Raven

art by Alyssa Wiswall

**Raven** is a post-human, previously known as David Adams. He is featured in numerous albums both as Raven and David Adams, and was created and is voiced by Paul Shapera.

## Early Years

Little is known about David Adams' early life. What we do know is that, prior to his flowering, David worked at a corporation known as Justacorp, and was somewhat respected. During this time, however, he started questioning if his job and company was all there was to life, and underwent a nervous breakdown, after which he was swiftly let go.

David then found himself more cynical and angry, working labor but in a relationship with a waitress, which didn't last terribly long. He still underwent his prolonged existential crisis, and at one point jumped off a cliff. His breakdown, however, caused him to start flowering, so he jumped into the Meta-Verse, and eventually found himself at The First Playhouse.

## Post-Human

David met Lloyd Allen and the other Posthumans at the First Playhouse. He became a part of several productions, including being cast as The Vizier in Janissary. David soon discovered that he had a flair for playing the role of 'Raven', a flamboyant emcee character.

Lloyd was interested in what it meant to be Post-Human, and together with David, did some experiments, letting David lean more and more away from who he was in favour of becoming 'Raven', until the line between the two had blurred completely.

Some time after David's transformation into Raven, him and Lloyd fell in love. It is currently unknown what happened to The First Playhouse, but at some point they built The Second Playhouse together, a place specifically made to help Post-Humans through their flowering. Kate is one of the post-humans who made it, though many others cracked under the pressure.

After the Post-human war, Lloyd went out in search for Son-Mi, Raven's daughter, leaving Raven behind.

At some point, Raven changed The Playhouse into his Carnival. He had a run in with an Angel and Demon as detailed in The Fallen, leading to him becoming trapped in the Collective Unconscious, sealed inside, along with the Carnival, by the Demon.

## The Ballad of Lost Hollow

Raven was left bored in the Collective Unconscious, unable to break himself out. With little hope of someone else coming to get him out, he could only wait for another Post-Human to arrive.

Eventually, in Uncle Raven's Super Happy Funtime Carnival, that's exactly what happened.

Helen, Han-Mi, Henry, and Hank all arrived, after fleeing their cabaret and a voice that threatened to destroy them. Raven welcomed them in, telling them one of them had the gift. Believing it was Helen, he had the others tossed into the Hall of Mirrors. Raven then tried to explain to Helen her gift, attempting to seduce and propose to her so that they could leave their prison.
However, Han-Mi arrived, threatening Raven if he harmed Helen. That's when he realized; Helen wasn't the one with the gift, Han-Mi was. He showed Han-Mi how to use her power, and eventually they all escaped, and Raven and his Carnival were free.

In Uncle Raven's Storytime Theatre: Never Never Land Raven recounted his past, including details of how he became a Post-human, how he became Raven and fell in love with Lloyd, information on the First Playhouse, and the nature of Post-humans. He described a show that him and the other Post-humans had performed called 'Never Never Land', about a young girl and boy who always died young after having fallen in love. After the show, he questioned about whether he was a better man then David Adams, before coming across a animated wooden doll. At first he was disgusted, but then it spoke, revealing himself to be Lloyd. The lovers tearfully reunited, with Raven soon questioning why Han-Mi was there, to which she replied "Oh, you're gonna love this one, Gramps".

## The Fairytale Series

Some time after being reunited with Lloyd and Han-Mi, revealed to be his great-granddaughter, Raven and Lloyd presumably train Han, then let her narrate her own series of stories, The Fairypunk Trilogy.

Raven appears briefly in The Forgotten Meme, helping the Meme into her own story, picking a love story just for her.

Though he doesn't specifically appear in The Broken Cyborg, it's assumed Raven is still, along with Lloyd, assisting Han-Mi with her story.

Raven and Lloyd both reappear in The Lost Fairy, Assisting Han as she finishes narrating Jane's story, assisting her when the narrative doesn't work the way they want it too, insisting he's trying to be a good family member to her despite his and their past. At the end, he offers to take Han-Mi out for some carrot cake. She accepts.

## Trivia

* Raven learned knife technique from an odd woman named Gertie.
* There is a body pillow of Raven in Paul's official merch shop, drawn by Sarah DeBuck
* Raven has inspired a fandom meme named Ravoon
* Raven loves hats, and Han-Mi loves taking his hats and misplacing them to mess with him. Raven always yells at her for it, but secretly he's happy that she's playing games with him and leaves them out for her to take

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/COH\_KVWJ4fk/