Remember what I said about the urge to make another MC? Well um..an unstoppable force literally controlled my hand and..
BOOM!! MEET MY NEW CHILD! (WARNING: lots and lots of yapping)
She's basically based off me lol. I made her step 2 design first and I have a concept of how she will look like in other steps. also I just had to make her blonde bc.. Y e s
Tanlin is a platonic route MC so she won't end up with anyone (mostly bc shes aroace like me). In step 1 Tanlin was kinda the opposite of the awkward cutie she is now, i would say she was a pretty energetic and talkative kid but not like too much? If that makes sense
––––––––––––
'Whispers louder than words' (Step 1.5 backstory, she's probably around 11-12)
At first, Tanlin didn't notice the change. A slightly longer pause before a greeting. A look that lingered too long, unreadable. Then came the silence.. the kind that fills rooms even when they’re full of people. She wasn’t sure what hurt more; the rumor itself or how quickly those who she call "friends" believed it.
Someone popular had said she was fake, manipulative even. That she only hung around other people to feel superior. That she lied. It wasn’t true, not any of it. But the person who said it smiled in all the right ways and had enough followers to make anything sound believable. Why did they do it? Tanlin doesn't even know. Maybe it was out of jealousy? Maybe they just did it for fun? Either way, the truth didn’t change, even when people believed the lie
What stung wasn’t the rumor itself. It was how her "friends" didn’t even ask. No questions. No “Hey, did you hear what’s going around?” or “You okay?” Just distance. Like she had become contagious or something.
She would sit at lunch and feel their eyes flicker to her, then away, like looking too long might make them guilty by association. Conversations she used to be part of now happened without her, even when she was right there. Messages went unanswered. Plans were made without her name even coming up.
And she kept wondering; "Was I really that easy to leave behind?"
She thought friendships meant loyalty. She thought they knew her better than that. But all it took was a few words from someone shinier, someone with more influence... Well at least she wasn't completely alone. She's lucky enough to have some friends who didn't believe baseless rumors. But still, it hurts.
––––––––––––
OKAY TIME FOR SOME EXTRA INFO THAT DIDN'T FIT INTO THE PIC! Its not really noticeably in the drawing but she has fang-like teeth! Tanlin's eyes sparkles and she blushes when shes happy and the face she makes when someone shes unfamiliar with is talking to her could be mistaken as discomfort but in reality shes just awkwardly trying to think of something to say in her head (you can tell if she feels uncomfy or not by her blushing, if she is then that means she's happy youre talking to her!). Due to the incident in her backstory, she has trust issues like, if someone were to befriend her she would probably be very distant at first as she doesn't want to get attached to the wrong people. Also Ik I put 'touching' in her dislikes but she doesn't actually hate physical contact itself, she would just hate how embarrassed she gets whenever someone initiate it. Tanlin also really love arts and crafts so she makes gifts like keychains or a drawing for her friends whenever she feels like it. I FORGOT TO MENTION she has like stubby small eyebrows? Like the ones you usually sees on chibis. I thought giving her unnatural eyebrows like Cove from OL1 would be pretty nice :) oh and the red dots on her face are acne. AND ONE LAST THING! Her body is a bit more on the chubbier side! The fluffiness of her hair kinda made her body look skinnier 🥲
If anyone has any questions about her please ask away! I'll try my best to answer them 💛