#ashino

The Vampire au.

MC would be like a blood donor and a photographer/vampire hunter or something like that.

Vincent would be a human, working in a blood bank, with art and music as a hobby, and he knows that his friends are, in fact, vampires and so, gives them blood not only because they request it but also so they don't go badshit crazy and kill someone.

Kadsey would be a half vampire while still being an influencer, happily drinking those little blood bags from said blood bank but that doesn't mean that he would never drink blood from an actual person and as a matter of fact, that's the bad ending for him. Instead of throwing you off the Carousel when you're on there, he simply just bites MC, drinks their blood and leaves them there.

John would be a full vampire, just like Ashino and Ashton, his level/date would play out pretty much the same expect for aspects of his backstory. His previous position as Max Affilato would be pretty much the same but the way Lily dies would be different, instead Max would murder her in the middle of the night and he would be thrown down the waterfall for both his mistreatment of his employees and the murder he committed since his employees would find out and decide to get rid of him.

Ashino would be a full vampire, his behaviour towards MC would be much more aggressive and threatening whether that would be threatening to kill/hurt or actively trying to bite them. He would be the type of vampire to have a pocket mirror dispite not being able to have a reflection and try his best to be the most charming dude out of the five simply so he can trick MC, he also drinks from the blood bank but he has always had desires to drink from a person and he hates MC for a certain incident that happened.

Ashton, our beloved Ashton, would be a full vampire and the reason for a case of attempted murders, just like Ashino, he always had certain desires and had tendencies to be aggressive and even threatening to people but never actually did something. He would always request from Vincent a blood bag from a certain donor, he never knew who they were but due to how much of their blood he had consumed he would be able to recognize them just by smell alone.

One night out with his friends, while Ashino was away, he would meet or more so recognize someone very special at a bar. His friends made a bet that they all try to ask them on a date and whoever won their heart would have the others do whatever he wanted from them for a month, they all succeeded and everything was going fine until the actual dates started happening. Of course, Ashton was the first to go on a date with them but at the end of those dates he would keep asking them out on times when his friends would originally go out with them, this caused some conflicts between them which would be fuel to the fire when the time had come for Vincent to go out with them, he would be attacked by Ashton in front of his house with a bat, knocking Vincent out before Kadsey would find him. The same thing happened to John expect he would be attacked with a pair of gardening sears, Kadsey would be the last person to get attacked by Ashton, he would have called both an ambulance and the police before he would be attacked, The thing that takes out Ashton in this version would be a spy from the Bureau by the code name "Task kill" and vanish before MC could see them. That would be the end of the first "Game".

After that is a small string of fairly innocuous love songs. I thought that would be a fun way to sort of imitate the first date. Things are going fine (aside from some perceived self-centeredness) right up until it's really not fine. Arguably, the song Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi is a small warning, since it's about empty and unfulfilling flings, but I set Dangerous by Big Data and Joywave as the moment the other shoe drops. (Fun Fact: Ashton gets a song from the same album as Dangerous.)

After that, the playlist mostly vascillates between sweet, bitter, and a couple of anime themes (if you know, you know). I specifically chose Rondo Revolution from Revolutionary Girl Utena (they didn't have the actual soundtrack version, so I chose a cover by Shokotan), as well as Morning Grace from Princess Tutu. Considering his tastes, I would so twist Ashino's arm into watching Princess Tutu, if he hasn't.

Aside from that, I think the most notable detail was that I added two songs regarding summer, namely because of a certain someone that canonically loves summer the best. Specifically, I chose to end on summertime by cinnamons and evening cinema for a sweet note, despite the fact that the game isn't finished, so what happens with Ashino is very open-ended at the moment. I just want to end each playlist on some sort of positive note.

I think one of my personal favorite choices for this playlist was the very bubblegum cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by The Cardigans. It's a really good match for Ashino's feelings towards the Bureau as well as the existential nightmare that is his life (similar to Ghost in the Machine by SZA and Phoebe Bridgers but with absurdly sweet production) and I think it can also vaguely work for his constant attempts to gaslight Kadsey (something I really wish I could berate him for).