Note [#0003]

 

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2/13/25

I think I like the idea of there being things in the other dimension that correspond to feelings or states; things that would give the ‘Others’ something to do. Though whether it would be little objects, critters or something else I’m not sure. Maybe it could just be all of the above lol. 

It makes me wonder, supposing I go with the “inspiration” route of things; maybe they’re something the ‘Others’ really like, almost crave.

Actually, maybe I *can* go w/ all of the above for the previous thing I said, but branch off of that.

Maybe there can be objects *and* little creatures, but the objects normally correspond to something good, something the ‘Others’ would want to find, maybe even fight over. Whereas the critters normally correspond to something bad, something that kind of just barges in or causes chaos.

That brings me back to one of the first things I was thinking of when trying to figure out the whole “other dimension” thing. Because Mark and Colin are often traveling around, I thought it would be interesting if their ‘Others’ were doing the same thing. Maybe their ‘Others’ purposely look for those objects, or even ‘hunt’ the critters? Something to ponder.

Initial brainstorming for Winter’s ‘Others’:

How He Sees Himself(?)-

A very mischievous Other, quite the menace but very clumsy, gets in the way of things quite often or messes with things they don’t mean to.

How He Wishes He Were(?)-

A perfectionist, almost to a fault. Very responsible and charming, often comes around to clean up messes.

Winter is very troublesome even if he doesn’t try to be; he gets into trouble often but shakes things off through good ol’ denial. He tends to seem like he’s enjoying himself but sometimes feels like a screwup, especially next to his responsible brother who never gets into trouble and often lectures Winter. Nicholas had taken up the ‘parent’ role for many years but Winter still gets annoyed by it. Mmh, gotta love complicated brother relationships. The perfectionist ‘Other’ is slightly based off of Winters tinted view of his brother. Almost his mocking image of him; the person who’s “always trying to control his life,” whether that’s actually the case or not.

2/14/25

Trying to figure out how the landscape of the other dimension is. Now I know it’s supposed to be quite random so it’s not like I’m thinking of every tiny detail, it’s more so that I need to know whether the ‘Others’ have homes or places they tend to be at. Points of the landscape and whatnot, because otherwise I can’t really think of them doing anything when I don’t know where they would be doing said thing, if that makes sense.

Like my brain keeps trying to make some type of cityscape, which makes me think that’s what would work; but it’s to the point that I keep trying to formulate some kind of legitimate society or something, and that’s *not* what I want. 

It also brings up the problem that with not every person in the world having an ‘Other,’ a city would be quite bare, it wouldn’t feel lively at all; so I once again find myself stuck.

———

Characters with ‘Others,’ and *extremely* rough titles

Winter Finnegan:

Troublemaker and Perfectionist

Mayor Cathleen Amberose:

Mother and Leader

Mark Harvey:

??? and ???

Colin Gray:

??? and ???

Jennifer Halloway:

Optimist and ???

Monica McKinley:

??? and ???

_________________

2/15/25

I think to kind of solve my problem of the landscape, I’m going to create other little creatures to live in it. This helps with the issue of a cityscape being too big for the amount of creatures that would live in it but a more spread out landscape of random doodads being too scarce without much specifically. I’m thinking the creatures are more so blobby little guys that kind of just go about the world doing things without all that much happening in their minds. They don’t really have a personality or anything, they just exist to do their jobs and fill up space. Which then got me thinking on if that’s how all the ‘Others’ start out, before they get connected to an actual person. The blobbies can just be something of a blank slate that can become something more once a concept is bestowed upon them, so to speak.

Which also made me curious on the way that an Other comes around. Like I kept having to remind myself that the Others are based on a mindset that came from an actual person, but they are far from acting and thinking the way that the person acts. I have to stop myself from constantly being like ‘oh but the person wouldn’t be like that!’ When it’s like, yeah, what of it, they’re not supposed to be the same. The Others are just like concepts and mindsets blown out to a large degree to the point that it makes up most of their acting and thinking patterns. 

This also means that, when you think about it, the Other comes around by a way of someone’s views of something in a sense. This means that because the persons views and mind will be shifting and always has time to grow, you’d think their Other would be the same. However the Other doesn’t necessarily do that, which means they come from a point in time when a person was a certain way, and that’s as far as their connection to the person goes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there would be something that could happen that changes an Other, maybe another could even form, we don’t know at this point. But essentially, the Other doesn’t form at birth, as the person wouldn’t be developed enough for that; this means that the dimension doesn’t just immediately connect to someone as soon as they enter the world, which means an Other doesn’t just poof into existence at a specific time. Adding to that, it means someone could not have an Other right now, but may form a connection through some type of mindset at any time of their life. I find that thought interesting.

2/16/25

I think I should give the ‘Others’ a few themes to go off of, something to help with the design process.

I’ve kind of settled on the concept of them being still humanoid in terms of form, but where I can still be very fluid and distinct with their appearance; like, I’m following the human form only down to the silhouette.

And because I plan on giving this a cartoon style, I can be a lot more exaggerated.

That’s the plan anyway.

Expanding on the concept of Others being formed from random periods of time in a person’s life; I think that actually opens up a lot of possibilities for variation. 

I think I’ve settled on one Other being a spectrum that varies on how the person sees themselves to a subconscious image of their self; or how they did at the time anyway. 

E.g. Winter sometimes sees himself as someone who causes too much trouble or isn’t good enough. Mayor Amberose, even in the position of power she’s in, first and foremost believes she is just a mother. Mark Harvey has two Others in this category, where one half represents his childlike soul, but the other half represents how he felt like he was treated like a kid who couldn’t take care of himself.

The second Other could vary from how they wish they were to things they just deeply admired (or despised). 

E.g. Mark and Colin both have an Other that kind of represents each other’s personalities because they both admire each other so much, though not in a jealous kind of way. Jennifer has an Other slightly based on a role model of hers from when she was a kid, while Winter has an Other that’s slightly based on traits he despises from his brother.

Notice Monica wasn’t mentioned at all, that’s because I haven’t figured out much about her 🫡

I tend to like to think about dynamics for characters first and foremost to make sure I get a variety of personalities, so Monica is probably going to just end up being a blank slate I can work with for whatever would be best paired with Jennifer.

__________

Right now I’m going with the assumption that one person has two-three ‘Others:’ they can all be out at the same time but don’t have to be and aren’t often; it tends to depend on which is the more dominant one at the time, sometimes having to do with the situation, series of events, or even how the person they come from is feeling. E.g. (and still using placeholder names) Troublemaker is out way more than Perfectionist is, they are more of the dominant one even though Perfectionist easily takes control when they want to, the fact is they don’t always want to. There are even cases like Colin’s Others, who currently have a strange relationship where one normally does what they can to make sure the second Other doesn’t come out. Or Mark’s, that just takes a lot to get to come out.

The Others are weird in the sense that because a pair comes from the same person, they are often seen as ‘two halves of a whole’ while at the same time being their own completely different being. Honestly they can probably be best seen as siblings to each other, or at least begrudging relatives. So Perfectionist is typically seen as being a part of Troublemaker while at the same time not, it’s just that you often don’t see one without the other, so whether the Others like their halves or not, they are explicitly connected to each other and share the same ‘core’ they were created from (the blobby guy they used to be, I guess you could say).

To wrap it up, Troublemaker could be the only one present in a situation, and Perfectionist could come out whenever they wanted to. At the same time, Troublemaker could leave and only Perfectionist could be out; or, they could both be out at the same time. But at least one or them needs to be out at any given time. One could also force the other back in, or force the other out, etc. etc.

If that’s confusing, I guess just think of it in the sense of, one or the other being out or gone at any time makes sense so long as they are close enough to each other, and so long as at least one is out.