Plum

Plum is a shrimp-like creature. He acts and and assimilated into shrimpculture so well that they never questioned the shrimpness of his existence but he also never explicity states that he is a shrimp either. Case rested.

**Appearance**

He is shaped like a large bead or pill, and is 1foot tall. for what he lacks in physical size, he makes up with gorgeous good quality hair and a soul striking booming voice. This voice, it turns out, to be perfect for propagating from mile high bosschairs and yelling instructions that leave dents on your medulla.

he seems to have a complete disregard for the experiences of others. he fails to acknowledge a lot of what other people say in conversation, and this can confuse a lot of people. Despite this, he's incredibly good at getting people to do what he wants. hes also incredibly rich, which might be part of that equation. which is weird, because nobody knew how he came that rich. He just one day appeared in Shrimpcity and asserted himself as Plummivan, and hes looking for Shrimpcity's next big bigshot. big big big BIG, BIGSHOT!

plum is outwardly very confident. its of the public's opinion that Plum is a guy who has it all under control, every little thing planned out meticulously. The first shrimps who recollect seeing plum saw him pacing and parading the streets alone, with a manic sustained bounce and pep with his step. his arched back and elegantly flopping plume of hair made him look like a marching feather. he was shorter than all of the shrimps too, so naturally he attracted a lot of attention. yet he had this air of confidence and assertion about him. during these streetplum days, people say he never looked like he had time for a small chat, by his straightforward determined gaze and pace. the streetplum era lasted only about a week, but everyone who was there in shrimpcity at the time remembers it and describe it vividly. it's common shrimpcity knowledge, a big shared experience that was the chat of a lot of its denizens for years to come.

Nobody really knows what plum does in his spare time when nobodys around. they assume he's brainstorming a masterplan for his next big show. what he really does is retreat into his tree where he has to recharge or he dies

"thank god i'm on top of my 2 mile director's chair, otherwise my fans would see how shrivelled up i am."

plum was never the most mentally healthy character due to the constant screaming from shrivel going into his head, however over the course of the time we follow shrimpcity, his mental condition is constantly on the decline. He starts his life with his own volition and dreams. He has a power with people and stole lots of money (he broke into rich shrimp montgomery's house almost robotically on command. shrivel helped him out a lot here) so also hes rich too so he follows his dreams and wants to make and establish a tv show. this was out of his own volition but also the desire to make a famous tv show and broadcasting system in the first place was put into his head by shrivel who wanted to use the broadcasting station and tv shows to spread little shrivels into all of the shrimps just because shrivel doesnt have any empathy and is only drivel by self replication.

during the course of the story in shrimpcity, plum starts to act more and more irrationaly. he'll start having angry outbursts and say strange things. he stat s to become aware that he himself is slowly shrivelling up because he is a plum (they have smaller lifespans than other creatures) so becomes more manic in his production ways. he will sacrafice time spent in his tree to direct and produce more and more content however this is counterproductive as although he benefits from periods of mania he also suffers long periods of agitation and incapacitation which will eventually accelerate his dying process anyway. In these moments of madness, he makes maximilian become more and more like himself. this is a subconscious effort by plum to put himself into someone else so he will live on no matter what. Plum had always been pushy with maximilian and had always been closest to max out of the evil quartet. He'd already at this point made max cover up his tentacles with gloves because viewers kept complaining about them being disgusting or getting in the way. but the last blow is making max get a nose permanently stitched to his face.

terror management theory and plum

plum and shrivel are similar in many ways. there are slight differences in their motives but they are both preoccupied with self replication, preservaton of the self and immortality. plum acts out of his passion for television and wanting to put as much of himself out there as possible, and in moments of true mania projecting his full self onto max. he is terrified about being forgotten, and he is terrified of taking his mind palace of television broadcast genius to the grave. acts accordingly. where shrivel is a completely emotionless parasite worm. it is preoccupied with self replication, however it does not experience the emotional drives that plum feels. it is algorythmic in its ways. but the point is is that it doesn't even matter. its natures way of achieving the same end with slightly different means, slightly different chemical processes but in the end its all about self preservation. plum was manic about preserving himself from the very beginning since he was picked from the vine, and in turn so was shrivel. plum never got to live a life free of this. it makes me ask myself, what was he even trying to preserve, if his whole being relied on his manic desires to archive? well, he knew he was very good at writing scripts and organising and had a knack and passion for formulaic television broadcasts, so he preserves himself in that.

By the end of our time in shrimpcity, he's fully retreated into his own world, never talking to the evil quartet directly and getting his goons to do it for him. hes nearly dead as well as plums dont live that long so he spends most of his time in his tree but he's not resting he's still being plagued by the ever worsening shrivel screeches.

the evil quartet have suffered enough abuse from plum, but they dont know how to get out of the situation. then they get abducted by big farmer and put into the abyss one week after the main quartet LOL.

plum is a very sharply skilled planner and manager. he seems to almost think at an inhumane pace, as if he were recieving his plans as some otherworldly message channeled into an earpiece.

it turns out that plum is hearing a voice in his head. A parasitic worm who calls itself shrivel has rooted itself deep within the neurons of Plum.

**the plum prophecy**

the plum dropped straight from the vine and from that day everyone in shrimpcity started noticing tv studios open up all over town .... it all started with central prawncasts; a toppling towering spire, megaphones wholly lining the sides like vertebrae. cranes and construction workers seemed to appear out of thin air. then another one, this time it was a more lengthways kind of building. then another, adorned with gleaming signage reading SHRIMPTVSTUDIOS . within a matter of weeks before anyone could do anything about it, shrimp city was a labyrinth of tv equipment and cameras and cranes and ladders and lights and SHOWBIZ!!!!! or thats what that cunt plum says anyway