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Didrika Blog Entry |
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February 18, 2022, 5:02:31 AM 2/18/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." Today's character portrait attempt from the weird anthro alternate WWII story I let sit idle for over two decades before the entire plot suddenly started spewing out of my brain at warp speed this past November is Didrika, or Didi (last name never given). She's the Romani leader of an all-male group of partisans, freed prisoners, deserters and whatnot who live at a hidden compound in the woods and make life terribly bothersome for the Nazis. Her nickname is the Scarlet Gypsy (offensive by today's standards, yes) because she's, well, really quite brazen, let's just put it. She's an expert markswoman and has an odd method of keeping all her rather rowdy men in line. I'll write more about her in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se later. TUMBLR EDIT: Okey-doke here we go, though this is kind of disturbing even by this storyline's standards so please proceed with caution; Didrika's history has been mostly developed for a while now. She was banished from her camp as a teenager after being raped by a white man and declared "marime" (or marhime, unclean), and had to turn to prostitution for a while to survive. She learned quickly that some men were willing to pay very well and give her whatever she asked for as long as she gave them whatever they asked for, and so became adept at figuring out what men's preferences were. She was also quite frugal, and saved up enough to equip herself with firearms and proper clothes/supplies/food so she could become self-reliant; she learned how to shoot, and became quite good at that. As the Nazis were taking over she left the city and took to the woods, where on one occasion she discovered a captive Soviet soldier being tortured by a group of Nazis; hiding in the trees, she picked them off one by one, moving around undetected so they panicked and scattered, believing they were being fired upon by numerous parties. Only one escaped (to start what would eventually, following the revelation of Didrika's identity, become the story of the "Scarlet Gypsy"). Didrika freed the Russian soldier, named Boris; he couldn't believe at first that she was the only one responsible for killing off his tormentors, and so yes, he was rather an ass toward her. Didrika was introduced to a loose group of other deserters and partisans of various nationalities who'd gathered in the woods and generally fought together, though not very well and not very organized; by now she'd started to win Boris over (by sleeping with him...of course), and convinced him and the few of his men with him to help her gain control of the group. This took some doing since, like Boris at first, they didn't take her seriously; however, a combination of displays of her fighting skills, cracking down by Boris and his men, and Didrika basically bringing them over to her cause with sex eventually resulted in a large and much more organized/orderly group which took up residence in a newly constructed woodland compound. From here they patrol the woods and go on frequent forays to mess with and kill any Nazis and Nazi sympathizers they come across. The camp is camouflaged from above and only partly visible from the ground; one of the few decorative features is a large eye emblazoned on a tree, copied after an eye tattoo on Didrika's right palm. (A charm she uses both for good luck, and to intimidate others with the threat of bad luck--she's flexible like that, being willing to use others' superstition against them while being rather superstitious herself. She's quite startled, for example, when she jokingly asks Black Rat to remove his eyepatch and he obliges, showing off the jeweled fake eye he was given.) They were the first outside group to offer aid to the Trench Rats following the Nazi attack on their headquarters, an incident that soured their relations with the nearby French partisan group led by Major Champere, since Champere, although being physically closer to and on better terms with the Rats, didn't immediately send help; Didrika openly jeered Champere as a "coward" while Champere just called her a whore. (Guys keep using this nickname on her though it doesn't insult her the way they think it does.) They're also much more militant than Champere's group, which is mostly interested in scouting and information gathering. They don't venture much into the cities; that's more the territory of the Diamond Network, with whom they're also allied. Oh right, and then there's Didrika's method of greeting and gaining new allies/connections. She openly flirts with most of the men she meets, to see how they'll respond; those who promptly take her up on her offer she categorizes as easy marks she can manipulate when needed, while those who resist, she tends to treat with more mutual respect. (The ones who don't immediately fall for her but are still open to a physical relationship, she simply considers a no-strings-attached good time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Many of the Trench Rats fall into the middle category so she considers them equals and is willing to treat them fairly when bargaining. She especially respects Silver Rat, whom she provided with medical attention after his assault by Sgt. Lange (and who, like herself, has a special Nazi nickname--the Silver Ghost--and is on their most-wanted list); and Burgundy Rat, mainly because LC Skye warned her not to try anything with him and then bitch-slapped Didrika for sassing her back. (This incident cowed even Boris.) She still occasionally has relations with her own men, though not as often now; Boris is the only one of them she has actual feelings for. (He has no problem with her sexual relationships though he definitely gets jealous if he thinks she has feelings for anyone else, a mistake he made with Silver.) There are some interesting developments regarding Didrika as the war winds down but those details, including who she ultimately ends up with (hint--it isn't Boris), are for her eventual Toyhou.se profile, not here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [Didrika 2022 [Friday, February 18, 2022, 5:02:31 AM]] |