#like the LoP story connecting sr2 and srtt. this one is srtt to sriv

[whoredmode]

fuck the actual game GooH especially for what they did to dex but i am glad w my own rewrite of it (if u wanna call this in-between story a rewrite of it) that dex can still be included, even arguably in a similar manner. him only ever being the man on the phone and purposefully trying to hide his identity from kinzie is somewhat reflective of how he’ll always run away in-game. regardless it lays the groundwork for his actual return in sriv, and continues to reinforce his connection w the saints. part of him forever whether he wants to admit it or not. can’t have anteros die on him yet, and destroying more of eric’s projects is always a good thing for dex.

kinda doing what he did in sr2 now that i think about it. giving orders over the phone. anyway this is getting away from me too n i’m just kinda rambling today but. hmm. kinzie never tells johnny she figured out who the man on the phone was (he probably asks in the end, but she probably just lies like. some old employee w a grudge. leaves it at that). i dunno if she ever tells anteros either. i think it definitely leaves a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. not even a bad feeling, just uncertainty. and someone like kinzie who’s always five steps ahead hates feeling unsure. she can sense the sriv foreshadowing obviously. which goes along w sriv hold on…….

[whoredmode]

1, 10, 12, 37 for Anteros 🙏

CHARACTER QUESTIONS

1. What’s the lie your character says most often?

depends on the era. he lies a lot💀 he lied about not having any connections w troy, he lied about killing dex at the end of srtt, he hid a lot of the specifics of what was going on during the LoP story from his lieutenants, like….

if he says he’s “taken care of it” (“it” being whatever most importantly applies to the situation) you may wanna. look into the specifics. bc that could mean everything and nothing.

10. What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

idk if it’s necessarily a “fact” but i do think he has a plethora of stories from his stripper days and will always happily bring up stories when certain things remind him of it. i always like to joke that he invented some move so when he sees a stripper perform it anywhere else he’ll point it out to whoever’s next to him to tell them he created that.

12. What’s something that makes them laugh every single time?

troy’s accent, always. anteros never ever forgot “jonesin’ for a fun bag” and always likes to say it when they get freckle bitch’s together. always likes to do bad impersonations of his accent and will mockingly (lovingly!) repeat troy if he says a word or phrase that sounds kinda weird to him. listening to troy speak always puts a smile on his face. it used to bother troy but honestly seeing anteros so happy (especially if this is during/around sr2) is worth it.

37. What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?

for as open as he becomes w his partners, there is a part of me that thinks he’s never really talked about how he feels about what’s led him to the most recent point he’s at. about killing, about the yacht incident. hell, about julius (which actually becomes a point of issue post-sriv bc dex thinks they should talk about these things while anteros would rather let the past stay there, for once).

like sure, these topics come up. of course they’ve talked about the explosion and the coma, it’s inevitable. but has he really told them how he struggles to recognize himself in the mirror some mornings? how sometimes things hit him all at once and he cries and vomits in the bathroom? how he sees ghosts and death omens and how julius won’t leave him alone on the rare nights he can sleep? he’s haunted by immeasurable grief, and he wants to move on finally, so how can he talk about this? why should he? why can’t they just keep looking forward? why can’t they just talk about their day, the weather, what they wanna do for their date this weekend? like anteros is a talker, he’ll tell his life story to a stranger in line, but he’s a talker on the terms that he must be the one to bring up the conversation. he won’t talk about things he doesn’t want to talk about. god knows his partners have tried to talk to him about these things, but it’s not on his terms. the problem is who knows when it’ll ever be.