cast
Maximus Ryong (he/him)
18, 27-29 Gay, autistic
AKA: Max, Masquerade
Masquerade is the perfect son and the perfect scapegoat. So strange and quiet, he’ll do anything for anyone in order to make them happy—or to avoid consequence. He rarely speaks more than ten words a day, even when the bunker is raided and over fifty missing children are brought home after years of doubt and grief, Masquerade (or Max) won’t speak to his parents. He seems still convinced that the woman that kidnapped him from the youth group is his real mother, and that those fifty-plus kids are his brothers and sisters. His parents stay hopeful that he’ll recover mentally from the ordeal until the day he kills them.
Max now roams the country looking for his regrouped family—his true one—so that he can feel whole again. If he doesn’t…then what’s next? Who else would take him in like that? Who would ever want to be his family without the one true god’s mandate? What else is he good for?
Hector Ortíz (he/him)
21, 30-32 Gay, schizophrenic, BPD
AKA: Hound
Hector was doomed the day Anki set his eyes on him. The demon followed him since he must have been 8 years old, and only got closer and friendlier with time. Hector could never prove he existed, but one day, it simply didn’t matter if the thing did; it had managed to trick him into burning his whole face off, and Hector and his younger brother, Lee, were plunged into life-ruining debt.
Hector’s always felt like a burden to the people around him, due to things he knows, things he can feel himself doing but can never control. One day he makes one mistake too bad to take back, and Lee decides that the only way to protect the both of them is if Hector leaves for good. This doesn’t go well; if anything, it just proves to Hector that he’s never been good family, always been a burden, and always will be. Nobody would be able to live with the kind of person he is, would they? Could anyone see the good in someone so lost and hopeless?
Anki (he/it)
1,000,000+ Sexually ambiguous
AKA: Mr. Grime, Calvin Grime
Anki is a face-stealer, but it's troublesome to be walking around looking identical to someone else. In order to take a likeness, he must destroy its original somehow. Hector's primary and most distressing hallucination, Anki can most easily be described as gross, a walking intrusive thought when he isn't acting as a doppelganger. He enjoys tormenting others, though; Hector is particularly entertaining, since it's so easy to make him paranoid and panicky. His trademarks are chaos and vanity, as he thrives on sowing disgust, conflict and mistrust everywhere he goes. With a new friend on the way for Hector, and years of doubt and mistrust needed to thaw for the two to bond, Anki is excited for this new prospect and all the games he can play with them to wedge them apart.
developmental sketch of Hector's face; I modeled him partially after Eddie Spears (his look in Sleepy Hollow in particular) and like his overarching demeanor to be stone-faced, but kind.
some cuddles (designs narrowed down to their most fundamental shapes, as this was after making them 2d animation models. Max is triangular and Hector is square)
full timelines for both guys--featuring Max pre-mission and Hector pre-accident
diptych "love/want." this was pre-revamp Maxtor. i'll be real they're all fluff the two of them. it's the only way i can draw them. anyway guess how many mental illnesses they have