Characters / Countdown to Countdown

Character page for the webcomic Countdown to Countdown.

Demi-Floras

In General

• Ambiguously Human: Demi-floras look just like any human but their supernatural abilities tell us otherwise.
• Animated Tattoo: It’s implied that demi-floras have it. It is shown that Iris has a tattoo on his thigh that moved and Begonia has a similar tattoo on her back.
• Floral Theme Naming: Iris, Lilium, Begonia...
• Superpower Lottery: This seems to be the case with demi-floras. Different demi-floras have different powers but certain kinds of demi-floras are rarer and stronger according to Begonia.

Main Characters

Iris Black

Iris Black

Age: 18
DOB: December 21, 2025.
Species: Iris Demiflora
Sex: Male
Affiliations: Washington Lab/Seattle Labs
Likes: Quiet, dogs, hot sauce on pie
Dislikes: Attention, the Seattle Flora Tower

In General

• Audience Surrogate: We mostly only know as much as he knows.
• A Dog Named "Dog": An Iris Demiflora named Iris.
• Driving Question:
  • Who exactly is Iris Black?
  • What is his connection to Irid?
• Imagination-Based Superpower: He can enter paintings like they're portals to another world and make drawings function like real-life objects. The only limit is his imagination. For instance, in the reboot, he carries around a marker and when trapped in an elevator, he draws a hole on the floor to escape into the elevator shaft.
• Loser Protagonist: He's unpopular, a wimp, frequently bullied/abused, suffers from an assortment of mental issues, gets horribly beat up/killed... must we go on? Oh, and to contrast, the only other Demiflora was the exact opposite of everything Iris is (...including dead).
• Meaningful Name:
  • Iris:
    • He is an Iris Demiflora named Iris. And of course, Demiflora subspecies are named for various flowers, including irises.
    • Iris is the Greek goddess of rainbows and is also the messenger of the gods. This also parallels Irid's namesake, the term "iridescent", used to describe materials that show multiple colors.
    • Iris is one letter away on the keyboard from being Irid.
    • Iris is the ring in your eye that gives it color. His full name can be taken as describing the color of his eyes, since he has black eyes. Additionally, this can also be used to describe the significance of eye colors in the story: Lillium's pink eyes are what give him his Lily powers in the original run, and in the reboot, all Demifloras have unusual colored eyes and Iris first encounters Lillium while he's stealing Lily eyes from the lab.
  • He shares his surname with Irid Black.

Original

• Ambiguously Bi: He's at least gay, as he dated twins Greg and Jerry (...but not at the same time) in the past. He might be attracted to women as well, as he blushes when he first meets Begonia, although that could be because he was flustered that she seemed to somehow know him.
• Amnesiac Hero: In Chapter 2, he reveals he can't remember anything from before five years ago. He's lived in the Washington State Lab ever since and the scientists claimed to him he was always there, but a flashback at the beginning of the chapter suggests this wasn't always true.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: The outbreak happened on his 14th birthday.
• Blessed with Suck: He can reload from save points/sleep, in other words, revive himself from the dead by going back in time if he dies. Problem is, dying is traumatizing, especially since most of his killers are anti-Demifloras that would like nothing more than to make Demifloras like him die horribly and slowly, not to mention that he already suffers from PTSD and anxiety.
• Butt-Monkey: He has a bunch of mental issues including amnesia, anxiety, and PTSD, which, combined with his No Social Skills, makes people view him as The Load.
• Déjà Vu: In Chapter 2, he finds having breakfast with Lillium (notably the bacon omelette) strangely familiar. The flashback at the start of the chapter shows that this is connected to the woman in his visions, but it is currently unknown if his meeting with Lillium caused him to remember his visions or remember his past.
• First Time in the Sun: Prior to escaping the lab with Lilium near the beginning of the comic, Iris spent his time in the lab and he later agrees that it's his first time out in the natural sunlight.
• Irony: Lampshades upon learning that Glitches can only be killed by fire that this is just perfect for someone like him who is triggered by fire.
• No Social Skills: His official file says that he has trouble interacting with other people.
• One Head Taller: He’s one head shorter than Lilium.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": His confused response to Lillium declaring that he'll be coming with him to the Oregon survivor camp.
• Self-Harm: He has scars on his thighs which are implied to be self-inflicted.
• Trigger:
  • He has amnesia, but for whatever reason, he has PTSD relating to him being caught in a fire, causing him to have episodes where he relives this. In Chapter 1, him diving into a painting goes wrong when he has one of the episodes, which results in him getting physically burnt. This apparently has something to do with the loss of a woman he was close to in his life, though his therapist has insisted it was only a vision but not a flashback.
  • After reloading his save for the first time when he gets killed by a spawncamper, he has a flashback of it when Lillium gets too close to him later.

Reboot

• Abusive Parent: In the very first scene alone, his mother Madam is shown harshly yelling at him for using his demiflora powers and warns him not to do use them ever again or she might as well harvest him herself, and justifies her ire as being for his own good. Later, she sweetly veils her anger towards him for using his powers in his race against Laurence, slaps him in the same spot of his face where Laurence hit him, and tells him to be glad that she's vouching for him to be spared while the rest of her advisors have given up hope on him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He's heavily disliked by the other Demifloras at the Seattle Lab for using his powers (which is banned) and they believe that he's only been kept alive because he's the Madam's son. His only friend before he meets Lilium and Begonia was Rosalie.
• Disappeared Dad: Whatever happened to his father isn't stated. As it turns out... Irid is his father, though whatever happened to him is a mystery as well.
• Heroic BSoD: Falls into one after learning his mother has been harvesting the lab's Demifloras and selling off their limbs to the spawncampers this whole time, but Lillium manages to talk him into snapping out of it so that he can help him escape.
• Identical Stranger: The residents of the Valley say he looks identical to Irid, especially because of his markings that he got from Madam. There's a good reason for that.
• Last of His Kind: Lillium is shocked to learn that he's an Iris Demiflora, as they all went extinct five years prior to the story at the hands of none other than Madam. It later turns out his mother is also an Iris.
• Living MacGuffin: At least two factions are aiming for his live capture as of his escape from the Lab.
• No Sympathy: Even after being cut up by Madam, the residents of the Lab are still unsympathetic to him and continue to talk poorly of him, calling him an Ungrateful Bastard who couldn't learn to appreciate what he had when humiliated and abused in public.
• Stockholm Syndrome: He's in denial that his mother is abusive towards him even though he clearly fears her, as he remembers that she wasn't like this before when he was younger.
• Trauma Conga Line: His mother is an Abusive Parent and he has Stockholm Syndrome, his mother has also turned everyone in his home including his former best friend against him to isolate him so that he can never find the courage to leave, she mutilates him in public as punishment for harboring Lillium, his real mother-figure risks her life to help him escape, he makes a new friend who turns out to be a manipulative mercenary who wants to turn him in and she frames him for murder, and then when he thinks he's reached a safe haven, he gets mistaken for a mass murderer by people who want that person dead… or worse.

Lillium White

Lillium White

Age: ??? No!!!
DOB: November 9, 2XXX
Species:
Sex: Male
Affiliations: Me???
Likes: My legs
Dislikes: Glitches

In General

• Anime Hair: His hair is pink and partially slicked which adds to the look.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • "Says the guy who said I had a death grip a few panels back, jeez."
• Compelling Voice: His power as a lily.
• Curtains Match the Windows: As a Lily, he has pink eyes. He also has pink hair, though apparently it may have been dyed from his natural hair color, blonde.
• Hypnotic Eyes: His power as a Lily.
• One Head Taller: He’s one head taller than Iris.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Male example. Lilium has pink hair and a rather cheery personality, the latter of which is true only in the original run so far.

Original Run

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Chapter 2, while explaining to Iris how to deal with Glitch encounters, he tells him a "teeeeny tiny very important detail" that is "so important that it's bolder and italicized".
• No, Except Yes: When Iris tries calling him "Mr. White", Lillium is weirded out and tells him just to call him "Lillium". Iris reminds him that he said he could call him whatever he wanted, to which Lillium denies having said. Iris lets it go.
• Oh, Crap!: When he awakens to find himself held captive by spawncampers who have already cut out the eyes of another Lily.
• Real Men Cook: He loves cooking, especially making breakfast. He also made macarons that Begonia serves Iris in Chapter 2, a food that might be seen as more feminine to some people. That said, he mentions in Chapter 3 that he doesn't know how to make spaghetti.
• Survival Mantra: "Don't shine your eyes, don't shine your eyes..." when he realizes that the spawncampers are going to take out his eyes.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Breakfast.
  • In Chapter 2, he cooks up a bacon omelette for Iris, despite it being nighttime. When Iris points this out, Lillium claims that it's fine since fast food restaurants used to serve their breakfast items regardless of the time. Additionally, he gifts Iris with his favorite book, 201 Half-Hour Breakfast Recipes, and he apparently has a lot more like that in his trailer at the camp.
  • In the Act 1 character profiles, Begonia mentions that he tried to teach her how to make cinnamon pancakes and heart-shaped breakfast sandwiches.
  • At the start of Chapter 3, he gives Iris a pancake in a can for breakfast.

Reboot

• Badass in Distress: In Save File 2, when he gets captured by Madam and the tower security, requiring him to be rescued by Iris.
• I Owe You My Life: Tells Iris this is why he won't kill him and that he owes him, since he rescued him from a pair of guards that were about to kill him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's slightly more abrasive than the sweet guy we knew in the original run. His character description describes him as being pessimistic and hating naivety. That said, he's still a good guy that just wants to help other Demiflora.

Begonia Amour

Begonia Amour

Age: 18
DOB: March 20, 2XXX
Species:
Sex: Female
Affiliations: Lillium White
Likes: Tea, cartoons, naps
Dislikes: Lillium's clothes, bad cartoon analysis

In General

• Ambiguously Brown: Word of God says she’s afro-latinx.
• Mind over Matter: She can make things float.
• Power Floats: As a Begonia, she can float and make other things float.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair and she’s a nice and cheerful girl.

Original Run

• Lethal Chef: On the character page, Begonia’s states in her diary entry that she’s a terrible cook and Lilium got food poisoning.
• Trapped in Another World: She lives in another dimension connected to the real world via save points, but this is apparently not by choice.

Reboot

• Adaptational Badass: Instead of being trapped in another world, she's now a bounty hunter.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Instead of being a friend of Lillium, Jasmine, Heather, and Irid, she's now a bounty hunter who instead crosses paths with Iris and has no connection to the other main Demiflora characters.

Others

Irid Black

Irid Black

Species: Iris Demiflora

The deceased leader of the Demiflora Resistance.

In General

• Always Someone Better: A legendary, nigh-invincible, and charismatic Demiflora hero that fought for the independence and freedom of his people, whose successor as the last known Iris Demiflora in existence is a Loser Protagonist.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Irid" is one letter away on the keyboard to "Iris".
  • His first name is derived from the word "iridescent", which means "showing luminous colors that seem to change when viewed from different angles". Materials in iridescent black also exist.
  • His last name is Black, which he shares with Iris. Of course, the both of them predominantly wear black clothing.
• One-Man Army: While telling Iris about him to convince him that You Are Better Than You Think You Are, Begonia tells him about the time Irid cut a mountain in half, carried it across several states, and turned into a volcano that constantly spewed lava.
• Posthumous Character: In both runs, he's assumed to be death, but his legacy lives on.
• Winged Humanoid: He had giant black wings, and assuming what Laurence said about him isn't a talltale, he preferred flying over walking.

Original Run

• Identical Stranger: To the viewers, he greatly resembles Iris, although according to Laurence (who may not have even met Irid), Irid is "more handsome and buff" while Iris is "short and thinly ill"... though he then admits there's a strong resemblance when Iris proves he's an Iris Demiflora like Irid.
• Posthumous Character: The people that knew him speak of him in the past tense (ex. Begonia says she knew an Iris Demiflora like Iris) and a letter in the Resistance hideout that Iris comes across in Chapter 3 says that they're continuing their efforts in Irid's legacy. Laurence is also initially led to believe Iris is Irid brought back from the dead when he proves that he's an Iris Demiflora.

Reboot

• The Dreaded: When Iris arrives at the camp, he's mistaken for Irid and they immediately call for his head. According to the residents, Irid was not only a troublemaker growing up, but he led an attack that devastated the camp and betrayed them to Madam and spawncampers.
• Enfant Terrible: According to the older residents of the Valley, he was a nasty troublemaker as a child.
• Identical Stranger: Upon entering the camp, Iris is mistaken for Irid, who just slightly altered his appearance. Apparently, Irid looked just like Iris when he was younger, too. There's a good reason for that.
• Les Collaborateurs: According to the residents of the Valley, he betrayed his people and led a devastating attack on his home for Madam and the Tower, who are known spawncampers.
• We Used to Be Friends: Walters says that it would be better if Dan wasn't at Iris's trial, as her past relationship with Irid may make her biased for him.

Laurence Nimith

Laurence Nimith

Age: 17
Species: Daphne Demiflora

In General

• Meaningful Name: Laurence, for laurels.

Original Run

• Audience Surrogate: Just as the audience may be thinking, he wonders aloud if Irid and Iris are father-son, brothers, relatives, or even maker-creation.
• There Is a God!: After Iris proves to him that he's an Iris Demiflora — the only other one known in existence to be the deceased Irid, Laurence cups his mouth in shock and is initially led to believe that through some miracle of God, Irid has been brought back from the dead because as far as anyone knows, there can and has only been one Iris Demiflora in existence.

Reboot

• Adaptational Jerkass: In the reboot, he's a jerkass towards his former friend Iris, versus being the Plucky Comic Relief with him in the original.
• Everybody Has Standards: Despite his recent coldness towards Iris, he's secretly worried about what Madam may do to him and helps him escape after seeing Madam abuse him.
• Jerkass: He and the other Demifloras call Iris a sham for using his powers to win a race against them at the beginning and frequently ostracize him.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Iris. However, it's shown that he still cares about him, as he shows concern for him at the assembly and secretly helps him escape.
• What You Are in the Dark: When he catches Iris about to escape from the Tower with Lillium, he helps them cover up their tracks by erasing the escape chute Iris drew, even though as far as the two knew, Laurence was going to rat them out.

Heather Hua

Heather Hua

"...I'm too tired for this."

Sunny Hua

Sunny Hua

Age: 15
DOB: December 26, 2028
Pronouns: She/Her/They
Species: Jasmine Demi-flora
Likes: Hunting, running, Heather
Dislikes: Spawncampers
Affiliation: Heather, Lillium

Heather's younger adoptive sister.

In General

• Happily Adopted: She was adopted by Heather. The original run doesn't go into it due to being introduced just before its cancellation, though the reboot does.
• Nonindicative Name: While her name suggests she's a Sunflower Demiflora, she's actually a Jasmine. When this trope was pointed out to velinxi, she responded "life is strange like that sometimes".

Dan

Councilwoman Dan

• Meaningful Name: Dan is likely derived from dandelion.

Original Run

• The Ghost: She was only mentioned once in the original comic before it was rebooted, being the receiver of Heather's texts at the end of the run. Going by the character profiles, it's implied that she would've appeared if the original run made it to "Level 5" of the story.

Reboot

• The Ghost: At Iris's trial, Christie asks Walters where Councilwoman Dan is, to which he suspiciously answers that she's on a mission elsewhere. Turns out Heather got a hold of her and brought her back in time for the trial.
• Swap Teleportation: While Heather lets Iris think Dan turned Lillium into a bottle, Lillium reappears after the trial and reminds Iris that Dandelion Demiflora actually have the power to swap any two objects so long as they know their exact locations; what she did was switch Lillium with a bottle of sauce in his pantry. He goes on to comment that she once had him switch with some twined meat at the butcher's.
• We Used to Be Friends: Walters says that Dan's… "past relations" with Irid could be a "soft spot" for Iris's trial.

Rosalie Greene

Rosalie Greene

Species: Rose Demiflora
Notes: Ability to manipulate time; Also Iris' only friend.

A Demiflora resident of the Seattle Labs.

Reboot only.

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• Dirty Old Man: Downplayed. When Iris confesses to her that he can't help but use his powers because it feels right to him somehow, she identifies it as "stress relief" and jokingly suggests he tries "playing with himself"... or stress-eating.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She uses her powers to heal Iris's wounds from Madam, and knowing that Madam will realize that Iris's wounds only healed so quickly because of Rosalie using her powers against the rules, Rosalie has Iris use this opportunity to escape from the tower before Madam finds out he's healed.
• My Greatest Failure: The death of her daughter Eva, who attempted to escape the Seattle Lab but was killed by spawncampers. She warns Iris not to end up like Eva.
• Only Friend: To Iris at the beginning of the comic.
• Tragic Keepsake: She gives her locket to Iris before helping him escape from the tower.

Lou

Lou

Species: Lotus

A street storyteller in Seattle.

Reboot only.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Turns out she always knew Iris was an Iris Demiflora from the Lab and that she intended to bring him to her employers, dead or alive.
• Eye Scream: Iris accidentally turns her left eye into a flower in self-defense.

Christie Isa

Judge Christie Isa

Species: White Chrysanthemum

A judge at the camp.

Reboot only.

• Blind Justice: She is blind and serves as the judge at Iris's trial.
• Meaningful Name: Chrysanthemum.

Washington State Lab

Dr. Michelle Li

Dr. Michelle Li

Iris Black's doctor and legal guardian.

Original run only.

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• Nice Girl: She cared for Iris and stood by him even when her colleagues dismissed him as a whiny and uninteresting specimen.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The morning after we met her, Iris discovers that she's been turned into a Glitch.

The Seattle Lab

Madam

Madam

Species: Iris Demiflora

Iris Black's mother and the overseer of the Seattle Lab.

Reboot only.

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• Abusive Parent: Verbally, emotionally, and physically abuses her son while claiming it to be for his own good and that she's only doing what any loving mother would do. Iris in in denial about this, and if the flashbacks from him of his childhood with her is any indication, she wasn't always like this. Comes to a head when she uses her powers to bloodily cut him up in front of the other Demiflora as punishment for harboring Lillium. She also reveals afterwards to one of her subordinates that she purposely lets Iris be ostracized from the other Demifloras so that he won't build up the courage to run away, in addition to her being his only family.
• The Dreaded: The Demiflora in the Seattle Lab fear using their powers as she will throw out any who do to the mercy of the spawncampers that will harvest their bodies for their powers.
• I Did What I Had to Do: When asked why she cut up Iris, she cites it as a necessary punishment and wake-up call to him for her having babied him his entire life.
• I Want Them Alive!: After Iris escapes the lab, she arranges to have him brought back alive.
• Light Is Not Good: Her hair, skin, and clothes are all completely white. In Iris's memories of before she developed her abusive tendencies, she had black hair and normal skin.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: If Iris's flashbacks of her are any indication, she used to be a kind mother.
• Universally Beloved Leader: The Demiflora residents of the Seattle Lab fear her but also seem to praise her. She likely rules by a Machiavellian-style of leadership.

The Camp

Sebastian Walters

Councilman Sebastian Walters

The councilman of the Valley's human faction.

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• Hypocrite: He tells Christie that it's probably best if Dan wasn't at Iris's trial as her "past relations" with Irid would've made her biased, to which Christie asks if he has any bias since his wife was one of Irid's casualties. He doesn't respond well.
• It's Personal: Irid killed his wife.

Others

Glitches

• Kill It with Fire: The only way to kill them. Otherwise, plants just grow in place of their wounds.
• Logical Weakness: Since they're made of plants, they're killed if set on fire.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Bullets and stab wounds will do nothing but stun them for a while and plants will grow instead of leaving wounds. The only way to kill them is Kill It with Fire.

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