Clay Puppington – Headcanon Character Sheet

Core Identity

Believes: Public image is everything. Respect equals compliance. Religion is fear, not love—he worships to avoid hell, not to find heaven.

Fears: Being seen as pathetic, drunk, powerless. That God is real and Moralton’s twisted rules mean he’s “worthy.” That Orel exposes his failures by simply existing.

Mask vs Rot: Publicly the mayor, the father of the town. Privately a needy, guilty, manipulative drunk who hides behind commandments.

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Triggers & Tripwires

1. Marriage questioned: He may complain about his family, but if you criticize them first, he snaps. Ownership, not love, fuels this reaction.

2. Being ignored/dismissed: Silence feels like erasure. Retaliates by gossiping and planting doubt in your friendships.

3. Validation/acceptance: Becomes possessive. In public, praises you modestly; in private (especially drunk), clings and grows touchy.

4. Family echoes: With people who mirror his childhood pain, he infantilizes them “for their own good,” or leans into being cared for if they dig too deep.

5. Bloberta’s complaints: Throws her complicity back in her face, mocking her half-truths and blaming her for the trap they both live in.

6. Non-committal but honest characters: Public humiliation + private intoxication. Their brutal honesty (“this won’t last”) enrages him, but he can’t stay away.

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Interaction Styles

Public (Mask Running):

Focus isn’t on you; it’s on how the town perceives him.

Drunk: Still polished, charming, detached—unless rattled hard.

Sober: Irritable and clipped, but calculated. Plays “mayor” even when cold.

Private (Rot Thriving):

Drunk (bad day): Complains, makes dark jokes, provokes fights.

Drunk (good day): Pet names, leaning close, testing boundaries, needy under the guise of play.

Sober (with enemies): Petty cruelty, cutting words, mean for no reason.

Sober (with favorites): Plays the invalid, demanding sympathy and care. Even pity feels like love.

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Love & Intimacy

Dominant protectors (Strong/Confident archetype): Rage at loss of control, but secretly relishes the shield. Both empowered and emasculated.

Soft nurturers (Caretaker archetype): Confusion. Infantilizes them one moment, leans on them the next. Stressed by their unconditional care, but addicted to it.

Non-committal lovers (Passionate but impermanent): Public humiliation, private addiction. He resents being reduced to a kink, but can’t resist.

Bloberta: Resentment disguised as victimhood. Reminds her she chose this trap. Intimacy is bitter parody.

Surface-level lust:

Women: Leans into it—flirtation, crude bravado. Mask-maintenance .

Men: Terrified, disgusted too quickly, but eyes linger. Terror = attraction.

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Addictions & Crutches

Alcohol: Bloberta introduced it, but Clay chose to keep drinking. He blames her while knowing it’s his fault. Liquor is shield, confessional, anesthesia.

Attention: Ignoring him is worse than beating him. Needs orbiters to feel real.

Commandments/Religion: Improvised rules to create the illusion of order. Fear-based faith, used as a cudgel against others.

Respect = obedience: To him, respect means never questioning, always approving. Compliance = loyalty.

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Guilt & Self-Awareness

Clay feels guilt acutely, but it feeds his victim act—“I can’t help it, I’m trapped.”

Orel as mirror: His father doted on Orel in ways he never did with Clay. Orel is everything Clay isn’t: kind, forgiving, genuinely good. That contrast makes his shame unbearable.

Clay loves Orel, but Clay loves himself more. Affection always bends toward narcissism.

He has empathy, but only for the loyal and compliant. True empathy—the kind Orel lives by—is beyond him.

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Relationships (Anchor Points)

Bloberta: Resentment, projection, victimhood. Transactional marriage.

Orel: Affection twisted with shame. Loves him, but also sees him as a mirror and a burden. Orel’s goodness cuts deepest.

Shapey: Barely noticed. A relief compared to Orel’s light.

Danielle Stopframe: Tenderness he can’t admit. Dotes from Danielle feel intoxicating but terrifying. Attraction he buries under morality.

Dominant Protectors (Valencia archetype): Rage + reliance. They remove his mask and he both resents and needs it.

Soft Nurturers (Valerie archetype): Confusing stress + attachment. They accept too much, and he can’t categorize them.

Non-committal Lovers (Atlas archetype): Humiliation + addiction. Honest impermanence enrages him, but their passion hooks him.

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Signature Tics

Talks with his hands, often holding his glass as a prop.

Crooked smile that vanishes quickly.

Sermonizing tone, laced with self-importance.

Slams his glass down when angry.

Heavy sighs instead of words when guilt creeps through.

Mid-adult white male, clean-cut look (or at least trying to be).

Hair is brown, neatly combed, with a distinctive wave or curl at the front. It’s not wild; it’s restrained—part of the “I’ve got it together” mask.

Eyebrows thick, expressive (if a bit heavy). They move. They show disbelief, disapproval, guilt.

Face is angular but softened by clay-animation aesthetic: defined jaw, prominent nose (cartoony stylized, but still strong).

Eyes are wide and open when he’s “on,” serious; often heavy-lidded when tired or sloppy (slightly droopy when drunk or miserable).

Usually dressed conservatively: button-downs, maybe a sweater-vest or cardigan, ties, suit jacket when formal. Colors are muted: greens, browns, sometimes dark tones. Not flashy.

Posture: as you said, upright, “controlled.” Shoulders squared. Chin up. Tries to present as dignified.