COST -3

@FARofficial9 I'll check it out!! Thank you 🙇 I've considered writing fics of my own before but I always get nervous... perhaps I will post one someday

@costminusthree if you want, im still working on the 2nd chapter of this fic, but the 1st chapter is already out & its about alephsys gaining a new alter [masked spectre] archiveofourown.org/works/74597401 if you want to read it, here ya go but fair warning, it has images & is in a script format

I love how a pile of books look like Recoleta as well as she is "wandering spirit" from fiction world and her pen point at "M" alphabet

@FARofficial9 Every day I am grateful that this red-haired thing exists

@costminusthree truly the alephsys, and comedic potential off the charts, genuinely such a fun character to write

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 Goddd this design is so cool wtf I've never seen this... that's awesome

@costminusthree @NatLin15 ah i personally see the masquerade as a different alter entirely, split from the fact aleph was invited to a party & couldnt say no & during it got drunk & made the Masked Spectre as for zahir ... x.com/FARofficial9/s…

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 !! Awesome!! The only thing I might suggest adding is their color coding based on the text colors in the character story (Unrelated, but why is Merlin blue ingame of all colors? Like Merlin specifically? She feels so not-blue if that makes sense?)

@costminusthree @NatLin15 mm! i actually had made this handy chart several months ago as their TLDR x.com/FARofficial9/s…

@FARofficial9 When you ask aleph for an extremely specific digit of pi you get a very specific answer. Then when you ask them about their pronouns it takes them a good 10 seconds to think before saying "I... Address me however you please"

@costminusthree genuinely bro dgaf about they got bigger issues like whether it was a 2 mm difference or 3 mm difference of that crack on the wall

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 God... I really hope we get a design for Zahir one day considering how much of a load-bearing weight he seemed to be (won't stop me from just interpreting the masquerade outfit as being him though)

@costminusthree @NatLin15 another thing i personally like is the fact that due to zahir quite LITERALLY acts as their OCD holder, the moment he stops their keeping their obsession in check, it ends up with their collective downfall & spiral to futility

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 !!! Wait I've never thought about it like that but that would make sense!! I did connect the fact that an alchemist was the first alter to Aleph's backstory but I never really thought of it in an introject sense... that's really good

@costminusthree @NatLin15 yes paracelsus is not only their oldest alter but also the wisests, hes their defacto leader next to aleph himself, they often seek his wisdom for i have a theory that paracelsus is an introject of the alchemist 17aleph met. its also why his fall ripples to the rest too

@FARofficial9 Aleph is constantly in a state of absorbing all information and simultaneously dissociating to hell and back I think at that point they have bigger issues to worry about than "gender identity"

@costminusthree thats fair honestly, i feel like alephsys in general doesnt care for labels & are pretty liberal on self expression despite aleph not seeing them as people, i personally just say their names as it the easiest way to differentiate as pronouns can be hard to track sometimes ngl

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I really enjoy how all of the alters are connected in the fact that they are all really attached to Aleph if not each other. Author friend beloved (Lover?! Really?!) and captive... ahhhhhh...

@costminusthree @NatLin15 the only 2 people merlin likes is aleph & paracelsus, unfortunately i dont believe he even likes recoleta or Lise he was just "yeah theyre YOUR FRIENDS not mine why are trying you making me sentimental about them", even so paracelsus was his mentor while aleph is, yaknow, host

@FARofficial9 Ah sorry I almost forgot to explain!! I've been using they/them for Aleph this whole conversation to avoid situations where I have to refer to multiple alters in the same message lol, so I just got used to calling Aleph "they"... that's also why I call Merlin "she"

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I like how Merlin is so rude to everyone Except for Aleph. Aleph could tell Merlin to do something and she'd do it immediately... she's like I hate ALL OF YOU!!! (Folding immediately) But not Aleph. Wait no not Aleph not you I didn't mean you wait I didn't I'm sorry wait

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I like how even in this situation Merlin is taking the opportunity to kill the Idealist for no reason. I just know Merlin was mad as FUCK when they all got to the suitcase and the Idealist was alive again

@costminusthree @NatLin15 genuinely, that or merlin forces himself to front and get aleph to sit back, takes idealist out in the back with his gun & carries their body all to antartica, before that paracelsus made them all gather in one place & leave in one night

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 Picturing Aleph lying on the floor before the Storm and then Merlin picks them up and shoves them on the boat to Antarctica before they can get washed away

@costminusthree @NatLin15 considering he survived 6 storms on his own you know for a fact everytime he does he keeps regretting it & asks himself why doesnt he just get washed away, the answer is his bumfuck alters quite literally keep him alive whether he wants to or not, they do the job even if its bad

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 For sure, potion-induced hyperthymesia might not be something that exists in the real world but it could definitely lead to DID in the R:1999 universe especially considering how traumatic surviving a Storm is

@costminusthree @NatLin15 4 me i think his DID is accurate for someone under those circumstance would be, considering the criteria for it is TRAUMA, he did experience a traumatic event & is now coping with it by his system, its not perfect but so are real systems. hyperthymesia causes a world of problem

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I don't think I've ever had this much enjoyment discussing 2.6 with anyone... well, ever, this discussion has just been so insightful, eye-opening too, and I'm very glad that you allowed me to talk so much for so long on this topic lol 🙇 Thank you...

@costminusthree @NatLin15 another label i can say is close to it is mentor & mentee, or teacher & student but that also implies a power imbalance & i feel like after 2.6 aleph would never try to give her no choice or make her powerless in any regard ever again, since he now has 2 recognize her as a person

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I agree! Really their relationship is best described concisely as "pen pals" since there's really no other way to describe it in a short way without losing detail... Aleph probably doesn't have the heart to call anyone a friend since they're so mentally detached too

@costminusthree @NatLin15 honestly labelling them as a family would also be lowkey ingenuine, found family yes but recoleta craves independence & satiates her own curiosity, aleph just happens to be enable her curiousity & aids her with help, also i dont think aleph has the heart to consider her as family

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 I forgive Aleph for not being entirely accurate DID rep since they're written so well in every other regard (and the fact arcanum is involved makes the inaccuracies more plausible too) you can really tell BP put so much into every part of 2.6 because it all flows together so well

@costminusthree @NatLin15 considering 17 yearold aleph did do all that for a potion i think bro had undiagnosed issues goin on even when he was young, so his OCD quite literally ruined his life & made him fracture into a system to help manage his memories & states of mind, BPD & other disorders later came

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 You get it!! It's disingenuous to just completely ignore their friendship but also equally ignorant to try and frame it as a "romance," it's way more complex than that... if I had to label them as family it'd be similar to uncle/niece or godfather/goddaughter too

@costminusthree @NatLin15 eh you win some you loose some, besides the moment of opportunity 2 discuss thoroughly like this cannot be undermines IMO, i feel like platonic discussions =ly as powerful which is why i enjoy depiciting their relationship as mentally ill but caring unc & annoying tulpa niece

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 If the whole system has obsessive(-compulsive) tendencies then at this point I'm willing to believe Aleph just had that from the start... actually... that probably is the case considering they were willing to turn to arcanum just to find transcendentality in the first place

@costminusthree @NatLin15 unfortunately those bumfuck ghosts that live rent free inside of his head actually does help him even if theyre all chuds & have an unhealthy obsession with transcendentality [blaming zahir for this, he did not do his job as a OCD holder well] so they made him survive at least

@FARofficial9 @NatLin15 She's such a lovely well-written character and an incredible personification of what the spirit of literature is... too bad people would rather not talk about that and ship her with someone a whole 12 years older than her instead 💀

@costminusthree @NatLin15 yep and considering her feeding medium is books, as long as her books are read & exists, the likely hood of recoleta remaining forever 17 & such is likely, shes going to outlife her friends as long as the storm doesnt sweep her away