#riga hc.

[dikiyvter]

I think there's a certain tenderness Rigatello has towards people touching his neck + his face that is , depending on the person , on the relationship , on the circumstances , both longing sweet and bitter fear. He's largely been treated like a dog for most of his life, complete with the collars and muzzles and chains, and so there's this two-fold tenderness in these areas His neck; mortal weak spot, the sign of danger and dominance that a touch there can display - associated w/ the heavy feel of a collar or the tug of a chain or the threatening dig of a beasts claws aiming to rip his throat out, etc etc. His face; Where a muzzle has often sat to prevent him from biting and rending limbs with his teeth; where Dottore's scientists hands have trembled in fear of losing digits to the idea of unpredictable hostility from an un-understandable / irrational creature; something tender in the "why do you trust me to keep my fangs to myself when no one else has?"

[dikiyvter]

       For both of the automatons, Sumeru is a bit of a-- tricky situation in that their bodies are not built to withstand the environment in several key factors. When it comes to the rain forest, the generally wet atmosphere could cause them damage if they’re exposed to it for too long. When it comes to the desert, at this point in time neither Rigatello nor Giacomo have completely intact outer casings, and the sand could easily wiggle its way in and make a mess in their wiring - With Giacomo being particularly susceptible to this due to his attempts at self-repair leaving him with multiple areas of his skin and inner carapace not properly sealed.

[dikiyvter]

you open a letter from Rigatello and are inmediately beaten over the head by the scent of lilac and wisteria,

[dikiyvter]

If Riga could wear anything he wanted to at all, without the expectation of what he should be wearing in his mind, what kind of fashion would he like?

       I THINK if given the opportunity to be free of judgement -- and the funds to buy his own tailored clothing, given average sizes wont exactly fit his form -- Riga would dress is a bit... looser style, is the best I can think of? Grunge / Punk-rock adjacent, but genshin-ified, if we’re not talking modern verse. Loose pants, high boots, tank top. Similar already to his current clothing, but less embellished. Typically, he’s a pretty simple person. Fashion isn’t really at the front of his mind-- not when it comes to clothes, anyways? I think the most NOTICEABLE change would actually be in how he wears his hair. Braids and messy buns, ribbons and small ornaments... jewelry might also be introduced, though it would be simple like the rest of his outfit ideally would be.

       But generally- It’s not really his clothing that he’s discontent with. It’s more so the things about himself that he can’t change; The intimidation that comes with being so tall, not being able to emote much, etc etc.

[dikiyvter]

𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑, explaining the means through which both bots understand and express their specific gender identities can be a little... difficult. Rigatello - seen as an item and not as a person - has more or less gone his life being regarded in a very gender-neutral way by Do/tto/re and others in the Fatui, albeit with the people around him tending to default to he / him pronouns and other traditionally masculine titles. That said, I don’t believe the idea of a true gender has ever really been imparted on him by any external force in particular, and a lot of his ideas on what gender is or is not - and how he conceives it in regards to himself - stems from his stories and books. I like to think that his more femme-leaning understanding of his own gender tends to come from the fact that most of the books he’s read center around femme protagonists in some way.

Gio on the other hand, has always had at least a loose definition of the concept placed on him; Granted, one that was generally unbound by any sort of expectations. He’d likely consider himself to be cis - comfortable with the gender that’s been more or less assigned to him and experiencing no dysphoria due to it - but I think that his understanding of gender is still very fluid, and in general not particularly tethered to one set idea. He tends to conceive his gender more as a tie to humanity - a hallmark of his own sentience - than anything else, thus being a source of pride to him ( as any tie to humanity of his tends to be ).

[dikiyvter]

       Reappears. I have nothing 2 offer but a spare few robot headcanons.

        When Riga uses his delusion he begins to . . . not quite glitch but due to the overload of electro he tends to get a bit weird. I’ve mentioned before he gets more erratic/emotional, but. Idk if I mentioned yet the effect it has on more physical things- namely what I’m thinking of atm is his voice, which tends to sort of. . . I want to say ‘stutter’ but ‘glitch’ might also be a bit accurate? The typical robotic voice-glitchy-thing.

       The artificial skin that covers Gio’s wrist & hand can be quite easily removed compared to Riga’s ( or compared to the ‘skin’ that covers the rest of Gio’s body ). He doesn’t have a fully complete metal. . . outer. . . skeleton? like Riga does, and because he is a far more. . . sensitive specimen, the fine gears in his wrist, hands, and fingers are especially prone to wear and require frequent tuning and maintenance. There are a small variety of tools that Gio keeps in his bag for this purpose. 

       Both of the automatons-- though this is FAR more pronounced in Riga, being just barely noticeable in Gio if you were to put your head to his chest- have uh . . . what has been affectionately deemed a ‘whirly-purr’. If you sleep beside them, you will also likely hear them wake up before you see them wake up, b/c like computer systems there’s a lil whirr when they wake up. Again-- something that is much, much more pronounced in Riga than it is in Gio.

       Neither of them are fully water-proof, as I’ve mentioned, BUT- a brief moment spent in water won’t kill them, nor will anything like rain or mere splashes of water. Generally it would take upwards of maybe 2 minutes or so of considerable water exposure before they start encountering even a glimpse of an issue. Because he doesn’t have a complete metal casing under his skin like Riga does, Gio is more susceptible to water damage. This is something that’s plagued most of Dottore’s older works; though the things he creates nowadays are far more waterproof. 

       Both of them. . . have slightly glowy eyes. 

[dikiyvter]

       Not smth anyone was wanting to know about, but the automaton’s shut-off keys have been on my mind literally all day so I wanted... to rly rly quickly sketch out what I think the keys actually look like. 

       Both keys are typically worn together on a necklace around Dottore’s neck for safekeeping -- Gio’s key was temporarily relinquished to Rigatello in an attempt to make capturing Giacomo easier, but . . . Rigatello gave the key to Gio, instead. Giacomo now wears it on a necklace, usually hiding it underneath his clothes so it’s not noticeable. He’s very protective of the key, and rarely if ever will take it off. 

       No copy of either key currently exists, and Dottore currently is unaware that Gio is in possession of his own key. Using the keys on the automaton is. . . sort of like holding down the power button on your pc. Considering the sheer amount of data they process at any given moment, corruption of data ( resulting in either loss or alteration of memories at best and, at worst, certain cognitive functions ) is likely. Using the keys is thus a last-resort. Keys must be inserted into the hole on the back of the neck, and turned. 

[dikiyvter]

       Okay I’m on my laptop which means I finally have time to type out a rough guesstimate of a HC that bodyslammed me earlier today in the midst of carsickness hell; Riga’s gender falls v much... Not Within Any Label. It’s best defined as being Entirely Undefined. But I think. That the way he himself experiences and conceptualizes his gender ( though not necessarily how he Presents & Expresses it ), though it’s not smth he’d have the Vocabulary to articulate let alone discuss properly, would be more... feminine-aligned, than anything?