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Orbs
Apr 1, 2009
~Liberation~

god please help me posted:

It's understandable, life happens. I'm still grateful for the updates!

Speaking of which, jesus christ. How they did Luna Terra manage to defeat one of those things by herself? :gonk: Must have really hated the Earth at that point in time.

Also, Mercury is awesome, and I'm glad to see Saturn taking him seriously. He cares about us...
Yeah, I love that scene with Mercury.


Gutter Owl posted:

CM is definitely the most We Know the Devil of the three endings, and holds similar thematic water. Reject the narrative, become something so much more than the simple answers given to you. It's kinda funny to me, that the character you're encouraged to follow first (Saturn is the face of the game, the cursor literally starts on Saturn when you boot up the game, all the arc words in the Steam ad copy about joyriding and getting missile salvo'd and Not Being Human Like This are Saturn's arc words) is the character whose ending I feel you're supposed to NOT see first, because it requires all this buy in to the universe and what these words about Culture and Gravity *mean* and stuff.

Like, the CM ending feels like the Final Thesis of the game to me...but that might just be b/c its the one most resonant to me. Maybe it's different for you.

We're two thirds in, I think I can talk about the allegorical underpinnings of the game. Like, none of this is perfectly textual, some of it is based on statements and allusions made by Bee and Schwartz, and a lot of it is my own read into it, but: The conflict between the fragile weightlessness of space and the overwhelming Gravity of the Earth is a metaphor for Queer Culture and it's relationship with/future in relation to our dominant cis/heteo macrocultures. Or, if you don't eat your queer theory jargon with a spoon: What do we do about the straights treating us like garbage? What is it to be queer, and what will it be?

(Like, I'd hope at this point I don't need to belabor explaining that Space is Gay and Trans against the Straight Cis Earth in a text that's literally about discarded kids escaping earth and their own bodies.)

And the three faction philosophies are basically three different answers to that question.

The Memorial Foundation is the philosophy of normalization, of queer integration with the macroculture. Of returning to Earth even though Earth hates you in an impassive, impersonal way and wouldn't really cry if you died, and gently caress it, making it work anyway. Of making Earth/society just accept that we're back inside of them. Of making us...normal. In our world, it would be the equivalent of something like The Mattachine Society or the Human Rights Campaign or whatnot. Creating safety within existing systems of legitimacy. (There was a joke tweet floating around at one point with "I'm with The Memorial Foundation written in Hillary Clinton's campaign font and I can't find loving it, dammit.) And it will never be perfect and never be whole--because every route in HWBM is very specifically about not getting half of what you're trying for, understanding that, and asking for everything anyway.

Meanwhile, Cradle's Graces is the philosophy of queer separatism, of the parallel culture. Of creating and holding spaces apart from the dominance of Earth. In our world, it's the desire to preserve in amber the ecosystem of gay bars and queer coffeeshops and LGBT youth centers and rainbow districts. Of building and maintaining a circus that kids can runaway to, as far away from the people who hurt you as a colony on Venus. And again, the heyday of the old system is gone--the old optimistic MF space program is as distant to the protagonists as the gay disco bar boom of the pre-AIDS 70s is to us. But maybe you can build it again. Maybe we can run away forever.

Which brings us to Celestial Mechanics, the philosophy of queer revolution. Of the pissed off gay kids who are sick of waiting and being disappointed, and are ready to burn the motherfucker down and build something wholly new in the ashes. These are your communist catgirls and relationship anarchists, searching for entirely new ways of living together and loving each other that their old worlds couldn't even comprehend. It's the most strictly speculative of the three philosophies--a little utopian, a little transhumanist, a little postmodern. (Like, there's an entire separate essay on how the kids of Celestial Mechanics are explicitly trying to embody the vanished existential threat of a decades-long Cold War. :ussr:) But arguably it's still happening now. Today's gay kiddos have entirely new, strange, impossible ways of flirting with each other, and is spectrally passing thru your lover's warm nebulae really all that different from DMing your long-distance girlfriend a picture of her multicolored fursona getting rammed full of shiny pastel tentacles? Don't answer that, it's rhetorical. It's no coincidence that the philosophy is sorta championed by the youngest (and most overtly horny just sayin) of the pilots, same as how the MF philosophy is sorta championed by the oldest and most beaten down of the girls.

Of course, all of these are imperfect, remote philosophies, and that's also kinda the point. They have to be lived out by real messy damaged humans trying to make do and only ever getting half of what they ask for. It's important to keep this in mind as we (presumably) move into the Memorial Foundation route with Pluto. Because as much as I kinda side-eyed Memorial Foundation's philosophy, Aevee has said on twitter that the MF ending is the single most important of the three endings to her, for reasons I should probably only talk about when it's not soft spoilers anymore.

No apology post necessary, though that one is appreciated. I've read a couple articles about this game, but this is probably the best articulation of what it's "about" that I've encountered. If you don't mind, I'm gonna put a link in the OP and make sure baldurk includes this when I get the thread archived. Congrats, you'll be internet famous!

I am really looking forward to the Memorial Foundation ending, since it happens to be my favorite too. Not because I think queer integration is the best option or anything, but we'll get to that.


GunnerJ posted:

Question about the queer culture metaphor when it comes to the backdrop of maturity, aka, "Why send children to fight in space?" The answer in the game is that kids don't have enough Gravity to instantly banish the Existential Threat and so can engage with it on some level, but doing so means that when those kids grow up their Gravity is stunted. I don't know whether this "fits" into the reading of the game in terms of queer politics but there are ways to make it fit that make sense and some that are kinda disturbing tbh.
It seems to me that their gravity being "stunted" wouldn't mean that they're less mature or anything, just that they have a harder time influencing and being accepted by the rest of society (i.e. Culture).

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gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
haha nice.

I snagged the last words in flac's WKTD lp in the archive, too. I'm the best at joyriding lps.

Rogue AI Goddess
May 10, 2012

I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
That was a joke... unless..?
Gutter Owl, thank you so much for that post.

Orbs
Apr 1, 2009
~Liberation~
PLUTO, EPISODE ONE - “Correct action. Correct thought. Correct belief.”/Retrograde in retrograde II

We come at last to Pluto. Last planet, last pilot. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. Om.



















--



"Everything really did go just how I imagined it."

"Even holding the controls of the machine everyone's so scared of, just like this, doesn't feel like butterflies or dread."

"It just feels like the only thing that could have happened."

"You know how hard they worked because they were so scared you wouldn't be finished before the end?"

"I never doubted it."

"I'm not so special that they couldn't make something scary enough for me to be its pilot."



The Tidal Reactor, which generates the gravity and Culture necessary to keep humans solid and real so far from Earth, is necessary to live.

The Dual Tidal Reactor Resonance System installed in the Krun Macula, then, might be capable of a sort of birth.

The Krun Macula was completed on the inert pseudoplanet Hades, on the boundary between the solar system ruled by human gravity and that which isn't.

When the system is activated, cosmic dust emanating from between the Ship-Self's palms is crushed in the friction of the competing forces of the Krun Macula's dual Tidal Reactors, and ignites in the birth of a tiny star.

It's a start. An anchor of gravity and Culture, for humans to begin colonizing the stars. The seed of possibility. And, just as easily, the seed of the inversion of possibility. Stars go supernova, and become black holes, where the information of life, Culture, is deleted.

But they aren't afraid of Krun Macula as much as they are afraid of Pluto. Her own tidal forces destroyed the first 17 prototypes. It's the girl with the love to be the mother of stars they're afraid of.




"But I am that scary! I'm used to it, haha."

"The only thing I just can't get over..."

"Is just how unfair it all feels."

"Knowing how bad this could get, how wrong it could go, and it still happening anyway."

The Krun Macula is bigger than other Ship-Selves in terms of its objective gravitational impression on spacetime.

"Yeah, I am feeling everything at once."

"But I'm feeling big too. Feeling so big."

"Ah, I can feel it. Far and away."

"The sword of the real, Mare Crisium, come to cut our dreams down."

"And the toxin of the inverse, String of Pearls, come to turn the Earth inside out."

"They're incredible girls, I can tell. But now Cradle's Graces has the power to fight back and keep space our home forever."

"I know I'm meant to do this: I've been trained my whole life to be the one-in-a-million who can pilot this."

"I know I want to do this: space is the only place where everyone can be happy. Even if almost no one believes it. I want to keep it safe."



"Now I just have to do it."

"That's nothing compared to what it took to learn how."

"My body, my mind, my soul."

"They're all in order."



--









Only day one, and already we can see the cracks. But maybe the structure will be stronger than ever if the cracks are filled in. The interface is once again different as well. It might take a lot of getting used to, but who doesn't love a good red? Like a flower, or blood.

Pluto has emails and comms every day too, so let us observe.

Day 1 Comms:

quote:



I felt that from here!

Yeah? Yeah? What was it like!

It was incredible, for a moment I felt like I was right next to you

It was even stronger than all of the times that you tested the prototypes

Stronger than the one time they let you fight before

It's amazing! I've been training so long, I never knew how different it would feel to have my own, perfectly suited, just for me Ship-Self!

I'm gonna be extra mad at all of you for how long you left me behind!

Is it really safe though?"

Maaaaaaaars

Don't start, I'll get mad!

It's just, more powerful than anything that's ever been developed!

I don't like that Dr. Nix is making you do something untested all by yourself

No one person should have to do all the things that your unit is expected to do

But I'm strong enough to do it, right?

Powerful enough to stop Earth from taking us back?

Strong enough to stop Celestial Mechanics from bringing the Existential Threat back?

I can do it, right?

I mean, of course you can!

No one else could, but that doesn't mean you should do it alone...

I'm not alone! I've got you.

And everyone else. We're all together, that's what we wanted, isn't it?

I'm not locked up in a lab anymore!

Aren't you happy for me?

I'm happy for you

Are you really, really happy for me?

I'm super happy for you! I really am!

Are you scared of me now?


Mars is an excellent grounding force for Pluto's story. So glad to have her near.


Day 1 emails:





There’s a dramatic reading of this one on the soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f32ObiEEaK4




Gravity has reset again. Let's gently caress it up once more.





>LAUNCH



"..."



"It's been so long since you got in a fight with the flight crew."

"It feels a little nostalgic."

"I'm fine, by the way."

"People who start fights don't get sympathy."

"They started it when they wouldn't let me fly!"

"And who threw the first punch?"



"MMMHMMM???"

"If they don't let me go, then you'll have to fight that traitor all by yours--"

"poo poo."

"Oh."

"Why didn't I feel it earlier?"

"Of course she's here."

"It wasn't that I wasn't going to tell you..."

"Memorial Foundation also knows about the prototype, and they sent their ace to get it."

"No, I understand."



"YOU GOT THAT RIGHT. RUN OUT AND PUNCH THAT TRAITOR LUNA-TERRA IN THE FACE AS HARD AS I CAN."

"Aw."

"She's the WORST!!! After pretending that she was going to fight for the colonies, even after Earth abandoned us and demanded we come home, she double-crossed us! We were going to do this TOGETHER!"

"I have missed punching that insufferably smug face for a YEAR!"

"It's finally time to show her that we're not going to forgive her for betraying us at the worst moment, leaving us alone, barely able to keep fighting as Cradle's Graces, but it's not like we EVER needed her, and"

"I know."



"...are you not listening, to me,"

"I've been listening to the two of you say the same things about each other for a really long time, and it doesn't sound any different."

"It is NOTHING like it was before! I'm not playing games."

"When we were in the Academy, you were always chasing after her."

"You'd swing the first punch, and she'd laugh, and you two would fight, and then you'd make out, and then you'd do it all over again."

"I miss that so much. But if you go after her, it'll happen just like that all over again."

"Stop talking about me like I'm that predictable! It's different now."

"Orders are orders for a reason, you know."

Notice that she doesn’t say whose orders they are. Very relevant for the revelation with Saturn last run.

"I'm still not okay with it. They're making you use that terrifying machine. It's way too dangerous."

"Ahahah. I'm sorry. I really am."

"But Mars, if it makes you feel any better?"







"How come you both got to have all the fun?"

"Who wants to stay home while you two get to fight and make out?"

"You don't know how scary this machine is, Mars."

"And it's so much less scary than me."

"I don't want you to see me like that."

"But I really, really want Luna-Terra to see."





--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vYR22D1jMY



And Luna-Terra needs to make sure all the calculations are in order. Everything in her ship operates manually. She's just been at it long enough that it feels like a second skin.

The jolt of nostalgia interrupts Luna-Terra's mental math. She forgets to carry the one. It interrupts Pluto's focus, and she has a moment where she's not invincible.

Close enough to touch the surface of the moon lab, Luna-Terra is seen and known by Pluto, and they are suddenly falling down the well of "too late" and "nothing you can do."








Against Pluto, is that really such a good idea? She's someone who always thinks just enough.

Which makes it easy for Luna-Terra to slip through, deep into the lab, until it gets quiet except for the sounds of the moon quaking and trembling.

After almost a year, the dread and the thrill is way too much to slow down and start talking. That's what the arrow flying into Pluto's Gravity Well is saying.

Who will make the first move?








And more terrifying than the finesse is her gentleness, spooling matter like threads in the tiny galaxy of which she is the sun.

Her power is very kind, but it's also a little perverse. What meaning does mercy have from something that can core out a moon?

Krun Macula's developers compared it to a black hole; they wanted a machine so powerful and absolute even light couldn't escape it.

Luna-Terra understands now that was wrong.

She's a star. Gushing and twinkling with matter and light. Who wouldn't be swept up in that?

The Mare Crisium is so small; Pluto has never seen it from a perspective like Krun Macula's before. She never imagined it would look so fragile from here, like a toy version of the fierce fighter she remembered.

Pluto's sense of scale is true. Luna-Terra feels just like a plastic toy, too.




"It really does fit you."

"So much more than I ever thought."

"Is it hard to look away?"

"Being able to render you speechless is the power I've always dreamed of."

"What do you think?

"I know just a look won't change your mind, but I want you to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"That I regret betraying you? I told you then, that I always would."



"Did you think I'd be mad?"

"I mean, of course I'm mad at you! But not for anything you did to me."

"..."

"I wouldn't ever be mad at you for not having enough faith in me, to see through Cradle Graces' dream of a new home for humans in space."

"I'm just mad at you for not having enough faith in yourself to see it through."

"And leaving all the work to me!"

"Oops, I guess that is why I'm a little upset with you. Not mad, you know..."

"...just disappointed."



"I'm trying to be the grown-up, you know."

"I did the responsible thing. I took the realistic option."

"I'm here to play the part of the boring adult, the grown-up villain."

"Oh, that's right."

"I remembered why I actually am mad at you."

"You better not go down quietly."

"You better really believe what you just said. I'll forgive you if you left us for something stupid, but I'll never forgive you if you left us for something you don't believe in!"

"And you better not believe in it, because I also won't forgive you for fighting for a future that cruel!"



"Don't you dare. I won't forgive that either."

"Were you hoping, maybe, that it wouldn't be like this?"

"That I wouldn't have to fight?

"It'll change you."

"In ways you don't understand."

"I've seen you fight so many times."

"I saw when you got that scar and your poor ship got her wound."

"Has anyone else seen that side of you as much as me?"

"I don't think so."



"But it's different when you're on the other side."

"You think I don't really know you, because I've never stared down the barrel of your rifle or felt that knife nick my ship?"

"It's a different kind of knowing."

"Teach me then."

"Or I'll teach you."







This time, it's Luna-Terra who has the lesson to learn.







So unlike her that it nearly takes Krun Macula by surprise.

All matter parts along the vectors of inertia that Pluto has set, but these bullets stubbornly curve, bury into her flank and sting, with a sharp and subtle gravity of their own.




Pluto: "That kinda stings, Luna-T."

Pluto: "Stop doing things like that."















"You have to come for me like you really mean it, or that's what's gonna happen."





Except how disappointed and sad Pluto is.

"If you give me just one moment, you'll pass my event horizon, and you'll never escape."

"Always getting closer but never getting there. Falling forever."

"If you don't figure out how to unstick yourself, I might leave you there."

"Remember for next time, okay? Don't keep breaking my heart."



--



Orbs fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Mar 4, 2020

Alumnus Post
Dec 29, 2009

They are weird and troubling. We owe it to our neighbors to kill them.
Pillbug
I love Pluto's opening scene so much. It really sells the "overwhelming super psychic" perception everyone seems to have of her: someone who presents herself as being so flawless and so insightful as to be a little bit less than strictly human.

Rogue AI Goddess
May 10, 2012

I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
That was a joke... unless..?
I find Pluto to be the most relatable character, not just in HWBM, but in all games I've ever played.

Chuu
Sep 11, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Thanks for this writeup. As someone with very little exposure to queer and trans culture this just goes completely over my head without someone spelling it out. But even without the background a lot of the writing still clicks, this sort of generational tension exists everywhere these days, doubly so in the current political climate. It really is such a fascinating game.

Very interested to see where the third path brings up.

Orbs
Apr 1, 2009
~Liberation~
PLUTO, EPISODE TWO - “Let me have the tiniest bit of fun."/Saturn return II




It's time to meet Saturn for the first time again.

But of course, emails and chat come first.


Day 2 emails:




-humanity has full dominion over the physical universe, the influence of Culture would be a one to one constant, and the physical universe would abide by inflexible, fundamental laws. In such a world, we would have to separate fields of study that involve metaphors from ones that describe worldly phenomenon, because our world would be objectively determined. While humans would be able to disagree and defy each other, they would ascribe to an inflexible, perfect system as decided by humanity."

Ha. Get out of here Iapetus, you have no place in this route.

Day 2 Comms:

quote:



But I love chatting with you!

Especially about your latest sordid affairs.

Well thanks

Wait thats not what I meant

And Sordid???

Dramatic, tempestuous, explosive?

no

Problematic?

NO

Tumultuous?

That's sexier

But that's still bad!

I mean.

How would you describe them?

Not like that!!!

Intense or something, the last one was really good until the end

Should I be more generous?

Well it'd be nice.

But you're... not very good at relationships.

kill me

It's kind of cute!

You love people SO much that you forget about them completely

Your honesty really hurts sometimes, you know.

You fall for glittering faraway girls but what you really need is someone who doesn't put up with you

There's got to be someone, somewhere, who won't let you get away with anything

I believe in you!

I'm trying to save the world, I don't really have time for this

But you're not too busy to keep flirting?

Pluto GOD

Sorry bb, no mercy for you!

ERGHHHH

It's out of love!

One day you're going to be as good at treating girls as you are at piloting.

Don't twist the knife!

Sorryyyyyy <3 <3 <3

It's fine I know I'm not great at it.

...hey

...you did that thing again

?

What thing?

You know that thing

Where you change the topic

And I forget what I wanted to talk to you about

so you don't have to answer

except I have a chat log and I can scroll back and see!

It's sweet you wish I didn't have to fight.

See you DO remember, you remember better than I do.

But why don't we leave it at that?

Why

Because there's nothing we can do about it.

we could find a way

I don't want you to do this if you don't have to






We know what they're after now, but will they get anything like it in this route’s ending?



>LAUNCH




"The Celestial Mechanics lab was wrecked and the prototype escaped--we should be heading back to the inner solar system."

"She's still here."

"Who?"

"Some incredibly ridiculous, utterly irresponsible, dangerously devious brat."

I'm sure Saturn would be very flattered to hear that.

".......I'm not who you're talking about, right?"

"Don't be silly, you're not devious at all!"

"Then who? Also, HEY."

"They're being very tricky, so I can't quite tell. But I have rough coordinates."

"They slip between the cracks of the universe, play fast and loose with the laws of physics."

"Staying hidden and out of sight... but being really smug about it."

"I think they're showing off."

"So it couldn't be anyone but the Celestial Mechanics' prototype, right?"

"Why? That's stupid. What sort of pilot would be that irresponsible with a prototype."



"Let's not talk about that now."

"I'm just teasing Mars, you're much better behaved now!"

"If the intel is true, their prototype is really powerful. Even against you."

"I know. I might not be able to stop her."

"This location is the experimental lab--it was shut down right before Earth canceled the space program."

"I don't like this place, Pluto. It's like they shut down Daphnis Lab and converted it into the perfect site for an ambush."

"Really? It's too much for me?"

"...well..."

"It's stronger than the fleet I destroyed?"

"I mean..."

"I'm not saying you're not strong enough."

"But a stealth mission against a secret weapon is different! No one knows what Celestial Mechanics is planning, but it's always awful. It's definitely a trap."

"The mission to the outer planets is only to destroy Celestial Mechanics' lab and prevent Memorial Foundation from recovering the prototype."



"But but I'm!!!"

"Let me have the tiniest bit of fun."



A reference to Luna-Terra perhaps?

--









Supermassive. Small enough to hide in this complex, but with a dual reactor denser than the entire moon compressed into the head of a pin.

An hour ago and Saturn felt the gravitational pull of something so big and so close and so powerful the interior of her cockpit creaked with the pressure, and her head, heart, and eyes welled up with tears.

Something that couldn't be anyone other than Pluto.


"Cool. She must be pretty big, huh. So why is she so hard to find?"

Saturn has no idea.

"Why do I have the feeling someone's laughing at me."

No one is laughing at Saturn. The lab's been abandoned for years.

But Pluto, wherever she is, giggles.

Not in a mean way. She really does think it's cute.


"I haven't thought about Pluto in a long time."

"Oh man, it really would be funny if she was in that monster."

Well, now someone is laughing at Saturn.

"Hey! Hmph, now I know someone's here."

"I can feel you listening."

"But I can hear you too."

"And I can catch you."

"You're not the only one who can gently caress with the narrative."











"And that you're good enough to catch them too."

The lab is dark. The malfunctioning lights cast an eerie glow. Dying Culture, without gravity to hold it together.

But she can hear the faint laughter rippling in the gravity.

And where it's coming from.

When you don't know the controls, mashing all the buttons at once is just as good.


"Got you!"

It's a hit. Her claws sink in. They tremble in the pressure. Whatever they've sunk into is bigger than belief.



Supermassive enough to warp local spacetime, humming and vibrating with nebula dust. Incredibly gentle--or she would have destroyed Saturn and the whole complex without even trying.



No matter what size it appears, in the truest, most real sense of size, the ship is bigger than this moon, than anything Saturn can imagine.



"And I've got you, Saturn. I really was surprised to see you like this!"

"Cool right? I've got poison now, too. Wanna see if you're still the top weirdo psychic mutant in space?"

"Oh wow! Sounds really cool! But I don't know if you're ready yet."

"Wanna bet?"

"SURE."







"Had enough?"

"Y-you kidding?"

"Mmmm, okay, we can turn it up."

"WOOOOOO that is sure insane! It feels like my brain is melting into the universe."

"You're the one who wanted to show off."

"You don't have to do that to endear yourself to me. But if you really want to impress me, you're going to have to do better than that."

"Y-Yeah? You're really still not impressed? Even by this!"

"Hmm? By what?"

"Ooohhhh. That does sting!"



"So you're not just full of risky bad ideas."

"That makes me happy. I won't shut you down TOO hard."

"ArghhHHGH OKAY YOU WIN."

"You gonna be good now?"

"Okayyyyyyy."



"What did you wanna talk about?"

"As Cradle's Graces' glittering psychic death machine, you definitely have more important things to do than go out of your way to bully me for no reason right?"

"Oh, that's right, that man and the fleet are escaping, aren't they?"

"Hope you don't mind falling for this trap."

"Trap? You? Silly, I know you're more important than that."

"More than... catching the rest of the Celestial Mechanics fleet?"

"I knew this would be fun. And you knew it too."

"I am absolutely delighted about you doing that just to be clear, so you don't have to read my mind to roast me about it."

"I can't read minds. You know that's not how it works."

"But I also don't need to, to know that."

"But I did want to know how the biggest overachiever of my juniors turned into such a bad girl."



"I do remember you."

"Even if you're not that good at being bad, do you know what you're doing? With that machine that's so dangerous we don't even want to find out what it does?"

"I think you answered your own question about why I'm keeping it."

"Are you gonna stop me then?"

"...but you don't want to? Hey stop, don't pry into me."

"If you're pitying me, I'll make you regret it."

"Not all of us come out perfect like you."

"Some of us get thrown out before they see any use at all."

"I won't pity you."

"I really would have torn this machine apart."

"But now that I'm here... gifted little mutant to gifted little mutant... I can't bear to."



"Lab-grown girls like us should stick together."

"I might still make you regret it."

"Winning isn't my most important task. It's not yours either."

"Are you sure about that?"

"You're not who I'm worried about. It's only your boss I can't forgive."



"I'm getting a crush already."

"Regretting it now?"

"Don't worry!"





Orbs
Apr 1, 2009
~Liberation~
PLUTO, EPISODE THREE - “I hear everyone, and I can't ignore it. It feels like I'll die if I do.”/RIFT IN THE EARTH II


...I am at peace with what is, what was, and what will be. I forgive you. I forgive me. I forgive you. I forgive me. I forgive you. I forgive me. I forgive you. I forgive me. I forgive you. I forgive me...

Oh, hello. Yes, it’s me. It has been too long. Your usual narrator is a bit overwhelmed at the moment, so I'll be taking over script duties for a little while, in bold and underlined. I’m happy to. It will be a nice change of pace for me as well!













Convenient to be able to give yourself orders, isn't it.



Before we execute those orders though, we of course need to check our email.




-Tyrant Theory, a White Void, a single conqueror-thought at the center of the universe."

This one's a bit heady, but what do you expect from the inventor of Ship-Selves? I won't give away the whole game, but I will say, does an all-conquering theory that incorporates criticism of itself into itself remind you of anything?

Anyway, time to check in with dear Mars.

quote:



Hey, Pluto.

How can you be sure?

Sure? About what?

Sure about...

anything?

Everything is so frustrating, pointless, doomed.

No matter how hard I fight, it stays that way.

So how can you be sure it's not going to be that way someday?

You're the person I want to ask that.

Because you fight every day like you're not thinking about those things!

What's that supposed to mean? I've gotta fight! That's what we have to!

Of course I still think about those things. Even when I'm fighting.

Sorry Mars, of course you do.

Everyone has doubts like that!

Even me then, right?

Er... but it doesn't feel like you do.

I mean, you make it seem like everything's going to be all right.

But you just do what you have to, without even worrying about it. Without even worrying about whether it's right or not. Or if it will come to anything or not.

You're a genius, you know. You're smarter than me.

That's not true.



Don't you just love when something reaches across time and space, fiction and reality, to speak to you directly?

Let's go say hi to Luna-T, it's been a minute.



>LAUNCH




"It's fine, Mars! You don't have to fuss so much."

"There's just no reason to take a test flight without escorts."

"Especially with Memorial Foundation patrolling the area."

"Ughhhhh Marsssssss they really could be doing anything at all more useful."

"This ship doesn't need protection from anything, even if we're exposing the cores for testing."

"And you know how I hate being treated like a princess."

"But you ARE important and your ship is too. It's not fussy and annoying to be looking out!"



"Stop being jealous, I'm not looking for an excuse to bump into Luna-T."

"I-I never said that!"

"Listen to Dr. Nix for once even if you won't listen to me!"

"Look, I'm not escorting you, you win, okay, but please, just be careful."

I know you think I treat you like glass, but I really--"

"What's so funny! Why are you laughing!"

"Sorry, haha, it's just hard for me to stay mad when you're such a dork."

"And you care so much."

"Even if you're non-apologizing and still want so bad to be a knight in shining armor."

"You're the only one I can still be such a petulant kid in front of."

"Instead of the princess everyone loves."

"Pluto..."

"Wait, you're just being a brat for fun? I'm mad now."



"Stop making fun of me!!!"

"Remember when, in the Academy, when people asked you where I was, they'd say 'Hey Mars where's your--"

"OKAY YES, launch permissions CLEARED, YOU ARE CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF."


Ah, such innocent days.








Naturally we must now choose the other timeline, and make up and forget. Hard to say if that's better or worse, even from my perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGEL08UIyw

























"I gave you some painkillers. Do you need any more?"

"I can't fly on them."

"You're not gonna fly without them, either, Luna-T. Your engines are melted."

"Oh right. I thought I did something stupid, but I couldn't remember what it was."

"It was a breathtaking sequence of poor decisions."

"When I said I wouldn't be satisfied or forgive you until I fought you on Ares, I meant when I kicked your butt."

"Kicking your own butt doesn't count."

"As usual. Sorry. Um, do you want me to move."

"Why? Do you want to get up?"

"Waking up with my head in your lap feels like you're rewarding me for shooting you down."

"You can be mad if you want."

"That's one thing, this is another. There's just nothing else to do with you."



"You wanted to do the best thing for you and me, but you couldn't decide what it was."

"There's nothing I can say to that, and it's already done, so just lie there already."

"I might not get another chance, you know?"

"You can hold so much. I'm in awe every time."

"You're the size of the universe. You see everything and everyone, and you hold all of it. Everything's precious, everything's worthy of you."

"I'm not. I can't. I'm small."

"I'm small and scared. Smaller and more scared than you."

"Don't say I'm not."

"Ok."

"I won't."

"Never again."

"I'm sorry. You're small. You're just you, after all."



[ "You're huge to me, okay?"

"That's okay. I should be."

"I hear everyone, and I can't ignore it. It feels like I'll die if I do. It hurts too bad."

"I listen to your voice more than any other. Your heart is more important to me. Isn't that proof I'm selfish too?"

"...But I'm going to fight with everything I have for those voices, even against you."

"I just know that no matter what, we're not going to get what we want. If I let myself slip, I'll trust in your future instead. I know we can't beat Memorial Foundation."

"So I can't afford to blame you. I can't do anything if I can't trust you."



"I love not giving you that satisfaction, Luna-T!"

"And you really should give up on me ever being satisfied with happiness just for me."

"Sure, sure. I know as well as you there's no welcome waiting for us on Earth. I don't know if we will be happy there, but I couldn't live there without..."

"Well, if you get a miracle, I won’t fight that either."

"My heart isn't big, but if you ruin the Memorial Foundation, I'd forgive you. I mean, who wouldn't?"

"I too, want to be free of Earth."

"To be free of 9.8 m/s^2 forever.

"Are you really sure? I think, even that victory will be impossible even if we win it. But maybe, you actually have more faith than me? I think we might not make a happier world."

"But you can learn how to be happy anywhere. Even Earth."

"On Earth, we were tied down by the weight of the world."

"I won't go back to that, even if I go back to Earth."

"There are two ways to do that."

"Make a home where we set the rules..."

"...or bring a new law of gravity back home."

"If only all of us were as precious and powerful as a planet."

"But I can take the shape the world requires of me, if that's all we get."

"That's not true. For you, especially, it isn't true."



"I wouldn't have been able to choose if you hadn't shown me."

"That's a victory they can't take back from us."

Another very big hint about the particular identity of myself and Luna-Terra that was totally missed in previous missions, but not to worry. It is supposed to be subtle!

"Rescue will be here soon."

"You're almost a real adult, Luna-T."



--



Chuu
Sep 11, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Welcome back!

Haifisch
Nov 13, 2010

Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!



Taco Defender
I've been quiet through this LP because I can't find much to say that isn't spoilers, but I'm glad you're back too. :toot:

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
God okay this isn't specifically about the most recent update, but I JUST realized it today:

All the major characters associated with Memorial Foundation (and so metaphorically working for gay assimilation)? Luna-Terra, Europa, Halimede, secretly Iapetus in the CM ending?

They're all white.

Which totally has no metaphorical significance towards discussion of problems in white queer culture and its fairweather-to-negligent relationship with supporting intersectional community issues, which in turn is a huge crux of the whole "gay respectability" discourse in the first place. Not at all. Completely tangential. Don't know why I even brought it up.

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Orbs
Apr 1, 2009
~Liberation~

Gutter Owl posted:

God okay this isn't specifically about the most recent update, but I JUST realized it today:

All the major characters associated with Memorial Foundation (and so metaphorically working for gay assimilation)? Luna-Terra, Europa, Halimede, secretly Iapetus in the CM ending?

They're all white.

Which totally has no metaphorical significance towards discussion of problems in white queer culture and its fairweather-to-negligent relationship with supporting intersectional community issues, which in turn is a huge crux of the whole "gay respectability" discourse in the first place. Not at all. Completely tangential. Don't know why I even brought it up.
:aaa:

Yeah, the Stonewall org in my city is complete trash about POC, so this definitely hits home hard. I still think there's value in the MF ending but that's rough.

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