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French OCs

Set in the near future (currently ~2036-2039), a polyamorous group of young adults in France discover a lot about their relationships, their families, and themselves. Their stories explore themes of self-acceptance, codependence, complicated relationships, family, trauma recovery, grief, faith, and more.The 'main' OCs of the group are Nzuzi and Nsimba, identical twins from DR Congo, Nsimba's girlfriend Mila, and her boyfriend Lucas (who also starts dating Nzuzi). Their stories also intricately involve some of their parents in ways that cause them to be equally fleshed-out characters as the story went on (thus the eventual need for this wiki to keep everything straight!).This wiki is a constant work in progress and will change as the story develops through our roleplays.

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Fanart Guidelines

Fanart is more than welcome of our OCs! We just have a few guidelines.

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Timeline + Character Ages

Nzuzi

Nzuzi is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who now lives in France. He has a blind twin brother, Nsimba, that migrated with him. Nzuzi is energetic and flamboyantly queer, but has a very shy and quiet side when he’s in new and unfamiliar situations. He works at a daycare by day and a burlesque club by night, and has a history of doing survival work on the streets as a youth to make ends meet for himself and his brother. They now are better off, with a small apartment and (just) enough food on the table. Nzuzi is bilingual in Lingala and French, though his language and grammar can occasionally be slightly stilted in both.

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Physical Appearance

Nzuzi is passionately queer, and that shows through his fashion choices. He’s talented at putting together outfits, always from the discount section of stores, which has led him to having many vintage and retro touches to his style, like floral blouses or tattoo chokers. He can pull off clothes few others can, but he also has a more classically queer style: crop tops, tight and revealing jeans, and his favorite combat boots. He also has his nipples pierced, sporting simple gold bars.Nzuzi wears his hair in long dreadlocks, with a small undercut and gold hair jewelry. He often wears it tied back into a ponytail, with a few loose bangs. However, he eventually starts wearing it down more, as his friend/lover Lucas particularly adores that style. Nzuzi loves gold eyeshadow and highlighter, and will almost never be spotted without lipgloss.Nzuzi is also unusually tall, and extremely thin from regularly underfeeding himself, due to both a scarcity mindset from childhood homelessness and a habit of always giving his brother extra food at the sacrifice of himself. Nzuzi and Nsimba are identical twins, though Nzuzi is much thinner than his brother. Nzuzi also has a thick scar on his arm, from a childhood injury, and one on his lower stomach, from an emergency appendectomy.

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Personality

Nzuzi has two distinct sides to his personality. He can be incredibly chatty and social when he feels comfortable, but if he’s just meeting someone for the first time, he tends to fall to the background and remains very quiet. At times, he experiences selective mutism, although it was far more common as a child than it is as an adult.Nzuzi can often come off as catty or rude, which is mainly due to him misreading situations and poorly explaining his emotions. For a long time, Mila thought Nzuzi was mean, but in truth, it’s just his neurodivergent way of communicating with those he knows.Nzuzi is also very self-sacrificial. He’ll always put his twin before him, even at serious consequences to his own health — eventually even leading to him having a heart attack at only 19 years old.

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Disabilities

Nzuzi is multiply disabled, although he doesn’t consider himself a disabled person, mainly due to him always comparing himself to his blind twin.As a child, while in the orphanage, Nzuzi was diagnosed autistic due to a combination of selective mutism and intellectual disability. He struggled in traditional schooling, only talked with his twin, and was incredibly shy. It took him a long time to gain fluency in French. As an adult, he is not a proficient reader or writer. He can be a quick learner with some things, but only when given clear instructions. He still occasionally deals with selective mutism as an adult, but mostly in cases with authority figures like in hospitals, with immigration officials, and in school settings.At age 19, Nzuzi also suffered a sudden heart attack due to previously undiagnosed Long QT syndrome, combined with dehydration, malnutrition, overworking, and antibiotics. Fortunately, he was at his daycare job at the time, and his fellow staff members were both CPR and AED trained, and were able to save his life. Although his ongoing risk factors are low if he stays hydrated and well-fed, he takes preventive beta blockers, and eventually gets surgery for an implanted ICD in case he has another attack.Nsimba was also tested after this, since Long QT syndrome is genetic. During this genetic test, it was discovered both of the identical twins are intersex with XYY syndrome, which caused their unusually tall height and Nzuzi’s intellectual disability. Nzuzi eventually comes to identify with being intersex (though Nsimba doesn't).

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Childhood

Nzuzi was born during the 2018 Ebola epidemic, in a rural village of only around one hundred people, between Lake Tumba and the Congo River, on the Western side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the second-born twin.His childhood was simple, mainly consisting of learning to fish and harvest. Sometimes, the children of their village would cross the river to a nearby larger village that had a television, playing some TV shows and movies in French for the children. They didn’t know much of the language, as they were native Lingala speakers, but enjoyed the entertainment. It was a fairly happy life, until Nzuzi blamed his older twin for hurting him after a simple sibling squabble.His parents and the village elders decided, at that point, that Nsimba (the elder twin) was a 'demonic' spirit called a Kindoki, a belief influenced by Belgian colonialism, and had to be exorcized for the sake of the village. Nsimba was also blamed for the Ebola epidemic around the twins’ birth, and Nzuzi was considered to have protected the actual village from experiencing the virus (as it was only nearby, not in their village).When Nsimba returned from the ritual, he had been blinded and burned. Nzuzi worked hard to raise money for Nsimba to be moved to a hospital that could treat the infections on his burns, traveling over three hours to find gold and sell it with his mother. Nzuzi otherwise refused to leave his twin’s side, and was transported with him to a medical center in Mbandaka, but the rest of their family stayed behind.When Nsimba was healthy enough to return home, the missionaries at the hospital said their family never showed. Nzuzi was never sure whether this was true, or if the white missionaries decided the twins were 'better off' in France.

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Migration

At age six, both twins were considered abandoned and moved to France as part of a missionary group to ‘rescue’ children from Congo. This wrongful savior mentality separated them from their families and left them orphaned in the south of France. They were given state assigned names and birthdays, and were assumed to be a year older than they actually were.After being granted residence as refugee children, they were sent to live in an orphanage in Marseille. They remained there until age 11, when Nzuzi was fostered to a local family, separated from his twin, who was considered ‘un-adoptable’ due to his disabilities. After only 5 nights, Nzuzi ran away from his foster family and took Nsimba away from the orphanage while he was on his way to school.From this point on, the twins lived on the streets. When they were almost caught by police in Marseille, they hitchhiked to Lyon, fearful that if they were caught they would be separated again. Nzuzi was unwilling to abandon his brother, even if that meant difficult survival street work and being unhoused for years.Because of their migration, the twins became stateless, as they had no formal citizenship or birth documents in the DR Congo or France. They were able to maintain their permanent residency, although had no identifying documents until Nzuzi contacted the orphanage once he was of majority age to get what they needed for an ID card.Neither Nzuzi nor Nsimba has a formal education. Nzuzi, because of his learning and intellectual disability, had only completed grade four by the time they ran away.

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Adulthood

Upon becoming a legal adult in France at age 16, Nzuzi was able to get a part time job. He also found an apartment in a cheaper area of Lyon. He slowly worked his way from a restaurant dishwasher and street worker into a burlesque club as a bartender. He then transitioned into a full time job as a daycare worker, keeping his bartending job in the evenings.At age 19, he suffered a sudden massive heart attack due to overworking, among other factors (described in the disability section, above). After, he was promoted into a more administrative position, with slightly higher full-time pay. With his lack of education, he eventually struggles with this position, despite his incredibly hard work ethic.Nzuzi deals with mixed feelings about his survival work. As an adult, there were aspects he was fine with, and felt he had agency in, and others he was traumatized by. He hopes to move out of this work, but can't make enough money from just his other two jobs to fully support him and Nsimba's needs.

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Relationships

Nzuzi’s closest relationship is, and will always be, with his twin. Nsimba has always come before anyone, as Nzuzi sees himself as his protector and caregiver after he got burned. Him and Nsimba have their own twin-speak, a combination of Lingala, tactile signing, and French that formed in their isolation from others both at the orphanage and on the streets.Nzuzi also becomes incredibly close with Lucas. They met through Nsimba’s girlfriend, Mila, as Lucas is also Mila’s partner. Lucas seemed to understand Nzuzi well and the two quickly became friends, even while Lucas was still finishing his culinary degree in Paris. When they hook up on a Mila-sponsored trip to Korea, they become even closer, although it takes them another half a year after to finally start dating.Lucas and Nzuzi almost met much earlier in life, as it was actually Lucas’ aunt and uncle that had fostered Nzuzi at age 11 with the intent to adopt him. But, they missed meeting then, as Nzuzi ran away before Lucas came down to Marseille to meet his new foster cousin.Upon discovering this connection as an adult, Nzuzi decided to reconnect with Lucas’ aunt and uncle, Marion and Ousmane. Nzuzi had felt safe and nurtured in their household, and had often longed for them to find and adopt both him and his brother on cold nights in the streets, but believed they had decided to only take him and not his twin, which led to his initial running away as a kid. When he reconnected with his foster mother, she explained that the orphanage had hid that Nzuzi had a twin, assuming his inability to speak with adults would prevent the foster parents from ever knowing.Nzuzi, and soon Nsimba, grew incredibly close to their almost-foster family as adults, feeling like they had parents they could finally rely on. Nzuzi, who was incredibly overworked and stressed, welcomed the support from their family.

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Nsimba

Nsimba is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who now lives in France. He has a twin brother, Nzuzi, that migrated with him. Nsimba is friendly and playful, and loves to makes jokes. Unfortunately, he has very few friends, due to his isolation as a blind person and burn survivor, which caused significant facial difference. Nsimba is trilingual in Lingala, French, and English. He reads many audiobooks, which led to him learning English, and knows many random facts about the world that he likes to excitedly share.

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Physical Appearance

Nsimba doesn’t dress or choose his own styling for the most part, deferring that to his sighted twin, Nzuzi. Nsimba does refuse to be dressed in yellow, his least favorite color, and likes to have his hair dyed in a bright colored ombré.He wears his hair in medium-length twists that cover a majority of his upper face, where his burn scars are the most significant. His burn injury left him with very noticeable keloid scarring and differently shaped eyes that partially have skin growing over them. He also has no eyelashes and only a tiny few sparse eyebrow hairs left. Although those close to him adore the uniqueness of his face, Nsimba is incredibly self-conscious about it due to the judgment of the French public, who often refuse to help him, opting to act instead in fear of him.Nsimba is also unusually tall, and somewhat muscular, since he had a lot of alone time in his apartment to work out while Nzuzi works at his multiple jobs. He is identical to Nzuzi, although looks quite different due to his muscle tone and burn scars.

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Personality

Nsimba has a childish and fun personality. He loves to joke with his friends and appreciates being given a lot of attention, especially from his twin brother. He’s easily excitable and mesmerized, and is extremely curious about the world around him.Nsimba is autistic, like his brother, but unlike Nzuzi, he does not have an intellectual disability. Nsimba is an incredibly quick learner and often seeks out new knowledge in any way he can, whether through adult schooling, podcasts, blogs, and more. He’s also an avid reader and writer, and loves spouting information about the stories that interest him to anyone who will listen.

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Disabilities

Nsimba is blind, with only the slight ability to see very bright colors. He is also a burn survivor, and has severe burns covering a majority of his face, and a few on his chest.Because these thermal burns to his eyes were not promptly treated, he experienced severe corneal damage and skin that fused to his eye, which caused his permanent blindness. Although he may be able to have some vision restored through surgical intervention as an adult, Nsimba doesn’t mind his blindness and likes being a part of the blind community.His eyelids are shaped differently and he has many noticeable keloid scars. Because of this, his face is judged and feared by the public, and he struggles with self love. But, as an adult, he begins to find more of it, eventually not feeling like he needs to conceal the most intense scars.Nsimba also has two genetic conditions, like his identical twin: XYY syndrome and Long QT syndrome. Unlike Nzuzi, he doesn’t experience cardiac symptoms from Long QT or intellectual disability from XYY syndrome. He does, though, have the same unusually tall height.Nsimba is also undiagnosed autistic. He doesn’t openly identify as this or as intersex.

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Childhood

Nsimba was born during the 2018 Ebola epidemic, in a rural village of only around one hundred people, between Lake Tumba and the Congo River, on the Western side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the first-born twin. Nsimba was not born blind.His childhood was simple, mainly consisting of learning to fish and harvest. Sometimes, the children of their village would cross the river to a nearby larger village that had a television, playing some TV shows and movies in French for the children. They didn’t know much of the language, as they were native Lingala speakers, but enjoyed the entertainment. It was a fairly happy life, until Nsimba was blamed by his younger twin for hurting him after a simple sibling squabble.His parents and the village elders decided, at that point, that Nsimba was a ‘demonic’ spirit called a Kindoki, a belief influenced by Belgian colonialism, and had to be exorcized for the sake of the village. Nsimba was also blamed for the Ebola epidemic around the twins’ birth, and Nzuzi was considered to have protected the actual village from experiencing the virus (as it was only nearby, not in their village).At just age 5, Nsimba was sent away for an exorcism, where he was initially beaten and starved to make the ‘demonic’ spirit reveal itself. Due to a common bacterial eye infection in their region, he developed pink eye during this time of stress, which led the exorcists to believe the demon was in his eyes. They decided the only way to ‘free’ the child of the demonic spirit was to burn it out of his eyes with hot oil, which caused his significant facial burns and blindness.When Nsimba returned from the ritual, his younger twin, Nzuzi, refused to leave his side for weeks while they treated him with traditional remedies. Nsimba began experiencing severe infections, but was transferred to a larger hospital in Mbandaka where his life was saved, but his vision couldn’t be restored so many weeks after the initial injury.When Nsimba was healthy enough to return home, the missionaries at the hospital said their family never showed. It was unclear whether this was true, or the missionaries deemed these children needing to be ‘saved’ from the superstitious practices of their village, and removed them from their home country.

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Migration

At age six, both twins were considered abandoned and moved to France as part of a missionary group to ‘rescue’ children from Congo. This wrongful savior mentality separated them from their families and left them orphaned in the south of France. They were given state assigned names and birthdays, and were assumed to be a year older than they actually were.After being granted residence as refugee children, they were sent to live in an orphanage in Marseille. They remained there until age 11, when Nzuzi was fostered to a local family, while Nsimba was considered ‘un-adoptable’ due to his disabilities and scarring. After only 5 nights, Nzuzi ran away from his foster family and took Nsimba away from the orphanage while he was on his way to school.From this point on, the twins lived on the streets. When they were almost caught by police in Marseille, they hitchhiked to Lyon, fearful that if they were caught they would be separated again. Nsimba was oblivious to Nzuzi’s survival street work to keep them fed, believing they received more money from begging on the streets than they actually did.Because of their migration, the twins became stateless, as they had no formal citizenship or birth documents in the DR Congo or France. They were able to maintain their permanent residency, although had no identifying documents until Nzuzi contacted the orphanage once he was of majority age to get what they needed for an ID card.Neither Nzuzi nor Nsimba has a formal education. Nsimba was not given an accessible early education and was illiterate until joining a school for the blind as an adult.

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Adulthood

Nsimba has never worked a job. At age 20, he began studying at a school for blind youth and young adults. He also received more orientation and mobility training, as well as a pathway to get his BAC diploma. He wants to eventually find accessible employment, so he can take some of the financial burden off of his exhausted twin.Before this schooling, he spent most of his time reading audiobooks, listening to podcasts, and working out. Because of his lack of orientation and mobility training as a child, he was limited on his white cane skills, meaning he hesitated to go outside on his own and was very isolated.Nsimba’s school experiences led him to finally meet more people in his community, especially fellow blind students. These connections were easier for him, as he was less concerned about being judged for his burn scars.

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Relationships

Nsimba is quite codependent on his brother, having always been able to rely on him to take care of him. He rarely hears Nzuzi complain, leading him to believe his twin was far healthier and happier than he was. This came crashing down when Nzuzi had a heart attack, and Nsimba realized just how overworked his brother truly was. Nzuzi is and will always be Nsimba’s most important relationship.Nsimba also has a girlfriend, Mila, that he falls deeply in love with. After getting slightly lost trying to find a cafe near his school, he stumbles into a different one and orders a coffee, while striking up a nice conversation with the barista. Unlike most judgmental people in Lyon, this girl didn’t seem swayed by his burn scars, and even surprised him with a milkshake (the treat he really wanted, but couldn’t afford).Nsimba visited the cafe again and struck up an immediate friendship with Mila, where she then asked him out on a date. After sushi and a hookup, they quickly fell for each other. Mila felt treated like a real woman by Nsimba, something she had not often experienced with past hookups as a trans woman. Nsimba, likewise, felt like his scars were not judged or hated by Mila.Nsimba is also good friends with his metamour, Lucas. The two often enjoy watching anime together.Lucas ends up discovering that his aunt and uncle had been Nzuzi’s brief foster parents, and they all reconnect as adults. Nsimba initially worried he was unwanted by them, but upon realizing the orphanage had deliberately separated the twins without the couple's knowledge, he quickly welcomes his new parents into his life. He forms a particularly close relationship with the foster father, Ousmane, as they are both burn survivors and have similar personalities.

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Mila

Mila is a Dutch/French trans girl from Lyon, France. She likes to party and is quite promiscuous, and has been in a long-term open relationship since high school with her childhood best friend Lucas. Her family is very wealthy, and sometimes she tends to forget just how privileged she is (but she also really enjoys treating her friends to nice things as well). She had a very eye-opening experience about this when she met Nsimba and Nzuzi, who were homeless for many years as teenagers. She works at a cafe after leaving college because of a mental health issue.

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Physical Appearance

Mila is white, very tall, and has dark hair. Once she comes out as trans, she begins growing her (mostly straight, with a slight wave) hair until it reaches around her shoulder blades. She tends to wear fairly feminine clothing, but usually prefers fitted shirts with pants or shorts, rather than skirts or dresses (which she only wears on occasion).During her transition, she ends up gaining a significant amount of weight, going from very thin to fairly curvy. She also gets breast implants (along with other smaller gender-affirming procedures). She enjoys makeup but isn't great at it, so she tends to go very light with it, usually just some mascara, eyeshadow, and/or lipstick.

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Personality

Mila is overall friendly, and especially loyal to her close friends, though she can sometimes seem standoffish and catty to new people. She has some sass to her when she wants, and will stand up for others when they need her to.She can also be prone to fairly extreme anxiety, panic, and irrational thoughts which can cause slightly strange behaviour. This was a large part of what made her leave college, with racing thoughts day after day of bad things happening to those she cared about, irrational worries, panic attacks, and more, causing a mild psychotic episode. She now takes regular medication to keep it under control, which brings her to a good baseline, though sometimes things will still surface. She keeps this all entirely to herself, and outwardly, just appears to have some mild anxiety at times. She also cries quite easily, both over stressful and happy things.

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Life

Mila grew up in France, born into a very wealthy family. She has three older siblings, though all three are much older, all being married and out of the house before she graduates high school.Mila went to college to learn about upcoming medical technology, but left school after about two and a half years. Between the extreme pressure of medical school and her coming out, she ended up experiencing some psychosis, forcing her to leave. She kept this to herself, seeking medical help and taking medication for a while until it subsided.After college, she moved back in with her parents and started working at a local cafe in order to get experience to open a cafe/bakery with Lucas once he finished culinary school.

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Relationships

Mila and Lucas have known each other nearly their whole lives, as they met when they were in daycare and have managed to remain close ever since. They finally started dating in high school, with Mila setting the caveat that she wanted to be polyamorous and have an open relationship. Once the two went to separate colleges, they both started to explore other relationships a bit more, while still remaining extremely close to each other. Mila quickly became more promiscuous, having flings and hookups often. This would, on a good number of occasions, lead her to get her heart broken by someone that didn't want as serious of a relationship as she did, bringing her to cry in Lucas' arms. Still, their bond remains as strong as ever. The two have made plans to open a cafe/bakery once Lucas finishes college and gets some work experience.Mila met Nsimba one day when he accidentally walked into her cafe after school. The two quickly bonded, and he returned again a few days later before she asked for his number. They promptly went out on a date and hooked up that night. They began dating the very next morning, both of them too giddy and excited to hold out (despite Lucas' frequent warnings for her to learn to take things slow).Mila and Nzuzi didn't get along for a long time, meeting on her first date with Nsimba when they stopped back at his place before he spent the night with her. Nzuzi came across as rude to her, and the two continued from there to butt heads at nearly every occasion they met. On their group Korea trip (after Lucas graduates college), Mila and Nzuzi finally have a heart-to-heart and end up becoming much closer after that.

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Lucas

Lucas (pronounced Loo-kah) is a French boy who loves baking. He lives in Lyon with his mother, and goes to culinary school in Paris, later working as a baker with plans to open his own bakery/cafe alongside his girlfriend, Mila. Lucas has a rough relationship with his father, but is very close to his mother and his aunt Marion. He was diagnosed autistic at a young age and is very open about it. He also plays the violin.

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Physical Appearance

Lucas is a very pale white boy with blond hair and blue eyes. His hair is very curly, and he keeps it fairly short, though long enough to stay a bit fluffy. He is overall skinny, but with a bit of muscle tone particularly in his arms, which he attributes to long hours spent baking things by hand. He wears simple clothing with plenty of sweaters, button-downs, jeans, t-shirts, etc.

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Personality

Lucas is known for his bright, sunshiney personality. He is incredibly loyal, sensitive, and kind. He is creative, and channels this into his baking, often making totally new flavor combinations or pieces with intricate decoration that can take hours.Lucas is also autistic, which can sometimes cause communication issues with some people, though he often doesn't have much of a problem making friends. If anything, sometimes he is overly friendly, and doesn't understand when someone doesn't want to talk to him, for example.

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Family

Lucas was an only child, growing up with his Irish father and French mother in Lyon, France, and he was born on his mother Monica's 21st birthday. He has always been very close to his aunt (his mother's sister), Marion, and she would visit often. When Lucas was 15, his mother discovered that his father was having a long-standing affair with another woman, and had another child, a girl that was already two at the time. Their divorce was messy, and Lucas chose to stay with his mother, cutting off almost all contact with his father, who went to live with his other family. Lucas legally changed his last name to his mother's once the divorce was finalized. He and his mother grew even closer through this experience and, despite later going to college in Paris, he came home almost every weekend to see her (and his girlfriend, Mila). He also has a dog, a pom-shi named Madeleine.

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Relationships

Lucas and Mila have known each other nearly their whole lives, as they met when they were in daycare and have managed to remain close ever since. They finally started dating in high school, with Mila setting the caveat that she wanted to be polyamorous and have an open relationship. Once the two went to separate colleges, they both started to explore other relationships a bit more, while still remaining extremely close to each other. Lucas had a few flings in college, and a semi-serious relationship for a few months, but nothing really stuck for him. Once Mila left college, he made sure to return to Lyon nearly every weekend to spend time with her. The two made plans to open a cafe/bakery once Lucas finishes college and gets some work experience.Once meeting Nzuzi through Mila and Nsimba, he and Lucas quickly clicked. They swapped contact info and immediately began texting a lot, sharing memes, and some light flirting. When Nzuzi got sick, Lucas even made an emergency trip back to Lyon during finals week to bring him a ton of fresh-baked food. The two also went out clubbing a few times and even made out at a party, but nothing else came of it until the four of them all went on a trip to Korea together.In Korea, while Mila and Nsimba went on a date together, Nzuzi and Lucas began chatting in their hotel room, and Nzuzi discovered that, despite thinking this entire time that they were both bottoms—Lucas is verse. The two laughed at the discovery, and Nzuzi made a suggestion... and the two finally clicked. Once returning to France, the two continued to hook up regularly and really started to fall for each other (with Lucas a little more aware of it).

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Marion

Marion is a strong-willed, playful, nerdy woman. She is Lucas' aunt, his mother Monica's younger sister, but comes to play a much bigger part in the French quad's story later on when it's discovered that she and her husband have a history with Nzuzi.

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Physical Appearance

Marion has curly, frizzy, dirty blonde hair, that she usually keeps somewhere between mid-neck and shoulder length. In certain lighting it can appear more of a light, mousy brown. She is quite short, and has a very round body type which she is extremely proud of (especially her chest). She often wears fairly reserved clothing, unless she (often with her husband Ousmane) is going to a party or other event, in which case she has no issue wearing more sexy, revealing clothes.

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Personality

Marion is known for her strong personality. She's outgoing, friendly, flirty, and takes great pride in her sense of humor. She's also a proud nerd, and especially loves fantasy things like Game of Thrones and Dungeons & Dragons. She is also very caring and loves providing for her loved ones, whether that's being there with a phone call when someone needs her or making them soup when they're sick.

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Adoption

Marion always wanted kids, even as a young girl herself. She's always had a strong maternal instinct, and loves taking care of others, often pouring that into her relationships with her friends and lovers. After several years of trying for a child with no success (just one traumatic miscarriage), Marion and Ousmane finally decide to try to foster (with hopes of later adopting) a child.In April 2030, the two adopted a little boy whom the orphanage called Noah, however, this was actually Nzuzi with his new 'French' name they had given him. He was 11, almost 12 at the time. He was told by the orphanage that the couple taking him in didn't want to adopt his twin Nsimba, just him.Nzuzi was with Marion and Ousmane for about four days before he left in the middle of the night, leaving them a note explaining that he couldn't leave his brother alone. This was the first the two had heard of Nzuzi even having a brother: the orphanage had hidden Nsimba's existence from them entirely.They called the orphanage first to see if he returned there, only to find that Nzuzi had managed to sneak Nsimba out of the orphanage as well on the kids' way to school. The police were called, and a search for the brothers began.Because of how suspicious this all seemed to the police, Marion and Ousmane then underwent police investigation, trying to find out why (or even if) Nzuzi ran away from their care. This finally ended when the twins were spotted a few months later and all charges were dropped, but the mental and social damage was already done.The stress of losing Nzuzi, plus the investigation, made Marion finally decide she wasn't meant to have children after all, a very difficult thing for her to reconcile with. She sunk into a deep depression for many years, and went to therapy very regularly. During some of the aftermath, she and Ousmane also briefly took some time apart to heal on their own before reuniting a few months later.

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Reuniting

One day in October 2038, Marion received some interesting texts from her sister, Monica (Lucas' mother). She was suddenly asking about the boy she and Ousmane briefly took in years ago. Marion provided the details she could, along with the one photo they took with him, and it was soon discovered that Nzuzi was this very boy.Marion couldn't believe that Lucas found and befriended the boy she and Ousmane had tried to foster so many years ago. Despite the rough end to things and the mess that came after, Marion quickly decided she wanted to meet up with him to talk.Despite both of them not having any idea what to expect, the meeting goes extremely well, both sharing details of what happened long ago, including that Marion and Ousmane had no idea about Nsimba until it was too late... and that they would have loved to adopt both boys if they only knew.Soon, the two plan a dinner together with Nsimba and Ousmane as well. The four all talk and reconcile, and bond much more than any of them could have expected. They quickly become a part of each others' stories and lives, and while the twins finally have a proper family for the first time since they were little, Marion also finally gets her wish of being a mother.

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Relationships

Marion has always been close to her older sister, Monica. They often call each other and travel between Lyon and Marseilles to see each other.Because of her close relationship to her sister, Marion is also very close to her nephew, Lucas. As a kid, he would often stay over at her house on the weekends, and he was even the ring bearer at her and Ousmane's wedding.Marion and Ousmane met when he was 20 and she was 24, on a blind date set up by a mutual friend. They clicked from the start, and bonded over their shared sense of humor and nerdy interests, often playing online games in the nights between their dates. He eventually proposed, less than a year after they met, via a D&D oneshot game that Ousmane ran, which ended in her character obtaining a diamond ring — only for Ousmane to then present her with the real one in front of their friends. They married later the same year in a small, intimate wedding. They are also both openly polyamorous, but neither has ever found any sort of long-term romantic partner besides each other. They do, however, both enjoy being sexually open as well, both as a couple and separately.After reconnecting again when the twins are adults, Nzuzi and Marion grow extremely close. He becomes a true mama's boy and sees her as one of his best friends, as well as someone he can really rely on and confide in. After spending nearly his whole life taking care of Nsimba, Nzuzi is more than grateful to finally have someone to take care of him.Nsimba and Marion also closely bond as a family, though the older twin ends up much closer to Ousmane due to their similarities as people. This, however, does not at all spare him from Marion's doting motherly affection.

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Ousmane

Ousmane (pronounced “Oos-mahn”) is a second generation immigrant in France, to a Malian dad and an Algerian mother. Him and his family, including his sister Imani, are Sunni Muslim. As an immigration lawyer, he’s built wealth for him and his wife Marion, and given himself time to work pro-bono for refugee children. Ousmane is queer and polyamorous, but is closeted to his parents and sister. Most others close to him know about his identities.

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Physical Appearance

As an Afro-Arab person, Ousmane has medium brown skin, curly hair, and a short but traditional beard. He dresses casually masculine, business formal for his job as a lawyer, or occasionally in more cultural dress. In different periods of his time, his appearance has slightly shifted, but if his hair is longer, his beard tends to be shorter, and vice versa.Ousmane, like his later adopted son Nsimba, is a burn survivor. He was stuck inside during a house fire as a teenager, and suffered serious burns to his legs while trying to escape (and save his dog). This left notable scarring, including some fourth-degree burn damage to his muscles and tendons, along with the amputation of his middle and pinkie toe on his left side. This creates deep vulnerability for him, preventing him from getting intimate with anyone until he starts dating Marion (but almost backs out multiple times leading up to it).Because of public judgement towards his scars, he almost always wears pants (or swim pants, when at the beach or on his boat). He also has a few different canes he uses for mobility support, as needed.

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Personality

Ousmane is kind and funny, and easily switches between his serious working personality and a fun-loving, boisterous, playful side. Due to his intersectional identities, he code-switches easily and between many different presentations: from a soft-spoken yet firm lawyer, to letting loose with his Black friends, to humility and kindness around his Muslim friends and family. Marion, his wife, sees all these aspects and finds his diverse expressions of himself both curious and joyful, as none is inauthentic or forced—Ousmane thrives in every role.Overall, Ousmane is intelligent and confident. He’s gone through a lot with his burn scars and many-year recovery, but has always been an incredibly hard worker with meticulous attention to detail. He’s also passionate about social justice, often getting involved in political movements, pride parades, and using his legal expertise to advocate with large European organizations about immigration, racial, and religious rights, including giving talks and pushing policy changes with the UN.

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House Fire

The most notable event in Ousmane’s life was shortly after his fifteenth birthday, when his family’s home caught on fire. His sister was living with her husband separately and his parents, who were awake early for morning prayers, were already downstairs, and escaped without any injury. Ousmane wasn’t as lucky, as he only woke up when smoke started filling his room.He had just adopted a small puppy at the time, a pet he fought his parents for years to get, and knew it would perish if he didn’t rescue it. The fire was ferocious, and during his escape, Ousmane sustained burns on 29% of his body, including both legs, hips, groin, and a little on his left arm. The dog only burned its tail. Ousmane was lucky to make it down the stairs and out the front door, but then he collapsed due to shock and smoke inhalation.He went between agony and unconsciousness at the hospital, until they put him in a medically induced coma to protect his cardiac health. He barely survived the combination of severe burns, smoke inhalation, and inhaled cyanide poisoning, but he managed to pull through. He also needed intense physical therapy afterwards to regain the ability to walk.

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Family

Ousmane had a contentious relationship with his family growing up. His parents were both strict Sunni Muslims, and Ousmane, always being a little flowery for a boy, was treated strictly. Because of this, he was never all that close with his family. Although, he did gain his clever sense of humor from his mother, who he was the closest with.After the house fire, he and his mother grew closer, as she was the more nurturing parent. Both his father and sister blamed Ousmane’s bad luck on him saving the dog, falling prey to the superstition that dogs as pets are sinful. This drove a wedge between him and his sister, and they rarely talk until Ousmane is nearing forty, and the two have a huge fight that ends up repairing their relationship in the end. (More details are on Imani's page.)Ousmane feels a much closer kinship to his wife, whom he met when he was in his early twenties and married less than two years later. Despite not being Muslim, Marion was welcomed by Ousmane’s family.Marion and Ousmane tried for several years to conceive a child, both feeling meant for parenthood, but they struggled mainly because of the damage Ousmane’s body had sustained as a burn survivor. After years of trying, and Ousmane being diagnosed with and recovering from cancer, they decide to adopt Nzuzi.

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Adoption

During the process of fostering and adopting Nzuzi, the orphanage had hidden Nsimba from them, his twin brother who lives with severe facial burn scars and blindness, leading the siblings to be split up. Nzuzi was also unable to communicate that his brother had been left behind, due to his selective mutism, so he ended up running away from the Diarra’s home only five days after being adopted. Nzuzi also took Nsimba away from the orphanage, fearing they would be separated again. All he left was a note explaining that he loved them and was happy in their home, but needed to find his brother.Both Marion and Ousmane underwent intense scrutiny by police, but were eventually absolved of any suspicion when the twins were spotted living on the streets. As police approached them, they ran and moved to Lyon, and Ousmane never thought he’d see the adopted son he already loved so much again. But, his grief paled in comparison to his wife’s, so he buried his feelings for her sake.Years later, by pure coincidence, Marion’s nephew, Lucas, had become close with Nzuzi and discovered that he was the kid who had run away from the Diarra’s. This led to them reconnecting when both twins were 21. It also gave Ousmane and Marion a chance to explain they would have happily adopted both of the twins, if only they had known Nsimba had been left behind.

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Disabilities

Ousmane is an amputee, part-time cane user, and lives with severe scarring. The house fire led to the removal of two toes, and part of his calf and Achilles tendon on his left side, and severe burn contractures and scarring on both his legs and groin. All of this limited his mobility.For two years, he was a full time arm crutches user, but later shifted to using a cane. After multiple surgeries to treat the scarring that limited his mobility, he’s now a part-time cane user and regularly goes on short runs to keep his muscles, and the muscle grafts he was given, healthy.Ousmane is infertile, caused by a combination of burns and testicular cancer. Although his run-in with cancer was a highly survivable type, the chemotherapy was rough on his body and destroyed any remaining chance of fathering his own biological child. It’s also likely his cancer will return in the future, though unlikely it will ever take his life.Ousmane also lives with chronic pain, due to his burn scars, damaged muscles, and back pain from misaligned posture. For many years, he treated it with opioids, but later developed a dependency and went to rehab for a couple months. This was mostly due to his repressed trauma over their adopted son running away.

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Muslim Identity

Ousmane is a born Muslim, to two Sunni parents. He was a very devout child, with his parents also instilling a fear of doing anything wrong and going to hell. Although his parents weren’t terribly strict, their regular cautioning caused Ousmane to question a lot in his life as he grew older and began to realize he was a queer man. He also felt ashamed for his family’s house fire, as his parent’s followed Hadiths cautioning Muslims against owning dogs, and Ousmane had just gotten a puppy before the fire.Because of this questioning of faith, and his inability to move into prayer positions after his legs were burned, he lost most of his connection to his faith as an older teenager. He’s always believed in Allah, but has felt betrayed many times between the fire, cancer, and his adopted son running away. Despite his questioning, he’s done his best to maintain life as a good person, and continued to eat halal and abstain from alcohol.Once reconnecting with Nzuzi and Nsimba, Ousmane has a crisis of faith, believing he had just misunderstood Allah’s plan for his life all along. Although he didn’t raise the twins as children, they still need parents even in their twenties, and Ousmane feels grateful for this chance. If it hadn’t been for the house fire, he may have never met his wonderful wife. If it wasn’t for his cancer and infertility, the twins may have never found a family and Ousmane may have never experienced the incredible love he has for his adopted sons.After this crisis, Marion encourages Ousmane to get more involved in his faith, and Ousmane slowly returns to his practice. He also gets more involved in progressive Islamic communities, which feel more welcoming to him as a queer and polyamorous man. He becomes a happy participant in pride events, often donning colorful and culturally significant clothing to represent the mix of his identities as an Afro-Arab queer Muslim.

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Monica

Monica is Lucas' mother, an ER nurse, and a divorcee. She tends to be a little quiet and reserved in most cases, unless she's around people she's particularly close with (like her sister Marion and Marion's husband Ousmane). Despite it being about 7 years ago as of the current timeline (end of 2038), she still holds a lot of scars from her especially messy divorce, and struggles to properly connect with anyone new, despite wanting to.

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Physical Appearance

Monica is a very thin white woman, with her hair usually between a bob and shoulder-length. She has a slight wave to her hair, though it's not nearly as curly as Lucas'. Her hair is naturally a golden blonde, similar to her sister Marion, though she usually dyes it to various shades of brown. Monica dresses with a fairly casual style, with most of her wardrobe made up of simple blouses, cardigans, and jeans (when she's not wearing scrubs). She rarely wears accessories outside of simple stud earrings.

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Personality

Monica is overall fairly reserved and a bit shy, but can definitely have a good sense of humor when she's comfortable (and, like her sister, can't resist a dirty joke in the right company). Her near-code switching also tends to involve her son Lucas, with her showing up more put-together and uptight around him than when she's just around her peers. She isn't particularly strict with Lucas, and he adores her as a mother, but she tends to hide her fun-loving spirit around him more so she appears as a 'proper mother'. (For example, he didn't know she occasionally smokes weed with her sister/friends until he was 23.)

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Relationships

Monica's most impactful relationship in her life was with her now-ex-husband. The two met in a cafe meet-cute while they were both in college in Paris, him being an exchange student from Ireland who was still learning French, and her speaking no English at all. The two got married within a year, after she discovered she was pregnant. She ended up giving birth to their son Lucas on her 21st birthday.Monica's husband, Sean, was often gone for long periods of time once he graduated school, as he became a pilot and would sometimes get briefly stuck in other cities or countries when issues (like flight cancellations) arose. Eventually he started using this as a cover for his second family, a woman he was also living with part-time and had another child with.When Monica discovered this, she was devastated and quickly filed for divorce. Lucas was 16, old enough to understand the situation, and firmly sided with his mom, even legally changing his last name to match hers instead of his father's. Though the divorce was extremely messy and painful, it ended up bringing Monica and Lucas much closer in the end, properly solidifying him as a mama's boy.Monica has always been close to her sister Marion, and even once they settled in different cities (Monica in Lyon and Marion in Marseille), they still continue to talk near-daily and visit each other at least once or twice a month. Monica also grew extremely close to Marion's husband, Ousmane, and the two consider themselves best friends. She also likes to joke that Ousmane is her ideal man, a running joke that even Marion often jumps in on.

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Imani

Imani is Ousmane's older sister and a mother of four. She is a devout Muslim and wears a hijab, and is fairly conservative with her views (though she likes to think she's still within the more progressive side of things). She is a fairly serious person, but loves to dote on her children. She really enjoys showing off her personality through makeup and jewelry.

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Physical Appearance

Imani, like Ousmane, is Afro-Arab, with a mother from Algeria and father from Mali. She is fairly thin, and has medium-dark skin and very curly black hair which she usually ties back under her hijab. She enjoys fashion and often wears a lot of bracelets and rings, and is usually seen with lipstick and/or eye makeup (often fairly colorful eyeshadow) when she goes out.

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Personality

Imani may come across as a bit stiff at first, but is warm and kind to those she's familiar with, especially her family. Her faith is very important to her, as is her culture.

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Family

Though she is also close to her parents, Imani's relationship with her brother Ousmane has always been one of her most important. This made it particularly hard on her when he began to create distance between them after he was severely burned in a house fire. Though Ousmane was only 15 at the time, Imani was 22 and only a few weeks from the due date of her first child (and living with her husband Mahmoud, thus safe from the fire). When she heard what happened and that Ousmane soon had to be put in a medically-induced coma and may not survive, the stress ended up triggering premature labor.Thinking her brother may not survive his injuries, she named her first son after him, though only vaguely: Oman. She doesn't share with Ousmane directly where the name came from, so for many years she just assumed he knew, and he assumed there was no connection. When this eventually comes out, the siblings are 36 and 44, and only then do they reopen all the other wounds that separated them for over two decades, finally repairing their relationship. (Surprisingly, while she and Ousmane had a rocky relationship, she was always fairly close with his wife, Marion, who knew Imani had good in her heart, even if Ousmane held a grudge.)Imani ends up having four children, which as of the current timeline (end of 2038) are 21, 17, 14, and 3. Their oldest is Oman, a very relaxed and sporty college kid who loves to claim he's Muslim while rarely following any rules or practices, much to Imani's chagrin. However, he's still very responsible and humble, so most of Imani's criticisms of him are light-hearted if anything.Their next is Mona (an accidental anagram of Oman's name), a teen girl who, in contrast to Oman, strives to be a good and devout Muslim, yet struggles to be with her queer identity. She wore a hijab when she was old enough, though decided to forgo it when she was 16 as she started to realize she's a lesbian. She has a girlfriend, though that fact (as well as her sexuality) are entirely a secret to her parents. She dresses fairly tomboyish, and is very into arts and painting in particular.Their younger daughter is named Dina. She is bubbly and full of youth, and also tries to be as devout as she can with her faith. She loves pop culture, and is a huge fan of whatever pop singer is most popular at the time (think: Swiftie or Directioner). She loves wearing bright colors, and prides herself on having a massive collection of head scarves to wear with any outfit.Imani's youngest son, Anid, was intentionally named as an anagram of his older sister's name, though his actual birth was unintentional, hence the large age gap between the last two siblings. Anid is currently only 3, so his personality is still largely unknown, though he is generally a fairly quiet, calm toddler that mostly enjoys observing the world. He also has Down Syndrome.

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