gimme your hearttaker thoughts or hcs. but to make it difficult I add a challenge: gimme only non-sexual hcs
Let’s talk about the divorce okay
So here’s how I imagined it all. Ticket Taker (“the kind stranger”) and Columbina met with the rest of the members.
He saw Doctor and they became close. They’re both the eldest members and introverts. Quite unlike the other three. I headcanon that Doctor is in his mid thirties so he’d be pretty close to TT in age (even though they were younger at that point, you get the point). Maybe their subspecies are similar or have a special connection? Or at least their subspecies are close in a way that they can understand each other better? (Take that with a grain of salt, like all my theories lol).
Doctor seems calm and cool (which TT appreciates). Doctor is logical, thoughtful, even though he’s a little dense. Ticket Taker is organized, also highly intelligent, and sharp. They complement each other well.
But after the cannibalism, Doctor changed. His eyes changed.
And he became more unstable. Ticket Taker, already grieving the loss of his surrogate daughter, sees his closest friend devouring the most of her. Taking too much. At first he doesn’t think much of it. “We all ate a part of her” but slowly and slowly he became more distant. With each time Doctor would become unstable, he drifted away more.
He’s chaotic. He became what Ticket Taker dislikes.
In the comic, I like to think that they tried to make it work, or Jester at least thought things were okay with them or wanted them to get close again (hence the Pantalone and Dottore shtick they had). But once they developed their own shows, they didn’t need to be around each other as much.
Doctor is messy. His gloves are bloody. He likes gore and vivisections. Messy kills. Ticket Taker is psychological. His gloves are white. Pristine. Clean. He dislikes mess.
Doctor’s habits are things Ticket Taker dislikes and he seems to hold his values quite firmly (Doctor doesn’t even seem to clean up his gloves and clothes from blood sometimes lol).
So, Ticket Taker (having developed newfound respect for Jester and since he also uses psychological methods and isn’t “messy” like the others) ‘divorced’ Doctor.
I think they’re both detached with each other (For example, TT doesn’t refer to Doctor as just Doctor but “THE Doctor.” That’s detachment. That’s deliberate). But there’s still either an underlying respect or maybe even a yearning for what they used to be. What they used to have.
Doctor, ready to handle the “dirty work” TT doesn’t wish to employ with “unruly guests,” is not only doing what TT says, but is trying to protect someone dear to him. Even if their relationship is complicated.
I like to think that TT likes to be petty with him sometimes, which causes some disagreements or maybe even some ‘fights.’ But they still yearn.