#corviscor headcanons

[corviscor]

Out of everyone in the Oletus Massacre survivors, who do you think would make the best parent if they were ever forced in a situation to raise a child?

Probably none because they all have their own stuff to deal with but honestly I'm kinda curious. I wanna see what other people think

Even though I'm going to answer this with as little speculation as possible/focus on Analysis, I'm going to tag this as Corviscor Headcanons as well because I'll be mentioning Detective and Charm and, as much as I love them, we barely have any information we know remains canonical and given that grey zone I want to acknowledge what speculation I do have.

Moving on to who would make the best parent.

Burke

First off, Burke. Don't let his standoffish exterior fool you, I think out of all the Oletus Manor Massacre survivors, Burke would be the best at raising a kid. First off, Burke may have already been in a position to know how to deal with kids. We learned from Burke's Sixth Letter that he had a sister and, though she has died, his nephew Umberto is still alive (Burke Sixth Letter). It's unknown how old Umberto is, barring he's an adult, but it's possible Burke was old enough to have gained quite some experience helping his sister (If they were close enough).

While pretending he was irritated by their presence, it's clear very early on that Burke genuinely cares for the DeRoss children. He doesn't like them intruding his business, but he hates the alternative more. In his Once skin's animation, Burke will hear the specter of Alice, making him wonder if a life without loving is better than having loved and loss. The effectiveness of Burke as a babysitter, with both Orpheus and Alice hosting fond memories of them, shows Burke was able to implement this well into Bonbon (alongside Mark Reznik's aid and Bonbon's own sapience). Burke was the first known characters to sound the alarms on the Blanches being abusive (Bonbon Fourth Deduction). Considering Orpheus' position as a lower class child with living abusive birthparents made his circumstance incredibly easy to ignore, I think it shows Burke will believe in the right thing rather than the accepted thing.

This goes up to and including him potentially leaving Oletus Manor after being affected by Tracy Reznik, a girl that reminded him of Alice, and the near-death of Luca Balsa, a boy that reminded him of Orpheus (Burke Second and Third Letters). Though it remains unclear due to his Fourth Letter having him deny the possibly to Orpheus, it still remains as attempted deflection and, combined with it potentially being an attempt to force Orpheus to quit relying on the games, it showed he is willing to risk everything to offer a slight chance to this kid (Bonbon Fourth Letter, Luca Fourth Letter). Something many parents in IDV won't do.

Burke has already been declared Father Material, with him being the father for the 2021 Weibo and 2022 Global Father's Day artwork, joining a lucky few alongside Novelist, Leo Beck, and Herman Balsa and Alva Lorenz. In spite of his subpar treatment of Bonbon at times (Leo, Herman, and Alva certainly aren't perfect either), I do think it's telling Burke is included, even if the... choices for Father's Day can be weird. Mike and Murro Morton being included for Father's Day, implicitly for Bernard, for example. Or Lily.

Combining everything together, and additional information such as Alice depicting Burke as gentle in her memories in Cage of Yesteryear, I think it shows Burke could turn off his irritable exterior to make sure a child felt secure and that he would put the wellbeing of said child over doing what was easy. He's father material.

1.5. Bonbon.

I'm placing Bonbon with Burke since Bonbon seems more interested in helping their father and supporting as a community, but Bonbon would love to raise a child. They would do it very well! With Bonbon being designed to work with children (Bonbon Second Deduction), we can see this reflected in how Bonbon behaves in events and quotes: compassionate, patient, and a little naive. Moving on from their... security additions, we see that many of Bonbon's features were designed to entertain children, with it being the purpose of an older design of their bombs (Outdated Feature emote).

Bonbon has previously been portrayed as a protector or caretaker of children in events such as the recent Food Charity, where they work with cats to feed starving children. Part of their trust towards Luca Balsa and Tracy Reznik were due to them reminding Bonbon of Orpheus and Alice. Bonbon would likely see the importance of making sure a child's wellbeing is guaranteed, especially to Burke and Bane, and they would do everything they could to help.

2. Bane

Bane's running very close behind Burke in terms of raising a well-adjusted child, even with all the trauma he's dealt with. It's already known that Bane has soft spots for kids, such as carving birthday presents for the DeRoss kids, fearing they could be injured by poaching traps (Bane First and Fourth Letter), and feeling protective towards orphaned baby animals like Blacknose.

Bane's injuries, too, were caused by softness towards children. He let a poacher boy go, only for said child to help participate in crippling him before the Oletus Manor Massacre. This scarred him, physically and mentally, vowing to never show mercy to another person. In spite this, he feels disturbed at the treatment of Will, the arguable "innocent" to enter Oletus Manor (Bane Third Letter).

As for Bane himself, he is very patient, taking the time and effort needed to manage an entire forest filled with animals, tracking down individuals to monitor the population. He is compassionate, too, to the point of reducing conflict between him and his step-family, and being willing to raise Blackness himself.

The only reason I'm putting Bane below Burke is that Burke has Bonbon to help him, while Bane is in the woods. Though, given their characters, I wouldn't be shocked if Burke asked Bane to help or vice versa. Bane also seems to not mind the kids playing on their own, but that seems to have only become a problem due to the bandits and "rangers" such as the Blanches. Otherwise, it seems to be a forest (it's hard to tell if the Darkwoods wolves are canon; my joke suggestion is that Dennis DeRoss imported them and the moose).

One might ask then, why didn't Bane and Burke intervene in either stopping Orpheus' vengeance or adopting Alice. In the former's case, based off Bane's Ninth Deduction, Burke and Bane may have felt it was the only way to mitigate Orpheus' mental illness. He was clinging onto it. Considering Bane was already killing intruders, letting Orpheus' dependency develop benefitted him and Bane (Bane Second Letter). Second, Bane's Seventh Letter implies Orpheus relied on his parents' friends/the Mediterranean Deal participants to afford Bane's medication for chronic pain. He could not stop the Games, at least initially, without harming his loved ones. Bane himself likely would not want to stop taking pain medication unless he had to. It makes the possibility he left Oletus to attempt to force Orpheus to stop more heartbreaking, as much as the other possibility he died.

As for Alice, it's clear that Burke and Bane had been declared missing in the aftermath of the Oletus Manor Massacre, with Orpheus facing difficulty removing his (or Alice's in the NAEU translation) case file, due to him not being blood family in spite evidence of kinship. Exposing themselves, on top of going against their own coping mechanisms of defending Oletus, would risk exposing Orpheus as Baron DeRoss. Besides, considering the Netherwalker version of Alice DeRoss' letter, regarding the denial on the basis of being blood family, may still be canon, it's likely that Burke and Bane would've been denied visitation or adoption too. Tragedy has no easy solution.

Though it didn't end well, I do think it highlights how much Bane cares about the kids in his life in how he supported Orpheus, both to protect Orpheus himself and, since it's implied at some point the Manor Staff learned Alice wasn't dead, to try and guarantee Alice's health. I think he would do the same for a child he raised.

3. Orpheus

It'd probably take a couple years of therapy, but I do think Orpheus would be a pretty good father after if he got his issues together. Even as he currently struggles inside Orpheus Manor, we do see that the wellbeing of children are a concern to him. Part of the temptation Reichenbach offered (alongside Orpheus' old pen name) to convince Orpheus to return was the , even before he suspects Memory is his child (actually a personification of nostalgia/trauma) in the Time of Reunion Muse Corridor, he runs after her in concern. Notably, there also seem to have not been any actual young children invited to the Oletus Manor Games, with Lily and Martha (and likely Kai) being young adults.

As an interesting contrast to his work as a horror writer, Orpheus shows a lot of connections to the idea of childhood. He started writing scary stories as a child (as seen in AOM I), with the distinction between these and his later stories being that they weren't based off the traumas others or himself suffered. Orpheus' birthday- and the birthday of IDV as a whole- is April 2nd. This happens to be Hans Christian Anderson's birthday and, consequently, Children's Literature Day. Right now, an event focusing on Children's Day is focusing on the Novelist identity. This is a callback to none other than the 2018 Children's Art, where child Detective plays with IDV toys. It also revealed the moral of IDV itself: "Everyone's got a moral, only if you can find it." No one is truly evil.

I assume Orpheus raising a child, like all his life occurrences, would require the cooperation of his identities. Nightmare and Novelist seem to be well-equipped, given that both have been depicted as fathers towards Memory, including the cutest official art in IDV. They have been declared Father Material. While Detective's struggles with mental illness are more obvious than NM or Novelist, he shows sincere earnestness. Given he's already sobered up and is attempting to improve his mental health, I imagine he would intensify this effort if he was racing a child. Charm I think would be the least equipped, due to Charm being prone to irritation and his struggles to communicate. Still, we know this behavior is due to his struggles, not malice. With cooperation from the others, I think he would manage.

4. Alice

I love Alice but after all of her letters I do not think she would neither enjoy nor desire raising a child. Compared to her brother, we don't have indications Alice desires starting another family, but rather wants to honor her parents socially and preventing another Oletus Massacre by reporting on other cases. There's an interesting contrast with how Orpheus and Alice seek healing through a 'individual' or 'systemic' process (and how Orpheus' harm is personal and Alice's systemic).

Alice has shown impatience towards people she finds rude or brusque towards her, even if they have understandable circumstances for said emotions, such as Alger (Naib Sixth Letter). She also shows difficulty adjusting her perspective towards children's opinions compared to advice from adults, as seen in her interactions with Mia (Emily Sixth and Seventh Letters). This isn't great when working with kids. They can be notoriously bratty, even good kids, and one needs the patience to guide them in the right direction without lashing out. Children notice when their perspectives are being dismissed. It can affect them.

This is not to say that is awful with kids; she's shown getting along with Memory, who is somewhat her childhood self, somewhat a unique entity. At the same time, her perception of her as a mother is more from Detective's perspective on Novelist's life, rather than Alice being placed in this position from her own perspective. The reality of Orpheus' childhood is too absurd to reconstruct without knowing it (though all memories are reconstructions), so he places himself in a societally palatable alternative, rather than a vengeful adopted son. Alice cannot fit into this narrative, so her fragments are split between the mother and Memory. Alice doesn't do this to herself.

So, the reason why I ranked it the way I did was that Burke and Bane (and Bonbon) show both experience handling children and the desire, Orpheus desires parenthood and was even manipulated on said desire, and Alice's focuses more on reclaiming her own childhood.

[corviscor]

Fuck it, Post-Manor Composer Headcanon

Assuming Frederick isn't "Reichenbach" or "Red" for this, since a Frederick stuck outside Oletus would be very different.

In the implied "post-canon" of the Manor Realm and the Dreamlands, I think Frederick is happy. He's fascinated by occultism, he's got all the time in the world, he burned every bridge he had. There's a strong possibility he burnt down Oletus and killed Alice and Melly. Regardless of whether he had the intention of conducting an occult ritual (as the police suspected) or had the intention to drag everyone to hell with him, living in Oletus is better than being held or hanged. Even if given the opportunity to leave, quite possible if he "conducted" the ritual, he would choose to stay. Oletus is what he wanted.

The downside is the consequences. He's always burned bridges, from the Kreiburgs to that fateful night, and now there's no more bridges to be burnt. Alice is there, so is Norton, so is Melly. Depending on how Orpheus' arc goes, Orpheus will be there too. Or part of him.

All those regrets, those sparks of remorse he smothered with the idea the appreciation was worth it, flicker beneath a veil of cold. They glow hottest near Alice, the way they were forged to survive in opposition. Both see the other as a threat to their goals. Both fought, possibly to the death, over it. Acknowledging how pride contributed to the fall is harder with still-seething anger. Yet they exist in the same space.

Between Melly and Frederick is a cool, mutual dislike. Melly embraced social Darwinism to survive, Frederick despised it. One climbed to wealth, the other abandoned it. Their positions are opposed on principle, red and green, but they lack the intensity Alice and Frederick bear. For the most part, they do their best to avoid each other. Unlike the former, they are less likely to be placed into a position where they're forced to interact. A tumultuous peace between the king of beasts and the queen of bees.

Norton and Frederick's spark falls between irritation and loss. They hadn't known each other as coworkers for long, but it's incorrect to say it was entirely self-serving between either of them. They shared bitterness, they shared interests. Both understood what it meant to sacrifice to be free. But both turned on each other in the no-sum game that's Oletus Manor. Norton wanted to guarantee his survival, Frederick wanted everyone's destruction. Maybe there's something there still, but there's certainly a coldness between the two that's no longer just an act.

Lastly, there is Orpheus. They had known each other for years. Trust strained, diminished but, after everything, not entirely broken. That, of all things, feels stranger than it being lost. There was appreciation.

So they interact, those thin threads Frederick is too tired to burn. Orpheus and Alice are preoccupied learning the bonds and boundaries they were denied. Frederick loves his siblings enough to know it's impossible to intervene. Norton and Melly know this too and are quicker to adapt to it. But he's still there, that glimmer of red in the corner of the eye. Trying to find out how to travel a bridge he himself burnt.

In time, perhaps some bridges can be mended.

[corviscor]

What pet would Orpheus enjoy?

I think this would be a multifaceted answer given Orpheus experiences some trait changes in his DID. Novelist likes birdsong, while Nightmare's dislikes it. So, while I don't think the trait changes are extensive enough to radically alter the answer, I want to subdivide it into the "five Orphs" (as I proposed in Part II of my Orpheus Analysis).

I will also be writing with the assumption of a hypothetical "post-canon" scenario because, barring the Oletus ravens, Orpheus was too busy in the Oletus Games as a coping mechanism (particularly near the end) to enjoy pets.

Orpheus as a Whole

Orpheus generally leans towards birds (if with complicated emotions) and deer. He is neutral to positive on other creatures. More of a homebody than Alice, he has more time to maintain more demanding pets. In addition, Nightmare (and possibly Orpheus as a whole) seems to have a limited ability to communicate with birds.

So, barring the Oletus ravens, I think Orpheus as a whole would keep small, domestic birds. I don't think he'd keep a parrot, though. Leave that to Joseph Desaulniers.

Nightmare

NM seems to be the Orpheus that has the most knowledge of his past, including traumatic events. The cries of birds remind him of what happened. As a result, his appreciation is birds is heavily tainted. He'll keep a greater distance, since it's hard enough that he makes birdsong himself.

That being said, I do think he still loves birds, even if it's buried under trauma and self-hatred. He lets them perch on him, whether in his raven man form or human form. Even if he'd rather not hear cawing or shrieking.

The academic in Nightmare is incredibly fascinated by the Mini Hunters, with fellow occultist Frederick the only Da Capo as intrigued. He will observe them. For science. No other reason. He has a slight curiosity towards object pets for the same reason, though he doesn't have the same interest in them as Alice.

NM was initially shocked to meet Mini Nightmare because.... Orpheus is cute? Orpheus is lovable? Impossible. When he overcomes the self-loathing, though, I think Nightmare would be fond of his microscopic self. Nightmare would play some pranks on Minimare and permit himself to be used as a perch.

Novelist

Compared to NM, Novelist has more distance between his past and some of the traumas that stem from them. That's not to say he doesn't remember, but it's not the same emotion Nightmare feels.

Ergo, Novelist has the most appreciation towards birds. Their singing, their adaptability, everything about them is wonderful. Blue-throat nightingales and ravens are his favorites. For that reason, I think he'd like the Lifelong pet the most. A rare bird, both in-game and meta, given how few active 2018 accounts remain.

To a lesser degree, Novelist has an appreciation for animals he finds aesthetically pleasing. Deer, butterflies, jellyfish, etc. Though the Novelist draws nowhere near as much as the young Orpheus did, he can't help but admire their forms. He's often seen watching Memory's jellyfish pet, lost in beauty and thought.

In contrast to Nightmare, Novelist hasn't entirely adjusted to Minimare's presence. He bears the same insecurities as NM and the other Orphs, but expressed differently, and seeing a miniature version of himself waddling around activates them. Why do other people find him cute?

Detective

Being one of the more affectionate Orphs, Detective's fondness for pets is the most obvious. He would be the one to immediately pet the dog or cat.

I imagine he has a slight trend towards the two, "basic" as they are, due to how easily readable their emotions are. Leave the exotics to the other Orphs.

Were they in the "main" canon, he would love the three Truth and Inference pigeons. I can imagine him keeping them in his office, possibly to the annoyance of the other Orphs.

Detective's the Orph most devastated if an animal dislikes him. He's very sensitive about his reception thanks to destroying his career post-amnesia and the rejection still stings. This pushes him towards pets he finds easier to understand such as domestic pets.

That being said, he's willing to make sure he's not harming himself, such as when he tested the Delphi on the wild rat. He wouldn't do so to a pet, though, and I do believe he'd be unnerved if the rat died. One of the other Orphs would have to be the one to give a pet medicine.

He's very close to the Miss Nightingale pet. Even if he didn't regain his memories, I believe a piece of him would recognize the ghost of his adoptive mother, or whatever Miss Nightingale is. Likewise, I think she would watch over him, make sure he doesn't lose himself in Oletus again. If he did, he'd appreciate having more time to spend with the ones he loves. Out of the Orphs, I believe he and Charm are more willing to learn from mistakes than see themselves trapped.

Charm:

Charm's an interesting one since we have very little information on him, even compared to the other Orphs, but he seems to be protective in own way, even if it means harming himself/the Orphs. Interacting with pets offers a different side to him.

Given his brusque nature, I think he'll get a bit more annoyed if someone is bothering him when he doesn't want it. Because of that, I think he likes more independent animals such as some cats, though, as with the other Orphs, the trait difference isn't substantial enough that he'd hate a needy animal like some dogs.

I think he particularly likes fish. Charm behaves the way he does for the protection of himself and the rest of Orpheus, in his own way. He feels as though he's gotta do what he must and if it's be a rogue, then so be it. When he's watching an aquarium, it provides a calm. He doesn't have to be the voice of opposition.

"Illusion"

As I mentioned before, there's uncertainty if "original Orpheus/Orphy" or "Illusion" (as the Journalist summon is called) exists in a meaningful capacity for Orpheus.

That being said I think, like Detective, Charm, and Novelist, I don't think he'd hold the same traumatic association with birds as NM does. He'd think they're neat.

Orphy really likes deer. The Darkwoods and Oletus Manor were freedom from his biological parents' house and all the bad memories decaying there. There, he could watch deer with Alice and Bane. Naughty Bruce the reindeer would be a favorite of his.

Other small woodland creatures are favorites of his, too. Mini Luchino reminds him of common lizards, so I think he would list him among his favorites, especially with the lack of reptile Pets IDV has.

Some minor explanations below.

Orpheus' unreleased fursona as part of the Animal sticker series was a deer and has been shown in some merchandise with deer items. Orpheus' physical appearance also invokes deer, particularly his doe eyes. In childhood, he and Alice would watch deer, too, so overall he has a positive connection to them in addition to his motif. Hollow has a slight deer motif, too.

Orpheus' feelings on birds are more complex. They are his largest animal motif, with Novelist having Blue-Throats and Nightmare ravens. However, Nightmare has negative feelings on birds while Novelist has positive feelings, according to their Character Files. This appears to be tied to Nightmare's origin to "purify sin" and store the traumas of Orpheus' past.

Nightmare has a unique interaction with Minimare where he pulls an "electric buzzer" prank on his Mini Self, before happily letting him perch on his hand.

Orpheus is shown drawing in Ashes of Memory, which reveals he created the illustration that accompanies the "Nightingale story" from the Manor Scary Story Night.

Detective is shown with the Miss Nightingale pet in a Japan Twitter and in a previous edition of IDV, Detective was capable of interacting with Miss Nightingale in the ruined Manor.

Detective appears to be pretty affectionate compared to some of the other Orphs. In some artworks he was shown offering gifts to Survivors, with his hands being visible for Norton's First Birthday art, giving him a magnet.

Charm and Detective are shown in First Anniversary Graffiti catching goldfish together. Charm looks particularly determined to catch a fish in the Survivor Graffiti, before holding up his goldfish in triumph I the Hunter Graffiti.

One of Orpheus' literary inspirations is Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff has a dog motif, with him owning multiple dogs, but also harming the pet dog of his partner Isabella. Dogs are used to signal Heathcliff's complicated position in the family as a result of his adoptive status and race, with the violence inflicted by/on dogs representing the ills of Wuthering Heights. While birds in IDV are used for the same purpose I did want to give a nod to it. I chose Detective specifically due to an artwork of him with a puppy.

Take this part with skepticism since I'm too tired to recall, but I believe George Sand had pet dogs and cats, so one of Orpheus' historical inspirations possibly had a fondness for these animals as well.

Charm liking cats is in there for no other reason than he gives me cat energy.