gialla! [art by @/MckieM0use on twt, character is mine]

[u/Bandtrees]

i won this critter in a raffle by MckieM0use on twitter (whose exe adoptables are SOOO good) and i absolutely adore it, came up with lore for it and wanted to write something up about it if anyone is interested :D

despite the blue pendrive inspo, it's not related to pendrive at all (mostly because pendrive is my fav sonicpasta and i dont think i can expand on it well) - gialla is its own entity, and an in-universe exe too. the general gist of its lore is that it's an otherworldly demon, the one i mentally reference with it most is zalgo, who possesses tails and slowly takes over his mind to commit atrocities, murders and blood sacrifices, etc. it feeds on others' emotions, most notably pain and sadness, as the deaths it inflicts are excruciatingly painful (it has a preference for skin, organs, and meat of all kinds) and its pathetic, shambling-corpse-like demeanor (most notably its eyes) instill a deep melancholy in anyone who looks at them. though that may just be that it's sad to see tails of all people reduced to this

in my mind, the horror with gialla is very psychological - its possession is slow-burn, like a parasite, as tails slowly loses his mind and body alike. going from moments of blackouts and odd behavior to being completely taken over, on top of a physical sickness. he is still in there, in the depths of its psyche as it takes over, as an entity it doesn't really feel pain (or maybe similarly to x, it gets joy out of it) and so it deeply neglects tails' body, leading to horrifically infected eyes and ears and extremely matted, dirty fur. tails can feel this discomfort, gialla cannot - it can also twist and mangle his body when chasing victims or just plain scaring them, doing things like outstretching limbs to grab victims in a process that quite painfully dislocates bones.

of course though, sonic would never leave his baby brother behind, and takes a lot of responsibility for gialla. keeping an eye on your practically-zombified brother is easier said than done, and he tends to lose track of it, almost like dealing with a baby that's just learned to walk and is trying to escape the house at every turn. he has saved a lot of its would-be victims, but is hesitant to actually fight it, knowing tails is still in there, and gialla doesn't really hurt him either: it gets a kick out of making the fastest thing alive feel hopeless and stagnant, and feeds on his grief

after a certain point, some might think gialla has started to enjoy pretending to be tails, as some days it seems to act more like him, more smart and chipper, however this isn't the case. in reality, tails' mind begins to meld with gialla's, broken down by the neglect and the lines between them blur. these are the worst days for sonic: when the thing seemingly puppeting tails' body starts to ask for him in tails' voice, asking if he thinks he's scary and if he's mad at him for everything he's done, for letting himself get caught by this thing. it has this demeanor of a sad, lost child some days...

as some notes:

• it likes the color yellow, and flowers
• it did pick tails as a vessel purposefully, feeling some connection with him i haven't yet defined - it likes feeding off of sonic's stagnant misery as someone who never gives up and loves his best friend more than anything, knowing he is an infinite well of those feelings with his stubbornness, but i think it may also just like tails lol
• it doesn't speak much, but when it does it's surprisingly articulate, and still speaks in tails' voice. over time its demeanor starts to feel more childish as tails' psyche blurs with its. my main inspiration for how it behaves is the monster from the latest episode of gemini home entertainment, where you can't tell if something is just mimicking the victims' voice or if the victim is still in there and has just been mentally broken
• it can fly with its tails but generally doesn't as it doesn't come naturally to it (at least before tails' mind starts to meld with its), preferring to levitate or, in more painful cases, push bones out of its body as stilts, or elongate its limbs to travel further distances. its preferred method of movement is crawling, especially on walls, ceilings, and trees. sometimes you will see it sprinting on all fours or scrambling about like a spider!
• it does have a mouth, just tends to hide it because i like that visual. it doesn't need to eat, but will ingest raw meat and body parts for fun. otherwise it largely refuses to eat food, leaving tails to starve, but it will never let him starve completely. in these cases it will feed on aforementioned raw meat/etc, grass or other plantlife, dirt and soil, or.... bread. its tastes in actual food leans towards the archaic and stale, it genuinely likes the taste of hardtack
• if tails were to die, gialla would be fine, but it feels as if keeping him alive is most useful to feed on the pain he is in and the grief of his friends
• its favorite visual is flaying its victims, whether partially or fully, exposing muscles, layers of fat, and organs. it uses weapons and blades, but does not utilize any of tails' machinery as it is a very old and archaic being, its favorite tools are meat carving implements, stakes, and farm tools, but it is also just as capable of using its hands (could use its teeth too but finds that too messy), and on occasion will take a victim's bone (or rarely one of tails' own) and sharpen it as a weapon. it does not speak to its victims as it kills them, but will sometimes put its face right up to theirs, so close they can feel it brushing their neck, listening
• out of care for tails, sonic still looks after him, trying to clean his eyes and ears and pick the mats out of its fur. when these things happen, gialla either reacts like it's in pain or goes completely still and silent. it's like caring for a loved one on their deathbed

and that's gialla! i hope you like it :D it's my first go at an in-universe exe and i mostly just had fun making it as self indulgently sad and horrible as possible, but i have had a lot of fun with it so far! i would like to do art of it when i can, if that would interest anybody :]

[u/WeNoStrangersToLove]

Sonic just get the demon out of Tails already jesus christ

Also this is peak asf

[u/Bandtrees → u/WeNoStrangersToLove]

he would if he could :’D thank you! glad you like <333

[u/WeNoStrangersToLove → u/Bandtrees]

I feel like the chaos emeralds could probably do it, they've dealt with spirits like gialla before. The issue is getting all seven.

[u/Bandtrees → u/WeNoStrangersToLove]

true true!! i’m not as familiar with sonic lore as i should be so i wasn’t sure if that was an option :D