How tall is your character, and do they deserve to be that tall?
Adam: He's 6'0" but has the energy of someone who is 5'8".
Vincent: He's at least 6'0" maybe taller (no taller than 6'4" though) but slouches so everyone thinks he's lying until they stand next to him. People usually assume he's 5'10". He's lanky and gangly and looks like he would be 90 lbs sopping wet but unfortunately he's tall.
Daniel: He's either 5'4" or 5'6" but probably closer to 5'6". That's about average height, I think he deserves to be average height.
Indrid: He's 5'0" and probably deserves to be 5'2" at the very least but I'm not giving him those extra inches.
Summary: Daniel rings in the new year with his friends and family.
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Cameron had asked Daniel if they could spend New Year's with his family, and like an idiot Daniel said yes. Now he had to make sure the house was magic proof.
“Why do you need to magic proof the house?” Vincent asked in amusement as Daniel opened every cupboard and cabinet in the kitchen.
“Cameron doesn't know that we're Sorcerers, so I have to make sure they don't find out. You and Indrid are always using magic around the house, so I have to make sure you don't do any magic in front of them and blow our cover.”
“I do not use magic all the time,” Vincent scoffed, closing all of the cabinet and cupboard doors with a wave of his hand. “That doesn't count.
“Look, if you’re worried, we'll just make sure to lock up the office with all of our Pseudosphere artifacts. Indrid and I can survive one night without using magic.” Vincent frowned when Daniel rolled his eyes. “What's that supposed to mean?”
“You literally used magic to make coffee this morning.”
“It's called multitasking.” Vincent tapped Daniel on his head. “We'll be fine. We haven't used magic in front of Diana yet, and you've known her for years. Cameron's only coming over for a night, nothing's gonna happen.” Vincent furrowed his brows when Daniel fumbled with his shirt. “What's going on?”
They sat at the dining table.
“I like Cameron,” Daniel admitted.
“Oh, Daniel… There’s no need to be ashamed. It's normal to develop crushes at your age.”
“I'm not worried about the crush,” Daniel explained. “And I wasn't worried about coming out to you as gay. Or bi- That’s not the point. The point is… magic is influenced by emotions.”
“Yes,” Vincent confirmed. “And you've been doing a great job keeping your emotions in control so your magic doesn't act up. You've been training since you were five, Daniel, you know how to control your emotions.”
“But it's hard when it comes to love, or stronger emotions,” Daniel reminded him. “And it's been different with Cameron. They make me feel ways I've never felt before, and I don't know how to control these new things I'm feeling… Whenever I'm with them, I've noticed the room gets hotter. I thought it was just me at first, but other people have complained about the A/C being out of order.”
Vincent considered this. Usually around this age, when adolescent Sorcerers began developing crushes on their peers, the most common magical side effects were temperature change and telekinesis of small items.
“What do you think might help you?” Vincent asked. “We can get a Muse shard, maybe from Bea. Muse shards are known to help young Sorcerers control their emotions.”
“That might help,” Daniel agreed. “And I don't think I should be left alone with Cameron tonight. I just don't want to risk my emotions getting out of control.”
“Were you going to invite Diana?”
“Duh,” Daniel replied with a roll of his eyes, wincing apologetically when Vincent gave him a stern look. “I thought that was a given. You know she's bringing her mom's cookies.”
“Diana's gonna hover around you anyway, you'll be fine.”
Daniel sighed with relief. He was right, plus Diana always wanted to play games to pass the time faster, so he was sure there weren't going to be too many chances of him being alone with Cameron.
“Indrid should be getting off work soon,” Vincent noted, checking his watch. “I'll ask him to swing by Cool Beans on his way to grab apple cider. Hopefully Bea's still there.”
“When's Bea not there?” Daniel asked with an affectionate roll of his eyes. Bea was still working on starting up her own beauty salon, but he remembered getting his first haircut at Cool Beans. It wasn't the most sanitary thing to do, but at least they didn't do it in the kitchen.
When Indrid returned, he handed Daniel the Muse shard right away. The pink shard glowed as it was placed over Daniel's head, dangling next to his Visage shard. He tucked both away under his shirt so they weren’t visible.
Fortunately, Diana and Cameron arrived at the same time. Diana must have been walking over from La Breadtory when she bumped into Cameron. Diana knew sign language, but it was hard for her to sign back with her hands full. Fortunately for her, Cameron also knew how to read lips.
“What are we playing tonight?” Diana asked when she met Daniel at the door. “You know I love Battleship, but that's more of a one-on-one game. How about Monopoly?”
“We’re gonna miss the countdown,” Daniel chuckled. He took the plate of wrapped cookies from Diana to set them on the dining room table.
“Do you have any suggestions, Cam?” Daniel asked. “Our games are in the living room if you want to take a look.
Uno, Cameron signed. Unless there are any Uno naysayers.
“Regular Uno's usually not as competitive as the other versions,” Daniel recalled, grabbing the game from the entertainment center. “We can also play Mario Kart.”
I suck at Mario Kart, Cameron pouted.
“I don't!” Diana chirped, grinning when Cameron thunked the back of her head with a flick of their fingers. “It's not like we're playing for anything other than bragging rights.”
I like to win, though.
“Who said you'd be winning Uno?”
It was amazing how fast Daniel and Diana had both learned sign language. Well, it probably helped that they had Cameron to practice with all school year. They had created a few home signs and picked up a few that Cameron had learned from their grandparents, but for the most part their sign language was standard.
At some point, after a few rounds of Uno, they did decide to move onto a calm round of Monopoly. Adam, Indrid, and Vincent were all sipping wine while they waited for midnight to pop open the champagne, and they decided to play as one player to make the game go by faster. It worked in their favor when Indrid fell asleep.
“We'll wake him up before midnight,” Adam chuckled, making sure Indrid was away from the wine glasses.
Your dad's like a preschooler. Always ready for naptime, Cameron teased.
And your grandpa's like a baby with his special milk, Daniel shot back, referring to the formula Cameron's grandfather had to drink for his health. He smiled sheepishly when Cameron laughed.
You're going bankrupt for that one.
You and your three properties? Get real. Diana's probably gonna win this round.
Not if she keeps spending money as fast as she is.
“You know, I know sign language, too,” Diana muttered as she counted her moneybucks.
It was right before Diana was going to go bankrupt when Adam got their attention. “Hey kids, time to clean up. It's ten til.” He gently shook Indrid to wake him up, helping him wipe the drool from his chin.
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Daniel announced after they folded up the board.
“You're gonna miss the countdown!”
“I'm taking a piss, not a shi-” Daniel corrected himself after catching Vincent's stern gaze, “not a dump, Diana.” He excused himself to the bathroom while they packed up the rest of the game.
When Daniel emerged from the bathroom with slightly damp hands, he nearly bumped into Cameron.
“Oh! Cameron, I'm so sorry,” he said while also signing an apology. He stepped aside to let Cameron into the bathroom.
I'm not here for the bathroom, Cameron explained, quickly looking over their shoulder. Daniel could hear the glasses clinking together as Adam prepared them.
Do your parents know about us? Cameron asked.
Daniel blinked. About us?
About us dating.
Daniel could feel the Muse shard rise under his shirt. He placed his hand on his chest to keep it in place.
Cameron, I didn’t even know about us dating.
Cameron looked hurt, then confused. But you're the one who asked me out?
When?
When we first met. You don't remember?
I don't. But that's not important. Daniel reached out to take Cameron's hand before they could storm off if they were planning to. I do like you, Cam. I just didn't know you liked me back.
You learned sign language just to talk to me. If that's not boyfriend material, I don't know what is.
Daniel smiled. Well, to me that feels like common courtesy material, but I guess most people wouldn't learn a whole other language just to talk to someone they didn’t like.
Cameron stepped closer to Daniel and farther from the hallway light. Well, now that we're alone… I was hoping for a New Year's kiss.
Daniel made sure to keep his hand over his chest. Are you sure?
I'm sure. I've wanted to kiss you forever now. I just didn't know when the right time was.
Daniel swallowed, and he was sure Cameron could see the lump in his throat bob. I've never kissed someone before.
Didn't you and Diana date in middle school?
We didn’t kiss, though. Besides, we didn’t even like each other like that, we only dated because everyone pressured us to. But this is different. I actually like you.
Cameron played with the curls by their ear, and Daniel could tell they were blushing.
I feel like I'm making this awkward.
I wouldn’t like you if you weren't awkward, Daniel.
Daniel looked up when he heard Indrid and Diana calling for him, and Cameron took the moment to kiss him. It was a brief kiss, but Daniel still felt his hair rise.
I can get better at kissing.
Cameron chuckled and shook their head. You don't always have to improve yourself for my sake. They squeezed Daniel's hand. Should we tell them?
Daniel squeezed their hand back. Yeah, let's tell them.
Vincent Strange: Drinks his tea pretty plain; his go-to is herbal, usually green, but he strikes me as an earthy kind of guy. He'll add lemon or honey if he's recovering from a sore throat but most of the time it's just straight out the pot.
Daniel Nation: Favorite tea has to be either green or chamomile, definitely an herbal guy. Likes a few scoops of sugar in his tea, he goes for sugar cubes if possible, no more than four per cup (he usually only does two anyway). If he wants more flavor he'll add honey or lemon.
Cameron Scale: Kind of answered in another post that they like chai, which is true. Adds milk and sugar to their tea, and sometimes a sprinkle of cinnamon but chai already kind of has that flavor to it. Every now and then they'll use creamer instead of milk, and every time they do Daniel makes the funniest face if he catches them. They say he looks like Kermit when he makes that face.
Diana Bullock: Okay, I don't have a lot of tea drinkers, and while Diana isn't an avid tea drinker, I feel like she prepares her tea the same way that I do. Doesn't matter what kind of tea, she always uses a tablespoon of sugar/sweetner per quarter cup. Depending on the tea (if it's herbal or black) she'll add honey, lemon, milk, etc. But at the very least she always adds sugar. The only time she doesn't add sugar is when she's drinking floral tea (like jasmine or chrysanthemum). Vincent once scowled so hard she thought he was going to break his jaw so she refrains from doing so out of respect. Any other tea is not safe.
Character question: What is your character's favorite fast food restaurant?
The problem with this question is that Cardinal (where my main story takes place) is a made up town. But ya know what, no rules no gods.
Adam Nation: Definitely a burger place, but he's got weird taste buds. He probably likes burgers that come from Burger King or Sonic, something about the textures. McDonald's burgers are too juicy for him.
Daniel Nation: I still have not been there but something tells me Daniel would really like Jollibee. I think it's the aesthetic, also they serve spaghetti there? That's pretty cool.
Indrid Cold: Hate him for this but In-N-Out. I personally don't think their food is that good (don't @ me) but in terms of fast food, it's pretty fast food. He probably eats lunch there multiple times a week. Weirdo.
Vincent Strange: Vincent almost didn't make this list because he doesn't strike me as a fast food guy, but I think he would enjoy burgers from Whataburger. The quality's pretty high for fast food burgers and he's only had it maybe once in his life while traveling for whatever reason. His second favorite if he's ever craving a quick burger is Wendy's probably.
Diana Bullock: Freddy's. She doesn't really go there for the steakburgers, she goes for the frozen custard. Diana is an ice cream fiend and she and Daniel go to Freddy's regularly, at least once a week when they were kids. Daniel usually pays because there's a running gag that Adam, Vincent, and Indrid would each give him $5 for lunch every school day so he just started saving up.
Nobody Noname and Micah Wave: Lumping these two together because I'm sure they grab a bite after gigs, it's Steak 'n Shake for both of them. I think for a while they hopped around different restaurants like Denny's and IHOP but Steak 'n Shake became their favorite place to hang out and eat. When they were struggling with money one of them would usually buy fries and the other a shake and they would just share shake-dipped fries.
Character question: What kind of music does your character listen to?
Adam Nation: So I'm not a big fan of country... But Adam is. He's a big fan of storytelling songs so he also likes folk music, but he usually has a country station on while driving. He thinks it's good background music but nice to tune into. Reminiscent of my manager who loved country music and always played the station when she was in control of the radio.
Vincent Strange: I think it's cliché for Vincent to enjoy classical music, but it totally fits his vibes. He likes background noise and tends to choose music without lyrics that's also very instrumental. Also a big fan of smooth jazz and lo-fi.
Daniel Nation: I wish Daniel was cool and liked emo music—Well, he does, but it's not his favorite genre. Daniel really likes covers so he's constantly listening to artists like NateWantsToBattle and Caleb Hyles. He especially loves piano covers.
Diana Bullock: Look, Diana's a theater kid. Of course she loves showtunes, it's almost the only thing she listens to. Doesn't matter the musical genre, if you tell her there's a musical out there and she can find the soundtrack she's adding it to her library immediately. Give her about a week before she has all the music memorized.
Nobody Noname: So Nobody is my new character and is in an alternative experimental band. It listens to a variety of music for different inspiration and while it does enjoy punk... Its favorite music genre is bubblegum pop. Nobody's favorite artist is probably Shawn Wasabi, it claims it likes bubblegum pop because it's good dancing music and it needs something energetic to keep from spiraling into a depression (since the music it tends to write reflects systemic issues and oppression). It listens to a lot of experimental artists and also enjoys Too Many Zooz.
Character question: How does your character like their coffee?
Adam Nation: Drinks coffee solely for the post-caffeine energy boost, so he drinks it black with a shot or two of espresso, depending on his energy levels. Limits his coffee intake to once a day at most and will skip days.
Vincent Strange: Similar to Adam that he sees coffee as a tool, but doesn't hate his taste buds. Starts the day with a vanilla latte with a shot of espresso, treats himself to another vanilla latte during the day if he feels like it. Not a big fan of sweets, coffee is the sweetest thing he has on a daily basis.
Indrid Cold: What he drinks can not be considered coffee. He's definitely one of those "can't tackle the day without my beverage" gays and he claims he drinks coffee, but he makes sure it's loaded with sugar, creamer, and other sweet flavors. His favorite flavor is caramel and he gets whipped cream and caramel drizzle whenever possible. Adam and Vincent have told him to just drink hot chocolate but he claims coffee gives him energy. It's all that sugar.
Daniel Nation: More of a tea guy but will get coffee from time to time, especially if he needs an energy boost. Between Adam and Vincent when it comes to sweetness, he enjoys a mocha latte and tries seasonal drinks.
Diana Bullock: Diana loves frappes, she can't help it. Though, she's worked as a barista and usually makes her own drinks so others don't have to suffer the process. She gets them as sweet as possible with all the fixings: whipped cream, drizzle, etc. Unlike Indrid, she acknowledges that it's not really coffee and she just likes it for the flavor.
Cameron Scale: Too much of a chai lover, but gets the pumpkin spice latte whenever it's in season. Other than that time, they usually avoid coffee.
Hello! My name is Dani Gray, and welcome to the Dani Gray Extended Universe! What's the Dani Gray Extended Universe, or the DGEU? Well, it's basically where I put all my OCs and AUs for those OCs—I'm a writer with a lot of ideas, a lot of creativity, but I also like reusing OCs rather than making new ones (I make new OCs as well but I have a select few who are near and dear to my heart).
As this blog is fairly new, I'm still working on setting it up and introducing my characters (and also my main universe). I will be adding a list of some of my primary/most recurring characters underneath the read more below, but it'll be fairly underdeveloped. In the meantime, here's a few facts about me and a brief DNI:
Name: Dani Gray
Pronouns: Any neopronouns
DNI: racists, queerphobes, MAPs/pedophiles, roleplay blogs (asking a question is fine, but I don't use this blog to roleplay)
I reserve the right to block anyone and to ignore asks that I find inappropriate or that I don’t want to answer.
I'm a Tumblr veteran (been here for... a while) but I still struggle with what tags I should use when it comes to original content, so if you have any tips please let me know!
Recurring characters in the DGEU
Daniel Nation: Probably my first official OC who wasn't created for a fandom. The main character in my original story, he's got a lot of development and has been through so many changes. I'm absolutely enamored by him, he's my bestest boy.
Diana Bullock: Daniel's best friend and a general manic pixie dream girl (though that's not the role she plays). Was created around the same time as Daniel, they should not be separated by any means.
Cameron Scale: Daniel's partner! This character has definitely gone through a lot of changes, but the basic rundown for them is that they're a deaf activist.
Amanda Skies: Diana's girlfriend. Still being developed, she was originally supposed to be a mean girl and an antagonist. Not sure when her story changed, but very Amity Blight from The Owl House coded (though she was created way before The Owl House was even a show).
Adam Nation: Daniel's biological father who was originally supposed to die when Daniel was very young. Not sure when or why he came back to life, but his presence as a character definitely changed the direction of Daniel's story. A good father in every aspect, he's a school counselor.
Vincent Strange: Daniel's father and Adam's longest romantic partner. Not gonna lie, a lot of his inspiration came from Doctor Strange (hence the name and also a lot of his backstory). He's a surgeon, debating if I want to put him through an accident like in the Doctor Strange canon. In some universes he does have an accident, but in the main story he doesn't.
Indrid Cold: Surprisingly not the Mothman nor inspired by the character from TAZ: Ammesty (though I do love that podcast). Daniel's father and a late addition to Adam and Vincent's relationship, though the three of them have been friends for a long time. Indrid works as a museum tour guide and is very autistic about it. He's a silly, goofy daddy who loves Daniel to smithereens and cried on Daniel's first day of school.
Evelyn Kamiyama: Wasn't originally going to add her because she's not that recurring, but I love her too much to leave her out. Plus, she was very involved in Daniel's upbringing. Daniel's surrogate mother and the owner of a sushi restaurant. Absolute badass of a woman who takes no shit. Has a complicated relationship with her family but doesn't let that get in the way of how she treats Daniel. Also she and Adam are fuck buddies.
