Instances of characters being different Beneath the Mask in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- The Boys: Real Justice: Batman can see that underneath Homelander's glowing image is massive insecurity about his strength and power.
- brilliant lights will cease to burn:
- While Izuku is typically terrified while acting as a vigilante, he adopts a know-it-all persona in order to throw others off guard. The mask slips when he sits down for an interview, showing more of his natural humility and shyness.
- Watanuki presents himself as an ancient, all-knowing Troll. But when Ms. Yuko briefly possesses Izuku to tell him Something Only They Would Say, he's reduced to a sputtering mess.
- Child of the Storm:
- Jean-Paul, who affects a harmless camp gay Gratuitous French speaking persona, with a side of Chivalrous Pervert. While he hasn't shown much of what is beneath the mask, it is noted that when matters get serious, he drops the Gratuitous French and all the Camp Gay mannerisms (though Word of God is that he really is fairly Camp Gay). He also proves capable of performing an almost absent-minded Sherlock Scan on someone he barely knows and in a fight, and he will immediately take the most pragmatic and ruthless course available to him - as in, he'll kill without blinking. Harry later states that he's Natasha's Spear Counterpart and combined with his speed, he'd rather fight Dracula (a Vampire Monarch who can match Thor and who's nearly killed Harry twice) again than fight Jean-Paul, and not because Jean-Paul is his friend.
- Carol Danvers projects a spiky aura to people she doesn't know - this is mostly reported rather than seen, as Harry befriends her pretty quickly - but underneath she's got a natural Big Sister Instinct and she's generally a nice person (relatively speaking).
- Harry Thorson himself is noted as coming out from his repressed shell and being freer with his emotions following his being reclaimed by Thor, as well as becoming notably more assertive and confident, with a pronounced temper (though as McGonagall observes, it was always there, just very well hidden). However, he still generally defaults to adorkable... until one traumatic incident too many leads to a nasty case of PTSD.
- The Spirit of the Fortress, then manifested as his dark side, uses shapeshifting and psychological warfare to bring out Harry's rage, before gloating that this is what Harry really is under the heroic Knight of Faith facade. Like most things with the Spirit, it is both right and wrong.
- Children of an Elder God: In her first scene, Asuka is interacting with Kaji, someone she trusts implicitly, so her mask is dropped and she behaves nicely. Later she is meeting other people, including her co-workers, so she keeps her mask on and she acts like a harsher, more prideful person. Throughout the story, she gradually falls her mask as she gets closer to other people, especially Shinji.
- Code Prime: Optimus stands out as being one of the few people who sees through Lelouch vi Britannia's right from the beginning, realizing that Lelouch is a good person beneath all of the issues he has. That being said, Optimus is also able to recognize Lelouch's flaws, which most of his followers never really noticed in canon.
- Fantasy of Utter Ridiculousness: In Touhou Project canon, Yukari is known as a superlative chessmaster with a cunning mind, a brilliantly lazy trickster capable of playing both sides against each other. After the story's final battle, we find out that much of it is a facade; she's aware of Evil Coop's existence and how important Megas really is to Gensokyo, and she's dreading what could possibly happen with the situation completely out of her hands.
- In Incarnation of Legends, Brunhilde and the rest of Odin's Valkyries are popular Idol Singers who capture the hearts of the people of Altena and beyond with their beauty, voices, and gentle personalities. Out of earshot, they're coarse, eager to beat the crap out of anyone who disturbs the peace, and sneer at those stupid enough to start a fuss at one of their concerts.
- A Knight's Tale as Inquisitor: Discovering this trope for herself is actually a major character arc for Arturia. After spending so long being the perfect king known as Arthur Pendragon, she now has to figure out just who Arturia Pendragon is in a new world since she no longer has to put on the mask of King Arthur.
- Last Child of Krypton: Asuka asks Shinji why he likes her, and Shinji replies he has seen her real self under her "tough, boastful, rude girl" mask, and he knows she is brave, intelligent, and kinder than she thinks she is.
- Ferris, the main character of Life Ore Death, usually comes off as serene and at peace with her Dark and Troubled Past. Occasionally, however, someone hits a Trauma Button, and she either has a terrifying breakdown or her Blood Knight tendencies spring up and she gets violent. Multiple people have commented on her concealed issues.
- The Night Unfurls:
- Vault presents himself as the famed mercenary leader of the Black Dogs, being a Hunk and The Ace. The moment when Olga is defeated and her throne is empty, he doesn't hesitate to sit on it with a grin on his face, revealing an ambitious side. The mask goes off entirely when Vault attempts to convince Kyril to join him in achieving his ambitions of a Sex Slave Empire.
- Kyril is normally a stoic, brusque and aloof person. He is more relaxed whenever he returns to his Pocket Dimension and spends time with the Doll, like a man who comes home from a good hard day's work to a quiet house. From how the Doll sees him as someone who likes to keep to himself, even in private, his "public" self is a part of his "real" self after all.
- Olga from the original version had to put on a brave face to present herself as the stoic, cold-hearted Dark Elf Queen to hide any hint of vulnerability. She notably becomes more straightforward and shows a playful side to Kyril and Celestine after being ousted from power and making a Heel–Face Turn, something Kyril eventually takes note of during his P.O.V. in Chapter 23. Later attempts at putting the mask on are often met with failure as the shameful parts of her reign become more apparent, with the mask going away entirely during her breakdown in response to Chloe's condition. Celestine even tells Kyril that for the past thousand years or so, she has never seen Olga showing that kind of vulnerability to anyone.
- Oni Ga Shiku Series::
- After the incredibly traumatic events of the Akatani arc as well as Kiryu's request to "have fun while trying to be a hero", Izuku starts emulating his uncle Goro Majima's "Mad Dog" persona as much as possible. He puts on a front of always being carefree, vulgar, spoiling for a fight, a troll and a tease, but in reality he is a deeply thoughtful and kind person plagued with nightmares, guilt, and a crippling fear of losing his loved ones. It takes him years to even muster the will to get a haircut. The whole thing is lampshaded by All Might who views that Izuku's more quiet and thoughtful moments are glimpses of what's truly hidden under the Mad Dog.
- As per canon, All Might himself admits that he only puts on a smile to soothe the masses, and that in reality he's terrified when he goes to battle.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: During a heart-to-heart talk with Shinji, Asuka says she has worn so many masks since she was a little child sometimes she is not sure of what her real self is: when she was a scared, lonely child she created a mask of an arrogant, hostile genius and fearless pilot to protect herself; later when she became Power Girl she wore the mask of a heroine; and a short while later she became Supergirl and tried to be a real heroine. However, it drives her crazy trying to be the paragon of morality and virtue everyone thinks she should be so she asks Shinji to become her confidant because he saw beneath his mask and did not run away.
- In Thousand Shinji, when Shinji met Asuka, she seemed to radiate confidence, certainty, and arrogance. However, he witnessed one of her breakdowns when they were in her mecha's cockpit, and when he probed her mind, he sensed that she was hiding a lot of pain, sorrow, and fragility beneath her feigned arrogance.
- Confessions: Marcy gets her first real glimpse under Sasha's mask when she hits the blonde with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, calling her out for being a Control Freak. During Sasha's ensuring rant, Marcy realizes that the other girl is trying her hardest not to cry, not wanting Marcy to see how hard her words hit home.
- In Like A Wish
, Kallen muses that Lelouch Lamperouge and the Demon King were both masks while Lelouch vi Britannia is dead, meaning Zero was the real Lelouch. She wonders at the irony that the only time Lelouch isn't wearing a metaphorical mask is when he wears a physical one instead. - Of Siblings and Masks is themed around this. The world thinks of empress Nunnally as The Ingenue. They see her as delicate, innocent, and dedicated to making the world a better place out of the pureness of her heart. Suzaku, however, realizes that this is a mask she puts on. Nunnally's just as jaded and calculative as her brother Lelouch, but she tries her best to live up to what Lelouch would have wanted from her, so she keeps a façade up.
- Blackened Skies: Kaede presents herself as an Ideal Heroine, determined to unite the others against Monokuma and stop his sick killing games from proceeding any further with Rousing Speeches and boundless faith in her fellow captives. In reality, however, she's more of a Guile Heroine — one plagued with doubts, secretly second-guessing herself and struggling to trust the others. The knowledge that she already failed to stop that awful bear before weighs heavily upon her, shaking her resolve even while strengthening her desire to succeed no matter what this time.
- In Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program, Celeste's persona of acting like an elegant noblewoman starts breaking down under the pressures of the mutual killing game, allowing a few others, like Kaede and Teruteru, to see her true self.
- Never Say Never plays with this: after being saved from Monokuma's Death Trap, Mukuro starts acting more like herself... but since she's still disguised, the other students mistake it for Junko revealing more of her true personality.
- In Masks, Danny's double life has caused Mr. Lancer to keep him in school for the entire weekend with Jack and Maddie's blessing in order to find out why he is slipping up so badly. One notable thing that the author does to expand on the superhero masks is that Danny is actually wearing three masks to hide who he is.
- In DC Nation, Fauna lampshades this when it comes to Nightwing. After seeing him as Dick Grayson, she wrote in her Character Blog that not many people put a mask on when they want to be themselves.
- In Power Girl story A Force of Four, Kara couldn't allow herself to seem vulnerable when she arrived on Earth. She had to behave as a brash, self-assured, and tougher-than-nails woman, even if she came across as a bitch with a chip on her shoulder because she didn't want anybody to see the lost, afraid little girl underneath.Tough girl, her mental jester mocked her. Everybody thinks you're such a tough girl.
But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break. She had to wall the little girl off, most of the time, and put on the casing of the big, tough, capable bitch.
- Tangled Adventures in Arendelle: Elsa has this perhaps the most. Her training and her whole "conceal, don't feel" business has her still putting on masks of indifference or composure in order to keep her true feelings from showing. Trying to project an appearance of control and composure even in the worst of times, and to maintain her newfound control over her powers. However, by the time Frozen's movie plot is over, her more private persona is given more exploration whenever she's around Anna or the Fitzherberts. It's fairly apparent that she's a rather insecure, sad ruler, but also with a lot of passion for her family, and a great desire to move on from the worst of times.
- In The Fifth Act Sephiroth's POV shows that beneath his arrogant aloof exterior, he's deeply lonely, disconnected man. He's Lonely at the Top and desperate to get Cloud, who surpasses him in strength to be his rival. The omakes also show him taking great pleasure in letting loose and causing havoc.
- In Off the Line, Cloud in real life is timid and unassuming while Rainstorm in Terra Online is assertive and brave. Cloud's body language shifts when he decides to "be Rainstorm" when standing up for himself.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Alan Jonah acts completely cold, calm, composed and ruthless most of the time, and whilst he is a stone-cold bastard and is a truly horrible and evil human being, there are also hints when he's alone or is caught off-guard that part of him dearly still misses his family and Asher, even decades after he lost the former. Jonah also seems willing to accompany his men through the muck and filth and live like a soldier in a warzone 24/7, but he's ultimately revealed to be a coward who makes sure in a direct life-or-death situation that he's never on the frontline.
- Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Beneath Italy's mask of happiness and silliness, he bore many insecurities and anxieties. His façade only cracked when he saw Germany and Japan beat each other up over him.
- One More Time has a couple of Havenite characters with hidden pasts, that even after the Grand Alliance, the RMN still sometimes gets surprised about, because said characters had to keep their past hidden under the Committee, and never really went public about it.
- The Victors Project: Larissa Farrar acts like an unintelligent "predatory harpy" who loves to mock or sexually harass the victors, but it's eventually revealed to be an act to hide her role in the rebellion.Cora: The girl whom I thought was a silly, simpering fool until she pulled off the mask and revealed the clever determined woman underneath.
- We Must Be Killers:
- Most of the District 2 victors put on masks of being happy or indifferent about their many kills as long as it entertains their revered Capitol and keeps their kids safe, but many have occasional pangs of conscience when the world isn't watching.
- Brutus's first victor Emory is seen as one of the most firmly loyal tributes, and when Misha thinks that she'd rather Lyme be a Rebel than dead in Shadows Fall (despite her dislike of the Rebellion), she feels certain that the inverse is true for Emory after Brutus died in the Quell. However, Lorata has said Misha is wrong, and Emory is indeed willing to fight the Capitol without much fuss after accepting their betrayal of District 2's victors in the Fix Fic Grand Finale.
- In the High School AU fic Break My Fall, Vaati has been in love with Green for years, and is using intimidation as a means to cover up his insecurities. Not only that, but he was friends with Blue in grade school, making Blue the only person who has even an inkling of what he's really like.
- For His Own Sake: Granny Hina presents herself as a kindly old woman, but is Secretly Selfish and extremely manipulative. Her desire to help the Hinata Girls stems from her trying to atone for how she failed one of her own daughters in their time of need due to being a Control Freak; unfortunately, she refuses to recognize how she has not put those tendencies to better use.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
- These pair of fan art, taking place during the third year's graduation, starts with Karin Asaka keeping a cool and calm expression as she consoles Rina, Kasumi, and Setsuna about her and the other girls leaving. Once she's alone with the other third years, however, it's revealed that Karin is just as upset about leaving as the younger girls.
- Máscara Sonreindo deals with this. In particular, with Misao being more troubled than she lets on.
- In Missing Piece, Miyuki winds up being the first person outside of Konata's family who gets a glimpse under her friend's mask, as she starts to reveal just how much she misses her mother.
- In Out of the Dead Land, Bucky initially wears the mask of the person he wants to be (i.e. the old, non-traumatized Bucky that Steve remembers), then the mask of the empty, unfeeling Winter Soldier when the first mask is torn off. His true self ends up being somewhere in between these two extremes.
- Inverted by Jack O'Lantern in Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light. Although he wears a public mask to be accepted by his fellow citizens, he also begins wearing a ghoulish pumpkin-headed costume and committing increasingly deadly crimes to reveal his true personality. He is well aware of the irony in wearing a mask to reveal his true face, but he considers himself superior to the pathetic, mindless sheep and cattle that make up most of the rest of society because he's willing to embrace just what he really is.
- Feralnette AU
- Anyone struck by Lady Clarity's powers has their inner self manifest as a color-changing phantom, who gives voice to their private thoughts. This proves to be a serious problem for Lila, whose phantom cheerfully gloats about helping 'Hawkie' in his efforts to break Marinette and defeat the heroes.
- Marinette herself has two masks: the eponymous "Feralnette" that is her public persona, "Ladybug" which is her real self but without the mental exhaustion and bitterness from all that has happened in her civilian life. Her real self, shown only to the kwamis, is essentially "Ladybug" but mentally exhausted and cynical from how Lila has her friends twisted around her finger, but is nothing like her public "Feralnette" persona, which she intentionally created to draw suspicion away from herself as Ladybug's identity, and push her friends away to protect them from Hawk Moth, who is now targeting her specifically.
- From The Ashes: While Nino and Alya believe that Adrien's been "living the dream" as a model, he actually hates everything about the celebrity lifestyle. Unfortunately, he desperately needed the work, forcing him to play the role expected of him despite his deep distaste.
- I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors: Adrien is secretly just like Lila and Chloe, believing that he's entitled to everything he wants because he's rich, attractive, and charming, and takes pride in his ability to manipulate others. Fortunately for Marinette, he accidentally exposes his own facade when he tells her that he's Chat Noir, failing to consider how likely she is to find out that he's still pursuing Ladybug despite dating her as Adrien.
- In The Karma of Lies, Adrien presents himself as a good, caring friend, but is actually incredibly self-absorbed, convinced that he's always right by default due to Protagonist-Centered Morality. He's so convinced of this, in fact, that his belief in his own lies ultimately proves to be a Fatal Flaw: when Karma Houdini Warranties start expiring, he refuses to see that he's in danger of his own running out, doggedly insisting that he hasn't done anything wrong in the first place.
- In Apex Predator, Izuku realizes that Hawks deliberately exaggerates his public persona, acting much more cheerful, social, and outgoing than he really is. Hawks also employs Obfuscating Stupidity.
- Blues Drive Monsters: Zig-Zagged by Toga. While she still acts as though she's lovesick and obsessed with Izuku, the moment he gets an upper hand on her during a fight, her mood changes completely — she wants him DEAD, but diverts that task to Dabi in a moment of cowardice. Later, she blames her dramatic shift in behavior on Koh's signal; however, she was mostly shielded from its effects by a special tranquilizer, leaving it unclear just how honest she's being.
- Crimson and Emerald: Back when Inasa first met Shouto, he assumed he was just as assholish as his father, Endeavour. When they meet up again, Inasa finds that Shouto is actually quite quiet and pensive... as well as a regular hormonal teenager.
- A Dangerous Game: While Izuku acts much the same as he does in Canon, here he's using this to hide the fact that he's been forced to become The Mole for the villains.
- Dermabrasion: Dabi suspects that Hawks secretly defaults to being a Blank Slate when not acting like a lackadaisical Pro Hero or getting serious. Hawks later admits that he himself doesn't have the slightest clue what his "base personality" is actually like.
- The Emancipators looks at a world where Midoriya Izuku secretly holds a serious grudge against Katsuki for over a decade's worth of bullying and abuse. While he presents the same adorkable, determined, and idealistic persona, and that's not completely false by any means, he's using that to mask his darker thoughts and impulses. Such as the fact that he's sworn to personally destroy Katsuki himself... but first, he wants him to suffer.
- Flashback: Over all his years of service as the Symbol of Hope and a pillar of society, Toshinori's idealism and optimism were gradually worn down. However, he continued to maintain the same smiling visage even as he grew increasingly exhausted and sick of the grim realities of his heroic career. After Eri reverts his body back to its prime, he winds up Becoming the Mask as he regains his idealism once more.
- The Fundamental Essence of Villainy: Frayed Edges discusses the masks that Izuku and Himiko wear (or wore). Izuku's mask served the purpose of shielding him from the bullies at his Quirkist school, while Himiko's mask made her into the "perfect daughter" her parents wanted her to be.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Composure, Princess Celestia is secretly in love with Twilight Sparkle. But her queenly mask is so strong that she's managed to conceal this truth even from herself, and when Princess Luna tries to help her realize this by shattering her mask in the Mental World, that has the unpleasant side effect of releasing Celestia's Superpowered Evil Side.
- Consequences of Unoriginality: Due to his GSE effect compelling ponies to admire him, Emeris has to act like a Jerkass to keep them from misreading any slight hints of affection. In turn, for all that they sing his praises, the majority of ponies secretly dislike him.
- A Diplomatic Visit: As revealed in chapter 9 of the sequel Diplomat at Large, when not in his public persona of an Upper-Class Twit, Prince Blueblood turns out to be an intelligent, loyal nephew of the Princesses, who's been working for years to see the removal of others who would seek to grab more power for themselves and remove the Princesses, and wants nothing more than to travel the world and relax without having to look over his shoulder for threats all the time.
- You Obey is built around this trope, and is all the more chilling for it.
- Throughout Gender Confusion, Zetsu is never quite certain whether Deidara suffers from depression or bipolar disorder, since Deidara is extremely skilled at faking his feelings, making it hard to tell what kind of masks he's wearing or when they end.
- in dreams you follow (but I dream in the dark): Kiba presents himself as a cocky, embittered missing-nin who went on the run after defending himself from Danzo's unwanted advances, taunting his former friends and allies with how strong he's gotten after joining Akatsuki. In reality, he remains loyal to Konoha, having infiltrated Akatsuki as a Fake Defector. He keeps up the act in order to maintain his cover.
- Your Heart a Haven of Thorns reveals that Sakura was never actually in love with Sasuke; she, Ino, and the majority of the girls attending the Academy only pretended to be besotted with him. This was encouraged by their kunoichi teacher as a way of getting others to underestimate them. Sasuke is rather stunned to learn that some of his supposed admirers secretly hated his guts.
- Sasuke then reveals in turn that his previously expressed scorn towards Sakura and his other admirers was itself an act; all the fangirling reminded him of the massive amounts of pressure he was under to live up to Konoha's lofty expectations of "the last Uchiha", and the fangirls were one of the only aspects of that he felt it was safe to openly reject.
- Advice and Trust: Shinji had noticed Asuka pretended to be harsh and prideful but she was a frightened, vulnerable kid deep down. After getting together she shows him her kindest, nicest side constantly.
- The Child of Love: As they talk during the Obon festival, Shinji says Asuka can be very annoying or very nice. Then she says she tries to avoid pain by driving people away, and Shinji muses it is like if they are hiding behind a shield. For a while, after her reconciliation, she showed her sweet side underneath the harsh exterior only to Shinji.Shinji: "You're right, Asuka-chan. It's kind of like...we're hiding ourselves from the pain behind a shield."
- A Crown of Stars: Asuka had worn a bunch of masks after her mother's death to protect her emotionally damaged, insecure self. She has worn so many when she trained to become an Eva pilot, when she fought Angels, when she got turned into the plaything of dictators… that she is not sure of what her real self is anymore, and she does not know whether Shinji loves her or one of her masks. Someone else assures that Shinji knows her real self better than she thinks and she can always turn one of her masks into her real self.
- Doing It Right This Time: Asuka was a lonely, frightened, vulnerable girl who fabricated a mask of harshness and arrogance to push everyone away so that no one hurt her. After the canon events, she realized it was very counterproductive, so she dropped it. She is still bold and daring but she no longer tries to look mean.
- Evangelion 303: When Shinji met Asuka she came across as an arrogant, short-tempered woman. When they started living together, though, he realized that she was hiding a softer, more vulnerable side. Later on, Asuka said that Shinji was the only one who had seen her real self beneath the mask.
- Ghosts of Evangelion: Asuka often comes across as short-tempered and mean-spirited, even though she doesn't mean most things she says. Shinji and their daughter can see through her mask, though.
- HERZ: Asuka had created a mask of harshness and abrasiveness to hide her real, vulnerable inner self after her mother’s suicide. However, it prevented her from feeling her mother and Shinji’s love. Rei eventually convinced her that she had to drop it and open up to be loved back and be happy.
- Some people like Kurumi wondered why Shinji had fallen for such a fiery woman. Shinji liked Asuka’s fierceness but he had also seen her real self under the mask.
- In Higher Learning, Asuka was actually a nice, caring girl underneath her harsh mask. After opening up to Shinji she displays her real self openly more often, and it annoys Shinji that his classmates all of sudden think that they have a chance with her now they’ve realized she’s not a complete bitch.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide, several characters -Shinji, Misato, Hikari...- comment that Asuka is a very different person than most people think, because even though she may look strong and arrogant... that is a mask; and her real self is hurt, vulnerable and without self-esteem:Because, like an frozen, unforgiving iceberg, there was a lot more to Asuka beneath the surface.
- In episode 5 of Once More With Feeling (Crazy-88), Shinji thinks about Asuka’s abrasive and obnoxious behavior and how it was all a lie to hide her real self.Then the Second Child had arrived, bringing with her conflict, friction and more than a few painful contusions to his head as she continually let him know exactly what she thought of him as an Eva Pilot, a man and a human.
All of it a giant lie to shield the four-year-old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart. - The One I Love Is...: In chapter 6 Shinji finally realizes Asuka's self-assuredness and confidence were a mask to cover very fragile self-esteem.There before me, from this girl who'd never shown anything but self-assuredness, was a catalogue of failures.
- During their wedding in The Second Try, Shinji told Asuka that he had seen under her "tough girl" mask and he realized that she was a vulnerable, hurt girl whom he wanted to protect with all his strength.
- Poor Rival has Blue hiding his pain over losing Raticate behind a smug, "better-than-you" attitude. He also deeply resents Red for accidentally killing one of his pokémon.
- Referenced in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion doujinshi Matataki no Aida ni. Madoka has always seen Homura as this cool, collected girl; she's surprised to find that Homura doesn't agree.Homura: I'm not composed. Ever. [...] When I'm talking to you, I'm always a bit nervous.
- A Brief History of Histories: Usagi gets extremely frustrated with being a Lonely Rich Kid whose father barely pays any attention to her beyond scolding her for her academic struggles. Becoming Sailor Moon just adds to the pressure she's under. However, she keeps directing all of her repressed negativity inward, blaming herself rather than lashing out at others.
- Throughout Little Rebellions, various pearls conceal their true feelings about their plight for the sake of survival. One of the standouts in this regard is Blue Pearl, who secretly serves as the commander of the New Rebellion without her master ever suspecting anything.
- Unbreakable Red Silken Thread: Scarlett appears like an Emotionless Girl in public, but, at her job, she's a very passionate, seductive dancer, and, in private, she is shown to be as crazy as Izzy.
- Villain Song (Roving Otter) : Asha broods about Magnifico managing to hide his true nature from the population for so long, playing the saint while being the sinner.
- Horde Champion: A major element of the story is exploring Sylvanas' inner turmoil underneath her cold mask by frequently putting her in situations with people she trusts.
- Cenotaph plays this in an interesting way. Taylor is already very emotionally remote, due to the abuse she suffered at Emma, Sophia, and Madison's hands. When she wakes up from her coma in Calling Card 1.5, she reflects that she should feel more sadness than she does. After all her father was just murdered because of her, her BSOD fugue lasts until she visits her mother's grave when she finally breaks down. This theme is repeated in Coordination 4.2, during the funeral.
- In X-Men: The Early Years, a troubled teenager called Sue whom Scott meets during a camping trip attempts to pass herself as an “easy” girl, hoping to find a suitable guy. When she's shown that kind of behavior is liable to draw the same kind of creeps who got her into trouble, Sue drops the act.
