"Tearing oneself away from one's desire like that, mere moments after ingesting the moon-milk, would be a heart-rending experience...."
Avulsion also got me thinking about Poor Edward OBVIOUSLY, I'm always insisting he deserves more credit for his truly bonkers willpower while under the influence but I'm just not sure he could've been normal for this
Sam got a chance to experience extremely diluted moon-milk (basically a love potion) at an art show and he, uh, wENT FOR IT????? it got him obsessed with a photo exhibit that was supposed to be destroyed as a sort of performance piece and ma'am I appreciate the themes of love and loss you're trying to convey here but I DONT THINK EITHER OF YOU THOUGHT THIS THROUGH
HAHA MORE AVULSION DOODLES.... Thren, Mochi and I played through the story together with Peter, Jack, and Sam; fun to imagine all our guys at the same disastrous moon-milk art show trying to keep each other out of trouble lmao. Anyway after drinking moon-milk @little-red-notebook's Peter accidentally looked at the Playwright, who very quickly clocks what's happened and, once you figure out what he's up to, just smirks about how you being in love with him makes you powerless to stop him and IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS. A NORMAL AMOUNT.
HES DOING... OKAY. Some pretty rough burns on his hands and a lingering fondness for The Most Beautiful Photograph In The World. He mostly just feels a bit stupid, and a little bit worried that he Cheated On The Zee.
Also I have to appreciate these tags I got on the last post:
LMAO I TRULY EXPECTED HIM TO IMMEDIATELY NOPE OUT. Like, as soon as I saw the title of this exceptional story I was suspicious moon-milk would be involved -- WE SURE HAVE SEEN THAT WORD EXACTLY ONE OTHER PLACE!!!! IN THE ORPHANAGE'S REPORTS!!!! -- and I was sure Sam would refuse. But then the moon-milk was presented so straightforwardly, and in a heavily diluted form where the worst effects would wear off at the end of the night. There are so many people Sam cares about who have dealt with these effects: Hephaesta of course, but also Clara, Dr. Vaughan, several of his fellow FLPC friends who took the offer of "false-star nectar" in another ES, and regrettably Poor Edward is in this category as well. This is the only chance Sam would ever have to experience and understand on some level what they went through (or in some cases, are still going through) with relative safety. Of COURSE he took it.
(More thoughts and an updated scars sketch under the cut)
As soon as things started going sideways, he realised he should've thought this through a little more. Sam's no Hephaesta, but he's still strong enough to be Dangerous when compromised, and it's not surprising that an artist mostly working off her friend's research and her own experience might not have enough info to truly understand the threat that a room full of obsessed people could pose. He's also seen plenty of evidence that the effects linger for a long time after the venom has supposedly "worn off"; he should've known how gutting it would be, how much help he would need to move on from even the most mitigated dose. And, in retrospect, he feels more remorse about giving himself a dose of Pure Devotion so casually than he would about an actual one-night stand. The unterzee obviously doesn't care if he's smooching other people; it is indifferent to him, and Samuel doesn't normally think of his devotion to the zee as something that precludes, say, physical intimacy. But to Devote himself to something else felt different, a sort of betrayal of the heart.
Also, on a more physical level like, Samuel WAS rescued, but he did still remain in a burning building frantically trying to extinguish The Beloved Photograph with his bare hands until he collapsed from smoke inhalation so. I feel like probably that left a mark. I was just doodling an updated look at new scars he's gotten over the last few months so sticks that in here as well:
I'm a little bit amused that I did the riot option in Light Fingers and thus my version of Edward does not have the burned hands so SAMUEL APPARENTLY DECIDED TO GRAB THOSE SCARS INSTEAD,
Anyway. He will sheepishly tell Hephaesta what happened and she'll toss him against a wall in concerned frustration, which I think will make Sam feel better, but he'll also apologise for his suggestion back during Light Fingers, that she should be able to just hold out and deal with it until the moon-milk wore off, because in retrospect GOOD GOD ACTUALLY HE NOW REALISES SHE WAS HOLDING HERSELF TOGETHER EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVELY. Absolutely mind-boggling that she was able to help with the kid as much as she was. He also wants to seek out the Nightmare-Orphanage in Parabola and do his best to... just, be nice to Poor Edward some (and Edward will enjoy it while screaming incoherently in the back of his mind trying to figure out why this is happening or what it means for the guy who punched him in the face at the altar to now be visiting him and giving him a hug). Sam's gonna do his best to stay distracted and keep his friends close and NOT GO BACK ON LAUDANUM. And once he's up to it, he will head out to zee and reconnect with his truest passion. His friends are doing their best to GET HIM TO WAIT UNTIL EVERYTHING HEALS, FIRST, but he's definitely going out there sooner than he should.
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(if you're curious, like a week after this ES i did send sam out zailing and he imMEDIATELY DIED. for funsies I'd given his shadowy outfit a set of Worse Gloves to reflect his hands still being injured, and after a string of bad luck he promptly failed an 80% shadowy check, pushed right into troubled waters 8, and got plucked off the deck and eaten by a zee beast lmao. AMAZING. RECONCILE WITH UR SPOUSE SAMUEL. I love when the game just Knows.)
