absolute degradation

A date

(More versions under cut)

What do you think about one dialog with a patient in asylum that says that Harper was a patient? I think about it a lot… Perhaps one of the main reasons why I like them

The text in question: "That Harper isn't a Doctor," a person mutters. "Not really. When I first came here Harper was a patient like the rest of us. But now suddenly Harper's our Doctor. THEY all play along, and everyone who might remember has conveniently forgotten. Or disappeared."

omg hi!! I love your art a lot kdhd, and no worries! I enjoy the non horny parts of the game just as much lmao

Harper isn't a real doctor, never has been. But he's clever, and knows how to work in the shadows to get what he wants, and he wants power (COUGH control freak COUGH)

The details are fuzzy for what got him landed in the asylum in the first place- maybe he went somewhere he wasn't supposed to go, maybe he saw something or someone* he wasn't meant to see. Maybe his facade was easier to break down in his youth, maybe he reached his breaking point.

*I'm a fan of the headcanon that Harper met/saw the Ivory Wraith at some point, even if it was just for a few seconds, and he couldn't get them out of his head no matter how hard he tried. Harper craves knowledge, so I wouldn't be surprised if his little obsession with the figure in the lake got taken out of hand as he tried to find out more. I can also see him having an encounter with the tentacles in the mirror, because I feel like it connects well with his experimentation later on. Either way, his mind is strong, but he can only hold on for so long until it slips from his grip.

ALSO a bit of an unrelated thought but I would also like to mention that while he was still mansplain manipulate gaslight girlboss in the past, he was less put together and less calculated like present day Harper. Part of it probably chalks up to teenage hormones since he'd probably be like 18 or 19 when the asylum thing happens, but also inexperience. (He's had less victims, and I like to think that's because a lot of his peers in his hometown thought he was a little fucking freak and avoided him like the plague lmfao, but other people- more specifically authority figures like therapists and teachers- were easier because they either recognized his talent or were wrapped around his finger. He told people what they wanted to hear.) He also had less control over his emotions and that caused more slips in his little facade + more impulsive decisions

Anyway, he gets himself landed in the asylum and he does NOT like it, because his sense of control is stripped from him. The treatment works, at least they all think it does. And maybe it does genuinely work at first, but it's hard to say where the line between it being real and him faking it lies. But either way, it builds up the trust of the staff according to plan

I headcanon that Harper turned the tables on his original doctor, and I wonder if he would have practiced hypnosis on fellow patients before making a move :0? Though I could just see him doing it for fun lmao,, Either way he sees it as a game and a way to get out of this god forsaken place.

He's subtle enough to not arouse suspicion, and he plays around a bit because while he's done this stuff before it's never been this big, but he's still confident in his abilities. He begins by sowing the seeds, putting ideas in his doctor's head, and it just escalates and escalates until he can make a big change.

I'm unsure if he'd act like he's always been a doctor here or transfered to the area, but I do know he'd make sure to delete any evidence of his previous,, position. If any staff speak up instead of turning their pretty little heads, Harper has a chat with them to clear up the confusion <3 (gaslighting and hypnosis xoxo). He doesn't pay as much attention to patients because they're crazy, they don't know what they're talking about. But if they're insistent then, well, it's off to the quiet room-

Hey, wait a minute!