#inkiller

I like how @scorn-skellies said “stuck in his memory…” it really gave ink that kind of evil vibes… that’s actually the main inspiration for this piece. I really wanted to show how ink was “carving” these memories into killer, while not being very comfortable with that himself. ink has never done something like this before, so it’s also “something new” for him, too.

here’s the sketch too because I wanna talk a bit about it

originally, ink was going to be shown literally “carving” killer’s soul, but I ditched that since the pose was too awkward and I want to show a more “abrupt” way that can’t be fixed—just stabbing. it is abrupt because it is pieced together in a timeframe of one week, and it cannot be easily fixed because… yk, it’s a stab to the soul/chest. I made them hold hands to show how ink was trying to… “comfort” killer through the pain. I also changed up the dialogue “you look sad” to “you don’t look happy,” in order to give killer a pouty/criticizing tone.

I really really like what @broocksz said in the tags… ink’s plan is so absurd yet so fitting for killer… so “tailored” you said… I dunno maybe it isn’t intentional since ink has never really thought about it throughly before. ink just thought one day, “oh yeah I just realized I really like this guy and I wanna help him so baddd but it’s gotta be beneficial for me too yk hehe,” and did what he did. ink has never really experienced a lot of “unconditional love” before(he only has the two gasters and that’s it; he doesn’t consider dream because he thinks dream is only using him), so everything he does, he expects something back from it. I mean, that’s his whole purpose for being a Protector anyways.

have i mentioned that ink loves making impacts? I’d imagine it giving him a sense of pride to know that what he does, matters. especially when he could see the results clearly. he likes knowing that he isn’t invisible(anymore) and that he can make impact if he wanted to. half of the reason why ink also enjoys the one week with killer(because why would ink ever go out of his way to help someone?) is that he likes seeing killer happy. he likes making killer happy, knowing everything killer has been through. He knows how much this is affecting killer and he likes it. He likes how he is the one that is bringing something new to killer. he likes how he is shaping killer’s perceptions of the world, he likes how he is changing him, and he… but he doesn’t like how that is affecting killer(and himself) in the long run. He hates how he knows that he won’t be able to let go of killer and move on, and he hates how killer wouldn’t either. he doesn’t know how to explain this new feeling. Why would anybody not like being wanted? he has done his one week and he should be able to move on and forget about everything that has happened like he always do, so why can’t he?

just something about the trope of “knows everything about them”(ink) and “knows nothing about them”(killer). at first, killer knows nothing about what’s going on in ink’s mind, but he tries to anyways. he studied how ink acts and how he thinks. Killer loves solving puzzles, and within just one week, killer was closer to understanding ink than anyone ever was. but what killer couldn’t solve was why ink likes him. What part of him does ink like? why is he doing this for killer? they’re practically strangers, so why? kinda the same question he asks with color. killer is smart, he knew/learned what ink is doing, how he is affecting him, and he lets it happen. think about it—it’s been so long since he’s felt something new other than pain, guilt, depression, and misery, so why even try to pass off on this awesome miracle?

okay I’m yapping too much, I realized I left off a pretty big part of this au so I’ll post a timeline later, but here’s the timeline generalized:

- ink finds killer still in his au(neither can interact with each other)

- nm found killer and takes him

- color tries to help killer but failed, swearing to come back for him

- killer in nm’s control for about a few months before ink finds out

- ink gets really excited and tried to talk to killer but failed(shown in the second scene in One Week)

- nm badly injured by dream, leaving killer(not on the battlefield, he just dropped killer off in some random timeline) to an episode

- killer had a massacre in that timeline

- ink finds him(before color or dream did; shown in scene 3 in One Week) and takes him

- some time during One Week, color finds out killer is with ink and they talked(without killer’s presence somehow). ink offered to hand killer to color after the one week(in this au, ink and color knows each other beforehand. ink actually found out killer is with nm through color)

- one week ends, ink took killer to color; killer does remember color so he reluctantly left with him to the Omega Timeline

yeah that’s the rough timeline