ballpyth

for one, i feel like you can tell i started shipping shakra and lace about halfway through i genuinely had to cut myself off in places. fuck hornet or whatever. but yes - i think she is very self-determined and very driven and very honest, and i think it makes her a very admirable person albeit sometimes quite blunt. i think when i look at her in silksong, despite her overall gravitas she has almost her own coming of age story? or at least, she is forced to reconcile with realizing that physical strength isn't everything, and there are several ways to be strong including through intellect and determination, and i think part of that included her mother's death which was relatively peaceful. despite my best intentions, i actually dont think i did her enough justice in the story, basically the story i developed for her and never talked about is that when she came from senegal to france, she had somewhat of a superiority complex? like... almost overly self-confident, which isn't bad and she wasnt rude about it, but she definitely looked down on other people who werent able to keep up with her (they weren't working hard enough/not determined enough/etc) and basically only respected those who did. as within silksong, shakra really doesnt get humbled or anything to learn about the circumstances of the people 'below' her, and therefore her character arc is somewhat 'uninteresting' (or at least - its very normal); she simply starts to become more observant as she is somewhat forced through class and work to grow closer to them, observing peoples different ambitions and goals and backgrounds, and is able to come to the same conclusion she came to in game. quite frankly, she simply looks inside herself and grows up. Lace meets her post this realization.

that being said, hornet was always able to keep up with shakras intellect and whatever physical skills she did (its lightly mentioned they went caving together, and they also probably biked/ran/etc as well - they were that super fit couple), and so shakra always liked her. they befriended each other bc shakras mother work with mr mushroom on his everbloom flower project; at that point, hornet was still in undergrad but had squirmed her way to his side (for lace lol) while shakra was either helping her mother or working alongside her mother. they hit it off, and were friends for a while and probably slept together before dating. i think shakra was a very good partner to have for hornet, quite frankly, bc esp. post her realization i think shakra is a very considerate person; i think she was there for hornet just emotionally, esp considering how stressful the year was with lace being post-ch2 lace and then hornet was still somewhat estranged from hollow, so home wasnt really comfortable and work was work, so i think even in friendship shakra was very much a good thing for hornet to have. i think she honestly knew a good amount about lace and hollow and Hornet's life and mother, and in turn hornet knows quite a bit about shakras personal life and goals and her derision towards those who can't quite keep up, and hornet was in turn probably, in her own way, part of the reason why shakra somewhat changed her mind, because of specifically how hornet treated lace and the other undergraduates with a lot of courtesy. and shakras not rude, shes just single-minded. but shakra got a bit more understanding, and hornet got a bit more open, and it was good for both of them. they would remain friends until shakra died. i imagine if shakra ever had children, hornet would keep an eye on them down the line.

with shakra and her mother, i actually wanted shakras backstory to somewhat mimic lace's in that she was adopted, but instead of lace's terrible traumatic treatment, shakra instead got an education, got a loving mother, friends, a good personality, charming, clever, so forth. She basically hit the jackpot and shes not even mean about it. Her mother encourages her dreams. Shakra is very autonomous. there was also meant to be a comparison between shakra being raised in the same country she was born in, whereas Lace was entirely removed and groomed into something completely different, but unfortunately shakras culturalisms didnt really translate very well and i had to cut a lot of the research i did. in an original draft, shakra and lace were supposed to be better friends before shakra/hornet dated, and therefore more of this (being senegalese culture) would have been on display, but i had to shift around my timelines to put in something else (you'll see next chapter) and so it was cut :( but i imagine shakra is very proud of her identity, but also willing to adapt and be considerate of other's mannerisms as well.

but shes very very smart!! i think she possesses a very genuine curiosity about the world she's in, thus her interest in geography and anthropology through her mother. i dont think she would care much at all about money or material possession, she definitely cares more about her relationships and like... being with people and hosting and sharing interests and things. i think once she got over her superiority complex, her curiosity naturally manifested as an intense empathy for others, which is why she ends up being well-liked. like you know those people who you talk to once and then years later they somehow still remember every detail of your conversation.

a few more: her and hornet were a noticeable height difference couple. i wish i had emphasized it more, but i didnt want to seem to romantic about it because i LOVE height differences, but there were probably at least several centimetres between them. shakra always sat down to talk to hornet. hornet would have to get on her tiptoes to kiss shakra, which probably annoyed her and she never did it in public. um.. i think shakra would have made the first move and did a lot of the convincing. i think they were a wretched couple on campus, like very perfect but also sort of very in love. im going to be honest, if it werent for lace, hornet mighttt have followed shakra to peru. maybe. it depends. but if shakra had not gone to peru they probably would have stayed together much longer, to the point where they might have even attempted long distance unlike canon yasg. 'what about lace' lace would be find shakra is (unfortunately) not immortal, so lace would have had to just learn how to be mega patient. err yes, also i have decided right now that it would take like... a decade... but shak/lace/net would have happened eventually, even if only sexual. it would be so bad and uncommunicative and toxic tbhhh, i cant explain without sounding insane. but i just have a vision ok. they would have good sex though. sorry if you didnt want to know all that i just got brainrotted with specters while finishing ch4