#faetrap nyxia

Did I make a five-page comic of niche media---including character refs---just to procrastinate??? No. Who would ever be dumb enough to do that?

Additionally, Chat... I think I fucked Leshi up. He's too...twinky here. Where's the sleezeball energy??? The car salesman mixed with serial killer energy?? Sigh...

MC rambles:

Based on what we know, this is kinda how I would imagine my MC and Leshi's relationship (poly route assumed). They spend a lot of time together, a lot of playful fighting, teasing, and arguing (that only occasionally ends in sex, *see asterisk below) so Nyxia would have learned to tune those noisy-fucks out at some point.

It would add a lot of tension to make my mc ace (sex-neutral) *. He's a bit germophobic/vane, easily annoyed if relaxed, and an isolationist. The last one is good, considering he's trapped in a magical forest with no hope of ever escaping, but is a double-edged sword because he also needs his space from Leshi & Nyxia. Combining both minimal sex and a general need for space from his traumatizers can add a lot of tension (and potential dub-con) past the main story points.

But obvs he's alive and loved (if in a weird, yandere, cat-like way) so he has his good traits. He is very affectionate when the mood strikes him, and even when he's not in the mood to be touched, he does spend a lot of quality time with them or spends his alone time making very earnest gifts for them.

Poly route, along with being the one I'm most looking forward to, would (MAYBE) give everyone the best ending. It gives both Nyxia and Leshi a buffer for boundary-infringing, toxic sex with each other instead of putting all that emotional (and physical) labor on MC. It gives MC the space and time he would need to regulate himself. But I imagine he thinks he's alone way more than he actually is, yandere and all.

This is getting long, but I would like to note that my MC character design is supposed to look like a combination of Leshi & Nyxia in some respects. Its not very clear here, nor are the reasons behind it, so I'll make better art that shows this later.

So I mentioned in my last FaeTrap post my MC design is supposed to look like a combination of Leshi and Nyxia, and here is my final design of my Mc. It felt in-theme to give him a semi-mythology related name, and I love me some good symbolism, seeing as the Iliad's fresh in my mind rn.

With color palate, Xanthus has complementary colors compared to Leshi & Nyxia, which are monochromic for the most part. Every color is either a blue-green (Nyxia) or a red-orange (Leshi). I considered also making him monochromic so the three of them would form a triad, but that gives too complete of an impression. All colors in a triad are in equal standing of each other, and without any one of them, it's not a triad. That isn't how I want to portray their relationship. But by having Xanthus use complementary colors of Nyxia and Leshi, it shows just how full of conflict Xanthus is, and it helps bring Nyxia's and Leshi's color schemes together without becoming an equally fitting part, if that makes sense.

I've pointed out all the main ways Xanthus looks like L&N in my reference. With him, part of what kept him alive was his resemblance to both of them.

He's not a good person. It would be a lot more depressing if he was just an innocent guy unfortunate enough to get trapped in the Fae Realm. Instead, it's more like karmic justice LOL. Basically, he was a serial cheater. He was struggling to connect with anyone on a deeper lever, and instead of putting the work in, he would just ghost them or cheat. Not even the dignity of a breakup. He was just playing chess with side pieces. The only person he truly "loved" was Laurel. Partly its bc he's asexual, very avoidantly attached, has a complicated gender relationship, and partly from trauma like the rest of us have.

Basically, I picture it like this:

Karmaaaaaaaa. (*Size difference emphasized for comedic effect*)

He doesn't lie, per se, but does a lot of lying by omission. He tells the full truth only if pressed. Obviously, neither Nyxia nor Leshi would be fond of that, especially at the beginning. But by looking like a harmless version of the other one, they (at least Nyxia) would be less inclined to murk him. Keeping him alive, especially at the beginning, would be a good way to take out their toxic feelings towards each other on someone who couldn't fight back.

But I REALLY didn't want him to like a fan child. I did things like inverting Leshi's eye color, making him very pink (instead of black accents) and really just making sure nothing was too directly similar. Making his teeth yellow (a good way to symbolize poverty/poor health in a character; I'm shocked it isn't more commonly used) is also a strong contrast from their pearly whites. I added a tattoo sleeve to help make it clear he's a full adult. American traditional style because, a, its old, and, b, it's my fav.

So recently I played this VN (by @faeelure) and I really enjoyed it. So, when doing some figure drawings, I decided to draw the characters and design an MC (trans guy fyi). Possibly OOC? Lol I tried to keep this pg, so that's partly why. Also, we don't know much about Leshi yet, so I'm making some educated guesses on his personality?? He just looks so cool I couldn't not draw him.

Also I just remembered Nyxia doesn't speak with contractions. Please ignore that!!

Also, backpain. I imagine that came after the, cough cough, questionable things that happened to the MC he's left with some chronic pain, even if this isn't Nyxias route. Okay I'll stop now.

Rambles below:

OH MY GOD THIS TOOK FOREVER. Before I got to this final draft, I did two others where I got halfway through the rendering state before deciding. Nah. And starting over.

I talked in my Xanthus (MC) face ref about some character design decisions, but I couldn't really picture it fully without actually working it out on paper (or computer). Monochrome vs complimentary palate, size difference, contrast, etc etc. Xanthus isn't actually that short but compared to the two of them he sure looks like it.

I hope it's clearer why Leshi and Xanthus might have some unresolved, mutual envy of each other considering Xanthus, as a trans man, wouldn't really want to look how he looks (relatable) and to some extent Leshi wants to be more human (aka weaker and thinner).

Speaking of which, Leshi was a big reason why I kept deleing my work >:( I kept drawing him too stiff and too friendly looking. I took some minor creative liberties to make him fit my style better.

There was a story behind this at one point, but I can't remember it. I DO remember wanting to add a png of that homophobic dog by Xanthus's face. Oh well.