#mallo

Mallo, name being a play off the name Maltese Tiger (cuz blue tiger hephephephephep), is a beast. Prone to violent fits of rage that usually result in a LOT of property damage, I can only imagine that dealing with her somehow makes any shenanigans Jax pull seem like a walk in the park.

While these outbursts never last longer than 30 minutes at the most, they usually end with Mallo exhausted and full of regret (not that she'd let you know this), or worst case scenario, her heart starts to give out on her. After all those levels of anger and physical exertion aren't good for you. The years of cocaine addiction probably don't help either. 🤷

As you can see, the opinions chart is a little... Hectic. Mallo has complicated feelings about a lot of her fellow inmates and keepers. New colors had to be added! I forgot to do what I think everyone else thinks of her but I guess no matter what it is just assume there's always an undertone of fear somewhere in there, cuz let's be real, Mallo is a risky and dangerous person to be around.

Let's expand on that with some Mallo insight!

Kinger: "Dude is not all there. Yet sometimes he is? I don't get it, it doesn't make sense. Nice enough old codger though... B̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ s̶u̶r̶e̶.̶.̶.̶ Whatever, I don't have beef with him, he can do whatever he wants."

Kinger has once again been hit by the father figure beam, and Mallo holds no ill will against him! The most open Mallo has been with anyone, despite the followed threats of tearing his face off if he lets anything they talk about slip to anyone else. Surprisingly has gotten Mallo to actively use anger management methods, with mixed success but progress has still been made.

Jax: "It used to be fun, then it all broke apart. I can't fix it. I can fix machines. Strong things. Not small things, not delicate things. Me and him only know how to be worse."

Her relationship with Jax is... Complicated. They never would have gotten on so well, at least not if Ribbit hadn't been the one to reach out first. Oh they were all a little gang of problem kids, who didn't care about nothing or nobody but each other! When Ribbit went, of course it all fell to pieces. Progress that Mallo had been making began to relapse, grief ate at her. And well, it's not like Jax to know when to quit poking a bear. Mallo attacked him, and while a worse outcome was avoided in time, Mallo was restrained and isolated and Jax had barely walked away with deep bruises around his neck and some shallow cuts to one side of his face. It's been tense ever since. Though with Jax being half abstracted now, Mallo is conflicted with keeping away out of anger and for his safety, or burying the hatchet and attempting to reach out again.

Pomni: "Found her annoying in the beginning. All this "weh weh weh I'm not siiiick I wanna leeeeave" s**t, like girl welcome to the torment nexus, f**king deal with it! But... I guess she's fine now. She's got this spark in her, and I can respect that."

Mallo and Pomni within a relatively short time got into a scrap with each other. Real David and Goliath situation, and Mallo got her shit rocked rather good before she could really get her claws on the little clown. Thankfully Caine and Zooble intervened before it could get anymore out of hand, but a solid punch to her nose and one nosebleed later, Pomni has earned the respect of the tiger. Occasionally Mallo still makes threats, but has yet to actually mean or act on them.

Caine: "Just another AI dog doing Dr. Pervert's bidding. No thoughts, no feelings, no ability to think for itself. I don't know why I thought it was different..."

Mallo is not easy to get along with, less so if you try to put yourself in a position of authority over her. It also doesn't help that arriving in the hospital while you're still tripping and having teeth and eyes be the first thing you see, just booming a voice at you? She decked him into next Wednesday that first day. (No hard feelings about that initially, it was just a reflex.) Mallo found Caine annoying at first, and would make things difficult no matter what sort of punishment she was threatened with. Though, for a bit there, he seemed to break through and start to seem more... Human? Things became less hostile. She tolerated him, hell even liked him for a bit! Until the Escape Game. All progress made was wiped away, and set further back than square one. To her, Caine is nothing but a stupid, unfeeling machine running on broken code. It's uncertain if things can be repaired between them.

Gangle: "I'll be real, I straight up didn't notice her for like a year before she sat near me in art therapy. Her fragile nature kind of annoyed me at first. But she's... Not that bad. A real wet blanket sometimes but she's okay... Made me aware of something called Yuri? Shares her work with me sometimes, but I think my own art scares her."

Gangle and Mallo are art pals. Mallo finds the ribbon girls yapping somewhat comforting, even if she has no idea what a Black Butler or a Evangelion is. (In truth, she would probably enjoy a lot of more serious anime like Ghost in the Shell or Paranoia Agent if she could watch them.) Naturally they have art therapy together a lot, and Mallo is surprisingly supportive of Gangles artistry, though Gangle is unsure if she can say the same, what with every new horror/paralysis demon Mallo ends up sketching or painting.

Ragatha: "Confuses me. She's just... So d**n soft and sweet, all the time to everyone! Even me, when I sure as s**t don't deserve it. She meets my sharp edges with that same gentleness and... What if she cuts herself on me?! Ugh!!!! What the hell is happening to me, I sound f**king crazy..."

Another case of Mallo initially finding her fellow patients softness and fragility annoying. And yet, despite her rotten attitude and propensity towards acting like a monster, Ragatha still tries to be kind to her. Following her falling out with Jax, and a lot of sedation and anger management tactics later, Mallo began to let herself get close to the doll, and even became attached to her. After some time, Mallo had come to the conclusion that if ANYTHING happened to Ragatha, she would kill everyone/thing in this simulation and then herself. But that's nothing new for Mallo. To die for anything, to kill for anything. But for Ragatha? She would be kind for her...

Zooble: "I don't know. One day they're cool and everything's fine between us, the next they're just another dog for Dr Abel. I don't know how to feel! Why won't they fight back more! Why are they so... So used to this! Complicit!!! It's disgusting! Fight harder! Please fight harder. I see how tired you are but please... I can't be the only one fighting..."

Mallo's feelings are complicated when it comes to Zooble. She knows they're trying to do right by everyone else, trying to take care of everyone and be HUMAN with everyone. It's not unnoticed or unappreciated, but Mallo is guilty of black and white thinking sometimes. If you're going to fight against an oppressor you should be ready to get hurt, be ready to die for it. And because Zooble realistically isn't that self destructive, it frustrates her.

Abel: "You. I hate you. My enemy. My fated end. I will find a way to kill you, I don't care how many times I seek you out, how much you hurt me. Burn me. Shock me. Cut me. Plunge your cold metal into my very being and try to unravel and unmake who I am. I see you, my enemy. And I will destroy you. I will take you into my very being if it means my own destruction meant you could feel pain and fear. Let's go. I throw my life away, you throw your life away. I hate you, let's die."

DR. ABEL'S BELOTHED... 2!!!!

Mallo, as you can see, experiences frankly Shakespearean levels of hatred for Abel. Levels of hatred that would make AM blush. She hates that he is the warden of this prison, that he is another AI incapable of feeling anything even LESS to the degree of Caine, that he would dare seek to hurt those who are already hurting enough, and for being a glorified calculator. For a while there, Mallo was throwing herself into Abel's office, either by getting sent there as punishment or by actively seeking it out in the abandoned wing. Nothing seemed to phase her, until a combination of prodding at her trauma with fire/burning and a promise that any further visits would result in a target being placed on her little friends *cough*especiallyherfavoriteragdolly*cough*. Mallo is not broken, but she hates herself for not fighting more. But she doesn't want to hurt anyone else, especially not Ragatha. Fighting is all she knows, what do you do when you just can't?

---