just thought about Milla talking to Sasha about something he likes (aliens and whatnot) and Sasha just starts hard core stimming. He's just standing there shaking violently and jazz hand-ing and smiling and he's so excited he can't stop stimming.
Also i think Sasha has very particular stims, like he'll do jazz hands, or he'll start shaking when excited (I do that) or he'll crack his knuckles or he'll shake his hands like you do when your hands are wet. he has so many stims. all of the stims. he's the stimmer of all time
he has this one stim where he'd squeeze the nearest thing to his hand.
one time that was milla's hand.
Milla still thinks about it every day it makes her very happy
I typically like aligning my headcanons with canon in some sort of way, but that’s just a personal preference. Sasha stimming headcanons actually land in this strange area for me because I don’t really bring up stimming for him specifically very often(in posts, in my personal headcanon doc, etc.), and I actually don’t see a lot of people being up stimming for him either. And I think there’s a very important reason for that: Sasha’s stims are really subtle.
Think about it. Throughout the games, Sasha is standing relatively still throughout. His arms don’t move really wildly like the “extreme high level autism” stereotype. And for a little while I thought that he just didn’t stim in the games. But I think he actually does.
In RoR he has that smiling and looking around animation. And compared to how stiff his movement typically is to how wide his upper body is moving, I think that motion could count as stimming. Plus, the context of that animation is that he’s in a really cool space-alien (imitation) aircraft and is naturally super excited about it.
I could only really think of two examples of stimming in PN2, in Loboto’s Labyrinth and in the plane on the way to the casino mission. When Raz meets up with Sasha after the construct starts to collapse he’s already lit a cigarette, and waving it around, due to the chaos. Though his tone of voice and general demeanor seems calm and collected, he’s actually internally freaking the fuck out. Everything he built for the mission is literally falling apart into a sensory nightmare of moist flesh, saliva and hardened calcium. Interesting note about this level, Sasha is for the only time in the games not wearing gloves. Later in the trap room, he’s just pacing around the exterior of the room aloof and unaware of his surroundings(“Sasha, how long as that golden door been there?”). Along with the pacing, Sasha actually repeatedly flexing his wrist while holding a cigarette appears several times throughout PN2. And that definitely feels like a stim to me.
The second example I have, in the plane on the way to the Lady Lucktopus, is also pretty subtle. It’s the animation when Sasha says “It’s crucial that we find out what these Deluginists are up to at the casino. With [Hollis] handling tactical command I’d say our probability of mission success has risen 35%.” While talking he’s fiddling with the room keys found on Nicks body, rattling it, waving it back and forth, at one point flicking it up and catch it… This is actually the first instance watching it happen where I said “this is just straight up stimming.” I mean it’s in the center of the screen and everything.
Headcanon-wise I typically follow patterns presented in canon, so stretches or walking around and repetitive wrist/hand movements. Stuff like absentmindedly clicking a pen, adjusting the cuffs on his outfit, cracking his knuckles(like you said), flicking his hand(like you said), maybe removing and putting his gloves back on again? But yeah, something in that range. I wouldn’t necessarily agree that “he’s the stimmer of all time,” I mean I frequently bounce/flex my legs and I couldn’t really see Sasha doing that.
I do think that he’d have a cute/sassy response if anyone saw him randomly just do a stim and question what the fuck was that. Like someone saying something stupid/redundant in a meeting, Sasha coincidentally flicking his hand, being prompted about it, and him just not skipping a beat going “sorry, that suggestion was so terrible I had to physically distance myself from that idea.”
I like the hand squeezing idea though! Like Sasha just grabbing something nearby to fiddle with in his hands, and accidentally grabbing Milla’s hand? That’s really cute. Them both getting flustered over it, and Sasha apologizing, Milla interrupting the apology to say that it’s alright, but then Sasha continuing to apologize anyway saying “the subconscious works in strange, unexpected ways to the waking mind,” and then Milla blushing in response. Really adorable.
Along with Sasha increasing the frequency of stims when he’s describing something he really likes to Milla. And she’s enjoying that she’s never sees him this animated before and can’t help but smile.
Thanks for the…ask? Was there a question…?
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