Defending Aiden's reputation.
I wonder if those knocking Aiden remember it was hothead Dylan, accompanied by side-kick Zac who actually first initiated the trouble by trying to intervene between Aiden and his gang intimidating other school kids (we don't even know why Aiden was doing that either-possibly for valid reasons?).
In other words Aiden did not technically start the trouble, so in effect the "blackmail" story line, he simply exploited the situation by seeking retribution via his Dylans sexy mom, Sophia, who also clumsily intervened by trying to protect her son, going in feet first.
Unrealistic? That's for the reader to judge but no, I personally have no doubts of realism whatsoever. Bullies exist within schools and RL scenarios everywhere and always will. You can't airbrush them out, you just got to learn either to be a bigger bully yourself, or if not, co-exist, befriend, or know how to avoid them because they can be powerful, very frightening, and can destroy people.
Aiden clearly doesn't need the money. How many kids his age ride around on a classy motorbike wearing leathers like that? Aiden is intelligent, manipulative and possesses natural leadership. Qualities attractive to women. He's the untouchable hard man who lost his mother controlling things at Northtown High until newbie pipsqueak Dylan comes along and tries laughingly to confront him.
I even think Aiden has given Sophia a reasonable deal, and also believe he will keep his word about the tasks ending at 12. He already has clues Sophia will come round to becoming readily complicit to his demands once her early challenges of straight, classroom humiliation diminish (quite possibly by the next update). If so, this will become an increasingly exciting, highly erotic thread because after this point it won't even be blackmail.
For those unaware, this has been L&P's intension all along, I'm surprised the doubters haven't read it. That's why L&P won't give it up, quite rightly, the Morello dimension just another distraction to appease and unnecessarily complicate an already overburdened storyline.
I may be the guy that convinced him to take out the twist this is a little snip from a conversation me and L&P had in 2020:
For context: Before this I asked him if he would be cool with me tossing Sophia a cameo in a game I was making, he was fine with it. Told him I was a big fan of his game, and it was my favorite game like a big fanboy...
Meanwhile in the forums I said that "The Twist" events make Dylan come off as a psychopath in my book, and destroys his character completely taking him from good to evil.
L&P was like:
Sure, you can use Sophia in your cameo.
And "Psychopath" is a little bit exaggerated. First of all Dylan meant it well and since his mom never listened to him on wearing sexy clothes because she's still hot, he thought this way could work to bring her to do it again, and "free her from her midlife crisis" in which Dylan thinks she is at the moment. And after all, he's just a teenager, a high school kid. That Aiden will go this way he couldn't know and especially not that Sophia would accept it at all.
And the thing is, if Sophia stops Aiden's deal, her storyline will also end with Dylan. Only if Sophia doesn't stop Aiden's blackmailing or find another way how to get rid of him, her storyline with Dylan will conitnue. And Dylan will think, that his plan with Aiden worked to bring his mother into wearing sexy dresses. This is all he wanted. So psychopath is a little bit over the top! But of course it's a somewhat strange plan. But Sophia still decides how far she goes with Aiden and she will have a good option to get rid of hin soon. So, if Sophia chooses to go further with Aiden, then only because she starts liking that blackmailing more and more. And this blackmailing will also turn out in something different later.
And on Dylan's storyline he will still do a lot of nice things for his mom.
So then I was like:
Thanks, and very true I do believe he to some degree his motives may be simply to alleviate Sophia's midlife crisis, and if that were his predominant motive then perhaps psychopath would indeed be a bit harsh of an analysis. Can you however honestly say with a straight face that was his only motive, or his overwhelming primary motive? Looking at things on the other hand one must not forget that the boy has been a bit of a "peeper" spying on her in the shower / getting dressed. He has spanked the monkey to her as well, and it is clear he has been having numerous sexual fantasies about her. So, his own sexual desires could also be included as a perceived motive for his actions.
I have played through your game a number of times analyzing what you have made quite a bit, on top of me being a writer myself that often can predict the next plot point in many stories, but this was still able to surprise me catching me off guard which simply goes as a credit to your writing abilities.
So, his level of psychopathy I would judge based on "Which of his motives does the reader perceive do be strongest?
"I am horny for Sophia" vs "I want to help Sophia out of her midlife crisis". The story has included as it must include a lot more of the "I am horny for Sophia" (Beach changing room scene, begging to see boobs at the store, bikini fashion show to name a few) coming from him much more often than "I want to help with midlife crisis" elements in my opinion. It feels like that scale is heavily weighted to one side.
One must not forget either;
It didn't appear to be a "genuine apology from the heart", more so a "forced apology". Remember, Zac had to punch him in the arm and guilt him into the apology in the first place. So part of his reason for apologizing in the first place is social pressure from one of his best friends, not genuine remorse for his wrongdoings.
Next, one must consider the fact, he mentions "Fight Club" in his reasoning. He got himself beat up on top of beating himself up in the aims of his objectives. One could say he views Tyler Durden as a role model or a person who he would like to be like. Tyler Durden is very clearly a psychopath, perhaps with some mental illnesses in spite of him being a very intelligent, popular, and relatable character.
In the subtext of the game, it can also be seen that Dylan idolized Grand Theft Auto 5 as well as he cares about it enough to put a poster on his wall. The player characters in all the GTA games could be described as psychopaths.
Also on his wall is a "batman" poster. One must not forget the 2012 batman shooting on Colorado. Perhaps he idolizes the Joker character who could be viewed as a psychopath role model as like Tyler Durden. One could argue he looks at himself as batman as well a vigilante.
Then imagine putting Dylan side by side with Sam. Compare and contrast the two as to who has more "pure motives". It's clear Sam can be looked at as the more pure of heart between the two.
(He never comented back about the twist, but the twist was gone the next update.)