[????] Mortis Character Ramble Thread [18+ edition]

[skinstealer]

ok here is where we will talk about Our Guys. we can say whatever we want here about The Guys and you can also comment/ask questions/share thoughts back. think of it as a miscellaneous stream of consciousness about characters and how we're developing them at the moment.

there's over 500 characters in our roster which is very insane but we'll try to only focus on a few per ramble session/period of checking these, mainly based on who we're focusing on. there may be story spoilers in here, so as not to limit ourselves to "canon" information- but anything particularly noteworthily spoiler-y or graphic will be put in a lil spoiler box. this is an mature thread to cover our bases, and will contain mentions of kink stuff/sexuality sprinkled in. they'll probably be spoilered though.

if you like this thread and want to make your own, please do! let's all share characters together!

[skinstealer]

krowling here to start this off, hi.

thinking about tonic a lot lately. really, been thinking a lot about all of our characters, but the past few days i've sat down and really started developing comorbidity with the rest of the system. the comorbid system is a really interesting group of characters and we've been super honing in on the horror themes we want to tackle, as well as narrowing down what kinds of elements from our real life we want to incorporate into their backstory and ongoing life. all of the systems in kaleidoclub are autobiographical characters so to speak, so it's a bit of a fun puzzle figuring out which aspects of ourselves and our experiences go into what system "cluster".

some elaboration on that: kaleidoclub characters are based on a method of organization our system has for categorizing system members, interests, and trains of thought- the cluster system. there are 12 clusters currently, each of them pertaining to some kind of theme that means a lot to us. these are really broad but tend to correlate to overarching things you can find in our system members, our work, what we gravitate to both aesthetically and thematically, etc. i had the idea earlier this year of making characters based on these clusters in order to create an actual technique and method for us making characters as a system faster and more effectively, and thus kaleidoclub was born.

each system in the club corresponds to a cluster, and the members of that system are written by members of OUR system that identify with That Cluster. in comorbidity's case, they're focused on the horror cluster. people who have been around a while know that horror is one of our biggest overarching themes in everything we do, and while it's present to some degree in every kaleidoclub system by nature of the topics at hand and the setting itself, comorbidity focuses in on that extremely hard, going all in on horror tropes and using them as metaphors for real-world experiences. all of the imagery that's resonated with us over the years and provided us comfort and resonance, it's going into these guys- along with things that legitimately Scare Us, and probably will for you too.

here's some things you need to know about comorbidity going in: some cool, overarching stuff.



here's comorbidity! you can call them comorbid/comorbity interchangeably, and it's also an option to tack on "system" at the end if referring to them especially collectively. as a group, they're a plural system of 20 members that mainly presents masculinely, and can be referred to with they or he pronouns. species-wise they're a wolf variant concept with a horror sludge motif- thankfully, it's inert and completely harmless, and had their metamorphosis pretty early at age 12. they've got a bad leg and struggle with anything that'd aggravate it, though thanks to frequent exercise and working out (not entirely by choice), it often takes quite a bit to get to that point. they work as an independent script writer for prospective TV shows and movies- they've never gotten anything out the door yet, but they do their best.

the biggest conflict that comorbidity deals with is their having blood fever, a horror mutation-related condition that they inherited on their father's side. blood fever is a retooled adaptation of a goofy mechanic from our scratch roleplaying days, namely with our "werewolf/vampire hybrid" characters. those affected by it have to ingest blood (or an analagous fluid/body material such as slime. if it'd be qualifiable as gore to a person, it counts) regularly to avoid turning into a terror, which for those out of that loop (it's been a bit since we've been over these in a big way), are generally Very Large, Very Fucking Dangerous, animalistic and cannibalistic beasts. this "terror state" lasts until they consume enough blood to be satisfied, and then they revert back to normal with the worst hangover ever. fresh blood seems to have a better effect overall, and regular feeding leads to way less risk of turning terror than intermittent binges.  along with all this mess, it's accompanied by the usual telltale signs of horror mutation- mood swings, irritability, impulse control problems, and very intense hunger cravings.

if you couldn't tell by now, part of what we really want to go for with this is a narrative about being bipolar- and especially growing up with it in an abusive household and in the face of what can be best called medical malpractice. while we did not eat people or anything like that there were definitely periods where we lashed out at others (especially while on mis-prescribed medications that we assumed were helping us) and felt like we were losing control of our life, and learning to manage that outside of stressors and with adequate healthcare and support was a huge struggle- something we feel like we can tell with this. i feel like there has to be some kind of essay out there about bipolar + lycanthropy combo imagery/narratives, but if there isn't, i guess we'll write that. something something cycles

and now we get to Tonic, the primary fronter of the comorbid system.



tonic is a transmasc gay guy who prides himself on a more formal appearance and trustworthy nature. he functions as the backbone of the kaleidoclub due to him being someone people can always go to for help, no matter what kind it is. behind his very competent outward appearance lies a very pissy and oftentimes petty soul who craves affection more than he actually allows himself, leading him to be somewhat bitter and exhausted around the rest of his system. he is always trying to keep things together but has been doing this for Way too long and needs a huge break.

for years he's also been in charge of blood feeding, something that the entirety of the system has VERY varied opinions on. he doesn't particularly enjoy the act of it and mainly chooses to predate on those in rich neighborhoods quite a ways out from his home. it's higher risk, and admittedly has lead to the system being put on a bounty list...but he would rather take blood from people who can afford the resulting hospital bills. after a point however, the danger gets to be too much- and other members of the kaleidoclub begin offering themselves up for light feeding sessions. this ends up working out extremely well considering some of these fuckers are literally coated in slime that counts towards fever feeding, so just. take a fucking spatula and put some in a tupperware for later, i guess.



in headspace, he resembles a cartoony vegicrus. in calliope, vegicrus morbitians are often associated with the experiments their species was created to participate in, and for tonic, he associates the medical experimentation his system went through in order to try and cure their blood fever with that sort of history and setting, even if not 1:1 by any means. tonic's a goofy fucking rat with ~hellish medical history lore~, and one afflicted with blood fever even in-headspace.

despite the fact that he's one of the more cartoonish members of the system headspace-wise, he's generally taken very seriously by the other system members. people do not fuck with him unless they're willing to risk getting snapped at, which is something he's trying to work on a little. he doesn't really have friends in headspace as a result, and more sees the others around him as peers he's trying to survive with.

external relationship-wise, his social circle is very rich, and his current committed partners as of writing this are Shriek (from toybox system) and Ivory (como character!). Aloe (decomposystem) is also planned down the line, but we're still figuring that out. aside from that, he has a slew of casual partners amidst the rest of the kaleidoclub, though all of them are low commitment outside of the general friendship they share.

Show Contentkink stuff:

he also specializes in BDSM, specifically domination. he's willing to teach anyone in the kaleidoclub the ropes (hahaha) and does a good job of it- earning the respect of many.

that's tonic and comorbid for now. i may return with more thoughts!

[AceOfNothing]

Tonic is a good example of how far respect can get you, even if you look goofy. He's been through a lot and done a lot and you don't wanna fuck with that, love it.
Curious if there is anyone kaleidoclub who would fuck with/is on his shit list

[skinstealer]

as petty as tonic is internally, i think that ire only extends as far as his system- though he would NOT take well to any of the members of other systems fucking with people, partners or otherwise. there's a couple that would probably be difficult to work with in that respect...

thinking namely off the top of my head that he'd have strained relationships with Outside of the system:

regent, wyatt, chokechain, bloodstain, "nameless", bubble, scruffy, lore, arrogance, athame (and sidewinder to a degree), fleshed out, dagger (sort of), restraint, conch (ESPECIALLY CONCH) aaaand maxi. none of these names mean anything to you yet but They Will...

[AceOfNothing]

Oh wow actually a lot on the "kindly fuck off" list. Hope we get to see what Conch did one day.

If it's not spoilers, what's Tonic look for in his more committed partners? Anything special about Shriek and Ivory (and Aloe) in particular?

[skinstealer]

it seems like a lot but then you consider how there's technically like 120 people in the kaleidoclub and it's apparent he's actually being pretty charitable lmao- especially when you consider most of the system he's in are people he has problems with

when it comes to committed partners, tonic looks for someone who's willing to be Serious. not necessarily in a tonal sense, but someone who's willing to put their all into the relationship because he sure as hell does. comorbidity has a lot of stuff going on that is legitimately dangerous to themselves and others so there's a big focus on "will you take this as seriously as i do, and Are You Okay with these things- because i need you to be, if we're going to do this."

shriek has been through a lot of shit himself, including some to do with the extranatural (this is also why tonic is Not huge on conch- conch is a toybox member that's based Heavily within the system's extranatural trauma and causes shriek especially a lot of discomfort, even if it means well and hasn't actually done anything wrong. shriek opening up about this stuff made it very comfortable for tonic to open up about his own struggles, and shriek is extremely into monsters and shit so Yknow, That Worked Out. tonic finds his friendly attitude pretty infectious, too.

ivory is a fiend so the two of them bonded over Vampire Shenanigans pretty quick, and tonic admires just how flexible ivory is with helping members of the club as well. he finds ivory to be a gentle soul that he wants to learn more about and share experiences with, and the two of them value each other's company a lot when it comes to trading stories and information. also, they get to be fashion buddies.

aloe...we're still working on that. aloe doesn't talk to a lot of people until he meets tonic, probably in a dream-share due to the issues the decomposystem has with IRL interactions...but he finds himself growing very fond of aloe and relating a lot to their mutual experiences of Medical Nightmares. like shriek and ivory, tonic finds himself very devoted to him very quickly, and ends up taking up a lot of caretaker-ish duties when his own body allows.

[Shifter55]

He does seem easy to fuck with, especially accidentally. But he's someone with standards that are very important to him, looking like. Imagine a lot of the desire for a Dom role and position in the club is due to wanting authority and being careful with how he approaches that.

[skinstealer]

yeah no he is pretty easy to piss off if you toe over any of his lines, but he tries very hard to NOT be scary, he has a big complex over that due to the whole. very large vampire werewolf thing

he definitely craves a degree of control and authority in his life after being denied it for so long- but yeah, it's important for him to watch how that manifests and how he uses that sort of power- is he lifting people up with it, or breaking people down? he'd really prefer the former, any chance he gets.

as such he's a very morals-focused guy, for better or for worse. he spends a lot of time thinking about what the "right" decision is, even if it makes him run in circles a bit- and even though his situation has often warranted a lot of things that people would assert is VERY NOT GOOD TO DO. he carries a good bit of guilt and you could probably argue that him preying on rich people before turning to the club itself for regular feeding is him trying to assuage that a little bit, aside from the whole "logistically it makes more sense" thing

also i am going to make a moodboard for him because we've been enjoying doing that for toyhouse and there's nothing stopping us from doing it here as well. good for making the wiki Pretty

[skinstealer]

i said i'd do it and i did

[AceOfNothing]

Really like the contrast with the last pic for the moodboard, very soft lace. It still fits really well, and I love that.

If your still up to talk about Tonic, he got any hobbies? Any ways he comforts himself?

[skinstealer]

i am absolutely still up to talk about tonic and i was just wondering how i should go about starting a ramble today so thank you!


hobbies...he really wants to get into fashion stuff- most people will go "tonic, aren't you already into fashion stuff?" because of how sharply he dresses and how much he brings outfits into kink play but his biggest secret is that he'd like to invest in some fancier, frillier outfits, including dresses...only 3-4 people like to dress more femininely so he's really nervous about this, especially when he's the face of the system and has to be the one handling a lot of their actual wardrobe budget. it's hard to warrant dropping a few hundred dollars on a really incredible dress when he's the only person who would wear it (so he thinks. bonnie would be all over it.) but oh god he wants to so bad. he eventually gets ivory to help him shop at least! the momentum system also helps a fair bit considering they are fashion designers/textile artists but he ends up profusely apologizing for taking up their time after every session, lmao.

when upset, tonic generally just ends up pacing around until he feels better, and he doesn't have the best coping strategies beyond that. in headspace he's prone to breaking things out of frustration, but he would never have that kind of outburst in person if he could help it- he considers internal interactions to be very private in that regard, and gets extremely embarassed/ashamed when people see his freakouts in potential dreamshares.

[skinstealer]

...i forgot we had a proper color ref for headspace tonic in kaleidoclub. he looks like this actually

[AceOfNothing]

Darker pink
also love the dislikes being: Very serious, very serious, vegetables

Tonic needs a secret fashion sideblog or something, let him get some dresses. Get why he's hesitant at least but he deserves them.
also understandable about fashion. Can always want to be a bit *more* into a hobby. Anyone from the momentum system that maybe helps in particular? Just curious.

So kinda movement helps him get through stress? That's not bad at least. Breaking things is of course a bit of a step up. Hope he can stop feeling as bad about having breakdowns

[skinstealer]

(brief krowling interlude to respond to tonic stuff)

yeah, he's very like. he needs to move around to get his jitters and stress out, which along with helping with blood fever urges is why he works out so much. i don't know what it'd take to get him to feel better about breaking down, but we can hope he chills out eventually...
 

---

character and system member change. hi, it's xavier. we recently released kaleidoclub: frostbite and as the name implies, my guy frost is the main character along with como's guy, ivory. i'm really nervous about this so this is probably going to be rambly, but that's the point of the thread. here is...frost time




here's his intro from frostbite. frost is a member of the greenhouse system, and while he's qualifiable as someone who fronts a significant amount, it's not nearly as much as others. he generally prefers Not fronting due to having a significant amount of dysphoria/dysmorphia with his external body and not much in the way of friends, and spends a lot of his time avoiding as much trouble as possible. unfortunately, he also considers interacting with people to be trouble 90% of the time, so most days he's out and about he's off doing his own thing when not being switched in to deal with conflict.

as a member of the greenhouse system and thus a part of our "nature" cluster on a meta level, he works in gardening/farming. the artist colony the kaleidoclub resides in considers horticulture to be just as much of a valuable art as any other, and greenhouse works hard on raising the best crops they can in the community garden, as well as their own designated plots. frost doesn't tend to plants nearly as much as the others, looking for excuses when possible- due to his personal iteration of their breeze motif being cold, frosty air, it's not really ideal for most plants to be around. he'd much rather do lifting of already picked stuff, especially things that were going to be refrigerated anyway. the one thing he's really into on a personal level is tapping trees- the colony has access to some maple-like trees a ways away, and he doesn't mind going out to collect sap and help boil it down into syrup. it's an almost meditative experience for him, and one of the few times you can catch him smiling.

cold, wintry forests really are his happy place, and nothing gets him more pissy than a hot day. he cannot Stand summer and the only benefit to him is that he gets to see a lot more bugs, which he greatly enjoys the presence of. still, he enjoys wearing sweaters on top of his frigid body in person, and while more sensitive to temperatures in headspace due to his comber body, he would still rather wear more layers on a cold "winter day" (aka, the brain feels like it) than go naked even in his own mind.

when it comes to headspace, he lives in a forested section with his system members lore and pecan. the three of them make for unlikely roommates, brought together mentally by their love of the woods and all it entails. while all three have different draws to forests, the system's biome-heavy headspace seems to enjoy grouping people together with similar nature interests.

he finds lore grating and the two of them, while comfortable enough around each other to fire casual insults and jabs back and forth, do respect each other to some degree and don't get into fights so much as bickering.

pecan on the other hand, he's almost put off by just how...Normal he is. frost feels like he could never truly fit in with a guy who's so down to earth, and assumes that pecan must judge him for having different proclivities and anger problems just beneath the surface, but pecan thinks frost is just swell, if not a little temperamental and distant.

out of everyone in the system, stras is probably the only person he feels like he can talk to. while stras' sweet nature feels like way too much of a contrast with his own rough edges sometimes, stras respects him a lot and likes to provide encouragement in ways that somehow don't overwhelm frost. besides, stras appears to be a little weird around the edges himself...

even with all this drama, the greenhouse system is pretty cooperative. even though they've only known about their system for about 9 years (small amount compared to some of the other systems in the club, but longer than others), they've achieved a good system of getting things done IRL and maintaining somewhat of a social life...though for the most part, it's professional leaning and not one with a whole lot of friends.


ivory gets frost to come out of his shell for what honestly feels like the first time in years, as seen in frostbite...and while the two of them are very firmly friends with benefits and not anything romantic, frost does have his little moments of wanting to care for him "further"- something that he generally squashes down out of fear of looking less in control of himself.

[AceOfNothing]

Assuming questions are good for Frost too, feel free to ignore though Xavier:

So he doesn't really tend to any plants, but does he have an favorites? Whether to look at or if he really enjoys the taste of apples or something?

Does he put anything in his cocoa? Milk, whipped cream, marshmallows?

And any out of system friends? Or like... friendly acquaintances?

[skinstealer]

questions are very good...had a weird day so couldn't get to these until now but i am VERY down for questions and may do a ramble for frost in a bit as well....(also maybe a moodboard? krowling had fun with that)

>So he doesn't really tend to any plants, but does he have an favorites? Whether to look at or if he really enjoys the taste of apples or something?

he definitely likes apples and things commonly found in the fall, right before the cold hits. squashes and pumpkins are his absolute favorites, and while he still isn't great with handling them directly, he enjoys whenever his toothache system roommates use them for a delicious fall/winter meal.

>Does he put anything in his cocoa? Milk, whipped cream, marshmallows?

if asked he'd probably say that whipped cream is for kids but he does like marshmallows. while the big ones are pretty indulgent, he has a soft spot for mini ones that come in the instant packets.

>And any out of system friends? Or like... friendly acquaintances?

as seen in frostbite, ivory is his friend with benefits...i like to think that after that point, he starts coming out of his shell a bit, probably with ivory's encouragement. looking at the list though, i can see some people he'd probably get along with in the future...let's see

tallow from toybox for sure. those two have a Lot in common and i think once they get over their shyness they would really hit it off and become good friends. wrinkle from the stylized figures would probably be intimidating at first but i think frost would be really captivated by its art. sine in the glowstick system might be the only person he really talks to from there- most of them have WAY too much energy for him to keep up with. palm, pudds, trifle and allie would be cool too, all from the katt system.

greenhouse LIVES with momentum and toothache, so here's where it'll get interesting. from momentum, i could see him palling around with scruffy or scythe, but in a very "let's sit around and watch TV while drinking lukewarm soda cans" kind of way and nothing too intimate or close. he's on decent relations with everyone in toothache and is grateful whenever they cook for the household, but is only really anything close to friends with caesar, and maybe hock. 

RUNIC IS COMPLICATED. runic and greenhouse were childhood friends, so let's see...who does frost know from back then (he was a very old split)

you know what i'm going for the left field option. former childhood friends with arrogance. arrow was probably a lot different as a kid and shifted into its current angel-inspired appearance after some traumatic events we haven't figured out, so that dramatic personality shift put a big rift between them. i imagine it leads to frost feeling like "why the fuck can't you just be Yourself around me anymore" while arrow tries to assert that this Is itself (and neither of them being entirely wrong)

a strange situation, but a interesting one i think...possibly a good start for one of the prompted stories?

chewtoy from decomposystem would be a fun future friend- if not even a little saucy. chewtoy is a weird guy and would probably make frost nervous at first but they have chemistry, i think? roger and hitch from tuner would work well as companions. not sure for comorbid...river, maybe? no one from beau, they freak him out a bit (sorry to beau). finally...slice from toybox as well!

wow, frost, you have a ton of potential friends that no one knows about yet! get out there and do it!

[AceOfNothing]

Oooh lot of people. Curious, you see any personal overlap as to why? Like is there some personality traits a lot of them have or something? Some of it to me looks like "this person does/has this cool thing I want to talk to them about"

Absolutely love the idea of that being a prompt story for Arrow and Frost. Childhood friends talking about why they don't get along now/how different they felt about events isn't used enough. Just usually goes to "Well you moved to the city and are different now but I'm still country"

How bout any enemies?

And maybe uh.... Can Frost ice-skate

[skinstealer]

oh yeah there's definitely overlap. frost prefers people who are low energy and...honestly kind of moody? that's the biggest overlap here. while ivory isn't really either of those things, the majority of the people listed here are- and i feel like ivory is kind of a "mood matcher" at this point in his life. he is so go with the flow that he can match any tempo. but...as for the others, a lot of these people are grumps/moody, masc-aligned, and slow going. i guess it just feels right that frost feels most at home with people he can relate to, and while he cares a lot about ivory (and likely some of the other people who Dont fall into those categories), you can definitely see in frostbite that he has a LOT of nerves about interacting with people he feels wont "get" him.

basically, he wants to hang out with dudes with attitude. moody trans dude club

for those who dont fall into that...yeah, it's a lot of "huh, this person is interesting". it'd probably take a lot for him to actually VOICE that, but he does have more of an interest in the people around him than he lets on. he just sees their lives as...not for him. not something he's allowed to invest time and attention into. as such, he spends a lot of time drifting around and giving the appearance of not giving a shit, when in fact, if he would allow himself it, he would care extremely deeply.

yeah, we're feeling the arrow and frost thing eventually. most likely arrow and frost weren't the mainfriend pairing of those two systems, but they were definitely best friends for a long time and things just. fell apart.

enemies...let's look through the list again.

probably wouldn't like bloodstain from katt system, especially with the weirdness between it and palm. "nameless" is similar, he's just uncomfortable with the positions it puts katt as a whole into. boil and bubble probably make him uncomfortable, along with any of the other "horny roleplay character turned system members" in katt.

no issues in momentum or toothache.

outright does not like sidewinder in runic system, which is a problem considering she's the second most frequent fronter. he absolutely blames her for a lot of the shit the system went through and Is Still Going Through due to her inclination to fuck with magic she really shouldn't. athame is also on the shitlist for this reason, being an entity that sidewinder made a pact with and is also here to cause problems on purpose.

no issues in decomposystem. probably uneasy around locket from tuner. him and marrow from comorbidity bicker a bit, but that's mainly because she reminds him of lore. CAINE PROBABLY SCARES THE FUCK OUT OF HIM. same for sigil, but for wildly different reasons. like i said, beau probably freaks him out- most anxious around desire, rhinestone and princess.

balljoint from toybox makes him nervous. alcove makes him REALLY nervous. conch and maxi make him REALLY, REALLY nervous.

...i guess most of these arent enemies so much as "people he is especially tense around."

>And maybe uh.... Can Frost ice-skate

absolutely not

[AceOfNothing]

I wanna know why Caine scares him. And Sigil, and I guess the Beau system. Caine and Sigil being particularly labeled as "both scare him, for different reasons" makes me immediately curious.

Also no one seems to like Conch? I'm saying that after literally two characters but what did the fairy whale do

Also is Katt's system large? Seems like a good few were named for friends and sameish amount for enemies. Wondering if it's just like an even split with personalities or if there are just a lot of them

[skinstealer]

>I wanna know why Caine scares him.

i really wish we had the :whoops: emoji on here because i made that face IRL and so did rin.

so...Not Many People In The Club Like Caine. caine is a guy who has a lot of problems and a lot of club members are...sympathetic towards him, but a lot of them can simultaneously be described as being "entirely sick of his shit". caine is one of the members of comorbidity that tries VERY HARD not to front- because he is triggered by the act of feeding on blood and it makes him immensely sick to his metaphorical stomach. this...isn't because of any sort of repulsion to gore or anything like that, in fact, it's...the opposite.

Show Contentkink content, bloodplay, hard vore(?), starvation and self harm:

due to a string of weird circumstances and a lot of maladjusted coping mechanisms, caine is Very, Very into the taste and texture of blood- or any other substance that'd satisfy blood fever. this isn't actually that uncommon for comorbid system members, but the difference is that caine is also Very, Very  ashamed and guilty over this fact, berating himself, hurting himself, and starving the body in order to avoid having to feed. this has lead to many instances of the system getting dangerously close to turning terror before someone else can desperately take the wheel and seek out a last minute feeding source.

as such, people don't. Like. caine. for how much danger he puts the system AND the entire club at risk, even if caine is a pretty nice guy if you get past his debilitating self worth issues and shame problems. our second kaleidoclub story is actually going to feature him and his experience making his first real friend, so look forward to that.

sigil is kind of just spooky and weird and puts frost on edge. it isn't really doing anything wrong, just a mysterious unknown that freaks frost out.

the beau system is...very flirtatious, and very impulsive. while they wouldn't come onto frost or anything like that, it is Very common for them to outright hang on someone's arm at a club meeting in a way that'd probably make even ivory blush, and that kind of boldness makes him nervous. the fact that they also have a tendency to get themselves hurt, and Badly, also makes him nervous around them- he's scared something's going to happen.

conch is...they resemble a very traumatic part of toybox's past, specifically their experience with an extranatural being called a fairy. conch is a fairy themself, but not a literal one- just a system member that took the shape of one combined with certain imagery from the fairy-related incident. while conch themself hasnt really done anything wrong, and they're definitely not the only fairy system member in the club itself (fairies being a very popular mythology thing in morbit itself- they have fairy tales too, after all)- but they are the one who behaves most like a fairy, something that feels uncanny and distressing to a lot of people on the off chance that they front. combine that with the fact that a lot of toybox people are inherently freaked out by them due to the trauma ties and you have a dicey situation with most of the club.

also i can't talk much about "real world"/external fairies, as a disclaimer. i want to leave a lot of those reveals to the heartsongs, as they're that system's creations. talking about the system fairies is okay, but i don't want to reveal anything about external ones by accident.

katt's system is the biggest in the club! it's got 27 members.

[AceOfNothing]

Ah man. Cant blame people for being upset/uncomfortable with Caine, but I do feel bad for them. Kinda a strange situation to be in so don't know how I'd cope tbf. But that doesn't mean what it's doing isn't dangerous.
same hat for Conch it seems too. Not like they did anything but... uncanny stuff is still uncanny.

Also I feel bad Frost is "scared" of the Beau system but I also completely get it. His own comfort is important.

I guess I'm happy no one seems to be like "I don't like this person because they were a danger to me specifically" more just an uncomfy thing.

Let's see. Frost got any hobbies? Or anything he'd like to try sometime?
Got a like, favorite place?

[skinstealer]

yeah. caine is a good person whose ability to demonstrate and prove that is extremely hindered by the fact that he Really, Really hates himself and that manifests in legitimately dangerous ways to the people around him.

i'd say that for the most part the club operates on that- there's very few inter-system relationships that are outright "you hurt me terribly" but they do exist- it's just a lot more common for those kinds of hate-filled relationships to exist inside the systems themselves. this is something we've experienced a lot of both with our own system and with plural friends over time- it feels like it's a lot less likely for system members to lash out at external people than extreme internal conflict, and i'm speaking from experience.

uhh hobbies. frost doesn't really have a lot of interests, or at the very least, has left a lot of them by the wayside. i like to think he does enjoy a variety of TV shows and maybe some games, but the greenhouse system hasn'tt owned a game console/handheld in ages- that kind of stuff was more astro's territory, and it doesn't front that much anymore.

favorite place is one of the hiking trails that his system frequents, especially during the winter. it makes  the trek so much harder, but there's very few places he'd rather be, and it's not uncommon for him to get slammed into the front on the first day of snowfall and immediately high tail it out there.

[skinstealer]

i have now joined the moodboard club. this came out a lot more...golden? than i was expecting, but honestly that could be a cool color palette for him to work with if he ever stops wearing dark colors and neutrals. the wasp comber morph is supposed to also be a dragon, so that felt like important imagery to work in. the fact that he doesnt really have Interests aside from the outdoors is a bit tricky to work with, but honestly that stuff is so important to him that it's not a bad thing to include. (besides, i've been having emotions about that kind of thing today...)

[AceOfNothing]

I love the moodboard, sometimes those are great for learning secret things about the characters accidentally lol. Could always start with gold accents on the darker clothes and just evolve from there.

Here’s a silly question but kinda thinking of it cause of pine trees: If Frost was decorating a Christmas tree, do you think he’d do a really organized one (Like all the ornaments have a color theme) or a really mix and matched one (“This ornament is from Ivory, I got this one at a weird gas station, we made this one when we were 7, this is just a toy tag I think is cute”) hopefully that makes sense.

Also anything he like to do in the snow? I get the feeling he wouldn’t wanna make a snowman, but maybe he likes catching snowflakes or making snow balls. Idk

[skinstealer]

christmas tree...i want to say he'd be really scattered about it, but try to group things up in nice ways, kind of like a weird patchwork of stylings. he gets very territorial around it as well and gets Very fussy about people interfering with it. hands off!

granted morbit does not have christmas trees but they probably do their own form of tree/plant decoration. could be fun to explore!

he actually does like building snowmen/snowforts, even if it hurts his body to do it for too long. he tends to get into a sort of meditative state while packing snow, and it's something people do enjoy watching him get to do, even if he doesn't get to often. sometimes if he does this in headspace, pecan joins in and they actually get along pretty well for a while.

[AceOfNothing]

Could be a fun idea, not likes it’s not an adaptable idea! And I like the patchwork idea, honestly kinda fits the kaleidoclub as a whole.

Oh so he kinda likes having a task like that? Wonder if he’d like something like lego sets, or maybe like making things with clay.

[skinstealer]

oooh yeah he would. he likes doing things with his hands, even if he thinks he isn't too good at them.

now i'm thinking about him getting into something like that...he'd probably think he's too mature for legos/construction blocks (toybox glaring in the distance) but i could see him getting into clay that doesn't get too badly affected by cold temperatures... is that a thing? i dunno!

frost making little figures for ivory based on ivory's personal familiars arc. making clay figures of ivory's goofy kitties. god that's cute

[AceOfNothing]

Maybe he’d be into wood models then, those are usually considered more “mature”. Make like model planes and animals and paint them

Theres probably a clay with less water in it to make it better for the cold, but arguably Morbit could have its own clay for that. You know, fantasy rules

Also adore him making gifts for Ivory, just super sweet.

[skinstealer]

oh honestly i could really see wood carving. models too, but just...making whittled pieces, i think he'd be really into that. can't decide on whether his stuff would be more angular or organic-looking, though...such a hard choice.

and yeah, i feel like even though their relationship isnt currently romantic, he'd still want to thank ivory for all of the kindness and help that he gives. ivory is the first friend he's been able to make in a long ass time and he appreciates that, especially the fact that he's helping frost come out of his shell and expand his personal social circle more. while i'm not sure what the extent of a romance side of things will be for frost and ivory, i do think that it very quickly becomes a majorly important relationship in frost's life, and one he would fight to protect and maintain....the first thing he's really been able to actively give a shit about in years. it's a life changing experience for him.

[AceOfNothing]

Love the wood carving idea ooh!! Anyone else in kaleidoclub he could maybe ask for advice on carving in general? Good reason to make a friend
Also wonder if he'd be into carving other things. Like soap or ice... idk not a lot of things people carve I guess. 

I'm sure Ivory is supportive. Wonder if making little gifts would also be like... good way to mend relationships or something. Could carve an owl statue to protect the garden from critters, that sort of deal

[skinstealer]

hmm let me think...probably runic would be able to help but uh. that is. you know that's kind of a tricky thing

maybe him and arrow used to do things when they were both younger? that could be cool....a hobby he takes back up once he realizes he wants to be able to give ivory something as a thank you gift that isn't just a box of squash. the box of squash is cool and all, but it doesn't feel like a gift from him, not when he's not really able to handle a lot of the produce himself until it's actually picked, and even then he has to be careful.

projecting a bit from our childhood days but he could also get into soapstone carving i think- perhaps it's where he and arrow started...

i think that getting into this would definitely also help him mend relationships with other people. he's not great with his words and is kind of a trainwreck when it comes to actually getting out personal sentiments, so being able to make something and have it be a kind gesture that actually shows he's paying attention to someone's interests and personality would mean a lot to the people around him.

[AceOfNothing]

Honestly Frost wanting a gift that's more personal to him seems p natural. Especially since the plant part also just seems like the systems job to him (not saying he or the other system members don't enjoy it or aren't passionate, just that I get the feeling he really tends plants out of obligation more so.)

What kinds of things would he carve for himself? Especially while learning/practicing? Would he leave carvings natural or want to paint them (even minimally, like painting eyes)?

Also I am keeping this "take back a hobby" thing in mind for prompts. Wonder if the Runic system/ Arrow would feel weird about it or be encouraging.

[skinstealer]

he definitely sees the plant thing as something he doesn't want to get super involved with, yeah. while part of him misses being able to do some things as easily as he did back when working on his family's farm as a child, the amount of hard labor involved and subsequent chastising when his motif would damage plants post-metamorphosis put him off of getting much enjoyment out of any of it by the time he's in the artist's colony.

i'd say he'd do some minor painting to his carvings, mainly just eyes and decals. he likes natural wood grain and the different colors it comes in- and you can probably get some super wild wood colors in calliope, it's a weird zone. i like to think he'd go for animals...which makes me wonder more about morbit creatures he would like. more inspiration to draw fauna, i guess? animals kind of spook him in person due to his body's fragility, but he really likes them from afar, more than he'd probably initially let on. he gets used to ivory's many living plush cats, though, and i can picture him letting them crawl all over him (up until they start kneading and poking holes).

arrow would probably feel a little weird about it. it doesn't have a lot of connections to back when it was a child- possibly due to another system member merging with it, or something? we're rotating arrow in our mind as we make these posts, tbh. perhaps it would make arrow feel a bit of nostalgia, but in a way that makes it uncomfortable...



i'm hanging out with remora tonight, and we realized that i've been working on frost so much with pecan and lore that i completely forgot about the other system members, including remora's character, nibbles. so we're going to go over the deal with everyone. no images right now, i just want to ramble.


starting with the character at hand: nibbles. nibbles is a whale shark gummi catfish that lives in the beach/ocean biodome in headspace, specifically in a large cave under the waters themselves. sometimes people scuba dive deep down there to visit her, but it's more likely that they use an inner tube while she paddles around the surface. at first i didn't think much of what frost would think about nibbles, but then after talking with remora and realizing we have a lot of personal history stuff we want to address with each other, it feels right to make them interact more. they won't be a parallel exactly, seeing as remora has a different character, shane, that addresses things that are more directly her deal, but there's going to be some interesting stuff there.

as such, frost and nibbles are...budding friends. both of them kind of avoided each other for a long time, especially once frost's thoughts of sexuality and desires for intimacy resurfaced after spending a good few years outside of a relationship. while it's hard for either of them to articulate Why this bothered either of them, it mainly comes down to two things: nibbles is Very, Very interested in having at the very least, a romantic relationship with someone, internal or external, and frost feels like his interests are inherently kind of too much to push on anyone. nibbles can sense frost's insecurity with it and doesn't want to push anything, and frost knows that she would possibly be interested in sharing intimate moments but goes "nope i dont want to go there". nibbles is also very impulsive and easily speaks her mind, even if it's overwhelming to others- something she tries to avoid by just being shy around him and not super talkative to.

once ivory helps, though...frost ends up talking with her, and while it's clear frost hasn't really come to terms with the idea of a relationship with Anyone, she's very happy to listen to his stories about doing stuff with ivory, be it sexual or otherwise. in return, she tells frost about some of the dreams and fantasies she keeps to herself, and the two have nice talks while floating in the sea.

also, looking back at notes- lore and frost did a lot of fronting during childhood, which probably explains a lot of why they're comfortable being bratty at each other. they're basically childhood....Something. not siblings, and definitely not the standard definition of friends, but they went through things together that tie them to each other, whether they like it or not.

back to other guys, though.

prickle is the primary fronter of the system, played by echer. he's a kangaroo snuglin who is endlessly devoted to his work, full of a deep and powerful love for plants and farming. he loves nothing more than getting his hands dirty and spending time outdoors, and can usually be found shirtless and covered in soil. people generally regard him as a cool guy, even if he doesn't really talk much to people outside of work and his online friends. he and frost get along fine, with prickle giving him a lot of respect due to frost's history of taking care of the system during rough times. prickle knows that he's been dealt a hard hand in life, and tries to cheer him up whenever their paths cross- though it doesn't often work. frost respects prickle in turn, but not enough to actually talk with him.

seaview is another common fronter, and is a seagull corvice. they live in a small beach shack by nibbles' cave, and are a sweet, giggly kind of person. they're probably one of the people who has the most casual friends out of the system, along with pecan- though neither of them have a lot. seaview thinks that frost should lighten up a bit, but not out of malice or misunderstanding- they just see how much everything seems to weigh on him. frost thinks seaview should step off, either way.

as mentioned before, stras is one of the few people frost Has been able to talk to for any significant amount of time since childhood. stras was also a childhood split and while his memories of their childhood are a lot fonder than the ones that frost or lore had, he's not ignorant to the kind of backbreaking labor the rest of the system was put through, and is able to sympathize with frost heavily. frost feels comfortable around him enough to probably talk about the ivory friends with benefits situation after it happens, to which stras is overcome with pride at frost stepping out of his comfort zone and trying something so huge.

and now, the primarily internal guys...

pluto and vein are interesting cases, being space-themed dragons that reside in the moon biodome (in their own little moon base). pluto controls the headspace's weather and environments, so frost always goes to them to badger about changing the seasons On Time (if you are late with winter he WILL complain). they don't have much of a relationship beyond that, though pluto takes extra care to make sure that things are handled to frost's preferences during the winter. vein is kind of always around when this happens due to living in the space biodome with pluto and not venturing out much, but she likes to poke fun at him to the point where frost is easily irritated by her.

astro also lives in the moon base, as the name would imply, but it's often too busy exploring to really interact with frost. it has a lot of dissociation and psychosis issues and is kind of hard to talk to as a result, so frost kind of just steers clear out of fear of screwing up with it.

ovie is a near-completely internal system member aside from cofronting and a cool, huge fire elemental, and sometimes frost calls it over to help get bonfires going by his cabin. the two are respectful of each other, even if not super talkative. frost knows that ovie will take care of things to the best of its ability, and ovie knows that frost has done the same for many years, albeit in different ways.

[skinstealer]

bonus: nibbles moodboard

[Shifter55]

Hm... ripe hardened squash seems like an idea practice material for woodcarving at least, given how forgiving it is grain-wise. Maybe not the best material as it just, isn't durable or really like other woods though.

[skinstealer]

oh that could be fun actually, good idea

also i will return in a bit with more character stuff. rhapsody also might show up to talk about tallow, or maybe even rin + ransom to discuss delaney and caine...we have a lot going on right now!

[AceOfNothing]

Really excited to see who it ends up being next!!

[skinstealer]

hmmm i was gonna say "no rambles yet today" but honestly we kind of want to do what we did for tonic and frost and go through who characters would be friends/"enemies" with in the kaleidoclub for the two characters we're working on right now, chokechain and tallow. now featuring moodboards!



chokechain is my member of the beau system. he's not very well liked to say the least, and is generally regarded as The Problem Member of the bunch by his own system. the rest of the kaleidoclub ranges from somewhat nervous around him to outright hostile, generally depending on their own relationship with helping + handling uncooperative system members. in more commonplace system community terms (that we personally dislike, but there's a point to this), choke would definitely be referred to as a "persecutor". he's seen as someone here to punish the rest of the system and cause problems, and spends most of his days locked up in the system's headspace, not allowed to front- until he gets slapped into force front anyway.

as such, hmm...friends...

from the stylized figures, we could see him having somewhat positive relationship with slasher, though the two do get on each other's nerves sometimes. ballpoint actually Has a story planned with choke, which is part of why we're working on him right now.

wyatt from glowstick is a fellow edgeboy and similarly regarded at times. i can picture the two of them hanging out pretty easily. bonding over their in-system unlikeability....edgy guys with rough histories have to stick together, after all. 

i genuinely don't know if he'd have any friends in katt, looking at the roster. a lot of the local edgelords in that system don't really seem like they'd vibe with him, but on second look...maybe sorbet. sorbet hasn't gotten a lot of attention development-wise yet but with everything they've got going on, i think that they'd be willing to listen to choke get his worries out and be there to provide a nice outlet for venting- and positive emotions, as well. possibly an advocate to let him out of his cage more, if not entirely?

probably scruffy from momentum. we need to start an edgeboy club.

no outright friends in toothache, i think. no one really goes his speed there.

friends with lore in greenhouse, that's pretty much it.

sort of friends with athame in runic system, which makes EVERYBODY nervous. not much going on there aside from that, though sidewinder is probably happy that athame has a buddy. sort of.

chewtoy from the decomposystem wants to hang out with him more, even if choke brushes the guy off.

might, Maybe, Maaaaybe get along ok with hitch from tuner. at the very least, hitch doesn't see him as a threat.

as for the systems he lives with...

probably decent terms with ritual from comorbid and That's It. maybe aniseed, but not gonna assume too much there.

his own system? no one. he gets along with literally no one, except maybe getting some concern from tibby every so often.

no friends in toybox, either. generally, he spends his time out in front feeling isolated. he'd probably be cool with joan if he ever got the chance to meet her, but...joan is pretty much solely internal, and he avoids dreamsharing if he can.
 

---

and enemies...

penny from the stylized figures is probably a little scared of him. snug probably has complex feelings...we'll figure those out later.

sine from the glowstick system is not a huge fan. he's very business-like and doesn't take well to someone willing to make a mess if provoked being around. choke and wyatt probably complain about this guy together.

not on good terms with "nameless" from katt, finds it uncanny and distressing to be around. not a fan of trashtalk, breakout, boil and bubble for being horny roleplay character introjects either- they remind him too much of the people he's around on a daily basis in his own head.

as for momentum, probably has gotten into arguments with gently. and oswald, Definitely oswald.

no real enemies in toothache either- i think he just doesn't interact with them much. might have hurt coldcut's feelings at one point.

no enemies in greenhouse, though he's gotten on seaview's nerves before (an impressive feat)

restraint from runic would Not like choke. the two do not get along. has probably hurt bappy's feelings as well. RIP to bappy.

while ICU has no issues with choke, choke has BIG issues with ICU. he finds her absolutely smothering and uncomfortable to be around.

no enemies from tuner, though display is probably antsy around him. locket and jekyl also make him a bit uncomfortable, but to the point where he just avoids them and he's fine.


and then....The People He Lives With

does not get along with tonic, we've established this. tonic wants to be sympathetic but can't help but see someone who causes Even More Problems for the system than they already have to deal with- even if most of those stories about how terrible he is are secondhand, from the rest of the beaus.  aside from being a dick attitude wise, he hasn't actually....Done Anything to the other members of the club. as for other comorbid members...any of the more sexually outspoken people are a no go. choke is VERY fucking judgmental in that department.  

no friends in his own system, but would especially butt heads with princess, desire and rhinestone. wake is also distinctly Not A Fan.

as mentioned, no friends in toybox...but not a lot of outright enemies, either. he would not get along with cordelia, rocky, or alcove, though.


that was more than i thought it'd be. we'll go into tallow later!

[skinstealer]

rhapsody here. i've been wanting to post for a bit, but i've only really just sat down tonight to get some stuff about tallow nailed down. writing his modern iteration and playlisting this past week has been an interesting experience, and while it's been a bit messy so far, i think i've really got it now, and am ready to share him with the community.


[id: a red and black teddy bear concept with his hair and tail made of white polyfill stuffing. he has vertical stripes on his limbs, a heart patch on his chest, and slit pupils with red irises.]

this is tallow- externally, anyhow. he's got a polyfill stuffing motif and is overall loosely stuffed, leading him to be kind of a pushover physically.


[id: two images of a velociraptor-inspired snuglin, also in a deep red + black color scheme. his head and neck fluff somewhat resemble a hoodie, and his torso has a patch with vertical stripes covering the front of it. he has modded-on claws and talons. clothed, he wears a big sweater and jeans in plain, muted colors.]

here he is in-headspace. he's not super huge on being a snuglin, but is trying (and failing) to come to terms with it.

here's tallow's bio, whipped up after some work with our "stats" system and putting some narrative puzzle pieces together.

Show ContentCW: kink mentions, toybox lore spoilers:

Tallow, a member of the Toybox system, is full of worry and insecurity about what those around him think of him. Formerly a system member who caused a lot of trouble for his fellow Toybox residents, he tends to either overcompensate by taking on too much work to help out, or keep to himself out of fear of being "bad" again. In the past, he'd lash out at people over being misunderstood or rejected- nowadays, he tries to hold that back, even if it means being steamrolled a bit in the moment.

Being a system member around for a very long time, Tallow had exposure to the realmic incident that ended up cursing Toybox and making them capable of involuntary magic. While like many of the older system members, said incident left negative marks behind on him, it also gave him an interest in transformation- both in terms of headspace mechanics and real world instances. If asked whether this is an interest that extends to sexual proclivities, he usually storms away. His desire for headspace control has proven wholly unsuccessful, though he continues to try and try.

Tallow's biggest wish in life is to have presence in the people around him's lives in a way that is kind, welcome, and appreciated- but not soft, and easily forgotten. He resents the fact that he feels torn between a world of being cute and approachable/"marketable" (seen both from his polyfill stuffing motif and modified snuglin form in-headspace) and the inner turmoil that guides his thoughts, and hopes that one day he can find a balance between these two things.

His biggest interests include toys and sewing, but he tries to keep both of these on the downlow, despite them being very obvious to everyone who's around him in the same space as toys or crafting supplies for more than ten minutes.  When it comes to the system's writing, he's often tasked with writing villain characters- something he does with great gusto, and usually involves getting his own feelings on paper, or past experiences with other people.

finally, here's his moodboard.



[id: a moodboard with an image of a glass bowl filled with polyfill stuffing, an image of red, swirled fabric, an image of a tomato-themed pincushion full of yellow pins, and an image of fossilized wood.]

[Shifter55]

If he has ambitions for headspace control, has he investigated the system's areas much in the quest for that?
Also I am wondering if the polyfill motif extends to his feathers, giving a down feather-esque feel.

[skinstealer]

he's very familiar with the headspace, yeah. there always seem to be new areas popping up, but he's prone to walking all over the place in search of answers- both for himself, the system as a whole, and as to how he can acquire these powers he's so dead set on developing.

oh yeah i could absolutely see the down feather thing, the visual similarity was already very intentional. stealing that idea

[skinstealer]

ok it is. rin tonight, hi

i am not usually nervous about rambling about characters but it has been a bit and today we are talking about caine. which is, uh, a weird subject for me.

a lot of our recent characters have been autobiographical to some degree due to that being interesting for us to explore as a system, and caine is also that in ways i have not explored, at least not on this level. i wanted to make sure that even though he touches on similar subjects to wilson (namely, being uncomfortable with his interests/sexuality), it's explored differently, and in a way that ties in heavily into the comorbid system's internal and external struggles. caine is also an exploration of how certain dynamics i've had in the system would go if they were applied to one  with a different situation- while i've been the primary fronter of our system for many years (up until this one), what would happen if someone had similar complexes but in a different situation- one where people wouldn't be so biased.

that said, he's not directly me, and i prefer to leave a lot of the specifics of where those lines begin and end more mysterious for the sake of my own safety and comfort. be cool about it and don't ask anything of me personally, just focus on the guy. the failguy.

krowling has talked a bit about caine before, and if you've been keeping up with this thread, you know already that he is kind of a huge danger to the comorbid system at large. his inability to feed without completely freaking out has lead to way too many near-shifts into terror state, and in general, people prefer him to be locked the fuck up. locking him up never seems to work, however- despite him being relegated to the basement of one of the cabins in headspace, he has a tendency to manifest in other parts of the headspace without actively deciding to be there. this is extremely awkward for everyone involved, especially since caine in headspace is a 7 foot tall fleshy wolf monster that can and will jumpscare people when he materializes behind them and gets just as panicked.

that said, he has a strong relationship with delaney, a slug dopple in the same system who takes interest in him as something new to try on for size (interpret as you will). the two of them's bond is very hard to explain, but delaney appreciates having a massive guard dog at her disposal (especially against the headspace's many monsters and threats) and caine appreciates having someone to scratch him around the neck and encourage him instead of shoving him in a basement. when asked if their relationship goes beyond sordid flings and more into romantic territory, caine stops talking and looks incredibly embarassed, while delaney asks "wouldn't you like to know?"

del convinces caine to start feeding on willing external participants eventually, which everyone is INCREDIBLY relieved by, even if caine himself has mixed feelings about it. he's still wildly uncomfortable with the fact that his brain likes the sensory experience and act of feeding a bit too much, but finding people who are surprisingly down for that cough ivory helps a lot. the other people del hangs out with in system- river, maddie, and johnny- do not approve of her relationship with caine and think she is fucking insane for palling around with him. however- this does not stop them from letting her have him tag along on their adventures/patrols around headspace, with the caveat that she keeps an eye on him at all times. he's very useful against headspace monsters, as mentioned.

so yeah. this guy. if anyone has any questions, go ahead, i'll be back to ramble more either way.

[skinstealer]

rin again, still having a lot of caine thoughts but i will return to those later i think. today...and probably for the next few days...we are working on some "christmas presents to ourselves", in the form of grandma simulator designs made to fill niches we feel like we haven't filled- or just want to play with. we pick out a character base to use (TCPs for now, but we're considering bulking up the plaything universe up a bit as well...), slap it into grandma sim, and go through our usual selection and editing process until we get a new guy that feels nice to the system member in question. for added challenge, we randomize "personality stats" (we'll explain these at a later date, tldr theyre a character development tool we have to make 500+ characters actually viable and unique) and give them a random song on shuffle to form the basis of their character around. suddenly people now have a little design puzzle to play with!

for me, i ended up picking out a touch type for the base i wanted to use. yes i know this is predictable as fuck considering touch types are my #1 favorite TCP type, but my brain was waffling between that and collision type and i've already got three of those too. i had no idea what i would Do with a...fourth touch type, but i thought maybe it could be cool to do a contrasting character with hazard, my favorite and most beloved TCP, and use them as a foil to explore differences in touch type perspectives.


[image description: a touch type TCP ref, this one with a mottled white body with its arm stripes having pink/yellow mottling and black/blue mottling. the pink/yellow combination also exists on their slimy fingertips.]

this is fingertips. not the most unique name for a touch type, but that's kind of on purpose- fingertips has fully embraced their ability and what it means for them, and has settled into a somewhat indulgent lifestyle in the sensory district of haven, a TCP-only city that generally has its residents live in specialized areas. TCPs can live wherever they want in the city, but it's easier to get into a place if you fit into whatever specialty it's catering to- and in tips' case, that's the sensory district. we want to sketch what some of this district looks like at some point, but it's very much inspired by autism sensory rooms in a lot of places, and tips' place especially resembles that- a place that's meant to engage the senses and provide stimulation. they immerse themself in new sensations constantly, and consider themself to be a connoisseur of life's tactile experiences, including both positive and negative.

they've asserted themself as someone who can help other TCPs explore these delights as well, letting TCPs have a sample of their increased sensitivity for whatever purposes they'd like- though usually, this involves people wandering around tips' sensory house and experiencing all of the weird stim stuff there is. they generally take the enhanced sensory ability back before the person leaves, in order to keep them from getting overloaded outside of a safe environment...and those "touch sessions" help them make an income and stay afloat.

outside of work and their ability, they're a very flirtatious person who falls in love easily, to the point of being somewhat impulsive and lackadaisical about it. even so, partners don't generally stick around, often drawn in by their ability and disenchanted once they realize how fixated tips gets on it. it's appealing at first to many, but when people realize how single-minded they are about it- this constant desire for more and more sensation- and the ambition and impulse spending that comes with that (gotta get all the new textures!), they detach and leave tips to their own devices once again. as such, tips remains in a constant desire for the perfect partner or two, but is unable to find someone who shares their desires....or someone they're willing to compromise with.

they wear most of their positive feelings on their sleeves, but tend to keep their frustrations and upset more internal, not wanting to show anything unseemly- at the very least, not without putting it through a filter first. even stuff like seeking unpleasant sensations is done with a filter of it being an adventure, and nothing Scary. they have many friends and peers, even casual lovers, but no particularly close relationships to call their own.

the first person they meet in a long time that catches their eye, however- is hazard.


[image description: a touch type TCP ref. this one has a mottled pink and teal body with yellow/pink and black/dull purple stripes, creating a "caution tape" like effect on his arms. his slimy fingertips are deep pink and blue.]

hazard is a character who started as a silly RP character back in 2019(?) and evolved a lot over the past five years. he was spawned in the TCPdex Research Facility and was raised there as well, eventually making his way out to haven's sensory district. his time at the facility was a Hugely mixed bag, mainly marred by the way one scientist in particular treated him- which i will detail a bit under spoilers.

Show ContentCW: CSA analogues/SA, TCP gore and injury:

the scientist that ended up spearheading a lot of the research done with hazard liked to focus on the sensory angle, as is typical for similarly typed TCPs. this involved subjecting hazard to both pleasant and painful simulation, which was again, pretty standard- except for the fact that most of these experiments involve consent and proper explanation to what's going to happen. hazard was never really given these things, and it became increasingly clear after the first few years of testing that there was more gratification going on with this guy than just his scientific prowess and research.

as a result, hazard became withdrawn and even resentful towards his ability, and left when the first opportunity arose. it still took him 8 years to leave the complex post-spawning, but he got into a housing program in haven and was able to settle into a simple dormitory situation in a sensory building.

hazard could never really fit in with the other sensory typings, as much as he wanted to. while his urge to explore things and sensory seek was still very present, touch could become agonizing seemingly without warning, and he would go through episodes of having any sensation period feeling like pain. (wow this hits different after realizing we have fibromyalgia.)

it's been decided for a while that eventually he decides he can't take much more of living in the sensory district and books himself into a (as of yet unnamed) TCP assisted living facility in haven, enduring mandatory curfews and therapy in order to try and "fix himself". the facility itself has its ups and downs, but offers a weird in between of feeling nostalgic and way too restrictive. still, he's able to befriend a lot of people there, and feels a sense of community for the first time in his life among others who couldn't "fit into society at large".

before this, though...i think that tips and hazard did meet, and that them knowing each other may have been the inciting incident for hazard seeking out assisted living in the first place. tips is a very overwhelming person in their desires and relishes in that- desires that conflict extremely hard with what hazard is able to handle. it could be that hazard sought out tips' help, only for that help to backfire explosively and lead the two of them to have very different feelings about each other and their life trajectories- tips seeing someone that they want to get in the head of, to understand and pick their brain about all of these perspectives they've never heard of, and hazard seeing someone who desires the very things that lead him to get traumatized in the first place. it's a weird relationship, and hazard probably avoids tips after that initial encounter, but tips can't get over hazard like any of their other partners/lovers (though we haven't decided whether the actual interaction was along those lines)...

tips means well, but doesn't have the perspective he does, and he's not really down for sharing it. it creates this sort of dynamic of tips looking for him ever since then, and being distraught that he just fucking disappeared from the district after their interaction, but hazard going "jesus i cant show my face back there again and also this guy is kind of weird as fuck in ways that i dont know how to deal with yet".

will they meet up again? will they just be figures in each other's backstories? who knows! but that's tips.

[AceOfNothing]

I kinda love Tips. I feel bad for Hazard, Hazard has always been great, but I like tips a lot. Hope he gets explored more, it's a good contrast in trauma and indulgence.

Also I really wanna know Haven in general. Curious what districts there are

[skinstealer]

i think that like. it's interesting, their dynamic. tips makes for a weird "love interest"/"rival"/"foil" for hazard, especially when compared to hazard's eventual partners he makes while in the assisted living facility, but i feel like there's some kind of weird magnetism between him and tips that excites the latter but freaks out the former. i don't think hazard would want to admit to feeling drawn to someone who actively seeks out pain when it's something that he has extremely avoidant tendencies to, and tips has no fucking idea how to interact with someone whose experiences are So drastically different from theirs. something i've been mulling over since posting is maybe having the two of them reconnect online and see where things go from there, even if being around them would be too much for hazard right now in person. whatever happened between them, it was enough to really freak hazard out, even if it wasn't technically tips' fault and more of a consequence of hazard's totally-not-fibromyalgia condition.

no idea if this tracks or makes sense but this is our ramble thread and we get to be as incohesive as we want.

as for haven, it's something we initially came up with along with the heartsong system, so we'd like to talk it over more with it at some point before doing a deep dive into how it works. sensory district is pretty developed in our mind visually though, so that's fair game for discussion.

[skinstealer]

here to talk about some guys. it's currently noel with merry in the copilot seat- we have two characters to talk about (for now), and we hope you enjoy them!


[image description: a songbird type TCP with a gray squiggly pattern on his yellow body, along with a deep teal head and belly, pastel lime beak, legs, and accents, and bright teal patterns.]


[image description: a moodboard featuring four images- a steel, ornate birdcage, two stand microphones in a foggy environment, an antique key among fallen leaves, and a circuit board.]

welder is a songbird type TCP living in Haven, a TCP-centric city. he lives among other bird types, their aura abilities usually combining to create a calming environment for those living there- but for welder, it tends to lead to more emotional numbness than anything. he is a quiet man who spends his time working as a singer for charity and therapeutic events due to the soothing effects of his song, but longs for the moment when he can express his more passionate and "hard to market" emotions. he has a deep love of computers, televisions, and electronic toys, and has beliefs of them being alive in their own sense- and may even feel attraction to them to some degree. if he does, it's pretty heavily buried in denial, and he doesn't see a way to express those feelings safely.

it's hard to say what would be the catalyst for his feelings being freed, but cage and lock symbolism feels very important for his characterization, as well as a certain tenderness expressed around the electronic devices he wants to care for. he's a talented guy who is well known in the city for his skills, but he struggles with being known for something that feels like a simple result of his type's ability- and not what he actually wants to be doing. he has a romantic side that he also keeps under wraps, feeling that in his numb state and "strange" attractions, he would be unable to find a suitable partner- even among the objects he keeps.

meanwhile, on merry's end...



[image description: two images of the same gargoyle TCP, one clothed and one not. the unclothed image displays a black and white mottled gargoyle type TCP, with blue and orange accents- blue on one side, and orange on the other. she has an exposed chest cavity with a ribcage and a heart, but no leaking fluid. her clothes are simple and comfortable, with a light brown chevron patterned sweater, a white undershirt (with only the collar visible), a blue bow tie, and a plain brown skirt.]



[image description: a moodboard consisting of four images- a ribcage seen from below, creating a tunnel-like effect, a lion shaped door knocker, an abandoned, retro phone with its receiver off the handle, and a dark blue room with dim lighting and glowing windows.]

fresco is a gargoyle type TCP living in solitude, working as an indie game dev for a hit horror game. it isn't released yet, but it gets her a lot of traction on the [FELID_FACTOR] forums, even if that attention is often overwhelming. the game itself is a mostly-text adventure with world of horror-esque stylings- think screentoned graphics when any are on screen. she isn't a graphical artist, so it's hard for her to make graphics- but she's spent years learning how to write evocative, frightening horror that takes its readers/players to another world. she desperately wishes for people to talk to about her process, but resists reaching out to others often- making public forum and blog posts involves less vulnerability, and the last thing she wants to do is enter a weird power dynamic with another person.

as for iconography...obviously, the chest cavity comes to mind. she was spawned with it and has had to do a lot of work to keep it clean and safe. the fluid around it has hardened into a muscle-like shell, keeping it open and hollow with no bleeding- unless said shell is pierced. undershirts and protective bandages are common in her wardrobe, allowing fresco to create a sort of false skin to keep things from penetrating into it. she takes her ability and typing very seriously, so gargoyle and scary sculpture iconography is a must- her typing allows her to protect others around her from curses or negative influences, and she will sometimes make income working as a party escort for adventurers fearing magic consequences visiting the area. it's a dangerous job, but it pays extremely well, and tends to debuff TCPs with negative auras and abilities without much fuss. abandoned telephones feel correct for the fact that she has struggles making emotional connections with others, and lives a rather lonely personal life..


here are our TCPs! we like them very much.