#killjoys hcs

-none of the fab 4 are cis

-everybody thinks ghoul was zoneborn because Look At Him but he’s just like that (it doesn’t help that they spent a lot of time in zones 6 and 7)

-Do Not let cherri drive he has crashed too many times to count

-jet is the only one who doesn’t dye their hair. ghoul is the total opposite, very few people know his natural hair color cuz it’s always dyed and fried

-jet’s the only one at first who has any idea how to take care of the girl. The age gap between party and kobra is too small for party to remember how to take care of a young kid and ghoul was an only child

-party has POTS but always goes ‘yeah i can handle this’ before promptly collapsing. she will never learn

-ghoul has by far the most scars out of the fab 4. it’s in the dozens at this point

-jet knows his age pretty closely thanks to keeping track of the seasons, kobra and party have good estimates, and ghoul stopped keeping track a long time ago

-battery city has almost no color it’s kinda freaky. new zonerunners often get overwhelmed when seeing how bright everything is

hehehe you asked a great time! it’s my th*nksgiving and y’all have to hear about my native zones headcanons

so the basics!

i firmly believe that the zones were originally a reservation, so most of the religious beliefs/practices are super similar to native beliefs/practices

most zone-borns are native, or have been taught the practices

the phoenix witch is the primary deity (like in canon) and acts as the Mother Nature figure

the killjoys believe in animism, or that everything has a spirit. which is why they use the mask to lay a soul to rest

these are all sorta miscellaneous and in no particular order

arrowheads are a huge item in the zones, which symbolize alertness. killjoys often wear them on necklaces or keep them on their person

arrows are also another huge symbol, which symbolize protection and defense. they are worn as accessories or tattooed

i love the concept of zone powwows! there are stands with bad luck beads, traditional beadwork, bone necklaces (which are also very common in the zones), dreamcatchers, etc etc

also at powwows, there are traditional dancers, who have been taught by their elders and will teach younger ‘joys

due to the nature of the zones, “elders” aren’t particularly old. they tend to be killjoys who have been are well versed in the practices and/or perform ceremonies

there are also two-spirit killjoys!! these people tend to perform healing roles in their gang and are able to communicate with the witch easier than some (i personally hc ghoul as two-spirit)

sage is very significant in spiritual practices, so there are specific “tommy chow mein” esque people who grow and sell it

there are morning and night prayers to the witch that dedicated killjoys do, as well as prayers for after another ‘joy passes

braiding is another huge practice. people braid their hair not only to keep it out of their face and protect it, but also to have a unity with the witch and their earth

smile!

outside of the fab five no one has ever seen ghoul without a smile on his face. and it’s not a small, shy, corner-of-the-lips kind of smile. no, that mf will always have his lips stretched all the way to his ears, teeth on display. there’s something about it that just radiates this feel-good energy and no one is immune to it. it’s like his face was simply made for it. even in a fire-fight he’ll be wearing a smile, a bit smaller, bit sarcastic and all kinds of deadly and dangerous. but he’ll go back to his old sunny one as soon as the last standing drac hits the ground.

finally! someone remembered party poison!!

home!

if you asked party what is his home, he’d smirk at you and say that it’s the whole desert, baby. and that’s not a lie. sometimes newcomer ‘joys would be surprised to find out he wasn’t desert-born, that’s how good he matched the scenery and the life out there. but that’s not the entire truth either, cause what he wouldn’t say is that home to him was also:

kobra’s arm around his shoulders

dr. d’s drunken rimes

the way jet’s voice gets ridiculously high if you distract him from his work

ghoul’s weight on his lap

jet and kobra’s bickering about the car

cola’s poetry and guitar solos

the girl playing with his hair

the sound of pony’s skates on the concrete of the diner

all of that put together is home.

memory!

fears!

losing party. that’s undeniably the one thing that keeps him up at night. party is now the only family he has left and kobra knows life without him simply wouldn’t exist. he’s scared for jet most of the time too, he’s always worried one of his bombs will go off at the wrong time but he trusts him too much to think about it all the time. he’s scared cola will break under the weight of the desert life one day. he’s scared that ghoul will start hiding his pain more often and more successfully than he already is. he’s scared that they’re not up to the task of raising the girl (seriously though, what do we know about children? we’re basically children ourselves!). and he’s terrified of the thing every ‘joy is: what if they all give up their lives for nothing?

and spiders. they creep him out.