🌟 When your OC loses all hope, who do they turn to first? What helps make them feel better? What calms them down and reassures them? Why?
Answering this one for Carey and Ileana!
In her proper canon - that being, Lady Luck verse - the answer is unwaveringly, undoubtedly @nuttyrabbit‘s OC, Gambit.
Once their friendship really kicks in, and Carey learns that he’s always going to be there for her, that even if he doesn’t have the words to express it and even if he’ll deny it to others, Gambit loves her as much as she loves him.In Carey’s eyes, Gambit’s not just her best friend or partner in crime: he’s her home. He becomes someone she can be vulnerable around, someone who will enjoy her company even when she has nothing to give him, who gets her weird sense of humor and has lived through similar experiences and gets the way she thinks. He’s someone she can show vulnerable side too - even if he’s not great at comforting others with his words, they understand eachother enough that words usually aren’t needed. I
If Carey is ever lost, upset, afraid or at her wits end, she knows Gambit will be there to pick up the pieces.
Outside of people though, I think Carey finds comfort in her work, if you can believe it! Picking locks, picking pockets - both are such a familiar part of her life that they’re a comfort to her. She grew up doing small, petty thefts working with her father. It helps clear her mind, pull her out of a funk, and grounds her in the here and now, all while boosting her confidence. She’s also something of a stress cooker - you’ll know she’s had a Bad Day when she’s filled the safehouse with home-baked goods, cooked up entire meals, and made enough to feed an entire city block for a weekend. She’s not a stress-eater, though - she gives most of the excess food away.
Canonically, Ileana eventually does meet Blaze and while things are rocky and uncomfortable at first, Ileana eventually finds the princess to be a valued friend. They’re similar enough that they get on really well, but have enough differences that they don’t accidentally enable the other and are open and honest.
Ileana chooses to serve Blaze, in the end, following Gardon’s retirement as they take his place.
In an AU shared with Nutty, Ileana winds up on Mobius and lands in Osakiru - Nutty’s Mobian version of Japan - and meets his OC, Mach the Mantis Shrimp. While they have a rocky start (with Mach being deadset on wooing Ileana for superficial reasons and Ileana being standoffish and irate) the two eventually settle into a sweet friendship, and find they have many shared similarities and understand the other in more ways than they’d imagined. Mach becomes someone Ileana trusts almost exclusively, and he helps pull them out of a dark place a few times, as Ileana struggles with real mental illnesses inflicted by their trauma. He becomes a source of light for them, someone they can trust to always listen and who, against all odds, can always make them laugh. Is it any wonder why they wind up falling for him in the end?
Outside of personal relationships Ileana also finds comfort in reading. Reading has always been an important form of escapism for Ileana, even with the limited selection their abusive father allowed them.
