✩ age regressor ! Sandbag headcanons! ✩
⟡ Sandbag started age regressing after he quit boxing, post-incident. he tried nearly every common healthy coping mechanism in the book and nothing worked, but just as it was starting to give up, it came across age regression. at first, he was embarrassed by the idea and immediately vetoed it. but after a while, he started to get more and more desperate. his mind kept nagging him about how there’s still one thing he hasn’t tried. maybe this will be the thing that finally helps.
⟡ so, having reached his breaking point, Sandbag tried surrounding himself by things from his childhood. he got his baby blanket out of the closet, cozied up on the couch with his shark plushies, and put on the old tv shows it used to watch with its siblings as a kid.
⟡ for the first time, Sandbag had found something non-harmful that genuinely made him feel better and didn’t cause him to disassociate. but once he finally did, rather than feeling happy, he PANICKED. why did it have to be this of all things?
⟡ but even despite all of the embarrassment that comes with it, Sandbag continues to regress in private. he always feels a profound sense of shame whenever he does. it thought, why can’t I just cope like a normal person?
⟡ he keeps his regression under very tight wraps. it hates more than anything when people get the wrong idea of him, so he can’t imagine what his friends would think if they saw him in that state. he’s so afraid that they’ll think he’s some gross ageplayer, that it’ll change their perception of him forever, or that they’ll start to baby him even when he’s out of his headspace. realistically, none of these things would actually happen, but Sandbag’s anxiety prevents him from telling anyone for a long time. if anyone were to find out, it would be by accident. it knows realistically that there’s nothing wrong with its regression, but the public reception of it makes him feel like he should be ashamed of it.
⟡ but ohh… he is SO baby. the babiest of all babies. 2 at absolute most, but usually ranges around the newborn stages. overall very teary and fussy
⟡ he cannot take care of himself at all while regressed, but he has to because of his incessant refusal to tell anybody. for this reason, it usually ends up having to force itself out of its regression if he breaks something, makes a mess, or just generally needs to get himself food or do really anything that requires a certain level of maturity. but even the stuff that it can usually do with ease becomes difficult after he’s just forced himself out of his headspace, because it completely destroys the sanctity of the coping mechanism. he’s pulled out of it far too suddenly to for it to have its usual positive effects. when he does this, he usually just ends up disassociating
⟢ he DESPERATELY needs a caregiver, but that stubbornness and shame runs super deep, especially with how small he gets
⟡ oh my goodness, it’s such a bitey baby… it will teethe on just about anything in grabbing distance, especially its plushies. all of them have little teeth marks in them now
⟡ he avoided buying himself agere gear for the longest time, but once it finally does it can’t go without it
⟡ he LOVES bath time, especially bubble baths, but the hassle of actually running one and having to dry himself off once it’s out means he doesn’t have them while regressed very frequently
⟢ in its adult headspace, Sandbag only takes showers, not baths
⟡ dare I say… padded baby… but most of the time they aren’t even used because he ends up just having to pull himself back into his big headspace to change anyway
⟡ so much babbling and whining. if he were to live with anyone, they’d immediately know when he’s regressed because he’s LOUD
⟡ has a tendency to tear apart and break things when frustrated. his regression is an emotional outlet, so it can get quite physical. it once tore one of its plushies apart and cried for hours afterwards
⟡ he’s always crying out for his mama… but never has the guts to actually call her. it already feels like a disappointment to the family, he doesn’t want to seem even more pathetic than he already does to them
⟡ picks and bites at his scars until they bleed
⟡ he’s very wriggly even when he’s cozy, has to take breaks to get up and move around between episodes of the cartoons he’s watching to get some of the wriggles out
⟡ the amount of times he’s gotten SO close to calling or texting Cobyn but chickened out at the last minute… OUGH. he just doesn’t want to burden him :(