That's why I speculated that it could also be a combination of them all, collaborating.
Christine is just the tool/outlet to connect/relay to the MC from inside the IT department. The MC notices a change in Monster's communication...
There was an explanation, but that's when I started thinking more than one person...
Martin crossed my mind. But how is he watching the MC? I don't think Martin could be acting alone...
Will is a link for Martin or Veronica to know about the video beforehand, if Will used anything connected with that company to do anything related to that video...
It crossed my mind that Veronica (MC's big boobs comment) or Erica could be the "blonde", then Will says it's an intern at his work, that ruled out both of my initial thoughts...
Erica seems out as source for knowledge about the video...
I'm still scratching my head about Monster saying they'll all be in on the "betrayal". I have guesses of course, but that's another clue it's all of them.
Mia is also a potential initial source for knowledge about the video, since she and Will are the 2 known links to the 'familiar voice'...
There just seems to be too many moving, interconnected pieces for it to be one "god mode", omnipotent observer...
But if there is just one, absent some outside character/actor I think Christine is the best solo option...
It would be interesting to see how it's anyone else if it's just one solo person...
Now, for the topic, Lacey would never propose anything of sorts unless MC does it first, this is repeated so much in the game that I get annoyed when people say otherwise due to hate for Lacey, by missing information or not understanding the context.
Sure, we have the "other side" discussion open, but I would be severely disappointed in the story if that would be the case.
I am not a fan of the "subvert the expectations" for the sake of it a la Ryan Johnson, it becomes tiring and pulls away from the story themes.
Look at Act 1, the constant battering ram of shock value content is actually detrimental at some point, it desensitize you from the emotions to the point where some readers where just on the ride to see what crazy shit Lacey would be doing next instead of the actual story.
I am glad this has been turned a bit down for act 2, even if there was a rather flat attempt with the dildo scene.
I am not a great fan of the "evil from outside" angle, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, maybe it will turn great.
I hope that I am not misunderstood, I love L&J but that doesn't stop me from also seeing its flaws.
And here is an example of someone not understanding the context!
It's absolutely your right to say that I am not understanding the context and I respect that you find nuance in Lacey’s actions and context.
But personally, I have a very different reading of the Damian scene and Lacey’s motivations.
What you call a "sick purpose"or her context is, for me, more like an excuse or a rationalization from Lacey.
As others have pointed out on this forum, her use of drugs seems to serve as a way to “absolve” herself — almost like she uses her addiction as a shield from responsibility.
From my point of view, she wanted to be shared, but she was never willing to fully own that desire or responsibility. Instead, she hides behind circumstance, drugs, or the MC’s supposed wishes.
I think sometimes you’re listening too much to what Lacey says and not enough to what she actually does afterwards.
Of course, everyone has their own interpretation, and maybe the game will clarify things in the future — but for now, my perspective is just different from yours, and I think that’s part of what makes these discussions interesting.
Dev is gonna make a new game, similar as this one, vignette style, with other theme/tags, called Augusta's Home For Wayward Girls. After that he could jump back to this game for Act 3 or work on an update on the "bigger" game (On the Mountain top). No known release date for any of that.
At least she doesn't deserve anything from mc except disgust.
She smells like other people's sperm for a mile. And you can't wash it off in your shower.
It's like loving a toilet and even if it wants to improve and become a better version of itself, the result will be the same.
Dev is gonna make a new game, similar as this one, vignette style, with other theme/tags, called Augusta's Home For Wayward Girls. After that he could jump back to this game for Act 3 or work on an update on the "bigger" game (On the Mountain top). No known release date for any of that.
Ugh. It sucks when Devs create multiple projects and then many never get finished. I do realize the irony of my complaint considering I love this game and that it wouldn't be here if he stuck with one until it was done. But still.... I love this game and want more!
Phew. Finally caught up with the game and the thread. This one is a truly unique. No other game has made me feel disappointed that I have reached the end of content and at the same time relieved that have reached the end of content.
DeviantFun, It seems to me that you somewhat changed your opinion on Lacey since the last time we spoke, you have grown soft on her . And after reading Act 2 I see that you was right about her, but I think my points about her motivations stands. And she is showing some character growth, at this rate she will become the most sane person of the group.
But enough about that. There are other characters to talk about. And to talk about them I want to talk about them as a group. I am half joking, but hear me out guys. So the whole group is like system or a state. Lacey and MC is a royalty. Anna and Mia and maybe Veronica is a nobility, the rest has lower or no voting power. Except Kelly, She is a neighboring state. So everyone wants a part of MC, but they have this status quo where everyone can have go at MC as long as Lacey allows it, which is safer than dissolution of the state with ensuing complete chaos and no clear favorite. So it is within their (all Main girls) interests to make sure that the whole group survives together. But not everyone happy with Lacey as the queen, so one part of nobility decides to coup Lacey. I mean of course Mia, she is reckless and thinks she knows better than everyone else. She does not want to completely eliminate Lacey - more like take control away from her, but not to dissolve the group. Just a change of leadership. So she acts, while another part of nobility (Anna) is a passive observer. She is coolheaded and logical, but it is in Her interest too to take the reigns away from Lacey. So let the reckless Mia try, and if something goes wrong she can mediate peace and have some deniability because she was not part of the coup attempt. If Mia somehow succeed than they can nationalize the means of reproduction().
And here comes Lacey who manages to stop the coup. After Mia told her grievances, Lacey sat her down and they had some sort of negotiation. Sadly dev didn't show us what they agreed on, we only know that her puppy girl punishment was part of it. Later Lacey stopped incursion from the aggressive neighbor (Kelly) and achieved truce for now. If you think about it Lacey is kind of amazing at defending her territory through diplomacy.
The main problem is that everyone pushing their agenda but kinda forgot about the MC. Everyone have their own kind of 'I can fix him', and it is creating toxic environment. If I look at the group like that, then all weird behavior seem to make sense.
And about Mia. She is repeating her past mistakes. She thinks that she has successfully helped Lacey to overcome her hang ups with sex and now using same method to help overcome MC Lacey`s past. Her method is this - push the boundaries - no breakdown ? - push some more. Repeat until healed. But she is just making the pain numb.
Her line about college times:
M "If you loved this stupid kid so much, then what were you and I even doing?"
Ugh. Come on Mia you only now asking this ?
MC needs help. He can be triggered by some seemingly minor things, it is stressful for everyone involved. Like - mmm what tasty banana - Ha ! Reminds you of hundred dicks you sucked, slut ?! He needs to chill out and seek help, his current environment don`t seem helpful at that to me. He had a great therapy session with Isaac, what a twist of fate.
Amazing game, Dev keep it up! Don't make us wait too long please !
And I decided to try my hand at happy ending. Here it is.
Lacey and MC attempting double suicide. Bonk they heads on rocks but survive. But have complete amnesia and become complete strangers. The end )
i so badly want to hate her fuckin guts and dump her and be over this shit show. but the story is so well written even if you hate 1 or more of them you end up feeling bad about it, for them and almost immediately forgive them for the bullshit they literally just put you through. Justice for Anna bro shes been the one constant good voice of reason in this game to call Layce out on her bullshit. Man i hate that i really like this game
Its also worth noting that co-dependents and narcissists are often drawn to each other due to their natures of being a 'giver' and 'taker' respectively.
Nailed it. And to add to that, NPD has a strong association with childhood trauma. Especially if it has obsessive need for validation as a major symptom. I had them as co-dependent and narcissist, even before dev used Diane to give a "diagnosis". Professor has done their homework.
Ugh. It sucks when Devs create multiple projects and then many never get finished. I do realize the irony of my complaint considering I love this game and that it wouldn't be here if he stuck with one until it was done. But still.... I love this game and want more!
I have an interesting question:
if MC knew everything about Lacey's past for both acts, at what stage would he have taken her as his wife and would he have taken her at all?
That's why I speculated that it could also be a combination of them all, collaborating.
Christine is just the tool/outlet to connect/relay to the MC from inside the IT department. The MC notices a change in Monster's communication...
There was an explanation, but that's when I started thinking more than one person...
Martin crossed my mind. But how is he watching the MC? I don't think Martin could be acting alone...
Will is a link for Martin or Veronica to know about the video beforehand, if Will used anything connected with that company to do anything related to that video...
It crossed my mind that Veronica (MC's big boobs comment) or Erica could be the "blonde", then Will says it's an intern at his work, that ruled out both of my initial thoughts...
Erica seems out as source for knowledge about the video...
I'm still scratching my head about Monster saying they'll all be in on the "betrayal". I have guesses of course, but that's another clue it's all of them.
Mia is also a potential initial source for knowledge about the video, since she and Will are the 2 known links to the 'familiar voice'...
There just seems to be too many moving, interconnected pieces for it to be one "god mode", omnipotent observer...
But if there is just one, absent some outside character/actor I think Christine is the best solo option...
It would be interesting to see how it's anyone else if it's just one solo person...
The "collective" monster is not a bad idea at all.
Still doesn't fit here and there but it is a very interesting concept.
I really want to understand or have the possibility to make a more educated guess, so my hope is that there are clues I didn't see along the way.
Probably there are not, which is frustrating.
It's absolutely your right to say that I am not understanding the context and I respect that you find nuance in Lacey’s actions and context.
But personally, I have a very different reading of the Damian scene and Lacey’s motivations.
What you call a "sick purpose"or her context is, for me, more like an excuse or a rationalization from Lacey.
As others have pointed out on this forum, her use of drugs seems to serve as a way to “absolve” herself — almost like she uses her addiction as a shield from responsibility.
From my point of view, she wanted to be shared, but she was never willing to fully own that desire or responsibility. Instead, she hides behind circumstance, drugs, or the MC’s supposed wishes.
I think sometimes you’re listening too much to what Lacey says and not enough to what she actually does afterwards.
Of course, everyone has their own interpretation, and maybe the game will clarify things in the future — but for now, my perspective is just different from yours, and I think that’s part of what makes these discussions interesting.
I hope you didn't take my comment as a sllight towards you, it was mostly a joke to tie up with the rest of the post.
That said, I don't listen to her, if you "know" me you see that I value actions the most.
I evaluate her actions and her actions during the whole act 1 + 2 point to what I am saying.
I often suggest to play the routes I don't want to play, check the "hard" routes, Lacey has nothing to lose or gain there and MC has to spend points to make her do things or during the aftermath.
She is plenty happy to play sweet things and there are no inconsitencies in her recount of some of her gangbangs but ask her to lie or exaggerate and the aftermath is not great for her.
Other folks that played those choices changed their minds over the matter.
I understand the confusion, mind you, I kind of had the same at the beginning when I didn't play it 100% and rewrote act 1 (that made me go through the game in a very thorough way).
The jealousy date is the biggest jumbler of all, since stage 2 is not written particularly well in my opinion, it makes people confused.
There the author got a bit desperate in exposition and he misses the mark, but if you go through with it (I don't in my main playthrough, the kiss is already over the top and thankfully Dianne tells Lacey so), you get a better look inside.
I simply cannot reconcile Laceys actions with what you're accusing her of and her dialogues are consistent no matter who is she talking to, Act 2 is on the nose about it too.
I am not trying to convince you, especially because this is a work of fantasy and tomorrow the author could come out with "haha this was all a lie! Lacey is the familiar voice! she wanted to share EVERYONE!
I am asking you to go deep and look at her actions, she cries when MC wants to share her in his fantasies, she cries and is hurt when he tells him that he only sees her like a slut and it gets him excited (worst writing choice after the inclusion of the pimp).
This doesn't mean she won't be shared in the future, if the option arises it is not a path I would take (maybe with Veronica or Kelly), while I wouldn't mind sharing other LIs, but her sharing will be only from and for MC.
As for using K to avoid resposabilities or finding the strength to go through with it, the evidence is circumstantial, but how she acts on the Jealousy date should make it more clear, she has no responsability to deflect.
Let me add that the jealousy date is a travesty, one of the worst thing Lacey has done to MC and the supposed "emotional growth" is a joke on wheels, but it seems that it will get explored so I am waiting for that.
Ugh. It sucks when Devs create multiple projects and then many never get finished. I do realize the irony of my complaint considering I love this game and that it wouldn't be here if he stuck with one until it was done. But still.... I love this game and want more!
It is a shame, considering his other "flagship game" doesn't hold a candle to L&J, like it is not even close.
Like I get it is subjective, but the strength of the story is on a different level, even if the "haremish" idea is still there.
Phew. Finally caught up with the game and the thread. This one is a truly unique. No other game has made me feel disappointed that I have reached the end of content and at the same time relieved that have reached the end of content.
DeviantFun, It seems to me that you somewhat changed your opinion on Lacey since the last time we spoke, you have grown soft on her . And after reading Act 2 I see that you was right about her, but I think my points about her motivations stands. And she is showing some character growth, at this rate she will become the most sane person of the group.
But enough about that. There are other characters to talk about. And to talk about them I want to talk about them as a group. I am half joking, but hear me out guys. So the whole group is like system or a state. Lacey and MC is a royalty. Anna and Mia and maybe Veronica is a nobility, the rest has lower or no voting power. Except Kelly, She is a neighboring state. So everyone wants a part of MC, but they have this status quo where everyone can have go at MC as long as Lacey allows it, which is safer than dissolution of the state with ensuing complete chaos and no clear favorite. So it is within their (all Main girls) interests to make sure that the whole group survives together. But not everyone happy with Lacey as the queen, so one part of nobility decides to coup Lacey. I mean of course Mia, she is reckless and thinks she knows better than everyone else. She does not want to completely eliminate Lacey - more like take control away from her, but not to dissolve the group. Just a change of leadership. So she acts, while another part of nobility (Anna) is a passive observer. She is coolheaded and logical, but it is in Her interest too to take the reigns away from Lacey. So let the reckless Mia try, and if something goes wrong she can mediate peace and have some deniability because she was not part of the coup attempt. If Mia somehow succeed than they can nationalize the means of reproduction().
And here comes Lacey who manages to stop the coup. After Mia told her grievances, Lacey sat her down and they had some sort of negotiation. Sadly dev didn't show us what they agreed on, we only know that her puppy girl punishment was part of it. Later Lacey stopped incursion from the aggressive neighbor (Kelly) and achieved truce for now. If you think about it Lacey is kind of amazing at defending her territory through diplomacy.
The main problem is that everyone pushing their agenda but kinda forgot about the MC. Everyone have their own kind of 'I can fix him', and it is creating toxic environment. If I look at the group like that, then all weird behavior seem to make sense.
And about Mia. She is repeating her past mistakes. She thinks that she has successfully helped Lacey to overcome her hang ups with sex and now using same method to help overcome MC Lacey`s past. Her method is this - push the boundaries - no breakdown ? - push some more. Repeat until healed. But she is just making the pain numb.
Her line about college times.
M "If you loved this stupid kid so much, then what were you and I even doing?"
Ugh. Come on Mia you only now asking this ?
MC needs help. He can be triggered by some seemingly minor things, it is stressful for everyone involved. Like - mmm what tasty banana - Ha ! Reminds you of hundred dicks you sucked, slut ?! He needs to chill out and seek help, his current environment don`t seem helpful at that to me. He had a great therapy session with Isaac, what a twist of fate.
Amazing game, Dev keep it up! Don't make us wait too long please !
I did, funny you mention that, I posted recently how my position on Lacey changed.
She has shown proof, not in words but in actions, additionally there is a strong difference between Lacey 1 and Lacey 2.
Lacey 2 is born in act 1 during the bathroom discussion about how MC acts.
Mind you, I will never get tired about keeping her accountable and I enjoy to see her coming to grips with the past to the point where she can't even give a funny weekend to her man without it biting back.
It is a fitting "punishment" way more meaningful than the smalll and insignificant punishments she gets in the bedroom (especially in act 2).
She is also the only one of the whole group that wants MC to face his feelings and get them all out, not in a perfect way, but it is a distorted therapy for PTSD.
All the rest of the girls? They cheer when MC does exactly the opposite, which is, as far as I understand from the literature, damaging in the long run and will worsen things.
On your analysis of the group I sort of agree, but especially on how MC is just a fucking witness of the whole thing, as usual my motto still stands: everyone loves him but noone cares about him.
They are all acting like Lacey 1, trying to give him what they think he needs.
Not happy about Llacey being the queen? Tough luck, MC has put her there, if you respect him even a little, you would accept it and deal with it under his rules.
Lacey is also guilty of this, but her motivations are driven by fear more than desire.
The pimp modus operandi is always the same, go and get what YOU want and trample of everyone else, because fuck them.
We discover that helping Lacey was actually a bit of a ruse, a convenience so that she could try and get over her hangups.
But you are also wrong her method is not push - no break - push some more, because it doesn't fit what happened with Isaac.
Her method is: this is fun for me - oh you want to stop and clean up - think again let me see if you die this time.
This is half in jest but I want to underline how little benevolence there is in her actions.
In all of this, Mia was having a blast.
We know she never asked Lacey what she got out of all the experiences, mind you, the Lacey that deperately cried when she regained her faculties and was obviously broken.
Because it was barely about her, it was all for the pimp enjoyment, the late croc tears "oh no YOU let me ruin your life" trying to push blame elsewhere are hilarious if not tragic.
She never understood her or even asked about her, same as Isaac, Mia just lingered longer than 3 weeks abusing a "broken shell of a girl".
The fact that she didn't even once considered Lacey's feelings for MC is easily explained, she didn't want MC to have a single piece of Lacey, she thought the same as she thought of her classmate in economics class.
She seduced Lacey to take her away from him, because she hated him and what he represented in her head, the fact that she isn't confronted heavily on the topic is the great sin of this game.
Her actions in this act are harmful to an impossible extent, while Anna is guilty as well her motivations are tied to MC wellbeing, for Mia? It is about what SHE wants, which is more of MC for herself.
Not only that, she fucking brought drugs to a recovering addict that is still wrestling with her urges.
If you didn't think Mia the pimp wasn't full garbage human, I hope you are sane enough to change your mind.
So yeah, she is only asking "what they were doing" now, because she didn't care then and barely cares now.
She was having fun, she was going to parties, she was enjoying molding and pushing Lacey into something hideous (not only for the sex).
There are tidbits on how Lacey was also having fun btw, way more than it is depicted to us until, with many different fun experiences that are not related to sex, another thing I really want the author to explore.
Agreed on MC needing help, sadly the group of friends he has is full of enablers, they enabled Lacey in act 1 and they are enabling MC spiral now.
I have an interesting question:
If MC knew everything that he learned about Lacey during both acts, at what stage would he have taken her as his wife and would he have taken her at all?
This is hard to say, MC is so dependant on her that it could not have made a difference at the end.
My guess tho is that he would not have married her and fallen even into a deeper depression, Mia would have been happy and Anna would have tried to save him once again, this time she would be more equipped to deal with the situation.
Lacey would try desperately to get back with him, visiting him, gaslighting and lying out of deperation, after a reasonable amount of time if that failed she would also revert to depression and drugs.
I enjoyed the update, the best part for me was the MC and Jamie and the fact Lacey seems ok with it perhaps because she doesn't feel threatened by Jamie. Now that he has started wearing women's clothes he looks hot and if he does get implants well he will look even better, I look forward to seeing Jamie and the MC exploring this side of the MC sexuality.
Next, Isaac and the MC seem to be developing a deeper understanding of each other, I for one believe that Isaac is changing it's like everyone who knows the MC say "he knows the right thing to say and when to say it, he know how to just understand people". I think that Isaac is coming to terms with the that Lacey will never be his as he say's while talking to the MC "she threw my ass out after one phone call, saying the boy she had a thing with needed her, I'm barley a blip in her life", both of them think the other is the bogeyman in their lives, but with Isaac saying he might be bisexual which set's up an interesting and weird thing, if the MC explores his sexuality with Jamie and with Isaac maybe being Bi could this be a thing in the future, ah who knows.
But I think "The Monster" is someone in the crew or someone close to them as I find it hard to believe that some stranger could know;
1 What was in Mia's bag
2 About the video but some on from the crew or close to them warn the MC not to watch it unless they new something about what it was about, I think the video was to be used in conjunction with Mia's ketamine but Lacey explained to Mia about her plans for letting the women share the MC so the video was redundant.
3 "The Monster" told him to take the video to Christine who amazingly discovered it was a fake.
4 The trip, no one but Janette, Mia, Lacey and the MC and later Anna knew about the trip how would someone find that the MC had booked a getaway the day before.
Anyway its just a Theory I am probably totally off base here but it's fun to speculate
The new plot is strange three people Will, the unknown man and the familiar voice all plotting to form a porn empire with Lacey, Anna and Mia being the main stars, talking about a second more damaging video they don't know why the first video failed due to it being a fake, so in theory the second video should be taken with a pinch of salt or at least I hope so the thing I don't want to see is the MC believing it to be real and going off on one.
Ugh. It sucks when Devs create multiple projects and then many never get finished. I do realize the irony of my complaint considering I love this game and that it wouldn't be here if he stuck with one until it was done. But still.... I love this game and want more!
On patreon Dev said that he got some burnout or is close to it, from working on both games, and needed a change of airs. It was either create a "small" game, something like Act 1 of this game, or put everything on hold to rest.
By his own opinion, working on vignette styles games are easier, more creative writing centered, and since they dosent lean so much in visuals, faster.
Both the games that the Dev have going on are heavy on psycological and emotional twists. Lets give him some leeway to rest and recover. So far he delivered amazing quality, and that comes with a cost.
But you are also wrong her method is not push - no break - push some more, because it doesn't fit what happened with Isaac.
Her method is: this is fun for me - oh you want to stop and clean up - think again let me see if you die this time.
This is half in jest but I want to underline how little benevolence there is in her actions.
In all of this, Mia was having a blast.
Don't get me wrong I am not defending Mia, just trying to understand her better. I am still consider myself a member of Hate Mia Brigade(HMB). I'm thinking that when she push some idea and not met with resistance then its an OK in her book. Like she helping people to open up. Like its what they need.
She is righteous in her own mind and inconsiderate. Nuclear combo.
But something bothering me. I remember when Lacey went to party and texted Mia instead of MC by mistake. And Mia told her something like "Go be slut by yourself don't drag me into this". Was it just Mia banter, or we still don't understand theirs dynamic completely ? Maybe add that to the Lacey had fun pile as evidence. I don't know maybe I am misremembering something.
But I think "The Monster" is someone in the crew or someone close to them as I find it hard to believe that some stranger could know;
1 What was in Mia's bag
2 About the video but some on from the crew or close to them warn the MC not to watch it unless they new something about what it was about, I think the video was to be used in conjunction with Mia's ketamine but Lacey explained to Mia about her plans for letting the women share the MC so the video was redundant.
3 "The Monster" told him to take the video to Christine who amazingly discovered it was a fake.
4 The trip, no one but Janette, Mia, Lacey and the MC and later Anna knew about the trip how would someone find that the MC had booked a getaway the day before.
Anyway its just a Theory I am probably totally off base here but it's fun to speculate
I am actually agree. I think The Monster is a duo. Someone from the crew and some other. Most obvious candidate is Cristine. Why ? She already spied for Jared thinking that she is doing the right thing. She was not fazed by the video and figured it was deepfake pretty fast. And she was overall pretty efficient the whole encounter like she new what she had to do.
But I have even more wild theory ! The big breasted blond, the real actress in the video, is actually Veronica !
The foreshadowed betrayal and the fact that people keep making same mistakes in this story made me believe that.
Plus, Veronica was on zoom call with someone when MC received the video. And she was in such a hurry that she forgot to cover herself ? Come on, Veronica not that scatter brained. She was anxious or afraid or both. She was not expecting that call, but she could not not answer. She is being blackmailed or something. And was delivering report or receiving instructions from her blackmailers. DeviantFun roasted her for her choice to prioritize her career over helping her friends, so I can see her doing that. And after the incident she was asking weird questions. She is SUS !
p.s. Jamie pretty cute not gona lie. Cant wait to see him with longer hair and bigger boobs.
Don't get me wrong I am not defending Mia, just trying to understand her better. I am still consider myself a member of Hate Mia Brigade(HMB). I'm thinking that when she push some idea and not met with resistance then its an OK in her book. Like she helping people to open up. Like its what they need.
She is righteous in her own mind and inconsiderate. Nuclear combo.
But something bothering me. I remember when Lacey went to party and texted Mia instead of MC by mistake. And Mia told her something like "Go be slut by yourself don't drag me into this". Was it just Mia banter, or we still don't understand they dynamic completely ? Maybe add that to the Lacey had fun pile as evidence. I don't know maybe I am misremembering something.
I am actually agree. I think The Monster is a duo. Someone from the crew and some other. Most obvious candidate is Cristine. Why ? She already spied for Jared thinking that she is doing the right thing. She was not fazed by the video and figured it was deepfake pretty fast. And she was overall pretty efficient the whole encounter like she new what she had to do.
But I have even more wild theory ! The big breasted blond, the real actress in the video, is actually Veronica !
The foreshadowed betrayal and the fact that people keep making same mistakes in this story made me believe that.
Plus, Veronica was on zoom call with someone when MC received the video. And she was in such a hurry that she forgot to cover herself ? Come Veronica not that scatter brained. She was anxious or afraid or both. She was not expecting that call, but she could not not answer. She is being blackmailed or something. And was delivering report or receiving instructions from her blackmailers. DeviantFun roasted her for her choice to prioritize her career over helping her friends, so I can see her doing that. And after the incident she was asking weird questions. She is SUS !
p.s. Jamie pretty cute not gona lie. Cant wait to see him with longer hair and bigger boobs.
Could be she did talk about resurrecting her porn account maybe she plans to add a few more women to it but regardless of the plotting going on chances are everything will work out ok for the MC despite the drama, personally I think he should leave with Kelly although Kelly is Mia's friend perhaps she could be the familiar voice wanting to take the MC for herself.
The "collective" monster is not a bad idea at all.
Still doesn't fit here and there but it is a very interesting concept.
I really want to understand or have the possibility to make a more educated guess, so my hope is that there are clues I didn't see along the way.
Probably there are not, which is frustrating.
I hope you didn't take my comment as a sllight towards you, it was mostly a joke to tie up with the rest of the post.
That said, I don't listen to her, if you "know" me you see that I value actions the most.
I evaluate her actions and her actions during the whole act 1 + 2 point to what I am saying.
I often suggest to play the routes I don't want to play, check the "hard" routes, Lacey has nothing to lose or gain there and MC has to spend points to make her do things or during the aftermath.
She is plenty happy to play sweet things and there are no inconsitencies in her recount of some of her gangbangs but ask her to lie or exaggerate and the aftermath is not great for her.
Other folks that played those choices changed their minds over the matter.
I understand the confusion, mind you, I kind of had the same at the beginning when I didn't play it 100% and rewrote act 1 (that made me go through the game in a very thorough way).
The jealousy date is the biggest jumbler of all, since stage 2 is not written particularly well in my opinion, it makes people confused.
There the author got a bit desperate in exposition and he misses the mark, but if you go through with it (I don't in my main playthrough, the kiss is already over the top and thankfully Dianne tells Lacey so), you get a better look inside.
I simply cannot reconcile Laceys actions with what you're accusing her of and her dialogues are consistent no matter who is she talking to, Act 2 is on the nose about it too.
I am not trying to convince you, especially because this is a work of fantasy and tomorrow the author could come out with "haha this was all a lie! Lacey is the familiar voice! she wanted to share EVERYONE!
I am asking you to go deep and look at her actions, she cries when MC wants to share her in his fantasies, she cries and is hurt when he tells him that he only sees her like a slut and it gets him excited (worst writing choice after the inclusion of the pimp).
This doesn't mean she won't be shared in the future, if the option arises it is not a path I would take (maybe with Veronica or Kelly), while I wouldn't mind sharing other LIs, but her sharing will be only from and for MC.
As for using K to avoid resposabilities or finding the strength to go through with it, the evidence is circumstantial, but how she acts on the Jealousy date should make it more clear, she has no responsability to deflect.
Let me add that the jealousy date is a travesty, one of the worst thing Lacey has done to MC and the supposed "emotional growth" is a joke on wheels, but it seems that it will get explored so I am waiting for that.
And just to clarify, I didn’t take your “context” comment the wrong way at all —
it was clear you meant it as a joke, and honestly, it’s a pleasure to exchange ideas with someone who digs so deep into the material. These kinds of discussions are what make exploring this VN genuinely interesting.
But there’s still something I can’t reconcile, and it’s really at the core of my discomfort with the Damian arc: No matter which route you pick, the MC is clearly suffering, even begging Lacey not to go through with it. She chooses to do it anyway, and then rationalizes it after the fact (with or without drugs).
For me, that specific moment — where she goes through with being shared despite her partner’s pleas and obvious pain — is exactly what convinces me she has, at some level, a desire to be shared.
Not just to “please” the MC or as a passive reaction, but as an act that she owns, even if she never says it out loud.
I totally respect that you see things differently, but unless I missed something, this part of her character/actions remains problematic and unexplained by the logic you presented.
Maybe Act 3 will address it. But for now, that’s the sticking point that shapes my reading of Lacey — and why I can’t see her as only “responding” to the MC’s desires.
