[ChicletPrime]

... see previous post

Chapter 7

• "If someone must rewrite him, then that person was me and me alone."  well, fuck. you go, girlfriend! get your man and don't take no backtalk.
  
• she hides everything that could trigger his memories. double wow. woot? this is.. unexpected honestly, but i am *living* for it. she really, really took a page from his book and imprinted on it like the world's most studious duckling.
  
• "Over the course of three days, it's as if we've returned to our childhood, to the small garden of that shelter... and the world beyond these walls didn't mean anything to us." 
  
• yeah, go on, girlfriend. he wants to know if you're a Hunter, what is he? 
  
• "You're the sidekick of a Deepspace Hunter."   excellent reply. that dodges everything and is even on the same continent as the truth. 
  
• uh oh. reality intrudes. your assignment is over in three days and the Association wants to know your return schedule. are you going to take Caleb with you? will you even be allowed? how has nobody else even noticed he's missing.
  
• hah! ponder, and ye shall recieve. "He's been MIA for three whole days. I wonder how long it'll take for the storm to reach us..." 
  
• uh oh? pain throbs and our mind goes foggy.
  
• ooooh, let me guess! chip? is it the chip? are we feeling too much feeling for our poor empty gege? 
  
• okay, this was a WILD exchange. 
  "Maybe... this planet will explode tomorrow and it'll be the end of the world."
  Caleb: "That's nothing to be afraid of. The world we live in is already mid-explosion. So even if it comes to an end, we can always move on to the next one." 
  
• and the pain in our wrist intensifies but our nerves start to twitch with a strange, excited tremor.
  
• oh. such a soft thing to say. "Does that mean we can finally do all the things we used to want to do but couldn't before?"  yeah. yeah, Caleb. anything you wanted then, we can do now that we're finally grown up. 
  
• muahahah! "Couldn't do? Or you mean the things we wouldn't dare to do?"
  
• Caleb: "What if I dare? Will you do the same?"
  
• /popcorn
  
• /swivels back to the girlfriend
  
• /slurps soda out of anxiety
  
• "My fingers slightly tremble in his grip. I have a sense that something is about to happen."
  
• eeeeeeeeee
  
• [ Prove it ]  [ Kiss me ]
  
• OH MAN. whoever this person is that did this walkthrough, they picked Prove It.  goddamn it. 
  
• and something seems changed in this moment. his necklace sways and catches the light.
  
• eeeeeeee
  
• "A kiss touches my earlobe and his teeth lightly graze my skin. A shiver rushes through me like a subtle poison that spreads to my fingertips."
  
• /happily clutches plushie to my bosom.  Caleb, the snake in the garden, offering the apple of all knowledge.
  
• ooops, we are getting foggy headed again
  
• aircraft rush by overhead, heading to the control tower. exclusive to the Fleet at Caleb's command. every deployment is inevitably linked to its colonel.
  
• hmm. yeah. so who's sending out the ships if not Caleb. 
  
• Caleb, are you lying to me again? somehow? Heath is dead.. oh, nice. maybe its the black silhouette person that started the fight over Heath's dead body. 
  
• "Clouds stretch endlessly outside the train. But I know Caleb will find a way out eventually."  ooh, metaphor. is this tied to the train sequence in the wedding card? 
  
• I stand up and he asks where I'm going. I tell him we're leaving, to use his Evol - anywhere is fine. and i think - it doesn't matter because tomorrow is the end of the world. 
  
• he pulls me back into the train car. holy shit, did i actually just try to walk off of the gravity train, into the clouds? GIRLFRIEND.
  
• his eyes sweep over my inner arm and his grip tightens around my wrist. "Where did this come from? The chip?" I see his lips moving but I can't hear him - everything is drowned out by a piercing buzz.
  
• "They're here, Caleb. They're coming." 
  
• My body feels lighter and the sweltering heat vanishes into darkness. Pain surges in waves and only a faint straw-like glimmer of light remains, floating on the surface.
  
• i am.. having a whiteout myself. 
  

Chapter 8

• yup! medical bay, as the pain burns me from the inside out. rewired with cold, ruthless precision as if by a scalpel.
  
• something gently pressed to my lips but i bite, tasting metal
  
• when i wake up, i've been restrained to the medical bed.
  
• ... hello, Colonel Xia.  "You need to control your emotions for now." 
  
• yeah, when did you get your memories back, Caleb? at the amusement park, our day caught out of time, snatched forward from our long ago past? or before that, even?  only Caleb's having none of our questions, preferring his.
  
• Caleb removes his gloves and gently rubs my swollen lips with his thumb.  "Don't hurt yourself." ooooh, we're having surgery, are we? to... take the chip out because Caleb won't permit us to have it? 
  
• and we ask, even as our vision blurs, if this is what he's been fighting all this time.
  
• "If telling you the truth means watching you willingly get caught up in this mess... then I would've never shown up in your life again." 
  
• Did you even have that choice, Caleb? 
  
• "I don't understand... they changed you, treat you like a pawn and make you do those awful things. But you belong with me. You're the person I cherish the most.. how could they do this to you!?"
  
• i am never going to side eye any fanfic ever again, this is so overwrought i am in awe. 
  
• you do belong with him girlfriend and he absolutely belongs to you. let's go eat Ever alive, down to the marrow in it's bones.
  
• i slip the restraints and stagger to the med bay door. "No one can take you away from me. I'll bring you to a place where no one can find us." 
  
• they are reflecting mirrors par excellence.
  
• wanna open another Tunnel to a different place to hide? 
  
• darn. no world ending resonance moment. instead i dizzily fall to the floor by the door and Caleb hauls us up by our wrist and drags us back to the medical bed.
  
• (i need these myth cards in my life, i can't handle seeing somebody else as the girlfriend in these cutscenes)
  
• in further news, it's so easy to overlook how large Caleb is until you see him IN a cutscene. hello, colonel gege! what big teeth you have. 
  
• "I want to peel open your heart to see what secrets are hidden within."  don't hold back, sweetheart, tell me how you really feel. 
  
• "What are you accusing me of?"  "You killed my Caleb." 
  
• ouch.
  
• "The Caleb in this uniform... I don't like it."   various clothing gets flung off as she literally tries to peel him open.
  
• i... i am in love with this story. 12/10, no notes.
  
• i am dying because this isn't my story and i can't take a SINGLE PICTURE. THE LOOK ON HIS FACE THIS ENTIRE TIME.
  
• "You're like a sinner who's confessing."  "Then can you carry a little of this sin too? Don't leave me in this loneliness any longer."
  
• OHMYGODSATURNTHISISKILLINGME. ah. ahem. small eek. wow. 
  
• and we collapse again, falling off and away from our frantic attack on him.
  
• Caleb: "It'll be like when we were kids. When you wake up, there won't be a trace of pain or any memory of it left behind." 
  
• 13/10, so many notes
  
• "Behind the glass wall, Liam watches the girl as she lies on the device. The neural scan projection shows a red area spreading from the chip. It indicates that less than 10% of her body is affected by the corrosion."  he says that forcefully dissolving the chip will erase all memories formed after its insertion, and that it could cause 'irreversible' damage to how her brain remembers things, that it could even cause full memory loss. 
  
• Liam notes to himself that he hasn't checked his own modification progress recently as he hasn't lost control of his emotions for a long time. Most of his memories with his wife were erased in the initial struggle. He can't say which is more agonizing - forgetting someone or being forgotten by them.
  

i need two cigarettes and a shot of whiskey.

[Coldsaturn]

- did the girlfriend inject herself with the chip so she'd stop feeling too?
Hm, I'm not so sure. I've always read her action as a desperate (and stupidly reckless) attempt at bridging the gap between her and Caleb. Ever since he's come back he's been lying to her, keeping things hidden, and once again she's left behind with a stranger (Liam) showing more understanding and complicity with Caleb than her. I think that's what was triggering her the most, that she was not finding a way to be on the same page as Caleb. And getting the chip herself could have been that, no matter the consequences.

- this is.. unexpected honestly
She really wanted to make it clear to everyone that she was 100% gaslighting him for her own convenience. Don't get it twisted guys, she absolutely knows what she's doing!

- "That's nothing to be afraid of. The world we live in is already mid-explosion."
A million eye emojis

- oh. such a soft thing to say.
The yearning! Years of repressed feelings! The fear of what will happen now that all those obstacles aren't there anymore.

- "Couldn't do? Or you mean the things we wouldn't dare to do?" "What if I dare? Will you do the same?"
When I tell you I was on the edge of my seat!!! Kicking my legs, giggling blushing!

- whoever this person is that did this walkthrough, they picked Prove It.
I'm like 100% sure the cn translation has both versions, lemme check. Yes, the cn translation has both versions (and another point detracted to the Eng localization because "I like you" does NOT have the same strong love confession connotations it has in the original version), and the "kiss me" choice had me screaming in my hands, you need to witness it. Hold on, I'll find an English short that has it. 
YES here it is
Behold its glory. I still think about the way he delivered that last line at least once a day.

-  is this tied to the train sequence in the wedding card?
It's a direct reference, yes! They mention Lucid Dream explicitly, too.

- when did you get your memories back, Caleb?
With the way he immediately zeroed in on the wound in her arm and how it's related to a chip he was NOT supposed to know it even existed since he was supposedly amnesiac, I'd say AT LEAST by the end of the amusement park. But keep on playing :))))

- then I would've never shown up in your life again.
We'll come back to this, because I've followed several very interesting meta posts/videos using this (and other actions of his) to prove that he is not an actual yandere character (instead of absolutely mentally unwell because of trauma and paranoia etc.), since he IS willing to let MC stay away from him if that means she's safe.

- "No one can take you away from me. I'll bring you to a place where no one can find us."
I so love MC in this myth. Truly they match and deserve each other in the best and worst way possible.

- (i need these myth cards in my life, i can't handle seeing somebody else as the girlfriend in these cutscenes)
Very relatable lmao
Caleb's myth can be entirely dropped with the galaxy pool, so you can get it "for free"
I would advise against using Xspace chests to get it unless you intend on using Colonel Caleb in battles (which means building at least 1 team of Caleb's cards). The chests are better used to rank up the standard myth pair you do use for battles, the bonuses are no joke.

- various clothing gets flung off as she literally tries to peel him open.
Oh man I need to find it again, someone used illusio on this kindled so that when she takes off his jacket he's actually bare chested in his winder soldier form. Peak cinema.

- i... i am in love with this story. 12/10, no notes.
It's so good!!! And the fact that it's not an AU, this actually happened in their canon main story timeline!

- Liaaaaaaaaam!!!
Pin that handsome bastard, we'll read of him again.

- i need two cigarettes and a shot of whiskey
Yeah the whole second half of this myth is an emotional roller coaster and you're spent by the end.

[ChicletPrime]

i have several fairly incoherent thoughts about Lucid Dream, but will play the last chapter tonight and maybe do a sum up - but I am here to ask before i forget:

as far as we know, Caleb does not have any memories of any past or future selves, right? but that little piece in the middle of chapter seven about the world being "mid-explosion" kind of blew my little candy mind. that is such a nihilistic thing to say when technically he's not even remembering the *present*. that "if not now, then perhaps later" that simply came out of nowhere.

in the Fallen Cosmos trailer, it does look like they suicide pact. are Caleb's reincarnations then always on a doomed track of self immolation? never to get the happy ending, always too much arranged against them because they are too powerful to be left in obscurity. always to be used, always to be sacrificed, their only happiness when they seize it for themselves in those last, bright moments?

/sadness!

PS:
- various clothing gets flung off as she literally tries to peel him open.
Oh man I need to find it again, someone used illusio on this kindled so that when she takes off his jacket he's actually bare chested in his winder soldier form. Peak cinema.

Yas, queen, please!

[Coldsaturn]

Exactly. As far as we know, he does not have any memories of any other past life. Until further notice this is his first life.
You're right that him mentioning the world already being mid-explosion is odd, especially considering the fact he should be an amnesiac. But technically he should also have no idea of what a chip is, and yet he clocked it immediately. So maybe he knows more than he's showing MC.
And his "the world is already ending" sentence can be explained by knowing about his present role in the main flow of events (aka he works with/for Ever but is he truly being controlled?). The new alternative abyssal chaos they just released with 4.0 adds to this if you play his mission. He always has very interesting dialogues. But his comment in Lucid Dream would only add to the idea that he hasn't actually lost his memories, wouldn't it.

What happens with all the LIs is that every reincarnation echoes the fate that has been set for them. They will mirror and repeat actions, dialogues etc. It's how you get Raf always saving MC from drowning, always falling in love with her, always ending up against the Tome, always choosing between sacrificing himself or watching MC sacrifice herself or losing Lemuria. But the reincarnations instead of being a simple replay actually let us witness a new angle to see things we wouldn't notice otherwise (big example of this is Catch-22 which, further from being just a hot valentine's banner, is a gold mine of info on things we still don't know about the present timeline and the character's personalities -- a bit like Silent Hill where you need to switch to its fucked up version of reality to access doors that wouldn't be open in the real world, even though they're perfect mirrors).

So yeah, once you've watched one myth for one LI you can already guess what's going to happen in the others. Or better yet, sometimes the ending isn't shown to you (i.e. Abysswalker, you get its ending in the dream that MC has in God of Tides), but you can guess the main events that you'll see play out again.

A little exception for the LIs that are not reincarnating but still retain their memories (hence they are acting with knowledge of how things already went). For now you know that God Of Tides and Tears Of Romirro played this way, with the characters regaining their memories and acting with awareness of their past (not that it brought them anywhere). You also know that Xavier is the same Xavier from Philos, and as of now we don't have other reincarnations of him. The others I can't say until you catch up with their lore.

Last but not least: it's fair to imply that unless the game explicitly tells you that X and Y events are in chronological order (i.e. Romirro after GoT, Lucid Dream after Homecoming Wings), they're happening in a web of multiverse realities, meaning that "past" and "future" are just points of reference to us, but these realities are happening at the same time, overlapping and isolated, everything everywhere all at once. Abysswalker is set in the future since it's on Philos, but it doesn't mean it's a cemented future our characters will linearly reach. Abysswalker simply happened, it's a fly stuck in the multiverse web. Whether you get there from a thread called "past" or another called "future" is irrelevant. And that fly likely got stuck together with the Romirro fly a few threads away, and they died together.

"But how do you explain MC dreaming of these events?" Well, we don't have confirmation that MC is dreaming of her past or her future, rather than an entirely different reality. To the list of chronological events I'd add the witch of the abyss, simply because Raf knows about it. Maybe in the future it will come out that he also dreams of other realities, or knows that MC does, and that will blow the witch from the linear timeline and shoot it somewhere random in the multiverse web, but for now it's stuck somewhere in our past.
This is also why some are saying that Romirro itself is another AU and not in MC's linear past, because she gives Raf his heart back there, but in the present she still has it.

P.S. Found it! It includes at least another card from Caleb that you still haven't watched, but in case you want to avoid the spoiler, the scene from Lucid Dream is right at the beginning of the video. https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspac...o_illusio/

P.P.S. I swear I am capable of talking about something that is not Raf-related, here I had to use him because it's the one LI where you played all his myths lol

[ChicletPrime]

okay, lets bring this last chapter home and then i can vibrate for three days, thinking about it.

Chapter 9

• okay, we're back to the opening sequence of disconnection. but.. different this time! "After a long while of trying to place it, I finally recognize the face before me."
  
• [ Caleb ]
  
• he called the Association to book me sick leave. i can rest or walk outside for a few days with him at my side while I recover. i feel like I've lost some important fragment of memory. 
  
• "My gaze drifts to the red mark peeking out from beneath his cuff." My.. bite mark? bingo, guessed it, first try. 
  
• "Caleb, what happened?" 
  
• boyfriend got you out of a chip pickle, you fool. 
  
• oh, man. "For a fleeting moment his expression appears peculiar, as if he's fallen into an abyss of sorrow."
  
• "It's okay if you can't remember for now. Eat something first."  All my boyfriends keep trying to feed me, am I underweight or something? 
  
• i am spoonfed a bit of food. when I refuse more, he accepts that and stands up - and a sudden wave of anxiety hits me and I grab the fabric at his waist. i don't want him to go. he sits back down and makes as if he will speak, but... no. but then he promises to stay with us until we are asleep. he has shadows under his eyes as if he had a sleepless night.
  
• "I don't want to rest unless... you help me fall asleep."
  
• /stares at ceiling and firmly keep brain on the main content track
  
• "I have a hunch that when I wake up, he'll no longer be the Caleb who only belongs to me."
  
• this is STILL HEARTBREAKING
  
• "I curl up against his chest. After a moment he wraps his arms around me, resting his chin on my shoulder and letting out a soft, tender laugh."
  
• he offers to tell me a bedtime or... he could do something else. 
  
• i should be writing this, we could just veer off track right here and the fandom would applaud me and peel me all the grapes in the world.
  
• "A cool silver light glimmers near my neck. The metal pendant gently swings back and forth. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I cradle the pendant in my palm."  
  
• I ask if he still remembers what this gift represents. he says 'you hoped i'd come back safe and sound from every mission, right?'  and she confesses that if he'd just return to her, she wouldn't ask for anything else.
  
• she touches his face and asks if he'll always stay by her side and he, naturally, just says 'yes.'
  
• omg
  
• "Then should I... put a bell around your neck?"
  
• THESE TWO
  
• I feel like I should maybe not be watching this. 
  
• she runs her fingers down his neck, over his adam's apple then presses on the center of his collarbone. "It'll be right here. That way you won't be able to escape."  
  
• . . . 
  
• Caleb: "When you held my hand that day for the first time, I knew I'd never get away from you. So don't be afraid - no matter what happens, I'll be here for you."  /tender forehead kiss of affection +1  "Time to sleep."
  
• and i settle into his arms and close my eyes.
  
• oooh, foggy amusement park time! we'z dreamin'.
  
• "What Caleb doesn't know is that the dissolution of the Toring Chip didn't completely erase those memories."
  
• wah, girlfriend! go you for have a brain that won't let go for nothing.
  
• "Even long after, I still remember every absurd story I told him during those three days, the misplaced kiss amidst the clouds, and the searing warmth of his skin."   "The amusement park is closed. Dreams are meant to remain within the realm of dreams."
  
• aaaand now we're somewhere else? a small garden behind "the shelter" that looks pretty overgrown. "the young man wearing a uniform pushes open the iron gate"... so Caleb is here. "In the distance within his view, a girl is sitting on a paper crane. Her back faces him."   I am going to guess that that 'paper crane' is a piece of play equipment for children. yeah, it is. "She turns to him, the rusty springs emit a jarring, screeching note."
  
• "Caleb, you're here." says "main character name" in quotes. interesting. i guess he's physically there in the shelter, visiting the ruins, but seeing him and her in his memory as children.
  
• "The side of the elephant slide was etched with uneven marks of their height as they grew up, one row on the left, one on the right. His always sit higher than hers."
  
• "This abandoned place with overgrown vegetation is their first paradise."  Also, that looks like an apple tree in bloom.
  
• uh
  
• "Hide and seek is over and she appears before him from the swirling darkness." hello, black hole? 
  
• "Caleb, how come you're always the first one to find me?" Her voice pierces his heart like a jolt of electricity, a lingering affliction he can never quite heal. It's also the source of his fears, his retreats, and his darkest thoughts. She stands at the end of everything, drawing him in. Gravity warps into a black hole around her. He clasps his right arm as though offering a solemn gesture of devotion. 
  
• "Maybe it's because... I love you a little more than you realize."
  
• . . . 
  
• now we somewhere else that looks very... i am not even sure what i'm looking at. a skylight/portal and a flat black floor. If there are walls, they are far away and indistinct.
  
• "In the zero-gravity lab, the young man's body floats under the cold light, suspended in an almost primordial state. Tiny currents of electricity crackle in the air and slither into his mechanical right arm. 
  
• Enforcer (?? nice): "The partial modification that's been completed is still under the Toring Chip's control. However we can't access the chip's records of Caleb's memories.
  
• Prof Lucius (you bastard! i'll murder you): "Has the chip been damaged?"  Despite Caleb not being the perfect subject, they've sacrificed a great deal to obtain him.   what, now? "obtain"? obtain from WHO? why? WHAT? "If the Toring Chip in his body suffers any damage, the long-hidden plan will be in vain."  EDIT: okay, i know from previous chapters that Prof L is not working with Ever, except as its convenient to his purposes. so I am guessing "obtained" from Ever / Ever's data on Caleb. 
  
• Enforcer: "The chip's integrity is at 93%. It appears he's purposefully 'sealed' his brain rather than damaging it. The patrol data disappears whenever it reaches a specific area. It doesn't get rejected or intercepted. It vanishes as if..."
  
• Prof L (who will die soon, please send your condolences): "It's being pulled into a black hole."
  
• I FUCKING KNEW IT. Caleb IS tolerating the chip when he could just crush it whenever he wants. the why is still up for grabs but that's my boyfriend, being a thorn in the side of his wannabe masters.
  
• Prof L (you will not be missed): "Humans are inherently flawed, making us indecisive and hesitant. Only by erasing these weaknesses can we become invincible. If we don't tackle this area, we'll never be able to achieve a complete modification to him. Is there another way?"
  
• The enforcer inputs another string of characters on the control panel. After a moment - "Found it. This area was encrypted with multiple layers, so there must be a key to unlock it. There's likely only one key, and it's probably a one-time use."
  
• The old man (hope your will is up to date) nods, giving one last glance at his great work before turning to leave the room. "Then lets find it. No matter the cost."
  

I... have SO MANY QUESTIONS NOW. i will think on them. But what do you wanna bet the girlfriend is the key to whatever part of Caleb's brain that is under guard? Or maybe Grandma and her research team slapped a welded door on it before she/they defected from the research lab.

[Coldsaturn]

Oooooh congrats for finishing Lucid Dream! What a journey! I will properly comment other parts in detail later, but for now I'll add:
Caleb loses has his memory reset when he's emotionally unstable, but he never forgets MC. With the now canon info that there is a part of his brain that has been sealed away from the chip, we can deduce that 7% of his brain is all her. And of course she must also be the key, that dude probably set all his passwords to be her birthday date.

[Coldsaturn]

- "For a fleeting moment his expression appears peculiar, as if he's fallen into an abyss of sorrow."
NOOOO for once he confessed, for once he was dared to kiss her, and now he thinks he's going to be the only one carrying those memories

- we could just veer off track right here and the fandom would applaud me
You know us so well already

- "Then should I... put a bell around your neck?"
Throwback! And a punch to the face! All in one!
Just in case you forgot how not-normal MC is with him.

- "It'll be right here. That way you won't be able to escape."
Can we take a moment to put ourselves in Caleb's shoes for a second. You're in love with your meimei but you're not exactly sure confessing would go well between you two because up until yesterday she acted like a spoiled and overprotective sister with you, but never quite crossing that obsession into something you could see as fully romantic and adult without a doubt. Then that amusement park happens, and the vibes were vibing, this time you really thought she was giving you the right signals, and even if you're terrified that changing your relationship will somehow make you fall apart down the line and separate you, you want it too much and it's just a matter of time. Then she wakes up after the operation and doesn't remember anything, but she keeps on saying shit like this and how are you supposed to cope? Is your life supposed to be spent as her shadow, forever there but only attached by the feet?
This man.

- "Maybe it's because... I love you a little more than you realize."
ouch

- I... have SO MANY QUESTIONS NOW.
I shall eagerly wait for them!

But I renew my congrats for finishing Lucid Dream!
I think I'll put a masterpost listing the things you've reacted to so you know the options and the order of things for later

[ChicletPrime]

okay, i don't think i have as many questions as i thought - i think its more that i am completely vibrating at this wavelength. let me wax excited here for a minute.

first off, wow. just... wow. Caleb, you are both unhinged and scarily competent and your girlfriend is possibly even more unhinged and trying to catch up and i love that for both of you.

what we already know:

• the drug Cybezin is used by those with the Toring Chip implantation to help with "mood stabilization". overuse causes psychosis and (implied) violent outbreaks.
  
• exposure to the Deepspace Tunnel apparently warps or removes memories with long term exposure. this is presented as a fact and a reason for the drug.
  
• the Toring Chip forces emotional control by overwriting and/or erasing memories that contain strong emotional elements. text descriptions indicate that a "Core" is involved. this may be referencing a protocore (extracted from a defeated Wanderer, usually used as an energy source) or potentially an aether core (a very high powered "complete" protocore) that is overlaid on the human personality. the "chip" may simply be a way to interface a Wanderer's core to a human host.
  
• There are apparently three levels to this - the chip implantation to effect mood/personality, an augmentation of physical prowess that comes after the chip, and then something called "modification".
  
• per events in Abyssal Chaos, Ever was experimenting with, and succeeded at moving a human's consciousness from the biologic to the digital.
  
• Dawnbreaker's world (Zayne's future) is nearly overrun with human beings infected with crystalline growths that warp them into Wanderers.
  

what new things did we learn on this sleigh ride:

• the "Fleet" is comprised of several internal divisions, one of which is "HQ" and the rest appearing to be armadas of ships ("fleet" - lowercase) controlled by a single "Colonel" rank commander that reports to HQ. We have three named and one unnamed fleet divisions - Alpha, Bravo, Tuum and whichever fleet Caleb is controlling which remains unnamed. There is internal jockeying between the Colonels for power.
  
• Caleb's Fleet has widespread, implied to be mandatory, usage of the Toring Chip.
  
• Tuum Fleet and it's Colonel (Heath) are against the use of the Toring Chip but are assimilated into Caleb's control, forcibly in some cases.
  
• Caleb is known by at least one other Colonel ranked individual (Heath) to be an inserted plant inside the ranks of the Fleet. From previous, we know that he is working with/is under the control of Professor Lucius' group which is as yet unnamed and which appears to be at least somewhat separate from Ever. Lucius is likely to be another defected researcher from Ever. Per prior information, he does not have full access to Josephine's data.
  
• Atley Island is introduced and named, likely the place that was briefly alluded to in Homecoming Wings by a medical nurse as a place where people "are taken". It's where Heath is being sent "to recover" although no information is given as to what he is to recover from. Heath does not appear to be outwardly fighting this re-assignment.
  
• Heath alludes to a higher-ranked individual in the Fleet that is currently absent, noting that person would be in opposition to Caleb and Caleb's backers.
  
• ambushed by Heath, Caleb kills him but is then confronted by an unknown individual that is likely the aforementioned higher ranked officer. A fight happens that takes place off camera and no resolution is seen.
  
• Caleb, who has so far shown himself to be very adept at code switching his demeanor and thoughts in order to avoid directly triggering his chip implantation, does have an emotional breakdown over the girlfriend, causing his memories to be re-set in a fairly complete wipe, at least from the outside perspective.
  
• the girlfriend uses this to attempt to implant command parameters into Caleb, focusing on making sure he cannot leave her and to engage only with her. she actively avoids or hides anything that would trigger older memories that are not of her. it seems likely she is attempting to re-set his personality back to their childhood, or at least to before his Fleet involvement.
  
• Caleb takes about three days to regain most of his core memories but does not appear to broadcast that fact to the girlfriend, leaving her unaware of his returning awareness.
  
• when the girlfriend also overwhelms herself in an emotional outburst over Caleb, Caleb has her chip removed ("dissolved"). Text indicates that memories formed after chip implantation will be wiped when the chip is lost and the procedure also has the chance to remove some or all of prior memories as well as a side effect.
  
• when her outburst happens, it seems she tried again to 'escape' with Caleb, stepping off a moving transport in the air. she could have been relying on his evol to carry them, it could also have been a suicide attempt in a bid to move to their next reincarnation and abandon this one. while neither of them appear to actively aware of alternate timelines, there is some textual references to it by Caleb just prior to this.
  
• during the resulting white out, the girlfriend re-iterates the same goals as Caleb, that Caleb will not be taken from her and that she will find a place where they can not be found.
  
• Lucius and unnamed person are talking about Caleb as he floats in a zero gravity chamber - this appears to be current time, ie, not a flashback but exact timing is ambiguous. the chip is noted as linked to his bionic arm (as yet not shown and only vaguely alluded to in the main story) and the two pieces appear to work in sync with each other. Caleb's memory erasure showed physical symptoms that ran down his neck towards his arm. The arm is referenced as a 'partial modification'.
  
• the chip is checked and then confirmed as undamaged. damage will impact a 'hidden plan'.
  
• it is specifically noted that 7% of Caleb's brain is uncontrolled by the chip, in an untouchable "locked" area. It is implied that this untouched area is being actively (perhaps subconsciously) warded by Caleb himself using his evol.
  
• Lucius states that one of their goals is full modification for Caleb, which is being thwarted by their lack of complete control.
  

So. Fucking hell, even. I think I hurt myself typing all that in.

I am, in a word, delighted with this myth. The constant re-looping back to the possessive, feral bedrock of wanting only to be together, away from any one else or any interference really locked this in for me. When stripped of everything else, that's the only purpose, the only imperative that isn't taken away them. Together, or nothing. Caleb's suddenly interjection/allusion to getting away through *death* into something better caught me flatfooted.

Does he know more than he's saying in that regard? Is he trying to tell her that nothing can ever be lost because there is always the ultimate restart? Or is it meta-textual fuckery by the devs?

Ever's goal to transcend humanity and achieve immortality is nearing fruition, but how that works with Wanderer core infusion into humans, that human personalities can be digitized and uploaded, how the emotional suppression chips are part of this, the implication that humans that cannot handle a core or its fragments will turn into Wanderers themselves... its still murky in which cog is driving which wheel. We know that whatever is being done now leads to the creation of Philos where there is, at least for a time, a thriving human civilization. But we also know that that civilization falls apart because of whatever price has to be paid for that "gift", which somehow necessitates not one but two time travel missions to either start that ball rolling or to thwart it.

--------------

Bear with me on this but something I have been toying with in the background (not at ALL textually alluded to, this is deep into headcanon space) is that each of the "boyfriends" is actually just one soulbound/soul, split into fragments and traveling through time with her. They play out in their respective paths, all trying to resolve back into a single individual, constantly looping and surrounding each iteration. No matter what path she takes, no matter what decision she makes or avoids, she will always meet "him". "He" may exists in times where she does not, but she will always find "him" everywhere, even though his story changes. This is mostly brought on by the couple of fucked up moments where an eye appears in the sky, resembling both a galaxy and an observer.

[Coldsaturn]

I have nothing to add, your notes are immaculate.

Actually I have something to add, but your summary IS crystal clear.

- "exposure to the Deepspace Tunnel apparently warps or removes memories with long term exposure. this is presented as a fact and a reason for the drug."
Ok hear me out: what if that's not actually the case. We know that the toring chip is a mandatory procedure and not everyone is happy to comply. So what if the info that the deepspace tunnel causes the very same symptoms that people who have the chip exhibit is just a front to blame something else and even make the use of certain drugs necessary?

- "Caleb takes about three days to regain most of his core memories"
If we buy into the loss of memory to begin with.
When Lucius is being briefed on the problem with Caleb's brainwashing, the dialogue states "However we can't access the chip's records of Caleb's memories." Caleb's memories. Not "part of his memories"
So we can take it in the romantic way and think that Caleb has only managed to seal off his memories of MC, so that no matter what happens he'll always remember her, or that the entire section of his brain dedicated to his memories is off limits to Lucius. Which would mean that when the chip detects an emotional overdrive and sends a reset zap, he will lose consciousness but won't have his memories wiped out.
So I don't know if Caleb actually lost his memories here, or if he only pretended he did to test what MC would do (similarly to how he let her search his computer).

- "Text indicates that memories formed after chip implantation will be wiped when the chip is lost"
It's also very interesting that MC does not lose her memories of what happened while she had the chip. Possibly because the implantation was so short it didn't have time to cause damage.

- "Is he trying to tell her that nothing can ever be lost because there is always the ultimate restart? Or is it meta-textual fuckery by the devs?"
I think your "together or nothing" is very accurate for Caleb. I don't think he knows they can reincarnate, I think he genuinely thinks he can fly her to another planet where it's just the two of them and they're safe (very convenient that he's a deepspace pilot in a place of power), and if things go to shit, we have already seen from the Decoherence trailer what they're both ready to do.

- "each of the "boyfriends" is actually just one soulbound/soul, split into fragments and traveling through time with her"
This is a delightful theory, one that could potentially work with canon in surprisingly fitting ways.
Fandom-wise it would be a disaster because it would "solve" the otome part by integrating all the LIs into a single love interest, making all the fans who only vibe with one guy (to the point of hating the others) absolutely lose it. But narratively it makes sense in ways I cannot yet share openly with you, not until you go through World Underneath and Death&Rebirth.

[ChicletPrime]

-- "..presented as a fact.." -- I don't actually think it IS a fact, and I completely agree with you that "they" have given this explanation to the fleet crew that the Deepspace Tunnel is dangerous to your memories but hey, we have this great new device that will help with that and all for the low, low price of having to take this stabilization drug every so often to keep it running in good order.

-- do you think Caleb faked the whole thing? that would be... very interesting. the myth starts out with MC remembering nothing - she cannot place where she is and she does not recognize Caleb at all. at the end of the story, she is still in whiteout but she does place Caleb as somebody she knows, which indicates there is a progression to the return of memory, likely spanning about the same three days that Caleb appears to have taken. at this point, i don't think he did fake it honestly, but see next point.

-- oooh, right, yeah. the chip is, among the other things its doing, a recording device. i like that interpretation that maybe he's holding all his memory sacrosanct somehow, always ready to roll out again and re-implant on freshly ploughed ground. like kudzu vines. or clematis flowers. or fucking MINT. there is also an idea (not supported) that if Caleb wipes a lot (or did wipe a lot) that he's just gotten very good at re-establishing himself from scratch, kind of learning to speedrun the whole problem.

- so far i haven't seen anything even hinting that Caleb has an aether core. but the girlfriend does, so I'm willing to lean in the direction that while the chip records and deletes all memories formed after its implantation, the aether core is what kept her from losing those pieces, otherwise that part is a bit hand-wavy.

-- the idea of a singular entity being split into the boyfriends is also the result of a lot of thinking about aether core fragments. they function at lesser power when they are apart from each other, but they do function without apparent issue. its only when they come together into a final core (noted in canon as held together by energy bonds, they don't actually assemble into a single piece) that the true power level is revealed. so an aether core can exist as pieces or a whole which maps really nicely onto the main character and her fated lovers. and there is, as mentioned, the completely unexplained insertions of the galaxy-eye and at least one reference to the answers being "on the other side" of it.