#firebeetle has flaws of his own

[aphidclan-clangen]

I'm soooo glad that Firebeetle telling Shade that Gravel abandoned them came back to bite him (even if he's unconscious rn oops)

Oh yeah that whole fight was a direct consequence of that scene. I put that scene there specifically to plant this idea in Shade’s brain that Gravel could never love them because Gravel didn’t care for them enough to be around from the start. Then Gravel shows up and starts telling a whole other story, and Shade doesn’t know what to do about it. There’s a deep, fundamental insecurity and feeling of “I’m not good enough, that’s why, because they don’t think I’m good enough” in Shade’s mind that came from that conversation/their childhood, and a deep-seated grudge that manifests out of it. Now that Gravel is actually here and can speak for themself, turns out that wasn’t the reason at all! Shade does not know what to feel about it :(