OC rant time because he’s infecting my brain combined with these fuck ass clowns
Plus, I want to go ahead and write their dynamics
So the OC at attention is my CoD OC that is more of a character that I just drag everywhere and tell him to have fun in whatever I’m interested in, he’s kinda his own thing by now
His name is Bones, it’s actually Shawn but he prefers Bones, it was his codename that stuck though his callsign was Snap Crackle. Not in reference to his temper though but to the sounds his skin was making when he was pulled out of a burning building that left him disfigured. Continuing to serve until his various scars, mental and physical, began to catch up to him so he was honorably discharged
He joined the military after running away from his family’s farm, escaping his abusive father once he was sure his little sister was also out of the way, leaving everything behind and cutting all contact with everyone
Backstory out the way, onto dynamics based on my own thoughts upon the characters, especially Pierrot:
My take on Pierrot is that he’s not exactly the green flag the fandom makes him out to be, biggest revelation of the century I know, but that he’s a desperate lover. He’s so willing to change himself upon the MC’s view of him, whatever makes them love him but he’s also not above forcing this love.
“Don’t make me devour you too” makes me think as much as he’s willing to listen to the MC’s boundaries based upon the Day 2 ending, he’s also willing to cross those drawn lines, maybe even willing to consume them out of love or if push comes to shove.
In my mind, he’s almost like that lioness that kept adopting wildebeest calves, going above base instincts to feed but instead to nurture what is considered an easy meal to other monsters because something in his past left a void in him that he’s so desperately trying to fill. MC’s kindness setting them out from the rest of humanity sparks a flaming desire to keep this vulnerable creature close to him, to love and protect in his corner of the shadows
Now, to what I imagine his dynamic with Bones to be if he was the MC:
I must add that I’m bit out of my element, I don’t often write down my thoughts or at least in a way that makes sense, I also don’t want to mischaracterize anyone
Bones is a very paranoid human being, he’s socially awkward, emotionally constipated and just broody in general. He’s snarky but willing to shed rare kindness if it’s within his comfort zone, such as defending a stranger from a ranting madman on his way to work, not thinking much would come from the interaction
Until he keeps seeing this same clown, feeling more eyes on him than the usual amount. This isn’t his usual feeling of being watched, he was used to feeling phantom eyes watching his back, but these felt real. These felt oddly familiar.
Bones is also a private man. He wishes to keep his skeletons in the closet tucked very far back until they’re with the Christmas tree he never puts up because he keeps forgetting it’s there.
And we know how Pierrot feels about privacy
Why is this human so angry even though he was so kind to him? Aren’t they destined to be together, so why fight the inevitable? One of the only things Pierrot would probably find on his past being that Bones kinda appeared in town one day that also depends on how much Pierrot knows and how he finds this info
That is something I would love to find out, how he’s able to obtain all this information on MC in only a couple hours, and also just how much he knows
The kind of relationship Pierrot wants would take years on Bones’ end to develop, having so many walls put up around him from a upbringing of abuse and manual labor to being a traumatized soldier of war. He’s closed off but chipping slowly over the course of months to years and he’s a big softie with the personality of a oversized lap dog who’ll bake you sweet treats and watch over you in his own way while “complaining”
A very push and pull kind of relationship, Pierrot pulling and Bones pushing
At first, Bones enjoys the company, seeing the red clown as harmless enough, almost like a kicked puppy considering the first two times he saw, Pierrot was injured in some manner. A splash of red in his monotonous life, until that red began staining everything else
One encounter turned into another, and another until he found himself wrapped in a web of secrets woven in the shadows of the circus
Bones is reluctant but accepts Pierrot’s ‘help’ once he’s deeper into the circus, he’s paranoid and untrusting but he’s not stupid, Pierrot knows more than he does, he’s one of them after all, knows how the others operate
Plus any less harassment from the green one was appreciated
Bones and Pierrot is like when you suddenly pull a feral street cat inside and immediately start loving on them, they’ll claw the crap out of you and not think twice because that’s all they know. Going from not knowing care or affection for years to suddenly being swamped with it from someone he doesn’t know is overwhelming to say the least
Bones begrudgingly starts accepting Pierrot’s affection but with many boundaries
As funny as it is sometimes, I wish the fandom saw Harlequin past just being a sex pest, saying he’s sexual harassment when Pierrot is not that far from it either. They both harass MC, the pink tent scene was kinda our own doing considering we have the option to follow him or not not excusing it entirely but still
Harlequin isn’t as secretive as Pierrot either but he’s also not an open book, he takes off his mask but only in the dark where you can’t see what’s underneath, he shares enough to get you hooked then pulls away
Bones does not enjoy this. It’s frustrating. It’s like he’s only given half a puzzle and told to see the full thing even though so many pieces are missing or drawn over. He feels like a piece of steak between two dogs when the two clowns fight for his attention, it also feels like he’s a prize to be won or a game to be played then left to gather dust
Harlequin revels in this frustration, feeding from the sarcastic remarks Bones throws his way or pressing questions that he’ll loop around to point towards the scarred piece of bacon man
He finds it amusing to watch Bones try to save face out in public, especially when he’s trapped at work and he has to be nice. Watching blood vessels threaten to pop from beneath his skin, there’s one in his neck that always pops out and if he’s feeling particularly annoying, he’ll poke at it or point it out then watch Bones writhe in his own skin
He views this easily irritable paranoid man as an interesting specimen to pick apart and study under a bright light, see what makes him tick, but he’s unsure what to do when he’s done. Does he devour him like the rest of his kind or keep him around to further torment Pierrot? Too risky to just leave him if he knows so much, loose ends and all, loose ends can unravel the whole thing after all
Bones sees Harlequin as, for lack of better terms, a pest. A venomous green snake in his path that won’t let him walk away, at least not without a couple bites. But he also knows there’s something beneath the surface, something that made him this way, a small part pities it while the rest ignores it. Not Bones’ fault, he just happens to be one of the many targets Harlequin strikes at
But there’s also a small part of him that enjoys the game, having someone around that cannot only handle his snark but throw it back at him. He hasn’t had that since he was discharged, he had to basically walk on eggshells around the townsfolk, he’s already seen as an outlier amongst the crowd, being seen as an asshole doesn’t help that fact. But he’d never tell Harlequin, maybe he would if they became softer but not likely
In short; hate sex but someone cries, my money’s on Bones
Oh boy, where do I start?
So, at first, Bones has major beef with him when first seeing him at the cafe. He found him off putting, odd and just bad vibes all around, also made him question his eyesight and memory since he can’t remember the face and just looking at him made his eyes hurt in a fuzzy way
Then he meets him again and he’s chill, somewhat
Like shit talking someone without knowing them then you meet them but you don’t know it’s them so you’re chilling
Since Ticket Taker has been stated to like obedience in people, I think he’d like Bones since he was raised with strict discipline though he does have an attitude
An attitude Ticket Taker both wants to tame and watch like a flame in a fire pit, contained but still hot enough to burn if you get too close
He watches Bones closely, had been but even closer now, he’d already planned to have him as a Fool. Despite the disfigurement, he still found the man attractive in a rugged untamed way, the scars made him exotic, interesting
I headcanon (probably is canon) that they watch potential Fools before they approach to fit in the perfect time to present the pink ticket, for Bones, it was approaching him as a customer at the cafe. He was disappointed when he declined though he expected it, he noticed the paranoia, the suspicion towards a stranger offering something for free, in a way, he respected it. Cutting it as a loss as a small part of him knew he’d see him again anyway
Then he saw this human with a red ticket this time, a ticket from Pierrot, whose never gave it out before and his instinct that something was different was right
But he also doesn’t let his guard down, neither does Bones
Bones has mixed feelings on Ticket Taker, he feels like he should recognize him but it’s a small nagging feeling at the back of skull that’s impossible to dislodge.
He loathed the tent, useful as it was in giving him breadcrumbs of information, it wasn’t much but knowledge is knowledge, no matter how mind twisting it was. Plus it was bad on his eyes, dark place full of mirrors isn’t too good when only one eye is fully operable while the other is weaker
Something in this blue suit clad monster sets some alarm bell in him, maybe it’s the way he always appears to be watching him with a critical eye or he has the same aura of a past general he knew, a stoic man who took no bullshit, he wasn’t loud or brash like most generals he came across.
He was calculating, he wouldn’t stop the problem before it started unless absolutely needed, instead, he’d watch it unfold then punish whoever was involved, making them state what they did and why they did it
Makes Bones feel like he’s watching for him to screw up somehow then swoop in or report his findings to someone, dunno how many times I’ll say it but he’s a paranoid person. He does not like being watched so he avoids Ticket Taker with every cell of his being
Bones can only hope that Pierrot will uphold the promise to return her, she deserves that much than being hypnotized and swept away with a circus but he can’t help but keep a quiet lookout for her
A very elaborate dance of a man avoiding a monster’s eyes because the monster knows more about the man than he’ll let on..
Good golly, if you thought Ticket Taker set off alarm bells in Bones, Jester sets off every bell plus his flight, fight and fawn, bite and scratch and/or scream.
Jester enjoys this feeling he invokes in him, even if Bones doesn’t express it, he can tell from the glint in his eyes.
The purple monster is sadistic, he revels in causing discomfort in humans, watching them squirm, physically and mentally, such fragile things that has tormented his kind for centuries writhe from a little pressure on their psyche
This one carries evidence of how fragile they are on his skin, the injuries he carries would’ve been healed by a monster with less scarring than him, the brunt of the scarring being on his face, his neck, maybe down to his chest too, he can see other scars that didn’t come from fire after all. As much as he’d love to keep him around as a chew toy, not only would Pierrot be upset once his toy inevitably breaks, but he can tell he’d be trouble to keep. Maybe too much to be worth it in the long run
He’d love to dissect what exactly makes Bones so..uncomfortable? Fearful? Nervous? Tense? Uneasy? Oh, what word could describe what he sees in this human’s eyes whenever they meet
Was it his paranoia? His fractured mind? A past experience? Something within him made this stray so tense like he expected Jester to do something to him despite the protection of the red ticket
But his family came above an interesting stray, he wouldn’t let himself become distracted from keeping the circus going, his troupe protected and fed, even if Pierrot deviated for this little crush that made Harlequin follow in his footsteps to sweep away this crush to piss off the red clown
He can’t place a finger on what made his heart try to pound of its bony cage but something about this jester with purple glowing eyes and an energy that demanded respect from the beings below him unnerved him
Was it the way he seemingly saw through every defense until he was peering at his very core? The way he had a burning anger thrumming through his veins that he kept veiled but Bones could see? It definitely wasn’t geared towards the other circus members, but pointed towards humanity
Bones can’t blame him though
He’s seen every side, from the kindest souls to the disgusting underbelly where maggots of human beings wriggled, feasting upon anything they can reach
Even if said Jester looks at him like how he’d imagine an apex predator would stare at prey it knows it can take down easily but the game itself is funner than making something weak its dinner
Every word is chosen carefully and honeyed upon a silver tongue but the message is obvious
“You are prey. You see yourself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing when you’re a lamb in a wolf’s skin to me. Don’t forget your place.”
So Bones keeps his head low around him, even with the protection of Pierrot
A cruel game of cat and mouse but the mouse is protected by a guard dog so the cat bides its time until the dog tires, like a fucked up version of Tom and Jerry except it’s a monster with misanthropy and a human with trauma from metaphorical monsters
I fucking love Jester so Bones gets the full package, they will kiss and they’ll like it
I adore Doctor but I honestly can’t pinpoint how’d Bones feel about him
I don’t think Bones would be able to either but can I tell you how’d Doctor feel about Bones
Oh boy, does Doctor want to take him apart but not mentally like Jester and Harlequin, nah nahh. He wants to cut him open and see his heart pump adrenaline through his veins in panic
This tasty patient whose covered in scars, from head to toe, not all of those are from the fire that burned him, some are from bullets, some are from knives but some he can’t tell, too aged, brash or covered by the burns/tattoos
He sat so still in his chair, even when he could hear his heartbeat spike once he touched him, it spiked once more when he brought the needle down to kiss his skin, he didn’t even make a peep when Doctor accidentally left a scratch on his neck
Doctor wants to lay him out on his table, see just how much this soldier could take before he broke his silence and screamed, oh, how beautiful of a sound it would be
But alas, he had to abandon these fantasies once he saw Bones pull out that red ticket, he had already hesitated at the pins on his collar but the ticket sealed the deal but a thought soothed the hurt like a healing balm
If extreme measures were taken, he could stake his claim then, only then would this guest be his next experiment
Bones has a healthy fear of the big bird man
Considering he’s bigger than him, both height wise and width wise, good lord, robes did him no favors in hiding any of that. When Doctor hovered over the chair to grab his jaw, Bones was sure his hand could cover his face, promptly ignoring what feelings arose at that observation
To him, Doctor has traits from both Pierrot and Harlequin, he’s more blunt with his intentions but not enough to raise too much alarm, yet he’s quiet and kind of obsessive though his obsession isn’t about gaining his love, it’s just getting his heart in a different albeit surgical way
Probably his favorite tent to visit, as much as he loves stories, he much prefers a more hands on immersion that doesn’t completely fuck up his psyche, cough Ticket Taker, cough cough
Doctor is very much hands on, Bones likes this though he won’t admit it. He’s not interested in men (lie), he doesn’t enjoy being overpowered by a bigger man (half lie, talk to him first before you manhandle him) and being called sweetie while feeling like a lab rat strapped down did not stir up any feelings (his pants might catch fire, liar liar)
Doctor patient confidentiality because they might get up to shit that would get some evil scientists horned up at the thought, Zydrate Anatomy who?
That took me so long to write, onto some quick fun facts about Bones, funny scenarios and ramblings:
°˖➴ Bones knows how to cook, bake, crochet, sew and a bit of knitting though he’s rusty, his mother taught him so he’d be able to take care of himself despite it being “womanly duties”, his father’s words
°˖➴ His little sister is only a year younger than him, she moved out with her boyfriend, now husband, before Bones bolted. He was 22 when he left, he wanted to make sure she was out of their father’s reach so he wouldn’t take his rage out purely on her. Their mother died when they were teenagers, about 17 and 16, she had developed cancer
°˖➴He hasn’t spoken to his sister nor any extended family since he left. Fearing that somehow it would trace back to his father, that he would be found. He did leave his sister a brief but heartfelt note detailing that he still loved her and asked for her forgiveness that he had to leave her. It hurt him a lot to leave her behind with no way of connecting him but he feels it’s still for the best she forgets him
°˖➴ Since he’s been in survival mode for years, he’s never had much time to think about his identity and explore himself but he’s aroace, male oriented if he does date or mess around with someone, he’s not a virgin which is how he found he’s asexual after a couple sexual partners but never felt that ‘connection’. He doesn’t know these labels either, he was raised to view anything queer as unholy but he doesn’t see it that way anymore after some therapy
°˖➴ He did go to therapy for a bit, it was kinda required. He stopped going because he felt like a burden and he wanted to work on himself by himself in his own way
°˖➴He loves horror, his favorite genre besides action, his favorite being ‘Alien’ or ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, though he also enjoys campy horror movies because unfortunately, sometimes blood triggers him so seeing obviously fake blood and mannequins can help though sometimes he’ll still have a panic attack so it’ll just turn to some random baking show
°˖➴His favorite colors are dark reds and deep blues, basically any gem colors and black, he wishes he could paint the walls but it’s against his lease so black furniture and varying shades of red
°˖➴He doesn’t want pain but he enjoys it, it’s similar to how he likes being manhandled but only in an environment he can control
°˖➴He is very schedule oriented, he needs the stability of a schedule or back up plan if the first one doesn’t work. He does not like going anywhere without some set of plans or instructions in place or he will go nuts.
°˖➴He’s meticulous in his self care routine, he already was before being burned but it got upped afterwards. Shower with a good soap, separate shampoo and conditioner for his hair texture, face wash and scrub, then lotion and brushing his teeth carefully. He tries not to irritate the scars too much
°˖➴If I had to really stop and think, I have three options on endings for Bones.
*One, he ends up with the Pierrot, though like I said before, with many boundaries that he isn’t afraid to remind/enforce. He’s a highly traumatized man that doesn’t need anyone to fix him or his problems. He’d also desire Pierrot to be himself instead of who he thinks Bones wants, if they were actually meant to be then no one should have to change themselves so much, he also makes them take it slow instead of rushing it
*Two, he ends up with the Doctor, is it a romantic relationship or scientific relationship? Depends on who you ask. Freaky as hell but he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I personally think Doctor would be a sweet lover, he’s not nosy but he’d keep an eye out to see if you ate anything that day, drank any water and got adequate rest before pressing you if you haven’t done any of the three. Bones doesn’t want coddling but he still yearns for affection so he and Doctor would go well together plus bird man can manhandle him and he’s got good assets so don’t save him if he’s strapped down
*Three, he doesn’t end up with anyone. He doesn’t run from the circus but he doesn’t run into it either. He contradicts himself by wanting affection, attention, someone to care but bolting once someone actually offers it. Pierrot offering it so willingly terrified him. Plus finding out that he watches him, watches him sleep would be a huge dealbreaker with the entire thing
Basically, Pierrot route or Doctor route then Protagonist’s ending
°˖➴He had a horse when he was younger, it was a cross between a shire and dutch draft, a sweet, calm horse that was used to plow plots for crop or clearing new fields by logging. Would even go with them during their hunting trips since she could handle the weather during the cold winters in the mountains
°˖➴While finishing Jester’s section and going onto Doctor’s, I kept imagining someone mistaking Bones as being part of the attractions because he’s a burnt bacon boy and complimenting his makeup. And he’s just confused as hell, “Ma’am, I hate to break it to you but this is just how I look.”
°˖➴Despite being a soldier in his past and showing no hesitance towards the idea of pummeling the guy harassing Pierrot, he actually hates solving most problems with violence. It makes him feel like his father, so he controls his temper to avoid lashing out
°˖➴Neurodivergent. Don’t ask which flavor because he couldn’t tell you but he’s on the spectrum, definitely OCD-like tendencies
Will probably update if there’s more or I change things around as the story or my understanding of the characters is widened, for now, that should be it
