quest development: the spiritual journeys of reika titov (1)
this post is kind of gigantic, but for the purpose of this series, moving through the arc development is best, since we have already covered arc development with theia, but for this series we need to establish what this character’s arcs are like for the quest set development i am about to do to make very much sense.
so without further ado... ^_^
(tw/cw for abuse and lesbophobia)
Book 1: The Aspen Tree
1► It’s hard to believe, but this part of your life actually happened.
This Arc is about Reika making herself the villain, and trying her best to see it as something amazing and cool. She goes through lots of failed schemes, lots of villainy that ends up more heroic, that she tries to justify through some vague stupid excuse that makes it seem like she’s not just doing it to be nice.
But she starts to get sick of that whole thing. She starts to process the fact that it really isn’t for her, even though she wants it to be.: But she starts to get sick of that whole thing. She starts to process the fact that it really isn’t for her, even though she wants it to be.
Oki, so widely expanding on that basic idea -
This book starts a little while after Reika became the Darkweaver, maybe a year. She has spent the past year really acclimating herself to what things are like now – her new powers, her basic experience as a Dark Walker, etc. She has mostly kept to herself during that time period, and has decided to really re-enter society. I am thinking that she might even start trying to attend school, but after being out for a year, things are very messy.
There is a lot of rumour and stuff about what Reika was doing during her gap year. Lots of these rumours are very bad, and lead to her being kind of socially shunned. Reika tries to involve herself in [insert school club here], but things keep getting ruined by very very messy stuff. Reika gets shoved into the role of a villain, and tries to live up to the role, but then after a big scheme where she really hurts someone, Reika realizes that maybe being a villain is not what she really wants. She decides that when she graduates high school, she will change everything about herself completely and become a hero. A redefinition, in essence.
Quest 1: Reika tries to get involved in [insert school club here]. She throws herself full-force into it. But everything keeps getting interrupted. Everyone keeps side-eying Reika, and she gets dragged into messy villainous stuff. She gets a bad reputation, and the club stuff by the end of this quest starts to seem very very messy and unworkable. This quest ends when Reika decides that if everyone is going to call her a villain, she might as well become one.
Quest 2: Reika throws herself into a big villainous scheme, I am thinking that it is probably something involving the Child of the Sun, who is part of some School-adjacent group. Maybe this scheme involves kidnapping her at an alumnus gala and doing something magically to seal her away to blot out the sun, or basically kill her in a symbolic way. This definitely visually involves shooting her with a bow and arrow. I think that Reika teams up with some sort of vampire alliance to do this, or rather that she is doing it for them. This quest ends when she does it and then the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy appears at her door to try to recruit her to the Bleak Academy. (This is, of course, deeply upsetting, along with the damage she just did to things.)
Quest 3: This quest gets very very psychological, as the labyrinth in it is completely Reika's troubled mindscape. This is represented by a complex puzzle box that she drew out of the Child of the Sun when she did whatever she did to her. In her final weeks of school, Reika works desperately to solve the puzzle and pass her classes, with the hope that the puzzle box will contain the answers she needs. When it comes down to it, the puzzle box is empty, and that is its own kind of answer. The answer that she is going to have to figure it all out herself.
Book 2: Oleander and Rosebay
2► There’s some illusion or trick here.
So then Reika tries her best to be nice. She tries her best to be more like a hero, even though society is trying its best to make her be a villain. She just wants you to like her! That’s all she really wants! But it’s all hard.
During this Arc, she befriends a boy around her age named Mikhail Nemetov. His family is abusive, and Reika empathizes with him, and spends a big portion of the Arc trying to help him get out of his bad situation. They kind of have a bit of a romance, and Reika really connects with Mikhail. He becomes her only friend.
And then Mikhail reveals his true intentions. He isn’t a sweet, shy teenage boy. (Well, he is still a teenage boy, but…) He’s a powerful enemy of the world, an Excrucian Deceiver, who created a family for himself to create a situation to lure Reika in, to gain her trust, so that he could do his best to convert her to his cause, to recruit her into a war against the world.
So to expand upon this -
Reika has finished her second-to-last year of high school. This book is set during her vacation. She's know as a hardcore villain for what she did to the Child of the Sun, but she's at this point very much not sure that was really what she wanted to do.
Reika decides that she is going to become a hero. She (of course) does not process how impossible this will be, given who she is.
Early on in this book she meets a sad boy her age named Mikhail Nemetov. His family is abusive, and this story centers a lot on Reika's romance with him, or rather, his courtship of her. She falls for it hook, line, and sinker because she is comphet-ing, and because he is one of the only people in her life who accepts her as a hero. Mikhail sees her as a hero first and foremost even, and what villain looking for redemption wouldn't obsess over the person who sees her as completely who she wants to be.
This book really builds up to the reveal that Mikhail is not the sweet, shy boy Reika sees him as, but that he is an Excrucian Deciever who created a false family for himself to lure Reika in and gain her trust, so that he could try to recruit her into a war against the world.
Quest 1: Reika gets excited about being a hero. She posits lots of ways that it could work. She meets Mikhail. She starts to crush on Mikhail. This quest is kind of just a glorious exploration of Reika's decision, but even it has a dark side. This quest ends when Reika makes a full decision to help Mikhail out of his abusive household.
Quest 2: This is about Reika helping Mikhail get out of his situation, and is very focused on their romance set-up. Reika does cool stuff, and ultimately, Reika gets Mikhail out of his abusive situation. This is accompanied by romantic music and confetti raining from the sky! (That may or may not be literal.)
Quest 3: I am thinking that this is about Reika unknowingly navigating Mikhail's complicated trap. Throughout this whole quest, Reika is not aware that Mikhail is dangerous (despite overwhelming signs). It is clear to the audience, with lots of dramatic irony, but it is something that Reika does not at all catch onto. This is basically their full-on relationship set-up, or rather explicitly Mikhail's seduction of Reika. This quest and book ends with them dating, and Reika in some deep ways under his sway.
Book 3: The Ebony Tree and the Shrike
3► There’s something that rings false about the threats you face here.
Reika traverses a literal labyrinth in this Arc. It’s a representation of her tangled-up emotions, the way she’s majorly torn between two ways of life – the life of a hero and the life of a villain, the Reika who is and the Reika who the world expects her to be. Mikhail is trying to corrupt her, and make her into a villain, which symbolizes in a way the world’s expectations of Reika.
She reaches the center of the labyrinth, defeats Mikhail, and then she decides to just be who she wants to be, even if that’s not totally something consistent, and even if she can’t figure out how to make it work. She decides to just live for herself instead of listening to what people tell her to be.
To expand -
Quest 1: This is about Reika's new relationship. This is about her “bliss” with Mikhail. He's come into a lot of money he inherited from an old aunt or something. She is constantly on his arm, and he is constantly buying her fancy things, showing her off. Reika starts to think that maybe her shortcut into society could be through Mikhail. There is also, I think, a hasty proposal. But then as the honeymoon period starts to wear off, she starts to see the problems. She starts to see that things might not be as good as she is thinking, but none of it is really enough for a full indictment yet. Just enough to make her question.
Quest 2: Reika starts cheating on Mikhail with a girl. The girl does not like Mikhail, and tries to do her best to get Reika to dump him, but Reika insists that Mikhail is all she has. Meanwhile, Mikhail is really trying to influence and corrupt Reika. He is performing a flower rite with the goal of shoving an excruciated estate into her and making her a mimic. Mikhail tells her about his plans at the end of this quest – attracting dangerous attention and being praised by an enemy – but with how she's been during her secret affair, Reika actually starts to really deeply “what the fuck” about Mikhail.
Quest 3: This is Reika trying to get out of the cage of Mikhail's grooming and love. Reika trying to break out of things before Mikhail finishes his Flower Rite and uses her as the tool he needs to fight the world. This quest culminates with Reika breaking up with Mikhail before he finishes the Flower Rite, and deciding to stick her nose into stopping him.
Quest 4: This is a slow race towards the end of the Flower Rite, but every fight with Mikhail is a chance to be drawn back in again. This is Reika's confused flurry with everything on the line. And it ends with Reika stopping Mikhail from his Flower Rite, but he gets away.
Book 4: The Abraxas Rose
4► The trick is about to be revealed.
Reika embarks on a great quest, something very very upwards. I am leaning towards something that other heroes and villains are striving for as well. Something very mythic and Greek. She’s decided that this is the sort of thing she does these days. She’s decided that this is who she is. But what she’s not letting on is that part of her motivation is that she wants people to see her as a hero for doing this. She wouldn’t admit it, but somewhere in her subconscious, that’s the reason why.
Reika reaches the target, completes the quest, is the one to complete it, before anyone else can, and because of it, she starts to become a bit more confident in herself, in her decision to be who she wants to be. She starts to get a bit more sure of herself, and returns home with her prize (which I’m conceptualizing as some sort of artifact or something).
To expand -
This new version very much involves the fact that Mikhail is still out there, and now that Reika is out of his grasp, he's just going to try to do this with another girl. This also involves the mythic hero quest that Reika thinks will help people see as a hero. She doesn't want to admit it, but that's a big part of what's going on. Yes, the actions she's taking are good, but they're by no means done for pure reasons. Parts of it are even motivated by hate and petty revenge.
This book ends with Reika killing Mikhail in what is presumably saving the world, and the fanfare that comes along with this, or rather, the presumed fanfare.
Quest 1: With Mikhail gone, Reika searches for a heroic quest she can take on to become a hero, to be treated as one. This quest has a lot of Reika trying out various tasks, the beginnings of several failed adventures that go wrong in Reika's trademark messy and not-totally-morally-good style. This quest ends with Reika finding out a large conspiracy with Mikhail at its center.
Quest 2: This quest focuses a lot on Reika fighting and investigating the shadowy organization Abraxas, which is basically Mikhail's mysterious villainous organization. She takes lots of decisive action, and starts to get to the bottom of the whole conspiracy, but then this quest ends when Mikhail comes back into Reika's life, asking her to join him in his schemes, and she pretty much falls for it.
Quest 3: This quest centers on Reika's time inside of Abraxas, trying to get out of Mikhail's clutches yet again. This quest has a lot of focus on the metaphorical labyrinth that is the internal politics of Abraxas, and on the labyrinth that is Reika's emotions. I am thinking that there is another girl who is Mikhail's intended vessel. Reika starts to fall in love with her, and kind of starts to realize that she needs to save her from Mikhail. This quest ends with Reika really properly challenging Mikhail and him fleeing to the spiritual realms with the girl, goading Reika into chasing him.
Quest 4: This quest focuses a lot on Reika's emotional state as she explores the spiritual realms in search for clues about Mikhail's whereabouts. At times, she considers leaving the other girl to Mikhail, but knows that in the long run that would make things worse. This quest culminates in Reika finding the location of Mikhail's chapel, and making preparations to descend into it.
Quest 5: This is Reika's final descent into Mikhail's chapel, her final descent into the maelstrom. Her final fight with Mikhail, her final challenge in breaking away from him. This quest is also very focused on the fact that Reika is very conceptually lost by the idea of ending everything with Mikhail. The fact that she uses her opposition to him as a sort of identity of her own, a place in the world, and that without him, that identity will be lost. And then deep in Mikhail's chapel, Reika and Mikhail fight one final battle, and she kills him in a moment of intense emotional catharsis.
Book 5: Wormwood's Flight
5► ...and it’s going to change everything.
Reika thought the hero-quest would make people like her, thought that they would start to see her as a hero because of it, but she was wrong. She’d been telling herself she was going to just do what she wanted to do, but she can’t help but get all caught up in what people think of her. She gets really depressed, and during this time has some weird, dark adventures that are a metaphor for her mental state. She gets hurt a lot, and fails a lot, and several times nearly dies.
Then she actually dies, and is brought back by an outside force, then has to work to recapture her Blasphemy, shove it back inside of her and save everyone.
After that transcendence of death, Reika takes a new lease on life. In the afterlife she saw something that really changes how she viewed things, that really changes how things work for her. She finds something there that allows her to actually live for herself and be happy. I think it’s likely rooted in the fact that she has a circle of friends already, but doesn’t really realize it. She has people who care about her. She just hasn’t noticed that they all actually care deeply about her. She’s had these people for a while, but her own thought processes have been holding her back. So then she lives for herself, and take care of her friends, and is happy.
To expand -
This is the point where Reika really has to face how lost she is. She thought she would be a hero, but the world is calling her fight with Mikhail an empty lover's quarrel. Despite having broken free of Mikhail, society still defines her by her relationship with him. And this is basically the story of how Reika breaks free of society's definitions of herself, which is also a coming out metaphor that is also literal.
Quest 1: This quest focuses on Reika trying to enjoy her Mikhail-free life, but shadows and ghosts that represent both the shadow of Mikhail in her life, and society's perceptions of her haunt her. Reika tries to be excited about her life, but keeps getting brought down again, especially by the fact that society isn't treating her as the hero like she wanted. Society is treating her like an accessory. I mean, the parts of it that are not treating her as Mikhail's co-conspirator. After all, she is the girl who put out the sun for a while after trying to kill the Child of the Sun. This quest ends with Reika really losing sight of all the ways her life has improved and falling into despair.
Quest 2: This quest centers on Reika trying to do her own thing and ignore all of her problems. This quest is a time of false celebration and forced smiles. This quest is that confused attempt to say that your abuse didn't hurt you, in a vain attempt to avoid being defined by it. This quest closes on Reika having a dream of Mikhail telling her he's proud of her, and the whole thing feels to real, to the level where she wakes up crying and wondering if maybe he didn't really die.
Quest 3: This quest is about Reika trying to make sense of everything, trying to get to the bottom of the whether or not Mikhail is alive. A part of this is fueled by a desire to have him gone, but a big part of it also is fueled by a fucked-up sense of love. The desire to fix things, to make him better. The desire to kill him again and thus excise things forever. And then Reika finds her answers at the end of this quest. She realizes that Mikhail is dead, but a part of him will always be with her, because that shared abuse experience is never going to go away, no matter how much she wishes she could get rid of it.
Quest 4: This quest is about Reika taking it upon herself to take out the remains of Abraxas, ending it all once for all. This quest goes to a lot of very dark places, because Reika is still lost, even though she has come to terms with her history with Mikhail in a way. The scars still remain, and her life still hasn't been pieced back together, but this is maybe a last chance. This quest also delves a bit into some history, and addresses the fact that Reika still thinks she loves him, but that love is realistically a way of clinging to something that feels real. This quest ends when she fights the new leader of Abraxas and dies.
Quest 5: This quest is Reika's time outside of the world, primarily, her time dead. This quest is a time of painful transcendance. This quest is when Reika realizes that she doesn't love Mikhail, and that she never loved him. This quest is when Reika realizes that she's a lesbian. This quest is when Reika realizes that the world doesn't matter, and that the world doesn't get to tell her who she is, because she is the only one who gets to define that sort of thing. And then Reika returns to the world, pulls the shadows back into her kicking and screaming, comes out as gay, and finally starts living.
next time we will be going over how i convert these arc writeups into a distinct quest set for telling these stories! ^_^