TW for thread: talking about teacher AU, specifically why "evil Lio" doesn't do it for me. disclaimer that this is just me musing over my own tastes and no shade against anyone involved w that AU or similar ones! i support creative freedom of expression 100%

ok with that out of the way: i was thinking about my distaste for "sadistic/evil Lio" content in a little more detail today, and came to some interesting conclusions. Cause at first I thought I just didn't enjoy it bc i prefer Lio whump to Galo whump.,-

-and also because I don't particularly care for the 2 of them hurting one another instead of a 3rd party doing the whump. But I've come to realize that evil Lio actively squicks me in a way other gllio noncon does not.-

- And I think it's because the core of Lio's appeal for me is his goodness and nobility. He's a jaded idealist, he's been through hell but he's still gonna fight for what he believes is right.-

Even roleswap AU w FF Governor Fotia can have some elements of this, he becomes a well intentioned extremist, similar to Kray but w some different motivations. he can still be horrible ofc! but that core is recognizable still. -

So any AU that takes that away from Lio entirely - makes him enjoy violence & causing pain, at least without significant context abt how he got that way... it stops feeling like Lio to me, at least not the Lio I love so much. -

(And variations on teacher AU which give Lio more context - make him more of a broken version of canon idealist Lio - are ones I can actually enjoy, i'm sure partly bc they also involve more Lio whump lmao)

Anyway I have no real point to this, just thought it was interesting to figure out where my squick came from when other, similar content didn't bother me at all.

if anyone who's into that AU made it this far into a thread where i (sorta) complain about it, i'd be rly curious to hear what the appeal is for you! (i recognize that 'mean lio make my pp hard' is a valid answer tho LMAO)