GUTS dev
TW: mass death, CSA, ED, OCD, self harm, severely unhealthy relationship
asa is a bit different than the typical hotaru mold. doesn't take after zhouyu. it's like if zhouyu instead of getting aggressive when anxious just submitted silently.
(but is cunning rather than phys/verbally violent)
zy/hotaru is naturally very straightforward in many ways??? ๐ค not a lot of bends in his mind. but asa is a bit more like youko/uraume if they hid zy's ambition. and didn't have the same inferiority complex. asa is an interesting character bc they combine uraume's calm mastery and ruthless efficiency injected with a bit of ambition, but they only need a bit.
asa is like what if uraume pretended to be what kimono uraume thinks of megumi's appeal, / intentionally pitiful and innocent but actually setting traps.
it's a double arrow mutual like ไฟบใฎใใฎใ ใใ / you are my possession but guts frames it as initially one sided. it's interesting to delve into bc you'd Think that asa is "another" zy/hotaru type and fits in w that, but actually asa is closer to a version of haru (go player) that lays snares and plays the long game while actually being a large and nervous animal.
asa is a small and nervous animal with an unnatural picturesque meek looking appearance like a pitiful starving wolf with the cunning of a rabbit, but asa is very single minded and like, appears to be anxious but is internally calm and secretly ambitious
opposite of straightforward.
but asa's ambition is like, ultimately that of a servant "to be under one and above ten thousand" ie to be second to the emperor.
asa is like ๐ญ constructed from a version of zy?? that is like if u put him in a mirror and inverted him.
ultimately zy's aggression comes from fighting and fighting to be The Best and only coming in second and is extremely starved for validation and insecure and paranoid and anxious and asa is all those things as a child except as a revelation suddenly finds it suitable to "give up" on being the best, and then to Aim for second. zy wants Everyone's approval and feels like xm is Mocking him when he gives it, but asa sees Only yoru's approval as worthy of anything.
yoru is closer to suzu than xianming.
guts is like?? a sukuna and uraume story before sukuna and uraume get to the trust they have in kimono, and if they were both older when they met. so asa is more inflexible in many ways and deep rooted in certain peculiar things. yoru is also like suzu in the sense of being a dissatisfied, jaded, and distant immortal.
yoru is like a suzu that didn't meet shiragiku.
but meets an au shiragiku called shirayuki in the course of the story that opens yoru's heart in many ways...
yoru and asa start at an impasse in like this palace politics setting where yoru isn't sure what asa is aiming for but shirayuki, a child, can be a very good spy for her and also raising her opens yoru's heart to trust and affection.
(they are still fairies) shiragiku is 10-12 when she meets yoru who is 29-31 and asa is 27-28. shirayuki has a different background also and is less indifferent/steady and more playful, coaxing, which encourages yoru to be more playful bc it is a long time since yoru has been around another cat.
yoru's clan nest was exterminated, every man, woman, and child from the main and branch families down to the third generation, yoru only survived by entering the palace after catching the eye of a Horrible fairy prince, the seventh out of twelve, when she was 16 and becoming his pet until she killed him and stole his regalia / right to the throne, effectively replacing him as prince
yoru is very silly in private and likes to collect toys...
shirayuki is reserved / cautious until she discovers yoru's secret toy collection.
just like... interesting mechanical trinkets and devices with no use other than entrainment like making music boxes.
yoru likes to create miniature gardens with porcelain animals.
his little amnimals... he collects gemstones and seed pearls and rocks to put in the garden... builds a little pond with real water for his koi figurines to live...
he would like to live peacefully but has long since abandoned the thought and now has no choice to fight for a throne he doesn't want or die. bc that's the imperial struggle. you either have to become emperor or you will be killed in the process of benefiting another faction. suzu doesn't have any dealings with the imperial fairy throne and is lazy and too powerful so no one will bother with him.
suzu is straight up like what are you going to do, kill me? I'm a legend. if you kill a legend and the world can no longer benefit from my power and ability, isn't the world losing out? but yoru doesn't have that stability of reputation Yet.
yoru is no legend yet, and while she seized the regalia at 20, she has idled and delayed until 29 bc she has too much sense and no ambition, and just wants to play with her toys until she is killed in the power struggle.
she pretty much has given up until she finds another cat, not her clan member, but it has been a long long time bc of how her clan offended the emperor by their doctor being unwilling to become an imperial physician and the clan protecting him. so no cats were allowed in the palace.
until yoru picks up this stray commoner kity who clearly ran away from somewhere with nowhere to go and who tries to attack her with a dagger to seize her regalia (the teardrop necklace). yoru disarms her, hugs her and spins her around bc of how immensely joyful she is to see another cat...(during her rare outing from the capital.)
shirayuki is like what are you doing you crazy Motherfucker. I'm an adult (she's 12)
her voice is still baby...
and yoru laughs at her and takes her as a nominally a maid but truly an apprentice
guts introduces the concept of enchantments and charms and seals and curses. i.e. magic
yoru now has a reason to fight for the throne for the sake of playing toys with shirayuki.
yoru is older than shiragiku, but while 17-18 years is a lot, for fairies who basically freeze in terms of age/wisdom/maturity at 30-35, it isn't that much? it's hard to explain fairy ages, but after they freeze in age they don't really get any wiser. it's just treated like, the maximum lifespan is 35, after this point it's like, they don't mature in any way and there's no seniority after this tier. like the concept of Chinese fantasy cultivators who cultivate immortality and are 250 (25) forever.
fairies don't die naturally, they must be killed, but the birth rates are also low and the nature of fairyland is that there is always the same number of fairies in fairyland.
fairy lifespans are divided by 3 tiers, early childhood (0-9) / adolescent (10-19) / adult (20-35) and the truth is that everyone relevant basically dies before they reach middle age.