toxick-e

[toxick-e]

GG: Do you remember around when we first started talking? […] GG: And you claimed you were the one making my pumpkins disappear? [...] GG: You later proceeded to try to prove to me that what you were saying was true. GG: But none of your attempts thereafter would ever bear any fruit, pardon the pun. […] GG: And I think this unfortunately began a pattern of mistrust.

The signal was manually blocked by CrockerCorp, no doubt - and that was all it took to send Jane down a path to mistrust, suspicion and isolation.

It's easy, when you have her in the palm of your hand.

TG: i cant just always appearify stuff from you any time i want TG: i can only take stuff im "allowed" 2 which is pmuch random TG: like stuff that by takin id be messing up the time line cause that stuff is supposed to be there and serve some funciton it hasnt served yet […] TG: but pumpins 4 some reason are a lil easier to take i dunno why TG: like they are specifically and arbitrorily unhinged from spacetime

There's simply no force in this reality greater than the memetic effect of a long-running Hussie Joke.

TG: i so gonked your gaurds jane GG: … GG: Did you gank them when my gourd was down?

Fuck, Jane, that was a bona-fide dad joke!

This girl's filling a lot of roles that this cast has been sorely missing up until now. Out of all the Alpha Kids, she's the most unlike her B1 counterpart - which makes her so interesting to read. She might not be an Heir of Breath, but she is a breath of fresh air.

TG: im psyched about u wanting to believe me and all TG: but part of me still feels like i should prove it TG: like i tried to once TG: it was just frustratin i mean im a sciestist i should be able 2 prove my shit TG: like TG: subject my claims to the fuckin madrigogs GG: Um… GG: Madrigogs? TG: *mad rigors

Roxy, for her part, seems to be as much of a scientist as Mom was implied to be. Mad science ladies are possibly my favourite archetype ever; thus, Roxy's speedrun to S-Tier continues.

Anyway, it looks like Roxy's about to try and prove... something. It's hard to say what would completely sway Jane, though - after all, the girl's already seen a First Guardian and a robot bunny. If they couldn't convince her that something funny was going on, what will?

TG: i mean trust between friends is sweet and everything but i dont know if i wanta be the repipient of like a butt load of pity believins

Bit of a sore point, I gather. She's already sick of this shit with Jake.

GG: It's not about pity! GG: It's more like a gesture I'm trying to make. GG: Or maybe that's not quite right. GG: It has more to do with setting things right for myself than making it up to you. GG: Does that make sense? TG: ………….

I agree with Roxy's silence, here, because something about Jane's attitude is rubbing me me the wrong way. Like, I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but something about this self-centered attitude to remorse is a little...

...ominous.

[toxick-e]

Yay, it's Jaspers! It's my doomed friend, Jaspers!

Sorry in advance, little kitty.

GG: I would like to give you a free pass for a day. GG: It is good for twenty-four solid hours of absolute credulity from your best friend.

Alright, but that sounds awfully conditional. It reminds me of the unquestioning 'belief' that Jake displayed earlier in the Act, and feels equally inauthentic.

You can't just offer trust as a free trial, Jane. You have to actually trust the girl.

TG: kay then TG: what do you want me 2 say TG: for you to autobelieve in […] GG: Everything, I guess. I'd like to get completely up to speed, if possible.

You might want to start with the fact that Jane should burn every piece of Crockertech in her house right the fuck now.

TG: so like TG: stuffs i said about my mom or GG: Sure.

Yes, can we please blow the lid on Rose the Sequel already.

Where is this woman? How much of her Playersona's abilities has she retained? And above all, why is she such a neglectful mother?

TG: ok well fors tarters TG: she really is the notable author u know

I said I'd read Rose's wizardfics, and it looks like I wasn't alone. Her weird, esoteric fantasia would carve itself a serious niche, and I'm proud of her for actually sticking with it.

GG: That was always something I had no trouble believing, considering the public documentation even reclusive celebrities receive. GG: And frankly, the family resemblance is obvious.

TG: what else can i talk about TG: like her occolt majyyks and stuff TG: because i dont know a whole lot about the mayjjykks TG: besides th fact that theyre all real as shit can get

That's pretty much what I expected. This version of Rose probably even retains her connection to the Horrorterrors, which might be why Roxy seems to be concealed by the Blackout effect.

I'm assuming that, like Mom Lalonde, Rose Senior has elected to help our heroes from a distance. Through the ghost memories she's inherited from Rose Prime, she's probably got a better understanding of the situation than any other human on Earth, and she's doing what she can to prepare things for her alt-self and her compatriots.

...come to think of it, if both Roses are in contact with the Horrorterrors, they might also be in contact with each other. Now there's an intriguing thought.

[toxick-e]

Rumbled!

TG: was havin important chats GG: Oh? GG: With whom? […] TG: di stri

Which would have ruled out my guesses of Dale and Drew. I still think I'd have gone with Dick, because of the, uh, everything, but Hussie decided to avoid the low-hanging fruit this time around.

GG: […] I was just the target of another assassination attempt. […] GG: Two, in fact! One here in the real world, as I attempted to retrieve the mail. GG: Luckily it was thwarted by a certain cat who shall remain nameless. […] GG: But in the process of being rescued from the explosion, I was knocked unconscious. GG: And in my dream, there was another assassination attempt. GG: This one I believe was successful! […] GG: I'm becoming convinced that our "dream selves" are being picked off by violent hooligans. […] GG: The one who accosted me was a knife-wielding lunatic. GG: And it's reasonable to deduce the same forces were responsible for Jake's death on Prospit as well. GG: It looks like we are in the clutches of an actual caper. A real life mystery!

It's funny that she's being so twee about this whole thing. Describing her attempted assassination as a caper makes it feel like a Nancy Drew mystery - and honestly, if Jane's going to treat Sburb's intrigue as if she's the protagonist of a detective story, I'm all for it.

I mean, we need this sort of thinking, don't we? We need someone to absorb the facts of the case, detect their way to the culprit (English), and discern means, motive and opportunity. With Jane spearheading this 'investigation', we might finally trace things back to the ultimate source of all our problems.

GG: Shortly before I was stabbed, I had a rather long gander at Skaia. […] GG: I saw things in the clouds. […] GG: Things happening in the future, I think. GG: Many events pertaining to us. All of us, and other people I didn't recognize. GG: It was a bit overwhelming. […] GG: It made me feel pretty foolish too. […] GG: I began to wonder why I ever had the audacity to think I know much of anything about the world we live in or the journey we're about to take. GG: Or to think I could ever rule anything out. GG: I have a feeling that whatever I saw, it means you've been telling the truth all along.

It's almost as if it's easier for your mind to comprehend the truth when you're asleep. It's as though your Dream Self's brain is free of the Tiaratop's corruption, allowing you to finally blow the cobwebs off your - artificially sedated - sleuthing instincts.

GG: And I'm starting to feel like a complete idiot for doubting you. […] GG: I've been one great big horse's caboose, and I think you're owed an apology. GG: Do you think you can forgive me? TG: jane TG: damn TG: ur makin me feel like shit here GG: Why? TG: uuuun TG: eh no reason

Can’t think of what this could be, to be honest.

Roxy seems entirely above board, and there's no evidence that she's, like, secretly working against Jane or anything. Maybe this is when her allegiance to the Horrorterrors is finally revealed.

TG: what were we talking about again TG: soory im just worked up ovr it GG: I don't blame you. GG: Where we were, by my estimation, was a place wherein I was about to awkwardly attempt to swallow a helping of humble pie. GG: To somehow make it up to you for my years of stubborn mistrust. TG: hey jane TG: wasnt that a bunch a splip infinitives… […] GG: Oh!!! TG: lul so busted GG: Oh gosh, what a doofus. GG: You see?? I clearly don't have all the answers! GG: I really had some nerve challenging anyone, on practically any subject. TG: dont beat urself up too bad we both know that rule is bullshit anyway TG: you hold yourself to too high a standard and those standards kinda leak out and start gettin applied to other people i guess sometimes

Does she? That's not really something I've noticed. Sure, she's corrected a couple of typos, but beyond that, I don't see what standards she's been applying to everyone else.

I suppose she's probably been telling everyone to be 'rational', and ignore this silly Batterwitch conspiracy, just like she does. But is that really a 'standard'?

[toxick-e]

we need to talk about ramb [analysis/theory]

MASSIVE shoutout to my friend mycringefactory for ripping his sprites

ramb! he's the power strip darkner in chapter 3 that runs the stand in the green room and introduces you to the set of games that leads to the chapter's unusual secret boss.

weird attention to detail with his sprites, telling kris that he knows they want, dismissing their concerns that something might be up, having a page of the sweepstakes ARG named after him instead of the location it's showing, directly introducing kris to a rendition of the weird route and saying that it's "REAL fun".

seems like if it were some other character, these would be ringing more alarm bells. but i knew, i Knew there was something up with him. he is the secret boss, it's just not in a way we're used to. strap in, cause this is long as fuck <- not an exaggeration i've been writing this for the past three days.

ramb is the shadow mantle enemy.

ramb wants kris to have fun and enjoy the games he's provided! no he really wants kris to have fun and enjoy the games. he mentions it a lot, and keeps saying that he knows kris and what they want. in the context of a game about the weird route no less.

and all this is much like the shadow mantle enemy. it says outright that it thinks a part of kris isn't getting the shadow crystals because it'll get what they want, instead it's that they're just enjoying this, like ramb keeps saying is the case for them.

it wasn't there to stop kris: what it wanted was to see kris play, said plain as day. i believe the flickering red comment is about kris' eyes, that it wanted to see them really get into playing the game.

it's hard to believe that this is all just a parallel when it lines up So Closely. i feel like you don't just have two characters speak almost exactly the same and with such an emphasis on the same things, with the only difference being an accent in one of them. not to mention that there's an NPC tells you who ramb parallels.

can't find footage, but m-chromatic says this is from a rudinn NPC

the shadow mantle enemy also further emphasizes its interest in kris having fun with a secret room in one of the games:

"Having fun?"

it feels like such a personalized message to them, and whether kris is having fun is something that ramb is very concerned with.

something particularly notable is what happens the first time you get proper dialogue from the mantle enemy. after the board is cleared, kris asks ramb about someone being backstage, and he denies it and says he's been there on security the whole time.

also i find it odd that the first line is one of the few times that expression of his shows up. in the second line he turns his head away in a smile

another thing:

and this bit might be a stretch but it's worth mentioning: the little creature that the mantle enemy turns into does happen to have floppy ears like ramb does.

once again shoutout to mycringefactory for ripping these sprites

alright, so ramb may have control of this game, probably from the wide variety of controllers in the backstage (though i have a personal theory that he can go into the game himself). but why do i think he has anything to do with the game itself? well, this ties into a sub-theory:

MANTLE/MANHOLE is a dragon blazers romhack made by ramb, and is what tenna unknowingly built his game off of.

in case you're wondering why i'm giving it two names. i personally think it's manhole cause it ties into other things

tenna's game vs the original game. "some big ol' blasted line from A to B" vs "the ORIGINAL game where YOU decide what to do". the parallel of regular route vs weird route is a lil on the nose. in this game, you're made to do a re-imagining of the weird route in chapter two and something beyond that. but the game wasn't always that.

the spamton sweepstakes is how we know this. the d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a page and noelle's icepalace_glaceir blog teases MANTLE/MANHOLE and ties it back to ramb. clicking the TV will change the screen to be static-filled (like the game cuts to when the controller isn't plugged in), and the lowest point of the page contains static squares, one leading to a neon blue screen and the other leading to ramb's page.

the neon blue screen (similar to the title screen of MANTLE/MANHOLE) can be scrolled up to show what looks like a representation of the ice area in the old game where you use the ice key. the door on the page leads to noelle's icepalace_glaceir blog, where she describes an oddity in dragon blazers that lines up perfectly with an area in the old game.

this cross area in the old game is accompanied by a track named GLACEIR. on noelle's blog, she writes that she's currently listening to a song from dragon blazers of the same name. it would make sense that if she's writing about that area and feeling nostalgic about it, she'd be listening to the song from it as well.

the choice of word for what her mood is.. i can't help but think of how that one weird ass expression of ramb's is called "nostalgic"

with all that in mind, i feel like it's pretty clear that that "old thing" tenna says he based his game on was intended to be dragon blazers. except that "original game" was clearly tampered with. it's not a coincidence that this game has a rendition of the weird route's beginning, it was put in there by someone. tenna is bothered by MANTLE/MANHOLE's contents as well:

another clue on the game being modified by ramb is, despite it being dragon blazers, the third board isn't a non-specific RPG location and is instead based on cyber world, specifically cyber city and queen's mansion's basement.

ramb originates from cyber world and while tenna may have known things about cyber city due to his connection with spamton, it's highly unlikely that he's seen the mansion basement, so it had to be ramb who modded it. ramb mentions people who live in queen's mansion like he knows them well.

another thing.. think about the names associated with him: his name is ramb. like RAMb. to put it simply, RAM is any data in a computing device that can change or be modified, and it's implied that he modded dragon blazers.

his name is misspelled as ROMb in-game and in the sweepstakes page regarding him and the old game. the track that plays in the S-rank room and thus when you speak to him about the game is called "Dump". to mod a ROM, you'd have to dump it from the hardware first (though i don't think that's necessarily what ramb did since we're in a fantasy world).

the dump thing is interesting to me also cause as mentioned before, the spamton sweepstakes has a page for ramb, but it was first accessed by clicking "[scrap heap]" in one of the prize descriptions. another allusion to him and trash... btw i feel like it's worth stressing: HE'S HAD A PAGE NAMED AFTER HIM THIS WHOLE TIME!!

oh and there's these two lines from him that absolutely implies that he had some kind of hand in the games backstage. the "HIS" would not be emphasized like that if the old game was impersonal to ramb.

so why is ramb like this?

why'd he want kris to play his fucked up snowgrave game so much? what's all this talk about fun? and then after all that, asking them if opening the fountain was that good of an idea... after all, doing so would cause him several darkners to turn to stone.

he's a power strip. like outlets, power strips can have a large variety of things connected to them: fans, chargers, TVs, video game consoles.. the key difference though, is that they can have multiple things connected to them at once and they're portable.

ramb shouldn't turn to stone because, unlike that zapper that turned to stone because its likely to be for catti's TV and isn't compatible with the dreemurr's, he's not bound by that kind of restriction. in fact there's a lot of uses he can have, multiple at once even. he's also directly relevant to TV world as being able to provide power to tenna himself.

but ultimately, in the same vein as tenna, he stopped being used. and getting kris to play these games, when his purpose is "letting you play your games", might've been a way to keep himself alive. "Without play... the knife grows dull." i think this line from him as the shadow mantle is also in reference to how without him being played, he'll turn to stone (grow dull).

i don't think this is just that side of himself being un-petrified because of the light. the light is enveloping him entirely, you can see it go well past him. i think he needed to be as close in proximity to the game as he could since it's tied to his purpose. more on this later.

selfish actions aside, i do think ramb cares about kris. but he was also suffering from being outcasted both socially and by lightners including them, so i think he was preparing for a fountain opening and the opportunity to convince kris into spending time with him again.

he was really done dirty by his fellow darkners man

he projects onto kris so much: he wants to have fun too. he misses those times. an opportunity to meet an old friend in the midst of loneliness and to relive those good memories he holds onto so much? well, he had to do something.

...and the something he did was steal the shadow mantle and create a fucked up game for this kid because he missed seeing them have fun and thought that all that fucked up shit was what they liked. (i think it's implied that kris plays video games in a bit of an aggressive way? unfortunately struggling to find specific scenes about it)

the thing about how he was already stone on the inside makes me wonder if that's a way of saying that he died inside a while ago and the loneliness broke him. part of me thinks he's intended to represent mentally ill people who fall through the cracks cause they don't "seem" like they are. this power strip needs therapy and medication man

the implications of him modifying the game to show the weird route in particular though... is he trying to encourage it? is it a warning? was learning about the weird route the thing that made him spiral and turn to doing this? it's very likely yes, since similar things happened to jevil and spamton.

how does he know about the weird route and what happened to him?

awesome first question: i don't know. it's possible that, because he's meant to parallel tenna, that he too was contacted by the knight, and they told him about it. however, it may not be that one-to-one. since spamton's forbidden knowledge came from someone outside of the in-game universe (we presume gaster), he could've gotten it from that.

and what's up with all the DEVICE_FRIEND appearances in his romhack? ..honestly can't explain it either. but since he depicts queen's mansion in it, i get the feeling that he's been down there and he saw it. maybe it's something that really stuck with him, or he had extended contact with it.

now as for his fate.. after the sword route is complete (meaning all three boards of his game are finished), the rabbick in the S-rank room expresses fear over something that happened with ramb.

so what the hell happened to him to freak this rabbick out so much?

most likely: he parallels tenna, so maybe he was also enlisted by the knight, and his job was to keep the shadow mantle out of kris' hands. because he failed to do so, he got taken or hurt by the knight as punishment.

less likely but more interesting to me: let's address the rabbick saying that kris already went past. we saw the pixel kris leave the backstage, so that seems to be what they saw. the pixel kris escaping the game may mean that the game will technically never be turned off, making it so that ramb is always being "used" and thus not fated to turn to stone while the fountain is still open

so the rabbick might've been frightened by a darkner that shouldn't be alive coming to life again (..thoough i have a theory that he might be able to shapeshift and that freaked them out but that's for another post)

either way, if you completed the sword route, ramb is somewhere else now. isn't that fun?

so! now with all of this information about him in mind: do you see why i'm insane about him. there's more evidence for some of my points (like ramb knowing you missed the ice key and having another creepy message for kris in a secret room) and evidence for potential counterpoints, but this post is so fucking long man.

thinking about exploring other things about him like his beef with tenna but we'll see. because this took a lot out of me LOL. anyway:

THANK YOU FOR READING!

oh and by the way, if there's a little man who doesn't fit with the other darkners telling kris to do some weird out-of-the-way shit and telling them that that's what they really want and he's talking about freedom, you should be asking questions

[toxick-e]

Look, I may know the bare minimum about deltarune in general, but these gifs are peak

[toxick-e]

Looks like Jane's realself was thrown twenty feet across the yard. You'd expect her to have taken at least a little damage from the impact - I suppose she healed herself off-panel.

I have been waiting for you, little kitty.

So, the Scratched First Guardian is a cat. Jaspers feels like the most likely genetic donor here - and, just like Becquerel, the only difference between this Guardian and its probable parent is a pair of long, devilish ears.

With this reveal, we appear to have avoided the worst-case-scenario regarding the identity of the new Guardian. I was worried that Doc Scratch was going to inject his own genetic code into Bec's successor, corrupting it into another omniscient servant of Lord English - but if this Guardian really is derived from an ordinary cat, then it doesn't posses the capacity to be omniscient. Even if there is some HONK code in its makeup, it won't be a Doc Scratch-level chessmaster, which drastically reduces its threat estimate.

Like Bec, this kitty is probably a creature of instinct - although since it's going to have a cat's personality, rather than a dog's, its behavior might be substantially different. This one won't be loyal to Jade - or Jake, for that matter - but if I'm right about its parentage, it might harbor some affection for the Lalondes.

Oh. It's the GOD CAT again. You guess that explains it.

Interesting that it turns off the First Guardian lightning as soon as Jane turns around. Maybe this thing's more crafty than I'm giving it credit for.

Is it posing as an ordinary animal? I'm not sure what purpose that would serve, but it does seem to be what's going on here...

You guess you should feel grateful toward him for saving your life, but you know he's just as likely to rescue you from an explosion as he is to randomly teleport you across town […]

Oh. Apparently not, then.

Wait, so Jane knows about the God Cat's powers, and she still doesn't believe what her friends are trying to tell her? I know she hasn't been confronted with ''empirical evidence'' that Betty is the Condesce, but this cat's behavior should be an obvious sign that there's something weird going on behind the scenes.

Girl, how many different levels of denial are you in?

We've seen this shot before...

...and it tends to bore poorly for anyone involved.

You're pretty sure he doesn't have a name. You and your friends just call him the GCat for lack of anything else to call him. Everybody has opinions, but nobody can agree on a good name. You think he probably doesn't want a name. He's just a feisty stray who likes to meddle with your life, then vanish for weeks at a time.

"Just a feisty stray" my ass.

Sure, Crocker. You just keep telling yourself that.

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Gosh haven't done a DR post in a while

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love this freak immensely

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i personally welcome our batshit insane conspiracy theorist Pippins as a fandom avatar 🫡💚

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I am... oddly endeared by these three and I could not tell you why.

[toxick-e]

and a ramble

Gerson boom is the only pfp on this website I have had. I am blessed now that people will not ask who he is anymore I LOVE YOU MR FOX!! I’M SO HAPPY THAT THESE TURTLES DO HAVE A STORY BEHIND THEM… having lived through the “Alvin doesn’t have talking sprites he does not matter to the story” AND HERE I STAND WITH MY STUPID SHIRT!! THE PRIEST WHOSE MOUTH DOES NOT MOVE WHEN HE TALKS IS RELEVANT TO DELTARUNE AND MY FAVORITE DEAD GUY IS BACK…. Kinda

[toxick-e]

Been thinking about these Mike guys a lot, they're so silly silly silly

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top 10 lines that make me want to bang my head against the wall

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alvin knight propaganda, go !! i wouldn't say i'm ride or die on alvin knight (i think toby could make any candidate work, honestly) but it has some neat potential imo! especially thematically...

shoutout to ACDS for REALLY liking this one lol

[toxick-e]

You better hit the road and blow this joint, before the dead broad does some sorta… Lifey thing.

What, you're not even going to try and finish the job? I mean, plenty of healing factors can't compensate for decapitation, so you should at least-

Wait... Why am I giving you hints?

Hell of a lot of power for a neophyte Player to be throwing around. At this stage of the game, John could barely manifest a stiff breeze.

Is there any particular reason why a pre-entry Jane is so shockingly powerful? Maybe she's used her powers before, but the Tiaratop forced her to forget?

It's that time again!

[toxick-e]

You touch base with your administration's top powdermonkey, none other than Dersite bumbler extraordinaire, the Courtyard Droll. [...] He asks, isn't this cheating? Assassinating the heroes like this before the war's even really begun. […] You say it's all fair game now that the kingdom's under new management. The new boss ain't opposed to taking some shrewd tactical shortcuts. You like the cut of her jib.

Oh, that makes sense. The Empress has already invaded the session, and she's unfettered by the Sburbian rules of engagement. Unlike the Black Queen, the Condesce will cheerfully hamstring the Players in any way she can imagine, as long as it doesn't actually prevent them from playing.

No extra lives for you, kids! No god tiers, either - and by the way, we've got a couple of pebbles ready to toss into your Kernelsprites as soon as you've released them. Did we mention we're covering your Gates, Quest Beds and Denizen Lairs in fifty feet of concrete?

Enjoy your session, you horrible little monkeys.

You say now quit all the yapping and following your damn orders. He says ok, but it still just feels wrong. You say what does. He says he doesn't know, just something about feeding that poor sleeping boy all those deadly peanuts just felt wrong.

You killed him with anaphylactic shock?

Damn, dude - you've really got a talent for cruel and unusual murder. It's always the silly ones.

Your first mistake, Mr Noir, was turning your back on the body. The body of a Life Player, no less.

He asks, what about the other two? The ones on our moon? And most importantly, is there any particular snack that is poisonous to them? You say forget about those two. They're much trickier to deal with. You've got the Dignitary working on it now.

I can totally understand why Dirk would be tricky to deal with - but I wonder what makes Roxy so difficult to kill? Is it, perhaps, something to do with the Blackout effect she seems to wield?

(For the record, my current guess for Roxy's aspect is absolutely Void, a trait I believe she shares with the Horrorterrors themselves.)

[toxick-e]

Another coffin clogger bites the dust.

This is just unfair. Jane hadn't even entered the game yet, and it sounds like Jake was murdered before his Dream Self had even woken up.

This is absolutely cheating - which is weird, because Jack should have no reason to go off-script yet. His original rebellion was made possible by the actions of the Players, but this Jack should still be a 'default' version of the character, since no Players have entered the Medium yet.

Can the default Jack Noir NPC really pull a dirty trick like this? Because if so, there are probably countless sessions that never even got off the ground, simply due to antsy Agents or bad RNG. Yeesh.

Two down. Two to go.

Jack's still in his default outfit, of course - which really highlights the wrongness of what's happening here. The guy was literally just born, and he's already tearing the session apart.

You can't wait to read it in their papers. "The Maid is dead. Our Life is pathetic, blah blah blah."

Jade's a Maid, then - a kindred spirit with Aradia.

I think I can already see a few parallels. Both Maids started their journey in an altered state of consciousness, brainwashed into a false state of compliance. Aradia's Voices sapped her will, convincing her she was 0k with the trolls' sorry state of affairs, and Jane's tiara is muddling her mind, preventing her from questioning the corporation that controls her entire life.

Maids aren't supposed to think for themselves, apparently. They're supposed to keep their heads down, grit their teeth, and do what they're fucking told.

When the clock strikes twelve, no one in this wretched kingdom will have any doubt who's calling the shots here.

Some sort of shock tactic, I guess?

I don't really get it, to be honest. If Agents were always able to do this, then how can any Dream Selves survive until Entry?