herself a hot coffee which she drinks during school

violetta and aster would argue with each other about the merits of iced coffee versus hot coffee. every morning. it becomes a tradition, and the argument eventually becomes very flirtatious

tora wakes up Just before school and rushes to get dressed and look somewhat presentable. if she doesn’t have any time to spare, she’ll just grab a single heavily caffeinated energy drink (tora’s not allowed to have more than one after the Incident that ended up with her staying up for a solid four days and sleeping for five). if she does have time, tora makes herself a cup of tea (her brother taught her how to make tea and she always thinks about him while making it) and eats some type of dessert or chips

dawn wakes up very early and has a very sophisticated breakfast of toast and jam. she makes herself a cup of coffee (using her expensive coffee maker, of course), and she makes patterns in the foam. yes, dawn is extra and, yes, she’s upset that she doesn’t have a chef to make her breakfast anymore, but she will persevere somehow

@pagesofcursive totally Juni and Nyx

I also have an oc in V/H's au, who is the embodiment of sunshine but has a power that is very raincloud esque with a twin who is a stoic raincloud and a new girlfriend who's very down to earth

Oh, to be a stoic raincloud of a character who meets and is immediately put off and intimidated by the human embodiment of sunlight and energy. To be a person who is closed off and a little unkind and guarded due to the way life has treated me, but still having the sunlight person gently prying at the cracks in my wall. To realize that the sunlight person likes me for my calming presence and levelheadedness and that just the way I am is enough for them. 

Character Question 22

When they were a child, what was something you were never sure of?

Zach: He knew his father was never guaranteed to come home. It always worried him when his dad was late home. His father always took the missions that had the greatest payoff - they got quite risky. He has had many sleepless nights waiting for his father. It left him a wreck the next day, and he would beg his father to stay from school; not to catch up on sleep, but to catch up with his father and learn about his experience in the field.

Freddie: Affection, for sure. He may not have been aware of it, but he always had to test the waters when his parents came home - they didn't always have time for him and could be quite snippy towards him. It was very rare that they would spend quality time with him. There was a time when they worked on their own with him on most days, but that slipped into memory as their jobs became more demanding.

Bella: As much time as she spent crafting her charismatic facade, she always doubted its integrity. She was always afraid someone would see through it to what she saw as her boring opinions or she'd let it slip in someone with a lot of connections that would spread the truth about her social eloquence. (Luckily, she had a stable home, but she doubted her social, public life constantly without reason, in most people's opinions)

Summary: Another one of my OCs tries to comfort Anabella. Does it go well? You'll have to read and see. A couple of things to note! This is set in the Fusion AU (explanation here). Fera is an empath and also has pathokinesis that primarily comes into play when she's overwhelmed, it's not something she controls; she only deals in negative emotions, so life is kinda tough. She is the sunshine I referred to in the tags the other day.

"Bella?"

"Oh, hey Fera." Anabella hastily wiped the tears from her cheeks. She was sitting on a plush mini sofa in the back corner of the library. She took an obvious, shaky breath, trying to compose herself enough to be presentable to others. Hatred from breaking down oozed from her. Fera, who had felt the concentration of the potent emotions from half the library away cocked her head, trying to get a better read on the distressed girl in front of her.

"You're not okay. But you will be," Fera's statement was decisive, as strange as it was.

Bella's forehead crinkled as she considered the brighter girl's words, "Excuse me?"

Fera shrugged, "I'm an empath that helps the school counselor. I know these things, even if I don't want to sometimes."

“Huh. How has your day been?” clearly in uncomfortable territory, Bella attempted to redirect the conversation.

Fera recognized what she was doing, but decided to play along, "Pretty good. We got some seeds that came in for gardening club, and I had a quiz that I think I did okay on. What about you?"

Bella swallowed before replying, carefully monitoring her tone, "Good enough. I had some spare time in study hall to work on a side project that I submitted to a local expo last week for approval." Her voice was low with scattered pauses as she attempted to regain control.

"Have you gotten the results back yet?" sensing she was nearing a part of the issue by emotional surges, she pushed on.

"Yes," Bella's voice was small and thick with unshed tears. She cleared her throat, composing herself again. "I found out about an hour ago. I didn't make it."

"Are you okay with that?" Fera prodded.

Bella's voice shook, "I'm fine." She grew angry at her lack of control.

Fera hid a smirk. As awful as it was, and as unpleasant as it was to battle someone else's inner turmoil, she found some satisfaction in helping people with their problems. Like weeding out a garden, so the nicer plants could grow. "I'll repeat what I said earlier: it's okay not to be okay. And eventually the un okayness will pass." Bella wrinkled her nose at the grammatic fault.

"And you're sure?" Bella's skepticism of Fera was palpable as she eyed her.

"Pretty sure," Fera shrugged again. "Statistically, you know it's true. And I've seen it myself. You'll feel better eventually."

Bella mumbled incoherently against her knees, which were pulled against her chest.

Fera squished in beside her, resting a comforting hand on Bella's back. She silently grimaced as she sensed the broken ball's emotions turn for the worse. Her hand rose and fell on the back beneath her palm.

Bella snapped up, throwing Fera's arm back. "But what if I'm never going to feel better?! People keep saying I will be, but I'm not okay. I don't have a social life -" She cut off Fera as her mouth opened to protest, "It's faked. Any success you see is because of study. No one else studies to talk to their peers. NO ONE SAYS PEERS IN A CASUAL ENVIRONMENT!!” Her fury died down the minute it started, like a raging waterfall collapsing into a slow-moving trickle. “I just… I wish I was normal.” She collapsed into Fera’s embrace, her shoulders shaking with silent tears. Fera ran her fingers through the chestnut brown ringlets cascading just past the jacket-clad shoulders.

Fera started reciting a version of the words she’d heard so many times sitting in, or sitting in on a counselor session, “It’s okay not to be okay. But it’s also okay to ask for help.” A fresh wave of melancholy washed over her as Bella heaved a choked up sigh. “It’s okay to not be perfect, and no one will hate you for that. Talk to one of us before you have another breakdown like this, okay?” She felt the flow of fear and anxiety slow. Going with a hunch, she continued with her soft words, “Repressing your emotions isn’t helpful.” Nothing. The deep well of emotions coming from Bella disappeared. The void was disconcerting. She could almost feel the rumble of deep, uncontrolled discontentment. “It may seem helpful in the moment, but it’s not healthy.” A flash of melancholy broke though, quieted almost immediately. Slowly, Bella rose. Her eyes were still puffy with tears, but she had an expression of measured calm on her face.

“Thank you,” she said simply. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.” Her voice was rough from the tears, and she felt her emotional wall slipping, but she pushed past, denying it. Her footsteps echoed through the nearly empty library as she walked towards the exit. As the sun hit her, she almost believed the calm and content façade she kept up. Almost. She’d have to talk to Fera again. Sometime. Someday when she had time to dedicate to more trivial things in life, like emotions. Someday.