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Divided (Updated 08/09/23)
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It's interesting that you bring up Julian in comparison to Oskar. Julian is another character that I am really enjoying. I guess I just particularly like complex characters who have flaws but also principles. Julian is sort of played as a "bad guy" in the story, because of the point of view of the main characters, but he actually seems like a pretty caring person. His beliefs about what is right are different from Reynolds, but his motives seem very pure to me. At least so far.
I love how complicated this story is getting. You've put a lot of thought into your characters and world, and it shows.
Oh believe me it is getting complicated, I'm trying to keep track of all the subplots and still need to work in the whole thing with Annorin as well as Volpe XD ;-; And now the vampires as well...
Same I loved Oskar and Reynold’s interaction so much. I’m so excited to do the next chapter!
Some great dialogue in here too. Elias's sarcasm is wonderful. And the "clean up after dinner" line. good heavens
Elias hasn't appeared much, but he's one of the more cynical members of the Peteran church. Nice enough, but a bit on the grumpy side, and I also think that deep down he's not entirely sure if Reynold is ready to run the church or not. I like to think he'd make a decent leader, but I highly doubt that's a position he'd want in the long term.
That's a really good way to put it actually. Sometimes part of it really is knowing the worst the person you care about could possibly do, in a dark way.
As a little cool thing to show all the readers, I've made headers for each act out of sheer boredom. Enjoy!
Hm? You have a sentence that seems like it ends halfway 🤔 [We were told never to speak back, but ] that one.
Well, that’s one heck of a first meeting between Oskar and Reynold! Good thing neither of them ended up killing the other, and things cleared up very quickly. Oskar is very right to call him out on hiding his true self from Áine. He’s been keeping it from her for entirely too long. She deserves to know what she’s getting into with her child. Bloodmoon pact, huh? I bet we'll end up hearing more about that in the future.
Ouch. Oh, Áine. Being overcome by rage and acting in the moment is not the same as deliberately plotting to kill your own spouse and orphan your own child. Oof, they both have very big revelations to share with the other. I wonder how that conversation is going to go…
Ohh yeah I just knew at that point these two would have to meet in their 'other' forms, and then it would get darkly funny from there XD Yeah, as much as we all love Reynold he's made a massive error in not telling HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND THAT HE'S A WEREWOLF WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU MAN!!! I actually think sometimes Reynold falls victim to not checking himself as much as he should, because he's usually the one telling other people how to live their lives when they call upon him for counsel. Yeah, soon-ish there'll be more details on the Bloodmoon pact. It's a past thing in the story. Yeah, they both have some fun things to share with each other! Let's see how it goes! : P
This one got messier than intended. What is it with me and the arguments I write ending up more heated than I intended? : P
HermioneSims:
I am really finding myself more and more drawn to both Clem and Oskar. They both have such interesting views on things.
I don't think you should apologize for letting things escalate in your characters' arguments. Those scenes are what make the story so good. I understand that feeling though. I have had a long battle with my own self in writing, frequently undermining my own stories' tension by defusing conflicts or dialing back the intensity of the bad stuff. It's a struggle. I don't know, of course, what you're really thinking. But it seemed like maybe you experience a similar thing. Keep writing the way you write, and let the conflicts get out of hand. This story is excellent because of all its complexity.
So... Aine and Reynold... hmm...
I'm going to be a tiny bit contrary to what is probably going to be the prevailing opinion. To me, what they both did seems very much the same. Each of them has a power that can do great harm to others if not controlled. Each of them, in a moment of great anger, lost control and used that power to violently attack another person. To me the question of whether or not that person "deserved" it is a hard one to answer. We never got to fully see Bradach's point of view, to learn what pressures he was dealing with, what emotions and values drove his decisions, nor was he given any real chance to gain the empathy of the audience. Since we really only see Aine's side, it's easy to assume her father was just a terrible person, but without the full story how can we be sure? Instead, I just weigh the responses. The emotion driven loss of control and acts of violence by Aine and Reynold, and I find them more or less the same.
So what I take away from this scene is... Reynold is willing to forgive the wrongs committed by others, and Aine is not. This is interesting.
Eh... probably more analysis than you wanted.
(I'm not saying one is better than the other, merely that perhaps they function differently.)
I don’t have much else to add. Everyone else has said it much better than I could!
Even without necessarily being a spiritual path, different people can obviously value different things.
I also think that Aine is partly just scared here, since she's about to become the mother of a probable werewolf, and has no experience with this and no idea what to expect or do. I can definitely understand her being frustrated that her partner was apparently planning to leave her in the dark.
On the other hand, I totally get why Reynold has a hard time telling people. Not only is it hard to talk about, but (especially in this world with all the violence toward "others" ) he really does need to be sure he can trust the person he's telling.
WARNING: LONG SERIES OF TEXT WALLS AHEAD
@Lucy_Henley
A joint respose for @GlacierSnow and @mightysprite it was really fun reading your discussion! This response is a bit long so I broke it down into sections.
Glacier: I get exactly what you mean by what you said about the 'don't worry about the escalation.' I'm glad you get it and appreciate your words < 3 My chapters almost never turn out as planned, but sometimes I think that's part of the fun : P
Clem and Oskar:
It's sometimes difficult though, writing from the perspective of someone with so much life experience but also sometimes easier. Oskar has had years and years to work out ways of getting around different situations, so he's mostly of some help. That, and his very dampened emotions also give him that necessary 'distance' to approach other people's issues from a point of reason and logic and less from a point of emotion which, right now, won't help anyone. He doesn't deep down care emotionally-speaking because he doesn't have that gut feeling anymore, but contextually, he knows what he has to do or say to show kindness to good people and that's as close as he can get. He knows who deserves his respect and who doesn't. (I admit that's inspired from personal experience, because I get really tired of every lack-of/low-empathy character in fiction always being portrayed as entirely careless and cruel to others 24/7.) He knows the distance between the two of them will make them unhappy, but he also knows it's necessary if they're to heal from what's happened, especially for the sake of their child, who he knows they both want the best for.
Clem, like Reynold, doesn't entirely agree with how her church is run, or their outlooks, and wants to do her bit to change it eventually. Reynold doesn't think Peterism is about throwing all joy in life away to focus entirely on burning yourself out for your people or your faith, and Clem wants to bring Jacobism back to its original roots of fear of retribution driving good behaviour, instead of complete subservience. It's easier for Reynold since every Peteran monastery is independently run, but it'll be difficult for Clem since the Jacoban cathedral is run by a central authority. So that'll be fun!
Bradach:
He did genuinely love Aine, but like many fathers, had a VERY questionable way of showing it. But then a darker and much less morally-correct aspect of it all is, if the witchfinders didn't kill witches in the first place, Bradach wouldn't have felt the need to do any of that. Doesn't excuse what he's done, but the complexity of who's at fault for various things is something that I plan to explore a bit in the story- that blame isn't always easily placed solely on one person or party's shoulders, as uncomfortable as that revelation might be sometimes.
Áine and Reynold:
Glacier, you're definitely right about Reynold not telling her at the same time. He had to be absolutely positively sure, and being sure of who you can trust is nearly impossible for any witch. Not to mention even if Aine has magic, there's always the chance she wouldn't have accepted him being a werewolf at all.
- 'So what I take away from this scene is... Reynold is willing to forgive the wrongs committed by others, and Aine is not. This is interesting.'
This is a REALLY good thing you picked up on, and mightysprite's points and thoughts are really good as well. What mostly plays into this more than anything I believe is faith so Mightysprite is completely correct to guess spirituality plays a part. Mostly because of being Peteran, Reynold is quicker to either forgive, try to understand the best he can before making judgmenet, or give someone else a second chance, like he did with Gideon knowing he was a witchfinder.
One of the paraphrased lines in the Book of Peter mentioned by Mother Joyce in 1:12 is that the best you can do with a dark heart is guide it towards the light, which is a big part of why she takes him in. Reynold tries to embody this as much as he can, even if he doesn't forgive someone. He sees it as more of a thing to try to reform than punish. Admittedly, not everyone can be reformed, and there are always going to be people beyond any kind of redemption, but where he can, Reynold will try to understand others before making judgement.
- Some of what Áine said I don't think she genuinely meant, mainly when she accused him of trying to kill his sister. I think the shock and the stress of all that's happened (the witchfinder, Violeta etc) has made her question her trust even with someone who would never hurt her. That and she could have had the chance of having a child and then having no idea how to care for her, since the full moon will probably cause her to act up even if the transformations don't happen until adulthood. When she said that it did genuinely make him angry, but that's because in part he too has wondered for the past two years if he really did genuinely mean to do it, and he'll likely never figure that out.
There are plenty of people beyond Áine's forgiveness, and I don't think , had Gideon had got to her when he planned to tell her what Bradach had done (bit late now Gideon : P) , I think she wouldn't have listened to him. She wouldn't have forgiven him for what he said he'd do to Kat. I think a lot of women or by extension folks assigned female at birth know that our denial of a second chance isn't necessarily out of spite, but the lengths we have to go to, to keep ourselves safe. The chances are we've all given at least one person a second chance and they've blown it, so it's not worth doing it again. Add on being a witch and the trauma to that and Áine has even less of a reason to trust someone if they break it once before because she's in constant survival mode.
Thank you all so much for the discussion < 3
Reynold’s first reaction (anger) over her calling him out on his killing intent is very interesting. To me, so far, he reads like he’s using his lack of control as a crutch. As justification, or something to point fingers at instead of himself, for his mistakes. The wolf is the anger. The wolf makes him lose control. It’s a part of him, yet very often he refers to his Wolfy side as if it’s separate from him. As if it’s something that acts on its own and he has to keep a handle on it. I understand why. But often the first step to REALLY getting a handle on something is simply accepting that it’s a part of you. Áine is forcing him to do a bit of introspection there, calling him out on that habit, and he doesn’t like it.
Oof. That was a bad blow to their relationship. I’m definitely with Áine on this one though. Reynold is so frustrated over never being taught control and even that he was a werewolf, but by keeping it from his own partner for so long, he’s risked doing the exact same to his own child. If Reynold would have died before telling her, then his child would have grown up the exact same way. With no way of knowing until they turned, and probably killed someone.
Clem’s opinions sound quite familiar. I agree with most of them, but you already know that 🤭
Does it count as day-drinking if you’re usually up at night? I’d say drinking after regular hours is perfectly acceptable, Reynold 😆
I wonder what happened to Ilse. If she simply grew up and moved out, or if something else happened to her, the way Oskar reminisces about her.
Yup, Reynold had a habit of realising his problems but doing little about them. I think his guilt complex at this point is the worst out of any of them, because as you say he keeps talking about the wolf as if it’s separate. I do plan for a certain character or two to delve into that later. I think because he’s usually the one dishing out the advice deep down Reynold hates being the one called out and I think part of that actually stems from his upbringing and the obvious favouritism of him over Clem. On top of that I think what Oskar says plays a part in it too, in that being Peteran has subconsciously convinced him that he’s doing everything right.
It just wouldn’t be a Snowbnuuy SimLit without at least one character going on a long ‘the people at the top don’t care about you at all’ speech! Nothing is subtle anymore : p
Oskar is right when he says people say stuff they don’t mean when they’re in shock. He seems pretty wise.
I can totally empathise with Reynold about being made the abbot. So much responsibility!
I enjoyed Reynold's ordination scene.