rwrb au edit for @ironpe: ghost? au
"I don't know what to tell you, Alex. Prince Henry hasn't been in the public eye for nearly a year now. The official statement is that he had taken ill."
"I'm telling you, Nora, he's dead! That's why his ghost is here haunting me."
"Ugh, rude! I'm not a ghost!"
Alex chooses to ignore his uninvited spectral companion. It's only been occasionally effective in the past few weeks of their co-existence, but now appears to not be one of those times. He sighs at Nora through the phone and bids her a quick goodbye because Henry looks like he's gearing up for a rant.
"Alright, Your Majesty," says Alex in a placating tone. "I retract my previous statement. You're not a ghost, what you are is annoying!"
A translucent glare is thrown his way which gives Alex some satisfaction.
"If you're not dead, then why don't you just go back to your body? Why are you all the way here bothering me?"
"I told you! I'm waiting for someone."
---
It had only been a few months since the whirlwind of his mom's election, inauguration and their subsequent moving-in to the White House when Alex Claremont-Diaz got the fright of his life. He had been in his bedroom, slogging through Bleak House for an assignment, loudly complaining to no one that British authors are soooo boring when an offended voice huffs in his ear. "I beg your pardon??!!"
A totally masculine shriek and a thorough sweep from the Secret Service later and he was face to face with what looked to be a haughty blond man at 50% opacity that only he could see.
This event kicked off what is at best a surreal experience and at worst a literal nightmare.
Since then, Alex has spent a considerable amount of time alternating between adjusting to his new roommate and figuring out how the Prince of England could be haunting him and why he couldn't remember much of who he is, only that he's waiting for someone.
But as Alex gets to know Henry more and more, he's surprised he likes what he sees. Henry's sharp wit, affectionate sarcasm and deep passion have charmed him despite his initial resistance. And now, he's more determined than ever to find the truth and help Henry get back to his body, with the hope that maybe when he wakes, something more awaits them both on the other side.
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It's all about Nagi living alone in a tiny one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with zero personality and Reo having a whole floor for himself but still living surrounded by tacky-expensive home decor with no apparent traces of his actual personality, either. It's all about how Nagi's parents haven't visited him in 2 years nor taken an interest in his life since, while Reo's are content to live floors apart from their teenage son, only taking an interest in what value he can bring to Mikage Corp but being otherwise uninvolved in / dismissive of his actual life. It's all about them being surrounded by people and still not knowing how to form a meaningful connection with another person before meeting each other. It's all about them being so starved for genuine human warmth to combat their bone-deep loneliness that they both treasure memories of tiny, inconsequential moments where they were spending time with their parents. Something something it's this line,
and how it describes them both despite being said about Reo. It's them being awkward 17-year-olds who had never before had an equal who would just respect them as they are and unconditionally look their way. In this essay I will-
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Honestly, your comics about the Emperor have really helped me parse my own complicated feelings about him. Because like, it's not as if I didn't want to trust him and find that good in him. There were times when I felt like I could see it. But as I played more, I just felt like that trust wasn't truly reciprocated.
Anyway, apologies for the rambling. Your art and comics are awesome, and Greygold is great.
I've been trying to think how to respond to this because I can RELATE but in a - beyond constructively sophisticated sounding words- way huar.
Because without -ANY- kind of hindsight, Zip Zilch NADA, this game is really REALLY good (OH SO GOOD) at portraying the Emperor as a very complicated and extremely-hard-to-trust character.
You are absolutely valid in feeling conflicted and confused with all the uncertain-in-between inner conflicts for this dingus of a squid.
Unlike Greygold, I, too, was absolutely struggling to find some form of strong evidence, validation, reassurance, SOMETHING FOOL-PROOF, to fully trust this illithid during the entire playthrough.
If it weren't for the bloodhound hunting need to find all that is lore in this game, BOY WOULD IT HAVE ALMOST BEEN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO TRUST THIS SQUID AT ALL for me. Those lil sneaky paper trail crumbs of 'emps just doing it's best' are what gave me enough hope to trust in spite of the overwhelming counter-lore, doubts, and Emps' terrible tact continuously just NOT HELPING IT'S CASE.
but Trust. Trust is, I suppose, the key theme for this squid. Classic 'ultimately down to your core values on what you would do with the most trust-issue-y morally grey squid to ever squid this damn squid game'.
Or as friggin' Withers likes to say: What is the value of one life to you? (friggin' Withers, man)
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