Vahaadi watched the peculiar man with a guarded frown. “What do you want?” he asked, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake Spark.
“You,” the stranger responded with a little quirk of his eyebrows. “Your power.”
Vahaadi scoffed and folded his arms. “Ha. Get in line.”
“Ha-ha! I never was one to wait my turn,” the man burst loudly, throwing his cape back with one hand as he bent into a flourished bow. At eye level, he doffed his hat. “Mr. Sabo,” he quipped in introduction. His voice dropped to a pleased growl, and he slid the top of his cane under Vahaadi’s chin, tilting the djinni’s head back as if inspecting a prize animal. “But, I hope you’ll soon call me ‘Master,’” he leered through his clenched teeth.
Vahaadi scowled and slapped Mr. Sabo’s cane away with the back of his hand.
Sabo, take 3! I took some feedback on this guy’s design, and now I’m really happy with his look!
The weird mohawk has been replaced with a (weirder) shaved club pattern on the back of his head, and he’s now completely bald on top! I moved the heart shape to his collar and gave him a swanky top hat and a more sinister eye shape.
Except for the one in his eye, all of the dice patterns will be represented by buttons on his outfit. Two and four are the closures on his pants, six is down the front of his coat, five will be on the back of his coat, and three will be the cufflinks of his sleeve (not shown in this angle).
I worked the pawn shape into the bottom of his cane, and I gave him a cigarette holder shaped like a king piece! I like the idea of him always talking through his teeth because of the cigarette clenched in his jaw, and the cane and hat open up some ideas of things he can do with his hands while he talks. It’s important that he seems really animated. He’s a bigger, louder character than I expected him to be, and I like it. CX
First of all I wanted to say what a fine character this is! You can tell because even the back of his head is distinctive, interesting and revealing. That’s very uncommon!
Secondly I really, really like the cuffs on his sleeves; it’s a great place to incorporate the chess piece design without feeling unnecessary or over the top, as are his boot tops.
I COMPLETELY APPROVE OF THE MORE SINISTER EYE SHAPE, I can really tell the difference! Even though his eyebrows are cheerful, you can tell something lurks beneath.
I think keeping the dice patterns restricted to his buttons is a good idea. We don’t want him to appear clownish, and this keeps the idea cohesive so you can tell that’s supposed to represent the sides of a die.
oh oh oh and I love the cards up the top of his coat, those look great, subtle but clear, as opposed to using his whole cape to try to get that effect.
He looks PERFECT for the role that he has, and the dialogue completely suits him! A+ character design!!!!!
I COULD READ YOUR WRITING ALL DAY FYI <3 Poor Vahaadi, always treated like an 'it' rather than a he. I'm glad Krissy/Spark changes that.
I am so glad you like him! I like him too and now I want him in the story more. D: I guess that’s a good thing, it will help me write the parts he’s in if I know I have to milk them for all they’re worth!
Ace suggested I just stick to chess on his design and make two other puppets with dice and card themes. I’d already gotten attached to the idea of Sabo representing several kinds of games, but it did give me ideas for some other puppets for Toymaker! We may never see them in the story, but it’s fun to think about…
Rather than just coming up with puppets representing different types of games (although they ultimately would look that way, but I’ll explain in a minute) I thought about basing Toymaker’s puppets on the reasons or motives behind play. Sabo here represents “playing to win,” which is why he’s associated with competitive games that involve both strategy and luck. Toymaker uses him to interact with characters that are risky and dealing with high stakes — those that stand to lose.
Other ideas:
Playing to bond – stuffed animal and imaginary play themed, like little kids. Helps people that just need a friend to support them while they figure stuff out.
Playing to learn – puzzle and mind game themed. Helps people by forcing them to think their way out of their problems.
Playing to compete – sports themed. Helps people that need a “rival” to spur them to grow.
Playing to escape – roleplaying themed? Like computer games and LARPing? Helps people that are running from their problems deal with their issues instead of hiding.
Playing to create – craft and art based. Helps people that have destructive despair learn to channel their energies into making good things instead. After Sabo, this puppet would have been the next best character to help Vahaadi.
Vahaadi has been referred to in such a way for long enough that he believes it, too.
When my camp buddy read this excerpt, she advocated for Spark kicking Sabo in the groin. XD I’m pretty sure Sabo can’t feel pain, so it wouldn’t do that much harm, but it would probably be satisfying! XD Vahaadi does get to cut his head off, for what it’s worth. XP