After the square practice of my old club, I went to a badge dance for my CURRENT club. Got 7/10 badges. One badge, dancing in the bathroom, could only be done by one square, and the speakers were oriented such that this would only happen for one tip--I wasn't in that square, so I couldn't get it.
The other two were similar, dealing with brooms. At least as far as I know, brooms were only handed out once during the night. However, I did the others rather well. Danced multiple tips as a girl because there was a shortage of them (oh, well, there was a badge for that anyway), plus I was the first to get the badge for dancing inside the bells.
Had it not been for caller sabotage (as in, deliberately extending the tip when they learned it hadn't happened yet and calling moves that encouraged it), we woulda gone that entire tip without ringing the bells once, even. There was a fair amount of fun to be had, and the end featured an all-girls and all-guys square with a third in the kitchen (another badge, by the way, for dancing there).
Fun, plus the food was nice at the end given that I had eaten nothing since breakfast (aside from a snack of cake) the entire day.
Now with that out of the way, time to talk about what I was coming here to blog about: the magical girl story.
I had a fair amount of thinking time today, which translated directly into a lot of storywork. (Including me working out how I'd write the prologue.)
For starters, I decided on the name behind the character: Red Hood Rider, AKA Ruby's, birth name is Ryan Ventrella. Her(/his) blood brother is Dion Falco. (Last names subject to change.) Her friend, the one I mention, is going to be named Gary. (No last name decided yet.)
I also thought up her rival's name, birth name being Samantha (and she does go by Samantha unlike Ruby who prefers just her superhero name for obvious reasons), but it has to be that or her superhero name (White Sailor, AKA Sally), because she hates Sam or even worse Sammy as nicknames.
Some of the details I thought up mainly had to do with aspects of the characters. For instance, Samantha is Sally basically full-time, but for different reasons than Ruby is Ruby almost always, in this case being that Sally has lost everything and has nothing in her life except being a superhero. She is, quite literally, a professional superhero. She survives off the generosity of people she's helped protect, basically a freeloader who eats, sleeps, and then goes off to train if there's no work (that is, evil) to do.
In short, the closest thing she has to a family are her fellow residents at the homeless shelter. The only reason she bothers with a civilian identity at all is to help keep them save and offer her some level of protection in case she were to need it, but otherwise she's always out there, always fighting, and not ashamed of it. I also put thought into other aspects of her. The token she has is called the Tree of Life, a whistle she wears around her neck that transforms into a bazooka that has threads attached to it (the threads coming from the necklace, since she wears the whistle around her neck as a necklace).
In spite of having a freakin' bazooka for a weapon, she's faster and stronger than Ruby by default, in fact best known for her speed and is comparable even in magic. (There's a reason they're considered rivals!) I also thought up a few other details. Her costume would be white with green accents, and be straight-up standard sailor getup, except her forearms and below which have the threads from the bazooka. (Think like Ichigo's shikai: the threads are malleable to her will.) Her hair goes from black to a very dark green, and her eyes from a dark brown to a vibrant brown.
Another thing I thought up was her lineage; I decided that she was half-Caucasian (her mother), 1/4th Hispanic (paternal grandmother), 1/8th American Indian (paternal great grandfather), and 1/8th Indian (paternal great grandmother). (In other words, an Indian and an American Indian had a son, who married a Hispanic, and they had a son, her father, who married her mother.) Basically, she looks mostly-Caucasian, but her skin's slightly darker than normal, and her genetics mean her features (in particular, facial features) show the other half of her ancestry too.
I'm not sure why I was particularly inspired to have her like that, but it's the image that came to mind when I thought of the rival.
Now onto some more technical stuff. The transformation trinket of Riders (the formal term for magical girls powered this way) is called a spirit totem, though when calling the name of the spirit totem (e.g. Tree of Life) they may also refer to it as a token. ('Transformation trinket' in this case just being Ruby speaking in TVTropes terms to Gary, who also knows them, Spirit Totem being the official name, and token being the name used casually especially after calling out the name of one.) Ruby's spirit totem is called 'Angel Wings', and the Angel Wings totem (like that, that's how) is the glow-wristband/bow she uses.
Riders are superheroes more than anything else because they can work independently, their powers all manifest differently, and they all get to create their own customized uniforms, all traits of a superhero in comparison to, say, a power ranger. That being said, they all share the same basic rules, they often form teams, their spirit totems are sentient and work as both tool and assistant (both uncommon in superheroes' weapons) and their uniforms often take on influences from 'Eastern' (by which, I mean Asian, and by Asian, I of course mean 'mostly Japan', though with a little bit of extras in there from China, Korea, and such) culture anyway, so while more superhero than anything else, they're not strictly speaking superheroes.
Speaking of which, as I just said, most Riders are influenced by Eastern culture, particularly since spirit totems are attracted to a certain type of personality for their hosts, and Ruby is no exception. She is more into superheroes than, say, anime (she even makes reference to Batman/Bruce Wayne being a metaphor for her in the whole "civilian identity is the mask, superhero the true form" way), but she's been heavily indoctrinated into Japanese culture regardless, thus, why her look is a hybrid. (This is actually half true: I hold greater INTEREST in superheroes than anime, but I'm more INVOLVED in anime.)
And I also went on to think about the spirit totems a bit more to see what I wanted. Ultimately, I determined that I want them to be sentient, able to speak to their user (but only their user), yet for this to be rare...however, for nonverbal communication to be extremely common, like sending sensations through the Rider, or beeping loudly or such, basically, things that let the Rider know something needs to be done, and directing them, but not giving them specific instructions. In short, think of their verbal instructions as being that of a partner, giving advice when it's needed and nobody else is around to give it, and their nonverbal signals are as if the weapon itself is in a trance, being guided by magical forces. And in addition to those trances, to also serve general functions, like danger detection, reminders, alarm clocks, limited communicators, granting a limited shield/transport, and those are just the ones that I think I want universal.
I think that the powers of the Rider in question should offer a lot of variety--for instance, Ruby can pull a hybrid of the Green Lantern and, say, Green Arrow by shooting trick arrows that have customized purposes. She also has multiple finishing techniques and more than just 'shoot an arrow, hope it hits' in her arsenal. Stuff like that can get explored as the series progresses, some of it as being always there and just not used a lot, other bits of it being unlocked through training, through combat, through witnessing others use their stuff, and such.
I think it's a highly-manageable concept, really. They're not unlimited in power, but are very creative in what they have.
Another thought I had which I'm not sold on is that the Riders may have elements attached to them. All of them are 'holy', but it might be a neat idea for them to have a secondary element. Ruby's would be darkness, Sally's would be earth, and I'd work it out from there. Butyeah, not so sure; it depends on how many characters get Rider powers.
...Speaking of which, there was that other idea I had and liked, that I want. A character who is a weaponmaster, basically the best pure combatant on the Magical Girl side, and yet, unlike Garry who gains powers, he possesses none; he's just so good that he can fight on par with enemies even without powers. I'd find ways to not make him redundant with the vampire combatant that comes to Ruby's side, too.
...Oh, and on that note, the magical girl/donor who he relies on? I threw around ideas, and I kinda like the idea that while Ruby doesn't know her, Sally does, and that she's a resident of the homeless shelter, too, and Sally's closest supporter. I also thought up the idea of her being a bit of a bookworm, along with the look. I like the concept.
And as you might be able to tell from this MASSIVE wall of text, I might just have my favorite concept for a webcomic ever. Or maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe a series of light novels, butstill...I want to make it.
Real bad.
The other two were similar, dealing with brooms. At least as far as I know, brooms were only handed out once during the night. However, I did the others rather well. Danced multiple tips as a girl because there was a shortage of them (oh, well, there was a badge for that anyway), plus I was the first to get the badge for dancing inside the bells.
Had it not been for caller sabotage (as in, deliberately extending the tip when they learned it hadn't happened yet and calling moves that encouraged it), we woulda gone that entire tip without ringing the bells once, even. There was a fair amount of fun to be had, and the end featured an all-girls and all-guys square with a third in the kitchen (another badge, by the way, for dancing there).
Fun, plus the food was nice at the end given that I had eaten nothing since breakfast (aside from a snack of cake) the entire day.
Now with that out of the way, time to talk about what I was coming here to blog about: the magical girl story.
I had a fair amount of thinking time today, which translated directly into a lot of storywork. (Including me working out how I'd write the prologue.)
For starters, I decided on the name behind the character: Red Hood Rider, AKA Ruby's, birth name is Ryan Ventrella. Her(/his) blood brother is Dion Falco. (Last names subject to change.) Her friend, the one I mention, is going to be named Gary. (No last name decided yet.)
I also thought up her rival's name, birth name being Samantha (and she does go by Samantha unlike Ruby who prefers just her superhero name for obvious reasons), but it has to be that or her superhero name (White Sailor, AKA Sally), because she hates Sam or even worse Sammy as nicknames.
Some of the details I thought up mainly had to do with aspects of the characters. For instance, Samantha is Sally basically full-time, but for different reasons than Ruby is Ruby almost always, in this case being that Sally has lost everything and has nothing in her life except being a superhero. She is, quite literally, a professional superhero. She survives off the generosity of people she's helped protect, basically a freeloader who eats, sleeps, and then goes off to train if there's no work (that is, evil) to do.
In short, the closest thing she has to a family are her fellow residents at the homeless shelter. The only reason she bothers with a civilian identity at all is to help keep them save and offer her some level of protection in case she were to need it, but otherwise she's always out there, always fighting, and not ashamed of it. I also put thought into other aspects of her. The token she has is called the Tree of Life, a whistle she wears around her neck that transforms into a bazooka that has threads attached to it (the threads coming from the necklace, since she wears the whistle around her neck as a necklace).
In spite of having a freakin' bazooka for a weapon, she's faster and stronger than Ruby by default, in fact best known for her speed and is comparable even in magic. (There's a reason they're considered rivals!) I also thought up a few other details. Her costume would be white with green accents, and be straight-up standard sailor getup, except her forearms and below which have the threads from the bazooka. (Think like Ichigo's shikai: the threads are malleable to her will.) Her hair goes from black to a very dark green, and her eyes from a dark brown to a vibrant brown.
Another thing I thought up was her lineage; I decided that she was half-Caucasian (her mother), 1/4th Hispanic (paternal grandmother), 1/8th American Indian (paternal great grandfather), and 1/8th Indian (paternal great grandmother). (In other words, an Indian and an American Indian had a son, who married a Hispanic, and they had a son, her father, who married her mother.) Basically, she looks mostly-Caucasian, but her skin's slightly darker than normal, and her genetics mean her features (in particular, facial features) show the other half of her ancestry too.
I'm not sure why I was particularly inspired to have her like that, but it's the image that came to mind when I thought of the rival.
Now onto some more technical stuff. The transformation trinket of Riders (the formal term for magical girls powered this way) is called a spirit totem, though when calling the name of the spirit totem (e.g. Tree of Life) they may also refer to it as a token. ('Transformation trinket' in this case just being Ruby speaking in TVTropes terms to Gary, who also knows them, Spirit Totem being the official name, and token being the name used casually especially after calling out the name of one.) Ruby's spirit totem is called 'Angel Wings', and the Angel Wings totem (like that, that's how) is the glow-wristband/bow she uses.
Riders are superheroes more than anything else because they can work independently, their powers all manifest differently, and they all get to create their own customized uniforms, all traits of a superhero in comparison to, say, a power ranger. That being said, they all share the same basic rules, they often form teams, their spirit totems are sentient and work as both tool and assistant (both uncommon in superheroes' weapons) and their uniforms often take on influences from 'Eastern' (by which, I mean Asian, and by Asian, I of course mean 'mostly Japan', though with a little bit of extras in there from China, Korea, and such) culture anyway, so while more superhero than anything else, they're not strictly speaking superheroes.
Speaking of which, as I just said, most Riders are influenced by Eastern culture, particularly since spirit totems are attracted to a certain type of personality for their hosts, and Ruby is no exception. She is more into superheroes than, say, anime (she even makes reference to Batman/Bruce Wayne being a metaphor for her in the whole "civilian identity is the mask, superhero the true form" way), but she's been heavily indoctrinated into Japanese culture regardless, thus, why her look is a hybrid. (This is actually half true: I hold greater INTEREST in superheroes than anime, but I'm more INVOLVED in anime.)
And I also went on to think about the spirit totems a bit more to see what I wanted. Ultimately, I determined that I want them to be sentient, able to speak to their user (but only their user), yet for this to be rare...however, for nonverbal communication to be extremely common, like sending sensations through the Rider, or beeping loudly or such, basically, things that let the Rider know something needs to be done, and directing them, but not giving them specific instructions. In short, think of their verbal instructions as being that of a partner, giving advice when it's needed and nobody else is around to give it, and their nonverbal signals are as if the weapon itself is in a trance, being guided by magical forces. And in addition to those trances, to also serve general functions, like danger detection, reminders, alarm clocks, limited communicators, granting a limited shield/transport, and those are just the ones that I think I want universal.
I think that the powers of the Rider in question should offer a lot of variety--for instance, Ruby can pull a hybrid of the Green Lantern and, say, Green Arrow by shooting trick arrows that have customized purposes. She also has multiple finishing techniques and more than just 'shoot an arrow, hope it hits' in her arsenal. Stuff like that can get explored as the series progresses, some of it as being always there and just not used a lot, other bits of it being unlocked through training, through combat, through witnessing others use their stuff, and such.
I think it's a highly-manageable concept, really. They're not unlimited in power, but are very creative in what they have.
Another thought I had which I'm not sold on is that the Riders may have elements attached to them. All of them are 'holy', but it might be a neat idea for them to have a secondary element. Ruby's would be darkness, Sally's would be earth, and I'd work it out from there. Butyeah, not so sure; it depends on how many characters get Rider powers.
...Speaking of which, there was that other idea I had and liked, that I want. A character who is a weaponmaster, basically the best pure combatant on the Magical Girl side, and yet, unlike Garry who gains powers, he possesses none; he's just so good that he can fight on par with enemies even without powers. I'd find ways to not make him redundant with the vampire combatant that comes to Ruby's side, too.
...Oh, and on that note, the magical girl/donor who he relies on? I threw around ideas, and I kinda like the idea that while Ruby doesn't know her, Sally does, and that she's a resident of the homeless shelter, too, and Sally's closest supporter. I also thought up the idea of her being a bit of a bookworm, along with the look. I like the concept.
And as you might be able to tell from this MASSIVE wall of text, I might just have my favorite concept for a webcomic ever. Or maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe a series of light novels, butstill...I want to make it.
Real bad.
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