What Is Love? | My Inner Demons x Reader

My standard ramblings about MID (+prologue preview)

So, a few little updates about my progress. I just had such a busy last week and weekend but I've been trying to plot and scheme for this story as I do (such as on a 2 hour round trip car ride and at a bar ig? because I'm excited for this series too). More or less, this is just a thought dump because it's not necessarily covering a specific topic of my planning lol, hope you guys can enjoy it anyways

Firstly, I'm choosing to do multiple POVs still because ultimately, it seems like more people wanted that and I think it would be more fun to explore more characters' internal monologues. Especially because getting to write for the Daemos in this perspective just seems fun and I think it can help add depth to their characters. That's always been one of my biggest criticisms of the original is that the characters feel fairly flat to me. Like, obviously there's more going on that's alluded to, like Pierce's feelings of guilt, Noi's simultaneous desperation to get "stronger" while being so easily attached to things that supposedly make him weak, etc etc. It might be a little harder to get their voices right but I want to try my best to make them in character yet more three dimensional.

I've also been trying to map out the progressions of relationships between the MC and their love interests. This is to say, how they are at the start, how they will be by the end, and what points in the story make these dynamics shift. Using Ava as an example, she starts by viewing MC as her crush and best friend, and that will probably stay consistent through the story. However, there will still be progression because the story will start with Ava feeling as though she cannot do much without the MC, even as the MC lives their life without "needing" Ava. That's the sort of relationship I'm intending for them to have, and shifting within this dynamic will impact both Ava and the MC's character development.

One question about this though is what points in the story will these changes happen? I've considered making it the same as my first version during the separate routes (ex: the outings after going to the park doesn't work, the one-on-ones after Ava and MC find the spell pool). However, I don't want these progressions to be fully contingent on whether or not you guys choose to read certain routes. Like, I don't want Asch to be unchanged throughout the story just because you wanted to read Leif's route first. So thinking beyond the routes, when do you guys think the Daemos and MC would get closer? The changes don't even have to be big, it doesn't necessarily need to be stranger to friend to crush or whatever. I just want to know where you all think some of these shifts would happen.

(Also, I want more route chapters because it's fun!)

I've also taken into consideration how I plan to differentiate how the Daemos treat Ava and MC (including as dynamics change). One of the biggest points of this is, during the part where the Daemos are all trying to court Ava because they think she's a princess, what will they do for Ava that feels performative and what will they do for the MC that feels real? These don't need answers right now necessarily, but I thought it would be an interesting question to share (that being said, please answer it if you have thoughts, I'd love to know!)

Another thing has been re-evaluating and expanding on the Daemos' relationships with each other. This part has been so funny to me because it's like, wow Leif doesn't get along with anything and actually he doesn't even want to be here. I wrote that he was closest to Pierce and Noi which is kind of sad actually because Pierce is his sparring partner who's consistently preventing him from doing stupid shit and Noi acts like a brother but they also don't get along well, with constant bickering and such. Rhys has also been a funny one because no one can tell me he doesn't have s superiority complex. Asch and Pierce are fine by Rhys's standards (for Asch, it's mostly because he has to be lol) and Rhys thinks very little of Leif and Noi. The disrespect is real. These kinds of relationships make it extra obvious to me that Asch was pulling the strings in this group. He has something to gain from having them all around without a doubt, but the result is a group that doesn't respect each other all that much and is constantly fighting and threatening each other. I truly cannot wait to write them

I've been writing a lot about the MC's lore because there's a lot to it. I don't really want to make them like Ava, not nearly as much as they were in my first version. Instead, I think a good separation between MC and Ava would be how they interact with people. MC starts the story graduating from college, so it seems unrealistic to just be like "yeah, they had no friends from school at all." Maybe they are still a little socially awkward but because of their work, I'm planning to reimagine them as someone who likes people and likes to learn about people. I feel like this could help give them an in with the Daemos too because, though they wouldn't like the Daemos at first, I think it would be interesting for them to get to a point where they start actively trying to learn about their world, their powers, their culture, and even just them as people. Also, I want them to be like actual friends with Lorelai because genuinely what's so bad about Lorelai anyways lol, I feel like Ava doesn't like Lorelai because she can't be like Lorelai. But Lorelai was never really bad to Ava, so I don't think MC would have a reason to actively dislike her.

Lastly, I want to share a brief draft of the prologue. Please take it with every grain of salt because this is definitely not complete or particularly good, it's more just an attempt to get my ideas on the page before really refining anything. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for all the support!

-Rain 🫶

Prologue

The General of Daemos' son was just born, but no one would know it, because he was out in the forest with his army, murdering humans for their souls by order of the King.

Better yet, he was removing another man's chance to see his child born. Riven had worked so hard to find an escape, him and his daughter, so that the baby he and his wife were expecting would never have to suffer as humans on Daemos often did. They succeeded, he had been on his way home to them, to seek out a new world that was hopefully safer.

Fate was so cruel. He had been so close.

His wife turned her head away, hand trembling over her stomach. His daughter was grim, but she stared for a long time at the General, from their hidden little home, memorized his face, capable of such cruelty. She didn't pray for her father, but she knew the Daemos nobility should pray she never returned to this world.

"Come on now, mom," she spoke softly, standing up on her toes to try and shield the older woman's eyes. "The portal will close soon." Gently, she guided her mother from her horror, her grief, through the glowing light and away from their home, where just outside, her love had been reduced to blood stains and a glowing soul.