#reis info

[idolkilling]

I saw an “OC Red Flag Bingo” floating around but it was not toxic enough for my needs so I decided to make my own LMFAO Feel free to use, but please credit me and link back to the original! :D (And @ me if you’d like—I’d love to see how bad your OCs can be!)

Answers for my main six below:

[idolkilling]

I'm so fascinated by Reis' whole gender stuff. How does an eldritch bug made of several bugs who is also a (dead?) body end up struggling with a conflicted sense of binary human gender?

OK this is such a good question and I’m so happy you asked, both cuz I love this bit of lore on him and cuz it’s probably weirder than anyone expects, ahaha.

Reis believes that he is human—it’s just that he’s stuck in a virtual reality simulation. Most people he meets are flat and two-dimensional, so they must be NPCs. He himself has strange powers, like the ability to “clip” through the map, respawn when killed, and have his strange and violent antics go completely undetected by mob background characters, so he must be the protagonist. The simulation loaded him in as Navid Veisi—a normal suburban teenage boy (cis) with a loving family and loving friends, en route for a prestigious university.

He doubts the people who put him in this world expected he’d ever “wake up.” (Just like The Matrix!) The first time he died and came back, his sense of reality started to slip, and it only deteriorated further the more he experimented with his regeneration—the more he realised he had powers no one else did. He started questioning all his relationships, and increasingly feeling disconnected with Navid’s memories, morals, and life. He grew disillusioned of the bonds Navid had with his loved ones, because more and more it seemed that he was just playing a role where if he chose the correct dialogue responses for the cutscenes he found himself caught in, things went exactly the way he thought they would.

Like, ah—none of it is real. And he’s not even in the “main game” yet. He hasn’t met anyone of real plot relevance. He’ll just have to fix that. :)

In meta, he’s “something else” that slowly takes over Navid’s life—a doppelganger of sorts. He inherits Navid’s understanding of gender and sexuality, which was honestly open-minded; Navid himself was pansexual, mostly friends with other queer folk, and was slowly exploring gender-non-conformity in his expression (though it rarely left the privacy of his friend group at the time). The main snag here: Navid was a guy, so Reis assumed he must be one too.

This belief is further reinforced by Reis’s delusion, since the protagonists in the type of “game” he’s “playing” usually have masc vibes as well. And masc vibes usually mean “male” in that context. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with being a GNC guy and wearing femme clothes for fun and pleasure and for the purpose of deceiving his victims! He may have chosen the evil murderer route for this playthrough, but that doesn’t mean he has to be closed-minded!

(Yes, his morals are defunct because he doesn’t believe he’s really hurting anyone… Being violent in video games doesn’t mean you’re a bad person in real life, after all!)

It just doesn’t occur to him for a long time that he could possibly be anything but a guy. Living as one didn’t make him dysphoric (it’s just an in-game avatar, after all—and he could switch it out whenever he needed to), and he assumed the rush of euphoria he received when presenting as a woman was just the power of a passed deception check going to his head. He figured it was reductive to say that every man who liked exploring with fashion must be transfem, and he also figured that if he was really trans he’d do a lot more than just passively fantasise about himself as a woman—surely he’d hate being a man?

(Honestly, though, if he wasn’t a malnourished twink he would be dysphoric LMFAO He’d feel uncomfortable being any more masculine than he already is.)

It’s only after he meets Tarou and finds that he really likes when Tarou treats him like a girl that the whole girl-thing might be more than just sexy roleplay to him. And then he starts looking back on his past experiences and realising Tarou is far from the first person he’s enjoyed this stuff with—he always liked doing “girls’ night” sleepovers with Angie, and he often pretends to be a girl online. The conflict comes in then for a brief period cuz he’s like “But I also like boymoding though???” until Tarou has to sigh and hold his hand like “You can be a girl and like boymoding at the same time. It’s like cosplay.”

(Sidenote, I feel like reading / watching Aokawa Nana’s How I Attended an All-Guys Mixer would really vibe-check Reis cuz he’d be like “THERE’S PRECEDENT FOR THIS PHENOMENON?” He’d buy merch.)

Anyway, yeah! I hope that answered your question! :D Thank you so much again for the ask! <3

[idolkilling]

(This ask was initially sent to one of my reblog-blogs, but since it’s about OCs I wanted to answer here on my main! ^^)

BUT EEE, I’M GLAD/// ;u; OC asks genuinely make my day, so please feel free to send as many Qs as you’d like!

The IPA pronunciation of their names are /ɯ.meˈta.ɾoː ˈsa.no ˈlet.t͡ʃe/ (/ˈta.ɾoː/・タロウ for short) and /ɹeɪs ˈkɔɾ.dɪs/ respectively. You can listen to what those sound like here! Alternatively, Tarou’s name can be spelled out phonetically in Japanese, as he’s hafu: ウメタロウ・サノ・レッチェ. (“Lecce” is Italian, but its pronunciation translates easily to JP.)

Also I’m laughing, I’m so glad you find humour in the busted ways in which I describe my OCs as well x’D Tarou’s messy relationships with sex, gender, and his own body are probably my favourite things about him. I wrote here about how—in meta—I consider him to be a transfem butch, but if pressed for a label himself, he’d settle for “agender,” because he doesn’t feel like he’s allowed to be a woman.

He really does love being a thirst trap, though 🤦 He was raised to understand that looks are power, attraction is power, sex is power, etc, so when he carries himself with that aloof, leather-clad badboy energy and people fold for it, it is gratifying. It’s finding people’s weak points and exploiting them so he stays in control of the dynamic. It’s getting people to submit and let him call the shots, getting them to know their place and let him make the first move.

He’s aware that if he was truly maximising his potential, he’d broadcast himself as vers / switch, but he can’t stand the thought of inviting people to be have their way with him and his body unless he has no other choice. He’s had enough of that during Family events, thank you very much! Establishing himself as a dominant figure who won’t tolerate bratting or presumption lets him keep everyone an an arm’s length—exactly where he wants them. The longer he can go without having to take his clothes off, the better.

Anyway, yes, you may give them some juice! 😤 Thank you for the lovely ask!

[idolkilling]

One of the most insignificant and unserious things that agonise me as a creator is how I’m fairly certain people who know my art perceive me as a Man Liker™ who only draws M/M when the reality is that a huge chunks of my masc OCs (Ouroboros, Reis, Tarou, etc) are GNC women… *sheds a tear*

Living in a society where the most a girl can deviate from a high femme presentation before people start getting scared and confused is “tomboy with snatched waist, large breasts, and thick eyelashes” is so hard for real masc women enthusiasts /joke

Some Notes:

Xero’s canon gender is “up to viewer interpretation,” but I count myself as a viewer too, so my headcanon is that she’s butch / ikewoman when she presents as masc, ahaha. I sometimes wonder if I should make her canon pronouns they / she because I don’t want to be thought of as someone who considers her a man, but it would go against the ambiguity of her identity, so I can’t…

Reis is funny cuz she is a girl that just really likes LARPing as her boy-sona, but she doesn’t realise she’s a girl for a long time.

Tarou is less funny but more visceral since he strongly identifies with women, especially butch women, but he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be one since he was born a “man” and doesn’t want to transition. So what’s the point of saying he’s a woman if he doesn’t want to change anything about himself…? Isn’t that just needlessly wanting to stand out and be special? He didn’t have any “real” girl experiences, so isn’t it not his place to decide he is one when he doesn’t even want to try? I thought a lot about Oshimi Shūzō interviews for him and personally interpret him as a transfem butch, but he himself would say he’s agender if pressed for a label, since he thinks he’s not allowed to be butch.

[idolkilling]

Who is more insane: tarou or reis? (NO nuance option you have to pick one. I think i know which one but i could b wrong)

Reis hands down no contest ASLKJDF I actually think adult!Tarou is the Least Insane member of the Catholic Quartet despite Kee’s pure and innocent aura 😭 (Though teen!Tarou is another story he needs to go to the psych ward.)

Tarou grows up to be a surprisingly normal person all things considered. Like, yes, he’s some kind of life-draining psychokinetic eldritch creature with CPTSD from growing up in a cartoonishly abusive billionaire vampire secret society, but he was also taught how to socialise with regular mortals and has spent most of his life alongside them. He’s the odd one out in his Family for not really caring about the Blood Legacy and just wanting to do his own thing (not that he really knows what that looks like anymore, as an adult; his relatives ironed the fight out of him during his rebellious adolescent phase).

Reis on the other hand is constantly living in her own delusions and genuinely considers Tarou like… Her comfort character the simulation tailor-made for her enjoyment LJADLSKGL He’s her emotional support Ariana Grande poster. He’s the tortured anime guy with the compelling storyline and character dynamics she just wants to read and watch endlessly until every bit of his lore is permanently encoded in her long-term memory. She’s the president of his fan club and he’s her imaginary best friend. Sometimes it’s almost like he’s the only other real person in the world, but how could someone so perfect be real?

While he kind of understands why Reis ended up Like That, Tarou finds the psychosis weird and sometimes offensive. But he’s not her therapist so it’s not really his problem—she behaves in public anyway. She’s also far from his first mentally ill stalker LMAO She’s preferable to many of the others because after she stops being violent towards him she goes all-in on being loyal and obedient to prove she’s changed.

[idolkilling]

wooow I really love your work!!! I'm curious about Reis! I noticed in the recent comic you posted, the text beneath uses "she" as Reis' pronoun. and the comic says "hopes Tarou isnt mad at him". does Reis use multiple pronouns? sorry if its posted somewhere and I missed it. I just think your guys are neat!

Thank you so much for the kind ask—I’m really glad you like my stuff! ;u; ♥️ And yeah! Reis goes by both he / him and she / her :D She’s a trans girl who likes boymoding (more aptly, LARPing as her sexy anime guy sona 🤦 though she also presents femme), but she doesn’t realise she’s trans for a while. I talked about her gender a bit here if you’re curious!

[idolkilling]

shakespeare’s hamlet stone butch × lord of the flies boymoder yuri also on twitter !

They don’t always take labels in canon, but in meta Reis is genderfluid and Tarou’s agender:

Reis is like a fujoshi/yumejoshi larping as his own self-insert bishie…  Rather than a connection to maleness, he sees himself as “playing” a “game” in a genre wherein the protagonist typically has a masc vibe; therefore, as the protagonist of the simulation, he should too, right?  And having a masc vibe means he’s a guy, right?  (The fact he connects more with yuri and likes imagining himself the girl in sole-female hentai nonwithstanding.)

He doesn’t have a strong connection to masculinity, but he doesn’t mind how he looks or is perceived, so for a long time he doesn’t realise he could possibly be trans.  After all, doesn’t every guy wonder how it’d feel to wake up with boobs and pussy every once in a while?  Doesn’t every guy like sapphic media cuz it’s double the girls?  Being comfortable and feeling cute wearing stockings and skirts just means he’s confident and secure of himself, it’s not really a girl thing :) ⬅️ SHE DOESN’T KNOW

With Tarou, performing masculinity is an inherent part of his identity (butch), but while he connects with the experiences and feelings of women way more than men, he’s averse to being defined as either male or female.  Ideally, he wouldn’t even use pronouns (and he can get away with this in Japanese), but he’ll put up with masculine gendering if it’s not an option (since he doesn’t connect with most neutral forms of reference either).

[idolkilling]

Hi, it's me—suddenly got so struck by a question: What would Reis's blood taste like to a human, and what does it taste like to Tarou?

MIHLEN HIII this is a good one!!

I think in general, his blood would have an viscous and oily texture that influences how it tastes, along with it getting chalky if it congeals.  It has a somewhat salty-metalic taste akin to human blood, but that gets overpowered by a woodsy-nutty flavour (similar to bugs/crustaceans) with a chemical tinge, bitter and briney.  I don’t imagine it tastes particularly good, and the astringent quality gives the impression it’s toxic to ingest… which it is 😥

As for Tarou… I’ll just slide this snapshot from the outline of a fic I’ve been chipping away at related to this very topic LMAO:

Thank you for the ask!! :D