It doesn't necessarily need a clear theme, just kind of a general place you want the character to start at and a general direction you want them to go in
[02:16] <Tangent> ah yeah got that then
[02:18] <IWBTG> So like, Nadia hated doing the boring mundane stuff that it looked like she was going to have to do before being a magical girl and gradually over time started to blame herself for her own flaws that made her unfit to be in that sort of world
[02:18] <IWBTG> So now she's suddenly got a way out of it but she hasn't lost any of her own personal hangups
[02:19] <IWBTG> So the character is wearing a mask to try to match the world they're in, just like before, only this time she wants to live up to the mask rather than having the mask dumb down her expectations
[02:19] <IWBTG> So suddenly it's gone from the world not being good enough for her to her not being good enough for the world
[02:20] <Tangent> Neat
[02:20] <IWBTG> And her arc is dealing with those personal hang ups and getting to the point where she thinks she's a person worthy of living in this world and being a hero
[02:20] <IWBTG> So that's how I play the character
[02:20] <IWBTG> But even having something simple as a tangible base for the character is fine
[02:21] <Tangent> Yeah, probably going to want to think it over to get something coherent like that for Holly.
[03:33] <Tangent> Hmmm. Maybe Holly's arc is the opposite in some ways? Holly was part of that boring mundane life- and was more or less content with it- but the run-in and subsequent events not only made it clear just how meaningless that was, it made even attempting to go back an impossibility? So what follows from Holly is as much picking up the pieces and deciding what she wants to try and do to make a difference/matter as much as anything? And all this is of course skewed
[03:33] <IWBTG> "And all thi..."
[03:35] <Tangent> of course skewed by events, trauma, and Puuchu "suggestions" among other things. Like I'm thinking having "your absence didn't make a bit of difference" and Holly critfailing at doing something in that magical girl encounter be the catalysts for her specific mindset?
[03:36] <Tangent> If that makes sense
[03:37] <IWBTG> Definitely, that makes sense
[03:38] <IWBTG> So her's is more coming to terms with how little she mattered to the world, coming to terms with that, and working in the future to make a difference
[03:39] <IWBTG> More of a crisis with the outside world than one with herself
[03:40] <Tangent> More >I want to be quick enough to make a difference. To do something right. I want to know that what I do matters. <-maybe, kind of thinking in PMMM terms again
[03:42] <IWBTG> Ah, okay, I see
[03:42] <IWBTG> That's a good basis to go off of
[03:42] <Tangent> *shrug* Yours seems pretty valid too and it's too late for me to think clearly so eh
[03:46] <Tangent> But yeah, motivation and choice as a thing for Holly's arc, maybe? Doing something because it's the right thing and not because of a magical itch and feeling like it's expected? Thi kind of thing's why I get worried about coherence heh...
[03:49] <IWBTG> Yeah, that definitely works too
[03:49] <IWBTG> Especially since being forced into it is something that she has to deal with
[03:49] <IWBTG> Unlike Nadia who kind of indirectly chose her path
[03:50] <Tangent> So yeah Holly's motivations and drives are pretty muddled, but I think that's just part of how I'm writing her- she's not honest about what she's doing or why, unlike Nadia who at least has plenty of self-awareness