(give me a character name + 🎶 and I’ll put their playlist on shuffle and tell you the most fitting lyric of the first song I get)
viridi hails from my half-shelved YA fantasy about the fucked-up faerie woods. he is... a liar, for sure, and an amnesiac, for maybe. shuffling the playlist gives us mowgli's road by marina & the diamonds! which... is a viridi song that's hard to talk about without spoilers.
Ten silver spoons coming after me
One life with one dream on repeat
I'll escape if I try hard enough
'Til King of the Jungle calls my bluff
go on, buddy, keep trying to outrun that backstory you may or may not remember. i bet that'll work. it's not like your specific situation is the linchpin of the plot,
Okay someone's definitely gonna ask for godsong so I'm gonna ask for tmr 👀
ALWAYS but with the caveat that the TMR cast are all my poor little meow meows because i've had them since i was twelve which is sooooo fucked up actually
blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): . viridi. one question into this ask game i have to invoke the bitch baby
scrunkly (my "baby," character that gives me cuteness aggression): WINTER AUKLET i want to squish her like a dog toy i want to hold her in my arms
scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): mm. jada lavender. underappreciated in-universe but she is fascinating and multilayered and there are plants that grow out of her skin
glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and i won't shut up about it for a week): THE DOVE KING i think about the dove king. i think about the dove king (- the entire castle gossiping about his fucked up eraserhead baby)
poor little meow meow ("problematic"/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): aurum is a poor little meow meow if i've ever seen one. who put that traumatized sixteen-year-old in charge of an entire kingdom. who let him go this long thinking it's normal to experience devastating nausea when you touch iron
horse plinko (character i would torment for fun, for whatever reason): viridi but he deserves it (he does not deserve it.)
eeby deeby (character i would send to superhell): there's no one in tmr that off the top of my head i want destroyed so i'm sending aurum down there because he'll start a union
Viridi 🤢 Been a while since I've brought the bastard up
NOW VIRIDI I REALLY COULD DRAG FOR A CENTURY but just off the top of my head
doesn't wear shoes & then tracks muddy footprints all over the castle
would wear dysphoria hoodies in the modern day but they'd all have, like, "ew, people" on them. cringe trans rep
that kid at your high school who was edgy on purpose to make other people feel weird (not like Creepy but just. Edgy)
"i don't need friends. they disappoint me"
his two best friends are both into him and each other but he can't go all in on the homoerotic bestie polycule because he's got the sensibilities of a victorian maiden and he faints when he brushes someone's hand or sees an exposed ankle
has an actual curse on him preventing him from lying but he tries soooo hard to lie anyway. even when it isn't necessary for self-preservation he just really really wants to
doesn't tell people about said curse
doesn't tell people about the other curse
doesn't tell people about the OTHER other curse
doesn't tell anyone anything even though he's way in over his head with the magical bullshit and if he were literally like 10% more willing to admit it the plot wouldn't exist
two people in-verse know literally every plot twist in TMR. the first one is a ghost and so she can't tell anyone. the second one JUST FUCKING CHOOSES NOT TO
LITTLE LYING ASS BITCH WHO HAS KNOWN EVERYTHING THE ENTIRE TIME
he's sixteen and semi-suicidal so we can't even make proper fun of him i mean he's LITERALLY neurodivergent and a minor
(send me one of my ocs and i'll drag them) (viridi's home WIP which is on hiatus)
named for the oh hellos song! which has huge TMR vibes to me. i mean, sure, it’s a story about fae and a blood-drinking forest, but these kids deserve their beach episode.
you can find out more about TMR here. but for a refresher: the characters present here are winter auklet, farm-girl-turned-adventurer; her trusty dog skip, who follows her around like an NPC; viridi doveswing, a mysterious convalescent who can’t physically lie; patch gosling, the castle court jester, who has two hands (one for viridi and one for rowan); and rowan hawthorne, the blacksmith’s apprentice, who does not often talk or fear.
without further ado i bring to you: tmr beach episode.
“You’re going to want to take your boots off,” was the first thing Rowan said, when she met the others just outside the castle walls. He didn’t elaborate, and Winter didn’t get the chance to ask, because a moment later he was bounding off toward the north end of the island.
Winter looked, rather helplessly, at Patch and Viridi. “I only have one pair of boots.”
“You won’t lose them,” Patch said hurriedly, reaching down to pat Skip on the head. “Just leave them here, no one will take them - he’s right, we’re going to be swimming -” and they scampered after him.
Winter blinked.
She looked at Viridi, who raised his eyebrows, as if to say, Good God. Then, defeated, he exhaled and started off at a more stately pace.
Winter, staring at her feet, didn’t move until Skip twined through her legs and raced after him. Then she yelped and shucked her boots off, hopping on one leg as she peeled off her stockings, and shouted, “Wait for me, Skip!”
The summer sun burned hot in the dove kingdom. It shone off the lake, glittering blue; it lit up each waving blade of grass in the fields behind the castle. Not that there were many fields - the castle walls extended almost to the edge of the island. Their path traced the shoreline north, to the part of the island that pointed further out into the lake and not to the mainland city; the shore grew steeper and steeper until it sloped up into rocky cliff walls, overhung with vivid overgrowth.
Rowan had infuriatingly long legs. Winter caught up with Viridi first, which was to be expected but was still unfortunate, because then she felt obligated to keep his pace, and Viridi, for all he’d healed since his accident, was slow. Both of them were sweating by the time they reached the others - Patch, bent over puffing; Skip, circling excitedly around their legs; and Rowan, fording up the slope into the bushes.
“It’s steep,” Patch wheezed, straightening up and smoothing down their tunic. “Watch out for the branches.”
It was, in fact, steep. More of a climb than a walk, really; there was a faint suggestion of a path, where the undergrowth was more worn down, but really they were scrambling up over rocks and under bushes, dirt wedging itself under Winter’s fingernails, rocks gritty beneath her spread-wide toes, the scents of earth and leaves and sticky sweat hanging close around her body.
It didn’t particularly help to have Skip scrabbling up along with them, crawling through Winter’s legs and lapping at her fingers. But she wasn’t very well going to send him back.
Rowan took the head, Patch right behind him, and Winter followed at their heels, excitement already singing in her chest. She was slightly ashamed that it took hearing Patch call back, “Vee, how’re you doing back there?” to recall their fourth’s disadvantage.
When she turned around, Viridi was a ways behind her, further down the slope, past a particularly steep bit of ground. His good arm was braced against the side of the boulder the others had climbed over; his left arm was held tightly to his chest, as always.
Winter scrambled back to meet him. She was close enough to see him mumble a foul word under his breath before he called back, “I’m managing!”
Then he looked up to see her inches away and startled back.
“Here,” Winter said, offering her arm. “Put both your hands - right. And now if you put your foot there -”
When he gripped her arm, she could feel the raised edges of the scars on his palms. The whole affair seemed harder on his end; she’d borne the weight of sheep at home that were heavier. When he scrambled up beside her, Viridi dropped his hands from her arm - though he didn’t drop his gaze from hers - and exhaled heavily.
Winter tilted her head, scanning him. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, she was scanning for, but she reasoned that if he was about to collapse she should be able to notice that. “Are you all right?”
“I’m f…” He wobbled over the fine for a moment, lips puffing out, then settled on, “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“If you’re tired -”
“I’m always tired,” Viridi said sourly. Making a face: “Dahlia says I ought to push myself.”
Winter grinned at him. She offered her arm again and nodded after Patch. “Well, in that case, I think Patch and Rowan are halfway to the raven kingdom by now.”
It wasn’t a far climb, though Viridi leaned on her most of the way. They caught up with the others at the top of the cliff - including Skip, who had once more wandered ahead. “Traitor,” Winter told him, ruffling his ears, before she rose to look around.
The island dipped here, pinching inward like the bread Winter’s mother used to fold - a little cove cut into the side of the cliffs. They stood atop a lip of rock overhanging the water, nothing but open space in front of them.
Rowan smirked at Patch. “I’m going first.”
Patch stuck their tongue out. “Oh, by all means.”
Winter tipped her head back to the sky, so blue it almost hurt her eyes. The wind ruffled her hair. The far edges of the lake were hemmed in by hills dappled with trees, brilliantly green. The forest, technically - but here, in the sun, dirt-smeared and breeze-tousled, she felt incredibly far from it. The forest couldn’t touch her here. Not with all of them here together, in the open; not with the sky singing in her heart.
“What now?” she asked.
Patch grinned lopsidedly, showing their dimples. “We jump!”
“Jump,” Viridi repeated, eyes flaring wide.
“There’s a path back up from the water! You can’t see it from here, but we’ve done this a thousand times.” They pressed a hand to their heart. “Jester’s honor.”
“You have to jump out far,” Rowan said, nodding toward the edge. “To clear the rocks.”
“Rocks,” Viridi echoed.
Winter peered over the precipice, toes curled over the stone. There were, in fact, rocks just beneath the surface of the water, large and formidable. The wind tossed the water around, exposing a peak here, a jagged edge there.
They weren’t too high up. She’d jumped from the loft to the barn floor, at home, and it was about the same distance. And all right, maybe she’d broken her ankle in the barn, but she had been landing on a hard stone floor and not plunging into a lake, and so it was different, she was pretty sure.
Winter clung to the rocks and grinned.
She barely had time to draw back before Rowan flashed past her. He whooped as he leaped; a moment later he splashed down into the lake and bobbed back up, a small red-haired shape down below, spitting out brine.
Looking up, he raised one arm out of the water, pumping his fist, and whooped again.
Winter returned the motion from above, huge-eyed. “Hurrah!”
“Careful, Winter,” Patch said gently. Winter glanced back to Patch and Viridi - the former poised for a running leap, the latter looking distinctly queasy.
She shifted to make space. A moment later Patch ran past, one hand held up to plug their nose, and jumped. Their splash was bigger; Rowan caught most of it in the face, and his colorful string of curses was audible even from up above.
Skip pressed his wet nose into Winter’s hand, panting. She ruffled his ears. “Oh, are you going to go follow them now, too? You want to jump off the cliff with your new best friends? I thought I was your b-”
Skip licked her face. Winter squeaked, laughing, and almost fell backwards off the cliff.
She glanced up to see Viridi standing beside her, neck arched so he could squint over the edge. “Our turn, Viridi?”
“Mm,” Viridi said, stepping back.
“Come on.” Winter removed Skip’s paw from her face. Skip replaced it; Winter removed it again. “It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t swim.”
“Well, you made it all the way out here; you might as well.”
Viridi squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.
“No,” he said, exhaling, “I mean I don’t know how.”
Winter shoved Skip off her lap and stared at Viridi.
“What?” she said.
Viridi gave her a sullen look. He enunciated slowly enough that it offended her a little: “I never learned how to -”
“I heard you, I just…” Winter shook her head. Skip shook his head, too, as if he were agreeing, though it may have been because his ear was inside-out. Winter flipped it for him. “How?” She had grown up swimming almost every day in the summers - the lake behind her house was much smaller, of course, but when she closed her eyes and dove toward the bottom she could pretend that she was in the ocean, seaweed tangling in her fingers, salt catching in her hair. She’d never seen the ocean. But she’d read storybooks. She’d dreamed about it.
Viridi was once again engaging in uncomfortably direct eye contact. This time made all the more uncomfortable by his scowl. “I just… never learned. I mean, I… my… we…” He shrugged jerkily. “I didn’t do that.”
Winter tossed a look over the edge of the cliff. Patch and Rowan had swum out a little ways to engage in some sort of mid-lake wrestling. As she watched, Patch splashed Rowan directly in the face, wriggled out of his grasp, and called up, “Come on! I promise it’s fine!”
She very much wanted to jump. In fact she itched with it. She desired nothing more than to run at the precipice and fling herself out into open space as quickly and as enthusiastically as possible.
Still. She felt some degree of responsibility for Viridi.
It wasn’t that hard to learn to swim, was it? Her parents had taught her when she was tiny. If a tiny person could do it, it probably wasn’t too bad. “You can do it,” she said encouragingly. “You just sort of…” She mimicked Skip’s paddle with her hands.
Viridi’s squint got narrower.
“Ah,” he said. “I just sort of.” He exaggerated the motion back at her with his good arm.
Winter huffed, somewhere between impatient and sheepish. His arm… did present a complication. “Oh, don’t be like that, I’m trying to help you - I’ll be right there, and so will Patch and Rowan, it’s not so far down…”
His silence was the most unnerving possible response. Winter looked up to see him eyeing the edge, looking more than a little ill. Without tearing his eyes away, he reached sideways for Skip, patting the air futilely until the dog trotted over to meet his hand.
“Are you scared?”
She watched his mouth form the no; she heard the puff of his futile exhale.
“Come on.” Winter kept her voice low and gentle as she got to her feet. “It’s okay. It’s not so far down. Patch did it and they’re shorter than you -”
“Patch is shorter than everyone,” Viridi snapped, reaching up to press at the hollow of his throat.
“Exactly!” When he didn’t move away, Winter reached for his good hand - slowly, carefully, keeping her movements in his field of vision, the way her parents had taught her to approach skittish animals back home.
His palms were rough, ridged with the lines of his scars. He intertwined his fingers with hers immediately.
Winter smiled at him, feeling sun-warmth unfurl in her chest. “I’ll be right here,” she promised. “And Skip, you stay up here, all right?”
“You can exchange him for me if you’d rather,” Viridi muttered. Winter shushed him.
They approached the edge together. Viridi’s grip on her hand kept getting tighter. Winter squeezed back, smiling comfortingly at him. “On three we’ll run up and jump, okay?”
Viridi nodded, eyes locked on the cliff’s edge, throat bobbing.
“All right,” Winter said, bending her knees. Already her grin was spreading. “Three -”
“You can’t - you can’t start with three,” Viridi objected, yanking on her hand. “You said we go on three. You have to start with one.”
Winter rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “One…” She squinted sideways at him, watching for any possible escape attempts. “Three!”
Viridi’s yelp was lost in Winter’s laughter as she pulled him forward. One, two, three steps -
pride month ocs day 4: viridi doveswing of TMR! (which means i have now drawn all three mains.) he’s agender & gay (attracted to nb people and women, generally)!
his arm is behind his back like that as a symbolism thing about how he’s dishonest and hides secrets and not just because i didn’t want to draw another hand, trust me on this,
earth + oil paints, usually. sometimes when he visits the castle dovecotes, he ends up smelling like... the dovecotes. which is, like, bird poop and straw. but usually more pleasant than that.
what their favorite smells in the world are
oil paints, again! and he honestly really does like the smell of the dovecotes, even if the place is a little nose-wrinkling... birds are his special interest and the dovecotes are a Safe Space
what pajamas they wear
....sound of max realizing he doesn’t really know anything about medieval-era pajamas. probably much of the same of what he wears during the day, which is a very loose tunic and trousers with non-offensive textures... and he’s always always barefoot. do not make this kid put boots on
my favorite ship (if applicable) and a cute hc about them
OT3 TIME HELL YEAHGH.... patch/rowan/viridi! all of the castle wards of state like to kiss each other and i think that’s very cool of them!!! viridi can be... iffy about physical touch (as can rowan, for that matter, who hates being touched by strangers), but he feels very safe touching patch and rowan! the three of them like to lie in a pile like kittens. (rowan instigates because he wants the pressure... living weighted blanket. viridi is a repressed homosexual and even just touching hands makes him blush a little so he only does Pile Cuddle Time when no one else is around, but he does appreciate it! and patch is just happy to be there dfbsdfbsbfsd)
my favorite friendship (if applicable) and a cute hc about them
WINTER AND VIRIDI. WINTER AND VIRIDI. WINTER. AND VIRIDI. THE FRIEND DUO I AM WRITING TMR FOR HONESTLY.
on a serious level: viridi is a bitch ass little liar who keeps secrets because it’s all he knows how to do. he even keeps secrets from patch and rowan, who, as i said, routinely kiss and/or lay on top of him. but he has a VERY difficult time lying to winter because there’s something about her that is just... so innately trustworthy and kind and calming to him that things slip out. he’s gay about patch and rowan, yes, but winter is the first person that he... really submits to the Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known with.
on a less deep level, winter is doggedly determined to teach him how to swim and no amount of viridi flailing and spluttering and spitting out water in the lake is going to stop her
a song that reminds me of them
spaceman by the killers! nothing like a song that uses alien abduction as a metaphor to talk about that time you got abducted by the fae.
You know that I was hoping
That I could leave this star-crossed world behind
But when they cut me open,
I guess I changed my mind
me side-eyeing the way that viridi pre-forest was INCREDIBLY depressed and like. sort of passively wanted to die all the time. and then he almost did die and he realized that he does, in fact, have a DEBILITATING fear of death and that even if he hates being alive he ABSOLUTELY will turn into a cornered animal if he’s in a life-or-death situation
You think you might cross over
You're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
You better look it over
Before you make that leap
viridi being The One Who Knows Things About The Woods and having to watch winter... who hasn’t gone into the forest in ten years... become more and more intrigued by the woods no matter how much she tries to resist their spell... and he can’t even say anything about it because he himself is still under the spell of the fae...
And you know I'm fine
But I hear those voices at night
Sometimes
and then you know this part is obviously about [REDACTED] [SPOILERS] [REMOVED] :)
what animal i think they would be if they were an animal
oh, absolutely a raven. birds are sort of... viridi’s Thing... he finds them much easier to interact with than people and he tends to project on them. catch him mimicking his raven’s head-bobbing movements back at it. (certainly he has tried to caw at it. but only when he’s alone. though don’t get me wrong -- he’s less embarrassed by the fact that he’s TRYING to caw and more so by the fact that he’s not very good at it.)
what position they sleep in
it doesn’t matter; he tosses and turns all night every night. he has horrible nightmares, and that’s not even factoring in - [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS]
their favorite drink
blinks in medieval timeline. i can tell you his LEAST favorite drink! and that’s the anti-anxiety potions he used to take Once Upon A Ye Olde Day. (basically the magical equivalent of antidepressants.) did the potions help? yes. did they taste awful and make him nauseated? also yes. plus he associates them with some, uh. bad moments. in his past.
a gift i would give them if i could
whhbwfjbfjwbgbdsfbdsjfsd THERAPY?? a trauma counselor? a MASSIVE hug? in practical terms, probably some sort of splint/sling for his bad arm. said arm is irreversibly broken, but at least then he wouldn’t have to HOLD it so awkwardly. also a raven plushie it would make him so very happy
today’s tmr thought... viridi physically can’t lie so whenever he gets asked a direct question he doesn’t want to answer he just changes the topic, usually very defensively. i think modern au viridi does this by accusing people of being cops. like. winter is very helpfully like “hey you know how you have so so many very specific skills? do you remember where you learned any of them :0″ and viridi’s like ..................”what are you, a COP?” >:|
Also which amt character and tmr characters would get along please respond
victor this is such a tasty question...
you KNOW winter would get along with pretty much everyone, because winter is That Way. but in specific i think she would really vibe with rahma and ginger!! for the weird girl energy. (though she might find rahma’s tendency to dramatic emotion... a little overwhelming.) she would also deem reuben trustworthy immediately on account of his being Good With Animals. and she would vibe so so transly with avery we KNOW this.
avery, being hugged by a girl who is technically younger than she is but much more outgoing and much more experienced about being gaytrans: “.......is this what having a sibling would be like???”
winter, who has like four younger siblings: :D
skip the dog: [licking avery’s hands]
and i think jada would get along with avery too. they both tend to try to blend into crowds while hiding a lot of problems and anxieties. jada tends to... er... sprout plants from her skin when she is stressed. but i think avery would find it very endearing if a little worrying (”do you... need to water them, or...” “usually i just pull them out?” “doesn’t that hurt?”)
patch and rowan (viridi’s partners) would fall right in with bitty and reuben, honestly. patch has the genuine love for their friends and propensity for bad jokes; rowan has the absolute reckless chaotic energy.
aurum and indrajit were made to vibe. we know this. they are both so so annoying but also genuinely probably a little too mature for their age with a tendency to take on problems they shouldn’t handle alone. plus aurum would love drama club; he’s a very good public speaker. and if aurum and indrajit are vibing, we KNOW moon and amanda are vibing. Tough-As-Nails Bisexuals Who Could Kill You. amanda lends moon the leather jacket; moon lends amanda the anarchist zines.
contrary to what some may think, viridi and isaac would not vibe. isaac would get a few sentences into the latest Woe Is Me speech and viridi would go, “oh, let me guess, you’re emotionally detached from your mother and you consistently feel alone and hopeless. can you shut the fuck up and go cry yourself to sleep like everyone else” and then they would not talk to each other again.
(winter drags viridi with her to hang out with hawk and ginger because viridi physically cannot say no to winter. he ends up making awkward conversation with hawk, who is too nice to be straight-up mean to.)
