Hi Austin! Nice to meet you. Do you think you are able to provide us with information? All we know is what Kel posted that time. And the drawing.
I'm trying but I'll have to be vague to avoid re-triggering the takeover.
Basically, Halloween went fine outside of some bad dreams, and Dias De Los Muertos too. But Sunny went with Aubrey and friends to visit some senior kid's haunted house, and someone jumpscared Sunny in a way that brought Haru out, and the jumpscare let me just say was in very poor taste. Which led to Aubrey punching the senior kid in the nose and yelling a lot of things Haru wasn't supposed to hear.
Haru got scared and burrowed and Riri and I focused on comforting him and it allowed some other parts of us to take over. - Austin
I liked my drawing from the other dump too much, so I just made a copy, isolated him and finished it up.
(Sunday 17th September, 2000, 7:12 AM)
(More under the cut)
Backstory
I don't remember an exact moment where Austin became separate from me, but I know that there was always some part of me that acted a little extra grown-up than the others. And I guess after whatever led me to develop differently, it grew into him.
He's a caretaker, one of two significant ones. A lot about Austin came from traits I found grown-up and impressive, such as height and glasses. Most of the time, he's either in turtlenecks or a loose outfit with the big sleeves that's almost like a choirboy or some other church person. The scarf is also there almost all the time.
Although I think of him as older, it's a childish sense of older, like the things I'd note set Mari and Hero apart from my friends in the same grade. He doesn't actually know much more than me about things.
Austin always excelled in trying to fix my messes. He's very anxious and finds it hard to talk, especially as he largely wanted me to present as normal most of the time (though he was gentle with the rest of us and would tell us that if it hurts us to hide we should find a compromise). When he'd be in control, he'd do things like tidy up, check on my friends if I hadn't talked to them in a while, read, do homework, and ask for help if we needed it (like in math). He's kind of a team with another presence of mine, coming in after the big feelings (like tantrums or panic attacks) or just before them to try and mitigate them. He's also very much involved with engaging with Haru, and is to him a little like Mari was to me.
He was really helpful to me and important, especially when I'd feel helpless or disconnected, but I did find him a little annoying sometimes as he'd start listing everything I could have done to avoid a bad outcome or finding solutions when I just want comfort. But he's comfortable, and nice, and knows when he's gone too far or listens if I can't take it right now.
Austin also really likes puzzles and mystery books, and he's the best gamer. He keeps trying to get the rest of us to start a more private journal to keep myself oriented, though I rarely have blackouts during important times these days (right now Austin is telling me that therapy counts as "important times", hah).
Design
He's grown-up and black and white as the rest of us, but has soft edges. Most other design choices are in the above. His eyes and Haru's are also different from the others as I used to draw them differently and they're the older ones.
His name in English and Japanese is both new. I let him pick a name and he did a bit of reading and came back with it. Though Austin's mostly happy to present as Sunny to help not confuse people.
It's you and your headmates! I didn't make a sketch for it, but I like how it looks. I hope you don't mind me having drawn this... I just found your art really evocative and inspiring. There was so much emotion with all of them.
I wanted to draw this for a while, but since you seemed down I decided to give it a go now because I thought it might cheer you up a little (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
Waking up to this was indescribable in a good way. I just. Words fail me right now, but thank you, thank you so much, I want to print this out and stick it on my wall ASAP.
The idea you were inspired enough to put time + effort into something for me of all people is making me all fuzzy. Thank you again. My day is already a little brighter :)
