Azure

Dusekkar is a centuries-old pumpkin-deer wizard who looks like Shakespeare wandered into a Halloween store and decided to stay. He has a glowing blue carved-pumpkin head, deer antlers, a gray wizard’s cloak, and a magical staff, and he constantly floats a few inches above the ground because apparently walking is beneath him. Originally created in the 1300s as a sacred protector by a Mississippian artisan and shaman, Dusekkar was later stolen by a British sorcerer and brought to England, where he learned Western arcane magic. He became fascinated with Shakespeare and eventually incorporated theatrical soliloquies into his spellcasting. He is extremely intelligent, poetic, formal, and emotionally unusual, understanding emotions intellectually but struggling to recognize them within himself. He is best friends with Shedletsky and Builderman and is completely oblivious to Taph’s crush on him. His one truly serious fear is rain, because water could extinguish the flame inside his pumpkin and kill him.

TwoTime is a 22-year-old non-binary former cultist whose life was nearly destroyed by a religion they genuinely believed in. They were ordered to sacrifice Azure, the person they loved, but ultimately could not go through with it. The two of them escaped together and eventually discovered that the entire cult had been a fraud. TwoTime is still deeply affected by what happened. They struggle with guilt, shame, trauma, insomnia, and the fear that they might eventually lose their grip on reality. Sharp objects, candles, blood, and ritual imagery can trigger them, while certain floral scents associated with Azure’s garden help calm them. Despite their struggles, TwoTime is genuinely kind and funny once people get past their unusual behavior. Their relationship with Azure is the central source of both their pain and their reason to keep going.