#eventually!

it’s so nice that, against your previously agreed upon terms and his better judgment, he asks to see you again. and again. and one more time after that— this is the last time, he swears. he always swears it is— but every time you hold him tenderly, kiss him gently, make sure he’s also being satisfied and not just using him for your own pleasure, he feels his resolve rapidly unravel between your fingertips, burning hot where they trail along his skin.

and yet, you agree. time and again, you agree to meet up with alexis, until it becomes part of your weekly routine to spend friday nights in bed with him and saturday mornings working through the long list of breakfast spots around munich you’ve been meaning to try for months now. at some point, he stops asking if he can see you again, and instead moves on to asking if it’s going to be at your place or his.

at some point, when he wasn’t paying attention, that feverish feeling settled beneath his skin again. it’s something he hasn’t felt in months— something kaiser had taken with him when he left. gone is the dull ache within his chest, now replaced by the desperate need to know where you are, what you’re up to, who you’re thinking about. (him, right? are you thinking about him at least half as much as he’s thinking about you?)

it’s decidedly worse this time, worse than whatever infatuation he had with kaiser that said man was exploiting every step of the way. it’s worse because you actually accept his admiration and affection— and what’s more, you return it tenfold, reciprocate his love and make him feel lighter than he’s ever felt in his life. you’re finally giving it to him, this thing that he’s craved for so long, and that’s probably why he clings to you so tightly, his embrace always a little too tight, somewhere near suffocating.

but you’re not stupid. no, you noticed early on in your arrangement that personal belongings of yours started to vanish soon after the first few times you allowed alexis to spend the night at your place. you know the weight of his gaze on your shoulders all too well, for it’s there any time he’s not maintaining the rigorous routine of a professional football player, at times you know he shouldn’t be anywhere near you. you’ve poked at his phone while he was in the bathroom, and you’ve seen the thousands of photos of you stored in a locked folder on his phone, with your birthday as the passcode.

but you can’t help the flattery you feel from it, the thrill you get from knowing his obsession with you knows no bounds. you’re definitely messed up in your own right for being so into it, for not minding the twisted attention he gives you, but you think it’s fine. it’ll be alright, because you genuinely do love and care for him, and you’re not planning on getting rid of him anytime soon.

it’s bliss, and after five months, as you lay in his arms on yet another saturday morning, you sleepily ask him if he wants to make this thing between you two official. five months soon turn into nine, then into a year, and before he knows it, your three year anniversary is on the horizon. thankfully, it’s about two weeks after the season ends, so he’s guaranteed the time off. he’s planned a nice trip to italy for the two of you, and he thinks the ring box tucked away in his desk drawer will make a nice end to it.

he’s been on cloud nine with you the past few years, experiencing life in a way he never has before. if it wasn’t normal for him now, he would think it all too good to be true— sometimes, he still worries it is, but then he returns to your shared apartment and gets to melt in your waiting arms after practice, and he knows he’s being anxious over nothing. this perfect, precious thing he’s found is real and it’s his, and nothing could possibly ruin it.

also liked this version of this drawing

hullabaloo

due to the spring in his middle, it takes a conscious effort for him to keep himself upright. he’ll always lean a bit in a certain direction, his head hanging down as if it were too heavy for his neck. much like many of the other hunters, his posture is atrocious

he has a habit of laughing while in pursuit. he was never the stealthiest in his faction to begin with, but due his uncontrollable snickers (and the squeaking of his springs… and that humongous circle around him—), survivors can usually spot him from halfway across the map. he’s fast enough to make up for it, though

hullabaloo is the sort of hunter that doesn’t put a lot of stock in matches. if he wins, he wins. if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. he really just does it for the love of the game

his carefree attitude makes it all the more frustrating for the survivors he’s placed against. he doesn’t even look like he’s trying sometimes, and yet he’s still notoriously one of the manor’s most difficult hunter to kite. at least for new arrivals

among the residents with identity switches, hullabaloo and mike are a pair with a more… amicable relationship (though i use that term extremely loosely). neither of them are outwardly hostile towards the other, but most of the time mike prefers to pretend his hunter counterpart doesn’t exist

hulla, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoys reminding him. he’s all smiles when he sees his counterpart in a match, purposefully scaring him on and off ciphers but never fully committing to a chase

he’s so annoying lol

whenever he’s in a good mood, he’ll suddenly decide to chat with whatever survivor he just ballooned. the same goes for when he’s camping and the designated rescuer hasn’t shown up yet. “it helps pass the time!” he chirps, right as a cricket ball flies at the back of his head

he isn’t very fond of violence, so he’s one of the more gentle hunters in the roster. as gentle as getting knocked down can be, anyways

he can get a little excited and smack survivors around a bit, but he’ll never intentionally hurt them. he may look like it in this new form, but he doesn’t want to be seen as a monster

he also always gives out dungeon. in fact, he’ll even bring the last survivor there himself! there are some members within the faction that almost see it as degrading the way he picks them up and happily floats off in the direction of the hatch

he tends to take the win most of the time anyways, so it doesn’t matter if one escapes. besides, if they were able to kite him long enough for the dungeon to open up in the first place, then they deserve it! at least he thinks so

this is more of a headcanon for mike’s character in general, but i think he has dyslexia lol. there’s no evidence for it or anything, but i just feel like he would. this of course extends to hulla

his vision is a little altered in this new body anyways, so reading is made even more difficult. the star-shaped hole in the side of his face sort of makes the world look like a broken kaleidoscope

ithaqua

while some within his faction had a difficult time adjusting, ithaqua couldn’t be more perfect for his role. he’s familiar with hunting man and beast alike, it’s no different here in the manor

for him, the matches have become a good way to keep his skills sharp and blow off extra steam. it’s sort of like his personal ‘me time’, and he can grow irritable if it’s been awhile since his last game

while he does share hulla’s habit of giggling during a hunt, he usually only does it once he lands a hit or chairs a survivor. he values stealth a lot more than the circus clown, so he’s relatively quiet during a chase

he tends to take his games seriously. maybe not to the extent that other hunters do (cueist lol), but he doesn’t like losing. after a long string of defeats, he’ll start getting annoyed

it can be a little difficult to tell given that his face is always hidden by his mask, but if you don’t hear him laugh after a strike, consider yourself in for a rough match. despite his typical level-headedness, he can still become quite aggressive

ithaqua gets along really well with axe boy! since the two use similar weapons, he’s more than happy to give the younger hunter guidance if he ever asks for it. robbie himself has gotten into the habit of calling him big brother and always brags about their ‘matching ears’ (I LOVE THEM)

but aside from him and a small handful of other hunters who he’s somewhat cordial with (michiko, grace, and maaybe jeffery), the night watch is unsurprisingly rather solitary. he is on decent terms with a few of the survivors though, namely eli and victor

and of course, to address the elephant in the room. with brynhildr, he’s understandably rather hesitant. the vilulfs likely don’t know that they’re technically family, but archer’s striking red hair reminds him of his mother, so he’s subconsciously softer when it comes to downing and chairing her

the two don’t speak all that often either, but on the rate occasion that they do, it’s almost entirely one-sided. bryn is much better at carrying a conversation than her distant cousin

in general, itha tends to interact better with women and individuals with traits similar to his mother, but people who’ve won the favor of animals are also a little easier for him to be around

he’s still notoriously difficult to converse with though, simply due to the fact that he doesn’t want to most of the time. he tends to keep everyone at an arm’s length, never sparing more than a few words if he can help it

with how aloof he acts, you’d never guess how much of a yapper he really is. in the very, very rare case that he ever becomes close to someone, he can talk for quite awhile without even realizing it

he’s still more on the quiet side, but he’ll ramble about birds and stories he’s read and the moon and stars. it’s really lovely to listen to

it should be said that ithaqua does NOT give dungeon, even if he is already in a winning position. he’ll simply scoop up the downed survivor without a second thought, marching towards the nearest chair as they thrash and squirm about

to him, it’s the more merciful option. they’re already injured anyways—it’s best to kill them here than allow them to return to the manor with broken bones and lacerations

the only exception to this rule, however, is if the last survivor is either: memory (as she is a child. he tries his best to be gentle and refuses to chase her first), bryn (for the reasons stated above), or fiona (red hair. he sees his mother)

patrollie does not work with his play style at all, but i’d like to think that he would like the little pup… super self-indulgent, but itha always makes sure to toss the creature whatever leftover bones he has in his stew once he’s finished. just for the little beast to chew on until the next game

joseph desaul(nier)s

nier mention but at what cost…

kidding, kidding. the photographer has been growing on me quite a bit as of late, mostly due to the interesting parallels he and claude have with ithaqua and his own twin brother (am i maybe reaching?? idk but ithaqua mention)

regardless! joseph has been on the brain for a bit, especially after getting his coa skin. he’s quite the odd man, but it’s to be expected. no normal person would be so overly fixated on the preservation of life without some sort of unresolved trauma

part of the reason why the photographer looks the way he does despite actually being quite… ahem—long-lived is because during this particular point in life, his face was most similar to claude’s

with age comes change, and the older joseph became the less he could see his twin brother in his reflection. it was an agonizing realization, almost as if he was losing him a second time

so, he intentionally froze his appearance in the period just before he lost his brother. a perfect mirror, no? he even began dressing like him and wearing the same powdered wigs. now, with this appearance, claude—or the memory of him, at least—will never fade

blind old man joseph is canon to me. perhaps his appearance is that of how he used to look, but his body certainly isn’t. it’s agonizing the way his joints will ache after a particularly rough match

he’s dramatic about it too, always grumbling under his breath in french as he rolls his shoulders. please do not pallet stun him. he is petty and will hold a grudge

he requires lots of down time in between games, especially since matches with him tend to stretch much longer than usual due to his constant cipher reduction

you can typically find him having tea in a secluded part of the manor, indulging in delicately made pastries. many of which were once claude’s favorite flavors

the photographer 100% has some mercury in his system (aka the victorian special). spending so much time in a poorly ventilated darkroom with dangerous chemical fumes was bound to give him some problems sooner or later

hand tremors, memory loss, insomnia. the reason why he coughs so much during pursuit is probably caused by the chronic mercury poisoning too

this is a little silly, but i think it would be funny if a (huge) pet peeve of his would be survivors slipping into the camera world. who gave them permission to enter? certainly not him!

claude’s personality has more of an influence on him in this unchanging space (you know, like the big shift in his voice and such), so his frustration is softened quite a bit—but the second he steps out into the real world, he’s definitely swinging his sword a little harder than he usually does