SLASHER U: Laila Velasquez, a Retrospective (Patreon)

Laila is super near and dear to my heart as the pretty-much-only main character New England representation you're ever gonna get. (Technically Sawyer & Horsemike are from Connecticut but we don't talk about Connecticut). Laila's sad origin story is being the OG "bootstraps" victim (though don't get her STARTED on the word "victim", as a Final Girl major.), as she's pretty much just girlbossed her way through life through sheer grit and wit and never gets ANY recognition for it.

Laila's parents not only don't believe in the idea of Final Girlism being a real career, but they don't believe in Final Girls and the VERY INSTITUTION OF HORROR ITSELF, something Laila can abide less and less as she grows older. She's one of the characters with a real chance to talk to her parents as people, though, even if she does need to come to terms with the fact that they've (physically) never shown up for her like they have for Laila's siblings (four of them: doctor, lawyer, journalist, UN negotiator). Laila can conclude that she doesn't need her parents to understand her; just respect her. I'm messing with the idea that you can actively talk Laila's family into understanding her with narrative-specific nuance, and while I love that as an outcome, I'm not sure how to implement it yet for Act 2 & 3.

Something I really love designing for Laila is the "Josephine Montilyet" style fairytale romance pieces, from dressing and prepping for the big Final Girl Formal Ball, to being her Prince/Princess/Royal Consort Harming throughout the social events at school and at the hyper-competitive Final Girl Gauntlet event/competition, the framework for her main quest. I wanted to hit every sickening Cinderella-ass setpiece, from a big dance, to a staircase reveal, to grand scale romantic gestures, to Laila clamping a little "Property of Laila" trinket onto you when you two become Official Official (for my subbier subs). Laila's really a sweetie when it comes to being the top, so it's (ironically) kind of hard for me to write for vs Sawyer's serial killer top energy, but hey, I saw y'all thirst over Lady Dimitrescu, there's a part of me that isn't dead yet :V