#sunbound asks

so we already know that at one point sparky goes back home and meets up with tatum. at that point, the group is in a pretty stressful/awful place so yeah, i think certain sparkys might think that it’s a good thing tatum didn’t enter the entertainment industry because it’s quite awful when you’re the one actually in it. the conversation you’re thinking of will most likely come up at this point in the story (not about mitsuki though, but a general thing).

tatum throughout the years will realize fame isn’t for them anyway… or more like, they’ve got other things to worry about and can’t feel bitter about not making it. they’ll really mostly be bitter about the distance and most of that won’t be sparky’s fault. sparky had a lot on their plate too.

I know Sparky isn’t a shallow character but that’s kind of the vibe I get off of their intro surrounded/compared to everyone else’s.

sparky’s intro is vague because i want readers to fill in the blanks for their own sparkys. but also, sparky is not the best in either singing or dancing in the group, and not the best producer, composer, choreographer, etc. sparky is designed to be good (above average), but not the absolute best. they’re behind saint in terms of being an all-rounder (who is actually behind devan there but devan is heavily underestimated/underappreciated due to their controversies). sparky’s entire thing is that they’re not the best, yet their charisma is what brings icaris to the mainstream. so if there’s something sparky excels at, much better than anyone else in the group, it’s star power. they draw people in.

i won’t get into too much detail, but this actually brings up some tension points in the group’s relationships with each other and the solo-fans’/antis’ most common phrases when hating on sparky. saint (and to a lesser degree devan) feel like they’re in the shadow of sparky, who is not as skilled as them but much, much more popular. angel, whose position in the group (visual) is designed to bring people in, feels like they’re inadequate at their job. the higher ups severely underestimate sparky during their first years—less lines, no center positions in dance formations—but their virality gives them newfound attention from the people in charge and it strays too close to favoritism territory (there is favoritism, but the members being in charge of most of their content made it so it wasn’t so obvious). antis and solo fans dislike sparky for being the most popular too, they think they don’t deserve it and the more skilled members should be more popular.

good question, simple answer: plausible deniability and “diversity” brownie points. they fuel but never confirm, so some people might think “good for the company for allowing them to be themselves, and also for protecting them”. but really the company only wants to be seen as inclusive while also actively oppressing any more direct expressions of the members (even if your sparky is hetero, three other members are queer).

the contrast between what the company allows and what they will not allow if your sparky is in a real queer relationship/flirtationship will be jarring. will be quite awful.

very possible! they did everything together so it could even be that their firsts weren’t treated so seriously. but with the route, it’s very possible that tatum is sparky’s first love (they are tatum’s, no matter what).

the characters’ ages at the start of the past timeline and at the start of the present timeline, in age order (adding the rest of the members too):

valentine: 21 years old at the start but 24/25 when they meet sparky (sparky is 20/21). 35 during the reunion. kila: 20 at the start, but 23/24 when they meet sparky (sparky is 20/21). 34 at the reunion. saint: 18 and a half at the start, 32 and a half at reunion. jiwon: 17 and a half at the start, 31 and a half at reunion. sparky: almost 17 at the start, almost 31 at reunion tatum: 16/17 at the start, 30/31 at reunion devan and angel: 16 years old at the start, 30 years old at reunion (angel is three months younger so turning 16, turning 30) cloud: 15 years old at the start, 29 years old at the reunion mitsuki: 14 years old at the start, would’ve been 28 by reunion.

the “start” is predebut, so a full year before their debut at 2012. present time is 2025, 2 full years before their actual 15th anniversary. aaaand i just realized i worded the main post wrong because their album would’ve been released in 2026… the actual 15th anniversary will be their last concert lol… i’ll deal with that later. timelines are confusing for at this time even though i have it all written down.

but yeah, hope that isn’t as confusing to you as it is to me, and unless i majorly confused myself while writing those down i think those are accurate.

do you mean at the same time or? lol but the answer is yes to both. sparky could flirt around with everyone, and for those with sparkys who are a little too into drama, they could’ve flirted around with several people at once. since all the relationships will be quite private/secretive, there’ll be a lot of space for a bastard sparky to sneak around. depending on some choices, they may not even find out until the present timeline.

Does Sparky have a fixed canon background? Or is it up for interpretation/headcanon?

fixed hometown (a general/fictional quiet town with a diverse community for now) but for family it’s either raised by two parents, a single parent, or grandparents. sparky can have a younger sister who was pretty young when they left for training and know “sparky” more than their actual older sibling and is pretty distant in the present time — this isn’t fixed, you can choose this route or the only child one.

Looking forward to reading this! Stay healthy!

thank you! glad you like it so far!

sparky will always be the most popular if they go solo after disbandment (compared to others who have solo careers like kila and saint). the difference in fame level is significant enough that people will easily rank them as most famous but not significant enough that others look small compared to them. i imagine them all to be around the same level of success as harry styles or ariana grande, with sparky a little bit above and the other two a little bit below.

and kila shouldn’t care anymore if sparky is more popular since they technically already achieved their dreams, but best believe that the history still makes them feeling a little sour about it especially with the icaris reunion undoubtedly putting eclyps back in second place.