#minx lore

[gastriel]

i love all your shipkids… minx is so cute to me

thank you!!! im so happy to see Minx getting some good reception as well, she was the most fun to design and overall has the biggest most funest personality to write. A very confident and very friendly gal with an obsession for animal print (her outfits literally CANT go without it! or her hat and signature scarf!)

Minx (lust x swap)

[maelkirr]

When I first started seeing pictures of Angel and Minx, I mistook them for each other because they both had fair colouring and similar frames. Now I can tell Minx is smaller, and blonde haired to Angel’s white. Personality-wise they’re also so different. Also their scars! What other differences are there between the both of them?

I'm not sure if this is just the most unfortunate typo or the most unfortunate mixup, but Minx is the white-haired one, and Angel is the blonde one! Gulp....

OTHERWISE, that's so interesting that you mix them up, I would never expect that! Maybe it's because I pass them both around to like three different characters all the time since I'm a multishipper even with my own OCs.

I'm about to post a chart soon of the main casts' body types, heights, skin tones, and other random shit, but Minx is sharper, slightly taller, bony, and a diva. Angel is very soft and small! I especially think of him having tiny hands. It's actually pretty hard to draw the size difference of him and Taushin that I imagine, but I try.

Their personalities are SO different, oh my god. Other than their baseline traits.... hmmmmm. Minx is a big pout and a crybaby, while Angel rarely cries unless he's frustrated. Usually, Angel's biggest reason for crying is not being able to talk well when he wants to say something important! He'll also cry if he thinks he's made a mistake or hurt somebody. Minx just cries about everything, but he's especially sensitive to rejection.

They both have Taushin's brand, but Angel's is on his inner pelvis/hip area, and Minx's is on his ribcage.

Minx has quite a lot of fears and insecurities that are dictated by external validation, while Angel is very anchored by Taushin's opinion and can't be swayed much by bullying. Angel doesn't really see himself as a person, so if someone hates him, he tries to leave them alone. Minx, on the other hand, will go after that person tirelessly, trying to convince them that he's whatever they want him to be. He's drawn more to people that hate him than people that love him.

Minx is unstable in his identity, so he clings to ideal behaviors that are sometimes nonsensical. For instance, Nischal once told him he looked good in pink because of it matching his eyes, so now, ALL Minx wears is pink, or he won't feel pretty. He hates the scars on his legs, but Taushin makes him expose them. For Angel, his body is not even a thought in his head. Nudity is natural, and if I were to draw a picture of Angel from his own perspective, it would be an animal or an entity, not a human. The scars on his back make him feel closer to Taushin since they're a mark of affection to him, so he's more than happy to have them exposed.

That's all I can think of to say for now! They're drastically different in nearly every way possible, but I tried to list the most interesting and non-spoilery facts. I wanted them to be a stark contrast to each other in the rewrite!

[maelkirr]

what character did complete 180 or changed the most since you started writing DWD

why did you want to write a prequel to DWD, and not make it a first book in a duology. is it for the sake of story mystery?

does the Prequel has a title yet?

i saw a title page you did love love love love love it!!! is the published books will have illustrations?

1) MINX. Emery got some tweaking as well, but Minx's character used to be a misguided caretaker who loved Angel platonically. I was trying to create the sort of Abuser/Victim/Victim dynamic where victim 2 holds hands with victim 1 while he gets abused, you know what I mean? And they're forced into sexual situations together when they don't like each other that way. But then the story felt bland because I had too many caretaker characters, and I needed more variety. Emery was almost the same way. Now they're on a different spectrum and arc! 

2) Yes, sort of! The way it works out will make the prequel FAR more interesting than it would be as a first book. This is mainly due to dramatic irony (readers knowing something the characters don't). You know how the psychology of fanfic works? Where you already know characters and so you'll read almost anything with them doing things together? That's another element I want to use for the prequel. It'll be a record of Taushin and Angel's origin, meeting, and shared trauma, which as the author I know will be interesting, but as a first book, people would see as just another master/slave story. DWD is objectively the more unique concept, since the master/slave couple are tangled inside an enemies-to-lovers threeway, and there are politics involved and all that. I think readers will agree once they see what I have in store!

3) IT DOES..... a very sneaky working title that would mean nothing to you guys, but I want it to play into the whole dramatic irony concept! 

4) Oh thank you! I'm not sure if you mean the OLLLLLDDDD book cover concept I drew during the first version of the story, but I'm so glad you loved it. YES, THERE WILL BE ILLUSTRATIONS! I've said before, but I'm still working on how to do it. I think the plan is either two versions: illustrated and not illustrated, since I'm already nervous enough about the pricing for this novel length, or a separate art book with chapter illustrations and bonus stuff!

[maelkirr]

Could you share about the relationship between Minx and Jaguar?

This is actually such a tough one, since I'm forced to sideline Minx/Jaguar VERY hard in the main story, due to Emery being the only POV, which limits Minx interactions to him, mostly. I want to talk about them without "spoiling" anything, but the issue is that they don't appear in the book enough to actually spoil much more than background lore...

However, if the book is interesting to enough people, I wondered about writing a side novella about Minx and Jaguar, since they're not in the prequel book at all! It would be fun to exercise my empathy muscles for my least favorite character type aside from Emery.

Here's what I CAN tell you about them:

Jaguar is the head of Taushin's harem. There's certain politics that go on there, so a lot of the stronger Pets - if they're not the submissive type - are relegated to protector roles, in case it's necessary to fend off intruders or get their companions out of situations. Some smaller Pets link up with bigger ones if they're trying to avoid bullying or gain power. There aren't many of them, though, so they're a hot commodity!

Jaguar, being the most respected Pet on Gailda since he belongs to the people's princess (Nischal, the Second Regal), watches over everybody. Minx is one of the biggest trouble-makers. Wherever he goes, something is bound to happen, so you can imagine how they ended up gravitating towards each other. Minx creates chaos wherever he goes, and Jaguar is forced to fix it or watch until it's over. Minx's chaos isn't always BAD, since most people fall for his pathetic charm, but it's still chaotic, so Jaguar has to clean up after him a lot.

There are more mysterious circumstances that made them closer, but Minx is resistant to Jaguar's care, so Jaguar is the one with the bigger interest. He's very passionate about Minx!

Minx willfully ignores his expressions of love in response, but he has the insatiable sex drive of a rabbit, so he can never say no when it's being offered. Plus, having a big boyfriend who's in charge of the harem is a biggg advantage politically.....

Thank you for asking about them! I'd really like to draw their story some more, but Jaguar is the hardest for me, so it sucks that I'm not better at muscles.

<3

[maelkirr]

I'm fascinated by Minx. He's so interesting to me. I really liked him in the available chapters. Very intriguing character, quite difficult to see through him, very mysterious!

Any more details you can share about him? :)

SURE! -I fucking hate that bitch

JUST KIDDING SORRY...............Let me give you details about how much I didn't expect EVERYBODY to like him and talk about him the way they do. I know there's only seven chapters available to the public, but I've been through plenty of beta readers that taught me what the general opinion of Minx will probably be when the whole story is released. Which is SO helpful, because I needed to make sure I don't neglect him as a character in any way.

I wrote Minx and Emery both as "character types I personally don't like but work too well for this story" and "characters I would love for people to hate along with me, if they want". And then, after about 5 different beta readers in the hatch who have all joined hands in solidarity about Minx being their skrunkly or something, I was aghast, horrified, and utterly disappointed. WHERE IS THE ANGEL LOVE??? What do you mean you like brats??? Who the fuck likes brats? Not me! (Literally everybody likes brats) So I hated him even more. But only because I was worried he was outshining my beautiful, beloved, perfect baby Angel.

By the way, you know who else hates brats? Taushin. He's becoming my shameless self-insert more and more every day.

BUT FINE. HERE ARE SOME MINX FACTS (deep down, I still love him, so thank you for asking!):

-he's originally from Ísarr, like Nischal

-extremely needy in all forms of the word, and has a hard time seeing others past his neediness.

-sexual drive is out of control because of the trauma inflicted during Pet training, which is very recent to the storyline of Dancing With Death. He is not a well-trained or long-time Pet 😶‍🌫️

-afraid of thunderstorms and being burned

-quite literally CANNOT be satisfied no matter how much is given to him

-extremely insecure about the burn scars on his legs because he puts most of his value in looking pretty. Taushin is aware of this, so he makes sure Minx's scars are always exposed.

-does NOT take rejection well

-is obsessed with Taushin, but never learns how to actually get his approval, so is stuck in a loop of making Taushin hate him more.

-is deeply loved by Jaguar, but can't accept it because the love is too easy to get

-even though he's branded and owned by Taushin, he's grouped in with hospitality Pets - the ones given over to guests who visit from different isles. Because of this, he's well-liked by the other harem Pets.

-had an upbringing full of neglect

-due to his personality, it's impossible to tell when he's being sincere

[maelkirr]

I saw the charts you made of the DWD characters, and I am curious about Minx... how does it work for him, having his thighs be included as an erogenous zone, and yet also be a please no touchee area for him?

I'm not sure if you mean "how does it work" as in logically or "how does it work" as in his response to it, so I'll answer both!

The erogenous zones are not things the characters can control, so they don't align with where they do or do not like to be touched. It's the same for Taushin.

As far as how Minx's works, I think he's always been proud of how his thighs look. Before the scars, being touched there was as good as anywhere else. Now that he has scars that show his master's displeasure with him to everybody, he's deeply ashamed of people looking at or touching them. But Minx is also someone who thrives in attention of all kinds, humiliation not excluded. Actually, humiliation preferred. LMAO. That guy KNOWS how pathetic he is, he just can't help it.