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DeVries Blog Entry |
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March 29, 2024, 12:00:18 AM 3/29/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Major DeVries (no first name ever given. He's been renamed from Dupries, as I have a family with that name in another storyline, plus DeVries was originally his name anyway. He's an abandoned character from the previous reboot and helps Camo get the Trench Rats started. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding his design, he's a big imposing guy, but pretty easygoing, so I tried to portray that. I also have been wanting to point out the start of an attempted reboot of a childhood imaginary world of mine, The Animals. Here are the four concept sketches I've made so far of the characters based on little plastic animals I played with as a child: Kitten, Turtle, Mrs. Cow, and Bunny. I explain them a bit on Toyhou.se. Hopefully more to come. TUMBLR EDIT: Okies! I said in Sgt. Major Revell's entry that I might revert Dupries's name back to DeVries, so now I have. A wrong set right. He appears under his correct name, DeVries, in an early version of Genesis; normally I would here include the relevant excerpt, except nothing in the text really illustrates DeVries that well as a character; it's just painfully cringey text featuring a VERY out-of-character Camo negotiating (well...demanding) the formation of the battalion while DeVries repeatedly expresses doubt yet throws up his hands and gives in, seemingly convinced they're all gonna die anyway. ("They'll never make it," he even says to an unnamed major who sticks up for Camo.) DeVries remains reasonably skeptical in the newest version of things, but isn't the wishy-wash previously depicted. He's still largely undeveloped though I've learned at least one detail about his character, maybe a few. He doesn't play a role in the vast majority of the story so I'm not that motivated to develop him much at present. DeVries, as I said, is a big, imposing guy, tall and muscular and intimidating. Turns out he's not much of a fighting man, though; similar to Major Jäger on the German side, he's more of a bureaucrat, spending his time behind a desk or negotiating with superiors. Jäger did actually engage in combat (in the Waffen-SS), though I'm not sure I can say the same about DeVries; I don't THINK he fought in the Great War, but I can't say positively. (Camo and Revell are Great War veterans; Drake, Evans, and Beaudry are too young to have served.) So DeVries is more of a pencil pusher than anything, but he's good at what he does, and similar to Jäger with Project Doomsday, he plays a big role in getting the Trench Rats concept off the ground. Despite his physical appearance, he's pretty much a gentle giant, laid back and easy to approach, not prone to anger or insult unlike the volatile Revell (who I'm pretty sure by now is a war criminal who massacred an entire family--after doing something even more vile--and got away with it). He's not a pushover, however, and still needs strong convincing that sending an entire battalion into enemy territory before the US has even officially gotten involved, just to rescue a handful of Americans who shouldn't really have been there either, is a prudent idea. The fact that Camo intends the battalion to take even further action, namely, establish a base and actively meddle with Nazi efforts to create a super soldier, makes DeVries chafe, yet Evans and Beaudry manage to convince him it's worth the trouble (while Revell does everything in his power to sabotage these efforts). The main detail that's since emerged about DeVries's personal character is that, despite his decent (if unglamorous) military reputation, he's a really sh*tty husband. At the time of Genesis taking place, his wife is pregnant and ready to give birth at pretty much any moment. Meanwhile, DeVries is frequently picking up random women he meets in bars and social gatherings and taking them back to his hotel room to spend the night. He's not abusive, he's not manipulative or actively a jerk, he expresses love every time he and his wife meet (he's often busy at work and spends little time at home) and he's excited at the prospect of having a child, but he is really not a monogamous person. I'm not entirely sure if this behavior started with his wife's pregnancy or if he was just always this way, but either way, it's pretty douchey. There's a proposed scene where Evans shows up at DeVries's hotel room early one morning and knocks. A scantily clad woman answers and both of them gasp at each other before she ducks back behind the door (obviously having expected room service or something); Evans awkwardly explains he's there to speak to DeVries, and the woman says from behind the door that he's still sleeping but she'll wake him. Evans waits. A moment later the woman, fully dressed now, exits with a meek "Excuse me," and hastens off on her way. Right after, a second woman exits--"Excuse me"--and hurries off after her. Evans waits another moment; the door opens and he turns to address DeVries, yet a third woman exits, blushing--"Pardon me!"--and goes on her way. Then DeVries calls out. Thoroughly flustered by now, Evans peeks in; DeVries is alone, adjusting his collar and cuffs, and addresses him perfectly normally as if nothing weird just happened, though he's surprised to see Evans there so early. Evans doesn't bother saying a word about whatever had happened before he arrived; he's far too embarrassed, and lets out a sigh after DeVries heads off before him, disappointed in the extracurricular activities of teh straights. He meets DeVries's wife...uh...Mrs. DeVries?...later on when she shows up at the base, belly out to there, so that his first reaction is to offer her a seat. He knew DeVries is married but he's never met her before, plus, he had no idea she's like twelve months pregnant; he's instantly dismayed as soon as she introduces herself. She mentions how she's just stopped by to see her husband as he's dreadfully busy and gets so little time to come home; it's obvious she has no clue WHAT has him so busy, she sincerely believes it's just his work. Evans feels like crud but doesn't enlighten her, as he knows it's not his place to get involved, though he feels a twinge disgruntled that a guy who has such a loving and devoted mate at home--with a kid on the way, no less--would be so ungrateful as to fool around all the time. A happy marriage, the prospect of raising a family, is something that's beyond Evans's reach, so yeah, he's a little bitter about DeVries's behavior. Especially since DeVries is otherwise such an upstanding guy, plus Evans depends on his good graces. He never leaks a word to the wife, and she never suspects. Exactly how the situation with DeVries's messing around, if it stops at all after his child is born, or if wifey ever does find out, is never explained, as the story moves on to Germany after Camo and the other characters. It could be resolved in one of the many sidestories, I guess. As I was taking a break tending to other things, a POSSIBLE plot point likely involving DeVries seeped into my head. It's not certain yet as there are potential plot conflicts I haven't checked for, plus it's a tad implausible, but here it is. I already mentioned that Revell's role has clarified as he committed an atrocious war crime against a civilian family in the Great War (it was going to be a German family, Revell's "defense" being they were just filthy Krauts who deserved what they got, but seeing as none of this fighting appears to have occurred on German soil I'm unsure how I'd manage that); most of the higher-ups know all about this, yet it's hushed up to avoid damaging morale, and Revell escapes any serious punishment. Somehow, for some reason, years later Evans comes across these allegations and tries to blow the whistle; this is likely the reason Revell targets Camo, Drake, and the Trench Rats plan, recognizing that it's important to Evans. DeVries, who Evans has been appealing to about forming the battalion, finally takes a private moment to set him straight (so to speak): Everyone from back then knows what Revell did, he got away with it, and there's nothing Evans can do. He mentions how he himself tried, but lacked the influence to do anything meaningful; Revell has powerful allies. He bluntly tells Evans that he can either tank his own career and accomplish exactly nothing trying to go after Revell, or he can put all his energy behind getting the Trench Rats off the ground--he can't do both. He's going to need all the support he can get if he wants to help Camo, and if he keeps targeting Revell, that'll never happen. Evans, of course, is torn; without going into detail about the particulars, he explains the dilemma to Drake, who shares it with Camo. Camo leaves the decision in Drake's hands, deeming him to be in the best position to choose whether the Trench Rats are worth it, at the expense of justice for a family. Although also conflicted, Drake chooses the Trench Rats, with the reasoning that hopefully they'll save lives that would otherwise be lost and then it would all be for nothing. He does hint, however, that perhaps justice can be sought for the murdered family in the future. Unknown to them all...DeVries, during his own failed efforts to seek justice or at least recognition for Revell's victims, did manage to accomplish something, though it won't go into effect for quite some time yet. Let's rewind, to right before that first small American unit was sent into Germany for reconnaissance reasons, the same unit the Trench Rats are formed to rescue. DeVries has a file of incriminating info on Revell but he already tried to get the word out, just as he later tells Evans, and it went nowhere. He may have pull, but he doesn't have pull here. He decides he'll put this file someplace safe where it faces little risk of being destroyed. At the VERY very least, the file will be brought to light in the future, so even if Revell still ends up unpunished, his victims won't be forgotten. DeVries approaches one of the members of the unit which is about to head out, speaks with him privately. Points out how he's good at keeping his head down, going unnoticed, and has no known family or contacts who could compromise him over such things. He gives him the file; the PFC asks what it is, and DeVries says it's none of his concern, he's not involved, just that as soon as his unit gets established, to tuck it away safely somewhere it won't be too readily found. It'll almost certainly be located at some point in the future, and then maybe there will be a modicum of justice of some sort. The PFC asks no more questions, just takes the file, and when the unit heads off to Germany it goes along with him. He keeps hold of it the whole time he and the unit are pinned down by relentless German gunfire. After their rescue by the Trench Rats, when the members of the unit are incorporated into the battalion and promoted and given codenames, he's assigned a room and bunk in the newly erected Headquarters; he inspects the small space, locating all the little nooks and crannies, and finally settles on a space concealed above a ceiling beam; he tucks the file in here. Within days, he forgets all about Revell's file. It's only after the second war's end that Lance Corporal Mahogany Rat, searching for something else, discovers the file stashed away in LC Teal Rat's former private quarters. [DeVries 2024 [Friday, March 29, 2024, 12:00:18 AM]] |