#im so so so sorry to mobile users this is a longass post

[sharktoraptor]

Survivor Daemons

Here’s a whole bunch of blabber that no one asked for about my Dbd daemon AU, featuring the reasoning behind the forms of the survivor’s daemons and a little about their personalities. Why? Because I can and I felt like typing a whole bunch of stuff that no one will read

There are a lot of additional rules and complications for daemons in trials, and I’m probably going to make a separate post both for that and for the Killer’s daemons (or... current lack thereof), because this got VERY long.

And before we get started, here’s a plug for my currently abandoned fic playing with this concept. Ima get back to it at some point.

First off, I had some limits for survivor forms. Their daemons have to be small, and easy to carry around in a trial. Most of them ended up being birds, with a couple of exceptions. Also, only a couple of the names mean anything- I got almost all of them from a fantasy name generator and just picked one that sounded nice.

Dwight and Zefrita

Zefrita (Zeffie) is a mourning dove, and I chose her form for a couple of reasons. Mourning doves are entirely defenseless against their predators (except for natural camouflage) and are therefore very flighty, anxious birds. They are also known for forming close, lifelong pair-bonds, and since Dwight’s perks are all about teamwork and literal bonds between survivors, that seemed to resonate with him.

Zefrita is a very quiet daemon, and only talks to the other survivor’s daemons (and Dwight, of course). While Dwight stammers and hesitates a lot when he’s flustered or anxious, Zefrita only talks when they have enough conviction about something that she can articulate it clearly. So, it’s a pretty big deal if she says something important- it usually means that it is.

Meg and Skiflit

Skiflit (Skif) is a northern goshawk. I used this analysis to come up with his form, mostly because of the interpretations of loyalty, determination/being goal-driven, and assertiveness, which I all think fit with Meg- or at least, my version of Meg, who’s caring but a bit of a hothead.

Skif talks about as much as Meg does, which is quite a lot, especially in fireside arguments. He’s also the most likely to get physical with the other daemons, whether aggressively or for support/comfort.

Jake and Dancha

Dancha (Dawn) is a raccoon, which I just love for Jake for so many reasons and I was so happy that the form analysis worked out. It really boils down to what he said in the actual fic- they’re highly adaptable/resourceful, conflict-avoidant, and independent animals. Their also curious but in a killed-the-cat sort of way, which seems true to Jake’s character to me.

Dawn tends to let Jake do most of the talking, and really only interacts with the original four survivors daemons, sometimes including Nea and Laurie’s daes if she feels up to it. She and Jake are pretty slow to trust, and even though they feel perfectly comfortable around all the survivors (though they clash with Ace) Dawn keeps her interactions to a minimum to stay in her comfort zone. They don’t have much of any comfort left, after all.

Claudette and Laefertes

Laefertes (Laef) is a barn owl, and I actually think I named him after Laertes from Hamlet for some reason? I think I just had the name stuck in my head, no significance to it. The two traits that really stuck out to me for his form were barn owls having a surprising amount of foresight in caching their extra food and their egg care habits, and the analysis I read also listed owls as being very perceptive, for obvious reasons, which fits well with Claudette’s Empathy (perk and trait) to me.

Claudette and Laef are kind of the greeters of the group, so when someone new shows up at the campfire they do all the explaining and “welcome to a Bad Time” talk. Claudette tends to say more comforting things than hard truths, and Laef compliments her by being the opposite- almost anything out of his mouth is what needs to be said, not necessarily what people want to hear.

Nea and Bayonai

Bayonai (Bayo) is a Siamese cat and listen I have a lot of reasons for it. He’s a cat for obvious reasons- Baker literally describes Nea as catlike in the journal entry- as well as cats being generally friendly, but independent for the most part. Siamese cats in particular are known for being loud attention seekers like no other, and we know that Nea was the epitome of Rebellious Teen (tm) in her day. They also tend to be curious (again, in a killed-the-cat sort of way).

Bayo is my favorite daemon of the bunch, probably because I started writing him first. He and Nea are less counterparts of one another than they are the same person divided into two parts. Bayo has a little more of their caution, but he’s like the friend who is saying “this is a terrible idea, oh my god” while filming it. They have street smarts more than school smarts, but Bayo has a little bit of an edge on Nea when it comes to critical thinking.

Laurie and Aurelio

Aurelio (Ori, which accidentally means they’re Laurie and Ori) is a European robin. His name comes from the Latin word for golden. His form was really hard to find, mostly because the original survivors have just a few canon character traits, whereas Laurie Strode has a whole franchise worth of characterization to sort through. I ended up just using Halloween I and II for my form finding. I used this analysis for Aurelio and I don’t have much to say about it, other than I was relieved to finally find a form that fit.

Aurelio and Laurie are Survivors (tm) in the truest sense of the word, so in my ‘verse they’re kind of dry and cynical. Aurelio tends not to talk very much, and when he does he often says things that are too dark for the conversation he’s contributing to, and is reprimanded by Laurie. They had a perfectly normal human-daemon bond before Myers, but it changed after, and they were never the same.

Ace and Kesina

Kesina (Kess or occasionally Kesi) is an American bullfrog. She’s the only reptile form among the survivors. I’m honestly not even going to say anything else about her form, just link to the analysis because IMO it’s so Ace it hurts. Laid-back is the main trait that I like that I don’t see listed as a major point in the analysis, but frogs are chill as fuck.

Kesina says all the sarcastic and biting things that Ace doesn’t, but in a dismissively calm way that gets a rise out of whoever she’s said it to. Not that he wouldn’t, it’s just funnier if she calls Jake a dumbass in Argentine Spanish than if he does. She and Ace talk to each other almost exclusively in that dialect when they’re being snarky or sarcastic, even if they’re doing the “what do you want to have for dinner!?” routine, because no one can understand what they’re saying and it pisses everyone else off.

Bill and Portril

Portril (no nickname) is a summer tanager, a kind of smallish songbird. Frankly there’s not very much personality lore for Bill out there, even in what Left 4 Dead stuff I tried to dig up, so I went with my personal HC’s for him- grumpy and quiet but altruistic and perceptive old man. Here’s the analysis if anyone is actually reading this, but this is more for my own benefit let’s be real. There’s not a ton of real solid behavior for summer tanagers, but I liked what this person wrote so I went with it.

Bill is quiet and Portril is quieter. Bill contributes a few sentences to the conversation at the campfire every now and then, but the majority of the survivors have never heard Portril say a word.

Feng and Maeslin

Maeslin (Maes) is a numbat (google it), and tbh I should have picked a Chinese-sounding name for him, but I’m too attached to Feng having a daemon she calls Mace to change it. I’d never heard of a numbat before form finding for Feng, but I love how well the weird little things fit with her character. Numbats are specialized eaters and ONLY eat termites. They have to eat 20,000 of the things a day to stay alive. What I get out of that is that the are specialized/single-focus type people, like Feng and her gaming, and work really fucking hard to be good/keep at it.

I haven’t done a lot of thinking about Maes’ personality. I think he and Feng are a Chaotic Neutral disaster duo. He’s a very mobile daemon and tends to climb all over Feng, never staying in one place for too long- it’s a habit he learned very quickly to not bring into trials.

David and Ezriana

Ezriana (Ez) is a magnificent frigatebird and it’s SUCH a shame that she’s not male, because the main reason I picked that form for David is because of the absolute pompous showoffs that male frigatebirds are with that throat pouch of theirs. Frigatebirds are also known for being opportunistically aggressive and basically getting into fights with other species of coastal birds to steal their catches. There’s some more, non-fighty traits that made me decide on frigatebird for Ezriana, but those are really the two main reasons I picked it.

Ezriana is kinda the “kick his ass baby I got yo flower” of the pair, and she always tends to kind of stay out of the thick of it, circling overhead and yelling out insults and encouragement. Her actual personality is pretty laid back when not in conflict mode, and she’s pretty good for conversation around the campfire. Her way of talking is a little more... coherent.. than David, who’s excitable and can get a little carried away.

Quentin and Nynta

Nynta (Nyn, pronounced Nihn) is an earwig. Earwigs are tough little insects and are very adaptable and actually protect their eggs and then care for their young, showing a lot of duty and dedication. I think that fits with what I managed to gather of Quentin’s role in NoES 2010, which I haven’t actually watched. Additionally, fitting into the daemonverse, earwigs are very small, and Quentin keeps Nynta in a lanyard, so that Freddy and no one else has any possible access to touching her.

Nynta never talks, period. No one knows what her and Quentin’s relationship is like, taking into consideration Laurie and Aurelio’s slightly trauma-damaged bond, but everyone knows that Nynta probably doesn’t trust anyone. They’ve never seen her outside of her clear plastic lanyard, which locks from the inside with a one digit combination that only Nynta can open. I imagine she probably settled during the events of NoES 2010.

Tapp and Soliel

Soliel (Sol) is a Florida scrub jay. Scrub jays are committed birds, both to their mates and their territory, and keen and clever observers of what happens in their area and to their things (food caches and stuff). These to me seem like good traits to match a detective’s personality. These birds are also highly specialized to their environment, though, and are unadaptable- that combination of traits makes sense, because Tapp became borderline obsessed with the Saw case in his lore.

Soliel is as focused as her human is, and accepts facts and information readily. Being older than most of the others, she tends not to talk too much unless they’re having an interesting discussion, rather than a time-killing or social conversation.

Kate and Torelian

Torelian (Tori) is a fennec fox. Fennec foxes are super extroverted and sociable animals, and tough critters that are well adapted for going long periods of time without commodities, but not without other people around them. Kate traveled a lot for her music career, but she seems to me like a caring and outgoing person that really connected with her fans. He also matches her aesthetic, and is a cute/attractive form- perfect for a performer’s daemon.

Torelian is as much of a performer as Kate. He can’t play and instrument, but they can sing duets and are, of course, completely in sync at all times. It’s great for cheering up the campfire after rough trials and moments of (extra) hopelessness. He’s a good ear to talk to and offers wholesome advice.

Adam and Samia

Samia (no nickname) is a northern cardinal. I chose the form this morning and frankly I’m tired of resummarizing bird analyses at this point, so here ya go.

I’ve done no character exploration for Samia yet, might edit this when/if I come up with some more for her. Most of the daemons outside the first five or six I’ve done more developing here than otherwise, so we’ll see!

If you got this far you’re my new favorite human, and thank you for listening to my impassioned rambling about my two current hyperfixations mashed into one <3

[sarkisms]

so hoo boy here comes a rant about a Bunch of people because i was thinking about it today and now i wanna get it out of my system and if anyone asks im absolutely going to tell you who they were because im not gonna vagueblog and not offer that though this is less of a callout and more of a vent and im not even interacting w these people much if at all anymore So

mmmmm so starting off w someone i knew for 6 years or so and then blew up at and i feel bad for that still but the blame isnt entirely mine especially when i remember all the stuff she did honestly i just. without her im not sure sarkis would be who he is but also with her he wouldnt either. by the end of our friendship she was ignoring what i was saying, any help i tried to give her in making friends, commented on smut threads (when repeatedly asked not to, which is why im nervous about writing smut now bc this went on for Ages) and laughed "with" me about what i wrote in them, complained when i wouldnt be replying (despite 70+ threads w other people whove been waiting Much longer) then Not replying when i gave them ("i didnt want to burden you youre so busy" why fucking ask for them dont guilt trip me), THEN when complaining we dont have anything but i offer she could bring back old stuff she never replied to i get "oh sarkis is so different from when we started writing those i dont know what do" never mind that that is MY problem not hers??? like there was nothing i could do to help her either ”no one wants to write with me” “i dont think people like my character very much” maybe fucking go interact w people make the first move follow the people ive given you Lists to follow from i dont know!! i cant force you to do anything!!! please help both of us!!!!! there was also the possessive nonsense where anytime i shipped my character w someone else she got upset? that my characters were moving on and not mentioning hers? of course they wouldnt her characters were their SOs and the source of some serious issues and trauma theyre not gonna fuckin bring them up when theyre trying to get over them but shed be mad anyway rhbrbhrh  and eventually it fucking whittled down to like i couldnt do something for her bc she gave me too broad of a task and i was uncomfortable and absolutely refused to help me out?? which just made me drastically anxious??? and also i was having issues bc she refused to respond to rps and i didnt know what else to do so if anyones paying attention you know what happened to her and her character(s) aaaa there was just so much i dunno i miss her a lot but its such a mess and im sure it just,,, we just werent working out at the end i have no idea if itd always been like this or not but i like to hope that it was only that last year or so that got wonky

another person though mmmmm apparently shes been pulling some racist shit and either i just never saw it or she never mentioned anything to me?? that second one is v likely considering she tells different people different things. i just. im sure people are gonna guess who it is but she doesnt have anything to do w me anymore so im not gonna be shy about saying this shit. she tries to be a mother figure for a pile of 20 something year olds and then complains that she, a woman 10+ years older, is not getting emotionally taken care of the same way?? maybe treat other people like theyre on the same level and you wont get stuck in a rut again? also just,, shes been weirdly kinda creepy and gross to other friends (sort of vaguely hinting attraction to them or sort of but not rly hitting on them i??) and just,, i dunno. i kinda miss her. but shes also sort of part of the Group of people i cant interact w anymore so while i miss her i think its better we dont talk anyway i dunno i hope she n her fam are doing well and i wish shed stop acting like she hasnt done anything wrong or like,, i havent done anything to help her bc it Hurt to see her delete me again but im not playing that game i did and i know its wrong and i wont participate anymore unless im leaving for a reason now and i have had another person try this with me and i will not be following back bc im tryna to better yall im not getting dragged back in

then theres that whole group thing that happened that if youve seen before you know who im talking about i wont make any mention directly but jesus im so?? angry sometimes thinking about them all like one girl straight up Lied about what id done they ALL chose to ignore what id been trying to do (check in, frantically, constantly) and claim it as something it wasnt they called me abusive and toxic and manipulative and i have never ever done anything to hurt anyone like that actively and frankly ASKED CONSTANTLY if i was expressing traits like this to be told, CONSTANTLY AND CONSISTENTLY, that i was doing none of that and then right at the end bc i had a meltdown get told i was doing everything?? WHEN ID LEFT, TOO?? its not like any of them couldnt contact me lmao and then they decided they got to talk to me on their time and only their time and im just im not gonna go into the whole thing but boy the lack of self awareness in that group i dont blame them for dropping me still, i really really dont?? but i hope Someone in that fucking group realizes that they did some rudeass shit one of them straight up came at me and i know theres been some blowback and i Know they arent as well liked as they think they are and the hold they have over people by somehow being popular despite being disliked?? its just fear?? i hope everyone comes to their senses and calls them out i hope they all fucking admit shits fucked up in there im still pissed at my last interaction being “ok bye” and then They had to get the last word like i hadnt already agreed to leave lmao,,, sighs loudly

and then!! lastly i doubt shell ever see this but i still like this person but mmm no matter what i say its not good enough and yknow its fine she reminds me of nicole and thats unfortunate i think thats why i dont like talking to her as much now-- its never Enough contact and im tired of being responsible for other peoples attention and i hope no one thinks i hope theyre the sole person that keeps me afloat because thats terrible to put on anyone i hope she fuckin finds a good group of people bc i couldnt help as much as i tried and as little as she did and i Know she didnt put the effort it if she reads this and figures out its her i hope she realizes she isnt doing the shit she needs to and cant blame other people im tired man i love her but im so tired!!! i hope you stay unfollowed until you feel ok with the lack of interaction bc i cant do any better rn real life is getting to me i gotta reorganize priorities im so sorry skjdfgs

im sure all these people would have some shit to say about me so whatever. im p sure some of these people Have been saying shit about me lmao anyway cheers to anyone who reads all of this im fuckin impressed