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Tickystuff Tickystuff
This is a post of RANDOM SLICK STUFF. First!
Tyki Mikk has arrived! Though he is Slick's doppelganger, unless they go and actually try to look like each other, they should always be easy to tell apart! This is because Tyki is going about in his black mode, while Slick is always in white.
-Slick - White skin, blue eyes, brown hair. He has no crosses on his forehead or scars at his throat. He does have the same large scar across his chest.
-Tyki - Obvs the exact details are up to the mun (I believe Tyki is using some powers to hide his Innocence scarring?) but OVERALL! Dark skin, gold eyes, black hair, and a row of crosses across his forehead.
That said, unlike in canon, when people can't recognize Ticky from one life to the next, Slick is not going out of his way to hide his appearance. He doesn't change his voice, he doesn't wear ridiculous glasses, he is clean shaven and his hair is generally brushed. So as long as you have any skill at facial or voice recognition, they are obviously the same person with a different color palette.
I. Went and charted all of the Gil threads BECAUSE I COULD.
Day 27 - Gil's Intro - Meet, greet, Slick gets turned down for sex.
Day 29 - Gil Fails to Turn Slick Off - Gil seduces Slick with the intent of also scaring him out of fucking with Other!Gil. Fails anticipating that Slick enjoys people trying to murder him. Also. Kill's Gil's pants.
Night 29 - Slick is Yuri Hunting. Short thread (for them...). Because Slick had a boyfriend to find. But the point at which Slick starts to have genuine curiosity about Gil's kingship and character.
Day 30 - Gil Can Has Lion. Gil pokes at Slick's self worth, Slick shrugs. Slick hear's Gil's and Enkidu's story (in brief). Also introducing Slick's habit of finding and jamming on Gil's buttons...
Day 31 - Gil Goes To Kill Slick. Fails, instead bangs him and makes him his master. This is where Slick's crush came from. This is ALSO the point at which Slick was basically like 'well I like him I guess he can have whatever he wants'. A thing Gil is still. Figuring out in current threads.
Day 33 - Let's Punching Gil's Enkidu Button Moar This is the talk that made examining/defining/defending one's nature a regular spot in Slick's train of thought and lexicon. Also the first time Slick pledged loyalty to Gil openly but... it either went unnoticed or wasn't taken seriously.
Day 33 - Follow. Enkidu tops. This is jsut a link to the thread Slick and Gil have after Gil and Enkidu fight. Brief! Slick is happy because he thinks his otp is getting together and a little crazy cuz he is Slick.
Day 34 - Killing stuff and make outs. Also origin of Slick asking Gil how he eats which eventually had significance somehow?? And Slick finds out Gil is into genocide and is like 'yes sure me too'. THEY HAVE. So many things in common. Also Slick tells Gil about the Noah.
Day 35 - First Fight. Also first make up. For the record Slick was totally planning to be nice at the start of this, whoops. Also point at which Slick realized maaaybe his feels for Gil are more love than obsession. Also the point at which Slick decides since he has no way to categorize Gil the only thing to do is constantly poke for the limits of their relationship until a box is CREATED. In this thread he learned 'scaring Gil makes me feel bad later, I guess I won't do that anymore'.
Day 36 - Card towers and chair sex. In which Slick turns sex into a trust exercise that Gil passes. Contains talk of Slick's Gil/Gil dere.
Day 37 - Love confessions. Somehow they wander onto the topic of whether or not Slick would mind Gil utterly possessing him, which leads to finally addressing the fact that Gil REFUSES FEELINGS forcing their relationship to perpetually unequal. Leads to Slick selfdestructing a bit and Gil demanding to hear about his feels.
Later Day 37 - Tyki Intros. Slick is SO CRANKY about doppelgangers. Gil tells Slick he is going to test his love, Slick tests the boundaries of their relationship. Ends with Gil cranky Slick turned him down.
Day 38 - Dragon Murder Plans. Which quickly degrade into sex.
Later Day 38 - Babylonian Feels. Gil is a moron, reverts to high tide babylonian feels due to reviving Slick.
Time for more random mini essays on Slick/Ticky. Typical disclaimer of I tend to write on Ticky's nature treating my vast amounts of headcanon as if it is canon. I know some day Hoshino will give me actual Ticky background and punch me in the head, but whatever!!! I do what I want Hoshino!! You haven't blindsided me yet.
Pleasure vs Desire - This is one I never thought about much but has come up a lot recently due to Slick just having too much Gilgamesh in his life. Gil has a tendency of asking Slick what he wants, and there is almost never an answer.
Despite being an entirely hedonistic creature, Slick is almost entirely incapable of wanting things. In my headcanon for him, I don't think he has desired a change in his life and just GONE FOR IT since he left the orphanage pursuing romantic ideals of freedom and adventure (and found himself fucked by life, yet again). And that was when he was really too young to have any sort of set view of the world, much less a fully defined personality. At first, when it was revealed that Sheril is 'Desire' while Ticky is 'Pleasure', I found that an odd overlap! But in practice I think it's actually very clever of Hoshino. Ticky is not a person who wants things but rather a person who learns to take pleasure out of absolutely anything. He exhibited this even before he was a Noah, by finding happiness in a life most people would consider miserable and shitty. He doesn't care what food tastes like he is just happy to feel full, he doesn't care that he is a homeless sticky fingered orphan living what many would consider a shameful life. He takes what a lot of people would see as lacking a home, family, security, and turns it into well I have friends, freedom, and an interesting life.
This was definitely a skill that was heightened when he got his Noah, because I do think Ticky was once sane enough that he would not learn to route murder and torture into a source of pleasure. But it is what happened and rather than desire it had not, he learned to enjoy it.
Few people are in the habit of asking Ticky what he wants, so much so that Slick has never really considered it much. Slick has a VERY hard time, in Sabra la Tau, with the whole wish thing. Ticky did not go to Sabra for the wish, because he has no desires really. He went to follow Allen Walker because that seemed like fun. When confronted with 'You have the power to make any choices you want and change your life in an otherwise impossible way' it was really fucking difficult for him to conceptualize, and harder still to eventually make a choice. And frankly he's still embarrassed about it. Getting rid of his Noah was one of the few expressions of desire he's ever done in all the time I've played him, and he only did that with a lot of hounding from Allen.
So now Gil asks him what he wants in basically every conversation and Slick is never more aware that he doesn't even really have any wants. Even in the occasions where he DOES have wants (he would, for example, like Gil to return his feelings) he caaaaan't let himself want it, because it goes against his nature of acceptance and taking pleasure in what is. If you want a thing and fail to get it, you are disappointed, and that is not pleasurable. If you simply accept all of the lemons, always ready to make lemonade, you are never disappointed. You're never cranky you couldn't just get a god damn pizza.
Choice vs Choice - Ticky is nothing, nothing, if not a creature of incredible, self destructive duality. One of my favorite showings of this, and what I consider one of the deepest parts of him (so much so that he is never really aware of it or at least never verbalizes it) is that while he is a creature of 'choice' he feels he has no choices.
The ways in which Ticky is a creature of choice: He accepts responsibility for himself at all times. He is the only Noah never seen to be making excuses. Even though he does feel things the other Noah do (hatred of humanity, hatred of the Innocence, unity with his family) he calls himself human while the others divide themselves from humanity, he calls himself a villain while the others characterize themselves as 'chosen', he is fully aware that his white side and his black side clash and ultimately his black side will consume his white and this drives him crazy, quite literally, but he never offers any excuses.
Because! These are all things that he chooses to do. He chooses to kill people slowly because he enjoys it, he chooses to kill at all because he did not choose to reject the calling of his Noah or his family, he chose not to let go of his white side so of course he chose to be a little bit crazy! He chose to be a human who kills humans instead of something more or better that is justified in standing above them. He basically has willfully shunned all of the things a normal person would do in order to make their task easier. He doesn't lean toward a blinded us/them mentality so much of a 'chosen' us/them mentality of well of course we are enemies so I will kill, rather than they are evil/less so of course they deserve to die. He has lived to much on both sides of the coin to reject either side, so he accepts all sides, and just plays them out until one wins. It will ultimately destroy him but he is okay with this too, it was his own choice, after all.
The ways in which Ticky never truly chooses: If there is anyone, anyone who has an excuse for being a crazy psychopathic dickbag, it is Ticky. (and okay, all of the Noah, except maybe the Earl). As villains go they are truly tragically boned to have very few options. Skin Boric's Noah was so powerful his mind snapped like a twig, Wisely's completely overrode whoever used to be inside of him, and all of the other Noah are tainted by a willful, sentient insanity that is thousands of years older than them and far more powerful. This is further compounded by the fact that in becoming Noah, they get anything they want! The Noah family offers it's members a wealthy lifestyle, comfort, love, acceptance. There are no moral or social repercussions for anything as long as you are loyal to the family. You can even basically dick off and totally fail at your job, as basically all of the Noah do at one point or another, and you are still loved and accepted and only really given a slap on the wrist. Because! Above all, the Noah are a family.
So okay, the Noah as a whole are really pretty boned. Canon is making this VERY CLEAR in just how much Allen Walker, OUR HERO, is struggling with being a Noah and he got the good one! He is also surrounded by people who love him and want to encourage him to FIGHT instead of people who love him and encourage him to give in. His Noah actually gives a personal fuck about him and has enough self to materialize and have a conversation. Most of the others just have memories, impulses, whispers maybe, but Ticky has clearly never 'met' Joyd and despite being in the family for ten years wasn't aware that his Noah even had a will and personality of its own. it's juts a constant pervaisive influence.
Also you can't betray the family, they will kill you.
So. None of the Noah have any real 'options'. Ticky would be utterly justified in fucking off and bitching about how screwed he is no matter what and thus deciding his own choices are meaningless. To refuse to feel anything, to buy into the Noah 'we are better than everyone, we are cleansing the world, this is justified revenge in the name of our god' doctrine. But he always maintains his autonomy despite his clear lack of options. Honestly, to the point where it's a little ridiculous.
But, despite taking responsibility for himself, I don't believe he ever makes any true choices. He goes along with the flow of his life and finds happiness in it. He does not genuinely believe he could betray or fight the Noah, the way Allen is. Because he doesn't believe he actually has another option, the 'choice' he makes to stay with the Noah is, in it's own way, untrue. He did not consider betraying them but decide to stick with them, he just did what was apparently his only option, and learned to love it.
I think the duality of taking complete responsibility for his 'choices' while never truly feeling he has any options is one of the key components of Ticky's fucked up-ness and flawed nature. He comes off as a very clever and self possessed person, with a realistic view of the world and frankly wiser than many. And that is all true! It's also true that he is no less stuck than any of the Noah, just in a different way.
Aesthetics - Okay so one thing about Ticky that has always fascinated me is his tendency toward appreciating the aesthetics of things. I don't want to say 'beauty', because I think he puts as much thought into his appearance as a dirty hobo as he does as a gorgeous young lordling. And of course, when he kills people the ways he leaves the bodies are not accident, but sometimes it is gross and sometimes it is more 'beautiful'. But he definitely, despite not being well educated or prone to talking about such things, is a person who appreciates the artistic side of things.
I do think it is WORK though, which is why he also tends to derp off and not give a fuck all about appearances when not directly looking to make an impact on people.
Self Worth vs Selflessness - This is another interesting one that would never have even entered Slick's thought process if not for Gil. Tho in this case he still doesn't really think about it much and mostly finds Gil's jabbing at it amusing.
UH! Frankly, DGM is sorely lacking in characters with self worth, Slick is not unique in this aspect. What is weird about him though is that he does not consider his worth less than anyone else's. He considers all people, regardless of skill, accomplishment, personality, or station, equally worthless! People do have value to him personally, and that value is very high and there is little he will not do for it, but even while he acknowledges that Allen Walker is a rare, truly 'good' human, that does not give him a higher inherent value than anyone else in the world. His family, also, they are not 'better' than humans, they are just important to him and where he has chosen to throw his lot.
So! Slick has no trouble dealing with people with high self worth, like Gil, without being overrun, because he doesn't think Gil actually is better than him in any way. He thinks they both suck pretty equally.
In play this mostly comes up with the fact that Slick really does not protect his own life. Which! As he sees it, is not really true or really the point. He 'protects' himself in seeing that he continues to have a pleasurable existence, to do do this he has cut off his ability to feel sorrow because it was drowning him. He also refuses to show weaknesses that would lead to them being used repeatedly, so he won't back down from any kind of threat. He indulges in self destructive behavior because he enjoys it, deep down in his crazy sadomasochistic place, and it's enjoyable and thoughtless in the way a good work out is. The fact that 'I might die' is not a thing he considers, because he's not afraid of death, because death has no real impact here anyway, and perhaps most importantly because 'I might die' just does not factor into any of his choices and it has not in a long, long time.
It's hard for me to say if this would still be true if he were in canon! Canon Ticky's situation is totally different, in that he doesn't have to think about 'I might die' because he is ridiculously, crazily over powered. But where most people might logically go 'I am de powered I should learn to fight carefully and avoid harm and guard my life', Slick just sort of went 'fuck it' and fights harder, bleeds more, kills dirtier, and routes all of this into pleasurepleasurepleasure instead of into pain, fear, disgust.
He truly, legitimately is relaxed by going all out against nature until he is an inch from the edge. Which! Could (and in a way, does) translate into him not valuing his own life. But from his perspective it is much more just that he lives in the moment and thinks very little about future moments. 'Staying alive' is a thing he wants to do in general, but it's never actually an objective. 'Enjoy myself right now' is always at the top.
ALSO, on the subject of selflessness, since Slick very easily gives of himself. This is mostly because the only things truly of value in Slick's world are the people in it, and the very few material things that give him pleasure. However, if he can restore those material things (get more wine or cigarettes) he doesn't mind doing the work to do so, so those are also in a sense 'worthless'. Thus, Slick really really doesn't mind people taking his shit, if they are people he likes. This has only come up with Gil since Gil is a TAKER, but Allen, Yuri, and Hei are all pretty welcome to just show up and steal his stuff and he largely would not care. Or he might grumble or even stop them on principle, but basically nothing he owns has more value to him than the desires of the people he cares for.
This is why, as mentioned above, Slick basically decided Gil could have anything he wanted from him the second he got his crush, which was like... thread three. But Gil keeps being surprised that he can take ALL OF SLICK'S THINGS, including his energy, and Slick is just like whatevwhatev okay. If a thing has no value to him and has value to others, he has no problem parting with it.
Okay I think I am finally done FOR NOW. I will also do impromptu question meme if anyone wants '-';
Tyki Mikk has arrived! Though he is Slick's doppelganger, unless they go and actually try to look like each other, they should always be easy to tell apart! This is because Tyki is going about in his black mode, while Slick is always in white.
-Slick - White skin, blue eyes, brown hair. He has no crosses on his forehead or scars at his throat. He does have the same large scar across his chest.
-Tyki - Obvs the exact details are up to the mun (I believe Tyki is using some powers to hide his Innocence scarring?) but OVERALL! Dark skin, gold eyes, black hair, and a row of crosses across his forehead.
That said, unlike in canon, when people can't recognize Ticky from one life to the next, Slick is not going out of his way to hide his appearance. He doesn't change his voice, he doesn't wear ridiculous glasses, he is clean shaven and his hair is generally brushed. So as long as you have any skill at facial or voice recognition, they are obviously the same person with a different color palette.
I. Went and charted all of the Gil threads BECAUSE I COULD.
Day 27 - Gil's Intro - Meet, greet, Slick gets turned down for sex.
Day 29 - Gil Fails to Turn Slick Off - Gil seduces Slick with the intent of also scaring him out of fucking with Other!Gil. Fails anticipating that Slick enjoys people trying to murder him. Also. Kill's Gil's pants.
Night 29 - Slick is Yuri Hunting. Short thread (for them...). Because Slick had a boyfriend to find. But the point at which Slick starts to have genuine curiosity about Gil's kingship and character.
Day 30 - Gil Can Has Lion. Gil pokes at Slick's self worth, Slick shrugs. Slick hear's Gil's and Enkidu's story (in brief). Also introducing Slick's habit of finding and jamming on Gil's buttons...
Day 31 - Gil Goes To Kill Slick. Fails, instead bangs him and makes him his master. This is where Slick's crush came from. This is ALSO the point at which Slick was basically like 'well I like him I guess he can have whatever he wants'. A thing Gil is still. Figuring out in current threads.
Day 33 - Let's Punching Gil's Enkidu Button Moar This is the talk that made examining/defining/defending one's nature a regular spot in Slick's train of thought and lexicon. Also the first time Slick pledged loyalty to Gil openly but... it either went unnoticed or wasn't taken seriously.
Day 33 - Follow. Enkidu tops. This is jsut a link to the thread Slick and Gil have after Gil and Enkidu fight. Brief! Slick is happy because he thinks his otp is getting together and a little crazy cuz he is Slick.
Day 34 - Killing stuff and make outs. Also origin of Slick asking Gil how he eats which eventually had significance somehow?? And Slick finds out Gil is into genocide and is like 'yes sure me too'. THEY HAVE. So many things in common. Also Slick tells Gil about the Noah.
Day 35 - First Fight. Also first make up. For the record Slick was totally planning to be nice at the start of this, whoops. Also point at which Slick realized maaaybe his feels for Gil are more love than obsession. Also the point at which Slick decides since he has no way to categorize Gil the only thing to do is constantly poke for the limits of their relationship until a box is CREATED. In this thread he learned 'scaring Gil makes me feel bad later, I guess I won't do that anymore'.
Day 36 - Card towers and chair sex. In which Slick turns sex into a trust exercise that Gil passes. Contains talk of Slick's Gil/Gil dere.
Day 37 - Love confessions. Somehow they wander onto the topic of whether or not Slick would mind Gil utterly possessing him, which leads to finally addressing the fact that Gil REFUSES FEELINGS forcing their relationship to perpetually unequal. Leads to Slick selfdestructing a bit and Gil demanding to hear about his feels.
Later Day 37 - Tyki Intros. Slick is SO CRANKY about doppelgangers. Gil tells Slick he is going to test his love, Slick tests the boundaries of their relationship. Ends with Gil cranky Slick turned him down.
Day 38 - Dragon Murder Plans. Which quickly degrade into sex.
Later Day 38 - Babylonian Feels. Gil is a moron, reverts to high tide babylonian feels due to reviving Slick.
Time for more random mini essays on Slick/Ticky. Typical disclaimer of I tend to write on Ticky's nature treating my vast amounts of headcanon as if it is canon. I know some day Hoshino will give me actual Ticky background and punch me in the head, but whatever!!! I do what I want Hoshino!! You haven't blindsided me yet.
Pleasure vs Desire - This is one I never thought about much but has come up a lot recently due to Slick just having too much Gilgamesh in his life. Gil has a tendency of asking Slick what he wants, and there is almost never an answer.
Despite being an entirely hedonistic creature, Slick is almost entirely incapable of wanting things. In my headcanon for him, I don't think he has desired a change in his life and just GONE FOR IT since he left the orphanage pursuing romantic ideals of freedom and adventure (and found himself fucked by life, yet again). And that was when he was really too young to have any sort of set view of the world, much less a fully defined personality. At first, when it was revealed that Sheril is 'Desire' while Ticky is 'Pleasure', I found that an odd overlap! But in practice I think it's actually very clever of Hoshino. Ticky is not a person who wants things but rather a person who learns to take pleasure out of absolutely anything. He exhibited this even before he was a Noah, by finding happiness in a life most people would consider miserable and shitty. He doesn't care what food tastes like he is just happy to feel full, he doesn't care that he is a homeless sticky fingered orphan living what many would consider a shameful life. He takes what a lot of people would see as lacking a home, family, security, and turns it into well I have friends, freedom, and an interesting life.
This was definitely a skill that was heightened when he got his Noah, because I do think Ticky was once sane enough that he would not learn to route murder and torture into a source of pleasure. But it is what happened and rather than desire it had not, he learned to enjoy it.
Few people are in the habit of asking Ticky what he wants, so much so that Slick has never really considered it much. Slick has a VERY hard time, in Sabra la Tau, with the whole wish thing. Ticky did not go to Sabra for the wish, because he has no desires really. He went to follow Allen Walker because that seemed like fun. When confronted with 'You have the power to make any choices you want and change your life in an otherwise impossible way' it was really fucking difficult for him to conceptualize, and harder still to eventually make a choice. And frankly he's still embarrassed about it. Getting rid of his Noah was one of the few expressions of desire he's ever done in all the time I've played him, and he only did that with a lot of hounding from Allen.
So now Gil asks him what he wants in basically every conversation and Slick is never more aware that he doesn't even really have any wants. Even in the occasions where he DOES have wants (he would, for example, like Gil to return his feelings) he caaaaan't let himself want it, because it goes against his nature of acceptance and taking pleasure in what is. If you want a thing and fail to get it, you are disappointed, and that is not pleasurable. If you simply accept all of the lemons, always ready to make lemonade, you are never disappointed. You're never cranky you couldn't just get a god damn pizza.
Choice vs Choice - Ticky is nothing, nothing, if not a creature of incredible, self destructive duality. One of my favorite showings of this, and what I consider one of the deepest parts of him (so much so that he is never really aware of it or at least never verbalizes it) is that while he is a creature of 'choice' he feels he has no choices.
The ways in which Ticky is a creature of choice: He accepts responsibility for himself at all times. He is the only Noah never seen to be making excuses. Even though he does feel things the other Noah do (hatred of humanity, hatred of the Innocence, unity with his family) he calls himself human while the others divide themselves from humanity, he calls himself a villain while the others characterize themselves as 'chosen', he is fully aware that his white side and his black side clash and ultimately his black side will consume his white and this drives him crazy, quite literally, but he never offers any excuses.
Because! These are all things that he chooses to do. He chooses to kill people slowly because he enjoys it, he chooses to kill at all because he did not choose to reject the calling of his Noah or his family, he chose not to let go of his white side so of course he chose to be a little bit crazy! He chose to be a human who kills humans instead of something more or better that is justified in standing above them. He basically has willfully shunned all of the things a normal person would do in order to make their task easier. He doesn't lean toward a blinded us/them mentality so much of a 'chosen' us/them mentality of well of course we are enemies so I will kill, rather than they are evil/less so of course they deserve to die. He has lived to much on both sides of the coin to reject either side, so he accepts all sides, and just plays them out until one wins. It will ultimately destroy him but he is okay with this too, it was his own choice, after all.
The ways in which Ticky never truly chooses: If there is anyone, anyone who has an excuse for being a crazy psychopathic dickbag, it is Ticky. (and okay, all of the Noah, except maybe the Earl). As villains go they are truly tragically boned to have very few options. Skin Boric's Noah was so powerful his mind snapped like a twig, Wisely's completely overrode whoever used to be inside of him, and all of the other Noah are tainted by a willful, sentient insanity that is thousands of years older than them and far more powerful. This is further compounded by the fact that in becoming Noah, they get anything they want! The Noah family offers it's members a wealthy lifestyle, comfort, love, acceptance. There are no moral or social repercussions for anything as long as you are loyal to the family. You can even basically dick off and totally fail at your job, as basically all of the Noah do at one point or another, and you are still loved and accepted and only really given a slap on the wrist. Because! Above all, the Noah are a family.
So okay, the Noah as a whole are really pretty boned. Canon is making this VERY CLEAR in just how much Allen Walker, OUR HERO, is struggling with being a Noah and he got the good one! He is also surrounded by people who love him and want to encourage him to FIGHT instead of people who love him and encourage him to give in. His Noah actually gives a personal fuck about him and has enough self to materialize and have a conversation. Most of the others just have memories, impulses, whispers maybe, but Ticky has clearly never 'met' Joyd and despite being in the family for ten years wasn't aware that his Noah even had a will and personality of its own. it's juts a constant pervaisive influence.
Also you can't betray the family, they will kill you.
So. None of the Noah have any real 'options'. Ticky would be utterly justified in fucking off and bitching about how screwed he is no matter what and thus deciding his own choices are meaningless. To refuse to feel anything, to buy into the Noah 'we are better than everyone, we are cleansing the world, this is justified revenge in the name of our god' doctrine. But he always maintains his autonomy despite his clear lack of options. Honestly, to the point where it's a little ridiculous.
But, despite taking responsibility for himself, I don't believe he ever makes any true choices. He goes along with the flow of his life and finds happiness in it. He does not genuinely believe he could betray or fight the Noah, the way Allen is. Because he doesn't believe he actually has another option, the 'choice' he makes to stay with the Noah is, in it's own way, untrue. He did not consider betraying them but decide to stick with them, he just did what was apparently his only option, and learned to love it.
I think the duality of taking complete responsibility for his 'choices' while never truly feeling he has any options is one of the key components of Ticky's fucked up-ness and flawed nature. He comes off as a very clever and self possessed person, with a realistic view of the world and frankly wiser than many. And that is all true! It's also true that he is no less stuck than any of the Noah, just in a different way.
Aesthetics - Okay so one thing about Ticky that has always fascinated me is his tendency toward appreciating the aesthetics of things. I don't want to say 'beauty', because I think he puts as much thought into his appearance as a dirty hobo as he does as a gorgeous young lordling. And of course, when he kills people the ways he leaves the bodies are not accident, but sometimes it is gross and sometimes it is more 'beautiful'. But he definitely, despite not being well educated or prone to talking about such things, is a person who appreciates the artistic side of things.
I do think it is WORK though, which is why he also tends to derp off and not give a fuck all about appearances when not directly looking to make an impact on people.
Self Worth vs Selflessness - This is another interesting one that would never have even entered Slick's thought process if not for Gil. Tho in this case he still doesn't really think about it much and mostly finds Gil's jabbing at it amusing.
UH! Frankly, DGM is sorely lacking in characters with self worth, Slick is not unique in this aspect. What is weird about him though is that he does not consider his worth less than anyone else's. He considers all people, regardless of skill, accomplishment, personality, or station, equally worthless! People do have value to him personally, and that value is very high and there is little he will not do for it, but even while he acknowledges that Allen Walker is a rare, truly 'good' human, that does not give him a higher inherent value than anyone else in the world. His family, also, they are not 'better' than humans, they are just important to him and where he has chosen to throw his lot.
So! Slick has no trouble dealing with people with high self worth, like Gil, without being overrun, because he doesn't think Gil actually is better than him in any way. He thinks they both suck pretty equally.
In play this mostly comes up with the fact that Slick really does not protect his own life. Which! As he sees it, is not really true or really the point. He 'protects' himself in seeing that he continues to have a pleasurable existence, to do do this he has cut off his ability to feel sorrow because it was drowning him. He also refuses to show weaknesses that would lead to them being used repeatedly, so he won't back down from any kind of threat. He indulges in self destructive behavior because he enjoys it, deep down in his crazy sadomasochistic place, and it's enjoyable and thoughtless in the way a good work out is. The fact that 'I might die' is not a thing he considers, because he's not afraid of death, because death has no real impact here anyway, and perhaps most importantly because 'I might die' just does not factor into any of his choices and it has not in a long, long time.
It's hard for me to say if this would still be true if he were in canon! Canon Ticky's situation is totally different, in that he doesn't have to think about 'I might die' because he is ridiculously, crazily over powered. But where most people might logically go 'I am de powered I should learn to fight carefully and avoid harm and guard my life', Slick just sort of went 'fuck it' and fights harder, bleeds more, kills dirtier, and routes all of this into pleasurepleasurepleasure instead of into pain, fear, disgust.
He truly, legitimately is relaxed by going all out against nature until he is an inch from the edge. Which! Could (and in a way, does) translate into him not valuing his own life. But from his perspective it is much more just that he lives in the moment and thinks very little about future moments. 'Staying alive' is a thing he wants to do in general, but it's never actually an objective. 'Enjoy myself right now' is always at the top.
ALSO, on the subject of selflessness, since Slick very easily gives of himself. This is mostly because the only things truly of value in Slick's world are the people in it, and the very few material things that give him pleasure. However, if he can restore those material things (get more wine or cigarettes) he doesn't mind doing the work to do so, so those are also in a sense 'worthless'. Thus, Slick really really doesn't mind people taking his shit, if they are people he likes. This has only come up with Gil since Gil is a TAKER, but Allen, Yuri, and Hei are all pretty welcome to just show up and steal his stuff and he largely would not care. Or he might grumble or even stop them on principle, but basically nothing he owns has more value to him than the desires of the people he cares for.
This is why, as mentioned above, Slick basically decided Gil could have anything he wanted from him the second he got his crush, which was like... thread three. But Gil keeps being surprised that he can take ALL OF SLICK'S THINGS, including his energy, and Slick is just like whatevwhatev okay. If a thing has no value to him and has value to others, he has no problem parting with it.
Okay I think I am finally done FOR NOW. I will also do impromptu question meme if anyone wants '-';