TL;CR

[cyclists]

TL;CR MEME

1. Comment with your character.
2. Receive comments from others.
3. Reply to their comments with long ballads and explanations of your characters' relationship throughout the game.
4. Endure everyone else reading your comment like the vultures they are.

Comments

[omegathree]

me

[specialdog]

Akane loved Val so much. The first thing he had going is that he looks like a villain, which Akane likes. Her closest(?) friend(?) back home is fuckin Alexis Kerib who she sees as trustworthy despite his aggressively evil aesthetic. Uh, probably because she's evil too, but oh well.

Val also had some of the most important traits for Akane: acceptance, obedience, and wanting to see her grow. He accepted her as she was, but tried to help her when he felt she needed it - like training her with swords and encouraging her to make changes if she brought up that she was unhappy with something. And he did things that she asked. He was super easy to manipulate to the point where it wasn't really manipulation so much as just asking for stuff.

And I think Akane has such skewed perceptions of her own relationships that even when they evolve away from "haha i am sneakily manipulating to get what i want" and into "you're my friend so i can ask you when i want something," genuinely can't. Recognize that shift or distinction. But it does exist, and it did happen. Fake relationships with Akane tend to become real if you just keep at it long enough - she just might not. Realize that herself.

It definitely speaks to how highly she regarded Valvatorez that she was able to swallow down how betrayed she felt that he wouldn't lie to protect her when she did a murder. A combination of being At Her Lowest and Liking Val A Lot made it so she was. Bitter. And she's still bitter. But she also still loves Val as a very dear friend and sincerely looks forward to his text messages, and I think in time will properly forgive him. (... For not actually doing anything wrong, sorry that she's like this.)