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[irrigo]

A (BETTER) YANDERE MEME

cw: potential for stalking, kidnapping, violence, coercion, psychological abuse, dubcon/noncon, and more

"Yandere" is a word formed by the combination of the Japanese verb 病む (yamu, meaning "to suffer from/be ill with") and the onomatopoeia デレデレ (deredere, an air of being lovestruck) — a yandere is someone who is sick with love. Traditionally, this affliction is something so overwhelming that it distorts their entire personality. Whatever they used to be, love has fundamentally changed them, and not for the better. They become obsessed with the object of their affections, consumed by a need to possess them.

Types of yanderes range in personality from the knife-wielding stalker (common in female characters) to the intensely overprotective friend (common in male characters) and the way their love manifests varies just as much. Some of them would never hurt a hair on their love interest's head; others would rather kill what they can't have. But the mutual thread between all of them is always love.

HOW TO PLAY
1. comment with your character + your preference for playing the yandere or the love interest (or both!) as well as any hard limits; yandere tropes can often be a minefield of content warnings
2. reply to others
3. use the relationship dynamics & scenarios provided as prompts, or inspiration to go wild and do your own thing!

RELATIONSHIPS
- KNOWN YOU FOREVER: You've been together a long time, whether as friends or more. Childhood friends, family, exes, travelling companions on a long adventure; whatever your relationship has been, you know each other inside and out. Doesn't it just make sense that you'd stay together forever?
- LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT: Okay, so maybe you don't really know each other. You bumped into them on the street, or they're a coworker you've never spoken to, or you're just an ardent fan. That's fine. That just means it's bigger than love; it's fate.
- ABUSE OF POWER: You have the authority to keep your obsession exactly where you want them. Why not use it? teacher/student, boss/employee, noble/servant
- DRAGON IN THE TOWER: Haven't you ever seen Beauty and the Beast?
- FAITHFUL DEVOTEE: Whether it's a higher power lavishing special attention on their favourite follower, or the devotee praying for something more than favour, what better expression of love is there than worship? Gods, demons, fae, saints; whatever altar you pray at.
- TURN THE TABLES: One of these dynamics applies to you and your beloved — it's just not the way you'd expect things to go. An obsessed student and a helpless teacher, or a princess who holds the dragon on a leash. Your love transcends any obstacle.

TROPES
- KEPT IN CAPTIVITY: Need to keep your beloved close by? There's a simple solution: put them in the dog cage! The classic scenario for any kind of captivity against the obsession's will, whether it's a cage, a manacle chaining them to the wall, a house designed to lock them inside, or even a whole pocket dimension to keep them enriched.
- CARETAKER:
- STRANGLED BY THE RED STRING: You're literally soulmates. The proof of it is right there, tying you together or tattooed on your skin. There's no way your beloved can escape the pull of destiny.
- KILL FOR YOU: Whether they asked for it or not, you're willing to kill for your love. Everyone that ever hurt them should die. Anyone who might hurt them in the future should die. And if someone looks at them for a little too long—well, it's important to get rid of any threats to your relationship.
- MISERY:
- LOVE ME OR ELSE:
- RUN AWAY WITH ME:
- THREE DIMENSIONAL CHESS: It would be gauche to show your hand too easily. You prefer to pull strings behind the scenes and set everything up just right so that the love of your life falls into your arms without ever knowing it was anything more than a coincidence.
- DON'T FIGHT IT:
- MUTUAL OBSESSION: Actually, you're both as bad as each other.
- OLD HABITS: You're better now! You're in a mutual relationship and those days of unhinged one-sided obsession are behind you. Mostly. Sometimes, the itch comes back. You can't help feeling anxious that someone has designs on your beloved, or something terrible will happen to them when you're not around. Maybe you could break out the old handcuffs just for a little while...