#'neither of them got to grow up on roleplay forums and now they're paying the price'

[localcryptic]

now. your tags are very interesting to me so i have to ask. do the puppets kissing KNOW its the other sidestep, or do they not know. is it a "we're compatible but only act on it when we don't know it's us" or is it a "we know its us but we only know how to perform tenderness in bodies that aren't our own". either way is pathological but in opposite directions

OKAY SO hfjfb this is about my sidestep Tal (they/them) and their puppet, Eden (he/him) as well as @b33tlejules sidestep Rhan (they/them) and Rhan's puppet..... who is also Eden (she/her)... i'll call them t!eden and r!eden for the sake of this post (and jules feel free to weigh in if you wanna)

now. the short answer is:

it'd be funny. both the edens are catty bitches and they'd make out for fun and never mention it again. pretend it didn't happen. r!eden is a lesbian and t!eden is a queer man and they wouldn't be attracted to each other but they Would make out because why not.

the much longer answer is: both tal and rhan take on a very different persona as their puppets. tal very much sees t!eden as his own separate person that just. also happens to be them. the edens each have more confidence than the telepaths that jaeger-pilot them do, and they each like to play the Character of Eden. being eden provides a sense of escapism, and they get very into the roleplaying aspect of it.

so it's closer to "we only know how to perform tenderness in bodies that aren't our own" but less in a "we actually would like each other but can only recognize it through being someone else" way and more in a "i'm bored and i don't want to be myself for a while, wanna pretend we're different people and see what happens?" way.

the characters they each play when they occupy their puppets would get along in ways tal and rhan Can't: the Edens can meet up for coffee and gossip, dress for attention, have no fear of being seen. they can actually unwind because their own physical appearance is no longer a danger in itself that they're trying to hide from, and i think that lack of constant anxiety would cause them to actually appreciate the things they have in common. As opposed to thinking "this guy has every trait i hate about myself. i need to beat them to death with a rock"

TLDR: at least 70% of rhan and tal's problems would be solved if they just tried LARPing.