#Malkuth's will to stand up straight ... Yesod's rationality to maintain discretion ...

[throughpatchesofviolet]

Revisited Lobotomy Corporation, and now I'm crying.

[leonawriter]

https://x.com/Kliffoth_VT/status/1914619688602231061?t=rWTJwFxn8iWvGol7yhrR6A&s=19

Ah, yes! That one!

I'd already seen it I while before you sent that, funnily enough, and I'd said something to friends about the idea in chat when I'd seen a Mirror Dungeon of my own look eerily similar to the Tree during one of my own runs back in February.

I would not be at all surprised if this was done on purpose, since even when there are nodes missing (as in the example) we're never able to pass through all of them anyway. Sometimes there are far fewer nodes. Sometimes they don't match the Tree so well. But when they do... they sure do.

It fits with how Dante is gaining Sephirah abilities as they help certain Sinners, whose problems correspond with the Sapling's place on the Tree, and how if we look at the remaining Cantos (and unresolved storylines), they too fit.

So far we have Heathcliff and Hokma, whose issues both tie in with being stuck in the past, and Don Quixote and Binah, who both have their past life taken from them and have to rebuild, looking into the future.

It stands to reason, then, that Hong Lu will match with Chesed (both are rich boys who mask their issues with an easygoing attitude), Ryoshu with Gebura (a failure to protect), Meursault with Tiphereth (a reason for one's own existence, beyond following others), Outis with Netzach (the ability to keep going even when things seem impossible), Faust with Hod (to improve yourself, and not bend to the will of others).

This would still leave Yesod (the rationality to maintain discretion) and Malkuth (the will to stand up straight) but there are three Sinners without full closure to their stories, most notably Gregor and Rodya.

Yesod could easily match with Gregor given how they both have issues that require them to be calm and rational, or else their bodies betray them, and Rodya... just like Malkuth, she tried to help someone on impulse and caused untold damage instead.

Getting back to the original point, Mirror Dungeons being based on the Tree of Life would also make sense considering how Limbus Company is attempting to profit off of the remnants of Lobotomy Corporation's Singularity, which were ALL based around the Tree. It certainly makes sense that the blueprint for the Corporation is then found in everything else...

Much like how if you have a tree throw seeds everywhere, they're just gonna sprout seedlings of the same tree, right?

[dsknsk]

so I saw that primadoll thing and I was like hey. that could be a wack au.

Here they are automata, autonomous mechanical dolls initially created to serve important roles at a large underground facility. Since it's ran its due, their tasks were changed and they now run a cafe. They've also all been dressed in pretty kimono-like clothing because why the hell not. While it's known that they're not human, their extremely human behavior is enough to spread a large rumor that in the end, they may not be fully robotic. (something something human soul trapped in mechanical shell)

Short description of them all:

Malkuth

Height: 163cm

Favorite: Strawberry montblanc

Wish: I want the will to stand up straight.

One of the most amiable waiters and widely liked for her upbeat personality. She's slightly clumsy, but very reliable. Also feels it when a guest has had a bad day and always tries taking an opportunity to talk to them. Her specialty is sweet pastries.

Yesod

Height: 171cm

Favorite: Unknown

Wish: I want to keep the rationality to maintain discretion.

Probably one of the few that is really bent on keeping everything in order. If he weren't there, stuff probably wouldn't get cleaned. When he's stressed he starts to scratch his artificial skin, but not to the point it's problematic. Mostly has his hands full with the day-to-day management.

Hod

Height: 166cm

Favorite: Shortbread (has to have vanilla in it!)

Wish: I hope I can be a better person.

She's responsible for the pastries together with Malkuth. Serves not as often as Malkuth, as she's pretty much always found in the kitchen. Will even eat burnt cookies, says they taste just fine. Sometimes fixes the costumes of the others.

Netzach

Height: 175cm

Favorite: Doesn't really care about the food, just about the beer

Wish: I wish I had the fearlessness to keep on living.

After his facility work, he was bummed to find out he had to work yet again. Doesn't like it, is usually found making and serving alcoholic drinks. Despite that though, the others are used to it. Gebura has complained in the past for the amount of booze he is willingly to give to guests, and as such he tries to warn them when they ask for another round (keyword: tries).

Tiphereth

Height: 159cm

Favorite: Anything not too overtly sweet and sticky

Wish: I'm expecting for the meaning of existence.

Originally created as one of two, the mind of her male counterpart was uploaded into hers. Rather nimble, and she can levitate. Often checks on Netzach to see if he doesn't drink too much himself. Is another liked appearance, but sometimes she does leave people wondering as to what they used her for in the past.

Gebura

Height: 181cm

Favorite: Pocky

Wish: I wish to have the courage to protect.

The bouncer. Or rather, responsible for security. She used to fulfill a disciplinary function, and the coating of her 'skin' is more damaged than the others, causing her joints to be visible. Nowadays, her sword is largely for show...at least, it is on paper. Doesn't like to wear the ruffles and lace the other girls do, and honestly doesn't have much with running a cafe. However if someone vandalizes it, she's the one who tracks down the culprit.

Chesed

Height: 183cm

Favorite: A good cup of coffee

Wish: I want to be faithful and trustworthy.

He's in charge of the coffee (of course) and knows at least 50 different varieties. Thinks there's no such thing as an obscure kind of coffee. Has a preference for fancy clothing. The staff is now just to complement his aesthetic, it used to be a weapon.

Binah

Height: 174cm

Favorite: Almost every tea if it isn't pungent or badly made

Wish: I want to face the fear and break the cycle.

Serves the tea, but more importantly is one of the head managers. Is the one who organizes much of the behind the scenes stuff, and if you go to the cafe you likely won't see her unless you ask for tea. For most guests, she's an enigma, but those who truly appreciate tea will at least find a common ground.

Hokma

Height: 182cm

Favorite: Lemon tea

Wish: I want to embrace the past and build the future.

Another head manager, he keeps the financial records. Spends his days behind the counter. He often works together with Binah in regards to the accounting business. In contrast to the rest, he's not really one for too fancy clothing since he doesn't serve the food anyway. Sometimes, attentive guests can find him muttering about the creator of their bodies.

Angela

Height: 170cm

Favorite: ???

Wish: I want to know.

The director of the entire thing. Almost never seen in public, only during certain events when she has to show her face. She resides in the topmost floor of the building the cafe is seated in, and is essentially the head of the administration. When she appears, guests get a different impression from her than from the others; almost as if she's something else entirely.

[leonawriter]

The more I think about Carmen and Ayin, the more I'm like, "those two are literally absolute opposites of each other."

Carmen says that if something awful happened as a result of something she did, she'd crack and crumble and not be able to go on, and Ayin keeps going. He endures, to use a word PM likes to use.

Carmen, then, lacks the ability to Stand Up Straight by the time she is dying in the bathtub, because she has buckled under the weight of everything. We see this in the pressure everyone put on her. Ayin learns what it means to do this through his dealings with Malkuth.

Carmen lacks the Rationality to Maintain Discretion, taking all of the emotions inside of her after Enoch's death and Lisa's judgement and letting them spill out, into self-harm. Ayin goes through similar, but with Yesod's help is able to see that you need to be able to feel the despair but still keep a logical mind.

Carmen loses her belief that people can grow and the Hope to be a Better Person, as she dies and then as she spends that time as the Bucket. Ayin, however, after everything that he's done to reach the dream she always talked about, all the atrocities he committed, promises Hod - who betrayed them all and caused the Head to come down on the Outskirts lab - that they can become better people together.

Carmen, even before Lisa told her that she should have been the one to die, did not have the Fearlessness to Keep On Living. She gained the desire to live right before she was actually dead (as per Ruina's Keter Realisation), but I'd hazard that was more "desperation" than "fearlessness." Ayin, however, went from being in a state of depression so deep that he was making a long, drawn-out suicide plan (via the light), attempted suicide at least once (and remember, he was in that loop for ten thousand years, so it's absolutely correct to say he did again) and yet, he and Netzach promised each other to keep on going, with the idea of "if I can, so can you."

Carmen put her entire Meaning of Existence into the project she was working on, to save humanity - but when push came to shove, she didn't truly believe in the humans she was saving, and lost her way, and her meaning along with it, going from "saving humanity" to "have you tried distortion?" in the course of it. Ayin, however, is implied to have been like Enoch; always looking ahead, seeing that the world isn't how it should be and hoping for something better. It's strongly implied that the world of the City broke him before he met Carmen (and if not before, then in her dying), and yet with Tiphereth, he is able to find and keep an Expectation for the Meaning of Existence.

Carmen was amazing at "blowing peoples' minds" and getting them to trust her - however, how much she trusted them is in much higher doubt. She is only seen sharing her vulnerability with Ayin, and only then to make him promise to keep doing her work after she's gone. When she is at her breaking point, she loses faith in humanity itself. Ayin, however, although he loses his trust in humans to the point that he creates a machine (Angela) to help run the Facility and drives even his best friend away, connected with all of the Sephirot in a way that caused them to trust him again, especially Chesed, he had abandoned and broken the trust of. Through this, he gains Those Who are Faithful and Trustworthy.

Carmen had grand dreams of a utopia where no one had to hurt anyone else... but she herself could not be said to fit that same image, let alone "reach that place," much as Binah says in Ruina. She directly allows a child to die in her care, and the mention of "experiments" suggests that other adults already had. Ayin, however... although the methods may be questionable, he did manage to save the lives of his friends. Also importantly, is his management style; back in the Outskirts lab he would try to warn Michelle away from something she wasn't ready for, and in Lobotomy Corporation you can only get an S rank management score if you keep all of your agents alive. You are as a player rewarded for keeping agents alive. All of this put together, Gebura is the one who causes him to realise the Courage to Protect.

Carmen, in general, only ever did two things with her problems: pretended they weren't there, or ran from them. We can see this by the way that she pretends that she's so much more confident than she actually is, and the way that she hid herself away (to the point that she took her own life, without allowing herself the support of others) after one big regret too many. As the Voice, she currently can be heard to tell those who are distorting "it is awful, but none of that was your fault, you know?" - she encourages them to turn away from everything they themselves have done. Ayin, meanwhile, although he gives himself amnesia for the time loops... this is for the specific reason of being able to come to a point where he can face his past, as the Memory Synchronisation is, y'know, a thing. The important thing I think isn't that he would always forget, but that he would also always remember. And by remembering, he learns, and by learning, he can move on, becoming the Eye Embracing the Past, Building the Future.

Carmen, it can easily be said, could not face her own fears. This is a simple thing to state, because she says so herself in that field - that she's got a weak heart, like all humans. She also encourages others to be the same way now, telling them that it's fine to give in and give up as long as it makes them feel better, while at the same time turning a blind eye to the atrocities they commit. Ayin was once the same. Binah outright tells him so, that she saw him as the same kind of person as her, able to commit atrocities while not accepting his own anxieties and fear. However, through the loops and through facing Binah herself, he grows to be able to do so, becoming the Eye Facing the Fear, Breaking the Cycle.

Basically - Carmen is stuck in a place of not facing herself, while Ayin takes himself and quite literally forces himself to do so. Carmen stagnates, while Ayin outgrows her.

Also, while Carmen becomes a "beautiful voice, that everyone listens to," Ayin... in Lobotomy Corporation at least, doesn't truly get to say anything for himself, and what is said is said by his reflections, not himself. He has the fewest spoken (voiced) lines of any major character, too.

Which is fascinating, isn't it?