#plot resolution

[sister-claire-critical]

I can't help but find Ash's comments under the newest MiMo (the one where Yolanda is upside down) a little grating, but mostly instilling in me a deep sense of pity & some confusion.

If they'd been planning this plot beat for 8 years, that puts it in 2016, during which Sister Claire has a lengthy chapter with the side-cast exploring an abandoned city to find special scrap metal for Olga that goes nowhere & develops almost nothing. The MiMo's explain the fact that the world is post-apocalyptic, while it's nice to see it depicted visually that wasn't really needed narratively.

They just as easily could have written it so the technology Olga needs to walk could be found in a pile of scrap in field somewhere & not an abandoned city they have to do a whole side-quest-trek to get into. Or just make it so regular assistive devices made of regular metal still work on her!

It's beautifully drawn & provides SOME bits of plot I guess but it like, takes so long to get there & is annoying to read even years out now where I can just rush through it & not have to wait for updates.

The whole city thing could have been cut. SO MUCH COULD HAVE BEEN CUT! If they knew where they were going, they didn't have to meander so much in the inbetween. We could have gotten to these other plot points sooner & these poor creatives could have moved on from this story to rest.

Great example. I think that plot arc is right around the height of the authors setting up way too many things they'd have to come back to later. It's like they were in way too deep to realize the terrible things they had wrought on their future selves. It's kind of fascinating, in a very sad way.

—Mod Marie 🌸

[isk4649]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Honor and Will, Chapter 38 / Six Sentence Sunday

...In which the slow burn ends.

Thanks for the tag, @a11sha11fade and @noire-pandora! I’ve been somewhat inactive this past couple months or so, but I thought I would indulge myself by mashing up the Six Sentence Sunday tag with a chapter posting.

FFN Link

Relationships: Male Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford, Cullen Rutherford/Male Trevelyan

Characters: Male Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Male Trevelyan (Dragon Age), Cullen Rutherford

Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff, Smut, Gay Sex, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Addiction, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Redemption, Reconciliation, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Bisexual Cullen Rutherford, Arranged Marriage

Far more than six sentences, but eh. Please indulge my whim.

After he managed to wrest himself away from Cullen’s embrace, he hung his head low and whispered defeatedly, “Forgive me, please.”

Oh, but Cullen still smiled his reassuring smile, still stood tall and unbothered, as though everything was going to be all right. No, that was not to be. After tonight, things were going to be broken again.

Because Tharin had to confess. Every single thing he had stowed away in his heart, chained to the dungeon of his own making, he suddenly found he had to let out and confess.

...

Tharin barely held himself together to whisper.

“I am in love with you.”

Tharin lifted his head and looked at Cullen with progressively blurring vision. It was becoming harder to tell what the other man’s expression was like.

Failing to stop his voice from quivering, Tharin emphasized, “I am in love with you… most ardently. I know you find what I am disgusting, so I did not want to bring it up. That is why I was avoiding you.”

Each word burned a hole in his heart, each significant enough to release every emotion and every thought that had been relegated to the circumscribed space within him. Relying on those escaped feelings as they freely swam across the starry night sky, Tharin continued, “I swear to the Maker, I wasn’t planning on telling you, but… I just can’t keep quiet anymore.”

Tharin’s deep inhale was hindered by a hitch.

“I love you, Cullen Ruther–”

Before Tharin finished his declaration, Cullen stepped forward, grasped his hands, and overlapped their lips together. He felt his sobs ring across their mouths.

Tags under the cut:

@raflesia65, @retrowondergirl, @thedastrash, @morganlefaye79, @charlatron, @kittynomsdeplume, @kemvee, @a-shakespearean-in-paris, @jentrevellan, @charmcity-jess, @jonogueira, and @tessa1972!

[sister-claire-critical]

I'm really, really sad we'll probably never get to know what the whole "baby" thing was about. 🥲 That's what little 10 year old me was reading for when I first got into this comic, having found Yamino off of the MLP fandom. She doesn't HAVE to have it- in fact it seems like she miscarried it & absorbed it into herself- but it would have been nice to know. All of us old fans getting so shat on. 😭 Fuck it, every type of fan except those here for shipping maybe have BEEN getting shat on.

The "baby" thing was addressed sort-of on these pages:

https://www.sisterclaire.com/comic/book-2-chapter-7-pg-153

https://www.sisterclaire.com/comic/book-2-chapter-7-pg-155

As for what "it" refers to in "get it out of you", I believe the fandom has surmised that they mean "get Clementine's magic out of you". If I recall correctly, the idea was that Claire would herself purify the shard-ness inside her through the pregnancy process and then give birth to a blessing. Catharine and Gabby hoped that by making her believe she was carrying a baby, that belief would influence what the blessing became, in the same way that Clementine's feelings seemed to influence the shape of her blessings—in other words, Claire would have a humanoid baby just by the placebo effect.

If anyone has a source for this, please share! I can't remember if this was communicated by the author or if it was just guesses cobbled together based on what little info we were given.

During a stream, Yamino was asked if the baby thing would ever be addressed. The response was "it's already been addressed". So I guess this is the most resolution we'll ever get. It's clear the authors were in a rush to gloss over the pregnancy thing and move on to other stuff. They definitely could have adapted it better to a new storyline.

—Mod Marie 🌸

[ashenbot]

I do like that ZUN seems to enjoy resolving plot threads more than introduce them. “Whatever you think of the chapter titles, this is the book that finally has Satori properly showing up.”

[sister-claire-critical]

After everything, now I REALLY hope the next time the comic picks up is a mad dash towards the end with no meandering or MiMo's (which are an extra art obligation). I feel like, because the two of them already have the story+MiMo combo already all envisioned & planned out in their head, they feel like they're letting their audience down or skimping us by not including every little detail. Because I really don't understand why else they'd focus so much on EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. But we can't mindread & aren't in their heads! It's perplexing how ball-bustingly complicated the story got when people were actually expecting it to end much sooner & be much shorter.

I don't understand why, in a story where they've already covered plot-points in:

• first drafts in google docs

• illustrated side-stories

• animatic music videos

Why they wouldn't just hurry up & finish the story & save the rest for later. Even if they wanted to continue the MiMos (which I'm not sure would be a good idea atp) they could just be uploaded unillustrated.

They've already actually gone back and re-written/re-illustrated the first chapters (I liked the story as it was & thought they were doing well expanding upon the early chapters without the revamp/retcons but whatever!) So I don't see why they couldn't just speed-rush-end the story (obviously not right now!) and then touch it up to a higher standard later.

It's just so much extra work nobody asked for or could've guessed was coming I really hope they don't come back & go about the story again in the same exact super-intense way.

Good points. I have to say, based on history, I fully expect it to continue exactly as it has.

—Mod Marie 🌸

[sister-claire-critical]

reading back on the MiMos from 2017 and thinking about how the comic seemed like was close to ending back then & it's been 7 years & like. jesus christ. at least these latest ending comic pages are cool

Looking at the dates on past pages causes me to age instantly.

—Mod Marie 🌸

[sister-claire-critical]

Based on the linear notes for the current sketch, the next chapter is likely the final chapter of the comic. Any general thoughts? Remaining regrets? Last minute ideas to salvage the story? Once the comic ends I suppose that this blog will mostly go inactive, so consider this a follower's request for any last words of wisdom.

As always, I (Mod Marie) can only speak for myself (if Mod Oscar has any thoughts to add, I look forward to reading them!)

I've been a part of this fandom for about seven years. It's the most active I've been in a fan community in years, possibly ever. Through this community I've made life-changing friendships, and I've learned so much about the world outside my own experiences. I've learned about myself, too, and grown as a person.

And yet, it was the fan community that did all that, not the comic and not the authors (except indirectly through critical discourse, lol). I find it unfortunate that the thing that put me on this path, the origin of all these beautiful memories, has become something I cannot look on with fondness. The emotions I do feel about it... weariness, exasperation, frustration... I have to dwell on those negative feelings each time the comic updates, and each time I post an ask on this Tumblr.

The fandom was—and still is, I would say—a divisive and toxic environment. I believe this friction was fostered by the authors' attitude and management of the comic and readership—the incest debacle, for example; the pattern of denial and avoidance—in short, a marked "lack of chill". However, there were a few other key players in the fandom who contributed to the conflict [who also lack(ed) chill]. I regret that things turned out this way. I regret that, as a community, we could not overcome our differences.

I think, whether you are a content creator or just any old human being who interacts with other human beings, we can learn a few lessons from what transpired here: Be honest. Be open to other perspectives. Be chill. And for God's sake, put trigger warnings on your incest content.

—Mod Marie 🌸

P.S. As a last-ditch effort to salvage the narrative, I would suggest some mimos dedicated to those interpersonal conflicts that have been neglected all this time, either during the final chapter or afterward as an epilogue. Claire formally makes up with Catharine, Catharine and Oscar formally make up with Gabrielle, Rosalie formally makes up with Oscar and Catharine, and Abraham vanishes never to be seen again.

[sister-claire-critical]

if Yamino et al are so sick of Sister Claire why are they spending so much time on Missing Moments about Abraham? I'd think that they'd be focusing on anything plot-relevant to speed up the grand finale. Abraham's past does inform her character but it's not moving the plot forward any. I suppose, if I'm generous, the current mimos are somewhat of a foil to Claire and Marie's current relationship upgrade. Still, it all seems like pointless sidetracking when, at this point, we've had enough backstory on Abraham (through Helga, Zora, and such) that we don't need to further explore her motivations.

After reading through the Abraham mimos for that other ask, I have to say the writing isn't bad, and the characterization is cute. It would be just fine if this backstory were not

about fantasy nun hitler

inserted right at the end/climax of the story where more pressing issues are happening

—Mod Marie 🌸