Hello, everyone! This is my own little blog where I share and promote all my stories for more people to read! Below are everything Iโve written on AO3 (the ones Iโm mainly focusing on so far), to which Iโve cross-posted on Wattpad too! Asks are open, so message me whatever you want regarding any questions about my stories!
(To those of you who aren't familiar with TV tropes, it's basically the most accurate wiki when it comes to analyzing a show from the plot down to the characters. After reading the tropes for Dragon Striker, it mostly inspired me to try to make some for Tara in the same style of the site to help flesh her and her story out. Also, I haven't seen anyone try this before for their OCs, so this should be fun! Here's the link to the characters' TV tropes if any of you are interested: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/DragonStriker)
Tara Moonshield/Sunspear
Tama: Nocturne (Shadow Manipulation)
Position: Midfielder
Year: 3rd
Team(s): Knights
Abusive Parents: Since the death of her mother, Surya constantly neglects and emotionally abuses Tara at every given opportunity, never holding back on his criticism towards her. While he shows a few decent moments as a father, he only seems to care about her physical health and never thinks about her feelings, seeing no issue in ordering the Ferreiro twins to kill Key right in front of her, even though he was clearly her daughterโs friend. Tara even admits that the last time he even so much as hugged her was when she was a toddler, and that was before her motherโs death.
Action Girl: Both outside and during Gorotama matches, she is remarkably adept at combat and even learned martial arts to avoid relying too much on her Tama to get out of sticky situations.
Amazonian Beauty: Because of her intensive training since childhood, she is slightly on the buff side for her age and besides her reputation as a troublemaker, she is fairly popular among the other students for her looks.
Animal Lover: She adores animals and even secretly keeps a mothfox as a pet. In return, various critters are naturally attracted and pacified by her presence simply by her treating them nicely.
Anti-Nepotism: After she was enrolled in Kal Asterock, Surya proceeded to "respect" her wish to be treated like a normal student to hide her true identity as his daughter by doubling down on his verbal abuse and refusing to give her a speck of special treatment. This is ultimately what pushed her to become the rebellious troublemaking student she is today in retaliation towards her father.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Despite attending an academy for Gorotama players and even being groomed to be one as a child, she is a skilled fighter and aggressively confident in her martial arts, which she utilizes in her Gorotama playing skills.
Awesomeness by Analysis: At a young age, she is very talented at reading people based on their body language and their expressions, which is something she picked up from her experiences with being born in a noble family. This comes in handy while playing Gorotama because she can predict the opposing team's attacks if she manages to get close enough to analyze their movements.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: She is almost always at odds with Falco because of his overconfidence and tendency to look down on others, especially her due to her Tama being naturally weak against his. After Falco is slightly humbled by the unofficial match between the Knights and the Roses, their relationship starts to improve, enough for him to actually stand up for Tara in his own way whenever she is insulted in front of him. It is eventually revealed that despite their circumstances, Falco always hated how his older cousin was treated by their family and was even inspired by her rebellious behavior to defy tradition by joining the Roses instead of the Bards. Tara even takes the time to visit him in the infirmary after hearing about his Tama being drained, even though there was now tension between their teams because of his incident.
Berserk Button: Anything related to her family is one of them, from reminding her of her childhood to being accused of nepotism because of her connections to them. Another one is directly hurting or threatening her friends in front of her.
Beware the Nice Ones: Although she can be a bit hotheaded, she is generally nice and usually avoids unneeded drama if she thinks getting involved would be too troublesome. Once her patience gets tested, she is not afraid to get physical with or without her Tama.
Big Sister Instinct: As the oldest female member of the Knights, she has this towards her younger teammates and is fiercely protective of them, especially Key.
Bizarre Taste in Food: She has a veryโฆunique sense of taste and is sometimes seen eating peculiar-looking snacks in her free time. She also seems to be the only person to actually enjoy the taste of Miloโs jelly.
Black Sheep: She became this to the entire Sunspear family when her Tama emerged as a child, revealing itself to be a natural enemy to their main Tama because it was a shadow-based power while everyone else possessed light manipulation. For this, she was then treated like an outcast by her own relatives, especially her father. There were even some moments where she was referred to as the โfailureโ of the family, and it didn't exactly get better when her younger cousin got all the attention as the โgolden childโ in comparison to her. She ultimately chooses to embrace the label by acting out in school and becoming a rebellious teenager whose antics wouldโve brought more shame to the Sunspear name had she not chosen to go by her motherโs maiden name.
Blue Blood: She is the daughter of a member of the esteemed Sunspears and a woman from the Moonshields, which is supposedly just as prestigious as her fatherโs side of the family. Fitting enough, she has blue hair and eyes along with wearing the Moonshield familyโs blue colored attire in contrast to the Sunspearsโ vibrant yellow theme.
Blue Means Smart One: Her color scheme is blue and she is one of the smartest members of the Knights, whose motif is also blue.
Braids of Action: She has long hair styled in a thick braid that reaches her waist.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Towards Surya, in which the majority of her actions are made purely to aggravate him and she occasionally makes a lot of cutting remarks to his face.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She is a naturally talented Gorotama player and was scouted by two teams (one of which was her own fatherโs) in the past during her Banner trial, but she turned them both down and decided not to join any Banner teams because she didnโt want to deal with the constant responsibility and pressure with her father pushing her to join the Bards. She is far more intelligent than she lets on and also has surprisingly good grades in every one of her classes (when she actually attends them).
Broken Ace: She is a skilled Gorotama player with a powerful Tama, naturally talented at self-defense skills such as martial arts, and genuinely charismatic towards her younger teammates. She also struggles with emotional trauma because of her dysfunctional family life, stemming from the abuse she endures from her own father.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She is a thrill-seeking and energetic girl with a penchant for mischief, displaying numerous eccentric quirks that stand out even among the rest of the already-bizarre cast. She is also exceptionally talented at using her Tama in creative ways and is far more observant than she looks, making her a force to be reckoned with outside and on the Gorotama field.
Calling the Old Man Out: Tara doesn't waste any time in doing this to Surya regarding his abuse, bluntly spelling it out to him that his behavior was exactly the reason why she was the way she is and that his efforts to keep her under control were only going to make things worse. Unfortunately for her, this only causes Surya to double down and make things even more difficult for her because he refuses to properly listen to his daughter.
Casting a Shadow: Her Tama allows her to manipulate shadows and even transform them into portals for teleportation. She can also morph herself into a shadow to make her body and whatever object she is in contact with intangible.
Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Majority of her pranks are usually this, with how tense and agitated the other students can be due to the competitive nature of Gorotama. There was one particular incident in the past when she tried to cheer up Lilas after the Roses lost a game by setting off a glitter bomb in the classroom where the opposing team was. The aftermath was apparently disastrous, but Lilas genuinely appreciated the gesture and thanked her for at least trying.
Clashing Cousins: She starts off with a tense relationship with Falco because ever since they were children, he was treated like the favorite child despite being her younger cousin while she was basically an outcast in their own family. He would even take advantage of the natural contrast between their Tamas to bully her by flashing her with light every now and then. Once he is humbled by the Knights, their relationship gradually starts to improve, though they still exchange petty banter with each other every now and then.
Creepy Child: She was considered one in her childhood because she developed a few unnerving hobbies like collecting creepy-looking plushies she perceived as cute or playing with knives, which only made her even more of an outcast. Even in the present day, she still shows a few signs of this every now and then.
Curtains Match the Window: She has blue hair and eyes, both of which she inherited from her mother.
Cool Big Sis: She is this to the younger members of the Knights, doing her best to encourage and support them while training. Ssyelle even considers her to be the best candidate for being the captain of their team for her charisma, only for Tara to turn her down not only because she didn't want the responsibility, but out of genuine respect and faith in the younger girl's skills.
Dark and Troubled Past: She was once an innocent little girl loved by both of her parents while being raised in a luxurious environment. Everything started to go downhill when her mother is tragically burned to death during the incident with Edina's dragon, in which her once-caring father immediately became cold and harsh towards Tara in his grief and anger. Things became even worse when she inherited her mother's Tama, which happened to be naturally weak against her family's light-related Tamas. This caused her to be ostracized by her father's side of the family while living in the shadow of her younger but more skilled cousin. She then received Gorotama training as per their traditions, but because her Tama was unlike the rest of her family and was completely weak in certain environments, their already-harsh training methods were completely incompatible with her, causing her to be viewed as insipid and incompetent. As a result, she had to work twice as hard just to meet the bare minimum of their expectations.
Dark Is Not Evil: She can manipulate shadows and her Tama naturally takes on an ominous appearance when in use. She is also a genuinely kind and lively character along with being a key member of the Knights.
Deadpan Snarker: Despite being a generally kind-hearted person, she can make some rather savage comebacks and passive-aggressive comments about most people.
Death Glare: She can make quite the chilling one when pushed far enough, which rivals even her fatherโs glare.
Defector from Decadence: Not only does she refuse to join the Bards as per the Sunspears' traditions, she actively chooses to join the recently-revived Knights mostly out of petty spite towards her family, especially her father.
Distinguishing Mark: Like her father and cousin, she has the trademark diamond-shaped forehead marking of a Sunspear, which she hides behind her bangs to conceal her true identity.
Dramatic Irony: She forms a quick friendship with Key and is constantly amazed by his Dragon Tama in action, always wanting to get a closer look at it despite the risk. She even supports him in his goal to become the Dragon Striker like his mother, encouraging him to be someone just as amazing. Neither of them know that said woman was in fact (indirectly) responsible for Taraโs own motherโs death, killed by the very power that Key inherited from her.
Everyone Has Standards: She might have a penchant for mischief and a reputation for being a notorious prankster, but she draws the line at actually harming people with her pranks because she only plays tricks that would either annoy or amuse others, not actively hurt them. As such, she becomes genuinely offended whenever she gets accused at stooping that low. She also doesn't pull any tricks during important events such as Gorotama matches because of the consequences if she were to ruin a game. In addition to this, while there is no love lost between her and her father and she usually makes some rather scathing comments to him, she never brings up her mother to weaponize against him, even in their most heated arguments.
Foil: To Key; both are the children of famous Gorotama players with Key's mother being the original Dragon Striker and Tara's father the Goyen of the Bards. They are also both genuinely kind people who lost their mothers on the same day and now struggle to live up to their memories. The differences between them are that while Key was raised in a poor but loving environment with his father, Tara was born in a luxurious but cold household with her own father neglecting her. Their own respective parents are also foils to each other; while Dino is stern but respectful towards his son after he moved on from Edina's death, Surya is far more abusive and harsh towards his daughter because he is unable to move on from his own wife's death, subconsciously overprotective of Tara as it ultimately warps into a controlling parenting style.
Formerly Friendly Family: Taraโs relationship with Surya actually used to be much better up until she was a toddler. Her motherโs death ultimately tore them both apart because of her fatherโs grief and anger warping him into an abusive parent towards her until their bond soured beyond repair in the present day. While Surya still genuinely loves his daughter in his own way, his selfish and haughty nature makes it extremely difficult for them to ever see eye-to-eye with each other again.
Friendless Background: She was alienated in her childhood by her own family and the only โfriendsโ she had were playmates that her father selected himself just to keep her busy. She considers her pet mothfox to be her first friend ever, and despite being a kindhearted and lively girl friendly towards others, she still didnโt make any close friends with the other students before meeting the Knights because they were either far too competitive when it came to Gorotama or they were too intimidated by her reputation as a troublemaker to get too close to her.
Gadfly: She finds it greatly amusing to annoy Odward with petty and childish antics like stealing his wallet and making passive-aggressive comments to him. She claims that it's mostly because his attitude makes it too easy to not mess with him.
Genki Girl: Despite showing a lazy side, she can be very energetic when motivated properly and sometimes cheers her teammates on from the sidelines.
Hates Being Alone: As a result of her childhood, she can't stand the thought of being all by herself and is sometimes self-conscious about her flaws, which caused her to be an outcast in her own family. This fear was further cemented in the wake of her breakup with Ragno, even though she was the one who left him because of his attitude. One of the reasons she's fiercely loyal to the Knights is because they were her first true friends for accepting someone like her and being willing to stay by her side, even after learning about her true identity.
Hates Their Parent: She absolutely canโt stand her father because of his narcissism alongside his emotional abuse towards her, and most of her actions are mainly out of petty spite towards him. Just being in his presence is enough to make her cynical and salty towards him, leading to some rather unpleasant arguments between them. Despite their sour relationship, however, she admits she canโt bring herself to completely hate him because she vaguely recalls him being a better father in the past, reasoning that his current behavior is out of unresolved grief and anger over her motherโs death. Of course, this doesnโt excuse his treatment of her.
Heartbroken Badass: She genuinely loved Ragno during their time together and even trusted him enough with the secret about her true identity. When he lashed out at her and brought up her secret to insult her, that was enough to push her over the edge and end their relationship because it felt like a personal betrayal to her trust. Neither of them have come to terms to the messy breakup to this day.
Hidden Depths: At first glance, she portrays herself to be a rambunctious but kindhearted prankster with a childish side, which earned her quite a bad track record as a student. She eventually proves to be way more emotionally intelligent and mature than she looks, showing a keen insight to her surroundings. She is also remarkably gifted at martial arts and acts more like a seasoned fighter than a Gorotama player because of her fighting skills. Once her emotional traumas are revealed, she eventually starts to show signs that her psyche is possibly more damaged than it seems because of everything she went through in her childhood.
Hot-Blooded: While she is capable of keeping her cool, she can be reckless and aggressive when her patience gets tested too much. She weaponizes this side of her when it comes to protecting her friends, threatening to get physical if they come into danger.
I Just Want To Be Loved: As a child, all she wanted was to be acknowledged by her family, so she forced herself to endure whatever they threw at her if it meant making them happy. When she grew older, however, she came to give up on that dream because she saw that playing by their rules was never going to earn her their respect.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: She outwardly acts confident about her Tama because of its strengths and vast range, but in reality, she feels insecure about it due to being ostracized by her own family for being different and weak against them.
Locked Out of the Loop: Surya never told her the details about Ratri's death or Edina's role in it, hence why she saw no issue in befriending Key, not knowing that his mother was the one (indirectly) responsible for her own mother's death.
Logical Weakness: While her Nocturne Tama is powerful, because of its shadow-based nature, it is significantly much weaker against light and thus can't be at its strongest when used in bright environments, such as the outdoors during daytime. Anything that gives off a bright light like the fire from Key's Dragon Tama is enough to shatter her shadows and even knock her out of her shadow form if used directly on her. Whatโs more is that when using her shadows as portals in the light, it requires her to use a significant amount of energy depending on the size of the target she teleports or the size of her portals, only bypassing this limit if the environment is dark enough.
Lonely Rich Kid: Despite being born and raised in a luxurious environment, she was completely isolated by her own family and didnโt even have anybody her age to talk to. The only children she knew outside of her family were โplaymatesโ that Surya selected himself to keep her busy, but they only played with her because it was their โjobโ, not because they thought of her as a friend. She was so terribly lonely that the first friend she ever made was a baby mothfox that she immediately adopted and named Chikku, all because she was that desperate to have a friend in her life. She even admits that had she not met Chikku, she wouldโve been in a far worse place because of her familyโs abuse.
Meaningful Name: Tara is a traditional Sanskrit name that means "star", which matches the celestial theme of both her parents' names: Surya's meaning "the sun" and Ratri's directly translating to "night". Her current surname as Moonshield acts as a representation to her night-themed Tama like her mother's, along with her abilities serving as support and defense for her team. Her Tama's name "Nocturne" also comes from the French word meaning "of the night".
Missing Mom: Her mother died years before the present storyline when she was only a toddler, leaving her with little memories of her. Surya never told his daughter the details about her death because of his own unresolved trauma, leaving her with only pictures and her brooch to have anything left from her mother.
Nice Girl: Despite her tendency to provoke others with her antics and brutal honesty, she is normally quite friendly with those who arenโt affiliated with her father and the Bards.
Parental Neglect: Surya constantly neglected her as a child and continues to do so in the present day, only summoning her to the council room just to berate her. Itโs apparently so bad that Tara claims the last time he even personally visited her as a father rather than a Goyen was when she was only a toddler.
Power Incontinence: Tara normally has excellent control over her Tama, but much like the majority of the cast, her powers are connected to her emotions, so whenever she gets too stressed, she emits a pitch-black shadow that causes all of the shadows in the surrounding area to close in and threaten to suffocate others in complete darkness. It doesn't exactly help that she was subjected to training that was completely incompatible with her Tama in the first place, meaning that she was never really taught on how to suppress her powers, so she had to teach herself the hard way.
Power Stereotype Flip: People who possess shadow-based powers are typically expected to be gloomy or sinister at best. Tara, however, portrays herself to have an extroverted and lively character that is a stark contrast to her dark-themed Tama. Interestingly enough, it is also fitting for her to have a power that controls shadows with her living in the figurative shadow of her more favored cousin.
Rebellious Spirit: Her entire character centers around this in spite of her upper-class upbringing and family relationships, something that causes even more tension between her and her father.
Secretly Wealthy: She is a daughter of the prestigious and esteemed Sunspear family, known as one of the most influential families who have traditionally played for the Bards for decades. She hides this by enrolling in the academy under her motherโs maiden name so she can live a normal student life without being accused of nepotism for her wealth and connections.
Shed the Family Name: When she enrolled in Kal Asterock, she took on her mother's maiden name "Moonshield" to avoid being accused of nepotism for being a Goyen's daughter in addition to receiving unwanted expectations as a Sunspear. It becomes far more complicated when she admits that her life as a Sunspear was nothing short of miserable, so she considers it better that she embraces her new identity as a Moonshield instead.
She-Fu: She was taught self-defense in addition to her Gorotama training, so she is incredibly acrobatic and makes use of her skills for combat and even on the playing field to dodge attacks while using her Tama to make her even more unpredictable.
Simple, yet Awesome: Ironically, while her Tama gives her the ability to control and generate shadows and even create solid constructs out of them, one of her best moves involves her portals because she can use them to help her team perform surprise moves on their opponents by teleporting them and even redirect attacks.
Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Despite going under a different surname, she is still a member of a reputable family and the daughter of a Goyen, but she is a notorious troublemaker who frequently performs all sorts of harmless but chaotic pranks all around the school. She has apparently been sent to the council chamber so many times, she and the Goyens (besides her father) are on familiar terms with each other.
Stepford Smiler: She outwardly portrays herself as a lively and fun-loving girl who enthusiastically supports her friends, but hides her own traumas due to her troubled childhood along with her complicated relationship with her abusive father.
Teleportation Sickness: Anybody not used to using her shadow portals always gets nauseous from the experience, so the Knights had to force themselves to build up a tolerance to them during training so she can use them as support.
The Dog Bites Back: The reason she acts so rebellious is out of retaliation towards her family for treating her like a failure and making her life difficult for years. She had tried her very best to live up to their expectations, only for her efforts to be in vain because no matter how much she followed their orders, they never acknowledged her whatsoever. Once she enrolled in Kal Asterock and saw how strict the rules were, it was then she decided she finally had enough because she refused to let herself leave one prison just to enter another. In other words, since the Sunspears are so keen on treating her like a disgrace, she might as well act like one, even if it means doing it under the Moonshields' name.
The Un-Favorite: To the Sunspear family, who openly favored Falco over her throughout her childhood even though he was younger than her.
The Prankster: She loves playing pranks on people at every given opportunity, such as vandalizing the bathrooms with graffiti or setting off glitter bombs in classrooms. Her antics normally cause teachers to cancel classes in the aftermath, much to most studentsโ delight. Her reputation as a prankster ultimately makes it difficult for her to participate in official Gorotama matches due to her permanent record as a student. After joining the Knights, she now has to keep her pranks to a minimum to avoid damaging her team's reputation.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is a tomboyish girl with a competitive side, experienced in brutal training, and does martial arts in her free time to practice self-defense without using her Tama. She also hates wearing formal attire and has no interest in anything shiny, like jewelry for instance. However, she likes anything she considers cute and even keeps a few plushies in her dorm room (though only she thinks theyโre cute while everyone else finds them creepy).
Tragic Keepsake: She has two from her mother; one of them is a brooch that was an engagement gift from Surya before her parents married, and the other is a donkeybug plushie that was personally made for her when she was a baby.
Training from Hell: She was subjected to this in her childhood because it was mandatory tradition for every child of the Sunspear family to undergo Gorotama training. But since their methods were only exclusive to those who inherited the familyโs main Tama, she ended up suffering brutally from it because she instead possessed a Tama completely weak against them. Surya even subjected her to even more vicious training by having someone teach her self-defense, allowing her to learn combat and martial arts to avoid relying on her Tama too much.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: She looks exactly like her late mother and barely has any traits from her fatherโs side, which makes it easier to hide her heritage.
Unusual Pets for Unusual People: She owns a pet mothfox named Chikku, whose existence she keeps a secret from everyone other than her friends because pets are strictly prohibited in Kal Asterock.
Vitriolic Best Buds: She forms this relationship with Odward, whose massive ego and competitive approach to Gorotama clashes with her more laidback attitude. They started off with a rather sour relationship because to Tara, he was the representation of everything she hated about her fatherโs team. Odward, in response, thinks she is incredibly immature and unfit to play in a Gorotama team because of her reputation as the school troublemaker. After he learns her true identity along with seeing other sides to her, he eventually admits that she can be an excellent player when she actually applies herself, and their relationship gradually improves enough for them to perform a rather effective combo move together with their Tamas. It still doesnโt stop Tara from annoying him like occasionally stealing his wallet and teasing him in general.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: In spite of her dysfunctional relationship with Surya, she still seems to partially want to earn his respect by proving how capable of a Gorotama player she is, even if it involves joining the same team as the boy he hates so much and not his own like he wanted. Right before a match, she always looks up at the balcony where the Goyens sit to see Surya, hoping that he was at least watching her, only to be disappointed when he just looks at her coldly.
Some of you have been wondering about Taraโs mom, which is why Iโm now officially introducing you all to this beauty of a woman!โจ๐
Meet Ratri Moonshield Sunspear, Suryaโs late wife and Taraโs mother. As you can see here, her daughter inherited literally everything from her mama and barely a single thing from her dad (Suryaโs genes didnโt even try, lmao).
While her character is still relatively in development, here is a concept explanation I have about her in general because she has had quite the significant impact on her husband and daughter:
The Moonshield family was said to be the exact opposite of the Sunspears in everything besides wealth, from their Tamas to their temperaments. They were considered a mystery to most people because with their powers and vague origins, they quite literally lived in the shadows of Asteria despite being one of the oldest families in the world. It was even stranger when the head of the Moonshields (Ratri's father) suddenly proposed an arranged marriage between his daughter and a son of the Sunspears to connect the two families together, even though they were complete opposites in almost everything.
At first, young Surya, who was still a student of Kal Asterock at the time, obviously wasn't looking forward to being set up with someone he barely knew, especially when they had a Tama that was naturally weak to his because he believed it would corrupt the gene pool of the proud Sunspear family. Not to mention, his fiancรฉe was apparently not even a Gorotama player herself, so he had no interest in such an arrangement whatsoever.
It wasn't until he officially got to meet Ratri for the first time that he began to think otherwise. He tried to dismiss her in his typical arrogant manner at first, only to be caught off-guard when she unexpectedly showed that despite her gentle nature, she was not exactly someone who just tolerates disrespect. Their first meeting was a bit rocky at first, but as time passed, they slowly started to warm up to each other after Ratri revealed herself to be a woman of many surprises.
They eventually went through with their marriage in their mid 20s, and not long after, their daughter Tara was born. Because of the contrasting nature of her parents' Tamas, however, there were a couple of complications with her birth, which made it all the more relieving when she managed to grow into a healthy little girl. For the following years, they lived a happy life together despite their differences: a narcissistic but responsible father, a mysterious but affectionate mother, and a mischievous child with lots of energy.
Tragedy ultimately shatters this family apart when the incident with Edina's dragon happens. Ratri saw her husband become momentarily consumed by the blue flames and ran to save him, only to be caught in the crossfire of a particularly brutal attack from the dragon. Blue fire is so much hotter than ordinary flames, so by the time Surya barely managed to put out the fire burning him to hold her in his arms, it was already too late for her.
Ratri's untimely death completely broke the family, and everything just started to go downhill from that point forward. The severe trauma Surya experienced from both losing half of his face and his wife in the worst possible way pushed him to become overprotective of their daughter, but because of his own narcissism and arrogance, that protectiveness only made him extremely controlling with Tara as years went on, which only got worse.
It didn't help that she was exactly like Ratri in both appearance and powers, and it was especially bad back when the trauma was still fresh with Surya. When she unlocked her Tama, everything only got even more complicated because since Ratri was a Moonshield, the Sunspears didn't exactly have the proper Gorotama training methods for her specific Tama because not only was it a power completely weak against them, but they expected her to have inherited the Sunspears' main Tama and not her mother's. So throughout her childhood, Tara had to grow up with a brutal training regime that wasn't even compatible with her own Tama in the first place. She even had to take some extreme self-defense lessons courtesy of Surya, mostly because he wanted her to learn how to defend herself without relying on her Tama.
Despite this, Tara never once blamed her mother for inheriting the Tama that caused her a lot of grief in her life, instead deciding to hold everything against the entire Sunspear family in general for putting her through so much. It even becomes one of the reasons why she decides to enroll herself in Kal Asterock under Ratri's maiden name.
Because if being a Sunspear like her father was going to give her nothing but hardships, then she'd rather be a Moonshield just like her mother instead.
Additional Fun Facts about Ratri:
1. The brooch she wore was a gift from Surya back when they were engaged, which he had mustered up the courage to buy in Mestras because he was quite the prideful individual and had to push himself to do that in public. Now Tara secretly keeps it stashed away in her dorm room, but she never once wore it.
2. She used to call Tara her "Little Star" because of what the name means in Sanskrit.
3. Her maiden name "Moonshield" also references how her Tama is mainly used for defense and support, a stark contrast to how the Sunspears' Solar Rays work in Gorotama.
4. When Surya saw Odward cradling a severely burned Casper in the aftermath of Key's fire, his PTSD was immediately triggered because it reminded him exactly of Ratri's final moments.
5. The green bracelets Surya wears in the present day used to belong to Ratri.
And last but not least, a little sketch I made of chibi Surya x Ratri!โจ๐
@simpin-on-noodles does it again by drawing Tara in the showโs style, using both my Picrew and a (horrendous) sketch I drew for her fashion!โจ๐ The clothesโ designs were last-minute cause I wanted to give her as much drip as her family along with everyone else๐ฅฒ๐ญ
(Finally, what Iโve been looking forward to writing the most๐ฅฒ This is actually going to be a real long one and basically tell the story on its own, so here goes nothing!๐โจ)
Index:
Friends = ๐
Neutral = ๐
Enemies = ๐ค
Complicated = โค๏ธโ๐ฉน
Significant Other(s) = ๐
Family
Surya Sunspear (โค๏ธโ๐ฉน๐ค): Tara has an incredibly rocky relationship with her father. Surya used to be relatively caring towards his daughter up until she was a toddler, but as a result of the traumatic incident with Edina that both disfigured him and killed his wife, he was quick to become emotionally neglectful and controlling with his child. Throughout Tara's entire childhood, he would be verbally harsh and brutally critical with her, which only got worse when she awakened her Tama and revealed herself to not have inherited the Sunspear family's Tama. He basically treated her like she was nothing more than a failure to the family, essentially forcing her to live in the shadows. To Tara, it was as if her entire existence in general bothered him because of how she turned out, and that the only reason he has yet to disown her was simply to keep making her suffer in their family.
Thinking that nothing she did would ever earn his respect, she decided to act out as soon as she entered Kal Asterock out of spite towards her father and a desire to finally express herself. Pranking other students, trespassing into highly-restricted areas, and even dangerous things like cartwheeling on the balconies of high places, most of her actions are mainly because she just wanted to get under Surya's skin in all kinds of ways. Almost every interaction they have in school always involves a messy argument between them, all of which ends with Tara walking away from him.
In reality, Surya's behavior is mostly the result of the trauma and grief over her mother's death. Because Tara bore a striking resemblance to his wife along with inheriting the same Tama as her, he has a difficult time looking at her without being reminded of his loss, taking it all out on his own child as a coping method. He was furious when Tara joined the Knights not only because it went against their family tradition of playing for the Bards, but because it was the same team as the son of his wife's "murderer". He is actually subconsciously overprotective of his daughter, but it's ultimately twisted by his own pride and narcissism because he literally can't seem to show it in a more healthier way and just spit it out to her.
The only times he ever shows concern for her is if she's in genuine danger from outside forces. "The Leech" would display his potentially best moments as a father because of everything that unfolds in the episode. For instance, when Mara attacked the Knights in the library, he was especially enraged when the other Goyens arrived to stop her because Tara was being forcibly restricted as well. Later, when Sugoi asks for a willing volunteer to test Ameline's Tama after copying it, instead of Sanga, Tara is the one to offer herself as a test subject in order to prove her teammate's innocence. As soon as the experiment is complete, Surya is quick to catch his weakened daughter in his arms when she temporarily loses her Tama, possibly being the most concerned for her safety than he ever has up until this point.
"Revelations" is when things get far more complicated between them, however, because it soon becomes glaringly obvious that his protectiveness of Tara only extends to her physical safety, not including her emotional needs. While he tells the Bards not to humiliate his daughter too much compared to the other Knights, he shows no hesitation in ordering the Ferreiro twins to target Key's life right in front of her, much to Tara's absolute disbelief because she never imagined her father would go that far. As soon as she realizes he has absolutely no regard for her feelings on the matter, she immediately tries to step in to prevent his plan during the match.
In doing so, however, she accidentally ends up being in the crossfire of Key's Tama, barely able to defend herself with her own power. Because of her natural weakness to bright lights, she ultimately got her legs severely scorched alongside Casper, genuinely horrifying her father and triggering his trauma over her mother's death. After angrily confronting Key and revealing the truth about Edina in the aftermath of the match, Surya then proceeds to carry away his unconscious daughter in his arms, seemingly making his decision about Tara's future with the Knights as it becomes clear that he now has a reason to make her cut all ties with her team.
Falco Sunspear (โค๏ธโ๐ฉน๐): Similar to her father, Tara has a strained relationship with her younger cousin. Back at their home, when she recently awakened her Tama, all of their family's attention and expectations was focused on Falco simply because she didn't inherit their Solar Rays Tama while her own cousin did. Despite being a few years older, Tara was forced to grow up in his shadow throughout her childhood and would even be constantly compared to him. Because of this, Falco would always mock his cousin for both her standing in their family along with her inheriting a Tama that was naturally weak against them, never missing the opportunity to tell her to "stay in the shadows". Tara, in turn, only feels annoyed by his very presence, calling him a "show-off" every time she watched him play. There were even some times when Falco would purposely fire his Tama into a nearby shadow where she was hiding in just to knock her out of it, finding smug delight in her frustration.
Their relationship subtly improves after the Knights' unofficial match with the Roses, in which Falco is slightly humbled by the experience after Ameline temporarily drains his Tama. While the two cousins continue to occasionally bicker, it is eventually revealed that he was mostly inspired by Tara's defiant behavior upon entering the academy to join the Roses instead of the Bards. Falco had always resented how his uncle treated his cousin in the beginning, but never had the strength to step in for her up until now. When they were younger, he once discovered Chikku's existence after witnessing Tara play with him, but never exposed her secret to the rest of the family because as poor as their relationship was at the time, he would never cross a line by having his cousin's beloved pet taken from her.
After Falco gets attacked and permanently loses his Tama, Tara personally visits him in the infirmary upon hearing about the incident. Although she was annoyed that his team was suspecting Ameline of attacking him, their current relationship has apparently improved enough for her to entrust him with Chikku and give him company by leaving the animal on his infirmary bed, jokingly threatening him not to tell Surya about this.
Ratri Sunspear/Moonshield (โค๏ธโ๐ฉน): Before her death, Tara vaguely remembered her mother to be an incredibly warm and gentle person, recalling the way she would hold her in her arms and entertain her with little tricks she did with her Tama until she fell asleep. Upon her unintentional demise from the attack of Edina's dragon, Tara was left suffering from the aftermath of her death because of Surya's emotional abuse due to the trauma of witnessing the tragedy. The only clear memory she had left of her mother was a lullaby she would hum to her daughter, which inspired her love for music in the future.
Tara never learned the details of her mother's death because Surya would always snap at her whenever she asked, harshly telling her to never speak of Ratri in front of him. All she ever knew about her was through the family pictures, seeing how she bore a striking resemblance to a woman she barely remembered anymore. When she discovered herself to have inherited her Tama, she felt as though she finally had a piece of her mother with her. Even though she ended up being ostracized in her own family because of the power she got from her, she never once blamed her mother.
Upon taking on Ratriโs maiden name during enrollment in Kal Asterock, not only did she do so to hide her true identity as a Sunspear, but also as an indirect form of honor towards her motherโs memory because although she barely remembers her anymore, it was still the closest thing she could do to keep her alive in her heart.
Chikku (๐): Chikku is a mischievous but friendly mothfox (a combination of a Venezuelan poodle moth and a fox) that Tara once found as a baby when she was much younger, having discovered the animal in her family's gardens while she was practicing outside. Wanting a companion but knowing Surya would never allow her to own a critter under their roof, she secretly took him in and cared for him behind her family's backs. The mothfox was quick to become her beloved pet and best friend, even considering him family. She even refers to him as her emotional support pet, believing that had he not appeared in her life when she needed a friend most, she would have most likely ended up for the worse.
When Tara became enrolled in Kal Asterock, she took Chikku with her because she could not stand being separated from her dear pet and it was far too risky leaving him alone at home. Because pets were strictly prohibited in the academy, she had to continue caring for the mothfox in secret and only trusted a select few with knowledge of his existence, such as the Knights and eventually Falco. Chikku is occasionally seen either riding on Tara's shoulders or getting into all sorts of antics in the background, only showing himself around people his owner trusted.
He is an overall trustworthy pet and faithful companion, doing little gestures to cheer up Tara and her friends like nuzzling Milo to comfort him with his anxiety and licking Key's cheek when he was expressing frustration over his inability to control his Tama.
The Knights
Key Nagatatsu (๐): Key first caught Tara's attention upon hearing that he was the supposed Dragon Striker and witnessing his performance in the Banner Trials. Although he was initially overwhelmed by the older student's tendency for chaos, the two were quick to befriend each other. Tara's interest in him only grew when she noticed Surya's apparent hatred for him, curious as to why her father detested someone like Key, especially when his reasoning was that the boy was a potential threat. When Key offered her a place in the Knights while they were gathering members, Tara initially accepted because she mostly wanted to provoke Surya by joining the same team as the boy he hated so much.
She then grew closer to Key because she saw a little bit of herself in him: a child who just wanted to live up to their late mother's namesake while enduring the tremendous burden of the family legacy. She found herself further connecting to him through their similar experiences, serving as a supportive older sister figure to him by encouraging him not to let his family and power be the one to define him as a person: something she wished she could be told herself. When he learned about her relationship with Surya, while he was initially shocked to discover that she was a Goyen's daughter, he did not change his opinion of her and instead admired her for her independence and defiance towards her family.
In the final moments of the match between the Knights and the Bards, upon hearing Surya's orders to the Ferreiro twins to kill Key, Tara did not hesitate to step in to attempt protecting her friend from them. She made an effort to dissuade him from losing control to the twins' provocations, only for it to fail when he ultimately gives into his anger and activates the full power of his Tama. Key was absolutely horrified when he saw that not only did he horribly burn Casper from his fire, but also Tara when she got caught in the crossfire of the attack.
His distress ultimately worsens when Surya confronts him in the aftermath and bitterly reveals the truth about Edina: not only did her dragon attack Kal Asterock, but she was also indirectly responsible for the death of Tara's mother in the past. Devastated and guilt-ridden over the fact that his own mother was the one who (accidentally) murdered his friend's mother, Key ultimately begins to distance himself from Tara in an attempt to protect her from himself. Despite her efforts to reassure him that she doesn't blame him for both her legs being burned and what Edina had done in the past, he is unable to understand why she would still want to remain friends with the son of the woman who took her mother away.
Ssyelle Tournefeuille (๐): Tara is impressed by Ssyelle's loyal and hard-working nature after watching her performance during the Banner Trials, complimenting her potential as a goalkeeper upon witnessing her Tama in action. While she likes to occasionally tease the 1st-year student, it is always out of playful mischief and she sometimes takes the opportunity to encourage her when she needs it most.
Ssyelle, in turn, admires Tara for her cool-headed demeanor and resourcefulness with her Tama, even in environments where it is supposed to be at its weakest. She even thought that the 3rd-year was the one most fitting to be the captain of the Knights, only to be shocked when she turned down the offer because she believed Ssyelle was suitable for the position despite being younger, admitting that even she herself wasn't crazy enough to form an entire Banner team just to let her friends participate in Gorotama.
Milo Stonegarden (๐): When Tara first met Milo, her first impression of him was that he was a gentle but fragile person due to his timid and anxious nature. She was tempted to make him another victim of her pranks just to get him to loosen up, only to change her mind because she figured that simply being herself around him was enough to set him on edge. Much to everybody's shock and disbelief, she seems to genuinely enjoy the taste of the jellies he creates with his Tama, casually stealing a bite of them every time he accidentally creates some.
Milo was initially intimidated and overwhelmed by Tara due to her outgoing nature and pendant for mischief, along with being constantly startled by her entrances whenever she teleports next to him through her shadows. He was genuinely flustered when she complimented his Jelly Tama and even its flavor because she was the first and possibly only person to actually stomach the taste of his jellies. Although it took quite some time, he eventually grew comfortable around Tara enough to grow used to her antics (to an extent), and Tara, in turn, sometimes shares Chikku with him to comfort the younger boy whenever he gets nervous.
Odward Stonegarden (๐ค๐): At first, Tara and Odward did not get along with each other because of their differing approaches to Gorotama. She disliked his massive ego along with his initial position with the Bards, viewing him as a representation of everything she hated about her father's team. As such, she would always retaliate against his condescending behavior by inflicting all sorts of pranks on him during the past years, earning him his ire. Even after joining the Knights, Odward continued to have a low opinion of her not only because of her record, but her casual and mischievous attitude indicated she was being far too carefree and didn't take anything seriously, especially Gorotama.
When he overheard an argument between Tara and Surya and learned about their relationship, he initially thought that the reason for her behavior and continued enrollment in Kal Asterock was because of her family connections. However, Tara snapped back at him for the accusation and angrily confessed that her family was exactly the reason why she tried to hide her identity in the first place. Odward eventually realized that despite her carefree demeanor, she is actually enduring a lot from her family and copes by hiding just as much stress as every experienced Gorotama player, including himself.
Once he saw that her nonchalant but optimistic behavior was her way of putting up a strong face for the younger teammates, he gradually develops a begrudging respect for her encouragement towards them, which becomes more sincere once he witnesses her skills on the playing field. They also subtly connect with each other over their shared experiences with breaking up with their own respective boyfriends and harboring bitter feelings towards them.
Although Tara continues to occasionally annoy him with petty antics such as stealing his wallet and making witty remarks, their relationship significantly improves during their time as members of the Knights. They even become close enough to perform a powerful combo move together with their Tamas during the match against the Bards.
Ameline (๐): While they do not personally interact much together, Tara is just as fond as Ameline as she is for the other younger members of the Knights. She is fascinated by her ability to temporarily drain Tamas, viewing it as one of the most powerful Tamas she has personally witnessed in her life. Ameline mostly reminds her of her younger self where she was forced to be more reserved and stick to the shadows by her own family, which subconsciously prompted her to be more protective of the girl in general.
When Ameline is accused of permanently draining Falco's Tama, Tara immediately volunteers to have Sugoi copy her power and use it on her because she had full faith that her teammate was innocent. Although the process left her completely drained for a few moments, Tara was visibly relieved to have all suspicions on her friend removed, while Ameline was grateful towards her for helping clear her name, affectionately nicknaming her "Shadow Lady".
The Dragons
Noreen Sugoi (๐): Sugoi serves as a stern figure in Tara's school life, showing resigned exasperation towards her pranks with the amount of damage they had caused to the environment over the years. While she personally views the woman as someone to annoy with her antics, she doesn't go so far as to directly target or involve her in her pranks, respecting the woman enough to spare her compared to everybody else.
Although Sugoi is repeatedly exhausted by Tara's misdemeanor, she believes that the young girl has tremendous potential as a Gorotama player because of her resourcefulness with her Tama, feeling as though she was wasting all of that talent on pranks alone. Upon seeing that she had finally joined a team of her own, she was pleasantly surprised and gave a genuine smile at her for finally putting her skills to good use.
It is eventually revealed that Sugoi personally feels guilty for not only Edina's death, but Ratri's as well because she believes that the absence of a mother in a household like Tara's was what led her to act out in the beginning. The reason why she refused to have Tara expelled from Kal Asterock for all the pranks and misdemeanor in the first place was because she wanted to find the right opportunity for the girl to find a place of her own, thinking that it was the least she could do for indirectly having a hand in her mother's death.
Ragno Garanthar (๐๐คโค๏ธโ๐ฉน): Tara first learned about Ragno after attending one of his matches during her second year while he was a 3rd-year, mostly out of curiosity about the supposed Dragon Striker she kept hearing about. She got to properly meet him in person after bumping into him during practice, and although their interactions were awkward at first, she somehow managed to befriend him despite his unapproachable behavior. A year later, they became romantically involved with each other, with Tara trusting him enough to tell him her secret identity as a Sunspear and a Goyenโs daughter.
Things started to fracture between them when the pressure and high expectations of being the Dragon Striker began to weigh down on Ragno. As time slowly passed, he grew increasingly distant and irritable towards others, even pushing away Tara as he started to treat her like a distraction because he was so focused on living up to the mantle as Dragon Striker.
When Ragno got suspended in the aftermath of a match gone wrong because he used Dragon Fury, Tara gave him one last chance by trying to comfort him about the suspension. Everything immediately broke when he instead just lashed out at her and even accused her of enjoying his situation, and at that moment, he became no different than everyone else who knew about her circumstances. Tara had trusted Ragno with her heart and secret because she thought he wouldnโt see her any differently if she did, only for him to prove her wrong by destroying everything between them.
That was the end of their relationship, and ever since then, things were never the same between them. Tara started giving Ragno the silent treatment and became bitter towards him in general, thinking that everyone else must be as blind as she was to look up to someone like him. She also stopped attending his matches and would even use her Tama to slip away every time they saw each other.
Ragno, on the other hand, never apologized for what he said to her in the heat of the moment, even though he was clearly in the wrong in the first place. Despite this, a part of him still seems to care about her enough to not tell anybody her secret identity as a Sunspear, even after their painful breakup. While he could have done that out of revenge for her dumping him, she is still one of the only people he doesn't actively harass or torment.
During the Dragons' match against the Roses in "Out of Their League", Tara was annoyed that she had to attend it along with the rest of the Knights because she basically had to watch a match between her ex-boyfriend and her own cousin. She didn't show any concern or sympathy for Ragno when she caught him being harshly berated by Sugoi, thinking that being humbled was exactly what he needed. But when Ragno sees her in the crowd for a brief moment, all she does is turn her eyes away with a conflicted expression, indicating that she still cares about him deep down.
Skadi Savarog (๐): Tara first saw Skadi during the Banner Trials and was genuinely impressed by her performance despite the latter being disabled. At some point after the trials, they occasionally meet up around the school grounds every now and then to hang out, despite Skadi now being in the Dragons. Other than that, they aren't seen interacting much, though sometimes Tara mentions she likes to pick up a few souvenirs from the marketplace of Mestras for her.
The Bards
The Ferreiro Twins (๐ค): Tara has an antagonistic relationship with the twins, especially Callista. During her first year at Kal Asterock, she was once bullied by them for refusing to participate in Gorotama. In retaliation, this was what helped prompt her to push herself into both openly defying her father and fighting back against the twins with pranks of her own. Much to their chagrin, whenever she encounters them now, she pretends to not remember their names or faces whatsoever, refusing to let them find any satisfaction in bothering her in any way.
It is soon revealed that they are some of the very few people outside of the Goyen and Tara's friends who are aware of her true identity, having been personally ordered by Surya to not reveal it to anyone. However, despite her being their coach's daughter, they continue to hold her in sheer contempt because they believed that since she originated from such a luxurious household and was related to a Goyen, she looked down on them because they had to work twice as hard in "poorer" environments such as their hometown to get to where they were. They especially hate how she always outthinks them in terms of pranks with the resourcefulness of her Tama, which often leads them to try to find any dirt on her whatsoever to get the upper hand.
The Shadows
Sanga (๐): Tara is often irritated by Sanga because he expressed a strong interest in her and her Tama due to its compatibility with his team. He is the only Goyen who never shows annoyance towards her for her pranks, but is instead genuinely amused and intrigued at how she incorporates her powers in her antics while making use of her environments. He has repeatedly extended the offer to her to join the Shadows for the last two years, even granting her the position as captain because of how especially powerful her Tama was in the dark. Tara always turns him down despite her natural potential with the team, even referring to Sanga as a "creepy old man" on several occasions.
Their relationship briefly takes on an antagonistic turn when the Shadows attack the Knights under the assumption that they stole their diadem. Tara manages to overpower them with her Tama for a few moments due to the dark environment of their confrontation at the time, only for Sanga to swiftly overwhelm her with his own power, taunting that she could have had the strength to give even a Goyen such as himself a challenge if she had simply accepted his earlier offer to train under his wing. Once Ameline returns the diadem to the Shadows, Sanga retreats along with his team, expressing mild disappointment in Tara's choice to remain with the Knights to the end as he remarks, "What a shame. You would have made an excellent Shadow."
In the aftermath of the confrontation, the two do not seem to share any negative feelings between them anymore, though Tara admits that Sanga still creeps her out to this day.
Pregrina Freaks (๐ค๐): Tara apparently shares a one-sided rivalry with Pregrina over on the latter's end. The 2nd-year resents her for seemingly wanting to replace her position as captain of the Shadows due to Sanga's numerous offers to her, causing her to try to pick a fight with the older student every time they see each other. Tara, on the other hand, doesn't pay much mind to her because she is mainly unaffected by her threats and her own Tama is on equal grounds with hers. She even attempts to comfort Milo over his fear of her by bluntly calling her "tiny" compared to him, though it only worsened the situation because Pregrina was within earshot and overheard her. They seem to stop interacting after the Knights' victory against the Shadows, though Tara briefly hears from Brunelca that she might be plotting her revenge against them for her humiliating defeat.
The Roses
Mara O'Gargine (๐ค๐): Mara was usually one of the more strict Goyens towards Tara for her numerous pranks damaging the school on multiple occasions, to which the latter always reminded her that despite her antics, none of her tricks ever really harmed anybody. Besides that, they did not interact much outside of the woman occasionally berating the 3rd-year student for her misdemeanor every now and then.
Mara becomes much more antagonistic in the wake of Falco's incident when Ameline becomes the main suspect for draining his Tama, extending her suspicion towards the entire Knights team in general. Upon confronting them, while struggling to immobilize Tara with her power, she initially accuses her of seemingly ordering Ameline to attack Falco in the first place as another one of her pranks. This was quick to upset the teenager because it was one thing to be wrongly accused for a "prank", but she was especially offended that she would be assumed to be the type who would willingly harm someone to a severe degree, especially if the victim was her own family.
The confrontation eventually dies down when the other Goyens arrive to help clear Ameline's name, though it is heavily implied that there may be lingering bitter feelings between Tara and Mara due to the woman's apparent hatred for the Knights in general.
Lilas Glasmearin (๐): Tara shares a friendly relationship with Lilas because although she can be slightly annoyed at her pranks, the 4th-year student is surprisingly one of the only people who is genuinely amused at the chaos it brings. They apparently hang out with each other outside of Gorotama every now and then, and Tara even trusts her enough to keep secret about Chikku's existence, although they are not seen interacting a lot.
They briefly become rivals during the Roses' unofficial match with the Knights, but do not hold any hard feelings between each other when the latter becomes victorious. Lilas even compliments Tara's skills on the playing field and remarks that it was nice to see her finally decide on a team to join, supporting her decision to play with the Knights and maintaining their friendship with each other.
Others
Edina Nagatatsu (๐โค๏ธโ๐ฉน): Tara only heard of Edina through Surya as the original Dragon Striker, but never quite understood why he despised her so much to the point where he refused to talk about her and always spoke of her name with pure hatred. She initially thought that her father hated her because the woman had once soundly defeated him during their school years, which inadvertently kickstarted the Bards' losing streak for the championship. Since then, she displayed a strong interest in the name of the Dragon Striker, intrigued by those who work to live up to the legacy of such a powerful Gorotama player.
Her feelings become much more complicated when she learns the truth about the woman: not only did her dragon attack Kal Asterock, but it was also responsible for her mother's death. After grappling with the truth for awhile, Tara finally concludes that as much as she wanted to hate Edina now for indirectly killing Ratri and causing Surya to be the way he was, she can't quite bring herself to completely hate someone who was already gone from the world. Not to mention, it would be completely unfair to hate someone like Key for the mere "crime" of being her child and sharing the same Tama: a struggle she herself endured by her own family when she inherited her own mother's Tama.
(Buckle up, people. Cause this is going to be a long one since it'll also include tidbits of my own personal headcanons for this show.)
Backstory: Tara was born as the only child of Surya Sunspear and his wife, Ratri (her maiden name being Moonshield). Although their marriage was more or less arranged due to the circumstances of their families, they genuinely loved each other and lived a relatively happy life together despite their own respective differences.
When Tara was barely a few years old, tragedy struck during the incident with Edina losing control of her Dragon Tama at Kal Asterock. The ongoing fire not only permanently scarred Surya for life, but also burned Ratri to death right in front of her husband because her Tama was naturally weak to bright lights, including the flames of Edina's dragon. Edina sacrificed her life to end the madness she unwittingly caused, but the damage was already done.
Now scarred and left a widower from the tragedy, Surya was forced to raise his daughter by himself. While Tara was given a luxurious upbringing due to being born in the prestigious and reputable Sunspear family, her father, embittered and traumatized by the incident that burned him and killed his wife, gave her an extremely strict and harsh childhood. No matter what she did, he always found a reason to berate her, nitpicking at every little thing about her and emotionally undermining her. Her freedom was restricted in all kinds of ways, and it even extended to the point where Surya actively chose her "playmates" because he judged everybody who interacted with his daughter.
Things got even more complicated when Tara awakened her Tama, revealing herself to have inherited her mother's power. It was already hard enough for Surya that his daughter looked exactly like Ratri, but her having the same Tama as her just made it even more difficult for him to ever recover from the trauma of losing his wife because now he really can't help but see Ratri every time he looks at her. She was then forced to train in Gorotama even though she genuinely had little interest in the sport and just wanted to play for entertainment.
Because she didn't inherit the Solar Rays Tama that was practically the main power of the Sunspear family and ended up with a Tama naturally weak to them, all hopes were placed on her own younger cousin Falco instead. For years, Tara had to literally grow up in the shadow of her entire family, despite all her efforts of trying to fit in with them. At some point, she found a baby stray animal that she secretly adopted as a pet and named Chikku, which became the only friend she had in her own home. (I don't know the names of the animals in Asteria, so let me know what they are if any of you do.)
Everything changed when she was to enroll in Kal Asterock contrary to her family's traditions. Because Surya was now a Goyen in the academy, she felt like the school was just going to be a larger, more glorified and restricted version of her home. It was then that she finally had enough and decided to not let Kal Asterock be another prison for her to suffer through.
The first act of defiance she made was admitting herself under her mother's maiden name as "Tara Moonshield", barely managing to convince her father to let her do so by telling him that she didn't want a privileged school life and and have a normal student experience. Once she did so, she no longer had to worry about receiving unrealistic expectations or be accused of nepotism because of her family. Instead, this only became an opportunity for her to really be true to herself without ruining her family name since nobody but the Goyens knew her real name.
Since she finally had the chance to be honest about herself, she took this opportunity to drive her father crazy with her antics just to show him exactly what she feels about him for all the emotional abuse. Tara became an agent of chaos after that; no matter where she went, she would always play all kinds of harmless but chaotic pranks one after another. She even snuck Chikku in just to keep her beloved pet around even though keeping animals was against the school rules. Even when Surya constantly yelled and berated her over this, it only encouraged her to be more unpredictable with the chaos just to keep getting under his skin. She even purposely skips Gorotama practice to avoid joining the Banner teams because she knew her father was just going to pressure her into joining the Bards.
At some point during her first year, she met Ragno back when he was a 2nd-year. Even though she was the daughter of another team's Goyen, since she didn't join any teams, she had no issues approaching him and getting to know the supposed Dragon Striker. They started dating a year later once Tara became a 2nd-year and Ragno a 3rd-year, even becoming close enough for her to tell him the secret of who her father was. But as time passed, the pressure and expectations of living up to his title as Dragon Striker started getting to Ragno, slowly turning him into the aggressive and overly-competitive person he was to this day. He even began pushing Tara away every now and then because he was so focused on maintaining his record in Gorotama and treated her like a distraction.
Before long, in the aftermath of the match where he used Dragon Fury, he got himself temporarily suspended from the game and Tara tried to comfort him about it. But Ragno lashed out at her for "pitying" him and even accused her of enjoying the trouble he got himself in because now that the Dragons' captain and star player was suspended, this meant an opportunity for her father's team to shine. The accusation shattered Tara because she thought he wouldn't judge her after she told him the secret about her family. But at this moment, he became no different than everybody else who knew about her real identity as a Sunspear and a Goyen's child.
That ultimately became the end to her relationship with Ragno, with Tara walking away from him with one final message: "You want to climb to the top so bad? Be my guest. Just don't expect me to be waiting up there for you anymore." Ever since then, they stopped talking to each other, and Tara became even less motivated to participate in Gorotama because doing so would involve personally going up against her ex-boyfriend if she was to officially join a team of her own.
And she was determined to hold onto that self-imposed promise of hers if it meant continuing to fight her own father for the rest of her school life.
...until a new Dragon Striker arrived in Kal Asterock during her third year at the academy.
Saw that my introduction to Tara got a little love, so now seems like the best time to flesh out her Tama and how her powers workโจ
Name: Nocturne
Description: Tara can manipulate and even generate shadows from both herself and her surroundings. Not only can she use them for teleportation purposes, but also construct any kind of object she wants out of them (though they can be much smaller and more fragile when summoned in the light).
Stats:
ATK: 3/5
AGI: 5/5
STR: 4/5
DEF: 4/5
SPD: 5/5
STA: 3/5
Moves:
Midnight Veil: An orb of shadows that completely envelops a target in complete darkness, effectively blinding them as long as it is activated. Can easily be shattered with enough force when used in the light. In the dark where she's stronger, she can use this on multiple people at once and it is far more durable.
Obsidian Portals: Can use her shadows to teleport herself and even turn other shadows into portals for people to fall through, forcing them to come out the other side in any shadow within her line of vision.
Shadow Morph: Can morph her own body into a shadow to make herself intangible and increase her speed, even using it for teleportation for a short period of time.
Umbra Armory: Can transform her shadows into weapons for her to manipulate freely in the air, and can even shift them into armor for her to wear for defense.
Meteor Shower: Combo move with Odward Stonegarden; creates a giant shadow from above that resembles a night sky, large enough to cover a certain area with the range growing larger in the dark. Then shooting stars rain down on the field to serve as both ammunition and a distraction.
Weakness: Tara is naturally weak to light and her Tama is not as strong in bright environments, especially in the daytime. A method that can knock her out of the shadows she enters is to simply shine light on them if it's bright enough (something that Surya and Falco both occasionally use against her).
Additional Facts:
It is mostly inspired by Macaque's abilities from LEGO Monkie Kid.
Had Tara accepted the offer to join the Shadows, she would have been made the captain instead of Pregrina Freaks as a striker because of her Tama's tremendous potential and advantage in their stadium.
Let me know what you think of this! I'll jump straight into her lore along with her relationships in the next post!๐
THE MEETING, the first instalment in my Dragon Striker fancomic series, is here !
I had fun thinking up a hopefully, more mature side of Kal Asterock and the world of Asteria, and you can probably tell I've had a blast writing and drawing the scene with Sunspear lol.
Huge thanks to @anais-mirliaz for proofreading and suggesting ideas to better my writing !
I hope you had a good time reading this story and will be looking forward to the next chapters, because, well. There will be more.
Just got into the new Disney animated show "Dragon Striker" now that TADC is over and honestly, it looks like they finally broke the pattern of producing nothing but crappy originals because they actually did an amazing job on the animation and everything in this show!
Anyways, let me introduce my new OC and everything I have in mind for her! (Made by Picrew)โจ
Her name is Tara Moonshield, a 3rd-year student of Kal Asterock (making her about 14-15 years old). She is the sixth member of the Knights, serving as one of the team's midfielders.
Her Tama is called Nocturne from her mother's side, which allows her to generate and manipulate shadows. She can even use her shadows to teleport herself and even others as soon as they step into them, which comes in handy on the playing field during matches. Her powers are normally at their strongest when she uses them in either dark environments or nighttime in general.
Her real name is actually Tara Sunspear, making her the one and only daughter of Surya Sunspear himself and Falco's older cousin. She enrolled herself under her mother's maiden name because she just wanted to be a normal student and didn't want to live her entire school life as a Goyen's daughter, knowing that she would both get privileges and unrealistic expectations just because of her family.
Because of the way Surya is, she has...well, pretty serious "daddy issues" and she already hates how she has to attend the same academy where her own dad works. Unlike him and Falco, she's genuinely quite friendly and humble to others, and she can also be really mischievous and hot-blooded sometimes. She plays as the cool older sister figure to the team as one of the oldest members, but sometimes it's more of a facade to hide the stress she goes through because of her dysfunctional personal life.
She is the ultimate rebel when it comes to her family, not afraid to say her opinions and talk back to her father's face. One of the reasons she joined the Knights in the first place is exactly because she knew how pissed Surya would be if his own kid joined the same team as the son of the woman he hates so much (not knowing the truth that I may or may not cover in the next post). Though, this ironically makes her just as petty as the parent she can't stand, lmao.
Fun Facts:
Her name "Tara" means "star" in Sanskrit with Hindu traditions, just like how Surya's name literally means "sun" or "radiant one" in the same language. Her mother's name was "Ratri" and it also means "night", so "sun" and "moon" came together and made a "star".โ๏ธ๐โญ
She enjoys music and sometimes composes her own songs in her free time, even making a few diss songs about her dad that are so genuinely catchy just to rub salt in the wound. (Imagine your team literally being called the Bards, but your own kid still joins a different team even though she's a musician, lol)
She was initially scouted to join the Shadows because of her Tama's compatibility with their dark and spooky theme, but turned it down for the Knights because it would piss her dad off the most.
She actually likes the taste of Milo's Jelly Tama for some reason.
She likes to annoy Odward by stealing his wallet every now and then.
She once dated Ragno back when she was a 2nd-year and he was a 3rd-year, but their breakup was quite messy and they never talked to each other since then. (Ragno was the one who fumbled)
Just saw the premiere of TADC finale, andโฆ I have a lot to say, but wonโt say any spoilers because Iโve already dodged two weeks worth of them, so I wonโt put anyone through the same struggle on here.
But hereโs what I have in mind while Iโm still processing everything.
Iโve been there since the very beginning back when it was only the pilot, and I was even there back when there were barely even fanart of the show because it was still so small and new. So witnessing everything from beginning to end has been an amazing experience.
I was genuinely crying while watching everything because the emotions were at their peak throughout the whole thing. Not just because of what I saw, but because I knew it was going to be the very last time Iโll ever see these silly characters and their adventures.
Writing my TADC OC Barbie and her story is going to be just as painful, if not more because it means going through the rollercoaster of emotions I felt watching every single episode all over again. But if it means experiencing this iconic and incredible ride over and over again, Iโll push through the pain and stay true to my nature as a writer.
What I want to say is, to the non-toxic side of the fandom who stuck through to enjoy Gooseworxโs showโฆ Thank you all for being there to watch everything. Iโm sure I speak for all of us when I say Iโll miss this show so, so much. Iโve already collected merch and stickers and even posters of this series, and now after three years, itโs all come to an end.
But the long ride was worth it.
I can only hope that the fandom still holds on strong now that itโs all over, no matter how much time passes. And that this show will forever go down in history as one of the greatest indie animation of all time.
Because that was an absolutely INTENSE pilot and the characters are all so unique! I already canโt wait for them to show the rest of the cast like on the poster because thereโs just so much variety and I need the lore!!
I wonโt say any spoilers on here for those who have yet to watch it, but all I can say is buckle up, because it starts off real strong!
Guess who officially graduated from college today with a bachelorโs degree and finally has more than enough time to work on the stories with assignments no longer in the wayโจ
