⚠ freak central ⚠

[g//angle voice] n,, no don't do that,,,,,,

a continuation of this post based on @flusteredhare's tags

it makes me wonder if maybe they do still have to "eat" in order to not feel "hunger," like staving it off as a status affliction to their avatars despite the fact that they'll never waste away or die from it. very much like a virtual pet with "needs" that have to be taken care of, but that you could technically starve if you wanted with no consequences whatsoever, other than making them really unhappy/miserable 😭

that but with the idea of them experiencing hunger pangs/stomach growling/etc every time they don't eat and a discomfort that increases the longer they go without. characters like ki//nger forgetting to eat simply because he has no idea where he is or what's going on for large chunks of time and characters like j//ax simply neglecting their needs because he doesn't value himself and doesn't care to participate in group activities outside of the games which is where food usually happens. i think rag//atha would have every intention of eating regularly (she knows it's important) but probably pushes it off or forgets to because she's too busy compulsively making sure everyone else is doing okay and finds it acceptable to go without eating if it means taking care of someone else (obviously more important.) i think pom, zoob and gang would be the Most Normal about it but they would definitely get grumpy and complain on long adventures going without anything to eat. gan//gle would nervously ask if anyone knows when they're going to get food again and j//ax would tell her to stfu and stop complaining because he doesn't want to think about it (rude and mean). LOL.

i also really like the idea that because for a majority of s1 none of them are aware of the fact that they can conjure (except ki//nger when he's lucid, and we don't know exactly how strong he and pom//ni's abilities are), they're all really reliant on ca//ine for fixtures like the cafe or the banquet table he summoned in order to receive food. NO SPOILERS for the movie in any of the tags/replies PLEASE (i haven't seen anything yet) but i like the idea that post-ep 8 they're all wandering around through the barren bones of a digital wasteland that no longer has any life or function left in it after ca//ine's death, becoming progressively hungrier and struggling to focus on conjuring food just so they can remedy their hunger pangs. just the whole idea of being made to feel starved and not being able to die from it while being able to feel every bit of it is a concept i have always found really compelling whenever i'm in a more fiendish hunger mood, and i think ta//dc presents a lot of good opportunities for such scenarios, LOL.