#I've reinvented him enough times that there's no canon left

[narrettwist]

It's Tsu!!!

An attack on @narrettwist

[maxblonda]

vulnerability and the william carter puzzles

i've been looking at the william carter puzzles for the upteenth time this week after i got back into playing this game after months and i know a lot of people notice the changes in the portrait in maxwell's apartment (and the only time iirc he's ever seen canonically using light magic as opposed to the shadow magic he's known for but that's another post for another time) as the sequence of images goes on.. but only after looking closer have i noticed that before and after charlie first enters, the picture is that of both her and maxwell, right? that's not a surprise to anyone. he has that picture as well as other pictures of the two of them in his apartment and in the fireplace scene in the beginning of the "inevitable" musical.

but what has only just caught my eye after years of this image sequence being out is the fact that i always assumed that after maxwell returns to his apartment in person that the picture behind him turns back to normal. it doesn't. when he picks up charlie's hat mournfully, there's a different magician in the picture next to his assistant. that's not maxwell- at least not maxwell as the persona he puts on that's far more secure and confident in himself. next to charlie in that picture frame is william carter. the same unsure, nervous magician he was before he reinvented himself. but despite maxwell's sadness, there's an endearing, dopey smile on the stupid, foolish man behind him. the man who no one ever really bothered or cared to watch, unlike the amazing maxwell of san francisco, whose magic feats are nothing an average person could even imagine.

unlike maxwell, william's body is turned to face her, and his hands are not behind his back. his hands are palm up, and their figures overlap with one of his arms behind her head. he is not smug in his grin. he's not looking at the camera, but at her. because it was always about her, wasn't it? maxwell closes himself off, not expecting the warmth that she brings, or the way she makes him laugh, or the way she all but jumped into his arms with glee when he unveiled the poster announcing their next magic act.

but charlie's seen right through him. because it was always about him, wasn't it? but her gaze, her new knowledge has left him vulnerable in a disquieting, upsetting way. a narrative no longer in his control. we don't even know if he ever read the contents of the letter charlie wrote, or if he was in the right headspace to even process her genuine concern and love to him. the most he can do in his powerlessness is to bring the manic scribbles from his study out into the picture in the main room of his apartment. the picture that reflects a man back at him that he never wanted to be known as ever again. a stupid smile, a foolish innocence that makes him want to yell "can't you see i'm about to lose everything?!" because someone else knowing about the existence of Them, no matter their benevolence, is a recipe for fucking disaster. so he scratches that face right out.

for a man so guarded, the shadows are more than happy to give him what he wants. the man in the picture left behind after he and charlie disappear into the constant makes it clear that he's left william carter behind in the rubble of the real world for good. and it's not a big deal. that william carter died in a train crash years ago anyways.

the king of the constant isn't the pitiful william carter. the crown weighs heavy on the head of king maxwell. and charlie is relegated to the darkness that she was convinced was merely a powerful illusion. the same darkness she was afraid of as a child.

and the only way they will ever take the stage again is with the former assistant watching, lying in wait where no one can see her as the disgraced magician and failed king reenacts a their old lives with none of the grace and all of the anger she has (and They have) held inside for not letting her in. for not being brave enough to be vulnerable.

[obsessingaboutgayspiders]

Okay, I guess we're doing this!

Some of this is a bit vague as I've never written my thoughts out before. Maybe I'll write a fic exploring this in depth at some point but for now there is this. Also heads up this gets sad, Husk's story is a tragedy

Important note: historical accuracy and canon compliance are dubious. We're mostly just going off vibes

Content Warnings: discussions of alcohol addiction, gambling, cheating, brief sex references, pregnancy, child abandonment

Being born in the 1910s, Husk had limited knowledge of queerness growing up. He always knew he was different but tried to fit in.

In his early 20s he met a guy and got pregnant. He struggled a lot with dysphoria especially around pregnancy. After the baby was born, he drank heavily to cope - he knew that this life wasn't right for him, or rather that he wasn't right for this life

So he left

Husk moved away to a bigger city where he ends up more involved in the lesbian scene

He starts presenting masculine and identifying as a stone butch, he starts seeing girls and feels a lot more comfortable but he avoids serious relationships (he's got too much baggage for that)

He's also still drinking - a lot - he spends a lot of time in bars that are popular with queer women and when he goes home alone he drinks to help him fall asleep

He also starts gambling - and he's good at it

He doesn't have many people hes close to but he spends enough time in lesbian communities that he hears about people transitioning - there's a lot of overlap between the butch and trans masc* community

He talks to them and finds out where to source testosterone- he still identifies as butch

After a big gambling win he looks up surgeons who will do what he wants

He moves again - somewhere bigger and better - he now knows he's meant to be a man

He starts a new life, reinvents himself as the man he is

Now he's living as a man, he finds he doesn't actually dislike the idea of being with a man - so long as he is seen as a man, his partners gender doesn't matter all that much to him (he later discovers the term pansexual)

He lives stealth, makes a lot of money gambling, opens his own place

It gets bigger and his name gets bigger too

He never stopped drinking

He owns a successful casino, he makes a lot of money, he keeps drinking

He dies an old man. Old, decently wealthy and very much alone

He goes to Hell, he gambles, he makes money, he trades in souls - he drinks

*trans masc as a term came later but that's the appropriate modern term

@piratecore-art @l0v3lett3rs4u @hazbmymhotel

You asked, I delivered. Sorry for the suffering 😅

Would anybody be interested in hearing my (definitely not canon compliant) pre-death Husk headcanons?