#sorry if they're not what you expected to see from me fhdsjfds

[nightwonder7]

Hunters are (in most cases) how survivors perceive certain characters under the influence of drugs. But how likely is it that two people hallucinate the exact same image upon the same individual? Highly unlikely. We see an example of this with Norton and how Orpheus and Alice perceive him so differently. In Go Hunting, he is this large and bulky brute, while in Ashes of Memory, he is this tall figure made of rocks.

This has had me thinking of a potential point of tension. Bear with me, this is kinda long and rambly.

Let's say all the characters end up in this limbo that is the manor after they die during or after the games (with the exception of the deities cause... yeah, they're immortal. So they're just trapped there, forced to play part in these games for all eternity). Anyway! I personally like to think that most of members in the Da Capo gang managed to slowly reconcile with each other, or at the very least come to a mutual agreement, after they ended up in this limbo. Perhaps with the exception of Orpheus.

So when Norton is eventually granted a hunter form, it is the one born from the hallucination of Alice's psyche combined with the drugs. I feel like Alice would disclose this for the sake of honesty and transparency, even if the whole situation is a mystery in itself. But from Norton's point of view, it is Alice's fault he has now ended up like this, and what relationship they managed to build up just unravels.

Yes, he might find it invigorating to be able to let his pent up frustration go during the manor games. But this also leads to the other survivors becoming scared and untrusting of him, and thus ostracizing him. As if his relationship with the others wasn't difficult enough for him to navigate. His world view was molded from the harsh environment he grew up in where it was every man for himself. He's full of rage and despair over the situation, and he's taking it all out on Alice; so much so that the other hunters need to hold him back at times.

Even if it is beyond Alice's control, she still feels guilty over what happened to Norton because he took the form of her hallucination. And now she feels responsible to fix it, or at least find an explanation to why this happened to him. They had slowly managed to heal from the conflict between them during the manor games outside of limbo. But this new conflict just resets all of it. She would try everything in her power to fix their relationship. And perhaps with time, Norton starts to realise that Alice is not to blame for his predicament.