Character Survey: Vahaadi
1. People don’t behave the same way all the time. In fact, they generally have a mask for every social group — friends, family, business. Sometimes they have a different mask for different groups of friends. How does your character act around different people? How does their personality shift and change?
Vahaadi acts very differently depending on who he’s around. To his friends, he’s playful and casual. He usually manages to maintain a suave, bad-boy air, but at the smallest show of affection he’ll melt. His gaze is warm, his touches are petting, and he tends to be more expressive in his body language. People he doesn’t like get treated with a passive-aggressive snarkiness and even cruelty. He uses touch to harass and subtly threaten. Around men he’s attracted to, he’s submissive, coaxing and serious. Smiles are rare and eye contact is carefully calculated. The worst state to see him in is when he’s strung out on aphrodisiacs, which is his go-to coping method for depression and loneliness. He becomes very sexually solicitous (though not aggressive, since he’s found he gets more attention from playing the lapcat), slinky and raunchy. He usually only lets himself be seen this way by whoremongers and clients. When caught in this state by people he knows, he’s deeply humiliated.
2. Your character has been brought to a party and promptly ditched. They don’t have a ride back home. How does this work? How comfortable are they around all of these strangers? Do they interact?
Crush: The Follow Up
Here’s how Andrayia responded ^_^ It was fun to draw so many of my girl characters together, since they rarely interact.
Freaking Took.
OK, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Took is really easy to write, but really hard to draw. I thought I’d figured him out in these pics:
But I almost think he’s too cute??? I dunno. I was thinking a longer face might be better, since it would make him look more like Lanthriel, but Lanthriel gets his “longness” from his mom, so…uh. I’m not sure. I just don’t want him to be cute and generic looking. So here are some sketches and notes! Also, noses. The weird expression in the bottom right was me trying to explore how extreme his faces are. I think this might be a little too much but it’s funny. XD
I don’t know what’s happening in this picture but I think Took is at work? He must work with other sorcerers and engineers occasionally. I didn’t really care to figure out what he was doing so I just left the first one as body boxes. The dialogue came out of nowhere.
P.S. The Took drawing for your birthday is still in the works! Right now your birthday Took has the long face look pictured above. It’s not quite as angular-cutesy as the face I gave him in the traditional study and the 2011 expression study, but he does look a little more…suave, with the long face? For what that’s worth? It used to be important to me that he looked like a teenager, but that’s not a priority to me, anymore…especially now that I’m much closer to his age (AHAHAHAHA weird thought).
I think I’d like him to have a sort of Disney villain look to him, where he’s not generically attractive but his design *works.* My problem now is that I don’t know how to incorporate the elements I’ve noticed Disney uses to “uglify” their villains (extreme cheek bones, long chins, bags under the eyes, long upper lips) without him looking WAY too old. Quandary >/
Andrayia’s Crush
Evie | My characters rarely surprise me much anymore, but Andrayia definitely got an eyebrow raised when she confessed to me she’s got a crush on Vahaadi but she doesn’t want anyone to know. She’s never met him but she’s seen drawings of him and knows about Loose Canon and she’s glad that he’s going to belong to Spark. She thinks he’s so handsome and best of all he knows how to have a good time, something the people in her world are seriously lacking. I told her LOTS of girls have crushes on Vahaadi as soon as they see him and he’s not interested. She said she knows, but she just had to tell somebody. So. There you have it.
CallyAnn | Aw. Awwwwww. D: I am surprised, too! But maybe kinda not? I guess my level of surprise varies depending on her level of crush. XD
Evie | AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS ART IS FANTASTIC
hahahahahahahahah
AHHHHHHHHHH
I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING
I haven’t even shown Andrayia I just love it for me
haha I hope that isn’t bad
I think she’d be very apologetic too
now I will have to draw something in return
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGRAHIGHSABIGOU(UWNHHHHHHHHHHHHH i just love this
I love the little !!! lines in front of vahaadi
if this is what happens when you watch a lot of anime I approve
CallyAnn | Of course if Van did find out about Andrayia’s crush and confronted Vahaadi about it, his (bad) response would be,
Evie | hahahahahahahaewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
XD
And Van will be like “WHY DID I EVER COME HERE”
((WEIRD REACTION FACE GO HAHAHAHAHAHA sorry this is so ugly I just couldn’t help it. Van, why are you always the butt of the joke. ))
Canon of the Guardians II
“We can light it
Up, up, up
So they can’t burn it
Out, out, out
We can light it
Up, up, up
So they can’t burn it
Out, out, out–“
Mood Music 😀
http://youtu.be/CGyEd0aKWZE
It would seem a stupid idea to start throwing sparks at the moon to make it glow, but according to the books the man in the moon kicks up the moondust that has settled on the surface of the moon in order to make it glow. If it stopped glowing, I’d imagine they have to shake up the surface again.
((And just because I like how it looks, here’s a black and white version. I think I like this because in the novels all the pictures are in black and white so this looks like it came out of the book ^_^))
Canon of the Guardians
My kids have been so in love with William Joyce’s “The Man in the Moon,” that I’ve kinda gotten a bit head over heels for his world of the Guardians myself. I started reading his chapter book series that goes into much greater detail and characterization than the picture books (in some ways) and have fallen in love with the characters of The Man in the Moon, Katherine (the future Mother Goose) and Nightlight (the guardian of The Man in the Moon when he was a child. After a battle with Pitch Nightlight has no memory of who he was/what he meant to the The Man in the Moon but still finds himself on the side of right and has ‘moonbeam powers.’) He is the one holding the staff in my picture. For as much as I love these characters, I rushed through drawing them to get to the real HEROES of this post: Spark and Vahaadi. FORGIVE ME FOR THE HORRIBLE FIRST PANEL XD… T_T It’s only there for the general idea.
After CallyAnn decided to send Vahaadi permanently to Loose Canon and Spark fell apart with glee I honestly found myself a little lost. So much of my feelings and associations and understanding regarding Vahaadi had to do with his life in Ashen Shard. I didn’t know how to approach him or where to find much inspiration about him, despite how over the moon (sorry the pun was too ready) Spark felt about everything. I went back and re-read what CallyAnn wrote when Vahaadi told Lanthriel goodbye and was struck by his gladness concerning becoming a hero. This made me very happy! I got to see Vahaadi with new eyes all of a sudden and became really, really excited about the path that Loose Canon is going to take with his character. So I couldn’t resist sending him and Spark to the realm of the Guardians to show off a little bit (okay, a lot.) I figure this takes place well into his relationship with Spark ((Well I mean it isn’t actually taking place, this is still OOC, but if it DID–)); he has long since shed his aloof demeanor and bitterness and has taken to saving worlds with a passion (in his own sultry eyed way.) He looks so confident and dazzling and UGH HE AND SPARK JUST CLICK LIKE OH MY GOODNESS. This was too much fun to draw. I’m too tired to work on it now but the last panel will be in color so that’s why it says “to be continued.” I’ll post it when I can but in the meantime I had a lot of fun drawing hero Vahaadi. He pretty much makes my day. <3
La Vahaadi and El Spark
DON’T ASK ME WHY GENDERBENDS AMUSE ME SO, THEY JUST DO, OK???!
Anyway, another swing and genderbend Vahaadi and Spark. Although I think it’s safe to say if Vahaadi were female her life wouldn’t have turned out at all like it did and I don’t think she would have ended up in this kind of servitude. I don’t know if Spark’s world would be all that different since she’s already a tomboy. I dunno! It’s just funny.
I suppose their dynamic would be really different too. I think FemmeVahaadi would be a lot more aggressively sultry than male Vahaadi, thinking a teenage boy would be easy to corrupt. But once she realized Spark is no ordinary girl-crazy teenager she’d stop, and she’d like him for it. She’d probably be a lot like Eris. I imagine HommeSpark might be like Beast Boy. XD
I’ve Become What I Can’t Be
((So, I mentioned before that I want to completely rewrite Vahaadi’s character for Ashen Shard. Rather than changing Vahaadi back from the character he’s become for Loose Canon, I’ve decided to jailbreak him from the story entirely. I will be writing a completely different character to take his place, and Spark now gets to have Vahaadi all to herself! This decision has been cemented by the recent ideas I’ve had about revamping Ashen Shard. Initially everything was hunky-dory, but the day after I had my epiphany about Ashen Shard, I started feeling some pushback from Lanthriel. This surprised me, since Vahaadi’s exclusion will theoretically make his own story so much better. But much to his own chagrin, Lanthriel does feel strongly for Vahaadi and regrets the drama. Sending Vahaadi to a different story entirely means they will no longer have to torment each other with their mixed feelings.))
“I suppose this is farewell,” Lanthriel said softly. “I’m sorry it had to end this way.”
Vahaadi closed his pack without looking up. “It’s for the best,” he replied, trying to sound confident. He flipped the pack, filled with every sign he’d ever been a part of Ashen Shard, over his shoulder.
“You’ll have to spend hundreds of years a slave and a villain instead of only a few.”
“True…” Vahaadi responded grimly. “But, I’ll get to be a hero, too.” Feeling the confidence he’d been seeking finally coming into his voice, he looked up at Latnrhiel. “Ink’s promised me a happy ending. There’s no guarantee of that for me here.”
Lanthriel’s eyes darkened, and Vahaadi was alarmed by the look of deep pain and regret he wore.
“Don’t worry,” Vahaadi tried to reassure him. “Spark will take good care of me.”
Lanthriel’s brow knit and he cast his eyes away. His voice was thin when he spoke next.
“I’ll miss you.”
Vahaadi’s throat tightened uncomfortably. Why, why did he always have to make everything so hard? “I’ll miss you, too,” he murmured.
For a moment, the two just stared at each other. At length, Vahaadi moved closer, extending his hand to touch Lanthriel’s face. Lanthriel seemed to come to himself abruptly and turned faintly pink. He cleared his throat hastily and held out his hand, as if to shake.
“Let us part as friends, and nothing more,” he said.
Vahaadi hesitated, and Lanthriel saw the fleeting resignation and sadness in his eyes. But then he smiled.
“Friends, and nothing less,” Vahaadi agreed, and he pulled himself against Lanthriel in an embrace. Lanthriel’s hand, still extended, hovered uncertainly in midair. Then he relaxed, and tenderly returned Vahaadi’s embrace. Vahaadi sighed into his chest, feeling he would melt.
“UUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH would you stop with the mush and just GO already?” a harsh voice whined.
Lanthriel relaxed his hold but didn’t pull away completely, looking at Took with a mixture of scorn and embarrassment.
“Oh, Took,” Vahaadi purred with his teasing smile. “You KNOW you’ll miss me too.”
Took put his hands on his hips. “I can’t miss you IF YOU WON’T LEAVE.”
Vahaadi laughed at his retort and shook his head. “Alright, alright,” he chuckled, unwrapping himself from Lanthriel. He smiled up at Lanthriel, inviting him to laugh with him at Took’s expense, but there was no trace of a smile in return.
“Oh, Ehric,” Vahaadi murmured. “Don’t look so sad. Knowing Ink and Evie, we’re bound to see each other again! We’ll run into each other in an RP or some out-of-context meme for certain!”
Lanthriel rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at the ground. “Haha. I guess you’re right.” He sighed quietly, then returned his gaze to Vahaadi’s. “Well, goodbye for now, Vahaadi,” he said.
“Goodbye, Ehric. I’ll see you around.” With that, he stepped up to Lanthriel, and gently kissed him under his jaw. For once, Lanthriel had been more or less expecting the kiss and didn’t tense. Grateful, Vahaadi resisted the desire to over stay his welcome, and with a final smile up at Lanthriel, he turned and ran off toward his new home, his new beginning.
(( Mood music, by One Republic of course:
I like listening to this and imagining the scene and a montage of memories and Lanthriel and Vahaadi facing their new stories and just coming to terms with everything and mutually and separately moving on. <3
Also relevant is Rascal Flatt’s “I’m Moving On” but it isn’t as uplifting/encouraging as “Stop and Stare.”))