#iyobosa

[rockofcalifa]

maram and nikola: have the same brooklyn office the family has had since the 1920s

ira: fuck that, have expensive office space in manhattan, basically pay for it out of pocket because the budget doesn’t cover it and you need to be as glam as possible

[rockofcalifa]

literally the most elegant man on this earth

[rockofcalifa]

concept: iyobosa, with a bun

[rockofcalifa]

I haven’t posted these here yet... I did these over christmas break and I’m not happy with either of them. i did so many things wrong. some things i do like, though...

-nikola’s hair -nikola’s leaf border -iyobosa’s shirt -iyobosa’s twigs

[rockofcalifa]

30 day novel writing challenge - day 21 “dream cast - with pictures”

yeah i don’t have this so i’m going to cast my characters as famous vines. don’t ask me why these just felt like they fit

Maram

Nikola

Iyobosa 

Pascal

[rockofcalifa]

30 day novel writing challenge - day 7 “a third important character”

Pascal Mirandez is Maram's lifelong friend and the most important secondary protagonist. Stats: height 5'4", hazel eyes, tan skin, straight brown hair. Pascal was preparing for a stellar career in genetics when they were arrested (charged with resisting the arrest of their bf) and indentured to the government. They and Maram are eventually, miraculously reunited years later; they took advantage of the fact that the two of them together can effect more change than they could individually. Though all Pascal wants is to have a quiet life doing research, they become an indispensable link to the preexisting underground resistance movement. 

Iyobosa Muldoon is just as important as Pascal, so I'm putting them in this answer as well. Stats: height 6'0", brown eyes, dark brown skin, wavy black hair (which I love). Iyobosa is from the rural area of the country, more conservative and religious than the city area. Maram met them when Iyo came to the city to train as a priest. The two became friends despite Iyo's more hardcore religious views, but as each gain power this becomes a point of strife between them. And that's all I'll say about that - don't want to get /too/ spoilery.

[rockofcalifa]

iyobosa’s arc just came together so cleanly omg. what a lad. they get to be both a middle boss and the final boss - nice

[rockofcalifa]

So I’ve been thinking a lot about that “hate at first sight” post where the first time they see each other they know they’re going to duke it out on some windswept plateau while the fate of the world hangs in the balance. And so I’ve been trying to decipher both how Maram and Nikola met and how their final confrontation might play out.

Long ramble beneath the cut

I’m pretty sure they’ve known each other from a very young age. They’re in the same “school district,” were possibly in the same daycare as well. Which would mean “hate at first sight” wouldn’t even be possible, because they’d be literally babies. But “first sight” doesn’t have to be literal, right? Maybe they get pitted directly against each other (at age 9 or 10 maybe), either they have a difference of opinion or there’s a competition. Maram’s there thinking the interaction will be polite, friendly, and sportsmanlike but Nikola is of course completely ruthless so Maram’s like all right, we’re doing this and Maram comes out on top of whatever argument or wins whatever competition and from that moment on they realize it’s going to be like this forever? Or does that sound unrealistic for little kids. This initial realization would launch them into a state of perpetual competition and trying to best each other, accounting for the fact that the two most ambitious youngsters in their year are in the same district. What do you think?

 Alternatively, it could be “hate at first sight” between Maram or Nikola and our secondary villain, Iyobosa (one year after them, also v ambitious but a theological conservative/zealot). I don’t think it would be canon for Maram and Iyo, because they become good friends, and for Nikola and Iyo it wouldn’t matter because I don’t use their POVs (although im pretty sure nikola is the one that ends up killing iyo sooo it wouldn’t be far-fetched).

 THEN there’s the subject of Maram and Nikola’s final showdown, if there is one. It COULD be that they peacefully go their separate ways at the end of their elected? terms, or they don’t have terms at all and co-rule until they die. (Some background: after the fall of the theocracy both of them want All the Power but they compromise and Nikola becomes something similar to an interior minister while Maram is foreign minister. Nikola wants to keep but revise the religious establishment while Maram wants to abolish it and become completely secular.) It’s entirely plausible, with their differences in opinion, that some grand confrontation could eventually result.

 Consider the following, possibly canon scenario. Before the theocracy was toppled, Maram’s country and another country had sort of a North Korea-China relationship. Maram’s country wasn’t exactly a client state, but “China” was its only trade partner. “China” is generally disliked by most countries. After the coup, “China” gets upset that Maram is introducing policies trying to enter the mainstream international community, and “China” cuts off all trade with them. However, the condition the “mainstream” introduces to enter into trade is that all remnants of the theocracy must be abolished, meaning they want Nikola removed (Nikola is claiming to be the new prophet… its complicated and silly). So Nikola thinks they can get on the “mainstream”’s good side (not that they care that much) by going to war against “China.” (Background: their country’s main trade is weapons manufacturing, which are traded with “China” for everything else.) Maram thinks this is crazy, especially since “China” is essentially starving them, so a biiiig difference of opinion/schism happens.

 What would they do about it? Nikola is totally down for some casual murder, but they know they have to be careful and discreet about things because the government is trying to be legitimate and transparent and stuff. On the other hand, Maram wants to avoid violence and illegalities if at all possible. They too had their fair share of “casual” murder as a young politician, and it turned out that was an awful experience so they’re determined not to do that again. I think, in the end, it has to be Nikola that dies. What I imagine is a tense cabinet meeting dissolving into a furious yelling match. But then Nikola’s sister Phuong (who is def on Maram’s side, and possibly has unrequited feelings for them. haven’t decided. But they have a strange relationship) pulls out a gun/laser gun and straight up kills Nikola then and there.

 So, I guess the conclusions that can be gained from this snafu of an email would be

-         No hate at first sight between maram and nikola

-         No epic ending to the story either

-         So I guess all that musing has been in vain

:(