#bunayin

(https://x.com/okthen263/status/1980725164942799189/photo/2)

the manager is a man of many talents

I wanted to do this on my computer, but I keep being busy. Phone it is.

THERE WE GO.

ASLDfht yeah. Yeah there sure is.

Bunayin just going "COME, MY BRETHREN" And feeling a sense of pride when they take down his enemies.

"Why is he glaring at me like that?" "Oh, he looks at everyone like that!"

and yeah he's a rabbit but somehow or other he's able to communicate well enough.

Maybe he only really accepted pettings from certain people and Elijah was just like "when will it be my turn? aren't I doing well enough?"

Daniel confusing the fluffy heck out of Bunayin because why are you grooming me when you're a really amazing person whyyyy. It makes sense when Ben does it because Ben always treats Bunayin like he'd do anything for him and letting Ben groom him is the least he could do. But Daniel? Daniel c'mon. Why are you lowering yourself like that.

Oughghg Carmen being the kind of person who'd lift a bunny up in the air by holding it under the forelegs with the hind legs dangling because she's researching humans, not rabbits, and besides - isn't he cute? Look at his kicky little feet, isn't he so cute?!

Bunayin just letting himself be petted and played with by Lisa and Michelle...

I have a LOT of headcanons and ideas in the tag, but... hm.

The original AU was started off way back when, and it was (as I've said) just that Ayin had figured out how to shapeshift, and he'd managed to become a black rabbit.

From there, I figured that it was something anyone could do as long as they were made of the Light, so any of the Librarians (potentially excluding Angela, definitely excluding Roland). Chesed would be a cat, I think Hod is a mouse, Yesod's an actual snake, and Binah was something small like a bat maybe.

Every so often I want to go back to that version, because it's cute and has more space to fit into canon than the subsequent "help, my manager is a rabbit" version.

That one was started by someone(?) who didn't know about the original, and just assumed that Ayin's always been a rabbit, or has been for a very long time.

I think I came up with the idea that Ayin's in the shape of a rabbit because of an early implementation of psychoment, somehow; his true, human body is still somewhere in the City, potentially having been kept cryogenically frozen in stasis in the Facility, or somewhere else deemed safe enough by Benjamin.

Since then? Whenever that happened? He's been in bunny form. Shape of a bunny, approximately... I'd say larger than a lap rabbit, but not massively giant. He's capable of talking and still retains all of his intelligence as a human, and his still present connection to his body is why the Head hasn't hunted him down. That said... he has started gaining a few more rabbit-like behaviours, like the grooming habits, haha.

The story is basically exactly the same, except... Ayin is rabbit-shaped.

Ayin gets Benjamin to help him do a lot more things before the Faciliy is ready, because paws aren't great for making things, but I think that later on once he's already got L Corp permissions, he'd manage to get prosthetics (as in, special equipment) to help him build the robots, Angela included.

The Facility and the methods of management in the loops are geared around a rabbit body being able to perform those tasks.

I think that once in the Light, he probably would have appeared to have his normal human body, but... if/when taken out of the Light again, he goes back to being a rabbit. His body is, after all, already in existence somewhere!

I also had thoughts of Dante being a black rabbit with (somehow) a clock head where the flames burst up into two spurts like rabbit ears. Their identity as the former Director of L Corp is pretty much the worst kept secret in the City, since there's only one person who's gone around as a rabbit and not had the Head sic'd on him.

Last but not least?

One of the major reasons I see Ayin as a rabbit is because, aside from the fact that they're prey animals and it feels like Ayin fits that more than being a predator (given how easy it is for him to die or go mad from the Abnormalities, and how he doesn't seem to be a fighter) - but also... I made my FFXIV alt, the origin of the crossover, a Viera. That is to say, he has bunny ears!

I honestly can't remember which came first, seeing him as a rabbit or picking Viera for him.

The funny thing is, the first thing this made me think of is the original Bunayin AU.

Which is the one where the Light allows them to shapeshift, and where Ayin is sometimes rabbit-shaped, Chesed is sometimes cat-shaped.

And in spite of the differing "languages" of cats and rabbits, I can see Daniel/Chesed understanding what's going on in both scenarios.

Problem is...

Back when he'd be Daniel? I don't think Ayin would be able to both understand and accept.

Like, I can imagine bunny Ayin trying to groom Daniel, who just thinks that this is cute and isn't it sweet and does this mean Ayin likes him? That'd be nice. And then he tries to pet his coworker, which... would lead to him getting thwapped by bunny paws hard, because NO. No petting during work hours. And if it's not during work hours it's like NO. I am grooming YOU, you do not GET to groom me in return. What do you think you're doing. Stop that. [goes back to grooming Daniel.]

This, predictably, leaves Daniel feeling very confused.

this seed of light project is fuuuckeed dude look at my manager….

[SCREAMING] THAT'S AN ENTIRE BUNAYIN RIGHT THERE!!!

AND YES, YES YOU ARE.