The dear worms; Nestor, Eugene and Rafta. How I love u.
This piece started out so simple and then I went insane in a good way. The concept for this was that it’s not so much a literal picture but more representative. It’s kind of how the worm crew see themselves, in “love” and “on dates” and things - particularly Nestor and Rafta. They’re seemingly living in ecstasy even though to the outside observer, they’re horrifying. ❤️
We could watch a movie together. Something funny, maybe.
No, no. We have a coffee first. Yes. That's right. There's a nice little coffee place here. Just something casual. Maybe after that I can lay some eggs in his spine. Or is that too much for a first date?
Rafta analysis after the update! Spoilers for 1.5 under the cut.
1.5 sheds a lot of light on Rafta’s mentality!
The facts:
Rafta’s condition does seem to get worse as time goes on! Her voice getting raspier and her speech growing slower as she talks when you visit her again after failing to convince Nestor to stop by. This might be why she’s so eager to get Nestor to visit.
Rafta seems to grow more aware of jet physical changes with time, commenting fairly casually that she doesn’t have eyes anymore.
The bad ending in which Sam serves as Rafta’s rebound offers a few more insights:
Rafta doesn’t eat her way through Nestor and multiply inside him, like we’d all of been assuming. Rather, her proximity makes a body ‘remember’ that it was always worms. Sam explicitly comments that it feels like this transformation began a moment before Rafta squirms herself through his eye.
Much like when she was stuck in the pipe, Rafta is eerily calm and casual even as she’s rooting around through one’s brain. Some confirmation that her mental state is addled comes when she looks for an epipen in a handbag she doesn’t have, while fretting that Sam’s body unspooling into countless worms might be some kind of ‘allergic reaction’. It seems pretty clear that the result of her ‘date’ with Nestor isn’t something she consciously desires.
Curiously, Sam completely loses his mind a few moments after merging with Rafta. Meanwhile Nestor, while insane, is still able to think and speak and remember the events leading up to him be coming a worm-filled head. Maybe that’s why he was Rafta’s first choice? Maybe there really is some kind of special chemistry there.
MOST importantly!! The bad ending confirms that Nestor and Rafta are able to speak to one another! True love CAN bloom in the apocalypse…