1) what characters inspired gabe and alina?

oooh i like this question. for gabe, it was definitely neville longbottom, who he shares a lot of traits with, and, to be super niche, probably prince frederic from the hero's guide series?? i don't know how many of you know him but he's definitely a coward at first and slowly learns to be brave and embrace his own strengths.

for alina... i'm honestly not sure. it's been so long since she came to me, and i really can't think of any characters who really inspired her. sorry for such a disappointing answer ahaha.

2) what sort of characters would they make in d&d? like, what class would they play (different from the class they ARE) and what race and personality and that sort of thing.

before i start, i just have to say that i've never played d&d before, and i might get some things wrong lmfaoo. so sorry if that happens.

anyway, alina has always played the druid. her character is named cassie dawnriser, and was a half-elf abandoned in the forest when she was a baby, only to be found by another druid and raised with an appreciation of nature. but she also happens to be an ass-kicking badass who's loyal as a lion, and quite street-smart.

gabe's wizard, which he originally did name gabe the great (he was under pressure, okay!) is gem whitbloom, a human whose magical potential was seen by his aunt, and sent off to the arcane academy. gem is quiet during the day, though he does have a michevious streak, and often pranks the other members of the party. he's also very brave (basically what gabe wanted to be irl) and strong.

sorry it's not very detailed!! i'm not really the expert on D&D yet (though i'd LOVE to play it someday)

3) hogwarts houses for all of them?? family included, not just alina and gabe.

alina is DEFINITELY a gryffindor. she's extremely brave, chivalrous, and selfless (and her energy matches the house colours!! it was meant to be!!). i think gabe is a gryffindor, too. he was originally going to be put into hufflepuff, but since i realized how much he's like neville, i realized that he's definitely a gryffindor, especially during paroxysm.

 i think brandon is definitely a hufflepuff, because he's loyal, patient, hardworking, and very dedicated, dolores is a slytherin and so is nicole (you'll see why in the one-shot i'm gonna post soon :)), and george (the first) is a ravenclaw. as for linda and george the second?? muggles. they don't deserve to go to hogwarts.

4) were there other ships you ever considered? or was it always sinclairgrieves and gill?

when i was in the very very early stages of planning for acatalepsy, i was originally thinking of alina and dustin being endgame. which is really weird to think about now, but back then, i hadn't developed alina's character as much, so it made perfect sense, and back then dustin was a super underrated character (honestly, most of the fics were for mike or steve). then i decided on lucas, because he had literally no fics, and everything fell into place from there. for gabe, it was always going to be will :)

5) how did you choose their faceclaims? were there any others you considered?

i chose alina's faceclaim by literally just going through faceclaim books to try to find one to match the image in my head of her lmfaooo. i got very lucky with sofia wylie, who turned out to be very, very close to what i always pictured alina to look like. as for gabe, he was originally going to be an it oc, and i remember going through faceclaim books for him, too, though at first i ended up using niles fitch for him. then i changed it to chosen jacobs once i realized he'd be a better fit.

6) if they could choose a superpower, what would they choose? again, family included.

okay so, if alina could choose a superpower other than her energy, she'd probably choose flying, as the inherent freedom that comes with it would definitely appeal to her. she'd totally adore flying over to her friend's houses and pulling pranks on them from the air, lmfaoo. as for gabe... well, this one's a little sadder. he'd probably want invulnerability, as he's been abused and beat down so many times in his life, and it makes him feel weak. if he was invulnerable, he'd know that he could protect his friends and not end up in the hospital for three weeks, so that would be the power he'd choose. brandon would probably choose super strength, so he could protect his daughter. dolores would definitely have x-ray vision or laser beams. nicole is... well, she's a toddler, but she'd probably choose telekinesis, to levitate anything she wants her way. george would probably want to stop time, and that's only so he could have a nap. 

i'm not doing linda or george the second here because i hate them both :)

7) what sort of shows/books/movies would they be into in modern times? 

alina would DEFINITELY be into the new star wars trilogy (though she'd hate rise of skywalker for... obvious reasons). she'd love rey and finn and poe and would honestly be a hardcore finnpoe shipper LMFAOO. she'd also love marvel movies, and be obsessed with scarlet witch and captain marvel, for obvious reasons. for shows... i feel like she'd love cartoon shows like avatar, she-ra, gravity falls, the owl house, etc. and because she's not like, an avid reader, she'd probably be more into graphic novels and manga.

gabe would TOTALLY be an umbrella academy stan. he'd definitely relate to vanya, being the underdog of the team, and would love when she finally figures out her abilities (he'd also love her relationship with sissy). he'd also definitely be into studio ghibli movies, especially spirited away and castle in the sky, along with loving harry potter, where neville would totally be his favourite character :)) in terms of books, he'd definitely gravitate towards the percy jackson and hunger games series.

8) what other fictional characters (outside of stranger things) do you think they'd get along most with?

okay, this one's obvious, but gabe would LOVE neville. the two of them are so alike, and they could both spend HOURS talking about their specific adventures and how they learned to stand up for themselves and stop being such doormats. he'd also LOVE bow from she-ra, as they're both super wholesome and just want their friends to be happy 🥺🥺 i feel like he'd honestly look up to him LMFAOO. 

also, chidi from the good place!! gabe would LOVE chidi and would probably ask him a million questions LMFAOOO. they're a lot alike, and i feel like chidi would grow a fondness for gabe :)))

alina and lyra from his dark materials would be BESTIES and you can't tell me otherwise. they'd both bond over their shitty birthmothers and the fact that they've found their own families, along with the fact that they're both kids plunged into a war they didn't start, losing loved ones along the way. second would definitely be alina and suki... but alina would probably end up leaving lucas for her in the end 😭

also, alina and coraline??? i mean, i can just see it. again, these are two girls who have found themselves in situations too dangerous for any kid to ever go through, and they'd probably love having someone to talk to about it. 

9) are you gonna do season four?

i'm planning on it! :)

10) how do alina's friends react to her singing in front of them?

well, you've already seen max, el, lucas, and dustin (max and el heard her back at the sleepover, and were honestly very impressed with her skills) but for the others... mike probably would just be like "lol whatever, idc", gabe would definitely applaud her openly and ask her for lessons later LMFAOO and will would literally just be like "oh, you're good at SINGING, too? no fair!"

11) how did you come up with alina's backstory? she has a very interesting and specific story, was it based off personal experiences perhaps?

thank you!! first of all, i'd like to say, no, alina's backstory was not based on personal experiences. i am very fortunate that i never had a linda in my life, and both of my parents are more brandon. second of all, i honestly have no idea how i came up with alina's backstory. i think brandon came from the idea that i wanted to have a superpowered oc that didn't reside in hawkins lab, and i needed to find a plausible way to do it. so, i decided that her dad would work in the lab, and that he'd kept her hidden so she didn't get experimented on. as for linda... i think i just needed a reason for her powers to first show, tbh. she was a lot less evil in the first draft... i just like inflicting pain on my characters so i doubled it ahaha

12) what are random fun facts about your oc's that never made it into the story for one reason or another?

ooh i actually don't have many of these...

-you know the scene in season two where joyce tells will the story of when he was younger and he gave a girl his toy truck? well, i always headcanoned that girl to be alina :) i was actually going to make it canon in mad'ouk, before deciding the scene would be better if alina wasn't physically present when joyce, jonathan and mike were trying to get to will

-in the first drafts of the series, alina had the ability to shape her energy into objects, like fireworks or blocks or whatever. i took it out because it was literally so stupid 😭

-gabe used to be an it oc, and was played by niles fitch, who's now a faceclaim in my other stranger things fic (which is unpublished for now).

13) how are you?

i'm okay! thank you :)

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: sorry this literally took a year to post wtf. i was procrastinating the d&d question so much because i had to do research for it... i still don't know much about d&d but hopefully i got it right?? idk.

before this book is officially marked completed, i have to ask: for the one-shots, would you prefer i put them in this book, or make a whole new book meant just for drabbles?? if i did that, i could also write one-shots for my umbrella academy fic, but i know not a lot of you reading this have read that ahaha. 

thank you guys so much for all of the support, it still blows me away holy shit. i love you all :)