hihi epic mutual i dont wanna be too annoying but i am incredibly curious about your schizophrenic iggy hc and i yearn for all your thoughts. whatever you wanna write i wanna read. what does he think is going on? does he tell anyone? how does it affect his work/school/hobbies?
all your hcs are so cool and your art is divine i have really enjoyed your intro posts. iggys colouration is so cool. all your designs are lit!!
Uh, forst of all, my Iggy is a THEY/THEM, ASSHOLE /j /lh
Anyway, schizophrenia. I think Iggy becomes very paranoid and delusional first, then hallucinations come later. They never outwardly told anyone, Lemmy just immediately clocked something wrong with twin. As the symptoms got worse, everyone else believed Lemmy that something was wrong. Their history of intense anger issues play into how they react to delusions. The ideas they get are also based on biases they already have, but when deep in the delusion, they can't see that.
EXAMPLE! Before the schizophrenia hits, Iggy and Roy have had many a dispute about morals. Roy is a neurotypical jock, he believes in all the crazy food things body builders tell him. He is counting calories and maximizing protein and hitting the gym like crazy. I also wrote in my Iggy fic that he believes in testosterone levels fluctuating throughout the day but, uh, I don't think that works for a trans man. Maybe Roy is stupid tho lmao. Point is, Iggy and Roy are very different and Iggy interprets this as "I am morally correct and Roy is morally bad." So, their mind takes all that information and concocts delusions of Roy scheming against them at all time. They assume he is spreading lies about them and trying to turn the other koopalings against them. Anytime someone has an idea about Iggy, they immediately assume Roy put it in their head. This is rarely the case. But Iggy will still seek out Roy and scream at him. He stands there stoically and takes it. He is annoyed and a little hurt by this. It's hard to see your own sibling spiral and hate you.
Iggy is that bitch who once they feel better will stop taking their meds. Then, they fall back into paranoia and delusions and think the meds were bad for them all along. They assume they got better on their own and the meds were only giving them side effects in the meantime. So, the other koopalings--mostly Ludwig--will have to sneak their meds into their drinks. When Iggy eventually clocks this (they do every time), they freak out and refuse to take anything not prepared by themself. Ludwig and Lemmy try to talk to them and convince them the meds will help. It takes a looooot of convincing.
I see a psych ward visit in Iggy's cards. One day when they're off their meds and deep in psychosis, they snap and try to off themself. In public. They are restrained and Bowser is forced to sedate them. Lemmy is distraught, coming in and out of dissociation as he tries to comfort his twin as well as manage his own stress. Neither of the twins remember that day very well. Iggy is at the psych ward for at least a month as the nurses get them back on taking their meds consistently and the therapist gives them CBT to cope with big emotions. Lemmy visits every single day. For the first week, Iggy refuses to see her. The first time they actually see each other, Iggy is cold and standoffish. Lemmy is absolutely crushed.
During all of these hard times, Ludwig puts himself in charge of taking care of everyone. Bowser and Kamek continuously try to take over and let him rest and process his emotions but he keeps refusing. I think the psych ward stuff happens as Ludwig is coming off a depressive episode so he is mostly emotionless. He puts on a mask and feigns emotion but feels numb the whole time. The emotional stress of it all makes his recovery period much longer. He is numb for months. The other koopalings catch on eventually but he reassures them he is fine. He's leaving his room and practicing piano and doing royal duties and acting normal, so they leave him alone. As Lemmy recovers from his own emotional turmoil over his twin, he talks to Ludwig a lot. She tries to get him to open up but he is all logic and facts. He keeps telling her he doesn't feel anything and he's grateful for it. That answer only makes her more worried. But when Iggy comes back to the castle, she is all over them and sort of forgets about Ludwig.
In the meantime, Wendy feels neglected. Everyone else has problems that take all of her dad's attention and she is left to rot. Ludwig is depressed, Lemmy is dissociating everyday, Iggy is psychotic, Morton is disabled and can't be independent, and Larry is still having panic attacks everyday. She feels the only person she can talk to is Roy. He reassures her that Dad has not forgotten about her, he's just being stretched thin. He says, "If dad had the time, he would take care of you, but he's running a kingdom and taking care of sick kids at the same time. Have some patience. Feel how you feel, this shit isn't fair, but don't take it out on dad, y'know?" She feels a little better after talking to her brother about it, but when she tries to talk to Bowser and he brushes her off, saying there's an emergency, her heart breaks all over again.
Bowser gets Iggy a service dog! I mean, chain chomp. They're the same. Actually I think chain chomps replace both dogs and cats but that's a different post. Anyway, the chomp provides both service and emotional support. Iggy names it Benrey, because I love projecting my own interests onto characters. Iggy would love HLVRAI. Benrey is able to do the "greet" command to greet people. Iggy uses this when talking to basically anyone in case they're hallucinating. It's a 50/50 chance at first. They never use it at first tho. They always have a 5+ minute conversation before remembering "wait are they real?" and siccing their dog on 'em.
Even as they get better, the voices persist. Their most common hallucination is the sounds of a very crowded room. Layers and layers of voices speaking indiscernible words is their background noise. It only bothers them when they get overstimulated by the sound and can't escape it and have a big meltdown, otherwise it's pretty negligible. They don't return to the normal they were before, but everyone learns to live with this new normal. They're able to joke about it light heartedly, most of the time... Sometimes Iggy gets a temper about it. Their anger issues have not been resolved, just dormant.
