[Coldsaturn]

There are definitely a lot of things the writers could have pushed further, but it's an otome game from China and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Yes, GOD. LaDS literally topped the chart for this month's income, surpassing even Pokemon. And yet we can't afford better resources, coherent backgrounds, let alone a couple of better VAs for background characters. Tell me you just want the players' money without outright telling me you just want the players' money.

Option 2 for me as well. They're so deeply concerning together lol (and I love it)

I....can't comment on the first fanfic idea. You'll see as you continue playing the section and then hop onto the Timeline Playlist I put in the Caleb subforum.

Second ficlet idea is so juicy. I love 3rd party POVs. And it would be so good both with the person rethinking her entire personality based on what they see, and also rethinking their entire relationship with the Colonel based on what they see.

Mmmmmmh. I think when he was younger he did enjoy the privileges that position gave him, but as he grew older he got to feel how limiting it was compared to what he wanted to do. He couldn't justify that exclusivity anymore, you know.
Personal headcanon is that he always wanted to be a pilot, yes, but one of the reasons he decided to go to Skyhaven was to try and get his feelings under control by putting some distance between them. Other option, the good ol' manga trope "he/she only sees me platonically, let's put some distance for a while in the chance that when I come back that image will get a hard reset"

I hope the emulator came back from the dead!

[ChicletPrime]

it's alive, i am currently watching Rafayel run on a treadmill and get sweaty. i have now had to reinstall the game for the third time so i'm getting sort of pro at it. i always forget that the movement control buttons get lost though, so i end up spending the first fight i'm in with the sidebar open, re-mapping everything.

re/Chapter 3 and "pin everything"
/takes a railroad spike to it

[Coldsaturn]

Forgot to mention it but you might have already noticed: for this week some of the game's features are off because of some kind of update they're doing for the next events. Mainly, you can't fake-share posts and achievement to gain red diamonds. Which means that with the weekly and daily quality time plans for each of the LI, we're losing a good 100 diamonds this round.

[ChicletPrime]

YES, i saw that and was annoyed this morning! C'mon, i need every measly red dia possible and i installed instagram of all things just to be able to get every little sip from the teat. $69 million dollars this thing made last MONTH and they can't even figure out how to run an update without interrupting stuff.

[ChicletPrime]

oh. oh MAN. okay, something that REALLY should have stuck out like a sore thumb from before, but sometimes you just need a different angle on something before the clue by four drops.

please tell me this is a legit reading, I Need To Know.

this background of Skyhaven (shoutout to the artist(s) that assembled this, looks ah-mazing) has the Ever logo as a 3D object sitting on top of a building - the eye in its container. but jesus lord in a pudding cup, that's PHILOS. the central, lit core and the shell around it. 

i'm right, aren't i (eye)? sure, its the eye of the galaxy that we keep getting references too, but its Philos as well.

[Coldsaturn]

Ever? Sure, absolutely. Philos? I like your reference, and I'll consider it canon. It wouldn't be the only time we get these out-there call-backs through backgrounds and object brands.

[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 4: Annihilation

to say that i am bracing myself for this would not be an understatement. hoo boy. okay. Annihilation, huh? 

• okay, supernova explosion is just about to reach us. brace for impact, everyone!
  
• okay, weird little object in the.. sand? flashback. oh. Caleb has a project, huh.
  
• they are weirdly stressing the 2300 light years away on this thing. massive red supergiant, kk.
  
• awww. ' you should protect me, like how a ring system protects its planet. ' i am weirdly sure that Grandma said that but boy-Caleb's having none of my crappy memory. 
  
• hiiii Caleb. i was just thinking about you and your dumb project.
  
• (my nerves might just be fraught, but he's still so handsome.)
  
• my eyes, possibly brimming with unshed tears and/or raw accusation are giving me away. i will look at you however i want, Caleb! and yeah. yeah. he's acting like there's absolutely nothing different or wrong.
  
• can i blame his possible memory chip? maybe they're wiping and rewriting him? yeah, i'm clutching a little here. i hope that's not it, i want this guy to be doing everything very, very intentionally.
  
• Caleb, i am really not a little girl, you don't have to... Caaaaaleb! 
  
• even the girlfriend is questioning herself. maybe that wasn't his voice in that garden. 
  
• "How could Caleb change? No, he hasn't changed at all. If anything's different, it should not be him."
  
• So Much Straw Clutching.  
  
• oh my god. the GIRLFRIEND SUSPECTS THE CHIP.  that is the first moment of utter insight she's had this entire way. 
  
• aww, my loyal shield, standing between me and the crowd.
  
• interesting question. does he regret being admitted into the Academy and becoming one of the very rare few Deepspace fighter pilots.
  
• (sorry, fighter pilots? is there something in the Tunnel that needs guns? maybe i just missed it, i thought they were just mapping the place.) 
  
• hah! yeah, as a kid i would have begged Caleb to lift me in the air with his evol too. maybe not into space though.
  
• do i still dream about exploring the universe? aren't dreams like that for kids? 
  
• "Caleb raises his head. There's a fleeting sadness on his face. I almost wonder if I had imagined it." 
  
• oh. oh MAN.  did somebody break MY wings? 
  
• REVELATION: "Back at the shelter, I remember you said your home was beyond the stars. But we couldn't even get past the walls and barbed wire."
  
•  he's busy kidnapping kids and potentially working with the group trying to end life as we know it, but its crushing me to see him sad.
  
• "We'll figure out everything about this world. One step at a time." 
  
• and Caleb is a walking vault of secrets right now. "I can't tell if my thoughts are written all over my face to the point where he can see everything."  girlfriend, you can't lie to anybody you love, you are certainly not going to be able to start now. your entire everything is probably burning like a fire.
  
• oh crap, he's going to deflect, isn't he? oh, Caleb.
  
• oooh, supernova light!?
  
• "It's starting."   
  
• yeah. the light. the dying, already dead star. the plan that's starting again Caleb, what is it? 
  
• "The people around us look toward the sky, but his gaze remains fixed on me. I almost lose myself in his eyes."
  
• /Le Heavy Sigh
  
• /singsongs - open your hands and close your eyes and you will have a big surprise...
  
• are we giving him back his necklace? 
  
• yeah. yeah we are. if you're going to wear a choke collar Caleb, let me remind you it should belong to me.
  
• (god i feel so possessive over him)
  
• now that's a happy brother, for the next four and a half seconds.
  
• three and a half seconds. the light just went out of his eyes.
  
• "Who gives the same gift twice?"  "Who lost a precious gift from others? If it disappears again, there won't be a next time."  your one and only warning, gege.
  
• time skip -- back home, shields have been raised over Skyhaven to block electrowhatsits from interfering with the float... device... things that keep it aloft.
  
• "Tonight, Caleb will go out again. Skyhaven's lockdown will be over soon along with the cleanup. In the dark hours of the night, I eventually hear the door being pushed open. The faint sound of footsteps draws closer. Realizing it's Caleb, I keep my breathing steady. As I pretend to be asleep, a gentle touch lands on my forehead."
  
• (He's gone. Why did Caleb...)
  
• aaaaand we're now actively tracking Caleb as a target through our Watch. did we... did we spike the necklace? 
  
• aaaaand i'm right! 
  
• oops, our bedroom door is locked. that's gonna put a crimp on things.
  
• fantastic! we just shoot the doorknob off because why the hell not. that's gonna leave a mark.
  

Well, that was juicy as hell.

[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 5: Covert Operation

• okay. we're at some abandoned building? caution tape, broken stuff, the obligatory dark and very, very stormy night.
  
• every city has its slums, sweetheart, even if you never see it.
  
• wild grass covers the ground, testament to years of neglect. yet pieces of metal shine as new. the signal from the necklace abruptly vanishes.. a jammer? 
  
• "Test Site 5 has been cleaned. We will now advance to the East Zone."
  
• oh, hey? somebody is hiding in this place? ooh! we've been pulling into a makeshift shelter.
  
• "Crystals adorn her skin. She wears a thin dress but she's unperturbed in such cold rain." 
  
• oh fucking hell. cleanup. the test subjects for Ever's experimentation with grafting cores into people and people into Wanderers.
  
• Fleet Guy: "The contamination levels here are extremely high. They're practically indistinguishable from Wanderers now."  "This batch of specimens is on the brink of transformation. Salvage value 0%. Requesting confirmation to cleanup."
  
• oh you poor kid. you're still alive. i.. i am not sure if your heart is still beating though. but you're still talking!
  
• oh YOU POOR KID. there's just a hollow cavity, covered in crystals, in her chest.  a large crystal pulsates where her heart should be.
  
• "If I passed the test, I could have been the Professor's daughter." 
  
• i am going to rip this man's fingers from his hands, his hands from his wrists, his wrists from...
  
• "Your power... it's warm. and you smell really nice."
  
• um. girlfriend. you still have your gun in your hand, right? i think we're about to hit critical crystal mass here.
  
• no, you can't eat me! that is not a question you ask strangers, were you raised by wolves? 
  
• she still looks sort of like a little girl so i hesitate and now i am enspeared with some of her crystals. i, lucky i, am bleeding. Caleb is going to be very pissed.
  
• Rafayel! I'm bleeding and we all know what my blood can open. Can your tsunami reach to the heavens? 
  
• oops, she's also got friends. black crystal covered friends.
  
• i shoot them, but not where it would hurt because... i am not sure why i tried to target something less vulnerable. i don't think they're save-able, girlfriend.  but then somebody else shoots them and they break up into particles, just like a Wanderer.
  
• The Fleet Guys! i'm saved! well, relatively saved. actually, this is more of an "oh, bollocks" situation methinks.
  
• "Admist the howling winds, the space in front of me distorts. A vortex appears, sucking in and  tearing apart two or three looming figures." 
  
• I Am In So Much Trouble. 
  
• "The rain stops, and the smoke from guns and crystal particles appear to be suspended in time."
  
• It's either Kevi, or Caleb is really, really, really angry. 
  
• "Through a veil, an indifferent face gradually comes into focus. Raindrops are deflected away."
  
• eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
  
• *cough* *ahem* 
  
• "Do you see? There will always be people who want your power." 
  
• aaaand the hungry maw of a vortex just swallows up everything. 
  
• the remaining particles coalesce into a Wanderer, that heads for Caleb.
  

[ChicletPrime]

To say that I am confused on the revelations of the last couple of chapters would be accurate. They have put down a bunch of stuff that I am just not sure how to pick up. I am not sure if some of this is just weird translation, accurate but ambiguous without context, or a throwaway comment that will disappear into the morass, never to surface again.

-- There is a LOT of references in the Annihilation chapter about planets, protective rings, space itself
-- We had a woozy moment some chapters back where the eye of the galaxy appeared again in our vision and we made mention that whatever was calling us was behind it (i read it literally as "behind a barrier" as opposed to "behind it as a mastermind").
-- Caleb was briefly upset over us not wanting to 'explore' space anymore.
-- He remembers that we told him we were 'from beyond the stars'. His dialogue a bit later suggests that he also is not from this world ('We'll figure out everything about this world') but that could be just awkward translation. Or it could be perfectly literal, its so hard to say.
-- Previous chapter(s), the explanation Kevi gave about how breaking the wings on a bird will lead to death, but you can just mess with until it forgets how to fly. Which I took at the time to mean in-general, for the project that the Professor is working on, but now after reflection could be something meant as exposition on the nature of the girlfriend.
-- The weird iteration in a couple of places about the light of the supernova coming from 2300 lightyears away. Is that a significant number somehow? I feel like not, but that it was repeated a few times so it makes you wonder.
-- That Sylus had determined that my evol is unchanged, just suppressed.

So if my home is beyond the stars. If I wanted to use Caleb's evol to take me there. If Caleb may not be from this place either. If Caleb is being re-written when his memories interfere, like Kevi is being re-written. When perhaps memories aren't really memories at all.

I am not sure what to make of this. Am I some sort of entity? Trapped in this place, captured and altered in this timeline, this present moment? Is that why I have the boyfriends, to surround and protect me, my life/power calling to theirs?

I want to ask 'am I the heart of Philos?' but that doesn't seem right. I lived on Philos, I died on Philos, just like I'll live and die here, as I have lived and died before.

My brain and heart kind of hurt, but this is fascinating.

EDIT: its quiet at work again, I'm going to sneak off and watch the CN translations for anything that's different

[Coldsaturn]

I still have to properly dissect your last playthrough because I was busy compiling Xav's timeline, but I just want to say that the questions you're asking are much more on point than some of your past theories.
A lot of this is a lack of Myth context + Anecdotes and World Underneath (which we would have already been consuming by the time Caleb dropped with Homecoming Wings). You're playing the main story line but remember that Anecdotes, Myths and WU texts work with it in equal measure. You're asking the right questions and making the right assumptions, you're simply missing info. But don't worry about not getting all the answers within the end of Homecoming Wings, because you're not supposed to get them all there.

"What are we?" has been a huge question in some players' circles, and it's interesting that hints and clues were also left in the lyrics of the main OSTs, especially the ones in Chinese. There's a youtuber who does incredibly good analysis taking into consideration the Chinese background of the game, I'll link her videos to you once you've gone through your reading homework.