#SORRY LOL THIS GOT SO LONG AAHDJSHFKH

[sheep-sorbet]

meep! did you sign up for the twewy yuletide exchange? if not, pls ignore the rest of this message. if you did, i had two questions about your prompt. [1] who do you count in the og gang? [2] any hc for the og gang or nagisho? go as hog wild and detailed if you want, esp on how they interact w/ each other? or if you have any Gender Thoughts™. anyway pls ignore this if u want, just thought i would ask since u seem like a rad person and deserve good rad things for the holidays (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

meep meep!!! i did sign up, yeah! tysm for the kind words { @｀ꈊ´@ } 💙

to answer your questions: when I say "OG gang", I mean the main 5 from the first game! Neku, Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, and Joshua. I suppose Hanekoma could be included in that list too, since he's pretty relevant to the story and the other 5, but the age difference + his role in the story makes him more of a narrator imo than a part of the main characters' 'gang' so to speak, if that makes any sense? But his inclusion wouldn't be unwelcomed because I love him. Best dad.

I also wouldn't really count any of the reapers despite their relevance and prevalence, since they don't really hang out with Neku and his friends. And when I wrote that, I wasn't really thinking of Eri since her actual role in the story is pretty small, and restricted to Shiki; But her inclusion would be welcomed, honestly I wish we got to see more of her in the games! So I guess tl;dr, I meant Neku, Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, and Joshua, since they're the main characters in the first game. But the inclusion of Eri, Hanekoma, or both would also be great (as long as it stays platonic between Hanekoma and the rest of the gang, of course!) since they both mean a lot to different members of the gang. But also, don't feel pressured to include everyone! Any combination of characters from the OG gang would be delightful.

As for headcanons and gender thoughts™, HMMM well.... Idk how popular of an idea this is, but i headcanon Beat and Rhyme as both being trans. Specifically, that Beat's a trans guy whose want to transition was just another thing his parents threw back in his face (telling him that he should be "more like his sister" wasn't just about his grades or attitude, basically :c )

For Rhyme, I hc her as some sort of genderqueer or nonbinary, maybe agender? But that she never really came out to her parents because she saw how they treated Beat and didn't think it was worth it, especially because she doesn't dislike being referred to as a girl or with she/her pronouns, it's just not the 'whole picture' for her. Yknow those memes about how Rhyme "ate [her] gender"? That's basically my gender thoughts about Rhyme abfksjg. She likes being called a girl and using she/her pronouns, but it's ultimately of little consequence to her. To her, their parents' insistence that a girl is all she should be is pretty uncomfortable. Rhyme is just Rhyme. And she doesn't really care about society's ideal of what a girl should be, she's always presented more "tomboyish" and likes it that way.

As for the rest of them, hmmmmm. I'm always shooting my transgenderification beams at everyone bsnakdjldg but I don't have any specific headcanons for anyone else? Although, I think trans Shiki would be really cool too, and it would tie into her whole thing about how she didn't really like herself or her body, and wanted to be "more like Eri". It makes her initial character arc even more compelling :3

Also actually now that I'm thinking about it I Do think Fret is a closet genderqueer kid ngl. His adoration for Kanon seems like it's half crush, half gender envy to me shkdjfkh. Maybe that's not relevant but I'm saying it anyways

AS FOR NAGISHO....god i wish it was canon i think it'd be SO funny. There was so much potential there and they almost did something with it, but it ultimately ended up being nothing but a running joke. But it'd be even MORE funny if they did end up together. I absolutely love the idea that Nagi is head over heels for this guy because he happens to look like a video game character she likes, and then Sho just....catches feelings back, completely despite himself. She's The Prettiest Girl He's Ever Seen And He Hates It. Her Combat Skills And Knowledge Of Math Impresses Him And He Hates That A Little Less.

I don't think it'd be a very "serious" relationship, in the sense that I don't think they take themselves or each other that seriously. Sho takes his Goals seriously, and is very assured of his own awesomeness, and Nagi takes her Blorbos and her Games seriously; but neither of them have any sense to me of being the kind of person to take an actual romantic relationship as seriously as most people do.

Like yeah, they're dating, and Sho probably crashes at her place to cuddle and mooch off her cup noodles (and complains the whole time about how they suck), but I don't imagine they care very much about the 'ideals' of a relationship. They hang out and play games, Nagi kicks his ass in smash bros and he excuses it as the game's calculations being bunk, he cuddles like a cat because he basically is one, they're both very content. I find this dynamic hilarious. I want them to cause chaos together.

He takes her to a convention and by the end of the day he's insulted a beloved voice actor and stolen several hundred dollars worth of rare merchandise, just so he can add it to his trash-art-heap. It's for a game Nagi thinks sucked so she doesn't care about the loss and thinks it's funny. Nagi forces him to dress up as the character he looks like and everyone at the con loses their minds over how good his cosplay is. Nagi gets tired of other people getting to oggle him and makes him take it off. She's not even jealous, she just hates how everyone ends up crowded around the both of them and sulks about how she should have seen this coming. They get pretzels at the mall, he leaves suddenly to handle some convoluted shit related to his goal to become composer, she has eaten all the pretzels by the time he gets back even though it took like 20 minutes. No she's not sorry. That's the kind of ship they are to me hdkshdksnfh

Also, I think Nagi would be really good at reading Sho's actual moods and he would absolutely hate that. If he's genuinely upset about something, she'd bully him into telling her what's wrong. It's like pulling teeth in a stinky back alley with no painkillers every single time.

ANYWAYS thank you for the ask and I'm sorry for all the rambling lol, I hope it wasn't too much or too confusing. I can't wait to find out who you are when the event is over so I can thank you more directly!! :3