lumet/astral

The long wait is over and the work and sickness has finally wavered. Enjoy >:D

☀️ Stuff About My Playtime Butcher

• They have been exposed to significant amounts of Poppy Gel while working in Playtime Co. and it's the reason why they weren't there during the Hour of Joy.

• The effects of the exposure started out as an off-putting feeling nagging in the back of their head; A growing dread lodged deep into their skull that they could almost physically feel.

• It then sprouted into insomnia, if not the occasional nausea and muscle pain that eventually reached work hours. That's when they finally took the chance to call in sick and skip work.

• They weren't there while the massacre happened yadda yadda canon stuff.

• After hearing that everyone died and the factory closed off, Player continued on with their daily life, trying to move on from everything despite still facing the effects of that dreaded poppy gravy.

• Years pass. The more overt symptoms simmered down after that devastating day, though just enough that they could bury themselves in the mundane, and for a while life was steady.

• For a long time, the gel's effects grew passively within their body, only appearing as night terrors and memory relapses that could've easily been written off as a symptom of intense survivor’s guilt.

• There's also that rapidly healing from wounds ability, though it was never that intense that they were able to notice.

• The time where things took its hardest turn was when they got into a car accident. Something they should have died from right then and there, but they didn't.

• Their body painfully pulled itself back together and they were able to walk off as if nothing happened.

• This, paired with recieving the mysterious letter once they got home, became the final breaking point that pushed them to go back to the factory.

• They're immortal now, or at least more durable than a normal human being. A near-immortal human.

• Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that each time they revive—especially from big head injuries where the brain needs to be melded back into working order—their knowledge and memories start layering on top of eachother, overlapping like clay that's folded over and over.

• It helps with survival (a LOT), but the repetitive mixing of guilt and trauma is slowly turning them into a walking pile of fight or flight with inhuman reaction time.

• Though it may seem like the gel is what's urging to them to go deeper into the factory, it doesn't actually have the ability to hold/transmit/transfer memories.

• Instead, it blurs their current memories until they start losing sight of what's from where and what words are from who, ultimately losing grasp of their internal dialogue and making it sound like someone's talking to them in their head.

• Since the Prototype caused catastrophic physical damage. The gel from the vat seeps in through the large stab and attempts to repair everything. It managed to keep the Player alive but deemed their arms to be beyond salvaging, connecting their brain to the GrabPack instead.

• As a result, the player’s original arms became nonfunctional after Chapter 5, making the GrabPack their only reliable (if not better) extension.

• By the time they realize the Poppy Gel is completely in their system, the thought of forever losing touch with their normal life finally settles in.

• But in reality, did they ever have it to begin with? After everything they've seen? Everything they've done? They left that factory already carrying a piece of its terror with them, and no matter what they do, no matter how long they pretended, deep down, they knew they'd always end up back inside of it once more.

• Hence the "And, should you come back, years later. Your conscience finally getting the better of you, may you descend into the dark and into the dust. Welcome home." speech.

(was planning to add that as text on the drawing but after multiple attempts, I couldn't find a layout that didn't make the upper half overwhelming)

And yep, hehe. That's my player. It reminds me of those zombie parasite snails that also inspired me around halfway of constructing it. Very body horror.