.... i'm wbk trash so i'mma be a trashy otaku on main and talk about wb x alnst au because i have seen beautiful fan art for it and i need to yap about its logistics because it would be genuinely so interesting (for me).
sunisa edition!!!! because i am insane about them!!!!
so if we were to plop sakura into the world of alnst, i fear that his issues would now take a whole new meaning ;w; because instead of his appearance being a source of ostracization, leading to him being violent and defensive in order to protect himself, i'm quite sure the aliens would probably see him as a "valuable commodity" due to his "unique attributes" like. as if the humans aren't dehumanized enough.... sakura is absolutely going to face severe objectification from the aliens (and perhaps envy from the other aliens as well? because sakura's looks are so "exotic" they're jealous of the special treatment sakura gets, when sakura is still very much a pet, an object under the alien's control and treated without the delicacy required for a human?) i'm also pretty sure sakura didn't like the concept of alnst very much, like, he already dislikes being seen only as the human pet with the unique appearance, why the hell would he perform onstage for onlookers to objectify him even further? however, if he joined alien stage as a way to gain control over his life and perhaps was uncaring of whether or not he died just so he could finally feel the satisfaction of choosing how he went out, then... perhaps sakura also becomes just as violent within anakt garden because he doesn't want to lose this newfound freedom away from his alien guardians, and wants to make it clear that he's the top of the food chain now, and none of you fuckers can keep seeing him as a unique pet anymore. there's also the whole. y'know. getting attached to the others living in anakt garden and becoming absolutely mentally destroyed following the loss of these friends that he's finally grown to allow himself to care about. sorry about that sakura. i can absolutely see you backsliding into your violent tendencies post alien stage.
suo.... god, wow, i really decided to get the wbk x alnst brainworms smack dab in the middle of the suo backstory arc, eh..? well, let's just work with what we have for now. suo, suo, suo.... i assume he's probably going to come from some kind of specialized facility around human pets. perhaps they're a facility that manages producers and sells off products as human pets? in that case, perhaps that facility prides itself on training human products for alien stage? wait, would that be too similar to anakt garden? ... meh. ANYWAY. BACK TO ALNST SUO CHARACTERIZATION. i wouldn't be too surprised if the training program suo was forced to undergo in the facility probably made it so the unhealthy mindset of "needing to tough it out" probably came about as a result of the corporal punishments that were likely doled out to keep the human pets in line with the training. If suo being a protector is an intrinsic part of his personality and not something that came about due to the events of his backstory in wbk, i can also easily see him trying to protect some of the younger trainees if he can, but would grow jaded over time as he realizes just how little humans like him mean to the people running the program. i assume that due to the abuse, he'd probably have a complicated relationship with touch, and due to him being, and then partially giving up on, being a protector for others, he'd probably have a difficult time accepting kindness and care from other people. whether it be because he thinks he doesn't deserve it or sees it as a meaningless act of shallow comfort is up to debate. the whole maturity thing suo has, though? i don't know if he'll still have as many hangups about being an adult as he does in canon, because being an adult likely still means either being a) appealing enough to continue living as a human pet or b) being a producer, and i imagine neither are very appealing options for suo, who was forcibly trained all his life for one singular function.
nirei is probably one of the hardest ones because i legitimately do not know how this is gonna work out LMFAO. maybe he's sort of like till, where his producer instinctively taught him how to love and so that warm, honest love kept nirei one of the more softer human pets within anakt garden? perhaps, or maybe he was bullied within anakt garden (for reasons i have no idea. maybe the other children thought it was okay to pick on him because he was so unremarkable the aliens didn't care about him much?) and so that hammered empathy into him? i dunno. what i do know is that nirei is still kind, maybe a little bit timid in alnst (kind of like he was at the beginning of windbreaker). he befriends sakura and suo, and then through their connection, he becomes more confident in himself and allows himself to find joy in the things he was too scared to do before (likely because of the bullying), like dying his hair and learning about other people. i don't think any of the human pets living in anakt garden are completely unaware of their fate, so i firmly believe nirei is probably one of those "make the most out of your life before you die" kind of people once he regains his happiness. i would also not be surprised if he's the one that catches wind of the resistance sneaking around anakt garden (because he was snooping around the facilities and accidentally stumbled upon them working backstage) and is the one to rope sakura and suo into a plan to get their help to escape the facility. overall, his alnst development is very similar to his development in wbk LMAO.
now. sunisa dynamic. absolutely going to be a lot more fucked up than in canon. sakura and suo are definitely not going to be as willing to open up and create connections with other people if they know said others (or themselves) were going to die soon (+ the multitude of trauma and the lack of a good role model to think oh, wait, maybe this kind of mindset and behavior isn't good for me!). however, i truly do not think they would be able to resist their intrinsic desire for human connection. perhaps sakura allows nirei in first because he was seen as weak and disposable, and therefore, inferior to him. incapable of harming him. he extends a little grace to nirei because he knows he doesn't have the capability to stab him in the back for it, and because he so desperately wants love that doesn't stem from his looks. i can see suo being a later addition to the trio, enigmatically smug little dude just people watching and then being a little bit surprised that abrasive, compulsive-desire-for-superiority sakura softens up so much around local disappointment nirei. maybe that fascination with such an unbalanced, yet weirdly genuine, connection between two people blooming in anakt garden is what causes him to approach them first, and when he realizes that ah, these people are so desperate for human relationships (just like i am), he'll be welcomed into their group wholeheartedly (once suo proves that they can trust him), and then they're a trio.
i can also see sakura and suo protecting nirei physically, while nirei's more upbeat and explorative personality is what allows sakura and suo to take their minds off of the impending doom that is their inevitable involvement in alien stage. sakura and suo likely also understand each other a lot more in that both of them are kind of resigned to die in alien stage, but before they do, they're going to scrounge up as much freedom and autonomy as they can before they go out. they are much more keenly aware of the end compared to nirei, who is just so elated that the bully's stopped he hasn't stopped to consider their reality as much. of course, when nirei finds out about the resistance, it's this hope and disconnect from reality that makes him rope sakura and suo into a possible escape plan. while the other two are reasonably skeptical and a little bit cynical at this point (too used to the power they have in anakt garden to risk going outside and possibly being recaptured by aliens again), they entertain nirei's plans because they'd rather pull out their own tongues than hurt nirei in any way (they refuse to be anything like his bullies). but then. sakura is the one that starts getting swayed. getting a little more hope that perhaps this plan might work. nirei's enthusiasm is infectious, and if they're planning on getting in with the resistance then, well, they wouldn't be under alien control then, right? they'd be able to help other people who feel as powerless as they did. so, sakura is likely the one that convinces suo to take the escape plan more seriously and come up with ways that they can escape the facility together. suo, while reluctant, goes along with it. because he isn't risking the lives of the two people he cares about most in this place over a stupid and borderline suicidal plan that he could've helped plan for.
obviously, this wouldn't be alien stage if one or two of them didn't die (and lemme tell you this: it's not going to be sakura. sakura is gonna be granted the blessing curse of being the main protagonist, and therefore, has to live with one of his two best friends dying on him, and the consequences of survivor's guilt)
if it's suo that dies, then it's likely because suo still hesitated a little bit on whether or not they should actually attempt the plan. partly because he is afraid of what the outside world would be like (since he's only ever known facilities and alnst and anakt garden his whole life), and partly because he doesn't want to risk sakura and nirei dying at the hands of the aliens if they botch the escape. this temporary hesitation is what leads to him taking a bullet by one of the alien guards likely to protect sakura or nirei from getting hurt (i'm leaning towards sakura in this situation). obviously this horrifies sakura and nirei, and although they are able to escape anakt garden, suo's death definitely haunts them afterwards. sakura likely is feeling like absolute shit because he indirectly killed suo, while nirei is trying so hard to be positive for the both of them because they finally made it out and they can't let suo's sacrifice be in vain. they both absolutely do not cope with suo's death well, and likely won't ever talk about it until the other members of the resistance set up an intervention to get them to actually talk about it if it's interfering with their plans (whether it be because sakura's snapping at nirei for always being so damn go-getting all the time or because nirei's taking jabs at sakura for being so despondent instead of helping). they are absolutely inseparable though, don't get me wrong. they refuse to sleep in separate rooms and are fiercely protective of each other. i can also imagine them being able to recover from suo's death a little bit, as sakura allows himself to be infected by nirei's zeal for life once again and nirei learns to allow himself to grieve for suo.
if nirei dies, it's likely because his enthusiasm was what caused him to let his guard down, leading to him getting shot while sakura couldn't make it in time to pull him out of the line of fire. in this scenario, i can see both suo and sakura being a very, very bad feedback loop of guilt and regret because they both posed themselves as nirei's protector and they completely failed at doing that. so now what? the person that proposed they escape didn't make it through the attempt, and now they only have each other to stick with. i imagine sakura and suo become insanely codependent after this, taking turns dragging the other out of bed and being productive within the resistance so that they don't wallow in their guilt forever. however, that doesn't mean that they cannot attempt to recover from nirei's death, because the resistance is a safe enough environment that allows suo and sakura to become a little bit more vulnerable and honest with each other about how they're feeling and what they believe they should do next. suo serves as a grounding force for sakura to be aware that they are safe, and that even if nirei's gone, suo is still here: he still has another friend that cherishes him deeply. on the other hand, sakura's existence probably served as a reminder to suo that he still has somebody he has to protect, and since he failed once before, he sure as hell is gonna be much more protective (and maybe more restrictive?) of sakura, who ends up biting back and saying that what suo was trying to do under the name of protection was inching too closely to what the aliens were trying to do to him before they escaped– that is, restrict him from doing the things he thinks are important. tldr: both of them grieve alongside each other, and then serve as each other's wakeup call to start being actual resistance members.
