A sideblog for Twisted Wonderland, where I'll post/reblog for the game AND also share my own OCs and fanfic. Main blog is @mewuniverse for follows and likes.
I beg you, pardon? Ruggie's father is MISSING? How did I miss this? I knew about his Mom and grandma, but the fact that his dad is missing is....well, devastating.
Now I'm wondering why he might be missing? Is Twist trying to implicit something here?
[ Referencing this post. ]
“Missing” is the term I use in my original post (linked above), but Ruggie’s dad more specifically “went out to scourge up some money one day and never came back”. It’s not clear if he straight up abandoned his family or if he died while he was away.
This information is revealed to us in Ruggie’s Birthday Boy vignettes, but it’s also brought up again in Ruggie’s book 7 dream. In that dream, Ruggie further specifies that his dad went to “his job away from home”, although we still don’t know what this “job” was.
Since Ruggie’s mom “joined the stars in the sky right after she had [him]”, he’s been raised by only his grandmother.
I believe that what happened to Ruggie’s mom is meant to reflect irl hyena biology, as Twst is in the habit of incorporating biology into its animal-based characters. Many female hyenas die after birth because they experience a lot of trauma attempting to deliver a baby through their narrow birth canals.
In irl hyena societies, females dominate and male get roughed up by more senior males of a pack, so I wonder if the implication is that something along these lines happened to Ruggie’s dad. It could also just be Twst writing what unfortunately happens in impoverished areas. Parents tend to leave due to stress or get caught up in situations that harm or end them entirely. This may, in part, explain why the slums where Ruggie grew up has so many young children that look up to him and depend on him (you know, aside from him being one of the few from the slums with magic and the opportunity to study at the prestigious NRC). Those kids may not have many other reliable older figures in their lives.
Please see this post for a compilation of all the family lore I could find.
The final of my Kingdom Hearts OCs, rounding out the Destiny Isles Trio: Arlen Nox! I’ve already shown him off a bit, but I wanted to redraw him since I like to think my art skills have grown from when I last drew him. Arlen is based off of Riku…and Riku Replica from the Kingdom Hearts series. Unbeknownst to Arlen, he is actually a failed copy of the Knight of Dawn…it’s a long story 😅
Arlen was best friends with Soren and Kai until an unfortunate accident left his friends hurt and his heart changed forever. In order to keep the darkness in check within himself, Arlen wears a blindfold to limit the blot lurking within his heart that threatens to consume him. Arlen enrolls in NRC to distance himself from his past; however, little does he know that trouble will still follow whereever he goes…
Feel free to leave questions for my ocs in my inbox and I’ll answer them/draw answers to them when I can!
Until we get more official information in-game meriting their own posts, I will collect profile information from the website here. Other students can be added as they are revealed, but please request them as they come, as I may forget to update this on my own.
Marinafinne: A dorm graced by the Devoted Princess's gleam of passion.
Rielle Corallia
CV: Sakamoto Shōgo
"Hey, look at this. Isn't it neat? I've got 20, so I'll give you one!"
A sophomore in Marinafinne. The seventh prince of the Coral Sea. Despite the objections of those around him, he came to the surface world. His admiration of the land is so intense that he sometimes rushes headlong into situations.
Year: 2nd
Birthday: October 10
Height: 170cm
Age: 17
Dunasmina: A dorm graced by the Free-spirited Princess's gleam of cleverness.
Minajael Tealrajah
CV: Ōsaka Ryōta
"Outside the palace walls, you can come and go as you please. I just want to live more freely."
A junior in Dunasmina. The first prince of the Scalding Sands. Hailed as the sharpest mind in his nation, he is also thoroughly fed up with the stifling life he led in the royal palace.
Oh you thought I would be your golden retriever boyfriend? Sorry I’m your husky boyfriend. AWOWOOOOOROTOTOOOOOOAUAUAUAUAUAUAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAWAWAEAEAEAEAWAWAWAWAWAAAAAAAAA
Whoa whoa hold up you can't just drop the casual "I have an idea for a fan event and it has mystery, a bad guy of dubious morality, and BatB elements" and not elaborate 👀
[ Referencing this post! ]
WELL.🧍♂️ I didn’t elaborate because if I let my mouth run for too long then we’d go off-topic very quickly. The hypothetical fan event in question also heavily involves my Twst OC, as it would be similar to a “hometown” style story for her. I didn’t want to hijack the original post to talk about my bird daughter www
I’d be more than happy to talk about my pitch though!! ^^ All below the cut~
The Inspiration
While fan event has elements of Beauty and the Beast (primarily in my OC’s backstory), it is actually based on an amalgamation of various ballets. The two main ballets would be Swan Lake, Giselle, and Coppélia.
The Background
As I mentioned earlier, this fan event is meant to be a “hometown” style event for my Twst OC, Raven Crowley. It would be helpful to know some lore on her!!
Raven was originally… well, a raven. She was granted a humanoid form by a strange man (the Storyteller) in exchange for agreeing to take on the burden of his curse. The curse prevents her from confessing her love, or else she will vanish as a speck of light. (At the time of this fan event, Raven has broken free from her curse and is now able to fully express herself.)
The Storyteller used to be an unkind nobleman who took life and the relationships he had for granted. When he turned away a decrepit figure at his door, they revealed themselves to be a powerful fae enchantress. Seeing that there was no love in his heart, she cursed him to an eternal life, forcing the nobleman to watch those around him form meaningful relationships while never being able to be a part of them. He would take up documenting his observations as a way to cope and researched ways to break his curse. Fortunately, the answer would come to him in the form of Raven.
The Storyteller would take on Raven as his writing mentee. He would eventually pass due to natural causes, leaving behind only a letter instructing her to go to Night Raven College to build a new nest there. And so, Raven has been at NRC and under the guardianship of the headmaster ever since. Here, she intends to learn more about the human condition and about the experiences and emotions that color it.
The Premise
The anniversary of her writing mentor’s death has rolled around. Feeling a little homesick, Raven requests to take time off of her studies to visit the village where the Storyteller once resided and raised her. She intends to go to the spot where he passed and honor his memory.
… But there’s ooone little problem with that. See, the village she’s hoping to visit isn’t the most welcoming to outsiders. What’s more, the townspeople are highly superstitious and suspicious of mages. Crowley can’t possibly send his dear girl there unsupervised!! Nor can he be bothered to act as a responsible guardian and accompany her—
With some luck, Crowley is able to assemble a group of student volunteers willing to go on an impromptu “field trip” with Raven. They head off to their destination and have some fun getting familiar with the area—until disaster strikes.
A body is found floating in the lake which borders the village, and all fingers are pointed at the latest arrivals. Now trapped in a community where distrust rules and magic is prohibited, the NRC students must prove their innocence and locate the true killer if they wish to be let home. With whispers of a vengeful curse and evil doppelgängers abound, this is sure to be one trip no one forgets.
(“Whoa, Raven Mod!! Isn’t this a little too dark for Twst?!” Yes, but it’s my fan event so I’ll adjust things a bit to my liking :>)
The Setting
The story will primarily take place in Märchaven, a remote village in the Shaftlands that always seems to be covered in fog. The name is derived from märchen (German for “fairy tale”) + haven. I chose the Shaftlands as a location because it spans a huuuge plot of land and has variable temperatures, cultures, etc. Many classic ballets are French or Italian, but Russia is also known for its ballet productions. There is some German inspiration as well, since that ties back to fairy tales. In fact, various ballets borrow German folklore and names for their stories.
Märchaven is bordered by a forest (Raven’s birthplace) on one side and a lake on the other side. The forest is known as Wald ohne Namen (“Nameless Forest”/“Forest without a Name” in German). The lake is Spiegelsee (“mirror-like lake” in German). This forms a very isolated community. I like to imagine that they fenced further fenced themselves in by building tall walls that encircle the village to protect from outsiders. (Think like Gold Crown Town in Princess Tutu.) The Wald ohne Namen is meant to be a reference to Schwarzwald or the Black Forest, which inspired many Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The lake is a reference to Swan Lake. In the ballet, a beautiful girl, Odette, is cursed to become a swan by day. She can only return to her human form at night, by a specific lake—hence the ballet’s name.
In Swan Lake, there is a large focus on duality and doubles. The swan maiden, Odette, is our chaste white swan. She is the ingénue, cursed to a bird form by the evil and wizard Rothbart. Later in the ballet, Odette is faced with Odile, her dark mirror and Rothbart’s daughter. Odile is the black swan, someone who embodies seduction—a femme fatale. She takes on Odette’s form and successfully tricks Prince Siegfried into confessing his love to the wrong woman. Heartbroken, Odette dies and Siegfried, in his guilt, joins her. This informs the history and culture of Märchaven.
The story of the Swan Maiden resonates in every facet of village life. The people are generally paranoid and wary because they fear being deceived like Prince Siegfried was. Because he was beguiled by Odile, the villagers believe magic is a sin that leads people astray and results in ruin (lmao Rollo would love it here). Gazing into a reflective surface at night is thought to summon your doppelgänger from Spiegelsee to spirit you away and replace you in the real world. Owls are seen as bad omens because Rothbart is said to have resembled an owl.
Local cuisine is mainly vegetable based. Leona proceeds to die/j Peas, sweetcorn, lettuce, spinach carrots, potatoes, rolled oats, etc. Occasionally fish and a little fowl hunted from the forest. Very simplistic. Food is also given as an offering to the local birds.
The village is quite conservative. Entering it, it feels like you’ve been transported back in time a few hundred years. They lack modern tech such as computers and phones. Of course, white birds are revered while black birds are loathed and deemed bad luck. White is very much the favored color for clothes, decor, etc. This perceived “purity” wards off evil.
Honestly, this feels like a cult commune
(By the way, I want to let you know that I came up with the lore about doubles and not being deceived in love before Eternity Float came out and dropped similar lore for Ultramarine City in reference to Ursula/Vanessa stealing Eric from Ariel. Maybe there could be a reference to this in the fan event, like one of the characters commenting that it appears superstitions about doppelgängers exist across many cultures.
Anyway, Märchaven is very old-fashioned and does not trust outsiders, whom they refer to as “from Woods Beyond”. They intentionally wall off the village to protect themselves from doppelgängers and shady folk from afar. The general idea is that the village still believes that mages are witches and wizards (derogatory), which creates a hostile environment where the NRC students can’t risk using their magic in public or they’ll be drowned in Spiegelsee by the villagers. “Return the demon to whence he came.”
They love dance and stories in Märchaven. Many local holidays and celebrations have special dances associated with them. Once a year, they have a costumed ball in honor of the Swan Maiden and her Prince. The villagers also believe that stories have predictive power, as there is a history of written stories becoming reality (although it has not happened recently).
The Music
I want the tracks to be very atmospheric, with sprinklings of classic ballet in them. An example would be the Introduction from Princess Tutu, which is inspired by The Nutcracker’s Overture. I also like the energy of songs like Labyrinth City from the Ace Attorney x Professor Layton crossover game.
The Characters
I was careful to pick characters that weren’t extremely smart (like Leona) or extremely strong (like Malleus), otherwise they could brute force the mystery or just punch their way out of the village.
SSR Floyd Leech
Yup, Floyd and not Jade. They’re twins. Doppelgängers, if you will. Even if the villagers wouldn’t be aware that Floyd has a twin, I wanted to include one of the Leech brothers for thematic purposes. Floyd ended up winning out because the usual twin I associate Raven with is Jade so I thought “why not subvert expectations?” It’s almost like Floyd is playing the part of Odile and snatching up what should have been Jade/Odette’s role, lol even though neither Leech brother is trule “innocent” like Odette is.
Floyd being a merman can lead to an exciting climax!! Maybe the villagers suspect him of being the culprit so they go to try and drown him, so he fakes the drowning only to emerge seconds later in his true form. With his erratic personality, I also feel that Floyd could end up making trouble for the NRC group, who try to keep him under control.
Why is Floyd coming along? Because he felt like it when Crowley was asking around.
SR Jack Howl
Jack’s UM allows him to revert to a primal form (atavism). I can see him being extremely useful for sniffing out clues or making transforming into a wolf to distract villagers while the others focus on investigating a previously forbidden area.
Jack is a fellow first year student and is physically strong. Crowley asked him to accompany Raven because he felt she would be more comfortable with a classmate.
SR Cater Diamond
Cater’s got the “two-faced” personality going on, in addition to a UM that allows him to create copies of himself. Like with Jack, this could be utilized to their advantage during the investigation. With his trusty phone in hand, Cater can also be useful for documenting evidence without physically taking the evidence or altering the crime scene(s).
I think Cater would want to tag along for Social Media Purposes. Maybe he has heard a bunch of rumors about this village but no one knows much about it?? And since the opportunity to visit arrives, Cater decides to take it. Imagine the views, likes, and shares he'd get from uncovering the secrets of the mysterious village where people are rumored to vanish into the fog! (... He's a livestreamer visiting haunted buildings...) I picture Cater arriving and then realizing there's no wifi, so he has to just settle for taking pics and videos to upload later.
R Sebek Zigvolt
He’s our history and literature buff. Sebek could exposit about the legends he has heard about the village (and maybe get upset and cause a fuss when he learns the people are anti-magic and view Malleus as some kind of demon).
Sebek is here for a similar reason as Jack, but the difference is that Sebek has a genuine interest in Märchaven. He has heard a variation of the story of the Swan Maiden which indicates that Rothbart was actually a scorned fae seeking revenge (this is meant to be a parallel to the Enchantress from BATB) and he wants to set the record straight with these humans!
SSR Raven Crowley
This is her hometown event, so she deserves her own SSR!! I know I already assigned the SSR to Floyd, but I’d argue this is appropriate for Raven since she sees herself as an “intruder” or “extra character” in the stories of the NRC boys. To go along with this idea, I'd like her event outfit to stick out compared to the boys, similar to how Vil's outfit looks very different from the others in the Tapis Rouge event.
I think it would be clever if she uses her talent as a storyteller to make use of the villagers' superstitions. Maybe she rewrites the local paper (which hosts stories they believe predict the future) to manipulate the villagers' actions, and that inevitably leads to proving to them all who the true culprit is.
Yuu and Grim (no card)
Obligatory to go along to the events www
I guess Grim can complain again about how he wants to go because he hears about food or a fancy party he's interested in?? Or perhaps Crowley baits Yuu to go along to potentially learn more about a way home, since the village is very old and therefore may have ancient/rare knowledge.
??? (NPC; no card)
... You didn’t think I forgot, did you? Every hometown event introduces one new character that’s related in some way to the character whose hometown it is. Well, there will be one for Raven too! Unfortunately, I won't be sharing more about them here since I don't feel ready to. All you need to know is that it's not the Storyteller; that guy's dead frfr.
The Outfits
This is an event heavily inspired by ballet, so obviously we need ballet-inspired outfits!!
Maybe a Prince Siegfried look for the boys?? A embellished tunic with puffy shoulders, plus slim and elegant legs. With Floyd in the fanciest one because he's the SSR. Or maybe just Floyd in the Siegfried fit and the others as ensemble dancers?
I want Raven to stand out like how Vil did among the Tapis Rouge cards... I'm thinking she should be wearing a black gothic funeral dress in her initial card art (since she has come to mourn someone). There can be feathers and wings incorporated into her design so she arrives as the "black swan".
Then in the groovy, the funeral dress can peel away to reveal a "white swan" form, which is more of a prima ballerina look with shimmery bits to give the illusion of moving water or a "transformation". I'm thinking a blue-ish color scheme with lots of flowy bits. It would be fun if her groovy also showed the other NRC characters that came along for the trip, maybe in a group dance or something.
The Themes
I want to explore the concepts of duality and deception. Good and evil, black and white, truth and lies, and how these concepts can coexist in a person but also manifest differently than what one's appearance may suggest. Raven is a black feathered bird with a pure heart, and she would learn of someone who appears good but has darker intentions. The whole mystery surrounding look-alikes and who is lying vs who is telling the truth also plays well into those themes.
A big flaw of Raven's is fixating on the past. By forcing her to be trapped in a location that literally is stuck in the past, she realizes she would rather lay her past to rest and move forward. She can't be passive anymore, she has to take charge and lead the investigation--and lead her own life, one free of the storybook confines and rules she has set for herself.
The End?
awqredbiyoaoyvifadi SORRY IF THAT WAS A LOT, I feel like I taped you to a chair and traumadumped 🤡
I hope you can tell I've been thinking about this a lot... but I don't know if I'll ever actually do anything with these ideas, they just exist in my brain and run around www
