EXTREMELY GIGANTIC SCRATCH LORE DUMP- A Deep Dive on The Personality of a Former Rockstar (Also Why He Went Insane)
Scratch differs from Spamton in that his ‘insanity’ is not a constant, blaring thing that makes him always as unhinged as he can be at any given point in time. Scratch may have points where he is ‘put together’, or as ‘put together’ as he can be. Responding to dialogue in a way that makes sense and not immediately changing the subject. He’s able to hold conversations, though not for very long, as his mind wanders and he is always looking around for some unseen threat.
Scratch is easily excitable by subjects such as ‘Rock Music’, ‘Political Anarchy’ and ‘Skating’, though also likes topics such as ‘CD’s’, and ‘Records’, and often remarks upon how ‘The old stuff was better’. If you mention one of these topics to him, he will begin to go on a tangent. He also likes bright areas.
Scratch dislikes people he sees as ‘Posers’ or ‘Fake Fans’, and can easily become enraged at those who doubt his former stardom or claim themselves better. He dislikes ‘new music’, which includes things like country, pop, and rap music.
Scratch’s MOST IMPORTANT and most notable dislike is DARKNESS. Scratch has an intense case of nyctophobia, and prefers to be in bright areas whenever possible. He is intensely terrified of the dark, and if immersed in it will begin to become unstable.
Scratch is easy to rile up and quick to lead to violence. In the past, he often got into bar fights, but due to his current state, he is much more fragile and prefers to use his extremely durable guitar, The ‘Superstar Guitar’, to solve his problems- if he has them.
He lacks much of a moral compass and if something benefits him in the short term or long term, he will do it. Stealing, manipulation, brute force, murder, all are on the table if he finds that it’s in his best interest to do it.
Scratch is completely aware of his current appearance, but often dodges the subject. He will make deflecting comments about his face being handsome or how people are just jealous of his smile if they comment on it. For him to actually open up, it would really only be someone like Em that he could talk to about that. (And, of course, his situation with Em is less than ideal.)
Scratch has degraded himself from his previous high standing, instead taking little problem with being in unsanitary conditions or sleeping where he pleases. He does not make much of an effort to keep himself clean, as it is virtually useless given his situation.
Despite his fear of the dark, Scratch is completely aware that something is wrong with him, and keeps himself hidden in alleyways in THE RACK. Despite this, he longs for nothing more than to be his old self again, donning a pair of glasses and wearing a similar attire to other Audisons in some attempt to be ‘normal’.
IF THERE IS ONE THING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS, IT’S THIS:
The biggest part of Scratch’s personality, and perhaps his most important, is his overwhelming sense of paranoia. Scratch is a darkner that is afraid of the dark, in a dark world. This obviously, is not good!
Scratch’s ‘insanity’ comes from his overwhelming, manic episodes of paranoia. Scratch is convinced that something is watching him, something is after him, and that something is something he cannot fathom. Scratch feels it, Scratch can hear it, Scratch knows it’s there, inside of him. But Scratch does not know what ‘it’ is. He has no clue, but he thinks that it’s listening and watching him everywhere he goes.
WHY IS SCRATCH SCARED OF THE DARK???
Enough fluff and mindless rambling, it’s time to get on to the real important thing. WHAT drove Scratch insane, and WHY is he scared of the dark in particular. As a darkner, this isn’t an easy fear to have.
Scratch, at the height of his career, once found himself in a place that had a crack between the reality of the dark world and the depths. A rip in space, if you could call it that. It was a completely random chance that he even stumbled upon this place, nor was he ever supposed to look inside.
But look inside he did. And he saw what he should not have seen.
Scratch could not fully understand what he saw. It’s something that he, as a darkner, is unable to fully comprehend, hence why he is scared, but has no idea what he is scared of. Whatever it was, it was something that changed him fundamentally. He began to rot from the inside out, slowly, surely. Until he was nothing but what he is now.
But as an out-of-universe narrator, I will tell you exactly what he saw and why it was so impactful.
What Scratch saw was something called SOURCE, this is a shorter name for it’s full title ’The Source of Darkness’ and as it is aptly named, it is the SOURCE of all darkness in the dark worlds, and in ROOTS.
SOURCE is a living organism. It is not malicious, nor does it have any ulterior motives. But it is in everything. The walls, the floors, the sky and the people. SOURCE is in all of it- like a gigantic fungal network that has reached its mycelium into every crevice.
It’s not something that you’d ever realize was even there if you never saw it- you never knew it was there, but once you do know, you’ll never be able to forget.
You will feel it everywhere, you will see it everywhere. You’ll hear it. It’s inside you, but it’s not entirely YOU. And you’ll know it’s not you.
Everyone around you will also have it. It’s in all of them, too. You’ll feel it, you’ll see it.
If I could properly describe how Scratch would see the world, it’s like looking at everyone and seeing them as ‘THE THING’, and knowing that you yourself were infected. Scratch, in his delusional state, tore out his own eye because he believed it was inside of it, and that by getting it out, he was ‘cured’. But he’s not ‘cured’.
Scratch believes there is only one place that the ‘thing’ cannot hear him, which is his shop. But everywhere else- outside, it lives everywhere.
Because in the dark world, there’s no running from the dark.
It exists around every corner.
Why does Scratch want to go NEO?
Scratch’s motive for his NEO- when he meets Dess, is that Dess is his ‘savior’. Dess is not made of ‘SOURCE’ or of ‘dark’. She is not ‘infected’, and in his eyes, she could be the one thing that gets him out of the hell he’s stuck in. He believes that her ‘LIGHT’ (soul) will finally stop the things he sees or the things he feels.
Above all, Scratch wishes to be normal again. To not have to look back around every corner- to not have to feel and see the things he feels and sees. And he’s willing to pay any price to get that.
