Hey everyone, long time no see! Apologies for the months of silence - but I’m back now! I needed to take a much needed step back from HOCO and focus on some other projects of mine (as well as play a ungodly amount of BG3 hehe).
On my break, I also decided to kinda tear down HOCO and rebuild it from the ground up. I wasn’t really pleased with how the story was going and I think that really contributed to the burnout I felt with the project. I still would like to include the premise of the various life stages, but may go about it in a different way than I had initially planned - things to think about more I suppose!
Anyways here’s some behind the scenes of what I’ve been up to - starting with revisiting the cast’s (+ Nico’s) main outfits and updating them :3
traumatized versions of sandy and elijah math aps🤯🤯 ??
eeeee ( 'yan versions' of them here mostly)
Only child for sure in this au - thus, you're the sole person that all of his attention + dedication goes to! ^^
Moreso of the stalker variety rather than hackin' + slashin' (unlike some notable...others'). If push came to shove he could be moved to more violent measures, but for the time being, Eli views himself as a 'silent protector' of sorts rather than a killer.
oh...boy. where to begin with Sandy here - for starters, she's a Jack of all trades when it comes to her love for you. Killing, kidnapping, stalking; you name it, she's probably done it.
A big ol' identity crisis when it comes to Sandy in this au - rather than being her authentic self (much like she is in 'normal' hoco), Sandy picks and chooses aspects from those close to you to incorporate into herself - that way, there's no chance of you turning her down!
Sort of! A lot of Sandy's feelings towards you very much toe the line on being really friendly or just on the cusp of being romantic. In Sandy's case, she sometimes struggles with compartmentalizing feelings and often gets romantic / platonic ones confused (much like Henry, but just not as intense ^^;).
A majority of her route is her realizing that her feelings towards you have always been there <3
Any ideas for what a modern au would look like? Would the characters be any different do you think? If yes, how so?
I love modern au stuff, I definitely need to post some of the art I made for it at sum point :3c On to your question tho -
HENRY: Fairly similar for the most part, biggest change I can see is him being obsessed with modern technology, especially social media and the like. Big fan of tik tok for sure! For sure cried when One Direction broke up.
LYRA: I see Lyra staying the same personality wise, but instead of her trad goth look I can see her having a more mall goth look (definitely a prospect I wanna draw soon hehe). On that note, would absolutely adore Hot Topic and would probably work there!
ELIJAH: Barely any change at all if I'm being honest - still very down to earth, so much so that he'd still have a flip phone while all of his friends have smart phones. A hint of weeb - big fan of Dragon Ball Z.
SANDY: BIG GAMER - has a massive pc set up that she put together herself! Still runs DnD sessions but moreso over discord! Has a whole server for it and everything, one you definitely have a invitation too.
BONUS - NICO: Definitely a reddit lurker - always lurking in replies of anything and everything. Has sent you at least a few dozen 'kys' on twitter LOL. Would still work at a record store or something along those lines. If not that, I also see him being a bit of neet :3c
If the characters lived in modern times what would their search histories look like? (Henry, Lyra, Nico, esc…)
Actually obsessed with this ask
HENRY: 'how to make chainsaw quieter' 'cute date ideas' 'how to hide a body' 'FNAF Lore Explained' 'how to get blood out of whites'
LYRA: 'guitar riffs easy' 'disturbing movie iceberg explained' 'how to tell someone you like them without them knowing' 'who would win: Jason Voorhees vs. Michael Myers' 'mask ideas'
ELIJAH: 'nursery rhymes for kids' 'smore's brownies recipe' 'how did people date in the Victorian Era' 'picnic date ideas'
SANDY: 'dnd character sheets' 'heroforge' 'safe foods to give to dogs and cats' 'top ten submechanophobia animatronics' 'funny promposal ideas'
BONUS - NICO: 'soap2day' (rip) 'flower bouquet meanings' 'disturbing serial killer icerberg explained' 'vcr players for sale cheap'
Alright so Nico likes Sandy but he hasn't really talked to her much does he really even know Sandy or is he judging people again like he did with mc
It's moreso that Sandy's just really sweet and nice! While not entirely set in stone / canon, I can see Sandy being the first person outside of Nico's family to gender him correctly (following his ‘official’ transition), something as small and (typically) insignificant as a "What would you like to order, sir?" being world changing for Nico.
Not to mention, Sandy would probably start to recognize him after sometime and would ask him about his day, and other things along those lines. She makes him feel all giddy inside :)
You've mentioned Nico might have a crush on someone.. does he??? 👀👀 who is it 👀👀👀 im gonna guess Sandy because in his character bio one of the things he likes is grace's diner. ofc i could be completely wrong lmao
Ding ding! You got it!
Nico does have a little bit of crush on Sandy, yes! He thinks she's cute and very much admires her from afar. ^^ He's yet worked up the nerve to actually talk to her outside of a customer / employee interaction so let's hope he hasn't come off as creepy!
If only he was on good terms with you; perhaps you could have put in a good word for him ;)
How would the hoco cast confession to the mc? Also I absolutely adore your art style
hehe thank you :3c
HENRY: Surprisingly, not too over the top! If we're being honest, they'd probably accidentally let it slip!
LYRA: you'd have to confess first Lyra's feelings would eventually enter a boiling point + she'd act on impulse, not really thinking in the moment + would just spit it out.
ELIJAH: While Eli would rather cope + avoid any confrontation, he'd eventually work up the nerve to just tell you how he feels - if anything, to get it over with faster so he can move on (he goes into it fully expecting rejection </3).
SANDY: Would very much frame it as a 'haha, unless....?' joke but would lead into confessing her feelings for you.