Masky / Tim headcannons
Content warnings: mostly vague Marble Hornets spoilers, but major ending spoilers. Some mentions of violence, a few brief graphic descriptions.
Character Explanation
◇ - I watched through all of Marble Hornets ages ago and as much as I think it would be fun to see Masky as a completely separate person, I think it's more complicated than that.
◇ - much like with Hoodie, I don't think Masky would exist if not for the Operator infecting Tim's life
◇ - so, in my opinion, Masky isn't a completely separate person from Tim.
◇ - instead, I like to think of him as an altered state of Tim's mind - his subconscious and instictive mind given a temperamental existence, brought out through interaction with the Operator, given a pseudo life through paranormal means
◇ - Tim: mostly an everyday man being plagued by The Horrors
◇ - Masky: a frenzied state of subconscious/ instinctive thought and reactions. Was meant to be a tool for the Operator, but fought back and began acting independently (and at times with Hoodie) to serve a more unclear set of goals.
☆ - As far as his backstory is relevant / diverges from canon in my headcanons, after Tim ended up (unwillingly) being the last man standing at the end of Marble Hornets he did go on the road and try to start a new life.
☆ - as far as I remember, what happens to him after that is a bit ambiguous, but points to the idea that he never truly escapes from the Operator.
☆ - In my version, he ends up tormented again, and the Operator is able to force him to follow his orders when he's stuck in his "Masky" state
☆ - thus leading to him working with the Operator half the time (against his will), and fighting against the Operator the other half
Looks:
◇ - I don't feel comfortable overly headcannoning what Tim looks like since he has a human actor, so I'm not going to go TOO in-depth on that.
◇ - I do think that over time, he gained a fair amount of scars. Little nicks and bigger slashes, scrapes, etc. This man always has at least three bruises at any given time.
◇ - but as far as Tim the character goes, I think he rarely wears anything but casual and semi casual clothes.
◇ - they're always scuffed too, he is NOT good at getting the dirt and blood stains out. It's good that his clothes are mostly darker colors because if they weren't....
◇ - I think he'd start carrying a satchel of some kind after a while, or some kind of go bag like that. I like to think that he keeps Jay's hat in there, along with more video tapes, cameras, and knives. A few other stuff here and there as well.
Personality:
◇ - Tim is cagey at the best of times.
◇ - he doesn't like other people, he's standoffish, and he prefers cigarettes to conversation.
◇ - in fairness to him, Tim's last friendships ended in more than a few deaths, his psyche fracturing permanently, and now he's fighting with an unknowable entity that wants things beyond his understanding.
◇- Oh, and it can hijack his life at whim and leave him waking up in strange places covered in blood, wearing a mask he swears he's tried to get rid of a hundred times now.
◇ - oh, and his once-dead best friend's (Brian) is permanently merged with his semi vengeful persona, Hoodie, who hates him now.
◇ they're (unwilling) coworkers ♡
◇ - oh, and this fucked up guy named Toby, who thinks the Operator is his savior, is also along for the ride. But WILLINGLY.
How violent is he?
◇ - Tim isn't that violent, unless he gets agitated. He will push people away, get in their faces, etc, but only when he's at his mental limit.
◇ - very in line with his Marble Hornets canon
◇ - as Masky, he can and will bash your head in with a rock. Tackle you. Literally murder you. Etc. Masky is all rage, cryptic messages, and intimidation.
◇ - he's a tank, and the Operator keeps Tim alive - meaning the only way to take out Masky is to kill or incapacitate him physically, the former of which will not last forever.
◇ - he still has to heal most injuries at an average human rate, but death takes hours to days to recover from depending on the injury that caused it.
Other:
◇ - smokes more when stressed. He'll normally have 2-3 a day, but he'll go through a pack in a week or less when he's really stressed out.
◇ - doesn't like Toby that much because his fanatic outlook on the Operator is both personally grating and insulting. At best, he pities him. At worst, they're two seconds from mauling each other.
◇ - Hoodie / Brian is basically non-verbal except for small sentences and written communications, but these two wouldn't speak to each other even if he did talk.
◇ - i think they both miss each other deep down, but Tim is mainly full of guilt, self-hatred, shame, and regret for everything that happened while Hoodie is pure rage, spite, and blame.
◇ - they will have good moments though, where there's a sort of shaky peace. There's no one else left, no one else who remembers or understands, and there's a comradery in that.
◇ - also. neither of them really like Toby tho (for mainly the same reasons), so they will ice him out as a united front together.
◇ - Tim will occasionally feel bad / empathize with Toby tho, so he'll snag him beloved gas station snacks here and there
◇ - he does the stoic thing of just chucking them at Toby's head without a word and refusing to acknowledge the gift he gave later on
Divider credits:
@/cursed-carmine
