hi rose, would you like to talk us through how you've characterized oscar in zero cycle? i love the way you flesh out people and their tendencies :)
Oh, I LOVE that question. I love yapping about writing and characterization. Thank you SO much!
For Osc in Zero Cycle, I think my starting point was the inspiration of Couriway being a genuinely amazing coach for Jumper. Slight spoilers for this video, as I will be basing Oscar's and Lando's tournament on Jumper and Couriway's run.
What especially intrigued me was the emotionally intelligent way Couri coaches. That was the first thing that really struck me. It immediately reminded me of the way Oscar "gentle-parents" Lando (especially during 2023â2024), being extremely kind and patient with him, always trying his best to make Lando feel understood and creating an environment in which he seems to flourish.
This tertium comparationis between Couriway and Oscar immediately made me realise that it made perfect sense for Oscar to be the coach and Lando the content creator. It is, of course, further exemplified by the fact that Lando is a streamer as well, and this was the perfect opportunity to send him to Midoffs.
The second pillar I wanted to base my characterization of Osc on was his fanboyism, which is, of course, also fundamental to his relationship with Lando. This is where the story moves away from Couriway and Jumper and starts leaning more into the classical Landoscar dynamic.
I liked the idea of Oscar wagering all of his draft points on Lando, fully aware that he was essentially risking his own ranking in the process. (This isn't something that happens in real life; I simply wanted to increase the stakes.) It is a very short-circuit, jumping-the-gun sort of decision.
I wanted to show right from the start that Oscar is usually incredibly rational and unsentimental, which is why his chat immediately reacts the way it does when he makes this incredibly irrational and sentimental decision to draft Lando.
I was fascinated by that juxtaposition: all of Oscar's oftentimes exaggerated rationality and supposed emotionlessness immediately being called into question the first time that we - and Lando - meet him. We encounter him at a moment where he is already venturing into territory his fans no longer recognise. He makes an objectively stupid decision in order to fulfil his fanboy dreams.
The third pillar of Osc in Zero Cycle is his secrecy and his fierce protection of every detail of his private life.
That choice, of course, has its reasons, which we are going to get into. But it was also a deliberate decision on my part to create further tension between Lando and Osc.
Lando is extremely open; often to a fault, because there are many things the world probably shouldn't know about him. He is trusting, and he is endlessly curious. Oscar has things to hide as well, but while Lando isn't necessarily ashamed of his secrets and simply knows he has to keep them due to external pressure, Oscar is very much ashamed of his and desperately doesn't want them exposed.
I wanted it to feel tangible, the way Oscar keeps both Lando and us at arm's length. Every now and then he makes small concessions, offering up pieces of himself when he thinks he can spare them. But while it might seem as though Lando is gradually wearing him down, there are certain fault lines that Oscar will defend with his last remaining troops. (Forever? We will see.)
I hope that made sense! Developing Osc as a character, abstracting some of his real-life qualities and extrapolating them into an entirely different context, is genuinely one of my favourite parts of writing fanfiction. I'm really glad you sent such a fun ask so that I could ramble about it. Thank you so much!
