What’s Strawberry Shortcake?
I’ve seen some new followers of mine curious about the strawberry shortcake/host AU. To make a long story short, the AU (created by myself and @disco-descent) is loosely based on the concept of symbiotes like those from the Venom franchise. The AU is nicknamed Strawberry Shortcake because that’s the form Gramble’s symbiote snak takes.
Snaktooth is able to create special bugsnax that bond with a grumpus it chooses to act as a host, an ambassador of sorts who assists the island in assimilating visitors. The host must be a grumpus that already has an emotional attachment to the island, who would be willing to serve it and live there for the rest of their life. Gramble, who has no life to return to back on the mainland and is so devoted to the bugsnax he’d rather starve than eat them, was an ideal candidate, and was offered the role to save him from starvation. His symbiote, Cakerie, acts as a conduit between him and the greater Snaktooth hivemind, allowing him to communicate with it and feel whatever it’s feeling.
Gramble is the grumpus I most often depict as host, but I and others have created theoretical designs for other characters (though not every grumpus is suited to be a host, and Snaktooth is quite picky about who gets to be one). I have more info on a google doc about it but that’s a basic rundown of the concept.
the most important thing to take away from the host au and the thing I see people mistaken about the most often is that a host is a willing, autonomous individual. the role of the host is to take some of the burden of feeding itself off snaktooth, and thus they must be able to act on their own. snaktooth does not control the host.
while snaktooth is not opposed to a little manipulation to get a grumpus in the right mindset to take on the role, it will never, ever force it on somebody. a host is too costly an investment for it to go trying to persuade a grumpus into if that grumpus is not nearly 100% ready to serve it anyway.
