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cannibalthoughts · 1 year

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⭐️ please talk to me about either your Augistin or your Luisa and their relationship with Bruno 🐀💚

Hello, Anon :D I’m going with Luisa & Bruno, who I am. Extremely Normal About. This... got a bit long XD

Okay technically I don't think Bruno and Luisa actually interact in canon BUT they're super close trust me trust me

Starting with how I characterize Luisa, because there’s some extrapolation going on here:

I think the big conflict of Luisa's character (in tandem with straight up overwork) is that she wants to be tender and vulnerable, but feels that being so would make her a burden. Other people have problems? That's part of life. They can ask for help, she'll fix it. But if she asks for help herself, it means she's a failure. It’s right there in the opening lines of Surface Pressure: she has no room for fear, vulnerability, or weakness/inability to do everything.

Also in Surface Pressure, between the Titanic and the line of doors, Luisa fixes Mirabel's glasses. It's a small gesture, but I think it says a lot about who she is. This isn't something that is any easier for her to do than it is for Mirabel. Mirabel’s perfectly capable. Luisa doesn't need to do anything. And in the action of the song, there is a lot going on that only Luisa can handle, but she still pauses for a moment for this.

In part, it could read that she fixes every problem she encounters, no matter how small, but that doesn't really cover the nuances going on. It's a very gentle gesture, even parental, and coming from a person who doesn't wear glasses herself. I think this is habit from when Mirabel was very young—young enough that she was too uncoordinated to fix her glasses without smudging them—which Luisa has kept up all these years later. Which also means that Luisa started doing this when she was young herself. That's not something she was likely ever asked or expected to do, she just did/does it because she loves her sister, who will never fully outgrow Luisa's memory of her. That's the way she loves.

(Keep that last bit in mind, I swear this post is about Bruno & Luisa)

Between this and she tells Mirabel that she (over)heard the adults talking about Bruno having a vision about the magic before he left, Luisa seems to pay attention to the people around her. In that conversation, she also doesn't speak badly of Bruno. The vision was terrible, his room is dangerous, but nothing about Bruno himself. And she knows nothing about his vision, so if she thinks it's terrible, that's a value judgment she heard from one of the adults. Considering what Alma says right before the collapse, I suspect Luisa heard someone (probably Alma) telling the other adults that, whatever Bruno saw, he abandoned them and left them to deal with it, without so much as a warning. “Bruno doesn’t care about this family.”

But she doesn't say any of that to Mirabel. And it would be relevant to whatever’s wrong with the magic. Given that Luisa is telling Mirabel to investigate Bruno’s tower, it’s not a matter of protecting Mirabel from dangerous information. I think Luisa just doesn’t believe it. Which, if my inferences about what she overheard are correct, that means Luisa believes in Bruno’s love for the family more than she believes Abuela, even after Bruno’s been gone for ten years. That trust doesn’t come from nothing.

(I don't necessarily keep that detail true in my fics, e.g. in Atlts Alma didn't tell anybody that she asked Bruno for a vision, so no one else knew. Unless Luisa actually overheard Alma talking to Pedro, but was avoiding sharing that bit of gossip, which is in line with her character. Fic-canon or not, it is always part of how I characterize Luisa, though.)

So, what we have (by my consideration, at least) a solid canon basis for:

Luisa puts on a tough facade, but wants to be vulnerable

Luisa shows her love through gentle gestures

Luisa doesn’t completely stop thinking of her loved ones as the way they used to be

Luisa is observant

Luisa believes that Bruno loves/loved the family

Enter Bruno.

Pre-walls, I like the idea that he was close with all the kids. (Nothing Jared Bush says on Twitter can stop me.) The Madrigals are a busy family, and Bruno wasn’t. I imagine that he wasn’t fielding a lot of vision requests those last few years, or going out for... anything else, if he could help it, given the combination of his poor reputation and his anxiety. And the more he withdrew socially, I think, the more the other adults would encourage him spending time with the kids. He was essentially a stay at home parent.

After the walls? Bruno’s a gentle, goofy guy. And my Bruno, at least, doesn’t stand in the present so much as straddle the past and the future. I think in the movie, when he looks at Mirabel, he sees both who she is now and remembers the little kid she once was. (Pretending to be Hernando and Jorge did work to distract her from the reality of his situation, but also made it worse. I think it would have worked better on Antonio, but Bruno wasn’t quite calibrated to interacting with a teen.) We don’t see him really interact with the other kids he knew before, but I imagine it would be the same for them.

So, the specific Luisa & Bruno dynamic that I write:

Luisa is tender but feels like she can’t let herself be because she needs to be strong and invulnerable for the family. But the facade doesn’t work on Bruno, because he looks at her and thinks “that’s my sweet Luisita” and is just as goofy and sweet to her as he’s always been. Even six foot something and jacked, she will never fully outgrow Bruno’s memory of her.

(Remember I said to keep that bit in mind? It’s one aspect in which Bruno and Luisa love in the same way.)

They also both absolutely won’t stand up for themselves, but I think they’ll throw down for their loved ones, hence my Luisa throwing Ricardo Espitia in the river that one time. They’re good for each other.

#ask game #over 1k of being feral over subtext #which I'm pretty sure the creators didn't intend a good chunk of #Too bad though! It's there! Nothing will stop me from reading into it! Bruno is Luisa's favorite tio!#encanto meta #Lusia Madrigal

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s10127470 · 1 month

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The Evolution of the Ninja Turtles' Designs

As I'm sure many of you know by now, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

What initially started off as an intended one-off parody of the dark and gritty comics of the early to the mid 1980s (particularly the works of Frank Miller like Ronin and especially Daredevil) would grow to become one of the most successful media franchises in history.

The one-off quickly became a full-on series, running for a total of 30 years from 1984 to 2014.

It also led to the creators of the Turtles, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, to start their own comic publishing company, Mirage.

And apart from that, this franchise has seen multiple of other comic runs from the likes of Image, Archie and IDW.

Four animated series (with a fifth one coming out this summer).

Ten feature-length films (7 being released in theaters, while 3 were released direct-to-DVD).

A live-action TV show that nobody likes to talk about....

And a boatload of video games, toys, food products, and just about any other kind of merchandising you can think of!

And it's honestly impressive just how consistently popular the TMNT brand has reminded over the four decades they've existed in pop culture.

Even more so is how much of a spotless track record they've had when it comes to the quality of their products.

Okay a mostly spotless track record....

But today I'm here to talk about one of the coolest things to notice when looking at this franchise. And that's the visual evolution of the Turtles.

I'm gonna be looking at the designs of the Turtles from the original Mirage comics and the animated outputs of the franchise to see just how much the Turtles have visually changed.

Starting this off we have the Turtles from the Mirage comics, the 1987 cartoon, the 2003 cartoon and the 2007 film.

The reason I decided to lump these four iterations together is because they all share something in common....

What that's you may ask?

Well, a while back, I watched a video by YouTuber Just Stop called "Death by Nicktoon", where he looked at the many Nicktoons that were unfairly snubbed and sent to the Nicktoons channel to die a slow and painful death.

And one of those Nicktoons was one of the next TMNT series I'll be talking about pretty shortly.

When talking about that series, Just Stop mentioned the Silhouette Test.

As I'm sure many of know by now, the Silhouette Test is major component when it comes to character designing.

Essentially the saying goes that you know a character has a good design if their silhouette is easily recognizable.

And Turtles do pass this test.....but only as a group.

Because individually, these versions would all fail that in an instant.

And that's the thing they all have in common.

Within the pieces of media each of these groups come from, all they look exactly the same.

Out of all of them, the Mirage Turtles have this issue the worst.

During the early years of the comics, the Turtles basically acted damn-near identical to each other.

And if you were trying to find another way to differentiate them from each other, I don't know what to tell you.

As I mentioned earlier, these Turtles look exactly the same and the fact that they were in black and white for a good chunk of the comics didn't help matters either.

But when they were in color, the Turtles were all depicted wearing red masks.

Really, the only way you could actually tell which Turtles is which is by their respective weapons.

Leonardo wields the dual katanas.

Raphael wields the twin sais.

Donatello wields the bō staff.

And Michelangelo wields the dual nunchucks.

But when the 87 cartoon rolled around, the crew behind that show knew the Turtles needed some retooling in order for a wider audiences to get into the brand.

Thus, they did two things that have become staples in the Turtles franchise since then.

They gave each of the Turtles their own distant personalities. Leonardo was the calm, brave and strategic leader, Donatello was the tinkering, inventing genius, Raphael was the cynical and wisecracking smartass with a slightly bad attitude, and Michelangelo was the fun-loving, Cowbunga-shouting goofball.

They gave each of the Turtles different colored masks. With the expect of Raphael (who was still rocking the red look), Leonardo got a blue mask, Donatello got a purple mask, and Michelangelo got a orange mask.

And although their visually more distinct when compared to the Mirage Turtles, they still suffer from the same problem where physically, they look exactly the same.

Plus the fact that a lot of promotion and merchandising for this show often depict the Turtles as having the same expressions didn’t help either.

However, there was another visual element added to the Turtles' designs.

They gave each of the turtles belts with buckles that had the initials of their respective names.

But if you had put these Turtles in black and white and took away their weapons and belts, you most likely wouldn't be able to tell who was who.

The same can be applied to the 2007 Turtles as well....minus the belts since they don't have those.

But in the case of the 2003 Turtles, this is where things get interesting....

These Turtles do share the same issues as the three other iterations listed above, being that they look exactly the same to each other, minus the colored bandanas and trademark weapons (which I'm still surprised they carried over from the 1987 cartoon given that Turtles co-creator Peter Laird, who was heavily involved in the 2003 cartoon, is kind of infamous for having a bit of a hate-boner towards that series).

However, there is another visual element to these Turtles that would help differentiate them from each other.

This would mark the very first time in the franchise's history where the Turtles were given different skin colors....or more appropriately, shades, as each of Turtles' skins were a different shade of green.

Leonardo was forest green.

Michelangelo was blue green.

Donatello was olive green.

And Raphael was emerald green.

But with that being said, if you put these Turtles in black and white just like the others iterations above and took away their respective weapons, it would be the same output as before.....

Or maybe not....

You see, for the last two seasons of the show: Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers, the entire cast received major redesigns, and this led to two notable changes with the Turtles.

Their eyes. In the first five seasons, the Turtles' eyes were depicted as being fully white when they had their masks on. And when they were off, their eyes were just simple black. But in these last two seasons, the Turtles' eyes were now colored and were made visible through the masks. The Turtles all had green eyes....except for Donatello, whose eyes were brown for some reason.

Their heights. In the first five seasons, the Turtles all stood at about the same height, that being 5'2. But in the last two seasons, they were each given different heights. Michelangelo was the shortest at 5'4, Leonardo was the second shortest at 5'5, Donatello was the second tallest at 5'6, and Raphael was the tallest at 5'7.

Next we come to the Turtles from the 2012 series, and this is where everything changed....

For the very first time in the franchise's history, the Turtles were each given unique and distinct looks from each other.

No longer did they look like the same character copy-pasted three times, each of Turtles actually looked different!

If you saw these guys in black and white and took away their weapons, you could definitely tell who was who!

Some of the visual elements of the previous cartoons were carried over such as the colored masks (which have becomes staples of the franchise since the 1987 cartoon), having their skin colors being a different shade of green, having colored eyes and standing at different heights.

But what really sets these versions apart from the others is the fact that each Turtle has a different physical build!

Leonardo is the most well-rounded when it comes to physical builds, he has fern green skin, cobalt blue eyes, and is the second tallest of the Turtles at 5'1.

Raphael is slightly more bulkier and has more defined muscles than the rest of his brothers, has dark green skin, emerald green eyes, a crack on the right side of his shell, and is the second shortest of the Turtles at 5'0.

Donatello has a lean and gangly-like build, brownish green skin, reddish brown eyes, has a gap in the middle of his teeth, and is the tallest of the Turtles at 5'6.

And Michaelangelo has a more stout and pudgy build, light green skin, baby blue eyes, freckles on his face, and is the shortest of the Turtles at 4'10.

Now come to the Turtles from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....

Out of all the iterations of the Turtles before and since, these guys are by far the most visually distinct of them all!

It honestly feels like the crew looked at the designs of the 2012 Turtles and said, "Hey! Let's do what they did.....but even better!"

Marking yet another first for this franchise, this would mark the first time the Turtles were all different specific species of Turtles rather than being the same unspecified species for the umpteenth time.

And them being different species are greatly reflected in their designs.

Also, according to several artists on the show, each of the Turtles were designed around a shape, and the use of the shapes also reflected their respective personalities.

Raphael is an alligator snapping turtle, which is why is he's an absolute unit in this series, with a hulking and muscular build to match! This Raphael is the second biggest and tallest he's been in this franchise, standing at a whooping 6'0! And since he's an alligator snapping turtle, Raphael also has jagged and fractured points on his elbow, knees and shell. His choice of species reflect three major aspects of his character.....

His status as the brawler/muscle of the team.

In this iteration, HE'S the leader of the team.

He's the oldest of the Turtles. Oh yeah, marking yet another first for this franchise, this would mark the first time that the Turtles were all made different ages rather than being quadruplets like every other iteration. As previously mentioned, Raphael is eldest of his brothers at 15.

Raphael was designed around squares, to reflect his offensive and defensive fighting style.

His mask, in contrast to half of his brothers, is depicted as more of a bandana (or a possibly a durag). Plus it has the longest tails out of the group, reflecting his status as the oldest brother.

He also wears red bands on his elbows and his thighs, a red belt with his Turtle Emblem off to the right side, and his bandages on a few parts of his body and specifically around his ankles and hands, reflecting his prowess as a fighter and that he's the Turtle most dedicated to training.

Raphael also has bright green skin and a sharp tooth sticking out of the right side of his mouth.

Leonardo is a red-eared slider, which is why he has those markings all over his body and shell and the red markings over his eyes. His choice of species would also reflect his future status as the leader of the Turtles, since red-eared sliders are the most well-known species of turtles. He also has a lean and athletic build, reflecting his status as the team's resident speed fighter.

Leonardo was designed around triangles, to reflect his witty and sharp nature.

The marks on his body are also triangular as well.

Leonardo also has lime green skin and wears blueish grey fingerless gloves and toeless footwear, a blue belt with a strap that overs his right shoulder, a set of pouches, and he has his Turtle Emblem on the left, and is the second tallest turtle at 5'5 (the same height as his 2003 iteration).

Donatello is a Asian softshell, which plays a big part in his personality. Out of all the iterations of Donatello, this one is far more aggressive than most of his prior iterations, even the Mirage version! I mean bro, this Donatello is practically a psychopathic scientist. This is because Asian softshells are known for being incredibly aggressive and one of the few species of turtles that are carnivorous.

As for his physical build, it's quite similar to Leonardo, which is possibly because of the fact they're twins, both being 14 years old.

Though Donatello's is even more leaner and thinner than Leonardo's, giving him a build akin to a swimmer. That's because Asian softshells are known for being some of the couple of turtles that live on land that are semi-aquatic.

Another similarity Leonardo and Donatello share are their mask tail lengths.....well, sort of....

The length of Leonardo's mask tails is squarely in the middle, reflecting his status as the middle child.

Donatello's however are little harder to tell.....

At first glance they appear to be quite short. However, when looking closely, you can see that the tails look folded. So there's a strong chance that his mask tails are both as long as Leonardo's, since they're twins.

(Also, it's fashioned in a similar way to Raphael.)

Donatello was designed around rectangles, to reflect his more practical and blunt nature and his technological prowess.

He also has purple, rectangular markings on his body as well.

Donatello wears purple fingerless gloves and toeless footwear, a silver tech-gauntlet on his left wrist with a blue touchscreen, purple knee and elbow pads, a purple belt with matching pouches, and the Turtle emblem placed on the center. He also has jade green skin and stands at 5'3.

But the most notable aspect of Donatello's design is his mechanical shell.

This not only reflects his technological prowess, but also reflects an aspect of his species and his character.

Asian softshells are known for their shells being on the weaker side when compared to other turtles species. It's in the name. So Donatello wears one for obvious reasons.

It reflects his inferiority complex. Throughout this series, it's shown that he heavily relies on technology due to him feeling inferior to his brothers. That was sort of already from the beginning given that he majorly lacks the same natural protection they do, but thanks to them getting mystical powers, that was made even worse.

Michelangelo is a ornate box turtle, which is why he's the smallest and shortest of the Turtles, standing at 4'7 (being the shortest any of the Turtle iterations have ever been). Him being a box turtle also reflects a major part of his personality, that being his friendly and kind personality, as box turtles are known for being one of the friendliest and gentle species of turtles.

Michelangelo was designed around circles, to reflect his bouncy and kinetic nature.

He also has orange spots on his body and orange markings on his shell, which also serve as an another nod to his species.

Michelangelo also has blue green skin and wears orange wristbands and toeless footwear, and orange knee pads with red faces on them (a dead face on the right and a smiley face on the left), and a dark orange chest harness over his left shoulder with the Turtle emblem placed over his heart.

He also wears a pair of magenta and cyan stickers on his plastron (a triangle and a lightning bolt), to reflect his artistic nature.

Michelangelo also has the shortest mask tails of his brothers, to reflect his status as the youngest.

Finally we come to latest incarnation of the Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem....

Although they're not nearly as visually unique as their previous iteration, they still do a good job at making each of the other visual distinct from each other.

One thing to note is that the just like the 1987 Turtles, they all have initialed buckles again.

Leonardo has a well-rounded build like his 2012 iteration with French lime green skin, has shurikens on his belt, and is the second tallest of his brothers at 5'5

Donatello has a leaner build similar to his 2012 iteration with bitter lime green skin, wears glasses, headphones, and a fanny pack, carries a phone on his belt, and is the second shortest at 5'4.

Raphael is the biggest and bulkiest of his brothers with bright green skin, has his mask fashioned in a bandana-like style akin to Rise Raphael, has a pouch on his belt, and is the tallest at 5'7.

Michelangelo is the skinniest with sea green skin, wears braces and is the shortest at 5'1.

Well that's all for now folks!

The reason I wanted to do this (apart from wanting to do something for the Heroes in a Half-Shell's Big 40), was because although I've seen people talk about the looks of the various iterations of the Turtles before, but only in the sense of that specific iteration.

So I thought I would be interesting to instead do a timeline of their visual appearances to show just how much they've changed over the decades.

Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed.....

Peace.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mirage #tmnt 1987 #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2007 #tmnt 2012 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mutant mayhem #character design #design evolution #though in all honesty rise is peak character design for this franchise

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void-botanist · 3 months

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Marcus's spouses

I'm still working out a lot of worldbuilding here but I have enough to share @kk7-rbs and also @vacantgodling since you've been talking about Celestial Weddings harems lol

A little background

Historically, tensions in Iecunem (not the whole planet probably but I don't have a name for the kingdom) have most often risen along species lines. Putting a larger variety of species in the monarch's cabinet didn't have as much of an effect as people had hoped, so a new plan was hatched: require the monarch to marry at least one member of each species. This actually begins with the heir, who generally marries long before they ever ascend the throne. By the time Marcus begins marrying, this has been the status quo for hundreds of years, and the system is fairly refined: the species coalitions nominate potential matches who can both advocate for species interests and will at least be good friends with the heir. The heir can reject them, because having a marriage among despiseds kind of defeats the point, but the heir can only get away with that so many times.

Marcus is required by law to have four spouses. He has five, currently. In order of marriage:

Yera

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1706331

Yera was an easy first choice. She was already a friend of his through being a noblewoman, and she was easy to put on a courtship with. She was supposed to be his paired mate - the one who would produce a bovan heir for the throne - but they had an alternate plan behind the scenes. Yera already had a thing going with her courier, so Marcus would just marry him too and they could have kids if they wanted, because Marcus never wanted to carry on his mother's bloodline, and he and Yera had never been into each other.

Yera's life philosophy is to enjoy the hell out of it, as long as she's not preventing anyone else from doing so. In public she's known for her sparkling wit and constantly changing hairstyle. In private she's known for making sure everyone can be included in the good shit (watching sunsets, drinking hot chocolate, lounging in the pool, &c.) if they want to (if not, their loss) and also being draped over Hossan or her buddy Gren. She's not as close with Pali or Umedes, but she still very much considers them family. Lately a good chunk of her time has been spent with her and Hossan's baby.

Umedes

Picrew: uh the BG3 character creator lol

It's bad form to marry two people of your same species back to back, so after marrying Yera Marcus followed up on the request from the ferasca coalition, who had unanimously decided to present him with a single candidate: a silver ferasca named Umedes. He went into their courtship period with an open mind, but neither he nor Yera was sure about having such a grave spouse. Yera decided pretty quickly that they were fine and she didn't really care. As Marcus got past their mutual nerves, he uncovered Umedes' soft side and sense of humor, which, uh, did things to him and they spent the latter half of their courtship banging it out.

Umedes seems like a downer on the outside, and that's how they tend to be perceived by the public. They're fine with that - no one wants to bother the serious, boring spouse. While they're still quiet in private, they're much warmer, and Gren also says they're very warm to cuddle with. Especially since Marcus left, they're closest to Pali, and are rarely seen without her in matters of official business - or, for that matter, of unofficial pleasure. The two of them and Marcus's sister Minaya, who he intends to abdicate to, have been talking about getting Marcus to marry another ferasca to get Umedes pregnant and provide another potential heir.

Hossan

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1706331

Despite the fact that everyone knew Marcus was marrying Hossan for Yera's benefit, tradition dictated that their wedding was centered around the two of them. They'd gotten to know each other decently well over their courtship, and while Hossan was much more interesting than his quiet "just some guy" demeanor would suggest, Marcus also couldn't help being distracted by just how handsome he is. Yera of course already adored him, and Umedes was just hoping to find him a pleasant acquaintance but got very wrapped up in hearing his daring stories of couriership, none of which were made up, but some of which sounded extremely fantastical.

Hossan was surprised when Yera first pitched her and Marcus's plan to him, before Marcus and Yera had even started their courtship. He thought that he and Yera were just having a fling - he would certainly be interested in a longer-term arrangement, but he didn't think she was. It took him a while to summon the courage to say yes, because he wasn't sure he'd be cut out for palace life, or for being part of a mild plot. The slowly deepening twists of the plot still make him nervous, but he's settled in as the "just some guy" of the spouses. His time ends up divided relatively evenly between them, and he knows them all more deeply than any one of the others, save Marcus, who never truly opened up to him. He doesn't suspect that Pali has any more than a little crush on him, though, and that in itself is pretty flattering. He's almost as obsessed with Yera as she is with him, but he's absolutely over the moon about being a dad.

Pali

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1342558 (she should have darker skin but I couldn't say no to that perfect hair and expression)

The shifter coalition presented Marcus with four potential matches, and as he essentially speed-dated them on the first day, Pali was one of two that he felt comfortable with. The thing that ultimately set her the most apart was that when he warned her about the constantly worsening situation with his mother, she metaphorically cracked her knuckles and said, "I've managed worse," and he believed her. His crush on her has always been a little bit informed by how she's the only person he's ever met who genuinely doesn't seem to give a shit about his mom's whole deal. Yera extra liked her upon realizing that she would be a willing shield against the queen, Hossan liked her easy laugh, and Umedes was concerned that she'd drag them into conflicts with the queen until she actually laid out her thinking.

Pali is serious and straightforward like Umedes and is always thinking two steps ahead, but is also lighthearted and mostly unguarded around the spouses. She is their de-facto leader and typically the one making announcements about them in Marcus's absence. She trusts Umedes and Marcus most closely, but she is also hopelessly in love with Hossan, something she never intends to tell him (while Yera is not actively jealous of him, Pali can't imagine her ever accepting someone else having an ongoing romantic interest in him, even if Hossan himself did). As for Gren, she loves him as a friend, but has the least patience for him out of any of them.

Gren

Picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1473879 (edited a bit to make his shoulders wider)

Of the human coalition's three suitors, one was excruciatingly stiff, one seemed to only care about their own agenda, and one was Grenadine "please, call me Gren", the definition of himbo. The political play was that no reasonable person would refuse anything to such a kind, hardworking man, whether that be royal luxury or aid for human-specific issues. And that play was spot on, because nothing about Gren is anything but genuine sweetness. Marcus mostly noted that he was nice to be around and a good listener, Pali liked him well enough, and Umedes and Hossan thought he was cute and fun to play games with, but Yera wanted to reject him on the basis that he would usurp her position as the generous, fun-loving spouse. She locked herself in a room with him for five hours and when she emerged, she approved of him. To this day no one else knows what happened in that room, and they've stopped asking.

Gren is the muscle and the support of the spouses. He's thick as thieves with Yera, but also spends plenty of time with Hossan and Umedes, and is usually found cuddled up with someone while they talk to him. Pali scares him a little, and he tries very hard to know when to stay out of her way. When Marcus was still around Gren eventually took too much advantage of Marcus's soft spot for him and had to be gently asked to "please stop following me around like a puppy". He decided unilaterally after he arrived at the palace that he would be the slut spouse. He's not seductive or provocative normally, but if one of the spouses says "jump", he says "like, here? or in my dungeon?". He remains the only spouse who has had sex with all the others.

#me: you can do this as a reward when you're done with your essay #me: but I wrote it...it has words...it's just not. you know. coherent #me: fuck it I already basically wrote this whole dang post so. let's go #idk if these picrews truly capture them but they're close enough #something is still bugging me about Hossan but I haven't totally figured out his deal in general so I think it will come later #I think if Marcus had met all of them as like a regular guy he would have ended up in a polycule with Umedes and Pali #and been friends with Hossan Yera and Gren and honorary uncle to the baby #I've only scratched the surface of the Plots here. and the queen. she sucks but she's good at running the kingdom lol #c: Marcus #c: Pali #c: Umedes #c: Hossan #c: Yera #c: Gren #wip: iecunem #id in alt

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