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Molly Blyndeff
From The Codex
|
"Spoilers Ahead" |
| This character or verse has been very recently made and spoilers for the story and the fate of said character are inbound, avoid reading if one would like to pursue the verse without any spoilers for themself. |
| “ | I wrote my last will and testament because life is fleeting and you never know when you or a loved one will die. | „ |
| ~ Molly |
| “ | Aww... He’s a loser. | „ |
| ~ Molly to Rick Shades |
Background
Molly Blyndeff is a beleaguered 12-year-old girl who runs a family toy store in place of her neglectful father and sister. She winds up getting locked in the Sweet Jazz City Museum after hours during a school trip and is promptly roped into an insane plot over a mysterious amulet with the power to steal people's epithets.
Her Epithet, "Dumb", can mute and/or simplify objects or people. This application may vary, from creating a bubble that prevents sound from traveling in or out, to lowering the damage of an attack, to actually making someone less intelligent.
General Information
Name: Molly Blyndeff
Nicknames: Bear Trap by Giovanni
Origin: Epithet Erased
First Appearance: Epithet Erased Episode 1 "Quiet in the Museum!"
Latest Appearance: Epithet Erased Prison of Plastic
Company: VRV (The first season premiered on here)
Creator/Developers: Brendan Blaber (Youtube name: JelloApocalypse)
Actor: Dani Chambers
Sex: Female
Sexuality: Asexual
Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 12
Birthday: October 25th (Noted she was born on October 25th)
Homeworld: Earth
Residence: Sweet Jazz, Taiga Country[1], Epithet User, Inscribed, Temporary Member of the Banzai Blasters', Citizen of Taiga Country[2]
Story Role: Main Protagonist, Power User, Epithet User
Classification: Deepwood-Tagia Mix[3], Epithet User, Inscribed, Temporary Member of the Banzai Blasters', Citizen of Taiga Country[4]
Species: Human
State of Being: Regular
Physiology: Humanoid Physiology
Occupation: Toy Store Clerk
Affiliations: Giovanni Potage (Initially enemies, once joining him to escape Indus Tarbella and take down Mera Salamin, he became her boss, becoming essentially her father-figure/older brother figure), Trixie Roughhouse & Phoenica Fleecity (Her two best friends), Sylvester Ashling (Initially she only agreed to be friends with him to use him to defeat Mera, but after helping her out and offering free therapy, she considers him a genuine friend), Rick Shades (Initially didn't trust him, but became good friends with him near the end of Prison of Plastic), Naven Nuknuk (Molly's teacher, overall seems to help her out with many problems, teaches her how to use words correctly)
Enemies: Martin Blyndeff (Her dad, a really bad one), Lorelai Blyndeff (Her sister, plays an massive antagonist role against her during Prison of Plastic), Mera Salamin & Indus Tarbella (The main antagonists during the museum arc)
Height: 4'7" (Listed at this height in her Prison of Plastic infocard)
Status: Alive
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Despite how nice she seems, these moments were mere situations where being Service Industry Nice was the best call for her. She is described her as cunning and observant for a 12 year old, to the point where her toy store job taught her that the best way to get things done through manipulation, manipulated Sylvester Ashling by telling him she'd be his friend, could easily pinpoint that she and Giovanni Potage were nowhere near strong enough to deal with Mera on their own, instantly figured out Sylvester's powers, instantly figured out Beefton's weakness, negotiated with Indus Tarbella to release her, held Mera Salamin at bay by persuading her)
Threat Level At least Street Threat (Brendan Blaber stated that she is straight-up the smartest character in the show, and that she'd be extremely dangerous if she was a villain, which she was going down the line of becoming before she met with Giovanni Potage)
Codex Statistics
Key: Museum Heist | Prison of Plastic
Tier: 10-B. 2-C with Dumb | At least 10-B. 2-C with Dumb
Cardinality: Finite
Dimensionality: 3-D
Attack Potency: Average Human level (Molly is merely a 12 year old girl, with a basic stamina stat). Universe level with Dumb (Molly can completely destroy Lorelai Blyndeff's worlds where it's noted she creates entirely separate worlds that she can create anything she can imagine in it[5]. Together with Rick Shades destroyed her sister's entire world[6]) | At least Average Human level (Noted that the protagonist in the museum arc leveled up around 1-3 times, with Molly's being the most). Universe level with Dumb
Durability: Average Human level | At least Average Human level
Striking Strength: Average Human Class | At least Average Human Class
Lifting Strength: Regular Human | At least Regular Human
Travel Speed: Regular Human | Regular Human
Attack Speed: Supersonic | Supersonic
Reaction Speed: Supersonic (Can react to characters who can react to Percy who danced around bullets) | Supersonic
Stamina: Average
Range: Standard Melee Range, Unknown with her powers (Her powers are based on targetting something and dumbing it down), up to Universal with Dumb (Molly can completely destroy Lorelai Blyndeff's worlds where it's noted she creates entirely separate worlds that she can create anything she can imagine in it[7]. Together with Rick Shades destroyed her sister's entire world[8])
Intelligence: At least Gifted Intelligence (Despite her age is able to run a business, file taxes, etcetera. Brendan Blaber stated that she is straight-up the smartest character in the show, and that she'd be extremely dangerous if she was a villain. Described her as cunning and observant for a 12 year old, to the point where her toy store job taught her that the best way to get things done through manipulation, manipulated Sylvester Ashling by telling him she'd be his friend, could easily pinpoint that she and Giovanni Potage were nowhere near strong enough to deal with Mera on their own, instantly figured out Sylvester's powers, instantly figured out Beefton's weakness, negotiated with Indus Tarbella to release her, held Mera Salamin at bay by persuading her, all of this is stated to not be due to her epithet but just from her being smart. Can manipulate Zora Salazar into getting mad to make her look bad in front of everyone. It should be noted that Sylvester is a naturally trained psychologist who graduated at the age of 15 and she can easily manipulate him along with Mera who was capable of manipulating Sylvester)
Powers and Techniques
All previous powers and abilities, Spatial Manipulation (Used her special ability "Bear Paw", she can cut through space itself[17])
Notable Techniques
- Dumb: Her Epithet, "Dumb", can mute and/or simplify objects or people. This application may vary, from creating a bubble that prevents sound from traveling in or out, to lowering the damage of an attack, to actually making someone less intelligent.
- Silencing: Molly is able to silence specific people and objects.
- Silence Bubble: Creates a soundproof bubble around herself that mutes everything outside and inside.
- Silent But Deadly: A combo technique she performs with Giovanni Potage, Deafening the opponent while Giovanni attacks from behind undetected.
- Dumb Down:
- Dumb Down Intelligence: Molly can use this to hypnotize people by reducing their intelligence, making them highly suggestible.
- Dumb Down Attack/Pain: Reduces any pain she or others feel and reduces the amount of damage an attack can do. With this, she is able to create an aura of serenity to reduce a person's discomfort.
- Hushabye: Dispels summoned objects/entities by "dumbing them down to nothing". Molly notes that she's only used it on small summons and that larger summons will reappear quickly after she uses it. Along with this, it's unknown if she can do this to humans.
- Bear Paw/Brown Bear Paw: After being told by Giovanni to come up with a cool name for her attack, she was able to manipulate her dumb aura into a bear paw that cuts through space itself. She later calls it Brown Bear Paw so that Rick Shades can have the name Black Bear Paw.
Other
Standard Tactics
Molly initially doesn't believe her epithet can be used for attacks, more then likely due to her low self-esteem and confidence, though she has figured out she can use it to turn someone dumb, though she notes herself she's not really supposed to use it on people. This is further elaborated by Jello to be due to Molly associating "Dumb" with the inability to speak and thus she views it more as the ability to mute sounds[18]. Due to her associating it with this, Molly normally uses her dumb epithet to create silence bubbles in order to speak with an ally, or to distract an enemy so an ally can get a sneak attack on them, though she has also used it to dumb down one's attack along with their pain. Against summoned objects or beings, Molly will use hushabye, dumbing the summon down to nothing, she will not try this on a human as she doesn't know if it would work on them. Overall, Molly's tactics during season 1 greatly work off her low self-esteem and self-confidence, requiring an ally to help her fight against opponents, where they implement attacks while she uses her dumb epithet and observational skills to find a weakness to the enemy, stop/weaken attacks, or exploit a sneak attack on the opponent from an unsuspecting ally.
During Prison of Plastic, Molly has gained more confidence, gaining more abilities for her dumb epithet, such as making a "dumb" aura around her hands that she calls "Brown Bear Paw". Though from her perspective a lot of her newer attacks are only useful in summoned worlds like her sisters.
Weaknesses
- Standard Weaknesses: Epithet users abilities rely solely on how they associate the word, this could hinder them as they may have a far more limited aspect to a word that has thousands of applications[19]. Epithets are directly attached to an inscribed persons soul, thus any effect to their soul could by proxy affect their ability[20].
- Unique Weaknesses: Doesn't know the full extent of her dumb powers, doesn't know if hushaby works on humans, and it cannot work on bigger and stronger animals. She is also naturally not a combat fighter usually requiring help from others to beat an opponent. She has intense pyrophobia. Along with this, Molly has misophonia.
Note: The Among Us gag is non-canon though Brendan specifically states in the tweet how it would go if they actually did this, thus it's useable for what Molly can do.
Note 2: During Prison of Plastic Molly notes that her powers only really work so well in her sister's world, this is most likely due to the fact that she isn't fully aware of what she could do with her Dumb epithet, as shown during the scene where Molly uses "Hushabye", Giovani asks if she can do that to real people and she replies that she doesn't know. The other possibility is that her creativity and proficeny stats aren't high enough.
Miscellaneous Feats
Theme
Battle Records
5-2-0
- Banzai Blasters - Fight
- Conditions: Molly had help from Indus Tarbella.
- Location: Sweet Jazz Museum
- Timeframe: Middle of Episode 1
- Note: Molly had Indus Tarbella aid her, though he accidentally got himself stuck in a wall, having Molly resort to using her epithet to turn one of the banzai blasters dumb and attack another and defeating them.
- Sylvester Ashling - Full Fight
- Conditions: Molly had help from Giovanni Potage.
- Location: Sweet Jazz Museum
- Timeframe: Middle to the End of Episode 2, Beginning of Episode 3.
- Note: It's very likely Molly would've lost this without Givoanni's help as there's several times where his assitance saved her, such as when Giovanni used his soup aura to blow away Sylvester's sleep powder, or when Sylvester used nightmare fuel on Molly releasing her fear of fires, and Giovanni got her out of the fire circle. Though her epithet and observation did also contribute to the fight.
- Indus Tarbella - Fight
- Conditions: Molly needed to escape Indus who was trying to chase after her and bring her to Mera Salamin, with her outsmarting him, and Indus getting himself arrested by the police.
- Timeframe: Beginning of Episode 4.
- Mera Salamin - Fight
- Condition: Molly happened to be in the vent Mera dropped down on Beefton, where Molly had help from Sylvester Ashling and Giovanni Potage.
- Timeframe: Middle of Episode 4.
- Note: Molly would have definitely lost and lost her epithet if Sylvester and Giovanni did not aid in the fight as she only served to distract Mera for Giovanni to get a surprise hit on her.
- Lorelai Bylndeff - Fight[21]
- Condition: Molly had help from Rick Shades, Giovanni Potage, Trixie Roughouse, and Phoenica Fleecity, Lorelai had help from her summons.
- Timeframe: Prison of Plastic, Chapter 12.
- Note: Molly potentially would have lost without the help of her friends as they gave her the moral and emotional support, her sister left the fight midway after she thought she harmed Molly, giving her a PTSD moment to when her mom died during a fire, wondering if she was to blame for that. Molly and her friends went to defeat her dragon summon, doing a massive team attack that erased Lorelai's world.
- Conditions: Molly attempted to call the police but was stopped and captured. Giovanni has his minions with him.
- Location: Sweet Jazz Museum
- Timeframe: Middle of Episode 1
- Note: Molly didn't fight back and got grabbed by her hoodie by Giovanni after he used "Teleports Behind You".
- Mera Salamin & Indus Tarbella - Full Fight
- Conditions: Molly did not fight back and merely allowed herself to be captured.
- Location: Sweet Jazz Museum
- Timeframe: End of Episode 1 to Beginning of Episode 2
- Note: Molly initially thought that Mera and Indus were merely tour guides so she saved Mera by dumbing down Giovanni Potage's attack, before realizing that Mera and Indus were actually planning to rob the museum.
None.
References
- ↑ TAIGA COUNTRY - All of S1 takes place here. Sweet Jazz City is the capital. Heavily forested areas between large cities. Very cold winters. This is the only country where it snows. “Taiga Race’’ are light-skinned with light hair. Percy and Phoenica are Taiga Race.
DEEPWOOD COUNTRY - North of Taiga country. The forests get thicker and eventually transition into jungles full of glowing flora. The second half of S2 will take place in Deepwood Country. “Deepwood Race” people have dark skin and hair. Arnold and Howie are deepwood race. Molly is a Deepwood-Taiga mix. - ↑ TAIGA COUNTRY - All of S1 takes place here. Sweet Jazz City is the capital. Heavily forested areas between large cities. Very cold winters. This is the only country where it snows. “Taiga Race’’ are light-skinned with light hair. Percy and Phoenica are Taiga Race.
- ↑ TAIGA COUNTRY - All of S1 takes place here. Sweet Jazz City is the capital. Heavily forested areas between large cities. Very cold winters. This is the only country where it snows. “Taiga Race’’ are light-skinned with light hair. Percy and Phoenica are Taiga Race.
DEEPWOOD COUNTRY - North of Taiga country. The forests get thicker and eventually transition into jungles full of glowing flora. The second half of S2 will take place in Deepwood Country. “Deepwood Race” people have dark skin and hair. Arnold and Howie are deepwood race. Molly is a Deepwood-Taiga mix. - ↑ TAIGA COUNTRY - All of S1 takes place here. Sweet Jazz City is the capital. Heavily forested areas between large cities. Very cold winters. This is the only country where it snows. “Taiga Race’’ are light-skinned with light hair. Percy and Phoenica are Taiga Race.
- ↑ "Seventeen years old and an absolute brat. Her green eyes were almost like Molly’s, but just a little bit wrong. The younger sister had a quartet of dots in her iris arranged like holes in a button, while Lori’s trio of eye-dots danced in a triangle, bottom-side-up—a radioactive warning label. Her hair was the color of burnt caramel, dotted with honeycomb highlights that came together in a trio of blonde locks sticking out from the front, combed back into rabbit ears. The teenager glared at her little sister. She had come here to yell at her again. That was all she ever did. Ugh. Molly’s epithet could be used to make things quieter or to simplify them by “dumbing them down”. A volume dial to defend against sensory overload. Lorelai’s epithet, ☆Augment☆, was sensory overload incarnate. Where the younger sister could make things quiet, the older sister could make them louder. That said, Lori’s ability to manipulate noise wasn’t the problem. The real issue was her ability to augment reality. Ever since she was little, Lori could make what she called “Dream Bubbles”. They were a sort of pocket dimension, and inside each one was an entire world where Lorelai could manifest whatever she wanted. High fantasy castles, carnivals, ice cream parlors, you name it. So long as she could dream it, she could create it, and little girls are very creative. That said, little girls can also be very stubborn. Her powers had caused no shortage of difficulty for her parents growing up. When Lorelai was upset she would lock herself away inside one of her dream bubbles for hours or even days at a time, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Her worlds looked as flimsy as soap bubble spheres from the outside, something you could pop with a finger, but in reality their iridescent exterior was as hard as iron. When Lori was trapped in her own worlds, nobody could touch her. Nobody except for Molly. Molly’s ability was the antithesis of Lorelai’s. She could dumb down an idea until it no longer existed, simplify an entire paragraph of description to nothing but an ellipsis. Everything in Lori’s worlds was created from nothing, and no matter how complicated she made her myths and magics and monsters or how much time she spent on them, Molly could erase them. Lori hated her for that.
- ↑ "The dragons reared back and a fire-like glow emanated from their mouths. A thousand embers on the outside of the monster flared like a sheet of new, glittering scales. Magma blood pumped through the beast and its campfire maw opened one last time, charging a white-hot beam. Giovanni fidgeted. “What’s the plan, Bear Trap?!”
“Uhh . . . I think we just gotta go for it!”
“What, like, punch it?”
“Yeah! A really big bear punch! Rick, come over here!” Rick soared in by their side and readied himself, glowing with a black and purple aura. Molly grew a green one to match. “Boss, do you think you can carry me in my human form?”
“Sure. I’m pretty strong! Plus, you weigh about as much as a cantaloupe.”
“Yup! That's malnourishment for ya!” She smiled. Giovanni frowned, adding a mental note to get this poor baby some food later. He held out his arms and she slotted herself into them, transforming back to her full size. “If we all focus really hard and attack at the exact same time, we should be able to blow it up once and for all!” The energy accumulating at the front of the dragons’ mouth was nearly full to bursting now. They flew towards it, fighter pilots sailing into a bright, magnesium sun with burnt-sugar breath.
“Okay everyone!” Molly rallied, “All together! Just . . . think bear-y thoughts! Rick and I will do most of the heavy lifting, but we need your support!” She wasn’t sure how that would work, but somehow it felt right. Each of the intruders trespassing in the witch’s world braced themselves. Energy honed and harnessed into sharp points like the five claws of a bear paw. The black-and-green glow wrapped around them and Giovanni and Rick flapped their wings in preparation.
“Heh . . . so, gonna slay a dragon, huh?” Giovanni's mouth opened in a big, sideways, crocodile smile. “Careful, Bear Trap. It almost sounds like you’re trying to play hero.” She took her hands off her backpack straps and wrapped them around his arms instead.
“Heroes spend their whole lives doing everything for everyone else! I’m tired of that! We’re working together!” She smiled at him with the most earnest smile she’d had in her entire life. “I don’t wanna be a hero anymore!
“. . . I wanna be a bad guy!” The Five-Pronged Bear Paw met with the apocalyptic beam of its reptilian foe. Epithet clashed against epithet, roaring sound unified to deafening silence . . . And the world turned to ivory...
When the light cleared, the group found themselves back in the front room of the toy store. Molly had, appropriately, landed on the big teddy bear. Phoenica and Trixie were by her side, lying face-up on the cityscape floor mat. Rick was straddled across a pool floaty and Giovanni had somehow been crammed atop a shelf in the corner of the room. Naven was, miraculously, sitting upright in one of the kiddy chairs like he was waiting for another cup of tea. And Lorelai. Lorelai was kneeling on the floor, blinking in teary confusion. Her outfit was gone. Her world was gone. She was just an ordinary teenage girl with a roomful of people staring at her. After an afternoon that felt like a lifetime, the loud-mouthed girl with the unstoppable epithet wordlessly stood up . . . . . . and ran away. She sprinted up the old rickety staircase at the back of the store, slammed the door to her room, and locked it tight. The bad guy had been defeated. Trixie and Phoenica sang a victory tune and skipped in a circle. Rick, thinking this may be a ritual of some sort, decided to join them so as not to risk the anger of some unknown elder god of the deep. Molly trotted over to Naven and hugged him." - ↑ "Seventeen years old and an absolute brat. Her green eyes were almost like Molly’s, but just a little bit wrong. The younger sister had a quartet of dots in her iris arranged like holes in a button, while Lori’s trio of eye-dots danced in a triangle, bottom-side-up—a radioactive warning label. Her hair was the color of burnt caramel, dotted with honeycomb highlights that came together in a trio of blonde locks sticking out from the front, combed back into rabbit ears. The teenager glared at her little sister. She had come here to yell at her again. That was all she ever did. Ugh. Molly’s epithet could be used to make things quieter or to simplify them by “dumbing them down”. A volume dial to defend against sensory overload. Lorelai’s epithet, ☆Augment☆, was sensory overload incarnate. Where the younger sister could make things quiet, the older sister could make them louder. That said, Lori’s ability to manipulate noise wasn’t the problem. The real issue was her ability to augment reality. Ever since she was little, Lori could make what she called “Dream Bubbles”. They were a sort of pocket dimension, and inside each one was an entire world where Lorelai could manifest whatever she wanted. High fantasy castles, carnivals, ice cream parlors, you name it. So long as she could dream it, she could create it, and little girls are very creative. That said, little girls can also be very stubborn. Her powers had caused no shortage of difficulty for her parents growing up. When Lorelai was upset she would lock herself away inside one of her dream bubbles for hours or even days at a time, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Her worlds looked as flimsy as soap bubble spheres from the outside, something you could pop with a finger, but in reality their iridescent exterior was as hard as iron. When Lori was trapped in her own worlds, nobody could touch her. Nobody except for Molly. Molly’s ability was the antithesis of Lorelai’s. She could dumb down an idea until it no longer existed, simplify an entire paragraph of description to nothing but an ellipsis. Everything in Lori’s worlds was created from nothing, and no matter how complicated she made her myths and magics and monsters or how much time she spent on them, Molly could erase them. Lori hated her for that.
- ↑ "The dragons reared back and a fire-like glow emanated from their mouths. A thousand embers on the outside of the monster flared like a sheet of new, glittering scales. Magma blood pumped through the beast and its campfire maw opened one last time, charging a white-hot beam. Giovanni fidgeted. “What’s the plan, Bear Trap?!”
“Uhh . . . I think we just gotta go for it!”
“What, like, punch it?”
“Yeah! A really big bear punch! Rick, come over here!” Rick soared in by their side and readied himself, glowing with a black and purple aura. Molly grew a green one to match. “Boss, do you think you can carry me in my human form?”
“Sure. I’m pretty strong! Plus, you weigh about as much as a cantaloupe.”
“Yup! That's malnourishment for ya!” She smiled. Giovanni frowned, adding a mental note to get this poor baby some food later. He held out his arms and she slotted herself into them, transforming back to her full size. “If we all focus really hard and attack at the exact same time, we should be able to blow it up once and for all!” The energy accumulating at the front of the dragons’ mouth was nearly full to bursting now. They flew towards it, fighter pilots sailing into a bright, magnesium sun with burnt-sugar breath.
“Okay everyone!” Molly rallied, “All together! Just . . . think bear-y thoughts! Rick and I will do most of the heavy lifting, but we need your support!” She wasn’t sure how that would work, but somehow it felt right. Each of the intruders trespassing in the witch’s world braced themselves. Energy honed and harnessed into sharp points like the five claws of a bear paw. The black-and-green glow wrapped around them and Giovanni and Rick flapped their wings in preparation.
“Heh . . . so, gonna slay a dragon, huh?” Giovanni's mouth opened in a big, sideways, crocodile smile. “Careful, Bear Trap. It almost sounds like you’re trying to play hero.” She took her hands off her backpack straps and wrapped them around his arms instead.
“Heroes spend their whole lives doing everything for everyone else! I’m tired of that! We’re working together!” She smiled at him with the most earnest smile she’d had in her entire life. “I don’t wanna be a hero anymore!
“. . . I wanna be a bad guy!” The Five-Pronged Bear Paw met with the apocalyptic beam of its reptilian foe. Epithet clashed against epithet, roaring sound unified to deafening silence . . . And the world turned to ivory...
When the light cleared, the group found themselves back in the front room of the toy store. Molly had, appropriately, landed on the big teddy bear. Phoenica and Trixie were by her side, lying face-up on the cityscape floor mat. Rick was straddled across a pool floaty and Giovanni had somehow been crammed atop a shelf in the corner of the room. Naven was, miraculously, sitting upright in one of the kiddy chairs like he was waiting for another cup of tea. And Lorelai. Lorelai was kneeling on the floor, blinking in teary confusion. Her outfit was gone. Her world was gone. She was just an ordinary teenage girl with a roomful of people staring at her. After an afternoon that felt like a lifetime, the loud-mouthed girl with the unstoppable epithet wordlessly stood up . . . . . . and ran away. She sprinted up the old rickety staircase at the back of the store, slammed the door to her room, and locked it tight. The bad guy had been defeated. Trixie and Phoenica sang a victory tune and skipped in a circle. Rick, thinking this may be a ritual of some sort, decided to join them so as not to risk the anger of some unknown elder god of the deep. Molly trotted over to Naven and hugged him." - ↑ Just a question about the scene in Episode 4 where Mera is defeated. I get that it's a cartoon and all and that the impact is exaggerated for effect, but we've been told all this stuff about how fragile Mera is, and then she gets hit so hard that she flies through the air and smacks into a wall hard enough to make an indent. It seems a bit odd, even with the "broken bones" line. Some people suggest Molly dumbed down her epithet so she wasn't as fragile when Giovanni hit her, was this the case?
No it’s just a big final attack, nothing fancy about it.
Everything operates by like… JRPG video games rules in Epithet. You can get shot in the head and it just deals some damage. It’s super hard to *kill* somebody. - ↑ The characters don’t know this, but epithets exist in the Epithet Erased universe because everyone in this world speaks the exact same language. The in-universe rule is that once every member of a species speaks the same language, the words of that language begin to manifest physically because everybody understands them. This means that any word with a widely-understood meaning can become an epithet.
- ↑ A word needs to enter the collective public’s understanding before it can be an epithet. This means a word that only you and your friends use cannot be an epithet, but a slang term common across a major metropolitan area could be.
- ↑ "Seventeen years old and an absolute brat. Her green eyes were almost like Molly’s, but just a little bit wrong. The younger sister had a quartet of dots in her iris arranged like holes in a button, while Lori’s trio of eye-dots danced in a triangle, bottom-side-up—a radioactive warning label. Her hair was the color of burnt caramel, dotted with honeycomb highlights that came together in a trio of blonde locks sticking out from the front, combed back into rabbit ears. The teenager glared at her little sister. She had come here to yell at her again. That was all she ever did. Ugh. Molly’s epithet could be used to make things quieter or to simplify them by “dumbing them down”. A volume dial to defend against sensory overload. Lorelai’s epithet, ☆Augment☆, was sensory overload incarnate. Where the younger sister could make things quiet, the older sister could make them louder. That said, Lori’s ability to manipulate noise wasn’t the problem. The real issue was her ability to augment reality. Ever since she was little, Lori could make what she called “Dream Bubbles”. They were a sort of pocket dimension, and inside each one was an entire world where Lorelai could manifest whatever she wanted. High fantasy castles, carnivals, ice cream parlors, you name it. So long as she could dream it, she could create it, and little girls are very creative. That said, little girls can also be very stubborn. Her powers had caused no shortage of difficulty for her parents growing up. When Lorelai was upset she would lock herself away inside one of her dream bubbles for hours or even days at a time, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Her worlds looked as flimsy as soap bubble spheres from the outside, something you could pop with a finger, but in reality their iridescent exterior was as hard as iron. When Lori was trapped in her own worlds, nobody could touch her. Nobody except for Molly. Molly’s ability was the antithesis of Lorelai’s. She could dumb down an idea until it no longer existed, simplify an entire paragraph of description to nothing but an ellipsis. Everything in Lori’s worlds was created from nothing, and no matter how complicated she made her myths and magics and monsters or how much time she spent on them, Molly could erase them. Lori hated her for that.
- ↑ “Okay . . .” Molly began pacing back and forth like a drill sergeant. “Rick has never met my sister, so let me explain how this works. My sister Lori can shoot us with those magic blast thingies, right? If she ever hits you with a spell like that. Ever. Even once! Then you’ll get popped back outside of the bubble. It doesn’t matter where you are inside of the bubble, if you’re hit, then that means that you go all the way back to the start.” She lifted a fist to the edge of the dream bubble and exploded out her fingers. The sphere opened, revealing the cobblestone bridge and the garden beyond. “It might take us hours to find Lori, but if she hits us one time, then we’re back at the bridge. My epithet is the only way you can get back into the bubble.” She kicked the bubble to demonstrate. Her foot dinged off the surface and it echoed like something hollow and iron. “That means if any of you guys get knocked out, you’ll be stuck outside.”
- ↑ “Get out, get out, get OUT!” Lori squawked! A barrage of bunny-eared bubbles soared through the woods and exploded around their feet. Rick, who was unfamiliar with his little lizard legs, didn’t stand a chance. One of the bubbles collided against his side and he was gone. Molly covered her hands in glowing epithet energy like boxing gloves and popped the spells away by punching them before they could hit her."
- ↑ "Seventeen years old and an absolute brat. Her green eyes were almost like Molly’s, but just a little bit wrong. The younger sister had a quartet of dots in her iris arranged like holes in a button, while Lori’s trio of eye-dots danced in a triangle, bottom-side-up—a radioactive warning label. Her hair was the color of burnt caramel, dotted with honeycomb highlights that came together in a trio of blonde locks sticking out from the front, combed back into rabbit ears. The teenager glared at her little sister. She had come here to yell at her again. That was all she ever did. Ugh. Molly’s epithet could be used to make things quieter or to simplify them by “dumbing them down”. A volume dial to defend against sensory overload. Lorelai’s epithet, ☆Augment☆, was sensory overload incarnate. Where the younger sister could make things quiet, the older sister could make them louder. That said, Lori’s ability to manipulate noise wasn’t the problem. The real issue was her ability to augment reality. Ever since she was little, Lori could make what she called “Dream Bubbles”. They were a sort of pocket dimension, and inside each one was an entire world where Lorelai could manifest whatever she wanted. High fantasy castles, carnivals, ice cream parlors, you name it. So long as she could dream it, she could create it, and little girls are very creative. That said, little girls can also be very stubborn. Her powers had caused no shortage of difficulty for her parents growing up. When Lorelai was upset she would lock herself away inside one of her dream bubbles for hours or even days at a time, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Her worlds looked as flimsy as soap bubble spheres from the outside, something you could pop with a finger, but in reality their iridescent exterior was as hard as iron. When Lori was trapped in her own worlds, nobody could touch her. Nobody except for Molly. Molly’s ability was the antithesis of Lorelai’s. She could dumb down an idea until it no longer existed, simplify an entire paragraph of description to nothing but an ellipsis. Everything in Lori’s worlds was created from nothing, and no matter how complicated she made her myths and magics and monsters or how much time she spent on them, Molly could erase them. Lori hated her for that.
- ↑ "She lifted her wand in the air and cast the largest spell yet: “Your hearts are so ugly and you always bug me! I don’t want to hear it . . . let form reflect SPIRIT~!” Hot, angry magic began raining down on the girls like meteors. Molly’s priority split. She was the only one who could block the incom-ing attacks, but Phoenica and Trixie were standing on opposite sides! She feinted one way, then the other, locked in indecision. Chasing two rabbits and catching none. With a little yelp, shooting stars collided into her friends, helpless and hurt, all because she let them come along with her. All because she made her sister mad. When the biggest star of all rained down from the heavens, Molly didn’t even dodge it. She felt like she deserved it. For speaking up. For getting angry. She wasn’t supposed to get angry. This was her fault. She didn’t hear what Lorelai said to her as the witch dived back into the water. She didn’t feel herself begin to change as the spell took effect. Molly didn’t even notice that her body had become as small as she felt. A little gnat. Nothing more than a tiny brown puffball with little itty bitty wings and two big round, sad eyes, floating alone above the bridge. “Molly . . . !” . . . “. . . Molly!!!” She blinked out of dissociation. Trixie and Feenie were there in front of her, except that their propor-tions were wrong. They were larger than she was now, but at the same time far too small. She got a better look at them as her brain came back into focus. Her two friends had been morphed into some sort of small fae crea-tures. Maybe a fairy or a pixie or something. Feenie’s long blonde hair was now adorned with a golden halo and she was held aloft by lace wings that looked as though they’d been fashioned out of a frilled doily. Trixie had wings too, but hers were intricate and bent like an iron fence at a graveyard. She wore a black reaper hoodie with teeny horns popping out of her pink hair like glow sticks and a long, thin tail shaped like an arrow. A little neon imp. Her one eye was huge and cutesy. The two of them looked like they belonged on the top of a Christmas tree or a wedding cake. Rick—behind them—was still a lizard. He was the largest of them now. The girls fretted over Molly, wanting to help but hesitant to touch her. She was . . . so small . . . barely more than a dust speck with wings. “Are you okay?” Trixie asked. She wasn’t okay. She felt so tiny. The world around her had become endlessly enormous and the cobblestone bridge was now a miles-long parking lot. She felt terrible. But . . . She thought about her friends, transformed by her failures. She thought about her teacher who had been kidnapped by a witch. She thought about her Boss, in danger of falling under her sister’s spell. She had people to help. She had a job to do. It didn’t matter how she felt. Trixie and Phoenica craned their heads upwards as the little dust speck that was their friend glowed with an inscribed light and Molly slowly grew back into her regular size. “I’m sorry,” she said, offering them a pathetically weak smile. The kind of smile you might flash in front of a firing line. “I can use my own epithet to keep myself in normal form, but . . . I think I’ll get too tired if I use it on more than one person. You guys can ride on my shoulders, if you want? . . . Sorry.” The others frowned. They landed on one shoulder each. Phoenica patted her softly."
- ↑ "“Oof! That is hot!” Giovanni said, heat blasting past him and shaking the air. “Bear Trap, are you alright? Gasp! Bear Trap!” His eyes widened. The giant tail they had just chopped off earlier was moving around on its own, jerking back and forth like the severed limb of a salamander. It seemed to have a mind of its own . . . and its sharp, fire-poker tip was headed straight for Molly!
“BEAR PAW!”
The air severed! Molly’s little arm cut down in front of her and slashed through space, distorting the entire oncoming tail and popping it like a balloon! Little marshmallow remnants flitted through the air like confetti, then glittered away into nothingness. Molly looked down at her hand, breathing hard. The visualized waveforms around her fingers had converged into big spiked mitts, just like a grizzly bear claw.
“Yeah! Okay! I’ll copy that, then!” said Rick. “Bear Paw!” He shouted the same chant and a huge, purple-black claw literally deleted the fire bearing down on them. The flame split and snuffed out like a candle. “Wow! That’s way stronger than before!” Wow. . . . Incredible. She’d never been able to use her epithet like that on command before. Was it because she’d been using her powers so much lately? Against Mera? Against her sister? Was it because she had practiced and got better? Or did shouting out the name of your attack really make it that much stronger? She wasn’t sure. But she did know one thing. It was fun. She felt cool. She felt useful. She felt strong. Behind her Giovanni was giving Rick pointers on his evil etiquette along with the relevant page numbers in the Bad Guy Manual.
“Listen, Shades. I get it. You copy powers with a dark twist. It’s cool. It’s rad. But you gotta put a spin on it! You can’t just crib it directly. That’s not cool. And you can’t wear those sunglasses unless you’re cool.”" - ↑ If a word has multiple concepts or associations (such as Molly’s ‘Dumb”) then the user may tap into as many of these meanings as their creativity allows. Often times users will tend to drift towards one specific connotation of their Epithet. For instance, Molly associates “Dumb” with the inability to speak, and thus her powers manifest as the ability to mute sounds. She can also use the other definitions, but she is not as skilled at these and typically does not tap into them unless she is under duress.
- ↑ If a word has multiple concepts or associations (such as Molly’s ‘Dumb”) then the user may tap into as many of these meanings as their creativity allows. Oftentimes users will tend to drift towards one specific connotation of their Epithet. For instance, Molly associates “Dumb” with the inability to speak, and thus her powers manifest as the ability to mute sounds. She can also use the other definitions, but she is not as skilled at these and typically does not tap into them unless she is under duress.
- ↑ Inscribed people are born with their epithet attached to their soul at birth. It is completely randomized whether or not you will have one, and what your word will be.
- ↑ Epithet Erased - Prison of Plastic Chapter 12 "A Little Burnt, But Still Good"
