IRL

***This page is currently under construction! Some sections of this page are unfinished, or have yet to be added.***

## Info

### Appearances

Hilltown, Nitro City, Last Wish, Pokemon: Nitro Version, Nitrocant, After Nitrocant, Gabe Story

### Role

Main Character (Hilltown), Side Character (Nitro City & Last Wish)

### Relatives

Mindy (Mother), Hannah (Sister), Christian (Brother)

### Species

Human

IRL is the self-insert character for SkeletonHearts and also acts as the main character of Hilltown, as well as a side character in several other stories. IRL plays a pivotal role in the Infected!AU, both in the form of Skele!IRL & Cured?IRL. IRL can be depicted as a man or a woman, with either version being canon.

## Creation Process

IRL's creation was fairly simple, with SkeletonHearts needing a stand-in for themself when needed in drawings or stories. IRL can be considered an evolution of the Gabe character utilized in Gabe Story, with both being clear self-inserts of SkeletonHearts. However, while Gabe is a direct parallel of SkeletonHearts with little to no interpretation, IRL is much more of their own character, having their own lore and story separate from SkeletonHeart's own life.

IRL's initial design only consisted of the male variant, with the white mask being a permanent part of his wardrobe. This is contrasted to the current day utilization of IRL, which see's them taking off the mask much more in order to show a wider array of expressions. IRL's backstory has changed considerably since their first inception, with the first version of the story involving an abusive household with Mindy and Hannah, and IRL stealing every item of value in the house before escaping and using their ill-gotten gains to purchase a house and new identity. However for whatever reason, they chose to stay in the same town as Mindy & Hannah, leading to many close calls of the two meeting IRL. This was the purpose of the mask, to hide his face from them at long distances.

However, the current day version of their backstory is much less dramatic, and a margin more believable. Now, while the household was by no means nice, it was not abusive. Mindy and Hannah were simply a pain to be around, so once IRL became of age they moved out without a word. However, IRL still remains in the same town, although now it is contextualized as IRL being a homebody and loving their town, even if they dont love some of the people they have to share it with.

The cause of IRL's split-gender identity was do to a Genderswap!AU variant known as Fem!IRL, however the decision was made to merge the two into the same character. Each version is 'canon' with very minor differences. If IRL is presented as a male, he has always been a male in that version of Hilltown. If IRL is presented as a female, she has always been female in that version of Hilltown. Essentially, IRL does not have the ability to switch gender. They are either a boy, or they are a girl. Along with the gender change, every 'male' version of IRL has a pet betta fish named Kipper, while every female version of IRL has a cat named Matoko.

The only other change that happens when considering the gender of IRL would be the sexuality of Cessa, as she would be straight in scenarios with Male IRL, and lesbian or bisexual in scenarios with Female IRL.