ghost story work 158 spoilers sorry all i fucking do is talk about shit you wont read for another month or two. Whatever. Fuck with me
the necronomicon propositioning that outer gods are metatextual ghost stories makes brasol fucking pop off because it completely reorients the power dynamic between Braun as a character in the story and Kim Soleum as a reader/writer of a storytelling wiki
and im not talking orv yoohankim this is some REAL cracked author v. subject v. reader shit because again, kim soleum is a contributor to a collaborative wiki, and as a part of an eldritch story, braun is aware of this from the start, and views himself as existing solely for his audience.
braun doesn't really perceive his shit as boring. if the material isn't gelling hes just like well. you are wrong. corruption beam 👉 When the quiz show was changed, it was against his will, it annoyed him. When he tells Kim Soleum the show is getting stale, he is lying because he is pressuring Kim Soleum to start the friend segment. He loves his new show concept, he just wants Kim Soleum to be on stage with him.
One has to wonder how Braun interprets their dynamic. As a ghost story, he exists for his purpose, but as a resident of an elder god's story (presumable Nyarlathotep), he would be wise to the fact he is a story in a wiki. He gets angry when meddling higher-ups fuck with his monotonous quiz show.
And we know from Kim Soleum and how SCP and backrooms wikis work that what happened was a bland uninteresting Darkness page was 'spiced up' with a scary killsyoubad monster. The higher-ups were reacting to wiki contributions, if they weren't the Wiki itself.
It is extremely interesting Kim Soleum and Braun's relationship begins with Kim Soleum essentially telling him "hey. get mad" at the concept of wiki editorializing.
And. This is so important. Kim Soleum is a wiki contributor. The only entry that he wrote himself that he's bumped into so far is one Braun was blocked from.
His contribution wasn't making it scary and more violent, though; he added empathy and advanced understanding to the premise. It's not just scary, it's tragedy, the anxiety of a miscommunication conflict. Because Kim Soleum gets ghost stories.
Which is his entire deal, that he explores the frightening and tries to comprehend it. He became a fan of the Darkness wiki from the Bureau entries, and didn't have much interest in the cult entries. All of his conflict resolution is communication, comprehension, and a sympathetic approach.
And you got this beautiful tyson hesse ass "yes and" Story Understander who thinks of ghost stories the way no one else does, that does not let his ego and his own vision intrude in the story he's sketching out, and he's in this dimension. He is like if god suddenly installed a comment section and the comment was going "oh I get it! yeah this is good". A person who writes the laws of your world based on how entertained they are by you is in your fucking house.
And then Braun spends most of this time...being Kim Soleum's audience member.
And now Braun the reader wants to contribute to the story. He's writing Kim Soleum carefully in-character based on his perfect understanding of him and everything. He's taking a position of power in his own narrative by rewriting his own audience (which we see him do to his literal audience!)
Kim Soleum's reflection on being immersed in their friendship isn't just about acting roles; this is also how he himself feels about horror stories. Even if he's frightened, even if he's stressed and unsatisfied and frustrated in the direction it is going in, he's still attached. Kim Soleum still loves ghost stories even though he's been repeatedly traumatized by living through them. He still cares about Braun and understands what he represents even though he doesn't want to be part of it. They really did come to a mutual understanding.
It just adds so much more significance to their agreement to be equals because... Kim Soleum holds so much existential power over Braun and Braun holds so much literal power over Kim Soleum. This does not make them equals - Kim Soleum does not have the power of a writer in this world, all of his 'writing' is physical action - but it does make their dynamic bonkers
Sorry I don't have a clear through-line or impactful conclusion I'm kind of just crashing out because I don't know if Braun will be in tomorrows chapter I just needed an excuse to think about him. If he doesn't show up I'll probably just keep going with "what if Braun did not know at any point Kim Soleum was God" because looooool
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
