#clownmiser

First things first!! That is SUCH a cool character kudos to Miser and the Arcadia team (is that the correct way to refer to them?) for all the work put into this! It’s such a cool project from what I’ve seen ^_^

Now, let us START brah

“He left at 18”

There’s a bit to unpack here.

Miser probably thought about it for a while, but was unable to leave earlier due to not being of age. Therefore, this must’ve been in the works for a while.

The fact he left at such a young age makes it seem like it was the first chance he got, probably a “run and don’t look back” scenario.

HE left at 18. His brother is still there. Or maybe not. Maybe he left too, but how could he know, right?

Miser’s love for his brother

You might ask: “Robin! You’re so awesome and peakful, but how do you know for sure Miser’s love for his brother is still present?”

The devil is in the details.

He keeps his vest from his circus days, despite clearly hating their “previous practices” (Afterall, you don’t exactly escape the only home you’ve ever known for no reason.)

He keeps his old mask. You could argue the vest is sentimental in the sense that it’s some sort of closure of sorts, he wears that vest now because he CHOOSES to and not because he’s FORCED to. But the mask? Why keep it?

Because his little brother made it. He clutches two crayons in his tiny hands, and scratched two pieces of wood to match each other in their grin and frown. And while yes, it might be the single most painful thing to bring around every day, and yes it’s a direct reminder of that place, staring back at him with dull, peeling eyes– But that’s also the only thing he has left of his brother.

Abandonment

Now, picture this.

You are a small, small child. There are big, colourful tents surrounding you– closing in on all around you– and this is what you call home. Perhaps you hate it, the colours irritating and the costumes tacky. Or maybe you love it, the laughs and the tricks fascinating.

That doesn’t matter, you have to keep going either way.

But at least you’re not alone! Your big brother is here, a constant in all of this out-of-the-norm world.

You go about your day to day life, perform as they wish, eat when told to, sleep when allowed. Sometimes, you manage to sneak a crayon or two from the ones an unfortunate child dropped on the ground. (Sucks so suck, finders keepers!)

You make a small drawing on an wrinkled piece of a poster you found by the edge of the tent, hold it up to your brother’s face and he gives you his usual smile: content, all tight lips and it doesn’t reach his eyes.

You go to sleep, and everything is fine.

You wake up, and the other side of the bed is cold and empty.

Maybe Miser woke up earlier?

You have breakfast, and there’s an empty seat at the table.

Everything goes on, but Miser isn’t here.

Because he left. He’s gone, forever–

And you’re. still. here.

Alone.

Guilt

Now, imagine something for me again!

You’re a small child, but there is someone else next to you, sticking to your side who is smaller and who cannot possibly see you be scared– That would terrify him.

And you can’t scare him, that’d just be mean. He didn’t ask for this, neither did you. So, you decide, if one of you is able to come out of this not as scared then being a bit stronger is worth it.

The years pass, your hope wavers but you never give up.

“There must be a way out of there”, you think. You just have to wait a bit more.

A night just like the others that came before it, you manage to see a crack in the cage you’ve lived your whole life in.

And you make a run for it.

You never get to say goodbye.

But who knows when that same chance would’ve shown itself?