waking up to fight my fans defend my writing decisions
(this post is treat spoilers but not for any content that hasn't already been released)
since chapter 7 came out there's been a recurring sentiment that moxie deserves better girlfriends, and it's tough because i think the epilogue will solve this issue for people but the epilogue is realistically not coming out for like a year or two, so we are in limbo until then.
early treat... is not that complex. my writing now is different than it was in 2016 when the first 3 chapters came out. part of this is also just the characters having a lot of time kickin around in my head... they're stewin in there... marinating in the flavors...! what i have to say sadly boils down to "JUST WAIT AND TRUST ME YOU GUYS" but like, i also recognize that if i haven't communicated the intention well enough, that's a failure on my part too.
i've talked about this here before but i'll restate since that post is buried in a large pile of asks. moxie, understandably, has trouble being authentic and honest about her feelings. she will deflect with humor if things get too real, she'll lie even to herself and say she's doing great when her life is in shambles. mochi at this point in the story STILL DOESN'T KNOW THAT MOXIE WAS LIVING IN THE WOODS AFTER CHAPTER 3??????? and maybe she'll never tell her!!!!!!!!! who knows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on paper, moxie hasn't actually spent that much time in treat and mochi's company--meanwhile treat and mochi have been actively living together and hanging out every day. their relationships are on different levels.
chapter 7 is tough because both treat and mochi have a lot on their plate to worry about, so they don't have the emotional space to really pay close attention to how moxie is doing, especially when moxie has consistently told them she's fine. they still reached out to her to invite her on the trip in the first place. they still each have their little moments together. and because moxie KNOWS that they're going through a lot and because she's insecure about whether they even actually like her all that much to begin with (because she's not convinced ANYONE could love her, really!!!) she distances herself and pretends there's no issue.
moxie creates this self-fulfilling prophecy for herself. her mom is horrible to her, her friend group suddenly abandoned her, and her new girlfriends are going through a hard time and she thinks she's the one who STARTED it (back in chapter 2). so she CAN'T open up to them, she doesn't want to seem selfish, and she certainly doesn't want to risk rejection or open herself up to getting abandoned by more people she loves. it'd be too much! so she just lies!!! and because she's not saying anything's wrong, mochi, and treat especially, trust her on that!!!!!!
so, what does this say. that moxie doesn't deserve love until she's honest with her partners? sure, if you want to remove all the nuance. these girls are all like 20, they are not going to have a perfect healthy relationship on what is effectively DAY 2!!!! DAY 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of being together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*exhale*
i just think it's more interesting this way.
i think my games have a vibe of being happy and fluffy and everybody talks out their [inconsequential] problems and communicates well etc etc... and it'd be fine if they were. i think some of them certainly ARE really light like that (charm studies comes to mind). so maybe that aesthetic is where the misconceptions are coming from, that if something feels flawed then it was intentional and won't change by the end. and maybe telling a more complex story in an episodic structure inevitably leaves people with unintended impressions of where it's going, because it left off in a little plot valley of "things are not ideal"...
i don't know, there's nothing i can really do about it but have a little yell, because it matters a lot to me. i care about moxie, but she is only just now starting to self-actualize. we are getting there.
