#lads commentary

[seaskyblue]

Assorted thoughts on Sunken Glow

Some live reactions thoughts as i read because I *know* I'll never get around to write something cohesive after I finish reading it.

So here we go! (Forewarning: this got long)

I you haven't read it yet - spoilers under the cut obvs

I love how we often start a Xavier card right in the middle of an action packed scene. How often have we been involved in a car chase with this man?

"We'll hide in their palace" Sure. Why not. Xavier always says and does the most off the wall stuff with the most serene smile. His normal is completely unhinged for most people.

"I doubt things can get any worse" nnnnnngh Xavier! The *urge* to reach into the screen and cover his mouth. First rule: never ever ever say things can't get any worse. The universe takes it as a challenge and it always wins.

Aaaaand explosion!

Explosions, adrenaline inducing situations and speed-racing - a few things this man obviously loves almost as much as mc

and flowers. Let's not forget his beloved flowers and plants. He always finds the time to stop and smell the flowers. Literally. Even when logic dictates he really should be worrying about something else. Mc is such a patient woman.

Ooooh so that's why he was so unbothered. He knew he had a big favor to call in. (Was he the one who asked to put in the "no expiration date"? I bet he was)

Still it's interesting - I was under the impression he was doing his best to avoid anyone noticing his not aging and immortality. Summer card was an exception but then again, he was interacting with a backtracker family and the community he'd created, so that was an entirely different context.

.... Nahelan's promotion for their charity sounded like a scam, and so does Tiyael proposal to mc. "We deal with the risks and you and your Association take the credit". This after she acted all mighty and threatened to throw mc in the dungeons. Since the charity wasn't a scam, I suppose this isn't either but.... The royal family really needs to work on their communication skills.

"The role requires the woman to be elegant and talented as she represents Her Majesty" Ok, thanks for the compliments to MC but... are there no talented and elegant women in Nahelan?

"I gave her my word... I'm going to see it through" I love these tiny bits of characterization for mc - this is a constant for Xavier's mc. She takes her duties seriously and doesn't budge when faced with unexpected adversities such as human-eating planets... or mountains of books

I love that Xavier loves studying but is also a very practical, hands-on learner. Also his life-long quest to make things as fun and exciting as possible. Have him confined inside to only learn theory and surely enough he'll figure a way to escape.

"I don't want to miss out on my destiny". Cheeky.

This man. He manages to be sneaky even when he's doing something nice and thoughtful, like taking his girl to all the activities she'd wanted to try. Ugh.

All these "the stars heard me..." "Xavier heard it first.." 星 = star in Chinese, part of Xavier's chinese name. I really need to download the chinese dub. We miss out on these wordplays.

Gh, Xavier. He never tells us anything. Not even what he plans to sculpt. Grrr, annoying man (never change).

So Xavier didn't just donate. He gave a suggestion so that Nahelan could sustain itself in the future.

"Ask more of me until you've taken my everyhting".... Am I the only one who got anxiety with this line? There was that World Underneath chapter where it was stated that Ever had captured Xavier and then let him go... with the purpose of letting mc absorb his energy. And this concept of mc consuming him is popping up here and there in Xavier's storyline - It was alluded to in his Offbeat track card too IIRC. In his Hermit card it was a sort of reversal - during his frenzy it seemed it was Hermit who wanted to consume mc (quite literally in this case. And yes, all preadators had a tendency for cannibalism, but I felt it was quite underlined in Hermit's frenzy scene - Sylus' frenzy was more about mutual destruction and Rafayel's was about ownership). It seems all Xavier, in all forms, want to sort of... become one with mc. Sometimes it's meant to be sort of cute and vulnerable, like his "I want to be just like you" in Misty Silhouette. Other times it's hot and sexy (his hunger and want for mc in all their spicy times). But at its root it's always his need to fuse with mc - and as the ever intentions underline, it can take a very dark direction. I'm genuinely scared.

The fox and the bunny make another appearance! I find it really interesting that mc is associated with the fox and Xavier with the bunny when really it's Xavier who does the chasing (and the story is constantly showing off his cunning). It's as if both animals are representative of Xavier more than mc.

Aaaaand here is Xavier's jealousy making an appearance again. First he's worried mc might decide she likes another bunny better, and then he terrorize poor Nahelan's instructor because his teaching method is too hands on. A moment of silence for mr.Laoi. "He was grateful" oh I'm sure he was grateful to get far, far away from you Xavier.

Oooh I'm weak for mc asking about his life on Philos and its traditions and Xavier actually answers this time! His answer must be rather confusing for mc though because, as far as she knows, *he* was the crown prince... no?

I also love the constant reference to fairytales in Xavier's storyline. He's prince charming and mc the heroine, but always with a spin on the classical sotryline/character tropes.

"Are you trying to photosynthesize?" I love mc's sense of humor

Small animals' love for Xavier is lovely. He's both prince charming and a Disney princess. See two points above.

"I keep finding things that are considered the "last" of their kind when I'm with you" yes, and it carries such a poetic, melancholic beauty with it. ""But all of them manage to begin anew thanks to you" and maybe that's one of the things that make me love Xavier and his sotryline so much - his stubborn, unwavering refusal to give up, him always looking for a way to survive and begin again, him always finding and giving hope in the direst situations.

"The fruit here looked delicious"Of course that would be one of the reasons to save a dying people. Xavier is always food motivated.

Jokes aside, Xavier really always sees the beauty where people would only see the end, always protects life - especially life that other people would overlook and not even notice. Of course he'd help protect a lone, forgotten oasis in the middle of a vast desert.

I also like that... Yes, Xavier is heroic, he always helps people whenever he can and he stands up for what's right. But he's not your typical, self-sacrificing hero - he's more selfish and self-serving than you'd think. He did a good deed... because he liked the place and wanted to visit with mc. But that doesn't erase the fact he did a good thing, nor does it mean he *only* did it for himself. Idk I feel Xavier always has a mix of noble/altruistic and selfish/self-serving motivations that is truly intriguing and make him a very human kind of hero.

New entry in the list of things Xavier can get jealous of: stars. I can't with this man. (Ok, I get it was lighthearted teasing but still)

Xavier's advice for official public ceremonies is to imagine everyone as Puffballs.... I can't (but for different reasons than above)

Of course he wants a private celebration

Ooh mc is being a bit of a tease. Nice, usually it's the other way around

"I'm greedier than you...I will root myself in the depths of your heart. Our desires and convictions will be intertwined..." here comes the becoming one theme againnnn (hot version) - "I want your everything and there can never be a moment when you can think about leaving me" - *you*'re the one who left though Xavier (to be fair, it wasn't an easy decision to take nor to live with)

That nose animation. *That nose animation*

"welcome me" throwback to that "this is welcoming me so warmly"

"You can be more eager than that" he always wants it harder huh

"come closer. Hold onto me tighter and give me you everything" same as above + still merging sexy edition

"we're so close that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins" - I'm yelling. Here it is *again* - sweet, heartwarming edition this time

So, all in all I loved this card - it was a sort of summary of everything Xavier up to this point: the almost looney-tunesques adventures and shenanigans we get into with him, his sneakiness and cheekiness, his past as a royal, his curiosity and love for adventure, him finding beauty and peacefulness in the small things, him helping and protecting usually overlooked life that manages to thrive in unexpected place thanks to his help. And his brand of helping, which is lending a hand in a moment of need but also believing in people's capabilities and putting them in a position where they can stand on their own. And, of course, his love and devotion for mc - tender, thoughtful and terribly intense, to the point where he wants to become one with her (which, as seen above, can be wholesome, hot but also deeply concerning, depending on context).

(But also there was no real reason for the young princess to want MC as officiant during the ceremony. It was just to have this plot specifically. Ok then)

[love-and-deepdives]

At Last: A Missive on Caleb and MC's Slow Burn (AKA how No Return Night broke me 💀)

Here's the thing. I'm still not over No Return Night. And I may never be over it. It's insane to me how they crafted this intense, decades-long epic between these two characters, condensed it into what, maybe 8-12 hours of gameplay? Stretched out over 6 months perhaps, but still. And then they totally stuck the landing. For me, No Return Night came together beautifully and devastatingly, and my feelings require that I talk about how they did it because WHAT THE HELL INFOLD YOU CAN'T JUST BE OUT HERE RUINING PEOPLE LIKE THIS. (But also I appreciate it so much, thank you.)

[As per all my LaDS commentary posts, a disclaimer that this is JUST MY OPINION. Other interpretations of Caleb and MC's relationship are equally valid, but this is the internet and I get to yell things just like everyone else. Spoilers for No Return Night, but honestly, how could you not have seen it already?? TREAT YOURSELF.]

Part 1) They picked an amazing set up by grounding Caleb and MC's love story in real-life experiences.

Of all the LIs, Caleb's romantic trope is arguably the most down-to-earth and that works very strongly in its favor. Whether you choose to interpret Caleb as a childhood best friend or as a kind of foster-sibling (my Americanized, not-nearly-as-good version of "gege"), the overall feeling of deep familiarity and care that comes with those roles is something a lot of people experience or want to experience. Maybe some folks have lovers from their past lives return to them again and again, we can't be sure, but it's a truth universally acknowledged that most people have had (or at least wanted to have) childhood best friends, forbidden or unrequited loves, or just someone who cared for them deeply growing up, who made them feel safe. Therefore that connection with Caleb when he's introduced is immediate in many players, myself included. He's always been there for you and taken care of you and there's nothing else to explain about it, like how you met him on a beach as a child or made a soul bond in a past life. Not that I don't love those backstories (I adore them), but their foundation is mostly fictional. With Caleb, for lots of players, the foundation is not just our imagination but our actual life experience, and that carries a lot of weight. Weight that InFold writers then use to emotionally beat us to death.

Part 2) The intersecting storytelling that built up to No Return Night was both heavy-handed AND nuanced, and somehow it worked.

When Caleb's birthday event debuted, I'd been playing LADS for a little over two months, and had been watching Caleb and MC's romance even less than that, considering he gets unlocked later in the story. And yet when I first saw the trailer, it felt like I had been waiting literal years for that kiss, for THE Kiss, to happen.

(Pictured: The last thing I saw moments before blacking out from FEELING TOO MANY FEELINGS.)

It wasn't until after I stopped screaming and my brain rebooted that I fully appreciated the work the writers put in to make a few months worth of tension feel like the lifetime it was in game.

Many of Caleb's Tender Moments are set in or about the past, moreso than any of the other LIs, but at first I just chalked that up to it being Caleb's narrative "theme." I even started to get annoyed with the constant references to his and MC's past in like ALL of their dialogue (Me: "I swear if he says 'back then' or 'when we were kids' ONE MORE TIME 😤"), though I eventually got over it. But after his birthday card, I understood the vision.

From every angle, at all times, the writers persistently made you feel that history between Caleb and MC. Those memories from the past were there to complement and emphasize what was set in the present, which smarter people than I probably realized right away. While I was all "YES, I GET IT, THEY GREW UP TOGETHER," part of my brain was bolstering the connections between those past memories and Caleb's present day behavior: his facial expressions (the way his eyes fly open when MC kisses his eyebrow in Farspace Deprivation), body language (the way he folds in on himself after wanting to kiss her SO BAD in Hidden Waves 🫠😭), and tone of voice (literally any time Caleb opens his mouth, like every word he says to MC is dripping with that longing). Combined with even more references and scenes from their past in other memories, phone calls, posts, and texts (how they used to skip class together, how they played pranks on each other, how Caleb, uh, took pictures of her... while she was sleeping... 👀), all of it was consciously and unconsciously building that tension. Even when I thought I knew how invested I was, it wasn't until I saw the culmination of all that yearning that I understood how much the writers had gotten me in my feelings about these two, more than I ever realized until I watched No Return Night's trailer and had a full-on, certified, bonafide breakdown.

(Pictured: My first attempt at watching the No Return Night trailer. I had to stop halfway through to force myself to breathe properly.)

Part 3) The writers absolutely understood the assignment when it came to showing the release of that earth-shattering tension.

Let the record show that my breakdown was fully consensual. I wanted that kiss to destroy my psyche and leave me catatonic with joy, as did many others. I'm active on the official subreddit where there were some less-mentally-unwell players who thought it was fine if Floating Floraletter was the first kiss between Caleb and MC. And then there was me, who was ready to throw metaphorical hands if that turned out to be the case.

To be fair, I can respect the opinion that the kiss didn't have to be monumental, even if I disagree. Caleb is a more disciplined man than most, a soldier and a colonel, and realistically (I could be wrong, hard to tell, I only date virtual men) I don't think this level of intensity happens very often among adults...

However, THIS IS A MOBILE GAME AND REALISM IS FOR SUCKERS.

Caleb is constantly grabbing MC, pulling her to him, borderline stalking her, begging her not to leave and to stay with him for literally one hundred years, wanting to be her goddamn toothbrush, and at the time of the No Return Night, he had been running on those fumes for over a DECADE. Brief, tree-obscured smooches were not going to cut it. I needed to FEEL that shit. Yes, theoretically, that first kiss could be some sweet, relatively chaste moment in a boat somewhere, but the more likely scenario imho is kissing so hard that you fall off the sofa and then you """make out""" (🙄) on the floor for FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT.

(Pictured: A man who definitely wasn't getting his fuck on mere moments ago.)

For me, emotionally, No Return Night was near perfect. You could see from the trailer that the devs knew what they were doing: referencing all the waist grabs and longing looks from previous memories. That part where Caleb grabs MC's wrist, pauses, and then he pulls her and you just KNOW that right then that he's finally decided. There's no more guilt, no more hesitation, that man pulls her into his lap. There's no more longing in those eyes, only determination. Things WILL be different, starting tonight.

While I do have small critiques about the translation and MC's execution, I have none whatsoever about the buildup and framing of that moment. Unrequited love can be extraordinarily painful. If you're playing self-insert or even if you're just someone who feels things in that deep way, you recognize what that would be like to finally connect with that person for whom you have been starving for SO long. It might be slow, it might be tender, but it would HURT. In a good way though. And I love that the writers leaned into that fantasy and took it seriously.

(Pictured: "And here we are in Heaven, for you are mine. At last.")

TL;DR: No Return Night was a great ending to a masterful piece of interconnected storytelling that created years worth of depth in a short amount of time. The writers showed so much commitment to and respect for depicting a complex relationship, and their willingness to let those emotions culminate with the intensity they deserved was incredible. I'm going to continue to unpack SO MANY FEELINGS rewatching this card while regularly running back to Zayne for emotional stability (I still love you the most, my secure attachment king.)

I'm not interested in getting married (FINALLY a banner to skip), but after Floating Floraletter teasing us and No Return Night finally making it official, I cannot wait to see more cards of Caleb and MC together in an actual romantic relationship. I look forward to seeing how they're going to interact now that the longing is finally at an end... well, that version of the longing. I'm sure Caleb will find other ways to pine for MC, that man is BUILT TO YEARN.

Also he's just built, jfc.

Credit: Flat-Seaweed757

[seaskyblue]

Assorted thoughts on Rippling Blossoms

Live commentary on Rafayel's card

Spoilers under the cut

Ough, moving stuff, rearranging furniture, renovating, keeping things * tidy* in Raf's house... I get a headache just thinking about it

but as it always happens when you start sorting through old stuff, something interesting and completely forgotten comes up

love how mc is mesmerized by the painting while raf is like... and here i thought it was in the dumpster. He'd obviously put it out of his mind and has no interest in it now - but he sure is interested in mc's opinion on it, especially since she's so taken with it

oooh yapping about paintings, colors and pigments! Keep talking raf

mc has decided to go look for the flower so that Rafayel can finish his painting. Thing is, knowing Raf, if he truly wanted to finish it... he would have done so a long time ago. He's not the kind of person that lets himself be stopped by things such as "i'm out of the color i need". Since he's left it unfinished it means he's done with that particular painting.

still he's soooo happy mc has organized this trip as a surprise for him! Always soaking up mc's attentions and affection like a sponge. He's so cute

Ah, mass tourism, my beloathed. Here's a wonderful post by @mayyari about this particular theme in raf's narrative, from this card to many other points in his story

"truly unique things are always a luxury.Being fortunate enough to find one even once is a miracle" true, true

hhhhh not Raf wanting to avoid hot springs because of that first birthday trip

"But I'd feel even worse if we missed this opportunity" - mc you're merciless. Still, technically speaking, you don't need to go into the hot springs for the flowers, so...

ok but rafmc are so domestic. Married vibes 100%

leaving at 8:00 am. I keep forgetting Raf is... if not a morning person, he sure has no problem waking up early when needed even though he's prone to pulling allnighters. Mc is stronger than me for sure. What do you mean, leaving at 8:00 am on a vacation?

not Raf humming!!!

he's always happy to soak in mc's compliments huh

"but now you wanna capture a ray of sunlight" oh raf, if only you knew how many times i've wanted to do just that. "If only i was a painter or a photographer I could capture this moment and share it with everyone!" I'm always thinking that whenever i come across something beautiful. But he's right, being an artist and having talent doesn't mean you can replicate what you've experienced - you have no choice but to give your own reinterpretation of it. In the end, your artwork is inevitably something separate from what you have in your mind or heart and it will live on independently - and will be subject to other people's interpretations. It's both the beauty of art... and an extremely frustrating thing for an artist at times. Many people might like your work and cherish it but you'd still be there muttering "But that's not what I meant!"

"no matter what i do, I can't capture the color I see" rrrraaaaaah, the frustration. I really feel this line. (Unrelated, but you know how in Goethe's Faust, Mephisto has to make Faust experience something that will make Faust say "moment be still, you're so beautiful"? He'd have such an easy time with me it wouldn't even be funny. He wouldn't even have to lift a finger, for all that's happening right now and all the tragedies and destruction... we still live in such a beautiful, breathtaking world. Anyway, digression over)

"I can't take a ray of sunlight with me, so I'll leave it with the mountains. What I can take with me and what can remain on the canvas is my feeling in this moment" Raf I love you. This is such a beautiful way to put it

....just what kind of luxury boat business is this old man running? Didn't he close his floral shop because he couldn't keep up with the boost in tourism?? Seriously, a hot spring???? In the boat?????

"I'll only know what I want to express when the brush touches the canvas" I lovelovelove when raf talks about painting. I mean, the people working at Lads are artists too, and those who aren't, are working side by side with visual artists/people who have studied art in some form, so I'm sure they have a blast with this side of his character.

"I'm no longer in that mindset, and the feelings I couldn't put into words have faded" mh yeah, understandable

"it was painful and yet... alive with a fiery passion" yeah, this was the Rafayel we met at the beginning of the game.

"don't move" - it seems he really likes to tell mc that

"beautiful. It's my favorite color" - listen. I know he's referring to the whole moment and the whole relationship with mc and everything that brought him here and now with her. I know it's not *literally* about the color. But. I thought his favorite color was pink? Because it represents mc and love and everything good, sweet and soft in his life? And red was more about the burning flame of his passion. I guess he's linkening that to mc and the relationship so. New favorite color acquired?

"you need to keep them close once you find the opportunity. Appreciate them carefully everyday until you can say it belongs to you in its entirety" Aaaand here comes raf's latent possessivness / potential yandereness. He's sweet and loving and playful, passionate and sensual... and then there's this undercurrent that pops up. Soaked in spicy or sweet moments, so that you almost don't realize it's there and don't really think about the implications. I would say it's only there to turn up the temperature and it's not that deep but. It's a refrain that keeps coming up in raf's stories and it featured heavily in Tamino's bad ending so. The writers could keep it just for spice, but they could very easily use it in a darker scenario too. I think they're more interested in the sweet escapist fantasy atm but never say never.

"you're not the type that turns away from a challenge though" Rafayel was so so scared that she *would* turn away, decide he wasn't worth it or that he was too much or that he was a monster. Now that he knows that's not who mc is though... There's no turning back

"these reds belong to the sea, the mountains, the tree... I'm just borrowing them. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to find them again. But they'll never belong to me. I already found another special red. It's one of a kind and second to none. That red belongs to me" Ugh. This is so poetic, and if I had to pick a quote to sum up this card this would be it. It also sums up Raf's philosophy and attitude when it comes to life - he's constantly adapting to his environment and he's mostly fine with it, he has accepted that this is how life is and this is how you survive. But mc? She's his, his anchor and the one thing he doesn't want to give up no matter what.

nghl, raf's mc though. In Misty Invasion card Raf asked her whether she was uncomfortable and she answered with "Look, it's snowing!" Now her response is... she.... feeds the fish. I can't with her (though I kinda understand tbh)

"Feed this Fish" - INFOLD

"Rafayel.. I..." and the mark glows. That's such a hassle though. I'd be so paranoid, I'd take 5 business days to open my mouth and tell him literally anything, gotta analyze it from 20 different angles and make sure it doesn't accidentally activate the covenant

"Always searching for anything that's one of a kind is exhausting. The wait can feel endless (..) Fortunately, many years ago, Rafayel had the same courage and patience you have now. And that kept the little flame alive. Now it has found an opportunity to burn once again" If Xavier is about keeping and giving hope in the direst of situations, of light that unexpectedly illuminates the deepest darkness, Rafayel is about protecting that little flame of life and passion even when you've lost all hope and everything feels meaningless. It takes courage and patience but if you manage to do that - you'll keep it alive long enough to survive to a moment where it can be finally rekindled again and go back to burning bright.

hhhhh the description of that painting! To say it's lovely is absolutely reductive!

Ok all in all I liked this one too, although maybe not as much as Sunken Glow. Like Xavier's card, this one sums up nicely where we are with our relationship with mc's love interest of choice. Rafayel is finally secure in the relationship, he feels comfortable in soaking up in her affections, expressing his feelings and thoughts and needs and just... being himself. It's so refreshing to see, and very heartwarming too if we remember where we started - he was always on the defensive and holding himself back - always afraid. I do wonder where they'll take him though. Last main story update seemed like a rushed, clumsy attempt at shutting down his revenge storyline which... would be absolutely terrible for both his narrative and his character. That has been such a huge part of his character and identity... people don't just give up such quests just like that and begin anew. Nothing about that storyline was solved - Lemurians are still hunted down and exploited, Rafayel is still their god, neither he nor his people have had any closure. It's good that he doesn't let himself be consumed by his revenge and that he has found something good to live for but that doesn't erase everything else. I sure hope this new, lovely-dovey spicy red he has found is simply to signal that the passion that drives him now is not the self-destructive kind anymore and not that he now only revolves around mc and his people can go hang. We'll see.

[seaskyblue]

World Underneath Musings - Light into Dust

The squabble over the training fields... why am I having flashbacks from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Isaiah is "an experimental body the most closely related to X" - just one of the many clues that Philosians - or the Philosian royal family at least - are some sort of... experimental humans? With eternal youth, perfect health, great powers, supposedly rational minds not clouded by emotions... or that was the intention. Xavier should have been the paragon of this Philosian Experimental Human but he followed his heart and his principles rather than self-serving logic.

These ever-youthful experimental humans are what Ever is trying to achieve (through Lemurian biology AND Backtracker technology/biology?). So - could Caleb be the current prototype?

"the core mechanisms of royal bloodlines" another very machine coded way to talk about someone.

"planet transplantation initiative" So Soren, as seen in main story, is trying to transplant the planet....

and Isaiah "discovered the planet transplantation initiative and refused to cooperate". I find this facet of Isaiah's characterization super interesting. He considers himself more practical and down to earth than Xavier and I can see why, but - he's just as stubbornly idealistic, and more naive to boot. I love Isaiah so much. Also Jeremiah best boy as always.

Seriously the back trackers are such a delight.

More ramblings about Isaiah, Eulogy of Light and Xavier's parents (and uncle?) under the cut

I'd love to make a whole post dedicated to Eulogy of Light and the choice of Hamlet as the "classical theme" of the event + card but I don't know when I'll finally manage to write it down so here we go.

Hamlet lost his marbles because the ghost of his father appeared and told him he was murdered by his uncle. And so Hamlet tries to understand how much truth was in that revelation, even as emotionally he pretty much believes the ghost. His uncle meanwhile has married Hamlet's mother - Hamlet still loves his mother despite not having a good relationship with his uncle.

We know Xavier had a good, loving relationship with his mother and a strained relationship with his father - discovering his mother had been sacrificed to the planet was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I found it strange that the event card would choose Hamlet as the familial bonds are what drives the Shakesperean tragic hero and they don't seem to mirror those of the Philosian Royal family.

Eulogy of Light introduced an Evil Uncle™️to the family tree though - we hadn't even suspected his existence before and we haven't seen him since.

I wonder - will he make a come back? Was Xavier even talking about his bio father in the Lightseeker Myth? "I wish he wasn't my father" as in - I wish he wasn't involved in the process of creating* me and raising me, or I wish he hadn't taken up the mantle when he married my mother? Was he talking about his uncle?

That part in main story when Jeremiah introduces mc to Isaiah as Xavier's bro-cousins makes me wonder.

I'll be honest - if that's where we're going.... I kinda think this could be a retcon. There was no sign of uncles and bro-cousins before this year. Still, I'm curious to see where the writers will take this.

*further food for though - was Xavier even conceived the traditional way? Was he grown in a lab? Is he a perfect mix of human and machine?

Final thought: interesting title for a story that seemingly follows Isaiah as he settles down on Earth and finally, finally starts enjoying life and is maybe becoming receptive to people who actually care for him as a person.

[seaskyblue]

Of course Fishie gets Titanic.

🎵 I believe that the heart does go onnnnnnn.... 🎵

Even the super duper famous theme song fits RafMC to a T!

"Sorry...the rest of this journey... You'll have to go on without me" Exuse me? Beg your pardon?? Infold??? Infold come here. Come here Infold, I just wanna talk.

"Even if I'd known from the start how this would end I'd make the same choice again". Of course he would. That does not make me feel any better. Rafayel and his damn tendency to shrug off pesky little details such as "his own health" "his own well-being" "his own life" when it comes to MC - ugh.

"eyes on the sunset, not me" RAFAYEL! That's how you know he's redirecting mc's attention. That's how you know he doesn't want you to notice something. Where has he ever not basked in mc's attention? Watch the sunset?? Rafayel when I catch you

I know that tragedy has always been a major component of RafMC but. But. Can we catch a break please? Please??

At least did you kiss the brick Infold?

(I mean, it's too early to discard the possibilty that we might have alternative endings like in Catch 22 or that they went with the "tragedy turned story with a happy ending" like in Throne of Eros but. Why should we be watching the sunset and not Raf? That line is too suspicious)

[seaskyblue]

🎶 Don't be afraid we'll make it out of this mess, it's a love story baby just say yes 🎶 - Xavier, apparently. I usually like Shakespeare more than Taylor Swift but can we go with her version in this case? Thanks!

I'll be honest - I do think Romeo fits Xavier better than Hamlet. Yeah, Xavier is very deliberate with his words and actions, but he enterely lacks Hamlet's almost pathological need to analyze and think and ponder to the point he's almost incapable of action - and, to be fair, that gets addressed in his Throne of Eros card.

For all his chill and easy going nature Xavier tends to be quite reckless and can be impulsive at times - the main differences I see with Romeo is that

a) I can't see him getting over a girl as fast as Romeo does at the beginning of the play (I can see him having more than one girl in his life, if he wasn't a LI in an otome game... But I think he'd need to get over a past infatuation before he pursues a new girl - before he even notices a new girl. But I digress)

b) I think he wouldn't care at all for a secret marriage. He might go along with it if mc really really wanted to but... I think he'd be more like. Whelp, we're married. That's a you problem. And I love that there's traces of that in this memory - it's mc who worries about her family seeing them, and it's her who pulls him in to hide him. (This might have been Xavier's plan all along i think, but also I genuinely believe he wouldn't have minded getting caught).

Anyways, tragedy isn't an inescapable part of XavMc's narrative - they ususally have themes such as star crossed lovers, always having each other's back, duty vs personal desires, freedom and self-realization vs fulfilling their roles... and their storylines usually lean into the action -adventure - whacky shenanigans storybeats. How do we reconcile that with the tragedy ™️? I do hope they actually manage to pull off the "fake death" trope (unlike their shakespearean counterparts).

There's a very real possibility they decided to keep the tragic elements though. We'll see, I don't think the preview gives us enough elements to say for sure.