*Ahem*. Help, everyone I mean hello. Hello, everyone . Welcome to my blog thingy.
I just wanna start off saying this is probably the first time I've actually felt this strongly about a vignette of all things. Irrationally so. I've been so bothered about it that it's made it hard for me to sleep. Yes. I swear I'm not joking.
I went to bed at like 2 in the morning last night from thinking about it. Because, well, the way it's structured is just...so bizarre?
Um, let me put in some ground work first. Most vignettes are just random tidbits or lore of a character that while it won't really impact a story, could give you better insight and even better understand how a character views things in different settings.
And what's special about a vignette compared to an event story, there's no rush for the character to have their moment, they don't have to fight over the spotlight to get a funny or cute or interesting moment.
Usually.
What's especially special about an SSR vignette is that it has three acts as opposed to just one or two, so that you can get a more fleshed out story to better immerse yourself with your favorite character.
Again, usually.
This did not happen in Malleus' Dorm SSR vignette. What happened was-
🧐
Why isn't he the first person to pop up in his own vignette??
Why would they make the card centering around-no, no, Rika. You must endure. Maybe there's an interesting point that comes after this.
Part Two
Okay, so we FINALLY get in Diasomnia Dorm and Lilia and Malleus talk about Malleus' reason for being unable to attend the dorm meetings, which, in all seriousness, develop more questions than answers.
1) If Malleus is THIS sheltered, what measures did Lilia try to enact to combat this once he got out of Briar Valley?
2) If Malleus' phone (his only means of communication apparently) was constantly getting damaged that easily, why didn't Lilia try and talk with the Headmage about creating an earpiece specifically designed for him?
3) If Malleus' absence was this much of an issue, why didn't the Headmage do something about it already?
Ig you could say that the last part was simply that the Headmage didn't feel like it and/or didn't think it was SO important that one of the strongest mages in existence to attend a meeting-or that Malleus somehow has so little presence that he simply forgot Malleus altogether (he tends to do the latter a lot, which is very 🤔)
....
....What?
Why did Lilia say this?
And why wasn't that very comment acknowledged by Malleus, or hell, even Lilia (not like, in the moment, I mean like, at all, like at least as an acknowledgement of his own behavior in how it affected Malleus)
...More on acknowledgement of lines later.
I'm sorry but I'm a little worried about just how much he lashes out at Malleus here?? It also feels a little hypocritical that Lilia comments about Malleus "breaking a phone every time he gets mad" when Lilia LITERALLY GAVE IT TO HIM AFTER THEY JUST DISCUSSED MALLEUS' PENCHANT FOR BREAKING THINGS ON ACCIDENT??
*Ahem*
And then it FINALLY gives us something vaguely resembling lore through Malleus talking about how humans fear "creatures of the night", referring to the nocturnal fae.
And then it starts to get to something interesting!!
I think thinking about Sunday being annoyed/angry/irritated has made me ship this more. Like I just finished a drawing but my brain is already thinking of new illustrations