#anyway i think kei is that character that you can understand better only if you know his backstory

[linagram]

[ 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚍𝚊 𝙺𝚎𝚒'𝚜 𝚃𝟹 𝚅𝙳 ] 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚎-𝚃𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚢

the man himself!! i feel like kei's vd and mv are a little bit underwhelming compared to what the second pair had, but it was kinda intentional in a way. like yeah, he's fun and cool and already had a very dark past before milgram, but also.. he's just a guy. a very scared one too.

Warnings for Kei's VD: heavy implications of physical torture.

Warnings for Kei's MV: toxic relationship dynamics, violence and physical torture.

(sounds of footsteps)

Miki: So.. It's Kei-san's turn now.

Miki: "If Eiji-san doesn't join us now.. I don't think he will join us at all."

Hinode: He's.. quite an interesting prisoner, isn't he?

Hinode: I'm not sure if I should be scared or excited about being able to talk to him in person. 

Miki: But you have talked to each other even before this interrogation..

Hinode: Well, yes, but we haven't really talked about his crime, you know?

Hinode: In fact.. He really doesn't like to talk about his crime. Wonder why..

(the door opens)

Kei: Oh, you two are finally here! Hiiiii~

Kei: *sighs* It's so sad that my poor little brother is still not here with you.. But oh well, guess I can't do anything about that.

Miki: Um, Kei-san, this might be a weird question, but..

Miki: Are you sure you don't know anything about Eiji-san? Like.. Maybe you know where he is now? 

Miki: Or.. If he's even alive.

Kei: ...

Kei: Miki, sweetie, could you please not joke about that? 

Miki: T-this wasn't supposed to be a joke-

Kei: I'm sure Eiji is still alive! I mean.. He has to be alive.

Miki: But.. What if he's not? What if something happened to him? What if Milgram sees him as a failure now?..

Kei: Hm...

Kei: Well.. I'll just kill everyone here probably then. 

Miki and Hinode: ...

Kei: Hey, come on, you could've at least pretended to act more shocked!

Miki: Sorry. We already had two prisoners say that they will either kill everyone here or just kill Eiji-san, so.. 

Miki: You're not really that original.

Kei: .. Someone is planning to kill Eiji?

Miki: A-anyway, we're not here to talk about that. 

Miki: Kei-san.. Are you feeling better now that you've been voted innocent?

Kei: .. Ah, haha, yeah.. I'm definitely feeliing better now.

Kei: My body doesn't hurt as much anymore, there's a possibility that my eye injury will get better, I got this cool new outfit.. Yeah, life is going great.

Miki: I see.. That's good to hear.

Kei: But still.. I'm just a little curious about something.

Kei: So like.. Why innocent? Why have you changed your mind so suddenly?

Kei: Is it because of my video or something? Hey, can I watch it-

Miki: W-we still don't know if the prisoners can watch their videos and if they're allowed to do so.

Miki: But.. Your second video showed that your murder went.. Not like we expected.

Kei: .. What is that supposed to mean-

Hinode: It's like.. I'd say you looked more like a victim there, Kei-san.

Kei:!

Hinode: It's like, if we didn't know you're one of the prisoners, we'd probably think you were the one who got killed.

Miki: It.. really was painful to watch.

Miki: "I wonder what would Eiji-san think if he watched this video with us.."

Kei: .. I-I see, haha.. So, what do you think about my murder now? Have you like, figured it out yet?

Miki: Kei-san.. Why can't you just tell us about it?

Kei: Huh?

Miki: Some of the other prisoners are completely okay with talking about their crime, like Chiba-san or Yoshioka-san. Some of them refuse to tell us anything because they believe they were in the right and don't see it as a crime, like Maruyama-san. Some of them don't want to tell us anything because they possibly feel guilty or ashamed, like Yano-san. 

Miki: So I just want to know.. Which one of these are you? You're definitely not the first one, so..

Miki: And something is telling me you're the third type.

Kei: .. A-are you sure you're allowed to just talk about other prisoners and their crimes like that, haha-

Miki: Sorry, Kei-san, but I'm the guard here. And I believe I am allowed to do that.

Kei: Woah~ Haha, okay, okay, Guard 002-san, I won't ask any dumb questions anymore.

Miki: So.. Why don't you just tell us already? We know that you had five victims. All of them were women. They were somehow connected to your friends.

Miki: We already know all of that, so why don't you just confess already?!

Kei: ...

Hinode: Kei-san, is it okay for me to assume that you haven't killed them because of.. I don't know, you being sadistic or cruel or wanting to see them in pain?

Kei: .. Well.. 

Kei: *laughs* I don't know. I could tell you everything, but.. 

Kei: .. The truth is kinda lame, honestly. 

Miki: There you go. You're trying to avoid this topic again.

Miki: What are you so afraid of, Kei-san? Who cares if the truth is "lame"? Do you think we'll make fun of you or something?..

Kei: .. I don't know, Miki. I don't know. *laughs*

Kei: It's like.. All prisoners here are so cool. Like, you look at them and think "Wow.. Just what could have possibly made them commit murder"?

Kei: I'm pretty close with some of them, so I know some stuff about their crimes and it's like.. They're so scary, but also so cool.. Especially considering that some of them had love as their main motivation.

Kei: .. And I'm.. not like that at all, haha.

Hinode: I think you having five victims already makes your murder one of the scariest ones, if it makes you feel any better.

Kei: Hmm.. Well, my motive kinda sucks. 

Kei: And like.. How I did it. 

Kei: T-to be honest, sometimes I just.. Sometimes I'm not even sure if I was the one who murdered them.

Miki: What?

Kei: B-but never mind, haha.. So, uh, I guess I should tell you something, right?

Kei: So, like..  What do you even want to know?

(sounds of Miki standing up and putting her hands on the table)

Miki: Everything. Tell us everything.

Hinode: Miki-san, I think we should be more specific.

Hinode: For example.. Your motive, Kei-san. Why did you kill those women?

Kei: .. Well..

Kei: Ah, how about we turn this into a game? Come on, guys, try to guess why I killed them!

Miki: Ugh.. I-I don't know, maybe because of jealousy or something? 

Kei: You think I wanted to date all of them?

Miki: Again, I said that I don't know!

Hinode: They found out something they weren't supposed to?

Kei: ...

Kei: Haha.. Wow, looks like we have a winner here~ I'll give you the prize later.

Kei: But like.. How did you-

Hinode: I just guessed, but also.. There was this scene in your video where one of the women found some photographs and..

Hinode: You got really nervous after that.

Kei: .. Ahaha.. You even saw that too?

Miki: What was on those photographs? 

Miki: "It really must've been something truly terrifying to make even Kei-san feel that way.."

Kei: Oh, just some people getting tortured. Like, their fingers being cut off or them losing their eyes or-

Miki: .. But we already knew that you, um..

Miki: Well, took pictures of those people.

Kei: That's because I've told you about it. I'm literally in a prison now, like who cares if I have a job like that, all prisoners here are literally murderers, like who cares!

Kei: But outside Milgram.. life is much harder for someone like me.

Kei: So, like.. I've never told anyone about it except my family. Because, well, it's still a crime, obviously, and I have a reputation to protect.

Kei: Like, imagine if a guy who took photographs for your favorite fashion magazine turned out to be also doing something like that. People would go wild and not in a good way.

Miki: So.. You killed them only because of that?

Miki: "I don't want to say it's lame, but.. I really expected more from his crime.."

Kei: No, no, it doesn't stop there.

Kei: So, um.. They didn't just get scared or something. They were sure I would do the same to them and that's why I invited them to my house.

Miki: Oh..

Kei: No, no, don't get me wrong, I really was going to kill them anyway. Like, I really did invite them just to kill them.

Miki: "Never mind, he's still bad."

Hinode: But.. Why? Why did you plan to kill them?

Kei: That's a story for another time. Who knows, maybe you'll see it in my video.

Kei: And, um.. They kinda.. Tried to defend themselves.

Kei: And they, uh.. Got a bit too.. How do I say it?.. Like, girls really did not have to do all that, haha.

Miki: This.. might be a strange theory, but..

Miki: Kei-san, have they also tried to torture you? You know.. Like maybe they wanted to get back at you? Maybe they wanted you to feel the same pain?

Miki: I'm assuming that would be quite easy for them to do, since, you know..

Miki: You'd have to deal with five angry and scared women all alone.

Kei:  ...

Kei: T-they..

(sounds of Kei struggling to breathe and talk)

Miki: Kei-san, is everything okay?!

Hinode: Looks like you were right, Miki-san.

Miki: B-but how do we help him?!

(sounds of Miki quickly walking up to Kei and something falling on the floor)

Hinode: Ah, Miki-san, you should be more careful.

(sounds of Hinode standing up)

Miki: Huh? D-did I drop something-

Hinode: No, it's okay, I'll get it.

Hinode: It's the memory machine-

Hinode: Huh?

(sounds of something being crushed)

Miki: ...

Hinode: ...

Kei: Oh, actually, I suddenly feel much better now.

Miki: Kei-san..

Miki: .. Did you just step on the memory machine and-

Kei: It's much smaller than I imagined it to be. And breaks so easily too..

Miki: .. What have you done?

(sound of a screen being turned on)

Eiji: WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!

Hinode: Wait, is that-

Miki: EIJI-SAN?!

Kei: Told you, obviously he's still alive. So good to finally see you, little brother~

Eiji: KEI, I WILL RIP YOUR ORGANS OUT WHEN WE GET TO TALK IN PERSON, JUST YOU WAIT!

Hinode: Wait, wait, let's calm down here. Eiji-san, what is going on? Did Kei-san do something wrong?

Hinode: Well, not counting him breaking the memory machine..

Eiji: Oh, he definitely did something wrong. 

Eiji: Kei, just a quick little question.

Eiji: What did you do to the cameras? I can no longer see anyone or anything. It's all just black screens. 

Eiji: And I clearly remember seeing you before the cameras started acting weird. 

Eiji: It's like you were just.. standing there. Waiting for something or someone.

Kei: Hmm, but what if it wasn't me, Eiji? Also, I'm sure Milgram would have its cameras hidden from the prisoners, so..

Eiji: How about you ask another prisoner about it? You know, the one you're particularly close with.

Eiji: Also, don't act like you haven't done the same thing before. Just some black spray paint would do the trick.

Kei: .. Haha..

(bell rings, machinery sounds)

Hinode: It's time, Miki-san. And, uh, Eiji-san.

Hinode: We should have expected you to show up for your brother's interrogation, haha.

Eiji: Shut up. 

Kei: So, you're going to watch the third video already, huh?

Kei: Well, I'm ready. But also, please make sure to watch it closely, okay?

Kei: Because I'm not planning to talk about my crime ever again.

Hinode: We will try our best, Kei-san.

Hinode: Admitting that you became a victim of torture yourself must be quite hard for someone like you.

Kei: .. Hey, Hinode, please don't forget to come to my cell and take the prize I promised, okay?

Hinode: Haha, don't worry, I won't. I'm sure you will prepare something amazing for me.

Eiji: You really saw a guard that wasn't your brother or a highschooler and decided to immediately take your chance, huh?

Hinode: What's that supposed to mean, Eiji-san?

Kei: Don't think too much about it-

Miki: WHY CAN'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP ALREADY?!

Miki: THE MEMORY MACHINE IS BROKEN, THE CAMERAS ARE BROKEN, WE STILL DON'T KNOW THAT MUCH ABOUT THIS GUY'S CRIME AND HE'S REFUSING TO TELL US MORE AND IT'S THE LAST TRIAL! 

Miki: KEI-SAN! STOP GIVING HINODE-SAN THAT LOOK AND TURN BACK TO ME RIGHT NOW!

Kei: .. Power trip is hitting you hard, Miki.

Miki: Nobody asked.

Miki: Prisoner 005, Kei, sing all of your sins!

42% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ 100%

[ Kei's Trial 3 MV: Love=Pain ]

It looks like Kei is getting ready for a photo shoot. He still has his pink sunglasses, but he's mostly wearing purple and he has this creepy and suspicious smile on his face. The door opens and his model finally walks in. 

"Well, hello there, nice to meet you

The most beautiful piece of art I've ever seen

Come on, don't feel jealous, I only have eyes for you

So like, can we get started already?"

The model turns out to be Kei as well and this Kei is mostly wearing blue and he doesn't look thrilled to be here. He doesn't like the way the photographer!Kei is staring at him, but he just sighs and gets ready to pose.

Suddenly, we see model!Kei wearing a surprisingly casual and even "normal" outfit (not counting the fact that he has an anime girl print on his hoodie) and he looks very anxious and he keeps looking away. Photographer!Kei rolls his eyes, looking annoyed. Model!Kei is wearing a beautiful black dress and a black hat now and he looks much more confident now and he even winks at Photographer!Kei. The latter, however, looks terrified and he shakes his head. 

"So what do you want me to do? What do you want me to be?

I can be someone who will give you all the love you need and more

I can be someone who will turn your life into an even bigger mess

So what do you want? What do you need? Give me a sign"

Model!Kei sighs again. Photographer!Kei asks someone to come closer and that someone turns out to be Ruka. Ruka listens to photographer!Kei, nods and walks to model!Kei. Model!Kei is visibly sweating and seems to be very nervous, meanwhile Ruka still looks emotionless.

"Ah, I understand now, my love is nothing but a show

My love is supposed to be all soft and cute and "acceptable"

When will it be okay for me to show how IMPERFECT my love is?

When will they finally see my existence as "acceptable"?"

We see photographer!Kei taking pictures of Ruka sitting on model!Kei's lap, model!Kei hugging him, them talking about something, laughing and overall having fun. However, photographer!Kei doesn't look satisfied and he looks model!Kei in the eyes. Model!Kei realizes something and he slowly nods and gets up. 

"My love means nothing, if it doesn't make you cry

I don't want the kind of love that doesn't hurt me

"Play it safe"? Nah, that's not for me

Now can I get praised for being everyone's PERFECT lover?"

Now, we see model!Kei torturing and hurting Ruka in various ways. At first it doesn't look that bad, in some pictures he's just cutting his hair, but eventually it gets worse and model!Kei starts beating him, choking him and breaking his arms. Photographer!Kei is having much more fun now and he seems to really like these pictures. Model!Kei looks very uncomfortable, but then Ruka walks up to him and gives him a genuine smile for a moment. Model!Kei calms down, smiles back and continues to work.

"I am so much more than this

More than my works, my image, my reputation

You're in pain? Well, I'm in pain too

So can we at least suffer together, please?"

In the middle of it, model!Kei suddenly falls on top of Ruka and he looks worried at first and he tries to apologize, but Ruka doesn't seem to mind and simply pokes model!Kei's cheek. Model!Kei laughs and Ruka smiles again, but when model!Kei turns to photographer!Kei, his face expression immediately changes to a shocked one as he sees that it's not Kei who is taking pictures of them now, but his friends. His friends look really scared and model!Kei gets up and tries to explain the situation, but it's too late and some of his friends run away, some of them look at him with a disappointed expression and some of them punch him, slap him and they overall seem to be more angry rather than scared.

"Come on, why would you betray me like this?

You're the only thing that's stopping my life from being PERFECT

So like, love me, love me, love me, please!

I can still be your beautiful mess, just give me a chance!"

We see model!Kei lying on the floor. The room is completely empty and Ruka is gone. The door opens and model!Kei looks hopeful for a second, but then he sees that it's not Ruka or his friends or photographer!Kei. 

It's his friends' girlfriends.

They start to take pictures of him too and now those pictures show model!Kei getting tortured in the exact same ways he tortured Ruka, but we can't see who exactly is doing that to him. Almost all women look emotionless about it and have rather serious expressions, but one of them is looking away, showing that she doesn't approve what they're doing and she doesn't want to join them. 

"This is it, this is my punishment

The hunter became the prey or at least that's what they say

But my love means nothing if it doesn't make me cry

So I'll cry, I'll cry a lot, just say that you love me too, alright?"

The pictures start to get more and more blurry until it's hard to say if it's even Kei who is getting tortured. Finally, one of the pictures shows a woman getting smothered with a pillow. The next one shows a woman getting choked with a rope. The third one shows a woman covered in knife wounds. The fourth one shows a woman lying on the floor with many glass shards around her. 

We can see someone showing the fifth picture to model!Kei and we can't see what's going on in the picture, but the picture seems to be wet, like it fell in the water. 

"You did it, you did this for me

Your love means everything to me now

Oh no, oh no, I'm in so much pain

So like, can you kiss it better or something?"

Someone is still taking pictures of model!Kei as he's looking at it and then he drops it, smiles as more and more pictures get taken and suddenly pulls out a gun. The last picture shows nothing but blood on the wall that is the same image color as Kei's. 

"Actually don't, I kinda like it"

The video ends.

[snoopyearss]

When jjk characters call you ‘clingy’

Feat. crybaby-ish!reader

Gojo, geto, toji

Cw: hurt, guilt, angst (if you squint)

This is inspiration from a mini series i read a few days ago by user @fumekara. It was so good, I love me some angst to hurt/comfort.

But i also wrote this from personal experience too, my bad yall i treat this like my own personal diary

Anyway, enjoy!

Satoru Gojo

He was pissed. He doesn’t typically show it much, but when he does, he gets kind of scary. He’s more quiet, his voice gets deeper, and his whole body language just shifts. So when the higher-ups piss him off after a very long meeting, the last thing he needs is someone to pounce on him. He usually loves it when you greet him at the door when you’re home for work. But today, he just wanted to strip off his clothes and hop into bed.

Gojo huffs as he leaves the elevator of your shared apartment and grabs his keys from his pocket to unlock the door. As he opens the door, he sees you in the kitchen grabbing ingredients for dinner. “Hi baby,” You softly greeted him. “Hey.” was all he said back. It confused you for a second because he’s never greeted you like that before.

“Is everything okay?” You walk up to him to try to kiss him on his cheek. “God- Y/n, please.” He grumbled, walking right past you and placing his briefcase on the table. “I’m just trying to help,” you defended, walking up to take his coat off for him. “At least let me take your coat-” That’s when he snapped. Something he’s never done to you before. “Y/n, I fuckin’ got it! Geez, you’re so fucking clingy!” He aggressively shrugged your hands off his shoulder. It scared you a bit, to see him so angry at you. You were confused, all you wanted to do was make him feel better. Were you really that clingy?

“I-I’m sorry.” your voice came out shaky and defeated. Hearing how small your voice sounded in response to him lashing out made Satoru’s heart shatter into thousands of pieces. He wanted to turn around and apologize, but the words weren’t coming out. By the time he turned to face you, Your back was already facing him, preparing dinner for the both of you as tears rolled down your face.

Suguru Geto

It was 2 weeks after Suguru deflected. 2 weeks since he committed mass murder in that village. 2 weeks since he left Satoru, Shoko, and the others. It was weighing on him and you could tell. Nothing but him, his two adopted girls, a few people who believed in his cause, and you.

You promised him you would go wherever he would go, and he was so grateful for it. He loves you deeply and would do anything for you. But some days just threw everything on him at one time, today was one of those days. Monkeys non-sorcerers begging him to exercise curses left and right, Nanako and Mimiko begging him to take them shopping, missing payments from those begging for his service. It was all too much. And the guilt was eating away at him.

He genuinely wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying and it annoyed him how much talking you were doing in his ear at that moment. You were both sitting outside watching the two girls play in the yard. “Y/n,” He interrupted you. “Don’t you have something better to do than to just bother me?” He sighed sounding so condescending. “What do you mean?”

“Must you always cling to me? Isn’t there something else you can do besides following me everywhere I go, at all times of the day?!” His voice raised a bit as if he was talking to a non-sorcerer. “I didn’t realize I was. I was only trying to tell you about what me and the girls did today,” You defended. “You’re always so busy, I rarely get to see you anymore.”

“Yeah, because you’re always underneath me. Sometimes-” He stopped mid-sentence because of the saddened look on your face. His eyes softened a bit. “Sometimes I just need my space.” He sighed. You only nodded and started to walk back inside. “Ok, I understand.” Your voice cracked. Leaving Suguru alone to think about what he had just said to you. As if he didn’t feel guilt then, he definitely feels guilt now.

Toji Fushiguro

Toji was a bit frustrated today. He was cheated out of his money after doing a side job, the bet he placed on the race he kept constantly telling you about fell through, leaving him with zero, and to top it all off, the child support payment was coming up. You being an empath and knowing your boyfriend so well, you wanted to help him any way you could.

He was sitting in the chair by the island in the kitchen with his fingers combing through his hair. He was on the phone with multiple people at once, trying to solve his money issues. “Shiu, you guaranteed me way more money than this! How am I supposed to cover this months child support with this amount?!” You walked up to where he was, wondering what all the commotion was about. “Baby?” You softly called out. You could hear Shiu on the other line trying to calm him down and explain the situation.

“That sounds like a bunch of bull and you know it Shiu, you better have my money by next week thursday or else I’m taking it myself.” He grumbled and hung up the phone. “Baby,” You gently placed a hand on his broad shoulder.

“What, Y/n.” He sternly said. You merely blinked a few times. “I was just checking to see if you were okay. What’s with the attitude?”

“I’m fuckin’ frustrated okay? Please leave. You aren’t helping right now.” He waved you off.

“I barely did anything, I just wanted to know if you needed help with anything-”

“Jesus, I said enough! I don’t need your help. Fuck, you’re so clingy.” His voice booming caused you to remove your hand from his shoulder in fear. Seeing your reaction caused him to think about what he said and how he said it. The last think he wanted to do was scare you. He wanted you to feel safe around him. But with the way you jumped at how he raised his voice, it saddened him a bit.

“Y/n, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” He was cut off by the sound of his child wailing in the background. “I’ll take care of it.” You said in the smallest voice, not even leaving him time to protest against it and apologize.

“Fuck.”

Part 2

[envy-of-the-apple]

A Mutual Hatred

Dark!Gojo Satoru x reader

finally kicking out the fic that’s been a draft for three years:) ahaha...aha...ha if its obvious this was written for another character...no it wasn’t

(Warnings: implied non-con, implied drugging, college!AU, dark content)

Gojo Satoru did not like you. 

He didn’t make it obvious. But, you could see the way he slowly inched away from you. And the fake fake smile he stretched on his lips anytime he was forced to talk to you. 

It was a little offensive. You never obsessed about people liking you, but the fact that someone super popular would rather not exist when you were around...well, it stung. 

It could’ve been worse. At least he didn’t openly admit his hatred of you. It was just the tiny, little things he did that made you know there were boundaries. 

But you weren’t Gojo’s friend, you were Geto’s friend. Which meant, as much as you’d rather not to go the party celebrating their latest win, you were still dragged anyway. 

A loud cheer erupted across from the room. Still nursing your drink, you gave Geto a look. 

“The baseball team,” He sighed, “Shit, sorry. I didn’t know they were gonna be here. I know they’re fucking crazy but they won’t bother you. I promise.” 

You have to laugh at his genuinely apologetic look. You wave him away. 

“It’s fine,” You say, “I don’t mind, Besides, they look....fun.” 

Your words come a bit too late as you spot the team captain trying to do a handstand on top of an extremely fragile vase. That would end well. 

“I’m glad they’re supportive of you, at the very least,” 

Geto is sighing, ready to apologize again. He promised you this would be low-key, just the basketball team and a few mutual friends. 

Now it’s just the basketball team, along with a hundred other people. 

If anything you’re impressed at how quickly the numbers formed. The music was loud, booming, nearly blowing out your ears. People were dancing, at the very least, moving together in disjointed clumps because you are pretty sure alcohol doesn’t help you with dancing. 

Voices tear you away from the scene, and your gaze settles on Geto’s volleyball squad. They eagerly start to wave him over. He shakes his head. You frown. 

“Don’t babysit me,” You tell him, “Go. Have fun.” 

He gives you a look. You roll your eyes. 

“I promise I’ll be fine. The only reason I’m here is for the free beer.” 

You’re planning on throwing your cup of cheap booze away the second you can, but you don’t want him to think he has to guard you for the night. That’s who Geto is, a self-proclaimed protector. You don’t even know him all that well but he’s still more than happy to forfeit hanging out with his friends to sit here with you. He’s a good person. 

You still can’t understand why a guy like him would ever be friends with Gojo. 

They had been childhood friends. Best friends. Stayed together until college. Maybe it was just proximity that kept them so close, because you couldn’t imagine it were their personalities. 

Geto sighs, reluctantly slipping away. 

“If you need anything, lemme know.” You nod, keeping your smile on as he gives you one last look before joining his friends. 

Finally alone, you drop the cup in the trash as soon as you can.

At least, you thought you were alone. 

“Too strong?” 

You jump at his voice. Gojo tilts his head, gazing at you with pretty blue eyes. His glasses are off tonight. 

“I-” you stumble, not really sure what to say. He was going out of his way to talk to you? “I was just-” 

“Don’t worry, I get it,” he laughs, light and airy and you’re starting to get why he has a fanclub, “Nazumaki has shitty tastes. Wanna try what I’m having?” 

He hands you an opened can. Still a bit confused, you accept. It’s slightly better. With a fruity aftertaste. When you go to hand it back, he waves you off. 

“Take it, I gotta’ drive home.” He reasons. 

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, you accept. This was...weird. Really really weird. Gojo Satoru didn’t like you. Not even the slightest. Then, why was he being so...nice?

Or maybe you had it all wrong? You were overreacting? 

“Congrats on winning your game.” You tell him, when the silence stretches on for far too long.

“Yeah,” he responds, “you went?” 

You shake your hade. 

“Too busy,” you responded sheepishly, “but I watched the highlights. You guys were awesome.” 

“A huge improvement from fall semester.” he agrees. “Fuck, you should’ve seen us those first couple of weeks. Like a bunch of....coked up squirrels or something. Horrible passes, jumping all over the place, just-” 

He’s cut off by your laugh. “I’m sorry...coked up squirrels?” 

“You didn’t see our freshmen,” he argues, “It’s a great analogy.” 

“I’ll take your word for it.” You smile.

 It’s definitely the alcohol. On his part too. But conversation flows like you are two old friends. It’s so easy to talk to him. Laugh with him. For a moment, you almost forgotten how much disdain Gojo Satoru used to show you. 

Almost.

“You know....for a while, I thought you hated me.” You confessed, because you had to bring it up eventually. The suspense was killing you, eating you alive.

“What?” 

“I mean.” The floor looks weird. You don’t like the carpet. “On campus, you were always so stand-offish. Like you were mad at me.” 

He shoots you an amused look. “I didn’t hate you. I guess I was kinda’ just pissed.” 

You scrunch your forehead, “Oh, you were? Why?” 

“’Cuz you had a nice ass and I wasn’t allowed to touch it.” 

You blink. And then the world tilts sideways. 

What?

Hands grip your shoulders, holding you upright. 

“Woah, baby. I think you had a bit too much. Let’s go lay down.” Gojo purrs into your ear, as he starts leading you away. 

You weren’t drunk. You knew that. You barely had anything. You make a meager struggle against his unwavering body as your dazed mind starts to piece what’s happening. 

You nearly stumble into another group of people. Gojo takes the reigns immediately, apologizing on behalf of his ‘drunk friend who doesn’t know limits’. It’s so deranged that at one point you’re convinced you’re having an out-of-body experience. That this isn’t real. A dream. A nightmare. 

But this is real. He shows you the moment he shoves you into a closet, shutting the door behind him.

“Wh-what are you doing-” your pleas are interrupted by soft lips. You’ve never once thought about kissing Gojo but his lips are like pillows. It’s his strength that suffocates you. Biting and licking up your blood. 

“Would’ve done this sooner, but your bodyguard would never leave you alone for long. The bastard. Keeping you all to himself.” 

Bodyguard? He’s kissing you again, groping you through your clothes and you can’t stand to even think. Geto, it eventually clicks. His helpful protectiveness. You-you thought he was like that with everyone. 

Something, a second wind maybe, kicks up at you. You struggle against his large hands. Gojo grunts, as though your desperation was a minor inconvenience for him. 

“Stop it, fucking stop.” He hisses, pulling at your hair. You yelp. “Stop fighting this when we both know you-” 

The door opens, swinging in blaring light and the sounds of the party with it. Satoru stills, blinking up at the newcomer. You look up too, heart crackling with relief. 

Geto stands there, chest heaving, and it takes a minute for you to realize he must have ran here. You open your mouth, nothing but a warbled plea comes out. 

You expect him to do something. To grab Gojo by the hair and pull. To save you. 

But he doesn’t. He just stands there. 

When you search his eyes. You don’t find anger. You just see hunger. 

Gojo’s pretty laugh rings through the air. Undisturbed. Expectant. 

“What took you so long?” 

[theautisticwriter]

Love Letters: Yandere! Helluva Boss characters X G/N Reader

Characters- Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, Loona, Stolas, Asmodeus, Fizzarolli

Show- Helluva Boss

Genre- romantic, yandere

Summary- Mini love letters from your not so secret stalkers admirers!

Warnings- swearing, pet names, yandere themes, mentions of planned kidnapping, stalking, delusional characters, unwanted attention

Word count- 1.5K

Extra notes- I have a Hazbin Hotel version of this uploaded as well!

key: f/l = first letter of your name, y/n = your name, n/n = your nickname

———————————————————

By this point you know who it is y/n, I’m the only person COOL enough to send u romantic as fuck letters like the old people do

Sorry for eating the food u made last night, when i was raiding ur fridge it looked so fucking good (and it was, who knew u could cook :P). i left u a pony as a replacement, u can’t eat it but it’ll make u think of me ;) and that pony cost me a FUCK ton of money, collectors addition and shit. i know, bad fucking ass right??

the stupid shitty loud alarm u installed didn’t work when i came in, ud be much safer with me and loony. that’s the plan anyways babe, u have NO idea the fucking creeps that live down here, they’re all fucking animals and ur…not, a fucking asshole i guess.

i drew you smth (it’s the thing stuck on the back of the envelope with the glitter glu)

^glue

it’s me and u holding hands, like other couples do. we’re better than those corny fuckers tho, hence the crowns on our heads.

ignoring my texts, BLOCKING ME (still upset about this BY THE WAY) and then ignoring my very nice letters is kinda a dick move f/l, but it’s whatevs. everything is almost ready for ur move in. i cleaned up n everything :D

from the only bitch worth ur time,

blitzø

<3 (ignore that, moxxie threw a gun at me and my hand slipped, might fire him)

———————————————————

Hiya sweet cheeks!!!

It’s Mills here, just checking in! Via letter! Ain’t that just the fanciest little thing? Mox said it’s the best way to show thought and care to someone, so here’s all my thoughts and care, just for you!

How’ve you been? Good I hope, I’ve been just peachy thanks for asking! My Ma and Pa are super excited to meet ya one day, they’ve even started planning the wedding! Now I told them to slow their horses down, and not the overwhelm ya, we’ll get to that don’t you worry darlin.

Im just so excited to write this letter for you! Ain’t it so romantic?? I’m practically squealing in delight at the thought of you opening this and swoonin’, that’s what you’re doing, right?

Now i’m writing this on my break, and my boss really needs me back in the game! I got employ of the month! Most amount of kills, with the best and bloodiest results baby!

Until next time sweetheart,

Your Mills! ♡

———————————————————

Hi y/n,

It’s Moxxie here, I was a little nervous to send this letter to you, but I always try to follow my heart, and my heart was telling me to communicate with you in the most romantic way I know how due to our current circumstances of being so far away. It’s hard, for the both of us i’m sure, but we’ll be okay y/n.

As much as I don’t get along with my father, he has been helpful with my preparations for your arrival. It’s a big deal, moving in together. I’m sure your anxious, I am too, but in the best way possible. Love is pure, and can make somebody feel whole, it’s a wonderful feeling. I never want that to be taken away from me, and you are the source of all my love. That’s why we need to be together, being only half a demon isn’t good for the soul.

We can do lots of fun things together as well, like go to the opera, or to musicals, or I can show you my shooting skills. My boss says that I have a pretty good shot, which is the biggest compliment he’s ever given me. And we can do things you like too, marriage is equal of course. Obviously, this will all happen later done the line, you’ll need time to adjust, and I understand that. I understand you.

I’m running out of room on my page, but I will write to you again tomorrow. Please respond? Just once, y/n? It’d be nice, to hold something from you since I can’t hold you yet.

All my love,

Your Moxxie <3

———————————————————

Uh, hi?

Wait, you don’t put ‘uh’ in letters do you? Or put wait whilst you think, fuck shit fuck

Sorry, I’m new to this. Normally I just send a text to people but, your phone is off at the moment I think? Or you lost it? Or you blocked me?

Either way, I’ll send you these stupid letter things until it’s back on. So, uh, what are you up to? Blitz has been up my ass about meeting you, heads up, when I come get you and bring you to our room he’s gonna go all psycho dad mode and integrate you, but he’ll back off after a while. He’s a dick sure, but he does want me to be happy. And your, likeable or whatever, so i’m sure you’ll get along.

Once you get comfortable at home with me, Blitz said you could work with me at I.M.P. You’ll be like the co-secretary or something. You won’t be put in danger, I won’t let that happen, you’ll just get to sit with me. We can watch things together, if you wanted.

I guess i’ll see you soon, how do you end these?

See you,

Love from,

Regards?

Bye y/n,

Loona.

———————————————————

My dearest y/n,

I hope this letter finds you well. I yearn for your presence here, besides me. It’s quite lonely without you, I will admit my dear. It would be oh so wonderful if you could write back. I understand you may be preoccupied with your current activities, but I can’t help myself from desiring a response. I know, it’s selfish of me to expect you to reply to my letters when you’ll be here with me shortly, but I can’t keep my thoughts at bay at the moment.

Your face is a constant in my mind, night and day, asleep and awake, your voice in my mind calms me when I need it most, your smile brightens the bleariest of moments and so on. You can imagine the difficulties I’m facing with no response from you, but that’s alright. If you can’t write back to me dear, I won’t pressure you. Your time is precious, and we will have all the time in hell quite soon. Isn’t that exciting?

I can give you the life you deserve n/n, any luxuries or mundanities you wish for will be handed to you on a silver platter. Or a golden one, if that’s more to your liking? We can properly discuss the specifics once we are together. How thrilling, the though of you and I together at last.

We truly are written in the stars!

Yours until the end of the sky and then some,

Stolas.

———————————————————

Hey there baby,

It’s been a while, huh? I’m sorry if you feel neglected babe, it’s so hard keeping in contact with you when you’re so far away hun. Wouldn’t it be so much better if you were here with me? Sure I’ve got a lot of meetings, being a sin and all, but I’d be at your beck and call n/n, you could even be my new excuse to leave those awful “business” discussions. They barely talk business with me, it’s just complete bullshit babe.

I know the lust ring can be intimidating, we have quite the reputation, but I assure you, love is not a foreign concept to me. Romance is one of my most favourite things! Though that’s a secret, let’s keep that between us, yeah? That side of me is reserved for you n/n.

It’s so boring over here without you, I feel like i’m just lounging around and last time I checked, I was the lust sin, not the sloth sin. We’d have so much fun together babe! Can’t you picture it? Even if you can’t yet, I can wait. Having you near me will be enough, you are enough just as you are.

Sincerely yours,

Asmodeus (Ozzie) xoxo

———————————————————

Heya cutie!

Letters are a lot harder to write than I thought they’d be y’know? I’ve rewritten this like 16 times already, sheesh. It just feels so awkward, I can’t see your reaction to my words which means I can’t fix any mistakes I’ve made :(. I’m sure I haven’t made any though! Right? This letters going really well so far and is definitely wooing you, right, y/n?

Hah, I’m asking questions as if you can reply right away. Silly old me, I don’t know what i’m worrying about! We’re meant to be together. I know it’s super sappy, but we’re like soulmates. Soulmates are bound to be together! That’s why I’m bringing you home soon, I can’t wait! I’ve got sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many awesome tricks to show you!

And, the best news, I quit my job!! ༘⋆-ˋˏ ༘⋆-ˋˏ This means, we will have a LOT more time with each other, and you don’t have to worry about Mammon being possessive over me, because fuck him! I’m my own clown! Or, well, your clown.

I can’t wait to see you! This is going to be great for us, I pinky promise :P

Love from,

Fizzarolli !!!! ༘⋆!!,-!ˋˏ!!!

———————————————————

[foundfamilynonsense]

What pisses me off sometimes is that many of the people in this fandom already understand attachment but just choose to not use that understanding for the Jedi.

Like. If you weren’t completely confused by Shuri’s arc in the new Black Panther you understand attachment.

If you understood why elenore let chidi leave in the finale of the good place, you understand attachment.

In fact I can think of like eight super hero movies where attachment (and learning to let go of it) is the KEY conflict.

Attachment is not a hard concept to grasp at all. “Letting go” is NEVER portrayed as a bad thing in media. Like. Never. Especially when it’s about letting go of a loved one who died instead of getting revenge.

When people watch a super hero movie and the super hero starts acting like a villain and a side character goes “you’ve got to let her go” I never find paragraphs on tumblr about how the hero should have kept acting like a villain and that side character was the real bad guy.

It’s just that the Jedi don’t struggle with it. The Jedi already practice attachment. They’re already at peace. And since Anakin has been a Jedi for so long and has given no real indication of struggling (I mean they don’t know about his secret wife), they just tell him to practice attachment and think that’s enough. Bc he should already know.

And when people say they shouldn’t have expected this of Anakin bc he wasn’t raised a Jedi… the Jedi are not the only ones who don’t act on attachment. The first person to explain attachment in the movies is Shimi Skywalker. She lets Anakin go and live a better life bc she is not attached to him. She tells him to not look back. This is the woman who raised Anakin. He was raised in a no-attachment household. He has no excuse. He was always taught about attachment. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He did it anyway.

Anakin was not confused by attachment. And neither is the audience really. There are so many stories about how attachment is bad, Lucas just calls it by its name. People choose not to like the Jedi bc they don’t find them interesting. Which is fine I suppose, but if you don’t like the Jedi bc the sith aesthetic is more your speed, just say that. Stop pretending you don’t understand a very common moral conflict.

[getsuuna]

KNY Fandom so fucking insufferable I'm gonna start behaving like those GiyuShino and SaneKana shippers and go around spreading misinformation and say "no you don't get it SaneGiyuu was implied!!!" /j

because I'd actually have more content to mention without even mischaracterizing them

wanna talk about how they're a two-faced mirror? almost as if they were written to parallel each other and there's so much to talk about on this matter

or, since not everyone in this Fandom can dive into analysis, wanna mention how Shinobu figured Sanemi could've made Giyuu smile by inviting him to eat his fav dish with him? why not ask him directly instead? why Sanemi out of all people?

wanna mention Sanemi's pseudo-obsession on that man? he disliked his ass, but if we go back to analysis, his intolerance to someone feeling superior can be tied to a multitude of factors and one of which is being low-key reminded of himself, and he loathes himself while at the same time he puts on that strong façade. he can't face it though. and he wanted to understand why Giyuu felt that way SO BADLY he went to him for training and tried to speak with him, he wanted a contact, he wanted to understand, he needed Giyuu to speak up but he didn't.

on the other hand don't we wanna talk about Giyuu's perspective? Giyuu never hated him nor did he really feel sad knowing he disliked him, contrary to how he felt towards Obanai. not to mention he even got to be sarcastic towards Sanemi's dumb ass at least twice.

and the iconic ohagi scene? idk about y'all but between the hashira I think that's THE iconic scene, alongside Giyuu and Shinobu beefing and Shinobu almost stabbing him (don't get me wrong platonic GiyuShino has my whole heart)

the first time we saw Giyuu smile in the series is while imagining to befriend Sanemi??? and out of everyone he chose Sanemi? the hashira who is canonically the most difficult to talk with?😭 he only ever smiled either for food, for Sanemi or Tanjiro

oh and let's not talk about how Tanjiro, after getting knocked up, wakes up and the first thing Giyuu says is "yeah Shinazugawa left" ..? or the whole novel chapter in which they end up talking about him (supposedly right after that scene in the manga) and Giyuu cheered up. what

anyways, likewise, the first time Sanemi was seen smiling genuinely outside of his family was with Giyuu. Obanai and especially Masachika were both closer to him, not to mention the most important person in his life, Genya...yet here we are ig?? (after Giyuu he also smiled more in general, the scene of him smiling at Nezuko was one of my fav panels ever so keep in mind I'm taking in consideration the chronological events and not the impact of the scenes per se)

or let's talk about the most important part in their development which is when they fought together.

Sanemi saving him, telling him not to zone out while throwing the sword at him, it made Giyuu realize he's the water hashira, it was the first time Giyuu acknowledged it. Sanemi influenced Giyuu's character positively, and so far Tanjiro was the only other one who managed to. Sanemi saw him as his ally (rightfully so), and hopefully seeing him fight also made him realize he wasn't that much of a conceited guy, he was just like him, as he initially wanted Giyuu to understand (despite the fact it was a miscommunication)

Sanemi teaming up with Giyuu out of everyone, in such an impactful panel.... idk, if it was a straight ship that would've felt like a confession for the Fandom 💀

they impacted each other's character, they were the only two hashira surviving after facing the same war, they faced similar struggles during their lives (but let's not get into analysis, once again...), they could've understood each other better than anyone else would ever have, and they ended up bonding and eating together

that panel was there, in the middle of other panels all portraying important bonds, whether canon romantic bonds or platonic and sibling-like ones (Tanjiro and Nezuko, the Kamaboko squad, the swordsmiths etc.)

if it wasn't important it wouldn't have been there, but the funniest thing is that if either of them was a woman it would've been considered canon since it also included TanKana, ZenNezu and InoAoi🙏🏻

but oh, if we try to name either of these things and more, people will rightfully say "can't they be friends anymore?", which is valid, but I wonder why this doesn't apply to equally fanon straight ships.

a show so peak has so many fans that are so dense😭😭😭

[bones4thecats]

Hello! Can I make a request of a platonic angst (fluff if you think suits it better) with Diasomnia with a male reader who is actually Malleus' brother?

[SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7]

The story being that Meleanor had given birth to two eggs, those being Malleus and the reader, with the Silver Owls stealing the egg that had the reader, which ended with the egg to be sent to Earth, therefore making the reader live for many years, raised by the humans without any idea of who he is, only for the Dark Mirror to bring him to Night Raven College, shocking everyone with the appearance of a Fae that was raised by humans.

Thank you!

M! Reader Being Malleus' Missing Twin

Characters: Lilia Vanrouge and Malleus Draconia Requester: @beawesome04 A/N: I'm gonna do only Lilia and Malleus for this. I couldn't think of anything for the younger Diasomnia boys. Sorry about that! Anyways, enjoy!! By the way, this may not fully follow the canon storyline for Book 7. But, there is a piece on the top explaining the backstory of the Missing-Draconia! Reader's world. ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Book 7 and mentions of baby-napping and war ⚠️

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

A decades old tale of the Fae and Human war was one that everyone was familiar with. Schools began to teach the young men and women of the future of the causes and what was used to fix everything and establish the peaceful world that they now lived in.

But, there was always a part that teachers had to withhold many key details on. The attempted abduction of the Draconia Eggs.

Many years into the war, a group of human-affiliated knights had infiltrated the Draconia Castle. And since the previous Queen of the land just had her two babies still in their eggs, a few of the men had made a plan to take them in order to prompt the royals into surrendering.

Fortunately and unfortunately, they had gotten to the eggs and almost got away with both. An at-the-time young General, Lilia Vanrouge, charged in with his men and prompted them into surrendering themselves. Though, in common human-fashion, they tricked their ways out of being held.

And when one guard went to check on the eggs, he announced with loud-blaring fear that one was missing from the nursery. This made all that heard begin to panic. The humans wouldn't be so weak as to take a not-even-hatched baby away from its home... would they?

Barking out the order of finding the missing egg was all that the Fae could do at the moment. But when they all came up empty, he couldn't believe his ears... the humans were exactly what Baul deemed them to be. Disgusting excuses of beings.

After the fall of Meleanor and her husband, Revan, and the re-crowing of the female's mother, Maleficia, Lilia began to care for not only the young heir but for his own adoptive-human son, whom he named Silver.

Despite the firm and carefree smile that was practically plastered onto his youthful-face, he couldn't help but remember the loss of that precious black and purple egg... but maybe he could locate the now-growing child overtime!

As the male floated around the new students of Night Raven College, he smiled at Malleus, who was now one year away from graduating and inheriting the throne of Briar Valley. All of a sudden, the sound of the Dark Mirror opening causes Lilia to look up in shock and ready himself with his magic.

Everybody then froze once the sight came clear. There stood a tall, maybe around 6'3, male with a very clean-and-formal black and green outfit laid wrapped around his form. With a lovely mixture of down and held-up hair black hair, the apparent Fae stood out like a sore thumb.

Especially with a duet set of horns, which folded around a green gem, which glowed brighter with each step you took closer to the members of Diasomnia.

And while your gem caught the attention of many first, only Lilia and Malleus could truly understand who he was...

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, little brother."

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

»»——————————- 　 Lilia Vanrouge 　——————————-««

🦇 When he looked at the horns you had, the previous General immediately understood who you were and what you wanted

🦇 Lilia allowed his feet to hit the ground as his mouth laid open as you stepped closer to him and his small family. And while Sebek yelled for you to stay away from Malleus, you merely ignored him and looked into the slightly-younger male's eyes

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, little brother." You said.

🦇 This claim was one that caused many to gasp. The story of the previous Queen of Briar Valley having two eggs was true! And here the brothers were- reuniting!

🦇 Once everyone was calmed down and told to go somewhere else for the afternoon, Lilia led you and the boys back to the dorm. Specifically the lounge

🦇 When you finished speaking to Malleus and explaining everything to him, you began to look towards Lilia. And he had to admit, the way your cold eyes stared into his soul caused him alarm

🦇 You motioned for him to sit down in the seat next to you. And stated that he could ask you any question

"Where have you been all of this time? Last I knew your egg was taken by the... Silver Owls."

"Fortunately for me, Emilia, who was young maid from the castle, picked me out from the pack of one guard. She then took me home that night and took care of me until I hatched. Her and her husband raised me until they passed away of old age, maybe around 79 and 85. I now live with their oldest son, Zekial, and his wife, Pristy, who are now 59 and 58 respectively. Their great-grand-children, Madyson and Parker, assisted me in getting here. They both attend Royal Sword Academy as third-years." You replied. It was a mouthful, but it seemed to allow the man to confide in his own thoughts to piece the whole thing together.

🦇 Lilia looked at you and asked if you were raised by humans. In which you said yes and admitted that you have seen and met many humans and Fae that have either berated you or your found-family, in which you defended both species, saying they had both flaws and pros

🦇 Hearing how wise you were for a mere 178-year-old Fae made Lilia smile and laugh, prompting a questioning of the action from you

"You may be a youthful-Fae, but you show signs of growth that not even I have gotten the pleasure of having. And I've raised a human for a son!"

"Oh... I see. Is that a compliment?"

"Yes. It is, elder Draconia."

"Please, just call me Y/N. It is what Emilia named me."

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

»»——————————- 　Malleus Draconia　——————————-««

🐉 In the last 178 years, Malleus has always believed himself to be alone in this world. In both his social and familial life

🐉 But, seeing someone look so similar to him step out from the Dark Mirror, and dawning a fairly formal outfit with an almost-matching set of horns made that loneliness disappear for a minute

🐉 The sound of your heeled-boots echoing against the hard floor was all that Malleus could hear against his own thoughts of wonder at that moment

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, little brother."

"Little... brother?"

🐉 You nodded and smiled gently at the young man. And when you held your hand out and summoned a small ball of green fire, which formed a dual set of eggs

🐉 Lilia ushered for the boys to leave the room, saying you both needed some privacy. And privacy you did need

"Do you know who and what these are, Malleus?"

"By what I am observing, that is what I was before hatching into a small newborn. Am I correct?"

"That you are. And do you know who and what this egg is?"

🐉 Malleus looked back down at your hand's magic and he shook his head slightly. In every photograph he was shown by his grandmother, Maleficia, all he saw was his egg in the nursery and that was all, no extra egg or anything

"That was me before hatching. The same as you. That makes us not only brothers, but twins, despite the fact we appear slightly different." You said as your magic began to shift into a castle, the Draconian Castle to be specific.

"Born to the same mother and father, we both resided inside of the nursery before an invasion was taken by a group of Fae-hating humans called the Silver Owls. They had came inside in order to steal us to use us as an advantage against our family, but, as the Royal Army came in, they put your egg back, but took mine in an attempt to take a more psychological approach to one-upping our mother and father."

"If you were taken by these Silver Owls, where did you go and who raised you if not our family?"

"I was taken from a guards bag by a maid named Emilia, who then brought me home to raise with her husband, Mustove. They have long since passed from old age, an unfortunate thing humans have. I was then taken in by their children, who are both now reaching elder-hood in human terms, and I was assisted in reaching you from their great-grandchildren, who attend Royal Sword Academy as current third-years. It is thanks to them, to those humans, that I finally can reconnect with you, my brother."

🐉 Malleus stared at you with widened eyes. And while your magical shape-shifting fire burns out along with the glow of your forehead-jewel, your brother began to sniffle and hold his fists tightly against his sides

"I understand that you have felt alone for the many past years, Malleus. But understand that I am here now, and I do not plan on returning to complete isolation away from our family, away from you. Okay?"

"It's just so... nice to have you here with me."

🐉 You held your arms open and allowed the prince to jump into your arms, hugging you tightly as he buried his face into your chest, tears falling form his eyes as he sniffed and smiled with comforted joy and sadness... he finally had his other half with him again. And they wouldn't leave him on their own accord

"May I call you 'big brother'?"

"Yes. Yes you may, little brother."

[contumacious-arcadia]

Hello! I'm aware there is a lot of discontent around shipping Alastor with anyone since it's been stated that he is an asexual character and I would also like to throw my two cents out into the void pertaining to the issue. I *really* like radioapple. My lizard brain spouted "they gon' fuck" as soon as I saw "Dad Beat Dad". I find it super charming and enemies-to-lovers is naturally hella entertaining in my opinion - so I started reading radioapple fics and **they may have actually taught me something about myself. ** I'm on the older side (37), and have always just referred to myself as bisexual. I never really considered anything else because when I was younger and learning my own identity, all of the super specified language just wasn't available to me. It didn't really cross my mind to reexamine those conclusions as time passed, because I was under the impression (as many others also seem to be) that asexual meant "ABSOLUTELY ZERO SEX OR SEX-ADJACENT THINGS FOREVER, NO, NYET, NINE" and aromantic meant "ABSOLUTELY DEATHLY ALLERGIC TO ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS, NEVER EVER, NOPE". ...I am definitely not the only one, as this does seem to be the sticking point people argue about when shipping Al with literally anyone. After reading many, many radioapple fics written by people within the asexual and aromantic spectrums, I feel like I've gotten a better handle on the categorization and shockingly (to me, at least) it seems *I* am actually also very aromantic and moderately touch averse (though I would not consider myself asexual). Who would have thunk that fanfic would teach me a very important fact about myself? It was like I was given a key to understanding why my relationships are always so troubled and why I seem to HATE being in relationships, despite repeatedly diving back into them. I literally give each new partner a whole-ass speech about how *incredibly* uncomfortable overly romantic crap makes me feel and how if they start badgering me/guilting me about the whole 'love' concept incessantly, I will likely freak out and end the relationship... and EVERY TIME they pull that crap and then try to guilt me by claiming that they "didn't think I was serious". If I had the language to explain I was aromantic and touch averse (when not specifically gettin' down), I think I could have avoided a lot of damage. Maybe. Anyway, I just wanted to state that shipping an ace or aro/ace character and writing fanfic that actually explains their thought process and feelings can be a SUPER beneficial thing. I don't know why it wasn't obvious to me that nothing is ever 100% black and white, but again, I don't seem to be the only person who believed that. I would gently urge some of the fans who are hardcore (and vocally) *against* shipping Al with anyone to read some of the fics and maybe it can help them adjust their perspective a bit too - just like it helped me. BUT - this *IS* the internet, so if you just want to shout angrily into the void, you can do that too! Two cents complete.

[thoughtlessthinkythoughts]

I think the key to understanding show!Aziraphale is in some lines that are in the book but not the show. Because these lines represent a place that our show Aziraphale hasn't hit yet.

Before I get into this, let me explain why I think things that aren't in the show can be so important to understanding where the show will go.

For another example, let's look at the ending of the book/s1. In the book, Adam is not impressed with Aziraphale and Crowley. There is no pep talk. He actually has a pretty stern message to them about "not messing people around."

A lot of s2 might not have worked the same way if they had gotten that message. It would have cut off room for growth. The whole plotline with Nina and Maggie for one would have been much less likely. So by holding off the stop messing with people message to the end of s2 (and then only giving it to Crowley), it provides more room for the characters to change at a pace befitting a multi-season show.

So what else do I think will end up working this way?

Well, there's a scene I love in the book that hasn't made it into the show yet. It happens after Aziraphale is discorporated. In the show, he goes to heaven, then to Madame Tracy. In the book, he bounces around possible hosts first, including a televangelist. The televangelist is going on about the rapture and such, and Aziraphale cuts in with this:

"Well, nice try...only it won't be like that at all. Not really.

"I mean, you're right about the fire and war, all that. but that Rapture stuff well, if you could see them all in Heaven - serried ranks of them as far as the mind can follow and beyond, league after league of us, flaming swords, all that, well, what I'm trying to say is who has time to go round picking people out and popping them up in the air to sneer at the people dying of radiation sickness on the parched and burning earth below them? If that's your idea of a morally acceptable time, I might add.

"And as for that stuff about Heaven inevitably winning...Well, to be honest, if it were that cut and dried, there wouldn't be a Celestial War in the first place, would there? It's propaganda. Pure and simple. We've got no more than a fifty percent chance of coming out on top. You might as well send money to a Satanist hotline to cover your bets, although to be frank when the fire falls and the seas of blood rise you lot are all going to be civilian casualties either way. Between our war and your war, they're going to kill everyone and let God sort it out-right?

"Anyway, sorry to stand here wittering, I've just a quick question-where am I?"

Because even this more cynical version of Aziraphale is adorable, the scene ends with "Gosh," he said, "am I on television?"

We didn't get this in the show, but I can't help feeling that it might be in season 3, assuming we get a season 3. It might even fit in better there, assuming we are going with a "second coming" plot. In the show, Aziraphale hasn't reached this level of cynicism (yet). I can't picture s1 or s2 Aziraphale giving this speech. Sure, he's seen what a mess the archangels are, he was willing to go against heaven to stop them from starting the end of the world, but I'm pretty sure show Aziraphale still believes in the goodness of God if not the goodness of the way heaven is run. It makes sense that show Aziraphale sees heaven as a fixable mess, an organization that isn't living up to what it should be. Because the show is taking Aziraphale's struggle with morally complex situations and questioning God and making it a longer arc.

My guess it that, as his tenure as archangel is likely to go terribly and not give him any more answers (or at least not answers he likes), he will get to the point where he could give this speech in season 3. My guess is that he's likely to also end up in a horrendous mental state once he reaches these conclusions (a perfect opportunity for some hurt/comfort). He's likely to build himself back up after that, but with a clearer look at the world.

End conclusion: if you are telling a longer story, sometimes you need to hold some things back to give your characters room to grow. So, it isn't a sign something is wrong with a story when partway through a character hasn't hit upon an obvious point.

"

[starlitsemantics]

the most frustrating thing about larian's underwriting of wyll (to me, purely selfishly) is that even when centered as a character, his key choices (killing or sparing Karlach, breaking his pact or saving his father) aren't even weighted

every other companion as far as I can tell gets default choices for resolving their quests that you can support or talk them out of, which is very rich character wise

wyll not getting default choices (as far as my testing goes anyway) *could* be interesting for an interpretation of him as lost or indecisive, but his writing outside of those scenes doesn't support that

he made his pact decisively

he can decide to join Karlach in Avernus

now obviously, part of why that works is that those choices are both the selfless, kind paths, whereas the others come with a moral quandary component in theory, but I don't think that quite clicks

sparing karlach is not a super complicated choice when presented to the player - she is pretty obviously much more Zariel’s victim than a danger

breaking his oath means not just that his father dies tadpoled, but also that baldurs gate loses a leader they'll need (iirc ulder's role in rebuilding is even flagged in the dialogue options)

if wyll is meant to be decisively selfless and good, which I think works perfectly fine as a character, not only should his default choices reflect that, but it should also feature in way more of the game's plot and dialogue as a counterpoint to the other characters (in particular, shadowheart and astarion). it just doesn't make sense for him to be passive in those quests (killing nightsong to have an easier time getting to ketheric especially - why do we at most get a negative comment, instead of what he does in act 1 if you choose to do evil for better access to the cult)

some of this imo could genuinely be fixed by just giving the player a "do nothing" option and letting him act - give this man agency

it wouldn't fix everything but I would at least know how to write and understand him as a character

[kandyzee]

No hate to this creator in particular but I'm gonna explain why I think they're wrong cause I've seen this kinda thinking get pretty popular recently (especially on tiktok.)

Mickey can't "treat her however he pleases," and you know that straight away cause if he could, I doubt he would have had any kind of relationship with her past their first interaction. Mickeys life very nearly depends on how Terry treats him. He truly thinks he will be killed if Terry finds out he's gay. Given that Svetlana was used to "fuck him straight" she has a lot of control on if it seems to work or not. If Svetlana had said anything, mickey very realistically could have been killed. Implying that he has sole control over Lana also implies that Terry was never a real threat, that mickey isnt scared of what he could do to him or Ian, that mickey whiling brought her into his home and so many smaller things that likely are not the case.

Mickey and svet are both dependent on Terry (the REAL abusive man) for survival. Obviously, Svetlana I a different way. Her situation is harder to talk about cause we really don't know much about how her and mickey came to be in the situation they are in. I imagine it was her boss (pimp? Idk what the right word would be) Who found out she was pregnant and told Terry. Svetlana probably didn't know who the father was. If she was the one to reach out, there were probably better people she could assume the dad is. Terry taking her wasn't a plan she had, but instead, an opportunity for escape she reluctantly needed to take. If she wants to survive, she needs to get Terry to like her and let her stay. She isn't bothered with getting mickeys approval at this point. She isn't stupid. She understands that mickeys voice wouldn't be listened to either way.

I think viewing mickey as the one who's abusing her ignores how Svetlana was greatly mistreated by Terry. We don't see that because Terry isn't as important of a character. It's referenced multiple times that Terry sleeps with Svetlana. It would be stupid to assume that was completely consensual. Sex has always been the key to her survival. This is why I think this factor of the whole family dynamic is so important. She's using the only thing she's knows to win Terry over, to gain his trust and keep her place at home. We see her doing this again when Terry is locked up, and she still talks to him. Sure, mickey is the one actually living with her, but it's Terry she's dependent on.

AND SHE KNOWS THAT.

Something else that this viewpoint does is make svetlana seem helpless. Her situation is horrific, but she is smart and is very capable of taking care of herself. She knows mickey isn't the one in charge. She knows mickey has no choice. She knows how to make the best out of a bad situation.

"How do yk she understands all that??" Cause of the way she talks to mickey. If she was truly dependent on Mick, if he really was the one abusing her, why does she threaten him? Why does she talk back? She never does that with Terry. She will shout and insult mickey, but she doesn't speak around Terry.

OKAY NEXT THING I WANNA TALK ABOUT.

No one is saying mutual abuse. The person they are replying to wasn't even saying that. Two victims of the same person taking their trauma out on each other because they have no other outlets isn't mutual abuse. The clear power imbalance that op is talking about isn't between mickey and svet it's between the two and Terry. Neither can risk being angry at Terry, so even though they probably both know the other isn't really to blame, they are angry at each other instead.

Even during the show, u see how their relationship changes after mickey comes out. So much stress is taken off their shoulders, and they get along much better. Mickey gets more involved with parenting, and svetlana is a lot more soft and affectionate. Ians involvement is important to this change, but I don't feel it's necessary to get into that.

Anyway end of rant might talk more about this again later who knows

[creativesplat]

A doodle of Link and Mipha defeating a Lynel from @only-by-the-stars wonderful fic Song of a Champion!

So this battle was beautifully fluid and the description of the two working perfectly in sync was just breathtaking. I decided to try and illustrate the scene, and I really enjoyed it, (it gave me an awesome excuse to read the scene very carefully and with an eye to the visual which I only really do if I'm going to draw it, and its always so fun to do)!

I couldn't get this image of Link parrying to open a space for Mipha to attack out of my brain because of the fluidity with which they both fought together just felt like that probably happened. I don't know about you, but I just saw them fighting as though they were in a dance, even though Mipha is so firm on her lack of ability and Link's superior skill, I bet he was entranced by her too!

Link's outfit is the stripped back version of the Soldier's Armour Set from BoTW, as though he took off the particularly intense or cumbersome pieces before coming to meet with Mipha, which I thought might be a good nod both his desire for familiarity with Mipha and to Mipha's concern for his safety and frustration with perceived arrogance. He's not even properly equipped and yet he says he can and will fight this Lynel alone.

on Mipha's end, I decided to go for a yellow glow, to not only pin her as the most key character in this scene - she is the central protagonist after all - but also to show that she is actually 100 years in the future, and this is her sinking back into the past, in her memory.

In the beautiful way only-by-the-stars creates a story, I fell into this memory description as well, and I love the conflict and emotion in this, so yeah, just a little note on the writing, but honest to goodness, give this a read!

Other composition ideas:

the original idea was to have something a little more like this:

with a more fluid attack from Mipha and I think overall this would have served the scene better now that I've finished 😅, but I also wanted the impression that it was Mipha's memory, you're seeing this through her eyes, so having her facing away from you connects you more I think, it feels more like she's witnessing it if its from her perspective.

so this, from Mipha's perspective, whilst a little less easy to understand visually, would have given the whole thing the fluidity I wanted the piece to have originally.

Anyway that's my two pence, and I hope you go and read Star's fic!

[wihellib]

WHB, Nightmare Passes, and Value

This is going to be a long post.

It would cost me $72.94 real life dollars if I wanted to possess Beel Bath. For that price I would get:

Solomon Seals: 300 (6 pulls)

Lesser (Red) Keys: 210 (7 ten pulls)

Greater (Gold) Keys: 250 (5 ten pulls)

Solomon’s Tears: 168 (Enough to Promote one character 4/4 times and another 3/4 times)

Pie Piece Choice Chest: 40 (Not enough to upgrade one character’s skill to level 5, which needs 60 pie pieces)

Pie Choice Chest: 50 (Not enough to upgrade one character’s skill to level 8, which needs 160 pies)

Devil Gummy Choice Chest: 10 (Easy to farm, so useless)

Beel Homescreen Buttons: 4 (My Devils, Text Messages, Secret Club, Dark Sanctuary)

Beel Bath Artifact: 2

Beel Bath Card: 1

*These numbers don’t include the free tier that anyone can get.

Now, if you want people to spend an amount of money on your game that’s comparable to the full price of a AAA game (good for many, many hours of fun) then you have to make it worth their while.

This is what I would change to the Nightmare Pass to improve its value:

The Items

Give 500 Solomon Seals (1 ten pull), since 6 pulls is such an odd number. Greater Keys have much less value than Lesser Keys, so, to compensate, it should be 300 Lesser Keys (10 ten pulls) and 100 Greater Keys (2 ten pulls).

They already give a good number of Solomon Seals, so it can be kept like that.

The entire pies system needs to be reworked. It’s absurd how much it costs to upgrade character skills, especially when we have no way of farming pies. So, I’m just going to ignore this part, and just say ‘Do Better’.

The Gummies have extremely low value since it’s so easy for us to farm them, so the Gummy Chests needs to be removed from the Pass and replaced with something else. There are a lot of options, like nightmare pancakes, or advanced candy choice chests, etc.

In regards to the Homescreen buttons, I think that’s a great, unique way to add value to the Pass. However, this is only the case when they are unique buttons. For this Pass, the buttons you get are just of normal Beel, they are not his Bath versions. The problem is you can get all other normal King versions in the Nightmare Pancake shop. This is not fair. Full stop. It punishes Beel fans for no reason. So, the Pass should give unique versions of the buttons instead, and normal Beel buttons should be in the nightmare pancake shop.

You should also get a unique frame.

The L Card

Now, onto the star of the show, the L card. You have to do something to set these cards apart from the others. Give me a reason to spend money on this card when I can get the others for free.

The easiest thing to do is to always make the cards explicit. The full cock and balls and oh look there’s a butthole. Make them obscene. This obviously wouldn’t work for mobile app users, but PrettyBusy should be pushing more and more people over to EroLabs anyways. They need to figure out a way for people to transfer their accounts and then go all in on EroLabs so they don’t have to worry about censorship.

Something that would add huge value to the nightmare passes is if the L card’s story was voiced. Not fully voiced, the side characters wouldn’t be, just the main guy on the card would be voiced. I understand getting voice acting is expensive. But this wouldn’t have to be every card on the pass and when it was, they could increase the price a little bit.

Also the L card should be fully evolved if you buy it. Currently you can only buy the card once and have no way of getting more copies to evolve it. So an easy way to add value to the card is to have it fully evolved (i.e. more powerful).

The Character On The Card

Moving on to which characters should be featured on the nightmare pass. I am adamant that none of the Kings should be on a nightmare pass ever.

The main love interests of WHB are the 7 Demon Kings. The others get a sex scene in the main story and maybe some flirty texts/interactions, but that’s it. I really don’t think any of the main love interests of a game should be completely paywalled.

The nightmare pass works best and is the most fair when it’s a once-in-a-while thing (every 3-4 months) and is used to showcase characters that are not the main love interests, like Gabriel and Juno.

This way also has more potential for making money. It’s like, “Hey, I know how much you love Andrealphus or Minhyeok, and you’re sad you’ll only get one sex scene with them and no fancy art, but what if we told you that you could… if you buy these nightmare passes.” People would jump at that way more than a non-explicit card of Beel that’s very similar to other cards that you can get for free. The nightmare pass is devalued in this case.

Finale

So far PrettyBusy hasn’t said anything about the controversy surrounding the nightmare pass. There is a strong chance that they will ignore it completely. So, please keep the pressure up and keep sending them emails (be professional, not bullies) expressing your displeasure with the current state of WHB.

[cakesmelons]

idk if your still gonna answer asks about the situation but as a fellow trans person i need to explain something that i'm noticing a lot of people are not understanding (don't worry this isnt at you or anyone upset with cal) i'm seeing quite a few people go "she's sticking to her beliefs and being respectful! she's not being transphobic so what's the big deal!?" and i genuinely want the people saying this to read this post and take into consideration on why this doesn't make the situation any better her belief is a very outdated and also dangerous one because believing that there can only be a male and a female invalidates so many people (trans, enby, non-binary, intersex etc) and those beliefs can cause actual harm to people to the point of literal hate crimes, i'm sorry but you guys shouldn't give her a pat on the back for "sticking to her beliefs" because her beliefs are very, very harmful and i've even seen other christens disagree with her and try to explain to her why this is bad

secondly; there's also how she called trans people a label and used the term in quotation marks, we are not a label we are living breathing human beings who want to be happy with ourselves and have a right to exists thirdly and there's the elephant in the room... the twitter likes and follows, it's proven many times that cal has liked straight up horrible transphobic and homophobic tweets and even follows people like matt walsh who want lgbtq+ people dead, if anyone defending her didn't know about the twitter stuff then that's fine but if you did and still defend her then it's clear you guys are beyond help closing statement: the reason why people are very upset with cal is that she lied to so many trans people in the community with a cut and dry example of being two-faced, you simply cannot say you respect trans people and interact with them while also going out of your way to have a low-key transphobic belief, liking transphobic stuff and following transphobic people especially when undertale and deltarune cannonicly have lgbtq+ character (cal even drawing said lgbtq+ characters like undyne for example which i find rich since i've heard she doesn't like mlm and wlw ships) and the community having SO MUCH lgbtq+ people this isn't a "lets agree to disagree" situation, this isn't drama either, this is a very serious situation also i've seen people go "she hasn't said any hate in the past!" as an defense, sorry but that doesn't change anything... i think it just makes the fact that she fooled everyone worse anyway sorry for this lengthy asks, i'm too scared to make a post but also i've been very upset about the situation and wanted to get my thoughts out because the way people are defending her without understanding why this is actually very bad is making me facepalm so hard sincerely, a very emotional trans man

I really don't have anything to add. This is a pretty good summary of this whole thing.

[letteredlettered]

Stupid ways CQL changed the story from MDZS:

First on most people's list is gonna be the gay, and I agree on a political and societal level that this is an egregious change I can't get on board with. I will say though that on a personal preference level, I don't think the romance really adds much; the magic of this story is not the gay and I'm just as happy with WWX/LWJ have the intense, weird, unstated relationship they have in the drama as I am with the ultimately gay relationship they have in the book.

The Yin Iron plot in the drama is so bad, you guys. So bad. This includes a) there being multiple parts of the Yin Iron, b) WRH having some of it and creating puppets with it, c) LWJ/WWX going to search for it. Did they add this so WWX looks less terrible? So it looks like all he's doing is fighting fire with fire? I hate it. There was a knife fight, and WWX invented guns. That's literally the point of him; that's why he's terrifying; he invented something that was beyond his means to control and it got out of hand and everyone wanted the gun and there was only one. The plot in the drama is just SO STUPID. I like WWX and LWJ getting to bond when they search for it and the trip to the bunny cave, but you could really have them bond and get bunnies a different way.

The most egregious thing, imo, is how the Wen remnants are first portrayed in the drama. After the Wen Clan is defeated we see constant abuse of these prisoners, often pretty much in front of everyone's face. At one point they are even paraded in front of everyone and WWX is the only one who has a problem with it. I get that WWX is the hero, but it makes everyone else look super morally reprehensible. Like, how are we supposed to get behind LWJ if he can stomach that. Actually, forget LWJ, because I actually think the scene in the rain with the umbrella establishes that LWJ is simply unwilling to defy social convention/popular opinion, and while I think it is a slight twist on LWJ's character, it's not a big of one as you might suppose, given the novel. But Lan Xichen? The character who is supposed to be the absolute paragon of kindness, goodness, and compassion? It's always sat wrong with me. Anyway, the novel basically shows that the poor treatment of the Wens is mostly hidden from view of the public, and WWX only finds out because WQ goes to him for help.

Replacing NMJ's dismembered arm with an angry sword spirit was super confusing. Why does the sword spirit attack people's arms, and why does it ONLY do that at Mo Manor? It's stupid and confusing. I assume this was censorship as well? Unwilling to show some dismembered corpses?

Speaking on NMJ, the character is pointless in the drama. I think you really needed to show the way he helped and trusted Meng Yao and how utterly betrayed by Meng Yao NMJ was to really understand his character.

Speaking of which, it is so completely ludicrous that the Wen Clan attacks the Unclean Realm before the Wen Sect Training/Tortoise of Slaughter sequence. It does say in the book that the Wen Clan and Nie Clan are kind of in constant skirmishes, but that's why the Wen Clan heavily attacks Cloud Recess first and then goes for Lotus Pier; the point is that the Unclean Realm is too well defended. That said--I still find it outrageous that in the book everyone (except WWX, perpetually clueless) seems to know about the attack on Cloud Recesses but sends their children to the Wen Clan anyway. Like I get they're all intimidated but that is too much.

WWX falling off the cliff. So silly. LWJ never would have allowed that to happen. What was JC even doing? That said, the actual death in the book is so unclear; I get that it was the spiritual rebound, but what was JC doing then? What did it look like? I found it really weird how the book just did not illustrate a few very key climactic plot points.

Weirdly, JFM. I actually like the guy better in the drama, but that's a problem. He really is a terrible father to JC, and his terribleness really helps explain why JC is like he is.

[fernsnailz]

Born to Fail. Something about a lot of your more serious art almost always leaves me feeling empty in a way I can never quite describe. It’s a feeling I look for whenever I consume media so that I can have a better chance of understanding it. Maybe it’s the feeling of someone splitting me open like a butterfly and feeling the wind blow across my exposed insides. That’s the best way I can describe what it feels like when a piece of art understands a part of myself that I don’t really like and that I wish would go away. A part of myself that I instinctively tried to bury. But art like this tears it out of the ground that had long since settled over top of it, where the grass had never grown back because it poisoned the soil where it was buried. Burying it might have felt better at the time, but it feels far more liberating to lay those feelings bare and actually face them head on rather than having to deal with an ever-present dull ache. The feeling of hating someone because they are who you fear becoming, whether or not you might be happier if you accepted the parts of yourself that you hate in that other person. The feeling of hating yourself because you fear that you’re failing the purpose that was chosen for you. The feeling of hating yourself because you can’t escape certain parts of yourself that you aren’t sure whether are flaws or just fundamental parts of yourself that you only think are flaws because they don’t fit the false perception of yourself that you've built up in your head based on what you think you have to be. The you that you've grown so attached to. The feeling of hating the world because it just won’t let you win, and then realizing that all of the hate was pointless because the goal would have never made you happy and it was never attainable in the first place. The feeling of hating yourself because you make so many people uncomfortable because of a part of yourself that you can’t control, that you hate, but once again aren’t sure of how key it is to who you are. Thank you for making this. Anyways, it’s 3:00 AM; I’m going to go to bed now.

But before I do that, let me just say, I love how expressive Gemerl is. I never realized that the bulb in his forehead crest was meant to be an eye, but it makes so much sense and is so cool. I also love Eggman just being evil. Not evil in a goofy moustache-twirling kind of way. Eggman actually being a truly terrible person. It’s so investing. Thank you again for making this.

thank you so much for reading!! those difficult questions of identity are an aspect of born to fail I wanted to put a strong focus on - the question of what is truly YOU, and whether or not you can live with the aspects of yourself that you may hate. it’s a difficult reality to face, and i wanted to show that each of these characters confront it in their own way.

and yeah i really love making gemerl expressive AND really leaning into the aspects of eggman that are truly evil. his position as a creator, a visionary, even a father - it was interesting to explore how these aspects of him bear over some of the robots and mess them up. i have so many thoughts about eggman. his drive and cold intellect can make him terrifying and he’s incredibly good at deliberately manipulating the people under him, but he gets caught up in he is own ego to the point of stupidity SO often and it’s such an interesting thing to balance when writing him. so so much fun figuring that guy out