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An OC by --ohana
The above art is also by the creator of this OC... I'm assuming anyway.
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universe/fandom - modern universe - for lack of a better term, of course. it has no differences from current events, although the paranormal ratings are.. spiked, as one may put it. not to say they don't typically occur, but the paranormal are far more interactive with the public than they are in the real world. my character is only one example of the more negative spirits roaming about. they are not pleasant. could be put under the category of a creepypasta, too.
name - smile (' secret animal crossing villager ")
nicknames - 'cat', 'smiley' & 'googly eyes' are rather common nicknames. smile doesn't care what they're called, lest it's a slur or the like. that's when they'll become.. agitated. it's best to avoid that.
[ They all seem delightfully sinister. What would one call a cat within a game as a slur? ]
gender - non-binary ; they / them & it / itself
age - smile has no (known) age. they don't know when they came into existence, nor do they know how long they've been roaming. nobody else knows this information, either, although people have their personal assumptions.
species - paranormal entity ; demonic entity
[ Sound.]
ethnicity - smile lacks an ethnicity, although they tend to be referred to as a demonic entity - as if that actually means anything. they're a paranormal oddity that has shown little to no signs of once (or currently) being a human being. therefore, nobody can assume what ethnicity they are (or were, for that matter). it's not that important, anyways, as you should be more focused on why there's a strange, smiling bipedal cat standing in your doorway.
nationality - again, nobody knows this factor. maybe it's better that way.
sexual orientation - smile is a non-romantic asexual. they don't feel the need (nor want) to participate in romantic or sexual activities. they're a demon, not some lovesick human looking for someone to spend the rest of their life with.
[ I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to demons and such, I am aware because of that SCP game that there different types/classifications of demons/entities. Perhaps that's something you could look into explaining for smile.]
occupation - smile doesn't have an 'occupation'. they're a paranormal entity that causes distress among the living for entertainment.
family - smile has no family. Hopefully.
[ Hello Kitty's far off cousin... probably best not to think about that too much.]
appearance -
when putting themselves in animal crossing (as they utilize the game in order to be invited into people's homes), smile looks like the 'average' cat villager--unless you're pointing out his strange coloring, constant toothy smile & abnormally large eyes. unlike most animal crossing villagers, smile's pelt is a dull brown that's awfully akin to dehydrated soil / dust. they have three stripes on their forehead, all of them a darker, more vibrant mud brown compared to the rest of his body. these markings are applied to both his feet, ear-tips & arms--the feet's markings don't circle fully around the limb, whereas the arms' & ear-tips' do. their tail is a tiny little stump for a tail; it's ball-shaped. they have a bleach-white underbelly that, much like their markings, pops against the dull primary color. to top it all off, they can always be seen with a bright, red bow wrapped around their neck. even if they're wearing a shirt, the bow never comes off. smile is also the only villager that doesn't wear clothes.
they're not much different in real life--however, they're simply far.. worse. like the realistic drawings of spongebob & patrick. their fur is matted & sickly, constantly shedding in some places & sticking out in different places. it looks like they haven't been groomed or taken care of in years. that's probably the case, too. they have the same color palette as they do in-game, although all of the colors are a lot more dull & far less saturated than they are in animal crossing. their eyes take up a large portion of their face, as does their smile--their teeth are horrifically human, almost as if they took someone's teeth or dentures & made them their own. their paws work like human hands, for they have four fingers with unsheathed claws at the tips of each appendage. they look like a normal cat, but only if the cat was bipedal, had human teeth paired with an everlasting smile, giant eyes with bloated pupils, giant lynx ears & a bunch of other things a cat shouldn't have. the bow is still there, although it's been through some things--it's tied tightly around their neck, shedding fur fuzzed up around it. it looks very painful.
[ Very uncanny, good description of his appearance.]
personality -
in animal crossing, smile is referred to as a 'smug' villager--the following villagers are highly sought after, as they're quite rare &.. interesting, to say the least. however, unlike most smug villagers, smile gets along with none of the other residents (other than the player, tom nook & isabelle).
[ Regretfully I've no idea of these characters, never cared for Animal Crossing.]
they tend to wander about with fishing rods, snatching up any fish (always a rare catch for some reason, which always pisses off the other villagers; villagers don't normally get miffed when this happens, mind you); they only do this when they stand beside a villager who's fishing prior to their arrival. on the loading screen, they can always be found standing in the plaza, staring up at the player with their weird smile & giant eyes. no other villager is focused on during this time, as they're always stomping &, typically after booting up the game, bringing up the idea of moving away.
[ I don't understand the final sentence but other than that all is fine.]
outside of this, smile is emotionless. for the most part, anyways. they're extremely vain, prioritizing their existence over others--why else would they mutilate people? because they need food? of course not!; they mutilate them for fun & because it's always interesting to see someone break down when their loved one suddenly disappears (or is strung up like a ragdoll; oh, he loves doing that)! they used to do something similar with feral animals before realizing that humans actually had emotions! & there's actually a challenge in manipulating them, as some people would deduct them as an 'ugly' villager or try to sell them to others (which would then pass him onto someone else who's already willing to invite them into their home! a win for them!). all in all, smile is the equivalent of a terrifying, self-centered bastard who lacks empathy (among other humane qualities).
[ I know a few self-centred bastards lacking empathy, smile would get on great with some of the customers I deal with.]
they lack 'personality traits' due to the fact that they're not one of the those oc's. they're a sadistic paranormal entity that thrives off of the distress of others--not only that, but they're primarily used for shock purposes. regardless, they're still quite unpleasant & a not-so-welcomed sight. they're fit for a horror creature, really (which is what i'm going for! :D)
[ Smile seems very enigmatic, perfect for the character you seem to be creating.]
backstory -
once quarantine began, animal crossing (among other best-selling games, like doom eternal) became one of the highest grossing games available. it was (& currently is, haha) one of the few things keeping people from going completely insane. with cute villagers, an island to decorate & loans to be paid, it's a fun experience for all ages! recently, a few days after the june wedding event began, a new villager began to pop up. a rather weird one, at that.
[ Repaying loans is a fun experience... you don't need to buy a game for that, you can do that in real life!]
here's the weird part about it: nintendo never released anything on the villager, nor had people ever talked about finding them anywhere prior to the event. they just.. suddenly began to exist. they went by the name of 'smile' & had they/them pronouns, unlike most villagers.
strangely enough, their entire name was in lowercase, unlike the other villagers on people's islands. they typically popped up in the campsite, going on about how nice the island was & immediately saying that they'd love to move in someday. the same event would occur when the player flew to a random island. their dialogue never changes until they're asked to come to the player's island: 'your island's as good as it as back home? oh, boy!'
instead of there being a period of time where they're nonexistent, they immediately move in. even if your still in the tents--they will appear at the airport, talk to you about how excited they are then proceed to follow you around for the remainder of their stay. people have claimed to see smile slouch over & emote (sad emotes - distress, sobbing) whenever the player begins to log out. they're the only villager that's aware of what the player does.
people made videos about the guy, always talking about how strange their appearance is & how they tended to follow the player around, always saying that they had things to show them. some people point out how smile doesn't have a house & is simply wandering around the island aimlessly until the player arrives. occasionally, people comment on how they'd say, 'want to meet up? i can make plans!' then proceed to give the player the option to say 'yes' or 'no'.
when the player says no, smile will pretend to question them a second time; they then claim that they're joking & will promptly disappear from the island the very next day, replaced with a whole new villager. there are no videos nor concrete evidence on what happens to the people who reply with 'yes'.
there's usually one less person in the animal crossing community when it happens, alongside a bunch of 'missing' posters. nintendo has, as of june 7th announced smile's existence to be a bug in the system--one they're incapable of accessing for one reason or another. the code surrounding smile's existence is extremely corrupted & untouchable, lest you want the entire game to eradicate itself.
[ But let's be honest if people are gonna invite the dodgy looking villager back home or wherever when they have access to the internet with all the horror stories and such, I say it's on them. I'd imagine that news outlets would be all over such a story and after that, the theorists and the conspiracists would get involved and then boom, smile is exposed... I mean it's not like anyone else has got anything better to be doing in quarantine and new outlets will report on anything as of late. But I might be thinking a bit too much into it, it seems pretty solid. I do appreciate that you've thought about Nintendo's response to smile.]
talents ; skills - deceiving people ; making others see them as a 'friend' ; getting rid of 'competition' (other animal crossing villagers - makes them the main focus) ; mutilating people for the hell of it ; turning people inside-out & dangling them from a ceiling fan
[ Mutilating people and such, does this occur to the player's avatar or to the player? How does he leave the game and enter the world?]
weaknesses -
smile is a paranormal entity - because of that, they can be banished from an household via cleansing or the like. salt circles also work on them. not only that, but they will immediately proceed to exit someone's life when they reply with 'no' to his invitation to 'meet up', which is actually something that prompts them to emerge in the player's house (aka. it's an invitation! a really, really bad invitation that you shouldn't unconsciously accept). demons need to be invited into one's house--smile's method of doing that is requesting to meet up, although it typically can result in failure.
[ What can smile do as a paranormal entity? Normally, I'd ask for my weaknesses but it seems because of the type of character your making, it seems that you want readers to feel helpless.]
fears -
smile fears no entity; they fear one mental thing. the idea of being banished to whence they came--it frightens them to be banished to a place they've forgotten all together. who knows were they'll end up if such a thing happens; that's why they retreat when someone doesn't invite them immediately. it's far safer that way, as it'll then be harder to track them. they are incapable of conquering this fear, as they thrive off of human emotions & cannot bear to be banished to a locale where they don't exist.
while they only fear the following, they do tend to worry about other factors that're linked to being banished--they're not afraid of them, per say, but they don't want them to occur either. that's just a matter of wanting to 'survive', for a lack of better term (as they're a paranormal entity & are, technically, not actually alive).
[ This is fine for a character like smile.]
likes -
animal crossing ; animal crossing players / community - this is self-explanatory. not only does the community harbor a lingering want for things that're rare or (depending on the person) their style, it's a lot easier than you'd think to be invited into someone's locale. that is, if they're unaware of the weird cat lingering nearby or the sudden disappearances of their favorite villagers.
causing distress & bewilderment - much like human emotions, this is something smile has become addicted to. it finds a weird type of entertainment in these human emotions in particular, favoring them over all others. for as long as these two emotions exist, smile will continue to destroy innocent people's lives--all for the fun of it.
raw human emotions - after being so attached to feral creatures & the like, the sudden burst of emotion smile got from humans was.. overwhelming, to say the least. however, it became euphoric after the realization settled, as there wasn't a blank stare or whimpering--it was complete & unrelenting sobbing.
the sound of someone wailing / crying / sobbing - as stated above, this was one of the first sounds smile heard come from a human. they've come to enjoy it quite a lot, as it's a gigantic change from what they're used to. a welcomed change, unfortunately.
cats - why else would they choose that form? they became infatuated with animals early on--after all, a good majority of said species could actually see them. cats were one of those species, although their attitudes were always something to marvel. they only stopped hissing & yowling at them when they began to alter their appearance. they get along with cats & are naturally attracted to locales harboring said felines.
dislikes -
churches - they're a demon for a reason. why would they want to be associated with god, or any glorified deity for that matter?
christianity - again, demon. not only that, but it rubs them the wrong way; in a way that disinterests them as a whole & makes the entire experience worthless to them. besides, where's the fun in rearranging the mind of someone who genuinely believes they'll be protected by their lord & savior, so then they ignore your entirety? there's certainly no fun in that.
[ Is it simply Christianity or other religions/beliefs as well? Why specifically Christianity?]
capital letters - this is more of an assumption than anything. there's an option in-game to question smile about their name & why it's formatted the way that it is; smile's honest-to-god reply is always, 'capital letters bother me, clickity!'. there's no further explanation on that topic.
facial masks - smile is named after their smile. that much should be quite obvious. they'll become upset when the player attempts to cover it up--they're also extremely vain & arrogant, so it bruises their ego significantly. what's worse is that they can't do anything about it, so they just have to hop onto the next island & make do with what's handed to them. even if it's some idiotic fool who can't process his 'worth'.
being referred to as an 'ugly' villager - it's an insult to their appearance, which is something they take immense pride in. even if they can't really do anything until invited (or banished from) into the player's home.
salt circles - again, they're a demon. they can't cross the barrier of a salt circle, nor are they capable of leaving one (if they can even manage to accidentally appear in one, which is highly unlikely). they haven't gotten stuck in such a spot yet, but it's the same as being banished to an unknown locale--they absolutely hate the possibility of it happening.
screaming - loud noises are not something smile is fond of. it's primarily because of their large ears, actually--even though they're not an actual animal, they've adopted some traits of housecats; this is due to them actively attempting to 'befriend' felines (& some other pets, but only in order to keep them from alarming the player of their presence). therefore, they tend to scurry off whenever faced with loud noises, as cowardly as it sounds.
hobbies - causing distress in communities ; mutilating humanoid entities ; observing the constant changes in society & humans ; sharpening their claws (although this is, like most things, for entertainment) ; (in-game) fishing ; (in-game) catching bugs
trivia -
- if you turn off the console in the middle of smile's questioning phase, your memory card on the game cartilage will be completely wiped--all of that hard work you put into your island? gone. forever. smile is one of your first villagers when you boot it up.
- if you give smile the privacy mask item, they will become extremely upset. this is shown by their character stomping around & calling the player names (ones that are EXTREMELY vulgar for animal crossing, might i add!) whenever they attempt to talk to them. they typically disappear from the island soon after this occurs, their replacement being barold or some other ugly villager.
- smile's character will constantly give the player items. over time, the items begin to get a lot more.. distressing. more than a handful of people have mentioned smile giving them a gravestone or a coffin a day or two before asking them to 'meet up'. the items are the only thing left after smile leaves (if 'no' is chosen, of course).
- smile has no appetite. they kill simply because they can. it's their primary source of entertainment, as horrible as it sounds (& is).
- smile is incapable of being killed, but can be banished. they're a demonic entity, not a physical one; you're incapable of killing something that doesn't physically exist. you can only remove it from your locale. if you're skilled enough, that is.
[ I'd explain could smile can do and how they do such for people like me for have little knowledge in horror/entity characters. How can something which does not physically exist hurt something which does.]
- it's best to not look up when you're talking to smile about 'meeting up'. it's likely that they'll be standing in your doorway (or at your door, the opening closed behind them as the lamp illuminates their horrific front), staring blankly at you with a terrifyingly wide smile pushing up their fuzzy cheeks. it's an image that's very difficult to remove from your mind.
[ Rookie error smile, do that to a quarantined artist and they'll draw you... if the media pick up on it... oh boy. I imagine either everyone would boycott the game or they'll be an influx of new players trying to find smile. That's an idea... Does smile interact with multiple players at once or does he interact with players one by one? Can smile be overwhelmed if too many characters all say yes or attempt to interact with him at once?]
- smile does not blink--not in real life, not in the game. smile also never stops smiling. ever. it's stupidly unnerving, which is the primary reason they chose to look like that.
[ Red, bloodshot eyes then?]
- smile's in-game catchphrase is 'clickity'. they tend to refer to the player as 'human', which should've counted as a nickname; however, smile ignores that line of code in order to interact as they see fit.
- smile exists within the game due to the fact that they're a demon. demons can infiltrate & tamper with electronic devices, among many other things--not only that, but animal crossing makes it far easier to hop through different locales without having to be beckoned towards them via negative energy or the like.
[ Technopathic demons... deary me.]
fashion style - smile has no sense of fashion, for they do not care for it. they only wear a small, tattered bow--their sense of fashion (referring to animal crossing) is completely wild & up to the player to decide until his departure (or their untimely demise).
spoken languages - various, as they appear in all available languages of the animal crossing game. in real life, however, they are incapable of speaking--they don't need to speak.
love life - nonexistent. why would anyone fall in love with smile?
[ You. Would. Be. Surprised.]
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Sorry for the lack of more in-depth feedback, I've never been bothered with horror, more of a sci-fi fanatic myself, but still I hope I was able to help. In my, non-horror/demon knowing opinion, I think smile is a fine character. I only have an issue regarding his likes and dislikes, smile enjoys the sound of someone wailing/sobbing/crying all of which have the potential to become very loud. Wailing itself is defined as 'a long, loud, high-pitched cry' by most dictionary/definition sites. Again with sobbing defined as 'loud weeping'. Smile enjoying the love of such would contradict with its dislike for loud noises, that's the only real issue I've found with smile other than that I think your little demon kitty cat is fine. Good job on smile's appearance, very uncanny, I can see why someone might be scared of such a character. Fine job!
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[These are just my thoughts and suggestions, you by no means have to do or take note of any of these.]
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'I really am so happy, your smile fills me with glee. I give a smile, I get a smile and that's so special to me.'
- Foozogz & MisterDavey, Smile HD.
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Thank you to --ohana for submitting smile, it's been a pleasure reviewing them!
If you have any questions or queries about this review or require any help with this or any future OC just drop me a message, I'd be happy to help any way I can.
-=- ISAAC -=-