Characters / .EXE ~ A Virus Containment Game

Characters in .EXE ~ A Virus Containment Game.

The Hosts

The Admin

"Of course as soon as I mention it, something goes wrong..."

"Maybe I'm the failure here..."

Played by: KungFuCutBug

The GM of .EXE ~ A Virus Containment Game. An overworked & underpaid employee of the MAE Robotics and AI Institute, the only reason they're participating in this fiasco is because The Virus interrupted them while they were uploading some important data. Of course, entrusting the fate to their newest hires proves to be a very, very bad idea rather quickly...

In .EXE 2, the Admin, humiliated, flees from MAE to a random hotel they found on the edge of the woods. Unbeknownst to them, they've brought The Virus on board—and it is more than eager to perpetuate the cycle.

• Ambiguous Gender: They're consistently referred to with they/them pronouns throughout the game, and in their introduction they use "Dr." as their title instead of "Mr." or "Ms."
• Berserk Button: In .EXE 2, they react rather adversely to being called "Dr. the Admin" or hearing the word "failure".
• Deadpan Snarker: Jokingly imitates a snake's hiss when a theory about the impostors secretly being shapeshifting snakes is proposed. Caleb, apparently, is Sarcasm-Blind...
  Caleb: [pointing his double-barreled shotgun at the Admin] So it was you?!?
  Admin: Can't you take a joke?
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" / No Name Given: They introduce themselves as "The Admin" and nothing else.
• Fighting from the Inside: Having been infected between the events of .EXE and .EXE 2, they visibly struggle with keeping the Virus under wraps.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears a pair of wireframe spectacles, quickly leaves employees at the mercy of infected killers when minorly provoked, and gleefully, brutally executes an innocent woman.
• Horrible Judge of Character: They hired a triply-inverted clone of a former vice president, a zombie from the Great Depression, a sentient octopus, a djinn, multiple AIs & cyborgs, and one of their own failed experiments among others—and they don't realize what the consequences of that could be until they show up to their first day on the job. They also mention worshipping Timeline Master Awe as a god on a couple of occasions.
• Idiot Hair: A rather prominent one.
• Just Following Orders: Downplayed; they refuse multiple times to give out potentially life-saving information because it's against the MAE company policy. The one time they break this rule, it leads to multiple characters having a mental breakdown... one of whom was among The Virus...
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: As stated above, they refer to themselves using the "Dr." title. They also do absolutely nothing to help stop the virus, and in fact actively hinder any progress made towards stopping it. Seemingly subverted at the end of Round 1, wherein they collapse onto the floor and weep upon realizing that the number of infected employees now outnumbered the clean ones:
  Admin: [as the virus corrupts them and the last remaining employees] I... I've failed... This is my fault!
• Only Sane Man: Initially, they start off as this, but as the days go on, the other employees' incompetence wears their patience thin.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: They have piercing red eyes, and they’re powerful enough to summon giant greatswords at will, change the time of day through spite alone, and summon a lightning bolt by playing an instrument.
• Spell My Name with a "The": In .EXE 1, Ikei and a few others address them as "Dr. the Admin". They don’t seem to care. It becomes a Berserk Button in .EXE 2, as the nickname reminds them of Ikei and their failure to handle his identity crisis properly.
• Teen Genius: Canonically, they are three years under the drinking age, making them around 18 years old. At this age, they are a tech genius with a doctrate and a job as an administrator for a robotics institute.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: How .EXE 2 begins—they accidentally bring The Virus with them to a hotel they've taken refuge in.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Has unmistakable stark-white hair and zero scruples against killing multiple people because they wanted to resign, did absolutely nothing, or were voted to be "banished" by their peers. Subverted in their infected form; while they have all the hallmarks of a psychotic Hive Mind murderer, the red tint of the Virus gives them pink hair.

The Virus

"But I'm going to show them just how much of a 'failure' I am. I'll show them, when I can bend reality itself around my fingertips." (shown here possessing the Admin)

The Big Bad of .EXE—a pixelated red entity made entirely of malignant code.

• Eldritch Abomination: Its true appearance is unknown, as it usually presents itself as a silhouette of whoever they're possessing with Blank White Eyes or Scary Shiny Glasses where applicable. Any indication of a possible origin had been heavily redacted and rendered nearly unreadable with erratic scrawls of "the infection spreads".
• Red Right Hand: Infected people gain a distinctive red tint when the Virus assumes control. Of course, it's normally impossible to see, since it only typically acts on its murderous whims during the black of night.
• The Virus: A computer virus that has gained the ability to infect and control living things.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Claims in Murder-free that it's only running .EXE to accumulate memories and gain the power needed to defeat TM Awe, though as its personality is starkly different between the two threads, it's unclear how true this statement actually is.

Players — .EXE 1

For the Demi-Fiend, see A Game of Mafia.

Caleb

An undead human with supernatural strength. Played by Risdio 51.

• Deadpan Snarker: He doesn't get many good snarks (at least in .EXE), but he still has a sharp tongue.
• Enemy Mine: Everyone in the AU agrees that, between him and Hydroxyl, he's the lesser of two evils, gladly giving him full permission to unleash hell on Hydroxyl.
• Guest Fighter: Originally appeared in Blood.
• Hidden Depths: As shown in the AU, he's quite a piano player.
• I'm a Humanitarian: He tries to eat Shafaqat's heart. It phases through his hands.
• Jerkass: He seems to have no regard for any other human life.
• Vague Age: His character profile outright says "hell if I know", estimating him at probably 30-40.
• Would Hurt a Child: He has no problem lining MMJ's room with remote detonated TNT in the AU.

Charis Spiros

A winged catgirl played by wingedcatgirl. Despite this, not an Author Avatar.

• The Speechless: She's completely mute and communicates only in sign language.

Dell "Engineer" Conagher

A man who solves practical problems. Played by Madface 7.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Team Fortress 2.

Frankie

A sentient octopus who can type very quickly. Played by Point Maid.

• Intelligent Gerbil: A sentient octopus, or more likely (as she has claimed to be from Europa), an octopus-appearing alien. Speaks and communicates with the rest of the cast fine, but doesn't wear clothing and moves like you would expect an octopus would and enjoys fish and seafood products.

Mel Dunning

A computer science student. Played by Custard And Pie.

• Cassandra Truth: Absolutely nobody believes her when she claims her innocence. This is not helped by her angrily insulting her crewmates and dropping several F-bombs after they refuse to listen to her. Before her execution she tells them that they'll regret voting her off. And oh boy, do they ever, especially once the virus continues to infect...
• Determinator: She will stop at nothing to keep the virus from spreading, even if it means having to learn some very unsavory information about Ikei's past.
• Geek: She's a Velma Dinkley-esque young woman and the resident computer expert, essentially being one of the few people to get a grasp of the virus' true power. She's also implied to be obsessed with video games, as evidenced by her knowing how to play an ocarina.
• Irony After the murder of Frankie, Triple Inverted Dan Quayle accuses her of being "un-American" after she accuses him of being scum due to a concussion-induced hallucination she had. The kicker? Mel is Native American.

Pizzacatcher Awe

An Abstract Apotheosis of stealing pizza. Played by Awe921.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from GET THAT PIZZA!.

Shafaqat / Sami Maalouf

A djinn. Reappears in the Murder-free AU as a human male. Played by Baisteach.

• Bilingual Dialogue: Is fluent in English and Arabic and shifts between the two.

• The Straight Man: In both of his incarnations, he's usually the sanest / calmest person in the room.

• Vague Age: Shafaqat appears as a bearded Arab man in .EXE. Sami appears as a Arab man without one. However without it, Sami appears to be younger than his djinn counterpart.
• Was Once a Man: Apparently, Shafaqat wasn't initially a djinn. Considering his human counterpart Sami wakes up with no powers to speak of or so he thinks.

Strawberry

(Art by MadameButterflyKnife)

Played by Tabby Girl 4.

• Small Role, Big Impact: While she barely spoke, her final vote towards Mel was the nail in the coffin for victory for the Viruses, becoming one in the process.

Taimurain Masutaa Ikei

A seemingly teenage MAE employee played by MadameButterflyKnife.

• Alternative-Self Name-Change: "Taimurain Masutā Ikei" is a direct translation of "Timeline Master Awe" into Japanese, since TM Awe was the source material for the cloning process.
• Clone Angst: Ikei finds out partway through .EXE 1 that he was actually a recent failed attempt to clone TM Awe. This leads to him having an identity crisis that, also fueled by him being infected by a virus, doesn't end very well.
• The Ditz: He attempts to pick a non existent lock for hours on end, tries to eject potted plants because they seem like impostors, and proposes that the failed experiment by the MAE instiute was shapeshifting snakes after being explained the plot of Metal Gear.
• Improbable Weapon User: He uses a pogo-sword. A pogo-sword is exactly what it sounds like — a sword that's also a pogo stick.
• Insecure Love Interest: Even after getting together with Cutbug in Murder-free, he remains convinced that she deserves someone "better" than him.
• Lethal Chef: Manages to blow up the microwave when attempting to cook macaroni and cheese in Murderfree. Surprisingly, Stew actually enjoyed it.
• Really Was Born Yesterday: He claims to be and is physically in his mid-teens. The experiment that created him, however, was done around a month ago, making him barely a few weeks old.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: He has the ability to shape abstract emotions into physical items. He usually uses this to create weapons and tools for the investigation.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Played With. He certainly fits the archetype of a stock shonen hero, being strong, passionate, and genuinely friendly and helpful towards his fellow employees. Too bad the whole virus infection eliminates the "hero" part.

Triple-Inverted Dan Quayle

A colour-inverted, upside down, reversed image of Dan Quayle, the 44th Vice President of the United States. Played by Florien.

• Gravity Screw: TIDQ has a complicated relationship with the laws of physics, meaning that gravity is inverted for him and him alone.
• Historical Domain Character: Based... very loosely, on Dan Quayle, the gaffe-prone 44th Vice President of the United States.

Players — .EXE 2

Baba

A little sheep-thing known for frequently (but not always) being YOU. Played by Florien.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Baba is You.
• Reality Warper: Has some measure of control over the TEXT from its original game, allowing it to change the laws of reality at will.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: Speaks in short "SUBJECT VERB OBJECT" sentences reminiscient of the TEXT from his source material.

The Demi-Fiend

A half-human, half-demon with a penchant for Reasons. Also appears in AGOM 2. Played by Risdio 51

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He acts like nobody else, including Awe, could even stand up to him. To be fair, he did beat the living snot out of Lucifer, arguably more than any other SMT protagonist has.
• Blood Knight: He lives to fight.
• Guest Fighter: Originally from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
• Idiot Hero: Not so much idiot as much as "lives by instinct".

Joe Tazuna

A high schooler known for being a ray of sunshine. Played by unfortunatezorua.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Your Turn to Die.

Jocelyn, Yui Hahaoya, and Jui

Goodie... Two for the price of one!

Sinister Starlight character description

A reformed serial killer possessed by the ghost of a catgirl she killed. Played by Madface 7.

Jocelyn (art by Madface 7)

^Yui  (Art by MadameButterflyKnife)

^Jui 

The three collectively:

• Sharing a Body: Yui possessed Jocelyn after the latter murdered her, and Jui formed after that as a combination of the two. Eventually ended when Ghost Johnson drummed Yui back to life, removing her and Jui from Jocelyn's body, and Yui later transferred her consciousness into a robot.

Jocelyn-specific:

• Badass Normal: Possesses no special abilities, yet Stew is clearly terrified of her fighting skills. It's no surprise why he's terrified either- Jocelyn has broken Stew's arm after he woke her up.
• Characterization Marches On: Jocelyn, in her first appearance, was completely insane, spouting nonsense and shouting about the voices in her head. After that, however, she's calmed down a lot, and her personality is now mostly a mix of Sugar and Ice, Tsundere, a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and a Goth, whilst being more open about her emotions.
• Freudian Excuse: Jocelyn's father killed her mother in cold blood in front of her. On top of this, her father blamed Jocelyn for making him do it and proceeded to whip her with a belt, giving her a permanent scar.
• In-Series Nickname: A handful of characters have called her "Jo" to accommodate that awkward middle phase of transitioning where it's obvious enough that you want to avoid deadnaming or misgendering her, but she's still not necessarily out and you don't want to accidentally reveal that without permission. She found the nickname endearing enough that it stuck even after she was out full-time.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The masculine girl to Stew's feminine boy in their relationship.
• Tragic Villain: When she was possessed by Yui, she was forced to have her body used to kill people due to Yui's connection to the Virus.

Jui-specific:

• Characterization Marches On: Jui mentions once that Jocelyn is her "secret lover" in Murderfree, however this is quickly retconned so that she sees Jocelyn as Just Friends (with Jocelyn having had a crush on Jui the whole time). The two eventually grow a sort of sibling bond as of Sinister Starlight.
• Fusion Dance: As her portmanteau name implies, Jui is a combination of Jocelyn's and Yui's personalities, arising from their Two Beings, One Body nature.

Yui-specific

• Catgirl: She was born as a normal human, but during her time at MAE, a random experimental accident somehow gave her cat ears and a tail.
• Omniglot: She can comprehend all languages because she's "magical".

Mari-Juana Molly Cocapotabbis

A human-cannabis who looks like a two-year-old drug maniac. Played by Elena Okami.

• Older Than They Look: Looks 2 years old. Her actual age is unknown, as she long ago lost count.
• Punny Name: "Marijuana" is also the name of a certain plant frequently used for its psychoactive properties. "Molly" is also slang for a handful of drugs.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Despite having the appearance of a 2-year old, she sells drugs and makes them.
• Young Entrepreneur: She deals drugs and gets a lot of money out of them. Could be considered Little Miss Con Artist since she constantly switches the prices.

Dr. Ruby Ramirez

Did you heard the news of a group's disbandment and another oven bomb?

—The Aurora Project character tagline

A biochemist with Hesperian blood. Played by Point Maid.

• The Atoner: During Murder U after day 1.
• Guest Fighter: Originally created for her Science Fiction Text Adventure
• The Homeward Journey: Her primary motivation is to get back to where she was. Before she was kidnapped for murdergames, she was on a technology exchange mission and separated from her crew. If she doesn't get back, she worries what will happen to them.

Scott

An ordinary-looking man in his mid-to-late 40s. Played by The Geek Artist 08.

• Guest Fighter: Originally a headcanon-ized version of the Phone Guy from Five Nights at Freddy's.
• O.C. Stand-in: Canonically, the only available character information of him lies in his phone calls in Five Nights at Freddy's. Alot of information about him was made up by his player.

Tiger Telematics

*insert Nintendo Switch click*

—Decrypto character tagline

The Anthropomorphic Personification of a video game company. Played by Zanreo.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Consolers.

Wild Richard

"A little party never hurt nobody."

A sentient Bitcoin. A bit of a party animal. Played by wingedcatgirl.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from "Bitcoin As Explained by A.I.".

William Obergine "Will O." the Wisp

(Art by MadameButterflyKnife)

A "ghost thing", the lingering spirit of a guy who died in 1981. Played by Custard And Pie.

• Casanova Wannabe: His reason for going to the hotel was to pick up ghost babes. Unfortunately for him, instead of the Stanley Hotel he ends up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere.
• Life of the Party: Sure, he went to the wrong hotel and a sentient virus is on the loose, but that won't stop him from snorting coke and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. In fact, he'd much rather party than properly investigate. This changes after Tiger is executed, when he finally realizes how dire the situation actually is.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: He's definitely not your traditional ghost. While he can float, he can't pass through walls. He's still capable of eating and drinking, is affected by drugs, and it's implied he can still get infected.

Players — .EXE 3

270 degree President Arthur^note full name "270 degree (not 90 degree) Rotated Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President of the United States. (But you can call him Chester.) Yes, this is his full name including the parentheticals and this statement also."

"I am NOT putting all of that shit here"

Chester Alan Arthur, but sideways and with low-grade Reality Warping abilities. Played by Florien.

• Gravity Screw: Much like Triple-Inverted Dan Quayle before him, the laws of physics apply very differently to him, pulling him at right angles to the center of mass of an object.
• Overly Long Name: "270 degree (not 90 degree) Rotated Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President of the United States. (But you can call him Chester.) Yes, this is his full name including the parentheticals and this statement also." This name is actually used pretty much nowhere, with most everyone just calling him Chester.
• Reality Warper: Capable of altering reality to suit his needs via both executive order and veto, when the other branches of government don't get in the way. (As seen when congress overrides his veto of the potted plants in the building existing.)

Amanda

"Amanda Commanda"

An easygoing, friendly young woman who can change her haircolor and style at will. Played by Ozbourne.

• Cute Clumsy Girl: She seems to have the worst luck, stumbling into bloody mirrors, falling down the stairs, and generally being a klutz whenever possible.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: This is her special ability, so her hair is a different color and/or style most every time she appears and she changes it at least once per day phase.

CATS

"HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN"

A villainous cyborg known for taking over bases. Played by Zanreo.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Zero Wing.
• Intentional Engrish for Funny: His dialogue is written in a similar style of broken grammar his game is infamous for.

Dante

"Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series"

A Hot-Blooded, wacky, pizza loving demon hunter from the Devil May Cry series. Played by Risdio 51.

• Camping a Crapper: How he died. Along with a hentai magazine.
• Composite Character: This Dante is a mix of all of his appearances outside of DmC: Devil May Cry, with his physical appearance taken from Devil May Cry 2, his electric guitar weapon from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, and his Michael Jackson-esque dance skills from Devil May Cry 5. His personality is also just a carbon copy of all the Dantes put together, besides 2's Dante.
• Guest Fighter: Originally appeared in Devil May Cry.

Dalek Sec

".EXE-terminate! .EXE-terminate!"

Played by Point Maid.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Doctor Who
• Cassandra Truth: Accidentally completely destroyed key evidence while investigating. Nobody would believe them that this was not intentional, leading to their execution.
• Master Race: Well, they are a Dalek. This is their position on Daleks over everyone who is not a Dalek, including the game hosts.

Dax

"Dax but no Jakter"

Dax is a brown-haired, thin, pimply man in his late twenties. He is technologically learned and uses this to his advantage^note  although, in most cases this fails for him miserably. He was revealed to be Stew's brother after he arrived in the Murderfree Hotel. Played by Madface 7.

• Brilliant, but Lazy: Instead of investigating using his scientific knowledge, Dax instead spends most of his time playing computer games.
• Ditzy Genius: Dax may be scientifically adept, however he has barely any knowledge when it comes to social interaction and proper safety.
• Innocent Bigot: Dax tries to be nice to most of the members, however his blatant speciesism puts everyone off and eventually causes him to get executed.
• Nerd Glasses: Dax dons a pair of glasses at all times, and he's certainly shown his nerdiness when it comes to his smarts.
• Religious Stereotype: He has the tendency to be offensive to certain groups (such as foxpeople) due to his Christianity.

Doctor Bones

"Bobthedeadguy's other estranged cousin with a PhD"

A living skeleton who has a medical degree. Not much else is known about him. Played by Tales of Under.

• Dem Bones: Is implied to have died in some way or another, and came back as a living skeleton. He retains all his medical knowledge.

Junko Enoshima

"Junko Enoshima the Not-53rd"

The Ultimate Fashionista and Analyst, Junko Enoshima gained infamy for sinking the world into despair virtually overnight, earning her the title of the Ultimate Despair. Played by MOARPYLONZ.

• Adaptational Dumbass: Compared to her canon self, who is quite calculated and highly manipulative, Junko in .EXE has a tendency to repeat obvious information. She even accidentally fabricates evidence, which turns everyone against her.
• Cassandra Truth: Despite trying her best to help out in the investigations, unfortunate repetitions of obvious information and accidental fabrication of evidence ultimately turned everyone against her, leading to her execution.
• Guest Fighter: Originally from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.
• Eating the Eye Candy: When she first meets Dante, she's quite entranced by him, to put it lightly.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: In the Murderfree AU, she admits that she's tired of despair, and just wants to live a normal life.
• Skewed Priorities: When she falls out of the vents in .EXE 3, she's preoccupied with the fact that her nails are ruined.

Mew/"Micha"

"Mew Mew Kissy Cutie—wait no don't actually kiss it"

The New Species Pokémon. Played by wingedcatgirl.

• Guest Fighter: Originally from Pokémon Red and Blue.
• No Biological Sex: Has no gender as per canon, and uses any pronouns.
• O.C. Stand-in: Individual Mons don't get much characterization in the Pokémon games, leaving a wide blank slate with which their player can do as she likes.

Red Sus

"Why do they always assign me idiots?"

"Red Cus (Sustard)"

A crewmate prone to being falsely accused. Played by Custard And Pie.

• Ambiguous Gender: Red is only referred to with they/them pronouns throughout the game, and appear androgynous due to their space suit and body shape.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: At the very end of the game, the survivors find out that Red was Fragmented all along, being the one who killed Dr. Bones and the attempted murderer of CATS and Makino. Prior to this, Red acted as a typical disgruntled MIRA employee who was trying to find the killers with the rest of them.
• Elective Mute: They only actually speak after a body is discovered, every other time they prefer to communicate via sign language. This was intentionally done by the player to mirror Among Us's body discovery mechanics.
• Guest Fighter: An Original Character based on Among Us.
• Only Sane Man: They're the only member of the cast who isn't either accidentally destroying evidence, (literally) shooting themselves in the foot, stating the obvious, or obsessing over footprints that were proven to belong to the host multiple times.

  Good god, these people are worse than the average MIRA intern...

• Seen It All: Finding killers and trying not to die is just another day at work for them. Waking up in a random complex with tied to a wall with wires, however, seems to have been the only strange thing to ever happen to them.
• The Stoner: They managed to steal an entire pot plant from the greenhouse on the first day and proceeded to carry it around on their head for later. It's also implied that they regularly light up after work every night as a way to cope with stress.

Stanley Mouse

"Bobthedeadguy's estranged cousin"

A hippie skeleton. Played by Dookie Idiot Nimrod.

• Guest Fighter: Originally the logo for the Grateful Dead.
• Dem Bones: Is a skeleton brought back from the dead.
• Evil All Along: Out of the viruses on the final day, he was the one nobody suspected or voted for.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: A hippie who went to both Alamont and Woodstock.
• O.C. Stand-in: Logos don't typically get much canon characterization, much less band logos, so the majority of his personality was invented for the RP.