Jesse's Presence

Jesse’s avatar 100% looks more intimidating, plus he’s not as prone to being a dork. He is also the less dangerous one because he doesn’t know the mechanics inside and out and doesn’t tend to be clever about it.

Jesse has definitely gotten better than when he was a kid. He can be downright normal to the Slayers. “It’s ‘cause I don’t think of you as women.”
“I hope you still have that shovel from digging that hole,” (implied to dig yourself back out) Val remarks and settles in, crossing his legs and arms, to watch the entertainment. (Mostly Jesse’s guilty of ‘benign’ sexism.) Xander wanted to say something to say ‘you done goofed’ but also didn’t want to yell in place of the women, because it’s their input that really should matter.

Kairias has powered armor and a red and black color scheme. He also has a big two-hander type sword that, as an Akuma, he can wield like it’s barely anything. It’s not your traditional powered armor suit, even for cyberpunk, as it’s spikier and has room for his tail (he actually normally has a tail, unlike Valichar, who can only summon a psychic version). Val in contrast even in the equipped versus cosmetic equipment doesn’t change much—he tends to go medium armor for maneuverability. (For whatever reason, cosmetic outfits in general are fine and don’t bug him like the accessories do. You only feel the cosmetic outfit, so his best guess, that he will never tell anyone for fear of seeming weird, is that he knows he should feel rings on every finger and cannot, so it’s a disconnect that freaks him out.)
Kairias also has giant curving horns in comparison. Not, like, ram’s, more like just the slight curve of a cow’s horns if they were at least three inches in diameter and probably at least a foot long. He’s also several feet taller than Valichar so can quite easily rest his giant arms on Val’s head (minding the horns). As a fellow Akuma, though, Val doesn’t seem to notice. Kai is still Aggressively Hetero and doesn’t mind draping himself like that over Val, who is Not Aggressively Hetero.  He may or may not figure out that that could look odd someday.

Xander was hurt that Willow & Buffy didn’t tell him right away. “What, didn’t you trust me?”
“We thought you might be weird about it.”
“…I’m not Kai.”
Because he really is happy for them. Someone in this nightmare is happy, even if it isn’t him. (Well, he is happier, anyway, which is something.)

Val and Kai have earned the nicknames of Red Oni and Blue Oni. Val scoffs at this, because him, plan things? Yeah right. It’s actually kind of true, though—Kai goes in without a plan, and Val plans on the fly. He’s actually kind of infamous for improvising, especially improvising weapons. Even in a battle rage he’s still paying attention and evaluating things, such as the locations of friendlies, and while he’s gotten to the point where he’s using mechanics unconsciously because he’s played this game too much, he is purposefully using the mechanics. Val opts for the thing that looks cool and is effective. Kai opts for the thing that just looks cool. It started because of the color schemes in general. It’s also slightly hilarious because while Kai is good with heat, Val absolutely hates the cold. It’s something specifically about Xander inhabiting that body, because when just playing the character Val didn’t have a weakness to cold. Sometimes if he wants to wear less clothes during the winter he’ll just get one of those ‘warding against the cold’ consumables and use one immediately when it starts wearing off.

Kairias always puts up a big fight whenever the cops pick him up. Valichar makes a game of it, flirting (particularly if there’s a PC involved, unless they’re obviously uncomfortable), making friendly conversation, talking about their dog or their cat or their favorite flick. He’s incredibly friendly and just as uncooperative. He’s just very nice about it. Unlike Kai, who insults and threatens everyone, and gets mad that this means his stays are a lot longer. Getting picked up was a mechanic but it was generally much shorter and only after certain Underworld missions. It expanded after the Tear.

Kai gets really mad that Val still has money. “I can understand the others, but you keep spending it, just like me. How are you not broke??”
Val just laughs. “Must be all the partying you do, while I’m sitting back here like a good little Akuma choir boy.” He considers. “Also, I gave Shari a little of my money to manage my portfolio.” Kai gets mad again.