#kev asks

He's kept caged or leashed by a team of monster hunters who use him to track down and hunt other monsters and torture him with silver weapons and sunlight-mimicking torches to ensure his subservience

SORRY FOR THE LATE ANSWER ANON

this is such a killer idea I needed to draw something! Have some gratuitous, delicious vampire!Kev bullying ✨

How I think of it is, with the Kev/John parallels.

So like Robert vs John, Robert was the outsider perspective right? Like John had spent months manipulating the village up to that point to set himself on a pedestal, so when Robert came along he was able to see John Wasnt Quite Right, but he's the Outsider and the Insiders didn't want to believe it until it all went to shit, because their perspective was warped by the manipulations.

Flip that around and now Robert's the Insider with Kev, and the village are the Outsiders. Robert spent years with the guy in very intense circumstances, knows he was in for armed robbery (which, I just remembered, Kev said he was framed for!), knows that Kev said he was wealthy (which I don't believe was ever true: Kev clocked Robert's interest in that early on and I think used it as more bait, see how he got Robert back onside today by saying it'd been taken from him). He knows Kev got stabbed for him, and that he's responsible for it.

So now you've got the villagers with an objective Outsider perspective and they're all obviously like "uhhhhhh". But Robert being the Insider has had his perception warped and can't see it and defends him.

But THEN you bring Aaron into it, who's always been able to get Robert's head together. When Robert scoffed at Kev doing the robbery, it wasn't because he thought Kev's not capable, he literally said "why would he risk going back inside when he's loaded", so Aaron got him together and pointed out that neither he nor Charles have actually seen this money, which prompted Robert to confront Kev about it and expose the first lie (which again, Kev once again spun around with his explanation). But the bigger lie (and the biggest) still exist and so yeah he faltered when Aaron suggested getting him locked back up (because again, warped Insider) but he still agreed to do it anyway.

Great, now he needs new clothes 😑

(my headcanon is, he fought a bear. the bear lost.)

I've just read the story about him going undercover in a hospital and suddenly wondered: what if Kev lost his memories for real?

How much of his training is so hardwired into him that it would still have effect without any memories to go with? Would you prefer it if he had just undergone NR and therefore has no scars or wounds on him,so basically nothing to piece his own story back together or would you want him to look into the mirror for the first time (that he remembers) and be shocked about how riddled his body is with scars that have long healed but prove that he's been hurt over and over and over again.

Would he be able to trust someone who tries to help or would he be completely paranoid?

(I kind of want him to be held by someone nice, someone who really wants what's best for him and who could make him let go of everything, just for a moment - but I know that wouldn't happen in his current Living weapon state so...amnesia maybe?)

P.s. I'd also like to know what Ghostfever is, as I haven't found an explanation so far and am too curious for my own good ;)

Have a nice day! 🌟

Hello hello! You can always ask, yes! Random questions about the boy make me happy ✨

Oh that is a question for the ages!

I believe even with total amnesia, his training would still be very hardwired. He'd intuitively keep being hyperaware of his surroundings, and many fighting reflexes would come second nature to him.

It's unlikely he'd be full of scars, because every time that happens he does go through NR (can't risk that kind of sleeper damage accumulating and hindering him at the wrong time!). I think it's actually more fun when he has no signs, and the abuse must be pieced together by his reactions instead, with no easy marks for everyone to see. I like how it's a representation of how his trauma works: it's not immediately visible, he can even seem perfectly functional, spotless, until you sit down and pay attention.

He would be extremely wary and hard to trust, because that kind of conditioning doesn't get reset just because you forgot the reason for it. But he can learn!

Your wish will be granted, at some point :) He'll fight it, more with invisible internal barriers than literally, but one day... 🥺

I'm sorry for the long wait anon! I am working on it, sloooowly. Heat wave is not helping, you have my solidarity. In the meantime, have a silly <3

He's still trying to figure it out...

(feat the new haircut!)

"where he hasn't seen a comb or scissors for years" > anon, that's just canon Kev 🤭

However! Post-apocalyptic wild boy hairdo for you! (its the same but longer lmao)

Okok so! Continuing from this one. TLDR: they are unreasonable and it's on Kev to deal with it, one way or another.

Are there any lines his "trainers" wouldn't cross or is everything fair game?

There is actually a line, and that line is "ruining" him past what NR can fix - which is basically a major amputation. (NR can technically regrow anything, but you'll die before it happens because it requires more resources than a human body has).

Kev gets pushed to the point of risking death or other gruesome consequences often, but Leska would not, say, chop off a limb on purpose. That would nerf him. Were that to happen, might as well put him down and restart (unless Kev somehow manages to prove he can perform just as well without it ig). Excluding stuff like that, anything is fair game! If he breaks, he breaks.

"If it gets him to obey and surrender" > here's the thing, though, this doesn't require extreme punishment. Kev is first and foremost a survivor, he will play along and bide his time, when he takes a threat seriously (he reacts differently with different people, playing with margin of tolerance and threat assessment - with someone like Rhuls, defiance will show through). But in general, efficiency and minimizing danger are strong drivers for him, because he never knows when that extra damage he got for pushing back will be his downfall in the next bullshit task Leska requires of him.

Does Kev have any fears or phobias or were they tortured out of him?

He does get the fear response to things - in fact, boy is in a constant state of hypervigilance and extremely aware of people coming close, watching, or being about to touch him. However, the typical "symptoms" of it have indeed been trained out of him.

He doesn't flinch. He sleeps perfectly still and quiet through nightmares. He's good at masking his breath picking up, and it never gets to the point of hyperventilating. He doesn't visibly freeze. His expression is always under control. His mind stays clear and on task - he's great in a crisis in fact.

Basically he doesn't show any classical sign of traumatic reactions. Just either makes use of the adrenaline or shuts down the physical response.