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Divided (Christmas Special 11/12/23)
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Indeed, let's hope that Dan and Eli can sort this out before Oskar and Gideon find each other...
it's so hot again in here that I hope to be able to put together an intelligible comment. What a chapter, anyway!
I really didn't expect to see Julian to show up again, nor to read about another meeting with Reynold. For once they have really been honest with each other, it was refreshing to see a conversation not ending in complete catastrophe...
The final chat between Oskar and Reynold planning that big meeting sounded like a calmer end to the chapter, but the, AH! After this chapter, and considering Oskar recent weakness, I start to think that Gideon really is one of the few who could put him down, and now he also seems to have a pretty good motive to do so. I mean, with most other characters I would think they may be tricking Volpe to get what they want, but Gideon worked as a witchfinder already for ages to earn enough for his sons, and so a single job to save them from a life threat sounds like something he could very seriously consider doing for real, oh my...
I was afraid of Oskar illness for most of the last 10 chapters or so, but now I'm starting to fear an even more premature end!
Haha don't worry I promise I haven't forgotten about Julian and Clem. Indeed, at least ONE conversation in this chapter didn't end in disaster. It was a necessary bit of closure, and originally that was going to play out VERY differently but Julian was given a second chance, Reynold has evidently worked on things since then, and so Julian forgives him.
It's a short chapter, and (if my plans don't change) we are only two chapters away from the end of Act 3.
This really puts Reynold in a very bad situation, and Juniper is smarter than I would have imagined. She didn't just interpret the past events understanding (or at least suspecting) that Reynold is the werewolf, but she also came up with a quite good plan to prove her theory.
Now I wonder which solution Reynold and the Peterans could find to reduce the damage to the minimum, whatever Reynold decides he has to sacrifice something (either his secrecy, his or others' safety, and so on).
And the end of this part of the story is also approaching, I'm really expecting an explosive (figuratively?) ending to this part at this point.
@HermioneSims
I'm not rewriting the whole chapter as it was, so I'm going to do a shorter version in a different style. It's an important chapter, and I don't want to risk making it weaker...but I really am in no mood to re-write that whole chapter.
Oh noooooo! How awful!
Chapter 3.19 was phenomenal. The pictures speak with so much emotion, and each way that Oskar and his loved ones connect and comfort each other is perfect for who they are. I love how the narrative text is fairly brief allowing the images and letters to each other to take center stage. This chapter was very emotional for me.
Anyway, I think that this diary/letters format was very fitting to this chapter, there are so many people around Oskar who are elaborating the bad news in different ways and it was a cute way to show all their different voices. Above all, I'm happy to see how Oskar managed to surround himself with so many people who genuinely care for him.
But then, that ending? Also remembering that the end of this season is approaching, I'm very worried about the scale of whatever may be going on outside right where you left O.o
That was an intense chapter for sure.
There is too much going on to comment on everything, but once again an Act ends with the characters scattered around and running away, severely wounded or, even worse....
In this chapter you really brought away from us any possible hope of him surviving, he could have passed away in so many ways that would have made complete sense in this chapter alone... But then it makes complete sense it was Violeta at the end, as well as her choice to seek revenge right away. She was particularly scary this time, but very relatable too.
As if the plot wasn't enough, this chapter is also really impressive for the graphical part! Both the fire and the Moon magic in particular are crazily good to look at, the artistic-inept me is very impressed (to say the least!)
@HermioneSims
I'm really happy you like the screenshots < 3 I did a lot of extra effects on them on top of GShade, like trying to paint some glowing light and such.
Okay.
Wow. That was an intense chapter. The start of it gave me chills, as Aine remembers her own mother's death and vows to protect Rosin from suffering in the same way.
More chills as Oskar and Alistair bid each other luck and goodbye. I'd been thinking, before this, that Oskar would not die sick in bed. He'd die in battle. And this feels like the end to me.
Owen - I like him more and more every chapter. He's a different kind of hero. But he does what he has to do.
Reynold - The same can be said for him. And the last screenshot in his section is just so cool. I love the backlit glow and the expression on his face.
Things just getting worse and worse. Reynold's down. Oskar's down. That scene between Oskar and Gideon was rough, because I've always liked both of them.
And Violeta. I did not expect Oskar to end quite like this, but it fits and it makes sense for both of them. And at that point in the chapter, I had to stop reading for a bit because my vision... uh... was getting a bit too blurry to see the words properly.
And upon resuming, I have to say...
"When you got rid of one vampire...you forgot to deal with the other." - I love this line.
It would be Violeta that ends him. No other character would have seemed like the right choice. Well done.
Indeed, that bit hurt ;-; Oskar would never have backed down, and didn't want to be just waiting to die. He wanted to go out helping other people, as he lived, and knowing that it wouldn't be long until he died- unlike if he'd done nothing. Also in his mind, letting himself slowly get worse with his illness would have upset his friends and family for much longer than a death on the battlefield would. If he was going to die anyway, he may as well have done it taking out witchfinders, that was what he was thinking.
What makes Owen interesting for me is the fact that he's got no choice to be impartial, even though he doesn't want to be. In Owen's mind, he takes his oath incredibly seriously not just because of his profession, but because he worries about the sort of pipeline effect that might come out of if he refused to heal the witchfinders. If he started doing that because he didn't like someone or what they did, even for reasons that absolutely everyone else would agree was flat-out wrong- does he risk possibly doing the same later to people for much more trivial reasons? That's a part of his line of thinking. However, his impartiality might come in useful- pleasing both sides to keep them off his back might be a lot better than it seems in the long run. Especially when any witchfinder he saves will eventually get bumped off by Violeta, Clem, Julian, Alistair or Reynold anyway- and I think that's actually what he's thinking. Sure, he can try and save the witchfinder's life because it won't be much longer for them anyway. Owen is a very dark character deep down, he just does the 'rich guy' thing of letting everyone else willingly do the dirty work. He can easily abide by 'do no harm' because the vampires and the werewolves will do that bit for him. XD
Owen and Reynold have a lot of similarity in that sense, except that Reynold is willing to go that far if it's absolutely necessary. But they're both very much in a place of being overworked, having a lot of cleaning-up and sorting-out to do, and having to defend themselves as well as everyone else because this corner of Henford risks falling apart without a priest with healing magic and a well-renowned physician who's trying to clean up the corruption his father behind. I'm glad you like the pics with Reynold < 3 those were fun. The overcharge situation is really nasty, but what I will spoil to you to ease you after this horrific chapter, is that level of overcharge isn't entirely severe, so bear that in mind. < 3 He was still able to talk, sort of, and he was still semi-aware of his surroundings.
The Oskar / Gideon thing was a meeting I really needed to happen because of their similarities to each other- both fathers who would do anything to protect their children, and both formidable with a sword. I needed Oskar and Gideon to meet because Oskar's never really been beaten by anyone until Gideon matched him, and Gideon trying to confront the reality of the Bloodmoon war got to Oskar because he doesn't want to think of the potential fact that not everyone who died during the Bloodmoon was guilty. Someone who throughout most of the story who has been portrayed as this unstoppable war hero needed someone who was able to check him in some ways. Originally Gideon was just going to put his sword through him and finish him off, but I thought it'd be a (slightly) nicer scenario if Oskar just told him to take his stuff as 'proof he killed him' because Oskar hates Volpe as much as Gideon does. Plus it wouldn't have made sense to have two people try and finish him off anyway.
HOWEVER...when Gideon tells Volpe he did kill Oskar...what if word gets out that Gideon was the one who killed him?
Oh yeah, This was the plan for his death for a very long time- that he would offer Violeta the last of his blood, and she would mercy-kill her own best friend (and son). It was not fun to write either ;-; I especially felt awful for Violeta. It's unimaginable how much pain she will be in when the reality eventually kicks in for her. She bought him back to life, and then she had to kill him... I love Violeta's ultra-dark form so much. She's terrifying. SAME I love that shot as well, perching on the roof like a gargoyle, it's one of my favourite pics in the entire chapter.
Violeta definitely wonders the same thing as you did- whether it's more orchestrated than it seems, and if he did it because he knew how many people in Henford wanted his father dead...After their discussion when he spoke with a smirk about Violeta eventually coming for his father, who knows?
I was going to do it that she didn't say anything to Samuel, but she wouldn't have wasted the opportunity to mock and terrify him before killing him, and to make him feel as small and as stupid as possible on top of everything. I'm glad you liked the ending, and I agree, it had to be her that did it.
Now I can also reveal to all readers a little something...
And now something new as per Act-ending tradition: Act 4 teasers, timeskip pics, and also some ideas for the story that were scrapped.