ohhh this is an interesting read on it...! 🤔 I also agree on this person's point this is where his directness also stems from LMFAO. Though, my interpretation may be a little bit different than theirs...! ☝

This person's interpretation is more of a literal read of Lanque's diverging routes, whereas I personally interpreted the two routes as like an over-exaggerated way of expressing Lanque's moral greyness as a character. That is, he is a kind person at heart, even if he is on the surface very rude and very messily dealing with his own shit lol 😂. In Wanshi's route, she even mentions Lanque "acts like he's too cool," highly referring to the fact Lanque is very much putting up this whole composed "bad bitch" persona in front of others and he acts more naturally around her LMAO.

It's interesting this person interprets Lanque behavior as him not reading the room-- whereas, I think those particular moments aren't so much that he isn't aware of it, but more like he acknowledges and refuses to want to work with it because it's simpler for him LMFAO. I'm very much basing this off me and my other nd friends' experiences. We understand the social cues, and we get we're maybe being a little blunt that can be mistaken for 'rudeness,' but it's just simply easier for us to be straightforward rather than beating around the bush. Albeit, Lanque is definitely more of a dick about it, plus I don't think he's the type to care about playing up niceties for others. He ain't here to make friends LOL.

I think a core part about Lanque's character is that he is very keen about his own 'performance' and 'perception' around people. I read him as the kind of autistic individual where, in fact, he has a very heightened self-awareness, to a fault even. It's a lot of subtextual reading, but I definitely think Lanque's keen sensitivity about people's perception of him is a large part of his character and something that he largely concerns himself with. And that heightened self-awareness definitely ties into his transness as well!

I think the particular bit when Joey and Xefros approach him about being a male jadeblood in the cloister, I think his adrupt defensiveness speaks a lot to his character. How quick he was to get angry about it is such a clear sign that he's very quick on trying to pick up on the tells people think of him. He's had this conversation one too many times before, and he hates when people are quick to assume things about him. v_v

Anyway, i've rambled on for long enough and had to trim this answer down a lil' bit bc i think a lot of aspects of his character overlap ASLKDAL. Just know that I believe Lanque as an asian-coded, neurodivergent, transmasculine cloistered jadeblood individual all add to the same message that he struggles with how people perceive him and he wants a small glimpse of control over his own life again !!!

I love talking about my OCs!! i'm flattered that you think abt them and took the time to send an ask :'D TY!!!

I think Atacus would get along Fantastically with Wanshi and Daraya tbh!! Atacus is great with kids, they'd love to entertain and play along with Wanshi. I think Daraya would also appreciate how lax Atacus is as a supervisor. Plus, since they're practically around the same age and a rulebreaker themselves, they'd probably make for really funny friends tbh LOL.

LYNERA.... is a complicated case. I have a feeling Lynera wouldn't like them ALKJDSA. Lynera has a very high standard and specific ideal of what a "respected cloistered jade" is supposed to be that she values. I think she would hold a high disdain towards Atacus because they "sets a bad example" for others.

Since Lynera is the kind of person where she's very obvious when she does or doesn't like something, Atacus would definitely pick up on that easily. Usually, Atacus is the kind of person that if they don't like the vibes they just don't fw it and avoid it altogether lol. BUT, I'm imagining in this scenario if Atacus existed alongside as a supervisor with the other hvswp jades, they understand they have to be the responsible one in this scenario especially as Lynera is a much younger teen than them LMAO.

They'd interact with Lynera cordially and keep up their usual playful personality, and I think once Lynera gets over her initial judgement she would warm up to them. She might even come to admire them a lil' bit as I can see she's also drawn to people with very leadership-like qualities LOL.

Sorry for letting this question sit here for so long! It's actually an incredibly long and silly story LOL.

SHORTER ANSWER: I think they are both characters who are centrally themed about their fear for their supposedly unchangeable future. Lanque's response resorting to self-destruction, while Mallek's is to live in the moment. They are each other's foils but they both also want the same thing: to simply enjoy life freely as who they are with no societal pressures of who and how they should be. Upon meeting, both allowing themselves to experience the Now with each other, they realized this is a experience they don't want to lose and gave each other a reason to fight for a different future together.

LONGER ANSWER: How I STARTED shipping it was moreso a just-for-funsies crackship when only half the Friendsim routes were even out, so all of us in the fandom were just kinda having fun with the candidness of it. I was always a fan of Lanque from day 1 when he was just a yet-to-be-revealed silhouette during Troll Call, so when his design was finally shown I was ECSTATIC that I also managed to guess his character type from silhouette alone LMAO.

Lanque's route was yet to be released tho, and what officially got me hooked into Friendsim was when Mallek's route came out and I was immediately endeared to him. The crackship really did start out as just "putting my favorite characters together" and lots of speculating on dynamics. (But Every ship in Friendsim was a crackship at this point LOL. Since only half the games were out, everyone was just having fun brainstorming possibilities.)

Funny enough, when Lanque's route finally dropped and then alongside Act 2, that's when everything just started to click together for me KLSADA and then it become Oh So Real in my mind.

I know Lanque's character can be a bit hard to parse because his FS route is comedically exaggerated on purpose.. BUT, gleaning his canon personality from the mainline games and the key details of his FS route, I am very much attached to his concept as a transmasculine individual trapped in the cloister where he feels womanhood has been imposed on him and a suffocating future that he's all desperate to escape from.

He has a lived a life with filled with lies, betrayal, and deceit. His character is very central on the idea of masks. Everyone and himself putting up some kind of face, unable to be honest with themselves. It's even self-admitted in the games from Wanshi that Lanque is putting up an act. He's the person that he is because the pain, hurt, and frustration of living as a cloistered jade on Alternia made him who he is. (Of course, not to say that other trolls aren't similarly shaped by Alternia in this way, but he is conceptually very fascinating to me especially with the aspect of him being a transgender cloistered jadeblood.) So when Mallek comes along and is just...... the kind of person who is real about himself and reads Lanque so clearly even through his own mask-- it surprises Lanque.

I've always seen mlnq starting off as pitch. Not because they want to kill each other LMAO, but because it sets the stage for them. Lanque purposely doesn't care for flushed quadrants because the idea of someone loving him as is means to love him as his worst possible self. He knows he's at his worst right now. It's rare, but I think he would actually be more receptive to the idea of pitch quadrants. It would mean the other person wants to challenge him to be better, because he also hates the person he has become. Being in a pitch quadrant allows himself to be more honest with himself.

When Mallek first meets him, he sees Lanque as so obvious. This big bad bitch persona is so clearly a front, it doesn't phase Mallek at all. It becomes fun for Mallek to see with just a slight little prod, Lanque's persona would easily come apart-- he'd see the real person behind the mask. Mallek isn't even doing much but just being himself though, honestly LOL. He doesn't want anything out of Lanque, he just wants to get to know him for who he really is. Without even realizing it, Lanque would find himself being honest around Mallek. There were no more masks to be held. Mallek was like a breath of fresh air for him, and find himself drawn to him.

They're very similar to each other than either we or they themselves realize. They're both the kind of person who just want to spontaneously live life in the moment, they don't want to be held down by the future. They become each other's escapism from their impending Ordeals. To not worry about that, but to just feel joy and love in that moment. But what they realize is that they don't want this happiness to end. It motivates the both of them, they don't want to give up just here. All of this doesn't have to be just a memory!!!

I like to think that, against all odds, they end up running away together by stealing a small empire ship just before their Ordeals tries to ship them off. Their story continues off-planet, but i think i've talked enough abt my psuedo-fanfic of why i like them LMFAO.

Ik it's very fantastical, optimistic, and grandiose but it's MY fanfic in my head, and I get to choose the outcome for my own crackship ok LOL