#bear.ask

TYSM!! this means so much to hear, i think dru and clive would be such a fun little duo, they're both goobers at heart :-]

IT'S TRUE?!

i'll use this as an opportunity to talk a bit about theseus's name! (for clarity, i will be using they/it interchangeably to refer to theseus.)

i imagined that aside of choosing a physical appearance of their own, another aspect of identity that would be an important choice to shifty would be a name.

they never really had their own identity, their name just being a shortened nickname of what ford classified their species as (and with an unintended negative connotation, as someone who is "shifty" is seen as sneaky and untrustworthy.)

within a canon sense, i imagined shifty would have first heard the name "theseus" from having ford read various stories to it when it was still quite young, the name having mulled in its mind during the years trapped in the bunker. (idea inspired by @weirdalfemme!)

in a meta sense, the name theseus was chosen for two main reasons. the first reason is a reference to the ship of theseus paradox, which is as follows to those unfamiliar:

The ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus' paradox, is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object.

as shifty is a creature with constantly changing dna, it poses a paradox within itself over how much of it is the same creature it was years, hours, or minutes ago.

the second aspect of theseus's name regards the actual greek mythos of theseus slaying the minotaur.

within the series, shifty has a very similar role to the minotaur: a beast that is part man, part human, locked away in an underground labyrinthine trap it cannot escape.

as theseus was the slayer of the minotaur within the greeek mythos, shifty taking the name would psychologically symbolize them "killing" their past identity. when it was younger, shifty had been treated more like a caged animal than a sentient being with human capabilities.

i figure bratt was a bit of a gross out kid and this tendency carries into adulthood! he'd be one of those kids that watched r-rated horror movies and laugh about them

bratt would definitely own the thriller outfit and do the dance on halloween

he loves watching horror movies! he thinks they're very entertaining

to scare people, bratt would try to roll his eyes into the back of his head but forget he's wearing coloured contacts and then ends up with (natural) red eyes the rest of the day

he'd still go trick or treating, likely dressed as himself. if they won't give it to him, he'll just end up stealing it besides

he'd tp or otherwise prank other houses, he's fond of both the treat AND the trick aspects of halloween

bratt would steal candy from trick or treating children

my vampire bratt is part of a collaborative au of an au that centers around (human) dru, vampire bratt, and werewolf chick hicks (playing toys with @/shystercremlin and @dru-gru!)

(above art drawn by @shystercremlin on the left, me on the right)

background lore

in this au, bratt's still the same age and era, he just plays up the look for theatrical reasons. when he was a child star in the 80s, his producers were vampires who preyed and fed off him — quite literally, they would bleed bratt dry while he could still give them youthful blood. once he was older and thus no longer useful for them, they dumped him completely and left him with nothing

this in turn became bratt's reason for seeking revenge, and he came back years later with a bunch of garlic and stakes. despite getting hits on some of the studio, he was unsuccessful in enacting his revenge, and was turned before he could finish the fight

bratt has complicated of anger at being turned as well as wishing the studio had just turned him when he was a child so he could have stayed youthful (and useful) forever

trio lore

bratt ends up living with dru at some point, who has been desperately wishing to become a monster like his father was (monsters paralleling villainy in dm.) dru had put up posters offering for monsters to stay at his manor and be paid on the condition that they turn him — many monsters were skeptical and feared it was a trap

in living with him, dru allows bratt to feed on him (though he will faint if bratt feeds too often, so bratt will occasionally seek alternate sources of food at night)

one such night, he hit a strange beast with his car while distracted and brought it back to the manor to enjoy, though it ended up being a werewolf that dru convinced to stay at the manor

all three of them live together at dru's manor and get into (mostly) lighthearted shenanigans

that moment when i thought you meant alfred fe engage cuz we were just talking about him