#totally platonic ladybro soulmates

[illyrilex]

Contemplating and bemoaning respective tournament losses. At least they have each other. (Special thanks to AdorkaStock for providing the pose ref!)

[illyrilex]

Inspired by the photo below, I spun a little scenario in which King and Mary are at an event having a candid convo (as besties do), but get interrupted by a photographer, so King decides to troll said photographer with what she later says is her best impression of Benimaru.

[illyrilex]

Supportive Bestie (Take 2)

Redrew this because I decided I didn't like the OG version. Mary went largely unchanged except for a few details but King was redone from scratch. Anyway, this references Chapter 2 of Aftershocks, in which Mary does some violence.

Bonus: It exists.

[illyrilex]

Inspired by another post at the Bad Place, here's a dumb doodle of King protecting Mary versus Mary protecting King.

[illyrilex]

More Bestie Brainrot

King is very supportive of her bestie. Based on this:

[illyrilex]

Dorks.

[illyrilex]

In case the illyverse dynamic these two have isn't clear...

[illyrilex]

Happy New Year from these two inebriated nerds~ ✨

[illyrilex]

Chuds.

A redraw of a redraw of a redraw of the Toy Story meme, just... tailored to fit my needs.

[illyrilex]

Taking a little break from art. See you in a bit~

[illyrilex]

Caught off-guard by the sudden use of her actual name, King blinked a few times before taking a tiny step back. This woman was like some kind of psychological ninja; it was like every single thing she did or every single word she said was designed to worm its way into King's head for the express purpose of making her let her guard down. And as much as she hated to admit it, it was working. With a defeated sigh she crossed her arms over her chest (which looked quite silly thanks to her overly long sleeves) and plopped down onto the bench.

"Don't call me that." "Why not? Don't tell me it's because you have a certain image to uphold…?" "I…"

King trailed off. She furrowed her brow as Mary lowered herself onto the seat next to her, that odd sadness of hers back in full effect.

"We've both been playing bullshit parts," she sighed while folding her hands in her lap. "But the difference is that you don't have to anymore… King."

________________________________________________________ A redraw of a VERY old piece depicting a scene from Silver Lining, which takes place right after the events of the first Art of Fighting and delves into King and Mary's first meeting.

[illyrilex]

KOFtober at the Bad Place has kicked off with “Favourite characters.”

Absolutely no one should be surprised by how much I adore these nerds.

[illyrilex]

About the King and Mary Bestie Brainrot...

Idk who needs to hear this but I do not ship King and Mary romantically. They are the bestest of fucked up bros, close as can be but that's it, man. Like... I even tag them as the Ultimate Brotp and Totally Platonic Ladybro Soulmates. How on earth does anyone actually associate romance with those words? I don't get it.

[illyrilex]

The King, Mary, and Bestie Brainrot are too real.