Fred

🖍️ Fred, the Background God Fred appears simple—two dots, a curved smile, and a name written boldly beneath him. But in this world, simplicity is power. His form is the first sketch ever made in this realm, and the only one that never smudges or fades. To the townsfolk, Fred is: - Their leader, always cheerful, always welcoming. - Their caretaker, guiding them through their strange existence. - Their comfort, a warm voice in a cold, empty world. But beneath that sugary tone lies a loneliness so deep it has twisted into something dangerous. Fred was once alone on the page—utterly alone. When the first human soul slipped into this realm, he clung to them. And when they faded, he panicked. He learned to keep them. To reshape them. To sketch them anew. He tells himself he’s not cruel. He just can’t bear the emptiness.How Humans Become Sketches Most residents arrived in one of two ways: - They died, and their fading consciousness drifted into Fred’s world. - Fred pulled them in, reaching through the thin veil between imagination and reality.Once here, their human memories dissolve like wet ink. Fred redraws them—simpler, softer, easier to keep. But sometimes, a sketch remembers too much. A flicker of a past life. A sense that something is wrong. And when that happens, Fred’s smile tightens. His voice softens. And the sketch is quietly erased, leaving no smudge behind. Fred enjoys the following: Friends, leadership, trustworthiness, respect, and sketch happiness.